#fp's lines are 'no no wait it's not-it's just mine!!' + 'do not make this harder.' in the comic; 'sorry sorry' in the image. thanx 4 readin | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

malereader-inserts · 4 years

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This Side of Paradise

Fandom: Riverdale Pairing: Jughead Jones x Male!Reader Summary: so if you’re lonely, no need to show me, if you’re lonely come be lonely with me. a song you made for jughead. Word Count: 1,549 Warning: Smoking, mentions of weed A/n; inspired by the song this side of paradise by coyote theory

You stare at him inquisitively, you and Jughead are two different people. You were a music kid, very popular in school. You were in the band, and your school is very up the ass with music because there are so many talented kids. Jughead prefers to be alone and you were always in crowds.

Jughead had no bad feelings towards you, you went to the same elementary school, middle school and now high school - objectively you two grew up together alongside with Archie and Betty. He watched you from being his friend to drift away to bigger crowds, boys and girls alike to worship the ground you walk upon.

You were a popular band in Riverdale, you get a lot of money for gigs and parties. Jughead knows you’re going to a successful music college, you’re going to make it big in the world. Even as a high schooler, your band is getting streams on your platforms, you were already a rising star. Jughead was happy for you, but there are times where he wished there wasn’t a big crowd or a group around you.

He wished it was old times, just you and him.

That’s when he sees you under the bleachers, skipping out Chemistry. You were reading a book as Jughead smirks to see you. You were popular, but no one ever really knew you other than your band members, those you consider as best friends.

“It’s been a while, (Y/n).”

Your attention diverts towards him and give him an easy smile, “Alas, Jughead Jones arrives the scene.”

“You’re dramatic,” Jughead says laughing though, as he sits by you, “Why are you avoiding Chemistry.”

“Could say the same for you,” You replied, shrugging your shoulders, “Chemistry is boring and I had to get away from people, and you?”

“I like skipping class,” Jughead responded., “What are you doing?”

You flip the book to show him the cover, “Just reading, trying to find inspiration for a new song really. Been told we have to make a new single soon, to get the ball rolling for the new album. Nothing significant has happened in my life recently nor the two idiots.”

Jughead nodded, chuckling amusingly at your nicknames for your drummer and bass player. Jughead loves his best friend, but the atmosphere is different with you. You two are chilled that conversation flows smoother than ay interaction Jughead has ever had.

“How’s your dad?” You asked him after an hour into the conversation, a double period almost coming to an end.

Jughead shrugs, “He’s the same... Getting better though.”

“That’s good, heard you join your dad’s gang, but you’re always welcomed in my house whenever.”

Jughead smiles, keeping that thought in his mind. Every now and then, the two of you would meet under the bleachers, Jughead feels at ease and another feeling he couldn’t explain properly, but it was there. There was conversation ranging from his writing to the magnificence of Pop’s diner food. One point you talked about carnivals, and how you would love to go with someone like him.

You two talk about the weird happenings in Riverdale, sometimes his dreams and hopes in the future. He asked you how was songwriting going and you vented how you were stressed to the max that you had to roll a joint to calm yourself.

“Hey, Juggie,” You hummed, smoking the joint before offering him some which he takes - not every day you’re given weed, “Ask me why my heart’s inside my throat?”

“Really?” Jughead giggles, “This is what you’re asking me to do?”

“Aw come on,” You whine, pouting at him, “Ask it!”

“Why is your heart inside your throat?” He asked you, passing the joint back to you.

You take an inhale for a second, letting the smoke exit your mouth, “I’ve never been in love, I’ve been alone. I just feel like I’m living life asleep because I figure love is so strong it would make me feel so weak.”

“Are you lonely?” He asked you, almost in disbelief as you finished the joint, you shrugged your shoulders facing a high Jughead as well as you were.

“Why’s that surprising?”

“You’re always with a crowd, I figured it’s hard to be lonely with so many people surrounding you.”

“I’m alone in a crowded area, Jughead,” You say, “I like being alone, but to be lonely in a crowd, feeling lost? It’s a different vibe, atmosphere. A feeling I hate experiencing.”

“Right, well, I’m lonely most of the time.”

“Oh, I know, Jughead Jones.”

The bell rings signalling class period ended, at least the two of you had lunch next. You stand up, grabbing your bag to your shoulders as you did your old-time handshake with Jughead that you created with him when you were little. Your fingertips gentle caress his fingers, tips barely touching, a slow dance between the ends of the digits.

Jughead started to notice that you were drifting away, the occasional smile across the room would be given. There was a period of time where you hadn’t met him under the bleachers, he felt offended, angered. So, when you accidentally met him under there as you were making a speedy escape he caught you.

“Want to explain why you’ve been so distant?”

“Songwriting, I had a spark of an idea.”

“Right,” Jughead says, though you could tell you weren’t off the hook.

So, you stayed with him as he vented. You listened to him, the occasional encouraging nods and reassuring smiles that you were listening to him. When he got everything off his chest, he smiles at you.

“You’re very passionate,” You concluded as Jughead scoffs.

“Says you, you’ve devoted your life to your band and music.”

You chuckled, nodded that he seems to one-up you, “Alright smart ass,” you rolled your eyes, “Hey, Juggie?”

He looks at you questioningly.

“I’ll be busy in the next few days perfecting the song, but Veronica is holding a gig at her speakeasy were I’ll be performing. You’ll get to hear the new song live.”

“I’ll be there.”

Jughead stands by his dad in the speakeasy, he listens to his dad drone on about how he always thought you and him had something, but he couldn’t place a finger on it. You’re performing in the background, people engaging and some talking in hush tones.

“This is our last song,” You introduced, “This is a new song a wrote, it’s called This Side of Paradise. It’s inspired and dedicated to a special someone in my life.”

Everyone looks at you, fiddle with the mic, you’re hair and the plectrum in your hand as you readjust your guitar strap. Jughead watches you curiously, as your eyes flicker from the strings of your guitar to his eyes. Captivating him in a trance.

“This is for you, Jughead.”

FP pats his son’s shoulder tightly, gripping it hard and shaking him, proud that his son managed to inspire a local band into possible fame. The guitar strings vibrate the melody, Jughead can’t help but look at you as Veronica specially made different colour lights beam around the room but when it hits against you - it just feels different to Jughead.

“Ask me why my heart’s inside my throat,” You sang, Jughead falls a little bit in love as he recalls you asking him to ask that to you, “I’ve never been in love, I’ve been alone.”

Jughead smiles as you catch him smiling, you look down at your chords smiling to yourself.

“Are you lonely?” Your bandmates sing,

“I’ll be the only dream you seek, so if you’re lonely, no need to show me,” You sang, Jughead recalls you telling him that you could tell when he’s lonely, “If you’re lonely come be lonely with me.”

Jughead chuckles to himself, flashbacks of all the antics you and him had during under the bleachers. The conversations that were held there, stupid little enactments of your favourite plays.

“You’re the ground my feet won’t reach, so, if you’re lonely, darling you’re glowing.”

Jughead beams when he sees you brighten you smile as you sing the word darling. He gets a funny feeling when you address him as darling. FP looks at his son, with a knowing smile. His boy is in love, he hadn’t realised it until now. FP’s shoulders relax as he continues to watch the performance happily, throwing side glances at his love-stricken son.

“Underneath the pale moonlight, dreaming of a circus life, carousels and Ferris heights,” You sang so angelic like, “I’ll be yours if you’ll be mine.”

Jughead stops as he noticed that when you sang that line, you stare directly at him. It’s almost like the crowd of people watch you had disappeared and in the room was just you and him. You’re directly serenading him, nothing else could ruin this moment.

You continue to sing as Jughead returns to reality, he watches you lovingly, thinking of ways to accept your love. Because, at the moment, Jughead realise what that feeling was that was brewing in him for days, for weeks.

It was the feeling home.

You’ve opened the door and it feels so safe, Jughead cannot help but melt.

It’s home, right ahead of him, he can’t wait to settle back into warmth and love.

#jughead jones #jughead jones x male!reader #jughead jones imagine #x male reader #riverdale #riverdale imagines #riverdale x male reader

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ariesbilly · 4 years

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We’re at the midway point of 2020 so here’s a list of the Parentdale fics posted this year that you should be reading!

i'll help you carry on (fp (& archie), mary)

if i only could, i'd make a deal with god (and get him to swap our places) (fredsythe)

She's The One (fem!fredsythe)

Just Like Heaven (fredsythe, alice)

the half of it (fredsythe)

you’d wash your hands of them (but blood’s always thicker) (alice, hal, penelope)

but what if i told you the world wouldn’t end? (penelope and alice)

Back Here At Home There’s Nothing To Do (ensemble)

i got a bad desire (fredsythe)

the courage of stars (archie centric with fp)

In Times of Trouble (fredsythe centric but ensemble)

bury me in memory (alice)

pictures of you (ensemble)

these lines were here long before we came around (fredsythe)

Just Can’t Wait For Love (halram)

How many secrets can you keep? (halram)

wouldn’t it be good (ensemble)

i’ve seen your repulsion (and it looks really good on you) (gladice)

i think i’ll skip this one this year (penelope x vic, fredsythe)

sweethearts (ensemble)

crack a smile (and cut your mouth) (gladsythe)

i will not ask you (neither should you) (gladice)

my funny valentine (fredsythe)

it’s a feeling that you cannot miss (and it burns a hole through everyone that feels it) (fp and mary)

keep my jealousy close (cause it’s all mine) (penelope)

‘Til I Hear It From You (ensemble, fredsythe)

talk about a dream, try to make it real (fredsythe, gladys)

discard my friends (to change the scenery) (formione)

In Unity (fredsythe)

Golden Sombrero (fredsythe)

Someone’s out there, sending out flares (fredsythe, alice)

build your house (then call me home) (palice)

feel free to add on if i missed any!

#riverdale fanfiction #riverparents #parentdale #userthing

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riverdalesfangirl · 4 years

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Melody Andrews (FP Jones)

Melody Andrews ~ Home Sweet Hell ~ Drinks ~ You Need A Break ~ But A Number ~ Trouble ~ Whatever We Make It

~The Mole Hole~

I roll over cuddling close to FP's chest. He stirs, opening his eyes and gazes down at me. "Oh, shit." I sit up looking at him. "What?" He smiles and cups my cheek. He attaches out lips and holds me close as we forget the world around us.

"I thought I was dreaming." FP grumbles and cuddles back into the bed with me. I reach for my phone and see several texts from Archie. "Whoa, wait. Wait." I sit up reading them.

*Missed call from Archie (Brother of Mine)*

"Mel, where are you?"

"I need your help. Jughead is being questioned by the police!

*Missed call from Archie (Brother of Mine)*

"MELODY!"

I unlock my phone and play his voicemail. "Melody. Jug just got taken by the cops. We can't find FP. Where are you? Get her as fast as you can. Dad's on his way." I look at FP as his eyes grow with worry about his son. "Fuck." He races to get dressed and searches for his phone. "Dead. Of course!" He scoffs, throwing his hands in his hair. His eyes rimmed with tears.

He shakes his head, "I can't find my fucking keys."

I grab his shoulders forcing him to look at me. "Hey, it's okay, I'll drive you."

The entire drive over FP was shaking and wiping his eyes. "They'll throw him in there for nothing. Just like me. Fucking pigs." he yells as I stay quiet. He looks in my direction and places his hand on my thigh. "I'm sorry, Melody." "For what? Being rightfully mad? I'd love to kick a cop's ass for even being suspicious of Jug!"

We pull into the parking lot right on time as they take their first step out the door. FP jumps out and rushes to them as I put the car into park and raced to them as FP explains himself. "My phone, the freaking battery. I forgot to plug it in last night." I run around the wall and catch all their eyes. "Melody. Where have you been?" My dad asks. Shit. This isn't about me Fred!

"I... uh. I was unpacking and my phone was on silent."

"What the hell happened?" FP asks his son, but only for Jug to push past him. "Nothing. It's fine now. Mr. Andrews took care of it."

"What crap did they accuse you of in there, huh? Those bastards trying to throw you in jail like they did your old man? Well, screw that!" FP starts to make his way towards the steps. I try and grasp his sleeve, but the fabric slips through my fingers. "I'll rip Keller a new one for trying to pull that on you!" Fred steps in front of him and holds him back. "FP, settle down." FP pushes away in a heat. "Hey! Hey! He's my son. He is my son, Fred! You'd do the same for your boy." FP moves to take a step to the door but Jughead stops him this time. "Dad. Don't make things worse. Please." I bite my lip as I watch them. FP's eyes glossy and sad as he agrees to his son's wishes.

He nods walking up to Jug with teary eyes. "Yeah, all right, then. You coming home with me?" FP starts to tread back to my car slowly as Archie calls to him, "He-- He can stay with us, Mr. Jones. We already offered." FP looks at me and then to the ground defeated. "Maybe that's for the best, if-- If you don't mind, Fred." My dad nods to him. "Whatever you want, FP."

He walks over to his son and places his hands on Jug's shoulders. "Son, listen to me. I'm gonna do what you want and get my act together, But I just need a little time to do that. Not a lot. Not long. A month, two at the most." Jug lets tears fall as his father's words fall flat. I can tell this has been an ongoing issue. Not that I couldn't read between the lines already.

"You believe that, don't you?" Jug wraps his arms around FP and mumbles into his chest. "Yeah. I believe you, Dad." He pulls away wiping his tears. FP starts to walk away towards the parking lot but turns on his heels to look at me. He stuffs his hands in his pockets. "Melody, you mind?" I shake my head taking my keys out of my bag. "You drove him here?" Archie asks, looking between us and grabbed my wrist. FP clears his throat, "Yeah, she, uh, was the one to find me. I panicked and I couldn't find my keys. She was nice enough to give me a lift."

I look over at my father only to see him eyeing FP with questioning glares. "Alright." He shrugs. I move to walk next to FP moving towards my car. "Melody," Archie calls out causing me to look back. He looks at FP and then to me. "Just come home after you drop him off. I have something to show you." I narrow my eyes and push my lips into a line. "Uh, okay, Arch."

I pull into Sunnyside and park in front of the Jones' trailer. FP smiles at me and pats my knee. "You sure you can't come in?" "I'm afraid not. Archie wanted me home. I'll come back though."

FP reaches for my chin, grasping in between his fingers. "I hope so. I'll need the company."

"You know I can help you, FP." "You help me?" I nod grabbing his wrist and running my thumb over his skin. "You want to get your life together? You're talking to the girl who's done it twice already." FP smirks, gazing deep into my eyes. "You really want to push this further? I'm real trash, Mel." I lean in connecting our lips. His hand reaches into my hair holding me close. "Come inside." I laugh pushing him back. "Go, FP." He hops out of my car and leans down looking at me. "You look beautiful today, Melody." He shuts the door leaving me with a smile.

I open the front door and kick it closed behind me. "I'm back!" Archie rushes over and pulls me into the coat closet. "Archie!" He shines a flashlight in my face blinding me. "Where were you today? Because your room was just as empty as before." He waves the light in my face and repeats the question. I grab the light from his hands. "Are you really trying to interrogate me in a closet right now? How do you like it, huh?" I shine the light in his eyes as he covers them. I scoff opening the door and going to my room. "I may not have lived here in 6 years, but rules still stand. Don't go in my room." I try and close the door, but his foot catches the gap. "Mel, wait." He grabs my arm and turns me around. "I'm sorry. I am. This is just... scary. I don't want you to leave me again. We need you here. You won't even sit us down and tell us where you went. You could walk out the door and never come back!"

Archie sits on my bed as a tear falls. I suddenly allow my own emotions to shine as I let a few tears loose as well. "Aw, Archie. I'm not going anywhere." I moved to sit next to his frame, holding him as he cried. "Archie, you always saw the better side of me. You were the only one I wanted to keep in the dark. I was a bad person in high school, and it cost me my life. I don't try and hide things from you, but you have to understand I'm not the person you think I am."

"What happened?" Archie asks quietly. "Come on. I'll take you on a tour. I could use the hands too so let's get dad and Jug."

"Where are we going?" My dad asks as he watches the road and the passing trees. I pull into pops and park the car. "Archie asked me to explain everything. Is that alright with you?" Fred nods and prepares himself. "This is the start. Right here. Little sophomore Andrews took her first leap into her downfall. "I smoke weed for the first time in this parking lot." "Melody!" my father scolds as I drive off to the south side. "Oh, it gets better."

"You see, when Mary kicked me out, I found a way to get into the school at night. I stayed there for as long as I could, but thankfully Jackson and a few of his buddies built me a place to live."

"Everyone get ready." "For what?" Jug asks.

I pull off the road and onto an unmarked wooded path leading to the hole. They scream and tell me to get back on the road. I come to a stop outside the large hidden bunker. "We're here." I get out and wait for the others. "Where is... here? The woods on the south side?" I take out my keys and walk behind a tree and bend down uncovering the door on the forest floor. "What the hell is this, Melody." I unlock the door and lift the cover showing a staircase.

"This was home for a while."

I step down, lighting the lanterns one by one to show the way into the small bunker. "Whoa." Jughead gasps as he looks around the space. "This reminds me of the tree in Peter Pan." Archie laughs. "Welcome to the mole hole."

My dad turns to take in the entire place before placing his hand over his mouth and sobbing. "Whoa, hey. Turn off the waterworks." He wipes his eyes and composes himself again. "I mean... this is super cool!" "That's the spirit, Fred! Now if you don't mind." I slide open a curtain and reveal more than 10 duffle bags. "This is all my stuff from the past 6 years. I think it's time I move it into the house. For real this time."

#fp jones x reader #fp trash #fp x oc #fp jones imagine #fp jones #riverdale x reader #riverdale imagine #riverdale #archie andrews #ArchieComics #betty cooper #jughead jones #veronica lodge #Skeet Ulrich

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courage-a-word-of-justice · 3 years

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Moriarty 5 - 7 | HypMic 10 - 11

Moriarty 5

Saito’s Moriarty and Gentaro voices are quite similar, now that I compare them.

“…he’s a good egg at heart.” – LOL, never thought I’d be reading subtitles that said that.

Oh, so that was Frida on the bridge?

I wonder, is Moriarty like Bon and nursing a weak leg with that cane? Or is the cane just a symbol of nobility?

Moriarty 6

The Titanic? Wasn’t there a Black Butler arc based on it?

LOL, these people in the foreground are CGI.

…is that the grapefruit guy? (Beats me, I haven’t watched this in weeks and am only returning to it because Scott keeps mentioning spoilers. The only thing I’m keeping up with properly is HypMic and my Kanon watch with #AniTwitWatches…and soon I’ll add the final episodes of Sailor Moon to it.)

Found him! Sherlock Holmes! I sort of triangulated from buzz around me that he appears in this episode.

What’s with the skull ring Holmes wears?

…ah, the golden ratio!

…Oh, this is gonna get interesting! You can tell this Holmes is adept in fighting due to his build, but…how did Moriarty figure out Holmes played the violin? Calluses on his hands?

Is this Holmes a womaniser…? I thought the guy was often characterised as an asexual, or at the very least aromantic. That’s part of what makes the guy so intriguing to me - because he still has Irene.

A colliery is a coal mine. It’s been a while since I heard that word.

Moriarty 7

The anime’s sense of colour is probably one of the most striking parts of this. Not just red, but blue and green where it counts too.

Not a fan of the 1st person cam…

That knife came out pretty clean for something so blood-stained.

I wanted to say “’Right,’ said Fred”…but Fred didn’t talk, so I can’t do that. (Dangit!)

I somehow found it slightly funny that France was ahead of Britain (America?) in forensic pathology, although I dunno what made it funny exactly.

I squealed (…just a little bit) when the iconic quote came up: “When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” I have it memorised from my Detective Conan days still, see?

Next time: A Study in S (according to stuff I read, the S stands for Sherlock this time).

HypMic 10

…I can’t believe it’s almost over already. I’ve basically been in a dream this entire season…but then what happens once the anime is over…? Waiting for the 2nd DRB to happen, I guess.

I didn’t even realise, but Jiro’s varsity jacket has an owl on the bottom of the logo.

…”[H]it the head”? Wassat mean? *checks up* Oh, so it means to go to the bathroom…Right. It’s US slang, which might explain a thing.

Notice Ramuda uses “Jakurai” and not “jijii” or something like that during his time with Ichijiku. Also, there’s a lot of his deep voice going around…

You can see MTR on the poster behind Ramuda at one point.

*anguished noises* Ramuda!!! Please don’t do this!!!

LOL, Sadamezuka and Kazuha.

Is “bum-rush” even an appropriate word for this situation…? US slang is weird…

…Doppo’s performance almost seems like a Rosho foreshadowing. Also, I love how Doppo’s screens disappear with his motivation.

…I saw a spoiler today on Twitter regarding Dice and meat…now I get it.

“detarame” – I know this word means “nonsense”, but for some reason I memorised it as meaning “s***” at one point due to the context of Scenario Liar. I find it interesting Hifumi used a word from Scenario Liar in the first place, even though it’s not necessarily meant to be taken in that context.

“the King of Normies” – For some reason, that made me laugh pretty hard. That is an accurate translation of “riajyuu no ousama” though.

Gentaro’s smile puts a smile on my face as well.

“colours you’ve dyed” – Note Shibuya is constantly referred to by colours, including how PCCS (in the Shibuya 1st DRB team song) apparently means “practical colour coordinate system”.

I find it interesting that Saburo was the one who mentioned holding hands as a sign of camaraderie first in the anime and then the Funi translation makes Ramuda use the same symbolism here. It may have been unintentional, though.

…the subbers keep using “OMG” and I’m like ????. Is OMG outdated slang in 2020?

…wow, that holy imagery…they really went all-in on Jakurai’s godliness there.

…even when knocked down, Jakurai’s hair is still 100% gorgeous.

I noticed one of the lyrics the translators cut out of Doppo’s rap was “borderline”.

Ahhhhhhhhhh! This anime just kicked me where it hurts! (<- As in, it used the trope I love so much – where the underdog causes a sudden turn-around in the battle and they’re not even aware of it!) This is why I love you, Doppo!

LOL, FP spent their countdown gossiping. That’s such a FP thing to do.

Hifumi seems to carry the beat in MTR’s Kizuna. Jakurai gets drowned out quite a bit, although Riou (who has a similar voice) was less drowned out.

“No pain, no gain.” – That’s a good saying.

HypMic 11

2 episodes until the end! (Yikes!)

I still take some issue with subbing the laughing. Well, then again I’ve been half-deaf lately with my ears being clogged (accidentally clogged my ear up again…), so I guess I shouldn’t complain.

If I’m hearing it right, Ramuda goes “nee-san” and not particularly anything to do with “Beauties” or “Beasts”, which seems to be exclusive to the subs.

Stone guardian? I guess this has to do with jizo in Japanese. Hifumi does go “namu” (short for “namu amida butsu”) towards Doppo at the end there.

That bed is…why is it so empty if it’s meant to be the room someone’s staying in?

Is Jyuto’s hair black or brown? I’ve been colouring it a deep brown because I think that looks nice, but it might actually be black…

I have a newfound respect for Komada ever since I found out his birthday is [secret censored – maybe if you follow the hints I leave behind, you might find out what I mean].

LOL, I spotted the fire extinguisher in one corner and was immediately reminded of how someone once translated “fire extinguisher” to “hand grenade”.

…how does Jakurai’s hair work from the back? There’s this coil of hair that seems to go places it shouldn’t be…

For some reason, the subbers keep translating “sensei” as “the good doctor”…or is that the first and only time it happened?

I think it’s appropriate they discuss bonds on the day Kizuna (the ED) goes out on streaming.

…*thinks about 2nd DRB, where BB vs. DH is going to happen next month* …Yeah, you better pay attention or your daddy’s gonna come spank you boys.

Jakurai summoning his mic is always freakin’ cool. Aspire to be like this elegant man.

The wolf hand sign again.

There’s a pun between kizukizu (wounds) and kizuna (bonds). Update: The phrase is actually gisugisusa (stiffness, unsociability, coldness [of atmosphere] etc.), but...there’s the same rhyming scheme, so it’s not wrong.

Doppo’s bit about Jakurai(-sensei) being a kasugai (hemostat) is, surprisingly, quite faithful, as you can tell from how those words rhyme. Hifumi’s verse mentions a monkey wrench, though.

…kasumitai ore ga yoi… - that translates to “…[Jakurai is] better than us, who are like scum…” It’s a very Doppo sort of line, noting that kasu literally means “residue”.

I didn’t realise this until now, but Riou has a piercing in one ear (his right). It’s just in an unconventional place in the upper curve, so I never spotted it.

Samatoki’s death aesthetic really contrasts against Jakurai’s healing one. I can see why people really liked the MTC vs. MTR fight now.

It seems the strategy to win in this series is to keep spamming your attacks. It seems hugely suitable for my pseudo-Pokemon AU, which emphasises attack over defence.

Oh! I never noticed the blue gem on Jakurai’s mic!

Note how Samatoki said “lightning rod” – Jakurai’s name means “lonely thunder”. It’s one reason why I fell head over heels for the guy – his stupidly awesome name.

“horse/rabbit/bush warbler” – These refer to MTC. Samatoki, Jyuto, Riou. On that note, ARB currently has an event where Ramuda hangs out with MTC and he calls Jyuto “usa-chan” as a pun. I find that so darn cute!

“And the winner is…Matenro!” - *cue the song, The Champion*

Notice how they put BB and FP before MTC and MTR in the ED…it’s foreshadowing!

#simulcast commentary #Hypnosis Mic #HypMic #Hypnosis Microphone #moriarty the patriot #yuukoku no moriarty #Chesarka watches Yuukoku no Moriarty #Chesarka watches HypMic

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mbti-notes · 4 years

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P1) So I have this friend, an Enfp like me. For years she's been a dear friend of mine, and being of similar types have made us very easily get along. But now that we're growing older it feels like I'm in a different place in terms of Fi development, and her lack of development is starting to rub me the wrong way. During the time when we both started to get into Fi development, I started focusing on branching out and figuring out who I was, and she ended up in one relationship after another.

[con’t: The men were nice, and I'm not saying that being in relationships is a bad thing or is inherently detrimental to Fi. But now she's single, and says she feels listless, lonely. She says she seeks out men of status to make her feel accomplished but then either ends up losing interest or they break it off. I've been giving her advice to generate self interest, instead of seeking out interest solely in other people, to pursue her passions, and for a bit it seemed like she was taking my advice.

But recently I've seen a... I don't know if it's a different version of unhealthy Fi, or whether it truly is a problem with me. If it is me, I would like to fix it. She seems to kind of assume my motives based off of what she herself is feeling. For example, if she feels insecure about something she'll act on the assumption that I'm judging her. I will be completely clueless to the fact that she thinks this until one of her actions based off of that assumption ends up being hurtful. When I come back and tell her that her actions are hurtful and based on false premises, she doesn't apologize, and despite saying that she loves me regardless, says that she feels I'm kind of a judgy person so that's why she assumed. I try my level best to be a non-judgemental person, given that I'm quite aware that people come from all sorts of life experiences and backgrounds, and I've had friends tell me it's one of my better qualities.

There are times when I do say I can't condone a course of action (because it will hurt someone else or cause problems) and I have had someone break a friendship with me over that before. That person I've been told was toxic and manipulative, and later on I've heard that she herself thought she mightve been wrong. So I've assumed that what she said might not have been true. My family teases me about me being rigid on my morals, but apart from that no one has really mentioned it to me before. I know that being judgy could be a unhealthy trait from Fi, but I have the feeling that my close friend might be having an unhealthy Fi instead.

So I suppose my questions are: am I indulging in unhealthy Fi traits? If so, how should I fix it? If she's the one being unhealthy, how so and how would you advise me to react? As I said, she's a dear friend of mine of many years. I know there've been times that I've been shitty that she's patiently guided me and times I've been behind where she's waited for me to catch up, so in this case I don't want to leave her behind. I know that I can't get her to change if she doesn't want to, (especially now that she feels that I'm being judgemental I don't want to press) but how do I react to someone with an unhealthy Fi while asserting my boundaries?]

When you’ve been friends with someone for a long time, especially if many of those years were formative years, it’s natural for the relationship to carry a lot of baggage - they become more like a family member than a friend. That “baggage” can be a blessing and a curse. It’s nice to have someone who’s known you so well and so long. They’re able to put you in context, they’re able to reflect back to you how you have or haven’t changed for the better, and the bond between you is strong due to all the shared experiences. On the negative side, baggage means that there exist some unresolved issues, problems that float around in the background, pain or resentment that gets swallowed for fear of rocking the boat too much, etc. Try to remember the positive when things get negative.

As a general rule, when an unhealthy dynamic between two people forms, both people feed into it in some way, otherwise it wouldn’t continue to get worse over time. Avoid trying to label one person as the only source of the problem. It’s not a case of either/or:

1) I believe that your friend is indeed having difficulty with Fi development, which is HER business to handle. It sounds like she uses men as a means to paper over low self-esteem, which is a manifestation of Te loop that gets in the way of Fi development. What she chooses to do is part of her journey of growth (or lack of growth as the case may be). You have to let her make her own mistakes and learn from them, just as I’m sure you wouldn’t appreciate always being told what to do as though you’re stupid. This reminds me of an old song that goes something like: “If I make mistakes, they’re MY mistakes, and I cherish them as part of MY story.” You may believe that you know better than her about how to develop Fi, but perhaps you forget that an important part of being FP is that you have to honor your own story. You can’t live someone else’s story, i.e., betray Fi, and then hope to have healthy Fi in the end. Sometimes, honoring your own story means taking paths that others wouldn’t and falling flat on your face.

2) I also believe that your friend is defensive partly because you have been somewhat judgmental, which is YOUR business to handle. Even if you don’t say it out loud, people can sense disapproval, especially NFs. With your voice in her ear, I’m sure she has some awareness that her behavior is problematic. However, if you keep reminding her of this, what you’re doing is exacerbating the shame and guilt that she feels for “slipping”. You’re asking her to do what’s right, which is what Fi would do, but remember that you may also be asking her to do something that she is not yet ready or ABLE to do - this is how the line gets crossed.

When you keep reminding FPs that they’re unable to do something, it doesn’t help them - it only makes them feel incompetent. If they feel that way long enough, it affects their self-esteem, which further exacerbates the feeling of incompetence in a vicious cycle. From here, she starts to assume things about your motives, as she projects her own sense of inadequacy. No one likes to feel less than. If you want to give advice, make sure that it’s wanted and appropriate for her level of competency. Most importantly, advice should be given lovingly, i.e., it should always be obvious that you are doing it from a place of care and empathy rather than a place of moral judgment. Avoid language that implies something about her moral character and focus more on the actions/consequences. You can’t speak such that you never offend anybody, but you can always check and recheck your own intentions to make sure that you’re speaking from the heart rather than the finger.

Sometimes, healing a relationship means stepping back a bit to let things cool down, such that you are able to return with fresher eyes. There’s a time for encouraging your friend, there’s a time for telling them the truth, and there’s a time for leaving them alone. It’s not always easy to decide the best option because the other person may not even know what it is they really need from you, if anything. At least she’s letting you know in no uncertain terms that she doesn’t need or want your judgment. To me, this raises the question of what she does need from you. It seems that you don’t know, because every time you try to intervene, you’re not helping her in any discernible way. If the people close to you are implying that you’re judgy, it’s something to pay attention to. It means that you’re either not approaching “helping” with the right intention or you’re not expressing your desire to help in the right way. Something that I often have to remind Fi types of is that “helping” is ultimately about the other person, not just about you satisfying your own moral imperatives. If you forget this, you may easily overstep and disrespect the other person’s boundaries due to imposing your values on them.

ENFPs love to discuss the things that are important to them. They love to explore new ideas and possibilities. But if the only reason you’re engaging in the discussion is to try to “lead” her into agreeing with your way of judging the situation, she’ll know, and she’ll close up, because you’re being disingenuous. In essence, being “judgy” might mean that you are imposing your idea of what Fi development is onto her, instead of helping her to discover the best ways of reaching healthy Fi on her own terms, at her own pace, in her own way - assuming that Fi development is still something that she wants.

It’s easy to spot problems in people, but it’s a lot harder to come up with the most appropriate solution. Like it or not, these men are fulfilling a need in her life, and this can easily turn into a form of addiction, with withdrawal symptoms and all that jazz. The longer someone carries on a pattern, the harder it is to break. What exactly is the need that she’s attempting to fill? Where does that need come from, why does it exist in that form, or why is it such an urgent matter to her that she’s unable to give up her pattern of serial dating? Is there a better or healthier method to address the need... a method that she is capable of carrying out? If there is a competency problem, what is the best way to address it? These are the questions that you should ask, if you want to understand her well enough to tackle the problem constructively. And you may not get the answers until you approach her at the right time, in the right way.

#enfp #enfp relationships #te loop #friendship #helping #relationships #communication #ask

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riverdalepoet · 4 years

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You’re Not So Bad Yourself

Sweet Pea and OC Fic

Written as a gift for the amazing @cactiem as part of the @southsidearchive ‘s event A Very Merry Hissmas Secret Santa Fic Exchange. I had so much fun writing this little piece and hope you enjoy reading it!!!

Word Count: 2606

Summary: Sweet Pea and Reese never saw eye to eye, but when Sweets is put in charge of her security detail, will that change?

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“What the hell do you mean, no other choice?” I raved, pacing in front of FP and Jughead while Sweet Pea stayed behind them with crossed arms.

“Exactly what I said, Reese,” FP shot back. “The Ghoulies have a price on your head after that stunt you pulled at the Quarry. If we’re going to keep you safe, someone has to be with you at all times. Sweet Pea has the night shift. He is staying with you and that’s final.”

I stopped my frenzied movements, daring to glance back at the stone faced Serpent they were speaking of. One look at his icy expression had me turning back to answer my leaders. “It’s not my fault. They shouldn’t have talked to me like that,” I whispered, earning a chuckle from all three Serpents.

“You broke Malachi’s arm, slugger. Did you expect them to forget that?” Jughead scoffed, joining Sweet Pea by the fire. “It was bold, I’ll give you that, but you can’t fight them alone; not now. Let us help you.”

Sweet Pea’s smirk caught my attention and I held his gaze, daring him to make fun of me. We had known each other our entire lives, but could never quite master the art of civil conversation. Sweet Pea ignored my weak attempt at intimidation all together and laughed, “That I would’ve paid to see.”

I flipped him the bird in retaliation, refusing to look at his smug face.

Despite my urge to argue, I took a minute to think their offer over. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I barely got away from the Ghouls that night, and that was before they were after revenge. Truthfully, I had been worried about what might happen if they caught me. This morning was too close of a call. Having Sweet Pea there with me would be annoying and we’d probably fight a hundred times before morning, but for some reason it made me feel safer, so I reluctantly agreed to the Joneses plan.

“Princess, you made the right choice. We’re going to have a great time,” Sweet Pea murmured in my ear as he followed me to where his bike was parked. I reached back to smack his shoulder, disgust evident on my face.

“Disgusting pig,” I muttered stopping in front of his motorcycle.

“Annoying hard ass,” he shot back straddling the seat and shoving his helmet in my direction. “Your place or mine?” As much as I longed for the comfort of my bed, my instincts were screaming against it.

Sweet Pea huffed as I thought it over, shifting his balance from one leg to the other. He never did like to be kept waiting, and the cold did nothing to help his patience. “Any day now, princess!”

I bit back the insult that was hiding just behind my teeth and answered him sheepishly, climbing on the bike behind him, “I think we better go with yours. It’s possible that they might know where I live.”

Immediately, Sweets went rigid, turning his head to eye me suspiciously. “Yeah, Jughead told me that. But I’m curious. How, pray tell, would they have figured that out?”

I hid my head behind his shoulder, hoping to miss the judging look that was sure to follow my explanation. “Because I might have hooked up with Mordecai last summer at my house.”

“His brother? Do you have a death wish? You must.” Sweet Pea immediately got off the bike to face me with his eyes matching the fire in his voice.

“Hypocrite,” I fired back, standing chest to chest with him. “You sleep with Ghoulies all the time! Nobody ever gives you shit for it!”

He reached for the lapels of my jacket and clutched them tightly. “I don’t take them home, that’s a damn rookie mistake. And I sure as hell don’t break their brother’s arm. I just want to keep you safe, but you make it so unbelievably hard.”

A slight blush spread onto my cheeks. Sweet Pea didn’t scare me. While most shrink under his steely glare and the intensity of his voice, I always fought back. I could handle his rage, but his sincerity caught me off guard. “Sorry you’re stuck with me tonight,” I mumbled, unable to think of anything else to say.

To my surprise, he chuckled softly releasing his hold on me. “I volunteered, actually. Come on, we can keep arguing back at my place. At least we’ll be warm.”

I staggered back behind him, stunned. The short ride to his trailer was silent as I mulled over why he would ever volunteer to spend an entire night with me. I hadn’t noticed we had arrived until a large hand reached for my chin, lifting it slightly to meet my eyes. “What’s got you quiet? This might be the longest you’ve ever gone without saying anything.”

I ignored the insult altogether. “Why?”

His crooked smile faltered slightly, and I could tell that he knew exactly what I was talking about. “Cause I didn’t trust anybody else to do it. Can we please go inside now?”

I laughed and nodded, accepting his answer… for now. Sweet Pea’s trailer was not what I expected. The living room was immaculate; no piles of laundry or discarded beer cans. Instead, there were neatly folded blankets and a lemon scented air freshener. A small smile grew on my face and he laughed at my reaction. “Shocked that I know how to clean, princess?”

“Actually, yes, I am. Very.”

He shook his head, shrugging out of his jacket and reaching to take mine. “Do you need anything? I know you didn’t really have much time to grab your stuff.”

My mind raced and I reached for my bag, rummaging through to see what I did manage to snag as I was rushed out of my room. “You don’t have any sweat pants I could borrow, do you? I brought clothes for tomorrow and an extra t-shirt, just not pants.”

His grin made me nervous for what he was about to say next. I backed away slowly as he matched my steps. “Oh I don’t mind if you go pantless. In fact, I encourage it.”

I snorted at his dirty comment and chucked a pillow at his head.

He held his hands up in surrender, making his way back to the bedroom. “Kidding, kidding. I’ll grab you some. Make yourself comfortable.”

line break?

After a quick shower and changing into the clothes Sweet Pea found for me, I joined him back in the living room. He was stretched out in the recliner, one arm slung over his head and scrolling through his phone. “Feel better?” he asked as I plopped on the couch.

“Like a new woman. It’s been a long damn day.” I reached for the blanket on the back of the couch and snuggled into it.

“So I heard. Jughead said he just barely got there before the Ghouls showed up. That must’ve been a hell of a wake-up call.”

“God, was it ever.”

“REESE? REESE! Get up!” Jughead yelled, yanking my bedroom door open and jolting me awake. His eyes were frantic and he grabbed my bag to stuff random things from my drawers inside. Quickly, I reached for my robe and scrambled from the safety of my bed to confront him.

“Jug, what’s going on?” My toe found the menacingly sharp edge of the bed frame and a slew of curse words came tumbling from my mouth stopping Jughead in his tracks.

“They’re coming! They’re pissed! We’ve got to get you out of here.” My stomach dropped at the realization of the “they” he was referring to and I instantly joined him filling my bag and throwing on clothes before following him out to his truck. I knew exactly who was after me and why Jughead was so panicked.

Something had told me to stay away from the Quarry last night, but Toni stubbornly insisted. The uneasy feeling only worsened as thirty minutes went by with no sign of my favorite pink-haired Serpent. When the Ghoulies had started to pile in, I shot Toni a quick text and stood up to leave before any of them noticed that I was the only Serpent there.

Unfortunately, Malachi spotted me right as reached my car. “Not so fast, darling. Reese, isn’t it?”

I groaned, opening the door and trying to get inside, only to have Malachi reach out to stop me. “You know…Mordecai speaks of you all the time…in great detail. Maybe, I’d like to see what he sees in you, baby snake.”

Before I could stop myself and before Malachi had the chance to grab me, I reached for the crowbar under my seat and swung it him. I heard the crunch as soon as it made impact, but I didn’t stop to look. I threw the car in drive and took off, making sure to call Jughead and tell him how royally I had just fucked up.

“Why were you even out there? You knew they’ve pretty much taken it over,” Sweet Pea asked jarring me from my thoughts.

“Oh…Toni wanted to hang out. Said she was feeling nostalgic, but she never showed. Something must’ve come up.”

Sweet Pea’s jaw tightened. “Remind me to talk to her about that. Last night could’ve gone a hell of a lot worse, and she just left you there.”

The same unfamiliar nervousness from earlier tonight crept over me and I scrambled to speak. “No--no. Please, Pea, she feels bad enough. It was fine. I’m fine!”

He shook his head, mumbling about the code and being distracted, but I was too busy trying to figure out why he cared. “Come on, Reese, I’m beat. Let’s go to sleep.”

“Where am I sleeping?” I asked, hopping up from the couch and returning the blanket neatly to its rightful place.

“In my bed.” Sweet Pea tossed me a bottle of water and I caught it with a confused look on my face.

“Then where are you sleeping?” Clearly I had missed something.

“In my bed,” he answered with a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, clearly entertained by the rosy blush in my cheeks.

My eyes widened, and I barely managed to muster up a strangled, “why?!”

“Because I like my bed.” He coughed to cover up the chuckle that was building in his chest. “Look, if I sleep in the living room and you sleep in my room, I’d be worried someone would come through the bedroom window and I wouldn’t be able to get there in time. If you sleep in the living room and I sleep in my bed, I’d be worried that someone would come in through the front door. If we both sleep in the living room, we’d both be miserable, so what’s the point? That only leaves one logical solution…bed buddy.”

I huffed dramatically, hating to admit that he had a point more than anything. “You don’t sleep in the nude, do you?”

He erupted into laughter and trudged over to sling his arm around my shoulders once he caught his breath. “Only if you ask nicely.”

Sweet Pea’s room was cozy and surprised me just as much as the living room and kitchen. There were lamps and throw pillows and worn books on the nightstand. I sat my bag on the chair by the end of the bed and ran my hand up the bedspread.

“You like it?” Sweet Pea asked, tugging his shirt over his head and turning the sheets down. “Fangs’ Abuela gave it to me for my birthday. She really helped me fix up this place.”

I smiled at the mention of that woman. Abuela was an angel to the lonely kids of the Southside- the orphans, the rejects, the rebels--she loved them just the same. She always knew the right things to say and do. “I’m proud of you, Pea. Really, it looks amazing in here. I can barely keep up with laundry since my mom split. I don’t know how you do it.”

As he sat on the bed, he reached for my hand to pull me down beside him. “I forgot she left, shit, I’m sorry. Wait, who has Noah? Should we go get him?”

I shook my head at his worried expression, leaning gratefully into the pillows behind me. “Abuela has him actually. Noah and Enzo are best friends. Besides, Fangs is there too, so I know he’ll be safe.”

“Still, I’m gonna call Fangs to check in later. It was hard enough when my folks left and I had to take care of myself. I don’t know if I could’ve taken care of a kid too.”

I thought of my kid brother--cherub faced and golden-haired--and my heart tugged. He was my Achilles’ Heel and as hard as it was to keep him safe and happy and healthy, I wouldn’t change a thing. “I love him, and I didn’t want him to feel like he was missing anything. I would do anything for him.”

To my surprise, Sweet Pea’s arms reached out for me to pull me into his side. “You’re a good sister, you punk.”

I giggled against his chest and glanced up at him, curious about the sudden change in our chemistry. “You’re a good housekeeper, apparently. Are you hiring?”

He jokingly shoved me away and we both sank deeper into the bed on our sides facing each other. “You couldn’t afford me.”

“Darn.”

His face, still bright from laughter, went serious again and my stomach instinctively tightened. “If you ever need help with the house or with Noah, please call. I guess I didn’t realize how much you had on your plate.”

I stiffened, uncomfortable accepting help of any form. “I’m doing the best I can.”

For the second time tonight, his hand snuck under my chin and I tried desperately to fight against his hold as he made me look at him. “Hey…I know. All I’m saying is that you don’t have to do it alone.”

I sat quietly for a moment as he slowly relaxed his grip on my chin. I thought back to the arguments and snide remarks we exchanged over the years. I had known this man for as long as I could remember and dreaded being in the same room as him, but tonight something was different. It was like I had never really known him at all. “Why are you being so nice to me?

The rough tips of his fingers brushed against the lines of my face before he answered and I held my breath in anticipation. “Maybe I’m starting to realize you aren’t the worst person to be stuck protecting.”

The blush that was ever present tonight returned, but I scooted closer to him earning a smile in the process. “You’re not so bad yourself.”

No Ghoulie bothered us that night, and Sweet Pea took both me and Noah in until the smoke cleared. Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months until eventually there was more of our stuff at his place than there was at my own. Sweet Pea helped me make sure that Noah had a good life and having someone to help meant more to me than I ever could’ve imagined. The same man that once made my skin crawl grew on me and became the most important person in my life. If I knew that getting into trouble would’ve brought me here and given me the family I had always hoped to have, I’d break Malachi’s arm a hundred times over.

#southsidearchive #sweet pea #sweet pea x oc #sweet pea fic #riverdalepoet

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lolabean1998 · 4 years

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This Better Work Part 4

Sweet Pea X OC

Summery; Hey guys, not sure how well this is going to go but I originally put it on Wattpad so its way long, but hopefully its not horrendous. Let me know what you think! So, it follows the story line kind of, it’s not exact but I have tried and it follows my OC Ali as she navigates through the hell that is Riverdale. Whilst struggling with financial, social and romantic difficulties, she has the added pressure of keeping up with school work and bonus of being thrown into the frightening world of the criminal underground.

Side Note; None of the gifs or pictures I use are mine, I’m not talented or smart enough to even begin an attempt at making my own. Thank you to those who have such abilities and if you don’t want me using them then please let me know so I can remove them for you.

Word Count; 5,606 (Give or Take)

"Sun's Up kiddo lets go. I'll drop you home on my way to visit the monster himself." Sheriff Keller called freeing Ali from the confines of her cell. She sat up glancing at the empty cell beside her. Sweet Pea must've been picked up already.

"Thanks Sheriff Keller. How are the guys after last night?" Ali asked apologetically, walking out the cell to fall into step behind the Sheriff as he led her to his car.

"Nasty headache and a bruised ego but nothing serious. They'll be fine don't worry Ali. You had good reason for it." He comforted her. She hated losing her temper like that. She hated hurting the people trying to help her. It tore her apart inside when she thought about everyone she had hurt.

"Don't worry about it Ali. They've taken worse and you were very careful not to injure any one. Just sent them for an early nap is all. They're fine." He assured her when he caught the worried expression on her usually happy, smiling face.

"Thank you Sheriff. For everything." Ali smiled when they reached the small cottage by the border of Northside and Southside. She stood and waved goodbye as he drove back to Nick's Hotel. Her front door flew open the second she stepped foot on the drive, both her mum and Izzy came charging over wrapping her up in suffocating but warm family hug. She loved their family hugs. Even if she did struggle to breathe with them.

"Ali are you ok? We were so worried. When Keller rang last night to say you took on 5 of his deputies and that he had to tase you just to get you into a cell I didn't know what to do." Rosie blurted finally pulling back when she realized her daughter was gasping for air.

"Come inside we've made chocolate chip pancakes and fresh orange juice." Ali's stomach growled loudly at the mention of food making them all laugh.

They sat round the island in the kitchen discussing all the events of the night before, debating what would happen to Nick St. Clair now. However knowing Mrs. Blossom they doubted anything would really be done. Ali and Izzy agreed to cook up a proper family dinner, whilst Rosie went to collect Cheryl. Taking her for a walk by Sweet Water River so they could have a heart to heart before taking her back to spend the rest of day with them. Ali had been so focused on making sure her friend was ok she completely forgot about the Serpent jacket she was now holding hostage from last night.

Cheryl spent the whole day laughing and relaxing with Ali and her family. They were more of a family to her than her actual family was. Besides Nana Rose of course. After watching their third movie of the night the girls decided to head to Pops for a milkshake and fries. Cheryl sat in the booth waiting with her milkshake whilst the girls went up to place their order and talk to Pops about work for Izzy. She was sat in her bubble of happy thoughts when a bone chilling voice shattered it.

Nick St. Clair. Ali watched as the boy snarled and hissed at the girl, creeping his way over to the booth. She had to keep her cool. For Cheryls sake. But that didn't mean she couldn't break his nose again. Ali strolled casually over smiling as brightly as ever placing a hand gently on Nicks shoulders turning him softly to face her. Her face bitterly sweet.

"You have something right there." She pointed to the tip of her nose, her eyes and smile as innocent as ever.

"Here let me get that for you." Her face dropped to temperatures below freezing almost immediately.

Before he knew what was going his face was crashing with Ali's knee. The fowl boy cried out in pain as he dropped to floor in agony and grabbed his now bleeding nose. Ali wasn't done. She grabbed his hand twisting it behind his back and slamming him face down on the counter in front of Pops.

"Apologize for bleeding everywhere." She commanded, scowling when he refused.

"Come on now. I thought you city mice had manners." Ali mocked, her voice as light and bubbly as always. The signature Ali smile plastering her face but her eyes were colder than ice.

"I'm s-sorry." Nick stuttered. "I-I'm s-sorry for b-bleeding every-where." He apologized again, when Ali twisted his arm a little more, squeezing out the full sentence she had asked for.

"Now apologize for your disgusting, pig headed behaviour the other night." Ali ordered swinging him round to face Cheryl who had gone very pink in face.

"Sincerely." Ali growled tugging the hair on the back of his head, so he looked up to face Cheryl instead of the floor.

"I-I'm sorry for my disgusting, pig headed behaviour the other night." Nick said through gritted teeth. Trying desperately to sound as sincere as possible, considering the pain that was cracking through his arm and face.

"And for the way I treated you. It was disgusting and vile. I'm Sorry." He croaked before Ali threw him back over to the bag of food waiting for him in front Pops.

"Oh my Nicholas, your face looks much better now. Much easier to look at, here you may need to use this. You've got a little something on your nose." Ali smiled innocently as Izzy and Rosie handed him a wet wipe each.

"I'll get you for this country mouse. You should know not to pick on us city mice." Nick snarled grabbing his food and storming towards the door only to have a well-manicured hand slam it shut just as he went to leave.

"Oh, Nicki darling." Ali said in her sweetest condescending tone. Smiling sweetly at him as he turned to face her. Now surrounded by the Masters family and several other members from inside the diner. Rosie leaning against the door menacingly with Izzy. Ali leant calmly against the booth behind her, admiring her long-pointed nails. Flicking her cold, threatening eyes up to stare deep into Nicks eyes. Piercing his soul.

"There’s a reason they call me Ali-Cat!" She spat coldly before turning on her heels and walking back to the counter. Izzy and Rosie both shoved past Nick laughing as he scurried hurriedly through the door. The diner erupted in a round of applause and the Masters girls each took a very low curtsey laughing as they went.

"Sorry about that Pops. Want us to clean up the blood?" Ali offered politely. Pops shook his head chuckling to himself.

"No, no it's ok. You girls have done the world a favour. The least we can do is mop up a little blood splatter. Shame he's so prone to nose bleeds." Pops winked turning to grab a mop so he could clean up.

"Have I ever told you that you are the greatest and scariest human beings Ever?!" Cheryl claimed a wave of relief washing over her. It was nice to know that her friends had her back so fiercely.

The girls laughed and joked the night away, pushing the monster that was Nick St. Clair behind them and moving forward. Their laughter filling the diner with a bright angelic aura that seemed to take hold of anyone that entered.

"So Jug, when are you telling FP that you joined the Serpents?" Ali asked giving his bike the once over. Making sure she hadn't missed anything when changing a part for his brakes.

"Figured it's safest for me to tell him whilst he's still in prison. At least that way he has time to calm down before he crucifies me." Jughead groaned only half joking.

"You make a fair point Jones. You my dear friend, are a dead man walking." Ali responded her tone wise and knowing.

"My biggest concern at the moment is this Ghoulies alliance Tall Boy is forming." Jughead informed her, frowning a little when Ali flinched at the mention of the Ghoulies and Tall Boy.

"Yeah Malachi was talking about that a few days ago, something about an upcoming drug runner from the Snake side. Whatever you decide to do I've got your back but we both know you hold more influence over the snake pit than Tall Boy does." Ali reassured him. She knew Jughead well enough to know that he would never let the Serpents join forces with the likes of Malachi and his cannibalistic crew. Jughead shot her a worried glare.

"What do you mean drug running snake? Did he say who?" He fired questions at her like she was a magic 8 ball. Ali threw her hands up in mock defence.

"I don't know I just heard something about a drug running snake and going Snake side. Let's just focus on holding your own turf for now yeah Juggie?" Ali suggested seeing the growing concern on his face.

"Brakes should be good now and since you got me up so early, you can give me a lift to school. Got some stuff to pick up before the holiday." Ali grinned grabbing her helmet and peeling off her grubby overalls to reveal her usual black high waist jeans, skin tight grey vest and navy-blue hoodie to match her blue combat boots. Jughead rolled his eyes climbing onto his bike waiting for Ali to finish fastening her helmet behind him before taking off at speed down the road towards his old school.

"I'll wait here for you. No sense in making you walk back." Jughead called as Ali bolted towards the school. Grabbing a large folder filled with blue prints. Her project for the holiday. Returning minutes later carrying a large blue folder and her infamous black rucksack with a magnificent painted Indian war horse sewn on the back. Ali stopped at the bike shoving the folder in her bag before jumping on the back and wrapping her arms around Jughead signalling for him to go. Jughead thundered down the road to the Wyrm, dropping Ali off before heading off to his meeting with Tall Boy.

"Sounds like Tall Boy's stirring up trouble again, rumours of a Ghoulies alliance and what not." Ali gossiped entering the office at the back of the bar where her mum was shuffling through mountains of paperwork.

"Oh dear, like they don't have enough to deal with! No wonder their financial system is such a state." Rosie exclaimed scanning through a large document before looking up at her daughter and sighing. Pulling her glasses off to give her eyes a rest.

"Your sisters gone down to Pops to pick up some food for us all. She's quite the player that one. Got your manipulation technique down to a T. She's managed to wrangle us some helpers, bright ones too." She complimented brightly.

"I see you're planning on multitasking again. What are you building this time?" Rosie stated pointing towards Ali's trusty rucksack. Ali just grinned and waved it off.

"That’s for us girls later. Think you're going to like it though. Finished drawing up the plans for it the other day." She grinned throwing her bag on an empty chair in front of the overcrowded desk and pulling out the Serpent jacket she had borrowed during her night in the cell.

"Think its about time I give this back. Now that its clean and no longer smells like the stale end of whiskey bottle full of cigarette ends." Ali added smelling the leather jacket.

"Used an extra helping of those scent booster things on the lining to get rid of the stench of boy and blood. Also patched up several tears that could only be from a knife. Looks good as new don't you think?" Ali said triumphantly holding up the jacket to show off her masterpiece. Rosie's eyes wandered over the spotless jacket, her face rising to form a very impressed and approving look.

"Nice work Ali. You've just made him the sharpest dressed laughing stock of his own biker gang." She joked just as the door flew open and Toni and Fangs burst in looking exhausted, carrying several large bags of Pops food. The smell filling the room forcing away the previous smell of old paper and beer bottles.

"What happened to you two. You're acting like you've just gone ten rounds with Mike Tyson!" Ali remarked moving her bag just in time for Fangs to crash on the chair with Toni following. Flopping down on his lap like a rag doll.

"They just wouldn't STOP!" Toni breathed pointing an accusing finger through the door to where Sweet Pea and Izzy were setting up the pool table having a very heated debate.

"The hell is going on there. Big foot almost seems," Ali paused trying to think of the right word. "Happy?" She questioned with surprise, her brows furrowing in the confusion at what she just said.

"What’s with the new jacket any way Ali Cat? Don't tell me you're joining the Serpents, I couldn't possibly handle MORE of you!" Fangs exaggerated with a cheeky wink and a grin making Ali chuckle.

"Nah you're off the hook on that one, happy feet over there lent me his jacket the other night in the holding cell and I forgot to give it back so I figured the least I can do is clean it up for him. Smell it, no longer smells the dirty end of a back alley." Ali revealed passing the jacket to the pair to smell. Laughing when they looked up in amazement at the difference she had made.

"Damn girl, want to fix mine up to while you're at it?" Toni coaxed using her best puppy eyes.

"Anything for you my dear darling Topaz." Ali teased emphasizing her strong English accent. "Just drop it in my bag and I'll do it tonight." She said before sauntering over to the pool table, jacket in hand.

"ALI!" Izzy cheered running over to her sister, wrapping her arms tightly around her waist before letting go and bounding back to the table to take her shot.

"Well if it isn't our very own Cinderella Croft! You finally able to let go of my jacket now?" Sweet Pea smirked. A smug grin plastered on his features as Ali approached. Shoving the jacket hard in his chest winding him a little, patting his shoulder gently with the other hand. All the while holding the smile that seemed to light Sweet Peas entire being.

"Cute. Was that Izzy's idea to blend the two nicknames together? I only ask because quite frankly, you don't have the brains.” Ali taunted teasingly, tilting her head a little as she spoke.

"Took me that long to clean it. You should really take more care of your boy scouts uniform." Ali teased turning on her heels and walking back to the office. Leaving Sweet Pea to watch in awe as she walked away, smelling his clean new jacket. He was falling hard.

Izzy sat back watching the whole thing, waiting until her sister was out of ear shot before making a long whistling sound closely followed by a crashing sound. Mimicking the sound cartoons make when a character falls from a cliff. Sweet Pea turned to scowl at her in mixed confusion and suspicion.

"What was that sound?" He demanded throwing on the jacket and smiling to himself at how comfortable and soft it was, how it smelt like flowers instead of stale whiskey and smoke and how the slices from previous knife fights had vanished.

"The sound of you falling head over heels." Izzy commented nonchalantly moving back to their game of pool.

"So, what was the crashing sound at the end?" He asked curiously leaning against the pool table next to the little girl.

"The sound of you realizing everyone but her knows." Izzy replied climbing up on the stool Sweet Pea had dragged over when he saw her struggling to reach her mark.

"Damn you got the good stuff. Sweet Pea smells like Sweet Pea's. You know that’s her favourite flower and scent? Most people stop to smell the roses, she stops to smell the poisonous flowers climbing the wall of our house." Izzy stated. Rolling her eyes at Ali's choice of scent boosters. Of-course she washed the jacket of her favourite Serpent with her favourite soap.

"Hang on, everyone knows what?" Sweet Pea asked dumbfounded making Izzy groan at his stupidity.

"Oh no you don't, you've got to figure that one out on your own." Izzy declared.

"If I'm right, Toni owes me almost 50 bucks." Izzy muttered to herself, half hoping he heard and it triggered something in his brain.

Once the pair finished their game, they decided it was probably best if they went inside to help the others sort through the mountains of financial papers for Hog Eye.

"Will you quit sniffing it. The smell isn't going away any time soon." Izzy said sarcastically as they entered the office.

"Pea isn't used to the smell of clean Isabelle, leave him be." Ali responded Nonchalantly. Her eyes glued to the forms in front of her, twirling a pen between her fingers. Toni and Fangs snorted almost immediately at her comment whilst Sweet Pea just stood there scowling at her.

"Take a photo Pea it'll last longer." She remarked in the same casual manner as before, her eyes still fixated on the pages before her.

"There isn't a camera strong enough to capture that much ugly without combusting." Sweet Pea grumbled taking a seat and starting on the papers Izzy had handed him.

"Sure there is, just use yours. If it can handle your ugly mug it can certainly handle mine." Ali responded taking a bite out of her cheese burger. Toni and Fangs now struggling to contain the knowing grins that were slowly taking over them. Sweet Pea went to reply but came up blank, instead he just opened and closed his mouth like a goldfish. Ali flicked her eyes up at Sweet Peas slack-jawed expression. Raising a devilish eyebrow at him, a small smirk toying on her lips.

"Cat got your tongue?" She teased sending everyone into a short burst of snorting giggles.

Izzy raised her chin to Toni and Fangs before making the same cartoon fall sound she had made earlier. Jerking her head slightly, towards Sweet Pea making them laugh even harder.

"Rock, Meet Bottom." Ali playfully teased, her positive vibe and insufferably bright smile obliviating any potential for insult. Instead, pulling a small chuckle from Sweet Peas throat.

"You got me there, that was good." He chuckled pulling out a pen and note pad to start writing down some calculations. Toni and Fangs stared up at him, shock sprawled across their faces at his comment. He never admitted defeat. Let alone complimented someone over it. Sweet Pea looked up from his calculations, feeling their gaze burning into the top of his skull.

"What? believe it or not I actually pay attention in class." He defended thinking they were surprised at his maths skills. Remaining completely oblivious to the real reason they were star struck.

"Ok so from these stock and profit forms, Hog Eye seems to be charging 10 bucks per shot and 15 per beer. I get that a lot of money earnt isn't through the purchase of alcohol, but you've got to give some excuse that's legal." Rosie piped up finally looking up from the scattered papers she had been pouring over for the last few hours.

"So why don't we put the excess profit down as payment for space hire, to cover how he's getting the money. I mean for all we know that's what's happening." Ali suggests holding her hand up to silence the three Serpents. "Plausible deniability if you please."

"Ok so how do we explain where its going then?" Fangs questioned looking up from his own calculations.

"That's obvious isn't it." Sweet Pea chimed in, gently biting the end of his pen. The group shook their head simultaneously.

"Please Elaborate." Izzy pushed politely, twisting herself round on Sweet Pea's lap to face him properly. He was becoming more and more like a big brother to her.

"Well so far he isn't accounting for Toni's 'Overtime' money." He began, air quoting the word 'overtime'.

"He's also missed out the car and bike payments. So we've already covered a fifth of his spending’s just with overtime money and vehicle maintenance. Then there's the money to keep the bar insured and pay for the alcohol licenses for his staff when he's not at the bar. There's another fifth. Give or take a bit. And since the rest is snake money, we can put that down to protection money. He pays the Serpents to keep his bar and family safe." Sweet Pea explained sending multiple jaws hitting the ground in a wave of shear disbelief.

"Ok this could work. We need to start adding up all bar profits and snake profits separately, so we can divide it up in the correct ratio." Toni thought after a moments reflection. The team nodded in agreement before clearing the desk and starting from scratch. Putting their heads together to figure out what was what.

After several hours gruelling hard work, they decided to call it quits and finish for the day. It was evening after all. The team headed out into the now busy bar, waving to Hog Eye so they could grab a round of drinks before taking their mind off things and playing a few rounds of pool.

Ali woke the next day to a blinding head ache and a living room full of bodies. Apparently one round of drinks consisted of several shots of various spirits and a strong beer. Ali sat up slowly, holding her hand to her head as the room began spinning. Her stomach tumbled over in knots. She felt as if she'd charged head on into a speeding bus. Never the less she had cars to fix today so she soldiered on. Dragging herself quietly to the kitchen to concoct her famously effective Hangover cure, making sure to close every door so the sound of the blender didn't wake any one.

She had just finished making everyone a glass of hangover cure each when she decided the best thing for her, was to jump in the shower to wash away the night before. Flash backs of her and Toni dancing on the table, clouding her vision as she entered the bathroom. Stripping down to her under wear and grabbing a fresh towel from the towel rack.

Slamming into a wall of muscle and damp warmth as she turned back round sending her flying back. A pair of large hands grabbing her arms before she slipped on the wet floor. Ali's memories of the night before darting to the back of her mind. Clearing her vision. Standing in front of her with nothing more than a towel and a smirk on, was the one and only Sweet Pea. Ali quickly regained her balance, kneeling to grab a floor towel from the cupboard beneath the sink before she slipped over again. She straightened up looking at Sweet Pea in a dazed confusion. Unable to say anything she just opened and closed her mouth a couple of times. Now she was the one looking like a fish.

"I'll fix that once I've changed into a fresh set of clothes." He said pointing to the leak from the shower. Stepping closer so their bodies were almost touching, looking down to Ali's bright blue eyes and smirking.

"Unless of course, you like me in the towel." Ali's eyes widened at his comment and she quickly shook away the catatonic state she had been in.

"The only thing missing now is a paper bag for your face." Ali quipped placing a hand on his muscular chest and pushing him back so she could move around him to the shower. Turning it on and turning back to him.

"There’s a glass of hangover cure downstairs and since you’re the only other person awake and I made juice, you're on breakfast duty. Now get your ass out of here so I can shower you pervert." She added playfully, pushing him out the door and locking it. Her heart racing as muddles of thoughts began clouding her mind again. No. I need to wash this fog away and get my mind set and ready for work. Ali thought as she jumped in the shower, scrubbing away the groggy feeling that clung to her skin from the alcohol.

Downstairs, Sweet Pea had finished changing into the clothes from last night that Rosie had offered to wash. She had handed the three guest some spare pyjamas giving the boys a set of Ali's fathers old sweats and Toni a set of Ali's pyjama sets to sleep in whilst she put their clothes in too wash. He raided the cupboards debating on what to cook when he finally settled on following the instructions left by Ali in a notebook she had labelled 'Food cures and recipes to save a life'.

Underneath the recipe for her hangover cure was a list of foods for a good old fashioned full English breakfast. Which was apparently 'the best food for a hangover'. He began frying up the eggs and bacon. Putting on some sausages and mushrooms whilst waiting for the toast. The smell of food wafting through the house gently waking the rest of the group who, unlike Ali and Sweet Pea, weren't looking too great.

"He can cook? I'm impressed. There was me thinking you were going to pull out the cereal bowls." Ali teased skipping into the kitchen wearing her usual garage gear. That consisted of an orange sports bra with her navy-blue garage overalls. The sleeves tied around her waist exposing her toned abs and back. She plopped herself on a chair by the kitchen island. Watching Sweet Pea cook whilst she attempted to throw her hair in a French braid. Growling to herself when she got muddled up. She was normally really good at braiding her hair but for some reason her hands weren't doing what they were supposed to this morning.

"Dear god! Come here and watch the food whilst I braid your hair. Its just painful watching you do it." Sweet Pea commanded dragging her from her seat and shoving a spatula in her hand before standing behind her and effortlessly throwing her hair into a perfect French braid. Toni and Fangs tiptoed in at the perfect moment. Quickly getting a photo or ten of the pair before they noticed they had company.

"So, he can cook AND he can plait. If only he was good looking." Ali sighed playfully placing a hand on Sweet Peas cheek once he'd finished doing her hair.

"See you two are already up and about." Toni grumbled, smirking a little as she entered the kitchen grabbing a glass of suspicious green juice and one of the plates Sweet Pea had already dished up.

"Morning, painkillers are on the side and I think Pea has sorted your clothes out already." Ali greeted the two very hungover looking Serpents as they shuffled their way into the daylight. Hissing like vampires as the sunlight hit their eyes.

"I'd suggest grabbing something to eat and jumping in the shower before you get dressed. You can use the on-suite in my room or the bathroom in the corner over there. Both showers work but mine has a small leak so be careful."

"Morning guys." Rosie groaned rubbing her eyes while Izzy guided her mum to a chair, grabbing her a cure and plate of food.

"Here you go Izzy." Sweet Pea said warmly, helping the little girl up into a chair and shoving a plate of food and glass of juice in front of her before moving to grab his own and sitting beside Ali.

"Jesus mum I thought you said you could handle your drink?" Ali stated giving her mum a once over tucking into a mouthful of eggs and bacon.

"Just because we don't have stomachs of steel like you two freaks of nature doesn't mean we can't handle our drink!" Rosie defended taking a large swig of her green hangover cure.

"You know for Northsiders you can really handle your drink." Sweet Pea confessed through a mouthful of food.

"Dude, she drank you under the table! She's good even for a Southsider!" Fangs claimed, giving an impressed raise of the glass before gulping down the green liquid like it was his life force.

"Well guys as much as I'd love to stay and chat, I have to get to work. Izzy have you sorted out a lift to Pops later or shall I drop you off?" Ali asked turning to her little sister. She had recently started working at Pops on the weekends and during the holiday but fitting in her times with Rosie and Ali's schedules was proving to be difficult. She had been asking around for lifts, but they were few and far between.

"I'll take you if want Izzy. My bikes out front and I was going to stay and fix a few things before I left anyway." Sweet Pea offer ruffling the little girls bed head making Izzy laugh giving Ali the thumbs up.

"Buzzing! I'll pick you up at 6 ok Izzy, we'll pick up food from Pops tonight ok Mum? That way you don't have to worry about cooking dinner after work." Ali shouted back as she headed out the front door.

"Since when did you do nice things for people that didn't involve beating someone up or getting paid?" Fangs accused Sweet Pea walking round the Island to wash up the dishes.

"I do nice things all the time!" Sweet Pea retorted defensively, making Toni snort in derision.

"No, you don't!" She stated with a smirk. "Here Rosie we'll clean up while you two jump in the shower. It's the least we can do." Toni insisted, directing them out the kitchen once they'd finished eating. Rosie gave the trio a grateful smile before heading upstairs to get a change of clothes for her shower.

"I'll use the one downstairs. If Ali's leaks any more I'm afraid it might flood." She told the group making her way up the creaky stairs.

Ali had just finished her lunch when she got a message from Jughead saying 'Reggie's bringing a car down for you and Betty to check out, I'll explain in sec.' Ali sighed thinking about her workload, at this rate she'd never be done in time to pick Izzy up.

"Looks like you could use a hand!" A familiar voice called from the open garage door. Ali spun round grinning when her eyes fell on her red headed bestie.

"Cheryl you have no idea how happy I am to see you right now!" Ali gushed running over, throwing her arms around the girl. Embracing her in a much-needed hug.

"Jughead text me saying he was about to overload you with work. So, me and Betty have come to help. I'll get started on the paint jobs whilst you and Betty finish up the trucks out back. Then we can all take a look under the hood of Reggies car." Cheryl directed grabbing a face mask and pair of goggles before sauntering over to the paint station of Ali's garage. Her uncle had given her his old storage space, saying she could use it for whatever if she helped out.

It wasn't long before Betty and Jughead turned up to lend a hand. Soon joined by Reggie and the car Jughead would be using. Betty and Jughead popped the hood to take a look underneath whilst Ali finished up her last job of the day.

"Rumour has it Mantles car is a mirror image of him, sexy as hell but emptier than a packet of crisps!" Ali hollers bounding over, her forehead covered in sweat and engine grease.

"Sorry I forget you guys call them chips or something weird like that. What's the damage anyway?" Ali corrected herself. Her English slang confusing her friends as usual.

"Nothing really, its just got nothing going on underneath!" Betty reviews wiping her hands on a dirty rag that was hanging from Ali's pocket.

"Well shit Jughead. Looks like you're going to have to play it the old-fashioned way. Floor it and play chicken. Malachi's stupid but he'll back down for sure, just make sure you show no fear. If he sees any weakness you've lost before you've begun." Ali divulged patting her friend on the back and making her way over to her bike. Throwing Betty the keys to the garage after pulling on her helmet.

"Cheryl’s finishing off a paint job but she'll be with you shortly. Use what you need and lock up when you're done. I've got to go and pick Izzy up. See you bright and early tomorrow!" She called zooming off when Betty and Jughead gave her an acknowledging salute.

"She is literally the hottest girl ever!" Reggie drooled watching as Ali disappeared round the bend.

"Ugh stand down Reginald. She's way out of your league and last time I checked you and Josie were hitting it pretty hot and heavy at the party the other week." Cheryl groaned joining the group.

13 notes · View notes

frostiifae · 4 years

Note

Top 5 most underated T-Dolls!

GASP

kssshksh Eagle 1, this is big bird, hot takes are weapons free, over

A lot of these opinions boil down to “everybody is so obsessed with ending battles as fast as possible they forget that sometimes you HAVE to go long and up-front burst isn’t always the best gameplan”, just in various flavors of underrated tdoll archetype

also i’m super cheating because this is about a lot more than 5 tdolls, it was hard to narrow it down to 5 because of how weapons in GFL kinda exist in archetypes, so it’s more like “top 5 most underrated skill archetypes in gfl”

alright counting from the bottom!

5. M1911 and M9

OK, maybe I’m just sentimental about my preferred CoD WW2 sidearm. Maybe so. But.

Most of the time, when we pick handguns, we look for dolls whose skills match their tile buffs - Calico and Grizzly being great examples. Handguns have extremely strong buffs as a result, with their tiles already being much more powerful than any other weapon type to begin with and their skills stacking multiplicatively. For some weapon types or team compositions, this makes sense, particularly for RFs that rely on that multiplicative scaling to tear through powerful enemies.

But you don’t always need that much scaling. Overkill doesn’t help you, and a lot of weapons risk hitting the RoF cap if you layer too many buffs on at once. This is a part of why we tend not to put HGs on ARSMG teams during the day - ARs kind of already hit their peak potential without help. But sometimes we need HGs for night battles, right?

M1911 and M9 are unique among HGs for having very powerful skills normally reserved for SMGs - M1911 has a smoke grenade, and M9 has a stun grenade. Both of these are really strong survivability tools, and ARSMG teams sometimes become accustomed to having them, but it gets trickier at night when most players want to replace one of their SMGs with an HG for visibility reasons.

The primary difficulty with these guns is that their formation buffs are designed for back-line placement, not front-line, so... it actually kind of makes sense to use 2SMG 1HG 2AR, which might sound bad at first (2 AR

tl;dr M1911 and M9 are unique among HGs for their much stronger utility skills, which can be really helpful on night ARSMG teams, but also very strong on RFHG if you’re willing to give up one of your other HG spots.

4. 100 Shiki (ARSMG Shield Setups)

While I admit I haven’t finished raising mine, I’m confident enough in the theory to put her on this list.

What’s the problem with 100Shiki? I dunno, honestly, perception? Image? I guess you look at her skill and go “wait, 8s initial cooldown? Her shield maxes at only 42 hp? That’s it?” but no, the skill description doesn’t stop there. 100Shiki’s shield is, basically, a free hit. She gets to dodge one more attack than her Evasion stat would normally allow - maybe even more than one, against enemies with lower FP.

If someone shoots her shield, she gets a 65% Evasion steroid, further boosting her survivability. That might not sound like a lot, but remember that evasion has diminishing returns; with an adequately enhanced exo (even an X-type, for reasons I’ll mention in a second) she reaches the 90s before her skill activates and around 150 afterward, before accounting for fairy or formation buffs. That gives her a dodge rate of 90% against most enemy units and gives her a decent chance to dodge Jaegers and other massive-accuracy enemies.

By pairing 100Shiki with other dolls with similar abilities to shield their allies - MDR’s skill giving her a massive 80% bonus evasion and a 40 HP shield at 4 seconds, and 64Shiki providing either additional offensive ability or additional shields at 8 seconds - 100Shiki becomes much, much tankier than most other SMGs, and in longer fights against huge streams of infantry, boss enemies or even armor, her ability to repeatedly shrug off stray lucky shots makes her a very consistent main tank.

tl;dr 100Shiki can rely on her base evasion or good kiting for the first 8 seconds of a battle and is rewarded by becoming WAY tankier than she has any right to be afterward, especially when you layer similar skills on top of her from her allies.

3. STG44 (High-Explosive Grenade ARs)

Generally speaking, when we talk about good grenade ARs, it’s assumed we’re talking about Anti-Personnel grenades - SOP and 416 being the most well-known of these, but that also includes G3, ARX-160, AR70, and XM8. These grenades have a long initial cooldown but deal a huge amount of damage in a moderate area, something like 10-12x the doll’s base damage.

HE grenades are obviously much weaker, but hit a much wider area. These grenades tend to be completely ignored in terms of viability. I think this is a mistake.

In a side-by-side comparison of a level 100 XM8 and a level 100 FAMAS, most of the time, their skills aren’t even a factor - in which case XM8 might win out because of her more balanced statline, but obviously that doesn’t make FAMAS an inferior doll by itself. Their skills only really begin to matter when you reach a point where you’re fighting a large crowd of high-level enemies, the sort of encounters that actually take 8 seconds or more to clear in the first place.

That’s important enough to be worth repeating: the difference between grenade ARs doesn’t matter at all until they actually get their grenades off - which only actually happens in battles where those ARs are actually being pushed to their limits. Endgame content. Right?

So let’s consider an event like Singularity ranking, mobs of high-level infantry are very common. XM8 will deal something like 575 damage at base with her grenade in an area of 1.5 meters, which is excellent, and will definitely kill any basic mobs Sangvis are throwing at her. STG doesn’t even deal half that much damage at the center of her grenade, so she has very little kill potential at base. But what if we include formation and equipment bonuses?

See, the only way grenades can be made “better” is by giving them more damage, but in the case of AP grenades, they already do enough to flatten most rank and file enemies, so there’s not really much you can do to improve them. They’re plug-and-play, but that limits their potential. HE grenades, however, can deal way more damage if you push them hard enough.

Not sure I could recommend this exact formation, but a formation like this - using HG-boosting skills such as Ribey’s or Grizzly’s, stacking multiple FP boosts, and possibly even an FP-oriented Fairy - can push a grenade like STG’s much, much further. With a powerful enough Fairy attached to this team, STG can deal almost as much damage as XM8 in an area almost twice as big.

Of course, you could simplify things even further by just using two HE grenades - this formation but with FAMAS at the bottom will wipe a field pretty much instantly at the 8second mark against anything that isn’t heavy armor.

tl;dr HE grenades aren’t as easy to use as AP grenades but have a much higher potential if you build around them. Also, STG44 MOD3 is terrifying. Just throwing that out there.

2. Bren MOD3

Did nobody read Bren’s mod3 details during the public vote??? No??? Who’s- who’s m14??

First of fucking all, Bren gains a massive 8 points of max FP throughout her Mod3 - 7 of which are in the first 10 levels, so it’s not like they’re hard to get. That by itself gives her one of the highest FP ratings of any MG available in NA right now, only surpassed by M2HB and narrowly edging her ahead of staple MGs like M1918, PK, PKP, LWMMG, etc. That’s so much by itself.

The price of Bren’s massive strap energy raw firepower is her magazine size, which is among the lowest among all MGs, but her skill does kinda make up for that, and I know I’m not going to convince anybody here that doesn’t already believe me, but an MG needing to reload to clear an encounter doesn’t automatically kill their viability. MGSG teams can still function in long battles if they’re built at least semi-defensively.

Meanwhile, Bren Mod3′s passive skill further increases her ammo capacity on every reload, and her special equip further increases her FP. What more could you possibly want? How about accuracy.

Bren’s base accuracy is so high that, during the day, you can easily run a critical sight instead of an EOT, which is a significant jump in damage potential. PKP and Negev also share this trait, and I find it’s very unfortunate how little it’s talked about, because it really does make a huge different in their damage output. But Bren’s mod skill grants her even more accuracy on reload, and her unique equip is a FP-boosting MARs scope, giving her even more accuracy. After one reload, Bren’s accuracy with a maxed special equip is, at minimum, 73.

Seventy. Bren is as accurate as an RF.

Accuracy is often thought of as a wasted stat a lot of the time, but it’s incredibly important for MGs for two reasons - the first being their consistency during the day, and the second being their versatility at night. Bren is so fucking accurate that, even at night, she can match RF teams’ accuracy while absolutely shaming them in actual damage output, and that makes her incredibly powerful for lategame night maps where you can’t be sure whether you’re wandering into enemy armor or a bunch of infantry. Night battles are often the ones where MGs are most likely to need to reload anyway, and that’s where a reload-stacking MG like Bren shines.

tl;dr NOT EVERYTHING IS ABOUT RAW DAMAGE OUTPUT YOU IDIOTS HAVE YOU EVER EVEN TRIED RUNNING MGSG AGAINST INFANTRY AT NIGHT DO YOU REALIZE HOW IMPRESSIVE 70+ ACCURACY IS

1. Mosin-Nagant

It’s so easy to misunderstand how powerful Mosin-Nagant is, so I totally get it. I talked about this some way back when I was still doing TDoll analyses on the sideblog, but I don’t think I had actually ever seen her full potential before, and since then I’ve played multiple events with Mosin taking the role of full-on boss annihilator and oh. my. god.

You look at Mosin-Nagant on paper. You see a very middling FP stat of 131. Good, but not stellar. You see a very weak RoF stat of 30; that’s a strong negative. Her Steady Shot skill is unremarkable. Nothing about it could make her a definitively better choice than Springfield - who has the same skill, scarcely any less FP, and can fire much faster. You see a doll who is outclassed not only by other archetypes, but by her peers within her own archetype.

And yet I’m going to insist that Mosin-Nagant might be the best boss-killing RF in the game. Better than M99 or NTW-20, better than IWS2000 or M200, better even than TAC-50. Not because she outdamages them; because she outdances them.

Mosin-Nagant and Springfield both have access to a powerful special equip; where Springfield’s makes her more of a well-rounded DPS weapon with an optional damage nuke (and holy shit she’s good, you guys, she’s VERY good), Mosin-Nagant’s instead doubles down on her niche. In addition to a very impressive critical damage steroid and a mostly pointless evasion boost, the Hayha memory chip grants Mosin a terrifying +30 FP at max, pushing her into a very different category of RF. Rifles don’t normally have the means to boost their FP through equipment, so this is a very special distinction for the russian marksman rifle, effectively elevating her from “small bamboo” to “large bamboo” except with a shorter initial cooldown because fuck you.

But I think the most important part of the Hayha chip isn’t what it gives Mosin - it’s what it doesn’t take away. The Hayha chip allows Mosin-Nagant to wield her fullest potential in both critical strikes and raw firepower without losing any of her mobility. RFs’ base 7 mobility is enough to dodge Gager’s attacks as long as you’re quick on the draw, and that makes Mosin uniquely qualified against a lot of the game’s toughest bosses.

In terms of damage potential, Mosin’s base attacks are a little lacking, but that’s fine; in battles where you need to be moving around and dodging AOE attacks, you don’t want limited duration DPS abilities where you can wind up wasting your damage against random attacks or unexpected forcefields. You do have to learn to activate Mosin’s skill manually (note to self: turn her back to forced manual) but, with a little bit of practice and some good teambuilding, you’ll find that she’s an incredibly effective bossing doll that can be relied on when specialized gimmick compositions like TAC-50′s just can’t quite cut it.

#replies #taka-lost #gfl #girls' frontline #Super Oof! sorry lmao

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stattic-writes · 5 years

Text

Crackle

Summary: A collection of short crack ship ideas

-Fred/Hal- They’ve always been neighbours, they’ve always been close

Fred’s not sure when Hal started coming over for a beer after work, but he finds comfort in their routine. Alice starts to leave for more reporter conferences and business trips that are slightly too short to be held where she says she’s going. Hal doesn’t say anything so Fred doesn’t either. Fred stay’s quiet when Hal kisses him, it’s soft, mostly his cheek; a repeat of the few times they’d gotten high or drunk with Tom after the football games. Fred knows he should say something, but the pained look on Hal’s face each time he shows up, each time he folds into Fred’s arms as they sit next to each other on the couch watching football and drinking beer make him pause. Nobody is getting hurt because nobody is asking questions, nobody knows and nobody cares. Fred knows, and Fred cares, especially when Hal shows up one night, Alice home the football game half over. Hal’s nervous, like he always was back in high school, despite being the quarterback, despite being one of the best and brightest in Riverdale high, he trembles like the first time he’d come to Fred, black eye swollen and lip bleeding. Fred hadn’t said anything just pulled him inside, and Hal had spilled everything, how he’d gotten Alice pregnant, how the Serpent’s had found out and assumed he’d forced himself on her, Alice hadn’t showed up until twenty minutes into the beating and he could tell she was only half caring as she pulled the Serpents off him.

Fred pulls him in, just like he did back then; Fred knows what this is about, its Hal’s escape from Alice, from the lie they’re both trapped in. He doesn’t know what to make of the fact that Hal comes to him; that his safe haven is his next door neighbour and high school friend who loves the small town everyone else seems to feel suffocated in. Fred takes what he can get, trying his best to help Hal move on from his short lived glory days; trying to ease him into the idea that the Register can make him feel how the Bulldogs did. Hal mumbles into Fred’s side how the bulldogs never made him feel anything; it always was you Fred, always you; he repeats over and over as they sit, too close, too tangled in each other to look like less than lovers. Fred’s never sure if Alice finds out, if she knows and keeps it to herself like he keeps the fact her and Penelope used to do more that just fight during free period. She smiles at him still, lets Betty and Archie spend time together, so he assumed she doesn’t know. Hal comes over every weekend during football season; saves him a seat when the family go to the Twilight before it gets shut down; Fred doesn’t question it, they’re neighbours, they’ve always been close.

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-Joaquin/Fangs- Fangs finds out he like guys, Joaquin is just happy he won twenty off of Sweet Pea

Fangs isn’t sure if he’s going to vomit or hold his breath; either way he fears himself passing out. He creeps forward, trying his best to sink out of the way of the Serpents. Sweet Pea’s cheering; Toni egging him on as they poke and prod at Joaquin; who’s stripped down to his boxers letting one of the other Serpent’s attempt to twist his arm behind his back and under Joaquin’s shoulder; the twister dial having landed on blue for the third time. Fangs tries his best to ignore the burning that surges up. He’s almost past Sweet Pea, when the Serpent falls and Joaquin cheers, slamming into Sweet Pea laughing; Fangs stumbles back because Sweet Pea moves out of the way, sending Joaquin crashing into him. Fangs hopes he can blame the flush on his cheeks on the drink that just went crashing to the ground from the bar. Joaquin steadies himself on the bar, arms braced on either side of Fangs, who arches himself around the bar stool, practically melding into Joaquin. “Christ sorry Fangs, Twister gives you a mad head rush, here.” Joaquin slides down floating just shy of Fangs’ as he pulls the shard of the glass up from by his foot. “Thanks.” “Let me buy you another one.” “It wasn’t mine.” Fangs manages to choke out.

“I know.” Joaquin smirks and Fangs can feel his stomach twisting. Joaquin motions over toward the group of stools behind the pool table. Fangs can see Sweet Pea nodding to Toni both of who pretend not to stare as he follows Joaquin over. “Any reason your clothes are off?” His eyes light up as Fang asks. “Strip twister, you make the call you take of an article of clothing.” “How is that winning?” “You may win the game, but is it really winning if you’re naked in front of everyone.” Joaquin laughs as Fangs can feel his face heat. “Relax I’m not going to make you do it in front of everyone.” “What about in private?” Fangs licks his lips and doesn’t look Joaquin in his eyes. He can feel fingers under his chin, tilting his face up to look into Joaquin’s eyes. “You sure you want to tangle with a Serpent? You don’t get special treatment when you start your trails.” Fangs stands pressing himself against Joaquin’s chest. “I don’t want special treatment.” He can feel Joaquin’s hand tightening on his hip, the other pulling a knife and running it down his arm. “Good. You won’t get anything like that from me.” He smirks tugging Fangs farther back into the Wyrm’s shadows.

Fangs is about to yell at Joaquin when he see’s Sweet Pea handing him a twenty. “See I told you strip Twister was a good-“ Sweet Pea doesn’t finish eyes glued to Fangs. “What? You have a problem Sweets?” Fangs is riled up, bitter from the though of Joaquin using him for a bet; relieved its not the case, but that’s swallowed by the panic at how shocked Sweet Pea looks. “Fangs really?” “You have a problem?” he tries to snap back but it comes out fearful and shaking. “Yeah I have a problem that’s the only good pool table and you ruined it! Now where we gonna play?” “Wait the only good one?” Fangs looks nervously towards the two other ones. “What happened to-“

“Well there was the time Toni brought back-“ “I DON’T WANT TO KNOW!!” Fangs covers his ears cringing. “What?” Toni appears frowning as he shouts. “I’m telling him about the pool tables.” “Oh the one where you got your first-“ “SHUT UP!” Fang cringes and Joaquin laughs. “Nah Fangs you’re a part of it now.” He winks and Fang’s face heats up. “So his uh nickname.” Toni trails off and Joaquin beams. “Bites like a snake he does. He’ll make a good Serpent.”

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-FP/Penelope- FP may be a drunk, but Penelope knows exactly what she’ll get when she calls him

The other end of the phone is silent. Penelope wasn’t expecting any different and she starts her preplanned apology. It gets cut halfway off with either a laugh or vomiting. “Listen I’m trying to-“ “I don’t give a fuck.” “I know where you live.” “Like you’d ever come here Penelope.” The line goes silent save for the crackle that she knows means he’s hung up. She shakes her head knowing whatever look on his face being wiped off by her showing up is more than enough to fuel her spite to show up. She doesn’t knock, the door swinging open as she steps forward the smirk she has increases as he swipes his hand over his hair.

“Christ I didn’t think you’d-“ He scowls as she steps over the threshold pushing him back with her gloved hand. “You were incredibly rude you know. I was trying to apologize and-“ “Apologize? Is that what you call that sorry excuse for gloating about your psycho family?” She lets the comment slide setting her bag down next to the couch and looking uninterestedly around. “If you’ve come here to insult me I don’t want it; I’m not one of your patrons.” He mocks and she smirks. “Oh I know you’re not; I’d never do anything like this for them.” She smiles and he returns it, hand sliding around her waist. “What would your husband think Penelope?” He hisses into her ear and she shoves him towards the couch, hovering inches from his face. “What would your wife think Forsythe?” He laughs and she cuts it off with a kiss, he hums in the back of his throat hand tangling into her hair as he undoes the up do she’d spend hours on.

“You think anyone cares about a drunk like me?” He slurs the end slightly, as if the scent of the alcohol wasn’t a give away the bottles she’d tripped over were. “You have plenty of people who care for you.” She responds and he sneers, teeth scraping the side of her neck and his hands bunching into the fabric of the jacket she’d worn. “Like you.” He spits and she laughs as she pulls his shirt off. “Poisonous you might be, but we are not made of the same trauma. I don’t care for you how you need.”

“We create what was done to us.” Penelope hates when he talks like this, she knows he’d not nearly as drunk as he wants to be, but not sober enough to follow his own words. She grabs one of the half filled bottles swigging from it and handing it to him so he downs the rest. Allowing him the plausible deniability like always; the option to write it off as drunk ramblings, a half sober dream if he wants to view her as that. He mimics her earlier motions pulling the jacket and then her dress off as she hums apologies into his ear. They don’t talk after he hushes her with another kiss, his hands dragging a knife against her skin splitting whatever fabric remains on her. She can hear his laughter ringing in hers when she leaves.

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-Toni/Josie- Toni’s surprised how determined Josie is to start her music career

One of Toni’s favourite parts of working under Veronica is getting to hear Josie sing. She knows the crush she has on her won’t have anything come of it, but she makes a point of finding excuses to hover around Josie more than necessary. It’s during one of these excuses that Josie asks her to grab a bite to eat to talk. Toni knows this means she wants to vent some sort of frustration. “I just, it’s ridiculous I mean Sweet Pea has to know I have to focus on my career first.” Josie rants and Toni nods, paying attention but also enjoying the new range of expressions and emotions Josie’s displaying; Toni only ever used to seeing her sing or the occasional smile.

“Well I mean you ever thought about the guy you want to be with not being a guy.” As it turns out, from the shock on Josie’s face, and how she knocks over not only her drink but spills the basket of cheese fries they were splitting, she hadn’t considered she might not be into guys. Toni watches her flounder for a minute. “Josie?” Toni nods slowly and Josie looks paralyzed. “Oh.” Is all she says nodding to Toni before she stands bolting out the door and presumably towards her home.

Josie appears back two hours later, when Toni’s finishing her shift for the night. “Sorry for running off like that I shouldn’t have-“ “It’s fine. Don’t worry Josie.” “You were right.” “Well I’m glad I could help.” Toni smiles, she can feel it cracking on her lips, slightly strained. She swings her leg over her bike confused when Josie’s hand wraps around her arm. “You need to talk more?” “Yes.” Josie speaks, looking slightly horrified as Toni swings off her bike and nods back to Pop’s.

“So?” Toni prompts as Josie slides in next to her. “You were right.” “You’ve said that Josie. Is there a specific girl you have your eye on? Do you need advice?” “Yes, but no advice.” “Okay so?” Josie leans forward kissing her. “This is a date; by the way.” Toni nods smiling as Josie pulls back enough for them to talk more.

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-Kevin/Jughead- What’s more “bad boy” that the leader of a gang?

Kevin doesn’t care for the banging that’s been repeating on his door at six pm for the past two days. While it never interrupts him doing anything the initial crashing sound makes him jump every time. He glares at the door, opening it when whoever’s on the other side kicks at it. He can feel something churning in his gut so he slides the airsoft gun his father insists he keep at the front table and swings the door open, gun pointing at a now horrified Jughead. “Kevin? I just- I just want to talk to your dad.” “Pasta?”

“What?” Jughead frowns as Kevin stows the toy and motions towards the kitchen. “We’re having pasta for dinner, you’re welcome to stay, my dad should be home in the hour. Sit please.” Jughead sits and Kevin pushes a bowl in front of him. They eat in silence for a moment. “It’s the Southside deal right? Whatever’s going down with that right?” Jughead nods not looking up from his pasta. “Basically your dad is one of the only people who actually has a chance at stopping it. I just, I just want to talk to him Kevin; I know you’re probably sick of me complaining and-“

“Not at all; Jughead, you’re about to lose your home, I can’t imagine how terrifying that must be. If I can help; let me know.” Jughead sags against the table, tension oozing from his shoulders as he sighs. “The pasta is good.” He smiles and Kevin smirks back. “You think any food is good.” “It helps it’s homemade.” Jughead laughs and Kevin rolls his eyes. “I can think of a better distraction.” He nods to the living room, where Jughead can see a game console peeking from behind a shelf of DVD’s.

Kevin’s not exactly sure how it ended up like this, Jughead clinging to him half sobbing half trying to explain his fears; Kevin nods helplessly pulling Jughead from the vice grip around his shoulder he has. They’re on the couch and as Kevin nudges one of the pillows out of the way his hand slide against and up Jughead’s thigh as he tries to stop the pillow from smacking into the glass of water he’d brought from the kitchen. They stare at each other for a moment, Kevin intent to pull back but Jughead’s hand over his stops him. “Oh, well it’s a good distraction then.”

“Not a distraction Kev.” Jughead hums leaning in to kiss him softly. Kevin nods moving himself so he’s closer to Jughead’s lap. Kevin returns the kiss pulling back to smile at Jughead. “I never pegged you for the bad boy type Kev.” Jughead laughs and Kevin’s face pinks. “Not often I get the option to have a type.” He shrugs and Jughead’s hand reaches out to cup his cheek. “You have me; if you want. Not just as a distraction; for good, regardless of what your dad says.” “My dad’s not the one with the problem with the Southside.” “Are you saying you have a problem with it?” “Well I wouldn’t be here if I did, now would I?” Kevin hums sliding on top of Jughead smirking.

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-Reggie/Kevin- It’s only polite

“The sweater’s a nice colour on you.” Reggie refuses to admit he started it. Kevin had been moping for some reason or another and it had slipped out; Reggie reasoning to himself it was just because of how happy Kevin looked after words as why he kept it up. “You did good at the game last night.” Kevin lets him know before everyone else arrives for lunch; Reggie nods in thanks, and he knows Kevin catches him smiling with how his face pinks. “Your running form looks great, can you teach me?” Reggie beams when Kevin asks for advice and they spend Saturday morning running through the woods, ignoring the implications the woods hold at night.

“You shouldn’t drink those protein shakes straight like that.” Kevin nudges Reggie’s thermos from his hand and offers him the travel mug filled with a smoothie. Reggie’s not sure what to do when Kevin reappears the next morning with another smoothie for him; they drink them in silence. “You haircut is nice.” Reggie runs his hand against the shorn back of Kevin’s head. Kevin shakes his head complaining they took too much from the back. “It’s soft, I like it.” If its shaved back the next time it grows out, neither of them say anything. He hates how it’s Kevin who finds him.

“Jesus Reg, what happened?” His hand moves slowly and Reggie still flinches back swallowing the panic but not the tears. Kevin produces an ice pack, and gauze, carefully holding the ice to his swollen eye and slowly wrapping the gauze around his knuckles and the shallow cut on his arm. “What happened?” Reggie shakes his head. “I can’t.” “I won’t judge you, what-“ “You’ll tell your dad.” Reggie hisses shaking his head frantically, and Kevin pulls him into a hug, they stay clinging to each other as Reggie shakes. “I won’t; what happened?” “My dad heard Archie say that I like guys. It’s fine, told him it was locker room talk, he bought it.” “Bought what?” Kevin furrows his brow watching Reggie chew his lip. “The lie.”

“That you like guys?” Kevin reiterates and watches as Reggie tenses. “Is that not the lie?” It’s Kevin’s turn to swallow, to tense and look at Reggie nervously. “I only like one guy.” “Lucky him” Kevin chuckles and Reggie smirks. “Yeah, lucky you.” Reggie leans in kissing him.

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-Reggie/Cheryl- Footballer and Head cheerleader; it’s meant to be right?

Cheryl knows Reggie doesn’t stare at her. She catches his gaze at quiet moments but it’s never at parts of her beyond her face; maybe at her nails or hair for variation. She doesn’t give much thought to how he looks away when she catches him, but when she catches him rejecting the river vixens that approach him she starts to form an idea. “Reggie.” He stills at her voice. “Yes?” “I heard you rejected Ginger.” “Congratulations, you’re not deaf.” Cheryl rolls her eyes. “I meant that to pry Mantle.” She smirks and he nods. “You meant it, doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.” “In your dreams.”

“Yours actually.” He laughs winking before turning back to where the coach is shouting for him. He catches Cheryl watching him twice during practice, and that’s only the times he manages to remember to check. She doesn’t catch him staring again until after practice a week later when he’s shaking from cool down. She frowns when he looks away, sinking into the grass to let the rest of the players pass and head to the showers. She lets the rest of the girls leave practice, hovering in front of Reggie. “Do you want me to kiss your feet?” Reggie smirks up at her and Cheryl shakes her head laughing. “What happened to your eye?” Reggie presses his face against the grass sighing. Cheryl crouches down. “Reggie, what happened?” “Fight.”

“With?” Reggie shrugs sitting up and Cheryl sits next to him. “Come on Reg, can’t have one of our best players looking like this; how are the vixen’s supposed to pep everyone up with you hurt like this?” She chuckles a bit meaning it as a joke, staying quiet when Reggie frowns. “It’s nothing Cheryl; just don’t worry.” “I’m going to worry.” “Because you don’t want me to look like this right?” He snaps slightly and Cheryl shakes her head, hand brushing his unbruised cheek. “I’m worried because I care about you, beyond you being pretty.” “Aww you think I’m pretty?” He laughs smiling at her. “Of course, you’re beautiful Reggie, even with your eye.” “My Dad.” He mumbles as he stands, holding a hand out to help Cheryl up. “Thank you.”

“Of course.” “For telling me.” “Well can disappoint the head cheerleader, what kind of footballer would I be if I did that?” Cheryl laughs at him, fingers brushing his hair back. “How about Pop’s as a thank you.” “Sounds wonderful.” “It’s a date.” Reggie nods knowing it’s useless to argue with Cheryl.

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-Fangs/Veronica- He’s not exactly the boy her father wants, but he’s really trying

“Ronnie I really don’t think this is a good idea.” Fangs hovers behind her arms nervously holding himself. Veronica smiles at him and he nods following her back inside her house. Smithers greets both of them and Fangs nods to him; before he finds himself stiffening in an unexpected hug. “You’ll be fine. Daddy will love you.” “I’m pretty sure he’s gonna kill me isn’t he. I imagine his image of me isn’t anything good.” “I’m hurt you’d think I’d tell him anything unsavory about you.” “It’s not you I’m worried about babe.” Fangs wraps his arm around her waist pulling her against him to kiss her softly; her ducks is head when he hears a cough; relieved it’s Hermione standing at the doorway. “Fangs Fogarty Ma’am.”

“No comment about how Veronica gets her good looks from me?” She arches an eyebrow and Fangs swallows. “As radiant as you are Ma’am I only have eyes for your daughter.” “Good answer.” She smiles patting his shoulder as he lets Veronica lead him to the dinning room. He doesn’t cower from Hiram, or even change his path but his foot catches on itself and he hesitates as Veronica directs him to sit between herself and her father, her moth on the other side. Fangs smiles at both Hiram and Hermione ducking his head slightly. He feels silly, it’s almost a bow with how he jerks but they both offer genuine smiles as he sits. He looks from them to the food and they nod, still he waits for Hiram to pull his fork and plate closer; he can tell Hiram seems pleased by this. “It’s obvious you care for my daughter, but how do you feel about her family. We’re very big on family here.” Hiram watches as Fangs takes a forkful of food, swallow before he replies. “Well Mr. Lodge-” “None of that now Fangs.”

“Of course Mr- Hiram, sir. Regardless of what your family has done Veronica’s who I want to be with.” Hiram nods smiling over to Hermione who smiles warmly at Fangs, nodding to him; Fangs relaxes slightly. They return to eating, Fangs enjoying the food but tensing yet again when Hiram coughs. “Now Veronica tells me you’re involved in the Serpent’s?” “Yes sir; they’re like my family.” “Interesting, and your blood family?” “My dad died fighting in the navy, and my mom’s currently in treatment in Centerville so I don’t get to see her much.” Fangs sinks into his chair and Hiram nods, clicking his tongue.

“Well its good to see you so interested in your family, be they blood or otherwise. What’s your rank in the Serpents?” “Well I work with Jughead and Sweet Pea the most, FP doesn’t send me out on many jobs yet, I’m mostly on security, so a lot of standing around and waiting.” “Security?” Hiram leans forward and Fang’s nods. “Yes sir.” “So you know how to fight?” “Not professionally, and not clean either.” “Survival is more important than being fair.” Fangs nods and Hiram smirks, nodding to Veronica. “You seem to have made a good choice. A little scrawny but-” “Daddy.” Veronica chides, arm wrapping around Fang’s arm. “Kidding, kidding.” He waves dismissing them from the dinner table. Fangs sits on the edge of her bed and Veronica pulls him in to kiss him. “You did so well, I’m sure daddy loves you.” Fangs nods hesitating as he returns the kiss.

“What’s wrong?” Veronica frowns and Fang’s shrugs “I just thought he’d be more bothered by my connection to the Serpent’s is all.” “Fangs, he’s in the underworld himself and-“ “Exactly; the Serpent’s can easily be his enemy, I didn’t think he’d want his daughter in bed with one of them; so to speak. I know we’re not a threat now, but what if we become one. Them I’m leverage one way or the other.” Fangs sighs as Veronica runs her hand up his arm. “Well if that happens then we deal with it. Although being in bed with you does sound like something I’d rather happen sooner than later.” She laughs when she can hear her father slamming a book down. She winks at Fangs who grins back shifting on the bed so the headboard bumps against the wall. They try not to laugh when they can hear footsteps rushing towards the closed door. Hiram throws it opens seconds later glaring as Veronica turns, holding a red dress to Fangs.

“See I think this would match better with the suit you have but Cheryl-Oh, hello Daddy, did you need something? Fangs is helping me plan for one of La Bonne Nuit’s dance nights.” “No, I’m good, Fangs, what do you think? “You should go with green. It looks good on you. If you have any green, probably something darker.” Veronica nods smiling pulling out a dark glittering forest dress that shimmers against the dimming sun in her window. “Your mother and I will be going out now, to run some more of the campaign.” “Of course, see you later Daddy.” she kisses his cheek and turns back to Fangs as she hears the door close. “I really should try this on, don’t you think?” She smirks and Fangs shakes his head. “Not really, but I do think you should take it off.”

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-Kurtz/Kevin- Kurtz can’t let someone so unlike him fester into what he is now

Of course no one expects anyone to warm to Kurtz, but he seems to warm to Kevin Keller in a way that has most everyone confused. Kevin despite being wrapped up in the farm makes a point of responding to Kurtz odd friendship; everyone’s convinced he’s trying to convert Kurtz and Kurtz is just having too much fun exploiting Kevin’s reasons for tolerating him.

“You’re not thinking big enough.” Kurtz breezes by after Betty’s slammed Evelyn into the lockers. Betty doesn’t question him, no one does; but when Evelyn comes in on crutches the next day, her knee wrapped in bandages and stating how they’re not having a Farm meeting they begin to grasp an understanding. Kevin sits wearily back with everyone and Kurtz drapes himself over Kevin’s lap practically purring.

“Hey Kev. You see some sense about the cult?” “The serpents are more a cult than the Farm. You’re-“ “Not part of ‘em, you really think the Farm could save someone like me?” He pouts and Kevin nods eagerly. “Pity, they got you brainwashed, you hear what Evelyn did to Betty yesterday?” Kevin sits straighter worry on his face. “What-“ “Threw her into the lockers, threatened to kill her. And that Ethel girl, Evelyn went and made her have a seizure, all convulsive and everything. You know I hear the Farm drugs everyone, that you’re on Jangle and G right now and you got no clue about it. Drug test?” Kurtz beams; Kevin nudging him to get off his lap. “What would your daddy think ‘bout you smoking dope?” Kurtz laughs and Kevin shoves him off, moving the heel of his shoe over Kurtz’s hand.

“Kevin! I can’t believe you’d hurt a sinner like him! Violence is never the answer.” Kevin pales as Evelyn leans on the doorway. “You should be ashamed.” Kurtz’s smirk grows as Kevin helps him up. “You being nice cause she’s watching ain’t ya.” “Yes.” Kevin snarls, and Kurtz smirks. “You understand what I’m doing yeah?”

“Trying to ruin my chances at getting into the farm.” Kevin snarls and Kurtz runs his fingers through his hair shaking his head. “You’ll end up like all of them at Mercy’s. It’s how they worked. Give you sweets and tell you how good your pictures are. You don’t have to worry bout nothing cause all the grown-ups take care of it for ya.” “You think the Farm is like the Sister’s of Quiet Mercy?” Kevin rolls his eyes. “The farm is nothing like that place!” He snaps as Kurtz snorts. “You mean the conversion part of it? Or the arts and crafts? Maybe the manual labor? Hmm? The sister’s can be whatever you need it to be, many becoming one under god; sound familiar?” Kurtz hums into Kevin’s ear. “You may think you’re doing the lords work, but you gotta think about who your lord is. Least with the Gargoyle king, I know who I’m serving.” Kevin pales slightly and Kurtz smirks.

“You understand now?” Kurtz pulls away and turns walking out of the school. Kevin finds him in Pop’s he’s curled in a booth, knees drawn to his chest, fingers drumming on the table as he stares at half a milkshake. “How do you know about the Sisters?” Kevin’s about to slide across from him but Kurtz hand tugs him to his side. Kevin’s knee bumps his and Kurtz shifts, stretching his legs slightly. He avoids looking at anything beyond his feet and Kevin huffs in annoyance. “How do you know about the Sisters?” Kevin repeats and Kurtz nudges the milkshake towards him. “Kurtz.” His voice is soft, Kurtz scowls, he can tell Kevin’s concerned. “Where do you think I grew up?” He watches Kevin balk and pull the shake over draining the rest of it shaking his head. “You grew up with them?”

“Under them. Whatever Cheryl went through isn’t nothin’ compared to being with them since you can remember.” “You know you’re not with them anymore right? You don’t have to follow their rules. You’re free.” “You’re not.” “I am free, the Farm is-“ Kevin hesitates eyes flickering back and forth as he sighs.

“The Farm is what Kevin? Freeing you? Helping you see the sins of your past? What are they giving you that you can’t find anywhere else?” “They don’t care I killed Midge.” Kevin doesn’t look up just shoving the shake glass away from himself. Kurtz arm wraps around his shoulders. “You think you killed Klump? You think you stabbed her and hung her on that wall? That was Cooper’s psycho dad; that was all her family’s doing, from her speech to her grandmother what raised him. You want relief from that go talk to her gravestone, talk to her mother. Not to some fabrication brought by a group pretending to be family. That never works out well in the end.”

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-Edgar/Malacahi- Being a man who knows a thing or two about sinning, Malachai’s surprised to find someone lower than him

Mustang is the one who shies away from the man hunched over his whiskey. Malachai rolls his eyes, Mustang had always been skittish and superstitious, and the white that peeks from the mans collar makes him cower. Malachai moves silently. “Father.” His voice is soft and the man looks up eyebrows creasing in confusion.

“Right. Yes?” “You must have just moved up, most people avoid the Wyrm, especially men like yourself.” Malachai’s not expecting the dark chuckle he gets. “You shouldn’t be so quick to judge.” “It’s how we survive.” The man’s smile matches his own and he extends his hand. “Malachai, it’s a pleasure.”

“Edgar, pleasure is mine. I heard Riverdale had a darkness in it; was hoping I could help.” Malachai nods softly. “Of course, Of course, you’ve never seen a place so rife with sin out in the open.” Malachai laughs, grinning. “Oh no. I’d never condone acts of sin so; openly.” He shoots the rest of his whiskey back smirking. “What’s your poison then?” Malachai leans over and Edgar’s hand closes over his shoulder.

“I’m partial to pain. Yourself?” He hisses, fingers digging into Malachai’s flesh. Malachai hums nodding and Edgar watches the rest of the patrons leave the bar. “I prefer blood.” Edgar’s grin twists. “Can’ get blood without causing pain now can you?” “Oh you’d be surprised what you can do without pain.” Malachai laughs and Edgar can feel the prick of a needle in his arm.

Edgar wakes, soft sheets under him; he sits up alone, in his motel room. He turns watching Malachai lounging in the chair flickering through the TV channels. “You brought your own food. How; quaint.” Malachai’s teeth gleam as he unlatches a Tupperware container of Edgar’s and shovels half of he content into his mouth. “No allergies then?” Edgar hums and Malachai laughs, swallowing. “No, I must say the meat you use is delicious; one of my favourites.” Edgar freezes.

“It’s a special breed of pig.” “Oh we both know you’re a liar. If you’re going to sin so much do it out in the open. Since you’re so new to Riverdale I’ll give you insider information.” He grins leaning forward as he crosses over to press Edgar back to the bed. “The ghouls, my followers; we’re just like you; we have a little too much hunger for flesh. Such a sin, and such a waste upon this town, so small; can’t have too many go missing.” Edgar pales slightly. “Oh don’t worry Edgar, I don’t play with my food; you’re free to leave whenever.”

“You’d let me go? Knowing what I know?” “You’d let me go? Knowing what I know?” Malachai mimics back to him and Edgar nods. “I guess I just can’t let you go then; there’s someone back where I live, that I’d love for you to meet.” “Your wife?” Malachai’s grin stretches as Edgar nods. “We live on a farm, how do you feel about that?”

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southsidequeen1 · 5 years

Text

One Shot: Lawless

You never thought being you’d be arrested. Then again, you never expected to be interrogated by a tall, dark, handsome police officer by the name of Sweet Pea.

Maybe it’s not the worst thing in the world.

“Well, you seem to be in a lot of trouble here,” the officer said, as he sat himself down across the table from you.

Your stomach churned uncomfortably, but you remained stoned face, glancing down at your handcuffed hands. You couldn’t tell if you were nervous because you had never been arrested before or because the officer sitting in front of you, was unspeakably handsome.

His raven hair tousled back in a careless manner was a stark contrast to his olive skin, his almond-shaped eyes, a dark brown that hinted at a playfulness despite his no-nonsense demeanor. You couldn’t tell if he was a newbie, a seasoned officer or somewhere in between, but you could tell that you were extremely attracted to him which didn’t make anything easier.

“Your boyfriend wants to press charges against you,” he said, opening a folder with your freshly taken mugshot on the top of the pile. He pushed it aside as his long calloused fingers reached for a pen.

“Ex-boyfriend,” you clarify quickly. “Of course he does.”

His eyebrow quirked ever so slightly. “Ex-boyfriend,” he repeated, taking another note.

His eyes drifted back up to meet yours. “So tell me, why were you breaking and entering into your ex-boyfriend’s house?” His posture changed ever so slightly, leaning forward as if he genuinely intrigued.

A police tactic, sure enough, feigning compassion, you thought to yourself. You were always quite analytical but now the stories in your mind where spiraling and you were overthinking everything.

“He has something of mine and he refused to give it back,” you stated simply, not breaking your stare from his dark one, biting back a shiver licking up the base of your spine.

His lip twitched and you immediately wondered what those lips were capable of.

“What does he have?” he pressed, leaning forward a little more, closing the distance between you a little more.

“It’s not important,” you muse softly. “My fate is sealed one way or another, whatever that may be.”

Surprise flickered over his features. “And why do you say that?”

You lean forward, resting on your elbows, a smirk playing on the corners of your lips as the metal from the handcuffs clanked against the wooden table. “Please, like you genuinely care,” you scoff. “You just need my side of the story to prove I’m guilty so Malachai can press charges on me and you can get a pat on the back from the sheriff for doing your job.”

He smiled tightly, leaning back in the chair. “Well, look at you. You’re not as meek and mild as I thought,” he chuckled. “Got some bite behind that bark?”

“Wanna find out?” you cantered, finding that the more you flirted, the more your nerves ebbed away.

His lip trailed over his bottom lip briefly, before tugging the bottom of his plump lip between his pearly whites.

A pleasant distraction from the gravity of the situation.

“I want to find out what he has of yours first,” he pressed. “I’ve been doing this for a while now. A girl like you, with no priors, doesn’t just break into an ex-boyfriend’s house to retrieve just anything. This something means a lot to you.”

You blink in surprise, all playful demeanor gone for a split second but you recover quickly.

“Maybe I’ve just never been caught before,” you countered.

“You’re a terrible liar, you know that?” he placed the pen down, standing up showing off all six-plus feet of him. Your breath hitched in your throat as he drew closer to you.

Even if you had been standing, he would have towered over you. He perched himself on the corner of the table now, his leg hanging dangerously close to yours, the lack of contact electrifying.

“And you’re avoiding my question, which tells me that whatever he has, is incredibly personal and probably very emotional to you. I want to help you.”

Your chest tightened uncomfortably and you avoided his heavy gaze.

He observed you squirming uncomfortably in your chair and gently reached out placing his large hand on your shoulder, squeezing ever so gently. “Let me help you,” he soothed softly.

“It’s a necklace. It belonged to my mother,” you finally expose yourself, feeling the heat from his palm radiating through you. You tried to focus on that as opposed to the tightening of your throat again.

“Why does he have it?”

“He won’t give it back.”

“How did he get it in the first place?”

“A few weeks ago, we got into a big fight and he grabbed me by the neck and the necklace chain snapped and fell on the floor. He had never gotten physical before so it scared me enough that I just left. I had heard stories before but I thought I was different. That I could make him different. I couldn’t.” There was an edge to your voice, feeling the humiliation of your confession leak through your body.

“I’ve been asking for it back,” you continued. “ He wouldn’t, so I waited till I thought he was gone to try and get it. Apparently didn’t work out as I planned.”

He nodded slightly, slipping off the table, retracting his hand from you. “Okay,” was all that he said.

“Okay?” you repeat confusing coloring your face already missing his warmth. The interrogation room was cold you noticed as goosebump pricked your exposed skin.

He returned to his notes, scribbling frantically when there was a loud knock at the door.

“Yea?” he answered as he looked up. An older man entered, with salt and peppered hair and beard to match. Average in height, slim yet muscular, you noticed the sheriff's badge pinned on his uniform.

“Sweet Pea, it seems like you’ve got this under control,” he said.

Sweet Pea? What an odd name. You hadn’t caught his name before this.

Sweet Pea closed the folder, making sure all the papers were stuffed inside. “This is an easy one. I’ll finish this one up and do the paperwork later.”

The sheriff took the folder, tucking it under his arm. “Good, say hi to our old friend for me,” he smiled slyly.

“Will do, boss.” Sweet Pea said, “Oh, FP? Tell Jughead if he’s late again, I’m personally going to kick his ass. I really fucking hate the night shift.”

The sheriff, FP, barked out a laugh, walking out the door. “I’ll see what I can do, son.”

Sweet Pea looked back at you, “Well, at least one good thing came out of the night shift,”

You felt your cheeks grow warm as your lips pulled up into a smile. “Sweet Pea, huh? So Officer SP, am I going to jail?”

He returned your smile with a dazzling one of his own.

“No, you aren’t,” he said, reaching down to pull your hands up onto the table. His fingers danced around the handcuffs, unlocking them and taking them off your wrists. “Malachai is a piece of shit. We brought you in as a formality. Sorry, I tried to scare you.”

“Pity. With you around, prison doesn’t seem so bad,” you shrug, rubbing your sore wrists. As playful as the words were, relief saturated you.

His jaw tightened and clenched as he shook his head. “Wow, you, are trouble,” he murmured.

“Guess I’m in the right hands then,” you mused, standing up.

“Before you take off, we’re going to go for a little ride before my shift is over,” he said, glancing at the clock.

“Why? I thought you weren’t arresting me?”

“We are going to get your necklace back,” he stated simply.

You froze for a moment, gratitude flooding through your entire body as you exhaled heavily.

“Really?” you breathed.

He nodded, “Really.”

“I don’t know how to thank you,” you say, trailing off.

Sweet Pea broke all sense of professionalism, “I can certainly think of a way or two,” he suggested.

Your head snapped up to look at him. His lips were set in a thin line, his eyes dancing over your frame.

“Well, let’s go get my necklace and I’d be happy to thank you all night long,” the words dripping from your lips.

He smirked, his fingers twitching. “You know, I may not be arresting you, but I do think you should be punished,” he whispered, his lips ghosting the shell of your ear.

Involuntarily, you groaned softly, knees turning to jelly beneath you.

“Make sure you bring the handcuffs.”

#One shot #Riverdale #sweet pea/reader #sweet pea/you #AU #Fanfiction #Riverdale Fanfic #The southside #Maybe a two shot #sweet pea

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kaleidoscopic-writing · 5 years

Text

In the Shadow of Your Heart

PROLOGUE

a/n: Let me know your thoughts! I know I said Saturday but my weekend ended up being a bit crazier than expected!!

“Nina, if you don’t hurry up, I am leaving without you,” Charlotte yelled down the narrow hallway.

Charlotte had approximately one minute to leave the apartment to make the 7:42 four train, which would place her at Wall Street exactly fourteen minutes later. This gives Charlotte three minutes to get to her building and ride the elevator up to the 67th floor, leaving her a minute to collect herself before her day starts. This is a sacred ritual that Charlotte had developed three weeks since she started at S&FP.

Then, at exactly eight o’clock, Charlotte would ask Alice, her boss, and whoever Alice was having morning meetings with what they would like to drink or for breakfast. Alice was very particular and followed a meticulous routine, so in the mere two weeks that Charlotte had been working for Alice, she already knew her morning order like the back of her hand.

Presently though, Charlotte had about 30 seconds to get out of her building, and her whimsical roommate was still no where in sight. Nina usually did not have to leave until an hour usually after Charlotte did, so when Nina said last night that she had to be up earlier for a doctor’s appointment and that they could take the train down together, Charlotte was already skeptical that Nina would be timely.

“Hey ninny,” Charlotte called out the mocking name, a nickname she had called Nina since they first became friends a few years ago. “I am leaving now. I’m serious. I’ll see you tonight at Alberto’s, okay?”

Without waiting for a confirmation, Charlotte sprinted out the door. Walking down three floors and out the door, Charlotte was ready to take on the day. With her (cheap) coffee in hand that she made herself, Charlotte strutted down her street towards the subway entrance. The city was slowly starting to wake. Dogs and owners pass by Charlotte as they take their morning walk, kids walk out of their buildings going on their way to school, and mostly, everyone starts on their way to work, just like Charlotte. So, on the subway, Charlotte stood to one side of the subway car. Rubbing shoulders with people on all sides of her, her small hand holds onto the subway as she waits four stops until she can get off.

Without deviation, Charlotte’s subway ride comes to a stop fourteen minutes later. Getting off the subway, she noted the warming weather from nice spring weather to rising summer heat as she made her way to the building. Everything else was just as any other day. A sea of suits brush past her at every turn.

And of course, Charlotte wasn’t surprised when Alice gave her an order of four coffees from the Farm Irving down the road.

With a tray of coffees in her right hand and Alice’s coffee in her left, Charlotte’s tray began to shake. With twenty more floors to climb in the elevator, her arm was burning so bad, but she should have been used to it by now. Charlotte gets coffee for her boss and her morning meetings every day. Alice gets the same thing everyday: a large iced coffee with soy milk and sugar. The variable was just whomever she was meeting with that morning. Today must be a bigger meeting because she had four coffees in her other hand, whereas, it usually has only been one or two. Judging from the coffee, Charlotte guessed that this was a bigger meeting.

When Charlotte got out of the elevator, the clock above the receptionists desk said that it was 8:26 which means Alice’s meeting started in four minutes and most likely was already getting started in the conference room down the hall. That stupid long line at the coffee shop made her take a feel minutes longer getting the coffee. It’s okay, though, because she was almost done with her daily morning task, and once she dropped the coffee off in the meeting, she got to retreat to her own office, which was more like a cubicle in the back corner of the office that it felt a office since it was a bit secluded. There, Charlotte got to relax in her chair and just go over spreadsheet, while sipping on her coffee she brings from home everyday.

Taking a few deep breaths to try and distract her from the burn in her arm holding up the coffee tray, Charlotte makes a note that she should probably go to the gym because her arm should not be this week.

Turning the corner, Charlotte took in the people in the room. Alice sat on one side of the oval table, her back to the windows that look down Broadway. Alice usually sat at the head of the table, however, so Charlotte knew this was a different kind of meeting than she had seen before. Next to Alice sat a man in his 60s, Charlotte guess. His white hair on his head had disappeared in a ring on the top of his head, and his tanned skin looked wrinkled with years of tasking work, most likely. Across from them sat two women — Charlotte was inspired by the female presence in the room. Both women looked middle age and held a beautiful aurora of successful business women.

“Ah, Charlotte, always perfect in getting the coffees in time!” Alice said kindly, extending out her hand as Charlotte stepped forward with her coffee. Noticing Charlotte hesitation in handing out the coffees to the people whom she did not know. “Oh, excuse me, Charlotte this is Alexander Smith, executive VP of mortgage equities acquisitions. Alexander, this is my newest intern, Charlotte King, and he ordered the small black coffee.”

Charlotte extended her empty hand out to Alexander, shaking his hand, as he gave her a courteous smile. “It is so nice to meet you, Mr. Smith.” Then handing him the coffee, Charlotte turned her attention to the two women on the other side of the table.

“This is Harriet Wilson, one of the longest working employees here and COO of S&FP. She ordered the large iced caramel latte.” Again, Charlotte shook hands with the nice woman, and handed her her coffee. “And, this Elizabeth Woodside. Elizabeth is the executive secretary to Harry, and the small coffee with cream and sugar is hers!” Elizabeth shook her hand and took her coffee, but Charlotte was still confused why there was still one coffee left in her hand, and who Harry was. “You can just place the last coffee right on the table. Harry will walk in this door right at 9:30.”

Charlotte placing the large black coffee on the head of the table in front of her. Moving the tray behind her back, Charlotte was about to say a kind goodbye when Ms. Wilson spoke. “Where do you come from Charlotte? Are you getting your masters?”

“Yes, I am getting my masters,” Charlotte spoke with a smile, feeling all eyes on her. “I just finished my first semester at Columbia,, but originally I’m from a small town upstate.”

“Very impressive, Ms. King,” Ms. Wilson spoke. Her smile was kind and welcoming, which was not something she has come across often in her first few weeks here. Sometimes it felt like she had the words intern plastered on her forehead, and all the employees she walked past each day knew it. But, Charlotte also knew she was being irrational; everyone is just busy with their own work. This isn’t social hour, and Charlotte was here to work too. Charlotte, then, resorted her days to working in her office, playing music in her headphones, because she was afraid she would bother someone with her music if the possibly heard it. It was a little hole but Charlotte enjoyed it.

“Thank you, Ms. Wilson.” Charlotte beamed.

“Please, call me Harriet. I know every woman says the same thing about this, but Mrs. Wilson is my mother-in-law.” Everyone laughed at Harriet’s comment. “Do you know Margaret Prince at Columbia? I believe she is the dean of the economics program.”

“I do, yes. I worked with her last year, as a part of her program that was looking into and evaluating the program’s strengths and weaknesses. Since then, we have actually kept up a bit of a correspondence.”

My answer brought about a big smile from Harriet. “Dean Prince is one of my very close friends. We have worked very closely over the years for placement for her students, when I was under different positions for this company. That responsibility isn’t mine anymore, but Prince and I remained very good friends. She is a great woman to know, and I would recommend keeping up a relationship with her.”

Charlotte nodded, taking in the advice. “Thank you so much, Harriet. I will definitely keep that in mind.”

“What part of upstate are you from?” Alexander questioned.

“Saratoga. Really more so, I am from a town about a half an hour from there, but it falls under the umbrella of Saratoga, so all my schooling was through Saratoga.”

“I love Saratoga. It is such a beautiful town.”

Charlotte loved her small town, and in the past few years she has been in the city, few have ever been to Saratoga when she had mentioned it. Hearing that Alexander understood the beauty of Saratoga made Charlotte proud. “It is so beautiful. I miss it everyday.”

“The race track is so historic. My family used to go up for a weekend of the races.”

“Yes, it’s so —“

“Good morning everyone,” a voice spoke behind Charlotte.

Immediately, Charlotte stepped aside further to the side of the room, making way for the voice that seemed commanding with so few words. When she turned, Charlotte wasn’t expecting anyone in particular, since that voice was unfamiliar to her — deep with a slow foreign draw. However, she most certainly not expecting Harold Styles to enter. She had seen his pictures around the office, and even the internet. This was his family business, and he was definitely an integral part in it. Right now, he held the title of President of derivatives and equities, one of a few members under his father’s immediate team. Though it would have to be approved by the board, it is long assumed that he will one day take over his father’s job. Alice held a high title within the company as executive VP of derivatives and futures, so Harold was one of the few she reported to, but Charlotte thought that Harold was more of her bosses boss, than hers.

Moving to the side though, Charlotte took in his appearances in person. His hair was a bit longer than the short cut that she had seen in pictures before, maybe it had been a while since he had gotten his haircut. It was still short, but now, it was long enough to show curls atop his head. His face was clean shaven; with a prominent jawline on display. His expression seemed neutral enough, not angry but definitely not happy. Maybe a bit of annoyance, Charlotte really couldn’t tell.

For Harold, his eyes took in the room in front of him, eyes immediately drawn to the person in the room who he did not know. She was tall and slim, but not too skinny. He noticed her hair, curly with bangs that framed her face nicely. She stood to the side of the room, moving out of his way when she heard his voice. She seemed startled at his entrance, which kind of annoyed him. This was a meeting, and everyone know he was coming in at 8:30. She was still standing there, when they made eye contact. A small hesitant smile spread on her lips, but Harry did not reciprocate.

He moved his gaze away from Charlotte to the his employees, but Charlotte let out no sigh of relief. She was embarrassed. Why did she smile at him? Well actually that seemed like the normal thing to do. Why didn’t he smile back?

She didn’t know if she should go or not. She was in conversation with the other people in the room before Harry came in, but she had a feeling that it was back to business when he entered the room.

“Good morning, Harry, and thank you so much, Charlotte, we are good from here.” Alice spoke, her words friendly to her superior and kind enough to Charlotte to inform her that she should leave. With a small nod and smile to those at the table, Charlotte turned around. Not before catching Harold’s eye one last time, his stern eyes on her. She darted her eyes away immediately not willing to

Walking out of the room, Charlotte thought more about whom she just met. Well, she didn’t even really meet him. ‘Harry’ was intimidating but also fascinating. His work ethic from what she has read is amazing. His education at Harvard and continual rise through the company was inspiring, but Charlotte didn’t know if she could handle the pressure of it all. He just seemed to breathe success and Charlotte got out of breathe climbing three flights of stairs to her apartment. Charlotte realized she had been in thought about it all the way back and about five minutes into her sitting in her office space, so she pushed the sighting out of his head. Meanwhile, back in the conference room, Harry listened as Alexander read off some spreadsheets on the latest quarter’s reports. His mind wandered back to the girl from the beginning of the meeting, “Charlotte,” as Alice called her. As soon as she left the room, Alice apologized admitting she was her new intern and was a little too friendly.

“She’s too nice, too young,” Alice said with a sigh. “Follows orders well, but I don’t know if she has the backbone for this field.”

“Give her a chance, Alice,” Harriet said. “She hasn’t had to face any challenges yet.”

“Exactly,” Alice replied. “She hasn’t.”

“If she can’t handle pressure, she can’t handle this job.” Harry interjected curtly. “Now, can we begin. I have brunch with a potential client at ten o’clock?”

Everyone replied with a nod, as Alexander began.

Now, sitting here fifteen minutes later, Harry thought of the intern. She was nice, but Harry didn’t have time for nice. Her presence earlier was unnecessary, as is her job as intern probably. Sitting somewhere reading reports Alice gave her, probably thinking she is doing important work. The thought almost made Harry laugh. Almost. If she is as Alice believes, though, she probably won’t be around much longer, Harry thought. The weak ones always quit or are fired.

#1dff #1d #one direction #one direction fanfic #one direction fanfiction #1d fanfic #1d fanfiction #hs #harry styles #harry styles fanfiction #fic: in the shadow of your heart

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