#Joelle's builds

[joellesims]

Super sweet bakery! I built the whole thing around the ice cream counter I won't lie

[crossbackpoke-check]

about to be sooo nosy so. my apologies. but. morgan frost? girlfriend? do share (or don’t! again this is so nosy i’m sorry)

for legal purposes i can neither confirm nor deny anything about morgan and his girlfriend but afaik i think he’s single right now? at one point (within the past four years 😭) he did for sure have a girlfriend and that is the extent of my wag knowledge

[comicchannel]

Marvel Legends Series Build a Figure Jocasta Hasbro E9979

Link para compra BR: https://amzn.to/3WceGjc

Buy here: https://amzn.to/49QzhwH

[afurbamongus]

They’re friends

[love-and-deepspace-wiki]

Akso Hospital: Division of Cardiac Surgery

The Division of Cardiac Surgery is the main window the game gives us into Akso Hospital, most likely because it's the division Zayne is in. While much of the staff are referenced only in name, there are some surrounding characters who get a little bit of screen time on occasion.

Some of the characters below already have their individual posts elsewhere on my account (namely Zayne, Dr. Joelle, and Dr. Cooper). But for those that don't yet, theirs will be coming as soon as I can!

Location:

Based on the signage shown throughout the game, we know this division is on the 8th floor of building A. The sign outside the division's door is 802, so it's located in room/wing 2.

Staff & Personnel:

Role: Chief Medical Officer (CMO)

Role: Chief of Surgery/Chief Surgeon

Role: Surgical First Assistant (SFA)

Role: Attending Surgeon

Dr. Lewis

Role: A surgeon

Dr. Li

Role: Unknown

(Speculation Note: Credit to @feyre5 for this one. But as they so helpfully pointed out, Dr. Li could be Zayne since his Chinese name is Li Shen. I haven't seen the game confirm this so far, so I'm categorizing it as speculation. But it would make a lot of sense!)

Role: Former Chief Medical Officer (CMO)

John

Role: A past intern at Akso Hospital

Role(s): Nurse, Medical Receptionist

[putschki1969]

Kaji Fes.2023 Day 2 FULL Video

»»——  CLICK ME 🎁 CLICK ME ——««

❗FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY❗ ❗CREDIT me if you SHARE on other sites❗

Yes, finally we have a recording of Day 2. Even though I was there for Day 2 back in December, I was still excited to experience the whole thing again. Unfortunately, I never got to write my report so I guess I will use the opportunity to share some of my memories and current thoughts.

Here goes nothing┗(•ˇ_ˇ•)―→

street corner: Looks like they cut this. I am surprised because they had a much longer slot for Day 2 (3 hours instead of just 2) so I was sure they would be able to squeeze all of it into the broadcast but apparently not. Oh well, can't say I am said about that because being confronted with the accordion right from the get-go at the live really didn't leave a good impression on me. I had pretty high expectations for the whole thing and this intro left me more than underwhelmed. Thank God we transitioned right to "希望の光".

希望の光: Now THIS is the intro I was hoping for. What a gorgeous melody! I wasn't familiar with the track but my God, I got goosebumps all over. I literally felt this in my entire body. The gradual build-up to a more grand-scale symphonic arrangement towards the end really impressed me. I am just obsessed with the uilleann pipes and the Celtic sound. I honestly struggle to get beyond this because I keep rewinding the video.

prelude to Act 1: The look on my face when I heard those first few notes. I was shooketh to say the least. I most definitely did not expect them to do the Kalafina block this early in the live but I knew that if they were doing the Madoka instrumentals, the most logical thing would be to transition straight into a Kalafina track. While I have never watched the anime, these are melodies I hold very dear to my heart so I loved this. It was also a great pleasure to hear Eri Ito live for the first time. I will never get enough of Yuki's more classically trained vocalists. it's such a pleasure to listen to them.

Numquam vincar: After "prelude to Act 1" this was no surprise at all but damn, I am so glad they played this. I've never actually had the chance to experience this track live even though they obviously performed it numerous times during Kalafina live intermissions. What a pleasure to be there and truly feel the epicness of that intro. Once more I was covered in goosebumps.

Magia [quattro]: At this point I knew it was coming but it was still a shock to my system. Like I said earlier, I was sure that they would wait until the very end to do the Kalafina block (that's what they had done for earlier lives) so I thought I had some time to prepare myself and get into the groove so to speak. My body certainly wasn't ready so maybe that's why my brain couldn't properly compute the whole thing. I remember not being as hyped as I expected to be and that made me kinda sad. I am so grateful that we are getting this recording and a blu-ray release because I feel like I couldn't fully appreciate the performance while I was there. Getting to see it again is a real treat and I must say, I like this much more than the previous FJ "covers" we have gotten of this song. Hikaru and Keiko sound so perfectly in tune and I just love their powerful delivery. For the most part, I don't mind the higher harmonies provided by Yuriko and Joelle. Although during some parts (e.g. mayowazu ni yukeru nara), I feel like Joelle and Keiko don't harmonise very well together but whatever, it doesn't bother me too much. On a random side note, I wasted way too much time wondering about why I thought that Keiko's arms looked kinda naked until I finally realised that the puffy sleeve pieces of her outfit were missing.

storia: I did not expect this to make it onto the setlist but I am a big fan of the song so I was happy when I heard the first notes. Overall, I think I like this version well enough although I will admit that my favourite part has always been the chorus with Keiko and Wakana so it is a bit jarring to hear Joelle for these parts. Don't get me wrong, Joelle sounds great and I feel like the harmony between her and Keiko works better here than during "Magia" but still, it can't quite touch my heart. I mean, just thinking of all the Kalafina performances where Wakana and Keiko gaze lovingly into each other's eyes while they sing the "yasashii uta..." line makes me tear up. Nothing will ever be able to replace that for me. A few days later I attended Wakana's concert where she also performed "storia". This may sound ridiculous but hearing those performances more or less back to back almost felt as if the three of them had been reunited. Even though this might have been a coincidence, just the idea of this little connection had me in tears.

君の銀の庭: Oh, another cut song. Thank God we are getting the Blu-Ray. I will be honest with you though, I am quite sad that they chose two Kalafina songs that I don't particularly like. I couldn't get as excited as I wanted to be. I think I had no complaints about this performance, enjoyed everyone's vocals and didn't really notice Wakana's absence. But I guess that's because I wasn't a big fan of the song to begin with :P

to the beginning: It will forever be a mystery to me why this is such a fan favourite but oh well, let's not linger on that. In some way, it's almost a blessing in disguise for me to not have such a strong emotional connection to these songs because it helps me appreciate the new versions a lot more. No matter how skilled of a singer Joelle might be, if I am invested in a performance with a prominent Wakana part, there is no way anyone will ever live up to that. It's 100% a me problem, I realise that but I doubt I will ever be able change that way of thinking. Anyways, this was a perfectly fine rendition.

海と真珠: Don't think I've ever heard a JUNNA song. Not a huge fan of her voice, it's just too generic for me. But there's something about this song that I like, especially that those hey-hey woah parts. The chorus is decent too. It's not a track I would skip but also not something I would actively seek out.

太陽の航路: Not my cup of tea. I can tell that there is a nice melody hidden in the chorus but it's a bit too fast-paced for me.

time to sail!: Yet another cut. I loved this. Was already familiar with it from a previous recording so I really appreciated getting to hear t live. It's somewhat of a very epic and grand-scale version of "Umi to Shinju" which I am only realising now XD

The main theme of “L.O.R.D”: Can't tell you how very much I am in love with this song. The first time I got to experience this live was in Taiwan back in 2019. The song is so fucking good, I will never get tired of it. I was utterly blown away by Joelle's vocal prowess. I know it always sounds like I am low-key bullying her but that's really not my attention. I am just forever too hung-up on Wakana to ever be able to accept anyone else taking up my favourite parts of her.

I talk to the rain: Can't wait to hear this again on the Blu-ray.

a song of storm and fire: In my report for Day 1 I did talk about tis and "salva nos" being my first introduction to Yuki Kajiura's music. I feel so privileged to have finally been there for a live performance. Needless to say, it was everything that I could have asked for. Watching the recording now doesn't even do it justice. It was so much more powerful at the venue.

ring your song: This always brings tears to my eyes. The melody is just so beautiful and when they all join in, it's literal perfection.

ことのほかやわらかい: God dammit, I really want to like this song because in theory it should be right up my alley. I mean, the instrumental intro is to die for, it's so promising but then it's just all over the place and I can't get into it T_T

夜光塗料: Not a huge fan of ASCA unfortunately and I do not care for the song either.

雲雀: Surprisingly fond of this. Very nice melody. Can see myself listening to it on a regular basis.

君が見た夢の物語: Not much to say about this except that I enjoyed Keiko's lower harmonies. It's not a bad song per se so I probably would have liked it more if it didn't have ASCA on main.

everlasting song: This is always fun although I do enjoy the version without FJ ASUKA more. I know that sounds horrible considering it's literally her song but I will never be a fan of Yuki's vocalists with a more generic voices. Wakana's "kimi no me ni..." will forever be my favourite!!

世界の果て: No thoughts really.

優しい夜明け: Joelle is a much better fit for this See-Saw song than Yuuka. Very enjoyable.

君がいた物語: A favourite of mine. Do I prefer the version with Wakana? Of course! Do I have fun with this version too? Mostly yeah! Kaori's always work for me here but I can tolerate it.

Rainbow~Main Theme~: This was a nice treat. Very fond of KOKIA as a vocalist and this is just a super beautiful song. Have always liked it.

風よ、吹け: Not as smitten with this new KOKIA song but it's nice enough. I certainly wouldn't skip it

lotus: Wow, two Hanae cuts! How rude!!

inverse operation:

目覚め: I do love the Wakana versions but I also enjoy versions with other main vocalists. And of course, Hanae does an amazing job.

夕闇のうた: I know this didn't leave a good impression on me when I first heard it and I can't say I feel much different about it now.

荒野流転: This upcoming FJ Yuuka corner didn't do anything for me, it was the point where I started to get really tired and distracted. It was a struggle to still pay attention even though these were all more up-beat songs.

Silly-Go-Round: Nope.

cazador del amor: Meh.

nowhere: The only song I actually enjoyed from this corner. ASCA thankfully used a voice that I didn't find too grating (which can't be said about rito, JUNNA and Lino). Almost wish I had stood up for this performance and the next because Keiko was spending a lot of time on the left side of the stage (I had an arena seat pretty close to the stage on the left) but I probably wouldn't have had a good view of Keiko anyway so I preferred to just watch the screen. And to be honest, I am not the type of person to stand up and do some weird moves anyway so it was probably for the best. No need to embarrass myself in front of people who actually know how to move their body.

zodiacal sign: I mean, when is this ever not an absolute pleasure?

into the world: I was hoping to see Hikaru again since almost all the other guest vocalists had had a second appearance and yay, she came back on stage for the final song before the encore! "into the world" was such a perfect ending. I definitely got choked up, especially towards the climax of the song when Keiko was really putting all of herself into it.

red rose: Not my favourite but a good track for all the musicians to shine again.

Parade: It's my favourite song from the album and a fitting ending for this behemoth of a concert. At this point, everyone was close to tears after Yuki's little speech so that made it so much more moving. Love, love, love!! Right after they all take a bow and everyone is leaving the stage, I am glad they zoomed in a bit on Keiko who was wiping away some tears and leaning on Hikaru. That moment killed me at the live.

[gryficowa]

Boycott!

It's already one in the morning…

Now that I have your attention:

[melsie-sims2]

Once they were mostly settled in their new trailer, the Inoke family headed to the Town Hall and Library to do some socializing with the rest of the Sims in Plumwell.

"Behave, okay?" Chelsey told her youngest child. "And have fun."

"Yeah, yeah," Joelle shrugged, already halfway up the stairs toward the library section of the building.

[teadreamsims]

Just a romantically reserved, genius, practice makes perfect detective named Joelle and her cat, Moon🌙✨️

So this is kind of a current household and casual Lovestruck exploration? I say kind of because I'm not gonna explore everything in the pack (such as the matchmaker career) and depending on how I feel it MIGHT become a legacy? Not entirely sure tho, I'm just going with the flow currently. See below the cut for a short build/buy rant.

Someone tell me why I laid down the same floorboards for the ceiling as I did for some of the floor and yet they look like this.

Like??? Why does it look so pale and why does the lighting look like that? I don't remember this happening previously when I've remembered to paint the ceilings in game, is this what normally happens? Bc if this is how it's always been, I never want to look at the ceiling again.

[sarahhthegemini]

sunday brunch <3

this was such a nice way to spend my sunday. wrote up a cover letter that i sent with my resume to my top prospect for a new spa. watching a live webinar to building an esthetics business by joelle lee. and a shroom latte with croissant french toast to accompany me

[emotionalcadaver]

Part 1: The Clockwork Laws

Fandom: In Time

Pairing: Raymond Leon x OC

Summary: Life as Raymond’s partner isn’t everything she was hoping it would be.  

Word Count: 6,015

Notes: Warnings for references to prostitution.

Previous Chapter • Series • Fic • Next Chapter

Chapter 3: Partners

Rose stared up at the Timekeeper headquarters building nervously. She had nothing but her bag with her, hair tied back in a braid, dressed in black with a pair of heavy combat boots on her feet. 

Deep breath in, deep breath out. She forced her shoulders to relax before stepping forward, pushing open the doors.

The woman at the front desk greeted her with a warm smile, whisking her to the back where she measured her shoulders and general height with a tape measure before pulling from the closet a long, leather black coat.

“Try this on. To make sure it fits.”

Taking the coat from her, Rose slipped her arms tentatively through the sleeves, rolling her shoulders under the heavy leather. It was warm, the inner lining soft. It felt like armor.

“How does it fit?”

“Yeah, it feels good.”

“Good. Come with me, then. I’ll show you to your desk.”

Wrapping the coat around her more tightly, enjoying the protectiveness that the layer of leather provided, she rushed to follow the secretary down the hall. “I get a desk?”

“Of course,” she giggled, still smiling at Rose warmly. They came into a room made almost entirely of white marble, huge columns spaced evenly across the entire length of it. Desks with four people to each, a computer screen erected in front of them, were spread throughout, and a massive map displaying the time zones and the amount of time currently in each zone was displayed on the wall. There was no decoration on the walls, leaving the space to feel sterile and cold. She was suddenly even more grateful for the coat she’s just been issued. A handful of people were already milling about, some in their leather dusters while others were in suits. But all were dressed in deep black.

“You're over here,” the secretary guided her to a desk. “Cassius and his partner Joelle are there,” she pointed to two of the other chairs at the table. “And Raymond’s here,” she pointed to one of the seats next to Rose’s. “He’ll be your partner.”

“I’m partnered with Raymond?” Rose asked, the knowledge startling her. The secretary shrugged.

“We’re all as surprised as you are. Word is, Raymond’s been refusing getting a partner since he first showed up here. What did you do to change his mind?” 

“I–nothing?” her brow stitched together in confusion. Considering that her last interaction with Raymond ended with him behaving cold and aloof towards her, she couldn’t for the life of her think of any reason why he would be even somewhat willing to be partners with her.

“Well, either way, it seems that the tin man has a sliver of a heart after all. Go ahead and get settled in. He’ll tell you about what you’ll be working on when he gets in.”

“Thanks.”

The secretary nodded and bustled away. Sliding her bag from her shoulder, Rose sat gingerly down into her chair, fiddling around with the computer as she waited, mind twirling a little from overstimulation over everything that had just been thrown at her.

“You must be the new rookie,” looking up, she was met with a woman with dark features, her hair pulled back into a ponytail. “I’m Joelle.”

“Hi,” she shook Joelle’s outstretched hand. “I’m Rose.”

“I know. Raymond’s new partner,” Joelle gave her a sympathetic look. “Listen. He’s a hard ass, but he means well.”

“Um, okay?”

Joelle looked her up and down. “You’ll be fine.”

She left Rose alone at the desk, to twiddle her thumbs as she waited. Her eyes darted almost of their own accord to the map on the wall. It was big enough to span out between two columns, the different zones indicated on it glowing in different colors, with a huge number in the middle of each one.

The squeak of shoes against the floor made her turn. Raymond was standing there, hands shoved into his jacket, his jaw working around a wad of gum. When he saw her he stopped, those expressionless eyes looking her up and down.

“You’re here,” it was hard to tell if he was disappointed or not.

“I am,” Rose forced her chin to remain high. To not give into the slight intimidation that he made her feel. Or the way that her body flushed when he looked her up and down like that. 

Raymond didn’t say anything else, just moved to sit at his desk, fingers flying across the keyboard as he logged in. Rose squirmed in her seat. So he was still pissed over…whatever it was she had said that angered him the last time that they saw each other.

“So, um,” she cleared her throat. “What should I do first?”

Raymond heaved out a sign, as if the question alone was of great inconvenience to him. The wheels of the chair made a rumbling noise as they wheeled against the floor towards her when he scooted closer, shoving a huge file onto her desk.

“Read this,” he went back to clicking through something on his computer.

“All of it?”

“Yes,” he didn’t look up.

“O-kay…” she drew the word out, opening the file and freezing at the name that greeted her. “Cyrus?” looking up at Raymond, she found that his expression hadn’t changed.

“We’ve been tasked with hunting him down.”

“I see,” he didn’t offer anything further to her comment. “Look, I just wanted to say thanks for–”

“Save it,” his teeth gritted as he said it. Still he wouldn’t look at her. Rose fought the urge to shrivel in on herself. Just nodding, she focused her eyes instead on the pages in front of her.

∗ ∗ ∗ 

“Ah, shit,” she muttered, fingers rubbing at where the papers she’d been filing had sliced into her finger in a tiny, stinging cut. That had been how she’d spent most of her day. And the day before that. And the day before that. Tucked away in the records office, filing paper after paper from the stack Raymond had dumped on her desk.

She tried to be a good sport about it. Everyone had to pay their dues somehow, after all. But still, considering Raymond’s clear hostility towards her, it was hard not to take it personally.

Pushing the last paper into place and shoving the filing cabinet closed, she sucked on her cut finger as she left the room, heading back to her desk. There was a rush of Timekeepers heading towards the doors, many checking their weapons and tugging on their coats.

“What’s going on?” Rose asked, approaching Joelle who was sitting at her computer. She just shrugged.

“I don’t know.”

“There’s a hostage situation in New Greenwich,” Raymond swept around them both, shoving his gun into the holster on his thigh. “All available units are getting called in.”

Cursing quietly, Joelle jumped from her seat, rushing for the door. When Rose moved to follow, Raymond held out a hand to stop her.

“Not you.”

“I can help–”

“No.”

“Why not?” 

Raymond sighed heavily and pinched at his brow. She was pretty sure that she was going to kill him.

It wasn’t even the mindless, mundane tasks that he assigned to her day after day that was getting to her, but the blatant, obvious distrust. So he didn’t like her. That was fine.

Okay, it actually really wasn’t, but that’s not the point.

The point was that he clearly didn’t want her around.

She’d considered asking for a transfer to another partner, but he’d so neglected to show her how anything there worked, she didn’t even know how to do that. 

“Look, I don’t know what I said, or did to make you so dislike me–”

“I don’t dislike you,” Raymond defended.

“Stop interrupting me!” it came out louder than intended, and a few passing Timekeepers shot them funny looks. Raymond’s brows rose, but he stopped talking. “I just don’t see the point in being here if you’re just going to treat me like a glorified secretary.”

“Everyone starts out with menial work until they’ve learned the ropes.”

“And yet you haven’t done shit to even try to teach me anything. You won’t let me onto any crime scenes, you barely even let me look at crime files. So how the hell am I supposed to learn how to do my job when my own damn partner barely trusts me to file correctly?”

“It’s not an issue of trust. You don’t have any experience in this line of work. You want me to send you into a situation that’ll likely just get you and several of our other Timekeepers shot?”

“How the hell am I supposed to get any experience when you keep me locked up in here then?”

Raymond’s jaw twitched, arms crossing over his chest. She was suddenly aware of just how much taller he was than her. “Listen to me. Do you realize how goddamn lucky you are? No one from Dayton gets accepted here. Ever. Do you know how many people are just waiting for one little slip up, one tiny little mistake to send your ass packing? So you are going to keep your goddamn head down, you’re not going to make any trouble, and you will do what I fucking tell you to. Got it?” his tone was low, trembling with anger, eyes narrowed to icy slits as he leaned into her space. Rose could feel her resolve crumbling away into nothing but dust as she realized there wasn’t really any point in arguing. She knew that she wouldn’t win. Much as it begrudged her to admit it, he was right. And the last thing she wanted to do was to make him somehow hate her even more. Looking down, she couldn’t help it as her shoulders slumped slightly. “Okay.”

Raymond moved to walk around her, then paused, heaving out a deep sigh. “There are some notes on my desk regarding the Cyrus case. Go ahead and read through them. See if you can spot anything useful,” his hand just barely grazed along her shoulder for a brief sliver of a second. And then he was walking away, so quickly she thought for a moment that she might have imagined the light touch had it not been for the way her skin tingled in memory of the weight of his hand.

“Ah, shit,” she muttered, fingers rubbing at where the papers she’d been filing had sliced into her finger in a tiny, stinging cut. That had been how she’d spent most of her day. And the day before that. And the day before that. Tucked away in the records office, filing paper after paper from the stack Raymond had dumped on her desk.

She tried to be a good sport about it. Everyone had to pay their dues somehow, after all. But still, considering Raymond’s clear hostility towards her, it was hard not to take it personally.

Pushing the last paper into place and shoving the filing cabinet closed, she sucked on her cut finger as she left the room, heading back to her desk. There was a rush of Timekeepers heading towards the doors, many checking their weapons and tugging on their coats.

“What’s going on?” Rose asked, approaching Joelle who was sitting at her computer. She just shrugged.

“I don’t know.”

“There’s a hostage situation in New Greenwich,” Raymond swept around them both, shoving his gun into the holster on his thigh. “All available units are getting called in.”

Cursing quietly, Joelle jumped from her seat, rushing for the door. When Rose moved to follow, Raymond held out a hand to stop her.

“Not you.”

“I can help–”

“No.”

“Why not?” 

Raymond sighed heavily and pinched at his brow. She was pretty sure that she was going to kill him.

It wasn’t even the mindless, mundane tasks that he assigned to her day after day that was getting to her, but the blatant, obvious distrust. So he didn’t like her. That was fine.

Okay, it actually really wasn’t, but that’s not the point.

The point was that he clearly didn’t want her around.

She’d considered asking for a transfer to another partner, but he’d so neglected to show her how anything there worked, she didn’t even know how to do that. 

“Look, I don’t know what I said, or did to make you so dislike me–”

“I don’t dislike you,” Raymond defended.

“Stop interrupting me!” it came out louder than intended, and a few passing Timekeepers shot them funny looks. Raymond’s brows rose, but he stopped talking. “I just don’t see the point in being here if you’re just going to treat me like a glorified secretary.”

“Everyone starts out with menial work until they’ve learned the ropes.”

“And yet you haven’t done shit to even try to teach me anything. You won’t let me onto any crime scenes, you barely even let me look at crime files. So how the hell am I supposed to learn how to do my job when my own damn partner barely trusts me to file correctly?”

“It’s not an issue of trust. You don’t have any experience in this line of work. You want me to send you into a situation that’ll likely just get you and several of our other Timekeepers shot?”

“How the hell am I supposed to get any experience when you keep me locked up in here then?”

Raymond’s jaw twitched, arms crossing over his chest. She was suddenly aware of just how much taller he was than her. “Listen to me. Do you realize how goddamn lucky you are? No one from Dayton gets accepted here. Ever. Do you know how many people are just waiting for one little slip up, one tiny little mistake to send your ass packing? So you are going to keep your goddamn head down, you’re not going to make any trouble, and you will do what I fucking tell you to. Got it?” his tone was low, trembling with anger, eyes narrowed to icy slits as he leaned into her space. Rose could feel her resolve crumbling away into nothing but dust as she realized there wasn’t really any point in arguing. She knew that she wouldn’t win. Much as it begrudged her to admit it, he was right. And the last thing she wanted to do was to make him somehow hate her even more. Looking down, she couldn’t help it as her shoulders slumped slightly. “Okay.”

Raymond moved to walk around her, then paused, heaving out a deep sigh. “There are some notes on my desk regarding the Cyrus case. Go ahead and read through them. See if you can spot anything useful,” his hand just barely grazed along her shoulder for a brief sliver of a second. And then he was walking away, so quickly she thought for a moment that she might have imagined the light touch had it not been for the way her skin tingled in memory of the weight of his hand.

∗ ∗ ∗ 

Head resting on one arm while she scribbled notes down, cursing quietly when the ink smudged, she barely even heard the doors open, nor the heavy footsteps behind her. Someone had turned on the television in the breakroom, the majority of those left behind at the headquarters gathering around it to watch what happened with the hostage situation. Rose had wandered in once to get another cup of coffee, only glancing at the news anchor speaking on the scene before returning back to her desk to continue reviewing the notes Raymond had left her with.

“You’ve been busy.”

Head jerking up at the sound of Raymond’s voice over her shoulder, she glanced back at him, cheeks heating against her will as she looked at the array of notes and papers scattered over her desk. “You said to go over those notes on the Cyrus case.”

There was a long, long, stretch of silence, his eyes just staring at her, analyzing. Tucking a loose curl behind her ear, she squirmed in her seat, trying to act collected at the sudden attention.

“It’s late,” he said finally. “I was expecting you to have already gone home.”

It was hard to determine what exactly he wanted her to say to that, so she just shrugged sheepishly, trying to straighten out the papers on her desk into a neat stack. “How did the hostage situation go?”

Rubbing a hand across his neck, he huffed. “It went fine.”

That was probably about as much detail as she was going to get out of him. “Good,” she nodded. “That’s good,” tentatively, she set the stack of papers on his desk. “I wrote down what I thought, about the case.”

Nodding, he skimmed a finger along the stack. “I’ll read through it tomorrow.”

“Okay,” massaging at her brow, she hastily held her hand to her mouth to hide a yawn that was powerful enough to squeeze her eyes shut. When she opened them, Raymond was looking at her strangely. The coldness in his eyes seemed to have thawed, if only by the slightest amount.

“Go home, Rose. Get some sleep.”

It was impossible to stop the stutter in her breathing when he said her name. But she couldn’t deny how exhausted she was. Logging out and locking her computer, she stood, brushing herself down carefully before grabbing her bag.

“Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

“Okay.”

While heading to the doors, she couldn’t help but glance over her shoulder once. And when she did she found him still standing at his desk, watching her walk away with inscrutable eyes. 

∗ ∗ ∗ 

The thump as a new stack of papers were deposited onto Rose’s desk made her teeth grind together.

“More to be filed?” glancing up from the pile she was currently working on, she bit back a bitter scowl as she met Raymond’s cold eyes.

“Yes.”

“You know, I could be helpful in other ways than just filing shit.”

“What I have you doing is helpful,” he didn’t look at her as he said it, instead glancing down at his phone when it beeped. Rose bit her tongue to keep herself from saying something that would begin an argument. They’d had enough of those since she’d been assigned as his partner.

She wasn’t entirely sure if it was being paired up with a rookie that made Raymond so dislike her, or if it was just because it was her.

She was beginning to suspect that it was the latter.

But the constant stream of meaningless work was starting to get on her last nerve. They were supposed to be hunting down leads on Cyrus, and yet half of the time he had her doing filings that really should have been relegated to one of the interns.

“Any new leads today?” she asked. A muscle in Raymond’s cheek twitched, a sign that she’d learned indicated that he was trying to hide his annoyance.

“No.”

“Are you still sending search squads out to Dayton?”

His back turned to her as he examined the huge map of the time zones projected onto the wall. Shoulders heaving with his sigh, he settled his hands on his waist. “Yes.”

“You should have them check out the red light district by the entrance to the subway tunnel. Some of the rebels would frequent there.”

Blinking once, his eyes continued to stare at the map, but there was a haziness in them all of a sudden. Like his mind wasn’t quite there for a moment. “I know.”

Rose raised an eyebrow, but just as quickly as his eyes had lost focus they snapped back to reality, staring intently at the map. She almost wondered if she had just imagined the uncharacteristic, haunted look that passed over his features.

“One of Cyrus’s favorites worked that area,” she tried to add, though she wasn’t sure how any of that would be useful.

“What do you mean?” when she looked up, Raymond was staring at her.

“Yeah…at least that’s what Luke told me,” she winced as the file she picked up sliced a thin papercut into her thumb. “I think that her name was Sasha?”

“Hm,” Raymond’s hand braced against her desk, eyes still looking the map up and down. His foot tapped, brows knitting as he rolled something over in his mind. “Come with me,” spinning on his heel, he began to move towards the doors. Rose remained just sitting for a few seconds, blinking in shock as her mind processed what he’d just said. Leaping to her feet and snagging her leather duster from where it was hanging over the back of her chair, she rushed to follow him.

“Where are we going?”

Raymond didn’t answer, just unlocked his car and slid into the driver’s seat. Climbing into the passenger’s side, she adjusted her coat around her shoulders, clicking her seatbelt into place. Raymond drove fast, with a level of abandon that was probably useful when in pursuit of a suspect. She wondered if it was an old habit from living in Dayton, similarly to how she had yet to unlearn that she didn’t need to speed walk or jog everywhere anymore.

“Did your brother tell you anything else about the relationship between the rebels and the prostitutes?” Raymond asked, eyes glued to the road.

“Not really. Just that it was contentious.”

“Did he say why?”

“No, he didn’t.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she could have sworn that some of the tension in Raymond’s shoulders relaxed. A part of her wanted to ask more questions, but her instincts told her that would just get her head ripped off. Instead she let her forehead rest against the window, watching the people going about their lives as they sped past them.

“Raymond,” she said quietly as soon as she recognized the streets they were pulling towards. “Why are we here?”

Parking the car, he smoothed a hand through his hair, an apprehensiveness in his steely gaze that left her uneasy.

“Look,” he licked his lips. “Just stay close, alright?”

Her brows furrowed. “Okay.”

As he unlocked the doors, she checked the green countdown on her arm before slipping her hand into the silver ring of metal behind the gearshift. “Dispatch, wire me my per diem.”

“Time transfer,” the automated female voice said. She waited for the numbers to tick upwards before removing her arm.

“Do you need to get yours too?” she called as Raymond stepped from the car, but he shook his head.

“No, I’ve got enough.”

As they walked towards the red light district of Dayton, she adjusted her coat against her shoulders. The leather felt like armor, a protective shield against anyone or anything that may try to harm her.

“What makes you think that any of them will actually talk to you?” she asked. He didn’t respond.

The streets had more people on them than the last time Rose was there, though several ducked back into their houses at the sight of them approaching. Others, however, just eyed them curiously.

“Hey, Ray!” shouted a woman dressed in a fishnet shirt and mini skirt, teetering on the highest pair of heels Rose had ever seen. She waved enthusiastically with a grin.

“Hi, Tara,” Raymond called back, and for a moment a friendly smile stretched across his features. Rose almost tripped over her own feet at the sight, all but gaping at the exchange. She wouldn’t have thought Raymond to be capable of friendly greetings at all. Chancing another glance around, at the other sex workers lounging in the streets, she realized that many of them were looking at Raymond with a level of familiarity.

So he must be a regular here, then.

Wrapping her arms around her middle, she gulped down whatever the fuck the feeling was that twinged in her chest. It didn’t matter. She didn’t care.

Following Raymond when he turned down an alley, she lingered silently behind him as he approached three women talking in hushed voices to one another.

“Hey, Janet,” the woman with a bright red streak in her hair lifted her head at his voice. “Can I have a minute?”

The woman shooed the other two away, leaning against the wall and looking Raymond up and down.

“Been awhile since I’ve seen you down here, Ray. You get too good for the likes of us?”

“Work’s been busy.”

“I heard,” Janet shot a lazy look at Rose. “Who’s this?”

“This is my partner,” he couldn’t have sounded any less enthused about it if he tried. Rose bit her cheek and kept her head lowered, burying her hurt feelings under a blank, neutral expression. “We need to ask you some questions.”

Janet crossed her arms over her chest and smirked. Raymond heaved out a dramatic sigh, taking her arm and transferring some of the time on his arm over to hers. Checking her numbers to see how much he’d given her, Janet nodded. “Okay. What do you want to know?”

“We know that Cyrus Langley still comes around here. Does he see anyone in particular?”

“Yeah, actually. Ever since the shit you pulled though, he only goes to the same two girls. They’re both hardcore rebel sympathizers. Practically rebels themselves. I’m guessing that he trusts them not to blab any of the shit he shows or tells them.”

“Who are they?”

“Sasha and Emmie,” Janet’s eyes narrowed. “You know, none of them really trusted any of us after what you did. Some even come out to harass us while we’re trying to work. It cost us all a mountain of customers.”

Raymond looked down, shoving his hands in his pockets and clearing his throat. As if ashamed. Rose looked between him and Janet in puzzlement. There was some piece of all of this that she was missing, and judging by how cagey Raymond was with her, she doubted that he was about to volunteer any answers.

“Are either of them around?”

“No. They both skipped town after they heard about your big round up of all the rebels at the base.”

Raymond cursed quietly under his breath, running a hand over his slicked back hair. “Anything else?”

Janet cocked her head, and pursed her lips, clearly considering before holding out her arm again. Raymond rolled his eyes, grabbing her arm and transferring over some more time to her.

“Sasha had a big mouth on her. She liked to brag about all of the expensive gifts Cyrus would buy her. Pompous bitch,” Janet scowled bitterly. “She mentioned some sort of…I don’t know, apartment, a safehouse, maybe, that he liked to take her to.”

“Do you know where it is?”

“You got a pen?”

Rose rummaged around in her pocket, handing Janet her notebook and a pen. She scribbled down an address and handed it back. Raymond nodded to Janet.

“Thanks.”

“Sure thing.”

Raymond’s footsteps were fast as he walked from the alley and back along the road they’d come down on. Rose had to all but jog in order to keep up with him. Questions danced on the end of her tongue, but one look at Raymond’s face had her biting it instead. His eyes were focused firmly ahead, hands clasped behind his back, expression bordering on tormented.

“Raymond?” she didn’t know what else she exactly wanted to say to him. They were nearing the car.

“Give me the address,” was all he said in response. Pulling her notebook from her pocket, she tore the page out with a satisfying rip, holding it out to him. When he reached out a hand to take it, her eyes widened to nearly the size of dinner plates. There was only a little more than a minute left on his clock. “Jesus, how much time did you give her?”

Before he could react, she grabbed his arm with hers, turning it, watching the numbers count up until he had ten minutes on his clock instead of one. Dropping his arm, she raised her eyes to find him just staring at her. His face was close enough that she could distinctly make out the light freckles dusting his cheeks.

“Sorry,” she said, suddenly feeling as though she crossed some sort of line. “I didn’t want you to time out.”

“I’ll pay you back.”

“It’s just ten minutes. Don’t worry about it,” shifting from foot to foot, she wrapped her arms around her middle. “Can’t have you timing out on me when you’re my ride and all,” a smile cracked along her lips at the joke. Raymond scoffed, but she could have sworn that before he turned away to resume walking back to the car that she caught the very beginnings of a smile at the corner of his mouth.

“I’m touched.”

“Mhm,” she didn’t mention that she’d noticed he seemed to have a bad habit of doing that; of running his clock down to the last possible second before collecting his per diem. She wondered where he’d picked up the disposition. “So, now what?” sliding back into the passenger seat, she closed the door, reclining back into the soft leather.

Raymond collected his per diem and turned on the car, pulling away from the red light district at breakneck speed.

“Now we go find Cyrus.”

∗ ∗ ∗ 

It was just their luck that there was a hotel right across the street from the safehouse that Janet had given them the address to. They wouldn’t be able to move on the apartment until they knew for certain that Cyrus was there, so the Timekeepers had booked them a room at the hotel for them to use while they staked out and waited for any signs of the rebel leader.  

Sitting on the windowsill, with her legs curled to her chest and a pair of binoculars pressed to her eyes, Rose pouted, blowing a raspberry as she let the binoculars fall to rest in her lap.

“Still nothing?” Raymond asked from where he was sitting on the bed. There was a file open in front of him, that he was marking up with a black pen. He had shed his coat, leaving him in just his vest and undershirt. It was odd to see him like that; almost how she could imagine him looking when he came home from a long day at work and was just beginning to unwind.

“Yeah,” she leaned her head back against the window frame with a thump. Tiredness pulled at her eyes, muscles cramping from spending hours curled up in her position at the window. She raised a hand to cover a yawn.

“If you want to get some sleep, I can take watch for a while,” Raymond offered.

“Are you sure?” she asked, even as she was gripped with another yawn. He just shrugged, standing and approaching the window, taking the binoculars from her.

“Okay,” jumping up, she stretched lazily like a cat, closing her eyes and rolling her neck from side to side. Rummaging through the tiny suitcase she’d brought with her, she pulled out her toiletries bag and her pajamas, going into the bathroom to brush her teeth and change.

Her reflection in the mirror was still a bit of a surprise. Gone was the gaunt, miserable girl with the dead eyes. There was a warmth to her face, the hard bitterness in her amber eyes somewhat softened. She looked almost content.

Running her fingers through her curls and tugging at the hem of her pajama top, she forced herself not to think about Raymond on the other side of the door. He was an asshole anyway. Fuck him.

She bit her lip when her mind promptly took that idea and flipped it over onto itself. It was a constant war within her own mind; that despite how much he annoyed and infuriated her, she couldn’t seem to stop thinking about him.

Shoving open the door to the bathroom, she did her best to ignore him as she climbed into the bed. Curling up with her back to him, she tugged the blankets over her. Even with her eyes closed and Raymond sitting near the window, she could feel his gaze burning into her back.

“Aren’t you supposed to be watching the safehouse?”

He coughed, and shifted. But even as she started to doze off, she could have sworn that she still felt his eyes, every once in a while, darting back to her.

∗ ∗ ∗ 

“Rose, wake up.”

Raising her head from where it was half buried in her pillow, she squinted at Raymond in minor annoyance. “Did something happen?”

“No,” his hand retracted from where it had been shaking lightly at her shoulder. “I was going to order some room service. Do you want anything?”

“Oh,” she pushed herself into what could technically be classified as a sitting position. “Actually, yeah.”

He tossed the menu to her, waiting until she’d made her selections before placing the order on the hotel phone. Rubbing at her eyes and combing her fingers through her hair, Rose swung her legs from the bed, grabbing the binoculars where they were sitting on the table by the window and peeking out at the safehouse across the street.

“Did anything happen while I was asleep?”

“Not really,” Raymond stretched his arms, rolling his neck from side to side. She looked away before he could notice her staring at the way the muscles in his arms flexed, even under the layers of his shirts. “You snore, by the way.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Mhm,” he grunted in disagreement, stalking off to the bathroom while she kept watch. Folding herself back into her position seated on the windowsill, she looped the band for the binoculars around her neck. Outside it was beginning to lightly drizzle, the rain dusting the sidewalks in moisture. A fog had set in, and the sun was beginning to lower, leaving the world to slowly darken as it sank below the horizon.

The bathroom door squealed as Raymond opened it again, moving to sit on one of the chairs at the table.

“I don’t think he’s coming,” she huffed defeatedly.

“Probably not,” he admitted.

“So what are we still doing here?”

He shrugged. “Taking advantage of free vacation?”

“Never would have thought of you as a rule breaker.”

“I have my moments.”

“Hm,” hugging her knees to her chest, she let her chin rest on them. Raymond looked down. If she didn’t know him better she would have thought him to be blushing.

“Did you ever talk to him?”

“Who, Cyrus? Only once or twice. I was small fry; Luke was the bigshot,” outside, the rain started to pick up, pattering harshly against the walls and roof of the hotel. “You know, one time, I asked him what his plan was once the system was dismantled. What his ideas were for replacing it. And he couldn’t answer me,” shaking her head, she looked away. “All of that effort…and he didn’t even have an actual alternative solution in mind.”

“The system’s unfixable,” her eyes snapped up to Raymond’s. “It was designed that way. Think about it,” he said at her questioning look. “You abolish the time system. Give everyone enough time to live forever, or get rid of the countdowns completely. We’re genetically engineered to live forever. But our world can’t sustain an infinite amount of people. Even if we had enough resources, we’d run out of space for everyone. People have to die. That’s the way that it has to be.”

“And the wealthy will never allow it to be them. And no one is going to actually support going back to the way things were. Where people actually aged and got sick.”

He shot her a sad look. “No. They won’t.”

“So what do you do then?”

“I think…” Raymond hesitated. “It’s a shitty system that we’re all stuck in and it isn’t changing anytime soon. So…you just try to have the best life that you can.”

“I thought for a while that being a part of the resistance would mean something. But in the end all that they ever did was hurt me and make me feel like garbage. Like it was wrong or selfish to want a life that had any sort of enjoyment in it.”

“All resistance factions get corrupted if they exist long enough.”

“You think that Cyrus was corrupted?” she asked, head lifting to stare at him.

“I think that he’s a far more selfish bastard than you are.”

Before she could answer there was a knock on the door, and Raymond got up to collect their food. Jumping down from the windowsill to sit in the chair at the table across from him, she sank her teeth into her burger, chewing.

“How is it?”

“Actually not that bad. Better than the burgers they used to serve at school.”

“Oh god, I’d almost forgotten how bad those were.”

Smiling around her next bite, she set the burger down to snag a few fries. “Luke always tried to insist that they were good. Just more evidence that he was a dumbass, I suppose.”

“I almost never saw you in the cafeteria.”

“Usually I spent lunch in the studio.”

“I think that I would be worried about accidentally ingesting some paint if I was trying to eat at the same time,” Raymond stabbed a fork into his salad.

“That…may have happened once or twice,” she ducked her head down to hide her blush. “Paint does not taste very good.”

When she looked up, Raymond was just staring at her, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed. He was wearing an expression that she couldn’t quite place, and she found herself wiping at her mouth with her napkin subconsciously, unsure if maybe there was something on her face.

“Do you think that’s what you would have done, had everything not happened with Luke?”

“What, painting? Maybe,” she twisted a fry between her fingers. “I suppose it all would have depended on how successful I would have been. Gotta be able to make enough time to afford to eat, after all.”

“You would have been successful,” Raymond said. “Your art was good,” he glanced down, picking at his salad.

“Thanks,” her cheeks were definitely visibly burning. “Bartending wasn’t so bad though. Not really.”

“Hm,” he took a bite of his salad, eyes still not quite meeting hers.

“So what did you end up doing after high school? Did you go straight into working with the Timekeepers, or…” her voice trailed off in response to the sudden dark look that passed over Raymond’s features.

“Are you always so goddamn nosy?” he stabbed at the lettuce in his salad irritably. Rose gaped.

“I-I-” her stuttering only made the sudden embarrassment worse, and with it, came a wave of sudden anger. “I was only…”

“Only what?” his eyes narrowed. “We aren’t friends, Rose.”

As you’ve made abundantly clear. Over and over again. “Why are you always such a fucking asshole?” it exploded from her mouth before she had time to bite it back. His eyebrow raised. “I mean, Jesus, I was just trying to have a nice fucking conversation.”

“Excuse me for wanting to maintain professional boundaries,” he still looked relatively unbothered by her sudden outburst.

“Oh, so it’s okay when you ask me personal shit but the second I ask the tiniest probing question it’s inappropriate!?”

“That’s not being fair,” there was the beginning of defensiveness building in his voice.

“No, you know what isn’t fair, Raymond? You know next to everything there is to know about me, and I don’t know shit about you! How are we supposed to work together like this, huh? How am I supposed to trust you when I don’t even know anything about you?”

His jaw clenched, but he said nothing.

“You’ve treated me like shit since before we even started working together.”

“That isn’t true,” Raymond said, something twitching in his face that she couldn’t place. Not that she cared enough to try anymore.

“Oh, really? Because that’s sure how it’s fucking felt!” she realized with sudden horror that she was teetering very dangerously close to crying. Standing on shaky legs, she pushed away from the table. She would not allow him the satisfaction, or herself the embarrassment, of letting him see her cry. “God, I can’t believe that I ever–” she clenched her jaw hard before she said anymore. No way in hell was she letting him in on her secret crush for him. Absolutely not.

“Ever what?” Raymond asked, half rising from his seat. But she was already halfway across the hotel room. “Rose, wait!”

She ignored him, opening the hotel door and stepping out into the hallway, slamming it shut behind her.

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Thank you for reading! Please consider leaving a comment, reblog, or like. I always appreciate feedback and love getting the opportunity to interact with you and hear your thoughts!

[joellesims]

The Leblanc rebuild has begun! I have had so many asks about if the original was available to download but it wasn't since I had used CC and didn't want to bother. And now I can't even access it since the hard drive it's on is dead and I can't pay to extract and move all that data and pay for something to put it ON

I'm being way too nitpicky about things but at least the whole shell is done and set up. I might move the whole thing to a bigger lot to put up the buildings next to it or just remove them for the full download.

Just be warned there is going to be CC and I'm probably just going to include it all in the download

[richincolor]

July Reads

It’s halfway through the summer for me which means I’m stocking up on ice cold popsicles, watermelon, and beach reads. And beach reads in my case are, like, anything I feel like reading in the sun. What’s on my TBR for July? Well…

A Guide to the Dark by Meriam Metoui

You can check out of Room 9, but you can never leave. The Haunting of Hill House meets Nina LaCour in this paranormal mystery YA about the ghosts we carry with us.

Something is building, simmering just out of reach. The room is watching. But Mira and Layla don’t know this yet. When the two best friends are stranded on their spring break college tour road trip, they find themselves at the Wildwood Motel, located in the middle of nowhere, Indiana. Mira can’t shake the feeling that there is something wrong and rotten about their room. Inside, she’s haunted by nightmares of her dead brother. When she wakes up, he’s still there.

Layla doesn’t see him. Or notice anything suspicious about Room 9. The place may be a little run down, but it has a certain charm she can’t wait to capture on camera. If Layla is being honest, she’s too preoccupied with confusing feelings for Mira to see much else. But when they learn eight people died in that same room, they realize there must be a connection between the deaths and the unexplainable things that keep happening inside it. They just have to find the connection before Mira becomes the ninth.

Readers won’t be able to put down this tender thriller that includes over thirty interior black and white photos by the author!

A Song of Salvation by Alechia Dow

From the author of The Sound of Stars and The Kindred comes a YA space opera about a reincarnated god and a grumpy pilot on a mission to save a beloved space DJ and stop an intergalactic war.

Zaira Citlali is supposed to die. After all, she’s the god Indigo reborn. Indigo, whose song created the universe and unified people across galaxies to banish Ozvios, the god of destruction. Although Zaira has never been able to harness Indigo’s powers, the Ilori Emperor wants to sacrifice her in Ozvios’s honor. Unless she escapes and finds Wesley, the boy prophesized to help her defeat Ozvios and the Ilori, once and for all.

Wesley Daniels didn’t ask for this. He just wants to work as a smuggler so he can save enough money to explore the stars. Once he completes his biggest job yet—bringing wanted celebrity Rubin Rima to a strange planet called Earth—he’ll be set for life. But when his path crosses with Zaira, he soon finds himself in the middle of an intergalactic war with more responsibility than he bargained for.

Together, Zaira, Wesley, and Rubin must find their way to Earth and unlock Zaira’s powers if they’re going to have any hope of saving the universe from total destruction.

Their Vicious Games by Joelle Wellington [Out July 25th!]

A Black teen desperate to regain her Ivy League acceptance enters an elite competition only to discover the stakes aren’t just high, they’re deadly, in this searing thriller that’s Ace of Spades meets Squid Game with a sprinkling of The Bachelor .

You must work twice as hard to get half as much. Adina Walker has known this the entire time she’s been on scholarship at the prestigious Edgewater Academy—a school for the rich (and mostly white) upper class of New England. It’s why she works so hard to be perfect and above reproach, no matter what she must force beneath the surface. Even one slip can cost you everything.

And it does. One fight, one moment of lost control, leaves Adina blacklisted from her top choice Ivy League college and any other. Her only chance to regain the future she’s sacrificed everything for is the Finish, a high-stakes contest sponsored by Edgewater’s founding family in which twelve young, ambitious women with exceptional promise are selected to compete in three mysterious the Ride, the Raid, and the Royale. The winner will be granted entry into the fold of the Remington family, whose wealth and power can open any door.

But when she arrives at the Finish, Adina quickly gets the feeling that something isn’t quite right with both the Remingtons and her competition, and soon it becomes clear that this larger-than-life prize can only come at an even greater cost. Because the Finish’s stakes aren’t just make or break…they’re life and death. Adina knows the deck is stacked against her—it always has been—so maybe the only way to survive their vicious games is for her to change the rules.

[lizzybeth1986]

The Therons and the Ebrims in TRR3

I won't include the Amaranths in this because theirs is clearly an embarrassingly personal family squabble. But Portavira and Castelserraillan show two types of political views - one that focuses on the local province, and another that aims at creating a legacy for the country through art and diplomacy.

Both have their merits, but in a story that is supposed to highlight national pride and spirit, you would expect there to either be equal respect for both, or a bit more for the second.

Portavira

Landon's focus is his daughter, and if Penelope doesn't feel comforted by you he has real doubts about supporting you. But he can be swayed if you win the match.

Emmeline's focus is definitely on the match. If you don't win it, she says this:

Later:

Two things of note in the failplay of this scene:

1. The narrative views the failure of the match as a failure on the MC's part. Emmeline can openly state that she thinks the MC isn't taking Portavira seriously on the basis of one match, and the MC is more pleading and contrite in this context.

2. Take note of the dialogue choices after Landon and Emmeline decline. The MC is still respectful, not criticizing their choices. Similarly for Penelope. The MC has the same two options, and both of them have the baseline of respecting where she comes from.

The narrative also specifically wants us to like Landon and Emmeline, as is obvious from the way Drake and the MC speak of them:

In reality there's not a lot that gives this impression except for this one match to raise funds. Tbh the same could have been said of Liam's government's move to raise funding for Portavira through the fashion show...but this fandom isn't exactly going to be convinced by that when it's from Liam, lmao.

Castelserraillan

Kiara and Hakim agree to join the tour by default. Kiara, because you spend exactly one minute either insulting her or manipulating her, and Hakim because he appreciates that you wanted to save his exhibition, regardless of whether you did a good job or not.

Drake, when he enters, makes fun of the Theron house right away, making a quip about how he "expected more flags".

Still, Hakim not only shows him massive respect, it's also clear that he remembers Drake's father:

In comparison, Landon and Emmeline hardly engage with Drake except to express bewilderment when he stumbles. I hardly see Drake making any fulsome compliments about Hakim, and it's clear he is neither classist nor his aims superficial.

Hakim is written as more grateful to the MC than he needs to be once the festival is over, just for his inclusion into the tour to be default. It doesn't even matter whether or not Cordonia will enter the International Art Association. In fact he and Kiara are the only nobility that feature in the wedding by default without extra conditions.

Ezekiel can decline, but I'm not surprised considering he was written more for Penelope than for his family. Joelle's case...is interesting.

Joelle firmly believes that art and culture are important to building the morale of a country, and are markers of a country's prosperity and progress:

Now, this is a pretty valid point. It speaks to wanting the country not only to be safe and protected, but also thriving culturally and creatively. There really isn't much to mock in this viewpoint (well, unless you're Olivia Nevrakis:

Tbh it feels like there is more respect for this mindset than Joelle's, Liam's, Hana's or Kiara's).

Joelle can, of course, reject the offer, just like Emmeline and Landon did:

Unlike Landon and Emmeline, the MC's choices to respond to this are very different:

You do not see any equivalent to that final option for Landon and Emmeline, if they decline. The MC doesn't get to criticize their laser-focus on their duchy alone, nor is she allowed to badmouth any one spouse to the other, as she can here (she is allowed to call Joelle a "handful" to her loving husband's face). The narrative also doesn't mind making her sound slightly ridiculous, with her "there's nothing more important than art".

The narrative will employ the same tactics in TRH3 - writing Joelle so badly in her appearance during the Flower Festival that the depiction borders on caricature, and having the Ebrims call the Therons "traditionalists" even though there is very little indication of that in the books.

Even Kiara, when she hears of Joelle's choice to leave for Switzerland, is made to sound like she'd made a bad choice:

I only expand on this because I don't exactly want to crowd the essay more than I already have 😅

[italianexotiicbeauty]

@copiious ( for joe ! )

It's been an entire year and a half now since Mary agreed to sign the contract, to be Joe's manager on the west coast only. Her contract had to have that particular stipulation because unlike everyone else that worked solely for the company? She had another job, her main job – this?.Was quite the side hustle. Mary wasn't a fool though, she has a dummy account on most of the social media platforms to see what the fans are saying, because the only personal account she has is Instagram. The tattoo parlor had a separate account for artists to display their work, there was a site linked in the bio as well as an email to contact the management. You know — a typical business account. 

Both rosters were on the road four days a week – and since the schedule literally changed every single week ? She's a bit grateful there's times where she's not needed at all, where it's the old wiseman having to be there and she can be at work or sitting on her surfboard watching the sunset. Did it at all weigh on her subconscious? Yes, it did — because Joe lived all the way on the other coast — 4, 649 miles if anyone needed the numbers. And there were very few who knew the truth — six people to be exact, other than themselves ( Joelle, his mom, Paul, Sefa, Jon & Josh ). It sat on her ring finger the whole time she was back in Hawai'i, she slept with it on and only ever removed it to shower — but they agreed to not wear them when working.

Fans were insanely ruthless, so it was a matter of safety. 

— — —

Today was going to be a tiring travel day for Thursday  — she had to fly to Los Angeles and stay there for four hours until her flight to Portland. Which was where the show was going to be and she had rented herself a cozy little AIRBNB for the night. So she could hang up her outfits and steam iron them all again for good measure, get her nails done and just have … quiet before all the chaos. ( yes, she's flying out a day early. )

She had just left her condominium, the dark green suitcase rolling along the hallway floor of the 30+ condo building. Dressed in a mauve colored loungewear set, flip flops on her feet and a matching dark green backpack with an empty yeti in a mesh side pocket. Her keys and wristlet clutch dangled from a lanyard around her neck, her android phone was neatly tucked inside of the clutch. While in the elevator and on her way down to the lobby, Mary removed a folded yellow slip of paper from the wristlet clutch to put in her mailbox. It was one of those request to hold mail forms for the post office, she had a whole stack of them on her desk for this reason alone — a downside of living alone. No one to get the mail and let it pile up on the coffee table for you, she didn't exactly trust her neighbors … because she was recognized a little more these days due to being on television. 

With the yellow piece of paper now safely within the confines of her mailbox, Mary exited the building and began walking towards the back of it. Where the parking lot was and only briefly stopped to remove the keys from the lanyard. Unaware that in those few seconds, the rolling suitcase had been taken — not in a nefarious manner, but was she in for a surprise when she turned around and squeaked!  “ — !!!” Uncertain of what to say — because standing before her were both Joe and Paul, who had his hand wrapped around the luggage handle. “ …. I …. hello to the both of you, I'm sure you'll explain to me why you're here but I also … kind of need coffee and a breakfast sandwich before going to the airport.”

[twinkleallnight]

All we have is one another

This can be read as an individual one shot, although in the end it mentions sprinkles of teenage Kiara that I wrote here.

Book: TRR AU

Characters: Kiara and her family.

Word count: 2099

Disclaimer: All characters belong to pixelberry.

Rating: Mature

Warning: Angst? mention of queer.

Prompt: prompt 1 by @choicesflashfics appears in bold. Day 2 of @kiaratheronappreciationweek

“Congratulations Lady Kiara. You are now officially the Cordonian council member.” Liam stretched out his hand. Kiara gave a wide smile as she took his hand to give a confident shake.

"Merci. I will give my best."

“I will see you later.”

" Au Revoir." Kiara curtsied and walked out of the Council office.

As soon as Kiara closed the doors behind her, she leaped at Penelope who was waiting outside for her. Pen hugged her as they both gave out a happy squeal.

Drake was about to enter the council office when he witnessed the tiny celebration. “I assume you have been appointed.”

Kiara turned around to meet his brown eyes. “Yes. I am.” Her parallel thoughts ran wilder than her calm poise. ‘And after this I am going to take my next step towards you Drake. Towards our happy future.’ But this step needed more courage than she needed for her career. ‘One step at a time.’ She reminded herself.

“Well Congratulations! Time to party.” Drake added.

Penelope asked excitedly, “Would you like to join us?”

“I am afraid, no. I have an important meeting with O... I mean, the duchess of Lythikos and the King. Some other time.” He waved his hand. “See you later.”

Kiara kept staring at the closed door that Drake just went in to. Penelope tried to pep her up. “What a shame! He is gonna miss all the fun.” She pulled Kiara out of her reverie and dragged her out to the exit.

The Security at the gate stopped Kiara to give her a message from her father. He was waiting at the guest rooms in the Capitol to meet her.

Her happiness knew no bounds. “Pen, Baba is here! He came all the way from Castelsarreillan! I knew he would come. He has always been there for me.

Finally, her dream was coming true. Her hard work was fruitful and she had bagged the honourable post of the Minister of External Affairs at the Royal Court. ‘Baba would be so proud!’

She rushed to the parking with Penelope and directed her driver to the Capitol. The minutes felt longer than an hour to Kiara. She was eager to meet her father and share the news with him.

The SUV halted in the grand Porte cochere of the building that usually inhabited the visiting VIPs. The foyer was decorated in royal colours of gold and blue. The wall behind the reception displayed the flags of each duchy.

Kiara had no time to look at any of these beautiful details. She dashed through the floor towards the elevators while Penelope filled in the visitor details at the reception.

They stepped onto the third floor. She knew the standard suite reserved for the Duke of Castelserreillan. She rang the bell and waited, jumping on her toes enthusiastically.

Her father himself answered the door, which was a bit surprising for her but she was too excited to ask. She ran into his arms, “Baba! I made it.”

He gave her a warm hug and patted on her back. “I knew you would Kiki. I am so proud of you. Come, meet Maman and Zeke. They are here too.”

He looked at the door with a slight disappointment, as if he didn’t want to see Penelope at that moment. But like a wise old man he hid it behind a smiling face. “Please come in Penelope.”

Pen stepped forward and greeted him. They walked in. Joelle and Ezekiel were seated in the living room, both engrossed into some discussion. Joelle was talking in hushed tone while Ezekiel had his head lowered and moving in small nods.

Hakim stood behind Kiara and held her shoulders. She looked up at him sideways. He was smiling down at her. He then called out her mother, “Jo, Look who is here!”

Joelle got up, spreading her arms to welcome Kiara who scurried into her embrace. “Maman!”

“Toutes nos felicitations.”

Ezekiel was standing quietly besides them. “Hey Zeke!” said Kiara.

“Kiki.” He spoke softly.

It was too obvious to Kiara now that there was some tension in the room. She looked between her father and Zeke. Hakim had a stern look while Ezekiel had his eyes glued to the floor. “Qu’est-ce qui ne vas pas? What’s wrong? What am I missing here?”

Hakim sighed, “Penelope dear, I would like to talk to my daughter. I suggest you relax in Kiki’s room for some time.”

“Sure sir.” Penelope walked away politely.

Hakim motioned others to Ezekiel’s room. Kiara sat on the couch between her parents while Ezekiel stood in front of them. She kept looking at them dumbfound.

Her father took her hand in his before he spoke, “Kiki, I am really happy for you. You have worked hard and stayed focused to achieve your goals. And I am sorry to bring this up now but I don’t have a better way to explain this.”

He then turned to Ezekiel, “Son, come here.” Hakim stood up and curled his one arm across Ezekiel’s back.

He then addressed Kiara, “The way you made your decisions, Zeke has made his choices. We are your parents and we will support you in whatever you do, but one of his choices is directly going to affect you Kiki. And so here we are.”

Joelle kept a comforting hand around Kiara as Hakim continued, “Zeke has decided to forgo his title as the future Duke of Castelserreillan. You fall next in line and the responsibility of looking after the duchy will fall on you.”

Kiara’s mouth was agape.

“I know its too much to ask from you when you have just now joined the Council. I am always there for you, you know that, right?” When there was no response from her, he asked, “Kiki?”

Kiara realised she was sitting stunned. She shut her lips tight to swallow in before she gathered her voice, “Je vais bien. Oui, I am alright. C’est juste que... oui, it was unexpected. But we can definitely work it out, droit Baba?”

“Yes dear. We will work on it when the time comes. I will take care of the duchy till I can, so that you can concentrate on your work at the court.”

“That works for me.”

“So, you agree to take the responsibilities.”

“Oui Baba, C’est notre maison. I will do anything for it.”

Hakim finally exhaled a sigh of relief. “That was quick and smoother than I thought.” He was about to sit down when Ezekiel reminded him, “Baba, the other part.”

Kiara’s chocolate brown eyes widened, “There’s more? Quoi maintenant?”

He stretched out his hand to his wife. Joelle slipped her hand in his and got up to walk him to their bedroom. “We will leave you both for the rest. À demain.”

Hakim shook his head. “I think that is not something for me to tell. You both can talk about it. Let this old man call it a day.”

Kiara and Ezekiel looked at each other in understanding and greeted their parents. Ezekiel crashed down with a thud on the couch. He threw his head back and closed his eyes.

She knew her brother well. She sat down besides him. “Zeke, you know you don’t have to think twice. Just say it all and get done with it. Dites-moi”

He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. “Kiki, it’s not as easy as it may sound.” He sat straight, his hands covering his face. “I gave them one shock after another.” He threw his hands in air, “And my timing was worst. I messed up your special moment. Je suis vraiment désolé.”

“Its okay Zeke. We have our moments but then life happens. Nothing is more important to me than your comfort.” She clapped his shoulder.

“Oh Kiki! You are always the mature one.” He reached out to give her a hug. She hugged him and patted his back.

She then brought up the other topic. “If you are comfortable, Zeke, should we now address the elephant in the room?”

Ezekiel rubbed his nape shying away, “Ce... actually, it’s rather personal... it’s about my partner or ... should I say the choice of my partner...”

She saw him struggling with words and decided to ease it off. “You mean you finally told Baba that you prefer men.”

His face turned pale. “Tu... how did you know? Since when?”

She smiled at him. “Se relaxer. I know it since I was nineteen.”

“But how on earth?... que...I never discussed... I was not even living at home that time. I was off to the veterinarian school.”

Kiara repeated. “I said relax! It was that Christmas holiday. You visited us. Penelope was more eager to see you than I. But you ignored her advances.”

Ezekiel hid his face in his palms. “Oh no! I am such an idiot! Pen... She was... I never realized. Désolé.”

“C’est bon. That was a sad new year eve for her. She felt very lonely but it was a long time ago.” Kiara turned to her brother to change the topic. “So, did you find someone?”

For the first time since she met him that evening, he smiled. He nodded his head and blushed at the thought of it.

“Who is the lucky guy?”

“You know him.” He grinned.

“Someone from Castelserreillan?” She wondered.

He shook his head. “Non. Someone right here.”

“Stop playing games. Just give me the name.” Kiara said in frustration.

“Bien.” He raised his hands surrendering. “It’s Max.”

Kiara’s heart skipped a beat. “Maxwell Beaumont?” She asked bewildered.

Ezekiel beamed, “Unbelievable, right? It was... for me too. But he is so sweet I couldn’t stop myself.”

Kiara blurted, “I am happy for you Zeke.”

Ezekiel hugged her again. “Thank you for being so supportive Kiki. It means the world to me. I am truly blessed.”

Kiara forced a smile. “Now if you will excuse me, Pen is waiting for me. À plus tard.”

She lumbered back to her room. How could the day turn out so heavy? She wanted it to be over already. She entered her room to meet a worried and anxious Penelope.

“Kiki? All well? What happened? Why was everyone so serious?”

Kiara threw herself on the bed. “Too many questions Pen! Give me a moment. I’ve had a rough day and all I want right now is a drink and someone to cuddle with.”

“I knew you will need it. Here, have this.” Penelope poured themselves a drink each. After gulping down the first one in a single shot, Kiara started filling in the details about the first half of her conversation with her father.

Somewhere after few drinks down, a groggy Penelope switched on the TV. “Let’s search for a gooooood movie.” She slurred.

The newsflash on the TV caught Kiara’s attention. She snatched the remote from Penelope to increase the volume. Reporter Donald Brine’s voice filled up their room.

“In a major turn of events today, the duchess of Lythikos, Lady Olivia Nevrakis, publicly accepted her relationship with Mr Drake Walker who belongs to...” Kiara switched off the TV.

“No. No more. Not today.” She grumbled.

Penelope was on the verge of passing out. Kiara was lying next to her. Penelope patted on her head trying to console her. “It’s okay, Kiki. We will find you a better match than that. I told you, the clover brew coffee is not good for health.”

Kiara looked through her drooping eyelids, “Pen, I have to confess one more thing.”

“Hmm?” Penelope hiccupped.

“Zeke told me that he is in relationship.”

“Woo-hoo!” Penelope let out a shriek, trying to stand on the mattress, wobbling on her feet.

“You don’t want to know with whom?” She is totally wasted, Kiara thought.

“It’s not me, I know. Who is it then?” Pen continued her attempt to stand still while pondering on the question.

“The hot chocolate.” Kiara uttered softly.

“Oh!” Penelope collapsed on the bed. She gazed at Kiara who looked worse. She cracked up laughing, “I don’t drink hot chocolates anymore.” Another hiccup and she fell on her pillow and passed out.

A tear rolled from the corner of her eye on to the satin cover of the pillow, leaving a circle of wet patch. She did not expect to see it by the time she woke up. It would evaporate.

“Maybe you are right Pen, its time for me to give up clover brew coffee.” Kiara lied down on her pillow and closed her eyes.

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