#I actually just finished another chapter of mirrored walls today so that’ll be up as soon as my partner gets time to beta read it!

[libra-cant-just-dance]

Did Night Swan favor Mihaly compared to the others at all in Tainted City/Mirrored Walls canon? Was there any relationship between them? I can’t stop thinking about that scene with them in the first chapter of MW when they bury the pin- really intrigued how that setup will pay off! Did/does (If she’s alive??) she view them differently than the others because of some connection, or their raw power? You seem to be setting them up as one of the more powerful of the just dancers, so just wondering if NS saw that too.

I’ve loved both stories, and you do such a great job of balancing so many characters (like them!) while keeping the Wanderrose focus!

Thank you!!! And this is a very interesting question 😈

When they were all Night Swan’s generals during Tainted City, NS didn’t really have much of a “favorite”, per se. Wanderlust was the one she was most excited to have gotten her hands on and she did have some kind of affection for Sara because Earth girls(I think if she were to give up on getting Jack, she might have taken on Sara as her new heir), but other than that they were mostly all on the same level. They each had a specialty she’d exploit for different purposes.

Wanderlust was mostly for political power. When you’re trying to take over the world it’s great to have the prince on your side telling everyone their queen sucks and they should bow down to you. Sara was the unhinged wildcard one. I got big Quinn vibes when I wrote her. There’s just something so fun about “peppy girly girl who will cut you while smiling and giggling like a maniac the entire time”. She’s scary. Brezziana was the brawn, she just wanted to punch things and break bones. Mihaly was the brains. They have the most knowledge of the flow and could strategize the best.

Beyond that, NS mostly saw them all as equal stepping stones in getting to her son. She initially thought taking all of them would make Jack surrender and join her, but when that didn’t work she realized they’d make great weapons anyway.

TLDR in Tainted City, no, I didn’t really intend for there to be more of a connection with Mihaly to NS than there was with any of the others. When it comes to Mirrored Walls, on the other hand, that story’s not over yet. So all I can say on that end is wait and see 🤫

[matchasprouts]

The Walls - Chapter 5

[ whoa! idk how i got this out but uhhhhhhh enjoy ]

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Felix was surprised to be woken up by Greta, three hours after he usually got up no less. Before he could ask why she let him sleep in, she cut him off with the answer. “You looked ready to drop dead yesterday. I figured you needed the extra rest.”

She was right, those extra hours helped dissipate some of the ache in his muscles. “Maybe you should take a break today,” she suggested, readjusting Brahms on her hip. “I know you usually don’t do that, the Heelshires told me that much, but you really need it.”

And then she left, and Felix was left wondering what she meant by that. Until, of course, he caught a look at himself in the vanity mirror.

He looked nothing short of awful. There were deep, dark circles under his eyes from the lack of proper sleep he’d been getting, his eyes themselves were bloodshot, and if he looked closely he could see there was still dirt in his hair.

Not to mention the screaming ache that shot through every muscle in his body, almost making him feel like he was about to collapse.

The last time his body felt and looked like this was in college, and he hated it. He hated looking weak, much less feeling weak. If a break was what it took for him to have the energy to kill someone if needed, then he would take that goddamn break.

Starting with a hot bath to soothe his body and finally get that fucking dirt off of him.

---

He almost died in the bathtub.

Or at least, that’s what he told Greta when he came downstairs with his hair still sopping wet and dripping water everywhere. She seemed concerned for all of two seconds before deciding she simply didn’t care.

What actually happened is that he fell asleep in the bathtub, woke up suddenly to the sound of a child laughing, and freaked himself out. To be fair, he did hit his head on the side of the tub at least twice.

Anyway, Felix wasn’t built for breaks, so instead of relaxing or even just doing something small like playing the piano, he spent his time helping Greta with her chores. Being taller than her, he could reach higher shelves when dusting the bookcase, so he did. When she was occupied with Brahms, he would take over vacuuming or the dishes. He even took to going around and fixing every slightly crooked painting that he was sure had been jostled by the wall thing.

Basically, he was no good at sitting still. Felix was either doing something every second of the day, or he was sleeping. There was just no in between for him.

That is, until there was literally nothing else to be done. It was late afternoon now, the sun was just barely starting to dip past the horizon. Felix was sitting at the piano, playing a soft and somewhat cheerful tune, since Brahms didn’t seem to like the melancholic melodies he knew.

“When did you learn piano?” Greta asked after a while, setting down the book she’d been reading to the doll. The suddenness of the question made Felix’s fingers stutter, hitting a sour note that made him cringe.

“I don’t remember,” he admitted after moving his hands to his lap, so he couldn’t get distracted while playing again. “I imagine it was sometime in my childhood, maybe in highschool? I think I took a class… I’m not sure. My childhood memories are foggy at best.”

At least he was telling the truth. While fresher memories were burned into his head, anything before his freshman year in college was a blank. The only therapist he’d ever seen told him it was repression, due to trauma. Since he couldn’t remember what the trauma was though, they could never work on it.

The only thing he truly remembered was his mother. Soft voiced, a brunette like him, piercing green eyes. She was beautiful. She also had a grip like the devil, and spoke like it too.

To some extent, he was aware that his insecurities came from her. He also knew that she had been… less than supportive when he told her that he was trans, and that it led to probably one of the worst arguments of his life.

Sometimes, when he looked down at his hands, he thought he could still see the bruises her grip had left.

He shook his head, clearing it of the images of her. ‘She’s no longer a concern,’ he reminded himself internally, ‘you took care of that. She’s gone.’

“Oh,” Greta spoke again, snapping him back to reality, “well, that’s too bad. You’re really good at it, you know. You must have been practicing for a long time.”

Right. They were talking about the piano. He mentally scolded himself for getting off track before clearing his throat. “Yeah, I played all through college. Most at frat parties and the like, it’s a great party trick. My hands still cramp up sometimes though. Guess that’ll never stop happening.”

He returned to his playing after that, due to the soft scratching in the wall behind him. Sometimes the thing would let him take a break, but apparently today was not one of those days. He liked that it liked his music, he really did, but it could be so demanding sometimes.

After a little while, it came time for Brahms to be put to bed. After glancing at the clock, Greta stood up with the doll, told Felix good night, and headed upstairs.

Once Felix had finished the song, and confirmed that the thing had taken off, he followed her up.

And, since both were upstairs, neither of them heard the door open. The door they never bothered to lock because no one ever came all the way out here.

Felix had just collapsed face first onto his bed when he heard the thing practically running through the walls, back downstairs. Following that, he heard the familiar sound of the billiard balls hitting each other.

He shot up without a moment’s hesitation, running almost full speed back down the stairs and to the room where the pool table was kept. He almost fell over once there, slamming full force into the doorframe.

There stood a rather greasy looking man with long hair pulled back into a bun, sporting a messy beard. He stared at Felix in confusion, who was glaring so harshly at him that he would be dead if looks could kill.

It wasn’t long before Greta and the doll joined them, interrupting their staring match. “... Cole?” she asked softly, sounding both confused and scared.

Oh? Oh Greta was scared of this man? And he invaded their house?? Oh.

Almost immediately, Felix stood in front of Greta, grabbing one of the pool sticks and holding it up as a make-shift weapon. “You’re not welcome here,” he spat at Cole who, for the most part, seemed unfazed.

Boy was he gonna regret that.

“I don’t even know who you are,” Cole brushed him off, looking around him at Greta again. Felix once again stepped to block him. He accepted this fate, choosing to just speak at Greta. “Greta, babe, you just left without saying anything.”

It was hard to tell, but Felix could feel Greta’s free hand brush up against his back, seemingly grateful to have a shield against the other man. “Getting- getting this job was kind of sudden… and you know we aren’t together anymore…”

Knowing that Cole was an abusive ex made Felix want to kick his ass even more.

Cole took a step toward them, and Felix immediately held the stick up higher, more than ready to take a swing at the bastard. That made him pause, clearly wondering if getting beat up by a gardener was worth it.

“So, where’s the little kid?” Cole asked after a moment of tense silence. Felix glanced back at Greta, silently willing her to ignore him, but she stepped forward anyway and showed him Brahms. Cole laughed, as expected. “No, seriously, where’s the kid?”

“This is Brahms,” Greta said, standing her ground. She and Cole stared at each other for a long moment, before he seemed to accept that she wasn’t joking.

“Well, that makes this easier at least. We’re going home tomorrow. I already bought the plane tickets,” Cole announced, making Greta actually flinch. It was clear she didn’t want to go. Felix’s patience was running thin- he knew he needed to cut this off before he did something rash.

Before either of them could continue their conversation, Felix stepped in. “She’s not going anywhere. She has a job to do, and she will complete it. The Heelshires expect it of her. You’re welcome to stay here for tonight, only because I pity whatever hole you crawled out of, but you will be gone in the morning. Do I make myself clear?”

At least he was smart enough to avoid a confrontation. “Crystal,” Cole replied, putting his hands up in a mock surrender.

“I’ll get him set up. Can you go lay Brahms down?” Greta stepped in again, a hand on Felix’s bicep. He nodded to her, setting down the pool stick and taking Brahms from her. He sent Cole one last glare before heading upstairs.

Normally he’d be able to hear the thing follow him into the bedroom, but not this time. He assumed it was because it was watching over Greta, which he was glad for.

He changed Brahms into his pajamas with shaky hands, trying so hard to contain the rage that threatened to spill over just from Cole’s presence in the house. Another broken fucking rule, and he hadn’t been good enough to stop it.

After tucking Brahms into bed and giving him the obligatory good night kiss, he went back downstairs to check on Greta, only to be stopped by her at the top of the stairs. “Thank you for not doing anything… rash down there,” she told him, looking genuinely grateful.

“Believe me, if there was no consequences in beating him until he was unconscious, I wouldn’t have hesitated,” Felix replied harshly, now turning on his heel and heading back to his room. Greta stood in place for a moment, surprised, before heading into Brahms’s room.

The doll was the only comfort she had at the moment, so she laid down with him, holding him close as she drifted off to sleep.

---

They woke up to Cole yelling downstairs, practically screaming for Greta. When she and Felix got downstairs, the offending asshole grabbed Greta by the arm and yanked her into the room.

“What the fuck is that!?” he yelled, pointing up at something written in red on one of the upper windows,

‘Get Out’. Huh. Clearly the wall thing didn’t like this bitch.

Felix tuned out Cole’s frantic yelling when he noticed Brahms sitting in one of the armchairs, a bag full of dead rats sitting in front of him. Greta noticed it as well, gasping at the sight of the boy and rushing forward to pull him into her arms.

Apparently Cole did not like this.

“Of course all you care about is that fucking doll! He’s not a real boy, Greta!!” he shouted, making both Felix and Greta flinch. “Now you tell me who the hell did this!”

“Brahms did,” Felix cut in, making Cole look sharply at him. He figured he’d rather Cole yell at him over Greta. “He doesn’t like you. You’re an intruder in his home. He was bound to lash out.”

“Oh, so you’re telling me that the fucking DOLL did that?” Cole snapped, taking an aggressive step towards Felix and gaining a low growl in response. “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.”

“He’s not,” Greta cut in, her voice shaky. “Brahms… is very creative and- and he doesn’t like you. Not at all.”

Cole glanced between the two of them before letting out a frustrated yell and snatching Brahms from Greta’s arms, despite her protests. “Enough about this stupid doll!”

Before any of them knew it, they were upstairs and in the child’s bedroom. “Put him down Cole!” Greta begged him, staying a safe distance away but clearly wanting to run over to the boy.

Felix, on the other hand, was taking direct action. “Either you put him down, or I make you regret being born,” he threatened, grabbing the closest weapon- a small bat that he jokingly left in Brahms’s room “in case he needed it”.

“You’re not gonna touch me with this fucking thing here,” Cole retorted, holding Brahms up by the leg. He was right, because Felix just stood there, gaze glued on the doll.

Cole began to swing the boy around by the leg when he realized no one was going to do anything, quietly humming to himself. “Maybe… if this thing wasn’t here…” he mused, glancing at Greta.

Felix moved first, lunging for Cole, but he wasn’t fast enough. Not even close. Brahms’s head shattered on the chair before Felix managed to tackle Cole, sending both of them toppling onto the ground.

And then the walls started to shake, freezing both of them. Felix was up in a matter of seconds, truly panicking now. It had seen what had just happened.

And it wasn’t happy.

[thechosenburrito]

Intro to Love: 1.4-Thanks for Ghosting Me

Word Count: 1,581

Description:

Xochi and Carson are on their way to study when they’re rudely interrupted.

Author’s Note:

Almost done with Chapter 1!  Maybe I’ll be done tonight!

Previous Chapter: 1.3-I Can See Right Through You

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It's hard to sleep when you feel like shit.  That's why I only slept for 30 minutes after my little episode the night before.  The clock read 7 o'clock which came as a shock to me as I usually only see it followed by a "pm".  I stayed in bed for a couple of hours, scrolling through an endless stream of nothing on my phone.

My stomach growled out of nowhere.  I smiled a bit when it wasn't immediately followed by nausea.  I got up and pulled a cold slice of pizza from the fridge.  I was able to finish a small slice and figured I could use this time to take an extra-long shower.

It was nice to shower some of the sadness away.   But, when I got out, my eyes were still puffy and had dark circles under them.  This wasn't unusual for a college student.  However, I generally try to present myself as someone who didn't have a mental breakdown the night before.  I dried my hair in front of the mirror in my room.  Drying my thick dark hair required using my blow-dryer on the maximum setting, which isn't optimal for dorms with paper walls.  My true hair revealed itself.  It was wavy in strange places and I had a sort of cowlick in the front.  I plugged in a flat iron to tame the crazy mess.  

I touched the dark bags under my eyes.  I considered putting concealer over them, then on the red marks on the side of my nose, and maybe followed by the weird freckle on my right cheek.  At that point, I didn't really feel like doing make-up anymore.  I looked closely at my eyebrows.  A bit over-grown, but thick brows were in.  I think? Oh well.  I toweled off and pulled on a tank top and hoodie ( Of course with proper supportive garments underneath).  I pulled on a pair of jeans and slipped on my black canvas sneakers.  The iron was finally hot enough and I got to work on my hair.  I've done this a million times, which made it the perfect time to let all my stupid thoughts out.

What if they made really tiny curling irons for eyelashes?  Actually, I don't want that THAT close to my vulnerable eyeball.

Am I strong enough to stand on the tips of my toes in these shoes?

Of course, I put the iron down and tried it out.

"Ow."

Not yet.  Next time for sure.

Should I become a beanie person?  Are beanies secretly my thing?

I pressed my hair to my head and imagined a beanie there.

Nope.  My head is a weird shape.  Guess I can't go bald either.

I finished up my hair and unplugged the iron.  I still had a couple of hours to kill and an orange soda from the vending machine down the hall was calling my name. I grabbed my room keys and wallet and headed down the hallway.  I passed a few early risers on the way.  Do people actually wake up this early? For fun?  I kept scrolling through my phone to avoid eye contact.  I wasn't really feeling the whole 'interaction' thing.  At some point, I realized I was scrolling and not even looking at anything.  Not my best moment.  A sponsored post caught my eye and made me audibly groan.

God, another ad for a Team StrikeForce! (TM).

"Even Superheroes need clean teeth!  Use StrikeForce SuperClean Toothpaste to fight back against plaque!"

StrikeForce was essentially a government-backed superhero team.  They purposely sought out conventionally attractive people with the most vanilla powers ever to represent the "ideal striker".  And they made sure to throw in some token minorities.  You had a strong girl, a flying man, someone that blasted fire from their hands,  and some other generic power. Speed maybe?  Telekinesis?  I did my best to avoid any media with them in it. They were essentially glorified cops who spouted government-approved messages like "It's cool to protect your chip from harm so keep yourself and others safe!  " and "Remember: Public use of powers is against the law!  Only teams like StrikeForce are allowed so everyone can be safe!". Right after the lightning storm, they actually did some important things like stopping individuals who abused their powers.  But, once people realized they could get away with more crimes by keeping on the down-low,  the StrikeForce lost their bite and became the government puppets on kids' backpacks we all knew and loved.

I sighed a bit.  Being critical was too tiring.  I quickly realized that I was going to crash. I didn't expect my sleep debt to catch up to me so quickly. I started getting everything to make coffee but hesitated at the thought of drinking something caffeinated after last night.  

I'll make a cup of tea first.  That'll cancel out the caffeine.

Yes, that's exactly how biology works.

I put on water to heat up and chugged an iced coffee from the fridge while it brewed.  Chasing ice cold coffee with nearly-boiling tea made my insides feel like an absolute mess of clashing temperatures.  

Phone buzzed.

(C) I forgot there's a staff meeting in the study room today.  Wanna go to the library instead?

I paused a moment before replying.

(X) Yeah that works.  I'm good to leave whenever you are

(C) Cool, I'll be downstairs in 5

(X) ok see you then

I threw all my supplies in my backpack, grabbed my keys, and started making my way to the dorm lobby.

I saw Carson chatting with someone at the front desk and laughing.  I'd seen the guy at the front desk a million times and barely made eye contact, except the time I got locked out of my room and was forced to talk to him.

I slowed down my pace and stared at my phone as if I didn't notice before taking a breath and walking up to him.

I struggled to plaster on a normal-looking smile.

"Hey! Ready to get going?" I asked, too cheerily.

"Yeah, just-"

A phone alert when off on all three of our phones.

"MISSING: 20 YR OLD FEMALE, 150 LBS., 5'6", STRIKER, LAST SEEN IN PURPLE SWEATER ON JUAREZ ST 9 AM. SEE LOCAL MEDIA."

My breath caught in my throat.

"Oh no.." I whispered.

"Wow," said Carson. "Juarez Street isn't even that far from here.  Do you think she was a student?"

I shrugged.  The guy at the desks scoffed.

"How do I turn these off? I hate the sound of those dumb ass alerts going off all the time," he said in a huff.

It was Carson's turn to shrug.  He pulled on this backpack.

"Ok, we should get going.  Let's be careful though.  We don't wanna get snatched up!" he said with a laugh.

I smiled and we headed out the door.  We walked for a bit in awkward silence before Carson casually broke it.

"So why did they have to put that the girl was a Striker? Doesn't exactly help identify her," he asked.

"Probably to make sure no one ever looks for her,"  I sighed.

"Really?" he responded innocently.

"Uh no. Ha, not really. I was just making a joke about how people don't tend to like Strikers," I tried to keep from stumbling over my words. "A lot of the time, when they find..uh...a body... they check to see if they're a Striker to help identify them."

We stopped at an intersection.  I decided to let Carson cross first, thinking they wouldn't try to hit me if they saw him first, even though there was only one car quite a bit away.

"Oh yeah.  That actually makes sense since they have..." he rubbed his shoulder "..those chip things.  Do you think it hurts?"

"I don't..." I heard the sound of a car speeding up.  I turned only to be met with the unmarked marked white van only 10 feet away from us.

I didn't have time to scream.  I lunged at Carson, praying that I'd grab onto him in time.  As soon as I got my hands on him, I did my best to think permeable thoughts.  

I watched the bumper pass right through us.  For a split second, I could see into the interior of the van.  The driver was wearing a bandana over his face and sunglasses, but even with both of those, you could tell he was sure that he turned me to roadkill.  I caught a brief glimpse of the back of the van.  I could make out a dark hunched figure and maybe some rope, but it was all going too fast.

We both hit the ground hard.  I was pretty grateful that I landed on a person and not the asphalt.  I rolled off him and tried to catch the breath that got knocked out of me.   It immediately occurred to me that we were both still in street, and I started helping Carson onto the curb.  His arms had some scrapes on his arms and a couple of holes in his T-Shirt, but otherwise, he didn't look too bad.  We collapsed onto the curb.

"Holy shit.  We got lucky." I managed between breaths.

I turned to him, but his face wore an expression of shock rather than relief.

"No.  That was beyond luck.  We should be dead." he said darkly.

He turned to look at me so quickly, I shot right up.

"How did you do that?"

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Next Chapter: 1.5-The Good, The Bad, and The Unmasked

a/n:

I can’t think of anything clever to put here but you should totally send me asks and stuff

[artificialqueens]

Signed, Sealed, Delivered, Chapter 2 (Crygi, Jan x Nicky) - Joley

ao3 link

tumblr link

Crystal had spent two days trying to figure out how to explain this new situation to Gigi. She considered testing the waters by joking about it, then thought maybe she should just rip the Band-Aid off and tell her outright. But any train of thought drove her right into a wall. And Jan wasn’t much help either.

“Maybe you could text her,” Jan had mused offhandedly. She was trying to help as much as she could – her suggestion was made while she was sitting in front of her laptop researching what actually went into planning a wedding, method acting, if you will. They were committed to this lie now, it seemed like there was no choice but to go all in.

“Text her?!” Crystal’s eyes were wide, she couldn’t possibly be serious. “I can’t just be like, ‘Hey Geege, Jan told Nicky we’re getting married lol T-T-Y-L and hope for the best.”

“Well, obviously not that, no one says T-T-Y-L anymore.”

“Jan!”

Jan sighed, spinning her desk chair around to face her. “I’m sorry, but I already have a lot of ground to cover. Telling Gigi is your job.”

Crystal threw her head back and whined. “But I don’t wanna.”

“Would you rather I do it?”

She quickly put her hands up in surrender. “No, no, I got it,” she assured. “She’s still at the studio, I’ll just… go there and tell her when she’s finished. I’ll call you if I need backup.”

“Get it done, sis.” Jan hummed before turning back to the screen, mumbling under her breath about how unreasonably expensive wedding bouquets are. “They’re flowers. Why would you pay that much for fucking flowers?”

And Crystal had hoped the walk she took from there to the studio would help her build her nerve, but she was hit with a new wave of anxiety the moment Gigi saw her.

Gigi waved her over, not straying from her work station. “I’ll be about another fifteen minutes or so, but you can just hang out if you don’t mind waiting.”

“Oh, yeah, no that’s fine,” she assured, sitting at one of the empty stations. On a normal day, she would enjoy watching Gigi at work. There was something almost magical about watching someone create art they were passionate about that Crystal found absolutely entrancing. Plus, it was Gigi – she could watch her read the phone book.

“So, what’s up with you?” Gigi asked casually, holding up two different types of lace against white fabric.

Crystal wasn’t sure what she opened her mouth to say, but she ended up blurting out, “We need to pretend to be getting married when Nicky comes here to visit Jan.”

That stopped Gigi in her tracks. She set the lace down and turned to face her friend. “I’m sorry, what?”

Crystal took a deep breath, feeling almost relieved that she had ripped the bandage off, but still worried that she wouldn’t be able to explain herself in a way that would actually get the other girl on board with this charade. “So… here’s the thing. Jan obviously really wants to see Nicky in person, but they haven’t been able to commit to a plan. So I, being the super smart person I am, suggested she tell her there’s an event coming up that she should fly out for. And… long story short that event is our wedding and now we’re along for the ride.”

Gigi blinked, taking the time to digest the information she received. “What the fuck, Crystal?” She pressed her lips together and shook her head. “Well, when’s the ‘wedding?���”

“In like, a month. Maybe two.”

With her lips still in a fine line, Gigi let out a strangled noise of frustration. “In a month or two,” she repeated, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment. “You know what? Fuck it, let’s do what we have to do.”

Crystal felt a massive weight lift from her chest and she exhaled deeply. “Really?”

“I mean, I’m never gonna let you hear the end of it, but yeah. Sure. Why not?” She shrugged. Glancing over at her dress, she decided she’d done enough work for the day. “I guess we better reconvene with Jan then.”

As she pushed herself back to her feet, Crystal still felt a little lightheaded. Sure, she was thanking every possible deity that Gigi was on board with this half-baked scheme, but now she would have far fewer chances to suppress and ignore her feelings. “Yeah, she’ll definitely appreciate that.”

When they did return to the apartment, Jan was still on her laptop in her room, deeply immersed in her research. It took Crystal and Gigi getting right in front of her for her to even become aware of her presence. “Oh, hey guys,” she greeted, setting her laptop next to her on the bed before looking at Crystal. “Did you tell her?”

“Very subtle, Jan,” Crystal retorted flatly. “But yes, I told her.”

“When did you tell Nicky to come here?” Gigi asked.

Jan shrugged. “I didn’t give a specific date yet. So, you know, work that out amongst yourselves. Also, you guys should get registered at some stores. At least that way if someone stumbles upon it, you could get like… a toaster or something.”

“I do love toast,” Gigi mused. “But I wanna know just how far we’re taking this. Like, are Crystal and I gonna pretend to get married? Do we break up? Or are you gonna wait til after you get Nicky in bed with you and then tell her the truth?”

“I… haven’t actually gotten that far yet,” she admitted. “I don’t think we should stage a fake wedding, though. Because then you guys are just gonna have to keep up the act indefinitely or get a fake divorce. We’ll work it out as we keep going.”

Crystal leaned against Jan’s desk, finally coming to terms with the fact that the three of them were definitely not backing out of this, that there was no chance of just scrapping the plan and calling it a day. “So other than that, what do we need to do?”

Jan picked her laptop back up. “We need to make a couple of invitations, I figure we could just get one or two free samples, just to send one to Nicky and keep one for our own records. Crystal needs to rent or borrow a dress, and we should probably go through the motions of planning a wedding without like, going fifty thousand dollars in debt.”

“Rings!” Gigi suddenly exclaimed. “What are we gonna do about rings? That’s a pretty fucking important part of being engaged.”

Crystal and Jan looked at each other, both of them searching for an answer, but there was the slightest bit of amusement in their expressions when it became clear that Gigi was now taking this as seriously as they were. “I’m sure we could get some convincing fake ones online. It’s not like she’s a professional jewelry appraiser,” Jan suggested.

“I’m not wearing something that’ll turn my finger green,” Gigi warned with a grave deadpan. “I’ll see if my mom has anything we can borrow. She has a collection of vintage and like, random, unique jewelry. I’m sure she’ll let me temporarily poach something off of her.”

Jan arched her brow. “So you’re gonna rope her into this too? Or are you gonna give her some other excuse?”

That gave Gigi pause, and she realized she was either going to bring another person into the party or dig all of them into a deeper hole. “I should probably just tell her,” she decided, the other two girls nodding in agreement.

“I would really like to watch this conversation take place,” Crystal piped up.

“Well, why don’t you guys do that? I’ve got a call with Nicky in ten,” Jan chimed in, looking at her phone.

“Well, far be it for us to interrupt your sexy Skype session,” Gigi retorted with a soft laugh. “Come, Crystal,” she curled her finger, and the two of them left Jan to her own devices.

Jan waved them off before getting up to fix her hair and makeup in the mirror, then moved her laptop to her desk so she could look at the screen dead-on. When she saw Nicky calling, she beamed brightly as she answered it. “Well damn, what sort of runway are you dressed up for?”

Nicky laughed and looked down. Her hair was styled up in a bouffant and the normally straight locks were in gentle waves. Her makeup – which Jan knew she did herself – was immaculate beyond reproach. “Don’t jinx it, I had my friend take some headshots for my portfolio today. So, fingers crossed there are runways in the future.”

“It’s basically a given, I can just tell,” Jan grinned, her elbows propped on her desk and face in her hands. The look in her eyes was full to the brim with enamored adoration; even she was surprised that Nicky hadn’t picked up on her feelings. “And then I’ll get to say I knew you way back when.”

“Bitch please,” she scoffed. “If I ever get famous, you know I’m flying your ass out here first class. It wouldn’t be fun without my sweet Janice by my side.”

She blushed, her hands moving from her face to stroke her ponytail. Hearing Nicky call her ‘hers’ in any capacity had her heart ready to leap right out of her chest. It was times like that that made her wonder if it would’ve been that crazy for her to profess her feelings, if she was building all of this fear and anxiety over owning her feelings for nothing. It sometimes felt like a declaration of love was dancing on the tip of her tongue, threatening to slip past her lips.

But nothing was ever enough to get her over that hurdle. Her stubborn fear of rejection outweighed even common sense. So, instead, she kept it sweet and vague. “Well, you know I’ll always be there whether you like it or not.”

“I’m offended you think there’s a chance I wouldn’t.” Nicky scoffed playfully. “Anyway, what have you been up to today?”

“Oh, just… helping the girls with planning and stuff.” It was technically true, so she counted it as one less lie she was telling her. She found that the easiest thing to do was to just keep the focus off herself until she felt more confident in this charade. “It’s just boring details really. Have you been working on learning any songs lately?”

Nicky shook her head. “Actually, I was hoping to convince you to sing for me,” she cooed, batting her lashes in an over-exaggerated manner.

It was a look that Jan was an undeniable sucker for that look, and she was certain that Nicky had figured out that much. “I suppose I could do that. Any requests?”

Nicky tilted her head, taking a moment to think. “Can you do that one from Grease? The magic one?”

Jan giggled softly, knowing she meant ‘Those Magic Changes.’ The song had been buried in her repertoire for ages until she’d stumbled upon a clip of her performing it in her freshman year of college. She’d sent it to Nicky, just thinking it’d be a cute throwback of sorts, but her penpal absolutely loved it, and brought it up every time she could. She didn’t quite get it, but she was thrilled that there was something she could do that would make her so happy. “For you? Of course.”

Once Jan found the karaoke version of the song on her phone, she played it and sang along, serenading Nicky as she’d done a number of times. While it was night time in France, it was still late afternoon for her, so she wasn’t concerned about the volume. Though, even if it had been later, she probably would have risked it – it just wouldn’t be the same if she used her ‘neighbor friendly’ voice.

Nicky applauded cheerfully when Jan finished. Her eyes were bright and warm with the enthusiasm of a child who just heard their favorite bedtime story despite getting it every night. It simply never got old for her. “You’re going to have to sing me to sleep every night once we’re in the same time zone,” she mused.

“You know I will,” Jan smiled softly, her mind conjuring up the image of the two of them laying in bed together, cuddled up close after a long day. Nicky would hold her in her arms while she sang to her, then fall asleep in her embrace, knowing she would sleep soundly because she got to wake up in her arms. She already knew what she smelled like, thanks to her scented letters, and longed to be able to wake up to it lingering on her skin instead of soaked into paper, she just yearned for the day where none of her senses were deprived of the other girl.

“You’re so good to me,” she cooed.

“That’s right, now I’m going to remind you to take that makeup off.” She chuckled. “It’s like, a quarter to eleven where you are, I don’t want you falling asleep with all that on.”

Nicky snorted softly. “There it is.” She rolled her eyes fondly, then reached across her desk. “I came prepared for this,” she explained, holding up a pack of makeup wipes. And, just to assure her she was actually following through, she took a wipe out and began cleaning off her face.

Jan grinned triumphantly. “See? I knew I’d start to rub off on you sooner or later.” Of course, she was guilty of just as many bad habits, if not more. But that was beside the point as far as she was concerned. Either way, she watched until Nicky had finished cleaning off her face, and she almost found it unfair that someone could be even more flawless underneath the makeup.

“Okay, I’m going to get ready for bed before you lecture me about that too,” Nicky teased. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, bye!” She blew a kiss at the screen before they ended the call.

After the call ended, Jan closed her laptop and got up to look in the mirror. She stared at herself, silently questioning why she was like this, so hopelessly taken with someone that it clouded her judgement, that she let thoughts of her cloud both her waking thoughts and her dreams. It was as frustrating and painful as it was intoxicatingly addictive.

The only thing that pulled Jan from her train of thoughts was her phone ringing, and she nearly dropped it as she got it out from her pocket. “What’s up, Crystal? Please tell me this isn’t a crisis call.”

“No, no, everything’s fine,” Crystal quickly assured. “We’re at Gigi’s mom’s house and she invited us to stay for dinner. So I won’t be back for like… another couple hours, give or take.”

“Oh, okay, cool. I take it the ring issue was taken care of?”

Crystal beamed, admiring the ring on her finger as if Gigi had actually proposed to her with it. “Everything’s fine on that front, trust me. I have to send you a picture of this, you’re gonna die.”

Jan laughed lightly. “I’m sure I will. Go ahead, then enjoy your dinner. Tell Mama Goode I said hi.”

“Can do,” Crystal assured before hanging up, her eyes still trained on the ring. The ring itself was rose gold, the band carved with vine-like design. The diamond at the center was square-cut and surrounded by tiny, round diamonds. While just towing the line of being over-the-top, it had the sort of unique, quirky vibe that made it perfect for someone like her.

“It’s like it was made for you,” Gigi had told her when she picked it out. “It’s actually kind of spooky.” She had picked out a ring for herself as well, one that had more of an antique aesthetic that she appreciated. It was gold with diamonds embedded along the band, centering an ornately-bordered radiant-cut diamond. It wasn’t as flashy as Crystal’s, but she was drawn to the details in the ring.

When they put their left hands on the table next to each other, they noted that there weren’t any significant similarities between what they’d chosen, but both of their personalities seemed properly represented. “We should have a little hand-modeling shoot for this,” Gigi mused, figuring she could ask her mom for help with that as well. They had explained their circumstances right away, and much to their relief, Gigi’s mom had found their story to be very funny and agreed to help however they needed under the condition that she could retell the tale once everything was over with. Crystal was happy to agree to these conditions, while Gigi did so more reluctantly.

Crystal wouldn’t admit as much, but as she sat down for dinner with the Goodes, it felt all too right. Like she was just having a meal with her future wife and mother-in-law, the energy that flowed among the three of them was always so calm and natural, even-keeled and even quiet at times. It was a stark contrast from her own family dinners in both positive and negative ways. But when it came down to it, what stood out the most to her was that she felt so perfectly at home with them, she couldn’t help but wish this at least felt fake. It would be easier to bear when it was all over.

[carlycchapman24]

The Adventures of Celine Markus-Chapter 2

Celine woke up the next day, weirdly feeling stronger than the day before, but she shrugged it off, “Guess that’s what a good night’s rest feels like,” she said to herself and forced herself to climb out of bed. She finally got a chance to look around and see what her room was like, there was a tall, mahogany bookcase by her bedroom door and a plush, dark red chair next to it, with a small table on the opposite side of the chair. Her bed was a simple four-poster bed, but the covers were a purple and red pattern that reminded her of a mandala. Against the left wall, there was what looked like an early iteration of a vanity, which surprised her. There were also windows on either side of the bed with what looked like red silk curtains. She opened them and was greeted with a view of the sunrise over the docks. She smiled and pulled out her phone from her bag, mentally begging that it still works and isn’t dead. Thankfully it was still working, for the most part, and she took a picture of the sunrise. Finally, she decided to change out of her now wrinkled dress from home and into the clothes Captain Iseut gave her. The shirt was a little uncomfortable, since it was made of leather, but everything else seemed fine. After fixing her hair in the mirror on her vanity, she headed down to the main dining area, keeping the bookcase in mind, planning to browse it later. “Hey Mr Longfoot,” she greeted the Innkeeper. “Morning Miss Markus, what can I get you this fine morning?” The Halfling asked cheerfully. “Just some eggs and toast. Do you have coffee?” Celine responded, not expecting much just based on how primitive technology was here if they were so impressed by her phone yesterday. “Sure thing, one gold please,” Mr Longfoot answered. “Not a problem, is Singer Boy still sleeping?” Celine asked. Mr Longfoot laughs, “Is that what you’re calling him now? You know his name.” “Singer boy is fitting though, isn’t it?” Celine answers with a laugh. “You’re not wrong, I think he’s coming down now actually.” The Innkeeper answers and Celine turns around to see that he’s telling the truth. Stumbling down the stairs, his hair messy and still in his pajamas, is Arlech. Celine rolls her eyes and looks to Mr Longfoot who’s bringing out her coffee and breakfast, “Does he always do that? He acts like he owns the place.” “He just makes himself at home wherever he goes, I don’t know if he even has a home to go back to or if he’s always just traveling. If you two do end up traveling together, you’re going to have to get used to that.” “Oh yeah, that’ll go well,” Celine says sarcastically and begins eating.

Arlech plops down next to Celine at the bar and says, “Morning, already dressed and ready to go I see.” “And I see that you aren’t.” Celine responds sarcastically. “I see someone has come out of her shell a bit, considering you got here less than 24 hours ago.” Arlech says with a laugh. He motions Mr Longfoot over, “This morning’s special, if you’d be so kind, good sir.” “On it,” the Halfling answers and then calls out, “Edrich, morning special for Arlech if you would.” Behind the bar, Edrich sighs, sets the book he was reading down, and says begrudgingly, “On it sir.” As Edrich goes into the back, a group of people barge into the Inn and a sleazy, slimy sounding voice calls, “Where can an honest group of sailors get something to drink?” Celine cringed at the sound of the voice and as she looked over the motley crew, she immediately felt like they were sketchy. She tries to sneakily pull out her spellbook, planning to cast a spell called ‘Mage Armor’ on herself, just in case. Unfortunately to no avail, as a human-looking creature with long ears and dirty blonde hair notices and says, walking over, “And what do you think you’re doing, eh? You’re not gonna pull some fancy shit are ya?” Arlech, noticing the uncomfortable look on Celine’s face and the woman walking towards them, tries to secretly pull his dagger out in case things go bad. The blonde woman speaks, catching Arlech as well, “Now, now, no need for such violence, we’re merely just here for a drink.” “And why should we believe you?” Celine answers with venom in her voice, “You barge in here, demanding to have a drink, and don’t try and say you ‘asked,’ I could tell just by the voice of your buddy over there that you all would have taken something whether we wanted you to or not, and then act like you aren’t sketchy as hell and weren’t planning on fighting.” “What in the Nine Hells do you think you’re doing Celine, they’re pirates, they could tear you in half!” Arlech whispers. The dirty blonde looked on in surprise at the bright red head’s audacity at first and then burst out laughing, “Either you’re stupid or you have a death wish, girl. You don’t want to fuck with Captain Barks’ Crew and you most certainly don’t want to fuck with me.” “Try me,” Celine said darkly. “Gladly,” answers the woman, pulling out her pistol. She takes a shot at Celine and Celine falls down immediately, but forces herself back up and says with a smile, “A gun huh? That’s not quite fair, now is it, Blondie?” The woman blows the smoke away from her pistol and smirks, “Who said I fight fair?” “Good point,” Celine answers and fires off a spell called ‘Fire Bolt,’ only to still be unable to control her magic and hit the wall, causing the blonde woman to laugh. “I have to help her out, she’s going to get herself killed like an idiot.” Arlech says to Mr Longfoot, who answers, “No, no, let her learn a lesson here. She needs to learn how to pick her battles wisely.” Arlech sighed, “Fine.” After laughing, the blonde begins to walk off and say, “You’re not worth it, you don’t put up enough of a fight for me, you’re too weak.” This pissed Celine off and she growled, firing off a new spell she prepared that morning called ‘Magic Missile,’ two of which hit the woman while one broke the front window. Shocked, the blonde woman turned back around and said, “Maybe you’re worth it after all,” and pulled a giant sword off of her back. “Oh good, you’re learning.” Celine answered. The woman grins and charges at Celine, taking a swing at her with the sword, knocking Celine clean off of her feet, as her lifeless body falls to the ground. The blonde woman stashes the sword back into its sheath and grins, “Well, looks like I win. Now, about those drinks?” “Of course ma’am,” Mr Longfoot said, setting the crew at a table and bringing them all ale. Arlech sighed in annoyance and went over to Celine on the floor, whispering, “What an idiot,” before healing her. Celine sat up with a start, “Where is that blonde bitch, let me at her! I’m not finished with her!” “Yes, you are. Now how about you, oh, I don’t know, go be

a good little girl and stay doing, whatever it is you were doing.” The blonde calls across the way, causing her Captain and crew to burst into laughter. “Why you little-'' Celine starts and tries to run over to their table, only to be stopped by Arlech. “Hey, hey,” he said, “no, you already almost got killed once today.” “Listen to your little boyfriend, he’s the smarter one of you two.” The woman says, taking a drink of her ale. “He’s not-'' Celine starts, but is cut off by the woman, “Whatever you say.” Celine growls at the woman and shoves past Arlech, storming up to her room.

As Celine gets up into her room, she browses through the bookcase by her door to try and see if she can find a book to read. She pulls out a book titled, ‘Spells Every Beginner Wizard Should Know’ and begins reading. She writes down a couple of spells in her spellbook that sound interesting to her, one called ‘Burning Hands’ and another called ‘Ray of Sickness,’ and grins, “Perfect” she says to herself, then decides to take a nap. A few hours later, she wakes up and hears a knock on her door, “What do you want?” she asks. “It’s Arlech, may I come in?” Comes the Tiefling’s voice. “Go away, Singer Boy, I don’t want to talk to you,” Celine responds. “Oh, is that what you’re calling me now?” he says with a laugh and continues, “What if I told you I had food?” Celine’s stomach growled and it finally dawned on her how hungry she was, since she didn’t get to finish her breakfast because she just had to pick a fight with someone. She felt ashamed of herself and sighed, “Fine, come in.” The Tiefling walks in with a massive plate of food consisting of roast beef, vegetables, and mashed potatoes with gravy. The smell filled her nostrils and her stomach growled even louder. Arlech laughs, “Hungry are we?” “Guess so,” she looks at her phone and sees that it’s 1:45 pm, “Oh shit, I didn’t realize how long I had napped. Did those assholes leave?” “Unfortunately, no, they got rooms here. Apparently, their ship needs to be repaired and it’ll take a few days to fix it.” He says, setting the plate on the table by the chair. “Oh lovely,” Celine answered sarcastically. “Yeah, well, that’s life,” he sighs, then pauses for a moment, “I hope you know that what you did was stupid and reckless.” Celine puts her head in her hands and says, “Yeah, yeah, I already feel like a dumbass, no need to rub it in.” “What’s a dumbass?” Arlech asks, tilting his head. “Dammit, I need to get used to this new place,” she says to herself, then says to Arlech, “it means idiot pretty much. It’s just a more vulgar way of saying it.” “I see, well then yes, you were a dumbass. Did I use it right?” The man questions, “Yes, yes, now can we drop it? I learned my lesson, don’t go picking fights with random people here, I might get killed.” She replied with a frustrated tone. “Sorry, do you want me to leave so you can eat?” Arlech asks. Celine thinks for a moment and walks over to grab her plate, when she turns around she says, “You know what? No. Because if it’s true that you’re as well traveled as you and Mr Longfoot claim you are, since clearly, I need to learn more about this place, then who better to tell me about this place than you?” “I can tell you about more than that,” he says, winking, and Celine smacks him on the back of the head, “Stop it,” she says and then invites him to sit on the floor with her. “You’re no fun,” he says jokingly and sits in front of her. “Am I ‘no fun’ or are you just creepy?” She replies snarkily. “Touché,” he replies and then he begins to tell her what all he knows about Adamantia.

Several hours and another meal later, Arlech finishes telling Celine everything he knows, and she leans back against her bed to take it all in. “Well, alrighty then.” She says, still not fully able to process what she just heard. “It’s quite a lot, yes. Anyway, I’ll take these plates down and get ready for tonight’s show, are you going to watch or are you going to sit up here and let it all sink in?” Arlech asks, picking up the plates. “The latter I think, enjoy your show, you seem to like performing. Have a fun night.” Celine responds. “Well, if you insist, sleep well.” Answers the Tiefling with a smile, and then he heads downstairs. Celine gets up off of the floor, stretches, and then realizes that she hasn’t cleaned herself up in a few days. She heads downstairs and sits at the bar, motioning Mr Longfoot to come over, “Yes, what is it?” He asks. “Is there any place I can clean myself up a bit? I just realized how long it’s been since I washed up.” “There’s a hot spring out the back if you’d like to go there. There’s also a bathhouse two doors down if you want to get out of here for a bit, but you’ll miss Arlech’s show. It’s different every night.” He explains. “I already told him that I probably wouldn’t want to watch tonight. There’s a lot I have to process since he told me about this world and I’d like to have time to myself to do that.” She explains. “Well, all right then, enjoy your night Miss Markus. Maybe you can go check out the Solarstriders tomorrow or check the post-board to see if some of the other people around here need help.” The Halfling replies with a smile. “I plan on it, have a good night and enjoy the show, sir.” She responds and heads out.

When she gets to the bathhouse, she walks up to the person at the desk, a creature that was super small, but still some type of humanoid. The figure was a female with brown hair in a style that reminded her of Tracy Turnblad from ‘Hairspray,’ and she was reading some sort of book. She hesitantly tapped on the counter and the figure looked up, “Hello dear, how may I help you?” “Um, don’t take this the wrong way, I’m not from around here and people like you don’t really live where I come from, but what are you?” She asked, cringing at her own words. “I’m what’s called a Gnome, dear, and don’t worry, Gnomes aren’t the most common in these parts either. My name is Medda Fibavam, and you?” The Gnome asked. “Celine Markus, nice to meet you,” she says and pauses for a moment, “May I use your facilities?” “Of course, that will be two silver.” Medda answers. “I only have gold, is that okay?” Celine responds. “Gold is always welcome, dear. Now, you’ll head through this hallway and go on the side that says ‘Girls,’ all right?” Answers the woman, who hands her a towel, a key and a lock, and gives her 8 silver back. “Yes, thank you, ma’am, I appreciate it,” Celine responds, then rushes into the hall. “No running!” Comes the woman’s voice, who then says to herself, “Foreigners, Pelor help me!” Upon entering the ‘Girls’ side, Celine sees a room with closets against the walls, all open, “I guess no one’s here, good,” she says and stashes her Bag of Holding, her dagger, and her spellbook in one and locks it. Then she undresses and heads out the doors on the opposite side of the room, she unwraps the towel, and a cold sensation runs down her entire body in the evening air. She shivers, folds her clothes, and carefully dips a toe in the water, then quickly takes it out, “Jesus fuck that’s hot,” she swears, then she takes a deep breath and then fully steps in, both cringing and enjoying the heat from the bath. She took the time to think about everything that happened in the last twenty-four hours and what Arlech had told her this evening, after a moment she began to cry, realizing how truly far from home she was at this moment in time. She had her phone, yes, but what good is a phone when you can’t call or text a loved one and let them know what’s going on and that you’re safe. “My parents must be worried sick,” she sobs. Just then, a voice she recognizes enters her mind, “A little homesick I see? I know of a spell, but I don’t think you can learn it yet,” it was the Royal Wizard Maverick. Celine’s sadness becomes anger as she hears his voice, “You, you bastard, you did this, you brought me here! Where are you? I’ll kill you with my bare hands!” “I’m nowhere near you dear, and believe me, you wouldn’t be able to kill me even if you tried.” The old man responds with a chuckle. “Then burn in one of the Nine Hells,” Celine answers, an icy tone to her voice. “Ah, you’ve been learning, good, you’ll need that information. Though I don’t suppose someone as weak and unskilled as you will go there anytime soon,” He says snidely. A look of horror appears on her face, and when she doesn’t answer, Maverick says, “Oh yes, I saw that pathetic little fight of yours with that pirate, from a distance of course.” “How?” Celine asks and then immediately regrets it when he answers, “That spell I spoke of? I can use that to find you with ease,” a moment of silence and then, “When I said I’d keep an eye on you, I meant it, quite literally.” Celine shuddered in disgust but didn’t answer the man. She waited a moment, just in case she heard his voice again, and when nothing happened she sighed in relief and finished her bath and headed back to The Clydesdale Inn, needing to be let back in by Mr Longfoot, who had closed up after the performance, and headed to bed for an unsettled rest.

The next morning, Celine woke up early but stayed in bed until a knock was heard on her door. “Hello, Celine, are you all right?” Comes Arlech’s voice. “Go away,” Celine says, pulling the blanket over her head. “Oh, okay, I can’t walk downstairs in my pajamas, but you can stay in yours all day.” Arlech answers sarcastically. “Yep,” Celine answers, pulling the blankets even tighter in towards her body. She hears a sigh and feet storming off, thinking she was fine, she began sobbing like the night before. She cried herself to sleep and was woken up by another knock that came from the door, “Miss Markus, Miss Markus?” came the voice, Mr Longfoot. Celine forced herself to climb out of bed, lazily pulling her pants on, but not bothering to put a shirt on over her bra. She approached the door and tore it open, “Yes?” She said through gritted teeth, ignoring the look of shock and mild fear on Mr Longfoot’s face. “You know what, never mind, sorry to bother you, I didn’t realize-“ He said, averting his eyes. Celine sighed, “Did Arlech put you up to this?” “Y-Yes,” The Halfling said, flushing in embarrassment at seeing her without her shirt. “If he wants to bother me again, tell him to come up here himself,” Celine responded in frustration. “Right, yes, sorry to bother you, again.” Mr Longfoot answered and ran off. Celine slammed the door shut and plopped onto the chair next to her bookcase, rubbing her eyes and face in irritation. Moments later, Arlech swings the door open to see Celine sitting in the chair, his face becoming a darker red when he realizes she has no shirt on, “First of all, it’s late afternoon, you’ve been in here half the day. Second of all, do people, where you’re from, often, sit around without their shirts on?” Celine laughed bitterly, “You have no idea. Some walk around their homes completely naked, the amount of times I’ve glanced through the windows and seen a neighbor’s naked body is ridiculous.” “I don’t believe you, and not that I’m complaining, but can you put one on please?” He said, tearing his eyes away from the redhead. “Fine, don’t believe me, but what if I don’t want to put a shirt on? The important parts are covered, unless shoulders, collar bones, and stomachs distract you too much.” She answered sharply. Arlech sighed, “Please?” Celine grumbled, “Fine,” and roughly threw the shirt on from the Captain, “There, happy?” “Much better.” Arlech said with a sigh of relief. “Now, what do you want?” Celine said, crossing her arms. “We were going to check the post-board today, were we not?” The man said, raising an eyebrow. Her face went from angry to realization, “Oh shit, I forgot. I’m sorry!” “Did you have a rough night?” Arlech asks gently. “I don’t want to talk about it, come on, let’s go,” Celine says quickly, rushing to get her shoes on and grab her bag and spellbook. As she tries to walk out of the room, he stops her, “Hold on, no, what happened?” “I said, I don’t want to talk about it!” She answers back harshly. “All right, all right, have it your way.” He says, stepping aside to let her walk out. The two head to the post-board and as they get there, the Elf Pirate shows up at the exact same time, “And what do you two think you’re doing here?” Celine clenches her jaw, “We were looking for some jobs to take.” “You?” the Elf scoffs, “You couldn’t beat me in a bar fight and you think you can fight anything more than a simple spider? Gods have mercy.” “You’re a cunt, you know that, right?” Celine says, trying to hold in her anger. “And you don’t know what respect is,” The Elf shot back. “Why should I respect you?! You’re a fucking pirate, and pirates certainly don’t know what respect is!” Celine shouted. “I’m not saying you should respect pirates, I’m saying you should respect your superiors, and as I’m superior to you when it comes to fighting, well.” She said, glancing at her nails. “Will you two knock it off?!” Arlech shouted, which surprised both women, “There’s only one way to solve this, and that’s all three of us going to the Solarstriders and joining them, together,” the two women started

arguing with him and he said, “Now,” “Absolutely not, I’d rather die than work with this cunt!” Celine shouted and at the same time the Elf says, “As if I’d work with this weakling!” “Fine, if there’s no convincing you two,” Arlech says, “I’ll just drag you there.” He just barely manages to get ahold of Celine, but the Elf is too quick and gets out of the way, saying, “No way in the Nine Hells am I going with you and Weakling here. I’d rather go get a drink.” This gives Arlech an idea, “If you go with us, I’ll buy drinks for you and your entire crew if we get in.” The Elf smirks, “Now that sounds like a good deal, definitely enough to repay me for dealing with Weakling over there.” Celine sighed, “I have a name you know.” Arlech snickers, “Now that sounds familiar.” “Shut up.” Celine responds and she begrudgingly walks to the Guild with the other two.

They finally arrive, and when they walk in, they’re greeted by what was, in Celine’s opinion, the ugliest creature she had ever seen. It was a woman with long blackish-green hair, greenish-brown skin, and giant lower teeth that reminded her of tusks on an elephant, the woman spoke, “May I help you?” her voice was raspy and low and she glared over at the three of them. “Hello gorgeous,” Arlech said, “what’s your name?” The woman rolled her eyes, “You’re not the first one to try that, Half-Devil, now what is it you want?” Arlech backed up and rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed, “We were just wondering if we could join the Solarstriders.” “You lot?” She laughed, “Give me a break. Do you think we just accept people with no consideration for their talents, or lack thereof? You three don’t even look like you can take on a regular old Gnoll, let alone the type of creatures we usually fight.” “Please?” Arlech begged. “No.” The woman said and started to turn away when the Elf shot her gun in the air, leaving a bullet hole in the roof, and then she pointed it to the woman at the desk, “You’ll let us apply or we’ll destroy your precious Guild building,” The woman got up in the Elf’s face and said, “The only thing you’ll ‘destroy’ is yourselves if you do not leave this establishment right this instant after the damage you just caused.” “Ma’am, please,” Celine said, “if you let us pay for the damage by working, we’ll leave you for good.” “Get. Out. Now.” The woman said, shoving them out the door when a tall man with black hair in a buzz cut and with olive skin stepped out of a door at the back, “Mistress, what’s going on?” “Go back to the barracks Sidqiel, it’s none of your concern. You may be a Guild member, but you’re not the leader, and how I handle trespassers is none of your business.” He looks over the trio, “Were they trying to join the Guild?” “No, not at all, they-“ but the Mistress was cut off by Arlech, “Yes, yes we were, and your leader here treated us with disrespect and wouldn’t give us a chance.” Sidqiel was skeptical, but asked the Mistress, “Mistress Bula, is this true?” The woman sighed in frustration, “Yes, but they-“ but she was cut off by the younger man, “Mistress, if they were trying to join, let them. I’ll oversee their trial myself.” “No, they burst in here and didn’t even make an appointment, now please go train or something while I deal with these hooligans.” The Mistress said sternly. “Please?” Sidqiel tried again. The woman rubbed her eyes, “Fine, but they only get one chance, if they fail, they must leave the Solarstriders and never return or ask again, “Do you understand?!” she says to the trio and all three nod. “Good, now, let me see if I can find something,” she says and pulls out a large wooden chest, digging through it. “Hmm, nothin’ too fancy today, but a fishing village outside of Crisherton is dealing with Gnoll raids on the daily and there’s not a fighter among the villagers, so more and more villagers have been getting kidnapped or killed. They need someone to fight them off and bring a pelt back as proof of getting rid of them.” Never having heard of ‘Gnolls’ before, Celine whispered to Arlech, “What the actual fuck is a Gnoll?” “You’ll find out,” the Tiefling responded, making Celine instantly shut up and turn back to the woman. “You lot up for it?” The woman asked the trio, who all said yes. “Good, Sidqiel will join you on this, if you fail, you leave and never come again. You succeed, we’ll consider the damage from Miss trigger-happy over here paid for and you can join the Guild. The reward is entirely up to the chief of the village, now be on your way.”

They walk out, joined by Sidqiel, who says, “I apologize for the Mistress, she’s a bit, intense, but you don’t become a guild leader by being nice I suppose.” “So, you’re telling us she’s always like that?” Celine asks Sidqiel. “Yes, unfortunately. Now, before we head to the fishing village, we should stop and buy a few necessities.” The man said, it was then, now that she was closer to him, that Celine noticed he had heterochromia, but an interesting form of it she’d never seen. One eye was green, which was normal enough, but the other was a bronze color and metallic just like the metal. She tilted her head and Sidqiel laughed, “I see you’ve noticed my eyes. Quite interesting, are they not?” he smiles, but his smile doesn’t reach his eyes, Celine notices. “Yeah, I guess.” She says, starting to feel uncomfortable. “Anyway,” he says, facing forward, “let’s go get the items and rid this village of these Gnolls, I’m sure the Chief of the Village will award us handsomely.” The Quartet made their way down the cobblestone street to wherever Sidqiel was leading them, the silence amongst them only being broken by the Elf, “So where are we going? Where are we buying items and what’s the name of this fishing village? Or do you just expect us to trust you?” Arlech whispers to Celine, “Well that sounds familiar,” and they both laugh. “What’s so funny?” Snaps the Elf. Celine clears her throat, “Nothing, nothing at all.” “Enough,” comes Sidqiel’s voice, “If you need to know so badly, we’re going to a shop called The Glass Key, which has many magical items you all may need. As for the village, it’s called Tortoise Landing because Tortoises lay their eggs on the beach every year and return to the rainforest until their eggs hatch. Is that enough information for you?” “Yes, much appreciated,” the Elven woman’s voice says back sarcastically. They finally make it to The Glass Key and the four walk in, a Shopkeep that kind of reminded Celine of the dragons from Game of Thrones was at the front desk and greeted Sidqiel warmly, “Ah, Sidqiel! What can I do for my favorite customer today?” “Hello Myuustik, how are you doing today? I have some new recruits for the Solarstriders here, we’re off to fight Gnolls for their trial.” Sidqiel responded. The dragon looking creature looked behind Sidqiel, “Oh hello there! What are your names?” Before Celine could answer, the Elf says, “Our names are our business and no one else’s, now get us what we need.” “This one is quite sharp-tongued I see, she could almost compete with Mistress Bula with that attitude,” Myuustik said. “Yes, that attitude almost got them a restraining order from the Mistress herself after their, shall we say, abrupt entrance. Anyway, I believe we’ll be buying eight regular healing potions and some camping gear for their trial. Put it on the Solarstriders’ account please.” “Coming right up Sidqiel! Good luck to you all.” Myuustik said with a grin and went to the back of the shop. When he returned, he said, “Alright, so, two healing potions each for the four of you, four bedrolls, four traveler’s clothes, rations for five days, and two, two-person tents. Four-hundred and eighteen gold and five silver in total, on the Solarstriders’ account. I hope the Mistress can pay for it all.” “I’m sure she can, and if not, we’re likely to get paid more than enough to pay it back after the contract is done,” Sidqiel responds and off they all go.

As they approach the wall to leave, they’re stopped by guards, “Halt, what is your business outside of the city?” “This lot are new recruits for the Solarstriders, so if I were you, I’d let us through or Mistress Bula will be very upset that we didn’t complete the contract,” Sidqiel answers. “Show us proof or we’ll not let you out.” One of the guards said gruffly. Sidqiel pulls out the contract from his pocket and shows the guards, “Now may we leave?” The guards backed off, “Yes, you may, but be careful, bandits have been seen on the roads lately, and we don’t usually see them this close to the city, so something must be driving them from their hideouts.” “Duly noted, we’ll keep an eye out, right folks?” Sidqiel says, glancing at the trio behind him, all of which say, “Yes sir.” “See, already some sort of discipline. Have a good day my good sirs.” Sidqiel said cheerfully and the quartet walked out of the city. After walking a good five hours, the sun began to set and their stomachs all growled. “I say this is a good place to rest for the night, but keep off of the road. We’ll camp in the underbrush over there,” Sidqiel said, pointing out several trees and bushes off to the right of the group. “Do you really think it’s a good idea to stop?” The Elf said, rolling her eyes, “Why not keep walking as much as we can and then rest for the night?” “You heard what those guards said, right? The roads aren’t safe at night and there are bandits around here.” Celine said, annoyed that this girl in front of her had even thought of such things. The Elven woman sighed in annoyance, “Fine, whatever, I just thought we’d get this done quicker, but what do I know?” Sidqiel and Arlech sighed in relief about not having to interfere with the women fighting and Sidqiel said, “All right, we have two tents that can fit two people in them, I say we the guys in one tent and the girls in the other.” This caused a fight to break out, “You expect me to sleep with her?! Have you lost your mind?! We’d kill each other!” Celine shouted. “More like I would kill you, little miss weakling!” The Elf shouted back. Sidqiel rubbed his temples and shouted, “Enough! This trial is about learning to work together as a group because if you can’t work with a group, you cannot join the Solarstriders. Every contract requires a group to go because they tend to handle things far worse than bandits and Gnolls that can’t be taken on alone, like dragons for example, and I’m not talking Dragonborns like Myuustik, I mean large, vicious Dragons like Elder Dragons for example. Now, you two will sleep in the same tent or you can leave right now and never bother the Solarstriders again.” The two women begrudgingly agreed and Arlech handed them a tent. Once the camp was set up, Sidqiel pulled out dry meats and bread for everyone. “We have rations for five days,” he said, “I doubt we’ll need all of them as it’s a two day walk to Tortoise Landing and a two day walk back to Crisherton. Eat up, you’ll need your strength.” Celine hesitantly ate the food, wishing she was back in her world and could order Chinese takeout and watch trash TV instead. At that moment, she felt like something was trying to get into her mind, but as she tried to push it away, it failed, and suddenly she felt very watched by eyes that she could not see. Her facial expression changes without her realizing it, which prompts Arlech to ask, “Hey, are you all right? You look awfully uncomfortable.” Not wanting sympathy or to worry anyone, Celine says, “Maybe it’s because I’m with a person I don’t know, a person I hate, and a person who shamelessly flirts with anything with a pulse, if I can even call half of you people.” Knowing the flirting comment is about himself, Arlech says, “Hey, that’s hurtful.” “Good, I hope so. I’m gonna go for a walk, don’t bother me,” she starts. “I don’t think that’s such a good-“ the Tiefling says and Celine shoots back, “I said, don’t bother me,” and storms off. Sidqiel looks around awkwardly, “Is she always like that?” “Yes,” The Elf and Tiefling say simultaneously. “Right, well, I’ll

take the first watch, which of you will join me?” Sidqiel asks. “I will,” The Elven Pirate responds in a bored tone. “Okay, and you, Tiefling, what’s your name?” Sidqiel asks. “Arlech.” The Merlot haired man answers. “Arlech, get some rest, you’ll do the next watch with the redhead.” “Her name is Celine, and will do.” Arlech responds and gets into the tent.

Once she gets a moment to herself, Celine leans against a tree and slides down it, the bark leaving marks on her shirt. Just then, she hears Maverick’s voice in her head, “I see you’re outside of the city now.” “What the fuck do you want, you bastard?” Celine answers. “My, my, vulgar today, are we?” The Royal Wizard responds. “Who wouldn’t be when it comes to you?” The redhead said through gritted teeth. “People who know their place in this world.” Came the man’s voice. “Well, good thing I don’t know my place, then.” She answers. “Then learn it.” The Royal Wizard responded. When she didn’t hear another message from him, she turned around and threw a Fire Bolt at the tree behind her. She hit the tree and left a scorch mark on it, then headed back to camp. Back at camp, the Elf and Sidqiel are keeping watch, neither really see anything. They hear a rustle, but when they look over, it’s just a deer eating grass, which gets scared off when the two notice it. Once Celine gets back, they tell her to get some sleep and she mumbles to herself, “Gladly.” A few hours pass and Sidqiel and the Elf wake up Arlech and Celine, telling them it was their turn to keep watch. Arlech and Celine both force themselves to get up and they sit near the fire, looking at the surroundings around them, Celine still half asleep while Arlech is wide awake. “So, are you gonna talk about what happened last night or not?” Arlech asks the shorter one. “I said I didn’t want to talk about it. Do you understand what, ‘I don’t want to talk about it’ means?” Celine shot at him. “Yes, I do, but there are some things you shouldn’t keep to yourself.” Arlech responded in a frustrated tone. “And why should I tell you? You just met me forty-eight hours ago, and you think I’d be willing to tell you anything? Get real.” She answers, rolling her eyes. “I’m just trying to be a good friend!” He answers. “Well you’re not my friend, you barely even know me! Maybe consider getting to know people instead of mindlessly flirting with them all the time!” She whisper-yells at him. Just then, they hear a crunching sound, like a stick. When they turn their heads, they see five figures in the shadows, all with weapons of some sort in their hands. “Wake the others,” Arlech whispered as he pulled out his Lute. Celine rushed into the tents, waking both Sidqiel and the Elf up, “We’ve got company” was all she told them. The two hopped up and quickly changed and grabbed their weapons. The first figure approaches and when it comes into what’s left of the firelight, they see it’s a man with a scraggly looking face, with a scar over his left eye, he says, “Give us your gold and maybe we’ll let you live.” “How about no?” Celine says and pulls out her spellbook. “So be it,” the man says and runs up to Celine, trying to slice her in the stomach, and manages to do so. She clutches at her stomach and glares at him, firing Magic Missile at her attacker while a second figure comes out of the shadows, this one is a woman, and she fires her crossbow at Sidqiel. Celine hits her attacker with one Magic Missile while the other two go wide, at the same time, the bolt from the second figure goes wide and misses Sidqiel entirely. A third figure steps out, a man, with studded leather armor and a green bandana on his head, and he throws a dagger at the Blonde Elf and hits her. The fourth figure steps out, another woman, and she runs up to Arlech, trying to attack him with her scimitar. She succeeds and leaves a cut in his chest. Sidqiel casts a spell and a giant, translucent Morningstar appears next to the figure that attacked him, it hits her and knocks her off of her feet. The Elven Pirate pulls out her pistol and shoots at her attacker, but the bullet doesn’t come out and she whispers, “Son of a bitch” to herself. The figure with the bandana chuckled at her and pulled out his scimitar. A fifth figure steps out, male and shoots a crossbow at Celine, but it misses and hits a tree. Arlech pulls out his short sword, taking a swing at his attacker, but swings wide, then he tries to cut the woman in front of

him with his dagger, but she just barely gets out of the way, a smirk on her lips. The first man who attacked Celine attacks her again and manages to do so. Celine casts Mage Armor on herself to protect herself while the figure who attacked Sidqiel fires her crossbow at him again, but the bolt just flies up into the air and lands ten feet from Sidqiel. The man with the bandana throws a second dagger at the Elf, but it misses and he runs up closer. The woman who attacked Arlech sliced at him again, and hit him with ease, then backflipped away from him, but landed on her backside. Arlech looked ragged and like he was about to pass out. Sidqiel uses the giant translucent Morningstar again on the same woman and hits her again and now she begins to look ragged and like she’s going to pass out. The Elven woman stuffs her gun back in its holster and pulls out her Great Sword, running towards the man who attacked her and taking a swing at him. He glared at her with disdain and got himself ready. Celine’s second attacker shoots his crossbow again and hits her easily, immediately taking her down and she passes out. Arlech glares, casts a spell called Thunderwave and his attacker gets hit and she’s shoved ten feet away and is knocked out cold on the ground, then he runs towards Celine. Celine’s first attacker slices at Celine again leaving more cuts in her skin and suddenly her last breath escapes her body and she’s lying lifeless on the ground. Sidqiel’s attacker fires a crossbow at him, but it misses entirely again. Sidqiel laughs at the woman’s failure and gets ready to attack again. The man with the bandana slices at the Elven woman, and hits her, leaving a nasty gash in her arm. Sidqiel hits his attacker with the giant Morningstar again and kills her instantly. The Elf slices at the man with the bandana again, but he steps out of the way, which causes her to growl at him. Celine’s second attacker attacks the Elf with his crossbow but misses entirely. Celine’s first attacker slices at Arlech with his scimitar and just hits him before he can move out of the way and Arlech is knocked out cold, falling on top of Celine’s lifeless body. The man with the bandana makes a slice at the Elven woman and hits her, but she’s still up even if she’s not looking great. Sidqiel attacks the man in front of the Elf, but misses entirely. The Elf swipes at the man in front of her again and hits him. Celine’s second attacker shoots his crossbow at Sidqiel and misses completely and growls in a frustrated manner. Celine’s first attacker shoots his crossbow at Sidqiel and also misses completely. The man in the bandana throws a dagger at Sidqiel and misses entirely as well. Sidqiel tries to hit the man in front of the Elf again, but the translucent Morningstar just does not hit him. The Pirate slices into the man, but he steps out of the way too quickly. Celine’s second attacker shoots his crossbow at Sidqiel but to no avail. Celine’s first attacker tries again as well, no luck. The man in the bandana slices at the Elf instead and slices into her shoulder, causing her to fall on the ground. Sidqiel runs over to the Elf as fast as he can and heals her up, she gasps and gets up. “Why you son of a-, “ the man with the bandana said. “Elf, go to Arlech and heal him up as quickly as possible,” Sidqiel whispers to her. “My name is Daxina, and will do.” Daxina answered and ran over to Arlech. The man in the bandana gets a hit on Daxina as she gets out of his range, leaving a gash in her leg as she runs over to the Tiefling who’s out cold. Deciding Sidqiel is the biggest threat, Celine’s first attacker shoots his crossbow at him, but the bolt ends up in a tree. The man in the bandana slashes at Sidqiel, but Sidqiel steps to the side too quickly. Sidqiel then quickly tries to grab the man’s arm, but he moves it away too quickly. Daxina takes out the potion from her tent and pours it down Arlech’s throat and he awakes with a start, “What’s going on, what happened?” “Not now,” Daxina said, “we still have a problem.” Arlech looks over as Celine’s second attacker

shoots a crossbow at Sidqiel, finally hitting him and causing some sort of damage. Feeling hopeful, Celine’s first attacker tries to shoot at Sidqiel as well, managing to hit him. The man in the bandana grins and slices at Sidqiel, hitting him as well, knocking him out cold. Daxina slices at Celine’s second attacker, slicing into him like ham. The man she attacked, attacked her, but she jumped out of the way. Arlech then cast Thunderwave, knocking one bandit out cold and accidentally knocking Daxina out. “Sorry,” he says and runs to the man in the bandana. The second man who attacked Celine attacks him as he leaves and hits him. The man in the bandanna chuckles, “You really think you can take me?” “No,” Arlech said, “but I refuse to go down without a fight.” “So be it,” the assumed leader said and sliced at Arlech hitting him square in the chest, knocking him out cold. The two remaining bandits spit on the bodies of their victims and left, not caring for what they had if they had been that weak.

An hour later, a Tabaxi walked by, and she saw everyone on the ground. She checked their pulses and found all but one had a slow, steady heartbeat, “Oh dear, this will never do,” she said and healed the three she could heal, and they all sat up quickly and noticed her, “Who are you?” Daxina asked, still not fully there. “My name is Jolien, I’m a Druid, and I can see you all need help. The redhead, how long has she been dead?” “An hour,” Arlech answered her, looking down. “Well, then I think we’ll be just fine.” Jolien answered and walked over to Celine, cold and dead, Jolien placed a hand on Celine’s arm and said words that no one but Daxina understood, “Al’katar,” the others looked in confusion, “ ’Come back,’ she says,” Daxina translates, “Al’katar norvium,” the Tabaxi continues, “ ’Come back to the light,’ ” translates Daxina. The next thing they all knew, Celine sits up, gasps, and coughs. “Welcome back young one,” Jolien said and Celine screamed at seeing a giant cat in front of her. “Shh, shhh, don’t worry, you’re safe,” the Tabaxi says. “What the hell are you?!” Celine exclaims as she backs away on the ground. “My name is Jolien, I’m what’s called a Tabaxi, and I just brought you back to life.” “Excuse me?” Celine asks, stunned. “Yes, I just brought you back, you weren’t breathing.” The Tabaxi reassures. “I-I was dead?” Celine asks, still processing what she just heard, “You really mean that?” she asks, looking at the giant cat in front of her, which was still an odd sight to her. Before Jolien could answer her, Arlech and Sidqiel ran over and knelt by her and started asking what seemed like fifty-thousand questions, “Are you okay?” “Did you meet or see any of the Gods?” “Do you need help up?” Celine covered her ears and said, “Shut up, please! And back the fuck off!” Jolien lightly pushed the two men back and backed up herself while Daxina looked on in shock at everything that happened, wondering how a Tabaxi knew Elvish. Celine sat up fully and leaned against a tree, she inhaled deeply and sat for a minute, just in silence as the others looked on, confused. When she exhaled, she said, “So you’re telling me, I died, as in, actually died, and somehow I was brought back to life? That makes no logical sense. Especially in this world where it seems like it’s all early versions of weapons and furniture, compared to where I’m from. You wouldn’t have the equipment to even attempt that, my world doesn’t and it’s more advanced than this.” Jolien walked up, slowly, “Well, I don’t know where you’re from, dear, but with magic, we can, depending on how long the person or creature has been dead. What I used on you, the creature or person can’t have been dead for 200 or more years. You had only been gone an hour and it was the only one I had prepared, so it was quite easy to bring you back,” she turned to the other three, “and this question goes to all four of you. What in the Gods’ names were you doing out here in the middle of the night? These roads are dangerous at night nowadays.” “They were to join the Solarstriders, we were on the way to Tortoise Landing, the fishing village two days from Crisherton, for their trial. They’re having a bit of a Gnoll problem. These bandits, I presume, that attacked us were not part of it. They tried to attack our camp,” Sidqiel responds and Daxina adds, “Now, before you lecture us about getting beaten by simple bandits, there was this large man with them that seemed to be their leader.” “I would have done no such thing,” Jolien answers, “But that certainly explains it. If their leader was with them, that means something drove them out of wherever they were hiding.” “Do you think it might have been the Gnolls?” Arlech asks. The Tabaxi scoffed, “Gods no, a Captain or Leader of the bandits could easily handle a Gnoll, a small group of them even. No, it had to have been something big. I need to report this to the City Watch in Crisherton, but that will wait until tomorrow. You all go to sleep, I’ll keep an eye out for anything else.” The quartet agreed and climbed into their tents, going to

sleep with ease.

[missjanjie]

Signed, Sealed, Delivered | (2/?)

Title: Signed, Sealed, Delivered Summary:   Jan is in love with her French pen pal, Nicky. Her roommate, Crystal, is in love with her best friend, Gigi. A (perhaps ill-thought out) plan emerges: give Nicky a reason to visit by inviting her to Crystal and Gigi’s wedding. With a month to pull the scheme together, no one knows how this will end up. Word Count: 2.9k (this chapter) / 5.8k (total) Relationship(s): Sportsdoll (Jan Sport/Nicky Doll), Crygi (Crystal Methyd/Gigi Goode Rating: T (so far)

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and thanks to @janssports for beta-ing~

-

Crystal had spent two days trying to figure out how to explain this new situation to Gigi. She considered testing the waters by joking about it, then thought maybe she should just rip the Band-Aid off and tell her outright. But any train of thought drove her right into a wall. And Jan wasn’t much help either.

“Maybe you could text her,” Jan had mused offhandedly. She was trying to help as much as she could – her suggestion was made while she was sitting in front of her laptop researching what actually went into planning a wedding, method acting, if you will. They were committed to this lie now, it seemed like there was no choice but to go all in.

“Text her?!” Crystal’s eyes were wide, she couldn’t possibly be serious. “I can’t just be like, ‘Hey Geege, Jan told Nicky we’re getting married lol T-T-Y-L and hope for the best.”

“Well, obviously not that, no one says T-T-Y-L anymore.”

“Jan!”

Jan sighed, spinning her desk chair around to face her. “I’m sorry, but I already have a lot of ground to cover. Telling Gigi is your job.”

Crystal threw her head back and whined. “But I don’t wanna.”

“Would you rather I do it?”

She quickly put her hands up in surrender. “No, no, I got it,” she assured. “She’s still at the studio, I’ll just… go there and tell her when she’s finished. I’ll call you if I need backup.”

“Get it done, sis.” Jan hummed before turning back to the screen, mumbling under her breath about how unreasonably expensive wedding bouquets are. “They’re flowers. Why would you pay that much for fucking flowers?”

And Crystal had hoped the walk she took from there to the studio would help her build her nerve, but she was hit with a new wave of anxiety the moment Gigi saw her.

Gigi waved her over, not straying from her work station. “I’ll be about another fifteen minutes or so, but you can just hang out if you don’t mind waiting.”

“Oh, yeah, no that’s fine,” she assured, sitting at one of the empty stations. On a normal day, she would enjoy watching Gigi at work. There was something almost magical about watching someone create art they were passionate about that Crystal found absolutely entrancing. Plus, it was Gigi – she could watch her read the phone book.

“So, what’s up with you?” Gigi asked casually, holding up two different types of lace against white fabric.

Crystal wasn’t sure what she opened her mouth to say, but she ended up blurting out, “We need to pretend to be getting married when Nicky comes here to visit Jan.”

That stopped Gigi in her tracks. She set the lace down and turned to face her friend. “I’m sorry, what?”

Crystal took a deep breath, feeling almost relieved that she had ripped the bandage off, but still worried that she wouldn’t be able to explain herself in a way that would actually get the other girl on board with this charade. “So… here’s the thing. Jan obviously really wants to see Nicky in person, but they haven’t been able to commit to a plan. So I, being the super smart person I am, suggested she tell her there’s an event coming up that she should fly out for. And… long story short that event is our wedding and now we’re along for the ride.”

Gigi blinked, taking the time to digest the information she received. “What the fuck, Crystal?” She pressed her lips together and shook her head. “Well, when’s the ‘wedding?’”

“In like, a month. Maybe two.”

With her lips still in a fine line, Gigi let out a strangled noise of frustration. “In a month or two,” she repeated, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment. “You know what? Fuck it, let’s do what we have to do.”

Crystal felt a massive weight lift from her chest and she exhaled deeply. “Really?”

“I mean, I’m never gonna let you hear the end of it, but yeah. Sure. Why not?” She shrugged. Glancing over at her dress, she decided she’d done enough work for the day. “I guess we better reconvene with Jan then.”

As she pushed herself back to her feet, Crystal still felt a little lightheaded. Sure, she was thanking every possible deity that Gigi was on board with this half-baked scheme, but now she would have far fewer chances to suppress and ignore her feelings. “Yeah, she’ll definitely appreciate that.”

When they did return to the apartment, Jan was still on her laptop in her room, deeply immersed in her research. It took Crystal and Gigi getting right in front of her for her to even become aware of her presence. “Oh, hey guys,” she greeted, setting her laptop next to her on the bed before looking at Crystal. “Did you tell her?”

“Very subtle, Jan,” Crystal retorted flatly. “But yes, I told her.”

“When did you tell Nicky to come here?” Gigi asked.

Jan shrugged. “I didn’t give a specific date yet. So, you know, work that out amongst yourselves. Also, you guys should get registered at some stores. At least that way if someone stumbles upon it, you could get like… a toaster or something.”

“I do love toast,” Gigi mused. “But I wanna know just how far we’re taking this. Like, are Crystal and I gonna pretend to get married? Do we break up? Or are you gonna wait til after you get Nicky in bed with you and then tell her the truth?”

“I… haven’t actually gotten that far yet,” she admitted. “I don’t think we should stage a fake wedding, though. Because then you guys are just gonna have to keep up the act indefinitely or get a fake divorce. We’ll work it out as we keep going.”

Crystal leaned against Jan’s desk, finally coming to terms with the fact that the three of them were definitely not backing out of this, that there was no chance of just scrapping the plan and calling it a day. “So other than that, what do we need to do?”

Jan picked her laptop back up. “We need to make a couple of invitations, I figure we could just get one or two free samples, just to send one to Nicky and keep one for our own records. Crystal needs to rent or borrow a dress, and we should probably go through the motions of planning a wedding without like, going fifty thousand dollars in debt.”

“Rings!” Gigi suddenly exclaimed. “What are we gonna do about rings? That’s a pretty fucking important part of being engaged.”

Crystal and Jan looked at each other, both of them searching for an answer, but there was the slightest bit of amusement in their expressions when it became clear that Gigi was now taking this as seriously as they were. “I’m sure we could get some convincing fake ones online. It’s not like she’s a professional jewelry appraiser,” Jan suggested.

“I’m not wearing something that’ll turn my finger green,” Gigi warned with a grave deadpan. “I’ll see if my mom has anything we can borrow. She has a collection of vintage and like, random, unique jewelry. I’m sure she’ll let me temporarily poach something off of her.”

Jan arched her brow. “So you’re gonna rope her into this too? Or are you gonna give her some other excuse?”

That gave Gigi pause, and she realized she was either going to bring another person into the party or dig all of them into a deeper hole. “I should probably just tell her,” she decided, the other two girls nodding in agreement.

“I would really like to watch this conversation take place,” Crystal piped up.

“Well, why don’t you guys do that? I’ve got a call with Nicky in ten,” Jan chimed in, looking at her phone.

“Well, far be it for us to interrupt your sexy Skype session,” Gigi retorted with a soft laugh. “Come, Crystal,” she curled her finger, and the two of them left Jan to her own devices.

Jan waved them off before getting up to fix her hair and makeup in the mirror, then moved her laptop to her desk so she could look at the screen dead-on. When she saw Nicky calling, she beamed brightly as she answered it. “Well damn, what sort of runway are you dressed up for?”

Nicky laughed and looked down. Her hair was styled up in a bouffant and the normally straight locks were in gentle waves. Her makeup – which Jan knew she did herself – was immaculate beyond reproach. “Don’t jinx it, I had my friend take some headshots for my portfolio today. So, fingers crossed there are runways in the future.”

“It’s basically a given, I can just tell,” Jan grinned, her elbows propped on her desk and face in her hands. The look in her eyes was full to the brim with enamored adoration; even she was surprised that Nicky hadn’t picked up on her feelings. “And then I’ll get to say I knew you way back when.”

“Bitch please,” she scoffed. “If I ever get famous, you know I’m flying your ass out here first class. It wouldn’t be fun without my sweet Janice by my side.”

She blushed, her hands moving from her face to stroke her ponytail. Hearing Nicky call her ‘hers’ in any capacity had her heart ready to leap right out of her chest. It was times like that that made her wonder if it would’ve been that crazy for her to profess her feelings, if she was building all of this fear and anxiety over owning her feelings for nothing. It sometimes felt like a declaration of love was dancing on the tip of her tongue, threatening to slip past her lips.

But nothing was ever enough to get her over that hurdle. Her stubborn fear of rejection outweighed even common sense. So, instead, she kept it sweet and vague. “Well, you know I’ll always be there whether you like it or not.”

“I’m offended you think there’s a chance I wouldn’t.” Nicky scoffed playfully. “Anyway, what have you been up to today?”

“Oh, just… helping the girls with planning and stuff.” It was technically true, so she counted it as one less lie she was telling her. She found that the easiest thing to do was to just keep the focus off herself until she felt more confident in this charade. “It’s just boring details really. Have you been working on learning any songs lately?”

Nicky shook her head. “Actually, I was hoping to convince you to sing for me,” she cooed, batting her lashes in an over-exaggerated manner.

It was a look that Jan was an undeniable sucker for that look, and she was certain that Nicky had figured out that much. “I suppose I could do that. Any requests?”

Nicky tilted her head, taking a moment to think. “Can you do that one from Grease? The magic one?”

Jan giggled softly, knowing she meant ‘Those Magic Changes.’ The song had been buried in her repertoire for ages until she’d stumbled upon a clip of her performing it in her freshman year of college. She’d sent it to Nicky, just thinking it’d be a cute throwback of sorts, but her penpal absolutely loved it, and brought it up every time she could. She didn’t quite get it, but she was thrilled that there was something she could do that would make her so happy. “For you? Of course.”

Once Jan found the karaoke version of the song on her phone, she played it and sang along, serenading Nicky as she’d done a number of times. While it was night time in France, it was still late afternoon for her, so she wasn’t concerned about the volume. Though, even if it had been later, she probably would have risked it – it just wouldn’t be the same if she used her ‘neighbor friendly’ voice.

Nicky applauded cheerfully when Jan finished. Her eyes were bright and warm with the enthusiasm of a child who just heard their favorite bedtime story despite getting it every night. It simply never got old for her. “You’re going to have to sing me to sleep every night once we’re in the same time zone,” she mused.

“You know I will,” Jan smiled softly, her mind conjuring up the image of the two of them laying in bed together, cuddled up close after a long day. Nicky would hold her in her arms while she sang to her, then fall asleep in her embrace, knowing she would sleep soundly because she got to wake up in her arms. She already knew what she smelled like, thanks to her scented letters, and longed to be able to wake up to it lingering on her skin instead of soaked into paper, she just yearned for the day where none of her senses were deprived of the other girl.

“You’re so good to me,” she cooed.

“That’s right, now I’m going to remind you to take that makeup off.” She chuckled. “It’s like, a quarter to eleven where you are, I don’t want you falling asleep with all that on.”

Nicky snorted softly. “There it is.” She rolled her eyes fondly, then reached across her desk. “I came prepared for this,” she explained, holding up a pack of makeup wipes. And, just to assure her she was actually following through, she took a wipe out and began cleaning off her face.

Jan grinned triumphantly. “See? I knew I’d start to rub off on you sooner or later.” Of course, she was guilty of just as many bad habits, if not more. But that was beside the point as far as she was concerned. Either way, she watched until Nicky had finished cleaning off her face, and she almost found it unfair that someone could be even more flawless underneath the makeup.

“Okay, I’m going to get ready for bed before you lecture me about that too,” Nicky teased. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, bye!” She blew a kiss at the screen before they ended the call.

After the call ended, Jan closed her laptop and got up to look in the mirror. She stared at herself, silently questioning why she was like this, so hopelessly taken with someone that it clouded her judgement, that she let thoughts of her cloud both her waking thoughts and her dreams. It was as frustrating and painful as it was intoxicatingly addictive.

The only thing that pulled Jan from her train of thoughts was her phone ringing, and she nearly dropped it as she got it out from her pocket. “What’s up, Crystal? Please tell me this isn’t a crisis call.”

“No, no, everything’s fine,” Crystal quickly assured. “We’re at Gigi’s mom’s house and she invited us to stay for dinner. So I won’t be back for like… another couple hours, give or take.”

“Oh, okay, cool. I take it the ring issue was taken care of?”

Crystal beamed, admiring the ring on her finger as if Gigi had actually proposed to her with it. “Everything’s fine on that front, trust me. I have to send you a picture of this, you’re gonna die.”

Jan laughed lightly. “I’m sure I will. Go ahead, then enjoy your dinner. Tell Mama Goode I said hi.”

“Can do,” Crystal assured before hanging up, her eyes still trained on the ring. The ring itself was rose gold, the band carved with vine-like design. The diamond at the center was square-cut and surrounded by tiny, round diamonds. While just towing the line of being over-the-top, it had the sort of unique, quirky vibe that made it perfect for someone like her.

“It’s like it was made for you,” Gigi had told her when she picked it out. “It’s actually kind of spooky.” She had picked out a ring for herself as well, one that had more of an antique aesthetic that she appreciated. It was gold with diamonds embedded along the band, centering an ornately-bordered radiant-cut diamond. It wasn’t as flashy as Crystal’s, but she was drawn to the details in the ring.

When they put their left hands on the table next to each other, they noted that there weren’t any significant similarities between what they’d chosen, but both of their personalities seemed properly represented. “We should have a little hand-modeling shoot for this,” Gigi mused, figuring she could ask her mom for help with that as well. They had explained their circumstances right away, and much to their relief, Gigi’s mom had found their story to be very funny and agreed to help however they needed under the condition that she could retell the tale once everything was over with. Crystal was happy to agree to these conditions, while Gigi did so more reluctantly.

Crystal wouldn’t admit as much, but as she sat down for dinner with the Goodes, it felt all too right. Like she was just having a meal with her future wife and mother-in-law, the energy that flowed among the three of them was always so calm and natural, even-keeled and even quiet at times. It was a stark contrast from her own family dinners in both positive and negative ways. But when it came down to it, what stood out the most to her was that she felt so perfectly at home with them, she couldn’t help but wish this at least felt fake. It would be easier to bear when it was all over.

[dailyaudiobible]

01/27/2021 DAB Transcript

Exodus 4:1-5:21, Matthew 18:1-20, Psalms 22:19-31, Proverbs 5:15-21

Today is the 27th day of January welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I'm Brian it is a joy, a privilege, an honor, all things good to be here with you around the Global Campfire taking the next step forward on our voyage through the Scriptures this year. All things are a go here in the rolling hills of Tennessee and I trust that all things are well with you wherever you might be on our big, beautiful planet that God has given us to steward and live upon and enjoy life together. So, let's dive in. we’re reading from the English Standard Version this week and we are getting to know this new figure that has appeared in the story. His name is Moses. And we’ll be traveling a long time with Moses. And I mean he…he will affect the rest of the Bible. So, Exodus chapter 4 verse 1 through 5 verse 21 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the book of Proverbs we basically have some self-evident wisdom. It's pretty clear what's being said here. But underneath it all, what is the…what is the ultimate warning? The ultimate warning is do not stray from the path, right? Don't leave the path of wisdom. So, isn't this very, very similar to what we are taught in the Gospels in terms of following the path of Christ so that we might be Christ-like? And what we are watching in Jesus ministry is that He is at teacher of wisdom. And, so, what we begin to understand is that there is a path that leads to life and the Bible continually reminds us that it exists, but it also reminds us not to stray from it. And it gives us all kinds of advice along the way about what it looks like when we do if we need that advice. But so often we don't need that advice because we've experienced what happens when we step away from wisdom or we walk away from the path and into rebellion. And, so, let’s remember, there is a path, there is a way. And if we would maybe…maybe slow down on all the excuses about why we can't be obedient or why we can't walk this path, maybe we should just try actually just walking the path and not…and not straying to the left or the right. I mean, here we are in the middle of the week about finish the first month of the year. How about we be very very intentional about walking the path and not deviating to the left of the right for the rest of this week. That would be a good way to bring the week to a landing. A lot of the things that have become tumultuous might begin to simmer down. So, let's consider the voice of wisdom as we so often do as we so often should.

Okay. If we go back to the book of Exodus where we started our journey today, we’re getting to know Moses. Moses has met with God. God has given him a command to go back and set His people free and be His mouthpiece. Really one of the saddest scenes of the Bible happens today because Moses is talking to the Almighty most-high God, who has said, “I have seen the plight of your family, your people. These are my people to. And I have…now they have flourished but now they are in slavery and I have heard what is happening to them. I'm going to set them free and you are going to be my instrument.” And Moses…Moses is talking to God and giving God every excuse about why he can't obey Him and they're having a direct conversation. And Moses is like, “I'm not a good speaker and, you know”, and God's like, “I’ll send Aaron.” And there's all this stuff going on until Moses heart is completely revealed. And this is the sad part. And we should think about our own lives because this is why it sad. Moses is invited by God to be a part of the story. And Moses in the end, says, “could you send somebody else besides me?” Oh. that has been my story. I…I can't run from that. That has been my story throughout many seasons of my life. That has been all of our stories at one point or another. And, so, this is how the Bible becomes this mirror where all the sudden, yeah, we’re in the story too. Certainly, we’re watching a narrative. Moses is going to Pharaoh. We’re watching all this stuff happen, but we begin to realize that the story here is mimicking our own story and that's not an accident. In the end Aaron comes, Aaron's the mouthpiece, Moses is the prophet, they convince all of the leaders that God has seen them. And then they go and confront Pharaoh and things only get worse, right? They only get worse. And, so, Moses is like, “what in the world have I done?” And the people are like, “what in the world have you done? You've made us stink to Pharaoh. He's like, there's no way we can do what he's asking us to do. He's gonna kill us all.” And that's where we leave the reading today. If we remember the story that we read just before this one, that was the story of Joseph. And didn't things get way worse before they ever got better? So, isn't there some kind of theme emerging here about following God. when God invites us to be a part of His story He’s going to confront evil. He's…He's not just going like, “Oh, now you believe. Let me…now you've won the lottery. Here's a new couch and here's a new voice activated TV, so you never have to leave that couch except to go into the kitchen and get food. Enjoy your life. God isn’t inviting us into laziness or idleness. He’s not just Santa Claus trying to bring presence. There’s evil in this world, and He would like to use this as His agents to be a part of removing it from the world. Because ultimately, we’re gonna watch throughout the stories of the Bible and we’re gonna hear all kinds of prophecies in the Bible that this is ultimately the objective. Gods not mad at people. He’s not trying to destroy people. He is fed up with the evil that is destroying people and His ultimate goal is to eradicate it, to remove the things that would separate us from God. And once that begins…I mean just like we were talking about, like, let's not deviate from the left to the right and stay on the path of wisdom for the rest of the week. If we do that, then the darkness that may exist on the margins of our lives, it won’t take long before kicking and squirming. It won't be long before we’re confronted with our own selves. And then we have to start asking ourselves the kinds of questions that we see in the ministry of Jesus. Do I actually want to live true even if that marginalizes me, even if all the games that I've been playing to kinda make the culture work for me, even all the falsehoods that I present to the world, even if those have to go do I want to be true? Even if it's gonna get more difficult before it gets easier, do I want to live true? Some pretty poignant things for us to think about as we continue our journey through the rest of this day.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit come. These are definitely penetrating things to consider - the path before us and not deviating from it, paying attention to wisdom to illuminate that path, understanding that living in wisdom and walking the narrow path that leads to life is not always going to be easy. In fact, often it won't be. Yes Jesus, we…we haven't reached this point yet but You will tell us that it is important to count…to count the cost and we’re beginning to see why that matters. So, come Holy Spirit and help us to walk true and walk the path of wisdom, even if only for the rest of this week. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

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And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, which is the little red button at the top in the app. You won't miss it. No matter where you are in the world you can hit the Hotline button and reach out or there are a number of numbers, phone numbers that you can use. In the Americas 877-942-4253 is the number to dial. If you are in the UK or Europe 44-20-3608-8078 is the number to call. If you are in Australia or that part of the world 61-3-8820- 5459 is the number to dial.

And that’s it for today, I’m Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello DABbers this is daughter of the King from Tennessee. Father we thank You according to Your word You have established us as Kings and priests unto the most-high King Jesus Christ. You said in Your word when the King said he decrees a thing it shall be established. Therefore, we DABbers decree and declare according to Your word that we are blessed in the city, we blessed in the field, where above only and not beneath, we are the head and not the tail, we blessed coming in, we blessed going out, we’re the lenders and not the borrow. We thank You Father we blessed upon our jobs. We blessed in our homes. We confess Your word that are families are blessed, our children are blessed, and prospers all the days of our lives. We thank You. Welcome everyone to this brand-new year. Welcome newcomers. And we thank You. Brian we just so…oh my God January the 22nd recording is so good, and we all need to save this and go back continuously on faith. The…the substance of faith allows us to have access to something we cannot prove, right Brian? We cannot prove. And we must have faith. Peter was walking on it, but he looked around. And that's what we do. We get discouraged when we look around and we fall. But we trust in God that we…that this 2021 would be the best year ever and we would not continue to look with our eyes that we would trust God in every…every area of our lives. I wanna continue to lift up Gary who called for prayer he would be going to Hospice. God we just praying and believing You with our faith that You would give him life, that he would…life would be restored and we thank You guys for everybody…

Hey this is Micah in awe in Kansas City. So, yesterday I didn't make it all the way through the DAB. Something with work came up or something where it stopped me during Brian’s…before the final message and I didn't get to hear the prayer. So, it kept bugging me, like I need to listen to the rest that just so I do my due diligence. And I was like, but the prayer is not that important, like it's just it's just the same old prayer da da da da. But man was I wrong. This morning I started out by listening to that. It would have been…it's the January the 22nd and heard these totally encouraging messages like Alyssa from Montana talking about how the Daily Audio Bible lets you be in the Bible daily. Amazing! Like, if…if the Daily Audio Bible only ever helps just you have a relationship with God in the mornings then it was so worth it, and it's done it to so many people and all…just insane. I'm…I'm so happy that I listened to the prayers. And I want to welcome you. I've been here like a year and a half or something like that and totally excited to have you in our family. Please call in and tell us how you're doing. Tell us…give us prayer request praise reports. The brother from Indiana. Man…like when you went through the faith of the people that called in, I really felt that. That’s incredible. And then there's another brother or you didn't leave your name, but you were talking about how you were struggling with a hard heart towards people. Dude, that is me too. Like, I've been struggling so hard to be loving and this virus times just makes it so easy to just put people off to the side and like get away from me. You know what I'm saying? And I want to join in on that prayer with you. I'm praying for you. This is Micah. Pray for me. God soften our heart. I love you all.

Hello, this my name Golden McQueen. I'm from __ McGill Nevada I'm nine years old and when…somebody really close to me and my grandma and me and my grandma died in…in a car crash and her name was Betsy Lopez. Today we're going to her funeral, but I could wish you…I wish you please send it out because I don't I…I want everybody to hear how sad that people because we live in a…how sad we are because we love __ and it's hard to get messages out. And we live in a the…rural area of Nevada. So, it's…it's hard…very hard to get messages…messages out. And I'm only nine years old but…but…but I wanted to do this for my grandma and for her as a lasting memory. Thank you very much and…

Hi this is Pamela from Pennsylvania. I am not feeling well today. So, it gives me a wonderful opportunity to catch up on the community prayers. I'm sitting here with my notebook and pen recording names and prayers. I'm getting to know all of you and lifting each request up in agreement with you. I wanted to share…the woman who's praying with hope for healing, I didn't catch her name today, talked about all of her life living in fear and that resonated with me. And just recently I the Holy Spirit may be aware that all of my life I've been making decisions out of fear. It started because of the environment that I grew up with…grew up in with my father being schizophrenic and beating my mother and I had to play the protection role standing in between. God has now healed me from all of that. He's healed me from the continuing saga of being married to two abusive husbands and I am now living in God's grace, freedom, healing and victory. I praise our Lord and savior and I encourage all of you that He really does love us and He really will heal us completely.

There was a woman that was very beautiful and her beauty was from the Lord she had never ever been with a man she was a irgin and very much adored even her brother who knew right from wrong wanted her so bad that it burned but his sister the Virgin wanted to please the Lord so all his advances she spurned he continued to burn and got physically sick and he forced her to do things his way and because he was bigger and stronger than she was there wasn't too much she could say but after the act his love turned to hate and he wanted her out of her sight She begged and she pleaded the best that she could but there was no way to make this thing right now the brother who raped her was soon killed himself by another brother who heard what he had done the father of all of them David was now very much ****** and the killer was now on the run then the killer got killed and the father was sad when the families in conflict it's all just plain bad families are very important to God but even more so they're important to us sometimes we don't understand all God's ways so it's very important just to trust don't desire the things that are wrong don't allow them to fester and burn Satan is always waiting my friends to trap you wherever you turn he destroyed their whole family and he'll destroy your house too he started in Eden and he's definitely not through so keep your desires above board and chase let all of your dealings be done face to face all of God's ways are wholly and pure and he won’t give you more than you're able to endure pray in his spirit do things his way and your strength will increase as you grow day by day

blindtony1016@gmail.com. I'd like to shout out to Mark Creed from down under. Know that you're being thought...

Good morning dear DAB this is Jeanette from Denmark I want to share something that I thought changed my life step by step. There's been many things, but since I moved here when I was twenty, I learned the example of two house church leaders who shared what their life had been like by simple example. We were at the little building that we had gotten permission to use and the pastor…well our school teacher he…he asked us to be quiet after a good period of singing together welcoming the Holy Spirit in. And I was at the projector and he said, well let's stop singing. Just let your heart rest and think of the Lord. Be still before the Lord. Know that He is here, and He is with, that He always has been and always will be and that you are in His arms at this moment. He is so good. He will never leave. He will never forsake you and He loves you. And that moment of breathing opened my heart to a whole different realm of possibility. The pattern started to become a walk, but also I knew I could be in the stillness with my Jesus, my savior, my father in heaven and the Holy Spirit. And in this time stillness and, yeah, the song of worship, it brings hope. I love you all. Bye.

[blackleatherjacketz]

My Brother’s Keeper: Chapter 16

Negan x Reader, King Ezekiel x Reader

Summary: Your brother runs away from the Sanctuary and you pay the price. This Chapter: You try to hide and recover from your first meeting with Negan in the woods.

Author’s Note: Sorry it’s been a while, I was going through some emotional turmoil and couldn’t write for a while, but I’m back. Enjoy! (Gif by @godlaughingwhilstyoumakeplans )

Featuring: King Ezekiel, Morgan, Richard

Warnings: Fluff, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Medical Supplies

Word Count: 2137

Read the rest of the story HERE!

Your walk back to the Kingdom was a mixture of both hot and cold, the open skin on your back saturated with sweat, cooling your body down while the blazing summer sun burned its hottest at high noon. You could feel your body begin to shiver as your brain tried its best to regulate your temperature. Sure, it was just a scratch if you broke it down to the bare basics, but it was still an open wound, a potential source of infection, something you needed to clean as soon as possible.

By the time you made it back to the infirmary, you only ran into a handful of villagers along the way. You’d kept your greetings short and your back against the wall as you tried to seem normal, creeping along the faces of each building like some sort of paranoid version of Spider-Man. That’ll do it, you told yourself, no one would suspect anything if you acted like that, right?

Too focused to really care, you shut the door behind you when you noticed that Dana had already left for lunch. You closed the blinds, taking your shirt off before twisting your body around in front of the mirror to get a better look. The scratches were deep and hurt like hell, jagged as they throbbed and drug you down to the ground as your blood pulsed through them. You pulled your skin toward the mirror, eyeing the damage he’d done before waltzing over to the cabinet for a bottle of normal saline. With all the shit he was up to these days, who knows what kind of bacteria was growing beneath Negan’s fingernails?

The door opened more quickly than you could anticipate, forcing you to curse yourself for not locking it as Morgan, Ezekiel and Richard all barged in. You didn’t have time to hide yourself from them before they saw the scratches on your skin. Instead, you clasped your arms around your chest and abdomen as they stared at you, Richard’s face swollen from several punches with burgundy blood dried just below his nose.

“Maria!” Morgan approached you without pretense, turning you around so he could inspect the markings on your back. “You’re bleeding. What happened? Did you get bit?” he asked shakily, slowly circling around you as he inspected the rest of your body for further injury. Apparently Richard’s situation wasn’t all that dire.

“Nothing, it’s nothing,” you lied to him. “I scratched myself hopping over the fence is all.”

“Hopping over the fence?” Those skeptical eyes squinted again, practically shrinking you with their lids as they closed together.

“Maria was…” Ezekiel interjected, stepping in between the two of you, “On a special mission for me outside the Kingdom.” He looked over at you with sympathetic eyes.

“With the Saviors?” Morgan challenged, shifting his weight from hip to hip as he faced his king. “She’s a nurse, not a fighter like me.”

“Yeah, you’re some sort of fighter, alright,” Richard piped in.

“Enough!” Ezekiel shot a scolding look at Richard before returning his gaze to Morgan. “Tensions are high enough after today’s events as it is! We don’t need them heightened between our own people.” He paused, noting the bottle of saline on the counter next to your hand. “Maria’s mission involved the Saviors, yes, and she’s encountered them before. Everyone in this room knows about our deal with them now, and it shall stay that way, not a single soul more, is that understood?”

Morgan nodded reluctantly, pressing his lips together in defeat.

“Morgan, take Richard outside and get him cleaned up. Maria and I have much to discuss.” He smiled at you as his eyebrows raised into his soft gray hairline, the usual sparkle in his eyes dull with heavy burden.

“You okay?” Morgan whispered into your ear before leaving your side.

“I’m alright,” you nodded, squeezing his shoulder. “I’ll catch up with you later.”

“Okay,” he trusted, taking your word.

Ezekiel waited until Morgan’s footsteps had died down the hallway before locking the door and entering your personal space. “I was going to ask how your meeting went with him, but it seems that I need not even ask.”

“It went about as good as you’d expect,” you told him, turning around to look for a gauze pad large enough to cover your lower back. “And what about you? Does Richard always get punched in the face at your drops, or is that new, too?” You wanted to deflect the attention away from your reddened skin, from your jealous thoughts of Negan and your sister to find out what had gotten them all riled up.

“That’s a new development, actually. Gavin is usually very good to us, but for some reason he and his crew were on edge more than usual today.” He took a few more steps in your direction. “Maria, seeing you like this...”

“I’ll be fine, I just need to clean it and go on with my day,” you reassured him.

“Will you be?” His face softened with his words, enveloping you with the comfort he always brought with him. “Fine?”

“I have to be, right?” You laughed at this menial conversation, grabbing the bottle of saline before walking over to the mirror and attempting to pour it over your back.

“Let me help you.” He lifted his hand out as you failed miserably to clean your own wound, splashing the extra liquid onto the floor. “Please, Maria, let someone else care for the caregiver.”

You took in a deep breath as you decided to let him help you, worry weighing him down with whatever happened at the drop today. You quickly realized that both of you wanted to forget what happened on your mission, to distract yourselves with each other’s problems, and maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing. Maybe he needed you as badly as you needed him.

“Okay,” you resigned, turning toward the cabinets. “Just pour the liquid on my back to clean out the wound.”

“Was this from him, or...?” He asked, taking the bottle in his hands.

“Yeah, it was.” You tried to keep it simple, to spare Ezekiel’s ears from all the dirty details of your violent romp with your ex in the middle of the woods, if you could even call him your ex.

“I can understand if you don’t want to talk about it. A man does this to you, and...” he took in a timid breath, “It makes the mind wander to places I’d rather it not go.” He unscrewed the top of the bottle, setting the cap down gently on the counter next to you. “Is it always like this with him: painful?”

He brought the bottle to your shoulder blade, pouring the healing liquid over your spine in a baptism of searing comfort until he reached the other side. He stopped as you winced, the solution trickling down over your skin like rain pouring down a mountainside, cleaning out the brooks and creeks with water from the heavens.

How could you make Ezekiel understand that Negan was an ocean of anguish, raging like the tides with violent rogue waves and tsunamis of pain? That you’d been out of the water for years until your family came to the Sanctuary, and that you were stupid enough to dive in head first without dipping your toes to test out the water?

“It didn’t start out that way,” you began. “I thought Negan was something I could handle,” you admitted, breathing out as the clear liquid dampened your jeans. “I thought he was something the world out there had hardened my heart enough to deal with, but…” you trailed off, letting a tear fell onto the counter, “I was wrong.”

You leaned forward and wiped the tear from your eye, taking a paper towel and soaking up what was left of it on the counter. “I wasn’t… strong enough.” You bit your lip as Ezekiel brought the gauze pad up to your back, listening silently as he pressed the clean bandage onto your healing wound. “I wasn’t strong enough,” you repeated.

Ezekiel held onto you and finished taping a border around your lower back, reinforcing the bond with his fingertips before stepping away to give you room to turn around. “Quite the contrary, my lady,” he comforted. “You’re much stronger than you give yourself credit for.”

You grinned at the blind support, his smile almost making you forget how much pain you were actually in. “I didn’t really have a choice in all this, but thank you anyways, you’re very sweet.”

Smiling back at him, the two of you grinned at each other like idiots until you realized that neither of you were talking anymore. Every time you looked at him he seemed to grow a little warmer, a little happier and more handsome. Maybe it was just one of the side effects of living here in the Kingdom, a comparison of him against Negan, or maybe he actually was one of the most beautiful men you’d ever laid eyes on.

“He’s not worried about you, about your loyalty to him,” you interrupted yourself, making sure you didn’t fall down the rabbit hole of Ezekiel’s good looks. “There’s another community that’s giving him trouble, and he’s focusing all his energy on them right now.”

“Hilltop?” Ezekiel handed you your t-shirt, helping guide your arms through the sleeves so you wouldn’t mess up your dressing.

“No, I don’t think so. It’s someone new, someone named Rick.” You pulled the hem of your shirt down and looked at yourself in the mirror, the dried blood still pretty evident. “Maybe that’s why tensions were high at the drop today?”

“That may be so, my lady,” he paused, looking you over like a glass figurine that was about to break. “Did he say anything else about this Rick character?”

“No, not really. We didn’t do a whole lot of talking.” You regretted your words as soon as they left your lips, watching Ezekiel’s joyful features fall into solemnity. Did he care for you that way? Was he concerned for your well-being or was it something more than that?

“Your brother was here that day.” The sentence came out of his mouth so quickly you wondered how long he had been keeping it in. "Forgive me for not telling you sooner, I couldn't find the right moment."

“Alex? But you said he wasn’t here, y-y-you said you hadn’t seen him, y-you said that they would have brought him to you for review if he came looking for safe passage!” Your scratches started stinging again, the thought of your brother safe inside these walls messing with your mind.

“I know what I said,” Ezekiel stated calmly, placing a hand on your shoulder. “I said what I had to keep my people and your brother safe.”

Unbelievable! How could he have gone all this time without telling you something so big when you thought your brother had died never seeing this heavenly place? That he had escaped the Sanctuary for nothing but the death of his mother and the hot sticky road.

“So he got to see this place, then?” You felt more tears start to well up in the corner of your lids, the fluid filling up your sinuses as the possibilities of his life flashed before your eyes. “He got to meet you, and see Shiva? The gardens and the children? He always wanted children, him and Bethany, they did. I couldn’t see it in a world like that, but in a world like this, well, I could see it,” you rambled on, joy and anger mixing together in a nervous dialogue.

“Yes,” he answered. “He and his wife were very kind and grateful people.” He released his grip on your shoulder and sat down next to you, leaning against the counter. “He told me that they were travelers looking to work for their keep, and I almost believed them. His wife looked a little too taken care of for them to be on the road as long as they claimed, but I had Benjamin show them around anyways.”

Benjamin, the boy with your brother’s eyes, of course he was the one to show them around. “How long was he here?” You sniffled and rubbed your nose with the back of your hand.

“A few hours. They got a good meal before our scouts caught wind of the Saviors and helped them escape out the back wall.”

“They didn’t escape,” you informed him, crossing your arms over your chest. You closed your eyes as the sound of Lucille cracking into Alex’s skull shook you into standing up. “No, they couldn’t have, could they? Somebody had to pay, and I’m glad it wasn’t one of your people, but…” you trailed off, walking toward the door. “Thank you for patching me up, Ezekiel. I’m gonna go to my quarters now.”

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Tags: @genevievedarcygranger @letsby @negansdirtygirl22 @annablack1102 @irrelevantwriter @negans-network @rasa1945 @chamberofsloths @flames-bring-a-ton-of-ash @collette04 @namelesslosers @bishsposts @bodhi-black @chloejanedecker1, @mblaqgi @haleyea @ptite-shit @jamiekingofmen @ibelongtonegan @divadinag @you-are-electric-temptation-girl, @dxloverpunk @tylersblurrylittleface @marriedtonegan @astrobabezblog @death-unbecomes-you @toxic-ink

[kagehinataboke]

only time will tell - chapter 3

Three weeks. It’s been three weeks, and absolutely nothing has changed.

For starters, Todoroki hasn’t been able to tell his agent that he wants to quit modeling. The issue is entirely his fault. He really shouldn’t keep putting it off, but he just can’t seem to find time to bring it up between modeling gigs and classes.

His second problem is Katsuki, who’s still treating him like a human smallpox blanket. Every time Todoroki so much as looks at him, Katsuki will glare or scowl or make a generally insidious expression at him. Todoroki hasn’t tried approaching him precisely because of this, but he definitely isn’t willing to give up just yet.

Midterms are coming up in a week, and Todoroki has formulated a plan. He found out from some classmates that Katsuki is one of the top students in the class, so he often gets stuck tutoring remedial students. Thus, Todoroki has decided to fail a single subject. Just one—the one that Katsuki is the best at, of course. His plan is basically full-proof. At least, he thought it was.

He passes all of his exams. He could’ve sworn he tanked math (on purpose, of course) but despite not putting any of his work, he still received full marks for having the correct answers. He should’ve just written the wrong answers… Dammit. Can he feign ignorance and ask Katsuki for help anyway?

That seems like the best plan—but then Aizawa suggests something even better. “Todoroki, can you help Bakugou with remedial lessons? I usually have Yaoyorozu do it, but she’s got a track meet today.”

Katsuki is giving him a ‘if you even think about I swear I’ll kill you’ glare over Aizawa’s shoulder. Todoroki chooses to ignore him. “Of course. No problem, sensei.”

As soon as Aizawa turns away to write his name on the tutoring sheet, Katsuki grabs Todoroki by the collar and pulls him into the hall. Their classmates watch warily, but Todoroki flashes a smile so they don’t make a scene. (He’s also smiling because Katsuki has finally stopped ignoring him, but the others obviously don’t know that.)

Outside, Katsuki traps Todoroki against the wall with an arm beside his head. A kabedon, right? Todoroki thinks that’s what it’s called.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

“Eh? I’m just helping out our teacher.” Todoroki gives him the most innocent look he can muster. “Why are you so upset?”

“You damn bastard.” Katsuki grits his teeth, which makes it ten times harder for Todoroki to keep a neutral expression. “I know what you’re up to.”

“I’m not sure what you mean.” Todoroki looks away, in case Katsuki really can somehow manage to read him. “Did you change your mind about talking to me?”

Katsuki sighs; clicks his tongue; removes his arm from the wall to cross it over his chest. “No. Asshole. I’m just… Ugh, fuck you.”

He storms back into the classroom, leaving Todoroki feeling the tiniest bit proud of himself. He’s making a little progress. Just a little. But that’s something, isn’t it? Nothing seems to be going his way except for this. This is finally his chance to get Katsuki to like him again.

The only question is… how exactly will he do that?

* * * * * *

“Good work today, Shouto.” As always, Todoroki’s manager is waiting for him outside immediately after he finishes a photo shoot. She’s got a car ready, and a sweatshirt for him to put on because she knows he gets cold easily. If there’s one thing he’ll admit about her, it’s that she’s considerate.

“Thank you.” He pulls on the hoodie, eyeing her warily after climbing in the car’s backseat. Why is it so hard to just come out and tell her that he wants to quit? It’s not like it’ll kill him. He doesn’t even have anything to be nervous about.

Is it perhaps a learned behavior? Todoroki’s father would never let him so much as mention quitting. Todoroki’s modeling career was a huge source of revenue for him, and thus it was taboo to discuss leaving it behind. Maybe Todoroki is so used to the threat he associated with quitting that he can’t bring himself to do it.

“You’ve got two more shoots this week, and a few news outlets want you to make appearances. Which ones are you willing to do? I have a list prepared for you.”

Yeah… He definitely needs to tell her soon.

“I’d rather not make any TV appearances,” Todoroki says carefully. “Actually… I’d like to significantly cut down on work, if that’s possible. I want to focus on school.”

That’s a good excuse, right? Maybe he can gradually drop out of modeling instead of quitting altogether.

“I can try to give cut down your shoots for this month. How about four instead of seven?”

He’s about to tell her that that’s definitely not what he meant when his phone buzzes. It’s a text from an unknown number, but Todoroki knows who it is as soon as he reads it.

from: unknown  at:  6:27 PM.

>> don’t think this means we’re friends but i need help and you’re the only one i can ask so get your dumb K-pop ass over to the school asap—the equipment shed behind the gym

“Shouto, are you listening?” his agent asks, glancing at him in the rearview mirror.

Todoroki leans forward in his seat. “Sorry, but I’m not actually going home,” he tells her. Talking about work will have to wait for another time. “I need to go to school. I… I forgot something there.”

“What?” She frowns, but still turns at the next intersection to change directions. “Okay. But what about what I asked before?”

“It’s fine,” Todoroki dismisses impatiently. He stares at the phone screen intently, picking apart the words. ‘ Don’t think this means we’re friends.’ Despite saying that, the fact that Katsuki is asking him for help at all is promising. Although… how did he get Todoroki’s number? He never gave it to him—despite trying multiple times.

“We’re here, Shouto. Do you want me to wait, or—“

“No,” Todoroki interrupts, unbuckling his seatbelt as fast as humanly possible. “I’ll be fine walking back home. You can go.” He plans to be here for awhile. At least, long enough to get Katsuki to hear him out.

His agent luckily doesn’t put up much of a fight. “Okay. I’ll pick you up on Friday for your next shoot.” She taps her cheek. “Remember to take off the mask. It makes you look too conspicuous.”

As soon as the car is out of sight, Todoroki pulls off his mask and sunglasses. He’s accustomed to wearing them, but she’s right: it’ll only draw attention to him when he’s at school. Although, nobody is here except for members of sports clubs and student council. In fact, it’s strange that Katsuki would be here. He said he was in the equipment shed, so maybe he’s a member of a club.

Or maybe not. The equipment shed seems old and run-down, like it hasn’t been used in years. There are broken tennis rackets and flattened basketballs piled outside. Todoroki hesitates, but this is definitely where Katsuki said to meet him. There’s no other shed behind the gym, is there?

“What the fuck are you waiting for?” a familiar voice barks from inside. “Get the hell in here, moron!”

Well, that’s definitely Katsuki. Todoroki reluctantly opens the shed door, and is met with Katsuki’s scowl. He’s leaning against the wall, his arms slung over his knees and his head tilted back. Probably because his nose is bleeding.

“What happened to you?” Todoroki crouches, but he doesn’t come closer than within five feet. Katsuki has made it abundantly clear he cherishes his personal space.

“I got in a fight. Everyone else I called was busy so I scrounge up your number.” Katsuki beckons at him impatiently. “Stop staring like a dumbass and get the fuck over here and help me.”

Todoroki should refuse. He isn’t at Katsuki’s beck and call. But if he wants to win him back over, this might be the best way.

“Fine. Let me see your face.” Todoroki shoots closer, pulling Katsuki’s head down. A stream of blood trickles down his face, and Todoroki wipes it away distractedly. His nose has deep purple bruising around the bridge. It’s probably broken. There’s a nasty gash under his hairline, and a big bruise on his left cheek.

Katsuki flinches away when Todoroki’s thumb brushes against it. “Oi, what the fuck are you doing?”

Now Todoroki is properly annoyed. “Looking at your wounds. Stay still or I’ll leave right now.” He steadies Katsuki’s head and resumes his analysis. His nose is the worst of the injuries. The cut is just a flesh wound, and the bruise might look bad, but it’ll be gone within days. Todoroki says as much to Katsuki, who gives him a skeptical look.

“How do you know all that?”

Todoroki pauses after retracting his hands. Now would be the perfect time to explain everything, but… He can’t seem to form the words. If he can’t talk about it with Fuyumi, what made him think he could with Katsuki? Then again, more than anything, Todoroki wants him to understand why he left.

Letting out a breath, Todoroki turns away to rummage in his bag. He can say it, but not if they’re locking eyes. “I have… a lot of experience with covering up bruises. If you ice and then heat it, it will disappear faster. This will help too. Here.” Todoroki pulls out a tube of aloe vera, only to have it knocked out of his hand when Katsuki grabs his wrist.

Todoroki flinches out of habit. They make direct eye-contact for several long, tense seconds. In those seconds, Todoroki suddenly feels raw and utterly exposed in a way he never has before, even during a modeling shoot. This is a different kind of bareness—as if his fragile soul has been exposed to the world. But then the moment is over, and Katsuki lets him go.

“Sorry,” he mutters, picking up the dropped aloe. Something in his tone has changed. Instead of the icy wind he usually speaks in, his voice is now a gentle breeze. It’s strange, to say the least. Todoroki isn’t even entirely sure what he’s apologizing for, but this is his chance to act.

“We can talk about it,” he says carefully. “About everything.”

Katsuki avoids his gaze. “It’s better if we don’t.” It seems as if that’ll be the end of it, but then there’s a sigh. “Things have changed. A lot.”

Todoroki closes his eyes and lets out a tense exhale. “I know. Things changed a long time ago. That doesn’t mean we can’t be friends again. I miss how things used to be.”

In more ways than one, he misses it. Before he moved away, life was so much better. He had his mother, and Katsuki, and he could go to school and play with his friends and his siblings. He was free. Even though he’s free again now, it doesn’t feel like it. Not yet, anyway.

Katsuki shakes his head. He still won’t meet Todoroki’s gaze. His eyes stare out the window, reflecting the hazy evening light. “I miss it, too,” he says, so quietly that Todoroki almost doesn’t hear it. “I miss being a kid. But we can’t go back. Like I said before: it’s better for you if you pretend we never met.”

Todoroki doesn’t bother arguing: Katsuki is already getting up to leave.

* * * * * *

Fuyumi is gone when Todoroki returns home. She left him a note explaining that she’ll be out working late tonight, and that there’s dinner in the fridge. Todoroki skips the food and goes straight to his room, falling into his bed face-first.

Frustrated. That’s what he is. He’s incredibly frustrated. Why does Katsuki get to decide everything on his own? Why doesn’t Todoroki get a say? And, more importantly, why is Katsuki so against the two of them becoming friends again?

Todoroki wants to ask him all of these things, but the encounter they just had basically proves there’s nothing he can say that will get through to that blond moron. Todoroki isn’t even entirely sure why he’s wasting so much time and effort on a single person when there are plenty of others vying to be his friend.

Then again, he does know, doesn’t he? Katsuki is the one thing from his past that has no negativity attached to it. The one perfect occurrence in a series of downward spirals. He’s kind of like a miracle. And, if Todoroki is being completely honest, he selfishly wants to cling onto that part of his past.

He can’t give up, then, can he? Maybe there’s still some hope. Katsuki did seem gentler in the equipment shed, and he was the one to reach out to Todoroki. He also agreed that he misses how things used to be between them: that must mean there's some hope. They’ll be forced to be in close quarters over the next week as they help remedial students. This could be the best chance—although he’s thought that before—to get Katsuki to like him again. Or at least not hate him.

Does he hate him? Todoroki used to be able to read him, but the current Katsuki is a closed book.

Todoroki flips onto his back with a sigh. He’s got too much to deal with. Schoolwork, modeling, and Katsuki. Oh, and all those clothes that got delivered earlier that he still needs to put away. There are boxes piled high outside the closet. (He might’ve ordered too much.) But this, at least, is one problem he can fix.

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[missjanjie]

Branjie Fic | Hold Me Closer, Tiny Dancer (10/11)

Title: Hold Me Closer, Tiny Dancer Summary: Brooke Lynn is a graduate student anxiously embracing her new position as her favorite dance professors’ new TA. Vanessa is a sophomore dance major who just might make her way into being more than the teacher(assistant)’s pet. (lesbian/university AU) Word Count: ~2.5k (this chapter)/~26.3k (total) Relationship: Branjie (Vanessa ‘Vanjie’ Mateo/Brooke Lynn Hytes) Rating: E

Read on AO3 | Ch. 1 | Ch. 2 | Ch. 3 | Ch. 4 | Ch.5 | Ch. 6 | Ch. 7 | Ch. 8 | Ch. 9

“We shouldn’t have to do work right before break,” Vanessa whined, head down on her desk. It was the last college writing class before Thanksgiving break, and her last class period, leaving her with no motivation.

“Considering how much we pay for tuition, we better get our money’s worth,” Yvie replied casually, “Are you having trouble with it?” she turned slightly, better facing her classmate.

Vanessa nodded, lower lip jutting out in a pout. “It don’t make sense, write about communication that doesn’t involve talking. Talking is the only way I communicate, and I do it a lot,” she explained.

“I’ve noticed,” Yvie chuckled. “Just go for something obvious, you know? Write about something like love languages,” she suggested, then looked at Vanessa’s blank stare before continuing. “Love languages are the different types of ways people express affection. Obviously, yours is verbal. Not just in general, but like, with Brooke Lynn. All your big romantic gestures involve words – the main reason everyone picked up on you guys was your inability to ever shut up about her.”

This caused Vanessa to blush and look down, tapping her pen against the paper. “So, what are the other types?”

“Physical’s one,” Yvie shrugged. “For some people, it’s going out of their way to spend time with someone, others best communicate affection through gifts, or some people do it through like, going out of their way to help someone with tasks,” she added. “And next time I’m charging you for doing your work for you so—” she realized Vanessa had brightened up and started scribbling fervently. “Okay then.”

By that afternoon, Vanessa and Brooke Lynn had officially finished and were ready to enjoy Thanksgiving break together. Vanessa had gone right to Brooke’s apartment after class, finding her curled up on the couch and saddling up to her side. “Is there anything else we have to do before tomorrow?”

Brooke shrugged and wrapped her arm around her. “No, but I was thinking…maybe we could go shopping? I wanna get you a nice new outfit for tomorrow,” she was hesitant in her suggestion, not wanting to create tension again.

But to her surprise, Vanessa smiled and nodded. “Yeah, alright.”

“Wow, I was expecting an argument on that,” Brooke admitted with a laugh. “Maybe you’ll let me take you to a salon tomorrow, get our hair done before we head over to your aunt’s,” she hummed.

“Well, I learned something today,” Vanessa smiled. “And I realized you don’t keep trying to buy things for me or pamper me because you feel sorry for me or you think you need to take care of me. That’s just your way of showing me you love me. And I should appreciate it a little more,” she explained.

This did admittedly take Brooke Lynn by surprise, but it touched her. “That’s so profound,” she hummed. “But I guess you’re right. That’s always been the Hytes family way of showing affection. And I know I don’t say enough about how important you are to me, and I guess that’s something I need to work on too,” she mused.

Vanessa grinned and kissed her cheek. “Look at us. We’re such mature adults in a relationship. Now let’s go get some nice clothes so I can make my mommy proud.”

----------

Brooke Lynn stared into the mirror after she finished her makeup. She was nervous – was it too much? Too little? Did it go with her clothes? Should she wear earrings, or would it be over the top? “What time is your aunt expecting us, Vanjie?” she asked, deciding on small stud earrings to put in.

“It’s called for four, which means she’s probably expecting us at like, five. But that’s not happening,” Vanessa replied with a laugh. “My mom’s taking the air train from JFK, so…” she furrowed her brows in thought. “Her flight gets in around three, and she’s taking the train from Jamaica to Penn Station and taking the A train over to her apartment…that’ll get her there by a quarter after four without delays,” she explained, then looked over at Brooke. “What? Why are you staring at me like that?”

“…I don’t know, but now I’m horny,” she answered.

Vanessa laughed and nudged her playfully. “Shut up. We’ll have plenty of time for that tomorrow,” she assured and pulled her coat on.

The subway ride was the most nerve-wracking one Brooke Lynn had ever been on. She was sure Vanessa had been saying something to her, and she just hoped it wasn’t anything important, because she couldn’t have listened if she tried, her mind lost in an anxiety-induced haze.

It was bad enough that Vanessa had to yank her off of the subway when they got to the stop. “Are you okay?” she asked. “Look, I know this is like…a big deal, but I wouldn’t keep you home from Canada if I didn’t think we were ready for this,” she smiled and squeezed her hand, holding it the whole way of the five minute walk to the apartment, and up the two flights of stairs to the door.

“¡Hola mija!” a woman – presumably her aunt – hugged Vanessa tightly. “And you must be Brooke Lynn, how nice to meet you,” she beamed, hugging her with the same enthusiasm and ushered the two girls inside, taking their coats and tossing them into the closet. “Oh, everyone is so excited to see you, Vanessa. And we’ve heard so much about you, Brooke Lynn,” the woman was so sweet, so bubbly and kind that Brooke couldn’t help but feel at ease as they were led into the living room.

There were seven or eight other people, all talking and laughing, but their attention was immediately diverted to the girls. They all got up at once, greeting them, introducing themselves to Brooke, who smiled warmly as she greeted each member of Vanessa’s family.

And sure enough, at a quarter after four, Vanessa’s mother arrived. Vanessa ran to her and hugged her tight before bringing her over to Brooke Lynn. “And this is Brooke Lynn, the girl I told you about.”

Brooke Lynn took a deep breath – this was what she had been practicing for. “Es un placer conocerte. Tu hija me ha tratado muy bien, estoy feliz de poder ver de dónde viene,” her pronunciation was a little stilted, but she had managed to get the phrase out without any errors, Vanessa and her mom both nodding in approval. “Oh, thank god. I’ve been practicing all night,” she whispered to Vanessa.

“I know, I didn’t fall asleep til two thanks to you,” Vanessa retorted at normal volume with a laugh.

Vanessa’s mom looked between them with a surprised expression. “Oh! You two are…sharing a room?”

“What, like we’re supposed to believe Vanessa is staying in that crappy dorm room instead of with the Victoria’s Secret angel?” one of her cousins chimed in with a knowing smirk.

“As long as that crappy dorm still costs money!” her mom retorted, causing Vanessa to look guilty because her cousin was right – she hadn’t slept in her dorm room in weeks.

“That’s why she’s going to move in with me next semester,” Brooke blurted out. Even though suggesting it the last time had led to an argument, maybe now Vanessa would see why it made more sense than continuing to pay for a room she didn’t use.

“What?” the three Mateos questioned in unison.

Brooke swallowed thickly, eyes darting around. “I-It’s just financially logical, you know? Think of how much money she’d save on room and board. And uh…when she starts working again, she can start contributing to the rent!”

Vanessa chewed on her lip and looked down. “That’s actually a really good point,” she mumbled, then stood upright. “It’s a better option…I should’ve taken it the first time she offered,” she admitted. No one could add anything further, because dinner was called, and everyone gathered into the dining room and took their seats. Grace was said in Spanish, so Brooke Lynn just mouthed along, trying not to get distracted by how good the food smelled. Then, dinner went underway, and the room refilled with the vibrant energy it’d had before.

“Ay, Vanessa, do you ever feed this girl?” her aunt laughed, gesturing to the fact that Brooke Lynn had hardly stopped to speak since she began eating, practically keeping on par with Vanessa’s brothers, both of whom looked like football players.

Brooke blushed fiercely, pausing to finish the forkful in her mouth. “Sorry, uh, the food is delicious Mrs.—”

“Oh, no, please, call me Maria,” she insisted, cutting her off. “And thank you, querida,” she smiled.

Brooke Lynn could easily say this has been the best Thanksgiving she ever had, but it was also the first one, not counting the ‘friendsgiving’ parties she’d partaken in over the course of her undergrad. She had never experienced such love and light and warmth confined to a nine hundred square-foot apartment. This wasn’t to say she didn’t enjoy time with her own family, but in a way, it felt like she fit right in here too.

Once dinner had finished, Brooke Lynn had started to assist in cleaning up when one of Vanessa’s brothers tapped her shoulder. “You got a minute?”

“Sure,” Brooke smiled pleasantly and followed him out to the balcony. She rests her arms on the railing, looking out at the city landscape with a content sigh. “What’s up, Jose?” she turned back to face him.

Jose was leaning against the wall as he lit a cigarette, taking a drag before joining Brooke Lynn against the railing. “Listen, I know this is the part where I’m supposed to threaten you if you hurt my sister, but it doesn’t feel right because, you know…”

“Because you don’t want to threaten a girl?”

“No, not that. I’ve threatened Vanessa’s girlfriends before. But I don’t think you’re like them,” he explained, taking another drag before offering the cigarette to Brooke.

“No thanks, I’m still using the gum to ween off that,” she chuckled dryly. “I like to think I’m not like them either. Sometimes I’ll be talking to her and realize that she must not have been treated right in the past. Breaks my heart, you know what a good person she is,” she added softly. “I wouldn’t be offended if I haven’t earned your trust yet.”

Jose shrugged. “I don’t trust no one but my mama. But I can see how happy you make her, how much she means to you. That, and you haven’t been scared off yet, so, I gotta respect you for that,” he mused.

Brooke Lynn beamed warmly. “Thank you,” she hummed, turning so her back was propped against the railing instead, elbows resting on the ledge. “I don’t think anything can scare me off at this point. Think I’m in it for the long haul, you know?”

“You in love with her?”

“Yeah,” Brooke’s tone was soft, shy. She and Vanessa had said ‘I love you’ to each other so many times, but confirming she was in love with her, especially to someone like her brother, felt all the more intimate. She stood silently for a moment, trying to recall the other Spanish phrases she had taught herself. “Creo que…algún día…podría casarme…con ella,” she spoke slowly, brows knitted in thought and hands gesticulating as she did.

Jose looked at her, mildly stunned. “You know you just said that you—”

“I know what I said.”

He nodded and clasped her shoulder. “Entonces tienes mi bendición, Brooke Lynn,” he gave her shoulder a squeeze before he put out the cigarette in an ash tray before they walked back inside.

“Where y’all been?” Vanessa asked from the couch, holding a mug between both her hands and sipping from it.

Brooke shrugged and smiled as she sat back down with Vanessa, kissing her cheek. “Just having a little chat, baby,” she hummed, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, gently caressing her cheek in the process. “Didn’t mean to keep you waiting,” she glanced over to see Jose whispering animatedly in Spanish, but it was too fast and quiet for her to even attempt to translate it.

By the time things were winding down, the girls were getting their things together to leave. Maria insisted on sending them back with containers of leftovers, and neither of them had any interest in rejecting it. They both said goodbye to everyone, making promises to visit again as soon as their schedules allowed for it.

As they walked down the street to the subway, Vanessa turned to Brooke Lynn. “You still not gonna tell me what you and Jose talked about?”

Brooke shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. And…sorry about springing the moving in thing on you, I was just trying to save face for both of us.”

“It’s fine,” Vanessa assured. “You was right, it’s not like I’m trying to mooch off of you, we’re just…a couple moving in together. It’s uh…what’s it called…mutually beneficial,” she hummed. “Besides, it’s a hell of a lot harder to fuck in that twin bed.”

“Exactly,” Brooke giggled. “I really do like your family. I’ve never had a holiday quite like that before,” and it was true, her family and Vanessa’s were wildly different, but she enjoyed both in their own ways. And when the time comes, she would bring Vanessa up north to meet her family as well. Had this been anyone else, she would have run away by now. This was moving fast for her – it had only been three months, after all. But it didn’t seem to matter as long as they were this happy.

“Do you think your mom liked me?” Brooke asked as they got inside the apartment. “She seemed so nice, but did she say anything to you?”

Vanessa let out a soft laugh as she hung up her coat and toed out of her shoes. “She adores you, boo. Everyone does. Not that I ever expected anything different,” she assured, walking over to kiss her. “I’ve never taken a girl to a major holiday before, so I guess no one really knew what to expect,” she mused.

They retired to the bedroom soon after, tired, full, and ready for the good night’s sleep they knew was to follow. “Hey Vanjie?” she asked as they lay in quiet darkness.

Vanessa stirred slightly. “Hm?”

“How do you say, ‘I love you’ in Spanish?”

Vanessa smiled warmly. “Te amo,” she yawned, her eyes staying closed.

“Te amo,” Brooke echoed with a nod. “Is there a way to differentiate that from ‘I’m in love with you’?” she asked after another moment.

This time, Vanessa opened her eyes and looked at her, the lights of the city peeking through the blinds giving her just enough light to see her face. “Do you?”

Brooke beamed, gently carding her fingers through Vanessa’s hair. “I do,” she answered.

“Then all you need to know is that the feeling is mutual,” she hummed before passing right back out for the night.