#rae might be a bit too big but eh

[practically-an-x-man]

Random OC ask!

Your OCs and their partners have been hit with a musical theatre spell! Every time they have a Big Emotional Moment (TM), they burst into song, which can either be hilarious or quite embarrassing. How do they react?

Haha I love this!! Thank you so much!!

Rae and Warren W: It alternates between really funny and really annoying. Some of their Emotional Moments are just... appreciating that they've made it this far, so it's funny and honestly a little bit sweet if they're just sitting on the couch and suddenly burst into song because they've just started thinking about how nice it is to be given those domestic moments. But on the other side of things... they've had hard times too, and being struck with a big musical number when they're genuinely trying to get through something serious is just infuriating.

Robin and Peter M: Oh, they're having a great time! Robin's a trained stage performer, and Peter is a goofball with no sense of shame, so they just find it more entertaining than anything.

Madison and Alex: Mostly annoyed, to be honest. Neither of them is really the best at emotional moments to begin with, so being startled by a bit musical number when they're finally in a space when they can open up to each other is just aggravating.

Ophelia and Peter P: Eh, similar to Rae and Warren. Sometimes it's funny, other times it's annoying, it just depends on the moment and the context around it.

Gia and Kate: In a weird way, I do think it would push away some of Gia's anxiety - I mean, think about it, it's unexpected enough to stop those overthinking spirals in their tracks, it's strange but it can really help sometimes!

Jasper and Kyle: Oh, they're having a blast with this! They're a fun-loving couple to begin with, and I'm sure they'll find a way to get rid of the curse eventually, but for now they are just hamming it up and having a great time.

Katherine and Ahkmenrah: Ahk is SO fucking confused, and Katherine's trying to find a way to remove the spell - not because it's uncomfortable, it's really fine, but it's kind of distracting.

Kestrel and Warren B: They're both more focused on the fact that it's an unwanted spell (which could be a curse, and the singing thing could be a distraction hiding some more serious curse underneath), so they make a professional agreement to keep their emotions in check until they get rid of the spell. It wouldn't be the first time they'd been struck with some kind of joint curse, so they know the drill by now.

Quinn and Billy: They both find it a little annoying, but One finds it outrageously annoying, so in the end most of that annoyance cancels out and they're mostly amused by how much it irritates One.

Eris and Rick: Eris is so emotionally constipated, it could be weeks before they even realize they're under a spell. And when they finally have one of those big moments... well, somebody's probably grievously injured or something, so that's not exactly the prime opportunity to burst into song.

Nikoletta and Abner: It's just awkward, more than anything. It's kind of mortifying to just burst into song unprompted, especially when they're trying to open up to one another, so it ends in both of them shutting down emotionally for a while until they spell is broken. Not gonna lie, it might take them some time to bounce back from that, since the emotional side of things can be a little fragile for them.

Jimmy and Lars: Jimmy finds it funny, while Lars is immediately set on trying to research and break this spell.

Vivienne and Wojchek: Now that just sounds dangerous. A siren uncontrollably breaking into song at an already vulnerable moment? Wojchek might be fine, but his crew's in serious danger of jumping ship.

Terra, Vi, and Caitlyn: Ew. Pass. Really not any of their styles, they probably end up all going their separate ways until this resolves, just because a big group song just sounds uncomfortable as all hell.

[triruntu]

I wanted to draw my boy Split having fun, so here he is being purble and blue with Raekii, about to gossip and relax. They’re weird, shiny birds.

[thequibblah]

hi so i'm looking for some new music to listen to and i thought you could help because you have great taste!

if this helps, i'll tell you what i normally listen to, which is very basic & basically the same few artists over and over lol

- mostly just taylor swift, she makes up 70+% of my listening probably haha and if i had to pick a favorite genre of hers it would be the folkmore style

- some other pop, like olivia rodrigo and conan gray and lorde & some doja cat but i'm not a huge fan of doja's lyrics

- lyrics are really big for me, so is having a pretty voice and nice melodies

- i love your playlists but the old songs are usually not my style (there's been some though that i really like, ty for that !! <3)

- ceremonials is my favorite florence album

- liability is my favorite lorde song

no problem if u don't want to!

OH i basically recommend things for a living so why not music, eh?

so. what i'm getting from this is that you have three big listening buckets: soft acoustic and indie pop and just plain old pop. so i will divide my recs by those broad genres! i too prefer singable music so i will try to lay off on especially dissonant artists, or mark them as such so you can be prepared (LOL)

acoustic/folksy (i'll admit i am a big indie pop girl so this stuff will be a bit sparser)

phoebe bridgers — admittedly she is more alt-rocky, but see garden song, savior complex, moon song, graceland too, prayer in open D

waxahatchee — can't do much (GOD THIS SONG), lilacs, st. cloud

lucy dacus — also more alt-rocky, but here r some softer jams: hot & heavy, christine, green eyes, red face (a jily song)

anything by first aid kit! start with stay gold and the lion's roar

hozier — i feel like most people on the internet have listened to SOME hozier but check out wasteland, baby! (i tried to pick individual songs and ended up listing most of the album LOL)

kacey musgraves — another artist you've probably listened to already, but try golden hour

brittany howard — stay high must be the sweetest song in existence, and basically all of her album jaime

arlo parks — the whole album but especially caroline, hurt, and black dog

lake street dive — i can change, good kisser (a mary song if i've ever heard one), and i adore their hall & oates cover!

anya marina — this whole album has had me by the throat since like 2013

lucius — just the whole album wildewoman, h/t @figg-anon for putting me onto this!

idk what tf genre fiona apple is but try her out as well!

artists i listen to less of but are in this vein: the lumineers, bon iver, vance joy

u know i had to rec some old people shit (LOLLLL), so in this vein, joni mitchell, heart, judee sills, emmylou harris, joan baez, vashti bunyan

one-off songs you might like: hold you now by vampire weekend, big wheel by samia, i eat boys by chloe moriondo, strawberry blond by mitski (i worship at the altar of mitski but she might not be your speed haha), like i used to (acoustic) by sharon van etten & angel olsen, body by julia jacklin, jackie onassis by sammy rae and the friends, cowgirl bebop by HANA

indie pop BELOVED

maggie rogers — ok i cannot recommend this higher like if u like lorde and conan gray drop everything now and mainline maggie's brilliant debut album

HAIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! — they've got poppier songs like want you back and more mellow songs like summer girl, but honestly i would just recommend a deep dive because they have a pretty surprising breadth within their own alt-rock/pop niche

caroline polachek — can sometimes get way out n weird in the pop sense but so hot you're hurting my feelings is a very listenable pop standard (also it's so funny she's such a clever lyricist also this is irrelevant here but she sounds amazing live), also love look at me now and her cover of breathless

charli xcx is more experimental pop but would rec trying out warm (FT HAIM!!!), blame it on your love (FT LIZZO!!), and official

rina sawayama — technically her album is all sorts of genres but especially XS, comme des garcons, paradisin', bad friend, and tokyo love hotel

orla gartland is a lil softer and i love more like you, oh GOD, and did it to myself

king princess — especially cheap queen, 1950, holy, but basically all of cheap queen

more one-offs: kansas by ashe, comeback by CRJ (full paean in her honour to come in the pop section), i am a big fan of other people covering the bleachers (LOL) especially rollercoaster by charli xcx and i wanna get better by tinashe (full tinashe praise to come too), saturdays by twin shadow (FT HAIM!!!), the kiss of venus and 3 nights by dominic fike (also his interlude on halsey's album), aute cuture and milionària by rosalía, young lover by st. vincent (i love her but again might not be for u haha), good days by sza, backyard boy by claire rosinkranz, slow dancing by aly & aj, hot sugar by glass animals

if ur down to try out something weird witchy and cool, kate bush is like the originator of 9 billion pop and rock genres and hounds of love is a masterpiece

pure pop (we can split hairs on what makes pure pop LOL but basically everything here is based on ur enjoyment of doja)

carly rae jepsen — ok if u haven't listened to her non-radio-hits u may be like "what?? call me maybe lady???" to which i say YES, especially window, stay away, no drug like me, and too much

victoria monet — this may or may not be a selling point to you, but victoria is a frequent ariana grande collaborator and you can absolutely hear it in her music (see also: the mattress spring background noises in dive JUST like they are in positions...), and i love experience, go there with you, and we might even be falling in love, and why not throw in her ariana grande collab monopoly

magdalena bay — how to get physical which i am destined, nay, contractually bound, to put in a jily modern AU someday, killshot, stop & go

tinashe — basically ALL of her new album!!! SO good. i also love rascal (superstar), esther, and old jams like company (and i JUST found out she has a chaka khan cover!)

chloe x halle have the most angelic vocals in the world

this might sound actually demented because WHO hasn't heard love on the brain but rly... go give ANTI a re-listen...

tove lo — especially are u gonna tell her, mateo, and jacques

WAIT I FORGOT TO SAY ROBYN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EVERY ROBYN SONG!!!!!!!

for that throwback poppy sound u may as well go real throwback KJAHKJA and check out donna summer!

one-offs: right to it by louis the child n ashe, serial lover by kehlani (also more by her but im getting lazy now kdjfhgk), missed calls by max n hayley kiyoko, peppers and onions by tierra whack, idk who hasnt heard this song but circles by meg, todo de ti by rauw alejandro (the way i wanted this to be song of the summer so bad ;___;)

hope you enjoy and pls come back and tell me if you really liked any of these!!!! xoxo

[heylittlehollywood]

Whiling Away

This has been hanging in my drafts for a while. 

Merry Christmas, MMFD fam x

He watches as she checks her watch for the fourth time in about twenty minutes. She looks more put out every time she sees the answer on her wrist, her nose wrinkling up like she’s just realized she’s got dog shite on the bottom of her trainers. 

She brushes her long raven hair out of her face, throwing it behind her right shoulder as she glances around her. Finn quickly diverts his eyes and looks down at his boots with an amused snort. He doesn’t need her noticing him noticing her...not that it’s bloody likely; she hasn’t so much as smiled his way in the last four hours that they’ve been sat here in the terminal. 

He looks up and to his left, finding Chop and Archie curled up in their seats and facing each other. Chop’s girlfriend Izzy is tucked under his arm, her head tilted at an odd angle resting atop his chest. Finn doesn’t know how the lot of ‘em managed to fall asleep, not with all of the people milling about and the constant stream of announcements over the intercom. 

He chances another look at the beauty sitting across from them and finds her mate staring at him. His shoulders jump in surprise at the direct eye contact. He chuckles to himself and shrugs at the mate before his eyes dart to the dark haired woman again. 

The woman’s shoulder shakes from the nudge from her mate and pretty soon the beauty’s eyes connect with his. Her startled expression and slight curve to her mouth has him shifting forward in his seat. 

“She’s a pretty thing, isn’t she Finny?” Chop announces from next to him, sitting up in his chair and lifting his hands up to cup his chest. Poor Iz grumbles as she sits up next to him, moving her neck to the side with a wince.

Finn’s head falls forward into his hands. “Make it a bit more obvious, will ya?” he groans, shaking his head from side to side. 

Chop’s laughter reverberates around the terminal, waking any passenger that might be getting a wink or two of sleep. “She’s just a bird, Finn,” he explains, clapping Finn on the back, “it’s not like you’ve got the bollocks to say hello, mate.”

Finn turns his head until his cheek rests flat against his palm. “Iz, please promise me he’s not going to be like tha’ during the entire trip home?” 

Izzy wipes the sleep from her eyes, frowning at Finn. “You’ve known him since primary, Finn. Of course he’s going to be.”

Archie stretches his arms over his head, sitting up in his seat beside Chop. “Go say hello, Finn.”

“I liked you all better when you were sleeping.” Finn crosses his arms over his chest and sinks down in his seat.

Archie reaches out to touch Finn’s forearm. “I’m serious, Finn. She looks a bit sad at the moment and could probably do with some cheering up.” 

“Don’t be daft, Arch.”

Archie looks over at the two women and shrugs. “Reckon she might be sad that ol’ Finn panty-dropping Nelson isn’t staring anymore.” He turns back to Finn with a smirk. 

Finn looks to the ceiling. “What have I done to deserve such pricks for mates?” 

“Just lucky I guess,” Chop says close to his ear, causing Finn to jump in his seat. When and why his friend got out of his seat and sidled up right next to Finn, he’s got no idea. 

Finn reaches up to scrub his hand at the side of his neck. “Don’t breathe on me neck like that, ya nutter.” 

Chop grins big and sits back into his own seat. “Bet you wouldn’t mind if your love interest over yonder was doing it, eh Finny?”

Finn has to grab at Chop’s hand and force them onto his lap before the lovely woman notices his mate waving wildly in her direction. “Would you PLEASE not embarrass me?” He looks to his other mates, eyes large and pleading as he gets up from his seat. “I’ve got to use the loo. Could you two please keep him out of trouble?”

“You can count on me, Finn,” Izzy tells him from her new perch on her boyfriend’s lap, giggling when Chop blows a raspberry against her neck. 

Finns just flushed the toilet when the intercom sounds with an important update on flight 1508 from Palma to Heathrow, but Finn doesn’t quite catch it over the noise. He washes his hands quickly before finding his friends back in the terminal, the three of them looking quite distraught. “What is it? I didn’t hear the whole thing.”

Archie looks up as Finn approaches, shakes his head. “Delayed 3 hours, something about the plane needing a repair.” 

Izzy wipes at her eyes as Chop holds her close. “My mum is going to be so upset if we aren’t home tonight.”

“3 hours. That’ll put us in around midnight, yeah? I should call my da,” Finn states as he wrestles with the tie on his bag and searches the largest pocket for money to call his father. 

****

“I don’t know about the rest of ya but I’m ready to get sloshed. My poor mum were gutted that we won’t be home tonight,” Chop tells them, tossing his wallet onto the seat next to him. “Anyone else want to find a place for a pint?” He gets up and slings his bag over his shoulder, pockets the discarded wallet and starts down the hall towards the pub. 

The rest of the group is quick to grab their things and follow behind 

him, Finn at the rear. He chances a glance back over his shoulder to see if the pretty woman with the dark hair is still there, but doesn’t see her or her friend. He tugs the strap of his bag over with a sigh and jogs to catch up with his friends. 

Archie finds them a table towards the back of a pub a terminal down while Chop goes to the bar to get the first round. “This music is shit, Finn. Why don’t you pick something else?” Archie asks, sliding several coins across the table towards Finn. 

Finn shrugs, picks up the coins and heads in the direction Archie points him in. He’s happy to find nobody else around and is free to select whatever music he likes, selecting several from The Smiths, The Stone Roses, Primal Scream, and a song or two from Blur. With a self-satisfied smirk he makes his way back to his table for his pint and maybe a bit of praise.

He takes the pint from in front of his empty seat and takes a swig. His first selection comes over the speakers and Finn looks up from his beer to his friends expectantly. He nearly spits out his first sip when he finds an unfamiliar pair of dark brown eyes looking back at him, but in a rush not to do so he ends up inhaling the liquid and has to turn away so he doesn’t cough in her face. 

Finn rubs at his chest as he finally turns back to the table, his cheeks heating with embarrassment. He can see both Archie and Chop looking away, their hands covering their mouths as their shoulders shake. Both Izzy and this woman’s mate are staring intently at Finn and the dark haired beauty. 

“Are you alright?” the woman asks, touching his forearm with her hand. 

He nods and takes another sip of his drink, hoping that it will calm his nerves enough to speak. “Sorry about tha’, think I took it down a bit too fast or summat.” 

She smiles at him. “I’m just glad that you’re OK.”

Izzy clears her throat from across the table, but Finn’s eyes are otherwise occupied. “Finn, this is Chloe,” she explains, pointing to the lighter haired woman next to her, “and this is Rae,” she tells him, motioning to the woman in front of him. 

Rae smiles at him and points to the ceiling. “This your doing, Finn?” 

“The music?” 

She nods and shuffles her feet a bit, drawing his attention down. “Yeah, I reckon it is. Who doesn’t want some Stone Roses on Christmas Eve?” he asks, perusing her body from her feet up. 

Chloe laughs from her seat next to Izzy. “Don’t see much use trying to interject ourselves into this conversation.”

Finn puffs out his cheeks, blowing out a deep breath before taking another sip from his pint. Guess he hadn’t been very sly in his quest to get a good look at her. He doesn’t regret it. He likes what he saw, likes that her bulky jumper ends right below her bum, but is still just tight enough that it doesn’t hide the curve of her hips. 

Rae looks over at her mate, her eyes opening wide and her lips pursing. This only causes Chloe to laugh harder, waving her mate away with the flick of her wrist and turning her attention to Izzy. 

Finn catches sight of the glass in Rae’s hand, which just so happens to be resting against her hip and can tell that it’s nearly empty. “Do you need another drink?”

Rae takes her last sip of the beverage and shakes the glass between them. “I’d love one, Finn.”

She follows him up to the bar and places her drink on the bartop. “Snakebite please,” she tells the worker before turning her attention back to Finn. 

“So Finn, where are you lot flying to?” she asks, resting her elbow on the bartop and turning her body towards him. The man behind her keeps bumping into her back, forcing her closer to Finn. He’d tell the bloke off if she looked the least bit bothered and to be honest he’s liking her closer. But really he can practically feel the heat of her body she’s so close and he’s really struggling to focus on much else, not when with each breath she takes her tits are brushing up against his chest. 

He clears his throat and meets her eyes. “London, but only to pick up our car and drive home. We have another 2 hours to go or so from there.” He reaches into his pocket and slides the money to the barkeep when he drops off the snakebite. “Where are you and Chloe headed?”

She takes a sip of her new drink before answering, “about 2.5 hours north of London, unless one of us needs a bit of a break of course. We’ve got another week before we have to go back to Uni, so we’ll spend it in Boston.”

“You’re joking?”

She wrinkles her nose. “Joking?”

“I’m from Stamford. How’s it possible we’re all from Lincolnshire?” he asks, motioning between the two of them and to their group at the table. 

Rae laughs and shrugs. “It really is a small world.” 

She picks up her pint and moves to make her way back to their friends, but he stops her with a hand at her elbow. “Do you want to stay over here - with me for a bit?” He’s got no idea what he’s doing, but he knows he doesn’t want to share her time with the rest of the group. 

She looks back at their friends and then to Finn before she pulls a stool out and takes a seat. “I’d like that.”

He takes another stool from under the bartop and positions it next to Rae, far enough away to not crowd her, but close enough to tell the rest of the patrons that she’s here with him. “So Uni? Where’s that?”

Rae’s knee brushes against his as she shifts in her seat. “Both Chlo and I are at Bristol, our last year actually.” She looks down at their knees, biting at the side of her bottom lip. “Are you at Uni, Finn?”

“I finished up last year. I’m back in Stamford working.”

Rae rests her elbow against the bartop, chin tucked into her palm as she looks at him. “And what do you do for work?” 

His eyes haven’t left her mouth in the last several minutes, but luckily he still hears her question. “I uh - I run the local radio station actually, “ he tells her, eyes tracking the tiny droplet of cider on her bottom lip and the tip of her tongue when she licks it off. “I’ve got a show with my mate Craig in the evening as well.”

“Well you’ve got decent taste in music from what I can tell,” she says with a smile, her grin growing as she leans forward to whisper, “ but, I bet you slip in a dodgy tune every now and then, yeah? A little ‘Babylon Zoo’ for the drive home.”

He chuckles, his head tilted forward as he drags his hand through the back of his hair. He lifts his eyes to look at her. “Can ya really classify Spaceman as dodgy?” 

Her laughter lights up her entire face and he’s grinning at the way she tips her head back and groans. “Bloody Spaceman. I had so much hope for your show until that bomb.” 

Finn lets his hand drop from his hair and onto his lap, sitting up in his seat. He decides to shoot his shot while she’s distracted and lightly touches the pads of his fingers against her legging clad knee. “Don’t judge me too harshly, yeah?” He can see and feel her leg jump at his touch, but he’s happy when she doesn’t move her knee out from under his fingers. 

He withdraws his fingers from her knee and asks, “will your family be disappointed that you won’t be home until real early in the morning?”

Rae takes a sip of her snakebite and shakes her head. “My mum and sister are in Tunisia with my step dad for another two weeks. I’ll be staying at Chloe’s.” She tucks a piece of hair behind her ear before placing her hands in her lap. “What about your family?”

“My da’ were a bit sad, yeah. I don’t like that he’ll be alone, but not much to be done.” 

He watches with a little smile as her thumb brushes against the side of his hand in gentle sweeps. “I’m sorry that you won’t be with him tonight.”

“What are you two lovebirds talking about?” Chop asks from next to him, throwing his arm over Finn’s shoulders. 

Finn groans and shakes his shoulders to get Chop’s arm off him. “We were talking about you, ya knobhead.”

Chop pushes his face between the pair, looks down at their hands and then up at Finn. “Only good things I hope.” He bats his eyelashes before pushing back on his heels. 

“I thought Iz was keeping you in line. What are you doing over here?” Finn asks, pushing at his friend to watch him rock backwards. 

Chop waves his hand over his shoulder. “Iz and that other woman Chlo are about 5 Hooches in each. I don’t think they’ll be controllin’ anyone, mate”

That’s all it takes for Rae to push her stool back and excuse herself to go find her friend. 

Chop is too far gone to notice Finn’s annoyance. “Do you want to go get something to eat? Arch and I are starving.”

“Sure,” Finn grumps. He finishes his pint and gets up from his seat. “Should we go see what the girls want to do?” He grabs onto Chop’s sleeve and pulls him behind him as he walks to the table. 

When they reach the table they find Izzy and Chloe grinning, their heads pressed together and facing Rae. Rae’s cheeks are pink and she’s shaking her head in response to a question Chloe has just asked her. 

Finn decides to leave them to chat, seeking out his other best mate Archie with Chop it tow. He finds Archie chatting up some bloke at the back of the pub. Archie is laughing and touching the man’s shoulder. He looks happy, so Finn decides to leave him to it.

“Let’s see if anyone else wants something, yeah?” Finn directs Chop to the table of women. 

Chop presses a wet and loud kiss against his girlfriend’s cheek and whispers something in her ear that makes her giggle like mad. 

Finn rolls his eyes at the pair and steps forwards to lean across the table. “You lot want anything to eat? Chopper over here is starvin’.”

“Some chips would be lovely, Finn,” Izzy says, her cheeks pink and eyes wide. 

Finn smiles at her before turning to Chloe. “Me too,” she tells him quickly, pushing Rae at the hip towards him, “why doesn’t Rae go with you, yeah?”

“Round of chips, I think we’ve got it.” He turns to Rae, motioning for her to step in front of him. He looks back at his mates. “I expect a beer when I get back here.”

The two make their way down the hall in search of a fast food restaurant where they can load up on chips for their friends. 

“Chlo alright?” Finn asks, bumping his shoulder against Rae’s. 

She laughs and shakes her head. “Yeah, a bit pissed but mostly she wanted to give me grief.”

He looks over at her, eyebrow raised. 

She groans and throws her head back, her pretty hair tumbling down her back. “She wanted to know what was going on with us. Fit bloke like you...with me?” She waves her hands over the front of her body. 

 Finn steers them off course and to the side of the hallway with his hand against her lower back until she’s pressed between him and the wall. He’s not pressed against her, no - doesn’t want to seem too forward, too eager to press his body to hers. 

She’s looking down at the floor, a blush coloring the apples of her cheeks and stretching to her hairline. He tips her face up with his forefinger and thumb pinched at her chin. “What do ya mean, Rae?”

Her hand wraps around his forearm, but she doesn’t tug his hand away. She looks up at him through heavy lidded eyes - he can’t tell if it’s lust or the snakebites, but he likes it. “Ignore me.”

He studies her, his front teeth dragging over his bottom lip. He wants to push it, but thinks maybe this isn’t the time or place to do it. Instead, he drops his face closer to hers, looks down at her mouth. He smiles at her little intake of air. 

“Finn.” He can smell the cider on her breath as she speaks, the faint fragrance of vanilla coming from her - he suspects her hair. 

He presses his thumb against her chin, making her bottom lip jut out. “Rae,” he says before he places a feather light kiss against that bottom lip. 

She sighs and flexes her fingers against his arm. “Do ya think we should go get the food before our mates pass out?” Her hand drops from his forearm and she blinks her eyes a couple of times, as if she’s waking up from a nap. 

His hand joins hers at their sides. “‘Spose we should.” Finn steps back, giving her space to slide by him. He grabs hold of her hand, watching her as she straightens her jumper. “To be continued?”

Rae takes his hand, pulling him towards their destination. She looks over her shoulder at him with a little grin. “To be continued.”

*****

Their friends cheer when they arrive with their food, causing quite a scene. Finn has barely put the bags of food on the table before Chop is grabbing containers and passing them around the table and shoving chips in his gob. 

Iz is looking quite green as she watches her boyfriend, her hand covering her mouth before she forces herself to look down at the table. “You OK Iz?” Finn asks, pushing some of the food in her direction. 

She gives a quick nod before she darts towards the toilet.

Rae touches the top of his hand. “Should I go check on her?”

“Would you mind?”

She gets up from the seat she’s just sat in, her fingers skimming up his forearm before she makes her way to Izzy. 

He watches her go, completely mesmerized by the sway of her hips as she walks that he barely hears Chloe say his name. He turns to her. “Yeah?”

“You can take my seat on the way back to London.”

“Wha? Your seat on the plane?” 

Chloe rolls her eyes and laughs. “Yes, of course I mean my seat on the plane. You know….the one next to Rae?”

“That’s reall--” 

“On one condition!” Chloe holds her hand up to stop him before adding, “I’m not sitting next to Chop.”

Chop, who has finally stopped eating, places both of his hands over his heart. “I’m wounded, Chlo.” 

Finn agrees to Chloe’s offer with a nod and a smile, which she returns. 

“Oi Arch, I know you’re a bit distracted, but if you don’t get your arse over here I’m going to eat the rest of ya chips,” Chop shouts over his shoulder before he opens up the last bag. 

Archie is standing next to the table in a moment, slapping Chop’s hand away from his food. “Oh no you don’t.”

Chop grins up at Archie. “I weren’t really going to eat them, ya numpty. Just wanted to give those lips of yours a break.” Chop chuckles and ducks his head out of the way of Archie’s hand.

Finn shakes his head at his friends’ antics and swipes a chip out of Archie’s hand, laughing at Archie’s answering scowl. “Sorry mate,” he says, shoving it into his mouth. 

“Prick,” Archie mutters under his breath, shoving at Finn’s shoulder.

Finn can feel her behind him as she walks back to join the group. He turns his entire body to greet her. “All right?” 

“I think she’ll be fine after she gets a bit of sleep on the plane,” Rae tells him, her pinky skimming his at his side. 

He leans in close to her, his mouth near her ear. “Chloe said that I can have her seat on the plane.” He rocks back on his heels, his head still bent and his lower lip tucked behind his teeth. “What do ya think?”

“Yes. I think yes.” 

“Flight 1508, Palma to Heathrow will be boarding in thirty minutes,” the intercom announces, drawing the group’s attention. 

“That’s it, that’s us Iz,” Chop tells Izzy, who is now tucked up against his side with her face pressed against his chest. She groans in response, shaking her head against him. 

Chloe assists Chop with getting Iz out of the seat and places the strap for her bag over one shoulder. The three of them lead the rest of the group from the pub and towards their gate with Archie running behind - as he had to say goodbye to the bloke that he was chatting up. 

The gang make it to their gate with plenty of time to spare. Finn and Rae rest their backs against the wall facing the other four who take seats near the back of the seating area, poor Iz slumping over on her boyfriend. 

Finn turns to rest his side against the wall to face Rae, not quite looking at her. “So uh - Rae, do you have any plans for New Years?”

She tucks her hair behind her ear, which quickly falls in front of her face again when she turns to look at him. “Don’t think so. Probably get some takeaway and have a drink or two with Chlo.”

He’s looking at his shoes and chewing at the frayed cuticle of his thumb and he knows he probably looks like a nervous twat when he asks, “I was hoping you might like to go out...with me?”

“Yeah, YES, yes I would.” 

[late-to-the-sexy-party]

Half a Pint of Sex

A little AU that takes place during S2 E1. What if Rae didn’t leave after she saw Finn in the shower?

Also posted on AO3.

Thank you as ever to Lil, my beta reader from another mother: you are exacting and wise and very exciting to work with. 

@madfatty @burnnmyhearttout @thatfunnygirllauren @hellothisismebye

Rae was in a tizzy as she walked back from the lingerie shop. It was all well and good to bare everything in front of Chloe and Izzy and the baps-expert bra lady, but…ugh…who was she kidding? Even that was horribly uncomfortable. How could she ever do this with Finn? She closed her eyes and counted to ten. “He likes me,” she reminded herself. “He’s already touched my lady bits and he wants to go camping and he knows we’re getting three tents. Relax, idiot! He likes you. He really likes you.” She repeated the affirmation, though suspected this could all change once Finn really saw all of her. But the pep talk and the teal underwear in her shopping bag gave her a surge of confidence or maybe it was just hope. Whatever propelled her, she found herself heading to Finn’s house. Maybe to show him. Maybe not. 

Meanwhile, Finn was in his attic, waist-high in boxes and sorting fairy lights from Christmases past. Most of his thoughts were preoccupied by the camping trip and how not to let on that he was preoccupied. Being attentive to Rae was work but the best kind. It felt good to be in this deep, to care this much. Anyway, their first time would not be in a tent, that was not how he’d pictured it, hence ten calls to arrange the surprise caravan and a whole morning in the attic. He was glad she’d been busy earlier because he was crap at making excuses. He was covered in dust from his efforts, but now he just wanted to see her. Fuck it, he was going to go over to hers even if he had to wait around until she got home. He headed to the shower to wash up.

Rae’s feet automatically slowed as she approached Finn’s house; much had changed since the first time she’d walked up to his door. When she was with Finn their chemistry was obvious and magnetic, but when they were apart the whole thing still seemed impossible. If she could get back in the same room with him, the rest should take care of itself. She needed to trust in the strange magic of them. She pushed herself forward with the memory of Finn’s reassuring smile, his promise of “to be continued.” Gary welcomed her inside amidst a haze of Dire Straits. Rae prayed her own straits were not so dire.

Finn’s thoughts were racing in the shower. Was he putting too much pressure on her? He was pretty sure the whole thing had been Rae’s idea. It was a sleepover and she’d asked for three tents. And she had let him touch her the other day in her room, but then Linda had barged in and it just didn’t feel right to continue. He’d run off to footy practice even though he’d planned to skip it. But now it was all he could think about, how ready she’d been for his fingers. The hot water across his shoulders was starting to remind him of that warmth and how it had spread to her wickedly soft inner thighs. He rubbed at his stiffening cock but glanced up to find the door open, and his dad didn’t need to see that. He turned the water a little colder–he would wait until he was in his room to finish that thought.

Rae climbed the stairs with a distracted smirk on her face and heard the water running as she reached the top. Was Finn in the shower? Was he showering with the door open? Who showered with the door open? “Oh,” she thought, as she saw his wet and flawless frame turning away, “people with perfect bodies.” And there it was, the arse she coveted, bare as the day he was born, as peachy as she’d ever imagined.

Suddenly, she was struck with a huge choice: run out of this house straight to the airport and jump on a plane to the North Pole to live in a cave and raise polar bears and never again see a human arse that would remind her of what she couldn’t have OR literally put on her big girl pants and meet her own life head on. Seeing as she’d spent her last pound on the pants, air travel was out of the question. She walked halfway down the stairs and back up three times before finding herself in Finn’s room. The next set of events was a blur, as she ran to the window and yanked the curtain over to block out as much light as possible, raced into her new underwear while holding the door closed and finally dove under his duvet and slid herself all the way to the wall.

Lying in Finn’s bed, Rae was shocked by her own actions, completely out of breath and utterly grateful that Chloe had explained what she meant about preparing for “naked time” with Finn. That morning, Rae had shaved her legs, continuing above her knees which she hadn’t even realized was a thing, and she’d smoothed out her underarms and even tidied up her unruly thatch of pubic hair. As she awaited the inevitable, she tried to make herself as small as possible, but her flesh refused to cooperate and kept falling around her in the most hideous of ways. Every time she angled herself to smooth one area, another rolled up and out, and she was quickly getting itchy and hot in all the places where her skin was rubbing against itself, and this was all a very bad idea, and her head was pounding and she thought she might throw up. Her fevered train of thought came to an abrupt halt as the freshly-bathed scent of Finn Nelson burst across her senses and then he was there in the room, in his boxers and running a towel over his head. He didn’t see her at first, as he was taking in the closed window curtain with mild confusion.

“Don’t be scared it’s just me!” Rae blurted out as she pulled the duvet up to her nose. “Hiya.”

Tracking Rae’s voice, Finn found her wedged in the corner of his bed. Her position was almost comical as if she were trying to disappear into the wall, but this did not diminish the salient fact: Rae was in his bed. She was under his duvet. She was hiding something, possibly nakedness. His body was reacting faster than his mind and he quickly moved the towel down to hide his excitement. He was turned on; he was touched, and he was stunned by the boldness of her gesture. As his eyes adjusted to the dimness, he could see that she was terrified.

“What are ya doing under there, girl?” He asked in a tone he hoped was both non-threatening and affectionate.

“Oh nothin’,” Rae responded. “Just thought I’d make sure you had sheets under here.”

“Oh, and do I?” Finn couldn’t help but flirt as he moved slowly towards the bed. He was still having trouble processing what was happening, but whatever it was, was very good.

“Yes, comfy sheets.”

“They’re comfy, eh?” Finn was fully loving the dynamic now. He felt a little bad for torturing her like this, but he knew this would all work out even if she didn’t seem to. “Can you feel them especially, ‘cause maybe you’re not wearin’ anything?”

“Oh, I’m wearin’ something…some…things…” Rae was biting her lip, rolling her eyes and blushing to her toes.

Finn was standing right up against the bed now. His curiosity was beyond piqued, but he knew Rae was regretting her actions and he needed to get her back on board. He was always most confident expressing himself from his arsenal of smiles, and he carefully chose one for her that conveyed sympathy, encouragement and understated joy. When he saw the muscles around her eyes relax, he spoke, “I’m really glad you’re here.” Then even more gently, he added, “Would it be okay if I joined you under there?”

Rae nodded, and Finn slipped cautiously onto the bed, keeping a respectful distance and his eyes on her face.

“So, what are these… things…you’re wearing?”

Rae huffed and rolled her eyes, “Chloe took us to a lingerie shop and I wound up buyin’ this stuff. But they’re totally impractical and I don’t think they look good on me. And I mean, I’m not even sure if you like my boobs, because they’re too large and they’re not made for lacy-”

“Rae…Rae!” Finn was struggling to get Rae’s attention and she finally stopped babbling long enough to look at him. “Do you not know how I feel about your boobs? Guess you hadn’t noticed me looking at them all the time when we first met? Archie and Chop had to tell me to stop!”

“Nah… I hadn’t…” Rae attempted a nanosecond of mental acrobatics, trying to immediately recall all the times this could have happened. It was new information and she couldn’t help but smile and then laugh, “Chop had to stop you?! But Chop looks at them all the time!”

“Yeah…” Finn winced “Now he says if I get to touch’em, then he should at least be able to look at’em.” He scrunched his face and waited for her to punch him.

“What?! Oh thanks for that! Really defending my honor, eh?” The banter was so normal, that for a minute, Rae forgot they were in a bed and half naked. “You know Chop needs to watch himself or Izzy’s going to get seriously insecure. I know she already feels—"

Suddenly Finn was kissing her–his version of oral sparring was not really fair, because he always won.

Finn was glad she was back to form, because he was addicted to transforming loud opinionated Rae into quiet, yielding Rae. Kissing her was like unlocking so much sweetness, and it was all for him.

When she stilled, he spoke quietly, “Anyway, I told Chop, that was bullshit and he had to stop.” Finn continued with a playful pout, “But can we not talk about Chop anymore? Besides…I haven’t really touched them… not really…”

Rae was pleasantly transfixed by the recent kiss and his current gaze. This back and forth between humor and seriousness, teasing and affection, of her knowing him and his knowing her was the alchemy she needed. She bit her bottom lip as she slowly lowered the duvet to her waist, revealing all the cream and teal she’d been hiding. Finn gasped and stared, and Rae felt like she was on fire. His hand instinctively reached out to touch her, but he stopped himself.

“Can I?” His breath hitched on the words and Rae felt a sense of control that she had never known. She could feel how truly sexy she was in that moment with her hair flowing around her face and her lips parted. She looked at him from beneath her lashes and knew how completely she had him. All of time seemed to slow down in that astonishing moment.

When Rae finally spoke, “Yeah,” was all she said. He reached towards her hesitantly and ran his finger along the top of her shallow bra cup, tracing the entire seam where it met the soft flesh of her right breast. Finn’s eyes were on hers, as he slid his finger below the edge, lowering it inch by inch until her whole breast spilled out. They held each other’s eyes with half shock and open mouths. Gradually his eyes lowered to take her in, the fullness, the large dark areola, the perfectly protruding nipple; the sight drew his tongue forward. Then, just as slowly, Finn freed her from the left cup and felt woozy with the vision that lay before him.  

Rae smiled as she watched Finn’s reaction and relaxed into this new sensation of feeling like the best thing he’d ever seen.

“They look so good, Rae…” Finn was nearly stuttering, “better than I imagined.”

Finn was consumed with looking, just feeling her with his eyes for a full minute before finally sweeping his fingers around the outside curves of her and his thumbs against her nipples. He kissed her then, pressing his whole body into her, knowing she could feel him hard against her leg.

It all turned hot and heavy quickly as they licked and sucked at each other’s lips and tongues. They were grinding against each other’s thighs and her hands were grasping at his hair and his hands were full of her breasts. Things were escalating and their hearts were racing, when Rae put her hand between them and pushed him back.

“Are you okay?” he panted, concern registering in his eyes.

“Yeah, I’m good,” she panted back. “So, so good… I just don’t think I’m… ready…”

“Oh, Rae,” Finn smiled. “We don’t have to…there’s so many other things we can do… I mean…if you want to…”

“Yeah…I want to…” Rae smiled, and Finn remembered she had her own arsenal, and this was the one–so wide and genuine and beautiful–that lit up his heart.

“Honestly,” he added, “I’m just chuffed to see you in your underwear.”

“You really like it?” She asked, pretending the question was not rhetorical.

“Yeah, I really like it,” he answered, as if she didn’t know what an understatement that was.

“Do you think your dad might…?

“Nah.. not if my door’s closed.”

“So he’s not makin’ hot pot or anything? Maybe needs some ingredients?”

“He won’t bother us,” Finn grinned as he spoke. “He knows you’re up here. And he totally loves you.”

Rae smiled to herself wondering how many Nelsons might love her. Finn shifted out of the bed to put on some music.

Rae teased him, “Oh, let me guess…”

“Oi!” Finn shot back, “I’ve been waiting for this. You can’t deny me it.” He pulled out his album of decidedly not crap reggae and lowered the needle. “Plus now my dad will really know to stay away.”

As she watched him return to bed, bopping his head suggestively to the music, Rae giggled and felt her whole body melt and tingle in anticipation. “So, where were we, girl?” Finn asked as he crawled in next to her. He looked into her eyes and ran his fingers through her hair, and Rae was very happy to remind him. 

[changingourdestiny]

Beyond Light Part 7: Vexing Times

Summary:

Two more Guardians have joined the party: Cayde and Adam! But just as things are beginning to look up, Eramis desperation truly begins to show.

Previous Part: Here

Next Part: Here

“Cayde!”

Rae’s eyes lit up as she glided off the metal platform down to the ground before wrapping her arms around Cayde, which he gladly returned, “What are you doing here?”

“Ok, so Zavala had to go to Europa to tell you what we found out about Eramis, right? So I was like ‘Anything I can do, big Z?’ and he was like ‘Why yes Cayde. Go to the Cosmodrome and help Fireteam Paralight, because you are our best Hunter’. And well, I can’t argue with that! So here I am!”

“You snuck out of the Tower, didn’t you?”

“Maybe.”

Rae couldn’t help but laugh, “You didn’t use the ‘Chicken Dance Party’ plan, did you?”

“Oh no. I’m savin’ that one for when Zavala’s in the Tower. I wanna see his face when it happens!”

“Do I want to know what that is?” The Hunter beside Cayde asked. “Eh, probably not.” Cayde shrugged. “Sorry, where are my manners?” Rae smiled holding her hand out, “I’m Rae Drakyx, Fireteam Vanguard and leader of Fireteam Paralight.”

“Shaw Han, Vanguard Scout.” Shaw replied, accepting the handshake, “I’ve heard a bit about you and your Fireteam from Cayde and your Titan here.” Adam got to his feet and gave Rae a fist bump, “How’d things go on Europa.”

Rae just gave a long sigh. “That bad, huh?” Adam gave a sympathetic smile. “So many things…I don’t know where to even begin…” Rae sighed, “How about you? Things all good in the Dreaming City?”

“As good as a cursed city can be. We’ve prepared as much as we can so if the Darkness does find its way there, we’ll be somewhat prepared.”

“Better than not at all, right?”

“True that.”

“Who’s that, Rae?” Rae turned to see Tif hopping off the platform and giving a curious look to Cayde. “Oh right! Tif, this is Cayde-6.” Rae introduced, “Cayde, this is Captain Tif Kariuki.”

“Oh! So you’re Cayde!” Tif beamed.

“The one and only.” Cayde nodded, “You’re the captain from the House of Light that Sunrae told us about, right?”

“I sure am! Rae has told me so much about you!”

“Aha…I think you’re exaggerating it a bit.” Rae laughed nervously.

“No I’m not.” Tif tilted her head with a look of confusion, “You were saying how amazing he is and how he’s cool and wonderful-”

“Wonderfully badass! He is, isn’t he?” Rae interrupted with a nervous smile as she covered Tif’s mouth.

…

…

…

“She also says you’re sexy!!” Marcia yelled from the platform.

“MARCIA STOP TALKING!” Rae squeaked as her face went bright red while Blaze burst out laughing, leaning on Marcia for support. Tif just glanced between them with an innocently confused face as Adam just held his face in his hands while shaking his head. “Are they always like this?” Shaw asked. “You haven’t seen half of it…” Adam muttered. Cayde chuckled as he wrapped his arms around Rae from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder, “Aw, you braggin’ about me, Sunrae?”

Rae covered her face with her hands in an attempt to hide her blush. “I don’t blame ya. You’ve seen these guns.” Cayde flexed his right arm.

“HA!!”

*THUMP!*

Marcia and Blaze fell off the platform in a laughing heap. Shaw gave Adam a concerned look. “We’re a lot more professional on the battlefield. I swear.” Adam muttered. Cayde laughed at the two Hunters in a giggling pile before placing a kiss on Rae’s temple, “Y’know I love ya.”

“I love you too.” Rae mumbled though her hands before removing them and shaking her head, “Ok, focus. We got a Kell to take down.”

“O-ok!” Blaze giggled as she and Marcia got to their feet, the latter wiping a stray tear from their eye.

 Rae cleared her throat before turning to Shaw, “So what’s the status on Eramis?”

“From what we’ve gathered, Eramis has been seeking out her comrades from the late House of Devils.” Shaw explained, “She’s hoping to recruit them into her house.”

“She must be desperate to not only recruit from the Devils, but to come here personally.” Marcia noted. “We did take out her head scientist and top warrior.” Blaze added. “It gets better.” Cayde spoke up, “Word is, she brought along a trusted sergeant of hers named Bakris the Adamantine. Turns out she has that stasis stuff too.”

“If I had to wager a guess,” Shaw added, “I’d suspect the sergeant is holed up in the Cosmodrome. Probably to make sure the Devils hold good on their pledge to relocate.”

“So that’s where we’ll strike first.” Rae confirmed, “I’ll let Variks know what we’ve found out here while we head up there.”

“Good luck.” Shaw gave them a nod. “Ah, it’s only the Devils.” Blaze grinned, as she followed the others out into the grasslands of Old Russia, “It’s nothing we haven’t face before!”

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 “Ugh…I forgot how annoying the Devils were.” Blaze groaned as the stasis walls began to melt away. Marcia’s Stasis powers had kicked in again during the fight against the servitors within the Cosmodrome. “So that’s Stasis, eh?” Cayde muttered, impressed, “Not bad. Though I’ve a feeling Zavala isn’t exactly thrilled about it.”

“It didn’t seem like it.” Rae replied, “But from what I’ve seen with the Stranger, Drifter, Eris, Tif and Marcia so far, it is controllable when in the right hands.”

“What about you? Plannin’ on using it?”

“That’s the plan. Marcia already tested it to make sure it doesn’t affect Starlight – it doesn’t, thank Light. Besides, the best way to beat something is to understand it.”

“Well…promise me you’ll be careful, yeah? Can’t lose the only Vanguard who laughs at my jokes.”

“I promise. You know you can’t get rid of me easily.” Rae gave Cayde a playful nudge.

“Heyo! Found a missive from Eramis!” Marcia called from where she was digging, “She was planning on sending a load of Spider Tanks back to Europa.”

“Ghost?” Rae began. “Already contacting Variks.” Ghost replied as he activated the comms, “Variks, Eramis was planning on flooding Europa with Spider Tanks. We’ve dealt with the ones in charge.”

“Yes, our comms buzz with chatter.” Variks’s wheezing voice came through the comms, “Word of your success has already reached Europa. Eramis is most unpleased.”

“Alright! Things are looking up!” Blaze cheered.

“She intends to react with another set of reinforcements; the Vex.”

“Aaand back down again.”

“The Vex?!” Rae exclaimed, “How?”

“Europa holds yet another dark secret – a portal, built by Clovis Bray, leading directly to the Vex.” Variks replied, “Eramis intends to activate it.”

“Of course he’d build a Vex portal.” Cayde let out a frustrated sigh, “Why wouldn’t he?”

“What good is that even gonna do her?” Marcia added, “The Vex will target her and her house as well as us!”

“Either way, she needs to be stopped.” Rae replied, “We’re on our way.”

“Well, if you end up fighting a hoard of Vex, you’re gonna need an extra pair of hands.” Cayde feigned a sigh, “I suppose I’ll just have to tag along as support.”

“You’re looking for another excuse to leave the Tower, right?” Rae folded her arms with a smirk.

“Please! I need to get out of that Tower.”

Rae let out a small laugh, “Alright, let’s go stop Eramis from turning Europa into VexCon.”

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 “The portal within…it was built in your Golden Age to study Vex. But Vex escaped. Murdered many. You must hurry. Devastation is all we face if Eramis opens that portal.”

 “Keep going! We can’t be too far behind!”

The six guardians crossed a pool of radiolarian fluid by jumping from platform to platform. As they reached the end of the room, Marcia miscalculated her jump and her foot barely caught the edge, causing her arms to flail as she tried to keep her balance.

“I gotcha!”

Marcia felt herself being lifted off the ground as Tif hoisted her up with both hands and walked a few feet from the edge before setting the Hunter down on the ground. “I…wha…ok, admittedly I’m like a twig despite being the tallest here, but that was still impressive.” Marcia stared wide-eyed at Tif, surprised. “I’m tougher than I look!” Tif beamed. “Be impressed later. We gotta hurry!” Rae called from a nearby ramp before darting up it, the rest of the Fireteam not far behind. They emerged into a large room with a pool of radiolarian fluid at the far end and a large Vex gate above it. “Poor foolish pawn.” Eramis cackled as she appeared from around a corner, “This time, I made you into one of my own.”

“There she is!” Rae yelled out as she went to aim her auto-rifle at the Kell. However, Eramis disappeared before anyone could get a shot in as her voice came through the comms, “Unfortunately, you’re too late. I’ll just have to eviscerate you another day. If you make it out alive.”

Almost immediately after she finished her sentence, the Vex gate began to activate. “Brace yourselves!” Adam called out, pulse rifle at the ready. Out of the Vex gate…

 …was a single Hydra.

“Oh. Well that’s not so bad!” Cayde shrugged. Above the Hydra appeared a much, MUCH larger Hydra along with a hoard of Vex. “You were saying?!” Marcia exclaimed. “Tif and Marcia take left! Blaze, Adam, you take right!” Rae called out, “Cayde, you take centre with me!”

“On it!” Cayde nodded.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 “I think that’s the last of ‘em.” Blaze called out. “Left’s clear!” Marcia added. “Centre’s clear.” Rae sighed, sheathing her auto-rifle as Cayde gave the Ace of Spades a spin and holstering it before turning to the Vex gate, “Uh, Sunrae? You seein’ this?” Rae turned her attention to where Cayde was looking and noticed that the radiolarian fluid had begun to drain away. “Where’s it going…?” Rae asked as the rest of the fireteam regrouped in the centre. “Eramis…what have you done?” Variks muttered into the comms. Rae noticed Adam glaring up at the gate with a clenched fist. “First SIVA…now this thing?” Adam growled, “The hell was Clovis thinking?”

“Actually, about Clovis…” Blaze began as she, Rae and Marcia exchanged awkward looks, “There’s something you might wanna know.”

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Adam sat looking at the tablet with a furrowed brow as he scrolled down through his file. The fireteam had regrouped inside the Stranger’s camp. “So…I worked on the SIVA project…?” he muttered. “Yeah…” Rae replied, “We found that while hunting Praksis in Bray Exoscience. You disappeared after your lab exploded in Site-6.”

“…”

“But in spite of that, we don’t think any less of you. After all, who you are now matters way more than who you used to be.”

“…”

“Adam?”

 Many Years Ago…

 “Almost…”

Adam sat in his lab tinkering with his metal arm.

*whoosh*

“Dr. Birdfal?”

“Ack!”

Adam fumbled with his good arm to catch the screwdriver he was using on his arm, barely able to grab it. He let out a relieved sigh before turning towards the door with a glare, “What is it, Shirazi? And it’s ‘Bergfalk’. Not that hard to say.”

“Sorry.” Zarin Shirazi apologised, “Just reminding you that we’ve a meeting with Dr. Willa in an hour.”

Adam sighed, “I’ll be there. And knock next time! You’re lucky I wasn’t working on the projectiles.”

Zarin peered behind Adam to see what looked like a small, half-constructed rocket for a launcher on the worktable, “You’re seriously considering turning your arm into a rocket launcher?”

“If I can successfully make the ammo, ja.” Adam replied as he went back to work on his arm, “A rocket launcher arm is no good if it blows up the entire left side of my body.”

“I imagine it’d be harder to make prosthetics for that side of your body.”

“Forget prosthetics. I’d have to be signed up for the Exomind project.”

“Well, all the more reason for you to be careful.” Zarin chuckled before turning to leave, “See you in an hour. And don’t blow yourself up!”

“No promises!” Adam called over his shoulder before finally finishing up on his arm, “And done! Can’t work on this with a faulty arm.” Adam got up off his chair and made his way to the small rocket, preparing to get back to work on it, when he heard the door open again. “Forgot something, Shirazi?” Adam asked, not looking up from his workbench, “What can I-?”

*C L A N G*

 “…ugh…”

Adam found himself lying on the lab floor, an unbearable pain throbbing in his head and his vision fuzzy. He went to prop himself up with his left arm but with no avail. Despite his muddled vision, he could see that his metal arm had been heavily smashed. Sounds of rustling from his desk caught his attention as he looked up to see a figure gathering stuff off his desk. Adam began to recognise the figure as his vision cleared. “S…Sigfrid...?” he muttered. The figure spun around. He was a tall man who looked near identical to Adam. He let out a frustrated sigh, “I really hoped that hit would’ve killed you. No matter.”

“The hell are you doing...?” Adam growled. “Just taking the position that should’ve been mine.” Sigfrid replied simply as he shoved some of Adam’s notes into a bag, “Don’t bother trying to get up. I broke your legs too.” Sure enough, Adam felt a searing pain in his legs as he tried to get up. “Why are you-?”

“Why am I doing this?” Sigfrid cut him off, looking down at him, “Because ever since we joined CB, everything’s been you-you-you. And frankly, I’m sick of it.” Sigfrid walked over to the workbench, forcefully kicking Adam aside causing him to yell out in pain, as he fiddled with something, “I mean, I should’ve had your job from the start. After all, I can turn a rocket into a bomb.” Adam’s eyes went wide as he heard a faint beeping from the workbench as Sigfrid casually walked to the door. “You…you can’t do this!” Adam exclaimed, a look of fear and anger on his face. “I can. I will.” Sigfrid smirked, “Oh and don’t worry. I’ll ensure they don’t find your body. You’ll have a nice long sleep in the snow. Hejdå, bror.” Sigfrid left the lab, the door closing behind him. Adam tried desperately to get up, but with only one working arm and two broken legs, the pain was too much for him to bear. He could hear the beeping of the bomb getting louder and louder. He squeezed his eyes shut as he braced for the incoming explosion.

*B O O M ! ! !*

   “Guardian? Eyes up, Guardian.”

 To Be Continued…

[yumenosakiacademy]

ok twt released this thread where it shows a ton of met gala looks n lets go in2 opinions bc im bored n hungry (note: most of these r not taking in2 account the theme of the gala, which was “in2 america” or w/e, but i do mention it occ. i see it not as a requirement, but if they go w the theme in a specific or obvious way, it’s smth 2 note) (note2: this is only covering the ppl in the thread, not any others tht were omitted, bc there r apparently Others tht werent in the thread)

holy shit the absolutely dreamy looking pink gown on billie? beautiful. princess-like. loving the hazy look to the long train. could use some accessories/jewelry tho, methinks. but even w/o it, it’s a lovely dress.

harris reed... not a fan. i was willing 2 say it was Ok but i noticed the bottom half was, in fact, NOT  dress layered w feather, but a sleek gold dress n then this weird sparse feather thing tht hangs over it n i went oh tht’s a no 4 me

j.lo’s outfit gives me pimp vibes im living 4 it. it radiates Power.

nas’ 1st outfit (the puffy gold 1) isnt all tht appealing 2 me... mayb if the puffy arm parts were replaced w smth tht jus draped from the shoulders or a mid-high collar 2 resemble a king’s cape but it looks a lil silly. 2nd outfit (gold suit) is p bold, i can dig it. not much 2 say on it bc it’s jus a gold suit of armor, ngl, but it’s not smth u see at a gala, so tht’s unique. 3rd outfit (gold bodysuit) was v pretty i like it.

grimes’ outfit honestly makes me think space warrior or smth n i rly like it? i dont typically like tht hairstyle, n the pattern on the outfit is still a lil eh, but i like the metallic mask n the makeup n the way the fabric drapes in gradient to black at the bottom. also a SWORD? is tht even allowed?? like, it apparently Was but surely they mustve got it checked out w met gala b4 bringing it, right? fun fact, it’s made from a melted AR-15, which kinda goes w the america theme, ironically enough. idk i rly dig this odd look.

love the dress n hair on lupita!! luv the glitter n overall shape tho n her hair!! is so pretty honestly. idk who this lady is but shes stunning.

frank ocean’s outfit is simple n ok BUT i dont the weird ugly robotic baby he was carrying. the outfit it had on too? like this... weird green patterned onesie or smth? UGLY as hell. at least chose a better onesie if ur gonna hav the weird baby prop... it doesnt even match w his outfit n the pattern is such a fucking ugly 1.

megan fox rly out here giving us devil mistress  holy shit. it looks cool as all hell i luv it. hot as Hell, pun intended. 

addison rae looks boring, im ngl :I the dress isnt all tht pretty n it’s kinda simple. like, not inherently ugly, per se (tho im not a v big fan of how it looks at the top of the dress) jus... feels basic. 

ciara’s is football-themed, thus does matcht he theme 4 the event, america, n i do like the shade of green she used also glittery fabric n the shape of the dress near the bottom, but the parts to the side of the dress where it shows skin feel like they bring the look down, honestly... if it didnt hav them, it’d look better. but bc it has them, im not personally a big fan. 

barbie ferreira is giving flapper vibes, n w the theme being america tht’s v fitting! lots n lots of pearls~ id say quite a few too Many pearls, as i wouldve preferred more fabric n stuff? but i can see what she was going for n i dont terribly dislike it! it’s ok. 

kim’s outfit is ugly, end of story. dont try 2 go 4 so unique tht it looks awful. unique? yes. no1 wouldve expected tht, but it’s so...?? why cover ur face n everything else n then make it look so Odd i jus.. ew. no. 

kendall on the other hand looks nice! draping jewels (esp diamonds or smth in tht whitish-grey sparkly color) n transparent fabrics r a classic tht’s used v often n the same applies here. looks nice! luv the way the jewels curve down.

ppl in the replies r calling olivia rodrigo’s outfit boring n while i can kinda agree, it doesnt look too terribly bad? i dig the outfit, esp the lace fishnet fabric. i think it’s p cute! but compared to all of these pretty gowns, yea it might b a bit underwhelming. not ugly tho!

ppl r rly ecstatic abt lorde’s outfit on the other hand, but i dont like it? the fabric reminds me of like, curved construction paper or tortillas n it jus feels p boring 2 me i dont like it at all :I

miss biles... it just is Not hitting. mayb if the puffy gray fabric didnt suddenly widen at the hips it’d still b a bit more acceptable, albeit still not great, but the texture on the grey, puffy, prob heavy fabric isnt great n is jus too like.. dense-looking i dont like it at all. 

justin n hailey look boring. tht’s jus a normal black suit n black dress, bro. absolutely NOTHING special. i do like hailey’s dress, esp the neckline, but dear god theyre both jus so bland? no accessories? no nothing? tht’s jus a straight narrow black dress, hailey. tht’s jus a regular suit, justin. this is the Red Carpet.

gigi... nice hair n gloves n accessories (tho the necklace doesnt rly seem 2 match? it seems a bit golder) but the dress?? ugly. Ugly. i dont care if ppl r praising her in the twt replies. the stiff fabric of the bland, boring outer dress makes it all the fucking worse. like a cardboard roll only more flexible bc Fabric.

i like the red, white, n blue draping fabric on saweetie’s outfit, also it ties in w the ameria theme, but the rest of the outfit (or, as much as i can see bc her front is kinda obscured in the photo) jus.. isnt pretty.

i rly rly luv the dress on naomi, my word! the colors swirl rly nicely together, but i think the black part of the dress would b nicer if as a lower arm coat or smth instead of attached 2 the dress like how i think it is. also dont like her hairstyle, but i think it’s referencing smth cultural n has meaning tht i jus dont understand so! cant say much abt tht. the main dress part tho is rly nice.

chalamet is good until the converse gjhsdn why did he think.. tht converse (or shoes resembling them, as some1 in the replies said they might not actually b converse) would b red carpet appropriate. also the crotch of the pants shouldve been a bit higher imo cuz it looks like its a bit lower, like harem pants but not baggy or quite as low.

i luv the blue glitter gown on miss gorman! wow how glittery! n tht’s not sarcasm btw i genuinely luv glitter gjhsnd but it fits the america theme n is such a bright eye-popping color.

[vixensheart]

Domestic

“The most important thing in the world is family and love.”-John Wooden

Garfield blinked awake. He squinted into the darkness, his eyes quickly adjusting to the low light. A flash of pale skin caught his attention, and Garfield sat up. “Rae?”

She paused, hovering at the edge of the bed. It was then that Garfield could hear the gentle crying drifting in from the other room. He was up immediately, trying to usher the empath back into bed. “Go on back to sleep, Rae, I’ve got this.”

Raven wavered reluctantly, her gaze darting towards their bedroom door. “Are you sure? He might be hungry.”

Garfield chuckled. “Well, if he is I’ll come get you.” He leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss on her forehead. “Now go back to sleep, okay?” Garfield didn’t wait for her to answer; instead he padded to the door and slipped out into the hall.

The cries grew louder as Garfield crept through the little apartment. He carefully opened the door and peered within. A smile quickly tugged at his lips as the outline of the crib caught his gaze. Garfield slipped into the room and flipped on a lamp, calmly padding up to the little crib. “Hey, little guy,” he cooed. His sharp nose caught the foul scent of a soiled diaper, and Garfield carefully scooped up the wailing newborn.

Chester Mark Logan, only three weeks old. Raven had picked the name; she’d read it somewhere in one of her many novels. Garfield hadn’t been fond of it at first; after all, he felt his own name sounded old. But after a lot of negotiating, or, on Raven’s end, insisting, the name had grown on him.

Garfield undid his son’s sleeper, mentally bracing himself. He was getting good at changing diapers. It was still disgusting, seeing the weirdly colored poop his child produced, but years of soiled food rotting in the fridge seemed to have prepared him.

The poop was just as bizarre as expected, and Garfield had to hold his breath to take it off and dump it in the trashcan. He snagged a wipe and cleaned Chester up, humming softly under his breath. The little newborn had settled down a bit, seemingly pleased that the soiled diaper was removed. He cooed up at Garfield, his big, purple eyes sparkling in the lamplight. “Hey, little dude,” Garfield murmured. Chester cooed in response, waving his little green fists in the air. It was utterly adorable. Then again, everything about Chester was adorable.

Despite the fact that his son had inherited his...green-ness, Garfield couldn’t see Chester as anything less than perfect. He’d always struggled with feeling attractive and handsome, and it wasn’t until he fell in love with Raven that he started to see that aspect of himself. And now, with Chester, he really saw it. The kid was a handsome little thing, green skin and all.

A pair of arms slipped around his waist, and Garfield jumped in surprise. Raven’s familiar scent washed over him, and he leaned into her touch. “I thought I told you to go back to bed?” he teased. Raven hummed into his back.

“You were taking too long; I wanted to make sure everything was okay.”

Garfield chuckled. “What, don’t trust me with a diaper?”

His wife pulled away, and he turned to see a smile lighting up her features. He stilled, admiring the joy sparkling in her eyes. Even now, at two o’clock in the morning, wearing rumbled nightclothes and a messy bun, she was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever laid eyes on. And he was lucky enough to call her his wife.

“You’re better with it than I am,” she murmured, her voice light with amusement. Garfield rolled his eyes and grinned. This was surprisingly true. Raven was a pro at figuring out what Chester needed when he cried, thanks to her emphatic abilities no doubt, but changing diapers was not her forte. The first time she tried, Raven had taken one look at the diaper’s contents and fled the room, leaving Garfield to do damage control. Which didn’t quite go so well; he’d nearly thrown up a few times until the diaper was changed and their son was cleaned up.

Now, though, changing diapers was a breeze. Garfield scooped Chester up and cradled him against his chest. He smiled softly as the little baby yawned and snuggled close, already drifting off to dreamland. A light touch grazed his arm, and he looked up to meet Raven’s gentle gaze.

“You’re so good at this,” she said. Garfield grinned.

“Eh, I’m alright. You on the other hand, are a goddess.” His statement earned him an eyeroll and a peck on the cheek, much to his pleasure. Raven leaned on his shoulder and slung her arms around his waist, smiling that beautiful smile he loved so damn much. How he ever got so lucky to have such an amazing family, Garfield didn’t know. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever know, but he wasn’t going to complain. Gifts like these were hard to come by, and he planned on loving his family with everything he had.

“You know, I wasn’t sure if I could have kids,” he murmured. Raven blinked up at him, her smile disappearing.

“Really?”

Garfield shrugged awkwardly, trying not to disturb Chester. “Yeah, well, messed up genes, remember?” He snorted, dropping his gaze to his son. “I mean, I could have gone to a lab and gotten tested or whatever. But...I guess I was afraid of the answer.”

Raven squeezed him in a one arm hug and pressed a kiss onto his shoulder. “It’s alright. I suppose I never knew if I could have children either.” There was a warmth to her voice despite her words, and Garfield blinked at her.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I am a half-breed,” she said with a rueful smile. “It was possible I’d be sterile like a mule. However, my father is not mortal, so I already figured things didn’t quite work how they normally would.”

Garfield hummed thoughtfully. She had a point he hadn’t even considered before. Biologically speaking, two species similar enough could copulate, but if they differed too greatly, the resulting offspring was typically sterile. Like mules, for instance. Or ligers. But since Trigon was a demonic entity from another dimension, it made sense that magic was most likely involved.

Which had a tendency to make things a bit...interesting.

Chester stirred in his arms, snagging Garfield’s attention. “Do you think he’ll inherit our powers?”

Raven shrugged. “It’s hard to say. Our powers are so different...there’s no telling what combination could arise.”

They both stared silently at their child, apprehension and wonder filling the air between them. Garfield held him close, feeling suddenly protective. Powers or not, he’d do whatever he could to make Chester’s life as good as he possibly could.

He’d let Chester stay a kid for as long as he could.

Raven carefully pried their son from his arms, cradling him to her chest. “It’s time to let him sleep,” she murmured, shooting him a gentle smile. She kissed Chester’s head and laid him in the cradle, cooing words of comfort under her breath.

Garfield smiled at the sight. What a lucky man he was, indeed.

I got it to work. Victory is mine. Also, Garfield is the best dad, confirmed. 

-mod vixensheart

[sekritjay]

Listening habits of the Tempest Crew

Having had a bit of experience of game by now, I’m pretty confident I’ve got a good basic knowledge to form an opinion on what I believe the Tempest crew would listen to, and I have a bit of time on my hands. So why not eh? I’ll be sticking with new-ish artists for this one - felt it appropriate given how young most of the crew is. Except Drack obviously. He must feel he’s protecting a bunch of kids sometimes

This is a follow-up to a similar post I did for the Normandy crew and I’m definitely not using it to plug said post or perhaps to click my music tag, no sir Bob sir

Peebee - Peebee is this boisterous and gregarious personality who appears to be the kind of person who knows exactly what personal boundaries are and prods them if she wants to be friends. Peebee almost certainly strikes me as someone who listens to pop music in all its incarnations, but particularly when at a party. We’re talking Shawn Mendes, Dua Lipa or Dagny. I’d also imagine she’d occasionally listen to psych pop every now and again, someone like Blossoms or The Big Moon.

Example track would be maybe Dagny’s ‘Backbeat‘ or Blossom’s ‘At Most a Kiss’

Liam Kosta - Kosta’s correspondence with you indicates that Kosta is a pop culture fanatic so I’d expect his music library to be as extensive as his film library. It’d therefore be quite hard to pin a favourite genre but his primary motivation, that of making friends and allies, suggest music that you talk about or just have on while chilling. Classic rock is one suggestion, another is alternative rock and I’d imagine if he’s working out he’d have some sort of EDM tuned in too, probably drum and bass. Given his origins, he’ll mostly stick with British artists for all three - Rolling Stones (I mean obviously) for the first, Lemaitre for the second and Rudimental for the third

Example track would be the Rolling Stones ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction‘ or Rudimental’s ‘Lay It All on Me’

Cora Harper - Cora isn’t obvious. She spent a childhood on a freighter trying to manage her biotics and after a spell in the Alliance she’s put into an asari unit and never looked back. She’d listen to asari music (duh) but given that we have no examples I can’t speculate what the closest contemporary analogue would be. I’d tentatively say indie classical romanticists would be the safest choice, with people like Federico Albanese or Missy Mazzoli but hell, you could make a convincing argument for acoustic guitar music too, people such as Henrik Lanson and Miranda Boumedin

Example track would be Miranda Boumedin’s guitar cover of ‘River Flows in You’, a track which sadly you can only listen on Spotify or Deezer

Nakmor Drack - Drack’s been round the block, beat it up, broke his arm on it and came back to beat it all over again. Drack also spent a lot of that time just spinning his wheels too with only his granddaughter getting him out of it. Drack’s a blues man through and through, specifically of the Delta blues variety. We’re talking Son House and Bukka White. After his funk he’d move into the big band blues era epitomised by Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf

Example tracks would be ‘Fixin’ to Die Blues’ by Bukka White and ‘Mannish Boy’ by Muddy Waters

Vetra Nyx - Difficult to call. Vetra’s dad may have ostensibly done it to protect them but abandoning his kids without making arrangements to have them looked after is unforgivable in my eyes. Consequently Vetra spent really far too long being forced be an adult and that also makes deciding on a genre difficult too. My gut feeling is that should would’ve been listening to whatever her superiors would’ve been listening to so I guess an analogue would be listening to your boss’s easy retro music. I don’t know about you but from where I’m from that’d be things like Northern and Retro Soul and artists like Amy Winehouse and Corinne Bailey Rae

Example track would be Corrine Bailey Rae’s ‘Your Love is Mine’

Jaal Ama Darav - It would appear to be difficult to ascribe a particular genre to Jaal, given how much the angara have lost and what little they can make growing up during a war that started before you were born but it’s easier than you think. Jaal however shows a fascination with the new arrivals and given how he says he appreciates the elcor production of Hamlet as well the angara predilection towards an open culture, I think you could make the case that Jaal’s taste lies more with strong and emotive lyrics than a specific genre per se. So we’re talking musical artists who can spin lyrics like else no-one can - David Bowie, Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan in other words

Example track would be Leonard Cohen’s ‘Anthem’, especially when he says ‘there’s a crack in everything; that’s how the light gets in’

Kallo Jath - Initially it would seem that Kallo’s genre would be hard to nail down. We might be able to probe further from his motivations though - he’s the only person involved with the Tempest’s construction who ultimately went with it to Andromeda. He’s a pioneer as much as he is a pilot, and confesses that he lives for flying and discovering - he’s a roadtrip music kind of person, meaning anything between blues rock, indie folk and indie rock. Paolo Nutini, Parker Millsap and George Ezra would round out his playlist. He’s sitting next to Suvi too and well, they’re best friends so much share some taste in music right?

Example track here would be Paolo Nutini’s ‘Last Request’... maybe. Salarians are asexual remember?

Lexi T’Perro - Lexi grew up on Omega and is a known workaholic but she must listen to something right? I’d imagine in what little downtime she uses for actual downtime she’d have something relaxing on in the background - classical minimalism from artists like Alan Ellis or (you saw this coming) Ludovico Einaudi.

Example track would be Alan Ellis’ ‘Looking for More’, which annoyingly is only available on Spotify. Ah well

Gil Brody - Gil’s genre would be laughably easy to identify. He’s an engineer, and every single engineer I’ve ever met always listen to heavy metal, regardless of which engineering discipline they specialise in. I don’t listen to it if I’m honest but I can avoid picking a band in this case because metal bands conveniently fail to pick a legible font to write their band name in so no rec from me here

That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it

Suvi Anwar - I haven’t got much to go on, besides the fact that she’s what I imagine Ryder would be if they spent more time in a book and less time being an incessant smartarse. Suvi strikes me as an rhythm and blues kind of person. We’ll say anything between the dark and sensuous Cosima to the optimism of Desi Valentine

Example track would be ‘Fate Don’t Know You’ by Desi Valentine

Ryder - Ryder is an interesting case because in ME:A Ryder is the only BioWare protagonist, so far as I’m aware, who not only has a fairly concrete personality (typical sarcastic millennial basically), but who also has a sibling who is an alternative protagonist who nevertheless also has a different personality

As a result, we have TWO Ryders to fit a genre for. Scott would be indie rock and maybe the drum and bass end of EDM with people like Royal Blood for the former and Dub Phizix for the latter. Sara I think would go for dark pop and alt rock, so people like Bishop Briggs and Florence and the Machine

So for Scott we could say Dub Phyzix’s ‘Bounce’ and for Sara I’d say ‘Wild Horses’ by Bishop Briggs would fit her best

And there we are. This is the part where I ask for your ideas and recs so go do that. I’m going to hipster elsewhere for a bit whilst I manbun and... eh forget it

[endemictoearth]

About Town Pt. 1

LONG TIME NO FIC

Hiiiiiiii guyyyyyys, sorry! I’m not convinced I’ve kicked my funk just yet, but this prompt from @i-dream-of-emus piqued my interest, and got me to sit down and write something! It’s not done, I’ve started part 2 and sketched out where I want it to go, but I really wanted to get something out there, and this seemed like a natural pause in the story while I gathered my thoughts.

PROMPT: Rae is well-known by the staff of Town Records, and when they don’t see their most loyal customer for a couple of weeks they get worried. Some how, they find out that she’s in the psychiatric ward, and want to do something nice for her during her time there.

So, each week, a member of staff visits her at the hospital with the latest NME and Melody Maker, and the week’s new releases. Rae borrows the CDs for a week, then buys what she can afford of the ones she likes most.

And guess who is Town’s grumpiest / best-looking part-timer?

* 

I didn’t keep exactly to the brief, and some of this will show up in the second half, but it seemed to scratch the itch of “What if?” for me. (Well, half-scratch . . . still got a bit of an itch.)

Not tagging anyone, but I’ll stick it on this month’s Round-Up. Hope you like it!

* * * * * 

It often takes awhile to notice when something’s missing. Like one of those “Can you spot the differences between these pictures?” puzzles they put in to pad out the Sunday papers. At a casual glance, it all seems the same, but when you have a think and start to really look, you see what’s gone from the scene, what’s been changed.

Finn chewed his thumb nail as he restocked the magazine rack with the shipment of latest issues.

“Dave?” He shouted to be heard in the back room.

A muffled “Yeah?” floated out of the half-open door.

“Where d’ya want me to put the Melody Maker Souvenir Issue? They sent us extras!”

Dave stuck his head out from the stock area. “They probably printed too many, the wankers.” He nodded to the counter. “Stick some by the till. Maybe we can shift ‘em as an impulse purchase.”

Finn nodded, chewing on the inside of his lip, now that both hands were occupied.

After stacking a bunch neatly on the counter, he plucked a copy from the top of the pile. Dave always let him have a couple of mags a week at no charge. For no reason he could name, Finn glanced guiltily at the open door to the back and slipped a second copy into his knapsack, then sat down at the stool behind the till, humming along to Elastica playing on the in-store speakers.

Waking up and getting up has never been easy,

Oh, oh, I think you should know.

Oh, oh, I think you should go.

Make a cup of tea, and put a record on.

Saturday mornings were always slow, but Finn liked putting things right round the shop. He’d straightened out most of the sections, filled all the magazine racks, even tidied the notice board. He wasn’t the most personable employee at Town, and he knew Rob generally liked a late night of a Friday, so he didn’t mind volunteering to come in at half-eight on a Saturday, even if he ended up bored for the last hour or two of his shift.

It also meant he could visit his nan after. Normally, he’d stop over at her cottage, which was much closer to Town than his own house, but she’d had to go into hospital for some routine tests earlier in the week, and they’d kept her over, saying they wanted to monitor some levels or something. It didn’t sound good, but they kept telling her not to worry, which she in turn told Finn, but his nails looked even more of a state than usual.

He was gnawing on another cuticle when Rob rocked up through the front door, looking rough but resigned to a full day of work.

He nodded at Finn, who nodded back, and then shoved the door to the back wide open as he went to deposit his stuff in his locker.

Finn didn’t have a locker, as he only worked about ten hours a week. His eyes flitted to the clock, and he was surprised to note that Rob had come in early. It wasn’t yet noon, and Finn was supposed to leave at one. Usually, they were ships passing.

Finn looked down at the cover of the Melody Maker special, the Brothers Gallagher staring deadpan back at him. The song changed over on the stereo system, and he could hear the clock tick a few seconds in the silence before Morning Glory (ironically) started up.

There were no customers in the shop, hadn’t been for most of the morning, but suddenly and unaccountably, it made Finn feel nervous, restless. He’d felt it was quiet for the past few weeks, really. It was like he was living the same Saturday over and over each week, waiting for . . . something.

Rob came out and plopped down next to Finn behind the counter, sighing.

“Y’alright?” Finn asked.

“Good as can be expected.”

Finn nodded.

“You?” Rob asked back.

Finn shrugged.

“Eh?”

Finn sighed now. Rob was a decent sort, and there wasn’t anyone else about. “Me nan’s ill. Well, maybe not, but she’s in the hospital for a bit, I guess to make sure she’s not? Anyway.”

“Hey, that’s shite. Sorry to hear it. Hope she’s okay, yeah?”

“Thanks.” Finn shifted on his stool, still restless. “This place has been dead. Deader’n usual, even.”

“I know. Haven’t even seen that girl, you know the one, is it Mae?, come in recently. Have you seen her?” Rob asked offhand.

Finn froze. “Rae,” he whispered. That was it.

He’d kept having these weird half-thoughts, just glimpses flitting across his mind, of a figure with long dark hair, moving around the shop. But they’d been so fleeting, so transitory, he hadn’t been able to put his finger on it.

She rarely spoke to anyone, just sort of appeared, usually around noon of a Saturday, this sort of time. Sometimes he’d see her in the late afternoon during one of his mid-week post-college shifts, but she’d been a fixture on Saturdays until recently.

He furrowed his brow. “Yeah . . . I mean, no. It’s been a few weeks, at least. Wonder what’s happened to her.” As soon as he said it, he realized he hoped nothing had happened to her. That she just decided to spend her Saturdays somewhere else, or was out of town, even moved. Though, he didn’t really hope that last one.

*

She didn’t buy much, but when she did, it was something good. Something he could tell she’d thought long and hard about, having saved and researched and listened to as many tracks as she could before committing to it.

He distinctly remembered her being near the front of the queue for the new Oasis on release day back in October, though. He’d asked his dad if he could bunk off and work, so he could get his hands on his copy first thing in the morning, before the shop opened to the public.

“Remember when that last Status Quo album come out?” he asked, eyes pleading his case. “You moved your morning meeting so’s you could get it first thing.”

His dad had rolled his eyes but relented, as long as Finn promised to take the bins out for a month without his usual whinging.

And when he turned up at the shop, there was actually a line down to the chemist’s a few doors away. He’d felt special, being able to walk past the crowd and wave to Dave inside, who came over to let him in early. “Not your usual release day, eh?”

Dave grunted. “I noticed you pre-ordered one, too. You can have your pick of the discs, as long as you’re quick about it. I’ll have to let this lot in soon, or risk the wrath of Mr. Singh next door. They’re blocking his entrance.”

Finn ducked his head behind the counter and saw nearly a hundred CDs in neat stacks. Logically, he knew they were all the same, but he wanted the best one. He randomly picked the third one from the top of the second pile, inspecting the case for damage, the wrapper for tampering. It looked good--pristine, even. He slipped it in one of the paper bags by the till and put it in his own bag, in a pocket all by itself.

Even now, months later, he could remember that feeling of satisfaction after so much anticipation. Before he’d even listened to anything but the two songs released for the radio, simply possessing it—the mere possibility of how much he might like it--had been tantalizing.

He wasn’t precisely sure why his brain was hashing over that day on this day, until the memory expanded to seeing her, Rae, come in with her eyes shining and cheeks flushed from waiting in the morning chill for more than an hour. He remembered noticing her uniform, which he’d never seen her in before. She looked like she felt uncomfortable in it, but possibly a little less uncomfortable than normal, since she was getting to pick up this album.

Dave was running the till; Finn was bagging the CDs. It only took them about half an hour to get through the line, but the moment when Rae was at the counter seemed . . . well, memorable. After all, here he was, remembering it.

“Yours was the third name on my list for this, love,” Dave chided Rae as he took her bills and made change.

“Yeah?” she asked, “Who was ahead of me, then?” She was in a good mood, all smiles. Finn couldn’t remember ever seeing her smile that big.

“Just this one,” he hoiked a thumb in Finn’s direction, “And Rob, of course.”

Rae turned to look at Finn, probably reflexively, and their eyes met. “Felt like today’d never come, eh? Been waiting for this for months.”

That might have been the first time she’d spoken to Finn without him speaking first. And the only time he’d initiated conversation was likely to be part of a transaction.

Finn nodded. “I know! It seems like I’ve been waiting forever, but their first album only came out last August.”

Her lips closed over her teeth, but she was still smiling. Then she said, “Hard to believe—feels like I’ve had those songs in me head for years.”

It was his turn to smile. How was it he could remember this moment so clearly?

That was when the moment ended, however. The man behind Rae cleared his throat in irritation. “Could you two hurry it up?”

The smile fell from Rae’s mouth; Finn handed her the bag with her new music and, as she turned, he said, “Hey, lemme know what you think of it, yeah?”

The corners of her mouth lifted a fraction and he would have sworn she nodded as she turned to leave.

*

He’d known something was missing; how could he have not realized?

He supposed she had always just been there, in the background of the shop, quietly . . . existing. He was intrigued by her, sure, but she seemed pretty private, and he wasn’t one to press anyone. He was more of a hang back and let them come to him sort of bloke. She seemed cool, and he liked to idly speculate about her, but that had been good enough.

Rob sighed. “It is bloody dead in here, isn’t it?”

Finn nodded, feeling a little disoriented. It was, but he was wrapped up in wondering.

“You can leave early, if you want. I’m here now, and there’s no reason for the both of us to be bored senseless.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, escape while you can. Go see your nan.”

“Thanks, Rob. Have a good one—hope business picks up.”

Rob smiled. “Usually does.”

Finn shrugged on his jacket and slung his bag across his chest, then waved to Rob as he headed out.

His walk to the hospital was fairly short, and he was so distracted by thoughts that it seemed like he arrived in less than a minute. 

He started to walk down the hall to the nurses’ station to check in, when he saw a flash of long dark hair down the corridor off to his right. His head turned instinctively, and there she was, like he’d conjured her with his jumbled thoughts. She was standing next to a younger girl, head bent down to listen to the girl whisper in her ear.

When the girl was done, Rae straightened up, flipping her hair over her shoulder as she did. The hallway was dim, but for the spot they were standing in, an open door let the light from the courtyard windows in, and the light played across the sweep of her hair.

He was staring at her, mouth open, when she spotted him. He watched as she went from noticing him as a presence, then as a person, to the second she recognized him. Her shoulders hunched up, and she looked down immediately, as if not looking at him could make him not see her.

She didn’t last long before glancing up to make sure. He held up a hand in greeting, and she nodded. Her little friend looked up at her, her expression bordering on incredulous, before shoving Rae in the small of her back to propel her towards him.

Rae shot the girl a dirty look before dragging her feet down the hall.

As she approached, he began to smile. He was glad to see her, see she was . . . well, she might not be okay, as she was in hospital, and he could see her tag despite her long sleeves. But she was here.

“Hiya!” he said, brightly, his usually mumble gone for once. “Funny running into you, we were just wondering about you at the shop.”

Her eyes flew to meet his. “What? Why?”

“Well, we just . . . hadn’t seen you in a while. Sort of got used to you coming in every week. Saturday mornings are pretty boring without you.”

The expression on her face was impressive, but still hard to read. “Really?”

“Well . . . yeah. Sometimes you were the only customer I’d see before noon.”

She scoffed under her breath, and half smiled to herself. Then, suddenly, asked, “What’re you doing here?”

“Oh, visiting me nan. She’s . . . they’re observing her. For, like, levels, or summat.”

Rae nodded, like she understood. “Sorry to hear it. I won’t keep you. Nice to . . . I mean, thanks, or . . . whatever.”

She turned to walk away, and Finn found himself protesting. Out loud. “You’re not keeping me. I’m early this week. It were so dead, Rob said I could leave before one. I—“  

Rae pivoted cautiously to look at him while he floundered.

It was then he remembered the extra copy of Melody Maker. “Oh, hey! Do you, I mean, is it alright if I . . .” He fumbled with the clasps on the front of his bag. “I just happen to have an extra of this week’s . . .” He held it out to her, hopeful. “If you want it, that is. It’s a special edition, that’s why I grabbed an extra.”

Her eyes widened, then narrowed in suspicion for a split second. “You sure? It’s not for someone else?”

“No!” Why had he practically shouted that? “No, sorry. I just . . . grabbed two instead of one. I can always get another; they sent us loads.”

She turned to fully face him, but snuck a glance over her shoulder at her little friend, who was grinning down the hall at them.

“Well, thanks, then. I’ve been starved for news of these two for weeks now.” She gestured to the brothers on the cover.

Finn grinned. “They’re still the same old arseholes, far as I know.”

“Arseholes who can make some bloody great music.” Rae smiled back, holding the magazine close to her chest, like it was something precious.

“It’s good to see you, Rae,” Finn said. “Hope we’ll see you at the shop soon.”

Her eyes softened at that, and she nodded faintly. “Yeah, hopefully.”

He wanted to ask her why she was there, what was going on, but he had no right, and from the little he knew her, he knew she wouldn’t want him to pry.

He waved again; this time in farewell.

When he got to his nan’s room, he still had a smile lingering on his lips.

“You’re happy about something,” his nan teased, before he even saw her.

He dipped his head, shaking it in denial, but said, “Well, yeah, happy to see you!”

She gave him a knowing look, but didn’t question him, just held her thin arms out for a hug.

[no-crap-fm]

Be On Your Way

I was considering what I wish Rae had done when she received her letter from Bristol. Here’s a brief exploration. Thank you so much for reading! - Katie

Opening his door, Finn smirked at his guest. Reaching for her, he pulled Rae into his flat by the wrist. 

“Come here, you.” Kissing her soundly, he took her backpack and set it down by their feet. Holding onto Finn, Rae stepped back a little. She mumbled with her lip caught in her teeth, “Em, I have something I want to talk to you about.” Finn’s easy smile gave her courage to continue. He knew Rae was nervous about whatever she had to say. He felt her hands clenching and opening in a rhythm on his back. He knew Rae was fighting the urge to scratch the back of her hands. Touching her cheek, Finn assured her, “Just tell me, Rae. It’s OK.” He kissed her forehead. Rae’s crooked smile was still tense. She said, “It’s about Bristol.” “What about Bristol?” When she didn’t reply he continued, “Weren’t you saying at the pub the interview went tits up?” He was confused. Nodding she said, “It did go tits up.”Biting her lip again, she pulled an envelope out of her pocket. “At least, I thought it did. But my mum showed me this when I got home today.” She handed the envelope to Finn. As his fingers curled around it, she said, “I came straight here. I haven’t opened it yet.” Rae shrugged. “It’s probably them telling me to fuck off formally,” she said as she ran her sweaty palms over her jeans. Taking Rae by the hand he had them sit together on the settee. He pulled Rae close as he started to open the letter. Rae rested her head on Finn’s shoulder as they read the contents together.

To Miss Rachel Earl,

On behalf of University of Bristol I am pleased to offer you a place for admission this October. You are being offered a position reading English…

Once finished, Finn carefully folded the letter and set it on the coffee table. He was excited for Rae. His heart swelled with pride. He turned to her, beaming. Seeing her stricken expression was the last thing he expected when their eyes met.   Cupping her chin, Finn asked, “Rae? What’s wrong?” The tears fell fast and furious. She whispered, “I’m scared, Finn.” She gulped as her eyes darted around Finn’s lounge. Her hands tangled tightly. Finn placed his other hand on her cheek. His touch grounded her and she refocused. With his eyes on hers, Finn took a calming breath and Rae followed his movements. It had been quite some time since they needed to do any of this. Finn was grateful Rae had talked him through how he could help with her efforts to soothe herself. He was considering their old habit of counting to ten until he saw Rae’s shoulders finally relax. He ran his thumbs over the back of her hands and waited for her to speak. Swallowing audibly, Rae said anxiously, "What will happen to us?" Before Finn could respond she said, ”I can't go. I can't leave Stamford." Finn tilted his chin and gazed at her. "Of course you can, Rae." He tucked her hair behind her ear. "You can do anything." He sighed and said, "I'm so proud of you." Grabbing his hands in a panic, Rae said, "You're not answering my question, Finn. What will happen to us?" Finn nodded. Biting his lip he thought about the possible outcomes. "Honestly, Rae?" He shrugged. "I don't know. I don't know what the future holds for us. Do you? Did we ever?" He studied her. Pushing out her breath, Rae said, "No. I suppose not." Her eyes bore into Finn's. "But I love you, Finn." He grinned at her words. "And I love you too, girl. A letter from Bristol doesn't change that, yeah?" Sniffling, Rae wiped her nose and said, “Yeah." Finn rubbed the back of his neck and puffed out his lips in thought. “Em, I had something I wanted to talk to you about too, actually. It may be shit timing though.” Rae blinked and waited for Finn to carry on. He laughed in discomfort. “I were thinking that you might want to move in here with me?” Finn’s big brown eyes turned to Rae. Lifting a shoulder he added, “I was going to tell you but with the news from Bristol…” He looked at the floor lost in thought. Rae’s heart thudded at Finn’s words. “You want me to live with you?” He bit his lip and grinned, giving her a nod. “Yeah, I mean, you’re almost done with college.” A thought occurred to him. “Maybe we could still do it. Even if you go to Bristol in the fall, we could have the summer together here.” He opened his arms wide, indicating the flat. Rae tilted her head and gave him a crooked smile. “Maybe, I’d have to talk it over with my mum. I should probably see what Kester thinks as well.” “That sounds like a good plan to me,” Finn assured. He looked at Rae fondly. She raised her eyes to the ceiling momentarily and met Finn’s level gaze. “As for me though, I’d love it. I would love to be here with you.” A niggling concern returned to her. “Finn, what about the fall?” She held up her hands. “I’m not saying I’m going to Bristol for sure. It’s just, what will we do?” She felt tears crowding up the edges of her eyes. “Barring you being a total dickhead and doing something catastrophic, I don’t want my going to Uni to end us.” Finn chuckled. He took her sarcasm as a good sign. “Oi, you’re the dickhead.” He laughed and ran a hand through Rae’s hair. “Rae, why would you going to Uni end us?” Cocking an eyebrow he asked, “Are you trying to chuck me?” Rolling her eyes, Rae said, “Enough, you cheeky bastard. Of course I’m not trying to chuck you.” She sighed sadly. “If anything you might want to break it off with me being so far away.” Finn smirked. “Rae, Bristol is only three hours away. A couple of good mix tapes and I’m there.” Rae giggled at his words. “And you can come home too.” He squeezed her hands in reassurance. “It doesn’t have to be just holidays.” Rae was still doubtful and Finn knew it. “What’s really bothering you, Rae? I know there’s something more.” “You’ll find someone else, Finn!” She sobbed. “I know you will. I’ll be off and away and you’ll find someone better, someone here.” Pulling her into his arms, Finn said, “Now Rae, how could I ever? There is no one better for me than you.” He lifted Rae’s chin. “No one knows me like you do, Rae. I can’t imagine loving anyone like I love you. I never loved anyone before you.” Rae huffed and sniffled against his chest. “Besides, what’s to keep you from finding some smart Uni lad, eh? It’s you who could truly find somebody better.” Rae heard the note of worry in Finn’s words. She pushed off his chest and sat up. She shook her head and said, “Finn, I could never.” Taking his face in her hands she said, “Like you said, Finnley, no one knows me like you do.” She enfolded his hands in her own, adding, “You and me are something special.” The pair shared a knowing smile as they leaned into each other. Finn sighed, “Yeah,” as he put his lips to hers. Forehead touching Finn’s and eyes shut, Rae whispered, “Aw, Finn, how will I survive without seeing you every day? I need you by my side.” Rae’s words stirred Finn. A new idea came to him, he remained still and tried to suss it out before sharing it aloud. A few minutes passed. “Rae, I’m having a bit of a think.” Finn’s voice broke the silence. Sitting up, Rae cocked an eyebrow and asked, “Is that right?” His breath caught on a laugh at her tone. “Yeah, em, what if I went to Bristol with you?” Rae’s mouth fell open. No words came from her. Finn took it as a cue to continue. Shrugging he said, “Well, with you there, I don’t have much of a reason to stay here, do I? My dad would understand. He’d probably be pleased that I was moving on from Stamford. And there are loads of places I could work.” Looking around he said, “I could find another flat. You and I could find a flat. Who knows, maybe I’ll want to take a course myself, being around you and all your studying. I may not have completed my exams but there are other options for me.” His speech left him winded. Finn smiled at Rae as he waited for her response. Rae was shocked. “Finn, you sure about this?” “Not really, Rae, but it sounds like it could work,” he said with his eyes twinkling. Taking her hands, Finn said, “Would you fancy it?” Rae laughed and nodded. “Yeah, Finn, I’d love it.” Pulling Rae in for a hug, Finn spoke into her hair, “Hey, Rae-Rae?” “Yeah, Finn?” She kissed his neck. “I think we should have a flat warming and congratulations on getting into uni party. What do you say?” He brushed her hair behind her ear and raised his eyebrows. Rae blushed under his jovial gaze. Feeling so happy could still unsettle her. Rae had grown past some of her negative thoughts and behaviors. But the concept of living with Finn and having him at Bristol was bordering on too much. Finn brought his hands to the sides of Rae’s face. “Rae-Rae? There’s a lot going on in there.” His eyes flicked to Rae’s forehead. Rae suddenly watched the clouds outside the window. She dragged her eyes back to the loving look on Finn’s freckled face. Her heart squeezed in pleasure. “Finn, I’m just…just…overwhelmed.” The tears leaked out and fell down her cheeks. “I love you so bloody much.” Finn’s eyes shone as he observed her changing expressions. “I love you too, Rae-Rae.” He stood and put his hand out to Rae. “How about we go have a chat with your mum? And you already have your appointment with Kester for tomorrow, yeah?” Rae took Finn’s hand and stood. “Yeah, Kester tomorrow and Mum today, sounds good. You sure you want to come along?” She was wary. “Of course I do. This is for both of us, Rae. I’ll take you to see Kester tomorrow too, if you like.” Finn was resigned. “Em, we should talk to your dad too.” Rae laughed. Finn waved dismissively. “We’ll go see my dad after we finish at your mum’s, yeah?” “You may be underestimating my mum’s reaction to all of this, Finn.” She chuckled. Finn picked up her bag and put it over his shoulder. He grabbed his keys, took Rae by the hand and shrugged. “That may be. Let’s go and find out, Rae.”

The End

[changingourdestiny]

Firestorm Part 2: Snow & Wolves & Hunters, Oh My!

Summary:

Fireteam Paralight, Cayde and Jade arrive at Felwinter Peak in hopes that living with the Iron Lords will teach Jade some discipline. But after meeting Shiro-4, Rae suddenly realises that this might not be the best idea.

Previous Part: Here

Next Part: Here

“So lemme see if I got this straight: I’m one of the last Paragonialans – the others being you and the jerk who knocked me out – and I was part of one of the six tribes called ‘Scale’ which was mainly located around Jupiter. We have the ability to revive people thanks to the mark on our cheek. And unless we’re killed or die of a sickness, we are immortal and live forever.”

“Yep, sounds right.” Rae replied.

“Okay, so I only have one question…WHY THE HELL ARE WE ON A SNOW-CAPPED MOUNTAIN?!” Jade yelled out of frustration. Fireteam Paralight, Cayde and Jade were hiking up Felwinter Peak, the snow falling lightly around them. “Well, you said you didn’t want to be in the Tower, right?” Cayde asked, “So Adam decided that sending you here would be a good compromise.”

“Ikora and I decided that you needed to learn discipline. So, letting you stay with the Iron Lords might do the trick.” Rae added. “Why’s the Hunter Vanguard tagging along anyway?” Jade asked. “A scout of mine is stationed up here. Thought I’d pay him a visit.” Cayde replied, “Plus I’ll take any excuse to leave the Tower.”

“Man…how long has it been since the whole SIVA fiasco?” Blaze asked.

“About…three years I think?” Adam replied.

“It’s been that long? Hey, that reminds me! Efrideet still owes me a rematch for our last arm wrestle; she cheated last time!”

“Sure she did.” Rae chuckled, shaking her head. “First chance I get, I’m bookin’ it outta here.” Jade grumbled to herself. “Give this place a chance. Maybe it won’t be so bad!” Justim replied, popping up beside her. “I doubt that-” Jade was cut off by the sound of howling and barking as a small group of wolves came rushing over a hill of snow and pounced on Adam, sending him sliding a few feet in the snow. Jade went to grab her sidearm but stopped when she heard Adam laughing. That’s when she noticed that the wolves weren’t attacking him but were licking at his face. “Ack! Hey guys! How’ve you been! Ah, hey! Stop, that tickles! Haha! I missed you guys too!” Adam laughed as he made a futile attempt to escape the barrage of wolf kisses. Before Jade could question anything, a whistle was heard alongside the sound of an approaching Sparrow. As the Sparrow crested the hill, a familiar yellow cloak made of Fallen house banners was billowing behind the rider. The wolves responded to the whistle and hopped off Adam, allowing the slobber-covered Titan to get to his feet, and ran over to where the Sparrow stopped. “Well, look who managed to get out of the Tower.” A familiar orange Exo said as he got off the Sparrow. “Good to see you too, Shiro.” Cayde gave Shiro a high-five, which Shiro returned with a light chuckle before glancing at Adam, who was wiping the slobber off his face, “You alright, Lord Adam?”

“Yeah, I’m good! A little wolf slobber never killed anyone.” Adam laughed as he shook the slobber from his hands before noticing Shiro just staring at him, “Huh? What’s with that loo- oh! Saladin didn’t tell you I broke my vow, huh? Yeah, I talk now.”

“Huh…cool.” Shiro shrugged. “Wow, you can barely hide your excitement, eh?” Blaze chuckled. “You’re right. Oh wow, Adam. This is a major historic event. I’m honoured to witness this.” Shiro replied in monotone, earning a snicker from Cayde and an eyeroll from Blaze, before turning to Jade, “So is this the Kinderguardian that the Vanguard are sending us?”

“Saladin told you then?” Rae asked, kneeling down to give one of the wolves a head scratch. Shiro nodded before motioning for the group to follow, “Saladin’s waiting back up at the temple.”

As the small group of Guardians trekked up the mountain through the snow, Shiro broke the silence, “To be honest, I’m surprised you haven’t been fully locked up in that Tower after what happened in the Reef. Speaking of…” Shiro gave Cayde a slap behind the head. “OW! What was-?!” Cayde exclaimed but was cut off by Shiro, “That’s for being an idiot and nearly getting yourself killed. You’re lucky Lady Rae was there.”

“You heard about that?” Cayde asked, rubbing where Shiro had hit him.

“Of course I heard what happened. Every Hunter in the system heard what happened. How could they not hear that their Vanguard was killed by the ex-Awoken prince and was brought back to life by the Fireteam Vanguard. Kind of a big deal. I’m sure even Andal would’ve given you a slap for what you did. Actually, I better give you another on his behalf. Hold still.” Shiro went to raise his hand but was cut off by Cayde ducking behind Rae, “Nonononono! I, uh…I get the message. Don’t do dumb stuff. Got it.”

“So what’s with Patchwork McGrumpy?” Jade asked Rae. “That’s Shiro-4. He’s the Hunter Vanguard scout and is tasked with gathering intel and eliminating Eliksni threats.”

“You know,” Shiro began, glancing back at Jade, “When we heard a troublesome Guardian was coming here, I didn’t think you’d be this short.”

 Jade suddenly stopped in her tracks and glared at Shiro. “Uh oh…” Justim muttered, floating over to Rae and hiding behind her. “What. Did you. Just say?” Jade asked through gritted teeth, her left eye twitching slightly. Shiro shrugged, “I just said that you’re shorter than I thought-” Shiro was cut off by Jade lunging at him but managed to dodge out of the way. “Call me short again! I dare you!” Jade made several more attempts to tackle Shiro who just seemed to dodge each one effortlessly. “During my time as Jade’s ghost,” Justim began, still hiding behind Rae, “I’ve learned that the one thing that will always get Jade to beat you to a pulp, is to call her short. She hates being called short.” Rae glanced at Jade – who was still trying to attack Shiro - and could see what Justim was saying. Blaze was the shortest of the Fireteam at 5.4ft. Comparing Blaze to her, Jade seemed at about 5ft.

Rae was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of something falling on the snow. She looked up to see an angry, flailing Jade lying face-down in the snow with Shiro keeping her down by placing a foot on her back. Jade struggled for a while before stopping. “You done?” Shiro asked. “Hang on.” Jade said before struggling a bit more and then giving up, “Okay, I’m done.” Shiro nodded and took his foot off her, turning to walk away. Jade got to her feet and smirked before charging at Shiro, “GOT YOU NOW, YOU-!” Jade was interrupted by Shiro suddenly raising a clenched fist without turning around. Jade’s momentum carried her face into Shiro’s fist, causing her to stumble back a few feet dizzily before falling backwards into the snow. Shiro glanced over his shoulder, “I appreciate the stubborn recklessness. You would’ve made a good Hunter.” Jade could practically hear the smirk in his voice as he continued up the mountain. “You know what…?” Jade began as she got to her feet, brushing the snow off her, “I think I WILL stay here.”

“Wait, really?” Rae asked, a surprised expression on her face which quickly dropped upon seeing Jade’s smirk. “Yeah…’cause I ain’t leaving until I kick that guy’s ass!” Jade chuckled as she followed the Hunter to the Iron Temple. Rae felt the colour drain from her face as she watched the evilly chuckling Warlock trek through the snow.

 “Oh Traveller, what have we done…?”

 To Be Continued…

[no-crap-fm]

A Secret Smile

She was doing it again. Those rosy lips were curled up. Eyes lowered and cheeks raised in contentment? Satisfaction? Smugness? He couldn’t tell. It was driving him mad. 

She’d be mid-conversation and he’d catch her doing it. Her gaze would move and her mouth would change. He’d taken to calling it her secret smile, in his head. It signified something but he had no idea what. There they were, the gang, assembled at the local. Just trying to have a normal evening of drinking and chat. Then out of the blue, Finn would see the grin take over Rae’s face for no apparent reason. Once he thought it was because of the music playing. He caught her secret smile when the beginning chords of Slide Away started on the jukebox. But no, that wasn’t it. He’d already seen her do it when no music was playing. Another time he suspected the topic of discussion brought it on. Chloe had mentioned Damon Albarn and Rae’s eyes dropped to the top of the picnic table they occupied in the garden of The Swan and her still mouth quirked out of nowhere. He was relieved to determine that the thought of Blur’s front man was not responsible for inspiring Rae’s shift in expression. He knew Rae had done it when no one had said anything. Still the frustration continued. How did this happen? Finn Nelson was not one to get caught up in anyone’s thoughts, let alone some girl he hardly knew. What was so interesting about Rae anyway? Sure, she knew her music. Well, she was actually pretty fucking cool if he was honest with himself.  Added to the fact that she never took shit from Chop, Archie or most fascinating of all, himself. Finn was hooked and utterly puzzled. Rae had quickly become a mate and he hadn’t even realized it. It was so strange. He was normally slow to warm to people but there was something about Rae. He tried to keep his distance. He tried to simply observe her. However he tried, she’d drawn him in. He kept finding himself getting lost watching her. No one seemed to think, or move, or just be, the way Rae did. After weeks of struggling, Finn surrendered. Rae was worthy of investigation and he was determined to figure her out. The trouble was that weeks had passed and Finn was no wiser. The meaning of Rae’s secret smile continued to evade him. He huffed out a breath. The sound was loud enough to halt the conversation at the table. Finn brought a hand up to bat at his fringe. He hadn’t meant to be so loud. Rae was looking at him. He had gotten accustomed to the feeling of her gaze upon him. “What’s got your knickers in a knot, eh, Finnley?” She asked and Finn blushed furiously, refusing to meet her eyes. Shrugging he tried to sound casual. “Nowt. Just bored is all.” He’d studied her so much he could practically hear her eyebrow slide up her forehead as she challenged him. “Well, if you’ve got something better to contribute to the conversation, we’re all ears, aren’t we?” The gang was silent. Finn was no good with words. Again, a loud breath escaped him. This time on purpose. He composed himself and met Rae with a level, but silent gaze. For extra good measure, he tilted his head and raised his own eyebrow, hoping to provoke her. “Oh, now, now Mr. Mardy!” She nearly shouted. He grinned. It worked. He simply shook his head and lifted his glass to sip his pint. She rose to the bait. Again. “What, Finnley? You think you’re not being mardy, dickhead?” She sat back and crossed her arms under her ample chest. Finn had caught himself getting distracted by her physical attributes recently. He quickly looked away from Rae’s chest. He caught the movements of his mates’ heads, watching the pair of them as though they were in a tennis match. Finn stopped looking at Rae. He knew it would drive her mad if he ignored her. He reached into his jacket pocket and removed his tobacco and rolling papers. Remaining quiet and rolling a cigarette seemed like the perfect tactic to make her positively explode. Smacking her palm down on the table, Finn caught the gang jumping at the sound in his peripheral vision. He bit his lip to the point of drawing blood to keep himself from laughing. Still he continued focusing on his rollie. He took a slow breath, his cool facade starting to crack. Lucky for Finn, Rae pressed on. “So, you’re too good to answer us? Is that it?” She shook her head and muttered, “Prick,” under her breath. Maybe he overstepped. Sometimes it felt like the only way Rae would engage with him was if he started an argument. He didn’t want it to be their only means of communication but he had gleaned so much information from her when she was in a lather. If he was being truthful, he loved seeing her so impassioned. Her cheeks would flush the loveliest shade of pink and her big, round hazel eyes would get even bigger. She’d look at him as if her eyes needed to widen to take all of him in. It also didn’t hurt that he was the one to inspire her passionate response. At the very least he knew she had moments of frustration to rival his own aggravation with her and her infuriating secret smile. He took a moment to consider his next move. Finn carefully closed his tobacco tin and papers, returning them to his jacket pocket. He placed his ciggie between his full lips and lit it. After a long, slow drag he tried a change in tactic. Leaning forward onto the table and resting his chin in his hand, he adopted a look of utter tedium. He sighed, “You know, Rae, you don’t have to argue everything. I would happily answer you, if you were a little nicer.” He blew out a thin plume of smoke from the corner of his mouth. Rae stared at him. Her mouth fell open. Finn was very pleased with himself. He’d actually bested Rae for once. He was used to being the one stunned into silence with her usual rants. Then something unexpected happened, Rae slowly pushed back her chair from their table. She stood up and Finn moved his gaze to her face. Finn saw a look on Rae’s face he had never seen there before. He didn’t need to wonder what it was. It was the same look Finn had when he lost a footie match; defeat. Rae looked as if she had lost. Without a word Rae picked up her backpack, put it over her shoulders, nodded her head and turned, leaving the pub. “What the fuck did you say that for, Finn?” Finn turned at Chop’s voice. Finn turned to his mate, stunned, his cigarette loosely hanging from his lips. Chop pointed his index finger at Finn. “You’d better go and apologize, you knob. Or Archie and I will see to you. You can count on it, mate.” Finn turned toward Archie, who was looking equally infuriated. Finn caught the nods of Chloe and Izzy. What had Finn done? Why did Rae just leave like that? She couldn’t just leave. Finn lifted his shoulders to his friends in confusion. Chop intervened. 
“Finnley, I don’t care why you upset, Raemundo. All I know is you did. You gotta fix it. Now, you bell end!” Chop raised his hand and waved Finn toward the door through which Rae had left them just moments before. Standing, Finn spared a glance at his mates, all of whom shouted, “Go!” He stumbled out of the pub and set off in the direction of Rae’s house. He flicked his cigarette and stomped off. Finn knew the way after he’d stopped by to encourage Rae to stick a boot up Archie’s arse for standing her up all those weeks ago. He tried to hurry. He didn’t like to think that he might have actually hurt Rae’s feelings. He had no idea he could. Rae seemed indestructible to him. She was so bloody strong. An errant thought occurred to him. Maybe she wasn’t so tough. Maybe Rae was putting up a front. How could that be? Finn could spot a phony at twenty paces. Rae was anything but a fake. She was all herself. That was what he liked most about her. He paused his walk. The realization that he liked Rae struck him hard. Finn fancied Rae. He’d never really thought of it that way before. He must have been fancying her the entire time. He thought he liked arguing with her, getting her to bite back was all he thought their friendship amounted to. Well, arguing and music. Finn loved talking about music with Rae. She’d bang on about Pulp or Weezer and Finn would watch as her face changed, as her secret smile halted her speech. Finn groaned. There it was again, that smile. Finn was thinking about her smile. Rolling back his shoulders, Finn took on a new resolve. He would get to her house and settle all of this. Resuming his step, he rounded the corner to Rae’s. He stopped as he spotted the object of his pursuit, sitting on the step outside of her front door. Rae hadn’t noticed him as Finn approached. Her head was in her hands, her eyes downcast. Her body looked crumpled, as if she gave up going into her house and just collapsed outside. It sounded like she was counting to ten in a fast whisper. He made it all the way up her front walk before he kicked a rock that skidded close to her feet. She snapped her head up. Finn’s heart sank at the sight of her. Fresh tears spilled over well-worn tracks on her cheeks. His knees wobbled as he crouched down to her level. Rae tried to move her face away and wiped at her tears with the back of her long sleeved shirt. Trying to grab her hand, Finn said, “Are you OK, Rae?” Rae scoffed and sniffed. “Come by to continue having a go at me, have ya?” Finn wanted to catch her eye. She refused to look at him. Sitting back on his heels, Finn said, “Course not, Rae. I wasn’t having a go at you.” Rae looked at him now. Her eyes narrowed. “What the fuck do you call that back at the pub then?” Attempting levity, Finn laughed. “Rae, that were just us arguing. Like we always do.” His laugh was cut off by Rae. “Well, maybe I don’t want to argue like we always do!” She shouted. Finn was thrown. Biting his lip he twisted his hands together, unsure of how to proceed. Rae wasn’t letting up. “Nothing to say to that, Finn? I’m shocked.” He tried to come up with something. Giving over he sighed. “Rae, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset ya.” She laughed. “Oh really, Finnley? Well, ya did! I already know you barely tolerate me being part of the gang. But today was just too much.” Finn’s mouth dropped open in shock. What was she on about? Barely tolerated her? He’d just come to terms that he proper fancied the girl and here she was thinking he didn’t want her around. There had been days where Finn had wished Rae was the only one around, hang the gang. He shook his head. Finn had to think of how to make it right and fast. “Rae?” He whispered. “What?” She snapped. His face jerked at her tone. Swallowing, he soldiered on. “I’m glad you’re in the gang.” He raced on before she could interrupt him. “I argue with you because I like talking to you. And I don’t like talking to anybody.” Rae bit down on the snide laugh she had brewing. She blinked and watched Finn, remaining silent for once. Running his hand roughly through his hair, Finn went on. “I know I was a dick when we first met but I thought we’d gotten past it. I thought we were friends.” Rae’s face scrunched up. She was clearly still angry and most likely, a little hurt. Finn took a chance and reached out a hand to wipe away the tears on Rae’s cheeks. She flinched away as his hand made contact but she stilled immediately after. Finn smiled at her. “I’m so sorry I made you cry, Rae.” He whispered. A ragged breath passed her lips and Rae closed her eyes. “I can only handle so much from you, Finn.” Her voice was so low, Finn just barely heard her. He detected movement from Rae’s hands. It looked like she was digging her fingernails into her palms. Worried she’d hurt herself, Finn placed his hands over hers, coaxing them open. Once Rae’s hands relaxed, Finn held onto them. He gave them a gentle squeeze. Rae sighed. “What do ya mean, Rae?” He waited for her to answer. Moments stretched on and Finn grew impatient. Gently tugging her hands Finn asked, “Rae?” She was biting her lip. Finn watched her let out a loud breath as her head rolled back. “Well, how much abuse can a girl like me take from the fittest lad in Lincolnshire?” She directed her words skyward. Finn was even more befuddled. Still, a grin took residence on his face at her calling him fit. “Rae, what do you mean a girl like you? I haven’t been abusing you, have I?” Genuine concern crossed his features as he watched Rae lower her chin to her chest. “You’re always taking the piss.” She mumbled, hiding behind her hair, which fell forward as her head moved down. Finn smoothed her hair back and left his hand behind her ear, holding the side of her face. Leaning closer to her, he asked, “Now when have I ever taken the piss out of you? How could I, Rae?” She let loose a derisive laugh. “All too easily, Finn! Let’s take the piss out of the mad, fat girl who fancies me!” Rae’s hand flew up and covered her mouth. Her eyes widened more than Finn had ever seen before. She started muttering, “Oh no. Oh shit.” Rae tried to stand but Finn reached out and used both arms to hold her in place. He moved forward from his crouch to sitting on his knees in front of Rae. His heart felt like it would beat right out of his chest at her words. Now his eyes widened for a change and a grin like he’d never known stretched his lips. His eyes darted all over her face. Not wanting to upset her further Finn decided to share his epiphany with Rae. Finn gently pulled her hands from her face, Rae shook her head and kept her eyes shut. Getting as close as he dared, Finn confessed, “Rae, I fancy ya too.” Rae stilled and slowly opened her eyes. She focused on the ground, not Finn. Continuing, Finn said, “I’ve fancied you all this time. I just…I just didn’t know how to tell ya.” He bit his lip and watched Rae hopefully. “I guess that’s why I keep arguing with ya. I can’t seem to hold your attention otherwise.” Her eyes met his, unblinking. Finn shrugged. “I didn't know what else to do, Rae. It were so hard when you wouldn’t talk to me or look at me.” Rae’s lips separated. Finn waited, expectantly, for her to speak. Finally blinking Rae said, almost to herself, “But ya don’t really like me. Ya can be so rude sometimes. I thought you just wanted me to leave you alone.” Grabbing her hands, Finn chuckled. “Rae, that’s the last thing I want. I didn’t mean to be rude. I’m sorry you thought that. Now, well…” Finn’s words finally seemed to have stopped. He couldn’t remember the last time he spoke so much, especially to a girl. He never had to before. Nodding at him, Rae encouraged him to continue. “Well, what, Finn?” “Em, well…Rae?” He looked at her, lost. She smiled. “Yeah?” Seeing her smile eased his mind and the words spilled forth before he could consider them. “Would ya go out with me? On a proper date?” Rae nodded. Finn let the breath he was holding out. “Yeah?” He wanted to hear the word from Rae. “Yeah,” she confirmed. Finn was about to lean in to kiss her when her smile changed. Rae lowered her eyes and her secret smile appeared. It remained in place as she raised her eyes to Finn. His eyebrows lifted into his fringe. Could her secret smile have something to do with him? He took a quick moment to consider it, every time he noticed it, Rae had been close to him. “Rae? What are you thinking?” He was on pins and needles. Batting her eyes she shrugged, “Nothing in particular. I was just thinking about you.” Before she knew what happened Finn’s lips were on hers, locking her into their first kiss.

The End

Thanks so much for reading! - K.