#sadly we cannot fire them as a client

[calandrinon]

Me: Did you receive our invoice?

Them: I received the hard copy yesterday.

Me: Have you been getting our emails?

Them: Eh, they're probably in the spam folder.

Me: You must be aware that you are three months in arrears.

Them: Well I can't pay the invoices if I'm not receiving them.

Me: It is a regularly occurring event with a fixed charge.

Them: If I accept this, I would have to stop rubbing your face in that one mistake you made last year.

Me: We can invoice in advance...

Them: No.

Me: You could set up an ongoing transfer...

Them: No.

Me: Do you at least intend to pay this one?

Them: Yeah, over the weekend, I guess.

Them: Was that everything?

[simpforgojosatoru]

ALL-NIGHTER (One-Shot) - Gojo Satoru x Reader

Summary: Your boyfriend is the strongest jujutsu sorcerer, while you are a successful, hot-shot lawyer, both of you are incredibly good at what you do in your respective jobs, that you often have to pull some overtime. Tonight however, it happens to be your boyfriend who’s free, so he pays you a visit to your office.

Pairing: Gojo Satoru x f! Reader/Reader-insert

Rating: NSFW

Waking up, you turn and smile as soon as you saw the sleeping face of your dear Satoru. You ran a hand softly through his hair, you lean in to give him a soft peak, and then back away, only to have him chase after you with lips pouting and eyes still shut, whining like a puppy, asking for more kisses. You laugh, and lean back in, and continue kissing him, as he encloses you into a tight embrace.

“Good morning, baby,” you greet with a smile.

Now under him, Satoru smiled down at you, and kissed you lovingly. “Good morning, baby girl.”

You hold his face as you look up at him lovingly, “We both have to get up for work soon.”

Satoru whined, “I don’t wanna gooooo…”

You chuckled, “I know, but you do have students to teach, Teach.”

Satoru rolled his eyes, and groaned, “Yes, yes, fine, I’m getting up…”

You laughed, “Come on, lazy boy.”

“Do you think you will be over-timing today?” Satoru asked.

“I can ask you the same question,” you replied with a wry smile.

Satoru turned on his innocent look with a pout, “Can you blame me, baby? I’m, after all, the strongest; I am always expected to be on-call.”

“Yeah, yeah, Sato,” you laugh, as you get dressed for work.

“But I really do hope I won’t have to pull overtime,” you say. “I hate overtime.”

He came up behind you and wrapped you in a reverse hug, and his lips dove down to your neck, fluttering you with melting kisses, while your head roll back, back arched, enjoying his lovemaking to your neck.

Satoru hummed, “How about we text each other…? I will update you if I will be home late.”

You smile, “Okay.”

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

Work at the law firm today turned out to be very hectic; phone calls, meetings, and urgent cases popping up for some of the highest-paying clients, you and your colleagues didn’t get to get out for lunch hour, and you eventually had to order takeaways. Of course, you also kept in contact with your boyfriend, texting back and forth, during which you gave him prior warning that, you may indeed have to stay overtime tonight.

“Aw…that sucks! ”Satoru had texted back.

“How about you? What’s your likelihood of overtime for tonight?”you text back.

“Still possible… We can’t see each other tonight…really, really sucks!”

Both yours and Satoru’s hearts sank, even though you both understand each other’s work, you hate being away from each other. Though, right now, there’s nothing else you can do, but focus on work.

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

*Time skip*

It’s the evening now, you are still at the law firm, sitting in your own office along with your close friend and colleague-Mayumi, going through the piles and piles of legal documents, both sighing now and then, having a last-minute case which popped up involving one of the more important clients for the law firm.

“I know there is somewhere else you’d rather be,” Mayumi stated sympathetically. “I’m sorry you are stuck here instead.”

You sigh dejectedly and roll your eyes, “Won’t make much of a difference, looks like Satoru is pulling overtime too.”

“He’s pulling overtime too?” Mayumi queried.

You sigh, “Well, he’s the strongest jujutsu sorcerer; he’s needed pretty much almost always.”

Mayumi smiled in awe, “Though I must say, I’m really impressed; you are both extremely busy people, yet you are still working very hard with your relationship and still going strong as ever.”

You smile casually, “It’s all about mutual understanding and compromise.”

You look at her seriously, “But I believe you also have a thing for a certain jujutsu sorcerer, my boyfriend’s colleague, don’t you?”

“Whatever do you mean by that?” Mayumi asked.

“Cut the crap, Mayumi, I know you like Nanami,” you reply.

She swallowed; she was not going to argue, considering you know her so well. “Is it that obvious?”

“Well, it is to me, but I don’t know about the others.”

“Listen, I won’t do anything, it’s clearly unrequited, I know that, but I am still in the process of getting over him.”

You smile sadly at her, “How long do you think it’s going to take you?”

Just as Mayumi was about to answer, someone rang the office bell, you look to each other in puzzlement and confusion.

“We are the only ones in the office right now, right?” you ask.

Mayumi nodded, “Yeah, who else would be here at this hour?”

You both get up and go out to the main front doors of the law firm, to find the one and only Gojo Satoru standing right there, holding a couple of paper bags, grinning and waving at you two. Both gobsmacked, you quickly open the door for him, and he walk in briskly with a kind-of apologetic smile.

“Baby, what are you doing here? I thought you have to pull overtime?” you ask, shocked.

Satoru handed one paper bag out to Mayumi, and handed the other one to you, “Didn’t have to last minute.”

Your eyebrows rose at his words, and you look at him quizzically, “Or…does that translate to you tossing your mission to your students?”

Satoru whined and pouted, “I’m not that bad…anyway I’m giving them the opportunity to train and become stronger; it’s tough love, babe.”

You roll your eyes, “Yeah, yeah, whatever you say.”

“I will leave you two alone. Thank you very much for the food and cake,” Mayumi stated with a cheeky grin, and holding up the paper bag containing a piece of dessert, a slice of delicious Belgian chocolate fudge cake, and a main course dish.

Satoru nodded with a smile, “You’re welcome.”

You then take hold of his hand, and lead him to your office. “Come on, baby.”

Setting aside the paperwork and documents on your desk, and placing the paper bag, you take the food and cake out, as Satoru sat down in a chair by your desk. Then you place your hands on his shoulders, giving him a massage, you lean your head low, and you both engage in a kissing session.

“Thank you very much for coming up to my office,” you say with a grin.

“You are welcome, baby,” Satoru said back with a smile.

Satoru just sat watching and staring at his beloved girlfriend, as you eat the food and cake, and he giggled.

“What?” you ask. “I have something on my face?”

Satoru giggled, “You have cream on your lips.”

You blush, embarrassed, looking away, he grinned at you adoringly. You pick up a tissue, and are about to wipe your lips discreetly, when Satoru just took hold of your chin, and leaned in to kiss you deeply and passionately. You gasp, taken aback by his unexpected action, but you soon sink right into it as he wrapped his arms tight around you, and you respond by wrapping your arms around his neck. Engaged in a heated making-out session, Satoru got you out of your chair, and have you set your butt on the edge of your desk. Both on fire, even if you break off the kissing now and then to take a breather, there is still fire, deep lust, love and passion burning in you both, and you are both aching for each other.

“This is my office, we can’t really…” you start breathily.

“But we’ve never done it in your office,” Satoru stated huskily.

“Ugh…” you groan.

Satoru tugged your hips closer, and he grinded against you, making you feel his hardening member, he buried his head into the crook of your neck and grinned, “Come on, baby, let’s christen it.”

“Ugh…I’m not sure that’s a good idea…,” you moan as he continued kissing and sucking your neck.

“Come on, baby, there’s nobody here but us,” Satoru begged.

“Mayumi is in the other office!” you hiss.

“But isn’t she a few doors away? And she won’t bother us now that I’m here,” Satoru stated with a grin.

You stare at him, dumbfounded, you cannot believe he would be so daring, your office is not exactly opaque, people can see through your office unless you use the blinds.

Satoru stared back innocently with a pout, “You can use the blinds, can’t you?”

Your mouth twitch, but you easily gave in, you sighed with a reluctant smile, “Fine…”

“Thank you very much, baby,” Satoru grinned.

He tugged you over to the leather couch, after he quickly shut and locked your office door, and pulled the blinds, giving yourselves privacy. He kneeled on the carpeted floor as he pried your thighs apart to settle between them, and he tugged you in for a deep, passionate kiss. He engaged you in a making-out session again, but his hands were now very busily undoing your work jacket and shirt. He threw away your jacket and shirt as soon as the buttons were undone, leaving your upper body in nothing but a black lace bra, and you stop kissing for a while, as he stared at your heaving breasts encased in a lacy prison, without another word, he quickly and roughly pulled the bra cups down and ripped the bra away from your body, exposing your voluptuous breasts to his naked eyes, he quickly latched his lips on to your creamy, smooth but firm mounds.

You throw your head back and moan, Satoru paid his full and complete attention to your breasts, sucking and nipping, while his hands busied themselves with taking off your skirt, tights and underwear, and your hands busy themselves with taking off his shirt, and undoing his belt. You cooperate with one another by moving now and then to allow the other to remove pieces of clothing much easier, and soon you both are completely naked. Satoru wrapped his arms around your waist and swapped positions, so that he is now the one sitting in the couch, with you sitting in his lap.

“Ride me,” Satoru whispered huskily.

You did not need to be told a second time, you position yourself over his rock hard member, and you slide down ever so slowly and smoothly, and he groaned into your neck as you consume him inch by inch. He held tight to you, his face nuzzled you neck, groans slipping from his mouth uncontrollably, as you wrap so deliciously tight around him.

“Fuck! You are so tight! Baby, ride me,” Satoru stated huskily.

You grin teasingly, “Beg.”

Satoru growled.

You laugh, “Hey, you are the one asking for it, not to mention, this is my office.”

He growled, frustrated, then he sighed. “Fine, I give up, I beg of you, baby. Please ride me.”

You laugh a tinkling laugh. “There you go, baby.”

You start to move your hips; his hands slid down to grip them, he moaned as you move and gyrate your hips.

“Baby, you are so perfect,” Satoru moaned.

He started to thrust his hips, thrusting up his hips to give you some support and leverage, and you continue to move up and down his cock, giving him his own private little show of your breasts bouncing up and down, he groaned at the purely erotic show, but then he cradled your face in his hands, looking at you seriously.

“Have I ever told you how much I love you?” Satoru asked.

“I thought it was just the sex,” you respond jokingly.

Satoru rolled his eyes, then turned serious, “Y/N, I really do love you, so goddamn much. It’s not just the sex, the sex is only part of what we have, and I love you, all of you.”

You smile lovingly at him, “I know, silly. I love you too, all of you.”

He grinned, and kissed you deep, and you both continued making love into the night, and ended up falling asleep with you on top of him and him still inside you.

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

A knock on your office door woke you up; you panic and frantically got up from the couch, while pulling away from Satoru gently, careful not to hurt him. You start picking up your clothes from the floor, cleaning up the mess frantically, while throwing on clothes at the same time.

“Y/N, you in there…? It’s Mayumi,” Mayumi announced.

“Yeah, I am, I will be right there,” you state hurriedly.

Just then, Satoru stirred awake, sleep still clear on his face, he groaned and stretched. “What’s going on, baby?”

“A new day, a new day is what going on,” you reply frantically.

Satoru grinned lazily as he stares at you throwing on clothes in a hurry, and he just sat back against the couch casually. “Last night was absolutely amazing.”

“Yes, it was, really good,” you say awkwardly.

You then stop, stalk still, you are staring at your ripped bra, courtesy of your boyfriend.

“Damn it, I have no bra to wear today,” you complain, annoyed.

“Sorry, baby, I was just way too excitedly last night,” Satoru stated.

However, when you turn to see Satoru grinning goofily at you, it is clear that he did not feel apologetic at all, and you roll your eyes. “I have work today, babe. How on earth am I going to work with no bra?”

More knocking came on the door.

“Y/N, are you okay in there?” Mayumi asked worriedly.

You wrap yourself, and opened the door to see a stunned Mayumi, and you smile awkwardly. “I’m fine.”

“Satoru stayed the night?” Mayumi stated teasingly. “I figured.”

“Well…” you start to respond.

“Morning, Mayumi-chan,” Satoru greeted with a bright grin.

Mayumi grinned teasingly, “And…ah ha, you did more than sleeping…”

You roll your eyes and admit, “Yes, we did, and it will never happen here again.”

“Don’t bet on it, sugar,” Satoru called.

You then turn to him, and hiss, “Throw some clothes on, will you?”

Mayumi laughed. “Don’t worry, I am just here to inform you that it’s still early, and you still have time to get washed and dressed. Just make sure you both look presentable before all our colleagues arrive.”

Mayumi walked away chuckling and you shut your office door; you turn back to Satoru, who has begun to put on his clothes, and you walk up to him, wrapping your arms around him, and kiss him lovingly. He grinned in response, and wrapped his arms around you, and started kissing back.

“I will see you later today?” you ask with a soft smile.

“I will pick you up for lunch,” Satoru replied with a grin.

He ran his hands up to cup your breasts, and gave them a squeeze. “You need me to bring you back a bra?”

Seeing the cheeky glint in his eyes, you roll your eyes, “Shut up.”

Satoru laughed.

“But seriously, do you? Your shirt is too flimsy, and I don’t want other people to be able to see what’s mine,” Satoru stated seriously.

You shrug casually, “I should have a sports bra here somewhere, and it should suffice.”

“Good,” Satoru grinned, satisfied. “I will see you at lunch, baby.”

[emy-loves-you]

Sanders Sides AU-gust Day 22: Futuristic

In a world where cybernetic enhancements have reached the point of genetic inheritance and only those without them are seen as ‘pure,’ Logan is a mechanic attempting to hide his cybernetic status. He somehow catches the eye of Prince Roman, a human who has an interesting view of the Enhanced.

Logan POV, Logince

TW: Racism against cyborgs, brief mentions of oppression and public beatings/killings

Day 21 | Masterlist | Day 23

Logan sighed as he attempted to weld the two pieces of metal together. The sun hadn’t even risen yet, but Logan wanted to get this done as soon as possible. The client had promised to pay him extremely well if he had it done in under 24 hours. And if there were two things that Logan would admit to being, it would be determined and dirt poor.

“Ah!” Logan hissed as his right hand was burned through the glove. He winced, fully removing his right glove before moving to the back room, away from any potential prying eyes. He used his teeth to remove his gloves, not wanting to get anything on his burn. His navy blue metal hand gleamed softly in the light, and Logan resisted the urge to scowl at it. He grabbed some burn cream and bandages from a nearby table and started to wrap his right hand up. The sharp contrast between his hands drew in Logan’s attention. Right and Left. Weak and Strong. Flesh and Metal. Pure and Enhanced.

Logan scowled. A little over 300 years ago, people first began obtaining cybernetic enhancements to make up for missing limbs. Soon, there were entire generations that used cybernetic enhancements to create ‘perfect’ children. Around 80 years later, science had evolved to where cybernetic enhancements could be applied down to the cellular levels. Any inhuman enhancements could now be chosen before birth, and could even be genetically inherited. After 200 years of cybernetic enhancements, the ‘Enhanced’ took up over 40% of the population. That’s when people began to discriminate against the Enhanced, saying that their enhancements made them ‘less than human.’ It didn’t help that by that point, 90% of the Enhanced were born with their enhancements. It was soon seen as wrong for Enhanced to hold positions of power, or have any children. The people without cybernetic enhancements were seen as ‘the Pure.’

Logan sighed. While there weren’t any legal ramifications to being an Enhanced, there was still major discrimination against them. If anyone saw his external enhancement, he’d be fired within the week. Most people had obvious external enhancements, such as metal eyes and limbs. Very few were born with internal enhancements, such as multiple sex organs or a cybernetic immune system. Logan had a few internal enhancements, but his only external enhancement was his left hand, which he tended to cover up with his gloves.

Logan sighed as he finished wrapping up his human hand. He quickly put back on the gloves before heading back to the front of the repair shop. He was surprised to see someone there, staring at the metal pieces he had been working on. Logan cleared his throat. “Excuse me, can I help you?”

The person jumped, turning to face Logan. Most of their face was obscured by their hood, but Logan could vaguely make out their tan skin and reddish-brown hair. “Hello! I’m looking for Logan Croft; is he here today?”

Logan adjusted his glasses while staring down at the stranger. Not for the first time in his life, Logan was thankful for the glasses. Most Enhanced had perfect hearing and eyesight, so he was usually assumed to be one of the Pure. “My name is Logan Croft; what do you need today?”

The stranger looked through the window towards the street, where the entire street was empty. He then turned back and pulled down his hood. Logan felt his heart stop. The stranger was extremely attractive, with big green eyes and plump pink lips. The stranger smiled. “Greetings, my name is Roman. I was told that you are the best mechanic in the kingdom.”

Logan felt a small amount of recognition at the name, but he couldn’t remember where he had heard it. He then blushed at the compliment. “Nonsense, I’m sure there are plenty of mechanics in the area that surpass me in terms of skill.” Besides, even if Roman was being truthful, people didn’t hire Logan that often. Especially since he didn’t discriminate against the Enhanced.

Roman shook his head. “Even if they are skillful, it is rumored that there is no problem that you cannot find the solution to. Even when you are physically incapable of fixing it, you can easily discover and explain what the issue is and how to fix it. That is deeply admirable.” He turned towards the metal he had been observing previously. “What is this supposed to be? I’m afraid I’m not well-versed with machines, and it’s been bugging me since I got here.”

Logan quickly answered, grateful to no longer be under Roman’s praise. “It’s a compact engine for a replacement eye. My client suffered from minor head trauma, and one of the wires snapped. Since the engine is so small, I had to completely take it apart before I could repair the wire. I am currently piecing it back together. With any luck, the engine should be fully repaired before noon.”

Roman turned to stare at Logan. “You have enhanced clients?”

Logan immediately became defensive. “Do you have an issue with that?”

Roman shook his head. “No! It’s just not often that I get to meet mechanics that work on Enhanced. It’s a dying field, sadly.” He sighed. “The world’s prejudice against Enhanced is pathetic, really. It’s not like the Pure are any better biologically. Actually, most Enhanced people are better than the Pure, both biologically and as people in general.”

Logan raised his eyebrows in shock. “That’s a very bold claim.”

Roman scowled. “And what’s wrong with that?”

Logan shrugged, moving to collect the metal pieces around him. “I didn’t say there was anything incorrect with your claim. You’re quite correct, actually. But I’m one of the few people in this area that actually believes that. And the Pure tend to get violent when opposed.”

Roman gasped. “I didn’t realize that things were that bad.”

Logan nodded, not turning to look at him. “If an Enhanced has any visible enhancements, it’s nearly impossible to walk down the street without getting harassed. And if one is getting beaten or even killed, people have learned that it’s best to turn a blind eye. Even if you’re also Pure, if you try and defend the Enhanced you’ll find yourself beaten within an inch of your life. And the royals don’t bat an eye at the loss of a few hundred Enhanced.” He held up the motor he was working on, nearly complete. “That’s why I do this. Even if I can’t stop the Enhanced from getting harmed, at least I can help them back up if they survive.”

Roman stayed silent for a long moment. Logan turned to look at him, and nearly flinched at the cold expression on Roman’s face. Logan was slightly shocked at the fact that Roman knew nothing about the violence against the enhanced. How sheltered would a child have to be to not even know about the people that are beaten out on the street?

Roman suddenly smiled. "Thank you for telling me that. It is quite apparent that I have much to learn." He then pulled an envelope out of his jacket. "The Enhanced are actually what I wished to discuss with you. My dear friend's leg was injured a few days ago. I was wondering if you could examine these photos and see if it is repairable. He's severely wounded in other areas from the attack, so he is currently on bed rest. I will pay any price, I just wish for him to walk again."

Logan took the envelope and grimaced when he opened it. It was filled with photos of the patient's leg. The leg was violet in color, with a giant gash running from the Achilles heel to the knee. Several wires were sticking out, and Logan noticed some serious dents around the ankle. "I'm afraid these photos do not provide enough detail. I will have to view the patient in person. If you could arrive tomorrow at sunrise, I will have everything ready for a thorough examination. I will not ask for any money until I have determined the extent of the damage. Does this sound acceptable?"

Roman nodded. "That sounds perfect! I will be here tomorrow to escort you to him." He bowed his head slightly. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Logan."

Logan smiled, bowing his head in return. "The pleasure was mine, Roman."

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

Logan sighed as he popped the eye into its socket. "Janus, you need to stop antagonizing people."

Janus snorted as he moved his eye around. "Honestly, you make such a big deal out of things."

Logan frowned "One day you'll go out there and they won't let you come back alive. Being rich won't protect you forever."

Janus rolled his eyes. The mechanical eye glowed a little as he spoke. "Right, and pretending to be Pure will definitely protect you forever. Especially when you do nothing to hide your sympathy towards fellow Enhanced."

Logan winced. Janus had an internal enhancement that allowed him to taste lies and see when someone was hiding something. Janus had known since the first day he came in here that Logan was Enhanced. "Even so, at least I keep my head down. You need to be more careful."

Janus suddenly froze. Logan was about to ask what was wrong when Janus whispered. "You're lying."

Logan blinked. "What?"

Janus frowned. "Every time we talk, you say that you keep your head down. And every time before now, you've been telling the truth. But today you lied." His eyes widened. "What did you do?"

Logan blushed. "A Pure man walked in here asking for assistance in fixing his Enhanced friend's leg. I'm going with him to visit his friend tomorrow. His ideals were very similar to mine, and I will admit he was rather handsome."

Janus smirked. "So, what's his name? And should I be ready for a wedding anytime soon?"

Logan's blush grew. "We only met today. He's just my client, nothing more." He looked down at his glove, a sense of shame filling him. "I didn't even have the courage to tell him that I'm not Pure."

Janus scoffed. "You just told me that he sees the Enhanced and Pure as equals. And I'm sure he'll understand why you kept it a secret." He moved to lean over the worktable, resting his chin on his hand. "So, what's his name?"

Logan rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "His name is Roman. He's very kind and charming. He also seemed to come from nobility or wealth, since he was essentially oblivious to the street violence."

Janus started staring at him again. Logan tried to figure out what he'd lied about before Janus turned towards the monitor on the workbench. He typed something too fast for Logan to read before the screen showed a head-only picture of Roman. "Is this your Roman?" Logan nodded, confused. Janus pressed a button and the image expanded to show Roman standing in front of a crowd. He wore a white suit with red and gold accents. A sword was sheathed on his side. But what grabbed Logan's attention was that crown on his head. "That is Prince Roman, first in line for the throne." He turned back to Logan. "And not only do you have a crush on him, you also promised to see him tomorrow."

[tindomielsilverthorn]

Void Bolt Ch 9

I have let my writing get posted mainly on our website and have neglected you all! I am sorry! I will try to start catching everything up <3

Chapter 8

As always, these chapters include characters that belong to @devsash​.

Niqi pulled out her runestone and set it on the table. Pulling a piece of parchment, she wrote out a few simple words. She folded it gently and brought it to her lips, giving it a soft kiss. She placed it on the stone with a sad smile.

My Dearest Anas and Mehe,

I cannot begin to thank you enough for all that you did for me.

Please let me know when I may send something to you.

I don’t wish to wake Anas.

All of my love,

Niqi

Anas blinked at the runestone as the parchment materialized on it. Picking it up, he unfurled it, his eyes skimming over the words. He pressed his thumb to the rune before saying, "Niqi? Are you there, little one?"

Surprised, Niqi picked up the stone and put her thumb in place. “Anas! You’re awake? Why aren’t you resting? You should be resting.” Her voice was tinged with concern.

He chuckled. "I am, little one, though I'm not tired enough to sleep right now."

She sighed a little, relieved. “Please promise me you aren’t doing too much. You do too much.”

"I'm not." He smiled. "Mehe wouldn't let me. He wants me to rest as well."

She turned the stone in her hands a few times, staring at the surface “All right. Where are you? Can I send some things to you?” Her voice came through clear, but its usual cheerful ring was missing entirely.

"I'm at home." He frowned. "What's wrong, little one?"

“I...no, it’s ok. You don’t need to worry right now.” She set the freshly washed clothes that Mehe had lent her onto the stone and watched as they disappeared.

"TelI me, little one," he said, picking the clothes up from the stone and setting them aside. "Did something happen?"

“I’m afraid to sleep, Anas,” she murmured. “I...I don’t want to...to see him again. And people keep asking what happened and...and,” she sobbed out. She bit down on it hard forcing herself to stop. Taking a few breaths, she whispered, “I just want to forget...” She picked up a small jar of tea leaves and set that on the stone.

"I'm sorry, Niqi. I wish I could give you a hug." Anas blinked at the jar. "Tea leaves?"

“It’s all right,” she replied. “Oh, yes. You remember that nice cool tea I sent you? I thought Mehe and Goldeneyes might like it while they are working outside. Though Goldeneyes might not touch it since it came from me.”

"He might prove hard to convince otherwise, little one." Anas sighed regretfully as he took the jar carefully. "Still, thank you."

“Well, maybe Mehe will like it at least. Just um..” she sniffled. “Steep it strong and then add cool water to it to taste.” She picked up another small jar and placed it on the runestone. Its contents shimmered with swirling light.

"What's that?" Anas peered at the jar as it materialized on the stone.

“A little bit from the moon well? I thought it might help you, I..I wasn’t sure how much is good.” She sighed softly.

He chuckled. "It doesn't really work that way, but thank you Niqi. I really appreciate it."

"Oh..." she replied. "How does it work then?" Her curiosity started getting the better of her. Her voice started to lift a little. “I thought maybe you could drink some of it.”

Anas blinked at the stone before pressing a hand to his mouth in an attempt to stifle his laughter. "Oh Mother Moon," he finally managed, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes. "No, they're not for drinking, little one."

“Oh...so I guess that little bit doesn’t help much.” She smiled slightly at the shift in his voice. “I guess I cheered you up a little though.”

"You did." He smiled. "Thank you, Niqi."

“Good,” she sighed. “I...I want to try to practice with the shadow again. But it’s not a good idea by myself, is it?”

"Maybe get Tindo to help you with it?" he suggested gently.

“Maybe. She was doing something with the Void I think. Earlier today. I could barely see her through the shadows around her and she was muttering in Shath’yar about locating something.” Niqi shuddered. “Then she banished it all and started writing things down.”

Anas frowned. "That sounds odd. Is she okay?"

“I’m not sure. She seemed a little frantic, so I just told Forosuul and let him take care of it.”

"Right." Anas sighed. "I hope she's okay."

“Me too,” she agreed. “Is that normal? To delve into the Void to find things?” She pulled her legs up under her on the chair.

"Some people do it, but it can be unsafe." Anas carefully set the jar of water on the bedside table. "Mehe tried it as well to find out about his family."

Niqi gasped. “Is that why Gilræn called him ‘Umbric’s plaything’?” She clapped a hand over her mouth.

Anas nodded sadly. "Mehe really wants to find out about his family. Umbric promised that if Mehe assisted him willingly in his experiments, he would help Mehe obtain some information about them from the Void."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have repeated that though. It was not a nice way to put it." She winced. "I really am sorry for how he was treated."

"So am I." Anas sighed. "He doesn't like to talk about it."

"I know," she offered sadly.

He glanced out of the window, to where Mehe and Goldeneyes were working in the garden. "I hope I'll be able to get back to work soon."

Niqi squirmed a little. “I...um...” she sniffled. “I went back today.” Her voice was quiet and small. “I got a big order too. One of your court gowns.”

Anas blinked. "What? So soon? Are you sure you should be working, little one?"

She gently played with the runestone in front of her. “There was no choice, Anas. I had to. It’s been a week, and Wynne...it’s fine, really.”

"Wynne?" Anas's brow knitted. "What did she do? Did she threaten you?"

“It’s ok, Anas. Just get better, that’s what’s important.” She pulled a blanket around her shoulders.

"No, it's not okay," he growled. "You should be resting, Niqi."

“Please don’t be upset, Anas,” she pleaded. “She said one of us had to come back or we would both be fired. I couldn’t just let her do that to you.”

"She said what?!" Anas exclaimed, outraged. Mehe glanced at him through the window in concern.

Niqi shrank, her voice quivering. “Sh-she said we can’t both be out like this… so she… I,” trailing off, she took a deep breath. “I can do it, Anas. I just wanted to make sure she didn’t try to force you to come back yet.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "She can't do this to you. To either of us," he said in a more measured tone.

“I shouldn’t have mentioned it. I’m sorry. Please relax, brother. I didn’t mean to upset you,” concerned pain evident in her voice. “But I got another person who likes your designs, that’s good, right,” she asked, trying to change the subject.

"That's not the point, little one." Anas sighed. "Mother Moon. I'd hand in my resignation on the spot if we could get our shop up and running."

Niqi blinked at the stone. “We just need to choose a spot, Anas. The rest is just getting everything delivered.”

He nodded firmly. "I like the one facing Lion's Rest. We should take that and start setting up."

Niqi smiled. “That one was very nice. I’ll see to setting up the orders for things if I get a break tomorrow.” She took out a piece of paper and wrote out a list of items they needed. Setting it on the stone, she giggled. “I need help. I don’t know who the fabric suppliers are.”

"I've already met one in Boralus, though we'll have to see to the other suppliers." Anas smiled at the stone. "If it's all certain, you don't have to go in to work after that. I'd imagine we'll be quite busy getting everything in order and tracking down suppliers."

“Not we, Anas. You have to rest,” she chided.

"I think I've been resting long enough." Anas glanced at the blanket. "Any longer and I'll be bored stiff."

“Are you certain? I don’t want you to push too hard. I have to get that order done anyway. They wanted the gown in a week and a half.” She looked down at her hands, realizing how much they were going to hurt soon. “I spent all day tracing and cutting the pieces.”

Anas shook his head. "Give it back to Wynne. Let her figure it out. We need to see to our shop now."

Niqi laughed aloud. “Anas! She couldn’t make that gown if she had a year!” Pulling the blanket closer around her, she sat thoughtfully for a few minutes. “I wonder...I wonder if I could convince the client to let me finish it. Wynne has the money for the materials. So if I convinced him to demand them, and he brought them to us...”

"I'd rather let Wynne get through it on her own." Anas's face darkened. "Let her understand exactly what she was demanding that you do."

“All right, my brother. All right.” She leaned back against the wall. “I won’t suggest anything to the client. If he comes to us, it will be his choice.”

He nodded, picking up the paper on the stone. "I'll help you with this." He rose from the bed. Stepping towards the window, he waved Mehe inside as Goldeneyes watched curiously.

"Please don't do too much though?" She urged him gently.

"I will as much as I can, little one," he said.

"What would you like me to start with?" She took a new piece of paper and started a numbered list. Her pencil made a soft scratching noise as it moved over the parchment.

"We need to confirm with the landlord that we're taking that place." Anas nodded as Mehe entered the room. "Niqi and I are going to start our shop."

"About damn time." Mehe scowled. "Get out from under that bloody woman's thumb."

"I'll secure it and pay the first few months rent to ensure they don't try to give it to someone else," she jotted it down.  "Hello, Mehe. How are you?"

Mehe dusted off his hands. "Doing fine. How are you, Niqi?"

She whispered, "Tired, but managing. I went back to work today."

"So soon?" Mehe threw Anas a concerned glance.

"Not anymore," the Kaldorei said firmly. "I won't let Wynne exploit us any longer."

"Wynne didn't give me a choice, Mehe. She said if I didn't show, she would fire both of us. I was trying to make sure Anas could rest," she offered through a tired yawn.

"Well, you won't have to worry about that anymore, little one." Anas glanced through her list. "We should get started on these in the meantime."

“After I secure the space, I will see if I can hire someone to move your work table,” she marked that down. “What else?”

A very soft knock could be heard. “Miss? Are you in here?” Niqi took a quick, sharp breath before letting it out.

Anas and Mehe glanced at the stone. "Who's that?" the Kaldorei asked.

Gerald inclined his head. “Names Gerald, Sir. Master Kalithil asked that I keep an eye on Miss Niquisse.”

“It’s all right, Anas,” she reassured. “I’m just a little jumpy when I’m alone.”

"Are you a friend of Kalithil's?" Mehe asked.

Gerald chuckled. “Don’t suppose he’s got many that call him friend, ‘cept maybe his wife, sir. I’m part of the guard here. I helped Miss Lilybeth when she had troubles. So he asked me to do the same for Miss Niquisse.”

"Did you need something, Gerald? I was just talking to my brother and Mehe," Niqi asked, not unkindly.

"Just wanted to see if you would be stayin' here tomorrow or going back to Stormwind again. Wasn't sure if I'd be needed." He smiled.

"Will he be coming along with you?" Anas asked curiously.

"I can if she needs me, sir. Master Ælithil took her to work yesterday. But he's got some training to do tomorrow." Gerald stated plainly.

“I...I won’t be at work, it would be a lot of errands, Gerald,” she apologized, sounding completely embarrassed.

Anas glanced at Mehe, who shrugged. "Having someone to help you with errands would be a good idea," he opined.

“You’re probably right...” she nodded.

Gerald bowed and moved for the door. “See you in the morning, Miss.”

“Thanks, Anas. I...feel like I...” she swallowed. “I shouldn’t be scared. But I am. It’s foolish.”

"It's not," Mehe said quietly. "You've been through a terrible ordeal. It's only natural."

“I’m afraid he’s going to find me again,” she whispered. “Æl says they’re gonna find him. But what if...if he...”

"He won't, little one," Anas said gently. "Ælithil would never let that happen on his watch."

She took a shuddering breath, nodding. “Thank you both. I..I’m trying not to let it...”  she choked it back. Clearing her throat. “I’m sorry. We were,” she sniffled. “We were talking about the shop. I will umm, get your new work table moved and then what?”

"If you're not feeling up to it, we'll get it all sorted out," Anas offered, glancing at Mehe. The Ren'dorei nodded in agreement.

“I can do some. Please,” she pleaded. “You’re supposed to be resting.”

"Only if you want, Niqi," Mehe said. "Your brother and I don't want you to wear yourself out."

Niqi chuckled mirthlessly. “I need something to do if Æl will be training. But thank you, Mehe. You’re very kind.”

A soft humming from a male voice could be heard from outside the room. Mehe raised an eyebrow. "Is that your friend Gerald?"

“Yes,” she said, smiling slightly. “He’s always humming. Or singing.” She picked up a small purple flower on the table and set it on the stone. “Mehe? Do you know what this is? It’s pretty.”

Mehe lifted the newly materialized flower from the stone, examining it. "Looks like a Twilight Jasmine to me," he said. "Did you recently visit the Twilight Highlands?"

“No, Lilybeth has a garden here full of all sorts of flowers. She grinds them for pigments,” she explained. “Is that where it normally grows? I was thinking, maybe for my wedding?”

"Yeah, they're from that area." He set the flower back onto the stone. "A garden, you say? What other flowers does she grow there?”

"Yes, Niqi. They look perfect for your wedding," Anas said, grinning.

“All kinds of things. There’s something that looks like an orchid, there’s some roses, a few varieties of lilies, ummm...” she stopped suddenly. “I don’t know what the others are.”

"I'd love to see that," Mehe said thoughtfully.

"I will ask if you can visit sometime," she offered.

"That would be nice. Thank you.”

Anas smiled at his mate, placing an arm around the other man's shoulders. "Are you planning on having just those jasmines at your wedding?" he asked, returning his attention to the stone.

“I don’t know. I wanted a couple of things, for variety, but...” she sighed. “I don’t know what would look nice and also smell nice together. The jasmine is pretty with the orchids but the smell together was terrible!” Niqi yawned wide, and shook her head. “Excuse me. I’m sorry,” she whispered.

"You should rest, little one," Anas said, his voice concerned.

“I’m ok...” she murmured, setting her head down on the table in front of her with a soft thud. “I...I don’t want to...” she started to softly snore. The humming from the other room stopped and soft footfalls could be heard approaching.

Mehe's ears twitched. "Is that you, Gerald?"

"Yes'sir. It looks like Miss Niqi fell asleep on the table here," he clicked his tongue. "Hmmm," he shuffled about the room and found the blanket that had fallen from her shoulders. "I'll cover her up and see what the Master thinks I should do. Not sure if I should touch her or not, what with what happened."

"Perhaps that's a good idea," Anas said thoughtfully. "Thank you for looking after my sister, friend."

"Don't mind at all, Sir. She's a sweet soul. Not right someone should hurt her." He picked up the stone. "How do I turn this thing off? So she can rest, I mean."

"Press her thumb against the rune," Mehe instructed.

"Please see that she rests," Anas added.

"I'll try, Sir. 'Cept she's trying not to. You got ideas on how to convince her, I'm all ears." The man sighed. “She just keeps goin’ till she nods off. Then she apologizes for fallin’ asleep.”

"She's afraid to sleep," Mehe murmured. "It was like that when she was here too."

“Hmmm, all right. I’ll see what can be done,” he turned the stone over. “Good night, Sirs.”

"Goodnight," Anas said before severing the connection. Gerald held the stone against Niqi’s thumb and went to find Kalithil.

[iristhepladsen]

Another Day, Another Bounty Pt. 4

A/N Here with another chapter-not my favorite one that I’ve written (Not sure if it’s because I’ve been staring at this chapter for too long) But more is coming soon! Warning: Abuse, physical harm, violence 

Taglist: @angelcvsmic​

Read Last Chapter Here​, Next Chapter Here

Lowering slowly to the landing dock, noticeable darkness passed over Xola's features as she stoically gripped the arm of the chair. Flipping off the switches, the Mandalorian rose. "Let's go." He said, ignoring the heaviness in the back of his throat. Opening the hangar door, he watched Xola step down, listening to their surroundings, breathing in the dusty air. As her foot caught on the odd ridge between the ship and ground, the Mandalorian caught her arms, steadying her. "Careful." The irony did not escape either of their minds. If she tripped and fell, what would it matter? Her life would be over, come daybreak. Moving away from him, she smoothed out her cloak and begin to walk briskly. Walking through the port, he maneuvered their way through the coming and going jets and planes, Entering into the city, the Mandalorian felt quiet eyes on their backs, a certain glint in a bystander's eye...they knew. Pulling the cloak over her head, his arm went around her shoulder, guiding her forward.

Turning into an alleyway after alleyway, they stood at the back door of the client. Pushing the entry button, he flashed his ID chip at the droid. Apprehensively, Xola's pinky strayed back to the embroidered lily. Door hissing open, the marching of Stormtroopers rang in Xola's ears. Hand remaining on her shoulder, the Mandalorian guided her in, an element of gentleness to his touch. Instinctively leaning closer to the Mandalorian, Xola stiffened as the hand on her shoulder was replaced with a fist around her bicep. "Easy." The Mandalorian spoke tersely. "You take it easy!" He snapped back, jerking her arm for good measure. Rising from his desk, the client held the tracker in front of Xola, who was leaning apprehensively away. "Yes...yes, yes, yes." Gripping her chin, he smiled. Eyes narrowing, the Mandalorian observed the exchange worldlessly. The scientist rushing in, he swallowed nervously, fumbling as he pulled out a red light. Shining it in her eyes, Xola squinted confusedly, arching her neck away.

"Xola." The scientist whispered, reverence in his tone. Lips parting slightly, she struggled and squirmed from the grip on her chin. "Alright...hurry then." The scientist murmured, the stormtroopers marching Xola forward. Brushing past Xola, the Mandalorian stared at the case of Beskar. The last time he'd lain eyes on such an amount was...years ago, it felt.   "You really are the best of your kind. Then...your reward. You've earned it." Eyes drifting to Xola, he watched her being marched away, out of his arm's reach. As if she could feel his gaze, she looked his direction, before she disappeared behind the door. "Such a small price, for...such a small package. But, to the winner, the prize goes." "You sent out more than one tracking fob." "It was most crucial that Xola arrived. Alive or...otherwise." Taking the case, he paused. "The girl. What are you going to do?"

Smiling humorlessly, he clicked his tongue as he slid him the case pointedly. "How most peculiar for one of your kind. May I remind you, that our contract has now ended. No questions asked. Is that not the code of your guild?" Resisting the urge to look at the door once more, he found himself escorted out by the Stormtroopers. The Armorer didn't ask questions, like usual, just wanting the vertebrae of an issue. Thanks to her interference, and fighting a natural beast, his armor had lost its integrity. "The enemy helped you? Why?" "I...she didn't...fully realize." He found himself saying. But she had. Xola had known from the start. Then why the bandage, staying beside him after the Jawa attack? Why did she save him? "Then, whistling birds." His armorer said after a pause. "That will do nicely." ***

Finding himself sitting across from Greef, he felt the eyes of every bounty hunter digging into his back. "How many had tracking fobs?" "All of them!" Greef boomed. "All of them, and yet, you were the one to bring her in!" "Her?" He echoed. "Word travels fast, Mando. Now, what can I do for my most valued partner? There are some fine medicinal baths to attend, which I'm sure you'd enjoy." "I'd like my next job." "You-Mando, come now! You've earned time off. Enjoy your earnings, you've certainly worked enough for at least a few days rest!" "I want...my next...job." The Mandalorian reiterated. "Right. You, bounty hunters, enjoy keeping busy. Well, take your pick, you've earned it. I must warn you, they are quite far." "The further, the better." Turning on a fob, he analyzed the information. "Nobleman jumping bail, all the way in the oceanic ridge. That is as far as you could be." "I'll take it." Snatching it, he pushed himself up. "Excellent, I expect a good capture!" Turning his back to Greef, he closed his eyes. Xola.

"What do you think they'll do with her." "Her?" "The girl." "I didn't ask." Tone growing in severity, Greef eyed him warningly. "It's against the guild code." When he made no response, Greef motioned to the bar. "Buy a keg here. Go on your mission. By the time I see you again, you will have forgotten all about it." And that was his job, to forget. Forget everyone and everything he came into contact with. Marching onto his ship, he sat down, hurriedly flipping the switches. He couldn't stand being on the planet a moment more. As he pushed the controller forward, the handle top fell off to the floor with a loud thud. He had forgotten to screw the knob on securely last night. Reprimanding himself, he reached down to grab it, his gloved knuckles brushing against a paper. Pausing, he picked that up gently and turned it over in his hands. A common oily paper that was transformed into a paper bird, each line made neatly, precisely, and gracefully. Her eyes. Something he could not place. Not quite fear, and not quite giving up. A look of innocence, yet a wisdom that exceeded her years. Yet...still something."Sadly, we will never know the story." The droids words regurgitated in his head.

 "No," he muttered. "I'm leaving."

Hand hovering over the initiator, he slammed it off.

"Damn it."

***

Rifle set up, he adjusted the listening fob, catching garbled words and feedback.

"I don't care what. You cannot manifest the energy. Harvest what you can. Once you get forty percent, that is all we need. Annihilate it straight afterward."

"But, no, we can still send her-"

"-There is not enough resource. I suggest you hurry, as I can no longer assure you safety. Afterward, burn the 'leftovers'."

Switching off the listening fob, he slid down the piping along the walls. He didn't have much time to listen to their schemes.

Brushing alongside the walls, the Mandalorian paused by the rubbish bin. Hand on the top of it, he peered inside, an all too familiar article of clothing laying amongst the metal scraps and bloody cloths. Picking it up, he turned it a few times. The yellow lilies were spattered in filth and a little blood. She was punched somewhere in the face, the cloak was pulled so hard it had ripped from her body. Feeling unappeasable anger that settled in his stomach, he slammed it back into the bin.

It didn't take him long to break inside the safehouse, and within minutes, he was shooting down the panel to the laboratory door. 

Watching a droid approach her with a large needle, he shot it down, then aiming the blaster at the scientist who was cowering behind a barrel. 

"Please, please don't hurt her! Xola never did anything wrong, please, she's done nothing, please leave her alone!"

Wearing a thin and terribly torn grey top, it was instantly obvious that she had struggled, dried blood and a nasty bruise over her right cheek, a grey metal strap securing her to the table. 

Face an ashen color, he noticed a tube of some sort in her arm. Pulling it out, he looked at the bag that was feeding her body the vile liquid. A sedative.

"What did you do?" He asked, raising the blaster higher. "What did you do?"

"Nothing, nothing! I saved her! If it wasn't for me, she'd be in the dumpster by now, please don't hurt her! She-she is so precious to me!"

Precious? Brow furrowing, he felt disgust sweep over him. 

As he muttered "please" over and over again, the Mandalorian pulled out his grey sack. He didn't have long. Scooping her inside it, he rushed out. 

It was time to make their escape. 

By three minutes, the distress signal would come, bringing all the hunters his way. As the beeping from the fobs echoed throughout the near-silent city, his hand drifted near his rifle, setting it to disintegrate. Make that one minute. As he reached the threshold of the landing bay, he watched Greef solemnly stand in the very center of his way, cronies flanking all sides. No clean escapes after all. "Let me pass," he warned. "You put the girl down, and I might let you." "She is coming with me." "No, she isn't Mando. Is that a real life for her, wandering around like a fugitive with a cold-blooded killer?" Intimidation through doubt. The Mandalorian knew this tactic well. Grip tightening slightly, he stood his ground. "She is coming with me." He repeated.

"If you truly care about her, you'll put her down. The New Republic will take her into custody, and she'll be fine." "How do I know I can trust you?" As if he ever could. "Because I am your only hope." Firing a shot, he tossed himself into the cart, pinning Xola to the ground. "Drive!" He snarled, aiming his blaster at the droid. When the droid shook back and forth, he loaded it. "Drive!" Driving forward, he fired shot after shot. When his luck ran out and the droid was destroyed, the Mandalorian ducked behind barrels. "Here's what's going to happen! I am walking onto the ship, with the girl, and you're going to let it happen!" He shouted. "No, here's what's happening. We will kill you, take the girl, and strip your body for parts!" When someone made a stabbing motion, he used the last of his fuel, shooting flames in their direction. When it ran out, he crawled further into the maze of crates. Blaster after blaster fired out, red lights bursting through the sky.

And so, they would not have made it out in the end. And, he could not save Xola. Lowering the grey cloth from her face, he lowered his head further, hand on the side of her neck. His hand curled around her head, as if that could shield her from the inevitable firing. Maybe if he had left left her, the scientist would have rescued her. 

At the deep bruising on her cheek and swollen eye, he closed his eyes briefly. No. 

No matter what the scientist had said, she was as good as dead there. As good as dead here. And now, they would die together. 

All he wanted was to protect her. But now, they would die, just as his own parents had. 

Eye-opening blearily, she dazedly groaned, the pain obvious in her features. "Mandalorian. You...came back?" "Yeah." He replied, his voice barely above a whisper. Eye closing again, the sedation regained its fierce grip. Holding her close, his hand remained on his blaster as the movement grew closer and louder. Hearing a loud roaring from the air, he glanced up to see...helmets. His brethren and sisters had come, redeeming him from his errors.  This was the way. Picking her up, he ran through the crossfire, trusting. They would not let him fall. Scrambling onto the ship, he heard a small creak. Watching Greef step into the limelight, he solemnly watched his old employer.

"I didn't want it to come to this, Mando. But you're leaving me with little choice." Without hesitation, he initiated the carbon freeze, a puff of dry ice coming loose. In the confusion, he shot Greef in the chest, watching his body tumble out. Hurriedly, he flipped the generators on, sending the ship in the air. And with that, they made their escape. Once they were out of immediate danger, he tentatively set it to autopilot. Climbing down the ladder once more, he opened the resting bay door. Setting Xola on the cot, he rummaged on the panel overhead for spare clothing. Finding a worn undershirt that he used for his armor, he tentatively sat her up, he head resting against his shoulder plate. Sliding the material over her head, he pulled her arms through the long sleeves, and laid her back down. He would need to provide more sufficient clothing later. Opening the carbon, he pulled an ice package from his extra carbon holder. Walking a few paces to her resting area, he placed it over her cheek. 

At least it would help with relief and swelling, though he was near certain her nasal brone was broken. Tucking the thick creme blanket around her, he closed the panel door, returning to the pilot's deck. Turning to the control panel, he resumed the pilot status. What did he just do? What would he continue to do? He had no idea. Finding a quiet planet, for starters. But after that, what? Her entire life was displaced in the span of three days. Hearing the faint sound of the panel door opening, he returned it to pilot mode, scaling down the ladder. Feeling along the wall, the Mandalorian watched her look around in dazed confusion.

"Hello...?" "It's me." Lips parting, she swallowed thickly as she reached him, shivering in the cold ship. He had forgotten how cold other people felt on his ship. "I...thought I hallucinated that you had come back." "You didn't." "Why? Why help me?" "This is the Way." As she pondered his words, he put his hand on her shoulder. "You've lost a lot of strength, you should rest more." Guiding her back to the cot, he watched her settle uncertainly on the creaky cot. "Here, wipe your face." Handing her a dampened cloth, he watched her dab her face, flinching at the sharp pain from her nose. "What is your name?" She asked. Silent, he kept his eyes on their course. His name...it was not something he had uttered to even himself in many years. "Call me what you'd like."

"I'm not good with nicknames..." Sinking back on the cot, Xola seemed lost in thought. "Perhaps...just Mandalorian." "Fine by me." Feeling around, Xola gasped slightly. "What's wrong?" "My cloak...my cloak, where is it?" She asked, her voice raising slightly. "It's gone." Exhaling sharply, her fingers absently drifted to where the flowers once were. "Yes...it is, isn't it?" "Did you make it?" He asked, curiosity getting the better out of them. "Every petal." A bitterness in her eyes, Xola's hand moved to her side. "...What happens next?" "Quiet. We'll find a quiet planet to stretch our legs out for a few months. Sound good?" "Yeah. I'd like that." At the thought of rest, sleeping, and safety, Xola could not help but feel the stirring of something she had rarely had before. Hope.

"Mandalorian," She called out as his boots were fading away. "Thank you." When he began to nod, he chastised himself inwardly, replacing that motion with: "Yeah. I'll wake you for food." Leaning back, he looked at the chart. Low population density, unheard of, small. A nice backwater planet. "Then, Sorgan." Safety.

[namjoon-koya]

The child (2/2)

A/N: I added stuff to the ending because why not.

Pairing: The Mandalorian x Reader (platonic don’t worry the ship is getting there)

Warning ⚠️: violence, cursing,

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:

Kuiil took you both to go trade with the Jawas, unfortunately that night it was raining and it was cold. You gave the child a blanket to keep it warm.. well you didn’t know if it even got cold but you wanted to make sure it didn’t get sick.

Your arms slightly trembled from the cold “are you cold?” You heard Mando say to you as he sat in the front “no.” You quickly said but he knew you were lying by the way your fingers trembled a bit “here.. take this.” He holds out a blanket for you “uhm.. what about you?” You ask as you grab the blanket from him.

“I don’t get cold.” You chuckled lightly “sure you don’t.” You watched the sky as it lights up from the lighting.

Finally the rain stopped and it got warmer thankfully, in the distance you could see the Jawa’s large fortress, you could see them lay out the ships parts on the ground probably to sell them you thought.

The blurrg let out a roar as Kuiil raised his hand up waving “greetings!” He shouts to them Mando only stares at the Jawas you knew he was pissed off because of his parts of the ship.

You leaned over to the side and saw the Jawas hold up their weapons at you guys as another Jawas called for the rest of its group “they really don’t like you for some reason.” Kuiil said to Mando.

“Well.. I did disintegrate a few of them.” Mando admits, you looked up at the fortress and saw some Jawas open windows to look down at you guys.

The Jawas then shouted something to Kuiil “you need to drop your refile.” He says to mando.

“I’m a mandalorian. Weapons are part of my religion.” Mando says as he grips his refile in his hands. You take out your blaster from your thigh holster and place it down in the carrier.

“Then you are not getting your parts back.” Kuiil said.

“Mando don’t be a hardass c’mon.” Mando let out a sigh “fine.” He puts his refile next to your blaster. You jump off the carrier stretching your legs out a bit before joining Kuiil and Mando.

A Jawa mutters something before raising its gun at mando again, Kuiil looks down and sees a blaster on Mando “and the blaster.”

Mando snaps his head towards Kuiil but Kuiil only stares at him before walking off to the Jawas “good day!” He says to them.

“Seriously Mando they aren’t going to do anything it’ll be fine.” You say to him.

“You don’t know that..”

“Mando.. it’ll be fine trust me.”

Mando stares at you for a bit, before removing his blaster and placing it on the carrier “I do trust you.” He says to you, you felt your cheeks burn as he said that Kuiil signaled to you and Mando to come over.

You looked over at the child who was only staring at you and Mando “it’ll be fine..” you said to yourself before following Mando. Mando sat down next to Kuiil as you stood behind them.

The Jawas said something to Kuiil, you and Mando couldn’t really understand what they said to him though “they will trade all the parts for the Beskar.” Shit you knew Mando would never do that.

“I’m not gonna trade anything. These are my parts, they stole them from me.” Mando said. The Jawas said something else that you both couldn’t understand “they, they.. belong to me.” Mando tried saying to them in their language but the Jawas laughed at him.

“You speak terrible Jawa you sound like a Wookiee.” One of them said to him “you understand this?!” Mando shouts as he uses the fire from his wrist control to shoot at them “Mando stop!” You shout at him as Kuiil quickly grabs his wrist to push it the other way.

Some of the Jawas run away in fear from Mando, you let out a sigh “he’s a Mandalorian he cannot give you his Beskar armor what else may he trade?” Kuiil asked the Jawas.

The Jawas got to its feet before pointing to something, the three of you looked back and saw two Jawas looking at the child “get away from it!” Mando shouts making the Jawas quickly run away.

“There must be something else.” The Jawas gather together talking, you look down at Mando before gently kicking his back “hey! What are you doing?” Mando says shooing at your leg “learn to control your temper Mando.”

“She is right, the Jawas might of not been so forgiving.” Kuiil says to Mando, the Jawas finally stop talking as they finally turn their attention back to the three of you guys “we will require the Egg. Bring us the egg.”

Kuiil lets out a groan “the egg? What egg?” Mando asks “the egg! The egg! The egg! The egg!” The Jawas begin to cheer.

The four of you went inside their ship as they continued to cheer the egg.. you were loosing your mind on this ship and it was too small! You and mando had to hunch down a bit, it made your back ache.

One of the Jawas looked at Mando before saying the egg again, Mando let out a sigh before looking over at you. Suddenly the ship jumped a bit making Mando hit his head on the celling you couldn’t help but laugh at him as did the rest of the Jawas.

“Oh you think that’s funny?” Mando groaned “w-what no! Of course not!” You tried holding in the few laughs that threatened to spill out suddenly you felt him squeeze your thigh “ow ow ow! Okay I’m sorry!” You say as he lets go.

After a long drive the ship finally stops as the door opens “ready?” Mando asked you, you nodded “be safe.” Kuiil says to the both of you as you leave the ship “we will.”

The both of you walk together to go find the egg that they wanted “do you think the kid will be safe?” You asked Mando “I’ll make sure the orb stays on the sides and I know you won’t allow anything to happen to it.” He says.

“You’re right.”

The both of you make it to a large cave, no light was inside it making everything pitch black. Mando pressed a few buttons on his wrist “I’m going in.” He says.

Your about to follow him but he stops making you bump into his back “stay out here Y/N.”

“Mando! Seriously I’m not letting you go in there alone-.” Mando finally turns around and stares at you “Y/N please.”

You bite the inside of your cheek “fine.” You say before going over to the child, it looks up at you cooing. Mando looks back at the both of you before walking inside the cave it was quiet for a bit making you concerned but that’s when you hear his blaster go off.

You hear a roar and that’s when you see Mando come out the cave and land on his back “Mando!” You yell going over to him “are you alright?” You help him sit up but then you see something come out of the cave.

A mudhorn you draw your blaster out and aim it at the mudhorn. Mando needed time to recover you shot your blaster at it. It let out a roar before turning its attention to you “shit.” You whispered as it ran at you.

You quickly jumped out of the way you looked over and saw the mudhorn have it’s attention on the child this time “no!” You shout before shooting your blaster at it again.

The mudhorn turns its attention back at you this time it was more angrier, you were ready to jump out the way but the mud made you slip the Mudhorn hit you straight in the chest making you fly back and land on your back.

The air was pushed out of you as you lay on the ground, your vision became blurry you tried getting up but your back protested you didn’t realize that you had blacked out.

Mando got up his muscles protested but he forced himself to get up, when he did he saw you on the ground unconscious “Y/N..” he noticed the Mudhorn turn it’s attention on him now it was getting ready to charge at him.

Mando took his the knife he had hidden on his leg, he knew it wouldn’t be much but he wasn’t going to give up he held it up weakly at the mudhorn who was getting ready to charge at him.

Mando didn’t lower his guard he was ready for it, the mudhorn began to run at him he lowered his head ready to feel the pain again but.. nothing happened he looked up and saw the mudhorn being levitated up in the air slightly.

Mando looked over at the child, its eyes were closed as it had its hand slightly up.. it was protecting him? But why? He looked over back at the mudhorn who only thrashed around angrily.

Finally the child gave in, no longer being able to hold the mudhorn back it passed out inside its carrier.

The mudhorn fell on the ground with a loud thud, mando quickly took this opportunity to kill the mudhorn. The mudhorn let out a painful roar before finally dying, Mando got up with a grunt and dug the knife deeper inside the mudhorn to make sure it was dead.

Mando finally looked over at you “shit..” he walked over to you staggering a bit before finally kneeling beside you “Y/N?” You let out a groan “I-I’m Sorry..” you mumbled.

“Don’t. Thank you for protecting us..” he said as he looked up at the child “take your time to get up.” You hummed in response.

Mando got up and walked over to the child who was passed out inside its carrier maybe.. this is why the client wanted the child so badly because of its powers... Mando then went inside the cave to retrieve the egg for the Jawas.

It wasn’t hard to miss out on it considering it was the only thing that looked rather odd inside the cave. He picked up the egg before going back out he saw you already on your feet looking at the child “will it be fine?” You asked him.

Mando nodded “I hope so.. it did a strange thing.” You titled your head “what do you mean?”

“It.. somehow levitated the mudhorn before it could even hurt me..” you looked down at the child who was peacefully sleeping as it let out small breathes in and out “maybe.. it didn’t want to see you hurt.”

Mando didn’t say anything how could it want to protect him? He was basically just using the child as a reward.. “let’s go.” He says as he begins to walk back to the Jawas.

You frowned sadly maybe he didn’t want to grow attached to the child knowing he had to turn it over to the client.. but you wanted to change his mind so desperately.

You quickly went to go follow him back as he carried the egg.

“Are you alright?” You asked Mando, he was covered all over with Mando and half of his armor was broken “I’m fine, you?”

“I’m fine too.” The both of you finally make it back to the Jawas and Kuiil “Mando! Y/N!” You heard Kuiil shout “I have it, I got the egg.” Mando says as some Jawas come running out the ship to take the egg.

You watch them slice the egg open before eating the thing inside the egg you sigh before walking over to Kuiil as did Mando.

“I’m surprised you waited.” Mando says to him “I’m surprised you both took so long.” You let out a chuckle “well.. mudhorns aren’t exactly like blurrgs.” You say to Kuiil.

Kuiil smiled before walking over to the carrier, the Jawas finally gave Mando all the parts of the ship back. You watched Mando look down at the child you could tell he was considered for it.

“Is it still sleeping?” Kuiil asked as he rode on top of a blurrg, mando looked down at the child again before rocking the crib lightly to see if it would wake up “yes.”

Your heart grew heavy you knew Mando did truly care for the child even if he kept denying it himself “was it injured?” He asked.

“No.. I don’t think so. Not physically.” Mando says before glancing over at you.

You knew he was going to scold you for fighting the mudhorn but you couldn’t care less about his lectures you made sure the child and Mando were safe.

“Explain it to me again I still don’t understand what happened.” Kuiil says.

“Neither do I.” Mando said before taking his stare off the child.

You guys arrived back at the ship by nightfall, Mando jumped off the carrier as you were about to jump off as well you felt your back ache as you fall to the ground “Y/N! What’s wrong?” Mando says as he gently touches your back.

You let out a painful hiss through your teeth “n-nothing just lost my balance that’s all.” You said lying to him, Mando touches your back again as you let out a small cry “Okay stop! My back just hurts that’s all.”

Kuiil walks over to the both of you as he watches you with concern “lift her shirt up.” Your face flushes as he said that “wait no! Really I’m fine-“ mando then gently grips your back making you wince “sure you are, I’m just gonna it lift up a bit don’t worry.”

You squeeze your eyes together as Mando lifts your shirt up slightly to reveal bruises on your back “that mudhorn got you good didn’t it?”

“Y-yeah well..” you mumbled.

Mando helped you up to your feet “she will be fine, just make sure you don’t fight any random things right now.” Kuiil says as you nod.

Mando walks over to the ship, he examines it for a bit before sighing “there’s no way we’re gonna get this to work without full maintenance facility.” Suddenly you see a flash of light as Kuiil turns on a large light he had “this is gonna take days to fix.”

“If you care to help it might go faster.” Kuiil says to mando as you smirk.

The three of you get to work fixing the ship again, you were thankful for Kuiil being there without his help it’d be hard to fix everything and know if everything was well.

At times you would glance back at the child who only slept inside its crib, Mando couldn’t help but do the same as well, he then would glance over at you.

He would see you often flinch a bit whenever you stretched your back too much he was worried.. but the ship was finally repaired.

You stood next to Kuiil as he turned on the ship on everything was so perfect like it was before Kuiil truly had a gift in repairing things.

Kuiil switched places with Mando letting him turn on the engines of the ship, it let out a satisfying roar.

Finally Kuiil was leaving it was really hard to let him go he was such an amazing friend to you and Mando “I can’t thank you enough, please allow me to give you a portion of the reward.”

But Kuiil only shook his head “I cannot accept, you both are my guest and I am therefore in both your service.” Kuiil started to gather his things.

“You know.. we could use a crew member.” You said leaning against the wall “she’s right and I can pay handsomely.” Both of you were trying to persuade him to stay.

He looked up at you both before speaking “I am honored but I have worked a lifetime to finally be free of servitude.” Mando nodded “I understand then all we can offer is our thanks.”

“And I offer mine, thank you both for bringing peace to my valley.” He gives the both of you one final nod before leaving he got on top of his blurrg before looking back at you and Mando waving.

“And good luck with the child! May it survive and bring you a handsome reward.” You felt your heart sink, the ship was fixed Mando could now bring the child back to the client.. “I have spoken.” Mando nodded.

The both of you went back upstairs, Mando made the child’s carrier sit in the left side of him.

You sat on the right side of Mando as he powered up the ship, Kuiil waved at you both again. Mando nodded again before finally making the ship fly up in the air and leave the planet.

Mando looked over at the child before shaking its carrier trying to wake it up but the child continued to sleep peacefully.

Mando finally turned around and pressed a few buttons on the ship, as the both of you sat in silence a small cooing noise could be heard.

“So.. you’re finally awake?” You said turning around to the child.

It cooed at you “I’m glad you’re okay..” you turned back around.

Silence again filled in, usually you were use to it but now.. you wanted to talk about the child you didn’t know what changed your mind but you couldn’t bring yourself to bring in the child.

“Y/N I know you want to tell me something better say it now.” He says.

You let out a sigh “I-I don’t think we should take the child in.” ... no responses the atmosphere around felt so thick it felt like it was drowning you, you could only hear him click another button.

You didn’t see Mando stand up as he looms over you “you know what forget it-“ you say as your about to get up but Mando pushes you back down on the chair entrapping you with both his hands on the chair’s armrest.

You looked up at him surprised “are you questioning my tactics Y/N?” You couldn’t find the words to say as you continued to look up at him.

“Or are you quitting on me? Because of the child we’re suppose to bring back?” You glanced over at the child who was only staring at the situation you were in.

“Mando.. get off before I seriously kick your ass.” You say and he did he knew when to back off. Once he let you go you quickly rushed downstairs as you tried calming your heartbeat.

[marithlizard]

Ace Attorney: Rise From the Ashes (Day Two, Trial Former) (part two)

I feel like screenshots would add zing and be helpful, but it’d be a pain to do my own for technical reasons.  Does anyone know of a good image gallery for RftA?  Google didn’t turn up much.   

Anyway.  Day Two, and it’s time for the trial of the already-confessed suspect.

"How did the investigation go yesterday?"  Lana, you could tell us something yourself. Even if you're lying through your teeth it'd give us something to work with.

Ooh, barbed little exchange between Lana and Phoenix.  "Never believe your client, they're probably a lying scumbag."  "See, being a defense attorney requires some basic faith in humanity. Unlike Mia, you don't appear to qualify."

Huh.  We’re given an upfront ambiguous warning from Edgeworth, right in front of the court.  Yes, yes we know personal feelings are icky and you don't want them near your tailored waistcoats, but why do you feel the need to disallow them right now? Phoenix has no personal emotional stake in this case.  Unless...Edgeworth thinks the proceedings are going to rebound on him.

Ema, this is not the time for sexy cross-examination fantasies.  You can go home and write fic after your sister is safe.

The dominatrix lunch lady is a "professional" witness?   Edgeworth I hope you didn't mean that the way it sounds.  

Edgeworth is unmoved by your rice.  Take that, lunch lady.   (If only the judge had as much dignity.)  

OH  I misread that completely.  She's a former detective!  (And Jake Marshall is a demoted detective. Connection?)  And while Edgeworth accords her due respect by calling her work first-rate, she's openly hostile to him.

And she arrested Lana herself?  If this crime was as staged and performative as I suspect, was that all part of the act?   Yeah, I don't think you were alerted by a sense of destiny or your finely honed instincts, lady.   Or that you were there to bring lunch to your boyfriend.

Would the stabbing have been as easy as Angel Starr describes it?  Didn't Goodman put up a fight at all?  Sadly our autopsy report has all of two sentences in it.

Ooh,  she just opens fire on Edgeworth with both barrels. And she offers a motive, the first one we've heard so far,  that Goodman was killed for knowing too much about corruption of evidence.  

My goodness. Evidence is sacrosanct, but sexually propositioning the judge while giving testimony is fine? Got it.  (Phoenix at least tries to call out her obvious bias.) 

Here’s a photograph, which the lunchlady so very thoughtfully took.  Lana with a bloodstained trenchcoat draped over her, wearing gloves, seemingly about to close the trunk of the car.  This was clearly taken after the stabbing.   But...if you witnessed the crime itself,  and arrested the suspect on the spot, would you really have had time to take this picture?  You'd be busy trying to reach Lana, surely.    (Smartphones were not a thing yet, were they?  Did Angel just happen to be carrying a camera? ....She did.  A lunchbox camera.  Perhaps for spying on prosecutors.)

Edgeworth why do you even own a knife like that?  And how did Lana supposedly get ahold of it?

Yes, thank you, that cannot possibly be a photograph of the moment of the crime,  given the lack of either victim or weapon in it.  

"Are you trying to test me? I sell box lunches for a living, you know."  The translation team was having SO much fun with these.

Aha, so the knife was in the trunk.   Unless Lana knew it was there, she didn't have a weapon prepared, which seems off for a premeditated murder.

...actually why aren't we hearing Lana's own confession account on the stand instead of the lunchlady's?   I know, I know, it works better for the game to force us to reconstruct it all from clues, but what's the in-story reason?

"Mommy, are prosecutors bad people?"  Yeah, this whole thing is definitely at least partly staged to smear Edgeworth's reputation.  (also why are small children in the audience for a murder trial)

It doesn't seem to have affected his spirits, though, since he can make lunchbox jokes.  And oooh, he's firing back at Angel.  He doesn't care if it's premeditated or not, but she does.  (Why does she care so much? it's the death penalty either way in this system, isn't  it?)

Wait why is she testifying about Lana calling Goodman out to the  Prosecutor's Office?  She has no personal knowledge of that at all.  (Indeed, it turns out there is no evidence it even happened.)  Annnd here we go, she's perjuring herself.    Purple prose about "plunging the knife in again and again" that directly contradicts the autopsy report.    She hates Lana so much it's really clouding her judgment.    

Edgeworth is holding Angel strictly to account on her  testimony even though it favors his case.   And he's getting distinctly sardonic about her lies.  It's nice to see that the truth does matter to him.

Ooh,  he points out the contradiction with the autopsy report himself, stealing Phoenix's thunder!   That would never have happened in previous AA games.  He's really changed, or perhaps he feels so under threat that there's no point holding back.

She...thought she saw repeated stabbing because Lana had a red scarf on?  That doesn't make a particle of sense. And wait, in the photograph Lana wasn't wearing the scarf at all.    Why are we listening to a thing this woman says?

For the second time in a row,  Edgeworth interrupts and takes over Phoenix's objection for himself.   He's demolishing her quite satisfyingly.  Perhaps it's not a desire for the truth so much as finally getting to strike back, after having people speak ill of him for years.

"After the murder, the suspect attempted to run behind the partition".  Yeees,  that absolutely fits with your picture of a cold-blooded (yet enraged) stabber committing premeditated murder in a public place with evidence all over.

You climbed a nine-foot chain link fence, in your negligee, fur coat and heels (you are definitely wearing heels), so fast that you were able to apprehend the fleeing suspect after stopping to take a picture first.  Riiight.

Lana said "muffler"...like the car muffler?   On the phone? That means Ema has lied twice now - first she hid the fact that her sister called her right after the murder, then she claimed her sister hung up without saying anything.

Ah! So Lana wasn't attempting to hide at all, she was attempting to make a phone call.  Like you do when  you've discovered a body.  

Hah!  Phoenix points out that Angel just claimed to be able to look straight through the concrete partition.  I didn't actually pick that up.    And he's no longer taking anything she says at face value - he believes her statement that she saw Lana try to use the wall phone only because it's a pointless detail that no one would bother to lie about.  

...So he's willing to believe she saw what she says, but from a different location? I have to agree with Edgeworth, that also sounds pointless.  Why claim to be standing somewhere else?  "Where" isn't hard - she must've been in the pointedly-mentioned and clearly labeled security room,  looking down from above.  Why not say so?

And the judge FINALLY chastises her for lying, if only mildly.   She freely admits she'll say anything to take down Lana.  And it sounds like she has a reason, beyond personal hatred.  (A justified reason?)  

Good for Ema, she points out there's no obvious benefit to the location lie.  And Phoenix is the first to say the p-word.  What benefit would be worth that?  

"I swear it on my finest plastic spork!" A bible would surely be redundant.

Yes, five minutes between murder and arrest is  a TON of time.  Lana could easily have  escaped if she'd wanted to.  Angel surely made enough noise to alert her, running around and even taking her picture.   And Lana just apparently stood there? Why?

YES boot her off the stand, judge!  Don't let the caviar lunch sway you!

Court is adjourned, but there are still so many questions.  We still don't know what-  huh? Angel isn't ready to stop talking yet?

"I... might be able to save you."    Now isn't THAT an interesting statement.  It sounds like she's offering to save Edgeworth himself somehow, not just his case.  Even though she hates his guts.

The judge very politely tells her to feed her new claim of "decisive evidence" to someone else.  I approve,  though of course she'll end up having her say anyway.

NOW you bring up a bloody shoe? Which was, I'm going to bet, not in the police investigation report?  Why do you have Lana's shoe, and what does blood on it prove that the blood  on her coat and gloves doesn't?  

I was right, Edgeworth did not know about the shoe.   And he brings up "evidence law", that new evidence can't be introduced without the approval of the police department. Which is weird, because I certainly remember Phoenix producing all kinds of new evidence during former trials.  Not infrequently hidden or stolen from the police.  (Does that mean the victim's ID card which Phoenix pocketed is inadmissible? I bet it does not mean that. Edgeworth just doesn't want to accept evidence from this annoying person who hates him.)

Too bad for him, because she got it approved by the police department on her own...today?  I know Edgeworth is the opposition here, but that does not seem fair to him.  People who are not Phoenix need time to prepare their cases.  (Mostly because, unlike Phoenix, they actually have cases.)

Huh.  I don't know if this will be called out as a plot point, but a fundamental difference in approach just struck me here.   Edgeworth claims there could have been some bloody footprints that just didn't happen to be in the picture. He doesn't know, because unlike Phoenix he doesn't go to crime scenes. He relies on the police reports given to him.   That seems like it could come back to bite him in a much bigger way than just  this shoe.

Lana kicked over a water-filled oil drum while struggling with Angel.  ...Apparently no one but me finds this highly implausible.  Oil drums are heavy!  Even when empty,  kicking one over is a stunt for a martial artist, and when full...I can't picture it.

"Ah, yes, I will perform this feat of strength to wash away the bloody footprints, removing all the evidence against me. Except for my bloody coat, gloves and shoes, the murder weapon, the body, the eyewitness, and  the photo."   Edgeworth why does this seem logical to you? I an almost see Lana rolling her eyes in the prisoner's dock.

Hah. At the moment of failure,  Ema  stumbles on the one sure way to get Angel Starr pissed off enough to derail the trial again - accuse her of being on the side of a prosecutor in any way, shape or form.   She obviously *is*,  in that she and Edgeworth want the same verdict, but she can't stand to hear it said out loud.  

NOW of all times, she produces a photo of the body??  ...I guess proof that she withheld even more evidence from Edgeworth, against both their interests,  is supposed to be proof that she isn't on his side?  

The ghost of Mia appears in Phoenix's  mind, telling him not to give up.  And indeed, that photo shows something sticking out of the car's  muffler.   I was right, Lana meant that when she said "muffler" on the  phone.  

The trial has to be suspended while someone goes and looks to see what the thing in Edgeworth's car muffler is.  (Which really should've been noticed by any competent police investigators.  As should the fact that the suspect's shoe was missing on her arrest, and nowhere to be found.  Is the cowboy not actually very good at this?)

Next time: trial part 2, in which the judge is hopefully so stuffed as to no longer be susceptible to lunchbox bribery.

[shipping-receiving]

Fictober 2019 Day 3: “Now? Now you listen to me?”

Rating: T | Word Count: 1137 Fandom: A Song of Ice and Fire / Game of Thrones Relationship: Jaime Lannister / Brienne of Tarth Tags: Alternative Universe – Modern Setting

(read on AO3)

//////

For the first time in a long time, Jaime’s work schedule is clear for the afternoon. This was a fact, as of twenty minutes ago. It was what he had been looking forward to all morning. He would have been able to clear some of his backlog, or play some Solitaire on his computer, or daydream about his date with Brienne tonight. Or rather, about what he’s planning for after the date.

Then, twenty minutes ago, Tywin Lannister decided to saddle his eldest son with a lunch meeting. With one of their most important clients. Who really, really, really likes to drone on, and on, and on.

This meeting would most definitely not be concluded within the socially acceptable temporal parameters of ‘lunch’.

Jaime wants to sigh, but he has to sigh about this inwardly, because right now he is leading this client down the corridor to his office, and he has to plaster his most charming grin on his face. This client always has three subordinates with him, but Jaime can never figure out why. They always spend meetings furiously taking notes, but they’ve never actually contributed anything of substance to discussions. Come to think of it, he doesn’t think he’s ever seen the same three subordinates twice. Maybe the man is under the false assumption that they make him look powerful, regardless of who they actually are.

Jaime wants to sigh again, and so he grins even wider instead. He would call it a Lannister grin, but his father is also a Lannister, and his father never grins. His father is very serious, and his father gave him an office with very serious, very heavy, very wooden doors. He is standing in front of those doors right now, and he knows what lies on the other side is a very long meeting with one of their most important clients and his three subordinates whose only function is to deplete the amount of oxygen in their general vicinity.

For some reason, his assistant Peck, who sits at a desk right outside those doors, is giving him a weird look. A weird, shocked, maybe even terrified look. He looks like he wants to tell Jaime something very important, but can’t quite figure out how to say it. Well, Jaime has no time for deciphering weird looks. The sooner he starts the meeting, the sooner it’ll be over.

On a hunch, though, Jaime opens one of his office doors a crack, rather than flinging both open like he usually does with the kind of abandon that he hopes inspires confidence in his clients. The chair in front of his desk is turning towards him slowly, and then he sees a bare foot, a bare calf, a bare thigh—

Jaime slams the door closed. He turns around and grins, again.

“Excuse me for a moment, gentlemen. Peck, will you please get them some coffee? Tea? Whisky?” Whisky would be good. He needs some whisky right now. “And order some lunch in for us, while you’re at it. Thank you.”

Then, Jaime opens one of those very serious, very heavy, very wooden doors again, just wide enough so he can slip in. He closes it, and locks the door. He lets out every single sigh he’s been holding in for the past twenty minutes.

“What in the seven bloody hells do you think you’re doing, Brienne?”

At most other times, he would very much appreciate having a fully naked Brienne in his office. But now—now is not one of those times. Gods, she is a vision in that chair, all long arms and longer legs. Jaime doesn’t just want to sigh. He wants to scream, preferably in pleasure, but that is not an option that is available to him right now.

“You said you wanted me to be more spontaneous!” she snaps back.

He had. He had also said it as a joke. Brienne is so stoic—it took him years to figure out that he might have a chance with her—and so stubborn—it took another few months for her to agree to go out with him—that he didn’t think she’d actually take him seriously. Then again, she takes almost everything seriously.

“Now? Now you listen to me? I have a very important client standing right outside those doors, and he is under the impression that we will be having a lunch meeting in here, without the presence of a naked woman.”

“Fuck!” She jumps out of the chair, and retrieves her bag from underneath his desk. “I thought I had Peck clear your schedule for the afternoon!” she says in a panic, while throwing on her bra. Of course. This is Brienne. Her spontaneity had to be planned. But no matter how much planning Brienne does, those plans can always be easily overridden by one Tywin Lannister.

“My father doesn’t care about my schedule,” he says, walking towards her. “While I would very much prefer to spend my time in this office with you, without any clothes on, unfortunately I have to entertain four very boring men, and they won’t take kindly to either of us being naked.”

Brienne is fully dressed by now, but—it does not look good. At some point in this whole mess her clothes had become all rumpled, and she cannot walk out of his office looking like this. She’s noticed it too, because she’s looking down at herself, exasperated. “I did not think I was going to have to walk out of this room during office hours.” She lifts a brown paper bag and bottle of wine out of her bag. “I brought refreshments,” she mumbles, disappointed.

Jaime sighs, again. “I’m sorry this got ruined,” he tells her—he is truly, truly, truly sorry—as he runs his hand up and down her arm. “And you’re going to hate me, but you’ll need to hide in the bathroom.” Brienne nods her head in resignation, and he stands on his tiptoes to kiss her forehead in apology. This is an odd moment for an even odder emotion, but Jaime finds himself feeling grateful to his father. Even though he considers Tywin Lannister responsible for this whole debacle, at least he had the foresight to design offices for his children that have attached private bathrooms. The man does not believe that lions should relieve themselves in the presence of sheep.

He’s about to lock Brienne in his bathroom—which sounds… okay, it’s as bad as it sounds—when she looks at him sadly with those blue eyes of hers. Alright, one kiss won’t hurt, would it? Not at this point. As he pushes her into the wall, his lips locked with hers, he swears to himself:

I, Jaime Lannister, will do all that is humanly possible to make sure this meeting will be concluded within the socially acceptable temporal parameters of ‘lunch’.

[guardmesherlock-rowan]

Foiled Kidnapping - Agatha

Sometimes life is not fair. Sometimes life is a total asshole. Sometimes life decides that it doesn't matter if you're getting ready for bed on a cold winter night. It decides why not have your phone ring at 11 pm? It makes you think it'll be a quick consulting job. Not people trying to kidnap your ass at now 11:05 when it's freezing outside. 

Now you're in a tank top and silly valentine heart pajama pants, that your best friend gifted you, and tied by people you are NOT used to being tied up by. Sitting in the backseat of a car watching out the rear view window as the person, who you SHOULD NOT be used to being tied up by, chases the vehicle. Sadly, life decided this was a totally hilarious thing to do to Agatha one night.

"I can and will kick all your collective asses." Agatha growled at them. She fidgeted with the handcuffs, do break her thumb or not to? She had work in a few days like... she was supposed to be able to tumble out of a moving vehicle and go into a fight out of the gate. If she couldn't do it then... they'd find someone else or postpone the shoot. With James skulking around, nah. Not gonna miss the chance to help out Jane. To top it all off somehow they knew enough about her to tie up her legs too. The idea of beating people to a bloody pulp with her skull floated around a bit before she nixed it as too much of a headache.

"Miss Mad Hattie," the solemn looking asshat nodded at her, "we are in need of your services and... we're just worried that you might end up telling our competition our plan afterwards." Two guys on either side of her seemed to be taking his lead.

"Look douche, I'm a professional-ish person. Like I'd care?" Agatha held out the handcuffs, "off?"

Asshat douche shook his head, "I'm sure you'd care. Your boyfriend works for him."

"My boyfriend?" Her mind wandered over the possibilities, who the fuck?

"You know, 'M's art consultant? We're not blind Miss Mad Hattie."

Agatha leaned forward glaring at him, "Call me that one more time. Let's just see what happens."

"I understand you're upset, really, and I appreciate that, but we just cannot run the chance of consulting you and having it backfire."

"Oh so what's the plan? Hold me captive until your job is completed?"

She rolled her eyes at him before he chuckles, "no. We're thinking a little bit more long term. See, you are the best we've heard at... travel consulting. Thought we'd keep you around for a while until you've run out ideas or something didn't quite pan out the way you thought it would. Then we'd terminate the relationship."

"Right." He gave her the sleaziest smile, made her want to throw up. Agatha didn't have to solve riddles or find clues to understand exactly what he was saying. They didn't plan on letting her leave. 

Agatha relaxed, trying to get out now wasn't going to help too much. Between the person across from her and the handcuffs and rope around her ankles, she wasn't going to be getting anywhere fast, not unless he was distracted. "So, you know that guy isn't my boyfriend, right?" She smirked at him.

"That hardly matters anymore." 

"I'm curious, what exactly made ya think he was?" The man pulled out his cellphone.

"It wasn't that hard to figure out." He starts paging through his phone. Agatha starts to wiggle her feet trying to get out of the rope. As long as her feet were free she could control the fall just a little bit more and deal with the handcuffs later. "Dammit where is that picture?"

Picture?

She was more curious than she wanted to admit. What on earth was photographed to lead people to think she and Jack were together? Soft Jazz flowed from his phone, causing them both to jump.

"Hello?" He was hesitant to answer, but he seemed to relax and started nodding to whoever couldn't actually see him doing it. "Yes yes, got her right here. Smaller than I thought she'd be."

"Doom and mayhem, I promise you." Agatha shouted loud enough that she hoped she would be heard through the phone.

The guy shot her a glare and held it for a long time before shock and nervous laughter took over. "He just said, 'If Goldilocks doesn't mind her manners three bears are gonna come and take that little girl away.'"

Agatha tilted her head, "Who the fuck are you talking to anyway?" She eyed the phone, something felt off. 

"Just a guy back at the warehouse preparing your... stay." The guy gave her a dark greasy smirk. She leaned back and fidgeted with her feet again and watched as the roads went past. Round and round again.

"Didn't we already pass this street?" 

"We're just making sure we're not followed." The man shrugged. 

"That's stupid."

"Hey! We're the real professionals here! We know what we're doing."

A warehouse? And they were sure taking their sweet time getting there. Snow started to fall outside her window, at least when she jumped she'd have a little something to land in. "Almost there." The guy was looking out the window, they were getting close to a bridge, now or never. Agatha threw herself at the guy, head butting him in a quick moment. His nose spurted hot blood that splattered on her a little. She was sure she broke it, that guy wouldn't be seeing clearly for a bit. The others on the sides of her went to grapple, ending up pulling her pants down her hips just a little instead while she reached the door handle. 

It clicked and slide open but that moment was enough for them to get a hold of her again, the two now restraining her on their laps. A stream of cusswords coming from the guy across the way. "We should break her legs when we get there, she won't need them anymore anyway."

"Excuse me?!" Agatha shouted, struggling more against those holding her.

"Crossing the bridge." The driver called out, he actually sounded bored. She didn't know if she should panic they were crossing the bridge or insulted at his tone.

The man held his nose and leaned back trying to stop the blood from further running down and staining his shirt. 

"Sir?" The driver slowed down, sadly Agatha couldn't see anymore what was going on from her prone position. Douche turned around and looked out the window and gasped horrified. The car came to a stop. She felt the loosened rope slip a little 

"What is going on?!" He pulled out his phone and started dialing. 

"I'd like to repeat your question." Agatha pushed off the rope while the guy struggled to retighten it. Quickly she kicked him in the face as there was a tapping on the window down by her feet. Struggling to look up she saw Sebastian, tapping on the glass with the butt of a gun. 

"Go!" Douche called out to his driver who already had his hands raised as someone else was standing next to their door.

"Unlock it." the muffled voice at the driver's side shouted. With a damning click the car door opened as Sebastian bid it. He pulled the door out of the way before reaching in, offering Agatha a hand.

She sat up awkwardly. This wasn't exactly a rescue mission she'd expect. Quickly she glanced towards the warehouse, the burning, flaming warehouse. "The fuck dude?"

Sebastian helped her climb out of the car and started to pick the lock to her handcuffs. "You could've gotten out of these easily. Never be without a lock pick set."

"Wise words to live by, I'll make sure never to leave the house without them, even in my pajamas." Her teeth chattered as the wind cut through her clothes and the snow beneath her feet sent burning pain up her legs.

Sebastian rose a phone to his lips, he was on speaker, "Got her." 

"Near the entrance?" Jack's voice, her eyes widened staring at it. Really? 

Sebastian leaned forward looking into the car. "Yes, shall I send the rest of them forward?"

There was a long silence. "Walk them up here, James wants to have a word with all involved."

Agatha swayed on her feet, "I'm sure he already knows, but apparently they were consulting me for something that was against 'M'." Her voice was shaking from the cold that seeped deeper into her skin.

"Oh?" There was a soft voice in the background, James.

"I thought you said you were a professional." Asshat Douche hissed at her from the car.

"Oh and kidnapping me means you get to keep client confidentiality?!" Agatha cackled through her teeth chattering.

"Out." Sebastian waved his gun after hanging up with James and Jack. The attendants in the car followed his direction, holding their hands up. They shut the car door behind them and as they walked away Agatha started to follow. "No. You stay here." Sebastian held up a hand to stop her.

"You're kidding." Sebastian raised a gun at her.

"Fine, whatever." Agatha sat on the hood of the car, it was still warm under her as she pulled her feet up. The car beeped locked under her as they all continued to walk away. If she ever met the driver again she would have personal beef with him. She sat there curled up watching the flames rise from the building. Where the hell was the fire department? 'M' is for money she supposed. 

She hoped that they would hurry up and give her a ride home. It was freaking late.

A silhouette in red started rushing from the warehouse, passing Sebastian and company. Jack. Agatha groaned, here comes the yelling. The threats, the 'if you wanted to disappear I could help you out ya know?' Or something else along those lines. She watched with passive eyes, why was he rushing so fast? The cold nipped and made her skin sting, and the car was cooling down quickly. 

"Agatha!" Jack called out, he huffed and puffed stream of white smoke into the frozing night air. 

"Jack." Agatha nodded a greeting.

"Why the fuck are you so calm right now?" He shouted as he reached her.

"Well I'm safe. I am hoping I get to hurt another one of those guys. But all in all Jack, I'm just tired. This was been a weird night. I've never had a client try and kidnap me before."

"Really." He stared at her, his mouth pulled into a disgusted frown, "after everything, that's what you have to say?!"

"Thank you?" Agatha tilted her head, what did he want from her? 

"You are an idiot. When a client comes to you in the middle of the night you make sure your field is controlled by yourself. You don't go out to where they have a car and more power and more ability to do stuff than you!"

"Oh yes, sorry, my TOTAL fucking bad. How could I have forgotten criminal politics oh so easily! Dude I've been at this a while and this is the first time anyone has done something like this."

Jack leaned onto the hood of the car, practically snarling, "This is the first time I know of where you really had a name for yourself and were going to set up meetings vs people coming and hanging out with you in some little mamby pamby bakery!"

"Hey! That bakery was like a home!" Agatha poked his chest and immediately recoiled back into the little ball of warmth she was trying to create.

"Dammit Agatha, don't you get it. I-We... all- could've lost you." His hands balled into fists on the car next to her. 

She sighed looked at him, "yeah I get it. I'm sorry, it was a stupid mistake. I'll try to remember to keep my guard up around everyone."

"Especially-"

"Especially you." Agatha sighed looking over his shoulder at the flaming building.

"No." She glanced back at him. "Especially around anyone who might take you away from me." Jack reached up and gently placed his warm hand on her neck, she leaned into it. She didn't want to but it was so warm. "I should wring your neck here and be done with it." Agatha chuckled even as his hand squeezed the side of her neck lightly.

She looked up into his frowning face, his red eyes looked hard and tired. "I would run, really I would, it's just too freaking cold right now." The look softened, still there wasn't his usual glint. 

"Come here." He stepped back, she found herself pouting at the heat that moved away. Hesitantly she stepped down off the hood and approached him. "Stand on my feet and face that way." She sighed in resignation and did as she was told. He pulled his jacket forward, "hold these." She did, leaning backwards, feeling his warmth enveloping her, breathing in his warm smell. She wiggled back into him. "Nice pajamas by the way." He rested his chin on top of her head, watching the warehouse burning.

"Thanks." The tension she didn't know was building in her shoulders relaxed. She could give herself this a little bit.

"So I think we have a problem Agatha," Jack tilted his head so his lips brushed against her hair as he spoke.

"Hm?" the heat was leading her into a sleepy haze.

"I think you're becoming my weakness." His voice was a hushed whisper.

Agatha shook her head at him, pulling the jacket tighter and him closer, "shut up."

Old story I wrote - and the picture I commissioned for it 

[xathia-89]

Long Lost Sibling - Shingen

“Natsuki!” My mother’s screeching was probably the most irritating part of her, along with her insane ability to know when I needed to leave for something.

I had long grown cold to my adoptive parents. They treated everyone else as though they were simply pawns to make their own lives easier, including myself. I loathed their attitude, anyone who didn’t have their vast amounts of wealth was simply not worth the time. And for some ingrained reason, that they claimed to be direct descendants of Nobunaga Oda made my blood boil as well. I was adopted when I was eight, and I definitely had made it clear since I stepped out to college ten years ago that I was my own person. They just insisted on funding me and trying to control what I did, who I associated with, and even had the audacity to attempt to marry me off on one occasion. The marriage plan had fallen swiftly flat on its face since no one had considered that I was a factor in it. I hadn’t been invited to any of those large fancy parties since, which did me a huge favour.

I was a lawyer who took on the cases for less than peanuts. I’d made it my civic duty to protect those who couldn’t defend themselves, and I was definitely making a name for myself as I came down the stairs to face my harpy of a mother. Her face was like thunder, as I made the silent guess my latest case was going to upset her social circle. I was never that great at hiding my smug looks in these situations. I had set up my own company using my parents’ money on purpose. Though I had been oddly fascinated with Sengoku warlords as a teenager, and I’d come across the accomplishments of Shingen Takeda, and one of his vassals, Yukimura Sanada. I’d been so inspired to the point that I’d named the firm after them just to avoid getting my parents’ surname any further publicity.

I wasn’t that surprised to see that my father was standing next to her, ranting on the phone about ‘the ungrateful brat’, while a piece of paper was shoved in my face.

“You sign that, and leave this case!” She barked, as my presence had attracted my father’s attention.

I sighed dramatically, and glanced over the sheet, before getting out my lighter and setting fire to it.

“You can’t buy me with money,” I replied. “Now go away before I call the police again!” I yelled, turning around and heading up the stairs.

I never gave an empty threat. The police loathed attending these scenarios, technically my parents were trespassing and had to be removed, but then their boss would be stuck between pleasing one of the most agitating lawyers who could take down the department with a single piece of paper and the people who funded most of the luxuries they had in the building. Something was said, and they left. The latest case wasn’t about buying someone off, the individuals involved were paid handsomely to keep their mouths shut about it all, but I’d been fighting to find someone who didn’t have the liabilities who would stop them from just taking the money to make an example of what this company was doing.

Seeing the police at the door in an early morning wasn’t that unusual for me, criminals would plead for any lawyer to cover for them and new people started all the time. I was still in my pyjamas, which wasn’t a new sight for any of us involved. I frowned, I knew both these officers, which meant this wasn’t my usual.

“Ms Oda, we’re so sorry,” the woman started. “There was a brutal accident, your father had been drinking and drove straight into an oncoming lorry. Both your parents were killed instantly on impact,” she had the look of expecting even me to crumble into tears at the news.

I felt a relief I’d never known. I didn’t have to keep fighting them both, and listening to their supposed expectations. Though I might have to change my attitude and start taking on some clients who could actually pay my legal bills, which was going to suck, but I needed to live to keep going.

“Thank you, this can’t have been easy for you,” I smiled, and gave them a fair amount from my wallet. “Please take this and make sure everyone at the station gets special coffee and treats from me. It should make things a little easier for yourselves from now on,” I graced them with a goodbye and shut the door.

“I’m sorry, I’m the sole inheritance?” I repeated back to the family solicitor. He was an aged man who had taken no nonsense from either my parents or myself since we’d all started arguing and making life difficult for everyone else.

“Yes Ms Oda, they never changed it despite all their attempts and threats to,” he stoically replied, simply watching me pace about his office.

“Too much of a public backlash to face,” I tried to justify rationally. “Any catches?”

“You are to move back into the mansion,” he sighed, knowing how much I loathed that place. “And you can’t sell it for at least five years.”

“Does it have to stay solely as a place of residence?” I asked after an extended silence.

“No, it doesn’t,” he chuckled. “Here are the details for planning permission.”

“Ms Oda!” my secretary was a woman not a lot younger than myself but refused to call me by my first name as I had insisted on so many times. She was baffled as to why we would be moving into such a grand place. “We cannot afford the lease on such a place-”

“I was left this place by my parents on the strictest point that I couldn’t sell it for five years after they passed. Might as well use it and put more money towards running the business so we can help more people, feel free to move into one of the rooms upstairs. I’ve had all the bedrooms converted into single apartments,” I shrugged, not particularly wanting to do anything except scrub every memory of my childhood from this place.

“I had no idea,” she muttered.

“I couldn’t stand them, anything they stood for and this place, so let’s make this a symbol of hope,” I smiled.

One of the lawyers gave me a wary smile, as he approached my desk in the miniature maze of offices I’d had set up. Open plan offices weren’t always the best, so I’d opted for everything to be glass screens and encouraged individuality for each little space. The library was the only room I hadn’t changed in the manor, it was something out of a university and spread over two floors, only now it was filled entirely with law books and cases, and I was having a mimic of a system installed for all of our case files. It had only been a couple of years since we’d moved in, and most of the lawyers had one of the apartments upstairs, and I’d even made family suites available on the upper floors which hadn’t been converted at the time we’d moved in. I felt like I was making some hope for the area at the very least, as yet another request from Kyoto came in.

“Maybe it’s time to look at expansion,” he suggested.

“Can’t do everything from Tokyo,” I admitted with reluctance. “Kyoto is another good powerhouse to start from, draw me up a list of the cases and get someone to scout out buildings and lawyers for me. I’ll find some time to go and look at it all.”

“If you don’t sleep soon, then you’re going to be finding yourself at burn out,” he warned before leaving to go and do that.

I didn’t even know when it’d become night time, and my stomach grumbled in the complaint of the lack of nourishment as I finally called it a day and went to leave for my apartment. Everything around me had changed so quickly. I’d been sat on a bench in Kyoto after a day of interviewing lawyers and office staff, and three days of office hunting, and then a strange man in a lab coat had caught my attention before I’d been pulled through something and had just rescued a strange man from a burning building. I stank of smoke until we arrived back at the castle, and was able to get a wash and change into clean clothing.

I’d saved Nobunaga Oda from the fire that supposedly killed him in 1582, the strange man in the lab coat turned out to be an astrophysicist chasing wormholes. He had made his way into the castle the first night I was there and introduced himself as Sasuke. He was a ninja, and likely to be working for an enemy as he didn’t want to be found out.

I found Nobunaga himself absolutely repulsive. He found it amusing at first that I would recoil from him and slap his hands away, but then he quickly grew bored as my reactions wouldn’t change. Hideyoshi was quick to scold me, and I was eager to stay out of the way of each of the warlords. I threw myself into cleaning the castle with the maids under the mantle of Chatelaine. Sasuke’s visits were my only glimmer of hope, alongside the escapes I made down into Azuchi. The townspeople were always so pleasant and happy, regardless of the circumstances it felt like as I disappeared to see what the morning had brought in.

A few merchants were new to the market, or clearly hadn’t been in a long while, as I was being stared at all around the place I felt like. A handsome young man was slack-jawed and went to grab me when Sasuke appeared at his side. I waved at Sasuke, who looked like he hadn’t intended on being seen before I resumed my glancing over the melons that had been brought in.

“She looks just like Lord Shingen,” I overheard as I went to return to the castle with my purchases, and turned to see Sasuke and the merchant having a miniature face off. “We can’t just ignore this!” The man venomously hissed. “He’s been searching for her since she disappeared!”

I smiled sadly and passed on the conversation. The new wormhole was due in about six weeks, so I’d survived halfway as I came under the scrutinising gaze of Hideyoshi on my return.

“Lord Nobunaga has requested your presence,” he stated, waiting impatiently for me to tidy away my shopping before I was escorted to the currently ongoing war council.  

I was being glared at from all sides, it wasn’t exactly warming to see the woman who your boss offered everything to, and then see her slap him without another thought. I couldn’t explain my feelings towards the men around me, so I just kept myself tucked away from their daily lives.

“Natsuki,” Oda coldly addressed the room. “I have decided that you will be accompanying us on tomorrow’s battle against the Uesugi and Takeda forces. You are the good luck charm for us all,” he decreed before I was swiftly removed.

I was rightly terrified as the battle erupted around us. I was on the back of Nobunaga’s horse as the man was running irrationally into the middle of the fight. He was loving every second of it as I clung to him out of sheer fear that every second would be my final one.

“Nobunaga!” A voice and tone that had long haunted my dreams drove the battlefield in two. A familiar face was leading the charge with an ugly snarl and determination that I had never seen before. Oda was shrugging casually, a smirk on his face as he clashed swords with the furious male who had imposed himself on our little part of the field.

I was relieved into someone else’s arms, and couldn’t hide my shock to see it was the merchant at Azuchi now fully dressed in armour as he gave me a smile before the whole farce was retreating back to their camp. I was being seen to by a healer, meticulously checked over for any slight problem while the angry man had changed to a very stressed one, and wouldn’t cease his pacing in the background.

“Aside from the strain of being dragged out into the middle of a battle, then she’s fine,” the healer announced, much to the relief of everyone in the immediate vicinity. “Some rest and food will cure her current ailments,” the man smiled before leaving.

Sasuke appeared, much to my surprise, and made me quite dizzy in shock.

“Natsuki, sit down,” the man who had led the charge on Nobunaga instructed, a frown on his face as he made a gesture for some food and drink to be brought over.

“What the hell is going on?” I asked quietly, looking up at the man and then at Sasuke, who had a guilty expression.

“Don’t you remember me?” The man looked hurt, but then Sasuke swept in before much more could be done or said.

“She won’t remember anything from before her disappearance,” the ninja replied. “It’s best we retreat back to Kasugayama before we delve into things too much, it’s easy for anyone to overhear a lot of this,” he calmly explained.

“I’m not going back out there after I’ve finally gotten her back,” the other male shook his head, making his stand clear.

“Lord Kenshin will insist on continuing,” Sasuke warned.

“Then I will take Natsuki back tonight to keep her out of harm’s way,” he staunchly added.

The bickering continued as I was served up a warm bowl of something while wrapped in a blanket by the ‘merchant’. He was busy looking over at what the tall man was doing, rather than looking over me as I just accepted the attention being relieved of me for a little while.

“He won’t fight this battle until you’re home and safe,” the merchant spoke abruptly.

“I don’t even know what I’m doing here right now,” I bitterly added. “I don’t know who anyone is apart from Sasuke,” I replied, jabbing my spoon in the direction of the arguing ninja. Melancholy was welling up from deep inside of me after I put the food down and put my head in my hands. It was easy to pull the blanket over me and have a cry at the overwhelming situation, at least just to clear my head.

“Lord Shingen, I think we all make the retreat tonight, leave Lord Kenshin to fight the last of it and see how it goes. I get the impression that the Oda forces won’t be pursuing us,” the man next to me interrupted the argument without a thought, and I ignored that I had the attention of the decision makers it seemed at that moment in time.

I was riding with Shingen, and he insisted I rode in his arms instead of behind him. His excuse was so that I could fall asleep if I needed to, but I wasn’t buying it.

“She was fighting that for a long time,” Yukimura spoke up after Natsuki had finally dropped off. “I wonder how she ended up with them,” he said, making sure to match the pace of his Lord.

“Sasuke said he would be able to give us a lot of answers back at Echigo, I’m just glad to see her alive and well after nearly twenty years,” Shingen fondly smiled at the sleeping woman. “I imagine I’m not the only one,” he teased, as his vassal flushed bright red in the night.

“We were kids,” he snorted dismissively.

“I recognised that look when you realised it was her as well,” his Lord chuckled. “We’ve got time, we’ll find our answers,” he answered confidently.

It was a few nights before we arrived at Kasugayama. It had a familiar tinge to it, but not one I’d call ‘home’ at exactly. I hadn’t long been disturbed by Shingen, who had put himself into an overprotective brother mode since I had been ‘rescued’ from the opposing forces, and was rubbing at my eyes to try and remove the sleep from them. The townspeople were overjoyed for the return of the soldiers, as many of them broke off to see their families, while we continued on to the castle.

The staff were surprised to see me for sure, especially since the resemblance between Shingen and me had been the hot topic of conversation since the battle. I was eager to hide away until I’d gotten my head around my complete changeover in this era. Kenshin apparently was the Lord of the castle while Shingen and Yukimura were being hosted since their lands had been taken by the Oda forces. The room next to Shingen’s was converted into mine, as the seamstresses descended the second I put my foot inside of it. Then the warlord and his vassal were waiting patiently as the women were taking every measurement of mine I could think of.

I was blushing slightly at how waited on I was, and brushed my hair out of my face as I offered a tight smile to the two men.

“Can I help?” I asked, feeling very uncomfortable.

“Sasuke said that you need a good night’s rest and some decent food down you before we start upsetting everything,” Shingen smiled, “So I was going to suggest that you get some sleep on a futon and we’ll have a feast tonight.”

I nodded. “Certainly, sleeping on you on a horse wasn’t very restful,” I agreed and shut the door to try and quiet my mind.

Everything was very noisy as I was shown to the main hall by one of the maids, and then the room fell silent after the doors had been opened to reveal me. I was blushing, I knew that much before Yukimura came to my rescue and practically pushed me to sit between him and his Lord. Though the ‘normality’ resumed, I knew I was safely the main focal point now. The fight had finished, and I was the only change to this whole scenario.

Since I had slept for most of the day, I was able to outdrink the soldiers now. Which then left the inevitable cluster of me, Sasuke, Yukimura, Kenshin and Shingen as Shingen decided that his room was the best place for the discussion to take place.

Yukimura was avoiding looking at either me or his Lord, which had my curiosity peaked, but not as much as Sasuke apparently knew. I was nervous and started playing with a loose lock of my hair as we were all seated comfortably around the table. Sake supplies had come with us, and something told me that it would be liberally required for myself at the very least.

“This conversation is going to be quite hard to believe,” the ninja opened, taking control straight away as he filled Kenshin’s cup with sake. “I’m originally from five hundred years in the future, and the same wormhole that brought me here, also brought Natsuki from the same place, which is how we know each other,” he said, his tone as neutral as always. “A wormhole is effectively a hole that takes you from one point in time and deposits you somewhere else. Time hasn’t changed for you, but it has for those around you,” he was explaining as much to me as he was to the warlords.

“Then how did Natsuki end up in the future?” Shingen had the deepest frown I’d seen in a long time.

“My theory is that she wasn’t kidnapped like you believed, but she was taken by the wormhole. I was studying wormholes, and I have a theory that they were waiting for Natsuki to come back so they could correct themselves to a degree,” Sasuke replied. “I don’t know how or why she ended up there, but maybe something else decided she needed to be in the future for a while,” he shrugged, as I chugged back my entire cup of sake, and then considered forgoing the cup entirely.

“Well, you’re my little sister,” Shingen chuckled, looking thoughtful about everything. “I wasn’t sure who was more shocked to see you on the back of his horse, me or Yuki,” his smile was all-knowing, as my eyebrows disappeared off my forehead. “You disappeared nearly twenty years ago, our parents were distraught, and no one ever claimed to have you, which makes sense now.”

“I hated my time in Azuchi,” I broke my silence. “There was something deeply ingrained in me about them all, and there was just something none of us could figure out. Oda had declared me his lucky charm since I saved him from the fire before I knew who he was. I appeared in the middle of this burning building, and he was there,” I explained, not looking any of the men in the eye and instead focusing on my sake bottle. “It was always so strained between my adoptive parents as well,” I paused, and then looked at Sasuke. “They claimed to be Oda’s direct descendants,” I said, “I did everything in my power to make them ashamed of me and become the power I had burning inside,” it wasn’t making much sense to anyone else as I smiled. “I even named the business I set up after you,” I added with a sense of embarrassment to my brother. “I wanted nothing to do with the surname that had been forced on me.”

Sasuke gave a wry smile. “Makes sense now,” he tipped his cup back.

“How long were you at Azuchi for?” Shingen asked, a curious look on his face.

“A month and a half,” I shrugged. “Why, how long has Sasuke been here?”

“Four years,” the ninja replied. “Must have been our positioning,” he countered. “And I’d suggest we all go back to our own rooms, it’s a lot of information to soak up,” he gestured specifically to me.

“I’ll take her,” Yuki spoke up brusquely and picked me up by the crook of my elbow. “You weigh nothing, it’s a miracle no one has just walked off with you,” he snorted, walking off before I had a chance to react.

It took a few days to settle down into any kind of routine, and then Sasuke was always finding me to discuss the future and wormholes as he was as intrigued about how we’d ended up so far apart from the same spot. I was slightly surprised about how Yuki would usually end up interrupting us with some excuse about Sasuke being needed by his Lord, or that Shingen had decided he needed something, and would then take me down into Echigo to look around the town.

Echigo was smaller than Azuchi, but everyone was just as friendly. They were all surprised to see me, but then quickly eager to show off their goods since word had soon spread that Shingen’s sister had been found and pieces of the puzzle were forming. I sampled a few of the foods for sale and then admired the books available before I was dragged off to the teahouse.

Yukimura was a little grumpy but had an order of dumplings and tea brought out for us both with a wave to the owner. The dumplings weren’t as sweet as the ones in Azuchi, which was a little disappointing.

“Don’t tell me that sweet tooth is a family trait,” he groaned, as I looked up surprised at the man. “I have to hide the sugar candies and the likes from Lord Shingen, or he’d eat everything in the blink of an eye,” he grumped.

“I love my sweet things, but I like to regulate them,” I replied, trying not to look so embarrassed about how obvious the relation to Shingen really was now it was out in the open.

“Yuki? Shingen didn’t need anything,” the voice of the ninja joined us, a perplexed expression on his face. “He told me to come and find you, and tell you that you’re being obvious? He wouldn’t tell me any more,” Sasuke was sat opposite us, trying to figure out the cryptic message. “If you have time this afternoon Natsuki, I’d love to show you-”

“She doesn’t,” the vassal interrupted, blushing a little as I frowned at him. “Lord Shingen has asked me to take her somewhere this afternoon.”

“Oh, I see now,” I was surprised to see a rare smile on the face of the ninja, and chuckling as he rose. “Lord Kenshin is due back, I best go and make sure there is enough sake to keep him going. Shingen said to tell you that the meadows are the best in the evening.”

The cryptic conversation had me feeling like I was missing a major piece, especially since those around us had all knowing smiles on their faces as well, though they were all quick to look away at the movement of Yuki.

I could only admit it to myself, but it felt like things had just been picked up from where they had left off with Yuki. He hadn’t let go of my hand since the teahouse, and I wasn’t the one who was going to point it out. He felt safe and probably hadn’t changed a lot, I imagined as we eventually made our way to the meadows in time to just relax, and watch the sunset. I’d long had the suspicions that he’d been making excuses to spend time with me, but it always made me happy, and I was feeling selfish in that I didn’t want him to stop it.

I didn’t even know who had made what move exactly, but I was sat in his lap and admiring the last slivers of sunlight dip below the horizon.

I tilted my head up to say something and found his lips with mine. It was slow, we were both determined to make it last and savour each other indefinitely. His fingers were holding my jawline delicately, as my arm was looped upwards to hold the back of his head.

“This is definitely a lot steamier than the version I saw over twenty years ago,” Shingen’s voice broke us apart after we’d separated for air. “Aw, don’t leave me hanging,” he teased, as I picked myself up off the floor after Yuki was trying to hide his blush away from his Lord. “It was cute when you two were kids, and looks like nothing’s changed, so I was just going to invoke the arrangement,” he grinned knowingly at his vassal. “Not that you have changed venues that much for you two,” he chuckled.

“Wait, what arrangement?” I asked before Yukimura could promptly turn me around and march me out of the field, much to my brother’s deft amusement.

He waited to make sure that we were out of earshot and sighed loudly. “Our parents made a marriage arrangement,” he grumbled, clearly out of his comfort zone and embarrassed about everything, until I kissed him on the cheek.

“Come on, we can go and get him back by stealing the sugar candies,” I suggested with a bright smile, offering my hand out to him.

[plantboipotter]

Drarry Fic Recs

Heed All Warnings and tags etc. They are in place for a reason. 

 I’ve compiled a small master list of Drarry Fanfiction recommendations - excuse the fact that I only read like 4 authors, all their stuff is just really good and I end up falling down a rabbit hole. Irregardless, I hope you find new fics to indulge in! Every single one of these authors are brilliant and I cannot sing their praises enough. 

Short - Up to 20k

Fine I'll hold my breath / til i forget it's complicated by Teatrolley

10k - E

Summary: Harry and Draco become friends with benefits, and Harry thinks it's more complicated than it actually is

Erosmancy by astolat

11k - M

Summary: Blaise was immune to whatever it was people usually felt around his mother, for which he was profoundly grateful, since no one needed an Oedipal complex on quite that spectacular a scale, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have a thorough respect for her gift.

Newts by astolat

13k - E

Summary: “I’m twenty-eight!” Harry said. “I’ve been an Auror for ten years! You want me to go back to Hogwarts now?"

Notes: Written for prompt #1 by jokerofish: Harry's about to be promoted to the Head of the Auror Department when Zacharias Smith brings up a 235 year old law that states a department head must be a Hogwarts graduate- now Harry has to go back and graduate Hogwarts - unfortunately that means convincing Professor Malfoy to give him something more than D.

Reparatio by astolat

17k - E

Summary: Draco snorted. “I’m not reduced to penury. I want something considerably beyond money, and I rather think you’re the only one can give it to me.”“You want the Invisibility Cloak,” Harry said, flatly. He’d half expected as much; it was the only thing he had that Draco could want—“Don’t be stupid, Potter,” Draco said. “I want my reputation back.”

Medium - 20k - 70k

Here Be Dragons by birdsofshore

21k - E

Summary: Harry doesn’t want to waste his time investigating illegal dragonhide trading, whether it involves a fetish club in Knockturn Alley or visiting a remote island in Wales. Why the bloody hell does Malfoy always have to be up to something?

The Rules of Matchbreaking by PalenDrome (nerdherderette)

22k - E

Summary:

For Prompt #51: When Draco gets fired, he reluctantly agrees to break up a girl’s relationship for her disapproving mother. Through word of mouth, the one-time gig turns him into a professional Matchbreaker, however he winds up falling for one of his clients and must somehow balance his secret job and love life.

[excerpt]: “So who is it? The Curse-breaker and the Veela? The head of the Department of Magical Transportation?” Draco’s eyes lit up. “The Dragon-tamer?” Now that particular Weasley could be fun.“No. It’s Harry,” Hermione said, the name exploding out of her in a rush.Draco blinked, stunned into silence.“Harry,” he said, after he recovered his faculties. “You want me to break up Harry and the Weaselette?!"

The Critiquer by dysonrules

24k - E

Summary: When Harry submits his cock photo to a renowned Cock Critiquer and gets a terrible review, he decides to take a photography class to hopefully improve his skills.

Draco's Proposal by sibamoono

23k - E

Summary: Based off the film "The Proposal" Draco Malfoy has spent years making ammends for his misdeeds as a teenager. However it seems its not enough, as it continues to hinder his career. That is, until Harry Potter pops in unexpectedly.

Wish Upon A Star (as dreamers do) by ICMezzo

27k - R  (You need an ao3 account for this particular fic - but it can also be found on LiveJournal)

Summary: There’s plant magic and celestial magic and dark magic and the normal magic that allows Harry to use a spell to clean his socks when Myrtle’s taken up in his laundry room again. Then there are wishes, and dreams, and love, and those are even more magical still.

The Four Ds of Apparition (or: Destination, Determination, Deliberation, and Dicks) by eidheann and firethesound

36k - E

Summary: After transferring to the Apparition Department, Harry's life becomes one big dick joke. And all his friends are arseholes. So is Malfoy, but what else is new? AKA Harry Potter and the eighteen twenty dicks.

A Convenient Impracticality by firethesound

38k - E

Summary: Somehow Harry ends up agreeing to a fake relationship with his ex-nemesis-turned-friendly-acquaintance-with-benefits, except for some reason it involves an awful lot of actual dating and, sadly, not much sex. Confused? Harry is too, but when has anything with Draco Malfoy ever been as straightforward as it seems?

The vanishing department by dicta_contrion

37k - E

Summary: The things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, even if that involves a lot more form-filling, bickering, covert glancing, miscommunication, and flying furniture than we might expect.

The Boy Who Only Lived Twice by lettered

54k - E

Summary: Harry Potter is an Unspeakable. Draco Malfoy is the wizard who shagged him. Adventure! Intrigue! Secret identities, celebrities, spies! It's all right here, folks.

Naked by bixgirl1

57k - E

Summary: Harry and Draco are sent on an undercover assignment to catch a Dark wizard — which might not be so bad if it weren't at a Muggle nudist resort.Now Draco has to deal with a very interested Harry, temptation he's long-since learned to ignore, and threats around every corner — including the one to his heart.

A Guide to the Morphology of Magic by wendlaa

64k - E

Summary: When Draco Malfoy is hand picked to investigate a string of curses cropping up in Muggle communities in North America, the last person he wanted to be traveling with was Harry Potter. Still, duty calls, and the two set off on an adventure chasing down mysterious curses, sleeping in cramped hotel rooms, and trying to navigate their newly formed post-War selves as they make their way through small towns and long, dark stretches of highway.

You Open Always (petal by petal) by birdsofshore

65k - E

Summary: Harry’s not the kind of person who pays for sex. He really isn’t. Until he is.

Long - Over 70k

Tea and No Sympathy by Who-La-Hoop

70k - E

Summary: It's Potter's fault, of course, that Draco finds himself trapped in the same twenty-four-hour period, repeating itself over and over again. It's been nearly a year since the unpleasant business at Hogwarts, and Draco's getting on with his life quite nicely, thank you, until Harry sodding Potter steps in and ruins it all, just like always. At first, though, the time loop seems liberating. For the first time in his life, he can do anything, say anything, be anything, without consequence. But the more Draco repeats the day, the more he realises the uncomfortable truth: he's falling head over heels for the speccy git. And suddenly, the time loop feels like a trap. For how can he ever get Harry to love him back when time is, quite literally, against him?

Unhook the Stars by jad

70k - E

This is Top!Draco, so if that’s not your thing, maybe skip this one!

Summary: "Love is like a Rubix Cube: there are countless wrong twists and turns, but once you get it right, it's perfect no matter how you look at it." Seventy-thousand words of pornographic discourse between two boys-turned-men that still haven't learned how to communicate like normal people – with words. Guest appearances by Pansy Parkinson, Neville Longbottom, Hermione Granger, Blaise Zabini, Teddy Lupin, Gregory Goyle, the Weird Sisters, ex-wives, several Weasleys, a Boggart, and a Honey Badger.

Headlights In The Snow by Saras_Girl

71k - M

Summary: What’s big and purple and smells like tea? Harry is about to find out.

Reparations by Saras_Girl

87k - E

Summary: Harry is about to discover that the steepest learning curve comes after Healer training, and that second chances can be found in unexpected places.

Azoth by zeitgeistic (faire_weather)

88k - E

Summary: Now that Harry is back at Hogwarts with Hermione for eighth year, he realises that something’s missing from his life, and it either has to do with Ron, his boggart, Snape, or Malfoy. Furthermore, what, exactly, does it mean when one’s life is defined by the desire to simultaneously impress and annoy a portrait? Harry has no idea; he’s too busy trying not to be in love with Malfoy to care.

Balance, Imperfect by bixgirl1

91k - E

Summary: When Harry sustains an injury in the line of work, he no longer knows how to navigate the life he loved, and finds help and solace from the most unexpected source.

Helix by Saras_Girl

92k - E

Summary: Seven months after the end of the war, Harry is feeling lost. Fortunately, he is about to be offered an unexpected and sparkling chance to find himself again.

At Your Service by Faith Wood (faithwood)

95k - E

Summary: Hogwarts students are in danger; Harry is determined to save them all. There's only one thing he knows for certain: Draco Malfoy is somehow involved.

Bloody But Unbowed by Lomonaaeren

100k - E

Summary: Nothing in Harry’s life since the war has gone the way he expected. And now he’s the mediwizard assigned to take care of Lucius Malfoy, of all people. But he’s Harry; he grits his teeth and endures. He won’t allow even Draco Malfoy’s flirting, which he knows is just a joke, to disconcert him.

Starts With A Spin by Maxine

119k - E

Summary: It started with the spin of a bottle, and now Harry and Draco have gotten themselves so far into their own game there's almost no way out again. Except to keep playing.

Level Two: Series one by Ashii Black (ashiiblack), blamebrampton, Catsintheattic, dustmouth, epithalamium, incandescent (lmeden), JosephineStone, leveltwo, nerakrose, raitala, Romaine, Vaysh, Writcraft

113k - E

Summary: Witches and wizards are disappearing in a seemingly random fashion. Coincidence? Abductions? But no one is claiming ransom. The Aurors are not even sure the disappearances are connected, then one of the missing turns up dead. Meanwhile, Auror Harry Potter is thrown into the infamous Sirius Black Muggle murder case from 25 years ago. Given a chance to clear his godfather's name for good, Harry is not above accepting even the help of magical specialist Draco Malfoy.

Written On The Heart by Who-La-Hoop

113k - E

Summary: Harry doesn’t mind that so many Slytherins from his year have returned to finish their NEWTs, really he doesn’t. It’s just – do they have to be so friendly? He’s not prejudiced, really he’s not. It’s just – they’ve got to be up to something, right? Unnerved by the attention he’s attracting from everyone – the Slytherins are the least of it, to be fair – and struggling with a raft of changes to Hogwarts itself, Harry wishes he could be happy that one constant remains: Draco Malfoy really fucking hates him.

When he’s hit by an illegal love-spell though, Harry finds he has more to worry about than whether or not Blaise Zabini actually wants to be his friend. For if everyone affected has been blessed – or cursed, by the look on Malfoy’s face – with a magical tattoo revealing the name of their soulmate, what does it mean that Harry’s skin remains completely bare?

What We Pretend We Can't See by gyzym

131k - E

Summary: Seven years out from the war, Harry learns the hard truth of old history: it’s never quite as far behind you as you thought.

Any Instrument by dicta_contrion

131k - E

Summary: Draco Malfoy wouldn't go back to England for anything less than an exceptional case. Being asked to figure out why Harry Potter can't control his magic might be exceptional enough to qualify.

All Our Secrets Laid Bare by firethesound

149k - E

Summary: Over the six years Draco Malfoy has been an Auror, four of his partners have turned up dead. Harry Potter is assigned as his newest partner to investigate just what is going on.

Mental by sara_holmes

186k - M

Summary: Harry has had quite enough of sharing his mind with someone else, thankyouverymuch. A miscast Legilimecy spell says otherwise.

Turn by Saras_Girl

306k - E

Summary:‌ One good turn always deserves another. Apparently.

[shade-without-color]

The Thieving Magpie Chapter 3: Accused

Note: Y’all I am so sorry for the delay in posting Thieving Magpie as I have a long case of writers’ block due to exhaustation and all. But I am glad I got it through. So I will see if I can post up the new chapter this week as it is gonna be wild and it was super hilarious. Good news I finally caved in and made an Ao3 account so please enjoy this fic!

A few weeks later

Somehow Gascon's breath grew bated, as he looked over the cafe name. That seems strange, Gascon heaved his breath quietly as he tried to ring up that number. No answer at all. Seems that from his impressions with his mysterious client, he thought for a moment they will meet in some dingy pub outside of his apartments, and soon he will lead to some secret cult where he will be passed different passwords, maybe like an obscure reference of a French film or even worse interpretive hand gestures.

Instead, it was something similar as he entered the cafe, no one gave a copious gaze to him, let alone an air of suspicion that lingered by each person. He somehow held his breath slightly.

It should be nothing.

It could be just a regular day to get some coffee. He barely glanced at his phone, following the harrowing news on Meve and the Rivia family’s estates, absorbed by the sounds of small talk (It could be categorized something like either gossip between girlfriends or a business deal), computer keyboards racing furiously for an important deadline and the whistles of steam from the milk foamer. The cashier looked at him pensively “Hello Sir may I take your order…”

“One tall latte please …” and soon he heard a buzz from his phone which reads like “G….the cheque….” Gascon closed his phone again glanced over the pastry cabinet. “Do you want something to go with your latte….”

“Oh...One pain au chocolat” as he scanned over the crowd, there is surely be someone looking for him. He smiled at her quietly as he heard another buzz which reads something urgent “Sorry…could you hold the Pain Au Chocolat… I will take the latte a moment please….”  Somehow he felt his stomach churn slightly, as he quickly dropped the exact change to her. “Your name sir??”

“G….”

Gascon bit his tongue slightly as he scanned over the cafe crowd, where he glanced at a man in a particular suit, he seems to watch him pensively “Why did you stop halfway on your order.. you got something to hide…” Gascon noticed that he started to tap something on his iPad, but he barely turns his head to the computer. "Not much, About the cheque..."

Something is in amiss as Gascon received the buzz from his phone. "Watch..." his ears perked up to the final hiss of steam. “One tall latte for G…” even before he could reach for the collection station. He felt something protruding his neck. Gascon did not hesitate to press a button around his jacket but it came too late as he snatched it away and stomped it on the ground. “We have matters that needed your presence. Our boss needs some airtime with you…”

Gascon rolled his eyes slightly “Should he come to me in the face…” as he saw a small piece of paper “And I suppose he is afraid to give me that thing in the face..” as he slipped it quietly “Would you ever be so kind to let me get my latte…before we speak of terms….”

Slowly another man came by with a scowl in his face. “I am afraid, you do not have the time to dilly dally…”

Meve cleared her throat slightly, as she repressed the trembling fear in her fists. Reynard steadied her slightly “You are brave madam to face them...” as he heard the mummers of the press “I wish this will never happen to you…” “You wish….” somehow Meve’s words grew heavier as she could hear the servants slowly manoeuvring what is left from the auction. Meve clutched her necklace slightly in fear. Her mind swirled with the what-ifs and whys while fighting the blinding flashlights, as she walked to the empty room with faces looking at her with horror and shame. It was once a venue which she could treasure a fleeting moment. But now many who question her liability including a certain Caldwell who sneered at her surrounded her.

“Say Meve… we have been associates for years am I right…” "We did not need to escalate the situation drastically, all you simply need is to tell the press that, you, Meve will give your share as ordinates by your husband and conspired a common thief to steal the statue...You are in love with him..." Meve sucked her breath and stared at Caldwell firmly “Caldwell....what you did is….” Caldwell did not hold back his empathy, as he looked over his heavy stack of documents with glee. “Simple, I oversee your husband writing his will, poor bastard has a shock of his life, at a party not too long while you are pregnant with Anesis. It was lucky that he slipped away from being armed.” He smiled gleefully at Meve “Otherwise I will take it easier, but alas cannot count my chickens before they hatched….”

“Do not mock me…”

Caldwell grimaced quietly “I do not intend too, madam…I have documents all of the years, and you do not have the fight, even Reynard witness our conversations when your husband pen his words in the moment of sanity…"

Meve bit her lip angrily, muting out any sound of anger out of her mouth. Reynard withdraws slightly from the argument. Perhaps to some extent, he was right, however, Meve found it unlawful and thought of someone else. “I have an old friend mine, and his…” Meve muttered pensively to Caldwell “He, too helped my husband to oversee his collection and he will put a case against your head and my sons…”

Caldwell rendered himself silent. Maybe it is out of glee to see Meve holding back the tears. He took that opportunity to waltz out from the room   "I will not play my cards that high if I were you..." Meve could read his expression that he would rather saunter quickly, and Reynard came to her side rather swiftly "Come, I think they all seek you..." Her eyes glared fiercely at him, she only mutters angrily that he will deserve a harrowing end.

Now she must face the show.

Meve struggled to catch a breath, as she looked over the peering crowd who lurked at her vulnerability. They probably have many questions on that scandal. “I speak, in behalf of myself and my family- yes that issue of the missing statute looms in us. I vouch that I will have the magpie in chains, and facing every worse penalty. Yes, I may be grieving..but I beg all to never escalate the situation…"

“Apologies Meve may I interrupt this press statement for a moment…we got some breaking news…"

Soon a harrowing remark came over Caldwell and he deliciously savoured the moments of torment "We deeply regret the death of our client Reginald, yes he may have a tender heart but alas when it comes to that sculpture, which we are working with the law to recover that...." as he pressed the remote control to switch one of the slides to that face. "As of now, we managed to capture him at a designated point, apparently he has been paid highly to rob the statue..."

He glared at Meve cruelly "Initially it was planned that we will take it to court over the will However recent evidence shows that she worked with a con thief..." as he clicked one of the slides to one of the emails. Meve's eyes widened with horror on these words. "G.. attached here are the maps to my estate... you can make your way...". Meve's face grew pale with horror, beads of sweat dripped from her forehead. All lies... all lies...

"I object that..traitors! Traitors! Traitors!"

The press caved in like vultures hungering for fresh meat. Soon Caldwell's men clasped her in handcuffs "As for now…you will be escorted to somewhere to suit your needs under a small court, and your rights to vouch are absolved…” Caldwell’s eyes glanced at her gleefully “Any parting words to the press, before I made a statement that you tarnished your husband’s reputation….” Meve flared her nostrils “Nothing " She could hear a pop in her knuckles as she clenched it so tightly. "I want you to see you rotting in jail, and everyone will forget you... or better…" She tried to steady her breaths by posing herself calmly and giving him a cold shoulder.

“No matter what you said, you will twist my words into heinous lies..." "Now, now, now Meve... controversial... yes..." Caldwell interrupted slightly as he delighted himself with her stiffness "I wish that Reynard would be easily swayed…” He glanced at Reynard glaring at him defiantly, as his hands are locked in handcuffs by one of his men “We discuss a while back, should you took yourself to fight me, I offered him a good sum and lifetime insurance in exchange that he will vouch for me…”

"Sadly he would rather stay with you…”

Caldwell gave a pregnant pause as if to spite her even more. “I knew that Reginald is too soft for him. And knowing him, he rather throws the fire towards you…"

Somehow Meve held her breath, as she looked over at the window of her car- she and Reynard are rendered silent “What are you going to do now...” Reynard pondered at the corner of the window, for the swarms of crowds escort them. Chatter dulled her ears and soon she slipped herself into the black car, Meve shielded herself from the glaring flashes.

“I am taking all who accomplished Caldwell...” Meve sucked her breath. “They will be sorry if they ever crossed with me..” Meanwhile, Meve’s eyes trailed to another car, and she recognised that face. That stupid face. He seems to be in ease with his arrest, along with all of Caldwell’s men trailing the path. He entertained his many fans by blowing kisses into the air and giving a wink. Gascon gave a chuckle as he slipped himself into the police car with ease.

Meve hissed under her breath. He is indeed despicable.

Soon the flashes slowly faded away into the jailhouse. They glanced at the man walking with a swagger of a rockstar. He seems to be unfazed by that whole session. A whisper came by at the distance, as if pleased “Say Meve, Caldwell really kicks your ass…”

“DO NOT SPEAK TO HER LIKE THAT. SHE ALREADY…"

"Shut it... not talking to you..." Gascon growled angrily to Reynard, and he glanced "Meve... Personally, I think he is interested to liquidate you and the sales. My, are you that bloody hopeless. The trial is just a bloody facade. Your sons and that...in the end who will win..Caldwell will get the sales. You are just an obstacle." Reynard glared at Gascon slightly "Well, of course, you guys too...", as he flicked his phone and play some harrowing tune for shits and giggles “What still crossed with me...” He popped his tongue slightly as he focused his gaze on Meve.

“Yes to a certain extent Meve…”

Gascon lamented slightly “I think he is still pissed off over one of his stolen paintings- it is still kept in my room. I treasured it as if it was my life’s work…”

“Wait is that…”

Meve heard about the mysterious disappearance of a treasured painting by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, depicting the muses crowing Apollo. It is usually a conversation starter in Caldwell's dinners about the mysterious theft of it. Could Gascon himself do that feat? Meve thought pensively, by his casualness "And I suppose you must take things that belong to him..." Gascon glanced at one of Caldwell’s guards staring at him pensively. “Meve... I will tell that another time... ” Reynard glared at him slightly “What are you planning to do? We have no one too...”

“Getting ourselves out of that prison...." Quickly Gascon passed them earplugs, and he too covered it, with his headphones "Just bear with it, it gets pretty loud...." Slowly the speakers started to echo with a brisk march. Reynard raised his eyebrow as he paused the music to change it to a muzak theme "It seems normal…” as he took out a small pen from his blazer "You may want to keep your earplugs on..." Gascon muttered cheekily as he clicked the top of the pen, and soon that tune emits squeaks at the distance, and soon the guards’ faces seem frazzled with that ringing. They only got up again, rubbing the temples before it flicked to another obscure piece.

He has that grin which Meve could read it as, watch and learn... Soon he clicked the pen to the top. That brisk piece boomed through the speakers and soon they went through different rooms to key in the emergency codes for lockdown.

“Now run…”

He gripped the wrists of Meve and Reynard and quickly ran as fast as they could. Soon alarms blared at every corner, and only one who has his headphones noticed the chaos. “Shot they are getting away…” He got out form his seta and chased them without any hesitation. Gascon quickly spray the passageways with gas and cut every communication line with a penknife. Reynard muttered angrily, “Is this your plan, classical music and causing an emergency lockdown how this your plan…" as he tried to push the regenerate force of the way.

“You just have to keep it up…"

Via the janitors’ room, only guided by a handphone torch as their guiding light, they went. To lift their spirits he whistled that tune which was blasted in the court. “We just took a new meaning of ear worm….” which of course Reynard groaned loudly as they made out to the obscure end. For that moment Meve took a sharp breath of air and gazed slightly. “Why did you decide to help us? I thought you…”

“To spite him…” Gascon gave a playful wink to Meve “Remember that conversation in the jailhouse about a painting I stole- ahh I was Apollo being crowned by the muses for its glories and that will be Caldwell screaming to his buffoons.” He quickly showed that post to Meve. She gasped quietly, perhaps her instincts are right. It was that painting which Caldwell lamented.

“Dear gods…” Reynard muttered, “How can you…"

“And plus I have a reputation for escaping through the worse of courts. This one is child’s play…"

Soon he looked over the main road, and quietly they descended to a bus stop “Coast is clear, we need to do is to hop that bus, I will tell you more…” For that moment Meve smiled at Gascon, she was grateful that there is hope. And surprisingly she found herself along with Reynard on the shabby estate. Meve knew that her husband used to come to those places to help the children, and she heard horror stories from people.

But this.

This.

How could it be for a master thief like Gascon?

“Since you are ex-communicated by that hack...” Gascon huffed slightly “and your house will be bombarded by his Guards...” He gave a bow to his guests, and soon men dressed in jumpers and pants came down from the stairs “You have no choice but to stay here, sure it is not a 5-star hotel but at least it is something...”

The stench of mould tingled Reynard’s nose, Gascon quickly took the air freshener and sprayed it quickly “Apologies Reynard!” He hides a burst of boyish laughter. “Seems we have to pull something quick for you guys...” He cues his boys to look over the place while Meve sat comfortably on the ratty couch. “Until we can make plans...”

“So what is your idea...”

Gascon looked over at the city lights “We all know that going out and calling in public is a no-no and given that you become involved with me on the escape...” He heaved slightly “We have to wait it out Meve... until I can think of something to prove your innocence …” Gascon took a beer bottle and drank it “In which we have none.” Meve grew silent. She refused to be called out by Caldwell. “Unless I speak with Fableston. He is an old friend of my husband. He vouches for many cases…I just pray that he does not betray us…”

“And how can you be certain…”

Reynard trembled slightly “The last time your husband and Fableston spoke, it did not end well. I fear he will not look kindly at you...'Gascon nodded slightly as he looked at the city, and Reynard looking exasperatedly on the apartment's condition “And that I agreed with that grumbly folk, who knows what Caldwell pull you in…”

“I will try to call him up, see if he could vouch for you…” Meve glared quietly “With or without your help…”Soon Meve slopped against the couch, the week’s events worn her out, but for that moment Gascon saw the fierceness in her eyes. She seems determined to clear her name no matter what.

Tag List (DM if you wanted to be tagged)

@oichealainn

@witcherislovewitcherislife

@tcustodis

@etaedraws

@akazireael

@highkingofhuckleberries

@dukeofqueers

@dukeofdogs

@this-is-a-job-for-vesemir

@riviae

[adofom1]

On Class, Mainstream Media and the Police State in Jackson, MS and Beyond

Jackson Police Department’s Interim Police Chief Anthony Moore held a press conference on May 30, 2018 announcing the firing of Officer Vincent Lampkin. On May 14, 2018, Lampkin physically assaulted John Knight, III and placed a gun to his head. Not surprisingly, during his press conference, Moore framed Lampkin’s actions as that of a lone bad apple that should not be attributed to the rest of JPD.

The one bad apple explanation for police state violence is an old trope used by the police state to maintain its legitimacy and moral authority in the eyes of the popular masses. It is usually employed when the top brass in a police department has decided that an officer has to be made a sacrificial lamb for acts of violence against a civilian because to do otherwise might damage the entire department’s legitimacy.

Lampkin should have been fired. However, we must be clear about the social, political and economic underpinnings that led to his firing. We must also be clear that Lampkin’s firing alone is not justice, especially in light of the fact that Moore narrowly tailored his public statement on the incident to coincide with the false narrative that Lampkin was a bad apple that does not represent the “good cops” with JPD. JPD systemically perpetuates violence against poor Black people because it is a department comprised of a bunch of bad apples that need to be thrown in the garbage.

 “One Bad Apple Spoils the Whole Bunch”

 In trying to cast Lampkin as a lone bad apple, Moore must have forgotten about the old saying, “that one bad apple spoils the whole bunch.” JPD has killed four people since November 2017. None of the officers involved in these killings have been held accountable for their actions. In each instance of police violence, JPD has told the public it would conduct an internal investigation or that it was passing the case along to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation for an “independent” investigation. It has been seven months since JPD’s first victim was killed and the public still knows nothing about the findings of JPD’s investigation or if the officer was even held to account. JPD has refused to release the names of officers who shoot and/or kill civilians and has doubled and tripled down on this position while Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba has given them cover while they operate with impunity.

 Lampkin’s assault of Knight took place in the context and culture of violence that has been fostered by JPD. This culture was not developed and nurtured overnight. To act as if Lampkin is an aberration within JPD is disingenuous and is an insult to the intelligence of the residents of Jackson. Even if Lampkin was an aberration, why did other “good cops” not come forward and condemn his criminal behavior? It is because JPD is violent to its core. Police officers are trained to control and dominate, not protect and serve.

 I am sure that this is not the first time that Lampkin has assaulted someone. Why else would he feel so comfortable brutalizing someone, putting a gun to their head and then cavalierly releasing them as if nothing happened? I know from my experience of representing individuals charged with crimes that JPD routinely assaults persons who are arrested. I have had clients who have been maimed by JPD and they will be brought into court brutalized and no one in the courtroom would ask one question about the person’s appearance except me. This is evidence that every official in this system is complicit in and provides cover for the violent thug operation that is the police state in Jackson and beyond. Officers get away with such violent acts because most of the people they brutalize are poor, Black and powerless. However, this time, Lampkin made the mistake of choosing a victim who society viewed as having great potential in line with society’s classist orientation.

 The Role of Classism in the Case of John Knight, III

 Class contradictions were apparent in the way that Knight’s assault was handled by the media, society at large and JPD. These glaring class contradictions should not be ignored or taken lightly. Knight is a former Jackson Public Schools student athlete. At the time he was assaulted, Knight was at home on a break waiting to begin school at Utah State University where he won a basketball scholarship to attend. Local media outlets, which have been notorious for engaging in character assassination of individuals killed by JPD, were very careful in how they framed the Knight incident.

 In reporting about Knight’s ordeal with JPD, the Clarion Ledger was sure to always refer to Knight as a student athlete and did not take any swipes at his character. However, when Crystaline Barnes, who was also a college student and mother, was killed by JPD officers under dubious circumstances, the publication decided to publish that Barnes had outstanding traffic tickets and that she had previously been in the Hinds County Pre-Trial Intervention program, a probation program that allows individuals to have their charges dismissed if they can pay money to the Hinds County District Attorney’s Office over a 12 month period. Clearly, both were college students, but the difference seems to be that Barnes was a single mother who was not deemed as worthy of sympathy as the student athlete who has “potential” in the eyes of a classist society.

 In a press conference called by Knight’s attorney, Dennis Sweet, III, Sweet and Knight’s parents repeatedly made comments that were rooted in respectability and classism. Knight’s father constantly made references to how he taught his son to respect authority, how he came from a “good” home, had a “good” upbringing and had never been in any trouble. Sweet highlighted how Knight was on the dean’s list at Southwest Community College and is the type of young man that Jackson should be proud of. On the surface, these comments appear to be merely statements made by individuals who are interested in getting justice for a client and a son. However, when we go deeper and look at the class dynamics of the society that we live in, the comments made set up a dichotomy that says individuals who are poor, Black, mentally ill, drug addicted and/or convicted felons are less deserving of justice than a young Black man who has the potential to be an American “success” story.

 This society has proven time and time again that Black people can be murdered in cold blood, accosted or otherwise harassed no matter what our station in life is. In short, our college degrees, the way we dress, the way we speak or the type of family we come from will never be enough to provide shelter for Black people from the reign of police terror. This is why it is dangerous for anyone to set up, whether it is intentional or unintentional, a classist narrative that centers on an individual’s characteristics, potential, or academic or athletic prowess. There should not be one case where we are not raising the names of all of JPD’s victims and pointing out that this is a systemic problem and not just an issue of a particular incident or case. When we don’t do this, we thwart our own chances for getting closer to establishing a system of justice where no one is mistreated regardless of race, class, gender or sexual orientation.

 Crystaline Barnes, Lee Bonner, Elliot Reed and an unidentified Black man were all working class or poor Black people killed by JPD officers. They all had their characters assassinated by JPD and the media after JPD killed them. None of them are less worthy of justice because of their interaction with the so-called criminal justice system are allegations of criminal activity at the time of their killings. Sadly, the deaths of these victims did not raise much concern or outrage in popular discourse and the little motion that was generated surrounding their killings certainly did not result in any officers being fired or criminally punished for their actions. As far as the public knows, none of these officers were criminally indicted, some of the cases likely never even made it before a grand jury.

 Working class and poor Black lives are deemed less valuable and worthy of redress. This is an elitist notion that we must vigilantly stand against and repudiate. We must engage in vigorous and unceasing class analysis and struggle. This is the only way that there will be justice for all of JPD’s victims. If Lampkin can be fired for assaulting Knight, there is no reason that the officers who killed the aforementioned victims should not be fired and criminally charged. Instead, they enjoyed a paid vacation on the tax payer’s dime and were allowed to return to work as if nothing ever occurred. That this has happened in a city that touts itself as “the most radical city on the planet” would be laughable if it were not so sad and angering.

 The Struggle for justice against police state violence cannot and must not be relegated to the legal realm of civil lawsuits of individual victims or their families. I am not opposed to victims seeking monetary damages, but that cannot and should not be all that is pursued. Police State violence is a systemic issue and must be attacked as such. We must build a political movement to challenge the systemic violence of these gestapo like police departments. This is the only way we can bring police violence to a halt. We must demand that police are disarmed and police departments are disbanded and replaced with institutions that are more just, humane and controlled by the popular masses.

 History is evidence that the only solution to police violence is disarmament and disbandment. Police have been killing Black people since the days they were called Slave Patrols. They have been used to subvert worker solidarity and class unity, both interracially and intra-racially. They are used to protect the economic interests of the ruling class elites. Police help to ensure that the popular masses never gain control over their own labor and ultimately, the means of production. The elite classes use the means of production to generate wealth for themselves on the backs of the popular masses. Police place profits, maintaining unjust class relations and the status quo before the wellbeing of people.  

   Is the Outcome in Knight’s Incident Truly Justice?

 Before we get too carried away with celebrating about the firing of Lampkin, we must reflect. The public still does not officially know the truth of what happened to Knight and why. We still don’t officially know whether this was Lampkin’s first time engaging in such criminal behavior. If it was not his first time acting so criminally, why didn’t all of the “good cops” report his criminality? How many other officers have had allegations of this criminal nature brought against them without consequence or repercussions? We don’t know the answers to these questions and we won’t know if we are satisfied with Lampkin’s firing. We must go deeper.

If a civilian was accused of assaulting a law enforcement officer, that civilian would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Why aren’t Lampkin and other violent cops being prosecuted for their crimes against the popular masses? I have seen countless instances where civilians are charged with aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer when it was clear that the officer had not been accosted. So, if the people are being prosecuted on trumped up charges inside of kangaroo courts, certainly, these violent police officers should be prosecuted as well for their very real crimes committed against the community.  

Our Standing Demands

The America Mean Prison Initiative (AMP), a grassroots community effort aimed at addressing police state violence and supporting communities impacted by the violence and dehumanization of incarceration call on the Lumumba administration to do the following: 1) Fire all officers involved in violence against civilians; 2) Establish a use of force policy that includes tangible and direct participation by the popular masses; 3) Release the names of officers involved in acts of violence against residents immediately; 4) Conduct an internal audit into all JPD policies, procedures and practices and allow the popular masses to be involved at every stage of the process; 5) Establish a human rights charter and an elected human rights commission with subpoena and investigative powers to ensure that all civilian’s human rights are respected, protected and fulfilled and 6) Disband the task force appointed by Lumumba because it is not a genuine representation and expression of the popular masses, but instead is little more than an appendage of the state and its’ manipulative machinations of the people.

[adventuresinclientservice]

How to be an iron fist in a velvet glove.

I heard about this meeting second-hand, so I am not sure of the details, but my agency colleagues and I were in Tailloires, ready to begin a global meeting of senior management.  As we connected and swapped the customary pleasantries prior to the session’s start, I recall Ian Creasey’s admiration as he marveled at how William Eccleshare defanged a rancorous client.  

As best as I remember the retelling, in a meeting with the agency, the client in question went on a rant about a thing – I sadly can’t summon the client’s name or what the “thing” was -- that rendered them apoplectic:  perhaps it was the work, maybe it was the people, possibly it was both the work and the people.  Who knows? What I do know is this was one pissed-off client.

William listened intently and respectfully as the client unloaded charge after charge; when the ammunition ran out, he asked, “Are you done?” his voice reserved, his manner restrained, not giving a hint of what was to follow.

“Yes, we’re done,” came the reply, having ripped the agency a new one.  William sat for a moment, completely quiet, then rose and systematically, methodically, and thoroughly recounted every point the client made, refuting every one, ending with something to the effect that, “The agency is not at fault here, you are; the problem is, you won’t let us do our jobs, and when things go wrong, you blame us, which has to stop if we’re going to continue to work together.”

Oh my.  I’m not sure I would have wanted to be in the room that day, but had I been there, I would have looked for a place to hide.

Except there was no need to duck and cover.  As Ian explained it, in a moment that combined clarity with recognition, a now stunned and chastened client came to its senses and, to everyone’s surprise, apologized; a situation seriously going south was suddenly saved.  

How often does that happen?   I have no idea, but not often enough.

The thing I remember most about the story in its retelling:  William didn’t get rattled, didn’t get angry, didn’t stumble; he did the things all of us would want to do, were we to find ourselves in a similar circumstance, but often cannot do, so overcome are we with the need to retaliate in kind.  Had he returned client fire with fire of his own, things easily could have spiraled out of control, with everyone leaving bruised and angry, the account now in doubt.  Instead, William’s measured response got his point across without costing the account.

In a moment of high stress, William remained low key.  He kept his wits about him; he was plenty mad but was plenty smart about it too.  He didn’t need to grow a spine; he already had one.

Over the years I’ve spoken at length about some of the qualities that define stellar client service – consistency, resilience, judgement, ownership – but until I recalled the story about William, never gave a moment’s thought to composure, another of those overlooked yet vital virtues to which many aspire but few demonstrate in moments that matter.  

There will be times when you come under fire; the temptation is to return fire.  You could do that, you even could prevail in that particular firefight, but longer term, you will lose, first the battle, then the war, then the account.

I know this often is hard to do, but when things run hot – with clients, with colleagues – it’s best to remain cool without giving in or conceding, serving instead as the proverbial iron fist in a velvet glove.

A bit like William.

[canaryatlaw]

well, today was all around pretty great. I’m just. the relief is so overwhelming. After two months of waiting, reading one line on a message and it’s done. All those hours of studying paid off. and like, the whole time I was stressing about it before and after taking it people were always like “oh but you’re so smart I’m sure you passed” and I was just like well I appreciate your confidence in me, but you weren’t there when I kept failing on all the practice questions to the point where I’d start crying from being so frustrated, how my “missing assignments” list had become multiple pages worth of entries, how much I slacked off because I wanted to do something else and didn’t do my daily assignments, all while having a sinking feeling that I was fucked. I did feel a bit better about it after actually taking the test, which I somewhat attributed to the whole adrenaline rush thing because that’s a thing that would happen whenever I’d walk out of an audition, even if it went pretty shitty I’d walk out with a burst of confidence, so I kinda felt like it was probably just that. but at the same time I couldn’t deny that I had a supernatural peace over me calming my mind and guiding me while I was taking the test, and I knew that wasn't coming from anything inside me, because all I was filled with was doubt and fear, but as I worked on it I felt peace, I felt the studying I did shine through, I felt like I could do this. After a month of thinking I was definitely going to fail, I felt calm. I felt like I could do this. And I know none of that came from inside of me, because there was none of in me, I know that was God being by my side and never leaving me as I struggled and doubted myself the whole way, He was right there making sure I never fell. And I’m honestly tearing up right now writing this just thinking about it. Like yes of course things haven’t always been great, and there’s been a lot of stuff lately, but I cannot deny that God is good, He has been so good to me and I never would’ve gotten here without him. Okay, now that there’s all that done, my actual day. Woke up at 7, got ready, made sure to put waterproof mascara on (up until recently I had been using it every day because I am completely unpredictable as to when I’m gonna start crying, but I read a thing that said to avoid it when you can so I’d been using a different one, but knew today called for waterproof) because no matter what way this went I knew there was going to be tears. I left a little early because I had to stop by the office and drop off my lunch, since I was bringing a lunch with me that required refrigeration and didn’t want to drag it though court with me for who knows how long. So I’m on my way, and once I get on the train platform and there’s a train pulling up right next to me, my phone decided it wanted to take a plunge out of my pocket. now, to be fair, my pockets were a tad small for the phone to fit with earbuds plugged in, so it wasn’t all that well secured. but it took a dive, coming loose from my earbuds, and sliding on the platform a solid two feet before coming to a stop about 6 inches away from the edge of the platform. All I could do was look at it then turned to the person next to me who had seen the whole thing and was like “well that could’ve been a lot worse” 😂😂 and I mean, I’ve dropped my phone on the tracks before (though that was objectively not at all my fault) so I know just how true that is. Once I got on the train and looked at it my glass screen protector was broken but my actual screen was fine, so that’s what matters. Standing room only on the train, took it to the office stop and got off, then ran upstairs to stick my lunch in the fridge on my floor, and then stepped in to use the bathroom before heading to court. It was once I’d stepped into the bathroom and I was looking at my phone and refreshing my email, that I saw an email marked from the IL Bar Admissions Board and of course I knew exactly what it was, and my heart started racing. I definitely hadn’t expected to hear from them earlier than 9 am, and it was like 8:30 at this point. So I follow the link in the email to the site, sign in, and eagerly click the new message I had labeled “exam results,” took a deep breath and looked down to see “We are pleased to advise that you have passed the July 2018 Illinois Bar Examination” and I was just flooded with so much relief. I was even thinking like, are you sure? they isn’t an accident?? this is actually me??? And, crazy enough, it seems like it was. And I can’t even tell you how relieved I am to know and for all of it to just be over. Swearing in isn’t until November 8th, so I got another month to spend in not quite an attorney limbo, but I know I’ll survive. I know that once we get sworn in they’re definitely just going to throw us into the deep end, so I need to make sure I’m really paying attention in court so I’m not fucking this up. I was the first of the five new hires who had taken it to find out, so once they heard I got it of course they were very nervous. But I continued on to court, where I was shadowing one of the female attorneys I like a lot but hadn’t really been able to see in action yet. We had a bit of an odd schedule, mostly about setting trial dates, but we were running back and forth a bit, but overall it wasn’t bad. I was gonna stick with her the whole day and there was a deposition at 1, and since you always need to prep your client for the deposition you need to get there like an hourish early. It was 11 at this point so we ended up going to the corner bakery cafe that was right next to the courthouse, where we were eventually joined by two other attorneys (guy attorney I kinda like showed up and I was like “ugh, nobody told me this guy was coming” and everyone laughed) (making fun of boys is how I show my affection to them). Through that conversation I found out that 3 of us (the new hires that took the bar) had passed, but sadly two of them didn’t, so that really sucks for them. Thankfully though the firm will keep them on and not just dump them, so that’s good. Other lunch topics included one of the top attorneys who handles almost all the med mal cases apparently just confidentially put in his two weeks notice (I was warned not to tell anyone under any circumstances, but later in the day another lawyer came into our office and told us the same thing) which was....interesting. I’m not really sure if they have a hierarchy or what going on there so I don’t really know how the big wigs work. Oh well. After we finished eating we walked over to the opposing counsel’s office to prep our client for the deposition. Fairly simple car accident case, our client had been parked in a parking lot when she got rear ended by another car that had just pulled in, hard enough that the other woman’s car ended up being totaled. The deposition of her was normal enough, nothing too extraordinary, but the real fun started afterwards when it was our turn to depose the defendant. now, to paint this picture for you, this woman who caused the accident is at least in her 70s if not 80s, and tbh should not have been driving. At first there was a lot of back and forth about her license saying she needed corrective lenses while driving and she was like “I never wear my glasses when I drive” and other stuff about when she got cataract surgery and this whole big mess, then there was another mess about medications because one of the meds she listed in the interrogatories was for sleep issues and comes with a fuck ton of side effects that could easily have contributed to the accident, but when we ask her about it she straight up says she wasn’t aware of any of the side effects, and get this, it’s not even her prescription, it’s her brother’s who gives some to her when she can’t sleep 😂😂😂 I was honestly trying to hide my smile because I was just like oh man, I can’t believe she just said that lol. Then there was a whole fight about what doctor did the cataract surgery which is a very odd spot to object and the lawyers started going at it, neither willing to budge, so they had to certify the question, meaning it has to go to a judge who will decide if it should be answered or not. and then towards the end when they were going to do cross OPC and their client took a “break” during which the lawyer I was shadowing was like “watch, they’re gonna have her change everything now” and sure enough when they came back in the room suddenly she remembered the cataract surgery was in 2016, not 2013 like she initially said, and of course she was wearing her glasses at the time....even when she literally just said she never drives with them on. and like, our attorney was not having it, she was PISSED. I was honestly surprised they were trying something so brazen like that when it’s legit just a bald faced lie and everyone knew it. so on redirect we fired back, our attorney was like “so earlier you said this and now you're saying this? so were you lying then or are you lying now?” and the OPC looked like he was gonna have a stroke haha it was pretty good, and the depo went well overall so there very well may be a settlement offer coming in there soon. After we headed back to the office, where I typed up my notes from the depo and sent them to the attorney, and by the time I finished that it was like 5:15 so I headed out. Train ride home was fine, got home and got some food and was ready for The Resident this week. I won’t get into it too much because I’m mad tired but the episode made me rage so much about the state of our healthcare system and fucking children not being able to get the life-saving medication they need because their parents can’t afford it. honestly, I was so angry lol. so there’s that. After of course was 911, which was basically a continuation from last week’s in their earthquake situation. All I’ll say about it was the point where all the firemen/EMS/everyone else disobeyed orders to evacuate the building to save the firefighter that was trapped with a little girl had me on the verge of tears, it was really well done and I always appreciate stuff like that. So that was good, and after that I just watched the news casually for an hour before starting to get ready for bed, and now I’m here and GOD am I tired, what a day, so I think I definitely deserve to go to bed now. Goodnight dear friends. Thank you for all your love today, it means the world to me.

[thefriedmannfirm01]

Workplace Sexual Harassment Attorney in Cincinnati, Ohio

Every person has the right to work or look for a job without suffering sexual harassment. This right is guaranteed by Title VII of The Civil Rights Act of 1964, a federal law and by Ohio’s laws that prohibit discrimination.  Sadly, violations of these laws occur with alarming frequency. At The Friedmann Firm, our Cincinnati sexual harassment lawyers fight to hold employers accountable when employees are sexually harassed by a supervisor or by a co-worker.

A Frequent Violation of Workers’ Rights In February 2018, NPR reported that a  survey revealed 81% of women and 41% of men “experienced some form of sexual harassment during their lifetime.” Among the female victims, 38 percent said that their harassment had happened at work.

Later that year, researchers at the University of Massachusetts published data indicating that “about 5 million employees are sexually harassed at work every year.”

In addition to highlighting how common workplace sexual harassment is, the survey and study results indicate that both women and men can become victims. Perpetrators can be of the same sex and sexual orientation as the individuals they harass, and the harassment can come from bosses or coworkers.

When Grounds for a Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Exist Sexual harassment takes two basic forms. The first is often called “quid pro quo harassment,” as it involves demands for dates or sexual favors in return for keeping a job, receiving benefits, or qualifying for a promotion. Our Cincinnati sexual harassment lawyer explains what to know about work quid pro quo sexual harassment.

The second type of workplace sexual harassment creates a hostile work environment. In these situations, a victim of sexual harassment is subjected to lewd or insulting comments about their looks and sexual desirability, touched inappropriately, mocked for being feminine or unmanly, threated with sexual assault, and/or made to feel devalued by displays of pornography. If you believe that you have been the victim of sexual harassment in the workplace, call a Cincinnati sexual harassment lawyer now.

It is not unusual for a worker to be subjected to quid pro quo sexual harassment and to encounter a hostile work environment. Grounds for filing a complaint exist when the harassment is unwanted and unwelcome, happens more than once, and interferes with one’s ability to feel safe and complete their job-related duties. It is VITAL that you report the sexual harassment to a supervisor and/or Human Resources if the harassment involves a co-worker.  An employer cannot remedy something it does not know about. In order for you to have a claim against your employer for co-worker sexual harassment, you must report it to the employer first and the employer must fail to act or fail to act appropriately.

The analysis changes if the harasser is your direct supervisor and has the ability to fire you, discipline you or demote you. You should always consult with a Cincinnati sexual harassment attorney regarding how to report the sexual harassment before resigning.  Additionally, asexual assault at work is both an actual crime and grounds for a harassment lawsuit.

How a Cincinnati Sexual Harassment Lawyer Can Help According to the UMass researchers, 99.8 percent of workplace sexual harassment incidents go unreported. This is largely because victims fear that coming forward will get them fired or set them up for other types of retaliation such as verbal and physical mistreatment. The university study confirms those fears, indicating that a little more than two-thirds of the sexual harassment cases investigated by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission included allegations of retaliation.

As sexual harassment attorneys practicing in southern Ohio, we advise clients on how to document and report harassment while minimizing risks for retaliation. We also strive to protect our clients’ privacy as their case progresses. Most importantly, we are skilled in addressing arguments from an employer that instances of sexual harassment never happened or were welcome and encouraged by the victim.

This content has been taken from - https://www.thefriedmannfirm.com/sexual-harassment-lawyer-cincinnati-ohio/