#Violet 4 Townhouses

[rutujanc]

Violet Damac Hills 2, Violet at Damac Hills 2 by Damac Properties

Violet Damac Hills 2- Violet at Damac Hills 2 by Damac Properties experience urban luxury at its finest with Violet Tower at JVC. Luxurious 4BED Townhousess at just start from AED 1,869,000 Onwards*. Contact us for more details.

[elrielsgarden]

Elain Archeron Week Recap

Day 4: Home 🪻

“Elain … squared her shoulders and declared that she was a part of this court—and would do whatever was needed.”

- A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas

Elain is at home in her garden, whether that be in the human realm, or at the townhouse, or the river house in Velaris. for this piece, I requested that termesart include every flower Elain is associated with so far throughout the ACOTAR series: jasmine, roses, begonias, irises, lilies, violets, hyacinths, & lilacs. Elain is holding an armful of all these flowers from her garden, and in my head she’s watching the Inner Circle (aka her family, her home) as she brings them to decorate the house. termesart is so talented, and she brought my vision to life so perfectly!

art by termesart on Instagram

commissioned by bookish.biologist (me!) on Instagram

likes, comments, and shares appreciated!

please do not repost without permission from me!

thank you 🫶

[thegoldensanctuary]

Part VII Louis XIV’s Final Summer Set (N⁰ 1984)

The fate of this set is, like its entry, somewhat perplexing as contemporary sources contradict one another. Memorialists of the time claim that instead of inheriting the set, the Duke of Tresmes, First Gentleman of the Room, received financial compensation [162], while the Garde-Meuble, on the other hand, maintains that the Duke did in fact inherit the set alongside those present in the Antechamber and Cabinet [163]. The latter version is the most plausible, as it explains both the absence of set 1984 from the 1729 general inventory and the decision to create a new summer set for the bedchamber upon Louis XV’s return to Versailles in 1723.

Furthermore, the death inventory of the Duke of Tresmes in 1739 mentions a satin Persian-style crimson background, present on the second floor of his townhouse under the number 135 [164], corresponding to the set described in the death inventory of King Louis XIV, which was meant to be inherited by the Duke.

page from the Duke of Tresmes Death Inventory, Number 135 AN MC ET II 473

7.1 The Tapestry Itself

The brocades used in the creation of set 1984 came from earlier deliveries in 1687 and 1688 by the Parisian fabric supplier Charlier. Indeed, at the end of the 1705 entry, we learn that Lallié used brocades numbered 96, 991, 116, and 128 for the bed, seats, footrest cushions, tablecloth, and fire screen, described as “a satin Persian-style brocade,” also referred to as the small-pattern brocade. Brocades 95 and 98, called the large-pattern brocade, were used for the bed and alcove tapestry. These brocades were described on July 23, 1686, as “pieces of brocade one ell wide, with crimson background with patterns of gold and silver in Persian colors” [165]. The delivery of brocade 98 can be traced to February 4, 1687 [166]. Jules Guiffrey reconstructed a more complete description of the brocade by combining elements mentioned in several sources: “Five pieces of rich brocade, one ell wide, with crimson red satin background; featuring compartments, cornucopias, scrolls, and flowers woven in gold and silver, with contours around the ornaments in violet, green, and blue silk, in the Persian style, made by Mr. Charlier of Paris” [167]. For the 1705 delivery, eight pieces of large brocade were destined for the alcove tapestry alongside seven pieces of column brocade. These column brocades were part of a delivery from November 29, 1688, by Gautier and manufactured in Lyon. They were described as “columns of rich brocade with vine branches and grapes, with a base and capital woven in gold and silver, twisted, with musk, on a crimson satin background” [168] and received the number 124. Designs featuring twisted brocade columns were fashionable at the time; Swedish diplomat Cronström even discussed similar ones in his correspondence with Swedish royal architect Tessin, where they considered possible decor for royal apartments in Sweden. Cronström wrote, “One could also take satins from Turin and have twisted columns and borders or friezes made, cut according to the design of Mr. Berain. All of this would be appropriate, new, and in good taste.” Mr. Berain was indeed the royal ornamentalist for the King of France. The column designs Cronström referenced, which he sketched, are now in the Stockholm National Museum collection.

National Museum, Stockholm, NMH CC 1382 recto

This layout, however, differs from the one described in the King’s bedchamber at King Louis XIV’s death, where set 1984 is mentioned with an alcove tapestry of only five pieces of large brocade alongside six pieces of column brocade [169]. Moreover, the dimensions of the alcove tapestry as described in 1705 far exceed the size of the bedchamber’s western wall, given that each large piece of brocade was one French ell wide (1.18m) and the brocade column half that width, totaling 13.6 meters (44.52 ft). This discrepancy suggests set 1984 was used in the Versailles King’s bedchamber almost incidentally rather than as a planned choice. This discrepancy in the alcove layout of 1715 featured only five pieces of the large brocade, each one ell wide, and six pieces of column brocade, each half an ell wide, totaling eight French ells or 9.44 meters (31 ft), which is much closer to the actual dimension of the King’s alcove.

7.2 The Bed

The main element of set 1984 was its state bed, with its impressive dimensions. Its components were:

• No Headboard: None of the descriptions indicate the presence of a headboard.

• The Headcloth: Made of two pieces of the large brocade according to the 1705 Garde-Meuble diary [170] and four according to the 1715 death inventory [171].

• The Valences: Both the 1705 and 1715 entries spare details on the main fabric used, only noting crimson satin lining. It could be inferred that they were crimson to match the background of the brocade. Large gold fringes formed festoons at the bottom [172], and this style of valence, different from the previously used campanes, was increasingly popular at the time. Similar ones appear in a painting by Louis Silvestre depicting Louis XIV Receiving the Prince Elector of Saxony in his Fontainebleau bedchamber near the end of his life.

: Louis XIV reçoit à Fontainebleau le prince-électeur de Saxe, 27 septembre 1714, Louis de Silvestre and Hyacinthe Rigaud, oil on canvas, 1715, 120 x 155 cm, Château de Versailles, MV 4344

• The Curtains: Two bonnes grâces, four curtains, and two cantonières are mentioned, with gold fringes at the edges and bottom, lined with the same fabric. The brocade used is not specified, but we can infer that it was the smaller pattern given that the headcloth, mentioned afterward, is said to have been of “the larger pattern brocade,” implying the curtains were not.

• The Quilt: See above.

• The Case Curtain: Made of crimson gros de Tours taffeta, with gold fringes at the bottom and edges, hanging from a golden rod.

• The Columns: The two front columns were placed in a sheath of large-pattern brocade.

• The Vases/Finials: Four in total (one at each corner), filled with feathers and covered in the large-pattern brocade.

7.3 The Armchairs and Stools

Two armchairs were included in the 1705 delivery [173] and three in 1715 [174]. We can assume that an additional armchair was added once the set was transferred to the bedchamber, possibly used with the table. They were garnished with gold fringes at the bottom, and their wood was surprisingly painted red with gold floral decorations. The brocade used was the small pattern, specifically brocades 96, 99, 116, and 128 as described on July 23, 1686: “Two pieces of brocade, two feet wide, with crimson background and elevated patterns in gold and silver with Persian colors” [175]. In 1886, Jules Guiffrey attempted to enhance that vague description by referencing entries from the brocade chapter of the 1729 general inventory and brocade discharges from set 1984, creating this more precise description of the small pattern brocade of number 96: “Two pieces of brocade, two feet wide, with crimson satin background, cornucopias, rinceaux, and flowers of elevated gold and silver, with outlines in green and purple silk, in the Persian style, from the Charlier manufacture in Paris” [176]. The specifics of the colors are consistent with brocade discharges noted at the end of the entry for set 1984 [177].

The twelve folding stools were similar in terms of brocade and style to the armchairs, with gold fringes and woods painted in red with some gilded ornaments.

6.4 The Fire Screen

The fire screen was similar to the seats, with the small-pattern brocade, gold braids around the edges, and wood painted to match the fabric. A braid with a lead pear covered with gold bouquets is also mentioned [178].

7.5 The Table and Tablecloth

The set came with a tablecloth made of the smaller brocade, with fringes on the sides and at the bottom, lined with taffeta, along with a red leather table rug with gold fringes. The table mentioned in the 1715 death inventory under these tablecloths was likely the fir table previously listed in the 1708 inventory and used with set 1379 (see Part 6.6) [179].

7.6 The Portières Tapestries

At the time of the 1705 delivery, no portières were included, and they only appear in the 1715 death inventory [180]. They were made from five pieces of brocade each and described as “assorted to the one of the bed.” Each of the four doors was equipped with one, embellished with gold fringes on their sides, and lined with crimson taffeta.

6.7 The Portieres Tapestries

At the time of the 1705 delivery, no portieres were included; they are only mentioned in the 1715 death inventory [160]. Made from five pieces of brocade each and “assorted to the one on the bed,” each of the four doors was equipped with one. They were embellished with gold fringes on their sides and lined with crimson taffeta.

[135] AN O1/3308 f⁰ 9 r⁰

[136] AN O1/3298 folder 3, item 4, f⁰ 1

[137] Verlet 1961 and Castelluccio 2016 mention set 1379 while omitting set 1984, while Meyer 1980 and Richard 2018 mention set 1984 while omitting set 1379.

[138] Hans 2022 confuses sets 1379 and 1984 and provides a description combining elements from both sets.

[139] AN O1/3308 f⁰ 9 r⁰

[140] Ibid f⁰ 134

[141] AN O1/3298 folder 3, item 4, f⁰ 2 v⁰

[142] The folio 135 of the 1705 Garde-Meuble diary (AN O1/3308) is missing.

[143] Saint-Simon, tome XXIII, p. 213; Dangeau Journal, éd. E. Soulié, Paris, Firmin Didot, 1854-1860, tome XVII, p. 177

[144] AN O1/3298 folder 3, item 2

[145] AN MC/ET/II 473

[146] AN O1/3306 f⁰ 31 v⁰

[147] Ibid f⁰ 59 v⁰

[148] Guiffrey, Jules. Inventaire général du mobilier de la couronne sous Louis XIV (1663-1715), deuxième partie. Paris: Au siège de la société, 1886, p. 198

[149] Ibid f⁰ 111 r⁰

[150] AN O1/3298

[151] AN O1/3308 f⁰ 7 v⁰

[152] AN O1/3298

[153] AN O1/3308 f⁰ 7 v⁰

[154] AN O1/3308 f⁰ 7 v⁰

[155] AN O1/3298

[156] AN O1/3306 f⁰ 31 v⁰

[157] Guiffrey, Inventaire général du mobilier de la couronne sous Louis XIV, 1886 edition, vol. 2, p. 198

[158] AN O1/3308 f⁰ 8 r⁰

[159] Ibid

[160] Ibid

[realestateblogs98]

Violet 4 at Damac Hills 2, set within Dubai's vibrant community, offers a unique lifestyle where luxury seamlessly merges with nature. These four-bedroom townhouses are designed to create lasting memories, providing abundant opportunities for relaxation, adventure, and family fun. Inspired by the elegance of the violet flower, each home serves as a canvas for comfort and sophistication, delivering a vibrant living experience.

The interiors of Violet 4 in Dubai the townhouses reflect modern elegance, featuring open-plan layouts that maximize both space and natural light. Each home includes a private garden oasis, perfect for hosting family gatherings or enjoying peaceful moments. The sleek design, enhanced by high-quality finishes and contemporary amenities, creates a warm, inviting atmosphere tailored to the evolving needs of families.

The architectural design of Violet 4 seamlessly integrates with its natural surroundings, drawing inspiration from the violet flower’s vibrant hues. Residents can enjoy beautifully landscaped gardens and rooftop spaces, ideal for relaxation or entertaining guests. This community celebrates nature’s beauty while offering a luxurious lifestyle.

Damac Violet 4 provides easy access to key destinations across Dubai. Connected by four major highways, residents can reach DAMAC Hills in just 15 minutes and enjoy quick travel to popular attractions such as Dubai Outlet Mall and Global Village within 25 minutes. Al Maktoum International Airport is only 30 minutes away, while Dubai International Airport is reachable in 35 minutes, ensuring convenient commutes.

[diya1803]

Violet 4 by Damac is a luxurious residential community in the heart of Damac Hills 2, offering elegant four-bedroom townhouses inspired by the vivid tones of the violet flower. It’s a place where every day is filled with moments to cherish. Imagine starting your morning with an invigorating yoga session, soaking in the sun’s warmth, and peacefully floating along a lazy river—all before lunch. Meanwhile, your children can dive into their imagination, splash in the water, and embark on endless adventures in a community that feels like home from the start. The design of Violet 4 at Damac Hills 2, Dubai seamlessly combines sophistication and functionality. The contemporary architecture blends harmoniously with nature’s colors, providing the perfect setting for family memories. Enjoy the tranquility of your private garden, and unwind in your rooftop retreat—a perfect balance of luxury and comfort, tailored to your lifestyle. Damac Hills 2 offers excitement and relaxation in equal measure. Start your day with a peaceful fishing trip or head to the petting farm for some fun with the family. In the evening, take a leisurely stroll through the dog park or enjoy a movie under the stars at the floating cinema. For those who love to stay active, Sports Town features a wide range of facilities, from running tracks and tennis courts to cricket pitches—perfect for competitive spirits or relaxed afternoons. For a more thrilling adventure, grab some friends for an exhilarating paintball match, blending fun with a test of teamwork and agility. Mornings can also begin with yoga in the serene Zen Garden or nurturing your green thumb in the Green Zone. Spend meaningful time with your children in the hedge maze or on the jungle gym. Finish the day with a cozy barbecue surrounded by loved ones, a blend of relaxation and joy. This vibrant community merges luxury with the beauty of nature, offering everything you need to live a complete and fulfilling life.

[axpremiumproperties]

Brace Yourself for Violet 4 by DAMAC! 🌟

We're excited to announce the arrival of Violet 4, following the incredible success of DAMAC Violet 1, 2, and 3! Discover the next chapter in Dubai's most transacted community, DAMAC Hills 2! ✨

🏡 4 Bedroom Townhouses 💰 Starting from AED 1.96M 💸 Easy Payment Plan Available 🌍 World-Class Amenities Await!

Experience unparalleled luxury living in a tranquil setting. Don’t miss your chance to invest in your dream residence!

[realesatatedubai]

DAMAC Violet 4 at DAMAC Hills 2, Dubai -Inchbrick Realty.

DAMAC Violet 4 at DAMAC Hills 2, Dubai offers luxury 4-bed townhouses with modern amenities, scenic views, and access to world-class facilities, perfect for a serene lifestyle - Inchbrick Realty

[shaankaz]

Damac Hills 2 Townhouses - Park Greens | Natura | Violet Villas at Dubai

VIOLET TOWNHOUSES AT DAMAC HILLS 2 DUBAI

VIOLET at Dubai Hills 2 is a newly launched off-plan property offering 4 Bedroom Townhouses for sale, developed by Damac Properties Dubai. The Project is located at the prime location address of Damac Hills 2 offering 4 Bedroom Town-villas of 2352 to 2415 sq.ft., Sizes of plot/lot area ranges between 1215 to 2021 sq.ft. After Successful Launch of Natura and Park Greens at Damac Hills 2 this is an amazing investment opportunity for investors, offering attractive ROI and Rental Returns.  Each floor plan layout comes with spacious bedrooms, private lawns, and a living room. The sale price of 4 BR townhouses starts at AED 1.193 Million, as of Q2-2024. Investors can buy a unit in DH2 with a 10% booking amount, as Damac offers attractive 60/40 Payment Plans.

https://sales-office-dubai.com/damac-hills-2-violet-townhouses-dubai/

[dubai-properties-2024]

Luxury life in Violet Phase 2

Violet Phase 2 by Damac Properties offers a unique opportunity to own a luxurious 4-bedroom townhouse within Dubai's prestigious Damac Hills 2 community. With its modern design, private gardens, and access to top-notch amenities, Violet Phase 2 caters to families seeking a perfect blend of luxury and convenience.

[mieletthe]

love is stored in the component jars

What can I say, 4-Sided Dive Essek Lore got to me too. Fellas, is it gay to give your Kryn colleague a matching set of storage containers?

Read on AO3.

—

Caleb waits until Essek has crossed the threshold, until he is safely inside with the door shut and latched behind him, to take Essek’s hands in his. “Welcome back,” he murmurs.

Their embrace is tentative, an unspoken question of Are we doing this? Do you still want this? The heartbeat that quickens in Essek’s chest answers a resounding Yes, but it is a conversation that they have never found in themselves to have aloud.

It’s complicated, anyways.

Caleb takes his cloak and asks how he’s been. What is there to say? He’s been in five different cities in as many weeks, and managed to keep pursuing agents off his trail in all but one. But Essek is exhausted by and ashamed to think of his scrappy, meager, lonely life on the run. He wants to forget about it for the little time he has in this sanctuary.

“You’ve certainly made yourself at home here,” he says to change the subject.

He’d seen the townhouse the day Caleb bought it. It had been bare and dim and dusty, and they’d had to sit on the floor with a broken crate for a table as they ate small hand pies from a bakery down the road. Later, before he’d left Rexxentrum for yet another nameless town, they had made love on top of Caleb’s coat, right in the middle of the salon they stand in now.

He’d missed the housewarming party.

The townhouse is no longer bare. That broken crate is now a placeholder for the coffee table, but half-filled bookshelves flank the fireplace, a traditional Zemnian quilt is folded over the back of the plush new sofa, and a series of framed paintings by Jester lean against the walls just waiting to be hung.

“It’s a work in progress,” Caleb says. “But let me show you the laboratory.”

He takes Essek’s hand and leads him up two flights of stairs to a spacious room that for a moment steals Essek’s breath away. It’s no wonder Caleb is still using a crate for a coffee table; his attention has clearly been focused here.

A pair of impressive worktables sit on either side of an open space that holds the outlines of a large arcane circle. Glass-front cabinets containing books and artifacts line the walls, and behind the arcane circle are open shelves filled end to end with dozens of amber glass component jars. The arcane light emanating from several wall sconces wraps the room in a warm glow that plays enchantingly off the vitreous surfaces.

“I'd never had a real laboratory of my own before.” Essek can hear the pride in Caleb’s voice.

“You have one in your tower, don't you?”

Caleb shakes his head. “The tower is impermanent; it’s not the same. There was one in the Xhorhaus as well, but we were never there long enough for me to settle in.”

As Essek steps into the room, he runs a hand along the rich violet wood of the worktable. Vermaloc. Just like the one in his own laboratory. He can’t imagine how Caleb managed to acquire a piece like this in the Empire, let alone two.

“You’ve made a beautiful space.”

“I took inspiration from some particularly impressive wizards’ towers that I’ve seen.”

Even as he smiles, Essek’s heart twinges. He misses his towers, misses having a workspace like this. He doesn’t know if he’ll ever have something like this again.

He walks over to the wall of component jars. It’s laid out very much like his own: the amber jars all precisely and evenly spaced on the shelves, a shallow counter below holding a series of instruments, bowls, and scoops to measure in place.

“I believe I recognize some of your inspiration.”

Caleb comes up behind him and wraps his arms around Essek’s waist. Essek isn’t floating—the only reason Caleb can rest his chin on his head like that—but his belly swoops as if he has taken flight.

“The jars were a lucky find. Veth tipped me off to an apothecary that was going out of business, and they sold me their entire stock for a very reasonable price.”

They’re exquisite. Each jar is nearly identical to the next, the deep caramel glass impeccably crafted. Essek picks one up to examine the elegant pedestal base and delicate ornamentation circling the lid. He runs a finger along the intricate details of the finial and lifts the knob to the soft clink of glass and wafting smell of incense. Caleb was indeed fortunate to procure such a collection, and Essek tells him as such.

“I'm glad you like them.” Caleb nods towards a set of empty jars at the end of the shelf. “Those ones are for you.”

“Caleb…” Essek begins, his heart sinking. He wishes so badly to have them, to be able to recreate in any small way the magnificent laboratory he once treasured. “That is very generous of you, but I cannot accept. There is no way to carry such things with me.”

“Then keep them here,” Caleb replies in barely more than a whisper. His breath is warm on Essek’s ear. “Keep them, and yourself, safely here with me.”

It takes a moment for the words to register, and when they do Essek turns around in Caleb’s arms. Caleb looks down at him with a soft, pleading gaze.

“Caleb, I…”

“Stay with me.”

His heart beats out Yes. Yes. Yes. but his tongue is more cautious. “I will consider it.”

That answer seems to be enough for Caleb, whose mouth blooms into a smile just before it descends to meet Essek’s.

—

Essek stares at the jars, trying to puzzle out their organization.

“What order do you keep your components in? It’s neither grouped by element nor category, nor is it alphabetical—unless you’re using Zemnian, perhaps?”

“Ah, no particular order. It’s easy enough to remember where everything is, so I just put them back in the closest empty space.”

Essek gawks at Caleb in bewilderment for a moment, then says, “No. Absolutely not.”

He begins to take the jars from the shelves and shuffle them around the countertop.

“What are you doing?” Caleb asks with a crooked smile.

“We are going to arrange these in a structured manner. Now go fetch me a pen and ink to make labels.”

Caleb kisses the top of his head as he passes.

“Certainly. If you’re staying, then it stands to reason that you should have a say in our laboratory too.”

[daphnesims]

Saint Greer Islands

Azalea Island Foxglove Bay: 25 x 30 1 Banyan’s End: 25 x 40 2 Banyan’s End: 30 x 40 Lupin Beach: 40 x 40

Snapdragon Run: 25 x 25 Oak Point: 25 x 25

Buttercup Orchard:  40 x 30

Elm Place: 33 x 30

1 Hazel Road: 15 x 25 2 Hazel Road: 20 x 25

1 Iris Avenue: 15x20 2 Iris Avenue: 20x20 3 Iris Avenue: 30x20 4 Iris Avenue: 35x20

1 Jasmine Court: 20x30 2 Jasmine Court: 30x30 3 Jasmine Court: 20 x 25 4 Jasmine Court: 30 x 25

1 Azalea Park: 50 x 43 2 Azalea Park: 30 x 43

1 Lilac Avenue: 30x20 2 Lilac Avenue: 30x30 3 Lilac Avenue: 30x30 4 Lilac Avenue: 30x20

1 Cedar Terrace: 30x30 2 Cedar Terrace: 25x30

1 Honeysuckle Row: 20x25 2 Honeysuckle Row: 25x25 3 Honeysuckle Row: 20x25

1 Plum Drive:  2 Plum Drive: 25x20 3 Plum Drive: 25x30 

1 Snowdrop Passage: Oliphant Cafe and Studio By @littlemisstery (Pic Here)  Bluedrop House ? By @asexualsims 2 Snowdrop Passage: Green Drop House By @asexualsims 3 Snowdrop Passage:  Blue Redrop House By @asexualsims

1 Peony Street: The Oak House By @littlemisstery (Pic Here)  Water Home? By @asexualsims     2 Peony Street: Misthaven Home By @thewinterflakesim 3 Peony Street: Slerras House By @my-special-sim 4 Peony Street: Little Flower Shop By @littlemisstery 6 Peony Street:  Jaspers House By @my-special-sim

1 Magnolia Parade: Minty HouseBy @littlemisstery (Pic Here)  California Rustic By @asexualsims 2 Magnolia Parade: Peachy Delight By @littlemisstery (Pic Here) Shingle Style By @asexualsims 3 Magnolia Parade: Sunkissed Hideout By @littlemisstery (Pic Here) Beach House By @asexualsims

IIex Lighthouse: Sun Sea Lighthouse By @my-special-sim IIex Bay: Sun Sea Bay By @my-special-sim

IIex Lighthouse: Saint Greer Nautical Museum By @littlemisstery (Pic Here) IIex Bay: Forgotten Shore By @littlemisstery (Pic Here)

Chestnut Bay: The Old Fishing Boat ?By @littlemisstery (Pic Here) —

Holiday Colonial  - 2 Lilac Avenue By @asexualsims

Saint Greer Central Park (Festival Grounds)? by @asexualsims

——-

Violet Island 2 The Wharf: The Waterfront By @amphoraesims Art Studio By @asexualsims 1 Rose Garden: Community College/University By @gruesim

1 Sunflower Garden: Lirael’s Trailer By @simplyimaginarypeople (Image Here) 2 Sunflower Garden: Misty’s Trailer By @laurenisasimmer 3 Sunflower Garden: Blue Dutch By @littlemisstery (Image Here) Purple Caravan By @rubyred-sims & @simplyimaginarypeople (NO Image) 4 Sunflower Garden: Starter Dutch By @littlemisstery (Image Here) 5 Sunflower Garden: 6 Sunflower Garden: Community Garden By @littlemisstery (Image Here)

1 Willow Stroll: Grey Willow Maisons by @littlefrenchsims 2 Willow Stroll: Willow Apartments By @littlemisstery (Pic Here) 3 Willow Stroll: Three Townhouses By @littlemisstery (Pic Here)

Bluebell Park ( To be used has a lot for different things): Little Hill Pumpkin Patch By @pixelatedmuffis Harrison Christmas Tree Farm By @pottery-sims Falling Leaves Wedding Venue By @thesimperiuscurse Bluebell Park By @littlemisstery  (Image Here & deco ferris wheel)

Willow Park: Paravel Park By @amphoraesims Willows Church By @asexualsims Willow Park (Big Park) By @littlemisstery (Pic Here)

1 Clover Creek:  Luka & Zoe’s House By @simplyimaginarypeople (Image Here) 2 Clover Creek: Mortinez Beach House By @jenba ? 3 Clover Creek: Oak Nook By @my-special-sim 4 Clover Creek: Rustic Beach House By @asexualsims

1 Sweetgum Mews: Oleander Cottage By @oleander-sims 2 Sweetgum Mews: The Plum  By @littlemisstery 3 Sweetgum Mews: Saida and Karsen’s House By @simplyimaginarypeople 4 Sweetgum Mews: Reese Cottage  By @simplyimaginarypeople

1 Lavender Promenade: Bridal Boutique (Salon) By @thesimperiuscurse 2 Lavender Promenade: Big Tree Park By @littlemisstery  (Image Here) 3 Lavender Promenade: Grey Stone Home By @littlemisstery (Image Here) 4 Lavender Promenade: Yellow Promenade By @simplyimaginarypeople (NO Image)

1 Violet Square: Supermarket (Grocery RH) By @littlemisstery (Image Here) 2 Violet Square: Galleria Square  By @littlemisstery (NO Image) 3 Violet Square: Caffè Murano (use this mod to run as cafe) By @littlemisstery 4 Violet Square: Blanche’s Cafe & Bakery By @asexualsims 5 Violet Square:  Moonlight Cine By @littlemisstery 6 Violet Square: Midori Asian Cuisine By @littlemisstery (Image Here) 7 Violet Square: Sweetlove Cafe and Bakery By @littlemisstery

1 Tulip Place: Affordable Family HouseBy @littlemisstery (Pic Here) Ascension Park By @amphoraesims Minty House by @rubyred-sims 2 Tulip Place: Holiday Garden & Gift Shop By @jenba 3 Tulip Place: Saint Tulip By @s3mpcdesings

Poppy Field: Victorian CharmBy @littlemisstery (Pic Here) Lavender Fields By @amphoraesims Sunnyside By @my-special-sim

1 Juniper Cove: Modern House By @littlemisstery 2 Juniper Cove:  Water Lily By @littlemisstery  (Image Here) 3 Juniper Cove:

—-

Violet Square: Row Shops - ? by @asexualsims

Violet Square: Dante’s Music Store? - by @asexualsims

Violet Square:  Rabbit Holes Lots? - by @asexualsims

Community Gardens - ? by @asexualsims

White Lake Meadows  - ? by @asexualsims

—–

Lily Island 1 Phlox Bay: Bay Shack By @littlemisstery 2 Phlox Bay: Old Factory (Science rabbithole) By @littlemisstery  (Image Here)

Dandelion’s end: The Refuge By @littlemisstery  (Image Here) Lion’s End By @amphoraesims

1 Foxtrail Trail: Hidden Cottage By @my-special-sim 2 Foxtrail Trail: A-Frame Cotage? By @littlemisstery (Image Here) 3 Foxtrail Trail: Lover’s Nest  By @littlemisstery  (Image Here)

1 Lily Grove: 2 Lily Grove: Wooden Le Chalet By @littlefrenchsims Family Manor? By @littlemisstery 3 Lily Grove: The Lake House  By @simplyimaginarypeople 4 Lily Grove: Leisure Logs By @asexualsims Fallen Leaves Memorial By @amphoraesims

[imagine-loki]

Good While It Lasted

TITLE: Good while it lasted  CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter 4 AUTHOR: ValarieRavenhearst2 ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine seeing Loki for the first time after a very messy break up. RATING: R NOTES/WARNINGS: NSFW (very strong language) 

Violet POV

When I emerged from the fridge, Evie and Katie were talking in the staff room looking uncomfortably tense, I took my earphones out to hear them but they stopped suddenly upon my approach and Evie scampered away with a forced smile. I asked Katie if everything was alright and she replied with Peachy which always meant something was wrong. But I was too exhausted to pry, so I didn’t. I made the drive, silently, back to my townhouse which seems so extravagant on the outside, yet so lonely on the inside. All the décor in the world doesn’t seem to make any difference. After a shower I collapse on the lounge and flick through trashy TV until I leave it on some restoration show while I flick through all my notifications on my phone. The Plaza is having an event on the weekend which briefly peeks my interest so I mark it as a maybe; I may come back to it later. Perhaps it would be nice to go out finally. Maybe I could take all the girls out from work for dinner, then we could go to the Plaza’s party. They do always have nice events. It would be nice to get to know the two new girls – I mean, I used to always take the girls out monthly to boost morale but I realise I haven’t done that in a very long time. I feel like I’ve just been surviving … it’s time to start living again.

    On Friday night I had arranged to close an hour early so that everyone working had plenty of time to get ready before meeting at seven for dinner. Everyone seemed to carry a bubble of delight with them at dinner and it began to infect me quickly – relief flooded through me as I started to feel like myself again.    Katie seemed to notice the change and would look at me with lovestruck eyes when I spoke before hugging me for long periods of time. Despite the rocky road here, I am grateful for her love, nonetheless. I know her attitude has been all out of love, even if I wasn’t ready for it.   Moving on to the Plaza it was a stunning surprise to find that there event was live music and Dorothy was performing. Katie and I shrieked in surprise when she started playing and we barely sat at the table before we were up dancing in front of the stage. Evie brings us all over a round of shots and I quickly begin to drown out all my woes – she seems so timid at work I never picked her to be a rowdy partier. I finally leave the front of the stage to sit with the girls after the second band takes the stage and it doesn’t take long for my face to start aching with laughter – I think my face forgot how to smile; the muscles clearly not getting worked like they used to.   Evie and I go to get the next round of drinks and as I crash into one side of the bar she taps my shoulder to indicate she’s going to the bathroom. I order another round of shots for the table and the bartender promises to bring them over personally. He’s cute I have to admit, I would have thought the act of flirting would have eluded me but it falls effortlessly off my tongue. As the bartender makes his own shot, which he names violet, he slides it in front of me and I lock eyes with a familiar face on the other side of the bar – the same time they notice me. Darcy’s eyes go wide and her mouth drops agape and I can’t help but smile and wave politely in her direction. I always did like Darcy. The bartender, Dean, says he’ll bring everything over in a minute and I bring my attention back to him as Evie grabs my waist from behind. “I’ll see you in a minute then.” I bite my lip as I smile, Evie pulling back off the bar and I turn into her embrace as Darcy appears straight ahead of me. “Hey!” I beam, leaving myself open for an embrace but to my surprise it doesn’t come.   “Hey? Don’t ‘hey me’.” Darcy looks me up and down like I just rear-ended her. “I’ve got some things I need to get off my chest.” My mouth drops open as I await for the punch line of this joke but it seems I’ll be awaiting for eternity. “It took a really long time for Loki to get over you.” My eyebrows fly to my hairline as a scoff leaps out of my throat. “Like a really long time.” Is she fucking serious. “You broke his heart and you know what, he’s too good for you anyway.” I can feel my head reeling from a sudden splash of vertigo as so much unfolds without me moving. Evie begins yelling in my defence but I can’t comprehend what she’s saying as my ears ring with a white noise. This can’t be fucking real. There is an instant blur beyond us as Jane appears rushed and panic stricken. She grabs Darcy but that just spurs her on. They begin yelling at each other as Katie appears between us and the ringing in my ear comes to an obnoxious stop as the shock settles in. “No! She deserves to be told off! Comin’ round here after the trouble she caused, flirtin’ like some pretentious bimbo right in front of him!” Darcy pulls out of Jane’s grip as she scrambles to keep her quiet. Katie erupts like Pompei, calling her the lowest name she can think of … but I quickly decide to defend myself with on a surge of rage. My Intrepidness rising from it’s resting place.   “I beg your pardon?” I lurch forward, pushing past my two defenders and towering over Darcy. “Who the fuck do you think you are?” Jane’s eyes widen to a shocked degree as my retaliation startles her. “Pretentious bimbo? How fucking dare you! You have absolutely no fucking clue about what you’re talking about. So keep your little trash mouth fucking shut or I’ll shut it for you!” I threaten with a such a degree of venom, I almost don’t recognise myself but my rage assures my stance.   Stunned and enraged, Darcy flicks her eyes around to land on a drink sitting on the bar and immediately her hand flies out to grab it. Game on bitch. “Oh I fucking dare you.” She goes to throw it at me but I’m close enough that I just lunge at her and grab both her arms and thrust her against the bar. Then all hell truly breaks loose. The glass falls back on the bar and shatters, she begins to kick me off, Jane grabs my shoulders, Katie grabs Jane by the hair, Evie begins shouting profanities, the bartenders begin screaming and scrambling and then Thor appears to separate Jane and Katie, then Loki appears and hooks one arm round my waist to hoist me across his body like I weigh nothing. Darcy lunges after me but Loki puts his other arm out to keep her at bay while still maintaining his grip on me.   “What are you doing?” He roars at Darcy but his authority doesn’t faze her.   “She pushed me!” She accuses and I begin yelling in defence and thrashing to be free of his restraint. “When you see bullshit you call it out!”   “Fuck off you insult fucking bitch.” I roar as Katie appears in front of me and grabs Loki.   “Let her fucking go!” Our chaos infects everyone standing near and suddenly everyone wants to fight. Bouncers come and naturally want to go for the ones who appear to be the biggest threat; so they go for Thor and Loki. Loki yanks himself back and drags me with him, shielding me from Darcy but also from anyone trying to pull me out of his grip.   “Let me go!” I want to sound outraged but the suddenness of how easily he lifts me with one arm causes me to gasp. “Loki!” I exclaim but he doesn’t cease his pace till we’re out the door. “Loki stop!” The shock of his presence settles in below my drunken rage, allowing me to maintain the mental strength to face him – rather than fall down an anxiety ridden trip – to which I had become accustomed to. He releases me somewhat, against the wall and away form the entrance, but he boxes me in so that I can’t escape him.   “Are you alright?” He is seething; I can see the rage dancing behind his eyes, but there is something so fearful there as well as he looks me up and down – hands hovering around my waist. “Are you hurt?” He’s trying to be gentle but the urgency in his voice is more superior.   “I’m fine.” I press my hands firm against his chest to push him away from me. “No thanks to you!” I hiss. “What the fuck was that, huh?” We are drawing a large crowd of concern but I’m so angry I just don’t care. “It’s nice to see you confide in someone, at least.” His eyes go wide, unprepared for my assault.   “I’ve never told her anything –”   “So she just pulled all of that bullshit out of thin air then?” I push myself off the wall so that it is I who invades his space. “I broke your heart, huh? That’s real fucking interesting Loki, ‘cause I don’t remember you sheading a fucking tear!” I push him again much more fiercely and tears spring to my eyes involuntary as he fights to try and soften his approach. When I try to hit him again he grabs both of my wrists and I immediately thrash to be free and he pushes me back against the wall.   “Stop it! Please…” He pleads as bystanders yell in my defence and rush over to pull him off. “Violet, please stop and listen to me.” Despite his strength his tone softens completely and his eyes look so sad … the feeling that overcomes me next is so disorientating as I stare back up into those distressed emerald eyes that it causes my intrepidness to retreat down into the depths of my despair.   A man barges into Loki’s side, both of us too lost in each other’s eyes to notice him bounding over. He does little to actually move Loki far but the jolt rips us apart violently and I stumble against the wall as another man catches me. I look up to see that it is Dean the barman with his arms around me; jerking me backwards and not allowing me to extend back upright correctly. The man who is battling Loki barges him again but Loki remains as firm as a statue before throwing the man to the ground; he barely moves yet the man hits the ground so violently that he can’t do anything but moan and roll over in pity. Loki’s eyes lock back onto me and he instantly begins stalking towards me … well, Dean actually. His glare turning rather violent as Dean tries to shove me behind him.   “Listen buddy you need to back off now.” Oh how foolish.   “Stop it.” I groan to both of them as I try to back away from my misled protector and gain my own footing again. All the shots I’ve had aren’t helping with these heels now.   “Loki stop!” Thor’s voice booms from behind me and suddenly I’m pulled into his embrace. Oh I have had enough of being fucking man-handled. “I have her, stop.” However that doesn’t stop him from grabbing Dean by the collar and thrusting him into the wall.   “Loki!” I shriek, elbowing my way out of Thor’s grip. I grab Loki by the bicep and force myself between them; pushing Loki back further. “That’s enough.” I seethe but my emotions are too heightened now, causing the anger to leave my voice as tears well in my eyes. Just when I thought my head was truly about to explode, the rest of our parties are escorted out and Katie comes out screaming – the bouncers in tow too. Thor chuckles arrogantly and stops the bouncers from getting to me but he misses Katie. She lunges for Loki but I cry out for them both to stop; putting myself between them.   “I swear if you’ve hurt her –”   “You’ll what?” Loki arcs up and I just want the ground to swallow me whole. Then the blue and red flashing lights arrive. I groan in a tear-streaked panic and push myself backwards with all my failing might into Loki. I flip in his arms and they surround me automatically.   “Take me home.” I demand in distress; seeing no possible way out of this clusterfuck. He instantly tightens his grip and whisks me down into the alley before Katie can make chase – then in a flash of green we disappear.

[abybweisse]

These assignments and other battles are like the needles...

...in Mother3. Lucas has to battle against his dead, reanimated older mirror twin brother (Claus/Masked Man/Pigmask Army Commander) to pull up the needles that are literally keeping the Dark Dragon asleep. Think of Lau’s acupuncture needles but WAY bigger. And they look more like swords.

Instead of removing 7 needles to wake the Dark Dragon (the Black Butler has already been summoned, after all), the twins have to battle over supporters and resources. And the battle started before Yorkshire. Regardless of what real Ciel says here:

What should we consider their rounds?

Campania? Real Ciel was there but not a participant. This apparently had more to do with the eccentric people who wanted to test out bizarre dolls as weapons. Neither side lost major players. Stoker was a pawn, but I don’t think Undertaker really needed him after that. So, I’ll say no; it’s not a real battle between the twins. This is, however, when our earl gets the Franklin Badge chain of mourning lockets from the grave keeper, Nippolyte Undertaker.

Weston? Real Ciel was there for a while, but he wasn’t a player. The only people who died were the ones killed by the P4 before even Undertaker became involved. This was an opportunity for Undertaker to make more advanced bizarre dolls. We could say it’s a slight win for our earl, since he gained Violet, Edward, Harcourt, and others as allies. But again, real Ciel isn’t directly involved. So, I don’t think it counts as a round in their battle.

Sphere Music Hall? Real Ciel is the whole reason this places exists. He gains Lizzie’s support. Nina works for both sides, but we haven’t heard from her since. The P4 become the S4 for real Ciel, but they are not loyal to the cult for long (as far as we know). Our earl wins by exposing the deaths there and getting the place shut down. However, our earl and Sebastian are competing directly against Fassad Blavat, since he’s essentially running the place... at least as far as the battle is concerned. I don’t consider this the start of the “game” between the twins.

Bath “Music Hall”? Blavat kills off some of their own money donors, who had been receiving leftover Polaris and Vega blood. He tries to kill Violet but ultimately fails. I don’t think our earl and Sebastian ever told the local authorities about what they found there, since they dropped Violet off at the local hospital and then went straight from Bath to the townhouse in London. You could say it’s a win for them, since the cult lost money and Violet is still alive. However, there was no battle; this is more like part of the aftermath from SMH.

1. Phantomhive townhouse. Real Ciel was there and shot Soma and Agni. Lord Polaris was there and stabbed Agni to death. I have to call this a major win for real Ciel. Agni is gone, and Soma is a sworn enemy of our earl, simply because he doesn’t know about the twin. In the aftermath, we still don’t know where Sieglinde’s and Wolfram’s loyalties lie. Our earl 0: real Ciel 1

2. Phantomhive Manor. It’s the first time the twins are confronting each other face to face. Another win for real Ciel, since he takes over the manor and keeps Tanaka (for now). The Midfords don’t know what side to take. The Yard and local police arrest our earl and Sebastian, as well as Blavat. This is where Lucas our earl gets confused for the Commander of the Pigmask Army Lord Sirius. Our earl escapes police/Yard custody and keeps his other servants, but he’s lost his title and his home and all its contents, and he has to go into hiding. Our earl 0: real Ciel 2

3. Yorkshire. Several maids hired there were once nurses at Karnstein Hospital. Mey-Rin and Ran-Mao destroy the blood supply “factory” at Heathfield’s manor, as Polaris has now confirmed to real Ciel, so a win for our earl. It’s the first win that real Ciel acknowledges for his younger twin. Our earl 1: real Ciel 2 However, we have to see if anyone from Heathfield’s manor comes back into the story, besides Polaris, of course. Some of them — like Jane, Abbie, the steward, and Chris Heathfield — are still people of interest... and I wish Ran-Mao and Mey-Rin had thoroughly interrogated them. Especially since Polaris is talking about killing them for being “useless”.

4. Norfolk. That’s where the orphanage is, and it could be a good place to learn something about Lord Vega, whether it’s twins or a single individual. Finny and Snake are going there, since they are minors (or can pass for minors. I think Snake might not be). It’s said that the children gain a unique education there. The Aurora Society connection is a wealthy donor. Score unknown. Since the previous win belongs to our earl, this assignment could go very poorly for Snake and/or Finny.

5. Wiltshire. That’s the location of the “former servicemen’s sanatorium”, so Lau and Bard are headed there. There is supposed to be a nurse there who performs miracles, but the known Aurora Society connection is several of the doctors there. This could be a good place to find Lord Canopus, who seems to need a lot of medical care; this could be the miracle nurse or simply someone there for treatment. If Blavat is back to scheming for the cult, he could be part of the racket for this “miracle nurse”. Score unknown. If the orphanage assignment goes poorly, Bard’s and Lau’s chances of doing well go up. If Finny and Snake are successful, then Bard and Lau might be in more serious trouble.

6. Brighton. That’s the resort hotel where our earl and Sebastian are going. It doesn’t cost much, but service is top notch. People extend their vacations and even move in permanently to stay there. This would be a good place to run into any number of important people: the queen, John Brown, the Viscount of Druitt, etc. Earlier, I thought this would be where our earl and Sebastian run into real Ciel and Undertaker again, but now I don’t think so.... Score Unknown. Whatever the confrontation here, our earl and Sebastian should prevail. Even if it’s against the queen and John Brown.

The worst thing about the assignments is that Sebastian isn’t participating in three of them. It’s possible that our earl’s plans are successful in all four assignments. However, the “game” is more interesting if real Ciel gets a win here and there. So, we have to expect set-backs from time to time, making it likely that either Finny and Snake or Bard and Lau will fail. It would be highly unusual in this sort of story for every battle to be a success for the protagonists. We would expect the demon to win any battle, of course, but like I said, he’s not directly involved in three of these four assignments. And the first assignment has already been successfully completed... as far as we can tell.

7. Phantomhive Manor again? The final confrontation between the twins might happen on shared family turf. If we ever finally get a backstory on Undertaker, it might be here, since it heavily involves the Phantomhive family. Score unknown, but our earl should prevail. And the contract should be fulfilled, if it wasn’t already fulfilled back in Brighton.

Seven needles and seven battles.

[artificialqueens]

Galactica, Chapter 55 (Group Fic) - TheDane/Veronica

A/N: Click here if you’re looking for previous chapters (or here if you’d rather read on AO3). 💫

Last Chapter: Thanksgiving went on for 17 million years. (AKA 5 Chapters) We laughed, we cried (did we cry? I don’t think we cried – except for Adore maybe), we fucked on some stairs until our knees gave out...

This Chapter: Pearl makes a getaway, Raven carbs up, and Violet returns to work with help from a very special assistant.

***

“Pearl! Pearl, wake up!”

Pearl stirred, a hand shaking her, and opened her eyes. Fame was leaning over her, a sleep mask pushed up on her forehead, a frantic expression in her eyes.

It had been a long night. When Pearl arrived at the townhouse, they’d at down and had a long heart to heart, Pearl tearfully confessing the whole sordid tale of her and Adore over tea and leftover cranberry apple crisp, Fame even going the extra mile and topping it with an uncharacteristic scoop of ice cream--she must really have seemed pathetic. Pearl told her everything, and while Fame was understanding, she didn’t hold back or let her off the hook either, pointing out where she thought she’d fucked up, how she could have done better, and why Adore was justified in her hurt and anger. It was difficult to hear at times, but Pearl appreciated her honesty. Most of all, she appreciated that Fame stayed to listen, giving her the space to talk it out, sometimes resting a hand on her thigh just to let her know that she was still there.

After that, cried out and emotionally exhausted, they’d climbed into Fame’s bed to snuggle and watch TV, Pearl’s eyelids soon drooping heavily. When Patrick got home, Pearl had offered to leave, of course, but he saw how tired she was and insisted she stay, Fame sleeping in the middle of the bed.

Now, it was morning and Fame was apparently in a tizzy over something. Pearl rubbed her eyes.

“What’s going on?”

“The chef’s idiot assistant let in my in-laws without asking. I have no idea why they’re here so early, we clearly said brunch was at noon!” Fame fretted, Patrick buttoning his shirt in the background.

Pearl tried to catch up. “The chef?”

“Oh my god, what are we going to do?!” Fame explained, hands pressed to her cheeks.

“She could go out the window…” Patrick joked.

“Yes!” Fame turned back to Pearl. “Get dressed, you’re going out the window.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Pearl asked. “That’s dangerous!”

“Use the trellis!”

“Darling, I was kidding,” Patrick said gently.

“Well, I’m not!” Fame snapped her fingers. “Where are her pants?”

Patrick handed over Pearl’s skinny jeans, shaking his head. “Can’t we just say that one of your employees came for an early meeting?”

“Oh yeah Patrick, an early meeting on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Here in our bedroom. Sounds totally respectable. I can’t believe this, we’re never using chef John again! Pearl, hurry up.” She got up and walked to the window that overlooked the backyard, unlocking it and opening it wide.

“Was he supposed to let them just wait on the front stoop?”

“Patrick,” Fame said sternly, in that tone that told them both that she was not fucking around. “If you’re not going to offer any other solutions, you can just go downstairs and entertain your stupid family.”

“I’m gonna let that one slide,” Patrick said as he walked to the door. “And Pearl, godspeed. Try to avoid the rose bushes if you fall.”

“So, is this your way of telling me that I’m not staying for brunch with the fam?” Pearl asked, putting on her jacket and slinging her messenger bag over her shoulder.

“Pearl.” That same tone again, entirely unamused.

Pearl stepped up to her at the window, looking out. The good news was, there was a high cement wall that would likely break her fall before the ground. Worst case scenario, she’d break a bone...or two.

“This is the first time I’ve done anything like this since high school,” she giggled, then reached out and touched Fame’s hand. “Thanks for last night.”

“Of course,” Fame replied, softening for a moment, leaning in to give her a gentle kiss on the mouth. “Anytime.”

“Anytime except right now, you mean?”

“Exactly,” Fame said, helping her climb onto the window ledge and over to the trellis. “Once you get down to the garden, make sure to go around that way,” she pointed, “And duck when you pass the windows.”

“Sure thing, boss.”

***

“Now,” Juju took the dinosaur tray from the counter, handing it to her son, his pancakes carefully cut up, “take it slow when-” Juju was cut off as Owen grabbed the tray, practically spinning around in his haste to make it back to the family room. “Hey! I said take it slow young man!”

It was a Sanderson family tradition to spend the Saturday after Thanksgiving with pajamas, pancakes and TV, and even though Kelly had gotten too old to join, their teenager leaving the house almost as soon as they had made it back from Boston, Juju knew with absolute certainty that she’d find a toddler under each of her husband's arms, time with dad something the twins valued above anything else.

“They grow up so fast.” Raven smiled, her best friend sitting at the kitchen counter in a set of soft pink silk pajamas, twirling a bit of hair around her finger.

“Don’t even say it,” Juju sighed, cutting up the last of the fruit so she could make Raven a plate too. “It feels like we just left the hospital.”

“You’ll have another little one soon.”

“And that’s supposed to make me feel better?” Juju smirked, and Raven laughed, taking the offered assortment of fruit that Juju handed her, but then, something crazy happened. Raven grabbed two pancakes too, putting them on her plate.

“Hey girly, what’re you doing?” Juju didn’t normally care about Raven’s diets--actually, she tried not to be involved in them at all whenever she could, but she had already spotted her best friend putting creamer in her coffee. Juju worked in fashion as well, several houses and magazines using her on shoots, but she didn’t think she’d ever really understand the sacrifices models went through. Sure, it was part of their job to go to the gym, but she didn’t think she’d ever be able to do it, even though Raja had made it seem effortlessly easy when she had been in her prime. “I know Sutan isn’t here, but I don’t believe the warden has relaxed the rules that much.”

“Well.” Raven looked uncharacteristically insecure for a moment, crossing her arms. “I’ve decided I’m done doing swimwear.”

“Oh?” Juju knew Raven had campaigns coming up in December, her friend complaining about it the last time they saw each other.

“Yes.” Raven nodded. “I’m done. It’s not worth the money, when it’s killing me to stay in runway shape year round.”

“Okay.” Juju nodded, sort of understanding where Raven was coming from. When she wasn’t walking fashion weeks where everyone had to fit sample sizes, the industry loved her curves, Raven smoking hot when she allowed herself to get to a size 4 or even a 6, which was a much more accurate representation of what her body actually looked like. “And Tan is cool with it?”

Somehow, it worked for Raven to have her fiancée’s brother as a manager, but Juju knew without a shadow of a doubt that she would have killed Detox if he ever tried to make decisions on her career, even the idea of Raja, Fame, heck, even Bianca moving in on her turf making her genuinely uncomfortable.

“I…” Raven clicked her tongue. “Might not have told him yet.”

***

“Urgh,” Sutan groaned as he flopped on the couch, face first, a white t-shirt clinging to his chest. “Fuck.”

“Hello,” Violet was biting her lip in an effort not to smile, her boyfriend absolutely exhausted, his duffle bag thrown somewhere on the floor. “Did you have a nice time at the gym?”

They had been in the middle of breakfast, Violet making her way through a coconut yogurt when Sutan had gotten a call, his eyes widening to an almost comical size when he recognized the number, the horror on his face telling the clear story of how he had completely forgotten.

“My trainer is an absolute sadist.”

“Mmh?” Violet had never seen him move so fast, Sutan drowning his coffee in one big gulp, barely pressing a kiss against her temple before he had rushed out the door, grabbing what was apparently an emergency gym bag from the hallway closet.

“He made me do 25 extra sets of everything for being late. Can you believe I’m paying someone to torture me?” Sutan toed his shoes off, winching at the movement as he got on his back, putting his head on her thigh, his hair still slightly damp. “I thought I was going to die.”

Violet had wondered why Sutan had never let her be around when he went to the gym, the man only going on nights or mornings when they weren’t spending time together.

Now, it seemed like she had her answer.

“Poor you.” Violet smiled, running her fingers over his forehead, the TV playing quietly in the background.

“I know you don’t mean that,” Sutan looked up at her, “but I’ll take it.”

“You know,” Violet bit her lip not to yawn, the smallest of efforts almost taking her out, putting their breakfast away and getting to the couch feeling like enormous tasks. “I’m going to be so jealous once I’m off my pain killers.”

Violet tried not to think too hard about what a broken bone actually meant, not being able to run or even do yoga to manage her emotions a complete nightmare.

“Seriously?” Sutan lifted an eyebrow, and Violet ran a finger over it. “When I was 23, you couldn’t force me to go to the gym.” Sutan smiled. “Not that Raja’s model diet made it necessary.”

“You were on a model diet?”

“Beat having to cook for myself.” Sutan grinned, and Violet could totally imagine it, the Amrull twins chugging their way through green smoothies side by side.

“How long did you actually live with Raja?”

“Literal decades,” Sutan snorted. “God I’m ancient.”

“I like to think of you as finely aged wine.”

“HA!” Sutan laughed, and Violet couldn’t help but smile. She loved watching him laugh, loved seeing his face scrunch up with happiness. “For that lovely eyes,” Sutan pointed up at her. “You get to stay another week.”

“Oh…” Violet paused, “I, umh, I didn’t…” She had felt so happy just moments before, but now, she could feel the uncertainty crawl up her spine. “We never actually talked about… You don’t have to do-”

It wasn’t like her at all, but Violet had simply not considered the week to come, hadn’t even thought about where she would be staying, what she would be wearing, what she’d be doing with herself beyond believing Sutan when he said he’d get her to work Monday.

“Violet.” Sutan reached up, grabbing her neck, his fingers easily holding her. “You live on the 5th floor with no elevator.”

“And I appreciate your help, but I’d never want to-”

“You’re staying here. No argument. I’d be a terrible boyfriend, fuck, I’d be a terrible friend, if I wasn’t cool with you staying here.”

“You sure?”

“Yes.” Sutan nodded. “Besides,” He pulled on Violet’s neck, forcing her down so he could press a kiss against her lips. “I like having you around.”

Sutan smirked, and Violet couldn’t help but smile. “Thanks.”

***

“Where do you think you’re going?” Katya was whispering as she looked over at her fiancé. She and Trixie were in the movies, Annabelle playing on the screen.

“I have to pee, I had an extra large soda.”

Katya placed her hand on Trixie’s chest, pushing him down into the seat, keeping him in place. “No.”

“What?!” Trixie hissed.

“I said no.”

And in that moment Trixie saw how Katya was smiling, and he felt a surge of arousal go through him.

“Okay…”

Trixie leaned back in his chair, Katya’s hand on his chest ending up on his stomach where it rested, keeping him in place.

Trixie couldn’t help but squirm, arousal and the need to pee getting mixed up in his head, a heavy sensation settling over his entire body, his fingers drumming on the seat, restless energy filling him as the movie continued.

“Katya, please…” Tixie hissed, the stupid movie not even halfway done. “I’m about to explode.”

“No.”

Katya smiled, picking up her drink, her lips closing around the straw as she oh so slowly drank the rest of her own small soda, the sound causing chills to run over Trixie’s spine.

Katya held him in seat through the credits, and Trixie had tears in his eyes, he had to pee so badly, but Katya had told him he couldn’t, so he wouldn’t, because he was her good boy.

The very last name ran over the screen, and Katya removed her hand, Trixie shooting up from his seat, his jacket and even his bag forgotten as he ran to the bathroom, a sense of euphoria rushing over him as he could finally, finally, finally pee, his entire body shivering in delight.

***

When Bob heard the design floor door open, he instantly perked up, whirling around in his chair.

“Well well well!” he exclaimed, yelling out to the floor, his oversized coffee mug in hand, a pencil tucked behind her ear. “Look who’s back!”

“Hi everyone,” Violet came through the door, a happy but unsure smile on her face. It was clear that she wanted to wave, but she was stuck with her crutches, a bulgy cast on her ankle.

Violet looked over her shoulder, and Bob felt his eyes bulge out as none other than silver fox of the year, Sutan Amrull, came through the door in an impeccable suit, Violet’s purse and what had to be both of their jackets on his arm.

“I knew it!” Bob cried out, slapping his desk with his hand. “I knew those two were dating! No lipstick my ass!”

He looked around triumphantly, everyone's attention now divided between Bob and the pair at the door, Sutan looking on with a raised eyebrow and a smile on his lips, while Violet seemed like she was wishing that the floor would open up and swallow her whole.

“Good work, Sherlock.” Jovan drawled, his head in his hand as he was sitting backwards on his chair. “How’d you figure that one out?”

“Well you see-” Bob grinned, just about to go on a tangent, when he was cut off by his boyfriend, Maxwell leaning against his desk.

“I literally told you they were dating a fucking week ago.”

“Right.” Bob huffed. “But you’re always wrong about this stuff.”

Sure. Max had told him that about the whole Violet falling thing, the drama with Aiden the talk of the department, but he hadn’t actually believed it when Max had said he had seen Sutan Amrull press a kiss against Violet’s temple, the two of them apparently leaving together.

“Are your coworkers always this much fun?”

Bob’s head whipped at the sound of Sutan’s voice, the man smiling as he looked down at Violet, one of his hands in his suit pocket.

“Don’t answer that Chachki!” Jovan yelled out, making everyone laugh. “Just come on over here!”

Violet looked extremely relieved to be called for, and Sutan followed behind her as she swung herself across the room on her crutches-- No hobbling for that bitch.

“Man, look at you go!” Bob grinned, walking over to Jovan and Violet’s desks, his own work completely abandoned. “It’s like you’ve been using those things all your life!”

“Thanks Bob,” Violet replied drily, even though she was smiling. She looked a lot better than he expected, her hair and makeup done to her usual perfect standards, curls cascading down her back. She was wearing a long sleeved black dress with a high-waisted skirt, and even a heel on her good foot, Violet Chachki as always picture perfect.

“I cannot believe you’re wearing heels with crutches. You’re an icon, and we should all aspire to your standards.”

“You’d fail.”

“Ha!” Jovan snorted, the man giving Violet’s shoulder a quick squeeze before he returned to his computer.

“Besides.” Violet pulled out her chair, sitting down with as much grace as she could muster, shaking her head disdainfully. “It’s only 2 inches.”

“I promise you,” Sutan smiled, putting Violet’s bag down on the table. “I tried to tell her it was a terrible idea.”

“Good to know.” Bob bit his cheek not to give too much away, but on the inside, he was dancing with delight at all the delicious gossip he was gobbling up. “Hi, Bob Caldwell.” Bob held his hand out, nearly shrinking on the inside when Sutan took it. “Design Project Manager.”

“Sutan Amrull,” Sutan smiled, shaking it firmly. “Elite Model Management, though around here I’m probably better known as Raja’s brother. I assume you know her very well.”

“We sure do.” If Bob was honest, he had forgotten that Maxwell had followed him over, but what he wouldn’t forget was the ridiculous grin on his boyfriend's face as he shook hands with Sutan. “I’m Maxwell Heller. Designer.”

“I’m familiar with your work.” Sutan grinned, pulling back to take a seat on the edge of Violet’s desk and Bob wiggled his eyebrows at Max, who nudged his elbow into his side.

“What do you have there, lovely eyes?”

Bob’s eyes widened in delight as Violet looked up like she had fully forgotten they were all still there, her embroidery frame already in hand, the massive skirt she was working on tethered to it.

“The dress.” Violet smiled, the worry Bob had seen on her face when she first walked in all gone now that her work was safely back in her hands. “The couture one.”

“This is your couture dress? Let me see.” Sutan reached into his jacket pocket, taking out a pair of glasses that he quickly slipped on before he carefully picked at the skirt, taking a section that was already done, examining the work. “This is very impressive.”

“Did you hear she’s closing the Spring runway?” Bob grinned, the morning only getting better and better.

“Well,” Sutan pushed his glasses into his hair, a big smile on his face, “with a gown like this, how could she not?”

“And that’s enough for you!” Violet reached out, her cheeks pink as she took the dress from his hands, her tone stern even though she was smiling. “Thank you for fulfilling your duties as a full time boyfriend by carrying my stuff. You can leave now.”

“Boyfriend?” Maxwell squeaked, and this time, it was Bob’s turn to nudge him.

“Am I a little too old for that title?” Sutan smirked, looking between them.

“Well,” Violet interjected, her tone completely dry. “You can be my man friend if you’d prefer?”

“Ha!” Sutan snorted, a grin on his face. “And I think that’s my cue to go. I’ll text you.” He leaned over the desk, giving Violet a quick peck on the lips before standing up, shaking hands with Max and Bob and waving to Jovan as he grabbed his jacket and left.

“Damn Chachki,” Bob watched as Sutan left, his arms crossed over his chest. “We gotta hand it to you. That is one sexy fucking man.”

“Umh…” Violet paused, looking up at them, her embroidery needle already in hand. “Thank you?”

“You’re welcome.”

***

“Morning, Jackie!” Sutan waved, stopping in the assistant bullpen to check if he had gotten any physical mail. Jackie was a new girl, had originally only started out as a temp, but she had done a shockingly good job, so Elite had officially hired her a few weeks ago.

Sutan didn’t have his own personal assistant, and had never had one even though he was sure Tamisha would give him one if he asked.

“How was your Thanksgiving?”

“Great, thanks.” Jackie smiled, her brown bang swept across her forehead. She was wearing a green and yellow sweater, her nails painted in a deep orange.

Sutan loved Jackie's style, the woman always dressed like she was living in the 60s, but his favorite thing was that she was cool, calm and collected under pressure, and unlike the baby temps, she was a woman in her late 30s who hadn’t just taken the job in the hopes of becoming a model.

“Also,” Jackie lowered her voice, leaning over the desk. “Ms. Petruschin is waiting for you in your office.”

“Hmm?” Sutan raised an eyebrow. He had an open door policy, and everyone was always welcome, but usually, they were welcome when he was actually there. He hadn’t stopped for coffee after dropping Violet off at work, and now, he couldn’t help but wonder if he had made a mistake.

“She didn’t want to wait at reception, so I let her in.”

“Ah.” Sutan nodded. That sounded just about right for Raven. “Don’t worry about it. You did the right thing.”

Sutan walked over to his office, not even trying his key in the door since he knew it’d be unlocked.

“Raven!” Sutan put on his best game face, his voice light and happy. “To what do we owe the honor of your presence?”

Raven looked up from where she was sitting-- not sprawled on the couch where she’d normally be, but at a chair in front of his desk, spine ramrod straight, her Birkin carefully placed on the floor.

“... Everything okay?” Sutan shut the door behind him, quickly flicking the lock. Normally when he had his models come by, he’d take a seat behind his desk, but today, that didn’t seem like the right option, so instead, he sat on the corner of the table, looking down at his sister in law. “Raven?”

“I,” Raven bit her lip, her white teeth sinking into it. “I have something to tell you.”

“Okay?” Sutan kept his voice level, doing everything he could not to let his worry show on his face. The last time Raven had come to him like this, it had been with an absolute disaster involving several talks with a lawyer, but Raja hadn’t said anything, hadn’t given him any hints or sent a single text, so it couldn’t be that bad.

“So,” Raven took a deep breath, lifting her chin as she looked directly at him. “I don’t want to do swimwear anymore.”

“.... Okay?”

“It’s not worth it, and I hate it.”

Out of everything Sutan had dreaded. Of all the things that had flashed through his mind. This was not what he had expected at all.

“Well, that’s not a problem.”

“You’re not mad?” Raven’s eyes widened, surprise and anxiety painted on her beautiful face.

It was clear that Raven had expected him to be disappointed, or even upset, and Sutan couldn’t help but remember the inexperienced young girl he’d signed at only 17 years old.

It had been a long time since he’d been reminded of that, the Raven of today much more likely to slam a door or yell in his face, but the tough act had always been and would always be a facade to hide her obvious vulnerability.

Other agents had sometimes asked how he dealt with her, how he could remain calm in the storm of Raven’s emotions, but he had always felt responsible for her well being, and had always felt protective of her.

“Raven.” Sutan crossed his arms. “It’s your career. Your body. Your decisions. How I feel, and how the brand feels doesn’t matter if you hating it is your genuine emotion.”

Raven nodded, swallowing, and Sutan could see that it wasn’t an easy decision for her.

“As your agent, it’s my responsibility to make sure that you stick to your commitments, but cancellation fees exist for a reason.”

At that, Raven winced, two cancellation fees taking a hefty chunk out of her next paycheck, half of the money going to the brand while the other would end up in Sutan’s pocket but she didn’t protest, sticking to her decision, and that was when he knew she was serious, that she had thought it through.

“Rave,” Sutan reached out, touching her shoulder. “We’re okay.”

At that, a smile finally cracked through, a relieved sigh coming from her. “Good.”

“You know,” Sutan pushed up from the desk, walking around it. “We just got the potential for a Clinique campaign.” Sutan picked up the sales pitch he had received, Clinique sending over a courier with the products they wanted to focus on, Raven being one of their top five picks for the campaign.

“Clinique?”

“I wasn’t going to offer it to you because it conflicted with your December shoots, so I’ve been pulling alts for them, but now, it seems like we can say yes.”

“They pay well, don’t they?”

“That they do,” Sutan had to hide a smile at Raven’s obvious enthusiasm. “You haven’t filmed any commercials in a while, and I know you generally avoid speaking.”

To say that would be an understatement, a director once telling teenage Raven that he couldn’t understand her because of her Russian accent. Raven had gone directly to a speech therapist after that, even though Sutan had found it completely unnecessary, the director just a bigoted jerk.

“Consider it.” Sutan handed her the pitch. “You’d be absolutely fabulous.”

“Maybe,” Raven smirked, “if the offers are lucrative enough to be worth my time.” She tossed her long dark hair over one shoulder, and Sutan grinned.

That was the girl he knew and loved.

“Only the very best, top tier gigs for you.”

“Exactly,” Raven laughed, standing up, the pitch still in hand as she cleared her throat. “Well, guess I’m off.”

“Off to celebrate with some bonus desserts?”

“What’s it to you?”

“Nothing.” Sutan smirked. “Just remember that you’re still a model.”

“Yeah, yeah yeah, stop yapping,” Raven said, her sass fully back as she sailed out the door with a flurry of air kisses.

“Leave it open!” Sutan sat down at his desk, his plans for the day suddenly shifted around. First of all, he’d have to call up the magazine who had booked the shoots and break the news that Raven wouldn’t be available.

It’d require some smooth talk, but it was what he did best.

The real challenge of the day was convincing them to switch to another model, and hopefully, a model that resided under his own wing.

Sutan pressed the button that called for Jackie, the woman showing up before he had even opened his computer. She really was incredible at the job.

“You called?”

“I need the best possible portfolio we can make for Symone, and I need it stat.”

***

“Oh dear god…” Fame covered her eyes with her hands. “Please tell me that this has been handled, Raja, I cannot-”

“Of course it’s been handled. Trixie let Aiden go on Tuesday, and Rita took care of everything with the hospital. We’re making an attorney available to Violet if she wants to press charges.”

“Do you think she will?” Fame asked, concern creasing her brow. “That’s the last thing we-”

“Listen. We obviously can’t do anything to dissuade her, or we face an even bigger liability.”

“I know that, Raja,” Fame snapped.

“-But, my guess is that she’ll want to wash her hands of the whole thing, certainly not become embroiled in a lawsuit.”

“Right. Right…” Fame sighed. “And we’ve covering all medical costs, taxis, whatever she needs right?”

“Of course. It’s a worker’s comp thing now, so everything’s covered by insurance.”

“Good. I should probably send her something, too. Flowers, maybe. Or a little spa treatment?”

“That would be nice, I’m sure she’d appreciate it. She’s staying with Tan if you want to-”

“Courtney!” Fame called out, pausing for a few moments before shaking her head. “I swear, that girl left her head at home today. Courtney!”

***

Courtney was obsessing again, reading her last text exchange with Bianca for about the 75th time since Friday.

COURTNEY: Have a good flight! <3

BIANCA: Thx! See you next week. XX

It was so mundane, so trite, and Courtney found herself cringing inwardly every time she looked at it, wishing she’d said something deeper or smarter or more sophisticated. And the “see you next week” - did that imply that Bianca didn’t want to talk to her while she was away? It certainly sounded like it. But Courtney wanted to send her another message, wanted desperately to let her know that she was still thinking about her.

She’d been racking her brain for something, anything, to say. She could ask her a question about their upcoming meeting at Marie Claire on Friday, but something told Courtney that would be transparent and dumb, and in no way sexy anyway. What she was really thinking about, nearly constantly, was if she’d ever get to feel Bianca’s hands on her again, the heat of her mouth, the press of her perfect body. That she was ready to sell her soul for one more night together, one more exhilarating night...

But she couldn’t very well say that. She didn’t want to appear needy or crazy, even if that’s how she felt. What she’d said to Adore was tragically true: the ball was entirely in Bianca’s court. And if she was done, if she didn’t intend to see her again except at work-related events or casual encounters, then that was something Courtney would just have to live with.

The one source of hope that Courtney had, maybe a false one, was the way Bianca had kissed her goodbye. Soft and tender, cradling her face, a kiss that promised more.

Even if she’d made no such promise out loud.

Even if Courtney was an absolute idiot for thinking that’s what it meant.

“Courtney!”

Her head snapped up, realizing with a sinking feeling that Miss Fame had called her name multiple times. Shit. She grabbed her notepad and jumped up.

“Coming Miss!”

***

[crystalninjaphoenix]

Twice Bitten, Never Shy

A Stitched Story

JSE Fanfic

My mind is going blank for things to say about this part. Maybe I’m tired. Anyway, the boys have themselves a couple of new allies, and just in time to get attacked again! Timing! And that’s about all I can think of. Besides, I feel like my descriptions are getting long, so I’ll just stop. Hope you enjoy reading ^-^

Tagging @septic-dr-schneep for inspiring this AU with this post.

Read where it started: Stitched Together | Season One | Season Two

Previous Season Three story: Torn Apart | Tales to Tell | Threads

Taglist (finally): @bupine​ @violet--majesty​

“Sorry for dropping in on all of you like this. But we really need to talk.”

For a moment, everyone just stared at the person who’d just walked into the room. The same magician from...was it really just earlier that morning? One of the ones they’d fought with, the one named Delyth Mae. It took a moment to sink in. And then everything burst.

Schneep shot to his feet, wielding his scissors like a knife blade. JJ threw his hand in an arc, conjuring a shield right in front of Delyth, in case she tried to cast any spells. Chase cried out and tried to stand up but was dragged back down by Jackie still clinging to his arm. Jack scrambled backwards, tripping over the chair’s arm in an attempt to back away. “What are you doing here?!” Schneep snarled.

Delyth looked unfazed. She raised her hands like she was surrendering. “I said we need to talk,” she repeated calmly.

“You tried to kill us!” Chase squeaked.

“No,” Delyth emphasized. “That was never the plan. It wasn’t even the plan to fight you unless you were hostile. Tavish and Nairne were out of line, and I’ve removed them from this team. Now, I hope to approach this diplomatically.”

Schneep barked out a laugh. “You think we are going to trust you—”

JJ lowered the shield.

“Jay what the fuck?!” Chase shouted.

“Wait, what? What just happened?” Schneep asked, suddenly shifting his mood to confused.

“Your friend seems to be reasonable,” Delyth said, stepping further into the room. “I’m so sorry to impose on you, Mr. Akela.”

“Uh...no, it’s fine,” Malcolm said, remaining in the doorway. “I’m just...gonna...wait here.” He looked visibly awkward, standing in the entrance to his own commandeered living room.

“Hey, uh, JJ, I appreciate your...trusty-ness,” Jack said, warily edging around the room. “But is this a good idea?”

When the other two magicians were fighting us, she was trying to stop them, JJ remembered. I think she’s willing to talk it out, at least.

“She tried to stop the other two who were fighting us, huh?” Jack repeated. “I guess that makes sense.”

Schneep grumbled, but lowered his scissors. “Fine, but I will stay on my guard.”

Delyth walked yet further into the room, now standing in the center. She looked around, and her eyes landed on Jackie. “Oh hello.”

Jackie blinked. “Do I...? No, I definitely don’t know you.”

“Just say why you are here,” Schneep prompted.

“Well, last time, I told you about the unusually high levels of soul magic in the city.” Delyth folded her hands. “I believe you may know something about it. If you would give us information, I give you my promise, the ABIM will do everything we can to help you with any troubles you may have.”

“Huh...I guess that could be helpful,” Chase said reluctantly. “If you’re telling the truth.”

“Of course I am!” Delyth’s tone became suddenly impatient. “Look, we’ve been chasing this soul magic for a long time now, people above me want results. I’m sure we can help.”

“Uh...well I guess it might be good to have some magical knowledge when it comes to this.” Jack held up the water bottle with the duct-taped lid.

“Jack, please,” Schneep said, exasperated.

“Oh, sorry, Hen, I’m just talking about the strings,” Jack said.

“Well, I could get context clues, but still.” Schneep hummed. “I suppose you are right.”

“Well, I’m glad we’ve come to an agreement, then,” Delyth smiled. “Now. Can you please tell me what—wait, hold on a second.” She reached into a pocket and pulled out a small tape recorder. “I have to record this as a testimony. None of you mind, do you?”

I would like to point out that you can’t record me, JJ immediately said.

“Yeah, JJ uses sign language, how’s that gonna work?” Chase asked.

“Well I suppose one of you will have to translate,” Delyth said. “Other than that, is everything okay?” Everyone made sounds of agreement, though Schneep’s was a bit reluctant. “Great.” Delyth pressed a button on the recorder. “This is Delyth Mae, member of the Magi, Investigation Level 4. Case 3-10100703. Witness interview for information. Please state your names for the record.”

Uh...” Jack blinked, and glanced around at the others. “I’m, uh...Jack McLoughlin.”

“I’m Chase,” Chase says, now squirming to adjust positions while Jackie was still refusing to let go. “Chase Brody.”

“Dr. Henrik von Schneeplestein,” Schneep states clearly. “And this is our friend Jameson Jackson, who unfortunately cannot talk for your recorder.” JJ waved.

“Thank you. Now, two of you, Mr. McLoughlin and Mr. Schneeplestein—”

“Doctor,” Schneep said tersely.

“Sorry, Dr. Schneeplestein.” Delyth paused. “Out of curiosity, what are you a doctor of?”

“I...was a surgeon,” Schneep said slowly.

“Well, the two of you give off distinct signatures of soul magic, is that correct?”

“Apparently,” Jack laughed nervously.

“And on that basis, I thought that you may know something about the high levels of soul magic in the city.” Delyth seems to be providing an explanation for the tape recorder. “Now, can you tell me what that is, that you know?”

Nobody really wanted to start. But after a moment of admittedly awkward silence, Chase said, “Well, I guess it started with this guy and his roommate.” Chase pointed to Jackie. “This is...well, he’s a friend of ours.”

“What’s your name, sir?” Delyth asked.

Jackie blinked. “I’m—we’re—I’m Jackie. But I think I—we—I have more names than that.”

“Look, it’s a long story,” Chase interrupted. “Just...don’t say anything until we’re done.” And he started to explain.

— — — — — — —

Someone was walking through the city streets. It was eleven o’clock in the morning, and a lot of people were out, pedestrians and drivers alike. But no one seemed to notice him. Which was unusual, you would think a man wearing half a mask, stained blue and shaped like a cat face, with green string stitching across his neck, eyes glimmering blue and green and occasionally red...you would think a man like that would be noticeable.

He was heading somewhere. He wasn’t sure where, but he could feel it tugging at him. Like a string pulling him to a destination. Though he didn’t know where he was going, he knew what would be on the other end of the string. More pieces of him. They were all together.

A woman was following him for a while. Until she noticed he was going in a straight line. Directly straight, cutting through alleyways and yards whenever he could. Puzzled, she opened up a map of the city on her phone, tracing a straight line in the direction he was heading. There wasn’t really anything important in that part of the city. Just a section of townhouses. But he might have been going to one of them. She hurried ahead, and halfway through running, poofed into a cloud of blue smoke. When it faded, she was gone.

The man hadn’t even noticed her disappearing. He hadn’t even noticed her following. All that was important were the missing pieces. And he was getting closer.

White noise flickered around his grinning face.

— — — — — — —

The silence after the explanation was deafening. Delyth didn’t say anything as she processed what had just happened. Chase had done most of the explaining, though naturally, there were parts he didn’t know and the others had to fill in. Malcolm had left halfway through, muttering something about stupid crazy magic shit. Jackie had stayed, but he’d stayed silent the whole time, and after a while closed his eyes. Nobody thought he was sleeping.

“This is...frankly unbelievable,” Delyth finally said.

“Don’t worry, we know,” Jack muttered.

“It’s just—” She couldn’t even come up with words to describe it. “The four of you—well, the five of you—you knew Marvin Moore?”

None of them had expected her to grab onto that, out of the whole series of events. “Well, Jameson didn’t,” Jack said. JJ shook his head, but said nothing, aware it wouldn’t be picked up on the recorder. “But yeah, we all did.”

“You know me,” Jackie said, giggling. His eyes stayed firmly closed. “You know me̶.”

The others stared at him for a moment. After a while, when it was clear he wasn’t going to say anything else, Schneep cleared his throat. “Why is that significant?” he asked.

“Marvin Moore was one of only two soul magicians in this city,” Delyth said. “Both of them, coincidentally, had a history of subverting ABIM regulations.”

Chase blinked. “I...never knew Marvin was part of this magical organization. Or, uh, going around it, whatever. Though to be fair, we didn’t think Marvin’s magic was actually magic until all this crazy shit started happening.”

“If what you say is true...” Delyth said slowly. “About this...together...fusion...thing...” She couldn’t help but give Jackie another wary glance. “Then this thing would probably have soul magic as well, thus accounting for the high amounts of trace soul magic in the city. Sounds like it was...active. Until recently.”

“Well, these string things might be...whatever’s left of him.” Jack shook the water bottle, hearing the faint sound of the strings inside. “And they’re very active.”

Delyth shook her head, visibly stunned. “Nothing like this has ever—ever—happened before. Not in all our records, and they go back quite a while. Influencing electricity, this intense hypnotism—opening the Nightmare, for god’s sake. ‘Black magic’ doesn’t even cover what this thing is. It’s—it is a magical abomination.”

Jackie’s eyes suddenly flew open. They seemed to flash red, and he growled, glaring at Delyth. She tensed, her eyes glowing a slight purple in return.

The tension was broken by the doorbell ringing. Malcolm, who’d been listening quietly, made a cry of frustration. “I swear, if it’s anyone else involved in this fucking stuff...” He muttered under his breath as he went to get the door.

“But even if you’ve never heard of something like this before, you can still...like, fix it, right?” Chase asked hopefully.

Delyth frowned. “That isn’t my area of expertise. I know some things about soul magic, but I haven’t studied it, exactly. We’d need to call in people who know more about experimental magic than I do, just to even figure out what we could do.”

“Okay,” Jack said. “So how do we do—”

“Hey!” Malcolm shouted.

Everyone looked towards the sound, just in time to see a young woman with purple and blue hair run into the room. “Mae! It is you!” she said, visibly relieved.

Malcolm ran into the room after her. “I’m sorry, she just pushed right past me, do any of you know her?”

Delyth blinked. She quickly turned off the tape recorder and stood up, shoving it in her pocket. “Yvonne Bell. What are you doing here?”

“It’s a long story, but basically—” Yvonne looked like she was starting with a conversation, but then she glanced around the room and stopped. She stared, wide-eyed, at the group. “Wait, who are you?” 

“Bell, please,” Delyth said, exasperated. “You are on thin ice already—”

“Ohhhh no, wait, I get it now,” Yvonne covered her mouth with her hand. “You’re friends of his, right? Marvin.”

“Oh my god, how the fuck does everyone know Marvin?!” Schneep threw his hands in the air.

Are you a magician too? JJ asked.

“You—also—magician,” Yvonne said out loud, watching JJ’s hands move. “I’m assuming that’s what that is, I’m a bit rusty. Yes, I am.”

“Yvonne Bell is the second soul magician in the city,” Delyth explained. “It’s only natural that the two of them knew of each other.”

“Well, uh...yeah, you can say that,” Yvonne said, her voice slowly rising in pitch. “Hey, so uh, Mae, I ducked in here cause I thought it was a bit weird, sensing you in this area, I thought you might be able to help, but I think I ended up finding something more important. You are friends of Marv, right? I think I recognize you. Definitely recognize him.” She pointed at Jackie, who was now looking around as if searching for the source of a strange noise. 

“Yeah, we knew him—know him,” Jack said. “Uh...why?”

Yvonne laughed, a bit hysterically. “Well so long story short I ran into him and he’s pretty off his rocker! And also he was heading in this direction last I saw so I tried to find where he was going and that might end up being here.”

Silence fell instantly. It stayed for a few seconds, and then Malcolm immediately turned around and left, muttering something under his breath. Everyone in the living room heard the sound of the stairs creaking. “You know honestly I don’t blame him for that,” Chase sighed. “Uh...Yvonne, is it? What do you mean he’s off his rocker?”

“H-he showed up at my shop last night,” Yvonne started. “And he—well, he was bleeding from this wound on his neck, and at first I thought he was acting weird ‘cause of the blood loss, but it wasn’t that big. He didn’t know where he was or who I was or who he was, kept switching from I to we, saying stuff about puppets, it was all really weird. Then there were these green strings—” Everyone stiffened. “—that showed up, and he, like, it was creepy how he acted with them, and some of them reached him and—and he was all hostile, and he headed out, and it was like he was looking for something, but that must be you, right?”

Another few moments of silence. “Jesus,” Chase muttered, and stood up, managing to push Jackie away only because he seemed more concerned with...something. “You’re not joking, right?”

“Why the shit would I joke about that?!” Yvonne yelled. “It was freaky as fuck!”

“So when you say ‘green strings,’” Jack said, “do you mean this collection of green, slightly glowing, pieces of thread that crawled across the ground like creepy worms?”

Yvonne blinked. “Yeah, why?”

Jack held up the water bottle and tapped the side. “They showed up here, too. We caught them, but...Jackie reacted weirdly to them.”

“Clearly, these strings are somehow connected to the both of them,” Delyth said.

“Well no shit!” Schneep snapped. “Anti was held together by string, it is probably what is left of him!”

“Okay, look, we can discuss it later,” Yvonne said. “Right now we have to—”

Jameson happened to glance towards the window at just the right time. He stiffened, and threw out a shield. The window burst, glass flying inward. Most of it bounced off Jameson’s shield, which managed to cover Chase, Jack, and Jackie, all sitting close together. Schneep yelped, but was mostly blocked from the shards by Yvonne, who threw up her arms to try to protect herself. Delyth reacted as soon as she heard the sound, conjuring a personal shield of her own out of crystalline purple magic.

Strands of blue light started to crawl inside the broken window. Jackie suddenly snapped to attention and shot to his feet. Chase grabbed him, sure that this couldn’t be a good thing.

The blue light—blue strings—wrapped around Jameson’s shield, twisting along the edges. Jameson took a step back, the magic flickering. Without warning, the strings shot towards him, wrapping around his torso and pinning his arms to his side. The shield died.

“What is this?!” Delyth asked, scrambling to her feet.

“Watch out!” Yvonne shouted.

Something jumped through the broken window, moving too fast to be anything but a blur. Jack was suddenly knocked to the ground, dropping the water bottle, which rolled across the floor. He gasped, partly because the breath was knocked out of him, partly because of the sight before him. It was recognizably Marvin, but...at the same time, too strange. He was wearing a mask that looked rather like his old cat-shaped one...if it was blue instead of white and snapped in half. Behind that mask, his eyes flickered between blue and green, teeth clenched in a snarl. Green stitches crossed a line across his throat.

Jackie shouted something, and pushed Chase away. He only took two steps forward before Chase tackled him to the floor. “Marvin!” Yvonne shouted, and ran over to pull him off Jack. Delyth quickly joined her. While they were doing that, Schneep was by Jameson’s side. Trying to pull at the magic strings proved unsuccessful, so he took out his scissors and cut, managing to slice right through them, though he got very close to Jameson’s skin a couple times.

There was a burst of light, and Yvonne and Delyth got thrown back, covered in blue strings that stuck to the walls. Schneep spun around. “What is happening?!”

Jack sat up, Marvin suddenly gone. He looked around for where he went, and caught sight of him just as he grabbed the water bottle with the strings inside. “Don’t let him grab the bottle!” Jack shouted, lunging forward and landing on Marvin’s back. He managed to startle him enough to make him let go, but as the bottle rolled away, Marvin hissed, and reached for it. Jack grabbed his arm. “Chase, help?!”

“Sorry bro, bit busy!” Chase was dealing with a struggling Jackie, who kept trying to get closer to Marvin and the bottle.

Jameson shook off the last of the magic strings, and flung a disc of magic forward. It rolled across the floor and hit the bottle, knocking it across the room. Marvin and Jackie shouted in identical unison.

Schneep finished cutting Delyth and Yvonne out of the magic strings, and Delyth yelled something in a strange language. The ground quaked, and a purple spike shot out of the ground directly under the water bottle, sending it flying into the air, in a perfect arc right into Delyth’s hands. She wiggled it, as if taunting Marvin and Jackie, then threw it out the window.

Marvin screamed, and disappeared in a flurry of white noise. Jackie’s eyes flashed red, and Chase was thrown backward, staggering, bleeding from a cut that went straight from his shoulder to his navel. Not even looking back, Jackie ran forward and jumped out the window.

“Come on, outside!” Delyth said to the room. “There’ll be more room to maneuver!”

It took a few moments for everyone to get their bearings, but they knew time was of the essence so they hurried. As a group, they all ran out the front door onto the street.

Marvin had picked up the water bottle, and was struggling with the duct tape holding the lid closed. Jackie was standing a few feet in front of him, eyes fixed on his face. After a moment, Marvin seemed to notice, and looked up as well. The two of them were frozen.

Just long enough for Jameson to throw a shield up between them. Jackie stepped back, his surprised expression turning to anger. He cried out, and red light started slicing at the shield. Marvin was smarter, and whirled to look at Jameson. He threw out his hands, and more blue strings shot forward. Chase pushed Jameson out of the way, but got entangled himself. Schneep ran to him, and upon feeling the strings, started cutting at those as well.

“Get the bottle!” Jack shouted, running forward. Marvin turned to him and scowled. More strings burst out of the ground, wrapping around his legs and stopping him in his tracks.

Jameson’s shield flickered and died, and Jackie ran forward, latching onto Marvin’s side. Marvin seemed to relax a bit, his eyes starting to glow a softer green. Jackie’s eyes glowed as well, the exact same color.

“No no no no no.” Yvonne ran forward, stopping right behind Jackie. She pressed her hands to either side of her head. “Dor me sonum,” she whispered, and Jackie’s eyes rolled back in his head. He crumpled to the floor, but then Marvin’s eyes instantly locked on Yvonne. She didn’t even have time to react before she was sent flying backwards, landing heavily on the asphalt of the street, and not moving again.

“Fuck this!” Schneep hissed under his breath, turning towards Marvin. Marvin laughed, static crackling along with the sound, and threw out another wave of strings. But Schneep disappeared. And between one step and the next, he was behind Marvin, grabbing at the bottle he was holding. He managed to wrench it out of his grasp, then stepped backwards and disappeared again.

Delyth turned to Jameson. “Can you keep him busy?” she asked. He looked surprised, but nodded. “Good.” She took a deep breath, and started muttering something.

Jameson stepped forward, throwing a disc of light at Marvin, who seemed stunned at the fact that he was no longer holding the water bottle. He didn’t recover in time to avoid the disc splashing in his face. He gasped, and stumbled back, then immediately glared at Jameson. He raised his hand, and a few more strings curled around his arm and shot outward. Jameson ducked just in time to avoid them, but another few quickly wrapped around his arms, pulling him downward. “Useless f͡a͟͝ke magician,” Marvin hissed. “W̵or͠thle͟s͞ś replacement.”

“Leave him alone!” Chase shouted. In one swift motion, he pulled out his gun and BANG!

Marvin staggered backwards, more surprised than hurt. He glared at Chase and reached upward.

Delyth suddenly threw her hands out in front of her, eyes glowing bright purple. A wave of purple light flew out from her in a circle. Once it reached Marvin, pale lavender crystals started to grow out of the ground around his feet. He looked down, but the crystals accelerated, and soon they were covering him up to his armpits. There was only enough time for him to scream out in frustration before he was completely encased.

“We should hurry to get out of here,” Delyth said, not wasting any time. “That spell only lasts an hour at best. Quick, let’s all get in my car.”

“Your what?” Schneep asked.

“Yeah, what?” Chase repeated.

Delyth pointed to the side of the road. A blue car was parked there. “It should be a tight fit, but I think we can all squeeze in. Bring Bell and that...what was his name? Jackie?”

“Hang on!” Schneep had finished cutting Jack free of the strings, and was now standing up straight and glaring in Delyth’s general direction.

“I just pointed to it,” Delyth said, annoyed.

“I am fucking blind!” Schneep snapped. “Was that not obvious?!”

“...oh.” Delyth had the good grace to look embarrassed. “I suppose that would explain some things I noticed. I just thought that...nevermind. My apologies.”

“It’s okay, I’ll get you there,” Jack said to Schneep.

For his part, Schneep looked frustrated. “The first thing I am doing after everything settles down is getting one of those white canes. That way everyone will know and I can find what is around me without asking people.”

Where are we going? Jameson asked.

“Yeah, where are we going?” Chase repeated. “You’re a magician, are we going to some secret magic place?”

Delyth glanced uneasily at Marvin, still frozen. “I’ll explain on the way there.”

— — — — — — —

The car ride was short, which was lucky, since it was also very cramped. Delyth drove and Chase was in the front seat, which left the other three to fill the backseat. It wouldn’t have been a problem if they didn’t also have to fit in Jackie and Yvonne’s unconscious bodies. So they ended up having those two partly on top of them.

True to her word, Delyth explained while she drove. “Marvin clearly means you harm. We need a place with strong wards to protect you from him. And somewhere to keep those...strings safe. To study them, as well as what happened to your friend Jackie. I know a place that fits all those qualifications, near the center of town.”

After a while, Delyth parked in front of what looked like an old bookstore. The sign had fallen off and the windows were dusty, but through the clouded glass you could see lines of shelves and empty displays. They all piled out of the car, watching Delyth as she ran her hand along the edge of the building’s front door frame. It lit up with purple light, which faded to white before disappearing entirely. And without an explanation, she opened the door and stepped inside. Confused, the others quickly followed, with Chase and Jack carrying Yvonne and Jackie.

The interior wasn’t at all what it looked like it would be from the outside. In fact, it looked more like a hotel lobby than anything, decorated in white and gold colors. “Wait, what?!” Chase blinked in surprise.

We stepped into a TARDIS, JJ said succinctly.

“Fancy,” Jack commented. “Looks like the entrance to a hotel or something.” This last statement was probably for Schneep, clinging to his arm.

“This is an ABIM Sanctuary,” Delyth explained. She walked over to a desk with a computer and started typing something in. “It’s for any Magi agents or employed wizards to stay while in town.”

“I...cannot take the phrase ‘employed wizards’ seriously,” Chase said.

Delyth huffed. “‘Wizard’ just means they study magic. It’s an actual term with a long history—you know what, I can explain later. Or maybe Bell can, when she wakes up. We should probably get one of the healers here to look at her, make sure the damage from that blow wasn’t too severe.”

“What about Jackie?” Jack asked.

“It looked like Bell hit him with a sleep spell,” Delyth said. “He should wake up any minute now.” She backed away from the computer. “There. I’ve checked you all in, as my guests, now I’ll show you to your assigned rooms.” And she headed towards a set of elevator doors in the back of the room.

You said we needed strong wards, JJ asked. Does that mean Marvin can’t find us here? And what about these strings? You said we could study them. Jack translated the signs for Delyth.

“Yes, the wards here are very strong,” Delyth said, pressing the Up button next to the lift. “Tracking spells shouldn’t be able to break through them. And we’ll have to talk to some of the wizards here about the strings, I’m sure they can help. If not, I’ll call in for backup. Now come on.” The elevator doors dinged open.

Surprisingly, there were seven floors to the building, which had been just a single story from the outside. Delyth led them to the third floor and down a series of corridors, all lined with doors, until they reached one labelled 314. “I have two extra rooms, they all have two beds and a sleeper sofa. Bell can stay with me. You five can work out who stays in 312 and 313. Don’t worry, the doors aren’t locked to any of us; I put your names on the registry.”

“Uh...I’m gonna assume that’s some type of magic and say ‘thanks,’” Chase said. “Uh...well, if Jackie’s gonna wake up, I think I should stay with him? I-I don’t know, he might get upset if I don’t.”

“Okay, yes, but Jackie also became...aggressive,” Schneep said. “Are you sure about this?”

“Yeah...” Chase said, sighing.

I can stay with you, Chase, JJ offered. That way, if Jackie does try to attack, I can protect you.

“Oh.” Chase blinked. “Um...thanks.”

“So it’s you three, then me and Schneep,” Jack summarized. “I guess we’ll take 312 then.”

“Excellent,” Delyth said. “Now can you please hand me Miss Bell so I can take her inside?”

“Oh yeah, sure.” Jack handed her off to Delyth in an awkward transition, and Delyth quickly went inside her room. “I guess we should just...check out our rooms, then.”

They all dispersed. Chase was mildly surprised when the door to room 313 opened without resistance; that didn’t seem very secure, but then again, it could be magic. He flipped on the lights, revealing what looked like a hotel suite, with a living room and kitchenette in view, two open doors showing the bathroom and bedroom. There were a pair of thick curtains on the opposite wall, no doubt hiding a window. Like the lobby downstairs, the room was mostly decorated in white with hints of gold. Chase walked over to the sofa and set Jackie down, breathing out slowly. He turned back to JJ, who was looking through the kitchenette’s cabinets. “I, uh...don’t know if they have food, bro.”

Well, it can’t hurt to look, JJ said.

“Haha, yeah...” Chase trailed off. He shifted awkwardly. “Hey can I uh...talk to you about something?”

Jameson stopped his investigation, and looked over at Chase curiously. He nodded.

“So, uh...about that...comment I made,” Chase said. “It was, like, a couple days ago. About you not having friends before we met you. I, uh, know I sorta apologized but it was really awkward, and...just, are you still mad about that? You probably are.”

It did sting, to say the least, JJ said. His expression was hard to read, but that might have been because he still had the scarf covering the lower half of his face.

Chase winced. “Yeah...look, I really didn’t mean it. I said it in the heat of the moment, I was frustrated about...just stuff, I guess. It was horrible and I’m really sorry, I...”

Chase, it’s okay, I’ve forgiven you, JJ interrupted.

“R-really?” Chase breathed.

Like you said, it was in the heat of the moment, JJ said. You were upset about the possibility of never seeing Jackie or Marvin again. And, well...you’re not technically wrong. I wasn’t too good at getting to know people. I’m still not, really.

“Yeah, but that didn’t mean I had to say it,” Chase said. “Really, I’m so, so sorry, a-and I really appreciate that you’re staying with me to protect me even though I said it—”

Of course I am, we’re still friends, right? JJ asked.

“Yeah, of course.”

One fight isn’t going to change that. JJ’s eyes crinkled like he was smiling under the scarf.

Chase chuckled. “Well, yeah. I’ve fought all the time with Schneep and Jack, and we still hang out.” He sighed. “It was still just...a bad thing to say.”

It’s water under the bridge, JJ assured him. 

After a moment, Chase reached forward and grabbed JJ’s hand, squeezing it. “Thanks.”

There was the sound of rustling fabric, and a groan. Chase and Jameson looked around, and saw Jackie sitting up. He seemed confused as he glanced around. The confusion soon gave way to some sort of frantic panicking. “Where am I? Where am I?!”

“Whoa, hey, Jackie, it’s fine.” Chase ran on over. “You’re in a safe place, okay? It’s fine.”

“But where am I?!” Jackie insisted, scrambling to his feet. “Where is the rest of me?! We were here, all of me, and now not anymore. Where is the other me?!”

Chase felt his heart sinking. “It’s fine,” he repeated. “We’ll...figure it out.”

Jackie’s eyes locked onto him. “Chase! Do you know where I am?”

“Uh...no, but we’ll figure it out.” He didn’t have much else to say.

“Figure it out, out, out,” Jackie muttered. He started walking around the perimeter of the room. Aimlessly, automatically, like he was just looking for something to do. “We’ll find me, we’ll find me.”

“Um...yeah.” Chase glanced at JJ, who gave him an uneasy look in return. “For now, let’s just...relax. It’s been a long day, and it’s only noon.”

Sounds good, JJ said, and turned back to the cabinets, looking through them again.

Chase collapsed on the sofa, and watched as Jackie continued to walk, walk, walk. Hopefully these magic people could figure out what to do about him And those strings. True, Delyth had said that nothing like this had ever happened before, but he believed there was a solution. One that would save everyone. And he did mean everyone.

He had to keep believing that. He wasn’t sure what would happen if he stopped believing.