#hotel near soho

[thehistoricbluemoonhote]

The Historic Blue Moon Hotel

Website: https://www.bluemoon-nyc.com

Address: 100 Orchard Street, New York City, NY 10002, USA

The Historic Blue Moon Hotel in NYC, an award-winning 1879 establishment, offers a unique blend of history and luxury. Nestled in the vibrant Lower East Side, it provides an immersive experience with its artful decor and museum-like ambiance. The hotel features beautifully restored rooms, each with a balcony, offering stunning city views. Guests can enjoy modern amenities like free Wi-Fi, large bathtubs, and handcrafted Italian cuisine at the on-site Trattoria. Ideal for both short and extended stays, the Blue Moon Hotel promises a memorable stay in the heart of New York City.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlueMoonHotelNYC

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bluemoonhotel

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bluemoonhistoric/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@bluemoonhotel7282

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/randysettenbrino/

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[wellourgerdes]

The Soho Hotel London

The Soho Hotel London The Soho Hotel, located 5 minutes’ walk from Oxford Street, boasts a fully equipped gym with an on-site personal trainer. This elegant boutique hotel in bustling Soho occupies a former warehouse and is only a 2-minute walk from Soho Square and  12-minute walk from the British Museum. Five-star luxury is an understatement; this hotel is magnificent for the posh and…

[ktkellart]

Good Omens London Trip 🐍💞🪽

It's my Birthday today and I treated myself to a trip to London last weekend to see my favourite actor Michael Sheen in Nye at the National Theatre. I made the most of my weekend by combining it with a Good Omens filming location self-tour and I'd love to share it with you all. So, are you ready for the tour?

Here we go!

Starting off with Soho, and the inspiration for Whickber Street, where Aziraphale's bookshop, Give Me Coffee or Give Me Death, The Small Back Room, and the Dirty Donkey are located.

It’s Berwick Street and a record shop that is very similar in shape to A.Z Fell & Co. Bonus points for spotting Duck Lane!

Next is Berkeley Square, a short walk from Soho. The first two photos are of the real Berkeley Square gardens in Mayfair, and the last two photos were taken in the filming location of Tavistock Square across the other side of central London near Kings Cross. I’m sitting on their ‘body swap’ bench in the last photo!

As you can see, the benches are turned around facing inwards now but are the other way, facing outwards in Good Omens.

Oh, and I can confirm that there were no nightingales singing in either location 😭

Heading up the road a few minutes from Tavistock Square to The Enterprise pub where I met a fellow fan who kindly took photos of me posing (I bet the staff thought we were off our rockers!). This is where Crowley drowns his sorrows in Talisker Whisky whilst waiting for the world to end after thinking he'd lost Aziraphale. Omg that poor poor demon, he was really just gonna die along with the world.

Also, one of my favourite moments of season 1 is Crolwey's line: "I heard that. It was the wiggle-on..." then shrugs. 😆 So many emotions in such short a time.

Onto the Ritz. The first two photos are of the real Ritz (a stone's throw from Berkeley Square) and the last one is inside Masala Zone in Piccadilly Circus where the ‘Quite extraordinary amounts of alcohol’ and ‘To the World’ scenes were filmed.

I ate in here alone to get the photo and was so lucky with the table I was given! Perfect discreet snap whilst eating my curry! Haha!

Next up is Battersea Park and the Bandstand. It was a bit of a faff to get there, it's an 8-minute walk from the Battersea Power Station underground and we walked the full length of the park to find the Bandstand, but it was so worth it.

Also filmed here was Gabriel and Aziraphale’s run/jog. Poor Angel is soft scene.

The trees were a little leafier with it being mid-May and the park was very busy because the weather was glorious. They also have a beautiful lake here with herons!

The Heaven & Hell staircase escalators are right over the east side of London in Broadgate Tower, Bishopsgate. I got the overground to Liverpool Street station to get there. It is in a private business building so I politely/awkwardly asked the receptionist if I could take a photo and had to explain about the scene from Good Omens… eek! But he kindly let me snap a photo anyway! (Phew)

The Windmill Theatre was three minutes away from my hotel in Piccadilly Circus, so I wandered up the road to take a photo of where Aziraphale ‘performed on the West End stage’ as Fell the Marvelous. And wasn’t he just?

The scenes weren't filmed here but it was fun to find it anyway.

St James’s Park is up next! I sat on their bench and got my friend to take photos of me posing and had fun editing the first photo. Haha! We enjoyed walking through the park, watching the ducks on the lake and had a nosey at Buckingham Palace while we were there.

The Duke of York Statue steps are at the other end of St James's Park and were fun to walk up. I smiled to myself as I thought of the scene where Crowley says ‘Well let's have lunch? Hmm,’ and Aziraphale turns around, as it was the first time I realised that these two were more than just friends.

Heaven’s top floor, the Sky Garden in Fenchurch Street near Monument is a very tall building with a botanical garden on the top floor. You can visit the sky garden for free, but you do need to book in advance so it’s best to plan ahead for this one. The views of London are breathtaking from the 35th floor and the tropical plants are fun.

My last stop for this visit was Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. I booked a tour on the morning I was due to go home. The first tour is 10 am and lasts an hour, so I dashed off as soon as the tour guide was uttering his last words about the gift shop, across London back to Kings Cross to pick up my suitcase from luggage storage and get the 11:48 am train home!

One I missed and could have easily gone to is St Margaret Street where Newton and Shadwell meet, and Shadwell fleeces Newton for a cup of tea with nine sugars and pockets the change. A bit gutted I missed it to be honest – I love Jack Whitehall (I’m back in London with the family in June so I’ll swing by and update then!)

There are also some other locations a little further afield that I might try to visit on a later date, such as Shadwell's and Madam Tracy's flat down Hornsey Road in Islington, Crowley's Flat exterior in Eastfields Avenue, Best Cafe on Garratt Lane where Crowley meets Shadwell, Crystal Palace Dinosaur Park where the ineffable husbands watch Warlock defacing a dinosaur sign and Antonella's Cafe and Bistro where Crowley and Aziraphale are thinking of ideas to track down the antichrist whist Aziraphale eats cake.

Okay, I’m gonna finish up with the man himself. The very kind, very charming, and VERY patient Michael Sheen The reason for my London visit in the first place. Nye was spectacular OBviOUsLy, but he was super generous with his time at stage door for us all. I got a hug and asked him to pass it on to Aziraphale (that angel really needs a hug) and it made him laugh, which made my night!

Check out my reblog for extra locations when I visited London again a month later, and for a hilarious bonus photo of.... Gabriel??!

Here’s the wonderful map I used -

from this website:

[sgiandubh]

Señorita Nothingburger

🎶When you see her, say a prayer /And kiss your heart arse goodbye 🎶

Lauren 2.0. Wow: after The Paid Companion, The Wannabe. Unlike the first round of revelations, this time the output has been totally disappointing. Very few things and zero context, which I have to say I was totally expecting, because it didn't exactly fit the agenda being pushed by Marple (amen!). Lightning never strikes the same place twice, right? And then, we had The Follow - a very interesting foolish, yet telling move: but on this, a bit further down the road, mind you.

So, let's ask ourselves along with La Ciccone: '¿Quién es esa niña?' For once, his IG follow has been very explicit:

Leading whoever to this account...

Elix Wellness is offering a very specific range of treatments, of which the one for hangovers really got me interested:

And yeah, even if I have apparently been scooped out by Marple on this one (my bad for sitting on it for a day), shamelessly using my patented methods (that is a lame joke), Lauren 2.0's LinkedIn account is, for once, very clear:

Her contract as a Travel RN was over by August 2023, as pointed out across the street:

And then she decided to go independent and open her own company. So, by far not a hooker - decent education, even, at NYU.

Lo and behold, who had Ibuprofen in his hotel room, in May 2023, when they were spotted on that NY Soho terrace, having lunch (didn't we laugh? you bet we did, it was one of my first posts in this fandom!)? S, of course. Hangovers could use both ibuprofen and a good IV cleansing treatment ( see above - such a common offering in that particular town, soon to be out of fashion - but hey: if she believes it can bring money, not my problem).

But... dating her? Not a chance in hell. You see, just a cursory survey of her IG account between the moment her contract as a Travel Registered Nurse was over and the moment her company started to be active, reveals a very busy Mediterranean summer, hitting all the possible cliches:

Before ending that contract, even, some days in Paris with her real interest, (again) checking all the tourist/romantic tropes you can imagine, from dining at the Au pied de cochon restaurant to having a quick macaron bite in the Luxembourg Gardens...

... then off to Paros, a posh island Greek destination, very much in vogue with the creative crowd, followed by (we are talking mandatory island hopping, here) Mykonos (unapologetically posh and very expensive, LGBTQ+ friendly destination - also beloved by the glam and glitz crowd)

Oh, hello Soho Roc House, part of the Soho Houses network - rings a bell? What a small world, really.

... a couple of days in Rome, followed by some quality family time (Mom and Pop, at a minimum) in Puglia, then Croatia (again, the glam crowd of Hvar island), back to Paris for a girls' trip (Montmartre, the Eiffel Tower and a couple other spots in the Marais and around the Rue de Rivoli - cliche forever):

... then back in Rome for cacio e pepe pasta, Piazza Navona and the Pantheon oculus (artsy girl, told you), followed by Positano and Capri (with Mom and Dad, again). Nothing to write home about, but still trying to sell herself as an up and coming influencer of sorts, perhaps.

Nowhere near S for the entire 2023 Sassenach Summer Tour. How is this equating with dating, that is really beyond me. Seriously. For instance, just before the second sighting, in NYC (June 10, 2023), she was having fun in the Algarve region and Lisbon (of course, Portugal). Probably posted those pics upon her return to NYC:

Dating? More like convenient pretext. He knew people would hang around that hotel (fans, autograph hunters, etc), especially during OL promo peak time. And he knew someone will take that pic, which was then conveniently placed in *urv's lap, for lengthy talks and more innuendo. Just as the first sighting was conveniently placed in Marple's inbox, to see if topic garners interest and sticks around/can be reused for further shits and giggles. Innuendo and nothing more would be my best bet: neither *urv, nor Marple had ANY positive idea about who she was, back at the time.

And now, the third drop was again placed in Marple's inbox, because attention had to be redirected to this particular gossip topic, in rather dire circumstances following Lauren 1.0.

And for your information, she does not follow S and he does not follow her. But he follows her newly opened joint: hangovers are a bitch, I know.

Why? I think it is clear enough why.

Who dunnit? I will let you draw your own conclusions, really. Again, it is rather plain to see. My belief is that this is not TPTB. And for once, I do not think he met her via Raya. Nope.

I took one for the team and listened to that podcast (if you are very foolish or brave or foolishly brave, you can do the same here: https://youtu.be/vBmcnhe2kwg?si=rRu5YCLHS3eZhuFs ). I mean, what is WRONG with those women? That is legit 14 year old bullshit talk about relationships (or the immature impossibility to have a satisfying one). They essentially explain in that podcast they have trouble decoding 'the man' in some relationships and the way they play out. I was laughing so violently my abs (or lack of them) hurt. At some point, I even thought it was some sort of sophisticated second degree, but NO (#cringe).

Also, I think I should be burning my pineapple pajama summer pants. Seriously. If you listen to the whole bullshit, you'll see there is no damn way to substantiate anything based on that. Zero connection.

[thetardigrape]

Tagged by @internerdionality to share the first lines of my 10 most recent fanfics. All of these except #9 are Good Omens. #9 is OFMD.

Inheritance (WIP, will be ~25k, E) Aziraphale stands near the wall of the ballroom, eating a delightful custard tart and watching the dancers.

One of a Kind (4800, T) “So what’s with all the animals?” Crawly says, eying the parade of dogs and camels and chickens and such being herded up the gangplank to the ark.

Your Smile in Mine (64k, E) Crowley tries not to shift in his seat as Headmaster Metron frowns at his CV.

You Are in the Earth of Me (6k, E) It’s actually embarrassing, the tickle in his throat.

Devoured All My Waking Hours (6.4k, E) Aziraphale, seated at a small table in the corner of the hotel bar, watches a rather revolting scene play out across the room.

I'm Almost Me Again (5.5k, E) Aziraphale spends a lot of time these days very decidedly not thinking about Crowley.

Separation (22k, E) After Aziraphale disappears into the lift, there’s nothing left to do but go home, really.

And Then in Soho (7k, E) As she makes her way to the address in Soho she’s been given by the agency, Crowley goes over her plan.

Ice Skating and Other Disasters (10k, E) The living room of the cabin smells irrepressibly like Christmas—fir trees and cinnamon and gingerbread and cloves.

When In Rome (5k, E) Aziraphale leans back against the tiled edge of the bathing pool, the cool tile contrasting pleasantly with the warm water.

Tagging @4nationsinharmony, @veeagainsttheday, @gaypiratebrainrot, @ghostalservice, @chocolatepot, and anyone else who wants to play!

[consultingcompanion94]

Once Upon an Eternity

Chapter 1

Months after Aziraphale left for Heaven, Crowley finds himself waking up back in the bookshop after months of coping with his broken heart. But… is it the first time he’s been back? Why does it seem like there’s something he’s missing? When he’s reunited with the new Archangel for the first time since that day, he can’t stop the overwhelming dread that something is very, very wrong… AU of my interpretation of S3 as inspired by the show Once Upon a Time. If you’ve seen it, no spoilers for anyone who hasn’t!!! If you have, hope you enjoy my little mash-up!!!

Notes:

Hello everyone! Welcome to my first fic in the GO fandom! I fell in love with the show after binging the whole thing just in time to dive right into S2 when it aired (and experience all the devastation that brought us all). I was finally inspired enough to dive back into fanfic after a very long hiatus by the show and by Rebecca Flutter’s amazing GO podfics on Youtube (seriously, do yourself a favor and check them out!) I couldn’t stop picturing certain scenes from another one of my favorite shows, Once Upon a Time, with Crowley and Aziraphale, and this is the result! Hope you enjoy, and let’s get on with the show!

The storm must have been what finally caused Crowley to come to. Lighting lit the sky as rain beat against the windows, thunder crashing just far enough away to not be an immediate concern. 

Speaking of immediate concerns…

Now that Crowley was slowly regaining awareness, he shot to his feet from his current position on the floor. Not his floor, mind you, his flat strewn with bottles as it had been for months. Not even the floor of one of the hotels of questionable quality he vaguely recalled bolting to the numerous times he couldn’t bear being anywhere near Soho since…

Since he’d last been here in the bookshop.

Tensed and alert, Crowley fled from the back room. He was fully set on outrunning the memories ready and waiting to spring like arrows notched and ready to fly, before freezing at the sight of another figure slumped near the register.

“What the…” the flash of panic and concern that struck Crowley seemed out of place (at least in its intensity), considering how comparatively little he’d had to do with the small Scrivener to warrant such a reaction on their behalf. “Muriel?”

Apparently his words did what the storm had not, Muriel shifting weakly as Crowley crossed the room and bent to help lift them from the ground.

“M-Mister Crowley?” Muriel groaned, eyes still unfocused and leaning against Crowley for support. “W-when did you come back? I- I thought you’d driven off after Archangel Az-”

“How many times have I gotta tell you to drop the Mister? I’m ancient, not old,” Crowley cut them off with a huff, and where the Heaven did that come from? As if it was a long standing argument? He very pointedly shoved aside acknowledging that his interruption also served to prevent Murial from saying his name (He included himself in the list of people he was very good at lying to.)

Frowning Muriel questioned again, “When did you get here? How did you get here?”

Having no answers, Crowley could only shrug noncommittally. His eyes darted around the room, taking in every inch as he’d done when assessing the bookshop after the Armageddon that wasn’t. He failed to find even the smallest of changes this time around, but that didn’t stop his hands from twitching uneasily as he felt the air faintly stir with an energy he could only describe as wrong.

Both beings jolted at the sound of the front door’s bell ringing, Maggie and Nina stumbling their way into the shop looking as if they were in a similar state of disorientation.

“What the hell have you gotten us into this time?” Nina snapped, marching up to Crowley and crossing her arms with a pointed glare.

“Does it look like I have any clue what’s going on here?” Crowley retaliated, only stopped from advancing on Nina when he saw Maggie place a calming but firmly restraining arm on Nina’s arm.

“She’s just tense and jumping to conclusions. Can’t blame her really. Both of us woke up in Nina’s shop with no idea how we got there, on top of it being the first time in months we’ve seen your car hanging around rather than just passing through…” Maggie paused her explanation, brows furrowing before she continued questioningly, “It.. it is the first time you’ve been back… right?”

“Course it is, what kind of question…” Crowley trailed off, matching Maggie’s state of confusion. 

Now that he paid attention, he had that feeling of an unexplainably increased sense of familiarity, eerily identical to what he’d felt with Muriel and equally as uncountable. Not only that, but how was he so much more unaffected than he should have been by being back in the place he’d had his heart obliterated? He hadn’t expected his first time back (assuming he ever did come back), to feel anything less than agonizing, yet here he stood, heart still unmistakably raw and scarred over far more than he expected but not actively bleeding out.

“See, not as far of a stretch to link you to whatever's going on as you thought, wouldn’t be the first time you’ve meddled in something and caused a right mess,” Nina grumbled, still visibly on edge but less openly hostile.

“Excuse you, but if you recall, you know very well the main meddler last time was…” Crowley swallowed, flinching at coming even close to mentioning him.

“What’s that lovely human expression? Oh yes- guilty as charged,” a posh voice replied from the shadows near the front door as they all whirled to face the intruder. Crowley shivered at the familiar cadence he’d know anywhere, though not from pain as would be assumed, but from the unfamiliar iciness he’d never heard from that voice.

“Aziraphale?” Crowley breathed, frozen to the spot as he took in the figure walking into the dim lighting the storm had brought on. 

“Speak of the devil as they say,” Aziraphale smirked, stopping just shy of the group clustered in the middle of the shop. The sterile white of the new suit was less surprising than the harsh, sharp angles of the design that contrasted so severely with the soft lines and curves of the Angels usual ensemble. It was nowhere near what Crowley would have imagined from the new Archangel, had he been in any state of mind to ponder such things, anymore than the flecks of dark gray mixed in with the halo of blond curls that had never changed until now.

Unsettling as all of that was, what caused Crowley's blood to freeze in his corporation was when he finally met Aziraphale’s eyes. Gone was the ocean blue Crowley had gotten lost in far more times than his sunglasses would have allowed anyone to know. 

The gaze that met his eyes now was not the lavender he wasn’t sure if he would have recoiled from due to its association with a certain former Archangel, or embraced despite everything because it still would have been his Angel gazing back regardless of the hue of his irises.

What Crowley saw now was a twisted shadow of that same flowers vibrant shade, if left uncared for to grow dark, decayed, and withered, long since abandoned to rot. 

“W-what are you doing here?” Crowley stammered, breathing erratic as Aziraphale slowly continued his progress towards the group, “You’ve been plenty content to piss off to Heaven without a backward glance until now, don’t let trivial little connections like ours hold you back now Archangel,” Crowley spat, doing his best not to shrink away every step closer Aziraphale advanced.

Chuckling darkly, Aziraphale lifted his hand to caress Crowley’s cheek, smirking at the shiver his touch was able to cause in the Demon even now. 

“Ah, you see, therein lies the problem. I admit that you were right in one respect. My newly appointed position wasn’t exactly as I expected. Some… Changes were required,” Aziraphale paused with a curl of his lips. “However, I suppose you could say that leaves us even, considering I was also right.”

“In what way?” Crowley barely managed to choke out, stomach dropping as the Archangel snickered sinisterly.

“That you had no idea what I was offering you,”  Aziraphale sneered. One of his hands fisted into Crowley’s lapels as the other rested on his face, a lovers embrace that should have been warm and tender but was instead forceful and possessive. Breaths mingling for only a moment, Aziraphale hissed quietly enough only Crowley could have heard it, “And I’m going to ensure you regret turning me down, that you beg me for another chance. And don’t worry, when you’re ready, I’ll be waiting.”

Breaking the embrace, there was a flash of blinding light, and the Archangel was gone.

Thank you all for reading! If you want to read more now, here’s the link to what I have up so far on AO3. See you all in the next chapter!

Next Chapter

[downthe-f4ndom-rabbith0le]

The Way Back Home (Spencer Reid x Reader) - Chapter Three

The Way Back Home (Spencer Reid x Reader) - Chapter Three Reader Insert: she/her pronouns Word Count: 3173 Warnings: major angst, major fluff, mentions of murder, graphic descriptions of dead bodies, crime scenes, near-death experiences, slow-burnish romance, death, canon violence, rape, swearing, guns, knives, prostitution, canon cuteness of the team. Spoilers: Maeve's death, mentions of previous cases or canon events from seasons 1-10.

Spencer and you have an unspoken connection with one another. Nothing has ever happened between you two, especially since everything went down with Maeve, but your love has grown and overcome and is now clear as day to everyone. However, just when Spencer builds up enough courage to ask you out officially, you're requested on an undercover mission that halts your budding relationship in its tracks.

Months go by without a word from you until bodies of prostitutes start showing up in New York and the BAU is brought in to help. Spencer and you finally reunite as both your cases collide, but your lives and your love are both on the line now.

Will you and Spencer be able to find the way back home this time?

Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Epilogue

~~~

Spencer stared hard at the map of Manhattan that was pinned to the board, eyes flickering between each location the bodies were found at. He'd circled them, hoping to visualise some sort of map or pattern between the kill spots, but nothing emerged to his despair.

He sighed, rubbing his tired eyes. The team had gone to their hotel soon after his outburst at Holt, but he'd been back in since around six o'clock. He checked his wristwatch. Quarter-to-eight it read.

'You're in early.'

Spencer swivelled around at the sound of Hotch entering the room, the rest of team following closely behind. JJ held two coffees in hand, walking around the big table in the middle of the room to hand one to him. He didnt know how JJ knew he needed the caffeine, but he smiled gratefully nonetheless and took the hot brew from her hands.

'Yeah,' he said after a deep sip, scrunching his nose slightly at the slight bitter taste he detected. It was sweet, but not sweet enough. 'I... couldn't sleep.'

How could he, when his whole world had been turned upside down in the span of a couple of hours? You were risking your life - had been for eleven months already. He wanted this case to be over, and sleeping in his uncomfortable hotel bed while you were constantly looking over your shoulder was not going to help make that happen.

The way his friends looked at him now only confirmed that he looked a little worse for wear. But before anyone could comment, Hotch intervened.

'Where are we on the unsub's comfort zone, Reid?' Hotch asked, looking at the map over Spencer's shoulder.

Spencer was grateful for the change in topic, and turned around to point at the map with one hand, the other still cradling his coffee. 'I marked out where each body was found in relation to their establishment,' he explained, pointing at each marked spot for emphasis. 'Unfortunately, they range from up to downtown, even the Upper Eastside to SoHo. Geography doesn't seem to be a factor in the killings. What does seem to be a factor, however, is that all the other girls, like Roxy, were killed either outside or not far from where they worked.'

'That could speak to the unsub wanting to deliver a message,' JJ suggested. 'If the unsub is someone who has been double-crossed by these girls or the establishments, maybe their deaths are a warning.'

'Penelope said she couldn't find anything on these girls prior to their employment,' Kate said, reading a text off her phone no doubt from the technical analyst herself. 'Y/N's intel was correct. These girls were like ghosts, but like, before they had a life.'

'They had to have come from somewhere,' Rossi said. 'They couldn't have just... invented these girls.'

'No...' Derek trailed off, hand reaching for his jean pocket. '...but they can be reinvented.'

'What do you mean?' JJ asked, but Spencer's brain worked faster than Derek's mouth.

'From the initial notes from each body find, we know all girls were quite loyal and involved with the establishment's business,' Spencer answered, feeling reinvigorated suddenly. Or maybe that was just the coffee. 'They would've had to have been isolated for a few years prior to their re-emergence back into society to be that conditioned to their owner's orders.'

'Most of these girls were around seventeen and eighteen when they started working,' Kate said. 'That's when girls usually establish their independence from families.'

'But these girls have stayed as they've entered their twenties,' Hotch noted.

'Which means they would've been taken away from society before they could figure out how to be independent.' Derek's finger pressed a speed dial button - the first person on Derek Morgan's list for all things knowledgeable.

'Greetings my love,' Penelope greeted, her perkiness like another shot of espresso in Spencer's system. 'Did you see my good morning text with all my notes - and by all of them, I mean nothing - on the girls' history? Sent with love.'

'We did, baby girl,' he answered. 'But we might have a new lead to go on and we need your help.'

'You've rubbed the lamp, and as the genie I am now at your command. What do you need to know?'

'See if you can find any missing child records from over the last decade, particularly girls,' Derek said.

'They might not be made by parents, per say,' Spencer quickly added. 'The seller is choosing girls he knows people won't look too hard for. They'll be low-risk victims, so look up any mysterious disappearances from homeless communities and even unofficial orphanages and shelters in the New York state.'

'Boy Wonder, you certainly live up to your name,' Penelope quipped, the soft pattering of her frantic typing filling the room for a moment before she stopped. 'Aha! There have been over fifty girls who've gone missing over the past decade that fit those perimeters. I almost missed some of them because they weren't officially reported, but they popped up in local newspaper adverts noting certain kids in their community had been missing for a while. I've just sent a list of places they all went missing from to your phones.'

Another flurry of fingers flying over her keyboard and she spoke again. 'And if you look at your tablets, you will find the picture a young girl, aged twelve, gone missing from a trip to an aquarium with her orphanage. A Missy Wright. She had a record for running away and hiding, so when she wasn't found after twenty four hours, police disbanded the search party and declared her a runaway. But does she look familiar at all to you?'

Spencer looked over JJ's shoulder as she looked at her own tablet, seeing the similarities before anyone else did. 'That's Roxy Vega,' he said.

'I'm running out of gold stars to give you, Boy Wonder,' Penelope quipped. 'I'll try and find more pictures of the dead girls and match them with any of the missing girls on my list.'

'Thank you mama, you're best,' Derek said.

'I know, sugar,' Penelope replied before ending the call promptly.

'Let's go talk to those establishments, particularly Roxy's old orphanage,' Hotch announced. 'Let's cover as many as we can by splitting up. Spencer and JJ, Derek and Kate, and Dave you're with me.'

Kate squinted at her phone, eyebrows furrowing in distress. 'There are over thirty addresses here. And they're spread all over the New York state. This could take days.'

'I'll get local police as well as Holt's team to help,' Hotch replied. 'We find out who these girls were before they were abducted, we find out how the unsub finds them.'

'Then we can find him,' Rossi added with an assertive nod. 'All right then, let's get going. We're burning daylight.'

Spencer downed the rest of his coffee then grabbed his satchel and suit jacket and scrambled after his team. Before he left, he turned back to the board, to the marked map and the pictures of the managers and the mutilated girls. Girls who died as different people to who they were born as.

We will find you, he silently vowed, and followed his team out the door.

~~~

The pounding music of the Pit replicated the consistent thuds in your head as you walked your way around the floor.

Three glasses of single malt whiskey balanced precariously on your tray as you made your way through the crowd of gentlemen and girls enjoying themselves. It was a fine art, one you had perfected over the eleven months you'd been undercover.

You tried not to crinkle your nose in disgust as you passed by a certain lecherous man getting handsy with one of the girls, Lavender.

She was younger than you, a pretty little thing who started around the same time as you did. You'd come to the assumption she was also one of the girls who'd been taken as a a child and reinvented, as she always dodged any questions you asked about her life before... working.

And maybe she just didn't know the answers or she just really valued her privacy as a girl in her late teens did. But the way she would always always redirect the subject or blatantly not answer didn't sit right with you.

Lavender's eyes met yours briefly, and you saw the defeat and disgust she felt as she let the man's hands grip her curvaceous hips. It was a silent cry for help - you'd seen the same look in the other girls' eyes before. Not just at the Chateau, either. At all the establishments you'd wheedled your way into.

You wanted nothing more than to slug the bastard who had to be forty years Lavender's senior, and shame him for defacing an innocent like her. For going behind his wife's back because God forbid she age like human beings do. You saw the ring tan wrapping his ring finger. That was an easy spot after being in the workplace as you long as you had. Or maybe that was just your profiler background giving you an upper hand.

Before you could do anything, however, Lavender was dragged back into a conversation with the lech, forcing a fake smile to crinkle her beautiful features. And you still had three drinks to deliver.

'There you go, boys,' you drawled out, slapping on a flirtatious smile as you placed the three glasses onto the small round table between the three occupied chairs.

'Why thank you, sweetheart,' one said, flashing your smile back at you in return. 'I've been looking forward to this all night.'

'Why don't you sit down with us,' another one said, patting his lap as he took a sip from his glass, never losing eye contact with you.

You repressed the shudder that instinctively rattled your bones, and instead you waved a hand carelessly. 'No, no. I can't. I'm on bar shift tonight, boys. I mean, who else is going to get you your drinks?'

'I'm sure someone else could cover for ya, sweetheart,' the third man suggested, hand reaching out to graze your hips. 'Come on, just ten minutes won't hurt anyone.'

Bile rose up in your throat at his touch, how it sent an uncomfortable chill through you despite the heat inside the Pit. But you were Serena Vanderguff, and this was not your first rodeo.

You gracefully yet pointedly slapped his hand away from you, laughing boisterously like you hadn't purposefully done that. 'Oh, you boys have such a wild sense of humour. But be honest... you couldn't afford ten minutes of this.'

You swayed your hips as you walked away, knowing full well they were staring after you. Wolf whistles followed your movements but none of them came after you thankfully, no doubt because they set their sights on some other poor victims.

You approached the bar and placed your tray on it, leaning on it with a sigh.

'Tell me about it,' a velvety voice said. The voice belonged to a gorgeous woman with charcoal skin, chocolate eyes, and multicoloured braids who was wiping glasses before putting them back behind the bar to use for another round of drinks. 'But I'm sad to say, but the night is still young.'

'You got that right, Ajani,' you murmured, rubbing around your eyes to avoid messing up your eye makeup. It was a little bright and bold for your taste, but it didn't matter what you liked.

It hadn't mattered for a while now.

'Hey,' Ajani said, grabbing your attention. 'Madame was looking for you in her office.'

Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion. 'For me? What for?'

Ajani shrugged, throwing the hand towel she'd been using over her shoulder. 'She didn't say what exactly, just that she wanted to see you now. Don't worry, I'll get Becky to cover for ten.'

You nodded, then cautiously turned over my shoulder to the door to the side of the stage that read OFFICE. It wasn't unusual for you to be called in to her office as of late. It was exactly what you wanted. But it didn't mean you weren't any less terrified whenever you entered, the endless possibilities of why you were in there driving you crazy.

The door opened to reveal Madame Lacroix sitting at her desk, a drink in hand, and two other men sitting in the two chairs on the other side of it. Two men, you were terrified to notice, you recognised as managers of your previous workplaces: Alfred Royalton of the Charming Times brothel, and Melton Jones from Guilty Pleasure. Their quiet murmurings silenced as soon as you came into view, their piercing gazes freezing you in the doorway.

'You wanted to see me, Madame?' you said as perkily as you could, hoping to cover your fear up slightly.

Madame Lacroix's red lips split in an award-winning smile as she waved you inside with her free hand. 'Yes, Serena. I was! How lovely of you to join us. Come in, come in!'

You quickly scurried in and closed the door behind you, happy to find reprieve in the much quieter room compared to the Pit. But that reprieve didn't last long, as you met your old bosses' curious gazes.

'You remember Alfred and Melton, Serena?' Madame Lacroix prompted after an awkward moment of silence.

'Yes,' you answered. 'It's great to see you both. You're looking well.'

'And so are you, dear Serena,' Alfred said, walking over and embracing you in an awkward hug as he tried to not spill his drink. As an older gentlemen, he seemed more like a fatherly figure to the girls in his employment. But from what you knew about the business he and the others in the room were involved in, he came off as a creepy pedophile. 'I'm so glad to see Madame Lacroix treating you so well. You know you are always welcome back at the old haunt.'

'If she's going back to anyone, it's me,' Melton said, the certainty in his words matching the intensity of his eyes. They raked you up and down, and again you repressed a shiver from the disgusting feeling it gave you to be watched like a piece of meat. Melton Jones couldn't be older than thirty-five, and was the son of one of the biggest CEO's in Eco-energy products and research.

You could only imagine what his big-time mother would think if she knew what her son was really into.

'Tough luck, boys. She's mine now,' Madame Lacroix interrupted the fight, getting up from her seat to walk around her desk and sling an arm around your shoulders. 'But why don't we get into what we really want to talk about? Have a seat, my dear.'

You didn't have much of a choice as Madame Lacroix guided you to sit in her own desk chair before joining the men on the other side. They all looked at you expectantly, but their smiles were more alarming than reassuring.

'Um... what did you want to see me for, Madame?' you asked after a moment of silence.

Madame didn't respond right away, placing her glass of wine down first on the desk. 'You are a special girl, Serena. Very special indeed.'

You raised a quizzical brow. 'How so?'

'You've impressed us,' Alfred answered, looking around at his peers. 'Your ability to keep secrets and do things without being asked has attributed to this. It's one of the reasons we've had to share you around so much and in such little time. If I had any say, you would've never left Charming Times!'

'You've done our stocktake,' Melton continued, those snake eyes of his never leaving yours. 'Kept certain... shipments under wraps. Picked up exclusive clientele that has done wonders for our business. You're like our own little personal lucky charm.'

You recounted all the times you'd hidden the secret load of drugs that were snuck into customer's drinks and food to get them so delirious they didn't realise how much money they were spending. All the times you sat in on meetings with the managers about who to target the next night, and all the shady receipts of shipments with unknown contents in them you hadn't be told about yet.

All the the illegal and dangerous deals that you'd told your Organised Crime unit about behind your managers' backs.

'That is why we would like to reward you, my dear,' Madame Lacroix said, a smile you figured to be proud gracing her lips. 'And we're not the only ones who think so too. We think you're ready to learn our... business, and so does the Boss.'

'The Boss?' you asked tentatively, not bothering to mask your slight fear. Was this the seller? Was this the guy you'd been trying to take down for almost a year now?

'Oh don't look so terrified, honey,' Madame Lacroix doted, walking around the desk to pat at your head. She leaned in close to you, and you restrained from gagging at the smell of too much wine tainting her breath. 'The Boss is impressed by your work and commitment to the trade. So much so, he wants to meet you. Soon.'

The men looked at you expectantly, and that's when you realised how you should be reacting. 'R-Really?' you mustered out an excited response, widening your eyes to appear more innocent. 'The Boss wants to see me?'

'Yes, Serena,' Alfred said. 'All the arrangements will be made when you meet, but soon you'll be seeing him a lot.'

'Arrangements?'

Melton surprisingly was the one to answer you. 'Each establishment in the Business, as we like to call it, has their hierarchy. The Boss is above us all, and he helps keep our establishments running smoothly. From there, it goes us, then our employees. That's you right now, Serena. But there is a status in between us and the employees that is trusted more than the others, kind of like our right hand woman.'

'And that woman acts as our mediator between us and the Boss,' Madame Lacroix continued, still stroking your hair. 'Kind of like a peace offering for how generous and kind he is to us.'

'What has this got to do with me?' you asked, but you already knew what the answer would be.

Madame Lacroix let out a dramatic sigh as she stood to make her way around the desk again, rejoining the men. 'Well, our mediator at the Chateau was Roxy, but, well, you know what happened to her. So what I'm offering is a chance to become the next Roxy, Serena. Be my most trusted employee, to learn the Business, and to appease the Boss- I mean, thank him.'

She stopped mid-walk to turn and look you dead in the eye, and despite her drunken breath, you saw clarity and evil flash in those emerald eyes of hers.

'So, what do you say, Serena? Do you want to be one of us?'

[souryogurt64]

Hey, in which city did you see Alex Turner? We would like to know

I saw Alex Turner at Soho House in Chicago after their concert in August 2023. Soho is a hotel/clubhouse chain that is like supposed to be exclusive for people who are like in bands or fashion and stuff, but normal people in creative jobs can also be members and a lot of times your workplace compensates it because it a gym/networking

My friend/coworker had a membership because of our job. We’re both in marketing, it isn’t exciting. I don’t have a membership because I don’t live near that neighborhood. I had seen Arctic Monkeys the night before and I didn’t think they were very good so I had been complaining a lot on here. I was surprised because I saw them in 2014 and thought they were good, but they were extremely drunk and I didn’t think I could hear the bass.

Anyway, I was meeting her to go swimming. I got off the bus and was walking up the block and he and his entourage were outside the front doors smoking. It was very obvious they were important or famous or whatever because they were in suits and had black vans with tinted windows with them. I thought for sure I saw Alex Turner but I wasn’t sure so I kind of did a double take

Because it is for celebrities Soho does not have a sign outside the front door so it is a bit tricky to find. Alex saw me looking and definitely knew I recognized them. I already knew it was him but he pulled down his sunglasses while smoking so I could see his eyes. In Pete Wentz’s terrible no good very bad book that I’m obsessed with he vividly describes pulling down his sunglasses to order from a waitress in a diner and it felt just like that lol

I was really surprised and I also didn’t want to have to walk through them and disrupt them if I was in the wrong place by mistake, so I kept walking to the end of the street. Then I figured out that yes, they were in my way and I was going to have to cut through them.

So I turned around and walked back and Alex and I made eye contact again and he was smirking and obviously knew I recognized him and had walked to the end of the street and back because I was so flustered lol.

Anyway I said excuse me and went past them through the door. I ran over to where my friend was waiting in the lobby and told her and she went to look through the window but they were getting in their van to leave, possibly because they knew someone had recognized them but IDK

I didn’t ask him for an autograph or picture because I had posted that I didn’t think the show was good and didn’t want to be a hypocrite and also because of where we were I thought it might be a pretty rude.

It was not that eventful otherwise lol it was a very brief interaction

[grits-galraisedinthesouth]

From a FAKE rented cottage at the San Ysidro Ranch in Santa Barbara, CA, Harry told his good global therapist:

"Meg gives me my space."

Why wasn't the good doctor allowed to meet at their massive Montecito Olive Garden SPACE?

Byrony was allowed to conduct their interview in the so called, "guest house" (as Sparry hung family photos on the wall). Afterwards she was rewarded to step foot across the threshold of the REAL "mansion" to observe and testify to the UK of the "normal" family living behind their very own security wall.

How much "space" does a spouse need? Anderson, Bradbury, Variety and even NOoprah were denied entrance to Casa de Montecito.

With so many "lemon trees," The Meghans still PAID a HOTEL to stage:

pandemic zoom calls & interviews

BLM & pro Biden Bench speeches

40th bday juggling act

chatting with teenagers

AGT (except the meghans who have zero talent)

Spotify Spots

magazine photoshoot & interviews

The very fake mockumentary megflop soap opera filmed inside various rented hotel cottages, on rented benches

All 1 hour away from Montecito at Santa Barbara's San Ysidro Ranch for megflix.

The Meghans still expect Americans to think it's normal to request discounts at a NYC hotel while suing his grandmother's government for (FREE) tax payer funded security.🧐

How convenient for megs that everytime she moved to a new country or city, her self titled "gay husband," Mr. Markus Anderson (former Soho House Bus Boy) chose to relocate to live w/her or near her

La->NYC

NYC->Toronto

Toronto->London

London->California

In LA, Meg was known as a serial celesbian to the stars. So how did Sparry & Eugenie become bffs with Omit's former gutter guyfriend, the infamous Markus Anderson?

Does MA's influence on the young BRF begin with Misha NooNoo and her friendship with Yorkie Eugenie? It would make sense that Eugenie, was the easy workaround to Sparry. What about all the photos of the York family posing, Sarah included, with sleazy Ron Burkle🤮😖😳

Of course Sparry preferred to party at Soho House instead of working on his character flaws. No coincidence that on more than 1 occasion, Sparry was videotaped pinching or sucking the nipples of male friends & male strangers.

Over the past 12-24 months we've seen Sparry become more effeminate in his motions, walk, speech, and who can forget seeing Sparry rub the back of his male partner as they enter his alleged personal man cave.

According to Caitlyn Jenner:

"supposedly they have a place in LA"

and Harry spends his free time in San Francisco. Is it any wonder Thirsty Tyler Perry who has his own skeletons declared he doesn't want love if it isn't The Meghans kind of love.🙄

Meghan, Markus & Dorito have made all of Sparry's dreams come true.

Dear Sparry, I hope finding your freedom & freebies in CA with your new "friends" was worth the price of your soul. By the way, it's not.

Meghan must feel like she can finally see a light at the end of her failed attempt to destroy the BRF via Sparry. In the end, it was the Queen of England who accurately SUSSed out the heart of Rachel Meghan Markle: an interloper who repaid good with evil.

[foxes-that-run]

2021 Haylor Timeline

Timeline Tag, or years 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.

2 January - Harry at Jeffs wedding with OW. Holding hands at wedding photos - the Paparazzi Clint and his partner follow Olivia to a hotel in Santa Barbara. He later does an hour long podcast on following them and explains he then realised Harry was there and takes photos. After a few phone calls, the two photographers discover rumors of a romantic relationship between Harry and Olivia. 10 minutes later, photographed them together. in Nanny tell all Nanny said Olivia was still texting Jason to say she loved him, that Olivia was pretending to not have service. Nanny found out she was at the wedding online.

3 January - walking with OW in Santa Barbara

4 January - Harry hike in LA

15 January - Ted Lasso Season 2 starts filming London, in Nanny Tell all nanny said that Ted confronted her on the plane there about her telling Olivia that Jason had been crying and not coping. Jason then offered the Nanny a life coach to get info out of her and they were attending therapy with the Nanny.

18 January - Coney Island released as a single.

14 February Olivia at Harry’s LA house with luggage. Don't worry Darling filming wraps. On the 21st Taylor Lover tour cancelled.

16 February - E News Harry and OW fly to London together. DWD wraps, Harry OW cast photo

20 February - OW near Jason Sudeikis /her kids London house

6 March - Oliva posts photo of Branston Beans from Harry's Kitchen, the curtains can be seen. Lockdown laws mean she should not have been able to travel there and was bragging about it and posting inside his house.

10 March Instead of congratulating Harry on the nomination Zayn posted “F the Grammys”

15 March -Talk at the Grammys, Taylor and Harry part of small group of attendees. Harry goes over to Taylor and they are polite, Harry seems a little awkward and says “well it was nice to see you”. He keeps looking at her during his acceptance speech for record of the year.

Taylor wrote High Infidelity and WCS with Aaron Dessner while in LA for the Grammy's, when she saw Harry & J Mayer.

Niall and Liam congratulate Harry on his Grammy win, Zayn and Louis do not.

31 March - architect of Harry’s Erskine House renovations posts photos of the interior to their website. It has a black, wood pale grey palette with pink stairs

13, -25 April - OW with Harry london

April 27 - Joe leaves UK to Belfast to film.

May 11 - HS & TS both at Brit awards (the 26th was a blood moon)

May - Harry’s bassist since HS1, Adam Pendergast, leaves love band (date from his LinkedIn)

20 May - Harry and Olivia dinner at Refuel Bar & Restaurant at The Soho Hotel. ET Rumours Joe and Taylor engaged.

15 June - Harry seen with fans wearing Apollo eleven tshirt

21 June - Harry wrapped My Policeman in Italy, started in Feb. Released 1 September 2022. Holiday in Italy

2 July - renegade released

3 July - Harry at England v Ukraine game Italy

8 July - Harry and Olivia on yacht and in Italy

26 July - Charlotte Clarke (Harry’s backup singer) said she was let go and doesn’t understand why. won’t be on HSLOT

28 July - Taylor posts for folklore' anniversary, "It’s been one year since we escaped the real world together and imagined ourselves someplace simpler." with a photo from Donegal Ireland. Heavily TTPD coded with Victorian gown, like the Betty speech’s on eras tour and lakes (poets), two coffee cups too, was it already a double album?! Coffee also as in the end of the Karma MV. Joe posted photos from the same trip on July 22nd

9 August - 26 August Harry in studio maybe mixing Harry's House in the behind scenes photos here you can see outfits he wore in LA on these dates.

4 September – 22 July 2023 - Love on Tour, Harry has a new bassist Elin Sandberg

7 September - Taylor in Belfast visiting Joe. Red TV entirely recorded at Kitty Committee Belfast UK (her home)

9 September - Taylor at Toronto Film Festival and to premiere all too well

11 September - Harry at Toronto Film Festival to premiere My policeman, talks about wasted time being the worst thing in presser

17 September - wildest dreams TV released, TikTok about recording Red TV and a glitch. Harry and Olivia in Phili with Xander, max and family

May 11 - HS & TS both at Brit awards (the 26th was a blood moon)

May - Harry’s bassist since HS1, Adam Pendergast, leaves love band (date from his LinkedIn)

May 24 - Joe and Taylor together in Paris

3 June - Harry OW her parents London

21 June - Harry wrapped My Policeman in Italy, started in Feb. Released 1 September 2022.

30 June - H Holiday in Italy

2 July - renegade released

8 July - Harry and Olivia on yacht and in Italy

13 July - Jason sudokis GQ that he still doesn’t know why they broke up and it ended in November 2020. Harry mentioned.

14 July - HSLOT announced for September

26 July - Charlotte Clarke (Harry’s backup singer) said she was let go and doesn’t understand why. won’t be on HSLOT

7 August - OW and Harry had guests at house, Harry has moustache and greets someone.

9 August - 26 August Harry LA in studio maybe mixing Harry's House in the behind scenes photos here you can see outfits he wore in LA on these dates. Walking with Olivia 19 August

31 August - Taylor and Joe hiking Franklin Canyon

4 September – 22 July 2023 - Love on Tour, Harry has a new bassist Elin Sandberg. OW at first show.

7 September - Taylor in Belfast visiting Joe. Red TV entirely recorded at Kitty Committee Belfast UK (her home)

9 September - Taylor at Toronto Film Festival and to premiere all too well

10 September - Harry golfing in Dallas

11 September - Harry at Toronto Film Festival to premiere My policeman, talks about wasted time being the worst thing in presser

17 September - wildest dreams TV released, TikTok about recording Red TV and a glitch. Harry and Olivia in Phili with Xander, max and family

18 September - Harry seen with Olivia near her parents in DC before show there

22 September - first heart kiss since 2018! St Paul - Falling, with Two Ghosts intro (4:31). Then again weekly till the end of the year

25 September - Taylor London Lena's wedding.

29 September - & 1 Oct Harry played Nashville and wore a white satin outfit, he played with his rings while performing Beautiful. Harry plays To Be so Lonely for 9 shows then never again, including Nashville N2 and NY. In Nashville looks up. OW at shows

3 October - OW parents at HSLOT but she is in LA.

9 October - Harry in Florida dinner

13 October - fan sends to DM that they saw Harry, no OW at Pittsburgh cathedral of learning with “more police and security than I knew existed” wouldn’t have recognised him if it wasn’t for them.

16 October - Harry wore “all things must pass” hoodie NYC OW walked awkwardly holding him. One security person.

22 October - one more photo of Taylor and joe in the bathroom leaked (the proper selfie), photos from 2016 leaked in 2020

25 October - Harry seems to be in a bad mood when he first goes on stage in Boston, also wearing no rings. Heart kiss in Falling, OW there and not seen with him until harryween in a week.

26 October - Taylor posts TikTok "Autumn Lovers RISE" as a reenactment of a 27 September 2017 Tumblr post. She writes lyrics to ATW "just between us did the love affair maim you" "and Plaid stuff and ankle boots" she's wearing a skirt but says 'stuff' plaid shirts and ankle Chelsea boots is Harry in 2011-2013. And "Maroon/Hunter Green" The ATW move included a book coming out 13 years later about the love affair.

30 October - Harry dressed as Dorothy at harryween MSG NY, Olivia as Dolly Parton posted photos with exercise bike and boobs. Olivia left for LA.

31 October - Moon Harryween Harry played MEDICINE!! For the first time since 2018

1 November - rumors Harry and OW fighting

10 November - heart kiss in falling. Tumblr anon said about OW “I was working at the venue in Sacramento when he played during LOT. Her backstage privileges were revoked after the show prior to that...which was..I think...Portland. Our backstage security was instructed to not allow her backstage under any circumstances. She didn't even arrive to the venue with him. From what I understood from Sacramento through the end of that tour her security access was no more than say..contest winners..radio personalities etc. I was shocked at the time that they lasted another year since there was clearly trouble in paradise.”

11 November - Harry has a bruise on his back I. Love on tour backstage photo

12 November - Red TV released Harry wears red in his show on the 11th. All Too Well Short Film premiere Dylan O'Brien (who is in ATW film) is included in this footage of Austin and Dylan cheering when Jack plays Question..? in the Studio. Appears on Fallon and says she easter eggs 3 years in advance in reference to ATW.

16 November - Pleasing launch with Harry on bike photo on cover of Dazed

17 November – Taylor leaves NYC for Panama to go see Joe. Taylor posts a drunk TikTok from Panama. On the 20th she went to the national theater and leaves on the 22nd. Joe stays and films. Midnights written while gone

21 November - Last time Taylor is photographed in public for 3 months is the SNL performance for All too Well

25 November Rolling Stone noted the Haylor call and response “the long-running songwriting badminton between her and Harry Allegedly is pop call-and-response the way it ought to be”

28 November- 13 December Harry MIA. after his shows. OW seen alone in LA

1 December Taylor wore Gucci lion ring to Zoe’s kravitz birthday throwback photo shared day after YLM date identified by Jack.

5 December - You're losing me written. Love on Tour in Buenos Aires

28 December - Harry and OW Italy. Fans post they saw them Hampstead NYE, no photos.

Continue to 2022

[cesperanza]

Hello! I was wondering how you feel about fanfic of your work? I recently went on a trip to London and all I could think was “4MW-verse Steve and Bucky in London on vacation and/or a (non-hero work) work trip.” It might fester enough that I need to commit it to page/iPhone notes…

Also, semi-related, but in London, I stayed one street over from Dean Street and each time I went down it my brain would chirp “COME AT ONCE DEAN ST HOTEL SOHO RM 417 BUCKY.” (Alas there is no Dean Street Hotel there anymore, if there once was.) 

Hey, this is very flattering, thank you! The AO3 allows for "inspired by" fic to be posted super easily and I am fine with that--delighed in fact. People have noticed that I don't actually have a transformative works policy posted on my profile (and I do not!) But not because I'm--ha ha--against transformative works; rather, I like the talking! I like to be asked, I like the engagement, I want people to write to me and talk to me! :D I am not a showrunner for CBS, I want to be in community. So yes, write your fic, and I'm so happy to hear your story about Dean Street - I was once put into a hotel near Dean Street and I didn't know it until I opened my window and was like, OH COOL. Half of the reason to do fandom is that I make the world magical for myself like this!

[charlotte-of-wales]

The Sussexes are frazzled, fraught and lacking romance – like any couple with young kids

Five years after their wedding, the omens are bad as Harry and Meghan seem to be heading in different directions.

It is hard to believe that five years ago today, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle rode through the streets of Windsor in an Ascot Landau carriage, cheered by adoring crowds on their wedding. At the time, household staff weren’t entirely confident the relationship would go the distance – “no one could see it lasting longer than three years”, according to one insider. Yet as the couple celebrate their “wood” anniversary, Harry and Meghan have proved their doubters wrong.

While their relationships with their own families might not be what they once were, the marriage appears to be going strong, despite the couple’s outwardly diverging priorities.

The Duchess once described them as moving together “like salt and pepper” but they seem to be heading in opposite directions – Meghan looking forward while Harry dwells on the past. The extraordinary events of this week – with the couple claiming they had been “involved in a near catastrophic car chase at the hands of a ring of highly aggressive paparazzi” in New York – seem to expose a chasm between her desire for fame, and Harry’s quest for privacy.

The couple say that after the event, they were subjected to a two-hour “relentless pursuit” by a “gang” of at least six paparazzi. New York City authorities have stated that although photographers made their journey “challenging”, “there were no reported collisions, summonses, injuries, or arrests”.

In pictures of the couple leaving the event, Harry’s discomfort was etched on his face as he used his phone to film the action from the back seat.

However, questions have been raised over how such a campaign sits with the Duchess’s plans to build her “global enterprise”. Meghan signed with leading global talent agency WME in April, amid talk of more “content creation”, a Dior clothing deal and the revamp of her defunct lifestyle blog The Tig.

Given this potential conflict, it is little wonder, then, that the couple have cut quite separate figures lately – with Harry travelling alone to the Coronation on May 6, leaving Meghan in Montecito with their two children, Archie, who turned four that day, and Lilibet who turns two next month.

The last time the Sussexes were photographed together in public was at a basketball game in Los Angeles last month, when they missed the opportunity to smooch on the “kiss cam” that pans in on couples in the stands. Some took the normally tactile couple’s reluctance as a sign all may not be well between them after Meghan’s absence from Harry’s promotional book tour fuelled split rumours.

Such is their independence from each other that the owner of a leading hotel chain in Montecito recently told The Daily Telegraph they have a room set aside for Harry where he occasionally stays on his own.

The Duke has also been known to stay at the uber-exclusive San Vincente Bungalows when visiting LA, which is a two-hour drive from the couple’s £11 million mansion.

“That seems to be his escape place,” said a source of the super secretive and selective members’ club in West Hollywood, which – unlike the Soho House chain also frequented by the Sussexes – bans journalists from joining. A refuge from the rigours of parenting two children under four, Harry has apparently stayed there after attending Barry’s Bootcamp, a high-octane cardio fitness class, at the nearby Beverly Center. One friend described the couple as “like any parents of such young kids: frazzled.”

They added: “They are really happy together and live this idyllic life in Montecito, which is essentially a giant gated community of multimillionaires.

“But at the end of the day, they’ve been through a lot and I think they’ve both felt quite ground down by it all.

“They’re like any married couple, five years in.”

As a Californian, born and bred, Meghan appears more settled than Harry who, by his own admission, still feels torn by his British ties. As he wrote in his book: “I love my mother country and I love my family and I always will.” Although he has repeatedly spoken of embracing the Santa Barbara lifestyle, it is no secret that the Duke – cut off from his family and many of his friends – is heavily reliant on his wife’s social circle.

When they first started dating, Harry was Meghan’s protector, guiding her through a royal life that was alien to her, but now the roles have been reversed and it is the Duke who appears to be struggling to find his way.

That may explain why he is still partially on British time – apparently staying up late into the night, gaming.

Yet with many of his old set still feeling aggrieved at having essentially been “ghosted” after he married Meghan, patience appears to be wearing thin even among his most stalwart supporters.

As one insider explained: “Nobody really speaks to him any more and even the people who have remained by his side have lately begun to fall away because he is so consistently negative. He’s often complaining and rarely asks after others. People had stuck with him because they blamed Meghan for isolating him and cutting him off from his friends and family. But he hasn’t done anything to help himself. Now they just see him as completely lost.”

Harry himself referred to the fact that William regards him as “deluded” – but that sentiment also seems to be shared by those in what he once referred to as his “circle of trust”. The word “narcissistic” also creeps into a lot of conversations about the couple.

According to one former military colleague: “No one in the forces has got any time for him at all, which is such a shame because he was hugely popular. You can blame Meghan, but he’s brought a lot of it on himself.”

While fully supportive of Spare, the media-savvy Duchess let it be known she raised gentle concerns about whether it was the right move. As a source said at the time: “Is this the way she would have approached things? Possibly not. But she will always back him and would never have got involved in promoting such a personal project. This was about his own life, his own journey and his own perspective.”

But with speculation about plans for her own memoir, the Duchess will want to avoid any more negative publicity diminishing the Archewell brand after the couple’s approval ratings have fallen to near Duke of York levels.

If her relaunch doesn’t go to plan, however, a blame game is likely to follow – and as someone who once worked for the couple noted: “When you’re that angry with the world, it leaves little time for romance.”

[rottenberries]

heyoo rip not me rockin up fashionably late...... anw hi it's gemma ( s/h, 21+ ) here w my serial monogamist, serial cheater nate archibald knockoff, yoon hanbin! he's the adopted oldest son of old money philanthropists n the founder of the very popular cafe chain, angelique ( cough he also plagiarised the entire idea of angelique frm some underrated cafe during his gap yr in france ). that's the gist of it but u can read a more detailed version of hanbin under the cut! as alw, pls hit that LIKE button n ill come rollin into ur dms!! mwah!!

for my sisters in the church of astrology he is a libra sun / aqua moon / pisces rising so like im not tryna justify his tendency 2 cheat but im saying it's written in the stars

anw hanbin was born broke as shit ill b honest he was put up for adoption @ gangnam orphanage as a newborn god knows why ( jk it's prob bc he's the product of some illicit affair or smt )

he gets adopted j shy of his first bday by philanthropists slash the yoon chaebols ( specifically the ones in charge of the hotel chain!! ) who took helping the less fortunate to the next level ( think angelina jolie )!! he's currently the only adopted child of theirs and they have 2 more kids after him who are both biological children so yeah ngl hanbin has some feelins ab that

said feelins are: growin up a rich kid to chaebols often means that they're far too busy to take care of u even tho it's not like they don't want to so naturally hanbin n sibs deal w some neglect even tho it's compensated w lots of money n maids thrown at them BUT the point is despite facing the same level of neglect as his sibs he kinda takes it personally n thinks maybe ?? it's bc he's adopted OR did they j adopt him for the good publicity despite havin no evidence of this ?? yea gr8 logic

despite that overall he's honestly a p nice kid?? plays w other kids well and doesn't yk misuse his wealth or family's status for Evil or no good he kinda is just vibin frankly

one thing ab hanbin tho is that he is a serial monogamist bc of his upbringing n he kinda looks for love in the wrong places and is constantly jumpin from relo to relo ( even jumpin 2 the next relo before the prev relo is over i.e. Cheating )

finally catches up to him when he's in his high profile relo re the subplot n gets caught cheating fr n is the talk of the town : )) since then it's like the ruse is up he's a cheater n everyone sorta knows but then again everyone forgives him bc yk he's Very Wealthy n very friendly and charming and kind and ""goodhearted"" when he's talking to u

regardless my man Hates drama so by the end of his final yr he jets tf off to france for a gap yr!! the impt part comes when he's staying in this soho part of france n there's this rly small rly underrated family owned cafe near his accom called angelique!! it was named after the owner's daughter n has a rly homey vibe n is beloved by the locals, v warm and friendly and welcoming w dim yellow lights and irregular flower pots and stuff on the menu that genuinely looks like it's baked by ur mom and hanbin alm feels... at home here? it's the most at home he's felt and he frequented this cafe A Lot during his stay in france!!

when he finally makes it back to sk he finds that he rly misses the place so he asks for some money frm his parents to open up a cafe in gangnam that's Just like it so that he can have his own little angelique where he lives!! the Problem is that he never bothered to ask for their rights or anyth ( tho im p sure legally he doesn't need to since they haven't bought any rights for it in sk so he hasn't committed any crime ) but yea he literally ripped off the style n colour palette n menu items,, think red bull origin story

anw the cafe clearly speaks to a lot of ppl bc it became so super popular so his parents being rly nice 2 him kinda "'""invests"" in his cafe to make it a chain1! n within 4y he opens up a bunch of diff angeliques all over seoul and even has the latest branch in busan!!

personality-wise i would say he is genuinely a rich kid down to the core...... n by sayin this i mean he has their honestly blissful ignorance like imagine j being like oh wow i love this cafe let me open a cafe Exactly like it right down my st like no askin them for permission no nth no unds of flopping or bankruptcy to j act on a whim this is some peak rich kid bs

this extends past j business ofc n even to women like !! he is out here serial monogamist and cheating on them bc he's spoiled rotten n also somehow neglected so he looks for love in a lot of women and falls head over heels in love w them then ditches for the next shiny thing like !!! sir is ariana grande atp yes and

but when u meet him in the flesh i would say he's rather soft spoken and gentle natured,, v Pleasant to talk to in general so it's alm easy to be lulled into thinking wait ig he's a good guy?? also born to well-known philanthropists n in yoon fashion donates 50% of proceeds frm his cafe to charity so it's Very easy to think he's a good guy like even he genuinely believes he's a good guy ask any lie detector but it's like .... when ur lookin at him from afar and away frm his charm u realise wait some of the shit he does is rly .... horrendous? like imagine calling a man who chronically cheats and steals ideas a good guy ???

also kinda insecure ab his birth and ig this is also why he so desperately wants to be a good guy!! overcompensates to prove that he's a yoon by doin yoon things so a lot of him being ""good"" is not so much him being a good person but a deep need to show people that he's good and he's earned his place as a yoon, a terrible insecurity that he has zero awareness of so will continue doin thanks

idk why i can never be concise atp it needs to b studied : )) anw here r some plot ideas!!

serial monogamist needs a string of exes so prob a few frm when he got back from france frm 2017-2024!! id say his longest relo would last approx 1y bc my man is honeymoon period ONLY crowd boos

on that note im guessin he is back 2 relevancy re: gg when she posts ab him cheating on his most recent gf ,, basically jan 2024 so anyone wanna have a v fresh break up frm like 2wks ago pls lmk ... also anyone who wants 2 b the person he Cheats w lmk too...

is the type to be totally against bullies then sits w ur bully durin lunch bc that's his friend but He's not bullyin or anywhere near that vicinity so !!! : )) anw that said if ur muse is a menace it don't mean he can't be friends w u bc he will be !!

on the other hand a kid who's been bullied who he's friends w then one day u find out he's friends w ur bully wud u confront his ass !!! him tryna diffuse the tension like hey bro Relax alright ik this is rly difficult for u but we gotta remain civil yea otherwise Ur the bully ( yea he's an ignorant headass )

erm movin away frm that anyone who knows him frm france!! mayb yall didn't rly meet or bump into each other in sch bc diff circles or diff yrs but ur one of the few koreans in france so he's v thankful for that n yall make fast friends!! funny if this is where u caught whiff of angelique that cafe he's obsessed ab n brought u to then now he's the "founder" of angelique in korea n it looks Exactly like the one in france hm .....

nv did uni but i imagine he's taking of getting a cert in business this yr bc it's useful for his business but yea !! if ur muse is doin uni rn mayb they could kinda meet there thru some club or smt? prob some save the planet club lbr also funny if u know ab his cheating shenanigans and how he can be a real ignorant asshole but in the uni he's all smiles n everyone loves him n ur the only one who can see thru him ( truly,, idt he can even see it himself )

someone who frequents angelique!! maybe u got stood up on some blind date set up by ur parents n he came over n tried 2 cheer u up!!!

this needs 2 b plotted extensively but a biological half-sibling ....... im gna say im not keen to explore his life outside being a yoon too much but it'd be fun to kinda allude 2 this n them j being like my mom had a kid in 98 before she was ready 2 settle down or my dad had an illicit affair w some peasant woman n knocked her up n ditched her in 98 n he's like o that's cool hey wait a min .......

er anyth and everything else!!

[stitched-mouth]

CHARACTERS I WILL NO LONGER WRITE FOR

So I’m doing a bit of a page remodel.

I am removing some masterlists and some characters from masterlist. I have no desire to write for these characters anymore so I won’t be. These characters, so far, are not characters I have ever written for but added to masterlists because at some point I did want to write for them. So no worries about deleting fics or any work.

But please understand that I only write for characters that I’m interested in writing for, I won’t write for characters just because others might want to read something about them.

Also my Diabolik Lovers masterlist is missing. I have not stopped writing for these characters, I just want to redo the actual masterlist. As well as my Black Butler masterlist and My Hero Academia, these masterlists are still up though.

Anyway, the characters I will not be writing for anymore are:

• All Hazbin Hotel characters

• Sylvie (Loki)

• Steve Rogers/ Captain America

• Stephen Strange/ Doctor Strange

• Miriam Wexler (Turning Red)

• Jang Deok-Su (Squid Game)

• Kang Sae-Byeok (Squid Game)

• Enid Sinclair (Wednesday)

• Eugene Ottington (Wednesday)

• Jack (Last Night In Soho)

• John (Last Night In Soho)

• Alan Zervi (Russian Doll)

• Sandie Milkovich (Shameless US)

• Monica Gallagher (Shameless US)

• Nina Locke (Locke & Key)

• Tenya Ida (My Hero Academia)

• Shoto Todoroki (My Hero Academia)

• Rei Todoroki (My Hero Academia)

• Himiko Toga (My Hero Academia)

• Kurogiri (My Hero Academia)

• Rachel Phantomhive (Black Butler)

• Elizabeth Midford (Black Butler)

• Edward Midford (Black Butler)

• Francis Midford (Black Butler)

• Alois Trancy (Black Butler)

• Hannah Annafellows (Black Butler)

• Charles Phipps (Black Butler)

• Tanaka (Black Butler)

• Baldroy (Black Butler)

• Nina Hopkins (Black Butler)

• Beast (Black Butler)

• Dagger (Black Butler)

• Doll (Black Butler)

• Black Star (Soul Eater)

• Light Yagami (Death Note)

• Near (Death Note)

• Matsudo (Death Note)

• Luther Hargreeves (The Umbrella Academy)

• Otis Milburn (Sex Education)

• Jackson Marchetti (Sex Education)

• Lily Igehart (Sex Education)

• Payton Hobart (The Politican)

• Skye Jackson (The Politican)

• James Sullivan (The Politican)

• McAfee Westbrook (The Politican)

• Johanna Constantine (The Sandman)

• Lucifer Morningstar (The Sandman)

• Catwoman (The Batman)

• Nega Scott (Scott Pilgrim Vs The World)

• Ashley Campbell (Sally Face)

• Todd Morrison (Sally Face)

• Tommy Maximoff (WandaVision)

• Billy Maximoff (WandaVision)

• Peter Quill (Guardians of The Galaxy)

• Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire)

Watch me add half these characters back when the next season of their shows comes out

[sergeant-spoons]

48. We’ve Been Living On A Fault Line

Leslie Sheppard

Taglist: @thoughpoppiesblow​​​​ @chaosklutz​​​​ @wexhappyxfew​​​​ @50svibes​​​​ @tvserie-s-world​​​​ @adamantiumdragonfly​​​​ @ask-you-what-sir​​​​ @whovian45810​​​​​ @brokennerdalert​​​​ @holdingforgeneralhugs​​​​ @claire-bear-1218​​​​ @heirsoflilith​​​​​ @itswormtrain​​​​​ @actualtrashpanda​​​​​ @wtrpxrks​​​​​

This batch of updates (47-49) is dedicated in tandem to my wonderful mutuals @mercurygray​​ (for @’ing me in her Thankful Thursday event - I am so humbled and thankful in return) and @thoughpoppiesblow​ (for making a beautiful edit for Kate August almost immediately after I introduced her with this post-war snippet). Love you both so much!! Thank you!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The eagerly awaited-for concert landed on a Friday a week and a half after Kiko scored the tickets. There had been scattered rain over the last few days, but fortunately, the 31st dawned clear and sunny. As the seven friends piled into the bus Captain Eades had commandeered for the drive to the Swindon train station, they debated their plans for the afternoon before the concert that night. Although they were still bundled up in coats and scarves, they thought it might warm up enough by midday that a few hours outside, walking around London, wouldn't leave them all shivering. Mama E dropped them off at the station and told them to have the time of their lives, and they all promised her they would, shouting over their shoulders as they hurried up the steps to catch their train. Kiko made the mistake of asking Tink if she was planning to see Charlie in London while they were arranging their suitcases on the overhead racks, and Tink deflated. She'd called Charlie to tell him they'd be coming to the city, but he told her he wasn't going to be in London that weekend, instead away on business. He didn't say where he'd be going, and Tink had learned by now not to bother asking.

They arrived in London just after 13:00 hours. Tink was in better spirits after spending most of the train ride chatting with their jovial conductor, and after thanking him for the conversation, she led the charge into the cloudless afternoon. Grinning with excitement, they asked directions to their hotel from a pair of friendly street vendors, who gave them but not before thanking them for their service and congratulating them on the weather—it wasn't often sunny in London, after all. They hoofed it to the hotel only to find out their reservations weren't until late that evening, after the concert. Luckily, the women working the front desk were very accommodating and let them leave their suitcases with the bellhops, then told the merry crew to come back anytime after sunset; their rooms would be ready by then. They left and followed a tourist map one of the front desk workers had given Penk to Big Ben. Since the famous clock was the only location they'd really wanted to visit, they started to wander, skirting streets full of debris until they ended up in Soho, near St. Paul's Cathedral. They stopped to let a caravan of Red Cross vans pass, and Leslie sidled up to Don, poking at his cheek.

"Look at all your freckles," she giggled. "I swear, you wake up with another dozen every morning."

"Oh, shut up," he pretended to grumble, swatting her hand down, and she stuck her bottom lip out at him.

"C'mon, hot stuff, I was only teasing."

He couldn't help the grin creeping onto his lips, and he hooked his arm around hers again.

"Keep calling me that and you can tease me all you want."

"I can tease you all I want regardless," Leslie corrected, and as Don rolled her eyes, she tugged him against her side and added, "But yeah, I will—hot stuff."

A few minutes later, they passed an eclectic band of street musicians playing swing on a cello, a violin, an oboe, a saxophone, and a crate for a drum. Don stepped away from Leslie to make room to twirl her under his arm. She laughed as they started to dance, and he dipped her, his eyes twinkling with warmth.

"Enjoying yourself, doll?"

She nuzzled her nose against his own and brought out that sweet smile of his, the smile she couldn't live without.

"With you? Always."

Once they'd tired themselves out dancing and the others wanted to move on, they resumed their path and crossed the bridge over the Thames. Skip nearly fell into the river from trying to get a closer look over the banister, but Penk and Kiko grabbed him just in time. They kept walking. Their meandering route led them between a small park and a cobblestone street. Although it wasn't very green yet (for Spring was just beginning), there were a few blossoms poking out of the new grass here and there on the park side of the path. Kiko kept stopping to look at them and Penk always hung back with her while the others slowed their pace but kept walking. At one point, Kiko found a whole rosebush, and while they all were waiting for her, Tink investigated the next turn of the path past a copse of scraggly trees.

"Ducks!" she exclaimed, immediately sidetracked off the path. "Look at 'em all!"

She gestured to the pond with eyes wide with delight, scampering down the slope until her boots toed the waterline. When she turned toward her friends, she beamed to see George coming up behind her, having followed her every step.

"Anybody got any bread?" he asked, looking around, and Penk thumbed over his shoulder.

"There's an old lady on the steps back there who's selling bags of crumbs."

George took one step back up the bank, then hesitated, glancing between Tink (who was already crouching, enamored by the first waterfowl to paddle over and greet her) and the old woman on the wide church steps.

"I'll get you some," Leslie offered quickly, shooing George on toward Tink, and he shot her a grateful look before turning back to the cause of his lovesickness.

"I'll come with," Don chimed in, handing his coat to Skip to drape over the bench the other three were now claiming for their own. He matched Leslie's stride, fumbling through his pockets, and as they came up to the old woman, he handed her a few British coins.

"Oh, but-"

"My treat." He winked, then nodded back toward Tink and George. "For them."

A smile crept onto Leslie's lips, and as she turned back to the woman with the bags of crumbs, Don wrapped his arm around her waist and tucked her snugly against his side. She exchanged pleasant small talk with the old Englishwoman, grinning and nodding as she confirmed the two bags she was purchasing were for the pair down by the water.

"They make a handsome pair," the old woman croaked happily. "You do, too, my loves."

Leslie chuckled, and Don expected her to deny it as she always did, but then she said, "Thanks," and he nearly choked on the air.

"A handsome pair are we?" he teased her as they crossed the square, trying to appear nonchalant though he still had his arm around her.

"Hey, she was a sweetheart," Leslie insisted, only half-joking, "I wasn't about to make her feel bad for assuming anything."

"You're too nice, you know that?"

Leslie giggled, bumping her hip against his.

"Maybe she thought we were newlyweds, huh? What about that?"

Don laughed, but his face felt warm, and he was sure Leslie could tell he was a little jittery.

"Hey," he jestingly protested nonetheless, "London's not a bad spot for a honeymoon."

"Better than Arkansas, anyway."

Laughing at the same memory, they rejoined their friends and squished onto the already-crowded bench. Penk, who was still standing in order to cleanse his coat of tree debris with a hearty hand-brushing, volunteered to bring the little bags down to Tink and George.

"I'll be quiet as a churchmouse, they won't even know how they got these in their hands."

Indeed, as Penk made his way back up to the bench half a minute later, George and Tink were already tossing crumbs at the ducks, not a moment of their conversation interrupted. Their friends watched from the bench, jostling for a little more space, pretending their long glances toward the water were in order to admire the scenery rather than spy on their friends' blossoming romance. Serenaded by the quacking of the ducks, Tink and George gravitated closer and closer, drawn into a world of their own.

Quack. Quack-quack.

"Hey, little buddy. You want some bread?"

George crouched and tossed a handful of crumbs toward the duck nosing about his feet. Tink giggled into the cuff of her sleeve. As he rose, she turned toward him with a mischievous expression that had him melting as soon as he saw it.

"Hey. Hey, George."

"Yeah?"

"You wanna hear my duck call?"

"More than anything."

Tink wrapped her hands in a cone around her mouth, took a deep breath, and turned toward the flock floating among the water lilies.

"C'mere, duck."

George burst into cackling laughter and Tink was quick to join in, practically glowing with delight that she'd amused him so. Their amusement inadvertently frightened away a number of the waterfowl at their feet, but by then Penk had returned with the breadcrumbs, so they weren't shy about returning. George tried at an actual duck call and succeeded in bringing a few curious quackers over. Tink applauded him and he took a little bow that made her throw her head back in laughter. George stared at her in endearment and only snapped out of it when he realized she was about to wade into the pond to get closer to the ducks. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her back, reminding her that she only had one pair of shoes with her and they were the ones on her feet. He was quick to blush, realizing how fond he'd gotten with her just then and afraid he'd transgressed some boundary, but Tink just laughed at herself and thanked him for saving her. The group must have stayed by that pond for a full hour, but nobody went down to the water to join the merry pairing, leaving them to their wisecracks and wondering looks. By the time they scrambled up the hill, apologizing for delaying their friends so long, both were flushed pink with warmth conjured by the other, and it came as no surprise to anyone that they spent the rest of the afternoon walking at each other's side.

They went to dinner at a restaurant close to their hotel and splurged on Reubens and paninis. The gentlemen insisted on paying and the ladies offered many toasts to their generous companions.

"Bread rolls and real butter!" Leslie exclaimed midway through the meal, holding up the morsel as if it were a trophy she'd won. "We're really dining with the upper crust now, my friends."

As most of her friends groaned at the awful joke, George and Tink burst into laughter, the latter nearly choking on her soda. George rubbed her back, coaching her to breathe, and once she was alright, he turned to Leslie and wiped an imaginary tear of pride from his eye.

If dinner was excellent, the concert was outstanding. It was open admission with seats and standing space scattered throughout the venue, but when Tink spotted the dance floor, her friends knew they wouldn't be seeing much of her or George tonight. The lights dimmed just after 7 p.m. and Judy Garland came onstage to thunderous applause, positively sparkling in a gorgeous blue gown. The friends from the 506th found themselves standing more often than not, either to applaud Judy, sway to an uptempo song, or slow dance in place to a crooning melody. George and Tink hardly ever sat, and when Judy introduced her second-to-last song "For Me and My Gal", they were the first to the dance floor. Leslie and Don joined them but were happy to step aside shortly thereafter as the crowd parted. Realizing the other dancers were giving them the spotlight, Tink and George danced their hearts out, and their enthusiasm paid off. Judy saw them from the stage, and though they were too busy to see her smile, Leslie sure did. Once the song was over, the famous actress applauded them and asked what branch of the military they served in. Tink, vibrating with excitement, shouted up the answer, and Judy said she'd dedicate the next number to all members of the 101st American Airborne. She sang "Singin' in the Rain" and Kiko nearly fainted from excitement, for "Singin'" was her favorite song Judy ever sang (even more so than "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", which Judy sang for a tear-jerking encore). It was quite the show, and as they left, the friends all collectively agreed the night couldn't possibly get any better.

As they followed the flow of foot traffic out through the doors, Tink turned to Leslie, teasing her for the pink of her cheeks despite both of them knowing she was equally flushed with delight. As they came down the steps, the light in Tink's eyes flashed at something over Leslie's shoulder and she completely lost her train of thought. As Leslie turned to see, a trio of strangers bumped into her and Tink, and Tink started to slip. George caught and righted her, but she was still dazed, and they ushered her out of the crowd, worried she'd hurt herself.

"I'm alright, I'm fine," she reassured them, but she wouldn't look any of them in the eye, staring into the crowd.

"Tink?"

 and their friend snapped out of it, pinkening and looking down at the street.

"Sorry. I thought I saw..."

Charlie.

Seeing that Tink was about to cry, Skip stepped forth to save the day.

"Well, then!" he exclaimed, stretching his arms up before casually draping them around Don and Leslie's shoulders. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I am tuckered out. Whaddaya say we head back to the hotel and get some sleep?"

The group voiced their unanimous agreement, and as they started to walk, they formed a sort of upside-down triangle, with Don, Skip, and George leading the way, Kiko and Leslie flanking Tink, and Penk hanging back to double-check the map. They were taking a shortcut across an open square, the lightbulb sign of their hotel in sight, when a group of Englishmen started hollering from beside the defunct fountain in the middle of the square. They were swaying on their feet, obviously drunk, and the Americans didn't pay them any mind until one waved at Tink and called her "Yankee love" and Leslie realized they were the ones being catcalled.

"Hey!" she shouted, raising two fists toward the Englishmen, then promptly flipped them the bird. "Fuck off!"

They jeered and laughed at her, and Don and Skip stepped up, urging Leslie and Tink behind them. On edge, Leslie looked around and realized Kiko wasn't with them. Alarmed, she turned and found that Kiko had fallen behind to look at a chipped bust they'd passed a few seconds ago. As soon as the heckling had begun, Penk had gone to get her, but he wasn't quick enough. One of the men had spotted her, with her coiled hair, her pretty heels, and her uniform hidden by her long coat. He whistled and thrust his hips toward her as his buddies cackled, and she and Penk both froze.

"C'mon over 'ere, sweetheart," the drunk whistled. "Pay you a pretty penny for a night."

Leslie took the first swing, and Penk, though he had a farther distance to travel, was only a second behind. Don and Tink rushed toward the fight as soon as they realized it was happening, and while George followed Tink's lead, Skip hung back to get Kiko. The scrap was turning ugly when a forceful yell commanded them all to stop. The sight was almost cartoonish, with Leslie holding onto one of the drunks by his lapel, midway through shaking him, and Penk gripping another drunk's shirt, winding up for a punch. To Leslie's amazement, it was Kiko who had given the shout. As they watched, she pulled Penk into a deep kiss that made several of the Englishmen gasp and go limp. Even Leslie blushed.

"Sorry, kids," Kiko informed the bastards, showing off the engagement ring on her left hand, "I'm taken."

With some reluctance, Leslie and Skip tossed away the men at their mercy, satisfied to watch them land on the ground, flustered and off-kilter from their intoxication. The English bastards scampered off, but one left his handsome cap behind. Leslie picked it up from the cobblestones and dusted it off, looking after the retreating figures, and snorted.

"Well done, Kiko," she praised, turning back to her friend, but Kiko only had eyes for Penk. Not minding much, Leslie turned to Skip and nodded toward the hotel.

"Shall we?"

He hooked his arm around hers and Don did the same on her other side. Tink took the cue to do the same with George (who tried failed to suppress a wide smile), and with Kiko already entwined with Penk, the friends finished crossing the square in peace.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[allandoflimbo]

Take It Back •LOCATIONS• ADDRESSES & SCENES

Bucky and Ashlyn’s Penthouse

Madison Square Park Tower

45 E 22nd St, New York, NY 10010

Bucky’s Bachelor Apartment

The Pierre

2 E 61st St, New York, NY 10065

The Auction / Bucky and Ashlyn’s Wedding Reception

The Plaza

768 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10019

Bucky and Ashlyn’s Wedding Ceremony

St. Patrick’s Cathedral

14 East 51st Street, New York, NY

The McDonalds

McDonalds

720 North Ave, New Rochelle, NY

Reader and Ashlyn’s Upstate Home

Mount Kisco, New York

Ashlyn’s SoHo Apartment

Mercer Street, Soho, New York, NY

Ashlyn’s Birthday Party

The Rainbow Room

30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10112

Loki and Reader’s First Dinner Date

One If By Land, Two If By Sea

17 Barrow St, New York, NY

Ashlyn and Reader’s Brunch

La Grande Boucherie

145 W 53rd St, New York, NY

Bucky and Reader’s Apartment

The Brownstone

On St. Luke’s Place, New York, NY

The Coffee House Reader Works At

Black Brick Coffee

300 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn, NY

Where Bucky and Ashlyn Met

Near Zara on 5th Ave

Somewhere around 500 5th Avenue, 5th Ave, New York, NY

Restaurant where Ashlyn meets Nat and Steve

Market Table

54 Carmine St, New York, NY

Where Bucky Proposes to Ashlyn

1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge

60 Furman St, Brooklyn, NY 11201

Reader’s Brooklyn Apartment

Bedford Avenue (in Williamsburg, Brooklyn)

Bucky and Ashlyn’s first kiss

Rockefeller - Christmas Tree

30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY