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artificialqueens · 4 years

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Revelation Sunshine, Chapter 5 (Courtney/Vixen) - Veronica

A/N: Hey guys! Thank you so much for your enthusiasm for my self-indulgent rare pair. I adore you. And thank you so much to the amazing @theartificialdane, who is the most wonderful collab partner I could ask for. <3 [Here’s a link to previous chapters.]

Last chapter: Vixen was a traitor to feminism (jk) and then told Courtney about a possible job offer in LA.

This chapter: Vixen comes to LA to meet her new colleagues and pay her girlfriend a visit.

***

Courtney and Vixen were both true to their word to not let too much time go by before their next visit. In late October, once Vixen’s part-time position at UCLA became official, she jumped at the chance to meet with the team she’d be working with in person.

Her flight arrived on a Tuesday afternoon while Courtney was working, doing some ADR for Glimmer. Brie let her in and helped her get settled, showing her where Courtney had cleared out space in the closet and dresser.

Vixen smiled to herself. She was only going to be staying for a week, but Courtney had (intentionally, she was sure) made enough space for all of the clothes she owned. She put her things away, sipping on a glass of Courtney’s favorite brand of fair trade coconut water, finding that she’d come to really enjoy the taste. She shook her head—if she wasn’t careful, that girl was gonna have her on some kind of vegan raw food diet soon.

She was just starting to feel a bit hungry when a blonde figure raced into the room, nearly tackling her to the ground in glee, covering her face with kisses.

“How was your flight?”

“Fine. I feel a little grimy though, maybe I should-”

“Do you have enough space?”

“Yes! Fucking plenty, how long do you think I’m here for?” Vixen laughed.

“Maybe I was trying to tempt you to stay longer,” Courtney said with a coy flutter of lashes.

“Good try.”

“Do you want to go out for dinner?” she asked.

“Not particularly.”

“So...what do you want to eat, then?”

Vixen’s eyes raked up and down her body, a naughty smirk on her face, and Courtney grinned back at her.

“Always gotta order off-menu, don’t you?”

“I thought you were the menu,” said Vixen.

Courtney giggled.

“Well, that’s fair.”

“I’ve also been eyeing up your spa shower.”

“Oh yeah? Want me to show you how it works?” Courtney murmured.

Vixen offered a sweet smile, saying, “Yes, please.”

“Hmm, such good manners, baby.”

Courtney turned her around by the shoulders, swatting her lightly on the ass, and then ushered her towards the bathroom.

***

“Shit,” Courtney said a bit later as they curled in bed, wearing nothing but moisturizer and a loose sheet. “I forgot about dinner.”

“Oh yeah. Whoops.”

Courtney giggled, sitting up and stretching. “I have some chili and cornbread that I made last night, how does that sound?”

“Vegan chili?” Vixen made a face.

“It’s really good,” Courtney said. “Super spicy. It might be too much for you.”

“Oh yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of. Your Caucasian seasoning.”

Courtney giggled. “And the cornbread is so good, I got the recipe from-“

“Vegan cornbread?!” Vixen looked even more offended at that prospect, making Courtney laugh again.

“Why don’t you try it, and if you hate it, I’ll order you pizza.”

“You guys got Chicago pizza out here?” Vixen asked.

Courtney pressed her lips into a line.

“Look, I know I’m only lived there for a few years, but as an honorary New Yorker, I feel like I have to tell you that Chicago pizza—”

“Bitch, you watch your mouth—”

“—Is not pizza,” Courtney finished, watching Vixen’s face closely for any sign, trying desperately not to laugh.

After a beat, Vixen reached for her.

“I’m gonna fucking get you for that,” she growled.

Courtney shrieked, leaping off the bed and racing through the house, laughing, to the kitchen, Vixen on her heels. Once in the kitchen, Vixen pinned her against the counter with her arms behind her.

“Say you were lying.”

“No!” Courtney giggled, squirming as Vixen began a concentrated tickle attack.

“Chicago deep-dish for liiiiiife!”

Courtney collapsed against her chest, still laughing. Putting her freed arms around Vixen’s shoulders.

“It’s not pizza. It’s just a cheese...pie.”

“Exactly!” Vixen laughed.

“But I don’t eat cheese,” Courtney reminded her.

“Right. Another strike against you…”

“What was the first strike?” Courtney asked, pouting.

“You’re trying to feed me vegan cornbread,” Vixen told her with a stern head shake. “My mom would be horrified.”

“Just a little taste. I bet you’ll like it.”

“Ugh, you’re not even gonna have real butter to spread on it!” Vixen moaned.

“I have Earth Balance.” Courtney wriggled out of her arms and opened the fridge, getting out a couple of containers and half of a cornbread, wrapped in foil.

Vixen watched her from behind, leaning on the counter, surveying her naked ass appreciatively before saying, “This isn’t exactly hygienic cooking attire, is it?”

Courtney set everything on the counter and pulled open a drawer, producing two aprons.

“Here we go. Better?”

“Very classy.”

Once the cornbread was properly heated and spread with Earth Balance, Vixen took a childish, wincing bite.

“Well?” Courtney asked expectantly. “Come on...that’s good.”

“It’s...less offensive than I thought it would be,” she admitted.

“I’ll take it.” Courtney wrapped her arms around Vixen’s waist, pulling her in for a kiss. “Do you still want pizza?”

“What’s the point?!” Vixen sighed. “It’s gonna be that New York bullshit. Or worse, something all LA like whole wheat crust and soy cheese.”

“Guess again.” Courtney displayed her phone screen, PostMates opened to a Chicago deep dish pizza place with 5-star reviews.

“When did you find that place?”

“I asked my friend Shea for recommendations last week. She’s from Chicago.”

Vixen broke out into a huge grin.

“You did?”

“Mmmhmm…” Courtney trailed kisses down Vixen’s neck, murmuring, “I didn’t want any reason for you to hate LA.”

Vixen laughed. “There are a million reasons to hate LA. It’s a horrible city. Shallow, uncultured, and this dry air is terrible for my skin…”

Courtney continued to kiss her, winding her fingers into her hair.

“But...I could maybe learn to accept it,” Vixen continued. “In time.”

“Yeah, you think so?”

“I guess…” she teased, fingers sliding down Courtney’s body to wrap around her thighs, lifting her up onto the counter. “There are one or two things I don’t hate.”

“Like what?” Courtney sighed, arching up as Vixen’s mouth trailed down her body.

“Guess.”

“So…” Courtney bit her lip. “Does that mean you’re excited to play house with me this week?”

“Absolutely.”

***

Halloween, Vixen discovered, was very important to Courtney. She was having a party on Saturday, and before they went to sleep, insisted on getting out a selection of potential costumes.

“Shouldn’t we talk about this tomorrow?” Vixen stifled a yawn.

“I have to give the others notice.”

“What others?”

“Well, I told Adore and Gigi that we’d need them to join in if we do Ninja Turtles. And Brie is on standby in case we need all 3 of them for the Spice Girls.”

“Spice Girls is cool. I get to be Scary though, right? You’re not doing some nonsense color-blind casting?”

“You’re Scary. I’m Ginger. Brie is baby, Adore is Sporty, and Gigi is Posh.”

“Okay,” Vixen yawned again. “Approved.”

“Perfect,” Courtney said, slipping under the covers to join her.

***

The next day was spent on campus, meeting (and re-meeting, in a few cases) Vixen’s colleagues, auditing a class with the professor for whom she was taking over, and having a strategy session with the head of the department about the changes she’d proposed for the syllabus, along with another intriguing proposal. When it was all over, she met Courtney for dinner at a restaurant in Brentwood, excited to tell her all about the day.

“Apparently everyone’s having babies,” she laughed, recounting the offer for her to take over a workshop series from one of their other professors starting in the Spring semester, bringing her to what basically amounted as full time.

Courtney smiled, seemingly charmed by her enthusiasm. It wasn’t until she’d finished telling her all about the new offer that she sensed a bit of anxiety.

“So...then, you’re excited about it?”

“About the job? Are you kidding? It’s a dream job. Especially if it leads to a tenured position. Fingers crossed on that!” Vixen grinned, a little puzzled why Courtney’s brow was still creased with worry. “Why do you ask?”

“Well...I mean, your whole world is in Chicago. Your family, all your friends…”

“Yeah, but I’ll still see them. And I can make new friends here. I’m very charming, you know.”

“You are.” Courtney smiled, twirling her wine glass. “But...do you really want to leave? What if you hate it here?”

“I don’t understand. You were the one who said we should live in the same city-”

“Yes, but I assumed I’d be the one moving. Eventually.”

Vixen blinked for a few moments, a bit stunned. It hadn’t even occurred to her that when Courtney said they should live closer that she would be moving.

“I mean I travel so much anyway for work, I can really live anywhere, so it just makes sense that I would...come to you. I just don’t want you to make this big sacrifice for me, when I’m...I don’t need that. I didn’t ask you to-”

Vixen’s eyes softened, and she reached across the table to take Courtney’s hand.

“I know. I know you didn’t. But...I’ve been trying to get an in with this department for 4 years. I started talking to them more seriously last Fall. And then, when my book sales picked up...for some strange reason,” she paused, giving Courtney a sly wink, “that’s when they actually got interested. The academic world moves very slowly.”

“So...the job came first?”

“The job came first,” Vixen assured her. “You’re not such a bad bonus, though.”

Courtney finally relaxed, tensing leaving her shoulders, smile brightening as she leaned forward to kiss Vixen’s cheek.

“And...do you really think you could be happy here?” she asked.

Vixen stroked her face, nodding slowly. “I do.”

***

Courtney’s Halloween party was a trip. So many of the faces were vaguely familiar, and Vixen kept having a hard time figuring out if it was because they were famous, or because she’d seen them on Courtney’s instagram. Like Tatianna, a strikingly beautiful woman dressed as Peter Pan, who she could have sworn she’d met before, only to realize a few minutes after she’d begun talking (gushing, actually, to Courtney about her new engagement) that she’d been a fairly famous model at one point.

Or the pretty black woman whose face she knew for certain that she’d seen before, but couldn’t place for the life of her, when she approached them to say hi to Courtney.

“Hi Shea! You look amazing!” Courtney said, giving her a hug. “Vix, you remember Shea from the VMAs, right?”

Vixen gave Courtney a silent ‘thank you’ with her eyes before smiling warmly at Shea.

“Of course, nice to see you again.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I know your date,” Courtney said.

“Hi, I’m Sasha-”

“Doctor Sasha Velour,” Shea said, her gorgeous smile growing as she put her arm around the woman beside her, adding, “I’m dating a doctor.”

“Congratulations!” Courtney laughed. “Are you a medical doctor, or…?”

“I’m a psychologist,” Sasha said.

“Ah, awesome! Well, Dr. Sasha Velour, this is Dr. Vixen Taylor,” Courtney said, then murmured to Shea playfully, “See, I can date a doctor too.”

Shea stuck her tongue out at Courtney, who returned it, both of them giggling.

“They’re so mature,” Vixen noted to Sasha, giving her air kisses so as not to disturb her elaborate makeup.

“I know, right?” Sasha laughed, looking at her girlfriend lovingly.

They chatted for a few minutes before moving on to greet more guests, Courtney holding Vixen’s hand the whole time, making sure that she gave ample clues if it was someone Vixen should be expected to know. (And keeping an eye out for Adore and Gigi so that they could take their group Spice Girls picture, which Vixen suspected was Courtney’s real purpose for having a party in the first place.)

At least Vixen knew who Honey Mahogany was. Courtney’s Glimmer co-star was an amazing actress, well respected for her political activism, and someone that Vixen couldn’t wait to meet. She’d come dressed as Diana Ross, in her iconic orange jumpsuit and cape from the Central Park concert. Vixen was a little star-struck, but allowed Courtney to pull her over and say hi.

“Ah, I see we’ve both come as iconic divas,” Honey said warmly, looking at Vixen’s Scary Spice outfit. Vixen chuckled nervously and took her offered hand.

“I should be thanking you,” Vixen said.

“Why’s that?”

“I heard you were the one who gave Ginger over here my book,” Vixen gestured to Courtney, clad in a Union Jack dress and gogo boots, who nodded emphatically.

“She was indeed!”

“If you’d seen the inside of any of her trailers, you might not be thanking me,” Honey laughed. “She’s an absolute disaster. She also has this terrible habit of—”

“Oh my god, stop!” Courtney clapped a hand over her mouth to end the teasing, the two of them clearly having a playful bond, as Honey bit her finger lightly. Courtney yelped and pulled her fingers away, letting her continue.

“—of trying to shut me up when all I’m doing is saying true things that you’ll find out about sooner or later.”

Courtney laughed, shaking her head.

“I thought you supported our relationship, Ms. Mahogany.”

“I do!” Honey grinned. “But she should know what she’s getting into. Also, don’t let her eat anything cabbage-related, because when I tell you what an ungodly smell-”

“Okay, that’s enough of that,” Courtney giggled, pulling Vixen away. She tossed a kiss back over her shoulder at Honey, who was still laughing.

“I actually really did want to talk to her,” Vixen said. “I think we have a lot in common.”

“Oh. Sorry!” Courtney said, turning back around and shouting, “Honey! Wait!”

“And you know, I appreciate the attentiveness, but you really don’t have to babysit,” Vixen smiled.

“Am I stifling you?” Courtney asked, biting her lip.

“Only a little.” Vixen pressed a kiss to Courtney’s forehead. “But it’s okay.”

“You rang?” Honey asked as she reapproached, a drink in her hand.

“I’m sorry I interrupted. Carry on!” Courtney chirped, scampering off to go talk to her other party guests.

All things considered, Vixen had a good time. Even when Adore started force-feeding shots to Courtney, grinding on her in a manner that Vixen found mildly inappropriate for a so-called platonic friend. It was hard to be annoyed while Courtney was laughing hysterically and shoving a handful of pretzels into Adore’s face. And watching them clown around like children, Vixen started to understand their bond a little more.

It was almost 4 am by the time the last of the revelers went home. (Or in Adore’s case, passed out face-down and ass out in the guest room, track pants around her ankles.)

“She’s a precious angel, isn’t she?” Gigi asked, removing her sneakers and pants and throwing the covers over her.

“The most precious,” Courtney giggled, kissing Gigi on the cheek. “Thank you for taking care of her.”

“Of course,” Gigi said.

“You really are a saint,” Vixen commented from the doorway.

“Nah…” Gigi turned around with a smirk. “The sex is just that good.”

“I’m so happy for you both,” Courtney laughed, as she walked towards the door. “Nighty-night, kids.”

“Goodnight, mom,” Gigi replied, slipping under the covers. She leaned in close to Adore, hand on her back, then gave them a thumbs-up. “Still breathing!”

Courtney closed the door behind her, still chuckling, and took Vixen’s hand.

“Omigod, I’m so tired…Do I need to brush my teeth or can I skip it?”

“Mmm, I don’t know. What will Disney say if your teeth start falling out?” Vixen teased.

“Ugh, fine, I’ll be responsible.”

***

Even though they stayed up late, Courtney woke up relatively early, eyes fluttering open, a patch of sunlight on the comforter warming her. She turned to Vixen, surprised to find her awake too, giving her a sleepy smile.

“Morning.”

Courtney reached out a hand to touch her cheek, fingers lingering indulgently on her smooth brown skin. Her dark eyes began to close, nuzzling into Courtney’s touch. The vulnerability of that simple move made Courtney want to wrap her into a hug and never let go.

“We don’t have to get up, right? We can just...stay in bed all day?”

“If that’s what you want, you got it,” Courtney replied, leaning forward to press their foreheads together. In that moment, Courtney would have agreed to anything Vixen wanted, anything to make her happy.

“I mean, I guess you have to go feed the dog at some point,” Vixen mused.

“I’ll text Adore to do it.”

“Wow, finally she’s good for something,” Vixen said, and then there was a flash of worry, wondering if she’d crossed a line.

But Courtney just grinned, and Vixen gave her a matching, dazzling smile, eyes crinkling happily.

“You’re so cute,” Courtney said.

Courtney swung a leg over her, straddling her, sheets bunched up around her waist, topless except for some residual Halloween glitter strewn across her chest.

“You’re cute,” Vixen said back, sliding her hands up Courtney’s thighs. She chuckled softly, shaking her head.

“What’s so funny?” Courtney asked, fingers dancing over her skin.

“I just...never thought I’d fall in love with a white girl…”

Courtney’s eyes widened in delighted shock, mouth falling open. She’d been holding back a bit, not wanting to scare Vixen off, but that was about the best thing she could possibly hear.

“What?”

Vixen’s brow furrowed, wondering why Courtney looked so surprised. Until her face softened into a dreamy-eyed expression, explaining, “You said ‘love.’”

Oops.

“Oh shit,” Vixen said, suppressing a grin. “I didn’t mean it!”

Courtney began to tickle her, bending down to nibble at her neck, murmuring, “Did so.”

“Nooooo,” Vixen protested weakly, as Courtney pinned her arms above her head, noses nearly touching.

“You love me.” Courtney was glowing, the happiest Vixen had ever seen her.

“I don’t,” Vixen lied with a petulant pout.

“Hmm. Well, that’s a shame. Because I love you. So much,” Courtney said, pressing kisses along her jaw.

“Yeah, I know, you’re really obvious about it,” Vixen said. But her insides were flipping over, stomach swarming with happy butterflies.

“Good.”

“I guess this means I win,” she continued. “Since, you know, you said it first.”

“Is that so?”

“I don’t make the rules,” said Vixen. She shrugged, arms still above her head, and batted her lashes up at Courtney, who giggled softly and kissed her again.

“Congratulations. On your win,” Courtney said.

“Thanks.”

Courtney released her arms, gazing down at her, hovering on all fours with a smile pulling at her mouth. Vixen reached up to cup her face, thumbs running over her cheekbones. She pulled her in close, whispering in her ear.

“It’s true, you know. I do...kind of love you.”

“Are you sure?” Courtney whispered back, eyes glittering.

Vixen nodded, stomach doing somersaults as happiness washed over Courtney’s face.

“Me too.”

Courtney laid back down, curled contentedly in her arms, as Vixen kissed to top of her head.

By the time she left for the airport two days later, it rolled off her tongue so easily that she wondered why she hadn’t said it sooner.

I love you, I love you, I love you...

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thecomicsnexus · 4 years

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TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES #48-49 JUNE - JULY 1992 BY KEVIN EASTMAN, PETER LAIRD, JIM LAWSON, KEITH AIKEN AND ERIC TALBOT

SYNOPSIS (FROM TURTLEPEDIA)

The TMNT are preparing to go on a mission in the city of Springfield, Massachusetts. Donatello bows out of the exercise so he can debug his latest project, and thus Splinter sends the three remaining Turtles to the city. Their goal: find Casey Jones and return to Northampton before 1 AM. April drives the guys to town and drops them off - if they can't find Casey and get him to take them back home, they'll have to walk... all 20 miles.

Raph comes up with a plan - "an immobile object is easier to find than a mobile one," thus the TMNT decide to find Casey's car so they won't risk missing him. After all, Casey can't get back to town without his wheels. So the Mutants head off to find Jones' Chevy.

Meanwhile, Casey is spying on the guys and heads off in the opposite direction. He enters a playground where he's accosted by three young punks, who insist he pay a toll. A fight breaks out and Jones accidentally kills one of the boys.

From the rooftops, we see the costumed clad vigilante Nobody (from Tales of the TMNT #2). Nobody, although being an ally of the Turtles, doesn't know who Casey is, and attacks Jones for committing the crime of homicide. A battle takes place, and Nobody tries to handcuff Casey and take him in.

The Turtles spot the two remaining hoods fleeing and figure that the boys must have run into Casey, so they double back. The TMNT arrive in time to prevent Nobody from taking Jones to the police, but the crime fighter is angered by the situation.

"You realize this makes you accomplishes." the costumed cop states.

"Casey will answer for whatever he is guilty of. Justice will be served." Raph replies.

As the Turtles and their shaken friend depart, Nobody mutters, "Yes... I'll see to that."

April is talking to her sister Robyn on the phone. April is worried about starting a relationship with a man who helped her out of a jam, and Robyn is trying to figure out why her sister has been so mysterious about her life the past few years. Before any resolution is reached, Robyn has to hang up to attend to her baby. As April puts the receiver down, Master Splinter walks into the kitchen. O'Neil explains her dilemma to the wise old rat.

"Ever since I met you and the Turtles... and Casey... my life has been so secretive and strange. I mean... how can I get to know this guy - or any guy - if I can't let him get to know me? 'Cause getting to know me means learning about you guys... and that... geez! Sometimes I just wish I had a normal life. Splinter... what should I do?"

The Sensei thinks for a moment and then responds, "Leave."

This was not the comforting solution that April was hoping to hear.

Casey wakes up and quickly remembers what happened the night before. He hurries to the bathroom and retches. April walks by and calls out to see if he needs help and Casey orders her away. The bemused O'Neil dejectedly walks off.

Casey gets dressed and has an awkward silent moment with April in the kitchen before he takes off running into the woods. As he burns off his energy, Jones laments all of the "if only" scenarios that would have kept him from killing the young thug in the playground. Eventually Casey comes to a waterfall that has a fallen tree spanning the ravine, creating a bridge to the other side of the river. Donatello is sitting on the tree observing the stream in attempt to "understand the fractal structure of natural patterns," an element of Chaos Theory that Donnie is excited about.

Don's explanation irritates Jones and he blasts the Turtle for using big words and acting better than everybody else. Casey than demands to know why Donatello hasn't spent any time with him.

"Well" the perplexed terrapin begins, "We don't exactly share a lot of interests..."

This reply only angers Jones more and Don asks him if they can take up this conversation at a later time, when Casey is sober. Jones pushes the issue and gets more and more agitated and threatening until Donatello is forced to draw his bo and teach Casey a lesson in manners and humility. In short order, Donnie sends Casey careening into the water waiting below. Perhaps Jones also learned a thing or two about fractals while he was in the drink.

Meanwhile, Raph, Leo and Mike are training in the barn while the news plays on a radio in the background. Leo beats Raph in two out of three falls when a report comes on regarding gang-related slayings in New York City between warring Asian factions. Upon hearing this story, Raph walks out of the practice session.

Later, Casey is back at the playground where he accidentally killed the teen. The man called Nobody shows up, only this time he's wearing his police uniform rather than his super-hero costume. Nobody tells Jones that the three other hoods turned themselves in and their story matched Casey's, thus making it apparent that Jones was acting in self-defense.

"You sound disappointed." Jones remarks.

"Do I?" the vigilante cop inquires, "Well... I do prefer an open and shut case, and you seem guilty as Hell. But... facts are facts. As much as I live to bring criminals to justice, I have to face those facts. Besides... the courts are full of poor jerks like you, ingested and spat back out, guilty or innocent, it doesn't matter."

"Wow," observes Casey, "At least you're not bitter."

Nobody then relates his philosophy to Casey about the state of the world, a Yin-Yang theory that revolves around the idea that the further man advances, the more he regresses. The policeman then wonders how much longer the fabric of society can be stretched before it tears.

Casey states that he doesn't know, and Nobody then says that when he first met the TMNT he felt that they were an omen.

"I thought that it might be a sign... a sign that the end was near... you know, 'The Beasts Rising Up', that sort of thing." the cop states.

"Uh... yeah." Jones answers, "Look... I gotta go..."

"I won't stop you." replies Nobody.

Casey then heads off in silence towards downtown Springfield.

REVIEW

This is a good TMNT story, and it is written by their creators as well.

It’s been a while since we focused on Casey Jones and April (most guest writers used them as plot generators but didn’t invest much time in making them real).

And this was bound to happen, in fact, I would have assumed that something like this already happened to Casey, after all, his methods are quite aggressive.

Nobody came back for this story (to be honest, I didn’t really miss him), and we also got to know Robyn O’Neil.

The story seems to be pointing at a certain climax (the volume is getting into a final 12-issue saga). Between the gangs in New York, Splinter’s moods and April’s needs, something has to happen.

The art is also very good. Sometimes Jim Lawson can be a bit too angular, but the backgrounds look amazing.

I give this story a score of 9.

#a c farley #tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #mirage studios #comics #review #1992 #modern age #indie #casey jones #nobody

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