#jaxs overalls are wrong but i was locked the fuck in

[bamkoon]

tadc fanart on a friday night

[kaediisarchive]

Final thoughts on the 2021 Mortal Kombat movie.

LOTS of spoilers under the cut! Do not look at this post if you don’t want to see spoilers!

And remember, this is all just my opinion. It’s not like an actual in-depth review because I’m not a film student; this is just my perspective on what I saw as a fan of this franchise.

POSITIVE

Sub-Zero and Scorpion were great. Opening fight was great.

“Eddy Tobias” namedrop lmao

I love the snow preceding Sub-Zero’s attack. Very foreboding.

Score is AWESOME. My favorite soundtrack is probably the one that plays when Sub-Zero is attacking them in the city towards the beginning.

Sonya rigging her house with a secret bunker and trap doors is smart and fits her character.

I like that the dragon logo has an integral meaning to the story.

Loved Jax vs Sub-Zero. Not mad about the origin change of Jax’s arms. I like that he had to work through his feelings of inadequacy and failure; people don’t just immediately bounce back after something that traumatic. I also like that his arcana manifests to protect Sonya rather than in the heat of battle. It shows his emotional priorities and what separates him from people like Kano who manifest their arcana in a fit of rage.

Sonya “Throw Hands on Sight” Blade lmfao. They nailed her fighting style too and I am happy.

Kano is the best thing about this movie. No competition.

Kotal reference!

Nightwolf reference!

Shang Tsung’s soul magic being black and wispy and foreshadowing Noob Saibot.

KANO DID THE HEART RIP

CHEKOV’S GNOME I’M SCREAAAAAAMMMMIIIIIINNNNGGGGGG

I love Liu Kang in this. He is 1000000% a Wholesome Boi. I like that he’s younger and unhardened and not the fully realized champion version of his character yet. Let him grow into it so it feels earned later on. I like that he’s the underdog, and I like what they’ve set up for him in the future. Also, the casting for him was perfect and they nailed his fighting style, too.

That little “the FUCK” that the Kano actor improvised(?) in the middle of Liu Kang’s lines made me laugh more than it should have. I don’t know why that moment got to me so much but it did.

I love Kung Lao. And they nailed his fighting style, too! Great to see variation that represents the characters (though there were less shining examples, which I’ll touch on later).

LOW SWEEP! LOW SWEEP! LOW SWEEP!

Egg roll scene is best scene.

Kabal! I love his dry humor. And his voice reminds me of Duke Nukem, which I’m not mad about. It complemented his dialogue well.

Not mad about Kung Lao’s death because it was meaningful. His fatality on Nitara was sick, too.

Liu Kang taking the ribbon from Kung Lao’s hat and wearing it in his honor, giving an origin for his signature headband is FANTASTIC.

THE PIT!

FLYING BICYCLE KICKS!

LIU KANG’S DRAGON FATALITY!

SONYA’S ENERGY RINGS!

Sub-Zero was a GREAT final boss. They really built him up appropriately to make him feel like it.

Scorpion’s fatality! And his skull face!

NEUTRAL

Not sure how I feel about Sub-Zero being wholly evil and there being no involvement from Quan Chi. It’s more straight forward for sure. It makes him an interesting (and badass) character, and I’m really behind this portrayal in that he is one of the most believable characters in the movie, but I’m not sure if I like the implications for later films in how this has simplified the dynamic in the entire Shirai Ryu vs Lin Kuei plotline. Having Quan Chi be the Machiavelli was always one of my favorite MK twists. And how do we eventually end the feud now? If Bi-Han / the Lin Kuei were wholly responsible, why should Hanzo EVER make peace with Kuai Liang down the line? The complexity feels like it’s been stripped down a bit, but I do love this iteration of Sub-Zero. I truly do. That’s why this is in the neutral category and not the negative XD.

Why didn’t Jax tell Cole when he saw the mark? Why wait until his family gets attacked? Maybe he didn’t want to do it in front of his family to keep them out of it, but that ends up endangering them more. Not a gripe, just a curiosity.

Sound editing was a bit too intense at times for my taste. I have tinnitus, so...big boomy bass with very mild voices is a chore for my ears to switch between. My ears were ringing within the first twelve minutes.

Torn between “fuck you Reiko” and “Reiko deserved better”. He deserved just a little bit better, but Skarlet says “get fucked” anyway.

I don’t like the “shaky cam” used in the fight scenes. Not my cup of tea. Very hard to visually process at times.

Whatever cosmic force is picking the champions for Earthrealm is doing a shitty job at it.

Why did they change the location of the Sky Temple to a desert? Again, not a gripe, a curiosity.

“We will not see another full moon before the tournament begins” THEN WHERE IS THE TOURNAMENT BUDDY???

Not sure how I feel about the “arcana” concept. It’s an okay plot device but kinda hammy.

Kitana’s fan! But why? Why is it there? I could understand the Kotal and Nightwolf references because Sonya has been researching, but why is Kitana’s fan randomly in an Earthrealm temple? Purely cheap fanservice.

Nitara was really cool. Shame she had to die, but her death was cool and there have to be some characters that get killed off. Wish she had more screentime though; feels like another instance of fanservice just having her show up basically as a namedrop and a quick kill.

The phrase “Are you okay?” was said WAY too much in this film. So much that I actually notices how often it was said, and I usually don’t pick up on these things.

Pretty sure a camera operator fell at one point in a Sonya scene because the camera jerked around violently all of the sudden then stabilized. Whoops.

How did Sub-Zero know to take Cole’s family to the gym? WHY did he take them there?

NEGATIVE

Opening scene was awesome, but it’s emotional impact felt stunted. I feel like the order of events should have been twisted a bit. Hanzo find his wife and son should have been the big emotional climax of the scene, but it felt like a passing moment and gave him no time to mourn and no time for the impact to truly set in with me. It was an “oh no they died” moment instead of an “ OH MY GOD THEY DIED THIS IS SO FUCKED FUCK YOU SUB-ZERO” moment. I dare say that the Legacy web series did it better in spite of their lower budget and overall quality; the series of events had better pacing and gave more emotional impact because of it. I said what I fucking said don’t @ me.

Wish we got more Scorpion. I love Sanada, I love him as Scorpion, but they didn’t give us the time we needed with his character to truly get a grasp of him.

Cole Young is like white bread in a parade of decorative cakes.

Raiden, a normally passionate and protective character whose fatal flaw is that he involves himself too much in events because he cares about the people in his realm and ends up fucking things up because of it, now seems to not care in the slightest. He feels completely uninvolved save for an occasional pop in to give a nod of disapproval. I don’t like this unemotional take on one of the most emotional characters in Mortal Kombat.

Small complaint from my perspective as a martial artist but uh...”Throw your uppercut!” was a bullshit line in a bullshit scene. If you’re locked up with someone like that and the guy has his arms around your neck, you physically cannot uppercut. You cannot fit your arms between his arms because they are cinched tightly around your shoulders/neck. YOUR HEAD is between your fist + bicep and HIS HEAD. In that situation, the guy has also left his body completely unguarded, so the most logical thing to do since you CANNOT reach his head is to go for BODY BLOWS. Beat him until he lets go to protect himself, catch his floating rib with double strikes, or punch the dude in his fucking liver as hard as you can to DROP HIM. Cole is supposed to be an experienced fighter, yet he makes one of the most rookie mistakes a fighter could ever make. Normally I wouldn’t care to point out mistakes in fight choreography or whatever because it’s MK and I expect ridiculousness, but this is the WRONG kind of ridiculous. It’s just NONSENSE.

I have SO MANY issues with Mileena. I’ll make this as short as I can. I don’t like the design of her mouth. I don’t like her weird stacked voice. She shows NO personality, not in her acting or even her fighting style, just an evil minion that got angry because she almost got her ass kicked. The turned one of the principle characters of the entire franchise and a fan favorite into a GRUNT. There is NO mention of Kitana outside of literal “fan”-service. Not even a reference to one of the most important plotlines in all of Mortal Kombat. And then they KILL HER OFF!!! When they do inevitably bring in Kitana WHAT THE FUCK ARE THEY GOING TO DO SINCE THEY KILLED OFF MILEENA???? I’m heated and biased and they did my girl dirty.

Speaking of doing characters dirty, poor Reptile. They turned him into an actual animal. What a waste.

Why are they so mean to Sonya if she doesn’t have a mark? She wouldn’t be as much of a “liability” if they would take the time to prepare her and teach her how to defend against fighters that have unlocked their arcana. Mind-numbingly stupid logic.

This movie relies A LOT on prerequisite knowledge to work. It’s like they want fans to fill in the blanks for them. But not everyone watching is already a fan; this isn’t an obscure release, this is a blockbuster movie released worldwide. These gaps in lore and prior knowledge don’t make sense for such a broad audience.

Cole Young literally could have just been Johnny Cage.

Where was Raiden when his temple was being assaulted?

Cole’s arcana is LITERAL PLOT ARMOR IM FUCKING DONE

No but for real that’s the most boring decision they just ripped off Jax’s MK11 heater effect and Baraka’s blades (I know they’re tonfa and they aren’t attached and I DON’T CARE). Also, now he’s suddenly good at fighting again? After being dog shit this entire movie??? And tanks Goro?????

If Raiden is an Elder God in this continuity, why is he allowed to help Earthrealm AT ALL? It seems like favoritism and bends the rules that the Elder Gods are supposedly bound by way too much. They really just shouldn’t have made him an Elder God; I honestly think they just said it to introduce the concept without a fuck given towards the actual lore of the Elder Gods.

WHY DID RAIDEN TELEPORT KANO TO SONYA’S HOUSE AFTER HE BETRAYED THEM I HAD TO REWATCH THAT SEVERAL TIMES TO MAKE SURE I JUST SAW WHAT I SAW  WHAT THE ACTUAL NONSENSICAL FUCK

Cole REALLY should not have been involved in that last fight. Especially not after Scorpion shows up. It should have been Scorpion vs Sub-Zero ONLY for the final fight. Cole tag-teaming Sub-Zero with Scorpion cheapens Scorpion’s revenge.

Camera work in the final fight was not good, especially in the first portion. At one point Cole gets thrown into a fence, but it cuts to an awkward inverse angle that makes him look like he’s bouncing off of a trampoline. This continues to happen and ruins several shots for me.

Honestly Scorpion should have just possessed Cole. Permanently. No switching back and forth. No more Cole, only Scorpion.

PREDICTIONS

Lots of dead characters come back as revenants and / or with upgrades.

Kano comes back with cyber eye.

Mileena comes back with full teeth.

Liu Kang becomes MK champion, wins tournament, and kills Shang Tsung. As it should be.

Cole Young helps Liu Kang become champion somehow idk maybe he sacrifices himself or something just please don’t make Cole the champion I will start a riot.

Next movie will start IMMEDIATELY at the tournament since there was supposedly less than a month until the tournament starts in this movie.

New characters coming in will be Kitana, Shao Kahn, Jade, Quan Chi, Kuai Liang, Noob Saibot, Ermac, and Johnny Cage.

OVERALL

This movie was good, bloody fun! It’s not an A++ Oscar-winner, but if you expected that going into it, you played yourself. It was Mortal Kombat; it was stupid, it was gory, and I had a blast watching it. Kano and Liu Kang were the best parts of the movie for me, with Scorpion and Sub-Zero tied for third. Also I popped a lot for the cheap nostalgia hits. I’m overall satisfied with what we got in spite of my complaints, and I only complain so in-depth about the things I love lmao so trust me when I say I’m not actually mad, just nitpicky. I’ve watched it twice now, and I would watch it again. It’s like a 6.8/10 for me.

[redlanternavengerelf42]

NO, FUCK OFF, I DO NOT ACCEPT A WESTALLEN WEDDING WHERE JOE, WALLY, CECILE AREN’T THERE AND IT ALSO GETS YANKED FOR THE O*L*C*TY WEDDING. FUCK YOU AND THE HORSE YOU FUCKING RODE IN ON.

YOU DO NOT KILL OFF MARTIN STEIN AND THEN HAVE THEM HAVE BARRY AND IRIS HAVE A SHOTGUN WEDDING WITH OL**E AND F*L*CITY AS THE ONLY WITNESSES AND THE BEST MAN AND MAID OF HONOR IN A CEREMONY THAT’S LITERALLY THROWN ON SCREEN RIGHT AFTER THE DIRT HITS MARTIN’S COFFIN AND WE SEE JAX, CLARISSA, AND LILY ALL MOURNING HIM TOGETHER AT HIS FUNERAL AND FUCKING F*L*CITY AND OL*V*ER HAVE TO FUCKING PULL FOCUS FROM WESTALLEN *AGAIN* AND CAN’T EVEN LET THEM HAVE THEIR OWN FUCKING WEDDING WITHOUT PULLING THEM INTO THEIR BULLSHIT FUCK THIS.

THERE’S JUST SO MUCH FUCKING WRONG WITH THIS. I’M SO GODDAMN PISSED. SO MANY OF THESE CHARACTERS DESERVED FUCKING BETTER. 

FUCK ALL OF THIS. YOU COULD HAVE JUST ENDED IT AFTER MARTIN’S FUNERAL WITH EVERYONE GOING TO DO THEIR THING, BUT NO. 

Look, I’m sorry for the Caps-lock raging, but I’m SUPER unhappy about this. I’m glad the Ol*c*ty shippers are probably happy, but couldn’t Iris and Barry have had their OWN goddamn wedding without Ol*c*ty pulling focus AGAIN. I’m cool with Barry and Iris wanting to just have a private ceremony after everything, but ceremony should have involved Joe and Wally, who were fucking SHOVED TO THE SIDE during this crossover, at the very least. Cecile also very much should have been a must-have on the invite list, and I’ll even argue that Cisco, Caitlyn and Harry should have even been there. Any ONE of those people had more right to be there than fucking Ol*c*ty. That “best man” spot deserved to go to Wally or Cisco. 

And, like, fucking F*l*city can’t even let them say “I do,” before she has to interrupt and barge in... Just like they had to disrupt the wedding rehearsal dinner with their f***ing dram. For FUCK’S SAKE.

And really, don’t Ol*c*ty shippers, as much as I hate the ship, deserve to have something with the people closest to those two characters there? Like, it isn’t even WestAllen that gets the raw end of the deal here. I don’t even like the ship, and I feel like Ol*c*ty also got a disservice here. 

WestAllen could have had a nice, quiet, private vow exchange in S.T.A.R. Labs with Joe, Wally, Cecile, Cisco, Caitlyn, and Harry all in attendance, and it could have been in the next episode of “The Flash.” The next episode of “Ar**w” could have had F*l*c*ty tell Ol*v*r that she changed her mind, and Diggle could have still married both couples in two separate events that would have at least have respected both couples.   

And to get back to the fact that we literally JUST had Martin Stein die. Stein, who was a Jewish man that died fighting Nazis when he was so close to going to his family and retiring. Stein who just wanted to spend time with his wife, daughter, and grandson, gets shot by Nazis and dies just short of getting the happiness he deserved. Jax just lost his second father figure. He had to pretty much pull the plug. We literally cut from the scene of him mourning with Lily and Clarissa, and had characters (Barry fucking INCLUDED) who were at his funeral and put shovels of dirt on his casket, and you cut straight to fucking THIS? 

Like, there was enough good about this crossover that you could have just gone a different direction, and it would have been okay... But this is just terrible fucking writing.

The FUCK OUTTA HERE with that noise.  

I’m so fucking done right now. I don’t think I’ll stop watching “Supergirl,” “The Flash,” or “Legends of Tomorrow” (I stopped trying to force myself to like “Ar**w” a long time ago), but I’m still pretty fucking livid.

And look, any Ol*c*ty shippers (Who may also be WestAllen shippers, because people can like more than one thing at a time) who happen to read this who ARE happy right now, I honestly don’t mean to throw shade at you. I’m trying to make sure I tag this with anti- tags and misspell the ship, characters, and show name because I’m really not trying to spew venom at you just because I’m angry about this. So, if this shows up in any of your tags, I’m sorry, I don’t mean for it to, and if you let me know I’ll try to see if there’s something I can change to keep it out of your tags. I’m going to tag it with the overall show tags (other than “Ar**w,” because I’ve been pretty harsh on it in this post), so I can’t guarantee it won’t come up in the CW stuff in general, but I’m going to try to keep it out of tags specifically aimed at you, like the ship tags or the F*l*c*ty character tag. Like, if you’re happy right now, keep right on partying. None of the things that are sending me into this Red Lantern level rage are your fault, and I can’t blame you for being happy that your ship got married even though I dislike the ship and I hate how it happened. If you guys are happy right now, congrats. If you’re happy that they’re married but are mad at how it happened because you don’t feel like they got respected, either, we can commiserate a bit on that. 

[bforbookslut]

Angst and Sexy Take Centre Stage in Rachel van Dyken’s Infraction

I have given Infraction by Rachel van Dyken a ☆☆☆ rating. It is Book 2 of the Players Game series. It is New Adult Contemporary Romance. Skyscape publishes it. It will be published January 9, 2018.

The blurb reads:

Pro footballer Miller Quinton would do anything for his best friend and teammate—including “fake dating” his friend’s sister. What no one knows is that seven months ago in Vegas, Miller and Kinsey did a whole lot more than just kiss. Miller knows that this cheerleader is off-limits to him and any guy on the team. Still, he can’t stop himself.

Kinsey’s whole world is on the verge of crumbling. Her dad has cancer. Her overprotective brother is falling apart. Dating Miller may be a fake-out, but he’s the one guy who can make her forget about everything—including all the reasons she stayed away from football players. With each heated moment, Miller feels more like a safe place…even though he’s not safe at all.

Now temptation is testing every rule in the game of love. But how long can they go on playing when winning is a harder goal than either of them imagined?

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Merry Christmas guys and a Happy New Year! How was your Christmas? It’s always been a quiet affair for me, some time with family and just lazing at home. Keep an eye out for my 2017 wrap-up tomorrow because a new year means a new post! As always, my reviews may contain spoilers. I say may because what’s a spoiler to you may not be a spoiler for me.

I was disappointed with Infraction.

I absolutely adored the first book in this series, Fraternize. It made me laugh, cry and my heart ached with how much it made me feel.

Don’t get me wrong. Rachel van Dyken cannot do any wrong and Infraction was a good read. But, Infraction, felt like it was trying too hard. More often than not, it felt a little extreme, outlandish and lacking a realness. I didn’t devour it like Fraternize and in fact, I will guiltily admit that I was not interested in finishing it.

From the get-go, we know that Kinsey and Miller are going to be together. That’s obvious enough. Because of this, the entire book felt like one messy rollercoaster ride of “can you just fucking work your shit out and get together already???”. On the brighter side, we also learn a great deal about Kinsey and Jax’s background and their sibling relationship (which was turned up to eleven here) and we get to see Miller’s soft side. And, of course, we get more of Rachel van Dyken’s signature hilarious yet charming banter!

For a fake dating story, I expected a lot more unresolved sexual tension but since the sex was already over and done with in Vegas, Infraction was a hell lot more romantic. Once you’re past the sex, it’s all about falling in love and taking off the rose-coloured glasses.

Infraction follows Miller and Kinsey’s journey of being forced together and learning about each other. In the process, they also learn about themselves and naturally, fall in love. Is there a plot? I’d say the most generic one around. Boy meets girl, they fall in love, big drama happens to break them up, there are some tears and heart-to-hearts and then, the happily ever after.

It got a little boring at the halfway mark because Infraction does nothing new. I didn’t care for Jax’s overprotectiveness with Kinsey but if you’re looking for an answer, Infraction gives it to you.

But, finally, the book rounds a beautiful corner! The ending was gorgeous though and it brought tears to my eyes. Hint: it involves family which is such an important thing to both Kinsey and Miller.

We do get a lot less sports in Infraction, despite Jax being team captain and a minor focus of the book. Instead, it looks at domestic and sexual violence and cancer. I think Rachel van Dyken dealt wonderfully with both these topics without turning the romance into a sob story or a medical drama. I do wish Kinsey had more justice when it came to Anderson, her abusive ex, because she deserved it.

Speaking off, naturally, the focus of Infraction is on Kinsey and Miller with some sideshow of Jax. Although, I felt Jax played far too big of a role and took the focus away from Kinsey and Miller with his presence constantly looking over them.

I adored Kinsey’s strength and her feistiness in the first book, but she is reduced to a whiny, tantrum-throwing adult. With every turn of the page, someone had to reassure her of her feelings and “save her”. But after spending an entire life with Jax constantly breathing down her neck and making sure she’s fine, it’s not a surprise.

But the real gem is Miller. He was respectful all the time, even if he constantly wanted to rip Kinsey’s clothes off. He’s such a sweetheart and so caring. While I don’t have a maternal bone in my body so seeing guys do well with kids doesn’t really get me going, but Miller reassuring a dying child just pulled at my heart strings.

What really ticked me off about Infraction was Jax. His overprotectiveness and obsessiveness of Kinsey is unrealistic and I’d say borderline abusive. And the more I learnt of their relationship, the faster the stars dropped. He locked her in on prom night. Yet, no one seems to find that weird or called the cops on him. He has good intentions and he never intended to hurt her; clearly, he isn’t a predator of some sort. But Kinsey’s only reaction is to run away, cry, scream etc instead of confronting him like an independent adult.

I’m glad that in the end, Jax learnt to let go. And Miller had the best line to go with it:

“This is what love looks like, man, it protects, not by keeping everything hidden but by being honest.”

But it still bothers me.

I felt that Jax deserved his own book, if only to work out the mechanics of his relationship with Harley and his God-complex which I felt kept being brushed off and excused. I also felt that Harley deserved a lot more credit and spotlight. She felt unfairly robbed.

Rachel van Dyken is a goddess when it comes to banter. The writing is sexy and charming and laugh-out-loud funny. The push and pull and flirting (unintentional and not) between Miller and Kinsey is adorable. Especially calling each other Chicken and Waffles. Like, hello, guys? That’s something couples do so you’re not fooling anyone.

But, the sex just seemed blah to me. And even the tension just didn’t make my lady bits tingle at all.

Overall, Infraction didn’t leave much of an impression on me. I still loved it because Rachel van Dyken is a goddess but it didn’t live up to my expectations and perhaps, that’s my fault. I loved the previous installment far too much. I do hope there are more installments in this series (please give me the entire team!) because Rachel writes phenomenally and there’s something fresh and light about her writing.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review. This review edition may differ from the final edition.

[fireandgloryrpg]

Highway to Hell || Wally, Kolina, Maia, Adriana, Jax, Fergus, Cat, Lucinda, & Duke ft. pineapple shoe

I'm on the highway to hell,                           No stop signs,                                      Speed limit,                                             Nobody's gonna slow me down —

Our courageous heroes fight off the flames of the Senate House fire on the opposite side of the roaring flames. Will they emerge victorious?

!! tw: blood, serious injury !!

Wally ran outside of Atomic Sushi with everyone else who was inside. When he saw the smoke, his body became immobilized by the bright flames that reminded him of the final battle from the war with Gaia. Out of sheer interest he started to run towards the Senate House, mind reeling for an answer as to what was happening. As people all began showing up, others were fleeing the scene. Wally pushed his way through the crowd and watched as many Romans in battle-ready armor moved in with Legionnaires, some of who were still getting their gear on. It wasn't but minutes later that they started to call for anyone who was willing to help them to do so now. He looked around and thought about what it was that he could do. Wally wasn't sure how much help he could be, but moved forward nonetheless. He wasn't about to back away from another fight.

Kolina sprinted towards the source of the fire, her tiny legs going surprisingly fast. When she spotted Wally she couldn't help but feel a slight weight being lifted off her chest. She sprinted to her baby brother,"Wally!" She did a quick check of him, very obviously going into mom mood for a quick second. "How good are you at elemental magic?"

Maia threaded her way through the crowds of people, some running in a panic, others fleeing in mindless terror. Instead, she ran to the vicinity of the flames. She focused on finding others around her who needed help evacuating the area. Spotting a few civilians who had been trampled in the stampede of people who had rushed away from the forum, Maia ran over to them, assessing the extent of their injuries. "Hi, I'm here to help." She said with a tense smile as she looked at the injuries-- adult male with a ruined leg, an unconscious child, and a woman with gash on her head. "Medic?! I'm gonna need help over here!" Maia yelled out as she made a quick splint for one of the injured civilian's legs.

Wally heard his voice being called and then saw the source of that: Kolina. He grinned, just for a moment, happy to see that his sister was okay. In moments like this, it didn't matter how much blood you shared, you were family. They had to ignore that they had just seen each other for the first time in a few months. "Good enough. Come on, we gotta help put the flames out." He ran with her to one of the smaller, closed off fires. Wally put his hands out right away, focusing on the heat and the power of the flames. It took a good minute of concentration, but the heat of the fire, its power began to flow into Wally. "Kolina," he said roughly. "Try to suffocate the flames, or bring us some water."

Kolina nodded at her brother and did the same as him, pulling the energy from it. Soon, she felt she had enough energy to begin her spell. Usually she was able to do it non verbally, but a spell like this needed the focus of a chant. So quietly to herself she began to chant, her hands clasping together leaving her index and middle pressed together pointing at the fire. She stepped towards it, her thumb and index fingers moving to create a triangle as she pressed her palms lower. It took a bit of time, but the fire began to lower and slowly go out. "Fuck." She breathed, sweat beading on her forehead. "We're going to need water too."

The pillar of black smoke dulling the night sky had brought an abrupt and bitter end to the Karavadra's soiree. Adriana was glad to be free of the stuffy elitist environment, but frustration quickly boiled in the blood beneath her skin as she ran over the cobblestones of the city towards the panic with Jax sprinting beside her. "Of all the goddamn nights they pick to light the town on fire, they just had to pick the one time I'm wearing heels." The centurion had discarded said shoes almost immediately after hitting the street, favoring the speed and strength of her bare feet on the uneven ground. She looked across to her fellow centurion with any teasing implication stashed elsewhere for the time being. "We should head to the eastern side. It's the most limited in terms of water access, so it's going to be the roughest to tame. If we don't get that scaled down, this is gonna blaze out of control."

Jax had been sprinting the entire way from the Karavadra estate alongside Adriana, but soon enough they came upon a much different scene than the one they had just left. And though he knew the situation to be serious, he couldn't help but crack the smallest smile at Adriana's words. "Expect the unexpected," he said like the asshole he was. But he couldn't deny that he too was annoyed with his current garb of tuxedo and dress shoes. Still, that didn't stop him from springing into action. At Adriana's suggestion, he was already shouting into the nearby crowd. "You heard her! Water! Grab whatever you have that can hold it, and start a bucket brigade heading over to the east side!" At least those that didn't have any abilities that could help directly now had something to do as well.

Kolina was not mentally, emotionally, or fashionably prepared for this situation. Here she was, standing in front of a raging fire in her overall shorts and a crop top. Her shoes had pineapples on them, not goddamn fires. These were her favorite shoes and she would be damned if they were ruined. So much like Adriana did with her heels, Lina took off her shoes and threw them behind her with yell of "Incoming!" She backed up slightly, trying to survey the area,"We need water over here!"

Despite how inappropriate it was for Jax to crack a little whip of his usual wit, Adriana's frustration was lightened by it. Technically, he wasn't wrong. But how did one prep for an impromptu forum barbecue? She rolled her eyes, flashing the briefest smile before giving way to the driving personality she'd begun to master in her current station. Her confidence was further bolstered by Jax's -- surprisingly -- unchallenged support of her strategy. It gave her a rush that she attributed to pride and respect, but may just as well have come from other curious forces... The daughter of Mars clasped a hand on his wrist, demanding, "Gather everyone you can, get them organized, but before we head over--" hazel orbs snapped aside nearer to the origin of the blaze where she had spotted Maia on the ground tending to a few battered civilians. "Let's clear them out of here. They'll only complicate everyone's efforts and it's dangerous enough as it is." Without waiting to see if Jax would follow, Adriana hurried over to the younger centurion and crouched to her left, not giving a thought to the blood and ash that was surely snagging on the sheer material of her skirt. "No medic yet, but we can at least get them out of the way and into relative safety." Briefly, a steadying hand touched the young woman's shoulder. "Are these three the only ones around here?"

Maia had finished binding the man's leg and was preparing to lift the unconscious boy onto her shoulders in a one-man carry when she felt someone touch her shoulder. Glancing up, a rush of relief washed over her as she saw that it was Adri. Maia nodded, but she gestured to the chaos around her. "I'm pretty sure, but there could be more civilians. It's hard to see through all of this." She said and directed her attention to the boy. Maia was vaguely aware of someone shouting "Incoming," but didn't fully process it until a canvas shoe smacked her in the face. "Que comemierda lanza un zapato--" She swore and tossed the pineapple print shoe to the side. Looking at Adri, she tilted her head to the adults. "Take your pick, I'm gonna get this kid to safety." She said and hoisted the kid onto her back before running away from the fire.

Jax wasn't above questioning Adriana's every word during ever other interaction they had. But when there was an enormous fire blazing in all of their faces, and this wasn't particularly the time to fight her on everything. Apparently New Rome burning was what it took to shut their bickering up. His eyes flashed to her's as she took his wrist in her hand, and he gave her a nod before he turned away. Sparing a glance to Kolina, he decided not to bother the woman. Whatever she was doing, it looked rather important, so he forewent asking her to join in on their own efforts. Instead he began tapping those who weren't gathering items to put out the fire with, telling them to pick up whoever they could and get to the lake. If the fire spread, that would be the safest place to be. But it wasn't fast enough. Jax stood on a nearby bench and cupped his hands around his mouth, shouting the same message to those below. "And for the love of the gods don't trample each other! Stay calm!" As the herd of people steadily began to move themselves towards the lake, he went back to the fire. If only Fergus had been here. It would have made things a lot easier, though that wasn’t necessarily a guarantee seeing as he’d neglected training his water abilities. Instead he went to Kolina, trying to figure out exactly what she was doing. He had the smallest of hunches, having heard her words about elemental magic earlier on. "Does this have something to do with water or earth, because I sure hope so. If you can't do water, try for smothering it with dirt. You've already got enough of it here."

Kolina planted her feet firmly, staring down the fire as she started to gather her energy from it. Thank god that magic was connected just as much to nature as it was to people. "I can do any of the elements, Wally helping stop the fire from spreading." She locked her hands again, doing the motions once again, her quiet voice chanting words smothered by the sound of the flames. A good amount of flames sputtered out, but Lina was breathing heavier now. "I can smother the flames myself, I can use water, or dirt. Any of them are going to take time though." She brushed some of her hair off her forehead were it was now sticking to her sweat. "When I'm in the middle of a spell... Make sure no one tries to touch me." She didn't want to know what would happen if she lost control of a flame she had reigned in

Adriana was a natural leader. She might not admit that to herself or anyone around her, but under pressure, it showed. There was no hesitation in her calls, and when she met Jax's eyes, part of her believed she wouldn't need to say anything at all. Her gaze and expression may have been enough. Nevertheless, once Jax had marched off to handle the upright crowds (perfect for a son of chaos, she thought), Adriana found herself joining Maia's cause. The elder centurion saw the relief that flashed in the other's eyes and gave her a minuscule smile before she nodded, "We handle what we can. There's no use risking our lives in the smoke at this point." Then, just as Adriana was about to speak once more, a shoe can flying out of nowhere and hit the poor girl square in the face. A pineapple shoe. Which Adri knew. Well, at least she knew Lina was here. On any other occasion the incident may have been funny, but right then Adriana was too invested in the insanity to care. "Good. Get him to the lake and make sure a medic gets to him immediately," she told Maia before walking over to the woman whose head was gashed by gods know what. She was still conscious and able to walk. It would be a quicker journey to the lake with her than the man with the splinted leg. Adriana helped her up and supported her by having her loop an arm across her shoulders. She wrapped an arm around the woman's waist to assist in keeping her upright on her feet and began the careful approach to the lake.

Maia followed Adri's directives to the letter, heading for the lake as quickly as she could without jostling the boy too much. She didn't know the extent of his injuries and didn't want to make anything worse. But, as she neared the drop off location, the child began to whimper in pain-- while it hurt to hear, at least he was able to feel his injuries. "Hi there!" She panted as she continued to run. "We're... gonna be okay." Maia reassured him as she made her way towards the triage that had been set up, no doubt by those descended from Apollo. Maia made her way further into the crowd and let out a sigh of relief when she spotted someone from the infirmary that she knew. "Found him when he was unconscious, he woke up on the way here. A man and woman should also be coming soon." She briefed the medic as she set the child down. "Okay, you're gonna be safe here. I need to get back out there, but everything is fine now!" Maia smiled, doing her best to keep spirits light as the boy sobbed. The medic glanced at her, nodding that the situation was under control. With a brief hug of reassurance, she ran back towards where she had left the adults and spotted the man, who was grimacing in pain. "Hi! Back again! Let's get you to the lake." She said and helped him up, letting him rest heavily against her shoulders. Oh gods, this was going to be a heavy trip.

Jax still wasn't sure exactly what Lina was working on, but she seemed certain enough in what she was doing. And he knew her to be more intelligent than most people assumed her to be after the times he'd witnessed her flexing that intelligence. "Alright," was all he said as he made sure to stay close to Lina for the time being, making sure people stayed clear of her. But at the same time he was sure to yell orders to the bucket brigade as they continued to form, helping them to more effectively get the line up and running.

Kolina had to close her eyes for a second, this was taking a lot more energy out of her than she expected. Elemental magic was not what she was good at, and magic at this scale was taking it's toll on her. She wiped the sweat from her face again, before pulling her socks off to dig her feet in the dirt a bit and touching the dirt for a quick second. To those watching she was sure she looked completely insane, but she had to feel the element she was going to use. Earth was the strongest for her and she was obviously struggling from smothering the fire. "Please work." She whispered to the ground before standing. She began whispering different words, her hands starting as fists clenched next to the other. Slowly her fists twisted downward and then moved above her head. Dirt began to float around them and to focus she had to close her eyes, until it was above some of the fire, where she suddenly unclenched her fists and the dirt fell to smother some of the fire. She touched her nose when she felt a bit of wetness,"Great. Cool. Cool. Cool. Okay." Her nose was starting to bleed.

Cat had been at the closing party like every other person who was anybody in New Rome. Unlike Adriana and Jax however, she hadn't headed straight for the fire. Instead, she'd headed to the lake, she needed to set up a field hospital and she knew that at least a dozen of her cohort would be around. As she arrived, along with every other legionnaire she'd spotted on the way, she snapped orders at everyone. "Erect the surgery tent there Bryce, Richard, I want everyone who isn't busy with the wounded searching local homes and shops for fire extinguishers." Turning she caught sight of the son of Vulcan she had requested. He wasn't Albie, but he'd do. He was their local siege engine expert. "Keep the ballistas as close to the line as possible, I'll provide you a marker with purple flares. Load them with all the fire extinguishers and use a type F volley until you're out of ammo or the fire has been put out." Now all she needed to do was get closer to the blaze.

Wally stayed close to Lina. Being of the same divine heritage would come in handy now, as it would with anyone who had siblings. The iris' in Wally's eyes took on a violet huh as he extended his will over the flames. This one fire began to die out, heat lost as it all came to Wally. Touching fires were painfully terrible, but feeling them around you, inside of you was something completely other worldly. All of this energy though needed somewhere to go, otherwise you'd have Wally walking around with small objects bursting into flames around him. He looked over to Kolina and saw that while she was doing great, she was pushing past her own limits. "Stop," he said to her, surprisingly in a calmer tone than what was going on in his head. Wally's hands dropped and he moved over to her. "Stop, it's okay." Wally put his arms around her waist and started to focus on his breathing. "Take it easy." All the energy within him began to, sort of, rotate in a way. Like spinning around would change it's needs - and it did. The heat he'd absorbed became, through pure will and need a greater healing. A soft green aura developed around the siblings and Wally gave everything he'd just taken into her. The words that fell from his mouth came out in Ancient Greek. Wally focused solely on Lina while watching everyone else fight the fire. "Steady your breathing."

Fergus rarely ever hesitated regarding most everything but this time around, as Adriana and Jax and Cat bolted past him, he stood there for a long moment and watched as the acrid smoke started to rise from the senate house. There was something about fire that always had him wanting to run in the opposite direction, like his utmost nature. But the more he stood there, the more his city would burn, the more people would get hurt and it wasn't only his duty as a legionnaire but as a citizen, he just couldn't stand to the sideline and watch. Contradicting everything that told him to run away, Fergus bolted to follow suit when he was caught in a throng of people. Putting fingers up to his mouth he whistled to the panicked people around. "This way, in an orderly fashion and NO ONE has to get hurt." He started moving through the crowd, making some help others, trying to organize things as he reached through and found himself closer to the lake than to the fire. "CAT." Fergus called out for his cousin, and former Centurion as he spotted her and made a beeline towards her. "I--" He waved towards the lake, unable to actually properly voice his plan as he simply lunged forward. "I'm gonna need your help." Fergus never, not ever, used his water powers. He loathed his nature, and it loathed him back but there was an almost full moon in the sky, and a fire in the Senate.He didn't have time to hesitate as he roused water from the lake, knowing it was also being borrowed from the other side. He didn't have the same control or subtlety as other water demigods who didn't hate their powers, but what he lacked in elegance and practice, he made up for in sheer willpower as the wave rose fifty feet in the air before he could actually drag the barreling mass of water towards the burning building, accidentally knocking whoever got in the way.

Cat knew that Fergus was a son of the sea titan, but she had never seen him do anything nearly this impressive. However, she wasn't about to let a resource as useful as his go to waste. Searching around her, she looked for something that could get them to the senate fast. Even without his wave, she still needed to get the flare there so that the ballista placements could hit the fire as accurately as possible. She noticed it straight away, after all a bright crimson super bike was hard to miss. Leaping on its back, she was pleased to find the keys still in the engine. Flicking the ignition, it coughed once before loudly roaring into life. She tested the clutch and the accelerator once or twice to make sure that she knew what she was doing before roaring towards Fergus. "Get on the back, bring that water with you and we'll at least make a dent in the flames." She waited for him to get on, literally itching to go. Time was of the essence.

Fergus felt overwhelmed for a full moment as he looked into the water, if it had been sea water then it probably would've gotten the better of him but lake water was easier to control and the lake spirit was much nicer than any sea spirit, it was also Roman, so it wanted to help. They held a brief mental conversation while Fergus steadied his feet, what felt like an hour inside his head was just a few seconds before Cat's calling snapped him out of it. He turned back and nodded, holding the mass of water felt pretty much like he had chains in his hands and neck and he was supposed to be dragging a truck, probably if he practiced it'd been better but alas. He hopped on the bike, his back against Cat's. "We can do this. Fergus steadied himself and watched as the water body vaguely shaped itself in resemblance of a serpent as it moved.

Cat revved the engine before roaring up the wide streets of New Rome, she watched as the water trailed behind them, it almost seemed to take on the shape of a serpent, but Cat couldn't be sure. It might just be her imagination and anyway it wasn't as if she had the time to really take a proper look, she was pretty busy doing her best not to get them killed. She'd driven a motorcycle once or twice, but never at anywhere near this speed. Leaning left, she took a shortcut that led up the hill towards the forum. Despite her best efforts however, she realised that they were still going to slowly. The Senate House would almost certainly be damaged irreparably by now. She just hoped that everyone had been able to get out on time. Turning she shouted towards Fergus. "We're about two minutes out, I'm going as fast as I can. Are you doing ok?" While she didn't have powers of her own that could be used to this same extent, her own powers being much more subtle, she knew that using them near constantly for so long was a good way to exhaust yourself.

Fergus felt the tension pulling through his entire body. These were powers he never used, the serpent stared back at him and he stared back at it. He was not going to fail his city in this time of need and that was the power that held him together then. He had never tried to use that much water at once and never in such a dire situation but he knew he could, he had to believe he could. If felt not only like lifting a ton but also like he had been running a marathon for hours. "I'm fine, cuz." He tried to sound smarmy, almost cocky but it came through gritted teeth. They were too far the closest they got to flames, the more effort he put. It was only when he felt blood start dripping down his nose that he realized the mistake of neglecting his water-related powers for so long, but now was not the time for lamenting as he held up the mass of water and his arms started trembling some. Steadying himself forcefully, Fergus was damn sure he'd need at least a day off after this.

Lucinda wasn't one for giving orders, but she liked to think she was good at following them. She wasn't sure where Callum was, but New Rome was never really short of Centurions shouting orders so she had been directed towards the lake where someone had set up an emergency triage area. She was much better at causing an injury than she was at fixing them but she knew her limited first aid could probably help someone.

Cat pulled up alongside the forum. They were finally here. She couldn't wish for anything else, turning to Fergus she found herself looking into the eye of a giant Serpent. It was a light, almost green blue. Fergus' power, even if raw and untrained, and by the looks of her cousin, incredibly painful to use for this long -- he looked exhausted. She gunned the bike between two bollards and down three flights of steps, roaring past Jax, Adriana, Lina and Wally. She skidded to a halt just in front of the fire, already fumbling for the pack of purple flares she had picked up from the docks of the Lake. "Fergus, do it now!" she shouted, hoping that Fergus would take the cue. She knew that even with Fergus they weren't going to beat this fire just with what they'd brought from the lake.

Maia had finally made her way to the lake, dragging the man along with her-- he had fainted from the pain on the way there, which had made her task all the more harder. But, she dropped him up at one of the surgery tents because the guy was going to need all the help he could get. Her splint was good enough to stabilize the wound, but it wasn't going to do much more than that. As she handed him off to a medic from the First, Maia took the moment to catch her breath and take in her surroundings. The tent seemed to be well-run, and it wasn't as though they needed much more help. Looking back at the fire, Maia took in a deep breath. Time to get back out there. Noticing one of the legionnaires from her brother's cohort, she waved a hand, "Hey! Hey Lucinda! There are people trapped in the buildings at the forum, c'mon!" She said and began to run down the streets towards the blaze. Elogiar a Dios that she wasn't stuck in a dress like some of the other folks she'd seen tonight.

Kolina took a deep breath, trying to steady herself. "I'm okay, Wally. Looks like I have to practice elemental more." She wiped her face, a little bit of blood smearing, but her nose stopped bleeding for the moment. When the bike came barreling by her, she made a surprised noise, leaning back from it. "Was that Cat? And Fergus?" She grinned when she saw the water Fergus brought with him. She pushed away Wally. "Come on, Wally! This is our chance to really stop it." Sprinting away from him and Jax, towards Cat and Fergus, she was very careful of her bare feet. She had to catch her breath when she made it there, the sprint reminding her how tired she felt. "Wow, okay, on the to do list, run more."

Lucinda had been helping to wrap a woman’s leg in bandages – her eyes trying to avoid looking too closely at the wound when Maia called her name and told her to follow. If she had to choose between running towards fire, and cleaning blooded legs, she would have picked the latter. But orders were orders and with a quick knot tied on the bandage she picked up her scarf from where she'd thrown it to the side earlier and ran after Maia. "We should start closer to the fire and work our way back!" She called, Lucinda might not be one of calling orders but her logic tended to be sound.

Wally huffed and shook his head. "Yeah, once you get out of here and back to safety." He pushed her hair back and looked at her face. When the bike came roaring by and he saw a sever amount of water following, his eyes widened. "The fuck?" He was still very conscious of Lina breaking away from him. "Hey, hey - Lina, stop! You gotta rest for a second!" He started to run after her, going deeper into the fire. Wally took a moment to let Lina get a bit ahead while he stole again the energy from the flames, giving himself something to work with.

For the first time since his arrival at Camp Jupiter, Duke wasn't entirely sure what to do with himself. He wanted to credit it to the fact that the initial shock was still present, but even so, he'd never been involved in a disaster such as this. He didn't have control over the elements, he couldn't call in a storm or anything fancy like that. But what he did have was his durability. It was no secret that Mars kids were slightly more hardened than the average demigod, so he figured he could so a little damage control on the inside. He took a deep breath as he fastened a bandanna around the lower half of his face, mentally preparing himself for the peril to come before he went charging into the blaze after Lucinda and Maia. "Hello?" he called out, venturing on his own path in an attempt to cover a bit more ground. "Can anybody hear me?" The heat was intense, more than he'd ever been made to withstand, but he held his ground.

Kolina looked back at Wally and grinned, looking tired. "I've got this, I'm fine." She wipes under her nose,"Thanks to you my nose even stopped bleeding." The bleeding had stopped, but Lina's face was rather sooty and under her nose and on her cheek a bit bloody. "You should help Fergus! You're better at healing than I am." With that, she turned back to the flames, digging her bare feet into the dirt again and focusing herself to gather energy from the elements again. It wasn't the same rush she had felt originally, but it certainly made her feel better than she was currently. She focused on a large set of flames, pointing her two fingers at them, and began chanting louder.

With Kolina having moved elsewhere, and with Wally along with her, Jax went after his sister and Fergus. Most of the civilians had cleared the immediate area surrounding the fire by now. As he got closer he saw the flares in her hand, and after years of working closely with his sister— Jax was certain he was safe in his assumption that he knew her plan. Stopping beside her, he held out a hand. "Give me some of the flares, if the two of us spread them we can work faster." Just then he saw from the corner of his eye someone who obviously had a death wish moving towards Kolina as if they were needing to tell her something. His eyes scoured the ground around him, looking for something to throw to keep them away. And found...a pineapple shoe? Picking up the strange article of clothing, he threw it with accuracy at the person trying to touch Lina, and was pleased when it met them with a resounding thump. "Don't touch her unless you want this fire getting out of control again!"

With the spell finished, Lina's nose automatically started to bleed again. She wiped it away, but the flow continued. "Well, my overalls are going to be absolutely stained." She looked over at the person who was now laying down with her shoe next to them. "Hey! That's my shoe! Where'd you find that?" When the person pointed over to Jax, she grinned at him, an odd sight considering the fire raging behind her, her barefoot state, and the blood flowing freely from her nose. "You found my shoe! Thanks for keeping him away." She gave him a thumbs up.

Continuing with his search, Duke's ability to breathe was beginning to wane. It seemed the further he went into the building, the thicker the smoke became. He tried his best to continue calling out for anyone who might have been trapped, but his cries became progressively more raspy and unclear. Finally, when it seemed he couldn't go any further, something caught his attention in his peripheral vision. Someone was trapped underneath a wooden beam with the fire growing closer and closer to where they laid helpless. Immediately springing to action, he made his way to the victim and went to attempt to lift the beam, but it was red hot and impossible to maintain contact with it without suffering severe burns. Determined not to leave them behind, he went in for another try, but this time he didn't feel the sting of the fire on his palms. With his enhanced strength he managed to lift the beam long enough for the person to shimmy out from underneath it before he let it drop to the ground, immediately moving to lift them onto his shoulder and make his way toward the only exit he really knew of. Climbing out of the window, he suddenly became aware of the bright orange aura that now surrounded him, and to the untrained eye it would seem as though he himself was on fire, but anyone who knew anything about Mars and the blessing he offered knew what was going on.

Fergus stood there as he hopped right off the bike and took a deep breath. By the time they reached the buildings on fire, blood had washed down his face and into the blue dress shirt he'd been wearing at the party. "CAT." He shouted back at her. "I HAVE TO GO INSIDE TO BREAK THE CONNECTION, WE CAN'T SAVE THERE, BUT WE CAN SAVE HERE." He shouted back at his cousin before stalking into the entrance arches of the forum. He could hear Cat's shouting, he saw Jax from the corner of his eyes and nodded, surrounded and followed by the body of water holding itself together at his expense, he could almost feel his heartbeat slow. The serpent circled around him once and in a swift, wave-like motion, he sent the water body barreling into the forum. It wasn't enough to extinguish it all right away but enough for the nearest buildings and the people around, also enough to pry away some of the smoke into another direction. Fergus couldn't move right away as if there was lead in his arms and feet and what he was not counting on was the force of the water to bring down some of the support columns around him so he only had time to roll away before they came down on him.

Adriana had kept by the lake for a few minutes to be sure the woman she'd carried down out of the flames received the attention she required, and before she knew it, one of the medics had roped her into assisting with the task of calming down some of the hysterical individuals. Dispelling the worst of their worries and fears wasn't quite the same as calming her legionnaire's battle jitters, but it was better than nothing. With the thanks of Apollo's children at her back, Adriana then set off to pursue the event that most concerned her. The massive stream of water pulled from the lake was certainly an awesome sight for the average New Roman, but for Adriana, it struck a deep pang of concern into heart. A command of so much water was beyond that of your average demigod, which led her to assume with confident likelihood that Fergus, her cousin, the son of Oceanus, who hadn't used his aquatic abilities for years, was suddenly attempting a formidable use of power, and while impressive, the potential consequences were harrowing. The centurion paid no mind to the pain in the soles of her feet. She was thriving on adrenaline and a spark of fear for the young man who she still considered a baby brother, despite his grumblings toward the matter. She sped past burning buildings and her struggling companions, rooted in that tunnel vision of familial desperation. When she finally neared the forum, she watched as her cousin hurled a wave through the complex-- and took out some of the columns in the process. Ignoring the few shouts of concern that followed her, Adriana darted right into the thick of the collapse, locating the young soldier and pulling him that extra few feet away just in the nick of time. The pair barely escaped being crushed under a colossal chunk of marble. While the smoke was clearing in the others' view, Adriana sat up to assess her cousin, frowning at the blood that stained his face and shirt, but glad to see him alive, nonetheless. "Fergus," the daughter of Mars took his face in her hands in a scolding yet grateful manner. "I swear to the gods, if you hadn't almost gotten yourself buried you would be in so much trouble right now." Then she breathed, sharply, and snatched him up in a well-deserved, bone-crushing embrace. "You're lucky to be alive, you idiot."

Wally hadn't let Kolina's words go unheeded. Looking back, he saw the magnificence of what some redhead was doing. For a moment he thought Percy Jackson had dyed his hair, and got a bigger build. When the flames died down around the man and he could see clearer, it was a surprise to see that Fergus "frog legs" Fitzgerald was the one contorting this mound of water. He was impressed so much that for a moment Wally was taken out of reality and just admired the scene unfold before him. Then came the column crashing down. He seemed to jinx them both. Wally pulled a green stone off the necklace he was wearing and held it tight in his palm. The charged crystal gave him its power, and Wally, for a few seconds was able to run right over, just as another person pushed Fergus out of the way. Wally ended up landing on his hands and knees right next to the pair. Slowly the blonde got to his feet and ripped another stone off his necklace. This one, blue, would aide them in healing. "You guys look like you might need help." He bent down to the woman and Fergus. "Fergus, what do you need?"

Fergus felt almost as if he was somewhere else, the cracking fire and falling pieces of building around him were all echoes as he sat up almost in slow motion. Part of consciousness was off, he couldn't point anything, almost as if he had had too much to drink and the world started getting blurred in the edges. His nose was still bleeding freely and he could taste it in his mouth, well, if he was conscious enough to point he was tasting blood. Adriana held his face and her voice resounded far away, along with everything else, his world was still spinning a bit. Clearly the middle of a fire wasn't also the best place for a child of the water to bounce back. He cracked a stupid smirk when Adri hugged him and slowly, a little crooked he embraced her back though the edges of his eyesight started to go black, Fergus shook his head trying to pry it away. He looked up to find a blond's face in front of him, and frowned, his voice was equally distant. "I can't stand." He croaked out as his legs were useless and weak, he coughed out and ran the back of his hand over his nose and mouth. "Back to the lake-- I need to go--" His logic was sound, if he could go back to the body of water, he could try to pull another mass and help salvage whatever was left of the buildings.

Adriana couldn't resist a thorough smile when Fergus returned her embrace, however awkwardly he managed to do so. She shut her eyes and for one moment let the relief sink in as though there wasn't still a fire raging nearby. After a gentle kiss was planted to the crown of his head, Adriana squeezed him one last time while she whispered directly into his ear, "I'm so proud of you." She released him afterward, turning to regard the blond who had apparently barreled into the disaster along with them. "Don't worry about me. I'm fine." Not in entirety, but Fergus was leagues worse off than she was, so he took the obvious precedence. "He needs all the help he can get." Of course, heroic young centurion Fergus, gold-hearted boy as he was, was sat there on the ground not even capable of walking and yet insisting that he needed to go back for a second massive water run. "No way in Hades, Hell, or Tartarus are you bending so much as a bubble of water to your will until you are more than healed." Adriana shot Fergus a stern glare that aptly translated just how serious and unyielding she intended to be in the handling of his recovery. She looked to Wally then, placing a hand on his shoulder as she spoke, instructive but grateful. "But he isn't wrong about the lake. He'll be stronger there naturally, and they've set up a temporary infirmary along the beach. If you're able to patch him up enough for the journey, we can take him there together. Gods know it's gonna take more than me to heft him out of this shit show."

Duke was quick to bring the person he'd saved from the fire to the infirmary that had been set up by the water's edge, making sure they were sufficiently taken care of before he glanced over his shoulder just in time to see a tidal wave sweep across the forum. Eyes going wide, he broke out into a sprint toward the commotion to meet up with Fergus, Wally, and Adriana, the bright orange aura that surrounded him fading but still somewhat present. "Is everyone okay? I saw the water--that was incredible, Fergus." He offered a smile to the son of Oceanus before turning his attention to his sister. "Glad to see you're okay too, Adriana."

Adriana grinned Duke came running over, thrilled to not only see him but also to not be instantly scolded for bolting headfirst into a crumbling archway. "I could say the same to you, but--" her eyes swept up and down his form from her seat on the stony ground, "you look way better than okay." It was rare that their father cast his blessing on one of his children, and for Duke to be so honored thrilled his younger sister. No doubt he'd done something heroic of his own to earn it. Slowly, Adriana got to her feet, forcing down the pain that shot up through her feet, cut and bloodied from a reckless, fear-driven run through the streets. She wouldn't let Fergus see it, much less her elder sibling. A sharp intake of breath was masked with a cough. She used the nearest stump of a pillar to steady herself before looking between her two family members. "We need to get Fergus down to the lake to recover," she said to the faintly-glowing figure of Duke. "You wanna give us a hand?"

Duke couldn't help but take notice of Adriana's mannerisms; the way she steadied herself, the hesitation in the way she rose to her feet. He knew Adriana. He knew she had this unwavering pride that would likely get her killed one day, but Duke could more than compensate for that. The thought that she might be hurt pained him, his protective familial instincts coming to light as he quickly wedged himself between her and Fergus, both arms wrapping around them. "You need medical attention just as much as he does. Don't think I didn't see that little stunt of yours." He muttered as he turned toward Fergus. "Got enough energy to walk?"

Maia could hear screams of help from the second floor of the building and immediately ran for the noises. Everywhere was covered in fire and even when she crouched down, it was difficult to see through the smoke. She threaded her way through the flaming piles of rubble and began to make her way up the stairs, dodging under a flaming beam that had collapsed through the burnt out floorboards. Listening, she pinpointed the door where the screams were coming from and kicked the door down. Huddled in a corner were a few scared looking civilians, but none seemed to be harmed. "I'm here to help, let's get going, folks!" Maia yelled through her flannel and led them down the stairs. As they weaved through the flames, a torrent of water burst through the ruined walls and rushed through the house, dousing fires as it washed over the floor. Maia stared at it in horror, flashbacks of Nelson coming back to her as the water covered the floor. Que diablo-- Glancing outside, she caught a glance of Fergus, looking incredibly worse for wear. That's where it was from. But, given how the water was still now, he must have exhausted himself? Gritting her teeth, she focused on the mission. Get the civilians, get out, get them safe. "Okay, guess we're wading!" She yelled and led them through the now flooded bottom floor. The water climbed up her legs, soaking her shoes and the bottoms of her jeans as she led the people out of the house. "Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Jupiter, Hera, mierda, mierda, mierda." She muttered to herself as the civilians ran away, ripping the flannel from her face and putting her hands on her head to calm the anxiety that was growing within her. Deep breaths, deep breaths. Maia stumbled out onto the street towards where a growing cluster of people were standing, including her Co-centurion. "N-nice job. Fergus." She managed, hands shaking.

Fergus tilted his head, his head was still whirring, his world was still spinning and there was still that black edge on his sight. People talking around him sounded off, as if he was in an echo chamber and they were distant from his ears. His limbs felt like lead and he wasn't recovering in any time because whatever humidity was left the fire was quickly eating through it. If he had time to come up with conspiracy theories, he'd even point out that it could be greek fire but this was not the time. A bunch of people huddling under a fire was also a charm for things to go bad so he frowned and shook his head, hand up to his nose trying to stop the gushing of blood. Duke's question dragged him back to where his mind started to wander off. "No." If he was being honest, he'd have to crawl out of there. Years of training had prepared him for much but ignoring his water powers had clearly been a mistake and he was lucky he wasn’t alone, otherwise he'd probably be dead by now. "Get out--" He pointed at Adriana though his unfocused eyes stayed on Duke. "--get her outta here, I'll go with--" And he pointed at the blond sorcerer. He trusted Kolina therefore he was going to trust her brother now. "Him." He drooled blood into his shirt and coughed it in disgust, he pointed at Maia. "Civilians, go get 'em out." He wasn't a firefighter and he had no idea how to fight an enemy you can't predict in any way, but he hadn't trained his whole life to just be useless at once.

Maia did her best to steady herself, to calm the fear that was still gripping her. Forcing her feelings down, she focused on Fergus' directions. Even when he was clearly about to keel over, he was still giving orders and keeping a handle on himself. If he could do that, she could do that. Taking a deep breath, she nodded when he said to go back into the building-- by now the water must have evaporated and quenched the flames. "Got it. See you on the other side." She exchanged a tense smile and gave Fergus a quick hug before tying her shirt back around her head and running back into the building. She could hear the cries of more civilians, but these were muffled. The fire on the bottom floor had been mostly put out, which was helpful, but that didn't change the fact that there were people, probably trapped. Coughing as she ran through the smoke, Maia made her way towards the sounds of terror and was confronted with a door, barred by a flaming wardrobe. "Gods." She muttered and backed up before kicking the wardrobe out of the way. Flaming chunks of wood broke off and landed on her arms, burning her. Swearing in pain, she brushed off the embers and used her shoulder to burst through the door. "C'mon, move it, move it, move it!" She said, directing the civilians out of the room before following suit. Coughing violently and eyes watering from the smoke, she did her best to listen for any other signs of life. When she heard none, Maia bolted out of the house with the civilians. The moment she reached the street, she doubled over and gasped for air, her arms searing and lungs screaming in agony. Spots floated around her vision as she tried to get more oxygen in her system. "I think... that we're good..." Maia said to the nearest legionnaire. "But, I can, I can go back in." She nodded, stumbling slightly as she took a step forward.

Adriana winced a little when her brother draped his arm around her. She was appreciative of the help, truly, but surely he would understand-- she was his family and Fergus was her’s. Just as his protective instincts went live, hers had already been buzzing for some time. "Yeah, I know I do," she sighed, "but I don't actually need it as much as he does." In reference, Adriana twisted to look down at Fergus, her concern multiplying when he couched out blood. They were wasting time bickering about who was taking who to medical, and who demanded treatment most. Adriana could be fairly patient, but this was not one of those times. She ducked out from beneath Duke's arm and, whether he liked it or not, hefted her cousin off the ground with one of his arms over her shoulders and one of her own wrapped around his back and under his arm. If it hadn't been for her parentage, it was unlikely she could have supported him at all, yet here she was, holding him up despite the screaming pain in her feet. But the longer she stood there, the less she felt it, numbing out the sensation by focusing so intensely on her mission that her determination burned out whatever discomfort she should have been feeling. Not a godly power, but a psychological trick. "You--," she glared at Fergus, then around to each boy in turn. Hot-headed helpers, the lot of them, "are not barking orders to anyone in your condition, mister. So shut up and let me take care of you before you bleed out all over everyone." The daughter of Mars huffed and glanced over to Maia. There were civilians that needed herding, but there were plenty of legionnaires around to help with that. "Hey, you!" the centurion shouted at a group of bystanding legionnaires, "get off your asses and help her get these people out or it'll be triple laps for you in the morning." As the gang ran over to assist Fergus' co-centurion, Adriana turned back to her brother. There was a pleading glint in her eyes, one that begged 'I'm sorry. Please allow me this.' "I know I need medical attention, but right now, he's in a far more dire need than myself." Her arm shifted to point out Fergus' worsening consciousness, not that it needed much highlighting. "If you take us both, it's going to take twice as long. Take him and get him there as quickly as you can. I'll still be here." She half chuckled. "It's not like I'll be going far. Please."

Wally looked between Fergus, the girl he'd recognized as Adriana and some man who'd come to assist. Wally put his hand on the back of Fergus' head and lifted him a little. As Adriana picked Fergus up from the ground, he could see it in her face that she was in pain, serious pain. "Let me," he put his hands out and laid one on Fergus' chest, the other coming under his arm and around his back. "I got you, man, it's gonna be okay." He looked back to the fire. It had resonated with him just how serious this all was when he first came to the Senate House. But having to do this, helping someone who was giving away so much, it took him back to the battle with Gaea. Wally then turned his head forward and moved. "You need water?" He waited for a response and then nodded. "Yeah, we'll jus' . . . we're gonna go there." Wally realized just after a moment that Fergus was in no place to walk. Luckily, Wally was a demigod, granted like all the others with gifts of strength. He heaved Fergus up and in one swift motion, put his arm behind his back and the other under his knees. "Let's go, Fitzgerald." Wally walked as quickly as he could, the sweat pouring down from every pore onto both of them. "You're good, you're gonna be okay." The further away from the fire they got, the easier it was for Wally to get Fergus to the lake, as he'd use the energy from the flames to supply him with brute strength to help carry the man. They got down to the lake and Wally lay Fergus in so that from his waist down he was submerged. Wally bent down and rubbed his hands together. "I'm gonna try and heal you, alright? Nothing too serious, just to ease the pain."

Fergus felt like he was watching things from a really shitty kind of television, he cracked out a smirk behind the nose bleeding as Adriana glared back at him. He was damn sure he was gonna get an earful for that... probably tomorrow, after he slept off all this. Sure he had knocked down some columns but he probably also helped at least one person from dying and if that counted for anything, he was good. He tried to help Adriana rouse him to his feet but his legs were useless then, almost limp - he had felt like that very few times in his lifetime, most of them after ridiculously extensive training routines imposed by his mother, this was a first. "You don't need to talk about me as if I'm dying." Fergus croaked because of the blood as he blinked in and out of consciousness, it was just a stupid nasal hemorrhage, not an open flesh wound. He blinked out and back in and suddenly there were arms under his chest and knees, he frowned, staring up at the scorched ceiling of where they stood. That was a first. "Yeah, water." He responded automatically, at this point trying to calculate how he was going to come back with more water. He ended up passing out a full minute before getting to the lake and jolted awake once he was back in, only to find the differently-colored eyes from a sorcerer. "Don't mind me." Fergus smirked back and lunged backwards, disappearing inside the water bed as he was embraced by the lake-dwelling spirit.

Maia was able to catch her breath, shooting a grateful glance towards Adri as a group of Legionnaires branched off towards her. "We need a full sweep of these two buildings. Fergus was able to put out most of the fires, but we gotta check to make sure no one's still in there. Break off into teams of two, half go to one building, half to the other. Have each others backs, and stay low!" She said, going into full Centurion mode. The Legionnaires nodded and began to pair of. Waving at one, she nodded. "You're with me. Let's go." Without another word, Maia led the charge into the other building. Her arms were searing with pain as she threw herself against a door to break it down, but she ignored it as she checked for any signs of life. As they made their way towards the next room, something stood out among the smoke and wreckage, a flash of movement-- Before she could react, the ceiling above them crumbled, dumping brick and fire onto the floor, not three feet in front of them. Glancing at the Legionnaire, she commented, "That was luck--" Before she could finish, a loose chunk of rubble fell and smashed into her head. Maia collapsed. Her ears rang and her vision blackened. She could barely make out the shape of the Legionnaire as he reached out, grabbing hold of her and carrying her out of the building. The last thing she remembered was being laid out on the ground, vaguely aware of cold stone against her hot skin, before she lost consciousness.

As Jax took the flares Cat had handed them, and shrugged out of the constricting tuxedo jacket he'd been wearing at his family's party. Leaving it behind to burn, he took off first along the outskirts of the fire, knowing that Cat would be on the other side with her own flares. But getting to the parts of the fire that needed to be tamed most meant that he had to dive in quite close to them, leaving the lit flares where those manning the ballista by the lake could see their purple fire fly. With every flare that was left, a fire extinguisher was soon taking it's place, exploding in a puff of white that put out the flames in the immediate area. They were also mixed with what looked to be magically contained orbs of water that broke on impact, and Jax assumed that there must have been another child of Trivia helping out with the other side of their operation. At least they wouldn't run out of ammo. He'd heard for Fergus' cry for help sometime during his running about with the flares, and realized with horror that he was nowhere near enough to help his younger cousin. For a moment the world was still, and he was remembering how it had been in those last few moments before he'd seen his best friend trampled to death those eight years ago. He'd never grieved, for it was nearly impossible to process death in the middle of a battlefield. For a moment it came rushing back, and he knew that he was going to watch the man he'd held as a baby perish before his eyes. But then Adriana had rushed in, and Jax was left holding his breath— waiting to see whether he would be doing a body recovery of his family along with the girl he'd had playdates with since he had been six— or if someone would be emerging from the dust. Finally their forms had surfaced, and he let go of the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Unfortunately in his frozen moment, it seemed that a stray spark had caught onto one of his flares, and as he heard the ballista fire from the lake, his eyes widened. "Shit!" he exclaimed as he dropped the flare where he stood before sprinting as far away as possible. A puff of white exploded where he had been standing only moments before, having narrowly avoided getting hit with a high-speed fire extinguisher. Shaking his slip up off, he continued making his way through the fire.

Kolina had started to feel dizzy, the world spinning like a top around her. Still she clasped her hands again, going to try for another spell, but before she could even start she dropped to her knees. Her bloody nose was dripping into the dirt around her, but she shoved her hands into the earth trying to gather as much energy as she could for just one last spell, anyway. She knew that this would be her last of the night. She tried to wait for the water to hit the spot before her, but it was taking too long and the fire was getting too close. With a yell, Lina rose her hands into the tight fists again, chanting as loudly as she could now. An impressive amount of dirt floated around her and she pushed it forward, her hands shaking hard. With the last word, she released her fists and didn't get to see the dirt fall as she did. Blood was flowing heavily from her nose as she laid in the soot, barefoot and unconscious.

Adriana had watched as the chaos began to settle around her. Wally had taken Fergus off toward the lake, Maia and the legionnaires had headed off to evacuate more of the civilians, and Cat and Jax had begun their fire-extinguisher relief disposal via ballista. A few moments later, it seemed that Maia had taken a hit to the head with some rubble from a collapsing building, but one of the legionnaires helping her out had picked her up and hefted her off toward the lake. This left Adriana more or less standing by her lonesome in the middle of it all. She sighed, used the nearby stump of a pillar to take some of the pressure off of her feet, and scanned the surrounding area. It looked as though most of the civilians were gone and the legionnaires had, for the most part, filed out. Everyone was headed back toward the safety of the lake. Well, she thought, best to go check on Fergus and the medics. There was nothing for her in the remnants of the forum. Adriana needed to be where she was useful rather than feeling as put out and helpless as she did right then and there. Getting to the lake was a challenging effort. Whether it was small blades of rock, broken glass, or gods know what else, Adriana's bare feet hadn't been well treated by the disastrous environment. Her dress was torn in places, stained in ash and blood, charred near a few of the edges; her hair was a mess, the braid near completely demolished and thus leaving a few odd knots that she'd have to smooth out later; cuts and bruises on her arms and legs from her tumble to rescue her cousin -- it all sounded rather grim, but in fact, focusing on those details helped to distract from the actual physical discomfort as the centurion made her way to the lake. Once she arrived, she quickly located the blond sorcerer and, hopefully, her kin. But she would leave Fergus to rest for a bit longer. Right now, she could use some rest herself. And by leaning back against a tree up a ways from the beach, Adriana did just that.

Cat revved the engine of the borrowed super bike one more time, she'd handed Jax some flares and she had the rest. She just needed a good place to set them off. Whizzing around the edge of the forum, Cat circled the fire with the bag of flares in one hand, screeching to a halt, she spotted a good position and aimed herself at a sign that had been knocked to the ground. It'd make a good makeshift ramp. Barreling down, she felt herself fly through the air on the back of the bike, and like an acrobat she lifted herself off of it, and placed her feet on it, pushing off at the last minute, she hung the flares around a hook that was out of reach of the flames for a second and hit the ground with a roll. Her bike disappeared into the mass of flames (something she regretted, she was beginning to grow attached). As the flames ate their way through the canvas bag, she watched as the purple flares caught light and a mass of purple smoke began pouring into the sky.

As the ballista rained down on the ruins of the Senate building, they made quick work of the majority of the remaining fire. The outskirts of the inferno had been entirely doused, leaving nothing but smoking patches in wake of the flames that had blazed there. But there were still two patches of flames that had yet to be tamed. It seemed Cat had taken care of one of them, as he saw purple smoke billowing from the one opposite himself after her impressive stunt, and soon enough those flames had been quenched by the ballista as well. That left the last one to him. It was in nearly the dead center of what had been the Senate building. He'd need to drop the last of his flares into the middle of the fire to give those at the lake an effective last shot, but he needed a way to get there, and the fire was still too tall to throw the flares into the center without possibly having them spark and smoke too early. Jax's abilities hadn't been of much use tonight, but there was one he might be able to make use of now. His Nox heritage wasn't all that prominent, but there were a few parts of him that still belonged to the night. Letting out a low whistle, a large raven came to him— landing softly on his shoulder. Having the bird grasp the last of his flares in its talons, it was only a few short mental sentences to the winged creature of the night later that the bird flew over the fire, dropping the flares just where Jax had instructed it to. The ballista did it's job, the fire was won, and the bird flew off into the into the horizon, where the dawn had just began to rise. And though it was obscured by the smoke rising from the smoldering remnants of the Senate building, it still brought a message of hope to those who basked in it. Today had belonged to the fire. But tomorrow would belong to New Rome and its citizens as they banded together to rebuild, restoring to their city it's legendary glory.

[jamesbuckfastbarnes]

A Night To Remember.

I decided to write this in order to try and improve my smut writing, so I hope you all like it and sorry it’s so long! - red-w00dy xoxo

P.S - I don’t even know if this is nearly accurate enough in terms of losing your virginity in a bed with someone who knows what they’re doing. I lost mine to my ex best friend’s boyfriend in a field, lasted about ten minutes and was very disappointing overall for little fourteen year old me so let me know if I got this completely wrong, thank you! - RW xoxo

“Jackson Nathaniel Teller, you old bastard!” I yelled, quickly climbing off the back of my dad's motorcycle and darting across the lot to where the blonde was stood. Jax looked up when he heard my voice echo through the air, his trademark smile appearing on his lips when he saw me.“Are you ready to party or will you be going to bed at nine o’clock with the other elderly people?”

 “Hayden Packer as I live and breathe! If I remember correctly, it was you that passed out at midnight during the last party,” he smirked once I reached him, scooping me into his arms and spinning me round in a circle before setting me back down on my feet. I glared playfully as he draped an arm around my shoulders and led me into the clubhouse, the rest of the SAMDINO charter following closely behind us.

 It was Jax’s thirtieth birthday and the club was throwing him a huge party to celebrate, which was the sole reason I had spent the last six hours on the back of my father's bike to get to Charming from San Bernardino. Whenever SAMDINO had business with the Redwood charter when we were younger, I had always pestered my dad to take me so that I could go and play with Jax and Piney’s son, Opie. Even as we grew older, the three of us remained close and made it a habit of meeting up when we were all free. Unfortunately, due to my job as a medical examiner in a morgue and all the stuff kicking off in Charming, we hadn't seen each other since Clay’s sixtieth birthday party over four years ago. Stepping into the clubhouse, I was immediately hit with the familiar scent of weed, stale booze, cigarette smoke, cheap perfume and sex. It sounded like a foul smell but to me, it smelt like home. I'd spent most of my childhood in clubhouses, growing up around the club and their infamous parties, so the smell of the SAMCRO clubhouse made a ton of memories come flooding back to me. Jax flashed me a grin and guided me towards the bar where the others were sat drinking, Chibs, Bobby and Clay immediately jumping up to hug me when they saw me standing there next to the vice president.

 “Hayden, this is Juice,” Jax told me, gesturing to a Puerto Rican man with a faux hawk and tribal tattoos on either side of my head. I vaguely remembered seeing him at Clay’s birthday party but he had been a prospect back then. “And this little freak is Chucky,” I blinked a few times at the bald man that was handing me a bottle of beer, two mechanical hands gripping the neck of it rather than normal human ones.

 “It's nice to meet yo- Opie!” I caught sight of the long haired man stepping out of the hallway that I knew led to the dorms, his dark eyes widening at the sight of me leaning against the bar. I abandoned my beer to sprint across the room, jumping into his arms and firmly wrapping my legs around his waist to hug him tightly.

 “Denny, it's been too long!” he cried, placing his arms underneath my ass to keep me supported as he carried me over to where the others stood. Once we reached them, he sat me down on the bar and took a beer from Chucky. “I'm still mad you missed me my wedding but you can meet her in a minute, she's just getting ready in the dorm still.”

 “I look forward to it. But first, let’s see if you boys still suck at doing shot competitions or whether you’ve gotten better since I last saw you,” I winked, gesturing for Chucky to lay out six shot glasses and pass me a bottle of tequila before turning to Chibs, pointing at the Scot with a devious smile playing on my lips. “I’m going to beat your ass this time, Telford, even if it ends up with the pair of us in the ER because we both need our stomachs pumped.”

 “Yer on, lass, now pour them shots and lets get this party started!”

 *Five hours later*

 “Yo-you’re my best friend, Jackson, you know that? I know we barely see each other but you’re definitely my homie,” I slurred, swigging from my bottle of beer and leaning against Jax’s shoulder, waggling my finger in his face before using the tip of my finger to poke his nose. We were sat on the sofa situated against the wall of the clubhouse, having one of our usual drunken heart to hearts that we had whenever there was a party.

 “Don’t tell Opie, but I think you’re my best friend as well. Not that I don’t love Ope, but I can’t exactly  talk to him about my girl problems - it’s a little gay, you know?” he stage-whispered in response, our eyes flitting to where Opie had his wife, Lyla, pressed up against the bar and was kissing her like his life depended on it. I fake gagged at the sight of them, causing Jax to start laughing hysterically next to me.

 “Whatever happened to that bitch you were with when we were all in high school? Ugh, what the fuck was her name? Me and Ope just called her the Wicked Bitch of the West. You must remember her! The one that I got into a fight with on your sixteenth because we were dancing on the pool table to Nine Inch Nails, and she flipped shit because she thought I was coming on to you for some reason,” I quizzed, dropping my head down onto Jax’s shoulder passing him the joint that I held between my fingers.

 “Are you on about Tara? Funny story actually, she came back last year. We got back together and.. shit, she’s coming over here and she does not look happy in the slightest. Promise you’re not gonna say anything if she starts? She’s been pretty temperamental lately and she doesn’t mean what she says,” Jax said quickly, both of us turning to where a dark haired woman was storming over to us dressed in blue hospital scrubs, a look of fury on her pale face.

 “Ah, Tara! It’s been so long!” I exclaimed dramatically, throwing my arms out dramatically as if we’d been the best of friends whilst Jax buried his face in his hands, clearly not wanting any part of the confrontation that was likely to start in the next couple of minutes. Tara folded her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes at me, unimpressed with how close Jax and I were to each other. “Rough day at work was it? Aw come on, have a drink! Lighten up a little!”

 “I don’t know who the fuck you are, or why you’re sitting so close to my old man, but I advise you move your slutty ass away from him or I promise, I’ll wipe that smug look off your face before you know what’s hit you,” Tara glared viciously, tapping her foot against the hardwood floor and never taking her eyes off of me. I stood up slowly, a smirk playing on my lips as I squared up to the brunette. She was definitely starting a fight with the wrong girl.

 “Actually, I don’t who the fuck you think you are, thinking you can talk to me like I’m dirt on your shoes,” I hissed back, poking her hard in the chest which made her stumble back slightly, half of the party stopping to watch the inevitable fight that was going to break out between us. I stepped even closer to Tara so that our noses were almost touching, brown meeting blue as we stared harshly at each other for a moment. “I was in his life way before you, honey, so if I want to sit and spend time with my best friend then I’m going to, okay? Good. Now fuck off, we’re talking.”

 I turned away to return to my seat on the sofa next to Jax, only to have my head yanked backwards by Tara who had grabbed hold of my ponytail and pulled as hard as she could. That did it, the bitch needed to be taught a lesson about who not to mess with. I span on my heel and tackled her to the floor, leaning backwards onto my knees once I was straddling her and began to slam my fist into her face over and over again. Tara somehow managed to flip us over, grabbing my fringe and banging my head against the floor whilst some of the boys cheered around us at the girl fight happening in front of their eyes. With a grunt, I managed to push her off me long enough to straddle her once more, landing a hard punch to her right cheekbone before two arms slid around my waist and pulled me off the doctor. I screamed as whoever it was proceeded to drag me off in the direction of the dorms, threatening to cave Tara’s head and straining against my captor’s hold in an attempt to escape. Within seconds, I was carried into one of the rooms where I was dropped down onto the bed, causing me to raise my head to see that Tig had been the one to separate me from Tara. I stood up and moved towards the door, growling slightly when he blocked the only exit so I couldn’t go back to the main part of the clubhouse. He locked the door and led me into the bathroom, pushing me to sit down on the closed toilet seat as he took a first aid kit out of the cabinet and turned to face me with some cotton wool and a bottle of Betadine antiseptic solution.

 “She got a few good punches in there, didn’t she, doll?” Tig chuckled, gently tilting my chin up so I was staring into his ice blue eyes and proceeded to pour the antiseptic onto one of the cotton pads, dabbing at a scratch just above my left eyebrow which caused me to flinch away from him due to the stinging sensation coursing through my forehead. “Don’t be such a baby, Denny. Christ, this takes me back to when you and Jax would fight as kids and I’d end up being the one to patch you both up after.”

 “She started it! All I was doing was sitting there with Jacky, having a nice little conversation, then she comes up and starts threatening me for no reason. Not to mention she pulled my hair, I can claim self-defence if the cops try and arrest me for assault or whatever,” I scowled, my head spinning slightly from the amount of alcohol I’d consumed throughout the night but possibly due to how hard Tara had slammed my head into the floor as well. “I feel so fucking dizzy, Tig. Can you stop for a minute, otherwise I think I’m going to throw up.”

 “Let me just finish cleaning this scrape on your cheek and then you can go lie down in my bed. She slammed your head into the floor pretty hard, you’ve probably got a concussion. I’ll go see if Chibs is sober enough to check once I’m done here,” Tig muttered in response, his thick black eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he delicately ran the cotton wool over my left cheek, a soft laugh escaping his slightly parted lips when I continued to flinch away from him.

 Once I was all cleaned up, Tig pulled me up into a standing position and walked me over to his bed that sat in the middle of the room. I flashed him a grateful smile and climbed under the bedsheets, wrapping myself in the soft duvet in an attempt to stop myself shaking because of the cool air in the room. I closed my eyes to try and stop my head from spinning when Tig left to go find Chibs, falling into a drunken slumber in the Sergeant-At-Arms’ bed after curling up into a foetal position like I always did when I slept. I must have been asleep for a good few hours before I woke to the sound of Jax and Chibs singing ‘The Proclaimers’ loudly in the hallway outside the door. I sighed and shuffled slightly to make myself more comfortable, only to find Tig fast asleep behind me with his arm wrapped tightly around my waist, keeping my back pressed firmly against his chest. I brought my elbow back to nudge him gently to try and wake him up, receiving a unintelligible grunt in reply and his arm pulling me even closer to him. It wouldn’t have been so bad but my back was starting to ache, and I couldn’t imagine that my Dad, who was the president of SAMDINO, would be too happy to find one of his friends in bed with his only daughter, even if we were both fully clothed and just sleeping. A few more digs at his ribcage with my elbow and eventually Tig peered down at me through half-closed eyes, a small smile playing on his slightly swollen lips. I shifted underneath him and he removed his arm from my waist, the pair of us sitting up in the bed simultaneously with a yawn. I grabbed the cigarettes from the bedside table and lit two, passing one of them to Tig whilst taking a long hit on my own. For some reason I was now wide awake and, despite it being a dick move on my part, I was determined to keep Tig up so I wasn’t all alone because judging by the silence outside of the door, everyone had either passed out or gone to bed by this point.

 “You could have gone back to the party, you know? You didn’t have to come in here and stay with me, especially given that there were about fifty croweaters out there that you haven’t slept with yet,” I told him once we’d both gotten ourselves comfortable against the headboard, an ashtray balancing on the duvet that covered both of us and occasionally wobbling whenever we tapped the excess ash off our cigarettes into it.

  “Nah, don’t worry about it, doll. The party wasn’t as fun after you went to bed, all that happened was Chibs got into a heated argument over soccer with that Irish guy from Indian Hills and ended up punching him, Lyla declared her love for Chucky and Jax and Ope did a God awful rendition of Red Solo Cup that made my ears bleed. So what do you wanna do now? We’re wide awake, it’s six in the morning and the party’s over by the sound of it,” Tig shrugged, putting his cigarette out in the ashtray and relaxing into the pillows he had propped up behind his back.

 “We could play Truths?” I suggested, discarding my finished cigarette in the ashtray and placed it back on the bedside cabinet as Tig shot me a confused look, motioning with his hand to explain the rules of the game I had played at Girl Scouts when I was young. “It’s basically Truth or Dare but without the dares, because let’s face it, we’d probably end up getting arrested if we started doing dares.”

 “You’re not wrong there. Want me to start?” he laughed, both of us turning to face each other and sit cross legged at the top of the bed. I nodded, dreading what he could possibly ask me but coming up with the perfect question for when it was my turn. He shot me a devious grin and tapped his chin for a few seconds whilst he thought of what to ask. “Rumour has it that apparently you lost your virginity to Opie in Piney’s bed during his and Jax’s patch-in party. Is that true, or is Bobby just full of shit like usual?”

 “Bobby’s full of shit, I’ve never slept with Opie in my life. Anyway he was dating Donna when he patched into the club, she was at the party, remember?” I replied, directing my attention to the hem of my dress and began to play with the edge of it, debating whether or not to reveal my biggest secret to Tig. I knew he wouldn’t tell anyone, just like he hadn’t told anyone it was me that scratched John’s bike when I was six, but I didn’t want him to laugh at me. “Actually… I’ve never slept with anyone. Dumb, I know, being twenty eight and never having sex.”

 “Hey, that’s not dumb at all, sweetheart,” Tig said softly, hooking his finger under my chin to tilt my head up so we were looking into each other’s eyes. I felt my cheeks still burning in embarrassment from what I had told the older man, but also feeling slightly relieved that he hadn’t laughed at me like I had expected him to. “It’s not a bad thing to wait, you know? Lots of people do it, not myself obviously but you’re not the first person in the world to want to save their virginity for someone special.”

 “That’s just it though, I’m not waiting for anyone special,” I groaned, leaning to the right until I fell down onto the mattress before rolling on my back with my hands covering my face in frustration. Tig lay down next to me, our feet resting on the headboard as he moved his head to reveal his confused expression. “I have four older brothers and my dad’s the president of a motorcycle club. Any boyfriend I have usually lasts about two weeks before they get spooked and hightail it out of there, and if they do last longer than that then they don’t want to take my virginity in case Dad or the others find out and kill him. It’s fucking annoying.”

 “Sounds to me like you’re just choosing pussies if I’m honest with you, Den,” he smirked, raising his arm slightly when I indicated that I wanted to lie on his chest. I rested my head into the crook of his shoulder and peered up at him, resting one hand close to my nose and draping my leg over his waist like I’d done with him when I was a little kid. It was purely platonic and neither of us saw anything weird about it, however someone else might have if they walked into the room and saw us. “Why not try it on with one of the SAMDINO members? I know Little John has a thing for you and he’s twice the size of your dad, so there’s no risk of him dying.”

 “You are joking, right? Come on, Tiggy, you know as well as I do that members of SAMDINO are off limits to me. Dad made that very clear when we had ‘the talk’, said he didn’t want me getting into one of his member’s heads or something,” I rolled my eyes at his suggestion when suddenly I was struck with an idea, Tig noticing this by the mischievous twinkle that appeared in my eyes and the devious smile forming on my face. “He never said anything about members from other charters though…”

 “Not a chance, doll, I wouldn’t do that to your Dad. I’ve known him longer than you’ve been alive, if he ever found out then it would destroy over twenty years of friendship,” he stuttered, propping himself up on his elbows and staring down at me with an unreadable expression on his weathered face. I frowned at how quickly he’d reacted, feeling slightly hurt that he wasn’t willing to do this for me. “You’re really serious about this, ain’t you?”

 “As serious as a nun in a convent. It’s cool if you don’t want to but it’s not as bad as you’re making out. Nobody would ever know about it, and I’d be a liar if I say I didn’t have a little crush on you, I can’t say the same for you but yeah…” I nodded, biting my lower lip and raising myself to lean back on my elbows and focus on the older man with a pleading look. It was desperate, I know, but I just wanted to get it over with and see what everyone was always raving about in terms of sex and orgasms in general.

 Tig chose not to reply, instead he leaned towards me and brushed his lips softly against my own in the softest of kisses. I returned to my previous position of lying on my back and reached upwards to tangle my fingers in his dark curls, pulling him down to crash his mouth against mine in a rough kiss. He massaged my lips with his own for several minutes, trailing his left hand up and down my thigh as he kept himself upright with the other. I gently ran the tip of my tongue over his lower lip to deepen the kiss. He groaned into my mouth, giving me the perfect opportunity to flick my tongue against his own and resulting in us beginning a fight for dominance. I subsided after a couple of minutes, allowing Tig to explore the inside of my mouth as he moved to lie on top of me, his elbows resting either side of my arms to keep his weight off me and his bulge pressing against my centre in the most delightful way. I tugged on the roots of his hair and bucked my hips up to press against his, the pair of us groaning at the slight pleasure we both felt from the action. He pulled away and began to trail his lips along my neck, barely ghosting the sensitive skin at the base of my throat but making me moan all the same at his teasing gesture. I wrapped my calves around the back of his thighs to grind my sex against his ever-growing erection. He leaned back on his knees and stared down at me, drinking in the sight of me lay there on his bed with my cheeks flushed and my hair spread out over the duvet like some form of halo. He shuffled back slightly and proceeded to push my dress up until it was gathered just above my hips, revealing the pastel blue french knickers I was wearing.

 “If we’re going to do this, I’m going to do it right. I’m going to give you a night you’re never going to forget, baby.”

 He slowly ran his hands up my legs, his fingers splayed out and his palms gently caressing my skin before he hooked his index fingers through the waistband of my panties, pulling them down until they reached my ankles and he discarded them on the floor next to the bed. A groan erupted from deep in his chest as he leaned down to situate himself between my thighs, peering up me with his crystal blue orbs and stuck his tongue out to lick a perfect line through my dripping folds. My hips bucked on their accord at his action, a teasing smirk appearing on his face as he diverted his gaze to my pussy and slowly began to lick faster and faster, holding my thighs to stop me wiggling whenever he flicked his tongue against my sensitive nub. After a couple of minutes he inserted one of his fingers inside me at a steady pace, beginning to move it back and forth when a moan fell from my lips. Before long, he had added another finger to the mix and my head tipped back at the sensation, his tongue lapping at my clit at the same time whilst my fingers tightly gripped the sheets underneath me. My eyes fluttered shut when I felt my stomach begin to tighten, Tig picking up the speed after hearing me moan his name over and over again like a prayer. “Come on baby, cum for me,”. The vibrations, accompanied by his fingers stroking the same spot over and over again inside me, caused my head to spin until waves upon waves of pleasure washed over me. My entire body convulsed at the sensation, my knuckles beginning to turn white and a mixture of curse words and Tig’s name leaving my mouth in a low whisper as he continued his ministrations. Eventually the feeling faded, resulting in me sprawling out on the bed and attempting to gain my breath back, a small laugh from Tig causing me to look down at him through hooded eyes and see him examining his hand with an amused twinkle in his eyes and a boastful smile on his face.

 “Are you sure you’ve never done anything like this before? Because you just squirted everywhere when you came,” Tig teased, my eyes widening in shock and my cheeks beginning to burn in shame. The smile dropped from his face almost instantly and he crawled up the bed until he was hovering over me, placing gentle kisses along my jaw. “I wasn’t being mean, doll, just merely commenting because not many girls can do it. I personally find it hot, can’t you tell?”

 “Maybe you should see if you can make me do it with this big cock of yours then,” I purred in his ear, tipping my head back slightly so he could nibble at the sensitive skin behind my ear. I reached down between us and ran the tip of my index finger up the length of his erection, slightly surprised at just how big it really was. I’d heard rumours but I had just assumed it was Tig getting girls to say it so he seemed more desirable. “Come on, Tiggy, are you going to just hover over me all day or are you going to fuck me?”

 “Patience, little girl, I don’t want the only thing you remember from this being me hurting you because we rushed it,” Tig rasped, pushing away from and reaching out to the bedside cabinet, fumbling around until eventually he removed a bottle of lubricant and a box of condoms. He quickly shed his boxers and relaxed back onto the balls of his feet, leaving me to marvel at the size of his cock. “I’m quite big, I need to prepare properly or I could end up really damaging you.”

 I continued to stare as he slid a condom over his member with expert precision, proceeding to cover the prophylactic with copious amounts of lube. After snapping the lid shut and throwing it behind him along with the box of condoms, he positioned one of his elbows next to my right bicep and leaned down, pressing his lips to mine in a deep kiss that made the feeling of want and desire begin to course through me once more. I nipped at his lower lip which elicited yet another groan from him, causing him to shuffle up slightly and press the head of his cock against my entrance. A small gasp of pain and shock escaped me when he pushed forwards slightly, making me feel my skin stretch around him to accommodate his shaft. He retreated for a second before trying again, continuing to do so but pushing slightly deeper inside me each time until he filled me up and his pelvic bone pressed against my own, telling me that he was all the way in. He stayed still, watching me carefully when I gave a slight nod to tell him that it was okay to start moving. He began to thrust inside me at a torturously slow pace, my expression slowly contorting from wincing in pain to one of pleasure as the feeling of satisfaction started to build up inside me for the second time that night. I reached around him when he retracted nearly all the way out, grabbing hold of his hips and pulling him forward so that he slammed into me, a wave of pleasure washing over me at how good it felt. He took this as a signal to pick up the pace, sinking into me over and over again until he set a pace that had me trembling at the overwhelming pleasure flowing through me. After fifteen minutes or so of fucking me in the missionary position, he grabbed hold of my knees and lifted them, draping my legs over his shoulders but never faltering in the quick rhythm that he’d settled into.

“Tig, please,” I pleaded, clinging to the bedsheets underneath us in a desperate attempt to control the overwhelming bliss that was causing me to feel as though I was floating on air. “Fuck me harder, make me come, I’m begging you.”

 “Are you sure you want to come, baby girl? You don’t sound like you want it enough to me, I think I’ll just stop what I’m doing,” he growled, trailing one of his hands down my chest and across my stomach before he reached my clit, beginning to draw lazy circles with his thumb which caused me to begin writhing under him. “Come on, Hayden, tell me what you want me to do for you.”

 “I want you to make me come, Tig. Now.” I cried, arching my back slightly as he hit my g-spot perfectly with every thrust and started to build up speed and power until the sounds of our skin slapping together echoed around the dorm room.

 He proceeded to pound into me in some sort of animalistic frenzy, his thumb still circling my clit and making me jolt with every movement due to how sensitive I still was from my first orgasm. Less than two minutes later, I dissolved into pleasure with a cry of Tig’s name as ecstasy coursed through my veins. I clenched around Tig whilst my body convulsed from my orgasm, causing the older man to thrust into me three more times before stopping still, grunting my name through gritted teeth and allowing his eyelids to flutter shut due to the same pleasurable sensation that I was experiencing. I lay there panting in the middle of the bed, watching Tig who quickly discarded the used condom in the bin near his bed and returned to lie next to me on the mattress, pulling me to rest on his chest and drape my leg over his waist despite him being completely naked. I nuzzled into his slightly sticky chest, closing my eyes and relishing in post-orgasmic haze whilst Tig stared at the ceiling above us, smiling at the glow in the dark stars Jax and I had put there when we were nine years old and his arm wrapping around my shoulder to pull me close. I shuffled slightly to get comfortable and ended up pressing myself against his side, his arm tightening around me and his other hand moving to run his fingers through my tangled blonde hair, my right arm draped over his waist whilst the other was tucked underneath me. A soft kiss on my forehead caused me to open my eyes and look up at the Sergeant-At-Arms, my fingers tracing idle patterns over the right side of his chest as he shot me a smile, his eyes heavy from a mixture of tiredness and satisfaction. I knew exactly how he felt, I was absolutely worn out despite having not done much and the only thing I could feel from the waist down was the satisfying throb between my legs. All those croweaters had been right, Tig was definitely amazing in bed. Not that I had much to compare it to, of course.

 “Did you enjoy it then, doll?” He whispered softly, chuckling slightly at the yawn that escaped my lips whilst I snuggled deeper into his side, his calloused fingers trailing softly up and down my arm in a soothing manner. “That boring, huh? I didn’t think I was that bad, in fact, judging by your facial expression you looked like you were having the time of your life.”

 “Fuck you, Trager.” I shot back playfully, rubbing my eyes due to how tired I was and failing to fight back another yawn. I genuinely couldn’t understand why I was so worn out when all I had done was lie there. Did orgasming really make you this tired every time?

 “Get some sleep, doll, you’re probably gonna be heading back to San Bernadino first thing if your Dad has anything to do with it. I’ll wake you up in a bit when I can hear people start to move around in the clubhouse,” he mumbled into my hair, smoothing my dark locks with the tips of his fingers and pressing his lips to the crown of my head softly.

 “Thank you, Tiggy. I’m glad it was you that took it rather than some douchebag,” I muttered sleepily, smiling to myself when Tig proceeded to pull the blanket over us to keep us warm. “And thank you for pulling me off Tara before I beat her to a bloody pulp and ended up in prison for murder.” 

 “You’re welcome, sweetheart, you’re welcome.” he chuckled quietly, loosening his grip slightly so we were both comfortable before I fell into a deep slumber for the second time that evening. Had I stayed awake a little bit longer, I probably would have heard him whisper ‘I love you, doll’, but I was asleep, and the next day I’d return to San Bernadino no longer a virgin and never knowing how Tig actually felt about me. Oh how life was cruel.

[ijustwant2write]

Falling Into The Wrong Crowd-Part Six (Jax Teller X Reader)

(GIF credit to owner)

Masterlist

Part 1/ Part 2/ Part 3/ Part 4/ Part 5/ Part 7/ Part 8/ Part 9/ Part 10/ Part 11/ Part 12

Summary: Even though the Devoted Predators are gone, the traumatic night has left an awful memory on the girls. They continue with the new business, trying to adapt to their new life in Charming. The storm hasn’t passed yet though and another threat is on the way.

Meanings: (Y/N)= Your name

Warnings: Swearing, guns, drugs, alcohol (it’s Sons of Anarchy, what do you expect?)

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Ok, let’s go from the top!” I shouted out to the girls in the studio.

All of us were sweating after a long session of learning new dance routines for the club. A week had passed by since the incident and most of the bruises had faded, the cuts healing well. The Sons had become closer friends to us, especially after a couple of nights working together; and by that I mean the Sons getting pissed out of their heads as we tried to keep them from getting into fights or taking our girls away.

We had been back once to go to a Clubhouse party which really lifted our spirits. I still wasn’t a fan of the croweaters, they had always been annoying to me. But they were a big part of an MC lifestyle, they were here for the guys, not us. The company was well needed from the others though, I think it set us straight again.

“Alright girls, you’ve done really well today. Keep practicing those routines and I’ll see some of you tonight.” I dismissed them, out of breath as I took a huge gulp of water.

“Looking good (Y/N).” Luanne commented as she passed the girls leaving the studio.

“Thanks. They work hard.”

“Damn right we do.” Keira smiled, flicking her fiery hair over her shoulder.

Luanne crossed her arms over at chest.“Wish you were like that in your other job.”

“In my defence you do pair me up with the worst guys.”

“That’s cause you can take them. Those new girls are awful fakers. Don’t suppose you want to earn some extra cash (Y/N)?”

I was taken aback by her question.“O-oh my god, no, no thank you.”

“Actually you’re face in my movies would draw the audience in.”

“Luanne, you could offer me a huge sum of money and I wouldn’t do it.”

“Spoil sport. Right, I’ve got to get back to filming and so do you Keira.” she exited the studio, Keira making faces behind her back.

I giggled.“Gosh Keira, never thought you would be one to miss out on free sex. Wait no, it’s not free sex is it-”

“Oh my god just stop. You’re right, you shouldn’t do porn, you would be awful at dirty talk.”

I was about to disagree when she beat me to it.

She grabbed my arms.“Oh! I forgot to tell you earlier, but I think I’ve got a date set up for you.”

My eyes widened.“What!? No, no, no I’m not going on any dates.”

“It was sort of an accident. But maybe it will do you some good! He’s a nice guy, Jack I think his name was?”

“You think? Oh god, Keira what have you done?”

“Don’t be like that. You never got out much until….well you know when.”

“Exactly which is why I want to stay away from dating for a while.”

“Ok, understandable, but there may be a slight problem.”

My eyes felt as if they were popping out of my head.“What else have you done?”

“I gave him your number.”

“Keira! What the hell were you thinking!? That’s my personal information.”

“It’s a number, you can always change it.”

“That’s not the point! You can’t-you know what, there’s no point explaining. I’ve got to go, hopefully I won’t be tracked down by this so called ‘Jack’ who will probably turn out to be a serial killer.”

Slightly pissed off at Keira, I grabbed my bag and phone before heading towards the bathroom facilities (well, the main dressing room for the porn stars). I was allowed to shower and get ready in them, meaning I didn’t have to go home a stinking mess. Once I was clean and dressed, I got into my car heading towards the TM. It was normal for us to go see Gemma and the boys, sometimes even their old ladys now we were introduced. As I pulled in I could see that everyone was there as their bikes were lined up. Reaching over to the passenger seat to grab my bag, I felt my door open. Jax stood there smiling, offering a hand out to me.

“Thanks.” I chuckled at his antics.

“You’re welcome m'lady. What you doing here today?” he asked as I climbed out, locking the car afterwards.

“Just thought I’d visit. Also Frankie said she was here and needed a lift home, something is wrong with her bike I think.”

“She’s been fixing it up, needs some new parts.”

He walked with me to the garage, creating small talk. It wasn’t hard to see that there has been flirting between us, but every time I got closer to him, I had to back away. I had already dated a biker and we all saw how that turned out.

I wasn’t comparing him to Zac, not at all, but I knew the lifestyle very well. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to get into anothe relationship so soon either. There were rumours (well, probably more like facts) about Jax being a total womanizer. Although I really wanted to believe he wouldn’t hurt me after all that happened, there was still a part of me scared of what he could do. I fell for Zac easily, who said I wouldn’t with Jax?

We walked in to see Frankie crouched beside her bike, Bobby and Tig crowding her in their overalls. I always felt slightly out of place as I knew nothing about mechanics but was welcomed all the same. They greeted us and went back to helping Frankie.

“How’s it coming along?” I asked, knowing that they would bombard me with terminology I had no clue about.

“Just a few touch ups. Haven’t fixed her in a while, thought I might as well take an advantage of my new workplace.” she grinned up at me, twirling a srewdriver in her hand.

“Excuse me?”

“I got a little job here. I like the club and all but I can’t sit still in an office or watch the girls twirling on stage. Plus I’ll be bringing in more for the rent.”

“No, I think it’s really nice that you’ve got it.”

“She fits right in too, needed some eye candy round here.” Tig winked at her.

She sighed as she rolled her eyes.“There is one downside of the job as you can see.”

We laughed, Jax nudged me with his shoulder, gesturing to follow him. Glancing at the others, they hadn’t noticed anything so I caught up to Jax who was heading into the clubhouse. Opie and Happy were playing a game of pool while sipping on some beers whilst Chibs sat on a stool at the bar reading a newspaper.

“Alright lass? How you holdin’ up?” Chibs asked as I approached him, hugging me.

“Not too bad thanks. Hey guys.” I waved to the others who copied.“It seems quiet round here, maybe to quiet.”

“I think after our run in with the others we’re glad it’s like this.” Jax stated as he lit a cigarette.

I let out an unamused laugh.“Yeah, that’s understandable. At least they’re gone forever now.”

The sound of the pool balls echoed throughout the room as Opie slipped the cue. He tried to recover even though no one was laughing at him. Happy was silent as usual, his resting bitch face permanently plastered onto his face.

“Aye lass, tha’ they are.”

Just as we got back into a conversation, my phone began to ring. It was an unknown number and I groaned, praying that it wasn’t who I thought it was.

“What’s wrong?” Jax asked adbhe blew out smile from his mouth.

“Ugh, Keira gave my number to some guy without telling me. I think it might be him but I don’t want to answer it.”

They both laughed at that.

“Why no’ risk it? Have some adventure?” Chibs mocked.

“Yeah, well, my last relationship didn t end so well, did it?” Later on in the evening, Gamma invited us round to dinner with the club. I was shocked but felt hnoired to be invited, immediately alerting the girls. They too were excited, telling me all about the food served there. They had more of a background with Gemma, she was like a mum to them; I just hoped she would accept me too.

Things were settling down now. Everyone seemed happy or at least content. As we sat around the huge table, some of us squished together, I looked at each person. This could be my new family, a sort of broken one, though still a family. Jax was sat beside me, whispering jokes and compliments on my ear. My face was on fire for blushing; I had been able to talk back to him, making him red too, it was obvious I was not a master at this. Keira was right about one thing. Gemma’s food was truly the best I had ever had, the company was amazing and I could feel my happiness start to seep back into my body.

“Are you not going to get that?” Gemma asked my phone rang for the third time today.

I had offered to help the women with the dishes but the phone was a distraction.“I don’t really want to.”

“Instead of leaving it, why don’t you just tell him to fuck off?” Alex shrugged.

“Because it’s rude. I didn’t think he would keep on trying to be honest. Actually we don’t even know if it’s him, I just have a feeling.” I started to dry off my hands.

“Only one way to find out.” Gemma smirked, taking the kitchen towel from me.

Giving in, I snatched the phone off the counter, rushing out of the room so no one would hear me. I answered it in the corridor trying to remain calm.

“Hello?”

A male voice replied.“Snitches don’t live very long sweetcheeks, watch your back.”