#january reads staff picks
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"i did a thing." or, hyunjin needs an expert opinion about his newest piercing.
words・1.4k / pairing・idol!hyunjin x gn!makeup artist!reader / genres・fluff, established relationship / author's note・takes place in the same universe as places, places! and crying lightning but can be read on its own. @astraystayyh your children are back :’)
The parlor door jingles. Hyunjin emerges onto the chilled pavement with his phone pressed to his ear, and you pick up on the fourth ring.
“What is it? I’m busy.” The way your voice shrinks substantiates this claim, like you’ve darted to the other end of the room promptly after accepting his call. “And you’re on speaker.”
Hyunjin ducks into his car and sits back against the nylon with a grateful sigh. He finds himself constantly ill-prepared for Seoul’s Januarys. “Busy with who? Remind me.”
“You wanna say hi?” You ask the person in your company. Who is it? He hears them ask, to which you answer: Hyunjin. You say it softly, in the sense that you’re far away and speaking under your breath, but softly, in the sense that your tongue caresses every syllable of his name with that tacit fondness he’ll never tire of.
He notices the ditzy smile on his face only when he glances into his rear-view. He’s long given up on wiping it off.
A familiar voice drifts into your receiver. “Mr. Hwang!”
Ah, that’s right—you’re working on Aespa’s new music video for the next two weeks. Today must be the first day of filming.
“Hey, Ningning! How are you?”
“In a predicament, honestly. I have the biggest crush on my stylist, but so does this other guy…”
“Damn, sounds tough. Best of luck.”
“Oh, I won’t need luck. I said predicament, not competition.”
His jaw hits his wheel. “Okay, we’re boxing. Let’s go. Earrings off.”
“Say less!"
You’ve withstood enough. “Alright, nobody is boxing anyone—do not touch your earrings, Ning, what’s wrong with you? God, Hyunjin!”
Now you say his name sternly, hopelessly, like he’s just knocked ten years off your lifespan. He almost likes this version more. He fell in love with you listening to it, after all.
“Did you call for any reason aside from threatening my clients?”
Oh, right. He did.
Hyunjin glances into the rear-view again, intentionally this time. He moves aside a lock of maroon hair to review the silver studs glinting off his right eyebrow.
He smirks.
“Am I allowed on set?”
Half an hour later, Hyunjin reaches the filming site and runs into a few staff members who are so surprised to see him they nearly forget to question what he’s doing there.
But they do their job, and he humors them, utters your name and the word “boyfriend” back to back. Then he watches their eyebrows disappear into their hairlines and basically prances into the dressing rooms.
He loves that everyone knows you. He loves that everyone knows that he loves you.
You were out of bed before he opened his eyes this morning, and he blooms at his first sight of you today, alone in the lounge, curled up on the couch and browsing through your phone. Eyeshadow stains your fingers and a pen sits behind the cuff of your ear. Your figure is framed in a (his) white cardigan with a red heart stitched over its left lapel. So professional, so pretty, that he doesn’t know what to do with himself, so he uses his words instead.
“I did a thing,” he says, plopping onto the cushion next to you.
You look at him, shut off your phone. “I figured.”
“Promise me you won’t get mad.”
“No.”
It was worth a shot. “Can you blink, at least? You’re scaring me.”
In turn, you stretch open your eyes and hold them there. “A blink would be more than you deserve right now.”
Insufferable. He unleashes a bashful laugh and singular clap and looks back at you just in time to see a matching smile on your cordate lips. And to see you blink.
“Seriously, though, no more suspense,” you plead. “What on earth did you do? Should I be worried?”
You tuck your hand around his bicep and tug lightly at his arm, and his insides pirouette at the gesture.
“No, no,” he answers, letting you pull him close, pressing a kiss to the corner of your mouth. “I was being dramatic. It’s nothing, really.”
You catch him as he’s trying to leave. A light finger hooks beneath his chin, an anchor to keep his face a mere few inches away from yours.
You look him in the right eye, then in the left, your expression stoic, scrutinizing. He doesn’t remember where he looks, in the meantime. He’s slipping and sliding out of his right mind, drinking in your long lashes and curved cheeks, wondering what heroic deed he performed in his last life to be able to study beauty in such proximity in this one.
“It’s not nothing, is it?” You query, tracing the tip of your pointer finger over Hyunjin’s cupid’s bow.
“No,” he exhales. “It’s not nothing.”
“Did you get it on your face?”
Of course you already know.
He nods, and the finger moves to his lower lip, gently indenting the glossy plush.
“Hot or cold?”
“Cold.”
The finger runs over the bridge of his nose, then the perimeter of its prominence, like the drag of a feather.
“Warmer.”
You lift a brow, give the side of his face a small nudge, and say, turn. The word comes out in a very stylist-esque manner, and you and Hyunjin realize this at the same time, judging by the synchrony of your quiet chuckles.
“Force of habit,” you murmur, and move his hair out of the way and lean in to examine his ear. Nothing new there. He turns his face the other way before you have to ask. Nothing new there, either.
When he looks at you again, your gaze has locked onto his eyebrows. You cock your head slightly to one side as it dawns on you what he’s done.
“Warmer,” he offers anyways, his smile small, his pulse rapid.
With a flourish of movement, you push his purple locks all the way off his forehead. Hyunjin holds his breath. Your expression goes blank.
But it’s not blank, not really. One just has to know where to look. (He does.)
Your eyes darken fast as if caught in a solar eclipse, your pupils doubling in size, your irises quivering slightly. Your mouth opens, then closes, then purses into a thin line as if suppressing something explosive. Your cheeks blush at their very outskirts, along the edges of your face and the slants of your cheekbones, like how the first rays of sunlight always skim the mountaintops first.
He hardly notices the finger you bring to brush over the studs, so carefully he doesn’t feel the contact.
He’s too busy basking in his victory.
Neither of you say anything for a long while. You lean back, then right, then left, your hand pinned to his hairline, your gaze superglued to his brow. He simply sits still, feeling like one of your French girls, simpering, simping.
“You really did it,” you finally say.
“I did,” he chirps. “Any notes?”
At the next part of your lips, your waiting smile overtakes them at long last. You duck your head to conceal it like he hasn’t already melted at its mere image. You deliver your answer to your knees.
“No?” He repeats incredulously, teasingly. “That’s a shame. I really could’ve used an expert opinion.”
You roll your eyes hard enough for them to tug at your sockets. His boyish grin wipes away your feigned irritation like warm cotton.
“Fine,” you grouse. “Look at me.”
He does. You look back.
“It's nice," you deadpan.
Your resolve wobbles.
"Complements your face…shape.”
The ‘p’ sound pops, and you lose your shit.
The sun fully risen now, you bury your burning face into your hands, your shoulders shaking with silent laughter. Meanwhile, the raucous cackle that leaves Hyunjin’s lips causes the intern hurrying past the lounge outside to jump so high he actually lets go of his coffee cups before snatching them back out of the air with a relieved groan. He doesn’t get paid enough.
You think you’re getting paid too much.
“I love it, Hyun,” you whisper. “You’re beautiful. I don’t tell you that enough."
His heart beats so rapidly he thinks it might take off into a sprint; his laugh dwindles into a ditzy smile, one he’s long given up on wiping off.
“You know nothing about that word,” he replies, softly.
You bring your lips to his. His fingers wrap around the crook of your elbow. Yours begin curled in the silken hair at the back of his head. The pen behind your ear falls into the cracks of the couch.
“I’m still mad at you,” you sigh against his mouth, your own statement debunked by the inevitable drift of your touch back to the metal lodged in his face.
He doesn’t need to call you out. You do it yourself: “Ugh. I’ll be mad at you later.”
🔖 (send an ask to be added)・@astraystayyh・@like-a-diamondinthesky・@fire-08・@starsandrqindrops・@txtxlz・@laylasbunbunny・@strayghibli・@nuronhe・@seungminsapuppy・@vivisoni・@skzms・@moon0fthenight・@sweetpickledjins・@svintsandghosts・@nhyunn ・@ur-boyfiend・@liknws・@hotgorloikawa・@randomwimp・ @automaticpersonabatpaper・@aceofvernons・@linos-kitten・@newhope8
© forlix (est. 090323) · liked this work? please consider reblogging, commenting, or sending me an ask to let me know; or, read my other writing here. thanks so much for the support ♡
#hyunjin x reader#stray kids x reader#stray kids imagines#hyunjin imagines#skz x reader#stray kids scenarios#k-labels#skz imagines#stray kids fluff#skz fluff#hyunjin fluff#skz scenarios#hyunjin scenarios#hwang hyunjin#hyunjin x you#stray kids x you#*writing#*drabble#*d: hyunjin#I LOVE THESE TWO
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Hole In One
Written for @steddiemicrofic's January prompt: hole | rated: T | wc: 404 | cw: swearing
Read on ao3
————
Eddie nibbles on his guitar pick in the chain around his neck as he watches the man swing his golf club, hips swaying in the tan shorts, tight in all the right places. The flush creeping up on Eddie’s face doesn’t help in the hot, humid air even though he is standing under the shade of the drinks cart with his hair tucked into his visor. The white ball lifts in a graceful arc, dropping right into the hole a couple meters away.
“Quit drooling and help me here, dumbass,” Robin, the bane of his existence, flicks condensation onto his face. Eddie has a scathing retort at the tip of his tongue, but unfortunately, he’s thwarted by the hot golf man walking towards the cart. “Hey, Steve,” Robin exclaims, waving at the man who smiles back at her, then she ducks away to refill the ice leaving him all alone with the hot stranger. Traitor.
“What can I get you?” Eddie asks.
“Just a coke, thanks,” the man– Steve, says, pushing his shades up into his perfectly coiffed hair. “Never seen you here before,” Eddie feels like his spine is melting under the full force of Steve’s attention on him.
“You make it a point to know all the staff on the roster?” Eddie asks. He snaps the tab on the can and slides it over to Steve.
“Just the pretty ones,” Steve sips his drink, his gaze very deliberately dropping to Eddie’s mouth. “Do you play?” Steve asks, gesturing behind him.
“Do I play?” Eddie’s not very successful in keeping the disbelief out of his tone. “No, I don’t play,”
Steve gives him a smile that is no doubt a hit with the ladies– maybe even more than just the ladies. “I could teach you sometime,” He says, leaning closer and tucking a stray curl behind Eddie’s ear and he feels his face turning bright fucking red without his permission.
It's just flirting, you know how to flirt.
“Yeah, I bet you’re good at– holes,” Fucking, what? God, strike him down right this second, please. Steve’s face flashes in surprise, his grin immediately morphing into a teasing one.
“I guess you could say that,” he says, winking, “See you later, Eddie?” Steve walks away, hips swaying like he knows Eddie is watching, leaving him reeling and wanting to stick his head in the ice box.
But– wait, how did Steve know his name?
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#steddie#steve harrington#eddie munson#steddie microfic#steddiemicroficjanuary#steve definitely saw Eddie around the club asked himself how do I get this man's attention#then parked himself in front of his cart to peacock#mine
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I've been rereading The Beatles' sections of Cellarful of Noise in between re-listening to the episode while I make a ring, and I disagree with Phoebe that “[Brian] also seems to be offering a bit of a mea culpa" in his version of the story, because I don't think there's a way to read this anecdote as anything other than Brian using it as an example of how he messed up early on by showing favoritism, leading to Paul getting upset and himself overreacting and all of them missing a show... and then calming down, them working it out, and Brian picking everyone back up at their homes to play the last show. (Happy ending.)
So it's more than a bit of a mea culpa.
I mean the thesis statement is, “I have no favorites among the Beatles and this they realize now, but it wasn't always so.”
I have no favorites among the Beatles and this they realize now, but it wasn't always so. A manager dealing with a close-knit foursome has to be as fair as and as cautious as a father of four children. And one night very early in my management of the Beatles this was brought home to me with an unpleasant thump.
It neither acquits nor condemns Paul for being late because the point of the story—bookended by others about the other Beatles—is the different personalities and bumps in the road with each one. (Except George, who he says he's never argued with.)
They're all, essentially, “we can work it out” stories.
The next example is the story of John in the studio telling him, "We'll make the records. You just go on counting your percentages,” and how Brian left the studio afterwards “in a sullen rage” and never got an apology.
"We'll make the records. You just go on counting your percentages." And he meant it. I was terribly annoyed and hurt because it was in front of all the recording staff and the rest of the Beatles. We all looked at one another and felt uncomfortable and John turned away, indicating that there was no apology coming. I left the studios in a sort of sullen rage.
Ringo's anecdote seems worse than Paul's, or at least as bad. (And a train is involved again.)
It was January and the Beatles were due to tackle a country in which —compared to, say, Scandinavia or Germany, they were an unknown quantity. Therefore I was anxious to make a good initial impact. This can be achieved, and the U.S. trip proved it, at the arrival airport.
But fog descended over Liverpool and Ringo Starr could not leave for London to catch the connecting aircraft to Paris. The other Beatles and I and a score of journalists were in London when we heard the news. Naturally I was very disappointed that three Beatles instead of four would descend the steps at Le Bourget Airport in Paris. I telephoned Liverpool and asked Ringo to catch the train so that he could join up in Paris as soon as possible.
He refused, possibly because he believed that a Beatle shouldn't travel by train, and said he would catch the first available plane. I didn't want this because I didn't trust the weather and I said so.
I said, "Ringo, I have never asked you to do anything especially for me before," and he replied: "Oh yes you have. You know bloody well you are always asking me to do things— to see the press, or travel for this or that. I'm not doing it and if you don't like it you can do the other thing." ...
Why was Ringo trying to sabotage Brian?? (Could it be because of Stu?) 🤔
...I was very angry and when, eventually, he arrived in Paris there was quite an atmosphere. But sulking has no place in a group like the Beatles and with just a couple of meaningful looks and a grin, all was well. And, as with other difficulties, a frank talk helped.
But all the little stories end with them understanding each other better and a compliment for the Beatle he's telling a Bump-in-the-Road story about.
Which is, of course, how his Paul story ends:
This was the only time any one of the Beatles refused to play and it could never happen now. But it was not the only time one or more of the Beatles fell out with me. It would not be normal or reasonable to expect four artistic men to glide through life without a clash of views, and although rows are rare, they happen.
So, Brian's takeaway is that “a manager dealing with a close-knit foursome has to be as fair as and as cautious as a father of four children.”
But Lewisohn's takeaway is:
John saw a bigger picture, and it would be surprising if it wasn’t equally obvious, or made obvious, to Brian and George. He likened Paul’s enduring snag with Brian to his other long-standing difficulty: “[Brian] and Paul didn’t get along—it was a bit like [Stuart and Paul] between the two of them.”
Inevitably, this wouldn’t be the only dispute to arise between Brian and a Beatle in their years together, but it is one of the few to be known, and its timing is telling. Brian devoted more than a page to it in his autobiography, saying how “worried, angry and upset” he was.
What?
One of the few to be known except the other two on the very next pages??
John causes Brian to storm out of the studio in a “sullen rage” and with Ringo he was “very angry” and there was “an atmosphere.” But Lewisohn makes it sound like Brian singled Paul out to tell this one story, so it must be a big deal.
I thought I had a very quick point to make, but somehow the moment you start to unravel any part of this you discover it's like a bottomless plate of spaghetti. (I should probably say, “the moment I start to unravel...” but from listening to the podcast I feel pretty confident that I am not alone in this.)
But at some point you just have to cut it off.
💡 🌚
#akom#lewisohn#fine tuning#tune in#paul mccartney#the beatles#brian epstein#spanner in the works#Lewisohn is SO full of shit
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Public stripping by Momo would be a cool idea for a story if you're able to. Please and thank you!
Teased Promotion
Hirai Momo (ft. you and the crowd)
Length: 1202 words
Tags: stripping, public, public indecency, teasing, flaunting cleavage and breasts, how-to-get-promoted, dominant!Momo
TW: UNEDITED QUICKIE
(A/N: This request was in my ask box since January 25th... sorry for the long wait, but if you're still around to read it, I hope you enjoy this short, teasing piece xD)
“Guess who asked for a promotion yesterday?”
Your boss has the weirdest entries. He always says a random phrase without greeting you or talking about the topic at hand. However, he is still your boss and most often, a very chill guy. You mostly go along with his antics, especially at such an important company banquet.
“I have no clue to be honest, but it sure wasn’t me.”
“Ha, funny,” he laughs sarcastically, before answering the question himself, “It’s Miss Hirai, Momo, the one on stage right now.”
Of course you know who Momo is. Fierce in her gaze, fully focused on her case, unstoppable, ever since she stepped foot into the giant law firm. When someone meets Momo for the first time, they are allured, stunned even by her beautiful appearance and incredible body. Underneath her glasses are incomprehensible orbs and underneath her tailored suit are enormous breasts.
As a co-worker, you of course meet Momo more than once, so you were shocked to find that the second impression she makes is far different. Behind her mouth-watering facade is a killer, someone who is ready to leap over you, take your position, your job, your life if need be. It’s impossible to get into her pants, she is completely immune to flirting or someone showing off. You assumed she was a lesbian at first, but even the hottest women in your firm get bluntly rejected. It’s all business for her.
Momo loves showing off her money, of course, otherwise she wouldn’t wear gold necklaces and watches all the time, but she seems to love a show of dominance even more. For her to want a promotion is not a surprise at all, so you wonder why your boss felt the need to mention it.
“I know her. I bet everyone does. She probably deserves it.”
“Yeah, but she did not want to negotiate with me. She said that she will make her offer tonight at the banquet when everyone from outside has left. I sent all the staff and sneaky journalists outside ten minutes ago, but she hasn’t done anything yet.”
“Maybe she is getting cold feet,” you joke and reach for a second champagne glass. You give it to your boss and you both wordlessly look up to the stage. Momo just stands there, behind a lectern. The crowd of noisy, tipsy and flirty coworkers quiets down when they hear her through the speakers. Even when she clears her throat it sounds dominant, degrading, demanding.
“Today,” she begins and even the densest person is now completely silent and focused on her, “I walked into the office of our dear boss and I did not want to leave until a deal had been done. However, he challenged me to something—and my God am I ready to accept it.”
You have never heard or seen Momo this passionate before. She was feeling herself, nothing in the entire building could be more interesting than her right now and she knew it. Even your boss mutes his phone and makes it disappear into the pocket of his navy-colored suit. Momo was about to shine, to burst, but no one had a clue how.
“Boss,” she continues, her gaze piercing through the tense air and right next to you, “I have a way to boost the morale of everyone here and make myself indispensable to the firm.”
Momo steps away from the mic. The spotlight follows her onto the empty part of the stage where she is not hiding her legs behind the lectern. The clacking of her heels onto the metal surface is the only sound your ears can pick up. Your eyes, no, everyone’s eyes widen, when Momo grabs the top of her tie and rips it off of her neck.
What the fuck?
Momo straightens herself with a smirk and you instinctively straighten your back in your seat. She effortlessly lets her fingers run down her upper body and twists the first button of her suit, then the second and stops—only for the briefest, tense moment. She pulls open the suit with such ferocity, the buttons fly off. Momo let’s the hang on her shoulders and throws her head backwards to expose her slender, perfectly sculpted neck.
Holy shit.
People shuffle all around you. They jump from their seats, shake their heads or open their suits as well to make sure this is not a dream. It’s unnecessary though, because Momo’s wild eyes sparkle and tell them: this is real. I am real.
She spins around and sways, her hips moving to a song that is not there but that everyone can hear. Her opened suit travels further down, sadly exposing not her skin but a white, thin-striped shirt. Her back is still hidden, only the outline of the backside of her bra visible. Momo knows how to tease, how to make the crowd jump, and she is playing it out perfectly.
The suit falls and the first cheers roar. They wake up for her, those horny coworkers. A male dominated industry for sure, but the women are left speechless as well. No one is safe from Momo. She turns back around, adjusts her glasses with one hand, fiddles at the hem of her dress pants with the other and gradually, painfully slowly bends over.
She is showing her cleavage you imagine, but that god damn shirt is still blocking the view of her voluptuous breasts. Momo winks and sticks her tongue out, not to you, but to you, to anyone who is greedy enough to claim this wink as their own.
Momo makes your head spin when she interrupts the slow, teasing movements to lean her upper body backwards to present her crotch while simultaneously opening the first button of her shirt. You jump as well, barely anyone is still on their seat. Some dare to move closer, some stay behind. You expect her to go faster, but no. Momo is taking it slow and feeling it.
Oh God, this woman!
Both hands are on her tummy; you imagine she is flexing her hidden abs underneath. Then they massage themselves upward to her bosom; you imagine her hard nipples being crazed even through her bra. At last, she finds her neck, touches it for a second and—this time, you don’t have to imagine things—she moves both hands under the next button and pops it free. And the next. And the next. And the next, the one above her black lace bra.
The crowd goes nuts at the first glimpse of what Momo has kept a secret for everyone. Those that asked her out or tried to seduce her probably thought of a private session, their own victory to see the gorgeous, sexy Momo. They were wrong, bluntly. Momo wants all eyes on her.
More, fuck, more!
Somehow, your eyes fall down on your boss for a second. He is the last one still sitting, his suit open, cheeks red hot. He is fanning air to him, while failing to look unimpressed or demanding. He has fallen for Momo’s striptease and jumps the moment she opens her shirt to fully flaunt her tits.
“She’s got you as well.”
“Shut the fuck up.”
#kpop smut#female idol smut#girl group smut#hirai momo#twice momo#momo smut#male reader insert#twice smut
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A Winter Miracle Part 1 : Flight of Frenzy
Sebastian Stan x Reader One Shot
Summary :
When Sebastian Stan finally finished shooting Thunderbolts in Atlanta, all he wanted was to go back to New York to his home and family where his daughter and pregnant wife was waiting. But one event led to another and he found himself being in a flight of frenzy. Will he successfully get home?
A/N : This story is a little continuation of my Sebastian Stan story titled Love Song. It can be read on its own but if you want to understand more about Sebastian and reader's relationship, you can read their story first starting with the one titled Always You and then continue with Love Song.
Hope you enjoy this and please vote and comment. I will really appreciate it. Thank you!
Warning : references and mentions of death, plane accidents, plane emergencies, some violence and injury descriptions
Word count : 11.2k
Additional notes:
- The events in this story are based on true stories, believe it or not. Can you guess which one(s) are true? 🤭
- I have never been to Atlanta so apologies if the depiction of the airport is not accurate.
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Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Atlanta, USA - Friday, Jan 19th 2024 - 5.30 am
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The sound of tires screeching to a halt broke through the quiet morning at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. A taxi pulled up at the curb right in front of the Departure Terminal. Sounds of a car door opening and closing could be heard and a pair of feet wearing white sneakers took off towards the Terminal's entrance.
Late! Sebastian couldn't believe that he was late! His flight was leaving in an hour and he was supposed to have already checked in at least half an hour ago. He was never late for a flight ever in his life. But yesterday's shoot was so grueling that once he got into his rented apartment at 1 am last night he immediately fell asleep. He woke up at 4 in the morning and tried his best to be like The Flash as he packed his suitcase, took a quick shower and immediately went straight to the airport.
Yesterday was the last day of his shoot for Thunderbolts. It wasn't supposed to be. Today was supposed to be the last day. But he had bargained with Jake Schreier, the director, to make yesterday as the last day because he needed to come to his best friend's wedding this weekend. Which was why the shoot ended up taking so long.
Chad Crawley, one of his best friends since he was in college, was finally getting married. He was getting married to, surprisingly, his wedding planner, Madeline Rowles. Apparently they hit it off during Sebastian's wedding and after only six months of dating, Chad popped the question. Their wedding was going to be held the next day, on Saturday, January 20th, at a mountain resort in The Catskills, about three hours away from New York City. The wedding festivities were going to start that Friday afternoon, and being one of Chad's best men, Sebastian was of course supposed to attend it from the beginning. Which was why he needed to get back to New York City as soon as possible.
He had booked the earliest flight out of Atlanta to New York in the hopes that he still had time to pick up his family from his Soho apartment and then go with them to Chad's wedding. If everything went smoothly, by 10 am that morning he would have arrived at his apartment, and they could go to Plattekill Wedding Venue in the Catskills Mountain and make it in time to attend Chad's welcome party and rehearsal dinner that night.
He quickly went into the Departure area and stopped in front of one of the self check-in kiosks. He entered his booking number into the screen and waited as the system checked him in. He was expecting the kiosk to print out his boarding pass but instead the screen showed words he did not expect.
"We are sorry but you have been denied boarding. Please contact our staff at the check-in counter for further information."
"What the h**l?!" He cursed as he digested the text on the screen.
Great! Just as he was in a hurry, the last thing he expected to happen, happened. He was bumped from his flight!
It was common practice for airlines to overbook or oversell seats on a flight because up to 15% of seats could end up empty due to passengers not showing up. So to maximize profit, they sell more seats on a flight than they have. More often than not, all passengers who have bought tickets showed up, which meant there were more passengers than seats available. To overcome this situation, airlines usually ask passengers to volunteer to give up their seat in exchange for compensation whether it be in the form of cash, travel vouchers, etc. And the airline will also book another flight for the passenger to take, whether from the same airline or not, to make sure the passenger still gets to their destination. If no one volunteers, the airline will usually force someone to give up their seat. And that was exactly what happened to him that morning.
He left the self check-in kiosk and immediately went to the nearest available check-in counter.
"Good morning, how can I help you, sir?" The male airline staff greeted him from behind the counter.
"Yeah, I tried to check-in for my flight but I was denied boarding." He explained.
"Oh, I apologize for that, sir. May I see your ticket or your booking number, please?" He asked.
Sebastian showed his booking number and the staff entered it into the system. After several moments he looked up from the screen and gave him an apologetic smile.
"I'm really sorry, sir, it seems that you have been denied boarding because we have overbooked our flight. We can book you on the next available flight."
"Oh great. Can't you bump someone else? I really need to get to New York as soon as possible. My best friend is getting married. And I can't be late for that." He pleaded.
"Oh I'm sorry, sir. When is your best friend's wedding going to be held? If you don't mind me asking?" The staff asked.
"Well.. the wedding will be held tomorrow. But the rehearsal dinner is tonight and it takes place three hours out of NYC, by car. So I need time to get there." He explained.
"Well, let me see what I can do. Please hold on for a moment." The staff said and Sebastian nodded as the staff left him to talk to another, older staff, several feet away.
He sighed as he glanced at his watch. His plane leaves in less than an hour! He needed to do something.
He pulled out his cellphone as an idea suddenly struck him. He put his cellphone on his ear and pretended to be on a phone call.
"Honey? What?! You're having contractions?!" He said out loud, causing some people to glance his way, including, as he had hoped, the staff that was talking to him.
"Please hold on, honey. I'm trying my best to get on the plane but they wouldn't let me! I got bumped!" He deliberately yelled out loud.
The staff along with the other staff he was talking to stopped talking and walked towards him.
"I know honey, I know it hurts, I'm sorry I can't be there yet. I'm trying my best, okay? Hang in there, sweetheart." He continued his charade as the two airline staff stopped in front of him.
"Excuse me, sir." The other staff said and he put his hand up to make him wait.
"I have to go, honey. Why don't you call Edward. He can take you to the hospital. I'll be there as soon as I can. Okay? I love you." He said and he pretended to hang up.
"Is there something wrong, sir?" The staff asked, concern clearly shown on his face.
"Yeah.. my.. my wife. She's in labor! I mean.. the baby isn't due until a couple of weeks from now but she said she's having contractions already! I really need to be there!" He pleaded, panic in his voice.
"I'm really sorry, sir. But since you were the last one to check-in, we had to give your seat to someone else. But, don't worry, we can book the next flight to New York for you. Free of charge." The older staff said.
He sighed. He thought his little act would work. He wasn't as good an actor as he thought, apparently.
"Well, when will the next available flight leave?" He asked.
"Let me see." The older staff said as he turned to look at the computer screen and started typing into the system.
"There's usually one flight to New York every two hours but unfortunately today half of the fleet serving Atlanta to New York are all under maintenance so there are only three flights today. The next one will leave at 2.30 pm." The staff said, shooting him an apologetic look.
"Oh that's way too late! Isn't there anything earlier than that?" He asked as he felt his heart sink into his stomach.
If he took the 2.30 pm flight, he would arrive in NYC at around 5 pm and the fastest he could leave to The Catskills would be 6 pm. He would be late for the rehearsal dinner. He couldn't take that flight.
"Please hold on, sir and let me check other airlines." The staff said.
"Okay." He nodded as hope started to appear in his heart.
"There's a 10 am flight with Southwest and 12 pm flight with Jet Blue." The staff finally said after a while.
"Nothing earlier than that?" He asked.
"Unfortunately, the 10 am flight with Southwest is the earliest available flight, sir. All the others are fully booked." The staff responded.
He sighed as he made some mental calculations. If he left at 10 am, he would arrive in NYC at around 1 pm and he could leave for The Catskills as early as 2 pm. He would be at the wedding venue around 5 in the afternoon. The welcome party starts at 5 then followed with the rehearsal dinner. He would make it on time but he just wouldn't have time to rest after arriving at his apartment. He felt exhausted and was wishing he could rest a little before driving to The Catskills. He needed to get on his original flight.
"My wife is in labor. I need to be on this flight! What if I miss the birth of my baby because I took a later flight. Please, let me get on this flight. I'm sure you can find another volunteer to give up their seat." He begged and lied again.
"Well.." the older staff hesitated.
"Please.. I'll even pitch in for compensation. How much were you going to give me? I mean. We are entitled for compensation if we're bumped. Right?" He asked.
"Well. You don't need to do that, sir. It's our responsibility to give compensation. Especially monetary compensation." The older staff said.
"Well I can give non monetary compensation. I mean. You do know who I am? Right?" He asked, winking at the staff who just stared at him in confusion.
He usually didn't like to play the celebrity card, but at times it could be useful. And he really hoped it would be useful too at this time.
The younger staff whispered something in the older staff's ear and he nodded.
"Ah, of course. We know who you are, Mr.Stan. What exactly do you have in mind as non monetary compensation?" The staff asked curiously.
"Well, I can give an autograph and a selfie, I'll also add in a ticket to Thunderbolts premiere. I'm sure someone would want that." He said, winking again.
The staff looked at each other then the older staff nodded.
"Very well, sir. We'll contact the staff at the gate and let them know. Hopefully someone would want to give up their seat. Please wait." The older staff said and he nodded.
The older staff went away from him and started talking to his communicator. He glanced at his watch and it was already 5.45 am! The plane would start boarding soon and he really needed to get to the gate if he wanted to be on the flight. He tapped his foot impatiently and glanced at his watch every so often.
Finally, after about five minutes, the older man walked back towards him and smiled.
"We have good news and bad news, sir. One of the passengers is willing to give up his seat to you." The older staff said.
"Oh! That's great! And what is the bad news?" He asked.
"Unfortunately, because of bad weather, your flight will be delayed for about two hours. So it will leave at 8.30 am." The staff continued.
He sighed. Well, he could still make it on time to Chad's wedding if he left Atlanta at 8.30 even if the rest time he would get would be shorter.
"Okay, that's fine. So, what next?" He asked.
"We'll check you in and you can make your way to the gate. The passenger that has given his seat up to you will meet you there and you can give him your autograph and take a selfie with him there. About the tickets to the premiere, I believe you can arrange it with him directly." The staff said and he nodded.
"Alright, let me check you in, sir. Do you have checked baggage?" The staff asked.
"No, just a backpack and a small suitcase that I'll take to the cabin." He said, pointing to the small suitcase near his foot.
"Alright, sir. Please kindly wait while I check you in." The staff said.
"Okay." He nodded then pulled out his cellphone again and started to text his wife, Y/n. He really wasn't lying about Y/n being pregnant. She was pregnant with their second child and her pregnancy was at 36 weeks. The baby wasn't due for another four weeks but there were possibilities that it could arrive earlier than that. So he really wasn't lying about that. However, he wouldn't want her to start going into labor while he was still away either. He hoped his little act earlier didn't come true.
"Hi sweetheart, I'm sorry. I'm at the airport and I got bumped from the flight because I was the last to check-in. I negotiated with them and managed to get on the flight but it got delayed for two hours because of bad weather. So I'll be arriving late. I'm sorry."
He texted his wife.
He didn't expect a reply so soon but his wife replied moments later.
"Hi Iubirea mea. Oh, okay. That's fine. We can still make it to Chad's rehearsal dinner. Maybe we can hire a car and a chauffeur instead of you driving? Because you wouldn't have time to rest before we go."
"It's okay honey, I can rest on the plane and I have a couple of hours to kill here at the airport. I'll drive us there. Don't worry. By the way, how are you, Starlene and little bean?"
"Okay. If you're certain about it. Make sure you really get some rest. I'm sure you're still exhausted after last night.
Anyway, we're all fine. We miss you."
"Thanks honey. I am exhausted, but it's gonna be fine. And I miss all of you too!
By the way, have you felt any Braxton-hicks contractions so far?"
"No, not a single contraction. Little bean is still very comfortable in my tummy 😆"
"Okay, that's good. Well, give Starlene and little bean my love and kisses. I'll be there soon. Love you, sweetheart."
"Okay. We love you too, Iubirea mea. Let me know once you're about to board the plane."
"Okay. Will do. Bye sweetheart."
"Bye, Iubirea mea."
He switched his phone screen off and put it back in his pants' pocket. He looked up just as the older staff had finished printing his boarding pass.
"Alright, sir. We have checked you in. Here is your boarding pass. Boarding will be at gate A10. You can take the Plane Train to get there right after the security checkpoint. Please make sure you go straight to the gate after this because the person that gave his seat up for you is waiting." The staff explained.
"Alright. Got it. Thank you so much." He said as he extended his hand and shook the staff's hand.
"You're welcome, sir. Have a safe and enjoyable flight. And we hope you can still make it to your baby's birth." The staff said, smiling at him.
"Thank you." He smiled back and turned around.
Well, what an interesting way to start the day. He thought as he made quick strides towards the security checkpoint. He wondered who was the person that was willing to give up his seat for him. His fan or more of a Marvel fan. In any case he hoped the rest of his journey back to New York would go smoothly. He was tired and he just wanted to get home and meet his family.
However, luck was not on his side that day. He made it through the security checkpoint with no problem. But when he arrived underground and wanted to board the Plane Train, he found out the Plane Train was not working. There were supposed to be eleven trains working everyday connecting all of the Terminals and Concourses at the airport, but all of them were not working for whatever reason.
He looked up at the digital signage showing flight statuses and saw multiple flights were being delayed right before his eyes.
"Tell me you have some good news about the system malfunction. We can't possibly delay every flight today because the Plane Train isn't working!" A man wearing Atlanta Airport vest who was talking to his communicator walked past him.
Well, well, well.. his flight wasn't the only one being delayed. What were the odds of that happening the same day he got bumped from his flight and the same day his flight got delayed because of bad weather? He pondered internally. He hoped those were the only bad luck he had to endure that day. He remembered his honeymoon and all the crazy stuff that happened during the time and wishing hard something like that wouldn't happen to him again. Even though he had started to feel a strange feeling about it.
He sighed as he started to trudge towards the gate through the pedestrian walkway which was running right alongside the Plane Train track.
It took him fifteen minutes to reach his gate whereas with the Plane Train it could've taken him only two minutes. Oh well. Consider it a morning walk. He shrugged as he walked towards the counter near the gate.
The female airline staff who was standing behind the counter immediately recognized him and blushed upon seeing him.
"Good morning Mr.Stan." the female staff said and smiled shyly at him.
"Good morning. I'm here to meet the person who was willing to give up his seat for me." He said and smiled back at the staff, making the staff blushed even harder.
"Oh yes. Please wait a moment." The staff said and he nodded.
"Mr.Winklevoss, Mr.Winklevoss, passenger of Delta 228 to New York, please report to the counter near gate A10. Thank you." The staff announced through the speaker.
Moments later a big man with grey hair and beard approached him, looking like he could murder him with just a look. He definitely wasn't the type of fans he usually met.
"Hello there." Sebastian smiled and extended his hand to Mr.Winklevoss.
"Hi there." Mr.Winklevoss shook his hand firmly and gave him a small smile.
"Thank you for giving up your seat for me. I really appreciate it." He said.
"Oh it's no problem. The money they offered was quite a lot. I couldn't say no." He shrugged.
It wasn't exactly the answer Sebastian expected.
"Oh.. yeah. I'm sure they offered you a lot of money. Did they also tell you about my offer?" He asked as he started to feel rather suspicious that the man wasn't a fan of his.
"Yeah they did. No offense, I had no idea who you were at first until this lady here told me." He said, beckoning towards the female airline staff who was staring at him with love in her eyes. She blushed as Sebastian glanced at her and immediately looked down, pretending to type something into the computer in front of her.
"But the ticket to Thunderbolts premiere sounded like something I could sell. And of course, your autograph too." Mr.Winklevoss said and he felt rather disappointed at that. He wasn't as famous as he thought he was.
"Oh, right. Well, what would you like me to sign?" He asked with a heavy heart. He really would rather give his autograph to his real fans but he owed this man, he needed to keep his word.
"Umm.. well.. I don't have any memorabilia or anything. So, maybe my boarding pass would do. My old boarding pass I mean." Mr.Winklevoss said.
"Okay, sure." Sebastian nodded.
Mr.Winklevoss handed him his boarding pass.
"Umm.. do you have a pen?" Sebastian turned to the airline staff again and she nodded while still blushing hard, making him smile. She seemed like a fan. Maybe he could also give her something to make her happy, he thought.
"There you go Mr.Stan." the staff said and gave him a pen.
"Thanks." He winked at her and the staff looked like she was about to faint.
He laughed internally as he signed the man's boarding pass.
"There you go." He said, giving the boarding pass back to the man.
"Thanks." The man said brightly.
"Okay. So. Do you still want to take a selfie, or..?" He hesitated as he gave the pen back to the staff.
"Yeah, sure! It will be proof that I actually met you." Mr.Winklevoss said as he put his boarding pass into his bag and pulled out his cellphone.
"Okay." He nodded.
"I can help you take the picture if you want." The airline staff, who, thankfully, did not really faint, said.
"Oh yeah.. that's a great idea!" Mr.Winklevoss said in delight. He handed his cellphone to the staff and stepped back then stood close to him.
"Ready? One.. two.. three.." the staff said.
He smiled as the staff took several pictures of them.
"Do you want a picture too?" Sebastian offered to the staff after they were done and she returned Mr.Winklevoss' cellphone. The staff's eyes widened and she blushed yet again.
"I.. umm.. if you don't mind." She stammered.
"Of course I don't mind." He winked again at the staff and her face got even redder.
"Here, let me take the picture for you." Mr.Winklevoss offered after putting his cellphone back in his pocket.
The staff gave her cellphone to Mr.Winklevoss with trembling hands that he started to feel sorry for her.
"Hey, don't be nervous. It's just me." He smiled at the staff and the staff smiled shyly back at him.
"Come, get out of the counter and stand next to me." Sebastian said, extending his hand to her.
He guided her to get out of the counter and she stood next to him. He placed his hand on her shoulder as Mr.Winklevoss took several pictures of them.
"Thank you so much." She gushed after they were finished.
"No problem." He smiled at her and she looked like she was about to faint again as she walked back behind the counter.
"So, about the premiere tickets?" Mr.Winklevoss asked.
"Oh yeah. Could I have your phone number? Someone will be in touch with you for that. And considering the movie hasn't even finished filming yet, I'm sorry to say that it will be a while before you hear anything from us." He explained.
"Yeah sure. That's not a problem." Mr.Winklevoss responded then gave him his phone number.
"Thank you again for willing to give up your seat for me Mr.Winklevoss." He said after saving Mr.Winklevoss' number in his cellphone.
"Oh, no problem! Thank you for the autograph, picture and premiere ticket." Mr.Winklevoss replied.
"You're welcome Mr.Winklevoss." He smiled and Mr.Winklevoss finally left, leaving him with the staff that was a fan of his.
"So, my colleague said your wife is in labor?" The staff asked.
"Oh.. well, she's pregnant but she's not in labor yet although she's at 36 weeks and the baby really could come at.. any.. time.." He said slowly as he realized what he just said. He completely forgot about his lie!
The staff's eyes widened as she listened to him and he realized he was in trouble.
"So, your wife is not in labor?" The staff asked, her eyebrows raised.
"Oh shoot.. I forgot about that." He said sheepishly.
He leaned over to her and whispered "Please keep this as a secret. But.. no, my wife is not in labor. I had to lie about it because I really need to get on this flight."
"Oh.. yeah, of course. I won't tell a soul." The staff said as she made some movement in front of her mouth, gesturing as if she zipped her mouth close.
"Thank you. I knew you'd understand.. Daisy." He leaned back and glanced at the name tag on her chest then reached out and patted her hand, making her blush yet again.
"Anyway, as a thank you for keeping my secret, I could give you my autograph if you want. And umm.. tickets to Thunderbolts premiere too. What do you think?" He asked, smiling at her again.
"Are you serious?" She asked, her eyes widened.
"Yeah, of course!" He smiled. He realized that he had to give up two Thunderbolts premiere tickets that were allotted to him, which meant he had to make the decision to not invite two of his family members or friends to the premiere. But maybe he could persuade Marvel to give him more tickets. Surely he could negotiate with them. He tried to convince himself.
"That would be fantastic! Thank you so much, Mr.Stan!" The staff said enthusiastically.
"No problem. And please.. just call me Sebastian. So.. where would you like me to sign?" He asked.
"Okay! Umm.. do you mind signing my.. umm.. the back of my neck?" She asked, her face flustered yet again.
"Oh! That's an unusual place for a signature. Are you sure you want it there?" He asked, dumbfounded.
"Y..yeah.. I'm going to have it tattooed. Kind of like the fake tattoo you have for Monday. Do you remember?" She explained.
"Oh yeah.. of course I remember. Well then, I better make it small but artistic." He said, remembering the fake tattoo that said '(Re)Made in Greece' that he had for the movie Monday.
"You can make it big or small, it's up to you." She smiled.
"Okay. Once again, are you sure about this?" He asked.
"Yes!" She said with no hesitation.
"Alright. It's a rather hard place for me to sign though without causing some raised eyebrows. Maybe we should go somewhere more private." He suggested.
"Yeah, you're right.. but there really is nowhere private around here." She said as she looked around.
He looked around as well and noticed no one was looking at them. Most people were either looking at their cellphones or sleeping.
"Maybe we can just duck under the counter quickly. No one is really looking." He suggested.
"That's a good idea." She said.
So he quickly went behind the counter and once they were both sure no one was looking at them, they both ducked and squatted in front of each other.
"This is kind of weird." He laughed and she laughed too.
"So, do you have a pen?" He asked and she gave one to him.
"Okay. Let's do this." He said and she laughed as she turned around and exposed her neck to him.
Thankfully her hair was already styled up into a bun so he didn't have any trouble accessing the back of her neck.
He slowly signed her neck with a small version of his signature and paused, his hand hovered above her neck.
"Do you want me to add like.. more designs on it or something? Or would my signature be enough?" He asked.
"It's up to you Sebastian." She responded.
"Okay, I'll just add my name in small letters. You can add additional designs later on if you want." He said.
"Sure." She replied.
"Alright, that should do it." He said moments later after he finished writing his name on the staff's neck.
"Thank you so much Sebastian." She said as she started to stand up and he followed suit.
"Jesus! You scared me!" A startled male voice was suddenly heard. His heart seemed to jump out of his chest when he finally stood up. A man in Delta uniform stood in front of them, his mouth agape.
"Mr.Michaels! We're.. we're really sorry. We.. we didn't mean to scare you." Daisy said, her face turned into the reddest shade so far.
"Daisy.. what were you doing?!" Mr.Michaels asked, his eyebrows raised as he looked at them both with a judging stare.
"I.. we.. we were.. " Daisy stammered.
"I'm sorry, I was helping to check out an error on the computer. The keyboard wasn't working. She asked me to help her check it out." Sebastian quickly improvised.
Mr.Michaels didn't say anything but his eyes slowly showed recognition.
"Have I seen you somewhere before?" He asked.
"Well.. maybe.. if you've seen a Marvel movie, you might have seen me." Sebastian chuckled.
"Oh! Wait! You're that guy! The brainwashed assassin guy. Right? The one who killed Tony Starks' parents!" Mr.Michaels said enthusiastically.
"Yeah." Sebastian nodded but his face fell. The third Captain America movie was not his last Marvel movie and yet this man only knew him from that movie as Tony Starks' parents' killer. He didn't know if he should laugh or cry about it.
"Awesome! Do you mind if we take a picture?" Mr.Michaels asked.
"Oh no, of course not." He smiled and he ended up taking pictures and chatting with Mr.Michaels and two other Delta airline staff.
After half an hour he was finally left alone but not after he got Daisy's number so he could contact her regarding the Thunderbolts premiere ticket. Additionally it was through them that he knew the flight wasn't delayed because of bad weather but because there was some problem with the plane's engine. But they didn't want to alarm the passengers so they told everyone the delay was because of bad weather. He had voiced his concern about it to them but they reassured him that the problem was minor and would not cause anything dangerous to happen. He really hoped that was the case. He couldn't imagine if he ended up dying in an airplane crash. What would happen to Y/n and his kids? He wouldn't want to miss seeing his kids grow up.
After he finished chatting with the Delta staff, he looked around to find somewhere to sit. It was 7 am and he still had about an hour to kill before he could board the plane, and that's if the engine problem was already resolved. Otherwise his flight might get delayed again.
All the seats near the gate were occupied so he ended up finding an empty seat further away from the gate but near the restroom. He found an empty seat next to a little girl of about 9 years old who sat next to a man. The girl had long brunette hair pulled up into a ponytail and the man was bald and had a mustache. They both looked up at him as he approached.
"Hi. Sorry, is this seat taken?" He asked, smiling at them.
"No, go ahead." The man said.
"Thank you." He sat down, turned to them and smiled again. The little girl smiled shyly back at him while the man just gave him a small smile.
"So, where are you guys going? If you don't mind me asking?" He asked.
"New York." The man answered.
"Oh, same here." He smiled.
"Oh, good." The man responded and nodded.
For a moment they didn't say anything as an uncomfortable silence hung between them.
"So, this morning has been crazy hasn't it?" He said, breaking the silence.
"Umm.. What do you mean?" The man asked.
"I mean.. our flight got delayed and then minutes later the Plane Train didn't work causing more delays." He explained.
"Oh.. yeah.. we were lucky. We managed to still take the Plane Train." The man said and Sebastian nodded.
"Lucky you. I had to walk here." He chuckled. "Not that I'm complaining. I'm used to walking a lot. But, I'm just exhausted this morning." He said, unsure why he had become talkative all of a sudden.
"I see." The man said as he started to get up. "I'm going to go and find something to eat. Do you want something?" The man looked at the little girl and the girl just nodded.
"Okay, come." The man said and pulled the girl's arm up, forcing her to stand up.
"See you guys later, nice talking to you." Sebastian said as the man started to walk away while dragging the girl with him.
"Yeah. You too." The man said and nodded at him then turned his back to him.
He sighed as he watched the pair of them walk away from him. He had a weird feeling as he stared at them. The way the man held the girl's arm was weird. And, strangely enough, they didn't have bags with them at all. As if they weren't traveling far. He decided to shrug it off as they went into a cafe not far from there and disappeared from his sight.
Moments later his stomach rumbled and he realized he hadn't had breakfast yet. He stood up and decided to follow them to the cafe. Maybe he could have some coffee and pastry.
When he entered the cafe he found them standing in front of the counter. The man was looking down at the girl in anger while the girl looked up at him in fear.
"I don't understand. What are you saying?!" The man asked, his voice rather high.
The girl made some movements with her hands and Sebastian realized she was doing sign language. He approached them and watched the girl closely. He knew sign language as he learned it back when he was in middle school so he could talk to his best friend who had trouble hearing.
"She said she is allergic to nuts." Sebastian said and the man jumped in surprise.
"Oh.. right. Yeah.. I.. I knew that." The man stammered and the girl rolled her eyes at the man.
"So, you can't talk?" Sebastian asked the girl while making sign language. The girl shook her head.
"But you can hear?" He asked again and the girl nodded.
"And you don't know sign language?" Sebastian turned to the man.
"No.. I.. I'm her uncle. I rarely talk to her. Her mom lives in New York while her dad lives in Atlanta. They asked me to accompany her to go back to her mom's." The man explained quickly, his eyes darted around and he shifted his feet from side to side. Clearly the man was nervous and he wondered why that was.
"Okay. Well, what do you guys want? My treat." He smiled at them while also making sign language to the girl. The girl's eyes widened and she smiled. She then made signs with her hands again.
"Okay, hot chocolate and rainbow sprinkle donuts for you, my lady." He said while again making sign language and the girl laughed and blushed.
"And for you?" He turned to the man.
"Uh…I'll just have black coffee thanks." The man replied.
"Alright. Save me a seat. I'll be right with you guys." He said and they left him in front of the counter alone.
Minutes later he got all of their orders. He ordered a cappuccino for himself and a spinach quiche. He looked around and found them sitting near the exit of the cafe. He found their sight kind of strange. He realized that they were the only ones in the cafe not having their faces in front of a cell phone screen while everyone at the cafe did. He shook his head at the realization. The world had become rather strange indeed when sitting without a cellphone in hand could be perceived as not normal.
He was usually one of those people busy with his cellphone. Well today maybe he could change that and actually socialize with strangers like people of old used to do.
"Here you go. One hot chocolate and rainbow sprinkled donut for the beautiful lady." He said as he placed the cup of chocolate and plate of donut in front of the girl. The girl blushed and smiled at that.
"And black coffee for you." He said as he put the cup of coffee in front of the man.
"Thank you." The man said, giving him a small smile.
"No problem." He smiled as he arranged his own orders on the table.
"I'm Sebastian by the way." He said as he started to put some sugar into his cappuccino.
"Oh, and I'm Mike and this is Adriana." The man said.
"Nice meeting you both, Mike and Adriana." He smiled and Adriana smiled back at him.
For several minutes they stayed quiet as they enjoyed their drinks and food.
"So, where does your mom live, Adriana?" Sebastian asked, breaking the silence. The girl froze and glanced at Mike.
"Brooklyn." Mike answered.
"Ah, okay. I have an apartment in Brooklyn. Well.. actually.. My wife used to live there. She had moved in with me ever since my daughter was born but the place holds so much memory for us that we decided to keep renting it." He said.
"Oh. Must be nice to have the money to do that while other people struggle just to rent one apartment." Mike said cynically.
He felt like his heart had been stabbed as he heard what Mike had to say. He kicked himself internally and realized he should be more considerate and not tell stories like that. He didn't mean to brag, but other people could perceive it otherwise.
"Uh.. yeah.. sorry. I didn't mean to brag or anything. Just.. just making small talk." He said nervously.
"Yeah.. Sorry.. I didn't mean to insult you." Mike said as he seemed to realize what he just said.
"It's okay." Sebastian said and turned to Adriana. "What grade are you?"
Adriana showed three fingers and Sebastian nodded. "Third grade, huh?"
Adriana nodded and continued to eat her donut.
Eventually they were able to have a better conversation. He found out that Adriana loved Barbie, like his niece Sofia, and also Taylor Swift. He also found out Mike lived in Atlanta and was Adriana's father's brother. He worked at an insurance company and decided to take some days off to visit New York while accompanying Adriana.
Time seemed to fly and before they knew it, it was time to board their flight. He was relieved that their flight was on time. The engine problem must have been fixed. He thought as they walked together towards the gate.
It turned out that his seat was next to Adriana and Mike.
"It's nice to sit next to familiar faces isn't it?" He said to Adriana who was sitting on his right. His seat was by the window while Mike's was by the aisle and Adriana sat between them.
Adriana nodded and smiled wide at him while Mike looked at him in dislike. He wondered if Mike still thought bad of him for bragging earlier as he pulled out his cellphone from his pocket and texted his wife, letting her know that he had just boarded the plane.
He made a mental note to be more careful in what he said next time as he turned on the airplane mode on his cellphone and put it back in his pocket. He fastened his seat belt and leaned back on his seat. He felt exhaustion again so he closed his eyes, hoping to be able to get some sleep and rest.
When he opened his eyes again he felt strange. He fully expected to look out the window and find the view of the white fluffy clouds, instead he found the view of the airport terminal. Apparently they hadn’t moved at all. He glanced at his watch and raised his eyebrows as he realized that it had been an hour since they boarded the plane and they hadn’t moved yet.
“Is something going on? Why are we still here?” He turned to Adriana and Mike.
“I don’t know. They haven’t said anything.” Mike replied.
He looked at Mike and realized he had pulled the hood of his jacket up and put on sunglasses. Adriana had also put the hood of her jacket up and looked down. He noticed Mike’s leg was moving slightly up and down, it seemed he was nervous about something.
“Hey man, you okay?” He asked.
“Y.. yeah.. it’s just, I’m always nervous on planes. You know.” Mike replied and understanding dawned in him and he nodded.
“Yeah, I know what you mean. I still feel nervous too sometimes.” He said as his mind went back to the fact there was a problem with the plane’s engine previously. He wondered if there was a problem with it again. He decided to ask the stewardess so he pressed the call button next to his seat to call a stewardess.
"Hello sir, how can I help you?" A beautiful stewardess came and greeted him.
"Uh.. yeah.. why aren't we moving? Is there something wrong?" He asked.
"Oh no, sir. Nothing is wrong. After the delays earlier impacting several flights due to the Plane Train not working the Air Traffic Controller needs some time to adjust things. We're just waiting for our turn." The stewardess smiled at him and glanced at Mike and Adriana.
"Oh okay. Well, I hope we'll get our turn soon. I really need to get to New York as soon as possible." He said.
"Yes, sir. I hope so too. I'm sure you can't wait to be by your wife's side. Right? I mean.. we heard she's in labor." She said with a knowing smile.
"Oh yeah.. she is." He said, kicking himself internally for forgetting about that lie again.
"Well, I'm sure we'll get our turn soon. In the meantime, please sit back and relax. There's nothing to worry about." She smiled.
"Yeah, thanks." He nodded.
"Is there anything else I can help you with, sir?" She asked.
"No, thanks. That would be all." He replied.
"Very well, sir. If you'll excuse me." She said and he nodded.
Once the stewardess left he pulled out his cellphone and turned off airplane mode. He needed to tell his wife that he was going to arrive even later than scheduled.
When he opened his messages, there was a message from his wife and a video from her.
"Hi Iubirea mea, I know you won't get this until you arrive in New York but I just have to show you this."
He opened the video and laughed out loud. There on the screen he could see the living room in his apartment looking in such a mess with rolls and rolls of toilet paper covering the sofa, carpet and coffee table. Their dog, Lucky was sitting on the carpet biting toilet paper while their daughter Starlene was sitting on the sofa and was continuously pulling toilet paper from its roll.
"Oh my God." He closed his mouth with his hand to stifle some more laughter and continued to watch the video from his wife.
"I just left them for a second. I swear. But when I came back, this is what happened!" The screen turned and showed his wife looking annoyed as h**l.
"I can't imagine what kind of mess we'll be in once this little bean arrives." She said, patting her stomach.
"Anyway, we love you, we miss you. And I hope you have a safe and pleasant flight. Let me know once you've landed. Love you, Iubirea mea." She smiled and he couldn't help but smile back and whispered I love you as well.
She then put her hand on the camera, signifying a hug and he sighed as the video ended. There was nowhere else he wished to be but by his family's side at that moment. But alas, fate willed it a different way. He just had to be more patient.
He immediately called his wife but she didn't answer, so he decided to send a message.
"Honey, I'm really sorry but the plane got stuck at the terminal. We're still waiting for the plane to get permission from the ATC to leave. And I'm really sorry to see what happened to our living room. Just leave it and I'll help clean up when I get there. I'm sure you're tired. I love you and please send my love and also angry stares to Lucky and Starlene. Love you so much, sweetheart."
He waited and waited but Y/n didn't reply. He tried calling her again but she didn't answer.
"Excuse me, sir. I'm sorry, could you please turn your cellphone off. We're leaving soon." Another stewardess came and scolded him.
"But.. My wife is in labor. I need to know her condition." He said, remembering the lie again.
"We know, sir. But we're really sorry. Rules are rules. And we're leaving soon. You will see her soon." The stewardess replied and he sighed.
"Fine. Let me just send a last message." He said.
"Thank you, sir." The stewardess smiled and left.
"Rules are rules." He muttered under his breath while he typed a message for his wife again, his face full of dislike, making Adriana beside him laugh.
"Why are they sometimes so rigid? We're not even moving." He complained again and Adriana made a sign that said she knew.
"Don't worry. Everything is going to be alright." Adriana signed again and he smiled.
"Thank you, Adriana." He smiled and she smiled back.
He returned his attention back to his cellphone and sent the message. He then turned the airplane mode on his cellphone on and put it back into his pocket.
He sighed and looked out the window. He furrowed his eyebrows as he looked out and saw some uniformed men inside the terminal wearing vests with FBI written on the back, walking swiftly along the side of the terminal. He leaned closer towards the window curiously, wondering why the FBI was there.
"Hey, the FBI is here. I wonder what's going on." He said.
"What?!" Mike exclaimed out loud.
"Yeah.. look.." he pointed towards the uniformed men and Mike leaned over Adriana to take a closer look at the window. He leaned back to allow him a better view.
Just then the plane started moving away from the terminal and Mike leaned back on his seat. He looked at Mike and felt like Mike had just let go of a breath he was holding.
"Finally, we're moving." Mike chuckled nervously.
"Yeah. Finally." He said as he felt Mike was being strange about the whole situation but he shrugged it off.
He glanced at his watch and sighed as he saw that it was almost 10 am already. So much for getting some rest before he drove to Chad's wedding. He complained internally.
The plane finally took off several minutes later, much to his relief. However, when they took off they experienced a somewhat hard turbulence which made him really nervous. He kept remembering that there was some problem with the plane's engine earlier. What if the problem came back and caused the plane to fall down from the sky? He couldn't help but think of all the negative and horrifying possibilities that could happen to the plane. Thankfully the turbulence didn't last long and eventually the plane stabilized and flew smoothly.
Several minutes later however the plane started to descend quite quickly, startling everyone.
The lights inside the cabin were all turned on and a blaring sound came out from the speakers as oxygen masks dropped down from the ceiling.
"This is an emergency. Please put on your masks. This is an emergency. Please put on your masks." The warning sound was repeated through the speakers.
His heart dropped to his stomach and his heart pounded hard as he pulled down the oxygen mask in front of him and put it over his mouth and nose. He looked to the right and saw both Adriana and Mike had already worn them as well.
Stewardesses were walking around the cabin checking that everyone had worn their masks. For a few minutes the situation was quiet but intense as the plane continued to descend but at a slower pace.
He couldn't help but think of Y/n, Starlene and his unborn child. He wasn't ready to die yet. He just got his happiness with them and with Y/n after twenty something years being in love with her. No, he couldn't and wouldn't accept to die that day. He closed his eyes and kept praying to God in his heart to save the plane and everyone on the flight.
Suddenly the pilot's voice could be heard on the speakers.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We apologize for the situation. That was a false emergency. We were descending down 7.000 feet from 34.000 feet to 27.000 feet to avoid turbulence and somehow the system automatically turned on the signal to drop the oxygen masks. The pressure in the cabin is at a normal level so there is no need to wear oxygen masks. You can take off the oxygen masks and our crew will help put them back in place manually. We are really sorry for the inconvenience. Thank you."
He felt immense relief as he took off his oxygen mask and he felt the atmosphere in the plane immediately changed as a collective breath of relief was exhaled.
"That was so scary." He commented and turned to Adriana and Mike.
"Yeah. I know. I never experienced anything like it." Mike responded.
"I was ready to die." Adriana signed to him and he raised his eyebrows.
"We're all going to die anyway." She signed again.
"Well.. you're right. You're so wise for a girl your age." He chuckled but deep down he wondered how a girl her age could have thoughts like that. He himself wasn't ready to die even though he was 41 already. He felt like he probably would never be ready for it.
He leaned back and sighed. Trying to relax after the tense situation. He also wanted to go back to sleep but found it hard to do so. Somehow the one hour sleep he got when the plane was still parked by the terminal was enough to recharge and refresh him. Well, the false emergency also contributed as well. He couldn't relax yet after that. So he ended up chatting with Adriana again. Mike closed his eyes and seemed to be sleeping so he didn't want to bother him.
Several times when they were chatting Adriana glanced at Mike, as if expecting him to do something. He asked her if there was anything wrong but she shook her head, making him curious about it.
About half an hour into the flight, breakfast was served and Mike woke up. There was something strange that he noticed with the stewardess serving them though. Every time she served Mike, she took her time to really look at him as well as Adriana. At one point after pouring a glass of apple juice for Adriana and water for Mike, the stewardess left, leaving him hanging. He was just about to request orange juice but the stewardess already left.
Being quite tall he was able to see where the stewardess had gone. Apparently she went to the front of the business class area and was not back for a while. When she was finally back she brought milk and pineapple juice in her hands, making him think she was probably just grabbing the milk and juice.
"I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting, Mr.Stan. We ran out of milk and pineapple juice so I had to go and get it." The stewardess smiled at him.
"Oh, that's okay." He responded.
"What would you like to drink?" She asked.
"Orange juice, please. Thank you." He said.
"Certainly, sir." She said. Her hands trembled as she poured the orange juice, making him feel strange yet again.
"Here you go, sir." She gave the orange juice to him and he accepted.
"Thank you." He nodded and the stewardess smiled and continued to serve the other passengers.
He was about to finish his breakfast which consisted of egg frittata and mushroom as well as croissant with butter when Adriana knocked her glass of apple juice and spilled it onto Mike's lap.
"I'm sorry." She signed to Mike.
"It's.. it's okay." Mike said and he sighed.
"Let me just go and clean this up." Mike said as he picked up his tray of food, closed the table in front of him and stood up. He got out of his seat and put his tray of food onto his seat then he went to the restroom located in front of the plane. As soon as Mike left Adriana immediately signed to him.
"Please help. I'm being kidnapped. Mike kidnapped me." She signed frantically. His heart seemed to stop as he registered what Adriana just conveyed to him.
Of all the things that had happened to him throughout his life, this was by far the weirdest and most unexpected thing that ever happened to him. He stared at Adriana with his jaw dropped as his mind tried to grapple with the situation.
"He kidnapped me from my school as I was walking home from school. He said he's going to sell me overseas. He knows where my parents live and threatened me that he will get someone to kill them if I try to get away. I've been playing along but when I saw the FBI, I knew they were looking for me. Please help me." She signed, her eyes full of hope and fear.
He looked towards the restroom and saw that Mike was still in there. He knew in order to help Adriana they needed to go back to Atlanta, but he also didn't want to miss Chad's rehearsal dinner and honestly he missed his family so much that he just wanted to go back to them as soon as possible. Torn between wanting to help Adriana and go to New York as soon as possible he finally decided. He knew he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he didn't help Adriana. And he knew Y/n and Chad would understand why he needed to do this. So he made the decision.
"Okay. Come. We need to get you away from him. Let's go to the plane crew and tell them about this. Maybe we can have the plane turn around and bring you back to Atlanta." He said and she nodded.
They quickly left their seats and went towards the back of the plane, away from Mike. While walking he continued to check his back to make sure Mike was not out of the restroom yet. He guided Adriana towards the back of the plane where a stewardess was busy tidying up the food carts. He pushed Adriana gently into the aisle between the rows of food carts, making sure they were both unseen from the front of the plane.
“Oh! Is there anything I can help you with, sir?” The stewardess who previously served them was startled.
“Uh.. yeah. This girl here, her name is Adriana, she told me she’s kidnapped by that man who sat beside her.” Sebastian explained.
The stewardess' eyes widened but then she quickly nodded.
“I know.. we.. I mean, the pilot and the crew know, sir. The FBI back in Atlanta Airport were looking for them.” The stewardess replied.
“Well then why didn’t you guys do anything when we were still in Atlanta?” He asked, dumbfounded.
“I’m sorry, sir. We were given photos of them when we were still on the ground but we didn’t recognize them. It wasn’t until less than an hour ago I noticed who they were. I already informed the pilot and in several minutes, after all passengers have finished eating, we’re planning on turning the plane around back to Atlanta.” She explained.
“Well okay, good.” He nodded.
“In the meantime, I think it’s best that you return to your seats so as not to make the man suspicious. We were told to make sure he doesn’t know about this. We don’t want to alarm him and make him do dangerous things.” The stewardess said.
“That makes..” Sebastian was about to answer when he found himself suddenly choking.
“Something dangerous like this?” Mike asked as he tightened one of his arms around Sebastian’s neck, while the other held his head, choking him.
The stewardess screamed in surprise and immediately pulled Adriana closer to her and shielded her behind her back.
“Sir, please! Don’t do anything stupid!” The stewardess reminded him, her voice shook as she saw Sebastian continued to choke and tried to get free from Mike’s hold. But Mike was stronger than he seemed.
He held both his hands on Mike’s arms, trying to loosen it. His neck hurt, his head hurt as his hands continued to pull Mike's arm away from his neck.
“I won’t kill him if you return my niece back to me.” Mike warned.
“We know she’s not your niece, sir. Surrender now because you have nowhere else to go.” The stewardess bravely said.
“Wrong answer.” Mike said as he strengthened his hold even more on Sebastian’s neck but Sebastian suddenly got an idea.
He released his hands on Mike's arm and elbowed Mike hard on his stomach, making Mike lose his hold on his neck a little. Then he did a backward kick and successfully kicked Mike away from him, making Mike lose his hold completely on him and fell on the ground.
He staggered forward as Mike released him and croaked. “Go.. Get her to safety.”
The stewardess nodded and quickly dragged Adriana towards the front of the plane through the other aisle.
Sebastian rubbed his aching neck and tried to catch his breath. Then he slowly turned around, ready to fight Mike again but he was gone!
He quickly walked out of the aisle and saw Mike running parallel to the stewardess and Adriana, chasing them into the front of the plane. He tried to catch up with them but Mike crossed to the other aisle through another aisle filled with food carts and his heart dropped to his stomach.
“Sir.. please.. let her go! You don’t want to do this!” He heard the panicked voice of the stewardess as he came closer to them. By then some people had stood up from their seats and started asking him questions, but he just put his index finger on his lips, asking them to stay quiet as he tiptoed to where Mike, Adriana and the stewardess were.
When he reached them he saw that Mike’s back was to him. He was holding Adriana’s body against his chest, a fork in his hand pointed onto Adriana’s neck. Several stewardesses had come to them and they stood in front of Mike and Adriana, their faces full of shock and fear. Adriana struggled to get free but couldn’t.
“Tell your pilot to keep directing this plane to New York. Otherwise I won’t hesitate to stab her.” He threatened.
“Y.. yes sir. Just please don’t hurt her!” The stewardess pleaded.
He looked around trying to see if he could find something to wound Mike when someone suddenly offered him a fork.
He turned around and saw an old lady handing him a fork.
“Thank you.” he mouthed. The old lady just nodded and smiled. She then walked back to her seat and he turned back around.
The stewardesses were still trying to persuade Mike to let go of Adriana when he stabbed Mike on the side of his neck.
Mike screamed in pain and let Adriana go. She immediately ran towards the stewardesses and they immediately took her and shielded her behind their backs.
Mike turned around and pulled out the fork from his neck. Blood seeped through it as he continued to make wild screams and started to attack Sebastian. He raised his hand, which was still holding a fork, intending to stab Sebastian with it. But Sebastian kicked his hand and the fork fell down to the ground in a clatter.
They ended up fighting with bare hands. He threw some punches and kicks onto Mike’s face and body. Mike grunted as he got the hits but then he kicked his chest hard, sending him towards the emergency door of the plane.
He grunted as his back hit the door and he fell down onto the ground. He tried to get up and one of the passengers sitting next to the emergency door extended their hand and helped him get up.
He winced as he walked slowly back towards Mike who was still standing, holding the wound on his neck.
“Give up now, Mike. You have nowhere to go.” He said.
“Never!” Mike yelled as he charged towards him and they continued to fight.
He didn’t know where he got the strength. It seemed his training for Bucky had made him stronger. But he continued to throw punches and kicks to Mike while also receiving some of Mike’s blows on his face. The other passengers watched them with bated breath.
He glanced towards one of the food carts and quickly picked up a stainless steel pot. He raised it and hit Mike’s head with it, making him fall down to the ground.
He waited to see if Mike would get up again but he stayed down. His eyes were closed. He was unconscious.
The passengers and stewardesses who were watching them erupted in cheers and he felt someone hugged him tight. It was Adriana.
“Thank you.” She mouthed and he just nodded while panting as he tried to catch his breath.
Mike was immediately apprehended by the plane crew and tied to one of the seats at the front of the plane. Sebastian went back to his seat with Adriana after one of the stewardesses tended to his wounds. Thankfully his wounds were nothing major, just a cut on his lip and eyebrows as well as some bruises. Nothing he had never dealt with before.
The pilot eventually turned the plane back to Atlanta after explaining to all the passengers what just happened. He even mentioned Sebastian by name, thanking him for his heroic act in fighting Mike.
He wished the pilot didn’t mention him by name because he got interrupted constantly by passengers who wanted to talk with him and take pictures with him. Adriana seemed to understand because she told him to pretend to sleep so people wouldn’t bother him, and it thankfully worked. People finally left him in peace.
However, even though he wasn’t bothered anymore, he couldn’t really sleep. The journey back towards Atlanta felt so long in his mind even though it took only an hour. His mind constantly replayed what happened and he couldn't wait to tell Y/n about it.
He opened his eyes when the pilot announced that they were about to land soon. He glanced at his watch and sighed as he saw that it was already 12.30 pm. He assumed that the fastest they could head back to New York would be at 1.30 pm. Which meant he would arrive in New York at around 4 pm.
It was clear he would be late to arrive at Chad’s welcome party and rehearsal dinner. He regretted not taking the 10 am flight with Southwest. But then again if he had taken that one, who knew what would have happened to Adriana. Despite everything, he was glad he could help her.
After they finally landed in Atlanta, two FBI agents entered the plane and took Mike with them. Then another agent came into the plane to take Adriana to her parents. He offered to walk Adriana to the gate. Apparently her parents were there. He wanted to make sure she was reunited with them again. He walked following the agent with Adriana walking between them.
When they got off the plane he was welcomed with flashes of lights from cameras and cheers from people around them. It seemed he had made the news.
He walked alongside Adriana when a woman and a man ran towards them.
“Adriana! Oh my baby! I’m so glad you’re okay.” The woman who apparently was Adriana’s mom said.
He couldn’t help but teared up as he watched Adriana being hugged by both her parents. He couldn’t imagine the anguish they must have felt when Adriana was gone from them.
“Thank you for saving her.” Adriana’s dad said.
“Oh, you’re welcome, sir. Your daughter was very brave. You should be proud of her.” He smiled.
Adriana’s parents nodded.
“We are. We’re really proud of her. And we’re so happy she’s back. We thought we had lost her for good.” Adriana’s mom said.
“Well she’s a strong and smart girl.” He smiled as he patted Adriana’s shoulder gently and the family looked back at him beaming wide with happiness.
“Well, I have to go. I’ll see you around again someday. Take care of yourself.” He said as he hugged Adriana tight.
“Thank you so much, Sebastian.” Adriana signed after he let her go.
“You’re welcome.” He signed and she smiled.
“Sebastian! Sebastian! Could you tell us what happened? Did you really fight the kidnapper?!" A reporter suddenly shouted at him.
“No comment. Sorry. I have to go. My wife is in labor. I have to go.” He said, raising his hands up.
“Just a short answer would do, Sebastian. Please!" The reporter called out but he walked back towards the plane while someone from airport security held back the reporter and prevented the reporter from following him.
When he got back into the plane all the passengers stood up, clapped and cheered for him. His face reddened as he continued to walk to his seat and they continued to chant his name.
“Thank you.. thank you. You guys are too nice.” He said as he raised his hand up and nodded, his face as red as a tomato.
The passengers finally stopped cheering when he took his seat. He leaned back on his seat and pulled out his cellphone as his mind still tried to process all the events that just happened.
He turned off the airplane mode on his cellphone, wanting to send a message to his wife when messages from her came through.
—
“Iubirea mea, it sucks to hear you're still stuck at the airport. But I hope your plane will soon get its turn to move. I've given your love and angry stares to Lucky and Starlene and they just stared back at me 😆
Anyway, I already cleaned up all the toilet paper. No need to worry about that. I'm rather tired but it's okay.
Love you and I hope to see you soon. Keep me posted.”
—
“Iubirea mea.. where are you? I hope you’re near New York already.”
—
“Iubirea mea.. I'm having contractions..”
—
His heart seemed to stop as he read the last message.
The story continues on Part 2
A Winter's Miracle : Snowbound Delivery
Get ready for another crazy adventure with Sebastian and Reader 😁
#sebastian stan#sebastianstan#sebastian stan fanfic#sebastian stan fanfiction#sebastian stan x reader#sebastian stan x y/n#sebastian stan x you#sebastian stan x female reader#sebastian stan fluff#sebastian stan one shot
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Prison Break- Part 3 (Leon Kennedy x Reader series)
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
CW: Death Island spoilers, suicidal tendencies and thoughts
WC: 1812
Summary: Flash back chapter!
Tag list:
A/N: This is so self indulgent, my birthday and hometown make an appearance whoops.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* : ｡ﾟ☆. ───
30 June, 2013
Leon sat down at his desk, rubbing the headache away at his temple. With Simmons now gone, the D.S.O. had to do some major rebuilding; both physical, hiring new staff, and metaphorical, public relations. He dug through his pocket and found the makeup compact that he had stashed yesterday.
His hands turned it over, wondering about his life and hers, if it was really worth pursuing, and if it was fair to a potential partner for him to still be caught up with Ada. He wondered if she would stop being “the one that got away” for him and if he could let go of her. It was either that, or stay alone for the rest of his life, that he was sure of.
It wasn’t Ada’s fault, Leon was mature enough to put all the hurt she caused aside. He knew that she did what she had to for her job, just like he did. They were two sides of the same coin, destined to never be together.
The stack of papers hitting his desk took him away from his daydream. Leon looked up to see a woman with glasses and a business suit. Hunnigan’s hand was still on the stack of papers she put on his desk.
“Read up,” She said. “This is your new field partner.”
Her words caught Leon off-guard.
“Partner?” He asked. His finger brushed his bangs out of his face so he could read the file correctly, but Hunnigan’s hand wouldn’t budge.
“Partner,” She replied and grinned.
“What? You got tired of having to deal with me so I need a babysitter?” Leon retorted.
“You could say that,” She said. Leon went to grab the papers, but her hand held them more. “Promise me one thing though before you look at it.”
Leon’s eyebrow shot up at the request, but nonetheless he nodded.
“Don’t judge them until you meet them,” Hunnigan almost pleaded.
At her words, Leon sat up in his chair more. “Now you’ve pique my interest,” He chuckled and gestured for her to take her hands off of the papers.
Hunnigan took her hands off the stack and Leon almost immediately swiped them. His sly blue eyes darted around the page, his eyebrows knitting as he read.
“She doesn’t look like-“ he got cut off by Hunnigan staring at him. He grumbled and read the paper more, soaking in your name and age to his memory. From the looks of it, he would be babysitting- something he didn’t want to do.
“She meets all the requirements, physical and recommendations,” Hunnigan said, her eyes piercing Leon’s.
“Who’s giving her a recommendation?” Leon asked, not looking up from the paper.
“Me,” she replied and smiled. “Don’t beat her up too much, you’ll walk away with a bloody nose,” she added, chuckling.
Leon looked up from the paper and she was gone. Maybe it would be good to have a constant in his life, someone that he could rely on. One of his hands fiddled with the compact while he kept reading your file. You were a normal person up until 2005. As soon as he read the words that followed the date of January 31, 2005, he knew he wanted to meet you and pick your brain.
January 31, 2005: Umbrella Factory contained outbreak. Casualty: 1
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* : ｡ﾟ☆. ───
31 January, 2005
You were an art student studying at University of New Hampshire. Sure, it wasn’t your first pick, and the main campus in Durham would’ve been better, but your family convinced you to stay one town over from them. You needed to get out of your hometown of apple orchards, racists, and pumpkin patches, but wanted to appease your parents at the same time.
So you settled for the next town over in a mini campus.
You were making your way back to your apartment with a tray full of iced coffee and cold brew for you and your roommate, who’d been feeling under the weather lately. She had taken a trip with her biochem class to the Umbrella factory right on the river yesterday, and came back with a slight fever.
This morning wasn’t any better, she was barely response and refused to go to class. She never missed class.
You opened the door to your apartment and was met with a chilling silence.
“Anna?” You called through the apartment, clearing the threshold and putting the tray on the kitchen counter. “I got your coffee!” You said, kicking off your snow boots and taking your jacket off. “I even went to Dunks even though there’s a perfectly good independently owned shop two blocks from here.” You were sure those words would send your roommate running towards you, but nothing.
Nothing.
Silence.
Then a sound, almost like a growling, but not quite. And a squelching sound. Coming from Anna’s room.
You stepped through the hallway, the hairs on the back of your neck standing up with every step and creak in the floorboards under your feet. The sound of ice ratting against the plastic cup echoed through the now daunting hallway.
You wouldn’t call yourself a survivalist by any means, but you’d watch Scary Movie enough to know to be quiet.
Setting down the tray of coffee, you quietly opened the bedroom door. Perched on her bed like a gargoyle, your roommate Anna was hunched over, staring outside the window, twitching.
Your hands quietly grabbed her field hockey stick, the same one that was always leaned up against her bookshelf.
The floorboards creaked under your foot as you tried to scooch closer.
Your roomates head whipped around to the sound and what you saw sent a chill down your spine. Her skin was completely grey, some of it looking like it was separating from her body. Her eyes were big and cloudy, cuts all over her face.
She lunged towards you and that’s when you swung the field hockey stick.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* : ｡ﾟ☆. ───
1 July, 2013
You were sitting across from Leon’s desk, in a chair that wasn’t the most comfortable thing ever. Looking over his desk you could conclude that he was either single, or he liked to keep things close to the sleeve; both you could respect. His stuff was laid out in a way that looked like everything had a place, it was a tiny bit messy, but you could tell everything was where it was on purpose.
The door opened and you looked over your shoulder to see the man you be partners with for the foreseeable future.
“Shit, am I late?” He asked.
His hair was a medium brunette, parted to the side so he had bangs and it was creeping down his neck. You could tell he put a lot of effort into his hair with how it was styled and cut. The black leather jacket and dark blue button down complimented his dark washed jeans well and his boots looked like they were prestine. This man definitely cared about his looks, whether only slightly or a lot was still up for debate. The one thing that stuck out to you the most was his gaze. His eyes were blue, like the ocean and the sky mixed together.
Usually, you’d find that stare unsettling, but his carried a sense of friendliness and humor.
“No, I’m early,” you replied, eyes trailing him as he put a tray of iced coffees on his desk. He stuck out his hand to shake and you accepted it. He had a firm, yet relaxed handshake.
“Hunnigan told me your coffee order. Cold brew with a quad shot, oatmilk, and hazelnut,” he smiled as he held out the cup to you.
Your eyebrows shot up in surprise and you nodded. “Yeah, thanks,” you said and took the cup, sipping on it.
“You know, that amount of caffeine will give you a heart attack….” He trailed off as he watched you suck the coffee down to half empty in about a few seconds. His face was a mix of horror and respect.
“Trust me, I’ve had four of these in a day before. I’ll be fine,” you said, coming up for air after demolishing half of the coffee. You put it down on the floor by the chair leg so you wouldn’t finish it yet.
“Damn, okay,” Leon chuckled and sat down in his chair. “So, (L/n)….” He said. “Not that I don’t think you can handle this sort of work…”
Your eyes met his, your frown almost souring. This time, you had hoped it would be different. Sure, you didn’t look like you could put in the hard work that the DSO did, but you were here.
“If you’re questioning my skills, then yours should also be questioned. Our stories are more alike than you think,” you retorted.
The words came out of your mouth before you could think, and you regretted them instantly. Grabbing the coffee, you got ready for Leon to tell you off and kick you out of his office, but looking up you saw him holding back a… chuckle?
“Someone’s read up on me,” He said, the hitch in his voice from laughter evident. “I take back what I said,” He added and gave you a slight smile.
He handed you a piece of paper, the top reading “Agent Contract D.S.O.”.
“I’m looking forward to working with you, (L/n),” He said, handing you a pen.
“Same, and you can call me (Y/n).” You replied, signing the paper.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* : ｡ﾟ☆. ───
“(Y/n)?” Two voices that were mixing together in your mind woke you up. Your eyes shot open and you registered the pain in your body first, the difficulty breathing second, and the cell you were in last.
“(Y/n)?” A familiar voice said again. You turned your head to where the voice was coming from and saw a familiar face you couldn’t quite make out yet.
Once your eyes adjusted, her face came into focus; a brunette ponytail, blue eyes, and a striking red leather jacket.
“..Claire..?” You asked groggily. She seemed to be in the same boat as you; her movements sluggish, her breathing labored.
“Yeah…. Chris is here too…” she said and gestured to the wall behind her.
“What are you two doing here?” You asked between breaths.
“Terrasave and the BSAA are checking out a source for bioweapons,” Chris’s voice was heard saying. “I’m guessing if you’re here, then Leon is too.”
“Yeah.. we’re here tracing a robotics engineer,” you added. Looking around the cell, you saw another person in there. Once you made out his face, your eyes widened. “And what do you know, guess I found him, Antonio Taylor.” You added.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* : ｡ﾟ☆. ───
Catch it early on my AO3!
#resident evil fanfic#leon kennedy x reader#leon s kennedy x reader#resident evil fanfiction#leon s kennedy x you
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My 2023 fanfic recs [1/5]
This is a multi-part series, with a countdown to the New Year!
Navigation
The best of Ike x Soren fanfics YOU ARE HERE
The best of Fire Emblem fanfics (Genealogy, Three Houses, Engage, Heroes)
The best of misc. series (Omori, Long Live The Queen, Stardew Valley)
The Spicy™ best-of (bonk)
My 2023 works recap (Fódlan and Tellius)
Let’s start with the best of Ike x Soren fanfics! To everyone’s surprise, FE blessed us with a lot of Soren content this year (an alt in January in Heroes, a DLC Emblem in Engage, and we finally won CYL!), and I am SO PROUD of the fandom for all the beautiful fanworks and projects I’ve seen come of it 💙 (I’ve finally received my copy of The Devoted zine 🥰)
A long list below the cut (with links!), and that's far from everything ✨ My eternal respect and gratitude to all the creators who made my year 💖
📚 Fanfics
Daylight by Traincat
This is peak shipping. Their entire journey, told through meals as they grow closer. 10/10, would cry again.
Prince of Shadowed Winds by Theia_Eos
An absolutely incredible Prince of Daein!Soren AU. Amazing use of the lore, perfect understanding of the characters, and still very close and respectful of canon. I can’t wait for the retelling of Radiant Dawn! (I’ll admit, I can’t bring myself to read the last two chapters and “end” for now T_T)
Radiance in Elyos by Azure_Aeraki
Incredible plot and storytelling from Emblem Soren’s perspective, and his hope to meet the Emblem Ike of the world he suddenly found himself in. And incredibly engaging story, get it?
Birdhouse in Your Soul by Aisene
The first fanfic I read in this fandom was from Aisene, is it really a surprise that I love her latest work? In this story, Bird!Yune follows Soren instead of Micaiah, and their bond is both hilarious and heartwarming at once.
Flowers Fall by Measured
Happy ending Hanahaki disease in 2023? Yes, please!
My life for yours by emblem_oracle
Also one of my long-time favourite writers for this ship. Soren takes what could have been a mortal blow for Ike, and this leads to… read it and find out?
Lonely Nightmare by SuperDuperStarry
Add Ranulf for the most wholesome of relationships? Don’t let the title fool you, it ends up really sweet!
And the story's all over you by Toothpaste_Fresh
Last but not least, a short angsty fic, and I won’t spoil it for you.
🎬 Video
I had to. It's perfection.
youtube
📝 My contributions
I’ll count them here rather than the FE part of this recap, because the ship is very much implied, they’re just not together yet 😉
A Cutting Truth
In the long summer spent in Begnion, the newly formed Crimea Liberation Army hones its skill before marching on Daein. Among them, the staff officer of the Greil Mercenaries makes a baffling choice. To be promoted as sage, Soren picks up a knife.
A look into Soren’s psyche through the second half of Path of Radiance.
The Strong Survive
A (canon-compliant) retelling of PoR’s Endgame, where Mad King Ashnard touches the medallion, and recognizes Soren. And what better way to make up for lost time than a duel to the death? After all… Only one Daein royal may survive.
Stay tuned for the FE fic recs tomorrow!
#fe9/10#fire emblem#fic rec#fanfic rec#tellius#ike x soren#ikesoren#elluia writes#FE9#FE10#path of radiance#radiant dawn#Youtube#soren#ike
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JANUARY: Quiet Moon
OBERYN MARTELL X F!READER
W/C 1520
WARNING: suggestions of sex, but this is a fade-to-black situation. TW reader cuts hand purposefully for a ritual. Mention of blood, not explicitly described. Oberyn. He will forever need his own warning.
A/N Welcome to my January installment for @yearofcreation2023 (a fantastic notion by @oonajaeadira.)
Oops forgot some thank yous!! Big thanks to @writeforfandoms and @radiowallet for reading when I was not so sure.💚
He had been sent as a representative of Dorne to Winterfell of all places. Cold weather clothes had been made for him especially, so he could wear Sunspeares colors even if he was not in their traditional fabrics. But despite the best efforts of the tailor or the weight and itch of his garments, he is still cold. His day was spent in dark stone rooms, listening to men prattle. Speaking in the code of politics. All platitudes and vibrato, all the while saying nothing, for fear of giving up weakness or need. He hates it.
Oberyn pulls at the fur collar of his coat.
What am I doing here? This is worse than I could have imagined.
No need for a soothsayer to foretell his evening will be spent eating heavy dishes, drinking dark beer, and listening to more pomposity. His only consolation, find someone to warm his bed.
At the entrance of the great hall, he takes his hand away from his collar, cracks his neck, and saunters in with his usual swagger. Oberyn takes in the room. It is warmer than he anticipated but dark. Those in attendance huddle in groups at their tables around candles. He ventures to open his coat, and an usher approaches, offering to take it.
“Thank you, Oberyn murmurs with a catlike smile, “and what are you called?”
“Barroth, my lord,” he says, coming behind Oberyn to free his shoulders from the garment. Folding it over his arm, Barroth leads Oberyn to his chair, pulling it back for him.
“Thank you again Barroth,” Oberyn smiles more widely, though he has decided the usher is perhaps a bit young to pursue.
He is seated at the table for visiting dignitaries and is surrounded by the boresome men he had to spend the day listening to pontificate and politic. So his eyes quickly roam the room. Below his table is a table far livelier than his. He can not hear them, for the buzz of conversation around him. But he enjoys the energy. He watches one woman in particular, she seems serious but not without humor. She laughs with her neighbors, her eyes lighting up with mirth at someone's jest, then becomes observant and quiet. Listening. Her eyes land on him twice, their eyes connecting and both times he feels something. Just a tug of interest and attraction.
Soon, he is forced to engage with his table mates, and when he looks for her at the end of the feast, she is nowhere to be found.
You gather up some amber coals from your fire in a scuttle. Bundling up some tinder and split logs under one arm, the scuttle in the same hand. Then grabbing your staff in the other. Making your way out of the castle, outside the walls, and into an open field. You move quickly, the moon is rising and you have work to do. After building your fire, you add the hot coals, it takes but a little of your breath to set the ambers aglow and bring them back to life. Taking off your heavy cloak, you pick up your staff and cast your circle clockwise 'round the fire, and begin the ritual.
Scenting the fire with wormwood, wolfsbane, and vervain-
"Wormwood for protection in troubled times, wolfsbane for warning, may we drive out treachery and vervain for carom, may our enemies reap what they sow."
The Prince of Dorne, though displeased to be alone, was glad to be in his chamber. Tossing and turning in his empty bed, suddenly he pushes the bedclothes back. Giving in, scoffing he slips into soft shoes to protect from the cold stone floor, and pads his way to the small room with the chamber pot. Unlike the bed chamber with its heavy curtains and shutters bracing against the cold, its one narrow window has no coverings. The room is bright as day, though the light is a cool silver.
After relieving himself, he looks out over the snow; blue-white and sparkling. He can finally see some beauty in it. Then a figure crosses the grounds, cloak rippling behind them. In one hand a pail with a warm glow coming from it, in the other, a staff.
Intrigued, Oberyn dresses and pursues.
Seeing the figure make the small fire and casting aside their cloak, he shivers violently at the very thought, and then they cast a circle. He can hear the cadence, but not the words. He knows a solitary rite has begun, it seems to be protective in nature as watches them, you, work.
Your arms reach above, to the moon, and Oberyn nears on silent feet, watching your form. The light of the fire passes through your cotton shift and sets your silhouette aglow.
"To the unnamed gods, I beseech, and give my offering."
You pull a silver crescent-shaped knife, and with a quick slice on your palm, you make your offering, several drops of blood to the fire. Suddenly the sky lights up with colors, the Aurora Borealis. Oberyn staggers back, awe painting his features. He has never seen such a thing. After a moment his eyes come back to you.
You press on the small wound to stop the bleeding and murmur-
“This is my wish and my will, so mote it be.”
Oberyn waits, not wanting to interfere. Eyes going to the green and purple streaked sky, then down to you. But he was drawn in, your voice, your silhouette, and something he could not mark. Suddenly, baying can be heard from Wolfswood. It is only then that he realized how silent it had been during your ritual.
"May I?" He says, once he can see you have finished. He pulls a handkerchief from within his coat.
"You may enter," reminding yourself to open yourself to the offerings of the gods, as you watch this man, seemingly clothed in the sun, approach the fire. His eyes are black like coal and radiate heat just the same.
Oberyn can feel a shift as he steps into the sacred space. Then stepping into yours, he places the fabric across your palm and turns your hand as though it is the most exquisite and delicate of things. Once he knots the ends of the scrap of fabric, his dark eyes leave your hand and land on yours.
"Sorceress. Did I not see you at the feast earlier? I find myself drawn to you, what magic do you perform this night?" Oberyn closes any distance left.
"I beseech protection for my people. I do not pull at anything for any reason, save this- if you are here to help Winterfell. The people of the kingdom of the North?"
"My brother, the ruling prince of Dorne, has sent me as an envoy from Sunspear." His hands land firmly on your hips. Bold, but you allow it.
"That tells me nothing, my lord."
Prince Oberyn chuckles, Oh I like you, he thinks "Perhaps, I must attend tomorrow's meetings with more interest. If you are returning to the Keep, perhaps you would allow me to escort you? You can tell me about the lights in the sky...”
“Thank you, my lord, I would be happy to,” you give a slight bow.
“Oh enchantress, please. You need not bow to me, or address me such. I am Oberyn.”
“Very well,” you stutter infinitesimally, “Oberyn.”
You cover the fire in the snow, gather your staff, and scuttle, which Oberyn promptly takes from you and offers you an elbow. Accepting it, you give him your name.
“It may do me well, to hear an account of the troubles the North is facing without all of the politics,” the prince says, adding with a cheeky smile,” and find an activity to stave off the cold.”
You reign in the fluster caused by the prince's addendum.
“Winterfell is built on a hot spring, compared to seats like Castle Cerwyn or White Harbor, it is quite warm.” You are the picture of earnestness
Oberyn gives a hearty laugh.
“Alright, it is less cold then,” you laugh and then boldly add, “never the less, I may be able to accommodate both entreaties.”
You make your way to your chamber explaining the ongoing difficulties your kingdom has endured. You open the door and invite him in, but he holds your arm, keeping you in the passageway.
“I am sympathetic to the struggle of your Kingdom. And will impart the messages of Winterfell and you, to my brother… but, I do not know that I was called by your magic. Your charms beguiled me before this moon ritual. I watched you at the feast, and found myself… interested in getting to know you better"
"Is that right?"
“It is. I want it to be understood. That you do not need to do anything with me, for the benefit of the kingdom of the North. My interest in you is completely separate from my interest in your earnest call to the gods for aid. I hope Dorne can be of service, of course”
“Well, that is a relief, because I am sure I am quite useless-”
“Now, now. None of that,” Oberyn’s smile is sinful, and his voice is like honey, as he dips his head to kiss your sultry lips.
As your lips meet, his arm wraps around your waist, pulling you in. Pressing fully against you, he leads the way into the room, puts the pail down, and shuts the heavy door.
THANKS FOR READING! 💚
MASTERLIST
If you care to be tagged for any of my works, my taglist form can be found here! I've added my Year of Themed Creations Series
#year of creation!#wheel of the year#oberyn martell#oberyn martell x f!reader#mind the warnings#year of themed creation
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Fandom Thoughts - Fandom Etiquette
Hello Wayward Sinners!
Happy 2024, year of the Dragon on the Chinese zodiac! Hope your New Year is spent well. The extermination is over: it's only twelve days until some lucky viewers get access to Hazbin Hotel's first two episodes a whole week in advance. So I'm here to remind everyone of some basic etiquette to abide by for our early hotel habitants.
One: Minors shouldn't be entering this fandom. I am not talking 17+ I am talking 16 and under. If you're a minor who is under or is 16 reading my blogs or is in the fandom: you shouldn't be. This is a fandom of an adult show, for adults made by adults. Your brain isn't developed enough to be processing some things in this show healthily no matter how mature you think you are. None of this is said with malice, but with intent to keep you safe. Even if you think you're internet savy, you should be safe. If you want to be in the fandom/you really just can't help yourself, observe from a distance and don't interact with adults. That means liking posts too. Instead, save the link in your notes to the posts you want to like when you're old enough too.
Two: Do not send harassment to the Hazbin Hotel Staff(cast.) We want this show to do well, we want to see how much Viv has grown as a content creator, director, character creator and so much more. We want people to succeed. We want one of the first indie animations to get picked up to do well. That being said: the cast has done nothing to you. They did their best and they're professionals: they probably know more than you do about their craft that they've honed for years.
Third: Shipping wars should not start again, period. It stressed Viv out two years ago when Chalastor week was in her birthday week. She shut that down, and requested it not be done again. We need to respect the creator herself. If we are fighting over ships then we don't get to enjoy the content of the show to it's fullest. You may ship Nifty/Husker, or Alastor/Valentino, but you don't get to send hate to people who ship Charlie/Vaggie or Sir Pentious/Angel Dust. You can have your opinion respectfully. We need to remember these characters are not ours to claim, they are Vivs. We can love them, respect them, make AUs and more! But that does not mean going and hating someone. We(the fandom) don't own these characters.
Fourth: If you have access to two episodes in advance(on the 12th), reminder it's only probably a couple thousand of us who have episodes in advance! When making edits, put a spoiler IN the video not just the caption. If you're making blogs, or content, make sure you have a large spoiler warning or just wait to post the drafts until the 19th of January (when everyone get's episodes 1-4.)
WARNING: MENTIONS OF GROOMING AND COM/PRO SHIPPING. THIS IS LAST ON THE POST SO IT'S EASILY SKIPPABLE.
Fifth: If proshipping/comshipping posts are made, just ignore them and don't send hate to the person. It's not by any means healthy. I personally don't support it, but I truly want those people to get the help they need and deserve. Especially if they're kids. If you negatively enforce their behavior they're more likely to do it. An adult just needs to be blocked and reported. They're only human. Just report, block, and move on. If you notice an adult is perusing minors, here is what you can do!
How to Report Online Grooming
Your priority in a fandom as an adult in circumstances like this will be ensuring the minors in the fandom aren't hurt. We can do a lot as adults with more experience. It's important to report abuse so perpetrators are stopped from exploiting minors. Here are some key steps to take in reporting an online abuser:
Don’t delete any messages the minor has received—these can be used as evidence!
Report the perpetrator to the platform your child was using.
Block the perpetrator.
Save conversations and screenshots to share with local law enforcement.
Reporting procedures vary state-by-state so take advantage of RAINN’s State Law Database if you suspect a minor is being groomed or is the victim of any form of abuse from an adult.
It can feel scary, overwhelming, and worrying. You are not alone in your worries. You may have trauma yourself. Don't perpetuate it: help the minor. Even if they are upset by you helping just remember they're a kid who doesn't understand the gravity of the situation. You aren't in the wrong for protecting a minor!
That's all for now!
What do you think? Comment/reblog with your thoughts!
Stay Tuned for more,
Happy New Year!
#hazbin charlie#hazbin hotel angel dust#hazbin hotel theory#helluva boss#theory#hazbin hotel cherri bomb#hazbin hotel alastor#charlie morningstar#hazbin hotel#angel dust#hazbin alastor#alastor#fandom#fandom etiquette
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Staff Pick of the Week
When I first saw these magazines, I knew they were post-worthy because of their highly-stylized design and lovely covers. Upon further investigation, I discovered that they are issues of the short-lived and well-remembered Flair magazine, helmed by Fleur Cowles (pronounced “coals”).
Fleur Cowles (1908-2009) was born Florence Friedman on January 20, 1908 in New York. She later changed her first name to Fleur and her last name to Fenton. She worked as a writer and advertising executive in her earlier years, founding the Pettingell & Fenton, Inc. agency with her second husband, Atherton Pettingell, Jr. After she divorced Pettingell, she married Gardner “Mike” Cowles, changing her name to Fleur Cowles—a name which she kept professionally, despite remarrying once more. It was Mike Cowles, editor and co-founder of Look magazine and co-owner of the Cowles Media Company, who bankrolled the publication of Fleur’s vision for Flair.
Flair ran from February of 1950 to January of 1951, and lost an estimated 2.5 million dollars (the equivalent of 24.7 million dollars in today’s money). The reason it was highly unprofitable (despite being sold at a price point set higher than other magazines) was Fleur’s dedication to producing a singular vision, what a Vanity Fair feature called “the most outrageously beautiful, visually daring, and extravagantly inventive magazine ever conceived.” The magazine was expensive to make, with different textured stock, die-cut punch-outs, and issues like the May 1950 Rose issue, which was opulently scented. It’s truly a work of art, and the issues also include many famous names, like W. H. Auden, Simone de Beauvoir, Winston Churchill, Jean Cocteau, Salvador Dalí, and Tennessee Williams. I wish I could show more of the interiors, but the magazines’ bindings are quite fragile and could not be scanned aside from the covers.
Although Flair was relatively short-lived, it was Fleur’s favorite project. She even said, “People ask me, If you could read your obit, what would it say? My answer is that I would like it to be about Flair.” Fleur was an interesting person, to say the least, and her story is well worth looking into, as there is much, much more to her than I am able to mention here (for one thing, there are roses named after both Fleur and Flair.) I recommend starting with the Vanity Fair piece, but you could also read her own anecdotal memoir, She Made Friends and Kept Them.
Above is a portrait of Fleur Cowles by René Gruau, who was a major contributor to Flair.
View more Staff Picks.
-- Alice, Special Collections Department Manager
#Fleur Cowles#Staff Pick of the Week#Flair#Flair Magazine#Gardner Cowles#Mike Cowles#Florence Friedman#Fleur Fenton#Look Magazine#Look#Alice
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The Virus - Chapter Six- Chapter Six – 29th January 2020 (X7237) - Fairy Tail Fanfiction
Have also seen that my fanfiction was nominated for the Guild Awards in best drama! I would like to thank anyone who voted for this fanfiction for that! It's given me a real boost for my fanfiction writing! :D <3
Lucy, Happy and Natsu walked side by side down the streets of Clover Town, noticing the lack of tourists. ‘Now remember Natsu, we need to ask the pedestrians here nicely if they know anything about Onibus Town.’ She gave the pink haired man a cautious look as he started sniffing the ground around her.
‘What are you doing?’ Lucy couldn’t help but notice all the attention at the man by her feet as he sniffed at the ground like a dog.
‘I can smell something, something odd in the air. It’s stronger towards those mountains.’ He pointed towards the mountain pass which divided Onibus Town to Clover Town.
‘What does it smell like? Like magic? Do you think you could trace it to the source of the virus?!’ Lucy looked towards the mountain pass, an ominous feeling overcoming her.
‘I don’t know. I can’t tell if it’s a person, magic, or something else, it’s something I haven’t smelt before. Let’s check it out!’ Before Lucy could even speak Natsu had already grabbed her by the hand, running towards through the city houses and out towards the mountains in front, pulling a complaining Lucy behind him.
Juvia and Gray stood outside the mansion of the mayor of Clover Town.
‘Geez, if I knew he lived in such a fancy house, maybe we should have taken up his offer of staying here.’ Gray crossed his arms as he stared up at the home in front of him, gaining, an amused smile from the bluenette in front of him.
Juvia rang the bell, awaiting the response as she twirled the fabric of her sleeves in nervousness. She and Gray spent a lot of time alone together these days, but it still made her nervous. Just being close to the ice mage made her heart race so fast she could hear it beating in her ears.
The door opened, a young woman, presuming to be the staff of the house allowed them inside and directed them to a room to await the mayor.
‘The room was full of books, with a seating arrangement in the middle. Juvia and Gray sat alongside one another on the sofa as they waited. ‘Lucy and Levy would love it here.’ Juvia smiled at the ice mage beside her as she took in the room around her.
‘Yeah, they sure would. Never saw much point in books me. I’d rather be out doing stuff than sat in reading.’ Gray had raised his arms up behind his head, not noticing the lack of top he now did not wear.
Juvia chuckled to herself as she reached down for the top and folded it to put on the armrest beside her. ‘I don’t mind reading, I prefer romance novels myself, sometimes the occasional adventure book.’
‘That doesn’t surprise me, that’s where you get most of your ideas from, I guess?’ he gave a genuine smile to the woman beside him, gaining a reddening blush from her in response.
Before she had much chance to respond the mayor and his wife entered the room with a document in hand.
‘Hello fairy tail mages, a pleasure to see you both once again.’ He gave them a genuine smile, but concern laced his features.
‘Sorry for turning up unannounced, we were just hoping you may know something more about this situation since we last spoke.’ Gray sat with his elbows on his knees, unbothered by the wife’s response to his half-naked form.
The mayor sighed in response, placing the document on the table in front of them. Juvia picked it up reading it aloud to Gray and herself.
‘Due to unforeseen circumstances, we have stopped all travel through the country of Fiore. We continue to investigate the growing virus located in Onibus Town and to protect the majority we must isolate the minority. We are aware of those who may be travelling for jobs and give them 24 hours to return to their place of living. All mainland transportation with cease X7237. We apologise for the disruption to usual services.’
‘This is from the magic council?’ Juvia stared at Gray in disbelief who looked angrily back.
‘What do they mean protect the majority by isolating the minority! Our friends are stuck in Onibus Town! Only 24 hours? That’s not enough time for everyone to drop everything and return! What about their jobs?!’ Gray had stood staring expectantly at the mayor in front of him.
‘We are just as outraged as yourself. We still know so little about this virus, I am set to release this information via lacrima in the next 15 minutes. The people will panic, the train stations will become overwhelmed by this added information.’ The mayor looked pained as his wife took his hand in support.
Juvia stood herself, putting a hand on Gray’s shoulder, hoping to calm him. ‘Gray-Sama, there is nothing the mayor can do about this. We need to contact the others and speak to the guild. If the train station will be closed tomorrow, we may have to travel back tonight.’
Gray looked at her with understanding, nodding apologetically at the couple in front of him. ‘Thank you for showing us this. If we find out anything else, we will let you know.’
The mayor nodded in agreement with the ice mage as he walked towards the exit aside Juvia. ‘I shouldn’t have lost my temper with the man.’
‘Gray-sama, I’m sure the mayor understands, everyone is under a lot of pressure. He seemed very understanding.’ She gave him one of her brilliant smiles as she handed him back his top.
‘You’re right. We should meet up with the others and let them know, though they may hear the lacrima bulletin themselves before them.’
Erza, Carla, and Wendy headed towards the train station, seeing the groups of people huddling around each of the ticket booths, so much confusion between them all.
‘Everyone is panicking. Do you think we should try and help?’ Wendy looked up at Erza expectantly who was assessing the situation. Before she had chance to respond the station speakers clicked into action and a voice spoke with an announcement from the mayor of Clover Town.
‘Citizens of Clover Town. I understand this is a distressing time for everyone but please, everyone please try not to panic. I have been contacted by the Magic Council who are investigating the current situation. Please be rest assured all travel is to continue as normal today and to cease from tomorrow onwards until we know further information. Anyone who is visiting please be rest assured all accommodation will be paid for by Clover Town authorities until we know more about the situation. As I say, please do not panic, I shall notify you all with more information once we have it.’
There was a large click as the announcement stopped and a silence that lasted several minutes before once again the huddles of people surrounding the ticket booths became overcome once more.
‘Erza?’ Wendy looked up at her expectantly once more as she continued to take in the information.
‘Erza! Wendy!’ Gray called out to them as both he and Juvia ran up behind them. ‘Did you hear the announcement? What’s the plan?’
Wendy, Gray, Carla, and Juvia all looked expectantly at Erza who still stared at the ticket booths in front of her with concentration.
‘First of all, we will help these people, direct everyone into lines and aid the station staff. Then we will locate Lucy and Natsu if they have uncovered anything. I’m guessing from the announcement the two of you were unable to get anything from the Mayor?’ They responded with a sideways nod.
‘The Mayor knows nothing more than we do; we saw the letter that the Magic Council sent to them.’ Juvia locked eyes with Erza, seeing the concern in her face before heading towards the booths with the others and directing the pedestrians into single file lines. There was some resistance but with Erza’s dominance they got their way.
Lucy and Natsu lay on their stomachs as they gazed over the hill ledge. In front of them they could see the lights from Onibus Town. They had already managed to evade a section of guards who had erected a barrier between the towns and now they could see ahead of them a mounting military presence.
‘At least we know the council are doing something.’ Lucy gazed worryingly at Natsu, whose face was full of concentration.
‘Happy will be back soon. We’ll head in once he gives us an update. Hopefully he can find Lisanna and Laki.’
Natsu had wanted to jump straight in, rushing through the military presence and burning his way through until finding them, but luckily Lucy’s influence had paid off, convincing him to allow Happy to scout ahead. Her anger at losing so many jewels at their last mission playing heavily into their conversation.
‘Lisanna! Laki!’
Happy flew at great speed, looking down at the almost ghost town beneath him. The town was empty, all houses shut up and markets and shops closed. There was a sense of unease as he flew through the empty streets.
He called out their names repeatedly, noticing the cautious gazes of the people in their windows before noticing a young white-haired woman ahead of him, waving fervently from her window.
‘Happy!’ Lisanna cried as she noticed him with a smile, but once he got close enough her smile changed to one of concern. ‘Don’t come too close! We don’t know if we are contagious yet!’
‘Contagious? Are you guys alright? Natsu and Lucy are just over the hill! I can bring them to help you!’ Happy floated across from Lisanna in the open window.
‘We’re fine Happy, all we’ve been told is to stay indoors to avoid contamination. It seems to be some kind of cold like illness, but it causes magic depletion. They delivered some leaflets through the door of our B+B. I don’t have any symptoms, Laki has a cough but nothing serious so don’t worry about us! You guys need to get back to Magnolia! Tell Mira that were okay! We don’t want to risk anything spreading.’ Lisanna smiled positively at Happy, tension leaving him as they spoke.
‘But you’ll be stuck here, aren’t they letting you come home?’ Happy wanted to embrace Lisanna, floating stationary, heading her demand.
‘I don’t know Happy, there was talk of transport for us, and other people who have been working jobs here, but there are too many cases here now, you can’t risk catching this Happy, you and the others have to go back, we’ll be fine, the longer you’re here, the more likely Natsu is to do something stupid and catch this as well!’ Lisanna looked seriously at Happy, who nodded in agreement.
‘Do you know anything else about this disease? Is it magic? Where has it come from?’ Happy looked around, the sounds of guards patrolling nearby getting his attention.
‘We don’t know, but maybe Lucy could see if there is anything about magical diseases with Horologium? He may be able to help? Maybe this has happened before, there could be a cure? People are sick, but I don’t think its too serious, not yet anyway. Were fine Happy, so please, leave before you catch something.’ Lisanna smiled again, looking around the streets below for the voices that were coming closer.
‘Okay… I’ll be back with more information when we find out! Keep safe Lisanna.’ Happy and Lisanna, smiled at one another, it felt wrong to leave her, but he flew back towards Natsu and Lucy, avoiding the sight of the patrols below.
Makarov stood in the great hall of Grand Magic Council. The room was empty, not a guard in sight as he waited for Mest to arrive.
He had gotten through security with difficulty, the place was on near lockdown with the hushed discussions of the virus circulating through Onibus Town.
‘Master Makarov. I’m sorry to have kept you waiting.’ Mest walked in, his council robes draped over his shoulders.
‘Mest. I’m hoping you asked me here to give me an update on the current situation.’ Makarov spoke seriously to the man. He could tell he was anxious, the sweat beading on his brow.
‘I do. It’s not good news.’
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The Crime
Nex Benedict (they/them) was a 16-year-old nonbinary youth living in Oklahoma. They endured a reportedly vicious beating in a high school bathroom of Owasso High School, Nex died the next day in the hospital. They were a sophomore. This was February 7 and 8th. Last week, Nex was in high school. This week, they were buried.
According to KJRH
Three older girls were beating on the victim and her daughter in the girl’s bathroom.
“I know at one point, one of the girls was pretty much repeatedly beating their head across the floor,” she said.
That’s when she said a teacher walked in and broke it up.
“Nex couldn’t walk to the nurses’ station on their own, and staff didn’t call the ambulance, which amazes me,” she said.The woman told 2 News the victim’s grandmother, who they primarily lived with, brought them to the hospital after the fight. She said the victim was released that evening but was brought back the next day and died.
Local police are investigating, but have not issued a statement or identified the victim. There is also no confirmation may of the details – how many students were involved in the assault, how many victims, what was the sequence of events, what’s been Nex’s school experience. We don’t know that being nonbinary is what triggered the assault.
We do know that nonbinary identity is often a factor or predictor of vulnerability to bullying and abuse.
Honoring Nex
Nex was born on January 11, 2008, in El Paso, Texas. They grew up in Owasso, Oklahoma. Nex was a sophomore at Owasso High School. According to family, Nex identified as nonbinary and used they/them pronouns.
According to the obituary, Nex was a nature lover. They enjoyed caring for cats but particularly loved their cat, Zeus. Nex also enjoyed watching the Walking Dead, drawing, reading, and playing Ark and Minecraft. During the funeral, their family said they loved to cook and would often make up their own recipes. Nex was also a straight-A student.
I have not yet found any online presence for Nex.
Funeral Service were at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, February 15, 2024, at the Mowery Funeral Service Chapel in Owasso. You can read Nex obituary, but note that it refers to Nex using she/her pronouns
The Context
We also do not yet know the school’s policies, BUT it is fair to assume that they have a policy of some type that requires them to file incident reports around student violence. Furthermore, the decision to send a school based police officer to take the report at the hospital reinforces that conclusion. I expect any student experiencing that level of violence would stay with medical personnel until a family member picked them up or they were transported to the hospital. Those are basic liability issues, not unique to trans and queer students by any means.
Tell me again how in-school resource officers are effective if they don’t respond to this level of vicious violence until they get a call after school hours? Not these particular officers, per se, but the whole concept. Who was protecting Nex?
These are not extreme policies. They are pretty common. But we can definitely expect that school personnel had an obligation to address the situation before Nex went home.
Nex’s sister-in-law created a GoFundMe to raise $15,000 for the funeral scheduled for February 15.
Also unclear is why this teacher who allegedly broke it up didn’t ensure appropriate medical care on-site OR notify the police. Or the school nurse. Maybe they did? The ways that this situation deteriorated once the school was aware are endless.
Owasso Public Schools released the following statement regarding the student’s death:
“The Owasso Police Department has notified district leaders of the death of an Owasso High School student. The student’s name and cause of death have not yet been made public. As this is an active police investigation, we will have no additional comment at this time. Further inquiries should be directed to the Owasso Police Department.”
“The district will have additional counselors at the school to provide
support to students and staff beginning on Friday.”
Owasso Public Schools
How is that not national news? A 16 year old beaten to death in a public school bathroom? By other students. All these unanswered seemingly obvious questions about what transpired, and how the adults involved acted. That should be every headline.
In fact, almost every local outlet covering the story misgender and deadnames Nex, using their same assigned at birth. The indignities pile on.
We don’t yet know if Nex’s nonbinary identity is directly tied to this incident. But, my God, it sure matters to me that this would happen to any child. A nonbinary kid assaulted in a girl’s bathroom. That outcome from the narrative of anti-trans rhetoric these past years.
Still why wasn’t this story breaking news? It involves a nonbinary student in a public school. And school violence and school police resource officers. It involves the deep fear so many trans youth have shared with me about their schools.
But false reports that the now dead shooter who invaded Joel Olsteen’s megachurch was transgender have consumed the headlines. That shooter was killed by police. Her 5 year old son was injured in the shooting. No other fatalities reported. Her identity as a cisgender woman has been clarified repeatedly, but that hasn’t stopped the false narrative.
That woman went into a church with an assault weapon and her young child. That’s horrible and newsworthy on its own. Still, the headlines fixate on the allegation she was a trans person. She was not a trans person, but the headlines stay fixated. The juxtaposition is jarring, but not new.
The shooting took place on February 11. Nex died on February 8.
Where are the these people when it comes to demanding truth about Nex’s death? Where is the outrage that any child has this experience? Who the hell is protecting other kids in that school from this outcome?
Does the media really prefer to spread misinformation about the trans community and turn a blind eye to trans victims of violence? Of course they do.
Rest in power, Nex. You endured a lot in your short life. We repeatedly did not show up for you. But you deserved better – a long, healthy, and happy life. The opportunity to simply grow up. An education setting where you didn’t fear for your life. And you deserve to be acknowledged and validated for your true identity, in your own words. I can’t imagine your terror during this assault and afterwards as your life drained away. I hope you find peace and justice now.
May your memory be a revolution.
Update – this post has been undated to correct a misspelling of Nex’s name and a reference to their name assigned at birth. One was simply a typo, but the other was inaccurate and I very much regret the harm that caused.
#op#trans#transgender#non-binary#choctaw#oklahoma#nex benedict#transphobia#hate crime#murder#child death#transphobic violence#uspol#news#links#pittsburgh lesbian correspondents#bad news
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The situation of fanfiction.net
(Still Work in Progress)
So, if anyone has been around these few past days, new posts about the shaky situation of ffnet (or its outright imminent collapse) has been doing the rounds of Tumblr.
It’s easy in situation like this, while dealing with the threats of something loved (or at least, an important part of our fandoms history), to start panicking.
It’s also true that there are millions of stories on ffnet (without even considering the ones on fictionpress), or try to organize something ahead of time may be the best solution.
In this post, I’ll try to recap what we know so that we can all be aware of the time we had and what we might want to do.
(NOTE: I try to tag whoever mentioned it, but finding each people in the long list of comments it’s a bit difficult; if you want to be mentioned, just let me know where you said it and I will update this post as soon as I can!)
Updated on date 2022/09/21
even if with hiccups, the site IS STILL WORKING (more or less) people manage to post/update their fics or receive reviews/email from the site (even if there are also the people who said the emails have stopped coming in the last months). It’s also true, though, that in the last months there have been cases of days-long delay in this (the one of the last few days is the one which sparked this new fear for the site collapse). I am not personally on ffnet (I may have check 2-3 fics in the last five years there), but I read posts here or around the web about this;
as has already been pointed out by a few, the domain seems registered until September 2028 (link, link). I am not an expert on this, so I don’t know if a website could collapse due to negligence before its domain could expire or not;
as @cuentaprovisional mentioned, new fandoms have been added in the last months. It may mean that there’s still someone lurking around (but it may best if someone who knows about these things could add their two cents);
it seems (need source though), that there has been cases of fic removed for breaking the TOS in the last year. If true, it may imply that there’s still someone lurking around;
on both sites homepage, it seems like there have been recent updates from Twitter. As a matter of fact, they’re misleading in their timestamps. If you click anyone of them, you’ll see that on Twitter they’re date back to January 2021 or even before. And that the last message there date back to September 2021. Even if there’s still some mods out there, it’s still troubling that they have gone radio silence since then;
a volunteer of OpenDoors (can’t find anymore the person who said this) mentioned that it may be difficult if not outright impossible for them to do something about it, both due to the sheer mole of fanfics and the fact that a request should be sent by the owners of the site;
UPDATE: as linked by @tante-bete and @haruka89 (and maybe someone else?) there are repack of ffnet (and I think of fictionpress too?) saved on archive.org (link, link). The good news it’s that they could really be helpful in reducing the work that needs to be done, the bad news is that they seem to be quite unwieldy due to their dimensions. There are people looking into it.
That said, as @ferenofnopewood explained perfectly in their post:
“There is no FF.net lead mission to archive or save it. There is no "I hope FF.net's staff contacts AO3 so the fic can be archived." If we want it saved, it is up to US to do it, and the time to do it is NOW.
Even if you literally go in there and pick a fic at random, EVERYTHING HELPS. Small fandoms, large fandoms, fandoms you're sure somebody else has already covered - doesn't matter. Do it anyway.
Please help. This isn't a huge and co-ordinated effort. There's no phone tree. If you are reading this, I am begging you personally to help. Even if you only archive ten things - THAT HELPS!”
In this vein, I decided to create this sideblog, so that we can try to coordinate and help each other to backup and save the history of fandoms hidden in there. You’re free to download and save whatever fic you love or want, but if you decide to help backup a whole fandom (or a huge part of it), let me know and I will add you in the sections in the sidebar.
P.S. If you think I need to add something or clarify something better, just let me know and I make the necessary changes as soon as I can.
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There is a lot of misinformation when it comes to pet food, I hope this can shed some light.
- Grains are necessary (Unless diagnosed with grain allergies by a veterinarian).
- Raw isn't always best. (Raw/home cooked diets need to be properly formulated by a board certified nutritionist to be balanced, more information below).
- Grain free can be dangerous.
- The vast majority of companies do not follow WSAVA guidelines.
- Veterinarians DO NOT get kick backs from suggesting food. How are they going to get a kickback from a food you didn't even buy from them? If anything, the pet store employees are getting kick backs for suggesting foods!
The “Big Five” Brands are the five brands that adhere to WSAVA guidelines (World Small Animal Veterinary Association).
Which are:
- Employs one or more full-time qualified nutritionist(s) and willingly discloses their credentials.
- Foods are formulated by a qualified team of professionals such as nutritionists, toxicologists, food scientists etc.
- Undergoes feeding trials that meet or exceed AAFCO standards, for most or all formulations.
- Foods are produced and manufactured in US facilities, owned and operated by the manufacturer, or under close supervision of the manufacturer. Equipped with machinery, laboratories and staff that provide extensive on-site quality assurance.
- Provides detailed description on quality control protocol. Selection criteria for partners, analysis and sample tracking of externally sourced ingredients, daily safety checks of product batches and facilities, physical inspection, key nutrient testing before final packing.
- Provides exact number for any nutrient on an energy basis (grams per kcal).
- Readily provides kcal content per gram and per cup.
- Conducts research relevant to nutrition, products marketed, and product claims. Publishes research in peer-reviewed journals.
So let’s get to it.
The “Big Five” Brands are:
Royal Canin - Breed specific lines that were created in conjunction with breeders and veterinarians, general health lines and targeted health lines + RX diets
Eukanuba - Owned by Royal Canin, mainly their performance lines + general health lines
Purina - Sport lines, general health lines, targeted health lines, most accessible and cost effective + RX diets
IAMS - General health lines, cost effective, easily accessible
Hills Pet - General health lines, targeted health lines + RX diets
If you’d like to do some reading…
Here are multiple links for kibble, raw diets, grain free vs grain inclusive, Diet Associated DCM and WSAVA.
Peer reviewed resources on dog kibble:
https://vetnutrition.tufts.edu/2019/03/stop-reading-your-pet-food-ingredient-list/
https://vetnutrition.tufts.edu/2016/06/why-you-shouldnt-judge-a-pet-food-by-its-ingredient-list/
https://vetnutrition.tufts.edu/2019/12/pet-food-decisions-how-do-you-pick-your-pets-food/
https://vet.osu.edu/vmc/companion/our-services/nutrition-support-service/myths-and-misconceptions-surrounding-pet-foods
https://www.aaha.org/publications/newstat/articles/2017-01/myth-busters-corn-edition/
Peer reviewed resources on raw diets:
https://vetnutrition.tufts.edu/2016/01/raw-diets-a-healthy-choice-or-a-raw-deal/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3003575/
https://www.veterinarypracticenews.com/debating-raw-diets-january-2019/
STOLEN FROM HERE
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A southeast Missouri boarding school under fire for allegedly abusing students has shut its doors and is facing additional investigations, The Star has confirmed.
Lighthouse Christian Academy, run by ABM Ministries near Piedmont, has notified the Missouri Department of Social Services that it is “officially closed,” according to a letter obtained by The Star.
The action comes as the state’s child welfare agency is investigating whether hotline calls about the school were properly investigated.
Robert Knodell, director of DSS, confirmed to The Star that his agency is working to determine how complaints to the state child abuse and neglect hotline about Lighthouse Christian Academy were handled by his department.
Sources, including former students, have told The Star that numerous complaints were submitted in the past 15 years but nothing came of them.
“We want to make sure that our team members are using the appropriate judgment, making the appropriate calls moving forward,” Knodell said. “Our inquiry and investigation is ongoing, looking at those facts in their entirety. We have to review each of those situations.”
The social services agency is also looking to see, Knodell said, whether a 2021 law implementing some regulations for Missouri’s unlicensed boarding schools is strong enough to prevent or identify abuse in such facilities.
The Star first wrote about allegations involving Lighthouse Christian Academy in Wayne County last month after five boys ran away in less than a four-week period. Since then, owners Larry and Carmen Musgrave, ages 57 and 64, have been charged with kidnapping, and another staff member, Caleb Sandoval, 22, has been charged with the assault of a child.
All boys are now gone from the school, authorities said, after parents were told earlier this month to pick up their sons within 48 hours. The school wrote to the state earlier this month about Lighthouse Christian Academy’s future.
“As of March 6th @ 5 p.m., 2024 ABM is officially closed,” the letter to DSS read. “All staff have also been dismissed.”
Wayne County Sheriff Dean Finch said he expects more charges as he continues to investigate. He has interviewed dozens of former students.
Several hotline calls made in late January
What still isn’t clear is what happened after concerns about the school were reported to Missouri’s abuse and neglect hotline.
Former students said if only someone had listened long ago, more students wouldn’t have been subjected to what they call mental and physical abuse.
The most recent calls to the hotline were made in late January when two boys — ages 12 and 14 — ran away from the school. After the two were initially helped by Cierra Osborn and then other neighbors, several people called the hotline.
Those two boys told the residents that they were hit for not doing chores fast enough and were berated by staff. At least two neighbors told The Star that they called the hotline, but to their knowledge nothing was done.
Courtney Hall, who lives about two miles from the school, said she when she initially called the hotline she was told that several people had already reported the incident and that it would be noted that she’d called. The next day, she said she called back and was told the information provided to the state wasn’t enough to meet the criteria for an investigation.
A sheriff’s deputy also called in late January about the runaways.
“We certainly appreciate the involvement of the folks in Wayne County in this situation,” Knodell said. “The ability to address ongoing issues is much greater when there’s full cooperation across the spectrum.”
That Jan. 28 incident, as well as other recent runaway cases, led authorities to talk with former students. And the information they shared led to the kidnapping charges and other counts that are expected.
“That was the domino effect, and it just went from there,” Finch said. “I don’t know the word I’m looking for to be honest with you. It’s just sad.”
What’s frustrating, the sheriff said, is that several students told him they tried to tell their parents about the alleged abuse at the school, but in many cases they weren’t believed.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to blame anybody or whatever,” Finch said. “But the parents of some of these kids don’t care. That’s my personal opinion, and you can quote that all day long.”
‘Angry that it could happen’
Lighthouse Christian Academy — for boys 10 and older — is the latest unlicensed boarding school in Missouri to face scrutiny amid allegations of abuse.
Since September 2020, The Star has investigated several schools, and the lack of regulations for them in the state, and has spoken to more than 80 students who attended facilities in southwest Missouri.
That investigation led to lawmakers proposing legislation that they passed in 2021. The hope was that the new law would prevent further abuse and allow the state to implement at least some regulations for the unlicensed facilities.
Hearing about allegations and criminal investigations at yet another school has frustrated some lawmakers.
“I was shocked and angry that it could happen,” said Rep. Rudy Veit, R-Wardsville, a co-sponsor of the 2021 legislation. “It’s a great concern, because we were supposed to be at least making major steps to prevent this from happening. I thought we at least had new cases not arising, and turns out, these people went under the radar.
“And the whole object was that they not be under the radar and that they be overseen so we at least know that if something’s going on, we become aware of it.”
Veit said he hopes DSS will do a “thorough investigation” to see if the new law is strong enough to keep alleged abuse and other wrongdoing from happening inside Missouri’s unlicensed boarding schools.
“If not, what changes do we need to make?” Veit said. “I want them (DSS) to do their investigation, which I understand they’re doing, so we can make a determination — is this something that should have been prevented under existing law, or is there something we need to do to prevent this from happening?”
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on january 22, you are asked to go to hyuncheol’s office where he is already waiting for you. “please sit down, jaekyung.” while his presence itself can be intimidating, he does not seem angry, even maybe in a good mood. “i know you are busy, this won’t take long, don’t worry.” he begins. “it seems that your hard work has come to fruition and got yourself noticed. while the managers of the company are always trying to find opportunities for our talents, we’ve been approached directly to request your participation.” a hint of pride can be heard in his tone. “we are in no position to accept or refuse the offer ourselves, so the call is yours to make.”
jaekyung expects all sorts of news at this point. from being pulled from a debut camp due to an injury, over getting to promote with lgc girls japan, to receiving two model gigs; she’s seen all highs and lows at this point. so truly being called into the big boss office could mean demotion or debut. she finds out it doesn’t necessarily mean neither but it’s definitely a step into the right direction towards the better d-word.
her eyes light up as she takes in the details of the offer- or at least what she can skim over in her haste to read. she’s bouncing in her seat when she sees the numbers on the payment too and to think this was all going to be her own money to spend, nothing to share with others, well, jaekyung already knows she’s going to bookmark the latest vintage sale items that she’ll treat herself too as soon as the payment comes through.
“I’d love to! Of course, I accept!” not an ounce of hesitation she scrambles to find a pen, the excited grin never leaving her face. “where do I sign?!”
congratulations on hitting 200 notoriety! whew! what a ride! as a congratulatory and thank you gift from the staff, your muse has been presented with an opportunity to take part in a solo activity! the activity chosen will simply be canoned (no requirements to fulfill) and grant you +10 skill points of your choosing.
the opportunity can be:
a feature in a song (you may pick any song released in 2023 or in the second half of 2022, so long as your character has +100 singing and/or rapping according to the part they will have) **a feature means any song that has a “ft. (artist)”, and your muse will be the featured artist and not the main singer of the song. if you want a reference of which songs have been selected/canoned in lgc (for the 200 notoriety), you can click over here**
an appearance on a variety show currently ongoing (you may pick any show in korea, japan or china, so long as your character has a +50 in the language of the country)
an appearance on the front cover of a magazine (you may pick any magazine in korea, japan or china, so long as your character has a +50 in the language of the country and 100 modeling)
a guest role on a drama currently airing (you may pick any drama in korea, japan or china, so long as your character has a +50 in the language of the country and +100 acting. the role selected must be one where the character appears for only one episode)
make sure to send the following form on lgcpoints to collect your reward:
PARK JAEKYUNG ∙ 200 NOTORIETY POINTS
+10 modeling
OPPORTUNITY: cover for ELLE
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