#Grace Spicy Smith

[whiskeyswriting]

How The Trio Met: Spicy, Lucky, and Cinco

A/N: I do not own any of the photos. Photos used have been from Pinterest or Tumblr or Instagram.

WC: 2.3k

It had been a hell of a month for her. Lieutenant commander Alana “Cinco” Metcalf had her work cut out for her. Not only was she Commander Mike “Viper” Metcalf’s grand-daughter, she was also Vice Admiral’s Simpson second in command. 

She knew she needed a drink before Monday ended so she took her files to work from home. She decided to stop at the Hard Deck to check out why it was so popular amongst the aviators at the base.

Her phone chimed with a text from her current situationship, Jake. She hadn’t replied to his texts or calls from the day before. 

She sits at an empty booth and checks the menu to order something for lunch.

“Hi. Welcome to The Hard Deck? What can I start you off with?” The server asks. 

“Let me have a Cherry cola and fries… Is the burger good here?”

The server nods. “Yes! Our cook makes the patties every morning and does the seasoning herself.”

Alana smiles at that. “Okay. I’ll have one. Medium rare… No onions or pickles please.”

“I’ll be right back with your drink and fries while we get the burger done.”

Alana looks at her phone again at the messages from Jake from the day before.

She knows she shouldn’t ghost him, given that they both are stationed at the same base. Alana does what she can only think to do at the moment. She sends him a voice note. 

“Hey. Sorry I didn’t respond. Phone ran out of battery and I got home very late. I know we’re supposed to be friends but right now I can’t tell you everything. I’m going through some things now and I just need some time to myself to get my life in order. I’ll still see you around the base.”

She sets her phone in her bag and observes the bar, as well as the patrons. 

Some minutes later her food is brought out. Alana hears the door opening and knows her so-called best friend Isabella has arrived.

“Are you sure you should be having that burger and fries? Didn’t you just start a diet?” Her condescending tone is all that can be heard. She snaps her fingers for the server. 

“Yeah I’ll have sparkling water and a salad… No dressing.”

Alana mouths sorry to the server and looks apologetically at her. “Iz… Just cut the attitude with the server. Her name is Lacy. And you don’t snap your fingers to get her attention.”

Isabella rolls her eyes at Alana. “Anyways I was here last night and met this hot Navy pilot but he said he had a girl already and didn’t want to leave with me. He must be lying cuz I didn’t see him with anyone all night.”

“Maybe he does have someone…?” Alana says with a shrug.

“Even if he did, he was still so hot I’d still do him. Maybe you can find out who his girl is… He’s at the base. Find his file and record. Jake… something.”

Alana’s hand freezes over her fries. “Oh! What’s he look like?” 

“Tall! Gorgeous! Blonde with green fuck me eyes.”

Alana laughs. “Is that all? Then I’m sure he does have a girl.” She knew she had no claim to him. They both agreed that their thing would be casual hookups. No dates. No drinks. If the other found someone, they’d stop.

“Well yeah… You wouldn’t know about guys like that since you’re… you know… you’re…” Isabella gestures with her hands and arms to Alana’s slightly wider frame. 

Alana feels her cheeks and neck heat up. Not in embarrassment as other times, but in anger. Before she can give Isabella a piece of her mind, the server has returned with the bill. The grimace on her face told Alana she heard the comment. “Thanks,” Alana says and takes the bill. 

She grabs her purse and takes the bill. She heads to the bar to pay. As she’s looking for her wallet, Alana’s phone falls onto the counter and she doesn’t notice. Once she’s done paying, she leaves for home and gets to work all afternoon and long into the evening.

Isabella on the other hand decided to stay at the bar when she saw that it was nearing the time the aviators and other servicemen would get to the bar. 

Grace was on her break when she notices the phone on the counter and asks around if it was anyone’s. She sets it by the register in case the rightful owner returns. As she was setting it down, it chimes at the arrival of new text messages.

Jake: Guess you’re hiding 🫣 from me today too. I passed by your office to apologize in person.

Jake: Cyclone said you went home. I guess we’ll talk when you want. I’ll stop bothering you.

Jake: Okay. One last one. I’ll be at THD later if you want to join. Need someone to keep the women at bay. 

Grace does her best to respect the privacy of the owner but she can’t help and snicker when she reads Jake’s name. She sees three of her favorite customers walk in. 

Mickey, Bailey, and Reuben approach her. “Hey Grace!” The guys make their way to their usual spot while Grace pulls Bailey aside. 

“Hey… Do you know if Jake is seeing anyone?” Grace asks.

“Spicy! Is Chicken not satisfying you?” Lucky asks teasingly.

“You very well know that he is… No… I found a phone here at the bar and Jake kept texting the owner… Look,” Grace shows Bailey the text messages notifications. 

“Ooh! Bagman has feelings!?” 

“What are you talking about Lucky Charm?” comes a voice behind them. The voice of one said Jake Seresin.

“Oh nothing. Just about who’s last in the students list of favorite daggers,” Lucky teases.

Jake rolls his eyes at her then he groans when he hears a shrilling voice calling for him from across the room. 

“Please say I died. Say I’m married. Anything. This woman from yesterday wouldn’t leave me alone. I told her I had a girl but she still tried to get me to take her home…. I just want a drink.”

The girls turn to notice the woman coming. Grace notices the sway she’s walking with. It’s not a sway of attempted seduction. It’s a sway of inebriation. “Jaaaake!”

Baylie sighs and wraps an arm around Jake’s center. “You’ll owe me for this Bagman.” She leans her head against his chest.

Isabella stumbles into Grace, who had stood to get back to work. “Move bitch,” Isabella says.

Grace senses Lucky and Jake tense up behind her, but she shakes her head at them. She goes to ring the bell. Cheers erupt all over the bar.

Jake smiles and pats her shoulder as he and Lucky walk past her. “Thanks for the drinks!” 

Isabella is trying to focus on all that is going on. “What? What drinks? You’re buying me some?”

“No love… You’re buying for everyone,” Grace more than gladly informs her. “You disrespected a woman so you have to buy a round for everyone.” 

“That’s bullshit! I never agreed to that!” Isabella starts shouting.

“The signs are posted throughout the bar… If you don’t accept the rules you can pay and leave. Nobody wants your desperation here to ruin their night. And if a man tells you he’s got a girl… He doesn’t want you… Get it through your fake tan and fake red hair,” Grace says before running Isabella’s credit card.

Lucky is just staring in awe at her best friend. “I’ll marry you if Chicken doesn’t bang you tonight! That was so hot, girl! No wonder they call you Spicy.”

Jake just chuckles at the two of them. He couldn't help but feel like there was someone missing but he couldn’t really place where this feeling came from. He shakes his head to clear the thought from his mind. 

He’s about to make his way to the jukebox when the phone at the register catches his attention. “Hey Grace. You got a new phone?”

“No. Someone must have left it and didn’t notice.”

“I’ll take it. That’s my friend’s Lana. I’m supposed to meet her tomorrow.”

Lucky quickly grabs the phone. “Nope. How can we know you’re not going to steal it? Prove it’s your friend's phone.”

Jake sighs. “It’s a green wallpaper… The time is set to military time, even though she prefers to still use AM/PM… There’s a small chip on the screen protector, which is a privacy screen protector. And there’s this…” Jake calls the phone. 

Chase Rice’s “Ride” plays as the ringtone along with a picture of Jake in a blue suit with a bolo tie. 

The look of shock and intrigue that crossed the faces of Grace and Baylie goes unspoken for the moment. “Still… That proves nothing!” Baylie says. 

“Hit call back…” Jake says exasperated.

His phone immediately lights up to a picture of a raven haired curvy woman and the ringtone blasting “Body Like a Back Road.”

“Oh my god! Jake is in love!” Baylie exclaims loudly.

“Keep your voice down. And no I’m not. We’re just friends… that occasionally… we… we work out together at times,” he says.

The girls decide to put a pause on teasing Jake, as Grace gets busy at the bar. 

It’s nearing 11pm when a new patron walks in. Their outfit, however, was not one for the bar.

Grace notices the young woman in her pajamas and curls in a messy bun talking frantically to Penny.

“Penny I can help…” Grace says once she recognizes the completely dressed down woman.

“Hi… I was here during lunch and I was wondering if I might have left my phone here… I can’t find it…” 

“Calm down sweetheart. Let’s get you a glass of water first. I’m sure we can find your phone,” she says as she leads her to the bar. Discreetly, she gestures to Baylie to come along. 

Baylie quickly joins them and grins when she notices who Grace was walking with. 

Grace brings a glass of water and asks. “You said you left your phone? Can you describe it? I’m Grace by the way.”

“I’m Alana… It’s a blue phone with a clear case and the design is of a highland cow and a flower crown. Wallpaper is a green sunset,” Alana says. 

Grace nods and hands her the phone. “We were keeping it safe.”

“Oh my god thank you! I can’t believe I lost my phone and it took me until now to get it.”

“Cute outfit… Looking for a cuddle buddy?” Baylie asks teasingly. “I’m Baylie.”

Alana looks at her perplexed for a moment before realizing she’s teasing. “Only if you buy me a drink first.”

Baylie cracks up. “I like you!” 

Grace is also laughing. “I think Garcia would have to fight her for you.”

“He’ll lose,” Baylie replies. 

“I would love to stay and chat but I have an early morning and long day tomorrow and it’s already past my bedtime,” Alana says. She leaves a $20 on the tip jar as a thank you for keeping her phone safe. 

“Come back again. We’d love to buy you a drink or two. You seem fun and in need of a relaxing time.” 

“Yeah... Maybe we can set you up with one of out aviator friends,” Baylie says with a wink.

Alana chuckles nervously. “Yeah. No. Naval aviators are… Well, they only want one thing.”

“Well, I hope to see you on base some time. My call sign is Lucky. Yours?”

“Cinco… But you can call me Cin.”

“Cinco? As in five?” Grace asks.

Alana nods. “Yup. I’m 5 feet tall and my mother was hispanic. So it’s a two-fold call sign.” 

“Was?”

“Yeah. My parents passed away when I was young. My grandparents raised me.”

“Oh babe…” Grace says and gives her hand a squeeze.

“It’s okay now. Sometimes-” Alana shakes her head. “I’m sure you don’t want to hear about my life when you’re working. I should go.”

They say it takes a lost soul to recognize another lost soul. Grace and Baylie had once been lost souls so they recognized Alana as a lost one.

“How about this? We can have a girls night in. I’m not working but we can come hang out here. Get some food and drinks and sit by the water,” Grace says.

“I’ll make sure none of our aviator friends bother us tomorrow and if you want I can join you for lunch tomorrow,” Baylie tells Alana.

Alana can only nod. The sincerity in their voices rang louder than any other sound in the bar. “I’d like that very much. I’ll see you girls tomorrow.”

Grace and Baylie envelope her in a hug before she leaves. They then head over to their group.

Mickey is the first to notice the glint of mischief in Baylie’s eyes. Before he can ask her what she’s up to, he sees her turning to Grace as they sit next to Jake.

“So Grace, are you ready for our girls night with Cin tomorrow?”

“Absolutely! Can’t wait to hang our with her and make her part of our group. She's so sweet.”

“And hot! Those pajamas were working for her! Imagine her looking all dolled up.”

Jake tries to make it look like he’s not listening in, but he’s fully paying attention to their conversation.

“You know… Maybe tomorrow we can find out if she’s single or seeing someone… Maybe we can set her up with someone.”

At that, Jake stands immediately and goes to close his tabs before he tells the group he’s calling it a night. “Have an early workout session scheduled for tomorrow.”

“Yeah make sure that body is built like a back road so you can ride…”

Baylie cracks up and the look of surprise and shock on Jake’s face that it was Grace who called him out. He expects it from Baylie, but not sweet Grace.

He shakes his head at them and leaves.

The girls laugh and Mickey just laughs with them. Oh they were so going to have so much fun teasing Jake.

Now to await the next day so they can fully welcome Alana into their friendship.

Discord 🏷 List: @callsign-dragonbaron @cycbaby @callsignscupcake @mtnofgrace @bayisdying @askmarinaandothers @mischief-siriusly-managed @breadsquash @callsignthirsty @cosmicshrine

#mrsjaderogerswrites #the chaos sqaud #the chaos squad fics #spicy #lucky #cinco #Spicy #Grace Spicy Smith #baylie lucky steele #alana cinco metcalf

[tngrace]

WIP Wednesday

The title is still a wip since the idea just came to me an hour-ish ago but have this lil snippet I wrote up for it.

"Mav... we need help."

"What's wrong kiddo?"

"It's..... well it's more of an in person conversation. But I... we.... need you. Could you fly out this weekend?"

Mav quickly glances at his calender. "I can be there tonight. Just... are you ok? Grace ok?"

"Yea... yea. We're ok. I didn't mean to worry you. I just.... it'd be better if you were here."

"I'll call Sli see if he can get me on a plane in the next hour ok? I'll let ya know. But you know I'll always come if you need me B."

"I know." He can hear the relief in his kid's voice. And while he's still worried that Bradley's calling requesting his help, he's reassured that B says they're ok.

"I'll see you soon, Slugger."

#my writing #wip wednesday #baseball au #bradley rooster bradshaw fic #bradley rooster bradshaw #grace michelle smith #pete maverick mitchell #mav!dad fic #spicy x roo #bradley x grace

[callmemana]

Show Me How To Burlesque: Part 4- The Piano Man

Bradley Rooster Bradshaw x Grace Spicy Smith (OC)

🌸🦋☂️

Summary: Grace’s head is only down for a split second when she hears the piano from the stage getting played.

Spicy is about to call her son back, but the Piano Man waves her off and teaches Conner how to play the keys and her how to love again.

🚨warnings: single mom, inaccurate drink names and descriptions, deadbeat/no dad, cursing, allusions to smut no actual smut, inaccurate music keys/chords, chaos.🚨

A/N:

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Dragon’s Angels📻: @dragon-kazansky @mrsjaderogers @gracespicybradshaw @bayisdying @starlit-epiphany

🏷️ list:

#smhyb: p4 the piano man #series #grace spicy bradshaw #angst #rooster x spicy #callmemana #bradley rooster bradshaw #fluff #ron slider kerner #robert bob floyd #baylie lucky steele #bob x birdie #jade whiskey kerner #top gun fic #hangman x cinco #fanboy x lucky #slider x whiskey #omaha x mouse #top gun fandom #top gun au #neil omaha vikander #burlesque #burlesque au #alana cinco metcalf #mickey fanboy garcia #jake hangman seresin #raven mouse fischer #amanda birdie hallett #rachael dragon kazansky #tom iceman kazansky

[wqbytop150]

WQBY (the world of Q)

TOP150 For the week ending February 18, 2024

I Don't Wanna Worry --NEEDTOBREATHE - 1

Weak --Vintage Culture, Maverick Sabre, Tom Breu -3

Jet Plane --R3HAB, VIZE, JP Cooper -10

Never Be Friends --Jost, Mingue -4

Heart Still Beating --Nathan Dawe, Bebe Rexha -6

She's On My Mind --Romy -8

Anyone --Morgan Page -2

Dirty Desire --Vicetone -5

It's Love (If We Get It Right) --Anthony Russo -15

You're Hired --NEIKED, Ayra Starr -9

Close Your Eyes --Lucas Estrada, Tribbs, Stephen Puth -7

Both ---Tiesto, 21 Savage, BIA -18

Spicy Margarita --Jason Derulo, Michael Bublé -11

Graveyard --A R I Z O N A -13

Other Boys ---Marshmello, Dove Cameron -17

Feels Like Us --GT_OFICE, ALWY SNNY, Robbie Rosen -16

You --Svidden, Seeb -34

One On One --The Knocks, Sofi Tucker -14

Yes, And? --Ariana Grande -24

Reckless Child ---Milky Chance -19

All Fckd Up --Kapuzen -12

Waterslides --Tiesto, Rudimental, Absolutely -25

Kill Anyone --Two Feet, Ari Abdul -23

Kissing Strangers -USHER -150

Diamond Therapy --Diplo, Walker & Royce, Channel Tres -22

Bad Blood --Theresa Rex -20

***Weight Of The World --Bonnie & Clyde - (new)

Dark Skies -- A R I Z O N A -21

***Mr Useless --Shygirl, SG Lewis - (new)

Spend the Night --BJ the Chicago Kid, Coco Jones -26

I'll Be There --Robin Schulz, Rita Ora, Tiago PZK -28

U Miss Me --Vicetone -33

Dreamteam --Galantis, Neon Trees -35

More Baby --Chris Lake, Aluna -29

Easy --3LAU, XIRA -47

See You Again ---Vicetone, Anna Clendenning -38

Hangin' On --A R I Z O N A -43

AEIOU- --PNAU, Empire Of the Sun -36

Good In Goodbye ---Frank Walker, Trivecta -49

How Do I Say Goodbye --Adventure Club, Delaney Jane-41

Stress You --Lucas Estrada, SUPER Hi -37

Sorry Now - - A R I Z O N A -39

Wanna --Paul Dally -42

Flex --Tony Dark Eyes -63

Next Years Light --Elliot Moss -64

Go Off --Mike Candys -45

Lift Off ---Dombresky -58

Ohh LALA --Sasha GiGi, Idris Elba -44

Young & Foolish --Loud Luxury, Charlieonafriday -50

Strangers --Kenya Grace -40

Good Morning --Timmy Trumpet, Alie Farben, YOU -30

The Tower --Future Islands -48

Nevada --Vicetone, Cuzi Zuehisdorff -46

Fire --Alan Walker, YUQI, JVKE, (G)I-DLE -54

Summertime Friends --The Chainsmokers -133

Sweet Venom --ENHYPEN -57

Save My Love --Destiny Rogers -52

Tension --Kylie Minogue -53

<>Twisted --Laura Davidson -last on @#105 1.18.24

Body Moving --Eliza Rose, Calvin Harris -55

Cutting Loose --Disco Lines, J. Worra, Anabel Englund -27

No Reason --The Chemical Brothers (Chris Lake remix) -31

Rhythm Machine --Westend, Max Styler -32

One Last Dance --Imanbek, Ali Gatie -51

Fall Again --HAYLA -56

Heat Rising --Pete Tong, Jem Cooke, Jules Buckley -59

Run Free (Countdown) --Tiesto, R3HAB -60

Do You Feel It --VAMERO, Cyril M Mougleta -75

ADHD -Mae Stephens -71

Get Dirty --Return of the Jaded, Tommie Sunshine -61

Living In A Haze --Milky Chance -62

Triumph ---Bishop Briggs -68 [starts vocals]

Good For You --Dimitri Vegas, Chapter & Verse, Goodboys -87

Forever (Stay Like This)-- Armin Van Buuren -78

I Don't Remember --Walker & Royce, VNSSA -84

Dance Is The Answer --Dubdogs, RUBACK, Ticon, Raja Ram -74

High And I Like It --It's Murph, Eyalyn -103

Jaguar --Yaeger -65

Dizzy --Sick Individuals, LOUI LANE -66

Lullaby --Britti -67

Lie To Me -Jubel KIDDO -70

Sorry Ain't Enough --Michael Gerow -69

Missing You --Frank Walker, Nate Smith -83

I Got Time --Brittney Spencer -72

***Slide Out --Life On Planets -(new)

What Do You Do For A Living? I Do My Best --Iamnotshane -105

Lead Me On --FLETCHER -117

Everybody Knows I'm High --SHAED -107

No Man's Land --Marshmello, Venbee -76

Afterglow --Klangkarussell, GIVVEN -110

Alive --K-391 -111

***Follow You --Return Of the Jaded, MELLY OHH -(new)

One By One --Robin Schulz, Topic, Oaks -79

Waking Up --Felix Jaehn, Leony -77

Lonely Nights ---Papa Beats -112

Mas Que Nada --Oliver Heldens, Ian Asher, Sergio Mendez -73

Deep In Your Love --ALOK, Bebe Rexha -80

J Christ --Lil Nas X -81

Face To Face --Knnzie -82

Murder On The Dancefloor --Sophie Ellis-Bextor -85

Biggest Regret--Gorgon City, Bbyafricka -86

Dreaming ---Marshmello, Pink, Sting -86

Mirrors --Caravan Palace -90

Rebel --TVXQ -94

***Taking It Back--DJ MINX -(new)

No Strings ---X Ambassadors -100

Free Falling ---James Arthur -116

***Purple Irises --Gwen Stefani, Blake Shelton -(new)

***Come Right Back ---Morgan Page -(new)

Run ---ATB, Nu Aspect, Orem -91

Stop The Time --Zombic -93

Yard Sale --Alex Warren -95

Pull You Closer --Sistek, Sadie Rose Van -96

Drums ---James Hype, Kim Petras -97

Years --Just Us -98

Who I Am --Alan Walker, Putri Ariani, Peder Elias -99

Burnin' -Rinzen, Shallou -108

When I Wake Up --Lucas & Steve, Skinny Days -109

Maktub ---Gary Clark Jr. -118

The Thief --Future Islands -120

Beats For The Underground ---Mau P -121

Pick Me --Alec Benjamin -122

***Checking In -- for KIng & Country, Lee Brice -(new)

Superhero --AUDIEN -114

ME-- Steve Angello -102

***Loneliness ---Pet Shop Boys (Radio edit) - (new)

One Night/All Night --Justice, Tame Impala -115

Heart Pure --Grigore -130

***Give Me ---Will Clarke, BURNS -(new)

***Low Again ---Bakermat -(new)

Daydream --Will Swinton -127

***Lonely Dancers --Conan Gray - (new)

Untouchable --ITZY -101

Give It To Me --Lucky Luke -104

Alibi --Ella Henderson, Rudimental -106

Can't Get Enough --Jennifer Lopez -113 >>>

Lighthouse --Calum Scott -119 >>>

When We Die (Can We Still Get High) --Yungblood, Lil Yachy -123 >>>

Us --Steve Aoki f/ ERNEST -124 >>>

Hungover --John Summit, Mathame, Camden Cox -125 >>>

Overdrive ---Ofenbach, Norma Jean Marine -126 >>>

Disco En Egypte --Bon Entendeur -128 >>>

Falling Behind --Sultan + Shepard -129 >>>

***Take A Moment --ATB, David Frank - (new)

***All Of You --Mees Salome, ALLKNIGHT - (new) >>>

***Somethings Gonna Workout ---Jai Piccone, 1tbsp - (new)

***Pictures Of You --Anyma -(new)

***Never Be Lonely ---Jax Jones, Zoe Wees -(new)

***I'm One Of the Rest --TALK -(new)

<>You Can Have It ---Kungs, Victor Flash -[last on @#117 2.4.24] >>>

<> re-entry on chart / *** new on chart / >>>off chart next week

18 NEW on the Chart this week... #027 Weight Of The World #029 Mr. Useless #085 Slide Out #092 Follow You #105 Takin It Back #108 Purple Irises #109 Come Right Back #123 Checking In #126 Loneliness #129 Give Me #120 Low Again #132 Lonely Dancers [ #144 Take A Moment [2.2.24] #145 All Of You #146 Somethings Gonna Workout #147 Pictures Of You #148 Never Be Lonely #149 I'm One Of The Rest

#alwayshappymusic

[splendidmoments]

Ten books I've read and loved

Here's ten books I've read and loved:

Drawn Together by Aline Kominsky Crumb and Robert Crumb

Love That Bunch by Aline Kominsky-Crumb

Hot Comb by Ebony Flowers

Sister Gumbo: Spicy Vignettes From Black Women on Life, Sex, and Relationships by Ursula Inga Kindred and Mirranda Guerin-Williams

Mister Gumbo: Down and Dirty with Black Men on Life, Sex, and Relationships by Ursula Inga Kindred and Mirranda Guerin-Williams

Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival, & Hope in an American City by Andrea Elliott

The Sex Lives of African Woman: Self-Discovery, Freedom, and Healing by Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah

Jerry Dantzic: Billie Holiday at Sugar Hill: with a reflection by Zadie Smith by Jerry Dantzic and Grayson Dantzic

Longing to Tell: Black Women's Stories of Sexuality and Intimacy by Tricia Rose

I'll Never Write My Memoirs by Grace Jones

#honestwomen #hardcover #softcover #reading #books & libraries #books and literature #blackwomen #jewishwoman

[dustedmagazine]

Blue Reality Quartet — Ella’s Island (Mahakala Music)

Ella's Island by Blue Reality Quartet

In 2021, this double-winds-and-double-percussion quartet dropped a really beautiful and introspectively rich debut. They’re following it up with an album matching that inaugural statement in color and intensity serving some sweet and swinging compositional goodness.

Two-thirds of the redoubtable and much-lamented Trio X are here again, as Joe McPhee and Jay Rosen are joined by Warren Smith and Michael Marcus. The quartet’s dynamic and timbral palette encompasses the entire sweet-to-hot spectrum, especially spicy as they tear into the brief but earth-shaking “Never-ending Worlds.” Rosen is especially fiery, his usual rhythmic acumen ablur in cymbal wash and snare snap, among other unmentionables. Go to the album’s other bookend, the elusive and spaciously impressive “Ethereal Spirits Divine.” Events unfold with serial grace, beginning with sustaining bell evocations and Warren Smith’s always gorgeous vibes before the saxophonists unfurl, separately and then in tandem, the tune’s slowly evolving melodies to Rosen’s malleted percussion.

For palate cleansers, we get some smaller group configurations, like the saxophone, flute and percussion trio of “Low and Slow” or the more swinging and somewhat dissonant “Buttercup,” a dedication to Bud Powell featuring saxophone duo and drums. Even more intriguing is “This Here Ain’t Nothin’ but the Blues,” in which McPhee provides the percussive ostinato to Marcus’ often pentatonic flute and Smith’s shimmering chordal accompaniment. Speaking of those vibes, one of the album’s standout tracks is “Wis Vibrations,” a vibraphone solo that grabs hold of single tones, dyads and more complex harmonies, juxtaposing them with the breathtaking pedal work Smith makes happen so often and with such precision.

As with the group’s debut, a major component of this new disc’s success is the production. Rosen’s bass drum booms with often quiet but definite authority. That is not to say that the rest of his kit suffers; it doesn’t, and his mallets are caught in particularly vivid technicolor. McPhee’s tenor rushes and roars its richly overtonal way through “The Beginning of Time,” a perfect complement to Marcus’ clarinet. Every instrument is captured with a clarity that provides detail without fatigue, no mean feat on the production end of things. The various smaller configurations are particularly successful, placing those radically different quartet offerings in stark relief. The album is a unified statement attesting to collaborative listening and excellent musicianship as they coexist in a less than conventional musical environment.

Marc Medwin

#blue reality #ella's island #mahakala music #marc medwin #albumreview #dusted magazine #jazz #joe mcphee #jay rosen #warren smith #michael marcus #trio x #bud powell

[irvinenewshq]

A Key Second on Final Night times Home of the Dragon Was Improvised

Screenshot: HBO As this season of Home of the Dragon units up the wars to return, a sense of peace is briefly granted to the ailing King Viserys (Paddy Considine) in “The Lord of the Tides.” For the primary time in years, his whole household descends on King’s Touchdown to grapple over management of Driftmark—leading to some, uh, spicy moments blended with one thing virtually as surprising: earnest grace. These moments performed out spontaneously, in accordance with episode director Geeta Patel, who spoke in regards to the sequence to Leisure Weekly. Within the scene, we see Daemon (Matt Smith) serving to his brother Viserys up the steps to his throne, which the king permits regardless that he needed to combat by way of the ache of his situation to make his approach on his personal. “Daemon helps Viserys up the steps to the throne ‘trigger Viserys is so weak, he can’t make it himself,” Patel defined. “First, a soldier comes as much as Viserys, and Viserys shakes him away and says, ‘No, no, no. I can do that myself.’ He has the delight. After which one other particular person involves him and he thinks it’s a soldier and it’s truly his brother. Once we had been taking pictures that, the crown fell off of Paddy’s head and Matt picked it up and we simply stored going. We didn’t cease [filming]. There was a discovery there of this second,” in what grew to become the most shifting scene in final evening’s episode. Screenshot: HBO Patel continued that after that spontaneous take, she talked to Considine and Smith about retaining it, “They had been like, ‘We felt this. This felt just like the turning level in our relationship.’ It’s only a silent second. After which we thought to ourselves, ‘Now we have the dinner developing the place Daemon’s gonna then give a speech. Are we gonna undercut that second?’ We determined to shoot it each methods with the crown falling off and with the crown not falling off.” Finally, the silent second proved extra impactful. “Each time the crown fell off, all of us simply caught our breath and on the identical time we thought, ‘Will we’ve anyplace to go by the point we get to the dinner?’ And humorous sufficient, within the edit we found that the second was truly the crown falling off, in my thoughts not less than.” Smith’s dinner speech as Daemon ended up being reduce for time however Patel clarified, “It was extra of an aftermath second. It was extra in regards to the dinner when Daemon provides that speech, there’s too many individuals within the room virtually for that to be the emotional second. I used to be so grateful that accident occurred, that the crown fell off as a result of it proved to be, not less than for me, fairly a heavy second and fairly a turning level for a storyline that had began within the pilot: Hey, I need your crown and by the top right here I’m gonna put the crown again in your head and I’m gonna provide help to to your throne.” Home of the Dragon airs Sundays on HBO and HBO Max. Need extra io9 information? Try when to anticipate the most recent Marvel and Star Wars releases, what’s subsequent for the DC Universe on movie and TV, and all the pieces it’s worthwhile to learn about Home of the Dragon and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Energy. Originally published at Irvine News HQ

#Irvine News HQ

[lurvlurvlurv]

What I'm Currently Reading...

a shit ton of Mina Carter, Grace Goodwin, Dianne Duvall, S.E. Smith, Nancey Cummings and Amanda Bouchet aka spicy alien romance.

it just how it be lately.

any other sci fi romance recommendations?

#sci fi & fantasy #science fantasy #aliens #romance novels #currently reading #books

[sabraeal]

Consider: Obi is green-red color blind

A Color by Any Other Name

Written for @aeroplaneblues for a surprise birthday gift! Many months ago she mentioned wanted to see a colorblind Obi, and I said, WELL WHAT A GOOD EXCUSE TO WRITE THIS PROMPT JOANNA GAVE ME. I hope your birthday is a good one, filled with a lot more nice surprises!

“Are you ever going to introduce me to your guard friends?” Suzu asks around a mouthful of dumpling. “Or are you embarrassed?”

To say Obi is unprepared, would be an understatement; there’s a pork bun lodged between his teeth, his gloves not only coated in pig grease but also far less effective against steam than he’d thought they’d be back when he’d just grabbed a plump little blob off the stall. He’d laughed off Suzu’s concerns about protective equipment; after all, if smiths use leather gloves, they’ve got to be just as good as an oven mitt.

They aren’t. Not to mention the roof of his mouth starting to have a real good think about peeling off and having a vacation. Maybe even with someone who doesn’t eat entire dumplings straight from the basket.

“Wha?” he manages eloquently, nearly drooling spicy meat drippings onto the street.

“I know I’m not cool like they are,” Suzu continues, warming to his new thesis. If his sudden flush of confidence is any measure, he’s spent more of time composing his arguments for this than Obi’s ever seen him work on his actual defense. “And I’m no good with a sword. Or fists. Or really any implement that isn’t a scalpel, and any opponent that isn’t already anesthetized. But I am very smart.”

There’s a thoughtful pause before Suzu adds, “Some people do enjoy that, you know.”

What Obi knows is that this kid tried this conversation on for size in front of Yuzuri, and she didn’t even bother to warn him as a courtesy. See if he buys her any more meat-on-sticks when she’s ‘left her purse in the lab’ now.

“That’s not--” he takes a hurried minute to swallow-- “not what’s happening. I didn’t...”

Even know you knew I didn’t work for the pharmacy. His teeth clamp shut around that winner, and its friend, I didn’t think you lot would want to hang out with a bunch of men without degrees. Not only would that encourage Suzu to make a scene right here, right now, but if it got back to Jirou-- well, if he thought Suzu could turn any day into a disaster, the lieutenant would make that seem like a vacation.

“I didn’t think you wanted to,” he settles on instead. Similar enough in feel, if...creatively edited. “You scholar types tend to flock together.”

“Well, sure,” Suzu murmurs, stymied, “but we’re friends too, aren’t we? If all my friends are your friends, then all your friends should be my friends.”

Only an academic could talk about arithmetic with that amount of confidence, especially the kind that involved transitive properties and letters, and all sorts of things that made Obi’s head spin.

“Well,” he hums, one boot scratching his calf. “You would know.”

Suzu whirls on him, staring down his long fox-snout of a nose. “You mean it? You’ll really...?”

“Sure. If that’s what you want.” He twitches his shoulders, more casual than he feels. “It’s fine if it’s you.”

There’s always been a lazy lilt to Suzu’s eyes, but it disappears now, all the sleepiness gone to surprise. “Me? You wouldn’t want to bring anyone else?”

“Well, definitely not Kazaha.” The glares he’d get bringing that twiggy pedant into the guardhouse might be enough to drop him dead on the spot. “And Yuzuri would be too popular.”

Suzu grimaces. “The number of admirers she’d get from a wink alone...she’d be unlivable.”

He can see it now, her ponytail bobbing with a buoyant glee, giggling through every painstaking penned line from her fan club-- “Think of all the bad poetry.”

“Honestly, that might make it worth it. At least I’ll feel better about not knowing the difference between a quartet and a quatrain.” Suzu takes a thoughtful bite of him bun. “And you couldn’t bring Shirayuki, of course.”

“Right.” Not a one of them could be trusted to keep their lips sealed; she’d hardly have to take a breath and someone would call her Obi’s lady, or ask how they met, or whether she’s still Mistress behind closed doors--

But Suzu wouldn’t know any of that. “Wait, why?”

“Well...” He has the grace to look chagrined about it, whatever it is. “You know. Her hair...?”

“Oh.” Obi shrugs. “Sure, I guess.”

“You guess?” Suzu stares. “Shirayuki has a non-zero amount of stories about being kidnapped for looking like a candied apple, and you guess there might be a fuss about bringing her ‘round to the guardhouse?”

“Well, none of you acted weird about it,” he snips, hiding his annoyance behind a bite of dumpling. “There’s no reason they will.”

“Of course no one at Lilias acted weird, Obi!” he squawks, arms flailing as he talks. “You couldn’t pay them to look at anything but their own project. But when a bunch of normal men with eyes and, uh, other working appendages see a cute girl with red hair and a soft voice, they’re gonna go crazy!”

His palm hooks around his shoulder, thumb digging into the hard knot at his collarbone. “Aw, come on. It’s not that special.”

“Not that--?” Suzu whips around, eyes round as dumplings. “Obi, she’s the only person I’ve ever seen with red hair.”

“You don’t get out much,” Obi deadpans. “No offense.”

“That’s not--” Suzu grunts, throwing up his hands-- “She’s the only person anyone’s ever seen with red hair!”

“Her dad’s is kind of red.” That observation wins him an unimpressed look, one that says you’re missing the point. “And Yuzuri had blue hair when I met her. That’s way more interesting--”

“It was dyed!” Suzu wobbles over to a wall, sitting with his head in his hands. “Shirayuki has a hair color so rare that the birth records in Clarines haven’t noted it in more than fifty years! And you think Yuzuri dying her hair with woad is more impressive.”

“Well, even her natural color is brighter than Miss’s. Not--” he waves a hand between them, quelling-- “that Miss’s hair isn’t nice enough. But I’d think that people would pay more attention to that.”

“...Brighter?” Suzu murmurs after a long moment, stilted. “Obi, could you tell me what color that sign is, right over there?”

“The one for the tea shop?” He wrinkles his nose. “Why--?”

“Just...indulge me for a moment.”

“All right.” He squints up at the moon cresting over a wolf’s head. “Blue.”

“Right, and, um, that coat over there.”

“Yellow.”

“Right.” Suzu’s voice is tight, stressed. “And what I’m wearing?”

Obi squints. This one’s a little harder, but he’s confident when he says, “Green.”

“Ah, right.” Suzu stands, a unsteady on his feet. “That would explain that, then.”

Obi blinks. “Explain what?”

“Obi,” Suzu begins, with all the gravitas of both a grim prognosis and a terrible joke. “You can’t see colors.”

*

It’s not the first time Obi’s played hound to his prey’s fox, but there’s something distinctly unsettling about it being Suzu that leaves him lagging behind, unsure of himself. Especially with the way he scurries through the concourse, bounding toward the mess hall with this idea caught between his teeth like chicken feathers.

“I can see colors just fine,” Obi informs him with far less confidence than he’d like. “Some of them are just hard to tell apart. Weren’t you and Yuzuri arguing yesterday about whether salmon is orange or pink?”

Suzu waves a hand at him, dismissive. “That’s different. Salmon’s both orange and pink, and what color it looks most like has to do with the composition of your eye-- and it’s pink by the way, with orange undertones--”

Between the two of them, Obi knows who he’d trust to know their colors. “Uh-huh.”

“You can’t make out red and green, which is different entirely, and--” the doors to the mess burst open beneath his hands, a noise lost in the din of a hundred scholars trying to share the same table-- “YOU GUYS WON’T BELIEVE WHAT I JUST FOUND.”

The whole of Shidan’s lab-- minus the man himself-- have taken up right by the door, bags and coats piled to save them their places on the bench. Suzu makes short work of the pile on his seat, haphazardly shoving them to the floor as he sits.

Kazaha peers at him and ventures mildly, “A new way to avoid finishing your thesis?”

“No,” Suzu hums between his grit teeth, “but I have found out--”

“I don’t think we need to do this,” Obi murmurs, handing Miss her muffler. “It’s not--”

“Obi,” he intones with far more gravitas than his name has ever strictly deserved, “can’t see colors.”

“Not at all?” Kazaha turns those sharp eyes to him, like he’s a specimen under glass. “Just black and white?”

“I can see just fine,” Obi huffs, tossing Yuzuri her coat before he slides onto the bench, knee knocking into Miss’s in a way that puts his heart through its paces. “Suzu is just making a mountain out of a molehill.”

“Is that so?” he hums with a grin. “Then what color is Shirayuki’s hair?”

He stifles a sigh. It’s best to put all this to bed now, before he’s stuck playing what’s this color for the next two years. “Red.”

“What’s the point of this?” Yuzuri yawns, already bored. Obi shoots her a grateful look, glad that at least one of them isn’t going to play Suzu’s game.

It’s too bad he’s already puffed up with unearned confidence, like an evolutionist at a botany lecture. “And what’s the color of Ryuu’s cloak?”

He knows it by heart-- how could he not, when the two most important people in this city wear matching ones-- but still Obi glances up, anticipating a trick. Ryuu stares back, confused and guileless. “Blue.”

“Great, good.” Suzu’s grin stretches from ear to ear. “Now what color is your scarf?”

Obi’s fingers knot in the fabric, the weft tickling the pads of his fingers. “Well, it’s...sort of reddish, isn’t it?”

This is the wrong answer.

“It makes so much sense,” Yuzuri murmurs in wonder. “You really don’t know how ugly Suzu’s outfits are. That’s why you still hang out with him.”

“Hey!” Suzu pouts. “That’s not very nice.”

“No, that has nothing to do with color, it’s the cut.” Anxiety spikes through him. “But wait, it is red isn’t it? My scarf?”

“No,” Miss murmurs at his side, cheeks flushes. “Obi, it’s...it’s green.”

He stares down at it, trying to imagine what that might look like. “Green.”

“It looks very nice on you!” Her small fingers wrapping in the fur at his elbow. “It’s your color, really.”

“Oh, sure,” he murmurs, faint. “I guess it matches my eyes.”

“Hey, what do you mean ‘it has nothing to do with the color?’“ Suzu’s hands fly to his hips, brows drawn tight over the long line of his nose. “My clothes are just fine.”

“They aren’t.” Obi leans in next to him, grin feeling thinner than it should. “But I hang out with you anyway, which means you know we’re really friends.”

Kazaha rubs at his chin, where his ode to Shidan’s goatee is failing to thrive. “You know what this also explains?”

Obi blinks. “What?”

“All the black.”

It’s not Kazaha that says it, oh no. That would be too merciful for a mortifying moment out of his life. Instead it’s low and feminine, and when Miss Kiki leans out from the other side of Miss, it’s like a siren emerging from the depths, teeth bared to tear a man to shreds. “What an interesting thing I’ve learned today.”

“Miss Kiki! How--?” He gulps. “Why--?”

“I came to deliver a message from Wirant,” she drawls, too pleased. “And it seems I’ve earned myself a fine tip.”

“No,” he breathes. “You can’t-- you’re not going to tell Master, are you? Or Sir?”

“Oh,” she hums, looking particularly hungry for manflesh. “I certainly will.”

*

“Oh, there there.” Miss pats his back, the sensation lost among the dozen layers of clothing between them. “I’m sure Kiki won’t tell them, not until you’re ready! You asked her not to.”

“I think that just means,” Obi mutters, voice muffled by his arms and the wall he’s throwing himself over, “that she’ll just enjoy telling them more.”

“Ah...” He doesn’t need to see her to know her grimace. “Yes, that’s...probably right.”

He lets out a heavy, dramatic sigh. It helps a little. So does a bit of flailing.

“They won’t make a big deal out of it,” Miss says, changing tack. “It hardly changes anything! I’m sure they’ll just forget as soon as she tells them.”

He peeps one eye over his elbow. “That’s easy for you to say, you haven’t spent the last half an hour playing What’s That Color.”

“Well,” she wheedles, “they are scholars.”

Obi groans, loud and long, which doesn’t help; but it echoes out over the rooftops, returning back to him, which does.

“How...?”

Miss hesitates, a gloved finger pressed to her lips. He sighs, already braced for the onslaught-- how didn’t you know? how did you go so long without knowing your colors? how do you find people if you can’t even tell what hair color they have--?

“How did you notice?”

Obi lifts his head, unblinking. “What?”

“How did you notice?” Miss repeats, more firmly this time. “You’ve spent your whole life this way, haven’t you? It must have taken something really special to realize there was more than what you see.”

“Uh.” It’s nice that it’s darker here, that it’s cold. He has perfect legitimate reasons to be flushed. “Well, it was Suzu really. He mentioned that--” his teeth clamp down around his words, not letting them out without a hasty edit-- “that people think your hair’s pretty special, and I said I didn’t get why...”

Miss stiffens beside him, a statue that breathes, and he hastily adds, “Not that you aren’t special, Miss. It’s just, the red...”

“Right.” The words comes out stilted, strange. “You can’t see it. You actually...haven’t ever seen it.”

A silence settles on them like a wool blanket; not one of those nice ones at the castle, or the fleecy ones Miss stockpiles like one day the North might run out of sheep, but the itchy, coarse-woven ones of his childhood. Uncomfortable and smelling faintly of animal.

“So,” he coughs, fixing his gaze out over the city. “What did Kiki want?”

“Oh...” Miss shifts, mouth pulling into a guilty grimace. “She came to tell me that the Queen Dowager has invited me to dinner. Tomorrow night.”

His brows raise. “Well, well.”

“Don’t,” she murmurs, head giving the barest shake. “It’s not like that.”

“Are you sure?” He shouldn’t press, but if he doesn’t, no one else will. “After you told Master--”

“I told him a list of reasons why I thought I would be a better ally as a friend, and not as a...” Miss loses steam, letting her words sigh into the air. “I’d like to believe this has to do with my work with Phostyrias.”

He watches her, careful. “But do you?”

“I don’t know,” she says, which is as good as any no.

*

Obi’s barely stepped into the Protector’s solar when Master asks, “What color is my jacket?”

His head swivels, delivering a glare so flat carpets would be jealous. Miss Kiki only hums, shoulder lifting in a disinterested shrug. “I said I was going to tell them.”

Fair enough.

“It’s blue,” he deadpans, flopping onto the cushiest divan. He’s too long for it, his boots spilling off one arm a idling over the floor. “Apparently I can see that one just fine.”

According to Miss, at least; she’d unearthed a slip of a book from the university’s library, outlining the limits of his sight. Little Ryuu had pored over it for a day before showing up at his door, flushed faced and nervous.

Garrack always told me I had nice eyes, he’d admitted, lingering at the threshold. I was hoping you could see them.

Cross as he is about the whole thing, Obi can’t regret that. He might not have Miss’s hair, or Suzu’s coat-- thankfully-- but Ryuu’s eyes would always look true to him.

“But not red.” Master’s mouth twitches, far too entertained. “Or green.”

“I do see them,” he protests. “They just...don’t look very different to me.”

Just another shade of yellow and brown, if those books are right. Which they are, since he’d always thought so. Subtly different, like the way Suzu and Yuzuri fought over salmon, or Master and Miss Kiki would dither over chartreuse. Just enough that he’d been able to eke by on keeping his mouth shut and a fondness for black.

Still, there’s nothing worse than finding out something new about yourself this late in the game. Especially when--

“What about the curtains?” Master inquires. “Can you see those?”

--Especially when it’s so endlessly entertaining to everyone else. “I can see them,” he grumbles, sinking further into the cushions. “Just because I can’t see some colors doesn’t mean I’m blind.”

“Then what about the note?”

Obi rolls his gaze to where Sir perches at his desk. “Huh?”

“To our red-haired guest.” Sir coughs, a flush working its way up his neck. “It’s just-- you wrote that.”

“Oh, His Grace told me that one.” A lifetime ago, it seemed. “‘The red-haired girl, you’ll know her when you see her, I’m sure.’“

Master winces. Obi can admit his talent doesn’t lie with impressions, especially ones of dour old men.

“Right,” Sir presses, voice oddly tight. “But you don’t see-- I mean, how could you find a girl that looks just like everyone else?”

“Ah...” He grimaces, scrubbing at the top of his head. “Well, I just looked for the girl who didn’t belong. It--” he hesitates, suddenly aware of Master’s eyes on him-- “didn’t take very long.”

Master’s frown belongs above one of those prie-dieu, to remind penitents that forgiveness isn’t absolute. “What is that supposed to--?”

“So what does she look like?” No one could say that after a decade of dedication, Miss Kiki doesn’t know how to do her job; she deflects Master’s brewing sour mood with the ease of a professional. “What does her hair look like to you?”

“Uh.” He clears his throat, tugging at his collar. “I wasn’t lying when I said I bought my scarf to match...”

There is a stillness to the room that is too much, too pitiful. Much as he hated it, Obi would much rather be a joke than a charity case.

“Huh,” Sir grunts, gaze still fixed to his neck. “Now I wonder what we all look like to you.”

“Well, I sort of wonder what you all look like to yourselves.” Obi let a sigh float wistfully through his lips. “At least I know that me and Miss still have the same eyes.”

There’s silence again, but this one buzzes, filled with words no one dares to say.

“What?” he laughs, nervous, pulling himself upright. “Don’t we?”

Sir grimaces. “Ah, Obi...”

*

Miss is quiet when they walk the walls home that night, the winter stillness making the silence and heavy as any drift. Her mouth is pursed, not with anything like anger, but something closer to consideration. As if there’s words back there she’s sorting through, trying to compose a thought that just won’t come.

Well, she should know: she won’t get anywhere if she doesn’t air a few of them out to look at. “Something wrong, Miss?”

She blinks, shaken out from wherever she gone away. Her mind palace, maybe. Suzu’d told him about those once, with busts and painting and curtained alcoves. What she’d do with a place like that, he couldn’t imagine, but if anyone asked, he’d put his money on hers having apothecary drawers instead, and gardens too. The kind with half crumbled walls, ivies curled around every stone. Cluttered desks piled high with books, and one of them with curtain drawn to let its owner nap the afternoon away.

“Oh,” she breathes, finally. “No, no. Nothing’s, um, wrong. I was just...thinking.”

He lifts a knowing brow. “So something is wrong.”

“That’s not what I said,” she informs him, primly. “I was going over my meeting with Haruto, and...”

Her lips snap shut around the words, distress narrowing her eyes. “And...?”

“She didn’t know about my work,” Miss huffs, arms wrapping tight around her chest. “Or, she did, but only what Zen had told her. Which...”

Was far less than the whole of it. He’d heard that part of her argument that night, try as he might not to. “So she invited you as Zen’s ally?”

“No.” The word is colder than any he’s ever heard fall from her lips. “That I wouldn’t mind-- I’m still trying to be his ally, after all, and if she saw me as an asset...” She shook her head. “No, she wanted to meet his...paramour, even if she didn’t say as much.”

Obi grimaces.

“And even that wouldn’t be so bad if...” Miss took a deep, steeling breath. “When I came in, after all the curtsies and pleasantries, she said, your hair is just as red as he said it was.” Her knuckles are white where they wrap around her elbows. “All those years, all those letters, and the only thing he thinks to tell his mother is that my hair...”

The rest is lost in a sigh, a cloud of mist swirling off the wall.

“It must really be something,” Obi deadpans, gaze following it off the edge. “Since it makes all these people forget how smart you are.”

She’s watching him; he can feel it as she sidles up to where he stands, hands unclenching from her arms and splaying on the crenellations instead. “Obi, you really can’t...?”

Miss hesitates, falls silent. He lets her; she’s put enough words in the air to sort through, and now all she needs is time. Obi’s happy to give it to her.

Especially since there’s a rabbit down there in the dark. A small one, moving slow, hind legs churning like clockwork winding up. It’s nose digs into the snow, snuffling around, searching--

“Can you really see better?” Miss asks, startling him back to the wall. “In the dark, I mean. That book said you could.”

“Well, after the past couple days, I’m a little shaky on what’s normal.” He jerks his chin over the edge. “Can you see the rabbit down there? Right by that sapling?”

She blinks, pressing in close. “The what? It’s just...dark out there.”

“Well,” he says, grin tight on his lips. “There’s your answer.”

Miss settles back on her heels, one hand already cupping her chin. “It makes sense. Without the distraction of color, your movement tracking must be much more acute...”

Obi only half-manages to stifle a laugh. “Seems like it definitely distracts everyone else.”

Miss goes quiet; almost too quiet, enough to make his teeth sit on edge. The seconds tick by, and Obi might play at patience, but it’s not in his nature. He glances down, just from the corners of his eyes, but Miss is already watching him, eyes strangely shuttered.

“Obi,” she says, so clear his name rings in his ears. “You don’t...? My hair, it’s not...” Her mouth works, quiet, before she manages, “It’s not anything to you?”

Anything special, she means. Because that’s what he said so stupidly last night, nothing special.

She’d tied it up tonight, finagling the strange looping knots that were partial to the queen’s court, but already some of it’s worn loose, slipping from its pins. “It is,” he murmurs. “I like it.”

She huffs, unimpressed. “But you can’t see it, not really.”

“Of course I can see it,” he laughs, weary. “Maybe not the color, but that’s fine. I like it because it’s yours.”

She ducks her head, and Obi might not be good at colors, but he can see her cheeks flush in the lamplight.

“Miss.” Her gaze lifts to his, no longer shuttered, just full. “Can I ask you something?”

Her breath catches. “Anything.”

“Be straight with me,” he pleads. “We do have the same eye color right?”

*

“Obi!” Miss‘s laughter bubbles bright with betrayal as she hops down the stairs after him. “Obi, please--”

“Let me grieve, Miss,” he grumbles, hands shoved in his pockets. “I’ve been a real champ about the rest, but let me have this.”

“Obi!” She catches him round the wrist, mouth twitching as she turns to him. “Is it really so bad that they’re gold?”

“No,” he mutters sullenly, shoulders slumped enough that with two stairs between them, they’re nearly the same height. “It’s just...”

Her eyes flutter wide with curiosity. “Just...?”

“It’s fine enough that they’re unique.” He spits the word with more venom than it deserves. “I just I wanted this one thing in common.”

“In common?” Miss blinks. “You mean, me and...?”

Obi would lay down his life for his mistress, but even she can’t ask him to do this, to lay down his pride for her to walk on.

“Oh!” She flusters, limbs fluttering in the air between them. He’s half-tempted to turn away again, but she grabs his face and holds him steady, her cold, slender fingers caught behind his jaw. “Just-- just one moment...”

“Miss?” he wheezes. This is entirely too close, too much--

“Yes!” He breath flutters over his lips, her own parting in a celebration of teeth. “That’s it. I see it. There’s a little, right there.”

He blinks. “A little what, Miss?”

Her teeth flash around the word, “Green.”

It’s cruel to throw a starving dog a bone, but he snaps it up anyway, heart nearly clogging up his throat with hope. “D’you mean it? You’re not just saying that to make me feel better.”

“Really,” she promises, her nod serious and officious as any she might give Little Ryuu. “There’s a thread, right around the middle. Green. Just like mine.”

“Oh.” His own hands raise, leather muting the feel of her skin, but-- Master always told him about the red thread that bound him and Miss together, that drew them toward their fated meeting, but this-- Obi will take this too. “Thank you, Miss.”

She smiles, eyes shining bright in the lamplight. “No, Obi, it’s my pleasure.”

Not much different between green and red to him, anyway.

#obiyuki #akagami no shirayukihime #snow white with the red hair #my fic #ans #this request has been sitting in my box since 2017 #when i FIRST started joking about this au #and i always meant to get around to it #but obviously my last few years have been filled with some things that have perhaps kept me #from being able to do all the things I meant to 🤣 #but once Anne brought this up again #I knew i had a very good excuse to finally get this thing out in the world #AND HERE IT IS #it takes place some amount of time after the current arc

[aegonbeingfakeisracist]

I’ve been looking at parallels between Arianne and Sansa while I’m working on a meta and one of my favorites is this. “Arianne was loved in Dorne, Quentyn little known. No company of sellswords could change that.” ‘"I will remember, Your Grace," said Sansa, though she had always heard that love was a surer route to the people's loyalty than fear. If I am ever a queen, I'll make them love me.” That both understand the importance of love and are both naturally lovable, charming people.

Definitely.

One of the things I find cool about Arianne is that she can be used to gain insight into so many different characters. Sansa, for sure, but also Arya. Cersei. Brienne. Margaery. She fills such an interesting part of this world. (Disclaimer: I have been writing this over the course of many days and not getting anywhere, and I’ve finally started actually getting somewhere after having eaten some tortilla chips with very spicy salsa and drunk some sweet red wine, which is a weird and kind of delicious combination, and while I think I’m making sense, maybe I’m not, at all.)

Arianne is, I think, one of the biggest reminders we have that this whole ~feminine, masculine thing that we’re constantly talking about is a false dichotomy. What does it even mean to be one of those things? Gender norms are changeable. Being uncomfortable with societal expectations of women do not a masculine character make. That whole issue is extremely complicated and entangled with a lot of fandom issues when it comes to Sansa and Arya - I’m not going to get into that conversation, because I could talk about that for a long time all on its own, and I’d probably make many people mad at me - so I think it’s very important to acknowledge Arianne, because she doesn’t really belong in that division. She’s not feminine nor masculine nor even gender nonconforming. She’s just Arianne. And the reason she can just be Arianne is because the setting she’s in and cultural context she’s a part of allows her to be her without questioning it.

Preteen Arianne was more awkward than beautiful. As far as we know, her interests didn’t line up with either Sansa’s or Arya’s. She played Westerosi chicken in the pools and read what I can only assume are fictionalized histories about Princess Nymeria. She’s been allowed the freedom to decide who she is and what she’s interested in on her own, rather than being restricted and confined to a role without a choice in the matter. As a child, she played with both the highborn and the lowborn - the daughters of Lord Fowler and the daughter of a smith. Her closest friends were people not of her social class - Tyene, her bastard cousin; Garin, a random commoner; Sylva and Drey, who seem to be part of the landed gentry/untitled nobility. These are friendships she’s retained into adulthood. It’s her friendship with these seemingly unimportant and overlooked people that leads to her learning about Quentyn leaving Dorne. It’s this friendship that allows her to get Cedra on her side. That childhood, exposed as she was to so many different kinds of people - her bastard cousins with their wide range of skills and interests, children both highborn and lowborn, ladies and knights and people doing all kinds of important work to keep Sunspear running, her father and maester arguing science with a septon - allowed her to grow up into someone with sharp political instincts; an ability to respect, appreciate, and make use of people with a wide variety of skills; and a level of ease when it comes to interacting with a wide range of people that very few others in the series have. It led to her being very, very comfortable with who she is, no matter what she’s doing.

When Arianne chooses her clothing as an adult, it’s practical or to make a statement, not out of any real interest in fabrics or fashion - she wears a veil in the desert to keep the sand out of her eyes, she wears simple clothing to meet with Doran, and so on. She’s not a fighter, but she’s very physically capable - she knows the desert as well as Darkstar, can tell they’re almost at their destination because she sees a hawk, and can vault back into her saddle after a long day’s ride at a moment’s notice. She considers marriage something she’d “accepted”, rather than something she’d ever wanted in the same way Sansa did or something she doesn’t really have an opinion on yet, like Arya. Her only thought about children is a brief thought that if she and Darkstar wed, theirs would be beautiful. She’s equally comfortable interacting with princesses and serving girls. She is a woman. She has no interest in not being a woman. She’s comfortable with herself - so much so that how she performs gender is straight up not relevant, especially because the Dornish value traits and attributes in their leaders in a very gender neutral way. And so because of this - her disinterest in either conforming to gender norms or flouting them - she ends up in this fascinating place where all kinds of different girls and women, with a wide range of personalities, skills, and interests, would look up to or envy her. When I look at a lot of these different characters, it seems like Arianne is who they could grow up to be or could have grown up to be in a different universe. Because of this, Arianne makes the clear case of why rigid societal expectations are harmful and limit potential, class stratification is detrimental to both individuals and society as a whole, and that no interests should be considered either more feminist or more feminine than others.

The first relevant example is, of course, Sansa and Arya. Arianne bridges the gap between them - and, indeed, other female characters - in a way that highlights their similarities and differences. This is a simplification of it, but in broad terms, Sansa is better when it comes to interacting with others in the context of noble society and Arya is better at improvising outside of that context and connecting with strangers. Arianne, though? She’s not like Sansa or Arya, she’s like Sansa and Arya. She fits somewhere between them, with a unique set of skills and strengths. Like Sansa, she understands the importance of love for political purposes, is capable of charming people (which is actually interesting if looked at in the context of how Sansa once notes that Cersei charms people and hates her for it, but that’s another thing), and has learnt how best to interact with other members of the nobility in order to get the outcomes she’s looking for. Like Arya, she makes friends easily with all kinds of people and likes being around them while still feeling lonely and isolated. And that’s interesting, because I feel like in some ways, both Sansa and Arya are moving towards being a little more like Arianne - an active character that’s knows who she is and is comfortable with that, someone with enough power in her own right that she’s gained through making friends and building an information network to achieve her goals. At the beginning of the series, Sansa is essentially the book smart one while Arya is the street smart one. They both learn more of the other’s skills throughout their arcs - Sansa learns more about interacting with people, Arya learns languages and how to fit into any environment. I think there’s an argument to be made that their arcs are, in part, about bringing them closer together and making them more similar. Their physical paths diverged, and their arcs are to different goals, too, but in terms of their character growth? I think they’re becoming more similar, not more different, and in spirit, I think they’re becoming just a little closer to Arianne. Arianne is the kind of person Sansa could grow up to be, but she’s also someone that Arya could admire and look up to - and yes, become kind of similar to.

It’s not just Sansa and Arya. Arianne also helps illuminate a lot about characters like Cersei and Brienne by virtue of being her father’s heir. Cersei was Tywin’s eldest child. Her twin brother was born after her. But her whole life, Jaime was regarded as heir. Being a twin is a huge part of how Cersei sees the world - she and Jaime are the same age. As children, they looked pretty much identical. They were both raised in the same privileged environment. But Cersei was made to sit quietly and smile when she was angry and married off as a teenager to a man that would abuse her while Jaime was raised to rule and fight. By virtue of being male, he can access power that Cersei can’t, and in Cersei’s eyes, he’s just completely wasting it. As an adult, he’s uninterested in taking up responsibility, repeatedly saying he has no interest in becoming Hand, and we know that’s partially because he reacted to his one decision blowing up in his face by petulantly refusing to take responsibility for anything again in his life, but for Cersei, it’s enormously aggravating. It’s an extension of the whole thing where she simultaneously convinced him that he should join the Kingsguard, thereby giving up Casterly Rock, and is simmering with resentment that he actually did it, because how could he just give up the thing she wants so desperately as if it’s nothing? Cersei has so much she’s angry about, and rightfully so. This is true while she’s excellent at performing femininity. Cersei is absolutely gorgeous. She’s capable of being charming. Unlike Arya, she doesn’t particularly struggle with adhering to systemic expectations/ideals/standards (actually, this is worth a whole discussion in itself because of her switching places with Jaime thing, but I digress). Unlike Sansa, she doesn’t find enjoyment in the sort of feminine activities that make up the box she’s expected to be in. As capable as she is of exerting so-called feminine power, she hates it! She resents the system for making her do it. Which brings us back to Arianne, who is neutral on femininity. She doesn’t like it, doesn’t dislike it. For her, it’s not a box that she has to struggle to fit into. She doesn’t have to resent society, even as she’s angry and hurt by the belief that her father no longer loves her. Her feelings are complicated, but her anger is directed at specific individuals, not the world in general.

Arianne grew up in an extremely different setting than Cersei did. Unlike Cersei, she is the undisputed heir to Dorne, even though she has younger brothers. The people of Dorne have different ideals when it comes to the behaviour of women - they value boldness, strength, fire in men and women alike. Interestingly, Arianne is naturally pretty cautious, but she’s not meek - she’s tough, capable, willing to act, a public figure. As the quote you cite says, she “was loved in Dorne”. Despite all of this, circumstances led to her still chasing her father’s love and approval, believing he prefers her brother. Because of this, we can get a sense of who Cersei might have been in another universe. Arianne is to some extent Cersei with friends, a better relationship with her father and opportunity to repair it after it soured, and a childhood that allowed her to be who she is and become who she wanted to be. Cersei remembers when Tywin had a secret smile just for her, back when she was small and believed he could do anything and would find her a match even better than Rhaegar, but that pales next to the warmth and affection in Arianne and Doran’s relationship, where Arianne adored him so much that she went to kiss him goodnight into her teens and was completely crushed by the discovery that he wanted to disinherit her. In a much different world, I can imagine Cersei and Tywin’s relationship being a far bit more like Arianne and Doran’s, and Cersei herself being a lot more like Arianne. The idea of Cersei and Arianne as each other’s counterpart even extends to their respective relationships with the idea of their fathers’ seats. Like Dorne is, to Arianne, symbolic of her father’s love, Casterly Rock is to Cersei symbolic of the power she craves that’s been just out of her reach for so long. Which is why when she ultimately inherits it, she doesn’t care. By then, she’s the queen regent. What good is Casterly Rock to her when she has the whole realm? The seat being symbolic of something is very Arianne, but what that is is very different. (Also, I have feelings about Cersei and gender, but I’m going to not keep talking now because dear god, I talk too much.) 

So Brienne! Brienne is the inverse of Cersei, sort of. We have to remember that she’s roughly the same age Cersei was when Cersei became queen. So we can draw parallels between Cersei then and Brienne now. Cersei grew up crushing on Rhaegar, wanting to be queen, resenting how she wasn’t allowed to do what Jaime did, and became quickly disillusioned upon marrying Robert, who, even before becoming an abusive rapist, made it crystal clear from the beginning that he didn’t care about her when he called her by a dead girl’s name. The Brienne that we meet is a romantic that loves songs, believes in true knights, and latches onto anyone that treats her with a basic modicum of human decency. Throughout the story, she, like Cersei, gets disillusioned with her romanticized notion of something. What makes her Cersei’s inverse is the different way she struggles with what her place in the world is.

Brienne wields a sword. She dresses more often than not in armour. She is somewhat alienated from her own womanhood. But she’s protective of children. She’s wistful at the thought that in another life, she’d be a mother. She loved it when Renly danced with her and made her feel beautiful. She doesn’t conform to the gender roles of the setting, but she isn’t masculine because of that, and the reason for it is that she’s been made to believe that those things are not for her. She’s both fond of the trappings of femininity and uncomfortable with them. She’s ridiculed both for wielding a sword and for wearing a dress. Where Cersei can adhere to societal ideals but hates doing it, Brienne can’t but wishes she could. She feels like she’s let her father down. She considers herself not good enough at being either a son or a daughter. Unlike Cersei, who is perfectly capable of fitting in with rigid gendered rules but doesn’t want to, Brienne’s problem is that she wants to be able to fit in, but can’t, not because of her behaviour or personality, but because of her appearance. She isn’t angry at society for being unfair, like Cersei is - no, she internalizes everything, blaming herself, rather than the unjust social structure. And it’s in these areas where she connects to Arianne, who also blames herself.

Arianne wonders what she did to make her father hate her. He doesn’t - Doran loves Arianne so, so much it kind of hurts to read. But she thinks he does and can’t help but blame herself, Quentyn - anything but have to blame the father she adores more than anyone in the world. It feels so similar to Brienne wishing her father got to keep one of her siblings instead and calling herself freakish and unworthy.On top of this, there’s the similarity in terms of how  Arianne and Brienne are both heirs. Brienne has a complicated relationship with the idea of inheriting Tarth that is, again, connected to how she doesn’t fit in. Learning to fight, swearing herself to Renly then Catelyn, going on her quest for Sansa - her actions are about finding a purpose. I can imagine a Brienne that didn’t feel so awfully out of place and lonely not doing any of those things. If she looked more like Arianne - or Cersei, or Sansa, or Cat, or even Arya who might not be Sansa pretty but also doesn’t draw nearly the kind of cruel, negative attention Brienne gets - she may well have never felt the need to leave home. Like is the case with Cersei, I can imagine a Brienne of a different universe, perhaps one where she was still tall and large but in a Dacey Mormont way, being a fair bit more like Arianne - more confident, more comfortable showing her emotions and openly enjoying feminine activities, more secure about where she belongs and less guilty about existing. All that would be true regardless of whether or not she picked up a sword.

Arianne is like so many other female characters and is in a position that is the envy of so many women in Westeros. She’s bold and brave and will be an advisor to a king in her own right, just as Arya wanted, and very much looks up to the same one of her ancestors that Arya idolizes. She’s kind and charming and good, like Sansa would admire, and the kind of relationship she had - and could have again - with Daemon, who knows her and loves her for it, is the kind of thing Sansa longs for. Her status as heir to Dorne even as she has brothers is very reminiscent of what a Cersei from before she became queen wanted, and what she considers strength is very different from the values Cersei acquired from Tywin. That strength of character, combined with how she fits fairly naturally into the image of what’s expected of a woman in Westeros, is a large part of what Brienne admired about Catelyn. The patriarchy is harmful to everyone, no matter how they do or do not perform femininity. Arianne, raised as she was with more freedom, demonstrates some of the possibilities and potential that so many women are being denied.

In some ways, Arianne is an older version of Margaery whose perspective we actually get an insight into. Margaery is a strange character because she’s all things to all people. Everyone sees what they want to in her. Even though her family was responsible for the people of King’s Landing starving, she became a beloved queen considered a saviour for ending that starvation and contributing to charity. Cersei is convinced that she’s plotting something and is responsible for every terrible thing that happens (someone please remind me later to start talking about Cersei’s paranoia and frustrations with the whole Maggy the Frog thing, because I have many thoughts, but this is already getting way too long and off topic). Sansa thinks of her as the sweet, beautiful, gentle sister she wished she had and admires her bravery. Tommen thinks she’s the best thing since sliced bread. And we also know that she’s “restless”, taking her companions out on riding, boating, hawking trips, which makes me think about how even though Arya wasn’t pleased about going to court and being around Cersei in canon, had Margaery been queen at the time, it’s easy to imagine that she would have enjoyed it. Margaery is fun! Her court sounds awesome!

Realistically, a lot of that is probably an exaggeration with people not seeing her for who she really is - partly because she’s putting on an act and partly because people don’t care to look. She’s only sixteen. She has some role in her family’s plots, but she’s not the kind of schemer that Cersei believes her to be, nor is she the perfect queen the Tyrell PR machine has made her. But it’s all rooted in something real, and because of that, it’s hard not to see the similarities between her and Arianne - both in terms of how they seem a lot of fun to hang out with and like people both Sansa and Arya might like, but in terms of how different people see different very things when looking at them. Margaery comes across to me as pretty much a younger version of Arianne that was informed of her family’s plans, so she’s in an interesting position where she has more knowledge and therefore fewer insecurities, but less agency.

...what was I arguing, again? Shit. I don’t know. Sorry. Hope this makes some degree of sense? I don’t even know.

#A Song of Ice and Fire #Arianne Martell #books-laughter-love #replies #do I need a long post tag? #I probably do #I'll figure it out later #this was basically just me drunk posting about Arianne #except I'm not drunk #posting under the influence? #I'm in that warm sleepy spot

[whiskeyswriting]

CHAOTIC BAU: Meet The Characters

We all know the stories of Hotch, Rossi, Reid, Garcia, and the rest of the BAU. We know their names and their faces. But what about the team of new agents and recruits that have joined the BAU?

What are their names? What jobs will they be doing? How will they fit into the team?

First, let's meet the new members of the BAU.

Name: Milla Dutton

Nickname: Milla-Raccoon

Job: Research Specialist

Name: Raven Fischer

Nickname: Mouse

Job: BAU’s Paralegal & Assistant Techie

Name: Amanda Hallett

Nickname: Birdie

Job: Profiler

Name: Hailie Kovács

Nickname: Cupcake

Job: Undercover Agent

Name: Elizabeth Lanera

Nickname: Lan

Job: Crime Scene Analyst

Name: Alana Metcalf

Nickname: Cinco

Job: Field Techie

Name: Rachael Parker

Nickname: Dragon

Job: MI6 Agent transferred to FBI

Name: Jade Rogers

Nickname: Whiskey

Job: Media/Local Police Liaison

Name: Baylie Rossi

Nickname: Lucky

Job: Undercover Agent

Name: Robyn Simpson

Nickname: Venom

Job: Sketch Artist

Name: Grace Smith

Nickname: Spicy

Job: Profiler

Name: Lara Alice Tetch

Nickname: Scarlet

Job: International Liaison

--

Whiskey's Barrel: @gracespicybradshaw @bayisdying @cycbaby @ladylanera @callmemana @starlit-epiphany @dragon-kazansky @askmarinaandothers @breadsquash @hisredheadedgoddess28 @callsignscupcake

#mrsjaderogerswrites #The Chaos Squad #The Chaos Squad Fics #Chaotic BAU #Chaotic BAU Series #Criminal Minds #Criminal Minds Fics

[tngrace]

Meet Spicy

Bradshaws Masterlist

Grace Michelle Smith was born and raised in North Carolina. She and her brother were raised by their grandparents after their parents were killed in a car accident when she was five. Her brother was five years older than her, and when he graduated high school at seventeen, he moved to Florida. He didn’t want to leave Grace behind, but she was only twelve, and no state would actually give him custody of her. 

He checked in on her often; they had weekly if not daily phone calls and skypes, but it just wasn’t the same as having her big brother there. Especially after he got married and had her first niece. She and her sister-in-law didn’t really get along, so Grace ended up losing her constant contact with her brother. 

High school was rough, and when she got her first boyfriend her senior year, she was certain he was the one. She wished Kevin could meet him, but he was fresh into starting his business and on his third girl. She loved her nieces endlessly, but she really missed her brother. Her grandparents died her senior year; her grandmother passing six months after her grandfather from a broken heart. Neither got to see her graduate, and she felt so alone. Kevin tried to get her to come to Florida with him, but she knew her sister-in-law was very much against that idea. 

So Grace declined his offer, promising him she would be fine. She graduated high school and went to community college, getting an apartment with her high school boyfriend. He went straight to work out of high school, and she started noticing things that should be red flags, but her eighteen year old self brushed them off as him just loving her. They were married six months after graduating high school, despite Kevin’s protest at the idea. Grace was alone in the world, though, and she truly didn’t think anyone else would love her like Ryan did. 

Six months after the wedding things started to change. Ryan became more possessive and he constantly talked down to her. Grace threw herself into her studies and into work. She hated her retail job, but it kept her away from her apartment so she didn’t complain too much. She started talking to Kevin less and less, and while he kept trying to question her on it, she constantly blew him off. He had his own problems with a new business and a divorce looming and she refused to add to his load. 

The longer they were married, the worse Ryan became. Grace was honestly afraid of the day he became physically abusive instead of just verbally. It hadn’t happened yet, but she was almost positive it was coming. She started saving every penny, and finally worked up the nerve to talk to Kevin about it. He’d been divorced for a year now, and they’d gone back to talking once a week, when Grace could find a minute away from Ryan. Kevin hated Ryan’s guts, and he tried at every instance to get Grace to move to Florida with him. 

When she finally told him everything that went on, Kevin started adding money to her savings account. She wasn’t exactly thrilled about it, but she also knew she would need all the help she could get to get away from Ryan. She dropped out of college and took up a job as a waitress. She learned the restaurant backwards and forwards, and the owner even let her help the chef in the kitchen, where Grace seemed to shine. After her twenty-first birthday, she moved out of her apartment with Ryan. Kevin came up and helped her move back into their grandparents’ place and changed all the locks and her contact information. She promised him just as soon as she had more money saved she’s leaving. 

He helps her get a lawyer; someone her ex sister-in-law’s lawyer recommended, and she filed for divorce immediately. She wasn’t surprised each time her lawyer called to say he returned the papers or was trying to fight it in court because he was so possessive of her. It took Grace about six months working two jobs and with Kevin continuing to send her money before she had enough saved up. Kevin was disappointed when she told him she wasn’t moving to Florida, but he understood her need to strike out on her own like he had.

He was surprised, however, when she picked California. She just wanted to be as far away from Ryan as possible. Her lawyer promised her he would get her divorced finalized and that she was free to move before it happened. Kevin helped her pack everything up, both of them deciding to sell the childhood home and split the money, and then they set out on a cross-country road trip to California. She settled on Miramar because of the job opening at a bar that wanted to expand their kitchen. Kevin helped her check out a few places to live, and even though it didn’t seem like she’d saved enough, Kev co-signed on a loan for a small beach bungalow that she loved. 

“Kev I swear, one day I’m going to pay you back.” 

Kevin hugged her tight. “No you’re not. You being happy and safe is all that matters to me. No matter the cost. Just promise to come visit and don’t be a stranger. The girls miss you.” 

“I miss them too.” She gives him a sad smile because she knows he wishes he had them more. “I promise. As long as you promise to come visit as much as possible too.” 

“I will.” He gives her another tight hug before they head to the airport so he can get back home. Even though she picked up and moved her entire life all the way across the country, she feels safe and happy for the first time in many years. 

She takes the job at the Hard Deck, immediately clicking with Penny, and even though she’s not professionally trained and is only almost twenty-two, Penny is impressed with her skills. They expand the bar to have a small working kitchen, and Grace absolutely loves it. She creates some heavenly dishes, mixing between traditional Cali food and her southern roots home cooking. She works the bar occasionally when they’re really busy or when Penny takes a break, and while it takes a while for her shyness to wear off, she gets close with the regulars. 

She realizes what Fightertown really means, and she falls in love with it and the beach. Some of the retired aviators work their way under her defenses and become like family to her. Ron “Slider” Kerner practically adopts her, giving her the nickname “Spicy” from the heat her southern food brings. Slider makes her feel safe, is like the father she never had, and the whole ‘86 crew practically adopts her into their folds. Kevin hasn’t seen Grace this happy in several several years, and he knows this move has been good for her. 

It isn’t until the Dagger Squadron gets stationed at Miramar that she feels her resolve of no guys slipping. One aviator in particular catches her eye, but she is way too shy to even talk to him. Slider teases her about it, Bradley having been the first kid the ‘86 crew adopted, but she refuses to let any of them say anything to him about her. It takes almost a year before she works up the nerve to even say anything to him; but when she does, she knows Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw is going to change her life forever. 

#the chaos squad fics #chaos squad fics #the chaos squad #chaos squad #grace michelle smith #spicy #meet spicy #before spicy meets roo #spicys backstory #spicy has the best big brother ever #my writing

[mercy-burning]

thank you @wheelsup for tagging me!! ily ❤

get to know you tag game!

ten favorite characters from ten different things (book, tv, film, etc.) (these are not in any particular order, and i know for a fact i’ve missed a lot, but here’s what’s off the top of my head lol) 1. spencer reid (a given, i don’t think i even needed to say it lol) 2. nick miller (new girl) 3. lorelai gilmore (gilmore girls) 4. mabel pines (gravity falls) 5. don west (lost in space) 6. evie covington (no tomorrow) 7. castiel (supernatural) 8. john wick (john wick film franchise) 9. grace le domas (ready or not) 10. sydney sage (bloodlines series by richelle mead)

nickname - mercy, not sure if there’s any nicknames to be made from that tbh

zodiac sign - leo sun, scorpio moon+rising

height - 5′1

hogwarts house - slytherin

last thing i googled - the show ‘normal people’, a friend told me about it and so i wanted to look it up

song stuck in my head - ivy, taylor swift (specifically “YEAH, IT’S A FIRE, IT’S A GODDAMN BLAZE IN THE DARK AND YOU STAAAARTED IT”)

followers - last time i checked i’d just past 1.5k (whaaat??)

amount i sleep - between 7-9 hours? sometimes 6 depending on how late i stay up

lucky number - i don’t believe i have one

dream job - an author tbh

wearing - grey pajama shorts and a lover album t-shirt

favorite song(s) (I have many, but i’ll list some that are the most meaningful to me, again i know i’m missing a whole bunch but these are off the top of my head) 1. house of cards by caitlyn smith (my favorite song of all time) 2. dorothea by taylor swift (soul-cleansing and warm as hell) 3. cigarettes by the wreckers (”someday maybe somebody will love me like i need and someday i won’t have to prove all my worth, but until then i’ll do just fine on my own” - enough said) 4. out of the blue by katie pruitt (go listen to it immediately, it’s everything i love about music encapsulated into one song) 5. 20 years by the civil wars (the whole barton hollow album is spectacular, but this song specifically just hits the spot)

favorite instrument - idc if it’s basic, electric guitar. just watch taylor swift play an electric guitar and you’ll see what i mean oOF

random fact about me - i refuse to use any other chap-stick besides the candy cane flavor, and i always have to buy them in bulk once the holiday season comes around because they’re only seasonal lol

favorite authors - victoria/v.e. schwab is fantastic, i will read anything she puts out

favorite animal noise - ahahaa i love this question. um.. maybe when cats do that ‘ekekek’ chirping thing? yk what i mean, right? lol

aesthetic - oh boy i’m all over the place, but currently it’s just graphic tees and sweatpants lol. my dream aesthetic, though, is cottagecore, but like subtle cottagecore, with pretty floral cardigans and embroidered shirts and stuff

favorite color - olive/sage green, lavender, pale pink, brown/gold/pale yellow/beige/etc. (i know that’s hella specific but i hope you get it lol)

last film i watched - john wick ch 3, it was a rewatch. fun fact! john wick is my favorite film franchise, i will never tire of watching keanu reeves kick ass lol

last tv show i watched - i threw on an episode of stranger things while i cleaned my room up this morning

last thing i texted - a heart emoji to my mom :)

sweet, spicy, or savory - sweet&salty mix is my absolute go-to, but generally savory

pets - a calico cat named harley. she’s a pain in the ass but she’s beautiful lol

TAG 3 MUTUALS YOU WANNA GET TO KNOW BETTER: @reidyoulikeabook @willowrose99 @ssa-m-187 (no pressure though!)

#mercy tags

[wqbytop150]

WQBY (the world of Q)

Top 150 for the week ending February 11, 2024

I Don't Wanna Worry---NEEDTOBREATHE -17

Anyone ---Morgan Page -4

Weak--Vintage Culture, Maverick Sabre, Tom Breu -20

Never Be Friends--Jost, Mingue -3

Dirty Desire --Vicetone -16

Heart Still Beating --Nathan Dawe, Bebe Rexha -2

Close Your Eyes --Lucas Estrada, Tribbs, Stephen Puth -9

She's On My Mind --Romy -19

You're Hired ---NEIKED, Ayra Starr -1

Jet Plane --R3HAB, VIZE, JP Cooper -8

Spicy Margarita --Jason Derulo, Michael Bublé -14

All Fckd Up--Kapuzen -18

Graveyard --A R I Z O N A -5

One On One--The Knocks, Sofi Tukker -6

It's Love (If We Get It Right) --Anthony Russo -7

Feels Like Us --GT_OFICE, ALWZ SNNY, Robbie Rosen -13

Other Boys --Marshmello, Dove Cameron -11

Both---Tiesto, 21 Savage, BIA -12

Reckless Child---Milky Chance -28

Bad Blood --Theresa Rex -21

Dark Skies --A R I Z O N A -10

Diamond Therapy --Diplo, Walker & Royce, Channel Tres -15

Kill Anyone --Two Feet, Ari Abdul -24

Yes, And? ---Ariana Grande -30

Waterslides--Tiesto, Rudimental, Absolutely -80

Spend the Night--BJ the Chicago Kid, Coco Jones -25

Cutting Loose --Disco Lines, J. Worra, Anabel Englund -42

I'll Be There---Robin Schulz, Rita Ora, Tiago PZK -26

More Baby --Chris Lake, Aluna -23

Good Morning--Timmy Trumpet, Alle Farben, YOU -27

No Reason---The Chemical Brothers (Chris Lake remix) -43

Rhythm Machine --Westend, Max Styler -44

U Miss Me--Vicetone -29

You --Svidden, Seeb -22

Dreamteam--Galantis, Neon Trees -85

AEIOU--PNAU, Empire of the Sun -47

Stress You --Lucas Estrada, SUPER Hi-48

See You Again --Vicetone, Anna Clendenning -41

Sorry Now -- A R I Z O N A -46

Strangers --Kenya Grace -37

How Do I Say Goodbye --Adventure Club, Delaney Jane -67

Wanna --Paul Dally -62

Hangin' On --A R I Z O N A -50

Oh LALA --Idris Elba, Sasha GiGi -51

Go Off --Mike Candys -35

Nevada--Vicetone, Cuzi Zuehisdorff -49

Easy--3LAU, XIRA -36

The Tower--Future Islands -73

Good In Goodbye --Frank Walker, Trivecta -31

Young & Foolish --Loud Luxury, Charlieonafriday -141

One Last Dance --Imanbek, Ali Gatie -63

Save My Love --Destiny Rogers -65

Tension --Kylie Minogue -76

Fire --Alan Walker, YUQI, JVKE, {G)I-DLE -74

Body Moving --Eliza Rose, Calvin Harris -71

Fall Again --HAYLA -89

Sweet Venom --ENHYPEN -87

Lift Off --Dombresky -32

Heat Rising ---Pete Tong, Jem Cooke, Jules Buckley -75

Run Free (Countdown) --Tiesto, R3HAB -69

Get Dirty --Return of the Jaded, Tommie Sunshine -72

Living In A Haze --Milky Chance -64

Flex --Tony Dark Eyes -33

Next Years Light --Elliot Moss -34

Jaguar --Yaeger -38

Dizzy --Sick Individual, LOUI LANE -39

Lullaby --Britti -40

Triumph --Bishop Briggs -45

Sorry Ain't Enough --Michael Gerow -52

Lie To Me --Jubel, KIDDO -53

ADHD --Mae Stephens -54

I Got Time --Brittney Spender -55

Mas Que Nada --Oliver Heldens, Ian Asher, Sergio Mendez -56

Dance Is The Answer --Dubdogs, RUBACK, Ticon, Raja Ram -57

Do You Feel It --VAMERO, Cyril M. Mougleta -58

No Man's Land--Marshmello, Venbee -59

Waking Up --Felix Jaehn, Leony -60

Forever (Stay Like This)--Armin Van Buuren, Goodboys -61

One By One--Robin Schulz, Topic, Oaks -81

Deep In Your Love---ALOK, Bebe Rexha -82

J Christ --Lil Nas X -83

Face To Face --Kenzie -84

Missing You ---Frank Walker, Nate Smith -78

I Don't Remember --Walker & Royce, VNSSA -77

Murder On The Dancefloor --Sophie Ellis-Bextor -124

Biggest Regret--Gorgon City, Bbyafricka -79

***Good For You --Dimitri Vegas, Chapter & Verse, Goodboys -(new)

Wanna Dance--Alle Farben, James Carter, VARGEN -66 >>>

Dreaming ---Marshmello, Pink, Sting -68

Mirrors --Caravan Palace -70

Run --ATB, Nu Aspect, Orem -86

Boyfriend --USHER -88 >>>

Stop The Time --Zombic -90

Rebel--TVXQ -91

Yard Sale --Alex Warren -92

Pull You Closer --Sistek, Sadie Rose Van -93

Drums --James Hype, Kim Petras -94

Years ---Just Us -95

Who I Am --Alan Walker, Putri Ariani, Peder Elias -96

No Strings --X Ambassadors -97

Untouchables --ITZY -98

Me --Steve Angello -99

***High And I Like It --It's Murph, Eyalyn -(new)

Give It To Me --Lucky Luke -128

What Do You Do For A Living? I Do My Best --Iamnotshane -147

Alibi --Ella Henderson, Rudimental -100

Everybody Knows I'm High --SHAED -102

Burnin' --Rinzen, Shallou -129

When I Wake Up --Lucas & Steve, Skinny Days -130

***Afterglow- Klangkarussell, GIVVEN -(new)

Alive --K-391 -135

Lonely Nights --Papa Beats, J.O.Y. -104

Can't Get Enough --Jennifer Lopez -101

Superhero --AUDIEN -149

One Night/All Night --Justice, Tame Impala -105

Free Falling --James Arthur -126

Lead On Me --FLETCHER -125

Maktub --Gary Clark Jr. -131

Lighthouse --Calum Scott -132

The Thief --Future Islands -133

Beats For the Underground --Mau P -134

Pick Me --Alec Benjamin -136

When We Die Can We Still Get High --Yungblood, Lil Yachy, -137

Us --Steve Aoki f/ ERNEST -138

Hungover --John Summit, Mathame, Camden Cox -139

Overdrive --Ofenbach, Norma Jean Martine -142

Daydream --Will Swinton -144

Disco En Egypte --Bon Entendeur -140

Falling Behind --Sultan + Shepard -143

Heart Pure --Grigore -145

What Are We Waiting For -- for King & Country -103 >>>

Still Got It Bad --Martin Jensen, MATTN -107 >>>

Summertime Friends --The Chainsmokers -108

Jungle --ALOK, The Chainsmokers, Mae Stephens -109 >>>

Saving Up --Dom Dolla -110 >>>

Hungry Heart --Declan J. Donavan -111 >>>

The Greatest Thing Alive -Mark Knight, Green Velvet, James Hurr -112 >>>

Lil Boo Thing--Paul Russell, Galantis -113 >>>

Proud --Victoria Nadine -114 >>>

Rusty --Layto -115 >>>

I Can't Be The Only One --SERA, YouNotUs -116 >>>

Stay The Night --Just Kiddin', Camden Cox -118 >>>

All My Life --Tiesto, FAST BOY -119 >>>

Maybe In The Summer --Foinix, Chris Ruo, Geoff Duncan -120 >>>

(Trust Me Now) I'm Fine --Rozes -127 >>>

Running In A Dream --Nils Hoffmann, Kasbo, Vancouver Sleep Clinic -121 >>>

Hall Of Forever --Henrik -122 >>>

Holding Pattern -Nihil Young, Artflex Mundi, Adam Nazar -123 >>>

Head Down --Lost Frequencies, Bastille -148 >>>

***Kissing Strangers --USHER -(new)

***new on chart / <> re-enters chart / >>> off chart next week

4 NEW on the Chart this week... #087 Good For You #103 High And I Like It #110 Afterglow #150 Kissing Strangers

#alwayshappymusic

[jjba-fragmented-star]

Name: Grace Bhraghad

Birthname: Hariklia McJohan

Namesake:

Hariklia/Chariklia(Greek)= Hari/Χάρη(Grace) + Kleos/Κλέος(Glory)= Glory of Grace, Great Glory

Alias: Hari, Grace, Ace, Mother, Aunt Ace

Stand: Unstoppable(Unstoppable by Sia)

Nationality: Scottish/Greek

Birthday: 10 November 1974

Zodiac/Chinese Zodiac: Scorpio/Tiger

Age:

14(Part 3)

19(Post-Part 3/1993)

25(Part 4)

27(Part 5)

37(Part 6)

44(Post-Part 6/2018)

Gender: Female

Height: 5,7 ft/1,76 cm(Part 3/14 years old), 6,3 ft/1,93 cm(Post-Part 3/17 years old)

Weight: 77 kg

Blood Type: 0+

Species: Human

Occupation: Baker, Formely; Military(Special Forces)

Personality:

Brave, Passionate, Resourceful, Caring, Protective, Strict, Overconfident, Suspicious, Stubborn, Angry.

Likes:

Family, Baking, Physical Exercise, Challenges, Fighting, Spicy food, Truth, Being Right, Teasing, Volley.

Dislikes:

Dishonesty, Betrayal, Her family getting hurt, Laziness, Unfinished chores, Avocado, Jotaro.

Relatives:

Diogenes McJohan(Father)

Amanda Smith/McJohan(Mother)

Chemaya Alley(Great-Great-Great Uncle)

Ambrogio McJohan(Younger Brother)

Bernard Braghad(Husband)

Orestes Bhraghad(Older Son)

Oswald Bhraghad(Younger Son)

Kyriaki Callas/McJohan(Sister-in-Law)

Isaac McJohan(Nephew)

Giorgia McJohan(Niece)

Background Information:

Original Timeline/Fragmented Star AU(Post-EOH game Timeline)

-In her early years Grace was a rebellious girl who would get easily angered and get into fights, she and her younger brother, Ambrogio, where in the same school and she would protect him from bullies. Grace manifested her stand, Unstoppable, when she was 16 years old.

-In 1992, her father, Diogenes McJohan, decides to enroll Grace in the Military to teach her to have a better behavior, he has a friend there who is a stand user and leads a special forces division of stand and asks him to take her in. She joins in the age of 18 and works for the military for 8 years.

- She married an other stand user named Bernard Bhraghad in 1994 and had two twin boys, Orestes and Oswald Bhraghad, the next year. In 2000 she leaves the military and decides to become a baker and open her own business and spend more time with her family.

-Grace had an encounter with Jotaro Kujo in New Orleans, America in the summer of 1994, she went for a vacation here with her husband, her brother and his girlfriend, Kyriaki Callas. She met him when she and Kyriaki were separated from the and where asking directions for their hotel and accidentally bumped to Jotaro and went to apologize but he screamed at her and Grace punched him in the face. Jotaro was on a mission by SPW in New Orleans to find a stand user in which Grace helps and learns he is a Joestar. She never saw him after this encounter.

-It is unknown what happened to her in the original timeline but she lives a normal life(as a stand user) in a post-Stone Ocean AU(Fragmented Star AU).

EXTRA

-The original colour of Grace's shirt was green and her left hand had a scar which I switched to her right. The reason is her niece, Giorgia, wears a green hoodie jacket and half of her left arm is white referencing Joseph of losing his left arm from Kars.

-Grace found about Jotaro being a Joestar when she saw the star birthmark in his left shoulder (which she also has) during the battle with the enemy stand user. She never said anything about or mention it because she wanted to keep his family away from hers. Her family, the McJohan, are distant relatives of the Joestars and are unaware of their existence, they have have a history with them that starts from the 19th century.

STAND

Name: Unstoppable

Namesake: Unstoppable(Song by Sia)

Stand Type: Wearable Stand

Stats:

Destructive Power: A

Speed: A

Range: E

Persistence: A

Precision: C

Development Potential: E

Appearance:

Unstoppable has the appearance of a green, yellow armor and a red cloth back in the waist, the helmet has blue visors.

Abilities:

Physical Enhancement and Protection: The armor provides protection and boost the power and speed of its user.

Weapon Creation: It can absorb any kind of metal or mineral and the user can make any weapon they want from it(Sword, Gun, whip etc.).

Weaknesses:

The stand doesn't work under water, the user can use its ability and the armor becomes heavy and the wearer might drown if they don't deactivate the armor quickly.

EXTRA:

-The helmet is based from an ancient greek helmet.

-The knight/armor themed stands runs in the McJohan family, the other known family members are Panajotis McJohan and Giorgia McJohan.

#hariklia 'grace' mcjohan/bhraghad #unstoppable(stand) #jjba oc #jojo oc #jjba original character #jojo original character #jjba stand oc #jojo stand oc #jojo stand design #jjba fan stand #original stand

[crystalgirl259]

The Flame and the Dragon Ch5

Chapter 5: The Kitchen Catastrophe

Bansha remained silent as Morro ranted and raved in the privacy of the carriage. He had lost whatever grip he had on his temper as soon as the carriage started taking them back home. Morro looked ready to kill somebody, most likely Lloyd.

"That insolent little brat! How dare he insult me!"

"Lloyd or Kai?" Bansha spoke out of turn, something she instantly regretted when Morro's scowl turned on her.

"Lloyd, of course! If it wasn't for that little brat or their ugly sister, I'm sure Kai would be mine by now! Doesn't he realize those two are the ones who are holding him back?! I could give him anything and yet he still refused me!" He ranted, clenching his fists in rage. "I mean, how naïve can he be? What must I do to persuade him to pop the question?" He scowled critically. Bansha could only shake her head. Morro was without a doubt a prodigy, but he lacked the most obvious common sense.

Kai was a dreamer, it didn't matter how rich Morro was or what society deemed appropriate.

He wouldn't chase Morro like everyone else. No, he was chasing the foolish dream of finding true love. A frivolous illusion of course, but nevertheless Kai believed it. Bansha had no doubt Morro would never have his 'precious darling' unless he convinced him to love him. Something she knew would never happen. She knew Morro well enough. The duke always got what he wanted.

"Why are you so obsessed with him?" Bansha spoke aloud and Morro's attention turned to her. Bansha hadn't meant to speak out loud but Morro could tell she was only curious. "I mean, you could have anyone you wanted, yes, Kai's beautiful, but personality-wise, he's the complete opposite of the man you want; why do you keep chasing him when you could have people so much more charming, obedient, and wealthy! You're the Duke! You're wealthy, well-educated, people throw themselves at your feet every day! You could replace Kai in an instant! Why do you waste your time with him when you could have anyone else?"

Morro chuckled darkly, a crackling sound that would make even the bravest of hearts shiver in fear.

"You've just answered your own question, Bansha." He smirked. Everything she said was true of course. Kai's appearance was in every inch the way a fairy tale prince was supposed to look, but it was his personality that needed work. Kai was perfect, but he was too brazen, too wild. He needed to be tamed, and he was the only one to do that. After all, as a Duke, he needed not only the perfect partner but also someone who would never challenge his authority.

In business or in bed.

"Because I can have anyone else."...

****************

The enormous landscape surrounding the Smith home was a sight to behold. A wide golden field and stables with a large pond in the corner bordered on two sides by woods and a house large enough for a large family flew by, unnoticed by its two youngest occupants as both Kai and Lloyd bolted across the yard and up the stairs to their house. Both ran surprisingly fast for all the bags they were carrying. Then again, it was Nya who was in the kitchen.

That alone was cause for alarm.

Both practically broke the door down, causing more smoke to erupt from the house. Lloyd batted the inky wisps away and coughed harshly before Kai found him something to cover his mouth with.

"NYA!" Kai howled, furiously, before stomping towards the kitchen, with Lloyd behind him. "GOD HELP YOU IF YOU'RE IN THE FUCKING KITCHEN!" He warned as both brothers dropped the books and groceries on the dining room table and stormed inside. The kitchen was still intact, but the smoke was everywhere, pouring out the open windows now that it had an escape. Huge spots of soot and ash covered the floor, the counters, and the stove which was wheezing smoke.

The wood from the old-fashioned brick stove had burned itself out leaving only ashes.

The bowl on top of it was covered in ash and looked even more charred than the inside of the hearth. Nya, the younger twin, was on the floor, coughing and wheezing, covered from head to toe in thick soot. Her midnight black hair tied in a ponytail was the only thing dark than the soot as her stunning blue eyes seemed to light up her face. Her tanned skin was revealed through the ripped jeans. When she stood to her full height in an attempt to brush the ashes off her, she stood a few inches shorter than Kai.

She also had a small beauty mark on her right cheek.

Even in her ripped, paint-splattered jeans and the light blue shirt she wore when she painted or invented and hiking boots caked in oil, paint, and covered in soot, Nya looked ravishing.

"Nya," Kai said dangerously low with a clearly angry smirk on his face as he glared down at Nya on the floor. "When Dad said you were never allowed in the kitchen again, what made you think he was joking?"

"You two were late." She replied, crossing her arms and trying to look as casual as possible.

"We're always late! That doesn't mean you have the right to try and burn down the kitchen! AGAIN!" Lloyd scolded. "What did you do this time? Forget to take the plastic off?" He asked and Nya's eyes widened guiltily, assuring them both that was exactly what she did. Despite being an excellent painter and even better inventor, Nya wasn't so good in the kitchen. That's why cooking the family meals was Kai's job. The eldest Smith sighed and smacked his forehead.

"Nya, you can't cook to save your life!"

"Doesn't mean I can't try!" She smirked, rubbing the soot off her cheeks. "At least I didn't burn anything." She mumbled. Both brothers glared at her referring to the black soot covering the kitchen. "You know what I mean." She snorted, ego deflated a bit. "What took you so long anyway?"

"We stopped at the bookstore, and Dr. Saunders found Kai's writing."

"That's it?" Nya raised a cool eyebrow in disbelief. She knew full well that her brothers could live at the library if given the choice but even they always came home on time.

"We ran into Morro on the way back," Kai growled.

"That explains it." She rolled her eyes. "What did he want this time?"

"Same old shit he wants every time," Kai replied, tossing a bag into Nya's lap, which she hesitantly caught in her surprise. "Help us put the food away otherwise no one's eating until breakfast." He ordered. Nya was on his feet in an instant, her stomach winning over her pride.

"You should've seen his face when he thought Lloyd insulted his!" Kai chuckled, making their little brother blush. Nya only blinked in surprise before grinning.

"Well hopefully after next week, you won't have to deal with him anymore."

"You finished your invention!" Both boys asked with hopefulness. Nya smirked and grabbed both their wrists before pulling them out of the kitchen and upstairs, where their bedrooms were located, as well as the room she and their parents used as a workshop. Kai sometimes painted something if he was bored, but he hasn't done it in a while. Nya threw the door open, revealing the wooden floor covered by paint-splattered sheets and blotches of paint-decorated walls.

The wall opposite the door was made entirely of glass, like a giant window allowing air and sunlight inside.

Blank canvases and stacks of papers and scrolls lined the opposite wall while easels with trays of oil paints, watercolors and charcoals cups filled with pencils, pens, and brushes of various, shape, size, texture, and design covered the table by the sink where water cans and jars held paint-caked brushes. In the corner sat her newest invention, while a tray of oil paints in various colors rested on the table next to it. The machine itself took Kai and Lloyd's breath away.

It is a wooden machine containing various types of gadgetry, including an ax.

This machine was intended to be used to chop wood, supposedly making it easier than chopping with an ordinary ax.

"Wow!" Kai gasped.

"It's amazing, big sis!" Lloyd hugged her. "Now I know you're going to win this year!"

"Let's hope so." She beamed as she wrapped her arms around her two brothers and pulling them both close in a hug. "Then maybe we can get out of here."

"Finally!" Kai cheered.

"Now, I'm gonna get changed." She released her siblings before strolling down the hallway to her room. "Unless of course, you want me to help you clean the kitchen and-"

"NO!" They both said with such force she was taken aback. Nya meant it as a joke but it seemed neither Kai nor Lloyd were taking the chance.

"Oh and since Lloyd will probably be too busy cleaning the kitchen you'll just have to suffer pasta with my sauce," Kai warned teasingly, following Lloyd downstairs, smirking when he saw Nya cringe. Kai's sauce was incredibly hot and spicy. It hadn't taken too long to clean the kitchen, since Nya had only caused smoke and soot to cover the house and fortunately hadn't really burned anything. Still, it took at least an hour to clean the kitchen and make dinner.

Those were two things Nya was not allowed to help with since all her elegance and grace with creating and movement seemed to cease the second she entered the kitchen.

Once they finished, the trio spent the rest of the night the way they always did. Closing up shop and enjoying the night until Lloyd finally fell asleep, resulting in Nya carrying him upstairs and putting him to bed. Nya could only smile at the adorable sight.

"What?"

"Nothing." She shrugged her shoulders, still smiling. "Just wondering what you're still doing here?"

"What does that mean?" He asked confused, before turning back to Lloyd's sleeping form.

"I don't mean, here as in with the family, I meant here in general." She explained, sitting down next to her brothers.

"Let's face it, I don't fit in here." He groaned. "I mean, no one here gets me, and I have no one to talk to except you, Lloyd, and the librarian; and if you say Morro I swear to God I'll scream!" He threatened her and Nya burst out laughing.

"I wasn't going to, but remind me again why you don't like him?" She teased and Kai snorted.

"He's not my type."

"Poor Morro, maybe if he'd stayed the same, he might have a chance."

"I doubt it; honestly, I just don't wanna get married, I wanna be in love when I get married, not just settle down for the sake of it, or give myself up for money; I wanna travel and write and make my own happiness before I start looking for someone to share my happiness with." He explained. "Morro doesn't care about me, he just doesn't understand me! I want someone who loves me for me, and who can show me they love me like even without saying the words, I'll know they love me."

"Sounds cheesy," Nya replied with a teasing smile, before placing her hands on his shoulders. "Lloyd's right, you are a hopeful romantic." She giggled. Kai blushed before playfully punching Nya's arm. She just laughed before smiling sadly. "But seriously, Kai, that's a pretty amazing thought." She promised and Kai blinked at Nya's sudden change of tone. They sat in silence for a little while before Kai took a deep breath to settled his nerves.

"Nya? Do you think I'm odd?" He reluctantly asked, scared of the answer. His sister froze and looked at the brunette as if he'd suddenly grown an extra head.

"Is this because of what those idiots in town keep saying?" She asked angrily and Kai looked up to meet her saddened eyes.

"It's not that," He replied looking away. "It's just... I don't know, I obviously don't fit in, but sometimes I wish I did; then maybe I could find someone who actually understands me aside from you and Lloyd." He added and suddenly found himself wrapped in a warm hug by Nya before he was released. Nya's gaze rested on him with a look of firm affection.

"Kai, you're an artist like Mom and me, just with words, that means you see the world in ways other people can't or simply don't understand and it's your gift, to see the beauty and the horror in ordinary things, it doesn't make you odd, or strange, despite what the idiots in this town seem to think, just different, and there's nothing wrong with being different." She explained like it was a fact that needed to be memorized. Kai wasn't sure whether to smile or laugh at his silliness so he did both.

"Thanks, sis."

"Anytime," Nya laughed and got up before kissing Kai's forehead and then Lloyd's before turning to leave the room. "Night, big bro." She smiled and winked. "And remember, Lloyd and I are leaving tomorrow so we gotta get up early."

"I remember." He smiled, before getting up and retiring to his own room for the night...

#The Flame and the Dragon #ninjago #ninjago zane #ninjago cole #ninjago kai #ninjago lloyd #ninjago jay #ninjago nya #lavashipping