#‘Black Sheep’|| Celia: IC

[sylencias]

Stranger

Starter for @deadmenanddemons​

Cars flew by on the roadway, headed South or nowhere at all. The pedestrians ignored Celia as they filtered by behind her where she perched on the curb edge. They offered her the shaded glares of insular, small town people when someone new wandered in. That or Ripley, sitting at her left elbow freaked them. Celia took a long drag from her cigarette and peered at a road map in her lap. New Mexico was but a few short strides with her finger tips away. If only the world was that compressed. The trucker that drove her here from San Antonio promised she had ‘till the end of the day for a ride back. As loathe as she was to backtrack the proposition was tempting. The longer she spent in this dust bowl the more it lived up to the name spray painted across the town sign: Death Valley. Get out now, or she might never. 

Claws tapping on the concrete signaled Ripley moving from her side. She glanced-up, between her and Ripley ran curiosity, but not concern. A wag at the tip of his tail, ears pricked forward, he had intercepted a man on the street. Ripley sniffed the man’s knuckles, investigative-- but definitely not dissuading scratches. Celia ground-out her cigarette beneath her boot heel. 

“You find a friend there?” Celia questioned Ripley. In the mid-day heat he panted and looked self-satisfied. She addressed the man: “He won’t bite.”

[richincolor]

New Releases for the Week of May 3, 2021

It's great to see so many new books hitting the shelves this week. I know I've been waiting for several of these and am happy to be able to finally read them. 

The Ones We’re Meant to Find by Joan He Roaring Brook

Cee has been trapped on an abandoned island for three years without any recollection of how she arrived, or memories from her life prior. All she knows is that somewhere out there, beyond the horizon, she has a sister named Kay. Determined to find her, Cee devotes her days to building a boat from junk parts scavenged inland, doing everything in her power to survive until the day she gets off the island and reunites with her sister.

In a world apart, 16-year-old STEM prodigy Kasey Mizuhara is also living a life of isolation. The eco-city she calls home is one of eight levitating around the world, built for people who protected the planet―and now need protecting from it. With natural disasters on the rise due to climate change, eco-cities provide clean air, water, and shelter. Their residents, in exchange, must spend at least a third of their time in stasis pods, conducting business virtually whenever possible to reduce their environmental footprint. While Kasey, an introvert and loner, doesn’t mind the lifestyle, her sister Celia hated it. Popular and lovable, Celia much preferred the outside world. But no one could have predicted that Celia would take a boat out to sea, never to return.

Now it’s been three months since Celia’s disappearance, and Kasey has given up hope. Logic says that her sister must be dead. But as the public decries her stance, she starts to second guess herself and decides to retrace Celia’s last steps. Where they’ll lead her, she does not know. Her sister was full of secrets. But Kasey has a secret of her own. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee Quill Tree Books

Noah Ramirez thinks he’s an expert on romance. He has to be for his popular blog, the Meet Cute Diary, a collection of trans happily ever afters. There’s just one problem—all the stories are fake. What started as the fantasies of a trans boy afraid to step out of the closet has grown into a beacon of hope for trans readers across the globe.

When a troll exposes the blog as fiction, Noah’s world unravels. The only way to save the Diary is to convince everyone that the stories are true, but he doesn’t have any proof. Then Drew walks into Noah’s life, and the pieces fall into place: Drew is willing to fake-date Noah to save the Diary. But when Noah’s feelings grow beyond their staged romance, he realizes that dating in real life isn’t quite the same as finding love on the page.

In this charming novel by Emery Lee, Noah will have to choose between following his own rules for love or discovering that the most romantic endings are the ones that go off script. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

They Better Call Me Sugar: My Journey from the Hood to the Hardwood by Sugar Rodgers Black Sheep

Growing up in dire poverty in Suffolk, Virginia, Sugar (born Ta’Shauna) Rodgers never imagined that she would become an all-star player in the WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association). Both of her siblings were in and out of prison throughout much of her childhood and shootings in her neighborhood were commonplace. For Sugar this was just a fact of life.

While academics wasn’t a high priority for Sugar and many of her friends, athletics always played a prominent role. She mastered her three-point shot on a net her brother put up just outside their home, eventually becoming so good that she could hustle local drug dealers out of money in one-on-one contests.

With the love and support of her family and friends, Sugar’s performance on her high school basketball team led to her recruitment by the Georgetown Hoyas, and her eventual draft into the WNBA in 2013 by the Minnesota Lynx (who won the WNBA Finals in Sugar’s first year). The first of her family to attend college, Sugar speaks of her struggles both academically and as an athlete with raw honesty.

Sugar’s road to a successful career as a professional basketball player is fraught with sadness and death–including her mother’s death when she’s fourteen, which leaves Sugar essentially homeless. Throughout it all, Sugar clings to basketball as a way to keep herself focused and sane.

And now Sugar shares her story as a message of hope and inspiration for young girls and boys everywhere, but especially those growing up in economically challenging conditions. Never sugarcoating her life experiences, she delivers a powerful message of discipline, perseverance, and always believing in oneself. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry by Joya Goffney HarperTeen

Quinn keeps lists of everything—from the days she’s ugly cried, to “Things That I Would Never Admit Out Loud,” to all the boys she’d like to kiss. Her lists keep her sane. By writing her fears on paper, she never has to face them in real life. That is, until her journal goes missing…

An anonymous account posts one of her lists on Instagram for the whole school to see and blackmails her into facing seven of her greatest fears, or else her entire journal will go public. Quinn doesn’t know who to trust. Desperate, she teams up with Carter Bennett—the last known person to have her journal—in a race against time to track down the blackmailer.

Together, they journey through everything Quinn’s been too afraid to face, and along the way, Quinn finds the courage to be honest, to live in the moment, and to fall in love. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Hurricane Summer by Asha Bromfield Wednesday Books

Tilla has spent her entire life trying to make her father love her. But every six months, he leaves their family and returns to his true home: the island of Jamaica.

When Tilla’s mother tells her she’ll be spending the summer on the island, Tilla dreads the idea of seeing him again, but longs to discover what life in Jamaica has always held for him.

In an unexpected turn of events, Tilla is forced to face the storm that unravels in her own life as she learns about the dark secrets that lie beyond the veil of paradise—all in the midst of an impending hurricane.

Hurricane Summer is a powerful coming of age story that deals with colorism, classism, young love, the father-daughter dynamic—and what it means to discover your own voice in the center of complete destruction. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Indivisible by Daniel Aleman Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

There is a word Mateo Garcia and his younger sister Sophie have been taught to fear for as long as they can remember: deportation. Over the past few years, however, the fear that their undocumented immigrant parents could be sent back to Mexico has started to fade to the back of their minds. And why wouldn’t it, when their Ma and Pa have been in the United States for so long, they have American-born children, and they’re hard workers and good neighbors?

When two ICE agents come asking for Pa, the Garcia family realizes that the lives they’ve built are about to come crumbling down. And when Mateo returns from school one day to find that his parents have been taken, he’ll have to come to terms with the fact that his family’s worst nightmare has become a reality.

With his Ma and Pa being held in separate detention centers, Mateo must learn how to look after his sister and himself. The choices Mateo makes, and the people he turns to for help, might reunite his family… or tear them apart for good. With his parents’ fate and his own future hanging in the balance, Mateo must figure out who he is and what he is capable of, even as he’s forced to question what it means to be an American teenager in a country that rejects his own mom and dad. — Cover art and summary via Goodreads

Counting Down with You by Tashie Bhuiyan Inkyard Press

Karina Ahmed has a plan. Keep her head down, get through high school without a fuss, and follow her parents’ rules—even if it means sacrificing her dreams. When her parents go abroad to Bangladesh for four weeks, Karina expects some peace and quiet. Instead, one simple lie unravels everything.

Karina is my girlfriend.

Tutoring the school’s resident bad boy was already crossing a line. Pretending to date him? Out of the question. But Ace Clyde does everything right—he brings her coffee in the mornings, impresses her friends without trying, and even promises to buy her a dozen books (a week) if she goes along with his fake-dating facade. Though Karina agrees, she can’t help but start counting down the days until her parents come back.

T-minus twenty-eight days until everything returns to normal—but what if Karina no longer wants it to? — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

All Kinds of Other by James Sie Quill Tree Books

In this tender, nuanced coming-of-age love story, two boys—one who is cis and one who is trans—have been guarding their hearts to protect themselves, until their feelings for each other give them a reason to stand up to their fears.

Two boys are starting at a new school.

Jules is just figuring out what it means to be gay and hasn’t totally decided whether he wants to be out at his new school. His parents and friends have all kinds of opinions, but for his part, Jules just wants to make the basketball team and keep his head down.

Jack is trying to start over after a best friend break-up. He followed his actor father clear across the country to LA, but he’s also totally ready to leave his past behind. Maybe this new school where no one knows him is exactly what he needs.

When the two boys meet, the sparks are undeniable. But then a video surfaces linking Jack to a pair of popular transgender vloggers, and the revelations about Jack’s past thrust both Jack and Jules into the spotlight they’ve been trying to avoid. Suddenly both boys have a choice to make—between lying low where it’s easier or following their hearts. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Luck of the Titanic by Stacey Lee G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers

Southampton, 1912: Seventeen-year-old British-Chinese Valora Luck has quit her job and smuggled herself aboard the Titanic with two goals in mind: to reunite with her twin brother Jamie--her only family now that both their parents are dead--and to convince a part-owner of the Ringling Brothers Circus to take the twins on as acrobats. Quick-thinking Val talks her way into opulent firstclass accommodations and finds Jamie with a group of fellow Chinese laborers in third class. But in the rigidly stratified world of the luxury liner, Val's ruse can only last so long, and after two long years apart, it's unclear if Jamie even wants the life Val proposes. Then, one moonless night in the North Atlantic, the unthinkable happens--the supposedly unsinkable ship is dealt a fatal blow--and Val and her companions suddenly find themselves in a race to survive.

Stacey Lee, master of historical fiction, brings a fresh perspective to an infamous tragedy, loosely inspired by the recently uncovered account of six Titanic survivors of Chinese descent.

[odrseasonone]

S1 Focal Character Tropes

So I decided to compile some “tv tropes” to fit our focus characters for season 1 bc I’m insane dskaljfkljsdfkj

CASSIUS MONTAGU

the dragon

the snark knight

from nobody to nightmare

even evil has loved ones

i did what i had to do

start of darkness

distracted by the sexy

life drinker

sympathy for the hero

heartbroken badass

declaration of protection

authority equals asskicking

death glare

betty and veronica

bullying a dragon

healing factor

witch hunt (re: the dragonriders)

foil to: CHARLES DEGREY, RORAN DEGREY, ROWENA GODIVA

romantic false lead

will they or won’t they? with LYNESSA BEAUMONT, GUINEVERE FONTAINE, ROWENA GODIVA

anti-villain

cool sword

sympathetic murderer

tragic villain

can’t live with them, can’t live without them with ROWENA GODIVA

villain respect

RORAN DEGREY

the chosen one

call to adventure

egg macguffin

chronic hero syndrome

comes great responsibility

deceased parents are the best

crouching moron, hidden badass

heroes prefer swords

boring return journey

the lost woods: resistance camp

foil to: CHARLES DEGREY, CASSIUS MONTAGU

my greatest failure

rage against the mentor

only i can kill him

you killed my father

cool sword

did not think this through

screw the rules, i’m doing the right thing

took a level in badass

action hero

bash brothers with CEDRIC BOLEYN

beneath notice

boy meets girl with CORDELIA ARRINGTON

CEDRIC BOLEYN

like brother and sister with GUINEVERE FONTAINE

the lost woods: resistance camp

heroic sacrifice

weapon of choice

camp cook

died in your arms tonight

sensitive guy and manly man with ALARIC DE MONTFORT

will they or won’t they? with KATE MILLER (they won’t ;D)

hidden depths

did not think this through

the heart

bash brothers with RORAN DEGREY

beneath notice

constantly curious

dork knight

rousing speech

crouching moron, hidden badass

ALEXANDIR GODIVA

the snark knight

no good deed goes unpunished

badass bookworm

only sane man

the good chancellor

knight in sour armor

snark-to-snark combat

benevolent boss

did you just flip off cthulhu?

royals who actually do something

tragic hero

the strategist

in vino veritas

renaissance man

brooding boy, gentle girl with EVIE BEAUMONT

brain and brawn with JAMES GARIN

stranger in a familiar land

the mentor

rousing speech

dude, where’s my respect?

brutal honesty

arranged marriage with EVIE BEAUMONT

cool uncle

the alcoholic

screw the rules, i’m doing the right thing

JAMES GARIN/HARRION MORTAIN

screw this, i’m outta here

heroes prefer swords

deadpan snarker

lovable rogue

rescue romance (sort of)

sensitive guy and manly man (sort of) with DMITREI MASSARD

will they or won���t they? with CELIA BEAUMONT

jerkass has a point

like an old married couple with CELIA BEAUMONT

the ace

well, excuse me, princess! with CELIA BEAUMONT

brain and brawn with ALEXANDIR GODIVA

brilliant, but lazy

too clever by half

hidden depths

armor-piercing question

arrogant kung-fu guy

cool sword

did not think this through

hollywood atheist

jerk with a heart of gold

unresolved sexual tension

past!chessmaster sidekick with DMITREI MASSARD

LYNESSA BEAUMONT

the baroness

wicked cultured

ice queen

affably evil --> faux affably evil

manipulative bastard

more deadly than the male

bitch in sheep’s clothing

creepy ravens

feather motif

pimped-out dress

mama bear: AVELINA BEAUMONT

royal blood

romantic false lead

will they or won’t they? with CASSIUS MONTAGU, JOSEPH VIPONT, DMITREI MASSARD

GUINEVERE FONTAINE

la résistance

the mole

like brother and sister to CEDRIC BOLEYN

the lost woods: resistance camp

costume porn

only sane woman

dark secret (sort of)

spirited young lady

deadpan snarker

false friend to CASSIUS MONTAGU

kiss of distraction (i mean we haven’t written this but i wouldn’t be surprised...this ~sort of thing certainly)

brainy brunette

love interest traitor to CASSIUS MONTAGU

sympathy for the devil for CASSIUS MONTAGU

will they or won’t they? with CASSIUS MONTAGU

ROMAYNE VITALIS

deadpan snarker

enemy mine

the hedonist

royal blood

cultural posturing

dissonant serenity

hot-blooded

warrior prince

anything that moves

badass boast

be careful what you wish for

byronic hero

combat pragmatist

hidden depths

arranged marriage with ROWENA GODIVA

CHARLES DEGREY

the alcoholic

stepford snarker

hurting hero

the lost woods: resistance camp

heroes prefer swords

failure knight

the mentor

declaration of protection

bruiser with a soft center

boring return journey

foil to: RORAN DEGREY, CASSIUS MONTAGU

hidden depths

cool sword

did not think this through

stranger in a familiar land

ROWENA GODIVA

start of darkness

i did what i had to do

sorcerous overlord

wicked cultured

life drinker

narcissist

royal blood

god save us from the queen!

the woman wearing the queenly mask

evil sorceress

lady of black magic

hot witch

evil matriarch

even evil has loved ones

healing factor

witch hunt (re: the dragonriders)

deceased parents are the best

cool crown

costume porn

pimped-out dress

villainous breakdown

will they or won’t they? with CASSIUS MONTAGU

hidden depths

sympathetic murderer

can’t live with them, can’t live without them with CASSIUS MONTAGU

tragic villain

[sylencias]

Renesmee 

Starter for @demivampyr​

The woman stood six feet tall in a white ivory gown of iridescent silks and golds. A plunging neckline revealed a full figure and defined collarbones. She rested the graceful arch of her hand upon the back of a peach settee. Strokes of grays and light browns oil paint drew attention to the warm, rose blush on her cheeks. Full lips crimson in contrasted to pale skin. A ruby tiara adorned her mahogany hair. A portrait of a gilded age gentlewoman, the picture of sophisticated elegance and grace. Celia stood in rapt attention as the trickle of pedestrians filtered around her. She observed the nuances of century old brush strokes and color. The sleeve on the left arm was a thin, see-through tulle and the use of light to reveal that small detail, fascinated her. 

The entire museum was filled with vibrant art. Small gold coins from 1st century Israel, oils painting, sculptures, stained glass, marble carvings, and delicate doll rooms. Celia couldn’t blame the girl for being drawn here. It was an afternoon of exploration and marvels, for not a lot of cash. It was hard being alone for the first time and Chicago was a big city. In late-November, a few hours out of the cutting cold wind and off the inhospitable streets was a mercy. It was the perfect labyrinth to be lost in too. The architecture was a fascinating pastiche of old and modern, the streets winding. It had taken a few days to find her charge amongst the brick and steel, but that was alright. Celia was living on the dime of a generous benefactor. 

She turned from Mrs. George Swinton (Elizabeth Ebsworth), to the cushioned benches left-out to sit on. Renesmee sat alone and unaware that she’d been followed for the past fifteen minutes. She contemplated an oil painting of a cow skull by Georgia O’Keefe. The runaway princess looked like her father. Bronze hair and the same cheekbones, not as frigid though. Celia pushed her hands in her coat pockets and then wandered over to end the charade. She waited for the girl to acknowledge her with a glance before speaking.

“You know,” Celia said, her voice soft but lit with amusement. A crooked grin pulled at her mouth. “You’ve scared the shit out of your family. You, mind if I have a seat?” 

[sylencias]

Kid 

Starter for @wildpawed​

Isaiah 

He’s coming over here. 

Scratches, ideas, unfinished enchantment circles, scribbled across the notebook page. Nothing solid or comprehensible, passing thoughts abandoned for the next shiny thing. Scrawled in coranic text, calculations for energy transfers. Some sort’ve kinetic equation she recalled from an old physics textbook, that she definitely did wrong. Thirty minutes in the dinner, no food, and no solid ideas for her commission-- besides rolling hunger. Celia had moved from productivity to mindless doodles. In the margins, corners, and spare spaces she sketched the patrons. Caught on the peculiar cheekbones of one boy chatting with his friends, she lost herself in the listless marks. Then, from across the table Ripley jarred her out of her stupor with a single psychically thrown warning. 

The damn kid she’d been doodling and staring at for the past fifteen minutes had noticed. He was now walking over, side stepping around the chairs. Celia flipped over her notebook, revealing even more weird, magical enchantments that she should not have. It was too late he was already at the table, Celia laid her palm over the bulk of the scandalous materials. Chin resting against her knuckles she looked-up the kid she had definitely not been drawing.

“Can I help you... man?” 

Smooth. 

[sylencias]

Eve

Starter for @sinnedfirst 

The stack of cubed ice, swimming in a rum coke combo shifted and clinked. Beads of condensation formed on the outside of the crystal glass. The low, amber lights glinted off the polished edge. Celia picked up her drink and took a sip. Sugar, the long notes of soda flavor, and the bitter, warm, nutty after taste of rum. Her eyes flicked over the restaurant. High-class joint, she had to make a reservation to get the table. The waiter wore a tie and had been ignoring Celia since serving her the Cuba Libre with admirable determination. The water feature near the hostess’ desk at the front had a lion carving. Except for a few couples Celia was alone in the back corner as she watched the door. She bounced the foot of her crossed leg and checked her watch. When she glanced back up there was a dark haired woman speaking to the hostess. Celia lifted her hand and waved the woman over. 

Two weeks ago, while trawling through a chunk of the Nevada desert in search of trouble, Celia got a call. Not sure if the person on the other line was the lady now weaving between the tables to join her. Not even sure why she made a bee line for Los Angeles on a whim like that. Never been to the city of Angels and hadn’t hit the West coast in a minute though, the excuse was nice. If all else failed Celia got to see Venice Beach and that was worth the drive. Nonetheless, her notebook was in the bag at her side. Celia pressed to her feet as the woman approached and extended her hand to shake. 

“Eve, I presume,” Celia asked. “Nice to meet you. You can call me Celia.”

[sylencias]

“ we all have sins to pay p-penance for. ”

Miscellaneous Prompts

The fire cracked and popped. In the flames the logs shifted over the red coals. Grey ash fluttered upwards, rising with the pale smoke into a black night. The wind stirred in the trees, shaking the leaves with a chilling howl. Ripley’s tail smacked against her thigh in a mindless twitch. Curled behind her, he hovered on the boundary of sleep and waking. If she was bold, she’d follow him soon. Celia hooked her elbow around her knee. With a gentle breath she blew the wood shavings off her project. In the warm glow of the fire she surveyed her work. From the small block of wood she’d carve away everything that was ‘not rose’ and now she had something that was almost a rose. With careful strokes of her knife, working along the grain, she delineated petals, leaves, and thorns. Celia glanced-up at the minotaur across from her for a second. His white fur was stark in the dark. She sighed, shoulders heaving as her thumb smoothed over the coarse basswood.

“I know,” Celia said. She laid down her knife at her side. From a small kit she removed a different tool. Celia used it to scoop larger chunks of wood, deepening a notch. “I hate looking back and thinking of all the things I could do different, or change.”

Each stroke of the knife was permanent. Once Celia chipped or pulled away a splinter of wood, it could not be returned. She couldn’t go back three seconds before she made the erroneous move. Instead she had to live with her mistake. In the case of an askew thorn, she’d lop it off. Or a petal became thinner than before. The flower in its final form would tell a history of her slips and misjudgment. It would also tell of her skill and success. No matter how much she screwed-up, in the end it would still be a rose. There was no force that could change its nature now, not even if she threw it in the fire. It would merely become the ashes of a basswood rose. Even now, with her broken wrist and branded hand, Celia was still the same person. She just bore the marks of her mistakes. 

“Not that it ever does me any good,” She noted. With a flick of her wrist she brushed away the wood dust. “Regret is a sorry place to be stuck.”

[sylencias]

B: “ … why does this card say ‘ happy 3rd birthday ‘? “

Touches of a mechanical pencil point to thick card stock paper scratched out the lines of a coastal blue jay. Wing tips darkened with cross sections of shade. Black eyes, spotted with light shine, peered at unseen watchers. The small bird hid amongst the brush and sketched leaves. In black ink with a flourish Celia had written the birthday wishes that Blaez now read. Celia prepared her water color kit, a small black metal box with vibrant pigments. She dipped her brush into the glass of water on the coffee table. Celia took back the card as Blaez handed it to her.

“It’s for one of my cousins,” Celia elaborated. She dampened the paper, encouraging the water to spread into the wing tips. Then with a dip of blue, the paper saturated with sky colors. A touch of purple transitioned to soft lavender. “She’s in a ‘bird’ phase and also turning three.”

The brush arced down the line of the wing. “I’ll mail it out tomorrow.”

[sylencias]

Boy

Stater here x

|| @sunsymbols​ ||

“That’s a good confidence to have,” Celia murmured. Her hand smoothed over her mouth as she peered down at the notebook. The enchantment was not coming together nor was her grammar.

That self confidence is good. Your confidence is good. I’m glad you’re confident because I’m not. An excellent level of confidence to possess-- English is hard. 

“Have you ever written spells before, like, with words?” Celia asked as she scribbled-out her work and flipped over the page. Perched on the park bench with the other teenager she glanced over at him, legs crossing under her. “Depending on what you want, that may work better.”

[sylencias]

Stranger

Starter for @sinnhelmingr​

The fire flickered, fed by birch sticks and cedar logs. Wood smoke swirled and eddied, lifting into the black night sky. The wind rushed in the tree boughs, rustling the leaves, howling. Cicadas, crickets, and frogs, chirped, echoed in the rolling creek a stone’s throw away. Ripley laid beside her hip, flank rising and falling as he dozed. Celia worked the knife’s edge over the wood grain. Carving all the extraneous material into shavings at her feet. With a brush of her breath she cleared away the dust. The gentle curve of a lion’s main, a king at rest, laid upon his throne. Ripley flicked his ears, head lifted. 

For a heartbeat he was quiet, peering into the dark with scrutinizing red eyes. Alert, attention forward, Celia looked where he looked but saw nothing but shadows. The tool and the project were put away at her side. Someone’s coming, Ripley murmured between them. The shared thought chilled her blood like a frozen hand at the small of her back. Despite the ominous warning Ripley remained still and Celia remained seated. 

She emerged from between the trees. Unusual, strange dressed, a woman in blacken robes. With  Should I be worried, Celia asked Ripley. Not yet, was the patient reply. So, Celia leaned forward, elbows against her knees and peering-up at their visitor. Not a mere lady on an evening jaunt in her finest silks, for certain. Celia gestured broadly with her hands, indicating the meager campsite. A few blankets, the fire, her bags. 

“Good evening,” Celia remarked, “are you looking for something?” 

[sylencias]

Omega

Starter for @ofgrief 

Sweat soaked men, muscles glistening, and chests reddened crowded the edge of the ring. They leaned against the ropes and the turnbuckle. Midday sunlight streamed through the upper story gymnasium windows. Black scuff marks marred the wood floor. Voiced echoed in the open space. The steel gym door closed behind Celia and Ripley. The catch of the latch on the jam drew brief glances from a couple of the men. They watched inwards, towards their instructor who talked over some complex wrestling move. Celia pushed her hands into her pockets and wandered over to the bleachers. She and Ripley sat down.

“That’s your guy?” Ripley muttered, his knuckles pressed-up to his lips. His eyes were intent on the man in the center of the ring. A true Adonis in physique, blond, and with a scratching voice. 

“If he’s the alleged Kenny Omega, yes,” Celia quipped. She glanced over at Ripley. “What do you think?”

Ripley hummed low in his throat but didn’t answer. Celia shrugged, turning her attention back to the ring. The mat pounded with the impact of a body smashing into it. A satisfying reverberation that filled the gym. A few minutes later and Kenny dismissed his proteges to get water. The guys filtered out towards the water fountain and Celia pushed to her feet. Ripley remained on the bleachers. She hopped onto the edge of the ring mat and pulled herself standing by the ropes. 

“Kenny Omega?” Celia inquired, elbows leaning against the ropes. “My name’s Celia-- can I talk to you a second about something that happened to you last week?”