#Kingdom TV Series

[talia-rumlow]

Fight For Me (Alvey Kulina/Original Female Character) Chapter One

WORDCOUNT: 5525

TRIGGERS: Mentions of drug abuse, strong language, some mentions of sex.

CHAPTER ONE - BACK AGAIN!

Venice Beach, California. Where the land meets the ocean and there's mile after mile of open beaches, life-guard towers, side walk coffee shops, luxury boutiques, unconvetional street artists and colorful wallpaintings. Venice Boardwalk was a haven for tourists, and therefore almost always packed with people.

For those who live here full time, this was a regular day to day lifestyle. And something they got used to over time. Learning when to not visit certain places, due to the crowds that gathered there. Learning how to deal with the crazy tourists, and the not so crazy ones. Life for the locals in Venice was a regular day to day life, no different from your life or my life. For them, Venice was the most beautiful place on God's green earth, and a lifestyle in itself.

For Alyssa Stavos, Venice Beach was a new beginning. Or well, more like a walk of shame, back to a life she left behind several years ago. A life she left without looking back, and without giving notice. She just left, dissapeared overnight. And back then, she thought that was the best descition she ever made. But that was back then, way back then.

Life hadn't exactly been like Alyssa had planned, and wether she wanted to or not, she was back in Venice. Back to the fighting scene, back to stitchin' fighters up, back to deal with addiction, anger, remorse, head injuries and weighins. Back in a world of masculinity, strong language, anger issues, family drama and most importaintly, back in Navy St. And back where Alvey was. He didn't know yet of course, but it was just a matter of time until that bliss also would fly out the window.

Alyssa sort of grew up in the MMA life. Her father Alexander Stavos used to be a famous MMA fighter, when he was still alive. And it was through him that Alyssa got intorduced to the world of fighting. It was the world of fighting that pushed her to study medicine, so she could be a part of the team around her dad when he was fighting. Due to her dad's merrits, she quickly made a name for herself in the business, which in turn led her to Alvey Kulina and his world. He was King Kulina back then. A world renown fighter, with several medals and trophies attached to his name. Back when they first met, Alvey was like a God to her. A renown fighter who wanted her on his team. And Alvey was a good fighter, he probably still was. But his carreer took a big hit, and that brought with it a whole avalance of messed up things, that all happened at once. Alyssa thought she pulled out before her name was too tainted with Alvey's mistakes. But as it turned out, the name King Kulina wasn't what it used to be. And getting a job, a real job, after being a part of the Kulina scene when it crumbled wasn't as easy as it sounded.

Alyssa discards her empty paper cup in a trashcan, before walking over to Muscle Beach. She needed a morning work out before she entered the Lion's den. Of course the job came with free workouts at Navy St. But she wasn't going there now. Not before Alvey gets to know she's back.

As she gets ready for her morning workout, she can't help but notice some guys looking at her from the other side of the street, talking to each other. By the look on their faces it's either unpure or unfriendly thoughts they have about her. Maybe both. It's not like she's not used to this. In her line of work, this kind of thing was sort of in the job description. But in some weird way, these particular guys felt threatening. She could probably kick their asses from here to the end of the universe. But even if she could fight, it wasn't like she wanted to, at least not all the time. And definetly not now. Maybe Navy St. is a better place to work out after all.

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Alvey leans back in the yellow couch in his office. Another fuckin' fork in the god damn road. Jay was still in denial about having a drug problem, and wasn't fit to fight at all. Maybe in some ways Jay was in physical shape to fight. But mentally he was lost in whatever drug cloud he was in these days. Nate was mentally 100% ready for a fight, but he had taken a beating a while back, and none of the 20 or so doctors they had spoken to wanted to clear him for the cage yet. And Ryan, well as much as he could fight, and he'd probably do fairly good too. There was something inside Alvey that held back. His relationship with Ryan wasn't exactly paved with honesty and good intentions, but the two men did their best to make it work. For the business they said. But still, Alvey really didn't want Ryan the Destroyer steal his thunder. He'd be much more comfortable if another Kulina, such as Jay or Nate could carry the torch after him. But given the current situation, that seemed impossible. He was so desperate that he had called Lisa, his ex, a couple of weeks ago and asked if she knew any medics that would maybe look away from Nate's condition, and let him fight regardless.

To call Lisa, after everything that had happen between them, was hard to do. But Alvey felt he was out of options. It was now 14 days ago, and he still hadn't heard a word. Maybe he should just let Ryan fight. Swallow his ego, and let Ryan have the spotlight on him. Wheeler The Destroyer? King Kulina? He definetly liked the sound of King better.

Fuck, he needs to get out of here. He thinks for himself, dragging his hand over his face before he gets up. Just sitting here, waiting for that phone call from Lisa is not a good use of his time. Stupid, fucking Lisa. Although he couldn't entirely blame everything on her, she sure played a big part in what happened. Fuck!

As he steps out from his office and into the gym he's met by the familiar smell of sweat, energy drinks and wet towels.

"Dad!" Someone yells. The voice is almost drowned by the sound of ropes hitting the floor, people sparring in the cage and other familiar sounds of people working out.

Alvey doesn't react to the voice. Making a mental note that they shound get better air conditioning in here, he contiues through the gym.

"Dad!" The voice yells again. Alvey picks up his pace. He's not in the mood for any questions right now. Not about doctors or fighting or Lisa or anything else. "Alvey!" The voice presists.

"WHAT?" Alvey hisses out as he stops and turns around.

Nate, his youngest son is on his way over to him. Alvey folds his arms over his chest. Perfect. He loves both his boys, both Nate and Jay. After their mom took off left them alone, he had raised them as best he could. Constantly being reminded that they needed a female role model in their lives. It was just that King Kulina wasn't good at holding on to anything other than boxing gloves and diets.

"Did Lisa call back? Did we get a medic?" Nate asks, there's a hope in his voice. And Alvey hates to let him down. These days he felt that's all he did. Let people down.

"No, Nate. No doctor. I'm still waiting for a phone call. If she's ever going to call back," he sighs in return. Then he turns and leaves. "Shooting range," he hollers over his shoulder to Shelby in the reception before he walks out the door.

"Does he know anything?" Jay asks his younger brother as he tosses a water bottle his way. Watching as his brother catches the bottle, and takes a sip.

"Nope, not a damn thing," he replies. Then they just stand there together, looking at the enterance to the gym. Like the salvation is about to come through there any second.

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Alyssa looks up at the big sign outside the gym. Navy St. Mixed Martial Arts, Venice, Ca. A mix of nervousness and exitement fills her body, and without realizing it, she clench her fists. Lowering her gaze to the enterance. Navy St. Enterance can be seen above the door. What is she even doing here? Maybe she shouldn't have agreed to this at all.

When Lisa had called her, about 14 days ago, she was shocked. Given the troubled relationship she had with Lisa, it was the last person she ever expected to get a phone call from. Although half of it were Alvey's fault, Lisa wasn't as innocent as she tended to portray herself to be. The whole thing was kinda ironic in a way. Her relationship with Alvey ended the same way it had started, with infidelity. If she could call it that at all. Neither she or Alvey had said that they were exclusive, and she already knew how he was, and what he tended to do. Alvey was never the best at keeping girls. Probably why he and Lisa also broke up, but Alyssa never asked Lisa why. Wasn't her business anyway. But she said yes to help out as a medic. Mostly for Nate, she had said. And that was true in a way. At least it wasn't a total lie. But she would never admit to Lisa that she missed Alvey. Missed how he made her feel free and strong. Because Alvey did take her under his wings, protected her, kept her safe, helped her. But when Alvey crumbled, everything else also crumbled around him, including her. And then, Alvey found solace in Lisa. And Alyssa... Well, she left. She left everything behind six years ago, without a word. Including 19 year old Nate and 21 year old Jay. Leaving Alvey was hard enough, but leaving Jay and Nate; that was almost unbearable. They already been left once, and then she left as well. Probably not the best choice she made, but she did talk to them already, and they seemed to be okay about her coming back. Alvey however; that would be a different story.

Walking into the gym's reception area, she's immidiatly greeted by Shelby.

"Ally, you look amazing girl," Shelby states, followed by a warm hug.

"You too, Shelby, you too." She replies, hugging the blonde back. "He's not here is he?" She continues. She knows she have to face him sooner or later, but she kinda hopes it'll be later.

"Who, Alvey?" The blonde replies as they break the hug. "He's at the shooting range. But Nate and Jay are here," she continues.

"Shooting range, huh?" Alyssa almost laughs. "Shocker," she continues in an almost condecending tone. Alvey and his guns. Typical, whenever Alvey had trouble he either went in the cage or to the shooting range. She silently thanks the universe that he chose the shooting today. She hasn't seen or heard from Alvey for six years, and she basically don't know him anymore. But if there's one thing she knows; it's that Alvey won't be as welcoming as Shelby.

"You think I should go see him, don't you?" Alyssa tries to not sound nervous, annoyed or anything like that. But, she's unsure if she actually managed to.

Shelby tilts her head, and sends Her an apologetic look. "He'll be pissed either way Ally, but it might be smart to give him an extra day to be pissed, before he shows up for work tomorrow," she informs with a shrug.

"Yeah..." Alyssa breathes out, biting her lower lip. "I get that things haven't exactly been running smooth lately," she continues, drumming her fingertips on the reception desk.

"Just show your face to him, Ally," Shelby begs with both the words and her face. "It'll make it easier," she continues with another shrug.

"For me or for you?" Ally replies, accompanied by a smile to show Shelby that the comment wasn't meant as bad as it sounded.

Shelby points to the roof, and makes a circle in the air. "For this place," she informs.

Alyssa lets out an exasperating sigh, then she tosses her hands up. "You are annoyingly right, you know that?" She tells Shelby, before she tosses her bag over her shoulder, and moves towards the exit.

"Always," she gets in response, followed by a "good luck," as she exits the reception.

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Alyssa takes a good long look at herself in the mirror. Her thick dark locks framing her face. The mascara and eyeliner she just applied makes the intricate pattern of green in between the brown in her eyes pop. She's usually not the biggest make up user. But in some weird way, she wanted to look good when she saw him. And when he sees her. Not that she should care at all. Her relationship with Alvey ended six years ago, and not exactly in a friendly way.

She takes a deep breath, close her eyes. Remembering how it was to be with Alvey. How his breath felt on her skin. How his lips and tongue felt, when he opened his mouth, before closing it around her most sensitive spots. How he entered her, filled her up, fucked her. How he growled in her ear as he came. There was no doubt that what she and Alvey had was hot and heavy, and not at all a secret. Everybody around them knew. And back then; that made Alyssa feel powerful. To get to be with the infamous King Kulina, that was every girls dream back then, and she got to live it. But it came with a price, a price and a hard fall. She feels shivers down her spine just by thinking about it. "Fuck you, Alvey," she says to her reflection before she leaves the bathroom, and walks out to the shooting range.

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A round of automatic rounds reaches Alyssa's ears, followed by a happy "aaaahhh", and laughter. She crosses her arms over her chest as she moves closer. God damnit, what should she say to him? Should she say anything at all? Maybe just showing her face will do the trick. He did call Lisa for help. Or did he? Lisa could have lied to her. She could have. Or she could've lied to him. God knows she did that already.

Alyssa looks down her attire. Skinny jeans, ankle boots and a black t-shirt. Her style hasn't changed much over the years. When she takes another look at Alvey's back, she can confirm that neither has his. Army pants and a dark sweatshirt. Definetly Alvey, maybe a bit older, but his pants still fits his behind perfectly, and his shoulders are still as broad as she remembers them. You're not having sex with Alvey again, she thinks to herself. You're not, she repeats. Shaking her head as to shake the thoughts out. Do not have sex with him, Alyssa. You know what's going to happen. You don't want that again. "You really don't," she whispers.

"Is is weird that I want to fuck this gun?" Alvey's voice. Still as firm, determined and rough as she remembers it. It does something to her, something that makes her repeat in her head that she's not going to have sex with him again. But, if she's completely honest with herself, she's not sure if it's to convince herself that she shouldn't do it, or if she actually won't do it.

"Nah, it won't fit," she can hear her voice saying it, but her mind isn't totally there. Perfect Alyssa. She thinks. That was the absolute best way to get his attention, make fun of his dick. Like that will help at all. "Up your ass maybe, but I kinda have a feeling that's not what you meant," she continues, while her brain screams 'stop talking, Alyssa. For God's sake, just stop!'

Alvey turns around, slowly. Then he stops and just looks at her. Oh for fuck's sake. He thinks for himself. Fuckin' Alyssa Stavos. Just as stunning as she alwas was. What the fuck is she doing here. "The fuck are you doing here?" He hisses.

She shrugs in return, raising her eyebrows. "Just saying hi," she replies.

Alvey huffs. "You came all the way out here, just to say fuckin' hi?" He spits out. Did he like her still? Alyssa was undoubtably the only woman he ever met who could deal with him, who dared to fight him, discuss with him, be mad at him. Did Lisa call her? No, Lisa wouldn't have called Alyssa, after everything that had happened between them, she would not have called her. Do not start, Alvey. You don't have feelings. At least not for her.

"Oh, go fuck yourself, Alvey!" Alyssa spits out, before she turns and leaves. He'll figure everything out tomorrow anyway. And he deserves that punch in the face. Fuck him, fuck this. She should've never agreed to this, ever. But it was too late to turn back now. Way too late.

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Alyssa looks at herself in the mirror as she applies her mascara. Her red toothbrush held in place between her teeth. Today is the day. Her first day back in Navy St. She had already signed the contract, so Alvey couldn't fire her. He would try, but it couldn't be done. She felt safe in that department. Previous sexual relations wasn't the best reason for fiering people. Alvey knew that too, but he'd be mad. She tried to tell herself that she wouldn't care about that. But deep down, she really did wish he would be okay with her coming back. Not because of the sex or anything, even if it was the best she'd ever had. No, she wanted them to be friends for once. And handle arguments with something other than dirty fucking. It had been six years, she'd grown. Maybe Alvey had too. One could only hope.

Alvey puts his thoothbrush back and spits in the sink, then he looks at his teeth in the mirror. What the fuck was Alyssa doing in Venice? She wouldn't come and just say hi if it wasn't something special. At least he didn't think so. Given what had happened between them, he didn't even understand why she came to say hi. Sure, he wasn't the easiest person to be around back then, and he did tecnically cheat on her with Lisa. If you could call it cheating. What he once had with Alyssa wasn't a real relationship. They didn't even live together, not like he did with Lisa. For the past six years he thought Alyssa hated him. So why was she here now? Lisa couldn't possibly have called her for help. Alyssa and Lisa hated each other. Even before he had started things with Lisa, the two of them hadn't had the best relationship. Lisa would never had called Alyssa. And if she had, it would be more to get back at him than to help him. Fuck!

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"Morning, Shelby," Alyssa greets the blonde as she enters the gym. "I'll wait for Alvey in his office," she adds as she keeps walking towards the office with fast firm footsteps.

"You'll need-," Shelby hollers, but stops mid sentence when Alyssa lifts up a keychain. "I see Lisa fixed it all," Shelby states for herself, as she goes back to folding up t-shirts.

Alyssa takes a deep breath as she locks the door behind her. She's not completely sure why she locked the door behind her. Maybe it felt safer, or maybe it was to piss Alvey off. Either way, that was the choice she took. She's here now, no matter what he thinks. But she still has no fucking clue what to say to him.

Four steps from the door over to Alvey's desk. She takes another deep breath as she pulls some papers out from her bag, and places them on the desk. Then she walks over to the couch, and sinks down in it. "You're welcome, Lisa," she mutters for herself, as she once again contemplates why she decided to say yes to this. For Nate and Jay? For Alvey? For Lisa? For herself?

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"Fuck," Alvey mutters as he unlocks the door to his office. He slept like shit, this morning was shit, Jay is probably shitfaced somewhere, everything is shit. He can't wait to close his office door behind him and get some peace, at least until Wheeler shows up. He still has a few pounds to go, and Alvey had a diet and an exercise-plan set up for him.

"Hi," he hears, as he locks the door behind him. The voice is familiar, too familiar. Fuck. Can't she just leave him the fuck alone? The shooting range was one thing, that place was open to the public. But this was his gym, his office. How the hell did she even get in?

"What the motherfucking fuck are you doing here, Alyssa?" He spits the words out. Fucking Alyssa. She should know better than to show up here.

"I work here," she casually replies. Shrugging at his firm steely stare. She does work here, and she wasn't going to let Alvey mess that up. Well, he couldn't mess it up, but he didn't know that yet. And she knew it would all blow up once he sat down and actually read over the papers she left on his desk. The arrangement Lisa had set up for her was rock solid. No force within Navy St. could kick her out. Both Jay and Nate knew already, and they were both onboard with it. They even helped find the loophole they jumped through for the contract to be valid.

"The hell you are," He huffs. "This is my gym, and I decide who works here or not," he continues, still looking at her with that steely stare.

Alyssa shrugs at him, he can say what he needs to say right now. In a couple of minutes he'll know he lost anyway. "Well, Alvey," she raises her eyebrows. "I'm going to work, you can do whatever the fuck you want about that," she continues as she opens the door and continues out into the gym.

"What the fuck do you mean 'going to work'?" Alvey follows her, and slams the door to his office shut. "Didn't you hear what I said? You. Don't. Work. Here," he continues.

Alyssa takes a deep breath, forcing herself not to tell him everything. She turns around and takes another deep breath, before she walks over to him. "Listen, jerkoff. I-," she's cut off by the snap of a chain, a startled half scream followed by a loud bang.

Both Alvey and Alyssa whirles around, along with every single other person in the gym. Alvey places his hands on his hips, looks up at the chain which used to hold the 110 pounds punching bag, now snapped in the middle, and the bag on the floor.

"Fuck, Wheeler. You trying to wreck my gym?" Alvey sounds a bit angry. But Alyssa knows that he's more annoyed. She follows him, as he walks over to the bag on the floor.

"Looks like a worn chain," she states, holding up the chain for Alvey to see.

"Still here I see," he replies. This'll just be one of those days. Fuck this.

"Like I told you. I work here," she calmly brush off his statement. The she looks up at the guy who was punching the bag off the chains.

She recognize him right away. Semi blonde hair, strong facial features, a strong yet lean body, and 'DESTROYER' tattooed across his chest. Ryan Wheeler. He hadn't changed much over the past six years. "Ryan?" Her voice carried a bit of surprise.

"Hi, Ally," Ryan smiles. "I'd shake your hand, but I think I should keep my hand here," he continues, gesturing with his eye to his hand, firmly placed above his left eye. "The chain hit me," he adds.

"Allright, come over here. I'll look at it," she replies. "Just look up, and I'll guide you over to the wall there," she continues, taking Ryans hand, and helping him over to the bench.

Alvey grabs her wrist. "What are you doing?" He asks, still annoyed.

She yanks her arm back. "My job!" She replies, continuing to walk towards the bench.

"You don't have a fucking job," Alvey continues. But she's not giving him any reaction.

After she sits Ryan down, she takes off her jacket tossing it to the side. "Let me see," she instructs.

Ryan removes his hand. Trying not to look at Alvey, who's still hovering over them. Ryan can't see if he's jealous or angry because Alyssa is back. But given the history the two have, it could be both. "Is it bad? Can I still fight?" Ryan asks. Fighting is all he is, and if he has to bench this next fight, it'll be even harder to get Alvey to set him up for one of the big fights.

"It's nothing, Ryan. Nothing. Doesn't even need stiches. It'll bruise though," she informs him, as she picks up what she needs from her medical bag. "But given what you do, I guess you're used to that," she continues, as she starts to clean the cut over his eye.

Ryan looks down, trying not to look at her clevage. That's almost an impossible task. Alyssa was always a beautiful woman. Both inside and outside. Why Alvey did what he did, Ryan'll never understand. But, then again. Alvey was a complexed guy. And his mistakes could make it easier for Ryan to make a move. If he dared to.

Alvey's still hovering over Ryan and Alyssa. That Ryan checks out her clevage is no surprise, but that she is so fucking stupid that she still doesn't understand that he can't have her working for him again, that's a surprise. "Take a long hard look, Wheeler. She won't be here tomorrow," he informs them both.

He gets no reaction from Alyssa, and Ryan sits absolutely still, so Alyssa can do her job. "What are you going to do, Alvey? Fire me?" She suddenly asks, not looking at him at all.

Her casual response to all of this make Alvey's blood boil. Who the fuck does she think she is? "I don't have to fucking fire you. I didn't hire you. You can't just walk in here and expect to have a job," he want's to yell at her. She has no fucking business coming here and fuck up his life, his consentration. Fuck.

"You should read over the papers I left on your desk. You can't fire me," she shrugs back. She takes a quick glance up at Nate who's standing on the other side of her. He already knows, and in some weird way, she wants his approval once more. Alvey hates the fact that she's back, and she can live with that. But if Nate or Jay or both of them doesn't approve, it'll make her staying so much harder. She signed that contract, so she can't back out either. Hopefully Alvey will come around.

"What papers?" His voice over her head again. It pisses her off. If she wasn't closing up Ryan's wound, she's pretty sure she would have put her fist into the wall right about now.

"The papers, Alvey! On your desk. Take a fucking look, and stop being a baby," her voice might be a bit harder than she intended it to be. But this man seriously pisses her off, in every possible way.

As Alvey slams the door to his office shut, Ryan finally looks up at Alyssa. "What does it say in the papers?" He asks, curious, but he knows he'll probably find out any second.

Alyssa sends him a half smile. "You'll see in a bit," she replies, patting him on the knee. "How many pounds you got left?" She continues, trying to get attention away from Alvey, in his office, reading over the papers. It's about to explode any second now. She knows that.

"Fo-," Ryan starts, but a bang in the wall from Alvey's office cuts him off.

"Fucking bitch!" Alvey yells.

Alyssa smiles again. Here we go, she thinks. "I'm just gonna go back there. No need to take this fight out in the open," she gestures with her hand to the back of the gym, where the showers, the sauna, the kitchen and Alvey's private exercise area is.

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Ryan points in the direction Alyssa went when Alvey comes out of his office. No words are exchanged, but Ryan knows that it'll be loud in just a few seconds. He knows he still has four pounds to go, but right now, he wished he had popcorn. As Alvey's angry footsteps echoes around the gym, Ryan gets up and slowly follows him in a safe distance. He can't help it. But he wants to know what this is about. What Lisa and Alyssa did, that made Alvey totally lose it like this.

"Alyssa!" Alvey's voice echoes through the oversized gym. "Alyssa, don't fuckin' hide from me. We need to talk," he continues as he rips open the door to the changing rooms, before slamming it behind him.

Alyssa leans her back against the wall. "Hey, Alvey," she smiles "What's up?" She continues placing her left foot up against the wall.

"What the fuck is this?" Alvey yells, lifting the papers up in front of her face. "Is this some kind of revenge? You and Lisa teaming up together to avenge me," Alvey's eyes are locked on hers, almost a threatening look.

Alyssa raises her eyebrows as Alvey places an arm on each side of her head. "And what exactly did you think you did, that would lead us to want revenge?" She asks, tilting her head a bit. She was never scared of Alvey. Every single time they fought like this the ended up having sex. Now that would not happen this time.

"Don't play games with me. Lisa gave you her share of the gym," Alveys jaw ticks, and Alyssa halfway expect him to punch a hole in the wall next to her head.

"She didn't give it to me, I bought it," she replies, still calm and collected. She knows that this move won't defuse the situation at all, but it'll help her to have some form of control.

"So you just bought 25% of my gym? For what? Out of the kindness of your heart?" He almost spits the last words out.

"Well, that's not entirely accurate," Alyssa replies. She was sorta thinking about keeping this last part a secret for a bit longer. But Alvey pisses her off more than she thought he would. So fuck it. "I didn't buy 25%," she continues. Then she stops, waiting for Alvey to reply.

"What the fuck does that mean?" Alvey is now all the way up in her face. But she's determined to stay cool. No need to start a fist fight.

"I bought closer to 50%," she informs him, watching as his face morphes from angry to confused. "I bought 25% from Lisa, and 24% from you," she continues. The confusion on Alveys face is priceless, and she can't help butsto find that amusing.

"How the fuck did you do that?" Alvey replies. It's like he's trying to be angry, but Alyssa knows him. And there's a bit of something else in his voice.

"Pro Grip Equipment," she delivers the name with a hint of exitement. "Ergonomic designed exercise equipment for injured fighters," she continues, not taking her eyes away from Alvey. "You took them up on their offer to supply Navy St. with top of the line equipment," Alyssa reaches into her pocket. "To set Navy St. on the map, as an including and safe space for everyone," she delivers Alveys own words back at him, as she hands him her calling card for the business.

"You?" Alvey asks, as he takes the card from her. "You and Lisa," he continues. "Vengeful," he adds.

Alyssa can feel the anger bubbling inside her. "Believe it or not Alvey. But I'm not here for you," she moves closer to his face as she's talking. "And about the whole revenge ting. If I wanted to do that. I'd just go and sleep with Ryan," she continues. She knows that might have been a stupid thing to say, given the situation.

Finally Alvey moves away from her. Instead he points his index finger at her. "This isn't over," he hisses before he walks away.

"You're right. I think this'll be an eventful partnership," she hollers after him. But she's not sure where it'll go from here. It could be good, it could work out okay or it could be a total disaster. Just don't sleep with him, she once again tells herself.

@nekoannie-chan @ladysif8 @the-ero-writer @saiyanprincessswanie @late-to-the-party-81 @here4thefanfics

[mydairpercabeth]

making Hades a sassy king who just wants to be left out of his family drama was genius

[multi-fandom-bi]

List of crimes Kaz will not do:

1. Sell and exploit women and children

2. Force people to work for him via indentures

All i'm saying is Kaz would violate every law, just not human rights and that's what I love about him

[haveyouseenthisseries-poll]

[readrantannotate]

Hades being so done with his brothers’ drama is the most relatable thing ever

[ayaarts]

older kanej being in love. living an ordinary life full of ordinary things and all that

[moonferry]

has this been done yet? i don't know. here's my take anyway. all book fans, let's not tell them why it's significant.

update; guess who finally got his grubby little hands on the nic cage/pedro pascal gif. you're welcome.

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

Fruzsi and the Importance of Her Character in Season 2 of Shadow and Bone

Okay I feel like I have been continuously teasing this post for a ridiculously long time and I have finally gotten around to writing it, I also feel like the fact that I talked about it so much might have built it up to sound bigger than it is but honestly I think that Fruzsi is a FASCINATING character study; I'm very excited to talk about her and have finally found the time (yay!) so hopefully you guys will find this at least a little bit interesting too

Tagging people who registered their interest here but please don’t feel pressured to read <3 @merlinxmagic @girasoljpg @atmosphericwrites @naushtheaspiringauthor @lunarthecorvus

SHOW AND BOOK SPOILERS AHEAD + TALKING ABOUT GRISHAVERSE SETUP & THE CHARACTERS' BACKSTORIES/EXPERIENCES (Mostly Zoya, Genya, Alina, Fruzsi, and Inej)

Super quick recap since of her story so we're on the same page as we begin: Fruzsi first appeared in Season 2 Episode 2 of Shadow and Bone and is a Grisha Tidemaker loyal to the Darkling. Her parents sold her to the Darkling when she was a child, its unclear how old she was, and we should take into consideration in this matter that there is no indication whatsoever that she was ever at the Little Palace since none of the other Grisha seem to recognise or know her and vice versa. She is instrumental in the Darkling's army and receives one of the amplifiers made from Baghra's bones, subsequently learning to manipulate water molecules into ice shafts that she can use as a weapon. She is responsible for Dominik's death towards the end of the season and is subsequently killed by Nikolai.

So right off the bat whenever anyone talks about Fruzsi I tend to see two things: "wannabe Zoya" and “the power of her amplifier was a problem because it will be too difficult to differentiate between amplifiers and parem". I've taked before about my thoughts on amplifiers and parem and why I didn't think it was going to be a problem for the Six of Crows spinoff show (*sobs*) but the general consensus seems to be that not only was Fruzsi an unlikeable character because of her actions, but because she was seen as a only being there to provide an enemy and a hand of the Darkling, and I think that's a real shame because she is a fascinating character and she tells us SO MUCH about the Darkling and other major characters. My personal favourite details about Fruzsi are her parallels with Zoya and the point from which they run opposing, the parallels she has to Genya and Inej and the subsequent parallels that her introduction creates between the Darkling and Heleen Van Houden, and the setup of Fruzsi, Vatra, and the Darkling's other Grisha to create genuine empathy for villainous characters for the reflections of the protagonists we can see in them.

Fruzsi's introduction in episode two begins with the Darkling arriving to see her and saying that she made it in good time - now we don't know where she travelled from, so yeah it could be the Little Palace (he was travelling from the base he set up in episode 1) but personally I don't think that there's much implication she ever lived there considering she doesn't know any of the other Grisha and she doesn't wear a kefta until the Darkling has new ones created for his new army. She's wearing pretty typical clothes that we see of the Ravkan population when we first meet her; a blouse and ankle-length skirt with a long coat, and from the very start is in dark shades that visually connect her to the Darkling in the audience's eye. Although she isn't hesitant to speak to him she shows consistent discomfort around the Darkling, making small steps away from him when he raises his hand and acknowledging non-verbal orders from him with immediate effect, as well as confirming that she never broke her promise to not open the Journal of Morozova without prompting and somewhat hurriedly. The Darkling is actually pretty quiet throughout most of this scene, cutting of Fruzsi's sentences and instructing her but not following any attempts she makes to initiate real conversation. When he tells her to reveal Baghra from behind the waterfall she asks him if he's sure, one of few instances in which she questions him, and after barely a second of maintained eye contact between them she turns away, physically bunching her shoulders and seeming to shrink in on herself, before turning to the waterfall and completing the task in silence. Everything we see of Fruzsi in this scene seems to contradict Baghra's later description of her as "deranged" and I think that this is really very noteworthy, because we start to develop this idea that Fruzsi's actions are different in front of the Darkling than when he isn't present - particularly since we know in this scene that Baghra has not seen the Darkling in weeks and has been alone with Fruzsi during that time. We actually don't see Fruzsi without the Darkling until very late in the show (episode 7), when her anger at the world and her easy ability to command the other Grisha are revealed ("First Army did this [...] If they wear the uniform they are all the same. Kill them all!"). We get this brilliantly foreboding image of her marching so confidently through the carnage with soldiers of both sides running and shouting and fighting and dying all around her while she barely shows any kind of response but to calmly begin her own method of very direct attack against Nikolai after walking through the battle completely untouched. If anything, Fruzsi seems quite unbothered by the entire thing until she fails to kill Nikolai, killing Dominik and several others instead, and screams her frustration before being forced to run for cover from approaching soldiers. After this her attacks are arguably much more emotional because she feels challenged and as though she has failed (relevant as I'll cover later because of the way the Darkling manipulates her), but all of this seemingly culminates only when Vatra dies, and in that moment we get this wonderfully clever shot of them holding each other's hands so that we can see the tattoos (I'm going to rant about the tattoos in this post) and then we see Vatra smiling in her final moments (that's gonna come up again as well). This moment is the most emotional we ever get to see Fruzsi; she looks down at Vatra, sheds a silent tear, and begins to exhibit more power than we have ever seen in her before. It is bare moments after this that she loses her fingers in an attack from Jesper and mere minutes afterwards that Nikolai shoots her in the throat and she dies.

It's confirmed in s2e7 that Fruzsi's parents attempted to sell her to the Darkling and arguably this is where her parallels with Zoya begin - "You remember when your family first brought you to me? The price they demanded when they discovered you were Grisha?" "Perhaps now I can repay the debt" "I would have paid it 100 times over". Ugh this angers me so much. He bought her and she believes, she genuinely believes, that she owes him for that. I'm going to talk about the structure of this relationship really strongly echoing Heleen Van Houden later on but particularly in this moment we understand that there is something here very similar to the Kerch indenture system that I'm actually really glad to see included as part of the worldbuilding and development in the show since we didn't get the opportunity to explore it as much in Kerch (*screams frustrations into the wind*)

Although we sadly didn't get the chance to explore Zoya's story in the show (*cries in cancellation*) it's explained in the final duology of the book series that her mother attempted to sell nine-year-old Zoya as a bride to 63-year-old, very rich, and twice-widowed Valentin Grankin. When Zoya's aunt, Lilyana, attempted to stop the wedding Grankin attacked and nearly killed her; in fear for herself and her aunt Zoya experienced a massive, terrified outburst of power, which was how she discovered she was Grisha, and Lilyana was able to rescue her and take her to Os Alta. My absolute favourite take on Fruzsi is that she is Zoya's Shadow, which is an idea that my friend voiced whilst we were watching the show and we discussed together at length at the time, but that I have never seen anyone talking about online.

The idea of having a Shadow comes from Suli culture and is explained to us in Crooked Kingdom by Inej; whenever a person does wrong it gives life to their shadow, with every action making the Shadow stronger until they are stronger than the original person and the person is defeated by the wrongs they've done - or learns to overcome them and defeat the Shadow. Inej's believes that her Shadow is Dunyasha and she fights her in Crooked Kingdom. I FREAKING LOVE the theory that Fruzsi is Zoya's Shadow because their stories parallel each other very well; both are abused and sold by their families only to be taken in by the Darkling and manipulated into believing that he is their saviour. The Darkling very much works by making others feel that they owe him something for any action he completes, just as we see in his manipulation and abuse of Alina, and Fruzsi and Zoya are prime examples of this. We even have two very similar scene setups between season 1 and season 2 that show us just how similar the Darkling and Zoya are in terms of the pent up rage that they keep private - in season 1 where the Darkling leaves Zoya alone in his room whilst she is trying to initiate intimacy because he is manipulating her and Alina against each other and wants to make Zoya feel like she has been abandoned in favour of a newer, shinier toy and once he's left Zoya screams her frustration and releases a gust of Squaller power that disrupts his chamber, and in season 2 when Fruzsi, in her second appearance (now wearing the new dark kefta design) hesitantly informs the Darkling that David stole Morozova's Journal and is immediately dismissed before the Darkling screams his frustrations and uses the tether to find and haunt Alina. Although this comparison between the Darkling and Zoya is of course more obvious it also gives us an idea of similarities between Zoya and Fruzsi because it extends this implication we have that Fruzsi acts very differently out of the Darkling's presence than in - and considering that at this point we have never seen her without him we have this gathering sense of intrigue about her backstory and her character. In a similar-ish manner we also have the scene in s2e5 when we get another example of the few times Fruzsi attempts to stand up to the Darkling, in this case openly telling him that they would do better to redirect their efforts North because it would be "the more strategic move"; the Darkling's response is to threaten her with his Nichevo'ya and manipulate her in a similar way that he does Zoya by replying "Alina Starkov is worth more than any army. So at the risk of sounding repetitive... find her", actively diminishing Fruzsi when he's been purposefully making her feel important and like she matters to him so that she feels she must redouble her efforts for him to notice and appreciate her and therefore desperately hopes to do a better job of bending to his will, especially since he's basically turned her entire purpose and usefulness to him into brining Alina back to him. Ugh this man i swear. I'm going to go on to talk about parallels between Fruzsi and Genya pretty soon so in this respect as well I want to add emphasis to the fact that when she disagrees with him on a point - and mind you not that she makes any suggestion of betraying his cause but only that she thinks they should take a different tactic to be more successful in it - he uses the presence of the Nichevo'ya to scare her into submission. The next time he gives her an order (to take down the First Army encampments) she agrees immediately and barely speaks to him except to ask "And what of the Sun Summoner?" - And note this is after she has taken Genya to the other Grisha because she was told to show her off as an example.

I have to say that at this point in time I was not expecting her to be the gold mine she became, and it's looking back on it knowing more about her backstory that I notice a lot of smaller details in the way she acts around him that consistently suggest she is afraid of him and I think that is shown really well in Reford's performance, I don't see her getting enough of the praise that she deserves - she was great!

Am I even making sense? Anyway

Fruzsi and Zoya are consistently presented with these similarities and I really love the idea that she represents what Zoya would have become without the influence of our other main characters, particular Alina and Genya. I really like the idea that she's Zoya's Shaodw and a literal, living embodiment of the wrng that Zoya did under the Darkling's command, but the only place that I think this theory falls short is in Fruzsi's death. If Fruzsi was truly Zoya's Shadow then they would have to face each other for one of them to die, but Fruzsi was killed by Nikolai in the aftermath of Dominik's death. However, I also think that there was standing there to start developing something truly, truly poetic in Nikolai killing Zoya's Shadow and Zoya later killing Nikolai's (or maybe even metaphorically doing so in trying to help rid him of the demon??) BUT I GUESS NOW WE'LL NEVER KNOW (*screams*) (*cries*) (*curses Netflix’s name*)

Now moving on to her parallels with Genya and Inej. I think that the loss of Heleen from season 2 (which I’ve shared my thoughts about a bit in the past so won’t go on about now) left a hole that was, in a way I didn’t quite expect, filled more by the Darkling than it was Pekka Rollins. There are multiple quotes from the Darkling this season, mostly directed towards Fruzsi and Genya, that I find to have very specific reminiscence of some of Heleen’s quotes from the the Six of Crows duology and this was the most obvious one for me, and the one that originally made me think of this particular comparison:

"I have always known your worth. Now show me," - the Darkling, s2e7, in the conversation where he specifically states that he bought Fruzsi and she specifically states that she owes him a debt for that

"I know your worth, little Lynx, right down to the cent" - Heleen, Six of Crows, to Inej when torturing Inej with the implication that she intends to find a way to bring her back to the Menagerie ("You'll wear my silks again, I promise")

(Also as a quick addition I think that so much can be said about Rachel Redford's acting in this specific moment of season 2 episode 7 after the Darkling delivers that line. She looks up at him, and the proxemics + their actual heights I must admit have a brilliant added effect to this, with what starts as such genuine sorrow but so quickly turns to such fierce determination before she shows him what she's capable of now that she has the amplifier. After her demonstration she is almost in shock at the revelation of what she was able to do but the pure exultation, the relief, the triumph in her expression does not even come close to existing until the moment that the Darkling says "extraordinary". He's not even looking at her - in fact, I don't doubt it possibly that he wasn't complimenting her herself but simply the creation of the amplifiers and their strength - but the expression on her face then is absolutely unmatched and it speaks VOLUMES) (I genuinely recommend rewatching that moment with this in mind because I cannot stop thinking about it)

And then layered on top of this, we have the tattoos. THE TATTOOS.

I made a specific post about the costuming in season 2, which you can read here if you’d like to, and that covers my thoughts on the new keftas but I didn’t go into detail on the tattoos at the time and I have a lot of thoughts about them. The Grishaverse, mostly the Six of Crows duology, uses tattoos incredibly symbolically and places particular emphasis on choosing to take the mark, creating a massively important bond to something that you deeply care about and will never want to break (gangs, Kaz’s ‘R’ for Rietveld), and being forced to take one on (the pleasure houses, of course most primarily Inej’s Menagerie tattoo). Although we don’t get as much emphasis on this since the show didn’t get the opportunity to explore the gang tattoos yet thus far (and I guess now it won’t *shakes fist at Netflix*) we did have focus surrounding Inej’s Menagerie tattoo and it’s removal in this season and, as much as I wish we’d been able to see her book canon tattoo removal (cut off by a butcher), this side by side comparison of the Grisha being given no option but to take on the amplifying tattoos and Nina using her Grisha power to remove Inej’s tattoo is absolutely fascinating and really well done.

So this for me creates an ongoing comparison between Fruzsi, Genya, and Inej - and taking on what I said about Fruzsi’s apparent absence from the Little Palace despite clearly having an established relationship with the Darkling and having been with him for some time, we can consider the earliest pieces of information we have about Genya’s life. Now it’s a long time since I read the S&B trilogy so I can’t remember if this specific detail is true to book canon but in the show Genya states that the Grisha testers found her when she was seven but that she was gifted to the Queen when she was eleven. We have no information about what happened to her during these four years, and yeah maybe she was at the Little Palace training but we don’t have confirmation of that and I wouldn’t trust the Darkling as far as I could throw him (which probably wouldn’t even crack a metre let’s be real). This also adds a really interesting layer to things with Fruzsi being the one instructed to show Genya off to the other Grisha as an example of what will happen if they try to betray the Darkling because we get this moment when she kneels down to take hold of Genya's chains and they are both sitting in the cage together that I think is really powerful in everything it says about how easily either of them could be in the other's position in that moment but we're also still very aware that Fruzsi has the far more power - or at least an illusion of it. In this same scene Baghra, about Genya, states "she served you loyally since she was a child, endured years of abuse on your orders, and you reduce her to an example? Oh Aleksander, where does this stop?" and honestly that is so brilliantly written (and so brilliantly delivered in the scene) that I don't think I need to say anything on top of it but when we consider this side by side with Fruzsi's position I think that this really is a very powerful parallel and a constant reminder that no-one who places their trust in the Darkling is ever safe, and that pretty much everyone on his side is there because of manipulation and because of abuse - be that abuse from the Darkling or abuse from others that the Darkling has so well learned how to manipulate in ways that are very, very similar to the way Jarl Brum manipulated and abused Matthias (I have written a lot about that too. I have strong feelings.)

I have so much fascination and I feel so much sympathy for Fruzsi and I think that this is one of the things that the show did so fantastically well in her and in the other Grisha on the Darkling’s side who are all manipulated and controlled by him in just the same way our protagonists were, who were ultimately still all very young people who had been attacked and threatened and made unsafe in their home for who they were and who were offered what they believed was the only solution. I think one of the greatest examples of this, other than Fruzsi, is seen in Vatra, the amplified Inferni who is so proud of herself when she brings the Hummingbird down - "Yes! I did it" and btw she says this with such an expression on her face I don't even have the words I would just genuinely recommend you rewatch the scene to get what I'm saying it's s2e7 around 24:30-50 she actually looks so proud of herself she's like a little kid and it's so soul-crushingly clever and incredibly well done and it breaks my heart she's been so successfully manipulated - because she so genuinely believes that she is doing the right thing and she is making a difference for her people, and even when she dies with her hand clutched in Fruzsi's she dies smiling. That girl breaks my heart every time I rewatch, and honestly even though she is presented in a more unlikeable way Fruzsi breaks my heart as well because I can see so much of our beloved characters in her and effectively what could have happened to them and what could have become of them if they hadn’t managed their escape. This duality and constant cause to question the morality of the characters is so brilliantly done and one of the biggest successes of the adaptation considering how well it was done in the books as well but could have been something difficult to translate between medias where exposition is concerned, and I think that Fruzsi was an incredible example of this and that we really should talk about her more

Thanks for reading my nonsense ramblings if you got this far, I hope that it made sense and was at least somewhat interesting <33

[padfoot-lupin77]

“When you can’t beat the odds, change the game” I think it’s pretty clear the odds are on Netflix’s side on this one. How do we change the game?

[nunaalbum]

[talia-rumlow]

Frank Grillo Characters Masterlist

One of my absolute favorite people in the whole wide world. I absolutely adore Frank. His amazing personality, and the range he shows in his acting skills, makes him one of the most inspirational people I´ve ever had the privilege to talk to. The fact the he still doesn't have an Oscar surprises me.

This is where you´ll find my collection of my Frank Grillo Characters fics. Happy Reading. Comments, reblogs and a red heart is highly appreciated.

ONE-SHOTS!

Private Workout (Alvey Kulina X Reader One-Shot)

Alvey´s Game (Alvey Kulina X Reader One-Shot)

Wrong Address (Brock Rumlow One-Shot)

A Helping Hand (Hydra Husbands One-Shot)

Bloody Nose (Brock Rumlow X Reader)

FINISHED STORIES!

Click on the photo to see the Masterlist!

Wheelman

My Saviour

Ongoing Stories!

My Brother`s Best Friend

Bound & Brockened

Escort To The Multiverse

Home Sweet Home

Friendly Fire

You are the new medic at Navy Street, assigned to make sure the fighters are fit to fight, and to stitch them up if they get injured.

You've been in the game before. And you know Alvey, better than most people.

Shelby & Lisa hired you, without consulting with Alvey. And Alvey is not happy when he sees you.

You suddenly find yourself in the middle of a half broken up Kulina family, drug and alcohol abuse, and a Navy Street gym that is about to wreck itself from the inside out.

Will your strong will and smart mouth get them out of the ditch they dug for themselves? Or will you go down with them?

DISCLAMER: I'm not the biggest Lisa fan, so she's a side character in this one, she already left, and is not coming back. Remember this is Fiction, so don't hate me for changing parts of the story. I know a lot of you are BIG Kingdom fans (so am I). I just wanted to make this story my own. I Hope you'll like it.

TRIGGER WARNINGS:

Drug and alcohol abuse Graphic Sexual Description Violence Strong Language Public Sex

UPCOMING STORIES!

YN Stark, Tony Starks oldest daughter just moved into the Stark towers after a messy break up. she immediantly bonds with Natasha. With her smart mouth and her IDFC attitude she manages to keep almost everyone at arms length. Mind made up at "Every Guy Is An Asshole". YN will never ever let another man into her life.

But then….

…. She meets Brock Rumlow at one of her dads parties..

Brock Rumlow don't want another girl. Every girl he's been with always seems to want him for one thing, and one thing only. Not that he minds that. Intimacy is great once in a while. But no girlfriends. Not now, not ever.

But when he one night gets seated next to Tony Starks daughter, things change. She is everything he's not. Caring, loving…. Beautiful. He want's her. But he'll have to work for it. Is it worth the risk?

Tony Stark loves his daughter, although he wasn't exactly ready to father her again when she was over 30 years old. But when she moves in. Tony sees that she inherited his smart mouth, and his sense of humor. The bond between father and daughter grows. It's even better than before. That's why he doesn't care one bit for it when YN starts to talk to SHIELD agent Brock Rumlow.

⚠️TRIGGER WARNINGS⚠️ Family dispute, emotional baggage, Graphic sexual description, drinking, Description of nudity, emotions, strong language

Do not interact with this story if ANY of this is triggering to you. Stay safe ❤️

Brock Rumlow. The university's star quarterback. A talented fotball player, with an inability to behave himself.

You! Psychology Major, about to write your doctorate!

When your paths cross. You will both learn a thing or two about each other, and about yourself.

18+ story⚠️

DO NOT INTERACT WITH THIS STORY IF YOU'RE UNDER THE AGE OF 18!

Story will contain Graphic sexual descriptions, graphic descriptions of violence, emotional trauma, domestic abuse, mental illness, emotional baggage!

These are Trigger warnings. Please read them and respect them!

Stay safe & Happy reading❤️

[atomic-chronoscaph]

Joë in The Kingdom of Flies (1964)

[multi-fandom-bi]

Kaz: *is without his crow cane*

Citizens of Ketterdam: A bastard?

Kaz: *gets his crow cane*

Citizens of Ketterdam: Bastard of the Barrel!!!

(idea creds: @swiftie-as-a-coursing-river)

[pterodach]

[v1tfrma]

I was gonna post more Taissa but I honestly struggle to find pictures I haven't already posted, so instead I'm posting the mother of dragons, Daenerys Targaryen (who should've never been made the mad queen)

[disneyboot]