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renee-writer · 10 months ago

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Loved Her First Chapter 112

A/N This ends this very long story. @omgbarbiegurl and I thank all who read, commented on, reblogged, and/ or did the same on AO3. We appreciate everyone of you. @omgbarbiegurl wrote all past, ' it was a few years later' Now to see how the story ends😁

AO3

Odina and Little Bree see to her. Storm ( Little Bree) has grown into a fine healer, learning all she can from her mother’s heritage and her Granny.

It is a honor to be present at her granny’s passing, as she was at her Gramps, a month before. Both have lived a long life, living to see her own son, Ian James.

The Laird passed away in his sleep, his wife and all his children by his side. His grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and a few great-great- grandchildren, as well.

Now his wife prepares to join him. Faith holds her hand. Ainsley holds her other. Caelen, his wife, Rebecca, and their children, Annie and Jamie, stand close. Ainsley remains an old maid, having chosen to stay with her mama and dad, helping them with their grandchildren, her nieces and nephews.

Hope and Grace stand by the others. The only one missing is Mercy. She remains in the future with David and their daughter, Lily.

“You recall what I told you,” Claire whispers from her bed, “all that is coming. You will keep them safe, Faith?”

“Yes mama,” She says through her tears. Ian stands behind her with John William and Joe.

“Very good. I will be joining Jamie soon,” a smile crosses her face, “know that I love you. All of you. I wouldn’t change anything.”

She passes peacefully away a few minutes later.

A war is coming. A war they need to prepare for.

A few years later.

A man on horseback held a dimly lit lantern as he rode as softly as possible.

Behind him were about 8 Runaway Slaves that were being helped on to Canada.

Behind the group was his cousin Ellen, holding a rifle instead of a lantern.

He suddenly stopped and he heard Ellen cock her gun.

“Fin?”

“Heard something, hold.”

Fin heard a murmur of voices behind him.

“Nobody move, not til I say.” He said softly.

Another horse came out of the darkness carrying a man and a little girl.

Fin relaxed his body as his Uncle and niece appeared.

Caelan stopped the horse, and set his daughter Annie on the ground.

“Nephew, wanted to tell ya that two of the law have shown up.”

“Good to know, what has their attention?”

Caelan smirked. “SHE is keeping them well occupied.”

Fin smirked and shook his head imagining what shenanigans his Aunt was getting up to.

“Fin best you come with me; I tracked out a safe trail. Annie, you run up the house, keep an eye on everything. Report to the house if the Law causes more trouble.”

“Aye Pa.”

Annie turned and ran into the darkness, her bare feet swished quietly against the grass as she ran.

She needed no light; Annie knew the Ridge like the back of her hand. She had been raised here, like everyone else. Some left, some stayed, but all were welcome. Her Grand Da had started that tradition, and her own Pa upheld it.

Annie smiled as the Large Fraser House appeared.

She dropped into a crouch that she had learned from her cousin Dusty, Fin’s middle son, with his wife Odina. They were part of the Cherokee, and only on the Ridge sometimes. Like tonight.

As Annie moved closer, she could see Aunt Ainslie on the porch, arguing with 2 men in front of her. She was going to move closer when a hand grabbed her arm and yanked her into some bushes.

She almost shrieked, until she realized it was her cousin Lily.

“Shhh!”

Annie was excited to see Lily, that meant Aunt Mercy was there as well, and she was Annie’s most favorite Aunt.

On the Porch, her Aunt Ainslie stood straight.

“I don’t know what kind of information you think you have, but I have said it before, and I will say it again: We don’t have any type of Slaves, runaway or otherwise on Fraser’s Ridge!”

“And we done told you Ainslie-”

“Mrs. Fraser, I haven’t given you permission to address me otherwise.”

The man speaking smirked. “Mrs. Fraser, we done told you, we have confirmed information that you are harboring runaways here. We mean to collect them.”

“You still haven’t shown me any proof of that by the way. Or a legal document that allows you to be here.”

The other man smirked. “You Frasers have always been the most prim and proper bunch. I remember stories of how my grandfather Lionel Brown got some scars from dear little Hope when he tried to steal a kiss.”

“Yeah, our family has a different take on that for my niece; I do believe your grandfather, who was damn near 50 at the time, tried to force himself on a 14-year-old. She let him know that type of behavior was not okay. And it wasn’t her nails, it was a knife, which she learned to use from our cousin Askel.”

The man stepped closer, but her Aunt didn’t flinch away.

“You lot have always taken in the strays and rejects of the world. Should learn when you do that, prices need to be paid.”

Aunt Ainslie opened her mouth, seemingly ready to let the famous Fraser Temper fly when the door behind her flew open. A tall red-headed man stepped out, his face flat and very angry.

“What is the meaning of this?” He demanded.

The men drew back fast, dropping their guns to their sides.

“M-M-Mr. Fraser s-s-sir. D-D-D-Didn’t know you were home.” The first man stuttered.

“I wager you didn’t. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be harassing my Aunt the way you are.”

The men took a step back as Jamie Fraser stepped behind Ainslie.

“Now, she has told you; more than once I would like to add, that there are no Slaves on Fraser’s Ridge. Runaway or otherwise, and I am here to reiterate that point. Now, you boys have 5 seconds to get back on your horses and get the FUCK off my land before you are VERY sorry.”

The men felt a little bolstered now, Annie could tell. Her brother didn’t have a gun, neither did her Aunt. One of them smirked.

“Well now, seems you don’t really have much to go on with that threat. We have guns after all.”

The door flew open, and her Aunt Grace appeared, shot gun in hand.

She cocked and aimed at the men.

“Seems we are a bit more even now.”

Both men paused and then started to laugh.

“Well Seamus look at this, the little ole School Marm is aiming a gun at us.”

“Shit David, never seen a School Marm try and look so scary!”

“Me either, I’m shaking in my boots.”

There was a crack, and a chunk of tree bark broke off right next to where Seamus was standing.

He jumped a foot, and lifted his own gun.

“Don’t.” Her Aunt Grace said as firmly as she did when the older boys were acting up in the school room.

“You don’t want to do that. That first shot was a warning, I can hit a flea off a dog’s back from 500 yards.”

She cocked the gun again. “Want to test that theory?”

The men knew they were outgunned, but the stubborn idiotic Brown Blood, (her Great Aunt Faith said anyway), wouldn’t let them back down.

They lifted their guns, ready to fire when an arrow thunked into the ground at the men’s feet.

Lily grabbed Annie’s arm.

“Come on!”

Annie followed Lily as the arrows were fired. She knew it was her other family members and they probably wouldn’t hurt her.

But she and Lily were very small, and it was dark. Accidents did happen.

They went the back way through Aunt Hope’s surgery and into the house.

Aunt Hope looked up where she was mixing something in a bowl.

“What in the world?”

Annie took a few deep breaths.

“A-Arrows!”

“Oh, for God’s sake!”

Hope stomped to the front of the house from her Surgery with Annie and Lily on hot on her heels.

She looked up the stairs. “Mercy! It’s escalated!”

There was a pause and then rushed feet down the stairs as her Aunt Mercy appeared holding a sheaf of papers in her hand.

She paused to kiss Lily and Annie, and then looked at Hope.

“For God’s sake! We are dealing with children.”

“Your fault, you should have gone out instead of Grace.”

“I thought as a Teacher she would be reasonable.”

There was a loud thwack and Annie knew an arrow hit the house.

Aunt Hope smirked. “Apparently not. You know she has too much Fraser, and not enough Murray.”

Aunt Mercy rolled her eyes heavenward as if to ask for strength from a Higher Power and opened the door.

“ALRIGHT! KNOCK IT OFF!”

The arrows stopped flying, the guns were lowered, and everyone stared at Mercy.

“I hold in my hand an official document that, by law, states you are trespassing on Fraser land. Unless you want me to make an official arrest, I suggest you turn tail, get the FUCK off my land, and don’t dare step foot here again. Unless you want Grace to pump you full of lead.”

The Browns apparently had had enough of the Frasers for one night, they ran to their horses and quickly rode out of sight.

Everyone breathed a few deep sighs before Mercy turned up the gas lamps that adorned the house.

Natives appeared from the tree line and Mercy put her hands on her hips.

“That was a little extreme, whose brilliant idea was that?”

“Mine.” A voice said from the back.

Mercy narrowed her eyes as a figure moved to the front. “John William, I should have guessed, only an idiot would come up with an idea so dumb with two little girls nearby.”

He kneeled and held out his arms. Annie and Lily ran into them with a squeal as he swept them up.

“Ah, none of us would have hit them, they are too small to be good targets.”

Hope appeared in the doorway.

“Everyone come inside, we have guests to tend to. Annie and Lily, you need to get ready for bed.”

The girls protest, but John William shushes them.

“It’s late, you need sleep. You’re growing girls.”

He sets them on the ground with a wink.

The girls smile at their Uncle, run inside and up the stairs.

Once they are on the second floor, they both giggle into their hands and plop down on the stairs so they can listen downstairs. They love listening to grown-ups talk.

“That was so dumb of you John William.” Aunt Mercy said.

“I actually thought it was pretty brilliant.”

“Because you have too much of Daddy in you.”

“You know you have always been my favorite sister Mercy.”

“Lord, what do you want and/or need?”

“Take me with you next time you go to Boston. Please!”

“Good Lord, why?”

“I want to see what the world looks like. Outside of this time, please!”

“Maybe, I will think about it. I know when you are let off your leash, you get a little wild.”

“Thank you, Sweet Sister.”

“What is going on?” Aunt Grace’s voice was heard asking.

“John William apparently wants to go with me next time I go to Boston.”

“Johnny you know Mama says-”

“Mama is not in charge anymore; I can do what I want.”

“That statement alone proves you are not ready for a trip to Boston.”

“You are not the boss of me Gracie!”

“Clearly you need one because you are acting like a Toad.”

“What is so special about Boston?” Annie asked Lily.

“I don’t know. I like living there though, so many different things! And so many people.”

“Wish I could visit.”

Lily patted her hand and the two pressed their heads against the banister as their Aunt and Uncle continued to argue.

The argument stopped when a door opened, and a voice was heard asking: ‘What is going on out here? Your father and I could hear you children arguing from our room!”

There was silence and then Aunt Grace spoke. “Sorry Mama, John William wants to go to Boston and then got very rude.”

Annie and Lily got to their feet and ran down the stairs.

They skidded into the kitchen and launched themselves at the older woman with stark white hair.

“Well, well, my little granddaughters were being a pair of eavesdroppers, were they?”

“Auntie Faith, I am not your granddaughter.” Annie giggled.

The older woman pressed a kiss to Annie’s head again. “Well with your real Granny gone, who else have you got?” Auntie Faith teased her.

Lily and Annie giggled, and Faith shook her head.

“Now, you two need to scoot up to bed.”

The two left the room and Faith sighed softly before sitting.

“John William, you can’t go to Boston yet.”

“Mama, I’m a grown man you can’t-”

“I can and will. And I am. Your place is here at Fraser’s Ridge, maybe in a few years.”

John William went into a pout that Faith had not seen since he was young.

“Gracious, it’s not like you are missing anything!”

“I want to see the wiffy that Mercy is always talking about.”

Mercy shook her head and wiped her hands on her apron.

“It’s Wi-Fi, and you can’t see it. You use it.”

John William opens his mouth to argue, but a glare from his Mother stops him.

“Where is Caelan?”

“Still in the back.” Hope says. “I need to take out some medicine for them, to help with sleep.”

Faith nodded. “Take John William and Grace with you; and send Caelan and Jamie in here, I need to talk to them.”

Hope nodded and took her brother’s arm before yanking him out with her sister following.

Faith sighed heavily and looked at Mercy.

“My sweet middle daughter, everything has always fallen to you, hasn’t it?”

“What do you mean Mama?”

She touches her face gently; she looks so much like Ian. “My Little Traveler. Your Daddy and I thought all of you would be able to do it, but only you are able to. So, the modern things all fall to you: Medicine, Laws, Education. Do you ever get tired of it?”

Mercy shakes her head. “No, it’s never been a burden, more of an adventure. And I am grateful for it, I wish he could be here.”

“Me too,” she sighs, “But with all going on, if Lily didn’t look like me.” Her mama nods.

The door opened and Caelan appeared, Jamie on his heels. He went to Faith and gave her a gentle hug.

“Hey Squirt.”

He rolled his eyes and sat.

“Hope said you needed to speak to me.”

“I do. I want Mercy to take Annie with her to Boston.”

Caelan blinked his eyes and leaned back in his chair. “Why?”

“Because she needs to modernized, she adores Mercy, and there is another reason behind it. One I can’t discuss yet.”

“You said that when I sent Jamie with her to be educated when he turned 18.”

“And now we have someone that understands land rights, water rights, and we know to avoid selling our land to some idiot in 50 years’ time.”

“Like we would have done that anyway.”

“One never knows, we don’t know how the Civil War is going to go quite yet. We just know everyone lives through it.”

He huffed out a breath, but nodded. “You have a point. What about Jamie?”

“He needs to stay put for now. Jamie, you’re needed here. I know you adore the modern age, but think you can stand a few years of planting your feet?”

“For you Auntie, anything.”

“Good lad. Mercy is going back to Boston in a few days, Annie will go as well.”

“I might need to steal from the pot a bit. David understands.”

Faith nodded. “Steal away, I hate to keep throwing you under the bus Caelan, I apologize for it.”

“You do as you see fit Faith; you have always had the best interests of this family at heart.”

“I have kept my promise to mama.” She smiles and gets to her feet. “I am off to bed, I trust everyone is settled for the evening?”

Everyone nods. She kisses Mercy and Jamie, and hugs Caelan.

“Good night.”

The end.

#my writing #outlander fanfic #omgbarbiegurls and I's #loved her first #chapter 112 #jamie and claire #outlander fandom #cannon divergence

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adsosfraser · 1 year ago

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wip wednesday

I was tagged by @lara-frasers for this last week 🦋

I haven’t had much motivation lately with most of my fics and this one is very very far into the future in one of them. I wrote it over a year ago and it’s crazy to me to see how different my writing is and how I actually remembered things from the books (because I don’t really now lol).

This is a bit angsty I suppose and sad but when has my writing not been?

“Give her to me now.”

She was starved. Mad. Reaching out and lashing out at anyone else to help pull her up from drowning, but bringing them down with her as well. The woman was near, she could barely stretch out to reach her, just glancing her arm with the tips of her fingers. She had remembered tasting the ill woman’s urine: sugar sickness. She was dying anyway. There was always a certain underlying truth that Claire had known about herself. As much as the faerie blood that pulsed through her veins could be used for only good intentions, as she had sworn she would always use it, it could also bring out a ravenous hunger for power above all else.

Claire moved her arms frantically over the woman’s body, her limbs and stomach and heart, sucking out the last dredges of what allowed her to feebly cling to the earth. She gazed up at Claire in shock, this monster draining her of everything, the energy fleeing from her body. Fear took hold of her body, but she was unable to move even an inch of it, save for her eyes frozen in place slightly spasming with tremors, back and forth. As her face grew paler, and her skin sunk further down into itself, the life bundled snuggly within her arms stirred. The woman’s fading energy chimed in harmony with Faith’s hungrily growing one, her appetite voracious.

Faith, encouraged by this newfound wave of life within her small body, pushed at her mother’s shift, pulling it away from her nipple. She greedily suckled down her first meal, pulling her mother’s life into her as well. Her eyes opened, still unable to see past blurry shapes surrounding her, but could make out the sad smile of her mother. The heart that had soothingly set a melody to her for months. Claire pushed a damp curl away from her tiny forehead.

“My baby, I love you so much.” Her arms struggled to hold Faith upright, but she would never dream of setting her away from her, out of her touch. She would hold her until her last breath. “Mama will love you forever. Daddy loves you, and he will be here for you soon. I know it.”

Claire set her palms against the small curve of the infant’s head and the small plane of her back. Her hands tingled as she pushed the last pumps of her blood to better use. The connection flowed and surged between them, and the little lungs inside her daughter happily welcomed the relief. Faith fell off her breast, taking in the first full free breaths that didn't come out as stuttering gasps and choked wheezes. Her mother slumped back into the bed, exhaustion carved clearly into the lines of her face. The birth had leached everything from her. Healing her daughter had siphoned off what little bits were left after that everything was gone. She would go in peace, knowing her daughter had lived.

The warmth was gone now and Faith truly cried out for the first time, belting out with her strong new lungs. The soothing arms that had held her before had become stiff and cold, that melody belonging to it slowly fading. The andante tempo transformed into adagio; then with finality into largo. The same as the ensemble she had felt through the warm cocoon of her mother’s womb: Largo from Xerxes. Her wails alerted the sisters of L'Hôpital and they plucked her up into their arms, spiriting her away from the only home she had ever known.

This is part of my Faeries fics, what I plan for the second part anyway. I am planning to wrap up the first part soon with only two chapters left. I’m just sort of going with the flow and having patience with it right now though, and all of my other fics.

I want to tag @lara-frasers again to force the vicious cycle to continue in this, and anyone else who would like to join in it next wednesday as well. :)

#adsofraser writing #claire fraser #faith fraser #the sassenach faerie #outlander #faerie au #faerie claire #outlander fanfiction #outlander fanfic #jamie x claire #canon divergence #wip wednesday

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vicioushauntings · 2 years ago

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( kiki layne, she/her, cursed blood) To ANNABELLE CHARMWORTH, the whole world looks like an open page. With a leap of faith, their ability of ELECTRICITY MANIPULATION grows a little stronger. They are a BUMBLEBEE shade aligned to HOUSE FRASER. For TWENTY-NINE years, they have survived a world of magic with both their SPONTANEOUS and COMPETITIVE. They work as a FREELANCER, but if they could change their fate, they’d want to AVENGE THEIR FATHER. (brisket, 24, she/her, est)

BASICS

FULL NAME: Annabelle Scott Charmworth NICKNAMES: Only her dad is allowed to call her Bellie, she always introduces herself as Annabelle but some call her Belle or Ann or Annie BIRTHDAY: November 26 ZODIAC: Sagittarius GENDER: Nonbinary PRONOUNS: She/they SEXUALITY: Demisexual

APPEARANCE

HEIGHT: 5’9 DISTINGUISHING FEATURES: Most well known for her curly hair. She also has some noticeable scars on her neck and arms. There’s a tattoo of a small smiley face on her wrist, a small sheep on her forearm, and a heart tattoo on her finger to match with her other sisters. TYPICAL FASHION: Denim on denim still hasn’t gone out of fashion. Colorful sweaters, patterned “vintage” shirts that are straight out of the 80s and 90s. Overalls, plaid flannels, mom jeans with holes in the knees, and converse high tops so well worn that there’s holes rubbed in the sides. JEWELRY AND ACCESSORIES: : Gold rings on every finger, gold earrings in each ear, and golden hair beads placed over the occasional long braid.

PERSONALITY

POSITIVE TRAITS: Active, confident, imaginative, optimistic, passionate NEGATIVE TRAITS: Argumentative, childish, demanding, dependent, disorganized NEUTRAL TRAITS: Competitive, determined, experimental, intense, unambitious HOGWARTS HOUSE: Gryffindor MBTI: ESFP OPTIMIST/PESSIMIST: Optimist INTROVERT/EXTROVERT: Extrovert DAREDEVIL/CAUTIOUS: Daredevil LOGICAL/EMOTIONAL: Emotional MESSY/NEAT: Messy

LIFE

HOMETOWN: EDUCATION: LIVING SITUATION: A small studio, although she regularly couchsurfs and crashes at her father’s home. PETS: OCCUPATION: Freelancer PARENT(s): Ren and Todd ( deceased ) Charmworth SIBLING(s): Jodette & Hariette Charmworth SIGNIFICANT OTHER(s): DISABILITIES:

FAVORITES

COLOR: Yellow FOOD: Black cherry ice cream MUSIC: R&B, EDM, 80s Classic rock LITERATURE: Poetry FLOWER: Buttercups

HOBBIES & HABITS

HOBBIES: Practical jokes, card games, board games, origami, cake decorating, exploring places she shouldn’t, solving riddles MUSICAL INSTRUMENT: The drums ( badly ) SPORTS: SPENDING HABITS: Customized card decks, friendship bracelet kits, watercolor paint sets, nail polish VICES: Cigarettes & alcohol

HEADCANONS

Despite being born a human, Annabelle has always had a fascination with magic - she dreamed of having magic of her own rather than having to nab a dreamstone to cast small spells. She would even dream at night of having magic of her own – of course, she sees now the cruel irony in their wish to have their own magic, now cursed herself.

As a child, they never saw much in their father’s work - who wanted to be hunched over different works of metal all day and imbuing magic into it, when you could be out exploring the world? But as an adult – and now without their father’s presence in their life, Annabelle sees more of the beauty in it; she’s not trained by any means, and doesn’t even know how to begin – but they’ve been looking for their father in all corners of the world, and what better way to feel close to him than to continue on with his own work?

Perhaps Annabelle’s favorite hobby is collecting odd little trinkets; their favorites aren’t cursed objects, but rather trinkets with funny little spells. Whether it’s a blanket enchanted to make you cold rather than warm, or a bill that refuses to be spent, Annabelle has a proud collection of them all.

CURSED BLOOD

House: Fraser Ability: Electricity Manip

Annabelle is capable of not only manipulating, but creating electricity with their own body. The electricity discharges from most commonly her fingertips, to shock, paralyze, or even burn others. Annabelle, however, is very unskilled with her ability and often shocks people unintentionally. They remain careful not to touch others - even a surprise graze can leave another with a sharp static shock from Annabelle. Additionally, she is also not immune to electricity herself, although she is, perhaps, slightly more resistant to shocks than the average person, if Annabelle doesn’t pay close enough attention to what she does, she’ll wind up giving herself a rather painful shock.

Animal: Bumblebee

As a cursed blood, Annabelle has the ability to - unfortunately - transform into a small bumblebee, and is about as small as one, too. Her hollow form, however, is a bit more monstrous, with sharper stingers and more legs, moreso a meaner, larger wasp, than just a bumblebee.

BIOGRAPHY

Annabelle does not recall a moment of her life that she spent on her own; from the time of her conception, she shared everything with her two sisters: Jodette and Hariette. They were born to two loving fathers – Ren and Todd, who gleefully brought them home from the hospital. Little did they realize what they were getting themselves into with three children in one go. Annabelle had a knack for getting into trouble wherever she went, and only occasionally was her trouble accidental.

Where Jo drew her focus to music and the kitchen, and Hari preoccupied herself with clothing and boys, Annabelle found herself feeling restless. They were simply not the sort who could stand by at home all day, not when they had all of Selphia to explore. With a camera in hand, much of Annabelle’s youthful days they would be out of the house from sunup to sundown - often at the worry of their fathers. She didn’t intend to worry them, of course, but with a big open world at her fingers - how could she just stay home?

Dropping out of high school was a nobrainer for them, at the dismay of their fathers. But sitting around with books, under the thumb of her teachers, Annabelle felt miserable day in and day out. Instead, she tried to throw herself into work, but seldom stayed in one place for too long. Jobs, and getting money, was just a means to an end. As soon as she had enough saved up to last a month or two, they would quit and continue on with their next venture - from the shores of Port Alvara to the rocky mountains outside of Orre Town.

And then their father, Todd, died. They’d been a small farming village at getting the call. Why hadn’t she been home? Couldn’t she have protected him? Or at least…done something more? They left their adventures behind without a second thought, and joined her fellow sisters in his funeral service. Since her father’s death, Annabelle has grown noticably different - namely that she has seldom left her family’s side, and neither does she ignore any phone calls from them in favor of her own sporadic lifestyle.

The boundary – the cause of her father’s death – couldn’t be stopped by Annabelle alone, a fact that she knew plain and clear. But perhaps there was a way she could protect the remaining members of her family from it. As a simple human, she had no magic of her own to save them. But as a cursed blood…wouldn’t she have the power to come to her sisters’ aid? Others would have advised Annabelle of the horrible decision - but not being the type to dwell on the opinions of other people, Annabelle went through with her plan regardless.

For a brief period, they worried that death would be upon them – that they were about to meet their deceased father. Luck, however, seemed to remain on Annabelle’s side; in a cruel twist of fate, she survived the bite, and now bears a golden scar as proof. Having powers, transforming, it all is rather…well…shocking, no pun intended, and Annabelle regularly finds herself overwhelmed with her new body and its unusual abilities, but she remains certain that so long as she can master this power, she’ll be able to rescue her family whenever they need it – even if the price she has to pay is her own morality.

#annabelle charmworth; intro #cag: intro

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axdently · 2 years ago

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(Roberta Colindrez, she/they, cursed blood) to Alex De La O, the whole world looks like an open page. with a leap of faith, their ability of SOUND DETECTION grows a little stronger. they are an OAXACA SCREECH OWL shade aligned to NO ONE. for THIRTY- FIVE years, they have survived a world of magic with both their ALERTNESS and APPREHENSION. they work as an ONE HIT WONDER AUTHOR, but if they could change their fate, they’d want to be left alone.

FULL MUSE DOC ( IN PROG ) ⸻

They knew they were queer when they were 10 years old, after falling for their best friend, Alexis. They liked the way their names matched, and how theirs was different from the more, feminine, Alexis.

Granted a full scholarship to Potions College after working with their mom in their home doing limpias and other sorts of brujeria ; college is where they met their late wife. Their wife was studying Environmental Magical Studies, while Alex was taking a spare intro classes all over the place. They were lab partners and fate would continue to pair them in each other’s lives.

Was not the best college student, one of those “gifted” kids to lose potential etc... by luck they graduated

Twenty-four when they were married, and twenty-six when they became a widow. ( All that was found of their wife was a pinky finger... but Alex is certain she is still alive somewhere... haunting her or locked in a curse )

Alex pent 30 days in custody , because of their erratic behavior, and a questionable brujeria altar of locks of hair and other dried herbs ( used for spells, of course ) until finally they admitted her alibi, infidelity. Turns out Alex wasn’t the best partner either...

They moved to Selphia in 2011 late November, after lawsuits over property custody ( they had a ranch out west with their wife ) and life insurance from her wife ( their wife was pretty well off )

They inherited nothing but the dog after the death of their wife, which explains her living situation – a humble trailer at the edge of town –– near the Fraser Corn Fields.

Alex is known as the town conspiracy theorist with little merit, since they are on probation for one dui and a couple of bar fights.

the DUI happened four years ago, they was locked up for 48 hours, and paid a fine for blowing a .02. their license was revoked for almost a year, but that gave them time to work on their old truck.

Alex is under every impression that the Fraser corn fields are 1. Haunted 2. House a giant corn monster 3. Cursed by a Demon or 4. the Headquarters of beings not of this earth. you can find them muttering to themself about each theory in the town laundromat.

Or you can read their latest best seller. They wrote a book about it.

#⸻ 𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅-𝒊𝒔𝒎𝒔 ; INTRO.#;; intros

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masterofd1saster · 1 year ago

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CJ current events 7sep23

one a day?

DENVER (KDVR) — New questions are arising from travelers after Denver International Airport announced a new security plan to address auto theft in several parking lots. Some 7 million people use the airport’s lots, which have a total of 51,000 parking spaces. DIA said 378 thefts were reported between Jan. 1 to July 31 this year.*** https://kdvr.com/news/local/denver-airport-new-security-plan-auto-theft/

That's not hard to figure out.

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6th-grader Jaiden Rodriguez of Colorado Springs suspended for Gadsden flag - Babylon Bee parody -

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As usual, there's a grain of truth in this parody.

Some have noted the Gadsden flag first came under fire from the government in 2014 when a federal employee filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging he was being subjected to a hostile workplace because a coworker was wearing a “Don’t Tread on Me” cap. Federal involvement does not end there, however. Documents leaked by an FBI whistleblower in 2022 and published by Project Veritas show the FBI has also identified the Gadsden flag as a dangerous symbol, one favored by “violent militia groups” alongside such things as the Betsy Ross flag, the Liberty Tree**** https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/faith-freedom-self-reliance/the-fbis-role-in-12-year-olds-suspension-over-dont-tread-on-me-patch

If you were a 12 y/o at Vanguard School, why wouldn't you put a big, honkin' Betsy Ross flag on your pack?

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Teenaging

***A month later, 14-year-old Jevon Fraser died while riding the No. 7 train that goes past my apartment. He apparently fell off the roof. The subway surfers, like the rioters who broke car windows and made a mess of Union Square, are largely drawn from the same cohort of directionless and bored young men. They are scared and unformed and often without male role models, and they are constantly prodded into doing, thinking, and saying idiotic things by the mobs of other young men. Everyone egging everyone else on, no one old enough or wise enough to state the obvious: this is not how you become a man. Once upon a time, these boys would have been absorbed by other things: a boxing gym; a basketball court; a church; a job; a classroom; their apartments overflowing with siblings, cousins, friends, their mother in a cramped kitchen making dinner. Young men in search of themselves had a degree of freedom to try out different groups or tribes or personalities within the relatively safe confines of their community. It was hardly free of violence or danger. But there was a way things were done. There were guardrails. Those who don’t grow up like these young men have no idea what it’s like to live in a world stripped of its guardrails. Their lives are structured, organized. There are guardrails everywhere—rules and regulations meant to protect their children from the vagaries of city life. Or just life.*** A lot has been made of the artistic qualities of graffiti, but we weren’t in it for that. It was all about climbing somewhere dangerous to do something you shouldn’t do. Defying order. Proving we were tough and strong and worthy of a desirable mate. Armed with paint pens and cans of spray paint, young men ran wild across the city in the nighttime hours, scrawling their pseudonyms (“Funky Fresh,” “Knave,” “Breezy”) across buildings and signs and walls, down in the tunnels, up on the rooftops of buildings. The truly brave sneaked into buildings and scaled the billboards on top of them so drivers on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway could see their tags. I never made it off the sidewalk.*** So, for other boys, tagging was never going to be enough. Nor was shoplifting. Nor was *** You have to keep pushing. Doing dumber and dumber and more destructive and dangerous stuff. Like TikToking on the roof of a subway car going 55 over the Williamsburg Bridge. The pushing is never going to stop, and officials wagging their fingers won’t do much good. That’s just grown-ups telling young people not to be stupid. It’s not telling them how not to be stupid—how to be grown-ups themselves. It’s not giving them a boxing gym, or church, or army, or cause, or sense of purpose.*** https://www.thefp.com/p/the-boys-who-surf-subways

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Faking a kidnapping is probably your worst option for escaping police

Denver police arrested six people overnight Aug. 25 after a police pursuit that led to a forced stop, a fake hostage situation and a police shooting in the Cole neighborhood. Denver police on Friday released body camera footage from two police officers who responded to the scene of the forced crash that appears to show a man holding a woman hostage and threatening to kill her before an officer shot the suspect. However, Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas at a news conference said the man and the woman were known to each other and that the pair planned the hostage situation to dupe police and try to escape arrest. The incident happened about 11:20 p.m. Aug. 25 in the 3500 block of York Street, police said. Body camera footage from two officers released Friday shows shots being fired at police from inside a pickup truck as police were pursuing suspects in the truck.

In footage from the body camera worn by the officer who shot the suspect, the officer is seen pursuing the truck at a high speed as shots are fired from the truck and the officer, in a patrol SUV, bumps the truck, causing it to roll and come to stop on its side. Several officers surround the truck and yell out commands for the four people, two men and two women, inside the truck to show their hands and come out of the truck, for about 15 minutes. Then, a man, identified Friday by police as Keith Michael Mosley, 35, emerges from the truck while pretending to hold a gun to the woman’s head.***

Dummy was arrested anyway, all his brilliant plan accomplished was a GSW in his body.

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BabylonBee

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Tribal police arrest one group of annoying rich white people for blocking other annoying rich white people.

NIXON, Nev. (AP) — A tribal ranger’s conduct is under review after he pointed a weapon Sunday at environmental activists and plowed his patrol vehicle through their blockade on the road leading to the annual Burning Man counter-culture festival in the Nevada desert. The incident unfolded on a rural stretch of highway on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe reservation in northwestern Nevada. The protest calling attention to climate change stopped traffic as attendees were headed to the Black Rock Desert north of the reservation for opening day of Burning Man. A news release from the tribe’s chairman, James J. Phoenix, described the incident as a ranger using his patrol vehicle to clear “debris” out of the roadway after climate activists refused to leave.*** https://apnews.com/article/burning-man-climate-change-protest-tribal-ranger-81b367dab63e9bacd4534082a4c27725

Never point a firearm at anyone you don't intend to shoot.

Good luck finding a lawyer to sue the Paiute Tribe.

***

Wed -

Casper has a population of about 50k

A growing homeless population has the city of Casper taking notice, with what Mayor Bruce Knell estimates to be a population of around 200 people now roaming the city’s streets and parks, causing a situation he describes as “a mess.” The Casper City Council is considering tightening its urban camping and squatting rules to make it less inviting for homeless people to take up shelter in the city, at least until the city can provide more mental health and substance abuse services for this population. “We know very well we cannot litigate our way or arrest our way out of the problem, but our police need some teeth to start dealing with the squatting,” he said. “They’re just causing so many problems.”*** One of the most glaring examples is destruction Knell said homeless people have done to the local Econo Lodge motel, which is vacant and had been previously foreclosed due to flooding. What the homeless people squatting there did to the property would cost millions to fix and is much worse than any damage caused by water, Knell said.*** He said city staff have picked up around 500 pounds of human feces from around the downtown area.

Others occupy local parks and bike paths, while some are less visible and sleep in their cars.*** Homelessness is most often tied to deeper issues like mental health and substance abuse disorders. Often, a person will lose a lifeline provided by family or a friend and quickly fall through the cracks of society. Knell said he doesn’t view the city’s homeless shelter, Wyoming Rescue Mission, as part of the problem and believes it provides a positive service to the community. Because of the shelter, he said there’s always been at least a small contingency of homeless in Casper, but the current situation is unprecedented. He said the problem specifically lies with the homeless who come to Casper to stay at the shelter but are either kicked out or can’t get in and then never leave the city. “There’s a certain part of the homeless population, whether substance abuse or mental illness, that is getting them to where they don’t want to conform to society’s rules,” Knell said. “When they do that they’re not allowed to go in the shelter, which means they’re just out and about in our community raising hell.”*** Many homeless have been found squatting in abandoned properties lacking running power and water. [This sentence is quaint - the paper has little experience with the reality of homelessness.] “It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen. It’s third-world country stuff happening in Casper, Wyoming,” Knell said.*** https://cowboystatedaily.com/2023/08/30/homeless-squatters-trash-casper-hotel-getting-out-of-hand-mayor-says/

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FBI hide facts? Say it aint so!

***Up until January 2021, I worked in the U.S. Department of Justice as the senior adviser for research and statistics, and part of my job was to evaluate the FBI’s active-shooting reports. I showed the bureau that many cases were missing and that others had been misidentified. Yet, the FBI continues to report that armed citizens stopped only 14 of the 302 active-shooter incidents that it identified for the period 2014-2022. The correct rate is almost eight times higher. And if we limit the discussion to places where permit holders were allowed to carry, the rate is 11 times higher. The FBI defines active-shooter incidents as those in which an individual actively kills or attempts to kill people in a populated, public area. But it does not include shootings that are deemed related to other criminal activity, such as robbery or fighting over drug turf. Active shootings may involve just one shot being fired at just one target, even if the target isn’t hit. To compile its list, the FBI hired academics at the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center at Texas State University. Police departments don’t collect data, so the researchers had to find news stories about these incidents. It isn’t surprising that people will miss cases or occasionally misidentify them when using news stories, but the FBI was unwilling to fix its errors when I pointed them out. My organization, the Crime Prevention Research Center, has found many more missed cases and is keeping an updated list. Back in 2015, I published a list of missed cases in a criminology publication. Unfortunately, the news media unquestioningly reports the FBI numbers. After 22-year-old Elisjsha Dicken used his legally carried concealed handgun to stop what would have been a mass public shooting, a headline on an Associated Press report noted: “Rare in US for an active shooter to be stopped by bystander.” A Washington Post headline proclaimed: “Rampage in Indiana a rare instance of armed civilian ending mass shooting.” The Crime Prevention Research Center numbers tell a different story: Out of 440 active-shooter incidents from 2014 to 2022, an armed citizen stopped 157. We also found that the FBI had misidentified five cases, usually because the person who stopped the attack was incorrectly identified as a security guard. We found these cases on a budget of just a few thousand dollars. Though we found that armed citizens had stopped eight times as many cases as the FBI claims, I make no assertion that we unearthed all of these stories. It is quite possible that the news media themselves never cover many such incidents. While the FBI claims that just 4.6% of active shootings were stopped by law-abiding citizens carrying guns, the percentage that I found was 35.7%. I am more confident that we have identified a higher share of recent cases, and our figure for 2022 was even higher—41.3%.*** https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/09/05/fbi-data-on-active-shootings-is-misleading

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Institute for Justice stories -

Josh Highlander bought 30 acres of land in Virginia at the end of a quiet residential street lined with single-family homes. He built a home there surrounded by woods. And he posted “no trespassing” signs around the perimeter of the property. Surely that was enough to secure his family’s right to privacy and seclusion on their own land, right? Wrong, at least according to game wardens in Virginia and around the country. Ironically, they see the very things that most people think of as sources of privacy—like living on a large piece of property surrounded by nature—as an invitation to snoop on private land without a warrant.*** His wife and young son were playing basketball in the yard when the ball rolled toward the woods. As Josh’s wife went to retrieve it, she noticed among the trees a stranger dressed in full camouflage. Alarmed, she rushed inside to alert Josh. By the time he got outside, the intruder was gone, but the violation of his family’s privacy remained. For weeks afterward, his son was afraid the stranger might be lurking in the woods again and wouldn’t go outside alone. Josh soon discovered who the camouflaged prowler was. Game wardens from the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources had sneaked onto his land to search for evidence of hunting violations. Earlier that day, game wardens had accused Josh’s brother of hunting over bait (an accusation he denies) miles away in a different county. Josh has never been cited for violating hunting regulations, but that day his family ties apparently cast suspicion on him, too.*** https://ij.org/ll/government-snoops-sneak-through-fourth-amendment-loophole

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ORANGE CITY, Iowa—Today, the Iowa District Court for Sioux County ruled that Orange City, Iowa’s law requiring mandatory inspections of rental properties within the city violates the Iowa Constitution. The ruling comes two years after the Institute for Justice (IJ) and a coalition of Orange City landlords and tenants filed a lawsuit challenging the ordinance. “Today’s decision striking down Orange City’s inspection ordinance is a major win for the basic privacy rights of all renters in Orange City,” said IJ Attorney John Wrench. “You don’t lose your constitutional rights because you rent your home, instead of owning your home.” Orange City’s ordinance permitted the city to search tenants’ homes without their consent, by obtaining an “administrative warrant,” which did not require the city to show any sort of suspicion or particularized probable cause. In Thursday’s ruling, the court held that Orange City’s mandatory inspection law violated Article 1, Section 8 of the Iowa Constitution and could not stand. *** https://ij.org/press-release/in-win-for-privacy-rights-court-strikes-down-orange-citys-mandatory-rental-inspection

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RALEIGH, N.C.—Late last Friday, the Supreme Court of North Carolina agreed to take up a lawsuit challenging the state’s medical monopoly law—known as a Certificate of Need (CON) law—that prevents medical providers from offering services without first obtaining government permission.*** The case started at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, in April 2020, when medical services were in short supply. With IJ’s help, Dr. Singleton filed a lawsuit challenging North Carolina’s CON law as an irrational monopoly. For years, Dr. Singleton has wanted to provide low-cost eye surgeries in his own vision center. But North Carolina’s CON law banned him from doing so unless he obtained a certificate proving his services are “needed” in his community. There has not been a new CON available for over a decade. That’s because “need” is not based on what will save patients time or money, but on how many nearby providers already exist—providers who, under the law, get to weigh in on whether they want more competition. As a result, Dr. Singleton is forced to perform most of his surgeries at the far more expensive hospital down the street—the sole entity in his area with a certificate. During COVID-19, North Carolina briefly suspended its CON laws so that doctors could enter the market and save lives. Now, with the pandemic over, the state’s CON law is back in full force, which means that unless the state declares a “need,” doctors are banned from providing new services that could help real patients.*** https://ij.org/press-release/north-carolina-supreme-court-will-consider-challenge-to-states-anti-competitive-medical-monopoly-law

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Who knew?

***The Drug Free America Foundation released a new report showing that states that have legalized or weakened restrictions around high-THC marijuana, either for medical or recreational use, saw 32% more marijuana-impaired driving than states that have not adopted the same policies. According to DFAF, the 18 states with less restrictive marijuana policies have seen far more cases of impaired driving of this kind, something that medical research shows can be very dangerous. “In 2017, eight states had adopted full recreational marijuana programs (Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington) and ten states had enacted higher-THC medicinal programs (Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont),” the report said. “Incidentally, seven of these states have since adopted full recreational programs. Adding to the concern is the fact that fatalities in the U.S. from marijuana-impaired drivers have risen dramatically between 2000.”*** https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/states-with-weaker-marijuana-laws-see-more-impaired-driving-report-says

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Hunter Biden case

Special counsel David Weiss confirmed in a court filing on Wednesday that he plans to ask a grand jury to deliver an indictment against President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden by the end of September. Weiss, who was appointed special counsel in the investigation of the younger Biden last month, wrote that he plans to "obtain the return" of an indictment before Sept. 29 in line with the Speedy Trial Act. Weiss did not specify which charges he would bring against the president's son but made references in the agreement to a felony gun charge and misdemeanor tax charges that had been a central part of a now-defunct plea deal between the parties.*** https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/justice/hunter-biden-investigation-david-weiss-grand-jury-month

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Play for keeps; shoot the survivors

Gunfire erupted outside UAB Hospital early Monday as multiple gunshot victims arrived in a private vehicle seeking help. According to authorities and witnesses, a champagne-colored Chevrolet Tahoe pulled up to the hospital entrance seeking help for gunshot victims inside. That shooting is believed to have taken place following an altercation at Aria Restaurant and Lounge on in the 900 block of Fifth Avenue North. When the SUV got to UAB – about 2:17 a.m. – another vehicle pulled up and opened fire on the Tahoe. Witnesses said they heard multiple shots fired, describing the sounds as “iron pipes hitting.” The gunfire hit a UAB police vehicle and a hospital window.***

Birmingham police Officer Truman Fitzgerald at least five people were shot in the initial incident on Fifth Avenue North. Two of those victims - both females - were pronounced dead at the hospital. According the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office, a 33-year-old woman was pronounced dead at 2:30 a.m. and 24-year-old woman was pronounced dead at 2:55 a.m. Dozens of friends and family members were outside of the emergency room.***

https://www.al.com/news/2023/09/gunfire-erupts-outside-uab-hospitals-emergency-room-wounding-several.html

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New York, New York

so,

New York City’s subway system continues to be infested with crime, which is unsurprising when the most high-profile prosecution involving the subway is targeting a man who tried to protect other passengers from a criminal. Last week, 60-year-old Laurell Reynolds was brutally beaten by a man for about two minutes while waiting for the subway in Harlem. That man has at least nine prior arrests on his record, including for two separate assaults, and yet he was free to roam New York City and beat a 60-year-old woman with her own cane. Reynolds’s daughter is upset that no one intervened to protect her during the beating, but then again those people can hardly be blamed. When Daniel Penny intervened to protect passengers from a homeless career criminal who was threatening and harassing them, pro-criminal Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg decided to try and put him in jail for up to 15 years. Bragg has tried more than once to criminalize self-defense and decriminalize brazen assaults. Of course, no passenger wants to risk that for someone they don’t know. In a surprise to absolutely no one, the indefensible prosecution of Penny made the subway system less safe, with criminals being further emboldened by New York City’s weak criminal justice system while law-abiding citizens received the message, loud and clear, that they must shut up and take it. The prosecution of Penny began in May. In June, the subway system suddenly had a “bad couple of weeks” for violent assaults.*** https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/why-would-anyone-try-to-stop-a-violent-assault-on-new-york-city-subways-now

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Hunter news

Thanks to U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan's decision to begin Donald Trump's federal election interference case on the day before Super Tuesday, the likely Republican presidential nominee will spend the bulk of the 2024 election cycle in the middle of one, if not many, criminal trials. Now to throw a second bomb into the mix, the incumbent president (and fellow presumptive Democratic nominee) may be called to the stand to testify in the criminal trial against his own son. As you may recall, the attempt of Joe Biden's Justice Department to insulate Hunter Biden from future prosecution related to his overseas influence peddling and profiteering blew up in spectacular fashion back in July. The sweetheart deal of the century would have spared the infamous failson from criminal consequences for potential FARA violations and other charges relating to illegal lobbying for the small price of pleading guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and a pretrial diversion program demanding gainful employment and sobriety from drugs and alcohol. It was only once Judge Maryellen Noreika forced the DOJ to fess up that the deal blew up, as she described the deal as potentially "unconstitutional," without precedent, and "not worth the paper it is printed on."*** https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/will-hunter-biden-jeopardize-his-fathers-presidency-and-demand-joe-biden-testify

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Weiss problem

Prodded by Judge Maryellen Norieka, Weiss has now stirred himself to claim that he may indict Hunter Biden on the gun offense by the end of the month. If he supposes that’s going to end the growing vitriol about his performance, he should suppose again. To reiterate, the statute of limitations on most federal crimes — including bribery, money laundering, and failure to register as a foreign agent — is five years. Today is September 6, 2023. Weiss, the United States attorney for Delaware, has had the Biden investigation since 2018 and has never indicted it. As of today, he has eviscerated the government’s ability to prosecute Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, or any other subject of the investigation for any crimes committed before September 6, 2018. That is to say, Weiss has ensured that the corruption evidence the House committee has homed in on — the most significant evidence because it stems from Biden’s time as vice president — cannot result in criminal charges. That includes tax crimes: They have a six-year statute of limitations, meaning Weiss has now obliterated any possible tax case based on conduct prior to September 6, 2017 — i.e., the tax years from 2014 through 2016, when Hunter took his post on the Burisma board and Joe leveraged his influence as vice president to pressure the new government in Kyiv to fire the prosecutor who was investigating Burisma.*** https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/09/a-question-for-the-very-special-counsel-david-weiss

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did mention NYC?

The New Jersey woman charged with slashing a stranger in the face outside a Manhattan pizza shop also allegedly punched a stranger on a city sidewalk in May — and threatened Monday to add a criminal court judge to her list of victims. “I’m going to slash you in the face too if you put me in the cell for a long time,” Ola Albanni warned Judge Miriam Best during her arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court. Albanni, 52, of Hoboken, NJ, then repeated the threat a second time, before ranting incoherently for a full minute during the hearing — leading Best to order her to be removed from court and taken for a psychiatric evaluation. Prosecutors had called for the court to set bail of at least $100,000 after Albanni allegedly slashed a 65-year-woman with a kitchen knife on the sidewalk outside 2 Bros Pizza on Eighth Avenue and West 38th Street Friday night — in an unprovoked attack that left the victim with a large gash that required six stitches to patch up. Albanni – who wore a furry black jacket and silver-sequined short shorts at the hearing – was still carrying the blade in her bag when she was arrested Sunday, and admitted to the random slashing, court papers alleged*** https://nypost.com/2023/09/04/accused-nyc-slasher-threatens-to-attack-judge

0 notes

verushkak70 · 15 days ago

Note

imo Victoria has kept tabs on him, or tried to, the entire time she was imprisoned - which would be difficult but not impossible, considering he was her arresting officer & probably testified as to the circumstances of her capture & arrest

& if nothing else, she's allowed to discuss her case with her attorney, & surely the appeals process would have gone on for at least a few years, so she'd regularly have been updated during appeals as to which witnesses/officers would testify, & which wouldn't, providing an opportunity to ask why or why not & the whereabouts of Fraser

but DEFINITELY after she got out, she tried to find him

She had ten long years in prison to think about what Fraser had done & how she wound up there - which, up to that point, we don't know her extent of criminal activity; but given how Jolly treats her in VS, it's not hard to believe that she was coerced to be the getaway driver by the threat of violence (as she tells Fraser "There were only two ways to end that relationship, one of them was with me dead"...)

So I've always figured that she felt she got to prison very unfairly (& lord knows - if she hooked up with Jolly young, which it seems pretty clear she did, there was probably plenty of childhood trauma, for Jolly to seem like the better option)... So she's got 10 years to think about how unfairly she wound up with such a long sentence, that's about 1/3 of her life, all of it in adulthood, which could all have been avoided if Fraser & his foolish faith in the justice system hadn't turned her in... All while quietly seeking updates on where Fraser is, at least during appeals

Plus she would've had all the time before trial to talk with Fraser, while he still thought she wouldn't get a harsh sentence - & things weren't that bad between them yet, because she hadn't been convicted & sentenced, which is probably the time when Fraser acquired the photo of her that he has in You Must Remember This

So I bet that it's ALL she really thought about as she watched her "whole life go by" & "everything [she] want[ed] go away & know that [she] can never get it back" - yeah, it would've been plenty of time to plan her revenge, and with just enough info to go on to at least find where he last was, before he was posted to Chicago

& if you go with the fact that she surely knew what posting he was at when he chased her into the mountains & they got snowed into that crag, it would've been a simple matter of calling that RCMP outpost & asking for him, to which she would likely have gotten a "Oh, he transferred to the Canadian Consulate in Chicago" because Canadians (in the show... IRL too, in my experience lol) are nothing if not polite & helpful

Plus we don't know what they talked about while they were alone together for three days but a probably smitten, much younger & less suspicious, & surely conversational Fraser could easily have mentioned his father's cabin, even if in passing, & about where it's located... Plus since there are few permanent residents there, & people probably don't leave their doors locked, she couldn't just walked into one cabin after another until she found info like mail indicating it was Bob's cabin that had passed to Benton

But even if she didn't know that then, it's entirely possible that during her inquiries after she's released from prison, someone ELSE in the RCMP that she asks about Fraser replied, "Bob Fraser or Benton Fraser?" when she asked about Constable Fraser... & could have mentioned Fraser Sr's death and his cabin as a place to look, if she had recovered quickly and replied, "Bob Fraser" - to which they would've replied "Oh, he passed some years back... Had a cabin up in the..."

& there, at the cabin, she could easily have found old letters, paperwork etc that would tell her which RCMP outpost to call asking for Benton Fraser... You know, before she planted the money & burned it to the ground

And of course Fraser would not have seen any of this coming, partly because he was smitten, but also because he just isn't "too swift about [that] stuff" (women)... He didn't scorn Victoria for another woman, but he did place justice before her - & how could she ever compete with that? At the end of You Must Remember This, he's looking at the photo, but they've just had that whole conversational voice-over where Ray tells him, "She left me, but she left me for the wrong reason. She loves me" & Fraser says "But she's gone" & Ray replies "Well that's what's right for us. Maybe some day it won't be but now it is"

& Fraser points out "But you might never see each other again" & Ray replies "That's what we need - ridiculous odds and just a speck of hope that someday we'll beat them" & all of that is clearly going through Fraser's mind while he's looking at the photo of Victoria, faintly smiling, it's easy to see that he's probably thinking that's what he & Victoria have: ridiculous odds & just a speck of how that someday they'll beat them...

So of course he didn't see any of it coming.

& while yes, I think Victoria was finishing up some business in Chicago, I think it was "business" (trading money for diamonds) that she could've done in any major American city with an organized criminal element - IOW, almost anywhere

If anything, I think she adapted the business to Fraser's location, & not the other way around - Chicago has (or at least had in the 90s when dS was made) a decent "diamond row" which was, back in the day, very heavily infiltrated by the Outfit; I don't think there was a diamond seller on Wabash that wasn't mob-affiliated

How does Victoria find out that Fraser is in Chicago? She's hankering for revenge, but how does she know where to go to exact it?

Or is she finishing up other old business and it's just a happy (for her anyway) coincidence that she bumps into Fraser and decides to take him on her horror ride?

Thank you so much for this question, Anon, it's an excellent one and I'm very curious what answers we'll receive!

Remember, kids: there are no wrong answers except "plot hole" and "Fraser deserved what Victoria did to him". At least one person (me) will find your idea interesting, though I'm willing to gamble (not with money, mind you) that I won't be the only one. If you're shy, try sending your response as an anonymous ask for me to publish!

16 notes · View notes

hcark · 2 years ago

Text

(oliver jackson-cohen, he/him, spirit warrior) to LESLIE WATTS, the whole world looks like an open page. with a leap of faith, their ability of REACTIVE ADAPTATION grows a little stronger. they’re pledged to the HOUSE OF FRASER to defend the enchanted lands of cagliostro with their ENCHANTED TEARDROP EARRINGS. for THIRTY-FIVE years, they have survived a world of magic with both their AMBIVOLANCE and CARELESSNESS. they work as a FORAGER / COURRIER, but if they could change their fate, they’d want to ALTER THE DEATH OF HIS BEST FRIEND

DOSSIER .

▇▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ came into this world wailing to the heavens and stars above. Golden pipes as his grandmother used to say, good use of those ironclad lungs. Although some would say it was detrimental to the deterioration of their hearing later on in life. Growing up with a single grandparent is hard; even harder still when said grandparent was half drowned in debt due to the hands of her own children before disappearing for good. A mother’s kindness taken advantage of by the folly of human greed. How typical.

Still, ▇▇▇▇▇▇ grew to be scrappy and figured out ways to help, sure — if you want to reflect the past under a kinder light, but more so to survive. His grandmother wasn’t a perfect person or parent; most of the time she numbed their shitty situation with the promise of hazy evenings and late mornings. Inevitable as it might have been, there came a time when dearest grandmother perished in the clutches of choice vices. *** tw: overdose start *** Gone in a matter of minutes. The creak of a rusted door revealed a shape laid still between the common room and kitchen. Gnarled hands still clutched around a tarnished, cracked container.

The few neighbors that ‘cared’ flocked over like the feathers of a claret-crowned vulture. Overdose, they tutted, a shame but not all that surprising. *** tw: overdose end*** Only 14 at the time ▇▇▇▇▇▇ was left to their own devices. Yet even then, his penchant to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed didn't falter. When a groundbreaking asperation struck him, he went up in arms to only achieve it but to also thrive as well.

Arguably very dangerous adventures in completely rural areas? Done with the repercussion of triggering the first lingering instances with the use of magic.

Being completely engrossed with artifacts after said very dangerous adventures in a rural area ( see: his plummet off a steep cliff )? Done although most of the 'treasures' didn't pay their weight in gold.

Understanding that he wanted to be an explorer ( of all things ) just to follow the footsteps of his grandmother and doing everything in his wildfire ways to best her feats? Done… and then some.

Hardly anyone was surprised when ▇▇▇▇▇▇ proudly attained the opportunity to traverse into the great unknown. Even less so when ▇▇▇▇▇▇ announced his departure with a fellow adventurer into the great unknown. What did surprise them was the state of return or lack thereof.

Him, alone, frayed beyond imagination.

The details of what ensued during his travels was never documented. Just like the abnormal condition his form had obtained was never released; ever bright, glowing just as his ambition once had. All of this was completely shielded by half-hearted white lies and a distant heart, of course.

All truth redacted, erased, unheard of ever again.

Yet ▇▇▇▇▇▇'s tale didn't end there. It hardly ended anywhere, really. Traces of him were few and far between with only a handful of vague sightings across the world. Some more bizarre than others. Rumors of something off about the man now known as Leslie Watts. A man that cheerily claims to be the best two in one forager-courier in one.

MISC. INFO .

The earrings Leslie wears every day wasn’t originally his. They’re a gift from his best friend, the only other explorer he ever spent more than a few weeks with. The jewels are enchanted to help ward off curses ( because lord knowns he comes by a lot of them ).

CONNECTIONS .

Green but keen — sure, leslie's ‘kind of new’ to the whole 'legit' courier schtick, but he swears to get the results wanted every single dang time! so, c’mon, give them a chance — just one!!

Friends — Yes, Leslie is quite a peculiar person that says the dumbest shit known to man. Yes, he’s not the most careful person around. But that’s not all to him, though. Despite what some might believe, he’s always flexible when it comes to making acquaintances and friends. He’s a, dare he say it, decent person; just with a few altered quirks.

Single as a pringle stuck in the goddamn can — look.... leslie's been trying to put himself out there and see if anything sparks, he swears! and it’s not like he hasn’t gone on dates — it’s just that they all somehow end in a catastrophic mess every time. this is a plea for help, guidance, whatever it takes for him to go on a singular normal date. ( open to both wingmen and potential dates alike ).

Let sleeping does lie — straight to the point here — this person knows him as ▇▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇, that young, but no less weird, explorer that made quite a name for himself within the artifact world. whisper anything about that past chapter of his life and leslie's already gone. fleeing for the sunset itself because he does not want to think about it, much less speak about it.

Heaven and hell don't want us — Leslie's led a pretty eventful life so far. There've been plenty of times where he had been dangerously close to shaking death’s hand, and even fewer where he had actually flat lined before he was resuscitated. These people get it. They’ve all knocked on death’s door, only to be brought back to the land of living again. They’re all haunted by the strain on their worn down hearts, and it’s a common factor that makes it easier for them all to relate to.

#cag: intro #overdose tw

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xf-grxmviridicn · 2 years ago

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to CERENIA SOTEIRA, the whole world looks like an open page. With a leap of faith, their ability of CHLOROKINESIS grows a little stronger. They are a WINGED HALF-LOP RABBIT shade aligned to HOUSE of FRASER. For TWENTY-SEVEN years, they have survived a world of magic with their PERSEVERANCE and NAIVETE. They work as an UNEMPLOYED FOREST GIRL but if they could change their fate, they’d want to ACHIEVE TRUE FREEDOM.

hello, hello! eva here finally with our resident forest girl who’s maybe ready for the big city life one day soon. her inspo includes the likes of the following, though by no means is this list exhaustive because i had a lot tbh: euphemia li britannia of code geass, persephone of mythology ( specifically the lore olympus variant, though ), yuna of ffx, kagome higurashi of inuyasha, starfire of teen titans, and of course, rapunzel of known fairytales.

&. ⸻ LINKS

doc | pinterest

&. ⸻ HEADCANONS

she loves the color pink. and glitter

bubbles are also pretty neat in her book

she is a strict vegetarian and would never dream of consuming her poor forest friends

she is also a pacifist in most regards, but it’s best to mind her temper, which can be quite the doozy if triggered

she was homeschooled all her life within the wildwoods and despite her vast knowledge of all things regarding the woods, knows absolutely nothing of the modern world save for whatever ( many ) books she’s researched through and various trinkets she’s picked up over the years that happen to scatter on the forest floor from careless humans. she’s collected these items faithfully and, like the hoarder she truly is ( similar to ariel of the little mermaid ), has her own trove dedicated to lost human things housed in her tower

she believes honesty is the best policy and can be fairly blunt when occasions call for it. it helps, of course, that she's also the world's worst liar

she's also a terrible baker, the absolute worst, but really enjoys sharing her creations with any who might feel brave enough to try them

she can be a total child and is spoiled as shit

she believes in the power of the written word

she can be superstitious and is rather skittish around strangers generally, but especially men. partly in response to her stepmother putting the absolute fear of god in her regarding most people, and especially men

she tends to stick to known paths where possible when wandering the woods, but her capacity to be easily lost and a little too curious for her own good tends to work poorly in her favor

she knows the importance of keeping up appearances per her stepmother and homeschool tutors, but always has a tendency to attract flower petals and various bits of nature in her hair and clothes

despite knowing the safety it offers, the idea of being stuck in the woods and locked away forever completely terrifies her, specifically because of all the little discoveries she’s made of the world beyond the border of the woods as the years have passed. that said, actually taking those steps beyond the border, despite all her talk of wanting to see more, also terrifies her

she is proficient with strategy and card games, and is quite the seamstress, to boot. all her little forest pals have their own signature looks thanks to her efforts

puppets and clowns are among her biggest fears. there’s just something unnatural about them

she loves sketching any and all things and enjoys painting in general, having quite the talent for it. more so when using her fingers, but she knows her stepmother abhors this habit of hers, given how messy and unsophisticated it can seem

puns and riddles are an absolutely delight and she's certain you're wrong if you say otherwise

flower crowns and herbal remedies are her love language

&. ⸻ DREAMSHADE FORMS

see here + here for ideas on her base form, a winged half-lop rabbit with red eyes

see here for an idea on her hollow form, a winged wererabbit with red eyes

&. ⸻ TREASURED POSSESSIONS

her father: her enchanted dancer jewelry box. displays imagery of her parents among other wraith-like figures when the music plays

her birth mother: her emerald necklace and the accompanying cursed dagger that expands into a glaive-like weapon of death when fully activated

her stepmother: her cloak of imperceptibility, for her use only

her sister: her wrist crossbow with enchanted bolts that serve to trap or stun opponents

erasmus: her stuffed deer named persie, who’s she had since childhood and refuses to get rid of entirely despite its obvious wear and tear

lady of the wildwoods: her tome of beasts, a grimoire gifted to atone for past actions

&. ⸻ FAMILY

VISCOUNTESS NORA SOTEIRA: her mother, nora, was a spirit warrior, blessed with the capacity to manipulate poisonous plants and utilize them effectively against her many enemies. she would align with dreamshade and her soon-to-be husband in a truce, well before such unions were considered common, in their efforts to stave off the wickedness of the present world. nora would be appointed a viscountess following her service to the crown and community in troubled times and as such, her sole offspring cerenia would be addressed in similar fashion. the woman would see her supposed end after a group of rather skilled hunters sought her out and followed in nora's footsteps, targeting her daughter among other creatures of the woods for a quick payday, a massacre in their wake. word would soon reach the lady of the wildwoods regarding nora’s residence there and the events that transpired because of her carelessness. she would be forced into a monstrous state by said lady and in turn, nora would also curse the female line of her family to a supposed mortal fate in her twisted state. among cerenia’s goals is saving the life the woman once knew and curing her family of their cursed state. ( inspo: catelyn stark of game of thrones, demeter of myth )

SIR ZED SOTEIRA: her father, zed, is a dreamshade also of the rabbit variety. a fair share of his compatriots were actually followers of the dragon priesthood and it is through them, among others, he learned to respect and honor those he's hunted and gained the talents he now possesses. a burly, stoic man who’s known to get around, shall we say, he actually had another family before his current one. he would leave them for nora sometime later due to his great love for her, and he's still not certain if he holds much in the way of shame for his actions. because of said actions, however, cerenia has a number of half-siblings she's come to know over the years, including her favorite sister artemesia. zed at one point or another, was also a fierce dragon tamer, serving as a former member of the royal guard and later knighted for his service. in the years to follow the birth of cerenia, he’s since become something of a hermit, settling into his role as a fisherman well enough and minding his little corner of the woods with great vigilance for his family's sake. particularly following the ‘loss’ of his second wife. ( inspo: sig curtis of fullmetal alchemist, zeus of myth )

HELEN SOTEIRA: her stepmother, helen, would come into cerenia’s life the same day her birth mother fell, offering protection and sanctuary in a moment of utter crisis. cerenia would have no clue the woman in question was partly responsible for the mess that came of the day and they would part ways for a number of years, until the familiar face would make itself known again as the soon-to-be new wife of her father. the woman’s protectiveness is unmatched, surpassing even cerenia’s sister due to the severity in which it’s doled out. and while cera is perfectly aware that it comes from a place of love, she’s also attuned to the fact that it mostly derives from a deep pit of fear that tends to swallow whole any sensible reasoning. the woman’s life before coming into her own is unknown to cera, but she treasures her all the same and respects the majority of her wishes — with some noted exceptions here and there.

ARTEMESIA SOTEIRA: her sister is the only other female in cera’s family aside from helen at present, serving as her elder half-sister, a partner in crime, and a primary guard in and, when the time might come, out of the forest. the woman does her darndest to look out for her cerenia at every possible turn and is almost on equal footing with helen and zed regarding how protective she can be. misa is the person cera turns to most and holds the greatest respect for at present, and not just for her physical strength as impressive as that may — but for her strength of character as such things surely matter far greater to young cerenia. alongside helen, misa is known for her insufferable stance against most, if not all men, which cera sometimes struggles to understand, and she takes a fair bit to warm up to anyone — including family. cera appreciates all her sister does for her, however, even if she doesn’t say this as much as she probably should and has a tendency to tease her mercilessly on occasion.

alongside these four, she also has eight older and two younger brothers of varying ages from either side of the family.

&. ⸻ WANTED

fellow forest friends

those with an interest in helping her complete her goal and specifically, those with an interest in researching curses and old knowledge, to aid in her use of the grimoire

city folks to show her around — once that time comes

people who absolutely cannot stand her ignorance of the modern world and all it entails or just can't stand her in general

honestly, any and everything

#cag: intro #⸻ SINGS CAGED DIVINITY | intro.

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cookie-de-baunilha · 1 year ago

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Hahaha it’s fine, I like reading long rants, especially if I agree with the matter.

I second everything you said about Jamie/John! 100% agree. John wasted decades of his life being obsessed with an idealized version of Jamie, a man who could never love him back the way John would want him to, because he’s too afraid of love. It’s easier for him to hold on to an unattainable person like Jamie and just keep on running away from the real thing™ (see the whole Percy situation and how John couldn’t be honest with his own feelings towards Percy).

And sadly, it seems like he is determined to stay in this state of miserability for the rest of this life. He’s frozen in time (Alexa, play right where you left me by Taylor Swift… except in that song the narrator actually had a relationship with the other person lmao)

The way he believes Jamie to be his “North” like giiirlll, get your shit together. No one should be putting anyone in that position. John needs to realize his true North is himself, not Jamie freaking Fraser.

But I blame it all on Diana. She doesn’t seem to believe that John pining for Jamie is a problem to John besides the obvious unrequited love tragedy. Which is crazy, considering how perfectly she has laid the groundwork for it. I had faith she would make John realize that at some point, especially after Percy being introduced in the main series, but the spoilers I had from Bees just made me realize that DG is not interested in doing anything like that.

That’s why I also feel like I have to read Bees before writing the meta (you see, I’ll be talking about everything: Jamie/John, John/Percy, Percy’s fate, John’s character development — or lack thereof). It’s already pretty long lol I’m very prolix, I’m afraid. But I need to get some facts straight before I continue to write it.

And there are a lot of things I simply don’t remember from the OL books and LJG books, which is concerning because I’m definitely not doing a whole ass Outlander rereading right now — I did jump on a BOTB rereading tho, and I blame it on my Percy/John obsession lol

(I know reading BOTB again before reading Bees will just make me even more mad at whatever the fuck Diana was trying to do in that book, but anywaysss)

P.s.: what you said about Percy and John being opposites and simultaneously challenging and balancing each other is sooo true!!

john/percy making me come back to tumblr in 2023 lmao

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flyinghome-againstthewind · 3 years ago

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chapter 26: the best by far is you

Read on AO3

Previous Chapter

Summary: An exploration of Claire & Jamie’s story if their firstborn had lived and they had the chance to be parents together of wee Faith Fraser before the Battle of Culloden.

Chapter 26

“Do you think it’s strange,” Claire asked him while Brianna was tucked against her breast as she nursed, “that Murtagh hasn’t once held the baby?”

Her tone suggested that she did think it was strange, regardless of Jamie’s thoughts on the matter. “Och, I’ve told ye before, mo nighean, he’s scared o’ bairns when they’re that small. Thinks they’re too fragile and likely to fall apart in his arms.”

Claire’s brows furrowed together. “Well, sure, he didn’t go near Faith until she was at least seven months old, but I thought… I mean, he’s been wonderful with her ever since.”

“Aye, she’s no longer a wee babe now is she?”

Claire rolled her eyes. “So, he won’t go near Brianna until she’s hearty enough that he’s not scared to hold her? When she’s half a year old? Is that what you’re saying?”

He couldn’t help the smile that tugged at his lips. “Sassenach… he loves our bairns. He’d protect them with his life. Ye ken that well. And aye, someday when Brianna is hearty enough as ye say, I’m sure he’ll hold her, if that’s yer worry.”

She shook her head, exasperated by the notion, and glanced down at the baby in her arms. Brianna’s arms and legs flailed as soon as Claire looked at her, wriggling with joy. Jamie’s heart melted at the sight. Such a sweet wee thing, their Brianna.

Claire’s finger traced the contours of the babe’s soft, round face. “Well, that simply won’t do, will it, Bree?”

----------

Claire cornered Murtagh with the baby while he was in the sitting room, lounging in one of the chairs and none the wiser to her scheming. Jamie sat nearby and watched the event unfold with nothing short of amusement, as Claire simply lowered the baby into Murtagh’s lap before there was an opportunity for the older man to escape.

Murtagh went rigid with fear, his arms stiff and awkward around the baby. “Nay‒ I‒ Claire!”

“Don’t make such a fuss. She’s sleeping.” Claire straightened, settling her hands on her hips, surveying the two unlikely companions with a smile. “There, see? Nothing to be afraid of.”

Murtagh looked as though he might argue that point, still holding Brianna with a delicateness as though she were a loaded pistol, poised to go off at any moment.

And with that, Claire spun and walked to the other side of the room to help Fergus with his lessons. Murtagh turned sharp eyes on Jamie. “What the devil is all this about, then?”

Jamie’s gaze flitted over to Claire but she wasn’t looking. He suspected she would be stealing glances this way, though. “I think,” he began softly, “that she worries ye won’t… bond with Brianna, if ye dinna hold her.”

“Christ,” Murtagh muttered under his breath.

Jamie held a hand up placatingly to his godfather. “She sees how ye are wi’ Fergus and wee Faith, I think she just wants to make sure ye care the same way about the bairn, too.”

His godfather made a disgruntled sound. “If she thinks this is the way to do it…” he grumbled. “Fer Christ’s sake, of course I care about the bairn.”

“I ken that, but…” Jamie’s gaze dropped to the sleeping babe in Murtagh’s arms, so small and helpless, and his heart wrenched. He understood the deeper reason that Claire was so unsettled about Murtagh and the bairn. “Anything could happen, ye ken? We have three bairns now, and with all that happened in the last year, just trying to keep our family together… Claire cannae help thinking about the worst… what would happen to the wee ones if we weren’t‒” He swallowed roughly, shrugging a little. Claire wasn’t the only one who couldn’t help thinking about that. Any parent would.

“Aye, I ken yer meaning fine.” Murtagh looked down at the baby then too, still appearing stiff as a poker as he held her, but the older man’s expression softened. “Christ, though… did she think I would leave the bairn and keep the others?”

“I dinnae think she feels that way now, seeing as ye havenae tried to pass the baby off to me yet,” he said with a grin.

Murtagh grunted his displeasure. “I would if I wasnae so nervous she might roll out o’ my arms when I tried.”

Jamie huffed a laugh. “Ye’re doing fine, a ghoistidh. And while I have ye at my disposal,” he teased, earning another sharp look from Murtagh. “I’ve been meaning to ask ye… what yer plans are from here. If ye want to go back to Scotland or continue on wi’ us.”

Murtagh simply stared at him until Jamie was shifting in his seat under his gaze. “First Claire and now you? Och, ye wound me, Jamie.”

“I didnae want to presume. That’s why I asked.”

“I swore an oath that morning of Culloden, did I no’? I’m bound not only to the promise I made to yer mother, but to the promise I made to ye. To watch his back as well, aye?” Murtagh’s head jerked in the direction of Fergus. “Cannae very well do that from all the way in Scotland.”

Jamie’s smile was small but his godfather’s words pleased him more than he could say. “If ye’re sure. I could release ye from yer oath. I would have you go wherever ye want to, not where ye felt bound to. What is it that ye want?”

“I want this, a balach,” he shrugged his shoulders, the only gesturing he could accomplish with the baby still in his arms. “To honor my oaths and to see Ellen’s grandchildren grow.”

“Well, I wouldnae have begrudged ye if ye wished to return to Scotland, but I’m pleased to hear that, a ghoistidh. Now,” he said, glancing over towards Claire to see her turning back to Fergus as if she hadn’t been watching, “shall I take wee Brianna from ye or have ye grown comfortable wi’ a bairn at last?”

“Take the bairn, Jamie. For the love of god.”

----------

“Are ye quite satisfied wi’ yer scheming, Sassenach?” Jamie teased her, handing Brianna over to her once they were alone. He pressed a swift kiss to Claire’s temple during the transition. “Ye damn near offended the man by suggesting he didnae love the babe.”

“I never said that. You said that to him.”

Jamie huffed, the corners of his mouth twitching. “Aye, well it was implied.”

“I simply thought it was important that he had a chance to bond with her. Everyone else has.” Claire shrugged, hiding her own smile. “And it’s good to know… about what he said, about staying with us.”

He let out an exasperated laugh, shaking his head a little. “Aye, somehow we havenae driven him away yet.”

“Murtagh loves us,” Claire went on, ignoring his insinuating remark. “He’s family. Of course he wanted to stay.”

“Mhmm.” He leaned in and kissed her forehead this time. “He does love you, ye wee loon. Though next time, ye might just ask him if ye’re unsure how he feels about one of us.”

----------

Winter quietly crept forward. Christmas was far more subdued than the one two years ago, when they had been at Lallybroch. Still, without any of the holiday trappings and rituals that Claire had introduced, it was far more joyous than just a year ago, when Claire, Jamie, Murtagh, and Fergus had been away from home and immersed in the ugliness of war.

And the approach of Hogmanay meant Fergus’s birthday, too. They welcomed the new year with joy, hopeful of what 1747 held for them, and they spent that first day of January heaping love onto their newly twelve-year-old and giving him all his favorite foods and a reminder that last year’s birthday promise hadn’t been forgotten.

Brianna began to sleep longer stretches through the night and to grow into a plump and rosy-cheeked baby. Her personality began to show itself in little glimpses, developing a happy disposition. Their days were filled with sweet baby smiles, which made the packing and preparations for their departure that much easier to endure.

“Ye are a fat wee piggy, aren’t ye?”

Jamie’s voice cut through the haze where Claire lingered in that precipice between sleep and waking, and while her eyes stayed closed, her alertness was roused by what he was saying.

“‒Gonna gobble ye all up,” he went on to the baby.

Her eyes fluttered open at the sound of Jamie pretending to gobble up Brianna and the baby’s happy cooing ‒ not quite a laugh, not yet, but so close to it. Cllaire rolled over carefully to see Jamie on his stomach, his elbows propping him up as Brianna lay before him, her small head cupped in his hands. The baby smiled up at him, her eyes bright, expectant. Claire watched as Jamie drew the moment out, taking a loud, exaggerated breath in and holding it as Brianna’s whole body started to wiggle in anticipation. A quick flash of a smile from Jamie was the only warning he gave and then he lowered his head to the baby’s belly again, continuing their game to the loud delight of wee Brianna.

A bright, bubbly sound came from the baby, and Jamie’s head snapped up to meet Claire’s gaze. His smile was broad and infectious, warmth spreading through her just to see it. “Did ye hear that?”

“You made her laugh,” she murmured, reaching out to brush her hand over Brianna’s fuzzy little head. “See if she’ll do it again.”

Jamie smiled down at the baby, still squirming happily over their game, and began tickling her belly again as he made the absurd pretense of gobbling the baby up. Brianna laughed again and Claire wanted to bottle the sound somehow, the lightness of it seeping into her bones and lifting her spirit. Their baby’s first laugh and the look on Jamie’s face when he heard it… she tried to commit every detail of the moment to heart.

“Da is pretty funny, isn’t he?” she said to the baby, but her gaze had strayed to Jamie. Her fingers scraped against the morning shadow along his jaw before he turned his face into her palm and pressed a kiss there.

His gaze lingered on her, and she knew he was also thinking back on their rekindled intimacy since the baby, and the stolen moment for just the two of them last night between putting little ones to sleep and late-night feedings and a toddler who refused to stay a whole night in her own bed. When he looked as happy as he did just now, like he wasn’t carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, she would’ve given anything for just another stolen moment with no babies in their bed.

There was a stirring of movement at her back and on instinct, her arm reached back to act as a guardrail to keep Faith from tumbling off the side of the bed. She’d crawled in next to Claire hours ago when it was still dark, but the joyous sounds of Jamie and Brianna must’ve woken her again.

She looked over her shoulder to see a wild mess of red curls and Faith’s sleepy pout. The toddler was overtaken by a yawn and leaned her head against Claire’s hip. “Wha’s funny?”

“Your da.” Claire smiled softly, pushing the hair back from Faith’s warm face. The girl’s eyes drifted to where Jamie still cradled Brianna before him, leaving a smacking kiss to the baby’s rosy cheeks. Brianna let out another happy shriek. And Faith, while she still succumbed to the occasional bout of jealousy, was not immune to the charms of a happy baby first thing in the morning. She practically rolled over Claire to wiggle into the small space between Claire and Jamie and snuggled close to the baby.

“Madainn mhath, a leannan,” Jamie greeted her with a bright smile before giving Faith her own hearty kiss to her sleep-rosy cheek.

He was so good, Claire thought, watching his face light up with both of his girls. Just so good and loving and tender-hearted with their babies, and she fell more in love with him by the second. They had a lifetime before them of this and if they had a hundred years ‒ two hundred years ‒ together, it would still never be enough.

----------

It was late in winter when they bid Jared farewell and left all of Paris behind them once more. They packed their things into a carriage and squeezed their family of six inside ‒ not ideal for a long journey, but they had all traveled under far more harrowing circumstances than that. But after days and days of traveling without room to move around and babies who were under-stimulated and energized, Claire began to reassess which was truly the most harrowing circumstance they’d endured so far.

They traveled further south still into France, and the views outside their carriage didn’t disappoint. They’d traded the majestic mountains of Scotland for the gently sloping valleys of France and while Jamie and Claire both longed to be back home, this new landscape was one they could easily love.

On the last day of their journey, the carriage slowed to a halt and Jamie sprung out of it first, holding the door open. “Here, my bairns, come see yer new home,” he beckoned Fergus and Faith, lifting the girl into his arms and helping Fergus out of the carriage, a hand coming to rest on the boy’s shoulder. “She’s no’ Lallybroch, but she’ll do, aye?”

Murtagh helped Claire to her feet while she stepped out with Brianna. Jamie’s strong arm went about her waist as she hopped out onto the ground. Brianna squinted against the bright sunlight and buried her face in Claire’s neck, but the rest of them looked upon their new home for the first time.

Home was now a modest vineyard and a house that indeed was not Lallybroch, but nothing to turn their noses up at. Claire took in the ivy that climbed the two-story brick cottage and rested her cheek on Brianna’s head with a contented sigh. Her gaze swung to Jamie and she gave him a tender smile. Yes, they could be happy here. They would be.

Jamie reached out and tucked behind her ear the curls that had fallen loose during the day’s ride. “And we’ll build ye a garden, Sassenach,” he said as if he’d already read her mind about the marvelous ivy twining up the outside of their house.

They’d been planning this move with Jared for months ‒ a mutually beneficial arrangement to have Jamie and Claire overseeing the vineyard and the wine-making while Jared branched out into selling his own wine to his impressive list of clientele that’d built from years as a reputable merchant. And while it wasn’t a vast estate that Jared had acquired for them to run, there was room for growth and Jamie had liked the prospect of working the land again ‒ tucked away in the south of France, where there wasn’t any threat to hide from. Where they could feel safe.

Jamie surveyed the house again with a faint smile, his free arm reaching out to tug Claire to him until they were pressed hip-to-hip. “Welcome home, Clan Fraser.”

#jamie x claire #outlander #faith fraser #the best by far is you #tbbfiy #outlander fic #my fic

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