#alvamott

[margareturtle]

I haven’t seen this in a fic yet (pls send me links if you have!!) so I’m doing it myself:

How Jeremy+Cat+ Laila find out about the 80% deal (set after the news about Jean’s family has already been released) (pt 1)

The gang is in the kitchen:

Jeremy: Jean, I’m telling coach to bench you for just this one match! You’re sick (or minorly injured). Just take a break and you’ll be back next match!

Jean: No! I’m fine! There are scouts for Court coming to this game!

Jeremy: yes and you’re just getting over the flu (or a twisted ankle idk)! Just take a rest, the Court scouts will be back next year!

Jean: I’m good to play! I need to play! I need to sign to court!

Jeremy: And I’m sure you will be! Kevin was just signed, no one doubts you will be signed as well ! What difference does a year make?

Jean: what difference does a year— I need to prove myself or they’ll think I can’t and— I can play! I will play!

Jeremy: no— I already told the coaches you aren’t playing— they’re in support

Jean: YOU WHAT? *panicking* they’re gonna kill me they’re gonna kill me

Jeremy: *softening* oh Jean it’s ok. You’re with the trojans remember. You’re not at the nest. You’re safe. Riko is dead. Tetsuji is gone. Everyone respects your right to a break. You’re free of the Moriyamas now.

Jean: You insolent fool! I will never be free of the Moriyamas!

Jeremy: ok Jean, I know it may feel like that sometimes. But you are free with us now. There are no more Moriyamas that will hurt you.

Cat: *thinking* well there’s Ichirou

Jeremy: *glares at Cat*

Cat: what? As smart as you are Jere you still haven’t learned to take the things Jean says at face value. He just said “I will never be free of the Moriyamas”

Jeremy: yeah but that’s not— Ichirou is a business man, all he cares about is money and his new fiance!

Laila: yeah but what really is the Moriyama family business? I haven’t really thought about it before but Ichirou looks rich af so it’s gotta be smth good…Jean you must now what it is.

Jean: *doesn’t respond to non questions*

Jeremy: Come on, this isn’t related to why Jean is so freaked out he can’t play today!

Cat: judging by his silence rn it def is! So what is it Jean? What’s the Moriyama business? You must know!

Jean: *stressed* it’s not important

Laila: clearly it is, now you can tell us or I’m happy to start guessing!

Jean: don’t—

Laila: let’s see it’s prob smth shady if you won’t say. Let’s see, do they deal in exotic Animals? Is Ichirou secretly tiger king?

Jean: No?! Just stop!

Laila: Or is it some business offensive to french culture? Oh no Jean, is their business in wine? Do they sell prosecco and call it champagne?

Jean: it’s not—

Laila: Oh or it has smth to do with why you learned so many languages while you were there? They’re secretly in the spy industry training to be spies??

Jean: of course not! Now stop asking I won’t tell you.

Cat: oh jean 😭 way to get us all more intrigued.

Jeremy: yeah let’s return to the topic of—

Laila: *who’s been thinking for a sec* pfft I know *sarcastically* Ichirou is secretly a mob boss too who has been in kahoots with—

Jean: *flinches*

Laila: your dad and neil’s dad which means—

Laila: Wait what the fuck?!! I was joking—I know the Moriyama’s business is just some boring corporate shit! But you just—What the fuck? WHAT THE FUCK!! You only flinch when I land spot on I—

Jean: *lunges for a knife with one hand that Jeremy catches. Lunges for his throat with the other that Cat gets a hold of first*

Laila: holy shit. No way. What. You’re kidding— I can’t. I wAs jOkinG !! Do the foxes know? Kevin must know if you do—

Laila: *picks up Jeremy’s phone he left in the kitchen counter*

Laila: *calling kevin*

(Pt 2 call with kevin coming soon)

[dysfunctional-college-roommates]

Day 21: What your crush/bf/gf looks like

Currently Procrastinating

Character: Alvarez (TFC)

   Alvarez was good with names. It was a talent that came in handy in a lot of situations, but most often with the swarm of reporters that showed up after Trojan games. No one wanted to ask the rude questions when the interview started with “Hi, Tom” and “How are you, Sue?” Even less so when Alvarez remembered the names of family members. It was a strategy, and it was one that worked perfectly: everyone was happy when Alvarez was on press duty. At least, that used to be the case.

Honestly, it wasn’t her fault at all. So what if she’d caused a scene? If they hadn’t wanted the answer, they shouldn’t have asked the question.

Okay, so maybe they would have asked if there hadn’t been so much easy familiarity built into the interview – maybe it was, like, 10% her fault. And maybe she should have stepped out when the coach signaled her. So, like, maybe 20% her fault. Maybe 25%.

It went like this: Alvarez said, “Are you kidding me?” She knew she was going to say something that she would regret, but she opened her mouth anyways. She was angry and she had a lot to say. A lot of what she had to say was in Spanish. A lot of what she had to say wasn’t entirely polite. It started to get loud. There were so many cameras – Wait. Let’s back up a step.

It went like this: one of the reporters, Bill, said, “Sure, but which of them would you most want to date?” The coach was waving desperately from behind the press cluster. Alvarez said, “Are –” No, wait. Let’s back up again. Just to be safe, let’s go right to the beginning.

It went like this: the interview started like any other. Everyone was in high spirits, partially over the team’s victory and partially because – and Alvarez wasn’t afraid to brag – everyone loved her. There were lots of questions about the game: the team’s thoughts going in (they’d expected to win, but Alvarez said, “Oh, we were looking forward to it; they’re a great team.”); the strategic plays the Trojans had set up; the fight one of the opposing players started. It was all pretty typical stuff, up to a point.

Really, it was something that almost could have been predicted, when it came. It was halfway through the season – Alvarez’s first season – and the press was more than comfortable asking personal questions. Up until now, it had been mainly about classes and her major, a little about her family coming to games. It had only been a matter of time until someone asked something they shouldn’t.

When it came down to it, it was Bill who made the mistake. Bill was in his thirties, a dad with two daughters under twelve. It was this awkward-dad status that had initially saved him from Alvarez’s wrath. The question he asked was this: “Which of your teammates do you think is the most attractive?”

It was an uncomfortable question to begin with, of course. Alvarez had wanted to point this out, or at least ask if he would have brought this up with one of the male players. But sometimes you have to pick your battles, and she hadn’t thought this one was worth it. Answering would keep her in the press’s good graces, and that was worth an easy answer to a question that shouldn’t have been asked.

Because she knew how to play to the press, Alvarez first said, “You mean besides me, right?”

The reporters laughed, and maybe that could have been the end of it, but then Bill said, “Yeah, besides you.”

So, Alvarez gave the second-easiest answer: “Laila Dermott, definitely.” This was easy for a number of reasons, the least of which being Laila’s incredible athletic body shape. There was so much that made Laila attractive that Alvarez couldn’t even catalogue it all, though she’d tried. It started with her hair: medium-long; wavy, but minimally so; always tucked up into a bun or ponytail. Then there were her eyes: forever light and beautiful, but especially when they glowed with the triumph of a blocked goal. Her smile, though – Laila’s smile was of the sort that Helen of Troy must have possessed, because when her whole face lit up like that, with that radiant, infectious grin, Alvarez could suddenly understand going to war over a single girl.

And, really, that should have been the end of it. But then Bill said, “Sure, but which of them would you most want to date?” And, well, you already know the rest.

[myexalted]

did any of the foxes have a neopets account?

I am so glad you asked this. So, soglad.I just. I just need to believe that during the events of TFC, something as pureand simple as Neopets could exist in the same time.

Personally, I don’t see any of theFoxes as having an active neopets account during the duration of the series(Nicky at best might have an abandoned account); however, I do see a certainAlvarez from the USC Trojans as being obsessedwith Neopets.

Listen… Alvarez has a pet Acara and aPoogle whom she treasures like her own children. She’s so hardcore aboutNeopets and she makes sure to log in at least once every day to grab the freeomelettes and jelly to feed them. Alvarez’s free time is pretty much dedicatedto Neopets and other casual games like the Sims, lbr.

Her roommate and later girlfriendLaila is like “what are you even playing” “are you five years old” and that’swhen Alvarez begs Laila to make a Neopets account to join her. Laila refusesfor a very long time, but her continued persistence makes Laila cave in oneday. Laila rolls a red Aisha on her firsttry, and because Alvarez is a pining sap she names the little neopet Alvamott (“likea berry!”).

Laila never revisits the accountagain, more interested in practicing Exy, but Alvarez takes Alvamott under herwing and spoils her like nothing else.

When Jean is transferred over to theTrojans, Alvarez is so, so close to getting the needed 200,000 neopoints to buya faerie paintbrush for her Poogle. (This was before NP inflation ruinedeverything.)

It turns out Jean is boss as fuck atone of the minigames and Alvarez earns a daily record and a crapton of Neopoints.Afterwards she tries every trick in the book to get Jean to play more Neopetsmini games for her, to the point when Jeremy had to intervene to tell her tostop coercing the poor guy.

(Neopets is like… the antithesisof the Ravens nest. The complete antithesis. I have to imagine my poor bb Jean playingNeopets, I have to.)

Alvarez and Jean works out a future mutual agreement- if Alvarez does something for Jean, Jean would pay her back in Neopets minigames. 

[dysfunctional-college-roommates]

Day 13: Someone you miss the most

Currently Procrastinating

Character: Alvarez (TFC) (Hey, so, here's some context, for anyone who deems it necessary)

   “You know, typically, when someone asks who you miss most from your first years, you’re supposed to say something disgusting sentimental about your girlfriend.”

Alvarez sighed dramatically – it was false and affectionate exasperation flooding Laila’s voice, so she was allowed to sigh dramatically. “Well, I still get to see you,” she pointed out, which was true. In spite of the unfortunate inconvenience that was most hotels insisting on being paid, they still managed to scrape together enough money to meet halfway whenever there was enough time for it. “Enough time,” of course, being the rare occasion when both of them had at least one entire day off, since it was three hours just to the midway point.

“You could come to Tucson, you know,” Laila pointed out. “It’s a long drive, but it’s not the end of the world. Or you could take a plane – I hear they put a time-share on the actual flying part, so you’d really only have to be behind the controls for about five minutes. Much less effort than driving the whole way.”

Alvarez laughed – the sort of laugh that nudges you closer to crying, because there really just isn’t anything funny at all. “Fuck,” she said, trying to hold the torn edges of her composure together. “I miss you. Both of you. A lot.”

“We miss you, too,” Laila said. “Seriously, I think he’d be on a hunger strike if he didn’t like to eat so much.”

Alvarez smiled, and it was such a sad thing that she had to close her eyes for a moment. “I wish I was there with you.”

“Come to Tucson,” Laila repeated. “Seriously.”

“I can’t,” Alvarez said, drawing her knees up to her chest and curling around the phone. “I’m boycotting Arizona until they give you back to me.”

“Would you stop?” Laila said, laughing her own bittersweet laugh. “You’re so dramatic! God, I still cannot believe that you told the entire country that you miss your snake more than your girlfriend!”

“I had to,” Alvarez whined. “You should have seen the way that one reporter was looking at me! He was already writing a trashy article in his head; I could tell.”

“Fifty bucks says you get a call from Jenna tomorrow. She’s going to be so pissed that we tricked her over the snake.”

“Ha,” Alvarez retorted. “Seventy-five says she calls you – you’re the one who lied to her face.”

Laila laughed again, and this time it was only happiness crackling across the phone line. “Fine,” she said. “But whoever loses has to visit the other.”

“That’s totally unfair!” Alvarez complained. “I’m boycotting Arizona!”

“Hey, I don’t make the rules,” Laila teased.

Alvarez drew in an aborted breath of surprise. “But – you just did make the rules!” she argued. “This is a lose-lose for me! I either give up my principles, or I don’t get to see Fish! Unless…”

“I am not taking Fish on a plane. I heard enough of those jokes from you the first time.”

Alvarez screwed up her face out of habit – if Laila were here, she’d tap her on the nose and tell her to cut it out. “There were like five jokes,” she defended.

“And I heard them about ten times each,” Laila replied. “Come to Tucson.”

Alvarez groaned loudly. “Okay, but don’t tell Arizona I’m going back on my word; I’ll never hear the end of it.”

“I’m rolling my eyes,” Laila told her. “And I’m pretty sure the state will forgive you.”

“I’m warning you now; you’re going to have a hell of a time getting me to leave.”

“I’m warning you now,” Laila returned. “I’m not going to want you to.”

Alvarez was silent for a moment as she considered. Finally, she said, “You’re buying the plane ticket.”

Laila laughed. “Depends on whether or not I win your money.”

[dysfunctional-college-roommates]

Day 5: Favorite Place

Currently Procrastinating

Character: Alvarez (TFC)

   It came up somewhere around the middle of a long night of talking, laughing, and drinking. Somehow, Laila got it in her head that they didn’t know enough about each other – “I know that you’re pretty, and you make me feel happy; what more do we need to know?” Alvarez had said, and Laila had shoved her hard enough that a lesser woman would have spilled her drink.

But, because Laila had asked very nicely, they had begun trading questions – trading answers, too, but Alvarez was having more fun with the questions. In highlights, Alvarez had asked Laila her favorite reptile, most memorable gas station or rest stop memory, and if there was anything she categorically wouldn’t buy even if she had enough money to buy absolutely anything; Laila had asked Alvarez her favorite book, favorite subject in school, and plans for the future. “You’re not creative enough,” Alvarez informed her. “There will come a day that you will regret not taking this opportunity to ask me about my plans for world domination.”

Laila laughed, and it was a beautiful sort of sound: the kind that declared to the world that its owner was overwhelmingly happy for no better reason than that they had someone to laugh next to. She said, “I would, but I’d like plausible deniability for when they put together the criminal tribunal.”

“Ha,” Alvarez scoffed. “Like they’d want to punish me. I'd be saving this sorry world."

Laila smiled a teasing sort of smile, but there was a twinge of affection. “Right, of course,” she replied seriously, “what was I thinking?”

Alvarez sighed in the sort of overdramatic way that she only did when she’d had a bit more to drink than she’d meant to. She watched Laila, and Laila watched back, though neither of them seemed to be waiting for anything to happen. Alvarez had very little patience for nothing, and so she reached over to push Laila’s hair back from her face. She left her hand when she was done. “Hi,” she murmured.

Laila’s eyes softened a bit, and her smile turned into something even more magical. “Hi,” she whispered back. They stayed like that for another few seconds, and then Laila added, “Favorite place to be?” It was quiet, but it still broke the spell just a little bit.

“Would it be completely cheesy to say that my favorite place right now is right here?” Alvarez asked.

Laila grinned radiantly. “Yes,” she said, “but I’ll accept it anyways.”

Alvarez lifted her head just so that she could crash it into the couch again. “I like mountaintops,” she said. “But not like – not the kind you can just drive to. The kind where you actually had to put in some work to get to the top. The kind where it means something.”

Laila nodded thoughtfully. “Okay,” she said. “So what do you say we start climbing?”

[myexalted]

Once, Alvarez sets her alarm clock to play Bring Me To Life by Evanescence. Alvarez thinks it’s hilarious and she starts cackling every morning, and whenever she does, Laila throws a pillow at her head as hard as she can. 

Whenever the verse, “...wake me up (wake me up inside),” starts playing and Alvarez’s bed starts shaking with her silent laughter, Laila’s finger twitches and she clutches at the nearest pillow. She learns pretty fast that throwing it at Alvarez only causes her to laugh harder, so she starts throwing it at the alarm clock instead. (she has very good aim)

When that doesn’t solve anything, Laila resorts to grudgingly getting up and marching to Alvarez’s bed to shut it off herself, since Alvarez, the heathen, is content to let it play all morning. Pretty soon Alvarez got a new motive for setting her alarm clock to that song, which is to watch an angry Laila with bedhead every morning stomping around the room in only a loose shirt and undies. Bless.

Alvarez starts hiding the alarm clock in increasingly ridiculous places each night so she can stare longer. 

[myexalted]

ALVAREZ IS ALLERGIC TO CATS AND DOGS BUT SHE IS A HUGE PET LOVER AT HEART, SO SHE PLAYS EVERY VIRTUAL PET GAME SHE CAN FIND.

[COUGHS COUGHS, NEOPETS, COUGHS COUGHS]

[dysfunctional-college-roommates]

Headcanon that Laila grew up with like five dogs and she always envisioned that she would have a dog of her own one day, but Alvarez is allergic. They sit down and talk about it one day, and they compromise and get a pet snake instead... while they're still in the college dorms and technically not allowed to have anything besides fish. There's one time where they have to convince the RA that they really do just have an empty snake habitat in their room, all while praying to every god they know of that the snake doesn't move and reveal itself.

(@myexalted - I'm making nonsense posts now)

[myexalted]

I was thinking about what a good ship name for Laila Dermott/Alvarez could be. I came up with a few possibilities but none of them sounded right except for one. @dysfunctional-college-roommates, what do you think of Alvamott? 

(wait hold up there are two of you right? WHICH ONE OF YOU IS ON BOARD THE LAILA/ALVAREZ TRAIN?)