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cloud9in · 3 years

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The Half of It - 2 (Poppy x MC)

Summary: Bea, the town’s outcast is recruited by the school jock to win Poppy’s heart. But what happens when she starts falling for her as well?

HIGHLY recommend you read/re-read part 1

No warnings this chapter

Word Count: 2.6k

Chapter 2: How to write a love letter 101

“In love, one always starts by deceiving oneself...and ends by deceiving others. That is what the world calls romance.”

- Oscar Wilde

I was tasked with what was probably the hardest piece of writing I’ve done in all of my years of highschool, and I wrote eight different versions of the analysis on David vs Goliath my freshman year. That’s besides the point, it wasn’t like any normal research essay. No. For some reason I found that my one and only letter to Poppy would have to be the best thing I ever wrote in the entirety of the universe. Too bad I had to make it sound like it was written by Carter, that big stupid jock. You can guess how severely depressed I became after reading what he had initially written…

“Dear Poppy, I think you’re really beautiful. Even if you were ugly, I’d want to know you, because you are smart and nice, too. It’s hard to find all those things in one girl. But even if you were only two of those things, I’d be into it. But you’re, like, all three, just to be clear.”

Bea reads off the paper, turning her head with cringe and confusion at the confident jock sitting next to her. Carter smiles, “She’s all three, like you know all three backs of football. The running back, the fullback-”

“Thanks for clarifying...:”

Carter stares awkwardly, waiting for her to continue on. And Bea does, with a big ass sigh.

“...About me. Some people think I’m the cutest one in my family. Those people being my grandma...who’s dead now...Never mind about my dead grandma. All I’m saying is that I like fries. I like dipping them in my milkshake. Is that weird? It’s actually really tasty. Would you like to try that with me sometime?

CJ, school quarterback.”

Bea takes a good five minutes to compose herself. Yeah this was definitely gonna be a long week. She lowers the paper slightly and turns to Carter, a puzzled look in her eyes. “So what you’re trying to say is-”

“I’m in love with her.”

That confession definitely would have sent her sprawling a few feet back if she hadn’t been sitting. Love? What was love? And why does she despise it now that Carter has mentioned it.

“...Have you ever spoken to her?”

“Well...no, I’m not good with words. Besides, would I be here with you if I did talk to her?”

Bea rolls her eyes and huffs exhaustingly. “Carter, you're not in love. You’re just stubborn.”

“No I’m not! It’s love, I know it’s love. Love feels different, it doesn’t feel...real. It almost feels impossible. But we indulge in it because of the thrill, the adrenaline of chasing someone mindlessly...and wanting to be present in everything they do. There’s that ‘what if?’, the question that could make or break that love. Even if the ending isn’t what you had hoped for, at least you know how it felt to feel so much joy, so much want.”

Carter stares up at the ceiling in thought, his eyes seem to be unfocused, staring at nothing and everything. Bea gazes over at him in part shock and part admiration, a smile painting her face. “...Wow.”

“...Hm, yeah. I heard it in a dating app commercial once.”

Bea gasps and smacks Carter repeatedly with the letter in her hand, clearly disappointed.

“Wha- Ow!”

“And here I was thinking you were being original.”

Bea eventually sits back in her seat, her shoulders slumping as she reads the letter over and over again, trying to make sense of it. That was the problem though, it didn’t make sense, well maybe the fries part did, but the blonde had a lot of work to do. Carter watches her silently until he can’t hold back the lingering question in his head. “...Haven’t you ever felt it? That screwy feeling that love gives you? Poppy makes me feel screwy.”

Bea continues to read, her eyes glued onto the words that are slightly falling out of the printed lines of the notebook paper. But her mind is fully elsewhere, she heard his question loud and clear. The only thing she could muster was an annoyed “no” in efforts to not become vulnerable.

He intertwined his hands together, leaning back on the bench. “...Oh I get it, you’ve never been in love have you?”

Bea’s legs were already one step ahead of her mind as they sprung her out of the seat. She grabs her bag and swats the papers in Carter’s direction, a scoff leaving her lips. “You want a love letter? I’ll give you a love letter!”

“Yeah but will it be something that makes her fall in love with me and not walk away like you’re doing right now-” Carter’s voice rings out hurriedly yet Bea can’t hear anything except the pounding of her heart getting louder as she stalks out of the church. Love, love, love, what even is it? Will I ever feel it? There is nobody who could make me feel-

The blonde was cut abruptly out of her thoughts as she crashed into someone, who was most likely on their respective part of the sidewalk. All of the materials in her arms fell to the concrete and Bea rushed to pick them up, “I’m sorry I-”

A familiar blonde set of locks and porcelain skin came into view and she immediately stopped and looked up. Poppy’s eyes were already boring into hers, a look of slight concern, and maybe annoyance? on her face.

“...I’m-I’m Bea Hughes…” She could only stutter, all those moments that she pretended to talk to Poppy in her room were definitely not paying off.

But maybe it did pay off because a small smile, masked with sparkly pink lip gloss started to form. Poppy bit her lip as her eyes crinkled with amusement, “...Yeah I know. You’ve only been playing my dad’s services on Sunday for, like, four years. He does favour you...even if you are a heathen.” Poppy peers over at the church that Bea had just come out of and raises an eyebrow in curiosity. She picks up a stray book from the ground and grins with an impressed look. “Remains of The Day...Loved it. Mr. Stevens is quite the character.” Okay, so Poppy has great taste in literature, that’s another thing to add to the list that Bea totally doesn’t have stored in the notes app of her phone. Listen, she has to write a love letter to Poppy Min Sinclair, so every piece of information is vital.

Poppy hands the book to Bea, their eyes never leaving each other while standing up. Say something Bea. Anything. It’s almost like the strawberry blonde was waiting, hoping, for her to speak .

But she said nothing. No, all the insecure blonde could do is stare into Poppy’s eyes, almost as if she wasn’t afraid to turn to stone.

The sound of car tires scraping against the pavement caused Poppy to break eye contact before smiling one last time at Bea. “This is me.” Bea watched the shorter girl stroll past her so casually, the complete opposite of what she was feeling in the moment. She didn’t speak until Poppy closed the car door and the driver took off, a frustrated sigh escaping her lips. “I’m Bea Hughes? Really?”

***

Bea sat in front of her tv, a pen and notepad in her hand. She couldn’t think of anything to write down. How do you write a love letter, or a confession? This is the one thing she had trouble writing. The tv blasted on with 1987’s “Wings of Desire”. Bea cocked her head to the side when the man started to profess his love. She put her pen to the pad and started writing.

Poppy,

You don’t know me, and truth be told I see that as a good thing. You know that saying, there are plenty of fish in the sea? Well I am not a fisherman, nor do I think you are a fish. Letters are not the form of communication that I would personally prefer, but I am the one writing to you. So no more complaining. I think you are interesting. Like a book I want to read. I’d even read the author’s notes at the end just to get every bit of you. I don’t desire a lot of things, but I long for a wave of love to swell up in me. That’s what makes me so clumsy: the lack of pleasure.

Yours,

Carter

***

Bea pushes down on her pedals, pacing her breath with each turn of the wheels beneath her. The voice of Carter appears as he races behind her, careful not to send her flying last time. Then she’d never write a letter again. “Bea! She wrote back!”

The blonde pulled the brakes on her bicycle so hard a wheel might have popped off. She was out of breath but suddenly the reason for it was different. Bea grabs the letter from Carter’s hands and makes haste to read the words she imagined would sit on the paper.

Carter,

I like Wim Wenders too. Wouldn’t have plagiarized him though.

-Poppy

“Who’s Wim Wenders and why’d you cheat off of him? Bea I looked up what plagiarism meant.”

“I didn’t cheat off of him!...Okay maybe I did but this is a good thing!”

“HOW?”

“It’s...it’s like a game. She’s challenging us..but in a good way.” Bea nods to Carter but also to herself. There was a response. She didn’t think that Poppy would write back but she did and it has changed Bea’s outlook on everything. She was in, and there was no way it could stop now.

“So...are we back in the game?” Carter’s words jumble Bea out of her thoughts and she stutters, “Yep..yes we are.” No you are. “We are definitely back in it.” Nope just you Bea.

Bea leaves Carter with an awkward fist bump before peddling away, her mind racing with a million thoughts. But they always seem to close back into one familiar blonde who danced and did everything Bea couldn’t. She sighed, the adrenaline pumping its way out of her lungs.

“Game on, Poppy Min Sinclair.”

***

Bea spent the following days perfecting her next letter to Poppy. This one would be more heartfelt, and less cringe and plagiaristic like her last one. It would come from her and only her...but for Carter of course. The thing is, when Bea started writing again, she didn’t think about the fact that Carter would take credit for everything on the paper, and that he would be the one that develops a *possible* relationship with Poppy. Maybe she didn’t want to think about that part, but the other parts brought just the right amount of serotonin to make her shitty day better. Everything she read, everywhere she went reminded her of the strawberry blonde, and of the unfinished letter. Bea attempted to step into the life of Carter’s and speak like a jock would, without making him seem like something he is not. But that was hard. Because it was her words, her mind. Carter would take that from her, even if it was unintentional.

It didn’t help that Carter didn’t want them to be seen together in public. He would slide to the opposite end of the bench in the church when his football buddies would come in. Bea didn’t take it personal. She of course had other things going through her mind.

It took 7 days. One week. To finish the second letter, a very short one. Bea wouldn’t describe herself as a perfectionist, but every word that Poppy would read had to be perfect.

Dear Poppy,

Okay you got me…

Now that that’s done, let’s start over yeah? I’ll start by saying that I sometimes hide behind other people’s words. For one thing, I know nothing about love. I’m 17 and I’ve lived in Farmsville my whole life. I hang out with my friends, I keep my head down. I’m a simple...guy. Which is to say, if I knew what love was, I would quote myself. But I don’t. I have a question for you, please answer it in any way you want. Are you happy where you are right now?

-Carter

Bea sat in the church, silently tapping away at the keys of piano, a simple soft melody following the nod of her head. Carter had found her like that but didn’t want to disturb. Except, Poppy wrote back again, so this was big news. They both sat in confession booths as Bea read the letter quietly, her hand gripping the edges a little too harshly.

Dear Carter,

You know that it takes eleven muscles to yawn? This is the sort of weird fact I find myself recalling to keep myself from...well yawning. Or showing anything I feel really. And I find myself doing that a lot. So yeah..believe it or not, I turn to other people’s words too.

When you’re a pretty girl, and I know it makes me sound conceited, but sometimes I am, but that’s why you’re even writing to me right? I mean my image is what gives me attention, I’ve grown used to that fact. When you’re a pretty girl, people want to give you things. What they really want is to make you like them. Not like them as in, “i like you”, but like them as in, “i am like you.” You may think I’m different, but I’m like a lot of other people. Which makes me kind of no one. It looks like I’ve found my place but I really haven’t. Just a girl who’s lost in the mix. I don’t know why I feel like I can tell you this, but you provide the sort of safety I always craved. You’re interesting Carter, I like you.

-Poppy

Bea read the last sentence more times than she should’ve. Carter watched her silently as she stared into the lines of the paper, maybe hoping that more words would magically appear. The blonde couldn’t describe the feeling in her chest, but it hurt. Physically.

“Uh...can I text her now?”

“Too soon.”

“No, I'm gonna do it now.”

Bea felt herself starting to get frustrated, but calmness always overtook any other feeling she had. She was taught to be rational.

“You do that and she’ll think you’re just like everyone else.” You’re not like anyone else Bea, she needs to know that.

Carter lets out a heavy sigh and pulls out his phone. Bea felt a buzz in her pocket and pulled hers out as well. A message pops up alerting Bea of another income of $50 being sent to her.

***

Bea slogged through the crowded halls trying to find the exit but before she can walk any further, a firm hand grabs her and pulls her into a familiar classroom. The blonde turns to scowl at the perpetrator which was probably Bradley, but instead she sees bright red lips and black glasses. Ms. Kingsley. But she doesn’t look too happy.

The older woman holds up a paper which Bea recognizes immediately as her letter to Poppy. How in the world did she get that?

“So...this is why half my class is failing their essays?”

Bea could make a snarky comment back to her, but the sight of the letter sends her thoughts spiraling once again. She lets out a defeated sigh. I mean how did this woman know she’d written that letter? Ina Kingsley knew everything. “Look...I’ll be reopen for business soon enough.” Bea starts to turn to leave and looks at Kingsley one more time. “I can’t do this for much longer.”

Bea couldn’t hold in her feelings for much longer as well. But not even Kingsley knew that. She walked out of the classroom with her head down, hoping to avoid eye contact with the one she wanted to see the most.

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End Note: Part two is here woah. Thought it would never come.

Tags: @samanthadalton @somewillwin @clowneryme @baexpoppy @zigxryanz @uselesslesbianfr @aleiramacaii @thedaft1 @alexlabhont @iamsimpforpoppy @cloakanddaggerthings @straightlikewetspaghetti

#queen b #poppy min sinclair #poppy x mc #mc x poppy #playchoices #any feedback is appreciated #my brain is toast #poppy will definitely become centric in this story #starting next chapter

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straightlikewetspaghetti · 3 years

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Demons of the Past

Pairings: Poppy x MC (Bea Hughes)

Warnings: Mature language

Word count: 3074

Ch.1 Stranger Danger

Poppy Min Sinclair had to arch her slender neck to see her reflection from over the shoulder of Chloe, who had been testing her new artistic vision on her for a good few minutes. For some time now, Poppy had become a canvas for Chloe's magical hands as she tried her luck at running a beauty salon, along with Veronica, who was doing her best advertising.

"What do you think V?"

Veronica tore her gaze away from her phone and looked towards Poppy wrinkling her nose slightly. She usually did that when she was seriously considering something. "As far as I'm concerned she could use some plastic surgery."

"Asshole," Poppy laughed hurling a pillow at her friend, which missed and knocked over a decorative vase standing nearby. Three girls looked in that direction and soon the three of them burst out laughing loudly, curling up on the floor.

"Enough, enough!", Chloe began to shout when she noticed that Poppy wanted to wipe her eyes from crying, and she caught her hands, looking at her with a chastising gaze. She wouldn't let her hard work be destroyed so easily. Poppy rolled her eyes, but the smile on her face remained constant as she silently teased the shorter girl along with Veronica. "Why am I hanging out with you guys..."

"You love us," whined Veronica hugging a reddened Chloe with one arm, who lowered her gaze quickly to her hands nervously playing with the hem of her skirt.

Poppy made the sound of displeasure she made whenever the two girls started acting too cute. She was glad for their happiness, but deep down she felt an incredible jealousy, because she herself would like to share her life with someone too.

The couple sort of understood the blonde, pulled away from each other and looked at her docilely.

"Don't worry Poppy, I'm sure you'll meet someone at the party tonight. From what I heard Zoey invited some cutie from the old days...", Chloe smiled as she tried to convey positive energy with her words. "Besides, you're wearing my makeup, no one will be able to resist you!"

"Cutie you say..."

Ch.2 Party Fever

She was the most beautiful girl in the whole room.

No.

She was the most beautiful girl in the entire world.

Bea watched from a dark corner of the room as Poppy twirled effortlessly to the beat of the music, attracting the stares of drooling people with her movements. Her tiny skirt didn't leave much to the imagination either, but that was Poppy Min Sinclair's style; if she wasn't the main attraction, what was the point of her presence?

"You're acting like a creep," she was snapped out of her observation by Zoey who magically appeared next to her, making her almost gasp.

"You should have some kind of bell around your neck, Wade," Bea rolled her eyes at her friend's laughter.

"Wow, she has nice ass... Ets, yeah, nice assets," Zoey smiled innocently seeing her friend's murderous gaze. "You'd better come over to her eventually,"

Her gaze went back to the dancing blonde. "It's been five years, what should I say to her?"

"Maybe something like; Heya Pops I already have money, maybe you want to come with me for a little Macarena?", the black-haired squirmed as Bea's fist landed right in her stomach, almost knocking the air out of her lungs. The slight pain she felt didn't stop her from laughing at the tomato-like look that appeared on her friend's face. "Come on babe, she's at the bar now, this is your opportunity."

Bea nodded and straightened up, ready to attack. "You finally said something with sense."

Ch.3 Deja-vu

"One Old Fashioned and Sex On The Beach."

Poppy turned behind her with a ready biting remark, but her voice froze in her throat when she saw the person standing behind her. And it was none other than Bea Hughes herself, her first drink, crush, kiss, sex, love, but also her first heartbreak. She stood before her as casually as if those five years of separation between them had never existed. Her short brown hair, now shoulder-length, was whiter than snow itself. Her childlike facial features had sharpened and she could see tiny wrinkles appearing from the overworked late nights. Her style had also changed, from boyishly sporty and bad girl to formal and important. She looked like a millionaire ripped straight from the cover of Forbes. She no longer resembled the person she once was.

"You remembered what I drink," the blonde choked out as the first wave of shock left her and the lump in her throat loosened. Talking to her seemed so unreal that she felt like she had lost consciousness and was now dreaming.

Bea smiled in response, though it was more of a tired smile than the beaming howl with which she had greeted Poppy daily in their school years. "There are some things that are hard to forget Pops," the white-haired girl shrugged her shoulders sheepishly as she slid the hundred across the counter towards the bartender, who with renewed vigor reached over and ran to prepare the drinks, nearly tipping over his own feet.

"Feeling generous tonight?", Poppy chuckled as she watched Bea tuck a rather thick bundle of bills into her pocket. In their teenage years, the white-haired girl had barely been able to make ends meet, but Poppy had always admired her ability to live from day to day and enjoy herself, even when an eviction order from her home hung over her head.

Bea laughed a throaty laugh that sounded almost like a cough. She nodded and tilted her head to one side, the way she did every time she got into a thoughtful mood. "There's nothing wrong with supporting the littles." Poppy's insides tightened to ask where she'd gotten all that money, but by some miracle her strong will managed to curb the urge and nip it in the bud. That would be tactless, and lack of tact is a trait that should not be associated with Min Sinclair.

"You can ask me anything you want," Bea looked her straight in the eye, making Poppy stop seeing anyone else but her. It was as if she had cast a spell on her and moved them far away, enclosing them in a safe bubble illusion. Even the music became just a distant rumble as the white-haired woman looked at her that way. The same way she had looked at her five years ago.

"I don't understand," the blonde cursed herself when she heard her own words, which sounded more idiotic than some of Chloe's wisdom. Bea seemed unmoved, by her clumsy attempt at pretending, in fact, a cocky grin appeared on her lips that she, oh so much, felt like tearing off now.

" Don't play games Poppy, we're not kids anymore," Bea reached for the drinks that had finally been brought in and handed one to Poppy, completely casually, fingertips brushing against the skin of her palm. "Drink up, it'll help you relax, and I know you have a lot of questions."

The blonde lowered her gaze to the drink and took a moment to look at the colors that danced on the surface of her liquor. How was Bea able to read her like an open book after all these years. Everyone said she had changed, but could it be that the change wasn't so great after all? And why was she always questioning herself in her company?

She was pulled out of her reverie by Bea, who unnoticeably slipped her finger under her chin and lifted her face so that they were looking at each other again. This time, however, she was closer, much, much closer. Poppy could without much difficulty smell the expensive perfume that didn't match the Bea of her memories, but did match the woman who sat before her. Just as in years past, Bea's thumb involuntarily stroked her cheek.

For a brief moment, the blonde let her selfish thoughts consume her and savor the touch, but it didn't last as long as she wanted it to. "N-no," she whispered and using all of her strong willpower she moved a safe distance away from the white-haired woman, who didn't object to her reaction. "I can't do it like this," she said as she walked away, escaping as quickly as possible from this cursed place, from this cursed past.

Ch.4 When It Rains, It Pours

When she left the building, it was already dark and chilly outside, and a light rain was drizzling from the heavy clouds hanging in the sky. At this point, however, she didn't care about ruining her expensive and designer clothes and makeup that Chloe had sat on for dozens of minutes. She needed to get some fresh air, cool down, and let her thoughts flow.

Why had she come back just now? Now that Poppy had put her life back together, without her and without thoughts of her.

"Sinclair!"

"You've got to be kidding me," she snorted under her breath hearing Bea's loud voice behind her, who as usual wasn't giving up. At least that hadn't changed. "What do you want Farmsville?"

Bea squirmed at that old nickname, but quickly imposed a stoic expression on her face and shoved her hands into her pockets. Even in this gentle rain and illuminated only by the slightly penetrating moonlight, she continued to look like a goddess, which annoyed Poppy immensely.

"You ran out so suddenly, I thought something happened and I thought..."

"Oooh now you thought?" snapped the blonde, who nervously shifted from foot to foot, almost ready to throw herself at the white-haired woman's throat. Years of pent up rage bubbled through her veins, making her skin almost burn with living fire. "Forgive my surprise, but I would never judge Bea Hughes for her ability to think!"

The white-haired woman watched her in silent contemplation, answering nothing. Her silence irritated the blonde a hundred times more than anything she could say. The atmosphere between them was becoming strained to the limit and all it took was one wrong move, one misspoken word, and the catastrophe was certain. The rain intensifying around them wasn't helping either.

"I don't understand what happened. We were talking calmly like we used to, and suddenly you run out and do one of your tantrums..."

"Ha! Like we used to...," she interrupted her again in mid-sentence, mimicking her and almost bursting into maniacal laughter, but her mood had nothing to do with amusement. "I guess you've already forgotten that you left me for five whole years and now you're back and you expect us to talk like old friends?", her voice wavered between anger and tears. "Someone paid you to come back here? That's where you got the money from, right? You were hired to get revenge on me..."

"What," the astonishment in Bea's voice was almost palpable as she stared at the blonde shaking with anger with her eyes wide open. It was Poppy's nature to explode and make arguments for any reason, but what she was saying now sounded irrational, even for her. "I'm the CEO of my uncle's company, that's where I get my money from," she corrected.

"What," this time it was Poppy's turn to be surprised and her face even softened. "What do you mean, what about your dreams of becoming a music star?"

Bea scratched the back of her neck nervously and lifted her face up, letting the raindrops wash her face of any negativity that had accumulated. When she felt ready enough not to explode, she looked back at the blonde and sighed, her face looking more tired than before. "Those were childhood daydreams. A music career would never make me the kind of money an accounting firm would."

"Childish daydreams? You spent your first earned money on a guitar and an amplifier, how can you call that childish daydreams...", the concern in Poppy's voice was sincere, probably one of the more sincere feelings she had felt in recent times.

"I needed real options and real money," Bea replied dryly, ignoring any emotion from the blonde, who was looking at her with a worried expression on her face.

"What for? Why did you need the money?" she asked, not yet knowing that she would light the fuse from the bomb with that question.

"What for? Is that really what you're asking?", Bea's so far calm expression bent into unnatural anger, her eyes misting over from the emotions gripping her. "And isn't that what you wanted? A girl who can fulfill your every whim, with a stable life, a job and a mountain of money?", a realization and simultaneous remorse appeared on Poppy's face, but it did not satisfy Bea. "Yes Poppy, I heard your conversation with Veronica the other night when you thought I was sleeping."

Poppy blinked several times, unable to formulate a response. She replayed that conversation in her mind, all the words she'd said then that she hadn't really meant, but under the onslaught of people around her, her perception was distorted. "It's not like that..."

Bea raised a hand to silence any explanation from the blonde. She didn't want to hear it. "No Pops" she shook her head, her hair wet from the downpour sticking to her face, masking any tears falling. "It at least gave me the motivation to change my life, for that I will be grateful."

Ch.5 Irreplaceable

"You understand that she still had the nerve to be mad at me? Like it's my fault for changing for her," Bea had been lamenting to Zoey for about an hour, who, like any patient friend, silently let her rant.

"And she's telling me that she changed for me... After all, I didn't ask her to!", Poppy nervously walked around the living room almost already trampling a path in the tiles. A worried Veronica and Chloe watched her in silence, letting her get all the negative emotions out.

"I know she didn't ask me to do this, but I wanted to finally be worthy of her, you know? I wanted to give her the future she deserved, and she wouldn't have it with me if I continued to follow my dreams," the white-haired girl slumped helplessly on the couch next to her friend, dipping her face into her hands. "After all, to a gorgeous girl like Poppy, it wouldn't be enough that I...”

"After all, she knew full well that she suited me the way she was, why did she take away the one person I..."

"Love."

"I wish I could be mad at her...", Bea muttered lifting her face and looking straight at Zoey who seemed to be in deep thought.

"But I can't," groaned Poppy leaning against Veronica's shoulder, who reflexively began to stroke the blonde's back, which slowly began to twitch from her silent crying. Chloe moved to the other side and snuggled into Poppy to give her her full support, knowing that no words could heal these wounds.

Zoey nodded and patted the white-haired girl's shoulder giving her silent support. Bea relaxed from her friend's touch. "Haven't you thought maybe it's about time..."

"To move on and find someone new? It's been five years," Veronica felt Poppy's whole body tense up and prepared for a burst of anger, from the blonde, but the blonde only raised her head and furrowed her eyebrows."

"No. She's irreplaceable."

Ch.6 Where Something Ends, Something Begins

It had been a week since the memorable meeting.

Since then, Poppy hadn't seen or heard from Bea who had sunk like a stone into water. Such disappearing without a word wasn't her style, but the blonde wasn't sure what her style was anymore. The days she lived as she always did, and the nights she sat curled up on the couch with a glass of wine and reminisced about old times while talking to herself.

"Thank you for coming Poppy."

Poppy slipped her sunglasses off her nose and looked over at Zoey who was warming her hands with a mug of hot coffee. "Believe it, I was surprised myself that I agreed," she lied. She agreed without hesitation because she knew it was about Bea, and inside she was dying to know what was happening to her.

Zoey giggled at the blonde's nudge and shook her head. Although her words were biting, there wasn't an ounce of incivility in them. Such a habit between them. "You can probably guess why I met with you."

"Is it about Bea?", Poppy tried to sound as formal as possible and not show that she was thinking about it day in and day out, almost unable to focus on anything else. How pathetic it would be if someone found out she couldn't control her feelings.

The black-haired woman sighed grimly and nodded her head. For a moment she began to search through her backpack and pulled out a strange little bundle. Poppy tilted her head and looked at the colorful paper that only her Bea could choose. She smiled at the surge of positive memories.

"The day she left, she told me to give this to her. I honestly thought about it for a long time, against all odds I wouldn't want you to suffer any more than you already have," Zoey's gaze drifted somewhere behind Poppy's back as she couldn't stand the pain in the blonde's eyes that grew with every word she said. "But I think this will help both you and her close a chapter in your life" Zoey pulled money out of her pocket and placed it next to the empty cup. Without a word, she placed a hand on the blonde's shoulder, who stared at the package as if mesmerized. She squeezed it tightly and walked away, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

With trembling hands, she reached for the bundle and prepared to open it. Somewhere deep inside she knew exactly what she would find, but she hoped that it was only an illusion and that it would not really contain what she had in mind. Unfortunately, hope is the mother of fools and when she opened the package, a velvet box appeared before her eyes.

She opened it with tears in her eyes.

"Maybe in another life and another time we would have had a chance, but I will love you always."

#my mood is weird #poppy min sinclair #poppy x mc #veronica x chloe #queen b #choices #playchoices #choicesfic

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sinsbymanka · 3 years

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Inquisitor as a Companion: Maria Cadash

@little-lightning-lavellan started this amazing trend and I have gratuitously stolen the template from them. I finished this up this morning as a good distraction for not feeling well!

Is your OC a Companion in the Dragon Age series? What would it be like for a player to select them to join their party for quests (or romance them, perhaps? 👀)

You have selected Maria to join your party! (art made by @lavellanvibes)

Race: Dwarf

Affiliation: Carta

Gender: Female

Class: Rogue/Archer

Specialization: Assassin

Background

Maria was born in 9:11 Dragon, the eldest daughter of Roland and Meera Cadash. She has a sister who is two years younger than her - Beatrix Cadash. When Maria was four, her mother died in a Carta mission gone wrong. Her father had been in line to take over the Carta, but fell apart after the death of his wife. He seems to have spent the next ten years in a bottle, but Maria rarely says anything negative about him.

Most of Maria’s childhood was spent in the care of her grandmother, the indomitable Zarra Cadash. Although funds were frequently tight, Zarra did her best to raise her granddaughters with a sense of dwarven pride. Maria is well aware of the history of House Cadash, the abandonment of her family and thaig by Ozammar, and the fate of most of her Ancestors. Her grandmother is very traditional and while Maria may jokingly laugh at most of her traditions, she still studiously carries them out.

Maria quickly became her own rising star in the Carta, known for her quick wit, sound mind, and deadly aim. However, she met and fell in love with the son of a prominent Merchant’s Guild member when she was 20 years old - Fynn Dunhark. After a whirlwind romance, Maria abandoned Ostwick, the Carta, and her family to start a new life with Fynn in Hercinia. Zarra disapproved completely - expressing much distrust of the Guild. Although Maria wanted Bea to accompany her, Bea refused because she too was doing well for herself in the Carta.

One year after their elopement, assassins hired by Fynn’s father tracked the couple to Hercinia. They had been hired to kill Maria, but Fynn died at their hands instead and Maria was captured. The assassins, knowing they wouldn’t recoup the other half of their payment from Fynn’s father, ransomed Maria back to the Carta. To raise the money, Bea Cadash made an unsavory alliance with a very distant cousin of their, Dwyka Cadash (also known as the Dasher) who had been “sweet” on Maria before her elopement.

Bea Cadash helped Dwyka assume control of the Ostwick Carta and Maria came back to her family a broken hearted woman. She resumed her place in the Carta and, eventually, rumors began to grow that she had entered into a relationship with Dasher himself. Fynn Dunhark’s father committed suicide after the failed assassination attempt.

Maria spent the next several years in the Ostwick Carta. She’s perhaps one of the best smugglers the Carta has ever seen and has a very in depth knowledge of the way most criminal networks in Thedas operate and a firm grasp of the lyrium trade. Although she seems to have no actual power within the Carta to make decisions, she’s widely respected by her fellows and it’s roundly acknowledged the whole thing would fall to shambles without her steady hand. She’s got a long history of handling the most difficult smuggling jobs herself. Much to her detriment when she’s sent to Southern Thedas to supply the templars and mages in the middle of a war.

Involvement

Maria Cadash can be found at the Storm Coast as soon as the area opens up for exploration. Scout Harding will offer in her report a quest called “Signs of Carta Smuggling” which leads to a hidden cove in the map and a pitched battle between Maria, several templars, and several mages. After dispatching the enemies, Maria can be engaged in conversation. She reveals she was selling lyrium for the Carta, but one of her crew messed up and gave both sides of the dispute the same time and location to meet. Further questioning seems to reveal that Maria was charging the mages less than the templars, when pressed she says it’s because they don’t have as much money. If Varric or Bull are in the party they will both shrewdly interject that she’s a liar.

Maria will talk about the smuggling operation and the Inquisitor has the opportunity to recruit her by asking the Ostwick Carta to supply the Inquisition with lyrium. Maria says she’s got other skills than smuggling, opening up her availability as a party member.

When at Haven, she can be found at the archery targets. Once the Inquisition relocates to Skyhold, she spends her time on the battlements near the tavern. When asked why she’s always up there, she jokes that she likes to be tall.

Approval and Romance

Maria can be romanced by an Inquisitor of any race or gender, but the romance is not locked in or consummated for most of the game. Maria is slow to trust or return the Inquisitor’s affection and doesn’t respond well to being pushed for more before she’s ready.

She slightly favors the mages over the templars, but much like Varric, tends to look at individuals instead of groups. She approves of acts of kindness and charity, an Inquisitor that jokes with her and others, and actions that favor the oppressed. She disapproves of most things done just to appease nobles, acts that hurt others, and acts that side with who she sees as an oppressor. She also, interestingly, disapproves of executing most prisoners. The sole exception is Erimond, where her approval is guaranteed but the amount of approval is contingent on whether or not Hawke is left in the Fade.

If Maria isn’t romanced by the Inquisitor, she can end up in a romance with Varric Tethras, but it does require some work on the Inquisitor’s part to move beyond flirtation in game banter. This sequence of quests involve Maria’s companion quest and Varric’s. They can be obtained post-Adamant and done in any order.

If Solas and Maria are not romanced by the Inquisitor, in game banter seems to reveal that many companions believe Solas has a crush on Maria Cadash. This includes Varric, who oddly seems to not mind even if he is in a relationship with Maria. Despite this banter, there is no way to cause a relationship between Solas and Maria.

Companion Quests

If Hawke survives the Fade:

The Inquisitor, when saying goodbye to Hawke, witnesses Hawke’s goodbye to Varric. If Maria and Varric have been in the party together often enough to start their flirting dialogues, the camera will show Maria approaching and Hawke will cryptically tell Varric that there is “Always time to start a new story.” The Inquisitor has the option to wave Maria over to say goodbye to Hawke as well. If she’s invited into the conversation, Maria will jokingly tell Hawke she’ll keep Varric in trouble. Hawke seems to approve of this.

If Hawke is left in the Fade:

Upon approaching Varric in Skyhold, Varric will talk about how he misses Hawke. If Maria and Varric have been in the party together often enough to start their flirting dialogues, the camera will show Maria approaching. The Inquisitor has the option to wave her over. If she’s invited into the conversation, Maria will ask Varric how long he’s been writing letters. When he says he’s done Maria says she’ll use her smuggling contacts to get them where they need to go and that he needs to sleep. Varric allows himself to be sent to bed.

Varric’s Quest in Vallamar:

When Bianca Davri is in Skyhold, Maria will shift locations. She will move from the battlements and into the upper floor of the tavern near Cole. Cole’s ambient dialogue will reveal that she is unhappy with Bianca’s presence. If Maria is brought along to Vallamar, she disapproves. During the quest she frequently interjects into Varric and Bianca’s fond memories dialogue. After the second time this happens, Bianca will begin to ask intrusive questions about Maria. Whoever the third companion is will ask the Inquisitor if they’re happy with their choices for this party.

Maria becomes angry at Bianca during the culmination of the Vallamar quest. She will ask the other woman how many people she’s hurt to answer a question. Bianca will ask Maria how many people she’s hurt on the Dasher’s behalf. If this quest is done before Maria’s, the Inquisitor will have the opportunity to ask Maria about the Dasher. Regardless of the dialogue exploration, Bianca will eventually reveal that she knows Maria is in a relationship with the Dasher.

If Maria’s companion quest has been completed, the Inquisitor can refute that, but Maria will disapprove of any dialogue options beyond “That’s not your business,” which gathers great approval. Varric will attempt to interject and calm the situation, but Maria will turn on him and ask him how long he intends on living in his fantasy world or if he’s ever going to grow up. This is the same conversation you can witness at Skyhold post-completion if Maria was not brought along. Either way, Maria storms off. It is revealed that she has left the party (in Vallamar) or Skyhold. She is unavailable to be selected as a companion until the Inquisitor leaves the area and then returns to Skyhold.

If you have Solas in the party while Maria is missing, he will reveal he wishes he could find her in the Fade, but he cannot, and that he is worried about her. If this takes place after the quest with Wisdom is completed, the Inquisitor may point out Solas is getting a taste of his own medicine.

The Inquisitor may choose to ask Maria where she was when she returns. If she is asked, Maria will reveal she was almost back to Ostwick before she realized clan Davri had hired assassins to kill Varric. If the Inquisitor asks where the assassins are, Maria says they’re not a problem anymore. Further questioning reveals Maria has not spoken to Varric about what happened and they both seem to have just made up their mind to never mention it again.

To trigger Maria and Varric’s romance, the Inquisitor must tell Varric that Maria came back to take care of the assassins sent after him. Varric laughs off the assassins, saying he’s dealt with them before, but seems touched that Maria came back to handle them. His dialogue ends with him being thoughtful and murmuring that maybe he hasn’t fucked up.

Maria’s Carta Problems:

Maria will mention she’s got unfinished business with the Carta and ask for the Inquisitor’s help. If the Inquisitor agrees to help, no questions asked, Maria greatly approves. If the Inquisitor questions her, she seems exasperated, but does not disapprove.

Maria reveals that the Dasher has information about her family which means Maria can never leave the Carta. The Inquisitor can ask Maria if she wants to leave and Maria indicates she doesn’t know, but she wants to have the choice, and no matter what happens she can’t go back to Dasher’s Carta. When questioned about the Dasher, Maria will reveal his identity and discuss his cruelty and stupidity with business. At this point in time, the Inquisitor can ask about rumors linking Maria and Dwyka romantically. Maria will say it’s not like that and ask you to trust her. If you say you do, she will greatly approve.

Maria says she’s heard Dwyka is in Ferelden looking for her to bring her back to Ostwick. Maria wants to find him first. The Inquisitor must track down information on Carta operations. When Leliana is asked she recommends Varric’s own Carta connections as the best route. The Inquisitor can ask Varric to look into it, which he does gladly after surmising it’s for Maria. He does warn the Inquisitor Maria probably didn’t want him knowing what she’s doing.

After speaking to Varric, a mission opens at the War Table. Upon completion of this mission, Maria can be taken to a spot on the map near the Storm Coast. Exploration of the map reveals that Dwyka is dealing in red lyrium. When confronted by the Inquisitor and Maria, Dwyka taunts Maria that she’ll never get away from him. This cues a battle.

After the enemies are defeated, a final cut scene shows Maria firing an arrow into Dwyka’s throat and then standing over him as he dies. She tells him he will never hurt her or her family again, and that they’ll all forget he even existed. If Solas or Varric are in the party, one or both will comment that Dwyka got off too easily. Despite their victory, Maria seems exhausted. The Inquisitor can ask what was between her and Dwyka and Maria will confess that her sister murder Fynn Dunhark’s father after the failed assassination attempt and Dwyka had evidence that would see her family wiped out by the Merchant’s Guild for killing one of their own. He used that knowledge to blackmail Maria and Bea into working for him. She can be pressed further by an Inquisitor asking if all she did was work for him. She’ll admit that’s not all, but she never loved Dwyka, she was trapped.

If Varric is in the party, he’ll reluctantly confirm the Guild has organized to purge troublesome Carta families before. Maria will bitterly state that the Guild can’t survive without the Carta - they do the jobs “respectable” dwarves won’t do and nobody blinks at their deaths. Varric tries to protest and she pointedly asks him how many Carta members Hawke wiped out in Kirkwall. Varric says that isn’t fair and Maria responds that life isn’t fair. Then she says they should go.

After this quest, the Inquisitor has the option to inform Maria that Varric helped find the information that led to Dwyka. Maria says she should be angry at the Inquisitor for involving him, but then admits Varric isn’t a bad sort. She says “If things were different…” and then trails off before saying she’ll have to find some way to thank him.

This is also the trigger for Maria’s romance. The Inquisitor has the opportunity to tell her that when she’s ready, they’d love to get to know her better. Maria says she needs time, and if the Inquisitor says she can have as much time as she needs then Maria is on a romance path.

Helping Cole:

After both quests have been completed, if Maria and Varric have started flirting in party banter, and Maria was invited to the conversation post-Adamant, the following events can occur after the next storyline quest but before Trespasser DLC is started:

Cole will come to the Inquisitor and ask for help. He’ll reveal that Maria and Varric are in love with each other but they won’t talk. This starts a complicated chain of events where the Inquisitor and Cole attempt to force Maria and Varric to talk about their feelings.

A game of truth or dare in the Tavern where Maria and Varric keep doing increasingly bold dares to avoid picking truth. The Inquisitor can dare them to kiss, and they will, but they’ll break away quickly and end the game.

The Inquisitor can start a bookclub and pick one of Varric’s romances. Cassandra is overjoyed, but Maria spends most of the book club needling Varric mercilessly and Varric doing dramatic readings in silly voices to make her laugh. Cassandra eventually kicks both Maria and Varric out of the book club.

Finally, Cole and the Inquisitor cause an “accident” where Maria and Varric are trapped alone in the undercroft by a magical artifact Dagna was studying that creates a barrier. The Inquisitor says she will go get a mage to undo it and leaves. When the Inquisitor returns, several hours later, she interrupts Varric and Maria cuddling and looking out over the mountains. This locks in their romance. If Solas is still with the Inquisition, he will be the mage that undoes the barrier. He will say he is very happy for Maria and Varric before quickly leaving. If Solas is in a romance with the Inquisitor or already gone, Dorian will undo the barrier and say “It’s about time.”

If the Inquisitor is romancing Maria themselves, they will skip right to the end of this quest before the Arbor Wilds and end up locked in the Undercroft with Maria because of Cole’s “help”. Maria will confess her feelings and thank the Inquisitor for being patient. She’ll say they have lots of time before Cole gets help and ask what the Inquisitor would like to do. The Inquisitor may choose to talk or consummate the relationship, Maria will approve of either and the relationship will be locked in. Solas will retrieve them after a good amount of time and state he is glad they found happiness eventually.

Trespasser

If Maria was romanced by the Inquisitor:

She can be found in the gardens and it is revealed she has continued to work for the Inquisition. The Inquisitor can ask Maria to marry them and Maria confesses she thought she’d never get married again and it would feel like a betrayal. The Inquisitor can say Fynn would want Maria to be happy and Maria will say that they’re right, but she needs some time. After the first foray into the Crossroads, Maria can be approached again and will say yes. This cues a private marriage ceremony.

As the anchor worsens, Maria begs the Inquisitor not to leave her and says she can’t bear to be left alone again. The Inquisitor can promise to keep fighting or offer Maria comfort. The epilogue reveals a romanced Maria and the Inquisitor finally go visit Maria’s family in Ostwick and that Maria reforms the Ostwick Carta as a shadow organization to serve the Inquisitor in their quest to stop Solas (which she greatly approves of) or redeem Solas (which she’s much more wary of.)

If Maria and Varric started a romance:

Maria can be found near Varric at the fountain and will reveal that she’s been in Kirkwall helping Varric. Bran will interrupt your first conversation by calling her “My lady, the Viscount’s Mistress,” which will cue a small meltdown from Maria. She tells the Inquisitor to ignore Bran. If asked, Maria will reveal there’s apparently a special title for the person fucking the Viscount in Kirkwall. She’s unhappy about it. She’ll also talk about how her family has moved to Kikwall and that Varric is having a hell of a time dealing with her sister and grandmother.

Varric, while giving the Inquisitor their estate in Kirkwall, will say that Maria would love to have a friend in the city that doesn’t call her the Viscount’s Mistress. And then will advise the Inquisitor to never ever call Maria that if they know what’s good for them. The Inquisitor can ask Varric why they’re not married if she hates being his mistress so much. Varric simply sighs and says it’s complicated, but that they’re happy and he wouldn’t trade it for the world.

An Elven servant brings the Inquisitor a note after the first foray into the Crossroads. This note reveals Maria is expecting a child. The next time the Inquisitor speaks to Maria, they’ll confront her with this information. Maria will attempt to deny it, then reveal the truth. She’s unsure how anyone would know since Varric doesn’t even know, the only people who do are her grandmother and sister. She’s not far along and wants to continue to fight. The Inquisitor can choose to allow this. If they do, Varric disapproves and Maria approves. If they do not, Maria disapproves and Varric approves. Maria is also removed as a party member the rest of the game, although she can still be spoken to.

Either way, after the second foray into the Crossroads Maria will hint that her and Varric have gotten married by correcting Bran when he calls her the Viscount’s Mistress and saying that it’s not her title anymore. When the Inquisitor asks, she’ll say they can celebrate after and asks the Inquisitor to make sure Varric stays safe if she is no longer a party member.

During the confrontation with Solas, he reveals that the servant was one of his spies and that he has been watching the Viscount’s Keep. When asked why, his answer varies depending If Solas has been romanced by the Inquisitor. If he has been, he will say that he would not see one of their friends hurt when they are vulnerable. If, however, he was not romanced by the Inquisitor he will tell them that he could not bear to see Varric and Maria hurt by the loss of a child in battle, hinting that he still has feelings from their time together in the Inquisition even if they were never acted upon. Solas indicates approval of keeping Maria out of the battle and disapproval of allowing her to stay.

After the game, Maria and Varric return to Kirkwall and the epilogue mentions they have a baby girl together and that Maria is the most unique Viscountess Kirkwall has ever had.

If Maria was not romanced and the romance with Varric did not trigger:

She can be found in the gardens and it is revealed she is still with the Inquisition, although she is toying with the idea of reforming the Ostwick Carta under her terms. She expresses concern as the Inquisitor becomes more and more ill, which eventually turns to anger towards the rest of the Exalted Council.

If Solas was romanced by the Inquisitor, Maria’s epilogue says that she returned to Ostwick and rebuilt the Carta there. An Inquisitor who is friendly with her uses them in their quest to stop Solas with Maria’s blessing.

If Solas was not romanced by the Inquisitor, Maria suddenly vanishes when she returns to Ostwick without a trace. There’s no sign of her working among Solas’ people, however, and most people agree she would not join Solas. Her fate is ultimately a mystery.

Combat comments

Kills an enemy

“I want that arrow back.”

“Sod off!”

Low Health

“I’m fine, stop staring and help me kill these things!”

“Right. I need to sit down.”

Low Health (Companions)

(The Inquisitor) “If you go down, I quit.”

(The Inquisitor - if romanced) “You absolutely don’t get to die on me.”

(Varric, romance not triggered) “Varric’s gotten quiet. Probably check on that.”

(Varric, if romanced) “Varric! Varric, talk to me!”

(Solas) “Solas is in trouble!”

(Bull) “If Bull goes down I’m not gonna have any cover!”

(Cole) “Stay away from Cole you bastards!”

Location comments

Crestwood

“What do people even do out here for fun? I’d be bored to tears.”

The Hissing Wastes

Maria: “Wish my grandmother could see these Dwarven tombs. She always said Orzammar was wrong. You can hear the Stone everywhere if you try hard enough.”

Inquisitor: “Have you ever heard it?”

Maria: “I’m not sure. But I know Orzammar is wrong about us. I’m as much a dwarf as they are.”

Storm Coast

“I’d like it here a whole lot more if it’d stop fucking raining.”

The Deep Roads (Descent DLC)

Maria: “I can hear it, you know.”

Varric: “I don’t hear anything.”

Maria: “I don’t think you’re trying very hard.”

Varric: “You’re probably right, Princess.”

Companion Banter:

Varric: “You’ve gotta be the nicest Carta member I’ve ever met.”

Maria: “That’s because I’m being paid really well.”

Varric: “Sure, Princess. Don’t worry, I’ll keep my mouth shut.”

Maria, laughing: “No you won’t.”

Maria: “Is it an act of protest?”

Varric: “I haven’t even started protesting, but I’m about to. If the Inquisitor makes us climb one more mountain…”

Maria: “Your beard. Or lack of beard, I suppose.”

Varric: “It was distracting from my chest hair. It had to go.”

Varric: “I’ve been doing some research into the Ostwick Carta…”

Maria: “Don’t.”

Varric: “Too late. What are you doing? You could be running that gang. He’s a-”

Maria: “If I wanted your opinion on my career, I’d ask for it.”

Varric: “I know a thing about complicated partnerships, you know. I’m just worried.”

Maria: “You’re not my father. Don’t act like you are.”

Maria: “Your shots keep veering left.”

Varric, sighing: “If you ask to fiddle with Bianca’s cocking ring…”

Maria: “I assumed it was cause you were staring at me.”

Varric: “At that templar that almost took your head off.”

Maria: “Uh huh. And the shots veering left were because of the cocking ring.”

Varric: “Speaking of staring… I can’t help but notice you’re a bit enamored.”

Maria: “If you don’t want people to stare, you should do up your shirt.”

Varric: “I absolutely want you to stare, Princess.”

Maria: “I’ll remember that if I decide to stare.”

Solas: “I cannot help but notice that you seem fond of Mistress Cadash.”

Varric: “Spend a lot of time noticing Maria?”

Solas: “She is difficult to miss.”

Varric: “Maybe you should tell her that next time she’s watching you paint.”

Solas: “You have a lovely voice.”

Maria: “Oh sweet Ancestors. Don’t tell me you were at the tavern too? Bull didn’t tell me what was in that drink and next thing I knew…”

Solas: “I was above. With Cole. He said you sounded like magic. He was not wrong.”

Maria: “I… thank you. You’re both full of it, but thanks.”

Bull, if in party: “Smooth. Very smooth.”

Varric: “Here you go, Princess.”

Maria: “A daisy?”

Varric: “That’s no common daisy. That’s a fine Orlesian Marguerite.”

Maria: “Very fancy. The Carta just calls them daisies.”

Varric: “You deserve something a bit fancy.”

Companion/Advisor comments about Maria Cadash:

Josephine: “Mistress Cadash is quite good at cards. I’ve not had that much of a challenge since I was a young girl. Do not wager anything you would not care to lose.”

Leliana: “Maria Cadash is putting herself and her family at great danger to stay here. I wish I could believe it was more than self-interest, but I wonder if she’s not willing to die before returning to Ostwick. It… it is a bit sad, isn’t it?”

Varric, romance not triggered: “Princess is a real Carta dwarf with a heart of gold. It’s probably going to get her killed someday. Carta isn’t kind to people like her.”

Varric, romance triggered: “Thanks for helping me with Maria. I owe you one. It’s not always easy, we’ve got a lot of baggage. But it was time to start a new story, and I needed a muse who could kick my ass every time I start acting like an idiot.”

Solas: “Maria Cadash is clever and curious. She’s wasted on the Carta. I suspect if you treat her well, she’ll be an ally to the Inquisition.”

Solas if Maria is in a romance with Varric or the Inquisitor: “I believe she is happy. That is all that matters in the end. I hope she remains so.”

Cole: “She locked it away. Couldn’t survive if she felt it. But she’s gone. A ghost. Everything haunts her. She doesn’t want to go back. You have to help her.”

Cole, if Maria is in a romance with the Inquisitor or Varric: “She thinks about how she buried him. Dirt in her fingers. Stone take him back. Ancestors guide him. Then she remembers she’s alive, and someone is waiting.”

Trivia

Maria reveals throughout dialogue that she’s a fan of Varric’s books, except his romance serial, which she thinks is ridiculous.

She can sing very well, but rarely does so. A romanced Maria (Varric or the Inquisitor) sings much more often than a non-romanced Maria.

She has trouble sleeping and spends the nights she can’t watching Solas paint. She’s fallen asleep on his sofa multiple times.

She is an expert marksman and a bit of a perfectionist. Any flaws in her technique have to be stamped out.

If her and Varric are in a relationship, their daughter is named Marguerite after the daisies Varric used to give her.

#dragon age #female cadash #varric tethras #dragon age inquisition #female cadash/inquisitor #female cadash/varric tethras #solas #omg this is so long #i'm so sorry

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mor-beck-more-problems · 3 years

Text

Breaking Bonds || Morgan & Bea

TIMING: Current

PARTIES: @beatrice-blaze & @mor-beck-more-problems

SUMMARY: Bea invites Morgan over to share a new discovery. The world will not consent to be fixed, but somebody has to try.

CONTAINS: references to Bea’s, Morgan’s, and Adam’s deaths

There were not many people in this world who understood life and death in the same manner Bea did. They may never have been close before either of their deaths, but after, Morgan and Bea were implicitly connected. This connection made Morgan the clearest person to go to about what Bea had found through her research. The kettle let out a shrill cry for attention as the witch finished lining up the tomes she had flagged for this discussion. It was good timing that Bea’s bracelet informed her that Morgan had crossed into the Vural’s property as she began steeping the tea. She went to the porch with a smile, Dia weaving between her legs as she waited for Morgan. “The tea should be ready soon! I hope you don’t mind that I tried to find something you’d like to eat, though I wasn’t completely sure what would be palatable,” She told the zombie, thinking of the container of meat that she had waiting for Morgan, if she wanted it.

It was no small relief to visit Bea at her place. Morgan didn't know her as well as she did Luce and Nell, but she had an ease with Bea that she couldn’t have with the others either. They had died and come back around the same time, and they were both determined to have a whole life as their altered selves. As she came up to the porch to meet her friend, she sighed and let that ease pull away some of the tension her body carried.

“I don’t mind,” she said, smiling with gratitude. “I will try any and everything you have prepared. I literally can’t get food poisoning, so there’s not much to lose. And thanks for having me over. I want to hear all about New York and Felix and whatever else people who haven’t seen each other in a while swap. But uh, you said there was something you wanted to talk about, right?”

Small talk, Bea had almost forgotten that she should be engaging in small talk because she was so excited by what she had found. “Oh yes! I need to hear all about what you’ve been doing too, I’m sure things have been very exciting over here.” And she did, just like she wanted to see how Morgan was, especially since Morgan was taking care of so many people at the moment. Still, that could wait until after.

Bea invited Morgan in, before walking over to the table and lightly touching a book. “But, first, you should see what I found in here,” She couldn’t help the excited tilt her voice took. Flipping open to the first tab in the book she pointed to a line and read,“‘I have found that some of the new undead can be controlled, tamed if the right-hand guides them.’ The wording is awful, but doesn’t that read like I could help people who are struggling with this? You were the first person who seemed right to call about this.”

“Oh, you know,” Morgan said dismissively. “Been better, been worse. Still kind of a mess. But as long as we have each other, or as much of each other as we can, and if we can keep trying to make hope…” She smiled, weighed down by every terrible thing that had happened over the past month, though no less genuine for it. “We have to get to ‘okay’ eventually, right?”

She followed Bea in eagerly. Distractions were good, learning and projects were better. If she was moving toward something, she might still be able to make something better, or at least be better. She came over to the book and looked at the words. Controlled and tamed were two different things, but maybe this meant that there was an under-utilized conditioning process. Use magic at first to mitigate the damage and get them used to things, Let them choose the right thing for themselves later. “With--by ‘this’ you mean undead hunger cravings, right? Like, if I lost myself in front of a dead body, or a vampire was trying to stay off people. Do you think…” Her hand went to her lips as she thought of Ashley the zombie last year and Nico Jemisin in the thrift store. She shouldn’t get too excited, she shouldn’t brew hope over just a stray phrase and an untested experiment. She shouldn’t, she shouldn’t. And yet. “How far have you gotten on this? This could be…it could save so many people.”

A small, sad smile took Bea’s lips as Morgan spoke. She knew that hope as well as she knew her shadows. Before all of this, the necromancer had never had to worry about being okay, she had simply trusted in the universe to balance itself again. Being hit with hardship after hardship had created that doubt in the world’s ability to allow her to have a break. “We’ll be okay eventually, Morgan,” She said softly, “We’ll be able to create our own okay, you’re strong enough for that.” Anyone who had survived what Morgan had already was more than capable of bending the world to her whims.

She nodded eagerly, “That’s what I would intend to find out at the very least. I’d like to think that the word ‘tamed’ would imply that, though I do hate the implication that the undead needs to be tamed.” She had found herself drawn to the power of necromancy at the beginning, the ability to twist death itself to what she wanted. Now, though, after experiencing that power, she had found something softer, something that could change lives, save them. That part of herself she felt had left in death was returning, the part that could help and care for others without asking what they could do for her. She could grant people some form of comfort again, she could help facilitate something beautiful from a hardship. “I’ve marked every mention I’ve found of it, but there’s not much I’ve seen. I think we can write something together on this, we can find a way to get this information out there to help others.”

A piece of Morgan’s heart unclenched at Bea’s reassuring words. She hadn’t realized she’d been holding something in, but she was swallowing tears and so loose in her bones she felt like she might fall over. It had been a while since someone had tried to comfort her, and even longer when she was able to accept their gift without any guilt. Morgan smiled, lips quivering, and whispered, “thank you,” before putting her attention back on the main subject.

“What would you need? In terms of resources or experiments?” Morgan asked. She was self-conscious enough about her now-constant discoloring at all times, but as she considered the possibilities, she felt the hollowness of her stomach too. Morgan shouldn’t be this excited for Bea’s idea. Fuck Odell, and fuck her hold on this cursed town. “Would it...I mean, you’re the expert, so you would know whether it’s safe or too dangerous if you...tested it on me?” She met Bea’s eyes with trepidation. “I’m not high risk or anything, obviously, and a year does a lot for a girl’s impulse control around viscera, but...I wouldn’t say no to some extra help.”

There were many forms of strength that Bea has seen over the years, many of them represented by the women she surrounded herself with. Morgan, she found, had one of the softest forms she had seen yet, but that did not mean she didn’t respect it. If anything, it proved to Bea that she could be strong without violence and anger. Her sisters, for as strong as they were, often hurt themselves from it. Luce with her anger, an all too powerful storm that untethered her, but kept others aware of who they were dealing with. Nell with her fierce strikes, hunting beasts and controlling demons that left her all too vulnerable to the world’s evil. Bea couldn’t always be like them, but she could be softer, she could adopt some of Morgan and create her own brand of strength that did not always mean striking first.

“Well, we’d need an area far from anyone else just in case something went wrong.” Bea wouldn’t risk doing it at her home when her sisters were so close by. She looked at Morgan for a long moment, she trusted the zombie, but it put Morgan in a hard situation if something were to happen. “We can try it on you, but I would want other people there, just in case. Who would you feel comfortable with helping?” Bea had her own list of who they could call, but Morgan was the one being controlled. She was certainly in a much more vulnerable spot. “I think we should start with small portions and then work our way up.” This would be a long process, but it would be worth it to explore the possibility.

“Well, there’s plenty of spots in the woods,” Morgan sighed. “If screaming moose can hide, so can we. Especially on the outskirts, near the border, I don’t think there’ll be anyone for miles.” She wasn’t that worried. White Crest liked to keep its secrets to itself as much as possible. But Bea’s second question was another beast. Deirdre came to her mind briefly, but her love had promised to never physically harm her on purpose and refused to be released. And then, Bea wouldn’t want to endanger her sisters after all they’d been through. Who did that leave? Mina, who barely spoke to her anymore?

At last, Morgan had to admit defeat. “I...don’t know. If you know someone or have ideas, I trust your judgement. You know about discretion as much as anyone, so. But, little bits at a time! That sounds good. Reasonable. It’ll, you know, probably come in handy some time. Even with someone like me.” Or especially, with how things stood at the moment. “You’re the one channeling big magic, so you should probably set the pace. I’ve got that infinite stamina going for me. So I...I can take it. Whatever might happen, I can take it. I want to, if it means having more control over myself.”

With everything, Bea had good and bad days. With the woods, she had bad far more often. She controlled her face as well as she could, only hesitating for a moment. “Let me pick the spot in the forest? I’ll find something in the outskirts for us.” She would pick somewhere far from the place it happened, where even on her bad day she could hold herself together. Her first thought would be to ask Leah to help, but that could be very dangerous for the phoenix. Her sisters weren’t an option. Maybe this wasn’t as easy as she had originally thought it would be. “I could see if Kaden was willing to help.” She trusted him to behave with Morgan, but she had no idea if they were on good terms anymore. “If you are feeling comfortable with that.” That was a good point, Bea had no idea how much energy this was going to take. If it was anything like the other necromancy magic she had done, she was going to need to work her way up. “We’ll go slow, there’s no need to rush what’s going to happen. Especially as we need to get more people on board to help.”

“Of course,” Morgan said. To her shame, she only remembered how much the woods had taken from Bea when she saw the look on the woman’s face. Morgan, for her part, never lingered on the part of main street where she’d felt the sun on her back for the last time, and ice cream trucks made her feel sick and bitter. But these were small things, specific. As much as the spot where Bea died was cursed ground, for all Morgan knew, every dark cluster of trees held the shadow of her trauma. Too late now.

Morgan considered Kaden. She didn’t want him to know she was struggling. She didn’t know how much of his fear and disappointment she could bear. And would he feel guilty for helping? Would he doubt himself? Or feel as though he were betraying himself? But a hunter was a clear and obvious choice, for Bea’s safety as well as Morgan’s own. And the only other hunter Morgan trusted was dead. “It makes sense. If you think he would, and that he wouldn’t...feel wrong or bad about it, yeah. That sounds like a good idea. And you’re right about needing others, strong muscle-y others probably, but don’t know who else is left.” She met Bea’s eyes slowly, knowingly, and ached as Adam’s loss stung once again. She cleared her throat and let the spectre of his memory pass. “Later, when we’ve got the basics down, I’ll be of more help. I’ve got lots of fresh experience with my muscle strength, and fighting off people, living and undead. But, slow and steady first.” With difficulty, she summoned a smile. “Who’d have figured it would take two people like us to make a new magic discovery?”

Oh, Bea thought, Of course Morgan knows. A fragile, brittle smile made its way onto her face. As the days went on, as his loss compounded, the closer she felt to slipping away. She was teetering on a precipice, close to falling over the edge of understanding grief as other people had. Her understanding before had been abstracted at best, a twisted and strange version of an emotion that everyone around her seemed to understand better than she did. A necromancer who had faced death, danced with her, but did not comprehend her affects seemed like an oxymoron. The room was spinning, twisting around her as she tried to focus on Morgan’s words. “Oh, I don’t know it makes sense, doesn’t it?” She replied weakly, “We like pushing and figuring stuff out. We’re fixers.” Fixers in a world that could not be fixed, would not consent to be fixed. Adam had been a fixer too, it was why he was gone.

“Fixers, huh,” Morgan repeated, her own smile turning sad as well. She didn’t think of that word often except in terms of her own shame and desperation. She broke something, therefore she had to fix it. But to hear Bea say it, they were doing something better than hastily atoning; they were solving the world. Not all of it, because no one could do that. But little hurts, difficulties, problems. They knew how to seal cracks in people’s hearts and put in new supports where old ones had snapped. And it didn’t have to mean that any of it was their fault or their responsibility. Just that they happened to know how. They happened to have the strength to try. And when everything broke all over again, they would fix it again. On and on.

The future stretched out in her mind’s eye, a line of patch jobs into centuries. Nothing holding or staying for long. She wondered if Adam had ever seen the future that way, and if he ever let himself dream of a green field and a quiet existence where the only things that needed fixing were fence posts and kitchen appliances, as she often did. She didn’t know which answer was sadder.

“I guess we are,” she said quietly. “I guess somebody has to be.”

#wr bea #wr chatzy #wr bea chatzy #breaking bonds #sibling death tw #//short and v sweet

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the-pope-is-in · 3 years

Text

upcoming works

if anyone here has read/enjoyed my fics , I just wanted to post my ENTIRE drafts to let you know what’s coming next (I can’t promise I’ll get around to all of these, but if there’s any you want me to prioritize , just let me know)

in no specific order

Legolas Greenleaf (LOTR) - based more off of the movies than the books. oc is half elf half sorceress and she goes on Bilbo’s adventure .. eventually meeting Legolas in mirkwood and then fighting with him in the battle of five armies. after the battle, she finds him again and begs him to take her with him because she doesn’t want to go back to her old life again. they go on a bunch of adventures. oc is besties w aragorn.

Lemony Snicket (ASOUE) - as in his entity as a character in the series, not the author himself (more the tv show than the books even though the books were my ENTIRE childhood) ((the author’s actual name is daniel handler and he’s a lovely person)) anyways,

my advice for you first and foremost is to never fall in love with a writer

especially if that writer is a prominent member of a secret organization

especially especially if said writer is committed to uncovering and documenting the sad lives of three orphans, the children of a past lover who has died tragically

my name is odessa denouement and I am begging you to put this book down and go read something more pleasant, such as the littlest elf or a story that doesn't involve pain, suffering, and a general lack of morals

odessa and lemony meet when their VFD missions overlap and they’re forced into a number of highly dangerous situations together. features a tragic ending.

Percy Weasley and Oliver Wood (HP) - because we all know they were in love. probably their last years of hogwarts into the second war. focuses a lot on percy going to the dark side. probably pretty angsty.

Will Turner (POTC)- oc is Jack Sparrow’s daughter. she’s super cool. raised by pirates. best parental relationship I’ve ever written (I usually go for the really shitty parent trope, but this time their relationship is rlly soft and makes me happy) anyways, she falls in love with will turner and it’s hot.

Beatrice and Phillipa (HP) - cute lesbians in gryffindor (golden trio era). should probably read my bill weasley series first because it’s a spinoff. would probably be their fifth year to sometime around the end of the war. main focus would be bea’s shift to the dark side.

FP Jones (Riverdale) - gotta preface this one with the fact that I hate riverdale as much as the next guy (sorry riverdale fans) I mean . the show’s insane. BUT FP is what got me through it. so this is the story of him and jughead’s mom in the 80s , then there’s a time jump to the first or second season. going to be short but cute.

Steven Hyde (that 70s show) - NOT played by d*nny m*sterson. anyways, oc moves to point place from nyc with her mom (who kinda sucks -yes, we’re back to the shitty parent trope-) falls for hyde and it’s rly angsty. at some point she lives in hyde’s old house but i’m not sure exactly when bc idk what season I want to start the season on. she’s also best friends with jackie because I’m in love with jackie.

Regulus and Marlene (HP) - umm so to be completely honest I don’t know what the plan was for this one. the only thing it says in the draft is “marlene is a slytherin”. I think I was high when I made it. but I feel like there’s some sort of potential there so we’ll see what happens.

Remus Lupin (HP) - either wolfstar or a slytherin oc or maybe regulus I don’t know. I have some ideas for scenes, but no specific people or genders or really any details at all. I just know I’m in love with remus and want to write about him and his sweaters.

Jesse Pinkman (Breaking Bad) - oc and jesse keep meeting by chance. first it’s because she’s staying at his parent’s house out of necessity (ep 2), then it’s because she’s Jane’s roommate, then it’s at Jane’s funeral. they keep saying they’re parting ways. that they’ll never see each other again, but it doesn’t work. one way or another, they’ll end up together.

Minerva McGonagall and Pomona Sprout (HP) - one of my fav ships ever. would start in their sixth year and there would be a few major time jumps over the course of the story. very soft relationship.

Peter Parker (MCU) - oc has powers over the elements. recruited to the avengers by tony stark. in the process of said transition, hydra attacks her family and oc is filled with rage. throughout the story, she lives with different members of the avengers (she moves around a lot) and she and peter have a friends to lovers sort of thing.

Daniel Desario (Freaks and Geeks) - charlotte’s been friends with the freaks since she was a kid. she’s been on-again-off-again dating nick since middle school, she has mixed feelings about kim, ken is her favorite person ever, and she is hopelessly in love with Daniel. when lindsay comes into the picture and things shift dramatically, charlotte finally has the chance to shoot her shot.

Spencer Reid (Criminal Minds) - word for word what I have in my drafts:

ummmmm so we've got a main character named ummmmmm sophie or phoebe or something and shes like blonde and short and only three months older than reid and sup super smart like with math and science and stuff and she graduated early and has a doctorate and is smart and stuff but doesnt really tell anyone and looks kinda sloppy and has a really relaxed attitude and we love her - she almost dropped out of high school because she was bored but then agent gideon was like dude come on ill give u a job (or something?)

oh and her parents and little brother died in a fire when she was eight only her older brother survived and they are super close she loves him so much but she has some trauma from constantly being sent to foster homes where nodbody wanted to keep her bc shes difficult and also like watching her parents die so she has a HUGE fear of fire and an irrational fear of big dogs

ANYWAYS starts off with her at her house and she's just hangin she has a cat and she's making herself dinner and she's one of those super cute single bi girls who likes her plants and her music and her science bookstore

friends in college story (an original work) - okay so I wanna go to film school (I want to be a screenwriter) and this is an original script I’ve been working on but I might adapt parts of it to a story. basically it’s like a dark academia sitcom where a bunch of liberal, progressive kids go to this rural, ultra-christian college for different reasons and find each other and become the ELITE friend group. obviously it would have a better name than the “friends in college story” although now it’s sort of growing on me

the new tragedy (an original work) - “sometimes i need to remind myself that you existed. You were real, you were so real. your hair was real, your crooked smile was real. the way you couldnt talk in the morning before you’d had your coffee, or how you could never get to sleep at night without an episode of whatever show you were obsessing over in the moment. oh my god. you were real.

she looked like death. the guy, not the concept. sallow skin and dark, sunken eyes that absorbed all of the light and trapped it, holding it hostage and never letting it out. when she smiled, the light poured all over her, like she was taking a shower in it. when she frowned, she looked like a storm cloud. I loved her. I loved her so much.

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arse-crack-thistle · 3 years

Text

gifts

rwrb and the five love languages | part two

in which june struggles to have a nice valentine’s date with nora

June never expected to care this much about a stupid holiday like Valentine’s Day, but here she is, practically renovating the apartment to give her girlfriend a perfect night. She strings LED lights around the entire living room ceiling and uses Command hooks to drape the sheer, white Ikea curtains she bought on sale months ago in preparation for this. The lights glow pink through the curtains, making the usually neutral-toned living room appear like Aphrodite’s palace. June’s moved the coffee table into her room and replaced it with a fluffy blanket and a picnic set-up to rival TikTok lesbians. All she needs now is Nora, if only she weren’t stuck at school.

The texts say, Will be late! Data mining for the gods! [Monet X Change gif] I want to be home with you though. Will bring noodles! And chocolate! Scratch that, I ate the chocolate. Sorry.

June knows she shouldn’t be annoyed because Nora has no idea what she’s coming home to. She also knows who she got into a relationship with—a brilliant mind that’s constantly moving parsecs a minute and has a hard time communicating her feelings. June has to remind herself that Nora loves her even if she doesn’t always show it.

That’s what tonight is for. It’ll give them time to slow down and just be together. Break the routine. Talk or not talk. She doesn’t expect it to be mushy or obnoxious—June isn’t a super, flowery romantic herself—but she does want another sentimental moment to hold onto forever.

Like the night of the 2020 election over a year ago. After Alex and Henry slipped away and everyone else was celebrating in their own groups, Nora pulled June into a storage closet at the venue and kissed her point blank, leaving no questions in her mind that their dabbles the months before meant something more than spectacular.

Or like six months ago when Nora asked her if she wanted to move in with her. She didn’t do anything particularly special, but she slammed her laptop shut while June was throwing on one of her sweatshirts and asked her to stay—to take the second bedroom because Nora needs space sometimes—but to stay with her because she was her favorite person. June answered with a happy “yes,” and Nora got up and kissed her. They didn’t talk much more about it; June just packed up her room at the White House and let the world think they were very best friends.

June pours a glass of wine and waits on the couch, flipping through social media. A few hours ago, her brother posted a picture from the Valentine’s gala he and Henry threw for the London queer youth center. Alex, Henry, Bea, Catherine, and even Philip and Martha hold champagne flutes with cheeky smiles on their faces. The POTUS account has a sweet yet posed picture of her mother and Leo. She likes everything she sees, from the various celebrities she follows to the photos she’s tagged in by fans. The time on her phone reminds her Nora’s now over an hour late.

She texts her, Home soon?

Ten minutes later her phone dings. Need more time. Almost done!

You are aware it’s Valentine’s, yes? And that we had plans?

Yes!!!! But flexible plans, right? Not like we can’t eat noodles and make out later. Will leave soon though. Promise.

I got food covered. Just get home please.

June sighs. She thought she made it clear this morning that they deserved a night with no distractions. God, they need to talk; she’s afraid to, but nothing will get better if she doesn’t say anything and if they don’t try.

The charcuterie board spread she copied off of Pinterest has been sitting out for a while so she moves it from the floor to the fridge. “Soon” for Nora could mean an hour. Empty coffee mugs line the sink. An open pack of weed gummies sits on the counter, hardening. Binders of paperwork and schoolwork collect on the kitchen table. There’s so much Nora in here. June redecorated the living room and kitchen when she moved in, but Nora’s managed to touch everything.

She smiles. If this were Alex, she’d be pissed at the mess, but it’s Nora. The beautiful, erratic mess that is Nora. The girl who can have four different shows on at once and can still get shit done. The girl who always burns pancakes when she tries to cook breakfast for June. The girl who never fails to kiss her first.

June won’t lose her. So she sits down on the floor, runs her fingers over the fleece, and waits. And drinks more wine.

Sometime later, when a key turns in the lock, she downs the last sip in her glass and sets it down. Some old love songs play from her phone, the ones she and Nora love to make fun of. She hears her girlfriend curse when her key gets stuck, and then she bursts through the door and catches herself before she could slip on the hardwood.

“I know you said you got food covered, but I got noodles any—Whoa! You did all of this?” Nora walks into the living room with takeout bags in her hands and stares, mesmerized, at the ceiling. Her contacts must’ve been bothering her because she has on her back-up glasses.

“Hi. Happy Valentine’s Day,” June says and reaches for Nora’s hand to pull her down.

“I’m sorry, June. I had no idea. I thought we both hated this holiday, so tonight wasn’t that big of a deal. But this—this is beautiful,” Nora says, having a hard time meeting June’s eyes.

“Thanks.” June rubs Nora’s hand with her thumb. “And this isn’t really about the holiday. I just wanted to give something nice to you—to us—just us. With no distractions.”

The strings from “At Last” by Etta James play from the phone. The curtains billow from the air blowing out the vent. As much as she hates to ruin the moment, June has to start the conversation.

But Nora takes a deep breath and talks first. “I know I’m a bit all over the place but that doesn’t mean I don’t love you. I just have a lot going on.”

“I know, but sometimes it feels like you don’t care about us as much as I do. It feels like an afterthought to you,” June says.

“That’s not true, June! Come on! You know me.” She grabs June’s other hand and squeezes.

She squeezes back. “You don’t act with feelings in mind, but I know you have them. And I know it’s hard for you, but I need you to share them with me more. I need a reminder that you care every once in a while.”

Nora’s quiet. She uses her arm to wipe her eyes, knocking her glasses off. “I—I’m sorry. I don’t know what to do.”

June’s chest collapses. She wraps Nora up in her arms. “I’m sorry, Nor. I don’t mean you’re not enough for me. I love you so much. I—”

“No, I understand. I just—I need help with that. I need you to tell me when you need more—maybe not after the fact like now but—”

June laughs and pulls away. “You’re right. I have a stewing problem. I just assume you’ll eventually get it.”

“Yeah, don’t assume that.” Nora laughs too—the big kind that shows all of her teeth. “Reign me in when I’ve been off for too long. And know it’s not on purpose. I’m seriously spiraling in my own head the majority of the time.”

“Ha! And a hot head it is too.”

They both pause and look into each other’s eyes. And bust out into laughing fits. June makes a fart sound with her mouth, and Nora tackles her. They rumble around on the blanket for about forty seconds before June’s wine glass tips over and surprisingly bounces instead of shattering.

The girls take that as an opportunity to stop and pour some more glasses of wine. Nora preps the takeout while June brings the charcuterie board back to the indoor picnic. Nora changes the music to some weird techno shit, but June snatches the phone. They compromise with One Direction, which makes no sense since 1. June only knows their last album and 2. Nora definitely remembers the story of June turning down the advances of one Niall Horan when she did the daytime talk show circuit after her book deal was announced.

Either way, they stuff their faces and end up cuddled on the floor.

Nora interrupts the moment. “Before we get to sexy time—"

“Jesus Christ.”

“I just wanted to give you something. I would’ve saved it for your birthday, but I can get you something else.” She pops up from the floor and jogs to her bedroom. When she reemerges, she’s carrying a bunched-up blanket. “I didn’t have time to properly wrap it because—you know, you weren’t going to get it yet—although, it probably wouldn’t’ve been wrapped later either—but anyways, happy Valentine’s Day.”

She crouches down and hands over the present. She smiles and bops up and down in anticipation. June unwraps the blanket and sees a book.

It’s one of those photobooks you can get at Walgreens, and on the cover, it reads, “Catalina June Claremont-Diaz and Nora Elizabeth Holleran are NOT good friends…” June flips it over. “They’re fucking GIRLFRIENDS!” Inside is page after page of pictures as early as the day they first met and as recent as New Year’s Eve a month ago. A lot of candid pics they take of each other—Nora’s favorites. A lot of sleepy, cuddle pics—June’s favorites. It’s so perfect.

“Nora—this is—wow.” She feels the tears coming. No one has given her anything like this before.

“I’ll be better—”

“So will I.”

“No matter where my head’s at, I’m always thinking of you—just 50 million other things as well,” Nora says and cups her chin.

June leans in. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Nora kisses her, and everything wound up in June relaxes. Her body is so warm. “Best Song Ever” starts playing.

Cue sexy time.

check out the rest of my rwrb and the five love languages series: part one, part three, part four, and part five. (links to come as they’re released)

so this could be for quality time or gifts, but i decided to go with gifts since i had no other ideas for it! it’s definitely not my love language (quality time for the win!) but i had to write something lol. so i made it sapphic bc everything gay is better! <3

rwrb romance week | @rwrb-fests

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samanthadalton · 3 years

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I love your writings! Please kindly make a poppy x mc but lets add ava here cause she deserves better. Its up to you on what genre. Please make this possible hihihuhu

hey anon thank you for this idea, i hope i’ve done it justice

pairings: bea x poppy mentions of ava x emma

word count: 1.4k

taglist: @cloud9in @somewillwin @dopeyouth @clowneryme @baexpoppy @save-me-the-last-dance @kamilahsayeet2063 (added people from both my poppy taglist and ava)

Crossover

Zeta house was in full pandemonium as the group of screaming fangirls and boys stood in the foyer, their phones out trying to capture every inch of zeta house their eyes laid on. Ava stands at the edge of the crowd, arms wrapped around her body, visibly uncomfortable. A random guy staggers up to her, his eyes deviously roams her body, a devilish smirk appearing on his face.

“Now what’s a pretty girl like you doing here alone?”

Usually Ava can own someone just through using her words, but being in a new environment with complete strangers, made the words dislodge in her throat, and she completely falters.

Luckily, a voice speaks up from behind the random guy and relief spreads all over Ava’s face, “God Ford. Don’t you have anything better to do than perving on the girls here?” The voice was low, tone extremely cutthroat, filled with threat and Ava can’t help but be in awe of her saviour as the creepy guy (who’s name is Ford) staggers out of Zeta house, his tail between his legs.

“Thank you.” Ava utters gratefully, as the strawberry blonde in front of her, stares her down, a calculated look on her face.

“Poppy!” A voice calls out from behind them and Poppy whips around to see Bea, whose expression is slightly panicked as she pushes past the screaming crowd of people who notice the brunette and begin whispering to each other and taking pictures. “Oh my god it’s crazy here.” She places a sweet kiss on Poppy’s lips before her eyes dart to Ava only noticing her presence for the first time. “Oh! Hi. Are you a friend of Poppy’s?”

Ava gawks at the brunette, wide-eyed as she tries to gain her bearings but she struggles to get the words out.

“I think you have another fan,” Poppy berundingly says rolling her eyes, as the group of people behind them have literal hearts in their eyes as they enthusiastically wave at Bea who responds with a wink, driving the crowd even more wild. “Anyway, I don’t know her but I had to come to her rescue after Ford tried hitting on her.” Poppy says with disgust.

“I’m Ava. And I’m sorry I’m not usually quiet, I’m just big fans of you both, I see you on Veronica’s live streams all the time.”

“Well it’s nice to meet a fan” Bea holds out her hand which Ava gratefully receives and shakes, Poppy on the other hand, just gives Ava a small smile until she looks at her phone telling Bea they need to make their way to the living room because the event is starting soon. “Well we’ll see you in there Ava, come and sit next to us, you look like you could use a friend.” Bea flashes Ava a charming smile and then lets Poppy grab her hand and leading her away.

Ava and the rest of the group stand in the foyer for a few more minutes until a security guard makes his way with a box, asking the fans to leave their phones inside since it is a closed event. Ava looks at her phone to see a message from Emma. Ava feels a pang in her heart as she knows Emma most likely ditched her for Mason and Noah, so she leaves the message unread and puts her phone in the box before mustering up the courage to plaster a small smile on her face, determined to not let her night get ruined. The group are then guided to the living room where the furniture has been rearranged in a circle and Ava sees Bea who waves her over and takes a seat next to her.

“Are you excited to meet Veronica?”

“Yeah, I’m a huge fan of her live streams, I think she’s really cool and relatable.” Poppy and Bea share a knowing look where they know Veronica’s social media presence is more of a facade but they politely smile at Ava as they patiently wait for the ombre-haired girl to show up.

“Uhh, where the hell is she? Does she think she’s freaking Beyonce or something?” Poppy agitatedly says as she aimlessly scrolls through her phone. Bea clears her throat, a pointed look on her face, raising an eyebrow at the strawberry blonde before turning her attention to the quiet figure beside her.

“So what do you do Ava?”

“I’m in my senior year of high school.”

Bea lets out a low whistle, “so you’ll be in college next year. Any idea where you’re going next year?” Before Ava can respond, music begins to blare out of the speakers as Veronica walks into the living room arms out wide as she appraises the screaming group of kids who cheer for her.

The event progresses, as Veronica surprises all the fans with gift bags and indulges in a Q and A in which fans ask Veronica, the zeta girls and Bea about the behind the scenes tea. Ava throughout the event remains quiet, her attention fixated on the empty space on the other side of her, the space that Emma would’ve filled if she were here. She glances over to Bea and Poppy to see Poppy with a scowl etched on her face as she looks down at her watch and sighs. Bea scoots her chair closer to the strawberry blonde, wrapping her arm before whispering in Poppy’s ear and soon enough Poppy’s frown transforming into a small grin.

At some point in the event, Bea and Poppy had snuck out together leaving the cheerleader on her own but after meeting and talking with the Veronica Lombardi, Ava felt herself beginning to feel more at ease, and even began interacting with the other fans. After getting her phone back Ava, exchanges her number with a few of the people in the group and then leaves Zeta house and begins making her way to her sedan that’s parked on the other side of campus.

“Nice going Ava, now you’re going to have to walk for ages.” She looks down at her phone to see a few more messages from Emma and after much contemplation decides to read the messages.

Hey, hoped you had a good time at the meet and greet

I wished I could be there but Mack got into trouble with dad so i’m trying to help her clean the house.

I will make it up to you tho, next week you and me are gonna go out for lunch my treat :)

Ava can’t help but smile at the texts, part of her is glad that neither Noah and Mason are the reason why she’s not here today but another is excited about hanging out with her best friend next week.

“Hey Ava.” Bea’s voice rings out of the front yard. She jogs up to the cheerleader while Poppy slowly ambles over, “you were going to leave without saying bye?”

Ava blushes slightly embarrassed, “sorry, you guys left and I didn’t know i-”

“I’m just messing with you.” Bea gives her shoulder a little pat and then uses the same hand to place around Poppy pulling her closer, “hey you didn’t tell me your plans for after college.”

Ava blows hot air through her lips as she runs a hand through her hair, “I don’t really know to be honest.”

“That’s okay if you don’t know.” Poppy quietly speaks out, “hell, when I came into college I just had one thing on my mind, just be number 1 no matter what. And now,” she gazes over at Bea with affection glistening in her eyes, “then I met someone who taught me there’s more to life than just ranks, and since then I’ve been relearning since.”

“Granted she has a lot of learning left to do.” Poppy nudges her elbow in Bea’s side eliciting a small groan from the brunette and a laugh from the cheerleader. “But the point is, the future can be uncertain but you just gotta try and make the best of it. Eventually it will fall into place.”

Ava nods, mulling over Bea’s words before giving the girls a smile and thanking them for their company. After exchanging picta info with the two Ava gives the girls a goodbye hug before making her way to her car. Maybe she doesn’t need to be certain about the future, but what she is certain about is that she is in love with a girl named Emma Price and is willing to do what she can to fight for her.

#playchoices #queen b #MTFL #my two first loves #poppy min sinclair #poppy x mc #ava lawrence #ava x mc #ava mtfl

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nelllraiser · 3 years

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sharks and strippers | group birthday chatzy

LOCATION: a frozen pond in the forest. PARTIES: @chasseurdeloup, @divineluce, @beatrice-blaze, @whatsin-yourhead, @connorspiracy, @phoenixleah, @notsoharsh, @corpse--diem, @detectivedreameater, @letsbenditlikebennett, @halequeenjas, @walker-journal, @seizethecarpe, Jack SUMMARY: nell’s birthday party has a surprise guest.

It was technically still two days until Nell's birthday, but with that actual day of celebration stuck right in the middle of the full moon and during the beginning of the work week, it had made much more sense to have the party today. The three Vural girls had pooled their magic to freeze over the pond they'd found to make a suitable outdoor ice skating rink, and hired someone to rent out skates for those that needed them. Fairy lights were hung around the perimeter of the new ice rink, and not all that far away was a bonfire pit already stacked with wood and marshmallows for s'mores nestled into the surrounding snow. Somewhere nearby was a speaker to play some music to skate along to, but perhaps most important was the little tent and table where guests could find an assortment of alcohol. Whoever said intoxication didn't mix well with ice skating hadn't watched their friends hilariously fall on their asses countless times. The spicy aroma of mulled wine and hot toddy filled the air along with irish coffee. In addition to the winter drink staples there were also the typical options for the more traditional. As she waited for others to arrive, Nell paced by the edge of the rink, realizing perhaps a bit too late that a magical invitation might not be all that intuitive for everyone receiving it. "You don't think they'll get lost, right? I mean- if you saw a golden trail come from an invitation you'd follow it, wouldn't you?" she asked.

Kaden wasn’t really up for a party, but this was for Nell. And the invitation was from Bea. So he’d make a brief appearance. Plus, it was a decent distraction. Might as well. And he knew it would be a sight to see. He ripped the invitation, followed the golden light and ended up in the middle of the woods. Of course they made it a magical invite. It took a while to get there, but none of it felt like the middle of the woods. It was decorated to the nines, as expected. He dropped his present off at the table that looked like it was meant for that sort of thing and saw the set up for alcohol. His first stop. Easily.

Luce leaned against one of the tables that had been set up, her hands tucked in the pockets of her jeans as she stared at the ice skating rink she and her sisters had put together. The effort had taken more out of her than she'd thought it would and, right now? She just wanted to sit down. She didn't even really want to be here. But, after all the shit she'd put Nell through, she had to be here. It wouldn't be fair to Nell if she wasn't here at least pretending like she was enjoying the party. Wandering over to the drink station, she made herself an Irish coffee and took a sip from it. Fuck that was good. They might not have access to the family bank account anymore, but they could still throw a good party. "We're witches. They'll figure it out." Luce said with a shake of her head. "Happy Birthday, Nellie." She added, doing her best to smile in a way that she hoped was convincing.

"I think you're overthinking things," Bea told her sister with an amused smile. "If they don't find it with that, they'll hear the people eventually. Or they can just call one of us. They have my phone number." She went over to the tent with the alcohol,"What do you guys want? I'm getting an Irish coffee." She would be skating drunk later and no one would be able to convince her not to.

The invitation was a little strange. Remmy had fiddled with it for a while before realizing that it was asking them to literally rip the piece of paper in half. As soon as they put that together, they realized that was definitely a very Nell thing to do. Or maybe it was just witches that would do stuff like this. They wondered if Morgan had ever done a fancy invitation thing like this, as they followed the trail through the trees and came upon a lake, frosted over. Nell was there, and they spotted Bea and Luce as well, waving over to them and giving a slow trot over. "Hey! Happy birthday Nell!" they said, trying their hardest to stay bright and happy. They didn't need to think about other stuff right now. Held out the card they'd made her. "Sorry it's not much."

Connor had been happy to receive the invitation to Nell's birthday, but that had led to his tiny dilemma of what to get as a gift. He'd asked Bea for some ideas and brainstormed based on what he knew about her. She seemed the sort of person who would just get whatever she wanted regardless. Ultimately he'd decided on a punny t-shirt that had a cactus on the front with 'Don't Be A Prick' written under it and a six month cactus subscription service so Nell could try out a bunch of different types. He wrapped up warm, like Bea had suggested, following the trail to the party. He put the gift on the gift table, looking around for someone he knew before heading to the bar where he ordered a simple beer. "Hey," he greeted, recognizing Kaden, and recognizing Bea's photo from her online account.

As the invitation led Leah to Nell's party, Leah couldn't help but feel equal parts excited and anxious. It was always a blast to celebrate with the Vurals, but the rumors that they were going to be ice skating had her worried about exposure. She wasn't cold at all, but she was still wearing her heaviest coat, gloves, and a hat. She made her way right to the alcohol tent, knowing full well that's where Bea would be. "Surprise me", she said with a grin, still holding Nell's present under her arm. "Where's the birthday girl?"

As people began to filter towards the party, it seemed that Luce's and Bea's words had come true. With an instantaneous wave at those arriving, Nell greeted everyone with a wide and eager smile, just happy that people had showed up. "Hi guys! Thanks," she said to everyone that greeted her, already bouncing towards the bar where people were seeming to gather. "I'm glad you guys are getting your alcohol before you get on the ice. Then it can be my gift to watch all of you fall." In a moment she was grabbing her own drink in the form of a hot toddy, having already asked for it before the festivities began.

Harsh lurked in the shade, waiting for the sun to dip just a bit more. At least it was getting dark earlier and earlier now. He wouldn't have to wait too much longer to grace Nell's party with his presence. He ripped open the invitation, blinking at the sudden spill of golden light. Witches, they always had the best toys. He followed it, careful to still stick to shady patches where he could find them, just in case the setting sun had it out for him. It didn't take too long to wander his way to the end of the golden path. He dropped his small, neatly wrapped present off with the others before glancing around, grinning when he spotted Nell. He lifted a hand in a little wave before heading over to inspect the booze.

Kaden gave Connor a small wave as he ordered a hot toddy. "I see you all went all out," he said to the sisters. "I expected nothing less." He recognized a number of familiar faces and expected more would file in as the night went on. "Have to say, I'm worried about the ice skating. Did you bring magical first aid kits out here, too? You might need them."

“There’s no location,” Erin pointed out as she inspected the invitation. Keys in hand, jacket on, present in tow, she was ready to head out the door when she realized this one crucial piece of information. How did she miss that when she’d originally received it or when she had made the initial RSVP with Bea? She started out the door anyway, pulling her phone out, hovering over the older Vural sister’s phone number again. “Are you ready to go?” She called back to Marley, narrowing her eyes, scanning the invitation for the fiftieth time. With all the heaviness surrounding them lately, Erin had actually been looking forward to this. She dialed the number and shrugged at Marley as she waited. “I think there’s a typo or something. I'm calling Bea now,” she said, holding it out to her.

Marley picked up the invitation handed to her and read it over once, before rolling her eyes and looking up at Erin. "It literally says right here to rip it in half," she answered, not waiting for Erin to say anything before taking the paper and ripping it straight in half. She handed the two pieces back to Erin before pulling on her jacket. "There better be alcohol at this party," she mumbled, "I don't do parties without alcohol."

Connor smiled over at Nell. "Darling, people are going to be falling arse over tit by the time this is over. If watching people fall is your idea of a good time, you're gonna have a hell of a birthday." He spotted Leah, giving her a grin. "Hey, thanks for the book help the other day." He glanced around. People were still trickling in. "I hardly know anyone here. Some of Nell's friends are kinda old."

Bea grinned at Kaden as her phone rang. "Hello, this is Bea, if this is about the party rip the invitation in half. It'll guide you to us. Bring a jacket too!!" She answered chriply.

Ariana had followed the little lights from the invitation with a fascinated look on her face. While magic was over her head, she found it to be too cool all the same. The little glowing lights led her up to an outdoor ice skating area. She could hear the chatter before she approached and smiled when she saw some familiar faces. She waved in Nell and Connor's direction and brightly greeted, "Happy birthday! Hope you don't mind- I dropped your gift off by your house because it would have been a pain in the ass to carry home. You'll see what I mean."

There were too many people by the alcohol. And, when Luce's choice of who to talk with were between Remmy, Kaden, Leah, some random white boy who was calling people old? Christ. No fucking thanks. Slipping away from the crowd of people, she took her steaming cup of Irish coffee and made her way over to the fire that was roaring off to the side. She didn't care much about the heat or the smores, she was just glad to be out of the fucking away. She'd hang around and make sure the fire was going. She'd do her part to make this a nice birthday for her sister. Glancing across the fire, she pointed at the sticks that were left for people to stab marshmallows on. "If you want smores, go nuts."

Nell waved over at Harsh as he greeted her, hoping the sun would set a little faster so that he'd be able to join the festivities a bit more freely. Nevertheless, she waved him over to the bar where everyone was. Laughing a little she quickly said to Connor, "Why do you think I specifically chose an ice rink? Watching my friends make fools of themselves is my dream." Then she was grinning at Ariana, waving yet again with vigor. "It's that big?" Nell chuckled curiously. "So are you gonna skate with me?"

Connor raised an eyebrow at Ari's mention of her gift. "Bruv, what do you mean? Too big? What'd you get her? A life-size sculpture of Greg the dog?" he asked with a chuckle. He lifted his beer in a small toast. "Happy birthday to Nell, happy party-day to everyone else. I'm Connor, by the way."

Jasmine decided she maybe should have worn more practical heels for this little follow the light to Nell's birthday venture. Normally, she was all about the whole being extra thing, but today, her feet were not particularly feeling it. For Nell, it was all worth it. She'd had a gift in hand that she set down on the table as she approached. She gravitated toward Bea and huffed, "Leave it to you to go all out down to the invitation, Beatrice." She scanned the crowd and waved at a few familiar faces.

Ariana tried to muster her most serious face as she answered Connor's joke. "Obviously. What else would I have made Nell for her birthday?" At Nell's mention of skating, she lit up. Given most of her skating past had included playing hockey, but skating just for skating's sake was always fun too. "You don't have to ask me twice. I love ice skating."

Harsh glanced around, finding a few familiar faces. Huh, it really was a small world. Or a small town, whatever. He followed Nell's wave, casually keeping himself out of the sun. There were enough shadowed spots that it shouldn't be too obvious. "Thanks for the invite, it's pretty cool out here." Trying to catch Kaden's eye, he gave him a little nod. "Hey man, didn't know you were gonna be here. I really need to get out more, I can't remember the last time I went to an actual party."

Remmy,confused, watched Luce slink away and over to the fire pit. They furrowed their brow, but chose to ignore it for now, and smiled at Nell. Moose was already rolling around in the snow, happy as ever. The one person Remmy didn't recognize yet introduced himself as was Connor and they waved. "I'm Remmy," they said, nodding, "and I think I'm gonna try skating!" They backed away and headed over to the table full of skates to rent and picked out their size. They plopped down, put on their boots, and stood up. They hadn't been skating in ages, but how hard could it be? They gave a pointed glance towards Luce at the fire pit before stepping out onto the ice, watching Moose tentatively test it out before deciding to sit happily in the snow at the edge.

"I do have some magical first aid kits, just so you know. I'm prepared for a few scraps," Bea told Kaden. She looked over at Jasmine with a shrug,"You remember how her birthdays were as a kid. She deserves all out." Bea and her friends had always been the few people who came to Nell's birthday parties when she was young. Her classmates, and even the kids in the coven, had avoided Nell. Her sisters had to give Nell a good birthday, especially after how this year has gone for them.

Connor nodded, giving Remmy a smile. "Nice to meet you, mate. Once I've finished this beer, I might grab a pair of skates myself. Hopefully still got enough of my ballet co-ordination to not make an absolute dick of myself." He edged a little closer to Nell, lowering his voice. "How do you know the old people?"

Erins’ mouth gaped as she literally tore the invitation. “What are you--” Almost at the same time, Bea answered and confirmed her question before she could even say anything. Lights appeared out of thin air. “Oh. Thanks. See you soon.” Of course. Magic. That was pretty cool actually. She hung up and led the way. “We’re going to a 24 year old’s birthday party. If there’s not alcohol, I’m leaving,” she joked. Kind of. But if she thought the lights were cool, the frozen pond that definitely shouldn’t be frozen in this weather was just as cool. She moved towards the first familiar face she saw, surprised to see her realtor with Bea, as well as a few others that were less pleasant surprises. “Oh, great,” she mumbled to Marley when she saw Kaden, waving towards Bea and Jasmine. “Please tell me you see the alcohol.”

Ariana snickered to herself as she heard Connor whisper about the old people.

Leah R Sipped her sangria, eyeing the rink cautiously as she walked closer to Bea, Kaden, and Jasmine. "How good are those first aid kits at healing broken bones?" she teased playfully. There was no way she would be out there skating today, but it would be fun to watch her friends tumble over each other. She glanced at Kaden, giving him a short, tight smile, before she looked back to her friends. "That stripper dude that came to your birthday isn't coming, is he? I think it's probably too cold for a stripper."

Luce wasn't surprised by the way Remmy looked at her and she let out a sigh. This wasn't the time or place for drama. Taking another large drink from her cup, Luce looked at the fire and nudged it with magic. The flames turned a slight blue color as she helped it burn a little higher. Glancing over the firepit, she watched as Jasmine, Erin, Marley, and a few other stragglers made their way into the party. What the fuck kind of shoes was Jas wearing?

It took a quick moment to lace up her skates, and in another second Nell was making her way to the ice with her drink still in hand, beckoning the others along. Nell's snicker was quick to join Ariana's before she said, "You know old people need attention, too. If you don't pay attention to them that's how they get wrinkles." Her tone was purposefully loud enough for anyone in the vicinity to hear."

"I sure do," Marley answered, because she'd scouted out the bar table the second she'd gotten there. There were a few familiar faces around, including Langley, of course, but she really didn't care. She didn't exactly want to be here in the first place, but Erin had bullied her into going, and she did kind of like the littlest Vural. Even if she was annoying. Mostly. She split away from Erin and headed towards the bar table, not waiting for her, sunglasses snug on her face. The sun was bright and it was making her head hurt to look at, and this place had just the cure. "Mexican coffee," she said, pointing at the tequila and then the big pot of coffee. "Put a little extra love in it, too."

Jack hadn't expected to be invited back to an event by a Vural after the last time, and definitely not socially rather than as a performer. As he eyed the ice and his breath curling in the cool air, he was kind of glad of that though. He couldn't quite show off his incredible abs and biceps to the crowd in his coat, but there was no amount of clothing that could hide his immaculate silhouette. He slid over to the bar with a casual grace. "Hey Bea, how are you doing?"

Jasmine nodded as she remembered Nell's birthday parties when they were kids. She never quite understood why other kids didn't show up but she was glad Nell got to have something this special now. Even if she did have to walk out here in heels. Skates would actually be a nice change of pace. "Point taken. Next time just warn a girl and she'll wear chunkier heels." She nudged Bea's arm jokingly and gave Kaden a wave. She was just going to gloss over the fact she thought he was a stripper up until a couple of weeks ago. She smiled brightly as Erin approached and said, "You could not be more right, Erin. I need a glass of wine."

Kaden gave Harsh a nod back. "Yeah, I've been friends with Bea for a while now. Nell's had to put up with me at enough dinners over at their house. Guess that earned me an invite." In truth, he cared about Nell, too, but admitting that was different. "How do you know the Vurals?" He blinked in confusion as he saw the stripper from the last party walk in. It was... outdoors. And cold. There was no way they were going to be subjected to this again. At least no one was asking him to strip. Again. For now. Putain. "I think I'm going to need more alcohol for this."

Connor snickered, lightly elbowing Nell. "Oh, better make sure you give them all the attention then. Especially that truck-sized man over there." He could see the sheer size of the man's muscles even beneath the layers of clothing. "Is that Remmy person cool? I'm trying to decide how long is socially acceptable to wait before I ask to pet their dog."

"Not good at all," Bea replied. She wished she could drag her friend out there, but the risk of her breaking wouldn't be worth it. "You could hang out of the edge of the pond? We could try to skate around there if you wanted." She let out a soft laugh as Leah spoke,"I invited him actually. He's sweet and here he comes now!" She grinned at Jack,"Hi! I'm great, so glad you can come! How are you?" She looked over to Jas quickly,"Try the mulled wine! Jack, do you want something to drink?"

Harsh couldn't bite back a laugh. "Wait, you had a stripper at your party? Okay, I clearly need to party with you more often." He turned his smile toward Leah. "Hey, don't think we've met, I'm Harsh." Looking back toward Kaden, he shrugged. "Nell and I hang out sometimes, I haven't spent too much time with the others though. I guess now's a good time to change that."

Jasmine laughed al Nell spoke more loudly. "Yeah, if you don't believe in the old people. They just wither and wrinkle away." She shot a glance over in the area Kaden, Erin, and Bea were standing. She shrugged and looked over to Remmy and asked, "Hey, do you mind if we pet your dog?"

Ariana laughed al Nell spoke more loudly. "Yeah, if you don't believe in the old people. They just wither and wrinkle away." She shot a glance over in the area Kaden, Erin, and Bea were standing. She shrugged and looked over to Remmy and asked, "Hey, do you mind if we pet your dog?"

"Oh hey!" Nell exclaimed as she spotted the enormous man seemingly appear out of thin air which was...quite a feat for someone so large. "Have you met, Kaden?" she asked, pointing towards the man in question. "I think he's actually looking into the stripping business if you have any tips for him," she said in a hushed tone to Jack. Then she turned back to Connor. "Yeah, Remmy is great! And if Moose isn't working I'm sure they'd be fine if you asked to pet him. He's a good boy." Then she turned to Ariana, trying to tug her friend towards the ice with her.

Leah shrugged, not at all put off by not being able to participate in the more physical activities that her friends enjoyed. She was used to it, honestly. "I'll just hang onto the side if I get the urge", she teased, right before her eyes went wide at Bea's next words. "You, invited him? Are you buds with an immaculately sculpted stripper now?" Leah felt heat rise to her face at the idea of it, remembering how forward the man had been at Bea's party. A stranger's introduction was the perfect excuse to calm herself down from the embarrassment. "I'm Leah,” she said with a smile, shaking his hand. She wondered if her body heat crept through her gloves. "I'm good friends with Nell's sister, haven't missed one of her birthday parties yet." She smiled as she looked around at the other members of the party, most of whom she'd met at least once before. "Everyone here is pretty cool, mostly anywhere. There are a few stragglers", she said, her gaze falling to Kaden.

Connor nodded a hello to the other person close-by that he didn't know, who had introduced himself as Harsh. Ariana, in true form, wasn't shy about asking about the gigantic Leonberger. "Well, I don't see a vest on him, so I guess it's okay to ask." People were heading towards the ice, so he decided to go and rent some skates too.

A long, elongated shadow moved under parts of the ice, bumping against the ice occasionally.

Bea pointed at the ice and laughed, "Look, a shark."

“You and me both,” Erin grinned at Jasmine. “I didn’t know the whole town knew the Vurals.” She wasn’t surprised to see Marley already ordering something for herself and followed suit to the table and ordered a glass for herself. “I thought this was supposed to be a kid’s party?” She joked, watching the crowd. Not that she was complaining. She leaned closer to Jasmine, smirking, lowering her voice like she was sharing a secret. “Also, did I overhear someone say there’s a stripper?”

Luce tossed a fresh couple of logs onto the fire and brushed the bits of bark off her hand. Walking away, she made her way back towards the ice, moving past Leah, Jasmine, and Bea. Raising an eyebrow at Leah's words and pointed glance at Kaden, she raised her eyebrows. As she neared the edge of the ice, Luce frowned. There was a dark shadow under the ice-- what? What the fuck was that? Looking over at her sister, Luce rolled her eyes. "It's probably just a piece of driftwood." She said, though she kept her eyes focused on the strange shape.

Connor turned his head at the mention of the word 'shark', furrowing his brow. "Oh, nah, not more White Crest bullshit. It's a birthday party, bro."

Nell saw the shadow moving beneath, and for a quick second wondered whether Ma'al's tentacley ass had decided to make an appearance. Was that cult appropriate? "Maybe it's Squidward," she chuckled, remembering the demon who had lived in the lake.

Jasmine tilted her head and gave Leah a questioning look as he gaze implied Kaden wasn't cool. She barely refrained from asking about it in the moment. Instead, she smiled brightly at Jack. "It's nice to have you here as a guest." Though she did slightly prefer his stripping attire. "Mulled wine it is." She agreed with Erin and said, "They really do, but it's good to see a familiar face. How do you know the Vurals?" She laughed at the mention of there being alcohol and a stripper at a kids' party.

Remmy stopped in the middle of the rink at the mention of 'shark' and glanced around their feet. They noticed the shadow swimming around under them then over to the edge. "Is that, like-- possible? Is he okay? Do you think he's scared?" they asked, skating over to the edge back near Moose and trying to scrape away some ice with the pick of their skate. "Should we do something!?" they asked worriedly.

Kaden rolled his eyes at Leah's pointed comment towards him. What he did to piss her off other than existing, he didn't fucking know. At least he knew why Marley and Erin disliked him. That was good and earned. His brow furrowed at the mention of a fucking shark in the pond. "Only in goddamn White Crest. What is it?" he asked as he approached the ice, drink still in hand but reaching for his knife, just in case.

Bea laughed,"Are you shocked that I became friends with him? He was fun at the birthday party and I love having connections with performers." She kept her eye on the shadow, "Luce's right, it's driftwood, but I'm also right and it's a shark. Driftwood shark. Sharkwood?"

Luce glanced over at Remmy, blinking at their question. "I really don't think that it's a shark. Bea's joking. Or hitting the irish coffee too hard." As Kaden walked up, hand going to the knife on his belt, Luce scowled at him. "Stand down, Ranger Rick. It's nothing. We would have noticed if there was a damn shark in the pond." Right? They would have noticed, right?

Connor hadn't even got to the skate rental booth. He'd turned to watch what was happening with the shark. He doubted it was spiritual in nature, so an exorcist wouldn't do any good. Instead, he stood at the edge of the pond, a little ways back. "Of course Kaden's got his knife." He wasn't complaining when the guy had helped with his Snicker Snacker problem, but at a birthday party? Only in White Crest.

With everyone distracted, maybe Marley could just slip away and go home. Erin seemed to be having fun with her actual friends, anyway. The woman she was with was one Marley recognized from somewhere. Like...a post sign or an ad for something. Marley squinted at her, luckily her gaze hidden behind her glasses, but she wasn't exactly being subtle about it. She sipped her coffee and plodded a little further away, sitting near the fire pit but away from most of the others gathered around it. Where the _fuck_ did she know that woman's face from?

Nell took note of her own knives that were nearly always on her person, not pulling one out but all too willing to take a tease at Kaden despite the hypocrisy of it. "It's the only way he knows how to make friends." It was...actually somewhat true considering all the people he'd to mistakenly hunt and then befriended.

Harsh returned Leah's handshake, more than a little grateful that her gloves probably hid the fact that he was a little colder than he should have been. "Nice to meet you. If they throw a lot of parties like this, I've got to get myself invited to more." The word 'shark floating around turned Harsh's head, his brow furrowing. Well, it probably wouldn't be a White Crest party without some kind of insane nonsense. He casually sauntered a little closer to the ice, trying to catch a glimpse of the supposed shark. "Well, if it's not hurting anyone, or itself, maybe we should leave it be for a bit."

Ariana looked down at the ice and tried to decipher what was underneath it. "Doesn't look like a shark." She peered over the ice as she tried to get a better look before shrugging and deciding to skate anyway. "Come on," she motioned for Nell and Connor to join her while also laughing at the joke's at Kaden's expense.

Leah shook her head with a laugh, grinning. "Listen, I don't know why anything shocks me anymore. As long as you think he's cool and he won't give me a lap dance, I don't mind getting to know him." She tilted her head as the attention turned to a figure under the ice. "A pond shark? It's pretty unlikely". It was more likely a Selkie or a mermaid, here in White Crest. She hoped whoever froze over the pond checked for anyone alive underneath, first. She nodded at Harsh's comment. "Yes, let's let it Bea. It's probably just, uh... saying hello!"

The shadow swam another lap of the pond at unbelievable speeds, banging its tail against the ice where the crowd was.

Remmy shrugged, then, looking at Luce and then everyone else who just didn't seem to care about what was under the ice. Whatever it was, it probably was okay under there. Still a tad nervous, Remmy stood back up and skated backwards, slowly, away from Luce and towards the middle again. "Should we at least give it a little place to get out?"

Erin should have been better prepared for that question. Any which way, her connection with the Vural’s was wildly illegal. “Oh, just family friends,” she shrugged, taking a hearty sip of the mulled wine. And then another when there was sudden talk about a shark in the pond. “Sharks and strippers. Why does this feel appropriate for a Vural party?” Maybe she should have been more worried about whatever was floating down there but she couldn’t bring herself to do more than drink again. Erin glanced over at Marley and narrowed her eyes. “Are you…good?”

Connor wandered over to Jasmine, almost like a child returning to a mother's side during a time of crisis. "Hey, do they have pond sharks in White Crest?"

Jasmine vaguely noticed one of the women staring at her. It wasn't entirely uncommon, her outfit did look great. She decided to stay at the table with the alcohol at the mention of a shark in the pond. It wasn't surprising to see Harsh check it out more closely. Ever the hunter that one was. She stayed close to Bea as she had no need to see what animal was in the pond. "I don't know what it is, but I think I'll let someone else figure it out." Not a ghost, not her problem was her mentality for today. Especially with a hunter present. She still felt eyes on her so she opted to smile and wave.

Luce jumped back as the shadow moved under the ice and began to smack against the ice. "Fuck!" She swore, startled by the sudden movement and noise. Glancing over at Leah and the random dude next to her, Luce glanced around at the people who were gathered. Pond shark, or whatever the fuck it was, didn't wanna be in there. At Remmy's words, she nodded. "Yeah. That sounds like a good idea. Outta the way, people." She said before raising a hand. A small flickering blue flame appeared on the ice and began to melt through. As a hole began to form, Luce snuffed out the magic and then drove the heel of her Doc Marten into the weakened section of ice. Kicking at the ice, she broke open a small area of water and looked down at it. "Uh... shark? You there?" She asked, feeling real fucking stupid as she did.

Harsh grimaced. Alright, that probably wasn't normal. Pond sharks were one thing, but aggressive, turbo, pond sharks were probably worse. He glanced around. "Alright, maybe it's time to get off the ice." He drew a little closer, watching as Luce took charge. "We should give it some space. If it's confused, it might bite anything it gets close to."

Bea watched as she sipped her coffee. It was mainly whiskey, but she was happy with it nonetheless. Pond sharks were exciting and people seemed to be intrigued by it. "I gotta thank whoever put the shark in the pond, this is fun," She wondered if Luce did it as a surprise like Nell had hired Jack for her party.

Jasmine nodded. "Family friends, good stuff." She gave Bea a smile and explained, "I've known this lovely lady since kindergarten." Her attention turned to Connor as he approached and she gave him a pat on the shoulder, "I know the lake used to have a squid. Don't know about pond sharks."

Connor was too stupid to be scared of whatever was in the pond, and instead opted for excitedly intrigued. He sensed he was about to watch one of the Vural sisters do some magic and was thrilled at the prospect. "I love that."

"Wait, I wanna see what it is!" Nell told Ariana as she tried to skate away. "Maybe he just wants a drink..." she mused before tipping a bit of her drink onto the ice as if she were making an offering. "Here you go, Shark-Boy."

Jasmine pouted and scooted up towards the edge of the ice. "It's probably just a fish!" Maybe not in White Crest, but she wanted to skate. "Oh my god," she laughed as Nell poured out a drink on the ice. "You're really giving a whole new meaning to pouring one out for the homies."

Marley felt like her name was right on the tip of her tongue, the mystery lady at the table, but she couldn't figure it out. Grumpily, she sipped more of her coffee, finishing it off before standing up and heading over for another. While she waited, she looked at Erin, then to her companion. "I know you from somewhere, don't I?" she asked, rubbing her eyes briefly before glancing sideways at Erin. "Peachy keen," she said with a grimace, "I've got coffee and alcohol, what more could a girl want?"

Ariana pouted and scooted up towards the edge of the ice. "It's probably just a fish!" Maybe not in White Crest, but she wanted to skate. "Oh my god," she laughed as Nell poured out a drink on the ice. "You're really giving a whole new meaning to pouring one out for the homies."

Jasmine tilted her head and tried to gather if she recognized the other woman. "I don't think we've met, but I'm Jasmine. You've probably seen some of my advertisements around town." She raised her glass towards the woman and said, "Good to meet you."

Bea inched closer to the crowd, she wanted to see the shark. "Do sharks like coffee?"

Luce scowled as Nell leaned over and poured her drink into the ice. "Don't do that. You might... drown it? Can coffee drown sharks? Or is that poisoning?" She asked, looking around for anyone who might have more than a high school freshman biology background.

Adam busted in late pretty sure his ass was grass for getting 'delayed'. However when it turned out that the lady of the hour was peering as some shark circling beneath the ice, siblings and dumbasses in tow, Adam promptly decided to take a swig of birthday wine earlier

Connor couldn't hear all the conversation that was going on surrounding the shark, but he'd decided to forgo getting his skates for the time being. He put his empty bottle in the recycling and ordered another drink. "Well, whatever it is, Kaden is about to go all Crocodile Dundee on it's arse, so I'm not worried about it.”

Leah glanced toward Bea as she inched closer to the pond, pressing her lips together. "I don't think they do... but are we sure that's even a shark?", she wondered aloud. She sipped from her sangria again, she was far too sober for this.

Remmy skated over a little closer to the hole Luce had made and watched with the others, wondering what might come out of the hole. "It-- I...don't think sharks can drown, Luce," they said, a little confused. Could they? "Don't they like...breath water? They've got gills and stuff..." They looked over at Luce and Ariana, pouring stuff onto the ice and into the hole for him. "Maybe we're scaring him by all standing around. SHould we give him some space?"

"It's a shark for sure, I have a degree in this," Bea told Leah seriously, though they both knew that was a lie. "Do you think the shark can get caffeinated?" Seeing Adam, she waved,"Adam! There's a shark here!"

Jasmine took a sip of her mulled wine and looked towards Kaden. Crocodile Dundee? She trusted Harsh to handle it more if it was really needed. "Right, well, he can have fun with that then. I'll be over here enjoying my wine away from the wild life."

Adam threw up his hands and said. "People told me NOT to bring my guns to a party! What the Hell!"

Jasmine shook her head at Nell's gun nut boyfriend.

Connor had watched Adam stroll in. He hoped the guy had brought Nell a bloody good present for turning up late. She didn't seem too upset about it though. "That's Adam. He's just... special."

“Oh, I remember the squid,” Erin shook her head. Boy howdy did she ever. “Jasmine’s the one who got me set up in my apartment, actually,” she added, glancing at Marley, though it was hard to keep her attention off of the group circling the hole in the lake. Leaning against the bar, she ordered another drink. “They look like they’ve definitely got it under control.”

Luce raised an eyebrow at Adam's outburst before returning to the hole. There wasn't anything going on at the moment, but that didn't mean it wasn't gonna pop out of the ice and try and eat them or something. Poking at the water with her boot, Luce looked at Remmy. "Shark's got stage fright? I mean, I've heard weirder shit, so you might be onto something there." She said before shuffling back a bit.

One minute, Dave had been scouting out whether there was any Gryndylow in this tiny pond, beating the pond bottom with his fin to disturb whatever was down there and get a feel for it. The next, he was resurfacing and had banged his head against a lid of ice. No way in hell had it been anywhere near cold enough to freeze over the entire pond in the ten minutes he'd been down there. But it had. Dave had swum around and around, looking for any gap, and had bounced his body against it to try and break the ice until he had a headache. It was only then that he began to worry, the oxygen in his arteries slowly running out. When he'd noticed shadows moving over the ice, he'd tried to get their attention, banging on the ice. Suddenly part of the water warmed up, and he felt the ice crack through his whiskers. Dave swam up quickly, poking his heavily scarred snout out of the water to breath deeply. Imminent threat of death solved, he now had to address the seal in the room: that there shouldn't have been a seal in this pond, and that there definitely shouldn't have been a loose leopard seal on this side of the equator.

As soon as the seal's head broke the ice, a look of slight disappointment came over Nell's face. "Oh. It's a seal." A shark would have been cooler.

"Oh, yes! Right! That's where I've seen your face! On the bench outside the precinct! You're the realtor gal, Jasmine Hale," Marley said, excited suddenly, that something, finally something could come to mind without hours of sitting and thinking about it. She sighed with audible relief and grabbed her next drink, sliding up next to Erin, suddenly much less moody than before. She leaned against Erin as she held her hand out to Jasmine. "Marley Stryder. Nice to meet you. For real. You're like half a celebrity in this town, considering your face is everywhere."

Adam looked at Bea with a scowl that betrayed just a hint of disappointment that a deadly predator hadn't shown up at a social occasion. "It’s a fuckin seal.”

It struck Connor that he'd been the first to ask how Nell knew all these old people, but now he was the one hanging out with them all while the rest of them were skating. "Jas and I only met after I'd found my beach house, but she's pretty good at her job. I bet your place is sick." He turned his head at the commotion as the shark - which actually now revealed itself to be some type of giant seal - emerged from the icy water. "Don't stab it! Or shoot it!" He called, stepping closer to the ice. "Just... I dunno, let it wobble off or something."

"Well, it looked like a shark!!" Bea isn't sure why anyone believed her, but it was nice to know her influence. "Do seals like coffee? Or whiskey?"

Ariana stopped skating as she saw a seal emerge from a hole in the pond. A seal. In a pond. Was it Ricky or Skylar? She'd never actually seen them as seals before so she skated closer to the opening. She eyed Adam and Kaden to see what their reaction would be. "See, it's just a seal. No reason to not skate."

Kaden was waiting for a monster of some sort to pop out from the hole in the ice. It was absolutely the sort of thing that would happen in White Crest. When he saw a seal, a leopard seal at that, all he could say was "putain de merde." There was no reason a seal like that could be in a pond unless it was a selkie. He really should stab it. He would have a year ago. But for now, he sighed and put the knife away. "Leave the seal alone."

Harsh glanced at the weirdo yelling about guns. "Yeah, I still don't think shooting it is the best idea. But I think we should all give it some space, like they said," he noted, nodding at Remmy. His eyes went wide as a seal poked its head up out of the ice. Well, that was new. He moved closer carefully, kneeling near the open hole. "I think it's alright, but uh, I wouldn't give it any alcohol."

Luce swore as the ice was broken and a big fucking animal poked its head out of the water and huffed. "What the fuck is that thing doing in our pond?" She asked. Looking over at Nell, she realized her sister was right. It was a seal. And now Adam had figured it was a seal. Okay, apparently everyone was a fucking zoologist or whatever. "Yeah, what the pasty british kid said. No one attacked it. Just stay away from the hole and let it have room to breathe or whatever."

A seal? Wait-- it wasn't-- Remmy blinked and focused on them. No, not Skylar. Sighing with relief, they skated back over, still keeping a distance. "Umm, are you okay mister seal? Or um-- misses seal? I can't-- I don't know seal genders..." they looked over at everyone else, up to Luce, shrugging. "Maybe they got stuck? Do you need help? I think there's a river close by..." But no one else seemed to be moving to try and help the surprised looking seal. "Should we help them?"

Leah laughed at Bea, shaking her head. It was definitely not a shark, then. But a seal, which meant it was a selkie, which meant they probably needed some room to breath. "Maybe we should leave it alone", she said, agreeing with Kaden for once. She was surprised that he wasn't attacking it, didn't hunters hate selkies, too?

"Big seal," Bea observed. "I'm kind of disappointed that it wasn't a shark, but a seal is cool too." She considered her little sister's friends for a moment, before speaking to the crowd,"Don't try to pet the seal too."

Adam disappeared off to the greenhouse for a time and returned with some plywood planks. Merrily slide-swearing his way out to the pond, Adam proceeded to cover the hole so people didn't plunge in.

If Dave had been able to hear the reaction and thoughts of everyone there, he would have been offended. As Immo's most murderous character, he was definitely more dangerous than the average shark.

Connor couldn't even be upset at the pasty British kid comment, considering it was true. "Yeah, see?" He swallowed another mouthful of beer, deciding he was actually going to get his skates now. He joined the others on the ice within a few moments, but not too close to the seal-hole. "Come on, mate. Weirder shit happens in this town than pond sharks and pond seals. As long as it isn't eating anyone, it's fine." He looked over at Adam, who'd returned with some planks. "Dude, I know you're a football player or whatever, but you know seals need to breathe, right?"

As the wood covered the hole, Nell tried to pour a little more of the hot toddy through the planks of it, figuring the seal should also have a good time. "It's okay- maybe he just wants a drink."

Adam peered down at the seal whose hole he was boarding up, give him a long "Dude we gonna do this or naw?" stare.

Luce shrugged at Remmy's suggestion, shaking her head as she stared at the seal that still had its head poking out the hole. "I'm not about to try and get that thing outta here, I'd get my hand bitten off if I tried to help it out." Watching as Nell moved to pour more alcohol on the animal, Luce grabbed her sister's arm. "C'mon, don't fuck with the wildlife." She chided. "How'd you like it if someone dumped a hot toddy on your head after you got out of bed or whatever?"

Dave carefully considered his options, breathing deeply. They'd forget this, right? Regular humans would talk about the weird fish they'd seen. Just as he'd gotten enough air for half an hour, that fucking kid he'd met in the underwater cave that one time began boarding him up. I damn well saved your neck back then he thought aggressively at Adam, slowly slinking back into the water. As a hot liquid was poured on him, he jerked back in clear discomfort, diving back under the water. He'd have to wait until they fucked off before leaving.

Erin raised a skeptic eyebrow at Marley, her mood suddenly brightening. Didn’t have time to question it as the creature was revealed to be a seal. “Aw, a seal?” Wait, a seal? Her first thought went to Skylar. She doubted it was her but she started gravitating a little closer. “Jesus Christ, Nell, stop pouring alcohol on the seal!” She yelled.

"Aww, oh no," Nell said as the seal obviously didn't like her offer of a drink, not having meant to pour it on the seal. "Sorry!" she called down into the hole even after the seal had disappeared. "I can get something colder if you want?"

Adam murmured "Hey uh Nell....did you like...brain-warp this seal in here..or?"

Remmy frowned, a bit sadly, as Adam started boarding up the hole the seal was in. What if it was a selkie, like Skylar and Ricky? What if they were worried or scared? But they didn't have too much time to contemplate this, as the seal recoiled and dove back under. "Ahh, wait-- oh," they sighed, "bye seal." Waved at them before standing up again and looking down at Luce. "Are you gonna sulk by the fire pit the whole time, or?" they asked, raising a brow. "Don't tell me you don't know how to skate."

Nell considered the question for a long-moment in her inebriated state, wondering if she had actually Summoned the seal here. "...maybe? I don't think so. No- if it was me it would have been a shark. A shark would have been cooler," she lamented once again.

Kaden shouted out at Nell, "What did I say? Leave the sel-- seal. Leave the seal alone." He grumbled and went to refill his drink. He was going to need a lot more to deal with this.

Harsh rose as the gun weirdo moved to board up the hole. Well, crisis apparently averted then. He so needed a drink. Hands in his pockets, he wandered back over to the drinks table to grab something strong.

Adam gave Nell a helpless 'babe your crazy is hot but it scares me' grin and stood up to awkwardly scoot his way over to actually get some skates

Ariana kept skating around the ice and her features brightened up as she saw Adam grabbing skates. "Finally."

Bea looked over at the older crowd around her, "Do we want to get on the ice too?"

Luce looked over at Remmy, squinting as they waved "bye seal" to the weird fucking seal chilling in the pond they'd commandeered for the party. Okay then. Well, that was enough excitement she could take sober. She needed some real fucking alcohol. "I do know how to skate, but I'm sure not gonna do it when that," She gestured to the recently vacated airhole, "is swimming underneath us. Did you see those teeth? It'd fucking bite off a leg. I'm gonna drink is what I'm going to do."

Leah glanced at her friends, deciding what might be best to do. "I'll just walk on the ice, not skate. That's way less chance of me falling in, right? Walking and holding onto the side." Somehow, the drink in her hand was already empty, and a warm haze surrounded her vision.

Jasmine took another long sip of her wine and happily said, "Absolutely. Now that I know nothing in the pond will try to eat me, I'm game."

Connor skated around with Ari and Nell and Leah and now, Adam. "Are you the only one underage?" he asked Ari, giving her a little smile. "Don't worry. Fuck pre-gaming. We can post-game at my house now that it's not infested any more."

Kaden sighed. "Are you going to make me?"

Adam looked back at Connor with a frown, wondering if the infestation was ghosts or cockroaches or satan or something but decided not to ask. He tied up his skates and began breaklining across the pond, perhaps unsure of what 'casual skating' was.

Remmy shook their head. "Scaredy cat," they teased, before skating away. Moose had been following them along the outside of the pond, running back and forth, making sure to stay away from the hole. Finally, he settled into the spot next to Luce, laying down next to her as he watched Remmy skate away. They were choosing to have a good time, Luce could stay behind and be grumpy all she wanted. They skated up to Nell. "Wanna race?"

Jack was better in high heels than skates, but he got on the ice with enthusiasm. "I don't know what all the fuss was about that big fish," he said with a shrug, flexing his gorgeous muscles as he skated about with perfect grace - even when he lost his balance and fell on his ass.

Ariana knew Remmy wasn't talking to her, but couldn't resist a good race. "Hell yeah she does. I'm getting in on it, too."

Marley took another long sip, watching as everyone finally dispersed once the seal was gone and the hole was boarded up. She looked over at Erin, who had started walking towards the pond as well, yelling at Nell. "Ah, leave her alone," she said, grabbing at Erin's arm, tugging her back, "it's her birthday. Let her be crazy." Besides, she wanted Erin to stay with her. "Wanna roast marshmallows? I hear those are supposed to be good or whatever." Plus, she'd never done that before, and she kinda really wanted to try.

Connor was more than happy to join in one the race, provided they all stayed away from the hole. "Oh, I'll play too, but can I please pet your dog after? He's so cute."

Bea put on her skates and waved to all her friends. "Come on! Have some fun! See Jack is having a great time!"

Adam zipped to the far side of the pond and produced a 'flag' from the jersey under his jack, holding it up high for the races to take their places.

For the rest of the evening, Dave would periodically resurface in that tiny hole to breath, and spent the rest of his time judging everyone at their ice skating skills.

Erin winced when the muscle-y hunk of a man she could only assume to be the stripper hit the ice hard. She wanted to skate but she got the impression Marley wasn’t ready yet. “Sure, marshmallows sound good. But don’t think you’re getting out of getting out there with me,” she said pointedly before following Marley to the open fire.

Seeing Remmy come up beside her, Nell didn't hesitate to answer. "Hell yeah I do!" she echoed Ariana's sentiment. "I can start us off." Then she began a countdown. "Three...two...one...go!" On the word 'go' she didn't hesitate to playfully shove both Remmy and Ariana as she took off and Adam worked his makeshift flag, trying to get a cheap head start by throwing them off kilter. Then she called back to Erin and Marley. "Yeah! Leave me alone!" she laughed as she skated on, carefully avoiding the hole in the ice. Despite the seal, and perhaps even in conjunction with the seal, the warmth of the party had her grinning as she raced around the rink, unable to think of anything she'd trade this party, company, and seal for.

#sharks and strippers #chatzy #wickedswriting

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hms-chill · 4 years

Text

Sanctuary

Summary: In a quiet moment, Henry and Bea reflect on her addiction, its lasting effects, and the night he found her outside a London club. Lots of tears, hugs, and those good sibling vibes, complete with the reassurance that they've always got each other's backs.

Trigger warnings for references of past drug use/abuse

Henry loves days like this. He and Bea haven’t had enough time together recently, but today, their outdoor event has been tragically rained out, so they’ve sequestered themselves in the music room. Henry’s brought a book of Byron, and he’s already planning to read especially good bits aloud. Bea’s got a cross-stitch project, since, in her own words, she ‘felt stabby’. His legs are draped across her lap, and she’ll occasionally rub his knee, humming at a particularly good line. He’s just finished reading a bit as he looks up to watch her tie off a thread, then she looks around and sighs.

“Fuck, I left my threader in the other room. If you move your legs, I can—“

“Let me,” Henry says, and she smiles. She passes over the needle and thread, wiggling her fingers a bit to stretch them. It takes him a bit, his eyes crossing as he focuses on it. When it’s threaded, he hands it over with a smile and looks back to his book. Bea turns to her project again with a “thank you”, and Henry reads out a couplet before he looks up to watch her hands. She seems alright, at least as far as he can tell.

He’s sort of generally known that the cocaine affected her fine motor skills. Before she got help, they didn’t see much of each other, but once, they’d been forced to go to the same banquet. She’d come to find him as they were getting ready, and he’d been so happy to see her that he almost didn’t notice the way her eyes didn’t quite focus or the fact that she barely said hello as she stepped into his room. He’d thought maybe she was there to talk, to finally admit she needed something, anything, but instead, she’d just pulled off a cardigan and asked him to zip her up. He remembers standing there, trying to process the way her spine stood out, as she fumbled along the back of the dress. He distinctly remembers thinking that she should have been fine. He’d watched her hand find the zipper pull, but she couldn’t seem to hold it.

He’d zipped her up, and helped her put the cardigan back on, and she’d left. At the banquet that night, she’d been wearing too much clumsy eye makeup, and she might have dropped a fork before she snuck out early, leaving Henry to pretend he didn’t know what she was doing. Philip had come home the next day, and he’s not sure how much she remembers of that particular night. She’d gotten most of her fine motor skills back with therapy, and Henry’d sort of assumed that was the end of it. But suddenly, he wonders if it really was.

He’d known she bought a packet of needle threaders a few weeks after she got home from rehab. She’s used post-it tabs to help her turn pages in speeches recently. A few days ago, she’d been filling a teabag and had spilled, scattering leaves across the counter.

“Bea?” He asks after a minute, and she hums, still focused on her cross stitch. Henry’s pretty sure it’s going to say ‘fuck’, which makes him smile. “Do... if you don’t want to talk about it that’s okay, but do you still... I know you keep your sobriety chip handy and don’t drink so you don’t... and I know you’ve joked about it, but do you ever want to...”

“I do.” She’s still focused on the cloth in front of her, but her hands are still. “I... I mean, I don’t want to use, not... but it’s always sort of there. Maybe not always, not times like this. But when things get stressful, or when we’re in a club sometimes. When it would be easy, it would seem like an easy way out, to just... have everything stop for a while. But I’m fine; you don’t have to worry.”

Henry watches her face as he asks his next question, trying to judge from the set of her mouth if he’s getting too close. They have the same tells; their mouths pinch in the same place when they’re uncomfortable. Looking back at their dad’s work, they probably both got it from him. “Do... we don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want, but are there other side effects that still bother you? I looked them all up when you went to rehab, but I don’t think we ever talked about them.”

She’s still for a moment, then she sets down her hoop, one hand coming to hold Henry’s tightly. Henry just holds onto her and waits, watching her cycle through barely-noticeable stages of uncertainty before she says, “It’s... I still get the cravings. And it... I mean internally, I’m all fucked up. My heart, my gut, it... it’s all a mess in there. But other than that, I’m alright.”

“You’re sure? I just... I want to be able to help you. If I can. I don’t know, but if there’s anything like that I can do, I want to.”

Bea moves her project aside and pulls him into a hug. His arms wrap around her automatically, even as he wishes he could still see her face. He’s not sure how she’s feeling; not sure if she’s being honest or just trying to get him to relax when she says, “You don’t need to worry about me, Hen. I’m just fine.”

“I’ll... I think I’ll sort of always worry about you,” he tells her shoulder. Her hold tightens on him, but he forges on before he can let himself think that maybe he’s making her feel guilty. Maybe he should lie to her just to make sure she doesn’t feel bad for talking to him about any of this. Maybe lying would make her feel better, but they’ve promised not to lie to each other or shut each other out, not anymore. If he tells her he’s not worried, it’ll be the first step down a path he doesn’t want anything to do with, so he forges ahead. “But I’m serious; if you want to tell me, maybe I can help somehow.”

She’s quiet for a bit, petting his hair as the rain taps against the window behind them. Henry's suddenly glad they're having this conversation here, rather than in any of the big, impersonal rooms in their suite. Eventually, she says, “I... I can’t always... delayed gratification is hard. It... for so long, I’d just... I’d want to feel better and I would. Just like that. And it didn’t really matter for a while, but now that I’ve got the charity, and there are so many choices and things there that take time, and it... do you think maybe we could find something you could do there?”

“I’m sure we can find something. Maybe I can... I don’t know; we could talk through some of the more long-term decisions? And I could help you think through things a bit? Not make them for you, but just... help lay things out?”

“I’d like that,” Bea says. She lets him go, but she doesn’t pick up her embroidery hoop again. Henry watches her carefully as she rests both hands on his legs, which are still draped across her lap. After a long minute, she doesn’t look up at him, but she says, “If... you don’t have to, but if I��m completely honest, I don’t... that night you came and found me, I... I don’t think I remember everything. I remember... I remember leaving rehab, thinking that if Philip and Gran were upset then I must have been doing something right. And I remember getting into the club, but after... after I started smoking it’s... it’s all sort of hazy until you were crying. I remember you being upset, and afraid; I think that’s sort of what shook me out of it. You were afraid, and you’d said you were gay. But it’s... before that, it’s a bit of a haze.”

“Oh. Well, I... I don’t know all of it, obviously, but I can... I’ll tell you what I know?” Bea nods, still not really looking at him. She’s chewing her lip, and she’s going to hurt herself, but this isn’t a moment for him to tell her how to cope. “I... we found out when you left rehab; they called us here. Philip was... upset, so I... I was up here when you called me, mostly to be away from him. It was loud; I couldn’t hear much, but you... you were crying. So I got your phone’s location, and I... this is probably stupid, but I think I just went. It’s… It’s all sort of just a haze of worry from there; I was so scared you’d change your mind and wouldn’t let me help. I remember talking to you, trying to tell you to go outside so I could hear you, and a few minutes after you did the call just… dropped. I think your phone died or something, but I was so scared I’d done something wrong I couldn’t focus on much else. I know Shaan was with me; someone else drove and I can’t imagine I’d have asked anyone else.” He goes quiet for a bit, trying to figure out how much of the next bit she needs to know.

Does she need to know that when she saw him, round the corner and come into the alleyway at the back of the club, she’d struggled to get up to meet him? Does she need to know how sharp her ribs felt when he hugged her, or how her shoulder stabbed into his when they sat back down and she leaned against him? Should he tell her that she’d still been smoking, and he has a tiny scar on his wrist from where he’d been burned as he took the drugs away from her?

“I, um, I... found you,” he says eventually. “You were... you were in a sort of alleyway behind the club, sitting on the steps. And I... I sat beside you, and I just cried. I don’t... I’m not sure I’d cried since the funeral, but I was so scared. I didn’t know what was going to happen, to you or me or any of us. You were talking about how Philip and Gran were conspiring against you, trying to lock you away in a hospital when you didn’t need any help. I just... I don’t remember what I said, not exactly. Something about how you weren’t eating and you weren’t talking to me. I... I used to text you every day.” He’s getting choked up, his eyes fixating on where Bea’s hands rest on his legs. “I used to text you from school every day, and you never answered. So I think... I think I told you that, about how hard I’d been trying. And that didn’t work, at least not really; you were quiet but it wasn’t... you weren’t there. I don’t know how to describe it, but I knew it... that’s when I told you I was gay. I made you look at me, and I made you promise not to tell anyone, and then I said you couldn’t die because I was gay and you were all I had left.

“After that, it... I think you cried, too. You said you weren’t going to leave me, and you hugged me.” He remembers that hug as much as anything; remembers how fragile Bea felt in his arms, how she’d been shaking but had hugged him tightly anyway. “We got you into the car, and Shaan must have driven us home. I just remember holding onto you; I was... I was so scared you were going to make a break for it. We tried to sneak in, but you... you weren’t the steadiest on your feet.”

“I knocked over a... a painting, right? Knocked it off a wall? The frame broke; there’s a scar on my shin from where a piece hit me when it fell.”

“It was so loud,” Henry says, finally looking at her with a wry smile. “But it... it felt like we were kids again. We had our shoes off, and we got up here as fast as we could. You... we both fell asleep in here that night. It was the only place I could think of that felt… I don’t know, safe somehow.”

“I didn’t want to be alone,” Bea says, nodding. “I... I thought if I didn’t have you to remind me, I might try and sneak out again. You made me take the couch, and then you slept on the floor next to me so I couldn’t get out without waking you.”

Henry nods, not sure what else to say for a moment. Eventually, he says, “You texted me from rehab the next day. I don’t... you weren’t supposed to have a phone, so I don’t know how you did it, but I got it while I was on my way back to school and it made me so happy I cried.”

“I think I might have bribed a nurse. Her kid really loved princesses, and I might have pulled some strings. It’s all a bit hazy,” she says with a wink, and Henry laughs, hugging her again.

“Thank you,” she says quietly. “I... I don’t think I could have done it without you.”

“And I couldn’t have done any of the rest of it without you.”

On AO3

You ever just have a lot of feelings about Bea? And about how she very well could have lost the fine motor skills necessary to play the guitar? And then you get really emotional about it? Me neither

Want to support the Hannah Makes Art fund? You can tip me in ko-fi here!

#rwrb fanfic #rwrb #henry fox mountchristen windsor #bea fox mountchristen windsor #red white and royal blue fanfic #red white and royal blue #my fic: rwrb

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pechadream · 3 years

Text

Battling With You.

Pairing: Machampshipping (Korrina [15] x Bea [16])

Category: Hurt/Comfort (I guess???), Light angst, Oneshot.

Prompt: Locker room confessions.

Word count: 1677

Author's note: @bastartjack gave me this idea so I'm writing this instead of sleeping, I also have not written fanfictions in like, possibly a year, so take that as you will-

Anyways,

Enjoy!

Bea grumbled as she entered the empty locker room after being defeated yet again by Raihan and Leon. This time Korrina, her friend all the way from kalos who joined her in battle, had to watch her be humiliated in front of so many people.

Bea grabbed her bag and searched for her phone, hoping she could just leave before the tournament ends so she could train more to get her mind off it, and also so she doesn't have to face any interviewers, she was great when it came to putting on a straight face and not showing her emotions to them, but she didn't know if she could do that in front of Korrina... Her friend...

She let out a soft amused laugh thinking of that. 'Friend'. Oh who was she kidding. She knew she felt more than that towards Korrina, she just couldn't face the truth. She felt scared, for once, that Korrina won't feel the same way or just wouldn't accept her sexuality all together... She couldn't lose her friend over something over something as stupid as a little crush, she won't let that happen. Besides, what if Korrina does accept, what then? What would the public do... Would their titles be ruined as gym leaders? What if-

"Bea! Oh thank arceus that I found you! I was looking for you!"

Bea jolted, almost dropping her bag from the sudden noise, and looked over to see Korrina skating over. Korrina noticed after getting closer that something was wrong. "Are you okay? Your face is red, and your eyes are teary..." Crap. How did she not notice she was tearing up. "I-I'm okay, I just..." Bea tried to find the right words and quickly looked away, wiping the tears away as fast as she could.

Korrina's face softened to a small comforting smile as she held Bea's hand. "Hey... Wanna talk about it...? Is it about the match...?". Bea bit her lip and shook her head, then looked at Korrina. "It’s not about th... well... I-I mean I guess it kinda is? I don't know...".

Korrina led Bea to a bench and sat them both down. "Did I do something wrong, Bea?" "W- nononono! You didn't! 's just... how do I say this..." Bea mumbled to herself and started thinking about what to say. Or if she should even confess.

‘I might as well just get this over with.’

Bea let out a sigh as Korrina just sat there and watched silently. Bea waited a few seconds before she softly spoke up.

"I... I'm not really good with stuff like... this... so just... let me explain... can you... can you just... Promise to not be mad at me..." Bea couldn't even look at Korrina in the eyes, she just stared at the floor. "I promise." Korrina held Bea's hands and watched as Bea started to speak up.

"I... I know I made us lose out there... and I'm sorry.".

Korrina stared at Bea with a blank expression, "Bea, you didn't make us lose... they're just really strong trainers, Bea! You did great out there..." Korrina stated firmly.

"N-No I just... Please... Let me finish...." Bea took a deep breath and continued. "'S just... there's been something on my mind... y-you see... I'm not... 'good'... with people. Never have been. So, naturally, I'm not good at multi battles either... Except with you... You're different. For those battles we won it felt... Amazing... We did lose at the end, and that was awful, don’t get me wrong!... But at the same time, being able to battle with you... It feels so right and... Comfortable."

Bea's voice started getting back to her normal tone, starting to feel much more confident than before. She looked at Korrina, and god... She was beautiful... A light pink blush dusted her cheeks and ears, with her soft golden hair out of the ponytail she normally keeps it in. her mouth in a soft smile as her eyes sparkle while she listens to Bea.

"I guess... What I'm trying to say is... I.. I love you, Korrina..." Bea finished, feeling much better than before. Korrina's smile grew bigger as she took a few seconds to process what Bea said. Bea also processed what she had said and quickly looked away; her face more flushed than it had ever been in her entire life. Bea started to panic, thoughts rushing through her head.

'Oh arceus! Why did I say that!? What if she doesn't feel the same way?! WHY DID I SAY THAT!?! WHAT IF SHE HATES ME!? WHAT IF-'

Korrina softly cupped Bea's cheek with one hand and turned Bea's head so she looked at her, snapping Bea out of her train of thought, after a few seconds Korrina smiled and spoke; "I love you too, Bea...". Bea couldn't believe what was happening, Korrina loves her... Korrina loves her!

Bea started to tear up, unlike last time, these were tears of joy. "Huh- Bea...? Are you okay?" Korrina asked softly, wiping Bea's tears away. "Y-Yeah... 'm okay, I-I just... I'm so happy you feel the same way..." Bea let out a choked sob that was mixed with a laugh.

"I... To be honest... I thought... You might've just not wanted to be friends anymore... Or you would be disgusted by me..." Bea confessed, her voice was low and hoarse. "Wh- Bea I would never!" Korrina exclaimed, obviously not expecting Bea to say something like that. "Even if I didn't feel the same way I wouldn't be 'disgusted', it would maybe possibly be slightly awkward for a few days, but I wouldn't hate you!". "Well I d- well I knew you wouldn't- Argh! I don't know what I was thinking, okay?"

"Okay, okay! Well it's not like you have to worry anymore since I feel the same way anyways, right?" Korrina smiled at Bea and held her hands close.

"Right..."

"So uh... Are... Are we a 'thing' now? O-Or are we supposed to have like.. A date or something? I've never actually done this before...". Bea was totally red in the face by now, but she could care less, all she could focus on was the beautiful girl that's in front of her.

Korrina laughed softly, "How about you pick me up tomorrow at five? I heard there's a festival at turffield! They might even have roller skating there as well! I can teach you!" Korrina suggested with a big grin on her face. "Sounds perfect... We should probably go shower since there's sand in our hair though." Bea brushed some sand out of Korrina's hair with her hand. "Oh- Right!" Korrina stood up and went to the showers, leaving Bea behind in the locker room.

Bea quickly grabbed her phone and cleared tomorrow’s schedule, postponing the interviews she might've had, and not taking over the gym that day, she reminded herself that she'll have to apologize to Allister for that one... She quickly shook off that thought and went to go shower.

In the shower she kept thinking of what to do; ‘What am I gonna wear?' 'Should I bring her a gift?' 'Maybe I can ask Milo for some help getting the flowers!' 'Wait does she even like flowers-' 'Oh arceus what if she's allergic?' 'What if she hates flowers!?' 'WHAT IF SHE'S ALLERGIC A N D HATES FLOWERS-'. And other normal calm stuff like that.

She dried off after a good ol' panic in the shower and got out, after Bea got dried off and dressed she went out back to the locker room and saw a clean, visibly tired, Korrina waiting at the bench where they were at before. Bea walked over and sat down next to her. "Hey", Bea said in a soft voice. Korrina gave a tired smile "Hi...". Korrina just naturally cuddled against Bea and nuzzled her face into the crook of her neck. Bea tensed up a bit. "Korrina someone might see..." Bea mumbled.

Korrina lazily looked up at Bea. "it... it's fine... they're all still battling... just a few minutes... please? I’m really tired..." Bea stared for a few seconds then sighed. "Fine... just a few minutes.". "woooo...!" Korrina let out tired giggles and started falling asleep. Bea rested her head against Korrina's and closed her eyes.

'Just a few minutes won't hurt...'.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Mmmhn..." Bea grumbled as she woke up, Korrina still resting against her. All the lights were out, and there was something heavy on her. She grabbed her phone and turned it on, being blinded by the light for a few seconds. "... Oh, you've got to be kidding me." She muttered under her breath as she stared at the screen,

It was ten pm. five hours later than when they first fell asleep.

Bea softly groaned in annoyance, then looked at what that heavy thing was on her and Korrina.

Leon's obnoxious cape.

"Oh, you've g o t to be kidding me!" Bea repeated, whisper yelling this time. Great! Now the former champion, who is also her new boss, AND her coworker know about her and Korrina. And it just had to be Raihan out of all of them! It just had to! Well, it's not like Raihan would just out her, he's not like that.

But when she eventually does come out, oh boy... He's going to have a field day with that one. Just like how he did with Gordie and Milo. How does he even get in these situations so often!? Oh god there's also that gym leader meeting coming up-- Oh whatever, she has other things to worry about.

Bea stared at her phone for a few seconds, then looked at Korrina, she bit her lip and paused, thinking about it for a few seconds, then softly spoke.

"Rotom? Set an alarm for six am."

After checking if it was set and going through her notifications, possibly also sending a vaguely threatening text to Raihan, she laid down on the bench with Korrina next to her.

Slowly falling asleep once again, with Korrina in her arms.

#My writing #Pokemon bea #Gym leader bea #Pokemon korrina #Gym leader korrina #Ship fic #Machampshipping #Pokemon swsh #Pokemon #Korrina is just making bea a flustered mess 😔#it's been awhile since I've actually seen korrina in game-#so she might actually be out of character--#o o p-#bea acts all serious then korrina just walks in like 'h ey' and bea just melts #that's it #that's the dynamic #and I love it-#Bea might have a bit of anxiety as well-#who knows at this point-

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cloud9in · 3 years

Text

Driving lessons

Pairing: Mc x Poppy

Summary: It’s Senior year in high school and Bea decides to ask Poppy to teach her how to drive. Its free, convenient, and well the only thing she has to deal with is her big fat crush on her supposed enemy.

Pt 2: here

Word Count: 2.6k

Notes: These two bicker.. a lot. Driving and teenage shenanigans are up ahead.

Tags; @samanthadalton @satrinadia @kamilahsayeet2063 and some Poppy stans: @clowneryme @baexpoppy

“Are your hands clean?”

Bea turned to Poppy, a confused look on her face. “I’m sorry what?” The blonde stared at her emotionless before huffing dramatically. “Oh don’t give me that look, I just got the interior cleaned and I will not risk your crummy hands ruining it!”

The moon was just starting to appear as the girls stood outside in a deserted parking lot. Poppy had agreed to teach Bea the basics of driving after the brunette consistently bugged her for weeks. She initially said no, because there was no way in hell that a Min-Sinclair like her would be caught helping the poor. The blonde questioned why Bea would even think that she’d say yes, but she did, eventually.

The truth is, Bea has been trying to get the blonde’s attention for quite a while now. But that’s almost impossible because Poppy avoids the brunette any second she’s not throwing insults at the girl with her minions in the crowd. Was she afraid? Bea didn’t miss those subtle side glances and lingering touches when the blonde would push her in the hallway. So ultimately, Bea made it her mission to get Poppy alone and really talk...well that and she needed her license. So why not kill two birds with one stone?

***

She knew just how to push Poppy’s buttons, and being bold in public was one way of doing it.

Bea strided confidently up the bleachers where the cheerleaders were lounging. She stopped directly in front of Poppy and put her leg up on the step, one hand leaning on the railing. Poppy arched a perfectly trimmed eyebrow as the other girls around looked to each other in confusion.

Bea only stood there with a smirk as she eyed the blonde with a twinkle of mischief in her eyes.

“...Farmsville what the hell are you looking at?”

“You obviously...are you blind?”

The cheerleaders all erupted with tiny snickers that only earned a killer sneer from Poppy. The blonde stood up abruptly, smoothing the front of her skirt and tilting her head to look up at Bea. The look in her eyes could probably dissolve the brunette whole, but she didn’t back down. They stood there for a few seconds, Bea watched Poppy’s gaze drop down to her lips, and then to her arms that were exposed by her sleeveless jersey. She grinned wolfishly before the blonde pulled her down the stairs by her elbow.

Poppy had brought Bea to a secluded spot behind the gym, pushing her against the wall.

“I don’t know what your game here is Hughes but-“

“Game? What game? I just wanted to talk to you about the drivin-”

“Talk? We don’t talk! Ever. So enough of this. You are not supposed to speak to me in front of them like you know me. You and me Bea” Poppy gestures in the open space between them, “we are not friends. I don’t know what gave you the bright idea to ask me to help you! Seriously, do I look like I give out charity?”

Bea looked Poppy up and down. “No...but you look damn good in that uniform.”

The blonde’s eyes widen, a scarlet blush flooding her cheeks. She falters slightly before straightening up again. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“I can’t drive.”

“W-What?”

Bea pressed her back fully against the brick wall, gesturing in the small space between them. “You asked what the hell is wrong with me so I told you-“

The blonde nearly jumps out of her suit as she smacks a hand to her forehead in frustration. “You imbecile that is not what I meant!”

An awkward wave of silence fills the air as the two girls stand there staring at each other. Eventually, Bea breaks into a fit of laughter which prompts Poppy to glare at her. “Why the fuck are you laughing?”

She holds onto her stomach, wiping a tear from her eye. “Well first off you’re as red as a tomato. And secondly, we are arguing in an alleyway about driving lessons. Why’s that? I never knew you to back down from a challenge. I bet that you’re only saying no because you know you’ll fail to teach me.”

Poppy scoffs amusingly, inching towards Bea’s frame against the wall. “Are you underestimating me Hughes?” The brunette only shrugs, a neutral look on her face as she held her breath. Don’t mess this up now Bea.

With a sigh and final once-over, Poppy turns and heads back in the direction of the gym, stopping to look back at Bea after a few steps.

“Meet me at the parking lot behind Kyle’s Diner. 7pm sharp.”

Score!

***

Well now Bea had got what she wanted. They were alone. But Poppy was far from letting her walls down, and their constant bickering didn’t contribute greatly to her plans. After sanitizing her hands (for the third time), Poppy finally let her sit in the driver's seat as the car was set in park.

“Um remind me again, why are we doing this at night and in an expensive looking car…?”

The blonde rolls her eyes with irritation. This was going to be a recurring theme Bea thought to herself. “Okay first off, no one is supposed to know that I’m gifting you with my presence...hence the night sky. I thought that was given.” Poppy points to the sky matter-of-factly. “...and this is a Mercedes Benz. Do you think I sit in a fucking wagon and have one of my minions push me?”

Bea smiled to herself as she tried not to crack up at the thought of Chloe pushing Poppy down a steep hill. At least the blonde has a sense of humor, and that was one of many things that made Bea adore her, even if she was a bitch.

“Well I just don’t want to crash something as nice as this-“

“You aren’t going to crash it period” Poppy calmly states, a certain hidden edge to her voice. She looks over at Bea who catches her eyes, and if the brunette wasn’t intimated before, boy was she now. “If you do crash it, I’ll feed you to the wolves, it’s that simple. You got it Farmsville?”

Bea puffs out a breath of air and shrugs. This was going to be a long night.

Poppy taught her how to ease into using the brakes and accelerator, when to switch the gear shift, and most importantly, using the rear and side view mirrors. Bea drove two laps in the vacant lot and on the third one she managed to park perfectly in one the spaces. Poppy had the urge to praise her for not fucking it up so early on, in fact Bea was close to perfect. The blonde had begun to wonder if she really needed help, or was this just an excuse? Her heart skipped a beat at the thought of Bea...wanting to spend time with her. Poppy didn’t want to indulge in her feelings but she couldn’t just blatantly ignore the obvious. She’s a Min-Sinclair and is always sure of what she wants. But not when it came to Bea…Was this how it felt like to have a crush? There was no way in hell that she could fall for a girl like Bea. But then again, the blonde was sitting in the passenger seat watching her intently. She noticed how Bea’s face would scrunch with confusion when mentioning the functions on the dashboard. Poppy wanted to hold her hand and rub out the tension. She wanted to reassure and tell her how amazing she was doing, but of course pride stood in the way. Was pride worth it though? She started to believe it wasn’t when it came to Bea.

“Let's go for one more spin around the lot and then I’ll remove myself from your crème brûlée seats”, Bea voices sarcastically, a small grin on her face as she peered over at Poppy. The blonde rolls her eyes but nods happily. She didn’t want it to be just one more lap, and Bea sure as hell felt the same, but communication wasn’t a practiced skill of theirs.

The brunette reversed out of the space and started accelerating around the lot.

“Bea, make sure you always check the side view mirrors before you pull out.”

Bea shot a cocky sideways glance at the blonde, well this is new.

“Did you just call me...by my name? Like my name, Bea? No Farmsville or Hughes, or dumbass-“

“Okay! okay I think it’s pretty clear by now”

“What? That you have so many names for me?”

Poppy huffs with a start, pinching her eyebrows together as blood rushes to her cheeks in embarrassment. “You don’t ever shutup do you?”

Bea just laughs brightly, increasing her speed slightly as she gets more comfortable. “Just remember what I said about the side mirrors, don’t make me repeat it.”

“You’re so demanding you know?”

Poppy smirks in response, her finger reaching up to twist a golden lock. “Is that really news to you?”

“Well no...maybe I just like it when you talk to me like that.”

Bea knew she was pushing it, but every inch of her body felt like it was on fire. She wanted to say more, do more, but would Poppy like that? They had made so much progress and both girls would be dumb to not see a spark between them. “...Just keep your eyes on the road.”

Well that was something right? At least she didn’t yell at me, Bea thought. Without overthinking it, the brunette takes one hand off the steering wheel and intertwines it with Poppy’s hands. They were much smaller and incredibly soft. Bea felt like she was walking on thin ice, yet the blonde’s touch seemed to steady her. She squeezed a little tightly, rubbing a finger on Poppy’s knuckle soothingly. A burst of joy shot through Bea’s body as the blonde pulled away, only to set her hand on top of Bea’s, tracing ghostly patterns. They sat there like that for the rest of the lap until Poppy pointed in the distance. “You see those spaced out cones over there? Maneuver through them until you stop at the pole.”

Bea didn’t complain, even if the task seemed ridiculous. She wanted to spend more time with Poppy, so whatever. “What do I get if I succeed?”

“Satisfaction that you weren’t a complete failure today? Get a move on, we don’t have all night!” Typical Poppy.

Bea had managed to avoid hitting the cones, glancing over to see a hidden, but impressed look on Poppy’s face. She wanted to show off just a little, pressing her foot on the accelerator with a little more force as she navigated through the obstacles. Unbeknownst to either girl, there was a pothole upcoming on the ground and Bea sunk violently into it before popping back up.

“Bea! Watch out for the-“

But she couldn’t secure her hold on the steering wheel quick enough. The car screeched loudly as Bea stomped on the brakes, steering the car to the left as they hit the pole. Poppy had jumped as far as the seat belt would let her, her hand reaching out to shield the brunette from any impact. The crash shook the whole car, and felt very very expensive. Bea sat paralyzed in her seat, her breathing quick and shallow as she surveyed the scene. She was relieved that they didn’t rip through the pole...or were impaled by it. Bea shifted abruptly, turning to scan the other girl for injuries. She clutches onto Poppy’s arm, a pained look on her face. “You’re not hurt are you?”

Poppy waited for her heart to stop beating out of her chest, as she looked from Bea to the wreck. In one swift motion she punches the brunette in the shoulder before stepping out of the car. “Ow! What the hell…” Bea follows after her, stumbling out the car as she rubbed at the tender spot. The blonde looked at the front of her car in horror. The glass was completely shattered, the Benz symbol was dangling off the edge, and the whole fender was completely damaged. “Hughes what the fuck?! You- Look at my car! Daddy is gonna kill me…”

Bea felt her heart drop into the pit of her stomach. Back to square one huh? She cautiously paced towards the seething blonde, both hands in a defensive hold in front of her just in case Poppy decided to throw hands. Just in case.

Poppy snapped her head in the brunette's direction, ready to chew her out until she noticed blood dripping from her forehead. Her face fell, the anger draining out rapidly. “Bea you’re hurt…” Bea looked at her in confusion until she felt the warm liquid dripping onto her nose. She reached up quickly, wiping the blood

that wouldn’t stop pouring from the open wound. “It’s nothing! I can barely feel it-“

“Stop it. Here let me see.”

Bea watched as Poppy stepped closer, reaching her finger to gently prod at the now stinging wound. She blew a breath of hot air onto the area and it was almost enough to make Bea melt. She had never seen this side of Poppy, and it made her spiral deeper into the pool of feelings she had developed for the blonde. “You need to go to the hospital right now, come on I’ll take you”, Poppy hurriedly spoke.

“But what about the car?”

“Is the car bleeding out on the fucking sidewalk? I’ll call triple A and they’ll come get it….and I’ll deal with the consequences later.”

Bea broke out into a grin, watching the blonde worry about her, even if she wouldn’t admit it. It was certainly refreshing. Her smile quickly faltered though. If Poppy took her to the hospital would she leave her there? Would this be the last time they talked? Poppy had a habit of avoiding her. Bea started to panic, this couldn’t be the end. Poppy had pulled her arm along as they trudged away from the wreck. But Bea stopped suddenly, yanking Poppy by her arm until they were face to face.

“Go on a date with me.”

“What?!”

“You heard me. I will not go to the hospital unless you agree to go on a date with me.”

Poppy stood there dumb-founded. Bea was full of surprises wasn’t she? “Are you saying that you’ll bleed out in the middle of this lot if I say no?”

“Yes.”

“You are….un-fucking-believable. A lunatic I might add. Hell even a madwoman. Let’s go, I’m taking you to a mental hospital instead.”

Bea grabs Poppy by the waist as she attempts to walk away. She pulls her even closer against her than they were before, a smug grin settling on her face. “Only if you go out with me. You can pick the time and place.”

She looks at the blonde with doe eyes and that winning smile. Poppy sighs as her breath shakes at their close proximity. She was close enough to kiss her, and no one would know. Poppy couldn’t deny that this is exactly what she wanted. Now that she was in the same position she had constantly day dreamed about, the air seemed heavier. But it felt right. And so she said yes. Because she knew what she wanted.

“Let's get you some medical attention first though, can’t go on a date with a corpse.”

Bea did internal jumping jacks as she pumped a fist in the air.

Score!

#playchoices #queen b #poppy min sinclair #poppy x mc #mc x poppy #so of course if you wanna be added to the taglist lemme know #I kinda presumed Bea played basketball in highschool tbh #fits the cliche

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pop-culturereference · 4 years

Text

Like We Were Before

a fic for Dickbabs week 2020 day 1: history

Summary: Babs and Dick, what things were like before, what they’re like now, and how they’ll be in the future. Because Rebirth is frustrating and I’m never sure what the characters do and don’t remember.

The night was settled and smooth, with streetlamp light seeping through the blinds of her apartment. Babs and Dick had dragged themselves in after a night of high-energy crime fighting and immediately shaken off the Nightwing and Batgirl getup to run it through the washer. Babs had been waiting up to switch it to the dryer, and now that that was done, she could go to bed. Dick was haphazardly sprawled on her bed like a pair of discarded socks. She pressed her lips together against a smile. Even while he was drooling on her pillow, he was so completely him that she couldn’t help but find him adorable.

Babs lightly shifted him over to his side to make space for herself on the bed. She didn’t have a couch in her new apartment yet, so if she wanted to sleep at all, she’d have to share the bed with Dick, she told herself. But, the soft stillness of the night made her honest enough to admit to herself that she didn’t mind. It was nice.

“Babs?” Dick asked softly.

“Yeah?”

“I can sleep on the floor if you want.”

“No, I don’t mind.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. Seriously, don’t worry about it. I only shoved you over because you were taking up a little too much space. You’re like…an invasive plant species, taking over my bed like-“

“Hey!” Dick was more awake now.

“No, no, hear me out,” Babs cut in before he could object. “Like, you just sprawl everywhere, but it’s not bad. You’d be a GOOD invasive plant. Like morning glories, or ivy.”

“Ugh. Not ivy, ever,” Dick muttered into the pillow.

“Gotcha, morning glory.” Babs tugged the blanket up and rested her arms above her head. She relaxed into the mattress and breathed deeply.

It was a good night. There was a reaching peace inside her, the kind that usually came after a light workout that relieved aches and worries, and before a day with no obligations. She stared up at the ceiling and played with that thought. That was becoming more common, as of late. She couldn’t remember a time in her life when she’d been so consistently happy.

She had recently climbed out of a rough patch. Her mind had been a jumble of conflicting memories. Or, rather, it still was, but now she was starting to make sense of them. Before, it had felt like two different versions of Barbara Gordon were trying to reconcile with one another. She’d been in constant turmoil. She didn’t know which memories to believe and to act on. Which Barbara remembered Lady Blackhawk? Was Cassandra Cain ever Batgirl? Was Babs being selfish by keeping that from her now? Which of Tim’s personalities was the real one?

Eventually, she had put it together, piece by piece. It was like everything happened in a timeline. First, she had been permanently in a wheelchair. Then, all of a sudden, she was walking and running and Batgirl-ing again, with no explanation. It had made no sense, but at least it fit together nicely.

Babs tried to return to the contentment she had been feeling. With a sigh, she rolled to her side, leaving her facing Dick’s back. Did he ever think about things like this? Most people didn’t realize anything was different in their memories, but she’d learned that most heroes had the same issues she did. Dick probably had an even more jumbled mess than she did. His hair poked out funny over the bullet scar, and she itched to run her thumb over it. After a few more seconds of the itch, she slowly reached out and tenderly smoothed his hair.

She felt a tingling current. She used to do this, before, but it had been so long since she and Dick had been so close. Back then,

he hadn’t had a bullet scar, and she’d been a little bit more in love with the world. Did Dick remember that?

Her breath caught when she remembered that he was right next to her and she could ask him if she really wanted to.

“Hey…Dick?”

“Mm hmm?

“What do you… remember?”

Well, that was vague.

“In the sense that…do you feel like you’ve lived two lives? Are your memories all…split?”

Dick rolled over to face her and blinked at her. “Hmm. Yeah. I’m not a huge fan.” He curled in to bring the blanket up to his chin and his head lower on the pillow so their faces were level. It made Babs feel like they were kids again, curled up and close. Dick sighed. “It’s been awhile since my brain made any sense at all,” he said with a rueful laugh. And sometimes, all I can remember is the bad stuff, like, the crime syndicate.”

Babs took a sharp breath as a memory suddenly flashed through her: Dick, chained up and tortured, secret identity revealed.

Apparently Dick was more used to that memory than she was, because he kept talking, his words picking up momentum.

“What’s crazy is that I actually remember more since I got a bullet to the head. When…I remembered…I had all these memories, and I didn’t realize I didn’t have them before until a few days later. It was- I- I was thinking about you, actually, and I remembered something that I knew I didn’t even know before.” Dick squinted. It was something they both did when they were thinking hard- as if squinting pointed their eyes at their thoughts.

Dick used to visit her from Blüdhaven—that was from Memory Timeline #1. He’d swing into the clocktower window. She’d usually be doing Oracle work, and he’d bring her something- usually coffee or pastries- along with a hacking request. He’d start working on one of his own cases, but they’d ask each other for help and usually both end up working on the same one. She would realize she was squinting, then look over at Dick and he’d be doing the same thing. “You’re doing the squinting thing,” she’d say with a grin, and he’d say, “Don’t act like you weren’t doing the squinting thing just a minute ago, oh high and mighty Oracle.”

She laughed and told Dick, “Hey, Boy Wonder, you’re doing the squinting thing.”

He broke his squint with a laugh. “What ever happened to ‘Hunk Wonder?’ Have I been downgraded?”

Her heart skipped a beat. He remembered, then.

“We-“

“Some-“

They started speaking at the same time.

“You first,” Babs said.

Dick sighed. “Sometimes I wish I could go back.” She expected him to wistfully stare off into the distance as he elaborated, but instead he looked straight into her eyes and held her gaze, waiting for her to say something.

“Things were better,” she solemnly agreed.

“You were in a wheelchair!” Instead of sounding puzzled by her agreement, Dick sounded sounded teasing.

Babs took this as a good sign, and, without letting herself think her way out of it, quickly worked around the knot in her throat to say softly, “We were engaged.”

Dick nodded, not breaking her gaze. “That’s why I wish I could go back.” Before Babs could say anything, his next words tumbled out in a rush. “When I remembered, I was still with Bea. I did love her, and she’ll always be special to me, but I couldn’t stop thinking about you, Babs. I remembered how we were before, and I compared it to how I was at the time. I was slowly, slowly getting back to how I was before the brain injury, but I realized I didn’t like who I was even before I got shot. I was a flake. I got too absorbed in myself to care about what was going on around me. I made stupid decisions and then refused to admit any responsibility or fault.”

Babs laughed. “Well, look at you, a new man already, taking responsibility and admitting fault at the same time.”

“I was dealing with a lot. I’m not trying to make excuses, but I had a lot on my plate. I was tortured to death, brought back to life, Bruce convinced me to fake my death, Damian was dead, then he wasn’t, everyone hated me for pretending to be dead, and then when I finally started to get things figured out, boom. Bullet to the brain.”

Babs opened her mouth, but Dick cut her off before she could say anything.

“I don’t like talking about it, and that’s all I’m going to say. Moving on. Anyway, I realized that I was not happy like that. I didn’t feel like myself. And I realized… I feel the most like myself when I’m with you.” He kept his gaze on hers expectantly.

“Dick- I-“ she started, but she couldn’t choose what to say. After a breath, she tried again. “This isn’t going to be nearly as sweet and sappy as what you just said, but thank you, everything you said means a lot. Wow. I-” She had to take a break to get her voice under control and to quickly blink her teary eyes. She was smiling now. She kept trying to bring her lips together to push it away, but it was hopeless.

“When I’m with you, I feel content. Like, right now, I’m thinking, how long has it been since I felt so at peace, and so happy with my life? And I realized, oh, it’s actually been this way a lot recently. The last time I felt this was actually last week, when we were tracking Mudman through the sewers together and you kept squealing whenever you saw a rat. Even the most disgusting thing is good if you’re there.”

Babs didn’t feel dumb about smiling anymore, because Dick had an equally corny grin on his face. He shifted closer and put his head on Babs’s pillow. “I love you,” he whispered.

Babs tangled her legs with his and brought up an arm to twist his hair with her fingers. “Let’s get engaged. Again,” she said.

“Barbara Gordon, did you just propose to me? In your pajamas?”

“So what if I did, Hunk Wonder?”

“Well,” he said with a sly grin and scooted closer to her under the covers. “I’m not complaining, if it gets me promoted to Hunk Wonder. I’ll be the perfect trophy husband. When you get elected president, everyone will say I’m the handsomest first man the nation has ever seen.”

“Is that a yes? We’re not even dating,” she pointed out.

Dick got serious again as he said, “Babs, I don’t need to date you again to know that I’m 100% certain. You’re my best friend, isn’t that what everyone says? You should marry your best friend? Plus, it helps that every time I see you, I want to sweep you off your feet like in some sappy romance movie and kiss you.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Do it then, you coward.”

Later, as Dick’s heartbeat and his arms around her lulled her to sleep, Babs let go of her longing for the past and was carried off by dreams of the future.

#dickbabsweek #dickbabsweek 2020 #dickbabs #fic #fanfiction #batfamily #nightwing #batgirl #dick grayson #barbara gordon #batfic #the writing is clumsy but my heart is in the right place #i just wanted them to impulsively get engaged okay dont @ me #this is the sappiest thing ive ever written in my entire life.#pseudocanon #in which the story is technically based on canon #but how i wish it were instead of how it is #i'm also gonna post this on ao3 #and i don't think babs has called dick hunk wonder since pre52 but i may be wrong.

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papermoonloveslucy · 3 years

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SECRETARIAL SCHOOL

February 18, 1949

“Secretarial School” (aka “Liz Attends Claremont Business School”) is episode #31 of the radio series MY FAVORITE HUSBAND broadcast on February 18, 1949 on the CBS radio network.

Synopsis ~ George needs a new secretary, so Liz enrolls in secretarial school so she can fill the position.

“My Favorite Husband” was based on the novels Mr. and Mrs. Cugat, the Record of a Happy Marriage (1940) and Outside Eden (1945) by Isabel Scott Rorick, which had previously been adapted into the film Are Husbands Necessary? (1942). “My Favorite Husband” was first broadcast as a one-time special on July 5, 1948. Lucille Ball and Lee Bowman played the characters of Liz and George Cugat, and a positive response to this broadcast convinced CBS to launch “My Favorite Husband” as a series. Bowman was not available Richard Denning was cast as George. On January 7, 1949, confusion with bandleader Xavier Cugat prompted a name change to Cooper. On this same episode Jell-O became its sponsor. A total of 124 episodes of the program aired from July 23, 1948 through March 31, 1951. After about ten episodes had been written, writers Fox and Davenport departed and three new writers took over – Bob Carroll, Jr., Madelyn Pugh, and head writer/producer Jess Oppenheimer. In March 1949 Gale Gordon took over the existing role of George’s boss, Rudolph Atterbury, and Bea Benadaret was added as his wife, Iris. CBS brought “My Favorite Husband” to television in 1953, starring Joan Caulfield and Barry Nelson as Liz and George Cooper. The television version ran two-and-a-half seasons, from September 1953 through December 1955, running concurrently with “I Love Lucy.” It was produced live at CBS Television City for most of its run, until switching to film for a truncated third season filmed (ironically) at Desilu and recasting Liz Cooper with Vanessa Brown.

REGULAR CAST

Lucille Ball (Liz Cooper / “Jenny Smith”) was born on August 6, 1911 in Jamestown, New York. She began her screen career in 1933 and was known in Hollywood as ‘Queen of the B’s’ due to her many appearances in ‘B’ movies. With Richard Denning, she starred in a radio program titled “My Favorite Husband” which eventually led to the creation of “I Love Lucy,” a television situation comedy in which she co-starred with her real-life husband, Latin bandleader Desi Arnaz. The program was phenomenally successful, allowing the couple to purchase what was once RKO Studios, re-naming it Desilu. When the show ended in 1960 (in an hour-long format known as “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour”) so did Lucy and Desi’s marriage. In 1962, hoping to keep Desilu financially solvent, Lucy returned to the sitcom format with “The Lucy Show,” which lasted six seasons. She followed that with a similar sitcom “Here’s Lucy” co-starring with her real-life children, Lucie and Desi Jr., as well as Gale Gordon, who had joined the cast of “The Lucy Show” during season two. Before her death in 1989, Lucy made one more attempt at a sitcom with “Life With Lucy,” also with Gordon.

Richard Denning (George Cooper) was born as Louis Albert Heindrich Denninger Jr., in Poughkeepsie, New York. When he was 18 months old, his family moved to Los Angeles. Plans called for him to take over his father’s garment manufacturing business, but he developed an interest in acting. Denning enlisted in the US Navy during World War II. He is best known for his roles in various science fiction and horror films of the 1950s. Although he teamed with Lucille Ball on radio in “My Favorite Husband,” the two never acted together on screen. While “I Love Lucy” was on the air, he was seen on another CBS TV series, “Mr. & Mrs. North.” From 1968 to 1980 he played the Governor on “Hawaii 5-0″, his final role. He died in 1998 at age 84.

Ruth Perrott (Katie, the Maid) was also later seen on “I Love Lucy.” She first played Mrs. Pomerantz (above right), a member of the surprise investigating committee for the Society Matrons League in “Pioneer Women” (ILL S1;E25), as one of the member of the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League in “Lucy and Ethel Buy the Same Dress” (ILL S3;E3), and also played a nurse when “Lucy Goes to the Hospital” (ILL S2;E16). She died in 1996 at the age of 96.

Bob LeMond (Announcer) also served as the announcer for the pilot episode of “I Love Lucy”. When the long-lost pilot was finally discovered in 1990, a few moments of the opening narration were damaged and lost, so LeMond – fifty years later – recreated the narration for the CBS special and subsequent DVD release.

Gale Gordon and Bea Benadaret had not yet joined the cast in the roles of Rudolph and Iris Atterbury.

GUEST CAST

Florence Halop (Ruthie aka ”The Brooklyn Blabbermouth”) was first seen on television with Lucille Ball in “Redecorating” (ILL S2;E8) in which she reprised her role as the party line phone hog. She wouldn’t work for Lucy again until 1974, when she played a Little Old Lady on a Western-themed episode of “Here’s Lucy.” In 1985, she replaced Selma Diamond (who had died of lung cancer) as the bailiff on “Night Court.”

Frank Nelson (Mr. Allen, Bank Examiner) was born on May 6, 1911 (three months before Lucille Ball) in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He started working as a radio announcer at the age of 15. He later appeared on such popular radio shows as “The Great Gildersleeve,” “Burns and Allen,” and “Fibber McGee & Molly”. This is one of his 11 performances on “My Favorite Husband.” On “I Love Lucy” he holds the distinction of being the only actor to play two recurring roles: Freddie Fillmore and Ralph Ramsey, as well as six one-off characters, including the frazzled train conductor in “The Great Train Robbery” (ILL S5;E5), a character he repeated on “The Lucy Show.” Aside from Lucille Ball, Nelson is perhaps most associated with Jack Benny and was a fifteen-year regular on his radio and television programs.

The roles of Miss Claremont, the Blabbermouth’s Mother, and the Secretary on the Intercom are uncredited and unidentified, but were likely played by the same performer.

EPISODE

ANNOUNCER: “Now let’s look in on the Coopers. It’s early evening. Dinner is over. George is in the living room and Liz is helping Katie the Maid clear off the table.”

Liz is dreading talking to George about the right front fender on the car. When she finally goes into the living room she immediately confesses to the accident, even though he only wanted to talk to her about his life insurance policy. He’s doubled his policy so that she’ll get $10,000 if he should die.

In “Lucy Goes On Strike” (HL S1;E16) in 1969, Harry takes out a $100,000 double indemnity insurance policy on Lucy’s life with himself as sole beneficiary, which Lucy accidentally overhears.

Liz doesn’t want to talk about such things. She refuses to think about a life without George. She insists that there must be some dire reason for his doubling the policy. She even wonders if he’ll ever marry again should she die first. He explains his new double indemnity policy to her. If he dies by accident she will get double than if he passes away naturally.

In “The Audition” (ILL S1;E6), Ricky sends Lucy to his lawyers to see about his will, which sends Lucy into a panic about him dying - and who would go first!

LIZ: “Well, I’m going to miss you, but when you feel yourself going, try to make it an accident, huh?”

Liz tells him not to worry about the money. She will get a job and take care of herself. George cannot even begin to think of Liz set loose in the workforce. She says that she is going to prove him wrong by getting a job right away.

Later, Liz returns from a day job hunting and is exhausted. She tells Katie she is determined to go to business school and learn shorthand. Their party line is tied up again by the “Brooklyn Blabbermouth” (Florence Halop).

A party line was a local loop telephone circuit that is shared by multiple subscribers. Party lines provided no privacy and were frequently used as a source of entertainment and gossip. Objections about one party monopolizing a line were common and eavesdropping remained an ongoing concern. By the end of the 20th century, party lines had been phased out in the United States. Although we are never quite sure where Sheridan Falls is located, it would be unusual for a party line to exist outside its local area. Lucy Ricardo contends (and brilliantly dispenses) with a party line in “Redecorating” (ILL S2;E8, above, also starring Florence Halop, left).

The “Brooklyn Blabbermouth” calls Liz “Miss Big Ears” and explains she is talking to her mother. Liz is amazed she even has a mother.

BLABBERMOUTH: “Whaddya think? Someone built me with an Erector Set?” LIZ: “No. I thought you came in a box of Cracker Jack.”

Erector Set was a brand of metal toy construction sets which were originally sold by the Mysto Manufacturing Company in 1913, a successor to wooden Lincoln Logs and a predecessor to plastic LEGO. This gag manages to get a very loud laugh and a round of applause from the “My Favorite Husband” studio audience.

Cracker Jack is a molasses-flavored caramel-coated popcorn and peanut confection first patented in 1896. It is famous for being packaged with an inexpensive novelty item (a ‘prize’) inside the box. Food historians say it may be America’s first ‘junk food.’ It was often the punch line on “I Love Lucy.”

Liz begs the Blabbermouth (whose name is Ruthie) to allow her to make a quick call. She is updating her mother about their radio serials since her radio is broken.

LIZ: “Do you have to use the telephone?” BLABBERMOUTH: “Whaddya expect me to use? A two-way wrist radio?”

In 1946, Chester Gould’s ‘Dick Tracy’ comic strip introduced the idea that it’s detective hero could communicate through a two-way wrist radio. In 1948, that cartoon item was brought to reality, along with a myriad of other Dick Tracy-themed toys. The “Dick Tracy” radio series ran from 1934 to 1948. It then lived on in television and films.

The Blabbermouth ignores Liz’s request for telephone time and drones on about the plot of her mother’s favorite soap opera:

BLABBERMOUTH: “So mama, you remember how kindly Dr. Stevenson had to operate on Little Jimmy, who was run over by a truck, and he tried to save the life of blind Mr. Pat, who was on his way to get the doctor for grandma Smith, who broke her leg when she fell downstairs trying to help Mary Lou, who caught her hand in the ringer.” MAMA: “Oh, yeah. Which show was that?” LIZ: “’Life Can Be Beautiful’!”

After the distressing plot line described, it seems unlikely, but there really was a radio soap opera named “Life Can Be Beautiful.” it premiered September 5, 1938 on NBC and moved two months later to CBS, where it was heard from November 7, 1938 to June 21, 1946. The final run was on NBC from 1946 to 1954.

Liz is furious and hangs up. She decides to go down to the secretarial school and enroll in person.

LIZ: “If I wait for her to get off the phone I won’t need a job, I’ll be collecting Social Security.”

The United States Social Security act was signed into law by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1935. The nation’s first Social Security card was issued in 1936 with benefits first paid out in 1940. Social Security was sometimes used as a punch line on Lucille Ball’s television programs, especially concerning age.

At the secretarial school Liz, and a gaggle of other women, are welcomed by Miss Claremont, the founder and head teacher.

MISS CLAREMONT: “When you finish our course, each of you will be completely equipped to get along with your future boss, as we teach you shorthand, typing, filing and jujitsu.”

Miss Claremont calls upon Liz to help demonstrate typing, but Liz says there are no letters on the keys. Miss Claremont explains that this is deliberate, in order to teach the touch system of typing.

Three weeks after this episode was broadcast, Lucille Ball began filming Miss Grant Takes Richmond, in which her character, Ellen Grant, went to the Woodruff Secretarial School and also had a great deal of trouble with her typewriter. The film was released later that year but Lucille Ball was seen typing in all of her television sitcoms.

Liz attempts to type her name:

LIZ: “Shake hands with Querty Uioop!”

Three weeks later, Miss Claremont is chastising Liz for her non-traditional shorthand. It seems drawing a little cabbage is not satisfactory shorthand for money.

LIZ: “That’s lettuce.”

Liz brags that her typing has improved to 60 words a minute. Miss Claremont says it doesn’t count if you type the same word over and over.

At home, Liz tries to romance George out his distracted mood. When he sees her school notebook he asks about her shorthand. She’s written her shopping list in shorthand.

GEORGE: “What does this one mean: the number three, a dog, and a daisy?” LIZ: “That’s to remind me to get three heads of cauliflower.”

GEORGE: “What’s this dilly: a telescope, a doctor, and a child?” LIZ: “I want to get something in the newspaper. That means watch out for the Examiner boy.”

GEORGE: “Here’s one I can understand: a man throwing books in the air. Juggling the books, eh?” LIZ: “Just a little jug.”

GEORGE: “Now explain this last shorthand mystery to me: a circle, a ship, and laundry ticket.” LIZ: “That’s the title of a phonograph record I want to buy - 'A Slow Boat To China'.”

"On A Slow Boat to China" is a popular song by Frank Loesser, published in 1948. The enigmatic title was a well-known phrase among poker players, referring to a person who lost steadily and handsomely. In October and November 1948, it was recorded by no less than five artists: Kay Kyser, Freddy Martin, Benny Goodman, Art Lund, and Larry Clinton.

George is distracted because there’s a bank examiner at work and his secretary is out sick. Liz wants to get into the act - literally - by becoming his substitute secretary, but George says no way! He has already arranged with the Claremont Secretarial School to send someone over. Once he goes to bed, Liz makes the decision to call the school and cancel the secretary - taking the job for herself!

On “I Love Lucy” Lucy Ricardo went to elaborate lengths to work with her husband, sometimes even resorting to kidnapping!

Later, Liz enters the living room wearing a black wig and horned rim spectacles. Katie, who doesn’t recognize her on first glance, reminds her to phone and cancel the other secretary. Naturally, Blabbermouth is on the party line, talking to her mother about soaps. She refers to Liz as “Nosey Rosie”.

BLABBERMOUTH (to Mama): “Their son, the radio actor, comes in and wants to borrow ten bucks until television blows over...”

The idea that television was just a passing fad and not a serious threat to radio was common. The motion picture industry also felt threatened by television. In hindsight, they were correct. Had it not be for television, Lucille Ball would have remained Queen of B movies and you would not be reading this right now!

Liz angrily hangs up.

LIZ: “How do you like that; a filibuster!” KATIE: “Filibuster?” LIZ: “Yeah. I’ve had my fill and I’d like to bust her.”

Liz decides to go down to the corner drug store to make the call. Katie reminds her to put on her dress first!

Later, Liz arrives at George’s office in disguise.

[As the scene opens, the voice of a sectary on the intercom announces the arrival of the new secretary. In a rare flub, Richard Denning jumps her line, momentarily talking over her.]

Liz is flustered and doesn’t even know her own name. It seems she hasn’t yet made one up!

GEORGE: “Well, how about sitting down?” LIZ: “No. That sounds too much like an Indian. How about Jenny Smith? Yeah, Jenny Smith.”

While in disguise, Liz decides to test George’s fidelity by flirting with him. Unbeknownst to Liz, George is on to her. He unmasks her pretty quickly.

This test of marital fidelity was also tried by Lucy Ricardo while also wearing a black wig. Just like George, Ricky is on to her games and plays along for a bit.

She breaks it to him that she’s canceled the other secretary. Since it is too late to get anyone else, he allows it. He dictates some responses she needs to type for him to read to the Bank Examiner. At the meeting with the Bank Examiner, Liz is still pretending to be Miss Smith. Mr. Allen, the Bank Examiner (Frank Nelson), asks George a question and George consults his notes - only to find a jumble of nonsensical typing. Liz was using the touch system and her fingers were on the wrong keys! Since Liz is the only one who can read her original shorthand notes, she must answer for him.

MR. ALLEN: “What’s the collateral for this ten million dollars?” LIZ (reading): “Three heads of cauliflower”.

MR. ALLEN: “When the amount of collateral is not commensurate with the size of the loan what is your procedure?” LIZ (reading): “Juggle the books.”

MR. ALLEN: “When Mr. Cooper found out there was to be an investigation, what instructions did he give the employees?” LIZ (reading): “Watch out for the Examiner, boy.”

MR. ALLEN: “What would have done if you had gotten away with it?” LIZ (reading): “Get a slow boat to China.”

The exchange of transposed questions and inadvertently humorous answers will be explored again in “Lucy Gets Ricky on the Radio” (ILL S1;E32) which also featured Frank Nelson asking the questions!

Later at home, George says that it took six hours to prove to Mr. Allen that Liz was responsible for the whole misunderstanding. Liz promises that she’ll stop looking for a job and call the secretarial school and quit. She picks up the phone to call but...

BLABBERMOUTH: “And the doctor said ‘Ma Perkins’ you’ll never walk again.”

“Ma Perkins” was a radio soap opera heard on NBC from 1933 to 1949 and on CBS from 1942 to 1960. Between 1942 and 1949, the show was heard simultaneously on both networks.

Liz insists that she told the phone company to change her party line. The Blabbermouth says that they did - they changed it to her mother’s! Liz faints.

END of EPISODE

#My Favorite Husband #I Love Lucy #Lucille Ball #Ma Perkins #Richard Denning #Secretarial School #Miss Grant Takes Richmond #Ruth Perrott #Frank Nelson #Florence Halop #Party Line #Life Can Be Beautiful #On A Slow Boat To China #Radio #CBS #Dick Tracy #Cracker Jack #Erector Set #Bob LeMond

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briannaswriter · 4 years

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I was told I should take the high road. I should just accept that Hillary refuses to speak with me again. I shouldn’t expect answers from someone who won’t give them - has never given them. At the same time, I don’t feel like I can genuinely let this go without talking about it in a format that isn’t DMs.

This is really long, sorry? But I wanted to get all of it out because I want to be free of it, I don’t want it to keep being an ache in my heart whenever I think about it.

tl;dr at the end. Feel free to reply, idc, I’ll get back to it tomorrow.

I met Hillary in a group called @/heroesrpg in about 2012. While I was there, I operated under two pseudonyms: Miranda/Isa and Bea. The why for that is a long story. I have nothing negative to say about Hillary here! She was a great friend who taught me a lot about writing and challenged me to become a better writer. I don’t think I would have gotten this far without writing with her. When I left heroes in about 2013, we didn’t keep in touch. I didn’t really stay in the RP world so I didn’t pay attention to it.

In 2014, I was invited to join Ashbourne at her behest. I don’t recall the specifics of how I found it, I think it was simply me reaching out to her again and finding out she was in a group which she invited me to join, too. I ended up playing a woman named Nadeya Khan who was in a ship with her that was later discarded. Later I picked up Shiloh Morgan, the best friend of her character, Adam, and later Mira Lowell, the elder sister of her character Meyer.

I won’t lie, these dynamics were a lot of fun and I enjoyed playing them.

I was upset that my ship with Nadeya and Adam was discarded (I have a distaste for Adam and the FC Ben/edict Cumberba/tch now, I’m petty, sue me), but I think it was more sucky when all threads with them trickled to a halt. To me, it felt like my character was no longer important because it wasn’t a ship, even if a friendship dynamic would have been just as interesting. I ignored this feeling.

I was sad to leave the group, but I was uncomfortable with an interaction from another player and feeling pushed aside in favor of other ships so I made the decision to leave.

I did keep in touch with Hillary, or I attempted to, but once we were no longer in a group together, we just sorta drifted. We didn’t talk for the longest time here and I forgot her url for a long time. Frankly, I’m not sure how I found it again!

We started interacting again in about September 2018 when I think I reached out to her. This eventually ended with the creation of @lethe-rpg where we could write about old time favorite characters - and we wrote so much in Lethe’s run. Everything from romances, to long-lost parent, to siblings, to best friends, to unrequited loves. We wrote nearly twenty characters each and over ten ships in the time Lethe ran from September/October 2018 to June 2020 when it closed. Or, I should say, we wrote all of these things in theory and a lot of it happened behind the scenes in DM’s between us. When we did write things, they would frequently reach only a reply or two before we had to move onto the next one because she didn’t want to finish the one before. I’ll fully admit that I found this frustrating after a while - but I found it difficult to say no to her about anything, or to speak out against her.

Not only was she my friend, but I very much looked up to her. I considered her a mentor as much as a friend, and her approval meant a lot to me. It meant agreeing with dynamics I didn’t enjoy

pushing for a ship between my character Wesley and ANY of hers. Even if it was already mentioned to her that I had an ongoing connection with another character. If I tried to make this dynamic a friendly connection instead, it was promptly dropped altogether.

trying to get a ship between Gemma and Nate when I mentioned point blank that I didn’t want a pre-planned romantic thing with him after his other one failed.

the fact that Gemma and Lily didn’t get like any interactions completed together until I relented a little on Gemma/Nate. Any mention of them was largely forgotten. Half the time, Lily was treated like a child who hadn’t experienced any pain. Not just from Gemma, but from Gabe and from Hillary herself, who seemed to think that my young FC meant nothing compared to the history I had written for this character. Lily in general was ignored until she brought Lachlan along and prodded him into a ship with Lily. Do you know how many starters I wrote on Lily that were ignored?

the fact that Pat/Kate were the oldest ship in the group but they had like one completed thread the entire time lol.

the fact that Odette/Kate were the oldest family dynamic in the group who had like three NOTES between them.

the fact that Odette/Orion became a ship later who were just... never written. I can be honest now, I found them boring and I’m wondering if she felt the same, or if the lack of writing made me dislike them. Either way, Orion became a drain on my Odette muse, just as the lack of Kate/Odette was.

most stuff with Odette makes me sad. I feel like I had really good connections for her that... didn’t work out, and maybe I took to long to address it.

Mira/Andreas is a dynamic I blame myself on. I did feel sorta like I wasn’t getting anything written with her old ship, and I think me and the mun were drained on it, so while Mira was on hiatus and the mun for her last ship, Clark, was debating letting him go/killing him off, I didn’t mind discussing a new ship. I wanted this ship to be a slow burn, I wanted proper closer on the last one because it was a good ship and the mun is a good friend. This was handled with so little tact on her part, we were instantly hitting ship dynamics from the beginning and I found it callous. I dragged out replies just to avoid it. A shame, because I loved the dynamic, but the way it was handled put a bad taste in my mouth

she wanted an August/Delilah ship? Which I didn’t really want, but she’s really good at convincing you bit by bit that it’s a great idea. When I finally jumped onto this ship and flung myself into it, we got like two notes into it and nothing. Are you seeing the theme yet?

I got nothing against Arthur/Cora because I loved writing them, the only thing I did dislike is how rushed they were and how little I got to explore some of the Riverborn aspects of Arthur’s story with Cora. Also a pregnancy happened hella fast.

But I did have something against the Meadowes dynamic altogether: we had so many pieces of it to use that were never written. I failed sometimes on my part, but a lot of it was Hillary getting easily distracted by something else. Cora/Faolan were rarely written beyond the first reply to a thread. Gabe/Faolan were often two notes in and done. Faolan/Alistair lasted a bit longer, I was impressed. Gemma/Lily was mentioned above, but I’ll also mention how often she tried to take pieces of Faolan’s history and twist it to be her character’s pain without any consideration to previously discussed lore or connections. It wasn’t even about a connection anymore - it was about making her character the focal point. Look at how the Daniel Bisset, Aurelie, and Gabe things turned out: half of the plots were twisted to benefit Gabe’s momentum in the story, and the pieces of angst that should rightly lingered on Aurelie were shifted to the side. I didn’t even write that ship, and sometimes looking at them made me feel like a discarded sweater, but they were cute. Anyhow, this is long, moving on.

Faolan/Saby. I literally almost forgot about them, but like... Legit, I’m glad this ship ended because Saby was wholly too dependent on Faolan’s feelings for her, which he couldn’t even acknowledge because he was still in love with his two centuries deceased wife. Was this handled gracefully, did we get to slow-burn some of their stuff in writing? Sometimes. But again, they weren’t really written, and the ship was pushed and pushed, even when I wasn’t really interested in writing it because I didn’t want a ship for him yet.

Aliza/Tien was twisted out of me piece by piece, prodding at the parts of the Aliza/James connection I found uncomfortable (like the murder, like how difficult it was to plot after a point) until Tien seemed like the best answer. This was late enough into Lethe that I woke up enough to cut the ship off and drop the dynamic. In hindsight, I regret letting this even get so far.

Jonas. Just... most of the things written with him lol because he was constantly pushed onto my characters and others. Jo was hinted as a thing, Wesley was hinted as a thing, I think Nate was at one time. It definitely opened my eyes to the fact that she wanted a ship and that dynamics outside of that were largely ignored.

Do you know what it was like to put your heart into a character / story that was ignored ENTIRELY because she didn’t ship with them? Do you know what its like to be excited about a friendship or sibling or parental dynamic that... stopped getting written because your friend only wrote the character for a ship and the next shiny thing attracted her attention and instead of letting the character go, she made you think the next reply was right around the corner? Do you know how many threads we wrote that didn’t go anywhere, and how thrilled I was to write them still because I thought each time it would be different?

TL;DR: if it wasn’t a ship dynamic, it wasn’t written. If it was a ship dynamic, it was sometimes written. If you weren’t doing any of those things, you were ignored.

TL;DR 2: Do not misread this, please. I understand that RL comes first, I understand that dynamics change, that you’re allowed to change your mind. But do you realize how often I was strung along, or how often I was shoved aside? How hard it was to keep a character going sometimes because their big connection was only important for about a week?

and biting my tongue when my own feelings were callously ignored

when we wrote a ship between Selene/Gabe which was later discarded for a ship with Aurelie which had a much better chemistry, but was handled with little tact for my own feelings as I received constant updates on how their ship progressed, and also how the friendship we developed between Selene and Gabe was just dropped altogether - as it was with Adam/Nadeya so many years ago - instead of revamped to fit a changed dynamic as we discussed ooc.

when I would message her and be ignored unless it was about one of our ships

like the fact that I became an admin in Lethe to help her out and eventually the burdens of handling it were on my shoulders. I don’t mind this, but when it came to asking her for help on simple matters (sending me the psd for banners when I switched computers and no longer had it, posting a bio, skimming a post so I could verify it was okay to post, plotting out future events, posting unfollows/follows for people) or asking if she could write something from an admin post, getting a “sure! I’ll do that later!” and then finding out it wasn’t done for a week until I sucked it up and did it myself. We addressed this eventually, but Lethe ended shortly afterwards.

So. That’s how the last two years have gone, and lord knows how much I’ve forgotten. Hillary and I wrote so much over the last two years, and we definitely grew close. I thought we were beyond just writing friends, that we might have been real friends (after all, we sent christmas/birthday gifts to each other. Hell, I still use the mouse pad she gave me).

I ignored the way she ignored me if we weren’t writing something interesting. I ignored the way she didn’t care about my characters even passively until I shipped with her in some form. I ignored how it felt when entire sections of a back and forth DM was ignored if she didn’t care about the character. I ignored how she refused to write with other people because she disliked their FC, or she didn’t want to write with the mun, or she found the character boring. Half the time, she found a character boring because she didn’t bother learning about them, and the moment she did read about them, they were intriguing. I ignored how she belittled my other ships with other players because “oh I don’t think they click” or “imo that one is boring” or tried to poach those characters to one of her ships. I ignored how she made me feel like a part-time friend sometimes and her best friend other times.

I ignored the way she didn’t help with admin problems even when she knew admin duties were taking a toll on me as people demanded more and more from me. Not even when we discussed ways to handle things on both our parts to make it easier and promptly ignored them the first chance she got.

She made me feel so important when we would headcanon things. It felt like my characters were important, and that I was a good writer with clever ideas and intriguing characters, and that writing her was reaching a pinnacle that others couldn’t reach. She never said this, I’ll give her credit for that, but I have to admit, I felt like my characters didn’t work out unless I had a connection with her.

The last few months were eye opening. I had already spent the last year frustrating from her lack of leadership as an admin, and anger for the way she ignored people’s feelings even when it was pointed out and gave the bare minimum when interacting with other people, and sadness for the fun dynamics we had discussed but never wrote beyond the posted biography. When Lethe ended, I was ready to let it go and move on, I said my peace about my admin things and letting the characters go meant a fresh start. To me, we were friends REGARDLESS OF BEING IN A GROUP TOGETHER OR WRITING TOGETHER. You don’t talk about ooc things and ic things as much as we did only to stop talking the instant you’re done writing together, right?

Wrong. She didn’t even help us close the group that she created, or helped us discuss things with members who weren’t sure what was happening. I gave her time, just short messages about random things because I wanted her to know that I didn’t hold Lethe’s end against her, that we were friends anyway. Those messages were ignored. I gave her more time and then after nearly a month or maybe two, I finally messaged her on tumblr with a brief snippet on how thankful I was to know her because she helped me as a writer, and apologized if I implied Lethe ending was her fault (which I still agree that it wasn’t entirely, it was a situation handled callously and frankly I still think people should have considered that Hillary was barely 3% of the admin team at the time since Ally and I were shouldering the burdens of everything else). I mentioned how I felt like our friendship was being ignored because we weren’t writing together, and how I had thought after nearly two years of talking that we were friends enough to chat once in a while at least, but if we are only RP friends, let me know so at least I don’t have to fucking think about it.

Do you think that got a response?

It didn’t. She didn’t log into discord to chat about it or something else, she didn’t respond to the message, nothing. She quietly unfollowed me and then blocked me. She unfriended me on facebook, I feel like that’s answer enough.

I’ve known her at least eight years and while some of those times were brief, the last two years were most certainly not. And not only does it make me angry that I’ll never know whether she just dislikes me, or whether I made her uncomfortable, or what, I’m also just... really upset that I lost an eight year friendship. There’s only one person I know longer than her and I had hoped that, if not real friends, then we would still be able to meet up in another group together someday. Now it’ll never happen again, and it devastates me. I can count my friends on one hand and I thought, you know, that she was one of them. It feels like a physical blow whenever something comes up on the dash that involves her. I feel so stupid for thinking we were friends when she showed me her priorities in Ashbourne, when she showed me in little pieces here and there throughout Lethe. I feel stupid for writing this entire thing and crying about it. I feel stupid for assuming.

And I don’t know how to talk about this in a way that’ll let me say goodbye to it because I do need to let it go, but I’m afraid that if I do, I’ll lose my ability to write because she’s been such a big part of the writing journey for me.

So here it is. Eight years of friendship summed up in however long this is and here I am, trying to let go - and still a little part of me hopes she’ll see it and reach out about something, anything. And a bigger part that’s angry and doesn’t want to talk to her ever again because I don’t want to do this another time.

tl;dr:

I miss my friend Hillary, but also she’s kind of a shitty friend who only seems to care about people when they are writing with her and I’m an idiot for thinking anything else when I’ve had eight years to learn it. Likely if she did find this post, it’ll be misinterpreted in every way until I’m not only an idiot, but also I’m a bully who didn’t give her time and space, who pushed things on her she didn’t want, who she pitied. Because it just occurred to me now how easily she can warp the truth, how she can prod things bit by bit, until it fits just how she wants things to look that’ll benefit her the most. I love my friend, but I’m done. No matter how much I miss her, I deserve more than to be the butt of whatever joke she wants to say to make this sound cool.

#shush mira #I was gonna post this later but fuck it #long post #like.... really long post

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