#but you know what they say sadly jail has free meals and housing

[groove-on-boogie-down]

Maarva is trying to fight the good fight head on! Inspired by her son’s contributions to a heist she doesn’t even know he was involved in!

Meanwhile Cassian’s actions are looming over him like a cloud and following him like a shadow as he tries to escape the reality and impact of what he did.

[stray-kids-react]

Thier s/o being a vampire

Masterlist

...

Bang Chan

° You were bitten seven years ago, later being forced to join a cult of vampires. The youngest of them all, and also the most sensitive and kind.

° You didn't want to live a vampire lifestyle, and wanted to just live normally. You honestly didn't even enjoy the taste of blood, even animal blood.

° Your master took your sensitivity to his advantages, granting you access to go back to school while they followed behind and bit new victims during their breaks.

° As they formed an army of vampires, you grew connections to new people. Including your desk mate Chan, who seemed to take an interest in you.

° As the university semester went along, you sadly grew attached to Chan. Regretting it since he isn't immortal and has no idea that you are, and your cult could hunt him.

° Just as you walked to class the next day to tell Chan the truth, you realized the seat next to yours was empty. Your heart sank, knowing Chan wouldn't miss a class ever.

° You ran back to the cult mansion, noticing Chan's unconscious body being dragged into the building. Not hesitating, you ran up to your master and grabbed Chan from him.

"I WON'T LET YOU HURT HIM!"

"... Has y/n grown attached? To this... Mortal?" he laughed lowly.

° You dashed into the forest with Chan in your arms, cold tears running down your cheeks. Feeling immense guilt for involving Chan in this, it was your fault.

"Y-y/n?...." He groaned, a raspy voice as he just woke up.

"You're okay, oh thank heavens." You sighed, smiling sweetly. Not realizing your fangs were in plain sight.

° You only caught on that your fangs were showing by his widened eyes, soon covering your mouth in terror. But he didn't seem scared, just...surprised.

° He sat up in your lap, wiping your tear stained cheeks. Chan rested his head against yours as he smiled gently, before interlocking his lips with yours.

"You're not creeped out?"

"No, if you wanted to bite me you would've done it by now." He reassured, booping your nose.

Lee Know

° You and Minho were the newest members of your opposing cults, neither of you ever met. All that was shown was a photo of him to you, telling you to hunt him down.

° When you walked through those university doors, you had no idea that he was on the same mission but to find you instead. You thought he was just a normal human.

° He say next to you in every class you had together, listening to your responses to questions and noting your small habits. As you tried to do the same for him.

° It only took the next day for you to finally say a word to each other, noticing how attractive he truly was. Especially when he showed off his bright smile.

° It was his job to attract you to him, but you seemed different from the other three people he's had to this on. Minho actually felt a connection towards you.

° Minho didn't want to grow attached to you, but he had. So he decided to bite you instead of killing you, that way he couldn't lose you or let someone else kill you.

° But as his fangs protruded and he moved your tshirt down on your sleeping form. Minho noticed two scar marks from another vampire bite, you were already a vampire.

"Shit..." He sighed, realizing the situation he was in.

"Minho? Stop hogging the blankets." You whined, pulling the blankets back.

° Minho stayed silent, staring at the ceiling. Knowing he can't kill you, so he'd have to fake your death or his. He just couldn't betray you like that, you're too nice.

"You should've told me you were like me y/n." He replied, glancing towards your widened eyes.

"... You're the one who was suppose to hunt weren't you?" You asked, knowing the answer isn't a pleasant one.

° He nodded cautiously, flopping back down next to you. Wrapping his arms around your waist as you snuggled into him, his cold touch comforting you completely.

° The silence ate at both of your thoughts, both wondering what to do. Neither one of you cared about why your masters hated each other, instead how to escape.

"Let's runaway together." He suggested, burrowing his face into my neck.

"I'll follow wherever you take me." I replied, hoping our plan to runaway succeeds.

Changbin

° When you went into your vampire form, you almost completely blacked out. Only waking up to the dead body you murdered right next to you, terrifying you immensely.

° Your boyfriend Changbin was curious about the recent murder mysteries, wondering how they haven't found the culprit yet or even any suspects.

° You luckily caught on when you would turn into your form, it was when you ran low on animal blood to satisfy you. And it happened at midnight everytime.

° You kept your blood bags in your basement, locked away in the cooler. If your boyfriend found the bags of blood, you didn't even want to picture his reactions to it.

° But when you went grocery shopping, he visited thinking you'd be home. He made himself comfortable due to the many times he's been to your house.

° The usually closed basement door was opened just a crack, the unknown darkness peeking his interest. Even if he felt his own anxiety fill his brain when he got closer.

° When you go home, you noticed the basement light on. Realizing Changbin must've been visited, and is now in the basement you don't want him to see.

"Y/n... Are you. Are you the killer?" He asked cautiously, gulping loudly.

"Sort of... But I can't control it. I-I'm a vampire and black out when it happens." You sigh, knowing he won't believe you.

° Changbin turned around slowly, holding you close as you began to break down in front of him. He knew you wouldn't do this, so he had to believe you.

"I believe you y/n." He reassured, kissing your head.

"Thank you. You are truly an angel." You whimpered, regaining composure.

° Changbin felt bad for seeing how scared you were of yourself, not being able for your worst fear to be yourself. All he could was supply you with blood and comfort you.

° If it were anyone else to discover your secret, you'd be in prison or dead. But Changbin knew who you were deep down and loved you for who you were.

"I'll help you hide the bodies." He reassured, wiping your tears.

"I love you Binnie." You replied, kissing his knuckles.

Hyunjin

° Hyunjin was bitten years ago, but refused to go near any human. He only used his inhuman abilities to protect you from other vampires who craved your untouched blood.

° You were one of the only humans left in town, most being unnatural creatures from nightmares in disguise. But Hyunjin always made sure Non of them effected you.

° The only people he trusted you with were his best friends, Han, Seungmin, and Felix. But they seemed to be weaker when it comes to the temptation of blood.

° So during a game night at their apartment, Felix followed you into the kitchen. You didn't think much of it since he was your best friend who you trusted quite a bit.

° But the sharp sting of two fangs sinking into your flesh froze your body from fear alone, Hyunjin was the one suppose to be the to bite you. Not Felix.

° You tried to keep the secret from Hyunjin, knowing he'd feel an overwhelming amount of guilt for not being there. Plus you felt guilty for not being more cautious.

° After you and Hyunjin would marry, he would bite you. It was a plan that both of you were excited for, but now you just ruined that important moment for the both of you.

"Y/n... Felix told me what he did." Hyunjin commented, leaning on the door frame.

"I'm so sorry Hyunjin, is should've been more careful." You sighed, guilt building up.

° Hyunjin walked up behind you, resting his chin on top of your head. He swayed you both back and forth, comforting all the sadness and guilt away.

"He apologized over 100 times." He chuckled softly, rubbing your knuckles.

"I think will 1000 times." You replied, leaning into his body.

° Hyunjin didn't hold a grudge against either of you, relieved Felix wasn't so effected by temptation that he killed you. But it still hurt him a bit, wishing he could've been the one.

° You let him bite the marks Felix made, making it his own. Even if it hurt more, you felt more relieved and comfortable with Hyunjin's bite. Feeling at home with him.

"Now you're mine. Forever." He teased, kissing the bleeding marks.

"Just like I've always wanted." You replied, cupping his face.

Han

° You were a killer vampire who didn't really care about your victims ever, only focusing on making sure you got your blood and no one would try to stop you.

° That is until you fell into someone's trap, being trapped in a net as the man revealed himself from the shadows. That prey that you tried to get, was simply a dummy.

° He trapped you in a jail like cell, feeding you nice meals along with dessert. Even going as far to get animal blood for drinks to go along with the meals.

° He couldn't let someone as dangerous as you go back into society, but he didn't want to be rude or anger you either. So it usually consisted of awkward encounters.

° As days went by, you went over all of the things you achieved in life. Realizing you hadn't even lived your life to the full potential it could be with your abilities.

° As your heart grew larger and your mind opened up to humans, you became attached to the man who caught you. It was more like a chance back to reality then a jail.

° He seemed to care about your comfort and safety, as if he knew that there was still a person inside of you. He didn't intend to hurt you, more healing you instead.

"How are you feeling today doll?" He asked, bringing the dinner you requested for.

"Thank you mortal." You huffed, looking sincere for once.

° The smile that embraced his features caused a flutter to your heart, you now know that this one human was impacting you more than the temptation of blood.

"Why did you treat me so well?" You asked, stuffing your cheeks with a bread bun.

"Everyone has a heart with feelings at the end of the day, you are no different." He explained, brushing the hair from your eyes.

° Han let you make yourself at home, even letting you cuddle with him in his bed. You never felt such a joyful feeling when he laughs at one of your lame jokes.

° You were free to go and live your vampire lifestyle once again, but you enjoyed his company far too much to leave. You fell for him hard, and felt happy about it.

"I think I fell for you Han Jisung." You admitted, avoiding his gaze.

"I'm glad I am not the only one who fell for someone." He replied, placing a kiss on your nose.

Felix

° You worked at the movie theatre with a whole bunch of girls who hated you for no reason, and guys who called you weird for not showing skin like the other girls.

° It was hard to act like nothing was wrong when you fight the urge to suck the blood from anyone pissed you off, and to gain confidence in the new form you hate.

° The only person you could rely on was your close co worker Felix, he made it his mission to stick up for you and make your days just a bit brighter than usual.

° Felix liked your quirky habits and differences from other people, he had a crush on you since you first started to work the same shifts as him.

° When your cravings were becoming insane, elf like ears would appear and your energy would decrease immensely. You usually blacked out during those times.

° Felix noticed your unconscious body next to your car, immediately rushing over in a panicked manner. He didn't even question your ears, he just need you to wake up.

° He heard your small unconscious murmurs about blood, licking your lips dryly everytime. Felix had suspicions that you drank blood, due to a lunchbox mix up.

"Oh thank God you're awake." He sighed, crawling off of you.

"I can't remember how I got here, but thank you. How'd you wake me?" You asked, noticing the cut on his palm.

° Felix revealed the lunch box mix up that happened earlier that day, explaining that he cut his palm and dripped some blood into your mouth assuming you had cravings.

"Do you think I'm creepy now?" You asked, leaning against your car door.

"Not really to be honest, you're still y/n. And I like you for who you are." He answered, running a hand through his hair.

° Felix suggested to drive you home since you still seemed a bit dizzy, holding you until you reached the bedroom safely. You flopped onto the bed, sighing comfortably.

° He was about to leave when you gripped his wrist, leaving a small kiss onto his cut palm. Insisting he stayed with you for the night, knowing he must be tired from the day.

"I have a spare mattress if you don't feel comfortable sharing." You reassured, grabbing your pajamas.

"I think I'll like sharing with you." He whispered, leaning onto you as he hugged you softly.

Seungmin

° You were bitten a week ago while going for a walk, you couldn't catch a glimpse at who had bit you. But you were more worried on how you would explain this to Seungmin.

° You were becoming weak, boney, palmy, and tired. All because you would be in the sun for too long, Seungmin noticed this and was scared that something was very wrong.

° He took you to the doctor, but nothing was apparently wrong even if you looked like death. Seungmin's mind raced with possibilities, not wanting to lose you.

° It was only til you fell asleep on the drive home that he noticed the bite marks, his heart sinking realizing what had happened. He bit you while in his vampire form.

° It wasn't common for him to not remember anything after a form switch, unless he was desperate for blood. Seungmin felt terrible for putting this illness upon you.

° It would take one more week of suffering until your body got use to the bite. And he would have to deal with the guilt all throughout those seven days.

° It didn't take a mind reader to realize Seungmin was feeling upset, and you could even tell while still feeling terrible. You assumed he must be apart of your bite.

"Be honest baby, did you bite me?" You asked in a gentle tone.

"I'm so sorry y/n. I feel terrible." He whimpered, nearly tearing up.

° Your limp arms wrapped around his figure, comforting him during those harsh thoughts that must've raced in his mind. You weren't mad with him, and never could be.

"It's okay Seungmin, I'm not mad." You reassured, kissing his shoulder.

"I would be if I were you." He sighed, glancing at your tired eyes.

° His guilt began to clear up as you became healthier again, helping you as much as he could with anything you needed. Even if ti were just simple cuddle sessions.

° When the week passed and your body fused with your new form, he never felt such excitement when you flew around the room squealing in pure joy.

"Baby I'm flying!" you squealed.

"I know baby, you're doing great." He replied, falling deeper in love.

Jeongin

° Jeongin saw you get murdered with his very own eyes, yet there you were sitting on top of your grave stone as he mourned your death. He couldn't believe his eyes.

° He was convinced that he was just going crazy and you were a hallucination to torment him. But all of your touches towards him felt so real, just like when you were alive.

° You had to physically push him to the ground for him to believe you were back from the dead, and wake him up when he passed out from shock alone.

° He couldn't tell anyone that you were alive and kicking, knowing they'd hunt for you or think he's going insane. So he kept it to himself and met you in private.

° Jeongin noticed two bite marks on the side of your neck when he pecked across it lightly, he assumed that you were either bitten or cursed back to life.

° Your confession to being a vampire wasn't surprising to him, the whole scenario seeming so unrealistic. But he was so happy to have you back, that he didn't care one bit.

° Jeongin would let you bite him in an instant, never wanting to lose you again. You are his everything and seeing your lifeless body was too much for him to experience.

"I hope you don't mind keeping me secret." You commented, holding his hand.

"No, I understand why you'd want to stay secret." He replied, pulling you closer to his body.

° As months went by, the craving to be bitten by you crossed his mind more and more often. Jeongin was ready and wanted to be with you forever.

"Can you please bite me?" he asked gently, leaving his neck back for your fangs.

"Are you sure, this isn't exactly something you can take back Jeongin." You explained, holding his face in your hands.

° Jeongin kissed your lips softly and slowly, pulling your hands down from his face. Soon nodding sincerely as he leaned back once more, preparing for the slight sting.

° The sting wasn't as terrible as he assumed it to be, maybe you just went gentle on him. Either way the excitement of becoming like you overpowered the sting in his neck.

"There, now you're like me!" you chuckled, clapping happily.

"Nothing could beat this moment." He replied, kissing your lips once more.

[chandelier-s-notebook]

Chapter 11 (Completed)

Let me know if you wanna get tagged when I post new chapters in “These Streets Are Made For Walking”. @sleepysnails. Ao3 Link

————————

Bad grabbed everyone’s paperwork and filed them away into the sparkling red fold he had brought with him. He nodded to the officers, and thanked the receptionist as he signed all seven of his charges out of the station.

Then there was the matter of cars. Techno and Bad would be driving, but everyone was pissed at Purpled and people needed their space.

Tommy rode shotgun in Techno’s car and Purpled rode shotgun in Bad’s. Dream and Tubbo took Techno’s back seat, while Sapnap and George lounged in Bad’s. It wasn’t comfortable, but it would have to do.

Both cars were tangibly silent, but it’s for the better. Everyone in their own little world before they must all come together for dinner. None of them were quite ready for that.

They pulled up to the parking garage. The Taken brothers left first, and Techno could feel Tommy wanting him to wait.

“Techno?”

Techno tried to soften his tone, but not enough that Tommy would feel talked down to. “Yeah?”

“Nothing,” Tommy dismissed, going for the door handle. “It’s nothing. Go pick up Ranboo would you?”

“Yeah.”

Dream caught Techno’s eye through the glass and knocked on the hood of his car in solidarity.

Techno drove from Bad’s all the way up to Ranboo’s neck of the city. He slid into the cul de sac and looked at the house for a second. He really needed to chew out a man for not just paying the ransom; it would have saved a lot of people jail time.

Techno walked down the path, every step feeling just that extra bit out of place. He’s about to knock when the door goes flying open.

“Nope! Bye dad! Not dealing with you! Good night! I’ll be back tomorrow!” Ranboo slammed the door behind him. “Hi Techno. Thanks for saving me. Let’s go.” He grabbed the other boy’s wrist and dragged him back down the driveway.

Techno had just enough time to glance back and see the Richmons peering at them through their sidelight.

Ranboo opened the side door to get into the back in a rush and he slid in. “Who are you?”

Techno’s eyes flashed in panic and he quickly made his way around the car to make sure Ranboo was all ready. After a glance he let out a breath. He waved through the window and got into the driver’s seat. “Ranboo, Punz. Punz, this is Ranboo.”

“Why is he in your car?” Ranboo asked incredulously, having accepted that this must be Punz if Techno doesn’t care about the stranger in his car; hello?

“Needed a ride to Bad’s.”

“Why?” Ranboo asked, voice still on the rise.

“Family dinner.”

“Don’t you have your own car? Or the bus?” Ranboo asked.

“I was in town.”

“No,” Techno shut down.

“What?” Punz asked, smile apparent in his tone.

“No.”

Punz put his hands up. “I didn’t even do anything. Promise.”

“I get my best breakfasts when Tommy sleeps over. You aren’t going to Merc them.”

Punz crossed his fingers. “I’d never.” He smiled wide. “Dude, it’s been forever since I’ve been at Bad’s.”

“It’s been forever since I’ve seen you.”

“I’ve never seen you,” Ranboo piped up. “And I’ve known Purpled since the third grade.”

“Things happen kid. Promise Purpled has actually seen me since you’ve met him.”

“I hope so!”

Both Techno and Punz laughed good naturedly at Ranboo’s outburst.

“Thanks for keeping Purp sane,” Punz said in a moment of sincerity once the car started moving. “I don’t know what he’d do if it weren’t for you being the normal friend to keep him grounded.”

Ranboo shrugged. “He had me, and he still tried to join Las Nevadas.”

Punz smiled sadly. “Yeah, but he’d’a done that regardless, just took him a few more years to get the courage to take that leap ‘cause of you.”

“How?”

“Found Family. That’s what the gang is. You made him not lonely.”

Ranboo’s voice took on a sharper edge, “So you admit to making him loney?”

Punz put his hands up. “I said he’s seen me since you met him, not that he’d seen me often or even regularly.”

“You have issues.”

Techno snorted. “He’s a mercenary. Of course he’s got issues.”

“You let me sit in the back seat of your car with a killer?” Ranboo asked, his voice jumping approximately seven octaves.

Ranboo was sitting as far away from Purpled as he possibly could at the dinner table. This was the fullest he had ever seen it. Ten people, all crowded around a space made for four. At least there was enough food to feed about twenty.

“Purp. You didn't need Las Nevadas.”

“No,” Purpled agreed, looking down at his food and away from his brother.

“But even if Dream said yes, there was no way Techno would even consider letting me. And I know he doesn’t really have a say, but he’s the driver. And he’d just use that as a valid reason to not help. Which would put Dream in jeopardy,” he rambled. “And before you tell me I didn’t need that either. Yes. I did! You barely pay attention to me.”

“Purp.”

“Just wanted you to be proud of me.”

“Purp look at me.”

Purpled turned to his brother, making sure he was taking a bite into his homemade burger--this man was still his annoying older brother at the end of the day.

“I am proud of you. You make me proud every day. I’d just wish that you’d do other things if you wanted attention. You don’t need to be like me, and you shouldn’t be like me.”

Purpled chuckled. “It’s a little late for that. Already instilled that I should be like you. You’re cool.”

“He kills people!” Ranboo shouted.

“Not the time,” Sapnap shushed, eating his fries.

“But!”

“Hush.”

Ranboo shut up and dug into his meal quietly.

“How about competitive shooting?”

Purpled smiled. “You just want me close to Bad.”

“Of course I do. I trust Bad. Besides, I shoot. I’m really good at shooting. Shut up Ranboo, don’t start.” He pointed to the boy in question, but didn’t look away from his brother. “Could be fun.”

“Yeah. Might be. We’ll see what the court has to say about it.”

“Yeah. Hug for your big brother?”

“Hug for my big brother,” Purpled said, falling into his arms. “You know, this is the first time we’ve had dinner together in like two years.”

“Shit, I gotta fix that.”

“Mhm.” Purpled took another bite of burger. “I will win all the competitions.”

Dream ruffled Tubbo’s hair. “You did good kid; kept your friend safe.”

“Not really, we weren’t exactly messed with after the kidnapping.”

“Yeah, well Ranboo still had his spunk. He should be more traumatized than he is right now.”

“Don’t complain about that. He’ll be fine.”

“Thanks to you.”

“And Tommy,” Tubbo said, refusing to take the praise.

“Nope!” Tommy smiled wide. “You were calm and useful. I was just a bitch the whole time.”

“Tommy!”

“You did good Tubbo.”

“But--”

“No.”

Tubbo huffed. “Thanks Dream.”

Dream brought his little brother into his third hug of the night. “You did the best you could do, and that’s good.”

Tommy sighed dramatically. “Techno’s in shit, isn’t he?” he asked, turning to Ranboo who just shrugged. “Purpled said he was.” Tommy turned to face Techno directly. “Techno Blade. Are you in this shit?” he asked carefully, wanting a straight answer but hoping that his assumption was wrong.

“Tubbo has been trying to tell you all year that I’m Dream’s getaway driver. You just don’t listen to him.”

“Fuck!”

Ranboo pated Tommy’s head. “There’s a reason I’m the normal one in the friend group. I don’t have an older brother to be in the crime scene.”

Everybody stared at Ranboo. There were a few seconds of silence. Then everyone burst out laughing; rolling on the floor; holding stomachs; wiping tears from their eyes; the whole thing.

Once everyone had calmed down slightly, Bad spoke. “The school called. Even though Dream and Punz are emancipated they didn’t pick up the phone so the office called me. You boys have a week of homework to catch up on.”

“We were kidnapped,” Tommy bluntly stated.

“The school doesn’t care,” Techno said, snorting. “I got called to the office to collect it after school the other day.”

“Fuck you. Fuck that. Fuck this!”

Tommy and Techno were in his car driving back to the house the next morning.

“Techno?”

“Yeah Tommy.”

“You’re okay right?”

“Yeah.”

“You don't get in trouble?”

“Nope. Promise.” He crossed his heart with his free hand. “I promise I’m safe.”

Tommy held out his pinky.

Techno wrapped his around before Tommy could get to the prompting.

“I’m never joining you,” Tommy said very seriously.

“Never.”

[popculturebuffet]

Top 12 Three Caballeros Moments: Ride of the Three Caballeros Epilogue!

Salduos Amigos...and Adios, as this is the FINAL part of my 20 part look at those happy amigos, those snappy chappies in matching serapes, those birds of the feather, THE THREE CABALLEROS, THE RIDE OF THE THREE CABALLEROS! Yes after 19 other articles, all paid for by megafan and patron of the blog @weirdkev27​, it’s time to bid our boys a fond farewell.  And what a ride i’ts been... we’ve had trips to Bahia, animaton sequences requiring a LOT of 1940′s cocaine ,Jose reinacting the plot of “Come a LIttle Bit Closer” by jay and the americans but ironcially not in the Badman Jose roll,, a less happy reunion where Donald went full vanilla ice for a few moments, Panchito giving us his long and storied family history in song form, Donald needing a vacation after his girlfriend punched him in the face and instead getting eaten by a giant snake, FLAMENCO MASTER HORACE HORSECOLLAR, Soccer with super cars, and our heroes having a warm and fun reunion and having to admit their lives didn’t turn out so good while Dewey jacaksses around in the subplot.

 And all of this lead into their very own series where our heroes met a goddess and wayne knight all in the same day, defeated THE MIGHTY MINOTAUR, got into a giant robot fight on the fucking moon, meeting the roman gods who live on and tend to the norse world tree for some reason, preventing a stupidly started lava apocalypse, going to goblin jail via song, meeting some literal dead presidents, chasing a bear around a fancy rich people town, getting into the ch-ch-chalk zone, fighting a wrestling match against the respresntive of the god of death, dying and coming back to life as a result of said wrestling match, going to camelot to train with king arthrus’ self helf book, going to a yeti spa and finally returning for one last battle with an evil wizard, his pet monkeybatdonkeyrat, and wayne knight, and have to put up with Donald’s shrill abusive ex girlfriend through about half of it. All in all good stuff and i’ll always be greatful for kevn funding this and giving me the chance to both finally watch legend and in general cover these wonderful characters. While i’m sure Panchito and Jose wil lbe back for the big finale of Ducktales, I’m gonna miss these guys and hope they get another shot at the big time one day. 

But Kevin had a great idea, one I decided to do for free since this thing cost 100 dollars together as it was a movie, and 20 episodes of television, so it was a LOT to do.  Fun but a lot of work. A top 12 list of the best moments from across the works covered for this retrospective. From the movie to the series, these are the best of the best moments of the best boys around. So without further adeu join me under the cut as I throw one hell of an after party for one hell of a ride.

12. The Cold Blooded Penguin (The Three Caballeros (Movie) )

This one is low because it doesn’t exactly involve the boys at all as this was a short in their movie. But what can I say, I love penguins, especially Opus.

And the charming tale of a pengy named Pablo who has trouble with the cold and wants to head off for warmer climates just never ceases to entertain me. It’s adorable, pretty funny and just a nice little start to the film every time I watch it. Especially his friends with the sleepy, depressed eyebrows. Really relate to them, especially the tall one with a ponch, aka me as a penguin.  Not much else to say hence why it’s so low, but I really enjoyed this short and can’t help but put Pablo on the list.. and wish he’d gotten a nod in Legend, but then again given we weren’t given a second season they were probably just saving him. 

11. Charon’s Fabulous Cruise (Legend of the Three Caballeros) Another Cabs free entry but I Just love this concept: Charon, ferryman of the river sticks.. deciding since he’s not getting as many customers to turn it into a cruise ship complete with add. IT’s low both because it dosen’t involve the boys and it dosen’t take up much of it’s episode.. but damn if it ain’t funny. And Jim Cummings just brings his all to it.. granted HE always does, the man’s a legend for a reason, but dosne’t make his performance any less lovely. WIsh we got a second season just so we could see this guy again among other reasons. 

10. You Don’t Get a Vacation You Take it (Legend of the Three Caballeros)  Wayne Knight as Sheldgoose.. was easily one of the best parts of Legend of the Three Caballeros. While the show itself was fairly high quality it’s other main villain Feldrake eventually fell into just calling Sheldgoose a moron and hitting him as his only character. IN contrast while at first apperance Sheldgoose was just a rich asshole with hair that looks like a bad toupe but apparently is his actual hair and what he choose to go with and a hell of a moustache.. and while that’s all true, he’s also cunning and manipultive, often making Feldrake’s plans work simply by using clever manipulations. He’s funny, enaging and the sadest part of no second season is not getting more of this guy. Hopefully he’ll show up in another.. even the comics using him without Wayne Knight’s Dulect Tones would be nice. He’s a good villian and would fit just as well in the classic comics being either a snooty nuisance to donald in some way, or being a rival fro scrooge, also being rich but his family having earned it by stealing from others.  But for now what we got ain’t bad and hte best example of just what sheldgoose is capable of is also his first bit of contirbuting more than as a set of hands for feldrake, phrasing. His vilian song. Yes Wayne Knight FINALLY gets a villian song. Your very welcome. 

The song is just fun, a Luau type song with a sinster undercurrent and wayne knight just having a hell of a time, alternating between speaking and singing> It’s low on this list because i’ts an OKAY song, i’ve seen better villian songs, I just really liked this one, and because it dosen’t exactly involved the boys, but I still hold to my convictions in putting this one on here.

9. Panchito Romero Miguel Junipero Francisco Quintero González (House of Mouse) Only House of Mouse entry, and suprisingly it’s not Donald squeaking “And i’m donald duck!” , which has been burned into my brain for a few decades. No it’s the groups OTHER song in there second apperance on the show Not So Goofy, sung by the incomprable Rob Pauslen. While I sitll think he was easily the worst Jose of the bunch, and that the roll never should’ve been given to a white man to begin with, credit where it’s do: he wasn’t a have bad panchito. He only voiced everyone’s faviorite rooster, suck it Foghorn Leghorn, once, for a song, likely to capatalize on the fact Paulsen was famed for Yakko’s World and other songs where he sang a lot at once, but boy did he make a meal of it. Observe.

The song is lightly hampered by the fact it also uses his version of Jose which is probably the worst work i’ve heard from Rob. And given it’s the only roll i’ve heard of his that wasn’t very good and he’s still VERY CLEARLY trying his best, that says a lot to the guy’s quality. And im not saying all this to avoid backlash, I stand by what I say and how I say it.. i’m saying it because I truly love and respect the guy this just was not his best work. This song however is Rob on full blast, using his ablitlity to talk fast no matter the voice to give us one heck of a lively performance and name for Panchito, one that was reused for Ride of the Three Cabs though sadly minus the song, as I would’ve LOVED to hear Jamie Camill belt this one out. But the lively animation and liveleir performance earn this one a spot.

8. Baia, Donald (The Three Caballeros) For this one i’m squishing three different but related parts of the movie together: The “Have you been to Baia, Donald” song, the train trip there and the awesome musical number at the end. But all three flow together as one great sequence with the frist two serviing as a fun prelude for a fun sequence as Donald and Jose try to woo a lady named Yaya, played by Aurora Miranda, and get into a big and fun dance number that for the time is AMAZINGLY blended with the live action work. The song is an utter ear worm, the seqeunce is fun and it lacks some of the creepiness Donald’s later session of flirting had and the colors are vibrant as hell. Wonderful, beautiful stuff. It’s really hard to talk about as not a lot happens in it other than a fun bit of song and dance.. but sometimes tha’ts just waht you need: a bunch of actors, two of which were animated, moving and groving to a heckuva beat. 

7. I Love You Guys (Legend of the Three Caballeros)  This was just a very sweet moment but one I treasure. The Cabs beat a giant horrifying rage beast.. by genuinely apoologizing to donald, telling him they love him then having a group hug. After a full episode before this of them just kinda ignoring what he cared about, Xandra and the boys genuine apologies and Donald genuinely telling them “I love you guys” and realizing for the first time in his life he’s genuinely loved and appricated. It just feels so fucking nice. Shame they didn’t you know.. end the Daisy plot with him realizing he dind’t need or or that he wasn’t angsiting over a selfish goldigger in the first place but hey, you take what you can get sometimes and the getting is good here. 

6. The Cabs Song .. in Comic Form! (The Three Caballeros Ride Again!) 

Another fairly quick one to talk about but one’s that damn impressive. The Three Cabs ride again is a wonderful story that reunites our birds of a feather for an adventure in mexico.. and one of it’s two best moments, the other one way further up from Don Rosa’s classic, seriously check it out it’s good, is when the boys, to distract their enemy for the story, play their classic song.  Musical numbers.. are hard to pull off in comics. As Linkara, comic critic and one of my inspirations check him out on youtube he’s really fantastic, has mentioned quite a bit not having the sound to go with it is an uphill battle. But i’m not as against this as he is.. as long as you can convey the ENERGY of said song and perofrmance in the page. As long as you got that, you can pull it off and boy oh boy oh boy did Rosa ever. While it’s only about a page and a half long it’s just a fun, wonderful litlte sequence, from the crowd that has no reaction til lthe end when our big bad clubs them with the guitar, to our heroes swipining tablecoths to seve as serape to Donald falling outside, it’s one of the highlights of an alreayd impressive story. 

5. Jam Session (Ducktales, The Town Where Everyone Was Nice!) 

Only one Ducktales moment but it’s a keeper to be sure and now I HAVE seen Legend... I can say as I did there Jamie Camil REALLY shoudlv’e been kept as Panchito but “The Town Where Everyone Was Nice”.. really was still ag reat version of the characters and still kept them true. It wasn’t AS good as the Legend versions.. but honestly that’s fine. Not every version HAS to be good as the others and they were still wella cted, wonderfully animated and the story was great. And the moment that shows it off best is the boys quite moment after lunch, where they remincse, have fun, think about old times.. then hear a radio and slowly but surely have a fun dance number together, playing like old times. It’s this moment that makes me REALLY question why people hated this so much, as this one tiny moment captures the cabs chemistry and comrander in just two short minutes, Donald getting angry, Jose defusing int with a dance then him joining in, the three just jamming iwth whatever’s on hand and jose magically playing the fluit with his umbrella. I’ts all just so charming I love it. The end version of the three cabs IS really awesome, it just didn’t make the cut. Still liked it though.. but this.. this is better. Sometimes less is more you know?

4. The Three Cablleros Song (The Three Caballeros (Movie) ) Look you knew this was coming, I knew this was coming, we all knew this was coming. But the song is no less awesome, with fluid animation, wonderful vocals and lyrics, and an unberably catchy tune. It’s iconic to the characters, having popped up in four different renditions during this retrsopective, all of them pretty damn good, but no one tops the original.  Even the two more dated bits, some latin baby and Panchito having a gun solo, somehow don’t hamper what’s otherwise an iconic moment. It’s fun, it’s fancy free, and it establishes the boys dynamic perfectly, one that as we’ve seen would last a few lifetimes and probably will last forever. 

3. We Say So! (The Three Caballeros Ride Again) While Ride again is a VERY good story, it’s best moment is ironiclaly it’s end despite leaving you wanting more and more. After a fun adventure and a laugh over it being for nothing really, our friends return to Jose’s job at a night club, which his manager, who understandably has issues with Jose choosing wooing ladies over actually doing his job sometimes, only gives him back because it’s a big night but needs a big act. The first touching moment here is the fact the boys pitch in without being asked because hteir friend needs them. But the real moment is what happens after: The Triplets return from the hotel, still bemoaning as they did ealrier in the story that Donald has no friends and assume when they see him on stage and see him crash off it that he incited a riot.. only for his friends to assure him he’s a very fine fellow and they say so.. and in an instnat the boys realize donald DOES have friends.. and the best friends a duck can ask for. And after a lifetime of being spat on and barely winning.. Donald gets an unquestioned victory, stnading proudly with his friends for a packed house who still want more while his nephews look on proudly. I say so.. and what I say is that this moment is one of Rosa’s finest and one of the most touching thigns the man’s ever written. 

2. This is Just Where I Came In (The Legend of the Three Caballeros) The Legend of the Three Cabs was excellent and it ended on one hell of a high. After a heck of a fight via callbacks that barely didnt’ make the list, our heroes rush in to stop Feldrake. their sorcerer nemisis,  from reviving.. only for it to be too late. He’s back in full and soon warps reality around him leaving the boys hometown of the New Quackmore insitute as a series of rubble, buildings and people clinging desperatly to both floating in a hell of a starry backdrop, the only chance to stop this from happenign to the world resting in our heroes. And it’s so we catch up with where the seires began: our three heros decked out in truly awesome armor, though why Panchtio’s is roman I have no idea, fighting a giant and mosnterious felldrake and while his deisgn in that form is eh, his threat is palpable and the fight is goregous and pitch perfect.. and only gets better when we catch up, as Xandra swoops in to save htem from the cliffhanger the series started with. It only isn’t up top because of tow reasons; I like the first moment better.. and the boys do fall in a magic pool of amulet juice and emerge with powers due to a character we just meet when they do so. It’s a bit of a cop out.. but even with it being a cop out and a dues ex machina of the HIGHEST order.. it dosen’t stop it form being awesome when our heroes emerge merged with thier amulets energies, in their signutre colors and whoop felldrakes ass with a revivied Xandra’s help and then nearly reseal feldrake before his being resealed, but in Sheldgoose, resotres everything and our heroes get a WELL earned bout of praise from the town and a fancy mansion and in donald’s case a new job. A specatuclar, tense and gorgeous finale to a wonderful series. 

1. Ride Em, Vaquero! (The Magificent 7 (Minus 4) Caballeros)  Look I know it sounds like a bit of a downgrade to go from a battle for the fate of the world to our heroes fighting a spoiled prince and a giant anaconda just to make it out alive.. but frankly this battle is more tense, has all boys showing off even better, and has a climax so awesome even saving the unvierse with suddenly gained magic powers can’t top it.  For the setting our heroes end up trapped in a lost city with the bad guy of the comic, Don Rosa’s second to last and his second of only two cabs stories, prepared to get away. But then Donald snaps, spurred on bya ll the shit he had to put up with back home,and TACKLES the fucking guy in his boat getting into one hell of a scrap. And if that wasn’t enough, what brings this to true glory is a giant Anaconda who shoed up earlier, popping up.. leading to Donald fighting our big bad.. WHILE BEING TANGLED UP IN A FUCKING PYTHON. 

What truly clinches this as the best of the best for me though is Jose and Panchito’s actions, with Jose fighting the guy off off donlad, and actually having his umbrella WORK this time, and while the bad guy gets the raft from our heroes.. he falls off a cliff. So how do our heroes escape.. simple .. PANCHITO LASSOS THE FLEEING SNAKE AND THEY RIDE IT OUT AS SEEN ABOVE THROUGH A POND FULL OF DANGEROUS CREATURES WHO ALL STARE IN AWE AT THE SIGHT OR FLEE.  You.. you just can’t top that. The awesomness, the teamwork, the sheer balls on panchito..i t’s all just so beauitful and sums up what the boys are about: Deft teamwork, camradire.. and doing utterly insane shit as only best friends can. 

So with that.. this ride has come to an end. As I said before and will say again, it’s been fun, easily the biggest project i’ve done so far, and easily one of my faviorites. I love these guys and geninely hope we see them again real soon. So before I go, i’d like to say some thank yous. I”d like to thank ALL of the talented people involved in the making of the original film, as there are way too many to mention as it was a package movie but without you lovely and mostly deceased people we’d never have these wonderful guys. I’d like to thank Don Rosa for bringing the boys back and better than ever and beautifully so AND returning to them again. I’d like to thank Henry Gilroy and Phil Walsh, who wrote the first and second house of mouse cabs episodes for bringing the boys back to the screen, as well as series creators Robert Gainway and Tony Craig and the MASSIVE pile of storyboarders for both episode.  I’d like to thank the people behind mickey and the roadster racers, while your episodes were not very good I am glad the boys got more screentime, i’d like thank Frank Angrones and Matt Youngberg for their wonderful versions of the boys and total respect to their legacy, and i’d REALLY like to thank Matt Danner for giving us a wonderful series and finally giving the boys a starring roll again. 

I’d also like to thank the MANY voice actors who voiced these wonderful characters, your beautiful all of you. To Donald’s voice actors for this retrospective i’d like to thank Clarence Nash, you absolute legend may you rest in peace, Tony Anselmo, may you keep on living please god we’ve lost a lot of good people lately don’t be one of them, and even Daniel Ross, who might not be the best Donald but he’s one of only five and you can’t take that way from him. 

For Jose i’d like to thank Jose Olivara, without you I don’t think we would’ve even gotten to the Cablleros as a group, Rob Paulsen, you tried your best and your still a winner in my heart, Eric Bauza, you genuinely were the best, and Bernardo Del Paula, who gave Bauza a run for his money and I hope returns in the role in the future. 

And finally for Panchito we have Joaquin Grey, again wouldn’t of had the rest without you man nice job, Carlos Alarzqaui, did the job and did it well, Rob Paulsen, gave us one hell of a song, Jamie Camill, the best around no one’s ever going to keep him down, Arturo Del Purto who while I prefer jamie.. still was excellent and I wouldn’t be mad if he returned again. 

And last but not least I’d like to sincerly thank @weirdkev27​. These reviews have GENUINELY helped me finacially since i’ts hard for me to find a job since I cannot drive and have a disablity, and thanks to htem i’ve been able to live comfortably and thanks to you in general i’ve been able to do what I love and get paid for it. You got me to do this wonderful restrospective, have been a genine support to the blog and a treasure to work with. Thanks man, your the best.  So with that, it’s time to ride off into the sunset. If the cabs get another apperance outside of ducktales, I will pick this up again... and wether it’s in a year or ten you bet your bottom peso they’ll be back. Who says so? I says so. 

[rabbitmarrow]

Forty miles from her home in South Los Angeles Mitrice Richardson sat in a Lost Hills Sherriff's Department located in Calabasas, California.

Mitrice was an intelligent, goal orientated, care free, 24 year old, college graduate with a bachelor of arts in psychology. In 2009 she was working towards a masters degree. To support herself she worked at ex-girlfriend Tessa Moon's family business and part time as a go go dancer at a popular lesbian night club.

For the past several months leading up to the event which took place, Richardson had been increasingly acting in ways those close to her deemed "strange" and "odd". Most notably her mother Latice Sutton had began receieving text messages from Mitrice, one reading, "Im writing a book (my journals) because u told me I can be anything I wanted…u told me I was Miss America, u told me I was Americas Next Top Model…now do u know what I want to be when I grow up? Miss Mother Nature…cuz Miss America is a fake ass joke along with everything else we 'see' so I'm trying to find my way to Michelle Obama to see if she will talk to Mr. Obama about creating my position within the White House."

Latice replied "Call me!" to which Mitrice responded "I feel joy mommie…not everyone has to die to live. I heard in the Bible Jesus dies so we can live forever… now I have to prove the 'unlogic'

On the afternoon of September 16, 2009 Mitrice stated that while at work she had been watching a soap opera and that Jesus spoke to her telling her to take the rest of the afternoon off, which she did.

She ended up at Geofferys, an upscale restaurant located in Malibu. Once there she used the valet service. Before going in to the restaurant she went and sat in the valet staffers own car. He had asked why she was there, "its subliminal" is all Mitrice answered.

Inside the restaurant Richardson ordered a cocktail and steak. She spoke of avenging Michael Jacksons death and joined a large group of guests she did not know. She spoke to them about astrological signs and an upcoming trip to Hawaii, she promised she'd call them once she got there. Staffers checked on the group and while this was all strange, the group assured them that everything was fine.

Mitrice eventually returned to her own table and once finished with her meal proceeded to leave without paying. She was stopped and asked to pay. She wouldn't be able to she said, unless she could offer sex as payment, or maybe call her great grandmother. The manager allowed her to call Mildred, her 90 year old great grandmother whom she was currently living with. Mildred was offering to pay the $89 bill through credit card over the phone. However, they would need a signature which would require Mildred to be there in person, something she wasn't able to do.

During the conversation Mitrice seemed unfazed by what was going on and continued to make odd remarks. With staffers growing more concerned for her well being, the police were called.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department arrived and talked to staffers and Mildred regarding Mitrice. A field sobreity test was conducted on Richardson, she was sober. They could see Mitrice was acting a bit strange, but overall thought she was fine. They were not going to arrest her until the manager decided to press charges for her not paying the meal ticket in hopes that she would be taken to the sheriff department or hospital for a mental wellness check.

With Mildred still on the phone she commented to Mitrice, "they're gettin' ready to take your black ass to jail." to which no response came from Richardson.

Richardson's car with her purse and phone inside was searched and taken to a nearby impound lot.

Mildred notified Richardsons mother Latice letting her know the situation that had unfolded.

Latice called the L.A. Sheriffs Department around 9:30pm asking when her daughter would be released. They assured her they wouldn't relase her until the next morning. Latice had her 10 year old daughter asleep at home with her and didn't want to drag her 40 miles away in the middle of the night, so she stated to a deputy, "I think the only way I will come out there tonight is if you guys are going to release her... she's not from that area and I

I would hate to wake up to a morning report of 'Girl Lost Somewhere with Her Head Chopped Off' "

Upon their loose assement of Mitrice's mental state, they found her to be well enough to be released at 12:28am, even though several statements have deputies claiming they believed Mitrice to be suffering a bipolar episode.

At 5:35am Latice called the department and became enraged and extremely concerned to learn Mitrice had been released to wander off alone.

Little is known about what happened after Mitrice Richardson left the Sherrifs Department, other than she set off down the desolate road on foot.

Latice was advised by Deputy Kenneth Bomgardner to wait at least 24 hours to report Mitrice missing, which she did.

Over the next 11 months several searches of the surrounding area were conducted as well as the reviewing of the security footage collected from the sheriff department. Unfortunately any signs of Mitrice never came to light from the ground searches, but a possible lead came from that night she was released. Edited footage shows Mitrice leaving the sheriffs department followed out the door by a deputy. After being questioned on numerous occasions by journalists the unnamed deputy commented, “The night this nonsense happened, I was one of the guys that kept away from this, minding my own business.”

On August 11, 2010 the mummified body of Mitrice Richardson was found in a creek bed.

Her remains were poorly collected by police without supervison of the lead coroner, and the surrounding area was not secured for investigation. The usual procedure of collecting soil samples and taking photos fell to the wayside. The lack of regard for proper collection made it very difficult for any sort of evidence to be collected and lead to the coroner not being able to conclude a manner of death, just saying there didn't seem to be any foul play.

Lt. Michael Rosson, who supervised the LASD in the removal of Richardson, stated that he believes: animals removed Mitrice's clothing, she may have been bitten by a rattlesnake, or that she may have went into anaphylactic shock after being in contact with poison oak.

Rosson along with other LASD spokesmen state that in no way was this a homicide and that the LASD is in no way responsible for Mitrice Richardson's death.

The retrieval of Mitrice Richardson was so sloppy and unethical that it drew concerned interest from Clea Koff, a former FBI United Nations forensic anthropologist. Koff now runs the Missing Person's Identification Resource Center. Koff stated her disgust for the lack of evidence and disputed the theories given by Rosson.

A few months after Mitrice's body was found, Latice, a family friend, and Clea Koff went to the creek bed and found a finger bone belonging to Mitrice.

In July 2011, Latice Sutton had Richardson's body exhumed for further investigation. Koff hoped the FBI would conduct the autopsy, unfortunately they declined. LASD's crime lab conducted the autopsy with no new findings.

Latice Sutton and Michael Richardson each filed lawsuits against the LASD for their negligence in Mitrice's case. They were each awarded $450,000.

They also asked for the California attorney general Kamala Harris to review the LASD's reports regarding Mitrice. In 2005, after the 500 page report was reviewed Harris announced "there was insufficient evidence to support criminal prosecution of anyone involved in the handling of the case."

Sadly as of 2020, Mitrice Richardsons case remains cold.

[prettyboyswow]

Given It All (pt. 2)

Author’s Note: I’m back and out of uni for 3 weeks!!! You know what that means? LOTS OF PEAKY FICS/ REQUESTS WRITTEN! I’m excited and I hope you all are too. Here’s the second part of Given It All. Hope you like it! 

Pairing: Thomas Shelby x fem!reader

Warnings: little bit of language, nothing crazy... lots of angst

It had been three weeks since you had seen Tommy, and it had been the hardest couple of weeks of your life. You were still trying desperately to find ways to free Polly, Arthur, John, and Michael. But every attempt seemed useless. You felt as if you had tried everything, and nothing was working. Even using the Shelby name didn’t get you far. So, although you had made a promise to yourself to stay as far away from Thomas Shelby as possible, you found yourself pulling into the driveway of your old home, Arrow House. 

It looked the same as you had left it and it gave you comfort. The house looked the same, but so much had changed. You took slow, cautious steps towards the large wooden door. Your stomach was twisted in knots and you felt like you’d be physically sick at any moment. You didn’t exactly know what you’d say to him, but this was your last resort. 

With one last deep breath, you decided it was now or never. Your small fist pounded quickly on the wooden door before you took a step back. A moment later you were greeted by a wide-eyed Mary, “Mrs. Shelby!” She quickly stepped to the side and ushered you in, “I wasn’t expecting you. Mr. Shelby isn’t here at the moment.”

The knots muscles in your stomach loosened their grip and you took a deep breath, ”Oh.” 

She smiled at you with the saddest look in her eyes, and you felt a wave of guilt wash over you. You can’t imagine how horrible Thomas has been since your last encounter. Poor Mary... 

“When should he be home,” you coughed awkwardly and shoved your hands into your coat pockets. 

“He told me he’d be back ‘round dinner time.”

You nodded your head once and glanced past her, “I think I’ll stay until he gets back. I uh, I need to grab the rest of my things as well.”

Mary only nodded and said a quiet, “of course, Mrs. Shelby.” 

With that, she made her way back to the kitchens, leaving you in the foyer. You made your way to the stairs, running your fingertips over the smooth wooden railing as you walked slowly up the stairs. You would miss this house, and it’s staff, so much. You got to the top of the stairs and went to the bedroom that you and Tommy had once shared. 

Your heart ached as you pushed the door open. It was exactly as you had left it. The drawers that you had tried to quickly push back into the dresser were still sticking half way out. The extra suitcases that you had pulled from the closet laid on the bed. He hadn’t moved anything since your hasty exit. You didn’t know whether you found this to be a good thing or not. No matter how angry you were at Tommy, you still loved him. And the thought of him spending his nights with another woman made your heart drop to the pit of your stomach and tears form in your eyes. 

You quickly pushed the thought to the back of your mind. Your main mission right now was to pack more of your things. You had been wearing the same five outfits for the past three weeks, and you desperately needed a change of pace.  For the next two hours, you neatly packed your clothes, makeup, and jewelry into the suitcases you had left behind. You tried not to think of the reality of the situation.  You were packing your things and leaving your home. The place that you thought you’d start a family, is the place where it all ended. Not only were you leaving your home, but you were also leaving the love of your life. Thomas Shelby had been your man since you were nineteen years old. Since the day you had met him, you had dreamed of living on a large plot of land, having boatloads of children, and growing old together. Ten years later and it was all coming to an end. 

After you had finished packing everything you could, you brought the luggage down the stairs and loaded them into your car. You contemplated leaving then. Packing all of your things had been more emotional than you had anticipated, and you had found yourself crying more than a couple of times. But, you knew that the only way you’d be able to get the Polly, John, Arthur, and Michael out of prison was with Tommy’s help. 

It was almost 6:30, dinner time at Arrow House. And, Tommy was still not back. You were beginning to think he wasn’t coming, it wouldn’t be the first time he promised to be back by dinner and didn’t make it. You decided that you’d stay for dinner, even if Tommy wasn’t coming back tonight. Mary had informed the kitchen staff of your arrival and they thought it’d be a nice idea to cook your favorite meal. You sat down at the large, empty dining room table and the feeling was too comfortable. You sitting alone to eat dinner while Tommy worked. You smiled sadly to yourself and gave yourself a mental pep talk. Stay long enough for dinner, and then head back to the hotel room you’d been staying in. 

You were halfway through dinner when you heard the front door open and shut with a loud thud, “Her car is here. Where is she!?” Tommy’s deep, thick Birmingham accent sent shivers down your spine and made you drop your fork in shock. You saw Mary point awkwardly to your position at the table as she stood in the doorway and you quickly prepared yourself for Tommy to come barging in. You stood up and smoothed out your dress with shaking hands, your eyes catching the glimmer of your wedding band.

When you looked up, your eyes met Tommy’s and you felt yourself slipping out of the control you thought you had. He looked terrible, his eyes were sunken in and his skin was pale. He looked like he hadn’t slept in weeks, yet he was still the most beautiful man you’d ever seen. 

“Thomas,” you sounded strange and you quickly cleared your throat. His eyes never left yours as he took long strides towards you, his eyes were wide and held a look so fierce you were transfixed. In the blink of an eye, he was standing in front of you.

“What are you doing here, (Y/N)?”

Oh. You weren’t expecting that at all. You weren’t expecting him to fall to his knees and beg for you back, but you also weren’t expecting him to be so cold. “I need your help getting our family out of jail, Thomas.” 

His eyes bore into yours and his breathing was shallow, making you even more nervous than you had been. “It’s being taken care of. Nothing for you to stick your nose in,” his voice seemed hollow and he took a step back from you before falling into one of the dining room chairs. He took a cigarette from his case and lit it swiftly. 

Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion and you took a seat in the chair you had previously occupied. “What do you mean it’s ‘nothing for me to stick my nose in’?” You were becoming frustrated. What did he have planned?

“Exactly what it means. I have it under control. You don’t need to worry about it, or do anything,” he blew a puff of smoke out and finally took his eyes off of you.

“They’re my family, Tom. Of course, I’m worried about them. Someone has to,” you couldn’t hide the annoyance from your tone. He was going to piss you off, and you’d only been in the same room for less than five minutes. 

He rolled his eyes at your tone and blew another cloud of smoke from his full lips. “They quit being your family the moment you left me.”

He’d said a lot of hurtful things to you over the years. Some of them playfully or unintentionally. Others he said specifically to hurt you. But this was one of the worst. The Shelby’s were more of a family to you than your biological family, and he knew that. Polly had practically raised you. How dare he say that?

“You son of a bitch,” you laughed a cold, sarcastic laugh before you pushed your chair back. You stood quickly and looked down at him, “I’ve been more of a family member to them than you have.”

You walked past him as quickly as your heels would carry you.  Stopping in the foyer to grab your coat on, you heard Tommy’s chair thud to the ground and angry footsteps follow you into the foyer. “So, what? You come back ‘ere just to turn ‘round and leave again?” His voice boomed loudly over your shoulder. You rolled your eyes as you finished buttoning your coat. 

“Yes, Thomas. I told you when I left, I refuse to be with someone who loves their business more than they love me.”

“And, who the fuck said I love my business more than I love you,” he grabbed your elbow and spun you around to face him. 

You quickly yanked your arm away and took a step away from him, “You don’t have to say it, Thomas. It’s obvious!” 

He only scoffed in response and ran his hands over his face. “Exactly,” you huffed.  

“Well, what the fuck d’ you want me to say? I love you? You know I love you. I’ve loved you since we were kids, (Y/N)! Why else would I marry ya,” he took a large step forward, putting himself directly in front of you and placed both of his hands on your cheeks. 

You were losing your resolve. You could feel it slipping away the moment he placed his hand on your elbow, but now that he was this close it was basically gone. “You’re only saying all of this because I’m leaving. I need you to change, Tommy. I can’t keep going back and forth.”

His eyebrows furrowed and he shook his head, “I really do love you. M’not just sayin’ tha’.”

You nodded and blinked slowly as tears filled your eyes, “I know. I love you too. But we need distance, Tom. You need to get your priorities straight.”

With that, you placed your hand firmly against his chest and took a step back. You left Tommy standing in the foyer as you made your way to your car. You wished he had worked through dinner as you wiped the tears from your cheeks. 

Note: I’m not crazy about this part. Let me know what you guys think & if you still want another part! Also, feel free to leave suggestions of what you think should happen, or what you’d like to see happen in this story!

** Given It All 3 and 4 **

[cntcrtainmcnt-blog]

lmao never trust my words when i say no more muses. so anyway, under the cut are brief intros.

ABIGAIL MACQUEEN looks an awful lot like VICTORIA JUSTICE. SHE is TWENTY-THREE and while they’re DETERMINED, they have a tendency to get pretty PASSIVE. You’ve probably seen them around Kola listening to SOLITAIRE by MARINA&THE DIAMONDS.

so i can definitely see how she resembles victoria’s character on eye candy. i actually created that muse before and then when the show came out, i modified it to look similar.

Older of two, she’s always been very energetic and outgoing. And very very damn good with computers.

When she was 16, her younger sibling went missing, and she started developing her hacking skills to try and track her online activity to find her.

But she never did, at least no in time, since they found the body of her younger sister washed up on some shore on the East Coast two months later. 

She decided to not let it stop her, and decided to use her skills to actually help others who might need it. So she opened some sort of underground business, and gets paid to hack for people(as long as it’s not like... government, or the person isn’t meaning any harm by it).

Buuuuuut she got caught, although they gave her some kind of second chance. She’d be free, as long as she decided to use her hacking skills to help cyber crimes rather than doing illegal jobs. So now she’s a hacker for cyber crimes in Kola(which is where she grew up btw).

ARINA KOLOSOVA looks an awful lot like NATALIE DORMER. SHE is THIRTY-TWO and while they’re SUAVE, they have a tendency to get pretty VINDICTIVE. You’ve probably seen them around Kola listening to YOU DON’T OWN ME by DUSTY SPRINGFIELD. 

Born and raised in Moscow, both her parents worked for an underground agency, think something similar to Kingsman, but with a Black Widow twist.

While her childhood was fine, when she became older, her parents started training her to become the perfect agent.

They became harsher on her, often depriving her of a real meal or even bed sheets at night when she wasn’t doing good in her training.

It was becoming a lot to deal with, but she knew better than to go against her parents. So she just tried harder and harder in trainings until they judged she was old and skilled enough to pass the entrance test for the agency.

Which she did, she aced it. While Arina never really thought about doing the same job her parents did, she did have a job now, at 21, so why give it up?

But it was underground, not very legal, and so they got busted when she was 24. She wasn’t there when they showed at the HQ, but her mother was, and she destroyed all files linking to Arina before the authorities saw them.

Due to her parents being arrested and her job not existing anymore, she managed to get a visa to move to the states for political protection.

She landed in Kola, and joined a biker’s gang, which is the best thing she did in her life.

Due to being deprived of meals often when she was younger, she now has a very large appetite, although she does burn off all excess by training.

Probably gets paid to help people get revenge on whoever did them wrong.

ARWEN DAE SHEEN looks an awful lot like ARDEN CHO. SHE is TWENTY-NINE and while they’re FUN-LOVING, they have a tendency to get pretty CLUMSY. You’ve probably seen them around Kola listening to WEIRD PEOPLE by LITTLE MIX. 

Dae was born in Korea, but before she was even 5, her parents were targetted for a crime they did not comit, but the culprit created false proofs, so they had to flee the country.

They landed in England for a few years, building a new life. And by doing so, they all changed their names. They didn’t want to be traced back, although they did keep their last names. She was only 5 though and would only come up with random names, so her parents named her after a character from their favorite book series.

Her father later on got a job offer in Kola, California, so the family moved there. Arwen was probably about 8-9.

And she’s been in Kola since, and doesn’t plan on moving out, since she fell in love with the town.

She currently works as an elementary school teacher, as well as a fencing instructor by night.

CARSON MCALLISTER looks an awful lot like ALEXANDER KOCH. HE is TWENTY-SEVEN and while they’re IDEALISTIC, they have a tendency to get pretty DERANGED. You’ve probably seen them around Kola listening to WICKED by BOY EPIC. 

My fucked up son I haven’t played in ages.

Son of the police chief in Kola, and a high school teacher, who sadly passed away giving birth to him.

His father was not a good man. Carson grew up seeing him bring in women, at first acting like a true gentleman, until he became abusive with them and they left. And that did rub on him with time.

During high school, he fell in love with this girl, she was the light of his life. They were together for nearly 5 years, before they broke up. He was training to become a police officer like his dad, and she felt their paths were diverging.

He... did not take it, and locked her up in one of the rooms of his very large house. His father working crazy hours and that room being empty, never realized it until a few weeks later. A missing notice person was filled, and his father suspected him. The house was searched, they found the girl, and Carson was arrested.

He did time, and is only coming out of jail now, has no job, probably couch surfing since his father won’t talk to him.

Still wants his ex back tbfh.

GENESIS FERRER looks an awful lot like ZOE SALDANA. SHE is THIRTY-SEVEN and while they’re LOYAL, they have a tendency to get pretty OPINIONATED. You’ve probably seen them around Kola listening to SORRY NOT SORRY by DEMI LOVATO.

Her parents moved to the states before she was born. But they later on got deported, although since she was born there, she was placed in foster care. (would’ve much rather prefered to be taken with her parents)

Was intentionally bad with all foster families because she was salty. She’s always been kind of a brat.

After graduating, she started studying management, while also working as a part time security guard at the mall. 

One thing lead to another, and when she graduated, Genesis decided to start her own security company. So now she owns a company, who people basically employ to guard their buildings, malls, shops, zoo, whatever.

Was never able to get a serious relationship because she’s very distant with people. BUT I SWEAR SHE HAS LOVE TO GIVE.

Also I’m making her a green alien in the future verse because I CAN.

MADELEINE STOKES looks an awful lot like KYLIE BUNBURY. SHE is TWENTY-SEVEN and while they’re CHARISMATIC, they have a tendency to get pretty JUDGEMENTAL. You’ve probably seen them around Kola listening to BO$$ by FIFTH HARMONY.

This character was originally an April Pearson fc? But she has like no good resources? So here we have the lovely Kylie instead.

Filthy rich family, she was spoiled to death. And it got to her head. But her parents also thought her that she’ll have to work for her own money when she’s older.

Queen Bee all through her school career. People looked up to her, but also feared what she could do.

Currently works as weather girl for the local channel.

That character was also originally inspired by Regina George, so she does keep a Burn Book, which she’s had since high school, and still adds stuff to it.

MARGARET BALDWIN looks an awful lot like DAISY RIDLEY. SHE is TWENTY-FIVE and while they’re METICULOUS, they have a tendency to get pretty INDIVIDUALISTIC. You’ve probably seen them around Kola listening to CAN’T BE TAMED by MILEY CYRUS.

Daughter of Gustav, he used her as one of his test subjects.

When it got debunked, her mother and her changed identities, and while it did mess with her head, it was nothing compared to her mom.

It wasn’t much later that her mom had to be sent to a psychiatric rehab center, and is still there. As for Nicoline Margaret, her neighbour was kind enough to take her in for as long as it might take.

They already had two kids, so she grew up with two people she now considers her siblings.

She always did good in school, but was horrible at following simple rules and orders. So after graduating, she went into journalism and is now an investigative journalist.

She hates her dad, and wished he would still be in jail. Actually erased him from her life and didn’t even know he was out until she went to see her mom and she mentioned he visited her.

She’s very bad at relationships but I swear if you bring me John Boyega, Adam Driver and/or Oscar Isaac, as exes, current crushes, FWB, or whatever you can think of, I will forever love you.

[anelementofsurprise]

I was tagged by the lovely @cathawayinspace! Thanks, this was such a fun one to complete!

Rules: Outline in bold what is applicable to you

APPEARANCE: i am 5′7″ or taller i wear glasses i have at least one tattoo i have at least one piercing i have blonde hair i have brown eyes i have short hair my abs are at least somewhat defined i have or have had braces there is something i would change about the way i look

PERSONALITY: my hogwarts house is: gryffindor hufflepuff ravenclaw slytherin i am an introvert i like meeting new people people tell me that I’m funny  helping others with their problems is a big priority for me i enjoy physical challenges i enjoy mental challenges i’m playfully rude with people I know well (I really don’t like seeing this from anyone on a constant regular basis. A tease every now and then is different, but overused flippancy is all too common these days). i started saying something ironically and now i can’t stop saying it there is something i would change about my personality

ABILITY: i can sing well i can play an instrument i can do over 30 pushups without stopping i’m a fast runner i can draw well i have a good memory i’m good at doing math in my head i can hold my breath underwater for over a minute i have beaten at least 2 people in arm wrestling i know how to cook at least 3 meals from scratch i know how to throw a proper punch(but I choose not to)

HOBBIES: i enjoy playing sports i’m on a sports team at my school or somewhere else i’m in an orchestra or choir at my school or somewhere else i have learned a new song in the past week i work out at least once a week i’ve gone for runs at least once a week in the warmer months i have drawn something in the past month i enjoy writing fandoms are my #1 passion  i do or have done martial arts

EXPERIENCES: i have had my first kiss i have had alcohol i have scored the winning goal in a sports game i have watched an entire season of a TV show in one sitting i have been at an overnight event i have been in a taxi i have been in the hospital or ER in the past year i have beaten a video game in one day i have visited another country i have been to one of my favourite band’s concerts (THIS WILL NEVER HAPPEN 😂)

RELATIONSHIP: i’m in a relationship i have a celebrity crush i have a crush on someone I know i have been in at least 3 relationships i have never been in a relationship i have asked someone out or admitted my feelings to them i get crushes easily i have had a crush on someone for over a year  i have been in a relationship for at least a year i have had feelings for a friend

MY LIFE: i have at least one person I consider a “best friend” i live close to my school (my home is my uni!) my parents are still together i have at least one sibling i live in the United States there is snow right now where I live i have hung out with a friend outside of school in the past month i have a smartphone i have at least 15 CDs i share my room with someone

RANDOM SHIT: i have breakdanced i know a person named Jamie i have had a teacher with a last name that’s hard to pronounce i have dyed my hair i’m listening to one song on repeat right now i have punched someone in the past week i know someone who has gone to jail (A family friend who was converted - sadly he passed away a couple of years ago. Lovely guy.) i have broken a bone i have eaten a waffle today i know what I want to do with my life (general gist) i speak at least 2 languages fluently i have made a new friend in the past year

Tagging, both old and new followers. Feel free to skip this if you want:-

@goodoldbaz @absolute-twaddle @ciara-jane @ll-again @smilingsweetlyonwards @nasturtian @missthursday @ausevor @kelimian @arda-ancalima @awkwardmorse @vinyaya-jay @couchcushings@dastardlywhiplash @pinkfloralcake@cathawayinspace @mybelladuveen  @slowlymychaos @my-my-herecomethefuzz @judes-law @withywindle @riley1cannon @sphinxyvic @virtusestmedium @kokido-kuku @ag47silver @nitefise-art

[sunggyushines]

Bolded Tag

I was tagged by @flowrsoo​ and  @leesungjongg​ to do this! Thank you guys for tagging me :D Tagging: Anyone who is reading this rn? I dont know who to tag but please feel free to do it

Rules: Bold what applies to you. Put what somehow applies in italics. 

APPEARANCE:

I am 5′7″ or taller I wear glasses I have at least one tattoo I have at least one piercing I have blonde hair I have brown eyes I have short hair My abs are at least defined I have or have had braces There is something I would change about the way I look

PERSONALITY:

My Hogwarts house is: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin I am an introvert I like meeting new people People tell me that I’m funny Helping others with their problems is a big priority for me I enjoy physical challenges I enjoy mental challenges I’m playfully rude with people I know well (i like teasing them? is it considered rude though?) I started saying something ironically and now I can’t stop saying it There is something I would change about my personality

ABILITY:

I can sing I can play an instrument I can do over 30 pushups without stopping I’m a fast runner I can draw well I have a good memory I’m good at doing math in my head I can hold my breath underwater for over a minute I have beaten at least 2 people in arm wrestling I know how to cook at least 3 meals from scratch I know how to throw a proper punch

HOBBIES:

I enjoy playing sports I’m on a sports team at my school or somewhere else (not anymore) I’m in an orchestra or choir at my school or somewhere else (not anymore sadly I’m going to look into finding an orchestra to play in) I have learned a new song in the past week I work out at least once a week I’ve gone for runs at least once a week in the warmer months (last summer i tried running everyday? but its a new thing) I have drawn something in the past month I enjoy writing Fandoms are my #1 passion I do or have done martial arts

EXPERIENCES:

I have had my first kiss I have had alcohol (sips) I have scored the winning goal/point in a sports game I have watched an entire season of a TV show in one sitting I have been at an overnight event  I have been in a taxi  I have been in the hospital or ER in the past year (lolol not bc i was admitted bc of volunteer reasons) I have beaten a video game in one day I have visited another country I have been to one of my favourite band’s concerts

RELATIONSHIP:

I’m in a relationship I have a celebrity crush I have a crush on someone I know I have been in at least 3 relationships I have never been in a relationship (nvr will be) I have asked someone out or admitted my feelings to them I get crushes easily I have had a crush on someone for over a year I have been in a relationship for at least a year I have had feelings for a friend

MY LIFE:

I have at least one person I consider a “best friend” I live close to my school My parents are still together I have at least one sibling I live in the United States There is snow right now where I live I have hung out with a friend outside of school in the past month (what friends hah) I have a smartphone I have at least 15 CDs I share my room with someone

RANDOM SHIT:

I have breakdanced I know a person named Jamie (used to I think) I have had a teacher with a last name that’s hard to pronounce I have dyed my hair I’m listening to one song on repeat right now (THE ACTUAL SONG OF 2016 VERY NICE which i discovered last week sadly) I have punched someone in the past week I know someone who has gone to jail I have broken a bone I have eaten a waffle today I know what I want to do with my life I speak at least 2 languages fluently I have made a new friend in the past year

[ohsugarfoot]

Nothing Quite Like Jail Time As A Birthday Present

Red stuffed the rest of her little tree stump things into the small canvas bag. She didn’t have much, some leftover clothes, a small container of honey, and her few treasures. It wouldn’t take long to put everything back if Shahil said no.

Tension tightened her chest as she left the little tree stump. She spun the bangle Agni had given her what seemed like forever ago around and around her wrist. What if he said no? She’d remind him that she didn’t take up much room, and she was used to not eating every day, if that was a worry. Red knew Shahil would ask her what she wanted for her birthday, and this year she wanted to ask if it was okay if she moved in with him.

If he said no, she would ask if she could move into the shop. Again, it wasn’t like she took up much room, and she could definitely earn her keep helping out with sweeping or handling customers. But, to her, housing was such a big, necessary thing, and she wasn’t sure if it was the same with Shahil and his family. It didn’t seem like it, but they were from completely different class systems after all, and there was a huge difference between friendship and living together.

Her hollowed out stump, once too big and spacious, was started to get really cramped. Between Khanda and Shahil making sure she and the Littles ate every day, she’d gone through several growth spurts. Plus, with what they guessed to be her fifteenth birthday tomorrow, puberty was finally starting to kick in too, making her clothes fit in completely different, uncomfortable ways.

Red made her way out of the jungle cover for what would hopefully be the last time. She would miss the way the baby bunnies would cuddle with her for warmth, and those quiet sunrises… but not the freezing cold nights, or the rain, or even the occasional snow. The walk to and from the city each day wouldn’t be missed either.

If he said no, would he let her work at his shop? Or would she have to go to a brothel? A brothel would mean having to learn how to flirt, how to kiss, how to do more, and just… ew. Absolutely not. She could always ask Miss Annaisha how to read, then ask for a job at the library? Or ask Khanda if she could help on the airship? That wouldn’t take any learning.

Nothing against Khanda or Miss Annaisha, but Red didn’t quite trust them, not yet. They were nice and giving, true, but out of everyone, she was much closer to Shahil. He was quiet and patient with her, which was a stark contrast to Agni trying too hard to get her to like him. Push come to shove, living in the airship or in the library would be better than in her now too small, rotten log.

Red chewed on her cracked lip as she spun the bangle around and around. She made her way towards downtown; while it was safer to go around the main city, it also took considerably longer too, and she wanted to get to Shahil’s before the day got too hot. Her birthday, and the fall equinox, were tomorrow, but she knew why he wanted her over early, and that was to make her take a bath and braid up her hair. It wasn’t like Red would say no to the extra meals either.

She weaved through the crowds, careful to keep both her bag and her small satchel tight against her side. Both bags had a drawstring closure, but that wouldn’t stop any thieves, and she knew that from experience. There were more people than usual, thanks to the upcoming holiday, and Red twisted around someone walking slow, then spun around the corner… right into one of the guards.

“Why look at this,” he said, grabbing the front of her shirt and holding her up slightly.

“Let go!” Red yelled, pounding her fists on his arm. “I ain’t do nothing!”

WIth his other hand, the guard grabbed her left arm, the one with the gold bangle. “You obviously stole this from someone,” he said.

“No! It was a gift!” “Yeah, right,” he said, and Red knew something not good was going to happen. She focused on getting away, of what it would take to make him let go, and she felt her mark heat up which meant it was working. Needing a distraction, she twisted as she kicked, and her shirt slid out of his fingers. Her bare feet hit the ground, and Red dug down, ready to pounce away, but then another guard’s arms wrapped around her midsection and hugged her close.

“Assaulting a guard, on top of thievery. Tsk tsk,” the first guard said.

“Let go, I’m innocent,” Red cried out, trying to twist, but the arms around her just tightened in response, holding her good and tight and in a way she couldn’t slip away.

“That’s what all you street rats say,” said a voice in her ear, and the bangle on her arm came off, and no matter how much she pleaded or wiggled, Red couldn’t free herself. The guard holding her, annoyed at having to stop and readjust his grip every few moments, finally had some come by and cuff her upside her head. Red didn’t pass out, but confusion slowed her senses, and that was just long enough to walk the few blocks to the jail and throw her into one of the cells. One of the few female guards came in and stripped Red of everything but the clothes on the back, and even when Red begged her innocence, everyone ignored her.

——-

“Something’s wrong,” Agni said, walking right into Shahil’s house without knocking, holding a covered plate in his hands.

“How so?” Shahil asked.

Agni shrugged, and handed Shahil the covered plate. “Chef made Red an angel food cake!” He said brightly, taking off the dome covering. Shahil raised an eyebrow at the delicate looking cake with strawberries piled in the middle.

Shahil recovered the cake, a rarity they would all enjoy later, and put it in a cupboard for safe keeping. “Angel food cake?”

“Chef said it’s so soft, an angel could take a nap in it.” Agni went into his satchel and brought out some extra naan for dinner. “I had some last week, and he’s definitely right.”

“That’s for us?” Shahil asked, then added, “Any idea what’s wrong?”

Agni took a seat and nodded. “Something’s just wrong. I’m not sure. Nothing’s clear.” He rubbed at his mark. “I mean, today’s match ended up being rescheduled for tomorrow, but that shouldn’t set anything off?”

When Shahil turned his back to Agni, Agni added even more naan to the pile. “Where’s Red?” he asked, looking around the room.

“Dunno. Must be running late.”

“Not like her to miss out on a free meal,” Agni commented, adding yet another stack of naan as his friend glared at the back of his head.

Hours passed, and while Agni provided a welcome face to the dinner table, Red’s presence was definitely missed. No one was sure if something happened to her, but she’d been late to dinner before, and it was possible she messed up her days again, or was sick due to some bad food. But the day ended, with Agni refusing a slice of cake for the road before going home.

The next morning, Shahil and Maya made their way to the city to sell his trinkets. The equinoxes and solstices were days of celebration, bright colorful days that brought in a lot of travellers that could afford marked up prices. Shahil kept an eye out for Red, but she never appeared.

In fact, nearly a week passed before Agni made his way over to Shahil’s shop. “Red ever come by?” he asked, using a decorative hand fan to cool himself down.

Shahil shook his head as he added a few more logs to the fire. “Been swamped over the last few days, so I haven’t been able to look for her,” he said. “Plus your broken knee plate has been a challenge.”

“That was a dirty hit and you know it.” Agni had sensed the hit coming, but it had been too late; what would’ve smashed his wrist instead got his knee. Different place, but still damaging. It wasn’t like him to be so distracted, but with the warning bells already going off in his head, he couldn’t exactly focus on anything else.

“I never said it was your fault,” Shahil said, then looked at his friend. “You okay?”

“I’m still…” Agni gestured around, as if that would make any sense. “Something bad has happened. I think to Red? I don’t think she’s hurt, but she’s not here, and…” he sighed, more unsure than he’d ever been before. “Maybe we should look around for her tonight.”

Shahil nodded, then pulled his mask over his face and got back to work.

—————-

“Hey, psst. Hey, you!”

Red tapped against the bars next to her head, trying to get the attention of a kid on the other side of the hallway. He had his back turned to her, curled into a ball, but she could tell that he was a street kid just like herself. He wasn’t from her area, and she’d never seen him before, but maybe he could still help her.

She picked up a small stone from the floor of the cell and lobbed it at him. It bounced to the side, and Red huffed in annoyance. Grabbing another pebble, she tried again. This time it landed, and he uncurled himself and turned to face her.

“What?!”

“What’cha in here for?”

“Does it matter?”

“Wanna make some money?”

The boy raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. Red pressed on anyway. “I’m friends with the town’s blacksmith, the one that does mech,” she said, hopeful, wrapping her fingers around the bars. “He’ll give you some gold pieces if you tell him I’m here.”

“Yeah right, and the Empress will throw a parade in my honor. Fuck off.”

“No, seriously, his name is Shahil, he has a mechanized toy cat sitting in the window that purrs and wags its tail, please you gotta tell him I’m here –”

The guard walking down the hallway hit Red’s fingers with his baton, causing her to yelp. “No talking.”

“Please,” Red silently mouthed, but the boy only turned his back on her again. In frustration, she kicked at the bars, but that only gave her a sore foot on top of her sore fingers.

————–

That night’s search party had to be put off thanks to the announcement that the Ardhu Titans had advanced into the semi-finals.  

Agni sat on one of Shahil’s workbenches, leg extended. “I’m disappointed Red couldn’t eat any of the cake,” he mused sadly. “I’ll have to have Chef make her another one.” He looked up at the ceiling of the shop, the support beams looking like sooty pathways.

Shahil said something that he missed, and Agni brought his attention back to his friend. “Sorry.”

“You’re distracted. Why?”

“Somethings still off,” Agni said, flexing his mech knee slowly so Shahil could check the connections. “Usually there are a lot of different paths, like branches of a tree, and the correct one is glowing brighter than the rest. But… it’s tight there.”

Shahil extended Agni’s leg and loosened the screws slightly. “But?”

“But this time, I can tell something’s wrong with Red, but not what. Or where she is. Or what’s causing it. Everything is murky and distracting.”

“Tomorrow we’ll start asking around and see if anyone else has seen her,” Shahil said, pushing on the kneecap before making a few more small adjustments. Agni brought in his knee again and shook his head. “Tonight’s going to be a long night.”

—————

“Yo, street rat.”

Red didn’t look up from her knees from where she sat in the corner. It’d been about a week, the longest she’d ever been in jail. Most times they’d let her free after a day or so, usually with a scolding or with a kick on her bottom to make her stay away for a while, but this was just too much. It was loud, it was cold, and no one believed her when she said the bangle was a gift.

“Hey, street rat! What are you, deaf?”

“My name’s Red,” she mumbled, but the guard either didn’t hear her or care. He opened the jail cell door and walked over to where she was before grabbing her by her hair.

“Let go, that hurts!”

“You’re such a dirty little thing, aren’t you?” he said, and she tried to twist around, but he lifted her up to her toes by the fistful of her hair. “Do you know what dirty creatures have? They have bugs.”

That’s when Red noticed the other guard in the cell with them, brandishing a pair of sharp scissors. Her eyes widened and she tried to punch or kick the guard, but a tight hand on her throat stopped that quickly.

“Don’t,” she whispered, tears forming in her eyes. Her hair was longer now, past her shoulders, and when Maya helped her brush it, the dull black strands turned into a shiny soft waterfall. “I don’t have lice anymore, my hair is clean, let me go –”

The hand tightened around her neck even more, and it got hard to breathe. “Shut up,” the mean guard said, and that was when the snipping started. Tears hit the floor, joining the chunks of hair. If it wasn’t for the scissors so close to her head she would try to move away, the cell door was open after all, but her bandage had been stolen from her a few nights ago and they would see her mark. There was nothing she could do except wait for them to finish.

And finish they did, leaving Red’s hair cut close and haphazardly to her scalp. The guard holding her by the throat tossed her onto the floor, and the two of them left, laughing as she wheezed and coughed.

————

First stop on the ‘Let’s Find Red’ list was talking to Khanda and his floating food ship.

“Haven’t seen her in awhile,” he said, handing out bowls of food to the kids crowding his knees. “But then again, she never did come by every night like some of these cuties.”

A little boy with snot smeared across his face asked, “Is the pretty story lady coming today?”

“Not today, little one. She’s sick.”

Khanda turned his attention back to Agni and Shahil, frowning in worry. “Maybe she’ll be by tomorrow? Otherwise I don’t know.”

Defeated, the pair turned away.

The next day all Khanda had to do was shake his head sadly for them to know that Red hadn’t come by. However, Annaisha was there, sitting on a small stool, tuning her sitar.

“Hi guys! Heard you’re looking for my little cabbage, but I haven’t seen her around at all.” She plucked at a few strings, and winced at the sour tone. “Red used to sleep under the tables a lot, but that’s usually only when it’s rainy.”

“Well, if you see her, let me know,” Shahil said, frowning.

“Of course! Whatever you say, my little marshmallow. You know, you both are welcome to come by the library any time! I’m sure my patrons would love having someone come and talk to them about blacksmithing or making things into toys. As for you, Agni, I’m sure we could find something for you.”

Khanda let out a hearty laugh at that, causing Agni to pout. Shahil shook his head and led the both of them away. To where, he wasn’t sure, but this was a dead end.

——————-

Red sat in her little corner, absentmindedly scratching at her old scars. She’d been here nearly two weeks, the small scratches on the wall helping her keep track of the days. This was horrible, longer than any other time she’d been in here, and she wasn’t sleeping well because of the noise. The guards also kept ‘accidently’ spilling her food tray at meal times, and they weren’t giving her enough water, causing a dull headache to form behind her eyes.

One of the newer guards, fresh faced and skittish around the prisoners, turned down the hallway. Even though it wasn’t allowed, Red called out, “I learned my lesson, can I go home now?”

The mean one, the one who Red originally bumped into, turned around the corner as well, and she quieted down, hoping he didn’t hear.

Luck wasn’t on her side, as he came right up to her cell door. “What home?” he laughed.

Red didn’t answer.

“You know, if you just confess yo-” the younger guard said, gaining an elbow in his side for his words.

Tears welled up in Red’s eyes, and she blinked them away. “I didn’t steal anything,” she repeated for the hundredth time.

“I didn’t steal anything,” the guard mocked in a high pitched voice. “I’m innocent, it was a gift, I didn’t mean to assault the guard, I definitely haven’t been here before for stealing.”

He was right about being here before, but those times were long in the past, and usually coincided with extremely cold weather. Red curled tighter into a ball, defeated. If they didn’t believe her about the bangle being a gift, they definitely wouldn’t believe her when she said she was friends with Shahil the blacksmith. And it would be impossible for them to think she was friends with Agni.

“We’ll have a gift for you real soon,” he said as he nudged the other guard along. “It’s called a rope necklace.” Red’s eyes widened when he put his fist near his neck, tilting his head to the side. She swallowed nervously, and he walked away laughing.

They were going to hang her!? For a crime she didn’t actually commit? Maybe he was joking, but then again, why had she been here for so long? Why hadn’t her friends found her yet?

The what-ifs and whys circled around her head. For the first time she could ever remember, Red buried her head in her hands and cried, afraid of what was going to happen to her.

——————

Night slowly arrived. Usually Red would try to get some rest, but with every guard that walked by her cell brought along another surge of panic - were they going to hang her now? Was this how it ended, not in a blaze of glory but with a short fall with a quick stop?

Maybe she would have to use her powers after all. The bright white glowing would be dangerous in the poorly lit jail cell, but it would be her only choice. Red chewed on the side of her thumb, thinking it all over. If she was caught escaping, especially with a glowing arm, she would definitely be put to death. But then, if the guards were to be trusted, she would die anyway. Maybe they were just trying to scare her? But why hadn’t they let her free?

Try to escape, or just roll over and die. Or maybe not die. Or maybe be stuck here forever. Red sighed and rubbed at her eyes. She wasn’t one to just give up, not after all these years living on the street, so after the next guard rotation, Red moved over to sit next to the bars. She didn’t like sitting by the cell door, because some of the meaner guards like to pull on her hair or make uncomfortable remarks about her body. There was even one guard who dragged his baton on the bars late at night.

Red settled down, trying to get comfortable. She had never tried to do something this complicated before: trying to move through the jail bars would be much, much harder than wiggling out of someone’s grasp. It wasn’t ideal, but she put her left hand over the mark on her right wrist, then grasped the bar with her right hand, placing her head against the bars.

Instead of focusing to get away, Red instead tried on focusing on getting through. It was the same concept, as she wanted to get away from jail, but her mind kept wandering. What if it didn’t work? What if she got caught?

The best way to stay calm is to meditate, Shahil told her one time, and Red breathed in for a count of four before holding it. However, the thought of Shahil just made her throat tighten up more. Why hadn’t they found her yet? Agni was usually so spot on when it came to his intuition, so he should’ve been there for her at least a week ago. Maybe they were glad to be rid of her?

You were on your way to Shahil’s for a birthday party, she reminded herself, and not everyone gets a birthday party. That was a thing friends did for each other, and that meant he was your friend. Right?

Red sniffled, then breathed out on a count of four, and held it again. She would have to worry about all of that once she was out of here. Birthday parties and friendships wouldn’t matter if she didn’t make it through the next day.

Breathe in for a four count, hold for a four count, out for a four count, hold for a four count. It took a while for her breathing to settle into the correct pattern, and for her mind to stay focused. After being on edge for so long, it was hard to stop paying attention to every noise or movement. Red could feel her mark warm up and start glowing, and her concentration faltered for a moment.

Pulling herself back together, Red waited until the guard’s footsteps faded away. She would only have about ten minutes before someone walked by again, and with the clock pressing against her, Red tightened her grip on the bar. In, hold, out, hold. In, hold, out, hold. In, hold, out, hold. In, hold, out, hold, and through

Several things happened at once. A flash of bright white light emitted from her arm, and Red felt herself falling forward. She brought out both hands to stop her fall, and the light disappeared, and now she was face first on the hallway floor. Red laid there for a moment, breathing in the dust of the hallway, shocked it had worked.

But when she tried to pull her knees up to her chest, her left ankle refused to move. Red twisted around and swore under her breath when she realized her foot was stuck under the bars, in the little gap. “No no no no,” she whispered, tugging at her leg, but it was properly stuck. She could pivot around her leg, but there wasn’t enough room to wiggle it free.

With time against her side, Red bit down on the collar of her shirt to muffle any noises she might make. She braced her right foot against the bars and kicked back. Chunks of skin scraped off, thanks to the rough bars and even rougher concrete, and by the time her foot was out, she could already feel the blood beading up. That would leave some new scars, Red knew, but she didn’t have time or extra cloth to wrap it.

Now the choice was to either go down the hallway that lead towards the back of the jail, which was the way the rotations always walked. That would give her more time, but a considerably higher chance of being seen, either by the guards or by someone else in jail. Taking the other route meant a shorter path, with the door to the outside only a few turns away, but that was where the guards came from, and there was usually a posted guard or two at the front door.

Well, she could always wiggle away if a guard caught her, and with that settled, Red stood. She couldn’t put much weight on her left foot, but if she balanced on the ball of her foot it was tolerable. Limping towards the hallway, Red paused to see if there was any oil lamps in the distance. There wasn’t, so she turned the corner and continued limping along.

Two hallways left, and now one hallway left, and she was near the end of the cells when it happened. One guard came around the corner, with the oil lamp held out in front of him.

“Fuck,” she said the same time the guard yelled, “Jail break! Stop!”

Red charged at him, thinking she’d be able to fake left and get around him on the right. However the blood from her ankle was slicker than she thought, and she slipped, crashing down on her side. The guard pounced on her, and Red tried to get away, with the front door so, so close now, she didn’t want to die, she couldn’t die, not like this –

Warmth and faint glowing came from Red’s right wrist, and she swore again, trying to twist away, but the glowing just got brighter. She couldn’t get caught as a Star Warrior, she’d heard stories of people being tortured or burned at the stake for telling stories before. Against every instinct in her body, Red stopped struggling.

Footsteps came running down the hall then, and the only female guard Red had ever seen work here rounded the corner. “The hell?”

“Open a cell before she gets away,” the guard twisting Red’s arm behind her back. It didn’t take long for the cell to open, and between the two of the guards, they easily picked her up and tossed her onto the floor.

“How did you get out?” one of them asked, but Red didn’t answer, only curled herself into a tight ball at the clanging of the door closing. They asked again, this time tapping their baton against the door, but again she didn’t answer. She’d been so close!

“It doesn’t matter,” said the female guard after a while. “She’ll be hanged tomorrow anyway.”

——————-

Shahil always dreamed. It was never of anything important, just muddled retelling of the day’s work or residual surges of emotions of his family members. He couldn’t hold up his mental blocks while he was sleeping.

Which meant Shahil felt the moment someone entered his bedroom. His eyes snapped open.

“Agni, why are you in my bedroom?”

Agni seemed to jump several feet in the air before laughing. “You scared me!”

Shahil sat up and rubbed at his eyes. “That didn’t answer my question,” he said, taking a few seconds to pull up his blocks as his friend went over to light one of the oil lamps.

“I know where Red is. We got to go get her right this instant.”

That got Shahil up. He hefted up his bed, and hid it in the metal cabinet he’d created with scraps of unneeded material. Even if they were going to rush out at… two in the morning according to his clock, he still didn’t want his dad to have to move the heavy bed on his already damaged back.

“Explain?” Shahil asked, tugging off his shirt to put on a new long sleeved one for the day. “So, I was sleeping, and suddenly Red was in my thoughts, and she was in a jail cell bleeding and crying,” Agni said as Shahil tugged on a new pair of pants as well, then went rummaging around in his dresser for a clean pair of socks. “I don’t know how long she’s been there, but someone in the background said they were going to hang her in the morning! So then I had to come get you first, mostly because there’s a little bit of time before morning, and I know she likes you a little bit better, and anyway, did you know the streets are empty of cars this early?”

“Cars?” Shahil asked slowly, tugging on his socks. Waking up this suddenly meant a very slow Shahil.

“Well, yeah, I brought the car. It’s faster than walking. I’ll have to have someone clean it later, your roads are very dusty around here. Are you ready?”

Grabbing his satchel off the hook by the door, Shahil nodded. With a small pause near the door to kick on both of their shoes, and another apology to Maya for waking her up, the pair made their way outside and towards the city.

——————–

Using her powers drained Red. Usually it was small bursts, like a yell in the middle of a normal conversation, but what she did, going through the jail bars… that was a lot harder. She lay curled in a ball, dozing in and out even though she wanted stay awake. Her ankle hurt, her head hurt, her everything ached and throbbed.

At least she tried. It failed, but she tried.

There was a guard posted outside of her jail cell now, to make sure she didn’t try to escape again. They had nothing to worry about, not with how empty she felt. Red couldn’t even muster up the energy to wipe away the leaking tears from her face.

She struggled to keep her eyes open, and finally lost the battle, falling into a light sleep. Red could hear the guards walking by, and voices, but didn’t react to any of them, too tired to care.

Shahil’s voice entered her thoughts, and she sniffled. She wouldn’t be able to thank him for being so patient with her, or thank Miss Saanvi for all the nice meals, or Maya for all the clothes. She wouldn’t even get to thank Agni for being such a good, however obnoxious at times, friend.

His voice got louder, and Red sobbed, curling tighter into a ball. Guilt washed over her, on top of the ache and pain. This was torturous, stabbing straight at her chest, knowing that she would never get to see them again.

And then Agni’s voice was there too, yelling at someone, and a guard was yelling back, and Shahil’s tone filtered through as well. Groaning, Red moved to a sitting position, her heavy head held up by her hands. Maybe her hallucinations would go away if she woke up a little.

“What the hell?” said the guard outside of her cell, and Red looked up. It wasn’t the Head of the Guards outside her jail cell, here to bring her to the hanging post like she expected. Instead it was Shahil, holding a set of keys, his eyes wide at her condition.

“Agni, you have to see this,” he said tensely, and Agni came around the corner as well, his fancy clothes a stark contrast to the gloomy walls, with a guard a step behind him.

As Shahil thumbed through the keys, Agni spun around to face the guard. “Explain yourself now.”

“What is there to explain? She’s here for thievery, assaulting a guard, and attempting to escape from jail.”

Finally coming to her senses, Red spoke up. “They said I stole the bangle you gave me.”

“That bangle was a gift to her,” Agni said, in a cold voice Red had never heard him use before.

“How were we to know that?” the guard asked. “She’s just a street kid, they always lie.”

Shahil finally found the right key, and with a soft click, he opened the cell door, using his body to keep the door opened. Red slowly got to her feet, her balance unsteady, her gait uneven with the limp. Standing up helped clear her foggy mind slightly, and she made her way over to Shahil. The guard talking to Agni tried to close the jail door on her, but Shahil’s stocky frame stopped him from getting far.

“She can’t leave, you can’t do this!” The guard said, and Agni responded that with a quick, “I’ll pay triple for whatever mayhem you say she caused.”

“What happened to your leg? And your hair?” Shahil asked, his fingers coming close but not quite touching what little hair she had left.

“They said I had lice, and they cut it off!” Red said, tearing up. “They wouldn’t believe me when I said I didn’t.”

“Triple for her damages, you said? That can be worked out, follow me,” the guard stated, turning towards the hallway.

Red took another few steps, but then had to stop, as the wound on both sides of her ankle opened up again. Shahil saw this immediately, and reached out to scoop her up, much like a father scooping up a child ready for bed. “Careful,” he murmured, and she knew exactly what that meant: if they touched skin-to-skin, both of their marks would flare up. She nodded, resting her head against his shoulder.

“I want my stuff back,” she said as they walked into the reception area.

“What stuff?” Shahil asked as Agni repeated, “She wants her belongings back.”

“My satchel,” Red said, “and my clothes and my treasures and my honey and my bangle.” It wasn’t much, but it was hers.

“We had reason to believe she had lice, so we tossed it,” the guard said, and Red’s eyes went huge.

Anything Red could’ve said, had she not been in shock, wouldn’t have been as effective as Agni’s ice cold voice returning. “Shahil, take her home. As for you,” Agni took a step towards the guard, “I want to speak to your supervisor. Now.”

“Sir, it’s not even three in the morning and-”

“And I don’t care. I want to speak to your supervisor this instant. In fact, I want your supervisor’s supervisor as well.”

As the guard came up with more excuses as to why he couldn’t just wake up his superiors at this time of night, Shahil carried Red outside. “What happened to your ankle?” he asked again.

“I fell.” His raised eyebrow exposed her lie, but he didn’t correct her.

Shahil looked over at Agni’s car, parked crooked on the street. “He didn’t bring a driver, and I don’t know how to drive, and he’s probably going to take a while, so… walking it is.”

“I can walk,” Red said, and the eyebrow raised up again.

“You weigh less than some of my tools,” he said, and Red smiled into his shirt. She tucked both of her arms to her chest, trying to gather up some of his body heat. They walked in silence for a long while, and Red felt herself dozing off again. Shahil was so warm, and safe, and the still night, however colder than the jail cell, was much quieter.

“You’re going to live with me now,” Shahil said, and Red fluttered her eyes back open. “No more of this not being safe, you hear?”

“That’s what I planned on wishing for,” Red whispered, and her throat closed up, and she sniffled. She held herself together… that was, until Shahil murmured, “Oh Red, it’s okay, I got you,” and that’s when the tears fell, silently at first, and then huge heaving sobs, with Shahil holding her close and tight the entire time.

[surveys4ever]

6.

What’s the last vegetable you ate, and when did you eat it? I put red bell peppers in the breakfast burritos we had for dinner last night!

What was your last Facebook notification for? Someone requested to join a group I admin.

What bands have you seen live? Sadly I haven’t seen many bands live. Last ones I saw were Paramore and X Ambassadors!

Tell me an interesting fact about your mother: Ummm...she got weight loss surgery a few years ago.

What do you think is the most important thing to happen to you before the age of 13? My dad left and my mom remarried and had a bunch more kids she likes more than me.

What were you super against as a young child but aren’t anymore? Cheesecake, broccoli, water, atheists. Now cheesecake is my favorite, I love broccoli, water is the only thing I drink, and I AM an atheist.

What are your plans later today? I have to shower and make dinner. Other than that idk.

Are you doing anything exciting this weekend? Sadly probably not. Beebs works so I’m probably just gonna work on a sewing project or something.

Who do you talk to the most? My husband or our dog!

What are some things you do regularly that make you feel old? Go on TikTok.

Who is your best guy friend(s)? My husband!

Do you wish your skin was lighter or darker? I’m good where I’m at!

If you had a tiny scar on your face, would you get it removed or just keep it? It depends on the scar and its placement. I’d probably get it removed tho.

Have you had an x-ray in the past year? Nope! Last one was in the 9th grade.

Do you think your first love still loves you? I’d sure hope so.

What is something that is “going right” in your life? We’re debt free for the first time since we got married, my husband is fixed, and we just finished getting a bunch of repairs done on our car!

When did you feel ready to start dating? I don’t think there was a moment I decided I was ready...it just happened!

When was the last time your pet bit you? If you don’t have a pet, have you ever been bitten by someone else’s? I mean...she’s never bitten me maliciously! Just playfully.

Where were you the last time you made out? In bed I believe.

When was the last time you cried tears of joy? When a company I’ve loved forever sent me a massive PR box with so much more than I could have ever expected. I sat on the kitchen floor and cried.

How do you type your sad smileys? :(

Do you have “decorative hand-towels” that cannot be used in your house? Nah!

What was the last soda you drank? I had a coke slushie earlier!

What was the last thing someone made fun of you for? I’m not sure! It was probably something silly my husband was teasing me for.

Have you ever had any type of surgery? No, thank god.

Should kids be allowed to get tattoos/piercings without parental consent? Yeah. It’s their body!

Who was the last person to hit on you? Some weirdo on the internet told me my bellybutton must smell like roses.

What was the last thing you decided not to do, that you were supposed to? Shower..oops.

What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to tell someone? I don’t know!

What do you put on hot dogs? Mayo, ketchup, mustard, and cheese.

Ever fallen in the shower? Slipped but not fallen!

Do you think that things will get better? I really hope so!

Have you ever legitimately saved a person’s life? Yup.

What’s your favourite book genre? I don’t know if I have one!

Have you ever walked out of a movie at the theatre? I almost walked out of Toy Story 4 because the people behind us were so goddamn rude and their kid kept pulling my hair.

Do dogs like you? Oh hell yeah.

Would you say that you project an air of authority? Maybe? I’m a bossy Capricorn so I exude some level of leadership but I’m also not comfortable being in charge of anyone.

Have you ever jumped off a high dive into a pool? Absolutely not.

Do you use one towel when you shower or two? Two! One for my hair and one for my body.

Have you ever been to one of the great lakes? Nope!

Who do you know that had a baby recently? Um! Lots of Facebook friends but no one personally.

Do you like Usher’s songs? Eh! They’re alright.

When was the last time you went to a waterpark? Oh god. Like 15 years ago.

Have you ever ridden a train? When I was a young tot, yes!

What do you eat your French fries with? Depends on the fry! Ranch is usually my favorite.

Do you have family problems? Hahahahaha....hahahaha...yes. So fucking many.

What’s the last food you ate that was stale? I don’t know? I don’t eat stale food very often.

How do you like your grilled cheese? Extra cheesy with tomato soup!

What is the most challenging meal you have ever cooked? Pasta aglio e olio!

What was your favorite thing to do as a little kid? Spend time with my grandma!

Have you ever been close to drowning? Nope.

Have you ever had a panic attack? Ugh, many times. They are terrifying.

Do you like doing housework? Sometimes! Other times I’d rather do l i t e r a l l y anything else.

Would you ever get implants? I want a breast lift but I’m afraid to go under anesthesia.

Do you own a robe? A few, yeah!

Do you have a little sister? What’s her name? Yup, but that’s none of your beeswax.

Do you like crust on pizza or do you cut it off? If it’s dominos, I just toss it but if it’s anything else, I’ll eat it!

What was the last song you listened to? I Don’t Wanna Wait by Paula Cole.

Have any of your family members been to jail? In laws, yes!

Is there anyone that you feel you still need some closure with? Yeah, sadly.

Can you remember when you first learned how to read? Yup! Kindergarten.

What event in your life has transformed your personality the most? Probably having to give up my childhood to be the big sister. I’m inherently motherly, I take care of everyone, but I have no desire to be a mother.

Have you ever had any teeth pulled? Just my wisdoms!

Do you still want to be what you wanted to be in elementary school? I wanted to be famous.

What’re some TV shows that you would like to get into? I feel like I watch all of the shows that interest me!

How would you feel if you were drafted for the military? Uh...no.

What is your favorite Queen song? Fat Bottomed Girls!

Do you know how to use any foreign currency? Well yeah but I mean...I’m not sure what there is to know about it? You go to the bank, exchange your money for the other money, and then spend it as you see fit. It’s a lot easier to just use your bank card tho.

Been kissed by someone who you knew was “bad” for you? Nope!

Ever taken an at-home pregnancy test? Yeahhhh, sadly. My period is a little bitch who likes to show up late a lot and I’m an anxious mess so I usually take tests to give me some peace of mind while I wait.

When was the last time you were at a loss of what to do? I’m never at a loss of what to do!

What did you do on your favorite date with a guy/girl? We went to a theme park! It was absolutely magical.

What’s a movie you have seen in the theater more than once? Inside out and Just Friends! We saw Inside Out by ourselves, with my husband’s best friend, and then with my family just because it was so fkn good. And then my best friend at the time was obsessed with Ryan Reynolds and saw it I think like 10 times by herself, 2 of which were with me.

What is the reason you’re still alive? My heart is still pumping?

Have you ever had sex in someone else’s bed/bedroom? I’ve had sex in my parents’ hotel room while they were down at the pool...sorry mom.

Do you ever brush your hair before you go to bed? I never brush my hair except for right after a shower. I have curly hair and brushing it is the literal worst thing you can do.

Have you ever had a dream about sleeping with a celebrity? (You don’t have to give details.) I don’t believe so!

Has anyone ever told you that they needed you? Do you think they meant it? Yes and yes!

How did you feel when you woke up today? What was the first thing you thought about? Bleary! My husband was calling me to wake me up.

Do you still tell your parents that you love them? I do, even when I don’t really want to.

Have you ever said “I love you” to someone you weren’t going out with? Friends and family, yeah.

Would you date someone with a physical disability? I mean, I'm married, but in a theoretical world where I was single, that wouldn’t be something that would deter me if I loved someone.

Think of the last person you had sex with. Do you think they’ve slept with anyone else since they last slept with you? He has not!

The last time you dyed your hair, what color did you dye it? Purple! That was only like 2 weeks ago.

Think of the last time you went out to eat. Who paid? We did!

Do you save at least 15 percent of your income? 20%, actually!

Do you ever go on Reddit? If so, what are some of your favorite subreddits? I’ve only ever gone to Reddit because Google suggested it to me to answer a question I had.

Were you ever a flower girl or ring bearer in anyone’s wedding when you were little? I was only 4 but I guess I was my mom’s maid of honor/flower girl at her wedding.

Are your parents in good health? My mom is but my dad has high cholesterol and bad back pain. Nothing super serious tho.

Have you ever been a caregiver to a sick/disabled relative? Nope!

Is there any type of medicine you can’t take? For what reason? Not that I’m aware of but most medications have weird affects on me. NyQuil makes me hallucinate, Novocaine makes me loopy, and oui’d makes me see shit, so?

Do you have a favorite pair of pajamas? What do they look like? I really just wear a T-shirt and shorts to bed.

Do you have any interesting pillow cases? All my pillow cases rn are vintage and I love them!

If something on your body hurts, which part is it most likely to be? I just have really sensitive feet and every pair rubs them raw or causes blisters/bleeding so they usually hurt.

Are you more afraid of spiders or bees? Spiders, definitely.

Have you ever worn fake nails? If so, what did the last pair you wore look like? I had acrylics for a year! I don’t remember the last set I had on tho.

Is Russian or Native American history more interesting to you? Native American.

[ozma914]

Yesterday I Couldn't Spell Emergency Telecommunicator; Today I Are One

National Emergency Telecommunicators Week is this week. It's a tough time for emergency services this year, so I figured I should write something original, to talk about the times we live in.

But I didn't, so part of this is an update to a blog I wrote in 2017. (I wonder if anyone would have noticed? Too late.)

In 1991, after an unfortunate encounter with a teething baby, a Congressman from Delaware became the very first person to yell, "What's the number for 911?"

Okay, I was kidding about the baby: He just wanted to complain that the Congressional Dining Room coffee had gone cold. Still, he made a basic mistake that led to a delayed emergency response: He tried to dial "nine eleven".

In an effort to get the word out that the number for 911 is "nine one one", Congress declared the second full week in April to be National Public Safety Telecommunications Week. (They declared the third full week of April to be Teething Baby Awareness Week.)

Indiana made that same declaration in 1999, and this year it's April 12-18. That's why, being a public safety telecommunicator myself, I tried to take that week off.

I mean, it was my week, right? Daiquiris in Hawaii for all dispatchers! But it turns out emergency dispatch centers have to be manned 24 hours a day, something they didn't tell me when I signed on.

(Okay, it's possible they did tell me that. It was twenty-eight years ago--and while I haven't slept well since then, I have slept.)

Personally, I would have called it Emergency Dispatchers Week. It's not quite as accurate, but it's shorter. But no Congressman ever used one word, when a paragraph would do. In bigger dispatch centers, one dispatcher might take 911 calls, another might page out ambulances, a third radio police, a forth may be dedicated to fire departments, and so on. In a smaller dispatch center (like mine), the dispatcher might do all those.

They might also enter calls into the computer, do other computer work like arrest warrants, stolen vehicle calls and missing persons reports, run licenses for traffic stops, and take business line calls. They might empty the trash, make coffee, and operate the security doors for the county or city jails. They might set off the local tornado sirens (hopefully during tornado warnings). They might enter missing person and Amber Alert reports into national databases, try to talk down suicidal people, or talk somebody through doing CPR on their loves ones. They might have to do any combination of the above at the same time.

So "dispatcher" doesn't really cover it.

Part of the time you don't really need all the people who work in a dispatch center. The rest of the time you need three times as many. Sadly, no one has yet come up with a way to predict which time will fall at which--well--time. But there are certain ways to tell if it's going to get busy:

If you just heated up your meal.

If there's a full Moon, regardless of what the research "experts" say.

If some moron just said, "Say, it's been quiet tonight".

If you just realized your bladder is screaming at you to take a break.

In the emergency services, breaks are just an obscure theory. They're best taken at the dispatch console, with a microwave nearby. My record for reheating soup is eight times, but hey--I'm a slow eater, anyway.

When 911 calls you away from that already lukewarm chimichanga, it might be to help someone whose little toe has been hurting for three days. Or, it might be that you're about to become the very last person someone ever talks to. Not knowing is a large part of the stress.

I'm told the average career length for a 911 dispatch is 7-10 years, give or take. If you do it longer than 10 years, you qualify as legally insane. I've done it for more than twice that long.

In that time, some of the really serious stuff has actually been the easiest. Your house is on fire? Send the fire department. You're having chest pains? Send an ambulance. Many of my least favorite calls come in on the non-emergency line, and start with "Can I ask you a question?" In my business, there's a fine line between "question" and "complaint", but either way it's bound to end up being one of those head scratchers.

There's also the fact that many 911 calls aren't emergencies, and sometimes business line calls are.

So yeah, I think it's great that people in this job get a week of their own--they earned it. Last year we got a lot of attention, from individuals, businesses, and organizations that not only thanked us, but showered us with free food and gifts ... which is very cool, because according to the research I just did, my household is holding onto the lower edge of middle class income by our fingernails. This year, with the coronavirus and general ick going on, I don't think we even advertised our upcoming week.

You have to be careful with those treats, anyway. Two years ago I brought a great treat bag home, and the dog ate it. But has he taken a single 911 call? Noooooo......

http://markrhunter.com/

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

[theramblingonesie]

GoFuckMe: Humility in Activism

This blog is just as embarrassing as it is enlightening me for to write.

Backstory:

On September 19th, 2017, Mexico City was rocked hard by a 7.1 earthquake, eerily occurring on the 32nd anniversary of one of the most devastating earthquakes in the city’s history.  Hundreds killed, hundreds more injured.  38 buildings collapsed, and over 300 homes, schools, hospitals and office buildings were forced to close due to damage. 9,000 schools closed, leaving thousands of children idle, and many, but not all, are slowly beginning to reopen.  

Mixed reports flew around. Most media focused on unimaginable the tragedy and destruction.  My friends all reported back that they were okay, but scared and emotional after the damage, so I didn’t want to press them for details.

I received this news while I was filming in Ireland.  I was a bit stressed because where I was located was in the middle of the woods sans T.V. or internet, but had enough cell service to push emergency texts through if need be.  It was so surreal, and I had such little information that I didn’t know how to react, until I heard a news report on the radio that 22 children had died when a school collapsed.  That was all I needed to know for my heart to break open and bleed everywhere.  

I’ve been living back and forth between the U.S. and Mexico for the better part of the last year while working on The Scarlet Tongue Project.  Prior to my move, I had traveled to Mexico for a couple visits, once to meet the organizers of Ambulante, and then to meet Katia Tirado, who is now a deeply important artist in the film, as well as my Mexican mom, mentor, and dear friend.  It seemed pretty clear that Mexico had sunk her teeth into me, and that I wouldn’t be getting away anytime soon.  The abundance, perspective, experience, and massive life overhaul I’ve experienced since being here is beyond anything I could have imagined prior, and I owe so much to this country and the people here.  

Upon hearing that this city I love was in pain, I knew I had to give back.  But %$#@*&^% how?? I didn’t have any money at the time (because if you ever want to take a financial security laxative, produce an independent film that requires travel), so I wasn’t able to give much to any organizations.  I did, however, have a beautiful empty apartment that remained in-tact after the quake.  “Ah-ha, there it is. Direct action. I have a thing. I am not using it. There are people who lost their homes. They can use my house while they transition into long-term housing.  Katia can give them the key. Done.”

I went from feeling powerless and overwhelmed to focused and energized.  I passed the word on to friends to let me know if they knew of anyone in need.  I got in touch with my roommate to get the okay from her, we put our minds together, finalized a plan that would work for both of us, and hit launch on a GoFundMe campaign to make it all happen.  Right before we hit go, Katia called to say she had two friends who had lost their home and had been sleeping on the street who wanted to move into our space immediately. Okay, this was important.

Within two weeks, we reached our goal.  We just needed enough of a boost to make the house hospitable to guests.  At the start of the campaign, we didn’t have a fridge, kitchenware, bedding, towels, shelving, curtains, nothing.  When either my roommate or I are in town, we live that ultimate college freshman bachelor life—bed, clothes, a lamp, and takeout for every meal.  It didn’t sit right with us to open our home to people suffering trauma, only to have them sit and pass the time in a space that offered little more than a towel-less hot shower in a jail cell.

I had already been booked to come back to Mexico, but I changed my flight for a little later than originally planned because everyone cautioned me not to arrive in the middle of the aftershock period.  Finally, mid-October, I arrived, money in hand, ready to hit the ground running. Admittedly, I was confused when I was in the taxi from the airport to my house.  Things looked…..normal.  Business in my neighborhood seemed up and running as usual.  And I found out that the people who needed our house ended up finding an immediate long-term housing situation.

Huh. Well, great! But also, this is awkward…..

I had spent so much time leading up to this trip preparing myself to enter a full-blown crisis.  I thought my neighborhood would look something like a zombie apocalypse scene.  Okay, not quite that dramatic, but that’s how the news made it sound.

I took this as an opportunity to gain new perspective and be informed by the local people, now that I was actually on the scene.  The first 24 hours were spent in full action mode.  Even if we had lost our first set of tenants, I was so sure that if I built it, the people would come.  I went to various stores and the local market to check off our required item list, even being that crazy tiny person walking down the street carrying tables and shelves. My mind was in movie/storybook mode—surely if I put in this much effort and powered through, the plan would still come together.  I would have a house full of babies and moms, cooking dinner, feeling safe, and taking the time they needed to recuperate and transition into their new lives. I was so sure.

But the days were passing, and no news.   I started getting really nervous, and then mildly depressed, so I suspended spending while I awaited any word that my efforts were even necessary.  I wasn’t ready to give up, especially while I was holding the responsibility of using other people’s generous donations, so I began neurotically doing research.  I knew that somewhere, someone had to be in need.  I’ve never lived anywhere where someone didn’t need some help.   I sent countless emails to any organization I could find that was working on the local disaster relief, letting them know that I had available temporary shelter.  I google searched myself cross-eyed looking for local centers and shelters who might need help with extra food or housing.  I posted the apartment to Airbnb’s Open House branch, which lists free houses in crisis areas.

Any American organization just did what most Americans do best, and just said “I dunno” or passed me off to someone else who might care, and then that person would say “thanks, no thanks”, if they even responded at all. Airbnb never turned up any results. I emailed them twice asking if my listing had even gone through, because they were desperately begging for homes on their site, so the fact that I wasn’t getting any requests seemed strange to me. They replied to me with little more than a sentiment of “probably!”  Many of the local Mexican centers didn’t respond (probably because my subpar Spanish makes me sound like a crazy person), except an orphanage that would be delighted to have me come hold babies and teach English….provided that I could commit to volunteering one day every week consistently for a year.  I absolutely 1000% agree with and understand that policy, but sadly I am unable to be anywhere consistently for a year right now.

How was this possible? They said everything was awful?? I’m not connecting something….

Upon reading updated news articles, I discovered that what the media didn’t want to cover is how absolutely beautiful, compassionate, hard-working, fast-working, and community/family-oriented Mexicans are.  By the time I had arrived on the scene, much of the work was taken care of.  Most folks were taken in by their families and close friends while searching for housing.  When the call for supplies and volunteers went out, most organizations became overwhelmed and had to send people away, because there were too many volunteers and too many supplies. Every bleeding heart in this city of 22 million people felt a personal duty to step up and be in service, presenting a new “problem” for these organizations needing to find ways to schedule and rotate volunteers in order to accommodate the abundance of available help.  Even restaurants all over the city were offering free meals, and donating percentages of what they brought in to various local relief agencies.  

Holy shit, I had no idea. This was inspiring beyond anything I had ever seen on such a large scale.

This is where my heart and ego split.

Ego:

“OMG, I am sitting on hundreds of dollars from donors who trusted me to follow through with this project. I just ran a fraudulent campaign. No one is ever going to trust me again for anything.”

“I have to give this money back. They’re all gonna think I’m a thief.”

“Someone has to be suffering. Someone. I don’t believe this. I WILL FIND A FAMILY WHO NEEDS ME.”

“This is my fucking legacy: ‘Here lies Sam, she who makes giant claims only to cry wolf and run off with other people’s money. Failed artist, failed activist. May her eyeballs be eaten by worms for all eternity.’”

“I can do better. It’s not over yet. I made a promise. It’s not over. Keep researching.”

“I just suck and can’t do anything right.”

“Nobody needs you. Was this even about anyone else but yourself?”

Heart:

“Wow, this is amazing. What a stunning display of community and family commitment. Mexicans are beautiful, giving humans.”

“If no one is reaching out, it means that their needs are met.  That is excellent news.”

“I am so happy to see that life is returning to the city, and that people can repair their lives and heal from this tragedy.”

“You really went above and beyond to do your best. Be proud. It’s okay. Other people have it under control.”

“Surrender and be grateful.”

Because I was left with no choice but to stop and sit still, I got to take a good look at these two pieces of myself.  In the end, my heart won out.  As I told a few others, I am not about to pray for the suffering others so that I, as a white American who had the privilege of being far away when the disaster stuck and had no friends or family who were hurt or displaced, can look good in a small campaign.  If I am truly not needed and know that I did my best, then it is my responsibility to surrender and be honest.

What do I mean when I say it’s “my responsibility to surrender and be honest”?  A few things.  Some of which I knew previously, but this experience certainly opened my eyes and really drove it home.  I’ll begin with a quick story:

About 5 or 6 years ago, I traveled with a group of wonderful and accomplished women to Guatemala for a week-long internship as part of a “Women Leading Change” program.  Our mission was to meet with local, impoverished village women to discuss plans for building a women’s shelter there.  We were all white, American, and mostly far above the poverty line.  We were, by many standards, the faces of first world privilege.  I’ll never forget the one big meeting, where a room filled up with local women to hear our proposal, and then give us feedback.  And this was the feedback:

“We don’t want your shelter. We need money.  Give us money so we can support ourselves.”

This was an unparalleled humbling experience, I think for many of us in the group.  It led to a more authentic discussion, and the leader of our group took this information, went to several other smaller meetings, and revised her plan in a way that it would truly benefit these women as they had informed us.  I was very inspired by the grace and energy behind our leader, and her humility in allowing the original plan to die and be rebirthed as something that actually honored the requests of the women who needed help.

This is a frequent error of Americans, particularly white Americans.  Even in our activism, we can slip into being know-it-alls, status driven, stubborn, deaf, and even bullies.  We, more often than we’d like to admit, exploit these other cultures for whatever personal gain, and then turn around and brag about how giving we are. Research the Peace Corps, NGOs, and philanthropic organizations.  Research missionary organizations.  Many of them are not who they want you to think they are, and they’re not exactly doing what you think they’re doing.

See: shit white people do.

See: blind spots

See: we can do better.

I knew in my mind and my heart that I needed to surrender and let Mexico inform me on what She needed. I saw how dangerously close I was to developing a White American Savior complex, and I goddamn knew better than to do that.  Mexico didn’t need me in the way I thought, and I needed to back off and respect that. My heart kept me in check, and I was able to replace my paranoia and insecurities with relief, softness, and mindfulness.

I will say, however, that I am glad for my ego.  I used to subscribe to the ego-death camp.  The only way one can truly find bliss and truth is through killing your ego!!! Mm, sure.  What I later came to find is that the only way one can truly find bliss and truth is not to kill the ego, but to give it a real job.  I’m learning, through my anxiety (haha), that the ego is the part of us that keeps our bodies safe.  If you wanna look at it from a “spiritual” perspective, I believe that our bodies are the meat cars that transport our souls and allow us to experience the world and live our truest will.  No body = no earth experience.  I also find that our egos are the parts of us that push us to honor our contracts with others.  It’s the healthy fear and respect that make us show up on time, honor our relationships, keep our promises, tell the truth, and try hard to reach our goals.  When I combined my heart feels with the healthy power of my ego, I was able to stand down, humble myself, and wait to be informed rather than push to take the lead.  I was able to free up space in my body to remember to smile and be genuinely kind.  I was able to give thanks for the support and security I was seeing and reading about. I was also able to be honest, upfront and transparent with my donors.  

Though my tail was tucked, I knew the situation was out of my control, and I owed it to the people who invested in me to tell them what was up.  I also thank my ego for not allowing me to stop at just enough.  I found alternatives for my donors to select where they wanted their gifts transferred to if they didn’t want a refund.  At this point, what is mostly needed is millions of dollars to rebuild the lost and damaged buildings.  The government claims that what is needed is past their disaster relief budget, so projects are looking outward to others, both in Mexico and internationally to help fund this.  I waited until I was absolutely certain that my personal mission wasn’t going to be fulfilled at this time, because I didn’t want to defeat my efforts prematurely, and then wrote to my donors to explain everything. While I still haven’t heard back from everyone, I am incredibly grateful and relieved by the kindness and understanding I’ve received back.  Both my heart and ego are aligned with the knowing that I did everything I could with all of the information and resources I had, and followed through in integrity when it didn’t manifest.  

With the frustration, personal evolution, and sudden free time I had during this experience, I reflected on what ingredients go into good activism, and what real altruism looks like. I think that to get things done, ego is important.  As I said above—it keeps you motivated and committed.  I even see the benefit of having fame and popularity as activists, as well as the use of strong marketing practices, because this allows you a louder voice and larger audience for sharing your passion and mission.  At the same time, it’s important not to lose your heart or your footing in reality.  If your need to be seen as “good” begins to outweigh the positive impact you’re having on your community or particular cause, it’s important to check back in with yourself.  When I found myself being angry that no one needed my house, I knew I was out of alignment. When my embarrassment of my perceived failure took me out of the flow of really understanding what was happening, I knew I needed to have a come-to-Jesus moment.  The greatest thing I learned in all of this:

You don’t need to be a hero to make a difference.  For me, I feel good when I can give something physical and direct, whether it’s materials or a personal service, because I don’t often have money to donate.  But if nobody needs what you’re offering, and you don’t have extra money to donate to a cause, what else can you do?

1.       Spend your money on the local economy.  Are you going to an area in economic crisis or struggle?  Give them your dollars.  Don’t haggle.  Pay full cost.  Buy your food from local vendors and restaurants. Tip at least 20%.  Buy your clothes and furniture from local vendors. Local local local (except the bougie boutiques that settle into low-income areas and sell products that no one who lives there could actually afford. Eff those guys).

2.       Get involved with local organizations already hard at work.  Don’t be a White First-World Hero, unless your vision is truly informed, authentic, and beneficial.  If your cause puts someone else local out of business, overpowers the voice of the oppressed, or prevents people from getting other resources they may need, seriously rethink.  If your cause is exploiting or pulling more away from the local economy than contributing, rethink.  Be okay with working under someone else who knows what they’re doing and is already making a real, positive impact.  While my cause was based off a resource I already had that I could directly offer, I tipped dangerously close toward ignoring other organizations in favor my own work when it looked like I might not be able to follow through.  Not cool.  I turned it around, but damn was that a humbling look at my own privilege shadows.

3.       Smile.  Be kind.  No, this is not encouragement to appeal to misogyny.  You’re smiling and being kind because kindness matters, the world is in pain, we are all overworked and stressed, and we could all use a lot more love.  If you are a person of privilege, the last thing the world needs is more of your (our) cranky, consumer, elitist, insensitive behavior or demands.  People of privilege already raise a red flag of being unsafe.  Try on the face and mannerisms of someone who comes in peace.  Important note: Do not leave yourself open and try to exude flowery-love in dangerous situations.  Keep your head down and get thee to safety.

4.       Start conversations and bring awareness to issues.  Engage in conversations already happening.  Give credit to minds that inspired you so others can follow their hard work.  Educate yourself, help educate others, and learn how to be a better ally.

5.       Work on you. Work on being the best you that you can possibly be.  Work on your heart.  Work on your dream.  When people feel fulfilled, they are more inclined to love, share, listen, and be honest. When people feel fulfilled, they are less likely to hurt others.  If you can do nothing else, do your part to not add more hurt to the world.

6.       Don’t litter. Really. Ugh, gross.

I’m very grateful for my dumb personal crisis with this attempted housing project, because it forced me to sit down, breathe, and re-evaluate.  It gave me both the energy, space and quiet to educate myself and understand what was really going on, what was needed, and other areas I could get involved.  I found new strength in the humility.  I ended up having a meeting with a local birthing center that’s going to let me volunteer in exchange for classes, and I’m so excited for how this will further my career, which will further the ways I’ll be qualified to be in service to a wider variety of communities.  I also sat with the reasons why I have my apartment in Mexico, and whether I need to figure out a plan to use it to somehow give back to the community, or let it go so I’m not hoarding a space I’m only in a few months out of the year while there are other people here who need permanent, full-time housing.  Is this a luxury, or is there a greater plan?  If there’s a plan, it needs to kick into action, because we are not living in times where we can energetically afford to be selfish or idle.  I feel less like of a failure and more like a fool who’s a little wet behind the ears, and that’s okay.  It’s a reminder that no matter how much you think you know, there will always been an infinite amount to learn and discover.  I’m glad I got to have this experience, because if I truly want to align with being helpful, then I need to learn what that really means.

I hope this inspires you to get out there and tip the scales back to some kind of balance, because we’re living in a really ugly world right now.  At the same time, there is incredible love and incredible beauty out there still, and that’s worth acknowledging.  Your efforts are not futile; you may simply need to shift gears and plans like I did. As I remind myself—every little bit counts.  You just have to try <3

Thanks for reading and for sharing your light in the world!

[hyttesanger]

III

Mijoo never told her why she is against sponsorship so much while most other fighters desperately headbutting each other and risking their life for it, but Soojung somehow figures it out herself by putting two and two. The double sized bed, some household appliances that appear too feminine to be Mijoo's left untouched in one corner of the abominable flat, everything add up to an assumption that previously, someone else had lived in this place with her. And Soojung has a guess of who it was.

There's this old photograph of six people she has found one day; Soojung knows Jang Hyunseung, a guy with thick eyeliner and often sporting different obnoxious hairstyle everytime they meet. Shownu used to intimidate her with his height and all those muscles, but it turns out he's just another big dork. Feeldog, despite his choice of stage name, is handsome guy who gives off clean, good boy vibe and sometimes Soojung thinks he's too cute to be a fighter. Yoon Bora has already became such familiar friend, she doesn't shut up, constantly latching onto Soojung and Mijoo like second skin whenever she gets chance to thirdwheel their dates. She also asks hundred of lewd questions everytime and gets chokehold for those.

But one last woman stood beside Mijoo in all too close distance for typical best friend, Soojung doesn't know, nor remembers ever met before for the entire two months she's seeing her girlfriend. Judging from her appearance, she was definitely another fighter, her height and well developed built similar to Bora and Mijoo, a rarely ever seen pink MMA gloves sheathing both her hands. The presumably same gloves is now laying accumulating dust beside an ashtray on the table inside Mijoo's room. Given the fact that she's no longer around, Soojung's mind, result of nights spent reading criminal novels since young age, formulates a hypothesis that the woman had met a big sponsor, perhaps rich, sweaty middle-aged guy, then left Mijoo for him. Or his money, to be more precise.

"Don't play with it. It's Nicole's."

Lee Soojung doesn't speak to the point. She leaves subtle hint of her curiousity, the one that often makes people reveal things themselves, like boldly taking the gloves from its place and trying to put it on her tiny hands.

"Your ex?" She ventures, pretending to be still examining Nicole's gloves closely.

"Heh, I wish." Mijoo grimaces, putting down the cup of coffee she's finished just now onto the table and walks towards her bed. "She's an ex-one-sided love."

"And where's this Nicole now?"

The answer Mijoo gives later is beyond Soojung's theory. "Rotting in jail. She got arrested earlier this year."

"What happened?"

"We were orphans, me and Nicole and Hyunwoo. We grew up together, saw our older friends who weren't that lucky to get adopted ended up being sold into child slavery or prostitution, so we eventually ranaway from foster home during middle high school." She says quietly while stretching out across the hard mattress, her back against the wall. Soojung sits next to her after throwing the gloves back where she found it, listening with full concern. "It was rough, the life in the street. But at least we gained freedom. We squatted an abandoned house, and survived by lifting food off the stalls in the market, or stealing wallets, little crimes here and there... That's how we became so used to fight. We were kicked like stray dog, then we learned how to kick back."

"One day three of us stumbled into underground fighting venue, a smaller one at some deceprit bar in verge of closing down, and that day, our journey as fighters began. We met Hyunseung and he owned a gym - well his parents did. In short, we met the others and trained together 'till we became who we are now." Up to this day, Mijoo had never tell this story to anyone - probably because no one else ever asked, no one else ever care that much to ask - so she only realizes it now, how hard it is to recollect their past.

"Then about a year ago someone showed up, introducing himself as big IT company's owner. He offered sponsorship for Nicole. Guess what? He loved her." At this point, Mijoo is barely whispering. Shaking. Soojung doesn't speak, instead put her hand on top of Mijoo's softly."It wasn't that unusual. Of course there are sponsors who throw money and only demand more entertaining fights. More brutal fight, more blood and cracking bones. But there are also few peeps who apparently... Have quite a kink for tough chicks."

"And you let her go?"

"Sadly, I didn't get any say in this." Mijoo's expression darkens more. "Would've been selfish if I did. Nicole put food on the table more than we could ever with all our efforts combined. Everyone's happy. I thought she's happy that way. Things got escalated quickly between them and before we realized it, she'd gone so far we couldn't reach her, leaving only wads of money every morning."

"Just like I've told you before, earlier this year, she got arrested. Along with that bastard of boyfriend who turned out to be a married man, and worse, the sort who married into his wife's wealthy family. Not only he lied about his status, he also embezzled big sum from his in-law's IT company to funding his habit of gambling and fooling around with women. It was all happened in only few minutes, the police came, handcuffs on Nicole's hands, we were just waking up everything felt like a bad dream... But it was reality. A fucked up one."

"Why didn't you get a lawyer to defend her?" Soojung tilts her head. "I mean, she wasn't entirely in this.. You guys didn't know anything about him at all."

"We didn't have that kind of money, Soojung. And we weren't the cleanest people either, if we told the police we're illegal fighters, big chance we would get arrested as well."

"Oh. Right." Mijoo has a point. Soojung feels fool to ask such thing. "I'm really sorry to hear this."

"It's fine, to be honest I'd knew it, I got no chance with Nicole, even long before all of those happened. Someone else deserved her better than me.." Mijoo mutters, now entangling their fingers together. And she smiles. "And anyway, I have you now, right?"

Something deep in the pit of Soojung's heart wrenches. Yet she nods, smiling all the same.

———————

Hyunwoo, Bora, and Hyunseung come to visit Mijoo's workplace in one windy afternoon. The uninvited trio choose a long wooden table for four to sit, it's under big oak tree and the autumn atmosphere is really comfortable. The business has been well for Burger Bear since they began using bear mascot to attract customers, which are mostly family with kids. Soon they managed to afford rent payment of wider space at the park and set up few tables for clientele who prefers to enjoy their meal without the hassle of walking around.

"Welcome to Burger Bear! Do you want me to grill you rare or well?"

"Hey, I thought you're mascot and not the cook?" Hyunseung complains, Hyunwoo just laughs, and Bora doesn't care she keeps taking picture of Mijoo in bear costume. Perhaps to spread receipts to every single person on the stage so they can laugh of ridiculous turn of fate that Mijoo had stumbled upon. Oh she's definitely going to do that, with or without permission.

"I can make an exception." The said mascot grumbles. She isn't allowed to reveal herself during work, but there's not much customers around at this hour, so she slips off the mask before joining them, settling down on an empty space next to Hyunwoo. The bench creaks and sways deeply beneath additional solid weight. "What do you guys want? No free meals here."

"Aww.. Why so cold? It's been awhile we didn't hang out together!" Hyunseung pouts. He takes out a pack of cigarette, offering the others only for Mijoo to glare at him, pointing a 'no smoking' wooden sign placed not far beside their table. And with that, cigarette goes back inside the pocket.

"She forgot about us as soon as she got hooked up with good girl. So much for friendship." Hyunwoo quips. He and Bora give petulant thumbs down in unison.

"Okay, okay.." The bear huffs, hands up in the air in mock defeat. "You guys win. I apologize."

"No we're just kidding, Bearjoo. Glad to see you living life." Bora grins a shit-eating grin. "Your outfit's cool, by the way!" She strokes the soft fur of Mijoo's bear head.

"Cut it out, unnie." Mijoo emphasizes, like mocking the fact that these big children are all older than her,then swats the hand off her working apparel. "So what's up? Anything interesting in the stage lately?" "Nothing really. Our Shownu's the king now after you left.." "Oh there's one! This Hit The Stage competition." Hyunseung interrupts Bora. He eagerly picks a piece folded paper from his jeans' back pocket and slams it onto the table. "Shownu, you're going to participate right?" "Hit The Stage? What's this?" Curious, Mijoo unfolds the poster. The red letters 'Hit The Stage' is written in bold and all caps, there's two silhouttes of fighters punching each other in the background, and the rests are information on how to register and phone number for inquiries. "Some dumb billionaires decided it would be fun to see illegal fighters from all over this country fight to death in a tournament." The oldest guy explains. "They promised one billion every time you win the stage starting from eighth-finals, and two billions if you win the final stage. In short, the champion gets five billion." "Wow, that's crazy!" Mijoo can't even imagine how much money is five billion won. It probably could fill a 13", 100 lb. punching bag to the brim. "True, true! I know right!" He corroborates. "It's like wage of the best, real fighter on UFC! Five billion can buy you a building in Seoul!" "No shit. These rich people really don't know what else to do with their money, huh?" "Interested to join?" Hyunwoo smirks. "Uh.. No. It's out of my league, I guess." "I don't think so. Just people who have reputation as fighter are allowed to join, they won't accept some random brutal gangsters with clear intention of seizing the money prize only." "Still won't go. Soojung would kill me before I even have chance to take one step into the stage." Imagining it already makes Mijoo gulp in fear. "Woooo! What a sweet, obedient lover." Hyunseung chirps. Everyone are laughing their asses off. “I honestly wouldn't be surprised if one day she put a collar on your neck." The bear gets up from her seat just to literally kick him on the side. "Shut. Up. Fuckers." ——————— The thing her friends don't know, Soojung is... Mysterious, to say the least. The longer they get close, the more Soojung becomes opaque to Mijoo. She might appears as plainly shy and quiet to people she's not close with, but there's something more to it - Soojung's very proficient at guiding the conversers to move past any topic she doesn't want people to dig more about. Her family, is one of those topics. "Your hair used to be long." Soojung lives alone in an apartment probably five or six times bigger than Mijoo's den. On the living room, few little photograph frames lining neatly along the shelf placed right above a 60 inch television. They display images of family of four, smiling happily in each photo. Soojung was probably high school student there, dark hair touching the small of her back, her cheeks were chubbier in healthy way compared to now. The other daughter, presumably older sister, is strikingly resembling their mother, unlike Soojung who's more akin to the father. Both are pretty in their own ways, however. "Yeah. I just cut it earlier this year, some time before we met." The older woman steals her family portrait away from Mijoo's hand, then purposefully puts said hand on her shoulder where her short hair end. "Do you want me to grow my hair?" "Mm. Tough question." Mijoo strokes a thumb along her chin, feigning to deliberate. "Both style suit you. But I think it will be nice to see you with long hair someday." Maybe this is just her way to not show off her flawless family - something Mijoo longs to have but would never be able to attain. Though Mijoo doesn't like sympathy, she decides to appreciate Soojung's good intention anyway. They move on to another topic. The two had agree to try each other's respective interests and hobbies during weekend or holiday, like sort of culture exchange, because as what Mijoo had said before, there's pretty big gap in terms of background between them. It will help to learn about each other better. Today is supposed to be Mijoo's turn to introduce something, and she decided on dancing. It's jarring for Mijoo to know fact that the other woman cannot dance, never even tried it all her life. Isn't rich people usually send their daughter to ballet class since young age? Yet apparently, Soojung prefers to play computer games or read hard-to-understand novels about crime and homicide. They had visited PC bang last week, where Mijoo ended up admitting Soojung's extraordinary skills after series of defeats. For today's event, Soojung initially asked if they would want to book some studio or something like that, to which Mijoo just laughed and said the living room in Soojung's place is more than enough for them to dance. It's not like they're going to do anything fancy anyway. So together they moved the couches and table a bit to the side, making quite a space for two people to waltz around. "Hey." While Mijoo's busy connecting a laptop to the audio system for music, Soojung had disappeared into her own room and is coming back just now. Mijoo's eyes widen upon seeing her, the casual plaid shirt and short pants she previously wore had gone, changed into ivory evening gown, the sheer neckline keeping it modest, its hem falls beautifully and sweeps the marble floor when she struts towards her girlfriend. Soojung also has light make-up on, her short hair is tied up by a ribbon. She looks like delicate princess ready to go to the ball. "Oh my god." The sight is enough to render Mijoo breathless. "Wear this." Soojung smiles, handing a huge shopping bag with famous fashion brand logo on it. "I'm not sure if the size is correct, just try it, okay?" Mijoo pulls out the content, it's another gown, an off-shoulders model in black colour contrasting the one Soojung's wearing. "But you've said you would never buy me anything expensive?" A brow raised while she inspecting the article of clothes with genuine admiration. "Well, it's harmless for someone to want to see their girl in a dress, isn't it?" Soojung shrugs. "Can't give you mine, all my clothes would be too short on you." "Are we playing Beauty and The Beast?" "Maybe. Now, will you transform into princess or do I need to kiss you first?" Mijoo is excited to try on the dress, but of course she doesn't refuse the kiss, bending herself down a little to let the short woman peck her lips before skipping to the bathroom. Despite Soojung's worry the dress actually fits well for Mijoo, smooth fabric closely hugging her figure to the waist before opens to full skirt that swishes with every step she takes, her long dark hair cascading over her bare shoulders; it's just so perfect. She boldly goes down on one knees, offering a hand to Soojung. "May I engage you for a dance?" Comes a small giggle as the older woman accepts it. "With pleasure." There is something captivating in the way Mijoo dances, even when she jokingly doing weird, exaggerated movements which definitely would get them kicked out had it been actual ball. They make Soojung's awkward self loosen up, anyway. And she surprisingly follows suit without much difficulties, whirls and spins, her arms spread wide and hair flips out around the crown of her head. "You watch drama?" From Schubert, American folk, to latest pop songs, all of them are in Mijoo's playlist. But this next song being played is a slow ballad, soundtrack of a currently popular saeguk, if Soojung remembers correctly. Ha. So this is Lee Mijoo, partial hell of a fighter at night, and melancholy damsel in the day. "You listen to hip-hop. So we're even." Mijoo chuckles, ignoring the way Soojung's brows wiggling in plain amusement. "Hand on my shoulder, princess." They begin sways across the room following the music. "I really like this song. Wish I could play it with piano, but I don't have one to practice." "You can play?" Mijoo tries not to feel offended with the slight surprise lacing Soojung's tone. "Just a little. I know few simple nursery songs." "Me too. Wow. We should do it together, that'll be awesome." "Totally." They get to the end of first chorus when Soojung gradually turns quiet, her gaze fixated at precisely nothing. Blank. Like she's leaving this place away despite physically still moving around in rythm with Mijoo. "What's wrong?" The question is seemingly bringing Soojung back to present, her girlfriend giving weird stare. "Mhm? Nothing. I'm just.. Getting too carried away by the lyrics." "Yeah. It's sad right?" Mijoo nods in affirmation. "Wanting someone but cannot have them." Soojung doesn't reply, only burrowing her face into Mijoo's chest, once again letting herself being drowned into soft melodies. ——————— The next week, Soojung brings Mijoo to the rooftop in one of the hotel owned by her company. It is usually a cafe, and she might or might had not been abusing her power by asking to close the place for few hours so they can use the area for themselves. A grand piano has been set there, and she teaches Mijoo to play Star and Sun with it. ——————— Soojung's once again proven to be most unpredictable person ever, when she shows up in front of Mijoo's door in an ungodly hour, stumbled over the threshold on hasty attempts smashing her own lips against Mijoo's and slithering hands beneath her girlfriend's loose sleeping t-shirt. It doesn't take long for Mijoo to realize what is Soojung aiming for. The door slammed behind them, she ducks to place one arm on the bend of Soojung's knees, then effortlessly lifts the smaller woman off the floor, bridal style heading towards bed. That's when she notices a large bruise has formed at Soojung's right kneecap. Mijoo frowns, sending questioning look, to which Soojung replies quickly. "I fell a little on the stairs. Blame it on stupid hormone." "Oh my god did you just have like a wet dream about me, suddenly feel like banging, and ran all the way here?" "Don't you dare laughing." But Mijoo is already cackling even before Soojung finished speaking. "What the fuck. Am I dating pervert high schooler?" They kiss again, Mijoo sucks Soojung's lower lip between her teeth, eliciting pretty little whimper from the short woman. The mattress where she's being put down onto is still hard as ever, covered with linen sheet which most likely not the actual linen, but Soojung doesn't care. Everything smells like Mijoo, it's sorta comforting for her. Like this is the safest place on earth. The younger climbs up bed as well, straddling Soojung's body, and for awhile they are busy fumbling to undress each other as fast as possible. Pair of legs instantly wrapped tightly around Mijoo's hip while she drags her mouth south; leaving few marks across the expanse of Soojung's pect, down, down, and towards one of the short haired woman's breasts. Feminine, sensual moan fills the air as the hard nipple comes in contact warm tongue. It gets louder and louder, with Mijoo's hand squeezing the other breast, dedicating equal attention to both of them. Damn this woman always knows her way with girls; knows her way to drive Soojung absolutely crazy. She takes time communicating how much she worships Soojung's beauty, not only through sweet praises but also her touches at every inch of the woman's hot skin, it's maddening in the best possible way. "Tell me." Nimble fingers dancing on Soojung's inner thigh. "What did I do to you in that dirty dream of yours earlier?" "You were here." Soojung drags the hand to that particular part between her legs where she needs the most, growling when it only teasingly runs on the very outside of her. "Nuh uh. I don't get it, what am I supposed to do here?" "You were... Fucking me hard." The answer is hoarse whisper. Mijoo unhooks Soojung's legs around her waist only to spread them wider. "And.. And there wasn't this long talk— Please—" So without talking, she obediently pushes two long digits inside Soojung, thumb massaging over the enlarging pink nub. "Ooh." Mijoo drawls, watching Soojung's writhing and arching under her while her heart also begins to thump about a million miles a minute. "Like this?" She picks up her pace, faster and rougher, gaining even more frantic moans. Their movements wreak havoc on the previously neatly made up bedcover. "Yeah—" Long scratches are forming along Mijoo's upper back where Soojung's digging her nails sharply. "No. This is way better." "Y'know, I can do even better." "Then do it." As soon as the words leave Soojung's mouth, Mijoo dives her head down. Lips wrap around the clit and suck it ferociously while her fingers crooking deeper, rubbing the exact spot again and again until she hears Soojung cries out her name in orgasm. Sweet juice gushes down smearing all over Mijoo's palm and her jaw, which she happily laps up clean. Mijoo places herself stretched out beside Soojung. She glances towards the still shivering woman, taking in every of her bare feature; glistened in sweats, not even a single layer of cosmetics, yet innocently beautiful and Mijoo just knows she will fall in love with it everyday for the rest of her life. "Are you okay?" "Very.." Soojung breaths. Out of the blue, she rolls closer, guiding Mijoo's face aside so she can capture the luscious lips, feeling the remaining taste of herself. "You're tired... Shouldn't you be resting?" Mijoo murmurs right into Soojung's mouth, goosebumps rising along her nape. "Soojung, you don't need..." "Ssh." Soojung's fingers trace against length of the most sensitive part of Mijoo, pulling off single strand of leaked juice. "You're as horny as heated rabbit." "Who wouldn't? After watching that cute o-face. I swear to god if only I still had the stamina of sixteen years old I would do you over and over— Fuck." One of those fingers are now inside her. "Okay you better fuck me good now." "And if I don't want to?" Soojung asks oh-so-sweetly, licking the sticky fluid after she retrieved her finger with vengeful crooked smirk. Mijoo hates it so much. "Alright, seriously talking. My knee hurts, remember? I can't crawl over you." She says, satisfied to draw strings of frustrated, incoherent babbles from the other woman. "So why don't you sit on my face?" God— What?

"What makes you think you wouldn't get smothered to death?"

"I know I wouldn't. It will be fun. C'mon."

Mijoo is still showing defiant attitude, so Soojung sneaks few more touches down there, eyebrows raising devilishly, and that's it. She gets up, carefully placing both legs on the space above Soojung's shoulders, heart racing even faster than it already is. The woman beneath her stares in delight to see from up-close that she's flushed red and slick and so ready.

They lost count at how many times Mijoo has called Soojung's name. Whispers turn to screams, death grip at the metal headboard as Soojung's tongue-fucking her as aggresive as the younger had done to her just before. Occasionally, her arms shoot up to grab and fondle on Mijoo's breasts.

"Feeling good now?"

Good? Good. "Yes. Yes yes yes yes yes—"

Soojung rapidly sucks the swollen clit, feeling Mijoo's whole body shuddering erratically as she comes hard, almost hitting solid wall with her forehead. She sidles to the other side of their bed right in time before the taller woman slumps down, hint of pure bliss remains on her face.

Long arm reaches over - an unspoken request for cuddle, and Soojung tucks herself against Mijoo's body without hesitation, pulling up the blanket to cover them. They both are big post-sex cuddler afterall. For a moment, everything quiets down beside sound of rattling ceiling fan on the room.

Until Mijoo breaks the peacefulness first.

"Shit. I'm running out of change sheets."

It draws a hoarse laughter from Soojung. "I can't believe this. You idiot!"

"It's your fault. My laundry bill today is on you."

"Hey, I got an idea." Soojung sits up out of the blue, excitedly tapping Mijoo on her shoulder.

"What? Fucking on top of laundry machine?"

The taps turn into punches. "Goddamnit delete your nasty porn collection please!" Soojung chokes another louder, full-blown laugh. They've probably woken up half of all residences on this floor by now, a little more noise wouldn't be a problem, right?

"And no, what I want to say is, let's go shopping today. It's Saturday, I can runaway from work, and you have few hours to spend before your shift starts."

"Like a corny newlyweds?"

"It's fun to be corny once in awhile. You watch drama, don't talk about corny with me."

"Fine. You'll never drop that, won't you." Mijoo slurs, sleepiness clearly has taking her over. She wraps her jelly-like arm around Soojung's shoulders, reeling the woman back into her embrace.

Wide smile spreads across Mijoo's face, pictures of themselves living a simple life together plays in the back of her mind. It's the sort of vivid imagination a child would have while their mom's reciting bedtime story; happy, exciting, but at the same time so warm it gently guides her into deep slumber.

———————