#but it kinda seems like this person proved Jackals point

[isthedogawolfdog]

I may be misunderstanding so correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think what you said was OP’s point. Actually I think you’re kind proving what they were saying. Keep in mind that I am not an indigenous persons so if anyone notices that I say something out of line please correct me.

People have supremely screwed over many animal species, that’s true, however what it seems like OP was trying to say was something along the lines of how people are really disconnected from the natural world and the effect that disconnection and lack of understanding (lack of understanding being from those who attack others for using animal products in their culture) has had on indigenous peoples as well as those who work with animals from a cultural standpoint really, really hurts them. Again, that’s just how I read it and Jackal, if you’re reading this, feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.

The issues you brought up don’t really apply to what I think OP was referencing. Many cultures work with animal parts respectfully, and trying to throw in how people have a parasitic relationship with the animals they work with/on really shows that you didn’t get the point at all.

Also ngl it’s kinda fucked up to say people should focus on the “much much more vulnerable communities of non-human animals” when Jackal was literally just talking about how certain people struggle with having their voices heard while trying to advocate for better animal welfare.

I'm not mad I'm just disappointed because if you spent two seconds to think about how fur and leather alone has deep ties to human culture and our understanding and appreciation of the natural world it's honestly really beautiful and just feels so strange to me that people who say they love nature want to divorce themselves from it.

Like yes, capitalism bad. I don't agree with the way that animals are treated as products to the point where blatant animal cruelty is excused by mega corporations. I want places like that to be held accountable and made to follow higher welfare standards for the animals they raise and the underpaid employees out there working in sometimes awful and very unsafe conditions.

But if you're simultaneously ignoring the culture of African leathermaking or the beautiful leather and wool textiles crafted by Indigenous artisans or the ways that ancient humans appreciated the animals they killed for meat and clothing by telling stories and making art depicted on the skins of the animals they took, that's what bothers me.

So many people are willing to just attack vulnerable communities instead of learning about thier culture and how animal products were used traditionally and today. There are better ways to raise animals for products sustainably and humanely and many of these communities have spoken very loudly about it but are yelled over by people who just want to be right or don't want to listen or just don't care.

So yes, I will continue to speak my mind and educate myself because if nothing else I wanna be the start of the change I wanna see in the world. I love animals and I love learning the history of humans and our relationships to animals. I want to be able to appreciate them in the ways we always have. With respect to the natural world and understanding that we're also a part of it.

[instasiswetrust]

"Holy shit the school bad boy's courting you." Dustin whispered in disbelief as he stared at both the pin and the worn bloodied bat Steve had settled between them on the table.

"Wait, he's what?" Steve frowned, fingers picking up the pin adorned with a creepy smiling face. "No way."

"No, I'm serious Steve. This is like straight-up Jason Todd style courting. He totally kicked the whole baseball team's ass for you."

“That’s ridiculous man, Frank wo-” He ended up stopping mid-sentence because actually, Frank would. He definitely would. Everyone had heard the beating he had given Billy for smacking Hak-Quinn’s ass the other day, it made sense he would go against the baseball team as his way of proving he could provide for him.

Realization crossed Steve's face, lips forming a small surprised ‘oh’ while Dustin just shook his head as if he couldn't believe it had taken Steve this long to realize he was being courted.

"So what are you gonna do?" The younger boy asked, stealing a couple fries from Steve's plate before the other could react.

"What do you mean what I'm gonna do?" He said weakly, slapping Dustin's hand away when he tried to reach for more fries.

"What do you mean, what do I mean?" And it was clear in his tone he knew Steve was acting like this on purpose. "Are you gonna accept his courting, or tell him no?"

The Omega blushes, immediately flustered by the question. Having thought he would be a Beta or an Alpha for most of his life, he had known the whole courting thing would've eventually fallen on him to do it. Now with the roles reversed, he couldn't help but feel flattered by the gestures.

"Look, I don't know, maybe I will talk to him about it or something." Dustin seemed to catch the finality in his words because he finally changed topics, asking Steve instead about how Demo was faring.

Still, he had already made up his mind on this topic.

By the end of classes the next day, he hunted down the self-proclaimed leader of Legion. Steve might've been an Omega sure, but he was also taller and had the body of an athlete. Even so, he believed it wouldn't have been so easy for him to cage Frank against the wall had the Alpha not allowed him to.

"Are you... Are you courting me?" He cut right to the chase, wanting to make sure it wasn't all in his head.

"Been trying my best, yeah." Frank had a jackal grin on his face, looking up at Steve. Not intimidated in the slightest, with a flicker of something in his eye that stirred something up in Steve's gut. Something strange and new and not at all bad. "You like?"

Steve didn't answer with words. Doubts he even could. Instead leaned down and kissed Frank hard. Kissed him until they were both out of breath, Steve's cheeks flushed a pale red. A wide grin stretched his lips when he finally pulled away.

"Friday, 7 pm. I'll pay for the movie tickets if you smuggle in the food. Deal?"

"I got a key to the theater's back door. No need to spend money on me, doll." Frank's grinning again, all sharp cheekbones and even sharper fangs.

"You kick the whole baseball team's ass for me, and I don't get to spend a couple bucks on you? Unfair." And yeah maybe he was pouting, but really it didn't sit well with him not to repay Frank in some way after the way he left the baseball team.

"If you insist, ain't gonna put up a fight. Just thought I'd tell ya if you wanted to trade emptying your wallet for a little thrill." Frank shrugged, grin still solid on his face. Reaches out to cup Steve's face. "Comes with the bad boy package, y'know?"

Steve couldn't help leaning into the touch, eyes never straying from those stormy grey irises. When he spoke, his voice was quiet, dripping with honesty. "I think I would like to find out."

Frank laughed and Steve found himself liking the sound way more than he expected. It was rough and relaxed and shameless.

"Be happy to show ya, doll."

And Steve had to admit the excitement of knowing he had an actual date was enough to keep his mind off the bullying and taunts for the remaining days of the week.

Frank meets him at the theater entrance, right on time. Steve, who had walked the whole way here so as to not have to explain to his parents where he was going, is thankful that he will be able to catch a ride once the movie is done.

As promised Steve pays for two tickets then Frank drags him into another movie after the first movie ends, and another one after that. Steve doesn't feel like complaining, even if the movie genres are all over the place. He's having fun and this is the most he's broken the rules after the whole omega thing.

And really, if they makeout halfway through the second movie and end up missing half the bullshit plot, Steve only has Frank to blame. He kept heckling the cheesy bits under his breath making Steve laugh until he was hiding snorts behind his hand.

It's around midnight when they finally leave the theater, and as soon as they step outside Steve's phone starts ringing. His parents on the other end of the phone, angry because Steve's being careless.

"You should be more careful! What if something happened to you? And shouldn't you be worried about studying? You already lost that baseball scholarship-"

He must've made a face or something because Frank snatches the phone from his hand. Quick reflexes and firm grip. It takes Steve by surprise.

"Hello, Mister .. Missus Harrington -" He starts, and he's determined to take the weight off Steve as best he can and he's no Fairfield and he's certainly not Hak-Quinn, but he can play a part good enough for a phone call. "The movie ran a bit later than expected, but I'll see your son home safe and sound!"

And before his parents have any chance to respond, Frank hangs up.

Steve is stunned for a whole five seconds, blinking at Frank, before what happened sets in and he groans. "Ah shit, now they are gonna want to meet you!"

"I got makeup in my car," Frank says, clicking his tongue as he hands back the phone. "Nothing I can do about the hair."

And Steve looks at Frank dumbly for a second. Confused because, why would Frank need makeup?

"Tattoo. For hiding the tattoo." Frank waves a dismissive hand as he slings his other around Steve's waist. Comfortable. Warm. Close. "Hak-Quinn taught me how."

Steve is dumbfounded. "You would... For me? Wha-"

"... Well duh?" He kinda looks at Steve, confused himself. "I'm not exactly the kind of person people are proud to bring home but it stresses you out so I can play pretend." He raises an eyebrow, grins again, like a feral dog. "Unless you'd rather I show up as is? Full punk?"

"Oh. Oh Frank no, I'm not ashamed of being seen with you." Steve shakes his head, rolling his eyes. "I just know my parents and they will try to prevent me from seeing you. I don't want that to happen, that's all."

Frank looks at Steve. And he's quiet for a moment. And then a softer smile steals across his face.

"You have no idea how you smell right now, do you?"

Steve flinches a little, looks away, but he knows Frank's question is honest, not a jab. "I'm scent blind actually. Doc said it would get better with time but I can't recognize my own scent at all."

"You smell miserable, doll. Not too keen on handing you back to the cause of it, y'know?"

And then Frank scents him. It's light. Polite, even. But Steve knows the action even if he can't smell what it does.

Skin on skin contact and the soft rumbling purr of an alpha.

It kinda hits him then that he's not alone anymore. Frank cares. Cares enough to willingly offer to hide parts of himself just so Steve wouldn't get too hard a time with his parents. It's easily the most thoughtful thing someone that is not Dustin or Nancy, has done for him. Can't help it if he tears up a little.

"Waitin' on your answer, doll," Frank murmurs, probably aware of how Steve is feeling thanks to his scent. "Makeup will take a hot minute and we're gonna have to get you home .. eventually."

Steve ends up shaking his head, surreptitiously wiping a tear or two off his cheeks. "I'm not gonna hide you like you're something to be ashamed of. I'll just deal with them if they get too pushy."

"Cute." Frank's grin returns and he steals himself a kiss before pushing Steve towards his car.

They drive too fast and blast the music too loud. Steve doesn't know any of the lyrics, the music too far off from his usual tastes, but when he tries to somewhat sing along and Frank rewards him with a heart-stopping grin? Worth it.

As expected, Steve's parents are at the door when they arrive. Disappointed face, even more, disappointed scents. Steve's mom is glaring at Frank, his dad is just looking at Steve like he's a lost cause.

"Mister Harrington. Missus." Frank's got a jackal's grin on his face again, and Steve can't smell it, but his scent is twined around the anxious omega like an extra buffer.

It's amazing how Frank doesn't even care about the venom in his parents' eyes, writing him off near immediately with his dyed hair and throat tattoo and grunge aesthetic.

Steve's parents don't even deign to give a response, just march back inside and wait for him to follow after them.

"I had fun, thank you. I will see you tomorrow." Steve murmurs, leaning in to press a kiss to Frank’s cheek before going in and closing the door behind him.

They barely waited until the door was closed before they started demanding answers. Frank probably hadn't even left, but they didn't care and Steve hated it. Hated all of it.

His night had been amazing, maybe even the best night he had had this year, but that call had to ruin it.

Before presenting, when they had still thought he would be a Beta or a late Alpha, his parents wouldn't have bothered calling him for a night out. As long as he was home for breakfast, everything was fine. These days though, they had become protective to the point it was bordering on controlling and it bothered Steve.

Maybe he should be glad that they were trying to show they cared but it was hard to do when their words were “Stop putting yourself in unnecessary danger that will just cause more trouble for us.” and not “We are just worried something will happen to you.”

Ever since the goddamn results came back, it was always about them. How this would be a problem for them. How losing the scholarship meant they would have to invest more money in him. How Steve getting involved with a delinquent would look on them.

They don't bother asking how he is coping with it all. The changes in his body, the bullying at school they know nothing about, how he had to give up the sport he loved because society decided Omegas weren't made to be in sports. For God's sake, he had cried the morning he received the letter notifying him his scholarship had been suspended. But either they didn't know about that, didn't realize, or didn't care.

“Well? What do you have to say for yourself, young man?” His dad demanded, disappointment emanating from every pore in his body.

Steve might've been scent blind, but familiarity and time had allowed him to distinguish his parents' scents and the shifts in their emotions. Because of this, he wasn't spared from the full brunt of disappointment, anger, upset coming from both his parents. It was hard not to reflexively make himself appear smaller but he knew that would just make his dad angrier.

"I don't really see what the problem is, dad." He said, running a hand through his hair and sighing in exasperation. "I told you guys I would be out till late, and that I was going out with a friend. You had the location of the movie theater too. So what really is the problem here?"

"When you said you would be going out with a friend, we thought you meant that nice girl Robin, or maybe the Wheeler's kid, Nancy. You guys made such a cute couple, Stevie." His mom interjected, her tone softer but no less upset than his dad's had been.

"Mom, please. Nancy and I broke up a year ago already, will you drop it? Plus Robin is not even my type!"

"Of course because apparently, your type is no-good delinquents, you have made that clear." His dad snapped, glaring down at him.

Steve frowned, glaring back at him. "Frank is a classmate and a friend. He defended me when the baseball team started labeling me as a slut just because I'm an Omega. I think that's more than either of you have done about this!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Steve knew he had made a mistake. His dad's nostrils flared and his mother gasped like maybe they were sensing something he wasn't. At least his dad might've because his mother was as scent blind like him, maybe worse. There was a reason scenting was something he didn't know how to do properly.

"Can't believe you needed the help of someone like that to defend yourself. Didn't we teach you to stand up for yourself, Steve? Or do you think just because you are an Omega now you get to play the weak card?" His dad snarked, eyes narrowed.

"Honey-"

"No." His dad shook his head, ignoring his mother's hand on his shoulder. "You are to stop any contact with that delinquent. Now to your room, Steve."

"Wha- Dad-"

"To your room, I said." He didn't yell but the growl was so clear in his voice that Steve couldn't help but flinch and lower his head.

Fine. He would play to their rules while they were watching, but like hell he would give up on what he and Frank had. Not after he had just gotten it.

[guigz1-coldwar]

'A dream & a drink' : New chapter for "Always for the greater cause..." is out !

Chapter Summary: Bell is trying to dissuade herself from what happened last night, thinking of a dream and to 'help her forget', nothing could help better than a drink coming from the others...

To read it on AO3, click here!

Taglist: @snowgoldwaylon , @clxudtea , @efingart

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

25th February 1981, 9h34

Yirina 'Bell' Grigoriev, Ex-KGB, Perseus

Bell's personal room at the Perseus safehouse 'Wolf's Den', Colorado Springs

It was a dream, it has to be one...

Feeling Wraith's hands around my waist, holding me as if I was her lover, was disturbing me, and even if start to found out that I was sort of liking by myself, that feeling was very uncomfortable to live at the moment, I did allow her to stay in my room for sleeping but how she acts wasn't the best thing I have faced since I came back, it has to be a bad dream...

It's with that thought that I opened my eyes, waking up in bed, and the first thing that I could notice is that my hands were still holding my belly but it was my own hands, not Wraith's ones on my skin, mine. That caused me to really think that it was a dream after all as I redressed myself on the bed but I wasn't convinced immediately as I saw the other part of the bed I didn't sleep, looking rather messy, the blanket fully on me, no, that wasn't a dream....she was here, it wasn't a dream.

It needed to be a dream...

Her hands around me were like providing security but were it something I really wanted? I couldn't know. Now, it was better that I stay focus on myself but somehow, it was like that her hands were still wrapped around, thinking that she was invisible and that sort of little pain around my waist proved that the 'dream' wasn't one and it persisted when I got up from the bed to reach my clothes on the seat I left them.

"Perseus and its allies..."

"From the safety of..."

"I'll soon have the control of..."

When I was starting to get dressed in my former clothes, I started to hear a voice inside my head, voices that I couldn't recognize & sentences that weren't done, getting cut like that but why am I hearing those, what's wrong with me? That same voice, sounding like a man one was still kicking inside my head, and to make it remove as an attempt, I shook my head a bit, trying to get it out and that seemed to work, not hearing anything anymore.

I finished dressing up and go put some water around my face, seeing that Wraith's clothes were still there at the place she put them with her bag on that table last night, and unfortunately, the thought that I wanted to forget came back inside of me, filling me up with unneeded stress when I opened the door of my room to get out of it.

I walked through the small hallway where every bedroom of everyone are before arriving at the widely opened door leading to the main room of the warehouse and I stepped in it, finding a very big silent ambiance only to be interrupted by the sound of a coffee machine within the front of it, none other than Stitch.

"Bell," He spoke up, still looking at the coffee machine without having turned his head around to look at me once.

"How did you know that...it was me?" I asked him.

"Well, I just hear your voice," He replied, turning around to look at me with a smile, holding a black mug in his right hand. "And besides, you're the only one that was still sleeping," He added, starting to move away from the machine to go next to a desk, next to the one that was filled up with a lot of paperwork.

"Yeah, guess that was easy for you," I scratched the back of my head, thinking about tasting a coffee since it's been like last afternoon that I didn't eat or drink anything so I walk to reach the coffee machine, taking next to it the only white cup present.

"How was sleep?" Stitch's voice was directed towards me as we were the only ones around by looking at it.

"Wish that I could tell you 'good' but not at all," I responded honestly, placing the cup inside the coffee machine and inserting the only dose of coffee available before pressing the activation button, starting the process and the noise of the machine.

"How's that? Something wrong?" Stitch demanded.

"Wraith had to...well, sleep with me since that Aldrich took the room she was supposed to have," I answered, my hands near my ears as the noise from the machine wasn't so nice to hear, like chimes inside my ears.

"Yeah, she volunteered to let her room to Aldrich and...what's the problem?" He was a bit confused in his voice at hearing me saying that to him as finally, the machine stopped in its process to give me what I wanted in my cup.

"She...Uhm...was a little too personal with me during the sleep," I stated, grabbing the cup in my right hand by its handle, going to walk next to Stitch's desk as he was the only one I could talk to now. "She kinda holds me in her hands around my belly, as if...I was very close to her,"

"That's all Wraith, always been like that," Stitch exclaimed, taking a sip from his coffee, sounding normal about the situation. "Pretty girl, right?"

"Stitch, I only know her since what? 4 days, and she's been acting like if we know each other very closely for years," I proclaimed, Stitch gesturing to me with his free hand to get sit on one of the chairs that were in front of his desk. "It was kinda weird but also feeling secured, for me, it was like a dream,"

"Come on, don't tell me that you're not interested in her, I can see that," He commented, making my eyes go wide and almost choking myself with that coffee in my throat.

"What? No, I didn't say..."

"Bell, I don't care if you're sort of having a thing for women and Wraith, I just don't care," He cut me out of my words, raising his left hand to make me stop. "Maybe that she did this to make sure that you didn't have anything related to what happened last day," He added in a clear voice, putting down his cup on the desk, cleaning up along the way the dust on it with the side of his hand.

"Stitch, I..." I wanted to speak but seeing Stitch looking at me with narrowed eyes made me stop in my words. "Nevermind, forget it," I said, wanting to change the subject and not getting further embarrassed in front of Stitch, knowing that he could maybe do anything to make me embarrassed. "Anyway, where are the others ones?" I demanded, my head looking around to hear the big silence, not a single ambiance in here.

"Well, Bellamy & Knight are in the basement, taking care of Krypto as always for me, Aldrich is gone with Naga & Jackal for their recon mission that isn't done for the moment, and your soon-to-be-lover..."

"Stitch," I mumbled, narrowing my eyes to him at his remark

"Okay, Wraith...she left earlier this morning to meet with some of our agents in town for me," He continued, apologizing a bit, his right fingers wrapping themselves around the handle of his black mug. "For you today, you'll be working here and resting,"

"I can't accompany Bellamy & Knight?" I asked and I was greeted by him, shaking his head.

"No, I prefer to let them on that, don't want you in the basement to beat up someone," He clarified his choice, getting his cup up to drink the content of it. "You better want to have your hands clean than bloodied for your mission of tomorrow,"

"About that," I chuckled after taking a sip while he was talking. "Can you give me more details? Each time, you only briefly told me about it without getting deeper," I questioned him, each time wondering why I was going to be sent on a mission and after all, why only me and this 'Naga'.

"Well, two weeks ago according to Aldrich intels and what we got in West-Berlin, the CIA has made a secret operation in the old Gulag of Vorkuta in Russia, they said to have tried to get their hands on some old documents about a program made by Nikita Dragovich," He started before he finished in one move, his mug, and then, putting back on the desk as I was staying curious about it. "We might think that what we need and the results of that mission is in Cheyenne Mountain, you'll be going with Naga while Wraith will give you communications support," He continued, his eyes crossing around his desk.

"And why only me & Naga?" I demanded.

"Because we can't risk making a larger attack, Cheyenne Mountain is one of the many ICBM sites of the Americans on the US soil, I know you well & Naga to see that the two of you are perfect for the job," He explained, all right as we were in the USA, a declaration of war isn't something we really want. "You don't have to worry about it, it will all be fine and when the time comes, you'll be fully ready," He admitted, pointing his index finger at me.

"We'll see about it," I told him, shrugging before I took a sip and finish my whole cup, feeling myself a bit better than minutes ago, that little pain around my waist going away.

"Your desk is over there," Stitch pointed out towards one of the desks that were behind me, the one that was the nearest to the door leading to the hallway of where the bedrooms are. "There are documents that need to be done, think you can do it?" He demanded as I was looking at the desk, filled with paper and every tool necessary for working.

"Yeah, I'll be on my way," I complied, taking the cup with me and getting up from my chair to leave Stitch alone.

"Good...good," I heard Stitch's low voice as I got away from his desk to join my new one.

He wasn't really joking when he said that there were documents on the desk: it was almost filled with documents, papers, files...enough to actually keep me busy for a single day and to cross everything perfectly. I took a deep breath before I sat down on my chair, putting aside my white mug before getting myself into work, taking a pen and my courage to do this, trying to think about something else...

That wasn't a dream, that wasn't a dream...

-----------------------------------------------------------

MEMORANDUM FOR: Wraith

FROM: Stitch

SUBJECT: Discussion about Bell's situation

DATE: February 25th, 1981

Wraith, thanks for sending me your report last day since that now, as you write on it, we can't really be talking about fear of Bell's presence around us but we will try some way to talk to each other about how to proceed without having to send reports each day (We'll find something, I hope too.) I checked your report and even if we don"t agree on some points including the dosages, I'm complying with some of your demands about Bell, and below, you will find some points about her.

1- It was a good idea for you to rig some of the coffee doses with the dosages in a better way to give her the doses without having her notice anything wrong but the usual way of rigging her food & other drinks is still in play. Bellamy & Knight are sure obliged to comply to our orders by rigging her food & drinks if we can't do it by ourselves.

2- During the flight and while everyone was sleeping (including you), I took notes of Bell's behavior during the moment she was sleeping: she seems to have sometimes trouble to concentrate, moving by a lot and changing positions of sleep, and as we thought, she can be heard speaking silently to herself (like if she was describing what she was seeing).

3- About my last words, I think that Bell is starting to regain some little parts of her past life but thanks to our brainwashing, it would be very long until she can put back the pieces together. (We will have done our work long before she could do it). Still, we might need to keep an eye on that, we can't be sure if she can make a breakthrough and what she said to us (about seeing a white tiger) meant that she was, as Bellamy & Knight thought, an MI6 agent. (Assist Bellamy with Knight in his research, his sister Liliya could maybe help thanks to her position in the CIA)

4- As I saw, you decided to approach Bell in a closer way but I didn't think that you will start to be direct with her, having complained to me about how you were too much personal in bed with her. I know that you didn't literally jump on her like you will do but you need to be slow in your moves with her. I tolerate that you try to build a relationship with her but I hope that this will not jeopardize our mission. (That detail should be discussed in person if you can!)

You'll read this report when you will come back from town after meeting with some of our agents and you will take into account my thoughts about the situation and as you saw, that the dosages need to stay like that until I decided personally to change it. Bell is actually working hard on the documents I gave her thanks to Aldrich & Liliya but she will surely need a way to destress herself just by looking at her. You should take her out (Not alone, take Bellamy & Knight) to one of these bars for a drink or something, distract her with the others from work to have her ready for the mission in Cheyenne Mountain. Control the asset well, that's our job!

Cordially,

Stitch

--------------------------

Later, 21H00

Yirina 'Bell' Grigoriev, Ex-KGB, Perseus

All of this paperwork that I did today exhausted me at my highest point inside of me, never I worked this hard in one simple day. I didn't even take a break from it even from Stitch and the others' advice, only stopping for filling up my cup and to grab a sandwich during lunch and that was it and when I have finished minutes ago, I was done...I didn't want to make simple writing for the rest of day and I needed something...

Hopefully and by luck, Wraith, despite what happened last night, was the one that read my mind and offered me, along with Knight & Bellamy to go out of the warehouse and its hot heat to go grab some drinks at a local bear not so far from the place and of course, I wasn't going to let this opportunity fly away from me and by the few seconds after she asked me if I wanted to come, grabbing my jacket was the first thing I did.

The others were already prepared to go and it was me, Bellamy, Wraith & Knight going to take a drink and we went for the bar, Wraith leading the way as she was out in town for the large part of the day, having seen Bellamy & Knight when they were coming out of the basement, keeping Zasha Smirnov alive and by looking at them, the two really wanted a good drink to relax.

"I'm pretty sure that they don't serve vodka here," Bellamy thought as we were arriving near the bar, his voice sounding very sure of what he said.

"Come on, can you stop thinking about drinking that leverage just for one damn second?" Knight asked, sounding annoyed by Bellamy's remark. "You didn't have enough with your girlfriend or something?" He added.

"Sorry if I'm sharing my thought, friend," Bellamy scoffed.

"Hey, you two, stop arguing for a second, please," Wraith ordered, having turned around to look at the two with a deadly glare as I was just behind them in between. "We're here to have a simple drink in peace, not to have stupid conversations and usuals disputes between you two, is that clear?" She questioned and the two nodded. In here, I was like seeing two children getting grounded by their mother and that was making me laugh silently. "Good, now, stay calm," She suggested before she moved to put her hands on the front door handle of the bar as we were just in front of it.

She opened the door softly, entering the first inside, followed by Bellamy, Knight & then me respectively and I could obverse that there were a lot of people in that bar; on the tables, at the counter, at the two different pool tables at the end of the bar and the people, it was mostly young adults coming straight from a university with their sports jackets and with different styles from our group...very different and...very American...

"A good old Guinness for me, what are you all ordering?" Knight questioned everyone, having already taken out a grey wallet from his jacket after he volunteered to be the one to pay for the drinks and that we sat at a free table, the only one free from the others.

"I'll take a gin, if they got," Wraith replied. "It's like aquavit in Norway but I prefer gin,"

"You know what? I'll take a Guinness like you," I gave away my order to Knight, surprising him as it was tempting to taste Irish alcohol just to see how it is.

"Wow, that's surprising, I'm sure you will like it," Knight expressed his juice of hearing me before he turned his head around to look at Bellamy who didn't respond at all and instead, got up from his seat.

"I'm coming with you to order the drinks, I don't trust you," Bellamy said, pointing his index finger towards Knight who simply rolled his eyes around the bar.

"As you wish," He mumbled, gesturing to Bellamy to follow him before walking away from the table with Bellamy, leaving me alone for the moment with Wraith.

Been alone with her...it was changing since last night as we didn't really speak about it after I woke up since she wasn't here and during the day as she was away in town and now, I was in front of her, sit on a chair and trying to not meet her eyes, finding her look very astonishing of beauty but also filled with authority at some point and this moment, I couldn't know if she was looking pretty, threatening or a mix of...

"You want to say something, Bell?" Her voice broke me out of my thoughts as she was looking at me, hands posed on the table and a bit worried about me.

"Uhm...I..." I tried to get myself back to normal after that surprise from her, shaking my head to be faster in it. "About...last night...you were a bit...well, too much close with me, it seems," I told her about it, my voice trying to follow the same process as my body

"Bell, I'm sorry, I..." She started to apologize, moving her hands near mine that was also against the top of the table. "I wanted to keep you comfortable and to be better, I'm sorry if...I hurt you or anything," She added, sounding right before her fingers touched mine who were looking frozen in place.

"No, it just that...it surprised me, that's all," I exclaimed, looking at my fingers getting wrapped around hers, the cold feeling of her fingers adding to my frozen fingers, it was something weird. "Uhm, Wraith, can you...stop, it's..."

"Oh, I'm sorry again, Bell," She apologizes again to me, removing her hands away from me with a blush on her face. "It's just that I'm worried about you since you passed out in that bar, no one wants to have this happen again, you understand?" She said, her hands moving back towards her lap below the table

"I...yeah, thanks," I whispered, finally able to move my fingers away from the table, getting them near the edge of it and managing to give a smile at her.

"Who ordered a Guinness?" Knight's voice came in near us, arriving to the table, holding two glass in his left hand and one on his right hand, giving to me this one. "And one gin for our Wraith...and a Irish Guinnes for me," He scoffed, handing over Wraith's drink to her and keeping his own glass with him as he sat down at his seat next to Wraith.

"Where's Bellamy?" I asked him.

"He said that he wanted to buy his own drink, pretty sure that he will get a vodka," Knight responded, shaking his head in a funny way. "It's you to have the honors, Bell," He gestured to me with his glass in hand, meaning that he wanted me to drink first before the two follows me.

"Sure," I muttered, taking the glass filled with that Guiness and taking a look at it and a deep breath before moving my lips to taste for the first time that alcohol and to say, that was changing from the others beers I drank before. "Wow, that Guiness is...wow,"

"Everything to please a good Irish," He scoffed before taking a sip from his glass, drinking almost a half of it. His look, then, went back at the counter where we could saw Bellamy arriving with a drink in his hand. "I knew it, fuckin' vodka coming in," He sighed in a funny way.

"I heard that, I drink what I want," Bellamy spoke up, having heard Knight despite the music & the people around us. "Seems that you start without me," He stated, his eyes crossing at every glass on the table as he sit back on his seat next to me. "So, to who are you drinking for?"

"Maybe...for us?" I suggested to the trio, Knight & Wraith nodding at me.

"Yeah, to us," Bellamy joined in, raising his glass in the middle of the table for a toast, looking very friendly with Knight for once and honestly, right now, I was feeling very relieved and happy to spend some time away from writing & decrypting all sort of things back at the warehouse as my thoughts were getting on the only person that's in front of me...Wraith...she was like taking over my thoughts and I was...confused...but I was wondering about things while spending the time with her & the others...

After all, maybe that...I can try something...I should try...

[awesomehoggirl]

it’s wip wednesday so i thought i’d share a quick writing wip from my multi chapter fem howince fic which will maybe be done in 20 years ! it’s got 8 chapters and i am still on chapter 2 if this gets finished it’ll be a miracle. the fic is called eau d’bedroom dancing because i love le tigre and imagine how fantastic riot grrl vince would be ...

mentioning before hand that i write all my first drafts and oneshots with no capitals because i find it a lot easier but with this fic when i go back over i’ll put capitals in :) (also this is a section from chapter one not the opening)

—

her name is vincenzia mirabella lucie-marié le manteau rafflesia vaisseau-spatial noire (the longest name in the class, and the only one never written up on the ‘star student!’ chalkboard) but everyone refers to her as vince. she’s new to the school, and seemingly england, but her accent is pure south london. two teachers have quit because of her already. holly moon has never been so interested in a person in her entire tiny life.

oh, she’s read up on musicians, heard their stories, wished ever so slightly that her life would someday be just as interesting — did you know nina simone had seven siblings, that john coltrane was in the navy? but the weirdness that seems to just bounce off vince’s tongue beats every story she’s ever read hands down.

it quickly becomes apparent that she’s borderline feral: if the staff-room murmurs of the teachers are to be believed, she came from a ‘neglectful home’; if vince’s own word is to be accepted, she was raised in the jungle by a cast of rock stars, animals and french nobility. holly is sensible enough to doubt her at first, but before long (and after many demonstrations of her ability to talk to animals) she’s genuinely on board. they sit behind the ash tree at lunch time, out of sight from dribbling boys and disapproving teachers, and holly figures out that through half a chocolate bar vince can be coaxed into revealing all sorts about her unorthodox childhood.

‘dunno why you’re so desperate to know about my life,’ vince complains once, when asked again to tell the story about the great order of frogs and the backwards waterfall. ‘why can’t i hear stories about you for a change?’

‘all in good time,’ says holly, whose mother is a tax attorney married to a geography teacher. ‘plus, i know you love the attention.’

and so vince sits there and talks until she goes hoarse, or loses interest, or feels like changing the subject right at a crucial moment, or the school bell rings and they have to go inside. she talks about her house made of bus tickets and her animal friends, her french duke uncle who would come down on bank holidays and teach her table manners, about joining the jackals for hunts, about skimming the treetops in the claws of squabbling vultures, about the hoots and screeches of the monkeys as they chased her through the undergrowth on the back of a hippopotamus. and holly will listen breathlessly, trying to seem nonplussed when in reality she is clinging to every last word. (tell me again about the paper-mache tiger and the rhinoceros’ game nights. tell me again again again.)

because no matter how hard her sensible brain tries, she really can’t prove them wrong. vince is hopeless at all forms of spelling or arithmetic. she is genuinely flabbergasted when explained to that, in fact, biting and shoving are not always seen as ‘playful’ in the human world. she swears like a sailor (or perhaps a rockstar) would, until the little old lady vicar gasps, snaps her bible shut and refuses to read to the year six class ever again. idioms are beyond her, let alone algebra, and the teachers insist there’s no hope — but they can’t help liking her, despite it all. there’s something so genuine about her ever-present toothy grin, her bubbly demeanour, that they soon allow her to get away with anything.

and yet holly is her best friend. and the only person (maybe in the world) vince will tell her stories to.

‘once upon a time,’ she begins one lunch break, dipping holly’s generous sacrifice of a curly wurly into her pocket for later, ��i was out with jahooli the leopard, who was my best friend — he’d give me rides on his back when i was really small, swattin’ the bloodsuckers away with his giant tail. he’d catch me fish in his big strong jaws, crush ‘em up so i could eat ‘em right, i was just a nipper, i’d not got all my teeth in yet, but he was a right sweetheart about that sort of thing. on the surface jahooli always seemed to be a reckless character, a real rough-and-tumble kind of cat, but i knew the reality: he’d lost his mate and his litter and he was gettin’ on a bit, i was all he had left in terms of fatherhood. it meant he did get a bit invasive at times, yeah, he could be real clingy. i didn’t mind though, see, i’m wise beyond my years, so i was quite good with all that stuff, i let him vent to me when it all got a bit too much for his poor leopard heart to handle. anyway, this one day he was lookin’ after me, on account of my foster father bryan ferry being away on tour. and it was a hot afternoon, this one. really hot.’ she sinks down on her heels. ‘the kinda hot that drenches you in sweat no matter how still you stand. the kinda humid that makes your palms slick and your eyelashes heavy. most of the animals were tucked away underground by midday, but the bigger sorts like me and jahooli, we couldn’t exactly join them. so jahooli said, why don’t we make our way down to the river?’

holly feels her spine prickle. it is eerie, the way her friend’s stories pull her in.

she follows vince along to said river, feels jahooli’s long speckled tail curling round her shoulders, bumping against her collarbones, keeping her close. feels the slick wetness of the air, feels the burn of her lungs as they work in shallow pumping gasps. breathes in the hot dark of the bush, the low chatter of the canopy. soon the lumbering gait of the leopard slows, the river is in sight — the banks are busy with boars, bucks and buffalo, sunning lizards and mice. slow-blinking crocodiles cruise in the shallows. vince is not afraid of them. (holly would be.)

‘is it true if you’re being chased by a crocodile you should run in a zig-zag pattern?’ she interrupts (not because the story is getting a little too tense for her or anything).

vince rolls her eyes, makes a face as if holly has asked her the stupidest question in the world (considering just yesterday she asked holly whether all numbers bite or if the three digit ones are just especially fiesty, they clearly have different opinions on what counts as a ‘stupid question’). ‘if a crocodile were to haul its fat arse out of the nice cool water just to give you a bit of trouble, you probably did something awful to deserve it. why? are you plannin’ to go pokin’ sticks at ‘em? cause if you are, insult their music taste, they’ll go absolutely mental. most crocodiles are obsessed with alice cooper, so there’s a good starting point, have that one on me.’

‘so what’s—‘

‘oi, hush! do you want this story or not?’

holly shuts up. vince lowers her voice.

the jungle is sweaty now, the riverbanks a dripping piccadilly circus. jahooli has left vince’s side, gone to make conversation with ranbir the great panther, so she ventures alone to the water’s edge (the animals watch over her, they all like her, tiny and pink and strange as she is) and dips her feet in. the water is so clear and cold it hurts, but soon the pain ebbs and gives way to a calm coolness. she sits down, slides in up to her knees, lies back against the soft mud

the jungle is treacle now, bubbling and pooling, thick. vince soon drifts off and the leaves behind her eyelids are red. the stars are wheeling gulls, the air is thick with salt-spit, her eyelashes tangle and she slips down into the mud. somewhere else, the dulcet waves begin to lap. the elephants have arrived. jahooli and ranbir share a look before they approach, hackles raised (they are not mean-spirited creatures, but they do like to play a prank).

the jungle is long gone now, and vince dreams of strawberry ice cream. somewhere else, jahooli and ranbir wind around each other dizzyingly, teeth flashing slick and sharp. somewhere else, the elephants are fussing, distressed by their feline dance, their ashy trunks whirling as they back up their feet. pelts twist and brush together before the big-cats turn, open their jaws and let out a combined roar that wakes vince, sends animals scattering, splits the sky in two —

and the jungle rumbles. and the elephants charge.