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treesnutsandleaveswrites · 4 years ago

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pPairing: The Bad Batch x Reader (Polyam)

Summary: After working non-stop, you go on a mission with the Batch and you get to be on the field with them this time. (Polyam series pt 6)

Warning: ANGST, some fluff, mentions of slavery, depictions of violence, blood and injuries

Word Count: 2190

A/N: I FINALLY KNOW CROSSHAIR'S LITTLE THING ON THE SHIP IS CALLED A GUNNER'S MOUNT CUZ OF THE RECENT EPISODE HAHA

pt v, pt vii

XXXXXXX

It had been a week ever since your break in Coruscant. That time and the moments that followed have been playing in your head non-stop ever since you got back to Kamino. However, once you got back, you were swamped with work. You were one of the only non-clone communications officers based on Kamino, so you had to deal with some data that came in from off-planet bases. It was frustrating to say the least and most of the clones who dealt with communication for their squadron left most of their work unprocessed, so you basically had to clean up after them. Due to work being unprocessed and sorted could cause a malfunction or even a virus to attack the computer system on Kamino. That would result in multiple horrible outcomes if the separatists get access to anything on the clones or any other upcoming projects the Kaminoans were working on for the Republic.

It seemed like you were living in that communications room because none of the boys really saw you anywhere else. It concerned them greatly and they decided to intervene before you die from overworking yourself. You were typing away on the computer when the door slid open which let in the batch one by one. You didn’t bother to turn to acknowledge them as you were sorting out multiple files.

“Mesh’la?” Hunter called.

“Hm.” You responded nonchalantly, still working.

“You’ve been at this for 93 hours, 34 minutes, and 20 seconds.” Tech explained while looking at one of his devices, “Working at this rate is concerning and unhealthy, especially for a simple being like you.”

“Huh… so if a clone were doing this they’d be able to work just a bit longer?” You asked, not looking away from the computer.

“What he’s trying to say, cyare, is that you need to take a break…” Echo insisted, placing one hand on your shoulder.

“I’m almost done, I swear.” You murmured, looking over data being transferred.

“Lucky for you, darling. I’ve created a program to help sort stuff out.” Tech went to the computer and plugged a small goober into one of the ports on the console, “It’ll notify me when it’s done sorting.”

“Come on, ad’ika, time for rest!” Wrecker moved to pick you up and carry you out of the communications room while the others followed.

You all arrived to their room and Wrecker tossed you onto one of the bunks, which caused you to laugh gently. You sighed, relished the feel of the bed under you, then it dipped slightly. You looked to see Hunter with a gentle smile on his face, which you returned before he pulled you up onto his lap. You pushed off the bandana around his forehead which caused some hair to fall into his face so you pushed it away for him. He held you closer, placed his face into your chest, and sighed.

“You alright, Hunter?’ You murmured, caressing the hair on the back of his neck.

“He’s missed you, like the rest of us have.” Echo smiled while cleaning his mechanical hand.

“It wasn’t like I was off-planet. I was just working.”

“Well, the idea of you working usually involves being with us most of the time.” Tech explained, “So it was odd not seeing you for such a long period of time.”

You hummed before kissing Hunter’s head, “I missed you all too…”

The next day, all of you were sent on an important mission. The Kaminoans didn’t give you much detail, only saying that it was urgent. You sat on the Havoc Marauder, looking over the map of the planet on your holopad.

“We have to be careful, this planet is famous for raiders, thieves, and smugglers.” You stated, looking everything over.

“We’ve handled much worse than that combined!” Wrecker laughed while slapping Tech’s back, almost causing him to drop the device he was holding. You shook your head, made your way out of the cockpit, and found Crosshair cleaning the parts of his sniper rifle.

“Do you think it’ll come to that?” You murmured, crouching beside him.

“Have to be prepared for anything, sarad. Especially on a planet like this.”

You nodded gently, picking up one of the pieces, “You should teach me…”

“How to put it together, or how to shoot?”

“Both… but we can take it one step at a time.” You looked at him with a smile.

He hooked your chin, “Well, let’s work on your aim without a blaster first. And test how good your eyesight is. When we get back to Kamino, I’ll show you the shooting range.”

“Kamino has a shooting range?”

Your question caused Crosshair to smirk as he finished cleaning all the pieces.

You shook your head with a small laugh, “I guess I don’t know Kamino as well as I should.”

He nodded gently and helped you up. Before you could move away from him, he grasped your wrist. His smirk was gone, his eyes were now focussed, and his stature became tense. He raised his other hand to cup your cheek and look into your eyes.

“You stay close to us…”

“I know, Cross…”

He nodded before going to the gunner’s mount to wait there until you landed. You strapped in as you were arriving at your destination. Once you landed, you all geared up and got ready to tread through the town to reach your target. You wore simple civilian clothing because it wasn’t safe to be wearing a Republic uniform full of outlaws and mercenaries. You pulled up the hood of your cloak over your head before nodding to Hunter. You all then left the ship and headed into town.

Tech was using a tracking device while you walked the streets, he was babbling on while you and the others looked cautiously at your surroundings. There were multiple stalls along the edge of the dirt street, selling many different things including spice, weaponry, and droid parts. You were in the center of the batch, and they urged themselves closer as if to shield you from danger. Hunter turned his head to you, which caused you to nod reassuringly. Even if you couldn’t see his eyes through the visor of his helmet, you knew he was checking up on you. You all then turned into a vacant alleyway to discuss how you will find the target faster. The boys discuss different strategies and you tried to listen to them, but then the crack of a whip caused your attention to be caught outside of the alleyway. One of the vendors was holding the weapon and using it against a young twi’lek. They were speaking two different languages, so the chaos was uncontrollable. You winced while watching and couldn’t stand it any longer. The batch noticed at the last second that you had rushed out of the alley to stop what was happening.

“Lodestar!” One of them called to you, but you ignored it and blocked the vendor from hitting the young twi’lek again.

“That’s enough!”

The vendor growled, “The little slave was stealing from my stall!”

You quickly placed down some currency, “Now it is paid for.”

The vendor took the money and scoffed, “They are lucky this time. Next time, I will tell their master.”

You shook your head and urged the twi’lek away from the stall. Then you crouched down and looked at the child’s injuries, whispering gently. You were lucky enough to be familiar with many languages due to your past, so making conversation with the young twi’lek wasn’t hard. Footsteps approached the both of you, so you let the child run off and turned to see the batch. It was going to be no surprise that they were upset with you, so you said nothing and followed them. Tech had found the location of the target, so you all moved quickly. You had to separate due to the package you had to retrieve being heavily guarded. You were with Tech, helping him monitor the motion inside of the small building where your package was being held. You scanned the holopad before speaking into your communicator.

“Careful, Hunter. There are multiple bodies coming toward you.”

“See them. Find how many are guarding the package.”

Tech diligently moved the camera and you watch on the holopad.

“There,” You signalled Tech to stop and looked over the thermal radar, “Five that I can see, Hunter.”

“Cross, what’s your status?”

“None up top. All clear here.”

“Wrecker, Echo?”

“Almost have the grate open.” Echo responded.

“Charges are all set.” Wrecker confirmed.

You winced gently, looking down at your arm where the whip had caught you. You thought it was only a graze on the fabric, but it was deeper and blood was staining your sleeve. Tech saw it and was about to say something, but then there was noise near where you two were hiding. It was one of the guards and he was sniffing around. Your eyes widened and you looked to Tech before placing the holopad in his hands carefully.

“Our location is about to be compromised, I’m moving now.” You said quickly before climbing up to the roof of the building next to you. You looked over the ledge and kicked a small piece of rubble, getting the guard. He looked up and saw you. You smiled gently before running along the tops of the buildings. He ran along the street following your trail.

“Cross, I’m coming to you.”

“Excellent.” He responded and he started to set up his rifle before you reached him. You jumped onto the roof where he was set up and turned to see the guard shot down. He then stood up and looked at you. You sensed the disappointment.

“What?”

“You were reckless today.”

“I stayed close.” You shrugged, looking at the cut on your arm. He grabbed it gently and looked at it.

“How did you not notice that?”

You were quiet while looking at him, but then a small glint caught your eye and you gasped before pushing him away from you.

Blaster noises distracted the team from the mission, knowing it came from your and Crosshair’s location. Hunter had retrieved the package and had come out of the grate where Echo and Wrecker were..

“Lodestar! Come in!” Static.

“Crosshair!” Silence.

Then, guards started to rush around the corner. The three batchers rushed away and Wrecker had set off the explosives he placed around that area.

“Tech, head back to the Havoc Marauder! Echo and Wrecker will meet you there!”

“What about you?” Echo asked.

“I’ve got to find Crosshair and Lodestar.”

Hunter handed Wrecker the package and they went their separate ways. Hunter managed to get to one of the rooftops and rushed to where you and Crosshair were. He jumped onto the roof where you were and saw the dead alien, a blaster next to him. Then his eyes led to familiar white hair.

“Crosshair!” He rushed over to his side and saw you laying in his lap, unconscious, with a blaster wound on your side. He immediately noticed the race of Crosshair’s heart, and sensed his growing shock, so he placed his hand on his brother’s shoulder.

“We have to go. We have to get back to Kamino.”

Crosshair nodded before letting Hunter pick you up and rushed with him back to the Havoc Marauder. They arrived back to the ship.

“Tech! Echo! Get us out of here now!” Hunter called as he boarded the ship with you in his arms. Wrecker was frozen with shock when he saw you.

“Ad’ika.” He whispered.

The ship moved quickly out of orbit and it was only a few minutes before everyone gathered together. Tech and Echo were rendered silent when they saw you on the floor with Hunter by your side as he exposed your wound.

“I need a bacta patch, now!”

Crosshair was the one to move to get it and give it to him. He took his place on your other side and helped Hunter.

“So...so pale…” Tech whispered, almost speechless as he looked at your condition.

Hunter was getting extremely overstimulated with everyone’s heartbeats and breathing, but he tried to focus on you. Tech was right: you were extremely pale, but as Hunter sifted through the different pulses reaching his ears, he found your weak one. He cupped your face.

“Mesh’la…” He called, “C’mon, mesh’la.”

“Can we lightspeed jump to Kamino?” Echo asked Tech.

“I...I don’t know…”

“Figure it out, Tech! Hurry!” Wrecker pleaded, his eyes averting from you to him.

Crosshair was extremely quiet with his eyes only on you. A million thoughts ran through his head. It felt like minutes before he spoke.

“Do the jump.”

“What?” Tech asked.

“Do the jump, now.” Crosshair repeated.

“We don’t know if it’ll make the wound worse.” Echo explained.

“If it does, we’ll be at Kamino!”

“Cross, it’s too dangerous-” Echo started. “We have to, or else the Kaminoans will have no patient, and we’ll have a dead officer!” Crosshair snapped, gripping your hand in his.

The rest of the squad looked to Hunter, who nodded.

“Do the jump.”

XXXXXXX

Sorry for the wait haha -Tree <3

#the bad batch #the bad batch x reader #bad batch #bad batch x reader #hunter #crosshair #wrecker #echo #tech #clone force 99 #tbb polyam series #treesnutsandleaves writes #hunter x reader #crosshair x reader #wrecker x reader #tech x reader #echo x reader

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und3rc0ver · 4 years ago

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Exhausted (Some Chilumi cuz why not =D )

Haha computer go clicck clack.

After seeing @restlessfandoming writing some awesome fanfics, me -along with my mediocre vocabulary- thought I'll try to make my own. I found Chilumi cuz of their writing, so I think there's no harm in making my own.

P.s: if u read this, ur writing is superior to mine (@restlessfandoming)

(SPOILERS: Events after 1.1 update)

< Part One >

Why is everyone one here so needy?!?! Can’t I just have a break for one single day!?

Lumine - the hero of Mondstat, was tired, exhausted, and breathless. She hadn’t slept on a comfy bed, ate a decent meal, or even sat down and took a couple of breaths for herself for a good month now.

She’d just finished quest after quest, fight after fight, journey after journey. She couldn’t count how many places she visited today. And while it was heartwarming to hear the people’s thank-you’s and receive their rewards during her treks, it wasn’t enough to swing her out of this coma.

To her, it just felt instinctual. She doesn’t even notice it anymore.

And despite being a tad bit oblivious -and dare I say, stupid- at times, the traveller’s guide, Paimon, was the first to pick up on it.

“Oh god, you look more depressed than Diluc!” She joked; but to some extent, she was right. Lumine just shook those words off like some dust off her shoulder, as she ventured through the busy streets of Liyue.

"I'm fine.." Lumine said.

All of these adventures came at a cost: paid usually by time, energy, and patience. But when all was settled, she still hadn’t met all of the Seven, or even found a clue to find her brother.

The thought would immediately drain any happiness she found in Teyvat.

But of all the people she has met, and all the people she has fought alongside and against, only one really caught Lumine's attention.

The Eleventh Harbinger, Childe.

The flipside of a ruthless harbinger being as protective and supportive to anyone was puzzling her. Even after the Harbinger explained his morals and goals, she simply couldn’t fathom the idea of it.

They did have their share of tussles and disagreements, but when is all said and done, they made up rather quickly.

But one thing was for sure; she saw both sides of this coin, and she was intrigued by it.

Besides, seeing Childe being so energetic and silly with Teucer was pleasing to her. It warmed the traveler’s cold and seemingly hopeless heart.

Ah! She stopped at a vantage point overlooking the busy harbour of Liyue. Peering over a thin wooden fence, resting her elbow and head onto the rail.

“Perhaps he’s like a vigilante: he doesn’t seem to like the Fatui’s ideas, but he still is apart of them.”

Lumine was thinking hard, trying to place the right piece in this puzzle.

"It seems like he calls his shots for good results and benefits of his family." She mumbled to herself quietly. She remained puzzled, leaning on the fence, trying to recall what she knew about the Harbinger.

When he wasn't a merciless warrior, Childe was an energetic, and arrogant person: it was these traits that ultimately won over her trust.

However, it was difficult to think about him positively after he tried -and nearly succeeded- to kill her.

But it was not impossible.

Meanwhile, Paimon wasn’t going to just stand there and let the traveler think on an empty stomach.

“UGH,” she groaned, floating right in front of Lumine to obscure her view. “Can we please get something to eat?”

“Okay,” She responded, pulling out a chicken-mushroom skewer.

But like a picky toddler, she pushed the skewer away.

“Do you think I’m gonna eat this garbage again!??” She said furiously, followed up by a small growl from her stomach. “We’ve eaten the same thing for five days straight! Don’t we have like 800 000+ Mora that we can spend?”

At this point, Lumine was too tired to deal with such a small event like this. Pulling a pouch from her bag, she poured some into her hand, and gave it to her hungry fairy-guide.

“Knock yourself out,” She huffed, facing Liyue’s harbour once again. A ship was docking at one of the city’s ports, full of goods and food to trade and sell: which was what stole the traveller’s attention at the moment. It would take a couple of tugs on Lumine’s dress for her to bat an eye at Paimon.

Lumine sighed,

“Not enough?” She asked, looking to snatch the pouch from the guide’s tiny hands.

“Why don’t you come with Paimon?!?! What if someone tries to steal me?!?”

“You’ll be fine..” Lumine answered, “The Millieth will save you anyways.”

“Come on!!” She wailed, tugging Lumine’s arm this time. “Stop thinking about who you want to marry and get me something to eat!!”

The traveler's eyes twitched.

It was this comment that nearly made Lumine explode. Why? It was clear as day that Lumine was quite fond of the people here. Plus, she had an embarrassing habit of staring at people she liked a lot. Anyone observant could see the signs from a mile away. Unfortunately for her, she was just too tired to be anrgy.

“Okay, okay,” she said sluggishly, stretching her arms and letting out a small yawn. “Where do you want to go?”

“I wanna try the Tigerfish from that Chen guy, people say it’s one of the best foods in Liyue!”

So off they went to find Chen, the street food vendor, which was surprisingly easier than Lumine thought.

After a ten minute wait, they arrived at the front of the line, where they were greeted by Chen’s big wide smile. This could’ve been the time where Lumie could treat herself to a little snack; but, she wasn’t hungry, and opted to stay silent.

For now..

“We’ll take four Grilled Tigerfish, please!” She ordered happily. After all, she wasn’t the one to worry about a single expense.

“Alright!” Chen said joyfully. “That’ll be 1520 Mora, please.”

Reaching into the pouch, she pulled out enough to cover the bill, along with a 150 mora tip.

“Say, Traveller,” He looked at the unenergetic Lumine, confused. “Seem a bit down today. Finding your fame in Teyvat to be overwhelming?”

She just laughed it off, taking the grilled skewers from Chen, and passing it to Paimon.

“Well, not really,” she lied.

Because everyone would want the “Hero of Mondstadt” to help them out.

“Just another busy day, full of commissions from all over the place.”

With the transaction now complete, Lumine began to walk towards the Adventurer's Guild to collect her rewards from all those commissions. But a call from a distance pulled her right back to Chen's food kiosk.

“Here,” he smiled, giving her an extra fresh-skewer.

“But shouldn’t I-”

“It’s on the house for today: I insist,” He said kindly. “Seems like you work hard to keep our city in good shape. Take it as a token of appreciation. “

Although it was a kind gesture, Lumine was skeptical of having it: she felt a bit guilty for practically stealing it.

But, if Paimon sees a good deal, she acts quickly.

“Thanks Chen! See you later!!!” She cheered, grabbing the Grilled skewer for herself.

“Anytime,” He replied. “Safe travels!”

“You too..!” Lumine said awkwardly, dragging herself away from Chen's kiosk.

Though she felt guilty at first, she felt pretty good after that kind gesture from Chen. It almost put a smile on the Traveller’s face.

Almost…

While Lumine was traversing through the busy, and colourful streets of Liyue, Paimon -who was starving for the last three hours- inhaled those fish like a vacuum.

Lumine was totally fine with eating her 10th chicken-mushroom skewer today. After all, she liked the plain dish when cooked right: but like Paimon, she too wanted a different taste.

And she, too, wanted to try Liyue’s Grilled Tigerfish.

With a sudden stop next to the Jade-betting kiosk, Lumine gave in, and sighed.

“Got any.. left..?” She asked hopelessly, knowing full-well that there’s probably none left for her anyway.

“Yeah!” The fairy said, holding two skewers of the grilled fish in her hands. “I knew you wanted to try these! They are reeaaally good!!”

One bite, and Lumine loved it. She gulped them down faster than the wind itself! This was a taste that brightened her day: one that made the girl lick the stick to get some more flavour.

Together, they walked around the busy plaza, arriving at the Adventurer's Guild commission board. Both were a bit curious if there were any newer commissions up-for-grabs.

But their luck ran out, and there were none to be seen. Both a shame, but strangely, a relief for Lumine.

I must’ve finished a lot of them. Should get me a decent reward, and maybe a break-

“Hello, traveler,” An all-familiar voice said, drawing the two’s attention. Of course, Kathyrine, the receptionist of Liyue’s Adventurer's Guild branch, was talking to them.

“I assume you’re here for your rewards for today?”

“Yeah..” She admitted.

“Today you completed 8 commissions in Liyue, correct?”

Just as she asked, Lumine slipped eight papers, all signed by each citizen she’d completed a task for.

“Well, it seems that you’ve come prepared,” Kathyrine chuckled. “Here’s your reward.”

The pouch of Mora seemed quite heavy, which Lumine knew would be 60 000 Mora (since each commission would be worth about 7 500 Mora, depending on what an Adventurer would do). It would be enough to buy her a place to stay for a couple of nights.

“Thanks,” Lumine said, gently shaking the pouch of Mora in her hand.

“Actually,” the receptionist continued, “Someone has been causing a lot of trouble near the Golden house. A couple of our adventurers have gone there and came back severely wounded, with one still in hospitality as we speak.”

“Oh,” was all that came out of Lumine’s mouth. She definetely wasn’t expecting a commission there.

“Sorry, where was it again?” Lumine asked.

“I believe this person would be in or around the Golden House.”

“Okay,”

That certainly rang a bell in the traveler's mind.

“As one of our more… experienced members, would you like to take a look and see what’s happening?”

Of course, Lumine wasn’t the kind to back down. It was this trait of hers that helped her save Mondstadt.

“Will do,” She responded.

And off she went to investigate the Golden House.

* * * * *

“You sure you don't want to come in too?”

“I think it’s better for Paimon to sit this one out.”

Once they reached the enterncenof Teyvat's Mora stash, Paimon decided to disappear into her own little world, leaving Lumine alone once again. But she wouldn’t be alone for long, because the feelings of fatigue, and nausea were slowly creeping towards the traveler. Once she cracked the door open enough for her to slide through, she tip-toed her way inside, trying her best to not reveal her presence. But for today, luck was definetely not on her side.

Out of nowhere, an electro-blade flies right next to her neck, begging to pierce Lumine’s skin. But she did not flinch a single bit. She just looked dead-pan into the eyes of the culprit:

Childe.

“I see you’ve come back for a rematch, eh?” He said slyly, letting his blade de-materialize from his hand.

“And you are here to cause some more trouble?” She countered, slowly walking towards the Harbinger: a deep, serious look at Tartaglia's lifeless eyes.

“I guess you can say that,” He admitted, now twiddling with his water blades. “Some have told me you're a workaholic now. No?”

“What makes you say that?” Lumine questioned, sword in hand.

“I’m a Fatui!” He laughed, gesturing towards the ceiling. “I have eyes and ears everywhere.”

At this moment, something weird was happening to Lumine. She felt nauseous, and tired all of a sudden: that burst of energy from having the Tigerfish was now depleted. She felt like her usual-self, or at least the one she presents to most people that meet her.

But worse.

She felt vomit from her throat, and judging on how relatively lumpy the texture was, it probably was those Chicken-mushroom-skewers she’d eaten for the last ten days.

Despite all of it, she still stood tall in front of the Harbinger, not letting herself give in just yet.

“So,” Tartaglia teased, wielding his signature bow. “Are we just going to stand here and look pretty, or are we going to fight?”

She wanted to say yes: she wanted to beat him convincingly: she wanted to assert her dominance.

But her body held her back.

And when the battle began, she dropped her sword right next to her feet, unable to hold it properly anymore.

“Ah, guess you don’t need a sword to beat me?” He said, his weapon hanging at his side. “I like your confidence, Ojou-chan.”

The name rolled off his tongue in a way that made Lumine flustered.

Still, with little energy left in her, she used Anemo energy to retrieve her weapon, and fought fiercely.

Punch for punch.

Block for block.

Blade for blade.

With his bow, Childe released a horde of arrows right at Lumine, but she effortlessly danced past all of them. Imidietaly, she changed a ball of wind to fire, but a slick move from the Harbinger made Lumine look silly.

It was mezmarizing watching the two go at it.

After a very intense skirmish, the two broke apart from each other, taking a small moment to breathe.

For Childe, he regained his strength to fight once again.

But Lumine had a trick up her sleeve.

And all-or-nothing, last-resort move, she had never tried before.

With the last game of energy left in her, she rushed towards the Harbinger, zooming past everything Childe threw at her.

And when the time was right, she tackled him to the ground, catching him off-guard

Luck seemed to finally be in her favour.

But not for long.

* * * * *

"Uh, boss..?" A mysterious, light voice said, panting heavily.

"What..?" Another voice -a little deeper in tone- replied.

"The Millieth are on the scene as we speak, I just got out of there without being seen."

The deeper voice laughed hysterically.

"Millieth? You pathetic coward. I guess I'll have to find it myself-"

"N-NO WAIT!" The light voice pleaded, "there's no need: I found a pattern on the floor, that may interest you."

The darker voice stood tall, looking down to his inferior.

"And what might that be..?" The darker voice snapped, holding the other by their collar.

"There's-There's a pool on the floor."

The boss dropped his co-worker from his grasp, leaning back in his throne.

"What was it…" He said, aggravated.

A pause came from the co-worker, leaving the boss on the edge of his seat.

"WHAT WAS IT!?!" He screamed furiously.

"B-b-blood and v-vomit, and some water.. sir.." The lighter voice whispered.

The boss smirked, twiddling a small dagger in one hand.

"Blood you say?" He asked curiously, leaning close to hear the other's response.

"Y-yes M'lord!!"

"... Good…"

Idk when I'll write pt.2, but thanks for reading anyways.

#childe #lumine #genshin impact #genshin impact lumine #genshin impact childe #childe x traveler #childe x lumine

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loominggaia · 3 years ago

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Fanfic: New York (part 11)

Anonymous submitted part 11 of their fanfic! You can read the previous parts under the fanfic tag.

Three more days had passed since Alaine and Lukus’s run in with the police. By this point they where no where closer to finding Evan by this point but they now a had a tidy some of earth money to handle their needs. After the incident with the police Alaine and Lukus thought it best not to piss them off any further and hadn’t done a hog hunt since. Jeimos and Issac had gathered some money but not much from scrapping. Zeffer definitely brought home the biggest amount but refuses to tell the group

How he obtained it. None of them knew and none of them, with the exception of Elska asked. In total they had about $5000 to spend and they had some stuff they desperately needed. Before doing anything with the money Zeffer told them he had somebody he needed them to meet, someone who could give them phones and Id’s. That night everyone minus Elska joined him to where he last met that angry vendor who offered these to him.

Crossing some allyways they found what they where looking for, a truck with a rotund man sitting out in front of it. Their where afew other men standing around too, armed with pistols which they pointed at group once they got in sight. Fat tony put up his hand, calming them men and caused them to put their guns down as he just scowled at them, particularly the pasty one in front of them. “Just great, here I thought I’d never have see your fugly face again” Fat Tony spat at Zeffer.

Fat tony reiterated to Zeffer that if he can’t pay then don’t his time, looking over the group he scowled again and just asked who this group of clowns was? The crew was already on edge, hands ready at their weapons incase of trouble and didn’t care to be insulted by some bald, fat man and his goons. Zeffer introduced them as his crew and said they have the money to pay now and to tell his guards to stand down.

This seemed to lift Fat Tony’s mood, “Well why didn’t you start with that!” He asked, yelling to boys to stand down, we got paying customers. Fat tony apologized for guards, saying he brought in some cousins for security as some crazy shits been happening the last few nights. Intrigued Lukus just asked what exactly that meant? Fat Tony just kept it short, saying that some of Big Anthony’s dealers got killed over the last few nights. But it wasn’t just that, it was how they where killed.

He talked about how all where found dead, drained off blood with no obvious gunshot or knife wounds outside a bite mark on their necks. “I’m telling yeah man, all them boys where found slurped up, like fucking juice pouches! And I ain’t no risk with this psycho wanna be Dracula fucker running around!” The group looked to Zeffer with aww on their faces, he just looked around silently as it dawned on the crew just how exactly he came to acquire all that money but didn’t want to say anything here.

Handing over $650 Fat Tony handed each of them a flip phone plus the spar. Each burner phone was already set up so they didn’t need to worry about that, Alaine just looked at hers with obvious disappointment, she asked if they had access to social media and that stuff? He just laughed at her and told her no, asking if she had any clue what a burner phone even was? As for the fake ids Larry just gave them an address and directions, saying he knows a guy who can hook them up and is reliable.

Following his directions they crew found a dingy looking apartment building, some alarm bells ringing looking at it but stepped forward. Finding the apartment number they knocked on the door, waiting for a response. It took awhile but then a slit in the door opened, a mans eye looking out asking if their the people Tony sent? Answering yes the slit closed, hearing several locks opening with the man opening the door and letting them in.

Walking in they see some machines and photography equipment with the man ushering them towards it. He told them to form a line and simply asked who wanted to go first? One after the other he took their pictures and asked them questions like their name, age , address, etc… once they where all done he printed out a I’d card for each of them, handing them all to the group and asking for his pay, nearly $1000. They all left, looking at their new id’s.

On their way back to base they saw three dark dressed young people ahead of them, Zeffer suddenly tried to change direction. Bumping into Jeimos, they asked what Zeffer was doing? The whole crew was wandering what he was doing, he in hushed embarrassment told them not to even look at them, that those three are crazy! They need to get out of their before they see him! Now they where starting to get concerned wandering if they where dangerous if they got Zeffer freaking out.

Unfortunately for him their hushed argument was overheard by the group ahead. The tall, lanky guy looked their way and smiled, turning to his two companions and starting walking over to them. Zeffer was completely absorbed by his argument and didn’t notice their approach. “Look, our dark master has returned!” Zeffer suddenly got very silent, and turned around with dread all over his face, asking what those three clowns are wanting? The three stared at him with smiles on their faces.

The three crowed around him, asking if he’s finally coming to accept their offer not even paying attention to the rest of the crew. The others looked on with with confusion and alittle amusement as Zeffers face just sunk, him telling the three to piss off and that he’s not their dark master! Morgon was holding a book in her arms and showing it to Zeffer telling him they do know magic. Saying it’s a spell book and that they can show him a spell to prove humans can do magic.

The crew just laughed as Zeffer told them to leave, that he’s not interested in some blood cult. Jeimos just confirmed what Zeffer told them in that humans are incapable of magic. That got their attention and ire, them yelling at Jeimos asking what do they know?! This started Jeimos alittle but they just repeated what they stated before, that humans can’t do magic. Zeffer just grabbed the rest of the group and started storming off, he wasn’t gonna tolerate this bull crap tonight.

After stopping their laughing and getting away from the goths they asked Zeffer what that was all about? He just told them don’t ask, their just crazy people. Making their way back the group went to sleep for tonight, now they could do some ordinary shopping once the morning comes. The morning came soon and the crew, minus Zeffer and Elska joined together to make a major shopping trip. Making their way into the city in search of somewhere they can get supplies.

Making their way through the streets they stopped at a little bodaga first. Alaine and Lukus ducking their heads low when a police cruiser drove past them, much to Jeimos and Issacs confusion. They entered the little side shop and while none of them could read the product labels they could take a guess in what they where. Grabbing some soap and shampoo, first aid stuff, and what ever else they thought they needed.

While standing in a back isle Alaine was looking stuff and scratching her legs. Over the past few days her scales where getting rather itchy, at first she thought it was nothing but after the last few days she wasn’t so sure anymore? especially when she started noticing discoloration on her scales. She turned around and noticed a little girl was standing behind her and staring at Alaine. The little girl was wearing a sirene shirt and holding a sirene plushie. “Are you a mermaid”?

What? Alaine thought to herself, she thought magic didn’t exist her? So how would they know what a mermaid even was? “Um…yeah?” Alaine cautiously responded, the little girl started smiling and clapping her hands, assaulting Alaine with a barrage of questions like is she friends with fish? Does she know where Atlantis is? And so much more so fast Alaine could barley keep up. She stopped the kid and simply told her with a sullien tone that being a mermaid is not as fun as she thinks it is.

She just told her that she really, honestly wouldn’t want to be a mermaid, cause it’s most certainly not as fun as she thinks it is. The little girl just pouted, saying Alaines no fun and just ran off. Alaine rejoined the others at the register, not wanting to think about possibly crushing some kids dreams. They just paid and left, going on to their next location. Stopping at afew other stores along the they picked up Sleeping bags, food and more.

Stopping by alittle fashion shop Alaine stopped the group, telling them they should stop here and get some extra clothing while their here. Lukus was questioning why should they with Alaine countering saying it be nice to not have to be walking around in their under armor clothing and blend in, especially considering all their stuffs back in Gaia. Jeimos and Issac agreed with her and Lukus reluctantly went along with them.

Walking in the place seemed rather nice and bright, having a decent selection. Looking over to the women at the counter Issac recognized her, “Jasmine?” He called to her. Looking up from the magazine she saw two familiar faces and smiled “Issac, Jeimos is that you! How you two doing today”?! She said back to them. Issac and Jeimos started talking to her, Jeimos thanking her for helping last time they met. Alaine and Lukus looked at her, realizing that’s the women from the video that helped them.

They thanked her for refusing their friends. She told them no problem and said they can look around and not to be afraid to ask her for anything. With that the four headed out to search for some new cloths. Jeimos got a purple long sleeve sweater and black skinny jeans, Issac got a t-shirt with some goofy looking characters on it and Lukus just got simple khaki pants and a green shirt. Alaine however took the longest grabbing three whole outfits.

An ocean blue sundress, a seashell crop top and jean shorts with flip flops and finally a nice seafoam skirt and top combo. She would have grabbed more but they the crew had to break her out of her trance to remind her they have a limited budget. With that they went up and paid, Jasmine looking concerned when everything was rung up, with it all being on one transaction it was rather expensive. They pulled out the Maloney stack and paid, easing her fears and with that they crew went back to base.

Unloading their huge pile of bags they got to work, eating some of the food for lunch and set up the sleeping bags. Took a much need bath, this time with actual soap, and changed into their new clothing. They all had to admit it was good to get out of their under armor clothing for once and have something new, they where also fiddling with their phones to figure out how they work. Saving each other’s numbers and relived to have a way to keep in touch long distance.

With everything setteled down they went back into the city to continue their search. Evan was doing push ups in room, craving something to do that wasn’t watching tv all day and moping around. He was thinking about some of the things he’d heard on the news I’ve the past few days. Reports of drug dealers being attacked by an alleged vampire and more sightings of the prosperity park centaur came flooding in. He also saw an alarming report of a string of attacks that happened three days ago.

Each of the victims report being attacked by a man and women, with details being fuzzy due to the brutal beatings they faced. Each of the victims where hospitalized for their beatings with some having their fingers cut off and two men having their touches and genitials cut off, one of them being in this hospital in critical condition. Some business man he overheard, near bled to death and in a coma. This wasn’t what concerned him, what concerned him was the police sketch.

The police sketch’s showed a man and women with a striking similar to Alaine and Lukus! They where last seen attacking a man before fleeing from police and are believed to be linked to the other attacks. Evan simply refunded to believe that notion, he knew his crew like the back of his hand! He knew they would never attack random strangers like that! It must have been someone else as theirs no way those two would just attack someone without good reason too!?

He completed his push-ups, completely exhausted. This wasn't good as this was way, way less reps then what he was normally capable of. He’s getting weaker he thought, this extended inactivity was not doing him any good. He just hoped either his plan worked or his crew found him soon!

I love how all the minor characters are coming into play! Good to see the goth kids again haha. Everything in the story’s setting feels so interconnected, that’s awesome. This is so good, I’m really enjoying this story a lot!

#fanfic

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thehardy-boys · 6 years ago

Text

Woman? Tommy Shelby x reader

Hi everyone!!! It’s been way tooooo long! I’m really sorry, you would not believe the year I’ve had!!!! But I’m back for a bit and I’m really trying to catch up on requests. If you’ve sent one in don’t worry I haven’t forgotten about you!!!

Request: Tommy Shelby request please? The reader needs money for her younger siblings so she dresses in her father's old clothes, cuts her hair and goes to work for the Shelby's and learns how to fight and fire guns, caughting tommy's interst he takes her under his wing thinking she's a boy but when things go bad in a trade off the reader is badly hurt and while helping her tommy finds out the truth. \(> ♡ <)

The clouds were beginning to darken as you hurried home from your job at the tailor shop. You could tell that the rain would be starting soon. It had been a long day of measuring limbs and trying very hard not to poke the customers with bobby pins.

But, at last, the day was finished and you couldn't wait to get home. Most days you barely had any time at home because of the number of jobs you had. But today was Friday and Friday was a special day because you didn’t have another job for the rest of the evening.

But, unfortunately, most Friday evenings were spent worrying about your finances. You were barely scraping through with the money that you had. Both of your younger brothers were far too young to start a serious job and anyways, you wanted both of them to have an education rather then drop out and work themselves to death, like you had.

As you had matured your life had become increasingly panicked and miserable. When you weren’t working you were taking care of your brothers and when you weren’t doing that you were trying to sleep. But most times you could barely sleep a wink, to occupied with the idea of having to live on the streets and both your brothers dying of starvation. And each week the cycle would just start all over again, working, taking care of your brothers and worrying. It was endless.

Your one wish in life was to have one job that could support all three of you. You had yet to come upon one. Most jobs required some level of higher education that you didn’t have or the employers didn’t see the benefits of hiring a woman for the job. It was a dead end. You were stuck and tired.

When you entered your small apartment you carefully removed your wet shoes. You hung up your coat and started making dinner for the three of you. Both brothers, Liam and Tom, were busy with their homework.

“How was school, then?” You asked, putting on a cheery voice.

“S’okay,” Liam responded not looking up from his paper.

“Learn anything good?” Both boys shook their heads.

You nodded getting the feeling that neither one of them wanted to talk. You knew both boys were aware of how little money you all had. Liam, on multiple occasions, would propose the idea of him dropping out of school and taking up a job at the coal factory across town. But each time you vigorously shook your head. You didn’t want him condemned to the life that you have. You wanted both of them to grow up and get out of Birmingham and live a life.

It was late. Liam and Tom had had their dinner and gone to bed. You were worried, you needed money, a lot of it and quickly. Your bank statements and bills were scattered all over the dining room table. You paced for ages, you bit your lip and chewed your fingernails until finally an idea came to you.

You quietly dragged a box from underneath your bed and opened it. Inside there was an assortment of tattered men's clothes. You sorted through it and picked out the nicest looking articles of clothing. You put on a pair of trousers and a belt. You needed a couple of layers for your top half to hide your chest. So you put on a couple of undershirts, then a waistcoat, and finally a jacket which completely covered any feminine features. The only thing left was your hair. At the moment it was too beautiful and silky looking, you needed to cut it. You hacked away for a couple of minutes until you were satisfied. The end result left you quite surprised. You actually resembled a young man, a rather good-looking young man.

You cleaned up the mess you made. You filed away all of your bank statements on the table and when you had finished it was nearing six in the morning. You thought you would try your luck and see if you could find any work out on the streets. Even though it was early most factories would already have started work. Men hurried about the streets lugging big packages of either coal or metal. The market in the center of the town had vendors already setting up their stalls. You had hunted for work all morning. It was nearing lunchtime and no one seemed to want to give you the time of day. You had been to the butchers, bakers, metal factory, multiple pubs and none of them wanted you.

You didn’t have enough money to buy any lunch so you surrendered and decided to walk home. You were so deep in thought and so hungry that you ran right into a pack of men.

“Oi! Watch where you’re going mate!”

Before you could even regain your balance, one of the men pushed you over onto the ground. You didn’t dare look up and instead focused your attention on the ground. You mumbled a few apologies and just hoped the group of men would move on.

You noticed out of the corner of your eye that one of the men went in to punch you and you braced yourself for the hit but someone stopped him.

“Stop it, Arthur, look at him. He’s sick.” You didn’t think your lack of food and sleep showed so much but that was probably because you were used to looking at your gaunt features in the mirror. It took Arthur a couple of seconds but eventually he moved back and instead decided to yell at you.

“You know who you just ran into!? Eh!?” You glanced up at the group of men. And immediate dread ran through your veins. The infamous Peaky Blinders were standing over you. Only two out of the three brothers had their eyes trained on you.

The third brother didn’t seem to deem you worthy of his attention.

“I’m talking to you!” The eldest shouted when you still wouldn't look them in the eyes.

“I’m sorry.” You mumbled to the ground.

“Come on, Arthur, he’s not worth our time.” Thomas said, already walking forward. The rest of the brothers followed suit not even bothering to look back. You sat there for a second until you realized that you had a golden opportunity. You jumped up and ran after the Blinders.

“Scuse me!?” You shouted after the men. They turned to look at you, all looking vaguely surprised.

“Wot?” Arthur yelled back.

It took you a few seconds to gather your wits about you, “I’m looking for work.” None of the men said anything so you continued.

“I need work, I have two brothers and I don’t have any money. I want them to stay in school but I don’t have the money to pay for it or pay for food or anything. I just need work. Any work at all.” Your desperation seemed to shine through strongly because the middle brother, Thomas Shelby seemed to finally find you interesting enough to really look at.

“What can you do?” He asked. His eyes were piercing, as strong as his voice.

“Anything. Absolutely anything.” You looked at him and there seemed to be a shift in his dolphin blue eyes.

“Okay,” He said throwing out his cigarette and stepping towards you, “Okay, come with us.”

He seemed to almost be challenging you, trying to see if he would scare you off. But, you needed this job badly. You stood your ground.

“Where are we going?”

His mouth quirked up and he granted you a nod of approval.

They brought you to The Garrison. The pub was full, now with it being near lunchtime. It was also thick with smoke from the rowdy pub goers. They led you through to the back room. You trailed behind, feeling only mildly out of place. You watched as all three brothers and a few other men set up a table and a few chairs. Tommy walked over to you while lighting a cigarette.

“Here's your first job. We’re having a business meeting, right? You need to stand guard by the door. Look tough. Don’t say anything. Just stand, alright?” His deep accented voice flooded your ears and you found yourself nodding right back. You walked over and stood.

It continued on like this. You worked all day six days a week doing small jobs. Standing guard, being a bodyguard, trailing someone, or occasionally helping with the accounting. They were easy, insignificant jobs. You could tell you had yet to earn their trust but you weren’t complaining, it paid good money. You could tell that the brothers didn’t trust you enough yet to do the important work, work that involved the family business but you weren’t surprised, you were a stranger after all.

But soon a couple weeks became a month, and then the month became a year and you maintained your loyalty and perseverance. And you were rewarded with a few quick smiles from the Shelby family. You and Finn become quick friends you helped teach him how to do his math better and since then Finn had always put in a good word for you with the family. And his words seemed to pay off because soon you found the sister, Ada, becoming more friendly.

“No, no, no, not like that, like this.” You laughed as you tried to show Ada how to fold the paper into a swan.

“I was doing that! I was!” She yelled indignantly but with a smile, of course.

“Having fun Ada?” The voice was unmistakable, cold but if you really listened there was a hint of warmth in between his words.

“(y/n) was just showing me how to fold a swan, look!” She proudly brandished her rather crooked piece of paper. Thomas chuckled.

“Very nice, Ada. (y/n) I got a job for you.” You immediately stood from your seat and listened to his instructions.

Since Ada had become a friend of yours the rest of the family seemed to relax more around you. It was only when Polly Shelby walked up to you in the crowded betting shop and handed you a pastry from the local bakery that you finally gained the approval of every Shelby, along with their trust. You had been leaning over Michael and helping him with the betting money when Polly had walked up to you. You turned around expecting her to give you some sort of order but instead she held out a pastry.

“For me?”

Polly rolled her eyes, “Who else?”

You took it from her, “Thanks, Mrs.Shelby. I really appreciate it.”

You glanced around the room and found all three sets of Shelby brother eyes on you.

“Back to work now.” Polly stated and walked off leaving an atmosphere of authority in her wake.

And since Polly’s acceptance of you all the Shelby’s have accepted you. You had been given more meaningful work. You had been Polly’s bodyguard, dealt with illegal gun shipments, and occasionally kept tabs on Ada in secret (much to your discomfort, you didn’t like lying to her). Both John and Arthur have welcomed you with open arms and on multiple occasions made you drink more alcohol then you would like to admit.

It was Tommy, however, who although deemed you trustworthy still hadn’t warmed up to you. You, of course, weren’t that surprised you had heard from Ada that Tommy was disconnected and cold from most. And he was, of course, undeniably handsome. But you didn’t voice those opinions allowed to Ada. But all in all you were happier, you had more money, and both of your brothers were well fed and finally enjoying their childhoods instead of worrying about your finances.

It was a cold morning and as you walked down the mostly empty Birmingham streets you could barely see anything because of the cold mist. You wrapped your jacket closer around you as you hurried to the betting shop. You were just rounding the corner of the street on which the shop was located when a hand grabbed your upper arm and twirled you around.

You gasped and tensed yourself for a fight but you found yourself looking into those ocean eyes that, as far as you knew, meant no harm to you.

“(y/n), what are you doing up so early?” You didn’t fail to notice that his hand was still wrapped securely around your arm.

“Michael called me in, needed help with the stocks.” You replied.

“Never mind Michael, I need your help, come with me.”

You opened your mouth to respond but Tommy turned and walked in the opposite direction. You quickly scurried after him.

“Where are we going?” You asked him and then immediately became anxious when he stopped walking and looked over at you.

“We’re going to the stables. My horses, they need grooming and you seem to be the best person for the job. I get the sort of feeling you’d be good with them.” He started walking again.

“I really love horses, when I was a little gi-boy, when I was a little boy I loved running into the fields to try and spot a few. The family next door owned a herd of them. We never had enough money to buy a horse but I always loved the idea of owning my own horse. Must be lovely for you, having so many.” You replied with a smile, still hurrying to keep up with his long legs.

He stopped abruptly, again and turned to look at you. You also halted in your steps and looked up at him.

“You’re a bit odd, you know that?” He stated, looking over your face, no real heat behind his words. He said it more as just an observation.

You chuckled, “I've been told that before.”

“You look- you’re,” Tommy for once struggled to find the right words to say. “ Softer than most gangsters I've seen, you’ve got a softer, kinder face than most. It’s just different.”

“Good different?” You asked.

Tommy made a non committal sound and was once again walking off towards the stable.

Since then, tending for Tommy’s horses has been part of your job description. You enjoyed every moment in those stables, you much preferred it to holding guns and playing bodyguard. It even brought you a bit closer to Tommy, he began to warm up to you a bit.

Somedays you would be grooming the horses and Tommy would come in, not saying anything, and just sit down on one of the many barrels of hay and smoke and think. Never staying for very long, but staying long enough for you to grow quite fond of him and long enough for you to realize how attractive those cheekbones really were, how emerald blue his eyes really were, and how sad he looked, how tired.

Somedays you both would chat, usually briefly and softly.

“How are you then?” He would always ask.

You’d answer and he would always listen.

Sometimes you’d talk about the weather, occasionally the horses, sometimes about the business but usually it was just comfortable silences.

“You’ve got a girl, then?” He asked on a particularly cold Tuesday afternoon.

The question took you by surprise and you had to remind yourself that you were a man.

“Um, I don’t really have the time, you know? Between this job and looking after my brothers I don’t really have, you know, time.” You finished lamely.

You glanced over at Tommy and he was staring back at you, he nodded.

“How about you then, Mr.Shelby?” You asked.

“Suppose same as you, don’t have the time, I mean a quick fuck here and there but nothing substnatial.”

“You want something...substantial?” You carefully asked, feeling that you may be crossing a line.

Tommy sighed and thought for a few minutes.

“I mean, yeah, I do. I just, I can’t...find anyone.” He sounded so much younger, hints of vulnerability shining through.

You enjoyed these times with Tommy, you felt even a little privileged being able to see him when he’s quiet, vulnerable, unguarded.

It was late or really early in the morning and you were stationed at the Shelby’s house with Polly, Ada, and a few other young Blinders. All of you waiting to here how the deal had gone down. Tommy had expressed concerns about the deal, feeling that the client might try and stab the Blinders in the back.

The kitchen, where you all were sitting was charged with anxiety and worry.

“Should be back by now.” Polly mumbled, shakily lighting a cigarette.

You glanced over and gave her a compassionate look and before you could say anything you all heard the front door bang open.

“Help, we need help over here!” You heard Arthur’s voice yell. You immediately jumped up and headed over to the front hall and saw blood. Tommy’s shoulder was gushing rich red blood.

“His shoulder, grab him! Come on!” John yelled at you. You immediately jumped into action, you held Tommy by the waist and dragged him into the front room and laid him out on the coach.

“Oh god, god! What are we going to do?” Polly started to panic and Michael had to pull her back and out of the room.

“I know first aid. I’ll deal with it.” You stated calmly as you carefully took off Tommy’s jacket and shirt to see how bad the wound was.

“Gunshot, went straight through.” Tommy mumbled.

“I know, don’t worry, I got you.” You comforted. The Shelby family was buzzing around you. You went about cleaning the wound, sewing it up, then bandaging the thing up. Tommy didn’t make much noise, except for a few grunts when the needle went through or when the alcohol stung the wound. Throughout the process you would occasionally glance up at Tommy’s face and find him already watching you.

With a look on his face you just couldn't place.

You volunteered to stay up with him and watch over his wound. Tommy was lying on the couch and you were sitting on the floor, your back leaning against the front of the couch.

“Thank you.” His voice startled you and you shot up on your knees to look over at him.

“How do you feel? Your shoulder?” Your were worried.

Tommy smiled and slowly pushed himself up so he was in more of a sitting position.

“Fine.” He replied with a grimace.

“What went wrong?” You asked. “If you don’t mind me asking” You stated as an afterthought.

Tommy chuckled but it turned into a pained wince.

“The bastards turned on us, the moment we handed over the goods, they pulled out their fuckin’ guns and started shooting.” He winced again.

“Sorry.” You said, and then realized how lame it sounded.

Tommy smiled only slightly, “Not your fault.”

Soon his eyes began to droop. “You better rest, Mr.Shelby.” You stood up and started to help him lie back down.

“Tommy, call me Tommy.”

“Okay, Tommy.”

Just before he fully slipped under he mumbled something, “You’ve got...really pretty eyes.” And he reached up and brushed your cheek gently and then he was gone. Fully asleep.

And you stood there, shocked. He couldin’t have known you were a girl, was he gay? No, maybe, no, could be. Your brain was going a mile a minute, you didn’t sleep all night.

When morning came you left the house early and did your rounds at the stable and then did a few errands for Polly and all day you didn’t run into Tommy. All week actually, you didn’t see him. It wasn’t like you were actively avoiding him you just made sure you kept really busy so you kept away from the Shelby house, the betting shop and by luck whenever you were in the stables he was never there. You just didn’t want to have an awkward conversation with Thomas Shelby, you didn’t want to lose your job, you didn’t want anything, you just wanted to live your life and make money.

You found that you really missed seeing Tommy. You missed just seeing him in the betting shop and exchanging a small smile. You missed your small talks in the stables, you missed him. He had become a rather strange comfort in your life. It was Sunday, which meant it was usually a quiet day, not a lot of work. You were sitting in the betting shop with Ada and Michael. Just talking. The door burst open and all three Shelby boys barreled in.

“(y/n), we need you, get your gun, get your things, we need backup.” Tommy said as he ran into the back room. You quickly gathered your things and followed the boys out to the car.

You learnt to ask no question when you were on a serious mission and instead wait to be told instructions.

“We have a transaction with a client we know is going to try and kill us, we need you there, as soon as you see one of us take our guns out so do you, and shoot, shoot to bloody murder. Understand?” Tommy said all this without looking back at you and never taking his eyes off of the road.

You nod.

You pull up to an old crumbled bridge. You all step out. Tommy leads all three of you, you bring up the rear. You slip both hands into your pocket, casually, just so you can reach the gun easier.

You carefully watch the business and the moment you see Tommy reach in and pull his gun so do you. And then it’s just full out war. You hit two of the men, one in the shoulder, the other in the abdomen. The brothers take care of the rest.

And just as soon as it had started it stopped. And all that was left was the slight ringing in your ears from the gunshots.

“Good work (y/n).” Tommy said pocketing his gun.

You give him a curt nod and as you all begin to turn and head back towards the car one last gunshot rings through the air.

You were confused, none of the brothers had their guns out. Then it was just pain, surges of pain and you looked down and it looked like a rose had blossomed over your shirt. But it wasn’t a rose it was blood, your blood. Tommy glanced back at you and you saw just a glimpse of his face, his beautiful face. And then you staggered and fell all the way down.

And then it was just pain and lights and blurred faces. Tommy yelling at his brothers to help you. Tommy picking you up and dragging you over to the car. Then it was Polly holding your face looking at you with worry. Then it was Tommy’s voice yelling. And then, then someone tried to remove your jacket and you were ripped from your pain induced dream.

“No!” You yelled and ripped away from the hands, “no, I can’t, I’ll do it.” You stood up and braced yourself with one of the chairs scattered throughout the room.

(y/n), you can’t do it, please, you can’t.” It was Tommy, it was Tommy and you were so glad, so grateful. You looked at him and you looked at his eyes and you begged him with your eyes to understand.

“I’ll do it, alright, I’ll help you, just me, alright? No one else.” He said this with his arms open, palms up, inviting.

You swallow, swallow the pain and nod.

And then you were alone. Tommy stepped closer and gently helped you into the seat you were leaning on. You allowed him to remove your jacket.

He looked up at you before he moved to unbutton your shirt.

And you looked at him and gave a slight nod.

And you watched as he unbuttoned the piece of cloth. He helped take it off of you. Then you were left in a simple white t-shirt.

And you realized this was it, this piece of cloth held the power over your job, the power over your life. And you gentle took it off and let it slip between your fingers onto the floor.

That was it. You were left with nothing on your torso except the binding around your breasts.

You sat there with your head hung and then you let your head fall onto your hands. You didn’t want to look at him, you didn’t want to look at anything so you closed your eyes.

You could feel the wound seeping slowly. You could feel the pain become part of your soul and you felt the sadness and despair peek in and make a home in your mind.

“You’re a woman.” Such a simple statement, but the words that had dictated your life for years.

“Yeah.” You whispered hoarsely. You raised your head and glanced at Tommy.

“You can fire me, you can.” You said. “I’ll understand.”

Tommy just stared at you, his arms crossed.

“Let me clean you up.” Was all he said.

And you nodded.

He cleaned your wound with alcohol, sewed the wound up, his fingers were firm but the held a soft kind of gentle. And then he wrapped it up and then there was silence. You slowly stood up and without looking once at Tommy put on your undershirt, then buttoned up your dress shirt, and then finally you pulled on your jacket.

“Thanks.” You said and walked out.

Three weeks had gone by. You were back to working at least three jobs a day and not even making enough money to buy a loaf of bread. You weren’t sad, you were angry. You were angry that you had gotten shot and you were angry that you had let Tommy know, you shouldn't have let him see, you should have gone home and dealt with it yourself.

You didn’t know if Tommy was angry, you didn’t know what he felt, maybe betrayed? Who knows, you hadn’t seen a Blinder in three weeks. Your hair was still short, a constant reminder of your life before, a reminder of everything you had lost. You had gone back to wearing your normal clothes, gone back to your normal life.

And it was a Friday when you saw his eyes. Those sea glass eyes. And you almost stopped walking but you forced yourself forward, he wouldn't recognize you, he wouldn't, you repeat that in your head like a mantra as you slowly walked towards him through a sea of people.

And you were almost passed him when his hand gripped your wrist and you stopped breathing.

“Can I talk to you?” he asked. He looked at you, and the way he looked at you, you felt he just knew. Knew everything, everything about anything. And you felt this kind of tug, a tug on your heart strings. Cause you really fucking wanted him. You wanted him and nothing else. Because he was a good man.

And you say, “yes.”

He pulls you away from the current of people and leads you next to a bakery stall.

You look at each other, his hand it still on your wrist. He doesn't seem to want to move it.

“I’m really sorry.” You say, “sorry that I lied to you, I just-I needed a job, my brothers were starving I need-” Tommy cut you off with a shake of his head.

“No, no, love, I’m sorry. Okay? I’m sorry, because I should have said something that night, I should have stopped you, because I don’t care, I don’t care that your a woman, you did some of the best work I had ever seen, better than most men. Alright? I don’t care. And I’m sorry, I want you back. I want you to take the job back.” he looked at you. And then you saw it, you saw that emotion you had seen in the stables, vulnerability.

“I can have the job back?”

“Yes, and more, I can give you a better job. Even better.” He grabbed both your hands in his and stared at you. Those eyes, god, those eyes.

“Thanks, Tommy, I really appreciate it.” You replied softly.

And you looked at each other and you just felt your entire chest open up to him, and you wanted to be his and you really wanted him to be yours.

He leaned in, leaned in so close, his lips were so close. It was perfect for once, the scent of freshly baked bread, the scent of the flower stall across the street, and the overwhelming scent of Tommy.

And then his lips were so soft, the way they molded against yours was heaven.

When you separated there was this glow around your eyesight. And the glow you realized, was happiness.

“You’ll be mine, won’t you?” Tommy asked now letting go of your hands and instead slipping his gentle hands around your waist and pulling you closer. You nod.

“And you’ll be mine?” You asked snaking your hands up around his neck.

“Yeah, love, all yours.” and he ducked down to steal another kiss but you decided to give it to him for free.

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streetlites · 5 years ago

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I walked slowly through the Gozu District, careful to stop and look into a stall or two on my way home – if I bolted straight there, eyes would see; people would know I had something valuable. So I did my best to appear to drag my feet, even though every stop I made produced a nervous, prickling feeling in my spine.

I haggled a vendor for a lower price on a package of spicy ramyun (would a salvager with a good haul do that?! I don’t think so!) loudly enough that none of the other stall vendors would make eye contact with me for the rest of the torturous march home. They may not even for the next week – though my favorite food at a discount was worth it. Plus, no one would even think about meeting me back at my place to get the first look at what I picked up.

I breathed easier when I slid the bay door of the shop closed behind me, shutting away the clanking noise of the station outside. I pulled my helmet off and took in a deep breath and, even though the air of my living space smelt of oil and grease, it was sweet and cool compared to the recycled air that flowed through my suit. My head jerked up in surprise when I caught a shadow passing across the service window; I was so concerned with getting out of the protective armor that I hadn’t even considered curtaining the front of the shop, too.

“Get it together,” I scolded myself as I jerked the heavy curtain over the barred window. I dragged the bag with all the pistols toward my work table and buried the weapons in drawers where I kept screws, nuts, and bolts to make them harder to find. I’d given the machine guns and most of the vials of red sand to the guys that ferried me to the debris fields; an extremely high payment, but it’d keep me in their good graces for those lean trips.

I paced through the shop; where should I put the sniper rifle? The stock and barrel were too big to hide in my supply bins unlike the pistols. I found myself staring at my bed – sighing, I put the heavy objects under the mattress. I’d have to reach out to my contact with the Blue Suns to sell the weapons off; preferably tonight because I didn’t enjoy sleeping on merchandise.

I stood and cracked my back, a hand wandering to my pocket and palming a small vial of red sand. I didn’t normally like to partake, but it would take the anxiety out of the call I needed to make; I was already on edge as it was. I decided on a small bump, just enough to clear my head and feel good.

Red sand wasn’t like cocaine, it didn’t numb anything. In fact, if it was pure, you’d feel a comfortable warmth spreading through your body – a result of the small amount of biotic power that your nervous system would generate on its own. I waved my fingers, smiling at the sparks and the pleasant drip down the back of my throat. There was no burn at all, a sign that it hadn’t been cut with anything; I’d get a good price on the vials I had kept.

“Well, well, Diamat, seems that our little tenant has finally made her way back home,” came a voice from behind me. I stiffened, I hadn’t heard them enter.

“So she has,” agreed a masculine voice. “I hope, for her sake, she didn’t spend her rent money on that red sand she’s carrying.”

I whirled around, I’d already paid this week, and stood dumbfounded for a second. The two in front of me weren’t from the G-Pack, the gang that had been running the protection racket for the last few years. No, these two didn’t have any sort of identifying clothing and they were more synth than human. The red sand boosted my spirits, I’d talk to them. Tell them about my deal with the G-Pack; they’d understand. “Whoa, whoa,” I protested. “I already paid rent this week to G-Pack –“

“Do we look like we work for those pyjaks?” The man hissed. Honestly, I couldn’t tell who they worked for – there weren’t a lot of groups that would hire so-called ‘transcendentalists’. It was outlawed in most places to merge with synthetics, especially to the degree that these two had, but Omega was a place built around the absence of laws.

“B-but I-“ I sputtered.

“It doesn’t matter who the hell you paid, Terra Libra has Gozu now. Rent is 1000 credits a week. Pay up.” The woman demanded. If she had ever been human at all, you could no longer tell; every part of her body appeared to be mechanical.

I swallowed uneasily, that was 500 more a week than I had been paying. I didn’t even think I could keep up with that amount and eat unless I stayed out in the field. I would need to move soon, as much as I hated the thought. “I don’t have 1000 credits on me right now. Unless you’d like this red sand? I have two full vials, they’re excellent quality! Easily worth-“

The woman laughed, a hollow sound, one that I’d imagine she perfected to show exactly how inhuman she’d become. “What good is red sand to either of us, meat sack?”

I grimaced, I could feel my high starting to drop. The warmth that had flowed so easily before they’d made themselves known now burned through me. “Okay. I guess it’s no good for either of you,” I agreed. “But I’ll have the money tomorrow, if you’ll come by then. All of it.”

“If you can pay it tomorrow, must mean there’s something worth it in here,” the man spoke, looking around my shop. “How about we look through your things, see if we can’t reach a deal that way.”

I couldn’t let them do that – the guns were worth closer to 5000, even with a discount. They’d take them, shoot me, and leave me to die. That’s what the rent amount was meant to do anyway. “No, you can’t. It’s not here and,” I stepped to the side to block the man’s path, “if you take everything, I won’t be able to pay next week either.”

He smiled wickedly at my defiance, cracking his knuckles. The fembot stood with what appeared with nonchalance, slowly sweeping her gaze across the garage. Was she scanning the area? What could she see? I could still feel the power behind my fingertips, a sick feeling creeping over me. This power, it felt like it could be more; as if there were a well and, if I opened myself to it, I could drown them. Both of them. Crushing like thin aluminum. Ripped apart with wires… I closed my eyes and whimpered as pain lanced through my body.

“Look, Delores, she’s about to cry,” the masculine voice mocked. “Little girl, we’re getting paid today. And, if I can speak candidly, I really like it when people cry when I make them pay.”

Reach for it, it called. Whatever ‘it’ was. I hoped it wasn’t just the high from the red sand talking or these two would have an easy time of ripping me apart instead. I grabbed for it wildly and gasped audibly. The power flooding through me couldn’t have come from that bump. It was a torrent – and everything in me screamed; CRUSHRIPDESTROYCRUSHRIPDESTROY.

I took a step forward, giddy. It wouldn’t be me that would disappear tonight. Not now. Not ever. The power told me I could crush these people, I could avenge my mother, I could avenge Boro. I just had to start here. It had to start with them. I raised my hands, let the energy arc dangerously – it wouldn’t hurt me. It is me.

The woman’s servos whined as she opened and shut her mouth in fear, but no screams came from her metal body. She knew what I knew; neither she or her partner would survive me. I released, uncaring if it destroyed the shop - I wouldn’t be able to stay here after tonight anyway – the ball of blue light shot out, large and terrific, grabbing their bodies into the air, twisting them into grotesque shapes, throwing them against the walls and ceiling; grabbing more and more debris into their death spiral.

I don’t know how I knew when they were dead. If it was the power, I’ll never know, but I knew enough to stretch my hand toward the light and reclaim the energy back into my body; the suspended detritus dropping to the floor with a deafening crash. I stared at it mournfully, the high gone from me completely and, with it, the power and confidence I had felt.

With a dawning horror, I realized that I was staring at the wreckage of my life and the only thing I could do now was run.

#ts4 #sims story #Fault Lines #fl: aftershock #fla chrono #violence #drug use #I've been sitting on this thing for weeks #:/ sigh #ts4legacy

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literaryhedgehog · 5 years ago

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So I was inspired recently by the amazing @katsens-writing to write a Good Omens piece. I started it at the end of November but decided I would release it today (A bit unedited maybe) as a New Years' present. Happy 2020 everyone.

This could be an AU, but I tried to write it within the context of the show. This is the first fanfic that I have actually completed, so please let me know what you think!

Aziraphale sat down expectantly at one of the tables, and ordered the local wine while he waited. It had only been a few weeks since he and Crowley had encountered each other again. What an amazing coincidence that they both had work in the same place this week! That hadn’t happened in over a century. He, of course, was rather looking forward to hearing about all that Crowley had been up to over the last century. They had meant to talk last week of course, but then the food arrived so promptly, and as they were finishing a messenger arrived requesting Aziraphale’s presence at the Library. (He decided to become a patron of it, he thought it was just wonderful that they were working to spread knowledge from around the world, even if mainly to the upper classes). Before he left he and Crowley had agreed to meet up again, at least one more time before either had to leave the city. Aziraphale knew a lovely place for drinks down the road, and they agreed that at noon on Friday they both could meet and discuss the happenings of the last millenia.

His wine arrived at his table as he was glancing up at the sun again. They hadn’t settled on a specific time to meet of course, just planned to eat a light repast for a mid-day meal. Aziraphale hated to be late, so he had arrived as the sun rose high in the sky. “there’s no reason to be concerned” he told himself, sipping the wine as he turned intentionally away from the sky. “He is likely very busy. Slithering about causing mischief somewhere no doubt.”

His glass was almost empty when he checked the sun for a fourth time. So consumed in looking up – surely two hours hadn’t passed already – that he initially didn’t notice the child approach and stand next to the table.

“Judge Aziraphale?”

He straightened, “yes, what can I do for you?”

“ I’ve got sent with a message for you. Mr. Crowley says sorry, a things came up and he can’t come today.”

He couldn’t come. Aziraphale told himself that the feeling in his stomach was just for want of food, he was just fine eating alone. It was no matter, really. He had looked forward to hearing stories about other parts of the world, but that was all. It was the stories, not the teller that was important. Eating lunch with Crowley was no different than eating with anyone else, Gab—well perhaps not Gabriel, but he was sure given enough time he could think of several beings he would equally enjoy eating lunch with. Five, at least.

“Well that’s perfectly all right. Lunch between two good friends can happen any day of the week can’t it?” He smiled at the boy, trying to give off the air of nonchalance and paternal affection – children liked that didn’t they? “It was so very good of you to carry that message for us! Did Mr. Crowley make sure you were paid for your time?”

“O’Course!” That seemed to be the wrong thing to ask, the child looked offended. “ Mr. Crowley isn’t the kind who expects you to kiss his sandals for none but the blessings of the gods.”

“How silly of me, I should have expected it.” Crowley always did have an affection for children, though it would take more effort than it was worth to get him to admit it. He had a way with them that Aziraphale never quite managed. He was never quite sure how to talk with them, logical conversations never quite held their interest and he was terrible at their small talk. He had tried saying the things he usually heard from adults – you have grown so tall, what an interesting toy you have, and the like – but he assumed his statements must lack some genuinely because no child ever seemed to like him. It might have hurt his pride, but Aziraphale had long decided that he could serve the great plan just fine by solely interacting with adults. “Is that all you needed from me?”

“Yessir” Aziraphale finished his wine as the child left. He still had some time left in the afternoon to fit in a good work or two. Perhaps he could even get some food on the way. There was this vendor near the forum that always had the most lovely tarts…

…

It wasn’t quite two days later when Aziraphale had a bit of an incident with a robber. It was a rather minor event really – the man was looking for some money, and he cut Aziraphale with his knife before he realized that it was unnecessary. He did apologize after the two had a nice heart to heart about his long-forgotten dream to become an artist, but Aziraphale turned down his offer to fetch a healer. He had little confidence in the healers on this side of the city, and truth be told he was fairly confident that for a small injury like this his body would heal faster than could be easily explained. No, far better to return to his home and rest. That was all he needed. For now, he could do well enough just wrapping the area tightly with cloth and walking home.

It was a few blocks later when he started to feel a little odd. His eyesight did the strangest thing where little golden dots crept in from the outside of his vision, and he started feeling dizzy.

“It must be the blood loss,” he told himself, leaning against a cart and ordering himself a drink, any drink they could get quickly. “Or perhaps some shock. Nothing a little water can’t solve until I can make it home. I’ll just have to breathe more deeply until then.” He took a sip of whatever they handed him, barely tasting it as he realized his hand was shaking slightly. “It’s only a twenty-minute walk.”

He began again, walking up the hill towards his housing. He watched the ground as he walked, following the lines left behind by the carts. It wasn’t far. He could walk home, there was no need to stop.

As he was entering the temple district his vision began to cloud again, this time accompanied by a ringing in his ears. He found one of the pillars of the nearby temple and sat down, leaning against it for support. It was the sort of place normally occupied by the pour and injured, who had to live off the generosity of others. Luckily no one was at this particular pillar today, so he would just sit until his sight had returned to normal. Nothing to it.

When Aziraphale stood up a few moments later, he realized very quickly that this blood loss might be a bigger problem than he had anticipated. He was beginning to feel faint when he heard a familiar voice a few steps later.

“For a minute there, Angel, I thought you were sitting on the street planning to become a beggar.”

It was at that moment that the gold sparks had begun to close over Aziraphale’s eyes again, and he knew rather than saw himself reach out and grab Crowley’s arm for support. Or perhaps he grabbed his hand. He wasn’t quite sure. He thought he heard himself saying something like “Hello. I am currently trying to avoid fainting. Just a bit of blood loss, you know.” But at that moment his ears were ringing and his memory was hazy until the point where his vision and hearing cleared slightly to find his hand gripped in Crowley’s, arm resting on his, and Crowley saying “I think there should be somewhere to lie down in here.”

“Excuse me, my friend here’s taken a bit ill, you wouldn’t mind if he used one of your couches to die down for a bit?”

“Yes of course.” A fluttery female voice answered. “Right over here. What do you think is wrong? We have a healer on site, though not nearly as fine as I’m sure refined gentlemen such as yourselves are used to.”

“That would be lovely” Crowley answered, just as Aziraphale found the voice to say “Oh, I’m sure that won’t be necessary.”

“What?” Crowley looked down at him, shock on his face. “Angel, you said you were about to faint from blood loss.”

“From mild blood loss.” Aziraphale sat on the sofa and leaned back, suddenly feeling the need to have his head back. “ I was lightly stabbed-“

“-STABBED-”

“-LIGHTLY stabbed. It was a slight misunderstanding, but it’s all right now. The gentleman realized that his skills are much more suited for the painting of statues – if its not refreshed it fades to the white of the marble you know – and I thought I would feel perfectly better with a little bit of rest.” He opened his eyes to find Crowley staring at him. The demon seemed at a loss for words, almost frustrated as he stared at Aziraphale.

“Right, you’re seeing our healer,” the female voice said. Aziraphale turned to see the speaker clearly for the first time. She had long brown hair left lose and flowing over her shoulders, which somewhat covered what her sheer dress was clearly not designed to. “Don’t worry though” she said, as another woman smelling faintly of herbs carried a small bag from the adjoining room and sat down on a cushion next to the sofa, “sewing cuts is one of her specialties.”

“Oh, how lucky you are to have a medical professional on your own premises! Is that common around here?”

“One of us had to learn,” the girl he supposed was the healer said, as she leaned over him, pulling his robe around so she could see the wound. Her hair, unlike that of her compatriot’s, was bound, and she barely glanced at his face as she sat up to stick a knife near the fireplace and thread a needle. “Girls need babes delivered, or a customer gets violent when he doesn’t feel satisfied with his service.” She turned to see the shock on his face, and smiled. A thin thing, slight enough that with very little effort it could be turned into a scowl. “ Doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it pays to have someone with even basic midwifing skills around. For anything complicated we run for my teacher. Now this will hurt, so I’ll thank you not to cut my hand off.”

“All right.” Aziraphale had no intention of cutting her hand off, deciding just to ignore what she was doing. If he didn’t think about it, all he felt was a light tugging sensation. He opted to scan the room, now that his eyesight had recovered and his head felt light enough again to notice his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was that Crowley, who was now standing staring into the fire, had draped his cloak over Aziraphale’s legs. Then he saw that though the sitting room he was currently in was empty, he was being watched by numerous women, who were peering through the entrance of what looked to be a hallway. A few were wearing thin silk similar to the woman who had ushered them in, while others appeared to be wearing bright togas, or less. Aziraphale looked away quickly. “I do hope I didn’t disrupt anything. I would hate to be a bother.”

“Its fine,” a new voice came from the doorway, “we hardly have business at this time of day. In a couple hours though, you should probably be gone. I doubt you’ll have the stamina to keep up with our usual crowd.”

Aziraphale smiled briefly, but otherwise chose to ignore the snickers that came with that comment, and those from other women following it. He instead looked at the woman sitting in front of him, who had now taken her knife back from in front of the fire and was using it to cut and singe the ends of her thread. “Is that it then?”

“Just about.” She sat back and adjusted her toga, then began to repack her bag with the thread and needle, and other herb mixtures he hadn’t noticed her smear around the area. “You were lucky. It was only a small wound, and it had slowed bleeding enough that I could sew it up instead of cauterizing it.” He heard noises from the other girls then, sounds of disgust, and comments like “the smell takes forever to leave.” Crowley looked over at them, and they quickly grew silent.

“May I leave then?”

“I think you should lay there for a few more minutes, and hire a cart to carry you home, if you can afford it. I would definitely avoid going on any stairs for a while at least.” She stood up, and Crowley crossed the room to shake hands with her. He thought he might have seen the glimmer of coin pass between them. She turned to look at him once more before leaving the room, “I do hope you feel better soon.”

Crowley came and sat down by his feet. He had gotten a cup of wine somewhere and was sipping it slowly as he stared at the fire. Aziraphale cleared his throat, “so any interesting assignments lately?”

Crowley turned to look at him. “Really, Angel? That’s what you want to talk about? Not the fact that you were, as you said, ‘lightly stabbed’?”

“Not particularly.” They were silent for a few minutes. “I was just curious what came up the other day. I haven’t seen any major catastrophes around, so I thought you might have left the city.”

“Oh, that. No, it was nothing really. Just some demon drama. Nothing major, just some reports to sort out and all.”

“Oh.” Aziraphale went silent for a minute, looking at the demon’s profile. “Crowley, I-“

“There’s a cart here for you” a young boy ran in the door. He had to be 8 or 9, though Aziraphale reminded himself that he really had no idea how children aged. He had the nose of the first woman they had met. “He said he could take you anywhere you needed to go.”

“Oh. All right. Thank you very much.” With Crowley’s help he stood up and made his way towards the door. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Crowley flip the child a coin. Slithering softie.

Crowley helped him onto the cart and stood back. “Well, I’ll see you around Angel.”

“Oh, er, yes. Goodbye, Crowley. He gave the driver his address, then watched Crowley turn and disappear down a side street.

The next time they saw each other, a few months or millennia later, Crowley said that it was “good to see you well.” But that was all the mention they ever made of it. Aziraphale supposed that, to Crowley, it wasn’t anything to fuss over. Just an incident in their acquaintanceship, nothing more. And if it didn’t mean anything to him, then Aziraphale surely wasn’t going to bring it up. The fact that, in what might have been the most helpless moment of his existence, he felt instantly safe once he heard Crowley’s voice was irrelevant. Nor was the fact that he didn’t remember grabbing Crowley’s hand, they just naturally connected. Nothing worth fretting over, so he wasn’t going to mention it. Thanking him would only embarrass the demon.

And so, neither of them ever mentioned it again. Aziraphale certainly never thought about the feeling of Crowley’s hand when they were sitting next to each other on park benches feeding ducks. And why would Crowley ever feel the need to tense up when he saw Aziraphale within 100 meters of a sharp, malicious blade? That would be ridiculous, beyond suggestion. This incident meant nothing to either of them, so neither would ever admit thinking about it briefly every time they saw each other for the next few thousand years.

#my writing #good omens fanfiction #Ancient Roman setting #feedback is welcome #Happy New Year

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themurphyzone · 6 years ago

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World’s Greatest Dad Ch 3

This counts as my holiday story for the year.

Ch 3: Malls and Dolls

Vanessa was an impatient bundle of energy. Her snow boots thumped against the seat as Heinz drove into the parking garage. He made sure to pay close attention to the road, because he didn’t want an accident preventing him from becoming the World’s Greatest Dad.

“That van’s leaving, Dad!” Vanessa pointed to a black van that was backing out of a handicapped space.

It was tempting, but Heinz was evil. Not inconsiderate. And like any other driver, he preferred not being towed and fined. Charlene would never let him hear the end of it.

“Not that one, sweetie. We gotta keep looking,” Heinz said, another evil idea taking root in his head. A Parked Car Away-inator would be extremely useful in the future. Or maybe just one that specifically targeted monster trucks.

Oversized wheels screamed ‘look at me, I’m a jerk and can run you off the road when I feel like it’ anyway.

Vanessa pouted, resting her hand on her cheek. Heinz was losing patience at finding a parking space too, though he hoped Vanessa wouldn’t pick up on it. He wanted to be her role model, and role models didn’t gripe and complain about how busy the parking garage was during the holiday season.

He was certain he’d already set numerous bad examples for her. Which made it all the more important for this day to go smoothly.

Park car, enter mall, find toy store, buy doll, make Vanessa happy, gain title of World’s Greatest Dad in less than ten steps.

The epitome of easier said than done, really.

It took fifteen minutes for Heinz to find an empty space that wasn’t handicapped, limited time, or blocked by inconsiderate shoppers who couldn’t park within the lines. Unfortunately, the empty space was on the last floor of the parking garage, which exposed them to the bitter cold.

Given his usual luck, Heinz would probably have to dig the car out from a layer of ice and snow.

“Got your gloves?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Scarf?”

“Yes!”

“Hat?”

“I’m dressed! Can we go already?” Vanessa demanded, throwing open the car door with enough force that it almost crashed into the neighboring vehicle. The cold swept in, and Heinz quickly pulled on his gloves.

Heinz double-checked his coat pocket, taking special care to ensure that his wallet and car keys were in there. When was the last time he’d been this careful with his belongings anyway?

Once the car was locked up, they headed toward the elevator. Vanessa complained about Heinz holding her hand the entire way, but he wasn’t risking her slipping on the ice.

The elevator took its sweet time. Vanessa folded her arms, either from cold, frustration, or a combination of both. She leaned against Heinz’s legs as if trying to leech off some of his body heat.

His body type prevented her from getting that, however.

“So does Carrie McGuffin come in more colors or is it just one style only?” Heinz asked, trying to make conversation. Anything to distract them from the cold.

“You like saying her name wrong,” Vanessa said.

Heinz shrugged. “Eh, Jerry, Perry, Aries, there’s a lot of rhyming names out there. Hard to keep track.”

The elevator finally pinged, Vanessa perking up at the sound of the bell. The doors slid open, and Heinz had to grab Vanessa to prevent her from being run over by a woman with a trolley full of Christmas packages.

“Keep your kid out of the way,” she snapped, storming to her car in a huff.

Heinz glared at her. “You know, when I take over the Tri-State Area, your house and livelihood are the first things I’m destroying.”

“Dad, you better hurry!” Vanessa shouted.

Heinz managed to squeeze into the elevator before the doors shut, still thinking up various ways to rain down vengeance upon that woman for almost running over Vanessa.

“How come you’re always saying that stuff?” Vanessa asked, finally breaking the silence. The elevator was moving slower than Heinz would’ve liked.

“Saying what stuff?”

“The Tri-State Area. I don’t think you could be mayor.”

Great vote of confidence there, Heinz thought.

“When I do take over, you can be heiress. A Doofenshmirtz Dynasty sounds pretty appealing, don’t you think?”

Vanessa shrugged. “Don’t know. Can I still have my friends?”

“Depends. I’ll have to make sure none of them are interested in dating you first,” Heinz admitted. His own romantic history was lackluster at best and a flaming trainwreck at worst. Vanessa was actually much better at maintaining friendships than he’d ever been, but that just made him more worried that someone would emotionally harm her.

While there was no risk of getting hurt if you didn’t get close to someone, it wasn’t the kind of thing he felt comfortable teaching Vanessa.

Heinz breathed a sigh of relief when they finally made it to the ground floor of the parking garage. He didn’t fully understand why he wanted the Tri-State Area so badly, and he always came up empty when he tried to articulate his reasoning.

Vanessa would be more concerned about finding her doll.

Heinz held her hand, keeping her close so he didn’t lose her in the crowd of holiday shoppers. He held his breath through the perfume department, guiding Vanessa past the giggling packs of women and men who were struggling to decipher the various brands.

Vanessa coughed, waving the air in front of her face once they were safe from the onslaught of aromas. “Where’s the exit?” she asked.

“We’ll find it, don’t worry,” Heinz said. “Hopefully the rest of the mall doesn’t smell like ant pheromones and pollen.”

“Do you know what ant pheromones smell like?” Vanessa asked.

“No, no I don’t. Why would I know something like that?” Heinz said hastily. Thankfully, he could make out the entrance to the interior mall from his vantage point. “We’re almost there! Let’s go before they sell out!”

Vanessa scrutinized him as they headed for the directory. “You’re lying.”

Heinz coughed. “I’m not lying! When have I ever lied to you, sweetie?”

“You told me babies came from a magical doonkleberry patch.”

“You were five and you randomly sprung that question on me,” Heinz argued, figuring that now would be a good time to change the subject. “Anyway, where do you wanna head first?”

Five stores. They’d gone through five different toy stores and found nothing. Dozens of children were proudly displaying their brand new stuffed animals, video games, and toy vehicles.

Yet Vanessa was empty-handed.

And the World’s Greatest Dad title was slipping beyond his reach.

“There’s plenty of other dolls out there,” Heinz said. “I can get you one of those. What about the one that comes with the brushable horses? Seems like it would be popular enough.”

Vanessa crossed her arms. “I don’t want brushable horses.”

Heinz scanned the directory again, trying to remember which stores they’d already checked. “Just a suggestion. You can think about it. Okay, we aren’t going back to the one with the talking hyena mascot. That’s for sure.”

That toy store had the worst selection Heinz had ever seen in his life. Even Drusselsteinian toy stores had more variety. And those only sold branches and mushrooms!

Dolly’s Dollhouse didn’t carry Mary McGuffin either. Which was strange, considering ‘doll’ was in their name twice. It was a very blatant case of false advertising.

The third store was more video game-oriented, and the last two catered to the young boy crowd.

As he debated cutting his losses and accepting that he’d never be the World’s Greatest Dad, Vanessa pointed to the name of a store.

“Unlimited Two?” Heinz said in confusion. “That’s a toy store?”

Vanessa nodded. “A lot of girls in my school have Unlimited Two clothes. And they sell toys.”

Just what he needed. A brand name store. That’s what he deserved for not paying attention to the trends among today’s youth.

But it wouldn’t hurt to look, right?

“Dad, let’s go! It’s gotta be in that one!” Vanessa exclaimed.

According to the map, Unlimited Two was located on the other side of the mall. His legs were going to be really sore in the morning from all this walking and banging into oversized shopping bags.

Vanessa’s energy returned, and she was trying to run off with renewed vigor. But Heinz kept a tight hold of her hand. He didn’t want to lose her in the crowd.

The headlines he’d read yesterday flashed through his mind, and that made it all the more important for Heinz to not lose her. He didn’t want Vanessa making front page news because some wacko wanted a doll too.

“Almond brittle! Limited holiday edition!” someone called.

Unable to resist, Heinz walked over to the booth.

The vendor’s smile looked absolutely forced, probably due to the strain of the season. “Buy a box and sign up for our online membership! Ten dollars to join and we’ll send you coupons for our products via email.”

Her intonation was seriously creeping him out, so he quickly paid for two boxes of almond brittle and got out of there before she could ask him to do anything else.

“What a creep,” Heinz muttered. “I couldn’t resist almond brittle. Best snack of all time. You should try it sometime. Come on, Vanessa. Let’s go find that Ari McGuffin.”

No response.

“Vanessa, I know you’re probably mad at me for making that detour but it’s not gonna happen again. I promise,” Heinz said.

“Who’s that man talking to, Mommy?”

“Walk away, Johnny. Walk away. We don’t speak to crazy pharmacists.”

“I’m an evil scientist, lady!” Heinz yelled at their retreating backs. “Get your occupations straight!”

Heinz cursed his poor impulse control when it came to almond brittle.

Vanessa was nowhere in sight. She must’ve run off when he was distracted by the vendor. Running a hand through his hair, Heinz took deep, shuddering breaths.

She could be anywhere. Even outside the mall. This place was a labyrinth!

“No, this can’t be happening. Okay, it is happening. Vanessa’s on her own cause you just had to buy some almond brittle. I can’t help it. I like almond brittle. Yeah. Okay? Okay,” Heinz murmured, drawing more curious stares from passersby. “Focus, Heinz. You lost your daughter, you get her back. What are you gonna tell Charlene if she finds out? Um, hi. Yes, I lost our daughter because we were looking for a doll and I got distracted by some almond brittle. By the way, could you start calling hospitals in the Tri-State Area to make sure Vanessa wasn’t admitted to them?”

Heinz slumped onto a bench to catch his breath, tearing a nearby pamphlet to shreds to get his frustration out. Before he could rip apart the next strip, a pair of words caught his eye.

Unlimited Two.

He was holding a map of the mall layout! That was it! That’s where they were going!

Heinz broke into a sprint, dodging strollers and not caring if mall security was going to be on his tail for this.

The bright neon letters of Unlimited Two were in sight. It felt like an eternity, but he made it.

Forcing himself to slow down, Heinz took a deep breath. The sections closest to the front were clothes and hair accessories, all of which seemed too colorful and bright. He spotted a shelf full of large stuffed animals in the back, and figured that would be his best chance.

He rounded the corner, breathing a sigh of relief. Vanessa was here.

She was safe.

“Vanessa! What were you thinking?” Heinz scolded, reminding himself to choose his words carefully so she didn’t run off again. “You could’ve gotten hurt, or kidnapped, or something else! You know better than to pull something like this! What would your mother-”

Vanessa wasn’t defending herself. Strands of brunette hair were plastered to her face. Heinz cut off his tirade, deciding to save it for later. Heinz gently brushed her hair out of her eyes.

When he pulled away, his gloves were slightly wet.

Her eyes were tinged red.

She was crying.

Wordlessly, Vanessa pointed to the display in front of them.

Mary McGuffin! The Lovin’ ‘n Laughin’ Muffin! $13.99!

But the display was empty.

Unlimited Two is just my parody of Justice, or Limited Too as they used to be called. I got a few Webkinz from that place. It’s one of those interior mall stores. The stuff there is mostly for young girls. Kinda expensive too.

I like making them suffer. I’m not sorry.

#phineas and ferb #world's greatest dad #heinz doofenshmirtz #vanessa doofenshmirtz #fanfiction

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k-i-s-m-e-t · 7 years ago

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Secret Santa

TianShan Xmas Event: Presents (Day 2) Fandom: 19 days Rating: Mature Status: 1/2 Warnings: None Pairing: TianShan Words: 4,102

Summary: Based on this freaking hilarious & amazing prompt!! I hope you don’t mind that I ran with it. I’m not sure this is what you expected but hey lol enjoy!

When Mo took the volunteer job at the mall, he had done so begrudgingly. It was punishment after all, brought about by boiled-over frustration that had fueled the language he’d used to respond to his teacher’s inquiries about his tardiness. It was the third time that week he’d been late. Put on the spot, he didn’t know how to explain that money was always tight around the holidays and he’d been walking to and from school each morning in lieu of the train.

He was monopolizing any place he could cut some corners to save a few dollars. The allowance he got wasn’t much, but he saved as much of it as possible. This year he’d told himself he’d get his mom something good for Christmas. He hated seeing that overjoyed look on her face when she opened his handmade or cheap gifts. Like the “Mom of the Year” plaque he’d made in shop class last year that she boasted about having on her desk at the hospital, or the cheap earrings he’d bought at a stand she still wore proudly several times a week. A person like her deserved better, she deserved the world, and it frustrated him that he was just a broke high school student.

Getting a job was, “Completely out of the question!” she’d barked when he had off-handedly mentioned it. It was her duty to provide for him, not the other way around. If they needed to make ends meet, she’d work double shifts, he couldn’t afford to slack off on his studies.

Seeing his taken-aback expression, she’d softened instantly. “I know you mean well honey,” she’d said a hand cupping his cheek, “but we’re doing fine.”

The command to, “See me after class!” had been given on the spot and when the bell rang Mo hung back, dread setting in. He waited until the room cleared before even considering approaching his teacher’s desk.

Taking a breath, he stood and gathered his belongings, packing them up slowly, stalling for time. Sweat from his palms smeared along the cover of his history textbook as he fumbled with it, slick fingers shoving it into his bag. He nearly yanked the zipper off his bag when his name is called.

The walk to the front from his back-row seat seemed infinite, blood pulsing in his ears, each step forward magnified in the now empty classroom. But then he was there, hanging back a few steps as if proximity could diminish his impending punishment. He figured this slip-up would earn him a few days minimum in detention.

“What?” Mo spat standing uncomfortably in front of the teacher’s desk. Agitation amounting from anticipation.

The man looked up with a raised eyebrow.

“Watch your tone with me, that little outburst you had this morning coupled with your tardiness has you looking at a week-long suspension right now.”

“What the fuck!” Mo exploded.

The man slammed his open palm down on the desk. “Language!”

Mo flinched.

He pointed a finger level with Mo’s chest. “One more offense like that and we can finish this conversation in the principal’s office.”

Mo clenched his fists, seething, he could feel his temper flaring but he nodded. A week long fucking suspension? His mom was going to kill him.

“As of today you have been tardy 13 times! 13! And you don’t just show up five minutes late, oh no! Sometimes you stroll in here 20 to 30 minutes late. I need an explanation for this, it’s completely unacceptable!”

When Mo remained silent the man rubbed at his temples, trying to ease the tension gathered there, then sighed.

“Look Guan Shan, I’ve seen a significant amount of improvement in your schoolwork and behavior this year. I’m proud of you. I don’t want to see you start backsliding, got it?”

“Got it,” Mo mumbled.

“Look, let’s make a deal: The Humanitarian Club, which I lead, needs a few more volunteers for our Santa’s Workshop at the mall. We desperately need a photographer as our current one recently got sick with the flu and I know one of your electives this year was photography. I’ve seen your work and I’m pretty confident in your ability. You’d just have to take photos of the kids sitting on Santa’s lap.”

“I..” Mo hesitated.

“Don’t feel pressured to do it but.. I’ll be frank with you, it’s either this or suspension. At least this won’t show up on your record. Also, I’d need you to be able to commit to doing it for two weeks, just until our photographer gets better.”

An image of his mother’s disappointed face flashed through his mind, he sighed… but two weeks?

“Ok, when do I start?”

His teacher smiled, glasses glinting. “Today.”

That afternoon Mo found himself at the local mall, and as the automatic doors slid open he was immediately engulfed in a retail wonderland, Christmas style. He wandered around for a bit, window shopping, eyes drinking in the season’s assortment of clothing and trainers in his favorite shop’s windows.

Truth be told, he wasn’t exactly sure where he was supposed to meet for this volunteer job, he hadn’t really paid attention to the details. He been too relieved that he wouldn’t have to explain to his mother his suspension and could instead spin the situation in his favor, as doing some community service out of the goodness of his own heart, having caught the holiday spirit. Yeah… she was going to see right through that lie.

In the food court he made his rounds, filling up on free samples to stave off his hunger until dinner. As he exited the half circle of vendors he could see a Santa’s Workshop display near the children’s play area. Tossing the toothpick the last sample had been on, he shouldered his backpack and headed over.

The site was bustling and he could recognize plenty of familiar faces from school. A few eyed him warily given his delinquent reputation, but most were absorbed in their duties.

Amid the group he spied Zhan and felt his body relax, not realizing how much tension had built up. This might not be so bad after all, he thought. Zhan barely talked but neither did he, at least he knew someone here.

“You too?” He inquired as he approached, bumping Zhan’s outstretched fist.

“In a way, my mom’s part of the PTA,” he stated as if that explained everything. “Apparently they never get enough volunteers.”

“Where’s Jian Yi?”

“Why do you assume he’d be here? We don’t do everything together.”

Mo waited.

Zhan sighed. “He had clean-up duty after school & caught a later train, he should be here in a few.”

“Alright everyone,” a bespectacled girl addressed the group. Movement halted as everyone paused giving her their full attention.

“Last week was great and we had an amazing turn out!” Many in the group clapped and whistled.

“Let’s try to do even better this week,” she laughed. “You know your positions, if you have any questions don’t hesitate to talk to me. Let’s go out there and spread some holiday cheer!” A few whooped in response, Mo rolled his eyes.

They all drifted to their respective roles, and as the crowd thinned the girl’s eyes fell on him.

“Oh, it’s you,” she sighed in annoyance. Mo recognized her as his class rep from middle school. The same one that had demanded he stop playing cards on school time.

“Pleasure to see you too,” he quipped.

“Save it, come on so we can get you set up and out of my hair.”

Off to the side there was a trolley parked with several suitcases stacked on top, she pulled off the topmost one, resting it gently on the floor and unzipped it. Nestled between foam cushioning laid the nicest camera Mo had ever seen, let alone touched. She removed it from its casing and held it out to him.

“You’ll be shooting with this.”

Taking it gingerly from her, he cradled it carefully in both hands. The DSLR was a larger model, a Nikon D series, he tested its weight, pleased that it was nice and solid, felt good in his hands. He ran his fingers along the textured gripping on the side. The lens he could tell came standard but the depth it could shoot was still considerable. He’d be able to get plenty of clear, close up shots. Damn he was in love, he would in a few words, totally fuck this camera. It was sexy as hell and sensitive to the touch. Bringing it up to his face, he aligned the eyepiece carefully along the curve of his cheek and brow, lightly pressed the shutter release. The smooth click of the shutter opening and closing was music to his ears, like the purr on a nice sports car. He thumbed at the playback button to review the photo. It was displayed on the screen in crisp quality; a Christmas tree in a store front effortlessly preserved in time.

“Nice,” Mo breathed.

“The photos you take will save automatically & transfer immediately to that computer station,” she pointed “where we display them to allow parents to pick their favorite. There’s a tripod in that bag too that you’ll shoot from, you just need to set up in front of Santa’s chair. All I ask is, that at the end of the night you box everything up just how you found it.”

“Sounds easy enough, so all I have to do is take the pictures.”

“Yea, try not to fuck it up. Oh, also ruin that camera and I’ll kill you.”

“Noted.”

“Oh, one more thing.” She unfolded an elf hat, and held it out to him. “I need you to wear this.”

“I’m not wearing that,” Mo said dismissively.

A hand clutched his forearm and she looked up into his face, light obscuring her eyes behind thick frames, “Yes, you are.”

“Okay, okay!” Mo exclaimed. What the hell was wrong with these people??

To their left a child bounded down the roped off line, dragging his mother behind him.

She patted his arm. “You’re on.”

Once Mo set up the camera and tripod, which he would admit he struggled with, just a tad, things ran smoothly.

The first few kids, though excited, followed his instructions to smile and say cheese. The student playing Santa he was sure helped facilitate the process, the guy was really good with kids. He greeted them in a cheery manner and made them feel comfortable. He even calmed a watery-eyed little girl, wiped her tear streaked cheeks and got her to smile wide for the camera.

Mo couldn’t help but find himself chuckling at some of the jokes he could hear exchanged or Santa’s reactions to their wish lists. It softened his mood and he found himself greeting the parents and kids in similar pleasant manner. He was almost disappointed when 7:30 rolls around and they close-up shop for the day. Almost. Gathering up the camera and tripod he carried them both back to the trolley; unzipped the travel bag and folded up the tripod stowing it neatly in its compartment. Before packing up the camera he pressed the playback button, cycling through the images he’d taken over the past few hours, mentally making notes of where he’d succeeded and how he could improve.

“Nice work today,” a voice said and he was ashamed of the brief scream he emitted.

“Could you announce yourself.”

The class rep leaned back, a smirk on her face. “Where’s the fun in that? Anyways, I saw the shots you took, good thing your stay is only temporary or our current photographer would be out of a job.”

“I…”

“You’re talented, glad to have you on the team. I’ll see you tomorrow,” she clasped his shoulder briefly before walking away.

Mo soaked in her words, a newfound vigor guiding his actions as he popped out the camera’s battery and stuck it into a portable charger to power-up overnight. I’m… talented.

The words carried him afloat as he left, waving an honest goodbye to the few stragglers. Zhan was still hanging around the set and Mo moved to see if wanted to walk home together but the other politely declined. Mo could see Jian Yi cleaning up the and he gets it. No explanation needed.

The high got him through the sliding doors of the mall exit only to be knocked flat on his ass.

He was blinded for a few seconds as the stupid elf hat he forgot to take off is knocked askew covering his eyes. Rage ensued.

“Who in the mother fuck is looking for death?!”

He ripped the hat off and was met with an outstretched hand in his face. Genuinely confused he looked up as the owner of the hand chuckled.

Fucking He Tian, of course.

“Don’t you have a graveyard to lurk in?” Mo bit out irritably, and smacked away the offered hand.

“Are you implying that I’m the grim reaper? I like that,” He Tian purred.

“That wasn’t a compliment.” Mo got gingerly to his feet, dusted his pants.

“Why are you even here? The mall’s closed.”

“I was doing some shopping,” he gestured to the small bag dangling from his wrist.

Mo could tell by the bag’s logo it was from some pricey jewelry store. He rolled his eyes. “Fancy gift for one of your admirers, I’m sure.”

“Not quite,” He Tian said but didn’t offer an explanation.

“Anyways, I gotta get going so are we done here?”

“I can’t lie you look pretty cute in that get-up,” He Tian said, looking him up and down. “Why don’t you come sit on my lap.”

“Yeah, you’re about the 5th guy to spit that line today,” Mo remarked pushing past him. “Try again.”

“Hmm okay, you know you’re pretty cute when you’re wrapped up in your own little world.”

“The hell kind of comment is that?”

“I saw you walking, you looked content with yourself. A nice change from your usual mad at the world persona.”

“And for this you chose to knock me on my ass.”

“You bumped into me, actually.”

“Right.”

“Why don’t you let me walk you home?”

“How ‘bout no?” Mo said stalking off. Body tensed in anticipation of the strong arm he knew would swing around his shoulders and drag him off anyways but nothing came.

He glanced over his shoulder but He Tian was gone. Weird.

The next day wasn’t as easy as the first. It was, in short, mild chaos.

Mo bounced a screaming baby on his hip as the mother and Santa tried to console its twin. He looked down into her ruddy face, eyes squeezed shut, tiny fists balled as she opened her mouth, silent for a few seconds catching her breath, little body vibrating with the subdued rage she planned to unleash. Mo sighed steeling himself for another round of screaming.

‘Why are you crying? You have no real problems, fuck I should be crying.’

“Say cheese,” he dead panned as the mother finally stepped out of the frame, the other child momentarily consoled.

The baby looked surprised in the picture but at least he wasn’t crying. Good enough. Handing over twin number two to Santa, he glanced at the endless line of parents and toddlers.

“Let’s get this over with.”

Click!

The daily 15-minute breaks were heaven sent and he executed his usual system of hitting up the food court, stopping at every food place offering free samples. By the time he had reached the end, his appetite was comfortably sated. There was still about ten minutes left before he was due for the second half of his shift so he sat on a bench nearby, pulled out his phone to review his finances. The amount he’d saved up so far gave him enough bandwidth to explore several options but he still had no clue what to buy his mom for Christmas. After making this much effort it had to be good, memorable, but what do you get the woman that claimed she had everything she’d ever wanted. He rested his chin in his hand in defeat. Ughh, this shouldn’t be so hard. The bench jostled and he glanced to his left, surprised to see Santa sitting next to him.

“Hey.” the guy offered, voice muffled by the giant white beard that obscured most of his face. One hand shifted his belly so he could sit comfortably.

“Hey..” Mo returned.

“Nice job out there today, I didn’t know you were so good with kids.”

“Likewise man, today was.. something else.”

Santa cracked open a bottle of water, taking a few gulps. “Yeah we have days like that but it’s generally smooth sailing.”

They sat in silence for a bit, the soft murmur of the bustling mall and crinkling of the water bottle drifted between them.

“You.. can’t take the costume of?” Mo asked, breaking the silence.

“Nah, can’t risk one of the kids seeing me and realizing Santa’s not a chubby jolly old white dude. Imagine if they found out he isn’t only not real but a high-schooler.

Mo laughed. “They’ll find out sooner or later.”

“That’s cold man,” Santa said but his grey eyes twinkled behind the spectacles.

Mo shrugged, checked his phone. “Crap, breaks up. I’ll see you back at the workshop.”

Santa raised an arm in farewell. “See you.”

Mo jogged the short distance back, but couldn’t shake the odd feeling that he knew Santa. He couldn’t place why exactly, but the costume restrictions made it difficult to see what he looked like and his voice didn’t sound familiar. Whatever, he would ask him his name next time he had a chance.

As soon as he stepped back on site the class rep ushered him back to the camera, scolding him about tardiness being why he was here in the first place.

Face breaking into a scowl, all previous thoughts vanished from his mind as he double-checked the camera battery supply and adjusted the lighting. He’d just finished tidying up around Santa’s chair when the guy returned from break. Mo resumed his place at the camera as the line reopened and mildly subdued chaos ensued.

Two days down. A week and a half to go.

“Who the fuck are you supposed to be? Rudolph?” Mo addressed Jian Yi as he unpacked the camera and tripod for his shift.

“No,” Jian Yi sniffled, wiping at his vividly red nose. “I’m sick. I think I caught something from one of these brats.” He sneezed, open mouthed of course, snot and drool dripping.

“Gross dude, cover your mouth, you aren’t five,” Mo muttered hastily gathering his supplies so he could vacate the area asap.

Every day that passed without coming to a decision on what to get his mom was making him more and more irritable. Walking out to the set, camera at the ready, the sounds of crying increased the closer he got, an opposing battle cry.

Please, just take me now.

When his break came around, he found himself anticipating the arrival of Santa. It’s not like Mo was looking for the guy or anything. Yet meeting up had become almost an unspoken ritual, in the same vein as Mo forgetting to ask for his name.

The question was always at the forefront of his mind but the guy was hilarious and Mo became easily swept up in the conversation, usually not realizing he had again forgotten to ask until he arrived home that night.

This time the guy showed up with dumplings that keep Mo’s mouth occupied the majority of the conversation, as pickings were light in the free sample area. A few of the vendors had caught on to his scheme and conveniently weren’t handing out samples when he came by.

“Can you believe that last kid spat up on me? I’m never having kids,” Santa declared shaking his head in disbelief.

“Yeah sucks to be you,” Mo chewed thoughtfully. They were quiet for a bit.. “Hey,” Mo started “This is kind of random but what’s your name? I didn’t catch it the first time we talked.”

Santa paused, swallowed. “It’s uh Li Jie,” he said slowly.

“Oh.” Unfamiliar. “I guess I don’t know you after all, I know pretty much everyone at school.”

“I tend to blend with the crowd,” he shrugged, eyes focused on the waning dumplings.

“That’s cool,” Mo said, popping another piece into his mouth. “Me too.”

The week ended and casually spilled into the next. Mo had gotten used to the ebb and flow of the volunteer job, and could proudly say his photography skills had improved considerably. Li Jie and he were becoming good friends but there was something off about never actually having seen the guy out of costume, which Mo joked about. Actors like Li Jie, along with a few others who played Santa’s elves had to get dressed in the mall restroom or come already in garb. Li Jie had a habit of disappearing by the time Mo had finished packing up the camera equipment for the night. He had even invited the guy over for dinner one day but Li Jie had politely declined claiming he was behind on his schoolwork. Understandable, given the fact that they spent three hours after school at the workshop. He had promised to come by once the job ended, a week after Mo’s punishment. Mo had even vented to him about his struggles in finding his mother the perfect Christmas gift, asking him what he should get her.

“You know your mom best,” he had said. “I’m sure she’ll appreciate any gift you give her. Just remember it’s not about the price but the meaning behind it. If the effort comes from a good place, which I know it does, she’ll love it.”

It had brightened his mood at the time but he still wasn’t sure what to get her.

As much as Mo thought he understood life and might even be one step ahead, it had a way of knocking him back ten feet when he least expected it.

“10-4, we gotta brat,” Jian Yi muttered off to his left, pretending to be occupied with adjusting decorations on the set’s Christmas tree.

Mo twisted on his stool, turned his attention to the line, eyes widening as he watched a mother wrangle her screaming daughter into her arms and walk up to Santa’s chair. The girl had a handful of her Mother’s hair and was yelling for all she was worth, limbs flailing.

“Man,” Zhan whispered, “my sister was bad but never like this. “I hope this guy can handle her.”

Mo watched for a reaction from said Santa but it was hard to gauge anything given how much of his face the beard obscured.

The mother looked embarrassed and nervous as she handed the screaming child over to Santa. Mo had to give it to him, the guy was composed, bouncing the girl on his knee, cooing to her, easily calming the crocodile tears. The mother beamed at the turn of events, whipping out her phone to snap a few tear-streaked pictures.

Mo relaxed, relieved to see the situation easily diffused, his heart bloomed a bit in pride for his friend, which he quelled, brain cycling through the mental gymnastics of why he doesn’t actually really care.

Mo had to give it to the guy, he was really good, he watched as Santa leaned in, beard tickling the little girl in his lap, she giggled in response. At this point the lines were rehearsed and Mo could imagine him asking her what she wanted for Christmas. She pondered, tiny face scrunched up in clearly serious thought, then suddenly a tiny fist shot out and she yanked his bread down around his chin.

Mo was on his feet instantly, because no, no way, this couldn’t be happening.

“Ah shit,” he heard Zhan mutter off to his left.

Mo turned on him.

“You knew,” his voice cracked. Zhan looked pained.

“10-4 He Tian is fucking Santa!” Jian Yi whispered loudly behind them. “He’s fucking Santa, are you guys seeing this!”

“Who’s fucking Santa?” another student offered with a snicker.

“Guan Shan..” Zhan said, but Mo doesn’t want to hear it. He felt nauseous and too hot, his hands shaking, felt like couldn’t breathe as if all the air had been sucked out of the space. Mo bolted because fuck this, he would rather have suspension. He can’t believe how stupid he was, how oblivious he’d been, everyone must have known but him. What a fool.

Sorry not sorry to leave y’all on a cliff hanger but part two will come out on Day 5, so if you enjoyed this stay tuned, resolution come soon ;D

As always thanks for reading, your comments & tags give me life x

#19 days #tianshanchristmasevent #tianshan #he tian #mo guan shan #my writing #kis writes

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kpoptart216 · 8 years ago

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The Arrangement (pt 7)

A/N: I lied, the angst shall come in the upcoming part.

When you and Jimin returned to your parents, still holding hands, you found all four huddled near Jimin’s mom’s phone, staring at something.

“Look at how cute they are!” she practically squealed. You saw your parents also smiling warmly at the screen.

“Hey, what do you got there?” Jimin asks, startling everyone as they didn’t see you both return.

“Oh, just the photo I took this morning!” his mom said, not even trying to hid it.

“eomma!” Jimin protested.

“What, it’s cute. Take a look for yourself” she said as she handed you both the phone. You and Jimin looked at the photo and you felt yourself blush looking at the picture. You both looked so….comfortable. So peaceful even. You could have fooled anyone. But of course, you both were actually going to be trying now right?

“At this rate, we can be expecting grandchildren in no time!” His mom continued.

“EOMMA!” Jimin protested again, this time even louder.

“WHAT? We’re not going to lie, we figured it would take you both to get to know each other and get comfortable being a married couple but you guys seem to be getting along wonderfully. Well of course, it’s been a few months since you’ve been married, but still! And we’re not going to live forever, is it so bad to want grandchildren already?” his mom whined back.

You and Jimin just stood there, flustered.

The following weeks were….pretty great. You and Jimin followed a similar routine from before his parents had arrived at your house, but you two were far more comfortable with each other. Many nights, you both stayed up hours learning more and more about each other.

One night, you were about to start getting the groceries ready for cooking when Jimin’s father had come to the kitchen.

“Me and the Mrs. are going to have a date of our own tonight Y/N, so no need to make dinner for us as well. Why don’t you and Jimin go on a date too!” He said excitedly. Jimin’s father was dressed for his date, and you couldn’t help but smile.

“How do you the two of you do it?” You ask.

“Do what honey?” he asked.

“Be in love as if it’s the first day?” you said, smiling almost sadly. Would you ever had what Jimin’s parents had? What your own parents had?

“Me and Jimin’s mom… we were like you and Jimin. We also had an arranged marriage. And back then, I was dreading it. But the moment I saw Jimin’s mom, I knew I was whipped. I strongly believe that we are soulmates. And because our marriage is so happy, we only wanted the same for Jimin. We were so worried that the two of you wouldn’t get along, but looks like we didn’t have anything to worry about after all” He said warmly. You only smiled in response. “Good night, sweety” he said, as he retreated back to go and get his wife.

As they were heading out the door, they ran into none other than Jimin. “Are you two going somewhere?” he asked.

“We’re going on a date!” his mother chimes.

“Oh, have fun!” Jimin says.

“Yah, why don’t you take Y/N out too? You two haven’t had much alone time since we moved in. This is as much for you guys as it is for us” his father whispers as he heads out the door.

“Bye kids! Don’t wait up for us!” his mother says loudly as she closes the door behind them, leaving a flustered Jimin standing at the door, looking towards you.

“Hey you” you say, smiling at him,

“Hey” he says, smiling back.

“What are you in the mood for? Looks like it’s just us for dinner” you say, looking back at the groceries.

“I was thinking Chinese? How about instead of staying in, you can show me that Chinese place you were talking about? I still need to know if it’s better than my place after all” he said, smiling as he ran his hands through his hair.

You jumped a little in excitement. You were tired today and cooking was the last thing on your mind when you got back from work, so this was a treat. And if you were looking into it, it was your first date with Jimin.

Jimin smiled at your excitement. He realized he had just asked you out…on a date. Why was that so weird, you were his wife after all.

“I’ll be ready in a few!” you said, as you almost ran back to the room to change. You looked through your wardrobe, wondering what to wear tonight. Should you dress up? Or go casual? Or would that seem like you didn’t care? But you also didn’t want him to think that you were trying too hard? You quickly scanned through the entirety of your clothes, and finally settled on some dark skinny jeans and your favorite baby pink blouse.

Jimin had changed quickly outside in the bedroom while you were getting ready, but he too found himself skimming through his wardrobe wondering what to wear. He put on some cologne, making sure it wasn’t overwhelming and headed back to the living room to wait for you.

As you soon came out, he found himself staring at you again. He now had no problem admitting to himself that you were beautiful. The skinny jeans did your legs some justice as they showcased them beautifully. The baby pink was a lovely color that matched your skin tone and your loose curls flowed freely. You were truly stunning no matter what you wore.

“Is there something on my face…?” you asked when you noticed him staring. You started to wipe at your cheeks and looked at your hands, expecting something to be there.

“Oh..no no, it’s nothing” Jimin said as he smiled and stood up.

You spent the car ride to the restaurant talking about both of your days and eventually started talking about your respective companies. The ride the restaurant was somewhat quick, so your conversation easily flowed even as you sat down at a table. You knew the staff here quite well, even the chef as it was somewhere you frequented.

The chef came out to greet you and as you held a small conversation with him, Jimin couldn’t stop looking at your smile as you talked to the elderly man. It was then that he realized he hadn’t met one person who didn’t like you. You were well liked by just about everyone and you treated everyone with respect, no matter how rich you were. That was not something he could say for most of the girls he knew, especially his ex.

“Do you have anything in particular you would like to try?” you asked him suddenly, bringing Jimin out of his trance.

“Uhhh” he said as he looked at the menu, realizing he never got the chance to go through it. “Why don’t you just order for us?” he said, not wanting to waste more time.

You ended up ordering Jimin’s favorite and some other dishes as well. He couldn’t help but feel warm when he realized that you had remembered so much about him.

The food arrived shortly after and Jimin found you staring at him eagerly as he went to go take his first bite, as if you made the food yourself. With the first bite he knew, this place was clearly the winner. The food was delicious, and even though it was a much smaller restaurant and a family run restaurant nonetheless, the taste was far superior. He turned to look back up at you, waiting to eat after hearing his verdict.

“Ok ok…you…you win” he said

“Yes!!” you said, a little louder than you were working. Some people turned to look in your direction and you became flustered immediately. “oops” you said, finally reaching out to eat some food of your own.

“How was the food sweety?” the old man asked when both you and Jimin were near done eating.

“You have truly outdone yourself once again Ajusshi. It’s amazing” you said, smiling at him.

“I’m glad you and your husband enjoyed my food” he said, as he took some of the empty plates away.

“Do you have any room for dessert or are you going down to the dessert stand again?” the man asked as he was about to walk away.

“Hhm…I think I’ll take him to the dessert stand if you don’t mind. I’ll get some dessert here next time!” she said, excitedly. Soon after, you and Jimin paid and left the restaurant. Jimin walked towards his car, but you dragged him away. “It’s only a little walk away from here. Can we walk?” you asked. The weather at night was so pleasant and you couldn’t let go of the opportunity to spend time outside.

“Sure” he said. You two walked side by side and while it was silent between the two of you for the first time tonight, it was comfortable. Jimin was taking in the scene as he saw all the shops and restaurants nearby. There was a small park to the corner and he could soon smell something sweet in the air. You were just smiling at the pleasant weather, smiling at just about everything.

“Here we are!” you said a few minutes later. You both had walked up to a small little dessert stand right across from the park. The vendor knew you quite well too, since you would usually get dessert here after having dinner at the chinese restaurant.

The had a relatively small menu, but they were well known for their fish waffles with soft serve ice cream on top. You knew Jimin secretly had a sweet tooth, and you could see a small smile on his face when he saw all the options.

“Do you know what you want? I’ve tried I think everything here” you say happily.

“Uhh I don’t know Y/N! Just get me one of whatever you’re having” he says, turning back to you.

You turn to face the handsome man operating the stand. “I’ll have two of the regulars oppa” you say.

“Wah, Y/N, haven’t seen you much since you got married” he says, as he starts to fill the waffle iron. Jimin figured you both were going to get the waffle ice cream dessert, but why did you call him oppa?

“Oppa?” he asked, not being able to hold back?

“Yeah, he’s a neighborhood oppa! Me and my parents used to live somewhere nearby when I was a kid and my dad would bring me here a lot as a kid. Me and Jae Hyun oppa grew up together I guess!” you said.

“Yeah, but she doesn’t come by a lot anymore. Not since you two got married anyways. It’s nice to meet you!” Jae Hyun says as he reaches a hand out to Jimin. Jimin shook his hand, and though he was slightly jealous of your relationship with him, he knew it was harmless.

“Same ice cream as usual?” he asks you.

“Uhm, I’ll have the caramel ice cream. Jimin what do you want to try?” you ask.

“Uh, I’ll have the chocolate” Jimin says, quickly skimming through the flavors they had available. Soon after, you both picked your toppings and said farewell to Jae Hyun after paying.

“Do you want to walk around the park for a bit while we eat this? I wouldn’t want to spill anything in your car” you offered.

“Sure, that sounds nice” he said. He doesn’t really remember the last time he was on a proper date. Although he didn’t know if this was considered one since you were practically leading the way. But that didn’t stop his heart from beating as if it were a first date. He hadn’t had one of those in…years. Not since high school. It was always casual hook ups. Nothing lasted long, except for the relationship with his ex that lasted about half a year. He had soon realized the relationship was toxic and she was only out for his money, so he cut it off with her.

Jimin didn’t know if he liked the dinner or dessert more, but he knew that he liked spending the time with you. Any of his “dates” would always recommend all the high end places for dinner, so this was actually a real treat. You both strolled the park, that was not too busy this time at night. A few people walking here and there. A few other couples too. Jimin was surprised by how comfortable he was in this situation. He was thoroughly enjoying the night, and any stress he had was slowly melting away, like the ice cream in the waffle. It reminded him of his childhood, when his life wasn’t so full of worries.

You two eventually sat at a little bench facing a little playground.

“Hey, I think there’s something on top of your ice cream!” Jimin says, pointing to the ice cream peeking out of the fish’s mouth.

“What?” you look down at the ice cream and find nothing out of the ordinary. But before you knew it, Jimin had placed his hand under your hand that was holding the dessert and push it up slightly, causing your nose to land on the ice cream. You felt the cold sensation on your nose.

“Yah!” you almost yelled. “Why’d you do that?!” you asked, but now laughing. You couldn’t help but laugh at the situation,

Jimin let out a hearty laughter. You looked absolutely adorable with the ice cream on your nose and around your mouth, even though it was just a little. Luckily, you had a napkin and wiped it off shortly after.

“I used to do that all the time when I was a kid. No one saw it coming!” he said, thinking he had got the best of you. But while he laughed, you took your ice cream and shoved it lightly on his face. He stopped laughing immediately and looked at you in shock.

“No…YOU didn’t see it coming!” you giggled as you handed him a clean napkin. He started laughing again, realizing that you had got him good.

You both then sat there in a comfortable silence, just looking out on the empty playground. The breeze blew threw ever so lightly and Jimin turned to look at you. Your hair blew beautifully along with the breeze and the moonlight illuminated wonderfully on your skin. He scanned the outline of your face, and when he eyes landed on the side of your lips, he started to laugh again.

“What?” you asked, turning to him. “What’s so funny?” you asked again. He just kept laughing. “Well come on, do share what’s funny! I want to know!” you said, nudging him a little at his side.

“You just have a little ice cream left” he said. pointing to the side of your lips. You tried to wipe it away with your napkin but you couldn’t find the spot. Jimin just laughed as you tried to clean yourself. You were so darn cute, he thought.

He grabbed the napkin from your hand and turned to face you better as you did the same when you felt him take the napkin from your hands. By now, the ice cream had somewhat hardened on your lips, so it was a little harder to wipe off. Jimin inched closer to you, and your heart started to beat uncontrollably fast and you were sure you were a deep red. Jimin soon realized how close he was too, and his initial reaction was to back away. But he was entrapped in your eyes. And without thinking twice, he placed his lips on yours gently. At first, he was scared to even move his lips thinking you wouldn’t kiss him back and truthfully you were a little stiff from the shock. But despite his fears, he slowly moved his lips and he loved the warmth and softness of your lips. And not to mention the sweetness from the ice-cream. He made a mental note to get the caramel ice-cream the next time you both came back.

You really didn’t see it coming. His plump lips on yours felt like heaven. And when he started to move his lips against yours, you were slowly melting. And within seconds, you slowly melted further into the kiss and started to kiss him back. This was the first really kiss you shared with your husband. Not that fake peck on the lips you two shared during the wedding ceremony.

This, this was amazing. And you knew you were never going to get enough and it would be an addiction. But you were still surprised nonetheless and you had dropped your dessert on the floor in the process. After what seemed like an eternity though, Jimin pulled away from you, allowing you both to breathe. He smiled at you, slightly breathless. He was so happy that you kissed him back and didn’t turn him down. He knew his feelings for you had grown a lot over the last couple of weeks and he had only hoped that you might feel the same.

He was too nervous now and didn’t know what to say, so you both turned away flustered. His hands at met yours though, and he intertwined his fingers with yours, like he did back on the picnic. You just continued to smile, still thinking about the sweet kiss. You were too embarrassed to look at your husband, so you chose to look everywhere instead. Your eyes then landed on your little fish waffle on the ground and giggled.

Jimin followed your eyes to the fish on the floor. Thankfully he had finished his long ago, otherwise he knew that his would have been on the floor as well.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get more when we come back next time” he said, smiling at the fish.

“Next time?” you asked.

“only if you want” he said, nervous again.

“Of course” you giggled.

That night contained the first kisses of many to follow. Like couples who first begin dating, you soon found yourselves going out on more and more dates, with more sweet kisses. You soon couldn’t take your hands off of eachother. And pretty soon, the sexual tension was beginning to eat at you too.

You both felt it, and some kisses from soft and sweet to hungry and hard. But it never went past that, despite wanting it.

Jimin felt his sexual frustration grow everyday, and he knew you were slightly frustrated too. You two had been married for about 7 months now, and not once had you two slept together. But his parents still lived with them, and the repairs seemed never ending at their home. After all, it was a big house. He wanted his first time with you to be special, and he also didn’t want the risk of his parents hearing or worse, walking in on them.

But over the last few weeks, you had slowly turned into Jimin’s friend, girlfriend, and wife. You were all those things, and you were now the most precious thing in his eyes. It was crazy how hard he fell for you and how fast, but you were quick to reassure him that you felt the same. One of the greatest things about your relationship was how honest you both were with each other, especially your feelings for one another.

One evening, Jimin’s parents had come out of their rooms, luggage in hand.

“The repairs are finally done and we’ll be moving back in tonight. Thank you so much for letting us stay with you both. We know you both would love to spend the time alone, so we’re sorry for imposing for sooo long” Jimin’s mother said.

“Woah, you’re leaving out of the blue?!” Jimin asked. You and him were cuddled up on the couch, watching a random movie on the couch.

“Yeah, we just heard that the repairs were done. And we’re homesick too!” Jimin’s father added.

“Awh, I wish I could have made a better meal last night then if I knew it was your last night here” you said.

“Oh, well we can always have dinner again another time. Please come and see the house when you have time!” his mother said.

You and Jimin paused the movie and walked with his parents as they got ready to leave.

“Really though, thank you dear. It has been wonderful staying here” Jimin’s mom said as she hugged you.

“No, I loved spending time with you too Eomma” you said honestly. Sure, you were starting to wonder when they would leave, but you were sad when the moment suddenly came out of the blue.

You and Jimin watched as his parents drove away and you both smiled as you closed the door. It was weird being in the house alone now. You both just looked at each other awkwardly before retiring back to the couch.

You pulled yourself close to Jimin again. You loved the warmth that emitted from him and combined with your favorite blanket, you were in heaven. You weren’t really paying attention to the movie as you had already seen it before, but your eyes still focused on the screen. Jimin’s eyes though, were focused on you.

He started slowly running his hands through your hair, something he had found you had liked immensely. And soon he found himself tracing the outline of the side of your face with his finger. You turned to him, confused. He just shrugged and pretended to look at the movie again. But when he felt your turn your head back to the screen, he turned back to look at you.

You were so close to him, so why did…why did he miss you? He wanted you and your everything, so he turned your head to face him and placed a warm kiss on your lips. The kiss grew hungrier each second and before you knew it, Jimin was carrying you back into your shared bedroom.

And well..you know the rest.

As the sunlight fluttered into the bedroom once again, you woke up tangled in sheets with your husband. He was still asleep, and you loved just look at his sleeping face. Last night was…amazing. He had made you feel things you didn’t realize were possible and while sex wasn’t a foreign subject to you, you felt like you were in a whole new world with Jimin. He made sure you felt loved and were well taken care of, and though the night was pretty much sleepless, you couldn’t feel any happier now no matter how tired you were. You ran your fingers along his lips, and resisted the urge to just kiss your husband awake.

“Good morning beautiful” Jimin said, smiling with his eyes still closed.

“You’re awake!” you said while giggling. “Good morning, sweets” you said. Though the nickname started off as a lie, it had stuck now.

Jimin hummed at the name with the smile still on his face. He pulled you in closer to him and you both just laid there, cuddling for a few more minutes before you decided to get up and make something to eat for the both of you. God knew you both were hungry!

7 months ago, you thought your life was cursed. But now, you couldn’t be happier with your husband. You fell in love with a wonderful man, and you had him all to yourself. And you had the rest of your life to spend with him. You already made those promises, even if you didn’t mean them at the time of the ceremony.

But if only you knew about the pain you would face soon in the future. Would any of this be worth it?

A/N: Sorry, I ended this part kind of weird. And I lied. I thought there would be angst in this part, but there isn’t yet. BUT NEXT PART FOR SURE.

F O R . S U R E .

P.s. please let me know what you think of this part. I wasn’t too happy with it, but needed a filler part for the plot I had in mind. I also don't write smut fyi.

Previous parts: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

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beardycarrot · 7 years ago

Text

The Execution

Bellard stood, staring at his reflection. The bathroom was far from opulent, but it was new, and clean, and almost charming in its own right. Before him was a plain porcelain wash basin, with a mirror in a simple frame solidly attached to the wall above it. The copper fixtures gleamed in the morning light that streamed in through a small window. Everything in the room looked neat and tidy, ready to begin the day. Everything, that is, except for the man staring back at him from the mirror.

As he leaned in, Bellard noted the dark bags under his eyes. If he'd slept at all last night, it hadn't been for long. Sleep had been a luxury for the last two weeks, in fact. A luxury he just didn’t have the time for.

Two weeks. Such an arbitrary amount of time. He wasn't schooled in the ways of magic and couldn't begin to guess why the enchantment lasted that specific amount of time, but felt sure that there must be a way to extend it. Maybe that was just wishful thinking on his part.

Splashing water on his face and lifting a small straight razor to his cheek, he couldn't help but give a grim smile. Two weeks of long hours had turned his stubble into a short, patchy beard. If everything went according to plan Bellard knew that nobody would see his face, but even on this day it was best to keep up appearances. If he was to be killed, the newspapers would all want to publish a nice juicy photo of his stupid face to show the world what an idiot looked like.

The walk to the town square was uneventful. Bellard did his best to angle his head in hopes that none of the early morning commuters would recognize him, and especially avoided eye contact. On today of all days, unexpectedly running into someone he knew was the last thing he wanted. When the time came he would be wearing a hood to obscure his identity, but if he donned it now, he would stand out even more.

While the streets had been quiet and mostly deserted, the square was buzzing with activity. A small stage had been set up at one end, and a trio of young boys, probably shoeshines paid for their time, appeared to be waxing or polishing it. As people darted around making preparations, onlookers had already begun to gather. In one corner, a man was singing and playing an accordion, with a box set out in front of him to collect tips. Closer to the stage, a vendor with a small cart was selling roasted peanuts. More than anything else, this made Bellard feel uneasy. He was there to kill a man; the townsfolk were looking for a spectacle.

As he approached the stage, Bellard heard a familiar voice calling out to him.

"Hey, Bell! Over here!"

It was Ford, one of Bellard's coworkers, waving him over with one hand and holding a bag of popcorn in the other. Bellard quickly glanced around, then dragged Ford into the shadow of a nearby building.

"Do you have to be so loud? And put that down," he said, swiping at the popcorn. Ford grinned as he danced out of arm's reach, popping a piece of popcorn into his mouth out of spite.

"This place's been crazy... almost like a circus, y'know? There were some jugglers here earlier, but the chief chased 'em off. I think she's gonna run down that accordion player next."

"Forget about that," Bellard said, rubbing his eyes and squinting up at the sun, which was now visible over the tops of the buildings. "Did you manage to find a replacement? A rapist or... or a political prisoner, or... What happened with that Russo informant?"

Ford's face fell a bit, and he shook his head.

"Nah, the streets've been clean all week. You know how it is. With an execution comin' up, everyone is suddenly a perfect little angel. Even that group that's been bringin' in them faulty crystal balls has gone quiet. It's gotta be you, Bell."

Bellard swore under his breath. He'd known that it was a long shot, and he was fully prepared to carry out his duty, but anyone in his situation would hope for a last-minute reprieve. There was shouting in the distance, and the accordion music that had been filtering through the square came to a sudden stop.

"You're a good cop, Bellard," Ford said, clapping him on the shoulder with the popcorn-free hand. "I'm sure ya got the right guy. Motive, opportunity... access to guitar strings? He's our man, Bell, and today his goose is cooked."

Ford patted him on the shoulder again and started toward the center of the square, pausing to add, "...And if we got the wrong guy, hey, we still got two weeks to find some miscreant to do you in, right?" With a wink and a wave, he turned and disappeared into the growing crowd.

Bellard slumped against the building. He'd forgotten that his own execution could be put off for up to two weeks, but the idea of being executed at all didn't sit well with him. Ford was right, though: Lou Whitman, whom they'd apprehended earlier that week, was almost definitely the culprit. Still, that shred of doubt remained. Was he about to execute an innocent man?

Before he knew it, the preparations were complete and everyone trying to make a quick buck off of the gathered crowd had been shooed away. As Police Chief Burke took to the podium on the small stage and spread out a short length of parchment, Bellard removed the folded black executioner's hood from his jacket's inner pocket. It was time.

"We are gathered here today for the sake of justice," Burke began, her voice gruff but clear enough to reach the entire square. "On the afternoon of August 14, a young woman by the name of Jacqueline Madison was found dead in her home, presumed murdered the night before."

She gestured to a figure on her right, covered in a white sheet. The audience gasped as, with a flourish, an unseen person behind the stage pulled off the sheet to reveal the body of Ms. Madison, slumped backwards in a chair. Due to the enchantment, her body had remained as it was found. She could be mistaken for a passed-out drunk, if not for the horrific strangulation marks on her neck.

Burke silenced the murmuring crowd by shooting a piercing glance across the square, then resumed her speech.

"Pursuant to the Civil Justice Act of 1833 and the High Sorcerer's 27th Decree, her body has been preserved so that her killer may be brought to justice. The accused-" she gestured to a figure to her left, this one covered in a black sheet and quite a bit more animated than the last, "who shall for the time being remain anonymous, will be executed here and now for this crime, pursuant to the above."

Bellard pulled on his hood and stepped up to the small staircase at the side of the stage, calmer than he'd expected. He was sure that Whitman was their guy. So sure of it that he was literally willing to stake his life on it.

"One of our finest officers," Burke continued, Bellard's cue to join her, "has deduced that the accused is indeed guilty of the crime of murder in the first degree. If this accusation aligns with reality, upon the accused's execution, their severed life force will allow their victim to live again. If the accused is innocent of the crime, however, our officer will accept their responsibility and be executed them self, so that the accused may live."

Burke turned to Bellard as he reached her and gave a curt bow, to scattered applause and more murmuring from the people below. It was now midmorning; just a few short hours until the enchantment on Ms. Madison's body wore off. As Bellard looked out across the square, the calm he'd felt before began to fade. In a matter of moments, for the first time in his life, he was going to kill a man.

"Bring forth the accused!"

The person behind the stage, who Bellard now realized was Ford, whipped the black cloth off of Whitman. As he did, the small man flinched, squinted into the sudden sunlight, then began struggling against the bonds that held him to his chair with renewed vigor. He appeared to be talking (or, rather, screaming and swearing profusely), but no sound came from his mouth. The silencing stone on the enchanted collar around Whitman's neck gleamed in the sun.

Bellard took hold of the chair's armrests and began to pull it forward, earning him a glare from Whitman. As he reached the front of the stage, Burke removed the top portion of the podium, exposing a raised chopping block and small basket that had been concealed in its base. He carefully lowered the chair into place.

Burke cleared her throat and looked down at the paper on her now slightly shorter podium, which was facing the center of the stage.

"Lou Whitman!" There were a few gasps from the audience, people who obviously knew the name but had never met the man himself.

"You stand accused of the murder of Jacqueline Madison, on the night of August 13, 1914. How do you plea?"

Bellard was already at work removing the collar, which seemed to calm Whitman down a bit. After a moment he had it off, and Whitman was twisting his head to look up and make eye contact with the chief of police.

He cleared his throat, and in a loud, clear voice, said, "NOT. GUILTY. Now get me outta this damn thing and call off yer goon, ya crazy broad! Jackie was just my secretary, I hardly knew 'er! This is slanderous an' defamatory, and I know my rights!"

Burke leaned over him with a cold smile.

"If you're innocent then you've got nothing to worry about. My officer is willing to bet his life on this, which I think should be enough justification for anyone. I apologize for the inconvenience, and will personally pay to have your clothes taken to the dry cleaner's if necessary."

She nodded Bellard toward the back of the stage, where Ford was holding a large axe with a single, very sharp blade. He grinned and held up two bags of peanuts in his other hand, pointing at Bellard and himself in turn in a "you and me" gesture. He was making plans for after the execution. Trying to assure Bellard that there WAS an 'after the execution'. He was a good friend.

Time seemed to slow for Bellard as he took the axe in hand. There was no delaying the execution; the enchantment that allowed a victim to be brought back from the dead only lasted two weeks, and time was up. Innocent or guilty, the accused would be executed. Had he made the right call?

What if Whitman had been working with someone else, and acted in a way that didn't make him directly responsible for the death?

He took a step towards the front of the stage.

What if Whitman was completely innocent, and all the circumstantial evidence was just a coincidence?

He took another.

What if Jacqueline Madison didn't come back to life, forcing him to give up his own to resurrect Whitman?

The sound of his footsteps seemed hollow in his ears.

What if no deserving criminal was found in the next two weeks, and a good man like Ford had to serve as his executioner?

The stage suddenly felt far too small.

If no one eligible for execution was found to execute him and then be executed in turn, the enchantment wouldn’t be cast, and he would stay dead.

Lou Whitman looked up as Bellard reached him, wearing the black executioner's hood and holding the headsman's axe. The fear in his eyes was clear as day, as was the resignation; he was no longer swearing or thrashing about. Was it because he knew there was no way out of this situation, and had accepted his fate? Or was it because he knew that he would be free to go about his business in a maximum of two weeks?

"It's time, Bellard," Burke said quietly, then turned to the crowd and in a louder voice said, "By the authority vested in me by the city of Great Bend, I sentence the accused, Lou Whitman, to death by beheading. May his execution undo the injustices brought upon his victim!"

Bellard hefted the axe above his head to a smattering of cheers and shrieks, and, despite his shaking hands and wobbling knees, did his best to take careful aim. If Whitman was innocent, he deserved a beheading scar that could be covered with a collar.

He took one final, deep breath, steadied himself, and brought down the axe.

Writing Prompt: A world where executing a murderer really does bring back the victim from the dead… assuming you definitely execute the right person!

#fiction #writing prompt #writing-prompt-s #i suck at writing but hey it was still fun

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newstyletours · 6 years ago

Text

Exploring India on a Royal Enfield motorcycle- part 3

Day ten:

Ooty to Masinagudi.

Today was a bimbling day amongst the mountains. A circular route ending up not too far from Ooty after the mornings ride. We rode down to the plain then back up in to the mountains with plenty of curves and superb scenery over the plains below. Again, as we rose so the temperature dropped a little - at least. The afternoon was completed by visiting the highest mountain viewpoint in the Ghats and riding a route containing thirty six hairpin bends before dropping down in to the Mudmalai wildlife sanctuary, which boasts one of the largest populations of elephants and tigers. Unfortunately we didn't see any elephants or tigers but as usual there were the usual monkeys.

Our hotel for the night was eventually found it being a little way off the beaten track. Small cottages located in a forest clearing overlooking the splendour of the nearby mountains rounded off another good days biking and savouring the delights of India.

There was plenty of activity in the area with wildlife wardens and police being deployed along the roadside but the parade of honour wasn't for us, it was for the festival taking place at the local temple. Apparently they were walking on hot coals this evening with festivities going on for most of the night. The festival lasts a week and despite our host suggesting it would be worth a visit due to the colourfulness of it all, after a hard day's riding none of us really wanted to jump back on the bikes, so we choice the easy option of sitting and watching the sunset over the mountains.

The evening was rounded off with an authentic meal cooked by locals. Probably one of the best meals of the trip due to its authenticity and aided by mine host giving us a commentary of the contents of the nine or ten dishes. All vegetarian which is a feature of these parts of India but nonetheless delicious.

Day eleven:

Masinagudi to Kozhikode.

There's no wi if here but after a warm nights sleep it was up early to watch the sun rising over the mountains. Just splendid. Another authentic meal for breakfast so we had to try a bit of everything. It was then back on the bikes and we continued our journey through the Mudmalai Wildlife park. After seeing some domesticated working elephants we were able to catch the back end of a wild one amongst the bush. We also spotted some deer, peacocks and Rhesus monkeys. A great ride through some lovely countryside again before dropping in to Kozhikode and back to the hectic traffic before arriving at our hotel for the night.

Day twelve:

Kozhikode to Kochi.

This was a one hundred mile journey along primarily the main road between two cities. There was nothing glamorous about this ride with temperatures in the high thirties and the usual hustle of the traffic. Stopping off at a town in the main thoroughfare for a drink we caused some attention from the locals. We caught a group looking out of the upstairs window of a shop. Obviously white Europeans aren't a familiar sight in these parts and especially a white European lady riding as pillion on the back of the motorcycle. All in all they're a friendly bunch and several stopped and asked us where we were from and how are we enjoying Kerala. The only excitement about this ride was Paul on the motorcycle in front of us clipping another motorcycle that decided just to turn across his path of travel. He had an escape route by using the rough path to the side of the roadway so we just carried on and no damage done to anyone or anything . He did have a moment a few days earlier in the trip when an overtaking car pulled so close that it clipped his foot as it went past. Despite these incidents taking place we all arrived back at the hotel where we started our trip safe and sound. A well earned beer after a hard day's riding.

Despite the chaotic driving during the course of the trip we have not seen any collisions ourselves but we did pass a Mahindra truck this morning that was parked by the side of the road and had obviously been in a ‘head on’ prior to it being bent quite so badly. Perhaps there is some method after all to driving the Indian way!! We must get one of their Highway Codes but I think we'll be hard pressed to find one. We have passed a number of learner drivers though on our journey. Rather them than me learn to drive in India.

Resting for a few days back at Kochi what do we think of this part of India. As a country with a billion people it is very hectic wherever you go. There are some quiet parts but there are always people. With the United Kingdom trying to reduce pollution, recycle waste, etc. our efforts are minuscule compared to what is required for India to be anywhere near punching their weight as far as this worldwide issue. There is a lot of education required. Rubbish is just dumped anywhere and everywhere. Plastic imparticularly is a problem. Some beautiful viewpoints out in the countryside are spoilt by just looking down at the pile of plastic and rubbish below. Efforts are being made in the National Parks with signs to take your littler home but it will need a lot more than this.

Accommodation and living standards, especially in the remote country areas, is basic to say the least and sanitation is non existent in these parts. Survival must be an every day challenge and daily chores are obviously collecting water from the nearby water source and collecting wood for fuel. Everyone needs to scratch a living to survive.

Fuel emissions are such that people can be seen riding around with scarves over their faces to reduce the intake of polluted air and policemen directing traffic on street corners have masks over their faces to reduce intake of noxious fumes. Even newish cars belch out black smoke because they are not serviced as they should be and the owners just keep them going until they need some attention.

The people were found to be a friendly bunch wherever we went and white Europeans do cause some attraction but I suppose that is to be expected with not too many travellers to these parts. The locals were always keen to ask where we had come from and wanted to know our names. Why I'm not quite sure!!

We have stayed in generally good quality accommodation but service isn't quite there yet as compared to European standards, albeit that the hotels were generally very comfortable and staff were only too eager to please. A simple task of just paying for our drinks whilst the room was being paid for by our tour leader created some consternation at times, but we eventually got there with a little more explaining.

As a nuclear nation and expected to be the fifth largest economy in the world we'll wait and see on that. A great deal of education and investment in basic services is still required.

As a motorcycling experience we have thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing and visited some great parts of the country. Riding in India is not for the faint hearted and needs some confidence to join the mayhem of the Indian roads. I hope I've captured some video of this during the trip.

Would I come back? Well India is a vast continent and having wanted to visit this particular part my next area to visit would have to be the Himalayan area. We'll see what the future holds.

I hope that you have enjoyed our record of this trip. We await the next adventure. Thanks for reading.

Sunday ,17th March, 2019.

Whilst spending a couple of days relaxing at our hotel we woke up this morning (Sunday 170319) to this little beauty parked (or should it be moored) across the bay. The Sapphire Princess set off from Singapore on the 10th March and is due in to Southampton on Tuesday 16th April after a thirty eight day cruise. I think that we shall beat it home. It set sail for Dubai last evening.

Making our way for breakfast we then bumped in to the India Minister for Tourism - Alphons Kannanthanam. It surprising who you bump in to in a lift but if the hotel is good enough for him to stay in then it'll be good enough for us!!

A Sunday morning walk around the streets opposite provided a colourful display of what the vendors had to offer.

Monday:

Backwaters in Kerala is a network of 1500 km of canals both manmade and natural, 38 rivers and 5 big lakes extending from one end of Kerala to the other.

Backwaters is one of the major tourism product of Kerala, being unique to the state. Traditionally used as one of the main transportation alleys, today backwaters offer a rejuvenating experience for tourists visiting Kerala. We hired a boat and set off on a day's adventure exploring this beautiful area. Along with the boat came the captain and the cook and as part of the package lunch was provided. A lovely way to spend a day relaxing and enjoying this unique area.

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thechasefiles · 6 years ago

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The Chase Files Daily Newscap 2/25/2019

Good MORNING #realdreamchasers! Here is The Chase Files Daily News Cap for Monday 25th February 2019. Remember you can read full articles for FREE via Barbados Today (BT) or Barbados Government Information Services (BGIS) OR by purchasing by purchasing a Daily Nation Newspaper (DN).

EYES ON 2020 – Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley is appealing to Barbadians living abroad and those who love the nation, to gather in Barbados in 2020. Speaking at the launch of the Vision: 2020 We Gatherin initiative in Parliament’s Courtyard, this evening, Prime Minister Mottley declared that building the best Barbados cannot be accomplished only by the 300 000 people living on the island. She said the number of Barbadians living overseas double that amount and should come home to see what they can do to contribute to the rebuilding of the country. She told watch parties convened around the world to join the launch live, that Barbados is our land, and more than anything else, they all need to come home in 2020. “2020 my friends is about that conversation, that experience, telling our story, sharing our passions, coming home for that inspiration. 2020 is about making a difference to your old primary school, or making that difference to the church that helped to nurture you in your parish. 2020 is about families recognizing that time on this earth is way too short, and we need to get together a little more, to spend time a little more, because when the day is gone, it’s gone. And when the day is done, it’s done. “2020 is our time. And I ask you to recognize that as we gather, yes it is about us, but it is also about us speaking to the rest of the world. For Barbados must be that global hub. Barbados must be that place that has a global voice. Barbados must be that place from which global business can be transacted, because however small we are, however much we stand between the Caribbean sea and the Atlantic Ocean, we count and we matter. “And we matter to the point where we believe that we have a valid story to tell, and our story shall be told,” she said at the event which was also attended by Governor General Dame Sandra Mason. Other members of Parliament and specially invited guests were present for the launch event where large twin screens were erected so that the ceremony could be seen by those in the vicinity on Broad Street or in the nearby Palmetto Square. There was a special vignette from Dame Sandra, who also joined the call for Barbadians living abroad to come home to their beautiful island next year. were also showed. We Gatherin is a 12-month global celebration of Barbadian excellence and a recommitment to this country’s future and core values that have defined us as a people, the Prime Minister explained. The year 2020 has as its theme Purposeful Pursuit of Barbadian Excellence is the theme of the year-long celebrations, which is an initiative of Prime Minister Mottley. Vision 2020: We Gatherin will comprise structured events at the national level, which will be coordinated by Government with input from its social partners. However, community groups, churches, educational institutions, entrepreneurs, and regional and international persons with Barbadian connections, among others, will be encouraged to produce other events. “It is easy for us, irrespective of political affiliation, to define the character of a nation and the character of a people. A people who understand that with a history such as what we had, you have to fight against injustice, you have to fight for fairness. In the history that we had, you have as a small country to understand that principles matter, that you have to respect the saying friends of all, satellites of none, and that that is who we are. And that may better cause others to appreciate why we don’t always take the easy road, or we don’t always make decisions that appear to be easy. That sometimes we pay the price for principle, but principles only mean something when it is inconvenient to stand by them. And then we understand that democracy is a precious gift. And like a house, it can only stay with us if we nurture it and we protect it. . .,” the Prime Minister said. The initiative will begin in the north of the island in 2020, and move southward every month, allowing each designated parish to showcase its icons, social life, and the food for which it is renowned. The parish celebrations will culminate in St Michael in November, and Vision 2020: We Gatherin’ will climax in December with a Christmas extravaganza for all Barbadians, at home and abroad. A group of men playing dominoes in the Courtyard was a pleasant surprise for the guests as they arrived at the Courtyard. Many were also amused at the presence of a young sno-cone vendor who shared the Bajan delicacy to those who were interested in savouring that cold, sweet, taste. The official part of the event ended with a We Gatherin Countdown. (BT)

PM MOTTLEY PAYS TRIBUTE TO LATE AGRONOMIST – Prime Minister, Mia Mottley has paid tribute to the late Agronomist, Dr Frances Chandler, who passed away earlier today, describing her as an outstanding agronomist. “It is with shock and sadness that I learnt of the passing of Dr Frances Chandler. She was a distinguished daughter of the soil who displayed a singular passion for her chosen field of endeavour, agriculture, and made it her life’s work to educate her fellow citizens on the importance of improving food production and increasing food security. Dr Chandler began her working career at the Ministry of Agriculture and also worked at the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development institute, (CARDI) for almost three decades, before starting her own consulting business where she worked to increase the efficiency of the persons involved in the production, marketing and distribution of food. Her work in the development of an onion industry for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean has been widely recognised. During her lifetime, Dr Chandler recognized the importance of service to her country and on a national level she served as an Independent Senator from 2003 to 2013, where she represented the interests of the agricultural sector with vigour and enthusiasm. She also volunteered her time to many projects aimed at exposing young people to the agricultural field, notably the successful Governor General’s Camp which she coordinated on behalf of the late former Governor General, Sir Clifford Husbands. Her love for her country and fervent belief in agriculture were also evident in the several publications she authored and co-authored and in the weekly newspaper articles she contributed as a columnist in the Nation Newspaper for several years. In addition to her stellar contribution in the field of agriculture, she was an advocate for good governance and her views on these matters remained the same, irrespective of her audience. Dr Chandler was awarded the Honour of Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for her services to agriculture and sustainable development in the New Year honours, 2019. She will be remembered as a patriotic Barbadian who cared about the future of her native land and a fearless and persistent voice that promoted local agriculture. May she Rest in Peace.” (BT)

‘STOP PLACING BLAME AND FIX CRIME, PM – The Democratic Labour Party (DLP) has called on Prime Minister Mia Mottley to stop the blame game and buckle down to the task of administering the affairs of the country. The call has come in the wake of the Prime Minister’s attribution of the rise in crime to the DLP’s failure to invest financially in the youth. Mottley made the comments last week while addressing a gathering of office professionals. In a statement issued Friday, the DLP declared that “after nine months in office it is time for the Mottley Administration to get on with the job they were elected to do instead of apportioning blame to the former Government whenever solutions evade them”. The DLP said according to police statistics, crime was on a downward trend for the years 2017 and 2018. “Murders were down by four, robberies by two, aggravated burglaries by seven and other crimes showed a decrease of three per cent over 2017. “Conversely, by February of this year, we were turning to the army and prayer for solutions after a rise in murders in the month of January equalled the total number of murders for the first four months of 2018.” The DLP said it was proud of its record with youth initiatives, many of which the Government condemned and criticised in Opposition and found the first opportunity to abandon as soon as they took office. (DN)

MARKET UPGRADE - The Berinda Cox Fish Market in Oistins will be in for a complete upgrade later this year. Word of this has come from Minister of Maritime Affairs Kirk Humphrey who, along with Minister of the Environment Trevor Prescod, Member of Parliament for the area Ralph Thorne, Chief Fisheries Officer Stephen Willoughby and general manager of the National Conservation Commission, Keith Neblett, toured the Christ Church facility yesterday. Greeted by rusty hinges, countertops filled with holes, missing doors and a general lack of maintenance in the market, Humphrey said the upgrade would come as soon as the money became available. “We have made a decision that that cannot obtain for much longer. I have already given the MP our commitment that as soon as the new financial year begins in April, that our major project in the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, in the Markets Section, will be to rectify most of the things you have seen in relation to the Oistins market.” The facility was closed yesterday as a team of workers from the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, and vendors who ply their trade at the market led by chairman of the Oistins Fisherfolk Association, Linda Harris, using equipment sponsored by Thorne, carried out a thorough cleaning of the premises. It will reopen for business today. (DN)

DERELICT VEHICLES TO BE MOVED – Derelict vehicles that owners failed to dump after being served with notices to do so, will be removed at the owners’ expense in a Government-staged operation due to begin this week. Minister of Environment and National Beautification Trevor Prescod gave notice of this during last Friday’s Estimates Debate, while responding to a question from Member of Parliament for St Michael North West Neil Rowe. It was the Ministry of Environment’s turn to field questions about its operations from the Well of the House, when Rowe asked what action was being taken to deal with the many derelict vehicles and buildings around Barbados that had become eyesores. Giving the assurance the programme would be “off the ground next week”, Prescod explained: “We had to adhere to a number of prerequisites because we want to operate within the law, so we had to give adequate notice to persons who owned the derelict vehicles and derelict homes.” He added that “over 400 to 500 vehicles will be removed from the landscape” to rid Barbados of a problem that had been plaguing it over ten to 12 years, and which had contributed to an increase in the rat population. (DN)

ALL HANDS ON DECK – Four months after she lost her home and all her possessions to fire, Esther Clarke may soon be turning her own keys again. Some good Samaritans in the close-knit community of Sion Hill, St James, have come together to rebuild Clarke’s house in Brathwaite’s Road, following a blaze last October 12 that left her four children, her sister and the sister’s child, and a grandson homeless. Neighbours, players and administrators of the nearby Newbury Sports Club, residents of Westmoreland and Orange Hill, all in St James, have put their hands to the plough in a collaborative effort, which started a few weeks ago, to ensure Clarke’s wood and wall structure is rebuilt. They have been aided by monetary donations from the Mount Zion’s Missions, St James Methodist Church, the Seventh-Day Adventists and Carlton Mount Calvary churches, as well as members of corporate Barbados. (DN)

COP ACCUSED OF ASSAULT GRANTED BAIL – A lawman charged with assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm was released on bail yesterday when he appeared in the St Matthias Magistrates’ Court. Constable Jason Padmore, 43, of Salvation Drive, Wotton, Christ Church, denied the two charges. He was released on $1 000 bail with a surety for the assault charge and will appear at the District “B” Magistrates’ Court on February 27. He was granted $3 000 bail with a surety for the assault occasioning actual bodily harm charge and will go to the Oistins Magistrates’ Court on February 28. (DN)

DON’T RISK RICKY – President of Cricket West Indies (CWI) Whycliffe “Dave” Cameron says Ricky Skerritt’s history as West Indies team manager has disqualified him as a candidate to lead the region’s governing body. Skerritt, 62, recently announced he would be looking to unseat Cameron when the CWI holds elections on March 24 in Jamaica. However, Cameron, who has been president since 2013, said Skerritt’s past failure as manager of the West Indies team should not be forgotten. “Ricky has always mentioned how passionate he is about West Indies cricket. What most of us remember Ricky for is that period when he was manager of the team, the turmoil that occurred. I’m hoping that we’ll never get back to those days,” Cameron said during an interview on the Line And Length Network. (DN)

DRESS CODE COMES INTO EFFECT MARCH 1 – The Transport Authority has advised all permit holders and operators (drivers and conductors) of privately-owned routed public service vehicles – minibuses and route taxis – that the new uniform and dress code will come into effect on Friday, March 1. Uniform shirts may be obtained from Sample Enterprises and M Grafix Incorporated. The Authority thanks the permit holders and operators for their cooperation and looks forward to their support as it continues to improve all areas of the public transportation sector. (BT)

ANN HILL SCHOOL CLOSED FOR THIS WEEK – The Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training has advised that the Ann Hill School, at Pine Plantation Road, St. Michael, will be closed this week. This closure is to allow for emergency remedial work to be carried out on the roof and ceiling of the school. Ministry thanks parents and guardians for their understanding and regrets any inconvenience the closure may cause. (BGIS)

ARTISTS COME TOGETHER FOR CHARITY – Art and charity mixed and mingled when Dwellings staged an event entitled ‘Splash – the Furniture Art Charity Event’ at its Canewood, St Thomas location on Saturday night. The fundraiser, the brainchild of Dwellings, was for the Barbados RSPCA, the Ark Animal Welfare Society, Variety the Children’s Charity and the Substance Abuse Foundation and saw four fine artists - Shane Eastmond, Alexander Marshall, Kevon ‘Von’ Hall and Alanis Forde - representing each of the charities, creating works on coffee tables as guests mingled and watch the creations unfold. The completed pieces were then sold via silent auction and the monies raised donated to the charities. (DN)

TEA PARTY FOR A CAUSE – The gardens at “Ben Mar”, official residence of British High Commissioner Janet Douglas, were the backdrop for an elegant tea party last weekend. Women were decked out in eye-catching fancy hats, which were matched by the dapper dress of the men who also supported the fundraising event for the Caribbean Ophthalmology Research Alliance (CORA). Not occupying too much party time with speeches, founder of CORA, consultant ophthalmologist, oculoplastic and reconstructive surgeon, Barbadian Dr Kim Jebodhsingh, said: “I think it is important for Barbados and the Caribbean to be aware of eye diseases that are affecting our people . . . . CORA is happy to partner with Keratoconus Barbados to do research into a disease in search of causes, prevention and a cure.” A patient advocate group for keracotonus has recently been formed in Barbados, and founder Roseanne Myers of Atlantic Submarines and a victim of the eye disease, seized the opportunity to briefly tell the tea party guests, “We reached out to the alliance when we saw the fundraiser being promoted, and have pledged to work with CORA to explore how we can better understand the incidence of keratoconus in Barbados and the causative factors.” (DN)

HARRIS SCORES BIG – President of the Barbados Football Association Randy Harris has scored his biggest goal ever, after marrying his long time sweetheart Golda Whittaker. Golda, who is also known as Patricia, was resplendent in a white and silver African two-piece skirt and top, complete with head tie. The groom was "dappa" in a blue suit and a silver tie matching his wife's outfit. The pair danced their way to the altar to the strains of George Michael and Aretha Franklin's Knew You Were Waiting For Me, where Reverend Dr Beverly Lashley peformed the ceremony. The lovebirds, who have known each other for almost half a century, pledged their love to each other before a crowd in an intimate ceremony at their Christ Church home this evening. On Saturday Harris, who is also vice president of Concacaf (Caribbean) and president of the Caribbean Football Union, was named Sports Administrator of the year at the annual National Sports Council Awards. (DN)

For daily or breaking news reports follow us on Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter & Facebook. That’s all for today folks. There are 310 days left in the year. Shalom! #thechasefilesdailynewscap #thechasefiles# dailynewscapsbythechasefiles

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grizzbe · 8 years ago

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The galaxy’s most dangerous duo picked their way silently and professionally through the forest, their cliff fading into the background as they came ever-closer to the pirate campsite. “Galaxy’s Most Dangerous Duo” had a nice ring to it, he’d have to remember to ask Cora how she liked it later.

Scott picked his footing carefully, each step made to ensure total silence and to keep the element of surprise squarely in their corner. SAM had spotted an additional two pirates from their ship up in orbit, still not anything that should give him and Cora any reason to pause but Scott was all about surprises. Slowly, the voices of the pirates grew and, eventually, their shuttle came into view.

Scott and Cora hunkered down behind a fallen tree and began to survey the field. Several of the pirates were hauling crates from the shuttle and setting them aside; two others were rummaging through them, marking their contents. One sat on top of the shuttle, appearing to shout at the others.

“Well, there’s the leader,” whispered Scott. He magnified each of the pirates, taking stock of what kind of ordinance the ragtag group was using. Mostly M-8 Avengers, one had a Katana, and the Angaran had an Isharay but, overall, they weren’t sporting top-of-the-line gear.

“I don’t know,” said Cora, giving the obvious leader a glance. “He could just be the loudmouth that everyone else has to put up with.”

Cora crept forward as Scott reevaluated the man sitting atop the shuttle shouting instructions, “Why does that seem like a thinly veiled joke at my expense?”

“What joke?” asked Cora, with all the innocence she could muster as Scott crept up behind her.

“Oh. Oh Cora, that cuts deep,” whispered Scott.

His second-in-command stifled a laugh and grabbed him at the base of his neck before pressing her helmet’s visor against his in their developed shorthand for a kiss. He always appreciated these armored kisses, but they weren’t quite the same as the real thing, the two usually kept a tally and made up for them in-the-flesh later on.

“Alright, how do we want to go at this?” asked Cora. “SAM, do you see any biotics in the crew?”

“None are readily apparent, Ms. Harper,” said SAM. “One would assume if they had biotics, they wouldn’t bother with manually offloading their cargo.”

“Any intel on our uninvited guests?” asked Scott. “Why they’re here? Where they came from? What might be in those big ol’ crates of theirs?”

“They call themselves ‘The Black Holes’, Pathfinder, and no fewer than eight hijackings have been attributed to them in the past month,” said SAM. “It is not readily apparent why they are here, nor what they might have in their crates. There have been no pirate actions reported in the area recently.”

“‘The Black Holes’? We should take them down just for having such a lame name,” declared Scott.

“With nothing reported, they probably robbed another gang,” said Cora. “Which probably means they’re going to be jumpy, waiting for the other gang to strike.”

“Makes sense,” agreed Ryder, giving the group a final look over.

“So how do you want to go at this?” asked Cora, turning to give her partner her full attention. Even with all of his gear on, she could tell the wheels in his head were turning, which usually meant that he was going to do something foolish.

“Just… wait for my signal,” said Scott as he hopped from behind cover and started slowly walking towards the pirates completely unarmed.

“Signal?!” hissed Cora as the Pathfinder walked casually towards danger. “That’s not a plan, Scott!”

She shook her head in frustration but prepared herself; she had been with Scott long enough to know he didn’t just walk into danger without a plan, regardless of how much it looked like he did. Whatever his signal was, she’d catch it, and she’d be ready.

Scott held his hands out in front of him as he picked his path toward the clearing carefully, his mind racing to formulate something akin to a plan. One of these days he’d learn to actually think of something before jumping headfirst into the next deadly encounter, but it obviously wasn’t going to be today. The leader was still shouting from on top of the shuttle, and the others continued to bumble around on the ground. As he got closer, the pirates appeared less and less competent.

“You said these guys are responsible for eight hijackings in the last month, SAM?” asked Scott.

“That is correct, Scott,” said SAM.

“How on earth did they manage that?” asked Scott, mostly to himself. Then, to SAM, “What are the casualty figures with their raids?”

“Nearly two dozen colonists, several outlaws, and nine Angarans,” replied SAM.

“Well, that makes this business a lot easier,” said Scott, a cloud falling over his features for a brief moment.

The pirates hadn’t noticed him by the time he made it to the clearing, so he took a few more tenuous steps out in front of them. After they still hadn’t noticed him, he cleared his throat loudly. The talk around the shuttle died down as the group turned to face him. For a split second time stopped before the pirates began shouting and grabbing their weapons, every muzzle pointed at the Pathfinder.

“Now now, everybody, no need to get aggressive just yet!’’ exclaimed Scott, entirely in his element. “I just want to talk! Anyone here I can talk to?”

The obvious leader of the group hopped off the shuttle and made his way toward the Pathfinder, no longer pointing his shotgun at Scott but not putting it away entirely either. He wasn’t tall, only coming up to Scott’s chin, but he was solidly built, he had apparently earned his way to the top of this particular heap through force and intimidation.

“That’d be me, asshole,” said the leader, his gruff voice matching the idea of the oafish thug that Scott had already assigned to him in his head. “Whadaya want an’ why shouldn’t I blast you off the face of this planet right now?”

This guy really wasn’t helping his case for not being the ball in a game of biotic catch between him and Cora, thought Scott. He tried his hardest to suppress the grin that was spreading around the corners of his mouth, “Nice to meet you, Mr. Pirate. My name’s Scott, human Pathfinder, defeated the Kett Archon, established several colonies, you might have heard of me.”

The pirates began to murmur, looking at each other hesitantly, their weapons wavering a fraction more.

“I just thought I’d let you know that this planet’s been claimed, so if you don't mind climbing in your ship and taking off, I’d be greatly appreciative,” only the slightest hint of a threat finding its way into Scott’s voice, his confidence oozing through his words. “Oh, and go ahead and leave the cargo, the Initiative will appreciate your contribution.”

With that, the murmurs grew louder, the leader’s eyes darted between his men before coming back at Scott, anger burning in his eyes.

��We supposed to be afraid of the big bad Pathfinder, huh?” challenged the short man. “Last I checked, eight was better’n one and bullets put you down just as good as any other person.”

Scott’s laugh had a chilling effect on the pirates around him, “You think you’re supposed to be afraid of me? No no no, you shouldn’t be afraid of me, right now you should be afraid of her. You can be afraid of me in a second.”

“Her?” was all the pirate leader managed to utter, the confusion on his face turning to utter horror as Scott’s biotics grabbed ahold of him and lifted him helplessly off the ground.

The sonic boom crackled through the air as Cora charged in, sending the pirate’s lifeless body flying into the forest, cracking against branches before landing out of sight. Chaos quickly gripped the rest of the pirates as the Pathfinder disappeared into thin air. The rest of the fight was quick, the pirates incapable of mounting any concerted effort, several falling to their comrades own fire.

Within minutes, Scott and Cora met in the middle of the clearing, their slight huffing the only evidence that either of them had done anything more stringent than a brief jog. Both took off their helmets and smiled, enjoying the silence after the thunder of battle, seeing in each other’s eyes how happy they were to see the other safe and sound.

“Nice work, Lieutenant Harper,” said Scott. “Glad to see you caught my signal.”

“Not so bad yourself, Pathfinder. And was that what that was?” Cora asked, rolling her eyes as her smile grew just a touch more radiant. “I could’ve sworn that was just a flying man that needed hitting.”

“It was a rather obvious signal, Pathfinder,” chimed SAM.

“We’re going to work on sarcasm later, SAM,” said Scott as the two operatives shared a laugh. “Now, what do we have in these boxes?”

Scott clapped his hands together and rubbed them as he and Cora approached the nearest crate. He hit the latch, and the two of them raised the lid, peaking in to get a better look. Inside, packages of freeze dried steak lined the crate, actual earth-cow steak. The box would be worth a small fortune. Cora opened another container to find it stacked with bottles of Asari and human wine, their labels a testament to their vintage.

“I’ve heard of this place before,” said Cora, inspecting one of the bottles. “One of the best vineyards in Asari space. It would’ve fetched thousands on the Citadel back in the milky way. There’s no telling how much you could get for it on Kadara, not to mention the Nexus.”

“Kadara appears to be this cargo’s original destination, Lieutenant Harper,” said SAM. “Upon further investigation of the labels on the crates, these foodstuffs were purchased by Sloane Kelly from a black market vendor and meant for a private party. She paid a hefty price.”

“Well, she’ll be ecstatic to hear that her good friend Scott found them,” said Scott, chuckling while looking over the spoils of their fight. “SAM, let Sloane know that we found her fancy food and that we’ll be dropping it off the next time we’re at Kadara Port. Also, tell her that I’m more than a little hurt that I didn't get an invite to her party.”

“Will do, Pathfinder,” said SAM.

The sun was beginning to descend before Scott realized that they had blown past the afternoon. He found his stomach grumbling as he realized that dinner was supposed to be an hour ago. Scott looked down at the steaks and plucked two of the best looking cuts from the crate before closing it up and securing it.

“And what do you think you’re doing?” asked Cora, a playful smirk curling on her lips. “You don’t think Sloane’ll be counting all of those when she gets them back?”

“Finder's fee,” said Scott, smiling as he shrugged his shoulders. “And payment for not getting an invite.”

Cora laughed before leaning over the wines and plucking a couple of expensive looking bottles if their fancy labels were any indication. She walked over to Scott and motioned back towards the cliff and the campsite on top.

“What say we head back and have ourselves a nice dinner?” asked Cora.

“Took the words right out of my mouth,” said Scott, leaning over to give her a quick kiss.

The sun was down by the time they made it back to their tent and Scott immediately got to work stoking a new fire. It wasn’t long before their steaks crackled over the flames, the explorers clinking the glasses that Cora had managed to find in the shuttle. Well, not actually ‘clinking’ as they were metal tumblers and not real glass, but close enough.

The two enjoyed their extravagant meal in companionable silence, enjoying the flickering shadows playing across each other’s faces from the fire.

“That was incredible,” said Cora as she took a sip from her wine.

“You could say that again,” agreed Scott. “It was almost as good as sex.”

“Almost?” said Cora, a devilish smile overcoming her wine-red lips. She got up and walked over to Scott, her hips swaying as she caressed the scruff on his jawline. “Don’t you think it’s about time for dessert?”

“I do believe it is,” said Scott with a toothy grin, his body on autopilot as he followed his second-in-command toward their tent.

This expedition was easily the best idea he’d had since he’d been thawed out. Well, maybe second best after deciding he wanted to get to know one Cora Harper better. The work would be waiting for them when they woke up, but right now, under these alien stars, he was perfectly content to enjoy the company of the most important person in the galaxy to him.

Well, there’s Chapter 2! I hope y’all liked it and thanks so much for reading! I’m loving this pairing the more I write for them, such a great power couple. If you have any requests, feel free to ask!

#Mass Effect #Mass Effect Andromeda #MEA #fanfic #Scott x Cora #Scott Ryder #Cora Harper #These dorks #I wrote a thing #I hope y'all like it!

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keywestlou · 4 years ago

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IF YOU DON'T SPEAK FRENCH, BE WARY OF EATING IN CHAMONIX.....THE BOILED HOT DOG CAPITAL OF THE WORLD

DAYS 36 and 37…..Greece the First Time

Posted on July 3, 2012 by Key West Lou

I am back!

It is a question mark each day whether I will return. I failed to bring my computer with me. I am at the whim of internet stores and friendly people. One thing I know for a fact. Everyone in Italy is using old and sick machines. Each day is a task and a surprise.

I have been sleeping in Courmayeur the last three nights. Driving back and forth to Chamonix each day. The Alps are always before me. From the moment I rise to the time I go to bed. They are there on the drive to Chamonix and back. The mountains dominate the scene.

I would be remiss if I failed to make some additional comments regarding Mont Blanc. Recall it is 11 peaks on top of an already big mountain.

Mont Blanc defies description. I guess that is why I am back trying to tell you more about it. Words do not adequately verbalize what the eyes see.

The mountain is high and tall. It stands defiantly. Speaks quietly. Says…..Don’t screw with me!

Impossible to see all 11 peaks at one time. Clouds up high. Block the view.

Trees cover the lower range of Mont Blanc. Pine. All the way up to a certain level. Then nothing but bare rock. Someone told me pines will not grow above 2,000 feet. The bare land is formidable. Then comes the peaks. Not just the very top. The top for a considerable distance downward.

When I arrived, some of the peaks had valleys of glaciers. Ice. One day later all the peaks were covered with snow. A significant dusting. Impressive.

Many waterfalls. They are streams running down the sides of the mountain. All over. Some a foot wide. Others up to 20 feet. Beautiful. They run in and out of the woods. You see it, then you do not. All of a sudden the stream reappears again.

The thinner streams were not running yesterday. They were frozen. Yesterday at this time (11 am) the temperature was 29 degrees F. At the same time 24 hours later it is 50 degrees F.

The waterfalls are attributable to two factors. The first is the melting glaciers. The other is that the mountain top is loaded with natural springs and wells. Below ground. They seep their way upward and add to the glacier spill off.

Yesterday morning, I had a unique experience. When I opened the door to the balcony starring at Mont Blanc, I saw a number of clouds. Some were below my eye level. Others at my eye level. Others above my eye level. All set against the green pines of Mont Blanc. A wow!

Last night when driving back to Courmayeur, I had another experience. Though one I have had before. Fog. Big time. There were occasions I could not see at all. Bad.

Moving on from Mont Blanc, let me share two food experiences I had yesterday.

The first was in Chamonix at lunch time. I went into a big restaurant at the main corners of Chamonix. Where all the world walks by. It was too cold to eat outside, however.

The menu was in total French. No English sub titles as I had become accustomed to elsewhere on this trip. I saw what appeared to be the word sausages. I have been eating many sausages this trip. All different. All good.

I ordered sausage. Pointed to it on the menu to the waitress. My mistake was not asking her to spell out exactly what I was ordering. Assuming she spoke English. I do not know. I found whereas many Greeks and Italians have at least a smattering of English, the French seem to be above a second language.

I was served two boiled hot dogs and french fries. Not big fat hot dogs. Not long ones. Two regular sized.

I looked at them for a few minutes. And then decided, oh well! My mistake. Eat them. I did not wish to be the ugly American.

I called the waitress over. Asked for ketchup and mustard. The least I could do was dress the meal up. She looked at me in shock. I knew what was coming…..We do not serve ketchup and mustard! We are French!

I quietly ate my boiled hot dogs and fries.

Dinner last night got screwed up, also. I was at what might best be described as a good neighborhood restaurant in Courmayeur. It had been so described to me. I was told to be sure to eat polenta. It is the favored dish in this Alpian village.

There were only six entrees on the menu. Each served with polenta. The only thing I recognized was chicken cachetore. I asked what polenta was. No screwing around this meal. Lunch had been bad enough bad enough.

The waiter provided a polenta description. It was crushed corn. All mashed together with what I could not understand. He told me it was everyone’s favorite. Had me look at the other tables. Each had a heaping large dish of yellow stuff on their table. He further told me Christopher Columbus introduced polenta into Italy. There was no corn in Europe prior to Columbus. He brought it to the old world from the new world.

I did not like the polenta. I was told to bury it in the tomato sauce. That is the way it is supposed to be eaten. I did. Better, but still not my dish.

The polenta alone cost me 12 euros. About $16 American money. Not worth it.

I am absolutely impressed with Italian roads and bridges. All appear in tip top shape. The Italians have also recently constructed a speed train from Milan to I know not where. A new road was built near the railway tracks. The road had to have 72 bridges. So the trains could pass underneath.

Italian roads and bridges are well maintained. There is a reason for it. At some point a law was passed that whoever built or constructed a road, received a contract to maintain the road for 30 years. The money for maintenance comes from tolls. The contractor charges the tolls. The contractor keeps the money and makes repairs as needed.

A good deal for the contractor! Positive cash flow!

The Italians using the roads are not very happy about the 30 year thing however. The tolls are expensive. My two hour drive from Novara to Courmayeur had cost me 25 euros one way. The Italians are an adept society. Their way around the burdensome toll is to drive back roads. They know all the bye ways.

I think the Italian way of building and maintaining roads and bridges is worthy of investigation. Gets the job done! The job we are not and have not been doing for years. Our roadways and bridges are a disgrace. Forget maintenance. A pot hole per family. The cost is not a tax to be imposed. It is paid daily by the users of the roads and bridges.

It is probably a screw job either way. However, worth exploring.

A few words about Chamonix. Lovely! Gorgeous! Exciting! People all over. Summer and winter. Great pedestrian walk ways. Terrific high scale stores. No tee shirt vendors. Very European. I sat several times having a coffee at an outdoor cafe and watched the world go by. It was the world. The whole world. Every nationality walking the streets.

I got to Chamonix through a tunnel. A nine mile tunnel. The Italians and French built it. Runs right under one of the Alp mountains. Cool!

Somewhere in the back of my mind comes a recollection of Mary Shelley and this area. I did not have the time to research it. Forgive me if I am wrong.

Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein’s Wife. A best seller at the time. She lived in the Courmayeur area. Courmayeur provided the background for the book.

Recall that her story took place in a castle. Castles all over the place here. Recall also the fog. Fog frequent here. Recall further the fog I drove through last night. The fog was thick enough not only for Frankenstein, but also Dracula and Wolfman.

Later today, I am driving to the Portofino area. The Italian Riviera. A three hour drive.

I will be staying in Camogli, a town immediately next door to Portofino. Camogli a part of the Italian Riviera also.

The trip should be interesting. It is summer time and the area should be flourishing.

Enough for today. I am going to be thrown out this internet store. It closes from noon to 3 each day. In Chamonix, all the stores closed from 1 to 3. Siesta time.

Enjoy your day!

—

Florida’s Governor DeSantis maintains a fixed place in my mind. Incompetent. Grossly incompetent. Yet he still ranks high on the list of Republican Presidential candidates for 2024.

Vaccine distribution has been a disaster in Florida. Everything COVID has. DeSantis generally the blame. To place my observation in better perspective, Trump considers DeSantis the best Governor in the U.S.

Florida uses Publix as one of the places where vaccine shots can be received. Seventy thousand doses a week are delivered to Publix’s distribution center in Lakeland. From whence Publix distributes the vaccine to various Publix stores throughout the State.

This system has been ongoing for 5 weeks. Three hundred fifty thousand vaccine shots distributed thus far.

One problem. Officials do not know where the vaccine is delivered once in leaves Publix’s distribution center in Lakeland. Florida has not required any such information. Publix has provided none.

Not the way the distribution should be handled. Problems will reveal themselves at some point.

Publix was a major financial supporter of DeSantis.

The 70,000 vaccines received by Publix weekly represents 25 percent of Florida’s available doses.

Most Republican governors are not on the ball when it comes to the virus.

Texas Governor Gregg Abbot an example.

What he has done represents pure insanity.

Abbott announced yesterday that he was opening Texas as of next wednesday. One hundred percent. All businesses. Mask requirement will no longer be in force, also. He is reversing his own pandemic orders imposed several months ago..

Abbott has his reasons. Though not correct.

He claims Texas vaccination numbers are increasing. The State and people generally have more knowledge as to how to manage the spread of the virus. Hospitalization and positivity rates are decreasing.

Abbott’s representations much like Trump’s. Permeated with falsehoods.

Texas is not out of the woods. Masks still needed. COVID-19 continues to be widespread. Following Abbott’s address yesterday, the San Antonio mayor said in response there were still too many cases, Abbott’s decision was a mistake.

Texas likes to dance to its own tune. The recent grid power failure an example. Texas believes it knows better.

Here are the facts. Only 6.5 percent of Texans have been fully vaccinated. Herd immunity has not yet arrived. May never.

What follows is the best. A recent study of U.S. counties having the “worst” of virus conditions has been made public. The 20 worst counties the most interesting. Eleven of those counties are in Texas.

Additionally, not all health case workers have been vaccinated yet. People are told to sign up to get the vaccine shot. They are told no vaccine available when the time comes to receive their shots.

Biden will have to make a decision soon. To save the filibuster or pass his agenda. He cannot have both. The Republicans a long time ago forgot bipartisanship.

The stimulus package will pass. It is not subject to filibuster. However the voting rights bill will fail because it is so subject.

One or the other. Biden’s program will fail unless he gets rid of the filibuster. He will face problems with Democratic Senators Manchin and Sinema who support filibuster.

Biden has his work cut out for him.

In the modern era, it is becoming more frequent for Presidents and former Presidents to be indicted. Israel’s Netanahyu is one.

Another France’s former President Sarkozy. He was charged with forming a “corruption pact.” Tried and convicted. Sentenced to 3 years in jail. Two years suspended. The Court not sure whether he will be jailed or serve home confinement for the third year.

In 2 weeks, Sarkozy faces his second criminal trial. The claim is he violated campaign financing rules in 2012.

Sarkozy’s third problem still under investigation. He remains under investigation for allegedly receiving millions of euros in campaign funds in 2007. From who? Mommar Gadafi.

Trump’s time is next. He has the Manhattan District Attorney investigating him for tax and bank fraud. The Futon County, Georgia District Attorney announced yesterday that she had convened a grand jury to investigate the telephone call between Trump and Georgia’s Secretary of State. Trump wanted the Secretary to find some 11,000 votes that Trump could say were wrongly counted and should have been in Trump’s column. The Secretary refused.

The telephone call was recorded.

Stormy days ahead. Black clouds are assembling.

Pope Francis continues to play out as the best of men.

It is Lent. Catholic Church members give up something. Could be candy, drinking, swearing, food, etc.

Francis says lets be more realistic this year. Give up something of more value. Like gossiping/speaking ill of others. Christians should stop spreading hearsay/false rumors. He also recommends the Bible be read with more frequency. In most instance, a start to reading it. Francis suggests only one verse a day. No big deal.

Great show last night! Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou. Outstanding topics. Everything meshed.

Enjoy your day!

IF YOU DON’T SPEAK FRENCH, BE WARY OF EATING IN CHAMONIX…..THE BOILED HOT DOG CAPITAL OF THE WORLD was originally published on Key West Lou

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