#the elite universe

[let-me-love-you-loki]

... Ready for It? -- Ch. 4

Chapter 4

I followed Wardlow into the restaurant, unable to stop the feeling of confusion that settled over me. Just a few minutes ago he’d been shouting at me on the side of the road. He’d been so brutally angry at the whole thing I’d brought upon him. Now, he seemed completely different. Like the last few hours hadn’t happened at all. 

            “Booth or bar?” he asked over his shoulder. “Does it matter?”

            I shrugged. His brow furrowed in an instant of frustration before he gestured toward a nearby booth. I stepped around him, suddenly aware of the absolute bulk of the man. I’d noticed it when I’d jumped on him, but there was something different about this kind of recognition. I slid into the booth on one side of the table while he maneuvered his bulk into place on the other side. He stretched his arm out on the back of the bench and watched me from across the table. 

“What?” I asked after a few minutes of silence. It was unnerving how he just kept looking at me. Like he was trying to figure me out. “What are you staring at?”

            A faint smile ghosted over Wardlow’s face. “Do you always have an attitude? Or am I just lucky?”

            “I don’t have an attitude,” I spat. As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I realized that it sounded exactly like I had an attitude. “And there’s nothing about you that’s lucky, Wardlow.”

            This time he chuckled. Before he could say anything, the waitress came by with menus and took our drink order. When she’d walked away, he leaned back in the corner of the booth, propping one leg up on the bench. “Michael.”

            “Huh?” 

            He thanked the waitress as she reappeared and sat a cup of black coffee in front of him. I put a straw in my soda. “My name is Michael.”

            For some reason, my brain couldn’t process what he said. Everything stalled as his voice faded into the background. What did it matter? And why was I so surprised by the fact that he told me his name?

            “Mattie?” Wardlow waved his hand in front of my face, snapping his fingers to get my attention. “Hey! Little Jackson!”

            “Huh?” The word slipped out in a daze. He rolled his eyes and, just like that, I felt a faint spark of frustration grow inside me. “What?”

            “Are you going to eat anything?” he asked. The expression on his face made it clear that he was desperately trying not to laugh at me. “Or are you just going to sit there all night?”

            “Waffle,” I blurted out. The truth was that I wasn’t hungry in the slightest. I wanted to crash. I wanted to just curl up somewhere and cry until I couldn’t think anymore. The sight of Nicole knocked out cold and the look of betrayal on Dad’s face were burned into my mind. I felt sick.

            My head felt like it was going to explode. Reality crashed into me, and I suddenly realized that I had nowhere to go. I always roomed with Nicole when we were on the road. It didn’t matter if we were in a suite with our parents or if we had a space all to ourselves. My gear bag was back at the arena. My luggage was in the hotel. 

            “I’m so screwed,” I said out of nowhere as my head slumped down against the table. 

            Wardlow chuckled across the table. I didn’t bother lifting my head. I knew he was making fun of me. “You’re just now figuring that out, huh?”

            I didn’t even look up. There was a weight in my chest that made it hard to breathe. It was like my ribs were caving in. The air stuck in my throat, choking me until I gagged. My eyes burned with tears that wouldn’t fall. 

            “Hey.” Wardlow’s voice came out gently. “Look at me.”

            “No.” I choked again, feeling like my throat was closing up.

            There was a creak of wood and then a bulk pushing against my left side. “Scoot over, Little Jackson,” he said firmly. His voice was still gentle, almost soft. I let his bulk fill the space, squishing me against the wall of the booth. He bumped his shoulder into mine. “C’mon, look at me.”

            I didn’t want to. I just wanted to wallow, to marinate in the feeling that I’d completely screwed up my entire life. “I wish I’d never let Bub talk me into this.”

            “Maybe,” Wardlow said, ignoring the fact that I was still forehead on the table. “Maybe you should have just told your parents about the whole thing. It’s not like they don’t know how to act after thirty years in the game. But it’s done, and you can’t change it.” 

            The table vibrated beneath my forehead as the plates settled against the formica. I could sense the waitress on my right on the other side of the divider. I didn’t have to look up to see that she was making eyes at Wardlow. The way his voice dropped made the attention perfectly clear. 

            “Sit up and eat your waffle.” 

            I turned my head and looked over at him. He had five plates in front of him, each one piled high with food. He reached over my head for the hot sauce. “How are you going to eat all of that?”

            The corner of his mouth tipped upward. “Watch and find out.”

            I scowled and sat up, squished against the divider by his massive bulk. “What exactly is your problem? Why do you have such an attitude with me?”

            “See,” Wardlow said around a mouthful of food, “that’s your problem, Little Jackson. Thinking everything is about you.” He waved his fork in my direction before shoveling up another forkful of eggs and bacon. “It must be the Jackson family motto.”

            Rolling my eyes, I opened my mouth to speak. But the way his brow lifted in challenge kept my mouth shut. Spite filled me as I picked up my fork and started eating. And entirely second guessing my sanity when I agreed to this whole plan with Bub. 

            And definitely when I made the choice to screw over Maxwell Jacob Friedman. 

__________

Tag List

@not-that-kinda-gurl08

@lilred91

@imagineall-the-fandoms

@maelleoute

@librathepheonix13

@unoficialy-married-to-ace-austin

@spaghetti-hoop

@rollynchwhore

@ryantaylorgirl

@mrsmatt

[belle-keys]

And a reminder that higher education cannot be considered truly democratised if students can still be doomed to poverty with multiple or advanced arts and Humanities degrees...

[sociologi]

03.06.2024 | does anyone else feel like they study so much better in their bed? i have a desk and a sizable dining table but i just prefer my bed. also i have just 3 more days to finish my last assignment before summer break and my motivation is nowhere to be found 🙂

[sleepless-winter-nights]

Saw this on Twitter 🤣🤣🤣 and this is so true. I can't even deny.

I also went to Goodreads to read this one again 🤣🤣🤣

[c0stiffen]

Blind Arven AU Lacey reference!

About the ages, I like to believe that there is a range in which you can enter first year, between 13 and 16 years old. The education is completed after 3 years of study. So Lacey started studying when she was 15.

It's a pretty new academy so it makes sense in my head.

[sinceisawviennaa]

this whole scene is so silly to me. i know it was meant to be funny but the idea that kaz, who if i remember correctly has like 50 siblings, has no idea how to act around a baby is so odd. you’re telling me that this boy who would have done anything for his baby brother to think he was cool is actually an absolute goof with kids? you’re telling me that chase davenport, smartest man in the world, gave his all when doing one of those fake baby assignments, doesn’t know how to pick up a baby? also i love how william unger was a father in real life for pretty much the entirety of the show, he actually had to go out of his way to pretend like he knew nothing about kids.

[ridreamir]

How about some head cannons for blue berry academy students befriending a new student reader who turns out to be a faller? The reader is from our world and does have at least some memory loss.

And so I might have turned it into a fic and not a list of HCs... lemme know if you want me to rewrite it lol -- it was getting kinda long so this might just be a part one of two if people actually like it. If not I'll just move onto other things :p

With the multi-billion dollar project underway to extend Blueberry Academy's underwater campus, there's been an influx of new students lining up to attend the recently founded institution!

As for you who may or may not have crash-landed in Unova not long ago -you with no credentials- there's no way you could have applied to join the wave of incoming students... had it not been for a string of improbable events that tied you up in some top secret plot.

An unpredicted meteor ripped through the planet's atmosphere in the late hours of night. A burst of unusual green-blue energy had not only been visible to the naked eye, but it set off all the satellite radars in the region. And what stumbled out of the impact zone was the most unlikely part of the story.

... Where... were you? Did you... fall asleep again? Opening your eyes, the cold midnight wilderness flashed alight with an eerie aurora floating close to the ground. The dust was settling, but instead of dispersing into the dirt, it'd been floating up back toward the clear starflecked sky. The surrounding field stood littered with broken shards of... something. They'd been decaying into twinkling flakes light enough to float off the ground — and being that it was pitch black, the only light you had to see was quickly dispersing from the stripped soil and clumps of torn up grass. Once they'd burnt the last of their light, it had left you nothing but one last gentle light source. Registering the mysterious shimmering crystal not far from your face, you sat up, with no proper sense of how you'd got there or what it had been doing on top of you. You must've walked for miles with it in your arms before passing out from exhaustion.

...

You're really asleep again. You tried to cry out, open your eyes. Nothing happened. You tried to feel your fingertips, your breath in and out of your nose. Where is your body? Nothing... happened. The shell forming around you kept out the melded together white silhouettes, but it also kept you in. But a woman burst through the doors, and you couldn't make out here face as she yelled at them to stop. No, all you could make out was the familiar pattern of her earrings. "Can't you see that you can't drill through this?!" She pushed them out of the way, standing between you and their stainless steel tools. "You'll do nothing but hurt the both of them!"

. There's some illegible message displayed on the device you hold in your hands. You look down at it, not remembering what you were doing before.

You can't make out any of the details anymore, but you're unable to look away as you hear the sound effect from pressing the A-button. The symbols warp into familiar letters. You suddenly feel a slightly overshadowing presence behind you. At last, comprehensible text materializes.

"And so you have returned with some pretense of self awareness. Not as you were before, however."

You press the A-button again. "More a shell of what you once were... Something I lament to say likely cannot be reversed." A-button. "Nay, you are not the you that I once knew." You... press it again. "..." It does not speak, so you press it again.

And again.

"I am at a loss as to whether I should mourn a past that has faded into obscurity or feel at peace knowing that you are as ever-changing as the world you left in my charge." You press the button one more time, but the voice seems to hesitate for a moment, thinking of what next to say.

". . . "

"Regardless, I have been awaiting your return for a very long time."

.

.

.

Better to get up and put on your tacky school uniform now than fall back asleep and wait to be dragged out from your boring old dorm room by the scruff.

Being taken as a test subject in the most remote middle-of-the-ocean facility felt more like being held prisoner than enrolling in school. Your homeroom teacher, Ms. Briar, had served as a reminder that the muddy flashes of memories you had of being encased in a living crystal were, in fact, real. She seems to know a lot about the creature you woke up holding, but next to nothing about you. While still mildly annoyed by her poking and prodding, you've warily come to accept that her endless curiosity is not out of cruelty. She is... respectful toward you. Not of your boundaries, but she's fascinated with you in a mild manner that does not immediately endanger your safety. Speaking of, as you sat down and slung your bag over the desk chair, Terapagos came tumbling out, clinking clumsily against the floor. "Aaa-" It cried, stuck on its back. Or, well, not it. He. You quickly scooped him up and set him back on his legs. He's looking up at you, nudging your shoe with his head. His unusually large eyes sparkle as he stares with unmatched innocence, waiting for you to bend over and pick him up. Which you do, knowing the pink haired girl that sits a few rows behind you is vibrating in her seat. "Cute... so cute..." She's mumbling under her breath. Ever since you 'enrolled' she'd done nothing but stare at your companion, which he seemed to find uncomfortable if the pulling at your shoelace wasn't enough to convey that fact. "Alright, little guy, alright. I'm on it." You huff, gently plucking him off the ground with two hands. He cries out in joy and she suddenly clutches her heart, falling backward out of her seat.

...

Nobody here talks to you. Not because they haven't tried, but because every attempt has been met with you either pretending you hadn't heard them or getting up and walking out the classroom. All Briar had to do was take the attendance. They couldn't necessarily threaten you into forced bonding with others. No, your real confinement was having to go into the terrarium and complete menial tasks for the equivalent of money just so you could buy food and school supplies. You didn't even want to be here, you just didn't have anywhere better to go. Apparently they just wanted to protect you for the time being, but there's no way in hell you'd believe that's why they sent you into glorified solitary confinement in the middle of the ocean. Everyone else had permission to come and go whensoever they pleased.

No, your only equals here were your few Pokemon friends. The researchers might've claimed to be keeping your friends in the terrarium for the sake of their health and the preservation of the outside world it mimicked, but you'd never believe in their so called pure intentions. No, this was a pretty little garden for outsiders looking in, and a cage too small for ornate living decorations like you.

Terapagos had been your only one constant since day one, and he was wary of most other people. You trusted his judgement the most. Most other people. The lunch ladies were apparently the saints of the Pokemon world. The food staff are genuinely kind, and Terapagos is a fiend for all types of Pokemon confections you're quickly learning. They've told you that most Pokemon have a taste preference, but not your special little pal, though the poor thing had such a tiny stomach that does not match his monstrous appetite at all.

There's one other person Terapagos had once been intent on pestering in at the cafeteria, but was quickly distracted by another helping of berries and whipped cream.

Compliments to the hardworking Alcremie in the kitchen, they were the only ones who could truly keep his menace at bay... You were endlessly thankful for the distraction, anyway. You wouldn't have known what to do if he'd marched right on up to the four of them chatting amongst themselves over lunch. Red haired dude. Pink haired girl. Scary four eyes. Annoying dragon jerk. Everyone knew who they were. Those were the most problematic trainers in all the Academy.

[t4transformerss]

skybound thundercracker when he wakes up and starscream starts telling him about how he tore apart and cannibalised skywarp for parts

[bumblingbabooshka]

Tuvok & Janeway being normal close friends pre-delta quadrant but becoming irreparably inseparable over the course of their time on Voyager is actually a very funny alternative to them having been besties. Before the horrors they were close but now in the delta quadrant all their neuroses are coming out and new, worse neuroses are being added every day. Janeway's trying to kill herself in increasingly spectacular bouts of heroic sacrifice and Tuvok's too busy proving that he knows her best/will always be by her side to effectively stop her. And for that? He's her best and dearest friend and can have the honor of being the only one to die by her side [which he willingly asks permission to do, btw] ♥

[determinate-negation]

i keep typing and deleting shit about this cause idek what to say. the mass psychosis is ridiculous and untenable and yet it continues. how tf are people convinced that fucking PENN of all places is the locus of radical woke demagoguery. or that jewish students are unsafe at nyu. COME ON NOWWWWW

[let-me-love-you-loki]

Take Me to the Barn

“Em?” Adam’s voice filtered through the house. It made my heart skip a beat after so many days of quiet.

            “In here,” I called back softly from my place on the sofa. It had been so long since I’d seen him, and I must have fallen asleep waiting to hear the truck in the drive.

            Adam appeared around the corner; his curling sandy hair tied back at the nape of his neck, and blue eyes tired as he sat a backpack against the wall. A small smile curled his lips as he stood there looking across the living room at me. I watched his wide chest rise and fall as he took a deep breath.

            “It’s bad, isn’t it?” I said quietly. My eyes flicked past his broad shoulder, searching for the other person hiding behind him. “Come here, honey.”

            Dark haired and blue eyed, Mattie Jackson slipped out from behind my husband. She was pale and thin, dark circles beneath her eyes and hollows in her cheeks. Her clothes seemed to hang off her—sweatpants that were tied tight around her waist, a hoodie that swallowed her whole. My heart sank into my stomach at the sight of her.

            I held out my hand. My goddaughter curled into a ball beside me, hiding in the space against my ribs. It wasn’t until I put my arms around her that I realized how frail she’d become. I could feel the sharpness of her bones beneath her skin. I glanced up at Adam, trying to read the severity of it all in his face. What I saw made my blood run cold.

            Adam crossed the room in a few strides. He leaned over and pressed a kiss against my forehead. He lingered as if he wanted to memorize me. I watched my husband fold himself into a sitting position in the floor by Mattie’s side. The lines around his eyes, the way his mouth tightened as he looked at her, it made fear run down my spine as my imagination went mad thinking about what had happened to her in California.

            No sooner had Adam sat at her feet than Mattie crawled into my lap, tucking her head against my shoulder. I felt her take one deep breath and then tears started to flow. Her sobs were silent, but heavy and heartbreaking. I wrapped my arms tightly around her, cradling her head and slipping my fingers soothingly through her hair.

            “It’s okay, honey,” I murmured against her sobs. “It’s okay.”

            She sucked in a deep, shuddering breath. Her sobs seemed to tear through her. “It’s not. It’s my fault. I can’t, Em,” she whimpered. “It’s too hard.”

            “Shh,” I cooed as I rocked her back and forth. She curled closer, her tears dampening my shirt. “It’s okay, Tea. You’re not doing this by yourself.”

            I looked up at the soft whisper of Adam’s voice. “You can stay here as long as you want. I promised your Momma that I’d make sure that you were okay and taken care of. I’m sure Em would be happy to have someone else around the house when I’m gone.” He reached up and settled his hand on Mattie’s knee. “I need some help with the horses, too.”

            Adam smiled softly at me. There was a deep sadness behind it.

            It wasn’t until later that night that I learned the whole truth of what had happened in California at the Jackson compound.

***

            “He won’t come here,” Mattie snapped, crossing her arms over her chest as she stared across the corral at the large black horse.

            Bear had been on the farm for about a month after Adam had found him abandoned in a field. He had been so thin that we weren’t sure that he would survive. He was skittish around people, and it wasn’t hard to see that he’d been abused by whoever had owned him before. Scars were visible beneath his coat, causing thinner spots in his thick coat. It had been weeks before he would trust either of us to come close. But with patience and care, he’d finally learned to trust us enough to eat and gain weight. He would still hide at the back of his stall when we brought through hay and water, but at least he’d started eating.  

            Adam shook his head and stepped up beside Mattie. He’d taken her out to get fitted for a pair of cowboy boots and made sure she had clothes that were okay for the barn and corral. Her dark hair was pulled up in a ponytail that was pulled through the back of her baseball cap.

            “You have to be patient,” Adam said gently. I sat on the fence with a book, one that I’d been meaning to read for ages now. “He’s not had an easy time, Tea.”

            Mattie huffed and took a few steps toward Bear. Her shoulders were squared, back straight, her entire body radiating fear and frustration. It took half a second for the horse to recognize it and skitter backward. He stamped the ground with his front hooves, kicking up clods of dirt.

            “This is stupid,” Mattie said as she stamped her feet in perfect imitation of the horse. She pouted. “Why are you making me do this? He doesn’t like me, and I don’t want to be here.”

            I looked up in time to see a flicker of hurt run across Adam’s face. He ran his hand roughly over his beard and then back over his curling hair. He tucked his hands into his pockets and rocked onto his heels.

            “You wanna go home then?” he asked with a firm, quiet voice. I knew from his tone that he didn’t want her to go. And I knew deep in my heart that she needed to stay with us, to heal whatever happened to her.

            She stared at him with wide, almost terrified blue eyes. “Are you kicking me out?”

            Adam took two quick strides toward her and pulled her against his chest. Mattie wrapped her arms around his waist as he held her tightly. His chin rested atop her head; his eyes squeezed shut with pain for our goddaughter. Half a second later, her shoulders fell, and her deep, heavy sobs echoed through the yard. I made a move toward them, but Adam shook his head.

            “No,” my husband assured her. “We aren’t kicking you out. You know better than that. But you can’t just mope around here and think it’s gonna get better. We gotta work at it, Tea. We gotta work and be patient. Just like we do with Bear.”

            Mattie hid her face against Adam’s shirt. Even from where I was, I could see her take deep breaths of the fabric. I smiled. There was definitely something soothing about Adam’s scent.

            “There’s something wrong with me,” she groaned, her voice still thick with tears. “It’s all my fault.”

            “You stop that right now, Mattea,” he snapped. It wasn’t angry. Firm, edged with a little disappointment. He knew she didn’t mean it, even if that was how she’d been feeling for weeks on end. Adam hadn’t told me everything that had happened, but I knew enough that it scared Jon Moxley so shitless that he’d driven from Vegas to Rancho Cucamonga in two hours. God knew, it had to be bad. “There’s nothing wrong with you at all. And if Nick put that in your head…”

            Mattie’s shoulders shook with sobs. “No. No…”

            My heart clenched in my chest as I watched him cradle her as if he could protect her from the world. I’d known from the moment I’d fallen in love with Adam Page that he had the biggest heart in the world. That he’d be an amazing father. I suddenly saw it with my own two eyes.

            “What those girls said to you, Tea, and what they did. None of that was your fault. You didn’t do anything wrong. Your Momma shouldn’t have shut down on you like that. And your dad sure as hell shouldn’t have walked out on you.” Adam clutched her closer, his grip on her fierce. “Sometimes people are mean and selfish. Sometimes people hurt those around them to make themselves feel better.”

            Her voice came out faint and small. “Is that what happened to Bear?” I watched her lift her head just a little and saw her bright blue eyes watching the horse over Adam’s broad bicep.

            My husband visibly relaxed a bit. His hold loosened as he pressed a kiss to the top of Mattie’s head. “Something like that. The people who had him before us didn’t take care of him. They treated him badly. And now he’s afraid of people most of the time. He’s afraid of the other horses. Of Skipper, too.”

            Skipper was the border collie that Adam had found wandering the road almost a year ago. His fur was matted, he was practically skin and bones, and he looked like he’d been without a home for a while. The sight had broken Adam’s heart. I went to work one morning and then came home to find my husband on the kitchen floor with the dog across his lap and a bowl of Fresh Pet wet food beside him. He was feeding him slowly, one morsel at a time. Earning his trust.

            Now Skipper went wherever Adam did. The dog was right on his heels from the house to the barn, the fields to the river. He napped in the sunlight on the porch while Adam and I rocked in our Cracker Barrel red cherry chairs. He slept on the end of the bed when Adam was home and on his pillow when he wasn’t.

            I watched my husband crouch down and let out a quick whistle. The collie came loping out of the barn, sending Bear skittering back toward the fence again. Mattie scratched him behind the ears when he came close, an almost smile appearing on her face. She settled her forehead against his and kissed his snout. My heart squeezed hard at how she seemed to release something.

            It was one of the things I loved most about Adam Page. He had a gift for fixing broken things.

            Adam tapped her on the shoulder and pointed toward Bear, murmuring something to our goddaughter. Mattie stood up, straightened her shoulders, and took a few cautious steps toward the horse, who took a nervous half-step in return.

___________

Tag List

@not-that-kinda-gurl088

@lilred91

@imagineall-the-fandoms

@maelleoute

@librathepheonix13

@unoficialy-married-to-ace-austin

@spaghetti-hoop

@ryantaylorgirl

@mrsmatt

@wardlowsbabydoll

[xomegaman]

Recent photo of Kenny with a fan at Universal Studios

[hornyhunie]

egg talks

i don’t want to be so swollen i’m uncomfortable i want to be just swollen enough it’s obvious somethings in there. i want to look bloated. i want to look squirmy. i want my tummy pouch just a bit bigger than normal. i want to walk around with eggs shoved in me for a day with just the goal of keeping them in.

wake up and get filled and then do a set number of tasks before a shower where i’m allowed to do whatever i want, keep them in or let them out or just jerk off and see what the spasming does. let my body decide.

stupid stupid stupid

[sleepless-winter-nights]

Ok this is mostly a rant and also MY opinion which many might not agree

But in second generation in rkverse ( that is the kids books ) have unnecessary dysfunctional siblings dynamics. Like why do that.

And even if it was normal at the end it was ruined which was unnecessary like for example:

1. the king siblings that is Landon, Brandon and Glyndon could have had a great relationship but no there was some problem which was unnecessary and it felt like it was show that Eli and Creighton are better siblings. Yeah, I know Brandon had reasons ( like how his mental state was fucked) and Landon was anti social ( which was not shown in the book only his narcissistic part was shown which was annoying at many times) but they still could have had a great relationship

2. Similarly Gareth and Killian, like why that unnecessary dislike. Can't they behave like normal siblings, like was it really necessary to create some rift. Similarly this one also felt like it was to show that volkov siblings are better.

3. The worst was mia maya bond. Like why break such a beautiful bond by creating some unnecessary drama for no reason and make one sibling as a villain. They were so good together but nope. Rina just destroyed it to make the king twins superior.

Like drama can be created in other ways too without anyone having to feel insecure or jealous of their own siblings. And if there was a problem it should have been solved but nope🙅.

It feels like author doesn't know how a sibling's dynamics work

Let's hope that rina won't ruin Ava and Ariella's relationship because I know that Eli and Creigh will be fine.

[c0stiffen]

The public asks for it, the public receives it. Tomorrow I will be posting the references!

Ah, Amarys is wearing a prosthesis that's why her eye looks different.

About Drayton I’m not sure yet

[macbethz]

It’s incredibly selfish but I just don’t want the general superhero film viewing population to know what the authority is. That should only be for weird nerds and gay people on the internet