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#Calhoun City High School
peachypede · 9 months
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I've been holding this guy close to my heart for second. Made him at the very end of June and I really like him a lot. I've been struggling for months trying to create a research assistant for Calhoun
Name: Kage (kah-gay) Fujiwara
Height: 5'8" (172 cm)
Weight: 195 lbs (88 lbs)
Birthday: April 26th
Current Residence: Nacrene, Unova
Likes: Cooking, baking, food decorations, taking care of pokemon, cute things, collecting Sanrio merch
Dislikes: Selfishness, Loud parties, shoes on in house
Fears: His past catching up to him
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Name: Chiyo Fujiwara
Height: 3'9" (114 cm)
Weight: 53 lbs (24 kg)
Birthday: January 5th
Current Residence: Nacrene, Unova
Likes: Books, Drawing, Eevee-themed items, helping her big brother at work, Exploring in Pinwheel Forest with Professor Webb
Dislikes: Rainy days, spicy food
Fears: ghost and dark type pokemon (Mochi is the only exception), the dark
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Born and raised in Ecruteak City, Kage had a difficult childhood. He dropped out of high school to take care of his mom at 16 cause his dad was a dead beat. His father would came back when he was 19 but left shortly after Kage’s Mom became pregnant again. His mother sadly passed away during childbirth, which left raising Chiyo, his little sister, up to Kage.
From there, Kage joined Team Rocket because stealing money gave a more sustainable food source for him and his little sister. He decided to quit though when Giovanni disbanded the group, also when Chiyo was getting more interested in what Kage did for work. He could never bear being a bad example for his little sister.
Kage worked at a few pokemarts, but because of his lack of education he didn’t get much money. At 26 he met Calhoun when Cal was on a research trip to Johto and Kage helped him out. Cal then asked if he wanted to be an assistant which Kage accepted pretty much right away.
Now at 28 he mostly stays at the Webb Bug-Type Sanctuary and Research Center in Unova, located right next to Pinwheel Forest, where he takes care of all the rescued bugs from around the world. Cal has a very open door policy for employees' children (due to understanding being a sole caretaker himself) so when Chiyo isn’t at school, she’s able to be with Kage at work.
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Extra bits:
Mochi, Kage's Umbreon, and Momo, Chiyo's Eevee, are siblings. Kage's mother used to breed an Espeon and Umbreon to sell Eevees to trainers just starting out. Sadly the pair died shortly after their mother did, being old and heartbroken by their trainer's passing.
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sparsilemuses · 11 months
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current test muses for @sparsilelove as of mid-may!
face claims featured: archie renaux, ben barnes, brenton thwaites, charlie hunnam, darren barnet, frank grillo, joshua bassett, marisa tomei, mason gooding, riz ahmed, rudy pankow, sarah michelle gellar, tom hardy.
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these are organised roughly by how much i'm itching to play them!! most muses have at minimum a slice of life and a genre (supernatural, sci-fi, horror, etc) verse. the first verse listed is their main / default and any others are alternates / by request.
i am open to all kinds of plots, though as ever my preference is romantic connections! currently only looking to ship with men because i'm too gay to function. the ideas listed are just some starting points.
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kamran mustafa (riz ahmed) is a softhearted, hardheaded man of the people ⇾ slice of life: formerly homeless, now running an unofficial halfway house in the poorest part of a city, he's all about grassroots action and giving everything he's got to those in need ⇾ dystopian future: an important figure in the rebellion against the elitist powers that be, often throwing himself directly into harm's way for the good of others & ideas: friends to lovers with another grungy weirdo, opposites attract with some corporate dbag
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orion kemper (joshua bassett) is a cocky genius with too much money and zero self-restraint ⇾ slice of life: after graduating high school at 14 & college at 18, ri sold an app for a stupid amount of money and has spent the last 4 years dicking around ⇾ supernatural: born werewolf with a permanent sneer at bitten wolves, set to inherit alpha status of his family pack one day (if he doesn't get himself killed first) & ideas: friends to inappropriately cuddle, older men for him to top, someone unimpressed with him
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lysander crawshaw (archie renaux) is jaded, paranoid proof that curiosity killed the cat ⇾ supernatural: still recovering from being possessed by belias, a greater demon, lys struggles with the lines between reality, dream and hallucination ⇾ slice of life: raised in a cult, lys brings with him a truckload of trauma, a sprinkling of self-hatred, and a dollop of dang adorable & ideas: someone who is his anchor to reality, someone with a similar experience, someone he can start over with
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tiberius cooper (rudy pankow) is brash and loud, but in a cornered animal kind of a way ⇾ horror i: the "final girl" of a group of friends (including his twin brother) who were targeted by a serial killer while on vacation, tib sleeps sitting up holding a knife ⇾ horror ii: after his identical twin brother livestreamed a string of violent crimes (think 'spree'), tib has all but become a recluse for his own safety ⇾ slice of life: having never really recovered from the sudden death of his twin brother, tib covers up his debilitating anxiety by being the most obnoxious guy in the room & ideas: someone who knew him before everything (esp. exes of his twin), someone from a support group, some morbid weirdo who is drawn to the darkness in him now
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elliot hawthorne (charlie hunnam) is a soft, sweet nerd who loves to take care of people ⇾ slice of life: a film professor who was recently dumped after five years with his ex, ell's students have been complaining lately that they'd like to watch something other than dardenne brothers movies, thanks & ideas: student or former student, friend who always thought he could do better than his ex, co-worker
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beatrix calhoun (marisa tomei) is a trainwreck in motion, barely keeping up appearances ⇾ celebrity: a well-known musician who has been active since her early twenties, beatrix is still in love with songwriting and touring, leaving no room for anything else ⇾ slice of life: an artist who manages to charm the pants (often literally) off various wealthy / connected people to keep her afloat & ideas: fan, young musician who looks up to her, touring band member, ex who is also in the industry, producer, step-son, kid's friend
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dandelion corrigan (tom hardy) is a cynical witch who believes his family is cursed ⇾ supernatural: an actual witch, with an actual curse, piecing together an existence in the woods making herbal remedies and mild infatuation potions for the locals ⇾ slice of life: an oddball from a pagan-ish family who makes his living selling things from his little farm & making ointmints, certain he'll never be happy & ideas: let's break this curse yo
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ava blake (sarah michelle gellar) is an enigma at best and a nuisance at worst ⇾ espionage: a well-trained assassin / spy, ava has discovered a nefarious plot within her organisation that is no good very bad ⇾ slice of life: a single mom very much inspired by lorelai gilmore, ava runs a cafe / bakery / bookstore called the nook and has no time for your nonsense & ideas: rival spy / double agent, normal guy caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, another single parent
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athanasios wilde (ben barnes) is very, very bored, to the point of insanity ⇾ supernatural: an immortal shapeshifter, ath's lived hundreds of lives in hundreds of bodies ⇾ crime: a significant general in his father's crime family, ath is a particularly unsettling kind of ruthless & ideas: another cursed immortal or someone seeking to become immortal, unsuspecting normie drawn into his bullshit
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peregrine talbot (brenton thwaites) is extremely polite, but probably making fun of you ⇾ supernatural: a fae prince, beholden to the 'seelies can't lie' rule, perry is fascinated by mortals, occasionally living among them ⇾ slice of life: trust fund kid with a scholar's mind, perry is actually nice, as long as you don't interrupt him & ideas: mortal who falls into the fae realm, supernatural creature who needs his help, classmate from college, friend from the wrong side of the tracks
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taliesin rafferty (darren barnet) is me proving trans guys can be fuckboy dbags too ⇾ slice of life: tal vibes are scrolling grindr while he's on a date with you, sneaking out while you're in the shower, pretending to forget your name so you don't get attached & ideas: best friends with feelings, the guy who sees through his bullshit, the guy he chases long enough to fall for
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phoenix dawson (mason gooding) is a genuine, no shit, actual nice guy with no trauma ⇾ slice of life: a dance teacher with a heart of gold, nix believes in random acts of kindness, smiling at strangers, and telling the people you love how much you love them loudly and often & ideas: long term boyfriend / husband for domestic cuteness, trainwreck best friend he's always there to pick up when he falls, guy who bullied him in high school
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edoardo "eddie" mancini (frank grillo) is the typical salt of the earth every man, doing his best to get by ⇾ slice of life: after the tragic death of his wife, eddie is finally forced to confront the secret he's always kept about his sexuality and hopefully figure out some kind of happiness (while his kids [24 - 38] mock him for being uncool) ⇾ any other genre: bewildered mechanic stumbles into supernatural shit / ends up in the apocalypse / some other shit, chaos ensues & ideas: someone from his past he once hooked up with, a friend of one of his kids, please lord let him get picked up at like a farmer's market or some shit, customer who leaves his number, barista who writes flirty messages on his cup, etc
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storiesofsvu · 2 years
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Seeing Red Ch 1
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Casey novak x fem!reader Warnings: Language.
“Fuck…” Casey muttered as her head glanced up at the sound of your shoes on the linoleum. Amanda followed her gaze, not liking the fact that there was already a smirk on your face. She was still relatively new enough to Manhattan that she hadn’t managed to cross paths with you yet, she turned to the redhead.
“I take it she’s a tough one?”
“Major shark. She wins over jury’s like magic I swear, it doesn’t matter how much hard evidence there is in front of them, they’ll come back in favour of her clients all the fucking time.”
“She worse than Calhoun?”
“She is a Calhoun.” Casey sighed, “dove straight into defence after graduating, she co-counselled with Rita for a few months before she started taking her own clients.”
“Younger sister?”
“Yeah.”
“So she’s been reading law books since high school.”
“Try even earlier. Their Dad’s a Judge, Mom’s the bureau chief out in Brooklyn and they’ve even got an Uncle out in D.C. working as attorney general.”
“Jesus. Well”- Amanda clapped her on the shoulder, “good luck Counsellor.” Casey rolled her eyes in response, watching the blonde escape back to her desk as you took her place.
“I take it we’re all playing by the rules?” You greeted, cocking a brow in the direction of the new detective.
“She’s new to the city, not the job. We’re by the book.”
“With this squad…I can never be too sure.” You half teased and Casey let out a sigh of frustration, after all, you were more than right.
“Well good luck, you’re gonna have a hard time getting out of this one.”
“Yeah, right.” You snorted, “and we both know I don’t need luck to beat you Novak.” With that you were gone into the interrogation room, greeting Mr Peters with a warm smile and firm handshake.
Casey couldn’t help but watch through the glass for more than one reason, obviously she was paying attention work wise, but there was a flair you had while you worked that she just couldn’t resist. It was particularly noticeable in the courtroom, your coloured Prada suits and expensive shoes putting on enough of a show already. When she said you were magic with the jury she’d meant it, you managed to pull them in so deep with just your opening arguments that she felt like she didn’t stand a chance half the time. Not that she minded the show in the meantime, your clothing was always perfectly tailored, your hair and makeup immaculate, and it apparently ran in the family that talking with your hands was a necessity. Casey sometimes wondered if your advantage on her in the courtroom was that she got too caught up in imagining other things you could do with your hands rather than focussing on the trial.
As it turned out, Casey’s warning about you needing luck was probably more than true, even just talking with Peters had you a little wary, but you knew you still had a decent chance in a courtroom. You’d hold out at least until you had all the evidence and reports from the prosecution. You knew how good you were at your job, and you also knew on the other side of that glass, Casey’s eyes were on you in more than just a work related gaze. You certainly weren’t afraid of using that to your advantage to win a case, you’d used it as a tactic before and weren’t against exploiting it again if it meant winning a trickier case this time.  You wrapped up your conversation with Peters, running over how the next twenty four hours were going to go for him and slipped back out of the interrogation room.
“You wanna talk deals?” Casey asked, and you tsk’d.
“This early in the game? Do you even know me Counsellor.” You teased with a grin, “I’ll see you at arraignment in the morning. After that I’m in court all day, then we can look over things, maybe I’ll be willing to see it from your point of view.”
“No offence, but your client is guilty on three counts of rape, you think you might wanna not gamble on that?”
“You tellin’ me how to do my job Case? Didn’t realize you’d swapped sides.” You smirked, sighing as you pulled your phone from your bag, giving her a nod in dismissal, “what?” You asked into your phone.
“You’re late.” Rita’s voice taunted and you rolled your eyes.
“Maybe that’s cause I actually talk to my clients rather than making deals right off the bat.” You sassed back, “give me…ten? I’m coming from the sixteenth.”
“Fine. But you better hurry, you’re cutting into my afternoon.”
“You mean your shopping trip?” You quipped, your gaze caught by Barba coming out of Olivia’s office, his hand shooting out in your direction, “hold on.” You rolled your eyes at your sister’s scoff on the other end of the line, directing your words to Rafael as you stepped up to him at Amanda’s desk “you guys swapping cases around? I didn’t think I had anything with you?”
“You don’t, but you can save me a trip uptown if you take these to Rita.” You took the papers out of his hand, flipping the first one open and you snorted out a laugh, redirecting your conversation back into the phone.
“You’re gonna have to push that Saks trip back, you’ve got a motions hearing at three.”
“No I don’t. I haven’t heard from Barba all day.”
“Yeah well he’s standing right in front of me and I’m holding the papers so cut the sass and order for me, I’ll be there in ten.” You hung up the phone before she could retort and redirected your attention to the blonde. “Peters case files?”
“We’re waitin’ on some CSU results but everything else is here.”
“Thanks.” You tossed the files into your bag alongside the paperwork for Rita, “I expect the rest of the results the instant they’re done, none of this the dog ate my homework crap Novak.”
“You’ll get it as soon as I do.” She replied and you turned to Barba.
“I’ll probably see you later, it is always so fun to watch Rita destroy you in a courtroom.” After shooting the three of them a grin, you were quick to saunter off out of the room, leaving Amanda to speak first.
“Well, she certainly is a Calhoun.”
“Yeah…” Casey muttered, “and what she lacks in experience she makes up for in bratty-ness.”
“Someone needs to fuck it out of her.” The detective glanced up at the two lawyers in front of her and Rafael barked out a laugh.
“Don’t look my way, Rita would castrate me! Besides, little Calhoun doesn’t swing that way, this one’s all you Novak.” Casey let out a snort followed by an awkward laugh as she prayed her cheeks weren’t as flushed as they felt.
“Yeah, right.” Her eyes followed you into the elevator and she swore you winked at her as the doors slid shut, “I’m not keen on getting torn a new one from Rita either.”
Truthfully, Rita couldn’t care less about what you did in your personal time, and you were more than open with each other about those types of things. Hell, you’d lived together for three years in Cambridge while Rita was at Harvard and you were in college and again once you’d relocated back to New York, making sure you had your footing before venturing out on your own. You’d lived through enough of each other’s hook up’s and relationships for it to not be any shade of awkward.
The main reason (aside from respecting your sexuality) that Barba wasn’t going anywhere near you was because he’d known you since you were eighteen, playing Judge as he and Rita worked through mock court arguments in preparation for exams and various assignments. He wasn’t sure how he’d managed to put up with two Calhoun’s for sixteen years, but his friendship with Rita still remained strong, even after she’d transferred to the defence. And honestly, hanging out with both of you at once wasn’t so bad, most of your sass was directed at each other, and if it wasn’t work related you both tended to calm down.
Casey’s history wasn’t as deep with you, she’d been two years behind you at Harvard, in her first while you finished your last. She’d taken a gap year between high school and college, and another one between college and law school to work and build up a substantial savings. Your paths never crossed in Cambridge thanks to you being fully focussed on school, determined to graduate with a higher GPA than your sister. You didn’t waste time going out or partying and you didn’t need the extra money tutoring first years would create, you both stayed in your own lanes.
It was a few years into her white collar career that you came barrelling into each other’s lives, a Wall Street client of yours being charged with embezzlement. You’d been drawn to the redhead the moment you walked into the precinct, if you hadn’t been there for work you definitely would’ve made a move. Casey was astonished at the way you absolutely eviscerated her during the trial, and wasn’t surprised when the jury came back in your favour. Once she’d transferred into SVU, she groaned at the sight of you in the precinct before she even made it there, knowing she was probably in for it…again.
There was no denying the glimmer between the two of you, it was just nearly impossible to nail down whether it was the joy of getting to spar against each other in the courtroom or something more. It was more than clear to everyone that you were very formidable opponents. The question simply remained if the passion from the courtroom could transfer to outside of the work place.
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⏳ - dein erster Tag in der High School!
„We've got the vision, now let's have fun. Yeah, it's overwhelming, but what else can we do?“
New York City – Manhattan – Summer 2008
„Bist du nervös?“
Malcolms Stimme klang ziemlich belustigt während Anastasia vor dem Spiegel im Flur des Elternhauses stand und ein letztes Mal ihr Outfit prüfte. So konnte sie bestimmt in den ersten Tag an der neuen Schule starten. Nicht zu aufdringlich, nicht zu langweilig. Die Jacke der Calhoun Athletics hatte sie über ihr einfaches Shirt gezogen. Das ‚C‘ der Schule prangte mit einem Puma, der die Zähne zeigte in einem satten Grün auf der linken Seite und zeigte so schon irgendeine… Zugehörigkeit, an der sie zweifelte, diese überhaupt zu haben. „Ich weiß nicht… ich glaube es wäre schöner gewesen, an der alten Schule zu bleiben.“, antwortete Anastasia leise und seufzte auf als sie ihre Tasche griff, die viel zu schwer war mit den ganzen Büchern, die sie heute erstmal einräumen müsste, sobald man ihr einen Spind zugeteilt hat.
Eigentlich war es gar nicht ihr erster Tag an der High School, aber der erste Tag an einer neuen Schule, nachdem ihre Eltern nach Kanada ausgewandert sind und Malcolm und sie selbst auf eigenen Wunsch in New York City gelassen haben. Allerdings konnte Anastasia dann nicht mehr auf eine öffentliche High School gehen, da es kein Internat oder ähnliches gab, wo sie zum Schein eingetragen sein konnte. Vor den Sommerferien sind ihre Eltern weggezogen und diese Erinnerung schlug ihr gerade fies auf den Magen zu der Aufregung gleich an die neue Schule zu gehen. Immerhin waren Malcolm und Frank auch da und sie kannte einige Freundinnen, die diese Schule besuchten. Vielleicht würde sie das Glück haben und mit ihnen in einigen Kursen landen. Im Cheerleading waren auf jeden Fall vier ihrer Freundinnen und… es war eigentlich gut zu wissen, nicht mehr gegeneinander sein zu müssen wenn Spiele anstanden. Den Aufnahmetest hatte Anastasia mit Leichtigkeit bestanden und somit auch gleich Anschluss bei der neuen Gruppe der Cheerleader bekommen. Das nahm ihr zumindest etwas die Nervosität nicht gut genug zu sein.
Sie sah bestimmt zum fünften Mal in ihre Tasche, ob sie auch ihren Schülerausweis dabeihatte, bevor irgendjemand denken würde sie hätte sich an der renommierten Privatschule eingeschlichen, doch er war nach wie vor da mit einem Foto welches kurz nach ihrem vierzehnten Geburtstag entstanden ist. Sechs Monate später hatte sich so einiges auf den Kopf gestellt und nun stand sie hier, unsicher wie nie, und musste sich mal wieder einer neuen Situation stellen. Diesmal waren nur Malcolm und sie da, keine Eltern, die einem nochmal Mut zusprachen, sondern irgendwas dort oben trieben und dort ihr Leben fortsetzten. ‚Es ist nur ein blöder Schulwechsel, jetzt hab dich nicht so!‘, ermahnte sie sich in Gedanken selbst, bevor sie ein Lächeln aufsetzte und die blonden Haare über eine Schulter warf als sie zu ihrem Bruder sah. „Ich glaube das Auto ist da!“, rief sie die Treppen hoch und lachte als Malcolm die Treppen runtergestürmt kam und in Höchstgeschwindigkeit noch einen Kaffee runter gurgelte, bevor sie in den Wagen stiegen, der sie zur Schule fuhr. Extremer Luxus, das wussten die Geschwister selbst, aber das war gefühlt normal an einer Schule wie dieser. Malcolm besuchte sie schon länger, Anastasia wollte damals auf eine öffentliche Schule gehen. Dafür hatte ihr Bruder in den Jahren zuvor eine glänzende sportliche Karriere eingeschlagen und war sehr bekannt geworden für sein Talent im Football. Auch wenn es gefühlt nur Top-Athleten an der Calhoun gab, war jeder, der es in die Mannschaften schaffte, eine besonders herausragende Leistung. Noch lange vor den eigentlichen Schulabschlüssen hatten die meisten schon Stipendien in der Hand und Zusagen von den besten Universitäten Amerikas, um weiter zu glänzen.
Sobald sie inmitten der Stadt vor der Schule ausstiegen, wurde ihr Bruder gleich grölend von Freunden begrüßt. Es war fast normal, dass man sich in den Sommerferien nicht sah. Die Welt wurde bereist und es war selten, dass man sich mal zur selben Zeit in der Stadt befand. Umso größer war die Wiedersehensfreude nach den Ferien unter den Freunden. Anastasia kannte fast jeden Einzelnen und grüßte mit einem recht schüchternen Lächeln jeden den sie traf, der Kontext war ein anderer, und der machte die kleine Blondine doch wieder etwas nervöser. „Ahh, schon voll ausgestattet was? Steht dir, Kleine.“, grinste Luke zu ihr runter und griff unverblümt nach dem Kragen ihrer Jacke, viel zu nah an ihrer Brust und viel zu plötzlich als das Anastasia ihm einen frechen Spruch an den Kopf werfen konnte. Luke war einer der wenigen Leute mit denen die schüchterne vierzehnjährige überhaupt nicht zurechtkam, und noch während er neckend an dem Logo ihrer Jacke zog, und sie einen Schritt zurück ging, tat er es auch. Wenn auch eher unfreiwillig. „Luke, du sollst nicht alles anpacken was hübsch aussieht. Sonst verbrennst du dir die Finger. Oder jemand wird sie dir brechen. Und du weißt, wie sie heißt, nicht Kleine.“, ertönte Franks Stimme lachend hinter dem Footballer. Frank hatte Luke gleich von Ana weggezogen und klopfte ihm lachend auf die Schulter, aber… man konnte dem Gesicht von Luke ansehen, dass beide wussten das dieser Scherz von Frank gar nicht so witzig gemeint war, wie die jungen Männer lachten.
Demonstrativ zog Frank Anastasia dafür kurz in die Arme und begrüßte sie mit einem Lächeln, welches wohl aufmunternd sein sollte, als er am Saum ihrer Jacke diese nochmal mit einem kleinen Grinsen richtete. „Hey Ana. Die Jacke steht dir allerdings wirklich gut.“, zwinkerte er ihr grinsend zu und nickte in Richtung des Haupteingangs, „Sophia wartet schon auf dich am Schülerbüro, das ist gleich rechts, wenn du reingehst. Soll ich es dir zeigen?“ – „Sophia ist da?!“, kam es viel freudiger als geplant von Anastasia als sie schnell nickte und die anderen um sich herum vollkommen ignorierte, wenn auch nichts mit Absicht. Das Wissen, dass einer ihrer besten Freundinnen hier war und offensichtlich schon mit einem Plan auf sie wartete, war unheimlich beruhigend und sofort schlug ihre Nervosität in Vorfreude um, als Frank seinen Arm um ihre schmalen Schultern legen durfte und sie in das Innere der Calhoun School führte.
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healthstyle101 · 5 months
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High school graduation rate in Georgia hits record high in 2023
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Georgia Achieves Record High Public High School Graduation Rate Georgia's public high school graduation rate reached a remarkable milestone in 2023, hitting a record high of 84.4%. The state Department of Education made this announcement, highlighting the success of 84.4% of seniors graduating on time in the spring. This achievement marks a slight increase from last year's rate of 84.1%, and it stands as the highest rate since Georgia implemented calculations that require students to complete their high school education within four years, earning a regular high school diploma. State Superintendent Richard Woods expressed his enthusiasm, stating, "Every data point represents an actual student and new opportunities that have opened up for their future. I'm confident we'll continue to see positive results as we invest in academic recovery and building a student-centered educational system." Improvement Over the Years It's worth noting that graduation rates have seen steady growth since 2012 when Georgia struggled with a rate of less than 70% of seniors graduating on time. In 2020, the national graduation rate reached 87%, marking an upward trend across the country. Georgia has also made it easier for students to graduate by eliminating four end-of-course exams in 2020. Additionally, the state Board of Education recently voted to reduce the significance of remaining end-of-course exams in select subjects, thereby making graduation more accessible for students. However, it's essential to recognize that the state's standardized test scores faced challenges during and after the COVID-19 pandemic and have yet to fully rebound. Diverse Graduation Rates The graduation rates in Georgia reflect a diverse landscape. Statewide, 94% of Asian and Pacific Islander students graduated on time, while 87.1% of white students, 82.5% of multiracial students, 83.7% of Black students, and 77.6% of Hispanic students achieved the same milestone. Georgia has historically maintained a narrow gap between Black and white graduation rates. For students with disabilities, the graduation rate was 73.2%, while students learning English graduated at a rate of 66%. Standout Performers and Challenges In a breakdown of individual school systems, 39 systems and five charter schools reported graduation rates of 95% or higher. Notable mentions include the Calhoun city school system, the Statesboro STEAM Academy, and the Webster County school system, each boasting a 100% on-time graduation rate. On the other end of the spectrum, six traditional school systems reported graduation rates below 80%, along with both of Georgia's statewide online charter schools and state schools catering to blind and deaf children. The traditional school systems with the lowest graduation rates were Clarke County and Randolph County, each with a rate of 75.4%. In addition, three charter schools aimed at high school dropouts and the school system serving state Department of Juvenile Justice detention facilities faced even lower graduation rates. Georgia's record-breaking graduation rate signifies progress, but it also highlights the diverse educational landscape within the state, with both successful and struggling school systems. Read the full article
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companyjust · 1 year
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Garden story developer
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#Garden story developer manuals#
What’s remarkable about this book is how quick it. He cuts past the verbose film school expository, and gets straight to work, delivering a sample-driven checklist that anyone can follow.
#Garden story developer manuals#
Calhoun's The Guide for Every Screenwriter is one of the most efficient instruction manuals on the craft. The city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development, which owned the remaining portion of the garden, announced in June that it would give the space to the city's Parks Department rather than developing affordable housing there. Kelly Schwarze (Emmy-Winning Director) Geoffrey D. The building plans were first reported by Buzz Buzz Home.Įven if Hoyda moves ahead with his building plans, the volunteer gardeners still won a victory earlier this year when they convinced the city to preserve the other half of the space as permanent parkland. Hoyda and his architectural firm, Kutnicki and Bernstein, did not immediately return calls or emails for comment. Residents had claimed the formerly derelict lots in 1982, building a community garden there that they had maintained for decades. Hoyda infuriated the gardeners in May by building a fence through the middle of the 2,500-square-foot space, sectioning off the portion he owned from the part owned by the city. "We are very concerned and working really hard to come up with a solution," she added. Snaking wooden walkways traverse a terraced garden planted with 700 trees at the heart of this tower development in. "We are meeting as a garden quite frequently and we are still very hopeful that we can have a conversation" with Hoyda, said Kate Temple-West, a Lower East Side resident and writer who is the director of Children's Magical Garden. Terraced gardens echoing paddy fields fill centre of Singapore's Marina One. The plans, which call for a single apartment per floor, have not yet been approved by the DOB, and garden volunteers are still hoping to reach an agreement with Hoyda to preserve the lot as public space. near Stanton Street, which for 31 years was part of the Children's Magical Garden. LOWER EAST SIDE - A six-story building could soon rise on a Lower East Side lot that until recently was part of a community garden, records show.ĭeveloper Serge Hoyda has submitted plans to the Department of Buildings for a new 70-foot residential building at 157 Norfolk St.
Crown Heights, Prospect Heights & Prospect-Lefferts Gardens.
For example, a 10-story high-rise building and a two-story luxury garden.
Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens & Red Hook Multiple condominiums also make sense when the developer's initial single.
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theotherpages · 1 year
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Alzheimer's as a Villanelle
I visit the theme of memory often in my writing, and since medical events are written into the plotlines of my books from time to time, I have had the unsettling experience of reliving a scene I’ve written. Perspective can also shift with time, our stage in life, or our position in a relationship. In Ion, book six of The Republic of Dreams, during a scene intended to evoke memories and the emotions they carry, Sparrow observes to Meredith, “I have learned that much of life is spent revisiting the same events, over and over, from different viewpoints.”
A few years ago, I traveled north to Ohio and Michigan, and had an opportunity to visit with Ms. Elizabeth Papps, my AP English Literature teacher from high school. It had been four decades, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that she was still around (she has since passed) but saddened to learn she had suffered a stroke. Her body was a pencil-thin version of the person she used to be. Her memory, and her attention span, likewise, were thin slivers of what they used to be, making conversation challenging. Challenging, but not impossible.
I explored things she might remember from teaching, from childhood, from travel, and especially on the topic of food. Food memories are rich from a sensory standpoint, and I guessed correctly that childhood memories of her favorite foods would be a good topic. She grew up in a Greek household, and the savory and sweet dishes are the kinds of things that have unique tastes and textures and fill a home with inviting aromas: avgolemono (lemon-chicken soup), pastitsio (a lasagna-like dish with a bechamel sauce and cinnamon), kourabiethes (sugar cookies that melt in your mouth), baklava (flaky pastry with honey and cinnamon). Food led to places she had been, people she had known, and things she had done.
The doorway to memory opened and closed repeatedly. She remembered traveling to Greece, Israel, and Egypt in detail, but could not remember it again twenty minutes later. She would correct me on the pronunciation of a Greek word, and forget that word ten minutes later. She wanted to be called Bess, because that is what her friends always called her. Friends she couldn’t remember.
Her favorite book to teach was A Tale of Two Cities, because she liked how the places and storylines paralleled and contrasted with each other. Her favorite play to teach was Hamlet, because, similarly, he stood in two worlds: his outward public life, and his tortured inner life. She remembered only a few teachers, but remembered more when prompted. She remembered Patricia Osborne fondly, a former journalist who taught English in an adjacent classroom for many years. She remembered only two students from all her years of teaching: Beth Perkins and Jim Calhoun. She didn’t remember me (not surprising - even without the stroke, it’s been forty years).
Her own questions and observations were simple, and recurring. Sometimes they repeated exactly, and sometimes with variations. More than anything, it reminded me of the structure of a villanelle. A villanelle is a poem with a very simple rhyme scheme in which two of the lines become an alternating refrain, as in a pair of comments or questions repeated multiple times, sometimes with slight changes to evolve their meaning.
A conversation with someone who has suffered memory loss can be that way. The same is true with some individuals on the autism spectrum. Maybe there is a certain reinforcement, or reassurance in the repeated refrain. The variations along the way can add depth to the conversation, as can approaching things from different directions. I am not an expert on these disorders in any way, but in a very human sense, she was happy to have company and was very engaged in the conversation. Did she remember my visit the next day? I don’t know. I suspect not.
I think the concept of a villanelle prepares us for the fact that the same ideas, subjects, and specific questions will repeat themselves, and that with patience, we can still communicate on some level. It may be a recursive conversation, and the content may be more in emotions than in words, but in truth, in most one-to-one personal conversations, isn’t that the most important part?
If you have not experienced this scene, odds are that you will, some day. If you write it or imagine it beforehand, don’t be surprised to find that it turns out differently. Be relieved, in fact. There is a certain eeriness when fiction is too close to reality. In the field of artificial intelligence (another recurring theme in The Republic of Dreams) there is a similar concept referred to as the Uncanny Valley. For the Alzheimer’s patient, I wonder which is the greater frustration - the thing that seems unknown (“Do I know you?”), or the thing that seems familiar, but just not quite right? (“Why do you look so old?”)
-- Steve
⌘ Alzheimer’s as a Villanelle
Time slips away, as all things do. Drop by drop, and then a torrent. Who am I? Do I know you? I thought I told you we were through? Or was that another country, another lover? Time slips away, as all things do. I was brilliant once, and beautiful too, But memories, like mirrors, are blurry now. Who am I? Do I know you? I was married one time, or maybe two, I raised three wild children, or was it four? Time slips away, as all things do. I had a home once, shiny and new, Built on a lake, or was it the seashore? Who am I? Do I know you? Time chases everyone, even you. Why do you look so old? Who was I? Did I know you? Time runs away, as all things do. --Steve Spanoudis
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couponspiner · 1 year
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Movie heaven hell architect
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The project had limited success, partly because no one could figure out what aspects of rodent behavior, lifestyle, or biology to target. After earning his PhD in zoology, he joined the Rodent Ecology Project in Baltimore in 1946, whose purpose was to eliminate rodent pests in cities. John Calhoun grew up in Tennessee, the son of a high school principal and an artist, and was an avid birder when young. And by this point he knew how quickly mouse heaven could deteriorate into mouse hell. Free from predators and other worries, a mouse could theoretically live to an extraordinarily old age there, without a single worry.īut the thing is, this wasn’t Calhoun’s first rodent utopia. Calhoun also screened the mice to eliminate disease. It was a large pen-a 4½-foot cube-with everything a mouse could ever desire: plenty of food and water a perfect climate reams of paper to make cozy nests and 256 separate apartments, accessible via mesh tubes bolted to the walls. Unofficially, it was called mouse heaven.īiologist John Calhoun built the colony at the National Institute of Mental Health in Maryland in 1968. would have few qualms in masterplanning hell.Officially, the colony was called the Mortality-Inhibiting Environment for Mice. In this light, the Pope might want to call in the architectural great and good. It might well be imaginary but the architecture of hell seems as problematic as any real world project. Perhaps it is because of religions fundamentally architectural character that makes it so important for mysterious Vatican committees to constantly check and recheck their maps of the afterlife (that and the slight PR problem of un-baptised babies going to limbo rather than direct to heaven). Where the plan intersects the section is the ground zero of religions power. It tells you your hierarchical position in relation to the center of power through devices such as nave, apse, and so on. In section, these are all attempts to place you - to fix, illustrate, describe, and make experientially explicit the human position within a cosmic order. Later, Northern European Cathedrals dramatized the narratives of verticality: of heaven above and hell below using vertiginous Gothicism. Egyptians made complex cosmically engaged tombs at huge scale. Ancient Greeks re-wrote real landscapes to accommodate their deities. Stonehenge connects an earthly place with the solar calendar. That's why it built most of the history of architecture. Religion has always been a kind of spatial practice. He was quoted as saying that limbo has never been a "definitive truth of the faith"." The Pope, himself, has been quoted in the past as saying that he would let the idea of limbo "drop, since it has always been only a theological hypothesis". The >BBC
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astrognossienne · 2 years
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scandalous icon: lena horne - an analysis
“My identity is very clear to me now. I am a black woman, I'm not alone, I'm free. I no longer have to be a credit, I don't have to be a symbol to anybody, I don't have to be a first to anybody. I don't have to be an imitation of a white woman that Hollywood sort of hoped I'd become. I'm me, and I'm like nobody else.” -  Lena Horne
Ethereal. Tormented. Tough as nails. MGM signed her to a long-term contract, the likes of which no one of colour in Hollywood had ever known. In the black community, all eyes were on her. Throughout her dazzling decades-long career, Lena Horne was not only one of the most beautiful and glamorous entertainers, black or white, that ever lived, she was an outspoken voice against racism in Hollywood, the music business and even the military. A true Cancer, she rose above every blow that was dealt to her and did it with grace and grit. Unlike other beauty Dorothy Dandridge, she was no one’s victim. She was an inspiring trailblazer and as beautiful as she was, she didn’t take any shit; they say when Lena was angry she was even more beautiful, if that is possible. As a sex symbol of uncommon refinement, he revolutionized the Negro persona in Hollywood. She would evolve from angelic Cotton Club ingenue into a civil rights icon and one of the most dynamic, fiery performers of her generation. Even as she faced appalling racism, the always brave, always searching Horne would inspire a generation of performers—while never quite finding what she was after. Horne not only rose above it all, but also significantly contributed to changing the situation. The velvet-voiced, multi-talented Horne first negotiated, and then resisted, the worst that a racist entertainment industry could throw at her. She rose to its summit as an original creative artist and a free woman whose style, beauty, eloquence and independence made her a role model for millions.
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Lena Horne, according to astrotheme, was a Cancer sun and Scorpio moon. Born in Brooklyn in 1917, to father Edwin Fletcher "Teddy" Horne Jr., who was a numbers kingpin in the gambling trade. He left the family when she was three years old and moved to an upper-middle-class African American community in the Hill District community of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her mother, Edna Louise Scottron, was a niece of inventor Samuel R. Scottron. She was an actress with a black theatre troupe and traveled extensively. Both sides of her family were of African American ancestry. She belonged to the upper stratum of middle-class, well-educated black people, and was reportedly descended from the John C. Calhoun family. Edna's maternal grandmother, Amelie Louise Ashton, was from modern Senegal. Horne was raised mainly by her grandparents, Cora Calhoun and Edwin Horne. Horne briefly moved to Atlanta with her mother; they returned to New York when Horne was twelve years old, after which Horne attended St Peter Claver School in Brooklyn. As a child, Horne traveled with her sometime-actor mother, searching for work on the tent shows and vaudeville circuit in the 1920s. The troupe she was with had to run from a small town in Florida in which a lynching had just occurred. At 16, having dropped out of high school in the fall of 1933, Horne joined the chorus line of the Cotton Club in New York City. In the spring of 1934, she had a featured role in the Cotton Club Parade starring singing star Adelaide Hall, who took Lena under her wing. From 1935 to 1936 she was the principal vocalist with the all-black Noble Sissle Society Orchestra. But although she was beginning to sense the combination of storytelling, timing and sonorous power that would make her name as a vocalist, she briefly abandoned a musical career for domesticity in Pittsburgh, marrying Louis Jones at 19, and giving birth to two children, Gail and Teddy. She and Jones were divorced in 1944. Returning to the New York jazz scene, Horne followed Holiday into Greenwich Village's left-liberal Café Society club. She then went to Hollywood to play the Little Troc club, and was noticed there by the MGM music supervisor Roger Edens, who brought her to the film company as a potential singer and actor.
By the early 1940s, Walter White, the leader of the NAACP, was embarrassed that the two most successful blacks in film, Hattie McDaniel and Lincoln Perry, were reduced to playing maids and a character named Stepin Fetchit—“The Laziest Man in the World.” White believed Horne was going to transform the image of black America and prodded Hollywood executives to give her auditions. When a 25-year-old Horne told her wealthy father, Teddy, that Walter White, then head of the NAACP, was urging her to take a stab at Hollywood stardom in the early 1940s, this son of a serious, intellectual, activist family was less than impressed. Once in Los Angeles, Horne managed not to get typecast as a domestic worker. She was instead professionally courted by MGM boss Louis B. Mayer, and would initially heed Joan Crawford’s advice to kiss the mogul’s “big fat ass.” But her father would not kowtow to the studio king. On being told his daughter could play a film role as a maid, he informed the mogul that he could afford to hire his own maids and didn't need to have his daughter playing one. Mayer promised to never cast Lena as a maid or a “jungle maiden.” Horne’s mother, Edna—a failed actress who was extremely jealous of her increasingly famous daughter—descended on L.A. for a different purpose. She wanted a career like Lena’s—or else. If Lena didn’t cooperate, she would sell the press a story about a selfish girl who’d climbed to stardom on her mother’s shoulders, then tossed her aside. While her daughter could not make her a star, she could pay her mother off and worked out a solution with a lawyer.
The comely Horne soon had loads of would-be suitors clamoring for her time; she became a favourite pin-up among black servicemen during WWII, but would nonetheless refuse to perform on wartime tours in which black GIs were either excluded from the audience, or on occasion placed behind the German PoWs in the seating arrangements. Horne would reportedly date bandleaders Artie Shaw and Duke Ellington, as well as boxing champion Joe Louis, however, it was her 1940s relationship with the brilliant, bombastic Orson Welles that would stay on her mind for decades. She was crazy about him. In Welles, Horne found a fascinating renegade—and a charismatic supporter of civil rights. Welles found a complicated, somewhat unknowable beauty. Welles said of her:
“I did get the impression that she gave off sparks because she was deeply suspicious of the world. Her reactions to being in Hollywood, not being terribly well-treated, were all those of an essentially aristocratic nature.”
Their relationship eventually came to the attention of the racist gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, who confronted Welles with rumors of the romance, implicating that his career could be destroyed as a result of their interracial romance. I told her to go put her head in a bucket.” The filming of the groundbreaking 1943 MGM musical Cabin in the Sky was anything but heavenly. All through that picture, there was reportedly so much snarling and scrapping that it’s a wonder that the film got made in the first place. Allegedly, the main source of strife was the rage-filled star of the film, Ethel Waters. Various cast members were scared to death of her, branding her a rather evil woman. The legendary singer and actress cursed and belittled everyone in sight, before putting on a pious act for the press and the public. Of course, Waters’s main target was the promising, coddled Horne, whom Waters felt had stolen her own chance at movie stardom. Convinced that Horne was sleeping with director Vincente Minnelli, Waters would loudly accuse Horne of impropriety for all to hear. Things came to a head during rehearsal for the final ensemble sequence. Horne landed hard on her right foot, and then she fell. Co-star Eddie “Rochester” Anderson picked her up, then Minnelli rushed over, followed by a crowd of cast members. Horne had broken a bone in her ankle. The director turned around—and there stood Waters several feet away, arms folded like an all-controlling schoolmarm—as if she had prayed for it to happen...Waters was heard to say, “The Lord works in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform.” A year later, during a fraught recording session of “Stormy Weather,” Horne found herself unable to tap into the angsty emotion of the song. She found it after legendary band leader Cab Calloway leaned over and whispered two words in her ear: “Ethel Waters.”
Her friendship with fellow MGM siren Ava Gardner would be one of the most enduring of Horne’s life. Their similarities were that they never believed that the image they saw was what they really were...and they both had self-professed “big mouths”. The two would get loaded on martinis, dishing on work, romance and slights. Both of them felt ‘screwed’ by MGM: Horne for racial reasons, and Gardner for being liberated long before it became acceptable. Their bond would foster Horne’s lifelong feud with Ava’s ex, Frank Sinatra (who may have believed the two were lovers). It would also surmount the most famous heartbreak of Horne’s career—when she lost the role of the biracial beauty Julie in the film Show Boat to Gardner, due to racism. In 1947 she married the white pianist and arranger Lennie Hayton, but the delicate politics of the match led the couple to move to Paris for a while, and they avoided publicly announcing the marriage for three years. When they did, Horne was exposed to threats from both whites and blacks. This second marriage was an initially practical and convenient relationship that deepened significantly over its 24-year course. In 1960, Horne and her husband went to dinner at the Luau in Beverly Hills, a kitschy hot spot owned by Lana Turner’s ex-husband, Stephen Crane. Their evening was shattered by a drunk engineer named Harvey St. Vincent, who was angered that a waiter dared serve Horne first. “So that’s Lena Horne, huh?” he slurred. “Well, she’s just another black nigger...there ain’t nothing they can do for me.” Horne stood up for herself and told the man that she could hear what he was saying, and for him to stop. The belligerent man would not; he continued to bark hate speech at Horne. After decades of abuse and years as a peaceful civil rights leader, Horne was done. Trembling, she rose from her chair. Spying an ashtray filled with cigarette butts, she hurled it at his head. Then she grabbed a hurricane lamp and threw it with all her might, followed by another. St. Vincent sat there stunned, blood dripping from a gash above his left eye. Horne stared him down. She’d had enough. The next day, reporters crowded around Horne’s suite at the Ambassador. She said:
“I’m sorry he had to learn in such a violent manner that people don’t like to be insulted. But I don’t go for that stuff.”
The next decade was overshadowed by tragedy – between 1970 and 1971, Horne's father died, her husband died of a heart attack and her son Teddy died of a kidney ailment. Horne worked little until her appearance as Glinda, the Good Witch, in The Wiz (1978), the all-black version of The Wizard of Oz. In 1980, Horne received an honorary doctorate from Howard University. By 1981, the momentum of Horne's artistic career had returned to something like its old drive. An autobiographical one-woman show, Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music, opened on Broadway, ran for over a year and then toured internationally. It brought her a raft of prizes, including a Tony award and two Grammys. In 1984, Horne was presented with the Kennedy Center Honors for her lifetime of achievement and contributions to American culture. By the end of the 1980s, she was curtailing her public appearances. Horne made her final concert appearances, at New York's Carnegie Hall, during this period. When her old friend Gardner died in 1990, Lena was devastated. “How dare she go, too?” asked Horne. “She left me. She had a nerve dying”. She spent the new millennium in seclusion, and on May 9, 2010, Lena Horne passed away at the age of 92. After years of swallowing her anger and riding with the punches, she went out as she lived: on her own terms.
Next, I’ll talk about a onetime paramour of Lena’s, a musical genius whose compositions defined big band jazz: Taurus Duke Ellington.
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Stats
birthdate: June 30, 1917
major planets:
Sun: Cancer
Moon: Scorpio
Rising: Aries
Mercury: Gemini
Venus: Cancer
Mars: Gemini
Midheaven: Capricorn
Jupiter: Gemini
Saturn: Libra
Uranus: Aquarius
Neptune: Leo
Pluto: Cancer
Overall personality snapshot: She was brooding emotion incarnate, very subjective in her outlook, a trifle overprotective and suspicious, and fully confident that her intellect and perceptive powers would enable her to make rapid progress on the upward path. Tenacious determination to prove herself and secure the dignity and position she felt she merited made her often appear formidable, proud and haughty. But whilst she was capable of going great lengths not only to survive but to win, there really was not an unkind cell in her body. She genuinely cared about her world and the people in it, and her humanity was strong and potent, reaching out to help and transform the darker corners of human existence. If she was part of the establishment she would defend it to the death. If she was an outsider she would attempt to probe into every social assumption and reveal the truth behind the façade, the mysterious behind every commonplace occurrence. The secret and emotional were everything. She loved suspense and mystery, and was drawn to understanding and grappling with the dark side of life, the inordinate and the ugly, in order to see the redeemable, transforming spark of life that lies behind it.
Deeply fascinated by what makes people tick, she had something of the detective and the psychoanalyst in her, which could manifest powerfully in medical or psychological work. But even if she did not have a career, a part of her would always be preoccupied with hidden realities and creatures from ‘inner space’. She guarded her own inner space with great vigilance, and she likewise respected other people’s privacy. She truly came alive, however, when she had been entrusted with a secret or given a search warrant to look inside a troubled mind (or bank account). All her analytical powers became concentrated and uplifted by her reverential, single-minded, determined attitude to discover the truth. She was unafraid of the dark and undaunted by the truth. She worked in a healing profession, and she brought a genuine caring concern and gentle intensity to those ailing in a psychotic underworld. She contributed the love and wisdom of the tender mother together with the exacting discipline of the doctor or policewoman. Under her scrutiny and guardianship all her creative projects would have flourished, whatever they may have been. She had the temperament of a fanatic (as do most outstanding artists!) so she needed to try to loosen up a bit and learn to let go.
She had a sturdy, muscular frame with a lively, attractive energetic face. She had intense and direct eye contact with others, and may well have been told off for staring at people as a child because of this. She was probably of medium height and could show amazing feats of strength when necessary. She met life in a straightforward and energetic manner. Collecting knowledge and communicating played a great part in her life, because she needed mental stimulation. Her clear logical mind loved to debate, although her opinions were changeable. She was intensely curious and had good reasoning powers. She was a talker. At her worst, she was prone to ceaseless chatter and was more talk than action. She sought knowledge but was easily attracted by anything new and interesting on the horizon. She needed her career to be strong, solid and enduring. She knew that she must work hard to achieve the status and respect that she desired, and although there may well have been obstacles in her path, her dedication and step-by-step progress led to success. She was a mentally restless person, both versatile and broad-minded. She experienced personal growth through analysis and using her intellect, although the collection and communication of facts may be an end within itself. She tended to dabble in many areas of knowledge, building up an extraordinarily varied store of information, rarely specializing in one area. She believed that fair play, justice, tact and diplomacy were all extremely important. Her reasonable outlook and kind and pleasant character endeared her to others. She liked to encourage social contacts that enhanced her image. She was meant to learn a lot from relationships in her life through the way she handled them, and through issues of compromise. As long as she felt secure within herself, a partnership brought her much happiness, stability and contentment.
She belonged to a generation that could be unpredictable in that it liked to instigate change simply for the sake of shaking things up and providing stimulation. Humanitarian ideals became extremely important, as well as the belief in absolute freedom for every individual. She came up with radical new ideas which she stubbornly followed. She was part of a very artistically talented and creative generation that wanted to escape from the demands of the world around them into a world of excitement and glamour. Members of this generation loved the theater and the cinema, in fact, any sort of creative self-expression. They also believed in the rights of any individual to express themselves. This generation was both idealistic and romantic, selfish and individualistic. Horne embodied all of these Leo Neptunian ideals. Also, as a member of the Leo Neptune generation, she experienced and fully embraced changes in sexual mores and attitudes, changing the way people approach the whole issue of romantic relationships. Changes were also experienced in the relationships between parents and children, with the ties becoming looser. Was part of a generation known for its devastating social upheavals concerning home and family. The whole general pattern of family life experiences enormous changes and upheavals; as a Cancer Plutonian, this aspect is highlighted with Horne having a stage mother who was extremely jealous of and competitive with her daughter.
Love/sex life: She was one of the luckiest lovers. Not only was she supremely knowledgeable about sex and a cool master of all the games associated with flirtation and love but she also had an emotional sensitivity, a quality of vulnerability and a capacity of empathy that added up to devastating sex appeal. This made her a lover who was very much in demand and, if she was so inclined, gave her almost unlimited access to recreational sex. Unfortunately, this combination of an intellectual approach to passion and a passionate approach to sex also made her a very unpredictable, irrational and complex lover; so complex, in fact, that even she couldn’t be sure what it was she really wanted. Her problem was that there were moments when sex was just a game to her, a game that she knew very well, and then there were other times when she responded to her partner with an emotional need that was over-whelming and completely beyond her rational control. There were moments when she could seem cold-hearted and manipulative and other times when her need for her lover was so immediate and visceral that it almost becomes an obsession. At her best, she learned how to combine her strengths and used her smooth, Martian Gemini skill to find and hold the emotional security she so desperately needed. At her worse she remained the glib and skillful player who won at every romantic game except the one that counted.
minor asteroids and points:
North Node: Capricorn
Lilith: Leo
Vertex: Libra
Fortune: Scorpio
East Point: Aries
Her North Node in Capricorn dictated that she needed to develop the more caring and compassionate side to her personality and try to place less emphasis on the materialistic aspects of her life. Her Lilith in Leo dictated that she was the ultimate diva whose creative output, talents, and pure raw chutzpah worked like a magic spell. She was a trail-blazing game changer. She was a true performer; her work was immortal and her one true love was her art. She was magical, outrageously talented, and adored. Her Vertex in Libra, 6th house dictated that she longed for a union of souls that was based on a model of pure peace and justice. Images come to mind of a mythical life on Venus, the planet of love, where there is never a discordant beat between lovers, but rather, continual harmony even if played in the minor chords. Physical lust was certainly a necessary aspect of two beings eternally intertwined, but the platonic component far outweighed it in importance for her. She had an attitude of duty, obligation and sacrifice when it came to heartfelt interactions. The negative side was the tendency to become hypochondriacal or martyristic to get the love she so desperately wanted. There was a need for others to appreciate the sincerity of her intentions, to the daily tasks she executed in a conscientious and caring way and for others to know that her actions, no matter how routine they may seem, were based on devoted love.
Her Part of Fortune in Scorpio and Part of Spirit in Taurus dictated that her destiny lay in cultivating ambition and power as she fearlessly delved into the unknown. She attempted to use her power wisely. Her joy was found by stripping away the outer layers of experiences and getting to the core. No plan or plot was too complex to use in her pursuit of happiness and success. Her soul’s purpose asked her to create and comfort for herself and those around her. She felt spiritual connections and the spark of the divine in the tangible things around her—what she could taste, touch, smell, see and hear. East Point in Aries dictated that she was was more likely to identify with the need to be free, independent, on her own, expressing when, where, how she wished. She needed to learn to balance her need for freedom with her need for closeness, and she needed to move towards a comfortable blend: she did not have all the power; other parties didn’t have all the power. Sometimes she got her way; sometimes they got their way.
elemental dominance:
water
air
She had high sensitivity and elevation through feelings. Her heart and her emotions were her driving forces, and she couldn’t do anything on  earth if she didn’t feel a strong effective charge. She needed to love in   order to understand, and to feel in order to take action, which caused  a certain vulnerability which she should (and often did) fight against. She was communicative, quick and mentally agile, and she liked to stir things up. She was likely a havoc-seeker on some level. She was oriented more toward thinking than feeling. She carried information and the seeds of ideas. Out of balance, she lived in her head and could be insensitive to the feelings of others. But at her best, she helped others form connections in all spheres of their daily lives.
modality dominance:
cardinal
She was happiest when she was doing anything new, and she loved to begin new ventures. She enjoyed the challenge of claiming territory. She tended to be an initiator—and a bit territorial as well. Also, she had a tendency to start more things than she could possibly finish.              
house dominants:
4th
3rd
5th
The domestic arena and the home were emphasized in her life. By extension, the influence of the family she was born into, and the parents that raised her, in particular her father, as well as her personal and private life was of paramount importance to her. Short journeys, traveling within her own country were themes throughout her life; her immediate environment, and relationships with her siblings, neighbours and friends were of importance. The way her mental processes operated, as well as the manner and style in which she communicated was emphasized in her life. As such, much was revealed about her schooling and childhood and adolescence. Her life had an emphasis on creativity and self-expression. This included new beginnings; in fact, it included any way in which her creativity manifested itself. It showed how she was special and stood out. Also indicated an emphasis on leisure activities and holidays, gambling and speculation, romance and courtship, entertainment, sport, and sex.  
planet dominants:
Pluto
Sun
Mercury
She brought about complete and profound transformations in her life, good or bad. She felt the need to let go of what was familiar to her and accept new and different ways of being and doing things. There were areas in her life where she had to accept regeneration, which involved the destruction of the old and the creation of the new. She had vitality and creativity, as well as a strong ego and was authoritarian and powerful. She likely had strong leadership qualities, she definitely knew who she was, and she had tremendous will. She met challenges and believed in expanding her life. She believed and practiced dynamic expression. She was intelligent, mentally quick, and had excellent verbal acuity. She dealt in terms of logic and reasoning. It was likely that she was left-brained. She was restless, craved movement, newness, and the bright hope of undiscovered terrains.
sign dominants:
Cancer
Gemini
Aries
At first meeting, she seemed enigmatic, elusive. She needed roots, a place or even a state of  mind that she could call her own. She needed a safe harbor, a refuge in which to retreat for solitude. She was generally gentle and kind, unless he was hurt. Then she could become vindictive and sharp-spoken. She was affectionate, passionate, and even possessive at times. She was intuitive and was perhaps even psychic. Experience flowed through her emotionally. She was often moody and always changeable; her interests and social circles shifted constantly. She was emotion distilled into its purest form. She ventured out to see what else was there and seized upon new ideas that will expand their communities. Her innate curiosity kept her on the move. She used her rational, intellectual mind to explore and understand her personal world. She needed to answer the single burning question in her mind: why? This applied to most facets of her life, from the personal to the impersonal. This need to know sent her off to foreign countries, where her need to explore other cultures and traditions ranked high. She was changeable and often moody. This meant that she was often at odds with herself—the mind demanding one thing, the heart demanding the opposite. To someone else, this internal conflict often manifested as two very different people. She was a physically oriented individual who took pride in her body. She was bold, courageous, and resourceful. She always seemed to know what she believed, what she wanted from life, and where she was going. She could be dynamic and aggressive (sometimes, to a fault) in pursuing her goals—whatever they might be. Could be argumentative, lacked tact, and had a bad temper. On the other hand, her anger rarely lasted long, and she could be warm and loving with those she cared about.  
Read more about her under the cut.
Lena Calhoun Horne was born June 30, 1917, in Brooklyn, New York. In her biography she stated that, on the day she was born, her father was in the midst of a card game trying to get money to pay the hospital costs. Her parents divorced while she was still a toddler. Her mother left later in order to find work as an actress and Lena was left in the care of her grandparents. When she was seven, her mother returned and the two traveled around the state which meant that Lena was enrolled in numerous schools. For a time she also attended schools in Florida, Georgia and Ohio. Later she returned to Brooklyn. Lena quit school when she was 14 and got her first stage job at 16 dancing and later singing at the famed Cotton Club in Harlem, a renowned theater in which black performers played before white audiences immortalized in The Cotton Club (1984)). She was in good hands at the club, especially when people such as Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington took her under their wings and helped her over the rough spots. Before long, her talent resulted in her playing before packed houses. If Lena had never made a movie, her music career would have been enough to have ensured her legendary status in the entertainment industry, but films were icing on the cake. After she made an appearance on Broadway, Hollywood came calling. At 21 years of age, Lena made her first film, The Duke Is Tops (1938). It would be four more years before she appeared in another, Panama Hattie (1942), playing a singer in a nightclub. By now Lena had signed with MGM but, unfortunately for her, the pictures were shot so that her scenes could be cut out when they were shown in the South since most theaters in the South refused to show films that portrayed blacks in anything other than subservient roles to whites. Most movie studios did not want to take a chance on losing that particular source of revenue. Lena did not want to appear in those kinds of stereotyped roles and who could blame her? In 1943, MGM loaned Lena to 20th Century-Fox to play the role of Selina Rogers in the all-black musical Stormy Weather (1943), which did extremely well at the box office. Her rendition of the title song became a major hit on the musical charts. In 1943, she appeared in Cabin in the Sky (1943), regarded by many as one of the finest performances of her career. She played Georgia Brown opposite Ethel Waters and Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson in the all black production. Rumors were rampant that she and Waters just did not get along well, although there was never any mention of the source of the alleged friction. However, that was not the only feud on that picture. Other cast members sniped at one another and it was a wonder the film was made at all. Regardless of the hostilities, the movie was released to very good reviews from the ever tough critics. It went a long way in showing the depth of the talent that existed among black performers in Hollywood, especially Lena. Lena's musical career flourished, but her movie career stagnated. Minor roles in films such as Boogie-Woogie Dream (1944), Words and Music (1948) and Mantan Messes Up (1946) did little to advance her film career, due mainly to the ingrained racist attitudes of the time. Even at the height of Lena's musical career, she was often denied rooms at the very hotels in which she performed because they would not let blacks stay there. After Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956), Lena left films to concentrate on music and the stage. She returned in 1969 as Claire Quintana in Death of a Gunfighter (1969). Nine years later, she returned to the screen again in the all black musical The Wiz (1978) where she played Glinda the Good Witch. Although that was her last big-screen appearance, she stayed busy in television appearing in A Century of Women (1994) and That's Entertainment! III (1994). Had it not been for the prevailing racial attitudes during the time when Lena was just starting her career, it's fair to say that it would have been much bigger and come much sooner. Even taking those factors into account, Lena Horne is still one of the most respected, talented and beautiful performers of all time. (x)
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peachypede · 7 months
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I literally posted Kage and then did nothing with him and his sister. They desperately needed me to have more thought into their designs and personalities, so here we are with round 2 on them. I think I'll add some main personality traits to all my ocs?
Name: Kage (kah-gay) Fujiwara
Height: 5'8" (172 cm)
Weight: 195 lbs (88 kg)
Birthday: April 26th
Current Residence: Nacrene, Unova
Main Personality traits: Blunt, Intimidating, Caring, Selfless, Dedicated
Likes: Cooking, baking, food decorations, taking care of pokemon, collecting Subway Boss merch
Dislikes: Selfishness, punks, shoes on in house
Fears: His past causing troubles to those he cares about
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Name: Chiyo Fujiwara
Height: 3'9" (114 cm)
Weight: 53 lbs (24 kg)
Birthday: January 5th
Current Residence: Nacrene, Unova
Main Personality Traits: Passionate, Cry-baby, Caring
Likes: Books, Drawing, helping her big brother at work, taking care of her runt Sewaddle, Exploring in Pinwheel Forest with Professor Webb
Dislikes: Rainy days, spicy food
Fears: ghost and dark type pokemon, the dark
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Born and raised in Ecruteak City, Kage had a difficult childhood. He dropped out of high school to take care of his mom at 16 cause his dad was a dead beat. His father would come back when he was 19 but left shortly after Kage’s Mom became pregnant again when he was 22. His mother sadly passed away during childbirth, which left raising Chiyo, his little sister, up to Kage.
From there, Kage joined Team Rocket because stealing money gave a more sustainable food source for him and his little sister. He felt terrible for being such a bad example to his little sister and he wanted a better life for her. This ultimately led to his decision in helping an Interpol agent get inside Team Rocket. After helping him round up remnants of Team Rocket, the Interpol agent helped Kage and his sister into a witness protection program when Kage was 26 and his sister was 4.
The program would place them in Unova and set up arrangements for him to meet a local professor, Dr. Calhoun Webb, about a possible job. Despite his lack of experience with bug-types, Calhoun was impressed by Kage’s dedication and determination and accepted him on as a Research Assistant working at his bug sanctuary.
Now at 28 he mostly stays at the Webb Bug-Type Sanctuary and Research Center in Unova, located right next to Pinwheel Forest, where he takes care of all the rescued bugs from around the world. Cal has a very open-door policy for employees' children (due to understanding being a sole caretaker himself) so when Chiyo isn’t at school, she’s able to be with Kage at work.
Work uniform:
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Extra bits:
Kage would mostly pick on people he knew had money to spare. Also, he’d try to go for someone easily intimidated because his houndour, Mochi, isn’t the best to frighten someone when battling. (She is a good girl and loves to make friends)
Chiyo’s Sewaddle is a runt baby that needs special care in the form of being fed mushed leaves in a bottle due to being too weak to properly get food on her own. She was originally being taken care of by Kage, but Chiyo begged to be able to take care of her and Kage relented. Chiyo named her teeny <3
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bellasweetwriting · 4 years
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Fist Date
rory gilmore x m.reader
(not my gif)
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masterlist
plot: you always flirt with the Chilton perfect student Rory Gilmore, and one time, she actually gives in
requested by: @grouchycritic7794​
warnings: my writing, too much popular cultural references, FLUFF
a/n: this was actually so fun to write, I hope you like it
word count: 1,8k
You watched her as she got out of school. Chilton was on your way to work, and you didn't mind walking a little bit slower at three o'clock and crash with some private school students on their way home.
She was always there at three o'clock.
"Hey, Gilmore!" You yelled, making her raise his eyes from her book and look at you. You noticed how identifying you wasn't as pleasant as you hoped it was. "What are you reading on this fine evening?" 
"How to punch an annoying guy in ten steps, and I'm a fast learner."
You sat down next to her, making Gilmore move a few inches away from you, not caring if you noticed.
"I'm kinda busy here, Y/N, why don't you go and talk to your fan club?" Asked Rory in a high pitched voice, pointing the groupie of girls watching you. You waved at them before focusing all your eyes on Rory Gilmore.
You first met her a few months ago when your boss made you make delivery in Stars Hollow, to a diner, and she was there. Rory was eating her book with her eyes as she drank her black coffee which had so much more coffee than water. And the fact that she didn't care for you at all made you like her so much.
One day on your way to work, you saw her. She was in front of Chilton, sitting on the bus stop with a book on her hand. And now, seeing Rory every day was part of your routine.
"So, do you like PJ Harvey?"
"Who doesn't? She's great." You smiled at her answer. "why do you care what I like, Y/N?"
"My sister gave her tickets, and you wouldn't guess who came to my mind at that moment?" 
"Phoebe Cates?" She assumed, referring to the attractive 80s actress.
"You," you corrected her, making Rory roll her eyes. "It's just a concert. Besides, it would be cool if we get to know each other in any other place that isn't this fancy and prestigious school, don't you think?"
"Sorry, I forgot I'm too fancy and elegant for you. Why would you go out with me? I'm on the top floor of the ship, Jack." A Titanic reference. She always spoke in pop culture references. 
"I mean that this is your territory and for you to get to know me, you need to spend time in my comfort zone."
"You make it sound like your territory has cows and chickens and you wear a cowboy hat on weekdays."
You laughed.
"The cowboy hat is only for weekends, m'lady." You made her chuckle, just a bit. "Please, do I look like a farmer boy to you, Gilmore?"
You didn't. Your leather jacket and your neck tattoos weren't usual for a country boy. Nothing of you made you look like a farmer boy.
You are a city boy, a Hartford man with no money to spent blindness. You drove your old man's motorcycle without his permission, and it was a very cliche of you to be flirting with a correct and delicate girl like you though Rory Gilmore was.
But she wasn't like all the rich girls that attended Chilton. She was not a millionaire, not a delicate girl, didn't wear make up other than a sparkly pink lipgloss and some transparent mascara. That was it. Oh, but you see a girl like that, and your instinct is to protect her. Her innocent face, and those big dove eyes that made her look so beautiful for you, didn't they?
Rory Gilmore caught your attention the minute you looked at her.
Her beauty was different. Wasn't like a model of Vogue, or some concept of pretty that the media has published. Something in her expressions and details made her look like she was a princess, those delicate factions and the innocence that brightened her eyes. 
"Fine, Noah Calhoun, let's go and see PJ Harvey."
"Great," you said softly, kissing her cheek quickly. "I'll pick you up on Friday night. Where do you live? What's your number?"
"Chill out, J Edgar Hoover. How do I know you aren't going to Lee Harvey Oswald me when I'm not looking?"
"Have you ever talked normally and not in pop culture references?"
"Why would I do that?" She asked, writing her address on a post-it. "Here. It's in Stars Hollow. Please, don't kill me one night."
"You aren't my type of victim. I'll pick you up at seven." 
And with that, you left Rory sitting on the bus stop. 
-----------------------------------------------------
"What would you wear to a PJ Harvey concert in Hartford?" Asked Rory to Lorelai as she picked up her clothes and looked at them.
"A whistle, a pepper spray and a phone dialling to 911," answered her mom as she sat on the chair in Rory's room. "Do I know this guy?"
"I don't think you do, and if you did, I would have a lot of questions."
A bright moving line illuminated the curtains of the room from the outside. Lorelai looked over the window to see you getting out of your motorcycle. 
"No!" She yelled. "A motorcycle?"
"He's here!?" Exclaimed Rory, looking over the window to you standing next to your bike. "I am not ready."
Rory was panicking. She didn't have a minimal idea of what to wear and you were already outside, waiting for her.
"Ok, uhm, wear that blue shirt because you look good in it, some black jeans and your tennis. I'll go distract James Dean over there.
"Go! Go!"
Lorelai ran towards the door, opening and giving you a sign to come in.
Boy, you didn't want to, but since she was the one letting Rory go out with you, you didn't have a chance.
"Well, hello, there. I'm Lorelai, I'm Rory's mom, come on in."
"I'm Y/N," you introduced yourself with a particular tone like you didn't care much about what she thought. "Is Rory ready?"
"She's finishing up. You know, putting on lipgloss and grabbing a Poptart, hopefully not her last supper," Lorelai whispered the last part, making you raise your eyebrows. "So, Y/N, where do you go to school?"
"In a public school at Hartford. I work too."
"What do you do? Tattoo shop?"
"Actually, food deliveries. I'm the provider of your diner, in fact."
Lorelai raised her eyebrows.
"So you know Luke?"
"I know how he looks and talks."
"I know him too! He's one of my best friends."
"He kinda hates me."
"Right."
Both of you wished that Rory would appear in any second now.
"I'm ready!" Exclaimed Rory innocently, appearing at the door with a smile. "What were you guy talking about?"
"... baseball caps," said Lorelai and you nodded. "You look great, honey, have fun. But not so much fun." 
You opened the door for Rory, who smiled at you before stepping outside. You turned around to look at Lorelai.
"Have a nice night, Miss Gilmore."
"Take care. Drive safe!" You could hear her yell even though you closed the door. "Don't accept candy from strangers!"
You helped Rory get on the bike carefully, and she smiled at you while you put her helmet on.
"I feel like a little kid with this gigantic helmet." You laughed.
"You have a small head, Gilmore." She rolled her eyes.
"You are a total Casanova, aren't you?"
You grabbed her hands and placed them on your waist before turning on the bike. 
"Just hold on, Bambi."
And with that, you left the driveway of the Gilmore house, driving away.
Lorelai was quick enough to run towards the phone and jump to grab it, falling to the floor as she dialled the diner's number.
"Luke's diner, this is Luke."
"My daughter just left to go to a concert in the city on a motorcycle with your provider!"
"What? Are you doing a Margot Kidder impression again?" He asked from the other side of the line, making Lorelai roll her eyes. "Who left on a motorcycle?"
"Rory! Rory left on a motorcycle with a tattooed rebel guy! They were going to a PJ Harvey concert in Hartford! Am I the only one who sees the problem here?"
"Wait, my provider... you mean Y/N Y/L/N?" 
"So you know his name, perfect. That way we know what to tell the cops when Sylvester Stallone kidnaps my daughter!"
"Hey, chill out, he is a good kid."
"He has a black dragon tattoed on his neck. Do you know any good kid with a mythological creature that shoots fire from its mouth tattoed on their skin?"
She heard Luke sigh.
"Rory is a great kid. If she thinks he is a good guy, then he is. She wouldn't go out with a guy who she thinks is bad for her."
"Didn't she like Jess at some point?"
A silence reached the conversation until Luke spoke again.
"I'm on my way. Can't believe you let her go out with that thug, he has broken at least two eggs in his deliveries, he doesn't know how to take care of a girl. That girl has no judgement, that's why you are there!"
-------------------------------------------------
"I loved it when she sang The Mess We Are In, I really loved it," she said as you parked in front of her house. 
You had a lot of fun at the concert, and you still couldn't believe she even accepted to go. You've known her for a while now, and she's always been ignorant to your flirting or propositions. Something must have changed beneath these days that made her change her mind.
"I had so much fun, Y/N," she told you as she started to take off your jacket, but you let her keep it.
"Looks better on you." She rolled her eyes.
"Could you be any more cliche?"
"I haven't quoted Jane Austen yet."
"Yet?"
You nodded before leaning in, kissing her lips softly as you felt her tremble to your touch.
You ran your hand through her hair, making slow movements with your head before breaking apart, giving her a last short kiss before stepping back.
"See you on Monday, Rory Gilmore." You put on your helmet, and she smiled.
"Bye, Y/N.”
You gave her a tiny smirk before turning on the engine and driving away. She looked at you go, remembering how much fun she had with you that night.
Quickly, she ran towards her house, opening the door and finding her mom and Luke sitting on the couch. Both stood up, looking at the smiley girl.
"How did it go?" Asked Lorelai, and Rory blushed.
"Perfect," she said softly, hugging her mom. "Thanks for letting me go, it was the best night ever." 
After she said hi to Luke, she ran towards her bedroom and jump into the bed, staring at the dark night and stars with a big smile.
Lorelai looked at her friend with an emotionless expression on her face.
"I don't like that guy," she said, "at all."
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storiesofsvu · 3 years
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Seeing Red Ch 1
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Casey Novak x fem!reader Warnings: Language, brief talk of SVU cases
“Fuck…” Casey muttered as her head glanced up at the sound of your shoes on the linoleum. Amanda followed her gaze, not liking the fact that there was already a smirk on your face. She was still relatively new enough to Manhattan that she hadn’t managed to cross paths with you yet, she turned to the redhead.
“I take it she’s a tough one?”
“Major shark. She wins over jury’s like magic I swear, it doesn’t matter how much hard evidence there is in front of them, they’ll come back in favour of her clients all the fucking time.”
“She worse than Calhoun?”
“She is a Calhoun.” Casey sighed, “dove straight into defence after graduating, she co-counselled with Rita for a few months before she started taking her own clients.”
“Younger sister?”
“Yeah.”
“So she’s been reading law books since high school.”
“Try even earlier. Their Dad’s a Judge, Mom’s the bureau chief out in Brooklyn and they’ve even got an Uncle out in D.C. working as attorney general.”
“Jesus. Well”- Amanda clapped her on the shoulder, “good luck Counsellor.” Casey rolled her eyes in response, watching the blonde escape back to her desk as you took her place.
“I take it we’re all playing by the rules?” You greeted, cocking a brow in the direction of the new detective.
“She’s new to the city, not the job. We’re by the book.”
“With this squad…I can never be too sure.” You half teased and Casey let out a sigh of frustration, after all, you were more than right.
“Well good luck, you’re gonna have a hard time getting out of this one.”
“Yeah, right.” You snorted, “and we both know I don’t need luck to beat you Novak.” With that you were gone into the interrogation room, greeting Mr Peters with a warm smile and firm handshake.
Casey couldn’t help but watch through the glass for more than one reason, obviously she was paying attention work wise, but there was a flair you had while you worked that she just couldn’t resist. It was particularly noticeable in the courtroom, your coloured Prada suits and expensive shoes putting on enough of a show already. When she said you were magic with the jury she’d meant it, you managed to pull them in so deep with just your opening arguments that she felt like she didn’t stand a chance half the time. Not that she minded the show in the meantime, your clothing was always perfectly tailored, your hair and makeup immaculate, and it apparently ran in the family that talking with your hands was a necessity. Casey sometimes wondered if your advantage on her in the courtroom was that she got too caught up in imagining other things you could do with your hands rather than focussing on the trial.
As it turned out, Casey’s warning about you needing luck was probably more than true, even just talking with Peters had you a little wary, but you knew you still had a decent chance in a courtroom. You’d hold out at least until you had all the evidence and reports from the prosecution. You knew how good you were at your job, and you also knew on the other side of that glass, Casey’s eyes were on you in more than just a work related gaze. You certainly weren’t afraid of using that to your advantage to win a case, you’d used it as a tactic before and weren’t against exploiting it again if it meant winning a trickier case this time. You wrapped up your conversation with Peters, running over how the next twenty four hours were going to go for him and slipped back out of the interrogation room.
“You wanna talk deals?” Casey asked, and you tsk’d.
“This early in the game? Do you even know me Counsellor.” You teased with a grin, “I’ll see you at arraignment in the morning. After that I’m in court all day, then we can look over things, maybe I’ll be willing to see it from your point of view.”
“No offence, but your client is guilty on three counts of rape, you think you might wanna not gamble on that?”
“You tellin’ me how to do my job Case? Didn’t realize you’d swapped sides.” You smirked, sighing as you pulled your phone from your bag, giving her a nod in dismissal, “what?” You asked into your phone.
“You’re late.” Rita’s voice taunted and you rolled your eyes.
“Maybe that’s cause I actually talk to my clients rather than making deals right off the bat.” You sassed back, “give me…ten? I’m coming from the sixteenth.”
“Fine. But you better hurry, you’re cutting into my afternoon.”
“You mean your shopping trip?” You quipped, your gaze caught by Barba coming out of Olivia’s office, his hand shooting out in your direction, “hold on.” You rolled your eyes at your sister’s scoff on the other end of the line, directing your words to Rafael as you stepped up to him at Amanda’s desk “you guys swapping cases around? I didn’t think I had anything with you?”
“You don’t, but you can save me a trip uptown if you take these to Rita.” You took the papers out of his hand, flipping the first one open and you snorted out a laugh, redirecting your conversation back into the phone.
“You’re gonna have to push that Saks trip back, you’ve got a motions hearing at three.”
“No I don’t. I haven’t heard from Barba all day.”
“Yeah well he’s standing right in front of me and I’m holding the papers so cut the sass and order for me, I’ll be there in ten.” You hung up the phone before she could retort and redirected your attention to the blonde. “Peters case files?”
“We’re waitin’ on some CSU results but everything else is here.”
“Thanks.” You tossed the files into your bag alongside the paperwork for Rita, “I expect the rest of the results the instant they’re done, none of this the dog ate my homework crap Novak.”
“You’ll get it as soon as I do.” She replied and you turned to Barba.
“I’ll probably see you later, it is always so fun to watch Rita destroy you in a courtroom.” After shooting the three of them a grin, you were quick to saunter off out of the room, leaving Amanda to speak first.
“Well, she certainly is a Calhoun.”
“Yeah…” Casey muttered, “and what she lacks in experience she makes up for in bratty-ness.”
“Someone needs to fuck it out of her.” The detective glanced up at the two lawyers in front of her and Rafael barked out a laugh.
“Don’t look my way, Rita would castrate me! Besides, little Calhoun doesn’t swing that way, this one’s all you Novak.” Casey let out a snort followed by an awkward laugh as she prayed her cheeks weren’t as flushed as they felt.
“Yeah, right.” Her eyes followed you into the elevator and she swore you winked at her as the doors slid shut, “I’m not keen on getting torn a new one from Rita either.”
Truthfully, Rita couldn’t care less about what you did in your personal time, and you were more than open with each other about those types of things. Hell, you’d lived together for three years in Cambridge while Rita was at Harvard and you were in college and again once you’d relocated back to New York, making sure you had your footing before venturing out on your own. You’d lived through enough of each other’s hook up’s and relationships for it to not be any shade of awkward.
The main reason (aside from respecting your sexuality) that Barba wasn’t going anywhere near you was because he’d known you since you were eighteen, playing Judge as he and Rita worked through mock court arguments in preparation for exams and various assignments. He wasn’t sure how he’d managed to put up with two Calhoun’s for sixteen years, but his friendship with Rita still remained strong, even after she’d transferred to the defence. And honestly, hanging out with both of you at once wasn’t so bad, most of your sass was directed at each other, and if it wasn’t work related you both tended to calm down.
Casey’s history wasn’t as deep with you, she’d been two years behind you at Harvard, in her first while you finished your last. She’d taken a gap year between high school and college, and another one between college and law school to work and build up a substantial savings. Your paths never crossed in Cambridge thanks to you being fully focussed on school, determined to graduate with a higher GPA than your sister. You didn’t waste time going out or partying and you didn’t need the extra money tutoring first years would create, you both stayed in your own lanes.
It was a few years into her white collar career that you came barrelling into each other’s lives, a Wall Street client of yours being charged with embezzlement. You’d been drawn to the redhead the moment you walked into the precinct, if you hadn’t been there for work you definitely would’ve made a move. Casey was astonished at the way you absolutely eviscerated her during the trial, and wasn’t surprised when the jury came back in your favour. Once she’d transferred into SVU, she groaned at the sight of you in the precinct before she even made it there, knowing she was probably in for it…again.
There was no denying the glimmer between the two of you, it was just nearly impossible to nail down whether it was the joy of getting to spar against each other in the courtroom or something more. It was more than clear to everyone that you were very formidable opponents. The question simply remained if the passion from the courtroom could transfer to outside of the work place.
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Rhonda Fleming (born Marilyn Louis; August 10, 1923 – October 14, 2020) was an American film and television actress and singer. She acted in more than 40 films, mostly in the 1940s and 1950s, and became renowned as one of the most glamorous actresses of her day, nicknamed the "Queen of Technicolor" because she photographed so well in that medium.
Fleming was born Marilyn Louis in Hollywood, California, to Harold Cheverton Louis, an insurance salesman, and Effie Graham, a stage actress who had appeared opposite Al Jolson in the musical Dancing Around at New York's Winter Garden Theatre from 1914 to 1915. Fleming's maternal grandfather was John C. Graham, an actor, theater owner, and newspaper editor in Utah.
She began working as a film actress while attending Beverly Hills High School, from which she graduated in 1941. She was discovered by the well-known Hollywood agent Henry Willson, who changed her name to "Rhonda Fleming".
"It's so weird", Fleming said later. "He stopped me crossing the street. It kinda scared me a little bit -- I was only 16 or 17. He signed me to a seven-year contract without a screen test. It was a Cinderella story, but those could happen in those days."
Fleming's agent Willson went to work for David O. Selznick, who put her under contract.[5][6] She had bit parts in In Old Oklahoma (1943), Since You Went Away (1944) for Selznick, and in When Strangers Marry (1944).
She received her first substantial role in the thriller, Spellbound (1945), produced by Selznick and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. "Hitch told me I was going to play a nymphomaniac", Fleming said later. "I remember rushing home to look it up in the dictionary and being quite shocked." The film was a success and Selznick gave her another good role in the thriller The Spiral Staircase (1946), directed by Robert Siodmak.
Selznick lent her out to appear in supporting parts in the Randolph Scott Western Abilene Town (1946) at United Artists and the film noir classic Out of the Past (1947) with Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas, at RKO, where she played a harried secretary.
Fleming's first leading role came in Adventure Island (1947), a low-budget action film made for Pine-Thomas Productions at Paramount Pictures in the two-color Cinecolor process and co-starring fellow Selznick contractee Rory Calhoun.
Fleming then auditioned for the female lead in a Bing Crosby film, a part Deanna Durbin turned down at Paramount in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949), a musical loosely based on the story by Mark Twain. Fleming exhibited her singing ability, dueting with Crosby on "Once and For Always" and soloing with "When Is Sometime". They recorded the songs for a three-disc, 78-rpm Decca album, conducted by Victor Young, who wrote the film's orchestral score. Her vocal coach in Hollywood, Harriet Lee, praised her "lovely voice", saying, "she could be a musical comedy queen". The movie was Fleming's first Technicolor film. Her fair complexion and flaming red hair photographed exceptionally well and she was nicknamed the "Queen of Technicolor", a moniker not worth much to her as she would have preferred to be known for her acting. Actress Maureen O'Hara expressed a similar sentiment when the same nickname was given to her around this time.
She then played another leading role opposite a comedian, in this case Bob Hope, in the The Great Lover (1949). It was a big hit and Fleming was established. "After that, I wasn't fortunate enough to get good directors", said Fleming. "I made the mistake of doing lesser films for good money. I was hot – they all wanted me – but I didn't have the guidance or background to judge for myself."
In February 1949, Selznick sold his contract players to Warner Bros, but he kept Fleming.
In 1950 she portrayed John Payne's love interest in The Eagle and the Hawk, a Western.
Fleming was lent to RKO to play a femme fatale opposite Dick Powell in Cry Danger (1951), a film noir. Back at Paramount, she played the title role in a Western with Glenn Ford, The Redhead and the Cowboy (1951).
In 1950, she ended her association with Selznick after eight years, though her contract with him had another five years to run.
Fleming signed a three-picture deal with Paramount. Pine-Thomas used her as Ronald Reagan's leading lady in a Western, The Last Outpost (1951), John Payne's leading lady in the adventure film Crosswinds (1951), and with Reagan again in Hong Kong (1951).
She sang on NBC's Colgate Comedy Hour during the same live telecast that featured Errol Flynn, on September 30, 1951, from the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood.
Fleming was top-billed for Sam Katzman's The Golden Hawk (1952) with Sterling Hayden, then was reunited with Reagan for Tropic Zone (1953) at Pine-Thomas. In 1953, Fleming portrayed Cleopatra in Katzman's Serpent of the Nile for Columbia. That same year, she filmed a western with Charlton Heston at Paramount, Pony Express (1953), and two films shot in three dimensions (3-D), Inferno with Robert Ryan at Fox, and the musical Those Redheads From Seattle with Gene Barry, for Pine-Thomas. The following year, she starred with Fernando Lamas in Jivaro, her third 3-D release, at Pine-Thomas. She went to Universal for Yankee Pasha (1954) with Jeff Chandler. Fleming also traveled to Italy to play Semiramis in Queen of Babylon (1954).
Fleming was part of a gospel singing quartet with Jane Russell, Connie Haines, and Beryl Davis.
Much of the location work for Fleming's 1955 Western Tennessee's Partner, in which she played Duchess opposite John Payne as Tennessee and Ronald Reagan as Cowpoke, was filmed at the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, California, (known as the most heavily filmed outdoor location in the history of film and television). A distinctive monolithic sandstone feature behind which Fleming (as Duchess) hid during an action sequence, later became known as the Rhonda Fleming Rock. The rock is part of a section of the former movie ranch known as "Garden of the Gods", which has been preserved as public parkland.
Fleming was reunited with Payne and fellow redhead Arlene Dahl in a noir at RKO, Slightly Scarlet (1956). She did other thrillers that year; The Killer Is Loose (1956) with Joseph Cotten and Fritz Lang's While the City Sleeps (1956), co-starring Dana Andrews, at RKO. Fleming was top billed in an adventure movie for Warwick Films, Odongo (1956).
Fleming had the female lead in John Sturges's Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) co-starring Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas, a big hit. She supported Donald O'Connor in The Buster Keaton Story (1957) and Stewart Granger in Gun Glory (1957) at MGM.
In May 1957, Fleming launched a nightclub act at the Tropicana in Las Vegas. It was a tremendous success. "I just wanted to know if I could get out on that stage – if I could do it. And I did! ... My heart was to do more stage work, but I had a son, so I really couldn't, but that was in my heart."
Fleming was Guy Madison's co star in Bullwhip (1958) for Allied Artists, and supported Jean Simmons in Home Before Dark (1958), which she later called her favorite role ("It was a marvellous stretch", she said).
Fleming was reunited with Bob Hope in Alias Jesse James (1959) and did an episode of Wagon Train.
She was in the Irwin Allen/Joseph M. Newman production of The Big Circus (1959), co-starring Victor Mature and Vincent Price. This was made for Allied Artists, whom Fleming later sued for unpaid profits.
Fleming travelled to Italy again to make The Revolt of the Slaves (1959) and was second billed in The Crowded Sky (1960).
In 1960, she described herself as "semi-retired", having made money in real estate investments. That year she toured her nightclub act in Las Vegas and Palm Springs.
During the 1950s, 1960s, and into the 1970s, Fleming frequently appeared on television with guest-starring roles on The Red Skelton Show, The Best of Broadway, The Investigators, Shower of Stars, The Dick Powell Show, Wagon Train, Burke's Law, The Virginian, McMillan & Wife, Police Woman, Kung Fu, Ellery Queen, and The Love Boat.
In 1958, Fleming again displayed her singing talent when she recorded her only LP, entitled simply Rhonda (reissued in 2008 on CD as Rhonda Fleming Sings Just For You). In this album, which was released by Columbia Records, she blended then-current songs like "Around The World" with standards such as "Love Me or Leave Me" and "I've Got You Under My Skin". Conductor-arranger Frank Comstock provided the musical direction.
On March 4, 1962, Fleming appeared in one of the last segments of ABC's Follow the Sun in a role opposite Gary Lockwood. She played a Marine in the episode, "Marine of the Month".
In December 1962, Fleming was cast as the glamorous Kitty Bolton in the episode, "Loss of Faith", on the syndicated anthology series, Death Valley Days, hosted by Stanley Andrews. In the story line, Kitty pits Joe Phy (Jim Davis) and Peter Gabriel (Don Collier) to run against each other for sheriff of Pima County, Arizona. Violence results from the rivalry.
In the 1960s, Fleming branched out into other businesses and began performing regularly on stage and in Las Vegas.
One of her final film appearances was in a bit-part as Edith von Secondburg in the comedy The Nude Bomb (1980) starring Don Adams. She also appeared in Waiting for the Wind (1990).
Fleming has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2007, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars was dedicated to her.
Fleming worked for several charities, especially in the field of cancer care, and served on the committees of many related organizations. In 1991, her fifth husband, Ted Mann, and she established the Rhonda Fleming Mann Clinic for Women's Comprehensive Care at the UCLA Medical Center.
In 1964, Fleming spoke at the "Project Prayer" rally attended by 2,500 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. The gathering, which was hosted by Anthony Eisley, a star of ABC's Hawaiian Eye series, sought to flood the United States Congress with letters in support of mandatory school prayer, following two decisions in 1962 and 1963 of the United States Supreme Court, which struck down mandatory school prayer as conflicting with the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Joining Fleming and Eisley at the rally were Walter Brennan, Lloyd Nolan, Dale Evans, Pat Boone, and Gloria Swanson. Fleming declared, "Project Prayer is hoping to clarify the First Amendment to the Constitution and reverse this present trend away from God." Eisley and Fleming added that John Wayne, Ronald Reagan, Roy Rogers, Mary Pickford, Jane Russell, Ginger Rogers, and Pat Buttram would also have attended the rally had their schedules not been in conflict.
Fleming married six times:
Thomas Wade Lane, interior decorator, (1940–1942; divorced), one son
Dr. Lewis V. Morrill, Hollywood physician, (July 11, 1952 – 1954; divorced)
Lang Jeffries, actor, (April 3, 1960 – January 11, 1962; divorced)
Hall Bartlett, producer (March 27, 1966 – 1972; divorced)
Ted Mann, producer, (March 11, 1977 – January 15, 2001; his death)
Darol Wayne Carlson (2003 – October 31, 2017; his death)
Through her son Kent Lane (b. 1941), Rhonda also had two granddaughters (Kimberly and Kelly), four great-grandchildren (Wagner, Page, Lane, and Cole), and two great-great-grandchildren.
She was a Presbyterian and a Republican who supported Dwight Eisenhower during the 1952 presidential election.
Fleming died on October 14, 2020, in Saint John's Health Center, Santa Monica, California, at the age of 97. She is interred at Hillside Memorial Park in Culver City, California.
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polymathemawrites · 4 years
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Hungover in the City of Dust part 1
CW: injuries, ptsd, panic attacks, maths, drug use (via the hev suit)
Alyx is gone, Gordon is running on fumes, Barney picks up the pieces
The dark hits like a freight train, thick and deep. It pulls down, down, down unrelenting and eternal. There is nothing and then there is everything. The stop-start of His voice grates on the very edge of frayed nerves, unraveling them, he is a patient man but his patience is running out, and he has expended his usefulness to an entity incomprehensible. Everything goes from too slow to too fast and he gasps awake and alive, put back into a body he never left. Eli is standing in front of him and Alyx is standing nowhere, somewhere - somewhere they can't reach, they have work to do - the Combine are not defeated yet and there is a missing Vance to find. Free but for how long and at what cost? Gordon looks down at his hand in the reinforced leather gloves of the HEV suit and tightens his grip on the paint-chipping-gently-rusted-crowbar. A nod, of course, they have work to do, and he's the man to do it.
It is in this manner that Gordon Freeman has survived the past six days. Six. Six Days. Running, running, never stopping, and it is in this manner that Gordon is ready to continue, ready to go where Eli needs him to, to save the man's daughter and Gordon's new found friend. Or it would have been, would have been if someone didn't put their hand on Gordon's arm and still him.
"Eli, I don't mean to put a damper on the Save Alyx party, but your golden boy is bleeding through whatever shitty bandages he scrounged up." The southern drawl is familiar, it is maybe his recognition of this that keeps his overtaxed nervous system from ripping his arm away. When he turns to look at him, Barney is carefully not looking back, staring Eli down instead. 
The older man pauses, looks at Gordon, or maybe it's better to say he's looking at the HEV suit, at the huge chunk taken out of the side of it, the rend on the shoulder panel, the rust-red discoloration. Her voice had gone silent with the end of combat but the thrum of morphine still settled along the edge of his vision, a welcoming gossamer blanket that dulled the fact that he had bruised ribs and a dozen or so minor lacerations. A med-pack and a power bank and he'd be good to go, really. The suit though, she had some abuse left in her, but he couldn't deny that the past four days had been rough on the Mark V.
"We are going to need Izzy to take a look at that, maybe machine some new parts." Eli's smile is apologetic and Gordon could scream, how can he look like that, Gordon should be the one apologizing, if he'd been more careful, more prepared, then they wouldn't need this downtime.
He isn't thinking clearly, he knows this somewhat, without a clear objective he was left adrift, unfocused. It's worse than when He had dropped Gordon onto a train with no fucking hope of knowing what the hell was going on. Twenty years, twenty years, and if it hadn't of been for Barney he'd have ended up organic byproduct. 
Four days ago he had watched a Civil Protection officer remove his mask and found himself saved. Today, suddenly dead on his feet, he looks down at Barney and hopes that the imminent panic attack he feels encroaching upon him won't be too bad, even if it is four days late.
He is breathing too fast and his heartbeat is high enough that she's informing him about it, but the HEV suit is unfortunately out of the Make Feel Good Juice and Gordon is all out of helpful neurochemicals. Someone shouts something and Gordon knows it's not him because, well, he's mute. 
When the black comes this time it is not the thick ink of that cosmic stasis, it's all too human and humiliating.
In high school Gordon had two entire friends. One of them was the head of the computer club, which meant the paper-punch-machine club actually, and the other was a quiet kid whose entire personality seemed to be based on being in color guard for JROTC. One day during a pep rally he'd forgotten to keep his knees loose and locked them during the stand at attention part of the presentation, Gordon didn't know what any of these things were actually called, he just knew his friend wound up with a bloody nose when he passed out because of the hypotension. Yet still, five years later, Gordon himself passed out while waiting for a train in Boston.
His head hurt far less when he woke up this time, perhaps because Eli, Barney, and Dog had all been there to catch him instead of the metal post he crashed into in Boston. 
There are a number of hands on him, when he can focus and his flight or fight response isn't lashing out at these helping hands, he realizes he's managed to punch Barney in the jaw and kicked Dog off balance. 
Barney surges forward and pins him down, which is when Gordon goes completely limp anyway due to his relatively short spurt of adrenaline wearing off and the fact that it's Barney Calhoun he just punched and if this man wanted to throttle him he would let him, deserving of it even.  
Instead Barney just holds his chest down with one arm and gently grips Gordon's jaw with the other, forcing Gordon to look at him. This close and he can do nothing else. Barney's eyes have always been interesting but age has highlighted the color differences in his irises. Gordon's vision, while blurry around the edges thanks to the train-tunnel effects of his passing panic attack, is sharply focused on Barney, where Barney is keeping him. 
He was so bad at art growing up but one didn't need to be good at art to know the science behind color. Barney's eyes were both the clearest most summer-day-water blue-green and the deepest autumnal wood. Brown and teal, unreal and so very Barney. There is a word for this condition but Gordon's grasping at straws right now and can't remember it. They're just very unusual eyes and Gordon is quite helplessly falling into them.
"You with me Gordon?" Barney asks him and Gordon nods, or tries to, attempts to, kind of hard with the former guard turned resistance commander still gripping his face but the attempt is all that matters and Barney lets him go.
He's laying on the ground, one of Barney's legs is under him, Eli's hands are on Gordon's own legs. Dog is huge and hovering. Face red from embarrassment now, Gordon pushes up onto his elbows in a reclining position and Barney takes his leg back. 
He forms his hand into a fist and brings it to his chest, moving it in a tight circle around and around. 
"No Gordon, I'm sorry." Eli gently stops his hand, silences him. "We have work to do, but you won't be able to do anything until we get you cleared by a medic and get Izzy to take a look at that suit."
Together they help him up, the HEV suit's finally powered down, but she'd been running on fumes for hours now. Unfortunately this makes his already aching and fatigued muscles scream out from being overtaxed. 
"I've got him, Eli." 
They're in the hallway outside the large hangar that comprises Eli's lab by the time Gordon realizes that he hasn't seen Barney since the train station back in City 17. When had he gotten here? Had he seen Eli die and then Not die, had he seen Alyx just stop existing? Because Gordon fucking hadn't, he'd been blacked out - again.  Was Barney alright himself? Had he just arrived only to have to babysit him?
He spins his index finger around and around in front of himself, he feels drunk, his movements are slow and sluggish. 
Despite Barney actively corralling him down the hall, his eyes are riveted to Gordon's hands.
"When?" He nods and Barney seems to chew over what Gordon is asking, "Oh, just a few hours ago, I barely get settled in and hear about a ruckus, you're constantly causing trouble aren't you?" The tone is teasing, warm, Barney's voice is like a balm, pours right over him like the decadent kiss of morphine without the accompanying very hot sensation in his head. 
Six days, it's only been six days, but for Barney and Eli and -everyone- it's been twenty years. Without the pressing need to run, save Barney from sniper fire, or get shoved into another HEV suit, he is free to realize that an implied twenty year gap is doing absolutely nothing to curb the huge and inconvenient crush he has had on Barney for a year. A year for him at least. The streak of salt in his mostly pepper hair is also doing absolutely nothing to curb this crush either, in fact he would go so far as to consider it made it worse.
Unfortunately free of the effects of morphine, coming down off of a panic attack, and now feeling the full impact of his wounds, Gordon has to admit it's not a crush if you've been in love with someone for a year, that's just pathetic. 
Now a resonance cascade, eldritch abomination cosmic entities Lovecraft couldn't have dreamed up, and a full blown occupation of earth had put Gordon out of the picture for twenty years. It had also caused him to be a near messianic figure to a whole race of alien creatures and the remnants of humanity - something he really didn't want to think about. Luckily when Barney looked at him he seemed to be seeing Gordon in the exact same way he did twenty years ago if the soft smile and warm honey gaze was anything to go by. Bemused, that's what he'd call that particular expression on Barney's face. 
They stop suddenly, Barney bringing them to a halt, which is when Gordon finally looks away from him. They're in a quiet room, maybe a former storage room but now a private bunk. There is a cot up against the back wall, tucked between two mostly full shelving units. A heap of blankets has been dumped on the cot, as well as a number of packs placed on the shelves. There is a basin and a bucket of water for washing, and Gordon can spy some first aid packs and weapon caches amidst the cluttered shelves. 
"I'm going to get you out of this fucking thing and then I'm gonna get you a medic." Barney informs him but Gordon is looking past him to the basin and it's bucket of water.
He puts his hands together and brushes them against one another in a mimicry of washing his hands. Clean.
"I'm sure the medic will know what's best for that."
Gordon, standing still in the center of the room, attention riveted on the bucket of water like it's a lifeline, repeats himself until Barney has to catch his hands - again. 
"Okay!" But there isn't any hostility or exasperation in Barney's tone, no he's laughing instead.  
"Far be it for me to judge a man's aversion to getting seen by the medics when I avoid them myself. We'll get you clean and go from there, that good?"
Gordon nods, and even though he knows he won't make it without Barney's assistance, he heads toward the basin and bucket anyway, grateful when he finds Barney is right there next to him. 
Without the suit's charging station and hydraulic mechanism to quickly and mechanically free him, it is just the combined effort of their four hands and Barney's seemingly infinite patience to remove the thing. But even patience alone didn't account for how Barney seemed to know where the clasps and mechanisms were. Gordon is reminded that it was Barney who had gotten him 'into' the suit or showed him to it four days ago. These thoughts prove to be fruitless, without purpose, as the pieces of the very abused HEV suit are removed and the jumpsuit beneath them is revealed as are the injuries Gordon has sustained, the bandages he'd hastily applied in stolen moments of down time on his own or with Alyx's help. Barney pauses, the chest plate removed as well as the shoulder guards, and he seems to just stare at Gordon.
The last twenty years loom between them again, Gordon can't read his expression so carefully tooled to be neutral and blank, not the Barney whose emotions he wore plain for everyone to see unless it was poker night. There is a scar high on his left cheek, a number of smaller ones all over - and these are just the ones Gordon can see on his face.
"Oh Gordon, what happened to you?" There is such soft sorrow in Barney's words and when the man puts his hand to Gordon's cheek, he is helpless to keep himself from turning his face into the touch, closing his eyes and pressing his cheek and jaw into that gloved palm with all of his touch-starved needy heart. Barney's touch is no longer precise and perfunctory, it is gentle, when he draws his hand away Gordon almost chases it but manages to catch himself before he can further his own humiliation. Something has shifted between them and Barney won't let his slipping hands help anymore, just keeps batting them away, finally Barney grins up at him, "I've got you." He repeats what he told Eli but now it's completely different, personal and soft, just the two of them, "So stop makin' my job harder and just let me work."
Gordon lets him work, when he sways on his feet Barney steadies him. When he leans into him Barney catches him. The rest of the suit joins the other sections on the ground. When it's just the bloodied jumpsuit and Gordon's socked feet on the cold concrete, Barney's hands still.
A week ago and this fantasy would have played out differently, for one he wouldn't be riddled with defensive wounds and have obvious trauma, but also Barney wouldn't be looking at him with that mixture of soft worry and likely muted fury. He actually didn't know what Barney's aroused face looked like so his fantasies had always been a little body focused anyway but definitely no fury or worry in any of them. Barney's hand goes to his injured side, gentle against the tattered jumpsuit and the bandages. It's all dirty with blood and whatever else Gordon had been thrown into out there. 
"Darlin' I'm gonna have to get you out of this."
Gordon nods, dumbly, hung up on the first word. 
Barney's hands are so gentle and Gordon reels under their good works, he can't track where they are going only where they've been, the slow way they move, there is no predictive model here to tell him where to brace himself for kindness next. Actually seeing the mottled mess of his own skin  through the rends in the jumpsuit is an experience that knocks him right out of his body entirely. 
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Where A and B are a pair of operators, with A representing speed and B representing placement - Gordon is a lone man set on a trajectory in the universe he has no hope of comprehending or tracking, the speed with which he has been traveling has slowed to a stop and yet he still feels as if he is going too fast. His body at stand still thrums with an energy he is powerless against and every time Barney's hands track against baring skin his pulse jumps. He cannot predict where he will be in a day, an hour, a minute, he is lost in this second, that drags and drags as Barney's eyes glance up to meet his face, undoing the line of velcro all the way down Gordon's chest and lower still. His head spins and he has to reach out to brace himself against Barney's firm padded shoulder, thick and strong.
He is adrift in a complex dimensional space that tracks over multiple planes of reality, his wavelength has resonated at a frequency that no one else on Earth has and yet he is still so uncertain of his place. Not too surprising when the equation clearly states that you might know how fast you're going but never where you are at the same time. Just usually it was on the quantum level, not one man against a time-space anomaly. His speed and location operators are held up between two brackets, and within those brackets are the estimated answers to his questions, yet if he's standing still how can he hope to theorize where he'll be next?
Where he'll be next is shivering in this bunk he's realizing is probably the one Barney claimed to stow his gear in, with the door shut and a man he has been attracted to for the longest time slowly undressing him. Logic states the probability that his next place will be embarrassing the ever loving shit out of himself but somehow, somehow he doesn't make a noise when Barney slides the jumpsuit down from his abused shoulders and down, down, till the man's hands are sliding over his hips and drawing the dirty green cloth past them. He doesn't move to grab onto him, to press his body into Barney's and just feel him, to test the strength hiding beneath the layers of his Civil Protection uniform. He does go very limp when Barney manhandles him to lean against the wall though. 
All predictive models and the familiar Robertson-Schrodinger equation fall to the wayside when Barney strips his thick gloves off. Gordon watches the man's steady movements, the slow curve of his familiar smile despite time and distance. He could never hope to apply the uncertainty equation when all higher functioning is gone. He is no longer out of his body, he is in it, very much in it. Barney's hands are warm from the confines of his gloves, gentle as they tackle the bandages scattered on Gordon's now scrawny form out of the bulk of the HEV suit's flattering lines. 
"You okay there, Gord? Look like you're about to be knocked over by a stiff wind." 
He gives Barney a thumbs up. 
Yeah, really okay, super duper okay. Barney's hands feel like fucking rapture. Warm and lightly callused, strong firm grip when they move Gordon's body every which way. Unwinding bandages that have clearly served their purpose, some of them stick and Barney apologizes under his breath, muttered words and quick movements. Gordon only vaguely registers the pain, it cannot hope to touch the surface of pleasure just having Barney's hands against him is causing.
He reaches out to brace himself against the basin's counter top, hip cocked under Barney's hand momentarily, Gordon tries to swallow around the thick lump in his throat. Warm hand skids up his side, bloody bandage that wraps across half his chest. Barney unravels it the same as he'd done the one on Gordon's right leg and his left arm, careful and quick. Dirty wounds and sepsis waiting to set in.
But despite the severity Barney doesn't dump him on the nearest medic, he holds to his word instead and brings the bucket of water up to the counter. A rag is fetched from somewhere and then Barney is cleaning him. Gordon would be more embarrassed about this if it were not for the fact that he only has one arm as the other is bracing him up to keep him from sliding to the floor as the HEV suit's power system isn't holding him up and pumping him with Go Juice. 
Barney gives him a little grin, holding Gordon's abused arm over the basin to catch the blood-grit water as it drips off of him, "You're in pretty good shape for a man of science."
Gordon snorts his bemusement and gives Barney a look over his glasses. Barney would fucking know, he'd helped Gordon train for the months of HEV suit preparation after all. He worries for a second then, has it been that long, has Barney forgotten that much in the years Gordon has been absent.
His fears are laid to rest instantly, "Remember when you couldn't even run a full mile?" 
Yeah, and look at him now. Well not right now, as he looks nothing like the implied messianic figure he's meant to be, but rather look at him a few hours ago. When Alyx was still there, making bad puns and cheering Gordon on, when she wasn't somewhere, in some place unknown and unfathomable and most of all not here. What would have been the next point of reference for them, where would they be right now if she'd remained? Did this count as time travel? 
I feel like all I have done is run for six days.
Barney pauses, while Gordon had managed to explain his ageless appearance to Alyx, the rest of his old friends and colleagues weren't as in the know. "Six days?" Barney marvels, hanging there like a DOS box trying it's best to load badly written code, "It's been twenty years, six days?" Barney's voice is husked and worn when he repeats himself and he lets Gordon's now clean arm drop gently back down.
Gordon nods, Stasis, no time passed for me mentally or physically between the Resonance Cascade and you intercepting me.
"Fuck Gordon." Barney reaches up, takes his face in the slightly damp palm of his hand, holds him there and really seems to look at him. "Kind of thought you just aged really damn well, it was hard enough to believe the 'gaunts when they went on about you saving them, didn't... I didn't realize, something like this could happen."
Gordon has nothing else of substance to offer Barney to explain it. It would take far more research and model running to even begin to formulate a working theory about what the fuck He was in his plain grey suit and stilted speech. He figured in the coming days he'd have time to do that, now that it was Alyx who had been taken. Now that there was someone on the outside who knew.
What took Alyx, is what took me.
Eli had some understanding of this entity, he didn't know how, but he was certain he'd find that out soon too, just as soon as his fragile worthless body would let him. 
Barney is still touching his face, still half holding him, when he finally notices he seems to come to his senses and applies himself back to the task of cleaning off dried blood and other muck. Gordon would miss the contact if it had not just moved onward to other parts of him. There are more cuts on him than there is water in the bucket but Barney focuses his attention on the worst of it. Barney's touch lingers on the surface of his skin even after he has moved his hand away, a burning path of warmth and water. Gordon realizes he doesn't want to go anywhere right now, he doesn't want to think of tomorrow or an hour away, he wants this moment to last. 
He can breathe, painful but he can breathe and he is finally still. The Combine awaits, there is no knowing where Alyx is, how much time they have, but right now in this moment he can push down the guilt and allow himself the desire to remain here in this place with Barney eternally. The stroke of a familiar hand, the warm presence of someone who cares about him, the gentle teal-brown heat of his friend's gaze. 
"You're back with us now and damned if I'll just sit around and let some kind of creature put you in a box for another twenty years. I've got you." 
Gordon wonders how badly he's going to end up hung up on Barney's new mantra of, 'I've got you.' Trick question, he's already hung up on everything Barney.
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gracelandwritestoo · 3 years
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introducing - Delilah Alexandra Connelly (mafia verse), details below the cut 
ORIGINS & FAMILY:
Name: Delilah Alexandra Connelly
Nickname: Lilah
Birthday: March 10, 1988
Age: 33
Gender: cis female  
Place of Birth: Richmond, Virginia
Places Lived Since: Charlottesville, VA; Cambridge, MA; Washington, DC
Current Residence: City name tbd, very large and fancy apartment with Clarke 
Nationality: American
Parents: Senator Scott Connelly (R-VA) & Eleanor Calhoun Connolly
Grandparents: John & Alice Connelly (deceased); Stuart & Elizabeth Calhoun
Aunts & Uncles: tbd
Number of Siblings: one older brother
Relationship With Family: Close to her brother, major daddy issues
Happiest Memory: graduating top of her class at Harvard Law (what like it’s hard?)
Childhood Trauma: Daddy issues from being used as a pawn for her father’s political career
PHYSICAL:
Height: 5’7
Build: slim
Hair Color: blonde (dyed from red after a breakup lol)  
Usual Hair Style: polished & professional shoulder length
Eye Color: grey
Glasses? Contacts?: none  
Style of Dress/Typical Outfit(s): high fashion power suits, professional, she favors darker colors
Typical Style of Shoes: heels to step on people with
Jewellery? Tattoos? Piercings?: engagement ring & simple earrings, she has a tattoo of a scorpion on the back of her neck
Scars: scar on her shin from falling off a horse as a child (very rich bitch of her)
Unique Mannerisms/Physical Habits: southern gentility accent that deepens when she drinks or talks to her parents, she spins her engagement ring when she’s focusing
Athleticism: she’s very fit, runs regularly and plays tennis when she can
Health Problems/Illnesses: anxiety, probs a lot more unaddressed 
INTELLECT:
Level of Education: JD from Harvard Law School
Languages Spoken: english, spanish, turkish (sanem), portuguese, latin, working on korean 
Level of Self-Esteem: lol very very high
Gifts/Talents: photographic memory, charming
Mathematical?: more analytical
Makes Decisions Based Mostly On Emotions, or On Logic?: logic and ambition
Life Philosophy: to obtain influence and power in whatever way she can
Religious Stance: raised southern baptist, absolutely not practicing
Cautious or Daring?: cautious & calculating
Most Sensitive About/Vulnerable To: sanem, her daddy issues
Optimist or Pessimist?: realist
Extrovert or Introvert?: extrovert
RELATIONSHIPS:
Current Relationship Status: engaged to Clarke Maeng, sleeping with Erica Durmaz-Markovy
Sexual Orientation: bisexual
Past Relationships: Sanem Durmaz, others tbd
Primary Reason For Being Broken Up With: bossman doesn’t like when the lawyer fucks his daughter
Primary Reasons For Breaking Up With People: they outlived their usefulness to her
Ever Cheated?: yep, currently is
Been Cheated On: not that she knows of
Level of Sexual Experience: high
A Social Person?: Yes
Most Comfortable Around: her brother, Clarke, Erica, Sanem
Oldest Friend: tbd
How Does She Think Others Perceive Her?: charming & wealthy, she thinks people tend to underestimate her intelligence due to the way she looks and her general demeanor but she doesn’t mind this. Those who know her better she thinks see her as ruthless and ambitious
How Do Others Actually Perceive Her?: ice cold and ruthless, ambitious, falsely sweet/soft, intelligent
SECRETS:
Life Goals: achieve the most power & influence possible
Dreams: being happy and satisfied with what she has
Greatest Fears: losing control
Most Ashamed Of: hurting Sanem & lying to Clarke, doesn't mean she’s going to stop
Secret Hobbies: true crime books, cooking overly elaborate meals
Crimes Committed (Were they caught? Charged?): so many crimes too many to list, her job is to keep others & herself from being caught so nope
DETAILS/QUIRKS:
Night Owl or Early Bird?: night owl
Light or Heavy Sleeper?: heavy sleeper
Favorite Animal: foxes
Favorite Foods: whatever fancy cuisine she’s currently into, will always go for her grandmother’s apple pie & vanilla ice cream
Least Favorite Food: fast food - babes is a snob
Favorite Book: We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Least Favorite Book: torts textbook
Favorite Movie: Heathers, Legally Blonde, campy horror movies
Least Favorite Movie: cheesy Rom-coms & screwball comedies
Favorite Song: Iris by The Goo Goo Dolls
Favorite Sport: tennis
Coffee or Tea?: coffee
Crunchy or Smooth Peanut Butter?: smooth
Type of Car She Drives: 2021 Land Rover
Lefty or Righty?: left
Favorite Color: blue
Cusser?: yep
Smoker? Drinker? Drug User?: only smokes when she’s very stressed or very drunk, yes to drinking, has dabbled in drugs in the past
Biggest Regret: hurting sanem & continuing to do so
Pets: a two year old german shorthaired pointer named Banana
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a1cleaningofomaha · 3 years
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