#i already wrote lorcan’s

[lorcandidlucienwill]

Y’all is SJM ever going to write the cadre members’ backstories or should I just write them myself?

#i already wrote lorcan’s #who is next #gavriel? #lorcan salvaterre #rowan whitethorn #gavriel #fenrys moonbeam #vaughan #connall moonbeam #cadre

[mariaofdoranelle]

Look at Us Now - Easter Outtake

Fic masterlist

HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY TO LAUN!!

SURPRISE!! I’m late to my own party, and I 100% apologize for that

But!

I can’t believe LAUN is a year old already 🥹🥹 they grow up so fast!! I don’t think an Easter celebration is canon compliant at all, but I couldn’t let the opportunity slip away when LAUN’s 1st anniversary came right on Easter 🥹🥹🥹 I’m so emotional 🥹

I’m also aware that not everyone here celebrates Easter, but honestly this was just an excuse to write fluff and chocolate gift-giving. I hope everyone finds a way to enjoy it!

And I feel like we all deserve a post-epilogue glimpse after an entire year of these two idiots heheheh

Warnings: cranky teenager Maisie, sibling fights (lots)

Words: 3k

Every time Aelin mocked Rowan for spoiling their kids too much, it completely lacked the awareness that she was the one he spoiled the most.

Or at least that was on Maisie’s mind as she strolled down the supermarket’s aisles with her little brother, because Mom wrote in the family group chat that she wanted pasta for dinner, so Dad asked Maisie to buy the ingredients after school.

“Finn,” she called her unrequited companion, “do you remember which olive oil Dad likes?”

“Uh…” The boy hesitated without taking his eyes off his Nintendo Switch. “I dunno, that green one?”

Maisie slapped her brother’s forearm with the back of her hand. “Are you being for real right now?”

Startled, the boy raised his head to see row after row of different green bottles of olive oil. They all looked exactly the same, but she knew better than to grab the first one they saw, knowing how fussy her dad could be sometimes.

“Gods! Just call him—that’s why you have a fucking phone,” Finn said while rubbing off the sting on his forearm.

Maisie rolled her eyes. “I’ll tell him you dropped a F-bomb.”

“And I’ll tell him you slapped me.”

“He’d be on your side,” she said while texting Rowan about the olive oil. “You’re so much shorter than me—he’d say it’s not a fair fight.”

“Take it back!” He ran towards Maisie for a second, since she was on her way to get tomatoes now. “When I get taller than Uncle Lorcan, you’ll wish you were less mean to me.”

Well, that would be a problem for future Maisie. At ten years old, Finn was so short, taunting him about it was almost too easy.

“Yeah, whatever.” She tapped her brother’s shoulder and pointed at another direction. “Go get the parmesan cheese.”

Finn turned to leave, but swung back to her. “Can we have ice cream later?”

Ice cream that she would have to pay, because she couldn’t report to the parental unit about illicit ice cream before dinner, let alone request a refund.

“Fine, just—“

“Alright! I’m there!”

Ever since Maisie got her first job, her brother started acting as if she was a millionaire. Sometimes, she wondered if he believed that her salary was the same as their parents’, which would be highly inaccurate. Despite the age gap, her parents never asked Maisie to act in any way that resembled a parental role—still, she liked to treat her siblings once in a while, give their jobless selves a taste of freedom, let them see what it’s like to have ice cream before dinner just because you can.

Before she knew it, he was back with the cheese.

“Can you buy me that Kinder Easter egg?” He pointed at a cardboard display filled with them. “The one with the dinosaur.”

Maisie narrowed her eyes on Finn. “You told Mom you wanted another one.”

“Yeah, because she only let me pick one.”

Her eyebrows shot when she came closer and saw the price tag. “Hell, no. I’d rather pay for a new haircut.”

“Hey!” Finn protested, running a hand through his newly cut hair. “Mom said she likes it!”

“You look ridiculous.”

“I’m so gonna tell her you said that.”

“Do it. Deep down, she agrees with me.”

˜˜

When she arrived, the house was calmer than usual.

“You aren’t magic!” Eamon shouted to his smirking, completely unfazed sister. “You’re not!”

Maisie walked past them towards the kitchen, where her dad prepped dinner as if the twins weren’t about to rip each other’s heads off in the living room.

“Hey, Maisy Daisy,” he called without looking away from the onion he was chopping. “Did you get everything?”

She put the bags on the counter as an answer, then her dad kissed the crown of her head in thanks and promised to repay her later.

Things didn’t seem to progress at all in the living room—actually, they did, if one could count Eamon getting angrier as progress.

“You don’t fly! You don’t control fire! You don’t teleport!”

Enid giggled. “I know how, I just don’t want to.”

“NO! YOU CAN’T!”

Maisie cut in, “I mean, she could.”

That made the boy stop and narrow his eyes on her, begrudgingly hanging on to whatever she was about to say. Since she was more than twice the twins’ age and the wisest of them all, sometimes her siblings actually listened to something Maisie said.

“I mean…” she shrugged. “We don’t know where you two came from, so maybe she really does have magic.”

Enid crossed her arms. “What do you mean?”

“FINN!” Maisie shouted and waited a moment for her brother to come out of his room. “Do you remember when we found Enid and Eamon in the trash?”

“That’s a lie!” Her ever-so-cool little sister yelled, her green eyes welling up.

“Oh, yeah.” Finn said after taking a moment to process the information, acting nonchalant—if he laughed, it was game over. “That day was wild.”

Eamon stood frozen in shock, while Enid bellowed an ear-shattering cry.

“Maisie! Finn!” Rowan yelled from the kitchen. “Stop telling your siblings we found them in the trash!”

“But they need to know the truth!” Maisie shouted back, wondering if her dad heard her over Enid’s cries.

“What on Earth is going on here?” Her Mom showed up, wrapped in a towel with her hair wet.

Eamon ran to hug Aelin’s middle, his eyes teary. “Are you not my mommy?”

Maisie rolled her eyes. Mama’s boy.

“Of course I am, honey.” She frowned. “What’s going on?”

With a sigh, Dad was finally able to join the rest in the living room. “Finn and Maisie told the twins they’re adopted.”

Aelin sent them her classic Are you kidding me? mom look, as if Maisie was to blame, then proceeded to soothe the seven-year-olds.

If they fell for it, it was their fault for being stupid. There’s a picture of Dad as a kid on Grandma Rory’s hallway from when he was Eamon’s age, and they look like the same person in there.

“The only one adopted here was Fleetfoot,” Dad said.

“No, she’s not. I gave birth to her.” Mom sent him a mischievous look. “I went into labor for her.”

“Um—“ Maisie cleared her throat. “Fleetfoot’s mine.”

Dad sent Mom an apologetic smile. “She really is Maisie’s.”

“I want a dog too!” Enid cut in.

“Yeah, me too!” Finn joined.

Maisie hummed. “We could give them a country name…”

“Like Eyllwe,” Eamon said.

Rowan’s eyes widened. “No! Fleetfoot’s everyone’s,” he said, completely contradicting himself after the threat of more poop for him to clean.

˜˜

From the looks of it, dinner would be ready on time for breakfast.

To be fair, her dad was never late to finish dinner, but his desire to make this a special one and the boiling tomatoes in order to make the sauce from scratch led to this.

It was kinda cute, how Dad conjured something special out of thin air just because his wife hinted that she was feeling like it over text while they were at work.

Maisie saw a glimpse of her parents canoodling in the kitchen on her way to her bedroom, but almost ran to the toilet instead. They were so adorably disgusting, all that love made her want to throw up.

Her parents were no better than any PDA-addicted straight couple she saw at school, except that while the average high schooler couple lasted about three months, her parents have been at it for a little over a decade.

At least, a light peck was the furthest they got in front of their kids—or ever. For all Maisie knew, she and her three siblings came from artificial insemination.

A savior from her thoughts, Finn knocked on the door.

“We need to talk,” he said, looking crestfallen.

“C’mere.”

Maisie sat on the side of her bed, and tapped the free space beside her for him to sit. Instead, he sat on her lap. Weird.

She was about to ask him what was going on when a low, rumbling sound coming from him filled the air.

The little bitch had just farted on her.

Finn ran away, giggling, while Maisie screamed the most irate shriek ever known to man.

He locked himself in his bedroom, but her quickened pulse only energized her, aiding tense upper arms to pound against his door.

“I’M GONNA KILL YOU,” Maisie shouted at her hiding brother.

He’d get out sometime, and when he did, she’d be there.

On the kitchen’s threshold, Aelin peeked her head into the hallway. “What’s going on here?”

The teenager slowly turned to her mom, jaw tight, and seethed, “Why. Was. He. Born?”

With a sigh that came deep from her soul, Aelin fully stepped into the hallway. “What did your brother do now?”

Maisie pointed at her closed bedroom door. “Smell it!”

Her mom stepped in and out of the bedroom, coughing. “Gods, Finn!”

In a feeble attempt to fix the situation, Aelin opened Maisie’s bedroom’s window and sprayed some air freshener inside—one hand on the bottle, another clamping her nose. Still, the girl didn’t trust to go back into her room for the next hour or so.

Aelin knocked on Finn’s door twice to get his attention. “That was way too stinky, honey, I’m cutting off some of your junk food!”

“Come on!” he complained from the other side of the door.

Too bad Finn couldn’t see her triumphant smirk. It’d rile him up beautifully.

Two taps to her shoulder. “Dinner’s almost ready. Come help me set the table.”

“What was that?” Dad asked when Mom got back to the kitchen, focused on the stove.

“Finn farted in Maisie's room and she threatened his life.”

“Oh,” was all he said, mixing something on the tomato sauce.

She desperately needed to meet whoever taught her parents how to live this peacefully amidst chaos.

“On my room? He farted on me.” She flailed her arms, trying to explain her brother’s audacity. “He sat on my lap, his butt to my thigh, and farted.”

Aelin snorted. “I told you the kids shouldn’t spend that much time with Aedion.”

Rowan’s eyes lit up. “You did tell me some awfully similar stories from when you were younger.”

After the table was set, Mom was back to her occasional glass of wine, and all was left to do was her dad’s finishing touches to dinner.

Maisie cleared her throat. “I was thinking…”

Her dad immediately turned around and pointed a spoon at her. “If it’s about that party, don’t bother.”

“Not a party!”

“Money, then.” Aelin smirked behind her glass of wine.

The girl crossed her arms. Her mom’s grin turned smug.

Maisie groaned. “Fine! But it’s good, I promise.”

“Go on,” Rowan said.

“I want to buy Easter eggs for Finn and the twins, but I can’t afford the cool ones.”

“Aw, honey, that’s so sweet.” Her mom melted right on spot. “I’m sorry we can’t help you with that.”

Maisie’s face fell. “What.”

Even her dad seemed a little confused, though he tried to hide it.

Aelin sat straighter to explain, “You see, if we help you with this, your siblings will ask to do the same, and it wouldn’t be fair to say no to them after…”

Maisie rolled her eyes. Her parents and their “equal treatment”—

“Do not roll your eyes at your mother,” Rowan warned.

Aelin continued, “Next thing we know, we spent our entire paychecks on chocolate, Finn is farting on our faces all day, the twins will never fall asleep again from the sugar rush, and your dad will be shoving food down your throat because of some crazy diet you saw online to get rid of the Easter weight.” She raised her brow in that infuriating mom way of hers. “Did I miss something?”

“Fine!” Maisie held both arms up in surrender. “You want me to buy your kids lame chocolate, is that it?”

“If they can’t appreciate whatever you can afford, I’m not raising them right.”

“Ugh!” Maisie groaned, and sat facing away from her mother.

A moment later, Dad sent her off to tell her siblings dinner was ready, and soon everyone was at the table, ready to attack the food that took ages to be ready.

Except that, when she asked for the parmesan cheese, Enid took it and kept waving it in front of her instead of just passing it over.

After seven years of Enid, Maisie was unimpressed. “Are you trying to tease me?”

The little girl giggled. “No, you can have it, but I want to see your eyes light up first!”

With a sigh, Rowan took it from Enid’s hand and passed it over to Maisie. “Can we just try to be rational for once?”

“I was rational once,” Eamon said, frowning.

With his mouth full, Finn said, “I want the next special dinner to be at one of those fancy pasta places with two forks.”

“Manners,” Aelin warned the wild beast she called a son.

“Mom and Dad never take us to fancy restaurants for a reason,” Maisie said while giving a pointed look to Finn, who was by her side.

The boy rolled his eyes and mimicked in a high-pitched voice, “MoM aND dAD nEVer tAkE uS tO fANcY rEStAuRaNts FoR a rEasOn.”

Maisie slapped her brother’s forearm, and that’s when her parents lost patience.

Rowan lifted his pointed finger, “Do not—“

“Maisie, Finn, for Mala’s sake…” Aelin started, pinching the bridge of her nose.

˜˜

Later that night, Maisie was scrolling on TikTok before sleep, but two knocks on her bedroom door stopped her short.

It was Finn, holding his blanket. More often than not, he slept in Maisie’s room—she wasn’t sure why, but it’d been this way since he was little. Already knowing what was about to happen, Fleetfoot moved to the foot of the bed to give him space. Her bed might look big, but it didn’t have nearly enough space for two people and a person-sized dog.

When she was taking off her many pillows to find some space for her brother, a bulky-looking folded paper caught her eye.

Maisie hid it back with the pillow and said, “Go get me some water.”

Finn complained, but complied.

Quickly unfolding the paper in the little time she had, Maisie recognized her dad’s writing and a fuckton of cash—not too much for an Air Force major, but enough to make a teenager who had a minimum-wage part-time job feel like a billionaire.

Groceries refund + your delivery fee

Don’t mention it—ever

Maisie’s grin grew wicked. She fucking loved her dad.

˜˜

Finding a reason to get out of the house on Easter was tough, but she managed it.

Maisie had already picked her dad’s sushi-filled Easter egg at the restaurant, since he hated chocolate, and the other ones had been retrieved from its hiding place at Uncle Aedion’s.

Inside her house, Finn was the first one to greet her.

He eyed her bags suspiciously. “What’s all that?”

Without a word, she took one Kinder egg that fit in her palm, and handed it to him. Finn took it in his hand, contemplated it for a second with a silly half-smile, then hugged Maisie tight, squeezing her waist.

“Gods!” She lightly slapped his head. “You’re so dumb.”

Before he processed what happened, Maisie got his actual Easter egg, the Kinder with the dinosaur he wanted.

His eyes lit up and his mouth hung open, as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Then, her brother crushed her into a hug that knocked her breath out of her lungs.

“Thanks, Mais.”

“Yeah, yeah.” She took a second to take it in, than wiggled out of his hug to hand the twins’ ones.

They looked so happy, it didn’t even look like Mom and Dad gave each of them giant Easter eggs three hours ago.

Her parents were watching them from afar, wearing one of those weird, sentimental parent smiles.

When she took out her dad’s from the bag, Rowan finally looked surprised—which was easily detected by his wife.

The “shell” part of his Easter egg was just nori and rice, but it was filled with seafood. Dad twirled his sushi egg in his hands, mouth ajar. “Honey, I didn’t think you’d get me something too. You didn’t have to.”

“Too?” Mom asked, lips quirked up. Her eyes sparkled, darted between Maisie and Rowan, then landed on her daughter. “Good to know you found a way to afford it.”

“I’m my father’s daughter.” Maisie shrugged. “Of course I know how to save money.”

She also knew how to spend it like her mother, but it wouldn’t be smart to mention right now.

At that point, Maisie knew Aelin figured out that Rowan gave her the money, and Mom knew Maisie knew she knew. Neither of them would say a word, though, and it was best this way.

She handed her mom’s next, a chocolate hazelnut Easter egg the size of Aelin’s head.

“I didn’t know Dad bought you the same one,” Maisie said with a sheepish smile.

“You won’t hear me complaining, honey.” Her mom kept intense eye contact with her Easter egg, likely unwrapping it in her mind as if she didn’t have a half-eaten identical one in her bedroom.

Aelin put her gift on the coffee table near them and hugged Maisie. “I love you, honey,” she said before kissing her daughter’s head. “Thank you for the gift. You’re such a great big sister.”

“I know, right?”

However, their hug was abruptly broken by shouting coming from the other side of the living room.

“Stop. Being. An idiot!” Enid shouted at Eamon for whatever reason they decided to bicker over this afternoon.

“We’re both idiots, but you’re the bigger idiot!” he fought back.

Maisie tapped her mom’s shoulders. “Go tame your evil twins.”

“Don’t call your siblings that!”

She sighed, not surprised by how quickly their moment of peace—a rarity in her home—was broken.

Weirdly enough, her parents seemed to enjoy it.

A/N: In the plans of this outtake I have deep into my notes app, Aelin mentions that since her husband doesn’t like chocolate, her Easter gift to him would be given “later tonight”. I thought you’d like to know *wink*

2nd A/N: Yes I left Maisie’s exact age in the dark on purpose heheheh this one spoiler I’m not handing out like this.

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#rowaelin #rowan whitethorn #aelin ashryver galathynius #throne of glass #rowaelin fanfiction #rowan x aelin #aelin x rowan #rowaelin fanfic #throne of glass fanfic #look at us now

[writtenonreceipts]

Rowaelin Month Day Six: Forced Proximity @rowaelinscourt

link to masterlist here

She is a mess because I wrote her in one day between doing my real job and trying not to cry xoxo

Warnings: mild covid references/quarantine days, very poorly edited

level of concern (tell me we're alright)

The apartment was too small.  Aelin hadn’t noticed it until now, but two rooms and a single bathroom with a kitchen that easily melted into the living room was hardly enough space for two people.  Two people who hated each other.

Aelin threw herself down on the couch, gripping her coffee in one hand.  She’d long ago mastered the art of equilibrium where any sort of caffeine was involved so she didn’t spill anything as she sprawled across the plush cushions.  Groaning, she leaned her head back and tried, so very hard, not to lose her ever loving mind.

It was only week three of quarantine and she was going insane.

She missed going outside whenever she felt like it.  She missed going shopping.  She missed her friends.  She missed people.  Instead, she was trapped here with the one person she did not want to be.

“Do you always have to sound like a dying whale?” A very unamused voice called from the kitchen table, a grand ‘ol four steps away.

Aelin flashed a single finger over the top of the couch.  She got a grunt of disapproval in return.

“It’s eight twenty-two, well outside of your precious quiet hours,” she informed her roommate. “I can do whatever I want.”

Another grunt.

Aelin shifted to peek over the couch to glare. “You sound like a dying walrus.”

And Rowan Whitethorn promptly choked on his cereal.  Two days in a row—Aelin was on a winning streak.

When Aelin first moved to Doranelle three months ago, her plan was to have her own apartment, a dog, a perfect new job, and a social life.  What she got was a crash landing with her nemesis, no dog, the worst job known to man, and quarantine.

She and Rowan had been at each other's throats since they met one fateful night at a bar.  Rowan spilled beer on her, an accident, and promptly insulted her two minutes later after trying to hit on her.

As it turned out, he was friends with Aelin’s old roommates' boyfriends.  She should have known he was the worst considering he and Lorcan Salvaterre got on.  

The bar scene ended with a fight, more beer spillage (on purpose), and a promise of vengeance.

Unfortunately for Aelin, her prospective lease fell through and she would have been homeless if not for the extra room in Rowan’s apartment.  And then covid struck and Aelin was trapped.

Hence, her beached whale position (and sounds) from the couch.  Life was one cosmic joke after another.

“You don’t always have to make your presence known, y’know,” Rowan commented as he pretended, he hadn’t almost had multi-grain Wheaties shooting out of his nose.

“Of course I do,” Aelin argued, “how else can I annoy you before quiet hours begin?”

His green eyes flashed and he rose from his seat at the table, already dressed in a button up and slacks.  For Zoom meetings.  Like a lunatic.  If he’d been wearing a tie she would have teased him for it.  Of all things the man should still be in shorts and a t-shirt.  At least the button up stretched in interesting ways over Rowan’s broad shoulders.  He might have been the bane of her existence but he was nice to look at.

“Don’t you have a job?” he asked, putting his dishes in the sink. “Ah, I forgot, you don’t.”

“Freelance writing is a job,” Aelin said.  She sat up straighter so she could better glare at him. “It’s not my fault things have slowed down.”

Indeed, Aelin’s literature degree had taken a hit given the state of the world right now.  She’d hoped she would have a job at a major publishing company or magazine or something.  Instead, she’d been rejected from job after job and was trying to write freelance articles to keep up on rent.  It…wasn’t going well.  Which had led her to content creating for Instagram.  She read books and talked about them and it kept her somewhat sane.  Until Rowan mocked her for it.

“Rent’s due on the fifth!” he called as he disappeared down the hall to his room to shut in for his work day to begin.

Aelin had no idea what he did, only that it involved not having a sense of humor.  Something with marketing?  But his degree was in history if Elide was right…

She shrugged and took a long sip of her coffee.  She had less than twenty minutes before quiet hours started at eight-forty and ended at five thirty when the work day ended and she had every intention of making as much noise as possible.

…

Rowan knew he was an ass.  He’d always been known as the asshole throughout high school, college, the steps in-between.  Even his friends often thought he was worse than Lorcan.  Lorcan of all people.

Granted, ever since Elide came into the picture, Lorcan had mellowed out and even smiled once a week.

Rowan found scowling to be more beneficial.  Especially when it came to getting Sam Cortland to shut up in the daily staff meetings they had over Zoom.

His degree was in art history and appraising--a limited degree where all he’d wanted to do was work in a museum organizing exhibits.  Not writing legal documents for rich men to take art from their rightful owners.

The irony was not lost on him that perhaps he shouldn’t give Aelin such a hard time about her job and the fact she wasn’t using her degree very much.  

The only problem was he’d dug himself into a hole and now he had no idea how to get out.

Aelin, for all eccentricities, was smart and did work hard.  She was doing everything possible to stay afloat--sarcasm included.

Their first meeting at the bar had only gone so miserable because Rowan didn’t know when to shut up and apparently had a unique skill of insulting beautiful women.  What a time to learn that.

English?  Isn’t that the easiest thing to study?

She should have slapped him and not just dumped beer in his lap.

Rowan leaned back in his seat as the project manager started talking over the new contract that would be drawn up between a client and their acquisitions.  It continued on for too long and Rowan just wanted to get back to his own assignments.  By the time late afternoon rolled around, he was ready to log off and be done for the day.

He’d always considered himself to be a homebody, but this was getting ridiculous.  He wanted to be out doing things.  But the trails were closed, his friends were spread out over the country, and there was the risk of a disastrous illness running amuck.

So he was trapped in an apartment with Aelin Galathynius.  The place had always felt enormous until she’d moved in.  But she had a way of filling every space she occupied.  Other than the various bathroom accouterments she had there were the dozens of fleece blankets, the books, the personality.  Even he had to admit she was different from anyone he’d met before.

Unfortunately, she was very good at holding grudges.

He’d tried apologizing for getting off on the wrong foot when she first moved in, but her mind was already made up.  Then came the way she was loud, talkative, rambunctious.  Quarantine was not meant for her.  After one day he’d realized that she needed space and freedom and the ability to do whatever she wanted.  The jury was still out on how he felt about that.

He was finally able to mute his other coworkers when a loud crash echoed from the kitchen.  Rowan rolled his eyes.  It was two, so of course Aelin was getting snacky.  He’d clocked her eating habits and quickly learned she needed to eat at least eight times a day to be in a good mood.  Seven of those times had to involve chocolate.

She had been doing better at keeping quiet while he was in his zoom meetings so Rowan tried to control his ire.  Really, she hadn’t been a bad roommate.  She’d tried to keep the peace between them and even offered to include him on DoorDash orders.  All of her orders were from the local dessert shop and Rowan didn’t eat much sugar so that didn’t help matters.   

Another crash from the kitchen followed by the patter of feet to the linen closet.

“Damndamndamndamn,” Aelin chanted as she went.

Rowan froze.  She’d broken his sink again, hadn’t she?  He glanced at his computer but no one was paying attention, all engaged in their own work.  Besides, he could step away from a minute if he needed to.

Standing, Rowan slipped into the hall and down to the kitchen.  He braced himself for anything and everything.  Knowing Aelin there could be a dead body.

What he was completely unprepared for was the settling plume of flour and mess of various baking items scattered around the kitchen.

“What the hell are you doing?” he blurted before he could stop himself.

Aelin turned from the counter, her blonde hair spilling out of a messy bun.  Her t-shirt and shorts (that showed off her lean legs) were covered in a mix of flour and butter, her face smudged too.  He knew he should stop staring.  Really, he’d seen her first thing in the morning looking like the walking dead and in the middle of the night crying to Taylor Swift.  And now, covered in flour, eyes wide with panic.  He would admit it only to himself and deny it if anyone asked him--but she was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

“It’s cookie Friday,” Aelin said, she had a towel in one hand, spatula in the other.  A bottle of vanilla was tipped over as she was trying to mop up the mess. “Sorry.”

“You hate cooking, or baking, or anything involving an oven,” Rowan reminded her.

“Which is why I’m only going to eat the dough raw,” Aelin said, voice growing quieter with each word.  Her blue eyes were comically wide as she gestured around the kitchen. “Then the thing exploded and the other thing tipped over and it turned into a mess and I was trying to be quiet because you are a grumpy buzzard, even on Fridays, and I know you’re at work but I really needed cookies.”

Aelin continued to look at him with her large eyes as she offered a sympathetic shrug of her shoulders.  

"Sorry?"

Rowan didn't know if he should laugh or be irritated or something else.  But all he really could do was stare at her.  It was such an Aelin thing for her to do that really, he couldn't be mad.

"You know raw cookie dough is bad for you right?" He asked.

"No, it literally feeds the soul," she set.

With a wet thwack, she dropped the towel in the sink and righted the vanilla bottle.  Most of it had spilled out leaving a sickly-sweet scent cloying in the air. "And I don't care what scientists or other miserable things you read say."

Rowan rolled his eyes. He should have known better than to try and reason with her. "Alright fine.  Eat your salmonella."

"I will, thank you," she said.  A patch of flour still clung to her cheek giving her bravado a little less umph than he was sure she wanted. "And I'll clean up, no need to worry your poor old heart about that."

"I'm not old," he said.  Thirty was a perfectly reasonable age.

"Yeah, yeah."  She patted herself down, sending little plumes of flour all over the place.  She tried righting her hair, but it seemed to be of no use—most of the tendrils had broken free and she was stuck with a curling mass in the nape of her neck. "Go back to work, I'm sure nothing will get done without you."

And Rowan in a bought of what had to be pure reckless abandonment shook his head. "Nah.  I'm not that important."

Aelin raised a brow. "Really? Even with your real degree and real work you put into college."

Well.  He deserved that. 

"Yeah?"

Aelin eyed him skeptically before tossing another clean towel at him. "You get the floor I'll get the cabinets."

And then because the apartment had somehow shrunk in the last three months—they were continually in each other’s way.  Rowan brushing her leg, Aelin grabbing his shoulder when she nearly fell over while reaching for the top cabinets, both going for the sink at the same time.  It was chaos.  And because Rowan didn't know how to sort out his own feelings, he found his skin heating at each touch, his heart race at each glance.  And he knew, he knew he was a fool.  But if the past three months had taught him anything—it was that he could be very wrong about a great deal of things.

When the kitchen was somewhat restored to order.  Aelin sighed. "I guess that'll have to do.  I'll dig out the real cleaning products in a minute, I have to meet with one of my editors.  Hopefully one of my articles was accepted this time."

She said the last part flippantly, but Rowan could sense the tension rolling off of her.  She wanted that job to go through, needed it.  

"I'm sure it will," he said.

Aelin rolled her eyes. "You don't have to offer a pity compliment buzzard; I know it's not your style."

“It’s not--” Rowan cursed and looked away, running a hand through his hair anxiously. “We both know what I said back then wasn’t true.  I know it must have taken work and dedication to get your degree.”

“Thanks.  It did.” She was unapologetic with her bold words, just as he would expect her to be. “I won’t keep you.  I promise I’ll have the rest of this cleaned up before bed.”

“It’s fine,” Rowan said. 

Aelin grabbed the dirty towels to take to the small laundry alcove but Rowan stopped her.

“You’ve got flour,” he tried to explain that there was still a steak of flour on her cheek, but he was already reaching out, brushing it away with a quick swipe of his thumb.

Aelin froze, watching him as if she didn’t recognize him.  Not that he could blame her, he was actually being nice.  Her lips parted as if to say something, but Rowan’s phone gave a loud ping from where he’d left it in his room.  He’d hooked his notifications onto a larger speaker setting so he wouldn’t miss anything during the day if he got up to leave his desk.

“Work calls, right?”  Aelin joked with a small, half smile.  And then she was gone down the hall.

Rowan cursed again, running a hand over his face. 

“Get it together, Whitethorn,” he muttered, before he too returned to his room.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

tags are a joke rn. please consider reblogging?

love yall

#rowaelin #aelin galathynius #rowan whitethorn #aelin x rowan #rowaelin month #rowaelinmonth #modern au #tog #throne of glass #fluff and fun

[feyretales]

Elorcan oneshot: Vernon

Yup, I did it again: wrote another scene, filling the holes in elorcan story haha this scene was based in the though: what was Lorcan reaction when he first discovered Vernon had been caught? Hope you enjoy!

“Is Vernon Lochan here?”

“Yes”

“Elide´s uncle? The one who did…you know, everything?” Fenrys asked again, following his queen through the opening of the cavernous rock. 

“Yes and yes. Hiding right here, in the Northern Fang, and pretending to be a wyvern trainer. But we caught him”

“And why is he here?” Fenrys asked.

“Don´t know yet. Right here”

Turning a corner, they found a dark and long corridor, the horrible smell of valg and cruelty still strong. Rowan was there, standing against a wall, waiting for them.

“He's in there” Prince Rowan began, pointing to a door “Well restrained. Trying to pretend he isn't afraid. We need to move carefully. He's clever, but far away from invincible, and taking information of the second-in-hand may give us a tremendous advantage against Erawan, mainly in this point of war”

“Everything counts” Fenrys noded “But does…who already knows he's here?”

“We three, but I asked the trainee to call Gavriel too, and then we can think about when and how to tell Elide and…” The queen answered, but never finished her phrase.

The world went quiet. 

Absolutely quiet. Something was wrong.

The hair in Aelin's neck rose. 

"What's this?" She asked sharply. Vernon was well restrained, and he didn't have any magic power, not that she knew. But all this time being the second-in-hand for Erawan...

Both Rowan and Fenrys tensed, and she knew they were using their magic senses, trying to understand what had happened. This quietness, this cold air, the feeling that something horrible is getting near by the second...Aelin realized, a bit too late, where this must be coming from. Who this must be coming from. Of course the news would spread like fire, and of course, of course he would come. Vernon was a Elide's matter. And all this, it was the premise of death.

"Lorcan" Rowan and Fenrys said at the same time. 

They moved fast, tracking from where Lorcan was coming. Tracking how they would stop him. 

A door in the right side of the corridor opened, just a bit. And Aelin realized that, all this time, she was underestimating Lorcan. 

He was the deathless person in a battlefield, she knew already. From what she heard and what she saw. Brute force and energy perhaps had never been seen on this earth before him. But the power she felt passing for the door while he entered the room...

It was suffocating. 

Invisible, but almost palpable. A presence engulfing you whole. All your fears coming true at once. The desperate sensation that you need to run away.

Life slowly succumbing to death. 

Lorcan lifted his head slowly, and looked at the three members of his new court. Every movement was slow, like he was frozen with rage, his depthless eyes like frigid pools of night.

"I've heard some interesting news in the camp" he said quietly, and the hair in Aelin's neck rose once again when his eyes settled on her."Is it true?"

"Lorcan..." Rowan began, getting between Aelin and the Hellas´ blessed warrior, Lorcan´s attention on him.

“Is Vernon Lochan here?” Lorcan said, and his words were pronounced so low Aelin barely listened to them.

In that moment, with almost nothing human in his stare, Lorcan could be Hellas itself, and when he gave a step closer to Rowan, and closer to the door of the room where Vernon was locked, the queen of Terrasen refrained herself from giving a step away. She needed to put some sense into his mind, because even with the blood oath…all that rage, free, would be a problem.

“Yes, and I know…” Rowan began again, but stopped when Lorcan gave another step closer, and smiled. A smile that promised suffering.

“Good. I have some things to settle with him”

“Elide may want to see him, Lorcan” Fenrys interfered, approaching the two males.

“Elide won't come anywhere near him.”

“It's her decision, Lorcan. Hers alone”

“She already decided, months ago. She decided he deserved to die. She decided I´d kill him. Is he in there?” He pointed to the door.

“We need to think about all the possibilities, starting with torturing him for information, mainly if he was in Morath.” Rowan started again, talking fast. “ I know this is personal for you, I know, but we need to consider the war we are into. You know better than anyone here how it works. You said it to me yourself in Doranelle. Everyone will deal with the consequences of doing something without planning well…”

“You can't compare. And I know very well the war we are fighting. I can torture him. I can take all the information he knows since the day he was born. I will. But this will be between Vernon and me, and no one else. And I´ll take a long while doing it.”

“You are not thinking rationally, Lorcan, and we need to call Elide here and decide together what happens with him and how to do it…” Aelin began

“Neither of your plans will take that kill from me, Aelin. No one will”

“You are barely thinking straight” Rowan put a hand on his sword. “And that's why I can't let you pass.”

Aelin felt the dark sensation getting stronger. She felt the necessity of running away. She saw Lorcan starting to shake out of rage.

But instead of the explosion Aelin was waiting for, he just took a small step, closer to his centuries-long companion.

“Did I stand between you and Cairn?” Lorcan asked, and utter silence answered him. Rowan and Aelin paled alike.

“It could be useful to torture him for information too, but did I try to convince you of that? Did I try to take that kill out of you?” He gave another step closer, and now he and Rowan´s noses were almost touching “You needed to pay back what your mate had suffered in his hands, and I understood. I stood there with you. I had your back. And now you are blocking my way?”

“Lorcan, we know…” Fenrys tried again.

“You know shit. You saw nothing. And that's why I didn't already kill you all to get to that door. None of you know Elide like I do, none of you saw what I saw…

“She's my friend, and I want revenge as much as you do…” Aelin started again, voice breaking

“YOU HAVE NO IDEA '' Aelin stopped right away, and Fenrys realized, later, that he had seen two things for the first time in his life: Lorcan shouting, and someone shutting Aelin´s mouth  “And I hope, my queen, that you never in your life experience the complete desperation Elide feels when he's around, when she as much as thinks about him. I am no saint, but for what this man did to my Elide, the deserves to die the cruelest of the deaths a thousand and one times'' Flushed by rage, his dark eyes slided to Rowan again “He has been planning against her since the day she was born, Rowan. Everything he does, his very existence, has been the major risk for Elide´s life forever. I had your back because I knew exactly what you felt, like you know what I feel right now. Answer me: am I wrong?”

Rowan was still pale, and still silent. He didn't say anything, but there was no need for words, for there were a lot of emotions in his eyes. He faced Lorcan Salvaterre, flushed from rage, breathing heavily, and saw that the frigids nights of his eyes were replaced by an emotion that burned like the fires of an autumn solstice. So many autumn solstice fires they had seen together. Not him, nor the male in front of him, but the people they were,  before everything. Before Terrasen. Rowan knew he had become a very different male, but now he and Lorcan faced each other, and he saw the same transformation in this companion. He saw a male who could even stop being a companion and start being a friend. He saw a male that was willing to do anything to protect a family destiny had guided him to find. 

Rowan faced Lorcan, and understood. Understood what Lorcan was trying to say. He knew exactly what Lorcan was feeling, because the bond that guided them was the same. Even if Lorcan didn´t know that already.

A mating bond.

He took the hand away from his dagger.

“It's your right” And as Fenrys began protesting, he said “For what he did to Elide, he deserves to pay. Deserves to fall for Lorcan´s hand”

Lorcan faced him silently for a moment, then gave a curt nod and started walking again. Took a small piece of leather and tied his hair. His hand went to take one of the knives at his side. The other touched the knob of the door.

“All of this” he said, and looked at all the others again “It's not only about Elide. He deserves to pay for Kaltain too”

He opened it.

And Vernon Lochan was there. Tied and gagged. Paled and horrendous. 

Lorcan wasted some moments just staring at him. This piece of shit of a person. Unworthy to be a Lochan. And as Vernon stared back, and started to shake after seing Lorcan´s expression, he remembered everything Elide had told him. Everything this shaking coward was capable of doing when there was power in his hands, and no one to stand against his wishes.

Elide never left his mind, but in that moment he remembered Cal and Marion Lochan. Members of a family he needed to honor. Members of a family he so much wished to call his own.

Remembered Kaltain, too. Who had suffered unspeakable things, but had had courage enough, in the end, to fall like the greatest warrior and save everything for him.  

He approached Vernon with slow steps, and bent down, until they were face to face

“Hello, you.”

And punched him.

But instead of continuing what he had spent so much time planning to do, he went to the door again. Got out and locked Vernon inside.

“Call her. My right to do, but hers to decide. Call Elide”

#elorcan #tog #elide x lorcan #elide lochan #lorcan salvaterre #sjmaas

[golden-kingdom]

So Good - Part 1

Summary: Pop singer Aelin Ashryver Galathynius, better known as Celaena, had everything she wanted in life. Until she met Rowan Whitethorn at a party. She decides to stay away for her own good and his, but fate has a funny way of bringing them together again and again.

Based on the song So Good by Halsey.

Word Count: 4.8k

Warnings: Cursing, a bit of violence, drinking and drugs, asshole!Chaol (I'm sorry I promise I don't hate him), mention of cheating

This is my first fanfiction ever so please be kind with me. I don't really know how making music works so I'm sorry if the process doesn't make sense. This is inspired by the song So Good by Halsey and a bit by Halsey's life too. The song in the first part is called Sorry and is also by Halsey.

Masterlist

Read it on AO3

June 2019

Aelin loved a good party. And this was definitely one. She would know, she was the one who organized it. Dressed in a short golden dress that hugged every curve of her body, she made her way through the club to the birthday girl, her best friend and agent, Elide.

She found her surrounded by people she knew and some she didn’t. She had invited a lot of people. Elide had a big smile on her face and her face was flushed in a way Aelin knew she had already enjoyed a few drinks. Not that she had anything to say about it; she was the first one who got a shot for her friend when the party started. And then another one.

Aelin quickly found her way next to her friend and put an arm around her shoulders to catch her attention.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" she asked the short black-haired woman over the loud sound of the music and everyone talking.

"Yes! Thank you so much for this, Ae! But you know you didn’t have to," she replied, a little louder than necessary.

Aelin just shrugged and smiled.

"You only turn 25 once in your life! And you deserve to be celebrated," she replied.

Elide looked up at her and gave her a true smile. But then, something that looked like determination took over her face.

"Since you’re here, there’s someone I’d like you to meet." she said in her agent voice that had Aelin ready to turn on her heels. But the other woman grabbed her arm and pulled her forward to a few tall men talking.

Aelin knew one of them. Lorcan was the guitarist in her supporting band on tour and, to her greatest sorrow, Elide’s boyfriend. Lorcan and Aelin didn’t exactly get along. They bickered constantly and insulted each other every five minutes. But he was a great guitarist and Elide loved him for reasons unknown to Aelin. So, she had to tolerate him apparently.

Lorcan wasn’t the person who caught her eye in the small group though. Next to him was a very tall man (not huge like Lorcan, but definitely a lot taller than Aelin) with broad shoulders, tan skin and short silver hair. He looked a bit older than her and Elide. Probably in his early thirties. But what stroke Aelin was the intricate tattoo design descending his left arm. She would never admit it to anyone, but she definitely had a thing for tattoos. Especially on good-looking men like this one. Before he could catch her staring at him, Elide spoke.

"Aelin, this is Rowan Whitethorn. He’s a good friend of Lorcan and an amazing musician," she said, gesturing to the man she was just looking at.

He finally looked at her and Aelin took in his deep pine green eyes looking at her with intent like he was seizing her up, but she didn’t look away, holding his gaze.

"So, this is the famous Celaena? Nice to finally meet you," he said with a crooked smile.

He knew who she was… Of course, he did. Most people knew who she was. She was a pretty famous pop star after all. But she didn’t like to assume everybody knew that. And she certainly wasn’t going to let this handsome man she just met call her by her stage name. 

"Please, call me Aelin," she smiled back.

"Remember that song you loved from Manon Blackbeak and the Thirteen, the one about witches slaying men? Rowan is the one who wrote the music," Elide told her, interrupting their little exchange.

"Yeah, that song was alright, I guess," joked Aelin, looking at Rowan to see his reaction.

She just found him smirking.

"I thought I would introduce the two of you. Maybe someday you can work on something together," explained Elide.

"Please, this is your birthday, Elide! Stop working, you’re not my agent tonight. Go have some fun please," said Aelin in an exasperated but amused tone.

On cue, as if it’s all she was waiting for, Elide took Lorcan by the arm and lead him toward the dancefloor. She had never seen Lorcan danced, but she guessed there was a first time for anything. He really was whipped for his girlfriend she thought.

"I’m sorry, I know you probably didn’t come here to talk work. Please allow me to buy you a drink as an apology," said Aelin to the silver-haired man still standing in front of her. They were the only two left from the small group.

"No worries. I don’t mind at all. But I’ll take you up on your offer for a drink," Rowan replied with a small smile.

Aelin went to the bar and, after getting two drinks, she went back to Rowan who was standing in a quieter part of the club. She handed him his drink, a whiskey on ice, and he thanked her. She just winked at him and gave him a mischievous smile.

"So how do you have the great displeasure of knowing Lorcan Salvaterre?" she asked him.

He laughed, not a full-on laughter, but his face lit up and his features softened a little. He really was beautiful, especially like this. Now all she could think about was making him laugh again if that was the reaction she got.

"Lorcan is one of my best friends. We met when we were younger. We actually had a band together years ago," he replied, taking a sip of his drink. 

She watched the way his throat bobbed while he swallowed the drink and felt a little hot inside. She quickly looked back at his face.

"Lorcan was in a band? With you? What was it called?" she asked, focusing on his answer and not how big his hands were around the glass… She definitely had too much to drink. She had just met the man for Gods’ sake. She needed to get a grip.

"The Cadre," Rowan said, apparently obvious to what she was thinking. Good. "But it never really took off, and we all ended up parting ways and doing our own thing. We’re still good friends though."

"I always wanted to be in a band. I mean, I guess, I kinda have one now, but it’s not the same when you’re a solo artist. It can feel a bit lonely sometimes," Aelin said with honesty, taking a sip of her own drink.

"So, the life of a world-famous pop star is not all it’s cracked up to be?" the man said, joking, but looking at her with the same honesty.

"I mean, it definitely has its perks," she laughed. "Like the endless amount of designer clothes I get gifted! But it also means I’m always touring the world and I cannot see my friends and family like I want to. And I don’t ever really feel home anywhere," she confessed in a small voice.

"I can relate to that. It feels like I’ve always drifted from places to places, and never had somewhere I could settle down and call home…" he said, looking at her with a look she couldn’t quite place.

She wanted to ask more, but he sighed and said: "I have to go, but here’s my number. Text me if you wanna make some music together. I have a studio at my apartment."

"I’ll have to think about it," replied Aelin trying not to look too excited by the idea of seeing him again.

He gave her a small smile and a nod.

"I hope you have a great night, Aelin. It was really nice meeting you," he said and then he left.

Aelin tried not to be too disappointed that he left so early. She wished she could have talked to him more. She wanted to know more about this man. She downed the rest of her drink and went to join her friends, trying not to think too much about what he made her feel.

…

It took a lot of strength for Aelin to not text Rowan the next morning. But she had more pride than that. She would make him wait a little. Even though she was dying to see the man again. It was dumb she knew it, they only had a short conversation, but she couldn’t help but like him. And there was the fact that he was pretty damn attractive if she said so. She shook her head and sighed. She needed to work. She went to get her notebook in which she wrote all of her lyrics and jostled down a few ideas.

…

She ended up texting Rowan four days later. His reply came quickly, and they agreed to meet at Rowan’s apartment the next night to work on the latest lyrics she had written. Aelin knew this was only a work thing, but she couldn’t help but feel excited to see Rowan again. She might have thought a little too long about what she should wear and if she should put her hair up or let it down. It was just for work she reminded herself.

…

The night was dark and the stars hidden by the city lights when Aelin made her way to Rowan’s apartment. She was wearing a green summer dress and she had decided to let her golden hair flow freely down her back. The air was still warm from the day’s sun, but the breeze made it comfortable as she walked from her car to the address he had given her.

She got in front of an unassuming building and looked at her phone again to make sure she had the address right. When she was sure, she knocked on the door. After a couple of seconds, Rowan’s face appeared in the doorway.

"Hey," he said with a soft smile. He looked happy to see her.

"Hey," she replied, shy suddenly.

"Come in, please," he said as he motioned for her to come inside his apartment.

She walked in and looked around, curious to see what Rowan’s place looked like. Somehow, even though they didn’t know each other much, it felt very much like him. Everything was clean and in order, but in a way that still felt welcoming and cozy. The walls were a warm white and the furniture made of wood. There were a few pictures on the walls.

"I like it," she said, still looking around.

"Thank you," he replied. "Follow me, I’ll show you the studio."

She followed him down a hallway and she wanted to ask him to show her around, but she didn’t. Instead, she followed after him into a room that was darker than the rest of the apartment and full of fancy equipment and instruments. This was a really nice home studio she thought as she took it in. She spotted a black leather couch and she sat down. Rowan sat next to her.

"So, I guess we should get right into it," she said with a small nervous laugh, pulling out her notebook from her bag.

"Do you want to show me what you were working on?" he asked.

She showed him the lyrics she had written so far, and he asked her a couple of questions about what she wanted the song to sound like. They agreed that piano is what would sound best with the lyrics, so he got up and went to sit at the keyboard. He seemed to be thinking for a little while, but then he started hitting the keys. He tried out a few tunes, asking her for her opinion. They worked like that for a while until they figured out something they liked. 

"Do you wanna try it with the lyrics?" he asked Aelin.

"Yeah, good idea," she replied.

She started singing the chorus she had written down while he played the tune on the keyboard.

"So, I’m sorry to my unknown lover. Sorry that I can’t believe; that anybody ever really starts to fall in love with me. Sorry to my unknown lover. Sorry I could be so blind. Didn’t mean to leave you and all of the things that we had behind."

He stopped and looked at her like he wanted to ask something, but instead he said: "I like how that sounds. Let’s work on the rest of the song."

They worked for a while. Aelin didn’t know how long exactly. It could have been 45 minutes or a few hours. She found she really liked working with Rowan. It’s like he knew exactly what she wanted. They understood and completed each other well. She was now sitting next to him at the keyboard, entirely too aware of how close he was, trying out different melodies with the new lyrics she had written.

"I think it should go," she said as she demonstrated what she meant on the keyboard.

"What if we do this" he replied, and then, to her surprise, he put his hands on hers to show her the keys he was talking about. Time stopped and Aelin held her breath. She felt electricity run through her body at the simple touch. She looked down at where his hands held her infinitely smaller ones. She suddenly felt the need to have those hands on her face, on her waist, over her whole body.

Rowan seemed to realize what he was doing and removed his hands from on top of hers. There was a silence and then they looked at each other. They were sitting close enough on the small bench that she could feel his warm breath. The look in his eyes was both soft and something else. He pulled his face a bit closer to hers. She didn’t move, waiting to see what he was going to do…

The front door of the apartment suddenly opening startled both of them and Rowan moved away from her, sitting at the far edge of the seat, as if he wanted to be as far away from her as possible.

"Baby, it’s me!" a female voice said and Aelin felt the blood leave her face.

"In here, I’m in the studio," replied Rowan.

Aelin got off the bench quickly and went to sit back on the couch. A beautiful brown-haired woman peeked her head through the door.

"Oh, I’m sorry! I didn’t know you were working," she apologized with a smile.

"No worries, babe, Aelin was just about to leave anyway."

Aelin felt like she was going to be sick. She needed to get out of here. The woman looked at her with her lovely chestnut eyes and seemed to recognize who she was.

"Hi! I’m Lyria, Rowan’s girlfriend, so nice to meet you," she said, getting inside the studio and holding out a hand.

Aelin couldn’t think, her brain was going too fast and all she could register is that Rowan had a girlfriend, but she shook her hand lightly.

"Aelin. Nice to meet you too… I’ve got to go, I’m sorry," she replied as she got up. "Thank you, Rowan, I’ll text you about the song." Then she grabbed her notebook and her bag and left the small studio.

She was almost at the front door when she heard Rowan behind her.

"Aelin, wait!"

She didn’t reply. Instead, she opened the door and ran to her car. When she was sitting inside her car, she let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding and a small sob escaped her mouth. She knew there were tears in her eyes, but she just turned her car on and focused on getting home as quickly as possible.

…

January 2020

Aelin kept checking her phone. She was sitting in her chair letting her make-up artist, Nesryn, do her thing, but she had a hard time staying still. She hated giving her a hard time; she prided herself on not being a diva. Especially since Nesryn was basically her friend after all those years working with together. But today wasn’t a good day. She was already late to the event and the person accompanying her, her boyfriend, wasn’t replying to her texts.

She heard the door of the room open and was ready to give him an earful about how late he was, when Lysandra appeared with her outfit for tonight on her arm.

"Hey rockstar! Ready for the red carpet? Elide keeps texting me that we’re late, but I told her to stop worrying so much or she was gonna get wrinkles before her time," she joked.

Lysandra stopped in her track at the lack of response from Aelin and looked at her friend.

"Why are you in a bad mood?" she asked. When Aelin didn’t answer, she added: "What did that asshole do again? Do I need to text your cousin so he can kick his ass like he’s wanted to do for ages?"

"No, please, leave Aedion out of this. As much as it would please me, I don’t need more drama in my life," finally replied Aelin. She sighed and breathed in and out to calm her anger. "He was supposed to join me here an hour ago and he isn’t even replying to my texts." She threw her phone on the bed.

"I’m sorry, Ae. And I know you’re tired of hearing me say this, but you deserve better than Chaol Westfall."

Aelin knew she deserved better. She didn’t even know why she kept putting up with his shit. It’s not like she was in love with the man. But they had been good together. At the beginning.

"You don’t need him anyway. You will blow everyone away in that dress," said Lysandra.

"Okay, I’m done" said Nesryn, putting the final touches to her make-up. As soon as she had stopped, Aelin got up from the chair and headed for the dress that Lysandra had laid on the bed.

"Can you help me, Lys?" she said while she removed her robe and stood in her underwear. It was nothing that the two women hadn’t seen before, and Aelin was far from being a prude.

"What kind of stylist and friend would I be if I didn’t help you put on your dress?"

Aelin picked up the dress and Lysandra quickly came next to her to help her in. The dress had a sheer corset lined with emerald green that hung to her curves and pushed up her breast. The skirt of the dress was in the same green color and was made of silk. It had subtle flattering draping at the waist and it flowed down her legs. There was thigh-high slit putting her left leg on display. She paired it with satin green pumps and diamond drop earrings. Her golden blonde hair was parted on the side and the curls flew down her back. Nesryn came to check that her hair and make-up were still perfect.

"You look like a queen!" said Lysandra, checking her out from head to toe. "Chaol is gonna be furious when he sees what he missed on."

"Well, if he even bothers showing up," Aelin replied.

Then she was heading downstairs and got into a sleek black car where Elide was waiting for her.

"Ready?" she said, not even mentioning Chaol’s absence. She knew Aelin too well to ask.

They drove to the place where the event was being held and Aelin waited for her cue to come out of the car. When it was her turn, she came out, Elide behind her, and smiled at the photographers and fans lining up. She walked down the red carpet, taking her time and posing.

The photographers were screaming her name and trying to catch her attention. She was blinded by flashes, but she kept smiling. Walking the red carpet was far from being her favorite thing but it came with her job. She kept going for five long minutes before Elide called her name and motioned for her to come. She stopped to sign and take a few selfies with fans, and then she was on her way inside. She let out a breath when she passed the doors.

Aelin and her agent were seated at a round table in a grand room decorated for the occasion and a waiter immediately approached to offer them something to drink. Taking a sip from her champagne glass, she looked around the room. She knew most people who were here. The industry wasn’t very big.

She looked to the empty seat next to her and tried to supress the anger that was overwhelming her again. She hadn’t checked her phone, but she knew he hadn’t texted her back. Her throat was tight, so she gulped down her drink.

She didn’t notice a group of people heading toward the table and sitting down across from her, too busy mulling over her jerk of a boyfriend. She only looked up when she heard Elide talking with the people who had just sat down. There was a gorgeous blonde man with tan skin sitting next to an equally gorgeous black woman. She recognized the woman as Nehemia Ytger, an upcoming actress who was rapidly making her way to the top. She guessed the man was probably an actor too with the white smile he had plastered on.

But then, she blanched. She recognized the sound of his voice first. And when she looked at who else she would be sharing the evening with, she had to hold the table with two hands. His silver hair was a bit longer and he seemed tired, but he looked as beautiful as the last time she had seen him. He was sitting next to a man who looked eerily similar to the blonde one except for his dark hair. He seemed to notice she was watching him because, before she could look away, Rowan Whitethorn was looking at her. His green eyes seemed unsure. She couldn’t help but smile tentatively. They hadn’t seen each other since last summer. To her surprise, he returned her smile with a genuine one.

"Aelin, you already know Rowan. This is Nehemia Ytger, Fenrys Moonbeam and Connall Moonbeam," Elide said as she pointed to the actress and then to the blonde man and the dark-haired one. Twins, that made sense.

"Pleased to meet you," said Fenrys in a flirty tone.

She couldn’t help but laugh. He didn’t seem upset by her reaction; he just gave her a charming smile. Rowan rolled his eyes at his friend’s antics.

Everyone started talking and soon the dinner was served. As she was eating, Aelin kept glancing over at Rowan whenever she made a joke or said something she though he might find interesting. He seemed to notice at some point because he looked at her and she looked away, a little embarrassed to have been caught.

After they had finished eating, everyone started to mingle and go around the room to talk to people at other tables. Elide’s phone started ringing and she told Aelin she had to take it. She left the room and Aelin realized she was sitting alone with Rowan. He smiled at her and she felt butterflies in her stomach. She reminded herself he had a girlfriend. A very real girlfriend who was probably waiting for him at home.

"I have to say, you look amazing tonight" Rowan said softly.

And just like that, the butterflies were back in her stomach. She blushed a little.

"Thank you, you clean up quite well yourself" she replied with a smile.

There was an awkward silence.

"Lyria couldn’t come?" she couldn’t help but ask, even though she regretted it as soon as the words left her mouth.

"No, she had something important at work."

"Oh, I see. Well, my boyfriend couldn’t come either, though I doubt his reasons are as good," she said as she pointed to the empty seat.

He looked at her with a sad face. She didn’t need his pity, so she said: "It’s all good though because that leaves more dessert for me."

He laughed a little. Then he turned more serious.

"Aelin, I wanted to say… About last time…" he started but she interrupted him before he could finish.

"Don’t worry, it’s all forgotten," she said with a fake smile she had years to practice. "So, what have you been working on lately?"

He looked taken aback by her reply, but he took a sip of his drink and said: "Nothing big, just small things here and there. I’m working on an album, I mean, my own album. I’m not signed so it would be home-made, but I like the freedom of creativity."

"I didn’t know you could sing!"

"Well, clearly not as well as you, but I manage I guess."

"Please, I bet you have a beautiful voice."

"You should come by some time. I could make you listen. I’d love to have your opinion."

She was going to reply that it was a bad idea when she spotted something, or rather someone, in the corner of the room.

"I’m really sorry, but I have to go. I’ll be back."

She didn’t wait for his reply and got up, walking up to the person she had seen.

At first, she thought she could’ve been mistaken, but as she got closer and she saw a tall man talking to a beautiful redhead from a little too close, she knew her eyes hadn’t failed her. Chaol had come to the event. But not with her. There was a fire burning inside of her; she couldn’t think straight anymore because of how furious she was.

"Excuse me," she said curtly to the woman. "I need to talk to him for a second."

Then she roughly grabbed Chaol by the arm and led him to a place where they wouldn’t be the center of the attention. She let his arm go quickly; she couldn’t bear to be touching him right now.

"What the hell? Where the fuck have you been? I waited for you for an hour and texted you about ten times, you asshole!" she tried to keep her tone down to not attract attention, but she wanted to yell at him.

"Calm down, babe. I’m here now, aren’t I?" he said, trying to play it cool. He ran his hand through his brown hair and looked at her with guilty eyes.

"We were supposed to walk the red carpet and sit together! And then, I see you flirting with this woman in front of everyone. What is wrong with you?"

"I’m sorry, darling. I was looking for you I swear. Let me make it up to you," he said, trying to grab her hand, but she noticed his voice was slurred.

"What are you on?"

He started to open his mouth to reply, but she cut him off.

"No, don’t even bother answering, I don’t wanna know. You and I are over. I’ve had enough of your bullshit. I thought you were done with all that shit. You promised me last time. And now you’re cheating on me? I deserve better than this after everything I did for you," she said.

Chaol tried to grab her arm as she was leaving and she was ready to knee him in the groin, but someone else stepped in.

"She said it was over. Don’t touch her. I suggest you go back home and sober up," growled Rowan. She didn’t know when had gotten here.

"Who the fuck are you? She’s my girl and I will do whatever I want," Chaol snapped back.

Before Aelin knew what was happening, Rowan had punched Chaol in the face. He lost his balance and swayed a little, but then he was looking at Rowan with violence in his eyes. He tried to punch him back, but security stepped in and separated the two men as Aelin looked in shock. But Chaol wasn’t having it and kept trying to get out of their grip to get to Rowan who was standing in front of Aelin. Security escorted Chaol out of the room as he promised to make him pay for this. Luckily, most people were too busy chatting and the music was too loud for them to notice what had happened.

Rowan turned to look at her.

"Are you okay?" he said, worry in his voice.

"Yeah, I think so," she said in a small voice.

Suddenly, Elide appeared. She looked at the both of them, and took in Rowan’s dishevelled appearance and Aelin’s face.

"Gods! What happened?" she asked. When neither of them replied, she said: "Come on, let’s go home, Ae. Goodnight, Rowan."

Aelin looked at him. She didn’t know what to say. She followed Elide and, outside, they got into a car that was waiting by the entrance. Elide gave them the address and they rode back to Aelin’s house in silence. Aelin closed her eyes and a tear fell down her cheek.

#rowaelin fanfiction #rowaelin au #rowaelin #aelin ashryver galathynius #rowan whitethorn #rowan x aelin #rowaelin smut #tog au #tog fanfiction #throne of glass fanfiction #throne of glass #rowan and aelin #rowaelin fanfic #rowaelin fic #celaena sardothien #sarah j maas #sjmaas #aelin galathynius #my writing #so good

[bythenineshards]

Hello, she once said that she have to lie to her readers that she likes Tamlin even though she’s already written the clues that Feyre’s going to end up with Rhys for surprise purposes, most likely. Her recent interview also explained further how Feyre was born in her head and when she started writing her, she already established her love interest to be Rhysand’s character—that was referenced from her actual husband. I don’t think she would lie for this. For Nesta and Elain, I’m not really sure of the timeline of Sarah’s responses regarding this so I wouldn’t be able to confirm it. :))

She also said years ago that Feyre came into her head via the first scene of the whole series while listening to the soundtrack of Princess Mononoke and began to wonder what her story was.

Look. You can believe her. I don't. She switched plots on a whim for ToG. Originally, Celaena was going to end up with Dorian and Rowan was her cousin. She said she wrote a What If sex scene with Rowan, liked it and changed the course of the books.

All of her dudes look like that. It's embarrassing. Rhys, Az, Hunt, Cassian, Lorcan, Jurian, Ruhn, and Rowan (she changed it up a little and gave him white hair like Fenris from Dragon Age 2). They all look like the dudes in The Black Jewels by Anne Bishop. Which she is a fan of, and a lot of Acotar is ripped from it.

Also, it's not hard to create "breadcrumbs" from vague ideas. Rhys was the HL of the Night Court which in Acotar was meant to be the Court of Nightmares. It's not hard to be like "Oh yeah, there's this hidden city of dreams that no knows about" without mentioning it in the first book. People have pointed out that he left the greatest General, Spymaster, The Morrigan and Amren to sit on their butts to do nothing for fifty years while people were tortured and killed. The general consensus is that the only way that makes sense is if they didn't exist while Acotar was in the works.

It may come as a shock to you, but writers can work on multiple things at the same time. While in the process of writing the second book, she was probably working on editing and beta reading the first. It wouldn't be hard to go back while writing the second book and add in the dresser thing before they were finished. It's not like you finish a draft, and it's set in stone and has to be the first thing you publish.

There's nothing wrong with changing your mind and going in a different direction. I just believe, based on her writing, inconsistencies within her writing and past of changing things on a whim, that she's dishonest about it. It sounds way cooler to be like, "Oh yeah, I planned this from the start" to make you look good.

#anti sjm #ask holly

[slytherhys]

I've Just Seen a Face

Rowaelin Month, Day 1: Song Fic

based on the song I've Just Seen a Face by The Beatles (a cute song about love at first sight)

A/N - I wrote this some time ago so I'm not even sure it's any good (I'm kinda scared to rr it). Hope you like it!

I've just seen a face I can't forget the time or place Where we just met She's just the girl for me And I want all the world to see we've met

Had it been another day I might have looked the other way And I'd have never been aware But as it is I'll dream of her tonight

Every day before going to work (always right on time, might he add) Rowan likes to enjoy a medium cup of hazelnut latte sold specifically by the café just two blocks down from his apartment. The owner, Aurelia Banks, a kind old lady that never spells his name correctly (yesterday he was a Ruben), makes the best lattes in the entire city of Orynth and her pastries are enough to make a grown man cry. Sure, she regularly comments on his tattoos and dyed hair, but it’s a small price he’s willing to pay to get access to her baked goods and sweet coffee. His friend Lorcan likes to tease him relentlessly about his coffee addiction, but truth be told, Rowan can’t start his day without it. And he never had to. At least not until a random day in September when, for the first time in his 6 years living here, Aurelia closed for “an undetermined amount of time.” No explanation whatsoever. No return date. Nothing. 

Rowan can’t exactly say Aurelia is the only café available in Orynth, but something about his morning routine being disturbed doesn’t sit right with him. Especially not when he knows he now has to walk an extra 10 minutes to stop by the only café that could possibly be open at 6:30 in the morning on a Friday. Rowan can admit their coffee is pretty good, but something about the owner makes him unexplainably angry. A man that calls his own café “Chaol’s Beans” should never be trusted. 

The café itself is pretty pleasant – a mix of earth tones with vibrant patterns that seem to compliment the smell of coffee. That and the soft music playing create a cosy atmosphere Rowan could see himself enjoying – if only not for all things Chaol. The place is empty except for a girl studying in a booth by the corner and a couple trading bites of their food and speaking softly with each other. Not weird considering the time, except for the fact no one appears to be working either. Not that it bothers Rowan – it’s not like he’s not already 5 minutes late or anything. 

Sighing loudly, Rowan leans against the dark counter, trying to see if he can find someone to serve him some coffee, but he only hears voices coming from behind the service doors. Loud ones, too. Something about sweets and a bad temper. He doesn’t get the chance to listen much else before the door aggressively swings back and a young woman steps out, fumbling with her moss green apron and walking furiously - as if imagining whoever is behind those doors pressed under the soles of her shoes. 

Rowan feels his breath catch as he takes her in – her lithe form and her assertive walk, messy hair flying behind her with every step she takes as she mutters something under her breath. She’s too distracted to even notice him, but Rowan is fine with just watching her. Right as she is about to take her apron off, her head snaps in Rowan’s direction, her hands falling to her sides as she stops dead in her tracks. Her cheeks gain a pink tint, and she straightens. She stares at him for a few seconds, no words being exchanged between them. It’s like the entire universe shifts and they’re the only two people in the world to stand still in time. Rowan smiles softly at her, unable to talk for whatever reason, and that makes her snap out of her trance. She looks back to the door she just left from and clears her throat, stepping forward and sending him a soft smile. Her turquoise eyes can’t seem to decide if they should focus on the door behind her back or on Rowan.

She fixes her hair as she looks back once more, her apron swinging with her body’s movement. Never has something with the name Chaol’s Beans on it seem more appealing. Her gaze finds Rowan once again and she shakily grabs a pen and a paper cup. “Hi.” She smiles, the pink in her cheeks darkening. Rowan likes that. He likes that a lot. “Welcome to Chaol’s Beans, what can I get you?” 

His heart catches in his throat and suddenly there are no words in the English language that could make him seem like the capable human being he sometimes is. The woman chuckles nervously, one eyebrow rising, and Rowan feels his cheeks warm. Hellas, it’s like he’s 17 all over again.

He’s aware a question was asked – and if only he hadn’t forgotten every single word in the English language, he would be more than pleased to answer her. To talk with her. To hear her sweet melodic voice, a bit of raspiness coming through, probably thanks to the screaming match going on a few seconds earlier. 

Rowan Whitethorn has never been one of believing in fate. He never considered himself to be religious, nor is he superstitious. The closest he’s ever been to believing in an ulterior force was that one time he spilled beer on the counter and the amber puddle ended up looking exactly like his friend Lorcan - he still has that picture saved on his phone.

He wouldn’t go as far as to call himself a skeptic – he does like to believe that there is some order to the universe. But he’s never believed in things like destiny.

At least, he didn’t until now.

He tries to shake himself from his stupor, looking quickly up to the menu board and then back to the woman again, not really having the time to read it. He knows he didn’t read shit and by the amused look on her face, she knows it too. Her lips quirk up.

“I trust you as long as you bring me something with hazelnut.”

The woman looks up at him with smiling eyes. “Hazelnut?”

She’s not small in any sense of the word, but at 6’4 Rowan makes most people look up. Only Lorcan manages to escape that fate, much to Rowan’s chagrin.

He looks up to the menu board once again, suddenly feeling embarrassed. Do they not serve hazelnut flavoured drinks here? He’s not sure he minds, the stunning creature in front of him could serve him a glass of tap water and he’d be over the moon. “Hazelnut latte? Hazelnut Cappuccino?”

“Oh. Right!” She chuckles nervously, turning around to look up at the menu board. “Hazelnut latte, of course.” She writes down something on the paper cup that seems way too long to be a coffee order. Rowan watches her with avid interest. “A-and your name?” She stutters a bit and it’s all Rowan can do not to smile in victory. Something like male pride warming his chest at the thought of making her flustered.

 “Rowan.” He leans against the counter, probably looking cockier than intended. The woman follows the movement, amusement playing in her eyes. “Rowan Whitethorn.”

“Well, Rowan Whitethorn,” Rowan has to fight the shiver that threatens to run through his body at the way his name sounds coming from her lips. “I’m going to make you the best hazelnut latte you’ve ever had in your entire life.” She announces with a mischievous smile, turning around before Rowan even has the chance to pay.

He follows her with his eyes, watching as she stumbles around behind the counter preparing his drink. She curses under her breath a few times, occasionally looking up at Rowan with a flush in her cheeks. Rowan recons he’ll remember that look for the rest of his life.

She looks like she’s not entirely sure what she’s doing and Rowan wonders if it’s her first week at the job. She reads every label of every dispenser and spills milk all over the counter, hiding an embarrassed look behind a curtain of golden hair. She appears to to do some latte art, but when she finally clears her throat and gives him his cup, all Rowan sees is lines of white with no apparent meaning. The words For the Hazelnut addict are scribbled on the cup alongside a…bird? He looks up at her with a questioning look. She blushes under his gaze and clasps her hands behind her back.

“It’s supposed to be a bird.” She explains quickly. “Because of your tattoo…” She points to her neck. “Well, you know.” He does know. That tattoo is a favourite of Miss Aurelia. There isn’t a day where he doesn’t hear about the fall of proper culture and how people now enjoy “painting” pigeons on their own skin. It’s actually a white-tailed hawk, something he’s tried to explain several times to no avail.

“And the latte art?” He asks, examining it further. It’s still just white lines that make absolutely no sense, but he wills his face to remain neutral. She chuckles nervously, muttering something under her breath. When she looks up her eyes find his and everything inside him goes still.

“It’s supposed to be flames.” She shrugs. “Or a fire, I guess.”

Rowan smirks as he looks down at his cup. He doesn’t have the heart to tell her it looks nothing like a flame, mainly when her choice of drawing resonates with him. Everything about this woman is fire: warmth, strength, boldness. “Fireheart.” He says softly.

Her eyes snap up to his, a confused look on her face. “Sorry?” Her voice is meek.

He clears his throat. “Your name.” He tries instead, nodding to her apron. “There’s no name tag.”

She looks down at her clothes, about to open her mouth just as the back door opens once again, this time with half the strength used by his fireheart. The colour drains from her face and she refuses to look back, her eyes comically wide as she stares at Rowan and Rowan alone.

“Aelin?” A deep voice calls out. Aelin. Something inside his body settles at that name.

“Fuck.” She mutters, and Rowan looks at her with a confused look on his face. Aelin sends him an apologetic look in return. “I thought you’d left already.” Rowan looks at the man speaking, a tall man with chestnut hair and dark eyes looks confusedly at Aelin. He looks at Rowan and sends him a greeting smile. “I’ll be right with you.” He says, pressing his hand on Aelin’s shoulder. He’s about to speak to her again when his eyes zero on the cup in Rowan’s hand. “Excuse me sir, who served you that?”

Rowan furrows his brows, looking between the newcomer and Aelin. Did he hallucinate her? No, that wouldn’t make sense, right? The dude has his hand on her shoulder. He called her Aelin. Right?

“Hm-”

“I did.” Aelin mutters and the man goes still.

“Why the fu-“ The man stops and closes his eyes as he takes too many deep breaths in not enough seconds. “Are you insane?” His voice drops to a whisper – Rowan is not sure why since he’s right there and he can listen to everything. “Are you trying to get Chaol’s Beans shut down?”

Would that make this man Chaol? He’s not sure he’s ready for that interaction.

“It’s not like you wouldn’t deserve it.” Aelin crosses her arms as she whisper-shouts back. She looks back at Rowan, as if fearing he’d left already. It’s not like he could leave her behind without a goodbye. Not now. Probably not ever.

“I told you I didn’t eat your sour patch kids, I don’t know what else you want to me say. And even if I did, could you please try and not poison my clients?”

He's Chaol, then.

“I’m not poisoning Rowan!” She yells, louder than intended by the way she flinches.

“Wait,” He interrupts, trying to catch up. Chaol looks up at Rowan with an apologetic smile on his face and Aelin looks like she wants to hide under the counter. He’s not sure what’s happening, but it’s positively hilarious. “You don’t work here?” He asks Aelin. She smiles sheepishly, shaking her head no. He nods, frowning as he tries to wrap his head around the weirdest morning he’s had in years as he takes a sip from his coffee. It’s all he can do not to spit it out and beg for mercy as the bitter taste overwhelms his taste buds. He's not sure how anyone could make such a bitter drink with so much sweetness at their disposal, but he swallows anyway and smiles at Aelin who starts to laugh, unable to stop.

“Sir, let me make you a new drink.” Chaol sends Aelin a murderous look, but she doesn’t even notice as she tries to catch her breath. “On the house.”

Rowan refrains from telling him he didn't pay for this one either.

“That’s not necessary.” He says, taking another sip. If he stops breathing for a few seconds, it doesn’t even taste that bad. “It’s actually quite good.” He shrugs, willing his face to remain neutral.

Aelin looks up at him with a beaming smile. “You really don’t have to drink it.”

Rowan shrugs sheepishly, “I want to.” And smiles at her. Chaol mutters something under his breath and storms off – but not before screaming at Aelin to get out of his café. Aelin bites her lip as she takes off her apron and makes her way around the counter, a questioning look on her face. Rowan smirks as he walks past her, opening the door for her to leave and follows right behind.

They start walking in comfortable silence, both glancing at each other like they’re on their first date in middle school. It ought to feel ridiculous, but he can’t bring himself to care. About anything, really.

Rowan is fine – he’s fine with being late for the first time in his life; he��s fine with drinking what’s probably the worst thing he’s ever tasted in his life; and he’s fine with becoming a regular customer at Chaol’s Beans. There’s no reason not to be fine when Aelin walks next to him with a gorgeous smile on her rosy lips.

“I’m sorry.” She chuckles nervously, breaking the silence. “I don’t know why I did that, it’s not like I ever even worked as a Barista. But…” She sighs, looking at him and back to the sidewalk again. “Something-”

“I know.” Rowan interrupts her, his hand finding the small of her back as they walk side by side. He feels her tense for a second before she relaxes into him – nothing has ever felt more right in his entire life.

“You really don’t have to drink that. It probably tastes like crap. I’m pretty sure I added some cleaning product at some point. I was a little distracted.”

By the taste of it, Rowan wouldn’t be surprised. But he shrugs. “It’s the best thing I’ve ever tasted.”

“Really?” She smirks. “I think we need to work on that, Rowan Whitethorn.”

And how could he say not to that? Especially when she steps a bit closer and her sweet smoky scent reaches his nose. When she laughs as he finally gives in and grimaces at a gulp of latte that definitely has some salt in it.

Rowan isn’t sure where they’re heading as they slowly walk down the sidewalk. His job has been long forgotten and he isn’t sure where Aelin is supposed to go next. But somethings just happen before people realize why they’re happening and there’s really no questioning their silent agreement that they must keep walking side by side until they find a way to do something else. There’s a lot to find out, a lot to learn, but Rowan isn’t in a hurry. From the looks of it, neither is Aelin. It’s almost like they have all the time in the world.

And maybe they do.

Fallin', yes, I am fallin' And she keeps callin' Me back again

#rowaelin month #rowaelin month 2022 #rowaelin au #rowaelin fic #rowaelin fanfiction #rowan x aelin #rowan whitethorn #aelin galythinius #throne of glass #tog fic #aelin fic #throne of glass fic #rowaelin #throne of glass fanfiction #tog #coffeeshop au

[shyvioletcat]

I wrote this for Day 2: Logistical Nightmare for @elorcanweek2022​. My Elorcan is pretty rusty but I think it passes.

~~~~~

Lorcan lay in bed, staring at the canopy above him unable to sleep. A very little known fact about Lorcan Lochan was that he was unable to sleep if he had cold feet. And right now his feet were near frozen. The cause of that was the woman next to him who was tucked in and wound up tight in the blankets of their bed. 

Elide slept cold, and he supposed with the years of independence and isolation she didn’t seek him out in the night. Instead she curled onto her side and took the blankets with her. If Lorcan was… a regular sized man this wouldn’t be a problem, he would be able to tuck his feet under the remaining blanket. But the bedding just covered him at the best of times. This was not the best of times and with his feet exposed to the cold night air Lorcan could not sleep. 

He sighed and looked over at his wife, lacking the will to pull on the blanket to get a little more. It would be fine, all Lorcan had to do was get out of bed and get another. Sleep would surely come after that. 

Easing the blanket off his upper body Lorcan went to get out of bed when a soft sigh from next to him had him halting his movements. He looked over, Elide had rolled onto her back and stretched out and a small smile tugged at his lips. His love was adorable when she slept. That word was one Lorcan never imagined using in his life but there was no other way to describe it. Her features softened, and her lips tended to be caught in a perpetual pout. When she stirred or was close to waking her brows would furrow like the disturbance to her sleep was an affront. 

Her brow furrowed right now and in the soft moonlight that cut through the curtains Lorcan watched as her eyes peeked open.

“Where are you going?” Elide asked him.

“I was just going to fetch another blanket,” Lorcan told her softly.

Elide’s eyes closed again, and the crease between her eyebrows deepened. “Why? We already have one.”

“Well, my lovely wife, you take more than your fair share,” Lorcan said and his reply was a disgruntled moan of protest. “It’s true. You can’t deny it and I can’t sleep with cold feet.”

“You what?” Elide asked. 

“I can’t sleep with cold feet.” 

Wordlessly Elide moved closer, unrolling herself from the blanket and throwing it over him. Lorcan took the hint and rearranged the blanket so that all of him was covered—most importantly his feet. When he was done Elide curled up next to him, resting just her head on his shoulder. 

“You can stay now,” she whispered. “Keep your feet warm.”

“Thank you, Elide,” Lorcan said, his lips on her forehead. 

This time Elide hummed in pleasure and it wasn’t long before she was asleep again. Lorcan wouldn’t be surprised if she had no recollection about this in the morning and it was likely that his secret about his cold feet would remain just that. 

~~~~~

Tags: @fucking-winchester-trash // @literary-licorice // @galyxsy // @tangledraysofsunshine // @highqueenofelfhame // @3am-reading // @soup-that-is-too-hawt // @aelinfire-bringer // @nalgenewhore // @highladyofthesith // @http-itsrebecca // @sleep-and-books // @alifletcher2012 // @westofmoon // @sleeping-and-books // @ttakeitbacknoww // @armixers-unite // @mariamuses // @chocolate-eating-bitch-queen // @velarian-trash // @queenofxhearts // @heroesofterrasen // @highladyofstoriesandmusic // @empire-of-wildfire // @camerooonchiu // @crackedship // @lowhangingtreebranches // @over300books // @yourwhisperingshadows // @thesirenwashere // @tswaney17 // @impossiblescissorspeachpaper // @cat5313 // @judelovescardan // @flowerspringsea // @chaoticskyy // @the-regal-warrior // @fanfictrash3000 // @blueeyes425 // @starseternalnighttriumphant // @bamchickawowow // @thehuntressofmoon // @giorgia-the-trashpanda // @flora-and-fae // @thereaderandfangirl // @illyrian-bookworm // @chemicha // @meltalgel // @gay-book-nerd // @that-odd-puzzle-piece // @i-love-all-books // @in-love-with-caramel-macchiato // @girl-who-reads-the-books // @hizqueen4life // @the-third-me // @1islessthan3books // @bestmelle // @cursebreaker29 // @b00kworm // @superspiritfestival // @aesthetics-11 // @maastrash // @mynewdreamwasyou // @the-last-apprentice // @charincharge // @firestarsandseneschals // @scarznstars // @absolute-dissapointment // @thesurielships // @df3ndyr // @trinitybailey2003 // @gwynethhberdara // @booknerdproblems // @larisssss // @sevenfreckles-for-sevenloves // @rolltide7 // @scandinavianromantic // @tillyrubes10 // @starwarsslytherin // @minaidss // @paytin77 // @jesstargaryenqueen // @anntheintrovert // @starbornvalkyrie // @loudphantomdragon // @woollycat22 // @claralady // @perseusannabeth // @fangirlprincess09 // @maddymelv // @sierrareads​ // @more-espresso-less-depresso-xx // @jlinez // @lysandra-ghost-leopard​ // @rowaelinismyotp​ // @pullnpeeltwizzlers​ // @anne-reads // @jadeaffliction​ // @gracie-rosee​ // @elriel4life​ // @rowaelinrambling​ // @tothestarswholistentodreamers // @thenerdandfandoms // @castielspelvis​ // @swankii-art-teacher​ // @grandma-noob-lord​ // @vanzetanze​ // @highlady-brittney​ // @story-scribbler​ // @linguine-panini // @pastasiren​ // @surielandiareendgame // @silentquartz​ // @live-the-fangirl-life​ // @whimsicallyreading​ // @goddess-aelin​ // @littleboxofthunder​ // @empress-ofbloodshed​ // @booksbqueen // @rowanwhitethornisbae​ // @charlizeed​ // @feysand-loml​ // @crownsoonie // @amandaswallowtail​

[vikingmagic33]

For the WIP asks:

A Place In This World

Ah. Where to start?!

There are so many gaps in canon for Elorcan. Since we wrote So Lorcan Did last year for the appreciation week, we’ve talked about doing a roughly 10 chapter fic that tracks EOS and tells the alternate POV for their scenes and fills in some of those gaps. As you know, we haven’t found the time.

For your bday, I wanted to get the ball rolling with one chapter of the three days he tracks her in Oakwald. BUT… I’m struggling because I feel like we learn so much about Lorcan later in the books that really informs his earlier motives and I don’t want to get it wrong.

Now I’m rereading all of EOS and KOA and I keep changing the draft. I want to be done soon though, essentially since I’m already way past your bday and I have a pretty title card I want to post!

❤️

#elorcan #my wip fic #throne of glass #elide lochan #lorcan salvaterre #ask game

[thebaltimorecrab]

ANNOUNCEMENT + Round 1 notable moments, and the matches for Round 2

HEY! If you reblog a post with propaganda, please let me know if you want me to copy and paste that propaganda into any other matches including that player. For example: if you wrote a post encouraging people to vote for Jon Halifax, let me know if you would like for me to include your statements in Halifax's next match.

If you would like to submit propaganda, you can do so via asks, tagging me, reblogging a specific poll, etc.

I will try to ask people individually, but that's a lot of work and I've already got quite a bit on my plate, aside from the brackets.

Now, notable moments (in my opinion):

Tillman Henderson got out in the first round, proving there is a God and he is merciful. Tillman lost to Logan Horseman.

I think (I'm like 95% sure) that Oliver Notarobot beating Reese Clark was the biggest upset so far. On a scale of 1-90, with 1 being least likely to win and 90 being the opposite, Oliver was 42 and Reese was 87.

Kaz Fiasco beat Chorby Soul, which was probably the match with the most propaganda (including both actual posts and tags that say "VOTE X")

Juke Gnocchi, an incin replacement we got in Season 2, got farther than Parker MacMillan did. Considering that they're roommates/enemies, this is hilarious to me.

Brisket Friendo vs. Tot Fox was the closest match, with Brisket at 50.8% and Tot at 49.2%

Meanwhile, Monique Flowchart vs. Silvaire Roadhouse had the biggest difference between votes, with Monique at 11.1% and Silvaire at 88.9%

Now, here's the round two matches. LINKS WILL BE ADDED AFTER THE POLLS ARE POSTED. The polls are currently scheduled to post at 1:30 pm on the 15th, but who knows when I'll be able to sit down and add links.

Alexandria Hess vs. Combs Duende

Amos Melon vs. PolkaDot Patterson

Grit Watson vs. Luis Acevedo

Ilhan Latch vs. Nagomi McDaniel

Joyner Rugrat vs. Fish Summer

Jacoby Podcast vs. Silvaire Roadhouse

Avery Cascabel vs. Logan Horseman

Herring Winfield vs. Pedro Davids

Matheo Tanaka vs. Axel Campbell

Chorby Soul III vs. Bentley Finnegan

Uncle Plasma II vs. Parker Parra

Chae DeShields vs. Brock Forbes

Miguel Peterson vs. Evelton McBlase II

Lenjamin Lin vs. Tiera Wigdoubt

Aldon Cashmoney IV vs. Kaz Fiasco

New Megan Ito II vs. Valentine Games

Elijah Glover vs. Trinity Smaht

Holden Stanton vs. Flattery Strewnberry

Conner Haley vs. Bevan Underbuck

Scruffs Sunkcost vs. Adalberto Tosser

Thomas Marsh vs. Juke Gnocchi

Star Ali vs. Declan Suzanne

James Mora II vs. Sutton Dreamy

Rosa Holloway vs. Oliver Notarobot

Javier Howe vs. Lorcan Smaht

Grapefruit Walnut vs. Michelle Sportsman

Özlem Suttner vs. Forrest Best

Vaquita Magno vs. Finn James

Pierre Haley vs. Jon Halifax

Nico Sigh vs. Robbins Schmidt

Samothes Dembélé vs. Brisket Friendo

Uncle Plasma III vs. Kennedy Loser

#baltimore crabs bracket #baltimore crabs #blaseball

[lorcandidlucienwill]

What if Elide brought home a cat? I wrote this at 3 AM so enjoy I guess🥰

Elide peered at the shivering black street cat and she couldn’t let him go. He was a little runt with mussed up fur. Elide bent over and scooped him up into her arms. He was so small; he fit perfectly in Elide’s arms. As Elide walked back to her home with the cat in her arms, she remembered a recently passed friend whose animal form had been a large cat. Though this cat was not so big or fearsome looking, he had the same spirit. “You’re a good boy, aren’t you, Gavriel? Yes, you are!” Elide winced as the cat mewled and scratched her arm in retaliation. “You dare scratch a lady?” Elide shouted back at the cat, as if it could hear her. The cat only responded with louder mewling, and Elide sighed. “I’ve traveled alongside the most powerful men and women in the world. I will not be defeated by the likes of you.” The cat stared at her imperiously with its yellow eyes, and Elide could’ve sworn the cat was saying, “You’ve already been defeated, fool.”

Lorcan was in the kitchen when Elide returned; he was fully clothed, which was rather unfortunate but a problem easily remedied. Something smelled good, and Lorcan’s face brightened when he noticed Elide, until he noticed what Elide had in her arms.

Elide’s jaw dropped as the most powerful man in the world went pale- pale- at the cat in her arms. “Where in Hellas did you get that?” he demanded. And that old rebelliousness she had felt in their early acquaintance when he had used that very tone with her came back. “I am the Lady of these lands. I don’t have to tell you anything, Lorcan.”

“I am your husband!” he protested. “Exactly. My husband. Which means you are mine for me to do as I please with.” Lorcan shook his head. “I…prefer dogs.”

Elide tilted her head curiously. “Sounds like there’s a story behind that, Lord Lorcan Lochan. Care to share?”

His face turned red. “Cats are always so rude. Stealing your food you worked so hard to acquire. And they scratch you too.” Elide laughed gently. “You faced the demon queen who kept you enslaved for centuries, but you draw the line at adopting a cat?” Lorcan scowled at her; to anyone else, that expression would be terrifying, but to Elide, it was like staring at a giant, grumpy puppy. She walked over to him, placing a hand to his cheek to smooth out the frown lines. “Come now, Lorcan. Surely you can’t say no to this face?” She wiggled the wet cat in front of him. 

Lorcan’s face looked strained, like he was tortured about this highly unimportant decision. “The cat’s face, I can. Yours, on the other hand…” Elide smiled sweetly, fluttering her eyes at him, and Lorcan squeezed his eyes shut. “Stop that.”

“Stop what?”

“Being…you.”

Elide put her hands on her hips. “Excuse me?” Lorcan’s eyes opened, and he groaned. “Stop that, goddamnit.”

“I’m not even doing anything.”

“Yes, you are. You…you’re irresistible, for gods’ sake. I can’t say no to you. But I have to. We are not getting a cat.”

Elide widened her eyes innocently. “But I already named him Gavriel.” 

Lorcan stared at her long and hard. “You are going to be the death of me, Elide,” he whispered. “I love you too, handsome.” Elide left him bumbling and flustered while she gently placed the cat down on the plush carpet beside the sofa. “There, just right for you, Gavvy!” Elide declared. She heard Lorcan’s audible sigh at the nickname, and Elide giggled.

She skipped back to the kitchen, and Lorcan stared at her arm, something like fury twisting his features. “Honey, what is it?” “He hurt you,” Lorcan said in a low voice, barely repressed rage there. He lifted her small arm in one of his enormous hands, and goosebumps traveled up Elide’s arm, and she wanted those hands to wander elsewhere-

Then that hand slipped away, and Elide saw the scratches were gone. “This is why I hate cats,” he muttered, and Elide couldn’t help but laugh. “Darling, it was a scratch. It was nothing. Relax, you overprotective brute.” Lorcan crossed his arms. “Fine,” he grumbled. “But I don’t like Gavriel. The cat, that is.” Well, Lorcan had once claimed similar things of the first Gavriel before he’d tattooed his body in his honor, so Elide knew not to take his word at face value. “It’s ok, I can take care of him.”

“Ok.”

The two of them wound up cuddling on the couch, where Elide began pleasantly drowsy. Just before she fell asleep, she could’ve sworn she heard Lorcan mutter to Gavvy the cat, “You’d better behave yourself boy, or we’re going to have issues.” 

The cat turned out to be a pain.

Every time Elide tried to feed him, he’d try to bite her, and every time Lorcan would grab Gavriel and pull him away from her, scolding him like a son. “Stop biting my wife!” He’d chastise him while Gavvy just stared at him unbothered. 

Which was why it was a shock to find Lorcan in the kitchen a week later, shirtless with Gavvy perched on his muscled shoulder. “Elide, sweetheart! Your dinner is on the table!” Elide blinked, turning to the food indeed sitting in the table. “Who in the world are you cooking for, then?”

“Well we ran out of cat food and Gavvy here has spent too long on the streets eating second-rate food, so I thought my man deserved some homemade food.” Elide speed-walked over to the kitchen and found, to her utter shock, fish cooking. “You’re not serious.” But Elide knew he absolutely was. Lorcan wasn’t exactly a practical jokester. “Yes, I am. Isn’t that right, Gavvy?” And Elide’s jaw dropped as her cat purred- purred in her husband’s presence. 

“What did you do to him?” Elide demanded, staring at her husband and her cat as Lorcan absently reached up a hand to stroke his head, which was answered with more purring. “Nothing. He just recognized a kindred spirit.” Both associated with darkness. Both grown up abandoned and fighting for scraps on the streets. Both saved by her. How did she not put it together before now? Gavvy might be a cat like her friend’s animal form, but his spirit was similar to Lorcan’s. 

In truth, they made an absolutely adorable pair. “I’ll win you over yet,” Elide whispered to Gavvy, who merely eyed her suspiciously. She scowled. “Traitor. I was the one who brought you here.” Lorcan chuckled. “Jealous, Elide?” 

“Not in your wildest daydreams,” Elide crooned. “Both of you are mine, and soon you will know it.” 

Elide stomped away, but the main emotion in her heart was love. It was absolutely adorable to see the two of them together. Did she just fall for him again?

Well, it looks like Lorcan is a cat person after all.

#elorcan #elide lochan #lorcan salvaterre #fanfic

[mariaofdoranelle]

I saw these two ex to lovers prompt and I can't choose so if you like them you can pick one or both idk ahaahaha

- sending their ex a book a day, the first word of each title spelling out an apology.

-ten years after their breakup one receives a letter inviting them to their exes wedding with a “help me” written in a tiny font on the bottom.

You Still Would’ve Been Mine

Written for my Drabblefest

I wrote both, but with a twist (not exactly an apology and it’s ten months instead). I hope you like it 😆

PS it’s canonverse

960 words, no warnings

⨯ ⁺ ✦ ･ ｡ﾟ⨯ ﾟ♡ ✧* ･｡* ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

If Rowan listened to one more word about Terrasen or Adarlan, he was going to lose his mind.

He wasn’t even a useful prince, he had no idea what he was doing in Sellene’s Throne Room.

“The merchants won’t stop complaining ever since Adarlan made these new trade deals,” Uncle Ellys explained, “Terrasen’s goods got into the Adarlanian market like the plague.”

“Enda,” Sellene called from her throne. “send word to our spies.

After every other family member was dismissed with an assignment to do, it was just Rowan and Sellene there.

“C’mere.” She kindly requested him to come closer. “Rowan, we are losing Erliea’s biggest kingdoms. The Fae from Adarlan now have access to Terassen’s Fae liquor, magic hospitals, magic schools, every month is a new thing. And now this.” Sellene took a deep breath and rubbed a hand on her face, letting her shoulders drop for a moment. “I know you don’t talk about Terrasen, but I need you to tell me what you saw.”

“I saw nothing,” he answered with a neutral face, masking his tense body.

It was true. It was supposed to be a trip with Fenrys to visit Galan, and they ended up being guests in the Ashryver party to visit Terrasen.

Rowan’s presence wasn’t political, and the only thing he saw was walls ornate with gold, silk bedsheets and the top of pine trees when he was flying, using his hawk form to sneak in and out of the crown princess’ bedroom.

Rowan’s ground his teeth, his pulse racing. Well, that was before she not only backstabbed him, but his entire country as well.

“Okay, I got it,” Sellene said when she sensed the growing notes of rage in his smell. She bit his lip and fiddled with an envelope in her hand. “This came in for you.”

Rowan snatched it from her hands. “I thought the mail interceptions were over when Maeve died.”

Sel grimaced. “Lorcan gave me this one because he thought it was an exception, sorry. I didn’t open it, though.”

An exception indeed. Rowan opened the seal with one of his blades, wishing he could use it to stab the wedding invitation instead.

The King and Queen of Terrasen request the pleasure of your company—Rowan rolled his eyes—at the marriage of their daughter, Aelin Ashryver Galathynius, to Duke Perrington, blah blah blah.

Rowan was once told it would be his name instead, but those promises were long gone.

I’m yours, she said, her smile lit through the darkness. Tell Sellene to request an official political alliance with a marriage proposal, and I’ll be officially yours.

Rowan was on a boat home the next day.

He shook his head, his heart constricting as he tried to shake off the memories too. Especially the ones of him learning, right before leaving Doranelle again, that Aelin’s hand was already promised to another.

Rowan’s eyes skimmed through the wedding invitation, until he found something that made his heart stop, the world world narrowing down to two little words in the bottom of the invitation, in a familiar handwriting.

Help me

“What?” Sellene said while snatching the invite from his hands. “Gods, I’m never talking about Terrasen with you again. Your smell gets weirder and weirder and— oh, shit.” She looked up, eyes widened and personal scent tinged with alarm. “Have you been in touch with her?”

“No.”

Sellene sent him a cut-the-bullshit look.

He crossed his arms. “She’s been sending me books. Just that.”

“Not a word? Just books?” She got up when Rowan nodded in confirmation. “Where do you keep them?”

They both shifted into their bird forms and flew out the window towards Rowan’s bedroom, where he kept a small collection of books he didn’t want to store in the Royal Library.

If Sellene heard how fast Rowan’s heart was beating, she didn’t show. His insides were quivering as he scrambled his mind for answers, but nothing came.

Sellene shifted back and frowned at the bookshelf, both hands on her hips. “Just the books, no letters attached?”

“Yes. These ones.” Rowan pointed at the books with one hand, fingers tangled in his hair with the other. “They’re in the order she sent, it stopped a couple of months ago.”

His cousin barely heard him, completely focused on the books. “Havelok the Dane, Erec and Enide, Laxdæla Saga and Piers Plowman.” Sellene’s index finger ran across these four book’s spines. “Side by side like this, as if they were in a box set, it kinda looks like they spell ‘help’.”

“What?” With his heart beating out of his chest, Rowan grabbed a piece of paper and scrabbled the titles there, in the order Aelin sent him.

Havelok the Dane

Erec and Enide

Laxdæla Saga

Piers Plowman

The Divine Comedy

Amadís de Gaula

The Decameron

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

The Owl and the Nightingale

Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart

Doon de Mayence

Le Morte d’Arthur

Egil’s Saga

His entire world halted when he put them all together, four words tearing down his walls of hurt and resentment.

Help, dad sold me.

Rowan felt dizzy, barely breathing as everything clicked together.

All the trade agreements, scholar exchange, diplomatic alliances between Terrasen and Adarlan he heard of. It was all because Rhoe sold his daughter to the highest bidder.

Over his dead body.

He ran to his room, grabbed his sword and a pouch with enough gold for three intercontinental trips—one to go, two to come back—and tucked his wedding invitation into his jacket’s pocket.

Sellene’s eyes were firm as she clutched his forearm, putting all her Fae strength into her crushing grip. “Do not. Cause. An international disaster.”

Rowan just shifted into his hawk form and flew to the nearest port.

You can get notified when I update by either turning notifications on for @backtobl4ck-fics or entering my (sometimes glitchy) tag list!!

TAG LIST

I couldn’t tag the people in bold, sorry!

@aelinchocolatelover

@autumnbabylon

@bookcide

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@courtofjurdan

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#rowaelin #rowan whitethorn #aelin ashryver galathynius #throne of glass #rowaelin fanfiction #rowan x aelin #aelin x rowan #ask #rowaelin fanfic #throne of glass fanfic #drabble #drabblefest

[rowanaelinn]

MMWSY, with IA a very close second. I just adore the way you wrote Rowaelin as best friends to lovers and the way they came together to realize they were being idiots in love. It was everything. Absolutely everything. And I'm still blown away that you used your writing superpowers and wrote the entire thing in December!!! holy shit!!! that's literally astonishing

12. I Did Something Bad you know i'm a horny little author lmaoooo but also MMWSY (of course) and S&L!! I know you're planning to possibly rewrite S&L, but i LOVE the chapters you have posted and i swear i've reread them like 5 times just because grumpy Lorcan is the absolute best

15. Soo.....um.....are we ever going to know what happened to Rowan the night be got glass in his hand? and why he was such a growling mess?? cuz i'm worried, ezra, i really am

LEIA

MMSWY rowaelin hits so close to home, to be honest. they both break my heart and melt it in all the best way.

Best friends to lovers is my favourite trope ever so except more of those!!!

AND YES AKNSKSNS IDK HOW I WROTE ALMOST ALL OF IT IN DECEMBER??? i was working + writing + taking midterms

S&L lorcan and aelin is so cool to me, even if i rewrite it’s never gonna change i love them

and for that chapter in IA… there might be a chapter of rowan’s pov in the drafts ahah, we already know he freaks out because he lost a patient but… how he freak out👀 we’ll see that soon

thank you so much for that ask baby and i’m sorry i’m just answering now!!!

#ask

[aliypop]

Back To Black : Chapter 5

latest chapters : Chapter 1  Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4

Word Count:  10,355

Writers Notes: Here we are Chapter 5 topping off season 4 and kicking into gear of season 5, I hope you all are enjoying the series so far, I’ve been enjoying writing and watching Peaky Blinders now am I gonna rewatch the show again oh Definitely !!!

shout to @herosneednotapply​ and her oc Florence

Warning: Show violence and language Suggestive themes

Translations :  

So roden si ek divano, = What you seek is an answer

Me gindivas ke mules. = I thought you died

Na daţar = Don’t start

Zhi kai avasa arakhliam pale = Until we meet again

Possiamo già spararle? =  Can we shoot her already

Spari quando dico spara = You shoot when I say shoot

Pairing: OC x Canon 

( Eleanor Williams ) / Thomas Shelby  

(Claudette Williams) / Finn Shelby

(Virginia Williams) / Ada Shelby

Plot: What happens When the Williams Family makes their grand return back to London from a war stricken France to only find the rocks of war and the runts of crime the Shelby family slowly leaking into their world,

 1925  14th of  April

Dear, Thomas Shelby

When you get this letter, it will be on your wedding day, which I must say congratulations on marrying the whore of the Heath, as Virginia used to tell me. Of course, I'm not jealous or anything. If anything, I want to see you happy.

 Elizabeth Stark will make you a happy wife and the mother of your children. Yes, I know you're expecting a daughter. Flo told me when you wrote her. Clearly, you didn't think we women wouldn't talk, and yet we do. I find it foolish that you sent me my grandmother's ring when you had no plan to possibly ask for my hand, and if you did, you'd have come to the states and asked me, not sent me hints that I can't comprehend. 

Tommy, I don't understand you, and yet at the same time, I do. At the same time, I can't shake you out of my skin or the memories out of my brain. Or why I feel the most alive when I'm near you, but when I'm away, everything reminds me of you. The Gin at my restaurant was yours, and it cured my sadness, a bit sweeter than I remembered, but I want to love you, but it hurts, so from now on, if you must send me letters,

London

"May it only concern business, Forever yours, Eleanor Vadoma Williams,"  Tommy growled, his brows furrowed as he threw his whiskey bottle at the wall. "Tommy, are you okay..." Virginia asked, fixing her fedora, "Everyone's waiting for you at the church," she'd seen that face before, a man in love, a man in denial, a man with no plan for the fact that she had been there, 

"Leave..." he said, tears pricking at his eyes

"Tommy,"

"FUCKING LEAVE." Tommy had been going through it with the Changretta's at his throat and Arthur spirling down to a hole he'd fear he couldn't pull him out of. The only voice he needed to hear was his own. " Cold feet, I see..." Ada sighed, standing next to Virginia, 

"Getting married again for your own personal gain..." she scoffed as Virginia looked at her, 

"He's protecting her honour." she shrugged, "I respect that,"

"Marriage is about love, Virginia, not some business deal because two people fucked, and now there's a bun in the oven! " Tommy looked between the two taking his things as he left out the house, something told him this marriage would only end in heartbreak, and perhaps it was actually Polly, 

"Charles, keep your hat on," Claudette sighed, "May I never have children," she mumbled, straightening out her dress. It had been a while since she'd been in one of those, 

"Alright, I'm ready to fuckin go,"

"Arthur, do you think Tommy's makin' a mistake..."

"Julian Tommy always makes mistakes. We just let 'em fucking figure it out 'imself." handing him a vile of snow, Julian sighed, taking some as Lorcan snorted the rest, "Now that's a fucking Shelby." 

Westerham Heights

Tucked away in the camps was a band of Caravans, horses, and clotheslines filled with hanging clothes. In the corner,  a red caravan encrusted in gold paint and green. It brought back so many memories of their mother,  " So roden si ek divano," Vadoma said as Bernadette turned around, "Me gindivas ke mules." Bernadette growled at her sister, Vadoma laughing, her gold jewelry dangling off her like a queen,

 "Thought you swore off learnin' mères tongue." 

"I got tired of the women picking on me, so, no, I learned." she smiled, 

"Come in for tea, will you?" opening the door, Bernadette had always been envious of her sister's caravan with all of its gold dressing and how spacious it was, but because it was their mothers, 

"Wine?"

"You never changed," sitting on her bed as she poured her sister a glass, "What brings you by. The only person who passes is Elizabeth Gray, the princess," Vadoma smiled, thinking about Polly, 

"Why does my daughter have our mother's ring?"

"Fate seeks what it wishes to find." Vadoma shrugged her shoulders, "Vadoma...Na daţar," she growled, 

"Only the truth of a lover can show the truth of the heart."

"Eleanor is getting engaged, and you're going to fuck it up like you fuck everything up!" Bernadette growled, 

"I'm afraid it's been you who's fucked everything up, not just with Eleanor," Bernadette scoffed at her sister. She was right, 

"The war with Luca is because you neglected your husband's dreams, Leslie taking over is because you sided with your husband and not your daughter, so yes, fate seeks what it wishes to find," Vadoma gave him a cup of wine, "Fate seeks to destroy your family, and it will if you let it." Bernadette turned away from her sister as Vadoma sighed, "This is why mother taught me her ways and father had you forever stuck in his." her skirt swept up against the floors, 

"So giving Thomas Shelby her ring was her plan..."

"You never wanted it. You wanted Louis's excuse of a ring, one only a man in vaudeville could buy you."  Vadoma laughed as her sister only began to feel small, "Vadoma Esme wants to see ya," 

" Heed my words," Vadoma warned, "And talk to mother, she'll guide you, "Zhi kai avasa arakhliam pale."

Small Heath - 1926

It had been a year, and the war was still ongoing. Standing in a trashy apartment were Arthur, Finn, Isaiah, and Claudette, "This is complete shite..." Claudette grumbled as Arthur laughed, "It'll do so you can shoot the fuckin Italian bastards, " taking a sip from the flask, "Am I in charge," Finn asked as Arthur glanced at him, "Isaiah's in charge. You make sure Tommy don't get fuckin shot, and Claudette..." he took a deep breath knowing his  sentence would drive her into madness, "Yes Arthur,"

"If you don't fuck dis up, consider yourself an official Peaky fucking Blinder,"  

"Yes, sir, I won't let you down." Claudette saluted. 

"You could learn from her, Finn." Isaiah laughed,

"Alright, so Tommy 'Ill give you a signal to be on the lookout." Finn nodded as Arthur had then left, 

 "You know, I think we should have the guns ready," Isaiah said, handing Claudette one to clean, 

"He's really trusting ya with a gun?"

"Is that a problem, Finn..." Claudette asked,

 "I don't get why you have to fight,"

"This is my war as much as it is yours."

London -The Red Ruby

"Well, Well, Well, if it ain't Ms. Williams," Luca said, sitting across from Virginia, cigarette in her right hand, dry whiskey in her left, "If it isn't the fumbling bastard who shot me in the fucking ribs." she laughed, "Jessy tells me you serviced her, I assume you paid for her private fee alongside the house fee?" sipping her Whiskey as Luca rolled his eyes, "She was just a quick fuck," he shrugged, "Yeah, that's not how it works here in my whore house Mr. Changretta,"

"Is that so, Ms. Williams, because my house my rules?" he snapped his fingers as two of his soldiers stepped up to her, "Yeah, and in my house, guns get disarmed, so good luck with the shoot out," crossing her leg, every now and then she still felt a bit of pain, but not as bad as when Ada stopped talking to her, 

"You queer bitch..."

"Thanks, I know. Now, why are you really here," 

"You crossed me,"

"Don't remember when I did..." Virginia smirked, playing innocent, "The port that night," Luca leaned in closer, trying to intimidate her. She only shrugged,

 "You shot one of my fuckin men!"

"That was one of yours?" she pretended to be shocked, "Oh, Mr. Changretta, I'm terribly sorry." she pouted,

 " You should be because I'm gonna be karma ready to fuckin rain on ya parade until you and that little girl of yours is dead,"

"I'd like to see you try."

" Possiamo già spararle?"

"Spari quando dico spara!"

"Then shoot me now, go on, kill me, but I warn you, you won't get a cent out of me. Maybe Leslie, who's been embezzling your money, taking your drugs, and doing you dirtier than any of my whores here." tipping her hat at him, 

"That's a fuckin lie!"

"Jessy, sweetheart." snapping her fingers, 

"Yes, Ms. Williams?" she walked over as Virginia gave her a passionate kiss, "Give him the copies of the books," she ordered, 

"Yes, Ms. Williams, anything else for you."  Eleanor pointed at his two goons, 

"I wanna hear words Williams, fuckin words-"

BLOW!

Jessy then signaled for two other women to remove their bodies, 

"Was that a fucking lie Changretta..." Virginia questioned, "Now. If you could, take your books and go, and never fuck with me again." her gun pointing dead center at his nose, 

"I got a bullet ready for you, right next to Tommy Shelbys,"

"Mhmm, I'm sure you do, girls." she snapped, "Get 'em out of here before Alfie gets here."

"Yes, Ms. Williams."

Manhattan 

"You know, darlin. That ring, it's really something. It doesn't look like no heirloom to me." Sally said, drinking champagne as Eleanor stood in the mirror trying on countless wedding dresses that she had no interest in wearing, "Well, it is," getting short with the woman. Sally was lucky she didn't know the truth about her son, or the fact Eleanor didn't say it to watch the lady kill over,

 "You said it's from a friend. Is it a male friend? Oh, not get her another dress. She looks like a pig stuffed in a blanket." 

"Tommy would've said I looked fine," she mumbled under her breath,

"So that's his name, the man who's gonna make my boy's wife a cheating whore." 

"If that's what you wanna-" a loud thwacking noise across her cheek, "Think," holding her face, Eleanor bit her lip. She knew if all the abuse that had happened here to her in America had happened, in London, she, like the rest of anyone who was being cross with her, would have been added bodies to the floor. 

"You are such an ungrateful bitch you know that." Sally asked, "Thinking you can just come into my son's life and ruin it. He doesn't and will never deserve you." her hand wrapped around Eleanor's neck as she pushed her down to the ground, fiddling for her gun in her garter she pulled it out,

 "Touch me a fucking gain and see what happens," Eleanor growled, that fire in her eyes still alive and present. Looking over her shoulder, she could see Tommy standing there, something that had been going on for a while. Everything was Tommy, and Tommy was everything, 

"I'm... so sorry I have to go." Eleanor got dressed and ran back to her penthouse. She couldn't take it anymore, this wasn't her life anymore, and she was losing control over it,

 " Lena, we didn't expect you to be back so early..." Carlton said, trying to cover himself and Walter up with a blanket,

 "No need, we need to talk,"

"I'll leave you two to it." Walter walked off in Eleanor's robe. Taking a deep breath, she then looked at Carlton, "We are two different people, and for us to work, I have to actually be honest with you,"

"What do you mean," 

"I mean... I'm Daisy Buchanan, and you're Tom. I'm reaching every night for a light and a life I  can't have because it's in England. He's in England,"

"I'm not following?"

"I'm not just some dopey bright eyed Jazz -singer Carlton, "

"Then what are you..."

"A sinner and I come from a line of 'em." she smiled, 

"I don't understand,"

"I do the devil's business, and I'm in love with him,"

"Lena, you're scaring me." Carlton gulped. Her eyes had looked darker than he remembered,  

"Good..." 

Small Heath

"Was that the signal..." Finn asked. It had been a week now,  and still no sign of Tommy's plans, which meant that in the meantime of  scheming, they'd throw parties and get a bit drunk, Finn and Isaiah would bring home prostitutes, and Claudette kept watch, 

"If you 'ave to fuckin ask, it's not the fuckin -"

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

Loading up the shotgun the way John and Arthur had shown her in the past was Claudette. Her eyes were focused on her target, two of Changretta's men. This must have been the signal, for nothing else could have been louder than that for it to not have been, 

"Don't you think that gun is too big for you, sweetheart,"  Finn asked as Isaiah grabbed a pistol, 

"It's just the right,"

BALAW!

"Size... Is what's the plan!" she shouted, a bit of ringing still in her ear, " I'm going downstairs, Finn top floor, and you," he smirked, 

"The roof,"

"Why the fuck do I get the roof!"

"You want to be a Peaky don'tcha,"

"Alright, fine, I'm going..."  she rolled her eyes. While on the roof, Claudette had set up her guns, waiting for the real fun to begin. Although she had in the past set traps for The Peaky's or was a distraction, this was the moment to prove herself, 

"There she is..." Leslie pointed at Claudette, 

"What should we do with her,"

"Kill her," 

Guns fired at Claudette as she hid, shooting back. This was harder than what Arthur told her, but if she could survive France during the war, she could survive this. More bullets flew as more bodies fell, but Claudette still couldn't lose, or so she thought. Reaching for her pistol, she found it missing until she felt the pressure of a heel on her hand. 

"Looking for this?"

"I'll fucking kill you!" She spat at her mother's foot,

"If you want to seem threatening, don't go straight for death. Instead, go for how you'll torture me. The way you'll destroy all I stand for." Leslie smirked, removing her foot from her hand, "How you'll blow my brains out. Or knife my eyes out whatever it is those Peakys do," her laughter twisting the knife deeper into Claudette's heart. Leslie could see the fear spread into her eyes the closer she got to her. Leslie could almost taste the sweet victory of killing the life Leslie had created for personal gain. After all, she did kill her brother to climb the ladder of success, "I'll let you grab a weapon of choice first but choose wisely. I don't like to lose." Claudette grabbed her pistol as her mother laughed, pulling out her revolver, 

"And to think you're my daughter..." 

"I'm every nightmare you've ever had."

"Is that so because last time I checked, I was every nightmare you ever had. Since the day you were born," Leslie growled, "I loved you, I really did, but you messed up every plan I had for myself," she nodded, 

"You were my beautiful accident."

"I don't understand..." 

"A passionate night in Small Heath gone wrong..." she began to pace, "I was young, useless nothings. I trusted that man, I loved him, but I was weak just like you," she laughed, "So very weak... I let him take the best years of my life, and eventually, he left and came back when you were three. He didn't want children, but I couldn't let him hurt you, so I set the house on fire with him in it. And you in hopes you'd have a better life than the shitty one I had." Leslie sighed, trying to pull on the heartstrings of empathy, 

"You left me to die... then waste away in an orphanage..." she laughed, "One where they made me use different soap from the other kids because of my skin," Claudette chuckled, "Or where they'd cut my hair because they couldn't tend to such unruly curls!" she nodded, "Yet you think you can storm back here telling me bullshit and I'd trust you!"

"What's wrong. You don't trust your mother,"

"I don't trust backstabbers who try to kill their own family..." 

BANG!

"If you see Andre in hell, tell him I'm coming for him next," the bullet  lodged in her leg,  the scream of pain from her mother causing her to laugh, 

"That'll teach you to mess with The Peaky-"

BANG!

"Fucking Blinders, huh..." Leslie smirked, "never turn your back on your enemies," 

London 

"I need to speak to Virginia..." 

"Who's askin?" Mary asked, her breast nearly hanging out of her dress, "Ada Thorne, it's important," she glanced at the woman. Was this really what Virginia was into. Sure, she'd been by the brothel a few times, but even she knew the women had nothing on her, 

"Boss is in 'er room third floor." 

"Thank you." walking up the stairs, she passed a few customers, a few clients of their own, cops on the payroll, politicians, and many other scums of London's low life, but she had to hand it to Virginia, for it to be a whore's house it was still the most beautiful thing she ever did see,  knocking on the door, Ada took a deep breath, they hadn't seen much of each other since the wedding, in all honesty, it felt like neither of the two cared enough to check on the other either, especially with Virginia and her commitment issues,

 "Who's there,"

"It's Ada..." her fur coat wrapped around her tightly, nervous as all get out to how she'd react,

 "Mrs. Thorne, come in," a cigar in her mouth as she opened the door, 

"I don't see you gettin much of any sleep."Ada commented about the bags under her eyes, "Running The Pearl and keeping Luca off my back," she sighed, sitting down in her silk robe, 

"How's Karl," she asked, "Find him a proper father figure yet?"

"Virginia..."

"Screwing some new man, I mean, I get it keeping cover," she laughed, knocking back some pain pills, 

"Virginia Claudette's been shot." Virginia dropped her bottle of Brandy on the floor, the glass splattering across as her heart sank, "Where is she..." her bottom lip trembling as her bottom lashes collected teardrops, "The boys rushed her to the hospital,

 "Who shot her, when, where-" Ada pulled her close. And she kissed her, 

"Get dressed, and I'll tell you on the way,"

In one wing, there was a killing spree, a bloody massacre. The first of its kind. Until The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre of 29, but on the other side of the hospital was Claudette, who was still in surgery. She had a bullet so close to her spine that one wrong move could leave her paralyzed. "Finn Shelby, sit down, will ya," Polly commanded, 

"Not til she's alright," he began to pace harder, trying not to panic. Linda hadn't stopped praying since they'd been in the waiting room. Meanwhile, Isaiah had been flirting with a nurse, 

"Virginia, glad you could make it," Polly smiled at the two, "Ada told me everything," Virginia sighed, looking at her. she could tell the family was still at each other's necks.

Even she knew when to step down and be cordial, flattening her overcoat as Virginia sat down trembling like a leaf as Ada tried to soothe the other woman. Virginia only had vengeance on her mind,

 " I didn't mean for any of this to happen..."

"Shush, it's not your fault,"

"But it is. Our family put you all in this mess,"

"Luca is our mess, too," Polly sighed, "But we'll get through it, you'll get through it," smoking her cigarette, "in due fucking time..." 

 Heels clicked against the floor as Bernadette entered the hospital, her Chanel fur draped around her body as her usual smile was simply a frown, "Ms. Dupont..." Polly scoffed, looking at the other woman, "Elizabeth Gray..." she smirked,

 "Lovely to see you, but I need to speak to your nephew Tommy."

"About what,"

"My daughter."

"Mother now is not the time,"

"But it is Virginia..." she turned to face her, " 

"Mum!"

"Let her speak," Polly raised her cigarette in the direction of Virginia, " The War with my sister-in-law is over..."  she smirked, "Took matters into my own hand and shot the bitch cold." Bernadette smiled, 

"She's out of our hair?" Polly asked, "Completely out of it, no one fucks with my children and lives," Bernadette sat down, "Besides, I did some thinking, and you Shelby's would do wonders with us, Williams." she winked at Virginia, who blushed at Ada,

"Welcome to the shit show then," 

The doors then flew open as a nurse came out, her hands shaking a bit," Well, how is she..." Finn asked, growing paler by the second, "She'll need some help walking again, but Claudette's going to be just fine,"

1926 25th of December

Dear Elle,

Another Christmas has passed, and I know you said to only write about business, so I'll do that. In a year, we've defeated Luca, fixed the problems your brother caused, and formed an alliance. Of course, I was told you received the ring from your aunt. However, I wonder if you're under the mistletoe now, wishing I were there. Or when you see the snow. 

Does it make you feel like you're missing home? Like there's a light out in the water you can't reach, and every time you try to touch it, it fades, like leading a horse to drink water,  

Seeing that I strayed from talking business, your mother tells me you're returning soon to pick back up on The Pearl.

 I told Arthur about the plan, and although he tried to fight Virginia, he eventually came to it. Of course, I also managed to make a few investments in America which the family doesn't know about, but you and Flo do. 

I also managed to get Ms. Eden off my trail, and I'm soon heading into politics, something Pol has always thought I'd be good at that, but nevertheless,

 I can only try my best hand with the horses that I handle and Change the world.

I know you said no more gifts, but this time it's from Charles, attached to this letter should be a box,

Manhattan

"Merry Christmas and a Happy early Birthday. May we meet again, Thomas Shelby," Eleanor took a breath sitting by the tree next to Florence, "Eleanor, I wouldn't open that box. Remember the ring?" she looked over at her, "Yeah, I do, but this is a gift from Charles, he's like a little God son of mine," she smiled, 

"You think a four-year-old would buy you a custom-made dress worth thousands. This is a french silk ribbon." Flo sighed, 

"I  have to know what's in it." Untying the ribbon, she took out the dress as a loud gasp was heard, "Do you know whose dress this is!?! Flo looked at her, a bit confused, "Daisy's from The Great Gatsby." her tone was sarcastic, "No, it's Norma Shearer's from Upstage!" she smiled, holding the fabric of the dress close to her heart, 

"I know I was being sarcastic, so tell me, why are we in here. While Carlton's in the living room."

"He's out there with Rodger..." Eleanor rolled her eyes, 

The Garrison 

"This is a big fucking day for Claudette, so everything needs to be perfect." Finn commanded, both Tommy and Arthur looking at him as if he were a new person, "It's a big day for you, Shelby's. Winning another race, getting rid of that prick Luca, And Tommy, the soon MP of South Birmingham." Virginia said, looking over at Ada, 

"The MP of South Birmingham... impressive, Mr. Shelby," Bernadette nodded, a man who could change the world,  yet her daughter was with a man who'd change whatever his parents wanted, "The Black Pearl textile factory would be happy to advocate for you. I'm sure Eleanor would be pleased to see your efforts." Tommy only gave her a nod. Eleanor was just as much of a touchy subject for Tommy as Grace was, "Alright, Claudette will be walking in any minute, so everyone just act fucking normal."

"I'm fine. Really I am," Claudette said as both Lorcan and Julian helped her walk down the street, 

"What if you fall..." Julian remarked,

"What if someone targets ya and blows yer damn brains out, Claudi..." Lorcan suggested, 

"So is this like a family meeting or a departure or... " Lorcan opened the door, Finn rushing to her side, hugging her as Isaiah walked over, 

"You look good," 

"Thanks, Is, " she smiled, hugging Finn back, 

"Missed me that much huh..." her head on his shoulder, 

"You two lovebirds make me fuckin sick." Arthur walked by them as Johnny Dog. And Virginia laughed,

 "They're in love." Ada smiled, 

"We're just friends!" Claudette's cheeks were dark pink, and Finn's freckles had a red glow to him, 

"What she said." 

"Anyways... we got a surprise for ya, Right Tommy?" Lorcan said, smoking his cigarette, 

"Is it Whiskey..." she asked, "Or another mission or money or-"

"Claudette, shut up and let Tommy speak." Virginia rolled her eyes as Bernadette sighed, 

"Thomas, continue." 

"Ms. Dupont, the watch.." he then looked at his brother, Arthur, "Arthur, you go get the other thing..." Bernadette stood by Tommy as Claudette looked  surprised and nervous, hoping she didn't do anything wrong,

 "I can't fuckin find it, Tommy!" 

"Behind the bar..." he shook his head. Finn, Isaiah, Julian, and Lorcan had all been by Tommy's side, making Claudette feel small than she looked, 

"Found it."

"Probably fuckin placed it back there..." Julian mumbled,

"I heard that. You fucking idiot..." he grumbled, 

"Alright, Tommy, I got it." Arthur walked over, 

"What's going on..." Claudette questioned,

"Ms. Dupont, Virginia, would you two do the honours." clipping the pocketwatch to her waistcoat, Virginia was teary-eyed, 

"You've grown up to be an amazing young woman. I wish I could be as courageous as you," Virginia smiled, putting the watch in her hand as Bernadette finished clipping it to her, 

" I ain't really good at speeches, but," Arthur smiled, "This little lady has been a pain in our asses since she ripped the streets of Birmingham off and had her first taste of Gin at 12 years old." he sniffled, "She's been nothing but the right kind of trouble, always askin about gettin a fuckin hat, being the one kid who's ever loved the Peaky name, and saw it as anything but a curse, and for that... Claudette Hilda, Welcome to The Peaky Fuckin Blinders. You finally got that damn hat you wanted." 

Tommy took the hat putting it on her head, as her eyes watered a little, "I won't let you down, Tommy..." she then looked at Bernadette and Virginia with a big grin on her face, wishing Eleanor could have seen her, a shadow the front of The Garrison, 

"Claudette, since you're a Peaky, I think it's time you see where we keep the good stuff," Finn said. Claudette took his hand, "What if they notice we're gone?" she glanced, "Everyone except maybe Tommy is drunk," Finn laughed, "Never really seen him drunk, actually," he mumbled, pulling Claudette into the room, cases of every illegally made type of alcohol were in that room, it was heaven for the cops and hell for any gangster if ever caught with it, she was in heaven, "The Pearl has... had a bigger supply..."  she winked as Finn laughed, "Yeah well all this is ours," spinning her around as she laughed, he loved her laughter, it always brought a kind of joy to him when he heard it, the bubbling sensation in his stomach as his heart beat faster, that was the feeling Finn craved on nights that were spent with prostitutes or empty lovers, yet Claudette was always there, "Hi..." she said pent up against the wall between Tommy's Gin, 

"The moon looks beautiful on your skin," Finn smiled,

"You'd look beautiful on my skin," she gasped, 

"I'm so sorry ... did I just-" 

"Mhmm," tilting her chin, his eyes on her lips as she became flustered, "Kiss me..." Claudette's knees nearly gave out from under her as he kissed her, the taste of tobacco and Gin on his breath. He smelled like Tommy's cologne, but that did matter. Biting her lip. Finn was pleased with the squeak that left her mouth. This was the big lead. Pulling her closer to him, he grabbed her by the waist as she grabbed him by his suit jacket, 

"We're not just friends, and you know it..." Finn said, pulling away from Claudette as she was panting, wanting more from him, 

"Finn..." 

"If you don't love me, say it..." he kissed her neck as she laughed, Finn!" Claudette laughed. Finn then bit her neck as she closed her eyes, "Damn you, you Shelby..." she bit her lip, 

"Say you don't love me, angel,"

CLICK!

The bright bulb nearly blinded the two as Tommy sighed. He wasn't surprised. After all, this hadn't been the first he'd walked in on these types of things, 

"We were just, uh..." 

"Claudette, sweetheart. Friends don't go off to an abandoned room alone to snog,"

"What about you and your women friends..." Tommy laughed, "They fuck," Finn said, as Claudette smirked, "Out fucking now!" Tommy pointed to Finn as Claudette mouthed sorry to Tommy, "You're a French trotter, and he's like Stallion, so be careful." he looked at Claudette as she nodded.

1929 Arrowhouse 

1929 was the year of a blooming new decade, the year that Tommy and Eleanor could feel their lives changing for the worst. Tommy had to deal with the stock market crash and Michael, who brought his wife and ideas back from America to England. Eleanor and her family were starting to get threats by those who once admired their businesses. She had political campaigns to attend to sit and look pretty, while Tommy had to sit and scheme and stew in the frustration that was politics, and

 "Mr. Mosley..."

"Ah yes... if it isn't Carlton Barlow... the black from America... didn't think Thomas would have the likes of your kind here."

"You'd be surprised, what people allow, Mosley, was it?"Carlton asked, "Tell me where you stand on the issues of The Red Scare..." he asked him as his eyes trailed over to something else, a dark blue gown with white beading like peacock feathers was seen from across the room as the big white feather covered the wearers face, he had remembered Tommy telling him that every woman except his wife and the swan were off limits, but Mosley believed that he had laid eyes on God's very own pearl, 

"Oh, Thomas, this fine man here has a question for us." Carlton looked at the man, almost startled by his presence and looks. He could understand why Eleanor was very much still in love with him. He would be, too, if a man like Thomas Shelby showed interest in her, 

"The names Carl-"

"Carlton Barlow heard a lot about you," Tommy nodded, "This here is my wife, Lizzie, "

"Pleasure to meet you. I assume your travels here weren't too bad?" Lizzie asked as Carlton laughed, "They were just fine, a little peckish at times, but" his wrist a bit limp as Mosley took notice, "Everything was fine, " 

"So tell me, how do you feel about the rights of homosexual's should they even have rights, Mr. Barlow." switching the subject to gain attention, "I think it's no one's business what anyone does in their own homes, Oswald." his face heating up,

 "I see, and your thoughts Mr. Shelby..."  Tommy's eyes locked with what he thought was a ghost, black waves in her hair as her brown skin complimented the dress. Beading adorning her back, he had to know if she were real or if it just was another trick of the mind like his seeing Grace was. His eyes followed her movement. Trying not to lose her in the crowd, but how could he when she was dressed better than the family hosting, 

"Tommy..."

"Tommy..."

"Tommy..."

"We need an answer, Thomas," 

"Excuse me," he walked off, Lizzie's eyes catching where his gaze went as she sighed, shaking her head. 

"Eleanor, is that you?" Polly asked as she turned to face her. 

"Ms. Gray, a pleasure to see you, and might I say you look radiant." she smiled as Polly hugged her, "Please, dear, you call me aunt Polly," Eleanor hugged her back, "I'm sorry aunt Polly," pulling away as she watched her light a cigarette, 

"How've things been?" 

"Oh horrible, they've changed for the worse, people acting more like animals than the boys do," she shrugged, downing a glass of whiskey, 

"What about you, love. Have you seen-" 

"Sorry to interrupt you, ladies," Eleanor turned to see Thomas standing behind her. The dress was a perfect fit. And it complimented him well, 

"Mind if I steal her for a moment?" Thomas asked,

"Steal... I prefer the term borrow, Mr. Shelby?"Eleanor smiled up at him as she took him by the hand. Polly stood back and smoked her cigarette, and watched the show unfold. 

"Why do we always meet at dances... is it because our life is a dance?" Tommy pulled her close by her waist, "You've changed," he mentioned having her in the middle of everyone dancing, "And so it seems you have too." swaying with the rhythm, this was where she was supposed to be, and yet this time something still didn't feel right, was it the timing, or her emotions that she tried to push deep down for him bubbling to the surface, 

"How're things in the states..."

"About the same as here but shitty, with shitty accents." Eleanor joked, "And how were things here while I was gone," 

"Shitty, but with the same shitty accents." he smiled at her as she laughed, "Same Tommy Shelby, eh," Eleanor commented as he spun her around, Lizzie had been dancing not too far away with Mosley, who wanted to bring up their past, but her eyes were strictly on Tommy, she knew she couldn't compete for Tommy's love, but Lizzie would try anything to keep her family together, yet from afar Tommy looked happier than she'd ever seen him, 

"Tommy... it's an Emergency outside..." Ada said as Virginia wasn't too far from her. That aggravated groan she had missed so much,

 "Do you need help..." she asked Tommy, as Tommy glanced at her. Outside the mansion there was a pretty drunk Arthur and a very pissed-off Linda, with Polly  trying to deescalate the situation, 

"YOU RUINED MY LIFE, DAMN, YOU ALL TO HELL!"

"Linda put the gun down..." Tommy sighed as Ada stood next to Virginia, who gave Eleanor a wink, 

"Linda, can't you come back and do this on a Tuesday..." Julian asked as she pointed the gun at him, 

"You're a monster. You're all monsters!" 

BANG!

Rushing her to the dining room table, Lizzie ran in along with Carlton and Mosley, "Who the fuck are you..." Arthur pointed towards Eleanor, "The woman who can help save your wife," she then ushered Lizzie over, 

"You ever taken a bullet out before?"

"No,"

"I have." Ada glanced over her, wondering who this woman was, especially if she was standing next to Tommy,  "Lizzie try to keep her head propped up, Virginia, stop drinking the fucking WHISKEY!" she groaned, 

"Tommy!"

"Already on it, darling..."  

"Eleanor, sweetheart, what's going on. You're scaring me..."  grabbing her by the arm, she pulled her gun on him, "I'm so sorry, " she walked out the room as Carlton followed,

"Eleanor... That's not the real you, is it..." he gulped, "What's really going on. Who are you really" she sighed,  "The penthouse we lived in,  you fucked in. Paid off by drug money. Darling, the cocaine Walter snorts I provide, the horses we visited on public outings together, race horses for races I know how to fix." she laughed, "So, to put it plainly, Carlton Barlow, I'm a gangster, and this is the real fucking me, now are you going to be squeamish or will you fucking help!" 

She rushed back in, taking her gloves off, "Here, she can use it as a tourniquet." Eleanor smiled, "Are you sure?" Ada asked as Virginia laughed,

 "Clothes mean nothing to my sister," 

"Lizzie, would you do the honours?" Eleanor asked, handing her the silk glove from off her arms. Giving her a nod, Lizzie tied them around Linda's arm, 

"Lorcan, Julian, take her upstairs, " they both nodded at Tommy, all that stress in his eyes as Eleanor only looked at him from across the table, "Everyone out..." Polly ushered cigarette in hand, 

"You too, Lizzie..."

"We should get back to the celebrating of political minds that will look at Carlton and me as if we don't belong, well he doesn't, and now he knows too much and-" Tommy kissed her, a fire behind it, Eleanor pulled away, her hand on his chest as he held it there, 

"Tommy, I shouldn't...But I want to," she sighed, 

"He doesn't treat you the way I did, eh sweetheart," 

"Tommy, you sent me my aunt's ring in the post..." she laughed, "You're kissing me when your wife is out there, and..." her eyes trailed to his lips,

 "I'm engaged to be married,"

"To the man who could give a shit about being with a woman," 

"How did you..."

"I do my research, just like you have a racehorse named Tommy. Not to mention he's out there fucking dancing with the fan I gave you," he winked at her as she pushed him playfully, "So Charlie didn't pick the dress out. You, sir, are a pain in my ass." she grumbled as Tommy looked at her, "You confuse me, yet if only you understood what it was that you do to me." looking into his clear water blue eyes, 

"Why do you think I sent the ring..."

"Thomas... I love you, but I'm not yours..." the train of her dress trailed behind her as Mosley walked in, taking a quick whiff of her scent. 

"Didn't think women of your... race could afford such lavish... fragrances,"

"I didn't think God could make such an asshole..." ignoring his gaze on her figure, "Carlton, let's go..." holding his hand,

London 

The Connolly Mansion

It was now three weeks after the events of Arrowhouse and. The mansion had felt empty to Eleanor, not because it obviously was but because the laughter in it that was her father Louis was gone. Passing the pictures in his old study. She began to remember the memories of each photo, some from when they were in France. There was one with her aunt Vadoma, her mother, Leslie, and her father all  posed in front of a Caravan, 

"Couldn't sleep?" Bernadette asked,

"I was getting some early paperwork done for Carlton. He doesn't understand a single thing about his campaign. Also, he won't talk to me," she laughed, "Something to do with being the sinners he was warned about," she rolled her eyes, 

"He'll come around, and in due time you'll learn to love each other,"  Bernadette smiled, "Just about as much as I loved your father," she took a deep breath, 

"He can't love me..."

"Oh, Carlton, I know. I was talking about Thomas. Don't think I haven't noticed how you look at him," she watched her daughter sit down, reading into his political campaign. 

"He's married, 

"So was Vadoma, but it didn't stop her from seeing Elizabeth Gray," she smirked as Eleanor pieced it together, 

"You see, fate seeks what it wishes to find, so what do you wish it to find." 

"The truth..." Eleanor nodded, "A purpose to this madness, the reason money is missing. I don't mean from the crash. We can recover from that on a horrible night," she shrugged. Eleanor had only been back for two years total, and still, she never missed a beat with the business,

 "We can trace the funds, I can meet with Tommy, and-" 

CLASH!

The sounds of glass smashing from downstairs were heard, hitting the top of the left drawer. Eleanor took her father's hidden gun out as she raced downstairs, "Virginia, fucking stop it, it's not that damn serious..."

"Ada's pregnant... Jul's," she laughed. Her hair was ruffled up, and her clothes frumpy on her, 

"I love her... I would... Would I'd give up everythin... to fuckin marry her, " she laughed harder, 

"Ginia..."

"Juls fuckin listen to me!" she growled, "I'd give up everything for that woman, the whoring, the smoking, I'd give up my life for Ada, YOU TELL ARTHUR FUCKING SHELBY THAT HUH!" she turned her face, Eleanor dropped her gun, the blood on it making her heart shatter, "You tell the damn coppers an... and the-"

"Who did that to her..."

"Nora, just a few asshole nobodies..." 

"Julian Shelby, who did that to her," 

"Nora, don't..."

"Do you want me to shoot you?"

"Alright, it was The Billy Boys, the same men who killed Aberama's son." he heard footsteps trailing back upstairs, 

"You can't fight them, Nora..."

"I had to wake up to fucking burning crosses at night in America. I can handle a group of fascists who nearly beat my sister into a fucking pulp!" 

"I'll phone Tommy for backup. God knows he'd burn the world down if something happened to you." he mumbled, "He'd what..."  she stopped walking,

"Burn it to hell, he would..."

"I'd do that for Ada..." reaching for the cocaine in Julian's coat pocket, snorting the remainder that he had left,

 "I'll replace it by tomorrow..." she grumbled, 

"Oh, and Julian..."

"Yeah..."

"If you're gonna call Tommy, tell him to meet me at The Pearl in an hour."

"Nora, I don't fuckin work for ya,"

" Just fucking do it, Jules!" she sighed,

 "Esmeralda, could you gather my papers," the young maid nodded, "Of course,"  

"What am I supposed to do,"

"Call Thomas!" she ran upstairs, passing her mother, "Where are you going."

"To put the fate of the future in my own hands." 

The Pearl

"We could get caught," Claudette laughed, standing on the stage, "Seems we always do, so fuck it." Finn winked, lighting his cigarette. She'd never seen the club at this angle in her 20 years of living. She could see why Eleanor had loved to sing on it all those years ago, "How's it feel..."

"Costumes a bit itchy, but... I can see us ownin one of these bad boys... Sex, drugs, booze, and all the jazz in the world." she laughed, "No one could tell us no, well maybe except for Tommy, but,"  she sighed, 

"I couldn't own a thing like this..." 

"And why not. You can plan a hit, shoot any target,"

"'Ave you ever heard me sing," Claudette laughed, her waved hair reflecting the stage lights, 

"No," he lied, "But enlighten me." sitting back in the booth, taking a deep breath, Claudette opened her mouth and sang the first song that came to her mind, 

" I wanna be loved by you, just you," she swayed on the stage, a smile on Finn's face as he admired her beauty, 

"I wanna kissed by you, just you. Nobody else but you." waving for one of the waitresses who was still there, she poured him a glass of Gin and sat it on the table. Claudette watched how he eyed her as if he'd have his way with her on the table. Stepping off the stage, she remembered a trick that had always seemed to work, 

" I couldn't aspire to anything higher than, filled with desire to make you my own!" she sat in Finn's lap, kissing the corner of his mouth as she took his cigarette, and smoked it, red lipstick tinting the top of it as he smirked, pulling her closer, he couldn't deny that he didn't love her, 

"Will you Marr-"

"Finn..."

"Claudette..." 

"We know, we know out..." She groaned, "At least go upstairs... if you're gonna fuck," Eleanor grumbled. Claudette rolled her eyes, "You're just mad 'cause you don't get any..." the glare her sister shot her could send chills through the dead as she went behind the stage towards her office, 

"What's gotten into her knickers..."

"Definitely not Tommy." Finn laughed, flinching when he felt a hand smack him in the back of his head. Claudette laughed as Tommy looked at the two, a smile in his eyes that only Claudette could see.  

"Where's she..."

"Office."

Eleanor took a deep breath as if she were singing. There was so much on her mind she needed to cover, but first, it had to be business, "You called..." she nodded, 

"Well, Julian called, and I was doing some campaign work for Carlton, though he's in a hotel, phones his sister," she sighed. Tommy poured her a glass of whiskey on the bar, handing her the cup, "The point, dear," he glanced at her, pulling out his glasses as she nearly stuttered,

 "Point is the stock market crashed. This is the perfect time to conjoin our businesses," Thomas looked at her, "What can you offer me that Michael couldn't..." sitting on her desk, her legs crossed, she looked at Tommy. The two took a quick glance at each other, 

"75% of the Black Pearl Company, you'd be like the chief of staff, considering you're a businessman yourself," rolling his cigarette on his lips as he lit it, 

"How would that benefit me, sweetheart..." looking up at her, her eyes catching the dim lighting in her eyes, but yet behind them was pain, a highly unshakeable pain, "How wouldn't it. We are one of the highest crime families here in London. We provide top tire textiles, drugs, women, booze,  gambling, and entertainment, not to mention our exports..." she smirked, "We're getting morphine and heroin, discreetly packaged," 

"Eleanor... "

"What more can I say, your connection for opium and our connections here, we'd be richer than the fucking king." she smiled, 

"Eleanor, darling," 

"I get it if it's a bad idea, and of course, I'd have to talk to your Board of Directors." sipping her glass of whiskey, "I don't mind. I'll get through to them all. They'll see it as I do, and-" 

"We'll have a fucking empire, my love. You are a genius," he smiled wholeheartedly, her heart melting at his smile. Kissing her hand, he helped her off her desk, 

"How fast can you be at The Garrison tomorrow." 

"I can pack a quick bag and stay in a hotel, an-" she thought, "You know what, it's my business proposal, the least I can do is welcome your family to my home," she nodded, 

"I'll get meself a hotel and-"

"You will stay with me as my guest. Julian is already there, probably drunk on the floor and not to mention Finn and Claudette and their other friend-"

"Then why the hell are we still here," Tommy joked as she rolled her eyes, "Patience Thomas Shelby," the hairs on his neck standing from the way she said his name. He hadn't felt that way in a long time, except for maybe Grace, who became more of a ghost to him than the lover he once remembered. Hitting the back of the door, both she and Tommy heard an abrupt ouch, 

"You'd think they'd stop doing that by now."

The Connolly Mansion

Claudette sighed as she sat in the study, melancholy taking over. Staring at the pictures brought her joy, in a way, comfort. That everything broken could still be fixed. In front of her was a picture of Leslie, Vadoma, Bernadette,  Andre, Eleanor, and Virginia, but in Vadoma's arms was a baby that she held as her own, looking at the year it was 1908, the year she was born, but why was she holding her instead of-

"Sweetheart..." Finn knocked,

"Yes, handsome?" she asked, looking up at Finn, who had the biggest grin on his face, "Isaiah and I are gonna go look for some trouble before the rest get here. You wanna come?" he asked, 

"What kind of trouble are we talking about?"

"Booze, some whoring maybe..." he smirked as Claudette sighed again, this one a bit worrying. He could see her face turn into concern and jealousy,

 "What's wrong..." 

"I thought maybe... tonight I'd be the only whore you'd need, but..." she looked away from him,

 "Risk your chances, I guess."  she laughed, "You know... I love you. I try so hard to excuse everything you do. Because I do everything but whore around because I don't want anyone else to make me feel good but you," Claudette stood up as Finn kept his gaze on her. She was right. Lately, he hadn't been giving her the attention she needed and should've, but here she was in front of him,

"Aye, Finn, you coming," Isaiah asked,

"Go without me," Finn smirked, 

"You sure?"

"I got something to take care of," 

Downstairs there sat a sobering Virginia, who had still been sulking about a love that could never happen. "Ya know Tommy, can I call ya Tommy, fuck it, Tommy, there comes a time in ones life where you realize, you don't wanna keep diving in the streets to be under the arms of anyone, ya wanna settle down an- and be with that one person raise a family with that one person..." Tommy took a drag of his cigarette, nodding to what she had to say in her semi-drunken state of mind, "Fuck it have an empire with that person... cause none of this?" she leaned in, pointing at everything in the living room, "Means shit without love, not any love true pure love, like in those Disney toon thingys." Virginia laughed, rolling over, hitting the floor, 

"Get my drift?" she laughed harder, "Dropped my joint!"

"I see your point..." he nodded, sitting there thinking about the times he and Eleanor shared together,

 Eleanor brought the good out of him. Her smile alone could brighten up his day, but their witty banter was always his favorite like he could be himself around her, 

"Of course, I was talking about Ada and I... But take my words... and he's gone..." 

 Eleanor sat in an oversized sweater by her window as she heard raindrops fall against her window. She could only hope that his family would arrive safely. Watching the drops come into one another, footsteps by her bedroom as she shrugged it off, 

"You know rain means unhappiness..." Eleanor  kept her gaze at the window, 

"Odd, I was told rain means many things..."

"What does it mean, Mr. Shelby?' turning to face him, her curls looming over the side of her face, "The first kiss of a first love, melancholy, lost lovers?" he mentioned walking in, taking sight of the portrait of herself on the wall, if only they knew each other during the war, 

"You're starting to sound like." she faced him,

"I haven't noticed, " he charmingly smiled, "By the way, is that my jumper," 

"It helps me sleep, " Eleanor shrugged, "Couldn't sleep with dear ol Carlton, eh," showing him her hand, the ring that was once there was gone. Tommy, on the outside, had shown empathy. But, inside, he was happy she was a freed woman. "Sorry about your engagement.."

 "He came from a family of assholes and deserved to be free from me." she laughed a little. Although she didn't want to marry him, it still hurt that he left her, that at that very moment, he was in a hotel room leaving to go back to America. 

" Elle..." 

"I mean, who would ever love a monster like me..." she looked out the window, tears blending with the raindrops, "Who would want to say, Eleanor Vadoma Williams, will you marry me," she sniffled, 

"Elle,"

"Instead, his sister and mother nearly tried to kill me!-" her breathing began to get heavy, "My father died,  I wasn't there. My brother faked his own fucking death. I wasn't there!!!" her hands in her hair, shaking her head furiously, Tommy rushed over to her, scooping her in his arms as "Hey, hey, hey it's alright I got you, love," Tommy kissed her on the crown of her head,

 "Tommy, you don't understand... I'm not strong like you..." her body shaking as he sat her in his lap, her head resting on his legs,

 "Can I tell you something," Eleanor looked up at him, "Tell me what..." 

"You're stronger than I could ever be. You are a force not to fuck with. I'm just a scared little boy still out there on that fuckin battlefield thinkin a medal, a gun makes me a fuckin man, and it doesn't, Ellie, it doesn't." he laughed as she listened to him, "I'm runnin from death, you probably laugh in his face." 

"Tommy..."

"You're right. It was a coward move of me to not come to see you. Or ask to marry you, but I was scared I would fuck up the one good thing in my life." he sighed. Eleanor looked up at him as her hand touched his cheek, a tear rolling down his face, 

"What about Lizzie or Grace. She's an amazing woman, and Grace, you loved so-" Tommy kissed her hand, then up her arm as he eventually reached her lips. Pulling him down, Eleanor flipped him over, pulling away from him, "You are the first thing on me mind, the last thought before sleep, and the truest love." Tommy said, moving her hair to the side as he  pulled her back down, kissing her neck as she moaned, 

"So you like me?" Tommy flipped her over again. Tommy rolled his eyes as he kissed her again, a bit more passionately than they had ever kissed. Her lips had a lingering taste of his Gin, while Tommy had a taste of her wine and cigarettes on them. Eleanor tangled her fingers in his hair as her leg was over his waist. Biting her bottom lip, he heard another moan escape from her mouth, nearly driving him crazy. Both of their tongues had been knocking into each other like waves on a ship as the heat between them only became hotter, 

"You tell me..."

"Ms. Williams, your guest arrived-" Esmeralda blushed, "I'm sorry I-" 

"No need, it's okay... See to it that they have drinks if you please," she blushed hard, "Tommy, you should go and uh... mmm," she stood up as her knees went a bit weak, 

"I'll be downstairs." he fixed himself up, 

"Oh, and Elle..."

"Yes, Tommy,"

"Did that kiss answer your question?" she gave him a nod as she got dressed, a pair of knickers, Tommy's sweater, and her oxfords, tussling her hair a bit,

"Nice fuckin house..." Arthur looked around. There were portraits and crushed velvet drapes, and art deco sculptures with art nouveau in the mix of it,

"Oi Lorcan, Karl, put those down before you steal something and  break something!" Ada shouted, her fur coat around her shoulders, 

"May I get that for you..." Virginia offered as Bernadette watched from the shadows, "You may..." a cold shoulder towards her as Virginia nodded,

 "What's gotten into them?" Claudette asked, her hair disheveled, " I wouldn't know," he nuzzled into her neck as she giggled, 

Last but not least was "Polly Gray..." Bernadette crept out of the shadows, "Bernadette Connolly..." she gave her a hug, 

"I assume your daughter threw this meeting together?" 

"I would assume so," she shrugged as Polly gave her a cigarette, 

"How have you been..."

"Alone, you know, it feels like something is missing," Bernadette sighed, "I know he died years ago, but he died a broken man." she sighed,

 "He died with only me by his side, not his children..." Polly hugged her tightly, "I don't want that for Ellie..." 

"You visited Vadoma, didn't ya." 

"What gave it away,"

"Everything." 

"Do we really have to go to this shit Michael..." Claudette nearly groaned at the sight of her as Finn shook his head, "Yes, Gina, we do. Let's  hear what Bullshit comes out his mouth and go from there..." Michael said, holding his wife's hand, " Look what the cat dragged in... a wet skank, I mean Yank." she heard a few laughs from her comment, 

"Oh, sweetie, maybe when you mature, you can own a house like this one."

"Gina darling, this is my house..." Finn pointed towards the portrait of her on the wall, "And Michael staying out of jail?" 

"Claudette..." he looked at her, his eyes not leaving hers, "See something you like, Michael..." Finn glanced at him as he pulled her closer,  

"I know it's late and storming, but."

"Tommy, why the fuck are we 'ere at fuckin 2am."  Arthur grumbled, "Hear him out; it's not his fault," Eleanor said from the stairwell, "It's actually mine." she stated, 

"Who the hell are you..." Michael asked as Gina nudged him, "That's fucking Eleanor Williams... " Gina blinked, "Owner of The Cell Block club in Manhattan, I own her records." Eleanor only laughed at the young girls' reaction. She could always appreciate a fan. 

"If you would all please join me in the dining room, we can all get this meeting over with," walking down the steps as Thomas helped her. Arthur took another look at her as it hit him. She was the woman from the club those years ago and the same woman who'd been sending letters. Now, something was fishy with having half her family around his own. 

"Ms. Williams, can I get you anything?"

"Tea would be great. For the table," she nodded as the maid went away, "Now, where was I," she stood up as Tommy watched, "For those of you who don't know, I am Eleanor Williams, Leader and CEO of The Black Pearl Oyster Company, my board of directors," she pointed towards Virginia and Bernadette, "To make things short I have an offer you can't refuse." 

"You think you can offer Shelby limited some fuckin thin, huh," Arthur laughed, "With the market crashin and shit,"

"You must be Arthur... The treasurer is just the man I wanna talk to," she smirked, "But not just yet. I want to talk to the number cruncher of the company," 

"That would be me, Michael Shelby,"

"Mmm, the one who ran the numbers to shit... " 

"I could cut your eyes out right here and now."  Michael gritted his teeth at her response to him, "In 1922, Shelby Limited was up to 28% in Gin sales; and being that it sold for a year at my club, that brought us to 1 billion and half of it to 500,000,000 for The Shelby company," she then looked at Tommy as he nodded for her to continue, both Bernadette and Polly listening, "In the states, we shipped over 5.4 Million liters of Gin-"

"Those are great numbers, sweetheart, but what's that going to do for us," Gina asked, "I have a baby on the way and-"

"Mrs. Gray, how about you listen and don't fucking interrupt me,"  Virginia, Claudette, and Arthur looked away as Eleanor sighed, "Now, Tommy and I were talking and thought, with the need for heroin, morphine, and opium ever rising we'd give you 75% ownership of our companies, you all would become board members, Tommy Cheif of Staff, you'd have stocks with the company and access to the inventory, so Finn, Virginia, Dette, Juli go easy on it," 

"You think we'd partner up with you so you can take down our fucking business, and a  woman like yourself at that," Michael scoffed, "Tommy would have to be fucking stupid to go through with this. It's best if you all keep in your place, Gina. We're leaving-"

Bernadette hit her first on the table, startling everyone. The fire in her eyes rose as she looked at Michael, "If I had put a bullet in everyone who took a potshot at this company for not keeping in our place..."  Bernadette laughed, "The entire shithole of a world would be littered with the bodies of dead pricks like you." 

"That's the Bernadette I remember," Polly grinned, "As the chairman of the company, I say, what have we got to lose." 

"An awful lot Pol..." Arthur said, "Ow, do we know we can trust em..." 

"You trust Virginia enough, be around Ada..."  Eleanor stated, "You trusted Claudette to make her a Peaky. We, Williams, are Loyal. We are who you want to have in your pocket, just like you, Shelby's are," 

"Now, have we got a deal."

"Darling..." Tommy looked over at her, "Are you sure about this,"

"More than rain." she looked into his eyes, the two in lovestruck bliss. They'd never seen Tommy like this before, and if they had, they couldn't remember, 

"Then, by Order of The Peaky Blinders, you have an alliance." he smiled,

"Welcome to the family," Eleanor smiled,

"Wait..." Finn said, standing up, "There's something I want to say..." 

"Spit it out, Finn boy," Julian said,

"Claudette and I are getting married."

Eleanor nearly choked on her tea as Tommy blinked,

"We're in love..." Claudette smiled, "It's only right," 

#peaky blinders #peakyocs #peaky blinders oc #peaky blinder fanfic #oc #oc x thomas shelby #oc x canon #decade: 1920s #New Chapter #fanfiction #poc ocs #poc writer #Eleanor williams #i hope you like it

[hpnewgen]

A Valentines Day Special

Alright, *nervous laughter* you asked for it.

In my introductory post, I mentioned how I would be keeping the ship content on this blog to a minimum for fear of being flamed for an unpopular opinion of mine (Although if you read the fic I wrote on AO3, you should already know what that unpopular opinion is).

However, since it is Valentines Day, I’m gonna do something I’ve hardly done before: provide you with ship content.

Under the cut, I have attached a new Weasley family tree, including the Next-Gen pairings I have come up with myself.

Below are the ships that will be mentioned. Some (*cough cough* Scorlily) are uncommon, so if they aren’t your cup of tea, I highly suggest not clicking “keep reading”.

Other than that, my one request is to please be nice in the comments. Not just to me, but to others as well. I know this fandom is very particular about their ships, but I’d rather not regret making this post.

ALSO: Unrelated, but I made an update to my post listing the LGBTQIA+ characters. I've decided that Scorpius' sexuality is unlabeled. He just takes things one relationship at a time, y'know?

⚠️MINOR “HP: NEW GEN” SPOILERS AHEAD!⚠️

The pairings including two canon characters include:

Teddy x Victoire

Hugo/Lorcan

James x Alice (assuming Alice is actually canon LOL)

Scorpius x Lily

Canon characters who I’ve paired with an OC include:

Dominique (Andrew Hornby)

Louis (Ana McLaggen)

Molly (Gavin Mason)

Lucy (Nathaniel Zabini)

Fred (Emily Jordan)

Roxanne (Mariah Wood)

Rose (Liam Finnigan)

Albus (Milani Finch-Fletchley)

Frank (Joyce Spencer)

I'm thinking I'll make a part two to this with the other family trees I've done as well.

With that, happy Valentines Day!❤️

The Weasleys (Please-Don't-Cancel-Me Version)

Here are the individual portions of the family:

#I'm gonna go hide now #please don't cancel me #I didn’t even know what Scorbus was when I started this series leave me beeee #featuring me grinding my butt off in The Sims 4 #harry potter next gen headcanon #harry potter headcanon #harry potter next gen #harry potter next generation #harry potter #valentines day

[yabai-korra]

The reasons why we're getting Manorian book

There has been a lot of speculation whether SJM is going to favor us with book/novella about Manon Blackbeak and Dorian Havilliard, recently I saw some fans doubting it, so here's a list of logical reasons why it's happening.

1. It's SJM

This woman writes two 500+ pages books per year, for her it would be a piece of cake.

2. There have already been books focused on side characters

a) Chaol and Yrene - Chaol was one of the most unpopular characters before Tower of Dawn (which made me love him hehe) and she still wrote a 600+ pages long book about him, just imagine what she'd do with the most popular character (Manon) and one of the most popular ones (Dorian).

b) Nesta and Cassian - this is ship is the closest to Manorian equivalent in ACOTAR series, aka starting from a physical relationship that develops into a sentimental one. Also 6th ACOTAR book will be focused on a new characters (most probably Elain)

3. Favoritism

SJM has talked multiple times about her love for these two. When asked about her favorite TOG character, she said Aelin, but Manon was a close second place and she said that she absolutely loves writing her.

In another interview, when asked who she would go on a book tour with and a few similar questions, she answered Dorian.

Now, I haven't seen all of her interviews ever and I'm not sure how much she loves Nessian and Cahorene (seems to love Nessian a hella lot tho), but it's definite that Manorian are some of her favorite characters and it's just logical that she would write about them.

4. Unfinished story/Unresolved feelings

Ships at the end of TOG:

Rowaelin - married

Elorcan - engaged

Lysaedion - engaged

Chaorene - married with a baby on the way

Nestaq - engaged

Manorian - hug and "we'll see"

All the ships basically got engaged in the last chapter (it's not like I didn't like it hehe) and their stories, romantic-wise, were pretty much finished and they have no unresolved tension between them. Manorian on the other hand, have enough of it for all the ships lol.

KOA spoilers ahead!

Keep in mind, Manorian relationship was mostly a sexual one, and they don't quite yet have a way of communicating their feelings properly. So there is a lot of unaddressed between them, even though they obviously care a lot about each other.

The unresolved things between Manon and Dorian:

"“And if I asked you to stay?” / “I’d need a very convincing reason, I suppose.” / “Because I don’t want you to go.” - they just fucked and Dorian left for Morath later, which impacted Manon a lot but they haven't discussed it

"I even care about you." - Manon got up and left

"There is only one witch who will be my queen." - Manon doesn't know about this

Manon saved Dorian from Valg demon even when Aelin couldn't. It was the worst thing to happen to Dorian and he still bears scars from it, yet he didn't have an appropriate situation to thank Manon for it

Dorian knows that Erawan lusted after Manon, which got him pissed of course, and he didn't have a chance nor time to ask Manon about it. It might be nothing, but if I were Dorain and my girlfriend who doesn't show feelings was locked up with a crazy guy who has a thing for her, and have seen the way he treats women, I'd be concerned. Erawan was a Valg king, a tough opponent even for Manon. If he had done something to her, and he had plenty of means and opportunities and wish to do so, Manon would never openly tell anyone (maybe Asterin) about it, because it would imply opening up and being weak, which is Manon's worst fear. Again, SJM, as the Queen of Foreshadowing, wouldn't just randomly throw in the main villain having a thing for an important character, everything in her books always has a meaning and purpose.

"Would you miss me if I didn't [come back]?" - Manon didn't reply

This is how SJM described Manorian marriage: "She would be his wife, his queen. She was already his equal, his match, mirror in so many ways. And with their union, the world would know it." - and you're telling me it's not deserving of its own book? Not just that, Manon asked Dorian for marriage and they, again, just had sex, with Dorian loving the idea but deep down knowing that Manon would feel caged in a marriage. And that attitude won't just change out of the blue. It takes time and development which is something SJM writes amazingly.

With the Thirteen gone, beside Abraxos Dorian is the only creature Manon cares about.

Dorian's mortality (although as you'll see in point #6 I'm sure he's not human)

The dreaded "You could just marry each other." / "We'll see." (Thanks Yrene :)

5. Foreshadowing

Listen here, SJM IS THE QUEEN OF FORESHADOWING. She thought of a detail (Dorian's dad's name) in the first book that would matter in the last book. Of course, there are many many many more examples of that, but if we got "We'll see." then we'll fucking see it happen.

6. Unresolved things about Manon and Dorian as individual characters.

Manon and Dorian and both pretty broken at the end of KOA.

Manon lost the Thirteen, the only people she cared about. That is a huge trauma that needs to be addressed, especially with someone so reluctant to show feelings and heal like Manon.

Dorian can't be human?? He has fae abilities due to his relation to Gavin and Elena even though he's not even called a demi-fae. He possesses powers no one else does, phantom hands for example, which he didn't steal like shape-shifting. And Maeve pointed out that due to his father being possessed by Valg when Dorian was sired, it's possible he got some of the Valg abilities. (Also she said that he's stronger than Aelin) The main villain, especially written by Queen of Foreshadowing, wouldn't just let drop it there and that's it. Also not to mention Dorian's own struggle with depression and self-worth.

They have both just become rulers of their kingdoms, completely new to it. Dorian has spent a big part of KOA imagining what kind of a king he wants to be (one that will have a witch queen hehe) and it was a major point of his character. And addition to that affecting them as characters, the future of Adarlan and Witch Kingdom could make a good plotline.

7. Other TOG characters

Although pretty much all the readers would die to see Chaorene baby, Lorcan in Perranth, Aelin and Rowan ruling Terrasen, Lysandra and Adeion officially adopting Evangeline, Nesryn and Sartaq becoming Khagan and Empress of Antica, all of these don't make enough of a plot on its own. They are great side-plots.

We know all of these characters love each other and are happy together, there isn't that much to be added to their personal stories other than kids. (same way Feyre and Rhys got a baby in Nessian book) Manorian however, they haven't even kissed without it leading to sex, they hugged at the end of KOA and it was the pique of their relationship. Their relationship is merely at the beginning, whereas others have pretty much reached their ultimatum (ofc SJM can decide to add some drama with betrayal, kidnapping, pregnancy etc. but for now everyone is good and settled beside Manorian)

Not to mention the way other relationships would affect them. Chaol, Dorian's brother, and Yrene, Manon's wannabe bestie and Manorian shipper, would bring their baby to meet his/her uncle Dorian and aunt Manon, and imagine Manon with a baby lol.

SJM loves Aelin and other characters way too much not to give us an insight on them as married couples, but since her books are huge and it's her, it needs a plot with drama, addressing traumas, repressed feelings, worldbuilding, and sex, and Manorian's got all of that.

8. Abraxos

We need more Abraxos, that's just a fact.

Wow that was a long one. Anyways, in conclusion, we're getting that Manorian book. Pretty sure it's gonna a book rather than a novella (TOD was also planned as a novella but then guess what) because there is just SO MUCH possible content.

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