#and their efforts would be better spent trying to not call her angela (her name is angelika/angelica/just fucking angie)

[thelordofshrimp]

crazy bonkers that some people just. do not listen.

[fullmetalscullyy]

the way it was - chapter 28

summary:  what if riza never went to war?  riza hawkeye has just married the man she loves. six months into their marriage, an unexpected surprise stops her from following roy to the military. a canon divergence au that explores what might have happened had riza been unable to join the military. there will be plenty of family fluff, angst, and royai.

rated: m | warnings: no archive warning apply

read on ao3

1914

never thought love never thought life

could take us far beyond what we believed

as long as i got your love next to me

better than i used to be

“So.” Rebecca threw herself into the chair, barely waiting for Riza to even sit down at the table in the back room of Chris’ bar. “What has been going on in Central, Riza?” Her voice was hushed as she leaned forward eagerly in her chair.

Rebecca’s urgency had startled poor Sheska before Riza could even greet her with a hello. Eyes owlish but full of concern, Riza paused as she turned to greet their friend.

“I’ll tell you all that I know, but it’s not much,” Riza replied. “But first,” she added, turning to face Sheska, “hi.”

“Hello,” Sheska nodded. A timid smile overtook her concern, but the crease in between her eyebrows quickly returned. “What’s going on?” Nerves had settled in Sheska, making her shift in her chair and also tip forward to hear what Riza was going to share.

Poor woman. Riza felt for her. When she’d called and invited Sheska out it really was to spend some time together of an evening, but now she would be dragged into this whole thing. That’s not what Riza wanted for her.

Resigning herself, Riza let out a sigh. “I really don’t think here’s the best place at the moment –”

As if on cue, someone approached from behind Rebecca. The woman’s expression changed as she walked, moving from neutral to breaking out into a bright grin as soon as she made eye contact. Given Riza’s current circumstances after her talk with Fuhrer Bradley, she was instantly on guard.

“Riza Mustang?”

“Yes?” Riza eyed the woman up and down. She appeared to be innocent enough. Her brown hair fell just past her shoulders, sitting in a side parting. Hair was curled behind one ear, the other side falling forward as she smiled kindly down at Riza in her chair.

“Hi, my name is Irene. My husband is Lieutenant Colonel Andrews.”

Irene spoke as if this would answer all of Riza’s questions, but it created more. Remaining wary, she eyed the woman as Rebecca and Sheska did the same, although the latter did it rather shyly, her head angled to look down towards the table before them.

“Sorry to interrupt your evening with your friends.” Irene continued to smile at the other two women, noticing the suspicion on their faces. “I just wanted to pass on my congratulations to you and your husband. A new addition to the family is always something wonderful to celebrate, and my husband and I wanted to pass on our regards to you both.”

Irene held out an envelope for Riza to take, which she did. Eyeing the paper and weighing it by touch alone, it felt like there was a card held within. Giving it a gentle squeeze to test, whatever was inside was tough but not indestructible to break. It bent gently underneath the pressure. Remaining wary, Riza schooled her expression so that it appeared as neutral and grateful as possible while accepting it.

“That’s very kind of you both, thank you,” Riza replied.

“We’ll be thinking of you both during this time,” Irene added, meeting Riza’s eyes straight on. For whatever reason, something held Riza there. Irene’s eyes widened pointedly, as she gave a tiny nod of her head. “Let us know if there’s anything we can do,” she grinned, that look in her eyes gone. Without another word, she turned and left.

“What was that all about?”

Riza placed the card down on the table, giving it one gentle pat before retracting her hand, hiding it underneath the table. They both joined, her fingers wringing together with uncertainty. “I honestly don’t know.” She was just as baffled as Rebecca.

“That was nice of her, though,” Sheska added, trying to see the best in the unexpected interaction.

Another woman approached, the same as Irene did, offering the same message and sentiment. This time it was a woman named Rose, whose husband was Sergeant Cairn, recently transferred from East City. Angela followed after her. She was an older woman, the wife of Major Cole. These names all meant nothing to Riza, however they may to Roy. These women, all coming forward with the same meaningful look in their eyes, obviously all meant something, but Riza didn’t want to open up the cards in public. There was no telling what would be inside. They were inconspicuous enough, just like a normal greeting card, but Riza couldn’t help but wonder.  Perhaps… If she could slip behind the bar for a few minutes…

“I’ll be right back.”

She’d been lost in thought and had unintentionally interrupted Rebecca and Sheska’s conversation. They both looked surprised at the sudden disruption, watching as Riza subtly swiped the cards into her purse.

“Is everything all right?” Rebecca's eyes were searching Riza’s, trying to get a read on her mood. Admittedly, she’d been out of it that evening as she mulled over each woman’s message, trying to make sense of it all. It was bothering her so much that she was going to leave her friends to find out.

“Perfect,” Riza smiled as best she could. “Just need to use the bathroom.”

It wasn’t a lie, Riza thought as she left the two of them at the table. A quick detour on her route would allow her to open those envelopes in peace and find out what they contained.

“Is everything all right?”

Riza was startled by the sudden appearance of Roxanne. Her green eyes were scrutinising Riza carefully, unwilling to back down. Tonight, Roxanne’s hair was tied back into a high ponytail, the long brown locks looking luscious and healthy in the lights of the bar. It swished from side to side eagerly whenever she walked, catching the attention of all she passed by. Calming her heart rate, Riza scolded herself for being so absent from her surroundings.

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

Roxanne’s eyes narrowed.

“Really, I am.” Riza lifted the three envelopes in her hands. “I was handed these tonight. It’s been bothering me that I don’t know what’s inside. Would you mind if I go inside the house to open them?” Riza nodded at the ‘staff only’ door.

Roxanne broke out into a smile and tutted, rolling her eyes fondly. “As if you have to ask. Of course you can! Come on,” she ushered, opening the staff door for Riza.

She was guided inside, entering a hallway that Riza knew well. Just ahead, to her left would be the living area where they spent most of their time when visiting Chris. Taking a seat, Riza let out a breath and balanced the envelopes on her lap. There would be nothing held within the pastel pink, white, and blue paper that would attack her, but why did she experience such a foreboding feeling? Perhaps it was just the unknown. Giving herself a shake, Riza tore open the seal of the one on top, from Irene.

Riza blinked.

Inside was a ‘congratulations on the birth of your child!’ card, but a note slid out from between the stiff paper, removing Riza’s attention from the well wishes.

Weston arrived at the store today, was the first neatly written sentence on the page. Esther is not the fondest of him but puts up with his appearances for Susan’s sake. Ursula likes him though, along with Poppy and Preston. The twins have been fighting over his affection, much to Oliver’s dismay. The poor boy is so crestfallen at their diverted effort but won’t give up the fight. The same can be said for Rosalie. She feels the same way towards the dear boy, but Thomas has been diverting her attention as of recent. We think she may be susceptible to his charms. As for Yuri, he’s still focussed on furthering Oliver’s studies, much to his chagrin, but Ursula is good at pushing him towards where his attentions should lie, and away from such frivolous things.

“What?” Riza muttered is aloud, wondering why this would note would be included in a congratulations card –

Suddenly, Roy’s game popped into her head. In Riza’s mind, memories of ‘I love you’ stories, littered about their home, overwhelmed her. This was a message. This story was a message to her and Roy.

Dropping the thoughtful card, Riza picked out the names quickly and read the coded message.

We support you.

Peeling open the second envelope, and the third, Riza found a similar sentiment in each. Relief tugged her lips into a smile, and she sat back against the cushions of the couch.

“Everything all right?” Chris appeared from out of nowhere, almost startling Riza.

She turned quickly, nodding to her mother-in-law. “Yes. Everything’s fine.”

“What’s that?” An eyebrow raised, looking down on the cards sitting in a pile haphazardly on her coffee table.

“Messages of support…” Riza turned back to eye them. “For Roy, from other soldiers stationed in Central Command. Their partners handed them over to me tonight.” Lifting the congratulatory cards, Riza waved them gently. “Along with these.”

She had been so focussed on the coded stories that she didn’t properly look within the cards. A note fluttered free from the confines of the stiff card, floating onto Riza’s lap. Squinting at it, she lifted it delicately into her hands.

“Along with a gift too, it seems,” Chris chuckled.

“It’s money.” Riza blinked at it, dumbfounded that those women would gift her and Roy with money on the birth of their new-born child.

Chris shrugged. “People do that. It saves them having to worry about buying a physical gift,” she added. “Then you can go out and buy what you need for the kid yourselves.”

Riza was left to stare at the five hundred cenz note in silence as Chris wandered away.

Well, it was an immense relief that despite the sudden relocation of his team, Roy still had people behind him who were willing to support and lend their aid. Riza’s fears of his future were appeased for the moment, knowing there were others out there who looked up to him and were willing to fight Bradley as well.

Pocketing the envelopes in her purse, Riza stood and slipped back out the staff door to the bar. Passing the bar itself, she ordered another water and waited for it before returning to their table.

“You were away a while,” Rebecca commented upon her return, her voice low. “What was in them?”

Glancing up, Riza saw Rebecca frowning, instantly on guard to whatever the envelopes contained within.

Placating her worry, Riza shook her head and gave her old friend a reassuring smile. “Just some well wishes and support.”

*      *      *

“Wait.”

Roy sat up straight in bed, a thoughtful look overtaking his face. He motioned for the envelopes Riza had already opened. She’d already explained what was held within – the cards, the monetary gift, and the coded message to him.

“What?”

“Can I see them for a second?”

Wordlessly, Riza leaned over to her bedside table to pick them up before passing them to her husband.

Roy removed the card, ignoring the paper that held the message, and shook it, letting the note float onto his lap.

“Kids get us money too?” He picked up the note. “Oh damn,” he muttered, “we need to have more kids.”

Riza hit the back of her hand off his elbow gently.

“I’m kidding!” He didn’t sound like it. Roy was eyeing the note with a curious but excited look.

“We’re not exploiting our children for money.”

“… What if I took them to the office?”

Riza’s frown deepened.

“Y’know, everyone is aware I’m a family man,” Roy continued, “it would be nice to show off the kid.”

“To get money from your colleagues?” Riza’s eyebrows shot up towards her hairline, daring him to confirm that was the real reason behind his plan.

“I mean,” he scoffed, “that’s what people do, right? When someone has a baby? Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to –”

Riza hit the back of her hand off his forearm this time, but slightly harder. It caused his arm to falter slightly, the joint giving way as the limb tried to distance itself from her hand.

“Hey!”

“That’s what you get for thinking of exploiting our kids,” Riza snapped back.

“I was just making an observation!” Roy exclaimed. “That is what people do when kids are born. You wouldn’t believe the amount of kids I’ve had to shell out for over the years,” he grumbled to himself. “About damn time it was my turn.”

Riza scoffed, lifting her eyes to the ceiling as she rolled over in place, pulling the sheet over her shoulder and making herself comfortable.

“I’m kidding, Dear,” Roy crooned into her ear as his arm wrapped around her stomach.

“Sure you are,” she replied, not believing him for a second.

“It would be a benefit though, right? You have to admit that.”

“It doesn’t matter,” she barked.

“I’m joking!” The hand that had been around her stomach shifted, moving away and into the air in a show of surrender. “Sorry I mentioned it.” Roy rolled away from her, settling into the bed with a sigh.

The room was silent for short bout as Riza continued to frown at his insinuation. Ire was festering in her chest, causing a light burn. They would not use their kids to get money from strangers. Even if it was a traditional gift, it made her uncomfortable and she wanted no part in it.

“Sorry.”

His apology was soft and quiet, filling the room. It smoothed out her frown and put out that spark in her chest. It fizzled low, turning to an ember before leaving her completely. Her shoulders relaxed, peeling down from her ears as a deep breath left her lungs. That breath calmed her, giving her time to think.

Riza rolled back over, seeing Roy on his back, staring up at the ceiling. His lips were pursed and off centre, a sign he was chewing something over in his mind.

“Sorry I snapped.”

Dark eyes met her own. The crease in between his eyebrows slowly disappeared, the skin of his forehead smoothing out.

“Sorry I upset you,” he replied. “I won’t bring it up again.”

Riza huffed quietly. “I don’t mind jokes. I don’t know what came over me.”

“It sounds like it was a mood swing.”

Her irritation spiked again. Opening her mouth to reply, offended at his accusation, Riza stopped herself. His eyes had widened in realisation that he’d set her off again. There was a fear in them too which stilled her tongue. Riza’s mouth promptly closed, accepting her hormonal reaction.

“I guess it was, yeah,” she agreed sheepishly. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologise,” Roy replied simply. He rolled over to face her, brushing her fringe from her face and curling a strand of hair behind her ear. “I opened my mouth without thinking. Again. And I’m sorry I brought it up. I was just joking, though.”

“I know you were.” Her head turned, pressing a gentle kiss against the wrist that was resting by her face. Roy had cupped her face with his hand, his touch warm and gentle, as well as comforting.

“Did the mood swings happen a lot with Mia?”

“I don’t think so.” Riza cast her mind back, trying to remember. It didn’t feel like it. But then perhaps it was biased to ask her. “I don’t remember.”

“I’ll keep it in mind.”

“I don’t want to feel like I’m going to snap at you every two seconds though,” Riza frowned, but at herself. That behaviour wouldn’t do at all.

Roy shrugged. “We’ll work through it. It won’t be the first mood swing in the family and it won’t be the last. In a few years, Mia will be all over that,” he grinned.

Her head bowed in defeat. “I hope we don’t end up with a moody teenager.”

“I do too,” Roy chuckled. “But, like I said, we’ll get through it. Be as understanding with her as we can and give her the space she needs.”

“It sounds like you’ve been through this before,” Riza commented wryly.

“I grew up with so many sisters, remember? I learned my lesson after the first shoe was thrown at my head,” he winked.

Riza gasped. “Who?”

“Roxanne,” Roy laughed. “I was bugging her too much and she’d had enough.”

“You were a little shit as a teen, so I can totally see it.”

Roy’s mouth popped open in shock. “Riza Mustang!” he exclaimed.

“What?” she giggled.

“I was not,” he scoffed, scandalised.

“You’re remembering differently.”

“No, I think it’s you that’s remembering it differently, Ma’am,” he accused, poking her shoulder gently.

“Don’t poke me,” she pouted, poking him back.

“What are you going to do about it, huh?” His provoke came with a wide grin, reaching right up to his eyes and causing the corners to crinkle.

It reminded Riza so much of the boy she grew up with and the innocent young man she’d fallen in love with. It came out in rare moments, but it was heart-warming to see. Underneath the lines and scars life had left him with, Roy was still Roy, and he loved her completely, just like she did him.

“Why don’t you tell me what I can do about it, Colonel?”

Roy hummed, shuffling over to her side and rolling Riza onto her back as he kissed her forcefully. Propped up on an elbow, his free hand moved to cup her chin, holding Riza in place as they broke apart and Roy stared down at her with so much love in his eyes, it felt like she may cry.

“I love you, Riza,” he smiled fondly, a hint of his mischief still remaining, dancing playfully in his eyes.

Bending his head, Roy pecked her lips once, then her nose, then her forehead. His freehand moved from her chin to rest upon her stomach. The ends of two of his fingers were resting on her bare skin, making Riza gasp quietly. Slowly, as his head bent to claim her lips once more, Roy’s hand moved and slipped underneath her pyjama top, his touch hot as his thumb caressed her skin lovingly.

“Love you too, Roy,” Riza breathed, eyes fluttering closed as his touch relaxed her immediately.

Then suddenly, a massive yawn overtook Riza. It was loud, making her eyes water, the moisture bunching at the corners.

Roy just laughed. “Looks like someone is tired,” he murmured.

She almost snapped at him again for moving his hand, but a wave of fatigue overcame Riza before she had the chance.

“Sleep, love.” A kiss was pressed to her forehead again, making Riza melt at his touch. Roy cuddled into her side after turning off the lights. His face was buried in her hair, his lips resting just above her ear.

“Love you,” she mumbled tiredly.

“Love you too,” he laughed quietly, returning his hand to her pregnant stomach once more, this time, above her pyjama top. It was the warmest, most comfortable, and most relaxed Riza had felt in a long time.

[neshabeingchildish]

Slightly different format, because I just needed y’all who didn’t know this song to hear it, okay? Okay, so I’m about as old as the characters parents could be, maybe slightly younger, because they probably had them a little later in adulthood than I’m far off from them, but I figured, close enough to use MY childhood/youth music for Charlotte’s mom’s taste. At least the general timeline. I named songs and artists, if y’all wanna ever listen to any of it. I haven’t/don’t know if I’m making a Determined Soundtrack/Playlist.

Pretty Brown Eyes

Alright. It was one thing to lean into his kiss, reciprocate his embrace and shift herself into his lap. But, she didn't have to go off the way she did for their first kiss. Because, not only did Charlotte do these things, but she also rocked against him a little, which in turn, he took as an invitation to explore her with his big, strong hands. 

She wasn't quite sure how awkward it must've been for Henry and Amelie to see them there when they left through the front door trying not to make any noise for the pair making out on the floor of the main hallway. But, she had to guess it was as bad as her realizing that they had to have seen them whenever they left, because the front door was right down that, very, hallway.

Eventually, she was the one who caught herself and ended the fun. Her head was spinning, nerves tingling and legs wobbling, but she found her senses and pulled herself together. Jasper was a pile of mush, except for the one thing, what, with her doing all that rocking against him. Ugh. Girl, a first kiss is supposed to be soft and sweet. You're not supposed to half grind the dude into the floor of your parents' house. She shivered thinking about his hands on her body, but it was time for that kiss to be put behind them.

"We can't be doing stuff like this," Charlotte said and helped him up. "I had a point before you did that and I don't even remember my middle name right now."

"The magic of love has rendered you temporarily futile…"

"No. The coursing of hormones has thrown off my equilibrium and it does not feel good."

He panicked. "But, it did though? The not good feeling is an afterthought, right?"

"You have to go and I need to lie down." He nodded and tried to give her a hug, but she placed her hands up to halt him and took a step back. “I’m serious.” He nodded and left her, scratching his head and hoping that his stunt hadn’t done the very thing that she was afraid of - ruined things between them.

.

Morning meetups were awkward. Jasper brought her breakfast, she brought his and Henry’s, but they didn’t really say much to each other. Instead, she spoke to Henry about everything but Jasper and whenever Jasper did speak, she was weird about her reponses. 

Work was atypical. While they generally spent most shifts around each other, she now felt like the store needed to be watched at all times, but if he came up, she took that time to go make scans in the Man Cave to be sure they hadn’t missed any calls for help.

In addition to avoiding him big time, she told him that she looked into Amelie pretty deeply and couldn’t find any reason that he couldn’t “get back on track” with her.

“You’d find that reason in the mirror,” Jasper said and she just rolled her eyes and walked away from him. Whenever he told her that things were weird at home and asked if he could crash, she politely asked Henry if it was okay if Jasper crashed at his, instead. Jasper was exasperated, or as Henry said, in an attempt to be funny, exJasperated. Jasper commented that would be the name of his next podcast, and she left them to that conversation to return to the store.

“So… She’s really just moving on like it didn’t happen?” Henry wondered. He’d waited outside for Jasper that night, because he figured that Charlotte would catch herself and kick him to the curb. But, he thought that by now, she would have talked to Jasper about it, fixed their friendship and outlined how it could never happen again.

“No. It’s worst. She’s moving on like it did happen and it was horrifying for her. She refuses to be alone with me and she hardly talks to me, now. I feel like I did something bad to her, but I thought she liked it. I thought she liked me.”

“She liked it and she likes you. You know what this is really about? Self control. She doesn’t trust herself to be alone with you, because she might wind up on your lap, in your arms again and she thinks she shouldn’t be there. You gotta show her that she should be there.”

“How would I do that without being the very creepo that both you and her have told me numerous times to not be?”

“I don’t know. Maybe her family knows something that we don’t? Something that could help us get her for you.”

“Her parents never say much beyond salutations and asking about my day. But… Uncle Rox might help. He loves me and we’re friends on social media. He lived with them for a while. He had to notice something useful.”

Henry nodded, “There you go!”

.

Jasper made an appointment with Uncle Roscoe at his new house, aka his wife’s house, to set some wheels in motion for wooing Charlotte. The man was all too happy to help. “I LOVE love, Lil’ Nephew,” he told Jasper. “My niece sure can use some wooing. Does she still have an attitude about everything?”

“A huge tude… but I still love her. I find it endearing. She’s polite with people she doesn’t care about, so it’s like… a compliment of sorts when you get that sass from her.”

Uncle Roscoe nodded his head as he made some freshly squeezed juice. “Well, I had a secret weapon to soften her up when she was younger and I found out when I lived at their house that it still kinda worked, depending on the material.”

“I must know!” Jasper said, making prayer hands. Roscoe slid a glass across the island to him and he luckily caught it in his palm. Uncle Rox is super kewl. 

“You subscribe to her Spotify?” Roscoe asked.

“No. I don’t believe that we share music tastes.”

“Well, you better get used to it, because that’s gon’ be your bread and butter, Lil’ Nephew. You see, Charlotte has a love for classic R&B, particularly the late 80's/early 90's. She loves all the boy groups that were popular when me and her moms grew up, because that’s the type of stuff that her moms listened to when she was young. Now, most people stop experiencing new music as they get older. They have some nostalgia about their parents’ music, which they pretend like they don’t, like Charlotte be pretending. They have the stuff that was popular when they were growing up, that was their childhood music. And, mostly, by a certain point, they allow very little new music into their worlds. That’s how my sister was. So, a lot of her music was stuff from the 80s and 90s, and Charlotte loves a lot of it, despite her pretenses.”

“You… Think that me listening to 80’s and 90’s R&B boy groups will win over Charlotte?” Jasper asked confused, finally drinking his juice. “This juice is AMAZING!”

“That’s that Roscoe’s Tropical Trash right there. But, no. The listening is just the first step. You gotta know that music, Boi. You gotta learn it. You gotta know what to play and when. You can control Charlotte’s little ass with the right song selection.”

“That has to be made up,” Jasper said, defeated.

Roscoe told him, “Try it out. If she gets mad, pull up “You Don’t Have to Cry by Rene and Angela,” and see if by the end of that song, she won’t be a different woman. Matter of fact, before anything even happens in your day, just put on Rhythm of the Night by DeBarge and see if she don’t have the cheeriest, happiest day.”

Jasper cupped his cup in his fingers and stared at him. “I seriously can’t tell if you’re making up these songs and artists.”

“Boi, here…” He opened his phone and said, “I’m gonna send you a link to Charlotte’s Spotify. Check out them lists. She’s got some of the music by the year and some by the decade, but it’s all kinda R&B on it. She does like a few older than that, but her most frequent ones, I assure you are those 80s-90s ones, with the groups like Troop, New Edition, Boys II Men…”

“I know them!” Jasper cheered.

“Just… The songs I told you about. Use them, then get back to me when you ready to learn musical conditioning for Charlotte.”

Uncle Roscoe used to be a vocal coach for a production studio that went ass end up in the 90s. He was also a musician, DJ, and club promoter. He was a bouncer at a jazz club, at a strip club, and at a popular night club. He still tried to make music sometimes. He played many instruments and he loved to sing. None of his efforts ever worked out fully. But, he still loved the music industry and he always had a good time with his  niece, whenever a good song put her in a good mood. He knew what he was talking about, but Jasper might have to see for himself.

.

Charlotte was about to go upstairs when she heard the opening notes of Rhythm of the Night and bounced towards it curiously. Jasper and Henry were sitting around, and Jasper’s device was connected to the computer. “How do you know this song?” She wondered.

“Uncle Rox shared a DOPE playlist with me whenever I went over for juice. I can’t stop listening to it.”

“It’s a good song. A good feel good song!” She cheered, excited. “I never would have thought you’d like this, though.”

“I love a good feel good song,” he said. She just nodded, smiling and chilled for a little longer, singing along with the song and dancing by herself. It was a little weird for Henry and Jasper to see, but Jasper immediately realized that Uncle Roscoe was right! The music made Charlotte different! 

Now, she was heading to the store, but she was pulling up her own playlist, because she felt like dancing around as she cleaned up the store. Henry smiled at her on the camera and said, “This is an adorable version of Char,”

“She’s always adorable,” Jasper said, watching her, enthralled. 

Charlotte was glad for the dance party of one. She had been so stressed about letting Jasper down, trying to be his friend, trying to avoid him, trying to forget his lips and hands - she had forgotten to just enjoy herself. How lucky was it that Uncle Roscoe put Jasper onto such great music? And Jasper LIKED it? That just made him more likeable! Ugh. She was gonna groan about it, but Never Knew Love Like This Before by Stephanie Mills came on and she was right back in the feel good zone.

.

Charlotte had taken to starting her days with some feel good music, because everyday around Jasper was a struggle. She found that even when he said something frustratingly stupid, she still thought he was cute. Somehow, his ignorance was tolerable to her and even somewhat charming? She looked at him do something ridiculous and think - look at this cinnamon roll. Ugh! She hoped that whatever was going on was reversible. Until then, music therapy should do the daily trick. Today, she began her day with Square Biz by Teena Marie, which brought her mother in to jam with her for a little while and volunteer to do her hair while they hung out, singing and stuff. They didn’t often, so that was a super plus of the day. She came out of the house in the highest spirits that she had been in, in weeks.

She had two braids with puffs at the end, with some charms braided in. She had worn some makeup. Her outfit was clutch. Honestly, she was slaying, and she felt amazing heading to the bakery. The guy at the bakery saw her and almost burned himself on the oven. She pretended not to see as she fought a smile. He quickly caught himself and got her order prepared. She said, “I’m in a really good mood, so I’ll also take an assorted box of kolaches and donuts for my work. Surprise me with the flavors…” 

They were both distracted by this music outside. Everybody in the bakery looked to see where it was coming from. “Is that Pretty Brown Eyes by Mint Condition?” Charlotte asked herself out loud, right before the doors opened and Jasper came in, singing the song. 

“Pretty brown eyes, You know I see you. It's a disguise the way you treat me. You keep holding on to your thoughts of rejection. If you're with me you're secured…”

“What?” She asked herself, frozen in place at… whatever…  this was. She loved that song. There was a whole ass band outside. “Uncle Roscoe…” She said, when she saw him and his friends playing Jasper’s music. Henry was there, recording with his phone. She smiled at the clerk and pretended that they weren’t there for her. She grabbed her order, forced a smile at her friends and tried to pass by. Henry took her order and Jasper continued to sing to her. 

“You keep telling me that your time is always taken, But I keep seeing you out alone. Listen to love; Your heart is pounding with desire waiting to be unleashed…”

As he did, she tried not to blush and laugh. She walked out, and it was louder out there, with the band playing music, but Jasper’s determined self was following her and singing, much like some kind of 90’s music video. She couldn’t help but be impressed and he was a pretty good singer too.

They’d really missed out, not letting him finish his songs during the musical curse. He danced around her, singing the lyrics and she couldn’t help but bop to the music. 

“Quit breakin' my heart 

Breakin' my heart, yeah (pretty brown eyes, Uncle Roscoe was singing backup and playing his instrument)

Breakin' my heart, yeah

Breakin' my heart, sugar, yeah, yeah”

She LOVED this song! Whenever Jasper neared the end of his song, she was pretty much weak and he was so fine, and this took so much work and wasn’t she WORTH this kind of trouble? Jasper sure thought so. Maybe he was worth a little trouble too. Maybe he was worth the risks she worried about. That high pitched, “Quit breaking my heart!” Was her sign. She grabbed him, pulled him to her and started kissing him. Henry cheered him on, and Uncle Roscoe returned a favor of calling out, “Get it, Lil’ Nephew!”

Henry sniffled, “I’m so proud, right now.”

Charlotte pulled back, laughed, shook her head and told Jasper, “You’re crazy. Remember, when it sucks, you insisted on this. Now… You’ve got me.”

He looked towards the band and yelled, “We did it, Uncle Rox! She’s mine!” 

She rolled her eyes, grabbed his hand and pulled him down the street. Henry stopped recording and looked at the band, “Ummm… Well… You gentlemen, and ladies have a good day.” He caught up with his friends, holding the breakfast while they held hands and smiled at each other the whole time. “Feeling left out,” Henry said.

“You’ll pull through,” Charlotte told him. 

Jasper just laughed and gave her a kiss on the temple. “You are so pretty,” he told her. Then, with a big smile, “I can’t believe that I’m this lucky!” 

[qqueenofhades]

the tangled web of fate we weave: xiii

yes i finished it after getting Extremely Distracted last night, and tumblr even appears to have fixed its issues with wonky symbols in text posts. it’s a christmas miracle.

part xii/AO3.

Garcia Flynn has spent the last two years – well, he hasn’t had a single permanent address, a stopover longer than a few months, any phone that wasn’t a burner, a consistent identity or nationality, a less than fifty percent chance that someone will appear with a semi-automatic weapon to finish the job, or a fully legal exit from any of a dozen countries. So really, draw your own conclusions. On the run seems almost hilarious in its understatement; he vaguely recalls that the literary device is called litotes. Completely undersell something for sharper rhetorical effect, usually by presenting it as the negative or opposite of the truth, the kind of sassy and contrary thing that appeals to him. You call Chernobyl just a little industrial fire. Or Rittenhouse really not that bad. Or Garcia Flynn a sensible, well-adjusted man who has a full idea of what he’s doing and everything under control. There, you see? Irony.

Flynn has a full half-dozen fake identities under his belt by now, an assortment of dollars, loonies, euros, pounds, and pesos in reserve depending on where he’s going, and has lived in shitty hotel rooms for so long that he has forgotten there is any other kind of human domicile. It’s better not to ask how he’s getting the money. The NSA doesn’t exactly offer severance pay, and while he has a few accounts in Croatia, they are under his real name and if Rittenhouse knows the first damn thing about their business, they are just waiting for him to try to access them. They’re probably frozen anyway. And while Flynn is perfectly willing to mug someone in an alley if need be, this does not generate any substantial or sustainable income. So he owns one computer, firewalled and encrypted and IP-randomized up the wazoo, a computer that God Himself could not hack (Flynn has made sure of this by running monthly attempts on it himself). This computer is configured to access the Deep Web, otherwise known as the Dark Web, where at least seventy-five percent of the world’s high-level organized crime takes place, a murky cyber underworld and the lifeblood of the black market. Every few weeks, Flynn logs on, performs a few tasks for someone whose real name or employment he will never know, and one to three business days later (good to know that crime syndicates are reliable about their payroll processing) a large amount of money turns up in one of the corresponding fake identities’ offshore bank account. Never the same one twice in a row, or on too consistent a schedule. Flynn likes to think that he hasn’t taken jobs for anyone truly terrible, that it’s the usual petty exchange of knockoff prescription drugs, corporate sabotage, data ransomware, and insurance scams, but he doesn’t know for sure.

And yet. Morally questionable or not, black-hat hacking has enabled him to keep a roof (even a terrible motel one) over his head, eat regularly, change his identities as needed, and track Rittenhouse across multiple countries and continents, so he’s going to keep doing it. For obvious reasons, he cannot return to either Philadelphia or West Point. D.C., where there must be the highest concentration of them, is also out. He can’t go at them directly, so he has to come at them from angles and pincer movements, feints and probes, a subtle, surreptitious game. Try to pin down just how far their influence extends, and how deeply it’s entrenched. It would be impossible for an entire task force with all the money and time in the world. For one man, it’s beyond that. And yet. Garcia Flynn is doing it anyway.

His first port of call was Bavaria, in Germany, seeing if Rittenhouse shared any connections or resources with the Illuminati, founded in 1780 for similar aims but (supposedly) quickly repressed. If you ask your bog-standard conspiracy theorist, they’ll claim the Illuminati are still alive and kicking, and Flynn wanted to figure out if they just subsumed their operations into Rittenhouse. So Dr. Alexander Kovac went to some regional archives and libraries, looking for stuff on Adam Weishaupt and his disciples, any contacts they might have had with David Rittenhouse and his. He found a few things that seemed to suggest this was possible, but Germany has, for obvious reasons, cracked down hard on these kinds of groups post-WWII. It is no longer the ideal environment for Rittenhouse to flourish, even if they probably have a few tendrils planted near Angela Merkel and the EU. Europe might be the birthplace of this kind of thinking, but America has realized it to its fullest potential.

After that, Flynn went to the Caribbean, since he guessed that most of their money has to be moving through the same havens as his. The Caymans, he thinks. But he can’t get physically near it, if there was anything to get close to, without setting off alarm bells, and even his hacking attempts have to be careful. He did enjoy sleeping on the beach beneath the tropical stars, but the news that a hurricane was on the way, plus seeing the same man wander casually past him a few too many times, felt like his cue to leave. Where, he wasn’t quite sure. He wanted to go back to California, wanted like crazy, but he didn’t dare.

Thus, he went to Ottawa instead. It was an unpleasant shock to go from the sunny Caribbean to Canada in winter, but there are bigger problems at stake. Canada obviously has close ties to America, so Flynn could pick up on some things by inference, intercept bits of useful intelligence here and there, and it was close enough to the border that he could nip over a few times and prowl around upstate New York (very, very carefully). The black site in West Point still seems to be in operation, and Flynn made every possible effort to hear about it if Lucy ever returned there, if there is any whisper that Rittenhouse has gotten their hooks into her again. If he did hear anything – well, to hell with subterfuge or delicacy. He would in fact just crash in and pull her out, even if it meant blowing the whole operation, and he’s relieved for any number of reasons that he has not had to. It’s a good thing she did not come along. He could never have been this flexible and this relentless if he had to keep one eye on her and teach her how to live this way. This isn’t a job to learn on.

(A very good thing.)

(Very good.)

(Very.)

Ultimately, however, Flynn’s Canadian sojourn ended up concluding the same thing as Germany: that Canada was not the right place for Rittenhouse to think it worthwhile expanding their foothold. Too nice, probably, and they don’t have the same sense of American imperialism and exceptionalism, don’t fit into Rittenhouse’s patriotic-fascist grand design. So then it was the question of the time machine, which he has been putting off in the hope it was just some sort of trick (even if he has very good reason to know it’s not). Connor Mason has been generously bankrolled to build it, according to Emma, and while Flynn will kill the bitch if he ever sees her again, she’s not lying about that. How much more do they still need to get done to make it a viable operational threat? Where are they getting their engineers, their machinery, their tech? Is Mason himself in Rittenhouse? He has to be. No way they’d outsource that little job to just anyone. Does Mason owe his entire fortune, all his well-publicized accomplishments, to these people? How much else has he done for them?

Flynn still cannot return outright to the Bay Area without sending up too many smoke signals. He has to be strategic. Finally, he lucks into a tip that Connor Mason is taking his team to London for a week in February, bringing the whole circus. As London is obviously also where Emma said she wanted to go, where Rittenhouse was supposedly trying for a new foothold, the coincidence is perfect and self-explanatory. London calling? London calling.

Thus, Flynn picks up from where he has been living in a log cabin in Vermont for the last two months (it’s practically home, he feels an odd pang at leaving it), and takes a flight out of JFK on the Canadian passport that gives his name as Gabriel Ashe. It’s a Commonwealth country, he’ll get less scrutiny entering the UK that way, especially since the passport is only mostly legit. If he blows this, he could find himself out on his ass and in even more hot water, but his luck has held thus far. He has to trust that it will.

On the flight, Flynn supposes that he knows very well what sins he is being punished for by getting stuck in the middle seat, and thinks about Lorena Kovac. About seven months ago, on a lonely, late night, he gave into a moment of weakness and emailed her from his untrackable computer. He hasn’t really spoken to her in several years, and didn’t know what he was going to achieve by getting in touch again. He didn’t say anything about where he was or what he was doing, just that he hoped she was well. He knows it probably confused and hurt Lorena, since he gave her no explanation for dropping out of her life in the first place, and he’s sorry for it. But he wanted – he wanted something, he doesn’t know, he doesn’t know. Just to be sure he didn’t dream a real life, perhaps. The one where they met for coffee on sunny mornings in Dubrovnik, looked over the glittering Adriatic Sea, and did not talk about war.

Lorena’s reply, three days later, was polite and to the point. She also hoped that he was well. She was doing fine – better than fine,. She has recently had a baby girl, Iris. She and Iris’ father – a childhood friend of Flynn’s, an old schoolmate, Luka – are engaged, and they are very happy. A summer wedding is planned. She wishes Flynn the best in his life, and remains fond of him. She hopes he is at peace. She is.

Reading it felt, for Flynn, like being punched in the chest. Somehow it never occurred to him that Lorena would also move on with her life, that since her feelings for him never turned into the relationship she was hoping for, she would tidily shut the door and walk away. And Luka – he’s a doctor, he’s a great guy, he and Flynn have known each other forever, he and Lorena will have a wonderful life. A baby girl named Iris. The ghost of a smiling child floated into Flynn’s head and has never entirely left. It hurt in a way he can’t articulate. It still does. He loved Lorena, in some unformed, tentative, unrealized way, even if Lucy was already between them, somehow, from the start. He knows why Lorena has written the letter as she did, with the tone of wishing an old flame well, even if they were never officially together. She has made it clear that as far as she and her life are concerned, the wound is no longer open, the space has been filled. Perhaps this put them out of danger from Rittenhouse, but Flynn can’t risk writing back. Lorena will probably wonder why she even bothered, and go to her child and future husband, and live. He wants that, God, he wants that, he does. And yet.

That was the night he finally broke a little, under the strain, the effort, the loneliness. He feels corroded, rusted and deformed and darkened, and he was no saint to start with. He is fighting for something, not just against, but he’s not sure he can see it anymore. It was a strange and highly colored dream, and he’s losing the impossible kernel of faith, or fate, that has driven him thus far. It’s too much. It’s too much.

Someone found his hideout the next day, and Flynn killed him. It’s not clear whether he needed to. It was probably just a lost backpacker stumbling on a place that looked inhabited in the woods. Probably. But Flynn shot him anyway and buried him five miles away from the nearest cell phone signal. It’s not the first man he’s killed on this journey, and by far not the first he’s killed in his life. But it was the first one he killed while the man was defenseless, on his knees, and begging that he just wanted to see his mother again.

(It’s a good thing Lorena is with a man, not a monster.)

(A very good thing.)

(Very good.)

(Very.)

The flight finally lands in London, Flynn just makes it through customs with the bogus Gabriel Ashe passport (the customs officer is a little dubious, but the queue is very long and he smiles as unthreateningly as possible) and heads into the City. He has guessed the approximate location of the hotel that Mason Industries is staying at – it’ll be somewhere fancy – but he can’t be completely sure. There are a lot of upmarket hotels in London, after all, and he needs to be careful about which member of the squad he snipes off. He needs someone well-placed on the project, who can answer his questions, and someone who is conveniently clueless about the fact that Mason is in it deep with Rittenhouse, who is so blessedly fortunate as to never have heard the name “Rittenhouse” in their life. Flynn has a few ideas, but he is willing to be flexible. See what comes up, as it were.

The law is almost a ridiculous concept to Flynn now, has had no bearing on his actions whatsoever for months and months. And so he does not care that he has flagrantly illegal methods of tapping into the vast network of data, of closed-circuit television and cell phone signals and open wifi hotspots and all the other stuff that you can access with just a little effort. He narrows it down to Covent Garden, wanders around until he has visual. Yes, it’s him. One of Mason’s engineers. Due to Flynn’s extensive scrutiny of the employee lists, he can identify him as Rufus Carlin. He looks to be on a date. That’s unfortunate.

Flynn takes a better grip on his gun inside his jacket pocket, and strolls forward for a chat.

“I’m sorry?” Rufus repeats, when Mysterious European Gunman makes another brusque motion. Is he a Bond villain? Is this the start of a heist film where Rufus and Jiya race through London, Paris, Madrid, Budapest, and Rome, trying to stop him before he can launch a nuke from his secret Swiss Alps base? (Rufus should wonder what it says that he has this fantasy all ready to go, but better for all concerned that it remain a fantasy – he is not an action hero). “How do you know my name? What is – do you think you can just – ”

“Let’s just agree I know more than you do, Rufus.” A flash of a shark-like white smile, which (amazingly) does nothing to make him feel more confident. “Sorry to interrupt your date.”

“It’s – ” Rufus starts into his well-worn spiel that it’s not a date, until he realizes that a) they are getting sidetracked, and b) this is not Douche von Douchebag’s business anyway. “Well then? How about you not interrupt it? And just let me go? Look, I’ve got some money. Is this a robbery? You want that? You can have it, man. Seriously”

He makes a motion as if to go for his wallet, thinking that at least he wasn’t dumb enough to bring his passport out – as long as he doesn’t need to spend his time here tied up in the consulate getting a new one, Jerkface McGee here can have the rest. Cancel his credit cards and whatever else, it’s not worth his life. But the man shakes his head. “I don’t want your money. Let’s go somewhere we can talk.”

Rufus hesitates. The dude does have a gun and it’s clear just to look at him that he’s not afraid to use it, and who knows what he has in the other jacket pocket – a detonator for a bomb? Damn, and one of the things he was looking forward to on this trip was a lessened risk of being shot for walking down the street while black. “Can I just – can I just tell Jiya that – ”

“Sorry,” the man says pleasantly. “Can’t have her calling anyone. Come on.”

With that, he takes Rufus by the jacket sleeve and walks him briskly out, into the plaza and up toward Leicester Square. Rufus keeps twisting vainly over his shoulder, trying to catch a glimpse of Jiya – great, there goes that entire successful day, she’s gonna think he ditched her on purpose like an asshole, or he’s just the world’s most inattentive doofus who couldn’t bother to wait for her before running back for a nap. Yes, he has more problems on his hands, but that one stings. “Hey,” he says. “Can I call you back? You know, meet for coffee tomorrow, if this is really what you – ”

“Do you think I’m an idiot, Rufus?”

“No… sir?”

“Good.” Sir Shithead keeps walking. Rufus wants to ask him to let go of his sleeve, but he has a feeling that wouldn’t go anywhere good. They make their way up into the maze of side streets and closes that branch off the major thoroughfares in London, toward a tea shop – wait, really, the guy is going to abduct him in broad daylight and then buy him an Earl Grey? Is this the most British kidnapping in existence? His accent isn’t British, though. Rufus is confused enough not to struggle (besides, he also can’t see that going anywhere good) as they reach the shop, Herr Horrible orders a small black coffee, and does not offer to get Rufus anything (he just had his latte, but still). Rufus asks for a Coke just as the man is about to pay, though, which means that he is obliged to buy it. As they sit down at a corner table barely large enough to fit him, the Red Baron raises an eyebrow. “Well?”

“Well what?” Rufus snaps. “Like I’m the one who needs to explain myself here?”

“I just want answers.” The man – Rufus is enjoying coming up with new disparaging nicknames for him, since it’s the only satisfaction he is getting out of this, but he would like an actual one – sounds impatient. “Do that, you can be back on your way in ten, fifteen minutes, tell the girl that you just got lost. You want to cooperate or not?”

Rufus holds out as long as he dares. Then he says, “How do you know my name?”

“You work for Mason Industries. Yes?”

Oh brother, Rufus thinks. Not another throw-his-weight-around military white boy coming to ask probing questions. This one is almost making him miss Wyatt. “Yeah, so?”

“Does Emma Whitmore still work there?”

“She transferred? About a year and a half ago? She still works there, yeah, but I think she took a job at one of the other offices. Here, maybe?”

“Where?” the man demands. “Where?”

Rufus stalls. It’s pretty clear from the look on the Teutonic Terror’s face that it’s bad news for Emma if he catches up to her. He and Emma have never been buddy-buddy, but they’ve worked together for a while, he’s done the calculations responsible for sending her through time, and he doesn’t want that on his head. He is relieved that it is the truth as he says, “I don’t know. We haven’t exactly been keeping up with Christmas cards.”

The man stares at him narrowly. “Do you know if she’s planning to rejoin the main office?”

“I don’t know,” Rufus repeats. “Maybe you should have kidnapped the HR manager.”

For half a moment, a sardonic but genuinely amused smile flickers across the hard lines of the other man’s face. Then it’s all back to business. “Fine,” he says. “How close is the time machine to being done?”

“I – ?” Rufus stares at him. “I – what are you talking about?”

“You’re a smart man, Rufus. Don’t act like an idiot.”

There is a silence long enough to turn very uncomfortable. They stare at each other over the rickety table. Rufus feels as if his odds of flipping it and launching the hot coffee into the man’s face are very slim, but he has to fight down an urge to do just that. Instead of answering, he says, “I’m guessing you and Wyatt Logan know each other?”

Something brief and inscrutable appears, then disappears, in the man’s guarded gaze. “We were acquainted in the past,” he says noncommittally. “Answer the question, please.”

“This is going to get me into trouble.”

“I honestly don’t care if it does or not.”

“Yeah, well. I do.”

“You’d care about something more if you knew why I was asking. And if you have to make me do it a third time – ”

“Jeez.” Rufus raises his hands. “Scorched-earth everything with you, isn’t it? Look. We’ve progressed to running more extensive tests, but it’s still very buggy. One of the lead engineers just got out of an eight-month coma. It’s not out of any sort of beta.”

“When do you think it will be?”

“What are you, some kind of corporate spy? Government whistleblower?” Mason has, for obvious reasons, wanted to keep this project strictly under wraps, and Rufus has definitely already breached several paragraphs of his organizational NDA by talking this much. “Shoot me if you want, but you’re not going to make me turn on – ”

That mirthless smile pays a visit to the corner of In Soviet Russia’s mouth. “I don’t have to shoot you,” he points out. “The girl you were with. I got a nice look at her face. From my examination of the employee directory, I think that is… Jiya, yes? Jiya Marri?”

That rocks Rufus onto his heels and all further smart remarks out of his mouth. “You son of a bitch,” he says, low and hard. “Stay away from her.”

“Do your part, Rufus, and neither of you ever have to see me again.” The man shrugs. “A little answer. Very easy.”

Rufus chews his tongue. Whatever he says, he has a feeling that it isn’t just an academic interest, that he could be directly responsible for setting off a barrel of nitroglycerin in the middle of Connor’s life – in everyone’s. Finally he says, “Again, like I said. It’s in beta. There is no expected timescale of completion when we’re talking about something this. The Mothership runs better, but we – ”

“The Mothership?” The man leans forward with an intent, wolfish expression. “What’s that?”

Shit. Rufus wants to bite his tongue off. He says reluctantly, “The main machine is called the Mothership. There’s a backup called the Lifeboat, but it’s designed just for short-term use, in the event of something going wrong with the Mothership’s crew and a rescue squad being sent to pull them out. That one’s really in beta.”

“Two time machines.” The man taps his fingers on the table, thinking hard. “And either of these, how do they run? Can you visit moments in your own lifetime?”

That is a weirdly specific question. Rufus almost wonders if he’s a crazy UFO fan, or something like that. Or maybe he’s clung onto a time machine as a solution for the big steaming heap of cow poop that his life appears to be – go back and change all your bad choices, that kind of thing. “No,” he says. “That’s not possible. You can’t travel on your own timeline. The ones that’ve tried, you – you don’t want to know what happened to them. The universe doesn’t like it, it’s not like Harry Potter with two versions of you running around.”

For some reason, that answer disturbs his interlocutor (yeah, he’s disturbed now, finally some equality). Rufus wants to demand how the hell he knows this, where he’s got his information and what he is planning to do. There is a final pause until the man makes up his mind. “Give me your access card to Mason Industries,” he says. “Your ID, your key card, whatever I need to get in. You can say you lost them.”

“I just happened to lose my ID?”

“Or I can rob you,” the man points out. “Yes, I think it might be better if we do that. I will take your money after all. London is an expensive city, why not?”

“I can’t let you into Mason Industries. I can’t – ”

“You’re here in London for the whole week. The entire team is. That is much neater, I don’t need to kill anyone to get in. You can tell Jiya that you were robbed, she will feel very sorry for you. A happy ending. You don’t report it to anyone and you don’t say anything about losing the card until you get back.”

“To what, a giant bomb crater where Mason Industries used to be?”

“Oh, no.” The man shakes his head. “I don’t want to destroy it. I just need information. Now. You give me your ID card, the cash in your wallet, and anything else a robber might take. I will let you keep your phone. Hurry up, Rufus. Jiya must be looking for you.”

Rufus has never wanted to kill anyone with a stare more than he has wanted to kill this idiot, but he can’t think what else to do. Slowly, he fumbles out his Mason Industries ID and key card on its lanyard, jerks the cash envelope out, and shoves it over the table. It’s not even his money, but still. He feels the betrayal on a soul-deep level, the one thing he hates most. What a way to repay Connor, after everything he has done for him. Rufus feels tainted and unhappy and used. “There,” he snaps. “Take it. Are we done?”

“You tell me.” The man shrugs, pocketing the card and cash. “Actually, I have changed my mind. A robber would take your phone. Give it to me, I will mail it back in a few weeks.”

“I – ” Rufus clutches his phone like his firstborn child. Like any proper millennial, he cannot function more than a few hours without it. “Like I’m going to believe that?”

“Phone. Now.”

Rufus grits his teeth, thinks that he can hopefully report it as stolen and freeze it before the bastard has time to mine all its data, and drops it into his hand. King Kraptacular, of course, makes sure to ask him for the passcode, makes Rufus do it to demonstrate that it is in fact the right one, and then finally stands up with a mocking grin. “It’s been good to do business with you,” he says, touching two fingers to his hat. “Enjoy your trip to London, Rufus.”

And with that, leaving Rufus sitting there completely gobsmacked, he goes.

Wyatt Logan has no idea how to find a man whose entire professional value lies in his ability to completely fucking disappear at will, but by God, that is not going to stop him trying.

He can’t exactly drive up to NSA headquarters and demand to consult their personnel files, especially for ex-personnel that, as far as Wyatt knows, still have a standing arrest warrant. He did try the old phone number for Flynn, but he was not surprised at all when the cool female robot voice told him that this number was not in service. He’s tried to think if anyone in the intelligence branch of things owes him a favor, or might feel bad for him because his wife is probably dead and would be willing to kick some rocks. The possibility of the quest has galvanized Wyatt like a direct intravenous hit of caffeine; he hasn’t slept more than three hours at one time since this started. It’s been four days, and he has barely focused on the fact that for all intents and purposes, the cops are looking for a body. That’s not it, that’s not what happened. Jess is alive somehow, somewhere. She’s alive.

In the course of this, Wyatt has also been managing to convince himself that Flynn is not as bad as he remembers. Sure, he was an abrasive jackass with zero interpersonal skills and an amazing ability to make everything ten times more difficult than it needs to be, but to be fair, when they actually met face-to-face, Flynn had just been shot twice and was freshly out of emergency surgery. That might put a damper on anyone’s sunny disposition, and Wyatt is painfully aware that his own behavior has been no basket of roses. Maybe it’s just because he’s so lonely, he’s so desperately lonely and so terrified that this in fact the one mistake he cannot take back or get around, but he’s already half-made Flynn into a friend in his head. Grumpy, but essentially good-hearted. Definitely willing to lend an old pal (even in a very loose sense of the word) a hand. It’ll work out. It has to.

No one ever said that this was the most realistic appraisal of the situation, but at least it’s kept Wyatt from eating bark off trees, and after his feverish hours of work, he’s decided that the best angle he has into the whole thing is Mason Industries. However, that is going to piss off Rittenhouse something wild; the whole scene in the car was very clear at instructing him that he had better never come near that place again. If Wyatt is trying to be clandestine, this is not the way to do it. The only other person he can still contact (hopefully) is not guaranteed special access either, and it could once more put her in danger. But she’s also the only human being on the planet who might know where Flynn is, or at least want to see him again too. And really. Wyatt has nothing left to lose.

He takes out his phone, and dials.

It rings once, then twice, then again. Just as he thinks it’s not going to be answered, it is. “Hello?” She sounds confused and tenuous. “Is this – Wyatt?”

“Hi.” Wyatt blows out an unsteady breath. He was the one who told her to call him if she was ever scared, if she needed anything, and now here he is, practically ready to beg. “Lucy. I – I know it’s been a while since we talked. I’m sorry to just call you out of the blue.”

“No, of course,” Lucy says. “It’s fine, it’s fine. Are you okay?”

Wyatt was fondly supposing that he didn’t sound like that much of a wreck, but he appears to have been disabused of that along with everything else. “Actually,” he says, swallowing hard as his voice catches. “Actually. . . since you ask, I’m. . . I’ve been better. A lot better. I’m sorry again, I know this may not be something you want to talk about, but have you – have you seen Flynn recently? Garcia Flynn?” As if there can be another.

There’s a marked silence. Then Lucy says, “No. I haven’t seen him for almost two years.”

Wyatt can feel his fragile, giddy optimism heading for a crash as fast as it went up, but he still refuses to let this be the end of the road. “So you – you don’t know where he is these days, or what he’s doing, or – ?”

“No,” Lucy says. “I have no idea. Wyatt, what’s – what’s going on?”

Wyatt stares at the ceiling, trying to formulate the words. The idea of speaking it aloud is still unbearable, and it’s bad enough for Lucy that he called her like this, he doesn’t need to start unloading his flaming trainwreck of emotional baggage onto her. He tries to keep his voice as calm as it would be at a briefing for his superiors. Tells her, as succinctly as he can, what’s happened, and why he’s looking for Flynn.

Lucy makes shocked and sympathetic noises, which Wyatt appreciates, but he knows he still does not deserve her pity. “I’m so sorry,” she says. “Is there anything else I can do? Do you have – have family in town, or anything?”

“Family?” Wyatt laughs, bone-dry. “My family? Nah. Grandpa Sherwin died a few years ago. Jess’s family has – they’re in town, they’ve been with the cops. I get the feeling that they think I should be at the station more, that I wasn’t there for her when she was alive and now I’m not there for her when she’s – ”

He stops. He can’t bear the fact that he almost said it, that it seemed so terribly possible. It feels like there’s a boulder wedged in his throat, and he rubs his hand over his eyes, trying to collect himself. “Anyway,” he manages. “I told them that I was – that I was working on something, and – this is my fault, I know it is. But if it’s not just some local scumbag, if it’s more – if it’s them – ”

Lucy doesn’t answer immediately. He can hear what she must be thinking – that he’s got a lot of nerve strolling into her life again, dumping a sob story about his wife on her, and assuming she will return to something that must hurt her as well, that she will unearth what must be some not-very-well-buried bodies and contend once more with the ghosts. She would be justified in any or all of it, and he tries to steady himself for her telling him to take a hike. There might still be some other way to track down Flynn, though it gets much narrower and more impossible if so. But when there’s nothing else but this –

“Okay,” Lucy says, quiet and level and cool as stone. “What do you need?”

This is not the wisest idea Lucy has ever had, not by a long shot. She should be unnerved, perhaps (but again, that is the whole point) at how greatly not-wise it is. And yet. She’s not.

It feels like something has changed in her, turned as sharply as a key, and she’s not even sure what. Just in that moment of finally accepting that Flynn was gone (the way that Wyatt is desperate not to do with Jessica, but it is not for Lucy to decide that before its time) it was like she woke up, somehow. There was never any chance that she was going to sit around and languish on a couch and weep. She got right on with her life, professionally and personally, and she’s done fine with it. And yet, after her visit to her mother’s the other day, when she’s gotten even fewer answers than she has questions, when she realized that she’s lived like she’s sleepwalking, determined that things are normal, not to rock the boat, to make everyone else’s lives easier and safer, pushing herself further and further away –

She doesn’t know what, but she’s sick of it, she’s angry, she’s tired, and she’s not willing to do it anymore. So suddenly, when Wyatt Logan calls out of the clear blue sky, says his wife is missing, and hints that he thinks Rittenhouse has something to do with it, Lucy’s game.

She drives to her mom’s house when she knows that Carol will be out for a doctor’s appointment, goes upstairs, and gets the gun out of the box. Takes the ammunition as well, hurries down to her car feeling properly scandalous – she has never done something like this, it doesn’t even feel like her. She’s licensed the gun in the state of California, she’s allowed to carry it, but she still puts it in the glovebox and locks it. Her hands are shaking, but she clenches them, and they stop. Then she drives back to Stanford, finishes her day, and waits.

It’s around five o’clock when there’s a knock on her office door, and she stands up to open it. Has guessed who it is, but it’s still a small shock to see him in person. He doesn’t look that great, with a missing wife and a long drive under his belt, but he manages a wan smile and offers his hand. “Hey, Lucy.”

Lucy pauses, then reaches out and hugs him. She doesn’t know why, other than that he looks like he could use it, and Wyatt goes briefly stiff, then awkwardly hugs her back. They step apart after a moment, and he clears his throat. “I – so. . . how. . . how are you?”

“Fine.” The word almost lives on her lips these days. “It’s not going to cause you any problems with the cops or Jessica’s family if you came up here, is it?”

“Them?” Wyatt laughs bitterly. “They’ve never exactly been my biggest fans, and honestly, I’m not sure I blame them anymore. Her stepdad almost didn’t attend the wedding – he’s a son of a bitch anyway, but. . . yeah. I told them I was working on something to get her back, and that’s not a lie. Told them to call if the cops – ” He stops. “Well, if anything came up.”

Lucy supposes this is his business, and what they are proposing is going to take enough attention and concentration that they don’t need any more distractions. Wyatt waits as she finishes up a few things, turns off the lights, and grabs her purse. They have a few hours to kill, so they get a quick dinner and try to catch up. The conversation isn’t exactly bountiful, and it’s hard to be sure what the dynamic here should be. Old friends? Not exactly friends, but they did trust each other in a tight spot, and they’re not strangers. Heist partners preparing for the night’s action? Some of that is true, but still. Should she be comforting him, offering to talk him through his problems? She is not a trained psychiatrist, and she gets the sense that Wyatt’s problems are a lot more than she’s reasonably prepared to take any kind of crack at, but there’s also value to be had in just talking to someone who cares. She doesn’t get the feeling there’s a whole lot of that in his life, really. Especially not now.

In any case, it’s getting later, and it’s time to put their plan (such as it is) into action. There is a solid chance that this night ends with both of them arrested, but (who is she and what has she done with Lucy Preston) the idea almost exhilarates her. They drop off her car at home, and Wyatt glances at the house. “All that space just for you?”

“I �� no. We – live together. My boy – boyfriend and I.” Lucy feels like a high schooler about to blush at saying the word, given how awkward it feels on her tongue. “Noah.”

“That was – ” Wyatt gives her a funny look. “Wait, was that the doctor at the hospital when Flynn was shot?”

“Yeah. We dated a couple years before that, and I… we got back together about a year ago.” Lucy goes around the side of Wyatt’s truck and climbs in, hoping that none of the neighbors are peering out their windows and will feel like telling Noah about it later. Suburbanites are in fact horrible gossips, apparently. But this way, they streamline their operations, Noah will hopefully just think she’s out for a walk or whatever when he gets home, and it’s just easier to do this in one car. “He works in Oakland now.”

Wyatt glances at her, but doesn’t say anything, as if well aware that he has no stones to throw at anyone else’s relationship choices. He starts the truck and they pull out, heading down the street and back toward the freeway. Here goes nothing.

They are, of course, not going to do this like total savages and/or jailbirds if at all avoidable, and pull into the Mason Industries parking lot when, as planned, it has almost cleared out for the day. There are in fact almost no cars there, which might either make things easier or much more complicated, and Wyatt considers it with a furrowed brow. “Technically, we’re still going to have to break in,” he says. “Let me take the lead, all right? I’ve got a lot less to lose if I’m popped for B&E, but I’m guessing Stanford would be less impressed.”

“I don’t care,” Lucy says, startling herself. She leans forward and checks that the zipped gun case is still in her purse; she took it out of the glovebox before leaving her car. “We’re going to save your wife, all right? We’re going to save your wife and I don’t care if we have to step on Rittenhouse’s toes to do it. I’m tired of waiting and worrying if they’re coming after me again one day. Maybe it’s time we found out.”

And with that, as Wyatt is still blinking, Lucy pushes open the truck door and steps down into the blurry blue evening. She unzips the case and checks that the gun is loaded, but that the safety is on and there’s no risk of it discharging automatically. Her hands are almost practiced at this, though she has obviously never been in a real situation of possibly having to use it and doesn’t know that she ever wants there to be a first. Obviously, they are not going to blaze in and hold a lab full of terrified scientists (or even the lab’s night crew) hostage, but Wyatt wants to talk to Connor Mason, and Lucy intends to see that he does. If that involves a little hardball, even though ‘hardball’ is far from a five-foot-five history professor’s skill set, fine.

They cross the parking lot and head for the visitor’s entrance, which is still open. They push the glass doors open and stroll down to the reception area, where the poor receptionist is just switching off her computer and preparing to go home. At the sight of them, she looks up with a start. “I’m sorry, we’re just about to – there aren’t any more appointments scheduled, I’m sorry, I was just about to lock the building, sir, ma’am, so – ”

“Hi,” Lucy says, smiling sweetly. “We’d like to talk to Connor Mason.”

The receptionist goggles at her. “Ma’am, I’m sorry, this is past business hours. Besides, Mr. Mason is out of the country until next week. Obviously, he’s a very important and busy man, you can’t just expect to walk in off the street and expect to see him – ”

“Fine.” Wyatt steps up next to Lucy. “Who else is here?”

The receptionist’s eyes whiz back and forth between them. She is obviously getting the sense that they are neither a pair of IT professionals late for an appointment, or a couple of starstruck fans wandering off the street and trying to cadge a meeting with their idol for a viral video. She makes a move as if to reach for a security button under the desk, but Wyatt says, “I wouldn’t, ma’am.”

The receptionist glances at Lucy, clearly hoping for some female solidarity here. Normally, that is 100% Lucy’s bag otherwise, but tonight, alas, principles have to be sacrificed in more ways than one. “Tammy,” she says, glancing at the ID badge around the receptionist’s neck. “How about we just borrow that for a few minutes? You sit here and we’ll be right back.”

“I’m going to call security,” Tammy the receptionist warns them. “You need to – ”

“I wouldn’t,” Wyatt repeats. “What you’re going to do is switch off the security cameras, or at least scramble them for a few minutes. We don’t want to hurt you, ma’am, we don’t want to hurt you at all. But we need some answers, and we won’t leave until we have them.”

“I told you. Mr. Mason isn’t here.” Tammy’s face is white. “I couldn’t bring you to talk to him even if I wanted to. I don’t know what you want. Please, I have two children, I – ”

“Calm down,” Lucy says gently. “We’re not here to hurt you, like he said. But even if Mason isn’t here, there has to be someone else we can speak with.”

“No, they’re – it’s a team trip, all the project leads and main engineers went to London, it’s only a few part-timers here, and they’re gone for the night. I don’t want to lose my job, I – ”

“Yeah?” Wyatt says roughly. “Well, I really didn’t want to lose my wife. So I guess it’s going to be hard knocks for everybody, isn’t it? How about his office? Can you take us to his office? Probably won’t be able to get into his computer, but there have to be some paper files. Your boss know anything about Rittenhouse? Probably does, doesn’t he? Since he’s in it?”

Tammy flinches as if she’s been slapped. “Sir – ” She looks appealingly back at Lucy. “Please, it’s – you don’t know, you – ”

“I think you should take us to Connor Mason’s office,” Lucy says, gently but relentlessly. “I really think you should.”

Tammy hesitates.

Lucy reaches into her purse, and draws out what’s in her hand just enough to be seen.

Tammy blanches, and Wyatt blinks again, as if he had no idea she was carrying until now and is impressed (and slightly turned on) despite himself. Lucy shakes her head minutely at him when he opens his mouth as if to ask, and they wait until Tammy, fingers trembling, takes her key card, swipes it, and enters a few things clearly intended to put a five-minute freeze on the relevant cameras. Then she clicks around the desk, beckons them with a very tight nod, and starts to walk, as Lucy realizes she can’t let her get too far ahead of them, and jogs to catch up. She takes firm hold of Tammy’s wrist, and the other woman jerks as if it’s a handcuff. Lucy has never had anyone look at her with that much fear and revulsion before, and she isn’t sure she likes it. And yet, there is an unmistakable frisson of power that is, in a sick way, kind of appealing. Oh God, she isn’t a psycho, is she? She’s not. She’s not.

They walk down a glass corridor that overlooks a vast, dim steel warehouse, banked with computers and consoles on every side. It looks kind of like NASA launch headquarters, an impression reinforced by the sight of the large white plasteel eyeball sitting on struts in the middle of the expanse. It’s banded with blue blinking lights, increasing its resemblance to a UFO even more, and Lucy suddenly thinks that she might know exactly what that is. There has, obviously, still been a kernel of doubt in her mind – Emma was convinced that Mason Industries was building a time machine and she was test-piloting it, yes, but Emma was crazy. This, though. It could somehow be a film prop that Mason Industries is building for some bizarre reason rather than a set dresser in Hollywood, but Lucy doesn’t think so.

Wyatt, who has no clue (probably for the best) that time travel enters into this anywhere, is totally befuddled, but Lucy once more shakes her head at him. They complete the traverse to the doors of important-looking offices – Connor Mason, Anthony Bruhl, a couple others – and Tammy swipes her key card to open Connor’s. One of them is going to have to watch her while the other ransacks for useful intel. Otherwise she will run away and raise the alarm, and then they’re definitely getting arrested. Or worse.

With Tammy still firmly in hand, Lucy ventures over the threshold. She has no idea how they’re supposed to shake down Mason’s office in five minutes or less for some convenient Rittenhouse papers that he might just happen to have in some carelessly unsecured file cabinet. Wyatt, however, clearly doesn’t care if they’re secured or not. He takes a small crowbar out of his jacket and advances in after the women, looking around as if to decide where he needs to start smashing. Lucy appears to be on Tammy-minding duty, but she hopes Wyatt doesn’t leave too much of a mess. There’s no guarantee how long the cameras stay off. Or did they actually even go off in the first place? Maybe they should have worn balaclavas like proper robbers. Wyatt’s right, Stanford will not be enthused, and –

Just then, all the remaining blinking lights in the room, and along the hall, go dark. Wyatt, who was about to start bashing the bejesus out of Connor Mason’s file cabinets, stops with a startled curse, and Lucy thinks that this must be it, Tammy tricked them and the emergency protocol is kicking in. But if so, you’d expect klaxons and flashing lights, not just silent darkness. What the hell? Power just shut down at eight o’clock every night? But from what little Lucy can make out of Tammy’s face in the red emergency backups that are just flickering on, she is as startled as they are. Wasn’t expecting that.

Lucy looks down into the launch area, which she can see from Mason’s magisterial God’s eye view of his kingdom, and her heart skips a beat. She can just see a dark figure wending through the shadows, making its way purposefully toward the time machine (as it has to be). There’s someone else here, someone else broke in, shut down the lights and surveillance with a lot more skill than their clumsy receptionist kidnapping, and is making for its – for his? – target like a homing pigeon. No way to tell if it’s bad news or worse.

“Wyatt?” Lucy hisses. “Wyatt!”

Wyatt, who has clearly been about to decide if he should just smash some shit anyway for the stress relief, looks over with a start and follows her pointing finger down to the interloper on the operations floor. He stashes the crowbar hastily back in his jacket and pulls out his gun instead, then strides out of the office and toward the metal stairs that open into the warehouse. Lucy hurries after him, Tammy bumping in her wake like a kite on the end of a string, then pushes her down to hide behind a computer bank, which the receptionist does only too gladly. If she can somehow call 911 from there, well, that’s another problem. Lucy wants to have her hands free in case Wyatt needs any help.

She reaches in, pulls out the gun, and switches the safety off. Can in fact feel the difference, the way it comes alive, and advances at Wyatt’s side in recon stance. They’re just on the other side of the time machine from the intruder, and Lucy and Wyatt flatten themselves stealthily against it, guns in hand. They exchange a look, trying to decide if they need to actually fire. Not in a warehouse full of priceless technology, not when they’ve already illegally entered, not when they don’t know who the other person or what they want, but –

They can hear footsteps. They need to make a decision.

They throw themselves out from behind the time machine and come around, raising their guns at the intruder, who – even faster than them – has already done the same. Lucy has an indistinct impression of unusual height, and a merciless stare in the low, hellish light, and then, all the blood draining out of her head, her heart, her world. It can’t be, it can’t, and yet. All along, there was really no one else it could be.

She can’t get enough air into her lungs, and isn’t sure she will again. Her strangled whisper sounds as loud as a shout.

“Flynn?”

[orbemnews]

What the Gates Divorce Means for the Gates Foundation The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation started with ambitions that, by its lofty standards today, appear almost quaint: providing free internet access to public libraries in the United States. As its founders’ objectives grew in scope, so did the foundation’s reach, until it achieved its current position as the pre-eminent private institution in global public health. With 1,600 staff members directing $5 billion in annual grants to 135 countries around the globe, the Gates Foundation set a new standard for private philanthropy in the 21st century. All of that was thrown into question on Monday when the world learned that the foundation’s co-chairs, who had been married for 27 years, filed for divorce in Washington State. Grant recipients and staff members alike wondered what would happen and whether it might affect the mission. The message from the headquarters in Seattle was clear: Bill and Melinda Gates may be splitting up, but the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation isn’t going anywhere. Their roles as co-chairs and trustees are not changing, and they will still set the agenda for the organization that bears their names. In an email on Monday, the Gates Foundation’s chief executive, Mark Suzman, reassured the staff that both Mr. and Ms. Gates remained committed to the organization. While noting that it was “obviously a difficult time of personal change for” the couple, Mr. Suzman added that “Bill and Melinda asked me explicitly to express their deep gratitude for everything you do every day, particularly during the Covid-19 crisis, as well as for your support and understanding in this difficult time.” The foundation’s $50 billion endowment is in a charitable trust that is irrevocable. It cannot be removed or divided up as a marital asset, said Megan Tompkins-Stange, a professor of public policy and scholar of philanthropy at the University of Michigan. She noted, however, that there was no legal mandate that would prevent them from changing course. “I think there may be changes to come,” she said. “But I don’t see it as a big asteroid landing on the field of philanthropy as some of the hyperbole around this has indicated.” Bill Gates has been an object of fascination in the United States almost from the moment he came on the scene as a founder of Microsoft, the prototypical computer genius turned entrepreneur, the nerdy foil to Steve Jobs and his black turtlenecks and arty designs. He became the richest man in the world, and with the Justice Department’s 1998 antitrust case against Microsoft, he was heralded as the new John D. Rockefeller, for better and worse. But in the decades since, he has transformed his image through the work he and Ms. Gates jointly pursued with the foundation, becoming best known for his generosity rather than his ruthlessness in business. The nearly $55 billion that the Gates Foundation has given away also gave the couple instant access to heads of state and leaders of industry. Ms. Gates has had her own growing profile, both through her work for the foundation as well as her firm, Pivotal Ventures, which she has used since 2015 to invest in causes related to women’s economic empowerment. Some observers noted that Ms. Gates had added her maiden name, French, to her Twitter profile. Updated  May 4, 2021, 3:12 p.m. ET The couple deployed their connections last year in response to the pandemic, calling leaders like Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed of Abu Dhabi to drum up support for their plans. The foundation has committed $1.75 billion so far to its Covid-19 response, and played a key role in shaping the global deal to bring vaccines to poor countries. That prominence has also brought a fair share of scrutiny, throwing a spotlight on Mr. Gates’s robust defense of intellectual property rights — in this case, specific to vaccine patents — even in a time of extreme crisis, as well as the larger question of how unelected wealthy individuals can play such an outsize part on the global stage. “In a civil society that is democratic, one couple’s personal choices shouldn’t lead university research centers, service providers and nonprofits to really question whether they’ll be able to continue,” said Maribel Morey, founding executive director of the Miami Institute for the Social Sciences. Ms. Gates filed the petition for divorce on Monday in Superior Court in King County, Wash., calling the marriage “irretrievably broken” and asking the court to dissolve it. In her filing, Ms. Gates said they were already separated. She signed the form in Bellevue, Wash., and Mr. Gates signed his part in Palm Desert, Calif., near where they own a home. Before the news of the divorce broke, the Gates Foundation had been in the midst of a period of upheaval. The pandemic shuttered its headquarters in Seattle even as staff members drawn from the top ranks of government health agencies and the pharmaceutical industry worked to muster a response to the deadly, rapidly spreading new coronavirus. And as his public profile during the pandemic grew, so did spurious conspiracy theories such as that the global immunization effort was a cover for Mr. Gates to implant microchips to track people, blatantly false but still damaging as misinformation increased vaccine hesitancy. Then Mr. Gates’s father, Bill Gates Sr., also a foundation co-chair, died in September. The elder Mr. Gates had initially taken the lead on his son’s charitable endeavors while the younger Mr. Gates was still at the helm of Microsoft. Bill Gates Sr. was viewed by many as a calm voice and a moral compass within the organization, even as he had stepped back in recent years. The third trustee, the billionaire investor Warren E. Buffett, turned 90 last year and has begun to discuss succession plans at his company, Berkshire Hathaway. Dr. Morey said the recent changes could also present an opportunity to create a large, diverse board while increasing visibility into the foundation’s decision-making. “Part of the anxiety is coming from the lack of transparency in the day-to-day activities of the Gates Foundation,” she said. Mr. and Ms. Gates had faced struggles in their marriage in recent years and even moments where it neared collapse, according to people close to them. Now that they have made the rupture formal and legal, many in their orbit are scrambling to try to figure out what that means for the foundation. Some are concerned that Ms. Gates will put more effort into Pivotal Ventures while Mr. Gates spends even more time on his own private office, Gates Ventures. Others describe such fears as overblown. “Bill and Melinda have always had their separate ventures. They’ve each always spent time on that and spent time on their foundation,” said Greg Ratliff, senior vice president at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, who worked at the Gates Foundation for a decade. “It’s going to continue to be a great, influential foundation, and each of them individually will be as influential as I think they were collectively.” While it seems clear that the foundation will move forward with its vast resources, there remains the question of the Gates fortune, which Forbes estimates at $124 billion. The divorce won’t affect the money that has already been given to the foundation trust, but the couple may devote less money to it over time than they would have if they had stayed together. “People are right to feel unmoored in terms of the direction of the foundation,” said Ms. Tompkins-Stange of the University of Michigan. “There’s a lot of ambiguity, as there might be in any divorce situation, but they seem committed to co-parenting the foundation.” Source link Orbem News #Divorce #Foundation #Gates #means

[forgcdstrength]

Angela Carter

“For courage, strategy, and moral guidance, you were his support.”

NAME: Angela Elizabeth Carter

AGE: 57

PARENTS: Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter

DOB: June 17, 1961

PLACE OF BIRTH: New York City, New York

ORIENTATION: panromantic bisexual

HOGWARTS HOUSE: Gryffindor

FACECLAIM: Angie Harmon/Maia Mitchell

MAIN VERSE: original canon timeline; post-Avengers: Endgame (in a universe where Steve never lived out a life with Peggy)

BIOGRAPHY:

Angela Carter was born in 1961, the product of the artificial insemination – with Steve Rogers DNA – of Peggy Carter with the moral support of her fiancé, Daniel Sousa, and the medical support of Howard Stark and Dr. Jason Wilkes.

From her birth, the baby girl was deemed a failure. The covert attempt of the quartet to create another super soldier, or at least recapture the makeup of Erskine’s serum, was a failure. The baby, named Angela after her mother’s best friend, was perfectly average, but Daniel and Peggy loved her endlessly regardless. They didn’t tell her of her paternity, and she found no reason to think her father might be anyone but Daniel.

She was twelve when she stumbled upon the truth. She spent a lot of her free time in her parents’ office, and it was while helping new agents move boxes of archived files that she found a box with her name on it. The notes inside – in her parents’, Mr. Stark’s, and Dr. Wilkes’ handwriting – revealed whose she was, and what they had hoped she would be.

The discovery had a profound impact on Angela, who hated her name so much she went by her surname until after graduating from university. She spent the rest of her life trying to become – or at least make up for – what they’d wanted her to be. Though she’d always been allowed – and interested – in the office side of SHIELD, she began to go to training sessions as well, but then, privately, she began to mimic what she saw, training as well as she could alone.

Soon, she was asking people to teach her anything she could think of. Sparring with her mother. Swimming and how to navigate by the stars came from Jack Thompson. Everything about guns and how to speak Russian came from Peggy Carter’s favorite agent, Danyela Ulrich. She learned how to disarm a bomb – or at least a fake one – from the man she’d mentally come to call only “Daniel.” Maria Stark taught her Italian, and Ana Jarvis taught her Hebrew and Hungarian. Any science she managed to retain came from Drs. Samberly and Wilkes and Howard Stark. Mr. Jarvis even taught her fencing and boxing.

As time passed, though she learned all those things, she was never truly a master of any of them. Despite her best efforts to do better – to be more – she still felt most at home in the offices of SHIELD.

As her high school years ended, her mother suggested she look into becoming a lawyer, declaring that there was more than one type of fight, and more than one way to win, to change the world. Carter enrolled in law school, relishing the challenge that she finally felt capable of meeting. This she could do, and she found that she adored her work now. She was good at it.

True to form, though, as soon as Angela graduated with her license to practice, she took it right back to SHIELD. She became a lawyer for SHIELD, defending their agents fiercely, and prosecuting their enemies whenever called upon to do so.

VERSES:

FROM THIS MOMENT ON: follows canon MCU

ROAD LESS TRAVELED: any other AU threads

AUS (for teenage Carter):

SO MANY WAYS TO BE: (Descendants) daughter of Cogsworth

EVER EVER AFTER: (Fairytale) a very politically-involved princess

BORROWED BABIES: (Foster Care) foster daughter whose parents were soldiers in the army who were blown up together in Iraq

I SOLEMNLY SWEAR THAT I’M UP TO NO GOOD: (Harry Potter) Gryffindor seventh-year

ALTERNATIVELY 1902: (Victorian) daughter of two veterans of the Civil War

GROW UP WITH THE LAND: (Wild West) daughter of two veterans of the Civil War, who now travels with her parents as they guide people along the Oregon Trail

FORWARD TO VICTORY: (World War II) the daughter of two soldiers, she convinced her parents that she was old enough to follow them into the war zone, old enough to help, and now she spends her days helping the nurses, and listening in to strategy planning

AUS (for adult Angela):

 BOLDLY GO: (Star Trek) security lieutenant

Starter Call

[lunarfox22]

Bloodied and Broken - Part 7

Pairing: Loki x OFC (of color)

Warning: Violence, language, blood, mentions of suicidal thoughts, angst, fluff

Words: 1469

AO3:  : Bloodied and Broken by lunar_fox22

FFN: Bloodied and Broken by lunarfox22

Summary:  Loki has fallen from the Bifrost, a disgraced prince. He meets Angela Lawrence, a SHIELD agent who helps him, but can he let go of his scorn? Or will he betray the only person who is on his side?

AN:  I'm moving these over to my new writing works tumblr. Please forgive any confusion!

Part 6 - Part 8

Masterlist

Loki didn’t often get surprised. People often turned out exactly as he thought they would when he first met them. Angela, however, shocked him. It seemed there was more under that nice, understanding exterior. Turns out, she was incredibly intelligent and witty. She also wasn’t kind to a fault like he had assumed she was. The little incident at Walmart had proved that she had some bite to her after all. A rather big one in fact. At first, it had annoyed him, but in the end he had left slightly impressed.

With what little time together they had together between her working, he spent trying to get to know her. In the beginning, it was solely due to his need of infiltrating her agency. So far he’s had little ground on that front. She was very tight-lipped on her work. He figured she would be, she worked at an intelligence agency. Now, he spent trying to get to know her because she had impressed him.

Angela was a very curious person. By nature, most intelligent people were. It was how one gained knowledge, after all; to ask questions, to learn more. The moment she realized he had no issue with answering her questions about the universe, she couldn’t help herself but to ask more. She wanted to know everything. So he indulged her, and answered whatever question she threw his way.

She had also seemed especially enamored with his magic. It had been a long time since he had actually dazzled someone with it. Everyone on Asgard considered it to be easy tricks. Which was another reason he and Thor grew apart. Everyone loved Thor for being a pure warrior. Yet no one cared for his use of magic in the battlefield.  Angela seemed to understand the effort it took to cast even a tiny illusion spell. She wanted to know more about magic, the technicalities of it. Not just sit and watch him perform spells. Which he took in stride and tried to explain as best he could. And she appeared to understand it quickly, and absorb the information as a sponge would water.

With her gone so long during the day they rarely had the chance for him to give an in depth lecture on it. So far he’s been telling her of Asgard and she’s just been informing of Midgardian customs. Midgardians have changed since he was last here centuries ago.

When she wasn’t here, he had to find some means to entertain himself. Which wasn’t difficult considering she had taught him to work the television and ‘Netflix’ as she called it. But, he mostly enjoyed reading her books. She had good taste.  Right now he was reading the completed works of William Shakespeare. When he wasn’t doing either of those, he was testing out his magic. During his fall, they seemed to have grown exponentially. What used to take most of his energy, barely bothered him anymore. He was using this time to better himself. And it was working.

But today, Loki was on a mission. Last night, Angela had gotten a call from work and spent some time on her laptop. This meant she kept work-related information on there. The moment she left, he was going to see what all he could find on SHIELD and use it to start a plan.

Her schedule was the same everyday he had been here. When the sun rose, she would wake, get ready for the day, and then break her fast. Then she would leave around 7 a.m., and not return until 6 p.m. That gave him plenty of time to take her laptop and formulate a plan from there.

At seven on the dot, she left just like she always did. Loki took his time cleaning the kitchen, instead of using his magic, to stall just in case she forgot something and came back. It was highly unlikely that she would, the woman was extremely organized, but he did so just in case. Once he was done he crept into her room, and grabbed her laptop. He sat on the edge of her bed and opened it. It was heavily encrypted, but that didn’t mean much to him. Midgardian  technology was completely obsolete to the rest of the Nine Realms, and he easily bypassed it with his magic.

After a few moments of searching, he found what he was looking for. The SHIELD database. Angela was high clearance, apparently, but not high enough to gain access to what he was looking for. either that, or they didn’t want her to know of the Tesseract. Still, she could be of some use to him. He had yet to see exactly what she was capable of.

Using his magic, he navigated his way through her file and began to read.

‘Name: Angela Janeatte Lawrence.

Date of birth: February 20th, 1986

Codename: Eclipse.

Level Clearance: 8

Assassin. Undercover Spy. Field operative.’

‘My my,’ Loki thought. ‘What else is she hiding?’

As he began to peruse the rest of her file, he heard the tell-tale sound of her car pulling up to the house. He quickly glanced down at the time. It was only around 9 a.m., what in the realms was she doing home so early?

He hurried and quickly erased all of his doing on her laptop with his magic, set it back in its place and hastily went to the living room and opened a book. He had made it just in time to hear her unlocking the door with her key. He pretended to be reading his book, to appear as nonchalant as possible.

As the door opened he began to speak to her, “You’re home ear–”

Loki lifted his head and almost had to do a double take. Angela was leant up against the doorway, dried blood under her nose. Her blood had dripped down on her dark gray shirt, and left dark spots all down it.

Before he realized what he was doing he stood from the couch and discarded his book. He made his way over to help her. “Angela?”

But she didn’t respond. She was unsteady as she took a few steps into the house.

He knew she was going faint before it happened. He saw the way her eyes glazed over, and the way they rolled in the back of her head. He darted to catch her in his arms.

He picked her up with ease and carried her to her bedroom. He gently set her on top of her bed before going to fetch a rag to clean her up a bit. As he cleaned her up, he laughed quietly to himself about the irony. Guess it was his turn to take care of her. He used his magic to check her over, and see exactly what was wrong with her.

It seemed the poor dear had severely over-exerted herself. As his magic washed over her, he felt a pulse of power against it.

Oh?

It was weak right now, but it was certainly there still fighting. This is what must have put her out.

To his knowledge, Midgardians didn’t have powers, but once again he hadn’t been here for centuries. And he had learned that he did, in fact, miss much during his absence.

He gazed down at her, looking at her in a new light. Assassin, spy, and had powers. My, what a curious little thing she had become all in one morning.

With her only being exhausted, his job was done. He took the books she was wearing off her feet, then her jacket, and put the blanket over her.

She was knocked out for the rest of the day. Anytime he would go to check on her, she would be whimpering in her sleep. And she was like that the last time he checked on her before settling down for the night as well.

The moment he fell asleep, he knew he wasn’t dreaming. He was back in the desolate land, which meant…

“Asgardian,” the voice rang out from behind him.

He turned slowly, and came face to face with the disgusting creature from last time. Loki met him with a leveled look.

“Have you confirmed the whereabouts?”

Loki linked his hands behind him, “Not as of yet.”

The creature began to circle him, but Loki didn’t budge an inch and kept his eyes on the thing. “Is this meager excuse of a planet that difficult to traverse for you?”

Loki glared, “Worry not, I’m on the right track. I’ll soon-”

A loud scream pierced through the air causing Loki to break eye contact. He glanced around to see the image fading rapidly and he began to wake.

He shot up awake, and heard the screaming continue.

It was Angela screaming.

[xtruss]

Monuments to America’s Racist History Toppled Amid Mass Protests

Confederate monuments celebrating the United States' racist history are coming down in several states after being targeted by protesters over the past week.

— June 4, 2020 | DemocracyNow.Org

Monuments celebrating the nation’s racist history are coming down in several states after being targeted by protesters over the past week. On Wednesday, the city of Philadelphia removed a statue of the city’s former racist police chief and mayor, Frank Rizzo, just days after protesters attempted to topple it and light it on fire. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said, “The statue represented bigotry, hatred, and oppression for too many people, for too long.”

In Virginia, Governor Ralph Northam is expected to order the removal today of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee from the state Capitol grounds in Richmond after it was vandalized during the protests.

In Birmingham, Alabama, protesters toppled a statue of Confederate officer Charles Linn and vandalized a monument known as the Confederate Sailors and Soldiers Monument. Following the action, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin ordered the rest of the statue to be removed.

In Nashville, Tennessee, protesters toppled a statue of Edward Carmack, a racist politician and newspaper publisher who incited violence against Ida B. Wells for her reporting on lynchings.

Three Other Officers Involved in George Floyd’s Killing Charged and Arrested

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has filed charges against all four Minneapolis police officers involved in last week’s killing of George Floyd, which sparked ongoing nationwide protests. A charge of second-degree murder was added against officer Derek Chauvin, who was already facing a third-degree murder charge for kneeling on Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds while Floyd pleaded for his life. The other three officers present were charged with aiding and abetting the murder. Chauvin was arrested last week. The other three officers — Thomas Lane, Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao — are now in custody. Keith Ellison, Minnesota’s first African American attorney general, announced the charges on Wednesday afternoon.

Attorney General Keith Ellison: “Let me be honest here. I mean, our country has had — has underprosecuted these matters, in Minnesota and throughout the country. And so I think the trust is a result of historically not holding people who are public guardians accountable for their behavior in situations where we should have.”

A memorial service will be held today for George Floyd in Minneapolis. On Wednesday, his son Quincy Mason Floyd welcomed the charges against the officers.

Quincy Mason Floyd: “I am happy that all the officers have been arrested. My father should not have been killed like this. We deserve justice. That’s all I have to say.”

200+ New York Mayoral Staffers Demand “Radical Change,” Police Budget Cuts

Mayor Bill de Blasio holds a media availability at New York City Hall on Wednesday, June 3. (Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)

Two-hundred thirty-six current and former staffers for Mayor de Blasio signed an open letter calling on him to live up to the promises of reform that initially drew them to work for him. Read about the effort here. Below is the full text of the document:

An Open Letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio

We are former and current de Blasio Administration staffers.

We came to the Mayor’s Office from different places and walks of life, but we all shared a common goal: to work for a fairer, more just New York City.

None of us joined the de Blasio Administration believing this mayor would be radical on criminal justice policy. That was apparent from the moment he hired Bill Bratton to be his police commissioner. But we saw in Bill de Blasio a chance for real change.

He made his opposition to “Stop and Frisk” a pillar of his run for the mayoralty. He spoke passionately about his duty as a parent to make New York City safer for his Black son and daughter. He called for cuts to the City’s jail population, and for the closure of Rikers Island.

It was our hope that these words were a starting place. That we could push the Administration further to reform New York City’s racist criminal legal system. That together we could create real, lasting change for a City and police department that have failed Black and brown New Yorkers, generation after generation.

Our time in the Mayor’s Office showed us that the change we had hoped for, and fought for, might never come.

We saw up close the Administration’s unwillingness to challenge the abuses of the NYPD—the Mayor’s refusal to fire Daniel Pantaleo for choking the life out of Eric Garner, the continuation of the failed “Broken Windows” policing strategy that criminalizes our Black and brown communities, the rejection of even basic accountability measures like making information public about police officers accused of misconduct.

We saw how, while crime rates are at record lows, the Administration has continued to pour money into the NYPD budget—which is now almost $1 billion larger than when de Blasio took office—heightening the over-policing of Black and brown communities.

We saw how the Mayor refused to end the use of solitary confinement, which took the lives of New Yorkers like Kalief Browder and Layleen Polanco, in the City’s jails.

We saw the aggressive push for the construction of new borough-based jails, at a cost of $9 billion, despite activists’ cries to invest that money in jobs and alternatives to incarceration.

The chasm between Mayor de Blasio’s promise to reform the criminal legal system and the actions of his Administration has only widened in the past year.

De Blasio expanded the City’s cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which wages war on our immigrant communities.

He joined with police and prosecutors as they demonized the progressive bail and discovery reforms that activists and advocates spent years lobbying for in Albany.

He sat by as thousands of our fellow New Yorkers remained locked in cages on Rikers Island, while a deadly virus raged inside its jails.

And these past long days, as New Yorkers have taken to the streets demanding an end to the racist policing that humiliates, maims, and kills Black New Yorkers, he stood with the very police who perpetrate that violence.

Many of us marched at these protests. We’ve all seen the images and read the stories. Crowds of cops swarming over a single protestor, raining down blows with their batons. Protestors rammed with police cars. A rampaging cop throwing a protester to the curb, sending her to the hospital with seizures. A cop drawing his gun and pointing it into a crowd. A cop macing a defenseless young man with his hands in the air. Cops covering their badges so they could act with utter impunity.

What was the Mayor’s response? He said that the NYPD had “acted appropriately.” That police had “shown a lot of restraint.” That he “was not going to blame” officers who were trying to deal with an “impossible situation.”

And while the Mayor did attempt to walk back some of his comments on Sunday morning, by Tuesday he had implemented an 8:00 PM citywide curfew, an unprecedented attempt to silence New Yorkers’ cries for justice.

We have joined together in writing this letter because we could not remain silent while the Administration we served allows the NYPD to turn our City into an occupied territory. Our former boss might not hear the cries for justice from Black and brown New Yorkers, but we do.

We are demanding radical change from the Mayor, who is on the brink of losing all legitimacy in the eyes of New Yorkers.

1. Reduce the NYPD operating budget by $1 billion in Fiscal Year 2021, and reallocate that money to essential social services, including housing support and rental relief, food assistance, and health care, in alignment with the demands of the NYC Budget Justice campaign.

2. Immediately fire all NYPD officers found to have used excessive force—or to have covered their badges—at protests.

3. Release the names and official disciplinary records of all NYPD personnel who have been accused of using excessive force, covering their badge numbers, or other misconduct.

4. Appoint an independent commission, in the vein of the Knapp and Mollen Commissions, composed of civil rights attorneys, journalists, and activists, including abolitionist organizers, to investigate the response of the Mayor’s Office and the NYPD to the May and June 2020 protests against police violence.

We are also calling upon all former and current staffers of conscience to stand with us in our call for change.

We all chose to serve for a better New York. Stand with us now and demand justice—for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and Ahmaud Arbery. For Eric and Erica Garner. And for all Black and brown New Yorkers.

Signed,

Aarati Cohly, Aaron Ghitelman, Aaron S., Abdul Hafiz, Abe E., Abigail Cook-Mack, Aileen Almanzar, Aisha Pasha (Public Engagement Unit), Alacia Lauer (Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice), Alejandro Cintron (Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs), Alex F. (Public Engagement Unit), Alex Washington, Alexandra R., Alexis H., Alyssa Lott, Amanda Clarke, Amen Ra Mashariki, Amrita Dasgupta, Amy Furman (Mayor’s Office of Recovery and Resiliency), Andrea H., Andrew Schustek, Angela Sherpa, Angela Lascala-Gruenewald, Angela Terry, Angie Carpio (Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice), Anthi Markatos, Anthony Jackson (Mayor’s Office of Creative Communications), Arelis Hernandez, Ariel L., Ashe Mcgovern, Ashley C., Ashley Dinzey (Gracie Mansion), Ashley Putnam (NYC Office of Workforce Development), Audrey Crabtree-Hannigan (Office of Research & Media Analysis), Ayesha D., Ayesha I., Ben Kantor, Ben Sarle (Mayor’s Press Office), Benita Miller, Benjamin Mandel (Mayor’s Office of Sustainability), Bianca Guerrero (Mayor’s Office of Policy and Planning), Brad Raimondo (de Blasio for Mayor 2017), Brandon G. Brandon West (Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget), Brandt Hamilton (Mayor’s Office of Speechwriting), Brian Erickson (Mayor’s Office of Housing Recovery Operations), Brian Johnson (Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget), Bridgit Donnelly, Camara Cooper (Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs), Cara F., Carly Fleming (Public Engagement Unit) Carlyn Cowen (Mayor’s Office of Contract Services), Catherine Almonte, Cathy Pasion (Mayor’s Office of Sustainability), Chai Jindasurat (Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget), Charlette Renault-Caragianes, Christopher Collins-McNeil (Mayor’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs), Colin Stayna-Wynter, Cristina Gonzalez (Mayor’s Office of Appointments), Cristine K. (Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs), Curtis Cravens (Mayor’s Office of Recovery and Resiliency), Daniel B., Daniel Backman, Daniel Edelman, Darren Martin, David Vincent Rodriguez (Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs), Deena Patel, Diana G., Dina Rybak, Dina Simon, Dorothy Suchkova (Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice), Douglas Nam Le (Climate Policy and Programs), Eden T., Elisa Gahng, Elizabeth Olguin, Ellen P., Elvin Garcia (Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit), Emily Apple, Emily Preuss, Emnet Almedom (Mayor’s Office of Economic Opportunity), Eric G., Erika Lindsey, Esai Ramirez (Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs) Essence Franklin (Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity), Esther Rosario, Eve Grassfield (Office of the Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives), Ezra Cukor (CCHR), Felicia H., Frances Chapman, Gabriela Martins (NYC Census 2020), Gagan Kaur, Giulianna S., Gloria Medina (Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs), Gwendolyn Litvak, Hanif Yazdi (Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs), Hannah Shaw (Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity), Harrison N., Helen Ho, Hermanoschy Bernard, Hina Naveed (Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs), Ian Hanson, Ifeoma Ike (Young Men’s Initiative), Irina Tavera (NYC Census 2020), Jacqlene Moran (Mayor’s Office of Recovery and Resiliency), Jacqueline Crossan, James N., Janie K., Jasmine Fernandez, Jason Spear (Young Men’s Initiative), Jean Bae, Jen Samawat (Office of the First Lady of New York City), Jenna Tatum (NYC Mayor’s Office of Sustainability), Jennifer Scaife (Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice), Jennings Louis, Jeremiah Cedeño (NYC Census 2020), Jerry Bruno, Jessica Woolford (Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs), Jesús Alejandro C., Joi Rae, Jonathan Soto, Joseph Desimone (de Blasio for Mayor 2013), Joshua C., Juana Silverio, Julie Kim (NYC Census), Julie W., June Glover, Karen Coronel (Mayor’s Office of Appointments), Kate Bernyk, Kate Van Tassel, Katerín Fernández (Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services), Katie Unger, Kimberly P., Kristen Grennan, Kunchok Dolma (Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs), Lacey Tauber, Leah R., Leigh Shapiro, Lexi I., Lilly L., Lily K., Lindsay F. (Mayor’s Office of Operations), Lindsay Mollineaux (Mayor’s Office of Data Analytics), Lindsay Scola

— New York Daily News | By Shant Shahrigian | June 03, 2020

— Shant Shahrigian covers politics for the Daily News. He was previously an assistant city editor for the paper, and has also worked for outlets from the hyperlocal Riverdale Press to Germany’s international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle.

[charminblood-blog]

25 Hottest Chinese Woemn - Photos & Bios of Beautiful China Girls

The Far East is almost synonymous with the word ‘exotic,’ and not just because of silk and spices. This region also owes its reputation to some hot, sexy, and beautiful Chinese women. If you are attracted to Chinese women, which you probably are if you are breathing, then be sure to check out our post on How to find a Chinese wife. Now, let’s take a look at the 25 absolute hottest Chinese women on the planet:

Liu Yifei

Actress, Singer, Model

The name of An Feng, better known as Liu Yifei, instantly springs to mind when talking about beautiful Chinese women. She was born on August 25, 1987, in Wuhan, China. This stunning young lady spent four years in the US between the ages of 10 and 14, before returning to her homeland. She entered show business through modeling when she was only eight years old. Training in dancing, singing, and piano followed, marking the beginnings of a future star. In September 2002, when she was 15, she enrolled in the prestigious Performance Institute of Beijing Film Academy. Soon after, she got her first role on the big screen. Liu Yifei started her acting career with roles in The Story of a Noble Family and Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils. In 2003, she appeared in Love Of May, her first movie. Soon, more starring roles followed, and she appeared in The Legend of Sword and Fairy and The Return of the Condor Heroes. In August 2005, she started her music career when she signed with Sony Music Entertainment Japan. Consequently, she released her first audio album called Liu Yifei.

Zhang Yuqi, or Kitty Zhang, was born on August 8, 1986, in Shandong province, China. She is a prominent Chinese actress who has had quite a few notable roles in some of the most popular Chinese movies. In essence, Kitty Zhang is a real star and one of the most beautiful Chinese women ever. When she was 15, she left her hometown for Shanghai in order to attend an acting school. She did everything to fulfill her dreams and become an actress, and enrolling in an acting school was the starting point she needed. Kitty Zhang’s notable roles include CJ7 (2008) where she starred alongside the famous Stephen Chow, and more recently, The Mermaid (2016). Also, in 2017, she starred with Keiko Matsuzaka in the fantasy movie Legend of the Demon Cat, which was a big hit. Zhang was named Best Actress at the Chinese American Film Festival for her outstanding performance in the historical drama movie White Deer Plain (2011). Additionally, she won the award for the Best Supporting Actress at the Asian Film Awards for her performance in Legend of the Demon Cat.

Angela Yeung Wing (Angelababy)

Model, Actress, Singer

Angela Yeung Wing, AKA Angelababy, is widely regarded as one of the most sought-after, as well as most beautiful Chinese women. She was born on February 28, 1989, in one of China’s biggest cities, Shanghai. Her breathtaking looks are mostly down to her mixed, Chinese-German origin. The turning point of Angela’s life was when she moved to Hong Kong and signed her first modeling contract with Style International Management. Her talent, coupled with her natural beauty, couldn’t go unnoticed for long. She first showed signs of interest in fashion and modeling when she was still a child. Her father worked in fashion in Shanghai, selling clothes. Angela has talked, on more than one occasion, about how she would often try on clothes from her father’s boutique, which really helped her develop her taste in fashion. Besides modeling, she is also pursuing an acting and singing career. In 2013, Southern Metropolis Daily chose her as one of the New Four Dan Actresses, which is a worthy recognition. Furthermore, in 2016, Angelababy won the Hundred Flowers Award for Best Supporting Actress for her groundbreaking role in the movie Mojin: The Lost Legend.

“Nation’s daughter,” as people call her in China, Guan Xiaotong might be still young, but she is an absolute star in her home county. This talented young actress is the envy of many and has already starred in more than a dozen movies and TV shows. Born in September 1997, Guan comes from an art-oriented family, with a famous actor for a father. Also, her grandfather was the founder of the Beijing Qinshu, a form of Chinese folk opera. She first started her acting career while she was still a child at the age of six. Guan’s most notable roles were in films like Nuan, The Promise, Left Ear, etc. Many think of her as extremely pretty and good-looking. Also, it goes without saying that quite a few regard her as one of the hottest and most beautiful Chinese women around.

Li Qin, or Sweet Li, was born in September 1990, in Bacheng Town, Jiangsu province in China. She is an actress and a singer, not to mention one of the most beautiful Chinese women in the world. Talented from her tender age, she started studying traditional Chinese opera in Shipai Central School, and later on, majored in the same subject at the prestigious Shanghai Theatre Academy in 2008. She has starred in many movies and TV shows, some of which were quite successful. The Founding of an Army and White Deer Plain are two of her most famous acting efforts. Speaking of her recognitions, Li Qin won the Most Promising Actress award at the 2014 China TV Drama Awards. She got it for her performance in If I Love You, which was a big hit.

Wu Qian, also known as Janice Wu, is a talented Chinese actress. She was born on September 26, 1992, in Ezhou, Hubei province and studied at Wuhan University. Wu Qian is one of many hot Chinese women who are into acting. She got her big stage debut with Heroes of Sui and Tang Dynasties 3 and 4. Even though she only played a minor role in her debut TV show, bigger roles would soon follow. The Braveness of the Ming (2016) and the lead role in My Amazing Boyfriend (2016) were two of her breakthrough roles. Her most notable role, though, must be the one in the fantasy drama hit Fighter of the Destiny. In this film, she played Luo Luo, which brought her wider fame as she really connected with the audience.

Lin Yun, or Jelly Lin, is a Chinese actress from the city of Huzhou. She was born in 1996 and is from a poor, hard-working family. Unlike some other stunning, beautiful Chinese women, Lin Yun only recently got into acting. Her first role, which brought her instant fame, was in the 2016 hit The Mermaid. This blockbuster by Stephen Chow was the highest-grossing Chinese film ever. After The Mermaid, she took on the same role in the sequel The Mermaid 2 (2019). Other notable movies she appeared in include Fall in Love at First Kiss (2019) and Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons 2 (2017), another film by Stephen Chow. In 2018, Lin Yun starred in the epic drama Genghis Khan, which further cemented her reputation as a rising star. 

Gülnezer Bextiyar, or simply Nazha, is a Chinese-Uyghur actress. She was born on May 2, 1992, in Urumqi, Xinjiang, China. This 27-year-old elegant model and actress owes much of her good looks to her mixed origin. She is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful Chinese women ever. Guli Nazha graduated from the famous and prestigious Beijing Film Academy, which many great Chinese actors attended. In 2012, she made her debut in Xuan Yuan Sword – Rift of the Sky, which was rather successful. In 2018, Qeelin, a jewelry brand, appointed Guli as its brand ambassador. The following year, she also became the first-ever Brand Ambassador of Greater China for Sergio Rossi, an Italian women’s footwear company.

Zhao Jiamin was born in 1998 in Shenzhen, China and is a popular singer and actress. She first became known when she took part in Chinese Idol as a singer. She is an ex-member of SNH48, a female Idol band. In 2014, Zhao Jiamin helped record the theme song for the popular mobile game Mo Tian Ji, along with Xu Jiaqi and Ju Jingyi. She also starred in a micro-movie for the same game. This gorgeous young star also won the important 2014 Baidu Tieba Live Performance Annual Chart, and after that recorded a single. In 2015, she released it under the name Mushi no Ballad. In February 2016, Zhao Jiamin enrolled in the Central Academy of Drama, which can only further advance her career. Many people in China, both young and old, see her as one of the most beautiful Chinese women with a great career ahead of her.

Zhan Huiwen is a 26-year-old Chinese actress and one of the many sexy Chinese women in the film industry. She comes from Jiangxi province in Eastern China. Zhang attended the Beijing Dance Academy from 2010 until 2014. Zhang Yimou spotted her as a young and talented student and chose her for the starring role in Coming Home. The movie served as her big-screen debut and was a great success. It really kick-started her acting career, and she even received the Best Newcomer award at the Asian Film Awards for the role. Her other notable roles include Forever Young, The Great Detective, and most recently, The Sun Will Never Set.

Zhang Xueying, or Sophie Zhang, is a 22-year-old Chinese actress with a great future ahead of her. She attended some of the most prominent theater art schools in China and starred in more than thirty films and TV shows. Together with Vicky Chen, Zhang Zifeng, and Guan Xiaotong, Sophie Zhang is one of the New Four Dan actresses of the post-95s generation. Zhang Xueying comes from Zhejiang, an eastern coastal province in China. She attended Yiwu Art School, National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts, and Central Academy of Drama. She made her debut in 2005 TV show Hero During Yongle Period when she was eight. But, that was just the beginning. She is an elegant and charming young actress, as well as a dream girl for many men in China. Not only is she one of the most beautiful Chinese women, but she’s very successful, too.

Gloria Tang Tsz-kei (G.E.M. or Tang Tsz-chi)

Singer-songwriter, Actress

We can’t talk about hot and sexy Chinese women without mentioning Gloria Tang Sze-wing, who also goes by her stage name GEM (Get Everybody Moving).She is a singer, songwriter, and actress, famous for her vocal capabilities, as well as her stage performance. Gloria first appeared in 2008 with her EP GEM and has never looked back since. In 2012, she released Xposed, an album that won the Hong Kong Top Sales Music Award for the Best Sales Local Female Vocalist. This was a great feat for young Gloria, and more recognitions would soon follow. In 2014, Gloria participated in I am a Singer, a Chinese singing contest, and came second. This achievement brought her wider fame, and people throughout China got the chance to see how talented she really is. In 2015, she released the critically acclaimed album Heartbeat and took the 11th spot on the Forbes China Celebrity 100 list.

Jessica Xue

Radio Host, Model, Universe China 2015

Jessica Xue, or Xue Yun Fang, is a Chinese radio host, model and beauty titleholder. She was the Miss Universe China in 2015. That same year, she represented her country at the Miss Universe pageant. Many men in China consider her one of the most beautiful Chinese women in the world. Jessica comes from the city of Shenzhen in southern China. At first, she worked as a radio host. Today, though, she is a TV host for Shenzhen TV. Jessica Xue is a Capricorn, which any Gemini, Arius, and Scorpio would surely be happy to hear. She is 5’10”, which is quite tall even for Chinese men, let alone women! Her black hair and dark eyes, coupled with her pale skin, help her look beyond stunning. This gorgeous lady is also extremely popular, not only in her hometown but all throughout China. Since she’s a famous household name, she has tens of thousands of followers on social media.

Sham Yen Yi

Miss Earth China 2014

Yes, titles are important, and Sham Yen Yi is a 5’7” Chinese beauty titleholder. This 25-year-old Hong Kong native has beautiful black hair and distinct brown eyes. Sham Yen Yi, the 2014 Miss Earth China is, simply put, in a league of her own. She is delicate and looks quite dazzling. However, that’s not all — Sham is also well educated. She studied at St. Paul’s Co-educational College in Hong Kong, as well as at Fudan University School of Law in Shanghai. Both stunning and intelligent, she is the envy of many in her homeland. In essence, this is what beautiful Chinese women are all about. Sham Yen Yi also supports the environmental movement. On more than one occasion, she has openly spoken about the need to take more care of our environment. She urges people to be more aware of trash and waste disposal, as there is not enough space where we can throw away things we don’t need anymore.

Li Ying Zhi

Dancer, Actress, Model

Li Ying Zhi is an insanely hot Chinese model, dancer and actress. She was born on October 3rd, 1989, in a famous tourist city of Qingdao in Shandong Province of China. Dubbed the “Beauty of Qingdao”, this Chinese beauty has worked as a catwalk model, a fashion model, a car show model… She’s done magazine covers and variety shows and has most recently broken into acting. Her rise to fame began in 2012, at the Beijing International Automobile Exhibition, where Li modeled for BMW, wearing a diamond gown with an estimated values of over 16 million… dollars. As you can imagine – it caused quite a stir! Li has been linked romantically to Jackie Chan’s son, Jaycee Chan.

Zi-Xuan Zhang

Model, Actress

Zi-Xuan Zhang is another lady from a long list of hot and sexy Chinese women. She hails from the Chinese capital of Beijing. Zi-Xuan Zhang is a successful model and actress. She first began her modeling career in 2002 with the famous Ray magazine. In 2011, she appeared on the big screen for the first time. The romantic comedy Love Is Not Blind brought her instant recognition for her starring role. For her heroics in this comedy, she received Best New Performer nominations for the Hundred Flowers Award and the Golden Horse Award. In 2012, Zhang starred in the movie drama Fashion Girl Editor and was nominated for the Huading Award for Best New TV Actress.  Besides achieving professional success in modeling and acting, Zi-Xuan Zhang was also successful in other aspects of her life. She holds a degree in advertising planning, which she obtained from Beijing Union University. Also, she’s been happily married to Chen He, a Chinese actor, since 2016.

Yang Mi is an absolute star — there’s no question about that. This actress and singer comes from Beijing, just like many other popular and hot Chinese women. She is divorced and has one child. Yang Mi made her acting debut when she appeared in Tang Ming Huang, a historical television seriesthat brought her significant success. Later, she also received recognition for many of her leading roles in various television series that were great hits. Chinese Paladin 3 (2009), Palace (2011), Beijing Love Story (2012), The Interpreter (2016), Eternal Love (2017), and The Witness (2015) are just some of her finest performances. In 2017, Yang Mi won the Best Actress award at the WorldFest Houston International Festival for her work in the movie Reset. This was a great achievement that further advanced her career. Another highlight of her career was when the Southern Metropolis Daily chose her as one of the New Four Dan Actresses. Furthermore, in 2017, Yang featured third on the Forbes China Celebrity 100 list.

Words like stunning, gorgeous, or radiant don’t really do Ming Xi justice. As one of the most beautiful Chinese women around, this lady is just breathtaking. Her charming black hair, vivid brown eyes, and an unorthodox height (5’10”) for a Chinese woman speak volumes. Ming Xi, AKA Xi Mengyao, is a Chinese supermodel from China’s biggest city, Shanghai. She first started her modeling career in 2009. Since then, she has worked with Victoria’s Secret, Vera Wang, Michael Kors, and Givenchy. She has also appeared in a number of popular Chinese TV shows. Still, her acting career really started in 2016 when she appeared in the movie Warrior’s Gate. Iconic French director Luc Besson was the producer of this blockbuster movie. Ming Xi proudly modeled at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Shows from 2013 to 2018. As you may know, this is definitely something most other models can only dream of.

Sui He is a Chinese model and actress. She comes from the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang. Sui participated in eight consecutive Victoria’s Secret Fashion Shows, which is a great feat for any model. She has also been an honorary Angel in China since 2018, proving just how highly people think of her in the modeling world. Furthermore, she was the first model from East Asia to open a Ralph Lauren show and only the second Chinese model to participate in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. Sue also appeared on the cover of W Magazine even before she became a household name. She started her acting career in 2014 when she appeared in the movie Temporary Family. Soon, more roles followed, and she appeared in movies like You Are My Sunshine (2015) and Pegasus (2019).

Lei Ke Er

Model, Actress, Singer

Lei Ke Er, AKA Lei Keer, Rita, and Rita Lei, is a Chinese model, actress, and singer. She is 32 years old and comes from Guangxi Guilin, China. This tiny model is a perfect example of exotic beauty, with many Chinese women trying to emulate her looks. She has a gorgeous, symmetrical body, something we can certainly notice when looking through her numerous photos. Also, Lei is an absolute star not only in China but also in the rest of the region. She has been featured on the covers of several popular magazines in China. Many admire her for her physical attributes, both men and women. In fact, her appearance puts her right at the very top of the list of the sexiest, most desirable, and most beautiful Chinese women. Lei Ke Er is a 5’4” tall blonde starlet with hypnotizing eyes that easily capture the attention of those who dare to look into them.

Gang Xiao Xi

Model, Online Celebrity

Cynthia Gang Xiao Xi is a 5’7” Chinese model and an online celebrity. She was born on August 7 and is from the Chinese capital of Beijing. Cynthia is one of the hottest, sexiest, and most beautiful Chinese women around. This Asian model is famous for her adorable body. Of course, there are many hot and sexy Chinese women, but only a few can match Gang’s appearance. Cynthia Gang Xiao Xi is a highly controversial Internet celebrity, mostly because of her (extremely) revealing modeling photos. She is more than willing to push the boundaries and do shoots that most professional Chinese models might consider too sexual, even inappropriate. Luckily enough, this girl has no problem with showing off her all-natural physical attributes. 

Wang Hui Xin

Model, Cosplayer

Hot Chinese women are all about exotic looks, and this girl is no different. Wang Hui Xin is a sexy model from the city of Guangzhou, China. She is also known by her nickname Xiao Xin. Xiao Xin is a well-known spokesperson for many different companies, among which are some Chinese games and electronic products like LOL (League of Legends). Since 2009, Wang Hui Xin’s popularity has dramatically increased and hit new heights. In 2010, she was a football babe and an expo showgirl for the ChinaJoy event. Wang Hui Xin is beautiful with a stunning body. She is a 5’4” brunette with sea-green eyes and more than a few talents.

Han Zi Xuan, or Han Bi Yao, is a hot and sexy Chinese model. This stunningly beautiful Internet celebrity has countless admirers not only in her hometown (Beijing) but also in the whole region. She has a dazzling, all-natural body and blondish hair. Han Zi Xuan was born on October 20, 1991. Besides looking divinely, Han Zi Xuan is also highly educated. She obtained her degree from the Beijing Film Academy in 2009 as she wanted to follow her dreams and become an actress. As a model, she has worked with several Chinese magazines and lingerie brands. She is 5’7”, and more importantly — single! Many beautiful Chinese women strive to have Han’s looks and personality. Also, for those who are into astrology, Han Zi Xuan is a Libra and a ravishing one at that.

Sheng Xin Ran

Actress, Model

Sheng Xin Ran, or Angel Sheng, is a popular actress and model from China. This Internet celebrity epitomizes the word “star” as she has hundreds of thousands of followers on social media. She was born in 1987, in Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang province in North China. Currently, she resides in the city of Qingdao and is a gentle and emotional Cancer. There is definitely something alluring about sexy Chinese women who have a degree or two. Yes, some men tend to pay more attention to a woman’s physical appearance than her level of education or professional achievements. Nevertheless, every man needs a strong and successful woman, which Sheng certainly is. Sheng Xin Ran got her degree from the famous Shandong University of Arts, which speaks of her artistic personality. Since 2006, this beautiful model has won several modeling competitions and has appeared in a few movies as well as some rather popular Chinese magazines.

Yang Qihan

Model, Actress, Singer, Online Celebrity

Isabella Yang Qihan is a rising Chinese model, actress, singer, and online celebrity. She was born and raised in a family with a musical background and showed extensive talent in acting, music, and dancing at an early age. Isabella has a university degree, as she graduated from the prominent China Conservatory of Music in Beijing. She left everyone in awe with her brilliant performance. Later on, she attended one of the best music schools in Austria. There, she majored in various genres of western music. Still, she excels in opera and folk music. Isabella Yang Qihan has recently gained wider attention and has become popular all around the world. Her meteoric rise in popularity is mostly due to her numerous semi-nude photos that are circling around the Internet. Saying that she’s widely regarded as one of the hottest and most beautiful Chinese women doesn’t really do her justice.

Zhao Liying, or Zanilia Zhao, is a famous Chinese actress from the Hebei province. She is married to Feng Shaofeng, with whom she has one child. Her breakthrough came in 2006 when Zhao participated in the Yahoo! Search Star Game and won. After that, she signed with Huayi Brothers as a new and upcoming talent. Zanilia debuted in 2007 in the drama movie Golden Marriage. In 2009, she appeared in the historical drama series The Firmament of The Pleiades, which was an instant hit. Due to this success, Zhao received the award for the Most Popular Actress at the Chinese Creative Short Video Awards. After that, in 2013, Zhao starred in Legend of Lu Zhen. This drama was an absolute hit not only in China but also in South Korea and Japan. Consequently, it led to her becoming famous throughout the whole region. Zanilia Zhao has been recognized multiple times and has won several awards. She won the Favorite Newcomer award at the 4th China TV Drama Awards, Most Popular TV Actress award at the 4th LeTV Awards and Favorite New Actress award at the Tudou Young Choice Awards. As one of the most popular and beautiful Chinese women, she also ranked 4th on the Forbes China Celebrity 100 list in 2017. Isn’t that something? Read the full article

[kpopreactionstoruinyourlife]

Song Girl - Part 15 - Sungjin Fan Fiction

Song Girl Masterlist

Part 15 - June 2014

Summary: it’s a date.

“Close your eyes.” Sungjin said, holding both of El’s hands in his.

“You keep doing this to me.” Ella replied, but her eyes were closed. He laughed as he slipped the ring he’d gotten onto her finger. Her hand gently shook in hers.

“Ok, you can open them.” He said, holding her right hand but letting her left release.

“Oh my god,” She said staring at the white gold ring on her finger. “It’s a cherry blossom, oh my god…” The ring featured a gold glittering cherry blossom with a smattering of small diamonds with a small pink opal in the center of the flower.

“Do you like it?” He asked, getting a tighter hold on her hand.

“It’s gorgeous, but it looks so expensive…” She said with a furrowed brow.

“Don’t worry about that.”

“I’m happy we went in on this together. Trusting you paid off.” She said as she moved her hand to admire the ring from a different angle.

“And it fits well, right?” He asked and she nodded, tears springing in her eyes.

“This is perfect. Thank you.” She said reaching for him. She kissed him deeply, holding onto his broad shoulders; his kisses could still leave her breathless.

“So do you want to see mine?” He asked as she tucked against his side.

“Did you get matching ones?” She asked with a raised eyebrow.

“It’s made from the same gold, but no mine is just a band but it has your name engraved.” He said reaching under the collar of his shirt to pull out the gold band.

“Yeah, I struggle to picture you wearing a cherry blossom ring.”

“That’s custom actually.” He said running a finger over her ring.

“Sungjin!” She cried, prepared to reprimand him for spending that much money on a ring, or that much effort. It wasn't like it was an engagement ring. But the ring was beautiful.

“What?” He asked as his arm slid around her. It felt better to hold her than to not, especially if she was within reach.

“If this is what you do for a couple ring, what are you planning to do for an engagement ring?” She asked with a teasing smile. He leaned in and kissed her head.

“I figure I have enough time to save to get something even better than that one.” He said and she shook her head. She turned back to him, standing on her tiptoes and bringing their lips together.

“Thank you,” She said and he nodded, tucking his ring back under his shirt. “Amanda is going to think we’re engaged when she sees the ring.”

“Doesn't she know about couple rings?”

“Ive mentioned them but in the US its more likely that you’ll wear them on your right hand, reserving your left ring finger only for engagement and marriage.”

“But you're in Korea now.”

“I wonder if we could set her up with someone…”

“She's only here for about eighteen months, right?”

“Yeah, she's got a year left then she goes back to grad school in the US.”

“It's nice to know that not all your friends are ahead of the curve.”

“Oh she's brilliant, but she likes rubbing it in that I have to address her formally in Korean but then again we just use English. Its unlikely that we would be so close if we didn't become friends in the US, speaking English with the whole Chingu-Unni thing.”

“The last time you got together, how long exactly did you talk about kpop?”

“A few hours.”

“Fan girl,”

“I’ll be 5Live’s biggest fan.”

“That Masked Singer performance was so cringe worthy.” He said and she laughed.

“I just liked getting to watch you perform for the first time.”

“I prefer having my guitar with me.”

“Baron and Atom take good care of you.”

“They're talking about us doing more live performances.”

“It's been awhile since The Who Is Next stuff right?”

“Yeah, that was right before we started dating. They thought we might get to debut in 2014 but they went with Got7 instead.”

“Would I be allowed to come? I can just be a fan.”

“It's probably better if you come more as Jae's friend than my girlfriend.”

“As long as you know I’ll really be there for you.”

“Aren't friends supposed to be just as important as boyfriend?”

“Not how I see it. Amanda and Angela out rank you, and you outrank most of my male friends but I’ve known Amanda and Angela since I was twelve.”

“When you skipped a grade.”

“Uh huh, they are the sisters I never had. I think Angela's boyfriend is going to propose soon.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, Ryan called me on Skype the other day asking about everything Angela ever told me about weddings and engagements.”

“Why you?”

“We spent a night drunk making half a dozen Pinterest boards on weddings and rings. Well, she was drunk and I was sleep deprived, which means I was functionally drunk.”

“So what type of engagement does she want?”

“She’s not necessarily the romantic type, not like Amanda and I are at least, so she wanted a more simple proposal. I just told him to get a good bottle of wine and cook her dinner then propose over dessert, which could be store bought. I know Ryan can cook so that worked. She did want a good ring though but she’s reasonable enough that she doesn’t expect platnium when they’re twenty two years old.”

“So what would he do about that?”

“Gabriella’s husband, after they had been married for many years and had more money, got her a new engagement ring so I think Ryan intends to do that.”

“I’m surprised they’d be getting married so young, given your opinions on that.” He said before he checked his watch. “I think we should get ready to leave now…”

“Right…” She said moving around and gathering her stuff before going back to talking.

“They’ve been together for two years now. They just graduated and he just got a job in DC and she just got into grad school at Georgetown for linguistics. They’ve been planning their lives together for a while now. And their parents have been pressuring them just to get engaged already. She’s been obsessed with a practical wedding since she wants a feminist marriage. Do you even care about this stuff?” She asked stopping in the middle of putting lunch boxes in his backpack.

“Yeah, it’s interesting to hear about the people in your life that I don’t know.”

“Ok well...I think it comes down to a lot of stuff. I don’t think there could be a better person for her, he’s a good egg. He’s eager to start their lives together officially, and if they’re married, they can justify moving out of their parents’ houses more.”

“And her parents would be more willing now that he has a job.” He said and she popped up to look at him.

“Exactly. Who knows, he might be going to meet Mr. Kim soon.”

“Would you be the maid of honor with your Pinterest board?”

“That depends, it’s hard to fulfill the role of maid of honor from the other side of the world.”

“And they’d get married in the US?”

“Oh yeah, most of their immediate family lives there and the other’s have been talking about coming over to visit for a while.”

“So who all is in this friend group?”

“Me, Amanda, and Angela are really the center; Angela and Ryan met in college. Then all our similar-aged cousins are in the mix, so I think there’s about ten of us?”

“A whole wedding party?” He said with a knowing look.

“It’s liked we planned this from when we were children watching every marriage plot movie in the world. It’s ironic that Ange will be the first one to get married since she really used to hate that stuff. But maybe Amanda and I were too obsessed with romance movies, books, and songs, and idols, that we didn’t get around to finding the one.”

“How did Ryan and Angela meet?”

“They had a couple gen-eds together and he noticed her but didn’t have the balls to talk to her beyond small talk and she had a boyfriend, one that was more of a piece of work than my ex. He was kind of psychologically abusive, trying to gaslight her, but I decided to be intrusive since I was doing a lot of research into intimate partner violence and talked to Amanda and we staged an intervention. So they broke up but at that point she was put off from guys. A couple weeks later we dragged her to the frat party where we found my ex in bed with another girl. It was at Ryan’s frat and he was the one that supplied me with the beer I used to soak Charlie. He was gentlemanly, I even thought he’d be a good boyfriend but he only had eyes for Ange. It took several months for him to get close to her, they were friends for a while before they went out; he waited until she was ready and they’ve been together ever since. That’s how Amanda and I knew he was such a good egg; he was willing to wait. It’s hard to find guys who think anyone is worth waiting for with the plethora of option they see are available on social media and Tinder; if you find one that knows you’re worth waiting for, you know you have something special. There was probably a solid two months that Amanda and I were gaga were Ryan.”

“If that’s going to be your bridesmaid speech, you should probably edit it.” Sungjin said, slipping his hand into hers as they headed to the bus stop.

“Probably, and it should probably be in English.”

“Yeah, so for the sake of curiosity, what is your dream wedding?”

“A cherry blossom themed wedding at Jinhae.” She answered immediately.

“Really?”

“I think you underestimate my love of cherry blossoms.”

“So we would have a very pink wedding.”

“This is my dream wedding, it’s not necessarily practical. But I think that makes sense for us. Jinhae would be convenient for your family in Busan and my friends in the US could justify visiting with the festival and then pink. I love pink.”

“So in this wedding, what is there for me?”

“Live band, a hybrid between the more convenient Korean wedding and the blowout of American weddings, and then we can work out anything else you want and the cost.”

“I know my parents would appreciate it if we can incorporate more traditional elements.”

“Done,”

“And what kind of proposal would you like?”

“Such a loaded question…” Ella sighed, dropping her head on his arm.

“I didn’t know it’d be difficult.” He said with a chuckle.

“I think a proposal should be intimate, someone is asking you to spend the rest of your life with them, saying they want to spend the rest of their life with you. So I don’t like public proposals because they put so much pressure on the person to say yes and the proposal shouldn’t be about everyone else, it should be about the couple. The wedding is about everyone, including the couple, so in contrast should be intimate. I like scavenger hunt proposals, but at the end of the day I just want to share that moment with the person I love, I don’t need a choir or confetti.”

“That’s good to know.” He said leaning in to kiss her forehead while they waited for the bus.

“I can’t believe it’s been two hundred days.” She sighed, resting her head against his shoulder.

“And now we’re going to Namsan.” He said, rolling her shoulder to nudge her up to get on the bus.

“If only the mountain had a thousand cherry trees.” Ella said with a smile while they stood on the bus.

“You are obsessed.”

“I am obsessive, I’ll admit that.” She said with a smile.

“Is that the secret to your brilliance?” He asked and she shrugged.

“I think it’s that when I work, I work hard. Trying is half the battle, the rest of it has come easily to me.”

“You really are a genius.” He said and she shook her head.

“I’m not that smart, so are y’all really going to be doing more live performances?”

“We’re working on it but we really will need a drummer if we’re going to be a rock band.”

“Oh I hope you can find one.” She said and he nodded twisting her hair around his finger.

It’d been awhile since they spent quality time together. For most of the past few weeks, he’d only seen her for a few nights that they spent together but they hadn’t really talked or done much. They had regular phone conversations but she’d been more distractible and out of it than usual. She kept sighing all the time and the bags under eyes had only grown.

“Are you sleeping enough?” He asked abruptly, his gaze flicking to lock on hers.

“No, I’m not. I can tell I’m approaching burnout...Just two more weeks and then it’s vacation time.” She said, sighing again and resting her head against him.

“And you’re going to the US with Amanda?”

“Yep, I thought about getting a whole other suitcase for books.”

“You are obsessive.”

“Told you,”

“What has you so burned out?” He asked and she sighed.

“We’re desperately trying to finish the paper edits to get it published this year and Michael keeps giving me his work but I finally stood up to him a week ago and he looked scandalized that I actually did it. So I think he’s doing his own work today, and I told our boss about his nightly outings so he shouldn’t mess with me again.”

“You need to take of yourself…” He said running his fingers over her shoulders. He didn’t like how tired and put out she looked, but he had to study her face to even notice since she was trying to hide it.

“You don’t need to worry, it’s almost over.” A fuzzy warmth spread through her, spreading from his fingers on her shoulder. She knew he was still going to worry. He would always worry.

“I know your work probably outranks Amanda, and therefore me, but…” He trailed off, unsure how to articulate his thoughts. He didn’t want her to push herself too hard, past the point of burnout; he’d seen girls do it before and it was ugly.

“You recharge me.” She said, her arm around his waist and her body tucked against his side. Under his arm around her shoulders, her body relaxed and her eyes dropped closed. A small smile spread on her lips. She stayed like that for several minutes. Their connected bodies swayed with the movement of the bus.

She wasn’t lying. Being surrounded by him caused her stress to ease, oxytocin replacing cortisol. But it was more than that. Being close to anyone wouldn’t bring that reaction, only being close to him did the trick. Those several minutes later, she picked her head up; her mind was clearer and that anxious squeeze around her heart had eased. Lifting her gaze to his, she felt anchored in his eyes, like she’d come home, leaving her troubles at the door.

“I can tell…” He whispered, stealing a moment of intimacy in the crowded train.

“You can?” She asked and he nodded, lifting his fingers to her cheek.

“Your eyes aren’t as red, your pupils are not so dilated, and I could feel your muscles ease.” He said slipping his fingers down her spine. A blush swept into her cheeks as she pushed closer to him.

“Don’t do that in public.” She whispered, that color only deepening.

“Why?” He asked, moving his fingers back up to her shoulder.

“It turns me on.”

“Orgasms are good for stress.” He whispered, leaning in to drop his voice and prevent eavesdroppers.

“Maybe later.” She said and he laughed.

He had to marvel at how easy it was to be with her, how easy to read she had become in his eyes. Maybe they didn’t go out as much as they used to, but he also just enjoyed being with her. They’d cooked some meals in her small kitchen. She’d goaded him into doing a variety of face masks. She’d read to him until her voice went rough. He’d sung for her and tried to get her to play guitar.

Going about daily rituals with her was much better than doing it alone or with the others in the dorm.

He still found himself marvelling at her work ethic, her intelligence, her sense of humor, and he even found her fan-girling cute. She was still beautiful in his eyes, the most beautiful. He’d expected those feelings to fade.

“You’re staring at me.” She said, snapping him out of it.

“I love you,” He whispered, kissing her forehead again.

“I love you,” She echoed, still smiling. He started to believe that maybe he really could recharge her.

When they reached the mountain, they decided to take the cable car up and walk down. For this, Ella was wearing a pair of high waisted shorts with a loose t-shirt tucked into them, and a thin black and white flannel. Sungjin was just in his usual jeans, t-shirt, and hoodie outfit.

“Are you going to be good to walk down?” He asked and she shoot him a look.

“I’m not as clumsy as you think.”

“Don’t you currently have a bruise on your hip from your own fridge?”

“I’m not clumsy enough to fall down a mountain.” She said and he laughed, taking her hand in his again.

“Jae requested I film it.” He said as they moved a shop selling locks at the tower.

“Of course he did.” She said rolling her eyes before they arrived at the keyed lock display.

“What color do you want?” He asked resting his head on hers.

“You can pick,” She said leaning back to kiss his cheek.

“What about red?” He asked picking up.

“The color of passion.” She said moving so they could go to the register.

“I guess so,” He said before she tried to herd him to the counter. “Why are you trying to move so fast?” He asked as he laughed, amused by his petite girlfriend trying to get him to move.

She just blushed.

“Oh come on, tell me.” He said while they got in line.

“When was the last time we had sex?” She asked in a very low voice.

That wasn’t what he expected her to say.

How sensitive is her spine? He thought before he did the math for the last time they had sex.

“Two weeks ago at least.” He answered and she groaned.

“No wonder I’m sensitive, that’s so long!” She shook her head.

“Have you really gone from a girl who functionally had a psychological block about sex to not wanting to go two weeks without it?” He asked but he thought back to everything they’d done to resolve the issues around sex for her. Largely that had just meant focusing on her pleasure; he couldn’t complain since bringing her pleasure brought him pleasure. He loved watching his normally composed girlfriend unwind under his fingers.

“That is more of a compliment to you than anything else.” She said with an almost seductive smile.

“So are you being rushed because you want to go home to have sex?” He asked as they moved up in line, dropping his voice again.

“I thought we could test your theory about orgasms, plural.” She said just before they reached the register and he had to try to focus on paying for the lock rather the conversation about sex. Somehow he managed to get through the customer service interaction with a bright red face then he turned back to Ella.

She was giving him her most devilish smile, reminiscent of Jae’s when he was bringing Ella over when they met.

“This is supposed to be a very serious occasion.” He said pointedly, holding the lock box in his hand.

“I didn't think we did serious very well, remember when we tried to have a fancy night out and I got sauce all over my dress?”

“We return to you being clumsy.”

“You're the one who had to make me snort with laughter.”

“But this is serious, we have to take this very seriously.”

“Why does everything have to be serious?” Ella asked slipping the lock out of his hands and opening it with her more nimble fingers and nails.

“Because I am very serious about you.” He said with his dorkiest smile. She couldn't help both smiling and rolling her eyes.

“Cheesy boyfriend, so cheesy.” She said while she uncapped the permanent marker that had come with the lock.

“I think we should write something cheesy, too.” He said looking at the blank lock with her.

“To 200 days and many more, love you?” She suggested and he nodded.

“You can write it, your handwriting is better, and I’ll find a place to put it.” He said kissing the top of her head. So she wrote it and snapped a few pictures of the lock covered fences before he found a spot on the fence.

“Sign it.” She said handing it back to him. So he did before he locked into place on the fence.

“What should we do with the key?” He asked holding it up.

“There's a bin for them over there but wait…” She said leaning to him and standing on her tip toes. She wanted to be more on eye level with him, which was a feat given that he was several inches taller and she wasn't about to wear heels to hike. His hand immediately moved to hold onto her arm to help her balance.

“Yeah?” He said with a smile flirting with the corners of his lips. She leaned closer.

“Happy anniversary,” She whispered. Her eyes landed on his and she felt steadier again, lighter, happier. A smile spread over her face while he made a funny face at her. She had to struggle not to laugh and give him the kiss she had already set out to do.                                               

“Happy anniversary.” He repeated, ending it with a dramatic smacking kiss on top of her head. They spent a moment smiling at each other like dorks.

Then they snapped a couple more pictures (having to take several since he’d taken to making weird faces right as she took the picture) and headed down the mountain, stopping at a picnic table to eat the lunch boxes she had made.

“So you're going to be in the US for a week?” He asked while munching on the food.

“No, I am going to be gone for a week. But really I’ll only be there for like five days but the jet lag will mean that I will be able to truly enjoy the nightlife.” She said with a laugh. In her twenty years she had probably only enjoyed the “night life” about fifteen times, most of those being movie premiers and sleepovers, only having gone out to have fun a couple times.

He gave her a big eyed look.

“Are you going clubbing?” He asked and she laughed, shaking her head.

“Clubbing in DC is unimaginably different than Seoul, for example, clubs actually close and people go there around ten rather than midnight and it's less intense than here.” She said and he gave her a continued horrified look.

“So what are you going to do?” He asked and she shrugged.

“There's a karaoke place in Fairfax we like, it has a bar, not that I would be able to drink. I think we will all get together and do that. I am spending a day with my parents, a day getting stuff that I’ve been desperately missing since moving here to ship it here.”

“What have you been desperately missing?”

“Ease and availability in books.” She said automatically and he laughed.

“Didn't Jae give you a list of CDs to get him, too?”

“Uh huh, a very long list.” She said shaking her head.

“I wish I could go with you.”

“Oh my god I’ll be able to drive again! Thank god! Granted maybe I shouldn't drive...it has been a year…” She said and he stared at her.

“You can drive?”

“Yeah, I got my license at sixteen, and my mom promptly started tracking my phone to make sure I was actually going to my SAT and choir classes once I was allowed to drive myself.”

“What's driving there like?”

“I mean, driving in DC and Northern Virginia is unlike anywhere else I have ever been but Seoul and that area are not comparable. I love it though, but I have had a couple incidents.”

“Did you hurt yourself?” He asked, looking over her exposed legs, as if there could magically be an old scar appear that he had never seen before.

“Oh no, just my car, more than once.”

“So what I'm hearing is that I should not let your drive my car.”

“I do not have a valid license to drive here.”

“We could get you a bike.”

“I want a pink one.”

“Of course you do.”

“I want to live a pretty and pink life.”

“Isn't that an American movie?”

“Pretty in Pink is.”

He thought for a moment. “Do you wish I was fluent in English?”

“In the US it'd be more frustrating that you aren't but you have good English comprehension, which can get you pretty far but I speak both English and Korean fluently, so it won’t be that bad. Granted, I do mix up the languages a bit. I'm finally starting to actually think in Korean and I miss the informality of English. Like the honorifics and ageism is such a pain sometimes to have to be aware of that…”

“That doesn't answer my question.” He said and she sighed.

“It’s only really frustrating when it comes to media stuff because I consume a lot of English-based, American stuff, and I would love to be able to share that with you without having to translate.”

“Sorry,” He said looking down at the lunch box in his hands.

“I don’t mind that much, really. It’s only sometimes and the translating is good since that’s my job.” She said reaching out to him.

“I should probably try to learn English, or at least put more effort into it especially if I want to be able to properly meet your friends that are in the US.”

“My cousins all speak Korean fluently, and all the others are at worst conversational but I do have a few friends that are Chinese or Japanese Americans that don’t speak Korean but can speak English. The area I lived in had a lot of Asian Americans but my closest friends are Korean, because we all went to the same Korean church, at least for a while…”

“How does that work?”

“Well my cousins are first generation immigrants themselves, because they were born here and lived here until they were about five then moved to the US. I’m more one and a half or second generation immigrant because I was born in the US but it was also shortly after my parents moved to the US. Most of friends were either first or second generation as well with families that spoke Korean at home.”

“So they’re all bilingual?”

“More or less, Amanda and I are the only ones who have actually returned and lived in Korea.”

“Really?”

“So far, maybe they’ll come back.” She said with a shrug.

“I feel like I should be going with you, meeting your people and your family, especially since you met mine. Have you at least told them about me?” He asked, not liking how self-conscious he sounded.

“Of course I have.” She said with a pointed look. “I told them I started dating a guy from Busan who was living in Seoul, that I really like him and Amanda thinks he’s a good egg, and that you played guitar.”

“But that stuff like I’m an JYPE trainee or haven’t been to college.”

“Yeah no, I thought that would be best to conveniently leave out. My mom was hilarious though, she asked if you were one of my students like the second time we talked about you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I just said no and switched to talking about how she and dad met. Why do you want to go with me so bad?” She asked, looking at him with a curious expression.

“I feel a little guilty for dating you for so long when they don’t know anything about me, haven’t talked to me or met me. And I don’t like the idea of you travelling alone.” He added the last bit a little begrudgingly.

“I won’t be alone and I don’t need  you to constantly watch out for me.” She said after rolling her eyes. “I’m just going home.”

He nodded, looking down. He didn’t like when she called the east coast of the US, fourteen thousand miles away, home. He wanted her to stay, to consider Korea her home. He didn’t like being reminded of their differences.

He wanted to be able to share his life with her and have her share hers in return. He enjoyed getting to see more parts of her, hear more about her life, and be able to piece their lives together.

“You’re being silent, are you ok?” She asked, leaning over to enter his field of vision as he looked down. He couldn’t help but smile, leaning forward to peck her nose.

“I’m just thinking.” “I thought I was supposed to be the introspective one?” She said, fake-pouting.

“Am I not allowed to think anymore?” He said pulling her to him and tickling her sides. Loud laughs bubbled from her lips as she wiggled away from him.

“No! No! Stop!” She cried until he stopped and she caught her breath. Then she burped loudly. “Excuse me.” She said with big surprised eyes before she shook out her head and held her stomach. “Jeez, I hope that doesn’t make me throw up.”

“Can that even happen?” He asked while she gingerly sipped the water he’d automatically handed her.

“No idea, anatomy and physiology wasn’t my strong suit.” She said and he nodded along, slipping back into his thoughts while she leaned against his shoulder. A few minutes later of comfortable silence, they continued their trip down the mountain and back to her apartment.

“We’ve been getting too serious lately.” Ella said while they once again stood on the bus home. He turned to her with a raised eyebrow, flicking his bangs out his hair.

But he had to admit, some of the fun was gone.

“Really I’ve been too serious lately, and that probably rubbed off on you.” She continued, her brows knit together as she looked at him. As if one by one, the butterflies that had been admittedly dormant began to reawaken. There was a man who loved her, hadn’t judged her for her sex problems, took care to pay attention to her, and still made her feel warm and happy most of the time, unless she was too in her own head, which she definitely had been recently. A smile pulled at the corners of her mouth.

“You’re up to something.” He said, a smile spreading over his own lips. She nodded, her smile only growing as her hand travelled up his arm.

“I’m going to loosen up tonight.” She said with elated determination. Those anticipatory butterflies flipped through her stomach.

“And what does that mean?” He asked, chuckling.

“I’m going to get out of my head, probably with the help of a little soju.” She said, trying to remember if she had any in her apartment or not. It’d probably be best to pick up a bottle on their way.

“And where is this coming from?” He asked beginning to be on board with her friend.

“We’re young. I’m only twenty. I don’t need to be boring or heady.” She said and he laughed.

“So are your forming a plan in that brilliant brain of yours?” He asked and she nodded.

“I was thinking video games, take out, and goofiness.” She said and he laughed, flicking his hair again.

“Sounds like high school.”

“Maybe we can even make out later.” She said with a wink.

“I thought we were testing a multiple orgasm theory.” He whispered, running his fingers down her spine again. Her body shuddered against his, a flush spreading over her cheeks.

“Like I would say no to that.” She whispered, tucking against him. Her fingers hooked through a belt loop on his hip.

“I’m not giving you a chance to check your email.” He murmured. Her eyes sparkled with a brightness he realized he hadn’t seen in weeks.

“Good, don’t.” She said, stealing an obvious glance at his lips.

They both willed the bus to go faster.

Once it stopped in her neighborhood, they stopped at a convenience store to grab a bottle of soju before going up to her apartment.

As soon as the door shut, he pinned her to the wall, smirking as she looked up at him through her lashes, a devilish glint hidden from his eyes in their shadows. There was dare spelled out in the arch of her eyebrow. He was being a tease, not letting his body push into hers, one arm on the wall; a couple of his fingers barely flirted with the hem of her shirt.

The second his arm dropped toward her legs, she jumped into his arms and crashed their lips together. Her legs wrapped around his hips, her arms clinging to his shoulders while her back was pushed into the wall. He kissed her hungrily, desperately trying to satisfy an insatiable craving.

“Is that what trailing your spine gets?” He hummed when they finally pulled apart. He pressed hot kisses into the exposed skin of her neck, her small gasps tumbling from her mouth, precious gems.

“Let’s just go to the bed,” She sighed, a hitch on the last word as a second kiss elicited a barely-suppressed moan.

“Am I to carry you or…?” He murmured as his hands, hot and rough, pushed into her thighs.

“I can still walk.” She said loosening her legs around his hips.

“You say that like you hope you can’t later.” He said chuckling; she only smiled and took a gulp of the sujo. He waved for her to pass it to him and he took one, too, before he turned to set it on the counter. It’d been just enough to give her a buzz, enough to make her giggly as she turned on some bright music.

“There’s your goofy smile.” He said, a big smile spreading over his own face.

“I don’t have any work to do and I’m spending the night with my boyfriend, my very good boyfriend.” She stepped over to him, dropping her voice. “I love you, Sungjin.” She whispered as she stood on her tiptoes to kiss him. He felt unexpectedly lucky in that moment; he couldn’t help but smile.

Once she pulled away, he bent down and picked her up, bending her over his shoulder and making her shriek and desperately grab at his sides. “I thought we agreed I could walk?” She said with a pointed poke in his back.

“I wouldn’t be a good boyfriend if I made you walk.” He said laughing as he lifted her up again, letting her drop onto the bed. She shook her head at him, but her eyes sparkled with a laughter that was barely held back from bubbling out from her lips.

“Such a weirdo.” She said in a low voice, a glowing smile on her face. He shrugged, beaming back at her as he got up on the bed, hovering over her. Smiling bigger than he knew she had in a long time, she reached out for him and brought their lips together again. Before she rolled and end up on top of him, pulling away with an incredibly self-satisfied grin and flushed cheeks.

“You really get a content smirk when you straddle me.” He commented while she pulled up her hair. A seductive smirk spread over her swollen lips.

“Something about your boner and wide hips between between mine feels good.” She said, grinding against him to prove her point. He might not have been completely hard yet, but he was getting there.

“Wide hips? Are you calling me fat??” He said reaching forward to tickle her exposed sides. Howls of laughter burst out as she tried to dodge him without getting up. Ultimately he let her pin his arms down and steal a kiss as a means to her victory.

“Not fat, just wider, broader...You’re certainly bigger than me.” She said gently running her hand over his broad shoulders and squeezing his hips under her legs.

“I can’t believe you’re calling me fat.” He said but he was smiling.

“Objectively you’re broader than me!” She said defensively, falling off of him and laying on her side. “Come here.” She said and he rolled his eyes, chuckling as he moved to be the big spoon, aligning his hips with hers. As they laid on the bed, his hips were a couple inches taller than hers at least.

“Quite right,” He said as he dropped his head to nibble at her neck. She turned back to him, taking another kiss before she returned to straddling him. He had sat up, his hands working on running over every inch of her he could reach from her legs to her cheeks.

His lips traveled over their familiar trials all over her neck while his fingers found her flannel shirt, pulling it off her shoulders. His own hoodie was long gone and she was reaching for his shirt. He pulled it off, left to wonder if there was a greater sensation than her skin against his as she’d pulled hers off, too.

“I love you.” She exhaled, her body curled to his as he reached around her back to unhook her bra. He practically purred as her fingers tangled through his hair. He pulled her closer, revelling in her radiating warmth.

“You said multiple orgasms right?” He said with a smirk. His hands moved to guide her up, his fingers finding the button and zipper of her shorts to undo them.

“I thought we were testing your multiple orgasms being good for stress theory.”

“So what’s our control?” He whispered, smirking as she laughed.

“Every other time we’ve done anything.” She said as she flopped onto her back, kicking off her  shorts.

He paused to take her in, his beautiful girl, and he knew he was lucky to find a girl who would look at him the same way he looked at her.

She smiled alluringly at him, drawing him into her. It was easy to give in. He bent forward, bringing their lips together while his fingers traversed over her curves before landing against her core, over her heat. She moaned, pushing towards him while her legs fell open. She could hardly think of a better way to spend an evening than making love with him.

More moans tumbled from her lips while his calloused fingers ran over the only piece of clothing left on her body. Her body ran hot and her back arched as he increased the pressure. He teased her languidly, taking his time no matter how much she wanted to get there faster. Moving with a lazy sense of purpose, his fingers hooked through her panties and pulled them down. He drank in her small moans like nectar while he kissed her, his splayed fingers winding up her inner thigh.

A shock convulsed through her body the second his finger touched her clit, the most desperate moan yet bursting out of her lips. Her hips bucked, craving more than the light, teasing touches he was giving her. He gave in, unable to keep himself from smirking as she unwound while his fingers circled her sensitive bud and delved through her folds. Her muscles quivered and shook as she neared her climax, still bucking her hips and craving more friction.

Eventually, she finally reached her climax, nearly every one of her muscles quivering with ecstasy.

“Pretty eager, aren’t we?” He said with a smirk as his palm pressed into her hip.

“You were being a tease.” She said with bright pink cheeks, breathing heavily.

“It’s more being a tease. If I go too fast you don’t get as wet, as it is now, you’re well on your way to making a puddle.”

“That’s your pride talking.” She said, pressing a cool hand into her cheeks.

“You like it.” He said with a smirk, earning a roll of her eyes.

“I like you, and orgasms, but mostly you.” She said cupping his cheek in her hand.

“I thought you loved me?” He said with a cheeky grin.

“Yes,” She said and he shook his head.

“Think you’re ready for number two?”

“Don’t be such a tease.” She said pulling him back for a kiss.

“No fun that way.” He hummed trailing kisses down her body.

“Can’t believe you thought I was a tease.” She sighed, her eyes dropping closed.

“That was foolish, given the first time we made out, you left a hickey and bite mark on me.” He said chuckling, pressing a kiss into her inner thigh.

“Boldness is fleeting…” She said as her fingers slipped into his hair.

He hummed before his tongue landed on her clit, slipping down her folds before teasing her entrance. Without a thought, her body rolled and her teeth sunk into her lips. This time he wasn’t moving with any laziness as his tongue and fingers moved through her folds and slipped in and out of her heat. Steadily, her grip in his hair and her muscles tightening as she neared her second climax.

Once she had, he flashed her a smirk while he reached for a condom. “Do you feel less stressed?” He asked while she bent forward, pulling his briefs down.

“I almost always feel less stressed with you.” She said, pressing an automatic into his cheek.

“Almost?” “If you’re trying to surprise me, or have made me confront a fear, or are embarrassing me, I’m not exactly anxiety free, but like the work or life or school stress fades away around you.” She said slipping the condom out of his fingers and down his length.

“Are you saying you don’t like surprises?” He said moving to get on top of her again but she nudged him down again.

“I don’t mind your surprises.” She said pressing her nose against his before she moved to straddle him.

“You’re topping today?” He moved his arm to the support her as she angled herself to take in his length.

“Least I can do when you made me orgasm twice.” She said, using her fingers to guide his tip to her core.

He tried to swallow a groan as she lowered herself onto him, her tight walls surrounding his length. She let out a long breath, ducking her head into his neck while she adjusted her arms to get a grip on his shoulders. His hands dropped to her hips.

“I always forget what a good angle this is…” She leaned back, raising her hips to feel his dick slide out of her before she grinded back down.

“Go faster,” His hands dropped to her hips to guide their motion into a faster rhythm.

She gasped, moaning into his neck - she really had forgotten that her being on top was a much better angle for her enjoyment. She could feel his temperature rise and breathing quicken thought his bare chest against hers.

Once he was sure she had a rhythm going, he let his hands wander from her hips to her butt and breasts, squeezing them and teasing her nipples. Her moans in his ear and her nails in her skin were the greatest aphrodisiac to him. Slowly his moans began to join hers as she tightened around him. Their lips found each other in a sloppy, hot, desperate kiss.

After that, it didn’t take long for him to reach his peak and quickly came. After a couple seconds to catch her breath, she tumbled off him and let him dispose of the condom.

“Endorphins make you happy.” She hummed, happily wiggling around on the bed and making him laugh.

“I love you,” he whispered kissing her forehead. Her giggle quieted for only a moment before resuming as he smiled at her.

“I love you!” She said happily, feeling over high on hormones.

“So, feeling better?” He asked, his chuckle joining her giggles.

“Yes, thank you.” She leaned forward and gave him another kiss, wishing they could have endless nights like this.

[find-your-rp-partner]

apocalypses and heroes and ice skates, oh my!

hello hello my baby hello my honey hello my ragtime gal!

hey how are ya my name is emmy and i’m here to search for a new rp partner. a bit about me, i’m 21, canadian, about to start a summer job before returning to college, and i go by she/her pronouns. i reside in the mountain timezone and i am thrilled to hopefully start writing with you. 

why should you write with me? because i promise that if i pick up an rp with you i’m gonna put 100 and 10 percent of my effort into our story. i’m looking for a long term typa gig, someone who i can really weave a plot with, someone who digs the cut of my jib. i want us to be able to sob over our characters together late into the night. i want us to exchange songs, playlists, posts found on the internet, aesthetic boards, whatever reminds us of our characters/our plot. i want us to go through our character’s struggles together as well as be able to cheer together when our characters get ahold of their sitch and come up on top. i want us to inspire one another with our writing. it’s gonna be great. you & me honey. 

gee, that sounds nice! i’m inclined to agree with ya! but a few things you should know before you go any further: i write anywhere between full lit to lit + to novella style, so expect posts of at least 4 - 6 paragraphs baseline. sometimes i crank out 10. or 20. depends entirely on what’s going on. i write according to situation, with a great amount of detail spent on what my character is thinking/feeling in response to yours. the replies you get will be fully fleshed out & enthralling. i am a stickler for grammar and spelling, though nobody’s perfect, i do occasionally have my slipups. all lowercase text is strictly kept to ooc communication. i will never pressure you into posting or writing ridiculous amounts just to match my post. i want you to have fun too, ya hear? if i’ve had a bit to drink or am about to hit the hay, i’ll wait to post when i can give my post my full attention. usually i’ll be able to post at least once a day, sometimes multiple times a day if we’re in the same or a similar time zone. i also totally understand life happens and sometimes we just need a breather. ♥ i have bipolar depression, and sometimes my depression kicks my ass, but i’ll let you know when that happens.

oh goodness, what else? i write predominantly m/m pairings but i am open to m/f and f/f as well. i do not write high fantasy settings, sorry doll. my interests mostly align with modern day, slice of life kinda stuff, aside from the fandoms i do have. i don’t have many limits besides excessive gore, scat, mpreg, and writing smut for sake of smut. i love my romance just like anyone else does, but it’s got to have plot. our characters have to have chemistry or else i get bored. i haven’t doubled before but i think i’d be down with the right plot. usually i prefer that we play one character each, or we play multiple characters within a plot, but not usually more than one plot at the same time. but!!! i am totally willing to try new things!! just be patient with me as i learn m'kay? also most of my characters are pretty kinky but like, i prefer that we talk about kinks and limits one on one as opposed to airing out my character’s laundry. also- i wanna be your friend ooc. let’s chat. i find it’s so much easier to have muse and post if i enjoy the virtual company of the people i’m writing with.

ok but what do you write? 

what *don’t* i write? kidding. here’s a bit of fandom for ya. if i’ve got plots listed, they’re the ideas i have, but i’m totally open to yours as well. stars denote how much i’m craving them. i’ll list the canon characters i write after i list the fandom: 

fallout: new vegas & 4: arcade gannon & elder maxson, paladin danse - also got a ton of ocs for both *plot for fallout 4 a: we explore the cut ending to the brotherhood of steel questline, wherein the sole survivor and paladin danse refuse maxson’s final orders for danse, and fight for danse to become the leader of the brotherhood of steel. would likely require you playing maxon or danse and me playing the other, with one of us playing the sole survivor.  *plot for fallout 4 b: your/my oc is a double agent for the railroad, with the mission to infiltrate the brotherhood of steel and send intelligence back to the agents back at home base. your/my oc becomes unexpectedly attached to elder maxson through work and circumstance. eventually, your/my oc must make a choice of where their allegiance lies: within the arms of arthur or with the faction they are fighting for. (potentially, we could double and do plot a & b at the same time.) 

mafia 2: vito scaletta  ***plot for mafia 2 a: we explore the dynamics of a relationship between vito and your oc. your oc could be in a position of great risk- think outside of the mafia, possibly a police officer, prostitute. some position where power dynamics could be played with. if the pairing is m/m we also deal with the themes of internalized homophobia and coming to terms with one’s identity. 

*bioshock 1, 2 & infinite: brigid tenbenbaum, andrew ryan, frank frontaine & eleanor lamb, sofia lamb & booker dewitt 

**marvel cinematic universe: tony stark, steve rogers

**greater marvel universe: logan howlett, carol danvers 

***the office: pam beesly, angela martin 

but honestly where my heart lies is within oc rp. here are a few plots i have of mine, stars denote how much i’m craving them:

**(m/m) power & politics: my oc is a prestigious state senator, who lives a double life. he is currently in the closet with no intent on leaving it anytime soon. however, a certain someone falls into his life, making him question what he thought he knew for certain. your oc breaks down the walls my oc has put up and changes him into a softer, better man. however, with an upcoming presidential campaign on the horizon for my oc, the limits of the secret relationship will be pushed and pulled beyond what both parties have ‘signed up for.' 

****(m/m) the guardian: your oc is a newcomer to the nhl but is quickly making waves- think connor mcdavid style. he’s young and impressive, but mostly, impressionable. he starts to get battered around by both his teammates and opposing teams. after a few hard hits and fowl play within the game that have cost your oc bench and recovery time, the team’s coach calls in reinforcements to boost the team’s morale and serve as a protector to your oc. my oc is a winger who hasn’t got the talent part but has got a huge heart. not to mention… huge hands. good for makin’ fists. good for fightin’.  my oc protects your oc during the games, coming to your oc’s aid, picking fights for your oc and protecting him on the ice. as such, the two wingers grow attached to one another.. perhaps too attached for the coach to be comfortable with. possibilities for a love triangle and other complications, for sure.

***(m/m or m/f) two worlds: your oc is a figure skater. my oc is a goaltender. both happen to share practice/warm-up ice and, in my oc’s effort to show off and win your oc over, he injures himself. one awkward trip to the er later, while under the influence of a huge amount of morphine, my oc admits his attempted double axel was prompted by the simple thought of how cute your oc is. this plot starts simple but compounds, with the two struggling with their careers and seeing one another, as well as my oc’s battle with alcoholism & painkiller addiction within the nhl. 

***(m/m) too good to be true: our ocs start out in the whl, both as promising wingers. their good chemistry is vital to bringing back their team’s success. however, one of our ocs starts to get too attached to the other, and when an nhl draft separates them, one of our ocs is all too eager to cut contact and try to forget. the two excel in their nhl careers without one another, and end up on nhl teams with a history of deep rivalry. occasionally, the gloves hit the ice, fueled by the tension of unresolved feelings and the pressure of the respective teams to keep up the rivalry. the two are reunited when they are both chosen to play nationally for the same team, and are forced to reconcile what they have both buried so deeply within them. 

***(m/m) big money: these two ocs play for rival teams in the nhl. while their teams have a history of tension, our two ocs take it to the next level. audiences are more excited to watch these two fight than they are to watch the game itself. there’s a market in the violence between these two, and a reputation to maintain on both ends. if the public found out that these two were secretly seeing one another, their careers would both be over. 

i recognize that a lot of these focus on the nhl/the lives of professional hockey players- please don’t be worried about hockey knowledge/nhl jargon/whatever else goes through your head! i’m more interested in sport as a realm for drama than i am for following the rulebook and being 100% accurate to life when it comes to hockey. there’s a lot i don’t know and am still needing to learn, myself! as for general oc ideas, here’s a list:

professor x student

veteran x civillian

cop x criminal 

street racing, fast-and-furious-esque setting

rival gangs 

nhl/hockey based (lol obviously)

small town canadiana or americana 

fun, fluffy romance based modern settings

darker themes such as addiction, abuse, etc

historical setting- preferably, the second world war/1940s-1960s 

honestly whatever you can pitch to me that isn’t high fantasy ☺

hell yeah let’s do this pal 

if any, and i mean any, of this piqued your fancy, pleaaaase shoot me an email at 

↳ ehmmywrites@gmail.com ! 

i will respond! but please send me something thoughtful! i’d like to hear what part of my ad that you’re interested in/why you chose to contact me. i am willing to rp over email or over skype. just let me know. i’d like to email back and forth a little bit before we get right into it & before i give out my skype. i am totally down to chat via google hangouts, i prefer it, but i'll use skype too. i want to get to know ya! i sure look forward to hearing from you!  ✌ & ♥ emmy 

[overweirdos]

Soulmate!AU: Jack Morrison x Reader - Ineffable (Part 1/3)

ineffable - (adj) too great to be expressed in words

Summary: Please forgive us, summaries are really not one of our strengths. Just so you know, this is a soulmate!AU where the whole world is black and white until you look your soulmate into the eyes for the first time.  Pairing: Jack MorrisonxReader Warning: Mercy mains might get offended by the short mention of Genji needing healing.  word count: 6,346

It was your third day of your internship at Overwatch and you still couldn’t believe you were here, breathing the same air as the heroes you had always looked up to. Containing your happiness and focusing on the work proved to be a quite difficult task, even though you had only met a few of the really important soldiers so far. All in all, it was quite overwhelming. The only downside so far had been that you still only saw the world in grayish colors, while many of your comrades, especially Angela and Genji, were able to describe everything as incredibly colorful and bright. Your surroundings, however, seemed rather dull which would not have been as big of a problem if it wasn’t for the constant reminder that you were still missing your soulmate. Nonetheless, you were still sitting here with the one and only Dr. Angela Ziegler who was currently passing on her knowledge on basically everything she knew onto you. You couldn’t explain how thankful you were for this opportunity, but honestly, you were not sure whether she had even paused to take a breath yet. The only real break she took was when Genji had entered the room. From the first second he walked in you knew they were soulmates. The way Angela’s face lit up as soon as she laid her eyes on him. The way he gently gave her a small, quick hug, knowing she was quite busy at the moment and would not want to be disturbed for too long. The way their voices showed a hint of sorrow as they had to say their goodbyes. A flash of sadness washed over you. They looked so content together and you still had no clue who your special someone was or even where they were right now. You were longing to feel the glee that your lucky comrades were able to experience already. 

However, you did not have much time to dwell on your slightly depressing thoughts. A man had entered the room, dressed in attire that you could only describe to appear quite weird as first. Considering the current year, it was kind of strange to see a person dressed as a cowboy. It did not even seem to be for a party, he was being serious about this. The man had an extremely grumpy expression plastered on his face. Acting kind of like everyone’s mother, Angela immediately shot up, asking what was wrong. He sat down, sighing dramatically. “I lost my hat.” A deadly silence followed for a few seconds. It was becoming rather awkward for you, so you decided to push further. “Um…your hat? What hat exactly?” He looked at you with an expression you couldn’t quite read. Was he disappointed that you didn’t know what he was talking about? Or simply still grumpy about the loss of his apparently beloved hat? “My cowboy hat! And Gabe can’t stop laughin’ about it!” You frowned, not really knowing how to react. This man looked so desperate and almost broken because of a hat? Pardon, a cowboy hat. “Well, you know-“, Angela threw in, trying her best to cheer him up. “Your hat did look a little worn out by now. Maybe it was for the better. I’m sure we’ll get you a new one in no time, Jesse!”. The man, whose name you now knew to be Jesse, just rolled his eyes and shrugged. “I guess.” Obviously disappointed in the lack of help he was getting, he left shortly after. You spent quite a while chatting with other people present at the infirmary, including a few fellow apprentices. However, it was getting later and later and soon you and Angela were the only ones left, absorbed in your work.

After spending around an hour helping Dr. Ziegler analyze some blood samples, she stood up and went over to you. “You have worked hard today, I really appreciate all the effort you put into this. You’re being a great help”. You smiled shyly at the praise. She was proud of what you’ve done so far, it really paid off. “Well, since I only have a few things left to do that you won’t be able to help me with, why don’t you go and visit Jack Morrison real quick? I’m sure he’ll appreciate you dropping by to finally meet him”, she said, giving you a questionable wink. Of course, you did not complain. You were already quite tired from having worked around ten hours in the busy infirmary so all you wanted to do was crash in your bed. A quick visit to your superior’s office wouldn’t hurt, though you failed to understand why exactly you had to do so. You always figured he was too occupied with some helpless rookies to spend his time on you. Since you already knew all the basics and were mostly under the care of Angela herself, there was no need for him to supervise or train with you. Why would it make a difference today?

By all means, you would follow Angela’s suggestion. Though suggestion should not be the term used, as you were pretty sure she actually implied it to be an order.

You felt extremely lucky when you managed to remember the way to the offices. From there, you should not encounter any problems thanks to the doors having nameplates. You stopped in front of the door to Jack Morrison’s bureau. ‘Breathe in, breathe out”, you told yourself, suddenly getting a little nervous. “Let’s try and make a good first impression!”. While your fist appeared to be shaking a little, you managed to find the courage to knock thrice. Why were you so afraid? You were worried, but of what exactly? You never usually acted like this. But this time, you were about to meet one of the most important people of all Overwatch. He had been with the organization for a long time and kind of became the face of its achievements; he stood out impressively during the Omnic crisis and everyone looked up to hm. Trying your best to shake off the nervousness consuming your body, you opened the door after a voice, which sounded surprisingly female, ordered you to enter. Peeking in, you found out why that command seemed to have been uttered by a female: It had been uttered by a female. Ana Amari sat before you, flashing you a welcoming smile before returning her gaze to the papers in her hand.

“Um, hello. Sorry to disturb you. I’m just looking for Jack Morrison? Mr. Morrison? Sir Morrison? Eh, I’m sure you know what I mean…”, you muttered awkwardly, earning a soft laugh from the woman. “Just call him Jack or Jacky, everyone does. Though you might only want to call him the latter one if he still owes you money so you got something to blackmail him with”, she chuckled. You got the impression she was speaking from experience. “Anyways, I’m sorry, sweetheart. You just missed him by a few seconds. He had to go on a mission so I took over for him. He’s really busy these days, you know? By the way, you are Angela’s apprentice, aren’t you?”. “Yes, ma’am, I am. And I completely understand. Well, I was just ordered by Angela to give him a visit since I am technically also a new recruit, but I guess it wasn’t so important anyway.”   “Oh, I’m sure Angela had her reasons”, Ana said, giving you a knowing look. Why did everyone seem to interpret way more into this meeting with Jack Morrison than what you intended? You decided it was already too late to rack your brain over something so insignificant. You’d probably find out, sooner or later. Taking your leave, you headed straight to your room, falling into a dreamless, deep slumber.

Things went back to normal for the next two days. That was until Angela suddenly got an urgent call and came back with the most serious expression you had ever seen on her face. “We need to get going, now”, she said, looking around the room and grabbing the most important medical supplies. “What happened, ma’am?”, you asked, not knowing what had caused her to prepare for departure this frantically. “Jack called for backup; apparently the mission didn’t go the way they planned. They lost almost every single one of their supports, so it’s really important we get going as soon as possible”. You couldn’t hide the worried expression on your face, but your boss quickly tried to reassure you. “I know you don’t have any experience on the battlefield, but there is no need to be concerned. Who knows, they might even have won before we get there. Either way, we’ll make this work, darling”. Her words barely managed to calm your frightened mind, but you decided to remain as positive as you could. Yes, these might have been some dangerous enemies that even one of Overwatch’ best soldiers was having problems with, but they would surely not let you die, would they?

The journey was silent. You had never been on this aircraft before, or any aircraft for that matter, so your stomach started complaining at some point, making you unable to say a word in fear of accidently vomiting on any of your comrades or even your superior. You just spent the flight standing in a corner and praying that you would get better as soon as this thing landed. Luckily, your prayers were answered. As you set foot on the ground, you felt way better, which might have also happened because of the adrenaline suddenly rushing through your system. You obviously had a lot of work to do. The team sent on the mission seemed to have won the battle, even with your help, but they still needed medical treatment before they could go home. You let your sight wander through the crowd, making eye contact with every single one of your fellow recruits, silently asking them if they needed help immediately or could wait a little longer. There didn’t seem to be any life-threatening injuries at first glance, mostly minor wounds that could be patched up in no time. You kept letting your gaze wander and it soon fell on a man who did seem to need treatment. His back was turned to you; he was holding his side and appeared to be slightly hunched over from exhaustion. Angela had followed the direction you were looking in. “That’s Jack! Let’s go, he looks like he could actually use a helping hand”. You nodded eagerly and started making your way over to him. However, you wouldn’t get very far. He turned around, obviously searching for someone, probably Angela, as he laid his eyes on you. That’s when the whole world suddenly stopped for you.

Putting the sensation you felt in that moment into words proved to be quite a difficult task. All you could do was stare and rub your eyes as the world around you suddenly exploded into colors. You took a quick look around you, taking in the surroundings that now seemed so much brighter, so much more fascinating and thrilling. Not even Genji screaming for healing in the distance could disrupt this overwhelming moment. It hurt at first but all these different shades completely distracted you from what was happening around you for a few seconds. A tingling feeling of being watched formed in your stomach, bringing you back to reality, to face the person who had just caused this visual chaos. Said man was just as surprised as you, staring at you with his mouth slightly agape. Did that really just happen? Your burning eyes that still had to adjust to all these new impressions screamed ‘yes’. But your mind screamed ‘no’. It couldn’t be. Or at least it couldn’t be him. There simply had to be some kind of mistake, you looked plenty of people in the eyes before yours met his. However…it seemed as if he had experienced this sudden change at the same time as you did. Neither you nor your soulmate moved for what appeared to be an eternity. The thoughts were racing through your head, leaving you in a state of utter confusion. That was until Angela waved her hand in front of your face. “Are you okay? I really can’t handle you having a heart attack on me right now…wait, why are you staring at our poster boy like this?”. She kept looking back and forth between the two of you and at one point, the realization hit her like a truck. “Oh. My. God. This is beautiful. This is just perfect, darling! And I’d love to congratulate you right now if it weren’t for the amount of people that need to be treated. Especially your soulmate who is bleeding a lot right now! So let’s go!”. You snapped out of your thoughts and tried to concentrate on the task at hand. Quickly following Angela over to where Jack was, you couldn’t help but stare at his wound. So, this dark, shimmering liquid was blood? Oddly fascinating. You urged yourself to stop contemplating all these colors around you for the time your focus was needed and actually help the man.  

Observing his wound, you instantly noticed that it wasn’t nearly as bad as it looked. It seemed as if a bullet had simply grazed his skin just below his ribcage. It bled profusely, but he would without a doubt pull through. Angela decided it would be best to take care of everyone in specially set up medical tents and thought it would be even better, being the cheeky person she was, to leave you and Jack alone to tend to the other injured comrades. However, she made sure to send a weird grin your way before disappearing. ‘This is probably the most awkward situation I’ve ever been in’, you thought to yourself. Why did Angela have to leave? Just to make you suffer? You had absolutely no idea what to say. What even could one say in a situation like this? ‘Oh, hey! Well, it appears that we are soulmates now, haha! Let’s make out!’, was not something you’d consider. You fidgeted with your hands, trying to put your thoughts in a slightly logical order. In the end, you took a deep breath and started working, determined to push everything soulmate-related into the back of your head for now. “It’s simply a bullet graze, nothing serious. It bleeds a lot and looks quite terrifying at first but should heal quickly, so it’s nothing to worry about. I’ll just patch it up swiftly”, you muttered, too anxious to look the man into the eye. “May I lift your shirt? Otherwise, I won’t be able to put on the bandages…” You were pretty sure you were flushing intensely by now, but Jack knew there was no other intent than to help him so he nodded. Completely lost in your work, it took you a few seconds to notice the laughter coming from the tent next door, obviously originating from a certain doctor. Of course, this did not help to cease the flushing of your cheeks at all.

Angela just couldn’t help but giggle to herself. She kind of had a feeling these two would get along well, but this went into a completely different direction from the one she expected! Not that she would complain of course. She just never thought that Jack Morrison, who’d rather spend 24 hours of the day buried in his work than taking only one look at a potential love interest, to find a soulmate. She was happy for them, definitely, although she could only imagine the awkwardness that was taking over their tent right now. She had only met you a few days ago, but she already knew you were pretty introverted, especially around strangers. Paired with Jack, the lord of awkwardness himself in her opinion, this was going to be interesting, to say the least. Angela kept imagining the two of you, just staring at each other, blushing and not being able to speak a single word. She could only hope that you would manage to patch him up properly. Talking about proper treatment, Angela achieved the unachievable. Lost in her thoughts about the soon to be lovebirds, she hit her patient's leg with the syringe while originally aiming for his upper arm. He let out a shriek and stared at his doctor furiously, who just had a sheepish grin on her face.

The sudden outburst of the patient in the neighboring tent startled both you and Jack; you almost dropped the bandages in your hand as well. Casting a quick glance over your shoulder and shaking your head in disbelief at your boss’ behavior, you finished dressing your superior’s wounds. You decided to at least give him a small smile of reassurance after this silent treatment but noticed that you weren’t the only one completely overwhelmed by the situation. Jack’s cheeks were tinted a rosy color and he kept looking around the tent, suddenly finding the bottles of medicine on the shelf behind you awfully intriguing. A small chuckle escaped your lips as you said an abrupt goodbye to report to Angela. ‘Fascinating’, you thought, ‘how the super soldier himself is too shy to speak to his soulmate. It’s not like I would reject him anyways. We are soulmates so this is how it’s meant to be. But I can’t blame only him. Why is it so incredibly hard to just talk to him?’.

“I’m so sorry, Gabriel! But just listen to what’s going on! Or rather, listen to what’s not going on…” “What the hell are you even talkin’ about? And do me a favor, learn how to aim with that needle, I don’t need another missed shot!”. “Oh, but Gabe! Our poster boy Jack just met his soulmate. I knew they would fit together quite well, but as soon as they just stopped completely, staring at each other, I realized what was happening! Can you believe it?”. Gabriel just looked at her, utterly confused and bewildered. “Wait, so you’re telling me that scout boy is alone with a person that is supposed to be his soulmate over there right now? Jack and a soulmate? You gotta be shittin’ me”. “No, it has to be true! Trust me on this one, okay? It is real!” Angela couldn’t contain her excitement but was brought back to reality as she noticed that there still wasn’t any talking happening. “That’s not how this is supposed to work though, right? Meeting your soulmate and everything. I don’t know much about this kinda stuff but I doubt that soulmates just remain in complete silence after just enterin’ each other’s life. Correct me if I’m wrong”. “Oh, be quiet, Gabe. We’ll wait and see, I have faith in these two!”

You let out an exhausted sigh as you marched over to the tent Angela was working in. What you did not expect was the annoyed look she gave you as soon as you entered. “What?”, you asked perplexed. “Did I do something wrong?” “Darling, what didn’t you do wrong? Why weren’t you talking to him? I saw what happened, don’t be so awkward!” “Well, this is weird, don’t you think? I mean, I have no idea how to react to all of this. Most importantly, what I don’t understand is how I became his soulmate. The soulmate of the impressive, strong, hard-working super-soldier Jack Morrison. It seems so wrong, like some kind of joke..”, you muttered, suddenly realizing how much doubt had been building up inside your mind. When you took a look at yourself and a look at Jack afterwards…it just didn’t fit. It just didn’t feel right after all.

“You are giving your loverboy a little too much credit here, sweetie. Are you sure about him being ‘strong’ and ‘impressive’? ‘Cause I beg to differ”. Gabriel started laughing heartily, leaving you grinning at his teasing attitude but nevertheless still blushing like crazy.

“I really hate to admit it, but Gabriel’s words do hold some truth. You’ve only heard of Jack as the athletic, handsome face of Overwatch, but you can believe me when I say that he is just as shy and inexperienced as you are. And that’s what makes this situation even better, you’ll get to experience all of these beautiful romantic moments together for the first time! Isn’t that great- hold on”, Angela suddenly stopped her rant as she got a call. Her expression became thoughtful and she ended the short conversation with a sigh. “It seems like your beautiful moments will have to wait. We have a severe leg injury on the other side of this place, our fellow medics thought they could deal with it but they were wrong, apparently. So let’s go”. You weren’t sure whether you should be glad or angry at this development. On the one hand, you really wanted to find out more about your soulmate and actually get to know him. On the other hand, you weren’t sure if you could handle any more minutes of awkward silence between the two of you.

As soon as Angela and you had left to help save another person’s life, Gabriel wandered over to the tent he thought Jack to be in. “So, poster boy got himself a soulmate, huh? That’s quite interesting, don’t you think?” He approached Jack, who seemed completely lost in his thoughts, with a sly grin. “This isn’t funny, butthead”, came the irritated retort. “Watch your language, lover boy!”. Jack sighed, visibly troubled. “What do you want? If you only came here to tease me, get it over with and leave me alone. I don’t have time for your crap right now”. Gabriel backed off, pretending to be offended. He had made Jack mad, that much was obvious. He would have never used vulgar language if he wasn’t beyond pissed. “What? I was just gonna tell you how happy I am! Calm down”, he said with an innocent, just enraging his friend more. “Did you even listen to what I just said? Leave”, Jack tried again insistently and Gabriel actually turned it down a bit. “I got you, buddy. But honestly, I’m happy for you. You got yourself a real gem there. Don’t try and keep your soulmate out of your life, because I know that this is what you are planning to do right now. Give it a chance”. With those words, he left.

You had barely seen your newly proclaimed soulmate since your first meeting on the battlefield around a week ago. It almost seemed as if he was trying his best to avoid you. Every time Angela sent you to his office for you to finally get it over with and talk to him, he had suspiciously vanished only a few seconds prior. No one ever knew where exactly he went, not even Ana or Gabriel. However, no one ever told him about you coming to see him. Therefore, he must have somehow always known. Was that part of being soulmates? Or just a feeling in his guts that proved to be pretty accurate? Either way, you had tried your best to distract yourself by focusing all of your attention on the work. The infirmary was as busy as never before, all the injuries from the last mission had to be checked on frequently after all. Distraction wasn’t going to come to you as easily as you had hoped, though. Word spread quickly throughout the headquarters of Overwatch. Every person you bumped into started congratulating you and asking about your relationship with Jack now. It hurt that you had to keep telling them about not having really met him yet. Still, he could not be the only one held guilty for the situation. You were scared at first. But despite your strongest attempts to try and stay out of his sight as well, you began feeling frustrated, slowly getting tired of this game of hide and seek. As you grew more and more eager to confront him, there was still absolutely no trace of Jack.

The situation was fraught, at least until Gabriel appeared in the infirmary one day, having recently returned from a mission. Unbeknownst to you, he shot a questioning glance towards Angela, who just returned it with a sad shake of her head while you were busy cleaning some of his minor wounds.

“So, would you like to explain why you haven’t talked to Jack yet?”, Gabriel asked, making you stop dead in your tracks, sighing. “I would like to talk to him, I really do, but he seems to be running away from me. I don’t think it’s a coincidence anymore that he keeps miraculously disappearing as soon as I’m within a ten feet radius of him”, you muttered, looking away sadly and earning sympathetic looks from both your superiors. “You know what, darlin’? Scout boy is supposed to come back from a mission in a few hours. He might be able to avoid you but he definitely can’t hide from me. I’ll make sure you guys`ll get your chance to talk things out”, the man sitting on the bed in front of you said. “Oh! And to keep you occupied, why don’t we go into town until he comes back? We should go to the store and get some of the medical supplies we are missing. And while we’re at it, you can ask me about all the colors you don’t know yet as well!” You had managed to adjust to your new vision, but still only knew a few colors by their name. This lead to a few problems, especially when Angela asked you to give her ‘the orange pen’ or ‘the light green documents’. You couldn’t help but beam up at them, surprised and touched by their companionship and empathy.

To be honest, Angela was even better at lifting people’s moods than she was at healing her patients. At least that was the impression you got when you were on the way to the pharmacy. She kept explaining all the different shades of colors to you until one special came into your mind, you had forgotten to ask about it yet. “Hey, what’s that color by the way?” Angela followed your gaze as you looked up into the sky. The sun was shining brightly; no gray clouds were going to destroy this beautiful, warm day. “It’s called blue. Do you like it?” “Yes, I like this one the most so far. Definitely.” “That’s not really a surprise considering the fact that Jack`s eyes have the exact same color”, she said, flashing you a cheeky grin. Angela was completely right. You had almost suppressed the memory but did remember catching a glimpse of his eyes when you first saw him. Your looked turned a little anxious, remembering what was going to happen once you got back. Hopefully. “Don’t worry, sweetie. I’m sure Gabriel has figured something out, though you will probably not like his methods…”, Angela muttered, suddenly turning anxious herself. That sounded reassuring.

The journey had lasted a lot longer than you expected. Angela spent so much time searching for high-quality equipment and chatting with the pharmacist, an old friend of hers, that you were convinced you wouldn’t return before nightfall. You grew worried. What if Jack had returned already but Gabriel couldn’t convince him. You wouldn’t blame him for not wanting to me you. Maybe he had vanished somewhere again or was even given another mission. There were no words to describe the speed at which your heart was beating when you reached the Overwatch headquarters again. Angela and you were greeted by a few other recruits, even Reinhardt who walked by with a beer mug in his hand. Taking a look at the watch on your left wrist and shaking your head, you wondered why that man was drinking at 4 in the afternoon. However, you quickly remembered that you had bigger issues to worry about.

Neither Jack nor Gabriel were anywhere in sight, so you decided to help Angela with unpacking for now. You didn’t get very far though as Gabriel suddenly peeked his head around a corner. “You!” He pointed at you, excitedly. “Me?”, you asked confused. “Yes, you! You’re comin’ with me now” You were about to follow him but he had other plans in mind. He gripped your arm and practically dragged you through the halls for a good five minutes. You tried to complain but he just ignored your words, so you had to comply.

Gabriel came to a sudden halt and you almost crashed into him. “There we go”, he declared proudly but all you could see was the door to the storage room where all the cleaning products were locked away. “If you wanted me to clean your office, you could have just told me. I’m an apprentice, it’s what I do”, you mentioned, giving him a puzzled look. “No, it’s about what’s inside. You’ll get to talk now” “What am I possibly supposed to discuss with a bottle Febreeze?” “You’ll see, darlin’”. You really wanted to start questioning his sanity. Before you could do so, he had suddenly swung open the door to the small room and essentially thrown you inside. You let out a shriek, uttering an outraged “What the-“ before the door was closed again and you felt your back hit something hard. Hard and…warm? You didn’t dare move and silently prayed that whatever you just crashed into wasn’t a giant spider. Wait, where spiders even this warm? No, but giant rats were, just in case you ran out of terrifying creatures to picture behind your back. The problem was that whatever was standing there suddenly let out an awkward cough. You spun around, backing away and almost knocking over a cardboard filled with Windex bottles. “H-hey, it’s okay! Don’t worry, it’s only me!”, a masculine voice said and you took a closer look, trying to make out the person’s facial features in the completely dark room. Oh, it was just Jack. Wait…Jack?! All of your fear immediately turned into pure hatred for Gabriel Reyes. You made a mental note to give him the worst day of his life as soon as you got out of here. Angela really wasn’t lying when she said you wouldn’t appreciate his methods. Speaking of Reyes… “Are you gonna start talking now? I mean, I got all day, but I’m not sure if you guys do, so…” “Gabriel, I have paperwork to do and you very well know that! Let us out this instant!”, Jack ordered angrily. “I’m not letting you guys out until you talked, properly. Period.” “You know what, I’m just going to break down that door”, your soulmate muttered, pinching the space between his eyebrows. “Well, you could do that…or we actually listen to our friend out there and sort things out?”, you asked sheepishly. “Shorty’s right. Listen to them, scout boy! Also, you could indeed break down that door but you’d still have to get past me and you know, there’s plenty more of these storage rooms around here..” That shut Jack and you up instantly as you realized that there was absolutely no way to get out of here, at least not until Gabriel was satisfied. Letting out a sigh in frustration you searched the walls of the room until you found what you were looking for. A light switch. The small, now faintly glowing light bulb allowed you to finally take in Jack’s face completely. At the confused expression that crossed his handsome face as he looked at the lamp, you quickly added: “If we`re gonna talk about this, we’re gonna do it right”, at which he nodded. “Oh gosh, where do we start this…”, you muttered, fidgeting clumsily with your hands. You took a deep breath. “Okay, so first of all: Why did you keep avoiding me?” Jack visibly tensed up. He had hoped you wouldn’t notice. “Pff, I don’t know what you’re talking about…”, he tried, earning a slight chuckle from you at his awkward behavior. You then replaced your amused glance with the most awaiting and sincere one you could muster. He noticed that there was no way around this. “You see…this is really awkward and I don’t know how to explain-“, he started until a voice from outside disrupted him. “Just spit it out, lover boy! My legs are falling asleep!”. Both of you sent a death glare towards the door. Jack cleared his throat before continuing. “This is just something I would have never expected to happen. I still can’t really believe that this is really happening, I mean, aren’t you disappointed?” “Why on earth would I be disappointed?”, you questioned, obviously bewildered. You couldn’t follow his train of thoughts. “Just…take a look at you. And take a look at me. It simply seems so unreal that a person like me and someone as amazing as you would ever be soulmates. I’d honestly be disappointed if I were you”. He looked away, turning his embarrassed face away from you. Your mouth literally hung open. He couldn’t be serious, could he? 

“Okay, hold up. You have got to be kidding me. How could I be disappointed? I mean, this might sound cheesy and I don’t know you very well but you seem like the best person I could have ever wished for. Which is also kind of the concept of a soulmate but let’s get back to the point. Jack, you appear to be one of the most humble, caring and loveable humans on this planet. I have heard so many stories about you and so far not a single one has been proven wrong”. You took a step towards him and instinctively reached up to cup his face with your hands. Your own courage surprised you but this is really meant a lot to you. “Not to mention that you are also the most human on this planet. So explain to me, how could I possibly be disappointed? We are soulmates; this is the way it’s meant to be. Give it a try”.

Jack wanted to doubt your words for a second until he saw the sincerity in your eyes. The way you looked up to him, the way your touch lingered on his face. He was sure you meant every word of it, you were so serious. He could not describe the warmth that took over his body, from head to toe. A feeling of pride, of belonging, of love. This felt so right all of a sudden. Him being so close to you felt so right. Even if you were still locked in a not very clean storage room.

The person who got you in this situation was standing outside leaning his ear against the dark wood of the door, trying desperately to hear what you guys were saying. The shreds of the conversation he did pick up made him feel like the proudest wingman in the world. ‘Scout boy and shorty are finally gettin’ their shit together! I like where this is goin’!’

Back in the storage room, you weren’t the only one who had suddenly found a lot of courage. Jack carefully wrapped his arms around your waist and all you could do was stare into those beautiful eyes of his. They resembled the endless sky outside, just like Angela had told you just a few hours ago. You felt like you’d get lost in them any second. Before that could happen, Jack had unconsciously pulled you a little closer. The content of the question he uttered next had been in both of your minds for a while but it made your heart skip a beat in surprise. “May I kiss you?” His voice was barely above a whisper, afraid of Gabriel hearing this part too. He really didn’t need him listening in on this conversation anymore. You nodded; your cheeks were flushing bright red. His sudden determination to show his affection startled you a bit but there was no room for complaints anymore. Your eyes were closed as he placed a quick but sweet first kiss on your lips. Jack was able to convey all the feelings he could not express with words through this small action. It only lasted a few seconds but you promised yourself to never erase this first time from your memory, ever. Though there were many more first times to come.

Gabriel was confused. Why had it become so quiet in there all of a sudden? Were you done talking? Was it a good sign or did you go back to the awkward silence? So many questions and only one way to find out. He opened the door just a tiny bit to take a glimpse inside. If he hadn’t already been proud of his friend the scout boy before, he sure as hell would have been now. Even though he hated to admit it, witnessing you and Jack share your first kiss warmed his heart a little bit. Maybe not just a little bit. More like, a lot. He was relieved to see that his plan had worked out way better than he thought and that you hadn’t even noticed him yet. He decided to still break the silence and offer you the way out as you ended the kiss and just kept getting lost in each other’s eyes. He got a little bored at some point. “Would you look at that, huh. Seems like you guys sorted everything out. Good, then I shall let you pass out of this dusty, old room now”, he announced with a smirk, making you and Jack let go of each other almost instantly.

“Don’t you ever do something like this again, Gabriel” Jack was back at it again with his famous death glare. “Admit it, you are thankful that I helped you guys out. Even if it’s just a little bit!” Jack looked over at you, his cheeks taking on a lovely shade of pink again. “Well, maybe a little bit.” 

Okay, so this is the first part of a fic that Admin Macaree and I’ve been working on for a while now! We hope to provide you with the remaining two parts soon :D

Please note that both of us are from Germany and there are probably a lot of grammar and spelling mistakes in there. We deeply apologize and we will work hard to improve our English (and our summary writing skills)! 

- Admin Moronison

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 (coming soon)

[ecotone99]

[SP]Blood on the Mountain

Note: I tagged this as speculative fiction because it doesn't seem to fit in anywhere. If anyone happens to read it and has any thoughts, I'd be happy to hear your advice.

Angela Walters hoisted her green Deuter backpack onto her shoulders and took a deep breath, taking in the dusty smell of the desert. She gazed at the foothills of the Superstition Mountains, the wilderness area she would spend the next four days exploring. To her, this was the perfect vacation: solitude, fresh air, and nature.

The sun wasn’t yet out when she set out on the Peralta trail-head, but several groups of people (day hikers judging from their packs) crowded the parking lot, applied sunscreen, and adjusted their Camelbacks. They were likely gearing up for the short 2 and a half mile hike to Freemont saddle. From there, one could get arguably the best views of Weaver’s Needle and Black Top Mesa, landmarks well known to the locals. Angela was headed in that direction herself, but that was only the beginning of her route. The Peralta was also a gateway to the vast system of intertwining trails throughout the wilderness. As she hiked up the first incline, she took one last look at the parking lot, her white Subaru the last evidence of the civilized society.

She made it to the saddle in just under an hour. A mass of people already lined up to take group photos and selfies, but Angela kept going.

Angela fell in love with the Superstition wilderness soon after moving to Arizona 6 years ago. Since then, she hiked and backpacked all over the state: from the Red Rocks of Sedona to the Santa Catalina’s of Tucson. She even hiked up mount Humphrey, the highest peak in Arizona at least a dozen times. All were beautiful, but none compared to the eerie tranquility of the Superstitions. No matter how many spectacular trips she took, they always lured her back.

The saguaro cacti lined the buttes like sentinels guarding their posts. Their outstretched arms looked as if they were welcoming her. Although she always joked that they also looked as if they were waving her away, warning her not to go any further, that danger lay ahead. Of course, she never felt unsafe here.

Some of them looked to be over 200 years old judging by their arms. Saguaros get their first arm at 50 years was it, she thought, or 100? She couldn’t remember. Either way, she imagined the stories they could tell if they talked. More interesting than urban legends, I bet, and likely more frightening.

***

After about 12 miles into her hike, she found herself at La Barge Canyon, along the creek. The sun crept behind the mountains just as she found the perfect campsite, not far from the water.

After pitching her tent, she climbed down the bank to filter some water. She had plenty left, but according to her map, it would be awhile before she had access to water again. Better safe than sorry, Angie, her dad’s word’s echoed in her head. Ken Walters, a former eagle scout, Class of 1979, took the “Be prepared” motto to a whole new level. Whenever they took a trip as a family, no matter how much water they had, he would always fill up when he saw the opportunity. Never mind the fact that their trips were in the Midwest where water was plentiful, unlike here. Although it drove her nuts and she thought it a waste of time, she was thankful for picking up his habits after she moved to the desert. What’s flowing today could be gone tomorrow. That was her motto.

***

The stars dotted the sky as she finished her dinner: re-hydrated beans and rice. That would be her next few dinners as a matter of fact. Her mom would have been disappointed with her lazy meal prep. Rita, like Angela’s dad, was also a fanatic of the outdoors. Her dad called her the Martha Stewart of the wilderness. She always prepared an intricate meal for dinner, usually a recipe she read in that month’s issue of Backpacker Magazine. She had a whole scrapbook of them.

To Angela, food was only sustenance to get her through and too much time spent on cooking took the fun out of the whole trip. The same went for cooking at home.

The memories of her family made her happy, but she wished they weren’t so far away so they could enjoy this with her. Her parents were the only people who loved the outdoors as much as she did.

When she finished her cleanup, she made her way into her tent, snuggling into her Kelty sleeping bag. The chirrup of crickets and babbling creek lulled her slowly to sleep.

***

That night, she dreamt she was a teenager back in Northern Minnesota. She and her parents were on their yearly trip to Isle Royale National Park in the middle of Lake Superior. Her mom was preparing the crappies they caught, and Angela and her dad were on the beach skipping stones. When the sun gleamed into her tent, waking her up back in the Superstitions, she was slightly disappointed. She was now 2,000 miles away from her family. She made the decision that next year, she would fly out and they would do a trip together. She had to admit, at least to herself, she was homesick.

As she poked her head out she was greeted by the song of a pair of cactus wrens perched atop a giant saguaro, now filled with holes for their new home. And just like that the homesick feeling faded. This is home now.

***

After packing up camp, she grabbed a Cliff bar for breakfast on the go. She was already deep within the mountains, but the next stretch of trail would take her about as remote a location as one could get. Around lunchtime, she stopped seeing day hikers and even other backpackers.

She thought she was completely alone when she heard a faint voice, a man’s voice; yell out, “Ayyyyyy!”

It sounded pretty far away, maybe a mile or so. She stopped and listened. The voice called out again, “ELLL!” She couldn’t make out what the voice was saying, but she was increasingly annoyed. There was always one person every trip who Tarzan-yelled to hear their voice echo off the rocky walls of the canyons, ignorant of the people who come here to find peace and quiet.

She marched again, stabbing her trekking poles into the ground with more force than she needed.

Seconds later he called out again, “Help!” She stopped in her tracks. That time it was clear and much closer. Someone was actually in trouble.

“Hello” Angie called out.

“Help,” the man shouted again. “Please,” he added sounding desperate.

This time she was able to pinpoint the direction of the man’s voice. It was coming from a group of buttes less than a mile off the trail. She felt she could find him and locate the trail on her way back.

“Just hold on,” she called, “I’ll be right there!”

She made her way off the trail, calling out every now and then to make sure she was headed in the right direction. She also made mental notes of any landmarks to help guide her way back, just in case. This guy was farther off the trail than she originally thought. A sense of regret washed over her, followed by a dull fear. What if this is a trap, she thought. She read news stories about hikers who were lured off the trail only to be robbed, hurt, or even worse. She debated turning around when the man called again. “Are you still there” he asked, much closer now. His voice cracked with pain. In that moment, her conscious caught up to her and she called back, “I’m here.” He sighed, sounding relieved.

She found him in a small cliff dwelling about 100 feet from the ground. He sat slumped over to the side. Carefully, she climbed her way up to where he was. There were plenty of stable rocks (used as steps back in the day, most likely) to help her up. When she approached, she noticed his leg was broken. On the ground next to him was an old topographic map marked with notes.

Attached to his pack was a small pickaxe. A prospector, she thought, another poor soul searching in vain for the Lost Goldmine. She knew the story well. Back in the 1800s, according to legend, a man named Jacob Waltz found a mine in these mountains with copper and gold. He quickly became one of the richest men in the area. When he died, he took the exact location to his grave but gave clues that treasure hunters have been trying to solve. Many experts believe there is no mine. If you ask a seasoned geologist, they’d say the rocks here don’t even allow for gold. However, there are many who believe there is something more sinister at work. That Jacob made a deal with evil spirits in exchange for money. From what Angela remembered, many people who ventured out never came back and were never found. Those who were found were missing a head which would sometimes turn up later, usually far from the body. She shivered at the thought.

She knelt down by the man whose clothes were shredded and hair was matted with blood and dirt. With much effort he lifted his head.

“Thank you so much ma’am,” he said. “I thought I would be in these mountains forever.” He forced a smile as if every muscle in his face hurt.

“How long have you been here” Angela asked.

He looked her in the eyes but didn’t answer at first. His smile looked less grateful and almost guilty, sympathetic even.

To her shock and horror, he stood up. Despite the broken leg he stood up and walked toward her. She backed away in disbelief.

Finally he answered her question, “longer than I hope you will ever be.” With that, he vanished into a thin mist. Her body went numb as she stared, disbelieving. Before she could comprehend, the dirt from underneath her gave way. After a few vain spirals of her arms, gravity pulled her back to the base of the foothill. She heard, rather than felt, her body thud against the ground before everything went dark.

***

When she awoke, she was staring at the pastel desert sky. It took her a few moments to remember what happened and why she was on her back. When she finally did, she carefully sat up and assessed her body for broken bones and wounds. The only thing she found was a bump on the back of her head, but to her surprise it really wasn’t as painful as it should be. There was a dull sensation reminding her of what happened, but nothing more. She gazed up at the sky once again. “Someone up there must be watching over me,” she said. “Thank you.” Although she was never much of a religious person, much to the dismay of her devout Lutheran parents, she thought maybe she should reconsider after this ordeal was finished. That fall could have easily killed her. She was lucky she didn’t really feel much pain, though she figured it would come in full force by tomorrow.

The sky darkened and she realized the sun was setting and she was pretty far from the trail. She shot up and started jogging back the way she came, looking out for her landmarks, (fallen trees, strange stone patterns) on the way. Meanwhile she couldn’t shake the last words the man spoke to her. Longer than I hope you will ever be. What did he mean by that? Did he think she was going to get lost? An even worse thought popped into her head. Was that his intention for calling me out here? She immediately shook the thought away. She could admit she saw something strange, but she refused to theorize past that.

Maybe I’ll cut south tomorrow and head back to the trailhead, she thought. After the “ghost” encounter and her near death experience, she felt she had her fill of the Superstitions for a while. Now I know why many people refuse to come back here alone. Like religion, she never put much stock in the stories: the ghosts, the alien abductions, the time slips, and even portals to other dimensions, all of which people claimed happened here. These weren’t just a few anecdotes either, but hundreds of occurrences.

As she summited what she was positive was the last butte before the trail, her breath caught in her throat. The trail was gone. She looked around, frantically searching the mountains. Everything looked familiar up until this point. She was sure she would be looking out over the trail by now.

The last light of the sun ducked behind the mountains and the stars started peaked from behind the night sky. It was too dark to continue. She would only get more disoriented. After a few moments of contemplation, she set up camp, determined to find her way in the morning.

***

It took her a couple hours to fall asleep, she was too frustrated, and admittedly, too worried. When she finally managed to drift off, a glowing light woke her up, followed by a crackle. Fire, she thought. That meant people were close by. Her heart leaped. Maybe she wasn’t so far from the trail after all. She unzipped the tent and poked her head out. Approximately 100 yards away, she saw the fire and four figures gathered around it. She made her way toward their camp.

“Excuse me,” she called as she was closer, “I got a little turned around. Could you tell me where the trail is?”

The four men looked at her solemnly. Two were Native American-Apache probably if they lived in the area. They were dressed in traditional garb as if they came from a pow wow. The third man was dressed like a prospector during the gold rush days. The last man looked like a backpacker, but some of his equipment, including the external frame backpack, dated back a few decades. He had long brown hair with a matching beard and looked like he could be a member from Crosby, Stills, and Nash. She didn’t see a tent or any shelter.

Three of men shifted their gaze to the eldest looking Native American man, expecting him to speak. He nodded to them, and then spoke to her, “You shouldn’t be here.”

“I’m so sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to disturb you-“

“But you are here, just like the rest of us” he continued, cutting her apology short. “And just like the rest of us, you must pay your debt to the mountains.”

These words sent a chill down Angela’s spine; she could feel her goosebumps swelling up. She had so many questions, but she could only manage one.

“Who are you people?”

“We are the lost, the fallen, and the taken” he replied. “We belong to the mountains until we pay our debts. The Abode of the Thunder Gods is a living place, a jealous place. Its prisoners are not given up lightly.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Your debt is small now,” he told her. “Pay it before it grows. Time is short.” With that, he blew a white powder into the fire. The flames blinded her. When she opened her eyes she was back in the tent, the only light in her eyes was that of the sun.

***

Before setting out, she took out her topographic map and compass. She was certain she would find the trail and which direction she should go. She took a look at the mountain patterns around her and studied the map, trying to match where she was. She realized these patterns weren’t anywhere near that trail she left off, or anywhere on the map for that matter. The map was recently updated by National Geographic, so it should have been accurate. She had strayed from a trail before and could always pinpoint approximately where she was. This time, that was not the case.

Time for plan B, she thought as she pulled out her compass. State Highway 60 ran along the south of the Superstitions. Unless she managed to somehow go 40 miles off track, she would run into the highway, and perhaps even a trailhead, if she headed due south. Once she found that direction, she started hiking again. She remembered reading an article in Backpacker magazine which mentioned what to do if lost in different landscapes, including the desert. She didn’t remember much from the article except to seek high ground if disoriented. She always thought she would live in the Midwest, so she didn’t take it too seriously. However, after graduating from MIT, an opportunity opened up at Tempe’s Silicon Valley as a programmer, and she jumped at the opportunity. So here she was, lost in the desert, wishing she took the time to remember that article. Irony at its finest, she thought.

During the next few hours, she sought high ground every chance she had to see if she could figure out where she was on the map. Every time she did, things looked more and more foreign, as if she were in a secret part of the mountains or fell through a vortex to another dimension (another phenomenon locals claimed happened here). It just didn’t make sense. After what felt like hours, the sun worked its way to the middle of the sky and she was no closer to getting out. There was no sign of humanity, no sign of the trail, and no sign of any God. The father she went, the landscape never seemed to change. This was both frustrating and strange. Before long, the sun seemed to stay in the same spot for what felt like hours. She also realized she hadn't eaten or drank anything, and she neither cared nor felt weak from it. She attempted to feed herself, but her stomach turned at the very sight of food, water too. She wasn’t hungry, thirsty, tired; she wasn’t even sore from the fall. She felt nothing. Maybe this is my body’s way of giving up. She didn’t care. She continued to wander.

***

Finally, after an immeasurable period of time, she climbed atop a hill and saw a sign post in the distance. One that indicates a fork in the trail. Her body seemed to kick start back to life and she lunged forward to read the sign. When she was closer she realized there was a trail. “To Peralta trailhead,” the sign read. She didn’t find just any trail; she found the trail to take her back to where she started. She kept going.

As she approached the trailhead, finally recognizing her surroundings, she passed by a few fellow hikers. Elated at the sight of people, she greeted every one she passed. No one answered. They didn’t even look at her or move when she approached. She had to step out of the way a few times to avoid being run over. Damn, she thought. People sure are grumpy today. Usually hikers are much friendlier. She shrugged it off as bad manners and continued on.

Finally, she was back at the parking lot. A picture on the bulletin board caught her eye. She froze. It was a picture of her, taken on her last trip with her parents on the Superior Hiking trail two years ago. The sky was grey and the Great Lake in the background looked restless with its white caps. She remembered that day well. They ended up pitching their tents by 2:00 pm because they weather was so bad. In large bold letters above the picture was a single word: “Missing.”

The world went quiet around her. She couldn’t even hear herself breathing. She forced herself to read the rest of the poster.

Angela Lynn Walters.

Tempe, Arizona resident

Last seen: March, 31st 2016.

Please call with any information

I’m not even scheduled to be back yet. It’s only been a couple days.

To the left of the poster was one of those signs which read the date and the time of sunrise and sunset. It read, “August 13th, 2016.” Almost five months from when she set out.

“No” she said. “No, no, no.”

She stood there, holding and shaking her head. She screamed as loud as she could. No one reacted. They didn’t hear her. That was when she realized what the Native American man meant when he said she had a debt to pay. She thought back to her dream of the four men around the fire. The man had gash on his forehead which looked fatal. The backpacker had a scar that went around his neck. They’re all dead. And so am I. It all makes sense. I was part of a debt to be paid. She touched the back of her head once more. The bump was still there. That’s how I died. She took a few steps onto the parking lot, determined to leave, but not sure what her plan was. The world swirled around her and went dark.

***

She opened her eyes and was back in the mountains, exactly where she had fallen from the cliff dwelling. She heard the crackle of fire and followed the sound. There sat the four men (ghosts) gathered around the bonfire in the same exact spot. The backpacker with the retro equipment approached her smiled at her sympathetically.

“How long have you been here” she asked.

He shrugged. “It’s hard to tell. Time moves differently out here.” He added, “I’m sure you noticed by now.”

There was a long pause. She couldn’t bring herself to accept her fate, let alone speak again. Not yet.

“I went missing in the spring of 1972” he told her. “I was backpacking alone and decided to go off the trail after running another hiker told me there were beautiful views overlooking a tall mesa. When I reached the top, another man came up behind me. I swear he came out of nowhere. He said I got too close and he couldn’t let me live.”

He motioned to his scar around his head. “They found my body first” he added, “Not sure what happened to the head.”

“And now you’re a lost soul” she said, more of a statement than a question.

“Yes, “he replied. “We belong to the mountain until we pay our debts.”

“But what does that mean?”

“I think you know what it means,” he said, his tone solemn. “You just don’t want to pay it. We didn’t either. Now here I am, offering blood sacrifices to the Abode of the Thunder Gods, hoping I’ll get to cross over or at least get the hell out of these mountains.”

There it was again, “Abode of the Thunder Gods,” what ancient people called the Superstitions long ago.

“The Gods of the mountains never wanted any mortals to enter here” he continued. “This is their home. A sacred place. Every generation had a story warning people not to enter and every generation people refused to heed those warnings. These are vengeful gods and you are their latest victim, until you offer them another.”

Angela realized she would have to make a choice: remain in the mountains or get someone to take her place. Although it seemed the longer she stayed, the more people she would have to lead astray. The more people she would have to lead to their death.

“All you have to do is lead people out” he said, “The mountains will do the rest.”

She recalled the rocky mouth of the cliff dwelling giving way under her feet like sand. It was then she knew this place was evil.

***

It was once again daytime. She sat atop a small foothill, gazing out at one of the trails. She was contemplating her options, when she heard a woman laughing in the distance. She looked out and found a man and woman, holding hands and hiking her way. They looked so happy, so innocent. She couldn’t possibly bring them to her fate. She thought about the ghosts, some who looked like they had been in the mountains for decades or even centuries. Do I want to stay here for eternity?

She watched as the couple started to shrink in the distance. Even if I did, what would happen to my soul? Where do I go next and how do I know it’s not worse than this?

The couple was almost out of eyesight now. She had to choose. “God, if you are there, forgive me” she said, and yelled for help.

submitted by /u/AJ_Shadows [link] [comments] via Blogger https://ift.tt/2Z7QLBn

[fcrgedstrcngth]

Angela Carter

“For courage, strategy, and moral guidance, you were his support.”

NAME: Angela Elizabeth Carter

AGE: 57

PARENTS: Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter

DOB: June 17, 1961

PLACE OF BIRTH: New York City, New York

HOGWARTS HOUSE: Gryffindor

FACECLAIM: Angie Harmon/Maia Mitchell

MAIN VERSE: canon; post-Avengers: Endgame

Biography:

Angela Carter was born in 1961, the product of the artificial insemination – with Steve Rogers DNA – of Peggy Carter with the moral support of her fiancé, Daniel Sousa, and the medical support of Howard Stark and Dr. Jason Wilkes.

From her birth, the baby girl was deemed a failure. The covert attempt of the quartet to create another super soldier, or at least recapture the makeup of Erskine’s serum, was a failure. The baby, named Angela after her mother’s best friend, was perfectly average, but Daniel and Peggy loved her endlessly regardless. They didn’t tell her of her paternity, and she found no reason to think her father might be anyone but Daniel.

She was twelve when she stumbled upon the truth. She spent a lot of her free time in her parents’ office, and it was while helping new agents move boxes of archived files that she found a box with her name on it. The notes inside – in her parents’, Mr. Stark’s, and Dr. Wilkes’ handwriting – revealed whose she was, and what they had hoped she would be.

The discovery had a profound impact on Angela, who hated her name so much she went by her surname until after graduating from university. She spent the rest of her life trying to become – or at least make up for – what they’d wanted her to be. Though she’d always been allowed – and interested – in the office side of SHIELD, she began to go to training sessions as well, but then, privately, she began to mimic what she saw, training as well as she could alone.

Soon, she was asking people to teach her anything she could think of. Sparring with her mother. Swimming and how to navigate by the stars came from Jack Thompson. Everything about guns and how to speak Russian came from Peggy Carter’s favorite agent, Danyela Ulrich. She learned how to disarm a bomb – or at least a fake one – from the man she’d mentally come to call only “Daniel.” Maria Stark taught her Italian, and Ana Jarvis taught her Hebrew and Hungarian. Any science she managed to retain came from Drs. Samberly and Wilkes and Howard Stark. Mr. Jarvis even taught her fencing and boxing.

As time passed, though she learned all those things, she was never truly a master of any of them. Despite her best efforts to do better – to be more – she still felt most at home in the offices of SHIELD.

As her high school years ended, her mother suggested she look into becoming a lawyer, declaring that there was more than one type of fight, and more than one way to win, to change the world. Carter enrolled in law school, relishing the challenge that she finally felt capable of meeting. This she could do, and she found that she adored her work now. She was good at it.

True to form, though, as soon as Angela graduated with her license to practice, she took it right back to SHIELD. She became a lawyer for SHIELD, defending their agents fiercely, and prosecuting their enemies whenever called upon to do so.

Verses:

 From This Moment On: follows canon MCU

Road Less Traveled: any other AU threads

AUs (for teenage Carter):

So Many Ways To Be: (Descendants) daughter of Cogsworth

Ever Ever After: (Fairytale) a very politically-involved princess

Borrowed Babies: (Foster Care) foster daughter whose parents were soldiers in the army who were blown up together in Iraq

I Solemnly Swear That I’m Up To No Good: (Harry Potter) Gryffindor seventh-year

Alternatively 1902: (Victorian) daughter of two veterans of the Civil War

Grow Up With the Land: (Wild West) daughter of two veterans of the Civil War, who now travels with her parents as they guide people along the Oregon Trail

Forward To Victory: (World War II) the daughter of two soldiers, she convinced her parents that she was old enough to follow them into the war zone, old enough to help, and now she spends her days helping the nurses, and listening in to strategy planning

Starter Call

[mckaymckay2-blog]

Kangpe Is A Mobile Service Connecting Africa To Healthcare

An easy occasion which, when triggered the very first time, plays specified celebrations that are branched from the left side hand-side, when induced every other time, plays those events on the right-hand edge each time. As well as if you don't want to discuss the quotes you create with the group you don't have to-- you could maintain private quotes exclusive as well as merely use the application to make a coordinated, graphic collection of the most effective little bits off guides you know. The preserved room works as a walk-in remembrance, a place to really feel near the departed (their cherished publications heavy on the shelf, their aroma soft on the pillow), to maintain them in the here and now also as opportunity shunts them ever before more in to the past.

Due to the fact that the sun is low, see to it you can actually view that coming from your capturing site. It's that wonderful, that superb that any type of testimonial I compose are going to only diminish in comparison to the creating in guide. browse this site hope that Apple may reproduce the eye-catching user interface on the Apple Watch in a brand new variation from the Wellness app for the apple iphone. However the creating seems on the wall surface: E-books are actually gradually subsuming the imprinted style as the favored lorry on which folks read through manuals. Your photos are absolutely beautiful Angela and also I can not wait for your new publication coming in September. If you've but to read through Caraval, I wish I have actually taken care of to persuade you;-RRB- This manual is entitled to ALL the buzz and I could not hang around to find where Stephanie Garber has our company next! The Skull could appear a saying figure currently, however he was among the original uses villainous Nazis in comic books. Financiers have backed 55 start-ups since 2011 in an initiative to take the health insurance market up to speed along with current customer requirement, as well as lately they are actually getting the pace. Ruby through Radiance is a new iphone app that makes this super straightforward for women. to log their wellness data everyday. Zuckerberg composes that it's a fun break from several of the heavier material he is actually read in his book nightclub. There's no time difference in between the Algarve and also the UK from November to overdue March, as the time in the Algarve reverts off Western side European Summer months Time, which is 1 hr in front of Greenwich Way Opportunity (GMT), back to Western European Civil time as well as this coincides as GMT. His perspective, as demonstrated in the book and an interview, seems to become that from a blend extreme black militant, sex-related libertine and also typical Republican the boss. For extra on the brand-new SAP Connected Health solution and its strategic companions, reviewed the press launch and also see the captured board discussion coming from SAPPHIRE NOW. I constantly maintain some industrial sunflower seed butter on hand for when those nut-butter yearnings assault, and also would not mind trying my palm at making that myself! I detested that although the chapters as well as sentences were actually brief and also uneven, the book was actually 550 web pages long! Due to the fact that I often tend to enjoy them far better when read at my personal pace, I will somewhat read through those big publications in the course of my breaks. . Unlike nearly every other type of digital web content you purchase from Apple, you can easily not re-download audiobooks, and also you may certainly not maintain a public library from your books in the cloud. We noted the blast in private health apps at CES 2011 One that recorded our eye was the iHealth BP3 High blood pressure Screen, an iphone dock tool that consists of an automated blood pressure sensor. Like along with any type of literary works, just what you avoid this book differs based upon just how you decide to analyze it. The only portion of the story that failed to shriek of the impracticality from hope when faced with reality, was Lou's personal growth throughout her effort, which annoyingly makes me would like to go through AFTER YOU to view if the improvements adhered, as well as are going to almost certainly be an additional frustration. As a matter of fact, the only factor you definitely should think about when looking at the PlayBase as a songs speaker is actually that sharp treble and the sibilance. Currently certainly I don't count on manuals to follow just before family members or even job however this document illustrates that reading for pleasure is an important part from a balanced life. Indiana College, College from Health, Physical Education and Relaxation (Bloomington, IN) - BloomingLife: The Skeletal system Chase is an alternate reality game made to promote physical exertion and healthy and balanced way of livings amongst college freshers. http://fermecatorsilueta.info felt responsible panning a book that has actually acquired such worldwide recognition; moreover, I experienced poor as well as unsatisfactory. Since john green (when i say his title, you should view little bit of hearts emerging coming from my ears - ♥ john environment-friendly ♥) has sufficient abilities to earn these likely extraordinary characters continually engaging and to do the absurd from creating a YA cancer manual extremely very funny. The devastation Go here to enjoy a video assessment this publication on my stations, From Starting to Bookend. As opposed to a 2008 launch date like the followers were assured guide was actually pushed four years. Regardless of the imperfections from its cellular connection, This's a wonderful item from equipment as well as, final I checked out, Amazon.com still had the biggest choice of manual as well as periodical names to decide on, anywhere. Along with book printing, our team've found a way to far better support this type of work, permit authors in order to get spent as well as, while maybe not earn a profit, ensure the jobs reach the correct people as well as are actually kept in the considerate tool of guide. Of course i is going to buy guide and also i over likely will enjoy the book but that will not help me to just like guide as i did with the very first. There additionally is actually a collection from on-demand" booking services for the wellness aware. The book is coming from the perspective of an teen kid with Asperger's syndrome called Christopher - his mother has actually lately died as well as he uncovers a dead canine in some of his next-door neighbor's gardens. This publication has actually likewise instructed me that I don't must care about other people; if they do not obtain what they wish it isn't really anything to with me or anything to perform along with culture being actually equal or even reasonable, that's given that they failed to want hard sufficient or even learn how to visualise what they desire! That's why health and wellness promo and also condition deterrence should be keystones of health reform. I understand that there are lots of folks that enjoy this book, writers which is actually publication I enjoy, visitors that's preferences I appreciate. I review that. Or rather I survived that. That was delivered today, well concluded along with an awesome book marking and also is where all the beneficial things about reviewing this manual finishes. HealthKit is probably to make it possible for consumers to post details into their digital health record, and this is probably to become beneficial for insurance carriers as well as companies, which will grow iOS seepage in to the office, and also increase use of wearables to track employee physical fitness. Although I carried out have a rocky beginning with it. I'm a basically black-and-white thinker ... I'm imaginative (I create!) yet in some cases when points get musical and also as well allegorical as well as off-the-universe-imaginative ... I LOSE THIS. So the start from the book possessed me going to pieces.

[bisoroblog]

How Deeper Understanding of a Student’s Life Helps with Plans for Success

The week before winter break, snow is piled up around St. Louis Park High School, a low-slung, rambling brick complex in suburban Minneapolis. And more snow is falling.

This is a big, diverse school with proud roots. Alumni include Joel and Ethan Coen, who shot their semiautobiographical 2009 drama, A Serious Man, in this area, once a Jewish enclave, which today has immigrants from all over the world.

But in 1998, when Angela Jerabek was a school counselor for freshmen here, she was “discouraged.” For five years running, about half the ninth-grade students had been failing at least one course.

“I went to the principal to say, ‘I don’t think I’m doing this job well and I feel like I should resign.’ ” Her principal had a different idea.

“He said [the problem] wasn’t just with me or just with our high school. That this really was an issue that was occurring in high schools across the country, and that we really needed to look at a new solution.”

And he challenged her to come up with one.

Teachers Sarah Lindenberg and Kara Cisco chat with Kelly Brown, the BARR coordinator at St. Louis Park. (Elissa Nadworny/NPR)

One of the biggest questions in education is whether it’s even possible to turn around a low-performing school. The Obama administration spent $7 billion on school turnarounds, and their final verdict was that nothing really worked.

The solution Jerabek developed is called the BARR method, for Building Assets, Reducing Risks. And, she has an unusual amount of evidence. Out of 172 projects in a big federal innovation grant program, BARR is the only one that progressed through randomized controlled trials to win grants at all three levels: innovation, development and scale-up.

The ninth-grade shock

BARR doesn’t require changing the teachers or the students in a school. It doesn’t overhaul the curriculum or discipline. It doesn’t require flashy technology. It’s based on something simple, and decidedly unsexy: meetings.

Jerabek decided to focus her efforts on freshman year. Many students stumble in the transition to high school — more than any other year of school. A failing grade in that first year significantly raises your risk of dropping out. And that, in turn, can shadow your entire life. Just from one F grade. Researchers call this the “ninth-grade shock.”

So, Jerabek figured out a way that all the adults in a school building could come together to try to cushion that shock.

Brown chats with Tony between classes (Elissa Nadworny/NPR)

Up on the third floor here at St. Louis Park, there’s a room with no windows, but inspirational posters and free candy on the table. We’re here for the weekly block meeting. Here, teachers who share the same group of students sit down over a shared Google doc with the school support staff: the social worker, the counselor, sometimes even the police officer assigned to the school.

The core of the BARR method is these meetings, where educators talk about three things. First, the data — on attendance, behavior and grades. Alex Polk, a science teacher, observes of one student: “She’s been late at least 19 times and is late with the same group of people each time.”

Second, the big picture of the students’ lives. Daniel Perez, the school social worker, shares his notes from meetings with students: “He and his mom don’t get along, he feels ignored by her, Dad is not in the picture, he does not have friends here at Park and he is not interested in making friends.”

Finally, they come up with a personalized plan for what to do to help each student, like signing them up for tutoring, calling home or holding a mediation.

Tjessa Arradando, a sophomore who loves chemistry and writes for the school paper, explains how BARR worked for her.

“I have anxiety, so if I was stressed I’d go down to the counselor’s office and they would kind of talk to me, come up with a plan on how to, you know, adjust at certain times.” She had a pass to get out of class; the counselors let the teachers know about her needs, so Arradando felt like all the adults were on her side. This year, she says, she’s managing much better.

Tjessa Arradando in her advanced English class. (Elissa Nadworny/NPR)

Building a fuller picture of a student

In most schools, teachers meet regularly to talk about subject areas or administrative duties. In BARR schools, the point of block meetings is to pool knowledge on students. Most teachers only see a student for no more than 45 minutes a day, Jerabek points out. They may not have the background knowledge to understand what is really going on when a student is acting out.

Sometimes, piecing together information creates a startling picture.

At a BARR school in California, one teacher raised a concern about a specific group of 14-year-old girls that tended to sit with older boys rather than other freshmen at lunch. A second teacher noticed that the same girls were missing class on Mondays and Fridays. A third teacher was concerned about dress code violations. No one was particularly alarmed, but when they cross-referenced the information and followed up, Jerabek says, they discovered that the girls were being trafficked for sex.

There’s a second BARR meeting each week called Risk Review, about the kids in the toughest situations. Just on one Thursday, we hear about drug issues, fears of deportation, chronic illness, eating disorders and a student who may not have a place to sleep.

Even though BARR, by definition, focuses on students with problems, it also highlights strengths. Kelly Brown, the BARR coordinator at St. Louis Park, probes teachers again and again to name what’s going right: like a student with a good sense of humor, say, or a supportive parent.

This is deliberate, says Jerabek: “To be able to identify the strengths does require that you’ve actually built a relationship with a student.”

There’s a classroom component to the BARR method as well, a social and emotional curriculum called iTime. It allows students and teachers to get to know each other better and, again, build positive relationships.

For example, in Kara Cisco’s civics class on the day we visit, students are giving each other awards based on the Preamble to the Constitution. “Promote the general welfare” might be a student who shares their snacks.

This combination of hard data and soft skills has paid off. In the first year of BARR here at St. Louis Park, the failure rate for freshmen was cut in half, from 50 percent to 25 percent, and those results stuck.

Gold-standard evidence

As BARR spread, researchers tested the model by the gold standard: randomized controlled trials. And they found over and over again, it raises test scores and pass rates, reduces absences and suspensions, and students feel more engaged and challenged at school. The effects are particularly large for students of color, male students and students from low-income families.

Across big-city schools like St. Louis Park, there’s a 40 percent drop in failure rates from BARR, and in small rural schools it’s 29 percent on average.

The principal here, Scott Meyers says the BARR model does cost some money, because of the adjustment in teacher schedules. And it may be harder to put in place in districts that are really hurting for support staff like counselors. But, Jerabek likes to point out, BARR shows you can make big changes without changing the students or the teachers in a school, just by focusing on relationships.

“Many students, they just work harder when they know that the adults care about them.”

These days, Angela Jerabek spends her time flying from Maine to California. BARR is now in 80 schools in 13 states and Washington, D.C. Over the next five years, Jerabek says, that will triple.

Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

How Deeper Understanding of a Student’s Life Helps with Plans for Success published first on https://dlbusinessnow.tumblr.com/