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mostlysignssomeportents · 27 days ago

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#RedForEd rides again in LA

I'm on a 20+ city book tour for my new novel PICKS AND SHOVELS. Catch me in CHICAGO with PETER SAGAL on WEDNESDAY (Apr 2), and in BLOOMINGTON on FRIDAY (Apr 4). More tour dates here.

The LA Teachers' Union is going on strike.

Fuck.

Yes.

The last time the LA teachers struck was in the midst of the 2019 #RedForEd wave, which kicked off during the last Trump presidency. All across the country, teachers walked out – even in states where they were legally prohibited from doing so. These strikes were hugely successful, because communities across the nation rallied around their teachers, and the teachers returned the favor, making community justice part of their goals.

This was true across America, but it was especially true in Los Angeles, where the teachers were militant, united, relentless, and brilliant. The story of the 2019 LA Teachers' Strike is recounted in Jane McAlevey's essential 2021 book A Collective Bargain, which recounts her history as a union organizer on multiple successful unionization drives and strikes, including that fateful teachers' strike:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/23/a-collective-bargain/

McAlevey learned her tactics from a lineage of organizers who predated the legalization of unions and the National Labor Relations Act. Accordingly, her organizing method didn't rely on bosses obeying the law, or governments sticking up for workers. She fought for victories that were won by pure worker power. The 2019 LA teachers' strike is a fantastic example, a literal textbook case about rallying support from the entire shop – including affiliated workers, like bus-drivers – and then broadening that massive support by bringing in related trades (the LA charter school teachers walked out with their public school comrades), and the community.

The LA teachers' community organizing was incredible. They worked with community groups to understand what LA families really needed, and made those families' demands into union demands. The LA teachers' demands included:

in-school social workers;

parks and green-spaces in or near every LA public school; and

a total ban on ICE agents shaking down parents at the school gates.

Environmental justice, immigration justice, racial justice – these issues were every bit as important to the LA teachers in 2019 as wages, working conditions and vacation pay. And. They. WON.

Not only did the LA teachers win everything they struck for, they built an enduring community organization that ran a massive get out of the vote effort for the 2020 elections and flipped two seats for Democrats, securing Biden's Congressional majority.

So now the teachers are walking out again, and while their demands include wage increases (the greedinflation crisis wiped out many of the gains won in the 2019 strike – though imagine how much worse things would be without those gains!), the demands also include a slate of bold, no-fucks-given, material measures to fight back agains the Trump administration and its fascism:

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-03-26/l-a-teachers-union-pursues-salary-hike-progressive-goals-amid-trump-agenda

This time around, the LA teachers are demanding:

"targeted investment in the recruitment and retention of BIPOC, multilingual and immigrant educators and service providers" – that's right, the DEI stuff that makes Trump's incipient aneurysm throb visibly in his temple (keep throbbing, li'l guy, I believe in you!).

"support for, defense and expansion of the school district’s Black Student Achievement Plan and Ethnic Studies" – the same programs that make wrestling faildaughter Linda McMahon get the fantods.

“strengthened policies to support LGBTQIA+ students, educators and staff” – take that, Elon.

"increased support for immigrant students and families, with and without documentation, including support for newcomers" – up yours, Stephen Miller, you pencilneck Hitler wannabe.

Where'd all these demands come from? 665 meetings that solicited input from "students, parents and other community members." In other words, these are our demands – the demands of Angelenos.

Trump is a scab. Musk is a scab. They hate unions. They've put the National Labor Relations Board into a coma, illegally firing a board member so that the board no longer has a quorum and can no longer take most actions. But the tactics the LA teachers used to organize their victory under the last Trump regime didn't rely on the NLRB – it relied on worker power. That power is only stronger today. The NLRB exists because workers built power when unions were illegal. Killing the NLRB doesn't kill worker power. Worker power comes from workers, not the government:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/29/which-side-are-you-on-2/#strike-three-yer-out

Now that Trump has canceled labor laws, all bets are off. Trump is illegally breaking the contracts of federal workers, as a prelude to eliminating unions nationwide. As Hamilton Nolan writes, this is the time to take a stand:

It is unreasonable to run around demanding a general strike every time a single union gets in a hard fight. It is not unreasonable to demand a general strike when the very existence of unions is under direct attack by a government that cares nothing about us, and does not respect our contracts, and is attempting to throw in the trash the union contracts covering hundreds of thousands of our fellow union members, as a step towards doing the same thing to millions more of our fellow union members. This is the bombing of Pearl Harbor, against the labor movement. Will we say, “We are filing a lawsuit against this illegal bombing, and we will keep you all updated as it progresses?” Will we say, “Pearl Harbor is way out in Hawaii. I’m glad those bombs didn’t fall where I live.” These are the terms that the union world needs to be thinking in, right now. This is not an exaggeration. If we do not go to war, the husk of American unions that emerges at the end of the Trump administration will be, probably, about half as big as it was when the Trump administration started, and immeasurably weaker. That is not an acceptable outcome if you believe that increasing organized labor’s strength is the key to saving this country, which it is.

https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/they-are-going-to-take-everything

McAlevey – who died in 2024 – agreed with Nolan. She wrote vibrantly about how union organizing, and the solidarity it nurtures, was the key to a revitalized democracy and a nation that truly takes care of its people, rather than lining them up in billionaires' feedlots.

I gotta go. I'm on my way to a Tesla protest. Maybe you could find one near you to join, too:

https://actionnetwork.org/event_campaigns/teslatakedown

But if I don't see you at this one, I'll see you on the picket line – with the LA teachers, the federal workers, and everyone else who's taking a stand against this scab presidency.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/03/29/jane-mcalevey/#trump-is-a-scab

#pluralistic #la teachers unions #redfored #jane mcalevey #labor #nlrb #trumpism #unions #hamilton nolan

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callsign-dexter · 10 months ago

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Family Under Fire

Request: Tim’s daughter works a part time job (yknow like to earn a little extra money while in high school) and while she’s working one day someone attempts to rob the place…And Tim and Lucy are the closest to the robbery and Tim recognises the name of the shop way too quickly

Pairings: Tim Bradford x Daughter!Reader

Warnings: fluff, angst, cussing, inaccurate police talk, inaccurate hospital talk, robbery, guns, blood, caring Tim Bradford, Dad!Tim Bradford

Masterlist

A/N: Thank you @justabigassnerd for requesting it and also this is payback for sending angst TikTok videos.

Summer. You always liked summer but it could become unbearable in Los Angeles but it was 2 months away from school work, which you did not miss. You were 18 which meant that you were in the last of high school and you couldn’t be more excited. Sure, you loved seeing your friends and most teachers but you could care less for the cliques, bullies, jocks, etc. During the summer you had gotten a part time job at Cozy Corner Café, a cute little place for people to hang out, meet up with friends, do school work, eat, and drink. Everyone there was so nice and it was refreshing. It was a fairly big café and it did really well so well it became popular fast. The café also was a 24-hour café which meant that sometimes you worked well into the night, that part sucked but it paid well and you loved it so you stuck with it. You had your driver’s license which helped with giving you freedom during the summer. You drove a Ford Bronco but recently it was acting up and when you told your father, Tim Bradford, about it the night before he said to bring it down to the station and he would trade vehicles out with you and he would get it looked at either have the mechanics at work look at it or take it down to a mechanic shop after work and get a ride from someone.

Monday morning rolled around and your alarm clock started to go off abruptly waking you up with a groan. You opened your eyes and turned it off and looked at the time which was 7:00 AM. It was the first official day of summer break and the first day of work for you. You sighed and rolled out of bed and walked into the bathroom while grabbing a towel from the hall closest, you needed a shower before you switched cars with your dad and headed off to work. You turned on the shower and got it to the right temperature before shedding your clothes and hopping into the warm water. The water cascaded over you, you quickly did what you needed and then turned off the shower and grabbed your towel drying off and then started to get dressed in jeans and your work shirt. You then brushed your teeth and brushed your hair leaving it to air dry. Once you were done there you grabbed your phone and shut the lights off and walked downstairs to drop your dirty clothes and towel in the washer. Kojo happily greeted you and you smiled petting the dog “Hey there boy. Are you gonna be good while we are gone?” You asked, smiling and not expecting a response but he barked and wagged his tail. “You’re always a good boy, aren’t you?” You asked and he barked and put a paw on your hand making you chuckle. You filled his food bowl and water bowl and then grabbed your backpack and keys. “I gotta get going. Be a good boy.” You said he barked again and then you were heading out of the house and to your Ford Bronco. You got in and put the key into the ignition and turned it “Come on please don’t do this now.” You said as it sputtered for a few seconds before turning over. “Thank you.” You said and then reversed and headed to the station. It didn’t take long before you got there and parked beside your dad’s truck and as soon as you did it died. “Right on time.” You said and got out grabbing your things and throwing on the jacket you would have throughout the night. You walked into the station and literally ran into Wesley Evers, aka your Godfather. “Oof.” You said stumbling back.

“Woah, are you ok?” He asked catching you before you fell backwards.

“I’m good. I promise.” You said looking up at him and then going to hug him.

“What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be getting to work?” He asked and you nodded as you pulled away from him. He knew you started work today because you had excitedly texted him and Angela about it.

“Yes, I left the house a little bit early to drop The Bronco off.” You said

“Is it acting up again?” He asked and you nodded.

“Yes unfortunately.” You replied

“Why don’t you trade it in and get a different vehicle?” He asked

“It’s my baby, I can’t just get rid of her.” You said and he shook his head.

“I get it. I get it.” He said smiling.

“Dad is letting me take his truck while he figures out what is going on with it.” You said and he nodded. “You know where he is so I don’t have to do a scavenger hunt for him?” You asked, chuckling and so did Wesely.

“Last I checked everyone was in the briefing room.” He said and you nodded.

“Hey, you should stop by later.” You said and he smiled.

“I will make sure to do that. I have to go but I will see you later Y/N.” He said and he hugged you again and kissed your head.

“Sounds good. Bye Wesely.” You said and he smiled and then you both started to walk your separate ways. You nodded and smiled at the front desk and they smiled back, everyone knew who you were so you got a free pass. You got on the elevator and pressed the button and when it dinged signaling that you were on your floor you got out and instantly spotted everyone in the briefing room it looked like they had just finished as you walked onto the floor. Angela was the first one to spot you and she smiled, which was rare for her, and nudged Tim who looked your way and smiled, something rare that only few people have seen. They both walked out.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” Angela asked walking up to you with Tim.

“I’m dropping The Bronco off for dad to get looked at and getting the keys to his truck.” You said and she smiled as you handed Tim your keys.

“Right, I’ll be right back. Let me go and get the keys.” He said and you nodded.

“Why don’t you trade it in and get a different vehicle?” She asked and you laughed.

“That is the same thing your husband said. I’ll tell you what I told him. It’s my baby, I can’t just get rid of her.” You said and she chuckled.

“I remember my first car. I had it until he upped and died on me on the interstate. Had to let it go then. It was truly a sad day.” She said

“Dad got me The Bronco when I got my permit when I was 15 ½. I learned everything in that car. I can’t let her go.” You said

“When do you start work?” She asked

“8. I left the house early to switch out vehicles with dad.” You said as Tim walked back up and held out the keys to you.

“Be careful and remember it is very sensitive with the gas and brakes.” He said and you nodded.

“I remember. Oh, and the engine died as soon as I parked it.” You said and he nodded.

“I’ll get Seth to look at it while we are gone.” He said

“Thank you.” You said and he smiled and hugged.

“You’re welcome. I’ll see you later. Call or text if something doesn’t sit right with you.” He said and you nodded.

“I will.” You said as Lucy came up.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” She asked with a smile.

“My car started to act up and dad said he would get it checked out so I’m switching vehicles with him.” You said and looked down at your watch and saw it was 7:20 AM. “I gotta go. I’ll see you guys later. I love you dad.” You said and he smiled.

“I love you too.” He said and hugged you and kissed your head and then you were heading to the elevators. When you got down to the main level you waved at the front desk and walked out of the building to your dad’s truck. You got in and put your stuff in the passenger side seat and turned the ignition. You reversed and headed to the café ready to start your long shift for the day/part of the night. When you reached the café, you parked in the back where the employees parked and killed the engine. As you were getting out, leaving your bag in the truck, your friend and coworker, Valencia, got out of her car as well.

“You’re in a different vehicle.” She said and you chuckled and smiled.

“Yea, The Bronco was acting up.” You said as you locked the truck and the both of you headed into the back.

“Oh man you love that thing.” She said and you nodded.

“I do and I’ll be heartbroken when it has to go.” You said as the both of you began putting your stuff in the lockers. “Damn, I left my bag in the truck. I’ll just get it later.” You said as Mark walked in overhearing the conversation.

“You sure? We still have some time before we start.” Mark said, your other friend said.

“Yea, I’m sure. I’ll get it on break.” You confirmed and they both nodded and the three of you clocked in and walked to the front and the shift began. The beginning of the shift nothing exciting happened and not a lot of people came in. Some college students came in to grab coffee and maybe something to eat and then they were on their way to class and then the customers died down. You spent the down time by cleaning up and making sure everything was stocked and swept while Remi, Amelia, and Carlyn came and greeted you three, they were also your friends.

“So, you have any plans for the days you’re not working?” Valencia asked and you shrugged as you wiped down the counter as she tended to the cash register along with Amelia.

“No, not really. Might take Kojo out for a run one day and work on some college applications.” You said shrugging.

“Are you really serious about getting into the police academy?” Remi asked as he restocked the higher up things.

“I am. My dad went through it and I love helping people so why not? It runs in our family.” You said not bothering to say anything about your mom since she wasn’t in your life for most of it.

“That would be so cool when you get in and graduate. You’re badass now but you’ll be even more badass.” Mark said, leaning against the counter. You rolled your eyes and smiled and then playfully shoved him off of it.

“Hey I just cleaned there.” You said and wiped the counter down again.

“He’s right, you know. Y/N Bradford certified Badass.” Amelia said and you rolled your eyes and shook your head.

“It is only the truth.” Carlyn said and everyone nodded and you blushed but smiled.

“Stop you guys.” You said as the door chimed and a flood of people came in and when you looked down at your watch you knew why, it was already noon and this was the lunch rush. Mark, Remi, and Valencia took to the cash registers and getting the food and you, Amelia, and Carlyn started to make the coffee and whatever drinks were ordered, you took this role because you were fast at it and everyone agreed. You three really worked in harmony and got people out quickly. Your boss said when you six were out of school and either going to college and needed work or just needed work in the summer you all had a job, you six were that good. Mark, Remi and Valencia were fast at making coffee too but you and Amelia were a tad faster but they could get the job done just as well and it tasted just as good. You had finished serving the last customer and they were out the door when you sighed in relief. “What a rush.” You said and the other two nodded.

“You got that right.” Mark said turning to you as did Valencia and now it was time to wait. While you waited you wiped down the equipment and cleaned it with the help from Mark. “What time is it?” He asked and you looked down at your watch.

“It is 2:00.” You said

“Damn time flies by when you’re having fun.” Valencia said and everyone chuckled. As the afternoon went on you served customers and talked. Around 5:00 PM the college crowd started to come in. Mark took the coffee making and you took one of the registers. You were taking orders when a familiar face popped and you smiled.

“Wesley! You came!” You exclaimed and he smiled and nodded.

“I sure did. This is actually one of my favorite spots to hang out and get coffee. I got excited when I knew you were starting to work here.” He said and the two of you talked and he gave you his order and he got it and went to sit down.

“Y/N take your break.” Mark said and you nodded and clocked out for your 15-minute break. Just as soon as your boss Jason Alderman walked in.

“Taking your break?” He asked and you smiled and nodded.

“Yes, Sir.” You said

“Good. Can’t have one of my best baristas breaking down on me.” He said and then walked to the front as you did and Mark handed you your favorite drink and food.

“You know me so well.” You said and he smiled.

“Of course I do. You’re my best friend.” He said and you rolled your eyes and went and sat down with Wesley while you texted your dad.

You: Hey, I’m on break and Wesley is here as well.

Tim: You two have fun. I love you

You: I love you too.

“So, how have things been with you?” You asked as you took a sip of coffee and looked up at Wesely.

“I’ve been good. A lot of cases have been happening.” He said

“How are you and Angela?” You asked

“Good. We’re good. Actually, we are trying for a baby.” He said and your eyes got wide.

“Seriously? That is amazing. I can already see a mini-Angela and Wesley running around.” You said and he chuckled.

“Yea, we are pretty excited about it too.” Wesley said

“Sir, I can’t do that.” You heard Amelia say which made you and Wesley look up and him over to the counter and the both of you froze. The man was tall and slim, he had light brown hair and from the looks of it brown eyes. You got up and made your way to the counter to protect your friend and coworker kicking in.

“Y/N no.” Wesley said but you ignored him.

“Is there a problem, Sir?” You asked

“Yes, there is, this little bitch won’t give me the money.” He said

“Sir, she cannot do that.” You said voice going into a commanding tone.

“I tried being nice but you made me do this.” He said and pulled out a gun and everything stopped.

“Give me the money now.” He growled out. Jason was quick to come out of the back.

“She is not going to do that.” He said and got in front of him and Amelia. As someone called 911.

“Fine.” He said and turned the gun on you and pulled the trigger. White hot pain is all you felt and then you were falling to your knees as someone was catching you and calling your name.

“Y/N!” Wesley said as he caught you and gently laid you down head in his lap as he applied pressure to the wound. It made you cry out. “It’s ok. I got you. Your dad is on the way.” He said.

“It hurts.” You said tears escaping your eyes.

“I know it does. Just hang on for me. Ok?” He asked and you nodded. There was commotion and Mark and Remi had tackled the man but not before more gunshots went off but thankfully nobody else was hurt as bad as you. They may have some scratches from glass and graze wounds but that is about it.

“Ok.” You said through gritted teeth. You just wanted your dad.

-----------------------------------------‐-------------

After you had left the station everyone else had gone and got ready and they started to do the same and as they were at war bag station and they grabbed their cameras Tim turned to Lucy “Get the shop ready. I need to go down to the garage.” He said and she nodded.

“You got it.” She said as she grabbed the bags as Tim made his way down to the garage and straight to Seth, the main mechanic, to ask for him look at your Bronco and they agreed, he knew that Grey would allow it since Tim was a sergeant too, before they even left, they were already giving him an update.

“So, the engine blew up and the transmission is bad as well.” Seth said.

“How is it possible that it was running fine for months?” He asked as they stood outside by your Bronco and hood up.

“Driving on a blown engine and a bad transmission is possible. Is it good? No.” Seth said

“It never showed any signs of going out or being a bad transmission.” He said and Seth nodded

“That is not out of the norm. Most people don’t know about it until something happens. Has the light ever come on?” He asked

“No never.” Tim said and Seth nodded.

“There could be a loose wire or connection. Don’t worry. We will get it up and working. It’ll be good to go by the end of your shift.” Seth said

“Thank you so much.” Tim said and gave him the keys.

“Not a problem. Have a good shift.” Seth said and Tim nodded and he was on his way to Lucy.

“So, what is the news?” She asked

“Blown engine and a bad transmission.” He said

“Oh man. That’s not good.” She said and he shook his head.

“What is even worse is that it didn’t even give warning that it was blown or had a bad transmission. No light ever came on.” He said

“Damn.” She said as they got in the shop and they started their shift. “So, are you going to have to take it somewhere to get fixed?” She asked and he shook his head.

“No, Seth said they would get it fixed by the end of our shift.” Tim said

“Well, that’s good.” She said and he nodded. Their shift consisted of several noise complaints and several arrests. He drove by Cozy Corner Café and smiled seeing all the cars there and knew you were busy and thankfully Lucy didn’t pick up on what he was doing.

Around 5:00 PM Tim and Lucy were driving back from the station after having just booked someone when he got a text from you. He quickly pulled out his phone before starting to drive.

You: Hey, I’m on break and Wesley is here as well.

Tim: You two have fun. I love you

You: I love you too.

As they got back out on the road the radio went off “7-Adam-100 respond to a 10-66 at Cozy Corner Café. One GSW reported. Multiple injuries. RA requested.” Dispatch sounded and Tim’s heart dropped and he had gone somewhat pale. He was quick to grab the radio.

“7-Adam-100 responding.” He said before Lucy could even make a move towards the radio. He turned on the lights and sped off towards where you worked.

“10--66 is an armed robbery. Tim, what is going on?” Lucy asked

“Y/N works there.” Is all he said and Lucy got a sinking feeling that something wasn’t right.

“7-Adam-07 responding.” Angela came over the radio.

“7-Adam-19 also responding.” Harper’s voice came through and Tim was grateful for that.

Tim and Lucy were the first to get there and parked in a hurry and they quickly got their guns drawn and went in. “We have him held down over there.” Jason said and pointed to where Mark and Remi were keeping him at bay.

“Officer Chen, you go and take care of him. Where is the gunshot-” Time started but was cut off by Wesley.

“Tim over here. It’s Y/N.” He said and Tim was over there in a hurry.

“Holy shit.” He murmured. “Y/N, Sweetheart, can you hear me? If you can hear me, open your eyes.” He said and so you did.

“Daddy?” You asked, he nodded.

“I’m here, what happened?” He asked kneeling beside you not caring if he was getting blood on his uniform.

“He came in demanding money and A-Ameila said we couldn’t give it to him and I got up and went over to him, asked him what he wanted and he repeated himself and I told him that. He got mad then pulled out a gun and and pointed it at me and pulled the trigger. I was just trying to protect my friend, I’m sorry. It hurts, Daddy.” You said and and he put a hand on your face and you leaned into it.

“I’m not mad at you I promise, mad at him yes. I know it hurts, Sweetheart.” He said “Just hold on.” He said as the others arrived and Angela came straight over to you, Tim, and Wesley.

“Fuck. Is she ok?” She asked

“I think she will be.” Wesley said

“Are you hurt?” Tim asked and he shook his head.

“No. I’m fine. She didn’t hit anything as she went down. I caught her.” He said Jackson came over.

“Suspect is secured and the RA should be here any second.” He said and then walked away to help Nolan and Lucy and Tim nodded as he helped put pressure on your wound and you groaned in pain.

“RA is coming through.” Harper said. Lucy, Jackson and Nolan were checking in on everyone else and getting statements. The EMTs came through and quickly started to take your vitals and pack the wound as best as they could and then they were putting you on a gurney and ushering you out of the building.

“I’m going with her.” Tim said and nobody stopped him. They got you in and he followed and they were off to the hospital. His hand never left yours and it would stay like that as long as they didn’t need it and thankfully, they didn’t. Everything was blocked out for Tim all he could hear was the rhythmic sound of your heartbeat and your unconscious form, when you passed out, he didn’t even know. He couldn’t lose you not now, not ever. Finally, the ambulance arrived at the hospital and you were ushered in and taken to surgery immediately and left Tim out in the waiting room. Not even 10 minutes later here came Jackson, Angela, Nolan, Harper, Lucy, Wesley, and even Grey. They spotted him immediately.

“How is she?” Nolan asked

“Don’t know yet. They rushed her back to surgery. Wesely, I have to thank you for being there and keeping pressure on her wound.” Tim said, looking at Wesley at the end.

“She asked me to stop by and I’m glad I did. I hope she’s going to be ok.” He spoke

“She will be. Have you not seen who her dad is? Also, she is a Bradford.” Angela said and everyone chuckled and Tim smiled. Finally, the doctor came out and Tim was quick to get up and walk to him.

“She is going to be ok. The bullet didn’t do major damage but just one more centimeter and it would’ve hit her kidney. All intestines were spared. We repaired everything and got the bullet out and I’m happy to say she’ll make a full recovery.” He said and Tim sighed in relief “You can see her now. She may be a little groggy but that is to be expected.” He said and Tim nodded.

“Give me a second.” Tim said and the doctor nodded. Tim walked over and told them what he was told and everyone sighed in relief.

“You go and be with your daughter. Someone will bring your bag by and your truck from the café. I’ll let the garage know that you won’t be picking up The Bronco tonight.” Grey said and Tim nodded.

“Thank you.” He said

“Now go. Tell her we say hi, we love her and are proud of her.” Wesley said everyone nodded in agreement and he nodded and headed in the direction of the doctor who took him to your room.

“Remember she will be groggy and may be in some pain. If you need anything or if something goes wrong just press the button.” He said and Tim once again nodded and then was left with you. He walked over and sat down. You must’ve sensed that he was there because you started to wake up.

“Daddy?” You asked and looked over at him.

“I’m here, Sweetheart.” He said

“I’m sorry.” You said and he looked at you confused.

“For what?” He asked

“For trying to stop the robbery.” You said

“Sweetheart, it is ok. You did stop it. Even though you got shot it gave Mark and Remi enough time to tackle him.” He said

“I did good?” You asked and he nodded.

“You did excellent. I’m so proud of you.” He said and leaned up and kissed your forehead. You could barely keep your eyes open due to the anesthesia left in your body.

“Get some sleep. I’ll be here when you wake up. Oh, and everybody says hi and that they love you and are so proud of you.” He said and you nodded with a smile as you closed your eyes and got comfortable.

“I love you, Dad.” You said and he smiled and cradled your face with one hand and you leaned into it.

“I love you too, Sweetheart. Get some sleep.” He repeated the last part and he waited until your breath evened out before taking his hand away slowly and leaned up and kissed your forehead. He sat back down and let the tears fall. He could’ve lost you today but he didn’t and he was so glad about that. He doesn’t know what would’ve happened if he had lost you but he doesn’t have to think about that because he could hear your steady heartbeat projected by the monitor and he could see your chest rising and falling. He held your hand and stroked your knuckles. “You did excellent, Sweetheart. I’m so proud of you.” He said again but softly and quietly and then sat back just watching. You were going to be ok.

Tag list:

@callsigns-haze

@kmc1989

@els-marvelvsp

@atarmychick007

@nyx2021

@grandstrangerphantom

@angenu01-blog

@talesofreading

@callsign-revenge

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dorothylarouge · 5 months ago

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Comic Book Review: Runaways by Rainbow Rowell

Hello, all. Today I will be taking some time to discuss a comic book I enjoy. This is the first in what will hopefully become a series of long-form comic book reviews I'll be writing for this blog as I continue working through my backlog of unread comics as well as ones I'm rereading, both on my own and through me and @bimboficationblues' book club.

I first read the original run of Runaways in digest trade paperback format at my local library when I was in middle school, and the book hit me at the exact right time, since I was pretty firmly the book's target demographic - young, restless, and beginning to grow resentful of the adult authorities in my life. I never read the 2017 revival, as I was not reading comics when I was in high school and college, but I was at my local library - a different one, I don't live in Texas anymore - while waiting for the power in my apartment to come back on due to an outage, and discovered that they carried the full series in trade paperback. I decided to check it out and see how it held up to the original run, and found myself pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it - enough, clearly, to make this post. I'll get into more detail about the 2017 book later in this post, but I'd like to first give an overview of the original series to provide some context for how this book came to be, since it's quite a niche, cult-classic book as far as Marvel titles go.

Part One: Born to Run

At the turn of the century, comic books faced a number of problems. The bottom had fallen out of the industry in the early 1990s due to the burst of the speculator bubble, sending shockwaves that continued to reverberate into the early 2000s. Marvel Comics had nearly been bankrupted and stripped for parts, surviving only by the skin of its teeth, and was only just getting back on its feet. But now, another threat was looming: anime and manga. Imported comics from Japan were beginning to capture a larger and larger market share of comics sold in the United States, fueled by the popularity of Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, and others on television. Marvel sought to fight back by producing books which would appeal to young fans of these Japanese imports and act as gateway drugs into more standard Marvel fare. Their first effort came in 2000 with the utterly embarrassing Marvel Mangaverse, a group of books which copied superficial and stereotypical aesthetics of manga, without any of the substance.

Just look at this shit, man. Anyway, in 2003, Marvel tried a different approach with their Tsunami imprint. The books in this imprint would also employ art styles that reflected the influence of anime and manga, but would feature character-driven, in-continuity storylines aimed at a variety of age ranges. Among the titles Tsunami would publish was a book written by Brian K. Vaughn (known at the time mainly for his work at DC's Vertigo imprint, including a run on Swamp Thing and his own Y: The Last Man) and illustrated by Adrian Alphona (who would go on to co-develop Kamala Khan with G. Willow Wilson) titled Runaways.

The initial premise of Runaways was really quite brilliant in its simplicity: Alex Wilder, Nico Minoru, Chase Stein, Gertrude Yorkes, Molly Hayes, and Karolina Dean are casual friends bound together mainly because their parents are all friends - actors, engineers, lawyers, and influential people in the Los Angeles area - who gather once a year for a charity event.

As the kids are left bored and alone while their parents meet at Alex's house in Malibu, they find a secret passage and are able to observe their parents at the meeting, learning that, in truth, their parents are a group of supervillains known as the Pride, who control crime and vice in Los Angeles, and who conduct human sacrifices in arcane rituals.

As the kids attempt to discover more about their parents in order to find evidence to bring to the police, they each begin to discover unique powers and abilities: Gertrude has a psychic link with a genetically-engineered deinonychus, Karolina is a light-powered alien with the ability to fly, Molly is a super-strong, super-tough mutant, Chase gains access to powerful technology created by his parents, and Nico is able to summon a magical focus known as the Staff of One when she bleeds, which she can use to cast powerful magical spells, with the catch that she can never cast the same spell twice. Alex, with a genius strategic mind, becomes the group's leader, and with the group learning that the police in LA belong to the Pride, they run away from home and drop off the grid in order to find a way to put a stop to them.

The first volume of Runaways chronicles the kids' conflict with their parents, as well as run-ins with a vampire named Topher and Marvel's original runaway teen superheroes, Cloak and Dagger. Eventually, they learn that their parents were gathered to serve godlike giants called the Gibborim and conduct a ritual which would wipe out all life on Earth, save for six of the Pride - or more specifically, their heirs, the children. The volume ends with the team's climactic confrontation with their parents, as they begin the ritual to end the world, with Alex revealing himself to be a mole in the group and having secretly been on the side of the Pride all along. After Molly disrupts the ritual, the Gibborim arrive and vaporize Alex and kill the Pride, with the kids barely managing to escape. In the aftermath, the kids are placed into foster care, which they promptly run away from, becoming teenage fugitives once again.

The first volume of Runaways lasted only 18 issues, but sales of the digest format trade paperbacks (another thing copied from how manga is distributed in the US) proved so strong that a second volume began publication in 2005, featuring the same creative team. This volume saw the kids continue to evade the police, adult superheroes, and social services. Along the way, they recruit a few new runaways, including Victor Mancha, a cyborg built by the Avengers villain Ultron, and Xavin, a shapeshifting, genderfluid Skrull who imposes themself upon the group as Karolina's fiancee due to a marriage arranged by her parents. They also take a trip to New York City to help clear Cloak's name when he's accused of attempting to murder Dagger. There, they come into conflict with the Avengers, and get sushi with Spider-Man.

Over the course of the second volume, Gertrude is killed in a fight with a reformed Pride made up of a time-displaced version of Alex's father and his MMO friends, and Vaughn's run on the title ends with a story in which Chase, who is grief-stricken after her death, makes a deal with the Gibborim in order to bring her back in exchange for a sacrifice. The deal falls through, and the kids are forced to fight the gods that their parents once served, ultimately managing to defeat and erase the Gibborim from existence.

After Vaughn left the book, unfortunately, Runaways started a long period of decline. He was replaced as writer on the book by Joss Whedon, who penned a couple middling stories, including one where the kids fight the Punisher and the Kingpin, and another where they're flung back in time to 1907 New York, where they recruit the final member of the team, a young mutant and child bride named Klara Prast who can make the flowers grow. Yawn. Volume 2 of Runaways ended with issue 30, and the book was relaunched with a new #1 in 2008, this time with the creative team of Terry Moore (best known for his indie book Strangers in Paradise) and Humberto Ramos (a veritable workhorse whose portfolio speaks for itself, particularly his work on Spider-Man). This brief, forgettable run was followed by a fill-in issue or two by Christopher Yost, and then a final, mediocre arc by Kathryn Immonen which ended the series abruptly on a cliffhanger.

After this, the wilderness years. Characters from Runaways appeared with some regularity - Nico, Chase, and Victor all played major roles in various Avengers spinoff books, none of which suited them particularly well - although in the pages of Avengers AI, Victor would forge a friendship with a reprogrammed Doombot which would play a role later. Mostly, though, it became clear over the years that these characters did not work in normal superhero books, because they were not normal superheroes - they were Runaways. Part of the problem the book had come to face in the later years was a failure to understand that point. The Vaughn run had proven the potential of the characters and concept of the Runaways - they needed a writer who understood that potential, and how to bring it out - and they could have a renaissance.

Then, in 2017, a Runaways TV show premiered on Hulu, to tie into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Marvel, for the most cynical and synergistic of reasons, decided to give them that renaissance.

Part Two: It's Only Teenage Wasteland

Runaways volume 5 (volume 4 was an unrelated Secret Wars tie-in) is written throughought by Rainbow Rowell. Rowell's background is in contemporary young adult fiction, which isn't usually my cup of tea, but translates very well to this comic. Runaways, at its core, is not a superhero book- a point which will be made more explicitly later in the series - it is a teen drama with superpowers. Angst, sexual tension, and resentment of authority are all key elements of the series, which Rowell employs effectively throughout. Joining her on art for the initial run of the volume is Kris Anka, who would later go on to be the lead character designer for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Anka's art is colorful and expressive and complements the tone of the series brilliantly. It's probably the best Runaways has ever looked. Of particular note are the outfits Anka designs for the characters, which change from issue to issue and help to characterize each Runaway visually.

The book picks up with the Runaways having split up, with Molly living with her grandmother, Victor having been reduced to an inert, deactivated head following his apparent death in Avengers AI, Karolina in college and dating Julie Power of Power Pack, Klara in foster care, Xavin in space, and Nico in a shitty LA apartment after a brief stint with the all-female A-Force. The inciting incident of the book occurs when Chase appears with a time machine, having recovered the dying Gert from the events of volume 2. Nico is able to use her magic to save Gert's life, and she wastes little time pushing to get the rest of the gang back together.

Of course, two years have passed since Gert died in-universe. Karolina, Nico, and Chase are all adults now, and Molly is a teenager now, happily living with her grandmother. Things changed while Gert was away, and there's no way to go back to the way things used to be.

The first arc of the book establishes some core themes which will continue to be relevant for the rest of its run: change, growing up, and family bonds. Gert is the heart of the book, despite her vociferous denials of that being her role. She is the driving force behind reuniting the Runaways, and her character is explored in this book more than it ever was in the Vaughn run - her negative self-image, which she hides behind an acid tongue, is a recurring focus. Of note is a scene where she discovers that her purple hair, which had previously set her apart and helped her to feel as if there was something special about her, has become a common fashion statement in the time she spent being dead. Her relationship with Chase is also examined - the age gap that now exists between them precludes any resumption of dating, and she eventually gets together with Victor - but Chase still loves her despite himself, and holds out hope that things can change when Gert gets older and the age gap is less of an issue. It's a little creepy, but psychologically understandable, as is his giving into temptation when a future version of Gert appears and practically throws herself at him.

Rowell's focus on character is central to what makes the book work. There are few titanic threats and fewer supervillains; the drama in Rowell's Runaways is driven by the characters and their relationships to one another, which are given a fresh perspective due to the characters having aged and grown since the previous volume of the series. Molly struggles with the idea of growing up and having to face adult fears and responsibilities, especially when her best friend in middle school offers her a way to stay young forever. Nico struggles with the feelings she's realized for Karolina - picking back up a plot thread from Xavin's introductory arc - as Karolina struggles balancing university, supporting the Runaways, and being a good girlfriend, failing at the latter as Julie breaks up with her - but in the process allowing her and Nico to finally have the right timing.

Also complicating matters are Victor's Doombot friend, who becomes a recurring character and joins the main cast in the back half of the series, and Alex Wilder, who has returned as a living corpse, with the children of the Gibborim on his heels. Rowell's portrayal of Alex is one of the series' most interesting aspects, as a young man burdened by his past mistakes and whose inability to acknowledge or account for them prevents any reconciliation with his one-time friends, and leads him to continue making the same mistakes over again. The only bond with the group he is able to maintain is with Molly, the only other Runaway who still misses her parents, and they have some very sweet interactions in a spotlight issue which serves as a look at what things could be like if Alex was willing to own up and atone for how he's hurt the others. His arc is left unresolved, though, for reasons we'll get more into in a bit. Doombot, meanwhile, has a brief storyline in which he comes to grips with his sense of individuality separate from the programming he was given by Doctor Doom, but other than that his primary role in the series is to serve as a caretaker, of sorts, to the kids, as well as a source of consistent comic relief.

That's another thing about this series: it's very funny! Much of the humor is character- and interaction-based, which is very much my style of humor in comics, but there's also some really nice sight gags and creative use of lettering and sound effects to create jokes. A lot of the humor in the original series can be hit-or-miss, in particular a lot of the more dated references, so the humor in this volume is a refreshing change of pace.

Following the fight with the children of the Gibborim - one of whom, Gib, sides with the group and becomes their newest member - the series enters its midpoint, in which Karolina drops out of college and begins moonlighting as a superhero as an unhealthy outlet for her anxiety, which ultimately ends up dragging the other Runaways into the orbit of Doc Justice, one of Los Angeles' premier superheroes, who outfits and equips the group as his new J-Team. I'm conflicted on this arc for a few reasons. The first is that it interrupts what I felt was an interesting arc for Karolina using superheroics as a coping mechanism, which I felt wasn't explored fully before Doc Justice showed up. On the other hand, though, the arc really gives Gert the spotlight after some time of having it off of her, and she's really able to shine as the one Runaway excluded by Doc Justice due to her weight and lack of powers, both key elements of her own negative self-image which haven't gotten a lot of focus since the early arcs of the series. Further, the arc serves to drive home the point that the Runaways are not superheroes and that Runaways is not a superhero book in the traditional sense. Seeing everyone in spandex and responding to distress calls just feels wrong. And Doc Justice is a great villain for the series: a conceited superhero obsessed with fame and media attention, who has systematically arranged the deaths of various teammates over the years in order to maximize sympathy and publicity. It's all very Hollywood. The ultimate downside of the Doc Justice arc, I think, is that after it's done, the series only has seven issues left. The eternal curse of Runaways, to have each volume cut too short, rears its head once again, and in using one of its final arcs to make a meta-commentary on the series as a whole, it sacrifices some opportunities for the character interactions and interpersonal drama that really make the book shine.

The final arc makes an effort to pivot back to that interpersonal drama, including a delightfully fucked-up romance between Chase and a future version of Gert who has traveled back in time to supposedly save him from himself, which blows up as you might it imagine it would once present Gert and Victor stumble across them. There's also a plot thread of Molly, Chase, and Nico helping a visiting Wolverine and Pixie track down a mutant who sent a distress message, in which Nico very nearly kisses Pixie due to her established character flaw of getting caught up in the moment, and it seems like she and Karolina are going to have an honest conversation about it - only for the conversation to instead be about the frankly much less interesting conflict Nico has been facing about the evil sorcerer whose spirit is housed in the Staff of One, and who is taking a piece of her soul every time she casts a spell. It's a conflict that could be interesting if more focus was placed upon it, but it's the subject of one issue prior to this and the end of the series means that it ends up going nowhere beyond Nico entrusting Karolina with the staff in the end. That's a major flaw in this run, though one that isn't entirely its own fault - its abrupt end means plot threads, like future Gert's abduction of Chase, Nico's conflict with the spirit of the Staff of One, and Alex's usurpation of the Doc Justice mantle, are left hanging.

It really is unfortunate, and makes the time spent on the Doc Justice arc, which probably could have taken four issues instead of a frankly indulgent seven, feel even more egregious and unnecessary with hindsight. This series has a leisurely pace, which is good when it allows character interactions and dynamics to stretch out and have maximum impact, but it also means that at the end, when everything has to wrap up relatively quickly due to the amount of time taken in previous arcs, there's a disorienting and frantic energy, like trying to get your room cleaned five minutes before your parents get home. In particular, the last issue crams a ton of stuff in, to an exhausting degree - Karolina summons her people to take her into space and treat her for injuries she sustained in Doc Justice's efforts to martyr her, future Gert enacts her plan to kidnap Chase into the timestream, Gert's time traveling parents show up for some reason, Alex is surveilling the team for reasons unknown, Xavin is now a general of Karolina's people... it's a lot to leave on a cliffhanger.

Rowell's Runaways is a good book, and I do recommend it, either on its own or, preferably, after reading the original 2000s run. It does a great job of moving the characters forward, maturing them, and giving them more adult problems to deal with, while maintaining the series' core themes of identity, questioning authority, and anxiety towards adulthood. It simply doesn't have enough issues left at the end to resolve all of its plot threads, and that is what ultimately holds it back from being great. 38 issues is a good run, better than any volume of Runaways before it was able to achieve, but its pacing choices and the number of plates it attempts to keep in the air leave the reader wanting more.

But, to its credit, it succeeds in making me really care about what that "more" could be.

Part Three: Run Away With Me

Volume 5 of Runaways ended with issue 38, cover date October 2021. It outlasted the TV show it was meant to tie in with by two years - a TV show that was eventually pulled from streaming as a cost-cutting measure. In the years since the series concluded, not much has been happening in that corner of the Marvel Universe. The characters have made few, if any, appearances, and there's been no talk of a sixth volume, despite the plot threads left hanging.

Well, that sucks, you know? Runaways is such a unique series with such a special voice and perspective in superhero comics, and it deserves a place in Marvel's publication roster as much as the millionth Spider-Man or X-Men spinoff does. It has never sold spectacularly, but it has an audience and, crucially, has always been good for its originally intended purpose: giving Marvel a backdoor into the teen and young adult market that has for decades now largely eschewed comic books. Manga sales now account for nearly half of all comics sold in the United States, and while Marvel now mainly serves as an IP farm for adaptation into the much more lucrative MCU, I think there's value in a series like Runaways that's able to tap into that YA market in a way Marvel's other books aren't able to.

I think with the right creative team, Runaways could easily become a solid seller that is able to have a respectable run of issues. Volume 3, as well as the original Vaughn run, prove that this is possible. I would seek out a writer like Mark Waid, whose bread and butter is character work and who was able to revitalize Archie's comic line to appeal to YA readers, or Ryan North, whose Fantastic Four is one of Marvel's best titles right now primarily on the strength of its character dynamics, or David Willis of Dumbing of Age, whose work for the past decade has entirely centered on young adults finding themselves, to take over the reins of a revival, someone with established chops in the genre. Pair them with a quality artist - think Chris Samnee or Todd Nauck, and I think there's a recipe there for a hit.

I hope we see Runaways come back again, sooner rather than later. Another eight year hiatus would be unbearable.

G-d help me, I wanna see these crazy kids again, and see where the road takes them.

FINAL SCORE: 3.5/5. A good comic.

#comics #runaways #marvel #marvel comics #comic review

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rafeskai · 5 months ago

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Violets for Roses - Rafe Cameron

One-shot inspired by Lana Del Rey's "Violet for Roses"

Ever since I fell out of love with you, I fell back in love with me

And God knows the only mistake that a man can make is tryna make a woman change and trade her violets for roses

Summary: The reader, an aspiring actress, faces a heartbreaking confrontation with Rafe Cameron, who believes her dreams of moving to Los Angeles are unrealistic and wants her to stay in Kildare to build a simpler life with him. Despite her love for him, the reader realizes that sacrificing her ambitions for his vision would mean losing herself.

Pairings: Rafe Cameron x AspiringActress!Reader

Warnings: Angst & just Rafe being really toxic lol.

The fight with Rafe was brewing long before you even knew it. It was in every dismissive scoff when you mentioned auditions, in every time he’d change the subject whenever you’d dream out loud about Los Angeles. It was in every eye roll when you brought up your favorite actresses or directors, the people you’d studied obsessively since high school. And now, it’s spilling over—weeks, maybe even months of resentment unraveling in his bedroom.

“You’re really just gonna throw us away for some… fantasy?” Rafe’s voice is thick with frustration, every syllable weighted. “You’re not some actress, Y/N. You’re just… you. You’re never gonna be one of those people.”

The words sting like a slap. You’ve heard him doubt your dreams before, subtly, gently, but tonight it’s different. Tonight, he doesn’t hold back. “Why do you care so much about this? About some fake Hollywood life?”

You clench your fists, fighting to keep your voice steady. “It’s not fake, Rafe. This is real to me. It’s everything I’ve worked for, everything I want to be.”

“And that means more to you than us?” His question hangs heavy in the air, a trap you can see coming from miles away but can’t avoid. His blue eyes, usually so warm, are cold now, scrutinizing you.

The silence stretches, thick and suffocating. “I don’t want a simple life,” you finally admit, and it feels like exhaling after holding your breath too long. “I don’t want to stay in Kildare and pretend that’s enough for me when it’s not.”

“Why?” he says, his voice low, like he’s afraid of the answer.

“Because I can’t trade my dreams for yours.” The words spill out, your voice cracking under the weight of it all. “I love you, Rafe, but I also love myself. And that means going after this. I’m not going to stay just to keep you happy.”

Rafe’s face softens for a moment, vulnerability breaking through the anger, but it fades quickly, replaced by a steely resolve. “If you leave, don’t expect me to be waiting for you.”

A lump forms in your throat, and you know this is it. If you stay, it’ll be for him, not for you. If you go, it’s a leap into the unknown, one where Rafe might not be in the picture. “Then I guess this is goodbye.”

And with that, you turn and walk away, leaving behind the life he tried to shape for you, the one that never quite fit.

━

Two months later, you’re in Los Angeles, breathing in the open-air scent of Larchmont Village. The warm breeze sweeps across your skin, carrying with it the smell of flowers and freshly brewed coffee. The sun beats down, casting everything in a golden glow, and for the first time, you feel truly free.

It’s a Saturday afternoon, and the girls around you are dressed in sundresses, laughing without a care, exposing bare faces and wide smiles. You smile too, feeling that same joy seep into your bones, like the city itself is welcoming you home. This life, this city—it’s vibrant, messy, electric. It’s everything Kildare wasn’t, everything you were missing.

The Paramount sign sparkles in the distance, a beacon you once only saw in magazines and movie credits, and now, it feels like it’s lighting up just for you. Your heart swells as you look at it, thinking of all the dreams you had, the ones Rafe wanted you to set aside. This city, it doesn’t just allow you to dream; it demands it.

“Ever since I fell out of love with you, I fell back in love with me,” you whisper to yourself, feeling the words settle into your heart. Each syllable is a quiet reminder that loving yourself isn’t selfish; it’s necessary. When you loved Rafe, you’d sacrificed so much of yourself, convincing yourself that his simple dreams were enough. But here, in the warmth of Los Angeles, you’re reclaiming everything you let slip away.

━

You’d never noticed it before, but Rafe’s love had come with conditions. He loved you, yes, but only the parts of you that fit into his life. He was drawn to your fire, but he wanted to tame it, to keep it small and safe so it wouldn’t consume him.

He made you trade your violets for roses, wanted you to choose tradition over the ambition that set your heart ablaze. When you’d talk about acting, he’d say, “That’s great, babe, but don’t you want something real?” As if your dreams weren’t valid, as if they were just fantasies, things to let go of for a white-picket fence, a life that fit his mold. The truck you dreamed of owning, the freedom you craved—he wanted to exchange it for horses and stables, for the steady routine of a life rooted in one place.

And for a while, you let him.

But now, each step you take in L.A. feels like reclaiming a part of yourself. Every coffee shop, every bookstore you stumble into, feels like a universe waiting for you to write your own story. Your days are filled with auditions, with scripts spread across your apartment floor, with nights spent memorizing lines and dreaming of roles you could bring to life.

It’s hard, and you’re not always sure you’ll make it, but it’s your life, and for the first time, it feels entirely yours.

One evening, as you walk down a quiet street, the air still and warm, you think of Rafe. You wonder if he’s missing you, if he’s trying to imagine you in this new world, a world that’s as foreign to him as the one he tried to push you into was to you.

You don’t miss him, though. You miss the girl you were before you let him dim your spark, the girl who once believed she could conquer Hollywood, whose dreams were as boundless as the California sky. And as you walk, the shadows stretch and the quiet settles, you realize that girl is back.

━

One morning, you stand outside a casting agency, the sun warming your face. You close your eyes, inhaling the scent of lilies mixed with the hint of exhaust and coffee from the nearby café. You feel the city’s pulse, its rhythm, and it beats in time with yours.

Rafe had never understood why you’d wanted this life, but that doesn’t matter anymore. The city, with its flashing lights and dusty sidewalks, with its blend of elegance and grit, it understands you. It’s a love that’s pure, that asks for nothing but your own ambition, and it’s a love that feels like freedom.

And so you walk into the building, your heart pounding with nerves and excitement, knowing this is only the beginning.

#rafecameron #rafe cameron #rafe cameron x reader #rafe cameron smau #obx x reader #obx smau #drew starkey x reader #rafe cameron x you #rafe cameron fanfiction

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olliesallamericanbitch · 16 days ago

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Make it BIG TIME - F1 Rookies x Big Time Rush

synopsis: Four best friends trade in their hockey sticks and high-school life for the opportunity of a lifetime: pursue pop music stardom in Los Angeles as a boy band.

starring

Oliver Bearman, Andrea 'Kimi' Antonelli, Isack Hadjar, and Jack Doohan as Big Time Rush

Max Verstappen as The Manager

Laura Winter as Max's Assistant

Press Play? Yes / No

#olliesamericanbitch #f1 x reader #f1 fanfic #f1 imagine #formula 1 #formula 1 fanfic #f1 x big time rush

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augustvandyne · 1 year ago

Note

Lucy Chen x reader

Reader is somehow involved in 5 calls Lucy gets and finally they’re actually in danger at the last call and Lucy decides to ask them out at the end

yesss i love all the lucy asks! she’s adorable, especially in this season. her smileeeee

god is not on my side

God was just not on your side today, or this whole week, if you were being honest.

You were a nurse at a local hospital here in Los Angeles, and of course you were late getting out today - again.

Yesterday you’d gotten out thirty minutes late. Which wasn’t so bad, because you lived 15 away from the hospital, and 15 away from the school. So you had enough time to run home, pick your sister up and run her to the game. She got there just in time for warmups.

But today.. you hadn’t gotten out for an hour. You were an hour late. You were all but running out of the hospital when you were finally able to go.

You rushed as quickly as you could to the house, and you were scolded by your sister, Avery, when she hopped into the car.

“Just freaking drive!” She said as she hung halfway out the door.

“I don’t want to get pulled over,” You try to remain calm, but on the inside you’re freaking out just as hard. You know how important soccer was to Avery. Especially because she’s in her senior year, which means she’s being watched every second of her playing time.

“I don’t even care. I will pay if you get a ticket. Just get me to the field!” She all but yelled at you.

You glance over at your sister. Her hair was already up and she had your guys’ moms favorite color pre-wrap around her head - it was her signature trade mark - along with her shin guards and her dirty cleats that are messing up your clean car.

You press on the gas slightly and you see red and blue flashing lights.

“Shit!” You curse, pulling over to the side of the road.

“Seriously..” Avery sits back in her seat.

“You take point Chen,” You hear out your window as a beautiful woman approaches the side of your car.

“Are you aware that you were speeding?” The officer - Chen - holds her hands in front of her confidently.

“Yes. I’m so, so, so sorry. I normally wouldn’t speed but my sister here is very late to her soccer game because I didn’t get out of work at the time I should have— which is all my fault by the way,” You spare a glance at your sister who is fuming by now. “You see, she’s a senior now and there are scouts all over the place and this is not a good look for her if she’s going to be even more late so if you could please just do whatever you’re going to do, and let me go, I will pay or do whatever you want. Just please let me get her to the high school.”

Lucy’s eyes are a bit wider than they were two minutes ago.

“Oh— well— um, I’ll let you off on a warning this time,” Lucy nods and you let out a relieved breath.

“Thank you. You are a goddess. I could kiss you.”

“Oh—“

“But I won’t,” You chuckle.

“I hope I do not see you again,” Lucy points. “Wait, that sounded rude. Just— I just hope I don’t see you again because I don’t want you to be a criminal—“

“No, I understand,” You smiled widely at the adorable woman.

“Chen,” Tim says sternly.

“Y/n!” Avery says at the same time.

“Right, we’re going. I hope not to see you again, either.”

With that, you’re off.

You guess someone on the side of the road called the cops, you weren’t really sure.

All you knew was you were walking towards the store to get a few groceries for you and your sister before your night shift, when you got punched in the face.

You were slouched down against the side of a brick building when you see two sets of feet appear in front of you.

“Chen-“

“Hey,” Lucy places a gentle hand on your shoulder, ignoring Tim’s protests. She knows all you need right now is a comforting shoulder to lean on. She would know. “What happened?”

“I—“

“It’s okay. Does your throat hurt?” Lucy rubs your shoulder soothingly with her thumb, her hand still resting there.

You nod.

“I see you have a bad bruise there on your eye, did the attacker hit you anywhere else?”

Tim is impressed by Lucy’s ease and strength throughout this process. He makes a mental note to praise her later for being so supportive to you.

“My—“ Your voice is raspy. “Ribs. There’s probably one or two broken.”

Lucy looks down at your shirt, “Do you mind if I take a look?”

You nod again, letting her know it’s okay that she looks.

She’s not surprised to see the bruising on your abdomen, and is glad to see it was only one or two like you said.

“You should go to the hospital to get checked out,” Lucy looks down at you with concerned eyes. “Did he steal anything from you?”

“My— my wallet,” You swallow, and your throat contracts painfully.

“We’ll locate that for you,” Tim promises, his eyes almost matching Lucy’s.

“Thank you,” You sniff.

“Now let’s get you to the hospital.. Y/N, right?”

You didn’t even have to tell her your name.

You were nearing the end of your shift, and to be honest, you couldn’t be any happier if you tried. Partly because you were already as excited as you could get due to you finally getting to leave after an overly long day. But you were also too tired to get even more excited.

But as of late God hasn’t been in your favor. Which really explains why the second you’re about to pack up to change, the hospital is hit with a bunch of traumas - all hands on deck.

You guessed it might have been some kind of mass casualty. Maybe a multiple car pile up or a shooting.

Your suspicions only grew when one of the officers you’ve come to be familiar with - Officer Bradford - and another officer came strolling in. They had concerned looks on their faces.

You couldn’t help but notice Officer Chen (still no first name) wasn’t with him.

Officer Bradford spots you and almost immediately is by your side, hounding you for information.

“Do you know where she is?” You can see the fear in his eyes. He’s terrified for whoever he may be looking for. “She was hit- and- and- Jackson too. I- I should’ve seen it coming.”

“It’s okay Tim,” The woman that stands beside Tim shares a similar expression to him. You were guessing this woman was Jackson’s partner. The officer says in a much calmer voice, “Have you seen any officers be brought in?”

“No,” You swallow thickly and watch as their faces fall. “But I’ll find out right now.”

You see relief flash through Tim’s eyes as you back up and speed through the doors that lead into the emergency room.

Lucy locks her eyes on you, and you are at her side in a second. Another nurse is helping her but you tell her, “I got this one. Help the other officer over there.”

“Tim sent you,” Lucy says through her teeth, in an obvious amount of pain. She was tough and when in pain she didn’t show it. You admired that.

“He did,” You admit, lifting the gauze to see the wound on her cheek. “What happened?”

“We were hit by another car. We were chasing- I don’t know why I’m telling you this,” Lucy looks down.

“It’s okay,” You smile down at her. “You were caught in a traumatic situation, it causes a little shock- which is what you are experiencing.”

She hisses in pain when you tap at her wound with a disinfectant.

“Thank you,” Lucy locks her gorgeous brown eyes on yours.

“Of course.”

You loved Avery, you really, really did, but you hated soccer games.

Not because of the game itself, because you loved to see Avery play. There was nothing you loved more than seeing Avery happy. But you hated the parents.

They are downright rude. They call out at the other kids who are doing just fine, and then praise their own.

“Come on Avery! That was a clear shot!” One of the girls’ fathers stands to shout from the sideline.

You are fuming by now, because that was at least the tenth time this man has shouted at Avery.

“There were three girls in her way,” You point your hand in the direction of the goal.

“She could have shot over them,” The man shrugs. “She’s done it before.”

“Yeah maybe when it wasn’t twenty degrees outside,” You roll your eyes.

“Oh, so now you’re blaming the weather on her poor shooting skills?” The man is still standing as he crossing his arms.

“Well I’m just saying it is pretty windy as well,” You stand too. “You weren’t opposed to blaming weather twenty minutes ago when your daughter missed her shot.”

“That’s—“

“Oh, yeah?” You raise your brows.

“You—“ The man begins to get in your face.

“Woah, woah, woah,” Tim shouts from the side, coming into your view. “Get away from the woman.”

“Or what?”

“I think you know,” Lucy stands confidently, and you have to admit that you’re attracted to her confidence in that moment.

A look flashes over the man’s face but he does back off from your face.

You let out a relieved breath, shooting a thankful smile in Lucy’s direction, Lucy smiling back. And oh my, was it breathtaking.

Lucy nods at you in understanding and as a goodbye.

“I hope I won’t be seeing you again,” Lucy tells the man, trying her best to not pose it as a threat.

As if you didn’t have enough on your plate already, someone was now stealing your mail and packages.

You’d ordered new chargers for your car and for the house at least three times now, and they have all been stolen.

“Again?” Avery asked with a concerned face as you searched the porch for something - anything.

“Yes!” You threw your arms up. “This is the third time. I don’t have the money to just keep spending.”

“I know,” Avery’s face holds a frown. “Maybe you should call that hot cop so she can help you figure it out.”

Your face turns a faint shade of pink at her comment.

Avery smirks, “That’s my dose of humor for the day. I’m off to school. I won’t be home until later, one of the girls with drop me off here. But seriously, get this figured out. Maybe actually go to the police about it.”

“I’ll try.”

And you did.

You really weren’t trying to run into Lucy, or make up reasons to talk to her, but you could see that’s not what it looked like here.

As you think this, it feels as if someone is listening to you. Or it’s just Avery.

Because when you enter the station, there is the cute cop you haven’t been able to get enough of.

You watch Lucy for a second.

She was standing up, but leaning on the counter, her head resting on her folded arms. Her eyes were closed as if she was sleeping, but when you stepped closer she says, “Nolan, if you have a can of silly string, I will kick you in the—“

“I don’t know who Nolan is, but he seems like a piece of work,” You joke, and Lucy is snapped up-right.

“Y/n,” Lucy smiles, grabbing at her coffee tumbler to fidget with. “What are you doing here? I thought I said I didn’t want to see you again? Although, I’m not going to complain. Anyway, uh, what can I do for you?”

You smile nervously, in a good way, and say, “I think someone is stealing my packages.. I’ve ordered phone chargers at least three different times, and they’ve all been stolen.”

Lucy nods attentively, watching you closely, her hands still wrapped around the cup.

“Okay. Let’s just fill out a form, and I will make sure our best detective, Angela Lopez, you’ve actually met her— anyway,” Lucy closes her eyes, pushing a hand into her forehead. “I’ll make sure she gets on it right away.”

“Thank you,” You smile, the two of you locking eyes. “You like coffee?”

“What?”

“The tumbler,” You point. “You like coffee? I’m more of a tea girl myself.”

“Oh— yeah, I like coffee.”

“Good to know,” You tilt your head and turn to walk out.

You just wanted to go to the bank. You really did. Everything you do lately seems to be done with a run in with police and with God on your bad side.

You freeze when you hear the shooting start. Someone has to pull you down to be stopped from getting shot.

Time flies by as he begins making threats and as the cops show up - them trying to compromise with the man.

“No! No!” The man shouted at himself. He had obvious injuries from days leading up to this. You could see infection blooming.

He stares right at you, catching your eye. He grabs your arm and lifts you with a grunt.

You choke back a sob as he says into the phone, “I have someone— her name is—“

“Y/n— Y/n,” You stutter into the phone.

“I’ll shoot her. I will.”

And then he hangs up.

“You’re too close to this Chen,” Tim shakes his head, watching her as she stirs up ideas.

“Lucy?” Nyla and Angela ask at the same time.

“That might be useful,” John says, receiving a few questioning looks. “Well, I’m just saying. She might be able to trip him up.”

“That’s a good idea,” Wade points. “Lucy, how well do you know with woman?”

Lucy doesn’t know how to answer that. She just picks the phone back up and begins to get the man on the line.

“You need to let her go,” Lucy says in a stern voice, stunning everyone. Even you.

“What for?”

“Because I like her. She’s so sweet and so kind. The kindest I’ve ever meet. I don’t know her well, but I hope to over dinner because I would love to get to know her on a personal level, rather than a police and civilian level. She has a sister to take care of, and you can’t take a life of another one of her loved ones. She’s a nurse at the hospital— one of the best. You can’t take her life away just because you’re too insecure to do anything about yourself.”

The man stays quiet, and for a second you really think he’s going to kill you.

“I’ll let her go,” The man begins, and you can hear Lucy let out a shaky but relieved breath. “On one condition.”

“And what might that be?” Lucy’s confident voice was back, and if she was being serious about the date, you already knew what your answer was going to be.

“I walk out of here free. With 250K.”

“Fine,” Lucy agrees.

“That’s a quarter of a million dollars—“ You hear Tim shriek before Lucy hangs the phone up.

You’re pushed to the ground back where you were before when the LAPD comes rushing into the bank.

Lucy was at your side in an instant, ushering you to your feet, trying to take you towards the ambulance so you could get checked.

“I’m okay,” You promise Lucy.

“I can’t be so sure,” Lucy chuckles.

You nod awkwardly.

“Okay, well,” Lucy turns to go, but you stop her.

“Did you.. mean what you said?”

Lucy turns back to you and looks at the ground for a second.

“If you didn’t, it’s okay. I mean, I would love to go out if you—“

Next thing you know, Lucy’s lips are on yours. Her lips are soft and kissable and everything you’ve imagined, but better.

“I meant everything I said,” She holds your face in her hands. “And, would you like to?”

“Like I was saying,” You touch your nose to hers. “I would love to.”

#the rookie #the rookie x reader #wlw post #lucy chen #lucy chen x reader #tim bradford #angela lopez #nyla harper #wade grey #john nolan #lovaaaa #i’m obsessed with her!!!!

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hsslilly-blog · 4 months ago

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hello yes i am back with another ask.

do you have any ideas about how claire’s mother was raised? i assume something would’ve had to normalized being a terrible human being

Hi, yes, I do! Sorry for taking long to reply, I wanted to write this properly. This ended up a bit long, I think.

Before writing anything, I feel like I should preface with: I don't want to villainize Claire's parents (esp. her mother) to the point of them being cartoonishly evil because 1. that's not how humans work; and 2. it's boring, from a writing standpoint. I'm interested in exploring them as people + their relationship with Claire. A child doesn't attach to a parent (or any figure) just by them being, well, bad. This is true of Blair's mother, too.

Christine Murray, Claire's mother, was born in June 15th, 1966. Her parents, Ava (née Ballantine) and Blair Murray, had immigrated from Scotland to the United States a couple of years prior and had settled around the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County; which Christine would call home for most of her life. The SFV saw a postwar boom, with a huge population increase + job offers; lots of empty acres for people to build homes, too. I mention this for contextualisation: the Murrays (in Scotland) had been a working class family for many years and in the U.S. Christine's father worked himself to death for better opportunities for his wife + daughter.

Christine had an okay relationship with both her parents, if only distant. They were not in bad terms and she would say her mother was a caring woman and her father was a hardworking man; they just weren't close, and they worked all the time. They were very stuck in their ways, and were rather strict. Her mom was a midwife, her father landed a job as an insurance agent.

From a very early age, Christine developed an interest in the arts, especially acting + dancing. She was particularly drawn to Shakespeare (she fell in love with Orson Welles' Macbeth) and she would take part in her school's low-budget productions of whatever play they were putting on during that season. Her father would give her some spare money sometimes, and she used it to watch whichever film was screening in Panorama City. She was very... free. Her parents let her roam around unsupervised a lot. Not good for a 16 year old girl.

Growing up in the 70s and then the 80s, I think she watched some pretty good films. Her biggest dream was to be in the silver screen. The Red Shoes and The Way We Were were some of her favourite movies back then. I think she still likes Cabaret (which is a love she shared with Claire). Paris, Texas, too.

Christine also liked rollerblading and magazine collecting (like, teen magazines; she would trade them with her friends and cut out her favourite parts/pictures/articles and glue them to her bedroom wall and/or store it in a folder). She loooved the Carpenters. She loved thrifting clothes too.

Christine's passions were not supported by her parents, though. I don't think they did it out of malice, they just didn't "get" why their daughter was so interested in acting and movies instead of "planning her future". For them, Christine should get a good job and make her own money and be financially independent. What was she going to do when they were gone? There is no time for art. So, Christine didn't get the chance to pursue her acting career seriously and by senior year of high school she had given up on the idea. Her father dies three months after her 18th birthday. She settles with being a nurse. She gets an associate's degree.

She meets Claire's father, Werner Swanson Jr., by the end of 1987. She was a nurse in his office (he was/is a psychiatrist), so she worked under him. They get married in 1988. They were 13 years apart, not to mention the huge class + academic disparity between them. Claire is born in February 14th, 1990, when Christine is 23. She had to adapt to a new life, very quickly, while very young.

I think this is a good picture of Claire's mother. I don't want to dissect every bit because I think when put in context it all makes a lot of sense. Her unhealthy work/performance mindset, the weird relationship to food, detachment to/insufficiency with Claire, etc. When Claire shows an interest in acting, Christine decides she Must support her (whose?) dreams. She didn't get that chance, so Claire should get. But, well, life is more complicated than that. And baby Claire is, like, a person, too.

That's it... this is very long. But if you have any follow-up questions I'm happy to answer!!!

#ask box #oc: christine murray #oc: claire swanson

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mylivejournalsucks · 6 days ago

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i have a starlet friend. if you can befriend a starlet, i suggest doing it. they add a glamorous texture to your life and if you're in LA and not pursuing glamour, you're missing the point of living here. this particular starlet is wise beyond her years (24, the perfect age to be famous) and sharp and funny. say what you will about being friends with someone 15 years younger than you but i can talk to this starlet for three hours and, with most people, i max out after 30 minutes. knowing how to talk to somebody is a dying art. open the schools etc.

anyway, the starlet recommends me to her healer. there's a waiting list but if she emails, i can bypass and go straight to the top. no matter how much time i spend in therapy disentangling my self-worth from validation, skipping the line will never not thrill me.

i meet with the healer out of curiosity. there is nothing in me currently that needs to be fixed, i think? when you can afford to spend thousands of dollars to have a stranger heal you on the phone, i would say things are, baseline, pretty good.

i tell my boss i need to leave work early to get healed by a woman who communicates through a random spirit and she's like, "yeah, hon, sounds good." no one bats an eyelash at this kind of thing. i mean, we have more shamans than plumbers in LA. people are always trading information on a new psychic or somatic healer. it's always done with a winky face emoji but it's also real because being alive is real and hard. existence is an all-hands-on-deck affair. sad face emoji?

after sitting for an hour and a half in traffic and talking to my hot uber driver who used to be a manager, i'm back at home and talking to the healer. she's saying so many things (age of aquarius will be really good for me but only if i get rid of things that no longer serve me) i'm like, "sure jan" but also kind of addicted to this person who somehow managed to worm her way into a wealthy population of people who are bottomless pits of need. and maybe she really does think she's helping people. maybe she's not some con artist. i mean, does it really matter? i bet people walk away feeling genuinely better. it's a pep talk disguised as spiritual intervention.

our conversation felt kind of broad and "bumper sticker" for a bit but then she started diving into specifics.

"there's a person named ramsey from your high school who killed himself. he really looked up to you because he was closeted." (there was no one named ramsey in my high school but i appreciate the big swing in using an uncommon name instead of, like, john.)

"your boyfriend likes to bake pies with his dead aunt." (okay, here's another big swing. jonathan's aunts are both alive. he does love to bake pies, though.)

when she was telling me these things, all i could think was, "I could've used this money to stay at the bowery for five nights. okay, three nights." i felt foolish, like a los angeles cliche, but then i started to redirect it as a therapy session.

while she was prattling on about another dead relative who was very much alive, i stopped her. "i just, i feel like i'm living my old life. every day i wake up and do things that no longer make sense to me. it's like i'm in 2019 again. the places i go, how i spend my days, it just feels wrong. like i'm trying on jeans that no longer fit. i know i've outgrown this phase of my life but i'm not quite sure what i'm growing into."

it surprised me as i said it—i'd finally found a vein after being poked the last hour—but i felt this sudden compulsion to be honest with this person i'd never speak to again. she was my seat mate on an airplane.

the healer understood. of course she did. people's aimlessness is what bought her a house. she told me some nondescript things i no longer remember. then she told me to be worried about earthquakes.

i hung up feeling lighter, like my bank account. i'd never really vocalized the low hum of discontent i'd been feeling. this sense of things not feeling totally right. LA has felt like some kind of purgatory, a home for an old version of myself i was eager to say goodbye to. crazily enough, i want to live in a city with more plumbers than shamans.

was having this revelation worth seeing the healer? fuck no! but reach out if you wanna see her. i can probs get you to the top of the list.

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niucollege1 · 1 year ago

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equallyshaw · 1 year ago

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𝓼𝓮𝓮𝓲𝓷 𝓻𝓮𝓭 | 𝓶𝓪𝓽 𝓫𝓪𝓻𝔃𝓪𝓵 𝓪𝓾 ↠ love at first sight! ↠ au masterlist!

↠ warnings: none? ↠ word count: 2.3K +

when sydney told olivia that they'd be hosting the team's new years party that year, olivia was not too thrilled. she was looking rather forward to spending the night out on the town, but once sydney demanded her sister's presence that evening; she'd be getting it come hell or highwater. it was around 7 pm when she heard music beginning to play, throughout the house and sighed. she had just finished her makeup and hair for the evening, and quickly sent a few texts out to her best friends naomi and nastia, who were in california and chicago that evening. sydney propped open her door just a bit, "can you watch the girls for a few minutes?" and with that olivia turned around with a huge grin on her face with her hands open wide for her two nieces for them to run towards her. she picked both of them up and pretended to eat them, causing them to shriek loudly bringing a smile to sydney's face.

⋆｡ °✩

it was two hours later, and after many many rounds of playing barbies with the two girls- she was relieved by another wag for a bit to grab a drink. she sighed loudly and playfully, once she reached the kitchen counter where matt and sydney were talking with another player. "god! they are so mini you's." she teased while opening up a seltzer, to which matt laughed loudly. "they are a mini syd." he joked, causing sydney to slap his arm playfully. "you are off babysitting duty for the night, i promise." sydney mused passing a small plate snacks,f from the charcuterie board. "good. i could use the night off every once in awhile." she joked, causing the two parents to laugh and tease her relentlessly. "oh! you need a night off?" both sydney and matt joked, causing her to giggle. "why yes!" she hummed, before taking her plate and drink towards the living room. she quickly made her way over towards grace - anders lee's wife and holly, bo horvat's wife. "hey!" grace beemed, pulling the red head into a small hug. "hi holls!" grace said hugging holly as well, "what have i missed?" she grinned sipping some of her drink. "oh lets fill you in!" grace joked, and the three went into catching up mode.

this was the first time in a few years that olivia had made it home for the holidays, her father and mother had been visiting her for the past four plus years while she had been at school in los angeles. she hadn't come back for much of her breaks, besides the off-season, because she was a sucker for new england summers.

she was engrossed in a long conversation when mat had shown up at the party. he greeted some teammates, and their partners before he saw the infamous red head that was never to be found. since matt had been traded from toronto, he had yet to see olivia in the flesh.

oh, how he could not bare to look away.

⋆｡ °✩

it was around 11 when mat had finally worked up the courage to say hi and introduce himself. the two found themselves in the kitchen grabbing some refreshment replacements, and snacking on some more appetizers. "you're olivia right?" mat asked as the two hadn't said anything to each other for a few minutes. she looked up from her phone, and nodded. "yes. and you are?" she questioned looking at mat. she had never seen him before, and she could see the somewhat arrogance oozing off of him. he looked at her, taking in her blue eyes. god, mat knew he was officially gone - even if she hadn't spoken more than a few words to him.

"im mat." he said not moving from where he stood, a few feet away from her. she nodded giving him a small nod, "nice to meet you mat." she said respectfully. he nodded, continuing to look at her as he sipped his amber looking drink. "this is the first time I've see you before, what got you over to the east coast?" he said somewhat teasing, somewhat seriously. she sipped her drink before responding, "well, I've been in los angeles at ucla for the past four years. i graduated in 2022, but haven't had a chance to come back since the summertime. which meant you weren't here." she mirroring his tone. he tsked his tongue, "such a shame. I've heard a lot about you, and how fun you are." he said grinning. "oh really? i am just enough fun, thankyou." she hummed, "a respectable amount." she teased cocking her head to the side just a bit. "interesting. but seriously, syd and matt always said that you're welcome but that you never take up their offer?" he questioned, sipping more of his drink.

the fucking nerve of this dude, she thought.

"well, thats not really your business is it?" she questioned slyly. he chuckled as she sighed, knowing he was not giving up. "since my parents moved to california full time, i really don't have a huge reason to come back here. besides, long island is their home. not mine." she said truthfully, "besides, its not like i can leave los angeles whenever i feel like it. i have work there, that i have to tend to." she said shifting her feet. "oh really? what kind of work, anything interesting?" he questioned, actually interested. she nodded, "i have a boutique jewelry shop that i run with my mom. im actually here on business, we are interested in opening up another shop in the hamptons actually." she said feeling the shift in the conversation. the tense conversation turning to genuine. "oh really? that's actually really cool." he said and she nodded, "yep." she said a bit too short, than she had anticipated. "whats it called, like the name?" he questioned. she smiled, "it's called greenwich jewels." she said. "i think that's the first smile you've had since this conversation started." she rolled her eyes. "there you go, ruining the vibe." she said chuckling just a bit. "me?" he teased, "yes! just when i thought that you were actually being nice and interested, you go and ruin it with your demeanor and your sarcastic tone." she said shaking her head, and mat was eating this interaction all up.

when he didn't respond, and all but continued to stare at her, she scoffed. "you're unbearable, guess all the rumors i've heard have been true." she chastised, before turning to leave. "oh? you have heard of me, huh?" he questioned, trying to get her to not leave. she froze, turning towards him just a bit, "unfortunately." she grimaced before leaving the kitchen.

⋆｡ °✩

she was on facetime with kappy, around 11:50 while she was in the office on the first floor. she needed a few minutes by herself and then kappy called, and it was good timing. "yeah barzal is an animal, definitely a jerk." he said and that made olivia laughed loudly. "are you sure you didn't describe yourself?" she teased, and he flipped her off in the process. "but seriously, when are you coming to st louis red?" he questioned and she shrugged. "do i seriously have to wait until the off-season?" he questioned, and she shrugged again. "ill let you know." she said truthfully. he nodded, "but you're the CEO you make your own schedule i thought?" he said causing her to laugh loudly again. "alrighty kap, hush." she said rubbing her face softly, holding back a giggle. " ill call you in a few days?" she questioned and kappy nodded, "happy new years red." he smiled, to which she mirroed. "happy new years kappy." she hummed, before ending the facetime. she plopped her phone onto the white desk in front of her, as she stretched her body out. she was ready to go to bed, and knew she'd be taking the two little ones to bed shortly at 12; and give their parents some time without the little ones.

her head whipped to the door, as it squeked open. she rolled her eyes as she scowled. mat smirked, stepping into the room. "if you wanted privacy for our new years kiss, you should have just said so. i had to search the whole house like a sleuth." he said amused. she scoffed, turning back towards him. "what is your problem?" she demanded, as her phone began to go off. the both of them looked towards her phone that was still on the desk, and 'zeeeegrass' flashed on the screen. she gave mat a glare, as she picked up her phone. she swiped to accept, and saw the lovely dirty blonde fill her screen. "hi z." she said looking up at mat who only leaned against the door, still staring at her. "yo! when are you back home again?" he questioned and olivia tore her glare from mat to trevor. "seriously z? i've told you how many times?" she said a tad bit annoyed, "oh woah, who pissed you off?" he asked animated. she giggled, "you'd never guess." she said monotoned. trevor grinned, "let me guess, matty said some bad jokes." and that made olivia laughed. "no, but i wish it had been that." she said truthfully, "but ill be back on the 7th." she followed up. "cool cool well happy new years ginger, but i gotta go. jacks calling me." and she felt the blood drain from her face. "oh. nice. well happy new years z." she said, now desperately trying to get off the phone. "alsooooo, my new years resolution is to figure out what happened between the two of you in the hamptons, will i have that resolution granted?" he teased, and she shook her head no before hanging up. she stood up now, feeling somewhat nauseous, and wanted to desperately hide her face from the world.

"please let me go mat." she said looking at the ground, as mat had not moved from the door. she looked up at him now, and crossed her arms. "id like to leave, without making a scene." she said unenthused. he grinned, "now i gotta know...what did happen between the two of you, huh?" he teased taking his arm off the door, and took a step closer towards the redhead. she shook her head, "none of your business- again." she chastised. he chuckled a bit, "if you tell me, ill tell you a secret." he said enticingly but she gave him a disgusted look. "you're actually crazy, mat. wild." she said as she heard the group outside beginning to count down from 12. he stepped right in front of her, invading her space. she could feel the heat and arrogance radiating off of him, making her shiver with a chill. "mat.." she trailed off as he leaned in, pausing just before his lips would have met hers. he smirked, staring straight into her blue eyes.

she swallowed harshly, as she looked down at his lips. as soon as they heard 'one' from the other room, mat swiftly took hold of her by placing his hands on her lower back while simultaneously kissing her. her hands instinctively went to his face, to hold on to him in some way. his hand began to move down further before she realized that she had been kissing him back. she pulled back, not meeting his eye. without saying a word or looking at him, she moved past him and out of the room. as soon as she was halfway down the hallway, she placed a soft finger on her rosy lips. she cursed herself on how vulnerable she had been, and how much she liked the kiss. but she hated the guy. she quickly filtered herself into the living room seeing sydney and matt with the two girls, and olivia kneeled down to them to hug the two. "who's ready for bed?!" she said and the girls shook their heads, and jumped up and down. "i thought we said no sugar past 9:30?" she questioned looking up at sydney, and then the both of them looked at matt. he put his hands up in innocence, causing the two sisters to laugh. "you guys enjoy the rest of the evening, im gonna head up with these two." she said grabbing ahold of their hands, and the three of them headed upstairs. as she picked up the youngest one at the base of the stars, she saw mat coming back into the living room. the two froze momentarily before olivia broke eye contact, and headed upstairs.

while she headed upstairs, mat went to go say by the hostess'. "mat! happy new years, darling." sydney said pulling the younger hockey player in for a hug. she left an arm on his shoulder, as they turned towards matt. "thanks for the hospitality, but im gonna head out. a bit more tired than i had anticipated." he said and the couple nodded. "lets walk you out. but first, take some desserts!" sydney said pulling mat towards the kitchen, along with matt.

matt for the rest of the night, could not shake the red head and even acknowledged that he may have gone too far. he realized that that he might have been a jerk, at some points. though the girl would argue, it was the whole time. even as he drove towards his apartment where his ex was waiting for him, he couldn't shake the girl. he cursed himself, once he realized he wanted to see her again. even if in the capacity he did not totally want.

but he knew one thing, he was smitten.

back upstairs a little while later, as the two girls were tucked in and read to sleep; olivia headed towards her room that the two young ones had dubbed 'tie tie's room', because it was right across from theirs. she laid down on her back, looking up at the white ceiling that was straight out of the gilded age. her thoughts were running a mile a minute, she hated mat and wished she would have slapped him. slap that stupid but attractive smirk off of his face. no, she despised that arrogant and cunning canadian. she turned over on her stomach and screamed into the comforter. she needed to get back to california without seeing him, or else she might hurt his feelings.

no, she'd kill him.

hope you all enjoyed! please like and reblog if you did (:

tags: @toasttt11 @cillianthinker

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celebritied · 16 days ago

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( bruna marquezine. cis woman. she/her. ) look, ines sampaio was just spotted along the walk of fame. the twenty - eight year old screenwriter can be quite paradoxical towards paparazzi, but fans swear they’re mesmeric. that’s why they’ve been dubbed pandora's box by the trades. they better keep their good reputation in check, because once the hollywood hunter learns ██████████, they’ll be forced to spill their guts.

𝐚𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬 ...

a never-ending pile of creased leather notebooks, always having a full answering machine, a smile that promises you're about to be let in on a secret, the smell of incense burning, laughter from the other side of the room at a party, receipts and napkins with indecipherable scribbles, the false intimacy of candlelight, a mind that ticks endlessly like a clock, a collection of matches from all around the world, the way perfume lingers on clothes, the first sip of coffee at midnight when there's a long road ahead, a kind of confidence that inspires devotion, the inherent romanticism of handwritten letters, curiosity that borders on obsession, the crackle of an old record player, curing all ails with sunshine and saltwater, turning conversations into scripts even when you don't mean to, the cool touch of silk bedsheets, tortoiseshell framed glasses, a penchant for secrecy, imported cigarettes at the bottom of an expensive purse.

𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬 …

𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞. ines sampaio. 𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬. pandora’s box, as dubbed by the trades. 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡 & 𝐚𝐠𝐞. january 4th & twenty-eight. 𝐳𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐜. capricorn sun, scorpio moon. 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 & 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐬. cis woman & she/her . 𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. bisexual. 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡. rio de janeiro, brazil. 𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲. brazilian. 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞. los angeles, california. 𝐨𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. screenwriter. click here for more !

𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 …

# 𝙖𝙘𝙩𝘰𝘯𝘦

TW: very brief mentions of alcoholism, religion and death. the origins of a screenwriter are of little consequence in the grand scheme of hollywood. most of the time, ines sampaio exists in the public mind the way venus was birthed from the seafoam— which is to say suddenly, from places unknown. the truth is less cinematic. tucked away in a quiet pocket of rio de janeiro, the sampaio household would serve as the backdrop to the beginnings of a dream misunderstood. she always had a talent for storytelling. the third born daughter to a saint and a drunk didn't make most things easy, but creative power was not something ines ever struggled with. she was an outcast in her town from a young age, with an imagination that drove many a catholic school nun into scandalous outrage. teachers praised her brilliance in the classroom, while her parents tried to convince her that her mind would be put to better use in a more traditional field, like the ones her siblings favored. writing wasn't something ines even considered at first, aside from the diaries she'd started keeping since she was seven. in the beginning, the tale weaving was only oral; elaborate stories rewriting her own life passed on to shopkeepers, classmates, sometimes even her own siblings. it wasn't her intention to lie, in fact ines knew it would be very easy to separate fact from fiction when most of the time the events she was rewriting involved her notoriously deadbeat father. what she wanted to do was captivate— and at that, ines succeeded. putting pen to paper was only the natural next step, adolescence finding her with a whole new host of problems to work out, which she did in the privacy of locked journals. she's introduced to film by chance; there'd never been a television in the sampaio household, a luxury they couldn't afford. the movies they'd watch in school never interested her, monotonous and filled to the brim with religious lessons ines couldn't care less about. but real film? it was love at first sight. she'd made a friend the summer before she turned thirteen, beatriz, that would change her life in more than one way. together the girls would sneak into cinemas, watching reruns of classic films, or anticipating the arrival of new ones with a hunger unable to be satisfied entirely. soon enough ines was inspired to write her own scripts, beatriz serving as the heroine in a myriad of never-finished screenplays. they dreamt of los angeles, of leaving brazil together— only beatriz would die a little after her sixteenth birthday. a terrible accident, they called it. but no papers mentioned the unnatural way the girl's body had bent, nor the eyes that would forever gaze into nothing. it would be the first line ines wrote for the screenplay that finally had an ending. at seventeen years old she left her hometown for good, her new chapter in the city of angels just beginning.

# 𝙖𝙘𝙩𝘵𝘸𝘰

in 1985, ines arrived in california with nothing but a suitcase and the address of a grandmother she hadn't seen since her baptism scrawled out on a worn piece of paper. iara de andrade was a retired music teacher living in laurel canyon, who took ines in under the condition she would make something of herself. a patron of the arts herself, it was the first time ines felt a semblance of what it must have felt like to grow up supported. under her grandmother's guidance, she was able to adjust to her new life easily, like slipping on a second skin. the faraway dream of a girl trapped in a place too small to hold her ambition became a reality when she was accepted into emerson college's filmaking program. boston was nothing like los angeles— it took a different kind of adjusting, and in those first few months her passion for film was her only lifeline. it's why ines didn't hesitate to lie her way into one of the more competitive classes, which had already been filled for the semester. stealing the spot of another student, ines knew whatever she did from that point on, it would have to be brilliant. she hasn't looked back since. although she's established in her career, having made a name for herself over the last ten years, her dedication to her craft has never faltered. there were setbacks, like her father's passing in 1989, or her grandmother's only two years ago, like the projects that died in production, or the ones critics failed to see value in. but none of it deterred her from the path she knows is hers, nor the strive for relevancy she continues to reach towards. acclaim isn't enough; ines wants to change the world through her screenplays. it's why some of her most credited projects are those that leave audiences thinking and speaking about them, not because they necessarily would love to watch them again, but because there was something haunting and thought provoking there and they couldn't deny they felt it. news of the hollywood hunter is the first thing to rattle her sense of security in a long time, leaving ines shaken. but underneath that there’s the morbid curiosity of a writer. as someone who’s explored darker themes of life, death, and morality in her work, even delving into psychological horror in the past, a part of ines can’t help but feel fascinated by the hollywood hunter. if it wasn’t her reality perhaps she could even find the story of it all poetic. although she realistically knows she could very well be a target, ines is not totally immune to the god complex that comes with status. a part of her stays detached and lets her believe maybe she is untouchable, but once the day comes to an end and she closes her eyes to sleep, the impending sense of doom gets harder to ignore.

𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 & 𝐭𝐢𝐝𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐬 …

for a public figure, ines has a private nature, which ironically seems to add to her intrigue. she’s selective with interviews, famously claiming to loathe them, but does seem to pour her all into them when she feels she has something poignant to say. one of her biggest pet peeves are celebrities who purposely attract the attention of tabloids, and she’s not shy to hide her disdain whenever casting directors consider such figures for any of her projects.

contradictory to her sense of privacy, she does have a wide circle of friends and acquaintances, many of whom are considered bigger names in hollywood. most of those friendships were forged at her infamous house parties where artists of all trades mingle, and more notably gossip, within the privacy of her own home. while ines does enjoy the social and networking aspect of her parties, and loves hosting even more, her biggest takeaway from her parties is always the opportunity to observe hollywood’s most prominent with their guards down. whatever secrets come to light, ines will lock them into her vault of inspiration, and likely recycle and regurgitate information into her screenplays.

undeniably gifted, if the quality of her work is anything to go by, her good reputation makes perfect sense. pair that with a personable nature and a penchant for collecting hollywood friendships, and the stage is set. but bias can be a blinding thing— sensical or not, there’s no saying ines is deserving of her positive reputation. compulsive and enigmatic qualities are overlooked or brushed off by those she works with, sometimes because they consider her a friend, sometimes because there’s often a more difficult person on set. she tows the line on what she can get away with while maintaining her reputation, and so far, it’s worked. she finds it convenient to be seen positively, but at the same time, she’s not particularly attached to the maintenance of that label. above all ines values her artistic freedom, so if there ever comes a time she’d have to sacrifice integrity to be seen a certain way, she won’t do it.

once a project of hers has been cast, ines will always make tiny rewrites to her scripts to include tiny, seemingly innocuous details from the actors' lives into their roles. usually it’s as simple as giving a character the same old childhood dog the actor had, or perhaps changing a background character’s name to one with some kind of meaning to the actor. her process is almost always received well by those she works with.

before owning her own place, she had a residency at the hollywod hotel roosevelt for almost a full year. a lot of inspiration for her earlier work was gathered by watching guests come and go, as well as for screenplays that never saw the light of day. to this day ines has a cocktail named after her, an elevated take on a gin fizz, which can be ordered at the roosevelt lobby bar.

she’s farsighted and wears her prescription glasses often, especially in work settings. for industry events and award ceremonies she’ll opt for contacts, amusingly confusing an attendee or two into mistaking her for a no-name, upcoming actress almost every time.

she speaks five languages fluently: portuguese, english, spanish, italian, and french, in order of proficiency.

unabashedly gatekeeps. ines will cut designer labels out of her clothes not only because she prefers the simplistic look, but because there’s less of a chance of recreation.

she holds an appreciation for the music scene passed down from her grandmother, and takes every chance to immerse herself when she's staying at her laurel canyon property, which was also passed down from her grandmother.

since her birthday is january 4th, ines will famously extend the span of holiday celebrations to include her birthday, declaring the real start to the new year couldn't possibly exist before january 5th.

she has a private landline number, which only a handful of people have. for those select few she's available no matter the situation or time of day.

ines is reticent to talk about her past, and prefers to keep both public and private knowledge of her life before california nonexistent. for this reason alone she's happy with her place behind the prying eye of the camera and widespread public fame.

primarily writes for films, although she's written for tv before. while most of her work has been in english, ines has done a handful of projects in portuguese as well.

𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 …

anything and everything! i would of course love to see other people in film or tv she's worked with before: people she's worked with more than once because they got along great, people she'll pull out of projects for because they've worked together before and it was a disaster, actors she's written whole scripts for, actors she begrudgingly accepts working with because although she can't stand them, no one brings a role to life the same way. i could go on and on but anything you could imagine to fall under this category... i'd love to see. celebrities who frequent her infamous house parties: this one is self explanatory and is 100% open to all muses, not just those in the film world. and lastly... people she's inspired by: this sounds so broad but i imagine there are a handful of celebrities ines would be transfixed by, mainly because of their stories. whether or not ines is upfront about this could depend. maybe your character knows they're a muse of sorts, or maybe your character is in the dark, and ines isn't being clear with her intentions in their connection. i would say watch this space but i really love crafting muse specific connections so i'm running out of steam for ideas. i will say concepts that are always welcome are exes, rivals or competitors, close friendships, broken friendships, confidants, etc. AND CUE THE END CREDITS!!!

#guts.intro #i am so so so sorry for length #if u need a tldr i understand and will give u one i promise😭🫶

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ofauteur · 16 days ago

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( josh heuston. cis man. he/him. ) look, ilan de saram was just spotted along the walk of fame. the twenty-eight year old director can be quite aloof towards paparazzi, but fans swear they’re ingenious. that’s why they’ve been dubbed the auteur by the trades. they better keep their good reputation in check, because once the hollywood hunter learns REDACTED, they’ll be forced to spill their guts.

STATS.

full name : ilan de saram / date of birth & age : may 14 ( twenty-eight ) / zodiac : taurus / gender & pronouns : cis man, he/him / orientation : bisexual / place of birth : los angeles, california / ethnicity : sri lanken & australian / current residence : hidden hills, california / occupation : film director

faceclaim : josh heuston / height : 188 cm / build : lean and toned, not bulky but slightly athletic / eyes : dark brown, nearly black / hair : black, usually slicked back or cleanly styled, though slightly tousled when he’s working / style : minimalist and tailored , monochromatic and understated ( black turtlenecks, structured coats, expensive fabrics with no visible logos ) / scent : notes of vetiver, cedarwood, and a hint of bergamot

father : laith de saram ( cinematographer ) / mother : eleanor montgomery ( actress , producer ) / pet : a bombay cat named noir

BIO.

hollywood has its royalty, and ilan de saram was born into it. his father is a renowned cinematographer, and his mother is a prominent actress who made the successful transition into producing. ilan grew up in the warm glow of backlot sunsets, in the hush of edit rooms where careers were built. he was never meant to fail. but his world was masked with solitude — chauffeurs picking him up from school, the dinner table set for party of one, speaking to his parents only when they sought him out. he was the kind of boy who watched rather than joined, and he saw people as compositions: light, contrast, tension.

ilan left california to attend emerson college in boston, where he studied filmmaking. he honed his eye for detail and control, learning to edit as precisely as he directed. the first film he worked on was a small project with his name was buried deep in the credits, but it marked the beginning. his debut film came soon after, and he’s since built a reputation for making psychological horror films. he likes stories that unravel like puzzles, where fear lies in the mind. he avoids gore, choosing instead to explore fear through silence, dread, and emotional unraveling. his breakthrough film earned him the label of auteur — “a film director who has great influence on the making of their films, so that they can be considered as their author.” he's not driven by money or fame, because those things are incidental. what he wants is elusive: legacy. the kind that guarantees a place in history. he thinks of “the greats” not as inspirations, but as adversaries. they have set the bar, and he intends to surpass it.

at twenty-eight, ilan keeps a low profile. he rarely gives interviews, and he doesn’t overshare. he’s focused on the work, and the work speaks for itself. there’s a stillness to him, calm and composed, but underneath, he’s always thinking. people call him cold or intense, but it’s not quite that. he just doesn’t waste energy on performance. he’s precise with everything he can control. his diet, his routines, the people he allows in his orbit — everything is curated. his every action, word, glance is intentional. he moves through the world like a man who has rehearsed every step. discipline is not a choice; it is survival in a world as uncertain as hollywood.

when news about the hollywood hunter started circulating, ilan started paying attention. the hollywood hunter kills symbols, not people. they target the titans, those who are filled to the brim with scandals and secrets. ilan is irrelevant, in that sense. he does not draw unnecessary eyes. but something about it unsettles him — not the murders themselves, but the way they blur the line between performance and reality. for a man who built his entire career controlling what stays in the frame, the chaos outside of it isn’t easy to ignore.

HEADCANONS.

on set, ilan is clinical. no raised voice, no erratic genius unraveling under the weight of his own vision. his direction is calculated, his commands clipped and deliberate. he operates with military efficiency with his hand-selected crew and his vision is uncompromising. he doesn't coddle his crew or his actors, and he doesn't entertain mediocrity. he will reshoot a scene ten times without blinking if it does not match the image in his mind.

ilan does not indulge in excess. his home is minimalist, his wardrobe muted, his vices controlled. no drugs, no alcohol, no smoking. not out of morality, but because he refuses to let anything dull his edges. his indulgences, when they exist, are quiet things: a rare book, an obscure film, a hike in the dead of the night.

functioning on minimal sleep, ilan's mind is unwilling to quiet down. there are too many ideas and images waiting to be brought to life. when he does sleep, it is light and restless, and he wakes with the sensation that something is slipping away.

#guts.intro

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foxglovd · 17 days ago

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( chandler kinney. agender. she / her. ) look, wren darlington was just spotted along the walk of fame. the twenty five year old director, author, unofficially retired actor can be quite acerbic towards paparazzi, but fans swear they’re charming. that’s why they’ve been dubbed the black sheep by the trades. they better keep their bad reputation in check, because once the hollywood hunter learns ████ ██████ ███ ███ ████ ████ █████, they’ll be forced to spill their guts.

stats !

name. renata 'wren' corinne darlington. age. twenty5. gender. agender. pronouns. she / her, but she'll accept any. birthday. october 31st, 1970. zodiac sign. scorpio ( western ), dog ( eastern ). birthplace. los angeles, california. orientation. bisexual biromantic. languages. english + asl. relationship status. single. education. high school diploma. current occupation. author, wannabe director, actor. label. the black sheep.

father. aaron jeremiah darlington, ceo of darling studios, alive. mother. angelique renata darlington, sports agent, alive. siblings. elliana 'elena' darlington, older sister, deceased. zacharias 'zeke' darlington, twin brother, athlete, alive. pets. bitty, a rottweiler puppy.

faceclaim. chandler kinney. height. 5'2. eyes. hazel - green. hair. black, curly, reaches down to around mid - back. voice. higher pitch. soft - spoken. something about her tone is welcoming like a sweet iced tea on a hot summer day. usual expression. does her best to seem relaxed and nonchalant — smiles, bright eyes. but there’s always something pinched about her expression, anxiety ticking away quietly under her gaze. piercings. double lobe piercings, nostril piercing, navel piercing. tattoos. see here, here, here, here. scars. small, healed scars littered throughout her body from insisting on doing her own stunts, some covered by tattoos. large scar over the middle of her chest, one on her right wrist, and her nose was broken and has healed slightly crooked : all as a consequence of a semi - recent car crash.

physical conditions. hyperthyroidism, chronic pain, low blood sugar spikes. neurological conditions. depression, ptsd, survivor's guilt. emotional stability. pretends it's there, but it's almost nonexistent. any little thing threatens to set her off. temperament. choleric. alignment. chaotic good. drug use. prescriptions for her chronic pain and depression / ptsd. alcohol use. currently sober.

character inspirations : skye riley ( smile 2 ), lenore dove ( sunrise on the reaping ), madeline usher ( fall of the house of usher ), sam carpenter ( scr*am )

the interview !

explain their bad reputation. what caused it and how do they feel about it?

they bullied her in hollywood for being too pretty. spielberg and coppola chased her around yelling 'pretty face pretty face' what caused it ? a meltdown at the oscars, academy award stained by the broadcast of her yelling at her family over them ruining her life. naturally, the press ran with the story of a primadonna child with a big attitude acting out. after everything her parents had done for her career, the tabloids would say, no one would know her name without them. it isn't fair to hold a grudge : they didn't know what it was like to become a family's breadwinner at six years old, to be forced to work long hours and barely see any of that money in return. once a childhood tv darling, a movie star in her teen years, slowly transitioning to work behind the camera when she ruined everything. just thinking about the incident is maddening. worse still, wren can't decide if she wants to turn back time to stop it from ever happening, if life might have been easier if she kept all her resentment quiet. " anyone would feel bad if they saw themselves on a magazine cover that portrayed them incorrectly. " calm, cool, collected. it's how she's forced herself to sound ever since, in an effort to combat the allegations of anger issues. still, her hands are curled into fists on�� her lap, blunt, short nails digging into skin hard enough to leave crescent - moon marks. she tries to go for a smile, but something's tainted : more of a snarl than not, all teeth and too sharp at the edges. wrong, wrong, wrong. a marker she's had to live with her entire life, her own personal wrong-ness. " it's not very pleasant. sometimes it's a little difficult. but i know who i am and that's what's important. those who are close to me will say the same thing. everything else is just talk and speculation. " well - trained, delicate words straight from the mouth of her pr team. she's had to say them over and over again. every time feels less authentic than the last, another timebomb of a lie waiting to explode.

how did they react to the three murders that occured? are they scared and feel unsafe, or do they believe they’ll be completely fine?

" come on. those people were... big a - listers. people whose names you want to know outside of scandal. " unconcerned wave of her hand. " i promise you nobody's got a burned out child star and indie director on their radar. i live a quiet life, except for the tabloids and occasional smear campaigns from my parents. " oh, did she say too much? that fake smile makes a reappearance, an attempt to steer the conversation away from any details of herself again. " most of what i do now is write pulpy vampire romance novels under a penname and direct commercials. i doubt anyone would have any reason to want me dead - imagine the covers. hollywood washout wiped out. wonder if they'd mention my books or if i'd die with no headlines making the connection. my publisher would just love that, the way they've been keeping me from events and show talks. but, hey, with kathy's death, at least my oscar's aren't the worst the academy as seen. " she pauses. blinks. " sorry. murders aren't funny. why don't we cut and start over ? i'll give you a better take. "

how far are they willing to go to keep their secret buried?

wren would do anything. anything, anything, anything. she's used to bad press, but having to be reminded of ███ ████ ████ █████ over and over again ? it's unthinkable. unwanted prying eyes into ██████ ███ ███ ████. judgement from people who ███ ████ ████ █████. she'd go to the ends of the earth to keep everyone quiet about her secret.

the backstory !

as soon as wren was born, her parents had a plan for her and her twin brother : they were going to be hollywood stars. they'd already tried with the twins' eldest sister, elena, but she'd always been too shy for the spotlight. this time, they were going to make sure their children went into the business young. wren's career started when she was a baby. you might have seen her first credits as 'newborn #1' and 'baby #3' in a few films.

wren's career hit it big at only six years old, getting a role in a huge sitcom as the funny younger sister. through the show's six - season run, she became one of the biggest child stars of the late 70s / early 80s. it was clear, between her and her brother, she was meant for hollywood. zeke had started showing promise in another area : baseball. so, their parents split their jobs. their father focusing on wren and her movies, their mother focusing on zeke and his athletics.

as a teenager, she moved from the silver screen to movies. teen heartthrob of an actor, hollywood's golden girl. she was in shlocky horror sequels, romcoms, pulpy crime movies. anything that landed on her desk, she would take for the exposure and the money : while her brother was slowly rising in the athletics world, it was wren who made their family rich. you couldn't go five seconds without seeing her in a commercial or her face plastered on a billboard. but wren's true passion was behind the camera : she liked being the face of a production, but she wanted to be directing her own movies.

while starring in a famous director's masterpiece film, they decided to take her in under a mentorship ( wc ). it was for this film she won her best actor oscar at 19. but her first oscars would also be her most tragic. these are the oscars where she has her now - infamous meltdown against her family. a pr disaster, because by that point the darlingtons had made enough money off of her and her brother to be hollywood royalty themselves, and they knew just how to manipulate the press and use tabloids to their advantage. manipulation worked : the director cut ties with her during the worst of the backlash, and she forced herself into an early retirement from acting.

directing was still where her love was, though. she started doing low - budget indie films that gained some critical praise but nothing impressive when it came to audience numbers, does commercials on the side. the bulk of her income these days comes from her literary work : she writes pulpy vampire romance novels under an anonymous penname ( think the original vampire diaries books ). these are huge hits, and she's already got a tv deal for her work... she's just not involved in the process.

TW DEPRESSION, CAR CRASH, FAMILIAL DEATH. she falls into a spiral. getting drunk at night, writing in the day. sometimes the other way around. she becomes something of a recluse : too attached to leave the endless downward spiral of hollywood, haunting it the way a phantom would. her only support system was her older sister, elena, the only one in her family to stick beside her. until they get in a nasty fight, and suddenly even elena is gone from her life - until the crash, two months ago. the headlines tell of a terrible accident for both siblings : elena, dead behind the driver's wheel. wren, miraculously alive in the passenger seat.

███ ██████ ███ █████ ██ ███ █████ ? ███ ██████ ████ ███████ ███ █████ ███ ████ ███ ███ ████ ███████ ███ ███ ████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ███ ███ █████████ █████████ ?

now, wren is haunted by her sister more than her failure of a career. more than just her ghost, who she swears she can see, elena left her with something to take care of. now wren is the not - so - proud pseudo mother of a freshly eight month old puppy, bitty. she's sworn to better herself for the dog and her sister's memory - but old, miserable habits die hard.

wanted connections !

the director that mentored her. obviously this did not end well </3 they cut ties during her meltdown, but maybe it was only because they were advised to ? regardless, they were once very close and it hurts whenever she sees them.

ex pr relationship. another relationship destroyed by her meltdown, but i'm thinking maybe these two absolutely hated each other n maybe were just forced together because her image was so good and the other's image was... less so ! regardless, once she started to get a bad rep, they could happily return to being enemies. regardless, i imagine they still have a dedicated group of fans who want nothing more than to see them together again. probably have a bradgelina / tomdaya type ship name for the headlines.

actual ex(es). the actual people who've broken her heart... or maybe she's broken theirs !

platonic soulmate. the bestie who's stuck with her through thick n thin even as her reputation tumbled to the bottom </3

anything else ! enemies, rivals, friends, people who are connected to her family in some way, hookups, fwbs, backstabbers, old coworkers, ppl who star in her movies, fans of her books but haters of #actor wren, maybe a cousin...

#guts.intro #car crash tw #depression tw #familial death tw #SURPRISE FC CHANGE ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE INTRO !!#but keeping summer's height even tho chandler is taller idgaf wren has chihuahua energy

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