#SHOVES JASPER OUT OF THE WAY HOLY SHIT?!?!?!?!?!?!?

[candyskiez]

Yo, what do you think about jasper, her arc and character as a whole?

(Also your explanation of pearl was so good I loved it)

oooo good question!

jasper, imo, is a very good portrayal of an abuser. she's so realistic, dude. she isn't evil, mustache twirling. she's a person who's abusive and THATS what makes her relationship with lazuli gutwrenching. because it's something you'd see in real life. it's not black and white. it's two deeply fucked up and traumatized people hurting each other. it's not good vs evil. it's two people who are horrible for each other.

jasper is just. extremely realistic to me. she's someone who hurts people around her to make them stay, to make them look at her and admit that she's strong. she needs constant external validation because nothing fills that void in her life of someone treating her better. she hurts everyone and then is crushed by them leaving. she's so interesting because she NEEDS people near her but shes the one shoving them out. she's the one constantly hurting them and they leave to get away from being mistreated. it's. she has so much pressure and experiences so much constant mistreatment and she's convinced it's what makes her strong, it's what makes her special. to admit she's hurting would be to be weak. she convinces herself anyone leaving is a sign of weakness. it's not because of *her*, it's not because what she's like is bad. because admitting how she treats people is wrong is admitting how SHE was treated is wrong. and she can't do that. she can't handle reevaluating her entire identity being the next battle and the next fight and how much pain she can take. she can't let herself even consider changing, because that means admitting she was miserable. and only a weak gem would hate how they're supposed to be.

she's a victim and an abuser, those things aren't mutually exclusive and I wish people wouldn't act like they were. she was hurt so fucking badly, and she also hurt so many people so fucking badly.

her "everyone I fuse with leaves me" was haunting, man. it's, again, a very accurate depiction of an abuser who was caught in the cycle. you want to grab her and shake her and say, stop you're hurting yourself you're ruining your own life. but she refuses to see it and she refuses to get better and it. hurts to watch.

I see her as a cautionary tale. nobody can force you to change. YOU have to look at yourself and ask if you're the problem. YOU have to look at how you treat others before you scream that they left you. YOU have to look at your life and ask, is this what I want?

she's a cautionary tale and works well as one.

there is one thing I don't really like and that's how her being shattered was handled? her being shattered completely and then some how brought back was. Cheap, ngl. although her reaction to being shattered was. fucking terrifying. obviously from stevens point of view but also it's just so fucking telling about her mental state. she romanticized being shattered. she romanticized the thought of dying gloriously in battle. she respected steven for shattering her. it's just. fucking *horrifying.* did she WANT to be shattered? holy shit, is jasper suicidal ? the implications are. Awful. I don't want her to be around the others because she keeps hurting them but at the same time I'm going "someone fucking HELP her!" but she doesn't WANT help and it's. it's fucking hard to watch. she's so set on her own destruction and it's physically painful. she can't get better until *she* decides she wants to. that's the only way her pains going to stop.

I also don't like the way steven shattered her. I wish it was portrayed more how his thoughts of shattering white was. his anger, his trauma towards her, his hatred of how much pain she gave him and the fact he's just supposed to be FINE with it now. shattering jasper, though it told us a lot about her, ultimately felt repetitive? because I mean, we already get steven's urge to shatter white. and it's handled a little better. maybe steven going too far and severely damaging jaspers gem and her still being impressed to make the audience go "jasper wtf are you good" and "OH SHIT STEVEN" at the same time, while also adding more weight to his anger at white diamond,, I dunno, this is my scattered ramblings.

I get why some people wanted a redemption arc for jasper. I don't think there was enough time to make a satisfying one. I do think she could potentially heal still, but she HAS to realize it herself. everyone keeps trying to give her tools to heal, she refuses to take them. she has to start working on herself. I'm not against a jasper redemption whatsoever, hell I think if done right it could be good.

a thing I do want to say though, FUCK the idea of her getting back with lapis. they are *horrible* for each other. and I mean this both ways. both of them hurt and traumatized each other. lapis was miserable with her and *jasper was too.* they both can heal but they need to do that completely separately thank you very much.

confession, I have an OC named jasper so I was VERY confused by this ask at first. was about to write a five page essay on him. oops 😭 I have to refer to this jasper as jasper (gem) with my friends. which is also hard considering a nickname for jasper (OC) IS gem. and ironically in the steven universe au me and one friend are working on, jasper (oc) is a pearl, not a jasper, and it's. Yeah! we are so good at this.

hope you enjoyed my scrambled ramblings ksgdldjdk. sorry for disjointedness this isn't like a professional meta or anything it's just me rambling about a cool show.

(ask me things!)

#jasper steven universe #steven universe jasper #su jasper #jasper su #steven universe spoilers #su spoilers #su #steven universe #suicide cw #cw suicide #suicide tw #tw suicide

[sillyfeathers]

Prank War (John Murphy x Reader)

Prank War Characters: John Murphy, gnc reader ft. Raven Reyes & Jasper Jordan Prompt(s): “They’re having a prank war and Murphy finds out that the reader is ticklish.” Warnings: swearing Words: 1240

An elaborate prank on Murphy yields a much less intricate, but far more effective response.

A/N: for an anon who requested this ages ago 😭 I hope this finds you! Set during s3/s4 times.

“It wasn’t me!”

Knowing what you knew, and having done what you’d done, hearing Jasper’s protests was all the prompting you needed to duck behind a wall, out of sight from the two in the adjacent room.

“I took it to Reyes, this has your nerdy ass written all over it, Jordan, and Monty’s,” Murphy scoffed, and from the volume of his voice you judged he was by the door, much closer to you. “You thought you’d do it during mine and Y/N’s little prank war, huh? Thought you’d get away with it?”

Jasper let out a series of indignant sounds, which gradually morphed together to form a coherent sentence. “Wha– I– I didn’t even– This wasn’t us! Why wouldn’t you think it was Y/N?”

“Y/N wouldn’t go to these lengths, let alone know how to do it in the first place,” Murphy shot back. You couldn’t help but snort. Clearly, your observations of Raven and Monty’s work hadn’t been for nothing.

“You hear that?”

“Don’t try distract me, Jordan, I haven’t gotten to the part where I tell you to– ”

“I’m serious! I heard someone laugh!”

Eavesdropping was fun, especially under the current circumstances, but this was a pretty obvious signal to get the hell out of there. You cringed at yourself, carefully manoeuvring your way out from your hiding place to head back outside. You figured by the time Murphy worked out it actually wasn’t Jasper or Monty, you’d have sought out some sort of protection, or there’d be another crisis requiring your attention. Despite the slip-up, it had always been a solid plan.

Oh, if you’d just paid a little more attention to the sound of Murphy’s voice.

He was close to the door, as you’d predicted. Had you been listening as you made your exeunt, however, you would have likely realised that he was backing up, off to seek out who he believed to be his other attacker. Now, this oversight landed you directly in Murphy’s eyeline, and the realisation dawned across his face much too quickly.

“You,” he snarled, pointing an accusatory finger.

You shrugged, biting back a grin. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

And so the race was on. Murphy wasn’t buying your bullshit for a minute, and having known he wouldn’t, you were quick, turning on your heel and heading outside the Ark without a second to spare. Murphy was faster, and stronger than you, but you were more agile, and for once, you were grateful for the rubble and clutter scattered around the ship as you ran, knowing your pursuer would have a much harder time getting through it than you did. 

You stumbled out into the open, taking a moment to assess your next move. This prank war of yours had been going on for a while, and you’d been involved in a number of chases with Murphy, and you knew your best shot was finding a willing protector to keep him away until he decided a more elaborate prank response was needed — it at least gave you a chance to get yourself together. 

A string of curses and the sound of clanging metal alerted you to Murphy’s presence just a few feet away, so you took off again, heading towards a silhouette who vaguely resembled Raven. Now fully outdoors, you could hear Murphy gaining on you, and in a last-ditch attempt, you hollered, “RAVEN!”.

She turned towards you, and you were close enough now to see the bewilderment and slight concern on her face — but not a second later, you had a faceful of dirt.

Murphy rolled you over, straddling your waist. You spluttered, wrinkling your nose at the amount of dirt and mud that was now clinging to you.

“What’re you gonna do, asshole, beat me up?” you teased, grinning up at Murphy. He was smirking, mischief behind his eyes, which only made you smile wider — it was rare for any of you to get these moments free of fear and stress.

“Maybe,” he replied, feigning a punch to your stomach. He backed out at the last minute, so the impact was light, and the unexpected sensation made you jump, panic flashing across your face.

“Damn, Y/N, you’re that scared of me?” He made the movement again, and again, you flinched, pressing your lips together.

The realisation dawning on his face this time was far more terrifying. 

“Holy shit,” he chuckled, and to your dismay, his hands were forming claws, resting against you.

“Murphy, don’t you dare,” you warned, grabbing his wrists. He cocked an eyebrow in response, slowly wiggling his fingers against your t-shirt. You let out a strangled yell, unable to hold back your smile. “No no no! Murphy!” Your grip was tightening, but he was determined, fingers spidering in place until you gave, letting go to bat at his hands. The moment your guard dropped, he went in for the kill.

His hands locked around your ribcage, thumbs pressing in between alternating ribs while his fingers curled into a spot beneath your shoulder blades that made you shriek.

“MURPHY!” Hysterical laughter was bubbling from your lips as he repeatedly squeezed, sending a jolt of ticklish energy through your body every time he did so. No matter which way you twisted, you couldn’t shake Murphy, whose hands were now travelling up and down your sides to test out new spots.

“A motion sensor, huh?” he finally spoke, and his voice was laced with an unbearingly teasing tone. “That’s pretty advanced.”

“I’ve been watching Rahahaven,” you wheezed, a fresh wave of giggles pouring anew as Murphy’s hands slipped under your shirt, scribbling against your stomach.

“All for me to find out you’re ticklish,” he sighed. “Awfully, terribly ticklish.”

“Shut up!” He was ruthless, unforgiving, and everytime you thought he’d give up he’d start tickling in a new spot, and you’d give him the exact reaction he’d wanted, and the cycle would begin again. By this point, your laughter and mad squirming had weakened you to a giggling puddle, with any attempts to gather your strength thwarted by fingers worming under your arm or fluttering under your chin.

“I think you’re killing them, John,” Raven called, making her way over to the two of you.

“They can take it,” he replied, beckoning her over. 

“I can’t,” you giggled breathlessly, “I really can’t.”

“Disappointing.” Raven shook her head, grinning. “You’d think they’d be able to hold up under a bit of tickling, huh, John?”

You rolled your eyes, Murphy’s darting hands rendering you unable to do much else in your defence.

“To be honest, Raven, I’m just wondering why someone this ticklish would even engage in a prank war with me,” Murphy responded. He’d zoned in on a spot just below your ribs, and you were laughing too hard to formulate a response, your chest jerking with every touch.

“Time to let them go, they can think about their actions later,” Raven said, and finally Murphy rolled off of you, leaving you to jump, doubled over, to your feet.

“You absolute ass, John Murphy,” you breathed, shooting him a glare. He raised his eyebrows, wiggling his fingers, and you visibly cringed, making both him and Raven laugh.

“I’d think twice before crossing me again, Y/N,” he said, shoving you playfully as you headed past him to clean up. Still, both of you knew this war was far from over.

#tickle fic #ticklish!reader #the 100 tickle #john murphy tickle #john murphy x reader #reader insert #john murphy tickle fic #lee!reader #ler!murphy #tickle #tickles #the 100 tickle fic #tickling #tickle community #john murphy #the 100 #raven reyes #nova writes #sillyfeathers the 100

[imaginedchaos]

who: @sweetnlght​ where: coyote point local jail when: 12/30

          HE WAS TOLD THAT, due to the nature of his crime, he wasn’t allowed visitors at this time. it sucked, jasper had always been the type to lean on his friends, especially in high times of stress and right now he felt so alone and vulnerable it drove him crazy. a full twenty four hours was as long as it took before an officer informed him he had a visitor, brows shooting up in surprise, “but i thought you said-” he begun, slowly standing up and stretching out his back with a pout as the police officer informed him to stop talking, which he knew by now to agree to. 

          so, with a heavy sigh, jasper followed behind the guy until they reached a room and he was shoved inside. he didn’t know what to expect, cuffed hands coming to his face to rub at his eyes before it registered who was there, “holy shit, silas?” her eyes widened, a bit in shock and a bit in relief as he made his way over with a pout on his lips again, “hug me? i don’t know, something, i’m dying in here, man.”

#( interactions: jasper heo. ) #( interactions: jasper x silas. ) #tw: police mention

[nothingbutfangirlsmut]

Roles Reversed

Pairing: Gally x Reader

Requested by: @youtemptressyousunshine

“hii! could you please do a piece where the reader was in gally’s place in the first movie, and they were the one who was stung + killed chuck + speared by minho, and gally’s on Thomas’ side like in tst and tdc. so like in tdc reader see’s Gally and everyone else outside the wall in the crowd, while reader is geared up and takes them back to Lawrence, and they have the whole reunion thing? thank youuu, you’re an amazing writer and i love your stuff”

Thank you for the wonderful request! I hope it’s what you were looking for! I did really enjoy writing it either way! (I couldn’t think of a better title for it lol)

Female Reader takes the place of Gally in the series while Gally sides with Thomas. Just a one shot! Enjoy!

Outside the city walls was just as chaotic as usual. The massive crowd of WCKD's forgotten filled the streets. Jasper started shouting his new speech through the megaphone as the van we were all on slowly drove towards the blockade. Andy sat next to me on top the roof of the van. Both of us in our full riot gear. At this point in my stay here I'd gotten use to this attire and the usual speeches Jasper liked to give to hype up the inhabitants of this massive hovel. As we drove slowly down the sand covered road I spotted a familiar face in the crowd. My heart sped up as I looked straight at Thomas. The greenie from WCKD's maze. He was unknowingly staring right back at me. My full face mask kept my face hidden. As we drove past I saw Newt, Fry, and.. Gally.

"Holy shit" I whispered.

My heart thumped in my chest as my brain and thoughts were propelled back to the last time I had seen them. The last time I had seen Gally.

—

My heart shattered into a million pieces as I watched Gally turn his back on me. He followed Thomas and the others into the maze. Everything we had been. Everything we had told and promised each other was gone. It was like none of it meant a damn thing. Len patted my shoulder softly then started walking back to the homestead with the handful of boys that decided to stay. I continued to stand there staring into the maze. The group could no longer be seen. They turned the corner out of sight. Part of me hoped this was a bad dream or some horrid prank. Any second Gally would pop back around the corner looking at me with his big puppy dog eyes and his ridiculous eyebrows and say it was all just a bad joke. He'd say he loved me and he could never truly leave me.

As the minutes ticked by I knew I was kidding myself. He was gone and he wasn't coming back. He'd chosen his side. He'd chosen that idiot greenie over me. Over the person he'd spent the entire past three years with. A shudder ran down my spine as a griever shrieked from somewhere behind me.

"Shit" I gasped.

I turned back towards the homestead to see the boys looking around frantically.

"Get inside! Get in the homestead!" I shouted as I started to run towards them.

Each of the boys made it inside but as soon as I reached the door a pain like no other took over my body. I fell to the ground as my body convulsed. Every limb and nerve was set ablaze. Images flashed through my mind at lightening speed.

WCKD. Thomas. Teresa. Water. A test.

I screamed as I rolled onto my stomach. All the memories flooding my brain had me clawing at the grass to get back to my feet. I had to stop them. They'll never survive. I clenched my teeth together as I used all my might to stand.

"(Y/N)?" One of the boys questioned from behind me.

"She's been stung." Another boy said.

I growled from somewhere low in my throat as I took off running towards the maze. I have to stop them. I can't let them leave. They can't leave. He can't leave. I ran faster than I ever had before as the burning under my skin continued. I can't stop. I gotta keep going. Keep running. I don't know how I knew where to go but I made every turn without a second thought. I came to an area that seemed to be where the others had been. A single spear laid on the ground covered in blood. I stepped up to the concrete wall in front of me. There was no surprise in me when the wall lifted opening up a path. Two dead and squished grievers laid before me. I stepped over them without a thought. I could see the light of my exit. I knew I had to be close to them. I pushed open the door into a brightly lit hallway. I immediately turned to the right then started jogging.

I stopped in front of a door for only a moment. I knew this was it. I pushed it open. Only a few steps inside I found a few dead bodies. One of the ones closest to me had a small pistol in their hand. I picked it up then held it tightly in my hand at my side as my body started to shake. I slowly walked around the corner.

"Over here!" I heard Chuck's voice before I saw them.

A searing pain went up my neck. Stop them. I have to stop them.

"No!" I shouted as I stepped into view of them.

The whole group turned to face me. I kept my eyes trained on Thomas. This was his fault. All of this is his fault. He helped them put us here. He didn't deserve to be alive. He doesn't deserve to get out of here. I won't let him. Kill him. Kill Thomas. I shook my head trying to clear it. I can't kill him. I'm not a murderer. Kill him!

"We can't leave."  I choked out as I fought my own thoughts.

"We did, (Y/N), we're out. We're free." Thomas said as he raised his hands slowly.

I faintly heard Gally's voice say my name. I twitched as another burning sensation took over my chest.

"Free?" I choked out as I tried to stretch my neck.

The burning was increasing as it moved slowly up my neck. Kill him.

"You think we're free out there? No. No, there's no escape from this place." I told him as hot tears stung my eyes.

Kill him. I shook my head again. No! I won't! Shoot him! Shoot him!

"(Y/N), listen to me, you're not thinking straight. You're not. Now, we can help you." Thomas spoke as he kept his arms raised.

Kill him. I shook my head.

"Just put down the gun." Thomas begged.

Kill him.

"I belong to the maze." I cried as I raised the gun pointing it straight at Thomas.

Kill him.

"Put down the gun." Thomas repeated.

Kill him now!

"We all do." I pulled the trigger.

Only a second later I was suddenly gasping for breath. What happened? I stumbled backwards as I looked down. A spear. There's a-

I dropped to my knees as I tried again to get air into my lungs. It didn't hurt. Not like it should have. The burning took over my entire body as I fell limply to the floor. My vision started to blur but I could make out the outline of someone running towards me. They dropped to their knees in front of me. They seemed to get close to my face. I couldn't tell if they were speaking to me or not. Everything had went quiet. All I could hear was my heart struggling to beat but it was still beating. Large rough hands grabbed each side of my face slightly lifting my head off the ground. The next second I felt soft, wet, and warm lips pressing against mine.

Gally.

I tried to will myself to speak. To kiss him back but I knew my body was no longer under my control. I was nothing but a disembarking passenger just waiting for the train to finally stop. I felt the hands leave my face in a quick jerk. The outline through my blurring vision looked like he was being dragged.

"Gal-" then everything went black.

—

I leaned over so I could whisper to Andy. He immediately leaned closer to me.

"New comers in town. They're immunes. I know them." I told him.

He pulled back most likely to look down at me through his mask. He nodded then hit his fist against the roof of the van. The vehicle stopped immediately. The both of us climbed down. Andy went to the driver to tell them what I had just said. When he came back to me he had two other men with him.

"Let's find them. Henry and the others will wait to grab them." Andy told me.

I nodded then started to walk with the slightly older man to find my old friends. It took a few minutes but I finally spotted Newt and Fry quickly followed by Gally. Jasper and Rick went around the mob of people to follow them. Andy and I kept our distance behind them the best we could. We had to keep shoving people out of our way which seemed to attract Newt's attention. I saw him nudge the others. Fry and Gally turned around. My heart skipped a beat when Gally looked right at me. He hasn't changed a bit.

We were only a few feet from them when they got to Thomas. The alarm sounded as warning for the guns. Andy and I stopped in our tracks.

"They're not seriously about to open fire." I said in disbelief.

A second later all hell broke loose. Bullets and explosives rained down as people ran in every direction. There was nothing we could do. Andy grabbed my shirt dragging me behind him. We ran as fast as we could back to the meeting spot for the vans. When we got there both vans were parked and waiting. To my surprise Thomas and the others ran straight into the small square. We didn't hesitate to start grabbing them. Andy grabbed Thomas throwing him into the van. I grabbed the back of Gally's shirt to guide him into the same van. Jasper tossed some girl in then all three of us climbed inside closing the door behind us.

The drive was quicker than usual back to base. It was unusual for us to pick people up like this but the others knew if they were inmunes we needed to save them. When we pulled into the run down building I jumped out first as Andy and Jasper ordered our three captives out of the van. I moved to stand a few feet away as I watched them find their feet. The other van pulled in then Alex was thrown from the back only to have some man jump on top of him. He punched Alex as he screamed for some girl. The girl we had taken ran over to him with her arms raised. The man was fine the next second.

"Everybody relax! We’re on the same side here!” I shouted.

The whole group turned to look at me. The look on Thomas’ face as he pulled himself from Andy’s grasp could only be described as completely annoyed and pissed off.

“What do you mean the same side? Who the hell are you?” He asked me harshly.

I sighed as I let my gun fall to my side. I took in a deep breath then pulled off my mask. I turned to look straight at Thomas.

“Hey greenie” I said softly.

All the boys looked completely shocked and even a little terrified. My eyes moved to Gally who was looking at me like I was a real ghost. In his eyes I might have been. To me all I saw was my happiness in a person. I had never been the same since he left me in the maze but now I understand why he chose to leave. I couldn’t blame him. I couldn’t resent him. I still loved him. I always had. It’s always been Gally or no one.

“(Y/N)?” Thomas questioned in disbelief.

My eyes stayed on Gally like there was no one else in the world. I wanted to run to him. Tell him how much I missed him. Tell him that I love him. Tell him how stupid and sorry I am. Instead of a loving moment with Gally I was suddenly being lifted by the front of my shirt. Thomas held me tight as he held one fist back ready to strike. The fire in his eyes was being held back. I could see the hesitation. He wanted to hit me.

“Stop! Stop!” Newt yelled coming to stand next to Thomas.

Thomas panted as he glared at me.

“She killed Chuck.” He said through clenched teeth.

“I know. I remember. I was there too. I also remember she was stung and half out of her mind.” Newt told him.

Thomas glared at me even harder as a tick started in his jaw.

“Just calm down.” Newt said softly.

Thomas huffed but let me go. He stepped back running his hands through his hair. I took a moment to take in each of their faces. Fry and Newt looked stunned. Thomas looked pissed. Gally mostly confused but also stunned.

“How? How is this possible? We watched you die.” Newt said in bewilderment.

A sudden rage washed over me at his words.

“No, you left me to die.” I corrected harshly.

Gally softly said my name sucking all the anger right out of me. I turned to face him again. He visibly gulped then took a step towards me. That was all I needed. I ran straight to him as the overwhelming need to feel his arms around me consumed me. My body hit his with a thud. I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck as his arms wrapped around my waist.

“Gally” I whispered into his neck.

“Holy shit (Y/N). I never thought I’d see you again.” He said softly as his arms tightened around me.

I pulled back so I could look him in the eyes. I grabbed his face with both my hands.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I should have went with you. I was so stupid.” I cried.

He smiled softly down at me. My heart lifted at the sight.

“It’s okay (Y/N). None of that matters now. We have a second chance. I mean if you want it.” He said hesitantly.

My mind, body, and soul soared higher than ever before. I crashed my lips into his making him chuckle. He kissed me back with the same force. His soft warm lips felt like a dream. A dream I’d had so many times but never thought would come true. Yet here we are.

“Of course I want that. I’ve never stopped loving you.” I told him as I pressed my forehead against his.

“I never stopped loving you (Y/N).” He whispered.

—

Requests are open!

—

#nothingbutfangirlsmut #fanfiction #gally #gally imagine #gally x reader #the maze runner #the maze trials #tmr gally #requestsopen #request

[dani-camp]

happy to report that i was pleasantly surprised by midnight sun. it wasn’t some pointless recap money grab, it was genuinely enlightening and immersive and took the narrative like ten times further cause not only do we get everything that bella isn’t there for, we also get everyone’s thoughts, alice’s visions (which are cool af, i’m ngl), jasper’s empathy, historical flashbacks, the cullens’ just sheer competence and intelligence. i also understand and side with edward in a way that i think is both a credit to sm*yer and being an adult—bella is truly a dumbass honestly. i mean edward is too but at least he’s self aware.

the book still loses points for random misogyny—why exactly are we spending a supernatural ya romance novel on characters like jessica or lauren, who are written as if they spend all of their time being jealous of bella, as if anyone in the world spends all of their time being jealoys of this random new girl at your high school? we also spend a lot of time giving edward brownie points for hating on rapists and avenging rape victims while also constantly villainizing rosalie, an actual rape victim, for not being okay with edward risking their cover, for not having another species shoved into her family and home uninvited when it’s triggering to her? oookay

it was nice to spend a little more time with jasper, esme, and emmett as well. edward initially liking jacob was a nice surprise. i liked the observations about reneé and charlie’s scents and mental voices and how that may have resulted in bella being a special case for edward, makes those things seem a lot less of a star-crossed copout. there were times where i almost felt like edward was showing off for the reader, bragging or emphasizing his abilities. which totally worked imo. if i were truly a supernatural immortal being cursed to a mostly unfulfilling life, i’d probably jerk myself off every now and then, too.

edward being hot and cold to bella in the beginning was even more frustrating from edward’s pov than bella’s cause he knew he was looking like a psychopath and kept doing it anyways!! homeboy literally was like “oh good maybe i finally scared her off!” every like two pages bless his heart. he really fell in love with the frailest unluckiest most gullible ride or die out there, didnt he?

sad to say, but i really wish sm*yer would write the rest of the series from edward’s pov (while also not accumulating any funds from it, all funds should be redirected to native american charities). edward’s voice is so much smoother and complex compared to bella’s, we get so much more of the story when it’s from the cullens’ pov, and also edward just doesn’t say stupid shit like holy crow and almost faint like every two chapters so theres that

#midnight sun #midnight sun spoilers

[alyssawritesssfics]

Hounded [4] 4. Murphy’s Law

Pairings: Bellamy x OC // Kane x daughter!OC

Word Count: 3.7K

Warnings: violence, suicide (canon), series spoilers

Summary: After the murder of one of their own and an unexpected confession, Athena and Bellamy must work together to keep the peace. 

Author’s Note: Hii, I’m back with the four chapter/episode. This is the last chapter I have pre-written from my previous posting of this series, but I have finished the next one already! My goal is to post a new chapter each week, so expect that one soon. Please remember to note and reblog! It really helps me see interest and therefore update the story more often. Thank you! PS. If you’d like to be tagged in future chapters, please send me an ask with your @ and I will add you to my list!

previous chapter // series masterlist

After my first real night of sleep in a couple of days, I was greeted with devastating news as soon as I woke up. Wells was dead. He had been killed last night, just outside of the camp walls.

As we buried his body, I thought back on all of the memories we had on the Ark. Sometimes it was just the two of us, though most of the time Clarke had been there too. All I wanted right now was to go back there, back to when it was just the three of us taking on the world together.

All of that was just a distant memory now.

“Hey,” I felt a light hand on my shoulder, Bellamy quickly coming into my view. 

“Sorry, I know I’m slacking-”

“It’s alright,” His voice was soft, mimicking how he spoke to Charlotte in the cave the other night. “I just wanted to see if you were alright.”

My even expression quickly fell into a frown. “I’ll be fine. I just can’t believe he’s really gone. He shouldn’t have even been down here.”

“None of us should be down here.” I turned my head, watching as Murphy passed us. “I’d say he can thank his father for all of this, but…”

I stepped forward, my hands clenched. Bellamy quickly placed his hands on my shoulders, stepping in my way. “Don’t listen to him, alright?”

“I really can’t wait for someone to kick his ass.”

Bellamy chuckled. “I imagine it won’t be long before that happens.”

Across camp I noticed Clarke, waving the two of us down.

“What does the princess want now?” Bellamy questioned.

Ignoring his comment, I headed over to Clarke who led us into a tent. Jasper and Octavia stood off to the side, their eyes fixated on the ground.

I raised an eyebrow. “What’s going on?”

Clarke held up a knife. “Jasper found this just outside of the walls. It was made of metal from the dropship.”

Jasper looked up. “What do you mean?”

“Who else knows about this?” Bellamy asked.

Octavia shook her head. “Nobody. We brought it straight here.”

“Clarke?” Jasper asked again, holding his hands close to his chest.

Clarke studied the knife for a moment. “It means the grounders didn’t kill Wells. It was one of us.”

“So there’s a murderer in the camp?”

“There’s more than one murderer in this camp,” Bellamy spoke, folding his arms across his chest. “This isn’t new information.”

“What do we do?” I asked.

Bellamy sighed. “We need to keep it quiet.”

Clarke didn’t hesitate, shaking her head and making her way towards the tent exit. Bellamy quickly stepped in front of her. 

“Get out of my way, Bellamy.”

“Clarke, be smart about this. Look at all we’ve achieved.” Bellamy extended his arms. “Like it or not, thinking the grounders killed Wells is good for us.”

“Good for you, you mean.” Clarke rolled her eyes. “What? Keep people afraid and they’ll work for you?”

Bellamy nodded. “Yeah, but it’s good for all of us. Fear of the grounders is building that wall out there. Besides, what are you going to do? Walk out there and ask the killer to step forward? You don’t even know whose knife that is.”

“Oh, really?” Clarke asked, pointing to the initials clearly carved into the knife. “J.M. John Murphy. The people have a right to know.”

With that, Clarke pushed past Bellamy and out of the tent. The four of us quickly followed her, leading us all the way to Murphy.

Murphy had slapped a cup of water out of another boy’s hand. “No water until this section is finished!”

Clarke pushed through the small crowd, shoving Murphy. “You son of a bitch!”

“What the hell is your problem?” Murphy asked, catching his balance.

“Recognize this?”

Murphy eyed the knife. “That’s my knife. Where’d you find it?”

“Where you dropped it after you murdered Wells,” I spoke up, earning the eyes of everyone around camp.

“Where I what?” Murphy asked, looking genuinely confused. “The grounders killed Wells, not me.”

Clarke moved closer. “I know what you did and you’re going to pay.”

Murphy scoffed. “Bellamy, you really believe this crap?”

“You threatened to kill him. Everyone heard you. You hated Wells.”

“Plenty of people hated Wells. His father locked us all up.”

“Yeah, but you’re the only one who got into a knife fight with him.”

Murphy shook his head. “I didn’t kill him then, either.”

“You tried to kill Jasper, too,” Octavia said.

Jasper looked at her. “What?”

“Come on, this is ridiculous.” Murphy scoffed. “I don’t have to answer to you. I don’t have to answer to anyone.”

“Come again?” Bellamy asked.

Murphy turned, facing Bellamy. His face was pale, a bead of sweat dripping down his forehead. He moved closer, his voice lowered. “Bellamy, I’m telling you. I didn’t do this, man.”

Bellamy shifted his eyes to the ground.

“Is this the kind of society that we want?” Clarke asked. “You say there should be no rules. Does that mean we can kill each other without punishment?”

“I already told you, I didn’t kill anyone.”

A boy named Connor stepped forward. “I say we float him!”

Everyone around us began cheering.

“That’s not what I’m saying.”

“Why not?” Connor questioned. “He deserves to float. It’s justice.”

“Revenge isn’t justice.”

“It’s justice.” He insisted. “Float him!”

Chants spread through the crowd, causing Murphy to start slowly backing away. Clarke’s face had now too gone pale.

I shook my head. “This is not the Ark! If we do this, we are no better than them.”

My words proved futile, the chanting drowning them out. 

Murphy looked to us before springing into action, attempting to run away before being tripped by someone in the crowd. When Murphy fell to the ground, the crowd quickly surrounded him. I watched on in horror as they began kicking and punching him.

“Stop it!” I called out, trying to push my way through.

A few boys held Murphy down while Connor gagged him and tied his hands behind his back. Murphy was then picked up and carried a few feet before being tossed down a small hill.

“You can’t do this!” Clarke screamed.

Before I knew it a noose had been strung up on a tree and the same boys were dragging Murphy towards it. They tied the noose around his neck, standing him up on a log.

I watched as Clarke continued to plead for them to stop, finally turning to Bellamy. “You can stop this, they’ll listen to you!”

“Bellamy,” Connor said. “You should do it.”

Everyone began cheering his name.

Shaking my head, I stepped in front of Bellamy, looking him dead in the eyes. “Bellamy, please don’t do this. I saw you in the woods with Atom. You’re not a killer!”

Bellamy’s eyes shifted around for a moment, the cheering only growing louder. Finally, he pushed past me. I tried to hold him back, my attempts failing as he kicked the log out from under Murphy’s feet.

Clarke screamed in horror, trying to get to the rope but being held back.

“How could you?” I snapped, shoving Bellamy back.

He looked to Clarke, his face red. “This is on you, Princess. You should’ve kept your mouth shut!”

“What the hell are you doing?” Finn had now joined the crowd. “Cut him down, now!”

As Finn fought to get to the rope, more fights broke out among the crowd. No matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t push past everyone to get to Murphy. I watched as he struggled, the light slowly draining from his eyes.

Finally, someone’s voice broke through the crowd.

“Stop it! Murphy didn’t kill Wells!” All eyes landed on Charlotte, who stood there with her hands clasped tightly together. “I did it.”

With everyone now focused on Charlotte, Clarke pulled away from the boys, grabbing a hatchet hanging from Bellamy’s belt. As she cut the rope, Murphy’s body fell to the ground, him gasping for air.

Turning away from Murphy, my eyes fell on Charlotte once again.

…

“Holy shit,”

Clarke quickly grabbed the hatchet from Bellamy’s belt and rushed over to Murphy. She swung the hatchet, severing the rope and allowing Murphy to fall to the ground. As he gasped for air, everyone moved to surround him; everyone besides Bellamy, Charlotte and myself.

Without saying a word, I matched over to Charlotte, grabbing her arm and dragging her away. Bellamy followed close behind, calling my name. I couldn’t respond, only thinking about Wells. What she had done to him.

“Athena, slow down!”

I finally stopped, spinning around as Charlotte tried to wiggle free from my grip. “Do you have any idea what you just did?” I hissed.

Bellamy blinked. “What I just did?”

“Yes! Do you really think Murphy is going to let this go?” I asked. “She murdered somebody, Bellamy! My best friend. You hung Murphy so he’s going to come after her and no matter how much I want to let him kill her, I can’t!”

Turning back around, I continued to drag Charlotte towards one of the tents. Once all three of us were inside, I let go of her arm, blocking the entrance. Only a few moments later, Clarke and Finn pushed their way into the tent.

“Murphy is leading a mob this way,” Finn spoke up.

I placed my head in my hands. “Great.”

“What’s the plan?” Clarke asked.

“Aren’t you usually the one with a plan?”

Clarke threw her hands in the air. “I’m all out of them right now.”

Hearing footsteps outside the tent, I knew everyone else was finally here.

“Bring out the girl, Bellamy!” Murphy’s voice boomed.

Bellamy looked to Charlotte. “Why?”

“I was just trying to slay my demons like you told me.”

Clarke’s eyes narrowed as she turned to Bellamy. “What the hell is she talking about?”

“She misunderstood me,” Bellamy shook his head. “Charlotte, that is not what I meant.”

“Bring the girl out now!”

Charlotte’s eyes began to swell with tears. “Please don’t let them hurt me.”

Bellamy turned to the rest of us. “If you guys have any bright ideas, speak up.” Silence. He rolled his eyes. “Now you stay quiet.”

“Those are your boys out there,” Finn responded.

“This is not my fault,” Bellamy spoke before pointing at Clarke. “If she had listened to me, those idiots would still be building the wall.”

“You want to build a society, Princess?” Murphy asked. “Let’s build a society, bring her out.”

“Bellamy, please!” Charlotte begged.

Bellamy sighed. “It’s going to be okay. Just stay with them, alright?”

As Bellamy turned to leave, I grabbed his hand. “What are you going to do?”

Bellamy’s eyes travelled to our connected hands before he looked back up at me. “I’m going to try to talk some sense into them.”

I watched as Bellamy pushed through the slit of the tent, leaving the four of us behind. Finn shook his head. “There’s no way he’s going to talk them down.”

My eyes landed on the lifted corner of the tent. “We’re not sticking around to find out. Come on.”

Pushing the material out of the way as carefully as I could as to not make it obvious from the front, I slowly slipped through the small opening. Charlotte, Clarke and Finn were quick to follow.

As we started towards the forest, I stopped in my tracks.

“What are you doing?” Clarke asked.

I shook my head. “You guys go.”

“Athena-”

“Bellamy hung him, Clarke,” I said. “This isn’t going to end well.”

Finn shook his head. “Do whatever you want, but we have to go. Now.”

Clarke eyed me for another moment before letting out a sigh. “Be careful.”

“You too.” I smiled slightly.

I watched them run off into the forest before turning back around. Slipping back inside the tent carefully, I eventually made it back to the tent opening, stepping outside. Bellamy’s back was towards me, him guarding the tent while Murphy and the others stepped closer.

“Look who decided to show her face,” Murphy spat. “Come on, Athena. Wells was your friend, right? Don’t you want justice?”

Stepping beside Bellamy, I shook my head and folded my hands over my chest. “Killing her isn’t justice for Wells. It’s revenge for yourself, and you know it.”

Murphy let out a small laugh. “Who here wants to see the real murderer hung up? All in favour?” Everyone went silent, earning a glare from Murphy. “I see. So you all think it’s okay to string me up for nothing, but when this little bitch confesses you want to let her walk?” Murphy shook his head, his voice booming. “Cowards! All of you are cowards.”

“It’s over, Murphy,” Bellamy spoke up.

Murphy held his hands up, stepping closer. “Whatever you say, Boss.”

I watched as Bellamy relaxed his stance. Murphy seemed to have noticed as well, his open right hand turning to a fist as he clocked Bellamy in the jaw.

“Bellamy!” Octavia gasped, rushing to his side.

Knowing that Charlotte, Clarke and Finn were long gone, I let Murphy push past me and instead I joined Octavia on the ground.

“Son of a bitch!” Murphy called out, pushing his way back out of the tent. “Where the hell is she, Athena?”

I looked up, my eyes narrowed. “Go to hell, Murphy.”

Murphy simply smiled. “Come on, let’s find the girl!”

A few of the guys followed Murphy towards the forest, most of the mob having settled down by now. A few stuck around to tend to Bellamy, while most wandered off. How can they just walk away as if nothing happened?

“Where did they go?” Octavia whispered.

I shook my head. “I have no idea.”

…

It wasn’t long before Bellamy woke up, frantically looking around.

“Where’s Murphy?” He asked. “The others?”

“He and a few others ran off to find Charlotte. Pretty much everyone else has gone back to work on the wall.” I muttered.

Bellamy pulled himself off the ground. “We have to go find them before Murphy gets his hands on Charlotte.”

“We better get going,” Octavia responded.

“No,” Bellamy shook his head. “I need you to stay here.”

“Bellamy-”

“He’s right,” I said. “Let’s face it, these people can’t be left alone. We’ll find Charlotte, Clarke and Finn.”

Octavia went to argue before finally sighing. “Alright. Be careful.”

Bellamy and I exchanged glances before heading off into the forest.

…

“We’re never going to find them,”

Bellamy sighed. “We will.”

“Both groups are already so far ahead of us and it’s dark now. Any hope we had of catching up to them is gone.”

Bellamy shook his head. “Now you want to give up?”

I stopped, turning around to face him. “I am not giving up.”

“Sure sounds like it to me.”

“Screw you.” I hissed, stepping closer. “This is all your fault.”

“You keep saying that.”

“Because it’s true, Bellamy. You want so badly to be in charge but you don’t have what it takes. You could’ve stopped it. You could’ve said no, cut Murphy down and said enough is enough.” There was now only inches between us. “Whatever the hell we want, huh? You should’ve known how that would play out with a bunch of murderers.”

Before Bellamy could respond, the sound of footsteps caught our attention. They were soft, ones that could only belong to a child.

“Charlotte.”

We both ran after the footsteps, closing in on Charlotte in no time. Bellamy grabbed her first, pulling her off to the side.

“Stop! Let go of me!”

“We’re trying to help you,” I said, placing myself in her line of view.

Charlotte yanked herself away from Bellamy. “I’m not your sister, alright? Just stop helping me!”

“Charlotte-”

“I’m over here!” She yelled. “Murphy, I’m over here!”

“Are you trying to get all three of us killed?” I hissed.

Charlotte stopped, a frown forming across her face. “Please, just go. I’m the one they want. You don’t have to put yourselves in danger for me.”

“We’re not leaving you, alright?” Bellamy spoke, placing his hands on her shoulders. “You are not dying. We’re not going to let that happen.”

“Please, Bellamy-” Before she could finish, Bellamy grabbed her, pulling her along. “Stop it! Murphy! Murphy, I’m over here! Murphy!”

I followed close behind while Charlotte continued to scream for Murphy. We finally reached the edge of a cliff, a panicked look appearing across Bellamy’s face for just a split second.

“What now?” I asked.

“Charlotte!” Murphy’s voice echoed as he pushed through the bushes surrounding us. “You two can’t fight all of us. Give her up.”

“Maybe not,” Bellamy spoke, pushing Charlotte behind him. “But I can guarantee we’ll take a few of you with us.”

“Bellamy, stop!” Clarke’s voice rang out as she found her way beside Murphy. “This has gone too far. Just calm down, alright? Let’s talk about this.”

“I’m tired of listening to you talk,” Murphy said before grabbing Clarke. Before I could jump in, Murphy was holding a knife to her throat.

“Let her go, Murphy.”

“I will slit her throat!” Murphy spoke, tightening his grip on the knife.

“No, please! Don’t hurt her,” Charlotte begged.

Murphy’s eyes landed on Charlotte, a small smile creeping across his face. “Don’t hurt her? Okay, I’ll make you a deal. You come with me right now, and I’ll let her go. How does that sound?”

Charlotte looked up at Bellamy before attempting to head to Murphy. Bellamy quickly grabbed her, Charlotte struggling in his arms. “Let go of me! I have to do this.”

“Murphy, this is not happening,” I spoke.

“I can’t let any more of you get hurt because of me.” Charlotte’s voice was now soft, as she stepped back a few paces. “Not after what I did.”

Before anyone had a chance to react, Charlotte turned around, running for the edge of the cliff.

“Charlotte, no!” I screamed, rushing after her.

It was too late.

Murphy let go of Clarke and she fell to the ground as Bellamy and I reached the edge of the cliff. Staring down, all we could see was black. Charlotte was gone.

“No!” I cried out, tears falling from my eyes.

Bellamy placed his hand on my shoulder for a moment. Finally, I felt his hand drop as he stood from the ground, marching over to Murphy. I watched as his fist connected with Murphy’s cheek, both of them falling to the ground.

He continued to hit Murphy, over and over again.

I couldn’t stand up. I could hardly move.

“Bellamy!” Clarke yelled. “Stop it, you’ll kill him!”

Clarke grabbed onto his shoulders, yanking him away. “Get off of me, Clarke. He deserves to die!”

“No, we don’t decide who lives and dies! Not down here.”

Bellamy shook his head. “So help me God, if you say the people have a right to decide-”

“No,” Clarke said. “I was wrong before, you were right. Sometimes it’s dangerous to tell people the truth.”

“She’s right.” I finally spoke up, pulling myself up from the ground. “If we’re going to survive down here, we can’t just live by whatever the hell we want. We need rules.”

“And who makes those rules, huh?” Bellamy looked at Clarke. “You?”

Clarke shook her head. “For now, we do. Okay?”

“So, what, then? We just take him back to camp and pretend like this never happened?” My voice was shaking with each word.

“No,” Clarke responded. “We banish him.”

Bellamy shook his head, walking over and grabbing Murphy. “Get up!”

“Bellamy, stop!”

Holding the collar of Murphy’s jacket, Bellamy stared into his eyes. “If I ever catch you near camp, we’ll be back here. Understand?” Murphy nodded, and Bellamy let him go. “As for the four of you,” Bellamy looked to Murphy’s followers. “You can come back and follow me, or stay with him and die. Your choice.”

The four of them exchanged glances before nodding and turning to head back to camp.

Bellamy turned back to me, his eyebrows furrowed. Without saying anything, I pushed past him, following behind Clarke and the others, leaving Murphy behind.

…

After finally returning to camp, Bellamy and Clarke delivered the news of Murphy’s banishment to the rest of the camp. There were a few whispers, but everyone quickly returned to working on the wall.

I stood by the dropship door, drinking from a makeshift cup. Bellamy made his way across the camp, standing in front of me. His eyes met mine for a few moments before finally, he looked away, clearing his throat.

“Are you okay?”

I kept my eyes on him. “Are any of us okay?”

Bellamy scoffed, a smile quickly appearing on his face, and disappearing just the same. “I guess not.”

We were silent for a moment, standing side by side and watching over the rest of the camp. Finally, I turned to face him.

“I’m sorry,” I said, earning his attention once again. “For everything I said.”

“No,” He shook his head. “You were right.”

“I could’ve been nicer about it at least.” I smiled slightly for a moment. “I know she killed Wells, but…” I stopped myself.

“She was just a kid.”

I nodded. “She was just a kid.”

Bellamy took a deep breath. “You can want justice for your friend and also feel awful about what happened last night. It doesn’t have to be one or the other.”

We stood there for a moment, our eyes locked on each other, neither of us daring to speak. Finally, the sheets covering the dropship door flew up, Octavia poking her head out. 

“You guys alright?” She asked, looking between us.

Bellamy nodded. “I should get back to supervising.”

As Bellamy walked away, I focused on Octavia. “What’s up?”

“Monty is about to test Clarke’s wristband, see if we can contact the Ark.”

I smiled, following Octavia to the top of the dropship.

Clarke, Jasper, Monty and Finn all stood around the lit wristband.

“Will we be able to talk to them?” Jasper asked.

Monty shook his head. “More like Morse code. You want to do the honors?” Jasper nodded excitedly, moving closer. “Just connect this to that port right there.” Monty pointed.

Jasper grabbed the wire, slowly moving it towards the wristband. Almost instantly after Jasper let go, the wristband sparked, causing the lights to go off. Everyone still wearing a wristband felt a shock, wincing at the pain.

“What happened?” Jasper asked, his face pale.

“It didn’t work.” Monty frowned. “I think we fried all the wristbands.”

Octavia’s eyes widened. “So that means-”

“The Ark thinks we’re all dead,” I mumbled. “Nobody is coming for us.”

~

next chapter

#the 100 #the 100 fanfiction #bellamy blake #bellamy blake fanfiction #bellamy blake x oc

[tiny-smallest]

I know this is a horrible time to ask you this, but what is your opinion on Pearl? Just Pearl herself. If you don't want to answer, because of this awful drama, I get it, but I don't know, I'm curious.

I rip Pearl a new asshole a lot because she’s genuinely vile to Greg (and also... Rose’s Scabbard) for no reason other than the man felt love for someone who reciprocated who did not reciprocate those same feelings for Pearl, or at least in a way that Rose felt would work out in a relationship. The way she treated Greg is fucking awful. From the very beginning he tried to be friends with her and she would just keep throwing it back in his face. I think he only ever snapped at her twice- once when she decided it was necessary to call him a passing phase (which, though Pearl didn’t know... considering what we learned of the guy’s history with abuse? giant yikes; no wonder he fought back and even then he did so in the most mild goddamn way instead of telling her where she could shove that microphone) and her deal in Space Race.

That being said she is actually (arguably) my favorite of the original Crystal Gems! She’s also not the only one to share blame with being cruel to Greg, either; Amethyst’s pretty fucking awful too. Maximum Capacity, holy shit. Even Garnet’s not sinless there, either- see The Message.

Greg from the opening of the series is very, very convinced he’s going to do nothing but fuck things up if he touches them. That he was a part of their world insofar as Rose, but deserves no place in the larger scheme of things. That didn’t grow in a vacuum; that is the kind of casual, worn-down acceptance of something that’s been drilled in. The Gems’ prejudice towards humans and their grief over Rose’s death make for a very ugly combination that unfortunately Greg’s in the crosshairs of, given that he’s the father of the pregnancy that killed her. Pearl is monstrous to him but she’s far from the only one, so to single her out without even mentioning the other gems’ part in all this isn’t fair.

All this to say: Pearl is a complicated character whose motivations and roots make a lot of sense. She’s needlessly cruel to him, but we learn why. We learn about the intense abuse that gemkind put her through, and how she naturally has a deep attachment to the person who made it possible for her to leave all that and grow beyond it. For some reason their romantic relationship failed (or maybe never seriously started) and she was never able to let go of that, but she sort of comforted herself with ‘well, at least the people she fools around with now and again will never mean as much to her as I do.’

But then, finally, one of them did. Rose finally fell in love, and not with Pearl. After all those years I never thought I’d lose. But she did. She played a one-sided game and came out the loser because that was the only way that could ever end. 

And if she thought maybe Rose would move on after Greg’s inevitable death, surprise! Rose dies first! Not only will she never reciprocate, not only will you never be able to make those romantic fantasies work, but you will never have anything with her, your best friend, ever again. Not one more moment of the deep intimacy you used to share with her. It’s gone. She’s gone. Forever.

Grief and self-loathing is a hell of a toxic stew. It’s super interesting to watch her learn to deal with both of these things in a healthy way. She stops isolating. She rekindles her friendship with her other best friends. She grows closer to her son. She makes (not enough, but it’s a start) amends with Greg, and realizes the friend she could have had all along. They grow closer as a family unit. She begins to hang around humans more and realize they’re not silly wastes of space. I don’t know if she consciously recognizes the latter for what her attitude had been before, but the behavior changes, so that’s a good beginning.

Due to how her story unfolds she also presents a super interesting perspective, too. At the start of the series it’s assumed she’s a tech junkie who took up the ballet thing as a hobby. Surprise! She’s designed to gravitate towards a lot of the behaviors we’re used to from her, and the gearhead stuff is what was picked up as her growing beyond early interests! A lot of the ‘uhhhhh Homeworld sounds kind of... bad??’ feeling bubbling up in the early seasons are courtesy of Pearl- Jasper calling her defective, Peridot explaining what pearls are for, that sort of thing.

Pearl needs to have a much longer talk with Greg about her past behavior and she needs to have a come to jesus moment about how she’s considered humans in general before now, but Cartoon Network sucks so that’s what fanfiction can be for. What we managed to get of her in the canon series was a delight and I enjoy her very much.

I just also sometimes want to strangle her every time I rewatch certain episodes.

#steven universe #su pearl #steven universe pearl #pearl steven universe #me tearing into Pearl's behavior again: i love her i swear #when it comes to wips i have she's probably the gem with the most actually #aside from rose

[ink-fireplace-coffee]

18 and 20 for the ask game?

Holi Jana!! Thanks for the ask!

Since number 18th is a beach, I'm gonna answer with the Marble and Magic Cast, if that's alright!

18. A beautiful tropical beach with gentle waves and brilliant fish and coral. Seabirds cry overhead and flowers bloom along the shore’s plants.

Agatha: sunbathes, goes swimming, snorkles. She really doesn't want to move much, but Kathan convinces her to jump off a cliff.

Kit: goes for a swim and dives, spends almost all the time in the water except from whe he goes exploring with Kathan and Jasper.

Jasper: makes sand castles (but not like "children" san castles, like actually jaw-dropping sand castles) goes on walks with Agatha, tries (and fails) making flowercrowns.

Kathan: searches for a cliff to jump off (after looking if it's safe to), splashes everyone around and collects shells.

Tony: grumpy boy ho doesn't like the beach. Complains the whole time until they all "force" him to snorkle and take a look at the coral reef. He begs for more time when everyone is getting tired.

Imara: you will find her under a parasol, enjoying the little cold it gives to the sun. She already has five books piling up against her, ready to be read. Reminds everyone to put sunscreen on, and watches the seabirds with delight.

20. A high-security prison: would they follow the rules, or try to escape? What did they do to end up there? Who do they befriend or make enemies with?

Agatha: she does not follow the rules at all and riots every time he has the opportunity to. She ends up there for that same reason: rioting and maybe some vioence along the way. After one day of being there, she and Imara are quick to show dominance and no fear, and they are both the leaders.

Kit: he's there for vandalism (yes the spray paint adventures continue). Follows the rules, but thakes no shit from the rest. Escapes along Jasper for good behaviour and manners.

Jasper: he has actually been in jail before because of public scandal (screaming at cars is not good actually). He knows how to sugarcoat the guards and shows them respect.

Kathan: poor guy just got shoved there with the rest because he was covering Kit. Even if he is a bit scared, he reassures himself with the hought of "they can't be worse than your family". He actualy makes a few friends, and everyone tries to be nice to him since he quickly starts cooking for everyone.

Tony: he's not there for any specific reson other than to try and help these idiots escape. Someone tried to "teach him a lesson" the first day and they ended up in the infirmary with a bleeding nose and a swollen eye so everyone watches out now.

Imara: Same as Ags: they both violently rioted. Imara would be the typical character who gets stuff for the rest from outside of jail. Nobody knows how she does it (magic), but everyone ends up asking her some favour or another.

#ask games #switch the setting ask game #marble and magic #m&m #oc: agatha #oc: kit #oc: jasper #oc: tony #oc: kathan #oc: imara

[sugarbooger513]

Moving on- Chapter One

This is the beginning of my OC’s story. Hope you guys enjoy! 

Her icy eyes stare into the mirror as she tries to fix the short honey brown curls on her head. However, there isn't enough patience in the world for her to deal with it. Jasper finally gives up, tossing the comb onto her dresser before straightening the tie around her neck. "Are you decent, Jasper?" "Yeah, come in." Her roommate, Lilith, walks into her bedroom with a small smile. Like usual, she's wearing her sky colored bodysuit and white combat boots. Her hair, which reminds Jasper of virgin snow, is in a neat bun on the top of her head. "Looking like the lesbian you are, I see." "Fuck you, Lilith. My girlfriend likes how I dress." "Exactly. A les-" "Stop it." Her laughter makes Jasper smile, despite wanting to look irritated. Lilith has been her best friend for a few years now. They decided to get a small two bedroom apartment when Lilith got a full time job at the Ingenium agency. Jasper still worked as a free lance hero, until today, that is. "First day jitters?" "Huh?" "Your hands, Jas. They're shaking." Jasper frowns at how easily she can be read. In a way, it's ironic. "The All-Knowing Hero" Daedalus is the easiest person to read. "Yeah, I guess so. At least Midnight will be there." "Oh yeah, she's your old mentor, right?" Jasper nods, smiling from the thought of the kind Hero. While Jasper never bothered copying the R-rated aspects of Midnight, she certainly learned from her combat skills. At the time, Midnight was fresh out of high school, but she took Jasper's training very seriously. There were days she would come home beaten to a pulp from training, but Jasper is nothing if not headstrong. "Well, I'm going to join you at your frist day." "Wait," Jasper pauses, "why? They have the Sports Festival today. You'll just-" "I want to introduce you to my old homeroom teacher. I was a part of his first class." "I thought you couldn't stand him." "I mean," she chuckles lightly, "he really wanted to expel me. Like, REALLY wanted to." "Sometimes I sympathize with him." Lilith sends her less playful roommate a wink, which causes Jasper to roll her eyes. How do they get along so well? "Whatever, Jas. I'm going with you whether you like it or not." "Fine, but you aren't allowed to embarrass me." "Trust me, I don't think I could. Eraserhead is generally one of those guys that just doesn't give a damn about what's going on around him." 'Eraserhead,' Jasper tilts her head slightly, 'that sounds awfully familiar. Still.. I can't quite remember why'. The two of them walk outside, so Lilith pulls the mask from her body suit over her head. Jasper smiles at her friend as they start their walk to UA. The nerves seem to only get wilder in Jasper's body as they walk. Principal Nezu reccently called her about an opening at her alma mater. Not long ago, a class was attacked by a "League of Villains" at USJ. One teacher was severly hurt from protecting his class, and the number one hero, All Might, was also injured. They decided to hire a few more teachers, preferably ones with quirks that can prove useful in case this league attacks again. Jasper doesn't have a physical quirk, so she was shocked when Nezu explained the situation to her. Her quirk, Daedalus, allows her to see someone's strengths and weaknesses as long as she stares at them. However, if she blinks, her quirk is deactivated.  It also tends to give her really bad headaches if she over uses it, so she tends to only use it in short bursts. "So, what is your title now? Ms. Daedalus?" "Nah. Just Daedalus, or Jasper for the other teachers." "Are you actually teaching a subject?" "No? I'm not sure if I ever will, but as of right now I'm some sort of disciplinary officer or something." Lilith snorts. Jasper... her friend.. as a disciplinary officer. Is that some sort of sick joke that Principal Nezu has planned? If so, where's the punch line? Before they know it, the two of them make it to the now ramped up security gate at UA High. One of the police officers at the front make both of them flash their hero licenses before they are allowed to walk inside. "Man," Lilith shoves her license back into her body suit, "this seems insane. I would feel bad for the kids." Jasper waits a second, but her friend doesn't finish the thought. "Umm.. you would feel bad for them..?" "If I cared." There it is. That's the Lilith she knows. "Well, I feel bad for them. UA was always my safe place, and I had a great home life. I can't imagine if some fo these kids come here to get away from their homes." Lilith shrugs slightly, but she can't convince Jasper that she really doesn't care. She might hide her normal name from the world, but being a hero is Lilith's calling. There have been multiple times where Pro Hero Ether has put herself on the line for complete strangers. "Yo, Ether," Lilith glances at Jasper, "do you know where the otehr teachers would be?" "I do. Just follow- Tenya!" A tall, blue haired boy turn towards the sound of his name being called. As soon as Jasper meets his navy eyes, she realizes that he's Ingenium's younger brother. No wonder Lilith knows who the kid is. "Ether, it's nice seeing you here! Did Tensei give you the day off?" "Yeah, he didn't want me to join while he did his business in Hosu City. Plus, I thought I should be ehre for Daedalus's first day." The polite young man actually bows in front of Jasper. 'Man, he is a lot like his older brother'. "Uh-you don't need to do all of that. I happen to be friends with Ingenium, and I have done a few missions alongside him. It's nice to meet his little brother." "It's nice to meet you as well, Daedalus. I see that you have a UA badge on your blazer. Are you one of the new teachers?" "Oh, I'm the new disciplinary officer, so I hope I don't have to deal with you too often." The way the boy holds his arms up makes Jasper chuckle lightly. He seems a lot more.. robotic than his generally laid back older brother. "Of course not, ma'am. I believe in keeping order and-" "Yeah, yeah, all that noble bullshit. We'll catch ya later, Tenya. I'm gonna go introduce her to Eraserhead." He nods and walks back towards a group of teenagers that they can only assume are his fellow classmates. The two heroes turn and start to make their way up a flight of stairs. Lilith surprisingly pulls her mask off before knocking on the door at the top of the stairs. "Come on in." Jasper jumps a bit from the familiarity of that voice. Once the door is opened, the shocking green eyes make her smile. "Holy crap, is that Present Mic?" The enthusiastic blonde hero jumps form his seat when he sees his friend and past partner. Well, not exactly a 'partner'. If he ever needed an extra set of hands, Daedalus was one of the first numbers saved in his phone. The two of them never really went anywhere to hang out, but they considered each other good friends. "Rock oooon! If it isn't Daedalus herself! What brings you up here, baby?" Jasper chuckles before accepting a hug from the lanky hero. "I missed you too, boom boom baby. I actually got a job here as a disciplinary officer, and Lilith wanted to bring me up here to meet her old teachers that I didn't have." "Well, ya know one of 'em, baby." Jasper smiles at his sweet term of endearment. Mic has called her baby since day one, and he's the only person other than Mirko, her girlfriend, that could ever get away with it. Lilith suddenly lets out a sigh. "Eraser, you look fucked up." "Language, child." Jasper turns and winces at the man sitting in the chair behind her. The poor guy is wrapped in bandages from the waist up. She has no idea what any of his facial features look like, minus how deep grey his eyes are. Lilith sighs softly. "Jasper, this is my old homeroom teacher, Eraserhead. He's the one that always tried to expel me." "Sometimes I wonder why he really didn't Lils. It's nice to meet you Eraserhead." The man lets out a small snort, which she can only hope is a bit of laughter. "Just call me Aizawa, since we'll be working together. Without thinking, Jasper holds a hand out to him. When he glances at it, she blushes a deep red. "Shit.. sorry." "Don't apologize. I understand that it's weird. Daedalus, was it?" "Jasper, please, but yes." He nods slightly. "Sho," Mic shifts his intense gaze to his wrapped up friend, "you can't tell me you don't know her." "Oh, I remember her. I remember training her with Midnight." "Wooooah, I don't remember.. oh wait." Jasper suddenly remembers one training session when she was a teenager. Midnight had taken her to an abandoned building with two other guys. The two guys faced her and her mentor in multiple sparring matches. She always remembered Mic being one of the boys since he had taken the time to talk to her, but the other boy was more to himself. He was really cute, in a mysterious sort of way. "You seem to be realizing that you know my best buddy, Sho." "I.. Yeah, I apologize, Aizawa." "You apologize too much, seriously. I don't care. You look different than I remember, though." Jasper lets out an awkward laugh. "Yeah, I guess I do. I cut all my hair off and.. ya know, gained a bit of weight." Lilith immediately shoots her friend a glare, which isn't shocking, but Mic jumps in. "Yo yo yo, baby, you look just as gorgeous as ever. Hell, if you didn't like women, I would totally hit on you." Jasper chuckles and gives the blonde haired man a pat on his head. Aizawa groans when he laughs softly, and Jasper's first instinct is to crouch in front of him worriedly. "Is there anything I can do to help your pain a bit, Aizawa?" "Not really. It's just something I have to put up with for a while. Thank you, though." Suddenly, Mic's phone starts to ring, making the other three people in the room jump a bit. His usually bright green eyes seem to dull when he looks at the number. "Hey, Joke. What can I do ya for?" Aizawa mutters a few curses under his breath. "Joke," Mic continues with a groan, "the two women with us are not trying to hit on your boyfriend. One is a lesbian and the other is an old student of his." Jasper can't help but chuckle a bit. "Jealous girlfriend?" Aizawa's eyes hold the smallest amount of amusement when he meets Jasper's baby blue eyes. "Yeah, you have no idea." Something about the tiny giggle she breathes out makes his heart pick up its pace. He's suddenly thankful for the ridiculous bandages wrapped around his face because he's sure that she would notice the slight flush on his otherwise pale cheeks. Mic finally hangs the cell phone up, glancing over his shoulder to look at his friend. "I don't understand why she only tells me when you 'screw up'. Sho-" "Can we talk about this at home, Mic?" Mic respects his friend's wishes and stops talking about the situation. Still, Aizawa knows that he won't forget. The two girls decide to hang out with Mic and Aizawa for the rest of the sports festival. Mic and Lilith end up reminiscing about her school days at UA, while Jasper sits in the chair next to Aizawa. Most of their small talk ended in something about a shared love of cats and coffee. "Have you ever been to the cat cafe downtown?" "No, actually. My dads work as vets, so I spend time with their patients a lot." Aizawa makes a small note in his mind about her admitting to having two fathers. He would never judge her about it, but he likes to remember things he thinks other people would tend to forget. "Mic and I go there sometimes. There are two cats I enjoy the company of a lot." "Well," Jasper smiles a bit, "maybe I can go with the two of you at some point." Aizawa feels a smile creep to his face. Her company amidst the boistrous blonde he calls his best friend sounds like a nice change of atmosphere. "Would your girlfriend care?" "Mirko? Hell no. She isn't the jealous type." "I hate being the bearer of bad news," Mic sighs, "but Joke would." Jasper quickly puts her hands up. "I swear I won't jump your bones, Aizawa." "She'll jump my bones." Lilith has to add in. Mic snickers at that. "Lilith, I will break your bones." "That's hot." "Good lord." Aizawa even chuckles at Jasper's flushed cheeks. He can't help but think how cute her embarrassment is, but he keeps the thought in his head. Mic would flip his lid if Aizawa admitted that anything other than cats was cute. "Honest question, baby," Mic passes Aizawa a bottle of water, "would you jump MY bones if you liked guys?" Lilith howls out her laughter as Jasper smirks. "Nah, too loud. The whole neighborhood would hear you climax." "Damn, baby. That kinda hurts my ego." Aizawa rolls his eyes before holding the water bottle up. "You deserve it after giving me an UNOPENED water bottle. I can't open it, dip shit." Jasper giggles and reaches to unscrew the lid for poor Aizawa. "There ya go." He feels his face warm yet again. He didn't exactly mean for her to do it for him.. "Thanks, Jasper." "Anytime." "Look at that," Mic groans softly, "Bakugo wins the Sports Festival." Jasper smiles, not knowing who the kid actually is. She remembers when she won it in her third year. Her parents cried like babies seeing her on the television, and Midnight even threw her a party. 'Hopefully that kid feels good about his win. He deserves it, I'm sure'. "I'm not shocked," Aizawa comments, "he's headstrong." "He's a bit unstable, Sho." "No, he really isn't. He doesn't settle for less than what he wants, and that's how a true hero is." Lilith snorts. "Tenya has told me about that guy. He sounds like an ass, but one of the greatest heroes in Japan is a grade A bitch." She's talking about Endeavor, and the thought of that man makes Jasper tighten her fists in anger. Jasper can't stand that man. From the moment she met him, a weird feeling of absolute hatred invaded her body. Her girlfriend, Mirko, has to work with the guy from time to time, and Jasper always refuses to accompany on those missions. She just knows that she wouldn't be able to focus with that asshole barking orders like he leads something. "Jasper? What's wrong?" She jumps slightly from Aizawa's sudden question. "Oh, I just don't like Endeavor, and that's who she was mentioning. I swear, that man makes it hard to want to stay a hero." Mic tilts his head. "I mean, he's saved a lot of people." "But there's a reason All Might is number one. I'll give you a hint, All Might isn't a major douche canoe." "Being likeable isn't a necessary trait to be a hero, Jasper." Aizawa raises an eyebrow despite the fact no one can see it. "You're right, but being an ass to fans and such is just wrong. You hide all of your hero work, Aizawa, so I'm not sure if you would understand how much it means to a child when you give them a high five or sign their freaking teddy bear." Aizawa nods in agreement. No, he doesn't really know that feeling, and he doesn't care to. Lilith even snorts. "In all fairness, I don't like kids, so I never pay attention to them while they watch me work." "I love helping kids, yo. They get a kick out of my speaker." Jasper turns her attention to Aizawa when she notices him picking at the bandages on his face. "What are you doing there?" "I'm supposed to be allowed to take most of these damn things off since the festival is over." Jasper stands from her seat and walks over to where he's sitting. "May I help you out?" "Can you?" Lilith chuckles from her seat. "Trust me, she has taken care of a lot of my injuries. She should be a medical professional at this point." Jasper rolls her eyes before she reaches behind Aizawa's head to take hold of the end of his wrappings. "Anywhere that I need to be careful around?" "Oh, uhh, under my right eye is still kind of tender." She nods, thankful he's honest about his pain. Even Mic goes quiet while watching her unwrap Aizawa's face. Truth be told, it scared the hell out of him when Aizawa got the news that his quirk might not be the same. For Christ's sake, the man is only thirty. He doesn't need to retire that early. "Aaaand, that should be the last one." Jasper turns to throw away the bandages before turning her attention to his arms. "Do any of these need to be left alone?" "My right elbow. Thank you, Jasper." She smiles at his thanks and wuickly unwraps his left arm and his right forearm. Finally, she stands completely and meets the man's eyes. Despite his hair being slightly disheveled, he's a very handsome guy. He looks exhausted, but his eyes hold a sort of alertness that only the best heroes have. The deep scar under his right eye, however, makes her stomach drop. If she remembers correctly, his quirk works a lot like hers. Any injury to the eye can be detrimental to their careers. "Sho," Mic glances worriedly at his friend, "do you think erasure will work?" Aizawa closes his eyes for a second before nodding slightly. "Only one way to find out. Mic, scream." "Are you-" "Do it." The scream is enough to almost rupture all of their eardrums. Jasper quickly covers her ears and watches as Lilith does the same. Suddenly, Aizawa's eyes shoot open, and the color of them makes Jasper gasp out loud. Hopefully no one heard it. That would be a bit embarrasing. Still, the crimson color of his eyes is grogeous. Mic suddenly goes quiet, barely making a peep. Aizawa smirks, but it's quickly replaced by him closing his eyes and letting out a pain filled groan. Jasper's next movements are out of pure instinct. She quickly gets on her knees in front of his seat and her hands are immediately on his face. His eyes are squeezed shut, but he tenses at the gentle touch. Her fingers glide so easily over his now sweat glistened skin. "Open your eyes, Aizawa. Let me check on you." Usually he would push someone away for being so caring. He usually can't stand when people try and take care of him, but her voice is so fucking genuine. He can't help but open his eyes to meet hers. Her lips curl into the smallest smile hes ever seen. "Don't over use it, Aizawa. It works, and that's what matters. Let it get back to normal on its own." God, if it were Mic telling him this, he would tell him to shut up... but it's this caring girl. He finds himself nodding. Suddenly, the door is opened, and his stomach drops. "Umm... what the fuck are you doing to my boyfriend?"

@katgalle​

#eraserhead #aizawa shouta #mha shouta #bnha #aizawa x oc #present mic

[missjennifercole]

I’m at a real loss for words guys...Thank you for everything you have done for us. This has been a ride. Amanda and I have spent years forming this story from the mini series it was supposed to be. I have eternal gratitude for everyone who has loved and supposed our story. Sending all of our love to you. You are the reason we kept writing. 

XOXO Jen

EPISODE 50

"I have to say, Rafael, I'm surprised your brother-in-law found me. I didn't think he had the intelligence," Charles said with a chuckle as he glanced at Nevada, who had his gun pointed at him.

"Looks like you don't think much at all, huh?" Nevada taunted. "You could've been on an island somewhere, sipping mai tai's, eating strawberries off some bitch's tits, but you're still fucking around with this guy?" He cocked his head in Rafael's direction. "That's one sad motherfucker right there."

"Do you have any idea how many years it took me to build the life that I had?!" Heeley spat. "Twenty-five years it took me to get to where I was and I lost it all because of your self righteous, do-gooder--"

"--You're a criminal, Charles! I'm a prosecutor!" Rafael exclaimed. "What did you expect me to do?!"

"Right now? Just die," Charles answered.

Nevada shoved his brother-in-law out of the way while he pulled the trigger at the same time as as Heeley. The bullet pierced him in the belly, just inches from where Eddie had shot him. Charles immediately dropped to the deck, having been shot in the face. Nevada fell at Rafael's feet, bleeding profusely from his stomach.

"Nevada!" Rafael shouted, trying to stop the bleeding with his hands. "Nevada, come on!"

But Nevada wouldn't open his eyes or even make a sound. Checking his neck for a pulse, the former ADA was relieved to find one, faint but still present. Rafael moved behind his brother-in-law and wrapped his arms around the man's shoulders, dragging him towards the stern. If he could just find a life raft, he could get them to shore, maybe get Nevada to a hospital before he bled out.

More gunshots sounded, one of the bullets ricocheting off the wall close to Rafael’s head. Dropping Nevada, he ducked behind a barrel while pulling the gun out of his holster. His heart pounded in his ears as he waited for the shooting to slow down, for one of the men to have to reload his weapon. When it did, he peeked out from around the barrel and shot in the direction of the men. He was an ADA, not a cop--using a gun had never been something he’d learned to do. His bullets bounced off pipes and walls, causing chaos between him and the two men shooting at him. One of the bullets hit a target in the chest and Rafael ducked back behind the barrel, sighing as he heard the body thump against the deck.

One more and he could try to get he and Nevada out of here. Inhaling deeply as though there was courage in the air that he could take in, he came up again and fired three more shots, miraculously hitting the other man in the throat.

“Holy shit, Rafael,” he whispered to himself, dropping the gun and going back to Nevada to wrap his arms around him again. Just as he was about to continue towards the stern, he heard a gun cock and felt a hard, rounded object against the back of his head. “Please,” he said in a shaky breath. If he was going to die anyway, he might as well try to reason with his killer. “He needs help, just let me get him off the boat. Please.”

"Rafael?" he heard behind him and turned to meet Jasper’s eyes.

"He's been shot, we have to get him to a hospital!" Rafael replied, still dragging his brother-in-law's body. Jasper pulled Nevada's body and put him on his back, pointing with one hand to the stern, where their boat was waiting.

“Life raft just down there. We need to leave, now!”

They made their way quickly to the back of the boat as more gunshots sounded from behind them.

“Hurry, Rafael!” Jasper growled, bent at the waist from Nevada’s dead weight on his back. When they finally made it to the raft, Rafael climbed inside and helped Jasper put Nevada in.

"Nevada wake up!" he shouted as Jasper returned fire, quickly climbing aboard and casting off.

“You need to drive, Rafael!” the British man yelled as he reloaded and opened fire on the men running towards them. “Now, it’s going to blow! Floor it!”

“I don’t know how to drive a boat!” Rafael shouted back, moving to the wheel and looking at all the buttons in a panic. He spotted the key in the ignition and turned it until the small boat roared to life. “What now?!”

“The lever! Push it all the way forward! GO!!”

Doing as he was told, Rafael grabbed hold of the shiny, steel lever beside the wheel and pushed it away from him, causing the boat to take off, away from the yacht. He could still hear gun fire, both from the vessel they’d just abandoned and Jasper behind him returning fire. He aimed for the boat he could see in the distance, assuming it was how Jasper and Nevada were able to get to him in the first place. They were about halfway there when an ear-piercing, hot boom rocked his entire frame as a high-pitched ringing began in his ears. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the yacht on fire with a dark mushroom cloud forming above it, debri falling from the sky and landing in the water behind them.

THREE MONTHS LATER

You reached for your soft white dress, folding the sleeves behind it and packing it into a neat square before tucking it into your luggage. You couldn’t help but stare at it. Nevada had given you this dress when you returned from prison. You remembered how long it had been. A full year away from him other than the occasional visits. Your heart ached at the memory. You were never a clingy girl, but you always missed him when he wasn’t sleeping beside you at night.

Now he never would again. You swallowed hard, the thought settling deep into your body. You would never hear his laugh, feel his touch, hold his face in your hands even though he hated it. He was gone.

You looked back down at the dress. It was tightly folded as to prevent wrinkles, all but one. You frowned at it and grabbed it, unfolding the fabric and smoothing it out to fold it over again. Left sleeve, right sleeve, crease down the middle before setting it back in the luggage.

It still wasn’t right. You repeated your actions over and over again. Left sleeve, right sleeve, crease down the middle.

“Come on,�� you whispered to the dress in frustration as if it were fighting you every step of the way. “Stop wrinkling!”

You heard footsteps before your brother’s voice came from the doorway. “Hermanita? Everything okay?”

“No,” you said, voice a little too loud as you unfolded the fabric with a sharp flick of your wrist, the cloth waving like a white flag before crumpling on the bed. “I keep folding it but it wrinkles! Do you know how hard it is to get wrinkles out of chiffon Rafi?” You folded it again. “It wrinkles and then you need an iron to get it out. I have an iron here but I don’t have a lot of room to pack it. Who knows if the next place I have will have an iron."

"Your iron isn't that big, it'll fit into a bag," he replied. "Or a box--"

"--What if I don’t have time to iron it now? I’ll be busy with the kids and usually when I’m ironing clothing that’s when Nevada is reading them their bedtime stories or watching tv with them and now--" Your breathing became erratic, fingers gripping tight into your hair as you yanked. “And now I don’t have him to help me. I don’t have him to--"

The words caught in your throat as all the air left the room. And now you didn’t have him.

“If it wrinkles I’ll have to take it to mami’s and she’s already done so much I don’t wanna ask anymore.” You shook your head and clutched the dress, the fabric wrinkling beneath your grasp. “Maybe I shouldn’t even pack it,” you whispered. “I can barely look at it.”

You’d bottled it all up for the past three months. There was no time to be sad in between caring for the kids and trying to deal with all the arrests. You knew Rita had most of it covered, but you tried to help Melissa and Gladys as much as you could. You could use the distraction anyway. You’d kept yourself so busy that you hadn’t had a moment to process. Until now.

A wave of nausea hit hard as you shut your eyes, knees nearly buckling when you felt a sob make its way up your throat.

"Okay," Rafael said, taking the dress from your hands and dropping it on your bed. "You need to just slow down. You have a lot on your plate right now. You know you don't have to move all of your stuff all at once."

“I just can’t keep walking around this apartment feeling like I’m going to see my husband around every corner, praying I hear him kicking off his shoes in the living room or scolding the kids. It’s silent now,” you whispered as tears ran down your cheeks.

"So, just take a bag of clothes with you and come back to get everything else bit by bit," Rafael answered, taking a deep breath before asking, "Are you sure you don't wanna sell this place? I know you said you wanted to keep the option of moving back here someday open, but…" He glanced around the room. "Lotta bad memories in this apartment, no?"

You'd had some of your worst times in the apartment you had shared with Nevada and the kids. You'd had a lot of your best times, too, but Rafael had mostly been there for the bad. You couldn't blame him for remembering the place differently.

“This was our home,” you whispered, trying to keep the shakiness out of your voice as you struggled to regain composure. “This was the place we lived our life in. Maybe it wasn’t a fairytale, it was scary and every day was something new fighting against us… but at least there was an us.”

"How are the kids holding up?" he asked.

“The twins aren’t old enough to understand,” you mumbled, folding more clothing. “They just keep asking where he is, why he hasn’t been home. Iliana…” you looked to the side, staring at the flat plane of the wall. “She’s old enough to understand some of it. She knows he isn’t coming back.”

Rafael let a soft sigh blow through his nostrils. "And Eddie? I've tried calling him, but it just goes to voicemail."

“Yeah well if you reach him, please tell him to call me back too,” you whispered and reached a hand out to him. “I’m gonna try to fold the dress again. Maybe the third time’s the charm.” You turned your complete attention back to the dress, as if folding it neatly would bring your husband back. You practically scoffed at the thought. “I just...I want something to be normal.”

"It probably won't be for a while, but…" he sighed, "It'll eventually get better at least." For a moment he watched you pull the sleeves towards the center of the waistline and neatly fold them one over the other. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out an envelope and held it up to you. "I have something for you. Nevada had me draw it up a while back. He also left some money for you and the kids, it's in a trust."

Your eyes fell to the envelope and you shake your head. “No. He wrote that planning on his own death. I don’t want to see what it has to say.” You gave up, shoving the dress into the suitcase, wrinkled and messy.

"It's the last thing your husband left for you. If not now...I hope someday you'll read it," Rafael said, placing the envelope into the suitcase on top of your scrunched-up dress.

“No,” you repeated firmly trying to give it back with shaking hands now. “No. I can’t. If I read that...then he’ll never have another thing to say to me ever again.” Your voice broke, letting out a choked sob again and sitting down on the bed. You buried your face in your hands, shaking with the violence of your tears.

You had dreams when you met Nevada, you dreamed of changing the Heights, of changing him. And you stuck to those for a long time. But somewhere along the way you yourself had changed. It hadn’t been for the better or worse, you’d just...changed. Your dreams shifted to a family, a husband and making a difference with a new opportunity. Nevada had given you so much, maybe even taken more. But you wouldn’t have changed it. You couldn’t. There were a thousand little pieces that fit together to make your paths align. So many things could have broken you apart yet the two of you always persevered. So what was it all for? What was the fighting and the screaming and the devastation for if it wasn’t to keep you both together?

You tried to gather yourself, calming your breathing as your brother stroked your hair. It felt like all the air had left the room the moment Nevada hadn’t come home. You had been struggling to find it ever since.

“I don’t want to see the letter.” You grabbed it, shoving it into your bag. “But I’ll hold onto it for now.” You stared at the floor for a long time. “Is this what I’m going to feel forever? I know they say it gets better, you move on and grow. But how do you do that knowing the person you wanted to grow with is gone?” You laughed at yourself. You sounded like a lunatic. “I’m a widow with three kids and frozen bank assets, all my friends are headed to prison and I’m here. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do Rafi, I’m scared.”

You looked up at your brother the way you had when you were children. But you weren’t afraid of the things in the dark anymore, you were afraid of the things outside of it.

"I know," he replied.

“I have you and Roxie, but you have Liam, you can’t stay by my side and I don’t want you to have that kind of responsibility. I just--" You felt dizzy, starting to get too overwhelmed. You weren’t thinking straight anymore. “I’m gonna throw up.”

"Okay, just sit for a minute, take a breath," Rafael said, leading you to sit on the bed as he knelt in front of you. "Look, I know everything feels helpless right now, but you're not alone. You don't just have me and Roxie and Liam, you have mami and Gladys. We're family, we take care of each other. As for Omar and OJ and the rest of them...I don't know what'll happen, but whatever does happen, we'll get through it together."

As much as he'd hated what Nevada and his brothers did for a living, they were still your family, and so by proxy they were his too.

"Try not to worry about everything going on with OJ and Omar and them. At least for right now. I heard Rita just filed for a motion to suppress some of the witness testimony. Their trial won't even happen for a long while, not with Rita working the DA ragged. Just focus on you and the kids right now."

“NJ and Fi….they’re so young. What if they don’t ever remember Nevada, or what he was like with them. He was a lot of things but he was never bad to those kids.”

"They'll remember because you'll tell them about him," he answered.

You were calming down a bit now, hiccuping occasionally but other than that you seemed to be easing up on the tears.

“Iliana is old enough to remember what he smells like, how he read her stories, she won’t ever get that again, but she’ll know enough to miss it…I can’t tell which one is worse.”

"Nobody will ever replace him, Y/N, but that doesn't mean the four of you won't ever be happy again," he replied, passing a gentle hand over your hair. "He'll always be their father, and you'll always tell them what great father he was to them. How he did everything he could to keep you and them safe. How much he loved all four of you."

You nodded, seemingly sated by his words as you let out a slow sigh. “You’re right. I know you’re right...I was just scared. I feel like I’m always scared lately…” You wiped the tears off your cheeks and take a deep breath. “I think maybe I just need to get some rest and be with the kids, you know?” You looked exhausted, you had always had such hope, even after years but everything about you now felt...dulled. You didn’t feel like you anymore. At least not now anyway. You’d barely slept, hadn’t eaten, you were running yourself ragged with grief, trying to focus on everything but yourself. “They keep asking for their Papi..I need to talk to them again.” Your bottom lip trembled at the thought.

He pursed his lips and pulled you closer, tucking you into his side and speaking into your hair. "Want me to talk to them for you?"

You shook your head but smiled at him sadly. “No thank you Rafi, I’m their mother. They need to hear it from me. No matter how many times they need to hear it.” Everytime broke you a little more. But you’d tell it to them a thousand times before you let anyone else take the horrible weight of telling a hopeful child their father was gone. You wouldn’t wish that on anyone.

Rafael sighed. "Okay...I gotta go, Roxie has to be at the bakery in an hour and she's home with Liam," he said, putting a hand on your shoulder. "The kids are in school till four, why don't you come by for a while after you're done here?"

You smiled and nodded. “Yeah...yeah I’d like that,” you said as you gave him a hug.

"Okay, I'll see you soon?" He got up and held your gaze. "Please come. Liam just started lifting his head up, you haven't seen it yet," he added with a small smile, trying to lighten your spirits.

You smiled a bit at this, warmed by the thought of your nephew growing. “He is? I remember when Fiona started doing that, Nevada was mad, told her not to do that so early...” you laughed a bit, giving a genuine smile at the memory of your husband. A twinge of heartache hit you, but you tried not to bury it. Instead, you took a breath and let it settle in. It was a temporary feeling. “Did you...” you looked back to your bag. “Rafi did you read the letter he wrote to me?”

"No, of course not," he answered, shaking his head. "He wrote it for you, it wasn't my place to read it."

You struggled with the desire to ask him to read it, to make him do the hard part. But the letter is to you. You heard the words in your husband’s voice, already smiling and imagining what he’d say if he heard you wanted your brother to read his letter to you.

"You okay?" Rafael asked. He looked down at his watch. "I can spare a few minutes if you want me to stay with you while you read it."

You licked your lips and nodded. “Yeah… I would like that if you don’t mind.”

"Sure," he replied, sitting as you took a deep breath and opened the sealed envelope. Taking out the slip of paper inside, you knitted your brows.

15%

"Fifteen percent," Rafael read aloud.

You let out a laugh. Your mind didn’t even know how to process it in that moment. But you knew what he was asking of you. Get out. Don’t be another statistic. Go. You felt tears run down your cheeks down as you laughed harder, not even sure why you were laughing. But you didn’t know what else to do.

Rafael arched a brow, corner of his lips curling upward at the sight of you laughing. "I don't get it, is that some kind of inside joke?"

“No, no...it’s him telling me to get the fuck out of this neighborhood.” You smiled. “Even in death...so bossy.” You stroked your fingers fondly over the words. “I love him, I always will.”

"Are you gonna listen this time?" Rafael asked softly with a half smile.

You nodded slowly, thinking the words over. “Yeah,” you said softly. “Yeah, it’s time we go. We’ve all been through enough.” You wiped a few more tears.

He nodded gently and bobbed one shoulder. "I'd love it if you guys lived closer to us. I think Liam would love to have his cousins close by, too."

“Will you help me look for something? I’m not sure how much we can afford now that our main source of income is gone, but..."

"Of course I will," he replied. He looked about to say something else when an unfamiliar ringtone began to sound, coming from the closet.

With knitted brows, you stood and walked the few steps to the double doors, opening them to look for the source of the high-pitched music. Your eyes scanned the whole of the closet before settling on the loose floorboards in the center. Biting your bottom lip, you knelt as thoughts of just after your release from Wilcole Women's Prison flooded your mind, when you'd stashed your wedding dress in the same hiding place. Pulling the floorboards up, you reached inside, finding the box that had once held your wedding gown. Squinting your eyes, you blew hard over the top, dust rushing out into the air as you took the lid off and found one of Nevada's burners.

"Are you kidding me? Why would he hide a phone in there?" you heard Rafael ask behind you, but your attention stayed fixed on the melody and the sideways dance the device did as it vibrated.

"He must've stashed it in here and just forgotten about it, I guess," you said, pulling the outdated phone out and flipping it open. On the screen was a reminder that had been set, though you couldn’t be sure as to when it had been set.

See Britain before you go.

You brows furrowed as you blinked at the message. Was it some sort of code? "See Britain before you go," you said aloud.

You almost didn't want to share the enigma with your older brother, but Nevada was dead. There was nothing to hide anymore. Nothing except for your children to protect.

"Is Roxie from Britain?" you asked, turning to look at him.

He shook his head. "She's from Whales originally, lived in London after that before she moved here."

You frowned, reading over the text again and again. Britain? You tried to think over the words. Your husband was always one for riddles, but you usually solved his puzzles, even if it took you some time. But Britain? Roxie wasn’t from Britain and you didn’t know anyone else that would fit that descriptor. Except yes, you did. Your mind flooded with memories of expensive cologne and an easy but not quite warm, laugh. Jasper. Was he from Britain? He must be. You closed the phone shaking your head.

“Leftover stuff from work I guess,” you said as you shoved the phone into your purse, mind swirling with thoughts of why he would have needed to see Jasper. Maybe Jasper had something that Nevada had needed.

"You wanna head out?" Rafael asked softly, standing.

You barely heard him, blinking as you subtly shook your head and looked back at him. "Um, yeah, why don't you go ahead. I need to stop by and see somebody. I'll meet you at your place in forty-five minutes."

He eyed you for a moment, holding your gaze as he nodded. "Okay."

You kissed his cheek, waiting until he left before getting in your car and driving to Jasper’s office. “See Britain before who leaves?” you mumbled to yourself. Since when did Nevada set reminders on a phone he didn’t even use? And where had he been planning to go?

Jasper had hundreds of contacts from every walk of life and he had been with your husband and brother the day Nevada died. Rafael hadn’t been able to tell you very much except that Jasper had made a phone call on their way back to the dock and that when they arrived back on land there had been a van waiting for them. Jasper had then loaded your husband into the van, gotten in after him and left Rafael to make his own way home.

Your face fell as you as a new thought crept into your mind. You had never seen Nevada’s body. Even the funeral had hardly been a funeral at all, the only thing in the casket was one of his leather jackets and his wedding band. Had Jasper lied? Was your husband alive? Had this been a message from him to tell you as much? Your heart pounded as a glimmer of hope ignited in your belly, and pulling up to the tall sky-skaper, you took several deep breaths and got out, heading inside. There was no use in getting your hopes up. There was no way Nevada could’ve anticipated being shot. Or was there?

When you reached the seventh floor, you marched past the empty reception desk and knocked on Jasper’s door. You’d been doing most things on autopilot lately. You waited, digging in your purse and grabbing the phone, staring the reminder again.

Please be something worthwhile, you pleaded to yourself. You weren’t sure who the plea was for or what worthwhile even meant in this instance, you just hoped solving this mystery would give you some kind of clarity. Some form of closure.

Jasper opened the door, eyes immediately finding yours as he smiled warmly. "Y/N, darling. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

“Please tell me you’re from Britain,” you whispered, hands running through your hair, tugging at it for a moment before remember how your husband had put his hands over yours to stop you from doing that. You stopped.

“Originally, yes,” he replied, holding your eyes for a moment before he stepped aside and pulled the door open. “Come in, please. Are you planning for a holiday with the children?”

You shook your head. “We’re moving out of the Heights. I can’t live there anymore, it’s not what Nevada would’ve wanted,” you answered. “I just want to keep them safe. We’re going to stay with my brother for a few days so I can figure out where we’ll go.”

"Oh, wonderful," Jasper replied, nodding his head. "I'm glad that you have family to help you get through this." He smiled at you, though it didn't quite reach his eyes, and he seemed to be waiting for you to say something. The silence was fast approaching uncomfortable when he broke it in a gentle tone. "Was there something you needed from me?"

“Um, this is going to sound stupid,” you said, shaking your head and holding up the phone, letting him see the text on the screen. “Was my husband supposed to see you?”

He looked from the message back to you, hesitating a moment before he shook his head. "No, as a matter of fact, the last I saw Nevada was at the start of the year."

You knitted your brows, tilting your head. That was obviously a lie. You knew it. He knew it. He knew you knew it. He had been the one to tell you that he had done everything he could to save your husband’s life, that he had held Nevada in his arms as he’d taken his last breath. Why was he lying?

Jasper nodded, as though agreeing with your thoughts. "He loved you very much. You and the children were everything to him. All he ever wanted was to keep the lot of you far from the dangers of this world."

He swallowed and clenched his jaw as his eyes roamed the room, as though he were looking for something while trying to appear not to look for whatever that something was. Your eyes followed suit, darting along the upper corners of the room and scanning the bookshelf along the far wall. Was there someone listening to them? You knew there had been an investigation opened into Nevada’s business dealings, which explained why the office was empty, save for Jasper, who now that you noticed the boxes around the room, appeared to be packing his belongings.

Your eyes met Jasper’s stare again. “He was everything to us too.”

Jasper smiled warmly. "He used to speak about you all the time. He especially enjoyed telling me about that trip the two of you once took. How for even the short time you and he were able to be surrounded by the beauty of nature, he felt the most at peace he'd ever felt." His eyes seemed to speak additional words that you couldn’t decipher, but you saw them, jumbled in the brown of the Brit’s gaze. Another message?

You nodded. “Some of the best moments of my life were spent there, with him."

Smirking softly, his shoulder lightly bobbed. “Perhaps someday you could take the children, share that natural beauty with them. I’m sure they would find it just as special as you both did.”

The corner of your lips lifted into a partial smile. “That’s a good idea. Maybe I will sometime in the future.”

Jasper nodded again. "Do take care of yourself, Y/N." Leaning down, he kissed your cheek. "I hope someday our paths cross again. Perhaps at not so grim a time."

“Thank you, Jasper,” you whispered.

He walked with you back to the elevator, hugging you one last time and giving you a sympathetic smile as the doors closed. When you got back to the SUV, something poked your side as you sat in the driver’s seat. Your brows furrowed and you looked down at your jacket--an old leather of Nevada’s. Reaching into the side pocket, you felt a smooth, paper surface that hadn’t been there when you’d put the jacket on. Your eyes went back to the building as you pulled it out; a small envelope. Tearing it open, you pulled out a slip of paper with an address and a hangar number.

Eyes lifting to stare blankly at the space above the steering wheel, you pocketed the note, started the car and headed to your brother’s apartment.

------

The white noise of the waves crashing against the surf served as a backdrop to the occasional chirp that could be heard overhead. A warm breeze blew against his face, the salty smell of the sea flooding his senses. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and yet the sun felt like an old friend wrapping him in a warm embrace, assuring him that everything was alright. Everything was just as it should be.

It was a far cry from Washington Heights, both in activity and ambiance, one that a person could get used to easily. Out here, in the South Pacific life was simple, the polar opposite of what he’d been used to his entire life. The shift from chaos to peace had been a rough transition, though more than welcomed. One that a rooftop off Amsterdam Avenue could never compare to.

A dull pain in his abdomen grew beneath his white, short-sleeved, cotton button down shirt and his hand instinctively lay over the area. He should’ve been dead--there was no rhyme or reason for him to have survived. Not after everything that had happened, everything that he’d done. He hadn’t deserved the mercy that fate had shown him. The distant sound of a boat approaching brought a smirk to his face as he realized that he could very well still die whenever the passengers got to the dock just past the stairs that led to the house.

He could hear the far-away voices of your children coming closer and his smile grew just as the sound of them climbing the steps met his ears. Turning as you, Lily, Fiona and NJ got to the top, he smirked.

“Hola Mami.”

#cuba v dr #rafael barba #Raul Esparza #Nevada ramirez

[kloxbian]

Throw me to the crows (I prefer them to you) by @fellowlesbian​ (@clexa-infinite​) for @strangerthanx​

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Fandom: The 100 (TV)

Characters: Fox (The 100), Minor Characters

Additional Tags: Character Study

Language: English

Words: 4,584

Synopsis:  A character study of Fox, from life on the Ark to life after the mountain.

Notes: 

Trig translations:

Ouskejon Kru - Blue Cliff People

Branwoda - idiot

Au! Fou ai sen yu ona pou! - Out! Before I put you on a pole!

Set daun setnes ausad - Stand guard outside

Kongeda - coalition

Before people yell at me: I adore the grounders, I don't consider them savages, brutes, anything I used in text, that was just to keep Fox in character because, well, she has no reason to think them otherwise.

-

You promised.

Her body felt like it was burning alive.

You promised!

Savage roars echoed through her head, followed by a sick rip.

YOU PROMISED!

~

Fox had never had an easy life.

She grew up in the Peda Station, headquarters for education and rehabilitation. Both of her parents were teachers, all of her neighbors were educators, childcare workers, or the likes. Through school, she knew almost every teacher. Which would seem like a good thing. Teacher-student relationships are important, after all.

Well. Not good for your social life.

Fox wasn’t hated, but she wasn’t liked, either. She wasn’t very present. The other kids overlooked her. Her friends were made up of the other kids from her station, and that was it. Nobody else really knew anything about her. She was just another face in a crowd; people knew she was there, but never really cared.

Being a part of Peda Station had other negatives. Such as instilling Fox with a complete lack of independence.

Part of that was her parents. They always pushed for her to have good grades, to be an obedient student, to be better. They pushed this same ideal onto the other teachers as well. Her instructors, knowing her, would pamper her. Make sure she did the best she could. Favor her over the others.

As a child, this was wonderful. She loved being the favorite. She thought it was the best thing.

Then she hit middle school.

And she learned that it was not the best thing.

She figured out the reason why no one ever wanted her as a friend. They thought her privileged. Childish. They mocked her innocence; they mocked her dependence; they mocked her lineage. In their minds, not being like them was to be wrong.

She cried about it to her parents. They told her to not listen to the others.

She tried.

It didn’t work.

She reached freshman year. It was that year she decided that she would try to be like the others. To fit in with the crowd. Because you’re supposed to be like everyone else. That’s why they teased her. Because she wasn’t like them.

So she denied help. She started pushing away her teachers, her neighbors. She hated it. They were nice people, they didn’t deserve to be pushed away like this.

But nobody else liked them. And she was supposed to be like everyone else.

The change in her concerned them. Some of the teachers tried to talk to her about it, to figure out what was wrong, why she was suddenly acting like this. She refused. Screamed in their faces when they kept pressing her, talking to her like she was no more than an innocent child who can’t function by herself. Talking in soft tones, like she was a damn toddler. She wouldn’t have it. So she fled. Skipped her classes, curled up at home, and felt sorry for herself.

Fox’s parents tried as well. They weren’t so nice about it.

But she still hated it. Why can’t she change? Why can’t they let her be? Why does she always have to fit into their expectations of being the perfect child? Smart, dependent, in need of them. She loathed it.

She ran.

Curled up in a dark corner on the Ark, somewhere far from Peda, she cried. Messy and shaking, she cried until she felt empty, felt hollow. It was horrible. It was perfect.

The guards found her three hours after curfew.

“Hey, kid, what are you doing? Get home. Scram!”

Fox squeezed her eyes closed and buried her face in her knees. 

“Kid, you listening? Get out of here!”

Silence.

She heard him muttering quietly. “I’ll force you if I have to. Drag you home by the hair.”

Fine then. Do it. It’s not like her life could get any worse.

“Listen, kid, the policy here is strict. You know that. I could put you in prison for this. Let’s go.”

Prison? That didn’t sound like such a bad idea.

She thought bout it. If she went to prison, she’d remain there for the next four years, until she was reassessed and either let free or floated. But maybe then she wouldn’t have to deal with the bullying. With her parent’s pressure.With the constant babying of all the adults. Maybe the other kids would actually respect her for once.

Fox made her decision.

“Kid, come on. Don’t fight me. We can do this easily.” The guard grasped her wrist, pulling her up.

She curled her free hand into a fist, arm tensing.

He pulled her to her feet with enough force to have her teetering.

She swung.

The guard cried out as her fist connected with his nose. It didn’t break, she wasn’t strong enough to do that, but blood began to leak out of it. He sputtered. Swiped at his nose, and looked at the blood smeared across the back of his hand.

He lunged forward, grabbing her by the shoulders hard enough to bruise. “Then you give me no choice,” he growled, shoving her forward. She tried to break from his grasp but was far too weak.

She was going to prison.

~

Fox stared at the blood on her hand.

They’d thrown her into a cell last night. After her adrenaline rush faded, it hadn’t taken much for her to pass out, but now that it was morning and the lights lit up her room, she could clearly see the smudge of red on her fingers.

She had done that.

God, she had done that.

She didn’t regret her decision, but holy shit, she had done that. She’d punched a guard in the face. Openly rebelled against the Ark’s laws. She’d never rebelled against anything. This was a first. She didn’t know what to do with herself.

A loud alarm blared, and her cell clicked open. The other prisoners flowed out, all moving in the same direction, wherever it was. She pushed herself up, feeling a bit woozy. 

She followed the pack.

That was all she’d ever done.

~

Fox was sixteen when she was sent down to Earth in a metal pod of death.

She didn’t really expect to make it past the first day. She thought she’d die when she was hurtling down to Earth. She thought she’d die of toxic air. She thought she’d die of starvation, of thirst, looking at their pitiful rations.

She listened to the blonde one, Clarke, talk about the supplies at Mount Weather. At a mountain that could only be seen far in the distance.

It felt hopeless.

It didn’t help that criminals surrounded her. Some were down there for crimes like stealing food or medicine, or, like her, punching a guard. Some were down for murder or arson. She felt afraid. Alone. Like she always did.

When Bellamy started taking off wristbands, everyone seemed so excited. So happy to be rid of them.

So hers was popped right off.

Most people didn’t seem very concerned. The blonde and her group were the only ones really trying to survive, and Fox could respect that, but no one else cared. They shunned them. Made fun of them. And yet still they stood strong, pushing their point, trying to gain support. 

Fox envied that strength. That confidence.

She wished she had enough of it to actually support the side she was rooting for.

But she didn’t. She went with the pack like she always did.

It was the only way to stay safe.

~

A loud bang and an explosion shook the floor.

Fox looked up from where she sat, shooting to her feet. All of the forty-four readied themselves, weapons ready. She looked around desperately, jogging over to Jasper. “We’re not ready for this!”

Jasper looked at her from where he was watching the cameras with Monty. “Yes, we are. Just follow the plan. We’ll be okay, I promise.”

She let out a breath, nodding shakily. “Okay.” Jasper’s attention turned back to Monty, and Fox scampered away. She hefted her makeshift-sword, entire body quivering nervously. This was it. This was their stand. If they failed, there wouldn’t be another chance.

The door shuddered. The clinging thunk of something hitting the door made everyone flinch. It came again, and again, and again until it ripped the doors off their hinges. The pile of furniture they’d made wasn’t moved, but instead, grenades leaking red gas were thrown over. Fox took a deep breath, holding her nose closed as the grenades were quickly dunked into buckets of water. She collapsed onto the floor in mock unconscious.

The chairs were easily discarded and guards stormed the chamber. Guns were pointed every which way, and she couldn’t prevent a shudder when one was pointed directly at her head. She watched through slitted eyes as they walked around, one picking a grenade out of the water, and that was when they struck.

Fox slammed her clunky weapon into the head of one of the guards, knocking him back enough for someone to put a bullet in his chest. She spun, smacking another in the chest, and then swiping two more off their feet. She gasped as someone grabbed her by the shoulder, turning and hitting his head hard enough to make an audible clang. Someone else got her elbow and pulled hard, making her stumble. They ripped the metal out of her hands and another set of hands grabbed her free arm, rendering her defenseless.

She kicked and screamed as they dragged her out the door, Mountain Men guards rushing out. Jasper roared in victory as they took her away, taken, caught.

He promised. He promised.

He promised!

Her eyes caught on a camera in the corner. “Jasper!” She screamed. “You promised! You promised! You-”

A hand covered her mouth, muffling her screams. She sobbed, body sagging as she realized that there was nothing she could do. This was it. This was where she died.

She gagged as they dragged her into a room with another delinquent on a table, strapped down, torso bloody. The room stank of death and decay.

They threw her into a cage.

Her death was set in stone.

~

Pain.

That was all she could feel.

Her entire body throbbed, fire burning her skin. She couldn’t hear, couldn’t see, couldn’t feel, only knew pain.

A loud buzzing filled her ears.

Something split her skin, spinning, digging deeper and deeper into her flesh.

She screamed.

Pain.

~

Fox awoke to loud roars and a sick rrrrip.

She jerked, holding back a scream as her torso ignited. She clutched her waist with one arm and used the other to sit herself up. She was in a rickety cart, smeared with a brownish substance that she didn’t really want to think about right now. What she couldn’t ignore, however, were the bodies.

They lay all around her. Bodies of grounders, tattoos lining their dirt-stained bodies, and the bodies of delinquents. The expressions on their faces were nothing short of pure terror. Fox saw one body twitch, the head rolling to look at her with blank, dead eyes, and she lurched to the side, emptying her stomach.

The feral cries filtered back into her ears. She looked over the edge of the cart and immediately ducked back down. Reapers. She’d seen a few of them, but never so close, and not like this. Not crowded over the body of something vaguely human-shaped. 

I have to get out.

She scrambled to the other side of the cart, ignoring all her senses in favor of one simple prospect: staying alive. She glanced back at the reapers, focused on their meal, and hopped the side of the cart, crouching low behind it. She was shaking so badly, her instincts telling her to run, to run and never look back, but she didn’t. She glanced around the cart and watched the reapers toss the remains of the body to the side, roaring as a couple held up blood-slick bones.

One meandered over to the cart, pulling another body out by the leg. He held it up and bellowed, the others echoing his excitement. The reaper ripped a piece of the arm out while another charged over and grabbed it by the head. Soon it was an all-out brawl over the body. Fox watched until they ripped the first limb clean off and had to stop. It was too much.

Not knowing what else to do, she crept toward the nearest exit, staying low. Her breath was loud and heavy but she tried to keep it contained. This was not her forté. She was a follower, not a leader. She wasn’t the one who dictated survival. Not even over herself.

She’d always said that she was alone.

And now she really was.

As soon as she reached the opening she bolted, racing down the corridor as fast as her legs could carry her. She didn’t know if there would be more reapers, mountain men, grounders, her own people, but she hoped. Each turn lowered her spirits even more. What if she got lost in here, could never find her way out? The reapers would get to her for sure. She wouldn’t even get the blessing of being dead first, either. They’d tear her limb-from-limb while she was still alive and screaming.

The pain in her hips had died to a low throb while she ran, too high on adrenaline to notice it. As soon as she burst out into the forest, though, it returned with a new passion. She cried out and stumbled, almost collapsing onto the ground. But she couldn’t. Not here, where the reapers might find her, even if they had food for days. She shuddered at the thought. 

Fox stumbled maybe thirty feet away before tripping and falling into the rock. She let tears spill from her eyes curling up into a ball to protect against the ever-colder night. Dawn was rising in the distance, but she couldn’t care less. It wasn’t as if she’d be able to do much, daylight or not.

She weaved in and out of consciousness for who knew how long, but when she finally fully woke, it was dusk. Her hip had died to a slow pulsing beat, enough that she could pull herself up using the earthen wall to her back. Her stomach ached in hunger, but she’d paid enough attention in Earth Skills to know that water was more important.

So she set off. Traveled away from the mountain; to where she’d no idea. Each step sounded loudly through the trees, making her isolation even more apparent. No doubt it scared off any animal in her area.

Fox found the river, the one she assumed Jasper had gotten speared at. Which side of it she was on, she didn’t know. But it was water, however unsanitary it was. She tried scooping some fish out, too, but they always slipped out of her grip.

So she started to die.

The irony was almost laughable. Out of the frying pan, into the fire. She almost wished the reapers had killed her, or whatever procedure they had her doing had. At least then she wouldn’t have to slowly die of starvation. The nights were getting colder, too, and she had no idea just how cold it had to be before frostbite would start to set in.

Fox curled up under a tree, nestled comfortably between the roots. There was a little warmth there, though not much, and she almost considered gnawing on the leaves to see if those could feed her. Her body, shivering and exhausted from - what was it, four, five days without food? - shut down almost the moment that she settled.

~

The next she knew, Fox was tied to a pole in the middle of a tent.

It took some time for her situation to catch up, but once it did she began to thrash. Pull against the ropes binding her wrists behind her, looking around desperately for anything. The tent wasn’t very large, maybe ten feet wide, and it was made of shabby red fabric that looked far too tattered to possibly be of good use. The only thing inside, other than her, was a single chair which held a grounder man. His face was streaked with blue paint, set in a grimace as he stroked a whetstone over his blade.

Fox was hyperventilating at this point. “Who are you? Where am I?”

The man chuckled, looking up at her. “Why, you’re a prisoner now. Since the damn commander refused to let annihilate you, we’re doing it ourselves.”

“We? Who are you?”

“Why would I tell you that?”

Fox was panting, wrists starting to be rubbed raw. She needed to get out of here. How? She had no weapon, no strength, no wits, dammit, she wasn’t the one who made these decisions! She didn’t know how to outsmart a grounder, how to escape from capture, not even how to sneak out of a tent! She couldn’t do this. There was no chance. She thought the forest would kill her? These stupid grounders would do it instead!

She hung her head low, thinking, hoping something would come, something that could show her the way. But she knew there was nothing. This was all on her. If she wanted to live, she’d have to do it herself. But there was no way.

Then her eye caught on a glint of silver.

A dagger! The man had a dagger in his belt. If she could just get it from him, somehow…

Useless. He’d never give her a weapon. That would be supremely stupid.

Unless…

When she next spoke, her voice had a bit more of a rasp. “You want to annihilate my people?”

The guard looked up at her. “We can and we will. You may have your guns, but even one clan has more than enough people to get past that. We are many. We can overthrow you and then force Heda to accept it.”

Fox pursed her lips anxiously. “We brought down the mountain when all twelve of your clans couldn’t.”

The guard laughed. “No. If Heda hadn’t retreated like a coward, we would have won. We’d have stormed that mountain and murdered every person inside. All Skaikru did was sneak around and wave their guns. Well, guess what - Skaikru has no fortress. Skaikru has no acid fog or missiles that would hold us at bay. We’d slaughter you.”

“You’d never make it past the gate.”

“Why? Because we’re savages?” He stood, sword swinging in his hands. “How many of you are there? A thousand? Ouskejon Kru has over ten times that number in just warriors, not to mention the other clans that would also like your blood.”

Fox was shaking at this point, but now that she’d started, there was no turning back. “You grounders are all brute. The reason you couldn’t defeat the mountain without us is because you don’t have the brains. You’re all strength, no wits. Just because you have the numbers doesn’t mean you can outsmart us. We can handle a few barbarians.”

The guard roared. “You damn bitch!” The sword sliced through her bonds, a knife slamming into the wood above her head. He sneered. “If you’re so much better, than fight me! Prove to me that you’re superior! That you’re the better warrior!”

Fox let herself feel a moment of pride for being able to get a blade, but it would be for nothing if she couldn’t keep it. She yanked it out of the wood, holding it unsteadily in front of her as the man tossed his sword to the side and charged her. She ducked, trying to aim a hit on his side but he grabbed her by the waist and threw her to the other side of the tent. The fabric rippled and the entire tent shook with the force of her impact. Before she could do anything, the guard grabbed her by the leg, pulling her toward him and landing a punch to her stomach that had her gasping for breath.

Before anything else could happen, the fabric was thrown to the side, three more guards marching in. The one at the head, a dark-skinned woman, took the guard by the arm and pulled him up. Fox discreetly slid the knife into her pants. “Branwoda!” She hissed. “Au! Fou ai sen yu ona pou!”

The guard hissed but left the tent. The woman gestured to the others that came in with her. Fox was promptly tied back up, this time with a knife tucked into the hem of her jeans.

The woman scowled at her before speaking the guards. “Set daun setnes ausad.”

The guards nodded. All three exited the tent, leaving Fox alone.

~

It wasn’t hard to see when night had fallen.

Inside the tent, it got so dark that it was almost pitch-black. There were no lights, no candles, no torches, the only light coming through the tatters in the tent fabric, and even that was very little. It was the perfect cover.

Fox shifted, reaching as far around the pole as she could, fingers fumbling for the hilt of the knife. She brushed fabric, just barely getting two fingers around the hilt before pulling it out, careful not to drop it. Now she just needed to break the ropes without cutting off a finger.

Twisting it around, she maneuvered the knife until it rested between her skin and the rope, not without gaining multiple gashes on her palm and wrist. From there, it was a matter of strength to push the blade through the thick lines. When it finally burst free on the other side, the knife flew from her grasp and clattered to the ground, but it didn’t matter, because she was free. Fox took the knife anyway, just in case.

The tarp at the back of the tent easily slid up, either from poor design or just from how ruined the fabric was, she couldn’t tell. Whatever the reason, she wasn’t complaining. The tent seemed to be on the outskirts of a small camp, maybe ten or fifteen total housings. The largest one waved a white flag with a black circle and two arrows crossing each other atop it. The clan symbol, probably. Not like she knew enough about the clans to recognize which one it was.

The outside guards seemed more focused on keeping things out than in, so slipping away wasn’t hard at all. The trees covered her in shadows so dark no one would be able to tell she was there, as long as she kept to them. Her heart was pounding, and without another thought, she ran.

Fox ran and ran until she couldn’t run anymore, and then she collapsed against the thick trunk of a large oak. Her chest was heaving, eyes closed, hand clutched to her heart. 

She did it.

Holy shit she did it.

The shock electrifying her body reminded her of when she’d got thrown in prison, that same jolt of oh my god oh my god oh my god. The situation wasn’t too much different, either, if you didn’t could that one was for not going to bed and the other was ‘I’m going to die.’

It was the feeling she got when she took control of her life.

Up until now, she’d had people to lean on, people refusing to let her leave their grasp. When she escaped that grasp, she didn’t know how to move without support, and so she found others. In the prison, she relied on the guard’s instructions and the pack-like elements of the prisoners. At the Dropship, she’d relied on the leading powers, like Bellamy and Clarke. At the mountain, she’d relied on Jasper and Monty. Now, she was alone, and she was finally standing by herself.

Fox whooped loudly, a laugh cracking through her throat. Eventually, she was giggling crazily, thrilled with herself because she’d actually done it. She’d done it. God, she couldn’t get over the fact that she did it.

Well, couldn’t until a rustle in the brush silenced her.

The deathly quiet, especially in the dark, was quite frightening even after days of having experienced it. Fox didn’t dare move a muscle. Was it one of the grounders, come to take her back? To kill her? Or was it an animal, like that panther they’d ate at the dropship?

Turns out, it was neither.

Someone stepped out of the shadows, revealing a young boy who couldn’t be older than ten. He stared at her with wide eyes, quivering, just standing there watching her. Fox was in a similar state. What was this boy doing in the middle of the forest? He couldn’t have been with the grounders she’d just came from, could he?

She didn’t get the chance to ask him. He fled.

There was silence.

~

Come dawn, Fox awoke again to sunlight streaming through the trees. She was greeted with a face far too close for her liking.

A gasp escaped her, flinching back. The young boy, the same as last night, drew back a little but remained in front of her. He hesitantly held up a wrapped leaf. When he unveiled the meat inside it, Fox couldn’t bother with manners. She devoured it as quickly as she could.

The boy grinned toothily and offered her another. That one disappeared as quickly as the first. “Thank you,” she mumbles around bites. He beamed.

“It’s good to see you haven’t lost your appetite.” Her head whipped to the side to see an old man, likely a grandfather, hobbling over. “I was worried you might have been too far gone.”

Fox tried to get up, only to sag back down, the boy reaching out to help her. “Where am I?”

The man smiled. “You’re among one of many nomad groups. My grandson found you here and said you looked deathly sick. I imagine you haven’t eaten in a while, yes?”

Fox nodded, smiling when the young boy held out another piece of meat. She took this one more slow. “It’s been a week.”

“Then it’s good we found you. You may have stayed alive for another two weeks or so, but your body would’ve collapsed from exhaustion very soon. The spirits smile upon you, my dear.”

Fox swallowed another bite of the meat. “Why are you helping me?”

“Because we are not like the kongeda. We do not care what clan you hail from, whether you are a warrior or not, nomad groups exist to live outside that discrimination. We accept all that we can, no matter how strong.”

Fox perked up. “Really? You mean…”

The man chuckled. “Yes, I am inviting you to come along with us. At least until you regain your strength.”

Fox looked at the young boy in front of her, smiling from ear to ear. She smiled shyly back at him. “I’d love to.”

The boy clapped his hands, grasping her arm and pulling her up. She laughed, stumbling up after him as he tugged her deeper into the trees. Her body was still weary from so many days without food, but she felt happy, at least for now. These people would help her.

Smoke rising in the distance let her know that they were approaching the nomad group. Voices reached her ears through the wind, laughing, children shouting with joy, and the smile on her face only grew wider.

Fox hadn’t been truly happy in years.

She hoped it would never end.

#fanfiction #The 100 #the 100 fic #fic rec #fanfic prompt #character study

[evilqueen91]

Silent Scream- Chapter 1

The bright lights lit up the large city gym like a beacon in the night. Five am and people were already lifting weights or working on cardio. A yoga class was being held in a small room that was sound proofed so the loud clanks of gym equipment couldn't be heard. Hustle and bustle of early morning risers ready to get an exercise in before the day really starts.

Rosalie Hale stood beside her brother Emmett as he did thirty reps with a fifty pound weight. Not like he needed it, he was already built like a brick shit house but he liked to keep it that way. He had sucked her into early morning work outs as payback for all the mornings that he has woken up with hangovers and as a way for them to see each other every day.

And she is okay with that.

She leaned on the weight machine and scouted the room. One of the bonuses of being this early is she could stalk the other women without having to feel anything. She was a predator that found her prey in the women that spend time in the gym. She'd find one that she found attractive and have a little fun with her. The next day she'd be on the hunt again.

The gym is like a revolving door of women that had low self esteem or have too high of a level of self esteem, thinking they are better than anyone else but still couldn't reject her. She preyed on the weaker women because it was just for fun and never the same woman twice. One and done.

The last actual relationship she had was in high school. The boy she was dating, Royce King, she didn't love him. Hell if she could have she would have dated one of her teachers, the sexy female biology teacher. Royce was an alcoholic and complete jerk but he was captain of the football team and she was head cheerleader. It was the thing to do but when she would refuse sex with him he would get angry. They never had sex and she broke up with him, of course he bragged that he broke up with her but he never told anyone that it was because she refused to have sex with him.

As her eyes scanned the room she spotted the gorgeous woman she's been watching for months. The woman came in slightly overweight but now…Holy shit!

The gorgeous woman didn't look the same. Her muscles bulged as she worked to lift the dumbbell almost as big as Emmett’s. A sheen of sweat covered her body as the muscles rolled and flexed from her movements. She had become very toned and every muscle was defined perfectly, also slightly shorter than most in the large room. She sat the dumbbell down and lifted her black muscle shirt from the bottom, exposing her amazing rock hard looking abdominal muscles, to wipe the sweat from her forehead.

Her mouth began to water as she watched the woman bend in half and stretch her back. Her tight blue jeans framed her ass as she bent over and the material pulled tight. Rosalie swallowed hard as heat shot down her spine and dropped right into her lace panties. A throb began between her thighs as thoughts of her grabbing the woman's hips and jerking her back into her own pelvis crossed her mind.

"You're drooling Rose." Emmett laughed as he followed his sisters line of sight.

She quickly reached to wipe her mouth and found no drool but had to swallow what had built up in her mouth hungrily. She couldn't pull her eyes away from the gorgeous brunette as she spoke to her brother.

"Fuck you."

His booming laughter made her smile slightly as he said, "You mean fuck her, right?"

She scoffed but still stared at the woman across the long room. As Emmett greeted his friends Rosalie began her slow predator like movements towards the now standing brunette. She slowed as a tall male with dark blonde hair and dark blue eyes handed her a water bottle.

She couldn't help but watch as the woman took a drink and nodded at the man. She approached the machine next to the two and began her workout slower than usual to catch the attention of the brunette.

Now that she was closer she could clearly see the very defined muscle tone and another wave of arousal nearly knocked her off her feet, it being a good thing she was already sitting.

The male had a very southern drawl, "How you doin today?"

The woman shrugged and focused on what she was doing. He sighed and reached out to her. She flinched back and Rosalie instantly tensed, ready to attack the guy for trying to touch her.

A short petite woman twirled over to them, "Jasper leave your sister alone." She grabbed his hand and pulled him into a kiss. She was shorter than the brunette that Rosalie had her eye on and seemed almost hyper. She asked, "Jazz where's your brother? Victoria will be here in a few minutes."

Jasper stared at the object of her desire and sighed, "Eddie will be here in a minute. He's running late."

A tall wild haired red head walked in with skin tight tights and a sports bra. Her breasts were nearly popping out of her bra and oddly enough Rosalie didn't care. What she wanted, rather who she wanted was the very silent brunette that she hasn't even gotten to see her face yet.

The red head asked, "Where is that man? Alice I swear I'm going to kill you for ever hooking us up."

Alice and Jasper laughed and Alice said, "Oh please Vicky. You love your husband and you know it."

Victoria threw a stray strand of her vibrant red hair over her shoulder with a grin, "Yes but he is the reason I've had to start coming to the gym at ungodly hours of the morning."

Jasper chuckled, "Well then you two should have used a little round piece of rubber to stop from having kids at twenty three."

Victoria slapped his arm and Alice laughed as she grabbed the brunettes hips. Rosalie tensed again wanting the little pixie to let go of her brunette. She breathed even and slow to calm the sudden rage that had come to a boil quickly.

"Come on Bella. Smile! It's the first time we've all been together in a long time." Alice shook the brunette.

The brunette turned and Rosalie gasped. This gorgeous human being had THE most amazing bright icy blue eyes she has ever seen. Her face was soft and her cheeks were to defined, sunken in almost. Her eyes had dark circles and there was so much pain in them that Rosalie's heart skipped a beat.

Alice smiled at her and Jasper slung an arm around her shoulders, "Little sister I'm gonna make you smile whether you like it or not."

Alice giggled, "Jazz you should watch what you say."

Jasper kissed Alice, "I do it just for you Darlin'." He pulled her against his body.

"Get a room. You two are far worse than Vic and I." A guy with bronze hair wrapped his arms around the red head from behind. He was a few inches taller than her and a few inches shorter than his blonde brother.

Jasper snorted, "Hey. When you two were engaged it was like watching two dogs hump in the front yard. We are NOT that bad."

Victoria smiled, "Face it Edward they don't have it in 'em."

Rosalie watched the brunette shrink, completely forgotten by her siblings. She slipped towards the locker room and Rosalie followed after her. She sat on the bench in front of an open locker as Rosalie leaned against the wall.

"Rough night?" Rosalie asked in a smooth voice.

The brunette's head jerked up and those icy blue eyes stared at her, startled. She didn't answer.

Rosalie sat on the bench next to her, "Silent type?"

The brunette shifted uncomfortably but shook her head.

"Ah. Just don't like to talk then?"

Nod.

Rosalie thought for a moment, trying to decide how to have a conversation with someone who refused to talk.

"Those your siblings out there?" She asked softly.

Nod.

"I'm Rosalie Hale."

Rosalie watched the girls eyes widen just a bit in surprise.

"So you've heard of me?"

The brunette nodded her head then slid slightly away from her.

Rosalie frowned, "Bad things?"

The girl shook her head.

"I know I'm a Federal Agent but I shouldn't invoke fear." Rosalie tried to lighten the mood but the girl seemed extremely nervous.

The door opened and the girl jumped up quickly as Alice and Victoria walked in. They went to her and Alice said softly, "What's up Bella? You just disappeared on us."

Victoria glanced at me and frowned, "Who are you?"

Rosalie stood up, "Rosalie Hale."

She seemed to wince and Alice practically shoved Bella out of the locker room as she said, "Stay away from her. She hasn't done anything wrong."

Victoria followed after them and Rosalie frowned before moving into action. She caught Victoria's wrist and pulled her back into the locker room, pushing her against the wall.

"Why is she afraid of me?"

Victoria shook her head sadly, "It's complicated. Bella is young, only nineteen, and her brothers are very protective. Bella's just going through some things right now."

"Like what?" Rosalie snapped.

She didn't like the fact that this girl reacted so strongly to her and not in a good way. She had been so scared that she was frozen stiff and unable to move.

Victoria sighed, "You're a Fed so I can't say. I'm sorry but you just saying hi could get Bella killed so please stay away from her."

With that Victoria pushed Rosalie away and quickly left the room. Rosalie walked back out to the large room with exercise equipment and found Bella standing with her family. Her brothers were crowding her and had looks of pure rage directed right at Rosalie.

Rosalie made her way to her brother and fellow FBI agent, "That girl I'm after?"

He subtly glanced at the group before looking back at his sister, "Thought she was a woman?" He grinned but the hard look on her face made him turn serious, "What about her?"

"She's nineteen. The red head Victoria is her sister-in-law. They walked in when I was trying to talk to the girl. When I gave her my name she freaked. She froze with pure fear. Her sister-in-law said that Bella could get killed just by me saying hi to her."

He frowned, "So she knew you somehow? Do you recognize any of them?"

Rosalie shook her head, "No but, Emmett this girl was dripping with fear at my name. I've never seen someone act like that before."

He nodded as their group of friends gathered around. All of them were fellow FBI agents and they had all known each other since the academy. They all glanced at the other group and shook their heads. None of them knew any of them.

Emmett slipped out side to catch license plates as they left and she quickly changed in the locker room. Outside she found Emmett on his phone. He looked up at his sister, "Meet me in my office. I'm having the plates run now."

Rosalie Hale is gorgeous, this she knew. Men and women wanted her desperately and the other women who didn't want her wanted to be her. Her confidence could come off as arrogance if you didn't know her and her sarcasm had to be taken with a grain of salt. She didn't do relationships but instead preferred one night stands where she did the fucking and did not get fucked. She would never let anyone have that control over her. She wanted and needed that control. No one could have control over her.

She walked into the eighth floor of the Federal building and bypassed her office to go straight to her brothers office. He glanced up at her and grinned.

"You found something?" She asked as she sat in front of his desk.

He nodded and placed files on his desk, picking up one to hand to her, "Jasper Cullen. Oldest of the three. Adopted by Dr and Dr Cullen. He finished medical school top of his class. Biological parents are dead, car accident when he was two. Clean as a whistle and engaged to Mary Alice Brandon. They've been together since freshman year of high school."

Rosalie was not impressed as Emmett handed her another file, "Edward Anthony Cullen. Born to Doctor and Doctor Cullen. The middle child. Married Victoria Mason junior year of high school. They have three children."

Rosalie interrupted her brother, "She was pregnant in high school?"

Emmett chuckled and nodded, "Yep. Their oldest is six. They also have a four and two year old. He'll be twenty four in May. He is currently in college for Architecture and works at his mothers office. He's following in mommy's footsteps."

Rosalie chuckled feeling a bit more impressed with Edward Cullen as she took another file.

"Victoria Cullen, age twenty four. Married to Edward Cullen. She's majoring in Law. Top of her class and graduating early and with honors. Works at a law firm as their up and coming top attorney."

Rosalie had to admit she was impressed. Victoria married her high school sweet heart after getting knocked up and they are definitely happily married. She's not only juggling kids and college but she's a very young top attorney, and by looking at her file it was with a firm that was very good at what they do. She had heard of the firm but it didn't handle many criminal cases that she was aware of. Rosalie was starting to feel a bit insecure as she tossed the file on top of the other ones she'd already looked at.

She took another file from Emmett, "Mary Alice Brandon. From a very wealthy family in Biloxi, Mississippi. As far as I can tell she cut all ties with them when she became a runaway as a freshman in high school. She has a diploma from the Cullen's high school but not much else. She's in college majoring in Law also. She's right behind Victoria and I bet that competition is why they are good friends. She's engaged to Jasper Cullen who she's been with since she joined their high school as a freshman."

"Why did she run from her family?"

Emmett shook his head angrily, "They were trying to put her into an insane asylum claiming her to be possessed. They didn't like her friends and some people commented that her parents were mentally abusive." He looked ready to murder someone.

Rosalie knew how he felt. Their father had been the most physically and mentally abusive person they had ever known. She had lost count of the number of times they had been beaten black and blue and couldn't even make it to school for days at a time. She sat the file down carefully and took the next one he held out. His murderous look darkened to a point she had never seen it before.

"Born Isabella Marie Swan. Now Isabella Marie Cullen. Adopted by Dr and Dr Cullen. Biological mother, Renee Swan is dead. Biological father, Charles Swan is in prison for killing her and necrophilia, physical child abuse, attempted murder of his daughter, sexual abuse of his daughter, rape of a child under twelve. The list goes on."

The glass Emmett was holding shattered in his hand as his thoughts turned dark. He ached to get his hands on Charles Swan and have him alone for a few hours. He had nearly blown a vein when he had first read the file and the police reports of what that little girl had gone through. He had seen the scars that were visible around the black muscle shirt she had been wearing that morning at the gym but he had never expected something so disturbing. And yet she had survived it all. She was there and alive but at what cost?

"She's nineteen now will be twenty on Friday October 13th. She's also a medical anomaly. The report says she was born fully female but with male genitalia. It was stated by her father in court that she's a freak so no one should care what happens to her."

Rosalie frowned as she came to the last page of the police report, "That son of a bitch. She's not a freak! She can't help how she was born!" When she calmed she asked, "There's no more?"

Emmett shook his head, "Nothing about her schooling or what she's doing. Not even a living address. The address on her license is the adopted parent’s home. I couldn't even find any friends or class mates. Isabella Cullen is a mystery to the FBI and CIA. I had Jessica try to find something when I hit a dead end. Nothing. The girl is invisible."

Rosalie sat back in her chair and stared at Isabella's picture in the file. It was her driver’s license photo. It looked less haunted than she did this morning and Rosalie couldn't help but wonder about her. She needed to know how Isabella had known her name but there was no way she could get to her with her siblings around. She desperately wanted to know who Isabella Cullen is and that in and of itself frightened her but what scared her even more….

Why did she want to know this girl so badly and why was she drawn to her so intensely?

#twilight #SilentScream #Dovahkin63 #fanfic #fanfiction #Rosalie Hale #rosalie x bella #Bella Swan #all human #alternate universe #chapter #fanfiction.net

[arielmagicesi]

often when a series ends and especially when there is such a show-stopping ending, before I can analyze how I feel, I have to first list everything that actually happened. Now I don’t know if Steven Universe is actually over but I just. what the fuck that was too much I didn’t have time to react before getting slapped with something else

spoilers below obviously

I was tempted to start listing from the point of “Gem Drill” because I’ve heard that only a year has passed since then and I mean, what a fucking wild year for poor Steven. I’m also tempted to start listing from “A Single Pale Rose” because shit moved FAST starting from there. But I’m just gonna list everything that happened in “Change Your Mind.”

It’s kind of what makes me suspect that this is the final episode of the entire series, because although plot pacing has been accelerating throughout the entire series (going from “Steven learns how to bubble” taking 10 episodes, to “diamond showdown” being a minor subplot of 1) and although the plot pacing went super-speed for this whole diamond arc, this episode shoved EVERY LAST THING IN.

stuff that could’ve waited (Lars and Sadie’s reunion) and stuff that should’ve taken vastly longer if it even should’ve happened at all (White Diamond’s lightning-speed reformation) was all put into one episode. now, it was deftly combined, and I liked almost every individual part, and there was some possibly-unintended comedy to it all (”she’s GOOOOONE!!!!” and White Diamond demonstrating the big ship’s pussy-out look, etc) but holy hell I would have loved for it to have gone at a slower pace so that they could have explored some of the stuff.

[also, my ability to react to things is lessened. meeting Sunstone would’ve been, I’m not joking, the highlight of my week just two years ago. now it wasn’t even the coolest of the fusions we met, and meeting the fusions was an incredibly minor point in the episode. also i have other things in my life now lol]

obviously, part of this pacing is due to the airing schedule of the show. on a normal airing schedule, I’d feel emotionally exhausted- this would have been, what, a month after the Pink-Diamond-is-Rose-Quartz reveal? but because this show airs in the dumbest way possible, we have like five hundred years between plot points. however, Steven did not? Pearl did not? Garnet did not? CONNIE did not? how the fuck are they getting along?

secondly, this was all in one episode, so yeah holy shit, some whiplash occurring for this here viewer

(one final note: I now take back getting annoyed that we got Watermelon Moana last week because it was so gentle compared to this)

anyway, my promised list of Crazy Shit that happened in one 40-minute episode:

1. Steven gets a flashback that tells him about a previous transgression of Pink’s, where we meet some other aliens. pointing to an old rebellion?

2. we see another Steven identity crisis with him flashing through Steven-Pink-Rose

3. Steven convinces Blue Diamond that she’s abusive and she immediately realizes the error of her ways and decides to help him and Connie out. (also, Connie talks to Diamonds a lot, I love her. damn girl)

4. we retrieve the bubbled Crystal Gems

5. Yellow and Blue have a big public diamond showdown

6. we discover that Yellow Diamond has emotions and tears, and feels pressured. shocking. if only the planets she’d colonized had thought to sit her down and chat

7. Yellow decides to join Steven’s side as well

8. they make a plan to escape via the leg-ship

9. White Diamond decides to show up and do her Creepy Act and she lands her big torso on the legs (confirming the obvious theory that the ships act as one big body)

10. Diamond Showdown Part 2, where Yellow and Blue attempt to fight White

11. Bismuth, Lapis, and Peridot return. We see Lapis and Peridot’s new forms.

12. Bismuth has fixed the arm ships and upper-cuts an upper-crust for the first time in her life in a really cool way.

13. Steven manages to say words to White Diamond, and so do Yellow and Blue.

14. White Diamond GREY-IFIES BLUE AND YELLOW DIAMOND

15. which also means we find out exactly what the fuck is wrong with White Pearl (also may I say, this is something I wrote about in my fic, accessible on my AO3, linked in my About)

16. Steven falls dramatically with the gems of his friends in his arms

17. Steven finds out he can (and decides to) retrieve gems from their gems by fusing with them

18. We see Smoky Quartz form mid-air

19. We see Amethyst’s new form

20. Steven fuses with Pearl for the first time ever, and we see Rainbow Quartz 2.0 for the first time

21. We see Pearl’s new form

22. We see what a pink diamond/rose quartz forms with a garnet for the very first time

23. Steven’s own first fusion with Garnet

24. Sunstone attempts to start shit with the giant robot

25. We see Garnet’s new form

26. Bismuth presents the replacement for the Sword of Rose Quartz, as a gift to Connie

27. We see the full-blown temple fusion for the very first time ever

28. Steven has his first fusion with all the Crystal Gems

29. We meet Obsidian and she succeeds in starting shit with the giant robot

30. We see Bismuth, Peridot, Lapis, and Connie all contribute to the fight and survive horrifyingly dangerous scenarios. (still gotta wonder what the HELL Connie’s mom was thinking... she went from not letting her kid watch inaccurate TV shows to letting her nearly die countless times in outer space at the hands of alien dictator robots)

31. let me just add, I <3 Connie and she deserves the world. bravest kid in the universe

32. the Crystal Gems find a way to invade the robot

33. the four main Crystal Gems face up against White Diamond herself and her grey-ified pearl and grey-ified fellow diamonds

34. White reveals a bit to us via villain-monologue that we probably could’ve guessed already: she wants every gem to be flawless, to be identical to her essentially yet subservient- which she considers to be synonymous with flawlessness- and her theory about the way the colors of the diamonds informs their personalities. Including that Pink is part of White, despite White’s dislike of this fact.

35. White grey-ifies the Crystal Gems

36. Connie arrives, also fully ready to fight this bitch

37. the grey-ified Crystal Gems restrain Steven and Connie

38. Steven gets to have that full-fledged conversation he wanted with White, I guess

39. BIGGEST ACTUAL REVEAL OF THE EPISODE: We find out what happens when Steven’s gem is removed from his stomach!!! that’s been a question since episode ONE I think

40. we get to see a Pink Steven and a Human Steven, which is pretty cool. I compare it to what might happen if you got split into What You Got From Your Dad and What You Got From Your Mom

41. this is just my theory, but we find out, I think, that Steven’s general strength in everyday movement comes from diamond strength and that he turns weaker than a baby without it, which makes sense because he’s always had it

42. White Diamond attempts to grey-ify Pink

43. we find out, as Pink Steven so eloquently says, that Pink Diamond/Rose Quartz really, really is gone. she died in childbirth essentially. I think he might someday manage to access her full memories but I don’t think that persona is ever returning

44. we see what Steven’s bubbles/shield would look like in full diamond form

45. the badass scene of Connie CARRYING STEVEN TO HIMSELF?

46. we discover that either Steven is the most special boy ever, or White’s powers are no match for love or some shit

47. we get to see Steven...  fuse with himself?

48. everyone gets un-greyified. Including White Pearl. the white-pearl-is-old-pink-pearl theory is confirmed, though I think it may have been in a flashback in “Familiar” and hinted at during Steven’s flashback at the start of the episode when Blue said “she’ll take away your pearl”

49. we see Steven/Pink’s full empathy powers in play, I think? that’s what happened when he pink-ified the whole group? INCLUDING WHITE?

50. Steven gives White Diamond one of his lightning-round therapy sessions, and she decides to Be Nice Now, Actually

51. that’s right. THERE ARE NO VILLAINS I’M GONNA LOSE MY MIND

52. the ENTIRE GROUP GOES TO EARTH

53. meaning that White leaves Homeworld (and “her own head”) for the first time in eons, according to the other Diamonds anyway

54. we get to see Sadie and the Cool Kids’ new looks. minor I know, but Jenny looks great in a suit!

55. also minor but cool: they’re covering “Let Me Drive My Van Into Your Heart”

56. for the second time in like 2 weeks, Diamond Ships interrupt a townwide Beach City gathering

57. we find out that Beach City is full of fucking idiots who thought that the ship was like, a grand finale to the concert? instead of full-on panicking mayhaps? cause every time this shit happens it usually leads to mayhem?

58. the Off-Colors, coincidentally, finally arrive on Earth at the exact same time

59. Lars meets Lion for the first time as Pink Zombie Brothers

60. Lars and Sadie reunion, in which we also find out that Sadie is like a legendary figure for the Off Colors

61. THE OFF COLORS MEET THE FUCKING DIAMONDS

62. Greg and Steven reunite

63. The Diamonds meet and finally heal the Centipeedles

64. The Diamonds visit Rose’s fountain and get it working as a four-diamond extravaganza event

65. every gem from the temple is brought there to be healed. we see the healing of, I assume, p much every monster we’ve met

66. we get to see the Heaven and Earth Beetle, who are pebbles too, and lesbians!

67. callback to the memories of the four Diamonds having swimming pool time

68. Jasper gets healed and naturally tries to destroy Steven immediately, then looks up to see all three of her diamonds. She and Amethyst get to bond, I guess.

69. Callback to the intro itself with the “We Are the Crystal Gems” song and all the new Crystal Gems chilling on the beach

70. New song, “Change Your Mind” and it’s cute obviously

My feelings on the episode? So besides what I wrote above the list, re: whiplash, I think that from a realistic standpoint and a writing-fantasy standpoint, it is some wild shit. For all three diamonds to achieve a FULL redemption arc in one episode? Too much. For there to be NO villains? Come on. And for the lesson to be, we should just give heartless dictators love and they’ll grow hearts? Worrying.

However, as I reached the end of the episode, I thought about a time in high school when my teacher asked me which superpower I’d want, and then annoyed the class by seeming morally superior by saying he’d want to speak every language. Thinking on it later, I thought- I’d want more than every language. I’d want the ability to TRULY understand others, and to make them TRULY understand me- and each other. Because yes, OF COURSE every conflict can be boiled down to a lack of understanding, a lack of empathy. If we had superhuman empathy on our side, we really could do away with violence. But in the real world, we don’t have superhuman empathy, we just have regular empathy, and some don’t even try to use that. So saying “have a little empathy for your oppressors” is ghoulish.

But Steven DOES have superhuman empathy. In fact, all the Diamonds do. Blue can make others cry, White can make others be identical to her, and Yellow can give others fear and command. And they use it only for evil. But Pink can make others understand. And she had only used it for frivolous things until she finally combined with a non-gem life form. Then, human empathy met superhuman empathy, and did what it had to do. THAT is how Steven defeated the Diamond Reign of Terror.

That being said: I don’t know if the target audience of kids really caught that nuance, considering that the episode went so fucking fast. Additionally: some of that superhuman empathy could’ve been pointed at the legions of crushed, oppressed little gems- which I know it was- but the focus was SO intensely on, like, “poor Yellow never got enough credit for being SO good at imperialism!”

So yeah. Both writing-wise, pacing-wise, plot-wise, message-wise... I did love it, as I do the whole show, but I also thought it could’ve benefited from some space, some criticism, and some better organization down at Cartoon Network’s scheduling department.

Art-wise, well I’m not an animation expert, but Obsidian can get it <3 and I loved the designs for everything.

Character-wise... I’ll have to think on it more.

OK THE END I’M DONE REACTING TO STEVEN UNIVERSE. SHOW’S OVER

#steven universe #su spoilers #change your mind #written by me #this is a mammoth essay that i wrote on the spot. feel free to skip or skim

[unchartedterritoria]

Dangerous (Sam Drake x OC) - Chapter 19

Man, the holidays really gave me a wicked case of writers' block! Things are looking up now though! New chapter! Sam learns about ‘edutainment’. Comments are always appreciated!

You can read it and previous chapters on A03 if you prefer:

A03 Chapter 19 Link

Faith and Sam spent a week searching every private estate erected before 1865 in Key West. Every day started the same. Sam made a coffee run while Faith showered, then she poked fun at whatever garish Hawaiian shirt Sam had chosen to wear while they plotted out which properties to explore and research that day. In the afternoon, they went from house to house, property to property, hoping, praying that something, anything would link between its history and Dr. Samuel Mudd. They ended each day at Mallory Square, the harbor that served as the center of the town, and watched the sunset with the rest of the locals, while they drank Coronas and hoped the next day would bring some piece of evidence.

As each day passed without a lead, Sam grew weary. They hadn't found a damn thing; Nothing even remotely close to a clue. He also knew that Jasper and his men would eventually find out where they were. Jasper was an asshole, but an asshole with a lot of power and a lot of money, two things that Sam knew would make anyone talk. He suppressed the worrisome thought and kept it to himself. Sam was sure that Faith had already thought of it and he didn't want to remind her of it.

With the morning came a new week and a new plan.

“Museums,” Faith declared, “We hit every one of them and see what we can learn.”

"Good idea. I like museums," Sam said, a mischievous glint in his eye.

“No stealing,” Faith ordered, pointing at him.

“What? Me?”

“Yeah, you.”

“C'mon. Whaddya take me for?”

“A thief,” Faith replied as she finished tying her shoes.

“I promise I'll be a good boy,” He assured her as he stuffed his wallet in the pocket of his jeans. “We wanna keep a low profile, right?”

“I think you blew that plan out of the water when you put on that shirt,” Faith said with a sigh, giving him a clap on the back as she opened the door to their room and headed out into the bright sun. Sam grabbed the hem of his shirt, a loud orange number covered in a pattern of beer bottles in front of yellow suns and palm trees. He looked down at it with a frown.

“I happen to like this shirt,” Sam said to himself while he stalked out the door on her heels.

“That was not a museum.”

"Yes, it was!"

“That was a sideshow!” Sam insisted.

“Didn't you see the stuff they had?”

“I'm sorry, I was a little distracted by the guy dressed as a sea captain yelling 'Wreck Ashore!'”

Sam absently patted himself down while he stalked down Duval Street, the main artery of the island. As Faith kept pace next to him, she laughed to herself. The Pirate and Wreckage Museum was a bust. While it did have some interesting artifacts, nothing there linked Lincoln or Mudd to Key West.

“It's a tourist museum, what did you expect?” Faith asked.

"To not be asked for a tip when I left!" He answered, utterly agog at the question, while his hand continued to feel for the cigarettes he knew he grabbed before they left the room.

“Shirt pocket Sam,” Faith said while she scanned the street for signs and ads for other museums.

“Thank you,” Sam grumbled, grabbing the pack from his shirt and lit one for himself.

“It was meant to teach and entertain. Haven't you ever heard of 'edutainment'?” She asked him. The question made him stop short and stare at her.

"What? What the hell kinda word is that? 'Edutainment.'" He said, accenting each syllable of his new word with more disdain than the last.

“A made up one to sell parenting books and educational toys,” Faith informed him. She checked the time on her phone. “We have time to hit another one before sunset.”

While Sam found the pirate museum off-putting, Faith found it charming, much like she found the whole island. It functioned at a laid-back pace, which Faith wasn't accustomed to.

She knew they had to get somewhere with their research soon, they couldn't hide from Jasper forever, but she wanted to savor the time she was spending down here on this adventure, she even was enjoying who she was spending it with.

Faith and Sam strolled down Duval Street, weaving their way through the tourists that lined the sidewalks. They passed shop after shop, bar after bar while the smells of sweet suntan lotion and cheap vodka permeated the air. As they crossed the street, Faith spotted a dark blue sign above a large doorway.

"'Mel Fisher Museum,'" Faith read as they approached the large white building, "Name sound familiar to you?"

Sam shook his head.

“Windowless building, solid door, modern looking security system,” He said, his eyes darting quickly to the cameras and sensors on the corners of the building. “No sign of a vaudeville skit out front, this place might just give us something useful. Shall we?”

Faith nodded and pushed open the heavy wooden door.

The drab, white facade on the outside of the museum was mimicked on the inside. Lit by stark, fluorescent lights, the building held two floors, the second a lofted balcony overlooking the center of the main room. Ugly black cabinets ringed its edges while pastel prints of seaside scenes attempted to accent the walls. The bottom floor consisted of four rows of display cases, all dazzlingly lit to showcase their contents.

“This looks like an old church,” Faith observed.

"Probably was at one point. One of the old mission style ones," Sam elaborated. Faith and Sam entered the building slowly. Faith was puzzled. As she passed by each display case, she found almost all the items had price tags attached to them.

“I don't think this is a museum,” Faith muttered, her brow furrowed in confusion.

"Oh, it is," Sam called from behind her, causing her to turn around towards the sound of his voice. "It's just all for sale."

Sam stood in front of a large printing close to the front doors of a middle-aged man in scuba gear. Mel Fisher.

"For sale?" Faith repeated, moving back next to Sam to get a look at the picture for herself. Sam skimmed the paragraphs of information that overlaid the photo.

“Looks like all of this is from the wreck of a Spanish ship that he found not too far from here. Almost 32 million dollars worth of treasure on board,” Sam summed up for her.

"Holy shit that's a lot of money," Faith muttered, the information suddenly making her feel underdressed and underclass for the value of goods she was sure she was surrounded by. Meanwhile, the awe in Faith's tone caused Sam to let out a low chuckle.

“What?” She questioned, walking towards the middle of the gallery.

“Nothin'. It's just that, well, 32 million isn't that much. I mean, I've seen hauls bigger than that so I'm just sayin' it could be a lot more,” He explained as he shoved his hands in his front pockets.

Faith turned and stared at Sam, a look of utter disbelief on her face.

“More than 32 million dollars?” She asked in a low voice.

Sam felt the worn down features of the coin from Libertalia in his pocket. The body warmed metal under his fingers triggered memories of being aboard The Fancy, surrounded by mountains of treasure collected from every notable pirate of the 17th century. And being trapped under a beam while the boat went up in flames.

Almost ended up dead but I still found it, he thought to himself with a smirk.

“It was a lot more. Didn't get to keep much of it, but I did find it," He emphasized by pointing the coin between his fingers at her. Faith quickly snatched the piece out of Sam's hand and flipped it over in her hands.

“Hmm, I wonder how much this is worth? Where is one of those appraiser guys?” She said, doing her best greedy cartoon villain voice.

“Uh, I don't think so!”

Sam plucked the coin out of Faith's hand. She cackled comically while Sam stowed his pirate treasure back safely in the pocket of his tan pants. Faith leaned a hip against the glass case next to her.

“You don't want to find out how much money something's worth? Since when?” She asked, crossing her arms in front of her.

“Since I know the rest of them are gone. It's the only one left. Also a reminder of a hell of a goddamn adventure. So you see, it's priceless. And since when do you care how much something's worth?”

His eyes narrowed down at her.

“I don't. Just gotta bust your balls a bit,” Faith said with a smile and gave him a gentle, playful bump with her hip.

Sam gave a little smirk and followed Faith down the aisle. Faith glanced in each case, taking stock of what was in them. Pieces of pottery in one glass box, misshapen silver and copper coins marked with various crosses in another. She passed another full of rusted spikes and musket balls.

Such a steal! Only Three hundred dollars a piece! The thought made her shake her head incredulously. The sound of Sam letting out a low wolf whistle caused Faith to stop.

"Would ya look at that," Sam said, his large arms stretched wide and braced against the display below him. The light from inside the case illuminated his rough face, giving it a youthful, excited glow. Faith stepped next to him and looked down to find an extensive collection of emeralds and pearls. Sam thumped his finger above a massive, rough cut, forest green emerald with an $85,000 price tag.

“That's a nice one.'

“Yeah, I guess.”

He turned his head quizzically towards her.

“You guess?”

“Yeah. Don't get me wrong, emeralds and gems are pretty. Like those two little bright ones right there would make an awesome set of earrings,” She told Sam while pointing towards two small stones at the very back of the case with wide eyes, making him snicker.

“But as far as treasure goes, eh. Anyone can find gems, or silver, or gold. It's stereotypical treasure stuff.”

"Treasure's treasure in my book, it's all worth money," Sam interjected.

Faith slid closer to Sam and lowered her voice.

“Now our treasure,-”

“Our treasure?” He interrupted again.

“Our treasure which will come to be your treasure,” She corrected, “There is nothing else like it in the world, it's got history. It's priceless. Kinda like that Libertalia coin in your pocket. You can't put a price on the story behind that.”

Sam bobbed his head in a begrudging acceptance of her explanation.

"Remy thought that way about the Lincoln Bible when I showed it to him," Faith said. The mere mention of his name caused a sad fondness to creep into her voice. Sam's head dropped; the mere mention of Remy caused him to look at the floor in shame.

"The history of it excited him so much; it made it priceless to him. Just like what we're looking for," Faith finished. Sam slowly nodded in agreement while his eyes traveled up, finally able to meet Faiths.

“You really don't blame me at all for what happened to him?” Sam asked quietly.

“You didn't pull the trigger so no, I don't,” She replied.

Sam knew she had told him this before, but it was an answer during the heat of the moment. Truth be told, Sam wasn't sure she still meant it weeks later, plenty of time for a person to think about things and change their mind. Thankfully, she didn't. Maybe now in the back of his mind, the blanket of blame that was smothering Sam from his chat with Nathan would ease a bit more.

"Can I help you?" A smooth, male voice echoed, causing the dense, slightly tense air between Faith and Sam to dissipate. A lanky man in a linen shirt appeared from behind one of the large cabinets with records on the balcony of the second floor.

"No, we're just looking, thanks," Faith called to him as he descended the spiral staircase with a rapid smoothness that came from repetition. The pair of palm tree patterned board shorts that he wore with his shirt accented the deep-set bright green eyes of his long face.

"All of our stones are inspected and certified for authenticity. We also offer multiple sizes and jewelry settings. Our smaller emeralds are a perfect size for a pair of simple yet understated earrings," He suggested. Faith's eyes shot up from the case as the hairs on the back of her neck began to prickle, despite the heat.

"See? I said the exact same thing to him!" She said, playing it off as coincidence.

"Well, I must confess. I did overhear snippets of your conversation," The man admitted with a bashful grin.

“Ah,” Faith responded, the information making the anxiety in her start to wain.

"I know it's not overly polite, but it does help to talk up a sale. So sir, what do you think? Earrings for the wife?"

Faith turned her head towards Sam, a pursed lip grin on her face as she tried to contain her laughter.

"You know, she might say she is, but she isn't the fancy jewelry type. Nice try though. Let's grab a beer, more our speed. Right, babe?" The lie rolled off Sam's tongue without missing a beat, along with the term of endearment he tacked on so quickly, so comfortably, as if he had been calling Faith that for years. It was unsettling for him; it was too comfortable.

The laughter disappeared from behind Faith's grin as the lie that Sam produced so easily rang true for her.

“Right. One question first,” She said, turning her attention back to the salesman with the vivid green eyes, “Do you have anything in here from the Civil War?”

He clucked his tongue and shook his head gently.

“Sorry, every we have in here predates it by a good hundred years,” He answered, stuffing his hands in the front pockets of his shorts in a very 'awe shucks' fashion.

“Didn't think so. But, I had to ask. Let's go dear, the bar and the sunset awaits!” Faith said as she grabbed Sam's hand and pulled him towards the door.

“Thanks!” Sam called out behind him and raised his free hand in a half-hearted wave.

"Have a nice evening!" The man called back as the heavy wooden doors closed behind Sam and Faith with a massive, echoed thud.

The man behind the counter slinked over to the phone that he kept near the staircase. An ancient yellow relic of a thing that still had a coiled cord and was attached to the wall. He jabbed the numbers quickly with a pointed finger. Three muffled rings passed before it connected with a statically click.

“Wallace? Eddie. Where's your boss? Well, get him on the phone. Oh, I'm pretty sure he's gonna wanna talk to me. Just-, ask him if that reward money is still up for grabs.” He listened to the crackle of the phone as it changed hands on the other end.

“Hey cuz! Knew that would get you on the phone! It was Drake, can't miss that voice and that nose. Yeah, she was with him, why?

The man's brow furrowed in confusion.

“Her? I thought the reward money was for him.”

#dangerous #sam drake x oc #samuel drake x oc #OC X Sam Drake #uncharted fanfiction #sam drake fanfiction #my writing

[bellarke]

Party Favours

Bellarke Christmas Calender 2017

December 3rd:

by Hilly [insideimfeelinpurrdy] [ao3]

Word count: 3701 Rating: E

Prompt: Co-worker AU

Thank you so much to Hilly ♥  for participating in our bellarke christmas. Please go and check out her other great work.

He can think of at least ten other places he’d rather be right now, but all in all he could do worse than the annual Arkadia Creative Inc christmas party. There is half decent food, beverages with a reasonably high alcohol content, and thankfully this year someone has finally manned up and banned Jasper from the DJ booth. Plus there’s the added bonus of being able to openly perv at his girlfriend’s glorious tits in that tight, red dress she bought especially to drive him to the brink of insanity. It’s a christmas party, it’s expected. 

Normally, he tries to be inconspicuous about checking her out. They told Kane they were seeing each other and he’d made them go to HR to sign a bunch of forms to basically say that yes, it was consensual, and no, Clarke wasn’t abusing her position of power to sexually harass him. Other than that they had decided to keep it quiet, both to avoid office gossip (Jasper) and water cooler judgement (mostly Indra, but fuck if Miller couldn’t be a little bitch when he wanted to be). He kind of likes it, likes keeping something just for him and Clarke. Plus, he’s getting it on the regular now, so they’ve totally chilled on the office sexcapades. Apart from that time they were working really late and Miller went out to get them dinner and he bent her over the conference room table. Oh and that time Clarke had been away on a business trip for two whole days sexting him the entire time and he dragged her into the handicapped toilets and went down on her the minute she stepped foot into the office. But you know, as a rule, the office is strictly for business these days. 

“Stop staring at Clarke’s tits, you perv,” Miller says, mild, handing him another one of Monty’s suspicious looking drinks. 

“Why the fuck does Monty alway put tinsel in every drink he makes, it only makes them more difficult to drink,” he grumbles, deflecting, but not really bothering to drag his eyes away from those glorious breasts that he is intimately acquainted with by now. 

“Maybe it’s so you don’t get drunk at your place of work and ogle your boss’s rack,” Miller suggests, but he’s not rolling his eyes yet so he figures Miller’s just as tipsy as him and probably doesn’t give two shits what Bellamy stares at. 

Clarke laughs heartedly across the room, patting Kane affectionately on the shoulder. Her smile is brilliant and devastating at once, and it makes his heart squeeze to see her so relaxed and happy. He remembers her shedding actual tears of happiness when her mother had called and told her she’d gotten engaged to Kane. Watching her repair her relationship with her mother has consistently done funny things to his stomach. He’s known he’s been in love with her forever, but he never truly understood what that meant until he realised he had become dependent on her moods to determine his own. If she is happy, he is ecstatic, if she is upset, he is devastated. She’s turned him into a goddamn sap and it’s almost disturbing how little he cares. 

“Dude,” Miller says, elbowing him in the side for effect, and yeah, maybe it is time to stop staring now. Shit, Monty makes a lethal cocktail. 

“I’ll stop staring at tits if you stop staring at Bryan from accounts,” he grumbles, elbowing back in pure childishness. 

“Yeah, well, at least I’m tapping that,” Miller huffs, one corner of his mouth turned up in a self-satisfied smirk. 

“Really? You and Bryan?”

It is entirely possible that he has been too busy trying his best not to watch Clarke’s ass wiggle in her selection of tight skirts around the office to notice that Miller is having a secret affair right under his nose. 

“For a while now, yeah,” Miller confirms, and maybe he has been hovering around the break room a little too much recently.

“Nice,” he offers, taking a big gulp of his drink and then proceeding to cough most of it back up, because holy shit, Monty!

“You ever gonna do anything about your massive boner for Clarke, or are you just gonna keep picking fights with her so she doesn’t notice that you always stare at her tits?"

“I don’t pick fights,” he snorts, but he totally does. He and Clarke fight like cats and dogs in the office, just like old times, but now it’s because of how sure they are of each other. Plus, it’s a nice warm up for later. 

“Really? That’s your takeaway?”

He just shrugs, and Miller actually rolls his eyes, and thank god his phone buzzes in his pocket so he has an excuse to abort this conversation asap. 

You look so good in that tie.

He looks up and Clarke’s eyes are glittering darkly at him from across the room. He nearly drops his phone, cause she bought him this tie for his birthday and then proceeded to use it to tie his hands together behind his back and go down on him until he damn near passed out. Afterwards he accused her of trying to murder him. She didn't deny it. 

Yeah? You got plans, Princess? 

He shoots back a quick message, and he’s vaguely aware that Miller is still talking to him but it’s a little difficult to juggle a drink, a phone, a hard on and a casual conversation at once. 

Take it off.

Oh ok, fuck, she means business and her eyes are dark and heavy on him and he can’t down his drink fast enough all of a sudden, never mind the tears it bring to his eyes. He shoves his empty glass into Miller’s hand and his phone back into his pocket and starts to undo his tie with shaky hands. 

“Whoa, Party Blake coming out?” Miller snorts, and there is a vague thump of awareness at the back of his scull that he should probably care that he’s in a public place and that there are eyes all around. But then she does that thing with her mouth that drives him nuts, she runs her tongue lightly against the seam of her lips and he loses all ability to think rationally.

“No, just hot in here,” he grumbles, a little more breathlessly than he’d like. 

He rolls the tie up slowly in his hands, and he’s about to shove it into his pocket when she makes a move, slowly stalking across the dance floor towards him. The red fabric of her dress stretches tightly over her curves, making it a little hard to breathe and a little more hard to stand up straight. He watches her hips sway slowly, watches her curls bounce, and then he makes a really concerted effort not to look at her tits because things are already getting pretty difficult to contain down there. 

“Incoming,” Miller hisses at him, and he actually straightens his back like he’s bracing himself, and man is Miller gonna have a field day with that later. 

Clarke holds his eyes steady in her gaze and the way she looks at him makes him want to run away from her and towards her at the same time, she still terrifies him and excites him in equal amounts. He swallows hard as she approaches them, but just when he thinks she’s gonna come straight up to him she slides past them, brushing against his shoulder. Her hand meets his, tugging the tie out of his hands before she disappears down the corridor behind him. He lets out a shuddering breath and immediately reaches for another drink, whist Miller pats him sympathetically on the back. 

“Just fucking talk to her already,” he huffs, giving him some serious side eye before he slinks off to find Bryan. “You’re pathetic,” he adds, just for good measure. He hates it when Miller is right. 

He watches the party grow more raucous, sees Jasper make a beeline for the DJ booth and Monty’s eyes widen in alarm. Everyone is drunk and getting worse, happy and electric and thankfully completely unaware of the internal struggle he’s having with the tent in his pants. His phone buzzes in his pocket again, and while that doesn’t exactly help his situation, he already knows, just fucking knows, that his life is about to get 1000% better. 

He’s turned on his heel, darting down the dark corridor behind him in a heart beat once he’s able to breathe again. Clarke’s just sent him a photo, perched primly in an office chair, naked except for a pair of skimpy panties, her shiny black heels and his goddamn tie. He’s pretty sure no one saw him leave, but even so he couldn’t have stayed a second longer at the party when his cock is rock hard and painfully pressed against the zipper of his slacks. 

He looks into each dark, glass walled office along the long corridor, but she’s not in her own office, nor in the next ten he peers into. When he finally finds her, he’s pretty sure his heart skips a beat. She’s got her legs up on the desk, her hand toying with the tie and her pale skin glowing in the street lights from below, but it’s her smile that really stops him in his tracks. 

She’s so beautiful he finds it hard to tear his eyes away from her. He’s seen every part of her. He’s seen her naked, he’s seen her crying. He’s seen her angry and frustrated and drunk and hangry, he’s seen her irrational, messy, insecure and he’s seen her be wrong. And he’s never stopped finding her beautiful even for one second. 

“Babe,” she laughs, and he has to shake that thought out of his head because she is naked in the office, with their drunk colleagues just a few steps away. “Come here.”

She beckons him over and it’s only when he walks into the office that he realises it’s Kane’s office. Fuck. Every time he thinks there isn’t anything in the world he can find hotter, she proves him wrong. 

“Here? Really?”

“Didn’t peg you for a quitter, Blake,” she smirks, that familiar challenge in her voice again, and he stands no chance against it. 

“What is it with you and challenges,” he chides, moving around the desk with sudden urgency, dropping to his knees in front of her. 

“I just like winning, that’s all,” she pouts, but it quickly turns into a moan when he runs his fingers up her thighs, swings her around and places a leg on each of his shoulders. 

“I think I’m the one winning here,” he mumbles as he buries his nose in the soft silk of her panties, inhaling her scent. 

He noses carefully at her clit, drawing out soft whimpers from her lips that make his head spin. 

“Nope, definitely me,” she pants as he hooks his thumbs into her panties and slides them off her legs, pushing her knees up in the air. 

“Fuck, Princess, let’s just agree we’re both winning here, ok,” he says, impatient, before leaning in and licking a fat stripe up her slit. 

He laps at her, slow but firm, keeping his tongue flat against her as she tenses and flexes underneath him. She runs a hand through his hair, nails scraping against his scalp and he was already a little tipsy, but nothing can ever make him drunker than her juices. 

“Fuck, that feels so good,” she babbles, her voice high and whiny, her hand erratic and needy. 

He stiffens his tongue and dips it into her, slow and methodical, winding her up higher and higher until her legs tremble under his hands and her moans turn into pleads. He moves up to run quick circles around her clit with his tongue and she jerks against him so hard that the wheels of the office chair rolls her closer. 

“Bell,” she moans, loudly, and he’ll never tire of hearing her come to pieces with her mouth full of his name. 

He closes his lips around her clit and sucks gently, flicking his tongue over the swollen flesh fast and hard until her whole body starts to convulse. He sucks harder and she pulls him closer, clawing at him, desperate to get him where she wants him. She comes hard and loud, a string of expletives tumbling out of her mouth, but the music from the party drowns out most of her desperate sounds. 

“Princess,” he sighs, breathless, his forehead resting against the back of her thigh. Her skin is like velvet, his hands soothing her trembling with long, slow caresses. “You drive me crazy, do you know that?”

His mind is full of her, she invades his every waking thought, and most of his dreams too. He never truly understood addiction until he let her consume him like this. He’s pretty sure love is as close as you can get to insanity. 

He runs his hands under her so he can get back up on his feet and put her down on the desk, pressing a searing kiss to her lips. She chases his lips with her tongue, licking her own taste off him. 

He palms her breasts, groaning into her mouth at the glorious weight of them in his hands. He jerks his hips against her, his cock throbbing with want when she clamps her legs around his ass, pulling him in closer. 

“Why are you still wearing all your clothes,” she breathes, pulling at his collar petulantly. 

“Not all,” he smiles, pulling at the tie dangling between her breasts. 

“Come on, babe,” she laughs, releasing him just enough so she can unfasten his belt and tug at his fly. 

He only gets a few buttons open before she’s got his cock free, closing her soft fist around him, pumping him slowly. He leans in and captures her mouth gently in his, his hands flying up to cup her face. He loves to have her any way she wants him, hard and fast or slow and careful, but sometimes he just wants to stop time so he can poor all his feelings into his finger tips and make her know his love even if he can’t say the words yet. 

“I need to be inside you baby,” he whispers into her mouth, and he doesn’t think his need for her, his urge to be as close as he can will ever fade. 

She runs a thumb over the head of his cock before she guides it to her entrance. When he sinks into her it feels like he’s home, like he’s right where he belongs and the feeling never gets old. He thrusts slowly into her, relishing in the tight heat of her, the hot stretch of her flesh against his skin. Her muscles flex and contract around him with each jerk of his hips, her mouth open in a slack o like all her attention is on the feel of him in her cunt.

“You feel so fucking tight and hot babe,” he growls, nipping at her jaw.

“Fuck yeah, Bell,” she mewls, her eyes shuttering as he increases the speed with each slippery glide of his cock. 

“I can’t believe I’m fucking you on Kane’s desk,” he rasps in her ear, running his teeth over her pulse point, sucking a mark on her neck she’s gonna scold him for later. Later when she’s not wrapping her legs around his ass like a vice, when her nails aren’t digging crescent shaped marks into his neck. 

He widens his legs a little, changing the angle when he thrusts into her again and she hisses when he finds one of her sweet spots with practiced ease.

“Holy fucking shit,” she growls, dirty and raw, throwing her arms around his neck to bring his forehead to hers. 

His mind goes blank, everything in him is need. He pushes into her, chasing his pleasure and hers, nothing else matters. She breathes out and he breathes in, moving together in focused determination. He grabs the globes of her ass to bring her closer, pushes her up against him so his pubic bone grinds against her clit and he can feel her start to lose control again. 

“Fuck, babe, you’re so good to me, that feels so good.” Her words spill out in a throaty moan, and her thighs start to quiver around him. 

“Let go,” he commands, he wants to see her fall apart, wants to feel her shudder and break around him. He wants to spill everything he’s got into her, wants to fill her up with his cum. 

He can feel her clench down on his cock, watches as her back cracks and contorts almost painfully, hears how her breath constricts and how her voice fights against raw lungs when she releases a long, deep moan. He can see her pulse hammering in her throat, watches as the muscles in her stomach contracts and her body seizes around him. He can feel the clench of her cunt draw pleasure out of him, his shaft impossibly hard and suddenly he feels that familiar surge and he falls forward, all his weight on top of her as he comes in thick streams. His vision goes dark and his breath comes out in heavy, hard heaves and the words leave his mouth without permission.

“Fuck, I love you.”

He stills on top of her as his own words reach his ears. It’s not that they’re not true, he does love her, he loves her so fucking much. But shouting it out mid-orgasm on top of Kane’s desk was definitely not how he planned on letting her know. Fuck.

He opens his mouth to explain, to reassure maybe, he’s not even sure if he needs it more than her at this stage. But just as the words find their way to his tongue he hears distinct footsteps and light giggling move down the corridor towards them, and it’s moving fast. Before he has a chance to even fully think about the precarious situation they’re in, his body reacts, pulling Clarke up and ducking them both behind the desk just as the footsteps reach them. 

“Are you sure about this,” he hears Harper giggle in a very obviously tipsy voice. 

Next to him on the floor Clarke’s eyes are wide in shock, but she also has that slightly blissed out look on her face that lets him know she doesn’t really give a shit if they’re caught right now because she’s still riding out the aftershocks of her orgasm. 

“Yeah, no one is down here, I promise,” he hears a male voice say, and jesus, is that Monty?

There are more giggles and wet, sloppy noises that leave no room for interpretation and at this point Clarke is actively biting her lip to stop the laughter building in her throat from escaping. He shoots her a warning glare and presses a palm over her mouth but it only makes her giggle more, her whole body shaking. Finally, after more sloppy making out, Harper and Monty continue down the dark hallway and he says a silent prayer of thanks that they aren’t quite shameless enough to choose their boss’ office for their extracurricular activities. Only my Princess, he smiles to himself. 

“Jesus, does everyone in this office hook up?” he mutters gruffly when they are alone again. Clarke finally lets a throaty laugh out, and she’s so infectious that he can’t help but laugh along.

They get dressed quickly, his tie getting tucked into his pocket carefully. He’s getting more and more attached to the thing now. Clarke goes first, checking up and down the hallway before slipping out, while he adjusts the papers on Kane’s desk one last time. He’s definitely going to feel bad about this on Monday, but right now his ears are still ringing a little from coming so hard. 

He follows Clarke down the corridor and they manage to sneak back into the party somewhat inconspicuously. They come to a halt in the doorway and takes in the mayhem that is the Arcadia Creative christmas party with amused fondness. He clears his throat before leaning in, muttering into her ear.

“So, I didn’t really mean to say it like that...” 

Before he can finish that sentence or even start to process her expression there is a loud shrill over the monitor. 

“Mistletoe!” Jasper crows over the mic, and it’s like the whole room turns towards them in slow motion. 

He cocks his head up, and he and Clarke are indeed standing directly beneath the mistletoe like a couple of idiots. His jaw drops and he is suddenly very aware that the entire room is looking directly at them with expectant faces. He drops his eyes to her and he can actually feel his cheeks flush with heat, even though he’s kissed her six ways since Sunday a hundred times over. He really doesn’t know why he’s suddenly struck with embarrassment, but it only gets worse when he leans in and presses a quick, chaste kiss to her cheek and the whole room groans with disappointment. He looks around at them, confused, and he definitely sees the white in Miller's eyes as he rolls them hard. 

He feels Clarke’s hands tug lightly at his curls, and before he has a chance to compose himself she pulls him down into a long, lingering kiss. His pulse raises, his heart beats heavily in his chest and he can’t resist sinking into the kiss, letting his tongue slide slowly over hers and pulling her flush with his body. He’s vaguely aware of the room erupting in cheers and wolf whistles around them, but she floods his senses and all he cares about is her and how much he loves her. Which is a lot. 

She pulls back after a while, face twisted into a brilliant smile, cheeks flushed and her blue eyes glistening with something like tears. 

“I love you too, Bell.” 

And fuck, if she can’t bring him to his knees with nothing but a smile. 

#insideimfeelinpurrdy #bellarke fanfiction #the 100 fanfiction #bellarke fic #bellarke #the 100 #bellamy and clarke #bellamy blake #clarke griffin #bellarkechristmas2017 #bellarke christmas calendar #by hilly

[legendofzeldaalinktothepast]

Pathetic, Clinging Poetry - Chapter 23 (of 25)

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A while back, I shoved a little shoe box Into the furthest corner of my closet. It's probably covered in a layer of dust, now. The spiders probably wove a web around it, Which I wouldn't dare demolish. And if I remember correctly, It was atop the highest shelf I own! And I'm not sure where I left my step stool...

Who needs shoes, anyway? 

* 

Pearl ran her fingers through Amethyst's silky lavender hair; she was half focused on the intricate fishtail braid in her hands, half focused at the cooking show they were watching on TV. Amethyst, seated on the floor in front of her, was sucked into the video game she was playing on her phone, tapping away at her screen with her thumbs. So when Jasper suddenly appeared in the doorway of the living room, it took a few moments for either of them to notice she was there.

"Oh -- hey there!" Pearl greeted, slightly startled.

"Hey, uh, you got a phone call." Jasper said, holding her cell phone over to Pearl. "And I swear it's actually a job thing this time, heh."

While that should have gotten her excited, Pearl couldn't ignore the fear rising in her chest. Job stuff in and of itself was nerve-wracking enough -- and while she trusted Jasper, she was still a little... shaken by what'd happened last time she'd gotten a phone call.

"Ah, alright! I can multitask." she finally responded. Pearl took the phone from Jasper's hands and held it up with her shoulder, turning her gaze back down towards Amethyst's hair and going right back to working on the braid. "Hello, this is Pearl!"

Jasper sat down on the other end of the couch, reaching for the remote so she could mute the TV. Amethyst paused her video game and set her phone aside; feeling a little bit nosy (and maybe even a hint anxious on Pearl's behalf), she listened to the conversation to the best of her ability, but struggled to make out what the person on the other end was saying.

"Let's see... I'm free any time after two, any day of the week. I volunteer at the library around noon, but -- oh, that's alright! Yes, four is perfect." She tied up the bottom of Amethyst's braid with a little scrunchy, letting it flop down against her back. Amethyst flipped the braid over her shoulder so she could get a better look at it. 'Damn, she's good at this.' she thought. Whenever she braided her own hair, there were always little pieces sticking out here and there, and it was often crooked and uneven. Maybe Pearl's skinny little fingers and long nails helped make it easier... or maybe it was the fruity smelling mousse that kept everything in place.

"Oh, absolutely! I wouldn't mind that at all! ...Yes, okay, I will see you tomorrow! Thank you so much, bye!" Pearl let out a sigh of relief when she hung up, dropping Jasper's phone on the couch so she could flap her hands. "Oh my goodness, I'm excited!" she exclaimed.

"Which place was that?" Jasper asked, reaching for her phone and shoving it back into her pocket.

"That was the zoo!" Pearl squealed. "In all honesty, I didn't even think I had a chance at this place -- I had assumed I'd get a call from one of those fast food places or retail stores before anything else -- but this is so much better!" she said.

"Holy shit, really?" Jasper said.

"That's so cool, babe!" Amethyst cheered. "What are you gonna be doing?"

"Well, I'm going to start out working at the gift shop... Nothing too exciting, but I'm thankful for that, regardless." Pearl said. "But -- and this is where it gets exciting -- they said there might be a chance I'll get to work as a tour guide later on! A-assuming I get the job, of course... I still have to go to the interview before I can get too excited." Pearl clarified. "But... If all goes well, this would be an amazing opportunity!"

"That's awesome!" Jasper pulled Pearl into a tight hug. "I told you, you just had to be patient. These things take a while, but it ended up being worth the wait, huh?"

"Yeah! I'm so proud of ya, cutie!" Amethyst said, giving Pearl another hug once Jasper had pulled away. "So uh... Not saying you shouldn't totally jump on this awesome opportunity, but do you think you'll still be able to do our library thing?"

Pearl's expression fell. "Ah... That I'm not quite sure of. I had applied for a morning shift... So unless they end up giving me an evening shift for some reason, probably not." She let out a little sigh. "But hey, we still don't know for sure if I'm even going to get this job, anyway!"

"Still, though..." Jasper said. "Don't beat yourself up if you can't volunteer there anymore."

"I guess you're right, but..." Pearl smiled sadly. "I've grown kind of attached to Mrs. Fluorite and all those adorable little kids... And they really do need my help sometimes, so... I hope they'll be alright without me."

"Hey, uhhh..." Amethyst gave Pearl a nudge. "You know I'm still gonna go there even if you're not, right?"

Pearl's heart leaped. "Wait, really? I had no idea you liked it that much!"

"Hell yeah I do!" Amethyst said. "I mean, it's fun, you know? I was a little hesitant at first, not gonna lie, and I do wish I didn't have to be up and wearing pants before noon, but I like being around the little munchkins. And the old lady really likes when I draw the coloring pages, so I think it'll work out just fine."

"Oh my goodness, thank you so much!" Pearl squealed, pulling Amethyst into a tight hug.

"Hey, I'm doing it because I like it. You don't need to thank me for that..." Amethyst blushed, but returned the hug anyway.

"Ah, yes, of course, it just... you know, lifts a weight off my shoulders knowing you'll be there. Especially since you're so good with those kids." Pearl let out a sigh of relief as she released Amethyst from her grip, straightening herself up again. "By the way, Jasper... do you have any advice? Anything to keep in mind during my interview tomorrow? Since you probably have quite a bit of experience with jobs..."

"Well... Employers tend to like when you make eye contact. As much as I know you hate it." Jasper said.

"Ugh, that's true... But I can do it when necessary." Pearl said.

"That's good. And I can write down a list of questions they might ask you, so you can be a little more prepared." Jasper continued. "Oh, and as for clothes, you really just gotta use common sense. You don't have to doll yourself up like you're going to a wedding, but don't wear sweatpants or some shit, either."

Pearl chuckled; at least that was one thing she knew she'd nail perfectly. "That part I know very well!" she said, pulling herself to her feet. "In fact, I'm going to pick out my outfit right now. I'm already getting antsy, so I might as well do something to prepare..." Before either of them could say anything else, Pearl skipped up the stairs and towards Amethyst's room.

She filed through her basket of clothes, humming in thought as she tried to find something charming, yet professional... Part of her instincts were still telling her to wear a skirt, and while she wasn't quite opposed to wearing one... she felt a lot more confident when she was wearing literally anything else. But on the other hand, most of her pants were stolen from Jasper, which were slightly baggy and mostly sweats -- certainly not appropriate for an interview.

'Ugh, am I really going to have to go shopping tonight? What a nuisance...' Pearl thought. Her expression immediately brightened, however, as she pulled out her favorite white-and-grey striped button up blouse. It matched just about anything, so at least it'd be easy to find a pair of slacks to go with it!

"Hey, Pearl?"

Pearl flinched, yet again surprised by Jasper's sudden presence in the doorway. She folded her blouse back up as she turned around to face her. "Hm?"

"So uh..." Jasper shyly rubbed the back of her neck, shoving her free hand into her pocket. "I know this is weird timing, but there's something I gotta show you. Or, well -- I don't know if you want to see it or not, but... I couldn't bring myself to delete it without asking you first."

"Oh...?" Pearl raised an eyebrow, not quite sure what to make of the vagueness of her question. She wasn't sure whether to feel more nervous or curious, in all honesty.

"Shit, that sounds bad when I put it like that." Jasper clasped a hand over her face. "Look, it's uh... A voicemail from your mom. I got it like... a month ago, maybe? I just wasn't sure when it'd be the right time to show you, but... Now that you're doing a little better, I thought it'd be a good time to ask? It's totally fine if you'd rather I delete it, though... I just thought since she's your mom and all..."

Pearl smiled softly. "Aw... That's so thoughtful of you. I... I think I do want to listen to it... Would you mind listening with me?"

"Not at all. I mean, I've already listened to it, but if it'll make you more comfortable, I'll listen to it again." Jasper said, finally pulling her hand out of her jeans pocket and bringing her phone with it. She unlocked the screen and went through her voicemails, scrolling for a moment before finding the right one. "There we go... ready?"

Pearl quickly smoothed out the blankets on Amethyst's bed before sitting down (no matter how silly it seemed, she refused to sit on an unmade bed), and once Jasper seated herself beside her, Pearl nodded. "Ready." she said, and Jasper pressed the play button.

"...Hello, Miss Jasper?" The recording began, and Pearl couldn't help rolling her eyes already; but regardless, she listened on. "I know the chances of you even listening to this are slim, but... I'm getting desperate. I've... I've come to the realization that Pearl doesn't want to speak with me anymore... And I'm sure you aren't very fond of me yourself, either, but... If you don't mind, I have one small request to ask of you. Next time you speak to Pearl and Peony... Could you please tell them that I love them very much?"

Pearl's heart sank. Hearing those words from her mother certainly wasn't anything new; yet it brought back a sickening, regretful feeling she hadn't experienced in quite a few months.

"And that if they ever want to come back home... I will welcome them with open arms, as if they never ran away in the first place. I pray that you'll make the right decision and pass this message on; God bless."

Once the message came to an end, Pearl flopped down onto the mattress and groaned.

"You alright?" Jasper asked.

Pearl nodded. "She doesn't do a very good job selling it." she said with a pained smile. Jasper smirked. "Yeah, I thought so too."

"And yet... For once, I don't think she's lying." Pearl said as she sat upright. "I really do think if Peony and I went back there, she'd act as if this whole thing never happened..." Pearl clenched her fists. "And that's exactly why we're both staying right where we are." She wiped a tear from her eyes, and Jasper pulled her into a hug.

"I really do love her..." Pearl whispered, her voice muffled against Jasper's shoulder. "And I do want her to know that... And... And I'm going to make sure she knows, while still drilling into her thick skull that we are not coming back... At least not for a very, very long time."

Jasper gently rubbed Pearl's back. "You're really strong, you know that?" she whispered in return. "You've come so far ever since you moved in with us... I'm really proud of you."

Pearl hugged her even tighter. "Thank you... I'm so proud of you, too."

"Pfft, for what?"

"For working on your relationship with Amethyst. And everyone else, honestly." Pearl said. "You two have been getting along so much better, now... I-I know that, as sisters, you're always gonna have your fights here and there... But I'm still so relieved that, for the most part, you've been treating each other so much more kindly than you were a few months ago."

"Ugh, sap." Jasper rolled her eyes. "But, uh, thanks... I still gotta long way to go, but... It's still nice to be reminded I'm doing something right."

Pearl smiled warmly. "You know... Perhaps I've even... underestimated how much you've grown. I mean, I never even told you I was dating Amethyst... Just thought it'd be easier to drop hints, and have you put two and two together, just to avoid the awkwardness of it all... But perhaps that wasn't right on my part." Pearl turned her gaze up towards Jasper's.

"Whoa... Wait, you guys are dating? Why didn't you tell me?" Jasper gasped, her eyes wide with shock. For a moment Pearl's heart stopped, but when Jasper burst into laughter, she let out a sigh of relief. "Don't scare me like that!" Pearl said.

"That's what you get for not telling me." Jasper teased, giving Pearl a little noogie. "But nah. It's really not a big deal... That's how things kinda are with sisters, you know? You're not always straightforward about these kinds of things, you just kinda pick up on what's going on, and you roll with it... So it's really fine that you didn't flat out tell me, but... Thanks for caring anyway. You're a good friend."

"Alright..." Pearl let out a sigh of relief, hugging Jasper even tighter. "I'm relieved to hear that. You're a very good friend, too...” 

* 

As Pearl made her way into the entry room, shut the door behind herself, and tossed her shoes onto the rack, she spun around in a circle like an overjoyed ballerina. "Amethyst? Jasper? I have some wonderful news!" she declared, unsure if either of them were even home.

"Oh?" Jasper called from the kitchen, her expression brightening as she made eye contact with Pearl. "Someone's in a good mood."

"I certainly am!" Pearl exclaimed, clasping her hands together. "Where's Amethyst?"

"On my way." the latter yawned, making her way down the stairs. "Just woke up from a nap... Did you go to your interview yet?" she mumbled.

"I sure did!" Pearl giggled. "And it went wonderfully. So wonderfully, in fact, that I'm going to start my training next Monday!"

Amethyst went from sleepy to wide awake in a split second. "Aww, congratulations, babe!" she cheered, running up and giving Pearl a hug.

"Nice job, Pearlie!" Jasper smiled warmly, ruffling Pearl's hair. "I told you it'd all work out."

"Ah, thank you so much!" Pearl beamed. "I'm going to be working quite a bit, you know... I hope you two will be able to function with me out of the house." she continued with a wink.

"Damn, now I gotta take on the housewife duty." Amethyst snorted. "So you should show me how to make those special brownies!"

"Special... brownies?" Pearl raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, you know, those amazing brownies you made when you first moved in here." Amethyst clarified, biting back a grin.

"That's not what special brownies are." Jasper said.

"It's a joke, butthead." Amethyst playfully elbowed her.

"Well, at long as cannabis isn't involved, I will gladly show you how to make my brownie recipe!" Pearl clasped her hands together. "Perhaps after dinner, though; what are you making, Jasper?"

"...Oh, shit!" Jasper suddenly turned and darted into the kitchen, slipping on her oven mitts. She pulled out a slightly-burned veggie quiche and placed it on top of the stove. "That's what I get for winging it and not setting a timer." Jasper grumbled, turning off the oven.

"Hey, I dunno about you, but I like burnt stuff. Kinda reminds me of toasted marshmallows." Amethyst said.

"That's true! I'm sure it'll still be delicious." Pearl said, peering over Jasper's shoulder at the quiche.

"Alright, good.” Jasper reached for a spatula and cut off a corner piece. “‘Cause I’m not making anything else!”