#the only one who equals her in my heart is audrey but audrey (for better or worse...definitely for worse) belongs to the world

[laurapetrie]

CAROLE LOMBARD in MR. & MRS. SMITH (1941)

[dogsichub]

How the Sausage Is Made

Hanael was a decent lecturer.

Dr. Gryder was surprised to discover this fact after the demon took the floor, and regrettably, the projector. The entire council (plus guest) were treated to an exclusive full-frontal view of Audrey’s naked body the moment plug met laptop port. Ig flinched as if he’d been hit. Several among the council appeared to be taking a polite interest in the polished mahogany tabletop or the intricate embroidery on Mara’s dress. One of the council members who had been averting her eyes in anticipation spared him a glance of equal parts sympathy and amusement. Get used to it, the look seemed to say.

Mara, for her part, seemed wholly unbothered. To Ig’s mortification, Toni nodded approvingly. He glowered at her.

Less than half a minute of clicking and an eternity later, Hanael summoned a slideshow to shield their eyes from the last shred of Audrey’s modesty. Dr. Gryder soon found himself engrossed despite his initial misgivings. He had always known Hanael to be a man of (violent) action, not a man of words. Shoot first, ask questions never. This briefing was the most he had ever heard the demon speak at one time.

He was not an energetic speaker, Ig noted. After decades of attending lectures, Dr. Gryder considered himself somewhat of an expert on bad ones. This was not one of them. Hanael spoke frankly and succinctly, as he normally did, but in long stretches his voice hit a pleasing cadence. Despite his aloof presence, Hanael was attuned to his audience; he seemed to know exactly who would need additional context for what. Ig found himself impressed, and conflicted about it.

“…requires little introduction.” Hanael said. “You recognize him.”

Dr. Gryder looked up from his notes. Everyone had their eyes on the screen.

But Hanael was looking at him.

He advanced a slide and watched Dr. Gryder blanch.

Three pictures: the first, a prison intake photograph of a black man in his late thirties. His face was pocked with the marks of old acne and hard living, and his head was clean-shaven. The man had been beaten, severely, upon his arrest; earning a swollen orbit and split lip for the trouble of submitting to the law. And yet a content, defiant smirk touched the corners of his mouth and eyes.

Dr. Gryder felt cold.

The second was a telephoto shot. The same man stood upon a vast stone split clean in half by ice, time, and Purgatory’s indomitable will. He appeared to be leading a chorus of wolves in song. His entire demeanor was joyous and unburdened. 68 was free in a way the doctor had never seen him.

Dr. Gryder studied the third. It was the easiest to look at because it was a face he did not recognize from memory. This one, a shot of a silver wolf with a pelt that heaped upon his shoulders like a hay mound. He carried his head low and regarded the camera with piercing golden eyes.

“Goes by John. Living aliases included Six-eight and the Lone Wolf Bomber. Real name unknown. Died within the last five years, corroborated by topside accounts of a deadly explosion in his last confirmed location: a remote part of the North American continent, where he played Messiah to an ecoterrorist cult. Some of his followers… followed.”

“Is he old blood?” The council member sitting next to Mara asked.

“No.” Hanael gave Ig another knowing look. “Old bloods fucking despise him. His doctrine wins hearts and minds even better in death. Makes them nervous.

“He shares their contempt for Mara’s rule but differs in his reasoning. We are agents of Hell to him. You, my men, the malefactors who abetted the attack on the conduit are considered fronts of the same malevolent force. Death erased any lingering doubts about his god and has only energized his crusader fantasy.” Hanael advanced the slideshow to a black screen. “Questions.”

“Why is he called Six-eight?” A different member asked, inclining his head almost comically and with limited success to address Hanael to his face. When Hanael did not return the favor he—along with everyone else—followed his line of sight.

“Ask Dr. Gryder.”

[isleofdarkness]

What infuriates you most about Descendants? From the plots to characters (from the books and movies)

"You're telling me we're stuck like this until Lagoona fixes some freaky flaw? Which one?! She has so many!" - Toralei Stripe, Great Scarrier Reef

Now you might be wondering how a Monster High quote relates to my answer, but that's how I felt. How could I name only one thing that infuriates me? All of them infuriate me in equal amounts. That's why it took me a while to answer this, because I was debating. Until I realized that most of my grievences fell under one thing;

The lack of any genuine thought and effort being put in.

We have the lack of continuity, how the books struggle to match up with the movies while nothing from the books is ever mentioned in the movies. The really interesting characters from the books and/or the really interesting dynamics they could present, we see none of them.

We have the racism. Li Liang and Li Susu have a German and *supremely* disrespectful and unlucky name respectively. The misogynoir, how they treated Uma, Celia, Audrey, and Freddie. Celia wasn't even bad, she was mischievous bordering on a bit naughty, but they treated her like she was a Villain villain. Uma was right and I will die on this hill. Audrey was humiliated, cheated on, and spelled into doing something she didn't want to. Freddie was actually better behaved than Mal, like sheesh. Queen Leah being the "old, bitter bitch" when she was traumatized and had every right to react as she did in the first movie (while Aurora, the good one, was white with a black mom and biracial daughter.) Ursula being nasty. Cruella being "crazy." There are probably more but I've forgotten them. Carlos, moving off of misogynoir, was treated like a baby. Facilier and Coach were the only two genuinely okay black people in the movies, and they said maybe three lines each and got two seconds of screen time. An Indigenous actor playing an Arabian man. Evie being Latina never being discussed (aside from her possibly falling into the spicy Latina trope in the first movie and book.) It was just so racist, like wow. I could do better even without research, and I hope to do a lot better with a lot of research Disney should have done.

It's not realistic. Jafar tried to rape a fifteen-year-old girl, the same age as his son. Claude tried to rape a sixteen-year-old, who could be the same age as his daughter for all we know. There are children on an Isle of rapists and murderers and people who torture others just for the hell of it, but Disney does not acknowledge how the three of them probably encountered someone who went through it, if not them going through it (Jafar totally would, just saying,) once. No food insecurity, no PTSD (let alone C-PTSD,) no kleptophobia, nothing showing the trauma and constant state of survival they lived in for their entire lives.

The villains are not the Villains. They are cartoony even by Disney standards. Evil Queen would have tried to carve out Evie's heart at least once (she did in mine.) Hades would never cheat on his wife (I headcanon that Maleficent did a love spell.) Hell, most of them wouldn't have survived childhood because their parents are Villains.

How did the wild magic never leak onto the Isle?

Mal has a half-brother. Why was that never bought up?

Why is everyone speaking in such heavy Ebonics at times?

Why did Li Liang have cornrows in the second movie? Her hair doesn't need protective styles like that and she's probably damaging it, on top of it just being not good.

The fucking names. Hadie. Harriet and Harry. Jay and Jade. Claudine. LeFou Deux. The Gastons I give a pass for because Gaston would really be Like That. Yzla. Disney, c'mon.

I already touched on this but where did Mad Maddy and her crew go? Where's Anxelin? And Li Susu? Hadie? Jade and Diego? Freddie and CJ? Where did they go? What did you do to them, Mal?

Mal drugged her boyfriend and I'm one of those people who counts nonconsensual kissing as SA, so she SA'ed him. This is never bought up even though holy shit, that's problematic.

Uma, Audrey, and Maddy had every right to hate Mal. Celia had every right to drop the Ember into a bird bath.

Mal tried to hurt and kill Evie.

Jafar hit Jay at least once in the books. Maleficent ignored Mal until she wanted to exploit her. Evie was starved and forced to reduce herself to a walking cunt to please her mother. A slave in ancient Rome would have been on a pleasure cruise for what Carlos was going through. But they are all dying to see their parents. Make it make sense, Disney. I would kill the person who hurt me *once* if I had half the chance, so why are they sprinting down the bridge to see their parents?

Bringing the Barrier down was a shit idea and Auradon is doomed, Disney. Maleficent was ready to enslave everyone and now she's free? C'mon.

Kids died on the Isle. Unless the Barrier keeps the kids alive. Either way, should probably mention that because some of these people would kill their kids.

Honestly, to keep from ranting for five more pages, there would be so much fucked up shit going on on the Isle and Disney makes it seem like there was just a touch of mischief going on there.

Mal is not a good protag and should not have been marketed as such.

Snow White would never insult Evie's styles like that. Cinderella would never raise her son like that. Alice would never raise her daughter like that.

Beast was legit doing a quiet genocide on the Isle, at least on the children.

How's the Underworld running without Hades? Is Thanatos doing it? He get bumped from guy with one job to managing the hardest domain to manage? What about Persephone? What's she doing? Auradon seems to be in constant spring so it looks like she doesn't get to manage the Underworld.

Gods are inherently magical being and no Barrier, no one (possibly Hecate herself, but we never hear about her,) could stop them from doing magic.

Fae and djinni are inherently magic. Cecaelias (and I'm betting mermaids) need to be born underwater. Nothing can take the magic out of the ocean. How did they prevent that, Disney? Tell me.

And-

I think I've ranted for long enough. There's so many plot holes that I can't even strain pasta through it because the pasta would fall out. There's so much disrespect for other cultures that I can't even think of an analogy. There's so little creativity that I was writing better stories before I knew how to write. Descendants is a spite project made to put EAH out of business and sell dolls and it shows. Disney, do better.

"Sometimes fanfiction is a love letter to canon. Sometimes it's ninety-five things canon has done wrong nailed to canon's door." And mine is definitely the latter.

[justforbooks]

“As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.” Those words, delivered with lingering fascination by the actor Ray Liotta, who has died unexpectedly aged 67, ushered audiences into Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas (1990), one of the most dynamic pictures made about the criminal life and its enticements.

Liotta, playing the real mobster-turned-informant Henry Hill, has just been seen taking part in the fatal knifing of a mob rival when the camera zooms on to his face, bathed in the infernal red glow of a car’s brake-lights. Seductive and terrifying, he exudes a charred handsomeness and a chilling self-belief. Though Goodfellas was only his fourth major screen role, Liotta was seen (and heard, in a matter-of-fact voiceover) for much of the movie’s two-and-a-half-hour running time.

He held his own in the company of experienced co-stars such as Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, who played fellow hoods. His fizzy, feisty rapport with Lorraine Bracco, as Henry’s wife, Karen, brought valuable warmth to the intense, sometimes harrowing, material.

Take any of the movie’s most memorable scenes and Liotta is at the heart of them: the technically complex single-take Steadicam shot, which doubles as a portrait of Henry’s rise in miniature as it follows him and Karen from the streets into the back entrance of the Copacabana nightclub, through its corridors and kitchens, and ends up at their VIP table for that evening’s show; the mortifying moment when Henry makes the mistake of referring to the volatile Tommy (Pesci) as “a funny guy”, unleashing in the process an intimidating tirade; and the virtuoso sequence late in the film in which Henry, frazzled on cocaine, plagued by paranoia and pursued by the Feds, finally runs out of luck.

He is last seen standing on a doorstep in his dressing gown, staring into the camera as he contemplates life in the witness protection programme. “I’m an average nobody,” he complains in the voiceover. “I get to live the rest of my life like a schnook.”

Goodfellas made Liotta a star but he had already given an equally magnetic performance in Something Wild (1986), his first lead role. He was 30 when he was cast as Ray Sinclair, a thug who terrorises his free-spirited ex-wife, Audrey (Melanie Griffith), after being released from prison.

Jonathan Demme’s masterful comedy-thriller is a movie of two halves, its audacious shift from high-jinks to horror resting largely on Liotta’s shoulders. When he looms into view on the dancefloor at a high-school reunion, spooking Audrey and her date (Jeff Daniels), it is one of the most spine-tingling moments in modern cinema, as well as a warning to audiences who had been blithely enjoying the previous hour that the fun and games were now over. His mercurial quality, his gift for stillness, his arctic blue eyes – all these were assets in portraying a brute who nevertheless remains compellingly human.

It helped no end that Liotta was an unknown quantity, at least to those who had not seen him on television during his three years in the soap opera Another World (1978-81), where he played “the nicest guy in the world”.

In later years, he often insisted that he had been unfairly pigeonholed as a villain or a gangster. It was for that reason that he turned down a part in the third series of The Sopranos, though he did appear in the show’s movie prequel, The Many Saints of Newark (2021), as well as playing the mobster Roy DeMeo in The Iceman (2012). Chagrined that “bad guys just seem to stand out”, Liotta protested that he wasn’t “a criminal or a tough guy or a gang member. My life does not revolve around intensity … I like playing the nicer guy in movies. I can relate to them better.”

He played the twin brother of a man (Tom Hulce) with learning difficulties in Dominick and Eugene (1988), but his most beloved “nice guy” role was in Field of Dreams (1989), a sentimental fantasy about a farmer (Kevin Costner) who builds a baseball field that is then frequented by the ghosts of long-dead players.

Among them is “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, who is played by Liotta with an unusual twinkling softness, as well as a steely undertone that keeps his performance focused even as the film makes its assault on the tear ducts.

He could be disarmingly vulnerable in harsher contexts, too. The most shocking scene in the crime movie Killing Them Softly (2012) occurs when Liotta, as a luckless card sharp, bursts into tears while being beaten up, a sight simultaneously moving, upsetting and unshakably strange.

He was born in Newark, New Jersey, where he was adopted at six months old and raised by Mary, a township clerk, and Alfred Liotta, who owned an auto parts store. Ray had grown up believing he was of Italian heritage, but on meeting his birth mother in his 40s, discovered his origins were in fact Scottish. He was educated at Union high school, in his home state, and at the University of Miami, where he studied drama.

He enjoyed acting on stage there, and later moved to New York, where he was cast in commercials and television series before auditioning successfully for Something Wild.

Though he never became a superstar – he expressed regret that he had declined an offer to meet Tim Burton, who wanted him to play Batman in his 1989 film – he worked consistently. He was a cop menacing Kurt Russell and Madeleine Stowe in Unlawful Entry (1992); in fact, violent or corrupt cops would later became something of a speciality of his in the likes of Narc (2002) and The Place Beyond the Pines (2012).

In a gentler register, he played a widower who hires a nanny (Whoopi Goldberg) for his daughter in Corrina, Corrina (1994), then starred in the thriller Unforgettable (1996), the airborne action movie Turbulence and the more thoughtful crime drama Cop Land (both 1997), which co-starred De Niro, Sylvester Stallone and Harvey Keitel.

When he played Frank Sinatra in the TV movie The Rat Pack (1998), he received a fake horse’s head in the mail (a Godfather reference) from the singer’s daughters, who were aggrieved that he had turned down their offer to play their father in a competing project.

He was an unsavoury justice department agent in Hannibal (2001), where he had the dubious privilege of being at the centre of its grisliest scene: sitting upright but partially anaesthetised at the dinner table, he is fed parts of his own brain – sautéed, no less – by the cannibalistic killer played by Anthony Hopkins. He was also Johnny Depp’s father in the drugs-and-crime drama Blow (2001), which owed a considerable stylistic debt to Goodfellas.

Later films included the thrillers Identity (2003) and Guy Ritchie’s Revolver (2005), as well as the biker comedy Wild Hogs, with John Travolta. Liotta had a ball playing himself in Jerry Seinfeld’s animated Bee Movie (2007), where he is the purveyor of his own brand of honey, and appeared alongside Kermit the Frog and co in Muppets from Space (1999) and Muppets Most Wanted (2014). In 2005 he won an Emmy for a guest appearance on the TV drama ER.

Forthcoming productions include the Apple TV drama Black Bird, in July, in which Liotta plays the police-officer father of a drug-dealing son, and what he termed the “nutty” movie Cocaine Bear, due for release next February. His standout performance of recent years was as a remorseless divorce lawyer in the Oscar-winning Marriage Story (2019). Like all his best work, it was authentic, direct and unfussy. “I don’t do things to find out about myself,” he said. “I just like playing pretend.”

Liotta was shooting a film, Dangerous Waters, in the Dominican Republic when he was found dead in his hotel room.

His fiancee, Jacy Nittolo, survives him, as does a daughter, Karsen, from his marriage to Michelle Grace, which ended in divorce.

🔔 Raymond Allen Liotta, actor, born 18 December 1954; died 26 May 2022

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

[spooky-z]

HIT

Maribat by @ozmav

Warnings: aggression and language

Almost 3K.

All Marinette could see was red, purple and yellow against pale skin.

It was mostly red, the edges already becoming purple and around a sick yellow.

She could blink, look away, try to think of something else, but the image was glued to her eyes.

The anger burning under the skin, the blood running hot in her veins, heart beating angrily against her ribs. She could feel the metallic taste of the cut that her teeth opened on her lip.

Marinette had never felt more hatred for anyone than she did at that moment.

She wanted to jump the jugular and pull out the trachea with her teeth.

The urge to kill.

"... you better get away from her." Damian growled. His face contorted with disgust.

“Who do you think you are to intrude on a family affair?!” Audrey Bourgeois stood, arrogant and pompous, glancing disdainfully at the Pack.

Chloe by her side, her eyes puffy, hair down shadowing her face and lips trembling from holding back the crying. The handprint on the pale cheek was obvious and clearly visible despite the hair to cover.

She didn't dare look at her friends. At the pack. The humiliation was a heavy feeling, seeming worse every moment she heard the shutter sound of a phone camera toward her.

Dupont would have something to talk about for weeks now.

"... who does he think he is?!" Kagami says. She was the only one who seemed coolly calm. "Who YOU think you are." There were more than sharp words coming out. There were canines becoming sharper by the moment and a lack of control going on.

Audrey seems offended by the girl’s words.

"Lower your tone, young lady." She replies. Her tone was threatening. “Do you know who you are talking to? I'm Audrey Bourgeois, one of the greatest designers of the world. Wife of the mayor of Paris. And I can end your family's life in two seconds.”

Adrien smiles mockingly at the woman's words. "I'd love to see that happen... Auntie."

The woman chokes offended at the nickname, but doesn't seem surprised by the boy's behavior.

She raises her eyebrow.

"When Gabriel told me that you were in your rebel phase and that you were taking Chloe the wrong way, I really didn't believe it." She says. "But I see this time he has some reason to warn me."

The Pack grunts at the man's name.

"I knew that piece of trash wouldn't be quiet." Max mutters venomously.

"It's time we put an end to this old man." Kim mumbles back.

Audrey seemed to tire of all the little show they were giving Dupont's students and grabbed Chloe's arm, trying to pull the girl into the limo parked on the sidewalk.

“Come on Chloe, you have to pack your bags. We leave for New York today.” She turns, ignoring the Pack.

Something pops in Marinette, because all she can do is slap Audrey's hand away from Chloe and put herself between them. She probably looked like a wild animal right now.

The stylist shrugs her arm, holding her injured hand. Red face in indignation.

"Don't touch her." Marinette says. "Or I'll be forced to do something you won't like."

“Oh? What are you going to do? Tell your parents? You're nobody, little girl.” Audrey laughs sarcastically. “Chloe, let's go. Now."

"Nette, please, I don't want you to get in trouble." Chloe whispers, the pain was clear in the words.

The sound that comes from Marinette's chest is animalistic. The sound made the Pack shudder with the force and the dark feeling dripping into it.

Marinette would not let Chloe be taken. Not by Audrey, at least.

She doesn't look away from the adult Bourgeois before firing commands at the Pack.

"Damian, call Richard." The boy is quick to pick up the phone. “Adrien, call Clark and Lois. Let them know they can release that story in the newspaper.” The blonde doesn't even blink at the command. “Kim, Max and Luka, take Chloe to my house and don't let her out of sight.” Max and Kim surround Chloe and she gets carried away.

"Are you sure you want me to go, Mari?" Luka asks quietly, hesitating to leave. He knew that Damian and Adrien were not good at being Marinette's conscience in difficult situations. "I can stay and Adrien go with Chloe."

Marinette waves denying it. She looks at him just fast enough to calm him down before turning her attention back to Audrey.

“Kagami will stay with me and can keep me from doing something extreme.” Responds. "Chloe will need you more now."

“Alright, bu-”

"I'll call if I need support." Kagami is quick to answer him.

Luka hesitates for two more seconds before running after the other three who were waiting in the car with Auguste (aka Gorilla).

When only Damian, Marinette, Adrien and Kagami were left with Audrey (besides the audience watching), Marinette calmed down. The heated air was suddenly getting cold.

She was ready to attack.

“Do you really think hiding Chloe from me is going to work? I am her mother! The first lady! I run this town!” Audrey starts to scream. "Nothing you do will stop me from taking my daughter away from this... filthy relationship going on here."

Kagami steps forward wanting to attack the woman, but Adrien holds her hand and she stops, coming back to herself.

Damian had hung up the phone signaling an "OK" with his fingers.

"How about you shut up?" He says. “Keep talking will only make your situation worse.”

“Make my situation worse? What the hell are you talking about?!”

"He's talking about you getting arrested." Marinette replies without emotion. "Assault on a minor, threats, conspiracy with another adult to kidnap a child... There is a long list of your crimes."

Audrey looks attacked by Marinette's words, but also snorts in confusion.

“Conspiracy to kidnap a child?!” She grits her teeth. “Look at me and tell me if I look like someone who kidnaps someone! She is my daughter and I have the right to take her wherever I want when I want.”

Adrien laughs cynically at the woman.

"Not. You don't have.” He says. "Do you remember signing a document giving Chloe full custody to the mayor after signing the divorce a few months ago?"

"How-"

“Yeah, we know you are no longer the mayor's wife and you have no right to do what you did. If you left the country with Chloe without André's written permission, it would become a kidnapping.” Kagami cuts her off.

“She's my daughter!” Audrey stomps her foot.

"No, she is not. You gave up that right and now you hit her.” Damian growls. "You're lucky that murder is against the law, because otherwise..." He whispers deadly, but she can hear.

Audrey turns pale at the boy's words. Seeming to notice for the first time that the four teenagers had equal expressions of hate.

She opened her mouth to say something more, but the sound of police car sirens interrupted her and soon Dick was getting out of the car with Roger.

"Good afternoon." The Parisian cop politely greets, Dick nods without saying anything. “We received a complaint of public disorder and aggression against a minor.”

Audrey, knowing she would be in trouble, tries to get out of the situation by playing the victim.

"Officers, please, those brats went crazy and kidnapped my daughter!" There was a fake tear running down her cheek.

"What?!" Damian complains indignantly. "This crazy woman who was trying to kidnap one of us!"

Roger seemed frankly unsure of what to do, while Dick was watching the scene analytically. He was probably choosing the best way to end Audrey Bourgeois in front of everyone.

"What? No! You who kidnapped my Chloe and assaulted me!” She pointed her finger theatrically. “They threatened me, officer! Me! The first lady!”

"Madam, please." Roger takes Audrey by the shoulders and the woman makes an expression of disgust at the gesture. “Let's calm down. This confusion is attracting a much bigger audience than before.”

Only then does Audrey seem to notice that not only did Dupont's students watch (and film), but pedestrians passing by stopped to watch the confusion.

A TVi car getting closer and closer to guarantee the gossip of the day.

"Great! So, everyone learns about the sordid behavior that this school promotes towards students and how it corrupted my daughter!”

“Audrey Bourgeois-“ Marinette takes a step forward, looking at the woman and shaking her head. "Sorry! I meant Audrey Bisset.” She winks conspiratorially with the stylist's offended expression. "Here are your options."

She holds up a finger to signal "1" and begins, a soft voice.

"The first option is for you to leave now, without making another scene and we will not report you to these kind officers here."

The middle finger raises following the index finger. The "2".

"The second is that you continue and we are obliged to report you."

The ring finger raises to "3".

"Or I can just release very intimate files of yours on the internet and in the press, if you insist." Marinette lowers her arm and crosses the two behind her back, in a timid gesture. “Look, I knew you had some skeletons in the closet, but wow! What we found is enough to buy the entire IKEA and there is still no closet to store the bones.”

Roger, despite not appearing to like what Marinette was talking about, was curious about what she knew.

He was never a fan of Audrey Bourgeois for the way the woman treated her husband and daughter. Roger hated it every time Sabrina came home crying because Chloe had been particularly mean to her due to Audrey's influence.

The woman forced herself to be as unpleasant as possible and did not seem to have a drop of love in her heart.

Just greed and status.

“What.” Audrey babbles.

"Evan Halle." Kagami throws the name in the air, relaxed.

Audrey gets two shades paler. "How do you-"

"Laurence Green." Adrien continues.

The woman's skin changes to a greenish tone.

"Alright! I'm leaving!" She screams. "But you have to promise that the press will not know those names!"

"Deal!" Marinette waves happily. A sweet, very sweet smile, on the lips.

Audrey puts the sunglasses back on her face, composing herself. She pretends not to notice the press filming everything live for viewers at home and turns to get into the limo.

"Odette Han." Dick finally speaks and with that Audrey seems ready to run at any moment. “This is part of some of the names listed in the files. You will have to accompany us to the police station.”

He steps in front of her, preventing Audrey from trying to escape. Roger followed his movement and took the stylist by the arm.

“It will be good if you collaborate with us. Otherwise, we will be forced to handcuff you in front of everyone.” He says when Audrey tries to break free.

She looks at Marinette, anger in her expression and her eyes are wet with humiliation.

"You said you wouldn't let anyone know!" She rages at Marinette, losing her composure for the first time.

She struggles in Roger's grip, wanting to move forward on Marinette, but the man has an iron grip on the woman's arm and she stops.

Damian smirks. A dangerous look.

"She said she wouldn't release it in the press or on the internet." He answers. "And I believe that she is fulfilling the agreement, since the police are not part of the press."

Dick takes the opportunity to put the handcuffs on Audrey's wrists. “And she won't be the one to tell the press. It will be me.”

When Audrey starts struggling again trying to break free, Roger drags her into the police car. Leaving Dick with the teenagers.

“Thank you so much for your help, Richard. She wouldn't give up on Chloe if you hadn't arrived.” Marinette sighs a smile.

Dick raises an eyebrow, seeming not at all convinced by the false sincerity in the girl's words. He knew she could be quite manipulative when needed.

"You're welcome." He answers. “We were lucky to have obtained these files before she arrived in Paris. Chloe will be safe now.”

Kagami snorts. "What are you talking about? Chloe was always safe. Audrey only touched her because that was the plan.”

"Yes! And everything came out the way we planned!” Adrien claps the hands, a huge smile on his face.

"The slap was much stronger than imagined, but it gave the effect we wanted." Damian nods sharply. "The anger I felt when I saw the mark was genuine."

Dick's eyes widen in surprise.

"Wait, did you know this was going to happen?"

“Duh. Of course." Marinette replies. “Appearing at school all together and happy. We knew there would be gossip, especially nasty gossip from our class.” She rolls her eyes. "So, we took advantage of that knowing that Lila wouldn't be quiet and we let her get closer to Gabriel."

“But how were you sure he was going to talk to Audrey? I thought they didn't get along.”

"Because Gabriel likes to be in control." Kagami speaks. “He doesn't like to be told. Especially if the people giving the order are children.”

“My father wants to isolate me. If I lose all my friends, he will be able to regain control over me as before.”

"So, Gabriel, thinking that Audrey would take Chloe away from us, warns the woman about an "orgy" involving only daughter she has and she comes running to save her." Damian continues.

“But you didn't need evidence of the crimes she committed to get her away from Chloe. She had no right, so she would be arrested even if you didn't do anything.” Dick crosses his arms. "So why all this staging?"

Marinette smiles, a dark mood shining in the blueberry eyes.

"Because that way we send a message to everyone, especially Gabriel."

"And what message would that be?" Dick questions.

"Never mess with the Pack."

The “otherwise” was left unsaid, but the meaning was clear.

EXTRA 1:

"I didn't know you could be such a good actress, Apis." Kim praises Chloe, eyes glued to the news channel.

The girl snorts. "I am good at everything."

Max jumps on the couch, turning up the sound of the TV when a footage (probably from a cell phone, if judged by the image quality), particularly good of Chloe's marked face, appeared on the screen.

"Fuck." He swears in wonder. "It looks a lot worse on TV."

Luka sits next to the three and places the ice pack gently on Chloe's face, who moans gratefully.

That hurt like hell.

"I didn't think Audrey would be that strong." Luka comments. "Your face will be swollen for a few days, Apis."

"All for the greater good." She sighs.

They would have no more to worry about for a while.

EXTRA 2:

"What the hell was this all about?" Ivan grumbles.

“Why was Chloe's mother arrested? Anybody know?" Rose asks.

Alix swallows a sigh when she sees Nadja Chamack announce that Audrey Bisset has been arrested for promoting slave labor in her clothing line, bribery and blackmail.

"Guys, come see this!" She calls.

They were all gathered on Juleka's boat (thinking that Chloe had gone there with Luka) wanting to know what it was all about in front of the school.

"Damn it. The mayor's wife is hardcore." Nino whistles in surprise.

"It looks like they're not together anymore." Alya says. Eyes glued to the cell phone. “The mayor filed for divorce five months ago and took custody of Chloe. It looked like she wanted to take Chloe to New York without his permission and then the police were called.”

"But how did he know that?" Nathaniel asks. "That she was trying to get Chloe out of Paris?"

"Hm... It says here that 'friends concerned about the physical and emotional integrity of the mayor's daughter, called the police and made the report'." Juleka reads aloud.

"They?" Sabrina asks.

"They." Alya waves.

Lila couldn't help thinking that Marinette's group was unpleasantly scary. They didn't seem to take any effort to break down the obstacles on the way.

She feared for when her time came.

Because she was not stupid.

Her time was coming.

[tag list]

@northernbluetongue​ @gimme-more-caffeine @kris-pines04​ @drarryismylife101​ @puzzlelover431​ @18-fandoms-unite-08​ @krispydefendorpolice​ @asheanomhominem​  @you-will-never-know-how-i-think @cutechip​ @just-an-avarage-nerds-blog​ @lirulua​ @j-a-n-e-d-o-e @naclychilli​ @the-blindwatcher​ @xxmdsxx​ @emootaku-666​ @nicknnie​​ @multplelifes​​ @slytherinhquinn​​ @caffeinetheory​​ @clumsy-owl-4178​​ @k-poplunardreams​​ @moonystars14​​ @damianette-is-life​​ @

[star-ocean-peahen]

p2 of old ML meta I wrote that I don’t necessarily agree 100% with any more.  I know I’m really late to the party on these, but I thought I’d release them into the wild anyway.

Awright, here we go. (under a cut because holy shit this is long)

I think Chloe is a complex character whose failed redemption arc was actually in character, whether the writers intended it or not. I acknowledge that she's done some really awful things, bullied people, been hurtful and mean because she wants to, and has no illusions about hurting people.  But she actually has a reason for doing this that goes beyond just enjoying bullying.  Again, this does not excuse her actions, and a redemption arc would require her to accept that she has done bad things and apologize for them, which is not something she does in the show.

As we can see in the show, Chloe's mother does not care for her.  At all.  Even to the extent that she doesn't even remember Chloe's name.  I don't know about you, but if my mom constantly chose not to remember my name, I would be devastated.  She constantly tells Chloe ("The only thing exceptional about you is your mother") that she is worthless and has no skill, talent, or anything special about her at all.  Chloe responds by mimicking the things she sees her mother does approve of, e.g. bullying, spitefulness, selfishness, etc.  It's made painfully obvious that all of Chloe's iconic, unique snobbishness actually belongs to her mother, whom she is imitating in a desperate attempt to get her mother's approval.  All Audrey cares about is herself, and Chloe knows that and tries to make herself a copy of her mother so her mother will want her.  Audrey only accepts and begins to value her when Marinette tells Audrey straight up how mean and awful Chloe is, and Audrey reevaluates her daughter.  She sees how much of herself Chloe has become, and decides that she wants a mini-her hanging around.  I don't know why she does this, but it's clear that she only began valuing Chloe once she saw the appropriate traits in her.  This means that Chloe has based her entire self-worth around her mother's opinion of her.  It's actually compared to Adrien's opinion of her in Despair Bear, when he tells her that if she isn't nice, he won't be her friend anymore.  She changes for a few hours because SHE ACTUALLY CARES ABOUT HIM AND HIS FRIENDSHIP MEANS A LOT TO HER, but reverts to her old ways because her mother's opinion matters to her more.  This is probably how she acted for her whole childhood, but changed when Hawk Moth attacks.  Why?  Because of Ladybug.  Chloe idolizes Ladybug, who gradually (unknowingly) gets more and more of an influence of her during the show. (Ladybug asking Chloe to stop causing akumatizations vs. Chloe giving up her miraculous) to the point where Ladybug is now a bigger idol than her mom.  Example: Style Queen, where Chloe FAKES working with her mother-WHO APPROVES OF HER FOR THE FIRST TIME-to HELP LADYBUG.  Ladybug is THAT important to her that she will give up the person she's been idolizing for her ENTIRE LIFE for her.  (Side note: Chloe is not a wimp.  She faked helping Style Queen-FOR ADRIEN-convincingly.  Persuaded her to change her plans without getting punished.  If that's not superhero material, then I don't know what is)  So now Ladybug is the most important person in Chloe's life.  What does this mean?  Well, Queen Bee happened.  When Chloe found her miraculous, she thought that she could be a superhero like Ladybug.  Remember, Chloe imitates the people she idolizes.  So she saw her miraculous as a way to get closer to the person she idolized-closer in character and closer relationship-wise.  Chloe values Ladybug partly because she is a superhero, so she thinks, "if I can be a superhero too, then I will have value in the same way as Ladybug!", hence her stunt with the train.  But this backfires on her when she only gets reprimanded and BOTH of her idols tear her self-esteem apart-Audrey purposefully, Ladybug unknowingly.  She's been rejected by the two people whose opinions matter most to her. (Note: Chloe has a tendency to forget about Adrien, but if your heart wasn't destroyed enough, he technically rejected her too as Chat Noir.)  She has no one to look up to now, so she clings to her miraculous-which is a symbol of worth-and guess what? Gets akumatized.  Hawk Moth says that she'll be his queen.  He'll value her when her world has come crashing down around her shoulders.  Can you blame her for becoming Queen Wasp?  She was akumatized after she displayed one of her first moments of vulnerability in the show, even showing it physically (nearly crying). That episode ends, and she begs for a second chance.  Audrey again dismisses her as worthless (Note: both times she did this, she did it on LIVE TELEVISION.) Ladybug and Chat Noir tell her that she can be a hero (equated with value in her head) and gives it back.  This is especially interesting.  Bee Miraculous = Hero. But Ladybug says No Bee Miraculous = Hero.  She amends her previous belief (GROWTH!) and trusts Ladybug, giving the Bee back.  In Malediktator, Chloe has her mother on her side and thinks all is well.  She continues to imitate her mother to keep her favor, taking it to the extreme with Audrey's encouragement and demanding the school shut down with an ultimatum: Do it or we leave.  They leave.  Marinette shows her humanity by celebrating Chloe's departure (which is FINE, she shouldn't be required to reconcile with everyone who's ever hurt her) and Adrien says this (BECAUSE HE CARES ABOUT CHLOE AND KNOWS WHAT A TOXIC ENVIRONMENT SHE'LL BE LIVING IN because he lives in a similar one): "Nobody's useless.  Not even Chloe." We'll come back to the uselessness issue later.  Chloe sneaks away from her akuma'd parents (again, quick and rational thinking in the face of danger, superheroine!!! Actually, it was probably learned from all the akumas she's been attacked by) and: "You're a hero! You....can....do....this!"   When Ladybug grabs the Bee, she realizes that she needs someone tough who defies authority, and gives Chloe a second chance. (It wasn't just because she knew the powers, people!)  Even Fu has misgivings, but Ladybug looks past her personal grievances and chooses Chloe.  Meanwhile, Chloe is SUCCESSFULLY ESCAPING AND HIDING FROM AN AKUMA (must be all that practice, say what you want, but being attacked by so many akumas was some rigorous crisis training) and runs into Ladybug.  When she meets LB, she isn't expecting to get her miraculous, unlike later.   She knows Ladybug probably won't give it to her, and SHE'S FINE WITH THAT.  SHE RESPECTS LADYBUG'S DECISION.  ACCEPTS THAT SHE CAN'T BE A SUPERHERO, BECAUSE WHEN SHE GAVE UP THE BEE MIRACULOUS, SHE BECAME A HERO.  Then, she opens up to Ladybug.  She tells her what everyone else thinks she doesn't know, that she's a bully.  And she's not targeting Marinette on purpose, Marinette just happens to be the most convenient target.  She grows and understands that her documentary was ridiculous.  She tells Ladybug how she knows that her bullying ways have just pushed her farther from her goal of being valued.  She thinks that because she has no friends (girl, you have Adrien) she has no use, and notice she says "useless".  Not "worthless", or "a horrible person".  Useless.  Because those things equal each other in Chloe's mind. Use = Value. She tells Ladybug how useless she feels because compared to Ladybug who is, notice, not "useful", but "serves a purpose".  Chloe's purpose has been to satisfy her mom, but now she knows how empty that is and feels purposeless, useless, and worthless.  Then Ladybug gives her the Bee Miraculous.  Now, I don't think LB understands how much the Bee means to her.  (Pollen calls Chloe her queen. Just thought I'd throw that in there)  I'd be surprised if she did, because if she knew that the Bee was so intricately tied to Chloe's self-worth, then it was a cruel move she pulled keeping the Bee away from Chloe without any follow-up involvement, even with a good reason.  Away from the tangent, Chloe gets the miraculous, transforms, and works one-on-one with Ladybug.  And kills it.  Like, Chloe makes an amazing superhero. She even says she's been practicing, which is played for comic relief, but shows just how much she idolizes Ladybug.  She says, "I've always dreamed of doing this-with you!".  She's achieved her dream.  Ladybug thinks she's useful, and this is really important.  She is now useful as Queen Bee.  This is her use.  This. Is. Her. Purpose.  She's not empty anymore, she's full.  She's doing good for people, being a superhero, Ladybug values her as a teammate, and friend.  Ladybug (barring Adrien possibly) is now thought of as a close friend from Chloe, who looked past her personal annoyances and cares for Chloe regardless, a new experience for her.  Let me reiterate: Queen Bee has become her purpose in life.  (which is why she fails, incidentally, because she can't balance it with a civilian life, but more on that later.)   After she and Ladybug defeat Malediktator (GIRL POWER!) she says this, which reveals how much more she's grown since the beginning of the episode: "Being a superhero isn't only about fixing messes."  She became Queen Bee in this episode to fix her mess. Now she realizes that superheroing is not only a way to make up for the wrong she has done, it's also a way to make things better than they were.  Being Queen Bee makes Chloe better.  Marinette even says so, revealing why SHE is a better guardian than Fu, because she can see the potential in people.  Chloe tries to be Queen Bee without her superhero costume immediately afterward, helping Jean with bags because she knows this is part of becoming a better person and a better superhero.  Marinette then throws her a party to show her how useful and wanted she is, understanding how much Chloe needs that from their conversation.  sniff....beautiful. This is Chloe's peak.  The best she's ever been.  She's reveling in her new-found identity of a superhero, doing good and resolving confict in her civilian life.  In multiple episodes (Startrain, Heroes' Day) she is an everyday superhero by not getting akumatized (controlling her emotions and not letting fear take her over), and keeping others calm.  I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Chloe is incredible at crisis response.  She doesn't panic, while the adults who have already experienced akuma attacks freak out.  She takes charge when she sees akumas (Startrain) and does her best to fix the situation. She stopped an akumatization in that episode. (Seriously, if she hadn't done that, someone would have been akumatized.)  She prioritized her response: First, eliminate the immediate threat. She did that when she evacuated the compartment. Second, eliminate the future threat.  Find Ladybug and Chat Noir.  (They need a hotline. Like, really badly.)  It doesn't bother her that she doesn't have the Bee Miraculous, because she can be a hero in her normal life too.  However, everyday heroics is still second to Miraculous heroics, and she expects Ladybug to still give her her Miraculous, because she still considers herself Queen Bee.  She trusts Ladybug so much that she FRIGGIN' SUCCESSFULLY FIGHTS OFF AN AKUMA, THE ONLY PERSON TO HAVE DONE THAT TO DATE (yes, not even Marinette did, she took off her her earrings because she expected to be overtaken), deflecting her negative worry about the current lack of miraculous with her deep trust in Ladybug.  When Miraculeur happened, she got the Bee because it was a last resort.  It appears that LB and CN use Queen Bee only when there is no other option, revealing two things.  One, they apparently didn't bother to tell Chloe that (or she didn't listen, although I'm inclined to believe that this new Chloe would have) and that they pick her despite having other, safer holders with miraculous experience, revealing that they know how well Chloe and the Bee fit together.  She got the Bee (after defying Hawk Moth and Mayura without powers, this girl is INSANELY AWESOME) and went after Mayura, failing to capture her miraculous.  She apologizes to Ladybug without making excuses for something that wasn't even her fault, showing how much Ladybug's approval matters to her.  LB responds by telling her that there can be no more Queen Bee, not even as a reserve, because Hawk Moth knows her identity. Chloe accepts that without a fuss, showing how much she's grown so far. But if she's grown so much, you ask, why did she rip that picture of Ladybug? Well, this ties in to the position of use.  Chloe was useful to Ladybug as Queen Bee and (so she thought) as a friend.  But LB took the miraculous away.  Chloe is probably getting the sneaky suspicion that Ladybug only wanted her because she was useful, which Chloe has now realized was not all she wanted out of her relationship with Ladybug.  Chloe valued being useful to LB, but she also valued LB's friendship.  Chloe continues in her superhero activities, but muted. So how did this go wrong?  How did we go from this awesome superhero Chloe to Miracle Queen?  The answer is in Battle Of The Miraculous.  Marinette's narration reveals that Chloe lost hope, showing her turning off her Bee signal. I think Chloe still unconsiously thought she could still be Queen Bee.  Ladybug went back on her withholding before, she could again, right?  But then she finally gets it through her head that she's not going to be Queen Bee again, and abandons that hope in despair.  Is that it?  Is that why she turns to the dark side?  Well, her fall was caused by a lot of things.  One was the aforementioned despair.  Another that contributed to her fragile emotional state is the fight between her parents.  It feels awful to have your parents fight, and while Chloe is probably not a stranger to it, it's always painful.  Then her parents get akumatized.  That was what made her fall in Heroes' Day.  She says to Heart Hunter: "I don't love anyone." Heart Hunter responds that Chloe loves herself (which, wow, you guys are the worst parents ever.  You really don't pay attention.) Ladybug takes the dragon and goes to Kagami for help.  She goes to Kagami, who also had her identity revealed, and gives her a miraculous, saying it's because of Kagami's "exceptional talent".  Ryoko defeats Heart Hunter.  Queen Bee does not.  Dragon-Chloe does not.  And Chloe feels this. First, Chloe wanted to save her parents herself, which is a completely normal thing to want.  She loves her parents (despite their failings) and wants to help them.  If if was me, I'd want the same thing.  Second, she sees Ryoko active, whom she knows (somehow) was decomissioned for the same reason as her. This is where theseed of doubt planted in Miraculeur blooms.  To Chloe, this confirms that Ladybug was only using her for her availablility and wasn't actually her friend.  She thinks Ladybug was pretending that she was significant and still resented Chloe for getting in her way so many times.  She thought her idol was her best friend, but now it seems like her idol was lying to her the whole time. With Ladybug's perceived rejection and broken promise, Chloe now feels useless and purposeless again.  And Hawk Moth shows up at just the right time to sway her to his side with his impressive emotional manipulation by making essentially the same argument he made in Queen Wasp: Ladybug rejected you, but I still want you.  You are useful and valued with me.  Chloe, thinking Ladybug cares nothing for her, ("She couldn't care less about me!") accepts his offer and becomes Miracle Queen. (But not without asking for her parents' release first, because that is so important to her.) Miracle Queen's dialogue and actions line up with this.  She exposes everyone's identities (so they can't be chosen over her again) and says to LB: "How many times have I asked to fight alongside you? [how many times have I asked to belong?] And how many times have you refused to give me my miraculous? [how many times have you denied me your friendship?]"  She tries to take all the Miraculous and use their power to lash out at Ladybug, declaring that she'll be the most powerful miraculous wearer there ever was.  This foolish action is a result of Chloe's fragile emotional state that has been controlled and manipulated by Hawk Moth to work as his pawn, and her raw pain and anger at Ladybug.  She then takes only the Bee after Master Fu whiz-bang-pops the Miracle Box and says that she's going to New York to be a superhero, grasping at straws to regain her worth by clinging to the Bee, the miraculous that started it all.  After Ladybug takes it, Chloe declares that she doesn't love Ladybug anymore, which could be taken as "I'm no longer your fan" but seems more like she did once love Ladybug as a friend, making her previous statement in Heart Hunter a lie.  She finds her parents and demands to leave with her mother, who has reconciled with her father and refuses Chloe her demand, likely the first time they've done that (because they're too wrapped up in each other to even ask her why she's so upset).  To sum it up, at the end of the current season, Chloe has hit rock bottom.

Okay, after this analysis of Chloe, let's take a look at the person mostly responsible for her fall: Hawk Moth.  More than anywhere else in the show Hawk Moth is shown to be a master manipulator in Chloe's arc.  He planned to weaken Chloe's trust in Ladybug, and succeeded.  A lot of her actions in Miracle Queen can be attributed to Hawk Moth playing her like a queen on the chessboard, which is exactly what he compares her to and an excellent metaphor.  He wasn't reactively trying to get the Bee in Miraculeur, he was proactively using it as a way to manipulate Chloe into losing trust in Ladybug through the Bee Miraculous.  He understood Chloe's identity crisis (he was RIGHT THERE in Style Queen) and used it to his advantage.  She surprised him with throwing off his akuma, but that just meant her love for Ladybug was more powerful than he thought.  He akumatized Heart Hunter on purpose to affect her (an interesting change from the let's-throw-everything-and-see-what-works Hawk Moth of the earlier seasons) and carefully orchestrated the whole thing to sway Chloe to his side.  He caused and took advantage of a child's distress coming from a bad home life and parental issues, giving us yet another example of how little he cares about what he has to do as long as he gets what he wants. (He beats his son in Chat Blanc.  Fully knowing it's Adrien.  Physically beats him up.)  A lot of Chloe's mistakes can be put on Hawk Moth for manipulating her (seriously, this guy is a fucking asshole).

Yet another extra onto the end of this: Adrien.  Both Chloe and Adrien are very iffy about their friendship, both saying that the other is their only friend and that they had/have no friends.  And yet Adrien is probably the person who understands Chloe's conflict the most.  Parent who thinks you're worthless unless you're doing what they approve of?  He understands.  He's probably seen how her mom treats her and understands why Chloe acts the way she does (gives a whole new perspective to all that standing up for her he was doing, hUh), but until his mother disappeared and his father went silent he wasn't able to personally understand just how painful it was for her and how hard it was to fill those expectations.  And when that calamity happened he was grieving with no support system (I have no doubt Chloe tried to help in her own way, she does care about him even if she doesn't know how to express it) and was certainly not in a place to help her.  Then he found new friends at school and increasingly chose them over her, adding more to her "everyone always chooses someone else over me" complex.  To be clear, I'm not blaming Adrien for Chloe's problems.  Her issues are her fault, her mother's fault, her father's fault and (later) Hawk Moth's fault.  Adrien did the best he could as a child with no social skills. But if he ever catches up and realizes how much Chloe needs him, he would definitely feature in a prime spot in her redemption arc.  

So a lot of this was my high hopes for Chloe and the show’s consistency, both of which have been disappointed.  I was also caught up in a lot of Chloe love while writing this, which is why I didn’t focus on how nasty she is and has been or how she needed to make amends for it, because she very much does need to.  This is just my analysis of her ‘arc’ in season 3.  also sorry for the big block of text.

[songtoyou]

Chapter 1: The Pope, The Rabbi, and The Gypsy

Tolerate It

Paring: Modern!Tommy Shelby x Original Female Character

Story Rating: R (No minors should read this fic).

Word Count: 1,795

Warnings: Talks of sexual content.

Description: Tommy Shelby is the owner and CEO of Shelby Company Limited. Starting out as a Bookmaker, Tommy had big ideas to expand his riches. In the past ten years, the company has grown rapidly to expand its business ventures from bars to producing alcohol, manufacturing motor vehicle parts, and exporting. One of the richest men in Great Britain, Tommy Shelby, has it all. Unfortunately, the death of his wife, Grace, left the multi-millionaire mogul alone and depressed. He needed someone to fulfill his needs and deepest darkest desires.

A/N: I was very pleased with the positive reaction to the prologue of this fic. I am glad that some of you are liking it. For this chapter, we learn a little more about the OC, and how she will meet Tommy. We also learn about the owners and some of Excelsior's clientele, the secret exclusive club in downtown London. Tommy looks for a new girl now that Lizzie is gone. 

Note: Italics represent the past or past conversations.

Feedback is wonderful. It is nice knowing if people actually like this fic. I do not permit my work to be posted on any other site without my permission.

Excelsior was an exclusive invite-only club located in downtown London. Members included high profile men from actors, musicians, politicians, and business moguls. The activities that occur at Excelsior were top secret. Members and workers at the club were bound by a non-disclosure agreement to ensure nothing was made public. Excelsior was merely a very high-end gentlemen's club to the unassuming public, but underneath, it allowed members to succumb to their deepest desires.

Owned and run by "Duchess" Izabella Petrovna and her niece, "Princess" Tatiana Petrovna, the club was steeped in excess and glamour. No suspecting individual would ever think to confuse the establishment as an underground sex club. While the Duchess ran the business side of the operations, the Princess recruited the women. There was a certain criterion that the Princess enforced when it came to employing. First, the women had to be between the ages of twenty-one to thirty-five. The women underwent an extensive background check, along with a psych evaluation. Many of the employees found it hilarious that the Duchess and Princess required a psych evaluation considering that they themselves were equally eccentric…or insane, to put it mildly. Birth control was a non-negotiable requirement the women had to abide by. The women at the club had to partake in monthly STD tests to ensure they were clean and healthy. 

While the Duchess and Princess were an oddball pairing, there was no denying that they cared for their girls and valued the work they did for the members. Their business endeavor allowed the Petrovna's to continue to live in luxuries that Russia no longer was able to provide. They paid well.

It was how Rose Turner provided a decent life for herself and her son, Louis. Rose had been working at the club for six years and in that time had garnered quite the clientele. However, it would be three men who would have a tumultuous impact on Rose's life. She referred to them as the Pope, the Rabbi, and the Gypsy. 

The Pope was Luca Changretta, an Italian man from New York. Luca was a prominent businessman whose family still resided in England. While Audrey Changretta was a former school teacher, her husband Vincent, and youngest son Angel, owned restaurants and bars from Manchester to Birmingham, to London. They also dabbled in the real estate business and owned numerous high rise apartment buildings. The Changretta family was viewed as a rival to the Shelby clan. Both have tried to partner on business ventures with no deal ever emerging. The two families did not trust one another. 

With Luca stationed over in the States, he would visit his family throughout the year during holidays, for birthdays, weddings, funerals, openings of new Changretta establishments. Time home also allowed for Luca to engage in his pleasures. His visits to Excelsior were always a big deal. Everything had to be perfect, according to Izabella. Tatiana assigned Rose to Luca. 

"You are his type, no," Tatiana would say. "He likes the way you look. That innocent and doe-eyed look. Hooker with a heart of gold, they say, right."

Rose did not question Tatiana. She read through Luca's file to find out more about her new client and what he liked. The man was noticeably big into role play, especially in a religious aspect. He loved playing the part of a holy man while Rose played the Catholic school girl or nun. It was how Luca got the nickname, "The Pope." The man thankfully always managed to be a gentleman. He respected the rules of the club and never went overboard. If Rose was uncomfortable with acting out a scene, she knew it was okay to voice her worries. Luca never tried to fight her or manipulate her into partaking in a scene. He respected Rose's boundaries. She was one of his favorites at the club. 

Alfie Solomons was nicknamed "The Rabbi" and another important client at Excelsior. He had his fill of women during his time at the club. So much so that the girls would talk openly with one another about his particular habits. For instance, Alfie never partook in actual intercourse with the women. Instead, he relied on toys such as dildos or vibrators to bring pleasure to his women. He would also make sure to wear black latex gloves while touching the women. Many assumed it was to keep himself clean and pure since he participated in activities that would be deemed excruciatingly unholy. Alfie made sure that Tatiana only gave him gentile women.

"No Jewish women, love. They are holy creatures and should be remained as such, okay," Alfie demanded.

When Rose saw Alfie for the first time, she was intimidated by his big stature. However, Alfie proved to be one of Rose's favorite clients. The man knew how to pleasure a woman. He always made scenes fun and intense. Some women would even fight over who got to be with Alfie on certain nights he was at the club. They all loved him. 

As the son of a Russian Jewish woman and working-class Londoner father, Alfie worked his way up in the world. It would be the distillery business where Alfie would make his fortunes. From rum and vodka to gin, beer, and cider, Solomons & Sons was the top distillery company in the United Kingdom. It did not take long for the Shelby family came knocking on Alfie's door to partner with on business endeavors. While Alfie would continue to remain skeptical about the Shelby family, he knew the business deal with them would be too good to pass up. He loved having a go at Tommy Shelby from time-to-time to see how far he could push the Birmingham lad. 

In fact, it was Alfie who told Tommy about Excelsior. 

"You go from whore to whore with no care in the world. It is like you got a death wish. Seriously, don't you ever worry about getting the clap? I'll tell ya what…let me talk with one of my associates about inviting you to join this club I frequent. It will have everything you ever wanted and more. Trust me," Alfie shared with Tommy at one of their business meetings two years ago. 

Tommy merely scoffed as he took a drag of his cigarette. "Trust you. Not likely, Alfie. As I recall, it was because of you that the deal with the Changrettas fell apart. Something about mentioning how my brother John got into a fight with Angel Changretta over a girl they both were seeing at the time."

With a shit-eating grin, Alfie replied, "I am a beacon of truth, eh."

"More like a pain in my ass," Tommy smirked. 

As promised, Alfie talked with Tatiana about inviting Tommy to the club. She was adamant about meeting with the self-made millionaire. The Princess wanted to make sure he was suitable to partake in her establishment. If Tatiana had the ability, she would have kept Tommy all to herself if she could. 

"None of those whores deserve you, Thomas," said Tatiana as she laid in bed next to him.

"No, they deserve better. Better than me, that is for sure. But…they are all I got. So, I need your help in finding the best one for me. One that I can take out in public if need be. One who can be presentable to society at certain functions I have to attend. That way, I can keep up the appearance of a family man who still grieves the loss of his wife while trying to move on with my life."

Lizzie Stark filled that position for two years before her sudden and unexpected departure at Excelsior. Now Tatiana had to find a new girl to assign for Tommy, which was no easy task with his certain expectations. The man was rather picky, to say the least. Perusing her girls' files, she realized that there was only one who could meet the requests of Tommy Shelby.

"Rose Turner," announced Tatiana and handed Tommy her file. "She has been with us for a couple of years. She is considered top-quality—good reviews from our top clients. As you can see, she is beautiful, no. She can be elegant if need be for your functions. Adventurous…flexible, if you know what I mean. She'd be perfect for you. What do you think?"

Tommy looked over Rose's file. Her birthdate indicated she was in her early thirties and from Blackpool, a seaside resort town on England's Irish Sea coast. It was England's very own Coney Island. Ada took Karl and Charlie there for a weekend getaway not long after Grace died to cheer up her nephew.

"How many men does she see regularly?" Tommy asked.

"Rose is considered top quality. Her clientele is small. She has no more than four regulars. One does not live here full-time. He only sees her when he visits family. The others…well, they are people from your circle of business partners."

"Is that so. Who would these men be?" Tommy inquired as he continued to look through Rose's file.

"I am not at liberty to tell you such vital information…"

"Well, Tatiana, let me take a guess. Could Alfie Solomons be one of Rose's clients? How about Darby Sabini? Is he on the list? Billy Kimber before his untimely departure on this Earth?" Tommy took a drag of his cigarette and tossed Rose's file on Tatiana's desk. "Set up a meeting for me with Rose. Not here, though. Tell her to meet me at The Savoy Hotel this Saturday night. Give her this as well," Tommy handed Tatiana an envelope she assumed had cash in it. "Tell her to buy something nice for the occasion. The two of us can talk over dinner, and if all goes well, we can end the night on a good note. Just know this Princess, if all goes well, then Rose becomes mine. Her other clients can fuck off for all I care. I am not one to share what is mine."

So here Rose was, at one of London's top boutiques picking out a dress for Saturday night. Tatiana explained the possible arrangement with Mr. Shelby, and if things went well, he would be Rose's main client. Meaning he would become Rose's only client. She had reservations about it until Tatiana shared how much Mr. Shelby was willing to pay. It was more money than Rose originally would make. Tatiana shared that Mr. Shelby would provide Rose a weekly allowance on top of her services' standard fees. The deal with too good to pass up. However, Tatiana was adamant to Rose that meeting Tommy first would be wise before agreeing to any deals. 

All Rose knew was that she had a date with The Gypsy. 

[meetmeatthecoda]

Lately, I've found myself drawn to stories ( and I mean drawn to as in envisioning those stories in my head, thinking them through to the very last detail, not reading, let alone writing them down, because I've long since accepted that they will never turn out quite the same on the paper ) where Red is the one who'd been seriously hurt and, therefore, rendered unconscious for an indefinite amount of time and worried Liz is the one who doesn't leave his side, hoping and praying and pleading that he would wake up. Probably, something that has to do with how unfair it is that we've seen Red keep vigil by hurt!Lizzy's side – playing music for her, holding her hand, reading to her etc. – a number of times and yet, over the course of 8 seasons, never have ever been allowed the pleasure of seeing Liz do the same for him ( not even when he was shot – because she left to retrieve the Fulcrum and couldn't come back until the fight was over – or when he was poisoned – because she'd been waiting to be cleared to see him and he ran away the moment he wasn't actively dying, because that's Red for you all ), even though she loves and cares about him as much as he loves and cares about her.

I mean, just imagine the possibilities!

Liz pacing around the waiting area of Red's mobile hospital while he's in surgery, unable to think about anything else other than how he looked – battered and broken and barely alive – when they've found him and how his head rested in her lap ( she could almost convince herself that he was merely dozing, if he wasn't so deathly pale and still and there wasn't so much blood on his clothes and her clothes and her hands and the backseat of the car ) and his hand was limp in her death grip as they rushed him to his doctors and she whispered words of reassurance and encouragement to him even though she knew he couldn't hear her and how she had to fight the instinct to curl around her lover and snarl at anyone who would come close because she can't let him be hurt further as the medics took him away from her, exchanging observations and orders that didn't sound particularly reassuring. She's also acutely aware of the fact that Red is fighting for his life – there, just a few feet away from her – and, though he's the strongest man she's ever known, he may not win, and so she makes a promise to the empty air in front of her that she will kill him herself if he dares to give up on her and Agnes like that now, when they've just reached the good, right place in their relationship, just confesses their feelings to each other. At some point, Dembe most certainly pulls Liz in for a hug, letting her cry in his shoulder, doing his best to comfort her ( even though there's nothing that can bring her more comfort than Red's hug, when he – alive and whole – wraps his arms protectively around her and holds her close and lets her hide from the whole world in his arms, his chest, his shoulder and neck – wherever she prefers to burrow her face at the time – and the memory itself makes her cry harder, because there's a possibility that he will never hug her like that again ), even though he's just as worried and scared as she is, and Mr Kaplan helps Liz clean up, washing away Red's blood from her hands and producing seemingly out of the thin air fresh clothes for her to change into.

Red, of course, pulls through the surgery, beating all odds, and Liz's heart floods with relief at the good news before sinking when the doctor explains to her and Dembe and Mr Kaplan the extent of Red's injuries and that it's impossible to say when – or even if – he wakes up.

And so the waiting game begins. Liz doesn't leave Red's side, holding his hand, stroking his knuckles with her thumb and never letting go, constantly talking to him and reading to him and even asking Dembe to bring the record player and some records from the Bethesda apartment to play to him, hoping that it would elicit some kind of response from him. Yet, as they days go by, there's not a single, smallest sign that he's aware of anything that's going on around him, that he's still there somewhere and is trying to find his way back to her, to them – he doesn't stir, doesn't so much as flutter his eyelashes, and Liz grows more desperate with each passing day, even though the doctor assures her that Red's slowly but surely improving ( but she can't see it with her own eyes, and if she can't see it, she's less likely to believe it, the more time passes with him just lying there, undisturbed by the loud, chaotic world around him ).

And then there's Agnes... While Liz keeps vigil at Red's bedside, the babysitting duties are split equally between Aram and Samar, Charlene and Cooper, Ressler and Audrey and Dembe and Mr Kaplan. Yet more often than not whoever picks little Agnes up from school and / or her ballet classes brings her over to the safe-house where Liz and Red are. She doesn't seem to be as unnerved by Red's state as her mommy is, climbing on his bed each time she visits ( after giving her mommy the biggest hug, of course ) and leaning in close to him, examining his face thoughtfully before half-asking, half-stating "He's still tired, mommy?". And Liz usually replies with a hoarse "Yes, baby" because she doesn't trust herself not to get choked up if she tries to answer more eloquently. Agnes simply nods then, satisfied with the explanation why he hasn't woken up yet, and settles against Red's side – mindful of his injuries and the spider web of wires and tubes connecting him to all sorts of monitors and machines – and either naps ( especially, on ballet classes days ) or tells her mommy and Red ( she talks to him just like Liz does much too easily – promising him to show him the new moves she's learnt when he wakes up etc. – as if she's already done that before or seen anyone else do that... unbeknownst to Liz, she did both – when Liz herself was in a coma, Agnes both saw Red talk to her mommy and was encouraged by him to talk to her, too, because it may help her mommy sleep easier and maybe she'll get better sooner and finally wake up ) about her day or does her homework or draws ( more often than not, she draws either cards for Red to read when he wakes up or just things she wants him to see ). And when the time comes for her to leave, she always kisses Red on the cheek, wishing him "sweet dreams" and to get better soon, and then gives her mommy, who tries so very hard not to tear up but fails miserably, a hug and a kiss, too, and tells her frequently that she shouldn't cry because Red is just too tired, just like she – Liz – once was, and that he just needs to sleep a bit more.

And when the door behind Agnes closes and Liz is sure her daughter won't see / hear her, she breaks down hard, in big, ugly sobs, because her little girl shouldn't be acting so naturally in this kind of situation and because she wishes so hard that Red just woke up, because she can't do this, any of this, without him.

In the end, once his body has healed itself enough and he regained enough of his strength, Red, of course, does wake up. It's a slow process, and Liz thinks she might either faint or go mad from the overwhelming feelings that are swirling inside of her when Red moves for the first time in what seems to her like forever – squeezing her hand feather-lightly – and when he leans slightly, unconsciously into her touch when she strokes his cheek – out of habit, without even expecting any sort of reaction from him and being pleasantly surprised – and when he opens his eyes for the first time – it's a brief occurrence, with his eyes slipping shut tiredly again after just a few moments, and he's still pretty much out of it, apparently, not even noticing her presence by his side, but for Liz it's a major event – and when he finally, finally looks directly at her – alive and conscious and alert – and calls her "Lizzy". He's still weak and his voice sounds terrible and Liz knows she shouldn't let all of her pent-up feelings – the fear and despair and frustration and love and relief and exhaustion – out on him like that – he's just woken up, after all – but she can't hold back the tears nor the jumbled mess of "thank you"s and "I love you"s and " "I've missed you"s and "I'm so so happy you're back" and "I was so worried" and "Don't ever scare me like that again" that spills from her lips as she leans in to kiss him lightly and give him the gentlest of hugs...

(Since I'm not a ficwriter and, therefore, have no intentions of using this pile of ideas/images/feelings myself, I wouldn't mind at all if you or any other writer drew inspiration from this rambling of mine)

Ahhhhh 😭😭😭 Are you sure you're not a fic writer, anon?? Cause this reads like some quality hurt/comfort to me!! 🥲🥲 Honestly, this is a lovely scenario to imagine & it gives me a slightly bitter sense of satisfaction to think of Liz suffering through just a fraction of the time Red spent by her side while she was in her coma... especially if it's the catalyst for fEeLiNgS to emerge tee hee bc, you're RIGHT, we were woefully deprived of those situations in the show & I'll never not be sad about it tbh. More specifically, things I love the most about this in no particular order: Liz having to "fight the instinct to curl around her lover & snarl" *swoon*, Liz swearing she will kill him herself if he dies LMAO, Dembe hugging her for comfort & Mr. Kaplan helping her get cleaned up 🥺🥺🥺, Liz playing records for Red yasss, AGNES & everyone taking turns babysitting her while she misses her Daddy desperately but deals with the situation with a maturity & grace beyond her years in an effort to help her grieving Mommy through it cool cool mkay mkay, Liz only breaking down once Agnes leaves OWWW, anddddd Liz being a blubbering mess when Red finally wakes up & calls her "Lizzie" & they kiss *whispers* it's fine, i'm fine 🙃 IN CONCLUSION, I love this anon, thank you for sharing this lovely little AU with me!! 🥰 And much, much love to you, of course, my friend!! ❤️

[atths--twice]

Chapter Nine  9/9

The Kosher Deli December 25, 2017 One week later

Mulder looked up from an email from Cera, as the bells on the door jingled, announcing an arrival. It was not Scully, but an older man and a little girl wearing hot pink furry earmuffs and a matching coat. They walked past him and he watched them approach the counter, smiling as the girl looked at all the cookies, as she decided on which one she wanted to buy.

He looked back down at his phone, at the photos she had sent over and he shook his head. The night she had been attacked in the amusement park, she had captured pictures of Elinor, unbeknownst to her until a couple of days later.

Elinor had not appeared as a ghost, but as a slightly out of focus person, getting clearer the closer she came to Cera. Not an angel in a graveyard, but a vengeful woman in her wedding dress. Mulder shook his head at the physical proof of an apparition that he held in his hand and all he could think was that it had nearly cost Scully her life. Not worth it.

Nothing was worth that.

“Hey,” Scully said, suddenly beside him and he jumped as he turned to look at her, locking his phone and putting it into his pocket. “Scare you?” She smiled as she sat down carefully, taking a chip from the bag in front of him.

“What have I been telling you for the past few days? I don’t get scared, remember?” he lied, his heart racing in his chest.

“Hmm,” she hummed, eating the chip and taking another. “Couldn’t wait for me?”

“You said twenty minutes and it’s been... at least thirty. So, I needed something to tide me over.”

“I believe the new established understanding is, if it’s longer than twenty minutes, bacon is involved. All the bacon.”

“Jewish deli, Scully,” he quipped, looking around and she laughed softly.

“Touché,” she said as she stood up just as carefully as she had sat down, brushing off her hands, and sliding off her coat and leaving it on her chair. “I’ll go order for us, you wait here and keep the table.” She stared at him and he raised an eyebrow. “Pastrami on rye, extra mustard, pickle on the side.” He kept staring and she smiled. “Coleslaw, unless the potato salad looks homemade.”

“Ahhh, Scully…” he said, more than a little aroused.

“Twenty five years, Mulder,” she said, shrugging and walking away.

“Yeah,” he said softly. “Twenty five years.”

He sighed as he watched her waiting in line, seeing her unconsciously rubbing gently at her chest. Knowing it was the ache of the bruises that covered the skin beneath the black sweater she wore, he shook his head, rubbing at his mouth.

They had only arrived home yesterday afternoon, after Scully had spent a couple of days in the hospital, making sure she was all right after nearly dying at the Boudreaux house. The ambulance had arrived not long after she had passed out and taken her to a hospital nearby, him following behind in the car.

He had not been allowed back until she was in a room, no matter how he had raged or flashed his badge. When he had finally been allowed back, he had walked into her room, believing she was asleep and causing him to pause in the doorway. But then she had opened her eyes and reached her hand out to him. He had walked over to her, grasping her hand and kissing her forehead, before resting his against hers.

“Thank you,” she had whispered, her thumb rubbing over the top of his hand.

“Scully,” he had whispered, pulling back to look at her.

“Stay with me. Don’t leave.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” She had tugged at his hand, trying to move over, groaning as she did. “Hey… careful. Let me help you.”

He had helped her shift over a bit, took off his shoes and suit jacket, and slid beneath the blankets beside her. Lying on their sides, she had nestled into him, his arms wrapped around her, and her hand grasping at his shirt.

“Mulder…” she had sighed, her breath warm against his neck, falling asleep almost instantly.

In the next few days, she had quite a few visitors for someone who knew no one in the area. Sheriff Lavonne had come to take their statement and her eyes had flicked to Mulder’s as he stood in the corner of the room, listening to her doctored version of events.

She had already told him what had happened, or what she thought had happened, shaking her head as she had said she did not know what was real or imagined.

“You think you imagined it, Scully?” he had asked, and she shook her head with a sigh.

“I don’t know, Mulder.” She had looked at him with a shrug, looking down as she rubbed the blanket between her fingers. “How can I explain to others that I believe I was trapped inside of a mirror with a woman who died over 150 years ago? I can barely comprehend it. How can I explain that without ending up in the psych ward?”

To that question, he had no answer.

Arielle, Davis, Cera, and Adam had come to see them, eager to tell their story of what had happened.

The four of them had met up, sharing the stories each had heard over the years concerning Elinor and Mary. When they had hit a dead end, they had done the same as Mulder, scouring past records for any information. They had called family members, friends, and friends of friends, asking if anyone they knew had ever mentioned or knew of stories related to Mary and Elinor.  

They had found a person related to James Cormier, a man who had heard his mother tell stories that she had heard about lost loves and being sure to choose the right person as your life partner. To never settle for the most beautiful or wealthy because both will fade. But love, it lasts and remains forever, no matter a person's social standing.  

“Better to be poor and happy than rich and miserable,” Arielle had said and the others had agreed, but then debated that being happy and a bit rich would not be so bad. They had all laughed and then they continued the story.

After they had spoken to Reese, James’s distant relative, they knew what they needed to do.

“Truth be told,” Davis had said, shaking his head. “The minute Arielle showed me the pictures Cera had taken a few years ago, I knew what we had to do, but I was terrified to actually do it.”

“I was too,” Arielle had said, taking his hand and looking at him with a nod. “I felt nauseous at the thought of even being there. But then, we went and saw Farrah and Tyler in the hospital, something I had been unable to do until then, and I wasn’t scared anymore. I was fucking pissed.” Davis had nodded in agreement, clenching his jaw.

They had driven out, stopping at a hardware store for sledgehammers and protective eye goggles, gaining curious looks, but no comments from the gum chewing young girl who had rung up four people buying such items in the middle of a storm.

When they had pulled up to the church, Arielle and Davis both had a moment of hesitation, breathing hard and shaking in the pouring rain.

“But then Cera…” Arielle had said, tears in her eyes as she reached for her friend’s hand. “She grabbed my hand and that was all I needed. She nodded and we walked together in the rain, determined to end it.”

Knowing exactly where it was, Cera leading them, still holding Arielle’s hand, they had each taken a sledgehammer and put on their goggles, lightning flashing and the rain making it harder to see, but not impossible to get their task finished.

Simultaneously, they had hit Elinor’s headstone and the large statue of Mary that had been ordered to be erected there by Mary’s mother Elizabeth, years after Mary’s death.

“Hany, the slave girl who had been befriended by Mary, had also been entrusted with letters Mary had written when she was the most ill regarding her concerns about Elinor, that were to be given to her mother after Mary’s father had died,” Adam had explained. “Mary did not like her father and he did not seem to care for her either. After his death, Hany came back to that house she had lived in as a slave, and told the truth she had kept secret for years. Mary’s mother had the statue made as a sense of revenge: that Mary would always be there no matter where Elinor was. So… that bitch had to come down.” The other three had nodded vigorously and Mulder had looked at Scully, impressed by the little group of badasses.

Not stopping until both were piles of rubble, they had fallen to the ground, everyone but Adam crying, feeling free, the rain washing them clean.

“I didn’t even feel cold,” Arielle had said, crying and wiping her eyes. “For the first time in nearly two months, in the pouring rain, I didn’t feel cold.” She had looked at Mulder and he had nodded with a smile before glancing at Scully. She had wiped at her own eyes and looked at him, understanding that their actions had not only saved them, but had been what saved her as well.

When Scully had been released from the hospital, they had gone to see Farrah and Tyler, who were now awake and making a slow recovery, much to Doctor Audrey’s relief.

“It’s going to take a long time for them to heal,” Scully had said, taking a deep breath as they walked down the hallway, slowing her steps for a second. Taking another deep breath, she had placed her hand on her chest, giving him a nod. “I’m okay. Just some bruising.” He had stared at her, knowing he had been the one to put the bruises there, in his desperate attempt to keep her heart beating, and she had shaken her head.

“I’ll take the bruises over the alternative any day,” she had said softly and he had nodded, placing his hand on the small of her back as they had continued out of the hospital.

“Food should be up soon,” she said, sitting beside him, pulling him from his thoughts.

“Great, I’m starving.”

“Maybe this will help tide you over until then?” she asked with a smile, placing a black and white cookie in front of him on a napkin. He nodded as he looked at it, breaking it in half horizontally, two pieces of equal amount of both colors.  

“Look to the cookie, Elaine. Look to the cookie,” he said, quoting Seinfeld and he handed her half. She laughed and nodded as she took a bite and he did the same.

“Order for Fox? Fox, your order is ready!”

“Really?” he asked, staring at her and shaking his head. She shrugged, not meeting his eyes until he started to get up and she looked at him, her eyes shining. “I’ll remember this, Miss Scully, mark my words.”

“I’m sure you will… Fox,” she giggled and he shook his head with a smile as he walked up to the counter.

“Fox?” the girl at the counter asked.

“Yeah, that’s me,” he muttered, and she nodded, sliding their tray of food toward him.

“Thank you for coming in today, Fox. And Merry Christmas!” He looked at her and nodded.

“Happy Holidays to you,” he said, picking up the tray and turning around. He shook his head as he saw Scully grinning at him as he walked back to their table.

“Did you get the food okay then, Fox?”

“You best watch it,” he said, setting the tray down as she took their plates off of it, and he moved the tray to the side.  

They ate in silence, sharing food back and forth as they always had, and he found comfort in the comfortable. Glancing at her as she stopped eating to take a deep breath, he shook his head needing to tell her something that had been on his mind.

“I know I’ve joked that I don’t get scared anymore,” he said quietly, setting his sandwich down, and wiping his hands clean. “But… I was more scared than I have ever been when I couldn’t bring you around. You were so cold-”

“Mulder-”

“I thought I’d lost you, Scully. I really did.”

“Your panic face was showing?” she teased and he looked at her, his expression serious.

“I’m not joking. I’m not-”

“Mulder,” she said quietly, covering his hand with her own and squeezing his fingers. “I know. I… I was scared too. Very scared.” He nodded as he looked into her eyes and they spoke the best way they knew how; silently. He squeezed her hand with a deep sigh and a nod and she squeezed back.

Not saying anything further, words unnecessary, they sat quietly holding hands, in a busy Jewish deli on Christmas afternoon, her head resting on his shoulder, as life bustled on around them.

[tsuki-chibi]

Blueberry Peach (Adrien AUGreste) Part 3: Athanase

Or read it on AO3: Blueberry Peach

Also find the other parts of the series AO3: Fruitful verse

-------

Chat landed on Chloé’s railing, steadied their combined weight, then hopped down to the floor and gently set her down. Chloé stepped away from him, shooting him a dirty look as she reached up to smooth her hair down. He pasted on his most innocent expression in response, which only served to make Chloé’s glower deepen. She wasn’t fooled for a second and they both knew it.

“So,” Chat said, figuring that he might as well just go for it. “Your mom’s coming to town, huh?”

‘Smooth,’ Marinette thought, rolling her eyes. Chat poked at her mentally as Chloé stiffened.

“Yeah, she is. How did you figure that out?” Chloé said warily, and Chat realized in a flash that she didn’t know about the photoshoot.

He didn’t want to be the one to tell her. It always upset Chloé when she found out that her mother’s schedule was crammed full on the rare occasions Audrey came to Paris, and he wasn’t sure how Chloé would feel when she realized that Adrien might actually be spending more time around Audrey than Audrey’s own daughter would.

‘You didn’t think this through, did you?’ Marinette thought.

‘Not even a little bit,’ Chat thought, biting his lip.

‘She’s staring at you. Say something!’ Marinette urged.

“Just a lucky guess. Well, I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said brightly out loud, spinning on his heel.

‘Chat!’ Marinette thought, exasperated. ‘That’s not really what I meant.’

At the same time, Chloé snapped, “Adrien Athanase Agreste, if you jump off that balcony, I’m going to tell everyone in class about the time you accidentally dyed your hair purple.”

Marinette’s laughter filled his head in the next moment as she caught a glimpse of Chat’s memories. Chat sighed, shoulders slumping, and reluctantly took his foot off the railing. He did not need Nino or Alya knowing that story. Knowing his luck, Alya would put her journalistic skills to work and dig up some pictures that would haunt him for the rest of his life.

“Fine,” he grumbled, turning to face Chloé. “I realized that Nathalie’s booked me in for a photoshoot with them, okay?”

He was then treated to the sight of Chloé trying and failing to hide her hurt, and it weighed heavily on his heart. In the back of his mind, Marinette was silent.

“Oh,” Chloé said after a moment. “I guess I should’ve expected that.” She half-turned away, folding her arms over her chest. “You know, she didn’t even tell me that she was coming. Daddy mentioned it last night while he was on the way out the door for some function. He didn’t even bother to tell me that she was coming. So I don’t know if I’m going to see her at all.”

The bitterness in her voice hurt to hear. After all, Chat was intimately familiar with what it was like to have a parent that didn’t want to spend time with you. But at least his father tried – they occasionally had meals together. Audrey wanted nothing to do with Chloé no matter what Chloé did to impress her.

‘Kind of makes you wonder why she had a child if she didn’t want one,’ Marinette thought.

‘Maybe she thought it would look good for her image. Pretty sure that’s why my dad had me,’ Chat thought back. He knew his mother had wanted him, but his father? There was no denying that a family image looked really good in the eyes of the press.

“Well, it doesn’t matter,” Chloé said then, and Chat looked up at her. “I don’t really care her if I see her.”

It was such a blatant lie that Chat spoke before he could stop himself. “Why don’t you come to my photoshoot?”

“What?” Chloé said, surprised.

“Yeah! You and Marinette can both come,” Chat said.

‘What?’ Marinette thought, equally surprised.

“It’ll be a good cover,” Chat said to both of them, pleased with himself. “You can pretend that you didn’t know your mom would be there if you want to, Chlo. You can say that you’re there to support me.” It had been a long time since Chloé came to one of his shoots just for fun, but Marinette being there too would help sell the story.

“I don’t know…” Chloé said reluctantly.

“It’s up to you. If you don’t want to, I understand,” Chat said gently.

“I’ll think about it,” Chloé said. “Now get lost. I don’t need anyone seeing a superhero on my balcony and asking questions.” She made shoo-ing motions with her hands.

“I don’t have to go home right away,” Chat said. “We could hang out if you want?”

Chloé seemed surprised by the offer but nodded. “Okay. I guess. If you want to.”

He ducked around her, into the privacy of her room, and said, “Plagg, claws in.”

She followed him inside, pulling her balcony doors mostly shut behind her. Adrien sat down on her bed with a sigh, kicking his shoes off. After the emotional intensity of the last few days, he was exhausted. First they’d lost their miraculous, then they’d had to deal with Zombizou and Coccinelle and Lynx, then they’d got new miraculous to help, and now there was Antielle.

‘What do you think Lila will do tomorrow?’ he thought to Marinette, stretching out on Chloé’s bed as Chloé left the room – probably to get them some snacks from the kitchen, which meant she’d be gone for a little while depending on how busy the kitchen was and how bad Chloé’s temper got.

He found himself staring up at Chloé’s canopy, the fabric of which had been painted to look like a garden. The sight was unexpectedly soothing, with a myriad of colorful flowers and – he had to smile – tiny bees.

‘I don’t know. Is it too much to hope that this will have burst her bubble and she’ll magically become a nice person?’ Marinette thought back.

Adrien huffed a laugh. ‘Yeah, right. We have a better reason of figuring out who Hawkmoth is tomorrow morning than we do of that happening.’ He was pretty sure it was going to be the opposite. Lila had been angry enough about the miraculous being taken away to get akumatized over it. Having her nose rubbed in that picture of Adrien and Marinette had only made matters worse.

‘I know. I just wish she would stop,’ Marinette thought, sighing. ‘I don’t get what her plan was. Did she think she could convince you that you two were soulmates? Your words don’t even match!’

He put a hand on his chest. He was pretty sure that Lila had never even uttered the word “passionfruit” in his hearing. But that hadn’t seemed to matter to Lila. Adrien had to give her credit for that: she went after what she wanted and didn’t let small inconveniences like reality get in her way.

‘That’s hardly something to be admired,’ Marinette thought. She felt sleepy now, her emotions and thoughts laced with a deepening fatigue. Adrien could tell without even trying that she had laid down in her bed. A quick peek through her eyes told him that Tikki had curled up beside her head and was already fast asleep.

‘As long as she doesn’t get akumatized again, we should be okay,’ Adrien thought. They’d thought Zombizou had been hard; Antielle had been way worse. At least Zombizou had just been interested in general mayhem and destruction rather than a personal vendetta.

Marinette just groaned. ‘Oh kitty, don’t curse us.’

[darklesmylove]

powers of deduction | cressworth

some valentines day cressworth! i wrote this because im currently on the last book and the angst is torturous so here’s some fluffy fluff for you! 

enjoy <3

tags: @city-of-fae @thomasscresswell @danieldesario @illyrianbeauty

***

Thomas Cresswell was an exceedingly hard man to buy gifts for, that much Audrey Rose could attest to. But after years of marriage, she had become a self proclaimed expert at reading him and his wants that he would never admit out loud. Sometimes even before he knew them himself.

Sir Isaac Mewton had, at first, become a reluctant addition to their partnership, but that had quickly dissolved into an unconditional love like that of a real child. Audrey Rose knew that Thomas was itching to have children of their own despite their still relatively young age, but it was at her discretion that they would decide it was time. After all, men were not the ones who had to carry a living being inside of them for nine whole miserable months.

So for Valentine's Day she had decided to get him the next best thing to tide him over until that time came.

It was heart wrenchingly difficult to select a puppy to adopt amidst all of the animals begging and hoping for a home outside of a cramped metal cage. If she could, she would have taken them all home with her.

In reality she had come away with an adorable Corgi puppy that had been so excited upon her arrival it had tripped over its tiny little legs in an effort to run to her. A shiny red bow was looped around his neck; he panted happily with its soft pink tongue lolling to the side in pure joy. At the sound of the front door opening and closing, signaling Thomas's arrival, she gathered the dog into her arms, giving him a nice scratch behind its ears to calm it down some.

"I'm home, my love!" Thomas called from the foyer with his usual cheer, making a smile curl at the corner of her mouth at his imminent reaction to her gift.

"Come join me the living room, Cresswell, I have a surprise." She bit down on her lip, excitement and nervousness  buzzing through her veins to the point that she was close to vibrating. His heavy, sure steps padded against the marble floors until he rounded the corner.

Immediately, at the sight of her holding a puppy, he froze, mouth almost comically agape.

"Happy Valentine's Day from me and Barkimedes," she grinned devilishly, Barkimedes bouncing in her arms in particularly enthusiastic emphasis. Thomas's incredulous laugh warmed her skin like sun rays on a particularly pleasant summer day. 

"Like Archimedes," he nodded with a teasing eye roll, "Making fun of my naming choices, I see." 

She tilted her head in amusement, allowing Barkimedes to jump from her lap and rush into Thomas's embrace as he opened is arms in invitation. He chuckled, sinking to his knees and allowing the puppy to attack him with incessant kisses. Of course the dog had taken to him so quickly, it seemed Thomas Cresswell could charm anyone and everyone with wicked ease.  

She could do nothing but admire her husband, his golden eyes glimmering with adoration as he cooed lovingly, messy brown locks falling into his eyes in perfect disarray. Finally, after a long few minutes of affectionate cuddling, he scooped the puppy into his arms, lazily making his way over to where she lounged on the couch.

"How did you know I wanted a puppy?" he narrowed his eyes in mock suspicion, though there was genuine curiosity behind the inquiry.

She let a smirk curve the side of her rosy lips upward in smug satisfaction. "You're not the only one with attuned powers of deduction, Cresswell." 

He regarded her as if he could ravage her based on that statement alone. 

Her giggle in response made him pout ever so slightly. Though she had no qualms about ravaging or being ravaged, it was sometimes amusing the smallest things that made him regard her in such a manner. The pout turned into a lopsided grin as he noticed her lingering stare. At the endearing look she couldn't help but soften, shifting closer and leaning against his hard frame. 

"I know you've been wanting a child, Thomas," she murmured gently, tracing a fingertip along the back of his hand, Barkimedes curling up in his lap with a contented sigh. "Until I am ready, I thought it would be appropriate to find you a different baby to take care of in the meantime."

When she looked up, she startled to see the glimmer of tears welling at the corners of his dark lashes. 

"Damn you, Audrey Rose," he chuckled almost mournfully, "You know me better than I know myself. Barkimedes will be more than sufficient until you are ready." 

A brief pause. 

"And know that I meant it when I told you that you and only you will decide when the time is right. I refuse to pressure you or try and control you and your body that I have no claim to. When you so choose, I want nothing more than to raise a child with you and be the greatest father I can possibly be. That I will promise you, Audrey Rose Cresswell."

Now her throat choked up with the threat of tears, the speech another constant reminder of just how deeply in love she was with her husband. He would never force her to obey his will, and no matter what society told him he had possession of, he would always remain her equal in both body and mind.  

A playful look quirked at his lips as he snaked an arm around her waist, a teasing sparkle in his eye. 

"Though I must add, my lovely wife, that if you decide to get me an animal every time I silently wish to have a child, we might own a zoo by the time that day comes. Sooner rather than later we'll have Aristurtle and Frederic Chirpin and a plethora of other badly named pets to take care of."

She snorted with a gentle shove against his shoulder, though it didn't take her long to get lost in his gaze, a stare of pure adoration and love that encapsulated the warmth of a thousand stars.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Thomas," she whispered, not giving him a chance to reply before her lips collided against his, so unimaginably soft it was a wonder that she ever stopped kissing him.

The only thing able to break them away was a fit of giggles at Barkimedes attacking them with kisses of his own.

[nitrateglow]

Favorite film discoveries of 2019

Every year, my new-to-me favorites list always shocks me in some way. This year, the sheer amount of movies made in the 2010s on display is INSANE by my standards. Of course, most of the modern movies here are throwbacks or tributes to older styles of cinema, so maybe it’s not that shocking in the long run.

Another running trend this year: movies that are old but not as dated as we would wish. Many of the older films here deal with xenophobia and political strife in ways that still feel shockingly prescient today-- the more things change...

ONCE UPON A TIME... IN HOLLYWOOD (DIR. QUENTIN TARANTINO, 2019)

I never thought the day would come where my favorite movie of the year would actually be made after the 1970s, let alone by Quentin Tarantino. Then again, this movie is all about the end of Old Hollywood as well as a big love letter to the 1960s, so maybe it’s not that shocking a state of affairs. I adored this movie, the level of detail, the laidback yet elegaic vibe, the comedy and the relationships between all the characters. It was one of those movies where I loved even the scenes where nothing seems to be happening at all-- I mean, who knew Brad Pitt feeding his dog and watching TV could be entertaining?? But it is and I can't wait to see this one again!

INTENTIONS OF MURDER (DIR. SHOHEI IMAMURA, 1964)

Intentions of Murder has an insane premise, one that runs the risk of being tasteless: a housewife in a miserable, exploitative marriage is raped by a sickly burglar during a home invasion. Even worse, she can’t shake him, as he’s suddenly infatuated and wants her to run away with him to the city. And weirder still: her current existence is so miserable that she’s TEMPTED. While abuse and rape are grim subjects for any story, Intentions is actually about a woman coming into her own and finally standing strong against all these men trying to use her. It’s a weird blend of drama and dark comedy, a truly savage satire on patriarchy and class-snobbery.

JOKER (DIR. TODD PHILLIPS, 2019)

I went into this movie expecting to think it was overhyped and when I first left the theater, I was all ready to say “it’s good but not THAT good.” But it ended up haunting me for weeks afterward, and I found myself thinking about how everything just tied up so well together, from the grotty urban hellscape which serves as the setting to Phoenix’s brilliant performance. It reminded me a lot of A Clockwork Orange in how intimate it lets you get to this violent man while never pretending he is someone to be glamorized or imitated.

SIMON (DIR. MARSHALL BRICKMAN, 1980)

How do I even describe Simon? Alan Arkin is brainwashed by a group of overpaid intellectuals into believing he is descended from an alien toaster. Then he gets a messiah complex and starts gathering disciples as he rails against television, condiment packets, and muzak. It’s a little uneven at times, sure, but the satire is really inspired. The whole thing is like a combination of Mel Brooks, Stanley Kubrick, and Woody Allen’s styles, and it is quite hilarious for those who thrive on cult oddities.

PEEPING TOM (DIR. MICHAEL POWELL, 1960)

Though it came out the same year as Hitchcock’s Psycho and has been nearly as influential for horror cinema, Peeping Tom remains underseen by everyone save for film theorists. And what a shame that is, because this movie is more frightening than Psycho. Sure, that may be because Psycho is so predominant in popular culture and just so influential that it no longer has the same shock value, but there’s something about Peeping Tom that gets under my skin, something sad, even disgusting. I felt dirty after watching it-- and this is 2019!

MIDNIGHT MARY (DIR. WILLIAM WELLMAN, 1933)

Loretta Young got one of her juiciest roles in this pre-code crime drama. Her Mary Martin is more than just a good girl forced into criminal circles-- she’s a complicated creature, compassionate and desperate and lonely and bitter and sensual all at once. This movie is a fast-paced, beautifully filmed ride, cloaked in that Depression-era cynicism that makes pre-code Hollywood of such interest to movie geeks the world over.

WILD BOYS OF THE ROAD (DIR. WILLIAM WELLMAN, 1933)

Wild Boys of the Road is a quintessential Depression-era movie, relentless in its bleakness and rage. That the main characters are all starving kids only looking for work makes their struggles all the harder to watch. William Wellman is quickly becoming one of my favorite directors: his gritty style and compact storytelling are just perfect for a ripped-from-the-headlines drama such as this. And the “happy” ending has one little moment that just knocks any smile you have right off your mug. Absolutely see this.

THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING (DIR. NORMAN JEWISON, 1966)

Sometimes, when you watch a movie only because a favorite actor is in it, you get subjected to pure trash like Free and Easy (oh, the things I do for Buster Keaton). Other times, you get cute gems like The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming, which, as you probably guessed, I mainly sought out for Alan Arkin. But the whole movie is hilarious, the best kind of farce comedy, populated by enjoyable characters and a sweet-tempered humanism that grounds the wackiness. While a little overlong, this movie is quite underrated-- and sadly, its satire of American xenophobia and Cold War panic is not as dated as we would like to believe.

ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN (DIR. ALAN J. PAKULA, 1976)

Who knew a political thriller where most people know the twist could be so intense and riveting? It’s about as nonsensical as feeling suspense when you watch a movie about the Titanic and hope the boat won’t sink-- but damn, it’s magical. All the President’s Men is real white-knuckle stuff, with Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman projecting both youthful excitement and deep panic as they proceed with their investigation. It scarcely seems to have aged at all.

WHISPER OF THE HEART (DIR. YOSHIFUMI KONDOU, 1995)

There’s a scene near the end of Whisper of the Heart where the protagonist Shizuku shows the finished first draft of her fantasy novel to her first reader, the grandpa of one of her schoolmates. She weeps because it isn’t the perfect image she had in her head, despite how hard she worked on it, but the old man tells her that it takes polishing and discipline to make the work come to its full potential. Few movies about artists are so honest about how hard it can be, how unsupportive others can be in their demand that everyone be “practical.” As a writer who struggles to create and constantly doubts herself, this movie spoke strongly to me. I recommend it to any creative person.

THE PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE (DIR. BRIAN DE PALMA, 1976)

I’d been wanting to see this movie since my high school phan days. Holy crap, is it WEIRDER than I could have ever imagined, a true camp masterpiece. I’m shocked it was never tuned into a stage show actually, but then again, we would miss those trippy camera angles and we wouldn’t have Paul Williams as one of the greatest villains of all time.

DUEL (DIR. STEVEN SPIELBERG, 1971)

When people talk about the best movies made in the “Hitchcock without Hitchcock directing” tradition, why is Duel so seldom mentioned? The scene in the cafe, packed with paranoid tension and tense camerawork, alone should qualify it. Duel is most known as the movie which put the young Steven Spielberg on the map. It’s quite different from his later work, grittier and less whimsical for sure. Even the ending seems almost nihilistic, depending on how you view it. But damn, if it isn’t fine filmmaking.

CAROL (DIR. TODD HAYNES, 2015)

This gorgeous throwback to Douglas Sirk melodramas is also one of the best romantic movies I’ve seen in a while. Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara have the sweetest, tenderest chemistry-- it was like seeing Lauren Bacall and Audrey Hepburn as love interests in a film. Unlike Sirk, there is little in the way of ripe melodrama here-- everything is underplayed, aching, mature. And I can say this is an adaptation that is better than the source book: it just feels so much warmer.

12 ANGRY MEN (DIR. SIDNEY LUMET, 1957

All I can say is that this was every bit equal to the hype. Common movie wisdom says people sitting and talking in a room is going to be boring on film, but movies like 12 Angry Men prove this is not so when you’ve got an excellently tense atmosphere, an inspired script, and a stable of fine actors to work with. Like The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming, this movie has not significantly aged-- much to society’s discredit.

A STAR IS BORN (DIR. GEORGE CUKOR, 1954)

Another movie I went into not expecting to love as much as I did. When movies from the 20s or 30s tended to get remakes in the 1950s, I always find them too garish and big, victims of glossy Cinemascope and overlong runtimes. Compared to the lean 1937 classic original, I expected sheer indulgence from this three-hour remake. Instead, I got my heart torn out all over again-- the longer runtime is used well, fleshing out the characters to a greater degree. Judy Garland and James Mason both give what might be the best efforts of their respective careers, and the satire of the celebrity machine remains as relevant and scathing as ever.

BLANCANIEVES (DIR. PABLO BERGER, 2012)

Oh, it feels like this movie was made for me specifically. It’s shot in gorgeous, expressionistic black-and-white. It’s set in the 1920s. It’s a clever adaptation of a classic fairy tale. It’s as funny and charming as it is bittersweet and macabre. Instead of more superhero movies, can we get more neo-silent movies like this? PLEASE?

THE FAVOURITE (DIR. YORGOS LANTHIMOS, 2018)

I’ve heard The Favourite described as a “bitchy lesbian Shakespeare play,” but this description, while a little true in terms of general tone, does not get to the heart of what makes this film brilliant. More than love or sex, this movie is about power-- particularly the corrupting influence of power. And it corrupts not only morals but love itself. Innocents become Machiavellian schemers. Lovers become sadomasochistic enemies. Good intentions turn to poison. This certainly isn’t a happy movie, but it is moving and, strangely enough, also hilarious. I was reminded of the chilly, satirical world of Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon more than once-- and for me, that is not a bad movie to be reminded of.

ON THE WATERFRONT (DIR. ELIA KAZAN, 1954)

Another classic that’s been on my list forever that I was delighted to find worthy of its reputation. It’s a classic tale of redemption and social justice, perfectly acted and shot. While I still prefer A Streetcar Named Desire as far as Kazan is concerned, this might be a better movie in the objective sense. Actually, more than even Brando, Karl Malden is the acting highlight for me-- he plays a priest torn between staying silent or truly speaking for the Gospel by demanding justice for the poor parish he serves. Just brilliant work.

KLUTE (DIR. ALAN J. PAKULA, 1971)

A perfect thriller, just about, and a great example of the “NYC is hell on earth” subgenre of the 1960s and 1970s. Jane Fonda is a revelation: she feels so real, not at all like a starlet trying to seem normal if you know what I mean.

KISS KISS BANG BANG (DIR. SHANE BLACK, 2005)

As far as subversive noir goes, this is the most entertaining. I would put it up there with The Big Lebowski as far as goofy takes on Raymond Chandler are concerned-- I don’t even really know what to make of it, but I laughed my ass off anytime I wasn’t going “WHAT???”

What were your favorite film discoveries in 2019?

[eviesmyspiritanimal]

Paint It Pink

Summary: When Mal, Evie, Uma, Audrey, Jane, and the rest are all hanging out at Evie’s house, they get into a rather interesting conversation about whether boys or girls should be the bosses. Soon enough, they’re launched into an all-out paintball war as they struggle for dominance. Huma, Bal, Jarlos, and Jaudrey but ultimately friendship and family feels. Warning: an attempt at fake suicide.

  “Yo, Whitey Tighty, get me a coke!” Uma called to the white-haired boy over nearby the fridge in Evie’s kitchen. Carlos looked at her strangely and furrowed his brow.

  Currently, all of the group was gathered in Evie’s house for a relaxing evening to just enjoy one another’s company. Evie, Mal, and Ben were relaxed on one couch while Uma, Harry, and Gil were on another. Jane, Audrey, Jay, and Carlos had been sitting on the opposite one to the Sea Three’s. That is, until Carlos got up to go get himself a drink.

  And now Uma was demanding that he get her one as well.

  “How about a please?!” Carlos questioned loudly, unappreciative of Uma’s bossiness.

  “Oh, go please yourself!” Uma replied to him with a dismissive wave of her hand, despite the fact he couldn’t see her. Mal raised an eyebrow at the other girl from her position with her head on Evie’s lap and her feet on Ben’s, and Uma smirked at her.

  “I’m not somebody’s servant,” Carlos smartly replied, but he nevertheless withdrew a drink for the pirate and himself.

  “Ah, yes. Good boy. Now I know who to go to for getting my bunions scraped,” Uma declared, and Mal snorted a bit in response to the pirate. Evie rolled her eyes slightly.

  “I’m not scraping your bunions,” Carlos replied to her, and Uma just raised an eyebrow.

  “Why not? You should be an expert since you did it so much for your mother,” Uma informed him, and Carlos just ignored her as he sat down next to Jane who wasted no time in taking his hand in her own.

  “Dadgum. You know, it’s a good thing my boys listen, ain’t it?”

  “Does that mean we’re your servants?” Gil questioned worriedly, and Uma just gestured flippantly at the boy.

  “Gil, please. You practically signed your soul over to me when you became part of my crew,” Uma sassily replied.

  “I don’t recall tha’ bein’ part of the deal,” Harry piped up, and Uma looked at him almost offendedly. She then turned her gaze to Mal.

  “Look at this, Mal. This is ridiculous. These menfolk getting out of hand. You know what I mean, don’t you, girl?” Uma questioned desperately and almost dramatically as she looked over at the faerie.

  “No, not really. Ben always does as I tell him,” Mal informed Uma, and Ben immediately turned his gaze to her in surprise.

  “Yeah, it’s practically me and M running the kingdom,” Evie expressed with a grin, and Ben furrowed his brow, unappreciative of the two girls and their determinations.

  “Wow. Harry Barry, you need to take some lessons,” Uma told him, smacking his stomach lightly, and Harry sighed a bit in response, unimpressed with his captain.

  “I wish Jay would mind that well,” Audrey expressed, offering Jay a slight glare of irritation.

  “Well, dear, I think you’re forgetting that I usually do because you spend the majority of your time nagging me to death,” Jay replied to her, and Audrey’s mouth fell open in shock as she glowered at the boy.

  “I-I think we should all just work together and help each other equally,” Jane expressed, but her opinion was quickly lost in the midst of the uproar that had started with some of the rest of their group.

  “I think that y’all are getting out of hand. I am the captain, remember?” Uma told Harry and Gil.

  “But that doesn’t make us your servants, does it?” Gil questioned confusedly, and Harry immediately shook his head in response to the other boy. Uma just growled under her breath as she cut her eyes in the Gil’s direction.

  “And, Jay, how dare you accuse me of nagging?!” Audrey demanded, and he rolled his eyes as he scooted forward a bit.

  “Alright, look, I’m not talking about this and letting it blow up into another one of our giant explosions or whatever. I still remember the last time we were all hanging out and we got into a bit of an argument. My stomach’s still suffering from that prank cake,” Jay spoke up, interrupting things before they could get too heated.

  “Carlos, how’s your new paintball game on your PlayStation?” Jay asked, pointing to Carlos as he directed his attention to his little brother.

  “Of course. The new topic of conversation is video games,” Uma muttered under her breath. Carlos shot a dirty look in Uma’s direction before replying.

  “It’s really great. It’s a first-person shooter, and the graphics are stellar,” Carlos described, and Jay nodded as he grew more engrossed in the conversation. Ben looked at Carlos oddly, and he leaned forward a bit.

  “Is there character customization?” Ben questioned curiously, and Carlos nodded emphatically.

  “Totally, dude, it’s so awesome!” Uma rolled her eyes, sharing a glare with Audrey.

  “Multiplayer?” Harry questioned, and Carlos grinned widely as he offered affirmation to Harry’s question.

  “I think we need to meet up and play that one,” Jay expressed his opinion on the subject and Carlos laughed, looking over at the older boy.

  “Yeah, definitely. Shoot up the other team, am I right? Get your aggressions out!” Carlos aimed a fake gun and he made a few shooting noises. Uma’s eyes widened and a smirk came onto her face as she got an idea.

  “How about I’ve got a better idea?” Uma spoke up, and everyone looked at her.

  “What if we had a real paintball match?” Uma suggested, and Carlos suddenly looked quite thoughtful.

  “A paintball match?!” Jane squeaked, and Evie had a big grin on her face as she looked at Uma.

  “Ooh, that sounds fun… What do you think, M?” Evie asked, and Mal could see Evie’s eyes glowing with that competitive spirit. Mal sat up and moved her feet off of Ben’s lap so that she was sitting more closely to Evie.

  “Sounds good to me, E.”

  “You wanna be on my team?” Evie offered before leaning close to Mal and whispering playfully. “I have a high likelihood of winning, but with you, it’d be guaranteed.”

  Mal grinned at her best friend, and she slid an arm around Evie’s shoulders.

  “Sure. We’ll win,” Mal told her sister confidently, and Evie beamed.

  “I propose girls versus boys. What do y’all think?” Uma questioned, and Carlos nodded excitedly. Jay, Harry, and Gil seemed to be rather intrigued as well. The only boy who wasn’t so enthralled with the idea was Ben, and he looked somewhat apprehensive.

  “I don’t know about that,” Ben started to protest, but Audrey’s next statement almost completely made any effect of his words disappear.

  “And let’s make it a bet,” Audrey added, and Uma grinned wickedly at her. After all, Uma wasn’t through with their entire conversation about servants and who bossed who around, and she had a feeling Audrey wasn’t either if her sly expression was anything to go by.

  “A girl after my own heart, eh, Princess?” Uma questioned, and Audrey just shrugged a bit as she smiled smugly.

  “What exactly is the wager?” Jay questioned with an eyebrow raise.

  “The team that wins will have the other team as their servants for a whole day. You have to do whatever the winning team tells you to do,” Audrey firmly spoke, and Uma nodded approvingly.

  “That sounds fun,” Evie excitedly expressed, and Mal nodded. In fact, everyone except Ben and Jane seemed excited at the prospect of the battle. Once he had looked at all of the boys and seen that all except Ben were in favor of the idea, Jay nodded with a grin.

  “We’re in.”

  “Cool. And you guys will set up the gear?” Uma questioned, and everyone but Ben nodded eagerly.

  “Definitely,” Carlos answered with a sparkle in his eye. Uma leaned back in her seat with a slight smirk as she glanced at the other girls before returning her gaze to Carlos.

  “Perfect.”

   ………………………………………………………………………………………………………

      “I think I look like Katniss Everdeen,” Evie declared proudly as she fingered her braid before lifting her gun with a raise of an eyebrow. Mal looked over at her sister, taking in Evie’s pose. Evie looked at Mal and she bounced one eyebrow playfully. Mal immediately laughed at her, and she side-hugged the girl tightly, pressing her forehead to the side of Evie’s head.

  However, to her surprise, their helmets clanged together hard, and they both jumped a bit in surprise before giggling again.

  It was two days later, and all of the girls were gathered around the edge of their chosen field in the dead zone as they made the last few preparations to their uniforms before they went out to meet the boys who were already finding their positions.

  Evie and Mal had went out together to go and buy the group some armor pieces. Particularly, they had helmets, chest armor, and shin guards.

  “Well, I’m glad you do. I look more like the Michelin tire man,” Audrey proclaimed in a bit of a whine, and Evie shook her head as she started to say something.

  “It’s an improvement, honestly,” Uma replied immediately, interrupting Evie. Audrey narrowed her eyes and growled under her breath as she set her jaw in irritation. Uma strapped on the last bit of armor as she turned around to face the rest of the girls.

  “Okay! We ready to whoop some boy behind?” Uma questioned as she looked at the lot of them, her hair pulled back just a little as she gazed at them with her helmet lifted.

  Audrey rolled her eyes as Uma tried to look imposing and intimidating with her gear.

  “No!” Jane whimpered, her mask already down as she fearfully hid behind it. Uma just offered Jane a slight smirk.

  “Then let’s do this,” Uma spoke, flipping the visor part of her helmet down before leading the way over to where the boys were already standing. Evie and Mal followed suit, closing their helmets, and Audrey just scoffed, but copied their movements as she went after them and dragged Jane behind her.

  “Took ye long enough!” Harry called out in a taunt, and Uma rolled her eyes at him, unimpressed with his jeering as she led the group behind their big rock that would serve as cover.

  “Alright!” Jay called when the girls were in their positions on the battlefield.

  “We know the rules! One shot and you’re down, and don’t shoot anybody after they’re hit that one time,” Jay announced, and the girls expressed varying forms of agreement. “And after they’re hit, they head over there to the dead zone where they’ll wait until the match is over.”

  “We’re good?” Jay questioned loudly, but Audrey quickly raised her hand, and Jay looked at her.

  “And don’t shoot anyone in the head?” Audrey questioned, and Jay furrowed his brow.

  “What? No!” Jay replied, shaking his head as if that were the oddest thing he’d ever heard.

  “The beauty of this game, gorgeous, is that you can shoot anywhere!” Harry added with a wild look in his eyes, and Audrey suddenly lost all of her calmness about the idea of the paintball fight as her jaw slackened.

  “Are we ready?!” Jay shouted, and Mal and Uma gave out thumbs-ups in response to the boy as they ducked behind their rock. Ben shook his head quickly, and Harry just shoved him down behind their rock.

  “Let’s do this!” Uma called in response, and they all five jumped as Harry shot a paintball nearby Uma’s shoulder that hit the rock with a splatter. Uma wasted no time dipping down behind the rock to hide behind it more fully.

  “Huh. He’s a better shot than I thought,” Uma pointed out with a slight chuckle as she started to aim for the boys with her paintball gun.

  “AAAH!!! The paintballs splatter?!!!!” Audrey cried, and Uma looked at her strangely.

  “Well, yeah.”

  “And let me get this straight! They can shoot at our heads?!” Audrey demanded, and Uma looked at her with a slight chuckle and an odd glance.

  “Yeah, Princess, duh.” Uma then looked to Mal. “Is she not a fast learner? She obviously knows nothing about violent sport.”

  “Don’t worry, Audrey, you won’t be getting hit in the head today. I’m going to win this match easy!” Evie declared before starting to fire at any signs of movement around the boys’ rock.

  “What the— did they give us pink paintballs?!” Uma demanded, and Evie looked at her paintball gun strangely as she took in the fact that her gun did indeed eject pink paintballs.

  “Because you’re a bunch of girls!” Carlos declared, obviously having heard Uma’s question.

  Evie narrowed her eyes, and Mal watched as Evie’s entire stance shifted as her mind moved into competition mode. Evie aimed for Carlos’s head and she pulled the trigger like a madwoman, paintballs shooting toward the boys’ rock and covering it with pinkness.

  “Take that, you scumbags!!!” Evie cried as she unloaded on them. Mal and Uma paused, and Uma stared at her in shock.

  “Does she always do that?” Uma questioned as she jabbed a thumb at Evie as she bared her teeth and blasted the paintballs.

  “Pretty much,” Mal replied simply.

  “Remind me not to get roped into family game night,” Uma muttered with a slight laugh, and Evie shot back down to the ground as the boys fired some balls. Evie narrowed her eyes, and she looked as if she might hop over the top of the rock.

   However, Uma and Mal both grabbed her before she could begin to do that.

  “Evie, stop, you can’t go out there!” Mal told her best friend, and Evie looked at her confusedly as she gripped her gun firmly.

  “Why not? I might have a better chance at hitting the boys.”

  “Because you might get hit,” Uma told her, and Evie just laughed a bit.

  “Well, one person getting hit is no big deal. You and Mal and Audrey can go on without me as long as I hit two or three of the guys,” Evie informed the pirate, and Uma shook her head.

  “E, you don’t get it. First of all, we need you to stay in the game as long as possible because I kind of want to keep our whole team out of the dead zone. Second of all… Well, Evie, those paintballs hurt when they hit you,” Mal expressed, and Mal watched as the crazed look in Evie’s eyes slowly started to fade away as she seemed to realize the possibility for pain that was in this game.

  “Oh. Oh… That’s not… Well, that sounds not too fun,” Evie replied to Mal as she sunk down behind the rock next to Jane who was currently hiding behind the rock in a curled up ball. Mal nodded in agreeance and Uma rolled her eyes as she tried to position her gun a bit better over the top of the rock in case she could possibly manage to hit the boys.

  “The paintballs hurt?! As if it wasn’t bad enough with the mess!” Audrey proclaimed, almost completely hysterical. “And people make this out to be a fun game?! It should be called painball instead of paintball!!!”

  “Look, Princess, suck it up. By the time we’re through with this match, you’re going to have an ugly raised up bruised place on your body and you’re going to be messy,” Uma informed Audrey in a matter-of-fact tone as a paintball suddenly splashed nearby the girls and the paint shot out onto Uma’s hair.

  “Did ye hit ‘er?!” Harry gleefully shouted, and Uma narrowed her eyes.

  “Try again, Hook! You missed by a mile!” Uma cried in return, but she hid a bit better behind the rock as she looked at Audrey to resume their conversation.

  “Uma! Your hair has blue paint in it!” Audrey cried in unadulterated horror. Uma looked down at her hair, and she sighed slightly before shrugging.

  “It’s going to happen, and it’ll probably happen to you,” Uma informed the princess.

  “I can’t do this. My hair can’t do this! I can’t have my hair messed up! I CAN’T DO THIS!!!” Audrey screeched.

  “AAAH!!!!!” Audrey shrieked as she suddenly left from behind the rock, trying to get away for fear that her hair would be ruined by the paintballs. Mal and Uma shared a blank glance before looking back at the runaway princess. After a long moment, Uma just slowly shook her head as she stared at the girl.

  “Wow. That is purely impressive,” Uma commented in shock as they watched Audrey take off across the battlefield. Audrey ran, dodging paintballs as she took off screaming at the top of her lungs.

  However, after a moment, Gil jumped out from behind the rock, aiming for Audrey as he ran toward her. Of course, Audrey couldn’t do much about him because she had somehow or another ended up leaving her paintball gun behind. Uma smirked as she saw her opportunity.

  Before Gil could even begin to shoot the princess, Uma hit him in the center of his chest with a pink paintball. Audrey hadn’t stopped the entire time as she ran for her life and tried to escape.

  “Darn it, Gil!” Harry cried out, and Gil sighed deeply as he held his gun above his head and ran off of the field.

  “WHOO!!! First hit!” Uma called, and she could practically feel Harry’s glare at her.

  During this, Audrey was still running for her life, and Uma quickly noticed that Jay was peeking out from behind the rock in an attempt to shoot her. Mal apparently saw this as well, and she shot up so that she could see just above the rock, and she shot at Jay multiple times.

  But her paintballs very unfortunately didn’t hit Jay, and he ended up successfully blasting Audrey in the behind with a blue paintball.

  “OUCH! JAY!!!” Audrey screeched and held her paintball gun above her head as she glared at Jay. He just smirked wildly at his girlfriend, waggling his eyebrows, and Audrey growled as she fled.

  “Don’t hit me, please don’t hit me! I’m already fatally injured!” Audrey cried, and Uma rolled her eyes at the other girl’s dramatics.

  “Man, that diversion worked like a charm,” Uma informed the other girls, and Evie nodded with a slight smile as she looked at Uma and Mal.

  “I’ll say. And we didn’t even mean for it to be a diversion. Audrey just went nuts and ran,” Mal informed Uma with a slight laugh as she tried to get an idea of the boys’ position. Mal narrowed her eyes as she watched Carlos dart out from behind the boys’ large rock in favor of hurrying over to a tree that was closer to the girls’ place.

  Mal raised an eyebrow.

   “In fact, I think we need another diversion,” Mal spoke up, and Uma grinned widely, not knowing what Mal had in mind, but perfectly willing to hear it. Mal looked to Jane, and Jane’s eyes went wide as she stared at the purple-haired girl.

  “Why are you looking at me?” Jane questioned, and Mal smirked slightly.

  “We need you to run over to that tree,” Mal pointed to the one that Carlos was hiding behind, “and distract Carlos by telling him that you’re scared and don’t know what to do.”

  “Oh, I get it! Lure him out from behind the tree and then we blast him, right?” Uma questioned, and Mal grinned. Evie just looked between the both of them and shook her head as she reached around and tried to ensure that her braid was still firmly intact so that she could avoid as much disaster to her hair.

  “Isn’t that a little cruel?” Jane questioned worriedly, and Mal shook her head.

  “All’s fair in love and war, dear Jane,” Mal muttered as she repositioned her mask a bit.

  “Get out there now, okay? We’ve got to win this,” Mal informed the other girl, and Evie sympathetically squeezed Jane’s shoulder.

  Jane sighed deeply, and after a moment, she rushed out, trying to hide behind different trees as she approached the de Vil boy.

   Before long, she was nearby him, and he jumped out from behind his tree, about to shoot. However, he froze as soon as he realized it was Jane.

  “Jane?! What are you doing?!” Carlos questioned, obviously not thinking that Jane would try to actively participate in their game.

  “This is scary! I’m scared!” Jane proclaimed, and Carlos’s eyes softened. Jane truly hated to do this to him, and she wished that literally anyone else could’ve taken the job instead of her.

  He stepped a bit closer to her, and to her shock, he was suddenly covered in pink paint all over his stomach. His eyes went wide and he gaped at his front.

  “WHOO!!! Nailed it!” Uma whooped victoriously, and Jane offered Carlos an apologetic glance. He just narrowed his eyes at Uma and groaned before running off to go and join Audrey and Gil in the dead zone.

  “Y’know, I’m starting to not mind that our team color is pink. It’s extra embarrassing for those ‘manly men,’” Uma sarcastically referred to the boys before laughing heartily.

  Jane just watched Carlos running for the dead zone, and she looked down at her shoes, feeling terribly guilty, but she suddenly jumped as a paintball whizzed by her.

  “Crap, I missed!” Harry cried, and Jane quickly dove for the other side of the tree as she tried to avoid getting hit. Her blue eyes were wide in fright.

  “Jane, come on! Get back over here!” Mal cried, and Uma launched a few warning shots that hit the boys’ rock in an attempt to give Jane an opening so she could escape. Evie looked up at Mal, grabbing her hand as she got her attention.

  “M, she’s too scared,” Evie informed her, and Mal looked at Evie softly before nodding.

  “Jane, it’s okay, just run back fast! Uma’s stopping them!” Mal called, and Jane looked at Mal trustingly. She started forward, but before she could get too far, the boys nearly hit her again. Jane immediately flung herself back against the tree, breathing hard as she calmed down from the fact that she was almost hit with a paintball.

  Uma groaned deeply, and she fixed her mask more solidly upon her face as she readied herself to run out from behind the girls’ rock. Mal looked at her strangely, and Uma returned her gaze.

  “I’m going to go and get her. Cover me!” Uma called as she readied her gun. Evie scooted out of the way, holding onto her almost empty gun.

  Uma waited for only a moment before darting out toward Jane. Harry, and Jay immediately began actively firing at her with Ben hiding behind the rock fearfully. Mal started shooting intensely in response to the boys, and their fire was a little scattered since they were now spending more time dodging.

  Uma hurried over to Jane and she took the girl by the arm, trying to guide her out from behind the tree and back to the rock. She had almost made it halfway back when the boys managed to hit Jane in the back.

  “Oh!” Jane cried as it hit her, and Uma stopped for just a moment as she pushed Jane in the direction of the dead zone.

  “Get out of here, Jane!” Uma instructed, and she made a mad dash for the rock. Evie reached out for Uma’s hand in an attempt to pull her over to their side quickly.

  But to the girls’ surprise, Uma was suddenly splattered with a paintball, blue paint hitting Uma’s helmet and splattering onto the front of Evie’s helmet.

  Mal narrowed her eyes as she saw Harry standing there and laughing his behind off behind the rock, and Mal pulled her trigger quickly as she blasted Harry in the front of his helmet with a paintball.

  Uma stopped in frustration, growling under her breath, and Evie and Mal looked at her regretfully. Uma offered them a slight smile right before she looked over at the boys with a snarl. However, her grin quickly returned tenfold as she realized that Harry was heading off to the dead zone as well. Uma then returned her gaze to the two girls left behind.

  “Spank them like babies, okay, y’all?” Uma questioned, and the two left behind nodded resolutely. Uma offered a two-fingered salute before hurrying toward the dead zone where Gil, Audrey, Carlos, and Jane were currently seated and where Harry was currently running for.

  Suddenly several balls splattered nearby Mal and Evie, and they quickly dipped a bit lower behind their cover.

  “E, if we’re going to win this, we’ve got to get out from behind this rock and get closer to Jay and Ben,” Mal spoke, and Evie nodded in agreeance, somewhat distastefully wiping a bit of the splattered paint from her shoulder.

  “But where can we go?” Mal trailed off, looking around, and Evie squeezed Mal’s shoulder as she looked around as well. After only a moment, she caught sight of a place that would be perfect for them to hide at. Evie wasted no time in pointing.

  “M, look over there. There’s a rock that looks like it might be just big enough for me and you,” Evie told the faerie, and Mal followed Evie’s finger. She grinned at Evie widely and looked at her adoringly.

  “Awesome job, E. Let’s make a run for it,” Mal praised her best friend as she kneeled and peered just barely around the rock as she held her gun in her arm carefully.

  “One… Two… Three… Go,” Mal quietly told Evie, grabbing Evie’s hand tightly as she darted out from behind the rock. Evie wasted no time in running with Mal.

  “Aha! Give it up, sisters!” Jay called as he shot at them. Mal and Evie both tried desperately to dodge the paintballs, and just barely made it behind two trees as they paused for a moment.

  “Okay, E, let’s go again…. Now!” Mal called, and they both shot out from behind their covers. Jay immediately started shooting at them again, and Evie felt a paintball whiz by her head as Jay got dangerously close to hitting her. Evie was getting quite tired, and she was starting to realize that their rock was farther away than they had originally thought.

  “In just a second, let’s make a run for it again,” Mal told the other girl, and Evie nodded despite the fact that she was running a bit short on air. Before long, Mal jutted her head in the direction of the rock, and they both shot out from behind their trees as they made a run for it.

  However, to the bluenette’s shock, she tripped a bit in the midst of her running. Naturally, hearing Evie’s grunt, Mal paused as she considered running back to Evie, but Evie had managed to catch herself, and pushed Mal ahead as the paintballs whizzed by them.

  Soon enough, they reached the rock, and Evie nearly collapsed behind it.

  After only a moment, a paintball almost hit Evie’s head.

  “Evie, get down!” Mal cried, grabbing Evie’s shoulder and pulling her down to Mal’s level as yet another paintball flew above her head. They were both breathing hard, and Evie was beginning to think that she couldn’t take much more of this game if it consisted of more of this constant running, despite her competitive nature. If this would have been something like charades, Evie would’ve likely already cheated at it, but as it was, she couldn’t cheat in this game, so her hopes of winning were rather dashed.

  “E, we gotta keep going until we make it around so we can get a clear shot at the boys. This rock’s good, but we’re still not quite where we can reach them,” Mal informed her, almost as if she had read Evie’s mind. Evie furrowed her brow, raising up her mask slightly so that she could look at her best friend. Mal was peering from around the rock they were both hidden behind, checking to ensure that the boys hadn’t changed positions.

  “Why did we agree to do this in the first place?” Evie whined a bit, allowing a bit of her emotions to slip into her voice. This challenge was getting a little harder than she was quite prepared for.

  “Evie, just think of how wonderful and sweet that victory will be when it comes in the form of being able to make the boys wait upon us hand and foot,” Mal informed her, and Evie sighed a bit as she smiled just barely.

  “Besides… This is Mevie, remember? Mevie can do anything,” Mal told her sister with a loving grin as she took Evie’s hand in her own, lacing her fingers through Evie’s. Evie nodded slowly, feeling a bit of her resolve return to her.

  “Come out, come out! Ready to get smashed?!!!” Jay called as he shot a paintball nearby their hiding place.

  “C’mon, E. For some reason, we were the last ones standing on our team. I think it’s because me and you were meant to win this,” Mal informed her sister. Evie’s eyes hardened and she looked significantly more determined at the mention of winning. Mal smiled fondly, knowing that Evie’s signature competitiveness was lying just beneath the surface.

  “Let’s go kick their butts,” Mal told her, and Evie swiftly snatched Mal’s arm and pulled her back near the bluenette.

  “M, I’ve got an idea,” Evie informed Mal, and Mal furrowed her brow as she looked at her sister.

  “I’m going to run out and distract them,” Evie expressed, and Mal’s eyes widened as she shook her head.

  “What? No! Evie, are you crazy?” Mal demanded, giving Evie a onceover.

  “I’m going to run out and trip and fall on purpose. I’ll act like I’m hurt, and then we can shoot Jay because he’ll come running,” Evie explained her plan to her sister. Mal furrowed her brow as she moved just a bit to peer in the direction of the boys.

  “How do you know it’ll work?” Mal asked.

  “I don’t. We just have to take a chance,” Evie solemnly replied.

  “E, that’s suicide… And I can’t afford to lose you,” Mal expressed, and Mal almost thought it sounded like something out of a war movie. She was definitely getting a little too carried away in this game.

  “In war, Mal, some sacrifices must be made,” Evie told her, a dead seriousness to her voice. After a moment, she grinned, alleviating the tension. “Besides, you’re going to run out to check on me so it’ll really sell it, and then you’re going to shoot him when he comes out.”

  Mal couldn’t help but grin at Evie as she laughed.

  “Y’know, I love you,” Mal affectionately addressed Evie.

  “I love you, too.”

  “And you’re an evil genius,” Mal complimented her before squeezing the bluenette’s arm. “Now get out there and trick them.”

  Evie just offered one of those thousand-watt grins before taking off through the battlefield. Naturally, several paintballs were launched at her.

  Evie managed to successfully dodge them all, and after a moment, she decided it would probably be a good time to fall on the battlefield.

  Evie wasted no time in dramatically tripping and collapsing on the ground. Before Jay could shoot her, she cried out in pain, immediately reaching for her foot as she brought it up closer to her body.

  “AH!!!” Evie yelped, making sure that she sounded as hurt as she possibly could. Mal, ever loyally playing her part, rushed out to Evie, diving for her sister and hitting the ground hard as she crawled over desperately to the other girl. Evie had to give it to Mal. She could definitely offer a convincing performance.

  “Evie?! EVIE!!!” Mal cried, grabbing Evie’s mask where her cheeks would be as she looked her over. She wasted no time in taking Evie’s hand tightly, and Evie resisted the urge to smile. If she smiled, she’d no doubt soon laugh.

  “Evie? Is she okay?!” Jay called, and Mal didn’t respond, just shaking her head. Evie could see the slightest hints of a grin on Mal’s face as she removed her hand from Evie’s as she placed her hand on Evie’s thigh while she got a better look at Evie’s fake injury.

  “It hurts, M!” Evie yelped in what she hoped was a pitiful manner, but the end of her cry was interrupted a bit by a laugh. Fortunately, it sounded more like a sob than a laugh, so it worked to Evie’s advantage.

  “Evie?! Is she alright?!” Jay called louder, and Evie realized he was getting closer. Ben was even peeking out behind the rock somewhat curiously. Evie glanced at Mal, and the faerie simply brought both of her hands to her gun slowly.

  After only a moment, Mal turned and she blasted Jay. He wasn’t nearby, but he had just left from behind the rock, and before he knew it, he was shot in the chest with pink paint. His eyes widened and he stared at the girls blankly.

  Mal just laughed and Evie giggled along with her. Jay growled unhappily as he glared at the other two, the entire trick dawning upon him.

  “That was unfair! You used my emotions against me!”

  “Now, now,” Mal playfully reprimanded.

  “Who shot Audrey in the butt as she was running away to safety?” Evie called with a slight laugh, and Jay furrowed his brow as he paused. However, after a moment, he groaned, realizing that the girls were in the right.

  “All’s fair in love and war, Jay!” Mal told him.

  “Besides, we’ll never do it again,” Evie added with a sincere smile as she sat up and started to get up with Mal’s help.

  “Unless we’re playing paintball!” Mal laughed, and Evie nodded in agreeance. Jay just rolled his eyes, knowing that the girls had played fair or at least as fair as he had played.

  “Well, we’re not playing paintball anymore!” Jay announced as he hurried off toward the dead zone, but Mal could hear that he was not entirely serious.

  Mal and Evie shared a glance and shook their heads. However, after a moment, they both headed over to the boys’ rock, aiming on finishing it once and for all so that they could win their prize.

   They very carefully snuck around the edge, both of their guns pointed at Ben as they approached. Ben’s eyes widened, and he shook his head quickly.

  “No, no, no, don’t shoot, don’t shoot! I give in! I give up! You win!” Ben cried. Mal lowered her gun a bit, and then to everyone’s surprise, a blue paintball crashed straight into the visor of Mal’s helmet. Evie gasped as she stared at Ben.

  He looked just as surprised as Evie, but before he knew it, Evie had unloaded pink paintballs all over his front.

  As soon as she had emptied what was left in her gun, Evie pointed at him accusingly, a fire in her eyes as she glared at the boy.

  “YOU! You killed her! You killed her!!!” Evie declared, sounding almost crazed. Ben swallowed hard as he started to try to wipe paint from his visor.

  “It was an accident!”

  “Uh-huh, likely story! How dare you?!!! I loved her!!! And now she’s gone!!!” Evie cried, and Mal just furrowed her brow as she wiped the paint from her visor.

  “At least I won. But even my victory means nothing without her!” Evie spat, sounding as if she might cry.

  “I can’t go on in a world without her!” Evie announced before putting the end of the paintball gun to the side of her helmet and pulling the trigger.

  However, after several pulls, she realized it wasn’t working. Evie pulled the paintball gun away from her head and she examined it strangely. She groaned as she realized that she had emptied her gun.

  “Darn it, I wasted all my paintballs on you!!!” Evie whined, and Mal took off her helmet as she grabbed Evie.

  “E, I’m alive, and I’m fine,” Mal assured her, and Evie looked between Mal and Ben.

  “He shot you in the face!” Evie protested. Mal rolled her eyes and took Evie’s helmet in her hands as she pulled it off. She then grabbed Evie’s face in her hands and stroked her cheeks with her thumbs.

  “Of my helmet. Besides, this is a game. It’s a game, E. Chill out,” Mal told her, and Evie just sighed deeply. Evie’s warm brown eyes met Mal’s cool green ones, and they both shared just a tiny hint of a smile after a moment.

  “I guess I got a little too into it, huh?” Evie questioned somewhat sheepishly, and Mal chuckled under her breath as she squeezed Evie’s cheeks before letting her go.

  “Just a little,” Mal replied before she suddenly heard loud whoops and yells. Mal looked to the direction that the yells were coming from, and before she knew it, her and Evie were being grabbed by several sets of arms.

  “WHOO!!! WE DID IT!!!” Uma cried out victoriously as she grabbed Mal tightly. Evie was squished firmly against Mal as Audrey sandwiched the two best friends in the midst of her grabbing onto Evie and Uma. Jane hugged Mal tightly, and Mal grinned as she was surrounded by her team. She wrapped her own arm around Evie, and Evie quickly reciprocated the embrace.

  “So… I guess ye girls won, eh?” Harry spoke up suddenly, and the girls released one another to look at the guys. Mal and Evie were still holding onto one another, and they quickly noticed that the guys were all gathering around as well to face the girls.

  Uma grinned widely as she walked straight up to the pirate boy.

  “Sure enough. And you know what that means, Hook?” Uma questioned, getting as close to his face as her height would allow. His eyes darted down to her lips for just a moment, but they soon returned to her gaze.

  Uma grinned slightly, giving his face a onceover before stepping back.

  “You boys are ours for a whole day,” Uma told him with a confident smirk as she looked back at the other girls. The group smiled widely as they looked at each other. Uma then looked back at the guys.

  “Starting now. Now carry us to one of Ben’s limos and chauffeur us to Evie’s house.”

    ………………………………………………………………………………………………………

      It was a little later in the day, and all of the girls were reclined on the sofa at Evie’s house. And they had all of the boys working rather intensely.

  Jay was currently rubbing Audrey’s scalp, and she had her eyes closed as she was enjoying her treatment. Harry was brushing Uma’s hair carefully, and Ben was painting Evie’s and Mal’s fingernails and toenails. Gil was currently working as a footrest for Jane at Uma’s instruction.

  And Carlos was massaging all of the girls’ feet and was currently having to do Uma’s.

  “A little more fingertips, Jay,” Audrey instructed, and he complied. She smiled in satisfaction as she sunk down in her seat comfortably. “Ah… that’s nice.”

  “Now make sure you get all the tangles out. Gently, mind you,” Uma told Harry, and he continued through her hair a bit slower and more carefully.

  “Aww, these are so gross!” Carlos grumbled suddenly in a sour complaint as he coughed in response to the smell of Uma’s feet.

  “What did I say about complaining?” Uma questioned, cracking one eye open just barely as she raised an eyebrow at the de Vil boy. He just closed his mouth, rolled his eyes, and wrinkled his nose.

  “What I meant to say was by what miracle did I get the privilege to do this?” Carlos questioned in a falsely sweet tone as he squinted.

  “Because you’re best at foot care, and you seemed to have a problem with my feet,” Uma replied simply as she sighed deeply.

  They were quiet for a long moment before Uma finally spoke again, uttering the very sentence that started it all.

  “Yo, Whitey Tighty, get me a coke.”

  And all of the girls couldn’t help but laugh as Carlos now had to fetch Uma a drink.

[buildarocketboys]

Books read 2020: Reviews (1-20)

Decided to write a little review/overview for all the books I’ve read this year. Mostly just for personal record but please feel free to message me about any of these books!

1. Amberlough by Lara Elena Donnelly (Jan 6th – Jan 13th) 8 days 400 pages

I loved this whole trilogy, but this might have been my favourite of all three. I loved the setting (the main reason, apart from the queer characters, why I wanted to read this book) which is a fantasy setting based on the dying days of Berlin during the Weimar Republic. Loved this setting (especially the cabaret/music hall part) and it’s the only book that really features it. I also enjoy (or…find compelling, enjoy might not quite be right since there’s some very ‘yowch’ descriptions regarding torture/being beaten up) the story/plot most in this one, I was on the edge of my seat wanting to know what happened next…

2. Maurice by E.M. Forster (Nov 17th – Jan 21st) 256 pages

This is the only kind of cheat I have in here, because yes I did start reading it in November 2019, but I read the vast majority of it in 2020. I’d wanted to read it for ages because it’s such a gay classic and there were many sections (sentences, paragraphs) that I related to heavily, not even always as a queer person, but in that way that the best books get at the heart of something about the human experience in a way that’s intensely relatable to the reader. I think I found the romance elements kind of anticlimactic overall but maybe that’s kind of the point? It’s a happy ending, but in a very quiet way. (I think, it has been nearly a year since I read it!)

3. East, West by Salman Rushdie (Jan 17th – Jan 24th) 8 days 224 pages

I started reading this to compare it with its Spanish translation for my Postcolonialism in Translation essay lol. Some pretty interesting stories in here, also pretty sure this is the only collection of short stories I read this year, so it has that distinction. Not super my thing but acted as an enjoyable reading break in the local park while I was slogging my way through essays (and God do I miss that life now).

4. Affinity by Sarah Waters (Jan 24th – Jan 31st) 8 days 352 pages

This was the first of three Sarah Waters books I read this year. I have now read all of her work, and I enjoyed this one a lot – very much a ghost story. It wasn’t my favourite, but definitely sits nicely in the middle.

5. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (Jan 31st – Feb 5th) REREAD 6 days 500 pages

Reread this while on a trip to York, when stuff like that was still possible. As good as ever. I love Time Traveler’s Wife not for the romance (which is…interesting, but personally I don’t find it exactly enjoyable and the characters aren’t particularly likable or relatable for me) but for the prose and the structure. The back-and-forth structure of the book (travelling through time, Henry – and Clare – at different points in their life) makes for a breathtakingly constructed plot and I love it more every time. Some of the prose and stuff the characters talk about are kind of pretentious but I’m kind of pretentious myself (I discovered  Rilke through TTW) and a lot of it has stuck in my brain, to the point that 10 months later I keep thinking about it and kind of want to read it yet again.

6. Armistice by Lara Elena Donnelly (Feb 5th – Feb 9th) 5 days 400 pages

I really enjoyed this sequel, I loved exploring the rest of the world, I loved the interaction between characters who either hadn’t met before, hadn’t seen each other in years (there’s a time jump between Amberlough and Armistice) and brand new characters (who were mostly equally as compelling/lovable). A worthy sequel.

7. Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat by Bee Wilson (Feb 13th – Feb 24th) 12 days 327 pages

My thing (at least non-fiction-wise) this year has been books about food and food history, and this is the first of those on this list. It was pretty good, very interesting. I have trouble retaining information from non-fiction books so I only remember it in the broadest strokes (and remember reading it in the Hygge café in Sheffield which was really cool and I hope it’s survived the pandemic) but it was a really eye-opening look into different appliances/tools/processes/spaces used throughout history and in different parts of the world when it comes to food and cooking.

8. Bi: Notes for a Bisexual Revolution by Shiri Eisner (Feb 25th – Mar 11th) 16 days 352 pages

I read this in the period just before everything started shutting down and the day I finished it (incidentally my girlfriend’s birthday) was more or less the start of the lockdown for us, so that’s my prevailing memory of this book. It was a very good, enlightening look into bi politics and what we (I, as a white gentile especially) could do better. But again, I don’t remember it in great detail because I was more preoccupied with what was happening around it.

9. Solitaire by Alice Oseman (Mar 14th – Mar 16th) 3 days 392 pages

This was pretty good but I definitely read most YA (well, reality-based YA) as an easy, quick read that doesn’t challenge me too much, so I don’t have too much to say about it. It was nice to read about the Heartstopper characters

10. What If It’s Us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera (Mar 17th – Mar 20th) 4 days 437 pages

Again, early lockdown YA so basically brain popcorn for me. That’s not a bad thing though.

11. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (Mar 20th – Mar 30th) 11 days 512 pages

This was my least favourite of the Sarah Waters books I read this year, and probably not coincidentally, the only book of hers without explicit queer characters. But still a pretty good scary story.

12. Amnesty by Lara Elena Donnelly (Apr 1st – April 6th) 6 days 384 pages

The last in the trilogy. I still liked it very much, but not as much as the first two books. I think endings to a trilogy are hard to get right. I feel like there was too much focus on one character and his predicament (and while I enjoyed his ending and happily ever after with probably m favourite character of the series), I wasn’t as compelled by this one as I was by the other two.

13. Lisey’s Story by Stephen King (Apr 6th – Apr 15th)  10 days 513 pages

My first Stephen King! I actually really enjoyed this, especially the scary fantasy dream world thing. It wasn’t too scary for me (I am a big scaredy cat who’s just dipping my toe into horror novels since I figure reading horror is moderately less scary than watching it) and just overall pretty good.

14. This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (Apr 16th – Apr 20th) 5 days 209 pages

Loved this! The meandering almost poetry of it, the epic enemies to lovers, the weird admixture of sci fi and larger than life fantasy concepts (and beings!). Will definitely return to this one again.

15. Five Hundred Mile Walkies by Mark Wallington (Apr 21st – Apr 25th) REREAD 5 days 224 pages

I read this as a young teenager and found it hilarious. It was one of my dad’s books (he might even have recommended it to me, although I did have a habit of reading anything and everything that was in the bookcase – Memoirs of a Geisha at about 13, anyone?) and I laughed out loud practically every page. The gist of it is that Mark takes his sister’s (or sister’s ex??) dog, Boogie and goes to walk the entire 500 miles of the South West coast path. I loved this anyway because I loved the South West (especially Cornwall) and love seeing it through someone else’s eyes. So I reread it and I still enjoyed it, but didn’t find it as rip roaringly hilarious as I used to. Guess your sense of humour changes as you grow up, who knew?

16. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café by Fannie Flagg (Apr 27th – May 10th) 14 days 416 pages

I’ll be honest, I struggled with this one. I’m not sure if it was the setting (historically, geographically, linguistically) that put me off or the way it was written or what. I enjoyed the story but it just wasn’t really my thing.

17. The Night Watch by Sarah Waters (May 11th – May 17th) 7 days 528 pages

My final Sarah Waters book (until she writes more! *fingers crossed*) and definitely my favourite of the ones I read this year. Set during the Blitz in London, it’s pretty much straight up historical fiction, and I enjoyed it very much. I think part of it was I related heavily to the characters going through this dramatic time in history, because, you know, pandemic! There were certain passages that really connected with me/felt like an echo of today in a way that was sort of comforting, I guess.

18. Doctor Who: The Maze of Doom by David Solomons (May 18th – May 19th) 2 days 272 pages

A fun, quick and easy Doctor Who romp. Not much to say about this one.

19. Room by Emma Donoghue (May 19th – May 20th) 2 days 321 pages

Possibly the opposite of the previous. If you know anything about Room (the book or the film, which I actually watched years ago) then you know the subject matter is pretty dark and harrowing. Because it’s told through the eyes of a child however, I found it pretty easy (in terms of speed rather than subject matter) to get through and read it in about 24 hours. It’s super compelling too.

20. The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas (June 6th – June 11th) 6 days 372 pages

This, as far as I remember, was just a random one that I managed to pick up (metaphorically since I read this as an ebook) but it was pretty good. Possibly my favourite random discovery of the year, an interesting look on time travel and its consequences, based around the discovery/invention of time travel by four women scientists in the 1960s (I think) and how it affects the rest of their lives.

[xsecretblastsx]

1x14 - The Blair B*tch Project

A new week (well not so new) and a new recap. This episode is so Mean Girls Upper east side version, and it was fun. 

As usual, recap after the break 

Thoughts I had while Watching the episode:

Is always such a delight to star an episode with one of Blair’s Audrey Hepburn inspired dream sequences, this one in particular is one of my all time faves though.

“You don’t have anyone” auch, also very simliar to watch said to her on the last episode :(

“I’m in mourning of my old life” I wonder how many times Blair thought that through the whole show

Chuck annoying Serena to no end will never get old.

So was this suposed to be Bart’s penthouse?

Chuck was always so charming with Lily, and it’s curious because it was genuine. Same with Eric,he was nice since the beginning, honestly the merging of the Van der Bass family is one of my fave plot points in the show.

I wonder what Serena did on spring break that she hadn’t talked to Blair.

This is why women say men are the worst, so Chuck and Nate get to be all offended by the mere sight of Blair, as if she was the only one in the wrong here. 

Poor Blair, yoghurt is so sticky. Also I’m not a fan of Nate here, he finds it funny and then he’s al concerned about Jenny’s tender nature. As if.

Nice and neutral would never work for Blair the same way it works for Serena, even if she wanted to. 

The way Jenny came up with a plot against Blair on the spot just to avoid an expensive dinner, like wow.

“Don’t put your dirty package on the table, If i had a dime for everytime i heard that” Same Erick, same. 

Gotta love Blair and that hostess

Getting Blair to wait alone at Butler, that was brilliant Jenny, taking that dress.. not so much. She may be really smart and devious, but she still has a lot to learn.

Bart really was such a lousy dad, which in turns makes Chuck even more jaded and like to do worst, such a vicious cycle.

15000, for a custom made Valentino, auch Jenny.

Rufus is so naive here, but then again he doesn’t know Blair. Yet what she tells him about the struggle ain’t wrong. 

Wow she stole the same dress twice. I guess Little J no more. 

So Serena is annoyed by Chuck not only by his little pranks, but because he’s nice towards her mother and brother, that actually makes more sense in a way.

Also I love Lily’s line: “Chuck might be excentric but he’s not diabolical” it’s funny and also a bit telling of why Chuck actually likes her.

That was brilliant Blair, that Jenny cake is quite the thing. Also what the hell is she wearing.

Is ain’t wrong Rufus is kind of a hotty... for a dad. 

Even though she’s being talking about the same thing non stop, it’s funny to watch Dan complain about Serena talking to much, when he suffers from verbal diarrhea half the time, but who am I to judge

Blair really is in her bitch element here.

Jenny’s argument with her dad was so real, because both on them are right in some way. It ain’t easy. And once has to be either very mature or antisocial for it not to bother you.

I’ve said it before but I love Eric and his sense of humor, and he has some of the most underrated lines on this show, even deep and hard stuff is funny

It’s awful and yet I love that sweater with the dolphins Chuck’s wearing. I also would like to know why is so easy to feel bad for Chuck Bass.

Dan’s also super critical of his dad, and I’m like is there someone out there this guy doesn’t judge?

This is one of those times I wish I didn’t know what was coming, because I still remember how curious I was to see Jenny’s plan towards Nate.

Eric is quite loyal, being mad at Serena because she drove Bart to kick out Chuck.

Well played Jenny, well played, that last look she gaves Blair is sooo good, it’s the moment when Blair really realizes how worthy of an adversary Jenny is.

I love the ending of this episode, is one of my faves. It ends with an unlikely victory for Jenny, a tad of mistery, and a great song.

For real, I love “Sour Cherry” by The Kills.

When I think about my favorite episodes in S1 this one normally doesn’t came up, but I think it should. Is a really good one. Jenny’s the star of this episode and weirdly I don’t mind. I love her dynamic with Blair, especially in the first two seasons and this is the episode when it really takes off. This episode is also the start of the Van der Bass family which I also love for many reasons.

So Jenny and Blair, at the time of this episode this was one of Blair’s lowest points, she lost her Queen B title and not only that but she’s shunned out by everyone, even getting yoghurt dropped on her head, what a change. She says at the start of the episode that she’s in mourning of her old life, and while it was meant to be just a display of her dramatic personality, this is really the end of her old life, the Blair we met in the pilot had a completely different future ahead of her, pristine reputation, not as single crack in her pefect image, with a blue blooded boyfriend and a place at the top of the hierarchy, that Blair never came back entirely, and that’s good. Obviously it will take her the rest of the show to grow up and mature, but I like seeing her fight for what she wants in a way that lets her devious brain shine, and she got quite the adversary.

Jenny is in many ways the perfect rival for Blair. In theory Jenny shouldn’t be a formidable oponent in the way she is, she has no connections, no name, no money, and yet she plays the game almost better than anyone, she’s smart, ambitious an cunning, which are traits she shares with Blair. She’s also a hardworker and willing to do what it takes to get what she wants. This episode she shows how brilliant she because it was almost impossible to bounce back from getting caught with that dress she stole, and one can tell Blair thought that was a sound victory and she can’t quite believe when Jenny shows up with Nate and has claimed back her spot. It was great to see, and I some ways even I love Blair I find myself rooting for Jenny, she’s that good.

HonestlyJenny can give Blair a run for her money and yet I’m not sure she entirely realizes it, because Jenny is fighting against Blair’s shadow in her mind, she can win battles but I get the feeling she doesn’t believe she can win the war. In part because she still has a lot to learn, but in some ways I think Jenny feelsi at disadvantage againgst Blair in a similar way Blair feels toward Serena: a rival that is ahead on the race just by virtue of who she is, with envy and admiration in equal parts.To me their dynamic is interesting through the whole show because Blair even if the doesn’t want to admit it fears Jenny too, a new younger queen in the making, with the ability to knock her dow even it seems unlikely, it’s a tale as old as time, a bit like Queen Elizabeth the first and Mary Queen of Scots. And this is just the first episode of this battle,I really love this part of the show.

The other big plot this episode is the merging of the Van der Woodsen and the Basses which is great because we get to see more of these two broken families and learn more about them. Serena is obviously not happy about this,particularly the part about living with Chuck; at this point we know they were all friends before, but I got the impression out of the group they liked each other the less, with a poor opinion of each other. Their behavior throught the whole season reinforces that and honestly through the season Chuck has not given her even one small reason for her to like him, and I feel part of the reason Chuck was so eager to plot against Serena with Blair was because he got a first row sit to the mess she left when she run for boarding school, with a heartbroken Nate and a devasted Blair. And yet while Serena constantly sees the worst ih him, he’s actually trying for once, as hard to believe as that is for her.

If this episode made one thing obvious is how much Chuck always wanted to have a family, he’s genuine in his compliments to Lily as extravagant as they may seemed and he’s really good with Eric too, they took really quick to each other because they have felt inadequate at some point or another, he eventuanlly makes the effor with Serena too, as Eric explains to her when he gives her a message from him (which backfires, but no the point) and for all his bad qualities Chuck can be a very non-judgemental person when he wants it, this episode for instance Serena gets him kicked out of the penthouse and yet as soon as she apologizes and ask for his help he let’s it go. Because as we see his relationship with Bart is awful, his father always expects and believes the worst of him, and even when he’s nice it ends up being not genuine, and so for the first time via the Van der Woodsens he has the oportunity to get a family life that it’s more than that. 

At his core Chuck is a lonely person, which is part of the reason he latches so easily to Van der Woodsens here, sure he had Nate but that was it, and Nate as good hearted as he is not the most reliable person, it’s quite noticeable this episode, aside his new found relationship with the Van der Woodsens, since Nate has dropped their friendship he’s basically on his own in every scene this episode, even more son than Blair who was Serena, even if Serena is flighty and always gets caught up in something, and sure enought the episode ends up with the mistery of who is “G”, which was intriguing the first watch because imagine a person that gets even Chuck Bass like oh no! But that’s for next episode. 

Randoms bits I’ve noticed

The timing of this episode is sort of weird. Last episode seemed like it was the end of January or something like that, and now this one is  after spring break, and since thanks to gossip girl wikia, we know Jenny’s birthday is on March 30th, and Serena says to Blair about her “3 week old scandal” and I’m like, I mean it’s possible, but then the first to episodes after the holidays had to be like really way too long after the holidays, and that doesn’t makes much sense either.

We also got a new location for the school, I sort of like the other one better. 

When the girls throw yoghurt on Blair’s head, all the yoghurt cups are turne upside down. 

At the top of the piano there’s a picture of Chuck as a little kid (which is actually Ed), guess Bart wanted to a least gave the impression he care. I do love the fact the show asked the actors for photos of themselves when they were kids. The ones on top of the piano at the Waldorfs are pics of Leighton as a kid.

Feel like saying it againg, but  this was such a good ending:

[hannahmcne]

Don’t You Leave

It was awful. Horrible. Excruciating. Hands-down the worst experience of his life, and he still couldn't bring himself to say it was a mistake.

Her screams were echoing in his ears and overlapping with the echoes of the last screams that still hadn't faded and Ben felt like screaming himself because everything about this situation was wrong.

She hadn't cried with Zach. Grit her teeth, yeah. Gasped in pain a couple of times, of course. She had definitely snapped at him about how 'We are never doing this again' and 'this is all your fault', but her voice had been level and she had been in control and there had been no screaming. Now, she couldn't stop.

And there was so much blood.

"Something is ruptured," The doctor shook his head. "This isn't normal. She needs an emergency interveinal." And Ben could agree because, yeah, this wasn't anything like his first son. Mal had never needed a doctor with their first son. He'd begged her to let him call one but she'd rolled her eyes and said she'd rather not and so he'd kept the number to the hospital open on his phone so he could call them with a single tap and then just held her hand while they waited. Now, for the first time in her life, Mal had requested a doctor. Because something was wrong. This wasn't normal.

He wiped her forehead with a cool cloth as he listened to the doctors and nurses debate back and forth, wondering if she could hear them over her own screams. Every scream was like a nail being shoved into his skin. And then removed slowly, millimeter by millimeter. She'd never screamed before. Not once. And now her voice was going hoarse with every breath and every pain wave.

"I can't even tell how close she is! There's too much blood!" A nurse declared, and Ben squeezed his eyes shut and leaned down to kiss Mal's forehead, squeeze her hand a little tighter than she was squeezing his.

"We'll get through this," He whispered. "You're going to be alright."

It was the first time he'd ever had to assure her of that.

_______________________________________________________________

The first time it came up, it wasn't their anniversary party – it was Jay and Lonnie's. Their first one. An important one. The party was loud. People were celebrating. People who knew Lonnie from swords and shields and Jay from tourney. Jay was challenging Lonnie and the two were playing darts with Lonnie swaying from the two drinks she'd had while Jay smirked as he raised a sixth to his mouth.

Evie was outside, trying to quell her crying two-year-old when Mal stomped back over and dropped into Ben's side, shifting the entire couch in her direction before she let out a dramatic sigh.

Jane, Doug, and Ben all laughed. "What Auradon thing are you cursing now?" Jane asked, reaching over and pulling on the edge of Mal's sleeve, which was decorated with lots of long, black fringe.

"Children!" Mal snapped. "Ugh! They're revolting!"

The three laughed again because they all knew Mal secretly loved Evie's little boy. Maybe not as much as she loved his mother's face when she'd drop him off covered in mud, but he was still okay in her book because he was Evie's and Evie loved him. So Mal loved him through extension of Evie and also through the extension of Ben and Carlos, who adored their nephew equally. However, their laughter quickly fizzled out as Mal continued her rant.

"They're so small you trip over them and they smell like public restrooms and when they want your attention they yank on your clothes and – ugh!" Mal pressed the base of her palms into her eyes in frustration. "Who even thought of children? Who even wants children? Sticky hands and then they get hyper and they scream and cry and you have to teach them how to reuse the bathroom every other minute…"

Doug closed his mouth and turned his head to the side, examining her. Jane's smile dropped and she turned her head to see how Doug and Ben were reacting to this. Ben put an elbow up on the back of the couch and covered his mouth with his hand as he watched Mal – who he'd been married to for almost four years – complain.

"And then you have to argue with them to get them to eat and buckle up and go where you need them to go… they're just so frustrating! I don't understand why anyone would want children!" Mal finally finished her spiel and dropped her hands onto her legs in frustration, staring blankly at the wall ahead of her.

"Hmm," Ben acknowledged her points wordlessly. The half of his face that was uncovered barely showed any emotion, but something about his tone made Mal turn. She took in his face, the slouch of his spine, his elbow up over the back of the couch, and the way he was examining her, and her shoulders dropped.

"No," She told him.

"No?" Doug asked.

"No," Mal shook his head. "No, Ben, don't tell me…"

Ben dropped his hand and removed his arm, straightening out his button-down shirt as he looked away with the tiniest hint of amusement over to where Carlos was dangling a dog toy over Dude's head while Jay's friends laughed. "Actually, I want children," He told her, only half facing her before he crossed his arms and tilted his head to watch her expression out of the corner of his eye.

"No!" Mal moaned, shoulders slumped as she looked at him. Her expression was reminiscent of someone who had just watched a kitten die. She was acting as if he had decided to reenact the Isle of the Lost so he could send her back. "Why? They're not fun!"

"Ah-huh," Ben nodded, not protesting in the slightest.

"Ben, they're messy and irritable and they wake you up in the middle of the night to climb into your bed. They leave toys everywhere and they haul stuff out and leave it…" She pressed her fingertips to her forehead. "Why would you want children?"

"Yes," Ben agreed simply, as if she wasn't protesting a dream of his. Mal's shoulders sank lower. He looked at her, tracing her features, and a smile slid across his mouth. "They'd probably have your hair and your pout, and you'd give in every time they asked for candy because the secret would be you try and steal some just as much as they would. You'd go absolutely insane if they had either your magic or my big words, and you'd hate when they cried and you'd scream at everyone after they kept you up. And if they sing in the shower like you do when they get older, you'll plug your ears every time."

Mal sank further into the couch, groaning. Doug and Jane exchanged an impressed look. Everyone knew Mal had Ben wrapped around her little finger, but it wasn't often they stopped to consider that it was the exact same thing the other way around.

"But," Ben sighed, looking away from Mal with a smirk as he popped the first button on his shirt open and leaned back, "I'd probably have to remind you of all that. I mean, I always have to remind you of the things you don't like about me. I bet that you'd be the kind of person to cry the first time you hear them call you mom."

Mal wrinkled her lips up like she'd been given something that was exceptionally sour. She crossed her arms and sank so far into the couch that the cushions tickled her cheeks when she huffed. "I hate you," she scowled.

Ben snorted and picked up her hand to squeeze it. "Sure," he agreed, and somehow that was a victory.

_______________________________________________________________

It wasn't now. Now the sounds of her screams were hammering in his ears and his skin had turned to spiders that walked on little pins they were driving into his flesh. He leaned towards her, squeezing her hand even tighter while the doctors worked frantically.

They were bringing out a heart monitor and a scalpel. An IV with painkillers. They were asking him if he wanted to leave. Mal looked up, terrified. No, no.

He kissed her knuckles and didn't budge.

_______________________________________________________________

Ben pretended to be listening as he glanced behind Chad's head at the clock on the wall. Forty seconds. Forty seconds and then he could snap his binder closed and call the meeting to a halt until tomorrow.

"This system could put more raw lumber into Dun Broch, yes, but we also have to consider Oceania's forests are already unhealthy from the ocean wall they had," Chad explained. "I think we should continue pulling from Charmington for another two years while we finish healing that ecosystem. After that, we can begin restoration there."

"And go back and forth?" Tiancum asked. "I think it'd be better to begin pulling from Oceania now and then ease the burden on Charmington so we can have both restoration processes going at the same time."

Melody shook her head. "I don't think there's enough land for both the loggers and the conservation efforts to coincide." She looked down the table to Ben. "King Ben, what do you think?"

Ben hummed, drummed his fingers on the table, and then watched the hour hand of the clock shift to five. "I think," he sighed, leaning forward and not bothering to hide the smile that crossed his face, "That it's five o'clock and time for you all to go home. I'll look at whatever we did last time this was an issue and get back to you all tomorrow."

Everyone simultaneously turned to look at the clock and sighed in exasperation, relief, and exhaustion. Only Melody wrinkled her nose. "I see," she began flatly. "And so we're going to push this issue back to the end of our meeting tomorrow?"

"No, it'll be addressed right after the opening remarks," Ben decided, pushing his chair back. "But right now, it is five o'clock, and all of you are released. I am officially out of office." He waved. "Goodbye."

Audrey snorted. She was sat to Ben's immediate left, in the place the queen would be if she were sitting in on this meeting. "Someone's eager to get out," she commented. "Hot date tonight?"

"Nope," Ben shook his head with a bright smile. "I'm just looking forward to family time. Just me, my son, and my sunshine."

"Ah, I see," Audrey chuckled. "Because 'sun' and 'son' sound similar. Aren't you clever?"

The doors opened. People began to leave, chattering amicably about plans for the weekend and their recent lives. Someone yelped in surprise as someone pushed past them, rushing into the room. It was a person about three feet tall with sandy blonde hair, who giggled as he dashed around the table. Ben faked a gasp of shock and put his hands down to sweep the child off the floor and into his arms. "Ah! It's a monster!" He yelled as he pinned the child's arms to his sides and danced his fingers up and down his belly.

"No it's not!" the boy yelled as he laughed and writhed in Ben's arms. "It's me, dad!"

"Ah, I see," Ben nodded. "It's a Zach Monster!" He continued mercilessly tickling the child as the last few remaining advisors rolled their eyes and looked on with amused smiles. Zach managed to catch his father's face in between his hands and then sat on his legs to squish Ben's face. Ben complied, pursing his lips into a fish face that Zach immediately tried to mimic. He and Audrey both began to laugh as they watched Zach try to make his lips look the way Ben had.

"How much do I love you?" Ben asked Zach, and Zach flung his arms out on both sides.

"This much!" He whispered, like it was a secret between him and Ben.

"Nope, more than that!" Ben laughed and caught a glimpse of purple in the side of his vision. His smile broadened even more. "You know, dad loves you a lot, but there's one person he loves a lot more. Do you know who?"

"Me!" Zach whispered.

"Nope!" Ben shook his head and turned his son around to point at the person in the now-empty doorway. "Who's that?"

"Mommy!" Zach exclaimed, waving as Mal blushed, chuckled, and then made her way over to stand with a hand on Ben's chair as Zach squished Ben's face up to see the fish face again.

"Hello, beautiful," Ben paused long enough to stick his tongue out at Zach. "How was your day?"

"Busy," Mal shrugged with a little smile. "This one keeps me on my toes." She brushed off something on Zach's sleeve with a sigh. "He's got enough energy for the both of us."

"Did you wear mom out?" Ben asked Zach seriously. The little boy broke off into giggles and curled into his chest. Ben kissed the top of his head and squeezed him tightly in response.

Mal's hand moved from the back of the chair to Ben's shoulder. He glanced up at her as she nodded down at Zach. "How does another one of him sound?" she mumbled.

Audrey's eyes went a little wide as she glanced over to see Ben tilt his head, processing. "Eventually?" he asked. "Or nine months from now?"

"Eight, actually," Mal corrected softly. "But getting close to seven."

Ben looked down as Zach as Zach looked up and put his hands softly to Ben's cheeks. Ben's face broke out into an even wider grin. "Okay," he nodded and laughed. "Alright."

_______________________________________________________________

They never ended up getting the IV into her. Or the scalpel. Because about twenty seconds after the heart monitor was hooked up, The baby's head managed to turn enough for one of the nurses to use her hands to literally reach into Mal and help him get unstuck. Ben could tell the pain was blinding, but then one arm and one leg came out, and then-

There was a very loud, shrill noise coming from his right. Mal had stopped screaming. Or maybe he'd gone deaf and that was what the ringing was. He glanced over – what was that sound?

The heart monitor was screaming at them. The line across it was flat.

Ben reached forward and cupped Mal's cheek in his hand. He expected her to look up at him, but her head lolled. And it was then that Ben realized the doctors were all rushing around, shouting. From the emergency equipment that had come with them came a pair of defibrillators. He was wrenched back and made to stand by the door. One of the nurses hurried by and pressed the newborn into his hands before returning to the bedside to try and revive his mother.

A boy. It was a boy. But Ben could hardly see anything through the shock.

What had happened? What was happening?

It seemed like eternities of noise and rush before everything stopped. The doctor flipped off the monitor and turned around to stare at him forlornly. And that was when the reality began to crash down on Ben.

"I'm sorry, your majesty," he whispered. "The pain was just… too much for her."

What? For Mal? Powerful Mal? Fae Mal?

Ben handed the baby, who he hadn't even taken a proper look at yet, back to the nurse. "Please," He mumbled. "Clean him off."

The other nurse, whose eyes were brimming with tears as she hobbled to the door, didn't say a word to him. He heard the door unlock before she squealed: "She's gone!" to the whole world.

The doctor pulled a sheet over Mal's body. The sweat across her brow had frozen.

Ben stumbled back to her side, where he'd spent ages trying to support her, and squeezed her cold, increasingly hard hand. Oh gods, she couldn't be dead. How could she be dead? How had this happened?

He could hear his mother crying out in the hall. What was he going to tell Zach? How was he going to get on without his fairy? What was he going to do?

"Your majesty," the nurse who'd taken the new baby mumbled. She passed him the child back, cleaned off, and Ben felt tears coming on as he looked down and realized the child had a head full of purple hair. Her hair.

"Time of death," the doctor began to say, but Ben cut him off.

"Everyone out, please," he commanded. He rose to his feet and began to escort everyone to the door. "Out, now," he called.

His mother was hovering in the doorway, trying to see her daughter-in-law. Ben handed her the new baby, who was still sniffling, and guided her back out. "I need some time alone with her," he told everyone.

Zach was waiting behind his grandfather, glancing around cautiously as nurses and grandma all began to cry. "Mom?" He called, craning his head into the room. "Mom?"

Ben turned him back around gently and shut the door. He locked it for good measure.

Everything felt so empty. Their room, their space, their lives had been violated. Ben tripped over the sheets which had been stripped from the bed earlier and then gathered them up. He could hardly bear to see them. He kicked the door to the bathroom open and dumped everything into the tub before returning to the bedroom and doing the same with anything else he could find. Even the scalpel was dumped into the sink and the IV pushed behind the door before Ben shut the door tightly on anything hospital and returned to his seat beside the bed.

He pushed the chair right up against Mal's bedside.

He pulled the sheet down that was covering her grey face and cool flesh.

When he took her hand to cup it tightly, it was hard and not warm or soft at all. Tears did brim in his eyes then as his stomach turned. They burned his cheeks as he bowed his head and began to sob over her. Sobbing for lost memories and all their hard work and the fact he didn't have another half anymore.

His fingertips ached towards the switch of the heart monitor, which had been left untouched in his rampage. He flipped it on and listened to the soft whining.

Then, he removed his coat and set it over the back of the chair. He rolled up his white sleeves up to his elbows and squeezed Mal's hand even tighter. Then, the words started spilling out of his throat before he could stop them. "I know you're still here," he snapped. And as he spoke, they were true. He could feel the magic in her presence. He could still feel her love.

"I know you wouldn't have left me that fast. Because you love me too much. You wouldn't have died without me."

Ben hiccupped and scrubbed at his eyes before reaching for her other hand too.

"I still need you," he announced. "You promised you would be here. From those first moments we were together until the last time we fall asleep together, you promised you would be here. And I, Mal Bertha, am holding you to that promise."

Mal remained still. Nothing moved. Still, he set his jaw and kept talking.

"How am I supposed to raise them without you, Mal?" he asked. "How could I ever be King without you as my Queen? How am I ever going to love anything ever again?" He let go of her hands and cupped her cheeks. "Don't you remember me? Don't you remember everything we've done. No one has ever fought for you like I have. We have something. We're real. I know these last months have been purgatory for you. I know there were moments you wished you could go back to the Isle instead. You know I wished it could be me instead. For whatever the weight of these words are, I will gladly pay three times my punishment for this ordeal if you'll just come back to me."

He was pleading with a body. The dead body of his marvelous wife. But it wasn't as if he had any other options left. "Faeries don't break promises," he whispered to her. "I know it's been hard and I know you've been hurt. But you promised me, Mal. Please, don't leave me." Then, with every ounce of strength he could conjure behind his words, he made his final imploration. "I'm begging you."

Nothing happened, which was a bit insulting because Ben had always heard that there was power in the begging of a king. His words must already be true – he was no king without a queen. Tears clouded his vision again and he collapsed onto Mal's chest, sobbing uncontrollably. She was gone, she was gone, she was gone.

He was crying so hard that he almost missed the first beep. It caught him so off guard that he sat, gasping for breath, before the second one reached his ears. Then, he jumped back up.

The heart monitor had come back to life and, while it had started out slow, was beginning to pick up a steady rhythm. Ben stared down at Mal as her cheeks began to take color again and she took a long, deep breath. How? How could this be? Already, she'd been gone for almost twenty minutes.

Ben leaned forward and cupped her cheeks. Her eyes fluttered open and she gasped for breath. He kept his hands on her face, combing through her hair with his fingertips, as her eyes sought out something to focus on. What they found him, he watched her mouth fall slack with shock.

"How did you do that?" she mumbled.

Ben just cupped her cheek and began to cry again as he sobbed in relief. "Let's call it True Love's Fatal Fight," he suggested, then practically threw himself into her embrace. Shaky hands tangled into his hair and traced down his back as he cried himself to pieces atop her. He should be comforting her right now, but he couldn't get over the fact he'd almost lost her, and then she'd come back.

"It's okay now," she mumbled in his ear. "I… can't believe that happened."

"Don't you leave me," Ben hiccupped, scrubbing at his eyes. "Don't you dare do that again."

"Ben?" Mal gasped and then tried to sit up, looking frantically around the room. "The baby. Where are they? Are they-" she broke off with tears of her own forming.

"No, no," Ben shook his head and squeezed her hands. "They're outside. A boy. Mom has him." He kissed both of her cheeks. "Do you – I mean – do you want to see him?"

Mal relaxed, giving his hands a last squeeze, and nodded. "Okay," she mumbled softly.

It took a lot of courage to pry himself off of her and to detach himself from her side, but he managed to struggle away and stumble to the door before unlocking it and revealing the scene behind the door.

Evie, Jay, Carlos, and Hades had all arrived. They were slumped in a huddle with Belle and Adam. Evie was holding onto Zach, who looked bewildered but very solemn as everyone around him cried. Everyone else was huddled over Belle's shoulder, crying over the new baby.

It had been a very long eight months and now, to them, they'd lost one of the closest members of their family.

"Ben," Hades murmured upon seeing him appear in the doorway. "Ben. Are you alright?"

The question was said with some hesitation, as if his father-in-law was aware of how ridiculous the question was. Ben didn't respond. He only held out his hand at a child's level and cleared his throat. "Zach?" He called. "Do you want to come see Mom?"

Evie gave him a look that said, quite clearly, "Are you insane?"

Zach wrestled out of her stunned grip and hurried into the room. Ben stepped forward to take the baby from Belle. "Sorry," he mumbled. "She wants to see him now."

"What?" Jay demanded in a bewildered tone. Ben ignored them all and re-entered the room. Zach had climbed up on the bed beside his mom, ignoring all the sweat and filth covering her. Mal was hugging him tightly, kissing his forehead and petting her hands down his back. When she saw Ben with the Newborn, she outstretched a hand but kept Zach pinned tightly to her other side. Ben nestled the new boy into her other arm, pressed up against her ribs, and watched the newborn stop crying at her familiar heartbeat. Zach glanced curiously at the new baby while Ben laid down beside Mal and curled into her side, emotionally exhausted. Mal seemed beyond happy and content now that all three of her boys were nestled against her skin.

Everyone followed him in. He heard delighted and bewildered and shocked gasps as the family crowded in. The heart monitor was still beeping along silently. Ben couldn't be bothered to explain anything to anyone or flip off the machine as he wrapped his arms around every member of his tiny family and began kissing Mal's cheek intermittently.

"You're alive!" Belle exclaimed as Hades stepped to the side of the bed opposite Ben and ran his thumb down his daughter's cheek to wipe away tears. "We thought – the maid told us you had flatlined."

Mal blushed and briefly unwrapped one of her arms to catch her tears before they could drop onto either Zach or the newborn. "I did," she affirmed. "It was really weird. One moment there was a lot of pain and then the next I was walking around my bed trying to figure out what had happened."

"You died," Hades muttered, swallowing. "I felt it. But you didn't leave or anything."

"I was starting to," Mal blushed. "But Ben threw everyone out and, well, brought me back."

At this, Ben turned his face further into her shoulder. He didn't want to think about it right now. His reluctance to speak didn't stop everyone else(especially his father-in-law) from wanting answers.

"What? How?"

"He brought you back?"

Mal shifted her hand to comb through Ben's hair. "I think it was a lot of things," she mumbled. "But the last thing was when he asked me to come back. I just… melted straight back into my body."

"He asked you to come back and so you jumped back into your body?"

"He also said I'd promised him and I couldn't break that promise because I'm-"

"Mal," Ben cut her off by mumbling her name into her neck. "Don't tell them."

"Why not?" Adam demanded, miffed. But Mal nodded.

"You're right," she mumbled, leaning her head onto Ben's. "It's our story. Ours."

"Please," Ben looked up then and skimmed his eyes around the group. "Can you leave us for a while? We've been through a lot. One of us just died." He nuzzled closer to Mal's neck. "We'll come out in a while. Just let our family be alone for a while."

Belle was the first person to comply and move back to the door. Mal started kissing Zach's and the new baby's heads, occasionally reaching up to touch Ben's face and neck. Hades was the last person to leave. He hesitated, examining Ben with a newfound respect. Ben had always sensed a little… distance in between him and Hades but couldn't feel any of that now. Apparently straying through the rules regarding the realm of death – Hades's Realm – was enough to finally earn equal standing with Mal's dad.

The door shut softly. Zach twisted and put his arms around Mal's neck. Her skin was still sticky with sweat, but none of the three people piled on her minded. "Mommy?' he mumbled. "Did you go away?'

"Only for a little while," Mal whispered. "But it's okay. I'm back now and Daddy and I are going to stay together with you boys."

Zach nodded and set the side of his head against her collarbone. The new baby let out a sigh, yawned, and closed their eyes to fall asleep on her. Ben moved his arms to better hug all three people, kissed Mal's head, and closed his eyes again. "You promise you aren't going anywhere?" He mumbled against her skin.

"I promise," she replied.

"Good," he whispered. "I love you."

"I love you too."