#she ans olivia are married and in love

[buffyspeak]

i’m obsessed with lucy btw

[aesthetic-solar-space]

Olivia Pope Appreciation Post!

Olivia Carolyn Pope!

She not only worked at the White House, and created her own form, but she put presidents in office. She doesn’t just fix problems, she fixes people.

She seems to have been mentored by both Cyrus and Verna which after her vast education, molded her into who she is today.

Throughout the seasons we see Olivia go through hell in back not only for her clients, those she loves, but also for herself. She will do whatever is necessary and her gut is never wrong so with those two pieces together she dominates Washington D.C.

Through the seasons we do see Olivia I’m relationships, even though she says in season one she can never have normal.. the other major factor being “All Roads Lead Back To Fitz”

Edison Davis: off screen the two have a past relationship where they lived together in Georgetown and Edison even proposed. However it ended, and years later they begin to reconnect- but Olivia can’t open up to him, especially not about the past relationship she had that’s haunting her (Aka Fitz). Even with Olivia being an emotional stonewall Edison proposes again, and Olivia says No. this second proposal shows Olivia that she wants a difficult, painful love rather than an easy and normal one.

Fitz Grant: Fitz needed help with his election campaign while on the trail and Cyrus having met Olivia at law school, knew just the person to bring in. They very quickly and easily developed feelings for each other, and as much as they wanted to be together Olivia knew that an affair would be political suicide for Fitz. He was persistent though, and after being elected he told her that he loved her. Even after Olivia left the White House due to Mellie knowing about her and Fitz, there love ans tension never stopped. They didn’t become official and public until much later after Fitz divorced Mellie. However things weren’t perfect, when Fitz proposed she at first said no - then yes. Then later she gave back the ring. Fitz did however forgive Olivia and move her into the White House, however once again not so long after this - Olivia feels trapped and like she doesn’t want the life she’s living. So she leaves Fitz and the White House. From there the relationship went back to being an off again on again thing for awhile. When Fitz moves back to D.C. to help Olivia after his presidency is over, and she has left the White House which is now in the hands of Millie. It’s left open as to if they get back together officially or what happens. But in my mind they do in fact get back together and though there life would never be “normal”, Olivia learns that the difficult and painful romance she thought she deserved was also a soft and sweet - safe place.

Jake Ballard: The two met a few months after the death of Verna and the sparks ignited fast. From there it was an on and off again thing. The relationship is complicated in many ways in true Olivia fashion but a major one being that Olivia is often seen going back and forth between Jake and Fitz. Jake is shown to know Olivia more than she knows herself, to know her darkness and not shy away. She is very open and vulnerable with him. Once Fitz has been re-elected Jake and Olivia go to an island for two months and come back boyfriend and girlfriend and stay that way until something catastrophic happens in Olivia’s life. When it’s over she doesn’t want to see him or Fitz as she tries to think of them as her past while she tried to move forward. Awhile later Jake tells her about how he’s in love with her but that if she loves Fitz, she should be with him. She does just that but after her breakup, her and Jake rekindle, though everything seems to be just physical until Jake gets engaged. However the engagement is just a cover and he tells Olivia as much. Jake asks if Olivia wants to be with him, and she nods and kisses him. However Olivia receives a threat that Jake must marry Vanessa or he would be killed.

Throughout the show there were a few other small romances but overall those above were the big three.

Trivia

- She paces circles when she is troubled by something that she considers a real problem, they become perfect circles if she is really worried

- In highschool she was on the swim team

- She has one rule for all clients: “Do not lie. They lie, all bets are off.”

- She knows 18 languages, including Spanish, Farsi, Russian, Swahili, Cantonese, and Urdu

- The character of Olivia Pope is inspired by the real life crisis management consultant: Judy Smith

- The final scene in the Final shows a portrait of Olivia Pope in the second floor of the National Portrait Gallery which is only reserved for portraits of presidents of the United States of America. This leads us to believe that sometime after Mellie, Olivia became president.

[determinedbuns]

sd★*･ questions addressed to your muse.

“Shall we begin?”

▌WHAT IS YOUR REAL NAME?  

❝Bethany Olivia Ingrid Anne Koraline the Fourth!❞

▌WHAT IS YOUR /REAL/ NAME?

❝... Oh good, one of those questionnaires. My true name varies, I would be loathe to call myself by the name of that scoundrel, but our true name is Lynth, though I would rather consider myself seperate so please, let us proceed with Bethany...❞

▌DO YOU KNOW WHY YOU WERE CALLED THAT?

❝It’s an elaborate callback to one of our previous identities. One that is no longer with us, whether they melded into him or I remains elusive to us, nor does it seem to be a concern for us. That name was Blink. Bethany oLivia Ingrid aNne Koraline. That was the name that was given to this face, and I’ve taken it along with my consciousness. ‘The Fourth’ part of my name was only a superficial addition that He haphazardly... slapped on, as they say, to make himself sound important I assume.❞

▌ARE YOU SINGLE OR TAKEN?

❝I’m anything but single, you can simply ask that one Doll.❞

▌HAVE ANY ABILITIES OR POWERS?

❝My innate abilities involve shapeshifting our body into near limitless shapes, sizes, and colors. We are of an ancient race of shapeshifters who have gone nigh-extinct thanks to Oliver. As for the full extent of our abilities, we carry ancient knowledge of arcane arts that reaches beyond the boundaries of the universe. Magicks stemming from various worlds are ours to command, provided we carry the resources and energy necessary to carry out these spells and incantations. Unfortunately, our minds are fragmented and shattered, like a prized vault spilling errantly into the coffers of desperate patrons who have little control over what they are given save for... special exceptions. But I suppose to give you all a frame of reference, I am versed in the art of elemental magic, summons, and transmogrification. ❞

▌WHAT’S YOUR EYE COLOUR?

❝I have given myself a bright Cyan color. I believe they are distinct, and a vast contrast from the other’s gaudy red.❞

▌HOW ABOUT YOUR HAIR COLOUR?

❝An imperfect blonde, I could make it just about any color I please, but this is what I would prefer... Bright, but flawed, imperfect, lost of radiance...❞

▌HAVE YOU ANY FAMILY MEMBERS?

❝I did, Samga was among them. They were not family by blood, mind you, but they were of my kin nonetheless. You’ve probably heard of this type of familial bond a hundred times by now on this blog.❞

▌OH? WHAT ABOUT PETS?

❝I had one in the past. It was a Canine, it was hard to tell whether it was a hound or a wolf from how thick his fur was. This was during my time caring for Ikirin. He was... a good boy. Such a lovely and loyal assistant, the first friend I was greeted to upon acquiring my first semblance of ego. The other took to calling him an asset, a tool, and nothing more... T’was how we had come to adopt this canine in the first place. We were close, until my first act of insubordination cost him his life. I suppose my fondness stayed, even long past his death.❞

▌THAT’S COOL, I GUESS. NOW TELL ME ABOUT SOMETHING YOU DON’T LIKE.

❝What shall I start first? My complicated existence? My counterpart? I could go on for several moons with that one. Oh! Why don’t we speak on how many backs I’ve been forced to stab to preserve the victim’s lives? How many friendships I’ve broken? How many families I’ve torn apart? You’ve already forced me to reopen such old wounds afterall!...❞ She clears her throat and takes on a more stoic look and tone.

❝My apologies, bringing up Cornelius is not a topic I enjoy. Let us continue.❞

▌DO YOU HAVE ANY HOBBIES/ACTIVITIES YOU LIKE TO DO?

❝Ah, much better! I dabble in fashion design, and my ear for music is not to be underestimated! I can play the Violin and Piano quite well, if I say so myself. However, my truly favorite past time is Book-binding. It relaxes me, and watching the ancient, decrepit tomes of yore be resurrected in their full glory before my eyes and by my hands fills me with accomplishment few things can match. I do not use magic to renew these tomes, mind you. It is both a precaution, and a preference; foreign aether can alter, damage, or even remove the innate magic held within an enchanted text.❞

▌EVER HURT ANYONE BEFORE?

❝---And right back into the undesirables. I’ll keep them brief. Yes, I’ve hurt people, I’ve hurt a great deal of people. More than I can count.❞

▌EVER KILLED ANYONE BEFORE?

❝Yes.❞

▌WHAT KIND OF ANIMAL ARE YOU?

❝I am of the Lapine kind, appearance-wise. A Rabbit, but as I stated before, I could be practically anything.❞

▌NAME SOME OF YOUR WORST HABITS.

❝While in deep thought, I tend to twist the ends of my ears around my finger, that is why they are how you see them; the tips have turned skyward. By the nature of my existence, I tend to turn to deception in order to keep others safe, but would that be considered a habit? Perhaps my worst habit is wasting resources on trivial matters if only to... make things more entertaining for myself. Maybe one example would be dramatic entrances.❞

▌DO YOU LOOK UP TO ANYONE AT ALL?

❝That is a good question, I do look up to few... very few... But I shan’t say who~❞

▌GAY, STRAIGHT, OR BISEXUAL?

❝Why not Pansexual? My preferences have hardly any boundaries~❞

▌DO YOU GO TO SCHOOL?

❝I suppose you could say that. I, or rather... Oliver did attend Medical School, though it was moreso on a whim, but I retained the knowledge as a result, making me the Doctor you see today. I suppose if you consider ‘Teaching’ going to school as well, I homeschooled young Ikirin.❞

▌DO YOU EVER WANT TO MARRY AND HAVE KIDS ONE DAY?

❝I.. never had time to think on that, the thoughts of my future usually retain to securing my own self.❞

▌DO YOU HAVE ANY FANBOYS/FANGIRLS?

▌WHAT ARE YOU MOST AFRAID OF?

❝... Disappearing into his mind and soul before I could escape.❞

▌WHAT DO YOU USUALLY WEAR?

❝My trademark Doctor’s Coat, with a black vest beneath and a jeweled collar around my neck. Beyond that, nothing more unless I feel like turning some heads.❞

▌DO YOU LOVE SOMEONE?

❝That one doll, though I still.. hold feelings for Ane, even if I have given up hope of being with her again.❞

▌WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU WET YOURSELF?

❝ I needn’t hear of your dark fantasies.❞

▌WHAT CLASS ARE YOU?

❝If you mean my wage class, I’m afraid I do not know exactly what I would fall into. Mayhaps middle, or low. To introduce myself to a fortune conjured of magic would sow the seeds of chaos through ridiculously inflated income on any society I base myself in.❞

❝Now if you mean to ask my class in a more Role-like setting, you may refer to me as a Healer, a Medic, a Doctor, or maybe even a Chemist or Scholar depending on the contexts of the setting.❞

▌HOW MANY FRIENDS DO YOU HAVE?

❝As of now, I’m afraid I... don’t exactly know. With Samga now losing his favor towards me, I may be down to only one, lest one takes into account that sweet orange child I had cared for, and his friend.❞

▌WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON PIE?

❝I prefer Banana-Cream, if I may be so bold.❞

▌FAVOURITE DRINK?

❝A calming chamomile, some livening green tea, all tea serves a purpose and all tea is good.❞

▌WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE?

❝There is a place in Galvania where the stars meet the earth and there is naught but the purest of Aether circulating through the lush environment. Even the air itself renews one’s lungs, it is my favorite place to meditate both for how relaxing it is and how efficient my meditation becomes.❞

▌ARE YOU INTO SOMEONE~?

❝Will thee waste thy time with repeated questions?❞

▌WOULD YOU RATHER SWIM IN THE LAKE OR IN THE OCEAN?

❝I much prefer the ocean. The lake, more often than not, is dirty while the ocean’s waves glisten with a cerulean blue that reflects the moonlight in the most dazzling of ways.❞

▌WHAT’S YOUR TYPE?

❝I favor the charmingly naive, but I also have a soft spot for those who share my dramatic flair.❞

▌CAMPING OR INDOORS? 

❝Indoors, for the outside has little care for preferences in temperature and decor. You have much more control over your surroundings without needing to resort to copious amounts of  magic.❞

TAGGED BY:  Nobody! I stole this from @sternenteile

TAGGING: @slicinghood @a-caveofmuses @integrous-restoration @forgetfulintegrity @shattered-oath @demonspectacles

[cntcrtainmcnt-blog]

And the last 5 girls from my new batch! Those were characters who already had connections or a backstory that was already set(except like one), but they’re definitely open for more plots! So please like or message me if you’d love plots with them!

ANNA TAYLOR is a 32 years old CISFEMALE who looks just like EMILIA CLARKE. She has been described as FAIR yet BLUNT.

Anna was an only child for the first 13 years of her life. And she was happy with that. But when her baby sister arrived, she was even happier. But it didn’t last for long.

Not even a year later, Anna was playing on the front yard with her sister. Her mother just went inside for a moment, going to the bathroom, but it was a moment too long. With the mother gone, a man approached them. Of course, she’d been warned not to talk to strangers, so she panicked. She picked up her sister, planning to just walk inside. In a split moment to look back and see if the man was following her, Anna tripped, causing her sister to hit her head on the ground.

Of course, the cries of both children were loud enough for the mother to run outside, and take the baby to the hospital. Doctors tried their best, but the trauma caused by the fall was too great, and they couldn’t save her sister. Since then, she’s been blaming herself for her sister’s death.

After that, Anna was always a little less joyful. She grew to be happy again, but she wasn’t exactly the same as she was before. Ans she knew she couldn’t stay in Kola while she still remembered the scene perfectly. So after graduating, she was accepted at Columbia University and moved there, only coming back to Kola once a year during the holidays.

She graduated in Education before going to Teachers College for a Master of Education. While she couldn’t forget what happened with her sister, she still wanted to work with kids, she wanted to teach them, and nothing would stop her.

Around the time she graduated with her Master was when she met Brandon. She’d gotten a part time job in a high school was now seeing someone, and it seemed like she was finally pushing the accident in the back of her head. Even after she fell pregnant,she thought it was all good now.

But it wasn’t until she gave birth, until she held that tiny little girl, that the memory came back. She suddenly felt like she wouldn’t be a good mother, she’d just hurt the child. She was heartbroken, leaving the child behind, but she couldn’t stay and be a source of danger. So she left the girl with Brandon and ran back to Kola.

Why Kola? Because having a child made her realize she needed to deal with the problem, instead of ignoring it. Of course, she hasn’t told anyone about her baby, and only her therapist knows about that. She’s been working with that therapist ever since she came back now, and she is starting to feel much better now.

CATHERINE WOLFE is a 30 years old CISFEMALE who looks just like LEIGHTON MEESTER. She has been described as METICULOUS yet DESTRUCTIVE.

Eldest of two girls, Catherine was always competitive with her sister, even if they were 4 years apart. She wanted to be the heiress of their dad’s company, she believed it was a right for her since she was older than her sister.

But it ended up being more than just at home, she was always in competition with other girls at school. She wanted the best grades, the best clothes, the best friends, everything. In the end, she never really had friends, at least, not good real genuine friends. 

But in the end, all of her hard work wasn’t enough, her sister still surpassed her, and she was the one to have the reins of the company once their dad would retire.

That was the one thing Cathy wanted more than anything, but she couldn’t have it. She decided not to throw a tantrum about it(although she probably did in private, with her friends) and just tried to find a career path, something to make her father proud. She was good with social events, she had quite a lot of money, and her social network was incredible. So she just started hosting events to help different organizations. 

Through the years, her network has only increased, and her schedule is now almost always full, apart from the few days she gets off. While her dad believes she could’ve done something more, he is still proud she managed to get this successful in that field without his help.

It was around the beginning of her career that Cathy met a boy, and the whole love story followed. They were good together, people told them every single day. Despite people wanting them to just marry already and get children, they both wanted to take it slow, and it took years before he proposed.

They were engaged by the time he got into an accident. It left him handicapped(I am leaving this open, so whoever applies for him can just decide what it was, or if they want something else than an accident to have happened or anything I’m 100% cool) and feeling like he wasn’t good enough. It didn’t change her feelings, but no matter how many times she told him, he still broke off the engagement.

Still, she’s a headstrong bitch, 200% not over it, so she’s working her butt not only at work, but also to make him understand she still loves him. Definitely not letting go so easily.

EMELY LINDNER is a 31 years old CISFEMALE who looks just like ALEXANDRA DADDARIO. She has been described as LOVEABLE yet JEALOUS.

Emely was born in Austria, to a pastry chef and a school teacher. They weren’t fortunate, but since she was an only child, they were able to give her a good life.

Despite being an only child and loving interactions, she didn’t mind not having siblings, she made up for it with all the friends she made. She’s always been a very social kid.

When she was 5, her father was showing clear signs of displeasure in his marriage, and ended up having an adventure with an American who was there on a work visa. It resulted in the girl falling pregnant, although she didn’t tell Emely’s dad until she was back in America and was close to giving birth. 

While her dad never told her mom about the child, she did know he cheated, and it lead to a divorce. To cope with it, Emely just started dancing. The stress of her familial situations was obviously affecting her so her parents agreed to sign her up for ballet.

She soon grew to love it, and worked her ass off to make it as a ballerina. And she did make it, dancing with the professionals back home in Austria. But tragedy struck and forced her to move out.

She was 20, peak of her career, when her parents, who had met to discuss Emely’s current career and try to learn to be on better terms, were caught in a fire. They were in a café, and didn’t have time to make it out.

So she had to go through all of her parents’ stuff, and that’s when she found letters her dad had been sending, and receiving, from his family in America. She had nothing in Austria anymore, except her growing career. But dancing was something she could do in America, could she?

It was an impulsive choice when she moved over to Kola to find her half-sister. But she was the only blood relative she had, having never met her aunts, uncles or grandparents. And while she did find her sister, work was different.

She had to go to many auditions, and was denied for almost all of them. She was barely lucky enough to find a job to teach ballet to kids, but it seemed like no one wanted her as an actual dancer.

But the tables turned a year later. She’d been invited to audition again, and gave her best for it. And while she didn’t make it, again, she caught the attention of an agent that was at the venue of the audition. He said he was seaking new models and when he first saw her, she was exactly what he was looking for.

It’s not what she wanted for in life, but the salary could certainly be better than a ballet teacher. She still kept teaching for a bit, but after 2 years, it wasn’t necessary anymore.

She’s definitely not one of those big names in the modeling industry, but those who know enough definitely recognize her, if not her name, they recognize her face.

She still dances, of course, sometimes renting a dance room just for herself. When she moves to a new house, she plans to transform the basement into a whole dance studio and might consider giving some private lessons there.

LENA DAVIES is a 36 years old CISFEMALE who looks just like OLIVIA MUNN. She has been described as TOLERANT yet DESTRUCTIVE.

Lena was the eldest of two, and unlike her brother, who was clearly talented in sports, she had no aim in life. She went to classes, made friends, went to parties, but she never enjoyed any of it. She just had no goals.

While her brother went off to become a professional tennis player, she just decided to go in management in college. Not because she loved it, but she figured she’d be good at that.

While she didn’t fail any class, she didn’t graduate with outstanding grades either. She was just average, and it was fine by her.

It was sometimes during that time that she met him, and it just quickly turned into young love. He was easily the first person she loved, and the first thing she was ever passionate about.

Of course, when they decided to open a restaurant, she was all in, taking in the role of floor manager. For some time, it was a successful business/relationship partnership, but soon enough, it fell apart.

She still doesn’t know what exactly happened, why they fell apart, but they did. There was just no love between them anymore. But the restaurant was all they had, so despite the split, they still found themselves forced to work with each other.

She partially blames the split on herself. She knows she’s a very destructive person, every good thing she ever had in life, she made a point to destroy it. And since this relationship was the best thing she’s ever had, she constantly blames herself.

TIERRA CHADWIN is a 30 years old CISFEMALE who looks just like ROSE LESLIE. She has been described as INVULNERABLE yet VENAL.

Tierra didn’t always grow up corrupted. She was actually a really lovely child, being outgoing and making friends fast. It just all changed when school started. 

Tierra and her cousins had been close and best friends since birth, they were hoping it would stay like this forever. But come school, her cousin got popular really fast, and Tierra was just... kind of forgotten. She had friends, but now she didn’t run in the same groups as her cousin, and she felt like she didn’t matter.

That changed again when high school arrived. Of course, she wasn’t best friend with her cousin anymore, but at home, they were still close, they still talked about more personal issues. And that was valuable to some people. Some other students, mostly guys, were ready to pay for some of her cousin’s secrets.

She was, of course, uncertain at first, but when she realized just how much money she could make? She started selling secrets. Those activities lead her to create some sort of network with other students, although they tried to remain subtle about their connection with her.

After high school, Tierra left Kola to study in Pharmacology, and only came back after graduating. With her grades, she easily found a job in pharmacy, and got promoted over and over until the owner retired, and she inherited from the pharmacy.

It was a few months after she came back that she stumbled on some student she sold secrets to in high school. One thing lead to another, and they mentioned needed some prescribed drugs but not being able to get a prescription. Then it kind of came naturally, and Tierra started selling drugs, overpriced, to people without prescriptions. Of course, she kept those dealings secrets, and if anything were to be found, she knew she had enough contacts to protect herself.

[keptin-indy]

Dresden Files: Salem

I’ll try to post these on Mondays or Tuesday, since that’s when I do the previous weekend’s writeups.  Feel free to ask questions if anything not clear or you just want to know something!

Background info

If you know the Dresden Files books, this game starts during the events of Changes, but with some small changes.  If you don’t know the books, the relevant info is that wizards and “Red Court” vampires have been at war for some years now and the main character, Harry Dresden, just managed to set off a really powerful curse that killed all of them.  For some reason, during the fight leading up to that, the Wardens - wizard cops - were unable to help him because “they were sick”.  The big change in this campaign is that the illness was a deadly plague set off by the vampire ambassador who had just been by and it killed a swath of the powerful people who had gathered to meet her.

I’ll try to link Dresden-specific terms to wiki pages for people unfamiliar with the universe.  There may also be some easter eggs in the links sometimes...

Setting (in the GM’s words)

If anyone in America were asked to compile a list of the locations important to the occult history of the country, it would surely include Salem.  The town is nearly universally associated with the witch trials of the 1690s.  Everyone, clued-in or not, associates Salem with witches, and, in this world of the occult, associations can have power.  In this case it has lead to Salem having probably the largest supernatural community on the east coast of North America.  That area includes (for the supernatural community at least) Boston as well.  

And community it is, much more so than many other cities around the globe.  Salem is a geographically small town, yet rich in history, emotions, and magic all attracting a different crowd from the spooky side, if they didn’t have some structure and order there would be constant conflict (well, more-constant conflict).  The city has evolved a particular brand of stability, with regular gatherings of all the major power-players in the city.  This isn’t a court or anything so formal as that, but usually neutral parties will side with the aggrieved party in conflicts, preserving the status quo.  Until recently these gatherings were informally lead by [Warden regional commander] Michael Rowland, one of the more powerful denizens of Salem, how they will shake out going forward remains to be seen…

Characters, or at least what was known about them at the start of game.  The Dreseden Files RPG is set up so that most of the PCs had met each other by the start of game, but we weren’t a coherent party yet.

Murchah O’Dougal has lived in Salem for a long time.  He switches jobs every few decades, but it’s Salem, so people have caught on that the tall, thin, taciturn, middle aged man isn’t your vanilla mortal.  Additionally, he likes taking long walks on the beach...the parts under the water, without the benefit of breathing gear.  He’s not a very social man, but he helps out where he can, especially if it involves ghosts, which he can see and interact with.  He’s the one who convinced Eunice to leave her nursing home.

Eunice Featherham’s son married a witch.  Now, Eunice was an intelligent woman and knew there was no such thing as magic, so it was pretty insulting that her daughter-in-law could use it.  It was even more insulting that she taught it to their daughter Evelyn, but then both her son and the witch had to die in a house fire, leaving Eunice to raise Evelyn the Right Way, eg without magic.  Over the years as Evelyn grew up, Eunice could feel her age catching up with her, and when it was time for her granddaughter to go to college, they sold Eunice’s house for tuition and put her into a nursing home, where she eventually died.  Damned if that was going to stop her, though, not when there were so many people who needed her sage advice, starting with the nurses at the home.  In desperation, the home called the Salem Witches’ Circle (kind of a magical chamber of commerce), who asked Murchah to talk the irate ghost out of terrorizing the staff.  

They also called Dr. Evelyn Featherham, who was now living in Boston as the city’s only therapist dealing with the supernatural.  After a long struggle with Eunice’s parenting, Evelyn had finally reclaimed her magical heritage and was using her experiences to help others through situations they couldn’t explain to anyone else.  One of those people, 10 years ago during her clinicals, was a teenage mage grieving over the loss of his father.  Now, though, she had to deal with being permanently haunted by her grandmother and trying to convince her receptionist not to quit because of the new office ghost telling her how to answer the phone correctly.

Once upon a time, a witch found a tiny black kitten in a dumpster.  She had been looking for a familiar, so it seemed like serendipity and she took him in and named him Sir Adler Toebeans.  She was absolutely not expecting her cat to start talking a couple years later and even less to change his shape into anything he felt like.  It seemed her kitty was in fact some kind of fae or at least a changeling, though he didn’t have any more idea what he was than she did.  Regardless, she switched awkwardly from pet mom to real mom and Adler eventually moved out and got a job at Count Orlok’s Nightmare Gallery, where he worked in the museum itself and made short films as both advertising and subtle education. [A note on pronouns: I’m using “he” because Adler has presented as slightly more masculine than anything else during the game.  He doesn’t seem to have an innate sex or gender, so I may switch back and forth with “they” depending on how game goes/the situation.]

A wizard with a mysterious past came from Syria to America and fell in love with a woman whose high-society family had profited off of the supernatural while disdaining them as people.  The pair ran away together and she was disowned, so they settled in Boston where he took magical odd jobs and she tried to figure out how to be working class.  Eventually Sebastian “Baz” Bassam was born and later his sister Olivia, and their father began to teach them how to control their magical talents.  When Baz was 14, his father was killed in a multi-car pileup, but not before his uncontrolled magical energies shorted out an entire hospital wing, unintentionally taking a lot of people with him.  This large-scale violation of the First Law of Magic brought the attention of the local Warden-Commander, Michael Rowland, and when Baz subsequently brought down a possession victim with his therapist during his grief counselling, Rowland decided to train the boy alongside his daughter Sylvia.  These days he’s a full-fledged Warden who likes to think of his duties as magical community outreach rather than beheading first ans asking questions later.  He also looks like a cheerful Syrian lumberjack.  [Note: Dat’s me!  It’s going to seem like I spent a narcissistic amount of time on my own character in the writeups, but a) the first arc just has a lot of Baz-plot and b) when the GM asks if anyone is doing anything, the others haven’t really answered much and I hate to leave the GM hanging.]

As part of his education in control, Rowland sent Baz to a Tibetan monastery when he was 19 to learn meditation and healing with the monks there, traditional allies of the White Council of Wizards.  While there, Baz befriended a litter of Temple Dogs, newly returned from having been dognapped and taken to Chicago of all places.  One of the puppies was notably rambunctious and ended up outside the monastery walls trying to eat a yeti several orders of magnitude bigger than it.  The puppy ran back to the temple, yeti in hot pursuit, and hid behind the Warden-in training, who fought off the yeti and saved the puppy and monks from the puppy’s own bad decisions.  As a “reward”, he was given the perpetrator so the monks wouldn’t have to deal with it.  Baz named him Samuel Gompers Bassam and took him back to Boston, where he grew into a very large Tibetan Mastiff who can see spirits and whose teeth technically count as a holy weapon, which he mostly uses against Baz’s shoes.  At one point while attempting to eat a ghoul, Sam met Adler as a dog and brought him back home, where he stayed for a few days before abruptly turning into a bird, thanking Baz for his hospitality, and leaving before any questions could be asked. [Note: Yes, Sam is a PC.  One of my friends decided it was an awesome idea to play an actual, only slightly magical, non-talking dog.]

Session 1

The town of Salem had been enjoying an uneventful Fall, supernaturally-speaking.  Even Halloween, always an anxious time for those in the know, had gone by without any major mishaps.  That all changed one night in November, when every practitioner or supernatural being in the world awoke from vivid dreams of the world ending in fire and blood.  Many people recognized the dreams as the psychic backlash from some kind of spell, and those with more magical experience further narrowed it down to some kind of worldwide curse effect even though such things were thought to be impossible.  Around Salem, the Community woke in terror and reached out to one another.  The shapeshifter Adler called his mother in the Witches Circle, who told him that calls had begun to come in from several of their members, including some of the older ones, who were so shocked by the experience that they had been taken to the hospital.  Dr Evelyn Featherham likewise checked in with the Circle and headed to the hospital herself to volunteer for on-call psych services.  Her late grandmother, Eunice Featherham, checked the news on the constantly-on TVs in her nursing home and saw confused reports rolling in of simultaneous coups and assassinations in several South American countries, which she assumed was the work of either the CIA or Communists.  Finding that news less than interesting, she floated out to track down her granddaughter.  Murchah O’Dougal, always watchful of the ocean for reasons known only to himself, walked into the Bay, but saw nothing amiss; whatever he was looking for had not been disturbed by the hideous dreams.  Baz Bassam, Warden of the White Council, immediately checked on his mother but found that her sleep hadn’t been disturbed at all; presumably meaning that regular mortals were unaffected by the spell’s backlash.  He called his sister at college, who most definitely had woken up, but had nothing to offer her besides assurances that they were all okay for the moment.  Knowing Warden-Commander Rowland was in Edinburgh at the moment, he called head witch Mary Harrison, who was coordinating a makeshift command center to coordinate help to those who needed it and a response, should it become necessary.  Before heading over to lend his help there, he checked in with Warden Command at Edinburgh, but found chaos there, too.  The wizard who answered the phone said that they only thing they knew right now was that the Red Court appeared to be no more.  From what they could tell, every single member had been wiped out at once by a spell.  Once they had more information, they’d be sure to get back to Warden Bassam, but in the meantime they had to figure out who was in charge of the Wardens.  This was almost as alarming than the giant curse as far as Baz was concerned, but with no more info coming from Edinburgh, all he could do was head to the witches’ command center and try to keep people calm and safe until more news came out.

After a long, sleepless night, morning came with no more information.  Invitations went out to the members of the Greater Boston supernatural community from Ian Fitzpatrick, the caretaker of the largest neutral territory in the area, Hamilton Hall.  Before the meeting in the evening, one of Edinburgh’s army of clerks called Baz to read off the last wills and testaments of Michael and Sylvia Rowland, naming him as heir to their magical holdings.  Baz was gutted, as Michael Rowland had been his mentor and surrogate father-figure since his father’s death, and he’d grown up and trained alongside Sylvia for nearly ten years.  The clerk couldn’t tell him how they had died or any details about what was happening within the Wardens; only that he would likely get “official” notification of the Rowlands’ deaths at some future date.  That the lawyers were working faster than the Wardens was significant cause for alarm all on its own.

That evening, Fitzpatrick welcomed representatives from all the major power blocs and notable individuals into Hamilton Hall, formally allowing everyone through the threshold.  Baz sought out Mary Harrison before the meeting proper began and warned her about the deaths of the Rowlands and magical killing of the Red Court.  Fitzpatrick brought the meeting to order and announced the Rowlands’ deaths himself, calling for a moment of silence that was observed by most people present, with the notable exception of the representatives of the Winter Court (and Eunice, though due more to her difficulty hearing than any disrespect).  Adler asked how they had died and Fitzpatrick said there had been an attack on the Wardens in Edinburgh, which was the first Baz had heard of it.  Ignoring that for now and trying to give the impression of a calm and level-headed authority figure who wasn’t grieving, Baz announced that he knew where the nightmares had come from and explained the curse that had taken out the entire Red Court.  The gathering was shocked that something that large could have happened and that the threat of the Red Court was suddenly gone (though the Summer Court and Daniyah, a powerful local sorceress, seemed less surprised), and Fitzpatrick adjourned the meeting , saying that he knew full well some people were going to use the situation to jockey for power.  He gave them a week to get it all out of their systems and then he would call another meeting to see where Boston should go from there.  The jockeying and networking began before anyone even made it out the doors.  Baz asked Daniyah what she or her spirits knew about the attacks, but she would only tell him that “things” were awakening that had lain dormant for many years.  Knowing it would do no good, Baz continued to press for details and was informed that the city faced two threats...from within and from without.  Eunice floated from group to group eavesdropping and overheard the Winter Court proposing to murder someone for the sole reason that the scarier warden was dead now, which she dutifully reported to Baz with a stern admonition to stop them.  Without more details, Baz simply went over and stood meaningfully by the faeries.  Meanwhile, Adler took on his dog form and sought out Sam, warning him that his wizard was in danger and offering his help guarding him for the next few days.  Sam, in turn, told him to be aware of Daniyah, who no longer smelled purely human anymore, but instead like some kind of spirit, and also her owl familiar, who was definitely a spirit, though he hadn’t been able to figure out what kind without licking it.  Baz turned around to see a familiar black dog incongruously petting his own dog, and asked if he would stick around and answer some questions this time.  Adler agreed, but answered everything as literally as possible without offering any information was wasn’t specifically spelled out and some that was.  He told Baz that he had enjoyed the name he’d given him last time and to keep using that, and that he would follow and protect Baz along with Sam while the immediate danger hopefully passed.  Seeing that Baz was distracted from his rightful duties, Eunice got into an argument with the Winter Court, but her attempt to spook them into following the straight-and-narrow backfired when they scared her right back, startling her back into a dementia episode.  Baz and his two large dogs circulated amongst the other faction heads, assuring them that he was as dedicated to keeping the peace as his predecessor and generally attempting to politic.  Murchah drew him aside and offered to train him to use the sword he carried and Baz tried to find a polite way to tell him that he had specialized in swordplay for years.  Unconvinced, Murchah asked to see his fighting stance and was pleasantly surprised to find that Baz was not merely boasting.  

Finally, the meeting broke up and Murchah headed back out to his ocean patrol, only this time he noticed strange behavior in the fish.  Not being a spellcaster himself and having no way to track magical energy, he called the Circle, who told him to call the Warden.  Baz had not yet made it home, so Murchah left a cryptic message with Baz���s mother to call him back.  Eventually Baz returned home with one dog more than he left with and reintroduced “Fenrir” to his mother, warning her this time that he was definitely sentient and could talk (though Adler refused to do so on principle now).  He returned Murchah’s call, but with nothing more to go off of than “the fish are weird”, decided to let it wait until morning.  Adler insisted on sleeping in Baz’s room, which required some setting of ground rules, starting with a promise never to harm his mother.  Adler agreed, but was less forthcoming in answering Baz’ questions about his nature or allegiance, saying only that he wanted to protect both Sam’s human and the city balance he represented as a Warden.  He otherwise revealed only that he could take on many forms, though he wouldn’t say if he had a natural or default one, and that he usually worked at Count Orlok’s Nightmare Gallery, where he could use his skills to great effect.  Baz was both fascinated and slightly frustrated at the mysterious creature playing bodyguard for him, but when he found that Adler could use computers, he immediately handed over the password for the email account Olivia had maintained for him and begged his help keeping in contact.

“Fenrir” woke up early the next morning and got the household coffee, which he served to them with creepy mostly-human hands on a dog body.  Betsy (Baz’s mother) was relieved when Baz gathered the dogs and put on some swimwear to meet Murchah at the beach.  After some discussion about everyone’s underwater capabilities, Baz conjured air bubbles around his and Sam’s heads while Adler turned into a Lovecraftian fishman, and the group followed Murchah into the Bay, but Baz was at a loss figuring out what was causing the irregularities Murchah claimed to see.  Sam happily ate one of the affected fish.  Returning to the surface, Baz asked Murchah to call Dr Evelyn Featherham, who was more sensitive to tracing ongoing magical effects than he was, but shortly after her receptionist answered the phone, the poor woman was shoved aside so that Eunice could do her job “better”.  Talking around the old ghost, Baz asked the receptionist to pass the message along when Evelyn had a free moment.  Evelyn eventually had a chance to call back from her ghost-proofed office and promised to come out during her lunch break.  Murchah hired a boat so that Evelyn (followed, of course, by Eunice, who was determined to chaperone her daughter meeting a young man on a beach) wouldn’t have to get her work clothes wet, but she couldn’t see the magical eddies from above the water and ended up having to do into the drink anyway.  Unfortunately for her, only Adler seemed to be adapted enough for underwater hunting of this kind, and he realized that the fish were all swimming in a huge circle tens of miles across.  The group returned to the boat to track down the center of this circle, which was occupied by a “fishing trawler” that didn’t seem to be doing any fishing.  Adler turned into a bird to scope it out and noticed that some of the “fishermen” milling around on deck not fishing were concealing decidedly non-standard tentacle-arms.  When he reported this back to the group, Eunice immediately floated over to the trawler and began haranguing the people on deck about their terrible work ethic.  The “fishermen” were not expecting a sudden ghostly tirade and very sensibly tried to escape her senile wrath.  Taking advantage of this distraction, Adler changed from a bird into a rat, dropping onto the deck and scurrying below.  One of the doors inside was both locked and well-sealed, so he disconcertingly grew hands in order to pick it.  The door swung open, revealing the rat with hands on the one side, and a number of tentacled cultists chanting around a circle on the other side.  Adler scurried out of sight, but the cultists merely locked the door rather than give chase.  Adler tried to direct Eunice’s wrath downstairs, but she found that the room was warded against spirits.  Adler again reported back to the other boat and Murchah drew up alongside the trawler so the mages could board and follow the shapeshifter below.  Adler once again picked the lock and Baz opened the door and demanded to know what was going on with as much gravitas as a man wearing a tank and swim trunks could manage.  The cultists rushed to attack the newcomers while Murchah ran straight for the summoning circle and began disrupting it, hearing unsettlingly familiar and ancient voices whispering in his head while he did so.  As Baz and Sam fought the cultists, Adler transformed into a hideous claw monster and jumped into the fray, startling everyone on both sides.  Eventually the cultists were knocked unconscious and Evelyn could examine the remains of the circle Murchah was still determinedly wrecking, declaring that it had been meant to awaken something deep in the ocean.

[svu-stories]

The Firsts | Realization of Love

#19. Time They Realize They Love You | Rafael Barba Requested by: Anon Characters: Barba/Reader, Rollins Word Count: 1,275 Warnings: None

"Where the hell is she?" Barba barked, pushing through the doors to the emergency room with a vengeance. His eyes landed on Rollins first and he stormed over. His dress shoes pounded against the floor with each step heavy as the fear that played on his heart. Amanda rose, holding a hand out to try and stop him from barreling over her. A throaty growl escaped his throat as he locked eyes with her. He spoke through gritted teeth, "I asked you a question, Detective."

"I know you did," she breathed quietly. "It was a chase gone bad. They got too close or, maybe we were too far back; perp grabbed 'em. It all happened so quickly, I don't even know how to explain it. Olivia is talking to the doctor now. She should be back and can ans-"

Rafael stepped away from Rollins mid-sentence, his eyes darting through the waiting room until he eyed a young nurse at the counter. His stride quickened as he approached her, "Excuse me."

She smiled sweetly, eyes shining behind blonde bangs, "Yes, sir. Can I help you?"

"I'm looking for a patient. Y/L/N."

She frowned as she glanced at her computer screen, "I'm sorry, sir. Are you family?"

Barba sighed. He knew all about privacy laws and the fact that being your secret boyfriend was never going to be enough to get him in the door. He licked at his lips, the fear taking over as he nodded, "I am."

"Relationship?"

"I... I'm their husband," he stammered willing himself to be convincing enough to get by. He heard a scoff in the background with a distinct southern accent. It took everything in him not to turn around and shoot a look that could kill at the blonde detective who seemed intent on blowing his cover. In court or during plea bargains, he could keep his cool, even when his objections were just a smokescreen to give someone time to see the truth he was fighting for, but this was a moment of crisis and he was finding it just slightly harder to keep his cool. Before the girl in the black scrubs could take Rollins' reaction to heart, he added a final plea to his lie, "I need to know what's going on, please?"

Before he could look away, the nurse smiled sadly, "Of course. I'm sorry, Mr. Y/L/N."

He opened his mouth to correct her mistake, but stopped himself. Rather than having to weave a more tangled web explaining how his supposed spouse had a different last name, he would let it go. He couldn't risk being held up any longer. The bubbly voice fell on deaf ears as he followed her through the double doors and curtains were drawn to the side. Barba caught only words of 'minor injuries' and 'resting peacefully.' Before she drew the curtain, the nurse smiled at him softly, "As soon as test results are back, you all can go home. Everything is going to be fine."

He slipped into your little bay with a swallowed thank you as his eyes fell on your sleeping form.

It felt as though sucker punch to the gut caused the wind to be knocked out of him, but it was only the brokenness that he faced head on that took away the solid ground beneath him. He fell into the chair by your bed, hand immediately taking yours into his own. Your subtle flirtations in front of the squad had become very real behind closed doors. The late nights in his office, pouring over cases became conversations about hopes and dreams. Walks to the subway turned into the sharing of a taxi home. Eventually shared rides became shared nights.

It was still new, but no less serious than a relationship spanning years of anniversaries and milestones.

"Oh, my darling," he whispered, shaking his head. He leaned forward, lips grazing your scraped cheeks and black eye. He hummed quietly as in his mind he willed you to open your eyes.

Barba stared on, your bruises falling out of sight as he took in how beautiful you were. It wasn't supposed to happen like this. The moment he realized what you meant to him was supposed to happen on a beach, with your hair blowing in the wind and shadowed silhouette inciting in him want and need. It was supposed to happen over a candle-lit dinner with your eyes sparkling brighter than the flickering flame. It was supposed to be a kiss in Central Park with rain drops falling gently around you, the warmth of your bodies pressed together taking away the brisk New York chill.

Falling in love was supposed to be beautiful.

Yet, he realized it in the sterile environment of an emergency room. In the way your bruised and bloodied skin was a stark contrast to the white sheets. In the way your pink lips parted slightly, letting air in and out of your tired body. In the way your hand was soft underneath his skin and comforted him completely. Your life was his life, and he suddenly couldn't face the next day if you weren't by his side.

Barba's hand squeezed yours gently, his other running through your hair, "Damn it. You can't make anything easy, can you?" He chuckled bitterly, voice cracking as he continued speaking, "You have to get me called out of court and scare me half to death just to have me admit that I love you, don't you?"

He raised his hand to your lips, soft kisses falling over each knuckle. He frowned, realizing the defensive wounds on each one.

"It was either this or an act of God," you choked, your mouth dry as you spoke to your boyfriend. "Also, I love you, too."

Your eyes opened just in time to watch him chuckle, masking the softest of sobs. You smiled lopsidedly, the local anesthetic from the stitches on your cheek limiting your movement fully.

Barba leaned forward, kissing you with the fragility in which one would handle a porcelain doll. You squeezed his hand, silently assuring him that you would be fine.

"But don't ever do this to me again," Barba warned.

You chuckled, but offered him a nod of agreement before waiting for the doctor to return and discharge you. As he led you out of the ER, arm wrapped gingerly around your waist to keep you stable and close, he nodded to the triage nurse that had helped him in.

"Thank you," he offered kindly. You smiled, knowing that Barba was likely less than kind to the stranger whose job was to walk people through the worst moments of their life.

She smiled brightly, offering a wave as she gazed at you both with a dreamy expression, "You're welcome, Mr. Y/L/N. Have a good night."

Stepping through the sliding doors and into the sunshine, you made him pause. You insisted on walking, but it was exhausting after such an eventful day. Your eyes looked up to his green, tilting your head to the side, "My last name, huh?"

"I might have told her we were married to get back to you," he admitted sheepishly.

"Mmm," you responded, pressing your head into his chest before straightening up, starting to walk again. "I kind of like the sound of it, to be honest."

Barba laughed quietly, holding you up as much as you'd allow, "We'll talk about last names later, Mi Amor. For now, we need to get you home to rest."

"Yes, dear," you agreed, relishing in knowing that you would never have to worry about finding love again.