#i do like how acton came out though

[kj-munch]

mfw that annoying fly in your ear wont fuck off

[abyssalzones]

🍕🍀🎹 FOR ANYONE (everyone) IN EV YOU WANNA TALK ABOUT!!!!! id love to hear abt them all but do so only if youre in an infodumping mood don't force yerself <:)

Yasha you of all people should know that I am Always in an info-dumping mood. VERY LONG POST UNDER THE READ MORE

🍕 - What is their favorite food?

ROSE CUBBAGE: I'm fairly certain I've answered this before (feel free to dig through my OC tag to find a series of other asks that I went into depth with a little while ago) but I think Rose would love any type of food that is a sweet/savory combination. Foliaverds don't have strong "sweet" flavor receptors, being hyper-carnivorous, but the sugars you'd see in fruit do get across to their palette more or less. See this dialogue from the outline of a chapter:

DOMINO: Domino is extremely picky about her food, something unusual for her species- who are usually content as filter-feeders, snacking on whatever bacteria and small animals (or even bits of dead animals- they aren't picky) make themselves at home in the caverns of Yxin, either colonizing the rocks or floating aimlessly through the densely-chemically-populated air- but she has an odd taste for salts. Odd, because that stuff is considered pretty acidic and foul to most moeboids. Keep an eye on her or else you'll lose track of your table salt.

VENUS: As with most Ikarians, Venus's diet consists mainly of insects. However, he normally has a very subdued appetite due to... multiple things. Their samefoods mostly consist of cold (or just not hot) things that don't have a very strong smell: frozen crickets, protein chips, dried fruit, and (expensively) tenjarian-tempered yogurt that's supposed to be digestible for every species, but most think it tastes... awful. Venus loves it, for some reason.

GILLS KVN: Herbal tea and pain pills. Well- that'd be the answer early on, anyway. He starts eating more regularly with time and feeling a little more comfortable actually getting out of his lab to visit the kitchen, and as per usual for his species, mostly favors raw seafood. He prefers animals with shells, though, since overly-mushy textures bother him immensely. As for his favorite favorite, I think he'd enjoy a bowl of south Kaaleran noodles (thin, dried parasitic eels native to Kaalera's coasts, cleaned and fermented with starch. Add steamed veggies, whatever eggs you have on hand, and plenty of spices), which is notoriously too hot for most species to handle.

SPARKPLUG: I elaborated on this a little before, similar to Rose, but I think Sparks is partial to sweets! Sweet for his species, anyway. He loves the kinds of tangy, metallic preserved pastries native to his home planet, recipes carried down and altered by his family for generations, across planets. I'm lazy so I'm just going to steal what I already wrote:

Pie is a universal concept.

NORA ACTON: Peanut butter + banana + bacon sandwich. Simple, very filling. I like to think she only realized this after moving out and trying to figure out how to feed herself in her academy days.

🍀 - What originally inspired the OC?

Going to give you a catch-all answer for this to start with: the conceit of the comic, and subsequently most of the crew, was that it was originally a cast of Starbound OCs! That obviously has changed, but it's still in their roots. As for specifics...

-Rose was sort of her own thing, a position of leader and captain that needed to be filled- and she only really came into her own later in terms of development, inspired by characters like Alyx Vance or Ellen Ripley in particular- and my own personal experiences, actually. I think in a lot of ways Rose is closest to me.

-Venus's inspiration is weirdly difficult to pin. Taako from TAZ, maybe? A little bit of the Rito from when I played BOTW? He's kind of his own character, really.

-Gills, however, was definitely strongly inspired by Ford Pines. I feel like it's a little obvious sometimes. Then, a little later, characters like Spock, or Kim Kitsuragi.

-Sparkplug... draw your own conclusions based on the information above, particularly his dynamic with Gills. His arc, however, was also strongly influenced by my own ongoing struggles with chronic fatigue.

-Domino is inspired by a whole host of fictional characters, ranging from Lupin to Max from sam & max to Shiraishi from golden kamuy, but the most important part is that she was originally an OC created by my friend Addy, who I've known since the comic was in its baby stages. That part of who she is is extremely important to her core as a character.

-Nora is kind of like... a fusion of Sam Raimi era Peter Parker and inspector Zenigata from Lupin III. But british. and butch.

🎹 - Do they have any hobbies?

ROSE CUBBAGE: Worrying. Creating collages, actually, but those mostly consist of future plans and secret obsessive corkboards. She used to enjoy biking, and still has her bike from when she was an older teenager sitting around on the station, despite not using it much.

DOMINO: Stealing things to create "art" in her room. I think she'd love to branch out and create more multi-media type stuff, but she's mostly motivated by boredom.

VENUS: Between you and me, I think they write fanfic. Something he would no doubt label as extremely cringe and keep very close to his chest, but fun to kick back and knock out a couple hundred words on every once in a while. They mostly tinker with robotics, though that's less of a hobby and more the main thing he does around the station, so it can get a little boring. I think they could put effort into making video games if they really felt up to it, but they struggle with seeing the point in it. Creative passion projects are embarrassing, after all- from his perspective.

GILLS KVN: Aside from reading, I'm not so sure Gills has any hobbies to begin with. He spends most of his time working on projects in the lab, which while he might consider it fun, it's still ultimately work. I think he would really benefit from taking up something like terrariums or aquariums, maybe some casual gardening. That, and cooking- which is really another form of chemistry, if you think about it.

SPARKPLUG: Another damn workaholic. However, Sparks enjoys music as a hobby immensely, and is rarely far from a stringed instrument, such as his retractable banjo. When the joints in his hands get tired or locked up, I think he'd enjoy getting outside and doing a little nature-watching. Does that count as a hobby? It does now.

NORA ACTON: Nora is definitely the most visually artistic of the crew, something that she's never considered for a career but definitely enjoys as a hobby. She mostly does environmental art, studying things from nature and her surroundings- a fun practice for someone with such a photographic memory. Similarly, I think she loves using her camera, even if it's mostly something she picked up for work.

[ijustwantedtobeoneofthestrokesuk]

B.I.T.I. (Before Is This It)

London

While Pete and Carl were throwing poetry nights there was a bunch of bands bubbling in the London underground with a punk attitude and banging tunes. A scene was forming, it just needed a break, which came once The Libertines had theirs.  

There was loads of bands, some lasted a few gigs, a handful lasted a few albums. This is how it went for a few of them.

Special Needs

Special Needs was a band ahead of their time (forming in 1998) and they never got the opportunity to fully live out their potential, their name often drew controversy (they briefly changed it to The Needs) and they fell victim of being on a major label. 

Zac Stephenson “I worked at a London Irish newspaper in 1997 and Daniel (Shack) came along to do work experience. We had enough overlap of musical interest to become friends and he was learning guitar, I wanted to sing so first we started just kind of jamming in his bedroom. Then Phil started coming along and bringing his bass.  

At this point our main influence was probably the Manic Street Preachers, mainly the Richey period when they were a lot cooler. We all dyed our hair, wore eyeliner, shirts with spray-painted slogans, feather boas, the whole kit and caboodle. Slightly cringe now to look back on that.  

We did some sessions in a rehearsal room with a drummer I roped in, auditioned a few more but it looked like it was doomed to fail when Daniel and Phil decided to go to University in Sheffield.  

A few months in though, they rang me and told me they had met Andrew, who had an interesting vision about what a band could be like, and asked me if I’d still be interested in trying to get something going. I was, so I’d get the train up to Sheffield every few weekends and we’d do some stuff in a practice room.  

We went through drummers faster than you go through underwear but we persevered for the whole time they were at university. Summers in London gave us a bit of progress and then when they returned back to London we focussed on finding the perfect drummer and we did in Neil. He was better than any drummer we’d ever worked with before but he’d still go into a rehearsal room on his own and practice for hours. And he had a brilliant droll Scottish sense of humour. Just fitted in so perfectly. He was the missing piece of the jigsaw so to speak. He was like a sweeper in football. Sort of tidied up everything that was wrong with us musically. 

Still, we were finding it hard to get gigs, mainly due to our name, so we started our own weekly club night in a pub in Acton. It was quite a dive but we loved it. And we’d fly around London going to other gigs and nights. The next turning point for us then was when we met Sara and Nadia from the Pyrrha fanzine. They knew everyone. They introduced us to John Kennedy at Xfm, to Razorlight, and possibly most crucially Alan McGee. John Kennedy started championing us and we saw more people coming to our gigs. Then Alan offered us a single deal (on his label, {Poptones), which graduated to an album deal with Mercury and the rest is history I suppose. 

We recorded the album in March 2005 with Ian Grimble at 2khz in Willesden Junction. Alan McGee had spoken to a bunch of other producers, including Mick Jones, Bernard Butler and Andrew Loog Oldham. In fact Loog Oldham had apparently wanted to do it but he couldn’t make it work. It’s my favourite anecdote of the time that Alan McGee said that “the singer…” (me) was “…flying on the wings of greatness”. I mean that’s the guy that managed Oasis at the height of their powers, so it’s hard to imagine better. 

Anyway, Ian had worked with the Manics, Travis, Texas, so he had a good CV. He was a bit of a taskmaster. We did a week in preproduction where he helped us sculpt or prune some of the songs. I remember near the end of that process Alan came into the studio to hear how the songs were sounding. After we finished each song he said the same thing: “It’s a hit”. 

Ian made us do countless takes. Real perfectionist. Massively underrated producer. For one of the songs he set up the drum kit in the bathroom because he thought the tiles in there would give the acoustics he thought would work better for that song. He was right.  

I think the funniest incident in those recording sessions from my perspective was walking in to the kitchen and seeing the American artist Grace Jones looking in a state of distress. I asked her if she was OK and she walked up to me about six inches from my face and said, “I’m looking for honey.” So I helped Grace Jones scour the studios kitchen for a jar of honey. Unsuccessfully, I might add.” 

In the autumn of 2005 Mercury cancelled the bands' record contract as new management at the label cleared a lot of Poptones roster. The band negotiated a deal to keep the rights for the album but they didn’t have a label to put it out, the situation was frustrating for the band, audiences at gigs were getting smaller, they were skint, Zac moved back to Ireland and they broke up. 

The band were approached by ReAction Records who wanted to put out the album which was finally released in August 2006, receiving positive reviews but the band had moved on, there wasn’t the temptation to reform. 

After a 5-year break, the band had stayed in touch via Facebook and they decided to get back together, initially just for one gig at Proud in Camden, however, it sold out and they loved it so much that they said yes to every other gig they got offered, including gigs in New York and Norway. 

Zac Stephenson “Well, Glastonbury was one highlight. From that day onwards you’re always able to say you played Glastonbury which I think is a major ambition for pretty much every band starting out. Playing Hyde Park was great. New Year’s Eve we packed out the Kentish Town Forum. Touring was often fun. Could be tiring and tedious at times but when we got on stage it was (usually) brilliant.  

I used to love the radio sessions, Xfm, BBC, Virgin. And seeing your CD on the shelves in HMV was a kind of bucket list thing too. 

But I guess overall it was just seeing people packed together in venues singing the songs back to you. Our reunion gig at Proud Camden was beyond belief. 600+ people crammed in on a Tuesday night in February. We hadn’t played live for 5 years so the anticipation was palpable. Electric atmosphere.”  

The Crimea

The Crimea became one of John Peel’s favourite bands but their story begins a few years earlier, with the heavier and intense band, The Crocketts, a story that shows the destruction the music industry can have on people.  

Despite the negatives, The Crimea became trailblazers as they released their second album, Secrets of the Witching Hour for free online in 2007 which saw them featured in the news around the world while supporting huge bands such as Kings of Leon and Coldplay. Sadly, the years of mental health and addiction took its toll on frontman Davey, just as the band were reaching the goal they had been striving for. 

Davey Macmanus “The Crocketts started in 1995, we were so young, 18, when we got signed to V2. When we did our first photoshoot, it was with Mario Testino and it cost a lot of money, our manager said I looked a bit tubby so I developed an eating disorder which I had for the next 20 years, I thought food was poison. Our first tour was with The Pogues, I worshipped Shane Magowan, we were introduced to hard drugs, we were doomed from the start, somehow we were grouped into the whole indie scene, maybe because we formed in Aberystwyth and were part of the Welsh scene, touring with Stereophonics a lot, Space, Catatonia, Super Furries, 60ft Dolls. I became an alcoholic and drug addict. Every concert I was on ecstasy. I started hurting myself onstage, This became a thing, as our songs were about being bullied, self-harm and eating disorders, we attracted a crazy fanbase who came to all our concerts and showed me their scars. 

Although the band was doing very well in terms of selling out bigger and bigger shows and getting 5 out of 5 in the music papers, commercially we didn't sell enough records and V2 brought us into their office one day, there was a new head of A&R, Malcolm Dunbar, he played us three songs, Stereophonics’ Have a Nice day, Feeder’s Buck Rogers and Blink 182’s famous song, Then he told us he wanted our third album to sound like that. It didn’t, our music was getting heavier and heavier and our actions more destructive, we were dropped. 

Suddenly we had to get jobs, me and Dan, the guitarist were working the nightshift in Sainsburys in Romford. Instead of taking cocaine we were taking speed, instead of drinking Jack we were drinking yellow pack, we were all living in the same house, and eventually, I woke up one morning and Rich the bass player was gone, then Dan the guitar player locked himself in his bedroom and didn't come out for several weeks, then suddenly he was gone. There was only me and Owen the drummer left, we decided to completely reinvent ourselves, change our style and sound and play beautiful music. Instead of our audience smashing the venues they would sit down like at the cinema. 

We were so lucky, we rapidly built up a following, suddenly instead of being in Kerrang we were in The Guardian, we were being lauded as cool which was amazing that we had turned that tide around and people were respecting our change of direction. We weren’t part of any scene until later on by accident because we played with lots of big bands that liked our music. 

I met John Peel outside the American Embassy in Grosvenor Square. I was working for the council, sweeping the streets, it was autumn and the leaves kept falling from the trees, it was a fucking nightmare, I was dressed in the street cleaner uniform and I had one of those dustcarts you push, I recognised John Peel going into the Embassy and I went up to him and gave him a demo CD, that night he played all 7 songs from the CD on his show. He said on air that he went back and listened to The Crocketts but he didn't like them, but he loved The Crimea. Before he died he said about Lottery Winners on Acid ‘I could listen to that forever and ever”. He helped us so much and played us so much but after that first meeting I never met him again. 

We were just incredibly lucky again, while at South by South West we were seen by Perry Watts Russell a famous A&R guy for Warner Bros. We were actually offered a few different deals and we went with him because he had signed Radiohead, Damian Rice and Arcade Fire and all these other people. Plus we wanted to go and live in America. 

For our debut album we went to Mississippi to record with this famous producer, He had just produced Modest Mouse (who we toured with later) Cop Car single so he was the hot guy at the time. We were there for months and months but we were just getting high and not getting much done, while the producer was changing all our songs in ways we didn't like. He wore a white coat because he was meant to be a scientific genius. I didn't get on with him, I liked him a lot and we were friends but we had different musical ideas, we wasted hundreds and thousands of dollars with this dude, so we went to New York for another long period of time and re-recorded the album with another producer in James Iha’s studio. 

I kinda knew we were going to be dropped as our singles from the album had been on the decline, no.20 something, then no.47, then no.60 in the charts, Radio 1 had yet again (for the second band in a row) refused to playlist us, we had the A list on Xfm but that didn’t matter, we had amazing press but that didn’t matter. 

So when we were dropped by Warner Bros. we still had a really good publishing deal with WEA so that kept us going and we recorded an album ourselves, we had an old house near Norwich in the country and we rehearsed there for weeks on end and recorded, the band were amazing, Joe, Andy and Owen and the guitar player we had at the time Andy,  and we all stuck together and worked hard. We went to Latvia to mix the record with Greg Haver, we loved the album, because we made it ourselves and it was dear to us.  

It wasn’t our idea to release it for free, it was our manager Tav. It was an incredible idea. We played on top of Primrose Hill at midnight on the day of release and the album was released at the same time, there were hundreds of people there, the next day we went to China on tour and we were on the front cover of newspapers all over the world, it was truly mindblowing, all the news channels were interviewing us and all these papers and we’re in China so it looked really cool. 

Q Magazine said it was one of the top 5 moments that changed music, we did get some credit for it, maybe not enough, but we got some adverts out of it and could still sell out our shows everywhere so we got to continue 

At first we had to pay to tour with other bands like The Pogues, The Levellers and Stereophonics, then we became friends with the Stereophonics and we never had to pay them to tour again, I enjoyed touring with Billy Corgan, Kings of Leon, Travis, Modest Mouse, Snow Patrol, Gary Lightbody from Snow Patrol actually financed our third album, Square Moon, he also financed my volunteering in Africa as a nurse. 

I had a lot of problems with my mental health, with the eating disorder, with self-harm, with drug addiction, then with a heroin addiction, When it came time to release Square Moon I was so frazzled I couldn’t tour or do interviews so I just had to stop the band and leave when we had just made our greatest record and finally achieved what we had been trying to achieve for 20 years. 

I didn’t get any support from any labels, in fact they encouraged me to be wild, I had a lot of support from my bandmates and my family but they couldn’t help me. I just felt this pressure all the time as the songwriter to come up with hit songs, so I was obsessed with writing and trying to write hits the whole time, that's why we only really developed our sound when we were dropped and it gave me the freedom to not have to worry about writing hits and inadvertently wrote our best music  

Releasing Square Moon on double vinyl and the reviews it got are things I look back on fondly, then becoming a nurse and going to Africa, the highlight of my career was playing round a campfire in the middle of a desert to a bunch of orphans with HIV, you have to really sing from your heart when you don’t have a microphone.” 

Neils Children

Neils Children are one of the bands who were overlooked during the 2000’s but their DIY ideals and approach to consistently evolve is the reason that they have continued to make music, well, the 2 founding members, frontman John and drummer Brandon, they’ve got through a handful of bassists over their years.  

Scenes aren’t built to last but Neils Children have never been part of the scene which has allowed them to be different to the trends or a short-lived fad.  

Firstly, they formed in 1999, before The Strokes arrived, by the time the 2000’s bands were starting out Neils Children had already been together a couple of years. They came from Harlow, on the outskirts of London, they were inspired by the ‘60’s and they sounded different varying between post-punk, freakbeat pop and psychedelia. They looked different too, decked out in black with makeup, big hair, fur coats, skinny jeans and pointy shoes, they had to time their journeys into London to avoid trouble with football fans. They were doing this years before their mates, The Horrors, who they influenced.  

Everything about the band was intense and their live shows were always exciting. The band was fearless and did everything themselves. 

The pair were studying music together and immediately bonded over bands, within a couple of months, they were in the rehearsal rooms in college. John already knew how to play guitar, Brandon had to learn the drums and their classmate Tom was on bass.  

Aged 16 and looking for music that excited them was hard in 1999, until they discovered ‘60’s pop which then led them to the underground psychedelic scene.  

It wasn’t just the music but the clothes, the style and the community which was lively in Mousetrap, a ‘60’s psychedelic club night in Finsbury Park. They were the young outsiders but they quickly fitted in.  

They rehearsed a lot and started playing regularly, word got around that they were an exciting young band, described as freak-beat ‘60’s and even though that was what they were listening to, ‘80’s influences organically crept in too giving them a punk edge with The Jam and Buzzcocks. In the summer of 2000 they met Rhys, who would go on to form The Horrors years later and they struck up a great friendship and became the house band at his club, Junk, in Southend.

Their influences would grow even further when they discovered the likes of Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Rapture who were starting to make their way over to the UK. This then took them on to listening to Public Image Ltd and Gang Of Four, their sound evolved into something more raw with a nod to post-punk and a contemporary twist. 

John’s grandad managed the band, he helped them out financially and drove them around. He had no interest in music but loved being part of the gang. He joined them on a tour of Spain before the band had released anything, organised by friends from the psychedelic scene. They drove for three days to Barcelona and made their way around the country for 10 gigs with a settee in the back of a van and a map to get around. It was DIY at its best and they loved it.  

Soft City Recordings signed them up in 2003 to release their ‘first album’, the band don’t really like it to be looked on as their first album as it was a few singles and a bunch of songs they quickly recorded. These days it would probably be called a ‘mixtape’ today, the label was keen to get it out as a stepping stone for the band to get signed to a major label. They practiced a lot, they were super tight and ended up recording 4 or 5 songs a day, all live. 

Once the band started seeing others investing in them they upped their game, stripped everything back to give fans the best possible show, developing their songs and ‘think’ about what they were doing instead of just doing it. Although they toured a lot in the UK, it was Europe where they found more success. 

John’s grandad took a backseat from management as the band signed to a new label and got a management team in place. In 6 weeks they recorded what was meant to be their debut album in a studio on Old Street, London, they supported The Horrors on a UK 2-week tour then went on a headline tour for 2 weeks.  

The relationship with both the label and management team quickly went sour. They had been used to their DIY approach and got things done themselves, they found that things got slowed down when working with others. A single should have been ready to sell on The Horrors support tour but it was delayed and they weren’t happy with how the mix of the recordings for the album sounded so they got out of the contract, lost the songs and started again. 

After going on hiatus the band returned with a new psychedelic sound and went to France to record an album. 

John and Brandon were super close, John’s grandad was part of it too and each bassist they had played a key role in the journey, making the band feel more like a family. 

NEXT CHAPTER

[vintageseawitch]

severus snape was not just a bully he was a literal racist and that did not change over the years unlike other characters' attitudes 🙏🙏🙏 what the fuck how are you pro-snape

hmmm. i feel there's an extremely back-handed compliment here. are you a lurker? are we mutuals? do i follow you or do you follow me? whatever the capacity, it feels silly to ask, but: are you new here? my bio, though novella in length because keeping things in a tiny, succinct packages is not my forte, clearly states at some point that Severus Snape is important enough to me to be mentioned a considerable amount. i'll be very sad if i follow you & enjoy the content you post because tbh this anon is super disappointing. the most common types i tend to receive are snaters who are too cowardly to tell me to my face they have nothing better to do than judge people doing the least harmful thing imaginable: loving/liking/appreciating a controversial, FICTIONAL FUCKING CHARACTER.

"he was a literal racist and that did not change over the years unlike the other characters' attitudes" ummm fucking WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT. what canon evidence do you have for this except your own warped headcanons?? Snape said the word "mudblood" fucking ONCE, as a teenage boy, while getting sexually assaulted by more than one person, in public, with no one there attempting to stop them. then Snape's one friend tries to defend him & Snape snaps something stupid because he was afraid & pissed off & ashamed. don't tell me YOU'VE never said something you're later ashamed of while in a temper or feeling cornered. don't tell me YOU'RE not allowed to make mistakes. that's right, it was a mistake, & he realized immediately so he tried to fix it & in the end his friendship wasn't worth it to her so he was alone, surrounded by people who won't help him, who let some other teenage boys get away with attempted murder, & adults who don't give a shit about him making him ripe for plucking. Snape fucking CRINGES then yells at Phineas Nigellus for calling Hermione that while the trio's on the run & Snape is an unwilling headmaster!!! have you forgotten this???? if anyone is racist it's Molly Weasley for her treatment of Fleur which was never given a legit reason why she behaved the way she did. i don't even want to try to count how many times Draco Malfoy calls Hermione a mudblood; are you harassing people with hateful anons for liking Draco? is he somehow more deserving of a redemption than Severus? if you think that, go fuck yourself.

Severus Snape made a mistake when he was very young. he was alone, traumatized, full of bitterness & anger. he first came over to the side of the light for selfish reasons but then so did Regulus & Narcissa & i never see people attacking THEM. Snape made a mistake & worked to atone for this & for 17 years most take for granted he was the puppet for two megalomaniacal masters, neither of whom gave a damn about his life (Dumbledore was worse in SO many ways). in the end, it seems like snaters feel like no matter what you do, no matter what is in your heart & everything you do to try to make it right, your mistake will always define you & death is all you deserve soduspsjapxjosn FUCK THIS SHIT. FUCK ANYONE WHO BELIEVES THIS.

"Severus Snape was not just a bully" yeah you're right he was also honorable, good-at-heart, brave as fuck, fucking brilliant, & while sharp-edged, was dryly hilarious. also, don't you get tired of this same fucking "argument"?? because Snape wasn't the only bully in canon. Molly Weasley is one. so is Dumbledore. so is Hermione. so is Draco, Crabbe, & Goyle. SO WERE THE MARAUDERS. Peter Pettigrew turned out to be one of the worst; do you ever anonymously bully anyone for liking them if they do? while not counting for taste, if anyone DOES like his character, IT'S NOT. MY FUCKING. BUSINESS. nobody is hurting me for liking that character. i am not hurting YOU for liking a character. it's just easier for you to pull this fucking performative, fake-woke, absolutely repulsive purity-culture enabling bullshit than to speak up about things that fucking ACTUALLY MATTER.

do you want to know some characters i like that are ACTUALLY disturbing/toxic/any negative thing you can think of?? i like Acton from the Doyle & Acton New Scotland Yard book series by Anne Cleeland & he is a LITERAL FUCKING STALKER who plays vigilante & takes advantage of his privilege to get away with his crimes lmao. i like Father Konstantin from the Winternight Trilogy even though (or maybe because of is more accurate) he's a younger, prettier, blonder Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame with his behavior towards Vasya who is very much an Esmeralda parallel. it drew me in immediately, their dynamic in that trilogy; so poisonous & twisted & depraved was his obsession with her but it was so PASSIONATE i couldn't look away. i like Krennic from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. if you've seen it, he's the smol, angry man who thinks seeing a planet with historical Jedi sites get destroyed by a previously unknown super weapon is BEAUTIFUL. he has no qualms against forcing someone against his will back to helping to build this weapon, even if it meant killing his family.

so there are just a few that i can think of at the moment who are considerably darker than mere shades of grey; do you send hateful anons to people who like Darth Vader? what about Sauron? Morgoth? what if someone likes VOLDEMORT?????? omg (spoiler alert: they exist, & some have created some of the best hp fanart i've seen, but that's not the point right now). do you attack people for liking other morally grey characters like Kylo Ren/Ben Solo or Lestat? snaters are pathetic. if you don't like Snape, that's perfectly fine; it would just be really cool if you can take your toxic, purity culture mentality & if unable to shove it up your ass at least go haunt the places dedicated to bland, rich white boy bully-loving spaces. go on with your horrid belief that all people who are enduring trauma are only allowed to process/handle it in a set way otherwise they are the Worst Person To Exist (or... not, in this instance, seeing as Severus Snape is a FICTIONAL. FUCKING. CHARACTER). do you not realize this says so much to people in your own life who may see some similarities between themselves & a character you believe makes you a superior entity for hating & judging?? do you not give people you care about another chance after making a mistake???

i'd rather continue loving this prickly, snarky asshole than attempt to "earn your good opinion" or some fucking similar codswallop thank you VERY much. cheerio & all that, & i hope you're able to find something to do you enjoy that doesn't involve judging people for things that really don't matter. if you have an issue with what i post you can always unfollow/block me. complicated controversial comfort characters make for better things to think about than fake wokeness. toodles~

[percywinchester27]

A lot like ‘Us’ (Part-40)

Word count: 4.8K

Pairing: Sam X Reader AU

Warnings: Fluff, angst, feels, sickness

Series Summary: Y/N Y/L/N is eager and honestly, still in awe that she managed to get herself an acceptance from Stanford Law School. On the face of it, her life seems as put together, mysterious and independent as one might hope for. On the insides, she carries the burden of past that haunts her till date. Seemingly, she’d left it all behind; that is until she sets foot in the class of the Law School’s youngest, most promising professor.

A/N: The story employs two different timelines. The present timeline for the story takes place in 2014. Please let me know what you guys think :)

Beta: @deanssweetheart23​​. You’re a Rockstar <3

A lot like ‘Us’ masterlist

No one talked to you today, the whispers though, had escalated. No one was bothering to keep it quiet either. Not just your classmates, even the faculty kept giving you looks, ranging from distrust to pity. Professor Whitman, who never cared much about anything, took a whole minute to find you in the class and give you a once over, like he was seeing you for the first time- Sam Winchester’s flighty wife, back to ruin his life again.

The judgement you could take. The pity was painful. What did they see? A girl who couldn’t appreciate a good man? Or as much as you hated to think of it that way- a girl who couldn't be a mother again.

It came as a surprise when Jody called you to her office after the class. When you followed her in, she closed the door behind and unexpectedly pulled you into a hug.

“I’m sorry about all of this, Y/N,” she said. “It’s awful.”

You waited for her to let go of you then asked, “How much trouble is Sam in?”

Jody pursed her lips. “I want to say, ‘not much’ but we’ll only know on Monday, I suppose.”

“Are you part of the enquiry committee?”

She nodded. “All of the freshman faculty panel is on there. You have nothing to worry about, Y/N. Your grades are impeccable. You can’t possibly be sleeping with all of us.”

“I’m not even sleeping with Sam!” You let out, frustrated. “And I’m more worried about what happens to him.” You were a student. The most they could do is sack you from the students committee and bump down your grades. 

Jody regarded you for a moment. “The two of you are so similar. It’s uncanny.”

She sighed. “I’ll be upfront with you, Y/N. As much as I’ve tried to shake them, Sam’s priorities are set. Even absent, you were very high up on that list. With you in front of him, there are very few things Sam wouldn’t give up for you.”

You already knew that. But was it right to let him make all those sacrifices for someone as undeserving as you?

The thought plagued you after you’d left Jody’s office, just as it had plagued you for the past two days. Outside, you ran into Madison.

“Oh, I was looking for you,” she said. “Sorry, I missed the first few lectures, but I have news for you. One good, one bad.”

“Bad one first,” you said, apprehensive. 

Madison made a face. “Starting the day after tomorrow, I have no place to live.”

“What? Didn’t you have a lease for the whole year?”

“Lacey is screwing someone, who knows someone else who knows the hostel director. And, well, long story short, my lease got prematurely terminated.”

Anger flared inside you again. This was happening to Madison only because she was staunchly standing with you. 

“I want you to come house hunting with me. My brother’s agreed to help me out with the money. So, I’m good to go.”

The idea popped up in your head immediately. “Why don’t you move in with me?” 

Her eyebrows knitted together. “Meg?”

“Meg’s almost moved out next door. I was supposed to put out an add for a roommate but with everything that’s going on…” Convincing Meg to continue with the move had been very difficult. She thought it was some sort of betrayal to leave you by yourself in all this mess. Cas supported her on that. However, everyone was camping in your living room anyway. 

Ultimately, you had to put your foot down and tell her to move her ass out. Your life might always remain a tragedy. It shouldn’t pause her or Cas’s life. She had still slept on your sofa last night.

“You’re serious?” Madison was trying her best to contain her excitement.

“As a heart attack.”

She let out a loud squeal and tackled you. “This is the best thing ever. We’ll be roomies!”

“Not if you call me that.”

Madison’s laughter rang out in your ears. “Now you’ve already offered. You can’t take it back, roomie.”

“Wait, what’s the good news?” 

Her face split into a huge grin. “I heard from the HR at Acton Gris. They won’t hire me as an intern. But she asked me to apply for the position of summer associate next year. She said my chances looked great.”

“That’s wonderful!”

“Yes! I’m thinking of applying for an on campus job this year.”

Madison was sincere, smart and she worked very hard. No wonder good things were in store for her. “Let me talk to Molly today. See if she has some inside intel on vacancies.”

“You’d do that?” Madison couldn’t stop beaming and you smiled right along with her. “The world is a much better place with you in it.”

Not everyone thought that. Following the pattern of the past few days, Rebecca decided to show her face again after the lecture. You had been expecting her at this point. Maybe she couldn’t sleep without venting off her frustration on you. As usual, she had Lacey next to her, who really had gone fully darkside.

“Missing your Professor?”

You saw Madison start, but Rebecca put in. “Oh, stop being her Lapdog, Maxwell. You don’t have to rollover each time she blows a whistle.”

“It’s alright, Maddie,” you said in a calm voice. “As it happens, I do miss him very much.”

“I hope at least the sex was worth it,” said Lacey.

You grinned at her. “Mind-blowing, actually. I remember this one time, I was screaming his name for literal hours. God, the things that man can do. It’s in-credi-ble.” You drew out the last word with a relish.

Lacey’s jaw dropped.

Rebecca recovered quickly. “Christ! You’re shameless. That man’s married with a son. Have you got no shame at all?”

“Weren’t you the one making out with Sam at Maddie’s birthday party in the bar restroom?” You shot back. “I remember you described the bit about feeling his abs in extreme details. He wore his wedding ring around his neck. So how are you not shameless?”

Rebecca’s face reddened in an instant. “What… how…?”

“Doesn’t feel so good when the finger is pointed at you. Right, Rebecca? When you’re the one being put on a spot and your character is being brought into question. It was okay for you to make out with a professor. Why are the rules so different for me?”

“I- I was drunk that night. And I never slept with him!”

“Don’t you dare paint him in that light. As if you were some drunk woman he took advantage of in a toilet cubicle.” You spat. “You’re so desperate that you don’t think twice about lying over something so demeaning. You didn’t touch Sam because at 2 in the night, he wasn’t even there in that bar. So shut that bullshit.”

There was a crowd gathered around you now, and she didn’t like her words coming back to bite her.

“How do you know where Sam was that night?” Rebecca questioned, clearly baffled and out of her element, but trying to salvage the situation and save face.

You rolled your eyes. “We’re having an affair, remember? Keep up, Rebecca. You filed that complaint. Also, don’t worry about his wife, really. She totally doesn’t mind.” You winked.

The murmur around you was starting to intensify. You didn’t know how long it would be before the actual story came out. Or if it ever would come out. Neither did you care. You didn’t owe an explanation to any of these people. 

Rebecca breathed out harshly, and spoke through her teeth, contempt dripping in each word. “You’re disgusting. That child of his-”

“Don’t. Don’t utter a word about that boy,” you hissed, the anger finally burning through. “You’ve done enough harm to Sam’s reputation. But I swear to God, Rebecca, you’ll live to regret it if you so much as dare to think about Max, you deplorable excuse of a living thing.”

The warning was so raw, she flinched back from you as you stormed out. 

Madison did not follow you to the library. She knew when you wanted to be left alone. Attacking Sam was one thing, but you really did want to rip Rebecca’s throat for wanting to bring Max in the middle of it. The fierce protectiveness you felt for him was like nothing else you had experienced before. 

Throughout the following hour, you kept glancing at the door of the library, expecting Max to walk in. Sam had said he would visit. 

Maybe you would ask him to read out to you today. If anything, that could fix your mood.

“Umm… Y/N?”

You looked up to see Molly standing over you. 

“Hey. I didn’t see you there.”

She shuffled from one foot to the other looking at you awkwardly.

You squared your shoulders, realising what she might’ve heard. “Anything you want?”

“I- I wanted to say sorry.”

That brought you up short. “Why?”

Molly ran her fingers through her red hair. “I didn’t know you were… you know… Sam’s wife, and I said horrible stuff to you the other day.”

It hadn’t actually been that horrible. 

“I’d heard the rumours but I swear I didn’t believe a word. Then I ran into Chase Lincoln yesterday. He told me.”

“Everything?”

Molly nodded sadly. “It was wrong of me to make assumptions, Y/N. What happened in Sam’s life was none of my business. And for the reason you left to be so horrifying? I could have never imagined. I’m really, really sorry. I don’t know how to apologize.”

“Stop saying sorry,” you said at once. “I know you’ve always meant well for Sam and for me, Molly. Everyone likes to gossip. It’s no big deal. You didn’t hurt or offend me.”

“There must be something I can do, novia.”

“Never bring it up again. Please. Let’s just forget that conversation happened.”

You saw her eyes start to fill up. “Take the rest of the week off, yeah? Come back Monday.”

“You’re low on staff already.” You did not want anyone’s sympathy.

“I’m not doing this for you,” she said. “Spend the weekend with Sam. He’ll need a distraction more than ever before that hearing on Monday. Okay?”

“Okay.”

Molly disappeared into the librarian’s room before the waterworks started. She didn’t want you to see her tear up so you didn’t follow her in, continuing with your sideways glances at the door. The sharp ring of your phone made you jump.

“Hello?” You answered the unknown number

“Y/N? It’s Alex. Sam left me your number in case of emergencies.” She sounded frantic.

“Is everything okay?” 

“Can you please come over? Max is really sick and… he’s… he’s asking for you.”

*****

Instead of knocking on the door, you straight up punched the security key and barged into the house.

“Max? Alex?”

“Up here!” You heard Alex’s voice. Taking two steps at a time you made it to Max’s room. Your chest contracted, seeing Max in the bed. He was curled up on his side, cheeks wet, face puffy from crying. 

Alex was sitting on a chair next to him, distressed.

“What’s wrong?” You asked, rushing to Max’s side and placing a hand against his forehead. He was burning up.

“I don’t know,” said Alex, “He was fine when I picked him up from school. He said he was feeling sick half an hour ago and now he’s running a fever. I tried calling his usual doctor but it says the number doesn’t exist anymore. He’s been crying and calling out for Sam and... you.”

“Did you try Sam?”

“He’s not reachable.”

“Max, honey, what’s wrong?” You asked as gently as you could. “Do you hurt somewhere?”

He opened his eyes and your heart lurched at the tears in them. “Stomach. My stomach hurts. I want dad.”

“Sam will be home at night. He’ll be with you.” You turned to Alex. “Is he allergic to something?” 

“Not that I know of.”

You were sure he hadn’t had outside food in at least a week, so food poisoning was out.

“Does your body hurt, baby?”

Max nodded slowly, drawing into himself. “And my head.”

“Alex, could you please find the first aid box and get me a thermometer?”

She scampered off to find it, relieved to have someone else take charge of the situation. Keeping one hand on Max’s forehead, you reached out for your purse with the other and pulled out your phone. Thankfully, the number was on the speed dial. He picked up the phone on the second ring.

“Cas, where are you?”

“At the hospital. Everything okay?”

“No. Max is running a high fever. I’d guess around 101. He says he’s feeling sick, and has stomach and body ache.”

There was a pause, then Cas said. “Can you drive him to the hospital? Bring him directly to the paeds ward on the 7th floor. I’ll see you there in fifteen minutes.”

Alex was back with the thermometer. 102.3. Thankfully, she had a license and Claire’s car was in their driveway. You asked her to bring it out front.

After she left, you gently coaxed Max into a sitting position, he looked drowsy and was still sniffling a little. “Honey, listen to me. You’re going to have to deal with a little inconvenience, okay? We’re going to drive you to the hospital very quickly.”

“Hospital?” He mumbled. eyes filling up again. 

“It’s just Cas there,” you soothed him. “You remember Cas, right? We all played jenga together.”

Max opened his mouth to say something, instead his eyes widened and threw up over the front of your sweater and into your lap. 

He started crying immediately. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Your eyes filled up. “It’s okay, baby. It’s no big deal.” You removed the puke covered sweater and used to wipe away the vomit stuck to your jeans. “See, it’s all gone. No need to worry at all.”

The retching had left him weak and shivering. 

“Just stay put a minute.” You hurriedly tossed your sweater in the hamper by the door, and pulled on one of Sam’s overlarge shirts over your T-shirt. Once back, you grabbed Max’s grey blanket and wrapped it around him. Slinging your purse around your torso, you lifted him in your arms and carried into the car that was already waiting at the curb. You held Max close to your chest in the backseat, whispering soft reassurances in his ears. 

Just as Alex pulled up in front of the hospital, Max threw up on you again. It made him cry harder. You realised it was not just humiliating for him, he was missing his dad terribly. 

“Max, honey, it’s totally okay,” you assured him, kissing his brow. “I used to throw up so much as a kid, gran used to call me projectile Y/N. Just puke all around me all the time. Hell, ask your dad. He held my hair when I threw up in the toilet. It’s my jam. And we’ve got a  towel now. Let’s clean you up, okay?”

Thankfully, the blanket wasn’t soiled, so you could keep it around him as you carried him in the lift.

Cas was waiting for you there. He immediately guided you to a bed and laid Max down on it. You started to step back.

“Y/N, don’t go,” Max rasped out. 

“I’m right here, Chirp. I’m not going anywhere, but Cas needs to take a look at you.”

Max still reached out with his hand. You looked at Cas. He gave you a quick nod and you rushed to Max’s side once more, grasping his outstretched fingers tightly. Cas pressed Max’s tummy, asking where exactly it hurt, then checked the temperature again along with the pulse. You watched apprehensively as Cas pulled down Max’s eyelids and asked more questions. Meanwhile, the chills kept getting worse.

“It looks like he’s caught a viral fever. The nurse outside told me it’s been doing a round at the school. We’ve had many kids this week.”

“Why is he throwing up then?”

“It’s probably the phlegm. I don’t think there’s a reason to worry. I’ll give him an IV with paracetamol and nausea suppressants. He’ll feel much better in a few hours.” Cas hesitated. “Maybe you should ask Sam before we start the treatment. Only he can sign off on the papers. You’ll need the details of the health insurance.”

“I can’t get to him. We’ve been trying non-stop.” 

Would Sam want you to make such decisions on his behalf? Max was looking paler than usual and was clearly in pain. You couldn’t wait till midnight to start him on medication. It was killing you to see him hurting like this.

“Screw the insurance. I’ll pay whatever the bill comes out to be… and I’ll sign off on the papers as well.”

Cas gave you an apprehensive look. “Y/N?”

“Look,” you said through your teeth, “I’m still his legal guardian. I have that right. Just start him on the medication. I can’t bear to see him like this.”

“Alright.” Cas said something to the nurse behind him who rushed out and then came back with a syringe. 

“This is going to hurt just a little, Max,” Cas said, flicking at the needle.

You crouched down next to Max’s head. “You’re my brave boy, aren’t you? One little prick and that will be all. You’ll feel so much better afterwards. Can you do that?” 

Max gave you one quick jerk of his neck. “Close your eyes.” He did. 

Cas pushed the needle into the tiny crease of Max’s arm and you flinched, tears pouring down your cheeks. Max did not even make a whimper. The nurse stuck a piece of white tape over the puncture mark after Cas was done.

“You need to swallow these two little tablets,” Cas said, handing them to Max along with a glass of water. Max looked at you and you nodded encouragingly. Without any fuss, he did as Cas said. You hugged Max very tightly to your chest. “You’re the bravest little thing in this world, you know that? And I’m so damn proud of you. You get every cookie you can think of when you feel better, yeah?”

“We’ll keep him here till the nausea subsides,” said Cas. “Once he feels better, you can take him home.”

Cas seemed concerned, but it wasn’t directed at Max- which made you feel better. It was directed at you. “You better sign off on those papers, Y/N.”

“Can you please bring them here?” You pleaded. “I don’t want to leave Max.” The boy in question was still hugging your middle tightly.

“Of course.”

It was with shivering hands that you filled out the form. You stared at the paper for a whole minute before ticking off on the small box in the relationship to the patient column against mother. Max had fallen asleep in your arms and the tears just wouldn’t stop. You knew he was going to be okay, the fever was already coming down and he had stopped shivering. Sweat dewed up on his forehead. 

Occasionally you wiped it off with the back of your sleeve. 

But you were terrified of this feeling- like the world would go dark if a single wrong thing happened to this boy. There was a point in your life when you were ready to own up to this feeling, looking forward to it even- and then you had lost it, along with every other emotion in your heart. Since the day you had met Max, you’d been dancing along the edge of the precipice of this very feeling- this selfless, immense love. Not ready to take the leap. Scared that you’d be shattered if you did.

Were you scared of being a bad mother? Or were you simply scared of being a mother? 

As you sat there, alone, in the small clinical room, with Max softly snoring in your lap, you realised that what you truly feared above and beyond everything was giving in to feeling this love and losing it again. 

If you accepted him as your son, and then something happened to him, you wouldn’t make it out of it alive. Literally. Not accepting Sam’s love and a place in his and Max’s life was not only a product of your doubts and self-hatred. It was a plain survival instinct. The epiphany was so strong, it left you breathless.

You felt a hand against your shoulder. Cas’s blue eyes were sympathetic in their depth. “You can take him home now, Y/N.” He didn’t try to reassure you beyond it. He had a subtle way of comforting without saying the words out loud.

You called Alex again, who had been reading in the waiting room and she drove you back to Max’s place. He’d been asleep through the ride, right until you put him to bed. Insisting that Alex go back home and study for her exams, you stripped down to your tank top, pulled on a pair of Sam’s tracks. After making sure that Max was still out, you cleaned up your clothes, and the mess on the floor and side of Max’s bed. You didn’t dare close the door of the bathroom, lest Max call out to you and you couldn’t answer. 

Taking the chance, you made some chicken soup for him, and only then did you wake him up, gently. 

Max called out for Sam the moment he opened his eyes and your heart broke again. Doing your best to reassure him that Sam was on his way, you cajoled Max into changing out of his dirty clothes and into fresh ones. 

He refused to eat the soup, but with soft insistence, you persuaded him to finish half a bowl of it. 

“You’ll read to me?” He said in a muted, dull voice as you tucked him back in the bed.

“Of course, sweetheart, what do you want me to read?”

“Anything.”

You looked around the room, your eyes landing on the only book over his nightstand. 

“Alright, here we go.” You flipped to the page with a bookmark. “We could not wait for Atticus to come home for dinner, but called and said we had a big surprise for him. He seemed surprised when he saw most of the back yard in the front yard, but he said we had done a jim-dandy job. “I didn’t know how you were going to do it,” he said to Jem, “but from now on I’ll never worry about what’ll become of you, son, you’ll always have an idea...”

*********

It was stupid and incredibly irresponsible on Sam’s part to let his phone drain out completely. Even worse, he’d left it to charge in the meeting room and forgotten to check it in the next couple of hours while he met with the children in the boy’s home. He came back to 17 missed calls and 23 text messages- from Alex and Y/N. 

Max was sick and he’d had no idea.

Sam had frantically called first thing after going through the texts. Y/N had picked up only to whisper that Max was better and asleep, and that Sam needn’t worry. For the next five hours, Sam worried ceaselessly anyway. It drove Chase up the wall, but he played his music loudly in the car all the way till Sam dropped him off and didn’t point out how Sam was a total maniac. 

The clock on his dashboard blinked 1:22 as he made the bend to his house.

Sam parked the car all wrong in the driveway, barely giving it a second thought before running inside. He should’ve been quieter, knowing Max was asleep, but the anxiety barely kept his legs moving. He would have continued at the same rate through Max’s door if the scene before him hadn’t made him stop.

On the bed, Max was sleeping peacefully. He was dressed in a thin cotton t-shirt, the lower half of his body was covered in his blanket. That wasn’t what made Sam stop. Y/N was curled up beside him, her arm thrown around Max, who was nextled so comfortably in her embrace that he belonged there. Max’s book was balanced over Y/N’s hip, wedged open on the page she had been reading out of. On the nightstand, stood a bowl of cold soup, half empty, along with water and strips of medicine. The table on Y/N’s side held a cooking pot filled with water and a washcloth lay dipped in it. She’d been nursing him- from fever or the sweat, Sam couldn’t say.

Slowly, he walked up to Max, and very very carefully placed the back of his hand on his forehead. No fever. 

Sam looked about himself. The floor was strewn with Max’s clothes that smelled like he had been sick over them. Sam picked up the clothes and carried them to the washing machine. Inside was already a dry load of clothes that belonged to Y/N and him. So Max had thrown up on her. More than once.

Sam knew from the messages that Y/N had taken Max to the hospital- had her friend, whom she trusted implicitly take a look at his son, signed the papers as his guardian and paid the bill out of her pocket.

The thought occurred to Sam as he undressed for the night. In that last message, Y/N had apologised for signing off on Sam’s behalf, as if he could ever be mad at her for dropping whatever she was doing to look after his son, the way a mother would.

Sam understood now why Max had thrown a fit when Sam had forbidden him from seeing Y/N. It had hurt Sam that he couldn’t be enough for Max, that Max was looking for something more in Y/N. But seeing them together now, Sam could see he had been completely wrong. Max wasn’t asking something more, he’d been asking for what already belonged to him- Y/N’s love. Max had been right all along.

Sam pulled the covers and duvet off his bed and dragged to Max’s room where he laid them out at the foot of Max’s bed, so he’d be sleeping next to him on the floor. An alarm started going off on Y/N’s phone, and Sam jumped to turn it off. It was already 2 O’ clock. She had set successive alarms for every hour of the night, Sam presumed to check on Max. Sam turned off all of them. He was home now, he could take care of it. 

He checked Max’s temperature once more- still normal- and then bent down to place a kiss on his forehead. It was almost November. Max always had bouts of viral or flu in the cold months. He should have foreseen it. If Y/N hadn’t been around…

The expression on her face was so peaceful as she held onto his boy, tears sprang into Sam’s eyes. This was everything he wanted in his life. Everything. Right in front of him. He bent down once more and planted a soft kiss on her cheek. She didn’t wake at his touch, but adjusted herself closer to Max on the tiny bed, the book falling off her hip with a soft thud onto the thick carpet. 

Sam lay down on the floor, thinking of a night very long ago when Y/N had fallen asleep on the  sofa in his house, back in Lawrence. He’d read to her from this very book that night- for the first time. Sam had slept besides her on the floor that night as well. A writer would have called the parallel poetic… but Sam saw it for what it was, shrouded in a mist of uncertainty all around him- a haunting ache inside his soul.

He couldn’t thank her for what she’d done for his Max today- not only would that gesture be insufficient, it would be insulting. No, Sam wouldn’t thank her. Instead, he would check up on Max every hour, make her breakfast in bed, and iron her clothes before she woke up, so she wouldn't be late for classes tomorrow. He would pack her a lunch and kiss her goodbye at the door. Maybe she would see through him and understand how incredibly grateful he was for today… and how tragically hopeful he was for the future, when he could do these simple things everyday without the excuse of an unsaid thank you.

“I love you, Darling,” he whispered. “It can only ever be you.”

*****************************

A/N 2: It’s been a hard, awful few days. I must be made up of stronger stuff than I thought I was.

Please do let me know if you liked this part. Reblogs and comments are very much appreciated. 

Five more chapters to go!

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[laurent--stpierre]

NEW YEAR’S EVE 2020 [2 of ?]:

*Inbetweeners voice* OOOH, FRIEND.

Date: December 31st, 2020. About 10:30pm. Warnings: None.

“You’re going to be back before the countdown, right?”

“I promise I’ll be half an hour, tops…”

Though she looked unconvinced, agitated even, Zahira didn’t protest.

It wasn’t hard to be heard over the music given both the quieter corner of the club, and their close proximity. Since she had arrived just under an hour ago (having first made her obligatory appearance at the political party over in the Chelsea Royal) Laurent had refused to let her out of his sight. Whilst tonight was scarred by the one year anniversary of several, deeply unpleasant events at The Kingdom, he was attempting to hold on to the fact that it had also marked an important beginning: them.

Maybe he was becoming a sentimental bastard in his old age.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

It wasn’t until his thumb brushed across her cheek that he realised how cold she was.

The Frenchman’s eyebrows pulled together in a frown, his concern blatant.

When she smiled back at him, it was almost sad: “I’ll be fine. I think it was the Scotch. I wasn’t about to turn down a personal toast with Elizabeth Acton…”

Despite not being entirely convinced by her explanation, it did come as some relief. For a woman he’d never once seen drink alcohol in the year he’d spent with her, he reasoned that was a sure fire way to make herself feel like shit.

“We can head home after the countdown if you want?”

“No,” she shot back quickly, shaking her head. It was an action that had her grimacing a moment later. Laurent watched as she reached up to her neck, disappointment and pain etched into her features. “No, I’m just tired. It’s your party, you’re not leaving. I’ll be fine. I’ll go after midnight, and you can catch up with me later, okay? You should spend some time with Oliver.”

The internal battle off the back of her words was more intense than he’d been expecting. The way her expression read and the idea of leaving her behind whilst he attended to business? Laurent found himself questioning whether it was worth it. That was, until he saw a look on Varden’s face that was even more agonizing than that of his girlfriend. For a man that’d been struggling all night, it looked as if he was about to hit breaking point, and Laurent couldn’t blame him after all that he’d suffered through in the last month. This was a shot they had to take, and he wasn’t about to leave him walking into the fucking lion’s den alone…

“Okay,” he finally conceded. The sigh that followed was a testament to his unease.

Zahira looked pleased at his acceptance, though her smile remained muted.

“Just stay with Aurélie, all right? She’ll look after you.”

Though he’d looked up, ready to snap his fingers to get the angry dwarf’s attention, to his surprise, she was already glancing their way, acknowledging him with a gentle nod of her head before he even had to ask. The St. Clair reached out to touch the top of her arm softly before Laurent grabbed his coat and moved to wrap it around her shoulders.

“You worry too much…”

If only she understood how much better that was than not worrying enough.

When he leaned back in to kiss her, the three words he mumbled against her lips, his first I love you, was enough to make their parting slightly less bitter.

Though it hadn’t been his intention to leave the party at all until someone had to physically carry him out of the place in a state of characteristic, paralytic euphoria, when one of their soldiers had approached their table with news that somebody of interest had been spotted at a bar a few streets over, it became clear that action was required.

Medea was in Westminster, and Varden was keen to introduce himself before the opportunity once again disappeared into thin air.

“If you’d rather take Vorya, you needn’t explain yourself to me.”

Varden’s tone was so genuine in its understanding that Laurent almost felt guilty.

In the same way that the older man sought revenge for his son, he was well aware that the one in tow had his own demons to confront.

“Someone else is handling it,” Laurent said, as he followed the imposing man toward one of the private rooms at the rear of the club. Before they could do anything else, there was important business to be dealt with. “I’ve got your back.”

Though he didn’t speak as he pushed open the door into the dimly lit room, Laurent took his solemn nod as thanks.

“So, what’s the game plan, kids?”

It was Noa that greeted them first, despite the fact there was a handful of people waiting, all of them looking like they had their own input to offer. Laurent shoved his hands into his pockets as he waited for Varden to take charge of the meeting. To his surprise, however, the man who had since rescinded his own authority as the head of London (albeit it temporarily, he hoped) gestured for the Commandant to instead take the lead.

“All right,” he started, gearing himself up to orchestrate what they all knew could either be a night  they would celebrate for months to come, or something as catastrophic as a year prior. There was a brief pause. That was all he needed. “If they get any bright ideas about hitting here or AU in response to our little gift, I want someone over there to back up our guests. You still have some Launceston contacts, don’t you? Want to go and make them feel at home?”

“Ooh, I do,” she cooed, a playful smirk gracing her lips. “I also can’t think of a better way to bring in the New Year than bludgeoning a few Russians to death. Count us in.”

Laurent knew she had almost certainly not recovered enough from Hallowe’en to be doing any of the damage herself, but there was a fire in Dan’s eyes that suggested she wouldn’t need to lift a fucking finger for all hell to be rained down on anybody that dared.

“Jean can join you for backup, but I want the rest of you here.”

Aurélie had to be the priority, always.

“Varden and I are headed a few blocks over, but it’ll be quick. If anything happens here, someone calls us fucking immediately. No excuses. Lost your hands? Dial with your fucking face.”

“Wait, so who’s taking the trip to Vorya?”

It wasn’t lost on him that, like Varden, all those who watched on expected him to be the one to deliver that particularly brutal blow to the Russians, because he’d fucking earned it. The blood on his hands would have to be enough for now. His name had already been attached to more than enough shit to put him in the hot seat. Laurent could take one for the team and let someone else take it.

Someone far more content to be identified as the antagonist…

“That’d be me.”

A gravelly voice, vaguely familiar in its disdain, echoed over his shoulder, causing the Frenchman to turn his head momentarily and watch as the silhouette of a man came into view.

“Well, well, well,” someone muttered with amusement.

“I thought you were all spending the night at AU.” It was only when Noa got to her feet that some of the confused expressions of those who hadn’t been present in Porto Velho or Launceston faded: “A pleasant surprise indeed, Vincenzo.”

Varden stood in silence.

“Need back up, Vespucci?” Someone heckled from the corner.

The laugh that followed was colder than the bitch he was fucking delivering.

“No. I think I brought more than enough of my own.”

And oh, wouldn’t the Russians soon know it…

[arkadykurylenko]

Post-Drop

@ohhophelie; @cassandra-acton; @andrew-eberhart

There was something so irredeemably selfish about the French and the Rutherfords killing each other without having invited the Russians to watch.

Rude.

Initially, Arkady’s bid seemed impossible. The cheese-pastry party had entertained the Russian assassin with a number of fascinating observations; an argument between a pawn and a knight, a baby-daddy’s judgement, a tit-ery of a drunk time from a Rutherford’s puppy mill, the castration of a hipster, a yellow-brick-road of a brotherly tears, a tragic love between fighters, a gelastic one between undergraduates, two blondes and all the dicks they could hold, a piggly-wiggly Batman with quite the leash, a twice-hooked fish in a corner, an ass and its detached face becoming one, and a decent-ish bitch dressed as divorce papers.

And yet, no opportunity to stab Ophélie Redgrave.

Who, like her myopic politician cousin, had taken to moving around the venue seated on the dick of some Marvel hero. All-in-all, the socialite had been making things difficult.

Had.

It was wonderful how plans came together, especially when expectations were high. The breakout of chaos was unoriginal but so hilarious; so, so, so funny when they had thought themselves the quality class. What a bunch of fucking cash cows up for slaughter. French-this, Rutherford-that; die.

Like a stream of falling dominoes, the party turned rampant. At. A. Pace. Violently quick, and pushy, there was a sudden wave of stampeding people going for exits and the most amazing prospect to do so much more damaged than asked became a genuine possibility for the Russian. It was simply too delicious. Too perfect. Bless, God.

“Redgrave!” Someone yelled at a distance.

With fluidity, the assassin mockingly screamed with the crowd, all but singing a tone-deaf ‘noooo’ as she slipped between bodies before finding the woman in question; giddy. With two leaping bounds, the assassin hugged the woman from behind, entrapping her arms with a stiff squeeze.

“Don’t panic, and definitely don’t move, bird,” the assassin whispered.

“There’s something on your back. I don’t think I can take it off without help… Oh, God, what is it? Have you seen your cousin? Maybe she can help?” With a little panic-humored jig, the assassin bounced her weight between her legs as she looked around the tube for the phobic Acton. “Look there, I see her! Aren’t we lucky? Cassandra, your cousin, she needs help!”

Good, the narc following the MP looked their way from a distance and pointed out Ophélie and herself; ah, the poetry, Batman and Freddie looking at them, Ophelia and a Jesus Fresco looking back, a couple of traumatized guests in this mean, mean world.

“Really quickly here, Redgrave, while we have your cousin’s attention from this distance; I need your undivided attention. Hamlet’s speaking, so, shhhh.” The assassin’s grip tightened, “Your cousin is at the end of a rope. If she’s not careful, someone is going to cut it. So, we’re offering you an ultimatum, because you’re intelligent; Cassandra needs to keep her mouth shut in The Commons, especially about Russia. If she doesn’t, we carve a hole out of your family. Then hers. Your parents, your brothers, their family, your pets; but you, you first.” The assassin repeated, “Don’t panic. But, there is something on your back.”

In a breath, the Russian let go of Ophélie to carve a quick ‘C’ into her lower-back while keeping eye contact with Cassandra Acton; did she notice something was wrong yet? Perhaps it needed to be more obvious?

Trading the smuggled knife between hands, the assassin held her victim close as she waved at the distance party with a smile. In the dark, dim madness, the knife glinted. And, it must have flashed even more when the weapon came across Ophélie chest to slash across her sternum in a full body drag. “Don’t panic but the thing on your back, I think it’s your cousin.”

With a push, and a parting second wave, the solo assassin rushed into the frightened mass of bodies. Leaving the socialite’s body on the ground. If the drug dealer wasn’t dead, well, she might want to be in a second or two.

This wasn’t something the Russian thought about though; opportunity was abound.

[biihoebi]

@newsiesgiftexchange

for @what-goesaround-comesaround for the Newsies Winter Gift Exchange 2020

aaaah ok so this unbetad because usually I bully you into betaing my stuff so it's quite stream of consciousness but whateverr. also maybe I took some creative liberties on the historical accuracy but who cares

(its kind of a shit show but shhhh Irish Spot)

——————————————————————–

read on ao3 here

——————————————————————–

While it was Jack's father who taught him not to starve it was his mother who taught him the value of his heritage. Which is why when the new kid at the lodging house was sitting at the end of his bed, distressed over a throwaway comment Albert had made, Jack was doing his best to comfort them.

"He said I was losing my accent" Rua had all but wailed. "How can I be Irish without me accent. And Granda said he used to have flaming hair like mine before it went dark with age. Then I won't even look Irish." they continued.

"But yer Irish by blood not by hair or by voice. I mean my hair ain't red but you'd be hard pressed tryna tell me I isn't Irish." Jack sighed. "Look, I've never stepped foot in Ireland, youse is ahead of me there, but my Mam kept it alive in the stories she told. Some were legends and some were just memories of her and her siblings getting into all sorts of trouble in the fields. And I can speak Irish just as good as the next guy, no matter what Spot Conlon says" he finished. Rua let out a short sniffle.

"But my Mam works in a factory. I never see her no more" they said wiping their face with their sleeve.

"We ain't the same, I'm Irish sure but I was born here. Youse is better off asking Spot about this, he was born in Dublin, didn't come here til he was about 8. And seeing as Albert started this whole mess he can be the one to go to Brooklyn to deliver the message after he's done selling. Now it's time for newsies to go to bed, you ain't no use selling if your half asleep." Jack declared.

——————————————————————–

To a bright eyed and bushy tailed Rua morning couldn't come soon enough and neither could the circulation bell nor could the final sell of the day. By the time Albert left for Brooklyn every newsie in Manhattan knew about it and was sick of hearing about it.

"Just because Albert's gone today, don't mean Spots gonna visit today. Heck he mightn't even visit at all. Do youse really think this is a big enough deal for the King of Brooklyn to take time out of his busy sche-

"Stop shit stirring Boots" Jack interrupted sternly. "Just because Spot doesn't like Brits like you doesn't mean he won't help out a fellow Paddy" he joked. At that Boots straightened his back

"I'll have you know Mr Kelly that Spot Conlon said I's is the best 'Brit' he knows" he said, smugly straightening an imaginary tie.

"Best of a rotten bunch" a new voice chimed in. Every newsie in the room suddenly started scrambling to look half presentable. "I got your message Kelly, now where's the young wayne?" the person continued. In response Jack stepped aside revealing Rua, who had been hiding behind his legs.

"I-I'm Rua" they stuttered out. The man crouched down to their eye level.

"I'm Spot Conlon, but I thought youse was supposed to be Irish. Where's me 'dia duit'? It's like you ain't even tryin'. No wonder youse losing yer accent" Spot said. That did nothing to help the already nervous wreck that Rua was.

Spot shot up suddenly, shooing everyone but Jack, Rua, Crutchie and Race out. He sat down on the middle bed and kicked his feet up, gesturing for everyone to follow. Ever the rebel Race decided to lean against the bunk instead while the rest settled into the surrounding beds. "Look, Jack says youse is struggling with moving on with yer life while staying Irish. I went through the same thing when I first came 'nd look at me now, King of New York"

"King of Brooklyn" Race coughed out which Spot shot daggers at him for.

"I'se is the King of New York, don't let no street rat tell you otherwise" he spat "but I wasn't always, I was once a youngin like you, fresh off the boat with only my poor parents and a sack full of stuff between us…"

——————————————————————–

The dock bustled with workers and passengers alike. Some leaving but most stepping off boats and into their new lives. Among those coming off was a young Seán Conlon. With wild hair and big eyes filled with the wonder and excitement of seeing somewhere beyond the slums of Dublin. It was an outbreak of TB amongst the tenements that did it in for his parents.

Seán didn't have long to admire the new world he had just entered before his hand was grabbed and he was dragged off into a long line filled with fellow immigrants. Hours passed before the tired young boy would make it through the front door to his new home. It was a small one room apartment completely unlivable by today's standard but to someone from the worst slums in Europe it might as well have been Buckingham. "Go bhfoire Dia orainn, tá sé linne!! Níl aon theaghlach eile ina gconaionn liomsa?" Seán gawked in awe.

"Tá, ach bí curamach, níl cead agat bí ag caint as gaeilge nuair a tá tú taobh amuigh" his father responded.

"Cén fáth?"

"Mar ní maith a lán daoiní, duine eile ag caint as gaeilge agus sin é sin a bhfuil."

"Ceart go leor"

That night Seán lay awake in his bed wondering why anyone could dislike speaking Irish. Well besides the British but Uncle Seamus always said that their opinion didn't matter and that he and a few of his friends from the Irish Republican Brotherhood would soon rid Ireland of them. Whatever that meant. His father would always laugh alongside and say 'that would be the day' while his mother would give out to him for encouraging Seamus.

It wouldn't be for a few weeks that Seán would find out what his dad was talking about. He was out selling papers to help make ends meet, as small as the room was all three of them had to work hard in order to pay for it. He stood there waiting at the gate for the circulation bell to ring, when it happened. On his first day one of the older kids taught him a few tricks and gave him a few pieces of advice. One of those pieces was 'stay away from Acton Williams'. An unspoken rule he had managed to avoid up until that point.

Acton had walked right into him, dropping a strange wooden item in the process. Seán liked to think that his mother raised him right so he apologized and bent down to pick up the trinket

"Brón orm" he mumbled as he crouched, item in hand.

"The fuck you say to me?" Acton grunted. Seán froze realising his mistake and everyone went silent at the sound of Acton's voice.

"I was just saying sorry" Seán rushed out, trying desperately not to get baited so soon after joining the newsies. Acton let out a laugh.

"That's not what you said though is it?" he said " see I think youse was speaking some stupid language from the stupid country you came from. So I'mma ask again 'the fuck you say to me?"

"I said 'brón orm', you heard me the first time," Seán said, gaining confidence. It was one thing to be intimidated by an older kid who would definitely knock your block off but his Nan taught him better than to let someone talk shite about Ireland. Acton scoffed.

"I pity the Mum who raised such a rude brat " he spat taking a step towards Seán.

"Yeah well I pity the Mam who gave birth to such an ugly ogre"

And they were off! Acton could easily outrun Seán's tiny legs so his only hope was to lose him with twists and turns through the back alleys and busy streets. After what felt like hours of running, Seán finally ran into a deadend. Turning to face a panting Acton, Seán gulped and started reciting any and all prayers he could think of to any saints that popped into his head. In fact it wasn't until Seán went to clasp his hands in prayer that he noticed what he had picked up earlier.

A slingshot!!

Grabbing the nearest rock Seán loaded the sling. 'Dear St Anthony, pleeaassee help me find the ability to aim well' he prayed as he scrunched his eyes shut and released.

The next thing Seán heard was the large thump an unconscious Actons body made as it hit the ground. Opening his eyes to examine the noise he had heard Seán was shocked to see his feeble attempt at fighting back was actually a success. Seán quickly pocketed the slingshot and left before Acton had time to wake up.

——————————————————————–

"...and that's what it means to be Irish" Spot finished proudly

"Beating up British people is what it means to be Irish?" Rua said in awe of Spot's story. Spot grinned.

"See, this kid gets it" he joked, ruffling Ruas hair.

"That was a lovely story yer highness but how is that surppsoed to help 'em keep their accent" Race chipped in.

"Well what about you then Higgins if you have so much to say? D'you have any stories worth listening to?"

"What about being Italian? Well I-"

"Italian? Are ye not Irish?"

"No? What made you think that?"

"Yer surname is Higgins"

"Yeah, Higgins is a classic Italian name"

Jack and Spot made eye contact for a good minute before bursting out laughing. "Yer telling me this entire time youse never knew you was Irish?" Jack choked out between laughs. Even Rua stifled a giggle.

"My own mam was a Higgin, Racetrack" Spot roared. "Yee just can't make this stuff up" he said wiping a tear from his eye. Race's face was a brilliant red as he sputtered out excuses.

"Yer just joking, right guys? Right guys??"

——————————————————————–

BONUS :

At the gates the next morning Seán stood there absolutely shitting bricks. What had happened yesterday had been a stroke of luck but if Acton decided to continue the fight he was dead meat.

"Wait, is that Williams? No way what's with the giant bruise on his forehead?" a voice spoke interrupting Seán's train of thought.

"No way that's a bruise, he doesn't get those" another shot back. Soon a whole symphony of voices were arguing over whether it was a bruise or not.

"Wait a minute, weren't you getting chased by him yesterday, newbie? How come there's not a scratch on ya, and why's there only a big bruise on him?" the first voice said piecing the puzzle together. Soon everyone was crowding around Seán, looking for the story of what happened.

"Look nothing really happened" Seán reassured trying to downplay the situation "he chased me for a bit before I eventually shot him with this sling and he passed out on the spot."

Apparently telling them he knocked out the bully of the newsies was not the right thing to say to defuse the situation. Some started cheering for him others just rolled their eyes at his story.

"He clearly made that up on the spot" one voice chiming in.

"Nah, look at Acton, that's a massive bruise, obviously from being shot with a sling" another rebutted. Eventually the crowd settled a bit and someone had the common sense to ask for his name.

"Oh! I'm Seán." he responded. Everyone groaned.

"Not yer real one, yer newsies one" someone said. After Seán told them he didn't have one, everyone put their thinking caps on.

"Let's call him Spot, 'cause we'll never really know if he knocked him down on the spot or made up that story on the spot."

[thewidowstanton]

Josie Stone: costumier

Costumier Josie Stone was born in London and lived and worked there most of her life but is now based in Rochester in Kent. She’s been in the business “going back to the Flower Power days of the sixties” in London’s King’s Road, and worked for a lot of up-and-coming pop groups, selling clothes to Tommy Roberts’ Kleptomania in Carnaby Street. She made fashion samples for designers Paddy Campbell and Katherine Cusack, and one Christmas Liberty’s department store had windows showcasing Cusack’s dresses – including one for Diana, Princess of Wales – all of which Josie had made. She also created samples for adverts in the boutique Medusa near Sloane Square. 

Later Josie moved into the entertainment industry, making outfits for both the children’s and adults’ Royal Variety Performances, as well as doing TV work for the Des O’Connor Show, the Michael Barrymore Show, the Lesley Garrett and Frank Skinner shows, TFI Friday and for organisations such as Butlins and Bassline Circus. She’s made costumes for shows on cruise ships and for films such as Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again, and has made those for Thursford Christmas Spectacular for many years. Even though Thursford always credits her work, her considerable contribution to the industry has largely gone unrecognised. 

She is performer Becky [Rebecca] Burford’s mother, and her son-in-law is stunt man Andrew Burford. The Widow’s Liz Arratoon has always regarded costumes as a vital part of any show and was delighted when Josie agreed to chat about her impressive – and lengthy – career. 

The Widow Stanton: Have you always loved clothes and fashion? Josie Stone: It was always in me. I was one of these kids that when my mother and father bought me a sewing machine I made all my dolls’ clothes.

Was this skill in your family background? No, my mum was very good at sewing… very good. But no they didn’t do this. My father was a printer. I learnt a lot at school and a lot from my mum. I didn’t go to college; we had lessons at school for making… millinery classes and also sewing classes.

That’s amazing! We had sewing classes at school but we never learnt anything worthwhile. How did you start out actually working in the industry? I left school and went to a couple of places making shirts but that didn’t last long. Then I met up with this guy who had his workroom above Tesco’s in Victoria. He was very keen to start making… it was like Flower Power days but you couldn’t buy shirts and trousers and things like that for the pop groups. Those sort of things just weren’t around. So I went to work with him. It was a rented flat he lived in and we were all working in there making these things. Then he suddenly got this place down King’s Road in Chelsea called The Potato Shop; on the corner in World’s End. At the time Granny Takes a Trip was just down the road from us, with this American car sticking out the window that appeared to crash through on to the step. It was great! I mean good fun, great fun!

Do you design as well as make? No, I don’t design. I get a drawing and that’s it. It depends on who the designer is… sometimes you get ‘I want that at the bottom, I want the skirt to look like that and the top to look like that’. 

Can you remember any of the pop groups you worked for? [Laughs] No! You’re talking a lot of years ago, lots of years ago. It was any group that was starting out in that industry and they had nowhere to buy their things. We would buy Indian bedspreads and make them into kaftans, sailors’ trousers, dyeing them all different colours and altering them, and frilly shirts that would be sold to the antique market at the Sloane Square end of the King’s Road, near the town hall. We had one floor in The Potato Shop and there were crazy carryings on downstairs in the basement. We didn’t really know what it was all about but it was a bit naughty. One night we sneaked back into the place and worked all night so this guy could get his order out. 

We always hear about the Swinging Sixties… how much fun was it?  Oh, King’s Road was lovely. Beautiful, beautiful. It was a wonderful place to be in the sixties with all the Flower Power, then the punks. It was great fun; it was wonderful fun. It was all unknown to me; it was all new and that was the start of me getting into that type of work. My dad worked just off of Carnaby Street and he got us work from Kleptomania, a big, big place where all the pop groups used to go. We’d be making more kaftans and shirts with frills all down the sides and the centre. There still weren’t many shops around that were selling that type of thing. Tommy Roberts would sell to people like Jimi Hendrix and The Who. It was just fun. [Laughs] I was a single girl having great fun going from one place to the next, really. 

After that I worked in a boutique called Medusa. I was downstairs making samples all the time. I didn’t used to do much production. Mainly I’d make a sample up and then if they liked it it would go off to wherever, to a factory or somewhere like that to do production. Medusa was a swinging place, it was in a little alleyway off the King’s Road next to Sainsbury’s. I believe it was called Elystan Place. It was an up-and-coming boutique. That was at the time when Zandra Rhodes was big, and those sort of people. One time we made some samples for Apple Records, the Beatles’ label, but it never came to anything. 

What was the best part of your life then? I was young and having fun and it was all the unknown. I lived then in Wandsworth Road with my parents, and these were all Chelsea people and they were different, completely different to the life I’d led, and it was just really way out, anything went. It didn’t matter what you wore, anything went. And I loved my job. I’d work any hours because I loved it. I didn’t always like the places, I’d go from job to job, but I did love my work and I then started having my own workroom. I decided I’d work from home. I worked with a friend from my first mother-in-law’s house and we were still doing the kaftans… a guy used to pull up in this black cab that was all painted with psychedelic patterns. It was at Tulse Hill – they were very quiet there – and the neighbours used to look in absolute amazement at everything going on. But we loved it, my mother-in-law loved it and it was good fun.

So, let’s jump ahead, how did the Liberty’s window display come about? I worked for somebody called Katherine Cusack. That was just when Rebecca was born and I was working from home. I think Katherine advertised in The Stage and she wanted to start doing semi-couture work. I’d make her samples and then she’d have a party and invite all these quite wealthy people to her lounge. It was a beautiful Edwardian house in Grafton Square in Clapham Common. Then she managed to get into Liberty’s and that Christmas the whole front had all the dresses that I’d made. 

Which of Lady Di’s dresses did you make?  It was a beautiful silk velvet in a beautiful deep blue. It had long sleeves and rouleau loops with little buttons all the way down. I think Di went into Liberty’s and bought it. I believe she was photographed wearing it for The Lady. Katherine was over the moon. But it was real pain to make because silk velvet takes its own route. It’s not the easiest of fabrics to work on because it’s so soft. It is beautiful but it’s not easy to make. You’ve go to have the right feed on your machine otherwise when you’re joining the seams up you’ll lose it and it will be longer one end. Josie! That dress was later auctioned for thousands and thousands! £48,000, I believe.

How did you make the move into showbusiness?  I moved into that when Rebecca started at Sylvia Young’s. They used to put on shows all the time because it’s a theatre school and I started making costumes. Then I went on to doing the children’s Royal Variety. 

Is that how you got on to the adults’ Royal Variety Performance? I’d got into a workroom at Acton doing samples for someone I met on the children’s Royal Variety. Then I went into my own workroom at Acton and I used to help her out. Various different designers got my name and we took on the work. That’s how we gradually started doing all the shows. She didn’t want to go on the shows so I used to go to the studios or anywhere where the work was and I’d fit the costumes and then come back and we’d finish them, but she stayed in the workroom to do whatever needed to be done there. 

Can you tell us about any really nice celebs you worked with? Oh God, who haven’t I met? [Laughs] I worked on the Royal Variety for years with a wonderful designer called Linda Martin. That’s years and years so that’s one helluva lot of people I’ve met. Des O’Connor was sweet. He was lovely, lovely, absolutely charming and so was his wife. We used to do a lunchtime show with him. I did that for a lot of years. Michael Barrymore was also lovely. I was really upset when he went off the scene because he was a nice guy. 

Does anyone else stand out? There’s very few that weren’t nice. They were all very nice. No one was horrible. I worked on Michael Barrymore’s show at Wimbledon Theatre and there were so many celebs on it that they had to share dressing rooms. This one particular share was with Warren Mitchell and Chris Eubank. And Warren Mitchell didn’t want to share with Chris Eubank at all. At the time Chris Eubank had this electric scooter that he would go all round the corridors on it. I could understand Warren Mitchell not wanting to share with him because he was a bit wild at this point. He’s the only one I can say wasn’t very pleasant, but I think it was because he was unhappy about sharing because he and Chris were complete opposites. 

Do you know how many years you’ve done Thursford for?  If we go this time, probably 20 years. The designer I work with there is Stephen Adnitt; he was Cilla’s designer. I worked with Linda Martin for 12 or 13 years doing Thursford. I’d never met Stephen, I knew of him, and he asked me to join his team. The designer gets the job and they’ll have a team and usually they keep that same team all the time. I’ve worked with him for eight years. 

How many costumes might be involved in its Christmas show? We have to dress everybody at Thursford, even the orchestra. So you have 56 singers, 23 dancers and almost two full orchestras. 

So when would you start to plan something like that? We – I work with Rita Best – would start end of May, beginning of June. Our designs would come in before then. We’d measure people and make the costumes and fit them in September. There are probably eight or nine sets of costumes to make. It’s enormous! Enormous. It’s the biggest show I think in Europe. We’d spend three weeks in Norfolk just making sure that it all works on the set; making sure that sequins don’t come off – I mean it’s covered, absolutely covered in sequins – and we’ll be sitting for hours and hours sticking them on. But again, we love it. We’d see the rehearsals and the preview and the day the show starts we’d come home. Our job was done. When I was working for Linda there, I’d be there working late at night. That didn’t happen so much with Stephen. He’d be like: “We’ve got to finish now.” 

You mentioned doing millinery at school so do you do headdresses and that sort of thing? No, I would have liked to have done but for Thursford we have a milliner who comes with us; Shirley Davis, who has also been in the business a very long time.

What advice would you give to someone wanting to follow in your footsteps? Get into a workroom and learn how it goes. Learn how people work because what they learn at college is not how a workroom works. And really to earn any money at it, you’ve got to have a bit of speed on the machine. You can’t hang about. You can’t take a week or two or three weeks to make something. It’s nice if they can get into a workroom and see it first hand. I mean I get my work through various designers that I’ve known over the years or another maker who will ring me up completely out of the blue. Last week I helped someone out on a film. I’ll work on anything that needs a costume. I did Red or Black? at Wembley Arena, a game show developed by Simon Cowell. You could win a £1 million. It was massive. I worked with another designer called Scott Landridge, who did the children’s TV series The Worst Witch, the TV series Mile High and the sitcom Citizen Khan.

Have you had any costume disasters? Not really. [Laughs] I’ve had a lot of late nights or working all night to finish a costume off. You get the occasional broken strap and you have to quickly run down to the stage or on to the set and pin them up, or something doesn’t fit when they arrive. But no major disasters.

Have you been doing anything during the lockdown?  Just before the lockdown we had all these shows on cruise ships lined up but that all went. At first I was making scrubs for the hospitals. I did loads of voluntary work for anyone who needed them. Sometimes they gave me the material and sometimes I’d provide it. They were using all kinds of material in the end, even bedspreads. I did that for a while and I also made these little pairs of hearts. They were to send to hospices and hospitals so the patient could have one to hold and the family would have the other one. I made them out of all the material I have here. I also did masks, but I’m not doing so many now.

Do you ever think about retiring? No! [Laughs] I love what I do. But the work will get less and less and that will be it. I mean we’ve had hardly anything this year. We did a few bits for Butlins and a big Dame’s costume, which I don’t think ever got used because that show was cut. 

Can you pick out a few career highlights? I loved working on the Royal Variety at the Royal Albert Hall. I loved doing it in there. I did that quite a few times. Beautiful, beautiful. It’s a beautiful building and it’s just lovely to work in. If you look back at all the names that have been on the Royal and I did it for more than twenty years, there are a hell of a lot of names I’ve met. And that was quite fun. 

Josie is hoping that Thursford Christmas Spectacular in Thursford, Norfolk will go ahead this year. If so, it will run from 9 November – 23 December 2021 at 2pm and 7pm. 

In the meantime she can be contacted on 07956 832261 for commissions.

For Thursford tickets click here

[tabithahallows]

Heloo I'm feeling terrible!! Do you perchance have any Valentine and the snake squad au or random facts? Or mayhaps a joke? Thanks!

Hey!! Sorry, I don't know how long ago this was but I don't really get asks so I don't ever check them 😅 BUT I do have a pretty cool AU if you wanna hear about it still. Beware. This could drag out a bit.

So, basically, it's like a Fantasy World Royalty AU. Val is a Queen and Snape is her second in charge, closest councillor and Head Sorcerer.

Val lives with Draco, Narcissa and Lucius as her parents and uncle were all banished for murder when she was young.

The main characters of my three future HP fics rule the three other kingdoms, East, South and West. Naturally that leaves the North for Val.

The North contains the highest peak on the continent where this all takes place. It's scarcely populated, mostly vast ice plains, caves and the odd forest. Val has around only 500 subjects in all and they are all fiercely loyal and utterly devoted to her.

The entrance to the palace itself is through a large cave opening and a long passage. Then you have be accepted by the sentry who on guard who opens a secret passage that will let you into a huge underground cavern where the palace is. This system was created by their ancient ancestors to remain hidden from other kingdoms and particularly to avoid conflict but secrets don't stay secrets forever.

When this kingdom was finally revealed hundreds of years ago, there were many wars and many did die. The kingdom is still well known but keeps to it selfs is unlikely to admit foreigners without plausible reason.

The crown is not inherited through birthright but rather through qualification. Certain children are raised as 'Royal Candidates' to possibly be the kingdoms next ruler.

Val and the other children of the court whose parents are all nobles (Draco, Leah, Blaze, Liam, etc) are raised and trained as Royal Candidate's their entire lives, as are any common children to wished to be placed in a possible position of succession (Olivia became a candidate at her mother's insistence).

When they turn 18, only two from each age group are chosen to work either in the palace or in another official capacity. Noble children who aren't chosen often end up in a similar position regardless.

The current ruler (in this case Dumbledore) chooses the Royal Candidate's of their choice to rule next, typically out of one of the two. As the average life span for the people of the continent is around 100 years, rulers are expected to select a successor by around the age of 50 Once the Candidate is at least 18, they can be officially selected.

Once officially selected they are basically an apprentice ruler and learn further how to rule by assisting.

Okay, so that's the boring stuff.

Snape, as Head Sorcerer, is technically still a Candidate himself even though he's the one teaching the young Candidates magic.

Yes, that means he's been teaching Val and co. since she was like six and they have that entire time arguing. He can't even take away her candidacy because she's one of the best they've seen since Dumbledore was in training.

When Val was 15 and a Candidate herself, war broke out. Invaders from overseas came to pillage the continent for its natural wealth. Think England and Africa (and like half the world really). The four kingdoms North, South, East and West, fought together against this common enemy. All Candidates are trained in combat, both magically and non-magically and all those over the age of 18 (whether they are one of the chosen two or not) are expected to fight. This is something pre acknowledged to becoming a Candidate.

Despite being only 14, Val, of course, is still overpowered to hell and the general opinion is that she'll become the next ruler (remember Val doesn't have to sneak around with her mission or anything in this so many people genuinely like her). Without telling anyone first, Valentine got Dumbledore's permission to fight anyway so there was nothing anyone could do about it.

The war went on for two years, ending when Val was 16. She was a deadly fighting force on the battlefield and became known continent-wide as a warrior.

Near the end, other underage Candidates started fighting as well as they needed more numbers. Many lives are lost, although all of Val's friends manage to survive (so, yay! I'm not killing off Olivia. This time.)

Val and Snape actually form kind of friendship on the battlefield as Narcissa made Snape promise to watch her. This pisses Val off when she finds out.

Dumbledore dies near the end of the war during battle and Val was crowned, the youngest Queen in the history of the kingdom. Dumbledore had had things set up with Snape for several years before the war for Val to be the next ruler (of course unless someone else better came along).

Snape fully expected to be fired when Val came into power even though they have some kind of bond now. He's not exactly topping the charts for self-esteem in my opinion. That's why he's surprised that Val keeps him around as her second in command and Head Sorcerer. She knows he'll never lie to save her feelings if he thinks she going to make a poor decision. He's the only one she'll listen to at the end of day, especially when it comes to her own well being.

When Snape looks at her he sees a sarcastic, vindictive, little girl rather than a vicious queen to be feared. Their bond is steadfast and widely known and speculated. People unfamiliar with them often find themselves under the impression that the two have some kind of intimate relationship which creeps them out immensely as Val is still AroAce and Snape will never see her in that way no matter how old she gets.

Many decisions are made by the council which is made up by the Head Sorcerer, four members of prominent families and people's representative. These members are for Val to chosen although the general public can dispute the decision and make a case for someone else to be chosen.

When Val gets into power she removes Lucius as a member and puts Narcissa in his place instead. She also removes Gordon Highcourt and gives the position to Liam. The current councilmen and women (besides Snape) is Narcissa, Liam, William Lovat, Bridget Zambini (she's un-married here), with Olivia as the people's rep. Val had to basically beg her to take the job. She knew Olivia would be great at it, but the girls self esteem is about as good as Snape's.

Some members of the general palace staff are;

Haley- House keeper

Emma- Head Maid

Chloe Connelly- Maid

Anna Henley- Maid

Benjamin Heady- Man servant

Theodore- Maintenance

Rebecca Bolton- Maid

Christine Calloway- Maid

Gia Calloway- Kitchen hand

Shelby Acton- Kitchen hand

Bonus Story Arch;

There were once two brother prince's who visited from a small overseas kingdom that Val's kingdom had a good relationship with. Both bothers wished to over throw the other and had the intention of taking Valentine's thrown from her via marriage or otherwise to use use against their own brother. They were both so convinced that Val and Snape had been 'fraternising' with one another that they both came up with the same plan. The older brother sought out Valentine and the younger Snape. They both tried to convince their pray that their lovers had been unfaithful. Both Valentine and Snape kept their cards close to their chest and when they saw each other next they both burst out laughing at the disgusting idea of them together. It was so utterly ridiculous to the other that they couldn't believe this was really happening. Once word got out around the kingdom of the princes scheme, no one could even take them seriously as threats. Both prince returned to their kingdom as laughing stocks.

Jesus fuck. Okay, so I don't know if you read all of that. You might not bother. I don't blame you. I promise it's way more interesting in my head than actually written out like this.

[aspiestvmusings]

CM S15 THEORIES: MASTER POST

This is all about the CM S14 finale “Jeid” plotline thing. These are all my personal thoughts & opinions. They are not the single truth. 

SUPER-LONG MASTER POST, SO BARE WITH ME 

THE 4 POSSIBLE OPTIONS ABOUT  JJs CONFESSION IN S14 FINALE: 

1. JJ told the truth during the “Truth or Dare” game, and she really has always loved him & still does (and not just as friends or platonically), and Reid read her “answer” to his own “Truth or Dare” correctly as her admitting that she told the truth. And he was correct. 

2.  JJ told the truth during the “Truth or Dare” game, and she really has always loved him & still does (and not just as friends or platonically), but Reid read her “answer” to his own “Truth or Dare” incorrectly as her admitting that she lied/exaggerated. 

3.  JJ lied during the “Truth or Dare” game, and she only loves him as friends, platonically, but she was only trying to trick the unsub, but Reid read her “answer” to his own “Truth or Dare” incorrectly as her admitting that she told the truth when she made the confession, but she didn’t. 

4.  JJ lied during the “Truth or Dare” game, and she only loves him as friends, platonically, but she was only trying to trick the unsub, and Reid read her “answer” to his own “Truth or Dare” correctly as her admitting that she lied/exaggerated when she made the confession. The awkwardness stemmed from her feeling bad she messed with him, and from him feeling weird about her choice of “truth”, and them both agreeing that its OK... that she used that as a rouse. 

Those are the four main options.

POSSIBLE SCENARIOS ABOUT S14 FINALE & FOR S15

In my opinion the fandom reactions rely on two things & based on where you stand on this, you reacted to the plot twist: 

a) whether it is possible to love two people at the same time (I think most of us agrees that if we believe it’s possible to love two people at the same time then those loves are a bit different, while both being equally significant, and real.) If it is then it’s possible she loves Will, but also loves Spence.  

b) whether you think just thinking about “what if” scenarios & exploring ones feelings for someone else besides your significant other is cheating and/or lying. IMO it’s ok to think “what if I had chosen that other person instead of the one I chose” &  it’s OK to explore ones feelings for someone else... if it all stays hypothetical. If it’s just  “theorizing” without any action. I don’t consider it in any way cheating or being dishonest to your SO. Hence I don’t see an issue with JJs dilemma. Cause she might have those feelings, and she might consider what her life would be like if she made other choices, but she won’t act on it. And if she won’t, then there is no  ”characters ruined”

1. This was all Reid’s (or his mom’s, Diana’s... or someone elses) dream or hallucination. The confession and the end talk (both “Truth or Dare” games and everything around them (the looks between them...etc) was just imagined by Reid...  because his old fear of genetics (having the same diagnosis as his mum) has become true, and he’s seeing things. We saw those moments through his eyes, when they actually did not happen...or did not happen the way he “saw” them. In other words: that was not her confessions, and the looks were not what was actually happening. This would also explain why Reid’s mom would be there for him... for continuation of this. 

2. This is one of the three or four imagined futures (AU) scenarios that  Reid promised to tell JJ about... a little while ago. He was either imagining one of the imagined futures...or telling her about it. And what the scenarios would look like...now... in “current circumstances” (the “what if” scenarios...) This was one of those imagined futures (because it is canon that Reid had a crush on JJ in early seasons (s1) but we  only find out that the s14 Finale was a AU in s15.  So... none of it is real... the audience is...sort of...playing a game or “truth or lie”... 

3. This is the first plot twist in a row of plot twists... there’s a second twist to it. The S14 finale started with Reid being not able to read JJs “poker face”. In other words JJ was able to fool the profiler Reid...just like she did back in S6/S7 during Emily’s death plot. So this is a reverse of that trust-issue plot. Only...this time it is revealed that Reid (who is now carrying 2 guns, including one ankle holster...just like Hotch used to, and who can now easily pass his shooting range test...unlike in earlier seasons...) can do the same, and he did the same. 

Back then JJ hid Emily’s survival from Reid & others, now it’s gonna be revealed that Reid hid Maeve’s survival from JJ  & others. (Yes, I know... this would not fit with past & would make his mental...state...questionable... cause who would do something like this... but I’d say all bets are off right now...) And her confession makes everything extra awkward because of this, because she had no idea just how late it came, and how complicated things are..to say it now... 

4. No matter if JJ either told the truth or lied during the “Truth or Dare” game(s)... (both options work for this), it’s either awkward because of the past (his crush on her in S1, her keeping secrets in s6/s7) and cause she thinks she chose a not-cool “truth” as her lie, and opened up old memories that should be buried, or it’s awkward because they were able to profile each other correctly, and know it’s the truth, so it’s awkward because now they’re aware that they both have always...sort of---had feelings for each other (even though she’s been married & has kids with Will... for the past decade & he “had” Maeve), but they both know they cannot and will not act on them, so it’s awkward because of the “complicated situation”, and this is a "some secrets are better keep secret” thing plot. The bittersweet plot, where they both acknowledge their feelings, and that they other returns the feelings, but it’s awkward and complicated, and bittersweet, because they have missed their moment, and neither of them want to ruin the status quo, so they won’t acton those feelings. 

5. Maybe the “poker face” scene in the beginning wasn’t about  her being a better liar than he thinks... in the later scene, but is referring to the past - maybe shes been a great actor with her marriage? Maybe JJ has been a better liar than Spence (and the viewers) know? Maybe her house wasn’t being painted back in 4x12 and Will didn’t take the boys to a vacation because of that? Maybe there really have been issues in the marriage? Maybe all hasn’t been as peachy as we’ve thought based on past episodes? I mean... they have done storylines with JJ/Will issues, and though it’s the usual/traditional marriage issues (that they always...seemingly...worked out...at the end of the episode/plot... maybe that was all a show, and they “pretended”, without actually working things out? Cause several times I had the strange feeling that that was not all, and that things weren’t resolved, but every time the plots were dropped, and didn’t lead anywhere, so it made it seem as if it was usual relationship issues... that were worked on & resolved) who knows... 

Cause... Will was also acting kinda awkward at the wedding in 14x15? And unless he sensed something or JJ told him something... I found him reaching for her hand...during that line when Emily was giving her speech...kinda awkward. And that was separate from the JJ & Spencer awkwardness (looks and all). Will was completely silent during the wedding (and the boys were missing from the event) and he looked kinda extra “unhappy” (not the correct word, but his usual typical emotionless look seem more emotionless)... so perhaps there really are serious cracks in their marriage? And since according to JJ’s mom it’s their family's tradition to avoid talking about things, then perhaps she has not brought it up, and has just stayed with him... because she’s used to it... plus because of the kids.  (while not a good tv trope it is very very common in real life... families stay together... because of the kids and/or to not rock the boat... and TV shows like to use that very real-life behaviour)

This would be for the scenario where JJ/Spence get together (but that would not happen in the s15 premiere, but rather s15 finale... after another possible timejump..IMO), and would be the one scenario where no one involved gets intentionally hurt. The other option would be that Will dies, but IMO that would be weird choice from the writers (it’d leave a bad taste... to have the love confession happen first and then have the “obstacle” aka Will conveniently die...after that...so the twin flames would be able to be together.)  And though it’s also very much like what network TV likes to do, I’d prefer if this wasn’t the case. 

6. What if JJ told the truth, and she has always loved Spencer... in more-than-a-friend way, but they both know that it would  not have worked & that it won’t work now.  Maybe this is a way to re-introduce some other “dropped” or “never addressed” plots? Maybe Reid being asexual will be made canon, and this is the way to get there? Maybe they both will agree that there is love between them...always has been, and they acknowledge it. But...since she always wanted a family, and kids, and something different from a relationship, she chose the path she is on. And perhaps this is a way to sort-of give resolution to one of the many “theories” regarding Spencer. (the biggest ones are: that he is asexual & that he is autistic. The first has never been addressed, and the second has been basically denied in canon, when he hasn’t identified with the autistic characters that have been on the show, and instead referred to them as “they” , not “we/people like me”) 

7. The most likely scenario is (based on both the past, knowing the characters and their “personality/character”, the s14 finale, and the S15 spoilers) that the truth/lie does make things awkward between them... either because  they both know she told the truth...and it’s so “inappropriate” & “award” now... because of her family (husband, kids...)...and maybe because of his secret relationship OR because it was a lie/exaggeration and she feels awkward about making him believe it & he feels awkward about her choosing that  untruth. Either way.. they talk about the uncomfortable topic at one point, and agree that things really are too complicated, and though it might have worked out...if things turned out different (if Will never entered the picture...), but now it’s definitely not happening. And that what they have now..instead of romance is so much better and special. The “awkwardness” will be resolved like the “Emily secret in s6/s7″ ... within a few episodes, and all will  go back to normal. 

8. The s15 new characters spoilers also add several possibilities. The new character having an interesting relationship with Spencer does not actually have to mean traditional romance (even if the spoilers frame it that way). She could be Reid’s mom’s (Diana’s) new caretaker. She could be one of Reid’s students (they could’ve met/could meet) during one of the lectures he gives. She could be the “surrogate” of Reid’s future kid (cause I do not think the show would actually have Reid raising Cat Adams kid... also cause that child has already been born). Cause they have made it a big deal that Spence is great with kids (Henry!) & that he wants kids (even though he fears his genes being passed on). So perhaps he agrees to adopt a pregnant woman’s baby. That way he would kinda get his happy ending, and the relationship would be..”interesting”.  But... she could also be introduced & made to be a traditional love interest. In which case.. Reid will find the 2nd love of his life... (Maeve was his first)

One possible way to include Reid raising a kid & bringing back characters from the past (sadly... there is one character we most likely will not see... that’s Hotch... who can only be mentioned, but almost certainly won’t appear on screen) is to bring back Hotch’s son, Jack. And since I don’t think he would come visit the BAU alone, I see only one way: reveal that Hotch has died (maybe some unsub got to him, maybe it’s an accident), and Jack will go to Reid (or Emily, who has also expressed in the past wanting to adopt)....  From other past characters I can see only a few making on-screen appearances: Morgan almost certainly (they gotta make schedules work). But I would love for Blake to pay a visit. 

 THINGS THAT MADE/MAKE ME BE OK/POSITIVE ABOUT THAT PLOT TWIST: 

1. If JJ told the truth: That they (the writers, via JJ) acknowledged that things are TOO COMPLICATED now...for such a confession, and for anything to come out of it. If the character hadn’t said/added that, and if the showrunner hadn’t backed that up in the interview regarding the confessions & its aftermath... I’d have issues with it. But the showrunner/writers, the actors, and the characters all are very protective of the characters and their friendship/connection (and their other relationships), so they would want to treat the storyline with respect. And to me this also means that there won’t be any cheating or intentionally breaking up marriages or such things happening. Cause that is OOC for these two. 

2. If JJ told the truth: They both (JJ & Reid) have been in so many dangerous situations before, and almost died (life-threatening situations), and they’ve both played “games” with mentally unstable people (Cat Adams, Diane Turner), and they both know the stakes, and that any of those situations could be their last, so her fear might’ve been real, and she might’ve really thought that they would die... (because the 415 unsub wasn’t negotiating  and was so unpredictable (he shot a Spences direction, randomly... and neither probably were sure they’d get out alive), and she decided that she wanted him to know... for this to be the last thing she told him (taking us back to S8 & Maeve...and how he had saved saying the three words back to Maeve...for their first in-person meeting...and he never actually got to say... those exact words). So...despite realizing that this ruins everything- their friendship, her marriage (the way they look at each other & the others... even if they don’t act on the feelings), she decided that he should know... in case they don’t make it out alive. And that is very believable and “in character”

So... even if I’d think they’re gonna make Jeid canon (and I don’t think so), I’d be ok with it. I might’ve preferred it done differently,  but I've never been against the idea with these two (unlike with Garcia/Morgan...for example... who worked the way they were). 

The Will-factor: 

I was never a big fan of Will’s. And that might cloud my judgement a bit here, but here are my thoughts on Will and Will/JJ: 

Will was originally introduced/brought back as JJ’s love interest because the actress was pregnant IRL, and they decide to write the pregnancy in the show, so JJ needed to have a boyfriend. And despite the character claiming and seemingly being in love with him, I never felt their connection. And the fact that she did not say “yes” right away... and it took a life threatening situation for her to essentially  propose to him (I always thought that she acted out of shock, and it was an impulse decision because she thought she’d lost him...but not in away that made her sure this was what she wanted, but in away that she did it out of “fear”) And though they have portrayed her, and their marriage as stable, and made it seem as if her decision wasn’t an impulse one, I never really believed in it. 

My biggest issue with Will/their marriage is that I dislike that he “gave up” his job for the family. That he became the housewife...and that he was/is not happy about it. And they have used it as part of the storyline (they always do this with law enforcement character/their SO in TV shows... first on CM was Hotch’s wife, but it has been used for basically every relationship on this show, too) - have him not be OK that she works such long hours, is away from home a lot, and he has to be at home with the kids (with JJ/Will it surprised me that they used it for them, too, because Will used to have the same kind of job, so he should’ve known especially well what it all means, so that’s why I disliked that trope being used for them). Though they kinda gave resolution tho those plots...where he seemingly was OK at the end with his role, I never got the feeling that he is actually OK with it. So... I have disliked some things... and don’t think he’s actually happy, or that she’s actually happy, or that things are as peachy as they seem, or that they’ve really resolved their typical marriage issues. Though every time they have an episode where they bring up the typical marriage issues with these two they do resolve them - they work on them, and find their happy place again...yet... I’ve never been fully convinced things were resolved. 

I also think that it’s possible to love two people at the same time (though in a slightly different way). I am uncertain if a person can be in love with two people at the same time, but to me the fact that JJs confession suggests that she’s loved Spence (in more-than-friends way) since S1 (before she met Will, while she’s been in a relationship with Will) does not mean that she hasn’t also loved Will. Cause I believe she did, and does. And her confession also doesn’t cheapen her marriage in any way. Because I don’t see it as her saying “since I am confessing that I have loved Spence since I met him, this means I never loved Will, and my relationship with him is hence a lie”, but just stating a fact. That she has loved her husband...in one way. And at the same time she’s had (suppressed) feelings for Spencer... but for whatever reason she never acted upon them. 

The kids-factor: 

Yes, Spence is JJs kids god-father and Uncle. And yes, JJ is married and has two kids with Will (she’d have 3 kids, but she lost one during that mission), and yes... kids are involved, so “how could the writers do this plot twist” (this is assuming there was a plan to make Jeid canon in the shows reality/canon universe...and I’m not at all convinced that’s the case) . 

But...since JJ specifically said that things are too complicated now to tell Spence about her feelings, and hence things are too complicated now to do anything about those feelings, hence there won’t be any action taken... then why even worry the characters would behave OOC and become cheaters (her leaving her hubby for him, him breaking up her marriage...). Nope, unless it’s revealed there have been marital issues and they were growing apart before and/or if Will dies (cause main characters love interests always get hut in crime shows.... and that is the most likely fate of any such guest character. See: Hailey, Maeve), it’s not happening. 

But also... as weird as the kids starting to call their uncle their dad idea sounds, and as unlikable as it is for fans that in such situation the spouse (will) and the kids get hurt and they don’t deserve it... do you really think it’s better to stay together JUST because of the kids. That staying married/together “for the kids sake” is the best solution...for anyone, including the kids? In my personal opinion... nope. I don’t like it as a plot, and I would not like it IRL. Cause I don't think that “staying together for the kids”actually benefits the kids. And since I don’t think JJ/Will would separate unless they had some actual non-Jeid-related marital issues, then I’m not worried about the situation being unfair to Will & the kids. 

Having feelings you cannot control. Hence I don’t consider JJ’s confession that she’s loved Spencer while being in love & married & raising a family with Will, as cheating or lying to her family. She’s either repressed those feelings, or never realized them til lately/now. Either way... just thinking about  it does not equal acting on it in my book. Since I don’t think that way, I also don’t see this cheapening her character, or her marriage, or this ruining the Jeid relationship or the story so far. 

The friendship factor: 

I personally have never seen the JJ & Spence relationship as siblings. And just like (based on many online comments) many say it’s weird to view their relationship as romantic (hints of more than friends), for me it’s weird that some people see it as brother/sister (siblings) thing. For me, in canon, it was always about two (very) close friends, whose friendship and connection grew over time. And as typical with such high risk jobs, where your team becomes your family, that connection only deepened over time.  

And while I personally never saw anything physical or deeply romantic (traditional sense romantic) between them (yes, he had a crush on her in S1/early seasons), I’d say their relationship is closer to romantic than siblings. For me JJ & Spence are a great example of “platonic soulmates” - a connection deeper than friends, romance, or any other label can define. A relationship that not many get to experience in their lives, and a relationship that not many understand (and confuse with either romance or friendship, but IMO it’s neither... but between/a combination of the two). PS. I, too, think that Spence is asexual & autistic, though that’s just my headcanon, because one has never been mentioned & the otehr has been basically “denied” in canon.  

And while I don’t know what exactly Emily/the writers meant with the term “twin flames” (romantic, platonic... partners), I do think these two are connected for life. Their bond is unique and deep (whether you see romance in it, too, or not). These two have always depended on each other, and been there for the other for moral support. I’d even say that she has been in an emotional relationship with him (she’s confided in him...before she’s confided in her own husband...). So..in away... Will is there to provide the family and stability and the physical relationship part, and Spence has kinda been there for her emotional needs. And in my personal opinion (that not everyone shares)..in more than just best friend way. In platonic soulmates way. 

And while I’ve not viewed their past relationship (scenes, moments) as romantic, it’s very possible to read that moments that way IMO. (also: as Iäve re-watched some scenes after the s14 finale...now my mind is playing tricks on me & I kinda see “romance” is several of the scenes I did not look this way before. I know that it’s just my mind playing tricks on me, but... the 401 scenes, the 415 opening scene, the s12 prison visit  scenes...I see differently now. I cannot unsee it...either. But that’s ok. To quote Reid... I feel like something’s changed... (but yet I don’t think the show will make them canon..)

I think this is a nice way to explore the possibilities, the “what ifs”. The different possible future outcomes. The alternate universes/scenarios. I also don’t think that IF (and that’s a big if) the writers decide to make them canon, then that should make viewers think that male & female characters can’t ever be just best friends (platonic soulmates)... without romantic hints added. Cause... they already added the romance factor back in S1 (even if they dropped it... without ever really bringing it up until s14), and because this very show has several such relationships that never became (or will become) canon - like Morgan/Garcia, and (probably also) Garcia/Luke.  So this very show has already shown that those relationships can exist, and that friendship doesn’t always have to be mixed with romance. 

The plot-twist factor 

I don’t know how anyone can say that this came out of nowhere, and that there were no hints, and zero build-up to this. Caue while there was no “in your face” build-up to the reveal (and if they decide to make them canon at the end of the series, then to the canon ship), there have been hints scattered around throughout s14, and even though Spence’s S1 crush on JJ was kinda dropped/forgotten, and not taken anywhere, then the show did build their relationship, and there has been constant focus on their bond (call it however you want: friends, soulmates, slow-burn romance), so this definitely isn’t something OOC or impossible or non-believable. It might not be the best plot twist idea ever, but it’s not the worst. 

The writers knew the show was ending, so they wanted to give resolution to many things from the past: The S1 “date” that was brought up (and finally revealed to us what happened) in S14 premiere, and whether they decide to make the ship canon or not., they wanted to give answers and resolve that storyline. In that sense I like that they decided to explore this, because romantic or not, their bond has been special, and the characters and actors “deserve” to explore it, and it’s nice to get answers and see where it leads  (or where it would have lead... if things were different... which is one very likely option on how they’ll deal with this... have Reid tell JJ about his 3 or 4 possible future outcomes in which one of those scenarios Jeid is canon, so we get to explore that AU without ruining the reality)  

I also find it very “fitting” that this happened at the end of S14 & at Rossi’s wedding, because it was at the S7 Finale, when Rossi (was the one, who) put together an impromptu surprise wedding for them (after he overheard her asking him to ask her). Also... her S7 Finale proposal & the wedding happened after/because of a high-stress situation, where someone life was in danger and she almost lost him, and the S14 Finale confession happened after/because of a high-stress situation, where someone’s life was in danger. So both those “plot twists”, while both also kinda expected, though maybe not at the precise time & the exact way, have many similarities. There are parallels. On both cases she acted (and revealed her feelings) because she/someone she cares about (almost) died. 

I also would not say that this isn’t believable (why now, why this way) or “in character”. Though it did surprise me, too, that they’d go there now... and make this aset up plot twist for their final season...continuing the plot that they basically dropped 14 seasons ago....but Im just surprised/puzzled at this decision, not at all upset. And... the more I think about it, the more I like the idea (especially because I do not think they’ll make them canon, just explore the possibilities...about even if they will make them canon...in the end... I see potential there). I think it’s actually interesting to find out what’s been hidden all these years. And to find out more about the characters...in that way. Cause obviously JJ has “repressed” those feelings for years... and obviously neither has admitted their feelings...possibly not even to themselves. So it’d be interesting to find out what has been in their thoughts - the things we didn’t see when they were happening...

Of course this was done for the cliffhanger reasons. But... I don’t see it just as stirring-.things-up-just.to-.add-dramalama plot twist. I see at as an opportunity to address one of the many previously dropped/unfinished/not explored plotlines, and give resolution. To the characters. To the cast. To the fans. To the storylines. So I actually like that they decided to explore it. And I believe JJ & Reid (the show) will come to the conclusion many of us share.... one that Emily voiced in the s14 premiere. That instead of possible dating/romance they built something even better... and stronger. That their relationship means more as it is than it would if things had gone differently. 

The framing of the s14 scenes - both the awkward looks & silence after the “Truth or Dare”game...when they were rescued, and at the wedding (during Emily’s “twin flames” toast & during their private talk, and then the looks after that...) seems to suggest that even though neither would act on them, they both have feelings for each other. Also... Emily’s speech was so much about them, too (twin flames... even if they only get together in distant future or AU). And also... Will and Wll/JJ were super awkward, too. It was as if there was something awkward between them, too. I could not not notice that something seemed strange about them, so I wonder what they’ll do about that...

ETA: And as I’ve stated before... the characters have played mind games with unsubs before. Reid did in 8x12 with Diane turner, and in 12x12 with Cat Adams. And there are many parallels.. especially to the s12 finale. The episode where the words “I cant help but to feel like something’s changed” line was uttered (and maybe there were more layers than the false accusations & prison experience changing Spence... to be “tougher” to it?), and the episode, where the unsub made them “guess” the answer by revealing a “secret”. So yes, they might link this also to that episode/story. (also... what did Spence’s mom tell him over the phone that time when he called her from prison...when he replied with “I Know”?

The S15 SPOILERS factor:

If we’re talking about the other confusing spoilers for S15, and about a possible love interest for Reid, then unless the wording was incorrect, and the spoiler, originally was referring to JJ and the JJ/Reid s15 opener (15x01-15x02) plot... and so on, then can I suggest... bringing back an already introduced past guest character... for the possible plot line and endgame. If it can’t be the biggest fake death plot twist since Emily 6x18 and Maeve didn’t actually die in 8x12, then how about some lovely ladies like Dylan Einstein from 10x14 or the bartender Austin from 4x09, or Det. Angela Pierce from 10x17? I know there was a connection with Lila from 1x18 also, but I personally wasn’t a huge fan...And though there was a “connection” with Cat Adams (she become kinda obsessed with him, but she’s... bad), can’t be her...

But...the s15 spoilers do make it sound as if the S14 finale Jeid-twist is gonna be focus ONLY in the premiere 15x01 - 15x02, and though it’ll have an effect on them also after, then if this is correct, it pretty much confirms that they’re not gonna be canon (they either agree to “hide” their feelings and continue the same...to not ruin her marriage/family, and they just accept that they missed their moment, and it really is too late now... or whatever else plot happens where they don’t get together...) Cause if they’d become canon, I’d say the plot would be the focus throughout the season. Also... Reid’s mom being there for him... being a mother to him when he needs her seems to also suggest that Jeid is not gonna be made canon. Instead every spoiler so far seems to suggest that the plot/reveal will be explored, but nothing will come out of it... really. 

Though since it’s still early, and they just started filming S15, and the finale has not yet been written (so there so time to change things..if they want to)... and since spoilers are known to be misleading... this could be the case here, too. I’d say we won’t know until s15 airs. But..right now it does look like the new character is a love interest for reid, and part of his happy ending story. 

And the “love interest” spoiler also seems to suggest a different character than JJ. And that also supports the not-gonna-be-canon theory. Though it does surprise me that they’ll try to fit so much into one short 10-episode season. Resolving the S14 finale confession and the Jeid all-series-long storyline, introducing a new (or re-introducing an old??) character and making them have a connection with Reid... that’ll lead to a happy ending within max 10 episodes... (in minimum two episodes, which seems to be possibly all Reid/Max get?) ...which seems kinda not enough for her to be an actual love interest/his future forever. Which makes me think if she is supposed to be a love interest? (well... they did the same with Maeve, and Rossi’s wife Krystal, and Morgan’s wife...) and it’s typical for a TV to get characters from meeting for the 1st time to altar really fast... so I kinda would expect them to do it... though I wish they would’ve done this several seasons before the final one..and made it a slow-pace development. But... I can’t ask for the show to be written according to my preferences. 

Either way... there are so many...to many possibilities right now. The writers have made their choice, and chosen the path, but we won’t know which of the scenarios from the many many possible ones will be made canon. 

Only one thing is certain: Reid’s character finds his happy ending with a character played by actress with the last name COOK. Cause it’s looking pretty certain that they’re not bringing back any of the “love interests” from the past, so he’s either  gonna stay single and happy OR get together with either AJ Cook’s or Rachel Leigh Cook’s character. So... we only know one thing: it’s COOK. But which one... only time will tell. (PS. I find this to be one of the funniest accidental casting parallels! To think online fans freaked out his character was definitely getting together with AJ Cook’s character, and then they cast a different Cook to be the new love interest.) 

Either way... I’m with those who say “calm down”. Cause while the possibility of Jeid becoming canon does exist (either in the s15 premiere or S15/series finale... after a timejump), then the probability of that happening is quite slim.

Everything is the past episodes, and everything in the s14 finale, and everything in the s15 spoilers, and  everything the showrunner has said in interviews about this whole thing points to them not becoming canon. They might explore this option in an AU/dream scene/episode...as a “what if” scenario, but the showrunner has made it clear that they know the characters, and the characters are not what fans fear..in their core. All the fan fears are pretty baseless, because “him breaking up her marriage/her leaving him to run of with the genius” is not in the characters nature. So... only if Will’s fate is the same as almost every other main characters spouses/love interests (Hailey, Maeve, Strauss) - death... will Jeid happen...IMO. It’s network tv, so I am always prepared for “surprise” options, and wont be upset, but so far everything points to it not happening. 

This would apply IF the show would make them canon - a  “positive look” at the plot... But as stated I don’t think they will. (but this is written as sort-of something to “calm down” the people, who reacted very strongly at the cliffhanger... as sort of different take... that it doesn’t have to be the “worst case scenario”) But I still think that whether JJ was telling the truth or not... they won’t make Jencer canon. This is just to explore the “what if”-s & give closure to the once-.mentioned/started possibility.  Since the show is ending, they are “tying up loose ends”... revisiting old storylines that never went anywhere. And this is their way to honour the special relationship these two characters have. And just like they moved on from the 702 (trust) issues, they will get past this, too, and remain best friends...for life. 

THINGS THAT OTHERS HAVE SAID THAT MAKE ME LOOK AT IT MORE POSITIVELY 

LINK HERE 

THINGS THAT I HAVE SAID ABOUT THE S14 FINALE & S15... BEFORE THIS: 

LINK HERE 

[allofeos]

So, in my post yesterday about the Episode Ignis DLC, I know I didn’t address the ring, and I didn’t go into further detail regarding the whole backstory, origins conundrum properly.

So, here it is, and includes the two ATRs mentioned in a prior response.

As before, it is below the cut.

More or less the start of the problem with using the Ring of the Lucii is that they effectively spoiled this particular key point of the DLC within the teaser trailer, and the official Twitter accounts prior and during the release of the Episode.

Typically the key reason to play the DLC was: to find out how Ignis was wounded. Yet, by spoiling this in the promotional materials there is effectively no reason to play it with that in mind. At the same time, the problem with it is that it’s effectively encroaching on Kingsglaive with Nyx’s actions within the film. It could be taken as undermining the potency of his sacrifice, or that it isn’t effectively unique for Ignis’ own actions. (It can go either way for various opinions on that front, that’s just two particular sides of it for me). At the same time, when you compare the characters’ individual high points for moments (backstory, development rather than cinematic value) it becomes fairly easy to see that each character, and NPCs have unique stories. The problem with this is that Ignis is lacking in his own, and whatever has been provided could potentially encroach in a manner to the backstory of other characters. For example, Prompto isn’t from Lucis and/or Insomnia, but is still regarded as being from the region, and certain comments made prior may have been seen as perhaps being too similar. Previously in an ATR, Tabata has made a particular statement about Ignis when he was asked the question of: “Who is your favourite character out of the main cast?” during the  Active Time Report - London - 26.02.2015 ATR. This is queued specifically to the start of the question being brought up by Dan Seto. I have transcribed what was said via Tabata’s translator, please note that I’m not transcribing the JP currently as I’m under the weather at the moment. Hajime Tabata (via a translator):

Yeah, I mean we're in London today, so if you've played the demo (Episode Duscae) you may be aware that one of the main characters speaks in proper British English. Ignis!

So, obviously Ignis among the main party of four characters, who you go through the game with he's from a slightly different part of the world to the other three characters. So to differentiate that, we made him speak in a very British way as opposed to the other three characters who speak in American English.

I really do like Ignis as a character though, he is maybe more of a sort of "elite" type, maybe intelligentsia kind of character, and I'm not sure if he really likes it or not, but he's certainly very good at cooking!

He's got all of these little details, he's a very interesting character to delve into, I think. I do really like Ignis.

However, we have gotten another comment from him during the  FINAL FANTASY XV Active Time Report February 2017, when he was asked the question of: “If Noctis never left his homeland until the beginning of the game, why does he speak American English, while his father speaks British English?”

Dan Inoue, one of former localization leads and writers of Kingsglaive was providing translation during this ATR.

Hajime Tabata (via Dan Inoue):

So, technically speaking his father doesn't necessarily speak British English, but the reason for the way Regis speaks has to do with the fact that he is in the Royal Court, and he is bound by their traditions, and their way of behaviour.

So if Noct were your typical prince, he would speak the same way, but Noct's always been a man of the people. He's always kind of hung out with the commoners, so his accent reflects his life experiences.

And then you look at Ignis, and Ignis is steeped in the traditions of the Royal Court, and so Ignis uses that manner of speech, and that's how we kind of arrived at it.

The only other comment that we have regarding Ignis’ homeland was via one of the Loud Annoying / LAVA streams (which isn’t online, unfortunately) when Adam Croasdell provided information that @blinding-awesomeness​ has kindly transcribed over on the /r/FFXV Reddit from an archive of the stream.

Ignis Scientia 23 years old; 33 later. 6'0". Homeland is Lucis. Class is a noble.

Personality The man with the plan. Calm. Collected. In control. Always the smartest person in the room and never one to let anyone forget it. He goes from the assertive wit of Cumberbatch's Sherlock to the suave nonchalance of Connery's Bond.

Voice Reference Deep but still youthful. Tom Hardy as Eames in Inception is a good reference, though ideally a voice that plays a bit younger. British.

As a fun note to point out, Adam did specifically say twenty-three, and thirty-three during the stream. So this is another moment of inconsistency in Ignis’ age mentioned.

Anyway, I digress.

My point is that Ignis’ backstory and/or general information is lacking, whereas other characters that have similar details have been discussed in more depth in contrast to him. As I’ve already gone over Prompto’s, the next would be how this could be too similar to Gladio’s. The brief profile provided by the Reddit dataminer may have rung too close to Gladio’s own family backstory. The origin of the following profile was provided privately by the dataminer, and is apparently from a removed and incomplete loading screen from Episode Ignis.

Removed Episode Ignis profile:

Ignis Scientia

Born into a household that has advised the royal family for generations, Ignis has followed in his forebears' footsteps, serving as friend and confidant to the crown prince since age 6. Ever since Noctis lost his mother, Ignis has acted as a caretaker of sorts, keeping a close eye on his companion.

With Parting Ways, we have a conflict on the role of adviser as Ignis’ uncle (unnamed) doesn’t appear to be doing this, in contrast to Gladio and Iris’ father, Clarus discussing certain things with Noctis’ father, Regis.

So with that in mind, and with my aforementioned previous post that did briefly discuss this, there’s no real active notion that Ignis, or his family are advisers to the royal line beyond what has been mentioned within Ignis’ official profiles.

So that raises quite a number of questions: 

How and why was Ignis assigned his role at the age of 6, if his family are apparently not royal advisers and/or tacticians, but rather royal stewards / attendants? (This is in contrast to what is known about Gladio’s family and their role to the royal family).

If Ignis is not from Insomnia, then where in Lucis is he from, and why would he be assigned to attend to the royal line if he is merely of nobility?

If Ignis was assigned due to the prophecy, then why is the outsider influence in things only ever discussed for Prompto in regards to his actions with Pryna, and Lunafreya? (This is of course, under the assumption that Gladio is already accounted for within the prophecy due to the role of the Amicitia line to the Caelum line).

Why is Ignis so entirely steadfast in his intent to see his duties through, when we’ve gotten absolutely no basis for this whatsoever? (This is keeping in mind that we also have in Nyx’s own profile (via the cosplay guides) that he was saved by Regis in his youth and feels indebted to the king). 

Why do we know so little about a main party member, out of a four-man team? Why is it that the same dataminer has been able to provide further cut profiles for characters, such as Cor that still cover far more than Ignis’?

COR LEONIS

Son of a less-than-affluent household, Cor enlisted in the Crownsguard at the tender age of 13. His impressive physical prowess earned him the respect of his superiors as well as a position as one of King Mors's personal bodyguards, making then-15-year-old Cor the youngest to ever serve on royal security detail. He came under fire from his Crownsguard colleagues when he lambasted the Lucian armed forces for their retreat from Accordo, calling the entire army, including Crown Prince Regis, "a bunch of cowards."

During their expedition across the Lucian continent, Regis, Clarus, Weskham, and Cid came upon a curious cave in the heart of Scotham Clough. They later discovered these grounds were the final resting place of the Crownsguards who served the Founder King. Countless intrepid explorers braved the tortuous trials in hopes of procuring the lost souls' power, but all men met with the same fate: death. Fearing further casualties, King Mors forbade access to the cave, and none have dared enter since that day. Forced to scale back the Wall in response to imperial encroachment, King Mors sought to stave off the Niflheim army's advances by deploying Lucian forces to some of the kingdom's outlying territories.

Cor accompanied Regis and his retinue at Acton in a brutal battle that afforded a slew of civilian casualties. The prince took into his protection a young orphan by the name of Drautos Familia, hoping to atone for the destruction wrought on the village, but Cid insisted the damage was done. He argued it was the king's callousness that cost so many innocent lives, and vowed to never set foot in the Crown City again.

With the Wall firmly settled around the Crown City and the war against Niflheim at a standstill, the young Cor hungered for combat. Turning a deaf ear to protests from those around him, he ventured into forbidden territory: the Tempering Grounds. His audience with Gilgamesh was cut short when the Blademaster's sword nearly rended him asunder. Gravely injured, Cor managed to escape with his life, but he was less successful avoiding the derision of those whose warnings he ignored.

Quite frankly, at this point I have to say that it’s a bit ridiculous to be quite so lacking in backstory. In addition, to the usage of the Ring of the Lucii being what I personally feel is detracting from Nyx’s moment and sacrifice in Kingsglaive. Because really, we know that Nyx is loyal and have actual reasoning for his actions. For Ignis, we know that he is loyal and willing to go so far for his duties, but we have absolutely nothing for the cause of his loyalty. It’s why to me, to be blunt, it feels cheap and bit of a cop out to have gone the route of the ring. Mainly because Ignis’ circumstance wasn’t the same as Nyx, but at the same time there’s in-game lore reasoning that can serve as a source of contradiction for the necessity to use the ring, or at the very least raises the question about the Kings of Yore and their capability to effectively serve as gatekeepers of the Ring of the Lucii.

Ring of the Lucii from the Ultimania Scenario Side (from The Lifestream):

The proof of the rightful successor to the throne, wherein dwell the souls of the line of kings. It is said in the event of someone who does not meet the requirements putting on the Ring, rather than coming to command the Crystal’s magical power, they will be instantly consumed by flame.

The Old Wall (from The Lifestream):

Stone statues that protect the Crown City and also serve as caskets housing the souls of the kings who have died constitute the Old Wall. Twelve humanoid statues built in the Crown City of Insomnia approximately 2000 years ago

We don’t really have any specifics in regards to how these powers function, beyond the fact that after being granted an audience with the Kings of Yore, that even without wearing the Ring of the Lucii that their influence is maintained regardless from what we saw with Nyx in Kingsglaive. However, this tidbit from Comrades adds to the confusion of how the Kings of Yore powers actually function:

So, it raises bit of a question of if the Kings are capable of helping out, why are they only providing assistance to the Kingsglaive? Item descriptions provided by the dataminer for accessories for Cor, and Iris seem to suggest that Regis was capable of enchanting items with his powers. With this in mind, and the fact that we know that Noctis’ powers were not being jammed by the Wallbreaker Wave at the time, it does make me wonder: why Ignis has to use the ring?

Why do these enchantments by the kings seem to only be functional for other characters, when Ignis is in service and a member of the Crownsguard all the same?

Why, if the other kings are capable of providing assistance, and Ignis seems to be well informed of them, is he all but disregarded in the moment of service to not only the rightful King of Lucis, but the Chosen King himself?

Sure, one reason may be that he was exhausted, but one reminder would be: the recovery of Altissia is entirely optional. In addition, I would like to bring up that Ignis held his own against Ravus and that’s quite a contrast to Gladio in Chapter 5. 

Of course, another reason for this may be that Ravus did ask Ignis to stand aside and went easy on him, but in this same line of thought it would be best to also bring up the fact that Ardyn’s remark in Chapter 13 would contradict the general thought that Ardyn would actually kill Noctis in the moment.

If we also factor in the Extra Verse / V2 of Episode Ignis (as much as I personally hate to bring it up due to being aware of the localization differences that /u/chuansleisheng has been so kind to transcribe and translate on /r/FFXV), choosing the Play Along option results in Ardyn not killing Noctis in the moment. So, personally I am not exactly inclined to make assumptions that Ardyn would have in the exact moment with both the Chapter 13 dialogue, and the alternative route officially provided, but either way I’m going to consider these thoughts as subjective and continue on.

Now, another reason is that as it is shown within the first phase of the battle with Ardyn: Ardyn is stronger than Ignis at that very moment, Ignis is overwhelmed by himself and that this would be why he used the ring. However, if we also consider V2 again: Ravus was apparently aware of Ardyn taking Ignis to Zegnautus Keep somehow, despite Ignis not knowing where he was apparently being taken by Ardyn.

Now, within V2, Ardyn’s plans to apparently lure Noctis to Zegnautus Keep are brought up once more, and are more or less corresponding to the main game canon... which ultimately brings me back to the loop around about not being inclined for certain assumptions of Ardyn, potential for timeline inconsistencies, and on the overall I am still left with questions as to why Ignis had to use the ring? 

Not to mention, the fact that it was discussed during a fan event that there was a debate over what would happen with the ring, and another mention that usage of the ring hadn’t been entirely decided at the time only increases my urge to question why the ring had to be used, and why not another means to the same end?

To go the same route as Nyx, and to undermine the impact of his actions and sacrifice is disappointing for me in regards to Nyx, and more-so in regards to all but retreading this with Ignis.

I’m honestly not expecting to get anything, in the benefit of the doubt assumption that there even was anything to begin with when also being mindful of the fact that Ignis wasn’t featured in much of the old trailers in contrast to Prompto and Gladio.

It just would’ve been nice to have something unique to Ignis’ progression, that wasn’t in the shadow of Nyx’s. That is why I personally disliked the utilization of the ring in Episode Ignis, and why I feel things are lacking in a way for him specifically.

It’s just sad to see dossiers put together like this: Noctis Lucis Caelum

Family: Aulea Lucis Caelum, Regis Lucis Caelum. Birthplace: Insomnia, Crown City of the Royal Kingdom of Lucis. Siblings: Stated to be none.* Hobbies: Fishing, video games. Relationship status: engaged to Lunafreya Nox Fleuret. Notable information: Lost his mother as an infant (FFXVEN Twitter), chosen by the Crystal at the age of 5, was injured by a daemon at the at the age of 8, protected by the Messenger Carbuncle within his dreams, and was eventually taken to Tenebrae to be healed by Sylva Via Fleuret. Noctis met Lunafreya, and the Messenger Gentiana there.

*This is stated in one of the early versions of the radio report on the invasion of Insomnia, dating back to 2014. I don’t have the exact trailers on hand currently, but the text was included in one of the Pastebin links in the most recent Reddit datamine topic.

Gladiolus Amicitia

Family: Clarus Amicitia, mother’s name is unknown. Birthplace: Unknown, but assumed to be Insomnia, continent of Lucis. Siblings: (Known of) Iris Amicitia, younger sister. Hobbies: Camping, hiking. Relationship status: unknown, but has multiple lovers apparently.* Notable information: Got a scar when protecting Noctis when younger, becomes a daemon hunter during the World of Ruin, eventually steps into his father’s role and leads the Crownsguard.

*This is in the data for the game. The ladies he’s hanging out with are apparently labelled as “Gladio_Lover” in the file lists from the Assassin Festival, or at the very least the leftover files for it on PC.

Prompto Argentum

Family: Verstael Besithia, adoptive parents whose names are unknown. Birthplace:  First Magitek Production Facility, somewhere on the continent of Terraverde, in one of the regions (Pusciello, Ghorovas Rift, Vogliupe) of the Nifilheim Empire. Siblings: None. Hobbies: Photography, video games. Notable information: was brought to Insomnia, adopted by the Argentum family at the age of 1, saved and tended to the Messenger Pryna, and was thanked by Lunafreya in return, and encouraged to befriend Noctis. Suffered weight problems as a child, and took to exercise. Needs medication for an undisclosed stomach problem.*

*In-game ad-libs where Prompto makes a comment, and Noctis reminds him about his medicine.

Ignis Scientia

Family: Uncle whose name is unknown, only mentioned in Parting Ways. Birthplace: Unknown, not assumed to be Insomnia due to 2015 ATR comments. Siblings: Unknown. Hobbies: Cooking, may not actually enjoy it from the 2015 ATR comments. Notable information: was assigned to attend to Noctis at the age of 6, joined the Crownsguard at the age of 18. 

There is nothing else for Ignis. At all. In any of the main, or supplementary materials, media. 

I seriously don’t see how it could be put in any possible way when outright noted like this, that Ignis has equal information to Gladio and Prompto.

It’s this sort of thing that made it ultimately disappointing for the failure of the original press release mentioning “Ignis’ heartbreaking backstory,” when we effectively got Chapter 9, Verse 2. Especially when the entire reason to play Episode Ignis was blatantly spoiled prior to release of the DLC. Then, the wound was to have the reason basically being in the shadow of another character, and therefore not even wholly unique to Ignis. Ultimately, leaving us without having learning anything about him with, or without his DLC.

The salt in the wound this year has been a few things in the mix, and what seems to be something that even the more casual players have noticed:

Ignis’ outfit with Episode Ignis was originally only him without his gloves on: 

This was filed as a bug repeatedly by players, when the PS4 save editing community showed that there was no other functional costume for him beyond that, and that the Casual Crownsguard, and newer Wild Hair versions aren’t even functional in Insomnia beyond removing his gloves from his default attire.

The Casual Crownsguard version was shown off in the New Years tweet by FFXVJP/EN, but it wasn’t available until the January/February update (version 1.21). 

The bizarre Royal Edition posts on Ignis’ birthday that has earned remarks of “Cursed Masks,” and “Dignis” due to comments made by the FFXVJP Twitter account on the first of the tweets, on top of being started before Ignis’ birthday with a tweet which is quoting comments from the community regarding the only other birthday tweet for Ignis in 2017. Not only that, the FFXVEN account wasn’t free of this either. Really. The other reason for the “Dignis” name was that everything seemed to be making fun of the fact that Ignis has nothing beyond his duties, and cooking. 

The 2018 one had BOTH sides of the community beg for them to stop posting the tweets. Only for the same mask to pop up again for SQEX Cafe merchandise marketing in March. (Link to a topic from /r/FFXV to show the community reaction). Ignis being completely left out of the Valentine’s Day posts by the FFXVJP Twitter account, ultimately only mentioned when we saw an influx of comments that seemed to result in the reposting of the Episode Ignis promotional render on the FFXVEN Twitter account. 

Before it is potentially brought up, whilst the English account didn’t post anything on Gladio’s birthday, we did actually have a render posted on the FFXVJP account as to highlight the utter weirdness of Ignis’ one.

That’s also not factoring in that most people seem to be tired of the one meme all but continually being used to the death of it.

I mean, honestly! To say there is disappointment, and frustration in my own feelings, those I have observed from others, would be an understatement.

My apologies if I have gone in circles to try and explain it, as it’s just got so many layers into the mix after the release of Episode Ignis.

[queenagalwood]

exordium.

In written history, the death of a benevolent king was said to be met with the cacophonous sounds of mourning bells intertwined with the wails of weeping supporters stretching across the ruler’s lands. Throughout Rosaline’s education on the kings of old, the stories of all righteous despots ended in such a manner. It had become such a common ending to the tales of former kings that she’d made something of a game of it as a child; finishing the stories before her tutors could do so and earning disapproving expressions and swift chastising.

The stories went on to claim that the bells would ring even for kings who had been considered cruel or unjust – though rather than tolling the sound of mourning it was a cheerful ring to alert the masses that they were freed of the man’s grip. Even so, the sound was reported to be deafening.

On the night the Good King Alexander Agalwood met his death, the realm resonated with a purposeful silence; and under its deceptive protection treason bloomed.

The once hale and hearty king had fallen upon seemingly inexplicable illness when the climate had faded from winter to spring. The healers had explained that winter took longer to leave the bones as one aged, but Rose had taken their words as flowery nonsense to cover up their lack of an understanding into their ruler’s plague. Alexander seemed to vacillate between sudden wellness and wicked illness randomly for weeks. One day he would sit his throne and rule his land – assuring all who looked on him that he had conquered the affliction – and on the next he’d be relegated to bed to be bled by the healers. Towards the end of it, he’d become largely confined to his bedchambers; with councilors instead sitting the throne to hold court.

On one occasion, Rosaline had found Cecily holding court in their place. The young heiress thought little of it at the time; her attention had been fixated on Alexander.

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

Though he did not regain his physical strength, the King remained resilient until the end.

Despite encouragement from his wife and others to surrender the power of the realm over to his councilors and recover in peace, he was steadfast in his role. While he did not sit his throne, he brought his duties quite literally into the bedchamber: his bed became his seat at the table, and his councilors gathered round to discuss matters of state. The only sign he gave that he saw his end near was when he asked that Rose sit in the meetings alongside them, and encouraged her to answer the questions posed by the lords of the council. Similarly, whilst in private Alexander’s promises of recovery that he’d made to Rosaline changed – where one day he spoke of returning to his throne, on the next he mused on her capability to take the seat for herself.

In the evenings, the royal family would take their dinner in the King’s bedchamber. They continued to do so even when Alexander lost his desire to eat. When the evening meal had finished and the young prince was led to bed, it became commonplace for Cecily and Rosaline to take their turns speaking with the King in private before returning to their own bedchambers. While Rose’s talks with her father turned to him imparting pieces of wisdom to rule, the princess had an idea of the conversations that went on between Cecily and the King.

How can you set aside your only son? She could imagine the Queen’s indignation and desperation – how her sweet croons could turn to irate hisses the longer she was denied. How can you steal away his birthright? How can you let your name die – for her?

In her loneliest moments, Rosaline wondered the same. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Rose’s final moments with her father were not particularly different from the moments she had spent with him before. It did not seem that Alexander was prepared to die; though his growing frailty had aged him beyond his years and made him appear almost foreign to his family. Even his voice had gone softer, weakened from the havoc wrought by coughing fits.

They discussed matters of state out of necessity, and they reminisced on fond memories out of a different kind of necessity. On the last evening, he spoke about her youth and her mother. Rose had been careful not to laugh too loudly while he did – it enticed him to laugh along, which induced the coughing, and ended their time together abruptly. With Cecily’s knock insistent upon the door every quarter-hour to be let in, the heiress was in no hurry to abandon her place at her father’s side. So she sat as near as she could to his bedside, held his hand, and listened to him speak with a warm smile playing on her lips.

A gentle pause fell into their conversation, and with it he gestured to the letter sat on his bedside table. Taking his direction, Rose plucked it from the table and read over it while he began to speak: “I wrote to Lord Acton to request that he take on Alexander as his ward. He should be in the Woodlands. Those will be his people, and they should know him.”

Rose read over the response from the castellan of their family keep, and looked up to meet her father’s eye. “He’s accepted,” she began, the smile on her lips thinning. “Has Cecily?”

“She opposes it, as is to be expected. But I hope, now that we have Acton’s response, that she will see it is for the best.” Looking to his daughter, he ventured with a smile: “and if she cannot, perhaps you can help her to see it.”

“Me?” Rose asked incredulously, the question coming in tandem with another one of Cecily’s knocks at the door of the chambers. As if suddenly fearful she could hear them, she leaned closer and dropped her voice as she spoke to her father. “If she would not heed your word, why would she so much as consider my opinion?”

“From me, she sees it as an order. From you, it is different. You love him, and you love our home. That matters.” Again, the knock came – this time more insistent. With an apologetic smile on his lips, he nodded towards the door; a gesture to be on her away and to allow the Queen in. “Your brother needs you to act in his best interest, even if his mother won’t. Think on it.”

Putting the letter into her father’s hand as she dropped a kiss to his cheek, she nodded her head. “I will.” - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

It was not yet dawn when Rosaline was suddenly awoken by the jostles of her handmaiden, who urged her awake with frantic whispers. “Your Grace – Rosaline – the King is dead.”

“Dead?” She echoed, her voice hoarse as she sat awake in bed. Bleary-eyed and confused, she looked to the window that stood open nearby. The still-dark world outside the room was silent.  She strained her ears to listen for the sounds of bells, but was met with a chilling stillness. She could hear little more than the pounding of her heart in her ears. “When?”

“Hours ago, maybe,” Elsie answered, busying herself with pulling a dress for Rosaline to change into. Moving the garments onto the bed, she pulled the shocked princess from her spot and encouraged her to stand so that she could be dressed. “Something’s happened – the Queen has gathered with lords in the throne room.” - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Rose had allowed Elsie to dress her, but was restless in her efforts to get to the throne room. Her handmaiden had little information to pass on save for the facts that her father had died some few hours earlier, and in the time since there had been something of an effort to keep the news from spreading. Elsie had been roused by servants who had overheard Cecily’s handmaidens whispering about the King’s demise; but feared coming to Rosaline’s chambers directly. The knowledge she’d gleaned regarding Cecily gathering lords in the throne room had also been gleaned from the servants, though Elsie could not say why they’d gathered. As Rosaline left the chamber with Elsie in tow, the handmaiden suggested that perhaps they’d gathered to mourn the King.

Though Rose had agreed with the theory aloud, a weight like a stone sat in her gut.

When the Princess – Queen, rather – entered the throne room, she could do little more than bite the inside of her cheek in response to the sight that greeted her. She could see several Lords of the Council gathered, and in the gallery stood wives and other loiterers. Before the throne stood a line of knights. Cecily sat on her father’s throne, resplendent despite the fact that the sun had only just started to rise. Little Alexander sat in the chair beside her where Cecily herself had once sat; and as Rosaline approached the throne she could see that his face was swollen and tear-stained. The knights holding their place before the throne did not relent as she approached, and she remained at the distance they permitted.

The stone in her gut seemed to swell to a boulder.

“Your Grace,” Rosaline began, “I have been told that my father died in the evening.”

Cecily appeared to peer down her nose at Rosaline, and nodded her head once. “The King passed in his sleep. I am told by the healers that it was as painless a death as he might have been afforded.” She seemed to think for a moment, and then added: “it is a tragedy. I feel a great sadness for your loss.”

“And I am sorry for the loss of your husband,” she answered in kind. Rosaline clenched her teeth after the words left her lips, feeling how her gut clenched uncomfortably. She turned her eyes onto Alex, who seemed to nod in and out of sleep. She surmised that he’d likely been roused from his sleep by his mother. When she looked back to Cecily, Rosaline did her best to draw herself to her full height. She could feel the eyes of the Lords at her back.

“I would thank you to remove yourself from my throne.” When Cecily neither responded nor moved from her seat, Rosaline turned her head to find Lord Ethan Taurin, her father’s advisor. “Lord Taurin, I ask you to gather the remainder of the court so that I may be crowned.” Again, she was met with silence. His gave averted. Coward, she thought.

“We have already crowned our King,” Cecily spoke at last. "Your brother has taken up his rightful position. And until he is of age, I will serve as regent.”

“Rightful position?” Rose echoed, her voice raising with indignation. “All who stand here know that it was the King’s will that I take the crown after him!” She turned to look to the court, and pressed the point: “you would all reject your King’s will?”

Her words seemed to stir something amongst the small court gathered – she could hear whispers in the gallery, and watched as some among the line of knights stood before Cecily and Alex seemed to lose their stance. “This is a time of mourning, this is a time to remember the wishes of our King –”

”– our King is here,” Cecily cut in, her voice rising above Rosaline’s. “King Alexander is gone, and may the gods give him rest. Alexander, the second of his name, is King now – and all who would argue against his claim would be traitors to the crown.” Her words appeared to quell the whispers, and the Queen regent turned a stony gaze back onto her step-daughter. “You are distressed  and grief-stricken from the loss of your father. Your callousness will be forgiven.” The elder woman sat back in the throne then, adding: “you will be forgiven after you have sworn fealty to your brother. Until you are ready to do so, you will be remanded to your chambers. Ser Darren, Ser Ronnel: escort the princess to her rooms.”

[cassandra-acton]

ONE-TIME THING:

I’ve been thinking about Cassie’s staff recently, so this happened! Meet some of them. Eric is going to be a gem of an NPC character, so keep an eye out for him in future self paras. Also mentions some other shenanigans, so enjoy that. 

Date: March 7th, 2018. Warnings: Shouty, sweary Welshman. tw: nerd mention.

“The man’s like a fucking balloon animal with moving parts and a face hole that makes occasional, meaningless noise.”

Well, he wasn’t wrong.

Enter Eric Vickery: the slightly sociopathic communications director that had stood loyally at her side since Election Day. There was no one in Parliament who had an even remotely comparable way with words (probably a good thing) and the fact that he sounded like he’d just drunkenly stumbled out of the Welsh Valleys made everything he said ten times more hilarious. The team had gotten lucky with him; especially when he made the bizarre decision to work with Cassie exclusively, instead of dividing his time between handfuls of London-based MPs like his counterparts typically did.

The man, edging into his late forties, liked to regularly remind her that she had potential, and she was sure he stuck around because he thought they’d be shooting for a ministerial position one day. Eric wanted a promotion, he would use her to get there, and she loved him for it.

“Leader of the Opposition,” Laura Monroe, her PA, mocked through a mouthful of pizza.

“Yeah, well, there’s a reason they’re only the opposition, and that reason is he’s a fucking cretin.”

It was a tradition that they had upheld every in-session Wednesday for almost two years. Cassie, Eric, Laura, and occasionally her Chief of Staff, Gary Hill, would gather in her office and make a night out of BBC Parliament’s repeat of Prime Minister’s Questions. They rock-paper-scissored who would be responsible for bringing the food, before showing up around midnight to settle in for two solid hours of soul-cleansing bitching. Of course, watching it back was constructive in other ways, but she wasn’t ashamed to admit that in a world where one had to hold back constantly, the bitching kept her sane.

“Why does he always look as if he’s about to choke on his own tongue?” Laura added.

Cassie scoffed, crossing her legs to get comfortable as she positioned herself in the middle of her desk. “Turn it up. I want to hear him trip over whichever bullshit line Karl Marx fed him this time.”

They’d massacred enough pizzas to feed a large family, and watched as her sister expertly dismembered every single critic from the opposing bench with an ease that Cassie could only admire. Elizabeth Acton was fucking good at her job; so much so that even Eric hadn’t a bad word to say about the way in which she conducted herself.

Suddenly, a knock at the door stole attention away from another one of Elizabeth’s ruthless comebacks. They’d barely heard it over the sound of the Conservative benches heckling the poor sod that had just been absolutely decimated on national television, but when the door swung open, Laura moved to mute the television momentarily.

“I—You said you wanted a transcript of the highlights from the last committee meeting as soon as I printed—“

It was James Gillespie, the poor, stuttering intern still afraid of breathing Eric’s oxygen.

“Beautiful. Leave the folder on the side, go the fuck home, and get some sleep. You look like you’re about to pass out, kid,” the Welshman ordered, words about as close to sympathetic as they ever came. Clearly, this registered in the young man, because he offered an uncharacteristic smile along with his usual silent and obedient nod.

Without another the word, the intern had disappeared as quickly as he’d entered.

Chewing on the end of her last slice of pizza, she shot a glare at her communications director. “Will you please be nice to the intern? I like James. It’d be rather nice if James stuck around. James is a good egg.”

“Oh, you do?” Eric enthused sarcastically. “Well then you’ll be disappointed to hear that he’s not Labour, so please avoid trying to fuck him.”

In a split second, her glare switched from playful to murderous. Eric took issue with how much time she spent working with Adam Hassan, and he made absolutely no secret of it.

“Nice.”

“Nice? Do you know how difficult you make my job?”

“I didn’t fuck Adam,” she informed, annoyed.

In that moment, she swore she could see his eye twitch. It wasn’t a lie. The initial ‘date’ he was having a mental breakdown over was so tame, it ended with a kiss on the cheek and slight confusion on her part as to whether she’d misread his signs entirely. Cassie felt stupid even thinking about it. She wished to God he hadn’t brought it up so she could avoid the internal cringing.

“You didn’t fuck Adam yet.” Eric corrected. “Not that he needs you to. The press is already on its hands and knees sucking Beautiful Perfect Angel Boy’s dick. You realize this is going to be a bigger pile of shit for me to clear up than you, Silas and your Roman fucking rendezvous?”

Okay, that she could understand him being upset about.

The press had picked up on it quickly and threatened with a God damn field day, but he had deftly stopped them in their tracks, like the genius he was, before the story gained momentum. If only he knew. Cassie felt a pang of guilt, and not the type that one might’ve expected. None of it was for Alice, and all of it was for the communications director she really did push to his limit.

“Thanks for smoothing that over, by the way. You are also a good egg.”

“No, I’m a miraculous egg, Cassie. I’m a miraculous fucking egg. Alice’s little fan club wanted your head on a spike and for a minute there, I debated how giving it to them would look on my resume.”

“You wouldn’t do that to me…”

There was an awkward pause. Cassie’s usually disarming smile had little effect.

Eric sighed out through his nose, and suddenly, all of the dismissive humour he was so famous for was gone. “Did you sleep with Silas?”

The seriousness of his tone was so unfamiliar, it stunned her into silence. Laura cleared her throat—in all honesty, Cassie had forgotten she was there for a second—before politely excusing herself as though she thought it wasn’t her business to be a part of this conversation. Eric probably agreed, because he waited until after she’d shut the door behind her to repeat himself.

“Look, you don’t need me to tell you that it’s a bad fucking idea, but if you screwed him, I need to know about it. God forbid this ever fucking surfaces, Cass, but if it does, I need to know the facts. I have to be equipped to deal with it.”

Even though she was sure her expression said everything he needed to hear, he waited.

The night in question had been repeating on her mind solidly since it had happened; mostly, because she didn’t even know how she felt about it. The only thing she knew for sure was that she certainly harboured no guilt. Yes, Silas was married, but he was married to fucking Satan. It was something to do. It was company. It was stupid.

Things between them hadn’t changed. They’d had sex, but they were adults and it was fine.

“It was just once,” she conceded, barely managing the words as she held up her hands in genuine surrender for fear of him biting her head off. “It’s not going to happen again. I made a mistake, okay? It was just a one-time thing.”

The man looked as though his brain had partially melted. Believing it already was one thing, but hearing it firsthand?

“Well, I guess that explains the eye fucking then!” Eric bellowed, gesturing both hands toward the still muted TV wildly. “What happened to doing us all the courtesy of pretending you fucking hate each other, huh? If you’re going to sleep with him, at least spare us the pining looks across the backbenches, Cassie, because I’m just a man. I like my food. I’d rather not lose it.” Sighing, he pressed his fingertips to his forehead, letting out an inhuman groan. “There’ll be gifs of that shit.”

Cassie froze, once again lost for words. What was she supposed to say? How was she supposed to defend herself?

“Eric, come on…”

“One-time thing,” he warned, sitting bolt upright and pointing at her. By this point, she’d noted his expression had made an uncomfortable diversion from its earlier anger. He looked…disappointed. Concerned. “You don’t fuck your career up for a married man, so you fucking promise me now that this is a one-time thing, otherwise I’ll rip his God damn dick off myself.”

Promise? What were they, ten? “Don’t you think you’re being a little overdramatic?”

Even she didn’t think that. In fact, she was cursing herself for saying it almost as soon as the words left her dumb mouth.

“He’s fucking married, Cassie!”                                      

“Okay, okay! Can you maybe stop shouting ‘he’s married’?!” The blonde whispered, eyebrows pulling together in an angry frown. “I feel like that might get some fucking attention, don’t you?”

There was a lengthy pause in which both parties attempted to calm themselves. Neither of them seemed to manage it particularly well.

“One-time thing.”

“All right, Eric,” Cassie relented with a sigh. It was hard to tell whether she meant the words, or whether she was just desperate to appease him, but she coughed them up all the same. “I promise.”

[adoptedreject]

The Amanda Show.

Dear Amanda,

This is the final letter I'm sending you, I'm not sure if I'll ever send it to you, I said I'll give you space and I'm doing that. Simply put I really fucked up. I should not have told your mom or Sophia anything, I should have let you make your choices, whether good or bad. My intentions were good, I was trying to protect you and look out for you from a place of love but being scared and afraid I made a decision I wish I could rewind life and take back. God, I wish I could take it back. The domino effect I unleashed, I am so damn hard on myself about, knowing I hurt you, hurts me. I never wanted or intended to ever make you feel the way you had been feeling. I've learned a lot from this series of events, I really have. I do love you and I'll never regret meeting you or you being such a big part of my life even for the short amount of time. You weren't ready for someone like me at that time in your life, and I don't fault you for going after what you felt you deserved, I wish things didn't end this way, but I do believe taking this time for yourself is going to be such a blessing in disguise. Yes, I am hurting and heartbroken, but I will be okay. So much happened in that week of December, I know none of that was truly you, I have long forgiven you and I hope you have forgiven yourself. I attribute what happened as an anomaly, something you wouldn't do to me in a million years. I am still hurt and saddened by it, but I've made my peace with what happened. I know you have so much stuff to figure out and it has to be at your pace, I truly do hope you find that peace, healing and love within yourself. As for myself, I'm taking a step back way back, I hope you do let me back in, but that is something I can't expect, I need to live my life. After all that is your choice and it is neither good nor bad, and that's something I'm going to have to deal with and make peace with. I'm sorry you feel you can no longer trust me, I know you did trust me and I sincerely wish that the trust you felt in me didn't evaporate. Maybe one day you will reach out again, maybe you're at the point where my purpose (porpoise) has been served, I was meant to show you the love, support and care that you truly deserve. Selfishly I hope our chapter isn't finished in your book, but I know that I can't sit and dwell on what can be anymore, I have to heal my own wounds and pick myself up off the ground. My mind has been all over the place this week, I haven't been myself and while I have very few regrets I'm a place of clarity even though I'm hurting still. I will always treasure the memories I have with you, I will never forget the all-nighter on September 5th, the subsequent all-nighter on the 7th. Can you believe how sleep deprived we were and we just kept going. I'll never forget our spontaneous trip to Arizona, I still can't believe we did that. I'll never forget you kissing me when you saw me. I'll never forget taking you out on our first date when we were in Flagstaff, "Find Yourself" was playing over the speaker in the outdoor restaurant. I'll never forget our spontaneous Sonic trip, we bought so much food that night, I still can't believe you had never been before that night. You took me to Dutch Bros for the first time, gosh I can't wait for one to open up here. I'll never forget not being able to leave each other, we sat in our vehicles and signed to each other, we delayed the departure for hours, I'll never regret that. I'll never forget California, the tour you gave me of Acton, going to Carpinteria, at the beach closing our eyes and absorbing the moment. I'll never forget our drive back to Palmdale we were blasting music, Hobo Johnson and just talking, we got McDonalds and lamented over only getting one buffalo sauce for our nuggets that we shared. I still remember saying everything that had a palm tree had "Cali vibes", even the Target we went to. I'll never forget when you dropped me off in Long Beach, I was scheming for a way to stay an extra day. I wish I had. I'll never forget when you came to Texas, you met Greyson, you were apart of his therapy, you got him his Lightning McQueen scooter that you were so anxious was going to be sold out, you heard him call you "Maaaanda" in person, you got all of his kisses and loves, you were a part of his 3rd birthday, all of Erin's theatrics that day, you witnessed how truly awful that woman is, you met Emma and Bella and were apart of the last time I will ever get to spend time with them. I'll never forget getting frozen daiquiris and underestimating how strong those things were. I'll never forget falling asleep next to you, kissing you and being able to love you, connecting with you physically in a way I only dreamed of. I'll never forget the long nights, I'll never forget making you laugh until you started crying, I'll never forget the love that you did give me. Things didn't work out the way we had planned and it kills me to even write that sentence, I will always love you. You're going to do great in life, you're going to pull yourself together and while I may not be there to see it, I'm already so fucking proud of you. You are a beautiful soul, a gorgeous person, with a big heart, you will find your way. You will always be my Mariposa. I miss you. Please be kind to yourself.

I love you and I'm sorry,

Jared

[treasure-exo]

Action! - 3

Genre: Suspense, angst.

Pairing: Baekhyun X You

Word count: 4,682

Description: You’re an actress married to Baekhyun with thousands and millions of your own fans too. So what happens when one of your fans turns into a psychopath stalker.

Your doorbell.

You stood there dumbfounded not knowing what to do further. Your legs moved slowly at first taking one step at a time, realizing that, that someone might be Baekhyun your legs fastened. There was a faint hope in your mind, in your heart, in your senses that, that someone might be Baekhyun. There was a slight smile on your face even when you were utterly exhausted. That smile was from that hope you assumed on your own. When your first heard the doorbell, your heartbeat rose from its normal pace to a faster rhythm. Your mind was on whirlwind of thoughts which only argued with your fear that it was Baekhyun.

You were almost running before you opened your door. Your faintest of hope crumbling down and your slightest of smile fading out in a split of second. You never was disappointed with anything and so you didn’t know what disappointment was until now. You still put on a smile and welcomed the person who came. Chanyeol.

Chanyeol gave you a big, heart-warming smile before he entered. He ruffled Baekho’s hair and tickled him on his sides to make him laugh or to lighten the atmosphere you didn’t know.

He scanned your place and hummed with a nod. You were almost not paying attention to him and was rocking Baekho when Chanyeol patted your shoulder. When you looked up he was having a kind of feeling in his eyes you couldn’t make out. It was a mixture of sympathy, concern, comfort, solace, pity all in one and that’s when you realized how ruthful you might be looking then.

The pat on your shoulder was out of concern for you, for Baekhyun. Though his eyes reflected pity he smiled. You could not stand to see him showing pity towards you, he was always like Baekhyun even more playful than him and now that his eyes showing sympathy, you couldn’t take it. So you looked down avoiding his gaze and trying to show him that you actually were playing with Baekho.

He cleared his throat to catch your attention.

“What Chanyeol?” You asked.

“I know you are having a hard time right now,” He paused for a bit seeming like he was debating on whether to speak up or not. “But please you’ve to look after yourself and your children too. In times like this you’ve to prove that you’re strong and brave. Baekhyun will feel so proud of you.”

“Also trust me he’ll be safe and sound, he’ll just enter and you’ll think yourself stupid for even thinking such things.” He insisted. You knew he was saying this to calm you down and ignite a hope within but he didn’t know what he was saying might even be false and he’ll just end up giving you a fake hope.

You just held your son tight processing his words after all he might even be true and you just will find yourself overthinking. You were not moving until he snapped you out of your thoughts.

“I think you didn’t understood me and by proving yourself I mean you should clean yourself first and do your duties as a mother.” He suggested.

You looked at him, he was having his significant big smile on him again. You tried to smile but it didn’t work. You want to do nothing unless Baekhyun comes.

“But Chanyeo-”

“No, nothing. I’ll not hear any excuses of yours so please, now go and clean yourself up. I’ll take care of Baekho and Baekhye for the time being, also Baek is my friend and it's inappropriate to look at his wife who has not worn anything except of his shirt which is not even covering her full thighs…” He gave you a judging look and that’s when you felt self conscious about only wearing Baekhyun’s shirt and not anything underneath it. You tried to pull the shirt down with one hand trying to cover your thighs.

He took Baekho from your hand and started playing with him. You still didn’t want to do anything until Baekhyun comes back home so you just stood there awkwardly in front of him fidgeting the shirt's fabric with your hands. You were feeling off, feeble ad uneasy. You wanted to believe Chanyeol’s words but your instinct was telling the other way round.

Chanyeol looked up and sighed. He made you turn towards your bedroom and nudged you to move. Unwillingly your feet started walking. Slower than usual.

“Wait, where is Baekhye?” He asked.

You pointed towards her crib inside your bedroom where she was wide awake and playing by her own. Before you could walk to her and pick her up Chanyeol entered and picked her with his spare hand.

He scrutinized the whole room before frowning at you. “Look, I don’t want to know what you two did last night but this whole damn room smell like sex with clothes everywhere. Even the bed is not done yet and what about curtains? Do you always keep them shut? anyway, I’m taking both of them to kitchen to feed them something, please clean yourself and then this room.” He professed.

You nodded vaguely and turned to take a shower. You were perturbed even while taking a warm shower. It should actually calm you down but instead it was only raising your your heartbeat with each passing second and making you pathetic to the fullest. You sat down on the floor water dripping down your body and making you further weak. You didn’t realise you were crying until a sob left your throat, the water from the shower head was concealing your tears. You pulled your legs near your chest and buried your face in between the gap.

It seemed the longest shower you did ever took. Your physique was feeling numb after all the possibilities you thought will happen and being in the shower for too long. You wore the first things that came into your hands and cleaned the room as fast as you can taking extra care with the clothes but you still didn’t made your bed, didn’t wash his clothes, didn’t spray any room freshener because you didn’t want his manly smell to leave your bedroom. You didn’t want the realization to hit you that he’s not with you.

When you came out in the living room, Baekhye was sitting on Junmyeon’s lap playing with her favourite teddy. Junmyeon was smiling seeing Baekhye play, he was enjoying her company until you entered. He looked up. His smiling face turned to a face showing anguish. You couldn’t look at him, you were ashamed and feeling embarrassed that you two didn’t listen to his warning the previous day.

“Chanyeol will be back in few minutes, he went to give Baekho a bath and clean him. Now you should clean Baekhye up too before the important talk.” He suggested.

“Important talk?”

“Regarding Baekhyun.”

You nodded, understanding the need to talk about Baekhyun.

After giving a bath to Baekhye, you all gathered at the dining table. It was late afternoon and your stomach was rumbling with hunger. It was almost almost twenty hours you had eaten anything but more than that, you were worried for Baekhyun. He didn’t even had dinner yesterday so for him it was more than twenty four hours and he loves eating.

You completely ignored your growing hunger and let Junmyeon start the conversation first.

“I’m not here to scold you or anything, I warned you both yesterday and you both didn’t took it seriously but I’m not blaming you or him for his sudden disappearance. It already happened and now we have to look for him. He’s missing.” Junmyeon’s voice was significant. He was being honest and you knew but still, saying that out loud was more painful then you thought it would be. Your heart was thumping fast and you suddenly felt nervous.

Chanyeol sensed your uneasiness and started. “Junmyeon, you can’t say anything unless it’s confirmed. What if Baekhyun just comes back and says he forgot telling her.” He questioned.

“There’s no point in hiding the fact that Baekhyun is gone - not on his own will - or rather kidnapped by that stupid stalker fan. She needs to know this and understand this as soon as possible, she can’t raise her hopes high just to crush them with a true statement which is Baekhyun is lost.”

Tears started brimming at the corner of your eyes. You couldn’t hold yourself back anymore, the pain and realization of something bad had happened with your husband was hitting you all at once.

“I understand Junmyeon, please go ahead.” You sputtered, voice wavering.

He nodded once.

“Okay, so first I advice reporting this to the police. They’ll handle this more efficiently and quickly. Also, this matter should not reach in the hands of media otherwise it would create an outrage among his fans and create unnecessary jealousy and hatred towards her. Second I suppose Chanyeol informed our managers and other members regarding this so if they know anything, they can contact the police. I called some of the members to say Baekhyun is fine and not to worry.”

Chanyeol’s anger was rising at each word Junmyeon was speaking. He balled his hands into fists and closed his eyes until Junmyeon completed.

“Why are you sounding like you don’t care about anyone’s feelings! I know that we should report this and all but try to understand, Baekhyun is important, to her, to me, to his children, to every member. But you are making like you don’t care and until now you didn’t even showed your concern or any feeling towards him or her, just kept on going with all the police shit!”

“Look, Chanyeol I do care for Baekhyun. Scratch that, I’m more worried than anyone else might be. Just because I’m not showing do not mean I don’t care. After hearing what you told me on phone, I was not knowing what to do. I was devastated. I just sat for sometime and was thinking about Baekhyun and his wife, his position in our group and relation with all the members. I’m holding myself back for everyone to be strong otherwise being a leader if I become weak, all will break apart.” Junmyeon stammered.

Chanyeol nodded, anger still reflected from his acton. You were still listening to Junmyeon and decided to go with whatever opinion he had.

“Okay Junmyeon, I agree with you. We should report this to police first and after that we'll see what happens because I no longer want to be weak and I want to find Baekhyun as soon as possible.” You said holding Baekhye tight and kissing her temple.

Junmyeon called the manager to give the news and to inform about reporting it to the police so that no Exo member would be involved in legal matters. He was calling again to someone, this time you didn’t know who the person was but the way he was talking seemed like he knew the person and was talking about the sudden disappearance of his fellow member.

You and Chanyeol looked at each other in utter confusion to who he was talking to and that too about the disappearance.

As soon as Junmyeon’s call ended he looked up with a smile. Not a happy smile though yet it conveyed relief which was difficult with the current situation.

“Oh, I called my detective friend who will help us with this matter. I thought I should call him, it will be better for us and for Baekhyun too. He’ll work with his team so we will be able to find Baekhyun faster.”

You could see him holding back words he wanted to say, emotions he wanted to show, feelings he wanted to express but couldn’t as he said being a leader he couldn’t show what he wanted to. He had to be strong enough for others to be strong as well.

With the current situation - which no one knew completely what was going on - you both had given everyone unnecessary tension and stress to deal with. You were already feeling guilty for not listening to Junmyeon in first place and now with his ebb you made everyone anxious.

Afternoon converted into evening. The longest afternoon so far.

You ate after Chanyeol and Junmyeon forced you to have something nutritious and made sure you took time for yourself instead of feeling guilty about all the happenings.

Junmyeon left after he made sure you were stable again and okay. Chanyeol was still helping you in taking care of Baekhye and Baekho while you were preparing for the dinner. You were so grateful to Chanyeol for being a helping hand in a situation like this.

Your phone was ringing frequently from the other members, asking for Baekhyun and his whereabouts, some even paid a visit and assured you, even though you knew, that assurance was their sympathy.

You could not make yourself work faster. Your every exertion was leading your thoughts towards Baekhyun and you couldn’t help yourself but to think about the possibilities of where he might be.

You were lost in your thought when your doorbell rang again.

You looked up from your mixing bowl and ran towards the main door. Now, every doorbell left you thinking there might be Baekhyun behind the doors. You cleaned your hands on the apron on the way and opened the door.

A new man.

“Hello! Ms Byun? I’m Chief Detective Yoon Jaeshin, friend of Kim Junmyeon. I’ll be working on this case privately so no need to worry about any information getting leaked. This is my team - Detective Lee and Detective Nam. So, now if you will allow us, we would like to ask you few questions regarding the case and a thorough search of your mansion.”

You moved aside from threshold so they can enter. Detective Yoon, a man with strong build and towering height, clearly muscular with a fierce look in his eyes with which one can get easily scared. His nature and manner of speaking, though it was strict it showed softness. Detective Lee and Detective Nam were of same build, just not as towering height as the lead.

Chanyeol was making your twins engaged with work when the team of detectives entered. He looked towards them and then towards you. You nodded in assurance and gestured him to keep doing what he was.

They started searching for all the evidences in each of your rooms and picked some carefully with gloves and tweezers so their fingerprints would not be found later. They took his car keys, phone and the bloody letters into custody. It seemed they were searching for something specific which they were not getting.

You stood in the living room, talking with Chanyeol while they were doing their job.

“Chanyeol, you know by all this I should not but I’m scared. They should find Baekhyun as fast as possible. He loves eating and being loud and goofy, I can not imagine him in pain. please tell them to find him quickly.” You began.

“Don’t worry too much it will give you wrinkles and when Baekhyun will be back, he would not like those.” He teased.

You were going to scold Chanyeol when the Detective team came out in living room.

“Hello, I’m Detective Nam and I would like to interrogate you. Now, for that will you please take a comfortable seat so that we can start.” His voice was thick and contained superiority.

You nodded and sat on the sofa with Detective Nam on the other side of the coffee table.

“When was the last time you saw him and where?”

“This morning around 6 in our bedroom.”

“Okay, next. Did he told you about anything in the last few days like where he wanted to go or do you know why?”

“No, wherever he goes, before going he tells me by any means but today he wasn’t there beside me when I woke up and even his phone was on the nightstand.”

“Do you suspect anyone who would do something like this or does he had any bad relation with anyone?”

“No I do not suspect anyone and he was playful and mischievous that I doubt someone would even be in bad terms with him.”

“Last question, do you have anything of him from which we can get DNA, like his hair or nail or saliva? We examined his clothes, pillow and comb but we got nothing, if you have anything it would be of great help.”

You tried to remember but nothing.

“I’m sorry but will anything from the following would count of our twins?”

“Uhm.. No. It will have mixed DNA and I’m afraid it will not work. Anyway, thank you for your time, if we have any other questions we will contact you later. We’ll try to solve this case as fast as possible.” He bowed and was about to leave.

“Wait! Will sperms count?” You asked, embarrassed of what to say next and internally hoping for no further questions.

“Yes, definitely but if hair and nail is difficult to find, sperms will be even more difficult.”

“It is not but they are on a tissue.”

“That will work, we’ll manage. Just don’t touch that tissue and show us where it is.”

You didn’t get rid of the tissues he used, to clean you last night and they were still inside the garbage bin. You showed them even if you were embarrassed to share such a intimate information with a person whom you just met.

They picked it up with the help of tweezers and put it inside a transparent evidence bag.

“Detective, do whatever you can or take whatever you want but please bring him back. Safe.” You beseeched him before he nodded and left the room.

You sat on the floor and pulled your legs near your chest. Your hands hugged your knees and your head rested on them. The current situation was getting dense by each passing second and you can’t do anything. You felt useless and helpless.

A large hand was rubbing your back gently. The feeling almost like a feather contradicting the size. You could not help but sob a little. The soft touch was still there on your back, patting now.

You stood up and rubbed off your tears which could further make you weak. You wanted to be strong for your fluffballs, so whenever Baekhyun would be back, he would feel at least proud of you.

“Chanyeol, I know this is not enough but thank you very… much. It meant a lot to me today and it will to Baekhyun too. Thank you for supporting me and resisting me from becoming weak any further. I appreciated your every effort for taking care of my twins when Baek is not around.” You bowed and finally looked him in his eyes.

He was surprised by your words. His lips formed a O but no words came out.

“You are not throwing me out, right? I mean by saying all those words I felt you want me to leave.” He murmured.

He muffled his laughter, trying to hide it behind his hands but completely failing.

“Yes… You can say I am.” You joked. First time, on a day so horrible and you chuckled.

“Anyway, have dinner before you leave. You worked really hard today.” You smiled and left for the kitchen.

“So you are literally throwing me out. I see.” He said in between his laughs, following you.

Chanyeol went home after having dinner and you were left all alone again. You have to get over this until Baek comes back, you understand everyday someone can not come to make you feel better and accompany you. Everyone will have their own priorities and have to complete them before you and your problems.

The only way to get out of the feeling of loneliness is to spend time with your fluffballs. There is an advantage of them being with you - They resembled Baekhyun. You were very thankful they existed. You looked at them and could feel Baekhyun near you, a feeling you are craving for. You don’t want this feeling but you want him which seemed far, far away from where you are now.

That night you could not sleep. Your bed was feeling empty and cold without Baekhyun. You lay as if asleep until your side hurts and you must shift to other side. Long minutes dragged into even longer hours but you refuse to look at the clock. You were afraid to see if it was still midnight or it turned to two, just looking at it could make your heart race and undo the effect of being restful. The relaxing music you put on at bed-time finished long ago making you remember his voice, his beautiful voice he sings only for you sometimes. You remained silent, you suspected it would be closer to dawn but you figured out you didn’t care anymore.

You didn’t made your bed clean because you didn’t want to remove his smell from the bedsheet, your comforter and pillows. You hugged the comforter tight so at least his smell can make you fall asleep.

You didn’t put Baekhye and Baekho in their cribs instead you laid them on the bed next to you under the same comforter. The only way you would not be alone and at least get some sleep. It was quite late when you fell asleep being tired and exhausted, realizing Baekhye held your pinky with her tiny hands while sleeping.

On one such nights, staying up late - waiting for Baekhyun to show up out of nowhere was also a possibility you kept in mind - you sung lullabies to your fluffballs so they would not suffer from the bizarre occurrences and inconvenience you were facing from the last few days.

You had completely lost your tolerance and patience for seeing your husband.

You were sitting cross legged on the floor holding your son’s little hands and your thumb rubbing circles on the back of his hand. Head lying on the bedsheet, still humming the last lullaby. You felt wetness on bedsheet near your face. You were crying.

You let your tears flow down your cheeks and on the sheet.

“You both are missing your dad right?” You sniffed to stop the snot running down.

“I know you both are. I can feel that in your actions even if you can’t speak. I can not make you laugh how your dad used to, I am just a bad wife and mother.” A sob or two left your throat while speaking.

“It’s been four days since your dad went missing and I can’t do anything. I don’t even know where he is or what he is doing. I’m feeling so useless. I can’t even tell this to uncle Chanyeol, he knows already and I will look pathetic in front of him.” You rubbed your eyes hard to make your tears stop but instead you made them sore and red. You knew your cheeks and nose would have turned red until now but you couldn’t care.

“I want to help but don’t know how to. I call those detectives daily but they are also getting nowhere with this case. I want him to be safe wherever he is. Your mom is so pathetic, isn’t she?” You lamented.

You slept like that cross legged on the floor, weeping and rambling on the bedsheet and holding your son’s hand.

Time had chosen a different path, more hollow than ever it was, more quiet moments to think though the oblivion of sleep would be kinder. He was your safety, your harbor, a place to call home and come back every time you leave no matter where you were. In all those wakeful hours, he was fading and beneath it all is a shock you couldn’t quite let express, because every time your eyes get closed your nightmare solidifies, hope fades and the ill feeling returns. Falling asleep alone was troublesome especially when you knew he was in danger.

Insomnia haunted your nights and fatigue ruled your days. You needed to be lucid and clear but came with the hours of darkness in the comfort of your bed. Your mind gets lit up with all the new possibilities, new sources of danger and destruction. You want to let them go and relax, but soon your mind told you what could go wrong tomorrow because of the blunders you made today.

When you finally slept, you woke after fistful of hours as if a whole night had passed but it hadn’t. Every morning waking up, you had dark circles and eye bags which tend to grow even larger.

A week seemed much longer than how it sounds and even longer when the most beloved person is absent from it. You got to understand the meaning of it today when a whole week passed without him.

You woke up just to finish a another long, long day ahead. Doing daily chores and taking care of your fluffballs were the only things that was left for you to do. Jiyeon came daily but you gave her a leave so that she could spend some time for herself, when in reality it was for the fact that she shouldn't get to know the private information.

It was late afternoon when someone rang your doorbell. He was Chanyeol and with him was Yixing who came directly after their schedules.

You saw Yixing for the first time in awhile, everyone but Yixing visited you at least for once. Yixing was a person to care for people before he could care for himself.

Chanyeol visited you daily even if it was for five minutes to know everything is okay and if there is any progress in finding Baekhyun.

“I’m so sorry, I hadn’t even visited you once as I was not in the country but that now I’m, I would like to clear my mistake and visit you frequently. If you allow…” Yixing cooed looking for any signs on your face to disagree with him.

“If you want to, you can definitely. But I don’t want to be a hindrance in your daily routine. I told Chanyeol too but he just ignores my appeals and do as he wishes.” You smiled at Yixing.

He smiled back. “No, helping a friend is not at all a hindrance for me. I’d be pleased if I can be of any help. Oh! and this, I found it in your mailbox earlier.”

He handed you a similar white envelope with similar handwriting written on top - the receiver’s address. You extended your hand to take it. Your heart was racing and your hand was shaking just by seeing the envelope.

Chanyeol froze on his spot, eyes staring at the white envelope and gulping down his own saliva making a noise. He huffed out air and looked up.

You were taken aback by the sudden mail you just received. You made yourself steady before grabbing the envelope. You took a deep breath and calmed yourself before deciding to open up the envelope.

The sound of the paper tearing filled the room. You handed the torn piece of paper to Chanyeol. Slowly and anxiously you peeped inside the envelope.

A note.

You took that note out and opened it. It was a two sided message with numbers written on top for the order to read.

Words were clear yet you couldn’t understand. Letters felt new and words jumbled. You frowned further trying to make out the words.

“What is it? What does it says?” Chanyeol asked.

“It is a riddle we’ve to solve to get back Baekhyun.”

“Read it.” Yixing commented.

You nodded, concentration on that piece of paper you were going to read.

“(1): ‘Find an OLD man who shaves several times a day at this workplace, yet he still has a beard.’ ”

“(2): ‘Find the true old ancient hombre if you want to see you’re husband again~

   Yours truly, A fan.’ ”

A/N: So part 3 is up now. Thanks for all the love I got for this piece.

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