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messenger-of-stupidity · 1 year

Text

Can the Redacted Characters Skateboard

Hi and welcome back to bullshit that I wrote while on a hiatus to avoid actually working on WIPs and then shoved into my scheduled posting so i didnt have to worry about it.

Also if this has already previously been done, can someone please tell me so I can delete it because i dont wanna be a content thief. That always fucking sucks. (I say as I make up things about characters that Erik made up.)

Redacted Masterlist

OKAY LETS GOOO

Starting off strong with the Shaw pack and their respective partners.

David: Man had zero interest in actually learning to skateboard. He preferred learning to drive or ride a bike if he needed transportation. But he learned it with Asher when they were kids. Since being able to drive though he stopped practicing and now he’s rusty. He can skate and do basic ollies but that’s it.

Angel: No. They are clumsy. They get on a skateboard and immediately fall over. Wrap them in bubble wrap because they will get hurt but they will continue trying because they’re stubborn as all hell.

Asher: Yes. I headcanon he’s a skater boy so fucking hard you don’t understand. Man got obsessed with skating when he was in fifth grade and begged David to learn how to skate with him. He got so many injuries, Marie told him that she wouldn’t heal him for his skating injuries anymore. But he kept at it and when David started driving, he would be skitching to David’ car/truck all the fucking time. He also knows how to make his own boards and do a bunch of cool tricks.

Baabe: Baabe started to learn skating in middle school but then stopped. Asher taught them when they got together and now they go to skate parks and go on skating dates every now and then. it’s very cute. Asher made them a matching board to his.

Milo: No. This man sits on a board and uses both his feet and hands to make it move. He can at least balance on it unlike Angel but don’t ask him to push. He will fail and he will fall into traffic.

Sweetheart: They were able to skate in middle school but then stopped because they kept going invisible while on the street and people would try to stop a runaway skateboard. It ended up getting them and others injured so then they stopped. Now they’re too busy to see if they still retain any of their basic street skills.

Darlin: Abso-fucking-lutely. This is their main mode of transportation when they aren’t running. They continuously try to skate through the woods and fail every time because it’s not a stable enough surface. However they are a longboard user since they view street boards as hella cliche and they refuse. Also they like asking Asher to make longboards since he dislikes making the fuckers.

Sam: Yes. Especially post-turning. Man has reflexes and can make the skateboard go zoom with his vamp speed. But he doesn’t do it anymore because skateboarding at night can be kinda dangerous due to low visibility and he doesn’t like drawing attention to himself.

Arden: yes. I just get skater girl vibes from her. I can’t explain why. But I could see Asher making her an eggboard cruiser.

Christian: No. He tried to learn so he could be better than Asher but he fails harder than Angel. Everyone thought it wasn’t possible, but he proved them wrong. Congrats Christian.

Amanda: No. She didn’t have any interest in learning.

Now onto the Solaire vamps!

William: I wanna say yes simply for the mental image of this fabulous man skating down the street while Vincent and Sam stare on in shocked horror, but Imma have to say no. He will finance skateboards, but he doesn’t know. Darlin did try to teach him how to skate with a longboard but he looked at the board then at them and politely declined.

Vincent: Are you kidding me? Of course this flamboyant fucker knows how to skate. He only got better when he was turned. He prefers driving cars, but he likes skitching to one of his cars while Lovely is driving. It’s very fun. But he continuously tries to do tricks with a longboard and fails every time since that’s not what they’re made for. He’s too stubborn to stop though. His streetboard is so scratched up please get it some TLC.

Lovely: They’re in the process of learning because Baabe and Asher told them about their skate dates and they think that’s cute. Vincent is a horrible teacher though so their learning is going very slowly.

Alexis: No. This is commoner activities and therefore below her.

Adam: No. He’s missing a head. Usually pretty important when one wishes to skate. Thoughts and prayers dude.

DAMN squad!

Huxley: FUCK YES! This dude is a skateboarding king. He has a cruiser though since he just likes the chill vibes of cruising everywhere. It’s especially helpful on campus.

Damien: No and it frustrates him to no end. Huxley has tried teaching him, but he’s not able to pick it up. And everytime he gets frustrated he ends up damaging the deck so he stopped trying.

Lasko: No. He’s way too anxious to be confident about his balance so he always falls whenever he tries to put his foot on the back deck. He’s content with just walking, thank you.

Lasko’s listener (Kinda excited to see what pet name they get.): Yes. The confidence that is dripping (heh get it?) from this being is tangible, even from just one video. They seem pretty confident in their abilities, so that would serve them well for skating. Whether I think they do skate or not is still kinda up in the air. I can kinda see them being like that on tiktok teacher who skates around in the building ona cruiser. They give off a really chill teacher vibes (They literally wanted to start up a workplace romance, that seems pretty chill to me) so I could see them cruising down the hall with a stack of graded papers in their bag. Also they would totally skate during a storm. They’re a water elemental so they can probably control the element enough to make sure their wheels don’t slip too much. Lasko did say they were pretty good at their magic, so I could see them having that level of control.

Freelancer: Yes. Huxley taught them, so they only know about cruisers, but they’re okay with this. They get to cruise around campus and everything and it makes them feel cool.

Gavin: He has no need for it, but Freelancer has been begging him so he relents. Huxley and Freelancer are teaching him right now. It’s slow going since he would much rather just tease them both though.

Caelum: No. He can’t. But he’s very energetic when following after Freelancer when he can. He’s happy they found another activity that helps loosen the knots inside them. He’s a hype-boyo.

Meridian and Sovereign storyliners!

Vega: No. It’s a human custom so therefore he has zero interest in it. Also it holds no purpose to further his goals so why would he bother learning?

Warden: No. They were too busy to learn how and they also didn’t really care. It’s just a skateboard, but there are people that need their help. Also they’re too busy trying to fight off the never ending hunger.

Avior: He’s wanted to learn but has been a bit busy the past several months/hour.

Starlight: They know the basic push and ollies so they can easily get around but that’s it. They’ve been a bit busy too. Plus they like walking. It’s good for them.

Cam: (he needs to be here for organization sake) He has a cruiser. It’s nice to be able to to take a small break and just go past some flowers or parks and soak up how everyone is having a pretty good day. He doesn’t get the chance very often though sadly.

Asset: Yes but only because they know everything and have the ability to go through with it. They have never stepped foot on a skateboard and don’t have any plans to.

Marcus: No he’s a whiny little baby bitch. He would fall into traffic.

James: No, he’s a runner not a skater. But we respect him for it.

James listener: Yes. They don’t wanna be a marathon runner like James, but they wanna be able to go with him during his runs so they have a cruiser and they know how to use it. That’s it though.

Anton: Yes. I can feel it in my bones, if the workplace was more chill he would have an eggboard and that would be how he’d get around within the facility.

Anton’s listener: No. I get a gentle plant parent vibe from them. But they like seeing how content Anton gets when he gets to skate.

Brian: (i think that’s his name) No. He just wants to go home to his family bro. Plus he plays tennis (hc). Being a tennis player makes him above skaters. (lovingly said.)

Blake: Yes and he’s annoyingly good at it. He impresses his listener every time he does because they always think he’s not gonna be any good and then he proves them otherwise. Whether they’re dreaming or not when they see this and are impressed is unimportant. What’s important is that he impresses them and has their attention. What, are you not feeling drowsy? Don’t worry about that, look at this cool flip he can do.

Blake’s Listener: They have a skateboard that they have not touched since 3rd grade. So no, they cannot. They don’t remember and they didn’t practice long enough as a kid for it to be in any kind of muscle memory.

Elliot: Absolutely. This is another born, raised, and bred skater boy. He loves putting stickers all over the underside of his deck. It looks like someone vomited the definition of multi-fandom all over it. He also needs to get a new board before his deck snaps in half, but he’s too attached to it to do so.

Sunshine: Yes. After their accident, they were a bit scared to drive again so they learned how to skate in an effort of alternate modes of transportation. It was a necessity. But they met Elliot at a skate park when they were practicing turning and he helped them out. They became friends and then you know how the story goes.

Brachium: No. He has no access but Sunshine has told him about skating and he’s happy for them.

Unempowered!

Aaron: He got interested when Elliot got obsessed and he tried it out but then decided against actually dedicating time to learn. But he gave Elliot stickers to put on the deck.

Smartass: Aaron mentioned that he gave up learning while Smartass was half-asleep. The next morning they went out and bought a board to prove that they were going to learn and be better than Aaron. So they’re in the process of learning and everytime they feel like giving up because it offers nothing for them besides bragging rights, spite makes them continue. We wish them luck on their spiteful journey.

Ollie: No he doesn’t. He was more into playing board games inside then going outside to learn how to skateboard or anything. He knows his name is related to a skating maneuver but that wasn’t enough to make him have any interest.

Baby (Ollie): No. They’re content with playing board games with Ollie. They like being indoors instead of outdoors anyways.

Ivan: He learned but never put his skills to use. So theoretically he knows how to skate but we aren’t sure.

Baby (Pre-Vega’s Ivan): Yes. They learned with Ivan, and actually put the skills to use. So they do know how to skate and it’s a fun hobby for them to learn new little tricks.

Baby (post-Vega’s Ivan): No. They don’t. They didn’t have any interest and still don’t even after being freed and memory modified. Skateboarding isn’t for everyone and that’s fine.

Guy: yes and he’s horrible at it. He knows how but he likes messing up because then he can go to Honey about his “boo-boos”s and try to convince them to kiss the scrapes and bruises better. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

Honey: Yes and they’re good at it. Their favorite thing to do when just skating around is a Dragon flip (also known as the 360 dolphin flip) they think it’s fun and they would do it continuously if they could. But every chance they get, they’re at least doing a dozen of them.

Geordi: He’s too anxious to actually be confident (like Lasko) but he really wants to learn. It seems less exhausting than running. He also thinks it looks cool.

Cutie: No they can’t, and street boarders thoughts are a bit too intense for them to even want to learn or try. They know Geordi wants to try, but they aren’t going to mention skateboarding because then they would have to worry about Geordi’s thoughts getting like the street boarder’s.

Regulus: He’s invisible, we will never know if he’s a secret skater boy. He’s very good at doing flips inside your mind though.

Regulus Listener (Precious I think they’re called? Getting Gollum vibes ngl): Why do you need to go outside? Inside you can be with Regulus. That’s all you want, not to see if you can skate. Inside with Regulus, safe from those who want to take him away from you. To separate the two of you. Why are you crying? Oh, he understands. Those are tears of joy aren’t they? Don’t worry, he’ll wipe them from you as he makes you lay dormant to his every whim. Isn’t this the life you wanted?

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nat-seal-well · 1 year

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hand over the wip please. begging

!!!! Thank you for providing me with this opportunity, anon. I love you very much 💙 This is something I’m working on for Halloween! I figured I might as well, since I’m off until Wednesday.

fic title: unquiet grave

rating: m (just to be safe)

Warnings: mentions of alcohol, mentions of blood, major character death, angst. You know, the good stuff. (Also me taking liberties with how vampires and alcohol work)

It’s night. There is cool wind in the trees, rustling the leaves in a shallow mimicry of the ocean. Under him, the old amusement park bench is hard and cold. Sam settles himself against it and tilts his head back so far it just about feels like it’s going to break. He very nearly wishes it would as he closes his eyes and tries to let thoughts drift away from him. It almost works, until he’s interrupted.

“You look like you’re having a fun time.”

Vincent stands behind the park bench, leaning over him. Usually the sound of his best friend’s voice is accompanied by a gleam of white fangs behind smiling lips, but this time his expression is somber. He hasn’t seen Vincent smile in days.

“I,” Sam says with intention in every syllable, “am doin’ my damndest to get drunk.”

Vincent’s tone is dry. “I can see that.” A pale hand reaches down to wrap around the neck of a glass bottle sitting beside Sam. He raises it up, so that the light of the full moon catches in the cut glass and the liquid sloshing around inside as he swirls it in a way very similar to what Sam had done with his tumbler. “It isn’t going to work, you know… Is… is this brand-new?”

“Was.” Sam sits up so that he can press his glass to his lips. “And that isn’t gonna stop me from tryin’.”

To which Vincent replies with, “All you’re going to end up doing is make yourself sick. Our bodies don’t know what to do with this much all at once, you know. We can’t even process it. You’ll be miserable until you get it out of your system, and you’ll never even get a buzz.”

Sam doesn’t bother to look behind him. “Which one of us is the healer, again?”

“Not you, according to yourself,” his unbidden company retorts. There’s the softest rustling of fabric as Vincent goes around the bench to join his friend. “You drill it into our heads plenty of times. At every opportunity. No going back just to suit your own… well, just to win this argument.”

“My own what?” Sam scowls, echoing.

The response is a single shake of Vincent’s head. “Nothing. It’s nothing, Sam. Forget I said anything.”

“No. No, you don’t get to do that. You don’t get to dance around it, like it’s some kinda… some kinda infection you’re afraid of touching.” Sam’s tone is sharp as the edge of a knife.

Or the point of a needle.

A needle, long and shining silver under just the sliver of a moon, tinted crimson as he desperately tries to make two pieces of flesh one again while struggling to move limbs that feel heavier than lead and fight back the piercing pain of a headache and the death-like exhaustion that comes from drawing too deeply from one’s core (more than that really, deeper than should have been possible) because the nearest Healer–Marie Greer, he thinks her name is–is still hours out and there isn’t anybody else around and he’s all out of other options and… and–

“I’m sorry,” Vincent says. The words draw Sam back to the present night, and not the one that had crept up on him. Draw is probably too light a word. It’s more like someone had snuck up to grab him by the collar of his flannel and dragged him, with his boots digging tracks in the dirt behind him.

This isn’t that night. The moon, round now as it looks down on them, is more than enough proof of that. Sam finds his dead heart hammering between the cage of his ribs and he draws sweet night air that he doesn’t need anymore into his lungs. It’s cruel that he is still here to breathe and feel his heart beating despite the fact that neither of those do him a single lick of good, when the person he’s trying and failing to drink for…

“I hate this,” Sam admits then, his voice cracking. It’s been doing that a lot lately, these last few weeks. There’s a burning in his eyes that he’s getting uncomfortably familiar with.

And there it is, the real root of the problem.

#redacted asmr #redacted audio #redacted fanfic #redacted sam #sam collins #redacted darlin #redacted vincent #fic wip #wip excerpt #tw alcohol mention #tw alcohol

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caelumsnuff · 2 years

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this is really long!!

i really like your post cause i feel the same way! i feel like if your stories are gonna go in a darker direction go for it! and make what your characters do fit for their personalities. angel and david even becoming a couple doesn’t make sense to me (same with FL and gavin), bright and fred should have been continued. i almost want a redo of everything because it needs to be tweaked. maybe not make david such a dick, extend some of these stories (slow burns be slow burns. having a lot of characters will make the slow burn seem forever but idc make it actually be one)

and alexis annoys. we have 3 people complain about her and not either listener pry for more information or even get a cameo of her. i can only see her as “i tried to save someone and now everyone fucking hates me. i feel bad cause i did it but i was scared” a car wreck is a big thing and i think sam said he had something in his chest so yeah she’s gonna do the first thing that comes to mind.

i agree about thé vamps ages. if they’re gonna mention their turnings it should be more “oh if you wanna here how it happened” versus them still feeling the ramifications of it. they both are going on mid 30s to early 40s. sam and vincent seem to have a bond. i’m not saying trauma leaves you at some point but it has happened and shouldn’t be always on the front burner (if that makes sense).

bright and fred are still canonically there but no storyline. have a solely platonic storyline made me so happy because as much as i love caelum i don’t want to be friends with someone who is supposed to be seen as like 10. and seeing the power change in friends and them having to overcome it would be amazing. and it would have been a chance for sam to have growth too because that dude was an asshole to bright when they had a one-on-one talk.

milo and the inversion annoyed me. dumbass plan. and if anyone needed to die it was him. i love him soooo much but with that plan it would have killed him with the way he explained. and if he wanted to keep him at least take the ability to shift away. make him face a consequence that already fit into his insecurities. (people in the pack should have died too considering they were the security and helping/protecting people so it was weird how not even one person didn’t die, making amanda “leave” doesn’t count)

geordi and cuties audios are basically only angst (excluding HBS and HBW). i want at least a cute audio or two between them because telepathy could be cool and geordi has mentioned that they can look silly in public together when talking in their heads.

i want more of The Balance (Blake/Elliott/Sunshine/etc) but it’s the one we’re getting the least of :/ i want to know why Blake is doing what he is doing to them, what is up with his listener/best friend because why did he take them to that meeting.

i love the antagonists of the series but mainly for how they sound and their potential. (same goes for all characters. i prefer drawing them and tweaking them to my preference to how the story could be better)

i hope now he doesn’t look at any fan redacted stuff, gets an editor or beta reader, and more since he’s growing a lot. i feel like if you’re gonna have a story with stuff like this then doing it right and have other people who don’t watch your content help you. (freelancer story annoys me to no end)

i didn’t know where to add and idk if i already mentioned this but imo don’t try to use SA as a stand in for anything. SA is SA period. all the vamp stuff is about taking away consent and the choice to live. kody is terrible with the bridging and i feel like it could have been explained better. also feel like kody didn’t need to be there 🤷‍♀️

i have a lot of feelings on the stories even if i like some of the characters. i half the time forget how they are/were because of how i changed it in my mind.

love your posts.

to continue because i forgot something: if you don’t explain in a video that we don’t get/aren’t going to be able to explain with a character, can you at least clarify in the description, community post, a video explaining/summarizing all the “minor” lore/details of your world and make those the finalized ones?

idk want some things to be a little be more clear and some not so it’s still fun for us but 🤷‍♀️

omg yeah this is long *cracks knuckles* alright lets get to it then

I also almost want a redo of everything, but at the moment i don’t trust Redacted’s writing abilities as i think they’ve gotten worse, i think he’d just make a lot of his earlier stuff worse 💀 The fact that we don’t even have a cameo of Alexis is incredibly annoying. What the fuck. If youre gonna make her out to be some heathen, at least show us. Or idk, subvert our expectations and make her far more sweet and kind than other people talk about her (not likely) Yeah i hope i didn’t come off as saying that like... trauma wouldn’t still be there, like as a person with trauma i am well aware of how it works lmao. I didn’t want it to be something that was on the front burner, at least not with the way that the clan and the ages of the vamps are currently written One of the reasons i think i would have liked to see Bright and Fred stay is because we could have seen Sam grow into a good maker. Would have been a good part of his story seeing as his own maker is written to be shit. Also, yeah, i wish we had more platonic stories. Not like pack mates or an emotional support, like genuine affectionate mutual friendship. Like.... the way that Elliot and Sunshine were in their first video. The gentle teasing about the grocery store dream, the platonic cuddling, the playful smacks, all of it was just really nice. I wish Inversion had consequences SO badly!!! Milo dying or never being able to shift again (or at least make the issue last more than two videos for fucks sake), Asher in a coma or something, Amanda dead, that one pack member actually losing their leg, David and the pack having a more tarnished reputation because of his choice to close the ward. Xavier dying was stupid. We talked to him once and heard his name once or twice, he should have killed another one of the DAMN boys. Especially because it would have been a more emotionally impactful moment having Gavin watch someone he knew and cared for die in front of him instead of someone he barely knew (so maybe Lasko???). I genuinely dont understand why Geordi’s regular audios are just angst thus far. Can i have the two of them being cute? Looking ridiculous in public? i dont know, develop the relationship before you show me conflict between them so that i actually care about it a decent amount?? I also want more of the Balance, i love Brachium and Elliot, and Blake is an interesting character to say the least. I also love a lot of the antagonists, i just love bad men <3 I sure hope he doesn’t look at a bunch of fan stuff, he seems to be easily swayed by the opinions of his fans. He needs an impartial beta/editor. Personally, i feel like the situation could be handled in a way that wasn’t offensive, but it’d have to be drastically different from how it was. If i ever talk about how i would change some of his content, i will definitely be addressing Kody’s situation. I really hate consuming content outside of the original media to understand the story/lore or whatever. I’m sorry, but if i have to consume a seperate video explaining lore, i’m just not even gonna consider it canon. Put it in a regular video (explictly state it, imply it, or show us with actions and whatnot), or it’s not canon. (I hate when creators do stuff like that, like.... they’ll tweet about lore or characterization and fans will be like “canon!!!” No one should have to consume extra lore videos, a comic, and follow the creator on some social media account to understand the story.) But that’s just my opinion on it. Glad you enjoy my posts, even if im just complaining aksjdfasd

#ask #anon #redacted asmr

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characternerdocs · 2 years

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Wisteria, Night Owl, Rose Dust, Periwinkle (Crayola Crayon Color Asks)

Crayola Crayon Color Asks ||| @justchickythings

Wisteria: What’s your favorite thing about yourself?

My imagination? I feel like my life be a lot duller if I didn't have my creative imagination to shake things up.

Night Owl: Describe a very interesting dream that you had.

Dude I keep a dream log, cause the meds I've been on for years now give very vivid and detailed dreams, and I love it. a lot of fuel for potential stories. So let me find a good one

[...]

Actually I can tell you about the one I had last night. I dreamed that I was on vacation, and me and this old man, who for whatever reason looked like Sam Neill, were looking about the town and it was pretty desolate. we stop into this little arcade like place that has one of those 25¢ mechanical horses outside, but when we went in there was an actual horse tied up so people could ride it like one would a mechanical bull. And it was obvious that this poor horse was so tortured and abused. So me and the Neill look-a-like leave extremely disgusted as we come the the conclusion that this town is full of horrid people.

We start to walk the road and we see this museum/oddity shoppe that we decide to stop in. But when we enter the owners, who seem to be a little coven of witches, aren't happy to see us, as they also thing the town is full of awful people and figure everyone is like that so they don't want anybody in their house/shoppe/museum (Honestly I'm not entirely sure what this place was thinking on it now)

Then I say something that starts to make this dream very interesting. I ask the ladies not to judge us on who we were but on the people we are becoming. So apparently we all have a checkered past. Also Alice Liddell from the Alice, and Alice: Madness Returns games has now joined our party.

So we're all looking around this house, where every room is cluttered with different antiques and things that are not from this decade, looking for items that are tied to our past. Alice finds this old film which has a message from her decease father on it. I think Mr. Niell lost his wife somehow. No idea what my secret was. But coming to grips with our past is payment to the witch curators for entering their establishment, cause again this is also a museum and there is an entrance fee.

But that was the dream - I think it has some story potential in it. Plus the house also has a chair that was from the haunted mansion of one of the Disney parks, and there was a corpse of somebody who didn't succeed in what the witch curators wanted him to do sitting in it. - you know just a fun little detail

Rose Dust: Describe your aesthetic in five words or less.

"Fashionably grungy homeless person"

Apparently? I've had coworkers say that even when dressed for work I'm "fashionable" somehow. Classmates in high school used to say I have heavy grunge vibes, which i doubt have changed. Well whenever I see my grandfather and I'm not dressed up for a holiday, he says I look like I'm homeless. I'm still not sure how to feel about that assessment of my style.

Periwinkle: What’s something ordinary that has personal meaning to you

Probably this?

So when I came home from college, I found that my mom had took/found a sticky note I had drawn Vincent on and put it on her bureau.

The two of us are very different, I know she doesn't understand my whole thing with all the characters, stories, and drawings. And I feel as much as I've have tried to be open with her about it all, which is honestly really scary for me cause I'm so fearful of rejection from her and her not approving of what and who I've written, I haven't seen her put much effort into learning about this part of me. I have given her access to the book hoping that that at least would be a good starting place for us, still she hasn't even made it back a chapter and a half, saying that though it's not bad my writing style isn't her favorite and she finds it difficult to understand with how much description I use.

So that fact that she has the drawing, it makes me feel that even though she doesn't understand it, she still wants to be supportive.

Thanks for the ask @justchickythings - Sorry things got a little melancholy. so fun fact in first grade we were having a spelling test and one of the words we had to spell was "crayon" but my poor dyslexic butt didn't know so in a "moment of brilliance" I took one out of my desk and copied the label. I got the test back with that answer marked wrong cause I wrote 'crayola"

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spacecakes20 · 3 years

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Begin Again

(Chapter 6)

Chapter 7: Sebastian, New Keepsake

It wasn’t rare to see Sam so worked up. He was always energetic and rarely ever kept his energy in check. Entering his friend’s room, Sebastian noticed he was practically vibrating from excitement. He just wouldn’t stop fidgeting with his guitar, his leg bouncing almost rhythmically.

“Hey, Sam.” Sebastian greeted his friend nonchalantly from his bedroom door.

“Seb!” Sam exclaimed, putting his guitar on his bed and excitedly ran toward his friend. He almost reminded Sebastian of an overly excited puppy. “You’ll never guess what happened!”

Sebastian pretended to ponder, eyes wandering the room for nothing in particular. “You finally asked out Penny?” He finally said, his voice laced in amusement.

Sam looked slightly taken aback, “Wha—no! Not that!” He punched his friend in the arm before continuing, “I got us a gig!”

Now it was Sebastian’s turn to look stunned. He wasn’t expecting that. He was used to Sam making plans but never really committing to them. He’d say he was going to do something one day, then completely change his plans the next. It was an endless cycle. So, when his friend said he’d try to book them a music gig almost a month ago, Sebastian didn’t think much of it. He was willing to admit that he underestimated Sam. But then again…

“That’s great.” Sebastian said, though his words didn’t match his skeptical tone, “But—”

“No!” Sam coved his ears, shaking his head, “You’re not allowed to be a killjoy about this one!”

Sebastian rolled his eyes at his friend’s antics. “I was going to say,” He gave Sam a pointed look, “That’s great, but we don’t have any finished songs—”

Sam groaned at that, plopping face-first into his bed. “Please don’t remind me!” His muffled voice said in annoyance.

“And,” Sebastian ignored him, “We still don’t have a drummer.”

Sam was silent, body unmoving. He was still for so long, Sebastian wondered if perhaps his friend had suffocated himself and passed out. The only thing that gave away that his friend were conscious was the slight twitch of his finger.

“You know,” Sebastian had made his way over to his friend’s bed, sitting on the edge, “Abigail plays drums. We could always just ask her.”

Sam groaned again, face never leaving his mattress. How was he even breathing?

“Abby’s always busy with school.” Sam’s muffled voice said, “She rarely has time for practice.”

Sebastian hummed, “Isn’t summer break coming up for her?”

Sam didn’t answer, only peeking one eye from where he was laying.

“She should have plenty of time for practice over the summer.” Said Sebastian, not really waiting for Sam’s response. For a fraction of a second, he thought about asking Sam if he knew about Abigail’s new friendship with Maru but decided to keep that to himself. That’s just something he’d have to ask Abigail himself. He also didn’t want to know if Sam knew more about it than he did. The idea of Sam and Abigail keeping secrets from him just didn’t sit right with him. He’d rather be blissfully unaware if that were the case.

“Fiiiiiine.” Sam gave an over-exaggerated groan before flipping over on his bed, “I’ll ask Abby. And then maybe we could work on finishing a few songs.”

Before Sebastian could come up with a response, the sound of someone knocking on Sam’s bedroom door caught everyone’s attention.

"Come in!” Sam called out.

At first, Sebastian was expecting it to be Jodi or Vincent—Sam’s mother and younger brother— but he was surprised to see a familiar mop of tight brown curls and shimmering green eyes.

“Luna!?” Sam sounded just as surprised, “What are you doing here?”

She looked a little sheepish as she shot them a soft smile. “I’m sorry,” She looked genuinely apologetic, “I was making a delivery, and your mom sent me. She wants to talk to you.”

Sam nodded in understanding, jumping to his feet with a stretch. He made his way over to the door, giving Luna a bright smile, “Alright, I’ll be right there.” He gave her a pat on the shoulder, perhaps to calm her nerves, before leaving the room. Reassuring others and making them feel more welcomed was like a special talent to Sam, Sebastian noticed. He always seemed to know all the right ways to calm someone without making them uncomfortable. It was a talent Sebastian wished he had at this very moment because now he was alone with Luna once again. He didn’t dislike being alone with her. He just felt like he couldn’t get a read on her. Sometimes she seemed timid and a little shy. But then at other moments she seemed downright playful. Perhaps she was still warming up to him.

“I wasn’t excepting to see you here too.” It was Luna who broke the silence. She was standing by the door, eyeing him curiously.

“Yeah.” Sebastian shrugged, “Me and Sam usually meet up here for band practice.”

Her eyes, if possible, grew brighter, “You’re in a band?”

“Um,” Sebastian rubbed the nape of his neck, gaze finally meeting hers, “Sort of. It’s just the two of us.”

She smiled at that, “I see.”

He didn’t know what to say to that. He wreaked his brain for anything to say, but he was drawing a blank.

“So, what do you play?”

He was so grateful that she was the one reviving the conversation. “The keyboard,” He answered as smoothly as he could muster.

That seemed to have caught her attention, “Really? Are you self-taught?”

“Kind of…” He answered unsure, causing Luna to tilt her head in confusion. “I mean, I had piano lessons in middle school.” He clarified, “Dropped them around high school. Decided to teach myself the rest since then.”

She nodded in understanding. “I get that. I took violin since elementary school.” She stated, “I wanted to drop it around high school too, but my mom never allowed it.” She shook her head with a light chuckle, but Sebastian could see, if only for a split second, that there was no mirth behind her eyes. Just as quickly as it came, it disappeared and was replaced with a half-smile, “Perhaps we could collab some time.”

He couldn’t help but snicker at that, “Didn’t realize we had a professional musician here.”

“Well…” The playful glint in her eyes grew brighter as a small smirk graced her face, “Don’t want to brag or anything, but I did win third place in my school talent show. So, I am kind of a big deal.”

Sebastian whistled, “Third place? Impressive. Don’t tell Sam, or he’ll never stop bothering you to join our band.”

Luna laughed at that, “Sorry, but I’m retired from music. And I don’t know how well an acoustic violin would sound in a band.”

Before Sebastian could make a comment, the door opened, and Sam entered the room. “Sorry ‘bout that!” He exclaimed, “But now we can get back to practice!”

Luna nodded in Sam’s direction before giving Sebastian a smile, “Well, I’ll be seeing you boys later than. Wouldn’t want to be a distraction.” She waved goodbye and made her way out the door.

Sam looked to the door, then to Sebastian. His easy-going smile morphed into something smug, “So, you and Luna gettin’ along now?”

He didn’t know why that comment made him feel self-conscious. He just decided to shrug Sam off and fiddled with his pockets, “I guess…” He tried to sound casual about it. It’s not like he and Luna were fighting before or anything. They just had… unfortunate first impressions. But before Sam could get the chance to question him further about it, he seemed to suddenly remember the reason they’re in his room in the first place. Perhaps Sam’s mind was jumping to the next subject lined up in his brain of cue cards at light speed. Sam tended to do that a lot. Ever since the two were kids, Sam would bounce from subject to subject, not really caring about carrying on a one-sided conversation. Currently, he was on a ramble about the songs they needed to work on and get finished.

Letting his mind wander, Sebastian started playing on his keyboard mindlessly. His mind brought him back to when Luna was talking about playing the violin. Something about her voice sounded bitter, and he wondered why.

...

The lake always felt so peaceful at night. It was a full moon that night, and the way the lunar light sparkled on the ripples of the waters was mesmerizing. The sounds of night echoed through Sebastian’s ears, setting his mind at ease. He was taking a smoke break by the lake that was next to his house. Working close to a deadline was always a stressful event, and it didn’t help that his current client was starting to become anxious. Which, in turn, also put Sebastian on edge. This would be the last time he lets Sam talk him out of work.

Empty promises, a voice in the back of his head nagged. He was pretty sure he had uttered those same words before. Perhaps he’ll just stop answering his phone when he was too busy. But that probably wouldn’t stop his blond friend from bursting through his door for an unannounced visit. Just the very thought made Sebastian already feel exasperated.

He was brought out of his train of thought by the sound of a tree branch snapping. Sebastian’s eyes snapped up to the source of the sound, a small bit of panic rushing over him. He calmed down when he saw where—or rather who—the sound was coming from. Farmer Luna had made her way out of the mines that were close to his house. She had a pickaxe in hand, a sword at her hip, and a backpack full of… rocks? She was dressed in her typical overalls and heavy looking mountain boots. Her wild curls were kept in place in her usual ponytail. As she stepped into the glow of the moonlight, he noticed she was covered in dirt and her overalls were stained with slim. Despite that, she still managed to smile when their eyes met.

“Oh hey!” She greeted him as she picked up the pace to meet him. He stayed in his spot, nodding in her direction. He was in a sour mood and didn’t trust his words enough to speak.

“I was just thinking about you.” She said, almost too casually.

“Huh?” He eyed her; a bit taken aback by her statement.

She seemed to have realized what she’d just said, her features melting into a slight panic, “Oh, I meant, uh…” She averted her gaze, eyes focused on the lake. Her hands fished through her pockets. Her face relaxed when she found whatever she was looking for. She finally met his gaze, almost sheepishly. “I saw this, and I just… thought of you?” She held something in her closed hand, holding it closer to him. He stared at it for a fraction of a second, his brain not exactly catching up with the current situation. The sound of a nearby frog croaking brought him out of his stupor. He opened his hand and allowed her to place whatever she was holding into his open palm. Whatever it was, it was light and cool to the touch. Taking a closer look, he realized it was a quartz. It shimmered in an array of colors under the dazzling moonlight.

“Huh. I really like this.” He said simply, still in awe from receiving the small token, “Thanks.”

That statement seemed to make her smile, and instantly Sebastian felt his sour mood melt right off him. Her smile was almost blinding. He looked to the lake to distract himself. Clearing his throat, he asked, “What about this made you think about me?” He had to admit; he was curious. Looking at the quartz, there was nothing about it that would fit his outward aesthetic. He did like to collect gems from the mines on days he was feeling bored, but surly Luna didn’t know that.

She looked surprised by his question, eyes avoiding his gaze. The gesture looked almost timed. Finally, she looked up at him, the previous shyness had washed over and was replaced with a teasing look of defiance, “That’s a secret.” She whispered, so low he almost didn’t hear her. But he did. And he couldn’t help it, but he allowed a tiny chuckle to escape his lips. “Alright.” He surrendered, “Keep your secrets. I’ll find out eventually.”

The tips of Luna’s lips twitched into a smirk, “We’ll see about that.” The two stood side by side, the sounds of the lake soothing their senses. For the first time since the two had been alone together, the silence wasn’t awkward. No, it was comfortable. Calming. A sweet blanket of peace washed over them. It was nice. They stood there, in their peaceful silence, with only each other and the moon’s light as company. All good things must eventually come to an end, of course. Sebastian knew that. But he couldn’t help but feel just a little disappointed when she said, “It’s getting late. I should go.”

He didn’t look at her. He simply put his cigarette to his lips and shrugged, “Yeah…”

With that, she left. Walking down the path that leads to her farm, she didn’t hesitate to turn around and give him a small wave goodbye. He gave her a wave of his own and that seemed to satisfy her. As he watched her disappear, it was like a magic spell had been lifted. He suddenly remembered why he was outside in the first place. That’s right, he was procrastinating. He groaned when he remembered his long night of work that was ahead of him. He looked to the cool quartz he still held in his hand. Perhaps it could bring back that calming peace he enjoyed but only a few seconds ago.

(Chapter 8)

#stardew valley #stardew valley sebastian #stardew fanfic #stardew sebastian #sebastian x farmer

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whatzaoverwatch · 4 years

Text

The Reaper of the Opera Chapter 9: The Man Behind the Mask

Time for some backstories! It’s going to be a lot different than the original story so take this as you will.

First Prev Next

Nighttime/Managers Office

The group had made themselves to the managers office. Taking in the previous events as much as they could. Genji sat by your side while Hanzo remained close by. You remained quiet with your hand upon your collarbone, tracing where the ring once rested. Trying to ease yourself from the return of the man that haunted you. Lucio had been reading the book he was give of the performance they were forced into. The confusion on his face was evident on how much he wasn’t a fan of the work. Hana left in a rather distress situation by his side, mumbling to him every now and again with a few saddened sobs. Fareeha and Jesse remained by Anas side while she was sat down before everyone else. A tea freshly made for anyone to take part of. Reinhardt and Torbjorn sat at their assigned desks to take in the situation. The smallest of the group rather determined to figure this whole thing out.

“Alright Ana, we want to hear everything,” Torbjorn demanded, a lot more bitter than he was before, “who exactly is this Reaper and what does he want with this company?”

Ana took a sip from her tea, taking a second to have herself composed. Clearly uneasy with herself in this situation. Her eye scanning the room to take in their rather tense expressions. Her sight fixated on you before she finally spoke.

“When the Overwatch Opera Company had opened its doors, the public only knew of one owner: Jack Morrison. But there was another who had a say on the theatres creation. His name was Gabriel Reyes.”

Jesse’s brows furrowed by the name. A hand over his metallic arm in silence. Looks around the room were seen by the unfamiliar name. Fareeha looked to her mother as if she had remembered something.

“He was that costume designer from years ago. The one you always told me about.” Fareeha spoke, feeling Ana place a hand over her own.

“You were so young habibti, he was there the day that you were born. He and Jack became your godfathers. Always making your most beautiful dresses,” She recalled, almost imagining the little girl that was so eager to see the shows long ago, “But he was more than that, he took care of the backstage, assisted with the performances, helped build and finance the theatre from scratch. Even took in Jesse so many years ago as an assistant.”

“We don’t need to go into that detail mam.” Jesse was quick to speak up, the memories still too raw in his head to have brought up. Ana nodding in understanding.

“My point is: he was a huge asset to the creation of this theatre. If anything, he was just as much of an owner as Jack was.”

“How come we hadn’t heard about him? I never saw his name in any of the articles I had read.” Reinhardt questioned, taking a teacup for himself to have a drink. Ana rested her cup to the side, her face softening at the memories.

“When we were opening the building, we were only allow to give the manager title to one person. He thought it’d be more suited for Jack to bring in the younger folk. He was happy that Jack took on the title while he took in the behind the scenes work. However, the glory of the opening didn’t last,” She confessed, her hands now folded in her lap, “We were not selling the tickets as well as we did at the opening. Tastes changed overtime on what the public wanted to see. Trying to please the more modern attendees with some new work. Nothing was ever enough. Jack and Gabriel had argued about whether to keep with tradition or aim to please the newer generation. Gabriel wanted to try some of his own creations, but they would’ve never impressed the critics. What was truly the downfall was the incident.”

“Incident?” Reinhardt perked up, gasping at a sudden realization, “You mean the stage accident which caused the entire theatre to burn down years ago? Many lives were lost that day.”

“The very one,” Ana stated, her head lowering at the memory, “A broken fuse caused the entire stage to go up in flames. Gabriel insisted he checked everything, but I found himself becoming distracted from his work. Jack and I tried to rescue as many as we could. Unfortunately, we couldn’t save everyone, and Gabriel was left behind in the building. Not a single trace of him could be found. We suffered greatly from that tragedy, losing money and our former supporters thought that it was a great risk to uphold the company. Having to rely on wealthy patrons and the community for support.”

“Our father included,” Hanzo recalled, having the attention upon the two brothers, “He was well known in preserving classic art. Part of his fortune would always be given to the theatre. Even [Name]s father contributed to that cause.”

Having you remember your father taking you to the theatre, drawing you into the passion for music in the first place. The theatre was also where you had met Genji long ago. An act of kindness and charity was what started all of this in the first place. Feeling Genjis hand over yours, your fingers curled around his in comfort.

“Sojiro and [Names Father] adored the company, they had wished for you three to take part of the company someday. I suppose it was fate for you two to return after all of these years.” Ana claimed, looking over to you and Genji. Torbjorn grunted to clear the attention away.

“As much as anyone wants to hear the history, I very much want to know about the present. Unless you are meaning to tell us that this Gabriel Reyes came back from the dead and became the Reaper.” Torbjorn wondered, scratching his beard while Ana looked to him with certainty.

“That is exactly what I mean to tell you,” The air hanging thick around everyone. Jesse lowly cursed while the others exchanged glances, “I thought for so long that he was dead. Jack and I even held a memorial. We lost a great man and a dear friend. It wasn’t until he had visited us one fateful night. We thought it was all a dream, but he made certain that it was real. He wasn’t the joyful, charismatic man that he once was. He was angry, cold, and cruel. Blaming us for leaving him behind to become what he was. Thinking that we had forgotten about him. All of him, body and mind, were taken in that fire.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Fareeha demanded, looking to her mother for any reason to hold such a secret. Ana turned to her daughter with a saddened look.

“He knew us too well Fareeha. He wasn’t afraid to take what we loved most. He would’ve come after you, he threatened to take Vincent from Jack. Telling us never to speak of him, letting his memory be held without his presence. He made us break the bonds of our loved ones. Sam left because of how much I pushed him away,” Ghosting over her left ring finger, a faint mark to where a wedding ring once rested. Grimacing at what occurred, she covered her face to compose herself, “Jack no longer wanted to be held responsible for him, so he gave up his manager position. He told me how he wanted to find peace. It hurt to see my friend drinking away when he had lost Vincent. When he left that day months ago, I knew Gabriel had gotten to him.”

“Why didn’t you leave?” Reinhardt asked, broken in his words as he knew the burdens that the older woman had to carry. Ana lifted her head, drawing her attention towards you.

“When I took in [Name] after her fathers passing, I had every notion of taking her and Fareeha with me,” You lifted her gaze to see the pain in your mentors eye, “But Gabriel heard [Name] sing. Wanting to know about the siren that echoed in his mind. He wanted her to become what he couldn’t. He instructed that I take her in as a student, while he would train her voice. At first, I believed that it was out of spite, to take in another that I cherished. But then I learned the truth.”

“That is?” Torbjorn asked, seeing the two of you give each other a silent stare. It was you who had spoken up to answer.

“He fell in love with me.”

Genji looked down at you with shock. Everyone having their eyes on you now as the pieces were put together. He had devoted himself to train you and take you away for so long. His words started to make sense on how he wished to not be forgotten. You are his only chance of escaping that isolation that he found himself in. You weren’t sure what he truly hid behind the mask, but it was enough to enrage him when you tried to look. The anger terrified you, now you found justification for his fury. Genji squeezed your hand once more with a hint of pain in his eyes. His emotions were not seen from you as Ana spoke once more.

“I began to see the old Gabriel again whenever he listened to your voice. Somehow you managed to bring that side of him, even if he no longer wanted to be seen,” Ana spoke with a frown, “I don’t expect your forgiveness, I have placed you and everyone else in great danger with this secret. I never wanted him to take it this far, but I fear on what he will do if we stray from his orders again.”

“So, if you had told any of us, none of this wouldn’t have happened?” Jesse asked, voice cold as his focus was on his arm. Ana turned to him, hearing the sour infliction in his voice. She tried to reach over to him for comfort, knowing Gabriel raised him like a son.

“Jesse-“

He quickly got up from his seat, denying any of the sympathy from Ana. Spinning around with a look of anger in his eyes.

“Reyes always had something to hide. This whole time he tried to raise me better than anyone else, trying to teach me to be better than I thought myself as. Even trying to save my ass during the fire all those years ago and here he is turning against his words?” He spat, pacing back ant forth before he slammed his fist against the desk, “The damn bastard is playing us all! We are nothing but a fucking show to him. I say you take us to where he is, and we settle this now.”

“McCree, he knows this theatre more than any of us,” Reinhardt stated, looking to Ana for any hope, “If he has been watching over us, then he has every intention of having a back up plan if we don’t listen.”

“Then we play his game,” Genji finally spoke, everyone's eyes now on the younger Shimada as he rose from his seat. Even you were curious on that suggestion, “All he wants is for his show to go on, right? Then let us give him the show.”

“What??” The two managers shouted in unison. Rising from their seats in disbelief of his words.

“Are you really sure you want to do this show? It’s already messed up from what I am reading. He really is living in the olden days.” Lucio piped up, placing the book down with a huff.

“Whether the show is successful or not, he wants it to be heard. The only way he will know if his piece is being played is if he is attending it himself,” Turning to Hanzo, he placed his hands on the sides of his arms, “We conceal the theatre, guarding it with our men at every corner. The moment he makes his appearance, we strike him down.”

Hanzo furrowed his brows from Genjis plan, only to find himself invested on the idea. The managers exchanging glances to find themselves giving into the plot as well. Fareeha was left to comfort Ana for that moment. McCree pointed to Genji with a smirk.

“I like the way you think, we corner him like the damn rat he is.” He stated.

“Finally, a good idea for once. We will do whatever we can to keep the place locked up tight.” Torbjorn agreed with crossed arms. Reinhardt raises his hand as if the ask a question.

“And what of the audience? Won’t they feel uncomfortable with the amount of guards around them?” Reinhardt pondered, trying to find some sense in the idea. Genji turned to the two men, thinking upon it with a hum.

“We will proclaim it as part of the show. Theatre these days always include audience interaction. It’s a cheap but cunning gimmick to hide what is really going on,” He plotted, pacing back and forth in thought, “so long as [Name] takes the lead role, he will come to see her. We can have everyone set up an-“

“No!”

You made your voice heard, rising from your seat in exasperation. His plan being withered into your brain, shaking your head on how it will plan out.

“Can’t you see that’s what he wants? He wants me, he wants me to sing for him,” Approaching Genji, you stepped in front of him in fear, “If you give him what he wants he will win. I won’t do it!”

“Oh great, NOW she doesn’t want to sing,” Hana huffed from her corner, wagging her finger at you with a glare, “You know that most of this is your fault. All because he wanted some pretty face new girl to show me up. Why don’t you actually play along and do what he says. In fact, why don’t we let him take her so he doesn’t have to bother us anymore?”

“Hana!” Lucio turned to her, having you shrivel up with guilt at those words. Hana not regretting her words from the bitterness she felt from Reapers insults.

You placed your hands over your head as you could hear the whispers once more. This was your fault. As Ana had said, he was drawn to you by your singing. All the pieces fell together so perfectly. If only you had shut away the voices. If only you weren’t a fool to be deceived by his songs. The angel of music your father made you believe would come for you. Shutting your eyes tightly, only to feel Genjis hands over yours.

“[Name], don’t listen to Hana. I don’t intend for him to take you away. We just need to follow his instructions.” Hearing Genjis words, you stepped away from him quickly.

“So, I am to be bait?” You whimpered, seeing the regret in his eyes, “Genji, you said me that you would protect me from him. That is what you promised me! What if your plan fails? What if he already knows what is going on? He will take me again! I will never be able to escape him. I can’t do this...I won’t!”

“[Name]…” He went to reach for you, causing you to smack his hand away. The action leaving everyone drawn back. Everything you had repressed began to crumble down before you. Tears building in your eyes, shaking uncontrollably before heading to the door.

“I need to be alone!” You cried, pushing past Hanzo and slamming the door behind you. Genji went towards the door, calling to you in distress.

“[Name] wait!” Halted by Hanzo, he gave him a stern expression.

“Leave her be, Genji.” He instructed his younger brother, watching his concern be directed towards the doorway.

“You ask too much of her,” Ana spoke, turning with a frown, “She is right, he may very well know of this plan.”

“So long as you remain here and not speak about it.” Jesse glare at the older woman sternly. Receiving the same cold look in return.

“Do you wish to imprison me? If you think I am some tattle tale then you are wrong. How long do you intend on keeping me here?” Watching as McCrees arm rested on the desk before her, a subtle reminder of what had happened.

“Only until all of this blows over. No offense but my trust in you right now isn’t in your favour mam,” Leaning against the desk, he points at the brothers with determination, “We will follow the plan, just make sure [Name] is prepared to take her place.”

“Understood.” Hanzo nodded, leaving Genji to worry about you in the meantime. Reinhardt slumped back into his seat, rubbing his head with a sigh.

“So, the show must go on.”

To be continued

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stardew-imagines-me · 5 years

Note

That was quite fast, I hope this settles down. But I do like to ask something last minute, so here it goes! Can I ask something for Alex, or someone else if you prefer. Maybe him finally feeling like he is nothing like his father, and seeing his s/o and his kid(s) as proof of his realization? Hope you take it easy! :D

This is really long but jiodwoiehdiowe I loved this prompt so much!!

It took a long time to get to this point; Alex being able to watch his family run around the farm, dodging large spurts of water that whipped from the hose that you had grasped between your hands, yelling loudly at your children who clutched at their sides laughing. Teenagers, children. Sometimes he’d lay awake at night just thinking about the events of his life, thinking about how much further he had gotten than his father ever did.

He’s had these realizations many times before, but each one different from the last. His first was when you two had just gotten back from a long day of tending to the animals, pulling crops and catching fish in preparations of expanding your home. Alex hadn’t questioned the idea, even if he did, it was your home after all and he was just grateful you let him live with you - he knew you’d scorn him lightly and pout if you knew he still had thoughts like these.

Confidence, something he knows all too well and yet, still lacks the correct amount. Confidence you slowly helped him build in himself, the right kind.

That night, you had flung yourself over his side on the bed, freshly showered and dripping. He laughed and tried pushing you off of him when you would shove your sopping wet hair into the back of his neck - truth be told, it was something so small and domestic that left Alex aching for more affection, more love to receive and give.

Eventually, you settle down next to him, his arm wrapped around the side of your waist and pulling half of your body under his so you two could shield the cold of nightfall. He was nodding off to sleep when you suddenly blurted only thing that had been on your mind for months.

“Let’s have kids,”

You swore you’ve never seen Alex so panicked and shocked before, and it took everything inside of you to not flinch when he reeled back from your touch. It hurt, was there some misconceptions? Maybe this really was all too sudden..

“What..?” He asked quietly. You knew not to take it personally, but you couldn’t mask the disappoint you felt.

“I.. Alex, I want to have kids with you,”

He looked somewhat troubled as you two laid there, staring at each other. “Sorry, this is so sudden - I wasn’t sure.. I didn’t… I’m sorry. It’s just, I see you around Vincent and Jas and you always look so happy, and since we’ve been married for nearly two years now, that, god I don’t know,” You’re rambling tirelessly, averting your eyes as you sit up and face him.

“Are we not ready?” He hates how sad you look, he never wants to make you sad but honestly, he’s terrified right now. He sighs and brings himself up as well, resting a hand on your thigh and looking up at you with as much vulnerability as he can.

“It’s not that we aren’t ready, I really do love children, I always have. And I love you,” His hand clenches slightly as he thinks about his words, “But I don’t know if I’ll be able to be a good dad. Mine was never around, he left when I was young, you know this, and what if -” He’s cringing at his own words.

It’s odd seeing someone so strong, so beautiful shrink into themselves. You wish you could kiss it away, you wish you could tell him he doesn’t have to explain but he does need this, it’s something that’s hard for him to talk about on his own.

“I want so badly to have children, I want to see you holding our kids and I want to complain about how hard it is to raise them. I want to teach my daughter how to play gridball and my son how to read.. I can’t promise you I won’t be like him though, I can’t even promise myself,”

Together you cried and talked about the future, reassuring that everything would be alright and he would never be like his father. Going to bed well past midnight was worth it since you watched the worry dissipate in his eyes. This wouldn’t be the first talk, and you were ready for that. It’s a long road towards healing, the least you could do was whisper gently and circle your thumb against his cheek as he fell asleep beside you.

The second time was when he held his daughter tight against his chest after a long night of laying down, getting up, feeding, rocking, laying down and repeating. It had gotten to the point where you got up against your better judgment and helped him put your daughter to sleep. Alex was sat in the nursery’s chair, just staring down at his precious daughter in his arms when he finally looked up when you had cupped the side of his face and kissed his temple.

“She loves you so much,” you mumble tiredly against his head. He realizes he’s crying when you wipe off the bottom of his chin with your sleeve. He does his best to muffle the exhausted, overwhelmed sob that starts to rip and tear roughly against his chest. He’s so in love with his tiny family, that was one thing his father didn’t learn.

“Oh, my baby,” you soothed softly, letting him cry quietly while your daughter slept in his arms. Maybe he might be a good dad someday, he was already doing better than his own, but that hadn’t stomped all the fear time in its entirety.

“Let’s have another,” You watched in hushed laughter as Alex cried harder, letting out wet laughter and lazy nods. His tiny family was going to grow at this rate if they had more nights like these.

One after another, days passed swiftly and he found himself caught in the events of every day life. His little daughter became a big sister in no time, a baby brother of her own to care after and soon to be a baby girl to follow right after him. You had a good laugh with Eveyln and George as Alex looked absolutely beat at the talk of a fourth child. Perhaps that would be a good pillow talk topic, but right now as your three children played in the yard with Sam’s kids, he was satisfied with where he was in the present.

His insecurities seemed to be put on the back burner as he helped his eldest daughter put on her backpack for the start of preschool and helped both his other kids into their highchairs for a quick breakfast. When they did reappear out of the blue, they were stomped back down when his baby boy would call his “daddy” over just so he could help him draw pictures. The pride he felt hearing his children call him daddy was immense and endless.

His confidence as a father grew with his children. His youngest daughter was co-president of book club in their 5th grade class with Elliot’s son and although he himself wasn’t the best at reading, he would always help her learn new words or phrases.

His eldest daughter was loud and energetic, taking after himself in every way possible. He beamed when she would explain how her coach scouted her out for the high school gridball team, explaining how she would most certainly be one of the most gifted in her team. He might’ve cried a bit that night when you had cuddled up next to him.

“She said I was the best dad,”

His son made him just as proud as his daughters. He was very interested in art, and best friend’s with Leah’s daughter who was another gifted child in their middle school. He had watched his little boy scribble trees onto blue craft paper grow into (still) his little boy who had won art competitions with his paintings at such a young age. His children were one of the things that kept him working, moving and experiencing.

“Thank you,” Alex whispered against your bare neck, ignoring the dripping water from your hair that drenched the collar of his shirt. Ironic considering this was the exact situation that got you two into this in the first place.

“Hmm? For what?” You ask, turning around from under him and wrapping your arms around his neck.

“Thank you for granting me three beautiful children and keeping me strong,” It was a short sentence, only lasting so many words but the meaning behind each and every one of them was sincere. It took years to get here, but he was finally able to admit that he would never end up like his father.

“I love you so much,” He whispered against your lips and kissed you passionately. It took years, but he found love that he never expected and a life that he never experienced himself when he was younger - a life that he used to be scared of.

It took a long time, but he’s no longer afraid; he’s proud of you, of your children and how far he made it even when his father doubted every fiber of his being. Maybe, just maybe, he had always known he would be more of a man than his father ever had been.

#sdv alex #sdv imagines #sdv headcanons #sdv angst #angst #sdv

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brideofedoras · 4 years

Text

The Loft: Redemption

Disclaimer: the usual

Word count: 2400+

Warnings: Mentions of past abuse.

Rating: 18+

Chapter 4

"Kenna, what am I going to do?" Sam curled up on her cousin's sofa with a half pint of cheesecake brownie surprise ice cream.

Kenna grabbed a spoon and dug into her monster cookie ice cream. "My heart is yelling at me to kick your ass for even thinking of your boss like that," she admitted after taking a bite of her dessert. "But my brain is telling me you've reached the next step in your healing process."

Sam shoved her spoon into the chocolate dessert she held. "Ten years, Ken... Ten years and I'm still processing, I'm still healing."

"Everyone heals at their own pace," her cousin reached over to rub the brunette's shoulder. "Maybe..."

She shook her head. "Nope, not going back to therapy," she toyed with the spoon. "It's bad enough I missed a day and a half of work, I'm not about to dive right back in and miss an hour or two a week. I really don't want to have to explain to Mr. Stevens why I'm needing a longer lunch, or even lie about it. That man has a serious Bullshit Radar."

Kenna snorted. "Considering his pa--"

Sam held up her hand to stop her cousin. "Don't go there, Ken," she warned softly. "And don't even try to compare his past indiscretions to what Terrance did to me. He's nothing like that monster. I was not a willing participant."

"No, you weren't," the blonde set her ice cream on the coffee table and leaned over to hug the other woman. "I just don't want to see you hurt, Sam."

Sam nodded as she leaned into her cousin's embrace. "I just want to feel normal," her voice was muffled in Kenna's shoulder. "I don't want to be frightened of being turned on by a wink or a smile or the way he loosens his tie and rolls up his sleeves. I don't want to wake up crying from a dream about him." She pulled back to wipe at the tears burning her eyes. "I don't want to be afraid of how I feel for him, Ken. But I can't... I don't know what to do."

"First, we're going to eat our ice cream before it melts," Kenna squeezed her shoulders. "Tomorrow we'll get our hair done, get a tattoo," she grinned when Sam perked up. "Ink therapy helps. Maybe a new outfit or two for work."

Sam pursed her lips at that. "Not sure how that'll help."

"New outfits make us feel better," she shrugged. "But there is one thing that might work, if you're willing to give it a go."

The brunette looked up from her ice cream. "What? Ken, this better not be something crazy like getting body parts pierced."

Kenna chuckled, scrunching up her face. "Nope, no way in hell. Just my ears and nose. No," she sobered up. "My boss' sister runs a support group out of her basement on Saturday afternoons for warriors. I'd really like to take you to a meeting. Just one, if you don't think it's the right fit for you, no pressure to keep going back."

Sam frowned at her. "I don't do group therapy."

"It's not actually therapy, just a group of people who've been through a similar hell sharing their experiences and helping each other. I've gone a couple of times just to get a feel for it, they're a great group. Just give it a shot, one shot, and if you don't like it I won't bring it up again," Kenna turned back to her ice cream. "Dammit, now I want cream cheese brownies."

Sam giggled. "I know a great bakery, we can swing by tomorrow. I need to place an order for a meeting on Tuesday anyway."

"You really love your job," the blonde smiled. "Or you're just a workaholic."

She grinned. "Not a workaholic, I really do love my job. I'm happy there."

"That's all that matters," Kenna said before popping another spoonful of her ice cream into her mouth. "So, are we on for tomorrow?"

Sam nodded. "Yes."

September 25, 2016-- Kenna talked me into going to a support group meeting this afternoon. I didn't want to go but at the same time I'm sick and tired of losing sleep over nightmares and strange dreams about Vincent. I didn't talk at the meeting, I just sat back and observed and listened. There were two girls and a boy in the group. Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen years old. The ages I'd been when...

It was all I could do to keep it together, to not cry or scream or rage. The others in the group shared their recent nightmares, their fears, their dreams. One felt like she was ready to move on and take that next step with her boyfriend, but was scared to death at the same time. She talked about how she chickened out several times going to Victoria's Secret until her sister offered to go with her.

I know deep down that this is something I need to do for myself but I don't think I can rehash everything all over again. Maybe I'll go again, since they meet on Saturday afternoons. It's an odd time to meet, I guess. It makes sense, it's not interfering with work or extracurricular activities, and it's early enough in the afternoon that it doesn't interfere with any family time.

I just want my life back. I just want to be able to go somewhere and not be afraid of a man looking at me or commenting on my looks. I want to be able to have the guts to stand up for myself at a work meeting (I haven't had to worry about that since that first one, Vincent put them in their places for questioning my knowledge). I want to be able to look a man in the eye and not want to throw up if I see something that scares me. I want to be able to wake up from a dream and not cry because it was a good dream. The kind of dream women should be happy to have. Even if that dream is about their boss. Like the dreams I've been having of Vincent ever since Tuesday when he brought me home.

I'm scared of what those dreams mean. I started to keep a separate journal just for those dreams. They scare me, they unsettle me, but they are nothing like the nightmares of what I had survived. These dreams, the ones about Vincent, leave me feeling torn in two. A simple touch of his hand at the small of my back when he walks me to my car at the end of the day. The stroke of his fingers against mine when he takes something I'm handing him. A hand on my shoulder when I'm pointing something out on a blueprint and he's leaning over me to take a look. Last night the dream was different. Very different. We were laying on the couch in his office, him leaning over me. He had my hand in his, resting over my heart and he was brushing his free hand over my hair and looking into my eyes with the softest eyes I've ever seen. The thing that stood out the most about the dream was his bare shoulders and the blanket over us. Yet nothing happened in the dream.

I was happy in that dream, too. I think that's what scared me the most about it. Feeling happy and safe in the dream and waking up crying because it was just a dream. Then freaking out because it was about my boss. I don't know what to do...

Sam frowned as she drummed her fingers lightly over the keyboard. "Mr. Stevens?"

"You know you can call me Vincent," he responded.

She leaned forward so she could look through his door. "I have an email from a Douglas Anderson regarding a meeting at one, but there's nothing on the schedule until Thursday." She saw his shoulders stiffen before he slowly turned to look at her.

"Sonofabitch, I forgot to put it on the calendar," he groaned, scrubbing his hands over his face. "I scheduled it Tuesday afternoon. Lunch meeting. God dammit," he shoved his fingers through his hair. "There's no time to reschedule, I've got site visits this week and I need to get that damned blueprint done--"

"You won't need to reschedule," Sam pushed away from her desk and walked to the doorway separating their spaces. "How many people are you expecting?"

"Six. I don't have anything ready, Monroe," he sighed heavily. "No reports, no outline, nothing."

"Give me something to work with, Mr-- Vincent," she braced her hand on the door frame. "I'll call in an order to the sub shop and the bakery now and get the conference room set up. Once you get me the information I need I'll get the packets put together." She walked into his office and picked up his coffee mug. "You need a break from your design, you've been grumbling over it for an hour and your coffee is cold."

"There's not enough time, Monroe," he watched her as she headed to the bathroom to pour out the cold coffee and rinse the cup. "There's no way--"

She leveled a glare at him from the bathroom door. "I'll have you know I've pulled miracles out of thin air before, Mr. Stevens. We will be ready in time for that meeting." She made quick work of fixing a fresh cup of coffee the way he liked it before fetching the emergency bottle of bourbon from the cabinet behind her desk. She hesitated before pouring a couple of fingers of the liquor. Sam glanced toward Vincent's office.

He sat at his desk, head in his hands. "I never should've taken you home that day, I thought I could handle it but clearly I can't," he griped to himself. "Couldn't concentrate once I got back because it was too damned quiet in here without your music."

Sam shook her head as she grabbed a paper plate and dished up a cinnamon sugar sprinkled donut. Armed with the coffee and the treat she returned to Vincent's office. "I was actually pretty worthless Tuesday afternoon," she admitted as she set the food and drink on his desk. "I tried to do some work on the laptop and wound up falling asleep."

"I figured you would," he looked at the donut. "I had one earlier."

"Yes, key word being earlier," she nodded. "Eat up."

He chuckled. "Do me a favor, will ya, Monroe?" He lifted his head when she started toward her office.

Sam stopped at the door and looked over her shoulder. "That all depends on the favor."

"Never quit," his hazel eyes locked with hers. "Don't you ever decide to quit on me."

"I'm not planning on going anywhere," she shook her head. "Someday I hope to do what you do."

"It's not an easy job," he groaned and shot a glare at the drawing table.

"If I wanted an easy job I wouldn't be here," she countered before returning to her desk.

Three hours later Vincent walked into the conference room to find Sam setting out the wrapped sandwiches, bags of chips, and a container of chocolate chip cream cheese brownies. "Need any help?"

She looked over her shoulder with a smile, "Nah, I got it, Boss."

His pulse quickened at the sight of that bright smile. No, Stevens. "What kind of sandwiches did you order?" He tore his eyes from her to focus on setting his laptop up and connect it with the projector.

"BLTs with ham, chicken, turkey or beef. Nothing fancy."

"You order anything for yourself?"

"Not a sandwich person," she grimaced. "Kenna's bringing me Chinese."

His head snapped up. "That's rude. You know I love Chinese," the look he gave her was a cross between a glare and betrayal.

"Don't worry, Vincent, I asked her to order something for you as well," she reached up to pat his shoulder on her way out of the conference room.

He caught her small hand in his when she pulled away. "You're a lifesaver, Monroe, I hope you know that," he murmured when she looked back at him.

A pretty pink blush colored her cheeks. "Just doing my job, Vincent."

He shook his head, taking a small step forward. "A logical choice would have been to push the meeting to another day. You pulled this off with, what, three hours notice. Linda wouldn't have been able to do this, and God knows the others wouldn't have even tried. This... this isn't 'just doing your job', Sam. This was going above and beyond, and I don't know if I can thank you enough for saving my ass." His eyes dropped to her lips when she uttered a soft gasp.

The urge to kiss her nearly overwhelmed him and he forced himself to take a step back and release her hand.

"You don't need to thank me," she slowly pulled her hand back.

"Yes, I do," he shoved his hands in the pockets of his slacks. "I'm serious, Sam."

"You can thank me later," she stepped forward and reached out to take his tie in her hands.

Vincent held his breath when his heart kicked a little harder. When she straightened the knot in his tie he huffed out a nervous laugh.

"Your tie was crooked," she stepped back. "And your hair's a mess. You don't need to give the contractors the wrong idea," she walked out of the room.

He stared after her, stunned silent by that little comment and the sudden barrage of thoughts that flooded his mind. Thoughts he knew better than to have about her.

Was she teasing him? Or was she warning him?

"God, I need to fix this," he muttered before following her into the office. "Sam?"

She turned to face him, her face a brighter pink. "I don't know why I said that," she apologized softly. "I..."

"Don't apologize for teasing me," relief flooded through him when he realized she wasn't warning him, that he hadn't screwed up, that she hadn't read his damned mind. "You shocked me, certainly never expected you to say something like that to me."

She giggled. "I surprised myself," she pulled her chair back and sat down. "I normally don't pop off like that."

He walked into the bathroom to fix his hair. "It's all right, Sam," he chuckled. "I wouldn't let them think anything like that about you anyway."

He doubted anyone would believe that anyway, not when her clothes weren't wrinkled, makeup not smudged, hair not tangled. "Don't go there, Stevens," he warned himself, bracing his hands on the sink and glaring at his reflection. "Don't want to lose her."

#the loft #vincent stevens #karl urban #redemption #slow burn #romance

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penguin-writes-books · 5 years

Text

Little White Lies - Chapter 1

TJ has a habit of telling little white lies about his life. They're never big, just a 'nothing happened' here, a 'no, of course not' there. He knows the truth must be revealed eventually. He just doesn't expect it to happen all at once. But when he and Cyrus get paired up for an assignment in health class, the truth finds its way out.

TJ woke to his little sister shaking his arm. Opening his eyes, he glanced at the clock on his desk. 1:03 am, it read, taunting him with its jarringly bright red numbers. The night was dark and cold as he pulled his heavy, warm blanket closer around him, finding himself face to face with Molly's bright blue eyes. "Molly?" he asked, sitting up in bed. "What's wrong?" "I had an accident," Molly whimpered. Her eyes were watery as she spoke, like frigid oceans, complete with salty waves of tears brimming at her eyelids. "Oh," TJ sighed. He sat up, swinging his feet over the side of his bed and wincing as they touched the cold wood floor. "What about Amber?" "She's getting rid of my sheets. She told me to come ask you for extras." TJ nodded groggily, rubbing his eyes and padding across his small room as quietly as possible. Something in him vaguely registered that the old habit was long since obsolete, and he reminded himself that their dad was long since gone, but he tiptoed regardless. He shivered as he pulled out all the extra bedding in his closet. Clearly, his dad had gotten tired of paying their heating bill again. No, he was just cold. Dad wasn't around anymore, he reminded himself. They'd moved months ago. "Here you go, kiddo," he said, handing Molly most of the extra blankets and sheets, save for the extra comforter he threw on his bed. "Give those to Amber, okay?" Molly nodded and quietly padded out of the room, swaying under the weight of the bedding clutched in her arms. Sighing, TJ lay back down in bed, resting on his back with his eyes trained on the ceiling above. However, he was now coherently aware of the cold seeping under his blankets, and could seldom find it within himself to take even a deep breath, let alone to fall asleep. TJ spent the rest of the night similarly, tossing and turning in a vain (and in the end fruitless) attempt to stay warm. His alarm went off at exactly 6:30, and TJ didn't so much as flinch. Instead, he blinked. Once. Twice. Three times. "Yeah, okay," he sighed, sitting up in bed. His eyelids were heavy, his ears red with cold, and his room was flooded with nearly Stygian darkness as he stood up. He padded silently into Amber and Molly's room, flicking the lights on to wake them. Molly woke immediately, whereas Amber simply rolled over, throwing a pillow in TJ's general direction before rolling back over. "Go get breakfast, Molls. I'll wake Amber up," TJ whispered to Molly. She nodded, making her way out of their room and leaving TJ to deal with Amber. "I hate you," Amber mumbled. "We have to be at school in two hours," TJ reminded her, raising an eyebrow pointedly. "Fuck, you're right." "I thought so," TJ teased, walking back out the door and closing it behind him. "I still hate you!" Amber called after him. "You always will," TJ assured her with a chuckle, before turning down the hall. He found Molly on her toes, straining to reach for a box of cereal someone had accidentally put on a higher shelf than normal. Smiling, he pulled the box down, handing it to her. Molly grinned, clumsily pouring it into a bowl. "Hey, kiddos." Their mom said, having just stepped into the kitchen. She kissed Molly's head and ruffled TJ's hair fondly. "Where's that sister of yours?" "Getting ready," TJ laughed. "I should have known," Jennifer responded, nodding. "Molls, you almost ready to go?" "Mhm," Molly mumbled through a mouthful of cereal. She quickly downed the rest of it, before rushing off to get dressed for school. She came back after a few moments, dressed slightly haphazardly but dressed nonetheless. "Ready Freddy?" Jennifer asked. Molly nodded with a smile, picking up her pink backpack from the couch. "Alright, TJ, I have parent-teacher conferences after school today, and I have to grade students' tests in between. Can you two pick Molly up after school? Get her a snack, get her to bed, make sure she stays alive, you know the drill." "Yeah, of course. I take it you won't be home before you have to get to Sam's?" "Sorry kiddo," Jennifer said, nodding. "Unfortunately, customers at 24-hour diners wait for no man... or woman. Fridays are always the worst." "It's fine," TJ chuckled. "I'll see you tomorrow morning, or tonight if I'm up late enough." "Perfect," Jennifer said, kissing the top of TJ's head. "Tell Amber I said goodbye, will you?" "I always do."

TJ sat down in his usual place next to Cyrus just as the bell rang, signaling the beginning of health class. "Just in time," he sighed, slouching against their table as he plopped his books on it. "Locker got stuck." "Ugh, I hate that," Cyrus sighed sympathetically. "Alright class, may I have your attention please?" Mrs. Bailey asked, clasping her hands together. "Now, I know you've all heard me mention your big end of tri project, and the time has finally come to execute it." A chorus of groans spread through the class. "Now, don't get too excited, I haven't even told you what you're doing." "Please tell me we're not protecting an egg, doll, or bag of flour," someone groaned. "No, nothing like that, Adam," Mrs. Bailey assured, waving a hand dismissively. "You are going to pair up, and until the end of the trimester, one of you will learn everything about theother. At the end of the trimester, you will turn in a paper on your partner and their life. Questions?" "What does this have to do with health?" a student asked. "This is the social part of social health," Mrs. Bailey chuckled. "Are we supposed to be, like, stalking our partner?" Ella McMasters asked from the back of the room. "Part of me wants to say yes, just to see how far you'll take this. However, I'm pretty sure I'm not legally allowed to condone stalking, so no. You will ask each other questions, like normal, non-sociopathic teenagers." "Wait, so one person just has to answer questions about themself?" "I think you'll find that it's quite a feat in itself to be completely vulnerable with someone." "Um, who are our partners?" Cyrus asked. "Oh! Right, here we go." Mrs. Bailey picked up a basket from her desk, handing it to the people at the table closest to her. "Draw a number, and find the other person who has it." The basket quickly found its way to Cyrus and TJ's table, and they both grabbed a piece of folded paper, passing the basket on to the next table. "What'd you get?" TJ asked, unfolding his paper and turning to Cyrus. "Eight," Cyrus said, holding his paper up to TJ. "No way!" TJ flipped his paper, revealing an eight scrawled on it. "Oh thank God, that is gonna make this whole process a lot easier." "We should start after school. Your house?" "Oh, I would, but the neighbor's house is under construction- it's terrible," Cyrus groaned. "That's fine, library?" "Closed this week for remodeling, I tried to study there last week. What about your house?" Cyrus asked. "O-oh, okay," TJ nodded. "Um, we'll have to walk home with Amber and Molly." "Molly?" "My little sister?" "Wait wh-" "Alright, that was ample time to find your partner. Now, time for today's reading."

TJ unlocked his front door, letting Amber, Molly, and Cyrus file past him. "You've got Molly covered?" TJ asked. Amber nodded, opening the fridge and crouching, pulling Molly in front of her so she could pick a snack. "Come on, Underdog." "I like your house," Cyrus said, following TJ into his room. "Oh, yeah. It's kind of small, sorry." "No, it's fine! Um, so, I guess we should get to work?" "Yeah," TJ said, gesturing to his bed. "Should I ask questions or should you?" "If you're okay, I'd rather ask the questions. I'm pretty much an open book," Cyrus shrugged, sitting down and pulling his computer from his bag. "Okay, um, have at it?" "Alright... Full name?" "Ugh, fine. Timothy James Kippen," TJ admitted. Cyrus grinned, typing the name happily. "Immediate family and names?" "Um, my mom's name is Jennifer, then there's Amber, of course. And my little sister Molly. Oh, um, my dad is Vincent, but he doesn't live with us." "Oh, I'm sorry," Cyrus said, clearly unsure how to react as he typed. "No, it's fine, we're better off without him." "Ah. Still, I'm sorry. Tell me about your mom." "Oh, um, she's a 6th-grade teacher at the elementary school, and she's a waitress at Sam's at night. She had Amber and me when she was 16, and then Molly 9 years later." "Oh, I didn't know your mom got pregnant at 16," Cyrus said, looking up from his notes. "15, actually. She turned 16 about 7 months into her pregnancy." "That must have been terrifying," Cyrus said sympathetically. "It probably was," TJ said, as though the thought had only just dawned on him. "I've never really thought about that." "Speaking of, what's your greatest fear?" "...Wow, you really are just going for it, aren't you?" "I want to do well on this assignment!" "Fine. I'm most afraid of clowns," he lied, making a fear up on the spot. "That was a lie," Cyrus said, ceasing typing. "I-I know," TJ stuttered. "Why would you lie? This whole assignment is to tell the truth," Cyrus said. "I know that too," TJ said, crossing his arms over his chest and shifting slightly, his gaze dropping. "TJ. You don't have to lie to me," Cyrus said gently, lifting TJ's chin to meet his eyes. "I'm just...used to lying, I guess." "What a lovely way to burn all your bridges," Cyrus deadpanned. TJ scoffed, shaking his head. "You don't get it." "What don't I get?!" Cyrus asked, exasperated. "Sometimes burning bridges is a defense tactic," TJ defended. Cyrus stared at him for a moment, before typing the phrase into his notes. "I'm sorry," TJ said quietly. "For what?" "For lying." "It's fine, I get it," Cyrus said, shaking his head. "No you don't," TJ laughed. "I really don't," Cyrus agreed. "I shouldn't have lied, I'm sorry." "No, it's really fine. It was just a stupid question." "It wasn't! I just didn't want to answer it." "You don't have to," Cyrus shrugged. "I want to, really." Cyrus looked up at TJ, weighing his options. On the one hand, he could just skip the question. On the other, he could ask it again, and get the truth. Did he really want the truth? "Alright. TJ, what's your biggest fear?" he asked, taking a deep breath. Before TJ could respond, Amber rushed into the room, desperately trying to dial a phone number. "Amber! What's wrong?" TJ asked, rushing to Amber's side. "What are you doing?!" "Calling 911! I know this is gonna sound crazy, but what the hell is the number for 911?!" "Amber! What happened?!" TJ asked. Amber looked up at him, panic in her eyes. The second she spoke again, time stopped, stretching like the pale pink taffy pulled in the window of a candy store. "Molly's hurt."

#andi mack #tyrus #tj kippen #cyrus goodman #amber kippen #amber (andi mack)#little white lies fic

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elejah-wonderland · 5 years

Text

Game Of Love/4

Fanfiction

Part 4

Joel Goran x reader

Ft. Klaroline and other TVD/TO characters, as well as Saving Hope characters.

a/n: this is, as my friend @rissyrapp20 said - Joel Goran meets the Mystic Falls/NOLA gang. But it is totally AU- Klaus Mikaelson is a surgeon, and so Y/N and Caroline Forbes.

There is a lot of drama- quite a lot going on. LOL. Also, this is an extra long part. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks so much for reading and liking, and reblogging. Luv ya, guys. xoxo

Masterlist

tags @rissyrapp20 @dendrite-lover @arivalappears @cassienoble2000 @captainshurley @elejahforever @hides2000 @goddessofthunder112

____

"So, he kissed you on the cheek??"- Caroline said astonished-"in front of everyone? Just like that?"

"Well, yeah. Just like that."- Y/N replied.

"Well, you and him are now No.1 on the Hospital’s gossip list. They saw you take him by the hand the other night, and now he kissed you on the cheek- Jo has already painted you black. With Alex, especially."

"And - nothing is going on with me and him."- Y/N said sighing and added-"yeah, I heard about Jo telling Alex about me and Kai, probably about Stefan as well. And Alex kind of talked to me about - well, it was more like telling me that he would break my heart, because Joel doesn't know how to love."

"Right."- Caroline slipped.

"I tried to find him later. But he left for New Zealand because he had some vacation time."- Y/N said.

"So, what now? I mean- are you in a friend zone now? What?"

"It can't be anything. He is emotionally wrecked."- Y/N said-"and I - can't get into anything with him till he - HUH- this was doomed from the beginning. I just had a one night stand with him- and now-"

"Now, you are in love with him."- Caroline stated.

"And now I am in love with him!"- Y/N said huffing and puffing. She then turned the tables on her sister and said-"if we are no1 on gossip list, you and Klaus are no2."

"I know."- Caroline said and continued-"last night, Rayna and I met Rebekah in Rousseau's. She called me a slutty bitch and a homewrecker. And I called her the same back, bringing Damon up. Sorry. I just- couldn't control myself. She so ticks me off."

"I know. She is always so high and mighty."- Y/N said-"but- what is it really now with you and Klaus?"

Caroline sighed a little now flashing back at her and Klaus' little after-birthday-party hook up in the Grill's storage room.

Flashback

Straightening her dress now, Caroline looked at Klaus, who zipped his jeans and put his T-shirt back on. He looked back at her with a sweet smirk on.

"Oh, we have to stop this."- Caroline said ruffling her hair.

"Why?"- Klaus now neared her again, and placed a sweet little kiss, brushing his hands through her hair, adding-"you are so beautiful and sexy."

Caroline gulped now trying to keep her head straight-

"Because of you- and you being married and I just- don't want this to be about sex. And I get that you are getting out of something long-term and - I don't want to push you into anything. There is work and your ex-wife, and I just- I am drawing the line here!"

Before Klaus could say anything, Caroline snaked out of his arms and walked out.

"Have you talked to him afterwards?"- Y/N asked.

"Yeah."- Caroline replied- now retelling her friend the conversation she and the Attending had at a break in the hospital the following day-

Flashback

Klaus found Caroline sitting in the little atrium of the hospital.

"May I?"- Klaus asked if he could sit at the bench next to her.

"Sure."- Caroline said shortly.

"About yesterday"- Klaus started-

"Hey- we don't have to."

"Yes, but still- I need to say this though. I want you to know that I really think that you are so beautiful, sexy and smart. I hope I didn't make you feel like I used you. It was never my intention"

"You didn't."- she cut in-" I had fun, too. It's ok, really."

Klaus looked down and then at her-

"I am really sorry can't give you more."

"As I said -it's ok. I have patients to see."

Caroline then got up and walked away.

"He can't give me more, which I totally understand, and- it's not like we've been together or something. How could I be so head over heels, and I've just known him like five minutes."- Caroline sighed

"It happens. Comes out of nowhere and just kicks you right in the heart."- Y/N said, thinking of Joel.

At the same time

At Rousseau's

Klaus was out with a newly made friends, Vincent Griffith and Alaric Saltzman.

Oliver Queen now walked in, and Alaric shouted a warm greeting at his friend from Med school.

"Hey, you made it!!"- both men now gave each other a welcoming pat on the shoulder.

"Gentleman, let me introduce my buddy- Dr Oliver Queen."- Alaric said-”This is Klaus Mikaelson and Vince, I told you about him.”

"You are replacing Alex, when she goes for maternity leave? But that's like months away?"- Vincent said as he shook Oliver’s hand.

"Yes."- Oliver said-"but the Fells wanted me to start now. And I had nothing better to do with my life."

"You are telling me New York got really boring?"- Klaus then said taking a swag of beer.

"A change of scenery is always good."- Oliver replied.

Klaus smirked a little and then said-"You are right there."

"This Hospital is the Top Gun in the medical teaching hospitals, and I really wanted to see if you are really the best of the best. And teach the best of the best."- Oliver then said.

They got him a beer now and Klaus, together with Vincent said-

"Welcome."

¤¤¤¤

In the Mikaelson Mansion

Esther entered the study, where Mikael already waited for her.

"What is it?"- Esther asked coldly.

"I have decided that I will tell him the truth."

"Now, after alk this time?"- Esther said-"Why?"

"Because- his girlfriend is pregnant, and I want my grandchild to be part of this family. I can't bear it - not to know him or her- I just- it is not right."- Mikael said.

"Right?"- Esther said taking a moment's thought-"Mary decided that she was not going to tell him, and we all agreed that will keep it that way."

"But that- all of that doesn't matter anymore, does it? Mary is gone. And Joel is a grown man now. He - will understand. We all made mistakes. He, himself has done plenty."

"Yes, we've all made mistakes, and look how many lives got messed up over it."- Esther reminded Mikael of the consequences his and Mary's affair had on their lives.

"I know. I regret it deeply. And I wish, I could turn back time, but I can't. But let's make it right somehow."- Mikael said.

"How can we make it right after so many years. It could be much worse. Did she ever tell her husband about Joel not being his son?"

"No. As far as I know."- Mikael said.

"There you go. That man raised him as his own, and now you would take the only family his got away from him."- Esther then said.

"What are you talking about? The man left them when he was 7 and went to New Zealand. And if Mary hadn't died, Joel would never really know him - "

"You kept on seeing one another afterwards, didn't you?"- Esther now said angered.

"I have not."- Mikaels said.

"I don't believe you."- Esther shot at her husband.

"I swear on our children's lives!"- Mikael then said.

"Don't you dare use them."

"I swear, Esther."-Mikael insisted.

"Whatever."- Esther said-"I - you need to know that this will bring shock waves throughout the family. Just think about it."

Esther then left the study. Mikael was left thinking about all, especially the past.

Flashback

38 years ago

"I am pregnant."- Mary Goran said to Mikael as she met him in the Grill, a couple of months after she broke it off with him.

Mikael smiled taking hold of the woman's hand warmly- "Oh, this is so- wonderful."

"Is it?"- Mary said-"I don't know. I- don't know what to do."

"I love you, Mary. And I am ready to do anything. "

"How can you say this? You have a two- year old son. Your family needs you. This not right, whatever we feel. It just is not. I don't know why I have even called you."

"Because you love me, and I love you. And, I know that I have a young family and- oh, I wish I have met you before."

"I wish so many things- and- oh, I am sorry that I- came here."

Mary now started crying. She was completely overwhelmed with the situation.

"We will figure something out."- Mikael tried to comfort her.

Mary abruptly pulled herself together, and walked out of the diner.

Mikael was an emotional wreck after having found out about Mary being pregnant with his child. And he had a family, a wife, he had married, so two families could become even bigger. His father-in-law, who was Virginia stat senator at the time, made sure that Mary stayed with her husband, and Mikael never divorced Esther.

¤¤¤

A few days later

Y/N's day started in the ER, and a colleague now confronting her about the Joel gossip.

"There was a bet on which intern Joel will sleep with first."

Y/N looked at her fellow intern furiously-

"What??? This is disgusting!"

"I know. It's totally lame."- Sam said.

"Who was it?"- Y/N now demanded to know.

"Y/N, I know it is completely out of order. But-"

"I want to know."- Y/N was not letting it go.

"I didn't want to stir shit."- Sam tried to calm Y/N down.

"Tell me!"- Y/N sifted anger making her chestnut eyes darken.

"Brad."- Sam now said.

"Right."- Y/N said and they both now went to take care of the patients, but as she had a break, Y/N went to find the young resident. And confronted him about it in front of the whole cafeteria.

She got some dollar bills out and said-

"How much is a bet it for an ass of the year?

The young resident looked at her astonished but it was clear that she had found out about the bet on Joel and the female interns. He started muttering something but Y/N just continued-

"Joel is flawed on so many levels, yes. He made huge mistakes.But unlike you, he is a good and warm person, and you are a sorry excuse for a human being!"

The whole cafeteria now applauded her. She now turned around and walked out of the place.

🎃 That night, at home, as she went through a few case studies, Y/N made herself some cocoa and sat down on the bay window. Now there was again this one person on her mind, wondering how he was doing. No matter how much she tried not to feel anything more than just friendship towards Joel, her heart didn’t seem to want to listen to her. She looked out in the night, drawing a deep breath and then went back to the case studied.

A few days later

Caroline was saying bye to Y/N, as she pulled a night shift and Elena just got in the hospital and already had her hands full with a presentation she was given to work on. And as she was waving Caroline off, her eyes now caught a smiling Rock Star of Orthopaedics.

"Hey"- Joel greeted Elena and Caroline as he came up to them.

Caroline greeted him back and excused herself and left them to catch up.

"Hey"- Y/N said with a little mental gulp-"so, how was New Zealand?"

"Good. Actually really good."- Joel said-"sorry- I just left. After I talked to the Chief of staff, it was kind of a spur of the moment thing. I needed to - just go. Change the scenery, you know, after everything that -"

"Yeah, I do."- Y/N said and then there was a moment when they both went quiet and Y/N now tried to find to ask something more, and as she wanted to ask how his father was, Joel got a small box out of his bag handing it clumsily to her saying-

"Here. A happy belated - something."

"Oh"- Y/N exclaimed surprised. She opened it and it was a very unusual pendant she had seen.

"This is koru. It's Maori.”-Joel explained clumsily-”Symbolizes awakening, fresh beginnings, rebirth. It's kind of what you did for me the other night. And so I- well- "

Y/N looked at him with a small smile curling up on her lips and slipped quite an emotional thank you. Now the kiss on the cheek made sense. It was a thank you. He could see that she was really moved by the gift.

"In the last couple of days- and - well already on the plane- I had so much time to think. About everything."- Joel now said-"and - well- "- he was suddenly terribly nervous again. He smiled somewhat nervously and said -"Later? Drink? Rousseau's?"

"Yes. See you there."- Y/N said.

"Ok."- Joel said.

Y/N looked at the pendant and her heart and head were now more than ever in total confusion, but Joel's wasn't far behind either. He was nervous. He had never been nervous before. Something happened. Could he be in love with her? He just knew that she didn't leave his mind, all the time he was away.

“Around 8?”- Y/N said .

“Yeah.”- Joel said and now gestured towards the elevator.

Y/N nodded and both then went to whatever was next on the agenda for the day.

As Y/N called Caroline later to tell her that she kind of has this non-date thing, the blonde went now all in what-are-you-going-to-wear, what-will-do-with-your-hair, and Y/N answered simply that she had no plans to dress up.

“It’s only a drink. There is nothing to it, really”

“Nothing? Are you serious? He bought you jewellery!”- Caroline said with a duh voice.

“It’s a thank you thing”- Y/N said-”for being there and listening to him- and that is all”

“Right - tell yourself that. Do what you want.Ok. I’m going back to sleep cuz that double shift killed me.”- Caroline said yawning and hung up.

Y/N went off to her locker, to change. As they never knew how long they would stay in the hospital, she always had a couple of T-shirts and sweaters ready, as well as a pair of jeans. Casual was her style since - well, always. Now, having changed, she put her boots on and leather jacket on. She didn’t bother about the hair at all. She simply undid the pun and combed it a bit. This was not really a date, and she was not Cinderella. Just an intern. And she was meeting a friend for a drink.

Since, there was still more than an hour till Joel finished his shift, Y/N called Bonnie and met up with her. Since Caroline was not available to listen to her analysing every detail of her heart, Bonnie was her other bestie, who never minded being there for her. Bonnie had a lot to discuss as well, as the night of the birthday lip sync birthday thing, the chemist also went down the line as he friends and hooked up with Kol Mikaelson.

But she now let Y/N talk first.

"Is this a gift wrapped up as a thank you or am I imagining something more? Look, how beautiful it is."- Y/N showed her friend Joel's gift and the meaning behind it.

"I think a thank you and something more is wrapped in it."- Bonnie said.

"You think? I don't know why I am going mad here over it? I can't start anything with him."

"You think he wants to start something?"- Bonnie questioned.

"Knowing him, not really. And then it will be a kind of a rebound thing, although it is not really that."- Y/N said sighing a bit.

"You are overanalyzing everything. Which something you totally do, and then don't listen to your head."- Bonnie reminded Y/N of her past mistakes.

"Caroline said that I am doing again the same thing I did with Kai."- Y/N said.

"Believing that you can change him because you loved him?!"- Bonnie stated.

"Yeah. Huh- but it feels like- it isn't so- like - I didn't know."

"He needs to want to change and break away from his past behaviour."- Bonnie said.

"I think that this thing with this guy dying shook him to the ground."- Y/N said.

"This is some life changing moment."- Bonnie said.

"He said that he felt like he died, like something broke inside of him."- Y/N remembered her and Joel's conversation the night before he left for New Zealand.

"What about Alex and him? There is also the kid."- Bonnie reminded Y/N.

Y/N now told her friends that Alex had talked to her, as the surgeon had presumed that Joel and Y/N had already started something.

"Can things be even more complicated?"- Elena said-"You know what is mad actually? He might not want to be anything but friends, which I totally get. The last thing he needs is a new relationship. I need to let this go."

"Yeah, you need to let this go."- Bonnie said.

Elena nodded, and her heart tried so hard to dismiss the idea that Joel may not have feelings for her.

"But you won't be able to let this go?"- Bonnie then said as she saw her friend play with the pendant all huffed up.

"Why does it have to be so complicated? I always fall for the wrong guy!"

"What you need to do is actually find out how he feels. And if he doesn't feel like you feel, or anything remotely, then you will have to let this go."- Bonnie said and with that their conversation ended as Joel now walked in the bar.

Bonnie, who was usually a very subtle person, this time did the opposite. As Joel got to the table they were sitting at, she greeted him and then made an excuse that she had to go.

"I hope it is not because of me."- Joel said.

"No. She was like leaving the last half hour, but I just kept her talking about - the upcoming charity thing she is busy with."- Y/N fibbed a little.

"Right. You want the same?"- he now asked about the drink.

"I am fine. I am kind of hungry, one more cocktail would completely knock me out."

"Well, do you want to go and grab something? I am kind of hungry, too."- Joel said.

"Yeah- cuz it’s been a long day. You know Sophie's Food Heaven?"- Y/N asked.

"Of course."- Joel said-"comfort food 100%. Whenever I eat there, I have to go to the gym straight after."

"So true. Caroline and I went there the other day and we were so full that we thought we wouldn't need to eat the next two days."- Y/N said grabbing her bag now-"so you go there a lot?"

"It's a place I used to go with my mom, especially when she would do long shifts at the hospital."- Joel said.

"Hospital?"- Y/N was puzzled.

"Didn't I tell you that she was a nurse?"

"No. But it makes perfect sense. Did she meet your dad there?"- Y/N asked.

"No. They met at the Whitmore Medical School. They both were teaching there at the time. He was working at the Charlottesville Memorial."- Joel explained and then said-"Your car? My car?"

"Ahm- I'll go with mine. Meet you there."- Y/N said.

"Ok."- Joel said and then went to his car.

Elsewhere

Mikaelson Mansion

Klaus went to his parent's house to meet up with Camille, to try and talk to her about the divorce settlement.

"I don't want a divorce. I stopped the proceedings."- Camille said-"I want us to go to marriage counseling. I want to save our marriage."

Klaus shook with his head in negation.

"Why?"- she continued-"Why would you not try? We loved each other. We - both made a mistake. We just fell in a rut and - then things happened. You slept with her and then I slept with Marcel, just to get back at you. But I didn't stop loving you. We can find the way out of this."

"Yes. There is a way out of this and -"- Klaus stopped there for a second looking at his wife. She was a dear, sweet woman. Loving. And he hated hurting her. He hated the whole situation, but he had to now say it.

"I- don't love you anymore. I am so sorry- but it is- the truth. I should have told you that already in New Orleans, and save you from all this -"

Before he could finish the sentence, Camille slapped him.

Whether the slap was justified or not, Camille was at the end with her nerves and the last words provocated her now shouting at him to get out.

Klaus made a little sigh and walked out of the room, stumbling on his sister Freya as he walked down the long corridor.

"Klaus?"- Freya ran after her brother.

He ignored her and now, as he got out of the Mansion got into his car, put his foot on the accelerator, driving off like a lightning.

😍

In Sophie's Food Heaven Diner

Sophie Deveraux, who knew Joel since he was a kid, watched Joel and Y/N for a little while as they were chatting away quite happy and relaxed. Very rarely did she see him with a woman there. The waiter got the desert and as he walked to their table, Sophie now went with him.

"Hi. I hope the steak was good."- Sophie said.

"Perfect."- Joel said.

"Absolutely great."- Y/N complimented the Chef.

"She is the Chef/owner. Sophie Deveraux."- Joel said introducing her to Y/N.

"Nice to meet you."- Y/N said.

"Nice to meet you, too."- Sophie said-"so good to finally meet Joel's girlfriend."

"I am- we are not-"- Y/N said.

Joel was like what the heck Soph. And knowing how straight forward she was she now said-

"You could have fooled me. This dinner is on the house. Enjoy."

"What?"- Y/Na was beyond surprised.

"We go way back."- Joel said and explained that he knew Sophie when they were kids- and now told Y/N something that kind of made him somewhat blush-

"She was the first girl I kissed and - yeah. And she just has this thing- I am allowed to comment."

"And a free meal."- Y/N said-"so you are friends with a girl."

"Ha?"- Joel looked at Y/N a bit gone out.

"Ah, sorry. It was just- ok, I heard you say that you don't believe that man and women can be friends.Sorry."

"Well, it is something I said- and something- I so regret saying - I am really pathetic, aren’t I? So lame. I've said and done so many stupid things. "

"Hey. I didn't want to make you feel bad."

"You didn't."- Joel said-"I went and talked to a friend of mine, also from my childhood. She is Maori. She is a doctor, but a spiritual woman too. We talked about stuff and - you know- Selina's husband -and everything that had happened recently "

"Joel-”- Y/N said in a dear manner.

"I am not religious. I am a surgeon, and I know how the body works. She talked about the soul and that I have to connect with it again. Get to my wairua. She said also that I don't believe in love. That I don't know how to be loved, and give love, and that I- But that I will know it only then when I find my soul. Huh. Here we are with that stuff - again."- Joel now sighed-”I so didn’t want this evening to be like a therapy session.”

"It's ok. It’ s good to talk ”- Y/N reassured the dishy surgeon.

"Thank you, but I - don't want to think that I am - using you as a shoulder to- cry on. Because this is the last thing that I want."

"It's ok to talk. You are not weak if you have to talk about heavy stuff. It's human."- Y/N said.

Joel smiled a little now and added- "Did someone ever tell you that you have that kind of bold bossy thing - in your eyes-"

"Yeah."- Y/N said chuckling a bit-"since I was born. Although Caroline is far bossier and more ambitious. She was twice elected as the President of the class."

“Oh, I can imagine. They way she is, soon she will take over as Chief of staff before she gets to be Resident.”- Joel said remembering the way Caroline sorted a situation out among her fellow interns and Residents.

“Well, you would not believe that once upon a time she was a really shy and insecure girl”

“I can’t see that.”- Joel said and now took a scoop of the apple pie and ice- cream.

The conversation now swayed to the her and Caroline’s High School days and all their shenanigans.

A little later, as they got out of the Diner, with Joel finally convincing Sophie to let him pay the bill, they each stood for a second before they got into their respective cars-

"This was like- one of the best - dinner thing I had in a long time."- Joel said.

"Good. Next time it is on me."- Y/N said-"Or maybe we should let Sophie buy us a meal."- she referred to the silly negotiations he and Sophie had a few minutes ago.

"Yeah. Why the hell not. Then we will get all of the menu."

"Ok. Thanks for this- food."- Y/N said with a tiny smile curling up on her lips.

"You’re welcome."- Joel said.

And then there was awkwardness. And to cut it, Y/N now said- "Tomorrow"

"Yeah, tomorrow."

Y/N nodded a little with a smile and went into her car.

Joel got into his car and took a moment, watching her drive off. He smiled a little as his emotions danced up the way they had never done before. And he so wanted to go after her and tell her that she freed his soul. How? When? He could not pinpoint it. Like it mattered. Everything with her was so effortless and made him feel good and all so fuzzy inside. He now started the engine and .

A little later, he walked to her apartment and rang the bell.

Y/N opened the door and was surprised to see him there.

"Ahm, hey- did you forget something?"

"Yes, kind of- hm"- Joel smiled nervoulsy-"I forgot- well, to tell you that- tonight was kind of amazing- and - God- this is- I - just-"

His heart wanted to actually say this-”Before all I heard was silence,Life was stringing me along, Then you came and you cut me loose, And now I'm dancin' on to your heartbeat, And when you're gone, I feel incomplete,So if you want the truth-I just wanna be part of your symphony”

"What?"- Y/N felt like her heart was going to burst as all her predictions and all she had felt now were coming to light.

Joel moved clumsily with his head aside and now said-"I think that I-m in love with you."

Y/N now smiled at him and replied-

"I think that I - am, too."

Joel now was kind of stunned, looking at her seriousl, emotions flying high, and slipped a little-

"You are?"

Y/N nodded.

He now entered the apartment and kissed her.

Caroline now stormed out of her room and cut in the middle of the Y/N and Joel’s kiss saying-

"Klaus - has been in a car accident. It's not good."

“What? How? When?”- both Joel and Y/N now looked at Caroline, who looked for her car keys.

Joel’s pager now went off, and then said to Y/N and Caroline-

“I’ll drive”

Caroline nodded and all three of them rushed to the hospital.

__________

#Joel Goran #joel goran x reader #Klaus Mikaelson #Klaroline #Caroline forbes #Fanfiction #tvd imagine #tvdfanfic #alternate universe #fanfiction crossover #saving hope fanfiction

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andromytta · 6 years

Text

Pandora’s Box

Author’s Note: Written for https://literallyprentissstwin.tumblr.com/post/175019628133/literallyprentissstwins-600-followers @literallyprentissstwin

Character: Dr. Spencer Reid. Prompt: "Please, just let me go."

This challenge was all about angst, and as readers of my Supernatural fics know, I'm an angst whore, so I was really excited about this challenge! That being said, not only is this my first Criminal Minds fic, but I was also coming off of a three week long stint of writer's block, so while constructive criticism is always welcome, please be gentle! Haha.

Extra special thanks to my Beta, @jrnytthpst, without whom this fic would still be foundering without an ending!

Read on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15478173

Supervisory Special Agent Emily Prentiss paced back and forth in front of the table in the interview room. The suspect, a diminutive woman with dark hair and dark eyes, looked even smaller huddled in the uncomfortable chair.

“Just because you have the right to remain silent doesn’t mean we can’t still arrest you for five deaths,” the agent said.

“Please, just let me talk to Spencer.” That was all the woman had said since they brought her in an hour ago.

Prentiss left the room without a word.

“Emily, did she tell you why?” Dr. Spencer Reid asked as soon as his boss walked out of the room.

“She hasn’t said anything. She keeps asking for you.”

“So let me talk to her.”

“No. We can’t let an agent interview his girlfriend who is a suspected serial killer.”

“She’s not…she’s not my girlfriend.” He dropped his tall, slender frame into the nearest chair with a sigh. He dropped his head and his gold curls concealed the emotion in his deep brown eyes.

Before anyone could say anything else, a giant moose of a man blustered into the BAU. His expensive, well fitted suit was slightly rumpled as if he just pulled it on. He ran a large hand through his shaggy brown hair as his hazel eyes took in the room, barely acknowledging Spencer as the other man looked up at him. “I’m Sam Wesson, Ms. Kwon’s attorney, and she won’t be answering any more of your questions.”

“I’m Emily Prentiss, Unit Chief,” Emily introduced herself. “You’ll be pleased to know your client hasn’t answered any questions yet, Mr. Wesson.” Her derision was well hidden under her professionalism. “Right this way.” She led the attorney to the interrogation room.

When the door clicked closed, the young woman looked up, her chocolate brown eyes glassy with tears. She didn’t even try to hide her surprise. “Sam? What are you doing here?”

“Rose called me. She said your boyfriend arrested you?”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” she corrected.

“Whatever. Just because you choose not to define your relationship doesn’t stop the rest of us. We have eyes, you know. Why are we arguing about this again? What happened?” He dropped into the seat across from his friend.

“Did you see Spencer? I need to talk to him. I need to explain…” Her words trailed off as she stared into space.

“Paige!” Sam’s stern tone brought her back to the present. “What the hell is going on? They’re saying you shot five men!”

She blinked and looked up at him. “I did. But I didn’t do anything wrong. I shouldn’t be here, Sam.” As her emotions started to bubble, her accent became stronger.

“Paige, you’re not making any sense.”

Worried she wasn’t using the right words in English, she repeated herself in her first language.

“You’re not making any sense in Korean either,” Sam said. “What do you mean you didn’t do anything wrong? You just told me you did kill those men.”

“Please, Sam. I need to talk to Spencer. I need to explain. I’m not like those bad people.”

“No way. You can’t talk to an FBI agent who could have you locked up for the rest of your life.”

“Sam, they can do that anyway.” Paige was suddenly weirdly calm. “They found the weapon in my flat, if I can just explain myself, then they can see that I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“You’re not going to tell me what happened, are you?”

“It was him, Sam. It was him.”

“Who was him? You’re not making sense again.”

Paige dropped her head onto the table with a quiet thunk, her dark hair cascading over her face.

“Fine, if you don’t want to explain, I’ll figure it out for myself. I’m not going to let you go to jail. Rose would never forgive me.” Sam got up and walked out of the interrogation room.

When Sam made his way to the bullpen, Spencer looked up at him eagerly. “Well, did she say anything?”

“No. Can I see the case files?” Sam asked, and when Spencer just looked at him suspiciously he added, “I’m going to have to ask for them during discovery anyway. If you show me now, I might be able to figure out what happened.”

“Fine,” Spencer said, resigned. He retrieved the files and practically dropped them in front of Sam. The most recent victim’s information was on top.

“Ezekial Ward. Hmm, this guy looks familiar. Single dad looks like he was a real family man.” Sam muttered, almost to himself. “Wait, this guy is familiar. He and his son would stop at the girls’ café after his soccer games. He was always flirting with Rina. It doesn’t make sense. Why would Paige shoot him?” He looked over at Spencer like he had any answers.

“How should I know? I didn’t even know she owned a gun. We’ve been hanging out for months. How did I not see this coming?”

“Hey, man, don’t beat yourself up. I’ve known Paige for years and never would have guessed…” Sam tried to comfort the other man.

“But I study serial killers for a living. How could I not know I was dating one?” Spencer slammed his hands on the table and jumped up from his chair. “Sorry, Sam. I didn’t mean to yell.” He ran a hand through his light brown hair and strode from the room.

Sam continued to peruse the files. The second to last victim was Balthazar Freely, a club owner who always treated the beautiful people to free drinks, and then there was Raphael Bonds, a business man who did little to hide his affair with his secretary. Before him was Michael Keyes, a man with a long history of domestic abuse. Finally, the first victim made everything clear. Nick Vincent, a frankly awful human being who used to be Sam’s best friend and Paige’s boyfriend…until he attacked her. The pieces clicked into place for Sam right as Spencer all but slammed a cup of coffee in front of him.

“Dude!” Sam exclaimed.

“Sorry. I’m just frustrated.”

“It’s fine,” Sam said. “Look, you shouldn’t beat yourself up. There’s no way you could have seen this coming. There are things about Paige you don’t know.” He stood up. “Come on, we should go talk to her.”

They went back into the interrogation room. Sam set the files on the table. “Turn the video camera on, and flip that little switch so your boss can listen,” he said to Spencer. “We’re going to plead not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect.”

Paige ignored Sam. She looked up at Spencer with pleading eyes. “Spencer, I-I didn’t do anything wrong. Please, please just let me go.”

“You killed five people. I found your gun when I went back to your apartment to get my scarf. It was still covered in blood spatter.”

“They were bad men. I was protecting people.”

Sam sat on the table and pointed at a file. “You guys study single event imprints? Stressors and triggers, right?” He asked Spencer.

“You know we do.”

“This guy, Nick Vincent, that’s the stressor. He came into the café a few months ago, and I’m guessing that was the trigger.” Sam turned to Paige. “Why don’t you tell him about Nick?”

“You know I don’t talk about that, Sam.” She whispered to her hands.

“It’s the only way you’re going to convince anyone that these men deserved to die,” Sam spoke quietly, calmly, even though inside he was freaking out.

Paige started to draw patterns on the table with her fingers, as much as her cuffed hands would allow anyway. “We dated for a while…when I wouldn’t do what he wanted, he attacked me and he took it…I don’t want to talk about this anymore!” She stood up, kicked the chair out behind her. “He came into the café, into MY café and acted like he belonged there. He shouldn’t come near me anymore. So I made sure he couldn’t.”

“What about the other men?” Sam asked. If Paige had just killed Nick, he probably could have gotten her off on self-defense, but the others, there was no reason for them.

“They were bad men. They hurt people. The second guy, Michael, he hit his spouse. Raphael was cheating on his wife with his secretary…”

“What about Balthazar and Ezekial? You knew them. They weren’t bad men.”

“Balthazar tried to get people intoxicated to sleep with them. Ezekial wouldn’t leave Rina alone. They needed to be stopped.”

“My client doesn’t need jail time. She needs help.” Sam stated to the room.

“PTSD triggered delusions aren’t all together uncommon,” Spencer added, trying to remain professional. “Especially if someone never dealt with their trauma.”

Meanwhile, Garcia was working her magic and trying to find out everything she could on all the men that were killed and Paige. The thought of seeing Spencer lose yet another woman close to him was unbearable. Flashbacks of Maeve being killed filled her head as her fingers danced on her keyboard. First, she verified that everything Paige said about the men were true. Boy howdy was it but that was just the tip of the iceberg for most of them. Next, she looked into Paige’s past beginning at her birth in Korea. It started to look like Nick wasn’t the single event imprint. She picked up the phone to call both Rose and Rina.

Rossi and JJ were finishing up searching Paige’s apartment both fearful of finding nothing and everything. Technically, the only thing required to arrest her was already at the BAU and it was Spencer that found it. Why didn’t she even try to clean the blood spatter off the gun? The carelessness of it all spoke to a deep seeded problem even more severe than the first victim that Paige’s lawyer spilled the beans on and to which Emily called to catch them up. They were looking for anything to prove how abusive Nick might have been to Paige when they got the call from Penelope.

“Paige, what aren’t you telling us?” Spencer pleaded with the girl who was not technically his girlfriend.

“What makes you think there’s any more to say beyond what I’ve already said?” Paige solemnly looked up at him begging him to end the questioning.

“I just can’t believe…. can’t see…. this isn’t happening.” Spencer left the interrogation room completely distraught unable to form coherent sentences to the thoughts racing in his mind.

Technical Analyst, Penelope Garcia quickly strode into the BAU announcing that both Rose and Rina were on there way to help shed light on what made Paige snap. Further, she excitedly proclaimed that JJ and Rossi found the missing puzzle piece that the two women alluded to existing. Seemingly the best place to hide the truth was in a secret vault behind a framed selfie she printed out of her and Spencer. Hiding the truth from the man she was falling in love with was paramount because she feared that he would runaway and sever all ties if he learned the truth.

Rose was the first to arrive and she found Sam Wesson speaking with members of the BAU about his client. As soon as he saw Rose he jumped up and yelled, “Why didn’t you tell me long before now that Paige never sought treatment for Nick’s abuse?”

A look of sadness, fear, and self-loathing filled Rose’s emerald green eyes. “Sam, she did seek out treatment and I thought successfully completed it. The thing is her treatment had nothing to do with Nick. Her experience with Nick brought all of the previous trauma to the forefront. She was getting better and doing everything the therapist instructed her to do. Everything was going well until Nick showed up in her Café unannounced.”

“Wait are you saying that Nick wasn’t the only person that abused Paige?” Dr. Reid and Mr. Wesson both said in near unison.

At that very moment Rina arrived with her own piece of the puzzle. She pointedly looked at Reid and desperately asked him if he had noticed Paige wearing a locket anytime recently.

“Rose, what happened to Paige? Who was it? As long as the statute of limitations hasn’t expired….” Spencer was starting to say when Garcia yelled at him to answer Rina.

“I…hmm…maybe.” Dr. Reid started with adding, “she did recently start wearing scarves every time I saw her even when it wasn’t cold outside. I asked her about it once and she said her thyroid levels must have been off again. I had no reason to not believe her and just shrugged it off. Wait…I think I do remember seeing a chain peaking out from the top of at least one of the scarves….”

Rose and Rina sighed as if one. They knowingly looked into each other’s eyes debating what and how much to say. It was then that Rossi and JJ entered with the final puzzle piece.

JJ spoke, avoiding eye contact with Spence. She broke up unable to actually utter what it was that she and Rossi found in Paige’s apartment, David picked up where she left off.

“Spencer, I’m not sure how to explain this to you but behind the framed picture Paige took of you guys was a vault. Inside the vault were diaries and a locket. Inside the locket was a photo of a baby girl.”

“Let me read the diaries. I can read them far faster than you can and articulate what is in them,” Spencer said as he walked towards Rossi.

“I’m afraid I can’t let you do that kid.” Rossi somberly said, looking Dr. Reid in the eyes.

“Well what is, what did they say, what did she write, am I going to lose her like I lost Maeve?” Spencer blurted out, thrown together like a single thought.

Rossi looked to JJ and just as JJ was about to speak Rose and Rina both chimed in with bits and pieces of Paige’s story.

“Life in Korea isn’t the same as in America,” Rose began. “Their laws are different and their sense of justice, especially when family is involved, is nearly nonexistent. Not all of Korea is like that but in this case Paige’s family is both related to and friends with law enforcement there.”

Rina picked up where Rose faded out, “Paige’s father was a very bad man. He would beat the kids and his wife, but Paige took the brunt of it. It wasn’t just the abuse he forced on his family….”

“Her father slept around too,” Rose continued. “He slept with the secretary at the police station and there were stories that he raped young girls as well.”

“There was one girl he most definitely raped,” Rina sadly continued. “The photo of the baby girl in Paige’s locket is her baby girl and her father is also the father of the child.”

Sighing Rose continued, “The baby girl was named ‘Mugohan Salam’ which is Korean for innocent one. Paige called her Mugo for short. Mugo lived to be six months old when her father shook her to death. He couldn’t’ stand the thought of anyone finding out about her existence. Especially after his sister sent her DNA off to a facility to look for ancestors. He couldn’t risk that happening with Mugo one day.”

“It was after Mugo’s death that Paige fled Korea and came to America,” Rina continued. “She kept that photo in the locket, a rattle, and a small hairbrush to remember her baby by. As she began her journey to becoming an American citizen she also sought therapy. Part of her therapy was to write down her life’s journey into private diaries. I found one of the diaries she accidentally left out at the café one day and asked her if what she had written was true.”

Neither Sam nor Spencer could believe their ears. How could Paige have kept that all secret and how did she think anyone would hate her for telling the truth?

Suddenly, Spencer pulled up the file that Garcia had pulled on Paige searching for the address of her father. Next, Dr. Reid pulled up international flights looking for the fastest route to Korea. Emily saw what he was doing and immediately told him that he can’t do that. He needs to think about his career, his life, and about Paige.

“I am thinking about Paige, that’s all I’m thinking about. I take full responsibility and will make sure that the BAU cannot be charged with anything I do.”

“As your boss I cannot let you do this. If it means keeping you safe and on this side of the world then I will have to put a protective detail on you until the case is over.”

“Emily, please….please just let me go.”

#literallyprentissstwinsangstychallenge #spencer/ofc of color #angst #past rape/noncon #past child abuse #spot the easter egg from another fandom

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ace-planecrasher · 3 years

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Post-Anthropocene - Part 1

Our party meets the cat-thing

The traveling companions sit around a campfire, the grass is pleasantly cool and they all laugh together as they make conversation.

The stars above them are unobscured and they paint the sky with deep blues perforated with white spots of dazzling, white fire. The woods surround them and the eyes of beasts peer out from behind trees and through the bushes and tall grass. The campers keep a keen eye, especially one of them, but they are still relaxed. Nothing dares venture out of the dark and into the unmasking light of the fire. The night continues on and they continue to talk and joke and laugh deep into the night and if time was still kept it would be well into the next day by the time they fall asleep; all except one, who keeps watch over his sleeping companions. He has the most experience with the beasts of this land and knows all too well what they would do to a band of sleeping travelers. Or he at least knows what he fears they would do.

Instead of sleeping like the others he sits atop a large rock that gives him vantage over the clearing. Every little sound from the forest makes him jump and he wishes he hadn’t already finished his sheepskin canteen of coffee. At the first showing of the sun over the trees he yawns and finally turns his gaze from the woods and to his friends around him. There are four of them there with him and he takes this time, while they are still unconscious, exhausted from yesterday’s hard traveling, to appreciate them and gaze long at their faces in a way that would be uncomfortable for both of them during the day. Vincent, the young man who always insist on keeping watch, looks at everyone’s face, very carefully, trying to burn them, and these last few days, into his memory. He is young but already he regrets some of the things he has forgotten, some of the people. The last face he lingers on is Michael’s. It is kind but hard, big round eyes and a square head. Michael sleeps the lightest out of all of all the travelers and almost every night he volunteers to take Vincent’s night watch but is always denied. Vincent likes the half-solitude of the night watch and even if he didn’t he would have fitful dreams if he tried to sleep under an open moon. Now, though, the day is breaking and Vincent feels his lack of sleep suddenly wash over him, almost driving him to sleep on the rock he stationed himself upon rather than taking the hassle to setup his sleeping bag. He might of, if he didn’t have things to do.

Vincent stands slowly atop the rock and stretches out towards the rapidly disappearing stars, his legs and his back pop gratefully after hours of focused rigidity. When he hops down onto the grass, now wet with morning dew, Michael’s eyes snap open and he breathes in deeply.

“Grungh” Michael emits as he stretches within his sleeping bag, “Good morning, Vincent,” Michael speaks softly with care not to wake anyone.

“Morning. How many more hours do we have on the road, you reckon?” Vincent asks, rummaging through his small pile of belongings.

“Not long, maybe two or three more days at this pace. We could reach Marzda by midnight if we travel like soldiers”

“Yeah, I don’t find that likely”

Michael looks around at the sleeping forms around him, he chuckles, “Well, we have the time to sleep in. Especially you, get some sleep, I’ll wake you in a few hours with breakfast”

Vincent is already asleep, this also makes Michael chuckle, just to himself this time.

Michael’s morning watch is not the owl-eyed vigilance of Vincent’s. He likes to walk around the perimeter of the camp, caring not to stray too far from the fire, even if it is already light enough to see clearly. He likes to stop and carefully examine any interesting plants he sees along his patrols, this time he takes the time to appreciate a flower with multiple bulbs supported by a single woody stem. Michael thinks about drawing a picture to keep in his notes but figures it wouldn’t do it justice. This can just be his own personal aberration. Eventually his attention is drawn back towards the camp as he notices the rustling, characteristic of his companions slowly returning from sleep. With a companion it would be far safer scavenging foraging for berries, or even a bird’s nest hidden poorly in the low branches if they were lucky. Michael is still looking at his flower, thinking of eggs, when he hears a small “twrrp?” coming from the tree-line. He sharply raises his head, unaccustomed to being snuck up on; Michael instants spots its source. A small creature, less than a foot long; its stout body is covered with soft black fur and it stares at Michael with large, black, inquisitive eyes. “Twrrp?” It repeats, more confidently this time. One of its fuzzy ears twitches along with its stubby tail. Michael does not move. One of the thing’s long slender legs takes a step towards Michael, it watches him, waiting to see how he’ll react. When he doesn’t, it takes another, none of its eight eyes leave Michael for an instant. Michael, likewise is looking back. He tentatively reaches out a hand, attempting to make contact with the little thing without startling it. It rubs its head against Michael’s hand. Michael smiles and begins to pet his new friend, he feels the hard exoskeleton under the fur.

At the campsite, Michael’s traveling companions are awake (except for Vincent, whom is still very asleep). Morgan has already changed from their nighttime moon-and-star robe to their daytime sun-and-leaf robe and they squat next to the fire, observing a pot of coffee rapidly approach a boil. They have a deeply tired look in their eyes that won’t leave no matter how much sleeping Morgan actually gets done. Troubling dreams. Their eyes flicker to Sam for a moment as they begin playing their flute nearby, apparently having done all the work they plan on doing. They play a sweet tune for a few moments before hitting a sour note. Sam and Morgan glance at each other and grimace. Sam tries again and gets a little further before fumbling it again, she tosses the flute disinterestedly into her bag. A moment of silence passes; Morgan appreciates it but it makes Sam uncomfortable.

Sam looks around, desperate for a topic of conversation. She asks, “Where is Michael?”

Morgan does not look away from the coffee, they merely shrug and make a noncommittal noise.

Sam stares intently at Morgan’s face, she wears no expression on her face. “Aren’t you worried about your friend?”

Morgan takes the coffee pot off the fire and places it onto flat rock beside the fire-pit. They shrug, “Not really” Several coffee cups are filled. One is handed to Sam, one stays with Morgan, the others are left out to await cold hands and desperate lips.

Sam blows on her coffee before taking a sip, “Do you not value his mortal body because you are a wizard? Or do you simply not care about him?” She crosses her legs and watches intently.

Morgan smiles at the question, “I try not to get attached to traveling company but if he happens to die I have a skull ready to trap his soul in; so I wouldn’t worry” Morgan finally looks Sam in the eye and smiles wolfishly. They laugh to themselves as Sam rolls her eyes and walks away. She tries to act casually but her quick pace betrays her discomfort. Morgan finally stands up once she is gone and takes a second coffee with them. With a whispered word from Morgan the fire is extinguished.

Sam lets out a small yell when she sees Michael approaching with the thing is his arms.

“I think that it’s cute and I plan on keeping it”

“Michael” Elliot implores.

“He’s friendly! And, it’s injured, I reckon he was abandoned, maybe he was the runt”

Morgan chimes in, “If it were the runt they would have just eaten it”

Michael turns to face them, “Are you familiar with this species then?”

“It’s obviously some sort of spider-thing. Maybe it’s a monster and there is just one,” Morgan waves their hand dismissively towards the creature curled up in Michael’s arms. “I could tell you for sure if you let me dissect it”

Michael puts himself between the spider-thing and the wizard, “Absolutely not! I will be training him and keeping him as a pet. He shall help in my bodyguard duties”

Elliot says, “Michael, you’ll have to feed him”

“I’m not a child! He won’t be a problem”

Elliot nods. She looks at the thing and her expression softens slightly. She takes a sip of coffee and regains her stone cold facade.

Sam interjects, “I think it’s cute! Have you named him yet?”

Michael turns eagerly towards Sam, they huddle in close over the thing.

“I was thinking that a good name would be Cup”

Sam giggles, “That’s adorable! I love this little Kitten-Thing! Cup!” She pets the Kitten-things head and it chirps happily in response. The soft purring sounds coming from Cup seems to come from the small mandibles on the bottom of its head. They rub together and “purr” when they pet him.

Vincent joins the circle of companions, he rubs the sleep from his eyes, and grabs clumsily grabs the now-cold coffee from the rock. He warily eyes the newest addition to their party, “So Michael’s got a new pet?” He gulps down a mouthful of coffee. “It’s sort of cute. Isn’t it?”

Morgan stares piercingly at Vincent “Aren’t you supposed to be familiar with the threats of this land?”

“Aren’t you supposed to have learned something at that school?”

Vincent smiles as Morgan sighs, exasperated.

“Plus” Vincent adds, “It doesn’t look dangerous or anything”

The cat-spider-thing looks at Vincent and trills softly.

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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Fargo Season 4: The Gang War Between The Chicago Outfit and The Policy Kings

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The following contains spoilers for Fargo season 4.

The FX series Fargo begins every episode of every season with a disclaimer that the stories are true but the names are changed. This gives the show a lot of leeway in picking its stories and how to present them. Fargo season 4 is set in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1950. Two mobs in one small city make a truce, which appears to be traditional in that part of town. It’s been done for at least two generations. Loy Cannon, played by Chris Rock, boss of an African American crime family, trades his youngest son Satchel (Rodney Jones), with the youngest son of Mafia family boss Donatello Fadda (Tommaso Ragno) to keep the peace. Donatello dies shortly after, in the usual unusual circumstances. There is no evidence of this kind of underworld trade in any of the true crime books I personally own, and have found no references to any books which reference it in an internet search. There was a beef in town which resulted in Mafia deaths and racial skirmishes in the Midwest crime world. They are unconnected but fill in some of the gaps.

But the central conflict in Fargo appears to be, at least inspired by, a crime war in the Midwestern city of Chicago where the Bronzeville area’s Policy Kings came up against Sam Giancana’s The Outfit. This is the same outfit Al Capone once ran, but the specific turf war came in the late 1940s and ended in the early 1950s, exactly when Fargo is set.

Sam Giancana is a fairly well-known crime figure whose fingerprints have dusted such high-profile hits as the JFK assassination and the attempted whack on Fidel Castro. He was one of the CIA’s “Family Jewels.” Giancana started out as a getaway driver for the 40 Thieves gang, which started out by busting heads for Chicago’s political bosses. He was the first member of the wild 42 Gang to get pulled into the majors and the very first thing he did when he came to bat for The Outfit was go after the Policy Kings’ numbers racket.

Fargo’s crime history holds that there were two gangs during the early part of the 20th Century, but the African American gang had been running the area’s policy rackets since 1918 and expanded into surrounding neighborhoods during the “Roaring 20s.” Black street gangs formed in the Bronzeville area after the 1919 race riots with Irish gangs. After the riots, the gangs became go-betweens for tourists looking for the best food, a good time, or the hottest jazz clubs, of which the neighborhood was loaded. They also showed out-of-towners where to gamble, get laid, or score drugs. The Policy Kings recruited from street talent, just like the Outfit chose Giancana.

The numbers racket is an illegal street lottery where people pick three numbers which are determined by a random drawing the next day, usually the last three numbers of racetrack totals. You place bets with a bookie and runners transport betting slips and cash to the numbers bank. In the Black section of Chicago it was called the Wheel Game, and the Policy Kings set talented gang members up with wheels of their own. The wheels had two drawings a day, one in the afternoon and another at night, bets were picked up every two hours by wheel men. Bookies got 25 percent of their bets. The bank got the rest. It was a no-lose proposition for the house.

During World War II, the epicenter of the Bronzeville area, Grand Boulevard, housed the Black upper class and celebrities on the east side and the struggling citizens on the west. The Policy Kings was stitched together by a tailor named Edward P. Jones, who went in with his brothers on a Wheel. Edward started as a slip runner and borrowed the $15,000 to start his own wheel, called the Harlem-Bronx, from his mother. Jones’ first runner was Teddy Roe, who was working as a tailor in the shop, which was really a front for a policy wheel. Born in Galliano, Louisiana, and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas, Roe had been going back and forth between legitimate work and bootlegging, and could pass for white according to the book, Robin Hood of the Hood: The Life and Times of Teddy Roe, Policy King by Ron Chepesiuk and Michael Roe. He would go on to build an illegal gambling empire on Chicago’s South Side.

The street lottery was protected by politicians Edward Joseph Kelly and Patrick Nash. Chicago’s “Big Twelve Policy Syndicate” was organized in 1932. Energized by the Black vote, the city’s Democratic Party gave tacit approval the next year. By 1938 the Policy Kings were making $10,000 a day. Al Capone noticed their success but left the Black neighborhoods in the hands of the Jones Brothers. By 1946, The Policy Kings were pulling in more than $25 million a year.

Racketeers routinely gave back to the community. This bought them goodwill, and more than its investment in terms of alibis. Roe was nicknamed “The Robin Hood of the Southside” because he paid hospital bills for newborns, funeral tabs for the dead, and was known to hand out $50 bills to the homeless. But also, because he expanded into legitimate businesses and hired locally. Like the Chris Rock character’s operation on Fargo, The Policy Kings were the Black community’s banks and employers in Chicago.

The numbers game generated a lot of money to poor neighborhoods and the Policy Kings kept it there, investing in car dealerships, supermarkets and churches. The Jones brothers bought the Ben Franklin department store which employed 150 people, and was also convenient as a front their policy bank. They bought apartment buildings, first on the South Side and then in more affluent neighborhoods. They also lived large. Eddie Jones’ wife Lydia was a former Cotton Club chorus line beauty queen. She wore satin or mink every day.

Jones and Giancana were cellmates at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. Giancana was doing time for bootlegging. Jones was serving 28 months for tax evasion, a rap he took to take the heat off his family. The Jones brothers had been working with the other cellmate, Billy Skidmore, who ran 19 casinos inside Chicago’s red-light district. Prodded by Skidmore, a proud Jones told Giancana he ran the biggest of thirty policy games in the city. When Giancana got out of jail in 1946, he brought the idea of taking over the Black policy games to Paul “The Waiter” Ricca, who had been the de facto boss since Capone’s imprisonment, but he and future Outfit boss Tony Accardo, also known as “Joe Batters” and “Big Tuna,” were caught up in a Hollywood labor investigation.

Giancana and “Fat” Leonard Caifano, a bookmaker and loan shark, visited Jones in prison to get him to put up the money for a vending machine operation. Jones gave his brother George orders to bankroll it. Within six months, they had 12,000 jukeboxes, cigarette and pinball machines, and a crew of about 500. The machines were legal, but the soda, candy, records and cigarettes which were in them fell off the backs of trucks.

The mob, seeing earning potential in the African American neighborhood, kidnapped Jones in May of 1946, and demanded $100,000 and a promise he hand over the policy rackets as ransom. Jones was held for five days and released at the corner of Loomis and 62nd Street, with adhesive tape over his eyes, and cotton stuffed in his ears. Roe paid the money, but decided to keep the rackets for himself. Jones moved his whole family to Mexico, though they could have moved to the villa in France where their mother Harriet lived.

Roe did not like or trust the white mob. He was respected as a crook with honor because he refused to give in to the Outfit, stiffing the mobsters their street tax. Ricca and Accardo didn’t take interest in the Black policy rackets until November of 1946, when Tom Manno drove them to the operation’s basement counting room which was filled with piles of money stacked to the ceiling. Accardo gave the order to take control of the policy business by January 1947.

Caifano tried to work out a partnership agreement, but Roe refused to even meet with him. He never backed down from a fight, vowing never knuckle under to any white gangster. A dozen mobsters from The Outfit and an unknown number of Roe’s gang were killed in the gang battle by the end of 1946. Caifano took over gambling parlors and set up bookie joints in the Black wards. Roe’s house was bombed, his wife and children were shot at, his collectors were beaten. Roe became a living legend in the Black community just for surviving, and it was good for business as the betting grew as part of neighborhood unity.

Giancana personally met with Roe. He offered him $250,000 in cash to quit the policy rackets. Roe told him “I’ll die first.” Giancana reasoned he “just might.” On June 19, 1951, Fat Lenny tried to kidnap Roe. He and his brother, Marshall Caifano, along with Vincent Ioli flagged down Roe and his three off-duty Chicago-cop bodyguards. Fat Lenny got shot in the head when they tried to pull Roe into the car. Bill Baxter, one of the off-duty cops, reputedly fired the fatal shot, but Roe took the rap.

The Chicago Police Department booked Roe for murder and put him in Cook County jail. After hearing reports he might be executed, they put him under extra heavy guard and Roe’s meals were prepared outside the jail in case someone tried to poison him. Roe was also charged with conspiracy to violate the state anti-gambling statute. He was denied bail six times before and during his trial. For the murder charge, Roe pleaded self-defense. His defense team linked the prosecution to the mob and Roe beat the case. Roe told reporters “They’ll have to kill me to take me” when he left the courtroom.

But Roe didn’t beat mob rule. Lenny Caifano was a made man, and his brother Marshall Joseph Caifano, was a capo. After Caifano’s killing, Giancana waged a shakedown war on Chicago’s Black bookmakers. Roe was hiding out in his mansion on South Michigan Avenue. He hired a small army for protection, according to Kings: The True Story of Chicago’s Policy Kings and Numbers Racketeers by Nathan Thompson. On Aug. 1, 1952, doctors told Roe he had incurable cancer. He dismissed his bodyguard. On August 4, 1952, he left his house dressed in a three-piece suit and hat. Roe was hit in the back, face and jaw by five blasts from a 12-gage shotgun before he reached the other side of the street. He did not have a chance to pull out his revolver. He died slumped against a tree outside 5239 S. Michigan Ave.

“The king is dead,” Chicago newspapers reported. Roe’s was the biggest funeral Chicago’s Black community had since Jack Johnson, the first African American world heavyweight boxing champ, died in 1946. Roe was laid out in a $5,000 casket. He had an 81-car funeral procession. Thousands of people lined the streets.

Police said they had no clues in the killing. They disagreed on whether the Outfit hired hit men or if it was other racketeers. In the early 1970s, Giancana was caught on an FBI wire tape admitting Roe “went out like a man. He had balls. It was a fuckin’ shame to kill him.”

After the last Policy King was gunned down, Giancana took over the Policy racket and began selling Heroin. The largest street gang in the neighborhood by that time was the Deacons, who could do little to protect the neighborhood.

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Fargo airs Sundays at 9 pm on FX.

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katedoesfics · 4 years

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Under Shadow: Chapter 47

The building started to shake around them as they hurried back up the stairwell. Muffled explosions could be heard through the walls as they reached the ground floor. They ran down the hallway and around the corner, back into the empty lobby. Marlon put Najia on the floor as she began to groan and slow come to.

“It’s too quiet in here,” Alex said. “Where is everyone?”

The explosions from outside were louder in the lobby. They peered out the nearest window as a tank moved through the city. The soldiers were firing at the tank as it moved down the road.

“Did Kent get his hands on a fucking tank?” John muttered.

Najia groaned louder as his eyes fluttered open. She turned onto her side, gasping, before vomiting on the floor.

“We need to get her to Harvey,” Marlon said, kneeling at her side as she collapsed onto the floor.

“We seem to be clear here,” Gil said. “The cars aren’t far, and the wall is likely unguarded with Kent causing a scene.”

“I can get one of the cars,” Alex said.

“Go,” John said. “We don’t have a lot of time.”

They waited in the empty lobby, watching the battle unfold outside. Another tank approached, firing at the first tank, until the two tanks were firing at one another. The soldiers climbed the first tank, dragging Kent out of the hatch on top and throwing him onto the ground.

“Christ,” Gil muttered, taking his pistol out of his pocket.

“Don’t go out there,” Marlon hissed. “You’ll draw attention to us.”

“They’re going to fucking kill him,” Gil barked. He pushed open the front door.

“Shit,” Marlon muttered, throwing Najia back over his shoulder. “I’m getting her out of here.”

“We’ll hold them off,” John said.

“Get Gil back in here now before you all get killed.”

Shane hesitated, watching as John ran out the front door, and Marlon out the back with Najia over his shoulder. He chased after John, watching as Gil fired aimlessly into the battle below them.

The tank turned its aim onto the men in front of the building and began to fire. Shane threw himself onto the ground as the missiles flew into the building. Shrapnel erupted around them. He looked up just as a man pointed a gun at Kent’s head. The man looked up at them and smiled wickedly as he pulled the trigger. Kent’s body fell over, limp.

Shane’s breath caught in his throat as the battle turned to them.

“Move,” John shouted to Shane as he pulled Gil’s arm.

They sprinted back into the building as the tank continued to fire. The walls and ceiling of the building began to crumble around them as they made their way across the lobby and out the back. They ran along the wall until they found a tattered shirt hanging, tied to a tree branch.

“Alex,” John said. He climbed the tree to the branch that hung just over the wall and jumped down on the other side. Gil and Shane followed quickly, dashing into the woods towards the cars.

They found Alex and Marlon just outside the woods, up the road. They crammed themselves in quickly as Alex sped the car around, back to where the other two waited.

“What about Kent?” Alex asked.

“Kent’s dead,” John barked at him.

Alex stared at the man beside him blankly.

“Drive, kid, drive.”

Najia groaned in the back seat, her body stretched out across the three men in the back. Her eyes fluttered open once more, meeting Marlon’s gaze.

“Please don’t head bash me,” he muttered.

Najia blinked at him. Her eyes moved along to Shane, then to Gil. She sighed and closed her eyes. “You roofied me, didn’t you?”

Alex stopped the car beside the other two, waiting just where they had left them. Marlon helped Najia out of the car and into the front seat of the truck.

“What happened?” she muttered.

“Don’t you worry about it,” Marlon said. “We’re getting you home.”

She winced as Shane slammed the door beside her. He leaned out the window, talking low to Marlon before he got into the car with Gil. The truck engine roared to life and they pulled out of their hiding spot, speeding down the road.

Najia watched Shane as he drove. His brows were knit together and his face twisted in a mix of emotions. She noticed the red lump on his forehead.

“What happened to you?” she mumbled.

He didn’t look at her. “You skull bashed me.”

Najia stared blankly at him. “I what?”

He shook his head. “How are you feeling? Are you okay?”

“I feel like shit,” Najia groaned. “Why do I feel like shit?”

“A number of reasons, I’d suspect,” Shane said. “You were drugged.”

“Drugged?” she repeated. “By who?”

“The Gotoros,” He hesitated. “And Marlon.”

“Marlon drugged me?”

“You were kind of trying to kill us,” he muttered.

“What?”

Shane shook his head. “It doesn’t matter.”

Najia pushed herself up in her seat. “It does matter.” She paused. “I don’t remember anything after being thrown into some jail cell.”

Shane finally turned to her, looking her up and down. “The Gotoro Empire is working with the Dwarves,” Shane said, turning back to the road, illuminated only by their headlights.

“Why?”

“To fight the Shadow People. Except their methods are twisted and backwards. I still don’t know what they think they could get from Stardew Valley, but they’ll do anything to get to it.”

“They asked me all these questions.” Najia hesitated. “I can’t remember. I didn’t know what they wanted from me.”

Shane’s gaze drifted to the rear view mirror.

“Thanks for coming after me,” Najia said softly. “Would have saved you a lot of trouble if you just left me, though.”

Shane’s gaze moved back to the road.

“Is everyone okay? My grandfather?”

Shane nodded.

“What’s wrong?”

Shane gritted his teeth together. “Kent was murdered,” he said.

“Murdered? What do you mean?”

“Fucking animals,” he said. “He was helpless and they just shot him right in the head. Just to make a point.”

Najia’s stomach twisted. “Oh my Yoba,” she said. She leaned out the window and vomited. “This is all my fault,” she sobbed.

“Stop,” Shane growled. “This isn’t anyone’s fault.” He sighed and turned to Najia. “You should sleep or something until we get you to Harvey.”

*****

They arrived back in Stardew Valley without incident, parking the vehicles just outside of the tunnel. They walked through the dark tunnel in silence, not bothering to light their way with their flashlights. Their footsteps echoed eerily off the stone walls around them.

“I saw him,” Alex said quietly. “When I was heading for the cars. Fucking tank. Thought I was dead until Kent popped out of it. I told him what happened. Where you guys were. He said he would make a distraction so we could escape.”

No one responded to him. They continued to walk on in silence, somber. When they emerged from the tunnel, they squinted into the bright sunlight, their eyes still not quite adjusted. Their footsteps turned soft as they made their way down the dirt road into the little town where everyone was gathered in the late afternoon light.

They turned to them as the team approached, delight on their faces to see them home safe, but their joy quickly disappeared as the team trudged forward, dirty and solemn.

Jodi was the first to speak, her voice shaking; panicked. “Kent. Where’s Kent.” It wasn’t a question. She already knew the answer. Her breathing shook as the team looked to one another, waiting for someone to answer.

“Jodi,” Marlon began, but he did not need to finish.

“No,” she said softly, shaking her head. “No, no, no.” Her voice rose as the tears began to stream down her cheeks. “No!” Her legs shook and she fell to her knees, sobbing.

Vincent ran to his mother’s side, crying softly. “Mama,” he said. “What’s wrong, Mama? Where’s Daddy, Mama?”

Jodi pulled her youngest son into her chest and sobbed into his messy locks. Sam watched at Sebastian’s side, staring at his mother, his face pale as her sobs grew.

“Don’t cry, Mama,” Vincent cried. He pulled away and tried to wipe her tears with his little hands. “Don’t cry,” he sobbed.

Sam turned away silently, his hands clenched into fists at his side, his breathing short.

“Sam,” Sebastian started, raising his hand to his friend’s shoulder, but Sam pulled away and made his way to the forest.

Jas ran across the square towards Shane. Shane picked up the girl, wincing slightly as he kissed her forehead.

“You’re way too big for this,” he whispered to her.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head against him. “Not today,” she said.

Najia blinked back the tears in her eyes and turned away from the group. She wandered aimlessly back to the farm until her vision was too blurred to see. She found the front steps of her grandfather’s cabin and sat down, sobbing into her hands until she felt a hand on her shoulder. John smiled at his granddaughter as she peered at him through her wet eyes.

“It’s not fair,” she muttered.

“War isn’t fair, Rōśanī,” he said softly.

#under shadow #chapter 47 #us47 #stardew valley #fic #fanfic

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FA Cup fourth round: 10 things to look out for this weekend

Will Daniel Sturridge get a chance to regain his verve? Will Ranieri fine-tune for a relegation battle? Will Ravel Morrison return to Old Trafford?

1) Revitalised Lincoln face biggest challenge yet

A clutch of (fool)hardy Lincoln City fans queued through Wednesday night in sub-zero temperatures in order to get their gloved hands on the last tickets for their clubs biggest and indeed only fourth-round FA Cup tie since 1976. Those fans were evidently not discouraged by the fact that the National League leaders had suffered their heaviest defeat of the season the previous night, when they were beaten 3-0 by Barrow, whose rugged approach on a treacherous pitch fairly knocked Danny Cowleys men out of their impish stride. The Championship leaders, Brighton, will probably not resort to such robust tactics but are still likely to provide the toughest test yet for a Lincoln side who have already beaten two opponents from leagues above them. The Cup run has generated around 500,000 for the club and given special memories for a generation of supporters who are dreaming of even better days ahead, starting, just maybe, on Saturday. PD

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2) Will Sturridge get the chance to regain his verve?

Jrgen Klopp was frustrated by Liverpools poor finishing against Southampton on Wednesday. This weekend his team could have an ideal chance to finetune it, as suspension has deprived the lower league visitors, Wolverhampton Wanderers, of their first-choice goalkeeper, Carl Ikeme. But with Chelsea to come three days later Klopp seems likely to field a side featuring many reserves, as against Plymouth in the last round. It will be interesting to see whether Daniel Sturridge starts and, if he does, whether his performance perks up. It will also be interesting to see how the Anfield crowd reacts if Wolves begin well and threaten to add to Liverpools woeful start to 2017. The last time Wolves won at Anfield, in 2010-11, the home fans gave a memorable example of terrace wit when they began advocating a hilarious stunt. Hodgson for England! they bawled, possibly not expecting the FA to take the suggestion seriously and employ their then manager. Roy Hodgson complained afterwards that ever since Ive been here the famous Anfield support hasnt been there. Klopp, by contrast, has been hailed as a potential saviour ever since his arrival. Belief in him remains strong among Liverpool fans but some of his recent decisions are testing their faith. PD

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Daniel Sturridge squirts water over his face ahead of the EFL Cup semi final second leg match between Liverpool and Southampton. Photograph: Greenwood/BPI/REX/Shutterstock

3) Ranieri has a chance to fine-tune for relegation battle

Wilfred Ndidi made a brilliant first impression on his Leicester City debut, against Everton in the previous round, but Claudio Ranieri is still searching for his ideal midfield make-up and shape. He may, then, welcome this match as an opportunity to develop a solution before resuming the fight against relegation from the Premier League. On the other hand, another match could be construed as too much of a burden for Robert Huth and Wes Morgan, the main victims of the clubs uneven recruitment last summer. Maybe, then, Claudio Ranieri will use this match to release Yohan Benalouane from suspended animation? The centre-back has been curiously absent from the managers plans for most of the season but was a surprising inclusion on the bench for the last match, a 3-0 defeat at Southampton. A return to action would be intriguing and perhaps even solve a major Leicester problem, especially if they do not sign another centre-back before the and of this month. On a similar note, and returning to the midfield shuffle, Bartosz Kapustka got six whole minutes against Everton it would be good to get another glimpse of the gifted young Pole some time soon. PD

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4) Rochdale have another Yorkshire scalp in sight

With Huddersfield having sold all 3,500 tickets allocated to them, Spotland is likely to have its biggest crowd of the season for this Lancashire-Yorkshire clash, with home supporters hopeful of witnessing something similar to their impressive toppling of Leeds United in 2014. That could create exactly the right mood to uplift Keith Hills side, whose promotion challenge in League One has been dented recently by injuries and loss of form. David Wagner, meanwhile, is likely to make several changes to his usual Huddersfield lineup and that could mean a return to action for Harry Bunn, who has not played since excelling in the win over Port Vale in the last round. PD

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5) Joyce may bring Morrison along to Old Trafford reunion

For about 20 minutes, it looked like the run might finally be over. With Bolton leading at Crystal Palace, their fourth round tie with Manchester City was set to bump neighbours Manchester United off the TV schedule, ending Uniteds run of 55 consecutive televised Cup ties. Instead, Christian Benteke steered Palace through, and United will make it 56 against Wigan Athletic. A home tie against a team 21st in the Championship would appear to serve little purpose beyond bolstering the ratings, but Sundays opposition do offer an intriguing subplot. Wigan manager Warren Joyce took over in November after eight years at Old Trafford in charge of the reserve side, where he was responsible for the development of Paul Pogba, Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard, among many others who didnt make the grade. Perhaps the most notorious name on that list is Ravel Morrison, currently training with Wigan after being frozen out at Lazio. Its still a long shot, with no loan move confirmed at time of writing and Morrison obviously lacking match fitness, but the prospect of Morrison returning to Old Trafford may be worth tuning in for. NMc

Could Ravel Morrison return to Old Trafford? Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA

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6) City to experiment with Palace focusing on the league?

Selhurst Park will inevitably be noisy, but the visit of Manchester City may suffer from a lack of on-field intensity. Crystal Palaces run to the final last season placated fans as league form stagnated, but the situation is very different this time around, with Palace in the bottom three. Sam Allardyce has traditionally made his excuses early in the FA Cup the win over Bolton was just his third in the competition since 2009. Not for the first time, Pep Guardiola may view things differently to Allardyce; the City manager sent out a strong team against West Ham, and was so impressed he stuck with all ten outfield players against Everton, with widely publicised results. Another trip to the London Stadium awaits in the league on Wednesday, so Guardiola may employ a couple of returning players here. Vincent Kompany has completed just one match all season (the EFL Cup win over Swansea) while Fabian Delph has also suffered with persistent injury problems. Kompany, last seen at Selhurst Park in November, would be a very welcome addition to central defence, while Delph has previously hinted at a change to his previous midfield position, potentially trying out a full-back. This may be the right fixture to experiment, but Guardiola should not assume the same tricks will work on Wednesday. NMc

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7) Millwall can celebrate against off-colour Watford

No-one likes them, they dont care; but enough about offshore property developers. Millwalls home tie with Watford will be a celebratory day in the sun for the hosts, broadcast live on the BBC and coming just four days after the threat of eviction was finally removed. As the club have stated, Lewisham council are yet to formally abandon a compulsory purchase order on land around the Den, but the news that mayor Sir Steve Bullock believes the CPO should not proceed has been greeted with widespread relief from supporters, and residents close to the clubs South London home. The murky regeneration plan for New Bermondsey has been on the table since 2014, when Millwall were in the same division as Sundays opponents. Watfords third-round win over Burton was their only success since mid-November, and it would almost be a surprise if the League One side, who dominated a depleted Bournemouth in the last round, did not celebrate their off-field victory with a place in the fifth round draw. NMc

Fans protesting the compulsory purchase order during the The FA Cup 3rd round match between Millwall and Bournemouth. Photograph: ProSports/REX/Shutterstock

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8) Free-scoring Oxford and Newcastle face off

Expect goals at the Kassam Stadium as Oxford United, with 11 in their three FA Cup victories so far, take on Newcastle United, comfortably the Championships top scorers. Both sides won their last league fixture 4-0, while the visitors have the top four tiers leading scorer in Dwight Gayle. Whether Gayle will be called upon is another matter. Newcastles only concern this season is securing a Premier League return, and Rafa Benitez rotated his team accordingly to get past Birmingham with the help of a replay. Michael Appleton is also facing a selection dilemma, with a rearranged EFL Trophy quarter-final against Bradford on Tuesday offering a much more realistic route to Wembley. Having outclassed Rotherham in the third round and upset Swansea in last seasons competition, the Oxford manager might still find reason to believe that victory, and a first fifth-round appearance since 1994, is a more realistic prospect than it looks on paper. NMc

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9) Will Leeds be flummoxed by Suttons pitch?

Artificial pitches are something of a rarity in top-level football, not seen in England since QPR and Lutons ill-starred experiments with astroturf, the last seen when Preston reverted to good old-fashioned grass in 1994. Leeds United will have to deal with one this weekend though, when they visit Sutton United. And Sutton manager Paul Doswell seems fairly confident that it will flummox the Championship promotion contenders. Without being over-emotional about it, we have got a good chance against Leeds on our pitch, said Doswell. No one likes playing on it apart from us it seems. We are very good on it. Indeed they are, having won nine of their 15 National League games on the 3G surface, and also holding League One Wimbledon to a draw there before knocking them out in the previous round. Still, even though Garry Monk will probably rest some first-teamers, as he did in the third round against Cambridge, Leeds may well reason that if Solihull Moors, Braintree Town and Dover Athletic can win at Gander Green Lane, they should stand a chance too. NM

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10) Wycombe and Kashket deserve big moment

Given Tottenhams generally sparkling recent form they might be expected to brush aside League Two Wycombe with little fuss and plenty of team changes. Yet their opponents are on a roll too. Gareth Ainsworths team are unbeaten in all competitions over 16 matches and havent failed to score in a game since 22 October. Expect considerable focus on Wycombes little and large striking talents. Adebayo the beast Akinfenwa is well enough known for his formidable strength, durability and opportunistic WhatsApp-based contract appeals, but the diminutive Scott Kashket could be the player to keep more of an eye on at White Hart Lane. Demoralised and discarded at Leyton Orient last season, the 20-year-old forward has been an inspired addition to Ainsworths side and has rewarded the clubs faith in him with 14 goals in all competitions, including a hat-trick in the second-round win at League One Chesterfield. They gave me the chance to prove myself when nobody else would, and I want to pay them back by carrying on scoring goals for Wycombe, said Kashket, who signed a new deal with the club last month. When I came here I only signed a short term deal and needed to prove myself to get it extended. I did my bit and hoped they did theirs, which they did, so Im glad they had faith in me. Though Spurs are likely prevail on Saturday, Kashket and Wycombe deserve their day on the big stage. TD

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