#alissa rose

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like or reblog if you save. ♡

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Glee Song Tournament Round 2

[altijd-november]

more oc facts more oc facts more oc facts more oc facts more oc facts more oc facts more oc facts more oc facts more oc facts more oc facts more oc facts more oc facts more oc facts more oc facts more oc facts

- (oc) fact anon

OH I HAVE AN OFFICIAL ANON NOW

MORE OC FACTS

rose loves to collect 'creepy' things like animal bones (her parents hate this but they treat her like she's fragile and don't say anything)

seph's 'true' form has black wings and claws (after spending a lot of time among humans human kind of became her default setting)

alissa (the ghost) is completely black and white except for her hair, that's bright pink

alissa is very salty about the fact that her best friend got their shared turtle in the divorce (moving away) and still uses it as an excuse to wake said best friend up in the middle of the night by singing u2 songs

maddie has the tendency to fall asleep on the floor listening to music

thijmen will pick her up and put her in bed when she does

a tree branch once fell on rose's head and now everytime they're around trees maddie keeps looking up to make sure it won't happen again

seph has never seen snow

maddie can't skate at all, but thijmen is very fast and will drag her along

rose died her hair pink because it's maddie's favourite colour

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Tag Dump 48

[justrainandcoffee]

Against all odds (Alfie Solomons x fem!oc) Part 12. -End of the first half-

Peaky Blinders - Hunger Games crossover

Masterlist. Parts One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten Eleven

Summary: Finally the 75th Hunger Games started. From the Parade to the interview with Caesar Flickerman, Alfie and the rest of the rebel victors, express their thoughts about this new Quarter Quell. No one is happy. || Finally Rose's plan is revealed. || The Arena is harder than any of them expected and it shows that their bodies, mind and hearts are nothing but puppets for the Capitol.

Warnings: Angst. Blood. Death.

Words: 6.5K. || I know is long, but a lot of things are happening at the same time so it's easy to read. The longest part is the Arena but it's also dynamic.

Thanks to those who read this first half of the story. See you soon in district 13.

It was the morning after the announcement that Rose composed herself and the anger made her be more awake.

Snow didn't know the things she was capable of doing for her husband. Maybe she couldn't save him for going to the Arena again, but she was going to prevent him to die there.

She had nothing to lose. Nothing.

"Do you have it?" she asked Aberama the night of the 3rd of July. Next morning the eyes of Panem were going to be in the different districts where their old champions will be reaped again. One day later after that, they will be arriving to Panem. Before that moment Rose needed that thing she begged him to get.

"I have it, it's made especially for him. Do you understand? Just for him."

"I know."

Aberama gave her a golden locket with a wheat ear on it. Inside, was what she wanted.

"How much?"

"It's nothing. I paid for it."

"Thanks."

"Don't worry. See you , Rose."

-

It was raining in district 9 during the reaping day. Alfie and Nina walked to the square where the stage was, escorted by two peacekeepers. In case they just wanted to escape. To where! As if they had any other options.

Alissa was there but the usually cheerful woman was a shadow of herself. Her eyes were red, as she had been crying. But she did her best as soon as the cameras started to record her.

"Welcome to the reaping day for the 75th Hunger Games! Let's make this quick before the rain ruin our hair. As always, ladies first…"

Alissa gave Nina a sad smile before reading her name.

"Nina Ferrante! Come, love. You're beautiful as ever, sweetheart," she said once Nina was next to her. The young woman didn't talk. "And now the boys! Alfred Solomons! Here, Alfie dear. Ladies and gentlemen, the tributes of District 9!"

Nina couldn't say goodbye to anyone of her family. Alfie had no one.

Both of them were forced to enter the train as soon as the ceremony ended and they went directly to the Capitol. In the other wagons, their friends from district 12, 11 and 10 where already there. There was no mystery for the people who were there. Same as them, Lucy and Tommy were the only ones from 12 and Eva and Matt were the only ones from 10. 11 had three victors and Alfie preyed that Aveline weren't one of them. She was not just one of the people he just couldn't kill ever, but also was a reckless woman. If she had to kill, then she will.

Luckily for him, Aveline wasn't part of the tributes.

"I'm sorry," said Alissa, "I'm so sorry."

Alissa part of thre crew as much as Rose and both victors were. In fact, she was the first one. She was there with Alfie when he was reaped 20 years ago. She saw him became a victor and a mentor. Alissa like no one, literally no one, cheered the romance between him and Rose. Alissa celebrate with them when Nina won. So, of course the woman was sad and was upset too. They were her people and her boss had no mercy of them.

"It's okay, Alissa. It's okay," Alfie said squishing her shoulder briefly. No one of them talked again during the journey.

.

Rose was shaking. After a all those months apart, she was going to see Alfie again.

"For a last time", said a part of her brain. A very negative part of her. But she ignored the voice.

Unlike other people, she wasn't waiting for them in the main hall but in the ninth floor. There was so much she wanted to tell him, but she couldn't.

Alfie pushed the door violently and enter there.

"Sweetheart? Rosie are you here?"

"Al!"

She jumped in his arms and hid her head on his neck. She was sobbing against him. Alissa and Nina left them alone.

"Don't cry anymore, luv."

"I can't.

"Snow will need more than a bunch of mutts and deathly tributes to apart me from you. He has no idea."

Rose kissed him and Alfie picked her up and went to the bedroom.

"I love you," he said "you saved me, sweetheart. So stop thinking that you failed me. If someone never failed me that's you."

"Don't you think I'm the one to blame for this? After that infamous auction, things went from bad to worse. He killed my family and now…"

"I'm still here, Rosie. My Rosie. I don't blame you. Never okay?"

"You didn't deserve this."

"You neither."

Alfie hugged her resting his head against her chest. Feeling her soft skin, hearing the beat of her heart. Remembering her like never before because in that hell called Arena, she wasn't allowed to go with him.

She caressed his hair, while she felt tears running down her cheeks.

.

Night arrived sooner that they wished. Rose apologized with them because the costumes they were wearing were really big and heavy. Plus bith of them were carrying scythes, representing the wheat fields of their native district.

Staff from the Capitol helped Nina to get in the chariot. Alfie stood up next to his wife few more minutes. They were kissing. People were looking at him, Snow probably was looking them, but it did matter anymore.

"You need to trust me," she said, pulling apart.

"I tru-"

"No, you don't understand. I need YOU to trust me like never before. Alfie, I can't stay. If I stay, Snow will kill me. You're the untouchable, at least for this week, but not me."

"What? What do you mean? Rose! What's happening!!"

"You'll understand once the parade start. Do you remember what I said to you two, minutes ago? Untie the black ribbon half way through the runway. Something will happen."

"You go?"

"I have to. For you, for me. Because if they killed me, it's over and tonight is the night. This," she said touching his costume, "is a big fuck you to him. I didn't told you this morning because I wanted to pretend that we could be together as always. I'm heading to you know where. I'll see you in a week. I promise. You'll be fine. Me too. You're the best thing I have, no one can steal that. I love you, Al. I love you, I always did."

"Rosie!! No!"

"I need you to trust me. Trust me. Just trust me. I love you. Only you."

Alfie was forced to get in the chariot once the Panem's anthem started to sound.

Last time he saw his wife was when the horses started to run and Rose was walking through the multitude towards the street. A white car was waiting for her. She didn't saw people's reaction to her final costumes.

.

Alfie and Nina untied the ribbons that Rose said and the surprise inside the capes she made for them was revealed.

Hundreds, thousands, of dandelions flew away in the air. Dancing around both tributes, the little white puffy flowers, formed a kind of magical mist that reached the tributes behind them. At the same time, the gold capes they were wearing started to burn and the warm gold fabric disappeared. Now the capes were dark black.

District 9, carriyng the scythes and the black capes were now the Reaper. And the Reaper was exactly in front of Snow.

Some dandelions were still around them. And the black capes made them more visible to the eyes of Coriolanus Snow who had a sinister smile in his face.

.

"Do you really expected to see her here?" the woman said to the peacekeepers who entered abruptly in the ninth floor, following the orders of their President. "She's not here fucking losers."

"Where the fuck is she!!" A tall man, broaded shoulders and deep voice was pointing at the woman with a gun.

"As if I know… and even if I know, I won't tell you."

"Take her!" the man ordered "and register this fucking place!"

The rest of the peacekeepers didn't found anything. The only thing left in Rose's bedroom was a plate of fortune cookies that the soldiers didn't bother to touch.

Maybe they should have.

Later that night a gunshot could be heard in that illegal prison. Defending her friend, Alissa, the sweet escort from district 9 was dead.

.

Lawrence Evert saw his wife entering their manor sweating and started to put some things in a bag.

"We need to go, now!"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Rebels are coming soon, Lawrence. And no matter what the fuck do you think, this city isn't safe and can't contain them."

"What!!?"

"Rebels, Lawrence!! And the richest people of the Capitol are in danger. Your friend Matthew is waiting for you. Some of others too. There's a car waiting for us. We need to go, now! They want to kill you."

"Tonight is the presentation! They can't!"

"They can! And they will, we need to go, goddamn, let's go, Lawrence!!"

Lawrence Evert looked at Rose confused but her anxiety and yells didn't allow him to think clearly. Rose gave him the bag and almost pushed them into the same white car that she arrived with there.

"Where are we going?"

"The safest place I know."

.

Nina and Alfie saw the chaos in their floor when they arrived after the parade. The chairs were over the carpet, some flowerpots were broken, the bedrooms' doors were open, same as the closets.

Alissa was nowhere to be seen.

"Are you sure Rose left?"

"She told me so. Trust me, she said."

"Then, what happened here?!"

"Snow wants her dead. I think the peacekeepers believed she was here but she's not" Alfie guessed.

Nina didn't say more, even when probably she wanted to add something. Instead started to pickup the chairs and threw away the broken things. Alfie went to Rose's bedroom and there he saw the fortune cookies. Unlike the soldiers, he did pay attention to them.

It didn't take long for him to put them in order and read the hidden message. Alfie opened a drawer and there he found the locket. Inside, was exactly what the message that Rose left for him, said. Alfie closed the locket again and from that moment he carried with him at all hours.

Trust me, like never before.

.

Two years earlier.

The Capitol considered the previous Arenas touristic places. If you paid, you could visit them and walk through the same places where the victors won and where the other children were massacred.

First time Rose visited one of the Arena, she did it with a tour group. She paid for visiting the volcano island where Aveline Young won. The volcano obviously was off but being there you could see its magnitude. The surrounding lands where fertile and full of trees.

That week, she visited several of them.

The other week she went with Aberama and Bonnie. Previous to that Aberama visited the Arena where Alfie won. The frozen forest was the only place that Rose couldn't go yet.

And the next month she paid for a tour just for the three of them. No other people were allowed, it was a private trip. And when it was the about money, the Capitol never asked questions. Of all the Arenas, three were the chosen to visit again: the volcano island, the desert and the frozen forest.

The tour guide never noticed the different electronic devices that the Golds and Rose put in every single one of them.

The reasons behind it, started when Rose began to work as official stylist for district 9. Only that as the years passed, her initial plan started to change. And during the 73th games she had everything planned.

She needed to wait two years until the Quarter Quell.

Now.

Rose was hidden. For a week she had to be strong like Alfie and for Alfie. It won't be easy, but he was living something much, much worse. At least she could close her eyes and pretend, Alfie couldn't.

Aberama and Bonnie were far away from their house. The night after he gave her the necklace they went to district 3, where everyone were working in the plan. It had to be district 3, not just the people that Aberama contacted were smart, they were loyal. And because district 3 had a man who few could dare to confront. Mr. Von Trapp.

Georg Von Trapp was one of the first rebels. Born three years after the begging of the games, the man lived his whole life under the regime of tyrants during almost 20 years. When Snow became President he lived under the regime of the Devil.

He had only one daughter and he was lucky enough to see her back after she was reaped. His girl, nicknamed Wiress, was the first victor of district 3. Smart like anyone else he knew, until he met Beetee, Wiress was the perfect example that a strong body wasn't always the answer.

And Von Trapp was furious now. They promised not to touch her again. Immunity, they said. Until they shitted on their own words and Wiress was forced to go to the Arena again. After her games, Wiress couldn't speak again. Her mind wasn't the same again, but she was still incredible smart. Her father took care of her until the moment that Snow asked for her again.

So, yes, Van Trapp wanted to help the rebels because he waited 72 years to that moment.

Aberama, his son and part of his people were hiding there. And for the last two years, they had been illegally transporting technological devices. The kind of things you could find in the Capitol's underworld where the Golds were kings.

Why Rose spied the control centre in the Capitol for 13 years? Why did she risk everything year after year to do that?

To built a Control Centre 2.0. This one in hands of the rebels. The data collected helped the people from 3 to built computers and the same softwares that the gamemakers had. The spiders she bought years ago and that she introduced in the central, gave them the information that she couldn't collect listening to them.

The folders, the USB flashes, her own computer were part of them. And it was worth.

That's why Rose and the Golds went to the old Arenas. Because they reactived the old softwares there. The Capitol used those places as tourism, they didn't need them like in the past.

But the rebels had other plans. The 76th Hunger Games were in their hands.

And the tributes were the pedophiles.

.

While Rose was hidden with the rest of the members of the auctions making them believe that she was part of them, while they were unaware of their fate, Alfie and the rest were facing the final presentation.

Rose left a dress for Nina and a matching suit for Alfie. The blue-grey dress for her was made of silk and tulle and had little silver dandelions embroidered on it. Alfie's suit, was made of the same silk, but the dandelions decorated the inner jacket and the lapels.

"So tell us, Alfie!" said Caesar smiling and showing his artificial white teeth " I wasn't here as interviewer last time you were sitting here. This is the first time we met. Let me tell you that it's a pleasure. So please, tell about you after all these years!"

"There's no much to say, Caesar. Life is quite simple in district 9. Same birds chirping, same neighbours."

"No love?"

Alfie chuckled "yes, I'm married."

"That's wonderful!! Do you love her? Or him?"

"Her. I do love her, yes. And I promise to see her again."

"Let me tell you something, Alfie: You win and you will be happy with her. Anything else you want to say?"

"Yes. Fuck you, Snow."

_

Alfie and Nina were separated the morning of the beginning of the Games. They gave them a wetsuit, so Alfie understood that he needed to swim, even if he never swam before. It couldn't be that difficult, right?

Besides he couldn't imagine long distances. The Capitol wanted blood and inside the water they won't get that. They needed land.

The peacekeeper who was with him to make sure he get into the tube, didn't stop to glance at him.

"What?" he asked. The man shook his head but then spoke, almost whispering.

"Your wife says that she's thinking of you."

"What!?"

"There are rebels everywhere, Alfie, like dandelions. I work for Mr. Gold and my brother is with her!"

"Is she okay? Is my Rosie fine?"

"I saw my brother four days ago, she knew I was going to be with you, so she sent the message through ny brother. She was okay back then. It's complicated to keep in touch these days. But I assure you that if my brother is with her, she's fine."

60…59…58…57…56…

Alfie got into the tube and looked at the soldier. "Thanks."

"Good luck, Mr. Solomons."

The peacekeeper saluted him before turning around while, he was ascending.

The sunlight blinded him for a moment. He couldn't see Nina but he saw Lucy's red hair next to him. She didn't smiled but nodded at him.

35…34…33…

Tommy, Eva and Jack were five spots away from him. Finally he saw Nina, she was next to the morphlings from district 6.

15…14…13…

Lucy pointed with her head to the nearest beach and Alfie nodded.

3…2…1. Bang.

The Quarter Quell officially begun. Alfie jumped into the water towards the beach, the cornucopia could wait. He needed to be safe first, to think a plan later. He underestimated the power and the resistance of the water. His arms ached but finally he reached the beach where he was able to breathe. Lucy was next to him, but her green eyes were looking around them.

"He's on the other side," Alfie said pointing with his finger. Jack's height was visible in the distance and Eva and Tommy were with him. Nina, on the other hand…

"We need to hide," she said even when she wanted to run through the lake again towards him. But in between both groups were the strongest ones: The woman from district 2 and the siblings from 1 (It was lucky for them that Jack wasn't a career anymore) So, Lucy knew that run to be with Tommy was impossible now.

They got in the forest. And walked, first, towards the place where Nina supposedly was.

Lucy and Alfie heard five canon shots. That night, they were knew who they were. Neither of the friends wanted to think that was one of them.

Suddenly it started to rain. Lucy screamed and soon after her, Alfie grunted. That wasn't water. It was blood. She started to run ignoring the odor and Alfie went behind her.

"What's happening!" Alfie heard Lucy but he couldn't respond. The smell of blood was nauseous.

If someone was behind them, they ignored it. The only thing that Alfie and Lucy knew was that the gamemakers were pushing them again to the beach.

A familiar voice made them to stop. Nina and Danny Owen were running towards them. But an invisible and electric wall prevented them to be together.

"To the shore! Run to the shore!" yelled Nina pointing with her finger to the West of them. "To the shore!"

Lucy and Alfie nodded.

It took them about an hour to did it. The thirst was burning their throats but there was nothing to drink. The lake was salty and, on purpose, the Gamemakers didn't leave a source of water for them.

"Where's the rest?" asked Nina.

"We saw Tommy, Eva and Jack on the other side of the Arena," replied Alfie but that was hours ago. "Did you see the bloody rain?"

"What rain? The blood on you is a rain?"

"Yes. But… if you didn't see the rain, then?"

"Monkey-mutts tried to attack us," Danny said, "they're enormous. They killed the male tribute of 7."

The four of them remained in silence. As far as they know, there were six deaths now. Maybe not all of them were friends, but they knew them. Some of them were their colleagues for decades.

A bolt made them jump on their feet. It seemed to come to their left. The four of them were alert.

"What the hell is this Arena?!" Lucy asked, almost yelled.

"We need to move. We need to find the rest," Alfie said. "But we need weapons first. Do you have something, Nina?"

"I stole two knives from the tribute of 7."

"It's not fucking enough. We need to go to the Cornucopia."

"It's suicidal."

"It's suicidal too stay here with two fucking knives. You stay here with Lucy, if necessary run an look for the rest."

"Alfie…"

"You disobeyed me during your games, you're not going to do it now! And I'll not take another answer from you than a yes, Ferrante! I'm going to the Cornucopia and if you have to run, then run!" Alfie pointed at her with his finger "I'm trying to save you."

To calm the situation, because Nina was about to reply, Danny spoke "I go with you." And Alfie nodded.

The rocks were slippery. More than once both men had to control their balance to not end in the water.

As suspected, the Cornucopia wasn't empty. Three tributes were fighting there and one of them was Tommy.

The male tribute from 4, the woman from 2 versus him. It was Alfie who grabbed the back of the neck of the man and pushed him away from his friend. Alfie, who promised not to kill again, smashed the head of the man against the Cornucopia until his blood painted its the silver wall and the tribute fell dead in front of him.

"I'm sorry, man, I'm sorry."

Enobaria was a whole other story. Two men against her and she was ready to kill them and Alfie and then take a nap if it was necessary. She was fearless and strong. Dangerous combination.

Tommy and Danny, managed to dismantle her but still she had her teeth. Sharped teeth, perfect for destroy throats.

And to Tommy and Alfie's horror, that was what happened. One moment Danny Owen was with them and the other, Enobaria jumped in the water and stuck her teeth in him. The transparent water was soon dyed with red and neither of Enobaria or Danny were there anymore. She, because she swam to the other side of the lake and Danny because he was dead. And the sound of the cannon confirmed it.

"Are you okay?" Alfie asked. "He was a close friend of yours. I'm sorry mate, I'm sorry."

"Yeah. He was. He was" Tommy sighed and looked again at the water. There was one of those people who deserved better. But that was no time, nor place, to mourn. "Where's the rest?"

With a gesture of his hand, Alfie indicated Lucy and Nina that it was safe to cross the rocks. While Lucy and Tommy finally were reunited, Nina and Alfie picked up several weapons. And all of them went to the side of the shore where Eva and Jack were. Aurora, the pregnant girl of the previous year was with them.

Night was finally approaching. All of them were hungry but most of all, thirsty.

The very familiar music made them raise their heads. The fallen tributes of the first night. The image of Danny made them realise that any of them could be the next.

A new sound, diverted their attention from the sky. It was a gift that landed just in front of Alfie. He opened it and saw the little note on it.

'Stay hydrated. I love you- R. Solomons.'

Nina smiled "if she would, this woman would give you her own life."

"I know."

Inside the box was a thing that Eva indentified as a spile. "To drink water," she said. Her aunt had one and during the hot summers in district 10, they nailed one in the trees and that way they could get water.

When Alfie stood up and walked towards the nearest tree and did exactly what Eva said, for a moment nothing happened but after few seconds water started to fall of it. Never in his life Alfie enjoyed drinking water like in that moment. Not just him, the rest of them too.

Alfie wasn't sure if his wife was watching, but a 'thank you' directed to her scaped from his lips.

But that was one the last moment of peace they had. It was impossible for them to rest, the Arena was designed to tired them to death. Literally. They lay down in the sand watching the sky. Alfie allowed himself to close his eyes and fall asleep for what he thought it was an hour. A yelled woke him up. Eva was running from what it seemed to be a fog. Alfie was still confused.

"It burns!! It burns!"

He was running behind his friends. Eva was still screaming and holding her arm. Aurora sprained her ankle running and Jack carried her on her back.

"Keep running!" her husband to her. The extra weight was making him stay way behind the group.

The toxic fog reached Lucy back and it was Tommy who pushed her to him but it seemed that her whole body was paralyzed. And it was. "I can't move!! I can't move!! My muscles!! Tommy!!"

Nina stopped and both of them dragged her away from it before it was too late. Luckily she was tiny, but it felt like carring a furniture. Lucy was complete paralyzed.

They reached a new part of the forest and the fog started to disappear.

"Where's Jack! Where's Jack!!?" Eva was searching around them but he wasn't there. Aurora either.

"Evie!!" his voice reached their ears but he wasn't there. It was few meters away with Aurora in his arms. The girl was crying. "No!! No! Stay there!!"

Jack warned her and the rest. The same invisible wall that earlier that day separated Alfie from Nina was now between Eva an Jack.

"I'll find a way. Stay fucking there! Fuck, this fucking place!! Fuck you, Snow!! FUCK YOU!!" The big, tall man helped the girl to stood up and both of them disappeared in the trees.

The group was again separated.

While Lucy started to recover the control of her limbs. They couldn't stay there as Jack ordered because a familiar scream made Alfie startled.

"Alfie? Alfie? HELP ME, ALFIE! HELP ME!! AL, WHERE ARE YOU? HELP ME!!"

"Rosie? Rosie, love?" he started to run but he didn't know where.

"ALFIE!! ALFIEEE!"

The screams where everywhere and they were different voices.

"Mommy? Mommy!!"

"Laurie? They have my kid! They have my kid!" Eva was running in s different direction of Alfie.

Nina was in the floor covering her ears with her hands. "They're jabberjays!! It's not real, it's not them!! Just jabberjays!!" but either of them were listening to her.

The voice of his brother Arthur made Tommy run to the deepest forest, Lucy followed the screams of her brother Teddy.

"ALFIE!! ALFIE!!"

"Stop!! STOP!! Rosie!! Rosie!! They're torturing her!! Snow found her!!"

Nina tried to ignore the screams. The voices were too familiar for her, but she knew it wasn't real. And grabbing her friend's shoulder forced him to listen to her. "It's not her, Alfie!! It's not her!! There are jabberjays, look!! Birds!! It's not Rose!!"

"They imitate, Nina!!"

"Not this time!! Not this time, Alfie!! Listen to me!! Not to them!! They generated their voices!"

The birds started to attack him, torturing him with his wife's screams but Nina covered his ears and made him to look at her. "It's false. It's false."

As soon as started, it was over.

Humiliated, defeated. That was how the group was. Physically and mentally drained. Eva was still crying and Nina, once again, was the one to say that it wasn't real. It was never real.

"I'll try to fish," Nina said when she managed to calm the most nervous of them. "We need to eat."

The sun was up again. It seemed that the nights were shorter and the days extremely long. Nina left the group near the trees and grabbed a spear.

But it seemed that the Arena finished with their torture yet. This time, and just minutes after she went to the lake, all of them recognised Nina's screams.

-

Far away from the Arena, Rose and the rest of the members of the auction finally started to move. Rose was leaving the Capitol, forever.

A hovercraft landed where they were and the richest people of the Capitol, those who were part of the trauma the victors' had, got in.

"Where are we going?" Lawrence asked.

"You to the 62th," replied a girl around 20 years old. She was Bonnie's girlfriend, disguised as member of the Capitol. "Give me your arm, Mr. Evert."

"What the hell is this?!" He said as the girl injected him a microchip.

"A tracker. So we can find you after is over."

"What? What're you doing? Rosebeth!! What's this shit?"

"The safest place, Lawrence. The old Arenas. No one is going looking for you there."

Nor anywhere else.

Lawrence and the rest, started to protest. They weren't doing it. Treated like filthy tributes from the disgusting districts. They were millionaires, billionaires, they were more important than any rebels. But as soon as Bonnie's girl mentioned that their head had prices and the rebels weren't interested in their money as method to leave them alone, they calmed. Not all of them were going to be together. And either of them were going to survive these Games.

The first time that the hovercraft landed again it was in the volcano island. Some people as Matthew Sutton were there.

Lawrence Evert and the group he was in, landed in the dry, deathly desert where Eva Smith won.

"May the odds be ever in your favour, son of the bitch" yelled Rose to his husband with the biggest smile he saw in her ever. Followed by showing him her middle finger.

"Come back, bitch! Come back!!"

Too late Lawrence Evert realised that it was a trap.

Only one person member of the auction was still there apart from Rose and it was laughing.

"I should've known… let me guess. The 53th Arena."

"Yes," replied Rose.

In front of her was the woman who raped Alfie. Old now, but the same disgusting woman who the love of her life mentioned.

"There are any rebels. You're the rebel."

"There are rebels. Everywhere, like dandelions."

"It was consensual," she said, after a moment in silence. Her grey cold eyes were on her.

"No. It wasn't. He was terrified of you. He still has nightmares… and you're going to pay for it. Happy Hunger Games, ma'am."

The frozen forest was beautiful as it was tremulous. White but dark. That was the first time that Rose was there and she barely imagined Alfie's pain. He was a kid.

"I'll kill her," she whispered to Tina, the girl.

"That wasn't part of the plan! Rose if your stay here, I don't know if we will be able to rescue! We can't stay without bringing Snow's attention to us! And tonight we need to save th group!"

"Then go. This fucker ruined Alfie's life. Because of her, he lived traumatized for almost a decade! I need to kill her!!"

"Rose…"

"It's my fucking choice, Tina. Tell your friend to land this ship and then go."

Tina wasn't sure but nodded. She gave Rose her own jacket, matches, a ligther and ordered the rebel pilot to give her his gloves.

"We will back in an hour."

"Just go!"

-

At the same time that Tina and Rose were debating what to do. The official Arena had his own drama.

Alfie was furious and was all adrenaline. He wasn't thinking. They killed Danny in front of him, Jack was missing somewhere in the Arena and he was still traumatized for the attack of the jabberjays.

"Alfie! Help me, Alfie!"

Rosie's voice. Her screams.

Then he saw that man with his hands in Nina's neck, and Alfie went blind. Maybe he wasn't 17 anymore, but he was stronger than his younger version. His fist found the man's jaw and thanks to that he released Nina.

"Run!!" he ordered. Nina didn't dare to contradict him.

She found the few members of the original team that were still there.

Alfie was fighting in the water with the other one. Both were big, both killed before and both were ready to do it again.

"He's going to kill Alfie!! Tommy!! He's going to kill him!!"

From the seashore Tommy, Lucy, Nina and Eva were looking at his friend fighting with the male tribute. That man was Glass.

But his friends couldn't allowed it. Eva grabbed Nina's arm when she tried to run and help her former mentor.

"Let me go!"

"Nina, no!! If I let you go, you're dead! You can't fight Gloss! You can't! He's going to kill you like nothing! How many more are we going to lose!! For god's sake!! You can't do anything!!"

While Eva was forcing Nina to stay still. Lucy and Tommy went towards them. Lucy had their knives and Tommy and arrow and a bow.

The Arena started to move when both threw their weapons. Two things happened simultaneously: Lucy's knife ended in Glass' throat.

And Tommy's Arrow ended in Alfie's eye.

Glass fell first, already dead, in the water. The sound of the cannon made it official.

Alfie was still on his feet. Tommy watched horrified how his friend had his arrow standing out of his face. Trying to understand what happened. Alfie touched his face and saw blood in his hands.

Nina was screaming from the seashore, watching the scene with Eva still hugging her.

Lucy was petrified.

Alfie finally fell on his knees and landed on his side with the back to them. A new cannon shot made their nightmares come true and they saw the hovercraft picking up his body.

-

"You need to trust me like never before."

Alfie gasped as if he had been under water and finally was able to breathe again. He found himself in a strecher with an oxygen mask on his face.

"Welcome back, Alfie."

Looking around him, he just saw different medical devices.

The arrow. Alfie touched his face only to find that it was covered with bandages. He wasn't in pain, probably thanks to the anesthesia.

And that could explain why he was extremely confused.

At his side was a man with brown hair and a smile that looked familiar to him.

"You're safe. Just rest. Sleep that everything is fine."

Alfie was too sleepy to react and just closed his eyes. He couldn't even think why that man's smile was so damn familiar when he didn't know him.

.

The remaining members of the group were in silence. Unaware that Alfie was alive, they felt like living a nightmare.

Jack and Aurora were lost. Alfie and Danny dead and weren't signals of the rebels to rescue them.

A new sponsor sent a package for them. This time for Nina. Inside was a compass and a note "Always go to the North." It was anonymous.

"To the North? What's there?"

"The tree," said Lucy. "That one."

The tallest tree, the one where the bolt every now and then struck it. They had nothing to lose, except their lives. But Eva was reticent.

"No without Jack. I won't go anywhere with out Jack!!"

"When need to move! We are too exposed here! Not all the remaining tributes are allies, Eva! And he's alive! He's the strongest of us and he has Aurora with him! He's protecting the girl! And can't protect you if you stay here!" Tommy said.

Eva was tired, like the rest of them, but the idea of going there and lost Jack was horrible.

.

"Are you ready?"

One of the rebels, one of the most loyal men that Aberama had, asked to his partner and this one nodded.

"It's now or never. The hovercraft is ready to pick up the rest of them. We sent them messages to reunite them under the tree."

And both rebels pushed the bottom. The whole Capitol trembled. It felt like an Earthquake, but in a small proportion. Debris and dirt flew everywhere, like confetti. When everything settled, the disaster could be seen.

The majestic, big, luxurious building. That building that for over 60 years received tributes from all around Panem and that was the symbol of power, wasn't there anymore. And inside it, the Control Centre of the games with all of the gamemakers there, where now part of the history. Tons and tons of debris and rubble were over him.

The dome that was protecting the arena was deactivated with the explosion.

And several hovercraft appeared in the sky. In one of them were Eva, Lucy, Nina and Tommy. But Jack wasn't there. Neither was Aurora. The rebel hovercraft left the Arena towards district 13. Inside, Eva was still claiming for Jack. But no one listened to her. They needed to escape.

.

At the same time, in district 3, under the orders of Aberama and Mr. Van Trapp they activated the new control centre. And the tvs around Panem showed now three different but familiar Arenas.

"Welcome to the 76th Hunger Games!" A voice said. "Do you want to know our new tributes?"

The cameras that the Golds installed in the frozen forest, showed bloody footsteps that disappeared in the trees. And in middle of the scenery, surrounded by her own blood, was the body of an old woman.

Second part.

[darklydeliciousdesires]

Little Earthquakes - Chapter Four.

Thank you everyone for your continued interest in this little story of mine! I'm very appreciative of you :)

Previous chapters - Prologue One Two Three

Tag list - In the comments. Please DM to be added/removed.

Words - 3,793

Warnings - 18+ throughout. Minors DNI!Keep reading

“Nath? Your client’ll be here in twenty minutes!” Kelsey shouted up the stairs to his flat on Tuesday morning, not able to hear him moving around. It was surprising to her, since he’d usually be pottering around in the shop by that point, kindly having set up her station and Chris’s, too. That morning, though, he was nowhere to be seen. “Gilly! Come on, you awake, mate?” 

She heard the thump of feet on the floor above, footsteps following, the door at the top of the stairs opening. “Gimme a minute. Overslept!” 

That was very unlike him. “Alright. I’m ordering from Subway. You want your usual?” 

Poached eggs with double cheese. “Yeah, yeah. Cheers, Kels. Won’t be long.” He wasn’t either, Kelsey putting in their order and seeing the little bike on the Uber Eats app moving closer towards the shop, Nathan emerging. He wasn’t alone either.  

“So, can I call you?”  

Stuffing his hands in his back pockets, his shoulders drew up, facing the girl with the braids that touched her bum as he shook his head. “Nah, sorry. Not really in the market for that.”  

“Fair enough. See ya.” she sniffed, exiting the shop.  

Kelsey looked between him and the door a few times, pointing in her wake. “Who the fuck was that?” 

“Shanay, I think she said.”  

Her eyebrow rose sharply. “And what happened to Holly?” 

A look of lascivious triumph quickly spread across his face. “She legit got dicked down good, bruv.”  

“Well, obviously!” she cackled, entertained as always when he was coarse since it seldom ever happened. “But I mean, you two looked so bloody cute on Saturday, and now you’re seeing some random to the door?”  

“Is what it is,” he sniffed.  

Oh, who was this person, and what had he done with her sweet Nathan? “So, not seeing her again, then? Holly, I mean?” 

“Never said that, did I?” Wow. That was prickly, for somebody as placid as him, Kelsey a little taken aback. Moving to his station, he began to set up. “I will at some point, but we’re just keeping it casual, seeing how it goes.” 

Baffled, she left it there, shaking her head. She’d been all set to hear him likely explode with happiness that finally, he’d got the girl he’d been so sweet on all the way through school, but his causal response truly wasn’t what she’d been expecting. Neither had the other girl emerging from his flat. Nathan was not, by any stretch of the imagination, a man who could be constituted as a player. 

Also, she knew he liked her, as in more than a casual shag liking her. Nobody knew him like she did, not even Chris. She could tell when her darling Gilly was absolutely smitten, and watching him with Holly three days before, he’d definitely been that. The fact that he’d gotten so wound up by his own nerves prior to her arriving at the bar had spelled that out clearly enough for her, too.  

This change in him, it was so puzzling. It would only continue to perplex her as well. 

When the food arrived, he demolished the sub with his usual gusto, giving her a big, greasy kiss on the cheek in thanks before moving to wash his hands, his first client of the day arriving. When he looked up at her, his jaw virtually unhinged itself. 

“Pissing hell,” he remarked as the woman arrived at the counter. “You look just like that girl from Arch Enemy.” 

It wasn’t the first time she’d heard it. “Yeah, people liken me to Alissa White-Gluz all the time. It’s the hair.” She spoke, gesturing to her mane of blue curls. “Right, where do you want me, then?” 

“On my bloody dick.” Her eyes widened, Nathan bobbing his tongue between his teeth with a naughty grin. “Sorry, did I say that out loud? Apologies.”  

Kelsey almost dropped the jar she was moving from one side of the shop to the other, hearing him speak with such little professionalism. And so uncouthly. That really wasn’t him. Chris? Yep. He was vulgar, but never with clients. Luckily for Nathan, though, the girl didn’t seem to mind at all.  

“You cheeky bugger!” she cried, laughing. “I’m going to have to keep my eye on you, aren’t I?”  

His grin continued to broaden. “You can keep whatever you like on me after I’ve finished your tattoo, I’m telling you.” Showing her to his station, she took a seat, Nathan grabbing a pen and beginning to mark out the freehand design he was doing for her, referring to a picture she’d sent to him previously. She wanted a big, colourful macaw parrot at the top of her arm that would eventually make up an entire rainforest sleeve, Nathan sharing ideas he had for it as he worked. And flirted. 

Boy, how the man flirted his arse off with her.  

Sitting at the lightbox station, Kelsey honestly couldn’t work him out. He’d been so into Holly just seventy-two hours before, both of them sitting there looking incredibly in tune with one another at the bar. Why was he blowing it by suddenly switching into man whore mode?  

Then again, he had said they were merely seeing how things went, but she truly couldn’t reconcile that if he was bedding other women at the rate he appeared to be. Surely, seeing how things went meant focusing on the person in question, and not waving one’s cock in the direction of any other pretty women?  

She knew his split from Lisa had hurt him deeply, Kelsey seeing those wounds open and bleeding before her after she’d kicked him out. He’d gone straight to her house, cried in her arms as she’d welcomed him into her home, and lain there with his head in Dawnii’s lap for the evening, her wife stroking his hair as she’d soothed his distress at his marriage crumbling apart.  

Running a hand through her cropped, dark blonde hair, she bit the inside of her cheek while continuing her drawing, her eyes moving to Nathan every so often. It just wasn’t him, and it was beginning to concern her.  

“I think he’s just blowing off some steam, babe,” her wife spoke a few hours later, she and Dawnii meeting up for lunch at the burger place across the street from the shop. Dabbing a fry into the liberal squeeze of mayonnaise on the side of her plate, she continued. “He’s had a rough time of it with Lisa. Maybe he just wants to cut loose and go a little wild?” 

Finishing her mouthful, she washed it down with a sip of coke. “I hear that, but Jesus Harold Christ, it’s just so far removed from my sweet little Nath. It’s the lack of professionalism that’s bugging me. Twice now, he’s been like it. That girl on Saturday and then this morning, his client asked him where he wanted her and he said on his dick!” 

Dawnii’s eyes rounded, her mouth dropping open. “Shut up!” 

“He said it.” 

“No!” she gasped. 

See? Even her wife was shocked. “I’m serious.” 

“But, but Nathan’s my cute puppy boy! He doesn’t speak like that. Well, sometimes he does and that’s why it’s always hilarious when he comes out with something filthy, because he’s just not like that. Not like big mouth in there,” she began, jerking her head in the direction of the shop, Chris working at his station on the right of the front windows. “Saying it to a client, though? Geez. He’ll get a name for himself. How did the woman he said it to react?” 

“Welcoming, luckily.” 

Grimacing, she picked up her milkshake. “He’s only got to say it to the wrong person, though, and he’ll be getting me too’d.” 

How right she was. And it wouldn’t be fair either, because Nathan was the furthest thing from any of those types of men. “This is what I’m concerned about. If he wants to go out and have a bombastic time shagging anything that moves, that’s his business. He’s thirty-four and I’m not his mother. But what he does in that shop is very much my business, Chris’s too.” 

“Agreed, babe. You’ve every right to make that your business.” They parted ten minutes later, Dawnii heading back to her car ready to go and pick up Flynn, the youngest of their children from nursery, Kelsey walking back into the shop. 

“Hiya, can I help?” she asked, seeing a man standing at the counter. 

“He’s waiting for Nath,” Chris spoke, looking away from the very large blackwork piece he was etching into his client’s chest, that particular field of tattooing his speciality.  

“And the erstwhile Nathan is where?” 

Chris pointed his tattoo machine upwards, Kelsey rolling her eyes, turning back to his client. “I apologise, give me a second. He’s probably just run over on his break and not realised.” 

“No worries, love.” the biker guy replied, smiling from beneath his bushy beard as she jogged to the back of the shop and up the stairs. She could hear it from halfway up, exactly what her friend was running over on... 

“Fuck, oh fuck, fuck, fuck yes!” Issy, the blue haired girl screamed, being piledriven from behind by Nathan in the messy tangle of bedsheets. “Oh, oh I love your cock. God, you fuck so damned hard!” 

He grinned, smacking her arse, driving into her with even more veracity than before. “And you love that too, getting railed hard, don’t you? Dirty girl.” Gritting, he moaned low, filling the condom as wave after intense wave lapped through him, hearing the sound of his door being hammered upon as he swam in delirium.  

“Nathan! Your client is here, hurry up!” 

“Ahh, pissing hell.” Quickly pulling out, he yanked the condom off, knotting it and throwing it into the bin before dressing rapidly. “Sorry, gotta move.”  

“No problem. This was fun, unexpected, too!”  

He didn’t reply to that, leaving her to quickly pull her dress and underwear back on as he went to the bathroom, washing his hands and face so he didn’t stink of her before showing her out.  

“Sorry to keep you waiting, bruv,” he apologised to his client, the burly biker watching the direction Issy walked in, looking back at Nathan with a rumbling laugh. 

“Nah, you ain’t, my man,” he chuckled. “Trust me, I’d have been all over that an’ all, pal!” 

If only somebody could actually chastise his behaviour, Kelsey thought, somebody external to her and Chris and maybe, it might give him a little pause for thought. Ideally, the large biker who had just sat down in the chair would have been ideal to teach him a lesson, the leather kutte he wore denoting him as the president of The Bandits MC. Then again, wild behaviour and outlaws often went hand in hand.  

“Nathan, that’s fucking perfect, man!” the outlaw in question spoke an hour later, admiring the rat skeleton tattoo upon his inner forearm once it was finished, beaming widely as he studied all the intricate details. “Thrilled with it, mate! Hey, listen. If any of you find yourselves over Ealing way, drop by the clubhouse. We run the garage on Beaumont Row. All of you are welcome for a few drinks. Having a meet on Friday, actually, if you fancy it?” 

Nathan shook the hand directed towards him. “Yeah, yeah, ‘kay. Might just take you up on that, bruv.” With him and Chris being free from seven and half past when Friday rolled around, they decided to head over as soon as the latter’s last client had left, arriving at the large garage just over half an hour later.  

“Right, so you’re the geezer who put the rat skeleton on Jeff, yeah?” A very short, but large man spoke upon them being greeted at the gates, the MC’s president ambling over to shake hands with them. 

“Yeah, yeah, bruv. Guilty as charged,” Nathan spoke, thanking Jeff for the bottle of beer he offered to him and Chris each. 

The man nodded rapidly, turning around. “See this ‘ere? Right fucking mess, innit? Can you cover it with sumat else?” 

Examining the very faded, poorly done tribal on the back of his skull, Nathan contemplated for a few moments. “Yeah, I can work with that. Depending on what you want.” 

The man who introduced himself as Denzil wasn’t the only one to approach him and Chris that evening, plenty of other club members all questioning them over availability, being shown their work, liking what they saw. They weren’t the only ones who liked what they saw either. 

“You, you are absolutely stunning,” a girl who had sauntered over to him spoke a short while later, scratching his thick goatee with her long nails, Nathan standing with his arm around her waist. “Do I get to take you home later?” 

He leaned down to her, teasing her lips with a soft kiss. “Maybe."  

“Ay, who’s this fucking man tart and where's me bruv gone, yeah?" Chris remarked, Nathan rumbling a chuckle as his kisses with the girl deepened. He wasn’t about to be distracted by Chris and his banter, but while the girl went back inside to grab herself another drink, he was by his phone. Opening up his Whatsapp, his heart immediately fluttered, seeing a new message from Holly. 

“Saw this today and immediately thought of you! Hope you’ve had a good week!” 

It was an innocuous enough little message, but he couldn’t discount the fact it made him feel as if moonbeams shone brilliance through his chest while reading it. She’d seen something and thought of him, a little Funko Pop of Tony Montana. She was thinking about him. Just as he had been her, ceaselessly too. It might not have looked as if he had to an outsider, given his behaviour, but for the last six days he’d thought of little else but how he’d felt while he’d been with her that past weekend. 

And it terrified him. Equally, though, like a siren upon a clifftop, her song called out.  

“That’s cute! Yeah, week’s been alright. You up to much tonight?" 

A few seconds passed. 

“I went out for dinner and drinks with a few girls from the E-Magazine earlier, but I'm home now in my jammies, being boring. You?” 

“Nothing special. Fancy a visitor?” 

“Depends. Is the visitor tall, sexy and tattooed?” 

“He is, according to you.” 

“Then he better get his arse round here, pronto!” 

He had an Uber booked within seconds, the car three minutes away. “Mate, I’m heading off. See you in the morning.”  

“What?” Chris spluttered through his beer. “Why you being boring and not staying to get wreck up with me?” A suck of teeth followed. “Nah, fam.” 

Nathan laughed, giving him a hug. “Trust me, bruv. I ain’t leaving to be boring.” Heading out of the gates, the car arrived with him in seconds, having him ferried across to Shepherd’s Bush in just under twenty-five minutes.  

Ringing her bell, he waited for a few seconds, the door opening partially. It wasn’t Holly who greeted him, though. 

“Say hello to my little friend!” There in her hand was the little Funko Pop, Nathan laughing as she opened the door wider. “I can’t do the voice like you can, but I tried!” 

“Nah, no way. Didn’t think you’d actually bought him,” he chuckled, taking the figure from her outstretched hand, being greeted with a kiss.  

Oh, the feel, the smell of him. She’d missed him perhaps more than she thought. “Of course, I did! He isn’t boxed because I saw him in a little charity shop in Camden, but I had to buy him for you!”  

God, she was just so impossibly lovely. Sinking into her arms, he let it flood through him, the feeling of calmness for her presence, the smell of that beautiful, freshly cut roses perfume ensnaring his senses. In that moment, right there was the only place he desired to be.  

“Someone’s got a rumbly tummy,” she then spoke as they parted, giving his abs a little pat. He’d forgone dinner, so by that point was pretty hungry. “Do you want some food? I was going to eat again, the dinner I went out for was all that small fancy crap. Tasted great but I’m still Hank flippin’ Marvin, y’know!” 

Ahhh, the cockney rhyming slang for starving. He was very familiar with it, his father a die-hard east end native. “Yeah, yeah. Thanks. Could do with filling the void.”  

He followed her through to the kitchen, the light breeze coming in through the open double glass doors cooling the space, the summer heat quite high still even though it was close to ten in the evening. The garden looked pretty, lots of string lights glowing overhead, a few candles placed on the table she’d obviously been sitting out there at, her sketchpad still present. While she tinkered with pots and pasta, he stood in the doorway vaping, telling her about his day when requested. 

“Flippin’ heck, that’s almost like tattooing a famous person, doing one for the president of an MC,” she remarked, pouring pasta sauce into a pan and turning up the heat under the water in another. 

“I think infamy is closer,” he replied, blowing a plume of sweetly scented vape down his nose.  

He was likely right. “Have you ever tattooed anyone famous?” 

“Yeah, yeah, I have. One of the guys from Slipknot, a couple from some obscure metal bands I ain’t ever heard of before from eastern Europe, did one for Motorhead’s old drummer, too.”  

“Oh, that’s uncanny,” she spoke, uncorking a bottle of wine and pointing to one of the glasses with a questioning look he nodded to. “I was listening to Motorhead on the way home.” 

“For real? Didn't know you were into alternative stuff too,” he spoke, thanking her when she passed him over the large glass of red.  

Grabbing her phone, she synced it to the speakers again and pressed play on her random Spotify playlist, the opening of the song Sex Type Thing by Stone Temple Pilots beginning to filter out. “I listen to all sorts.” 

“My favourite band included.” he noted, nodding at her phone. He then stood there and laughed softly through his nose, watching as she danced her way back towards the stove with a series of seductive wiggles and silly gestures. Yep. Definitely lovely. He also enjoyed how she was confident enough in herself not to bother changing, wearing the little vest and shorts pyjamas set still, her face bare of makeup.  

Ten minutes later and they were sitting at the table outside, Nathan sated nicely for the first big mouthful of pasta. “What sauce is this you’ve used? It’s proper nice.” 

“That’s a Holly’s kitchen original,” she informed him proudly. “Kate’s gran was Italian, so I have access to amazing recipes.”  

“This is better than any Italian food I’ve ever had before, I’m telling you. Didn’t fucking eat it for years when I was with Lisa, though. She’s one of them freaks who can’t stand pasta.”  

Her mouth gaped a little. “And you still married her?”  

“Yeah,” he winced, sipping his wine. “Should have seen that reg flag a mile off, for real.” 

“Well, I flippin’ love pasta, so that’s reason number one why I’m better,” she beamed, Nathan laughing again. 

“One of many, sweetheart.” Moving his plate over, he placed his wine down again, turning her sketchpad around. “Nice to see someone else who enjoys pencils and paper still. I do loads on my MacBook but nothing beats organic drawing.” 

She loved that they had that in common, both of them artists but from two vastly different fields. “Yes, I always start on paper before anything digital on my iPad. Some publishers do prefer the simplicity of the pencil sketch or watercolour, though, it has to be said.” 

“Love that,” he commented, tapping the little sketch she’d been doing of the flowers across her garden with his finger. “Mind if I have a little flip through?” 

“Erm...” she hesitated, but it was too late. He’d landed on it before she had chance to say no. There, two pages back, was a pencil sketch that looked like a black and white photograph of himself.  

“Nah, you drew me from memory?” he exclaimed softly, watching her nod, her cheeks flushing a little. 

“Yep, and now I feel like a knob.” Wincing, she continued to mutter under her breath. She hadn’t meant for him to see it. “Crapping crap on it.” 

“Oi, don’t talk like that. It’s fucking pukka! For real, that’s mad. Looks just like me,” he praised her with, studying it closer. His eyes found hers after a few moments, his face soft, earnest. “I love it.” 

She felt her embarrassment fade a little, but not nearly enough. Picking up her wine, she gulped it back, needing an excuse to go and cringe at herself in privacy for a moment. “Just going to get a top up.” 

Back in the kitchen, she cringed hard while pouring out another glass, jumping a little at feeling his arms slide around her waist, resting his chin to her shoulder. “You’ve got nothing to feel embarrassed about, you know. I really do love that sketch. I think you’re a bit like me, though. When something makes you feel uncomfortable, you like to hide.” 

Yes, he was right there. Now if only he’d actually listen to himself, and realise that running and hiding from how he felt because of Holly was exactly the pattern he’d fallen into over the last week. There she was, a lovely woman who thought about him so much that she remembered such details like the movie characters he could imitate, and duly bought him little gifts to show that. A woman who had him on her mind enough to sketch him.  

And what did he do because he couldn’t get her out of his mind? Dive between the legs of any other pretty girl who’d let him, because the idea of someone like Holly hurting him was terrifying. She turned in his arms, Nathan smiling at her, kissing her forehead before their mouths pressed in sweet kisses, picking her up until she was wrapped around him.  

“Too short. Can’t cope, you give me neck ache having to lean down a pissing foot.” 

“And you’re too bloody tall.” she quipped, stroking his hair. They started at one another with contentment for a few moments before their kisses resumed, Nathan knowing, feeling it. Holly wasn’t Lisa and, in all likeliness, wouldn’t hurt him as terribly as she had. 

If only his mind could truly wrap itself around that notion, though.  

[airbendertendou]

best years ♡ kozume kenma + hinata shoyo

soulmate au where on your 18th birthday, two letters show up on your skin, showing the initials of your soulmate. cw ; an abundance of pet-names used , could b ooc , kenma and shoyo are also soulmates

if you have a blank blog [no bio, no user, no header or profile pic, nothing reblogged, etc] do not interact with my content. you will be blocked.

——♡——

It’s Akaashi that calls you for that weekend’s plans. You wake up Tuesday morning, expecting nothing new ; nothing out of your every day schedule. The call comes during your lunch, your drink half-way to your lips when Keiji! flashes on the screen.

“To what do I owe this pleasure?” A teasing grin is on your lips as you set your drink down. A small laugh echoes from his side of the phone and your grin widens.

“The boys have come up with a plan.” Akaashi replies. He sighs into the receiver and you can see him leaning against his chair so clearly. “They want to get some volleyball players together for a reunion. Ko’s idea, of course. He’s really excited.”

“I can imagine,” you hum. “Why did you call me, then?”

Akaashi lets out a scoff, “you’re invited, obviously.”

“I wasn’t a player, Keiji.”

“No,” he sighs again, “but you were there for every game. You’re an honorary Fukurodani member. Thought you knew that.”

You click your tongue at his flattery. Akaashi pauses and then clears his throat before continuing to speak. “Kenma will be there. And a few out of town players. If that… makes you more interested.”

“You’re horrible!” you whisper into the phone. Biting your bottom lip, you peer around your desk, making sure none of your co-workers are listening in on your conversation. “That was years ago.”

Keiji hums, the sound of his chair squeaking echoes into the receiver — he’s swinging back-and-forth idly, it seems. “So, you’re saying them being there doesn’t influence you in any way?”

You gulp, the two letters on your collarbone burning as your thoughts swirl. You rub them absentmindedly, dazed as high school memories bounce around your mind with the reminder of how it felt to have a crush. How it felt to love freely — to explore the butterflies that trampled in your stomach and to see through the rose-tinted lenses that colored your every move.

But, that was all before your eighteenth birthday ; before your soulmate was revealed.

“If I show up,” you hope Akaashi doesn’t notice how tense your voice sounds now. He doesn’t speak as you pause, allowing you to collect your thoughts. “It’ll be because you asked me. Not anything else.”

His smug grin is audible as he replies, “whatever you say, [name]. I’ll see you then.”

——♡——

Tugging on your outfit of choice, you let out a breath full of nerves as you look over yourself once more. Not a single hair is out of place — all of the accessories you dragged out match perfectly and your shoes are comfortable enough to stand in for a while. A glance at your collarbone reassures you that the powder you smeared across the initials kept it hidden.

One less thing for you to worry about, at least.

A horn honks outside and a grin falls onto your lips as you rush out, hastily throwing your overnight bag in the trunk before falling into the arms that wrap around you. Kuroo grins as he squeezes your waist one last time before opening the door for you. “Been so long, [name]. How did we survive this long?”

You roll your eyes fondly as you click your seatbelt into place. “It’s been, like, three days. We got coffee the other day.”

“So long!” Kuroo whines as he starts his car. In the backseat, Lev is snoozing away on his sister’s shoulder. You send a wave her way, watching as she takes close up, unflattering pictures of Lev’s drooling face. She wiggles her fingers at you excitedly — another hug was coming your way, you knew. “Can’t believe you said yes to ‘Kashi’s invite and not mine.”

“Why would I ever say yes to you?” As the traffic light turns red, Kuroo turns to glare your way. Your giggle harmonizes with Alissa’s easily — the sound takes you back to high school and the games you’d sit at together. “I don’t even get why I’m invited, but whatever.”

Kuroo shrugs, soon pulling into the restaurant’s parking lot. “Think we’re friends and enjoy your company, or somethin’.”

Bokuto is the next one who pulls you into a crushing hug, swaying you side to side as he blubbers about finally seeing you again. You let out a laugh — you’d seen each other a week ago. He was still just as dramatic as Kuroo, it seemed.

A splotch of red catches your attention as more people come to greet you. Hinata Shoyo is at the bar, a grin on his face as he exchanges conversation with the person beside him. He’s just as bright as he’d always been ; just as enticing and pretty as giggles fall from his lips. Your throat suddenly feels dry — was that his soulmate? The one that’s made for him? It had to be ; with the easy conversation and flirtatious touches that were exchanged. 

“[Name],” a voice calls from behind you. He’s soft-spoken ; quiet and nonchalant as a hand rests on your shoulder. Kenma tilts his head, blinking slowly as your throat grows dryer. His hair has grown out, meeting his shoulders as it’s pulled back in a loose bun. “It’s nice seeing you.”

“Hey—” your voice cracks. Clearing your throat, you ignore the heat that rises up your neck and turn to face him fully instead. “Keiji said you were coming, but I wasn’t sure if you ‘d changed your mind.” 

Kenma hums, his hand falling from your shoulder to squeeze your hand lightly before his touch disappears. He sticks his hands in his pockets, golden gaze drifting across the restaurant restlessly. “Thought it would be… interesting to join.” 

A body is slammed into your back within the next second, arms latching onto your torso and squeezing you to them. Kenma grins for a split second before it settles into a small tilt on the right side of his mouth. A nose is nuzzled into your spine, “[name]! I didn’t even see you come in!”

“Hi, Sho,” you breathe. The red head loops around so that he’s holding your front now, his right arm shooting out to gather Kenma into the embrace. “You were— a little preoccupied when I got here.”

The blond across from you smirks at the dip in your voice, scanning your miffed expression and hiding his amusement. You were jealous — clearly — at Hinata and his charms. The red head frowns your way, “really? Still would’ve noticed you, I think.” 

“Guess not,” you grin. Your group gathers, sitting at the largest table that was offered. Laughter and endless chatter bounce off of the walls, drinks clinking together whenever someone would decide it’s time to cheers. Misjudging just how much you were drinking, soon the world was swirling and the colors were blending together. 

“Careful, sweetheart,” Kenma murmurs into your ear. You finish chugging the drink in your hand, beating Atsumu at a drinking contest. “Should start slowing down, hm?”

You shake your head, scrunching your nose, “‘m fine! All good here!”

Hinata chuckles, taking a sip of his own drink as he exchanges a look with the gamer as you gossip with Bokuto. The drinks have officially settled into your system now, blurring the world around you and muting any background noises. Heavy eyes blink at Bokuto as he continues to speak, leaning on the palm of your right hand. Hinata is to your left, finishing up his own drink — the alcohol hadn’t hit him yet [it probably wouldn’t ever] — Kenma sipping on his water to your right.

“Time to head home.” Akaashi calls quietly. He and Kuroo are the other two who are sober, fondly smiling at the rest of you. He taps Bokuto on the shoulder gently, receiving a whine in response. “We’ve rented a house for everyone for the weekend. Figured this would happen.”

Everyone stands up, some leaving to their own homes while the rest follow behind Akaashi diligently. Kenma waits by the door as Shoyo wakes you up, helping you stand. He smiles tenderly at the sleepy pout on your lips, “c’mon, pretty. Time to go.”

“We’ll walk back,” Kenma speaks. His hands are in his pockets again, hair tucked behind his ear as he smiles at the way you’re leaning on Hinata. “Isn’t too far. If you both don’t mind?”

The sky is clear as you walk, a small breeze drifting through the street. The weather is chilly, but warm enough that you aren’t shivering and your teeth aren’t chattering. You grab Shoyo’s hand, lacing your fingers through Kenma’s right after as you start to hum. 

“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,” you slur out. Swinging your entwined hands, you raise your head so that you’re facing the sky. Kenma shares a grin with the red-head as you continue the children’s song. “Please don’t take my sunshine away.”

“Only hiccuped once, angel.” Shoyo tugs on your hand. You grin his way, eyes closing with how wide you smile. He looks to Kenma, “time for bed for this one, I think.”

Kenma nods fondly as you race to the house that’s come into view, hopping onto a still-drunk Bokuto. He cheers joyfully as the two of you babble — your words have stopped slurring, but you’re still not making much sense. The gamer sighs, “not much has changed, huh?”

Shoyo grins, “not much at all.”

You’re sharing a room with Kenma. Which is completely fine — it’s roomy enough for both of you to be comfortable. But, you still gulp at the thought of him being so close — all night. Hinata is in the room across from yours with Atsumu, the latter already snoring as you bid Shoyo goodnight.

An oversized, older Fukurodani shirt is thrown over your torso, sleep shorts snug underneath as you brush your teeth. Now that the alcohol’s haze is gone, you feel sleepy ; lucid as you get ready for bed.

Kenma is playing with his gaming console when you enter, glancing at you briefly with a smile before looking back down at his game. You nod in agreement — decorating a house or two sounded so fun right now.

But the silence surrounding the both of you wasn’t comfortable. It was tense — eerie — as shy glances were exchanged. You cleared your throat once, then again as Kenma made no move. You pursed your lips, getting a stupid, bad idea, but going with it anyways. 

“Kozume.”

You’re on your back within the next second, blond hair blocking your face from anything else. Kenma is hovering above you, hands on either side of your head.

“Wanna try that again?”

Before you know it, shy giggles are peeling from your lips as your cheeks heat up drastically. The drinks you’d had earlier had melted away — no longer settled in your stomach — but some of the effects still lingered.

“Kenma,” you coo out. He grins at this, peering down at you with a visible flush. You want to curl your arms around his neck ; ache to bring him close enough to taste. You bite your lip instead, “why are you so quiet?”

“I’m always quiet, sweetheart.” You heave in a breath at the pet-name, grin splitting your face into two. Kenma tilts his head, “jus’ thinking of some things.”

“Like what?” As you shuffle, your shirt slips over your shoulder. Your tattoo was now bare for him to see — bare from the powder you’d applied and free for him to look over. It seems to knock the both of you out of your pink bubble, the reminder of soulmates. Kenma scoots onto his knees, eyes on the floor as he grabs his game once more. You frown, fixing your shirt as you sit up. “Um— what are you playing?”

“Unnamed Animal Game.”

“Oh!” you perked up immediately, scooting closer so that you could peer over his shoulder. “I was just about to play that, too.”

Kenma is the one watching over your shoulder now, watching as you chose to design houses instead of play normally. He lets out a snort, “your island is worse than Shoyo’s and he hasn’t been playing as long.”

Sitting up straight, your eyes widen at Kenma’s words. “Shoyo plays this? And hasn’t added me?!” 

You frown, fighting with your blankets to stomp your way to Hinata’s room. Atsumu is still snoring when you creak the door open, the light from Hinata’s phone glowing on his cheeks. He looks up at you and grins, rushing to you quietly as you gesture him your way. Shoyo closes the door behind him, gathering you in his arms before pushing you back to your room gently. “What are we doing? Sleepover? This is so fun!”

“He didn’t bring it with him,” Kenma speaks up, eyes on his game once more. He glances up at both of you with a half-smile, “can’t play with him now.”

“Shoyo!” your voice teeters on the edge of becoming whiny, going up an octave as you flop onto the bed beside Kenma. “You haven’t added me on Unnamed Animal Game? Thought we were closer than that.” To add a dramatic flare, you let out a little sniffle.

Hinata falls onto the bed beside you, pulling you to his chest and giving you a nice squeeze. He’s warm — comforting in every sense of the word as he allows you to settle against him. “Of course we’re close. Maybe not as we were, but…”

A part of you feels bad, knowing you’d just been joking. But, Shoyo’s voice is solemn now, matching the frown Kenma isn’t trying to hide. You look up from his chest, eyes bouncing between the both of them before settling on Kenma’s hands. He’s holding one of Hinata’s, his console long forgotten as he reaches to hold your hand, too. “We can be like that again, you know. People drift and come back all the time.”

“It was right when we got our names, huh?”

You freeze at Kenma’s observation, clutching his hand tighter before letting out a breath and relaxing. Hinata’s thumb rubs against your hip as you sink further into his chest. The blond smiles at you both before speaking again, ”A soulmate shouldn’t keep us from being friends.”

“Or two.” Shoyo says it casually, but you can feel your heart speed up at the implication. He squeezes you once more, his hand tugging Kenma closer. “I— think I have two soulmates. Always have.” 

Your collarbone tingles ; burns as Kenma lays behind you now. Hinata’s right arm is draped around your waist, still clinging to the gamer’s hand. Kenma has let go of your hand in order to snuggle against the back of your neck, drawing you closer with Shoyo’s grip. The blond sighs, “N and S. Those are my letters — that’s my name.”

“K and N,” Shoyo is bouncing his leg now. He taps your hip, “And I’d bet yours is S and K, hm?”

“This is real?” You breathe out. Kenma pulls you closer as Hinata’s hold grows tighter. “We’re soulmates?” A break of silence and then — “how can we be so sure?”

“I think we’ve always known. Unconsciously.” Kenma nods slowly, reassuring himself of what he was saying. “Since we met.”

“But, we can talk more in the morning,” Hinata pulls the comforter over the three of you. You snuggle deeper into his chest as Kenma nuzzles his nose further into your hair. Placing a kiss on your cheek, then leaning over to give the blond one as well, he lets out a content sigh. “I’m pretty sure we’re right, though. Destined, as they say.”

Kenma lets out a chuckle that vibrates all the way down your spine. “Tomorrow, Sho. Sleep now.”

You click your tongue, ready to argue even though your eyes have slid shut. “What do you know about sleeping early?”

Hinata lets out a giggle before settling down. “Shh! Goodnight now, my loves!”

——♡—— this got sm longer than i expected it to?? but we're halfway done i think! airbendertendou © do not copy, plagiarize, repost, or translate my content on any platform. if you see my content under any other name than my own, let me know. i only have this tumblr and an ao3 account under the same name.

[mgmilosh]

✨ SMAC 2024 - DAY 3 ✨

It's a cosplay day and the characters of "The Trickster" decided to wear cosplays of their favorite characters ❤ Close-ups and details below!

Chase - Benjo (Lost Things by CircusboxStudio)

Rick - Ezra (Ward University by Simmer Boi)

Karina - Beatrix (The Kenopsia Effect by SimsBerrry)

Allison - Hailey (Return of the Reaper by omg sims)

Conrad - Ashton (Partners In Crime by SOVASIMS)

May - Candy (CANDY by April Dark)

Lisa - Alissa (Super Rich Lies by csimproductions)

Louis - Wulfric (Molyntheí by TheWhiteDeer)

Our performers from "MOVE ON" weren't worse and chose some characters as well!

Caesar - Samir (Attachment Theory by WinterSims_)

Mia - Aanya (My Awkward Youth by Star Fall Sims)

Valerie - Georgie (DEATH A.M. by EkolarasMagnum)

MG Milosh also joined with his cosplay of Jack Reyes from The Burned Letters by Lunaa.

Suprisingly, the REAL Jack Reyes appered on the orange carpet. He was so excited, so he asked him to take some photos with him.

That final photo is givin' "HE'S MINE!!!" 😅

Our favorite local Sims drag queen's favorite local Sims drag queen promised to be back on the orange carpet and there she is 🍊💜

She also prepared a fairy cosplay. She was a fairy and she still is a fairy, and she's manifesting fairies in The Sims 4.

Finally, we couldn't end the convention with "MOVE ON" without some Just Dance cosplays! Our characters decided to choose one of their favorite Just Dance coaches!

Caesar as Jack Rose from the map for "Locked Out of Heaven" by Bruno Mars.

Mia as Mihaly from the map for "Rather Be" by Clean Bandit ft. Jess Glynne.

Aubrey as Wanderlust from the map for "Canned Heat" by Jamiroquai.

Valerie as Leda from the map for "Darkest Hour" by The Rising Swan.

Huge thank you to my bestie @karis17love for taking the pics of these Just Dance coaches 💗💗💗

And that's all for this year's Sims Machinima & Animation Convention (SMAC)! I loved it even more than last year, this convention keeps getting better and better every year! See ya hopefully next year, SMAC! ❤💋

Watch SMAC 2024 - DAY 3 here:

[mitchipedia]

Cory Doctorow reviews “Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream,” a book by Alissa Quart.

Quart addresses “the meritocratic delusion of the ‘self-made man,’ Doctrow says. He adds: “America is not a bootstrap-friendly land. If you have money in America, chances are very good you inherited it.”

… as Abigail Disney has described, in a rare glimpse behind the scenes of American oligarchs’ “family offices,” American wealth is now dynastic, perpetuating itself and growing thanks to a whole Versailles’ worth of courtiers: money managers, lawyers, and overpaid babysitters who can keep even the most Habsburg jawed nepobaby in turnip-sized million-dollar watches and performance automobiles and organ replacements for their whole, interminable lives:

<pluralistic.net/2021/06/1…>

But it’s not just that the America rich stay rich — it’s that the American poor stay poor. … If you change classes in America, chances are you’re a middle class person becoming poor, thanks to medical costs or another of the American debt-traps; or you’re a poor person who is becoming a homeless person thanks to America’s world-beating eviction mills:

<evictionlab.org>

As a factual matter, America just isn’t the land of bootstraps; it’s a land of hereditary aristocrats. Sustaining the American narrative of meritocracy requires a whole culture industry, novels and later movies that constitute a kind of state religion for Americans — and like all religious tales, the American faith tradition is riddled with gaps and contradictions.

Horatio Alger is remembered as the 19th century author of many stories about “street urchins” who raised themselves from poverty to wealth and power. In reality, “19th century American street kids overwhelmingly lived and died in stagnant, grinding poverty.” And Alger’s stories weren’t about self-made men; “the young boys befriend powerful, older men who use their power and wealth to lift those boys up.”

Also:

Alger was a pedophile who lost his position as a minister after raping adolescent boys.

Laura Ingalls Wilder’s “Little House on the Prairie” books “recounted her family’s ‘pioneer’ past as a triumph of self-reliance and gumption, glossing easily over the vast state subsidies that the Ingalls family relied on, from the military who stole Indigenous land, to the largesse that donated that stolen land to the Ingallses, to the farm subsidies that kept the Ingalls afloat.”

Wilder collaborated with her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane,

… who used the Little House royalties to fight the New Deal, and, later, to create a school for oligarchs, the “Freedom School,” whose graduates include Charles and David Koch:

<www.politico.com/magazine/…>

All this mythmaking convinces the vast majority of Americans that if they’re struggling, that’s their problem, and they should not “seek redress through mass political movements and unions.” And the myth keep rich people from listening to their consciences.

Quart makes a case that American progress depends on breaking free of this myth, through co-operative movements, trade unions, mutual aid networks and small acts of person-to-person kindness. For her, the pandemic’s proof of our entwined destiny, at a cellular level, and its demonstration of whose work is truly “essential,” proves that our future is interdependent.

[bruce-wyatt-burner]

👀👀

[medys-space]

✨Stardew Valley Mods List✨

I decide to make a list just in case i lost everything for some reason <<

Bigs mods

Stardew Valley Expanded

Ridgeside Village

East Scarp

Downtown Zuzu

Walk to the Desert - Redux

DeepWoods

Sundrop City (i didnt install it, i'm just keeping and eye on this one for now)

NPCs Mods

Lucikiel - Stardew Valley Expanded (SVE) Compatibility

Lavril - East Scarp NPC

Lunna - Astray in Stardew Valley

Always Raining in the Valley - Custom NPCs for East Scarp

Alecto the Witch

Defense Division + Defense Division - English

Juliet and Jessie the Joja Clerks

Mateo for NPC Adventures (STABLE)

Ornithologist's Guild + Ornithologist's Guild SVE and RSV Biomes Fix

Creative Differences - Rodney a new NPC for East Scarp

Yri the Architect - New Custom NPC's for East Scarp

Adventurer's Guild Expanded

Soli - New Skeleton NPC

Crops Mods

PPJA (most of them, or all of them)

Wild Food - A Forage Expansion Mod

Wildflour's Specialty Ales and Meads

Wildflour's Pixie Forage

Wild Food - Forage for Crops Add On

Wildflour's Specialty Jams and Jellies

Slime Produce (not crops but eh, saving this here)

Atelier Wildflour Floral Goods Pack

Tap Giant Crops

Quaint Living - Flower Garden

Floral Essences by Wickedy

The Corrupted Garden

Witch Garden Roses

Balanced Valley

Better Mixed Seeds

Mixed Seeds from Forage

(AT) Asters Walls and Floors Megapack

Golden Crops

Magic Tree Roots (Json Assets)

(SOJA) Ancient Crops

Bonster's Rare Crops and Oddi-trees

Mushroom Propagator - Grow More Mushrooms

Spoopy Valley

Farm maps

Alvadea's Farm Maps - Goldrush

Waterfall Forest Farms (WaFF and WaFFLE)

Texture mods

Random Lost Library Book Covers

StarAmy's Ginger Island Farmhouse

(BAGI) Honey and Mead Icons for Trees - Cometkins' Style (Placeholder)

DaisyNiko's Earthy Recolour

Simple Foliage

Ridgeside's Foliage - Fruit Trees

Pretty Wallpaper

(AT) Asters Walls and Floors Megapack

IdaIda's Wallpapers and Floors (CP and AT)

Skell's Flowery Weapons

Skell's Flowery Tools

Vanilla Tweaks

PC's Kawaii Truffle Foxes

Horse to Broomstick

Mara's Vintage Candle and Magical Vials

Wallet Items Retexture

MSaturn Floaties - Alternative Textures for Crab Pots

Medieval buildings

Messy Crops

Antique TV Sets for Alternative Textures

Better Artisan Good Icons for Magical Crops

Cuter Chests

Better Artisan Good Icons

Furniture

Magical Witchy Kitchen and Furniture Pack

Animated Orbs

StarAmy's Wild Greenhouse Furniture for DGA

Lune's Offerings

Adorable Cottage Bathroom and furniture

(DGA) Blacksmith Furniture

(DGA) RoseDryad's Fairydew Decorations

Cuality of life mods

Horse Flute Anywhere

Immersive Sprinklers

Weapons Ignore Grass

Better Ranching

Wear More Rings ....?

Garden Pot - Automate

Almanac

Skull Cavern Elevator

Fishing Made Easy Suite (Content Patcher)

Fishing Made Easy Suite - SVE Edition

Fishing Made Easy Suite - RSV Expansion

Catalogues are Cheap

Harvest Seeds ???

Perfection Tweaker (This is a MUST)

Pet Bowl Filler

Farm Animal Choices

Horse Squeeze

Automatic Gates

PFMAutomate

Produce to Sapling (all of them)

Better Quality Increased Seeds (all of them too)

Friends Forever (for sanity at this point)

extras for NPCs

Ysabelle's Closet - Seasonal Outfits

Unofficial Ridgeside Village Seasonal Outfits - Alissa

Canon-Friendly Dialogue Expansion

Hugs and Kisses

Ridgeside Rival Hearts - Sam and Alissa

Ridgeside Rival Hearts - Jeric and Alex

Events Expansion

Krobus Festival Events Plus

Romanced NPCs in CC Ceremony RSV

Snack Time

Life Cycle - Rival Heart Events

Lavril - NPC Adventures

Ridgeside Village - NPC Adventures Addon

Robin Work Hours

More Krobus

Lucikiel for Mobile Phone

Spouses React to Player 'Death'

Fashion Sense

YES

ALL OF THEM

ALL THE FASHION

FS - Fairy Wings

Swimsuit Selections

Spill The Tea (Farmer Drinking Sprites) (not fashion but still)

Expressive Elf Ears

Cosmetic Rings

....Others???

MARGO -- Modular Gameplay Overhaul

Skill Rings

Spouses in Ginger Island

Crop Transplant Mod

Trinkets to Treasures

Ridgeside Village Achievements

Gender Neutrality Mod

Noclip Mode

Lookup Anything

TimeSpeed (i have this exclusively for jio, why do you leave the farmhouse so early ;-;)

Better Winter Star Gifts

Lnh's New Greenhouse

Lnh's New Slime Hutch

CP No drunk char during events

Skill Rings REMIX Feat. Paint.net (Radio ver.)

Mobile Phone

Stardrop Flower

Platonic Partners and Friendships

Ridgeside Village for Mobile Phone

Pet Snail

Happy Birthday

SF - Cave of Memories

SF - Mystical Buildings

Stardew and Chill

Challenging Community Center Bundles

MinecartPatcher

Boss Creatures

Increased Fish Tank Capacity

Void Ghost Pendant without Void Essence

Expanded Shop Inventories

Arcane Table Mod

Infinite Zoom

Tell Everyone (Town Gossip)

Ostrich Mayo and Golden Mayo

No Fence Decay

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Alissa Quart's 'Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream'

Steinbeck never said that Americans see themselves as “temporarily embarrassed millionaires,” but that misquotation is so pervasive because it captures something vital about one version of the American Dream, the idea that anyone can make it in America by pulling themselves up by their bootstraps, which means that if you haven’t made it, it’s because of some defect within you, and not because of a rigged system:

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Steinbeck#Disputed

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/10/declaration-of-interdependence/#solidarity-forever

In Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream, Alissa Quart — director of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project — addresses the meritocratic delusion of the “self-made man,” the story that, in America, the rich are good, and therefore the good are rich, and therefore the dwindling slice of the pie shared among everyone else is no more than they deserve:

https://www.harpercollins.com/products/bootstrapped-alissa-quart?variant=40517189599266

Quart’s book braids together four strands: a factual account of the reality of social mobility in America; a kind of psychoanalysis of what the myth of being self-made does to your mind; a power analysis of how the self-made brainworm benefits the rich and powerful, and a program for breaking free of the stultifying grip of a belief in the self-made.

Start with the factual: America is not a bootstrap-friendly land. If you have money in America, chances very good are you inherited it. Gone is the culture of “shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations,” where “the first generation makes it, the second generation spends it, and the third generation loses it.”

Instead — as Abigail Disney has described, in a rare glimpse behind the scenes of American oligarchs’ “family offices,” American wealth is now dynastic*, perpetuating itself and growing thanks to a whole Versailles’ worth of courtiers: money managers, lawyers, and overpaid babysitters who can keep even the most Habsburg jawed nepobaby in turnip-sized million-dollar watches and performance automobiles and organ replacements for their whole, interminable lives:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/19/dynastic-wealth/#caste

But it’s not just that the America rich stay rich — it’s that the American poor stay poor. America is a world-trailing loser in the international social mobility league-table. If you change classes in America, chances are you’re a middle class person becoming poor, thanks to medical costs or another of the American debt-traps; or you’re a poor person who is becoming a homeless person thanks to America’s world-beating eviction mills:

https://evictionlab.org/

As a factual matter, America just isn’t the land of bootstraps; it’s a land of hereditary aristocrats. Sustaining the American narrative of meritocracy requires a whole culture industry, novels and later movies that constitute a kind of state religion for Americans — and like all religious tales, the American faith tradition is riddled with gaps and contradictions.

Take Horatio Alger, the 19th century American writer whose name is synonymous with rags-to-riches thanks to the enormous volume of stories he wrote about young, male “street urchins” rising to positions of power. There are many problems with Alger’s work and our conception of it. For starters, 19th century American street kids overwhelmingly lived and died in stagnant, grinding poverty. Nineteenth century America was not a country of ex-homeless kids who rose to positions of wealth and prominence.

But even more: Alger didn’t even write self-made man stories. The Alger formula is not a boy who rises above his station through hard work — rather, the Alger stories are universally tales in which young boys befriend powerful, older men who use their power and wealth to lift those boys up. An Alger hero is never self-made.

Even more disturbing: Alger was a pedophile who lost his position as a minister after raping adolescent boys. He was only spared prison when his father — a powerful religious figure — intervened, promising the young Alger’s furious parishoners that Horatio would leave the clergy — which Horatio Alger did, turning instead to writing. Quart notes ominously that Alger went on to adopt two young boys.

That the cult of self-reliance elevated a pedophile who wrote endlessly about how the way for poor boys to get ahead was to move in with older, richer men to legendary status is just…amazing. I mean, I know “every accusation is a confession,” but the fact that the groomer panic set are also giant Alger stans is…wild.

Not all of the self-reliance mythmakers were sexual predators, but they were all liars. Laura Ingalls Wilder’s incredibly popular Little House on the Prairie books recounted her family’s “pioneer” past as a triumph of self-reliance and gumption, glossing easily over the vast state subsidies that the Ingalls family relied on, from the military who stole Indigenous land, to the largesse that donated that stolen land to the Ingallses, to the farm subsidies that kept the Ingalls afloat.

Ingalls Wilder wasn’t just a mythmaker. She was a close literary and political collaborator with her daughter, the far-right ideologue Rose Wilder Lane, who used the Little House royalties to fight the New Deal, and, later, to create a school for oligarchs, the “Freedom School,” whose graduates include Charles and David Koch:

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/09/little-house-on-the-prairie-conservatism-214237/

Of course, no discussion of American pro-selfishness mythmaking would be complete without a mention of Ayn Rand, whose ideology and apologists Quart dissects with expert precision, including the absurd take that Rand’s reliance on government handouts was “ideologically consistent” because Rand was just taking back the money the government had illegitimately taxed away from her.

For Quart, all this mythmaking serves two purposes: first, it helps convince the vast majority of Americans — who work longer hours, earn less, and owe more for schooling, rent and education than their peers abroad — that any problems they face are their own, representative of an individual failing and not a systemic problem for which they should seek redress through mass political movements and unions. So long as America is a land of the self-made, then anything you can’t do on your own is your own damn fault for not making enough of yourself. Are you worried about climate change? Well, what are you doing about it? Recycle harder!

https://thenib.com/mister-gotcha/

The self-made myth serves America’s oligarchs by befuddling people who might otherwise busy themselves building guillotines on the lawns of the nation’s mansions. But the rich depend on the myth for more than safety from others’ wrath — the myth also protects rich people from themselves, from their consciences that might otherwise recoil from the moral injury of having so much when others have to little. The myth lets the richest man on Earth ascend in a penis-shaped rocket, return, thank “every Amazon employee,” adding “you guys paid for all of this,” even as his warehouses maim those workers at twice the rate of his competitors’ facilities:

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/12/study-amazon-workers-suffer-serious-injuries-at-twice-rate-of-rivals.html

Quart makes a case that American progress depends on breaking free of this myth, through co-operative movements, trade unions, mutual aid networks and small acts of person-to-person kindness. For her, the pandemic’s proof of our entwined destiny, at a cellular level, and its demonstration of whose work is truly “essential,” proves that our future is interdependent.

Mutualism produces benefits in the here and now — it’s how we get a larger share of the profit generated by our work; how we secure education, health and housing; how we rescue one another from life’s exigencies and the attacks of our social betters. But the money, power, space and peace that we get from looking after one another has another benefit: freeing us up to demand more change, more equality, more democratic accountability.

Quart’s case-studies of organizers and rank-and-file in different movements are prescriptions for systemic changes, while her urgent case for reframing how we think of ourselves and our society present an individual-scale project for all of us.

I read Boostrapped in the audiobook edition with expert narration by Beth Hicks. I got my DRM-free copy on libro.fm, which I loaded into my waterproof MP3 player for my daily physiotherapy laps in the pool, and, as is the case with the best books, Quart’s words and Hicks’ reading made the time fly by:

https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9780063028043-bootstrapped

There’s only one week left in the Kickstarter campaign for the audiobook of my next novel, a post-cyberpunk anti-finance finance thriller about Silicon Valley scams called Red Team Blues. Amazon’s Audible refuses to carry my audiobooks because they’re DRM free, but crowdfunding makes them possible.

[Image ID: The Harpercollins cover for Alissa Quart's 'Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream]

[memoria-99]

Ok someone wrote about Blood in Roses pronounciation after Wizardess Heart... so I'd post mine too because why not

Alfred: Al-fred (is there any different way?)

Rupert: Roo-purt

Jack: Jack

Daniel: Dan E L

Raymond: Ray(like day)-mond(from almond)

Humphrey: Hum-free

Dominik: Domin(ant)-ik(like sick)

Cedric: Sehd-rik(like sick)

Spade: Spay-d

Edgar: Ed(like Edward)-gar(bage)

Lionel: Lion L

Gordon: Gor(geous)-(par)don

Ioannis: Yo-an-nis

Finn: Fin(ish)

Rogan: Ro-gun

Michalis: Mi-kal-lis

Cecil: Seh-sil

Gerard: Jerar-d

Rosario: Ro-sa-rio

Zephyr: Zeh-fi-rr(?)

Bradley: Bread-lee

Bridget: Bri-jit

Sascha: Sas-cha

Shiki: Shi-ki

Vance: Van-s

Jay: J

Evan: Eh-vahn

Caelus: Ka-el-lus

Matilda: Ma-til-da

Kenneth: Ke-nehth

Seth: Seth

Tatiana: Ta-ti-ana

Harold: Heh-rolled

Alissa: Al-lisa

And dhampir: dam-pi-rr

[rj-drive-in]

Love's Labor Lost Department:

This is what comes of doing a half-assed job.

THE EMBANKMENT © 2024 by Rick Hutchins

Back home, it usually rained pretty heavily in April—this year, it started in March and was still going strong at the beginning of May.

Damned global warming.

Marisol watched it all very closely; she kept the dorm TV turned to CNN, subscribed to email news alerts, bookmarked the town’s home page. She watched as the lake rose up into backyards and basements, as the National Guard reinforced the dam, as the streets flooded and homes were evacuated, as the raging river overflowed its banks.

The raging river, choked with debris.

She hadn’t been home since leaving for college, but now it was definitely time to go back.

She hitchhiked the first hundred miles, then took a bus; then she caught a cab, and then another bus; on the Interstate, she thumbed three separate rides, then asked to be let off in a rest area, where she jumped the fence and cut through the woods to her hometown.

The neighborhood where her parents lived had not yet been evacuated, but instead of heading there, Marisol ducked the police cordons and went for the river. It was just as she feared; nothing but raw, muddy earth and exposed tree roots. The place she was looking for—the spot she had followed David and Alissa to on graduation night—had been washed away.

Everybody had assumed they eloped, but Marisol had a feeling they would be turning up again shortly.

This time, she thought, it might be best to leave the country.

[justrainandcoffee]

Against all odds (Alfie Solomons x fem!oc) part 9

Crossover Peaky Blinders - Hunger Games

Masterlist. Parts One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight

Summary: During the 72th Hunger Games, Panem meets Heaven Lavey the girl apparently angelical from district 7. But the eyes of the country are also on District 9, not just because they are the last winners but because of its tributes. The youngest of this edition Desirée and Charles, 12 years old. And twins. || Rose finally meets Aberama Gold. || The rebellion finds its symbol.

Warnings: The usual. Violence and death but it's not graphic (I tried, I couldn't write it.)

Words: 3.2 k || I think you need to listen to this song because I mentioned its lyrics here.

A mother is crying. A father, also devastated, is trying to comfort his wife and oldest daughter. District 9 is moaning the death of its tributes. As always but this time it hurt. This time it was cruel. The 72th games finished with a victor from district 7. A pretty girl called Heaven whose name didn't match what she did in the Arena.

The thing is that no one is blaming the girl, clearly traumatized, but the voices claim for Coriolanus Snow's head. And at the same time Coriolanus Snow wants the head of the the director of the gamemakers.

Contrary to the people, Snow receives what he wants.

Everything happened in just two weeks.

15 days earlier.

Rose was in her studio when she saw the tributes from district 9. She was used to see girls like Nina. Thin, around 15-17 years old. Or boys around the same age, usually taller than their counterparts but more or less the same height, some a bit heavier. But the difference between different tributes along the years she had been working on the games were minimal. That's why she prepared the costumes with anticipation. Usually very few things needed to be fixed when they wore the clothes for the first time.

But now…

12 years old, both of them.

Desirée Goldwyn was reaped first. Rose never saw such small girl before, she seemed around 10. She was scared and had her eyes full of tears. No one volunteered to help her. Of course not. No one of the girls were staring at Desirée as she walked to the stage where Alissa was waiting for her. Rose saw the forced smile the woman had in her face

The unexpected happened next.

A boy name Alexander Thomas was reaped. But a voice prevented him to follow Desirée steps.

"I volunteer as tribute!"

For a moment Rose's heart stopped. And she was sure that Alfie and Nina had the same thought as her in that infamous second.

No.

Desirée Goldwyn had a dark brown curly hair and intense green eyes. The boy, had the same hair and eyes. Also the same height and probably weight.

Alexander Thomas saw the boy, clearly younger than him, walked very decided to the stage. Alex would never have the chance to thank him.

"A volunteer!" said Alissa "What's your name, darling?"

"Charles. Charles Goldwyn. And Desirée is my twin."

.

Twins.

The Capitol exploded. Even before their arrival, the Goldwyn twins were the sensation of the games. Pure innocence, a fraternal love so strong that the boy decided to accompany his sister to the Arena. The fact that they were pretty helped a lot. They were exactly what The Capitol wanted and they received two.

Rose hid her face in her hands, before throwing the things over her table in one fell swoop, screaming in frustration at the same time. Frustration and anger weren't enough to describe her mood. Every single kid that she dressed had a special place in her heart. And nightmares. But the image of those twins that seemed to be younger than 12, were devastated.

They didn't have a chance. Not a single one.

.

Alfie was in silence in the train. He was facing the landscapes that by now he knew by heart, listening to the kids.

"I'm going to protect you," was saying Charles. "I'm quick! I can distract them so they can't touch you!"

"You should stay with mom and dad. And Leo," she said refering to Leonela, their older sister only 14. "Who's going to feed the chickens?"

"Mommy can do it, De! And Leo, too! Leo can help dad, too! And when you come back home, they're not going to worry about anything else."

"Don't say that!" Desirée had her eyes full of tears, too "You're going to come home, too, Charlie!"

"You know there's only one victor, De."

Nina and Alfie stared at each other. What do you say to two kids, twins, who were together from the moment of their conception, that one of them is going to die? That with the odds on their favour. But as Alfie knew very well, odds were never on their favour.

"So," Nina interrupted forcing the kids to think other things "what are your talents? Caesar likes to know what makes you happy!"

"Desirée is a good singer," Charles said to her "our nana always sang us a song when we were kids and then taught her how to sing. She tried to teach me too, but she gave up."

Nina chuckled and smiled at the boy "so, sing us something, Desirée."

[When I was a little girl, my mama said to me

"What's your favorite flower, darling? I'll get you the seed"

I said "Dandelion, Dandelion," that one's so pretty

She said, "Child, that one's not a flower, that one's just a weed"]

Alfie turned his head to listen to the girl. She indeed had a pretty voice.

["You can't stop me multiplying

No, you don't want me in your garden

Dandelion, Dandelion.

Then my fragile flower turned into a ball of grey

So I took a breath

and made a wish and blew them all away."]

"That's a pretty song, Desirée," said Nina.

"Our nana always said that her grandmother sang it to her and probably for generations. I always liked it."

"Leo, our sister," said Charles "sing it every time she sees a dandelion in our little backyard."

"I'd do the same," said Nina smiling again to both kids.

Alfie watched at his former mentee and asked himself if Nina also thought that the twins had any chance against the careers. No matter how quick Charles said he was.

.

The Capitol was excited to see the new tributes face to face, as always. But this time was a morbid pleasure behind it. Were the twins really that young? Were them really that precious?

The voices inside the building were disgusting. An hour after the reaping she already saw people trying to bet on them. Their faces were in every screen. People cheered every time that the reaping was repeated.

With her blood boiling, she went to the ninth floor and picked up some of the cookies that a month ago Alfie, and also Nina, baked when they went to their monthly visit to the Capitol. The cookies were in a perfectly closed jar so they were good. She picked up only five. And using a tweezers delicately put a piece of paper inside all of them.

Those cookies had a destination. Rose put them in a box and went to the post office.

Communication between districts were highly forbidden but inside the Capitol people were allowed to send packages or letters. And for few years she kept certain address just for her. It was time to used it.

.

A little cardboard box with his name on it was what Aberama Gold received when the sun was going down. It wasn't uncommon for him to received packages. But usually those were clandestine and contained guns. This one was from the official post office and it had just five cookies.

Soon Aberama understood that they were more than cookies and that the person behind that was important. Five little papers that formed a message:

We need to talk. Send your answer, same way you received this. To the tribute centre. Rosebeth Evert.

Aberama Gold didn't trust the ones involved in the games. And Mrs. Evert's face was in every news since district 9 won the previous games. He knew who she was. And he also knew that the woman was one of the very few members of the Capitol who were allowed to be part of the auction.

So why, such lady wanted to talk to him? And way she used such cryptic way yo do it?

He considered a trap. Wasn't Mrs. Evert, Snow's personal stylist? Aberama was sure of that. If she wanted to open a shop, Aberama was sure that people from the Capitol would kill for her clothes. But Mrs. Evert had a low profile and only appeared during the games.

Still, Aberama Gold ordered to his cook to bake some cookies and he left a message for her inside them.

"Five days after the games. Under the bridge. Go alone. Promise you'll be safe. A.G"

.

Alfie, Nina, the kids and Alissa arrived the next morning. As always people, citizens and those working there, were more annoying than usual.

Rose spent big part of the day adjusting the costumes and ordering every one around her in the studio to remain calm.

"You're going to be the most beautiful tributes ever," she said to them when finally they were ready. The same hairdresser that visited district 9 with her six months ago was the one in charge of comb their hair. Although Rose forbid the makeup artist to put anything on them to make them look older. The public wanted kids, she was going to give them kids.

Exactly what they were: just children.

She only found time to talk to Alfie only at night after the parade and when finally the city was in silence. There, in his bedroom, she could confess to him that she finally communicated with Aberama Gold.

"But he didn't answer yet," she said. "If he doesn't give me an answer soon, I'm going to visit him."

"It's dangerous."

"It is but I reached my limit, Al. We're going to see these kids die. You know that. You know they don't stand a chance."

"Do you trust him?"

"I trust no one here. They'd sell you to Snow for a corn chip but I need powerful people, too I can't do this alone. We can't. Do I have other options? No. It's the best I can do, love," Rose sighed deeply "how are you, Al?"

"I'm tired, luv. I'm very tired of everything. The only thing we can do is to expect the best."

"And that means…?"

"Hope, I guess."

She snuggled up against him and closed her eyes "Hope. I like that word. I really liked that word."

.

As expected the twins had no extraordinary ability. They couldn't throw knives, they didn't know how to use a bow. Nina commented that Desirée knew how to make traps because her father taught her. That's how they trapped rabbits and another little animals. Charles was right that he was quick, so Alfie spent some hours teaching him how to use a blade. Maybe he'd hurt some other tribute as he was running away. But they couldn't do more than that. Not with the careers showing themselves like peacocks around the arena.

And three days weren't enough to teach them how to kill.

The Arena was a foggy forest. The Cornucopia was made of wood covered with moss. Alfie always said the same to his kids "run away from there" some listened to him and others, like Nina, did not. But fortunately for the twins they did listen to him.

The bloodbath was always terrible and deadly. But this time…

That blonde girl from 7, Heaven Lavey, was the first one to be noticed as a menace despite her score wasn't that high. Alfie remembered that years ago, Lucy spoke about a tribute really unhinged and it seemed to be that the prophecy was true. It was cruel to say the least.

The careeers survived, same as the twins and tributes from other districts but compared to other games, the number of survivors was low.

All Panem witnessed the dawn of the third day. Heaven Lavey killed two careers in the same moment and by now the number of victims rise to eight. And she was about to add two more.

The twins were hiding in the bushes. They survived eating berries that weren't toxic but it wasn't enough. Charles was hugging Desirée who was incredible dehydrated. He too, but his sister was in worse condition.

"Sing to me, De," Charles said. "The song about dandelions."

"I can't. I think I'm going to die, Charlie."

"You're not, De. After the song I promise to search for water. Just sing to me, De."

And the girl did. And whole Panem listened to the song.

Charles knew better than people could think. No one knew Desirée the same way the boy knew her. And although young, he was old enough to know about death.

"I found a real dandelion," Charles said picking up the puffy flower "Make a wish, De."

"I want the games over," she said and blew it away.

Not long after that the deadly Heaven found them. They were still hugging each other when they died. Together they came to the world, together they left.

Some people said that in district 9, a woman cried so loud that some near mockingjays mimicked her screams and soon the whole district was hearing the lament of mother who witnessed her children being murdered.

Five days after the games.

The night is warm and calm. After the games it seemed that people disappeared. And that year in particular was a very agitated event.

[You can't stop me multiplying.]

The song is in her head sounding like an infinite record player.

Rose left her car parked far away from the bridge that Aberama Gold mentioned and walked all the remaining blocks to that place.

Now, under the yellow streetlight she sees everything around her. She feels eyes on her although she can see no one. Probably they're spying on her to see if she's alone.

Fifteen minutes later, Rose sees a man wearing a hat walking towards her. He's wearing a brown coat despite the hot night. Rose doesn't know Mr. Gold but she knows it's him. She asks herself if the man has a gun hiding there. She knows that's very possible.

"Mrs. Evert," says Aberama approaching her, shaking her hand.

"I thought you weren't coming."

"I was here before your arrival, Mrs. Evert. I was just waiting, I'm sorry but I needed to know you were alone."

"I'm risking my own life coming here, Mr. Gold. Not because of you but him. So, I'm not that stupid to ruin my only chance to get help. We need to talk alone, please."

"What do you have to offer?"

"Not here. I'm not going to talk unless I'm sure we're on the same side, Mr. Gold."

"I'd say the same. I do not offer my help to anyone."

"A person you trust gave me the address to locate you, thanks that they trust the same person as I do. No one against this hell here can survive alone, Mr. Gold. We're part of the same chain. It just happens that not all the links know each other."

Aberama snorts and with his head orders her to follow him. That poor side of the Capitol reminds her of district 8. Grey buildings, dirty streets… Last year, during Nina's tour, when they stopped in that district, that was the first time in over a decade that she visited her birthplace. And it wasn't easy. Her mother and brothers were near as ever since then but she couldn't visit them. It hurt her to know that for example last time she saw her baby brother Louis was 8 years old and now he was a 24 years old man. She couldn't recognise him and probably for him, his own sister was a complete stranger. She didn't regret her choice to leave her house to help them, but she paid a high price when she did it.

Aberama invites her to enter into an old house. Its walls are covered by vines and it seems to be an abandoned place but as soon as he opens the door, she sees that it's in perfect conditions. There's a young man there, too.

"That's my son, Bonnie," he says. "Bonnie, she's Mrs. Evert."

After offering something to drink and a chair, Aberama sits down in front of her. After looking at him for one last time time, she finally shows to someone else what she has. Rose is still restless. What if…

And yet, she knows that she can't do this alone. The folders and papers she collected over the years are now in other hands.

"You did this alone?" he asks.

"But I can't do more."

"Ma'am, I don't know how to say this but this is a lot."

"Not enough," she insists. "If we want to start phase two, we need more than that. I need people, smart people. The kind of people you can find in district 3, those who know how to do this."

"When do you want to finish this?"

"Three years. Two and a half. We're going to sabotage the Quarter Quell, Mr. Gold."

"Then you need to know something that probably you don't know, but I do," Aberama opens a drawer and pulls out a cardboard folder that gives to her. Blueprints and a map are there "if we want to fuck Snow, I'm not enough, you're not enough. My people isn't enough… do you want this? Play bigger, Mrs. Evert. Go to district 13."

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

And it's that night, that moment in the Gold's household that she learns that District 13 is still alive. Rose learns about the pact between the capitol and the rebel district. The nuclear weapons… and Chester Campbell.

"They have a president?"

"Same way we have ours. No one chose him, but he's there. I don't know him personally, but I heard things about Campbell."

"And what do you think?"

"I think, if I were you I'd approach him the same way a mouse approaches a cat. In his own favour, Snow is charismatic he'll let you talk. Campbell is… well, more complicated. At least he's not Snow."

"Are there any other options?"

"No."

"I don't want his hands on this, Mr. Gold. I don't give a fuck if he's the president of Lostland. I'm trusting you with this, the afterwards is up to District 13 if you want but this? Just us and your people."

Aberama scratches his chin and offers his hand to her "I give you my word that this is just our mission, Mrs. Evert. This part, but we're going to need their help."

"It's fine. We have a deal. We sabotage the games and they take care of the rest. Burn everything once is over, Mr. Gold the good thing about papers is that can be consumed by fire."

"I'm a professional," smiles the man.

"In six months, I'm going to contact you again. I'm sure you know that I'm part of the auction. But I'm not part of them. I'm not them. I'm not my husband."

"I can see that. I see you in six months, Mrs. Evert."

"Use the cookies," she says before leaving his house.

"I will. Goodnight."

A single dandelion is in middle of the street growing up in the pavement. She takes it and blows it all away. The seeds fly with the wind.

[You can't stop me multiplying.]

Fascinating that rebellion found their symbol in something so simple and mundane as a dandelion. But it was also a powerful thing. Growing up were it shouldn't.

[You don't want me in your garden.]

Snow was walking through his garden full of white roses, thinking about the girl named Heaven and the twins.

The twins and their song.

[You don't want me in your garden.]

There in middle of his roses dozens of dandelions were growing up. Imperceptible under the beautiful flowers. But they were there.

And in every district.

“Make a wish, De.”

“I want the games over.”

Hundreds. Millions of dandelions around Panem. Stronger than ever, even if in the eyes of the Capitol, people from the districts were just weed.

[You can't stop me multiplying.]

And it was just the beginning.

Next