#he was a drug peddler

[inspectorspacetimerevisited]

It was good that the Inspector was able to optick up a digital-funds transfer to Greg in ‘The Tenant’,

otherwise Greg might have assumed the Inspector was some sort of drug peddler or undocumented labourer.

[tevanbegins]

Yes to EVERYTHING. I get HIGH on Buck and Tommy 24x7. Tevan is my drug of choice. Can't live without them. They are no longer a want, they are a NEED. I'm far too deep in. Help.

wild to me how we were so obviously NOT supposed to get this attached to tommy. at all. lol. like, the narrative was clear. he was supposed to come in, blow buck's world open, and then bow out and that's what i prepared for! that's what i expected. what i did NOT expect was being willing to go to war for this man/this relationship within like five seconds of having them and that is so fucking funny to me. they laced him/them with crack, they did. that's the only explanation because what the hell happened here

[werewoofie]

i have covid rn an my mom keeps heckling me to take the ivermectin she got me at the start of the pandemic n i got annoyed and told her “i’m taking a drug cocktail right now I don’t feel comfortable taking something when i don’t know how it interacts with my meds” and she says “fine stay sick” and hangs up on me like, 🙃

[madly-empirical]

he was definitely also touching up marius' paintings back in the day

Why did armand put the steins in. just love of the game? What the hell man

[anne-bsd-bibliophile]

As I was rereading Thousand Autumns, I collected all of Shen Qiao's sarcastic thoughts he keeps to himself:

"Did Sect Leader Yan rent a courtyard with only one bedroom?" Shen Qiao asked. Yan Wushi was completely unruffled. "Of course not. But I rented the courtyard, so I can sit wherever I please. You've been unconscious for days, and I've taken care of you for the entire journey. But instead of thanking me, you've been acting all evasive. Was the sect leader of Xuandu Mountain brought up with such rude manners?" Shen Qiao thought to himself, My manner is evasive because yours is abnormal.

Ruyan Kehui smiled minutely... "The northern kingdoms are vast and abundant, but the southern kingdom is no less so. Once he's tasted Linchuan Academy's tea, perhaps this honored guest will find it unbearable to leave, even without his host imploring him to stay?" With a claim like that, did the Linchuan Academy drug all their visitors, and that's why they couldn't bear to leave? Shen Qiao couldn't help it and burst out with a chuckle.

Yan Wushi was all smiles. "My A-Qiao is so clever!" Shen Qiao's face grew dark. Who's your A-Qiao?

"... I suffered some serious injuries, and it took everything I had to escape. Ever since then, I've been too frightened to rashly provoke that guy anymore. A great and honorable grandmaster like him, splitting hairs with a weak woman like me? How petty and unbecoming of him." You're not a weak woman, thought Shen Qiao. Furthermore, you were the one who snuck into someone else's territory. If they let you come and go as you wish, what's the point of Linchuan Academy's gates? Might as well let people barge in every day.

Shen Qiao placed the lamb soup and flatbread in front of Yan Wushi. "Are you hungry? Eat." Yan Wushi glanced at Shen Qiao, then quickly dropped his head and mumbled, "Feed me." Shen Qiao fell silent. After a long time with no reply, Yan Wushi raised his head to look at Shen Qiao, then said hesitantly, "Like last time... Kis..." If I knock him unconscious right now, will he wake up with a more normal personality? Shen Qiao contemplated this with all seriousness.

"A-Qiao, why are you ignoring me?" Because right now I'm contemplating whether to knock you out before we keep going, Shen Qiao thought.

"She's my younger sister," said Shen Qiao. "Wife," said Yan Wushi. Shen Qiao and Yan Wushi's eyes met. Shen Qiao guessed that Yan Wushi had done it on purpose due to his dissatisfaction at being made to dress up like a woman, but he couldn't say too much in front of an outsider. He could only give a light cough and throw in a belated explanation: "This is my cousin. She's a bit immature, so please don't take offense." It would have been better if he hadn't explained. The moment he did, the peddler instantly imagined a story about a pair of cousins in forbidden love eloping to a faraway land. He quickly nodded repeatedly. "I understand! I understand!" Shen Qiao was completely baffled. What do you understand? Even I don't understand.

"If you're going to use a disguise, make it a good one. Most women have long fingernails, and even if they don't, they'll paint them. Otherwise, the moment an observant person sees how prominent my knuckles are, they'll immediately know that I'm a man disguised as a woman." The corner of Shen Qiao's mouth twitched as he thought, How am I supposed to know something like that? I've never disguised myself as one before.

Yan Wushi sputtered a laugh. "All right, all right. Don't be so mad!... Like you said, my martial arts have yet to recover, and my reappearance would be far too ostentatious ... You won't be able to protect me with your current abilities." And whose fault is that? thought Shen Qiao. You have enemies everywhere, and that's not something everyone can pull off. If not for my concern over the big picture, which prevents me from picking a bone with you, I, too, would have joined the ranks of people trying to kill you.

Yan Wushi peeled off a piece of bark from somewhere, then placed the roasted sparrows on top. As Shen Qiao looked at them, he immediately found it difficult to keep his mouth from twitching. Upon that piece of bark, six sparrows were neatly laid out, with one in the center and five arranged evenly around it. "This dish is called 'Plum Blossom Sparrows.'" Shen Qiao bit his tongue. You came up with the name yourself, didn't you?

Yan Wushi sighed. "A-Qiao, you're not stupid But your tender heart holds you back. You're always so optimistic when it comes to interpersonal matters, and you never suspect a dark side to them. What would you do if I weren't here?" If you weren't here, my days would definitely go a hundred times more smoothly! Shen Qiao almost blurted out.

"A-Qiao, you're shivering," Yan Wushi said, mouth against his ear. "Are you wearing too little?" Laughter laced his tone, and he had almost trapped Shen Qiao within his arms. I'll stop shivering if you let go! Shen Qiao raged internally.

"First, my venerable self doesn't want Guang Lingsan to know that we're close," Yan Wushi replied leisurely. "This is to keep you safe, so you should thank me." How are you and I close? Shen Qiao thought to himself, but he played along. "I'm grateful for Sect Leader Yan's care."

Yan Wushi's gaze swept over Shen Qiao and Yuwen Song, whose expressions were equally speechless. He casually threw in another line: "I heard that there's a peerless beauty at Bixia Sect, whose name is Yue Kunchi." Shen Qiao was stunned. "That's the sect leader's shixiong, and...and he's a man. You actually...?" "That sect leader should be a woman?" "That's right..." "Then let me try again," said Yan Wushi. "I heard that the Bixia Sect Leader is a peerless beauty, whose appearance surpasses even Yuan Xiuxiu's. My venerable self has admired her for a long time, so I wish to meet her." Shen Qiao stared at him. You don't sound like you've admired her for very long at all.

"A-Qiao, you're words are far too distant considering our current relationship." What current relationship? Shen Qiao's mouth twitched as he forced himself once again to endure an irrelevant remark from Yan Wushi.

Shen Qiao didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "I never wanted to be the alliance leader!" Yu Shengyan was confused. "Shizun ordered me to come and help you. If you don't want to be alliance leader, why did he instruct me to do so?" Shen Qiao thought to himself, Your shizun just does as he pleases, and his actions and words couldn't be further from a normal person's. How am I supposed to know what he's thinking?

Yan Wushi even consoled him. "It's not your fault. I already told you that Hehuan Sect is full of bad people, and that's why you shouldn't mingle with that trash. Like those demonesses, Yuan Xiuxiu and Bai Rong; just stay away when you see them in the future. My A-Qiao is a pure and spirited beauty. How can I let them tarnish you?" Not like the reputation of your Huanyue Sect is any better than that of Hehuan Sect. Also, what do you mean, "my A-Qiao"? Who's your A-Qiao?!

The innkeeper couldn’t help but smile and say, “The two gentlemen here are brothers, correct? You’re very close.” “We’re not brothers,” said Yan Wushi. “Ah,” said the innkeeper as he hesitated a little. “Then…father and son?” Yan Wushi didn’t say anything, only smiled suggestively at him. Then he glanced at Shen Qiao, before smiling again at the innkeeper. The shopkeeper had seen all types of people before, and dawning realization soon surfaced on his face. “It can’t be helped,” Yan Wushi said. “He’s been difficult the past few days, and we haven’t been getting along.” The innkeeper was incredibly adaptable. “They all say, with ten years of virtue, you’ll share the same ship of destiny, with a hundred years of virtue you’ll…you know.12 As the two of you are dragons and phoenixes among men, your friendship is likely extraordinary as well. Since you already have this shared destiny, you should make some concessions to each other. You know what they say: amiability is the key to prosperity!” Shen Qiao was silent. What do you mean, “you know?” Say it clearly!

The words he wanted to say turned in his stomach a few times, and just as he was about to say them, he heard a slight sound coming from Yan Wushi’s table. He couldn’t help but raise his head, just in time to see Yan Wushi’s head drop low as he coughed up blood. Shen Qiao’s face contorted in horror. All else flew from his mind as he hurriedly leapt up to support him. “What’s wrong? Was the wine poisoned?!” As Shen Qiao hadn’t touched the jug of wine, he immediately thought that the wine was the issue. And because this reminded him of his own experience with Joyful Reunion, his complexion looked even worse than Yan Wushi’s. But then, Yan Wushi suddenly smiled and pulled him into his arms. “Your panic reveals your concern. A-Qiao, your words truly don’t match your heart!” Shen Qiao stared at him. “You…you weren’t poisoned?” Yan Wushi wiped the bloodstain from the corner of his lips and said, “I accidentally bit my lip while chewing. I might have been too agitated.” Agitated to the point of vomiting blood? To hell with your lies!

Yan Wushi added, “Yuwen Xian was weak, but he was skilled with military administration, as well as an excellent commander. Even if he couldn’t have inherited Yuwen Yong’s legacy, he wouldn’t have squandered the family’s wealth entirely. Unfortunately, Yuwen Yong couldn’t break free from the shackles of tradition and insisted on his son inheriting the throne. His vision was far too narrow and shallow. He labored his entire life and ended up being killed by his son, and all his hard work has come to nothing. Such misfortune he brought upon himself!” He showed little respect for the previous emperor, his criticisms flowing forth the moment he opened his mouth. Anyone else hearing this would have been terrified out of their wits, but Shen Qiao couldn’t help but internally roll his eyes. He thought, Didn’t you get ambushed by those martial experts in the capital of Tuyuhun? You even ended up with a crack in your skull and almost lost your life. You call Yuwen Yong shallow, but where was your foresight then? Yan Wushi didn’t even turn back as he joked, “A-Qiao, I didn’t expect you, an upright gentleman, to develop the bad habit of silently cursing someone behind his back. That’s not good!”

Yan Wushi smiled and said, "If you dislike them, I naturally dislike them as well. Considering our relationship, if we don't present a united front, people will misunderstand, won't they?" What relationship? And people won't misunderstand if you say it like this? Shen Qiao was stunned by Yan Wushi's ability to argue black into white. "Sect Leader Yan worries too much," he said. "This humble Daoist isn't a member of Huanyue Sect. Even if Sect Leader Yan and I don't have a united front, no one will misunderstand."

“That’s fine,” said Yan Wushi. “It’s about time, anyway. With your current martial prowess, you might not be able to chop Yu Ai into eight pieces, but stabbing a sword through his heart should be doable.” Shen Qiao was left almost speechless. “Just because I’m going doesn’t mean I have to kill someone!” Can you not spout such bloodthirsty words all the time?

Yan Wushi's smile widened. "A-Qiao, are you worried about me?" "No," said Shen Qiao. "You're lying," said Yan Wushi. Shen Qiao said nothing. Then why did you even ask?

“That’s why you’re special,” said Yan Wushi. “These things are truly worldly possessions that you see as external to you. I’ve thought about it for a long time, but I couldn’t think of anything that I can repay you with, so I can only repay you with myself. What do you say?” Of course not! Shen Qiao was dumbfounded. When he saw Yan Wushi about to lower his head, he slammed a palm into his chest without hesitation.

Shen Qiao glanced over at Yan Wushi. His eyes were still closed; it looked like he’d fallen asleep. With Shen Qiao’s character, he’d never do a thing like shaking someone awake, but hurt suddenly burst inside his heart: You were the one who kept provoking me, but now you’re going to ignore me instead? Of course, Shen Qiao’s thoughts weren’t this straightforward, but this was the general idea.

Yan Wushi didn’t put up any resistance and let Shen Qiao drag him there. However, his face grew a little bit colder. “I helped extricate you from a predicament in the palace,” he said. “This is how Daoist Master Shen repays me?” What do you mean, extricate?! It’s obvious that you wanted to enter the palace to watch the show yourself!

“Do you know what I currently regret the most?” Yan Wushi suddenly asked. Shen Qiao looked back at him in confusion. His thoughts seemed to have been churned into paste by an invisible hand; even his gaze overflowed with bewilderment, and his hair was mussed from all the fondling. He was the perfect picture of an innocent, guileless little creature, just waiting for some evil-intentioned person to ravage him. “If I’d known this would happen,” Yan Wushi said, “I’d have bought all the residences within this alley.” What does buying residences have to do with regret? Shen Qiao wondered in a daze.

Yan Wushi’s tongue took the opportunity to invade even more deeply. Even the skin around his collarbone was stained with a dark blush. His breaths came in heaves, beyond his control. Yan Wushi didn’t forget to tease him. “If it’d been someone else who was full of malice, they’d never let you off so easily.” The person with the most malice is you!

Yan Wushi placed the pears back into the basket. “What should we bet this time? And Sect Leader Shen shouldn’t be too stingy.” Shen Qiao shook his head. “I’m not betting this time.” “Afraid now?” Shen Qiao thought, I’m afraid that you’ll come up with some new method to retaliate against me even harder if you lose. With how vengeful you are, Sect Leader Yan, you’re always able to concoct twisted ideas that no one else can, so there’s no way to guard against you. But ultimately, these words were too difficult for him to say because if he enraged or embarrassed Yan Wushi, the unfortunate one would always end up being Shen Qiao.

[marcmarcmomarc]

Ruby telling this story in front of the whole Remnant Alliance, using Robyn’s Lie Detection to prove what she’s telling them is the truth, inspired by this post:

ROBYN: So what happened on the other side of the portals?

RUBY: Well, after I fell, I met a talking mouse I named Little, then we found Weiss and Blake captured by a whole village of talking mice whom we convinced to let them go, then we found Yang fighting a Jabberwalker while missing her arm, then we realized we were in our favorite childhood fairy tale, The Girl Who Fell Through the World.

OSCAR: That fairy tale actually happened?

RUBY: Then we went to the village in the Crimson Acre to bargain with the Jinxy Peddler for Yang’s arm.

EMERALD: You met the Jinxy Peddler?

VELVET: Was he cute?

WEISS: Yeah.

RUBY: And he was older than he was in the book. Anyway, toy soldiers won the arm, and we only got it back from them because Little tried stealing another “fine treasure”, exposing Jinxy’s treasures as fakes. The soldiers escorted us to the Crimson Castle, at first to arrest us for stealing Yang’s arm, or “royal property”, before I traded Penny’s sword, with a story of her being the greatest warrior to ever live.

REMNANT ALLIANCE:

RUBY: The occasion was the birthday of who we thought was the Red King, but turned out to be the Red Prince, who was more of a spoiled brat than Weiss was at Beacon.

YANG: (nudging Weiss) Heh-heh.

RUBY: Then we challenged him to a game of chess, where he shrunk the girls to the size of chess pawns, and when we beat him, he threw a tantrum and wanted us beheaded, and the Curious Cat rescued us.

NORA: The Curious Kitty?!

REN: Were they as chatty as the book made them out to be?

RUBY: Mm-hm. Not to mention easily distracted. Anyway, they took us to look for ingredients for a Growgurt Parfait in the Garden Acre, and we met a smoking caterpillar called Herb who drugged us into seeing our past selves via leaves from the Great Tree, which we all rejected, well, which the other girls rejected, I almost gave in, before the Cat stopped me, then got Herb swallowed by a hole in the ground.

TAI: You guys did drugs?

QROW: Whoa, whoa, don’t start drinking like me, girls.

RUBY: Anyway, the Cat led us to a market to keep looking for the Parfait ingredients. Along the way, they told us about Ascension, a process that occurs when an Afteran is no longer doing the assigned role that they are supposed to be, triggered by them losing their ways, wearing out, doubting themselves, or even just finishing their assigned tasks, upon which they are taken to the Great Tree and repurposed into someone or something else with a new identity, personality, and role. Their memories are erased in the process, but the heart barely ever forgets.

REMNANT ALLIANCE: Ooh.

RUBY: And then, the market was attacked by Jabberwalkers using Neopolitan’s Semblance. We had all of the ingredients for the Parfait, and the girls grew back to normal size just as we got assistance from the Rusted Knight riding his white rabbit.

WHITLEY: You know, Weiss had a crush on the Rusted Knight when she was a kid.

BLAKE: I think everyone had a crush on the Rusted Knight at some point.

RUBY: Well, things didn’t help when he turned out to be a grown-up Jaune with longer hair and a beard, who grabbed a fruit that sent him back in time twenty years right after he landed.

REMNANT ALLIANCE:

NORA: Oh, my Gods, Jaune.

JAUNE: I was stuck there isolated from other human contact, too.

YANG: Weiss certainly loved how mature he was.

RUBY: And the white rabbit was a jackalope Jaune named Juniper.

NORA: Aw, Jaune.

RUBY: Then Jaune told us his perspective on the Tree, that he believed it was death, that Alyx backstabbed her brother Lewis, the author of the fairy tale, who wrote the story the way he wished it had happened, and that the Cat couldn’t be trusted, then we got sent to a punderstorm, which creates a physical manifestation of a mental or emotional problem. Jaune, Weiss, and I were sent to metaphorical and literal crossroads, while Yang and Blake were sent to two broken, wooden, rickety bridges connected to a giant pillar they could only advance toward if they were honest about their feelings for each other. Yeah, Yang and Blake are girlfriends now.

REMNANT ALLIANCE:

NORA: See, Ren? I told you there was more going on!

KALI: Our baby girl found love?

TAI: With my sunny little dragon?

RAVEN: She really is your daughter, then, Tai.

RUBY: Then the Cat bailed on us after mistaking us for selfishly using them to get home, and once the storm passed, Jaune let us spend the night in his house in the Origami Acre, then he introduced us the next morning to a village of paper stars called the Paper Pleasers whose purpose was finished and kept trying to go to the Tree to gain a new purpose, but Jaune had been stopping them for as long as he knew them. Then Neo’s Jabberwalkers attacked, and while we were distracted, the Paper Pleasers finally managed to commit mass suicide via destroying the koi pond dam, then when the girls asked me to help comfort Jaune, I blew up at them for caring more about everyone else’s feelings or getting home, and taking my mental health for granted and ignoring my suffering…

REMNANT ALLIANCE:

WBY+J:

RUBY: …then I ran away, came across the Abandoned Acre, and entered a random mansion, where Neo had made clone illusions of Roman Torchwick, Penny, Pyrrha, Professor Lionheart, Clover, Professor Ozpin, and General Ironwood, and used them to physically and psychologically destroy me, and when the chaos was over, I didn’t want to be me anymore, not helped by Torchwick’s question: “Do you really think you can stand to watch more of your friends fall, or are you ready to admit the truth? That the world would just be better off without you?”

REMNANT ALLIANCE (passing tissues around):

RUBY: Then Neo offered me tea made from leaves from the Tree intended to wipe me from existence, then the Cat blasted her away, but then turned out to be evil and tried to possess me, then Neo fought them off and stomped Little to death, then I drank the tea, offing myself, and got swallowed by the Tree.

YANG: (tearing up) Oh, Rubes.

RUBY: Then I met a Blacksmith, who I also found at the market, or, rather, she found me, and then she presented me with a choice to either be someone else or myself. I saw my mom’s weapon and was treated to a vision of the night she left with Raven on another one of Ozpin’s secret missions and never came back.

TAI: (turns accusingly at…) Raven?

RAVEN: (sheepishly) Uh, surprise?

HARE: (to Ruby) Wait. What did you say your mother’s name was again?

RUBY: Summer.

HARE: (muttering) So, her uncle is Qrow, her father is Taiyang, and her sister’s mother is Raven. All are members of Team STRQ. Summer, Summer, Summer… (out loud) Summer Rose, the leader of Team STRQ, was your mother?

REMNANT ALLIANCE (walla): Summer?…Summer Rose?…The previous silver-eyed Huntress?…That’s Summer Rose’s daughter?

RUBY: Yeah. And then, I finally chose to be myself and grow into a better Huntress. And I. Came. Back, and helped the girls fight the evil Cat. And we won.

REMNANT ALLIANCE:

RUBY: And then Neo killed the Cat with the Jabberwalkers, who, by the way, are the only creatures to prevent Ascension if they eat Afterans. And, according to the girls, Neo was possessed by the Cat, and she chose to accept Torchwick’s death and undergo her own Ascension. Oh, and Little ascended, too, into who we called Somewhat, and succeeded Jaune as the protector of the Ever After. And then, we had made it to the Tree, and we walked through the door back home, landed inside the plane of the Tree met the Blacksmith again at her workshop, and when we noticed two statues of the Brother Gods, she told us their backstory. That the Ever After was overfilled with plants and dangerous wildlife in its primordial years, but the Brothers were created to clear it out. Then they created the Afterans as well as the different acres for them to live in. They designed new creations that would replace them in maintaining the Ever After. This was how the Cat was created. They later created the Jabberwalker as a form of destruction. However, the two disagreed on whether it disrupted the balance or not and began to wage war.

OSCAR: (scoffs) What else is new?

RUBY: The Blacksmith told us how balance isn’t supposed to be two opposing forces locked in battle; balance is an ecosystem, an organism, and a living thing, thus balance isn’t restored with force or manipulation, it’s restored naturally, requiring love and patience to see it through to the end. The Gods got to Remnant because the Ever After created a door to a “greater beyond” for the Gods, so they can leave and experiment in creating new worlds as much as they like.

NORA: (snickering) So the Tree basically said, “You think you have life sorted out? Then get out of my house”?

RUBY: Pretty much.

TEAM RWBY, JAUNE, AND REMNANT ALLIANCE:

YANG: (wiping a tear) Oh, my Gods, that’s such a hilarious way of looking at it. Thanks, Nora.

RUBY: Anyway, the Blacksmith told us that we have impacted the Ever After significantly; just like Somewhat, Alyx, and Lewis, and that the Cat caused a bad impact, and then she made us a portal in the desert on the outskirts of the city, and now you’re all caught up.

[pyramidsoul]

Oxford apartments neighbor speaking about Jeffrey Dahmer

One evening in June of 1990, I held my first conversation with our neighbor who lived across the hall. I introduced myself to him as Vern and he introduced himself to me as Jeff.

He appeared to be very polite as he and I stood in the hall in front of our apartments. He stated he was leaving to go to the corner store to buy a pack of cigarettes and when he saw I had a pack in my shirt pocket he asked if I had a cigarette I could spare.

Of all the times I had seen this guy he was always casually dressed in faded jeans, a flannel shirt and casual shoes. He wore glasses and his hair was cut medium length always looking well groomed. He had the appearance of a college student or someone who had been to college. He was clean shaven and had boyish look.

I guess the word I would choose to describe my impression of him is intelligent, highly intelligent. He had a slim built appearing to be 6 feet tall, weighing maybe 165 pounds. I'd guess his age to be 30 or 31 years old.

Through the times that I'd see him our conversations would mainly be small talk about my car, my job, the weather, his job and the building or something of that nature. He always appeared to be soft spoken as we would stop in the hall on his way in or out of his apartment.

Never did he give me any impression that he had hang ups about living in a dominantly black building or living in the neighborhood which also was dominantly black. As time went on Pam also had begun to have small conversations with him. She also thought that he was pretty pleasant to talk to. We were neighborly with all the tenants living in the building.

Being that I was the only black man at my place of employment and Pam being raised in Madison where blacks were few, neither she nor I had a problem with him being white. Our typical conversations went something like this whenever we would talk to each other in the hall.

"What's happening?"

"Hey Vern, not much."

He would notice that I would be just getting in from work most of the evenings when we'd see each other...

"How was your day?"

"Not too bad," I'd reply. From earlier conversations in our passing, I had informed him that I was a Draftsman. He like-wise told me he worked 3rd shift at a chocolate factory downtown and that he's been employed there for a couple of years.

"Do you have to punch in tonight?"

"Yeah, got to pay rent."

"Talk to you later," I'd respond. His reply was... "yeah, take care."

There had been various other conversations and I must admit talking to him made me feel appreciative of our small conversations. I felt sad for the guy living alone, never seeing him associate with anyone or have friends visit him at his apartment.

Amongst all of the tenants in the building Jeff stood out the most, not only because he was white but to me because he never had visitors or a girlfriend which to me appeared strange but not the type of out of the way strange. He was always alone.

He didn't own a car therefore, his means of transportation was the city bus. After becoming acquainted with him, we'd see Jeff standing on the bus stop or getting off the bus walking towards the apartment building.

He appeared to be weird to the other tenants but I never thought of him as such because of the fact that the area where we lived was nothing but a danger zone and keeping to himself was a safe thing to do. It was not safe for anyone walking that didn't fit in.

It was no surprise to see Jeff wearing his light gray jacket walking at 9:00pm through someone's backyard or taking a short cut through the alley headed towards the Oxford Building. He'd walk among dope peddlers to have them approach him and ask him "you looking..?" "You straight..?"

Meaning do you want to buy drugs but He would either shake his head negatively or ignore the peddlers all together.

He would be approached by addicts trying to con him in any way possible for money and women working the streets would confront him with offers of sexual pleasures for money but he would ignore them all.

I recall once telling Pam that I thought he had a lot of heart to live in this area. He never showed any sign of being fearful, he didn't have a kick ass type of attitude. It was more of an "I don't bother you and you don't bother me" type of attitude.

In June there was a series of burglaries and apartments in our building were broken into. Everyone was on lookout for any strangers walking through the halls. The police were called and they questioned everyone that lived in the building to see if anyone may have seen anyone or knew anything. Two apartments were broken into and everyone in the Oxford Apartments had high concerns about the break-ins.

The tenants began to look out for each other's apartments when the tenant was away. I had two of my nearest neighbor's phone numbers and I had also given them our number to inform each other when we were going to be out of our apartments. Our neighbor Jeff had gotten a phone but said he had it for only a week or so because he couldn't afford the bill.

"Hey Jeff, we're starting to look out for each other's apartment due to the break-ins. Give me your telephone number so that we can call you to just let you know when we're not going to be in so that you can keep an eye on our apartment."

"Vern, my phone was turned off because I'm having a hard enough time paying my rent and feeding myself, so there's no reason to give me your phone number. I do however intend to get a burglar alarm for when I'm away at nights working. There's no way I can afford to have my stuff ripped off and there's no real security around here that I trust."

"Yeah, it's getting pretty tough around here." I said.

"Yeah Vern I know what you mean. Any news about the guys' stuff that was stolen?"

"None! You know how that goes."

"Well I'll talk to you later."

"Sure Jeff, later."

Extract from Vernell Bass’ book “Across the Hall”, chapter 2. If you’re interested to know more support the author and get the book!

[professor-doctor-doctor]

Since everyone is posting about their headcanons and OCs, here’s…the closest I have to an OC?

The Shindo brothers, in childhood. Matsuzo, at the top, is the name I gave to Heiji’s nameless older brother in the first episode. Takeshi is technically an OC—both Heiji and Matsuzo appear in the final show, but Takeshi does not. This is intentional. Takeshi did not live into adulthood—and yes, it was Heiji’s fault.

Some quick headcanons regarding the brother’s, Heiji’s childhood, and their relationships with one another:

Matsuzo is primarily focused on his studies, both academic and refining his Shindo-Ryō. He’s the reserved older brother, and his father’s apprentice, meaning most of the time he’s away from his younger siblings, being trained personally. This doesn’t mean he doesn’t spend time with them—Matsuzo helps train Takeshi, who is also training to be a swordsman. While Heiji is the only of the sons to not be learning Shindo-Ryō, Matsuzo still makes some time to spend with him, such as joining him for tea ceremonies, or doing calligraphy together. Out of everyone in the family, Heiji’s closest relationship was with Matsuzo.

Heiji began youth as the quiet, overlooked child, and after his younger brother’s death, became something of a trouble child—making associates with drug peddlers and flesh traders within the city (such as Hachiman), even building his own miniature gang, which later results in his father banishing him from the family and Kyoto as a city. But before all of this, he was the studious of the three, and yet pretty much ignored by his father due to his lack of interest in fighting. His mother died when he was around nine years old, and it was she who taught him how to brew tea—but other than that, he hadn’t much a relationship with either of his parents. He was closest with Matsuzo, but despised his younger brother Takeshi, who often took joy in poking fun at how useless Heiji was when it came to the samurai arts—quite literally what their entire clan is known for. He beat him on several sparring occasions, and was overall just as annoying as a younger sibling may be. It was a great source of embarrassment for Heiji, and culminated overtime into a festering hatred for his own kin.

Takeshi, for all his nuisance, was essentially acting in the way any other little boy would. He was rambunctious, loud, and prideful, all of which clashed with Heiji’s personality. He was well liked by his father and eldest brother, however, who saw that he had the makings of a very promising warrior. It was seen that where Matsuzo would inherit the dojo and ruler ship of the clan, Takeshi would likely go on to be a great warrior, and add a new branch of lineage to the Shindo family tree. Heiji was overlooked, due to the fact his only ambition seemed to be that of an artisan.

However, Takeshi met a tragic end at the age of ten in the summer of 1613, when he fell gravely ill of a mysterious illness, and passed away. He was buried in the family grave, and the loss hit both Matsuzo and the Shindo Patriarch hard—not so much Heiji. Soon after, Heiji began to take advantage of his silver tongue and skills in trade, further dampening his relationship with his father. His sly and snake like attitude lead his father to both see and suspect the worst in him, and when Heiji turned 19, he was banished from the family, on the grounds he had disrespected their values in every way possible. The Shindo Patriarch Even accused Heiji in having a hand in his brother’s death, which is…just ridiculous, right?

By the time the show begins, Matsuzo and Heiji have somewhat reconnected. After their father passed away and Matsuzo became leader of the Shindo clan, Heiji eventually reached out—after, of course, getting a comfy spot working for the Shogun to facilitate the trade of foreign guns into Japan. He was deeply apologetic and implored his brother to see past his father’s foolishness—he had loved his brother, after all. He’d have done nothing to hurt him. Matsuzo, Kind at Heart, welcomed him back in—a grave mistake. For with Heiji came his empire of drugs and trafficking Matsuzo had no clue of.

Despite being the eldest, and the leader of the clan, Heiji became richer and of higher status through his success as a criminal overlord. It wasn’t long before it was Matsuzo bowing to Heiji.

This is just a quick overview of how I interpret Heiji Shindo’s family—I actually have a fic of Matsuzo eating dinner with him, Fowler, and Hachiman, supposedly after the scene where they agree to set the four fangs after Mizu. If you want me to post it, or rant more about my elaborate backstory for the unforgivable rat that is Shindo, please let me know! Comics and the likes will also be coming soon :3

[dustedmagazine]

Ka — The Thief Next to Jesus (self-released)

The Thief Next to Jesus is a return to form for the Brownsville’s firefighter/MC after a few misses.

Ka’s music has always been low key, but his last double album Languish Arts / Woeful Studies (2022) was so low key it went under radars. He caught heat for his drumless beats. He was castigated as too elitist and too far from modern trends. He pursued an unusual business model, selling music only from his website (the hell with the streaming platforms). Still, he has never been a cult priest pandering only to his followers.

As with his all previous CDs, The Thief Next to Jesus is heavy on the Bible references but it is as far from Christian rap as possible. Poets have long used Bible references, even if few of them lived Christian lives. What makes The Thief Next to Jesus so bold (despite that the production here is still low key) is how Ka mixes together two recurring themes in his lyrics.

He sums up the first one on his song “Such Devotion”:

When you're broke crushing coke don't take much coaxing Cooking the raw is a foot in the door, tryna bust it open

His verdict is “How they dealing? Killing us always been the true agenda.” Turning to a life of crime is the easiest way out but also the only one if you’re stuck with “guns and drugs” already in the 1980s Ice Cube warned us of.

Is this the only way of life you’re supposed to write music about? Ka disagrees (and this is his second theme). That social justice rap is dead is evident to everybody, except for those who’s never known it existed in the first place. “What started as empowerment, I'm feeling now it's past that”, Ka sadly admits on “Bread, Wine, Body, Blood.” Those who were making social justice rap in the early 1990s had different lives. Some are now making millions, like Ice Cube, from the people they hated; some ended up on the streets, panhandling. Now, Ka angrily spits, all rap is “it's pussy this, ass that, all that shit's trash rap.” Bewildered, he asks: “You sure you selling me melody, you keep telling me your ass fat?”

It is self-evident that there is a sickness spreading around in rap music, yet nobody, except Ka, even asks questions like that. He demands answers but nobody will reply: “FBI and Klan killed your leaders, when y'all gone pay 'em back?”

At his best here, Ka is like angry Jesus trying to drive out all the peddlers rappers in the temple. Sadly, he’s preaching to the wrong crowd. They won’t understand.

Ray Garraty

[rise-my-angel]

Bonds and Seizure

Pairing: Javi Gutierrez x Female Reader

Length: 18.3k

Warnings: angst/hurt comfort, happy ending, kidnapping, held against will, threats of violence, mentions of guns and drugs, slowburn, smut, masturbation, p in v, dry humping

Notes: Set before movie events and timeline but you don't need to see the movie to follow this story.

So far, your chances at every visiting Spain for a second time were looking quite slim. You had maybe about two hours of time to enjoy the warm sun and the beautiful waterside view of your hotel until your brother finally knocked at the door. You were only able to see him for a fraction of a second before a second man pushed through the door. 

The same man who was now kneeling in front of your face with a slimy grin speaking to you condescendingly like you were a petulant child. You weren't actually sure how you got there, but judging by the slight pain at the side of your head and how strangely groggy you had felt just minutes after waking up? You guessed you had either been hit on the head and drugged before you could wake up, or drugged and hit your head on the floor as you passed out. 

Either way, you had woken up to a terribly bright light as your hands were tied behind your back of the chair you were sat at. This man with dyed white hair and a look in his eye you could only describe as unhinged wasn’t even your biggest concern, nor was it the darker haired man with a furrowed stern expression standing a bit behind him that entered just minutes before this nightmare hopefully ended.

But it didn’t. This white haired man finally left you alone with this newcomer but not before leaning into his companions personal space and looking with gleeful eyes back at you, “Don’t worry, you’ll be perfectly safe in Javi's hands. Our head honcho’s are always well stocked with security afterall.” 

The darker haired man shot him a sideways glare, but didn’t say a word. He stood with little move to follow, just sliding his hands up to his hips as he turns his head to watch him walk away. A small aggressive bout of Spanish flying from the white haired mans mouth, far too quick for your somewhat limited language skills to catch. 

What had surprised you was after you were left alone. Looking back on it you think a degree of shock must have kicked in, you had been silent and shaking, you hadn’t really even looked at him. You’re not sure if he said something or what, but he just cut the ties to free your arms and at some point, led you into a washroom where you stood now. 

The water had been on a hot setting with high pressure as you cranked it all the way right, and finally your senses floated back into the forefront of your mind as you slowly turned it down to a gentler level. You truly had taken nothing in, was this even the first stop he brought you too? Why even bother with giving you this, if you were just a prisoner? 

On one hand, you could feel the sluggish grog slip down the drain and relax the muscle tension of how you woke up, but it also felt like a trick. 

These were arms dealers. That was made quite clear to you, the white haired one spitting out in venom that they were much more lucrative then ‘careless coke peddlers’. You weren’t sure if that scared you more, the reach of those cartels involved in guns and weapons far exceeded that of drugs. How your brother got involved in this was beyond you. 

Two of you had barley spoken, he had left for Europe around two years ago and kept quiet ever since. Occasionally he had called for money, and you were weak enough to send it to him. Never specifying what he needed it so desperately for, but you handed it over. Now it seems, he had handed you over as a payment he knew you couldn’t cover.

“You still don’t get it do you, princesa?” You could feel the vile musk of his breathe slamming against your ear as he kneeled in front of you. “You are our payment. He does what we tell him, his work pays off that debt, and you get put up as collateral.” 

You could still feel the trembling in every limb, as you just told him you didn’t understand.

The man grinned in response and that's when you truly knew how bad this was. “Easy. He pays off his debt doing whatever we order him to do, and you get to go back to your cushy little home in America. He fails to pay off what he owes though? And we keep you as compensation.” 

You ran your hands over your face and up over the top of your head as you stuck your entire face in the water stream. As long as you couldn’t see, you could act as if the world right outside of that door wasn’t a hell waiting for you. 

He had called this a compound, and you were a prisoner. The only images able to be conjured up was cells and dungeons from too many films to count. Chained up on a harsh dirty floor or locked behind a freezing barrier of cell doors. Running wasn’t an option. Everyone here probably kept guns on their person at all times. Why not? They had them in droves. 

As the hot water begun to cool though, you knew there was a large man waiting for you on the other side, if not just his own people ready to drag you down and lock you away. The other had said something about this man being in charge. How egregious was your brothers crimes that the only suitable place to store you was the prison walls of the cartel leader? 

Each step you took slowly, taking your time to slowly grasp everything to dry you off, small baby steps towards where you had haphazardly peeled your clothes off. By the time you had redressed, there was nothing else to stall you. Your fate was set and you had to deal with it no matter what. 

The handle was turned painfully slow, your jaw clenched and teeth subconsciously biting into the inside of your cheek. There was no breath in your lungs as you inched the door open to see who was waiting for you on the other side. 

But there was none. Just a modest hallway lined with rich woodwork and high open windows brightening it with the sunlight. You leaned your head out into the hallway more, peeking as if you were being tricked. But as you slowly made your way into the hall, it was clear there was no one there to drag you away. 

The hall wasn’t long but you stepped through it timid and slowly, feeling as if it went on forever and perhaps that what you wished it would do. Go on so long you never had to think about what was at the end. There weren’t that much in the way of doors. 

Tall arches that reached the high ceiling that let even more sunlight filter through the building and casting a warm glow on the bright walls. There was a door in sight though once you reached the end of a hallway, a few ones in fact sparsely spaced out giving a sense of good privacy between them. 

One of them, was halfway open, and the corner of what appeared to be a bed in the sight. These all must be bedrooms. You’re not sure why you went to look inside. Maybe it was the tease of a luxury you’d never know or feel, catch a glimpse of wealth before you were used as a tool to take it away from your own brother. 

The room was brighter then even the others you passed, a large window with the glass planes turned outward and letting a cool breeze fly around the curtains. Moving further inside, you saw a familiar figure with his back to you looking through drawers as he mutters to himself. He seemed to sense someone entering the room as he turned around. 

That same furrowed brow lightening up to a strangely softer wide eyed look. He gestured behind him to the drawers as he finally spoke to you. “There is not much here, but I can send someone out to buys some things for you, or we-” He cleared his throat almost hesitantly. “Or my assistant can help you look on the internet so you can pick whatever you want yourself.” 

Your hands hung loosely at your side, fingers clenching and unclenching against the fabric of your pants. Your eyes narrowed in confusion but were too nervous to speak up in front of him. 

Sensing your lack of understanding, he moved away from that side of the room to stand in the open middle, nothing on his face that screamed anything close to the threat of his other companion. He pointed to your clothes, “You were only brought here with what was on you, clearly not realizing you may want actual clothes of your own to wear. Small details are not Lucas’s strong point.” 

It was hard to tell if he was just judging how cheap and uninteresting your choice in outfit was compared to the soft and rich fabric of the brown button up draping over his broad frame. Your feet switching weight from side to side, “Lucas?” 

His own face fell, an unhappy sort of frown following. “My cousin. The man who brought you here I could only assume against your will.” Having his name didn’t make you feel any better. “He told me to keep you here but I see no point in making you uncomfortable. More comfortable I mean.” 

A nod was all he got in return, it was odd though, for who he was that he just kept rambling after every lack of response as if anxiously filling the void of silence. “This is your room, I-hopefully it’s good enough but feel free to speak up about anything you need, more pillows, less, if the comforter is too heavy or not warm enough. I know the guest rooms tend to not have very soft blankets but they aren’t...used very often.” 

The room teased you with luxury your small 4 room apartment above a small restaurant mocked you. This was nicer then your whole life. You crossed your arms meekly across your chest near your stomach, shoulders shrinking into themselves as if trying to become smaller. 

The man nodded to himself, in opposite to you he straightened up more. “This is not a prison, and I don’t want to treat you like one. It’s my home, and I want it to feel welcoming to anyone staying here, no matter the circumstances.” 

It was clear you didn’t want to discuss why you were here, but you couldn’t wrap your head around being given any sort of comfort or freedom. 

“It’s an island which is likely why Lucas chose to bring you here, but it is large. Plenty of space inside and outside to have your privacy. Me and the people who work here don’t want to keep you on a leash, there is a security system but they don’t exist to watch your every step.” 

You approached the bed, fingers reaching out to lightly trace the white blanket so untouched it almost looked new. The inside of your cheek stung from how much your teeth bit against it, but you weren’t brave enough to stop doing it, or to find your voice. You had been ready to start crying out of fear, but now they sat just glazing over enough to redden them from an unexpected overwhelmed feeling. 

He spoke up one last time. “I’m sorry you probably want some time along right now, I should leave you be. My home is not off limits, you can go anywhere you like you aren’t restricted to your room. You didn’t choose to be here, but I don’t want you scared to just exist. You are free to do anything you like.” 

You turned your body away from him as he passed, despite the wide path he took to not invade your personal space. Whatever distressed emotion that flickered across his features at your anxiousness went unnoticed by you your head down at the floor. You gave him just one bit of feedback before he left. 

Your name. “I don’t uh, know how much he told you, but that’s my name.” 

You peeked up at him, a much more relieved smile passed his face and sat in his brown eyes. “I’m Javi. If you need anything, just ask. Please. I would rather you feel comfortable then scared while you are here.”

For a while you were left alone in the room. The breeze and sun dancing over the still damp skin as you paced around the room. This guest room reminded you much more of what you imagined a vacation home would be like instead of the more sterile empty hotel like bedroom you would assume a leader such as him would bother to provide. 

Despite the promise of freedom, you were still trapped on an island under the watch of people more dangerous then you could imagine meeting. For a good portion of the afternoon, you sat in a corner hidden from the view of the door. Back against the wall and arms hugging your knees pressed up tight. 

It wasn’t quite a cry. There were no sobs or panic turned into gasping for air in fear. But a steady stream of tears that fell with no effort as you hid your face for a while. Body curled in protection as the soft waves of the nearby shore provided an upsetting contrast to their act as a weapon. 

Once the sky said goodbye to the bright blue and simmered into a gold unobstructed by a tall hideous city seen, you found the courage to get up, to explore somewhere other then the 3 rooms known to you.

Luckily, you ran into next to nobody. There wasn’t brawny gunmen pacing and guarding the surroundings or displays of force to intimidate any island onlookers. Just normal people fluttering around doing such normal jobs. 

At one point you were near what you assumed was the kitchen, sounds of a sizzling and two female voices chatting and laughing, the Spanish all too advanced for you to catch. Javi seemed to be true to his word, you found your way outside and walked the comfortable cliffs edge by the water. Well tended greenery flourished around the property with an illusion of peace. 

Turns out much of your first evening here was spent out there. The splashing water the only sound you could stomach right now. You had stood arms crossed for quite a while until your legs needed a rest. So in the same spot, you just sat with your legs crossed, arms hugging your torso. 

Mostly, you only had one thought swarming your brain. Why would your brother do any of this to you? 

For the next two days, you kept to yourself and very little of the staff bothered you. They all smiled and greeted you as they passed you as normally as one might greet their coworker. You didn’t know if Javi wasn’t on the property or if he was making himself scarce on purpose, but you didn’t see or hear from him since that first day. 

The only two people you even spoke to in fact was his assistant, Gabriela, and the woman who works the kitchen, Camilia.

Gabriela you met first, turns out you had seen her many times as she could usually be found walking a quick pace around the property usually with a stern somewhat intimidating expression either speaking rapid fire at another employee or going just as fast on the phone. 

It wasn’t until you both turned a corner and startled the other when you first spoke. She quickly ended her phone call, and the stern look faded away to something much more gentle without coming across as fake or condescending. Introducing yourselves, it felt odd to act as if these people didn’t know exactly why you were here. 

“I’d ask you how you were settling in, but I’m sure you’re long past that formality. Have you eaten since you got here yesterday? Camilia says she hasn’t even met you yet.” Her voice wasn’t coddling or judgmental. It almost held a parental tone to it, reminding you of a your aunt back home who would accost you every visit for not eating more and just piling food on your plate regardless. 

You shook your head, fidgeting in place as you looked out a window to the sunny sky and back. “No, I uhm, it felt..weird to just barge in like that. She doesn’t know me or anything and...” 

Gabriela smiled softly with an amused tint in her eye. “Trust me she wants you too. She’s been here for years and still will cook a mountain of food for Senor Gutierrez to eat anytime he’s busy enough to skip a meal. Come, she’s abrasive but not cruel.” 

Clearly she was used to giving orders as she turned and started walking in the direction of the kitchen, expecting you to follow her without question. Which you did. Coming up on the room you had avoided the first night, you both walked in and it surprised you how small and homey it felt. 

There were no stark silver white walls and stainless steel plastered everywhere with lifeless energy. Instead the walls were just as warm and brightly tinged in yellows and orange as the rest of the house, dark wooden counters with pots, pans, and plates everywhere without being messy and an open wooden threshold that led into a neatly organized pantry beside a spacious fridge that matched the darker counters. 

In the middle of the pantry stood a woman huffing as she counted something on one of the shelves. Her hair was a light orange wrapped up on the top of her head with loose strands starting to fall out of the loose grip. “Camilia,” 

Gabriela shouted to her, and the woman whipped over to the door and stood beside her with her hands balled into fists pressed against her waist. She didn’t waste anytime with formal pleasantries.

“If I had known you were going to hide from me like the plague I would have just woken you up first thing and forced the food down your throat.” Your eyes widened, body wanting to step back as a lurch formed in your chest. Not out of fear though, no this was the blunt attitude that was far more of giving a child a lecture. “I understand how Lucas brought you here like a brute, but that’s no excuse to skip meals or avoid bothering to ask me for anything whatsoever.” 

You opened your mouth hoping to soften the blow and maybe just give a white lie, but she was quicker on the draw. Her finger pointing out again, too much of a stern mothering lecture to let you even consider being intimidated. “Don’t you even try. I keep tabs on every little thing going in and out of this kitchen I’d have noticed if something went missing. The rest of these people know to just mark down what they’ve taken when I’m not here.” 

She nodded her head to a list tacked to a cork board on the wall by a small table and a variety of chairs, with empty drink glasses still sitting fresh. A small tally of items listed, mostly small things to munch on likely. You’d come to learn that Camilia tended to cook for the staff already knowing their schedules and just sitting it out when they would normally come in. And that Javi himself preferred to work around her and make something for himself. 

At that moment you weren’t sure if you could even stomach a full meal, but she fed you anyways. Had you sit down at the circular wooden table with Gabriela next to you, her elbows perched casually on the surface an amused smile never leaving. She was far less intimidating like this, and it gave you a bit of reprieve. 

Camilia asking you about your tastes, asking if you enjoyed olives only to interrogate you on what kind you’ve eaten. Apparently telling her ones in a jar from the store was the wrong answer. She huffed and turned back to the cutting board with a shaking head. 

“The years I’ve worked here, having all those olive groves at my fingertips and here you are sitting in my kitchen telling me what you like came out of a cheap chain store jar.” Gabriela was laughing at that point, your face totally taken back as you froze in your seat. 

This was not the kind of abrasive treatment you had expecting from forced captivity. 

The next day or two it got easier. Camilia used to seeing you slink in quietly, typically after the sun already went down as she was making dinner for herself. No one was around the kitchen area at that point, and you think she understood that. Never judging you for trying to avoid people, but she also know that when you said people, you meant Javi. 

Tonight was the night she broached the subject. The night sky was cloudless with the window wide open letting the colder air simmer the usual stuffy kitchen heat. For the first few minutes she watched as you pushed quietly at your food, only taking small bites before mostly filling up on water. 

“Listen, I’m not going to beat around the bush with you. We all know why you’re here, but believe me when I tell you none of us are comfortable with Lucas essentially holding you hostage here. The man’s not even brave enough to do his own dirty work so he dumped you onto Javi and made it his problem.” 

Your head looked up at her in doubt. Sure the staff have shown you kindness, but you didn’t understand how a man in Javi’s position would have something like this thrown at him by his own people. You shrugged and leaned back onto your chair, willing your heart to calm down from the steady racing it’s done for days. 

“I guess I don’t really understand what the point of keeping me here even is. Lucas told me something along the lines of wanting me to be kept an eye on by his own blood but,” You sighed. So many emotions yelling over top one another. “I mean I haven’t even seen him. Why keep me here if I basically don’t exist as far as hes concerned.” 

Abruptly you leaned forward to distract from looking at her with a larger bite this time. Your breathe tightening a twinge at the realization that maybe speaking about her cartel boss was a mistake. Camilia seemed to disagree. 

“You’ve barley seen him because he’s spent the past two days trying to argue with Lucas about letting you go home. Despite what it may feel like, Javi is not the kidnapping type.” Standing up she gathered your dishes and headed to the sink, her muttering just close enough for you to catch. “Whatever the opposite of that is more like it.” 

Unsure as to why, but you compelled yourself to walk through the house a bit more. It was large and spacious and you couldn’t deny that it was somewhat confusing to you still. It was in that wandering that you heard the faded sounds of speaking. 

Speaking though, much closer to dialogue then a regular conversation. Stashed in the end of one of the halls you hadn’t been in before was a tall sliding wooden door that sat half open. A red velvety fabric draped a few feet in front of it muffling the sounds from inside and obscuring any subtle peek you could take. 

Pulling the fabric across gently, you found yourself tip toeing into a windowless room covered in soft fabrics and a couch sitting just down the slight slope to the main area and an evenly as rich looking chairs diagonal to it facing a large screen. A film playing on it’s screen in a language you didn’t even recognize, no subtitles to hint at either. 

Your heart lurched in your chest though at the figure in the middle of the couch. Slouched over somewhat with a pen, scribbling at a few papers as he glanced up on occasion. He didn’t seem to realize he wasn’t alone, so you stepped closer. 

His dark hair was luscious with long curls that sat messier and unkempt then that first day. A multicoloured cardigan stretched across his broad shoulders you tried to push past the nerves of how large he was and how not strong you were. Would that ever be needed? 

You were about to quietly try to whisper his name, but his deep voice beat you to it. “There is plenty of room, there is no need to stand quietly in the corner.” He turned to look at you, soft brown eyes with no malicious in them nor in the tone he spoke. 

You fiddled with your fingertips rooted in place, “I didn’t know this was-I didn’t mean to bother you I mean.” 

Face falling into one of trouble again, his voice lowered not to a whisper but a soothing reassurance. “You’re no bother at all, I’d enjoy the company actually.” Nodding, you walked over. 

Debating on taking the furthest seat from him on the chair, you opted for the further end of the couch. Hands tucked into your lap as your back sat straighter then it was used too. You glanced at his papers before looking away realizing how bad of an idea that may be. Javi chuckled though. 

“You can look if you like. They’re not very interesting though, just scribbles of ideas going nowhere it seems.” Curiosity got the better of you and you tried to crane your head to glance at them without moving closer. 

You could just barley make out what you recognized as characters or plot. “Are you..writing a story?” 

Javi looked rather sheepish, glancing at his work and back to you a few times. “It isn’t much. I’ve always dreamt of writing screenplays. The drama of larger than life stories, trying to create characters that your audience can feel in their hearts, but my ideas in my head struggle when I actually try to write them down.”  

That touched somewhere inside of you. A passion you shared but never before with someone like him. Not being able to help yourself, you were ready to drone on for far too long. Everyone did always tell you that it was boring hearing you go on about something they didn’t care about. 

Javi, whether you knew it or not, felt the same way. “I shouldn’t bore you with this.” He scrambled to organize them all into a pile, off to the side. “The last thing you probably want to hear is me going on about my own work when you’re in my house against your will.” 

Striking you as odd he looked almost downtrodden. As soon as that day once Lucas left the room, there was not a lot about Javi that said you should be scared of him and it was a juxtaposition you didn’t understand. “Can I ask you something?” 

He whipped his head over to look at you, wide eyed and eagerly nodding. 

“Camilia said that you didn’t know about any of this until Lucas showed up with me...” You fiddled with you fingertips once again, squeezing your eyes shut as you took a deep breathe before meeting his warm ones. “Why would someone who works for you..just dump all of this on you out of nowhere? I mean it just, kind of feels weird that he’s making me your problem.” 

Javi’s eyes narrowed in a darker flash that you didn’t quite catch perfectly. A shift of demeanour that radiated something much more angry and serious like how he first looked to you, but simmered down as he leaned forward to rest his forearms on his thighs. “I assume you know what it is my family does.” 

You nodded, unsure if he really cared for an answer, but he patiently watched you before continuing. “I’m the one who winds up handling Lucas’s problems because I’m in the public eye, and he wants to keep himself out of it. Far easier to run this business when no one outside of it knows who your leader really is.” 

That sat heavy in your stomach, if he was trying to come up with a lie then this was a weird way to go about it. “So-wait. You don’t...run all of this?” 

Javi smiled without much emotion behind it, leaning back to rest against the plush couch again he smoothed his palms over his thighs. “Lucas prefers someone else takes the spotlight, and, well..” He turned his head to look at you as it rested against the back, “It’s much harder to live your own life after you’ve been raised in this one.” 

You hated it, the churning in your gut and passing all the way up to your throat. You weren’t supposed to sympathize with this man, let alone sit next to him in a quiet tucked away room. But there was a distance in his eyes that rung a lot like sorrow. And it pulled at the part of you that still fought past this angry resentment you were holding. 

“Why keep me here though, if you have nothing to do with it? I mean this was all about my brother and he, clearly, doesn’t work for you. I’m not exactly a flight risk why throw this onto you if you don’t run things?” 

You had shifted somewhat to the side, one leg remaining over the couch edge, but the other sat much more tucked underneath you as if debating if you wanted to get comfortable. The couch very much so tried to entice you to it. 

That flash of hardness returned. Javi’s eyes now trained focused on the screen as his jaw clenched. Finally when he spoke it felt as if it was being forced out of this throat in a deep grit. “I take the heat, I run his front, and in return, he forces me to bear the weight of his own problems. Why? Just because he knows I’ll do it if he asks.” 

It wasn’t the caged rage behind his words, but how much you were thinking of your own brother. Your heart pulled back and forth between a sickening anxiety of how and why you ended up here, but there was a much more tender reach, desperate to find any slight modicum of meaning in what these people wanted from you. “My brother and I barely talk.” 

You leaned back against the arm of the chair, your hands no longer wringing together but limp on your lap as you looked forward into nothing. “He left two years ago and ever since it’s one thing. He calls, I send him money, he calls I send him more money. No matter how much I needed it for myself, I found myself sending it over anyways only to have him just call for more months later. I guess now he figured he ran his bank account dry, so I was the next best thing to my wallet.” 

You didn’t hold the resentful anger that Javi felt, yours was just pain. The sting of watering eyes threatening to fall frustrating you. Looking up, Javi now faced you more. His head tilted as he looked you over in question. “Maybe it just wasn’t Lucas who put us together.” 

That wasn’t something you wanted to think about. How much in common this conversation had. Your chest filled with lead as your muscles screamed at you to lash out just to find any use for this building up conflict inside you. Javi though, refused to let it escalate. 

“Would you like to watch something with me?” You looked up in surprise, his face once again a soft hopefulness as he continued. “I rarely have anyone who likes to sit down and watch movies with me, and I thought maybe it would be a nice distraction to focus on for both of us.” 

He looked at you like a tall, large version of a needy child who doesn’t quite get the attention he should. Your brain told you no, he’s too dangerous to spend any real time around, but the other reached out to him in need. Like it was crawling through a desert looking for any connection to keep you alive. So you nodded. “What uhm, what would you want to watch?” 

Javi shot up suddenly, his tall stature hovered over you as he moved the coffee table forward enough to give you room to move as well. “I have many options. It’s not really sorted alphabetically like I should, but more like by what kind of moods you might be in, take your pick.” He turned to look at you only to find you had barley stood up from the couch. 

Your heart beat fast still, but perhaps you were just getting used to it. “Y-you want me to pick the movie?” 

Javi looked taken back, as if that was a question so obvious he didn’t know why you asked. “Of course.” 

You took a deep breathe, and nodded as you walked over. Hoping that Javi turned away in time to miss the sight of you wiping at your eyes to get rid of whatever tears had wanted to fall. He pointed out many suggestions. Going through what section was for what kind of movie feel, telling you what was maybe too serious or heavy and what was more fun and lighthearted. 

Everything about him in that moment as someone entirely separate from where you were. Excited and passionate about you both choosing a movie together like his entire life was dedicated to it. It tricked you into feeling as if this was normal. 

Just two people who enjoyed watching and writing fiction, finding something to enjoy the evening with. And you really did. None of the evening broached anywhere near the conversation of what you both were outside these walls. No you both laughed, and pointed out things you caught in the story or goofs in the production, and it was light. It was fun, and it wasn’t until hours later as you climbed into your large bed in this foreign bedroom that you went over it. 

It would be a slippery slope to find any friendship in this man, and you told yourself it was a real possibility this was all a ruse to get you comfortable only to be struck like a snake bite if your brother didn’t work what he put you up for. Would it be Lucas that deals the venomous blow? Or would the curtain pull back and reveal Javi as the snake he seemed reluctant to be? 

Either way, you didn’t listen to yourself. During the day little of your routine changed. Camilia still lectured you about the strange meal times you insisted on sneaking into the kitchen for, Gabriela had on many occasions explained what it is the public Gutierrez business was and how much work she always had because Javi always took on so much work himself. 

You learned things about them, little tidbits that felt safer then getting to know Javi. Camilia had a large family, five boys and a loving but aloof husband who she is sure lets her younger boys do whatever they want when she’s gone. Gabriela would talk a bit about her husband. That he worked just as much as she did, but they both lectured the other about trying to convince their bosses to grant them time off. 

“I know how hypocritical I am for it, but I have more resolve then he does I’ll break him one of these days.” The two of them were kind and helped ease you into living your mornings and afternoons without as much fear strangling you. 

It was your evenings though that were the most usual. The next few nights, you always ended up in Javi’s theatre room, the pair of you always alone and finding more and more in common as you shared a joy for movies and story writing. Some of those nights you found yourself even forgetting that this wasn’t just a night in with a close friend. 

You knew that could be a dangerous thing, but it was the thing you found yourself looking forward too the most. If not the only thing you looked forward to. He was passionate when he spoke in those times, full of life and you were so endeared towards the silly, goofy side of him that was unashamed to show their colours in those quiet, tucked away evenings. 

Javi had a strange knack for helping you forget the world you both were in those evenings. He spoke to you as a friend it felt. He kept his own past vague, but he eagerly asked you endless questions. Prodding you to elaborate or having that sharper seriousness cover his face when you’d try to meekly claim your life wasn’t anything near as interesting as whatever he’s experienced. 

At that moment, he stood on the other side of the room pouring a glass of what looked like rather expensive wine. Glancing up to you, he lifted the bottle up slightly better to your view as he read the label out. “Quite an uncommon one, if you ask me the honey makes it a bit closer to a mead but wine sells better. Would you like to try some?” 

You shook your head, curling your legs into your chest more as you sat once again against the arm of the couch. “No thank you. I don’t really drink wine..or anything for that matter. Water’s fine, please.” 

Javi didn’t waste another thought, he simply put the bottle away. Pouring you water, Javi walked back over and handed you the glass as you muttered a small thank you. A smirk forming on his face as he sat down. His body turned halfway to face you with one of his arms stretched across the expanse of the couch top. “You’re lucky I own groves and not vineyards. Otherwise I might have been offended.” 

Your own fingertips tapped at the glass as he looked away from you to take a sip. Pausing right before he did so, speaking into the rim of his wine glass causing his voice to echo in a slight husk. “Though you buttering me up with your politeness doesn’t hurt as well.” 

You breathed out a kind of small laugh and brought the glass up to your mouth, both hands holding it almost in comfort watching Javi chuckle to himself. The glass made a clank as he put it down on the table and turned to you once again. You both had a movie already picked out, but it sat unplayed with the screen not yet even turned on. 

Instead the crackling from the fireplace acted as the soundtrack for your in between silences. Javi’s own eyes bore into yours, the corners of them scrunched in a somewhat endearing way as he seemed to look for something in your expression alone. 

The orange glow dancing across his skin had your heart lurch in odd ways as it struck you that it truly painted him in a handsome light. He was making this feel more like a vacation then being held captive and you knew it could get taken away at any moment, but you let yourself fall further down the rabbit hole. 

A question slipped out before you could stop it. Maybe it was out of nerves the way he looked at you trying to understand something you didn’t know, or maybe it was the need to learn something about him that kept his real intentions shrouded in mystery still. Either way he looked surprised to hear it. “Javi, why let Lucas run things if he claims you’re in charge?” 

His eyes narrowed, looking deeper for that answer he seeked and you sat up straight suddenly. The sudden movement swishing some of the water over your lap a bit as you sputtered and backtracked. “I don’t mean it like- I wasn’t trying to imply anything I just- I was only..curious.” 

Javi had softly called your name a few times before you finally stopped talking. He looked calm compared to your now tense, rigid posture. Afraid that pushing any limit too far would rumble this house of cards. “I’m going to tell you something, and I need you to listen carefully do you understand?” 

When you nodded, Javi prompted more. “I need to hear you.” 

“Yes, I understand.” 

Nodding satisfied, he slid across the couch, his torso twisted so he could place his palm gently near one of yours but far enough not to invade the space. His head leaned down to etch close to your timid gaze. “I’m not going to ask you to forgive me, or demand you forget about all this and relax. But, I am asking you to settle your heart a bit. You’ve spent the past week terrified that one wrong thing will somehow push me over an edge I’m not even standing by.” 

Your shoulders slumped down a tad, teeth somewhat biting at your lip as you looked at his face, much harder like your first encounter but his eyes once again holding a distant sorrow that others on the property didn’t have. 

“You have every right to be terrified for what’s being forced on you, but I wish you at least will start to understand that as long as you are under my roof, there is no harm that will come to you.” One of his hands reached out, grazing your cheek to better have you looking at him. “Lucas’s men may consider you a prisoner, but I only wish to treat you like a guest, a friend. You don’t deserve to live in fear just spending time in here with me when there is more then enough of that across the water.” 

A hand of yours shakily raised up, lightly grasping at his wrist. Your hand so small in comparison to his that your fingers barley grazed the ends of his knuckles. You tried to squeeze as if a hand hold and he seemed to get the idea. A caressing hold on the side of your face before letting go. “To answer your question though, Lucas is in charge instead of me, because I didn’t want to be. That wasn’t a life I ever wanted, but now?” 

You whispered, partially to yourself but enough to make sure he understood you right back. “But escaping what your family puts on you isn’t that easy isn’t it?” Your eyes met and you for once felt a calmer relief at how unbothered this all seemed to make him. “I think we both know exactly how that feels. Kind of like-”

“Being a prisoner?” 

His face as serious, but you chuckled instead. “Yeah, something like that.” You smiled to yourself once again sipping at your drink, now trying not to look at him. You missed his watchful eyes shine in a particular way at you before shaking it off as you spoke up. 

“Alright, I think we had movie plans right?” You shifted up in place, legs now crossed almost underneath you as Javi agreed. For almost two hours, this quiet bubble you two created for yourselves kept itself around you both. 

You didn’t try and press yourself as far into the other end of the couch as possible, and Javi finally felt like it was alright to sit closer to you without making you uncomfortable. One hand of his rested on his thigh only moving to grab his wine glass while the other remained laid stretched out across the way, his large hands resting on the cushions just above your head. 

At some point you sat with your legs resting on the wooden table as you slinked back into the couch more. Had Javi put his arm down, you would have been in such a perfect reach to pull you into his side, but he never did. 

You weren’t sure at what point in the movie you begun slipping away, but the mixture of the quiet, peaceful film on screen, the warm glow of the fireplace and the heat even just coming off of the man next to you had your eyes drooping in sleepiness. 

The movie was still playing as you dozed off, but you weren’t aware of how naturally you had leaned your head onto Javi's shoulder, and it wouldn’t dawn on either of you until later, how perfectly you seemed to fit there. Instead, at some point in your dreamland, part of you could sense a pressure resting against the top of your head. 

If you could pay attention, you’d have also felt the tickle of loose curls brushing across the side of your cheek, and the gentle cradle of Javi’s stretched out arm, now having pulled you more into his side. Neither of you had been awake for either of your actions, but perhaps your unconscious selves understood both of you better then your waking brains did. 

By the time you woke up, your body was stretched out across the couch, a pillow tucked neatly under your head and a warm blanket draped carefully over your body. The side closest to the couch back tucked somewhat down between you to make sure it didn’t pull away. Both these things weren’t in the theatre room beforehand, and you also could tell by their immense soft material that they weren’t from your room either. 

As far as you knew, no one but Javi spent any significant amount of time in here and you fell asleep next too him. Swinging your legs down to the floor, your hands gripped the blanket in curiosity. Ideas passed through your head that your still wakening brain tried to shut down whatever fantasies it so desperately craved. Logic wanted to reign over your heart and refused to give up the idea that Javi was intentionally trying to manipulate you to make you comfortable, so you’d put up less of a fuss being forced to stay here indefinitely. 

Still a bit puzzled from sleep brain, you gently folded the blanket up and sat the pillow on top of it. In true movie theatre fashion, the morning sun was waiting to burn your retinas. When you stepped out into the sunlight from the darkness of the movie room, you had only two things on your mind; Javi Gutierrez, and where the hell this blanket goes. 

The hallway was empty, so you walked through to the direction of the bedrooms in a calm silence. The only thing hitting your ears was the distant voices muffled through the walls, and the calming sounds of natures morning. 

Part of you considered if this should go in Javi’s room, but you didn’t dare go inside uninvited. He told you that nowhere was off limits, but certain places just felt wrong. You eventually stepped quietly to a small side table against a wall in between two rooms and stacked them on top. 

You hadn’t taken up much of Javi’s offer to buy you proper amenities, so your wardrobe was limited to mostly the same few pieces that you either wore on you coming here, or what of her sons spares that Camilia had brought you along with an aggressive toss of a wrapped bag that contained brand new ‘unmentionables’ as she put it. Her sons clothes didn’t quite fit, so you felt ashamed that you’re pants had just been the exact same for a week. 

Everyone else here dressed in a degree of luxury. A level of wealth that made you look cheap and made you feel even cheaper. Gabriela had been kind to you as well, but currently you didn’t really want to pass her. Dressed beautifully, always looked immaculate. The face and body of a model compared to the slightly oversized hand me downs on your far less attractive body. 

Stepping into the kitchen, the time of day you knew she’d be long gone and Camilia would be far too busy yelling at her own assistant, or dish boy as she would say when annoyed, to notice you. There was a bowl of fruit on the small table, and that's all you ended up picking at. Peeling a small orange looking into nothing. 

So when Javi’s voice came floundering into the kitchen, you jumped in your seat from the sudden startle. The pair of them spoke rapidly in Spanish and you tried to pick up on certain words but their speed and how muddled your brain was, it was as if you never took a Spanish class a day in your life. 

You felt embarrassed to look at him. The feeling of inferiority and the embarrassment of being so uncomposed around him that you fell asleep on him causing your heart to beat what felt like an irregular pattern. It wasn’t until he sat across from you, eyes wide and bright that you realized he had been calling your name. 

It wasn’t even close. His perfectly tousled hair, bright face, and a soft yellow shirt no doubt a price you couldn’t even name. You wanted to disappear from how he looked in front of you. “Sorry, what?” 

Nice articulation you thought to yourself. Javi clamped his hands together on the table leaning in somewhat in a nervous look with a harsh body posture. “I don’t want this to alarm you in anyway, but my cousin is stopping by very shortly.” 

Your nails dug so deep into the orange that it smushed an otherwise perfect piece. Now your heart raced along with a churning of fear in your stomach. “He...is it,”��

Javi shook his head as his hands spread out as if to placate you. “No, no. It is totally unrelated, but he might expect to see you stick close around.” His head tilted to the side along with a shift of his eyes. “I’m not quite sure he would agree with how much you are free to do as you wish. He prefers keeping those he...” 

“Abducts? Tight on a leash?” Your voice was tight, and your jaw was clenched but your eyes felt a fear that he may demand something much harsher then Javi had given. “What uhm, what should I do when he gets here?” 

Narrowing his eyes, a ferocity claimed them that froze your body in place. “You stick to my side. He wants you under my watch, but I refuse to lock you under a camera to prove anything to him. There is one more thing.” 

Now that look in his eye was also shaded with anger. A painting of so much contrast to the softness he showed you in the evenings. “You’re brother will very likely be brought along.” Your wide eyes restricted your breathe together. “No doubt Lucas has ordered him not to speak at all, but he also is not above bringing him just to taunt you. I just want you to be prepared for that. My cousin loves to play mind games.” 

Your nails continued to dig into the orange and Javi moved to take it from you. His arms stretched so close to you, he effortlessly peeled the rest of it off, opening it up easy for you to grab the slices. He didn’t even say a word about it. He just pulled back, leaning against the back of his chair and watched you in deep thought. 

Your voice whispered somewhat, “Is he the only one?” 

It didn’t quite intend to hurt but your swirling insecurity spat the words out. He didn’t react with anything other then a confused head tilt. Gabriela as her usual, came flying in the room and they both quickly went to leave. Before exiting view, Javi turned back to you with a hand braced on the threshold frame. “You know where the patio tables are, yes?” 

Nodding, you didn’t quite look at either of them. Missing Javi’s harsh worry and Gabriela’s tense frustration. Nothing about Lucas’s presence made them happy and they both at this point at spoken at length how they felt about this situation with you. Your eyes glanced up just to hear what he had to say. 

“Meet me there in thirty minutes. He said an hour but my cousin loves to arrive early to catch me off guard.” Gabriela shook her head with an eye roll behind him. 

You nodded, but said nothing more. Seeing that man’s face would be one thing, but you knew he was dragging your brother along to rub it in both of your faces, the choke hold he had on both of you. As stupid as it was, you tried to clean up anything about your appearance. Wanting to not look so lost and out of place but there was only so much you could do. So long you could look at yourself in the mirror without wanting to cry or smash it. 

To your surprise, Javi wasn’t sitting yet when you arrived. He leaned against a banister and handed you a pair of sunglasses without question. You held them out confused as he shrugged. “I’ve never seen anyone squint so painfully in the sunlight more than you.” 

It wasn’t lost on you that they were one of his pairs. Almost matching the ones he had on his face right now. You noted to yourself to try and find a way to get a cheap pair, he’d get annoyed always having to lend out ones from his personal collection to add to your increasing lack of belongings. 

Javi waved his hand for you to follow, nudging you ahead of him towards the patio with a hand on your lower back. Thankfully, the sunglasses were dark enough that no one could see the slow blink accompanied by a wide eyed warm feeling pooling inside you. “Just so I know, should I not say anything while he’s here?” 

Javi shrugged, a much calmer demeanour then you. “He may ask you questions directly, though I am not sure if it will be to get a rise out of you or me.” 

He pulled a chair out for you before finding his own. “I guess it makes sense. If I’m not thrown away in the dungeon, he probably wants me as scared and submissive as possible.” You played with your nails trying not to look at Javi which also gave you a view of the area entrance. You missed the dark look behind the sunglasses as he did with your earlier one. 

Javi softly said your name. “I am not asking either of those things from you, I want you to understand that. There’s...there’s very little I can do to change his mind. All I can do right now is help protect you from him making this worse.” 

The man’s slimy demeanour was painfully clear in the bright sun, a cocky uncaring walk alongside a facade of goofiness. The comparison to this show and to Javi’s time alone with you was comical. His voice climbed into your ears like a bug. “Always took such good care of your pets, cousin.” 

Biting the inside of your cheek you reminded yourself to not say a word. Javi sat a little more rigid then moments before. This was the first time you had seen them together since that first day, and the previous appearance of harsh uncaring now read more like an uncomfortable civility. 

Javi opted to reply in Spanish, stirring a bit of a back and forth between the two men. Lucas appeared to take joy in riling his cousin up, and Javi continued to fail at any kind of relaxing in front of him. You could tune the out for a while, they assumed you weren’t keeping up with what they were saying and you couldn’t find the energy to try.

That was until Lucas jumped forward to stretch his torso across the table. “Did you hear me, princesa? I asked to see how you’re looking under those things.” 

Slowly you peeled them off, squinting still in the harsh sunlight as he looked over you. Lucas’s wandering gaze felt far more invasive then Javi’s introspective one. Nodding with a very fake smirk, he flopped back into his seat, limbs balancing themselves in an over dramatic way. “I’m impressed, Javi. You can’t even tell she’s been crying. One might think she’s been given no reason to cry at all.” 

His head tilting to rest on his palm as Javi swallowed. Saying his cousins name almost in warning, again Javi opted to respond in Spanish. You couldn’t be sure if it was because he didn’t really want you apart of this conversation, or if he maybe was annoyed enough that getting all of that out in his native tongue was easier then translating it in his head. 

Lucas laughed at a few things Javi clearly didn’t say in jest. He ignored you for a while, the pair of them going back and forth with Lucas trying to talk over his cousin multiple times. You couldn’t be sure how long you had been out there, but it was long enough that the sun had now trailed itself closer to the peak in the sky. 

Without knowing where this conversation went, Lucas suddenly slapped Javi’s arm with playful force before leaning his arm back onto the chairs top, one ankle resting on top of the opposite knee. His head leaning back he called him out. Your brother. 

He watched you tense up without daring to move, not bothering to look back as he ordered something harsh to the man. You knew your brother was looking at you, but you couldn’t stomach it. Part of you previously wondered if what you felt was sorrow for the situation he also was in, but now that pit in your stomach just made you want to cry. 

He tricked you here, and now just stood there watching you chained to this place as an offering for his own shortcomings. He didn’t care about you, but crying here was exactly what Lucas wanted. His voice creeped over to you, as he now stood in between you and Javi’s chairs. One hand braced on the tops of both. 

“Take a good look, princesa. ‘Cus I may not feel as generous if you end up coming over to me. Certainly not as generous as big boy over here.” He slapped Javi’s back twice, causing Javi to genuinely flinch. Jaw clenched but he didn’t respond as Lucas moved more to lean over him and speak closer to the side of his head. 

“Our new friend here,” Nodding over to your brother, “Isn’t settling in as well as his female counterpart is. Maybe you should break her in for me. Just in case.” He whispered into Javi’s ear before slinking back to where he previously sat, but just flipped his sunglasses up into his hands as he looked around him. 

It was low and not in English. You didn’t catch it, but Javi did. When you tried to lean forward, hoping to quietly see if Javi was okay, his hand shot out and grasped your knee. A tight grip that stopped you in your tracks as he gave a slow shake just once. 

He looked as tense as you felt.  

“I’ll be back in a few weeks, cousin. Keep everything in top top shape for me, would you?” Lucas winked at you before sipping his sunglasses on and turning to your brother. Spitting harsh words at him as they finally left. 

Javi’s hand didn’t leave your knee, but he did use his free one to toss his sunglasses onto the table and run a hand over his face. “Javi?” 

Your voice was so small and meek, it stirred something within him clearly. Javi suddenly turned more to face you, his hand now grasping yours and his hold on your knee now sliding up to your lower thigh, a much more soothing spot in his large hands. “I don’t even know where to begin, an I’m sorry doesn’t seem good enough, but I am so sorry.” 

You felt confused by how earnest he was when he was the one who felt the brunt of whatever Lucas spoke about. “Javi, I’m fine it’s like you said he’s just trying to rile me up.” 

He squeezed your hand, his eyes closing for a moment as he breathed heavily through his nose. In a shocking move, Javi let go of your hand to rest gently against your cheek. “I didn’t want this for you. I wanted to find a safe way to return you home, but that is not an option anymore.” 

Your hands hovered in mid air, your anxiety rising like bile in your throat. “I- what does he want?” 

His eyes flared in a raging no. “All he cares about is finding ways to control people for his own entertainment. He’s done a great job at this with me, but he will be far more unkind to you. I’m family but you are like money. Nothing more then property to him.” 

The blood in your veins felt as if it had frozen solid, a paralyzing fear of what that meant. “Do I at least...am I not staying here anymore?” 

Javi’s grip on your cheek tightened as well as his hand slipped further up your leg as he leaned in to make you hear him loud and clear. “You aren’t going anywhere. I don’t want to scare you, but I’d rather not leave any chances for you to find yourself alone with him and find you suddenly nowhere I can look.” 

Your hands had dropped to your lap but nails were digging into the skin of whatever fingers they reached. “So, what? I’m just put under a closer view of the cameras, be watched at all times.” 

Javi’s head dropped. His gaze clearly realizing how naturally he had grabbed onto you he cleared his throat and pulled his hand away from your upper thigh while his other let go of your cheek gently. He was still quite close to you though. 

“I want to keep your life here as normal as possible. I don’t think I’m wrong in guessing that you’ve started to find some comfort here, at least with me- us. I want to keep giving you that, but I think it will also be safer to have you close by me more often.” 

It felt out of place to have that warmth swim over you, Javi truly much more fierce when put on the offence, then perhaps he normally lets himself be. “Alright. Is everything still okay? Between us I mean?” Your eyebrows raised in a hopeful look that you knew extended from the gaze he couldn’t see. 

Javi finally gave a real smile. Huffing a relieved sigh, “Of course. I would be quite sad without the one person who actually shares so much of my own interests.” Standing up, Javi offered you a hand to help your as well. 

His hand was just so large, and so warm. The twinges of roughness from the life he leads hidden in between the gentle smooth skin felt nice in your own hands. Javi beckoned you to come with him away from the patio, only letting go of your hand after he lead you up the small staircase until your grips simply lost by distance. 

Neither of you mentioned how good it felt to know how matching your hands fit together. You were trying to find a settled ease from this looming dread clouding your future, while Javi was distracted with finding a way to give you a life where you were happy here. 

For a while though, that did actually work. As long as Lucas was out of the country, there was peace in Javi’s Mallorca home. You both spent increasing amounts of time together, and with no direct eyes on you Javi was able to sneak you into town for what he hoped was a fun day trip. He knew Lucas had his own guys watching, but without himself present, none of them would dare try anything. 

Unbeknownst to you, beneath the tender heart in Javi, there was a merciless protector. His shining smile and easy laughter made you forget that he was a man raised in arms trading, and he was one with an aim and shot far better then any of the unruly men Lucas preferred to keep around. So for once, he wasn’t worried. 

That particular day he finally convinced you to let him just buy you what you needed. He was sick of hearing you bashfully decline and just shoved you to his below ground garage with a hand on your lower back. “I’m not taking no for an answer anymore, I want you to have your own belongings here. Not rely on whatever scraps you ask from my employees trying not to be an inconvenience.” 

The drive to town was beautiful. The short tunnel to the mainland opened up to a cliff side covered in plant life with winding roads that showed off the unobstructed view of the sun beaming against the water. You had barley said a word the entire drive there, your eyes refusing to focus anywhere else on a look of nature you never encountered in your entire city life. 

Javi had continuously smiled over at you, his heart fluttering at the true awe on your face, nothing to hold it back and bury it deep. His hand barley left you on the streets as he guided you through to stores he thought you may like. Many times you had denied his offer of more expensive places with a luxurious selection. You simply didn’t feel yourself in it. 

Every time you peeked out of each dressing room, you’d ask “Is this too many” Nodding to the small stack in your yes pile. Each one had maybe 4 things, and each ask Javi would frown at you. 

“We’re here to buy what you like, not what I tell you to, hermosa.” It was a new term he called you. He started one night as he shared a small edible with you and it slipped out. He had thought of you that way for weeks but he only felt brave enough to let it stick after it already slipped out. 

On the second to last store, you nodded and went to put your regular clothes on when he shouted slightly over the door. “We are not finished until the backseats are full, remember that when you keep putting things back.” 

It made you flush behind the door. Things between you both felt like you were two normal people who had known each other for a long time. His goofiness helped tame the ever present anxiety of your future, and your polite bashfulness stirred a much deeper emotion tucked away in his heart. 

For now though, maybe you wouldn’t tell him half of the reasons you put the clothes options back, were because as soon as you looked at them on you in the dressing room mirror, the harsh lighting pressing right down on you? Every flaw screamed in your face that you were trying too hard. Luckily Javi hasn’t yet questioned why you’ve requested a size up from what he knows you fit perfectly more then once. 

He was a rich, caring, and incredibly handsome man. He didn’t need you by his side painting yourself up as if this was anything but two trapped people playing house. Each touch and brush of your hands, every time he leaned down to say something quietly in your ear mocked you. You just wanted to play house a little longer before this little play time was thrown away forever. 

He made it so easy though. You both currently sat at a little table in a small plaza clearing, opting to eat something before making the trip home. Careful eyes watched as you self consciously took small bites with little substance and typically when you thought he wasn’t looking. If you were looking at each other, you’d cover your mouth to spare him of your completely neat and inoffensive eating. 

You weren’t like this before and you both knew it. He was asking why, but you were trying to come up with a lie for it. It was as if you didn’t like him watching you eat, and you were well aware of why. Each bite sinking down into your stomach and reminding you that you’re not sure if you have never seen such powerful wealthy people, with any woman on their arms that wasn’t essentially a gorgeous, tiny waist having supermodel. 

Wanting to get you talking, Javi leaned back comfortably against his chair with a soft smile. “Tell me, what’s one food you truly miss back in America?” 

Instantly you smiled to yourself. It was such an easy answer there was no hesitancy in your voice. “It’s actually kind of stupid. Everyone always has such varied answers, but here I was always defaulting to soup, or just a nice bread. Like my stomach is stuck in peasantry heritage mode.”

Javi grinned, a mock curious look on his face. “Is it? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you make soup in your time here.” He knows why, the same reason he tries to make his meals when Camilia is the busiest. 

You laughed a bit, “I mean they taste great but look like garbage. I’d never hear the end of it making it next to Camilia. Not to mention the reaming I’d get for how spicy I make it.” You both chuckled, having seen her smack Javi for doing the same thing to his own food. 

His tone amusingly mimicking her patronizing way of lecturing, “What good is giving me all this for when you’re just going to blast your taste buds off without me?” Once again, he watched you cover your mouth as you laughed as well. Flipping his sunglasses down from his hair, he sat up. “Would you like to sit and finish, or do you want to make our way home before the sun sets too low to catch it?” 

He called it home, and you didn’t even consider that he meant his and not yours. But you felt as if it had become home. When left to your own devices things at his home were so peaceful and calm. It encouraged you to relax more then the city. Shoulders loose from their tension and only rarely creeping back in the middle of the night in your too big bed. 

You nodded at him though, gathering your bags before Javi non nonchalantly grabbed nearly all of them. You yelled out mostly in play, “I can carry those, you know?”

Javi twisted his face as you caught up beside him. “You eat, I’m more then capable of handling a few bags. Besides, only one of us has any upper body strength.” 

Your face fell flat at the insinuation, but honestly you were more amused then annoyed. “Thank you for pointing out how week and feeble I am. I am so humbled by your complimentary flattery Senor Gutierrez.” Javi rolled his eyes as he bumped you with a heavy clump of bags in his hand as you raised your hand in mercy as you got into the passenger seat. 

Just as you got out of town earshot, Javi’s spoke up over the gentle breeze. “Do you miss it? Your food from home?” He made a noticeable clarification when you turned your head very quickly to look at him. “I can’t imagine anything quite can compare to where you came from.” 

Does it though, you wondered. If you were here of your own accord, if you didn’t know Javi because you were thrown onto his life drugged and tied up, would any of this be possible? Or would you still be back in your tiny apartment too afraid of taking chances to even move to a better building? Maybe you didn’t want to think about it. 

“Sometimes it feels like I do.” Javi glanced at you curiously before looking back to the road, waiting for your words to catch up. “There was never anything special for me back home other then that's where I lived and called it. But I also can’t give up why I’m here. That this is all just set dressing and when the curtains finally close I’ll just be trapped in the dark.”

You both knew it wasn’t anything close to food you were talking about anymore, and Javi’s knuckles tightened much more against the steering wheel as his heart did the same to his chest. “Home is where you feel you belong. And Lucas, even your brother would rather you not go back to that. I can’t blame you for wanting to leave here.” 

His own voice felt deep, a husk to it as it forced through a scratched pain that he tried to hide. The deepness flowed into your airway until it sat into your stomach, and you felt that sickening feeling once again. The longer you were here, the less you’ve thought about back home. But you didn’t know if that’s what Javi wanted to hear. So you switched gears. 

“So are you sure you want to watch all three of those tonight? I know you have an early start in the morning, I don’t want to keep you from that.” You saw him smile, maybe more of a smirk as he took his sunglasses off of him for good in the golden sunset. He was so handsome it was cruel.

His chuckle was just as cruel, and for more then one reason. “You say that as if I’m not also keeping you up. You promised you would come with me tomorrow and I’m holding you to it.” 

You sunk in your seat somewhat, arms crossing your stomach to put pressure against that heavy feeling inside. “Oh yes, I can not wait to look at trees all day.” 

Javi pinched your thigh, making you yelp that dissolved into a giggle of his name. “I can always send you over to one of my partners. Have you crush grapes in a vineyard all day making your favourite drink.” He taunted as if he didn’t specifically gift you your own little drink fridge in his theatre room, full of your preferred soda as it was pushed comically up against a shelf of ecliptic wines. 

You threw your hands up in surrender. Shaking your head with a barley concealed smirk at his chuckle of victory. Indeed, Javi made it dangerously easy to forget you were stolen from your home to find each other. 

It was one particular day that things seemed to rear their ugly heads for the both of you. Neither of you had even realized Lucas was on the property until he walked into Javi’s office with Gabriela giving Javi a very pointed look behind him. 

The door was shut behind her as she left, wondering if he had come alone or if one or more of his cronies followed. 

The only one that mattered though, was the one who snuck up on you as you sat by a natural overhang. Legs dangling in the open air as you mindlessly drew the view in front of you. Suddenly though, your sketchpad was send careening down onto the rocky shoreline as a hand covered your mouth and yanked you backwards onto your feet. 

Instantly you dug your nails into their hand with a muffled yell, only to discover the person grabbing you wasn’t all that much of a fighter. “Ow, fuck knock it off.” That uniquely obnoxious tone only belonged to one person. Right as he let you go, you spun around with a burning fire ready to explode in your eyes. 

Him being not that much taller then you, he raised his hands in defence backing up. “Hey, hey, whoa calm the fuck down it’s just me. I wanted to talk, Jesus.” He looked down at your barley red nail imprints with a wince. Not bothering to care about your rage towards him. 

Your own hands clenched at your sides, you wanted to be aggressive, you wanted to fight or even hit him, but you weren’t like that. You weren’t raised that way, and you know damn well he only learned to be that way after getting into whatever illegal gig he had going on back then.

“What do you want? After everything, what could you possibly have to say that I care about?” 

At least your brother had the decency to look sheepish, rubbing a hand behind his neck. “I was in a bind, okay? Got a gig with this Spanish dude, moving a couple things over the borders and you know things just escalated.” 

Your head fell into your hands, eyes squeezed shut as your overwhelming anxiety threatened to make you cry. “How does that translate to you selling me off to a fucking-” You looked around to see no one, but lowered your voice anyways. “An arms cartel? How does that just happen?” 

It was hard to ignore how bad he looked. The bags under his eyes were dark, and his posture screamed overworked to the bone, but it was hard to feel sympathy for any of it. He shuffled back and forth debating if to sugar coat it or just be stupidly honest. “Okay I mean, look, fucking...I took out a loan to make smuggling this shit easier and I kept owing this fucking shark more money and you kept giving it to me,” 

It was hard to keep the tears at bay. Just glossing over how much of a burden he put on you in the first place. You shouted his name, “Get to the present, please.” 

Fidgeting non stop, he had the gall to roll his eyes before continuing, barley even looking back to you. “Look, he bailed me out of the fucking debt I was in,” he clearly meaning Lucas you assumed. “I didn’t have enough to pay him back which he fucking knew, and he was like you owe me big time and you eventually came up and I don’t know man it just got out of hand and now like, now we’re here. Shit.” 

Your inhale was shaky, the stuttering of trying to force a choked up cry from showing it’s weary head to him. “What am I supposed to do then? What did you expect me to do here? I have no idea what Lucas would even do to me, and I’m really don’t want to find out.” 

You knew you weren’t at crying yet, but the sting behind them told you they must look red from the strain. He didn’t even seem to care. He just looked around worried for his own sake. “Look, I’ll figure some shit out. Get you a fake passport or something, just trust me okay?” 

It was so strange to you, the realization that after everything that’s happened and whose done what to only find out that the person you trusted most was the very man you were told was keeping you here. Javi was the only one who showed you any kind of care for your well being, or just you as a person. You didn’t know if that made you feel devastated, or somewhat relieved that there was a strong likelihood that just maybe, Javi’s been nothing but entirely truthful to you. 

Honestly? You didn’t care if your brother helped you. “Why are you even here?” He looked at you confused and you just felt more upset. “Seriously why are you here? Bothering to find me? To try and absolve yourself of guilt? To get my blessing for trying to sell me to a man who would have done god knows what with me?” 

You had more to say, you had eons of yelling to give, but it also just wasn’t you. You didn’t feel it in your heart to lash out so much, and there was no energy left in you. So you started to walk away. 

He grabbed your arm, but you pulled it away. Ignoring the second attempt as a grab and him yelling your name. You brushed past him, the only force you could summon being shoving his shoulder slightly with yours, but he always being the obnoxious loud mouth he is needed the last word. 

“You know I came all the way here to see you and this is the thanks I get? I could get in shit if he realizes I’m not by the docks you know? You’re so fucking ungrateful, as usual.” The more you responded the louder he got and the quicker your insides wanted to cry. 

You turned around, ready to yell at him, but nothing really came out. You just stared at him with a deeply brewing thought that maybe you didn’t want to go home. Maybe you didn’t want to just go back to the life he carelessly tore you away from. What did he really care if you got out of this okay? What did anyone here care. 

The tears finally started to fall, and you just tried to wipe your cheeks, but it was useless. You just stared at your brother for a while before walking away entirely. He didn’t care what would happen to you, so why should you care about what happens to him. Maybe no one really cared, and the universe was trying to tell you that. 

That anyone who seems like they care about you, might actually not. You weren’t sure anymore that anyone even should care. 

Without really thinking about it, you made the path up to the guest room you were in hoping that you could just get away with crawling under the covers for the day and will everything to just stop. Javi on the other hand, had the opposite feeling. 

He couldn’t be sure what exactly his cousin was planning, but Javi got the feeling it was nothing he wished to be apart of. There was a malicious glint in his eye as he vaguely hinted at some bigger plan he had just started the works for. But what he wanted from Javi, was to make sure he tends to a public image a bit more in the coming weeks. 

“Have Gabriela start calling out favours for a nice big party for you, lots of people, lots of eyes on you and all you need to do is be your wonderful self, Javi.” Both of them it wasn’t out of his cheer familial affection, but the less Lucas involved him the better. 

Javi asked about you though, right before Lucas walked out the front door. “You can’t just dangle threats over her head indefinitely, she’s done nothing to deserve this and you know that.” He rarely ever confronted his cousin about anything with conflict, but it ate away at him. 

How dismissive he was about your well being. Lucas though, shrugged like you were an afterthought. “Her boy’s turning out to be quite a good little solider, pressure does wonders for motivation. Do whatever with her, cousin. I’ve got bigger prospects on my plate now, she’s your servant to keep or whatever you have her doing.” 

As if the world craved irony, you walked up the steps just as he stepped out into the sun. You froze in place, whatever bravery leaving you in a chilling crawl up your spine as he smiled at you. Your shoulders rose up when he paced around you like prey until you looked at him. 

“I’ll see you around, princesa. Hopefully my dear cousin will treat you kinder then I would, such a short temper he can have. Runs in the family.” He flicked at your hair, causing you to tilt away eyes shut in disgust as he laughs to himself. Fading away into distant yells of orders. 

Javi stood tall and huge in the doorway, one hand still keeping it open, the other resting on his hip as he looks down, tracing from the floor to yourself and back again. Lost in thought, just as you were lost in general. Eventually, he noticed your reserved silence, and beckoned you over with a wave of his hand.

Grabbing yours gently as he led you up the few steps his hold lasted a beat longer then what would be normal before pushing you forward on your lower back as he stuck so close to your side, his hand teetered on resting on your hip. “I think there are some things we should talk about.” 

There was no way Javi didn’t notice how much you tensed up, how frozen you became as the gut wrench of just what would become of you stirred. You wanted to just go back to the other day, how much you loved just being out and about with Javi. Like you two belonged like that. You wanted that stupid little world you had together to not turn out to be harmfully fake. 

You had never been in his office before, but it looked painfully normal. As if you had been expecting something grand or secretive, but like so much else about Javi, it looked as if there was nothing dangerously extraordinary about him. On the opposite end of the door was a balcony, glass doors wedged to sit wide open with bright curtains pulled to the side as they blew lightly in the oncoming breeze. 

Everything felt so upside down. You were supposed to want to go home, escape this strange sort of kidnapping and yet you looked out to that balcony. Seeing the blue sky with such crisp fresh air waving over the island landscape, and you dreaded having to leave it behind. 

Javi though, didn’t look much better. He leaned against his desk, perched just on the edge with his fingers tapping at the wood on each side of him. Nothing about right now made any sense to either of you. You had so much to say, and turns out as soon as you spoke up Javi also felt the same need. 

“What’s going to happen to me?” 

“There’s been some change in plans.” 

Javi’s eyes looked at you, wide but bordering on heart broken at how defeated you sounded, but all you could do was seize up. Something that had become too common of a response. The only change in plans you knew of was the worst case scenario, and you knew you weren’t anywhere near ready to be forced to give this us. 

“I’m sorry. You...you go.” Even you could hear the exhaustion in your voice at this point. 

Javi nodded, mostly to himself as he considered his words. “Lucas came to discuss a change in some of his plans. Turns out your brother has proven quite useful to him,” You winced at the mention of him. Of course he would be useful to these people, because selling you out clearly wasn’t weighing heavily on his conscience.  “I’m not sure exactly what they have started planning, but Lucas assured me it is bigger then what he’s done before. So he’s deferred some decisions onto me.” 

Your eyes trailed on the ground. “Meaning what happens to me.” Not able to look at him, you missed the awkward distress he wore on his expression. A stuttering of not being able to decide exactly what he should say and how to cheer up such a defeated mood on you. You expected the worst and he felt ill at thinking it was directed towards him. 

His chest rose and deflated in a large sigh, crossing and uncrossing his arms wishing you’d just look at him. “I tried my best to make you feel welcome, to treat you like you deserve and hope it helped distract you from how you were brought here. I never liked the idea of holding anyone hostage, let alone having to keep you trapped in my own home against your will.” 

Javi pushed up from the desk, pacing over to the balcony and braced his arms against the railing. You followed him enough that you kept a hand lightly on the edge of a glass door, his wide shoulders taut with stress much deeper then just you. You debated saying it, but spit it out anyways. “My brother came to see me.” 

Javi’s head lifted up, but didn’t turn to look at you. “Today?” 

You nodded even though he wasn’t facing you. “All he wanted was to get me to forgive him, but it was clear it didn’t really matter. He just didn’t want to feel guilty if something happens to me, but not enough to do anything about it.” 

Nails tapped rhythmically along the glass, and your subconscious finally caught up to your mouth. “I guess me being here never really mattered in the long run. If Lucas just decided I’m your problem now.” 

Javi’s response was harsh in his tone. Deep and almost rough with a boiling up anger. “You are not just a problem.” Your heart lurched painfully but he kept going. “Ever since you arrived, I’ve been torn apart. Because very quickly I knew why he put you with me. Every chance my cousin has to drag me back into this life he takes, and letting me get so attached to you only to rip that way just before I could truly explore how I feel? It’s an easy way to control me if you ask him.” 

Your brows furrowed, “But I thought he said that...it’s up to you now?” 

His head tilted somewhat, and you found yourself stepping out more onto the balcony. Giving a wide space between you still not knowing where this was going. 

“He did. He’s moving onto bigger prospects, and using you to force my hand no longer applies anymore.” Finally he flipped his body around, and instead of a harsh glaring intensity you found only a crestfallen expression, one that broke your own heart at it’s sorrow. 

“Which means he doesn’t care if you just send me back to the States.” 

He was quick to answer. “Is that what you want?” Your eyebrows raised in confusion at him. So he repeated the question. “Is that what you want? To go home to America? That’s what you’ve been wishing for this whole time is it not.” 

His words were clipped, and there was something beneath the surface that might have been just too deep for you to dive in to find on your own. “I thought that's what I wanted.” 

Looking back out, the sky was still as clear and blue as it always had been since the day of your arrival. At first you thought it was a taunt. Mocking you for how bright the world shined onto such a dark experience. “Everyone knew why I was here, but they went out of their way to know me, make me feel welcome, try to make me belong even though I should be just a footnote to them.” 

Your arms braced on the railing, not quite like Javi though. You crossed your forearms across the length of it and rested your upper chest onto them, knees bent back to brace yourself up as you looked at the water. “You were supposed to hate me. That’s what I thought when I first met you. Lucas was so frustratingly chatty, but you came in just so, large and silent and angry that I couldn’t help but assume it was towards me. But we talked. We talked and I got attached.” 

The warmth of his closeness overwhelmed one side of you, his shadow casting across part of your view as he came to your side. One hand resting close to where your elbows bent with the other on his hip. Those large brown eyes looking deeply at you with that internal question you didn’t know. 

“Do you really think you’re the only one who feels that way?” 

You looked up to the side, struck with how softly he looked at you. Sliding to the side, you leaned against the railing mimicking his posture, but your own hand hovered around your torso not quite sure how to stay. “I hoped you did. Sometimes it really felt like there was something, but other days I couldn’t help but worry that it was all just an act...trick me into being complacent. But then you look at me like that,” You dropped your gaze along with your voice. “And then everything just gets muddled.” 

Trickling forward, Javi’s hand inched closer to yours. The buzzing need to touch you moving through this entire body. “What I feel, hermosa, isn’t fair to you. I should be sending you home on the first plane out, giving you your life back no question. I just didn’t know how much the right thing to do would hurt.” 

You looked back out to the water, eyes squinting at the bright sun reflecting off of it. “Going home was all I wanted. I had nothing to do with this until my brother was too stupid to pay back his own loans. But now going home feels like the last thing I want to do, and maybe I should be the one who feels stupid for that.” 

Javi’s person stood now closer to you. Not pressing against you, but giving you much less room to back away before you hit the edge. There were no words between you for a moment until Javi mumbled in a somewhat aloof, amused tone. “Maybe we’re both stupid.” 

Now that got an honest to god laugh from you. “I think you might be right about that one.” For that moment the burning tension took a notch down, and it felt so much more like any other day you’ve grown to adore with him. 

Your name fell gently off of Javi’s tongue. His fingers pressing gently against your cheek to look up at him. His feelings weren’t unfair, it was how beautiful he was. His hair always curled so perfectly, always enticing your hands to itch over through them, face framed perfectly by his nose and facial hair that would burn against your skin in an addicting way. 

His eyes were the worst though. Big and so transparent with how he felt, and now you had to look into them with nothing but a screaming desire in them that made you melt. “I need you to tell me. You have to be the one to say it, make me send you home. I might be too selfish to do it on my own.” 

Javi’s eyes fluttered shut as your hand gently held onto the wrist close to your face. Your thumb tracing over the skin as his pulse grew faster alongside your own. You smiled though, and chose a side you never expected. 

“I’m stupid, remember?” 

It wasn’t long that Javi’s expression made you doubt yourself. Eyes shut tighter as his face pinched in conflict. Barley opening them, Javi muttered roughly in Spanish before his fingers slid to let his hand encompass your whole cheek. Very quickly his other one joined the opposite side, and sealed the distance with his lips. 

Unlike his soft and sometimes silly disposition, Javi kissed you anything but that. His hands pulled in your face up towards him as he wasted no time in hardening his kiss. Lips demanding from you, forcing you to surrender to him in ways he never asked before. 

Your hands found their way to his chest. The orange shirt leaving so many buttons undone that there was no shame in how much chest you could touch. Palms sliding over his skin and mindlessly rubbing up and down the length of his torso. Feeling his muscles twitch as he hesitated in his kiss, before moving one of his hands to pull you in closer behind your back. 

Holding you closer to the back of your neck, Javi deepened the kiss, teasing you with his tongue and bites, almost nibbles against your lip. The sharpness of his teeth bringing high pitched gasp from you, only to have Javi consume the sound and grant himself access to you more. His tongue teasing inside of your mouth, you started to tremble against him. 

His tongue grazing against yours and pulling back to kiss you rougher just when you wanted to return it. You could feel the burn of his facial hair against your skin and no doubt it will haunt your memories of how much you wanted to feel it elsewhere. 

One of his hands wandering to your side, pushing your shirt up just enough to grasp at the skin on your waist he could blindly find. Javi once again tasted you with his tongue only to deepen it greatly as he roughly pushed you the remaining distance against the railing. 

Your fingers tightened against his chest, finally sliding up to the back of his neck and into his hair. The softness amazed you, as well as how easily you could rake your fingers though it. Shivers running down Javi’s spine he stuttered against you, groaning into your mouth. His hips pushed against yours in an instant reaction to the feeling. 

Finally summoning the strength to pull back, Javi parted from you but barley left your touch. A tiny string of saliva still between your lips, Javi pulled your chin into him as he took just once more needy kiss from you before pulling back, resting his forehead against yours as you took longer to catch your breathe. 

“I won’t make you stay here, hermosa. But if you did, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to prove myself to you for it. I am too selfish, I’ll do anything to keep you here if you let me.” A needy hum leaving his throat as you now ran your hand through his hair much more gentle, almost soothing. 

“If you’re selfish, and I’m stupid maybe we were meant to fit together like this.” 

Javi still shook his head, as if unable to grasp why you would give him this. He moved to brush his nose against your hair before you both moved closer into the others arms. He gripped you as if this was the only thing he was ever allowed to have, and it was possible that he got to experience very little like this. 

You both held one another for quite a while. Enough to feel both of your bodies relax into one another settling a calm over the turmoil of this morning. His voice vibrated against your chest as he spoke. “Gabriela and Camilia will certainly be happy.” 

Pulling back you looked at him with am amused but questioning smirk, neither of your hands willing to leave the other yet. His own running over the top of your head, before nudging against your chin and back as if unable to chose where to touch. “Gabriela called me an idiot anytime I said you couldn’t possibly share how I feel. And Camilia? She just yells at me to move you into my own room already.” 

His face was flat and eyes rolling at just how much he heard an earful from the woman if he so much as hinted at sending you home. Clearly not a sacrifice love for their own good kind of person. You chuckled, your cheek resting more in the palm of his hand. 

“The guest room bed doesn’t exactly have the most comfortable blankets to be honest.” 

If at all possible, his face fell flat even more. His eyes narrowing at you as he pulled away keeping his hands on your forearms. “I thought I told you to bring up anything you’d like me to change for you?” 

Your shoulders shrugged, smile much more sheepish as you looked off to the side. “I didn’t want to bother anyone, I wasn’t really a guest at that time to be fair.” Javi just rolled his eyes once more, pulling you into his warm body wrapping his arms around you again. 

“Well that’s about to change, now I know better. Clearly I will have to pull what you want out of you by force.” You leaned into each other, Javi turning you both to head inside. It wasn’t going to be an easy day still, no doubt a lot had to happen if you were to stay. 

He let you speak to Gabriela for a little while, Javi somewhat in the distance trying desperately not to interject every time you were far to humble about what you said or suggested. Eventually stopping by the kitchen where he ended getting smacked by a wooden spoon as Camilia yelled at him for how ridiculous you both were. 

The sight of a short Camilia mercilessly smacking the tall and large Javi, as he tried to bend away in very little defence like a child as a comical one, but not unusual for this strange little family. 

Nothing was set in stone quite yet. Your future was uncertain, but then again, so was Javi’s. Both of your lives placed in between two possibilities and a not quite yet clear path along either one of them. Javi did however, waste no time in his greedy desire to have you sleep next to him in his own bed. Which was admittedly, far more cozy then the guest room. 

Not quite asleep yet, you found yourself being yanked up onto Javi’s lap as his own back collapsed against the pillows. Grasping your hips when you went to follow, “Let me just look at you for a while, preciosa.” 

You trailed your own hands, dancing along his chest now covered in just a simple white tee shirt. Occasionally reaching up to scratch at his facial hair. “You say that as if I don’t have an absolutely beautiful view below me now.” 

Javi’s cheeks tinted a bit, holding back a flustered smile as he readjustment his grip on your hips to squeeze the skin below your shirt once more. He seemed to toy with pushing the fabric up more, but not subtle enough for you to miss it. You reached for it in a pull, but he held them in place as he looked at you much more serious. “I wasn’t trying to pressure you, I am perfectly happy with you just like this.” 

Heart melting at how quick he was to deny himself what you knew he was thinking about, but you wanted to give him something anyways. Pulling your shirt up and letting it fall beside your bodies. The dark greed in his eyes as he looked over your skin, he clearly was not aware you didn’t have anything on underneath. 

Shooting up from the bed, he held you steady from the force as he shot one hand up to rest just underneath one of your breasts. His face sharp and his eyes with desire. “I will not take this from you tonight, hermosa. But you are playing with fire here.” 

Your hands trailed under his own, not lifting it, but following the line of his pants. “I thought you were the selfish one. Doesn’t quite feel that way, now-” 

Javi’s jaw clenched, teeth muttering out curses you didn’t understand as he effortlessly flipped you onto your back. His body knelt in between your legs one holding your leg bent gripped by your hip, the other palming your breast in his large hand. “Unbelievable. Trying to take advantage of how weak I am for you.” 

You threw your head back in a moan as he caressed you rougher, his other fingers tracing the nipple of your neglected breast and pinching them as he kissed your neck, a whiny gasp coming from you. “Sinful. So beautifully tempting.” 

His hands worked your breasts over with every kiss and bite as his facial hair rubbed red your skin as he moved. Your hands fully moving under his shirt to trail your nails over his skin and grasp at him at a particularly harsh pair of his teeth and tugging at your nipple roughly. 

You could feel a smug grin against you, and your hips writhed against his slowly. One of his hands gripped the side of your jaw to pull your lips to his, while the other pulled your grinding hip up into his more. 

His kiss was messy but Javi was to preoccupied with granted you the feeling back. Nothing frantic, just a delicious grind of your hips together as you kissed. Your core begun to coil, quick. Too quick, you felt so pent up that the weight of his bulge against you send you careening closer to that burning orgasm so fast. 

Each grind pressed harder, the pressure for both of you that much better feeling, but still neither of you moved faster. Javi mumbled into your mouth nothing you could make out but he eventually pulled away, rubbing his nose against yours. 

Your hold on each other softened so much more the closer you got, and you were pulling Javi’s orgasm right along with it. His thumb traced over your bottom lip, only to almost slip into your mouth as you gasped out as it hit you. Your orgasm flooding through you without warning, as Javi pushed still against you to find his. 

You hadn’t even been able to come down, you were plagued with aftershocks as he rubbed against you. His head moving to tuck itself into your neck as he crossed that line, but you didn’t want it. Your hands cupped his face to have him look at you, one of his gripping tight to you as his own orgasm fell over him. 

His mouth agape, with a needy moan as his eyes braced shut. As he came back down, you finally felt yourself back onto the sheets, no longer floating in mid air. You ran a hand once again through his hair, eyes not leaving one another. 

Javi turned one of your hands so he could kiss your palm, and you met halfway to the others lips. This time it was far more gentle. A soft caress, no demand and no need beyond just wanting to feel the others touch. 

He kept you quite close to him that entire night. Gentle whispers passed back and forth like secrets, neither of you wanting to break the serene quiet of the room. He had kept one window open, your chests inhaling and exhaling against the other with the splash of waves against the shores. 

Feeling how right you were fit together didn’t make the outside any less messy. Nothing about your time in Spain has taught you that this was something for the better in your life, but being curled up into Javi’s chest tucked warmly under his sheets did. 

Lucas wasn’t gone, in fact he was likely to cause more of a problem in the future if Javi’s suspicions were correct, and you wouldn’t imagine what sinister ploy could possibly have included genuine help from your brother. Whatever they wanted, whatever was in planning was going to ultimately end badly.

Most stories such as theirs did. Of course there was no way either you or Javi could ever predict how that would possibly end, or just how much would end at Javi’s own hand or how quickly his actions will end it. 

The Gutierrez family was one not to be trifled with, and now you lay here in the chest of the one masquerading as it’s leader. You were dragged into this life and force to endure the cruel games at the real masterminds behest. Javi couldn’t convince you at this point to leave for your own well being, to avoid their lives. It was what led you to this moment, your hands braced against his chest and his own curling around you. 

Sleep begun to overtake you both, deep and slurring words between you, Javi’s mumbling into the hair as he pressed a kiss to the top of your head. His arms tightened around you, refusing to let you slip away from his heart as he slept. You wouldn’t. 

He found you after being thrown at his feet, and now he was too scared to let you back out, and you had no true intention to follow that though regardless. 

A small smile graced your features as you snuggled in closer to him, “Javi?” He hummed into your hair as a reply. “What on earth am I going to get you for your birthday?” 

Javi laughed deeply, pulling you in closer in almost a dismissal of your worry. “The only thing I wanted was to find a way to keep you in my life any way that I could.” 

Melting into him, your heart a kind of warmth you only had ever felt with him. You did however, give him one suggestion. “I don’t know, if anyone could beat my presence in your life it might be Nic Cage.” 

Javi rolled his eyes even if you couldn’t see. Tugging you into his chest he mumbled playfully into your head along with another loving kiss. “Fair, but you’re the one I stroked myself imagining you bouncing on my cock every time I could sneak away for a shower.” He laughed once more as you shrunk into his chest with a tiny whine. 

You weren’t sure you were confident enough to tell you how badly you wanted that as well, but you unequivocally dreamed about it as you slept. Unaware of just how much you and Javi pressed into the other as you desired the same things. 

You had each other’s heart, and for now that was all you and Javi truly wanted.  

[seekers-who-are-lovers]

Yukiya in the second part of the Yatagarasu series.

(Please don’t click if you dislike spoilers. I beg you. But if you are not averse to them, then please freely discuss them with me. )

I have to scream !!!

He’s in his 40s “with an elegant appearance.” (One of my fave Japanese fan artists on X has several renditions of him as a middle-aged man. And they are fantastic. )

He’s muscular, hugely built, perhaps like Lord Genya in his prime or his dad Yukimasa (who didn’t look bad at all when he married Fuyuki, thank you to mangaka Natsumi Matsuzaki ), with long, wavy brown hair that has white streaks on it. It reaches the floor when he does a dogeza

He exudes authority, so much authority, so much power, and everyone, mostly, is afraid of him, admires him.

He’s now the leader of the clan. Something like the Prime Minister. He’s called a Yellow Raven, the leader of all government officials. When you let the military take over the government, Yukiya’s government happens. His propaganda re “monkeys” reminds me of a real-life happening where former Philippine president Duterte and his cohorts’ so-called red-tagging and anyone who is a suspected drug user/small-time drug peddler has shoot to kill order. That is, anyone who was not in line with the Duterte government’s policies (mostly political rivals) was part of the communist party/drug addict and therefore needed to be eradicated. Use a magic word, “monkey,” and everything is justified. (I thoroughly understand, on the other hand, Yukiya’s reason that “people are fools”)

He has taken a vow not to marry nor to have children to undertake the role of Yellow Raven, which compared to the others before him, these Yellow Ravens were older and begot children before they got the position. A monk or a priest in Yamauchi means that you don’t belong to any of the four houses and discard the so-called worldly delights.

He doesn’t have a love interest, but that word sparring with (Nazukihiko’s daughter) Himemiya’s other persona is oozing with sexual tension that is palpable to those who have heard them including Haruma, who is his loyal supporter/personal secretary/adjutant (just imagine a mature intelligent man and an intelligent beautiful young woman having a heated political discussion and the young woman is not at all afraid bc darn she knows this person so well as he was like her babysitter/minder/aide/quasi family member/crush when she was young. Well played Chisato Abe, well played !)

He is so disenchanted with life, and vows to hold on to power as long as it takes, yet the appearance of Himemiya’s other persona is about to rock his world

Yes, he has always had this darkness in him, and he lets this darkness prevail because he’s lost those people who have been so close to him, who he loves dearly. AND YET, he never mourned them properly. His heart suddenly closed off like a defence mechanism to assuage the pain that he’d feel. Though there was once an incident when he decided to let go during the first part of the series the reason he was so attached to Himemiya. And when (he thought) Himemiya “rejected” him, it was the day he was convinced that no one really cared. You just watch Episode 11 and listen to Wakamiya talks about Atsufusa and you have in a nutshell Yukiya now. The court will change you.

Anime * Yukiya seems to be a bit gentler. So I don’t know how will they make him so if ever we’ve gotten another season like in the books.

[tigertofu]

Hate to love headcanon between a fem!reader and North Yankton Trevor :)

fuck ya love the whole hate to love thing sm 😭 ...... also im sorry i struggle at making headcanon lists that are just pure n simple LISTS as they should be w/out slipping in some form of narrative sometimes and this prompt just lends itself to a story so well..... so this is some sort of half fic/half headcanon list monster. but hey this was rlly fun to write !!! ty as always for requesting 💞💞

pairing: fem reader/Trevor

summary: headcanons/short fic thing about a hate to love relationship between reader and North Yankton Trevor.

cw's: mentions of sex, alcohol

wordcount: 1,714

for narrative’s sake, let’s say that you are a small–time criminal in one of the many little podunk towns of North Yankton. one day, you catch wind of a new crew that’s set up in the area. four guys: a computer–hacking tech whiz of some sort; a big lug of a brute with a penchant for starting unnecessary barfights; a smaller, scrappier brute who’s already sniffed out and either done business with or scared off all the drug peddlers in town; and a stern ringleader who only barely manages to control his anger issues better than the others.

unbeknownst to you though, this crew has also caught wind of you. and one night, as you’re trudging through the snow to your shitty little studio apartment from the grocery store, a car pulls up alongside you and the window rolls down. the driver introduces himself as Michael. he tells you he’s heard about you; heard about how you’re one of the better thieves in the county. he tells you he’s got work for you, if you’ll take it. and ever the opportunist, you do.

a week later, you head out to meet the rest of the men you’ll be working with. they’re currently squatting in an old, abandoned hunting cabin out in the woods that border town. as you sit down for beers and talk with Michael and the computer guy—who introduces himself as Lester—you get a brief rundown of the crew’s history. they hit banks. this tends to cause a stir, so they’re almost always on the run; they landed in their current safehouse just two weeks before. while Lester and Michael cook up plans for the bigger, more dangerous heists, they make a living off of smaller endeavors. holding up gas stations, gutting truck shipments of electronics that Lester then sells off, sticking up gas stations and liquor stores. this is where you come in: there’s a well–to–do pawn shop in town, and Michael wants to hit it. but the people in your town are weary of outsiders, and the heat from the crew’s last bank job hasn’t died down yet. Michael wants you to go in and case the joint for them and, if you’re up to it, help them hit it.

right after you agree (so long’s you get a fair cut of the profits), the wooden door to the cabin slams open. two men stumble in. their faces are red from the cold and, when they get within your smelling range, you realize from booze, too. one’s tall, built like a truck, blond; the other’s got the scraggly, dark brown ends of a mullet peeking out from the edges of his askew trapper hat. there’s something animalistic in his eyes and in his drunken smirk and when he turns his gaze on you, you realize that despite his disheveled everything, he’s actually quite handsome. and you feel Something. a spark or a pang in your chest.

but then he turns to Michael and slurs, “If we’d’ve known you were getting a call girl tonight, Brad and I wouldn’t’ve stayed out so long!” and that Something instantly snuffs out as you now glare at the man with the mullet. you tell him you aren’t a fucking call girl as Michael lets out an exasperated huff and says “Shut the fuck up, Trevor.” but this Trevor guy has seemingly taken a liking to you. he saunters up to you, wavering on his feet, smirking like a cat with a mouse. asks you if you’re sure you don’t wanna make a bit of money tonight, ‘cuz he’s feeling awful lonely and you’re just a real pretty thing. you roll your eyes, tell Michael to keep in contact with you, and make your leave. you slam the door of the cabin shut on Trevor’s pleas to stick around and have some fun.

as you periodically meet up with Michael’s crew over the course of the next few weeks, your mild distaste for Trevor deepens to downright hate. sure, you think he’s attractive and you find some of his obscene jokes and observations funny, but mostly you just find them disgusting. every time he sees you he tries to coax you into bed with him, or convince you into a quickie in the car, or offers you a hit off his well-loved meth pipe, or asks you out on a date to the local tavern. you decline him every time, each “no” growing firmer and snappier. you don’t know why he makes you so mad. maybe it’s because if only he wasn’t so fucking annoying, you’d have fucked him by now.

the pawn shop heist goes well. so well, in fact, that Michael decides to keep you on for their next job: hitting a electronics store in a town a couple hours’ drive away. he sends you and Trevor alone to scope the place out. at some point during the drive, an argument erupts. Trevor asks you why you hate him. you tell him because. he asks what "because" means. you lose your temper, wondering why he chose to have this conversation now of all times, as you’re driving down an empty country lane through a nighttime snow flurry. you put on the brakes and park up on the side of the road and yell at him that you hate him because he’s disgusting, he’s pushy, and he drives you fucking crazy. as you catch your breath from your tirade, he is ominously silent. and then, in a low rumble that makes you feel things you wish it didn’t, he tells you that you drive him crazy, too. 

you kiss him for the first time then and there, if only to get him to shut up. you fuck him for the first time then and there, too. an intense mix of hatred and lust that you’ve never felt before makes it rough going. while he’s got you twisted into a pretzel in the back of the car, fucking you like an animal, he keeps trying to praise you: telling you’re pretty when you’re mad, that he knew you had nice tits, etc etc while you keep snarling at him to shut the fuck up. 

it’s good though, and addictive. from that day onwards, all your fights lead to angry sex. if you two start arguing in front of the others, you will both “disappear” soon after the yelling stops. if you two start arguing when alone—which starts to happen more frequently because, despite butting heads, you start to be okay with him showing up at your place unannounced—the spat will turn mid–fight into fucking. 

at first, you insist on parting ways immediately after both of you are re-clothed. but then one night, after having sex in your bed, Trevor doesn’t get up to leave right after. he lays beside you, one arm slung over your bare stomach, his head face down in your pillow. and for some reason, you don’t try to push him out of your bed. 

eventually, post–coital cuddling joins the mix. at first it feels wrong and gross. you haven’t quite gotten used to the various bad smells that usually cling to Trevor. but there’s something comforting about being in the arms of someone and having your arms around them after the intense emotional releases of an argument and fast, desperate sex. 

he starts to stick around for long after you’ve both had your more physical needs fulfilled. you start to engage him in non–shouting conversation; start to get to know more about him. and then one day when he comes over, and there isn’t any arguments at all. just talking, drinking beers, and the slowest—which is still rough by most people’s standards—sex you two have had yet. he has a habit of sputtering out frantic “I love you”’s during sex, and it’s always annoyed and repulsed you. but this time is different. you tell him you love him to as you feel him finish inside of you. 

as soon as your feelings are made known, he starts to relentlessly tease you. "Oh, but I thought you hated my guts!" he'll tease you about this so much that you'll start to actually hate his guts again during these moments when he pesters you.

for a few wonderful months, whatever is going between you two turns into a relationship. there isn’t much work for Trevor to do during this time, aside from prepping for some vague, big heist that Michael has cooked up for the crew. 

by now, the other guys have long figured out what’s going on between you two. Brad frequently teases Trevor about it. Michael says he doesn’t care who fucks who, so long’s it doesn’t get in the way of your guys’ criminal careers. and it doesn’t. things go well, until—

eventually the day of Michael's big heist he's been talking up comes around. they're robbing a cash depot in town. you aren’t there for it; banks are a bit more dangerous than the marks you’re comfortable with robbing. Michael knows this and insists you sit this one out. but Trevor promises to swing by your place to lay low for a bit after the deed is done. all day you look forward to it, waiting for him to show up at your door with a big, manic grin on his face, ready to celebrate with drinks and a night in together. but then the time that he told you he’d show up at comes and goes. and then hours pass. night falls, and there’s still no sign of Trevor. you try calling him, but there’s no answer. as you lay in your bed alone that night, unable to sleep, you think that maybe the cash depot heist didn’t go according to plan and the boys had to skip town ASAP. you aren’t too worried, though. you know that Trevor can handle himself and you knew from the get–go that Michael’s crew is one that doesn’t like to stay stationary, so this was bound to happen eventually. so it’s not worry that keeps you awake until the early morning of the next day: it’s a bittersweet gratefulness for what little time you did get to spend with Trevor, and some slight regret that you hadn’t stopped hating him sooner. 

[georgiapeach30513]

He’s been wanting opposite of Steve Rogers since he gave away the shield //

I feel like this is a natural progression from sadistic henchman Lloyd, to amoral drug peddler Pete, to now Cult leader/priest with a possible kink or two.

So long innocent Cole. 😂

Honestly, since Steve we have gotten Ransom, Andy, Devin Peters 🤭, Lloyd, Cole, and Pete. So now we get a cult leader that is possibly a sex fiend named Priest Dean 🫡

It’s about time, Christopher!

[finniestoncrane]

DUDE. The vill-inn event is so adorable, holy fuck. I literally went back and forth because while I adore riddler and all his bullshit- I would like to order Delivery, a Black Coffee, Pumpkin Ravioli (BTAA herbs), and for my sides: Regular Fries, Cheese popcorn, and breadsticks please! Congratulations on your follower count!

btaa!scarecrow x gn!reader, word count: 300 content (warnings): biting, marking kink, kissing, post-coital hcs orders open here! 🔞minors dni🔞 • masterlist • kofi link • tag: finnie1500 (to follow or to block) a/n: ah thank you! i was so pleased with it!! you are so kind ;-; 💚

jonathan crane, doctor, drug peddler, child terroriser, has a penchant for marking his territory

you can tell who pushes his drugs by the mark of terror on their face, the way their voices tremble

you know who is a patient, or former patient, by the way they seem far more afraid and desolate than they did before seeking therapy

and you can tell his lover from the soft bruises and prickled, red dental imprints on their body

particularly, the softer spots and the tender areas

neck, inner elbow, wrist, stomach, inner thighs

there is a deeply erotic art to how he achieves the particular patterns and long-lasting bruises on you

gifts that he leaves on your skin as you're forced to watch a marathon of his favourite karlo films

only removing his mouth from you to offer a tidbit, or a lecture, on the use of lighting in a particular scene or the way the soundtrack asks as a frame for the words

he never regrets marking you as his own, but sometimes, particularly the morning after, he'll have a little bit of remorse

something in him that says he shouldn't have sullied your soft skin

it won't stop him from doing it again next time though

it just means that your morning will begin with you being gently awakened to his lips against you

your neck, down to your arm, down to your wrist

a soft set of kisses placed on each area he let his teeth sink into the night before

only stopping when your body is writhing under his touch, completely at his mercy

begging for him to claim you as his own again, to make sure everyone knows it

that you've been blessed with the good doctor's favours

[indignantlemur]

Where do the Clanless and outcast andorians come from exactly? Are they the same thing? Are the Clanless ones a clan of their own in a way? Also why did people start abandoning children after Weytahn?

-Horta-in-Charge *boop*

Clanless Andorians are all outcasts, and as a group they are comprised of a mix of political exiles, criminals, and individuals who have brought sufficient shame and disrepute to their birth- and marriage-Clans that they have been disowned. They are not unified or even particularly organized, and trying to impose order upon the Clanless has always failed in the past.

Andoria has always had criminals - thugs, thieves, drug-peddlers, murderers, smugglers, and even pirates. During the first contact war with Orions, the Clanless' numbers expanded to include collaborators and informants, and this more than anything else has tarnished the reputation of the Clanless beyond repair.

To become Clanless is to become less than a person; a Clanless has forfeited all the rights and privileges of an upstanding citizen, and most of the protections as well. Once, a Clanless Andorian could be killed without consequence, often without even declaring a duel - and though this has not been permissible since the Unification, it took a long time for society to catch up to the laws laid down by the first Emperor.

Children born into quads of Clanless Andorians are often taken in by the birth-parents' Clans as a matter of course, or sometimes by unrelated families who cannot have children on their own. Andorians no longer slay Clanless on sight, but they also do everything possible to ensure their numbers do not increase. It's not a perfect system, and indeed it is often cruel, but most Andorians accept this as normal and even beneficial in the long-run. Some Clanless parents opt to keep their children, of course, and these families are watched very carefully by the authorities - largely for the children's education and general well-being, as Clanless are often of limited resources and opportunities comparatively. A second motive for such observation, much less often discussed but equally valid, is to prevent these quads from forming mafia-like crime families and fomenting discord.

These children grow up as full citizens of Andoria, but they also occupy an awkward grey area between Clan and Clanless Andorians. Many of these children choose to join their birth-Clan relatives and integrate into broader society once they're considered old enough to understand the decision and its consequences (roughly fourteen). This is actively encouraged, though not everyone is happy with the situation.

Kelenthor the Clanless was an amazing artist, true, but what makes his legacy profound is the fact that he came from nothing and clawed his way to fame and fortune through sheer, bloody-minded determination and stubbornness as much as raw talent. He was a rare, once-in-a-millennia sort of man, and no other Clanless has ever attained such acclaim. Many believe no other Clanless ever will.

Unfortunately, a number of small, nomadic families often get lumped in with Clanless Andorians, which is categorically unfair. These nomadic families eschew the Clan system and modern society and prefer to live in remote, self-sufficient villages far from the rest of society, which they travel between seasonally. They are not criminals, and are actually generally law-abiding citizens - if only through disinterest in interacting with the rest of Andoria. They pay their taxes (by a proxy) and keep to themselves, and that's how they like it. The Emperor is happy to leave them to it, so long as they swear loyalty to Andoria and keep out of trouble; the nomads feel much the same way about the Emperor.

As for Weytahn and the cases of abandoned children, these were mostly accidental or deemed to be the result of panic rather than deliberate. During the Pre-Federation skirmishes between Andorian and Vulcan forces, which often broke out very suddenly and violently, civilian evacuations could be haphazard and fraught with danger even with military oversight. Despite everyone's best efforts, sometimes individuals were left behind and families were separated. In some cases, parents were killed during evacuation (often by pure chance and bad luck) but their children survived and did not make it to the extraction points. Wherever possible the Imperial Guard would retrieve these orphaned and abandoned children, even undertaking risky incursions into Vulcan-occupied territory to do so. From there, the circumstances of the children's abandonment would be thoroughly investigated by arbiters specialising in such cases.

Edit: almost forgot!

[beardedmrbean]

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden announced on Monday that he is commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 people on federal death row, converting their punishments to life imprisonment just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump, an outspoken proponent of expanding capital punishment, takes office.

The move spares the lives of people convicted in killings, including the slayings of police and military officers, people on federal land and those involved in deadly bank robberies or drug deals, as well as the killings of guards or prisoners in federal facilities.

It means just three federal inmates are still facing execution. They are Dylann Roof, who carried out the 2015 racist slayings of nine Black members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina; 2013 Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev; and Robert Bowers, who fatally shot 11 congregants at Pittsburgh’s Tree of life Synagogue in 2018, the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S history.

“I’ve dedicated my career to reducing violent crime and ensuring a fair and effective justice system,” Biden said in a statement. “Today, I am commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 individuals on federal death row to life sentences without the possibility of parole. These commutations are consistent with the moratorium my administration has imposed on federal executions, in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder.”

The Biden administration in 2021 announced a moratorium on federal capital punishment to study the protocols used, which suspended executions during Biden's term. But Biden actually had promised to go further on the issue in the past, pledging to end federal executions without the caveats for terrorism and hate-motivated, mass killings.

While running for president in 2020, Biden's campaign website said he would “work to pass legislation to eliminate the death penalty at the federal level, and incentivize states to follow the federal government’s example.”

Similar language didn't appear on Biden's reelection website before he left the presidential race in July.

“Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss,” Biden's statement said. “But guided by my conscience and my experience as a public defender, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, vice president, and now president, I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level.”

He took a political jab at Trump, saying, “In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted.”

Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, has spoken frequently of expanding executions. In a speech announcing his 2024 campaign, Trump called for those “caught selling drugs to receive the death penalty for their heinous acts.” He later promised to execute drug and human smugglers and even praised China's harsher treatment of drug peddlers. During his first term as president, Trump also advocated for the death penalty for drug dealers.

There were 13 federal executions during Trump's first term, more than under any president in modern history, and some may have happened fast enough to have contributed to the spread of the coronavirus at the federal death row facility in Indiana.

Those were the first federal executions since 2003. The final three occurred after Election Day in November 2020 but before Trump left office the following January, the first time federal prisoners were put to death by a lame-duck president since Grover Cleveland in 1889.

Biden faced recent pressure from advocacy groups urging him to act to make it more difficult for Trump to increase the use of capital punishment for federal inmates. The president's announcement also comes less than two weeks after he commuted the sentences of roughly 1,500 people who were released from prison and placed on home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic, and of 39 others convicted of nonviolent crimes, the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history.

The announcement also followed the post-election pardon that Biden granted his son Hunter on federal gun and tax charges after long saying he would not issue one, sparking an uproar in Washington. The pardon also raised questions about whether he would issue sweeping preemptive pardons for administration officials and other allies who the White House worries could be unjustly targeted by Trump’s second administration.

Speculation that Biden could commute federal death sentences intensified last week after the White House announced he plans to visit Italy on the final foreign trip of his presidency next month. Biden, a practicing Catholic, will meet with Pope Francis, who recently called for prayers for U.S. death row inmates in hopes their sentences will be commuted.

Martin Luther King III, who publicly urged Biden to change the death sentences, said in a statement issued by the White House that the president "has done what no president before him was willing to do: take meaningful and lasting action not just to acknowledge the death penalty’s racist roots but also to remedy its persistent unfairness.”

Donnie Oliverio, a retired Ohio police officer whose partner was killed by one of the men whose death sentence was converted, said the execution of "the person who killed my police partner and best friend would have brought me no peace."

“The president has done what is right here,” Oliverio said in a statement also issued by the White House, “and what is consistent with the faith he and I share.”