#unnamed chicago team

[offsidenewsco]

"Call it a comeback; we’re making the tears rain down like a monsoon."

Catch the latest Unnamed Chicago Team news in @sergeifyodorov's latest recap here!

[skjei-so]

watching the utah v chicago game and seeing teuvo on the top line for the unnamed chicago team hurts so badly

[jourdepluie91]

The Untold Story of Aaliyah

When considering Aaliyah’s track record, it’s befitting that her name means “The highest, most exalted one, the best.”

Her parents, Diane and Michael, decided on the name based on the high hopes and expectations they would have if they had a daughter. Her success as both a recording artist and actress actually makes the name of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Aaliyah made her dreams come true. At 22, she not only had a very successful recording career but also established herself as a motion picture actress and an accomplished business woman.

Born January 1979, Aaliyah Haughton, with her silky smooth voice, signed a record deal with her uncle in Detroit when she was just 12.

Two years later after she was signed, Aaliyah teamed with R&B singer songwriter R. Kelly to make her first record "Age Ain't Nothing But a Number." It was an instant success. The first single, “Back And Forth,” was a Top 5 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and a No.1 R&B song. 

Billboard Magazine said Aaliyah "revolutionized R&B with her honey-coated voice and sultry mix of pop, soul and hip-hop."

Her signature style of a crop top or bandeau top paired with baggy jeans, with long hair partially covering her left eye, is emblematic of her "sweet but street" style and still emulated today.

Teen Vogue once wrote Aaliyah set the prototype for the young female artist of the ‘90s.

Meanwhile, Aaliyah became involved with Kelly and the two were secretly married when Aaliyah was just 15, in 1994, using falsified documents procured by a member of his inner circle.

R. Kelly and Aaliyah: A look at an illegitimate marriage

In 2019, federal prosecutors charged Kelly with scheming with others to pay for a fake ID for an unnamed female a day before he married Aaliyah.

The revised indictment accused Kelly of paying a bribe in exchange for a "fraudulent identification document" for someone identified only as "Jane Doe" on Aug. 30, 1994.

A day later, Kelly, then 27, married Aaliyah in a secret ceremony he arranged at a hotel in Chicago.

Her parents discovered this and quickly annulled the marriage.

But the scandal tarnished Aaliyah's reputation more than Kelly's. She was portrayed as a teen seductress rather than one of Kelly's first and many victims.

In 2021, a former backup performer for R. Kelly testified that she saw Mr. Kelly engaging in a sex act with the R&B singer Aaliyah around 1993, when Aaliyah was only 13 or 14 years old.

The woman, who testified under only the name Angela, told jurors at Mr. Kelly's criminal trial in Brooklyn that she was performing with Mr. Kelly on tour when she went to visit the singer on his tour bus.

But as she began to open the door, Angela said, she saw Mr. Kelly, who was in his mid-20s at the time, and Aaliyah "in a sexual situation," she told jurors. Aaliyah was seated in a chair, she said, and Mr. Kelly was kneeling and appeared to be performing a sex act on the girl.

Angela "closed the door abruptly," she said, and never spoke with Mr. Kelly about what she saw.

In 2021, at Kelly's trial, during which six accusers, including Angela, have said that Mr. Kelly had sex with them while they were underage, Angela's account stood apart from others: Aaliyah, whom Mr. Kelly married illegally in 1994, is the youngest girl that the singer has been accused of sexually abusing. And Angela became the first accuser to testify that she had seen the two engaged in sexual acts.

Aaliyah, who was one of the most celebrated music stars of the 1990s, has been a significant focus of Mr. Kelly's trial. The marriage of the two singers, using falsified documents when Aaliyah was 15 and Mr. Kelly was 27, prompted the first significant scrutiny of his encounters with underage girls.

Potential sexual crimes that date to the early 1990s would typically be too old to prosecute. But the racketeering charge, which claims that the singer, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, was the head of a criminal scheme that preyed on women and underage girls for sex, allows the government wider latitude.

R. Kelly sentenced to 30 years in prison for federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges

Angela said she first met Mr. Kelly around 1991, when she was between 14 and 15 years old. The singer began to have sex with her while she was underage and a student in high school, she testified.

On a separate stop in Washington, D.C., during the tour, Angela recalled that she and a group of other girls including Aaliyah were reprimanded for breaking the singer’s instructions. Angela told jurors that they had made a trip to a 7-Eleven convenience store for food, but that Mr. Kelly had told them not to leave their hotel. When he learned of their disobedience, he demanded sex, she said.

“Robert told all of us we would have to put out,” she said. “It was dues time,” she added, explaining to jurors that the singer often presented having sex with him as a form of paying their dues.

As Mr. Kelly’s conduct came under renewed scrutiny at the height of the Me Too movement, both installments of the “Surviving R. Kelly” documentary series delved into the accusations.

“If people would have protected Aaliyah, so many other girls wouldn’t have gotten touched,” a former boyfriend, Damon Dash, said during the second portion of the Lifetime series. “Aaliyah was like the sacrificial lamb for all that.”

"Surviving R. Kelly", the revelatory Lifetime documentary series that has illuminated the star’s myriad horrific sex crimes, grooming, and child abuse, detailed new allegations about the end of Kelly’s unlawful marriage to the then-teenage Aaliyah. According to multiple sources in the docuseries, Aaliyah’s family agreed to an NDA after the annulment with one source saying the family promised not to press charges if Kelly sold the family the rights to his first three albums.

Lifetime series include allegations about members of Kelly’s inner circle allegedly looking the other way at Kelly’s abuse of women, girls and also young men over decades, with Pratt saying that “He [Kelly] couldn’t do this by himself… it’s clear as day there were enablers.” Variety noted that the Aaliyah NDA came up during Kelly’s 2022 New York trial, though it did not receive widespread media coverage at the time; Chicago reporter Jim DeRogatis originally broke the news of the NDA, telling the New York Times Popcast podcast in 2018 that the agreement was a “harrowing document… A non-disclosure agreement on both her part and Kelly’s, vowing not to pursue further legal claims for physical abuse. So, it wasn’t just an underage sexual relationship, he hit her, allegedly, according to that court document.”

In federal court in 2022, a Chicago jury found Kelly guilty of three counts of child pornography and three counts of enticing a minor to engage in sexual activity. Aaliyah was named as Jane Doe No. 1 in that trial. 2022 also saw Kelly sentenced to 30 years in prison in a New York court after being found guilty on all counts in a sex-crimes and racketeering case, which saw testimony from 11 accusers (six of whom were underage when the abuse began).

Aaliyah's Singing and Acting Career: Impact and Legacy

Aaliyah changed the sound of R&B music and was one of the most beloved singers of the ‘90s.

Aaliyah’s sophomore album, “One in a Million,” catapulted her to fame with Timbaland’s innovative production and Missy Elliot’s songwriting. This album showcased Aaliyah’s unique style and her undeniable talent in the music industry.

"One in a Million" went double platinum after its release in 1996, and her third — and final — album, Aaliyah, dropped in 2001 and peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's top 10 list.

Aaliyah’s “Try Again” beat out Britney Spears’ ““Oops!... I Did It Again” video and Christina Aguilera’s “What a Girl Wants” to win best female video at the MTV video awards in 2000, another sign she was poised for super stardom.

In addition to her music career, Aaliyah made a name for herself as an actress, starring in films such as “Romeo Must Die” and “Queen of the Damned.” Her role in “Romeo Must Die” alongside Jet Li showcased her acting prowess and led to the creation of the iconic song “Try Again.” Aaliyah was also set to appear in “The Matrix” sequels before her untimely passing.

Sadly, two months after the debut of her self-titled album, Aaliyah’s life was tragically cut short when she died in a plane crash in the Bahamas after filming her music video “Rock the Boat” on Aug. 25, 2001.

The Mysterious Death of Aaliyah: What Caused the Tragic Plane Crash?

Still, two decades later, an air of mystery surrounds what went so tragically wrong on Aug. 25, 2001, when an hour-long flight from the beachy shores of the Abaco Islands to Miami claimed the lives of the 22-year-old superstar Aaliyah D. Haughton and eight others. And, while her family and fans were still processing the sudden loss and an investigation into the crash was barely underway, Aaliyah’s death was quickly eclipsed by another tragedy, Sept. 11.

In the years since, there have been few explanations for why the plane was ever allowed off the ground in the first place. Arguments had broken out between Aaliyah’s entourage and the pilot over the plane being overweight. After the crash, it was quickly confirmed that the small twin-engine plane exceeded its maximum weight limit by several hundred pounds. Plus, the weight was not evenly distributed, which would have made the plane harder to control once it got into the air. The last significant update came in 2002, when a toxicology report found that the inexperienced pilot had cocaine and alcohol in his system.

The news adds to a long list of troubling stories implying that neither the pilot nor the plane were fit to fly, leading to lawsuits filed by the singer’s family and the survivors of other passengers on the doomed flight.

The investigation ultimately ruled Aaliyah’s death as an accident, with the coroner concluding that she died from severe burns and a blow to the head. The tragic event serves as a reminder of the importance of adhering to aviation regulations, ensuring the safety and well-being of passengers and crew alike.

In a 2021 book by journalist Kathy Iandoli, the unauthorized biography, Baby Girl: Better Known As Aaliyah (Atria Books, Simon & Schuster), the author describes the tragedy as one that was likely avoidable.

Iandoli also writes that according to a man who was a 13-year-old baggage handler at the time, Aaliyah, who had been resistant to flying that day, complained of a headache and was napping before being given a pill that he could not identify. The handler, named Kingsley Russell, helped deliver her water before she took the pill. She then fell back asleep and was aided onto the plane.

The Wild Conspiracy Theories Surrounding Aaliyah's Death

After Kelly's arrest, conspiracy theories have begun circulating on the Internet, shockingly suggesting that the Aaliyah's death may not have been an accident.

One of these suspicious theories claimed the singer could have met her end thanks to shady figures in the music industry.

Hinting that industry big-wigs may have become worried about her success, and feared that she might use her platform to out her ex husband's alleged actions, they shockingly suggested that her untimely death may have been an effort to silence her.

In 2024, P Diddy’s arrest sparks wild conspiracy theories involving also Beyoncé and Jay-Z in Aaliyah's death.

P Diddy, who collaborated with Kelly on the track Satisfy You in 1999, was arrested on September 16, 2024. Some of the similarities in the cases brought against Sean “Diddy” Combs this week and Robert Sylvester Kelly several years ago are evident at a glance: Both are world famous, powerful and influential musicians who were accused of sex crimes by federal prosecutors in New York City.

But Combs’ case echoes R. Kelly’s in another way: In each, prosecutors relied on a novel use of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, to indict them on allegations of using that power and fame to wield the resources, businesses and people who answered to them to commit crimes – and attempt to cover them up.

Moreover, Radar Online reportedly spoke to R. Kelly about the situation back in March 2024 (when federal officers raided Diddy's Los Angeles and Miami homes). "I don’t believe none of this s**t," R. Kelly reportedly said of the Diddy situation. "You could tell me about Puffy, you could tell me about anybody. You could tell me on the news, the weather, the sky is blue, I’m not gonna believe the s**t. 'Cause I’m in it now, and I know what they did." Kelly claimed that authorities are "hunting" him, Puff Daddy, and other celebrities because of the "flagrant" way in which they handled their wealth, success, and capacity for power.

In a shocking twist, the arrest of hip-hop mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs in New York City has also unleashed a whirlwind of conspiracy theories, linking some of the music industry's biggest powerhouses—Beyoncé and Jay-Z—to a shadowy underworld of criminal activities. The federal investigation into Diddy, centred on alleged sex trafficking, has rekindled long-standing rumours and fan-fueled theories about his connections with the iconic duo.

The most bizarre theory claims that Beyoncé and Jay-Z are somehow connected to the deaths of beloved music icons like Aaliyah, Left Eye, and Michael Jackson. Yes, you read that right—some theorists believe that the couple, along with Diddy, played a role in the untimely deaths of these stars, including Tupac. Well you wanna know why? Because these celebrities were “taken out” for refusing to fall in line with the industry’s so-called secret elite trio.

J. Cole's popular 2013 track "She Knows" has recently gained traction on social media, thanks to a TikTok conspiracy theory involving the deaths of Aaliyah, Lisa Left Eye Lopes and Michael Jackson.

The theory connects Beyoncé to J. Cole's song "She Knows," claiming that the rapper was referencing the singer in the title. The theory speculates that Beyoncé allegedly had knowledge of a supposed plan by Diddy and Jay-Z that resulted in the deaths of Aaliyah, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, and Michael Jackson.

Fans have drawn their theories from the lyrics:

"Only bad thing 'bout a star is they burn up / Rest in peace to Aaliyah / Rest in peace to Left Eye / Michael Jackson, I'll see ya / Just as soon as I die."

However, the insinuation that R. Kelly or Sean "Diddy" Combs, Jay-Z, and Beyoncé, were complicit in Aaliyah, MJ, and Left Eye's deaths is not proven by any official evidence.

Sources: The New York Times, Fox 5 New York, Variety, Billboard, People, Entertainment Weekly and Radar Online

[cfcorruptibility]

❝ My past is My business . ❞

        savannah smith  ›› K9 Officer  ››  sophia bush  ››   tw: drug use, alcoholism , death , murder , overdose, relapse, serial killer/rapist , kidnapping

🇦​🇵​🇵​🇱​🇮​🇨​🇦​🇹​🇮​🇴​🇳

―  ✘ ╱ ⟨   –  sophia bush, female, she/her.  ⟩ it seems like savannah bradley has been seen around town, humming unsteady by x ambassadors under their breath. apparently they are a 39 year old human. townsfolk whisper about them being dauntless and adventurous, but also blunt and resentful. the police officer has been in town for 4 years, and gives off the vibes of a rebellious past scared straight, lonely nights, and k-9 loaded police cruisers. ( penned by sushi, 27, she/her, est. ) (charlie swan wc)

🇧​🇦​🇸​🇮​🇨​🇸  

full name : savannah nova smith

nicknames : sav, savvy, nova

age : 39

date/place of birth : april 5th in Queens, NY

occupation : K9 officer

affiliation : n/a

language(s) spoken : english  ,  spanish , french, latin

hair color : brunette

eye color : green

notable scars : couple of scars scattering here and there from bullet and knife wounds from work

PERSONALITY ​

positive : dauntless , resilient , adventurous , persuasive , independent , outgoing

negative : impulsive , truculent , cantankerous , aggressive

moral alignment : chaotic good .

deadly sin : wrath

hogwart house : slytherdor

element : earth

emotional stability : for now stable but wasn’t always

alcohol use : regularly

prone to violence? : very

habits : tbd

drives / motivations : her kids

aesthetic : brooke davis from one tree hill ; erin lindsay from chicago pd ; mace browne from the 355 ; jennifer “jj” Jureau from criminal minds ; penelope garcia from criminal minds ; natasha romanoff from marvel cinematic universe ; 

🇫​🇦​🇲​🇮​🇱​🇾​​

mother : unnamed hartfield ( bio mother ) †  , unnamed smith (adoptive mother)

father : unnamed smith ( father )

sibling(s) : unnamed ( older half brother ) , unnamed ( older half brother )

spouse : noah alexander dawson sr ( husband )  †

child(ren) : emma rose dawson ( 13-year-old daughter ) , aspen lily dawson ( 13-year-old daughter ) , isla grace dawson ( 10-year-old daughter ) , noah alexander dawson jr ( 8-year-old son )

other family : tbd

🇧​🇮​🇴  

―  Birth : Born in Queens, NY

―  Age 2 : Mother dies of overdose; goes to live with bio dad and his family

―  Age 4 : Adopted by bio dads wife

―  Age 14 : starts high school ; joins volleyball team and softball team ; works part-time at local cafe

―  Age 15 : starts kickboxing and martial arts in spare time ; starts dating

―  Age 16 : boyfriend cheats on her with best friend ; begins to spiral ; meets guy ( he was twenty five ) at party and is introduced to alcohol and drugs ; rebellious stage begins

―  Age 17 : arrested at party for drug use and under-age drinking ; current nypd sergeant takes pity on her ; gives her slap on the wrist ; enters rehab for 6 months

―  Age 18-23 : graduates high school and joins the police academy ; rises quickly in rank ; joins homicide team with sergeant that took pity on her at 17 ; grows close to sergeant like a second dad ; dating partner/sergeant’s son, noah dawson ; becomes best friends with the only other female cop on homicide team ; loses best friend in the line of work when she’s shot through a door with a shotgun by perp ; toxic ex boyfriend from when she was 16 shows up as suspect holds her and his baby mama hostage, ends up shooting him in self-defense, he doesn’t survive ; noah proposes on her 23rd birthday and  she accepts 

―  Age 24 : her and noah go to bar that is mostly full of off-duty cops and detectives after work to destress over some drinks when bar gets shot up ; takes bullet to abdomen, survives surgery ad returns to work a month later ; married three months after shooting and honeymoon in the maldives ; 

― Age 25 : suffers head injury chasing after suspect, spends a week in the hospital before returning to work ; meets 21-year-old girl with a drug addiction much like herself when she was younger and saves her, puts her through rehab and gets her a job helping the homicide team in house as she goes to school for criminology, the two become best friends and practically inseparable ; serial killer/rapist becomes obsessed with her and begins to stalk her ; best friend is kidnapped by the serial killer/rapist obsessed with her and is killed by him ; homicide team is called and savannah identifies the body as her best friend ; begins to spiral ; makes risky moves and puts herself in the way of harm without second though ; is held at gun point by a childhood friend, yells for him to shoot her what’s one more person ; relapses ; is ambushed by fellow cops who broke into her and noah’s home ; quits job ; few months pass discovers she’s pregnant and returns to rehab, gets clean ; finds out she’s pregnant with twins in rehab

― Age 26 : gives birth to twins ( emma and aspen ) at 30 weeks ; gets job back with homicide team ; gets kidnapped 6 months after giving birth to daughters, more psychological trauma and games from serial killer/rapist obsessed with her, shoots and kills him 

― Age 29 : Pregnant again, gives birth to daughter, isla dawson

― Age 30 : Pregnant once more, gives birth to son, noah dawson jr

― Age 31 :  husband is linked to the murder of a woman and is later found in the trunk of his car shot in the head, noah sr doesn’t survive, leaves savannah widowed and single mother of four young children under the age of 5 ; father-in-law/sergeant retires.

― Age 35 : Father-in-law passes away and Savannah moves herself and her kids to Forks.

🇭​🇪​🇦​🇩​🇨​🇦​🇳​🇴​🇳​  

―  has a cat named sapphire and a german shepherd named alpha

― attends therapy twice a week 

― has a masters in criminology and is self-taught in hacking and coding

― working on her phd in psychology

― suffers from ptsd and severe night terrors

― has been clean for 13 years

― is terrified of returning to the dating scene especially being she’s the single mother of four children

[tachvintlogic]

Casper Basketball Team Headcanons

(Because Wes needs friends who support his interests)

-Unlike most of the football team, they aren’t bullies who pick on nerds, geeks, and band kids for they too are nerds. They’re just athletic enough that you don’t want to pick a fight with them.

-The basketball team and football team don’t like each other for this reason. However, the school cares more about football than basketball, so the football team gets all the favoritism.

-In their free time, they research ghosts and talk about Phantom. They have various theories on who he was, how he died, when he died, etc. Wes just happens to be the only one who’s right.

-Finding candidates for Phantom is difficult because they can’t get a lot of records of people dying in industrial accidents that are young enough to fit the bill or match Phantom's description.

-(Sidenote: I found a list of ~400 industrial accidents that Google claimed was on the internet mid-2000s. The youngest person I could get a name and age for was 21 years old. The team will share my pain. Here’s the link: https://www.icheme.org/media/7141/causes-chemical-details.pdf)

-A few members started with only a passing interest in ghosts since the first attack by the Lunch Lady, but after Cujo showed up during a game, the entire team got on board researching and documenting ghosts.

-Wes provides most of the photos and footage of ghost fights for study.

-Wes is the only freshman on the team (affectionately called “rookie” since he’s the youngest) and thus the only one who sees Danny semi-regularly and how weird he is.

-Wes thinks the team doesn’t believe him only because they don’t see Danny as often as he does, and that he’ll convince them with enough evidence.

-Meanwhile, quite a few of them are in Jazz’s grade, and are just like “dude please stop picking on Jazz’s little brother that’s not cool.”

-Wes doesn’t really try to convince Dash because Wes doesn’t respect his intelligence.

-2 other basketball members were given the names Percy (nicknamed “Prince”) and Tyrone in this post: https://monotype-on-phantom.tumblr.com/post/162529101771/decided-i-wanted-to-pick-out-the-members-of-the

-Tyrone’s preferred go-to for Phantom’s identity is Viktor Kibenok, the youngest firefighter (age 23) to die in the Chernobyl disaster, citing that being a firefighter matches Phantom’s heroism.

-Yes, Tyrone’s aware of the many problems with this theory. He's just happy he's one of the few whose theory includes a name.

-Percy thinks Phantom is more ancient, citing descriptions of a minor god of judgement from the Roman Empire that matches Phantom. He has a relative in a cult that’s latched onto Phantom as this god of judgement returning to the mortal realm.

-He’s not a member of the Stars of the Heavenly Judge. (cult’s name from @goliath-de-senfina-sango ) He’ll only consider joining if Phantom himself confirms the cult’s claims and endorses them.

-Dash isn’t part of the basketball team. He was subbing for Captain, who isn’t present during the basketball team’s one appearance in the show due to a skiing accident.

-The basketball team captain has been captain for so long everyone just calls him Captain and because I couldn’t think of a name for him.

-Captain thinks it wasn’t an industrial accident at all, but a skiing accident. (reference to @floralflowerpower’s post: https://floralflowerpower.tumblr.com/post/681555740988768256/zephyrantha-if-it-makes-you-feel-better-we-all )

-Captain’s theory has some weight to it, but the main reason Captain thinks this is because his parents own a ski resort.

-A basketball team needs 5 players on the court and usually has about 10-12 players, so there are at least 3 unseen, unnamed players with their own theories for how Phantom died.

-One is the Great Chicago Fire because 1) Chicago is thought to be near Amity and many of the ghosts lived nearby and 2) kids died in the fire so the problem of not finding kids who died in industrial accidents is avoided. However, Phantom doesn’t talk like he’s from that period.

-The second is the Bhopal gas tragedy because 1) kids died in it and 2) it’s more recent so Phantom’s modern speech is more plausible. Unfortunately, it’s not that much more plausible than the Chicago Fire theory since Bhopal is in India.

-The third is that he died before child labor laws and safety regulations were a thing. Points for vagueness, but points taken off because of Phantom’s modern speech and for the sheer number of documents they have to go through to find and eliminate candidates.

[fighterkimburgess]

Kissing prompt 31 with Hank x Reader <3

Yet again, I can’t seem to write these prompts short. Oops.

Warnings: canon typical injury, canon typical medical stuff. Can be seen as a prequel to Wedding Woes.

Want to know when my next Hank Voight x Reader story comes out? Join my taglist! 

--

You rolled over, staring at the clock radio on Hank’s bedside table. 1.27am glowed in red from it, and you decided enough was enough, you were getting up. He’d said he would be late, but he’d be back at midnight by the latest. This was too late for him, and your nerves were on edge.

Wrapping a worn CPD hoodie around yourself you went downstairs, first checking the locks were all engaged and then turning the TV on, channel hopping through infomercials and reruns until you found one of the news stations. The lull of the newscasters voices normally helped you drift off. You played with the faded string at the hoodie neck waiting for the bulletin to commence.

“Breaking news this hour, Chicago PD has confirmed that an officer was gravely injured in the line of duty tonight. Members of a team from the 21st Precinct were conducting a raid when a suspect fired, shooting the as yet unnamed officer twice. Paramedics were immediately called, and the victim was taken to Gaffney Chicago Medical Centre for treatment.” You stared in shock at the cameras at the scene, trying to make out the cars in the background. Your blood ran cold as you recognised Hanks patrol car there.

You were on autopilot, changing clothes and grabbing your phone and keys. You threw on a pair of sweatpants over your pjs to keep you warm in the cold Chicago night, before running out of the house. As if on autopilot, you quickly put the car into drive, making your way to Gaffney. Your cell hooked up to the car bluetooth, and you made it call Hank’s cell. The three times you rang it went to voicemail, and even hearing his curt “Voight, leave your message” didn’t soothe you. You needed to hear words from his lips before the panic would leave.

The fourth time you rang it was answered by an unfamiliar voice.

“Who is this?” He asked, without any preamble.

“My name came up on caller ID. Who are you, and why do you have Voight’s phone?” You responded, flicking your blinker to change lanes.

“Because he couldn’t take it back with him. Again, who are you and why are you calling him at nearly two am?” You wanted to scream, but whoever this stranger was was your only lifeline to him.

“I’m his partner. Is he there, is he ok? I saw the news, what’s happened?” At the word partner you heard a scoff from the stranger.

“His team’s all here. Whoever you are, I’d suggest not calling this number again. He doesn’t take kindly to prank calls.” He hung up, and you let a raw, guttural scream out in anguish. Keeping your relationship private had been a great idea until right now.

The gleaming white building appeared before you, and you pulled into the parking lot, taking the ticket from the bored booth attendant and putting it in the windshield. Before too long you were following the signs for the ER waiting room, half running half jogging to make it there. You slowed to a walk before entering, keeping your eyes peeled for who you thought would be Hank’s team.

There were six people in bulletproof vests in one corner of the room, and you could see weapons on their hips. Thumbing the cuff of your sweatshirt and breathing in Hank’s scent from the garment one last time you walked over. They turned and looked as you arrived, and one stood, his eyebrow raised.

“Which one of you has my boyfriend’s phone and hung up on me when I was trying to find out if he’s still alive, you asshole?” Your words landed exactly where you wanted them to, and you saw the shock on their faces. One of the women took over, standing and pushing the guy aside.

“I’m Detective Upton. You’re the person he had as Sweetheart on his phone?” She asked, looking you dead in the eye. You blushed at that.

“Well he didn’t tell he he was doing that, but it doesn’t shock me. Hank is too paranoid to put my actual name there in case it puts me in danger. Whichever one of you is Halstead is down as Chuckles, and I know the rest of you have nicknames too.” You stopped speaking for a moment, running your hands through your hair. “I found out about thirty minutes ago my boyfriend was shot and brought to hospital, is he ok? Is he alive?” The tears began welling up in your eyes again, and Upton directed you to a seat.

“He’s alive. One bullet grazed his arm, he doesn’t even need stitches for it. The other one hit his thigh, and nicked an artery. Doctor Marcel brought him up to surgery about an hour ago, we should have news pretty soon.” It wasn’t the worst possible news you could have gotten, but the tears started falling at it. “You know Voight, he’s strong. He’s going to pull through fine. They wouldn’t let anyone up to the surgical waiting room, but we’re all here waiting for him.”

You sat in silence waiting for news, your head bowed. You hadn’t prayed in years, the Catholic rituals of your youth lost to time and cynicism, a world where you couldn’t counter mingle the faith that had been such a strong part of your childhood and the adult with beliefs you had become. Now though, you craved that familiarity, a rosary in your hand to mark each prayer as they dropped from your lips in little more than a whisper waiting for news.

“Henry Voight’s family?” You raised your head at Hank’s legal name, standing and pulling down the hood that had hidden your red rimmed eyes. Upton pulled you to the front of the group, looking at the tall doctor in black scrubs.

“Important news first, he’s stable. The repair took longer than we thought it would, but it’s fully repaired and functioning. He’ll need to be in for a few days to make sure it holds, but after the first 24 hours we’re out of the woods. We do need to keep him in ICU for that time, but after that we should be able to put him in Step Down. Does anyone have any questions?”

“Can I see him?” Your voice shocked even you, and your fingers flew up to cover your lips.

“Officially it’s just next of kin, but it looks like he doesn’t have anyone. I can let one of you up, just because it’s Voight.” Everyone pushed you forward, and you waved goodbye, following Marcel up to the ICU floor. It was unnaturally quiet, the only sounds machines beeping. He led you to a small glass walled cubicle where Hank lay on the bed, still and silent. Hank was no longer intubated, just a nasal cannula and an IV the clear signs he was in a hospital.

“We’d expect him to wake from the anaesthesia in the next hour or so. Call a nurse when he does, they’ll need to run some tests.” With that Marcel was gone, and you sat on the visitor chair beside his bed.

He looked both older and younger, his fine lines relaxed from the dreamless sleep, but the tiredness he usually wore as anger was fully on display. You picked up his hand and intertwined your fingers with his, relishing the warmth that came from him. He was alive, he was alive.

“God Hank…I prayed for you today. You know that? I haven’t prayed since I was a teenager and in Catholic school, but I prayed for you. I need you to wake up, because I need to know that you’re ok. I never want to find out you’ve been shot from the news again. I can’t even tell you how that felt. I don’t want to tell you, to be honest.” Once your emotions were laid bare while he couldn’t hear and didn’t need to worry, you moved on to lighter conversation - what happened in your job the day before, how you were excited for the weekend and before this happened you’d plans to spend it in the garden, clearing one of the flower beds for a veggie patch.

It was when you had started talking about an album you loved that was twenty years old that week that you felt his fingers twitch against yours, squeezing back. You stared at his face, watching as his eyelids slowly opened, revealing the brown eyes you’d fallen in love with the first time you met him in Molly’s.

“Hank, you’re awake.” A grin spread across your face, and you hit the call bell for a nurse. She was quick, and offered pain medication that Hank refused. He didn’t let go of your hand the entire time she was there, and once she was gone he pulled you into the small bed with him. You were careful to not bump his IV, curling against his side as you reached up and kissed him. It was sweet and pure, filled with the love you knew you shared. Your lips separated, but your foreheads stayed close together, noses touching.

“I love you so much. I love you and your team knows about us now and I’m not sorry because they tried keeping me away from you and I couldn’t let that happen. God I love you.” You kissed him again, slow and sweet, separating with a smile on your lips.

“I love you so much, Sweetheart. I’m so glad you’re here and you’re with me.”

Hank Voight Taglist: @ohitsnicolexo

Everything Taglist: @gins-potter.

[erysdren]

I'm A Director Now I Guess

I don't usually write long posts or anything, but I'm gonna try my best to write a vaguely interesting blog post here about what I've been up to the last few months.

Since 2017 I've been fascinated by a defunct videogame/software/media company named RUNANDGUN! Movin' Pictures, which existed from 1993 to 2004 or so. It was founded by four friends just out of college, and was based in Chicago. In the early days, they made ends meet by doing contract media work for companies like VictorMaxx, Nickelodeon and TV Land. Once they had a footing though, they set about making their first big project: Duelin' Firemen!, an extremely weird and abrasive FMV game for the 3DO console.

Filming commenced in 1994, and continued throughout 1995. A handful of programmers were brought on throughout the development, but no concrete "game" could be established. The founders were film students, and making pictures move was what they were good at. While almost everything they planned to film had been filmed, no sort of gameplay or even a working prototype had been developed.

By 1996 they had a few 3D mockups, but nothing concrete. This was also the time that the 3DO, their target console, had shown itself to be a total failure. The timeline is a bit hazy, but this is approximately when they gave up on Duelin' Firemen! as a game, and tried to pitch it as a short film. Around September of 1996, they edited all of the finished footage together into a 7 and a half minute short film, which they submitted to the Sundance Film Festival. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they were rejected.

After the failure of Duelin' Firemen!, they hired their first full-time programmer. With their same oddball sensibilities and a few years of experience under their belt, they successfully produced Wild Ride! Surf Shack, a cute surfing game about doing sick tricks and scoring huge points.

It's hard to find much evidence online of this game at a quick glance, but all of the known versions can be downloaded from the Internet Archive.

After Wild Ride, the team realized that the emerging market of handheld consoles could be highly lucrative. A subsidiary company was created, Cave+Barn Studios, which consisted of essentially the same members but with a new name and new contractual obligations. They developed a few Gameboy Color games, which were cancelled, including a sequel to Wild Ride! named Wicked Surfing.

Later they moved on to the Gameboy Advance, developing the cult hit Urban Yeti! and the much-lampooned BattleBots: Beyond the BattleBox. In 2002 or 2003 they entered into a bad contract with an unnamed publisher, who pushed them to develop games for the Playstation. After some time, the publisher pulled out suddenly, leaving Cave+Barn high and dry, and without any money to pay their bills. They went under shortly after that.

That's the short version of their story, essentially. And since 2017 I've been working on a feature-length documentary film about them.

I can't help but be fascinated by this group. A floundering media company, fucked over by publishers at every turn, trying their damndest just to make something that appealed to their sensibilities, which they say did not really exist in videogames at the time.

I've collected loads of archival material, including development assets, behind the scenes footage, tapes and photos, all from the 10+ years of this company's existence. I've also done a handful of interviews. But in the last 6 months the project has really gotten off the ground.

One of the founders has agreed to finance my project, with me as the director and him as the producer. With his help, I went to Vancouver last week and shot interviews with 3 of the subjects, and it was just fantastic.

We had a really great crew! All the stuff we recorded looked and sounded amazing. I asked the interview questions along with my co-writer Cass, who came in remotely.

I'll be able to show some of the stuff we shot soon, contracts allowing. I estimate that this short film, which is a precursor to the full length film, will be completed sometime around Q3 2023.

[jay-in-chicago]

Know The Risk.

Summary: Jay knows sleeping with his CI is enough to get him fired, but when she’s needed for an job, Jay can’t handle it. Pairing: Jay Halstead x unnamed female character. Characters: Jay, Voight, Olinsky. Warnings: mentions of drug dealing, weapon threat (gun), the suggestion of sexual favours in exchange for work (incredibly brief and not in detail), brief mention of sex (with Jay). Words: 2092 A/N: I’m pretty nervous to be posting this, so I’ll hit post and then go and hide. While I’m not new to writing, I am new to writing for the Chicago world. Apologies if the characterisation isn’t correct, I’m still learning. Not BETA’d because this is my first time here, so all mistakes, errors and typos are completely my own.

This was a request from my patreon account.

Likes, reblogs and feedback makes me squeal with happiness.

______

Jay’s been on edge ever since she stepped out of the car and headed towards the meeting point. He’d personally wired her up as he’d tried to keep his cool. His fingers had worked meticulously, and he’d made sure the camera attached to her blouse button was hidden. They needed to see as well as hear but the thought of her going in there alone made bile rise.

“I thought you wanted to solve this case?” she’d questioned, staring him down as she’d ran her tongue over her teeth as she watched him fretting.

“I do but not at this expense.” He’d whispered back, thankful the mic wasn’t live yet. To the rest of the team, she was simply one of Jay’s informants, nothing more than that. He had a few, mostly men but there were a few women who he could call on for a favour, though she’s the only one who had managed to get under his skin. She’d left such an impression on him that he couldn’t get her off his mind.

“Admit it,” she’d grinned at him, “if you weren’t milking me for information every opportunity you have, you’d be trying to get something else out of me.” He’d held out as long as he possibly could before she’d been invited to his apartment, the two of them finally giving in to what has been building for months. Jay had taken her with such relish, desperate to savour every moment of it not thinking for a moment it would be repeated.

But it had. That first time had unlocked something within the two of them, making them unable to resist one another. They’d find a way to have the conversations at either hers or his, she’d tell him everything he needed to know with each swipe of his tongue. Jay made sure he learnt what she liked as quickly as possible. He didn’t have an ego outside of the bedroom and ensured that it stayed the same inside of it but he couldn’t help it. The more she gave him, the more he wanted to take. The more he needed to take.

She’d have given him the information regardless but the coaxing, slow drawing of it, the way she’d withhold details unless he gave her an orgasm was all part of their foreplay. And for every arrest made, every case closed thanks to her, she was rewarded with even more. When Jay reached out to her about this case, she had the right connections, provided details and information that proved to be vital. She’d managed to worm her way in, met their main suspect a few times and managed to get close to being trusted as an outsider could, enabling her to be able to slip between members without being stopped. Or at least not initially.

Which is why she was the perfect candidate for heading in there tonight. Jay sits with headphones on, eyes barely moving from the screen. He hates every word that comes from her mouth. He knows she’s putting it on, but the seductive tone to it makes his cock stir against his wishes, the words should be making him shrink back against the seat in which he sits. She’s flirting with whoever she needs, their faces show the level of interest in her, the way they lick their lips as they drag their gaze down her body and wipe their thumb over the corner of their mouth as they chuckle and click their tongue.

She slipped through the crowd, searching for the one who they’d shown her the picture of until finally he came into view on the camera. Jay felt his body tense up, watching everything unfold on the screen before him. He’d seen what happened to people who got in his way, they were either in the ground or in the morgue and one wrong thing said, one tone off, one nervous hesitation and he’d know. The last thing Jay wanted was to watch her be taken down in front of his eyes, recorded for evidence and to be used whenever needed. The thought of it turned his stomach, had him biting at his nails with anxiety until he was sitting forward, his eyes widening as Darius played straight into her hand.

Jay knew better than anyone how good she was. She played the part incredibly well, and though he knew how she appeared to others, he was the one who saw her for who she really was. The version playing out on the screen for the team to see right now, that was flawless acting. Olinsky and Voight have exchanged glances at one another, muttered under their breath no doubt not wanting Jay to hear but he has. They comment on the way she held her cool, how convincing she appeared and how if they hadn’t had a conversation with her prior to sending her in there, they’d have believed her act. Pride licks at the edges of the raw anxiety ridden wound that festered with each passing minute.

“So you’re the one I’ve been hearin’ ‘bout?” his voice could be heard over the music, the way he looked at her made Jay’s stomach turn.

“depends what you’ve been hearing.”

His tongue slipped over his lips as he’d opened his legs, his hand resting against his inner thigh, the opposite leg swings open and closed as he watched her. “that you know someone who can take twenty keys and make me a lotta money.”

“That’s enough, we can get her out now, right?” Jay asked, moving the headset from one ear to look at Voight.

“Not yet,” his husky tone remained steady as his eyes stayed fixed on the screen.

“He just adm-”

“He didn’t admit anything. We need something concrete before we bust in there and mess up the whole thing.”

Jay clenched his jaw, kept listening and waiting impatiently for Darius to say something which could be used. He wasn’t a praying man but sitting there, with the screen having his full attention and her safety fully on his mind? Yeah, Jay was praying.

“listen yeah? Imma let your guy sell 8. See how that shifts. See if I can trust him.” Darius talks slowly, his eyes never leaving hers. What he means by trusting her buying is also seeing if he could trust her too. Jay knows how this works. You tell a small secret, or a lie, see what happens with it. Build it up until you decide if you can trust a person. If she delivers him the money for 8 and keeps the money coming in, she can be trusted with more product. “After that, we’ll look at somethin’ bigger yeah?”

Darius’s gaze drops down her body, takes in the curves of her body, the ones that Jay knows too well. His blood boils but he forces his hand to remain relaxed. If he clenched his hand, showed his emotion which could be taken exactly for what it is, he’d be packing his desk in a box and walked out of the building before the ink had dried on his paperwork.

Come on you son of a bitch, give me one good reason not to land a punch on you the second I get my hands on you.

“Like what?”

“Look at you thinkin’ big.” He runs his tongue back over his lips as he watches her. “I like the way your mind works. How bout that mouth?”

“What about it?”

“Wanna taste somethin’ on mine? You gonna be sellin’ it, don’t you wanna taste first? See how good it is” he asks, the fingers of the hand that rests against his thigh drums over his clothes.

“You’re giving me a freebie?”

“Bitch, ain’t nothing free here.” He scoffs, unable to believe she really asked that. “You want my H? You gotta show me how much you want it.” His hand moves, fingers tracing over his belt, snapping it open in one fluid motion. The explanation clear.

“We go now.” Voight’s voice rings out behind Jay. His headset is snapped away from him within seconds and he’s on his feet, out of the van with the others following.

___

“Jay?” Neither have really said a word since they got back to the precinct. She wanted to, was desperate to fill the silence with mindless chatter like they would usually but the look on his face tells her he’d rather have this than talk. “Jay.” She tries again and only now do his light eyes flicker up to her face. His hands still work, removing her wires, her camera and anything else which could pick the two of them up. Anything which could be used against them. “Are you not going to say anything?”

“I will once my heart leaves my throat.”

“I did ok though, right? You’d use me again.”

“You terrified me half to death, that’s what you did.”

“But did I do ok?”

He sighs, locks his jaw and stares at her as his hands drop to his side, the devices tightly fixed in his fist. “You did and that’s the problem.”

Her brow furrows, “pro-”

“Yes, problem. Do you realise how convincing you were? If we hadn’t come in when we had? He could’ve-”

“but he didn’t.”

“But he could have.”

“I knew the risk when I agreed to do this.” She lifts her face, angles her chin defiantly at him.

“So did I but that doesn’t mean I’m happy about the way he was or how it was playing out.” Turning his back briefly to put the device into the box it came from, he can’t wipe the memory of the camera from his mind.

They’re downstairs, away from security cameras, away from mics; the only two in that area are the ones Jay has just disconnected and put away. Alone, with no footsteps approaching, she steps forward and pulls him into a hug. “I’m fine. You came at exactly the right time. Maybe if you came in minutes after? That could have been a different story. Look at me, he barely touched me.” She says, ignoring the way her head throbs at the memory of how he’d grabbed her hair so tightly she thought he planned to rip clumps from her scalp as he’d dragged her to her feet and held a gun to her temple, using her as a shield. Her heart rate had only just calmed but the intense way that Jay stared at her made it pick up a little more. “I’m ok because of you.”

“But if I hadn’t.” His voice cracks a little and that one sound? That one sound breaks her.

“Hey,” moving his hand, she presses it against her chest, “see, I’m alive because of you and your team. Don’t beat yourself up over what could be. I’m here. Unhurt. And I’d do it again if it meant I could be of use to you.”

“Your information helps enough. I don’t need you almost getting attacked or killed just so we can take someone down. There are other ways.”

“If it wasn’t me in that position Jay, it would have been someone else. Would you have felt better having someone else have that gun pressed against their head just because it wasn’t me? Because I wouldn’t.”

When he says nothing, just continues to stare at her, she nuzzles her nose against his jaw, over his throat before pressing her lips to him, feeling the rough stubble as it grazes against her soft skin. “You’re feeling this because you acted as you should.” she presses more kisses, up the underside of his jaw and finally over the curve of it, her lips dragging towards his lips until he finally moves, dipping his face to meet her lips with his own and kisses her with all the pent up emotion he’d been keeping in, now barely to hold himself back after just a taste of her again.

“We can’t do this here.” He groans, forcing himself to pull away from her. Her eyes are dilating, her chest rises and falls from the rapid breathing. “You know where the spare key is for my place right? I’ll meet you there. You need to go now before I take you into the supply closet and get fired.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure I’m naked.” She says, stepping towards him and pulling his lip between her teeth, nibbling on it just enough to draw a long groan from him before letting it go with a satisfying pop.

[offsidenewsco]

"Lukas Reichel was drafted seventeenth overall in 2020, back when Chicago was still capable of things like 'playoffs' and 'having a core that wasn’t just a random teenager named Connor.'"

Read the latest from the Unnamed Chicago Team here!

[cpd5021]

Crossing Lines - Chapter Three

**FIXED** Thanks to everyone who let me know that something was wrong with this post! Good to go now!!!

As I made my way out of the office, drugs in hand, I felt my shoulders stiffening with the weight of what I was doing. And suddenly the lines were blurring again.

I found myself sitting in my loaner car, listening to the rain beat against my windows, and contemplating the past few months. A few weeks ago, actually well before that, if I’m being honest, I found the lines I had previously clung so close to beginning to blur. In both my personal and professional life. As for the latter, my blurring of the lines culminated in me planting false evidence in Gael’s car, knowing the chain of events that would follow. What I hadn’t known, is that Voight would ship me off to New York, effectively ripping me away from life as I knew it. I suppose, after internally reviewing the worst case scenario, getting sent to New York wasn’t the worst thing that could have happened. I could have been fired, or even arrested, had Voight given me up. But he hadn’t, and I couldn’t quite figure out why. I considered the fact that him turning me in would have cast another bad shadow onto Intelligence, something it was all too familiar with. Of course, he wouldn’t jeopardize the rest of the team based on my actions, even though that’s exactly what I had done. There was another part of me that knew, deep down, he hadn’t turned me in because there was a part of him that would have done the same thing. A part of me that had become like him and I’m not sure who that scared more. Voight didn’t want anyone to follow in his path and made damn sure anyone who worked under him stayed on the straight and narrow, for the most part. I knew planting the drugs in Gael’s car was bad, although my blurred lines had greatly fogged up my judgement in the moment. Now, a few weeks later, and given the same opportunity tonight, they blurred again. I had walked into the storage room, fully prepared to take a brick with me, holding the weight of it in my hand. But something in me had shifted, maybe back to the old Hailey. Or maybe to a new Hailey, somewhere in between the two extremes I had experienced. I recalled Voight’s statement about the lines getting to a point where you couldn’t see them. Originally, I thought I was already there. But as I stood in the room, drugs in hand, I could see them clear as day. I logged in the drugs, the entire amount, and exited the building with a shaky breath. I hurried through the rain to my car, tossing my belongings into the passenger seat as I pulled the door shut beside me. That was an hour ago and I hadn’t moved yet. 

The thing about lines, and realizing where they were and where I stood in respect to them, was that there were more lines than just moral or ethical ones. There were all sorts of lines. Personal, professional, friendship lines....all of which, in retrospect, had blurred over the last few months. As I sat in my car, the rain still pounding down, I debated the other set of lines that had blurred. The ones separating Jay and I. I had known, if I’m being honest, that I had developed feelings for him, more so than just friendship, quite a while ago. Although what those feelings were exactly, I hadn’t put a finger on. He was different than any other partner I had had, different than anyone I had ever considered a friend. He understood me on a level few others had. There was something about him that made me want to tell him all the deep dark secrets I had to offer, and though I had managed to keep most of it under wraps, there were a few things that had escaped over the years. I realized there was an ebb and flow between us. Some unnamable force of nature that just clicked with us. We worked well together, both at work and out. I would wake up in the mornings, ready to spend the day at work with him by my side, knowing that no matter what came our way, he would have my back and we would be okay. I could follow him blindly, without hesitation, a feeling I had never experienced before. My life had taught me time and time again, to play it close to the vest, to keep others out unless it was vital to my survival and more importantly, to trust no one. But somehow, he swooped in and knocked all those walls down. It was good. We were good. And then he was shot. And suddenly, I couldn’t breath. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t comprehend that somehow he could be gone and life was just supposed to go on without him. But still, I couldn’t put a finger on it. I felt a smile creep onto my face as I recalled the moment in the waiting room with Vanessa. 

“It’s hard because you love him.”

She said it so simply, so matter of fact, that I almost nodded in agreement. As if it was something that was so undeniably correct, she couldn’t possibly be wrong. I caught myself though, feeling tears gathering in my eyes as the realization that maybe, in fact, she was right, hit me like a freight train. I recovered enough to correct her.

“Of course I love him, he’s my partner.”

She smiled at me, her eyes giving me a knowing look. It wasn’t one I could comprehend and if there was something else she wanted to say, she refrained. I was left alone then, Vanessa getting called out to work a case and as I sat in the waiting room, surrounded by strangers, I felt the walls I had so carefully constructed begin to crumble. I did love Jay, without a doubt. But it was more than that. I didn’t just love him, I was in love with him. 

Blinking myself back into the present, I rubbed at my eyes, removing the moisture that had gathered there. Over the months that followed Jay getting shot and my almost confession in his  room, I had stood by as the lines between us began to blur. It wasn’t something he was aware of, I don’t think. But looking back, after that moment, I had to fight harder to keep my walls up, to keep him from getting any closer. Of course there were a few times those walls lapsed, but for the most part, I had done a satisfactory job. Now, as I realized just how alone in New York I was, I contemplated my next move. New York had worked, so far, in reference to making the lines at work clear. I guess I could thank Voight for that when I got back. But it also made the lines between Jay and I more evident than they had ever been. I found myself at a fork in the road, so to speak. I had two options; I could admit my feelings to Jay, hoping that he returned them and then tackling whatever that brought along with it. Or, I could take this time away to clear my head and focus on rebuilding my walls without the distraction of him right beside me. I could push those feelings down, lock them away, and avoid the inevitable hurt they would bring. After everything I had been through, the thought of avoiding any additional hurt seemed like the best option. So I sat up in my seat, finally starting my car up after all this time, and forced a deep breath into my lungs. Today, or tonight rather, was a turning point for me. One where I could get myself back on track. I shifted the car into gear and pointed towards my hotel. 

Over the next few days, I made a valiant effort to not only function well at work, but to actively participate. Autopilot was officially turned off and allowing myself to feel again, to experience life instead of blocking it out, felt amazing. Voight checked in with me on the first day of what should have been my last week, surprising me when he told me the task force had asked him if I could stay a little longer and that he was going to leave the decision up to me. I think I surprised him more when I agreed to stay. 

“Sarge, I think being here has been really good for me. I can see all the lines clearly now and it’s...well it’s good. I want to come back, I’m desperate too, but I think it would be better if I stuck it out a little longer.”

He was silent for a moment, considering my response. I sat at my desk, looking at the hustle and bustle happening around me, the chaos bringing me an odd sense of peace. 

“That’s good kid, glad to hear it. But know that I have no intention of letting them keep you on a permanent basis. I need you back here, we all do.”

I smiled at his reply, wondering if there was some unspoken implication in his ‘we’, but let it go. I finally felt that I was on good terms with Voight again, the wounds he had opened with his outburst finally healing. I understood now why he had done what he had done, because it was exactly what I needed at that point. We ended our call and I got back to work, heading over to share the news with OA. 

“Bad news, you’re stuck with me for a few more weeks.”

I gave him a sheepish smile, rolling my eyes when he pretended to scoff. His charade didn’t last long before his signature smirk played across his face. 

“I knew the pizza would grow on you!” 

Now it was my turn to scoff, earning a laugh from him. 

“No way, that sauce on a cracker is not pizza. Chicago style all the way.”

We continued our banter until it was time to head to roll call, both of us still smiling when we walked in. It felt good to joke with him, good to have a good partner. He was still no Jay, but he was a great guy and I counted myself lucky for the opportunity to have him as a partner. The day flowed easily and at the end of the day, OA was jogging to catch up with me in the parking lot on my way out. 

“Hey! Chicago!”

He boomed, slowing his last few steps as he closed the distance between us. I smiled at his use of my newfound nickname. 

“We’re all going to grab some drinks. Come along.”

It wasn’t really a question, I knew he would protest if I put up a fight, but I happily agreed, feeling I deserved to blow off some steam after the last few weeks. I got in my car, following him to the bar where everyone else was headed and we walked in together, easily finding a corner for our group. I ordered myself a beer and a basket of fries, swatting his hand away when he tried to steal some. 

“So I gotta ask, if it wasn’t the pizza, what made you stay?”

He took a swig from his beer, waiting for me to reply. I considered my answer, having not really thought about it much myself. 

“I guess...being here, it’s given me some time to get my head straight. I don’t think I’m quite there yet though.”

I smiled at him, surprising myself with my honesty, but it felt good to be a little open about what was going on inside my head. 

“I can understand that. I know we’re basically strangers, but I can totally tell the difference between now and when you first got here. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone so...stoic. Like autopilot.”

His statement had me dipping my head down, feigning interest in my bottle. His bluntness was nothing new to me at this point but it still managed to catch me off guard every now and then. 

“I guess I had kinda shut down after I got sent here. I’m sorry, I wasn’t fair to you.”

I peaked up, giving him a sheepish look and relaxing when I saw him smile. 

“No worries, I can handle my fair share of the cold shoulder. I’m glad you came around though. Obviously I’m an awesome partner, but it turns out so are you.”

His words had me smiling and I was happy for the easy conversation. He was an awesome partner, all teasing aside, and if I ever got the opportunity to work with him again I would. The rest of the group arrived then and we all fell into an easy flow of banter. The night continued on and the beers continued to flow. I paced myself, not wanting to go overboard since I did have work tomorrow, but I was thankful for the night out. I sat at the table, laughing at the banter flowing around me, when I felt my phone buzzing in my pocket. I shifted to pull it out and felt my heart sink when I saw Jay’s face lighting up the screen. I felt panic rise into my chest and swiped the red button, declining the call. I set the phone on the table, chugging the rest of my beer, my heart sinking again when I saw a voicemail notification pop up. I managed to say my goodbyes to the group without drawing attention to my change in mood and then ducked out the door, counting my steps to the car. By the time I was inside, I felt my hands trembling from the pent up nerves. It had been weeks since I had talked to Jay, heard his voice. My whole idea to build my walls back up was easy enough when I had no contact with him but the second I saw his name, they instantly began to crumble. With a shaky hand, I pulled my phone out and opened the voicemail, holding my breath as I waited to hear his voice. 

Hailey...I...I don’t know what to say. I’m sorry, for the way I treated you..for everything. I just want to talk to you, I need to talk to you. Please…

His voice shattered something inside me. It was broken and dejected, a stark contrast to the Jay I knew. I could tell he was struggling and I immediately wanted to call him back, tell him that everything was okay, that we were okay. But I couldn’t do that, because it wasn’t okay...we weren’t okay. I knew why he had reacted the way he did, but his response still managed to carve wounds into me that had yet to heal. Sure, I had pushed them down, managed to ignore them, but his voice brought them right back up to the surface. I hadn’t forgiven him yet and I wasn’t sure I ever fully could. I took a deep breath, forcing my walls back up, brick by brick, and tossed my phone onto the seat beside me. I wouldn’t respond to him tonight, I couldn’t.

[blackkudos]

Ralph Ellison

Ralph Waldo Ellison (March 1, 1913 – April 16, 1994) was an American novelist, literary critic, and scholar best known for his novel Invisible Man, which won the National Book Award in 1953. He also wrote Shadow and Act (1964), a collection of political, social and critical essays, and Going to the Territory (1986). For The New York Times, the best of these essays in addition to the novel put him "among the gods of America's literary Parnassus." A posthumous novel, Juneteenth, was published after being assembled from voluminous notes he left upon his death.

Early life

Ralph Waldo Ellison, named after Ralph Waldo Emerson, was born at 407 East First Street in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to Lewis Alfred Ellison and Ida Millsap, on March 1, 1913. He was the second of three sons; firstborn Alfred died in infancy, and younger brother Herbert Maurice (or Millsap) was born in 1916. Lewis Alfred Ellison, a small-business owner and a construction foreman, died in 1916, after an operation to cure internal wounds suffered after shards from a 100-lb ice block penetrated his abdomen, when it was dropped while being loaded into a hopper. The elder Ellison loved literature, and doted on his children, Ralph discovering as an adult that his father had hoped he would grow up to be a poet.

In 1921, Ellison's mother and her children moved to Gary, Indiana, where she had a brother. According to Ellison, his mother felt that "my brother and I would have a better chance of reaching manhood if we grew up in the north." When she did not find a job and her brother lost his, the family returned to Oklahoma, where Ellison worked as a busboy, a shoeshine boy, hotel waiter, and a dentist's assistant. From the father of a neighborhood friend, he received free lessons for playing trumpet and alto saxophone, and would go on to become the school bandmaster.

Ida remarried three times after Lewis died. However, the family life was precarious, and Ralph worked various jobs during his youth and teens to assist with family support. While attending Douglass High School, he also found time to play on the school's football team. He graduated from high school in 1931. He worked for a year, and found the money to make a down payment on a trumpet, using it to play with local musicians, and to take further music lessons. At Douglass, he was influenced by principal Inman E. Page and his daughter, music teacher Zelia N. Breaux.

At Tuskegee Institute

Ellison applied twice for admission to Tuskegee Institute, the prestigious all-black university in Alabama founded by Booker T. Washington. He was finally admitted in 1933 for lack of a trumpet player in its orchestra. Ellison hopped freight trains to get to Alabama, and was soon to find out that the institution was no less class-conscious than white institutions generally were.

Ellison's outsider position at Tuskegee "sharpened his satirical lens," critic Hilton Als believes: "Standing apart from the university's air of sanctimonious Negritude enabled him to write about it." In passages of Invisible Man, "he looks back with scorn and despair on the snivelling ethos that ruled at Tuskegee."

Tuskegee's music department was perhaps the most renowned department at the school, headed by composer William L. Dawson. Ellison also was guided by the department's piano instructor, Hazel Harrison. While he studied music primarily in his classes, he spent his free time in the library with modernist classics. He cited reading T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land as a major awakening moment. In 1934, he began to work as a desk clerk at the university library, where he read James Joyce and Gertrude Stein. Librarian Walter Bowie Williams enthusiastically let Ellison share in his knowledge.

A major influence upon Ellison was English teacher Morteza Drezel Sprague, to whom Ellison later dedicated his essay collection Shadow and Act. He opened Ellison's eyes to "the possibilities of literature as a living art" and to "the glamour he would always associate with the literary life." Through Sprague Ellison became familiar with Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment and Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure, identifying with the "brilliant, tortured anti-heroes" of those works.

As a child, Ellison evidenced what would become a lifelong interest in audio technology, starting by taking apart and rebuilding radios, and later moved on to constructing and customizing elaborate hi-fi stereo systems as an adult. He discussed this passion in a December 1955 essay, "Living With Music," in High Fidelity magazine. Ellison scholar John S. Wright contends that this deftness with the ins-and-outs of electronic devices went on to inform Ellison's approach to writing and the novel form. Ellison remained at Tuskegee until 1936, and decided to leave before completing the requirements for a degree.

In New York

Desiring to study sculpture, he moved to New York City on 5 July 1936 and found lodging at a YMCA on 135th Street in Harlem, then "the culture capital of black America." He met Langston Hughes, "Harlem's unofficial diplomat" of the Depression era, and one—as one of the country's celebrity black authors—who could live from his writing. Hughes introduced him to the black literary establishment with Communist sympathies.

He met several artists who would influence his later life, including the artist Romare Bearden and the author Richard Wright (with whom he would have a long and complicated relationship). After Ellison wrote a book review for Wright, Wright encouraged him to write fiction as a career. His first published story was "Hymie's Bull," inspired by Ellison's 1933 hoboing on a train with his uncle to get to Tuskegee. From 1937 to 1944, Ellison had over 20 book reviews, as well as short stories and articles, published in magazines such as New Challenge and The New Masses.

Wright was then openly associated with the Communist Party, and Ellison was publishing and editing for communist publications, although his "affiliation was quieter," according to historian Carol Polsgrove in Divided Minds. Both Wright and Ellison lost their faith in the Communist Party during World War II, when they felt the party had betrayed African Americans and replaced Marxist class politics with social reformism. In a letter to Wright, dated August 18, 1945, Ellison poured out his anger with party leaders: "If they want to play ball with the bourgeoisie they needn't think they can get away with it. ... Maybe we can't smash the atom, but we can, with a few well chosen, well written words, smash all that crummy filth to hell." In the wake of this disillusion, Ellison began writing Invisible Man, a novel that was, in part, his response to the party's betrayal.

In 1938 Ellison met Rosa Araminta Poindexter, a woman two years his senior. They were married in late 1938. Rose was a stage actress, and continued her career after their marriage. In biographer Arnold Rampersad's assessment of Ellison's taste in women, he was searching for one "physically attractive and smart who would love, honor, and obey him--but not challenge his intellect." At first they lived at 312 West 122nd Street, Rose's apartment, but moved to 453 West 140th Street after her income shrank. In 1941 he briefly had an affair with Sanora Babb, which he confessed to his wife afterward, and in 1943 the marriage was over.

At the start of World War II, Ellison was classed 1A by the local Selective Service System, and thus eligible for the draft. However, he was not drafted. Toward the end of the war, he enlisted in the United States Merchant Marine. In 1946, he married Fanny McConnell, an accomplished person in her own right: a scholarship graduate of the University of Iowa who was a founder of the Negro People's Theater in Chicago and a writer for The Chicago Defender. She helped support Ellison financially while he wrote Invisible Man by working for American Medical Center for Burma Frontiers (the charity supporting Gordon S. Seagrave's medical missionary work). From 1947 to 1951, he earned some money writing book reviews but spent most of his time working on Invisible Man. Fanny also helped type Ellison's longhand text and assisted him in editing the typescript as it progressed.

Published in 1952, Invisible Man explores the theme of man's search for his identity and place in society, as seen from the perspective of the first-person narrator, an unnamed African American man in the New York City of the 1930s. In contrast to his contemporaries such as Richard Wright and James Baldwin, Ellison created characters that are dispassionate, educated, articulate, and self-aware. Through the protagonist, Ellison explores the contrasts between the Northern and Southern varieties of racism and their alienating effect. The narrator is "invisible" in a figurative sense, in that "people refuse to see" him, and also experiences a kind of dissociation. The novel also contains taboo issues such as incest and the controversial subject of communism.

Later years

In 1964, Ellison published Shadow and Act, a collection of essays, and began to teach at Bard College, Rutgers University and Yale University, while continuing to work on his novel. The following year, a Book Week poll of 200 critics, authors, and editors was released that proclaimed Invisible Man the most important novel since World War II.

In 1967, Ellison experienced a major house fire at his summer home in Plainfield, Massachusetts, in which he claimed more than 300 pages of his second novel manuscript were lost. A perfectionist regarding the art of the novel, Ellison had said in accepting his National Book Award for Invisible Man that he felt he had made "an attempt at a major novel" and, despite the award, he was unsatisfied with the book. Ellison ultimately wrote more than 2,000 pages of this second novel but never finished it.

Ellison died on April 16, 1994 of pancreatic cancer and was interred in a crypt at Trinity Church Cemetery in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan.

Awards and recognition

Invisible Man won the 1953 US National Book Award for Fiction.

The award was his ticket into the American literary establishment. He eventually was admitted to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, received two President's Medals (from Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan) and a State Medal from France. He was the first African-American admitted to the Century Association and was awarded an honorary Doctorate from Harvard University. Disillusioned by his experience with the Communist Party, he used his new fame to speak out for literature as a moral instrument. In 1955 he traveled to Europe, visiting and lecturing, settling for a time in Rome, where he wrote an essay that appeared in a 1957 Bantam anthology called A New Southern Harvest. Robert Penn Warren was in Rome during the same period, and the two writers became close friends. Later, Warren would interview Ellison about his thoughts on race, history, and the Civil Rights Movement for his book Who Speaks for the Negro? In 1958, Ellison returned to the United States to take a position teaching American and Russian literature at Bard College and to begin a second novel, Juneteenth. During the 1950s, he corresponded with his lifelong friend, the writer Albert Murray. In their letters they commented on the development of their careers, the Civil Rights Movement, and other common interests including jazz. Much of this material was published in the collection Trading Twelves (2000).

Writing essays about both the black experience and his love for jazz music, Ellison continued to receive major awards for his work. In 1969, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom; the following year, he was made a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by France and became a permanent member of the faculty at New York University as the Albert Schweitzer Professor of Humanities, serving from 1970 to 1980.

In 1975, Ellison was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and his hometown of Oklahoma City honored him with the dedication of the Ralph Waldo Ellison Library. Continuing to teach, Ellison published mostly essays, and in 1984, he received the New York City College's Langston Hughes Medal. In 1985, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts. In 1986, his Going to the Territory was published; this is a collection of seventeen essays that included insight into southern novelist William Faulkner and Ellison's friend Richard Wright, as well as the music of Duke Ellington and the contributions of African Americans to America's national identity.

In 1992, Ellison was awarded a special achievement award from the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards; his artistic achievements included work as a sculptor, musician, photographer, and college professor as well as his writing output. He taught at Bard College, Rutgers University, the University of Chicago, and New York University. Ellison was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers.

Legacy and posthumous publications

After Ellison's death, more manuscripts were discovered in his home, resulting in the publication of Flying Home and Other Stories in 1996. In 1999 his second novel, Juneteenth, was published under the editorship of John F. Callahan, a professor at Lewis & Clark College and Ellison's literary executor. It was a 368-page condensation of more than 2000 pages written by Ellison over a period of 40 years. All the manuscripts of this incomplete novel were published collectively on January 26, 2010, by Modern Library, under the title Three Days Before the Shooting...

On February 18, 2014, the USPS issued a 91¢ stamp honoring Ralph Ellison in its Literary Arts series.

A park on 150th Street and Riverside Drive in Harlem (near 730 Riverside Drive, Ellison's principal residence from the early 1950s until his death) was dedicated to Ellison on May 1, 2003. In the park stands a 15 by 8-foot bronze slab with a "cut-out man figure" inspired by his book, "Invisible Man."

Bibliography

Invisible Man (Random House, 1952). ISBN 0-679-60139-2

Flying Home and Other Stories (Random House, 1996). ISBN 0-679-45704-6; includes the short story "A Party Down at the Square"

Juneteenth (Random House, 1999). ISBN 0-394-46457-5

Three Days Before the Shooting... (Modern Library, 2010). ISBN 978-0-375-75953-6

Essay collections

Shadow and Act (Random House, 1964). ISBN 0-679-76000-8

Going to the Territory (Random House, 1986). ISBN 0-394-54050-6

The Collected Essays of Ralph Ellison (Modern Library, 1995). ISBN 0-679-60176-7

Living with Music: Ralph Ellison's Jazz Writings (Modern Library, 2002). ISBN 0-375-76023-7

Letters

Trading Twelves: The Selected Letters of Ralph Ellison and Albert Murray (Modern Library, 2000). ISBN 0-375-50367-6

[uozlulu]

Going to stick these here for now in case I lose the file or need it to be easier to search or something.

Notes on the ES21 soulmate mark AU fic I was rambling about in this post. Just kind of organizing things so when it comes time to write it I can hopefully write it quickly. 

Some characters might not show up, others might get added to the list. Those missing so far are characters I either felt like I didn’t have confidence in writing or didn’t really remember since it’s been over 10 years since I finished the manga. Also trying to keep the cast of active characters on the small side even though a lot of characters will be there if only in general. All flashbacks/scenes/etc...will need proper fleshing out and so forth of course. These are all just my initial ideas, which are highly likely to evolve as I go as all my fics tend to do. 

Probably going to wait until I finish watching the anime before writing it. Kind of tried to be canon compliant but also didn’t want to spend oodles of time tracking down details, so just kind of setting the goal as having fun with the AU and letting it do what it wants to do

Headcanons: 

The World Bowl VI was Sunday, August 2, 2020. (It’s where the top football teams from around the world kick off the football season with a three week tournament started in 2015). The rehearsal is Friday, August 7, 2020. The wedding is Saturday August 8, 2020. Everyone goes home sometime Sunday, August 9, 2020. They have the ranch from Tuesday, August 4, 2020 – Monday, August 10, 2020.

High school football players form Japan, pro players from around the world, friends from school, friends from college are all invited along with their spouses, partners, significant others, and kids. Family members include Tetsuma’s mom who looks like him and their Seibu high school coach.

Sena –34 in December, played for Enma University from 2005 – 2009, been with the Seattle Superstars since 2009. Starting to contemplate retiring. The Seattle recruiter saw Sena’s tryout back in high school and tracked him down to beg him to sign with Seattle when Sena finally cashed in his NFL draft invitation from the Youth World Cup. Officially been in a long-distance relationship with Panther since 2010, but really they’ve kind of been a thing for longer than that.

Hiruma – 34 since February, plays for the San-Antonio Armadillos since 2006, likes to say he won’t retire until his age is his jersey number (55). Has been living with Mamori since 2006. They’re not married, but their daughter was born in 2017.

Kurita – 35 since July, played with the Tokyo Stallions, played from 2008 – 2016, works at the temple now.

Monta –34 on August 31, played for the San Antonio Armadillos from 2008 – 2013, having to retire after a career-ending injury at the start of the 2012 – 2013 season. Married Suzuna in 2008. They have a daughter born in 2010 and a son born in 2012. After retirement, he returned to Japan and he’s been coaching and teaching at Deimon ever since.

Juumonji –34 in October, Kuroki 34 on September 1, Togano 34 in October – all went on to have fairly normal jobs (banker, office worker, advertising). Kuroki is married with a kid or two, Juumonji is gay and has a partner who works the same bank and is his “roommate,” Togano is still single.

Yukimitsu – 34 since February, never played football again after high school, became a veterinarian.

Komusubi – 33 since January – never played football again after high school, became a personal trainer.

Ishimaru – 35 in October, never played football again after high school, went on to run in the Hakone Eikoden in university, has a normal job

Taki – 35 since April, played with the Orlando Divers 2004 – 2008 and then was traded to the Nashville Fighters where he’s been since 2008. Never married. Does he date anyone? Who knows. “My brother,” “my niece,” “my nephew.”

Musashi – 35 since Apirl, been playing the the Takekura Construction Babels since 2004, still working construction, personal life is pretty private, but does have a son who plays elementary school soccer.

Mamori 35 in November, ENL teacher to small children, still helps strategize football, been living with Hiruma since 2006 and had a daughter in 2017, living her best life

Suzuna 33 since March, married to Monta since 2008 with two kids, first of the group to get married, part-time matchmaker, has a decent success rate. Hiruma = You-nii, Juumonji = Monjii, Kuroki = Kurokki, Togano = Toga, Komusubi = Kamusubicchi, Yukimitsu = Yukki, Ishimaru = Tet-chan, Musashi = Musha-syan, Mamori = Mamo-nee, Kid = Kiddon,” Cereberus = Ceru, Sena has no nickname

Kid (Mushanokoji Shien) – 35 in November, comes from a noble line, at odds with parents over lifestyle choices and is now estranged, played with the Takekura Construction Babels from 2004 – 2005, played with the Tokyo Stallions from 2005 – 2010, played with the Houston Fishermen from 2010 – 2020. Started Sports Club with Tetsuma in 2012, which is a revitalization of the Boys and Girls Club concept. Hopes to keep working and growing the club in retirement. Been with Tetsuma since 2006. Wanted to enjoy being married so that’s why they waited until they were retired from pro ball.

Tetsuma – 35 since May, his mom looks just like him, played for the Tokyo Stallions from 2004 – 2008, played for the Dallas Titans from 2008 – 2020. Helps Kid run Sports Club, very good at organizing and budgeting.

Riku – turned 34 in April, played with Enma Fires from 2005 – 2009, played with the Yokohama Belugas from 2009 – 2015, still wears the team’s squid hat merch when it’s cold outside. Retired after a horrific injury which he still uses a cane for. Runs a pet bird store. Dated lots of people, still hasn’t settled for anyone.

Buffalo – 36 in October, got rid of the dreads soon after graduation in a bid to try and fit into Japanese society, now his hair is just long. Moved to the US in 2005 and ended up doing stuff like MMA, Ninja Warrior, and UFC. Has an American wife and three daughters (ages 12, 9, and 7).

Horide – no canon age, so let’s assume he’s roughly like late 50’s – early 60’s by 2020, still coaching football, but considering retirement, proud of all the kids who have ever been on his team. He’s pretty much in a parental position in the audience seating, and treated as one might treat a dad during such an event

Saba –mid-30’s, no real wiki info, became an office worker, has one child, didn’t play football after high school.

Aiuchi Hina – mid 30’s, not much wiki info, head cheerleader, Miss Seibu, probably married to an unnamed former teammate, and probably has at least one kid

Shin – 35 since July, played for Ojou Silver Knights 2004 – 2009, played for the New England Musketeers since 2009, has many Super Bowl wins, a true legend in both the US and Japan. Ignores tabloid rumors about him dating models and singers so he can enjoy some privacy with his partner, an indie rocker who preformed the half time show in 2013. They’ve been living together out in the middle of nowhere upstate New York since 2016 in a modest house that no one really would think celebrities owned. Has a condo near the Musketeers’ training facilities.

Sakuraba – 34 since March, played for the Ojou Silver Knights 2004 – 2009, played for the Seattle Superstars from 2009 – 2018, retired because he wanted to do something else with his life. Has gone on to play in a local band that’s had moderate success around the Pacific Northwest touring clubs, lounges, and bars. Keeps his private life very private.

Panther – probably 34 (no birthday given), likely graduated high school in 2005 like Sena, so probably met Sena the summer before sophomore year at high school, maybe has a summer birthday and was already 16 when they met. Nasa Aliens/Shuttles was a travel team he was in from 2001 – 2005, also played high school football with his local high school from 2001 – 2005, played with the San Antonio Armadillos since 2005, took business courses online and has a degree since he thought that might help him keep from falling into pitfalls other pro-athletes fall into with money and retirement. Didn’t have a cellphone when he met Sena, but they exchanged e-mail addresses. When Sena went to Notre Dame High School, they exchanged AIM handles and got to talk to each other more often since they were on the same time zone. Eventually exchanged numbers once Panther got a cellphone after graduating high school. Kind of were rocking the long distance relationship chic before it was an official relationship.

Jeremy – probably 34 or 35, the kid with the glasses, still close friends with Panther. Played at Stanford from 2004/2005 – 2006/2007, knows multiple languages for fun so he’s still not the best translator. Continued his degree while playing professionally because he promised. Played with the New England Musketeers since 2006/2007 and retired earlier in 2020. Has a son and daughter (ages 6 and 9). His wife is a teacher.

Homer – probably 34 or 35, the kid with the long hair, also still close friends with Panther and Jeremy, chose to go into the NFL draft upon graduating high school. Played for the Nashville Fighters from 2004/2005 – 2010/2011, and then got transferred to the Chicago Gangsters in 2010/2011 and retired in 2018 back to Houston where he helps run a charity that picks up the slack across Texas after disasters when FEMA can’t get its act together to help people. He’s currently trying to build the charity up so it can function in multiple states.

Big Brother Gonzales – probably 36 maybe about to turn 37, biggest guy from the travel team and probably the oldest member. Played with the University of Kentucky from 2002/2003 – 2006/2007, played for the Denver Pumas from 2006/2007 – 2010/2011 when he had a career ending injury. Had his kanji tattoo covered up and started collecting more tattoos. Has also gotten the correct kanji tattooed on him at some point.

Little Brother Gonzales – probably 32, never really got as big as his brother so he never played football after high school. Had a few tattoos including the dumb one from high school.

Vague Summary:

Sena/Panther soulmate fic in which Kid and Tetsuma’s wedding brings most the gang and more together. Kind of a choose to stick together thing? Idek. See where it goes. Think of it like a romcom movie maybe?

Soulmate Concept:

In this world, soulmates are considered near-extinct but they really aren’t. Lots of people have a wide variety of soulmates, it’s just that their soulmarks aren’t very obvious. For example, Mamori and Hiruma both have a splattering of freckles on their hands that are actually a continuation of each other’s pattern, but it’s too subtle and freckley to really realize what it truly means. Other people might have birthmarks that fit together or have moles placed in the exact same places or mirrored places, etc…However, there’s a subclass of soulmate marks for those who have a truly deep bond. Those marks have a more distinct look to them. Sena has what looks like roses cascading down his Soulmate marks tend to start developing upon meeting your soulmate and evolve as your relationship deepen, so Mamori and Hiruma upon meeting in first-year were probably like huh freckles, and by second year it’s like lots of freckles but who cares it’s just mysterious high school freckles.

Flashbacks:

Panther and Sena: 

2002 – Hanging out by the river bank after practice before Panther has to regroup with the others where they’re staying. Sena’s soulmate mark is on his right leg and  looks like cascading roses except more impressionist since the mark is still forming. Panther’s looks like chrysanthemums following a similar pattern on his right leg. At the time they think it’s kind of weird, but don’t over think it. Sena’s dad told him that most people develop one in high school and he has something like he and his best friend have stuff like that on their arms.

2002 – Sena asks Panther for his number after the cat incident, but Panther doesn’t have a cellphone yet. He does have e-mail and AIM, so they exchange e-mails because Sena doesn’t have AIM. By this point, their soulmate marks seem more like flowers than birthmarks, but they’re still underdeveloped.

2009/2010 – Panther and Sena meet up to celebrate New Years and Sena’s belated birthday since they’re finally both living in the states now (even if it’s an almost four hour plane ride apart), end up deciding that they’re dating. They have a good idea what they’re getting in though because they’ve been long distance friends with a fourteen hour time zone difference so at least now they can more feasibly see each other when they don’t have football commitments

Kid and Tetsuma

2006 – Kid, being the only son of a noble family was going through arranged marriage hell. Texted Tetsuma, “Save me,” both kind of half jokingly, half for serious. So Tetsuma shows up in nice clothing (because Kid’s always talking about how people get overly dressed up to come over to their estate) and kind of just showed up during a marriage prospect meeting, held Kid’s gaze a long moment, bowed on his knees to Kid’s parents like a good wedding prospect, and then promptly slung Kid over his shoulder, and rescued him. They’ve been together ever since. Honestly probably would have dated in high school but social pressure got in the way.

Venue:

It’s a large, sprawling ranch/inn in Wyoming. It’s large enough to accommodate everyone. There are horses to ride, a functioning farm, and a view of mountains in the distance. Everyone chipped in money to secure it not only because it was in a location the press wouldn’t bother all of them, but also because it sounded like a fun time no one could pass up. Kid and Tetsuma helped organize the whole thing so nobody would be priced out of coming especially if they had to fly from Japan or elsewhere to come.

Wedding:

The wedding is set up outdoors with everyone gathered around the altar so it’s les syour side and my side and more umbrella shaped. Kid and Tetsuma enter together, Tetsuma breaks off at a full run and Kid quick draws the bouquet, shoot it towards Tetsuma, who catches it and holds it through the whole ceremony. The ceremony is kind of a mix of typical American wedding stuff said by the ordained and then the vows are Shinto, though there is no sake. Kind of a mix of Kid and Tetsuma’s love of the wild west and their commitment to each other which follows more of a  love, respect, console, help, and protect than a love, honor, cherish, and obey.

Reception:

It’s in the great hall of the ranch/inn. Lots of wild west/ranch/cowboy chic happening. Variety of food, mix of American and Japanese traditions. Kid tells the flashback about Tetsuma rescuing him from an arranged marriage. Reception ends at sunset and they ride off into the sunset together, heading to a nearby campsite to kick off whatever their honeymoon will be.

[doyourememberrocknrollradio]

So if you noticed

I did a little NHL thing in the notes of the songs today.

Cause well, hockey. So here are the standings... (former teams in italics)

1. Quebec Nordiques 2. Toronto Maple Leafs 3. Winnipeg Jets 4. Nashville Predators 5. NY Islanders 6. Dallas Stars 7. Washington Capitals 8. Minnesota North Stars 9. Atlanta Flames/Thrashers 10. NJ Devils 11. Columbus Blue Jackets 12. Montreal Canadiens 13. Ottawa Senators 14. Chicago Blackhawks 15. Buffalo Sabres 16. Boston Bruins

17. Minnesota Wild 18. Florida Panthers 19. Detroit Red Wings 20. NY Rangers 21. Edmonton Oilers 22. LA Kings 23. Hartford Whalers 24. Arizona Coyotes 25. Tampa Bay Lightning 26. Vegas Golden Knights 27. Colorado Avalanche 28. San Jose Sharks 29. Calgary Flames 30. Vancouver Canucks 31. Pittsburgh Penguins 32. Carolina Hurricanes 33. Anaheim Ducks 34. Philadelphia Flyers 35. St. Louis Blues And the up and coming yet unnamed.. 36. Seattle  (Please please please name them The Kracken)

Now you ask, but who would win the cup?

WINNIPEG!

By a landslide as there was an ask for another BTO song that blew everything else away today. I have never seen an ask get so many notes so quickly before ~ C

PS - thanks for humoring me with all this, counting the day to opening night.

[fighterkimburgess]

Imagine you are a show runner for CF. You are one very lucky show runner because your budget has no limits, you can hire any actor you want, make any scene you want. So, now, I’m asking you to list 5 rescue scenes you want in S10, 5 Stellaride scenes and 5 scenes for the firehouse (maybe for Mouch or arc just for Ritter or for everyone, you decide)

Oh my god. This is like...the ultimate dream. Gonna list these cause its the easiest way to do it.

Rescues

I'd love a rescue off the Willis Tower. Chicago is the unnamed extra character in the show, that'd be a great way to show it off.

A rescue involving the river. idk how I'd do it, but something involving it.

Something involving one of the Chicago sports teams. We've already had a Blackhawks game and tailgating for a football game, so maybe the soccer team? Having Chicago Fire the TV show helping Chicago Fire FC?

An elevator rescue. They can be some of the best episodes with the best shocks.

Rescuing either their crews from their rigs, or a different crew from truck or engine. (Potentially a way to get Grainger back, something happens to 40?)

Stellaride scenes

THE WEDDING. I dont see them having a giant one - it's a second wedding for both of them and they're not people who want a big thing. Although Kelly would want Stella to have whatever she wanted. Boden walking Stella down the aisle, and Matt and Sylvie as best man and maid of honour

The two of them sitting down with Matt and telling him that as long as he wants to live with them they want him there. Just being clear that they want each other

The reunion when squad are rescued from the lake

Stella's first day at a new firehouse, being nervous, a 'you got this Stella Kidd'

I don't want a stellaride pregnancy YET (because Stella's so focused on her career and I want her to be established before it happens) but I want the discussion. Kelly's over 40 now, they need to have the kids talk.

Scenes for the firehouse

ST PATRICK'S DAY! Either them working and how it goes - some funny calls for ambo, the fire crews getting called out to a fire with green flames and having to deal with a copper fire - or them off and Molly's for St Patrick's Day. Matt and Mouch getting jokes made because their surnames are Irish. Sylvie in a "Kiss me my boyfriend's Irish" shirt. Molly's done up for the biggest drinking holiday of the year.

Ritter and Eric being strong and a showing of a queer relationship that lasts - GIVE ME THEIR ENGAGEMENT.

More chaotic young trio scenes. Give me Ritter, Gallo, and Violet's business idea. A wedding band? They could totally do it.

Boden as the firehouse's dad. His reaction to Sylvie and Matt being together. His discussion about being a Black man in leadership and what that means. A discussion about what the difference in having Matt take over from him in the future would mean.

Something involving the Darden boys. Griffin would be 21 now. GIVE ME HIM COMING BACK TO CHICAGO AND BECOMING A FIREFIGHTER. Give me Kelly teaching him in the academy and not realising it's him for the first while! Give me Griffin visiting 51 and realising that out of everyone who knew his dad, it's only Boden, Matt, Herrmann, Mouch, Kelly, Capp, and Joe who are still there. Nobody else knew Andy. It's only been a decade. Griffin finding out that Gabby's moved away, that Shay died. That Otis died! You can't tell me that Otis wasn't one of the young Darden's favourite people. He'd have been so good with kids.

Oh I thought I'd never answer this but ugh I want it all.

[gdwessel]

New Japan Road 10/4/2019 & New Japan Road: Ganbarou! Uonuma 2019 10/5/2019; Suzuki, Meij Reportedly Leaving NJPW Soon; Suzuki in Warrior Wrestling 12/13/2019; Tomoyuki Oka Update

Hey I’m back. The New Japan Road minitour started, including their annual Ganbarou! Uonuma show. 

New Japan Road - 10/4/2019, Toyama Takaoka Techno Dome

Yuji Nagata d. Yuya Uemura (Nagata Lock II, 7:33)

Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima d. Manabu Nakanishi & Yota Tsuji (Tenzan > Tsuji, Anaconda Vice, 10:29)

Minoru Suzuki & Yoshinobu Kanemaru [SZKG] d. Jushin Thunder Liger & Toa Henare (Suzuki > Henare, Gotch Style Piledriver, 9:21)

Hirooki Goto [CHAOS], Tomohiro Ishii [CHAOS], YOH [CHAOS] & Tiger Mask IV d. Yujiro Takahashi, Taiji Ishimori, Gedo & Jado [Bullet Club] (Goto > Gedo, GTR, 9:50)

Tetsuya Naito & Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables] d. Taichi & DOUKI [SZKG] (Naito > DOUKI, Destino, 11:11)

Hiroshi Tanahashi 20th Anniversary Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tomoaki Honma & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] d. Togi Makabe, Toru Yano [CHAOS] & Ryusuke Taguchi (Tanahashi > Taguchi, High Fly Flow, 9:55)

SANADA, EVIL & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] d. Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS], Kota Ibushi & SHO [CHAOS] (SANADA > SHO, Skull End, 15:03)

New Japan Road: Ganbarou! Uonuma 2019 - 10/5/2019, Niigata Uonuma Horinouchi Gymnasium

Satoshi Kojima d. Yota Tsuji (Lariat, 9:06)

Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi d. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Yuya Uemura (Nagata > Uemura, Nagata Lock II, 11:21)

Jushin Thunder Liger & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] d. Minoru Suzuki & DOUKI [SZKG] (YOSHI-HASHI > DOUKI, Kumagoroshi, 10:20)

Hirooki Goto [CHAOS], Tomohiro Ishii [CHAOS], SHO [CHAOS] & Tiger Mask IV d. Yujiro Takahashi, Taiji Ishimori, Gedo & Jado [Bullet Club] (Goto > Gedo, GTR, 11:47)

Tetsuya Naito & Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables] d. Taichi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru [SZKG] (Naito > Kanemaru, Destino, 10:52)

Hiroshi Tanahashi 20th Anniversary Match: Togi Makabe, Toru Yano [CHAOS] & Ryusuke Taguchi d. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tomoaki Honma & Toa Henare (Yano > Henare, Schoolboy, 9:43)

SANADA, EVIL & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] d. Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS], Kota Ibushi & YOH [CHAOS] (SANADA > YOH, Skull End, 15:01)

SANADA cut promos after both mains, in the second promising he would be the first IWGP Heavyweight Champion from Niigata. Due to Friday’s result in the Tanahashi Anniversary match, the same match tomorrow from Tokyo Korakuen Hall will now be a NEVER Openweight 6-Man Comedy Tag Team title match. Liger and Suzuki continue to go in hard against each other. And speaking of whom...

Whilst I was away, two major announcements came out regarding Suzuki. The first one is that he will be appearing at Warrior Wrestling Seven on 12/13/2019 at Marian Catholic High School in Chicago Heights, IL. Tickets are available here. The only other talent announced for this show so far is Kurt Angle, and all indications are that Angle will be there in a non-wrestling capacity.

The other news is a bit more ominous. Joe Lanza of Voices of Wrestling is reporting that according to unnamed sources in Japan, Minoru Suzuki is not long for NJPW, due to dissatisfaction with his spot on the card, and indeed may have already left had he not been working this current program with Liger. The indications of the rumors suggest that Suzuki may be on his way back to Pro Wrestling NOAH, which is having a bit of a renaissance at the moment. It would be a shame, but understandable if true, as it was pretty scandalous that Suzuki was not part of G1 Climax 29 this past summer. 

The same report says that current NJPW President Harold Meij may be on his way out soon as well, following the two nights at the Dome for Wrestle Kingdom 14. No indications given for that departure as yet. And indeed, this is all coming from one person, and has not been confirmed yet in any way shape or form. But this is one to keep an eye on for sure.

As an update to a previous item, Tomoyuki Oka has re-appeared in RevPro, still working as Dominator Great O-Kharn, as he teamed up with Rampage Brown earlier today at RevPro’s Live At The Cockpit #46 from the Cockpit Theater in Marylebone, Greater London. Oka and Brown defeated the team of Pretty Deadly (Lewis Howley & Sam Stoker) to advance in the current tournament to fill the vacant RevPro Undisputed British Tag Team titles. So we can scratch him off the MIA list. Now we just need Hirai Kawato to return in some form, and Shooter to start in RevPro himself.

The New Japan Road minitour ends tomorrow, the go-home show as it were for King Of Pro Wrestling. It will be live on NJPWWorld, and will now feature a title match as mentioned above. 

- 10/7/2019, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (NJPWWorld)

Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Yuya Uemura v. Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi & Yota Tsuji

Toa Henare v. Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables]

Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask IV v. Minoru Suzuki & Yoshinobu Kanemaru [SZKG]

Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, SHO & YOH [CHAOS] v. Yujiro Takahashi, Taiji Ishimori, Gedo & Jado [Bullet Club]

Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] v. Taichi & DOUKI [SZKG]

Hiroshi Tanahashi 20th Anniversary Match x NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship: Togi Makabe, Toru Yano [CHAOS] & Ryusuke Taguchi (c) v. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tomoaki Honma & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS]

Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS] & Kota Ibushi v. SANADA & EVIL [Los Ingobernables]

[jay-in-chicago]

Endlessly.

Summary: What should have been a one night stand becomes something so much more for Jay. Pairing: Jay Halstead x unnamed female character. Warnings: hints at sexy times but doesn’t go into any real details. Lots of soft Jay. Words: under 1100 A/N: I’m pretty nervous to be posting this, so I’ll hit post and then go and hide. While I’m not new to writing, I am new to writing for the Chicago world. I adore Jay and when one of my friends had a birthday recently, I just knew I had to write her something Jay related. She encouraged me to create this account and to post it here, feeling more people needed even more Jay fics in their life. Apologies if the characterisation isn’t correct, I’m still learning. Not BETA’d because this is my first time here, so all mistakes, errors and typos are completely my own.

Likes, reblogs and feedback makes me squeal with happiness.

Based on the song: Walk In The Sun by McFly. ___

I wonder what it's like to be loved by you

I wonder what it's like to be home

Jay hadn’t been looking for anything or anyone the night he headed to Molly’s after work a few months back. His whole intention was to have a few drinks, head back home, nurse another beer as he watched a game before falling into bed.

He hadn’t intended to hold her eye contact. Or return the smile that had slowly formed on her perfect lips as she saw his interest. The moment she’d opened her mouth to say hello, he’d heard the tone of it and knew he wouldn’t be going home alone.

He’d had one night stands before but this wasn’t one he’d sought out. Her face had lured him in, her voice had travelled straight to his crotch and her kisses had made it so that he hadn’t wanted to stop.

Thinking it was just simply another one night stand, Jay hadn’t expected anything else to come from it. But when he’s returned home from work that evening, his apartment was left exactly as he had, with the only exception being a note pinned to the fridge with her phone number.

Jay had shaken his head as he’d chuckled to himself. She could have slipped out, accepted the possibility of it just being a one off but she’d made it so the ball was in his court. He liked that. He admired that. He couldn’t deny that she had been on his mind throughout his shift. He could picture her body laid out before him as he’d typed at his computer, scanning the data bases for who matched the leads they had.

The case had taken a quick but escalating turn, ensuring that his mind was fully preoccupied for the next two days, not even her note left pinned to the refrigerator could distract him from the details of the case. Only once it was over and the team headed to the bar for a much needed drink did he see her once more.

“Oh so you are alive?” She’d grinned at him as he’d brought a drink over for her and pushed the glass towards her. “I thought you’d fallen off the face of the earth. Faked your death, moved to another country. The usual excuses.”

“Just work, I'm afraid. No elaborate excuse from me.”

“At least you’re honest.”

They’d sat together, huddled up in one of the booths for most of the night. He could have gone home with her once more but something told him not to. He made sure he took her number again, called her right there so she had his and promised her they’d arrange something but urged her to make contact whenever she wanted to.

Texting became daily, the two of them would call once in bed to talk a little. They started out by meeting for lunch, progressing to dinner when their schedules allowed it. She offered to cook for him, washed down with a few bottles and he liked that she enjoyed a cold beer just as much as a bottle of wine.

She shared his love of sports, had a type of sense of humour which meant she wasn’t easily upset and gave it back to him just as hard when he mocked her playfully. Their dates became more frequent and he quickly found himself enjoying knowing he may not be coming home to anyone at his apartment but he had someone whom he had plans with.

She excited him out of the bed as much as she did in it. She could hold a conversation. Challenged his beliefs and made him look at the world a little differently; in a good way. She was patient with him. Understood when he needed to be alone and gave him the welcoming embrace that he needed when he needed it.

She hated not being able to help at times, when he’d come home from a particular gruelling day and he couldn’t talk about the case they were working on. Sometimes he simply needed to sit in silence but know she was there, others he would turn up at her place and bury himself within her over and over until the day was blocked from his mind as he focused on her and nothing but her and when the next orgasm would hit.

Last night was the latter. The alarm clock on the bedside table reads 06:13 AM. She’s still laid asleep beside him but he’s been up longer than he’d have liked. She never saw it this way, but he hated to think he used her for sex as a distraction. She reasoned that he didn’t only see her for sex, if he did, then she may have an issue but she never felt used; quite the opposite, she felt relieved she could him in some way.

Turning his face to look at her, he can’t ignore the flip of his stomach. They’d been doing this for months now, and though he’d never thought of himself to be the type to fall for someone easily, he was certainly beginning to question that.

They’d fit so simply into each other’s lives that he couldn’t picture an alternative now. She’d made him consider how his life could be. He could picture a future that he hadn’t seriously thought about before. She’d laid out on the couch, rubbing a belly full of food one evening and it was too easy to picture her carrying his child.

They’d strolled through the park, hand in hand and tucked into one another as much as possible to keep warm during the colder months. Snow had fallen in flurries around them, she was laughing at a story she was telling him about her day and that was the first time he could picture himself lowering to one knee to ask her the question.

Though they hadn’t officially said the words, he knew he was falling in love with her and in this moment, he wonders what it would truly feel like to be loved by her endlessly.