Téir Abhaile Riú
Oh my goodness, I have been working on this for the past few hours. It is currently a little over 1am right now and I know I'm going to be up soon but I am so happy with the way this little plot developed for our favourite, pink-haired cadet.
Word Count: 5,173
Now that I've got this one out, I feel like I can really focus on the main Buggy story I've got in development currently.
Her auburn hair whipped wildly behind her, flowing freely in the sea breeze. She sprinted, skirts in hand, and barrowed towards the dock with the haste of a hare upon seeing a hunting ferret. Bounding against her back, a large hurdy gurdy sway in her movements as it bounced side to side at each of her hastened skips.
“Keep up!” She cried gleefully behind her back with a small shriek, “they’re nearly here!”
You giggled at her giddy excitement as you clasped one hand on your layered skirts and held tight to the wooden handle of your many symbolled tambourine. You looked behind you to see your fellow minstrel attempting to hold his wide bodhran in one hand and his double ended beater in the other as he too expressed glee at the playful taunt from the leader of your troop. Looking further behind him, you noticed in the distance your bouzouki player struggled to keep the hastened pace.
The three of you, four if you include the relatively far off bouzouki player, plunged into town with rocks picking up under your feet. Your belled silver anklet tinkled with each step of your right foot, reverberating and melodically harmonizing with the anklet of your leader who nearly collided with a wagon with her haste. You quickly side stepped the large wagon while your bodhran clad friend performed a large leap over the wooden frame.
“You ruddy kids! Where’s your Da?” the vendor called after you as you giggled and continued your swift pace in response.
As you continued down the dirt mountain side, you saw the stretched sails of a dark boat approaching the docks. The figurehead was an intimidating bulldog with a broad piece of bone wedged between their teeth.
“Looks like Garp,” the bodhran player informed you, panting to keep up his rapid momentum. You hummed in response, continuing to run past several shop fronts to make your way through the mountainside city to set up as the marines came to port.
You skipped on your right foot as you halted in front of a grocer, stopping your sudden rapid movement.
“What are you doing?” called your red-head leader.
“I’m getting Saoirse! She needs to sing with us!” you called to your leader, “I’ll be down with her as soon as I break her out!”
The redhead again laughs in glee before calling to you, “we’ll dance until you two join us!”
You nodded before unceremoniously swinging wide the entrance to the near empty grocer, the bell above the door rattling with a loud clang to inform your entrance. Making eye contact with the blonde behind the counter, her smile first started in her eyes before bringing her lips up into a wide grin.
“Sailors?” she asked you, untying her apron from around her back.
“Marines,” you corrected her with a mischievous glint in your eyes, extending your unburdened hand to retrieve hers, “come on! Let’s get going!”
She swung her counter bar back and it hit the wooden benchtop with a loud thump and promptly sped through the shop door while grasping your hand; flipping the ‘open’ sign to ‘closed’. You nearly collided with your bouzouki player as he continued making his merry way down to the docks.
“Gee, you young ones are speedy!” he commented with a rough huff of his voice as he struggled to still his breathing. Both you and Saoirse laughed elatedly in response as you continued to hold back your pace to arrive alongside him.
The ship had finally made its way into dock, many ropes being thrust into the air to meet the open arms of the boat-hands as they awaited their receival of them. The anchor was weighed with the rattle of a loud chain before plunging into the dark sea. You took into your sights heavy damage on the fore topmast, the fore topsail limply hanging against the foremast beneath it. You narrowed your eyes slightly at the knowledge that there may be injured marines aboard, but continued towards where your red-headed leader and bodhran player had began to drum and dance a jig while lilted with one another with their voices.
You continued grasping the hand of the blonde at your side as you flittered down the hill to meet the sandy shore. Saoirse began lilting her voice to join the other two voices in harmony with a broad smile adorning her features. Your eyes twinkled at the tri-part harmony as you released her hand from your grip and began to use your thumb and smallest finger to flick against the symbols of your tambourine to keep rhythmic harmony with your bodhran player, your skirts swaying as you spun and danced in time to the beat. Your belled anklet twinkled jingled against your gleeful leaps as you continued to dance. Finally, hunching over slightly to catch his breath momentarily, your bouzouki player created a place to sit atop a barrel as he began to strum to the beat.
This is how it was with the five of you: “The Merry Mellifluous Quint”, as the town referred to you. The twins: the red-headed songstress and her brother, the bodhran player began their musical journey accompanying their recently widower father: the bouzouki player. The most recent additions to the team were Saoirse, who began courting the bodhran twin; and yourself.
The marines began to march down their extended boat ramp and bring heavy boots to thump against the dock. You continued to laugh and dance to the tune produced, linking your arms with Saoirse and routinely skip and turn to the beat before joining with the auburn-haired leader and weaving your way between them. Although aware of their decent and their attention, you chose to pay their individuality no heed as you continued to dance with your musically-adoptive sisters and drum your tambourine to accompany their triune lilting.
The bodhran player halted his vocal arrangement and gestured for you to add your voice to the troop as the bouzouki was struck by the widower. You closed your eyes, halting your dance and tambourine administrations and held it firm against your chest as you called from the recesses of your soul the tune to fully embrace the harmonies of the other two women in the troop. You heard the bouzouki player exhale a loud gleeful laugh at this arrangement, pleased at how the improvisational melody had come to fruition.
Upon de-crescendoing the tune and concluding the arrangement, you opened your eyes and smiled as your sights were set on the approaching marines. You went to clasp your hands within the two other songstresses and curtseyed in respect to the arriving military men and women as they halted under the command of their Vice-Admiral.
“Thank you for your welcome, ladies,” he thanked, before turning to the other two members of the quint, “and gentlemen.”
“You’re most welcome,” the widower exclaimed, “we’re more than happy to be at the beck and call for entertaining fine sea-worn folk such as yourselves.”
“Well,” admiral Garp began, “by all means, continue your jolly lilting as we journey on our way into town.”
With a smile, the bodhran player counted in as the red-head brought the hurdy-gurdy from its place strapped against her back down onto her lap and began to crank the handle. The strings sprung to life under the rosin reverberating against the strings. She struck the pegs to alternate between the notes as you and Saoirse vocally harmonised with one another.
As you sung your jolly tune, you made eye contact with one of the marines trailing behind the Vice-Admiral. He had broad, circular-brimmed glasses atop his nose; pink hair stuffed beneath his marine cap. His blue eyes joined with yours as he remained stationary, enchanted by your melodical display. You softened your eyes as you continued, halting your dance movements to keep him bewitched with your skilled voice.
His eyes trailed over your features, focussing on your lips as they continued their melodical ornamentation of trills within augmented tones. You subtly approached the small marine, stalking ever so closer to him as you enjoyed his attention holding on you; before a loud order cut through the air.
“Come along, cadet!” the Vice-Admiral ordered, prompting you to jump slightly at the command alongside the pink-haired cadet.
“Yes, sir!” the cadet called out with a salute. His soft, almost hesitant voice held you as transfixed as the soft irises of his eyes did once they initially met with yours. The marine, although acknowledging his command with verbal affirmation; remained stationary as his eyes continued to trail with yours.
“Koby!” Garp again called, alerting Koby again to his duty to fall in line.
“Y-yes, sir. Sorry, sir,” he called before shaking his head to flitter his gaze between the Vice-Admiral and you before he followed in line with the other marines.
As you began again your melody, you rolled within your mind ‘Koby, Koby, Koby’ as if to test the way your brogue could handle spilling it from betwixt your lips. You smiled as a warmth spread throughout your chest and crept with a tingly giddiness up towards your face as you continued to become transfixed on the retreating form of the short cadet.
You again concluded several tunes, much to the delight of the fishermen as they brought in their catch. In reward of your merry tunes, they produced several varieties of sea-bearing food to your troop as you all began to pack up your instruments and begin to return into town. All the while you packed up your instruments and conversed with the fishermen, you continued to think about the beautiful orbs hidden behind the rounded framed glasses on the marine’s face.
You bid the men and women on the shore good evening as you walked back into town. You linked arms with the bouzouki player and led him up the beach, following the echoing laughter of his children and his soon to be daughter in law.
“Oh, my dear,” he began with a small glint in his eye, taking your linked hand within his other one and holding it there, “that was some melody today.”
“Thank you, Hamish,” you smiled at him, continuing to lead him along into town.
“You even caught the attention of the young marine,” he teased you slightly, squeezing on your hand slightly, “and a handsome one at that.”
“That’s not hard to do, Hamish. They’re at sea for long, unable to have much music I imagine. I’m sure he was more taken with the tune and the liveliness than anything else,” you shrugged, trying to embrace the words you were saying to not assume anything untoward. Your cheeks at the mention of Koby began to pigment with a more rose tone as the blush slowly crept to your face.
“That’s no small feat, lassie. Marine’s are trained to avoid all distractions. That one was completely taken with you,” he added with a knowing smile,
You pursed your lips and continued to walk on your way, following behind your red-headed leader. You did notice how beautiful he was. He had an air of innocence surrounding him; something that immediately connected with you. You, yourself, tried to seek out more playfulness and mischievousness in life and opted for keeping blissfully ignorant to any sense of seriousness.
“What are we doing? Where are we going now?” Saoirse asked her beau, leaning on his shoulder in comfort.
“Where do you think?” called the redhead from the head of the troop, turning and beginning to walk backwards with a mischievous look in her eyes. Hamish laughed at her tone, while continuing to walk toe to toe with you.
“To the pub!” Called her drumming twin in glee.
You all had a small spring in your step as you head into town towards the well-lit town centre. Several young men and women were lining up to the entrance to the large pub, which was now riddled with marines – spilling almost from the rafters. You and your jolly troop of musicians walked past the line awaiting entrance to the pub and walked directly up to the doorman who was all smiles as he saw you all.
“Ladies, laddies,” he called, opening the doors to bring forth the warmth from within the pub. Hamish released your interlocked hand from the crook of his elbow as he clapped a hand warmly upon the doorman’s shoulder in familiarity. You followed behind the trio, walking directly behind the troop.
A group of regulars were engaging in a joyous, fast-paced melodic tune; the lyrics revolving around getting drunk and leaving a maiden high and dry upon their departure. You laughed at the verses and began to aid their tune with your voice as one of the younger members of their group took to his feet and began to engage in a rhythmic jig with you.
You felt eyes trailing you as you spun and interlocked arms with the young man, enjoying the carefree and expectation-less encounter as he spun you for the final time before taking a seat. He left you in the centre of the room as you all broke into the final chorus of the tune and laughed together. A final “hooray” was cheered throughout the room as flagons were thrust into the air. You cheered, clapping your hands in response to the song.
You turned to bring your gaze to meet with the bewildered stare of the marine cadet you shared a moment in time with earlier in the day. You quirked your head to the side and offered him a soft smile, tucking a strand of your hair behind your ear. You trailed your gaze over his uniformed form, flittering between his pink hair and his too-large uniform before bringing your eyes up to meet with his eyes. You held your eyes on his face, looking at him through half-hooded eyes up through your eyelashes before the remainder of your troop came to thrust a drink into your arms and challenging you to throw it back faster than one another.
He watched you as your eyes widened with glee at the beverage as you held your breath and downed the drink with haste with your friends.
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“You’re off duty, Cadet,” a gruff voice was presented to the air, breaking Koby out of his trance.
“Sir?” he asked, turning to meet the gaze of his Vice-Admiral as he sat in front of him; Bogard at his side. The Vice-Admiral rose his flagon to his lips; bringing the cold, yeasty brew to his lips before removing it to leave behind a white foam atop his silver moustache.
“You’re quick thinking, lad. I’ll give you that,” he said, bringing his thumb and forefingers up to wipe the foam from his upper lip, “but you’re pretty clueless when someone holds a candle to you.”
Bogard offered a small chuckle at the Vice-Admiral’s jest, bringing his own tankard to his lips. Koby darted his eyes around the table to focus on anything other than the Vice-Admiral, falling once more on your form as you released the drink from your lips and shuddered with a melodical laugh falling from your mouth.
“Go on, lad,” the Vice-Admiral jested with a small tap on his shoulder, “go get her a drink before someone else does.”
Immediately Koby springs to his feet, nervousness bringing a small tremble to his hands as he turns towards the bar.
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You turn to see the young marine no longer seated with his Vice-Admiral, furrowing your brows slightly and pursing your lips in disappointment. You noticed an almost playful glint in the Vice-Admiral’s eyes as he rose his beverage in a slight salute to you, a gesture which you politely returned with your empty glass.
You turned to go back to the bar before a hand pulled you into the group of bar regulars.
“Go on, lass,” called one of the members, “get your troop to give us a proper wee tune!”
You laughed, shrugging off the hand that was clasping you and turned to the other minstrels and shrugged in question. Hamish laughed before picking up his bouzouki and fixing it on his lap.
“Go on: Saoirse, Isla, Lauchlan. Go up with her and let’s give these fine folk a proper drinking song!” he called out, prompting the other three members of your party to quickly down their refreshened drinks and place the empty tankards on a table near the setting.
There was a small stage at the rear of the room, littered slightly with empty barrels of rum and ale. You asked the nearest able-bodied marine to aid you in clearing the stage as your troop made their way to the space you were making. You kicked off your shoes as you enjoyed the feeling of the wooden floor on the souls of your feet when you sang and danced to your jaunty tunes, prompting Saoirse to do the same in turn.
Isla began winding her Hurdy-Gurdy and Lauchlan started beating his bodhran with the double ended beater to start a lively rhythm. The three of you began to take turns in singing the verses before your voices joined together in a lilted harmony in the chorus. The tune of the chorus was quickly picked up by those in the pub who joined your voices in the lyrics, some providing a less than adequate melody but their enthusiasm was welcome regardless.
As you were given the final verse of the song, the beats of the bodhran halted alongside the winding of the hurdy-gurdy and the plucking of the bouzouki to have every syllable you produced be able to be articulated through your lips. You searched the crowd, eyes softened as you continued your storytelling through the lyrics before your gaze found Koby. You eyes flittered at him slightly as you cocked your head shyly to the side and continued singing the verse before the pub erupted with one last chorus of the song.
As the song ended, cheers and clanging of tankards were heard resounding the polished wooden walls. You laughed and gave a small curtsey alongside the rest of “The Merry Mellifluous Quint” as each of the names of the troop were also yelled in celebration; the last of all your own.
Koby, upon hearing your name, had it repeating circularly within his mind: much as you did with his own earlier. He closed his eyes as he focussed on the way it sounded before opening his eyes to once more find your gaze awaiting him from your distance across the room.
You bit your lip slightly to hesitantly stifle the arising feeling in your chest as you brought your attention towards Koby. You noticed his eyes trail to your bottom lip, prompting you to remove it from between your teeth and leave them slightly parted instead.
“Give us one more!” the crowd called to your troop.
Hamish laughed with his whole body merrily.
“Come on, lads! We were on the beach for a good while and we’re parched. Give us an ale and we’ll see about another!” He chuckled, prompting several pub-goers to approach the bar.
Koby looked down at his hands, already holding two tankards of ale from prior to the beginning of the first song. He quickly shook off any uneasy nervousness and approached the troop with determination. You smiled at his approach, tilting your head to the side fondly. You stepped down from the risen stage and brought yourself closer to the approaching cadet.
“Are one of those for me, Marine?” you asked him shyly, looking to the floor before looking back to his eyes. His blue orbs revealed both a hesitancy and an eagerness to please you; a combination you had not been accustomed to in some time.
As an entertainer: many sailors, marines and travellers, even regulars most days, made their desires for you known with unfiltered words and unprompted gestures. Most of the time Hamish and Lauchlan managed to keep the unwanted attention from you and the other two women in the troop and only the reciprocated connections were chaperoned. In your time venturing with the troop, you were yet to engage with entertaining the affections of a fan; only ever dancing with the odd one or two here or there.
“Yes, miss,” he said, bowing his head slightly in a nod while offering you one of the tankards in his hands. You smiled at him, receiving the tankard with a polite nod. Your hands brushed against his fingertips as you accepted the vessel containing ale and you relished in the warm tingle it shot up your arm. You could see a pink hue akin to his shrouded locks appear over his face at that slight touch. This little response from him prompted you to throw all apprehension aside and boldly propose a game onto him.
“I have a suggestion, Marine,” you playfully smirked at him, “Koby, was it?”
“Yes, Miss,” he said with a nod, anxiously awaiting your suggestion.
“First one to reach the bottom of their tankard gets a prize,” you scrunched your nose up in a taunting smile.
“A prize?” he asked, knitting his brows together.
“Yes!” you gleefully exclaimed.
“What could I possibly have that you would want? I’m just a cadet, I have nothing that’s not miliary – besides my glasses, but I kind of need those,” he began to hastily list, prompting you to giggle.
“If I win,” you say with a mischievous grin, “I get to wear your hat for the next set.”
He sucked in a small breath through his teeth at the request.
“And if I win?” he asked, gulping slightly in apprehension.
“What could I possibly have that you would want, Koby?” you asked him, biting your lip and swaying slightly.
He trailed his eyes over your form, taking in your bare feet with your bell-riddled anklet to your skirts and blouse before settling his sights on your eyes. He flittered his eyes between them slightly, triangulating down to settle on your lips before answering.
“A kiss,” he whispered through parted lips, “I would like a kiss.”
“A kiss?” you asked him with a small smile. You stepped yourself closer to him before bringing the tankard closer to your lips, “first one to the bottom, Koby.”
As soon as you uttered those words, the small marine raised his tankard to his lips and began to overzealously drain the contents of the vessel almost before you could even begin drinking from your own. You almost spluttered a laugh in your tankard, but chose to focus solely on drinking from your own. He quickly dropped the hand holding his empty tankard to the side of himself and swayed slightly at the speed the alcohol entered his body as you continued to drink yours.
As you finished the dregs of the tankard and released the container from your lips, Koby searched your eyes for permission to claim his prize from your lips. You began to step yourself closer to him and tilted your head to make to press a kiss against his lips when a call bellowed from the stage.
“Alright, let’s all prepare for The Merry Mellifluous Quint as we perform our next song!” you heard Hamish say, halting your movement. You were so close to claiming those soft lips of his, you could almost taste the cool residual remnants of the ale from his breath. Your eyes fluttered shut as you restrained yourself at the call of the elder musician in your troop.
You stepped your body away from his, opening your eyes to find his fluttered closed. You could find yourself staring at him for eternity; his slightly anxious nature and his naive innocence brought together with how truly beautiful you found him beneath his rounded spectacles.
“Forgive me, Koby,” you whispered, “I promise I will make true your reward after this next song.”
You turned and stepped your body away from his as his eyes flittered open, a sad expression displayed in his eyes. Before you could truly halt your movements, you reached up your right hand and caressed his soft cheek; a small sigh of desire escaping through your lips.
Koby felt every part of his body seize up at that small touch, your hand igniting a powerful feeling from within his own body.
“Come on, miss,” called a pub-goer from beside you, “we ain’t got all night. Give us a song, then you can have your Marine, alright?”
You widened your eyes in shock at the comment, a blush creeping up your face as you truly comprehended the amount of eyes trailing both yourself and Koby. You swallowed and shook your head, immediately returning to the stage. Hamish’s playful expression with a glint of mischief pronounced in his eyes led your blush to deepen slightly to beet-red.
“Alright, this one is for all the sailors. We’ve got some fine men and women in this town for you to occupy your night with, should you desire it!” Hamish called with a bellowing laugh, prompting the room to flood with contagious laughter, “let’s get the night started!”
The music flooded the room, voices harmonising together and trilling between the notes. You kept your eyes fixated on Koby’s as you noticed his look of pure and unbridled adoration as he listened to your melody.
You swayed to the music, gesturing to the crowd ever so often to agree with the lyrics you expressed. Isla and Saoirse also added their flare to the song, lilting with the chorus. A call and response from the crowd occurred, prompting a good rapport from the audience as you continued on your tune.
As the final notes of the melody concluded, a loud cheer erupted the hall and tankards again began freely pouring from the bar and thrust to the stage in gratitude. You paid them no mind, focussing on the pink-haired Marine who was yet to tear his gaze from your own.
You leapt gracefully from the stage and almost skipped over to Koby, extending your hand to escort him. He took your hand with his own, his other bracing his hat slightly as you brought him to the exit of the pub. You pushed on the doors to open them, the sea air overcoming your senses as the star-lit sky danced above the shore. The moon trailed its beam over the horizon as wind whispered in the sails of the secure Marine ship.
Once out of the exposing lights of the pub, you turned your gaze to Koby’s before releasing his hand from your own and pressing his back against the darkened external wall of the pub. You brought your hands to his neck and laced them behind his scruff and holding him with a firm grip before bringing your lips up to meet with his own.
His lips were everything you thought they would be. They were soft and melted immediately into the kiss you were bestowing upon him. You opened your mouth slightly to deepen the kiss, prompting a gasp to escape into your mouth at your fervour. You could feel his inexperience at this type of affection, but found him to be a fast learner. He held the flesh just above your hips and pulled your body to rest flush against his. You continued to hold him against the wall, completely in control of the kiss you were sharing. You felt his large, circular glasses graze against the apple of your cheek, prompting you to smile into the kiss. He snaked his arms around your waist and maneuvered his hands to cradle the small of your back as he savoured the attention you were giving to him.
You brought your hands up to intertwine with his soft, pink locks; wondering momentarily how a sailor exposed to sprays of seawater kept his hair so soft to the touch. You removed his hat from his head with one of your hands and continued to maneuver his head to deepen the kiss you were sharing together. You began to release his lips, opting to press a flurry of kisses to the corner of his mouth before trailing down, over his jaw. He gasped in a shaky breath as his eyes fluttered to savour every moment. Your lips met with a space below his ear and you focussed a deep kiss on that point, swirling your tongue and tasting the exposed skin.
Koby panted slightly at your administrations before seeking your lips out once more with his own. While unbreaking this new kiss, he swiped your arms from atop his hair and brought his own to cradle your face. He walked with the kiss forward before spinning you to push you against the pub wall. You gasped in surprise at this sudden display of dominance as he continued to press kiss after kiss against your lips, jaw and now in turn your neck.
Your eyes fluttered open in surprise before resting in a half-lidded, glazed over state as you enjoyed each other in this sudden display of passion. You remained blissfully unaware of your surroundings, only being brought back as the doors of the pub flew open to reveal a small bustling group of regulars exiting from the door; drunkenly repeating the verse of the final song you sang as they stepped lightly down the steps.
This sudden drunken stupor brought your attention back to where you were and what you were actively engaging in. Although completely under the shroud of darkness and relatively hidden, a wave of slight embarrassment overcame the two of you as you almost jumped out of the arms of one another. Koby’s eyes were wide in shock as he trailed the group on their ascension back towards the town. You were the first to snap out of your momentary anxiety, raising a hand to seek out the cheek of Koby and turn his attention back to you.
“Are you ok, Marine?” you asked him in a voice above a whisper.
“I-I think so,” he stuttered as he allowed you to turn his head back to face you. You smiled warmly at him and traced the outside of his lips with your thumb.
“You’re quite good at that, you know,” you praised him, “I almost feel like I was the one rewarded.”
He chuckled slightly, flittering his eyes down to your hand then meeting your face again. He brought his own hand to your cheek and caressed you, his eyes half closed as he dreamily gazed into your eyes.
“Come on, Marine,” you jested to him, releasing his cheek from your hand and reaching it down to claim his unoccupied one, “I think it’s my turn to buy you a drink.”
He laughed at your offer before releasing your cheek and accepting gleefully.
Masterlist
He stepped in front of you, leading you back to the entrance of the pub while you placed atop your head the hat you had successfully removed during the passionate encounter moments prior with a mischievous smile.
Mini Part 2
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Her smile was worth it
Pero Tovar (modern AU) x plus size female reader (La jefa)
Word Count: 1882
Warnings: DARK FIC, mobs and their enforcers, mentions of general violence and graphic violence, mentions and descriptions of torture, descriptions of injuries, solving problems Tovar style, comfort food and tea
Summary: Pero Tovar only has a few people he chooses to interact with willingly. The bookstore owner is one of them. Someone made a very stupid mistake, Tovar will handle it and still have his tea.
Notes: This was written for @iamasaddie ‘s writing challenge 2.0. My color was Mob Enforcer and the prompt was “Hurt/Comfort” and “Who did this to you?” We're longer than a Drabble again, we dribbled quite a bit. Such is Nerdie.
I may have leaned too hard into the ‘hurt portion’ but we’ll see. 👀
Main Masterlist/ Pero Tovar Masterlist/ Writing Challenges
The only good thing about doing collections, was that most of the time, Pero wasn’t using violence. Just intimidation. The shopkeepers knew why he was here and knew the amount they needed to pay to The Family. It’s been the same amount for the past six months, in was raised temporarily for some needed repairs on the club the Valentino family owned. The actual story was that a few of the younger members had been ordered to torture a few members of a rival family and went overboard. The walls, floors and everything needed to be scrubbed.
Tovar’s been with the Valentino family for fifteen years and as one of their premier enforcers for the last seven working his way up from errand boy. His height and broad frame discourage crossing him, and even if someone is dumb enough to do so, they find themselves bloodied, battered and with at least one thing broken.
Today’s last stop for collections was planned and one that Pero normally did by himself. The bookstore owner also functions as the town’s librarian since the town doesn’t have one. It’s a smaller town and to get to a library you must drive two towns over. She normally offers him tea and some type of baked goodies. He wouldn’t admit it, but he’s grown to have a slight sweet tooth. Maybe. Really, he could care less about the sweets, he usually chats up the owner and barrows books. Considering he is collecting money from her, he felt he should pay but she always said no. He got the sense it wasn’t out of fear, she liked knowing his thoughts on different books. At first, he didn’t like the idea of discussing them. The enforcer wasn’t sure if he could really talk about different themes, symbols, characters and the like he often heard people talk about when discussing these books.
La jefa (the boss) as he often greeted her didn’t judge him on his answers or lack of them. He’d talk the best he could about what he read, even if he didn’t understand it all. She listens and sips her tea, then asks him questions to draw more answers out of him. It fustrated him at first. But he grew to enjoy the bi-weekly sit downs with her.
The chime of the bell goes off as he opens the door. The sun is at Pero’s back as he enters the bookstore. He comes early in the afternoon around two. She’s not at the counter, though the shop is listed as open. Calling out for her, she doesn’t answer, and he sucks his teeth. It isn’t like her at all. There’s no tea out either. There are no books that appear out of place and making his way behind the counter, nothing appears to be wrong with the register.
The enforcer goes into the back of the shop, he only knew where the bathroom was back here. He was looking for anything that resembled an office, as he walked down the hallway, there was a sniffle. As he kept going, they got louder. Taking a breath while he stood in front of a door that was slightly ajar, he tried to prepare himself. Maybe it was a bad day, maybe she got a papercut or was reading a sad book or something. Tovar instantly knew none of those were the case when he opened the door.
Sitting behind the desk, her shoulders were slumped, and her hands were covering her face. He saw the scabs on the back of her hands, defensive marks. “Jefa dejame ver. (Boss, let me have a look).” Her sniffles stop for a moment as she shakes her head, turning her body away from him in the swivel chair. His eyes widen at the mark on her neck he spies it when she turns, it looks like it could be from a palm. Moving to her side, Pero places a hand on her shoulder, “I need to see cariño (sweetheart) or just give me a name. Who did this to you?” She finally drops her hands, but she turns her face away.
“I don’t want you to see. The envelope is on the desk Pero. Please.” It is on the table, and he’ll put it in his jacket shortly - it is why he came here in the first place, but he can’t just leave like this. On top of her being one of a small number of people who he wants to be around, it could get around that the protection money the shops pay isn’t worth a damn because you could get beat in your own shop, and nothing will happen to whoever did it.
“Then tell me a name.” It’s sterner this time, but he’s released her shoulder and instead picked up her hand, his thumb tracing the scabs on her knuckles. She’d tried to fight back at least. She’s biting her lips when she finally looks at him, most of the discoloration is on the left side of her face though there’s a cut on her chin and one on her bottom lip. A large bruise is on her chest across her right clavicle, partly covered by her shirt. Pero’s able to keep his face motionless. “Por favor cariño (please sweetheart).” He doesn’t recognize the name she says, but he kisses her forehead and wraps an arm around her. “Gracias (thank you). I’ll be back princesa (princess).”
Pero puts the envelope in his jacket pocket and heads out of the office. “Close the shop now and have the tea ready when I come back. Between eight and nine tonight.” He’s going to be quick about dropping the money off and he’s texted one of his associates with the name she gave. Within fifteen minutes, Pero has a picture to go with the name and a location. Marcello talks way too much, but he’s the best Tovar knows at tracking people.
Pero finds this man himself and tells Marcello to tell the higher ups that he needs to demonstrate a lesson in messaging with the family. He’ll need the basement and he’ll keep the clean up to a minimum. It’s not that there wouldn’t be blood. There might be too much blood so the powers at be approve the basement use but ask that Marcello and a second enforcer be there so that the man isn’t killed. There’s only murder when necessary and it wasn’t they viewed in this case. Pero sucked his teeth for the second time today but would make sure the man in question lives. Just not with all functioning limbs.
After the submission of the money and subsequent torture was complete, the man’s body was bandaged by one of their doctors on the payroll and dropped off at his home, during a time they knew his family would be home with the message, “The Valentino family suffers no fools.” Pero carved it into his back to emphasize the point. He was still alive but would not be the same. Not after, as Tovar saw it, he’s violated one of his favorite places.
La jefa has long closed her shop and made herself dinner. Now that she thought about it, she’s never made Pero any of her food, just cookies, brownies and the like. Since he said he was coming back, she would make extra. The worst that would happen would be that he would say he didn't want any. It also dawned on her that she has not made a book recommendation today. She should pick one out before he comes, straightening out her mint green dress. Turning off the stove, she went downstairs to look for a book and saw Pero standing at the door ready to knock. It was a quarter after eight, he was glad he’d taken the extra time to shower. He didn’t want to be late, but he didn’t want to be dirty either.
“Ah! Mi princesa del librios es bonita (My Princess of books is pretty). You have our tea ready tonight?” His question follows the chime of the bell above the door as she unlocks it and lets him in. She then locks it again and nods.
“I have tea and I made some extra for dinner. I didn’t pick out a book for you yet.” She seems a bit brighter than this afternoon but still trying to make sure she was facing him with her right side. Pero takes her left hand and tugs it a little, not hard, just enough so she faces him fully.
“Hermosa (gorgeous) you don’t have a bad side. Don’t worry about the book. I haven’t finished with the other one yet. I want my tea and I want to see what you made for dinner.” The corners of her mouth curve and finally she smiles, squeezing his hand and leading him up the stairs. Pero watches her walk up and into her living area. It’s cozy as it has books scattered about as well.
“I don’t know if you like stew, but I made that and heated up some rolls. There’s butter too. I have water, apple juice, coke, and some rum.” The last option surprised him as he didn’t picture her drinking at all. Maybe she had a glass or two when she sat up here before bed. She poured herself a glass of water as Pero pointed to her glass and held up an empty bowel on the table. She filled both and they sat down across from each other. “I hope you enjoy Pero.”
“I don’t doubt that I will cariño.” The food went quickly as they ate, and she asked what other kind of foods he liked. Pero felt he might be getting greedy. Perhaps he’s been gluttonous of her attention each time he comes here. She gives it so willingly.
Tonight’s tea is mint like her dress which makes Tovar chuckle as he takes up half of her loveseat sitting down. She takes up the other and they sip tea, speaking of past books they’ve read and things he may want to read.
Even if he got an urgent call, he’ll ignore it because he’s having his tea. Pero Tovar doesn’t feel like an enforcer or a conduit for violence. He just has an arm around one of his favorite people as she places her head on his shoulder. The tough pads of his fingers touch the injured side of her face while he tells her that it’s been taken care of. He won’t tell her details. Tovar figures she can put it together. If he can just have moments like these where he’s just a man with someone he cares for, Pero can use that to sleep. He prays she can rest without crying or being scared.
The loveseat has his feet hanging off outside of the blanket he found on the back of it. So far, he hasn’t heard her sniffle again. Pero carried her to bed after she fell asleep in his arms. The faint scent of mint mingling with the earthy smell of the books lulls him to sleep. He had blood on his hands again today, but it was fine. It was for her sake, and she hasn’t cried again.
It was worth it.
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WILLIAM AND CATHERINE’S STAFF.
Some of you asked me to do a post about the staff working for William and Catherine. It is important to mention that these are the people I know who work for/with them and that this information is mainly taken from LinkedIn. As I mentioned before, getting pictures of some of them would be complicated. Usually, those who accompany them on their engagements are in the background, so it is difficult to get a clear enough picture of them. It goes without saying how difficult it is to get photos of the people who don't usually accompany them on their engagements, although I guess there won't be much interest in them. Below each section, there is a collage in the order they appear in the list, if the number of X person in the list is not in the collage it means that I couldn't find a picture of that person, I hope you understand.
WILLIAM:
Jean-Christophe Gray, Private Secretary
Genevieve McCarthy, Assistant Private Secretary
Louis Reynolds, Assistant Private Secretary
Laura Baker, Assistant Private Secretary
JC has a private assistant named Katherine Hawley.
CATHERINE:
There is no confirmation yet, but the press has said that her new private secretary is named Alison Corfield.
Natalie Barrows, Assistant Private Secretary
Catherine's private secretary had a PA but she left in 2022, her name is Francesca.
WILLIAM AND CATHERINE'S JOINT STAFF:
COMMUNICATIONS TEAM:
Lee Thompson, Head Communications Secretary
Edwina Iddles, Deputy Communications Secretary
Adam Born, Senior Communications Officer
Rhea Vernon, Communications Officer
Annabelle M., Senior Communications Officer
Daisy Northway, Communications Secretary
Paul Rutland, Digital Communications Officer
Nathan Murphy, Personal Assistant to Communications Secretary and Communications Office Manager
A few months ago KP was looking for a Digital Lead, which was the position that David aka iPhone Guy had but so far I don't know who it is, I think it's safe to say that they did hire someone because, in the ad where they were looking for a digital content creator, they said that this person would work closely with the Digital Lead.
PROGRAM COORDINATORS
Emma Mager, Senior Events and Visits Manager
Jasmine Summers, Project Consultant
Katie Simon, PA and Researcher
Carys Rees MVO, Operation and Planning Manager
Tifare Alexander, Travel and Logistics Officer
EVENT/VISIT OFFICERS
Amy Kerr, Events and Visits Officer
Sophie Chauvin, Assistant Events and Visits Officer
Emma Bell, Diary Manager
PERSONAL STAFF
Rob Dixon, Equerry to The Prince and Princess of Wales
Lucy La Fleur, Deputy Personal Secretary to The Prince and Princess of Wales
Clare Brand (Haldane), Deputy Personal Secretary to The Prince and Princess of Wales
Natasha Jackson (née Archer), Personal Assistant to The Prince and Princess of Wales
Jamie Earlam, Deputy Personal Assistant at the Household of The Prince and Princess of Wales
ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF AND OTHERS
Emily G, PA to the APSs to The Prince and Princess of Wales
James Dawson, Process Manager at the Household of The Prince and Princess of Wales
Lucy Thorn, Head of Finance to The Prince and Princess of Wales
Emma Piper, Senior Human Resources Manager
Chyna Gentles, Team Assistant
Katie Smallman, Team Assistant
Carly M, Finance Assistant
Geeta Tailor, Management Accountant
Mary Vrabecz, Gifts and Inventory Curator
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