#rasselas

[spiderliliez]

Our highwaywoman being a little too cocky now. 😅 RENEGADE NELL (2024)

[+] LOUISA HARLAND 😎 [+] ..more on “Renegade Nell” 🎬

[lasaraconor]

[th3d0nutl0rd]

My renegade Nell posts seem to be gaining a little more traction this is my formal prayer for a season 2 reblog if you agree

[issa-wasteland]

I thought this moment between Nell and Polly was cute especially after Nell close to dying from a press cause she didn’t want to fight a lady. She’s so nice because she’s practically saying the ass whoopings are for the bad men 🤷‍♀️. Then, Polly gets a job as the new editor because of her writing of Nell’s eyes being a guide for lost souls. Small wins for everyone ✨

[girddlepatchilles]

Can we talk about the fact Renegade Nell had a scene where a formerly enslaved character (pretty sure he was freed) confronts one of his former oppressors about his treatment? Rasselas point blank saying "I was treated as a toy" to Sophia was quite powerful and a great bit of character work.

It really showed how Rasselas was pulling away from the people who has mistreated him and how entrenched in the system Sophia is.

[salamanderinspace]

There's a minor character in Harlots called Rasselas. I don't have any feelings about the character but I really love the name. I looked it up, and it comes from an 18th century story about a Prince who was being held prisoner in a sort of paradise-valley. Most of the book is him trying to escape, and then traveling, and ultimately he realizes that the world kind of sucks and goes back to the valley.

If I ever had to have an NB/boy name for a bit I think that would be it. Like... being a girl suits me fine, but I hate that it was decided for me, even if anything else would also suck. I should be allowed to leave the valley.

[livastia-universe]

Some assorted illustrations related to short stories that I have in the works - Kelly finally gets a proper story centric to him! Depending upon motivation and time, I may even write another one that takes place earlier in his timeline, but for now I'm pretty pleased with this one. The other jet is a character that also shows up within his story.

The two tanks are going to be the main characters in a story that I hope will end up as essentially tooth-rottingly sweet fluff, LMAO, here's hoping!

[youarenotthewalrus]

Reading Candide. Such a weird book. Like if Rasselas was paced like The Castle of Otranto and written by Henry Fielding's evil twin.

[sanjogsonsand]

" Distance has the same effect on the mind as on the eyes. "

~ Samuel Johnson, The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia.

27No23

[czechtex]

Saw a post on this subject which has now apparently been eaten by tumblr. I just wanted to say that Sofia's pivot to villainy in the first episode is actually so funny. She's like the one sensible member of her family about what's being done to the Trotters and then suddenly her brother is on the line without his father's protection (by his own doing, no less) and those principles just crumble like dust.

That pause in between Rasselas asking who did it and Sofia being like "she did it!" is fucking gold.

[spiderliliez]

When older sister bosses you around, but you know she is right. RENEGADE NELL (2024)

[+] LOUISA HARLAND 😎 [+] ..more on “Renegade Nell” 🎬

[lasaraconor]

[the-record]

FOREVER

SUMMARY: nell’s gone to find a surgeon and you hate the idea of it

PAIRING: nell jackson x reader

WARNINGS: george being injured :(( shes just a baby

A/N: i love this outfit sm the cape is so cute

‘FOREVER WAS A SENTENCE, A SENTENCE TO DEATH’

“i’m not staying back here nell! i’m serious.” you yelled as you rushed after her. “you can’t keep leaving me behind!” 

she groaned and stopped, turning to face you. “it’s dangerous.” you shrugged at her, an exasperated look on your face. “i am not leading you head first into trouble. i won’t!” she started off again but stopped when she heard your footsteps follow. she bent over, hands on her knees. “go back and look after george.”

you couldve screamed. “she’s got roxy, she’s fine.” 

nell steps forward and takes your hands in hers. you shy at the way she stares, trying to understand. “why can’t you just stay here,  where its safe. that’s all i ask.” her fingers tangle with yours.

you take a minute to really look at her, take her in. her messy curls tamed and pulled up. freckles littering her cheeks, a small sunburn under them. the nicest dress you’ve ever seen her wear covered by a cape. her hands are calloused, dry, and covered in dirt around yours, a tight grip.

“i hate to know youre alone.” you whisper.

she shakes her head and smiles sweetly, “i’m not. i promise you.” nell pulls you close, arms wrapping around your shoulders and tucking your head into her neck. “you don’t have to worry about me, i can handle myself.” you nod, breathing her in and holding her as close as you can. “besides, i’ve got rasselas.”

you watch her and rasselas leave, standing till you can no longer see the carraige before heading back. the door slams behind you as you walk in and you wince, scared you’ve woken george. only roxy looks up, an apologetic face. 

“no such luck?” you shake your head and walk over to the younger girl. she leans against you as you both watch george sleep. “i hate to see her like this.” roxy says quietly. “can’t get her to stop talking and playing normally.”

your arms wrap around her and squeeze. “she’ll be back to her old self in no time. nell’s gonna find a surgeon to fix her up.” you press your lips to the top of the girls head before turning to sit at the window.

the three of you sit at george’s side that night, she’s fast asleep and so is roxy.

you comb your fingers through nell’s hair, pulling the knots undone. she’s tired, head falling forward every so often. 

“been a while since someone’s taken care of me.” her voice is quiet and laced with sleep. she stops your hands with one of hers, reaching back and holding them while she turns to see you. 

you stand, laughing softly when she takes your hand to stop you. you pull away gently, a promise in your eyes to come back. she watches you search for a clean cloth and dip it in a bit of water, wring out the excess.

you wipe at her face when you return, taking extra care around the small cuts still healing. her hands are wiped carefully and gently by you.

“i can feel your eyes.” you tease, flickering your own up to look at her. she smiles, caught red handed. “d’you think she’s gonna be alright?” you ask quietly, something stuck in the back of your throat.

nell turns to look at george, her face soft with love for the young girl. she nods, “she’s strong, stronger than me.” she leans back and opens her arms. “c’mere.”

you fall into her, tired from the day. her arms pull you close, staying after you’ve gotten situated. “she’s so little.” nell looks down and follows your eyes over to george. “and roxy, she’s still young even if she doesn’t think she is.” 

she pushes the hair out of your face and moves your head to look at her. “they’re gonna be okay. we’ll get ‘em both to my uncle then me and you,” she says, smiling, “we’ll go to america. make somethin’ of ourselves.” you nod when she does. 

“seems like you thought a lot about this.” you tease. “i hate to leave the girls though.” nell nods in agreement.

“it’s for the best through, hm?” she relaxes back against the side of the bed with a sigh. “the surgeon,” she says, “he’s got a brother. a magistrate.” you look up at her in disbelief. “said i should go see him, ‘parently he can help us.” 

you take a moment, trying to force words out of your mouth. “you’re serious?” 

nell nods and presses a kiss to your temple. “now sleep, im not going nowhere.” 

‘I’M GLAD I GET FOREVER TO SEE WHERE YOU END’

[lozza421]

‘i’ll always fix you up’ | nell jackson

pairing: lesbian!nell jackson x lesbian! reader - can probably be read as anyone if wearing skirts is comfortable to you!

fandom: renegade nell

summary: post canon. post final battle. Nell is making her way out of the final battle having been injured, and reader fixes her up, taking care of her.

CW: mentions of blood and wounds, hints at death/loss, I think that’s it please let me know if there’s anymore

WC: 2.7k

i’m very open to feedback and comments so please feel free to comment, reblog, shoot me a message, and let me know what you think! ♥︎

—————————————————————————

“Nell!?” Roxy calls, a call full of hope and desperation.

My head flicks around, eyes darting to the sandstone entrance of the estate. A figure barely visible behind columns that tower, the human size appearing so small next to this grand structure.

“She’s there” Charles huffs out with relief. Whether it’s for his own confirmation or confirming it for Roxy, I’m not sure… and to be honest I don’t care right now. I haul myself off the ground and out of the huddle of people.

Hiking up my layers of dress I follow Roxy down the gravel path with a hurried pace, watching the limping figure full of deep reds run towards us. These reds filled her breeches, her long coat... the blood on her cheek.

Little Georgie’s close behind “Nelly!”

I stop just behind Roxy, letting her sisters breathe relief into Nell’s shoulder… relief that she’s still here and she’s okay. None of us were willing to say it out loud, but a knowing and troubled glance had been cast between eyes all day. Everyone knew whatever this battle was, it was big. And if Poynton could plunge us into night… God only knows if Nell had stood a chance. But here she was, soul and body together.

The air around Nell is heavy, her brows furrowed, and face scrunched so as not to sob in front of the people she always keeps a strong front for. Despite this, her crying breaths were the only sound that filled the air as she motioned for everyone to go in for a hug.

Slowly, each of us loosens our grip but stay close to offer support of her weight. My arm is linked under her right, Roxy on her left to take as much weight off her limping foot as we could. My own eyes are hot and stinging at this point, from either relief, worry, or both, but this was our turn to keep strong and together for Nell.

Making our way down the gravel path, it is slow and quiet, an air of hope and relief, but also filled with despair, from whatever Nell is feeling.

Here I notice Charles, linked arms with Her Majesty the Queen in the flesh, undoubtedly carrying out the beginnings of damage control. I presume more guards will be here soon to take the Queen back to the palace, and I presume Charles will go along to get back to his toff life. But right now my focus was Nell.

Ahead I could see the horses, with a look of unrest and unease in themselves, heads nodding up and down, hoofs kicking up the dirt under them as they trod about on the spot. There are two horses here, one a chestnut brown that looks almost ginger where the sunlight hits, the other, a broad and tall horse, with a dirty white coat. Both of these horses are saddled with a fine brown leather and all sorts of supplies hanging off it. I have always thought that horses were more in tune with their surroundings than humans. I’ve thought that maybe they’re ethereal in a sense… that they have to know something we don’t. Maybe Nell knows whatever this is too, hence her own unease.

Now standing next to the broad white horse I place my hands either side of Nell’s waist, hoisting her onto the horse.

“Alright?” I say to Roxy, George and Rasselas. They all nod.

“Alright,” Roxy replies, casting the most reassuring glance she could find in herself.

With legs of jelly that still felt like a thousand stones, I hoist my own body onto the saddle in front of Nell. Before I even manage to settle on it, Nell wraps her arms around my waist and rests her head between my shoulder blades.

I strain my head around and again ask her “Alright?” She just nods without lifting her head, her cheek brushing against the middle of my back with each movement, igniting a sort of fluttery feeling in my body.

Right now, with the low sun filtering through the oaks and birches, painting dancing shadows on her frizzy red hair, gentle features and closed lids, I couldn’t help but think she looked so pretty. She’d frown at me all funny if I ever told her that, but after not knowing whether I could’ve lost her today or not I had to stare for a second.

“Oi” Rasselas called, the other Trotter sisters piled around him on a chestnut brown horse, “We really gotta get back.”

This had abruptly taken me out of my moment of peaceful blatant staring, which no doubt didn’t go unnoticed by the others, to reach back and pat Nell’s thigh as I get the horse moving forward.

Back at the Talbot

I guide Nell threw her bedroom door, maintaining contact at every moment I can, whether it’s a hand on her back or arm. I don’t know whether I’ve done this to make sure she knows I’m here, or to make myself sure she’s still here. As we get in, I support her elbows as I sit her down on the edge of the bed, the white linen sheets laid out in a sort of picturesque way. Her usually warm brown eyes are glazed over and cast off to nowhere. What the hell happened in there to shake her up this much? Whatever it was it drives my instinct to just loosely grasp the dip in the back of her head and quickly, but firmly, I place a kiss at her hairline. This seems to just be enough to snap her out of whatever daze she was in and look up at me.

Those big brown eyes of hers will be the death of me, I think to myself.

I muster a tender smile; one I think isn’t totally convincing with a slightly furrowed brow. I reach for her hands in her lap as I squat below her line of eye.

“Nell… what happened in there?”

“I…” she lets out a brisk exhale, one I suspect hiding another sob. “I just lost the most important thing,” she places a hand under her nose, almost as if to catch any of her own soul that may come out through tears. Tears which begin rolling down her freckled, bloody cheeks.

I don’t know what to say to this, what can I say to make whatever this hurt is go away? Nothing I suspect. So I stay quiet for a moment, hands squeezing hers, looking up through the fallen bits of her hair to her squeezed eyes. The image of which gives a squeezing sensation in my own heart.

“Let’s get you cleaned up,” I whisper. She gives a small, quick nod, with the corners of her mouth moving slightly up. And although this is small, I notice it and take it as a thanks. I’d do this a hundred times over and more for her. Although I don’t know anything other than this that I can do for her right now.

Moving ever so slowly so as not to startle her, I stand up. I pull her coat down and away from her shoulders. She’s sitting on it, and I won’t dare move her right now, so I let the top half of it fall just behind her on the bed. Next, I move towards the knot of her patterned scarf. I slide between her legs to get closer to work on the knot, delicately untying it and pulling it down and under her ragged ponytail. Nell leans her head forward again, pressing it against my ribs, which very quickly leads to our arms being wrapped around each other tightly.

I don’t know how long we stayed like this. I soak it up though, her smell, how she feels pressed into me. I know Nell isn’t one for hugs normally, and even in the state she’s in, I’m selfish in enjoying it.

Nell and I have had a strong familiarity with one another for a long time now, since the Trotters gave me work at the Talbot. It helped me keep my bills paid and was always good company when I needed it. The Trotters have always been good to me. Still, there always has been something more between Nell and I. Glances that last a bit too long, comments made in jest (but not really), and a real thick air... so thick it doesn’t feel like you can cross it or break it. And often when I’m lying in bed, one side cold with white moonlight, I am warm with thoughts of Nell. Everything she is with her charisma, her strength, her perseverance. On these nights, I am also tormented with memories of the very long year we had been robbed of all that is Nell Jackson. This creeps around my mind, plaguing it. Never for long though, swiftly replaced with the joy that I know she’s only a few streets down.

Tonight, the air between Nell and myself doesn’t feel so thick. Tonight, our souls feel like they’re reaching out, making our bodies reach out too. This bliss with her is nice but worry is quickly filling my mind again.

“Nelly Jackson we really need to get these wounds cleaned up, yeah?” And with a brief, but noticed eye roll, I pull away and move towards the nightstand.

I reach into the bowl of water Roxy had put in here earlier with a cloth, and luckily the water was still lukewarm. I soak the cloth and make sure to ring it out enough to not drip everywhere. As I step back over to Nell, she’s got her back slightly slouched but face looking up waiting for me to tend to her. I start with her forehead. A nasty hit that happened many hours ago now, dried and crusted blood come off as I wipe the wound. She winces a bit.

“I’m sorry.”

She grabs my wrist in front of her face. “No need for that aye? You’re doin’ me a favour.”

“Yeah, well no, well... I’m just lookin’ after ya’, you know.” I say darting from one eye to another. “Looked like you took a good beatin’ back there I ain’t ever seen anybody thrown around as much as you and either lived to tell the tale or got up and walked away like you did.” I babble in one breath, still looking down right at her with what I can only presume is an expression of astonishment.

“Yeah… well… Billy saved me.” She mumbles.

“Billy?”

“Doesn’t matter, the point is… I don’t know what the point is but I made it out, yeah? And Poynton’s, well, he’s dead and now Sofia and Thomas are going God only knows where, but away from here. The Queen’s safe, Charles isn’t gonna get hanged so I guess the point is it all worked out?” Nell spits this out, jagged and almost like she’s trying to prove a point. But her tone sounds like a question.

“Yeah. Everyone’s safe. So why don’t I feel like you believe that?” I query.

“Doesn’t matter okay just leave it alone.”

This makes it loud and clear she’s done talking about this subject, so I widen the distance a little, but continue wiping down her face. She’s looking off to the side, just staring at the beams that line the roof. But I’m watching her, still, and I notice she’s in more discomfort than she’s letting on, and much more discomfort than a few cuts on her forehead and cheek are worth.

“Where does it hurt?” I ask. She spins her head back to me, a look of shock but quickly accepts that we have a way of reading each other.

“ ’ere.” She points to her right side. “And my back.”

“Can I have a look?” I ask gently, my hands slowly moving towards the hem of her shirt. She nods at me, reassuring me that this is okay, and I slide the white linen shirt over her head, careful not to bump the wounds.

At the first glance I shudder and let out an ‘oooow’ sound. She has a quick peek too but quickly looks away as if that’ll make it hurt less. With a proper look from myself (who is not a doctor), her right ribs are a deep, unsettling purple, the skin grazed and scabbed. I cast her a worrying glance, more directed towards wishing she wasn’t in this pain right now.

I refresh the cloth, then crouch in front of her, and with a feather touch, I clean it. Now, I’m mostly deeply focused on cleaning the wound and not causing more pain. But I’m not so focused that I don’t notice her looking very directly down at me. This, admittingly, makes me quite nervous. I feel a sudden tension, thick, and I’m urged to break it.

“You know I’d take your pain if I could right now…” I look up at her, eyes flicking between the task and her own encompassing eyes, and earnestly I say “I’m sorry you’re goin’ frew all this.” Nell stays silent after this, which has been of no help to me to cut the tension.

After I do the best I can, I crawl onto the bed and place myself cross-legged behind her. Again I wince at the sight of the injury but I don’t let her hear or see it. I want to do whatever I can to calm her. I pick up her ponytail and brush it over her left shoulder. I presume doing this has tickled her shoulder, because I notice an array of goosebumps growing on her shoulders and arms, particularly noticeable with the angle of the light beaming in the room. With the cloth around my hand, I start with the outside of the bruises and grazes and work my way to the middle of them.

We spend more minutes in silence. This time a comfortable and easy silence. I think we both find each other’s company mostly easy, when we don’t think about it too much.

Once I finish delicately and meticulously cleaning her back, I lean forward and place a kiss behind the last swipe of the cloth. A natural action, I find. But at this, she turns her head and torso back and just gawks at me. The eye contact feels intrusive but a welcome intrusion into my soul.

Nell leans closer in, just inches from my face, excruciatingly slow, and in this moment I’ve lost all concept of time. My thoughts run very fast, but some I catch are lips, soft, eyes. And God she looks so beautiful, bare shoulders in this low light, lips slightly parted, hair draped over one shoulder. I wish I could stare at a painting of that forever. These thoughts are very probably my last tether to composure because my body is leaning forward very quickly and pressing my lips against Nell’s full lips. We both relax into it quickly, and yet I quickly pull back.

“Sorry,” I whisper, fingers brushing my own lips in disbelief. An action you wouldn’t normally do in front of the person you just kissed and yet I have, because I think I’ve lost any sense of self-control. Before I’ve finished gathering a thought on what I’ve just done, Nell plants her own lips firmly on mine again. Instinctively, my hands move around, one planting at the nape of her neck and the other resting at her waist. The feeling of her skin feels divine.., magic.

I notice her hand, cold fingertips buried within my skirt running circles on my thigh. Yet again I’ve lost all senses. After who knows how long, we part. Our foreheads are firmly pressed together, guided by her hand on the back of my head, and we are panting hot breaths into each other’s mouths.

“I’ve thought about doing that a lot,” Nell admits, a smile of relief filling her face. There’s a warmth back in her eyes for now. No more distant stares.

“Hah, me too Nell. More than I’ll admit for now.”

“Thanks for lookin’ out for me. Don’t know what I’d do without ya’.” She huffs out.

“I’ll always fix you up.” I respond. I hold eye contact with her, so she’s assured that if anything serious comes outta my mouth, it’ll be this. I grab her hand in her lap, keep my forehead to hers and just close my eyes. And I hope that we can stay like this forever.

I repeat in a whisper, “I’ll always fix you up.”

[theshelbyclan]

Wives and husbands

Summary: Nell has a little talk with her sisters about love

A/N: this one was requested by a lovely anon, which came at a perfect timing because I’ve just binged the series and I absolutely love it! Also, I had the afternoon off for once. So here we go, written pretty quickly, and I hope you like it 😊

———

“How’s George?” Nell walked into the abandoned house at the deserted plague village and inquired loudly.

Roxy was just redressing her little sister’s wound and replied, “The ointment seems to work.”

“How did you get by that then?”

Roxy shrugged, but George quipped, “Roxy made it. She’s magic, Nell.”

“No she’s not,” Nell laughed, but added, “Are ya?”

“Dunno… it’s like something happens to me sometimes…”

The eldest Trotter paused and looked at her two younger sisters. The weight of the responsibility heavy on her shoulders, she sighed.

“It’s true!” George said, “She can see things, like around people and stuff.”

“Is that right?”

“It’s more like…” Roxy pondered, fiddling with the bandages, “It’s more like I can feel it. Like I get all warm and tingly and it’s just… there.”

“Right,” Nell pushed her aside and corrected the bandages, “That sounds an awful lot like something you’re far too young for.”

“Not that!”

“Not what?” George asked at once.

Both sister replied in unison, “Nothing!”

A few moments later, they’d finished taking care of her and George was back tucked into bed. But she didn’t want to sleep. She wanted to know, “Are you talking about Roxy and Rasselas again? Like them kissing and that?”

“ ‘And that?’ “ Nell raised her eyebrows and turned to Roxy, “And bloody what?”

“Nothing!” She sighed, “We didn’t do nothing!”

“You better not! We don’t have time for all of that, you know that. And also, you’re still an actual child, so don’t even…”

But Roxy had had enough of it and interrupted, “Like you’re one to speak. You were sixteen, same as me, when you up and vanished with your Captain Jackson. To what, drink tea with him? Don’t treat me like I’m an idiot, Nell!”

“I don’t want you to get hurt, that’s all,” she replied with some more sympathy in her voice.

“Rasselas wouldn’t hurt me. Besides, I’m a lot smarter than you.”

Nell opened her mouth to contradict, but decided against it. She was probably right actually. So she took another sip of her brandy instead.

George was the first one to speak again, “Did you like Captain Jackson, Nell?”

“Yeah, I liked him…”

“You don’t sound too sure,” Roxy scoffed.

“Come on, Rox, you knew what it was like. I was going mad up in that little pub, trapped between those four walls! I needed to find me a way out and so I did.”

“So you basically just used him?”

“No, it wasn’t even like that. If anything, we used each other, I suppose.”

“Yeah,” Roxy pushed, “but did you love him?”

“I dunno… Now, can we please just forget about all this mush and move on? We’ve got stuff to do!” Nelly got up and started walking away.

But George wasn’t going to let things go that easily, “Would you marry again, Nell? Get another husband?”

“Yeah, of course. Maybe… I don’t know!” She sighed, “No. probably not.”

“She’s too busy playing the hero,” Roxy motioned at her little sister, “She doesn’t have time for what’s most important, does she?”

That made Nell stop. And she took Roxy’s hand and carefully said, “I know you think love is the most important thing right now. Of course you do, you’re only sixteen! Why do you think I ran off with some Captain I hardly knew at that age? I thought I was in love. And it was the most important thing. But it’s not. Keeping you two safe; that’s all that matters to me now, all right? Family is the most important thing. And after Pa… Well, we need to stick together and find a way out of this mess, yeah? Once I’ve got you two safe and settled, then I’ll think about love.”

Roxy visibly softened and smiled. Her sister wasn’t that bad, she was just built completely different from her. Roxy did all the thinking, but Nell did all the action. They were good together though.

“Then will you find a husband?” a high voice asked hopefully.

“I might!” Nell grinned, “Might even find myself a wife!”

“You can’t have a wife…”

“And why the hell not?”

“You’re not a man, Nelly, you’re my sister.”

“Don’t call me ‘Nelly’”, she muttered for the 10th time that week. “Yeah, but when I went out to get you that fancy doctor, I was the honourable Scottish so and so, right? So I could be a gentleman with a wife.”

“Yeah but that was just you playing dress up. Pretending, right?”

“Was I?”

George frowned, “Yeah, because you don’t like dresses.”

Nell had no idea how to explain all of this to a nine-year-old, “They’re just not for me.”

“Why?”

“I dunno, George! They just feel… wrong.”

Roxy looked down and waited. She’d known this for a long time already. She’d known Nell for a long time already.

“But you’re not a man neither, right?” George continued.

“Maybe I’m… neither. I like being able to go in and out, if that makes sense?”

“It doesn’t.”

“Do you like being call Georgiana?”

“No. I’m George.”

“Exactly!”

George looked at Roxy and said, “She’s not like you.”

“No, Roxy is the sensible one in the family. Or at least, she was, until she started going all lovey dovey over a boy she hardly knows…”

“Oh, shut up!” Roxy threw back. But to George she added, “It’s like with Nell, the clothes don’t really matter, right? But she can be a man and people will think she’s a man, and she can be a woman. But in the end, she’s not anything, because it’s just Nell, right? And she doesn’t like feeling trapped, like she said.”

“Right!” Nell beamed, “That’s what I mean.”

“So, is that why you’d rather fancy a wife…?”

“Maybe.”

“It’s not that complicated, George,” Roxy explained, “People just want you to be a certain way, but you don’t have to be anything. Just be you.”

Nell looked at her with admiration, “You really are much better at this than I am, Rox.”

“I know.”

Clearly thinking hard, George eventually said, “I think I’d rather fancy a wife myself.”

Nell rolled her eyes, “Absolutely not. I cannot deal with another one falling in love, all right? No wives or husbands or any kind of entanglements for you. Ever. Is that understood?”

Roxy laughed, which somehow annoyed Nell even more, “I’m serious!”

“Sure you are.”

And with that Nell stalked off, shouting over her shoulder: “No wives, no husbands, neither of you, alright!”

“Fine,” George sighed, “I’d much rather be my own wife anyways.”

Roxy grinned at her, “Good for you, George.”

[livastia-universe]

New short story released! This one is about two MAI gals that become friends after moving into the same neighborhood, and they learn how to have fun together in their first experience of a free, postwar world.