#and apparently I had two checked in luggages not one which is why my computer was in my backpack in the first place

[ifeelfreewithoutmyshoes]

I’ve almost been flying to much…

[fific7]

Ticket to Ride - Part 2

Billy Russo x Reader

A/N: Inspired by The Beatles song of the same name. This takes place in my S1 Punisher AU with Arrogant!Billy in attendance, in which he gets a taste of his own medicine.

Warnings: 18+ NSFW due to sexual content, including oral, between consenting adults* in some chapters. Drinking and swearing.

*Irl, please don’t go wild in the country without protection.

(My photo edit)

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𝕊𝕙𝕖 𝕤𝕒𝕚𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕝𝕚𝕧𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕞𝕖 𝕚𝕤 𝕓𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕕𝕠𝕨𝕟, 𝕪𝕖𝕒𝕙

𝕊𝕙𝕖 𝕨𝕠𝕦𝕝𝕕 𝕟𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣 𝕓𝕖 𝕗𝕣𝕖𝕖 𝕨𝕙𝕖𝕟 𝕀 𝕨𝕒𝕤 𝕒𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕕

𝕊𝕙𝕖'𝕤 𝕘𝕠𝕥 𝕒 𝕥𝕚𝕔𝕜𝕖𝕥 𝕥𝕠 𝕣𝕚𝕕𝕖

𝕊𝕙𝕖'𝕤 𝕘𝕠𝕥 𝕒 𝕥𝕚𝕔𝕜𝕖𝕥 𝕥𝕠 𝕣𝕚𝕕𝕖

𝕊𝕙𝕖'𝕤 𝕘𝕠𝕥 𝕒 𝕥𝕚𝕔𝕜𝕖𝕥 𝕥𝕠 𝕣𝕚𝕕𝕖 𝕓𝕦𝕥 𝕤𝕙𝕖 𝕕𝕠𝕟'𝕥 𝕔𝕒𝕣𝕖

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The aircraft door opened and you stepped out gratefully onto the air jetty. You weren’t scared of flying, you just didn’t like being cooped up in a flying tube for several hours on end. Up an escalator and along a short corridor and then you were able to see outside through the floor-to-ceiling windows. The sky was beginning to shade into the colours it would take on for dusk. It looked like it had been a nice day and you hoped the good weather would continue for your stay.

Karen had texted you while you were sitting on the plane at JFK, waiting for it to push back. Frank had told her that Micro had tracked your phone to the airport so boy, were you glad you’d turned off your old phone and switched to the new one when you did. She’d also told you that Billy had asked him to find out where you were headed, and your heart sank. You knew it wouldn’t take long for Micro’s vast and nerdy computer skills to find you but then again, London was a huge city and they’d have no idea whereabouts in it you’d gone to ground, thanks to your new ‘burner phone’.

You were feeling super-excited. This was beginning to feel like an action movie, with you on the run from the bad guys.

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“London??!!” Billy shouted, making Frank quickly move his phone away from his ear on the other end. “Yeah, London,” he replied.

Billy was back at his usual post by the window. “I mean... obviously I knew she was gonna fly somewhere but I thought it would the West coast, Miami, Seattle, Alaska... somewhere like that. But to go to a whole other continent....!!!!” Frank sighed, “Yeah, Bill, sounds like she’s really not keen to bump into you anytime soon.” “Yeah, thanks for remindin’ me.” “Bill, you brought this on yourself, buddy.” “I know!” yelled Billy, “An’ all I wanna do is get her back and make it up to her for the rest of my life, and all I know is she’s in London! Do you know how big that place is?” “Yeah, I do. And t’be honest... I dunno how you’re gonna even try to find her over there.”

There was a silence on the other end of the phone. “I mean...” Frank continued, “I’m guessin’ you are gonna go over there and try to find her, Bill?”

Billy’s shoulder twitched upwards briefly, and he stared intently out the window at the New York skyline.

“Yeah, Frankie... yeah, I damn well am.”

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You’d left two of your big suitcases and the backpacks in a luggage storage facility at JFK, travelling with just the one suitcase and a large shoulder bag. You took the overground Heathrow Express to Paddington before negotiating a change onto the Tube to reach Tower Hill DLR station, boarding one of the driverless trains out to Canary Wharf. Settling back into your seat, feeling pretty proud of yourself for managing not to get hopelessly lost.

Your AirBnB apartment was in a part of the city called Docklands, beside the Thames on the Isle of Dogs. It was an area of shiny skyscraper offices and fancy apartment blocks built round the old docks, and your accommodation for the next two weeks was in one of those. You were suitably impressed when you got inside it... open plan, all trendy furniture and gleaming fittings. Big, big windows with views of the river and the tall buildings.

Your phone chimed and you saw a text from Karen on your notifications. Taking your suitcase and bag into the bedroom, you went back out to the main area and sat on the sofa to read it. Oh. Billy now knew you were in London, and had apparently booked a flight over - he’d be arriving tomorrow. Your heart rate sped up; Billy was a sniper, used to finding, stalking, watching his prey. But, you told yourself, he had no idea whereabouts in the city you were and no way of finding you.

Relax.

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Billy stepped off the Heathrow Express, looking around for signs indicating where the taxi rank was. He’d been looking at the Tube map during the train journey. Nah, fuck that.

He was too wired to even think about getting to London Bridge on the Underground, or ‘Tube’ as he found out Londoners called it. His brain had been working overtime trying to figure out how the hell he was going to find her in a city the size of London. She’d stay central, surely - she wouldn’t head to the suburbs, he felt confident of that.

Getting into the first taxi in the queue, he drawled out, “The Shard, please.” The taxi driver nodded and pulled away from the station without saying anything. Thank fuck, thought Billy, I can’t be dealing with a talker right now. But just as the thought had left his head, the driver’s London accent said, “First time in London, guv?” Billy sighed, “No. No, it isn’t.” In fact it was, but he wasn’t about to tell the driver that. He’d only end up getting taken on the ‘scenic route’, double the time, double the price.

The driver grunted and turned up the radio... really annoying music could now be heard but Billy would take that over inane small talk any day. He looked out of the windows at the city streets and his mind went back to his mission. Mission impossible. Finally he saw the river and the taxi crossed a wide bridge before pulling up outside the lofty skyscraper that was The Shard. According to the blurb he’d read on some travel website it was the tallest in Western Europe, and while there were taller buildings in New York, the shape of this one made it look quite dramatic.

He paid and got out of the taxi with his expensive wheeled duffel bag, heading to the Shangri La entrance of The Shard and going inside. (It’s one of the priciest hotels in London - of course). Checked in at reception on the 35th floor, he was then whisked up to his room on the 52nd by another express lift. The windows were huge and the views spectacular.

Once again, he was gazing out of a window at a cityscape.

Where is she?

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Your first full day, you occupied yourself with getting to know the surrounding area, doing some grocery shopping and sitting on your large balcony, enjoying the view and relaxing with a glass of wine.

Every time a plane went overhead you wondered if Billy was on it - he was due here today. You shook yourself a little, you’d just have to stop thinking about it. He wouldn’t find you.

Your mind wandered unbidden to his recent behaviour. Knowing Billy was a player from day one, you’d still got involved with him. More fool you. Another old cliché.... you thought you’d be the one to change him. And you thought you had. You’d dated him for a few months, he seemed to have ditched his old hound-dog ways and when he’d asked you to move in with him, you’d agreed without thinking it over too deeply.

Now, looking back, it seems like you’d made a big mistake.

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Micro had spent quite some time constructing a query table that he could run against accommodation reservations in London for her arrival day. She had no reason to book under another name and he’d just have to run with that assumption.

When Billy had come directly to him instead of going via Frank to ask that he try and track down her reservation, Micro had been too scared to refuse. Billy still really unsettled him - he always reminded him of a circling predator.

This query would take a while to run. He hit the go button and wandered off to work on another project while it tunnelled its way through layer upon layer of data.

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Billy was pacing his swanky hotel room like a caged panther. He’d given up on the idea of roaming the streets of London trying to spot his target, that was just one dumbass idea. He’d never find her that way, much better to just wait on that geeky twat to come up with the answer with his internet wizardry.

He’d spoken to Frank earlier, who had nothing new to report. Billy wouldn’t allow himself to feel guilty at cutting him out of the loop on his recent ask to Micro. He wasn’t stupid enough to believe that Frank wouldn’t mention it to Karen. Much as he loved him like a brother, Frank was a big sap when it came to Karen and he knew he’d give in and tell her, probably sooner rather than later.

However Frank had told him that Madani had called earlier that day, wanting to know where Billy was and why she couldn’t get in touch with him. Billy had figured out that his girl had got herself a new phone, and he’d followed suit. Which is why Dinah hadn’t been able to reach him. “Whaddya tell her?”he’d asked. “That you were on an overseas operation and were incommunicado.” “Good,” nodded Billy, “....that takes care of that little problem for a while at least,” feeling a sense of relief.

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Frank cut the call, a grim smile on his face. He hadn’t been completely straight with Billy, but it was for his own good. What he’d told Madani, however, had been the unadulterated gospel truth.

He’d said to her that Billy had hared off to Europe in pursuit of his live-in girlfriend, who’d suspected him of cheating on her and left him. He was absolutely determined to get her back.

He’d taken great satisfaction in the dead silence on the other end of the line, eventually punctuated by an angry snort and the call being abruptly ended.

That ‘little problem’ was hopefully taken care of for good.

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Micro looked at his phone as it beeped at him, the notification saying that his query was complete. That had taken much longer than he thought it would. Now he could only hope it hadn’t returned too many matches as he’d thought it prudent to run it on surname only.

He pulled up the results table and was pleased to see that there were only a thousand or so, he’d feared there would be many more. He scrolled through the list and quickly pinpointed the one he’d been looking for.

With a deep sigh he picked up his phone, typed “Wood Wharf, Water St, London E14”, a building and apartment number into a new message, then hit send. It would be the early hours of the following morning in London, so he very much doubted that Billy would leap out of bed and head right over there.

He finished eating his supper, drank a beer and settled down to watch TV when his conscience started bothering him. Should he? He shivered when he thought about what Russo might do to him if he found out.

Popping another bottle of beer open, he sat and contemplated what he should do for quite a while. He suddenly picked up his phone, sending a quick text to Frank telling him about the whole situation and including the fact that Russo now had her London address.

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While you were lounging on your balcony, sipping your wine and watching the world go by, it suddenly occurred to you that this would be a great base to work out of for a while. You messaged the estate agent and extended your stay to one month, with an option to extend if required.

Then, on a whim, you booked a flight to Barcelona early the next morning from City Airport - it was really close to your apartment even if the flights were a bit more expensive. You’d been doing a little research into other destinations to explore, and having a base in London to travel to and from made you feel much more comfortable. The W Barcelona had caught your eye while you’d been browsing for accommodation and as you were only going for a few nights, you’d booked in there.

Feeling extremely pleased with yourself, you got up and went into your bedroom, looking for a folded-up smaller travel bag you knew you’d packed in your luggage. Finding it, you began to choose some outfits for your short trip, thinking what a joy it was that you could now leave your large suitcase here.

But damn, you were going to have to be up early tomorrow. Best to get an early night, you thought, immediately yawning.

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Billy shot up in bed as his phone chimed with Micro’s text. When he read the information in the text, contrary to Micro’s belief he did leap out of bed and started pulling on his clothes (Micro had forgotten that this was an ex-Marine he was dealing with here).

He sat back down on the bed and googled the location. Oh okay, East London.... Docklands. Too far to walk and he didn’t think the Tube ran at this hour. Then he pulled up the Uber app and booked an immediate pick-up.

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Walking into the terminal building at City Airport, you were in the middle of a total yawning fit when a text came in. It was from Karen and you stopped, putting down your bag so you could read it.

Karen: Sorry to tell you this hon, but Billy went direct to Micro 🙄 and intimidated him into finding your London accom. Frank’s told him not to do that again no matter how much he’s shitting himself! Please take care of yourself 💋

You: Bastard 👿 thanks for the heads-up, I will do 😘

Picking your bags up again, you hurried over to one of the automated check-in machines to get your luggage tag.

Whoever had said ‘timing is everything’ had definitely got that right.

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“Oi!!!” yelled an irate male voice. Billy turned his head to see a groggy-looking tousle-haired guy, obviously just having been woken up. “Keep the noise down!”

Billy said nothing, just gave the guy his death stare. His head quickly disappeared back inside his apartment.

After pressing the buttons of a few apartment numbers at the main entrance, someone had buzzed him in and he’d been pounding on her apartment door for the last five minutes. But there was no response, and he knew she wasn’t that heavy a sleeper.

He slid tiredly down onto the floor outside her door. Had she somehow known he was on his way over here? No.... how would she know that?

His head dropped down in momentary defeat and he ran his fingers through his hair, groaning.

She hadn’t moved on already, had she?

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The plane lifted off the tarmac, and immediately you felt a huge sense of relief. You just weren’t ready to see Billy right now - you’d probably kill him if you did, ex-Marine or not.

Now you were off on your next adventure.

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London

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@blackbirddaredevil23 @galaxyjane @omgrachwrites @behindmyeyes-insidemyhead @ourloveisforthelovely @swthxrry @odetostep @supernaturalcat7 @obscurilicious @strawb3rrydr3ss

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[cevans16]

I’m Sorry

Summary: You and Sebastian have your first big fight.

You and Sebastian had been dating for almost two years, you had made sure to keep a low profile since you wanted to keep some privacy from the public eye and not be scrutinized by the world. Sebastian was surprised when you had shared that with him, all his past girlfriends couldn’t wait to share with the world, you always told him as long as your close friends and family knew that’s all that mattered. 

Unfortunately Sebastian woke up one Friday morning with his phone blowing up which caused him to wake up. He looked around for you but you were gone, he knew you were either at the gym or getting breakfast for you both. He checked his notifications to see that there were public pictures of you two at a local small restaurant you two had always gone to. There was one of you enjoying dinner and another of you two kissing, he didn’t know how someone found out since only you two knew about it. He felt his blood boil thinking that it was too good to be true that you didn’t want to go public, maybe you had set him up, maybe you called the press to make yourself thrive. He called you but it went straight to voicemail, you were definitely at the gym. He left a voicemail, “(Y/N), call me as soon as you get this.... I can’t believe you” he said angrily and hung up. While he waited for you he jumped in the shower to cool off but it didn’t work. 

It had been two hours and he hadn’t heard from you yet, he was going to call you again but then you walked in. “Hey what’s going on? You sounded pissed” you said to him. You dropped your gym bag and went into the kitchen to set up the breakfast that you had bought after. “I can’t believe you (Y/N), you think I’m stupid or what!” he said raising his voice at you. “What do you mean?” you asked genuinely confused, he went to the room to grab his phone in order to show you the pictures. He practically shoved his phone in your face, “All this time you had me convinced you only cared about me” he said a little hurt. You couldn’t believe he was telling you this, you looked into his eyes but the Seb you knew was gone in that moment, this man was furious and hurt, you had never seen him this way, yes you guys bickered here and there but never to this extent. 

“You think I would do this?” you asked as calm as you could. “Honestly yes, you probably waited for us to come this far to do it” he said smugly. You felt your heart drop at his comment, you didn’t think he’d ever say that, let alone believe it. You tried not to let your tears drop in front of him, you moved into the bedroom to pack a few of your clothes into a luggage bag, Sebastian followed you hot on your heels, “Of course you don’t have anything to say since you got caught” he said snarkily. You turned to look at him dead in the eyes, “You know what, I didn’t do this Sebastian, I don’t know how they found out but it wasn’t me. The fact that you think I did it hurts, I was the one who suggested we keep this private, I’m the one who sacrificed part of my freedom to be with you and for you to think I would throw away your trust for that, I’m done. I’m leaving” you said feeling your voice shake at the last part. Sebastian felt his eyes fill with tears but he was still angry, so he let you walk out the door without another word. 

A few days had gone by and you had yet to hear from him, to say it didn’t hurt was an understatement, you missed him so much. You were crashing at a friends place who was on the other side of town, lucky for you it was actually closer to your workplace. You accepted more work to keep your mind busy and not wanting to intrude too much on your friend’s space even though she had said you could stay as long as you liked. Sebastian missed you too but he was adamant that you had set up the pictures. He had a call with his agent about a few upcoming projects when he found out who had leaked your guys location....his publicist. Apparently they thought it would have been a great idea to finally make you guys public to bring more attention to Sebastian’s career. He immediately ended the call saying he would later let them hear about it for not asking him first. He tried to reach you on your cell, each time it went straight to voicemail, he didn’t blame you for it. 

For all Sebastian knew you could’ve flown back to your hometown, he had to figure out a way to know where you were. The next early morning, he went to your friends place where you were staying at, she had told him that you were okay and still in town, that gave him some hope. Later that day you walked into your office from lunch to find a bouquet of flowers on your desk. You looked around to see everyone staring at you and smiling, you rolled your eyes moving your flowers over to get settled in your desk, your coworker next to you asked immediately, “Trouble in paradise?”, “Ehhh you can say that”, he shrugged and went back to looking at his computer, “I’m sorry I hope it gets better, just don’t kill yourself by overworking, trust me I’ve been there”, “Thanks”. You looked to see what the note said (Y/N) I messed up please meet me home later -Sebastian Your heart skipped looking at his name at the end but you were annoyed that he expected you to meet him when he was the one who screwed up. You got up letting your coworker know you’d be outside if they needed you, “Good luck” he said genuinely. You called Sebastian pacing back and forth, you were about to hang up when you heard his voice, your stomach getting butterflies at the sound of him. “Sebastian you expect me to move my schedule to meet you when I’m not the one who screwed up!?” you gritted between your teeth. You didn’t hear anything else from him, he must’ve realized that mistake. “(Y/N) I am so sorry, can I meet you at your place? Or anywhere? I just want to see you” he said, “Why? I wanted to set up my career right, well guess what I am working late tonight” you said trying to make an excuse, you did want to see Sebastian but you wanted to make him work for it. “It’s okay I want to see you today (Y/N)” he said, “Okay I’ll be in the office until 9, see you then, I gotta go Sebastian”, you hung up feeling a bit guilty for doing so. 

You were the only one left in the office after your coworker left half an hour before you. You were finishing up on a report you had been working on the whole week when you heard Sebastian come in, right on time at 9. He shyly smiled at you and walked over to your desk, sitting beside you. He sighed trying to gather what he would say without messing up, “(Y/N), I am so sorry about accusing you of those pictures, I feel like such an asshole for what I said to you”, you could feel the tears forming in your eyes, after a minute you finally looked away from your computer as you had finished your report and sent it to your boss. You turned to looked at Sebastian, he looked exhausted, his hair was a mess, his eyes were tired, he barely put effort in what he was wearing. “I know I shouldn’t have let my past experiences get the best of me and lashed out on you” he added. “You know the shitty part was you thinking I would do this for ‘my career’, I have thrived in my career way before I met you Sebastian so I don’t know why you said that, it hurt that you didn’t TRUST ME” you sobbed into your hands, Sebastian immediately pulled you in for a hug to soothe you, he was the cause of it. He tried his best to hold in his own tears, “I’m so sorry honey. It’s all I have ever known, every girl I dated only wanted to because I was the guy in those Marvel movies and when I found out about the pictures I felt my heart sink thinking it was happening all over again. I don’t know how to say or show you how sorry I am for jumping to conclusions, you don’t deserve that baby”. You didn’t say anything else for a while, just stayed with your head buried into his chest.  “I don’t know about you....but I still want this to work....and I really hope you do too” Sebastian said. You thought about it, you were so in love with this man, you couldn’t say goodbye to him. You looked up at him, “Sebastian I still love you.....it won’t be easy but I want this to work too”, with that he leaned in to kiss you passionately, “I love you so much baby” he said, “and next time please just kick my ass” he said causing you two to laugh. “Oh I will” you replied. You got your stuff to head back home, to yours and Sebastian’s place. Everything will be okay. 

[taba-chan]

Futaba Sakura x reader, Chapter 1

Y/n = your name

F/n = father's name

M/n = mother's nam

A/n: authors note

Italics = thoughts

You slowly wake up to the annoying beeping of your phone

Y/n: ugh, just let me sleep

You think about just ignoring the stupid thing, but you decide to be sensible for once, and actually get out of bed

Y/n: today's the day I finally go on that long awaited vacation to Japan

You smile to yourself and put on a slightly oversized T-shirt, a pair of sports pants, and your favourite jacket, wash yourself, brush your teeth a little faster than you probably should, and grab your backpack and luggage that you had prepared the previous day

Y/n: at least I remembered to charge my phone this time

You go to your kitchen to get some breakfast

M/n: good morning Y/n, here I made some breakfast for you

Your mother hands you a lunchbox

Y/n: thanks mom

M/n: you should get going it's already 7:21 am your flight leaves at 8

Y/n: CRAP!

You toss the lunch box into your backpack and rush out the door, running to the bus stop as fast as you can

you get there 32 seconds before the bus is supposed to arrive

Y/n: I should have planned this better

you get on the bus, and hear your phone ringing, you answer the call

Y/n: hello?

M/n (over phone): it's me, did you catch the bus on time?

Y/n: yes, barley

M/n (over phone): good, you forgot to say goodbye to your poor mother

Y/N: bye mom, and don't worry about me two much okay?

M/n (over phone): I'll try, goodbye

You hung up the phone

after a long bus ride you finally get to the airport, you rush to get through security as fast as possible, you manage to make it to the gate 3 minutes early

Y/n: that was way to close

you show your passport to the guy at the gate and walk to your seat

Y/n: ugh, it's so cramped, I'm really don't want to be stuck here for 14 hours

Y/n: not like I have much choice

you grab your laptop and your mouse from your bag and turn it on, you bought a new game to play on the airplane last week, so you turn that on

apparently no one booked the seats next to you, so you got lucky there

you played the game until the plan finally started moving

Y/n: we would've been flying already if that one fool wasn't 14 minuets late

flight attendant: Good morning ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of Japan airlines, it is my pleasure to welcome you aboard flight 7214 with service to Tokyo international airport

you reluctantly turn on airplane mode

Y/n: what? why is my mouse not working

you turn it off and than back on again, but it still doesn't work, you check your computer's settings and see that airplane mode turned your Bluetooth off, you turn it back on

Y/n: stupid airplane mode

you play your game for about 6 hours, after that you decide to watch some anime you had downloaded last week, until you eventually fell asleep

after sleeping for about 5 hours, you woke up

Y/n: ugh sleeping on the floor would be more comfortable than this horrible chair

the rest of the flight was rather uneventful, you ate and watched anime until you landed.

after you finally landed, you put your stuff back in our backpack, and get off the plane

you managed to slowly stumble your way though Tokyo airport, which thankfully has signs with English as well as Japanese on them, and wait for the train, which is conveniently right next to the airport

the train arrived in 2 minutes, you get on the train and look out the window, the Tokyo skyline is impressive

after a few train rides you make it to a small hotel you booked in Yongen Jaya

you get of the train and walk into the hotel, grab your keys from the reception and make your way to your room and unpack part of your luggage

Y/n: I should probably eat something

you go outside and wander around Yongen Jaya, looking for a nice place to eat, and eventually find a small café called Leblanc

you enter the café, it's empty except for a orange haired girl behind the counter

you look at the menu, but it's all in Japanese

Y/n: crap

Y/n: excuse me, do you speak English?

orange haired girl: yes

Y/n: okay, I don't really know what to order, what do you recommend?

orange haired girl: the curry is really good

Y/n: okay, I'll have the curry and a coffee please

orange haired girl: okay

the girl walked to the fridge, presumably to get ingredients for your food. she looked nervous

Y/n: why does she look so nervous, is she new here?

you sit down on one of the benches in the café, and wait for your food

Y/n: luckily that girl can speak English, it would have been really embarrassing if no one understood me

the girl turned on the stove and started cooking, she's kinda cute now that you get a good look at her

after about 20 minutes, the girl finished making your food, and gave it to you

Y/n: Thank you

orange haired girl: your Wellcome

you eat your food, the curry and the coffee were really good

after eating, you payed for your food, and leave Leblanc

you go to the train station, and get on the train to Shibuya

after a short train ride, you get of the train and explore Shibuya

you check out most of the shops, until you feel tired

Y/n: this jet lag is killing me, I better go back too my hotel room

you take the train back to your hotel room

you lay in bed for awhile, thinking about what your going to do tomorrow, until eventually you fall asleep

A/n: I know this chapter is kinda bad, i suck at first chapters, I'll to rewrite it eventually

A/n: I'm looking for beta readers and an editor, so if anyone wants to volunteer please comment

[yutahoes]

Otou-Chan

Yuta Nakamoto x Reader (Y/N) Smut

(Chapter Nine)

Summary: 𝐁𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐡𝐰𝐚 𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝.𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐘𝐮𝐭𝐚’𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬.

Warning:   Abuse, Sexual Fantasies, Light Fluff

Word Count: 2.2k

Masterlist

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ ❤️❤️

9. Proposal

(Y/N) was busy the whole week with work-related stuff. It was Friday when she called that she wanted to work from home since her tablet isn't really working and that she needed to work on her own computer for the draft that she's doing. There is too much work and it doesn't help that her father is out to who knows where.

The landlady knocked on the door, asking for the rent payment that made her slap her forehead in annoyance. Why did she forget about that? "I'll give you two days, give me my money." the older claimed that made her sigh once the door closed. Where will she get that money? All her savings went to the Paris trip and her loans as well, so what can she do?

Paris, she thought. Maybe she can sell off the things that Yuta had given her, it might cost a fortune. She started getting her luggage and bringing out the shoes, dress, and bag that he bought her. With a loud sigh, she started gazing at it. Wore it once after being left on the floor so maybe she can still sell it at a reasonable price. Upon checking the bag, something fell that surprised her, a black card. Yuta's black card. Didn't she return it to him? Is he not looking for it?

The card is tempting her but this isn't right. She decided to stop seeing Yuta because of this reason but here she is, looking at the card as if enchanted by it. Maybe a small amount wouldn't really hurt the card? She just needed to pay for the rent and she can pay Yuta when she had enough money. Yes, maybe she can do that.

Instead of staying home as she promised Jungwoo, she went out to withdraw cash from the card. She was silently praying that her conscience wouldn't kill her after this. When the machine asked for a pin, she remembered 1026 and started typing it. A message confirmed that she can get 10000 from the card that surprised her. That easy?

Pulling the card out and the money, she was surprised to see her father looking at the black shiny object. "Appa," she called then decided to hide the card but he wrestled her into giving it to him. Her dad is a martial artist before so it is a fail attempt to hide the card. He slapped her cheek, causing her to fall to the ground letting go of the black card. He called for a cab before she can stand up and she cursed herself for not being careful and deciding to use the card in the first place.

She grew worried when her dad didn't go home that night. Although she had the cash to give the landlady for rent, she kept on holding it worried about something. Should she tell Yuta? But then, that would cause a lot of issues. He might really think that she's taking advantage of him which is the reason why she stayed away from him. Damn, what should she do now?

--

Yuta was standing in his office for a while now, overlooking the city of Seoul and hoping to see someone familiar. From what Jaehyun had told him, their publishing house isn't really near the area so why is he hoping? He missed her, her scent, her voice, her face. This was like Paris all over again. Why is he like this when other women were throwing themselves at him? Why is he so hung up with that one girl who obviously doesn't want him back? A knock on the door disturbed his thoughts as his secretary, Kim Doyoung opened the door. "The HR wanted these signed," he claimed, placing the folder on his desk. He loudly sighed before complying, signing the piece of paper without even reading on it.

The younger was bothered at the sudden attitude. Normally, Yuta would be very careful about everything. Checking the documents first and handing them to him for revisions before signing them. "Are you alright?" he asked that made the older nod, sighing. "You look sick, should I call your doctor?"

Yuta just shook his head, looking at his secretary for a year. Doyoung had always been his trusting friend and when he was handed the company, he can't find anyone to be his secretary other than Doyoung who was studying music at that time. He hated that he took a dream away from him but the younger agreed to be his secretary because of his connections to the media. Now, Doyoung knows more from his life than his friends. "I think I have withdrawal symptoms," he claimed that made the other laugh. "From what? You don't smoke and you rarely drink," he claimed then stopped. "Are you taking drugs?" But he just shook his head, claiming that it is worse than drugs. "A girl, perhaps?" he asked that made the CEO lightly glance at his secretary. "I didn't know you had it in you, Yuta but I hope you can see your girl soon and end this depression." The older smirk and in a silent voice whispered, 'I hope so too'.

--

Yuta was in a meeting with Chinese investors when his phone buzzed, signaling a message. It was the end of an hour-long argument with men in their late forties about the needed technologies in the company when he checked where it was, surprised that it was from a bank. Apparently, someone had withdrawn a hundred thousand dollars from his account and since it's too big of an amount, the bank decided to inform him. Obviously, he was surprised. He remembered that card number, the lost black card in Paris. Someone from Korea has it? Then it clicked. (Y/N). They were together that night when he thought he lost it so maybe she is using it. But a hundred thousand dollars? What is that girl up to? But maybe this is his chance to see her again even if it is a weird circumstance.

(Y/N) was busy for work, editing Ten's illustration for the deadline tomorrow when she received a call from an unknown number. "Is this (Y/N)?" the man asked that made her say yes on the other line. "Can you please come to the police station for questioning?" he asked that made her nervous. This is it. The thing she's scared of. But it took days for her dad to do something.

Johnny was worried when she asked her editor in chief to leave early but she assured that it's just a personal matter. Instead of taking a cab to the station, she took the bus which is way cheaper even if it meant an hour walk. She was breathing heavily when she reached the station, surprised that her dad is in front of someone and kneeling. Upon closer inspection, she saw the man as Yuta. Of course, this is about his card. "Are you, Ms. (Y/N)?" the officer asked that made the others look at her. "I got the card from her, she was the one who stole it." her dad claimed that made her surprised. Why is he like this in front of strangers? "Don't put me to jail, lock her instead."

Yuta stared at the girl in pity. Why is her father like this? Just to save himself? "Appa..." she whispered with a shaky voice. "Ever since you came to my life, everything fell apart. Your mom left, I didn't have a proper job. And all you ever thought about was to go to that stupid country." he claimed then stood up, holding both her arm in anger. (Y/N) had no other choice but to cry at the pain, his hold on her, and the words coming out from his mouth. "You are so selfish; I shouldn't have let you live when I had the chance." His fist was high in the air, ready to aim at her but Yuta had blocked it with his arm. "I don't think violence can resolve something." the younger claimed. Already seeing black, the older guy started punching Yuta in the face for intruding a family matter that made the police separate them.

"Sir, you are at fault here." the officer claimed at the older guy then glanced at his daughter. "You can press charges against your dad for hurting you or we'll let him out since Mr. Nakamoto isn't pressing charges." The sentence made (Y/N) look at Yuta. He stole from him; they stole from him so why isn't he pressing for charges? "Mr. Nakamoto, you also can make a report since he hurt you." And that was the last thing in (Y/N)'s mind.

Yuta was looking at the girl who was frozen on her spot, watching her dad getting handcuffed by the police. It actually broke his heart seeing her this hurt and just wanted to take away everything from her and give her all the happiness. "No. It's fine." Yuta claimed that surprised the girl, relief seen in her eyes. And he wished to see her like this always.

Her dad was sent for a night in prison since he offended an officer and (Y/N) found herself alone at the bus stop. Now that she heard what her dad truly feels about her, where would she go? It's only natural to leave him and run away. But where can she go? A familiar black car stopped in front of her and the windows were lowered down from the passenger seat. "It's late. The bus won't come anymore." And she sighed, that is probably why she was waiting for it and it didn't come. Just like a miracle in her life. "I'll drive you home."

"But I don't want to go home," she mumbled unconsciously that made the guy turn off the engine of his car. Yuta went out of his car and sat beside the girl who was just looking at her curiosity. "It felt weird seeing you like this." he started and she just nodded, unable to form a coherent answer. "Do you have any place that you want to go?" he asked and she smiled, muttering Paris. "It was a dream while in Paris," she claimed and he nodded. It was simple, Yuta thought, she just needed to say it and he'll book a flight to Paris with her. "I have to thank you for that. And for keeping my dad out of jail," she said quietly while staring at her shoes. "About the money, I'll just pay you back..."

"No. Don't," he said that made her look at him in surprise. "That's a small amount, (Y/N)." But she just laughed bitterly. “Just mention a word and I’ll bring you to Paris again. We can run away from your dad. I’ll be responsible for you.”

"You just don't get it, do you?" And Yuta had the most curious expression on his face. What's there to get? “Please, don’t pity me Yuta.”

He hissed at that. How stubborn. “Do you want me to adopt you?”

The girl chuckled at that. That was the most ridiculous idea she ever heard. What is she a child? Is this some kind of a daddy kink on Yuta’s part? Well, she remembered how wild he became when she called her daddy. Maybe, it is. “Oh. I get it now,” she claimed. “Yuta you can’t just pay me because we had sex. I’m not that kind of girl.”  

Yuta was agitated, how dare she think that he's just after her body when she's taking over his mind like this? But then these things happened because of his mistake on the plane. If he would just think carefully and not ask her to follow him at that time, they may be on the right foot now. Then maybe she can come with him to his apartment and... Fuck, he really did want her body. Feeling guilty, he swerved the car back to the bus stop surprised to see no sign of the girl. Where could she be? And this late? With no choice, he headed to her place, the house he dropped her off from before. The lights were out, is she asleep yet? Is she not home? Damn, why doesn't he have her number? Maybe Jaehyun could help.

To Yuta's dismay, his friend is too intoxicated for him to answer with coherence. All he understood was that she doesn't have a phone. Who the hell wouldn't have a phone this year? But then, glancing at his surroundings maybe having a phone is a luxury for her like the plane ticket to Paris. She doesn't deserve any of it actually. Jaehyun would always tell him things about her, going to work on time, and even leaving the last from the office. Since she's the newest employee, her co-workers depend on her in editing and even the smallest things like coffee. Then, there's her dad who obviously hates her. Now, he made it a point to make her his own Cinderella whether she likes it or not.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ ❤️❤️

Chapter 8 / Chapter 10

[artificialqueens]

A Vampire in Paris: Part One (Gigi x Crystal) - Chae

A/N: aaaa it’s here, part one! i was NOT expecting it to be 3.4k words but i’m so so so proud of the dialogue in this chapter. if you can handle a bit of exposition to get to the crygi fluff i swear it’s worth it XD

Summary: Gigi Goode arrives in Paris to start preparing for Fashion Week, but what dark secret is her company hiding? What’s the deal with those three supermodels? And why is Crystal Methyd so damn adorable? 

We Begin

This couldn’t be happening. It felt wholly, totally, surreally unreal. Every dream Gigi Goode had ever dreamt seemed to be coming true at that very moment. The twenty-two year old had gone through immigration and baggage claim without really feeling much. When she met the Uber that was ordered to take her to the complex, she hadn’t felt much either. But now, as she drove through the streets of Paris, taking in the narrow paths and low buildings that completely contrasted the Los Angeles she was used to, she felt like she had arrived.

Crystal Methyd wasn’t exactly well-known, but she didn’t fly under the radar either. Anyone who spent more than two minutes researching modern fashion knew about her. She’d risen to popularity online through her wacky and interpretive, yet still fashionable, street style. Then, arguably the largest label in the world, ‘Fatelle,’ bought her company (as they did with about 90% of the fashion industry) and moved her to Paris. In a few weeks would be ‘The Methyd’s’ first showing for Paris Fashion Week, aka her ticket to worldwide fame and success, and Crystal had asked Gigi to model for her. She didn’t even know Crystal was allowed to choose her own models in the first place.

Gigi was used to having some spotlight. She’d amassed quite the following on Instagram and YouTube, which was how she got signed to her agency and apparently how Crystal had found her as well. Gigi was still dumbfounded by her luck, or talent, or universal power or whatever had gotten her to Paris to model for fashion week. She still couldn’t wrap her head around that fact when the car stopped in front of a huge building. It wasn’t modern or tall like businesses back home, but it took up an entire Parisian-sized block and stood a story or two higher than the average building. 

Gigi gripped her luggage, two roller-bag cases, a duffel bag, a small backpack, and a purse, and breathed out. She wanted to look confident and put-together when she met… whoever she was going to meet. Would it be Crystal? She’d been contacted by someone named ‘Trixie,’ so probably not, but one could hope. Gigi stepped forward, entering through the gigantic gold spinning door and coughing a bit as the scent of floral cleaning product wafted up her nose.

The lobby was pristine—spotless, sparkling, even, marble floors and marble walls and marble ceilings galore. The architecture was retro, yet the furniture seemed almost futuristic. Glass display cases flaunted the designers’ best works, particularly the original creator, Miss Fame’s, designs. She felt like every single person who would work here attended at least three fashion shows a week. The young model took a moment to admire her surroundings before her heels clicked all the way to the reception desk.

There, she was met with a strikingly familiar face, with a name tag to match.

“Excuse me—wait, are you-”

“Shhhh!” the woman seemed to perk up immediately at the prospect of being recognized, looking at Gigi frantically. “I’m nobody! I’m the receptionist.” She held a finger up to her lips.

“But your name tag, it even says-”

“My nametag doesn’t say shit!”

Gigi was a little surprised at how casual the other woman spoke to her, but blinked and continued.

“You aren’t even trying to hide it?”

“Well, not everybody is as smart as you and remembers photoshoots from forty years ago!”

“This is a fashion label’s headquarters!”

The woman paused, not knowing how to respond. “Okay, touché. Ya got me.”

“May I ask a question?”

“I mean… yeah?”

“How do you look the exact same as you did in the eighties?” Gigi was raising an eyebrow at Adore Delano, a female rock icon known for her raunchy photoshoots and close relationship to the Fatelle brand. Her hair and makeup changed, her clothes were different, too, of course, but she looked the same otherwise. What kind of ooky kooky hyaluronic acid was keeping a 60 year old woman looking 20?!

“Ask, and you will not receive,” Adore sighed, playing with her hair. “There are just some things you’d be safer… not knowing,” she smiled decidedly, pleased with her answer.

“Right,” Gigi grimaced, avoiding eye contact with the star.

“Anyway girl, what’s the sitch? What can I help you with?”

“Ah, yes of course, I’m here to meet.. well, someone. I’m a new model and I’m supposed to be staying here for a while.”

“Ohhh, you’re one of the international shipments coming in for fashion week. Which designer?”

“The Methyd.”

“Shut up!” Adore grinned, a twinkle in her eye. “Babe, you’re set for life. You better make a good impression on Crystal, she’s supposed to be the new thing and stuff!”

Gigi blushed. “Will I meet her today?” 

“Mmm,” Adore checked a computer screen, clicking a few buttons and squinting. “You’re supposed to meet with Trixie, so you’ll have to ask her.” She grabbed something from under her desk. “Gigi Goode, right?”

“That’s me. Good morning!”

“Party!” The older girl grinned, handing Gigi a small card. “That’s your room key—don’t lose it. Unless you wanna like, get stolen from.”

Gigi took the key, placing it in her purse. “Thank you, and noted. Do not get robbed.”

Suddenly, another voice joined the pair as a tall woman strode into the lobby, conversing on the phone. She was wearing a pink blazer-mini skirt set and white patent pumps, the outfit hugging her curves perfectly. Her hair was big and blonde, straight with iron-curled ringlets at the tips, and her big lips and long lashes completed the Barbie aesthetic. Her voice, however, was stern and confident, the complete opposite of her doll-like appearance. If this was Trixie, Gigi was already intimidated.

“Well, Brenda, tell Katya that I’ll call her back later, please,” she commanded, a short answer coming from the other end before Trixie interrupted, scolding the person in French before hanging up. She looked to Gigi with a smile. “Sorry about that. You must be Gigi!” 

Gigi smiled and reached out to shake her hand, but forgot that air kisses were the customary French greeting. Nice going, idiot, Gigi thought to herself as she finished the proper hello. “It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Mattel!”

“Oh hun, you can call me Trixie,” she smiled. “Welcome to Fatelle! I’m your modeling manager, so we’ll be seeing each other a lot. You come to me with any questions, concerns, issues, you need a tampon, a condom, a chocolate, a shot, I’m your gal,” she winked. Gigi laughed.

“In that case, can I have a-”

“You are not about to ask me for a condom.”

“Well…”

The two burst out, Trixie’s laugh coming out more like a bird screech than a human chuckle. 

“Ah! Almost forgot,” Trixie reached into her pocket and grabbed a sticky note, handing it to Gigi. “That’s my number. I’ll text you important info, like meeting and fitting dates and such. We’ve only got three weeks to prepare for this, so the schedule is packed.”

Gigi folded the paper and put it with her room card, already nervous for what was to come. “Agh, well, I’m excited to start!”

“Of course!” Trixie smiled, glancing at her phone as it buzzed. “Shit, well, I gotta go.”

“Hold on, sorry, how do I get to my room?”

“Right! I’m stupid for not telling you.” Trixie pointed to where she’d come from. “Over there is the apartment complex area. Your key card will say which room it is, and the elevators are dead ahead. This place has a restaurant open to the public like a hotel does, but it’s free for models and employees and serves us privately during the day. There’s also kitchens in the rooms if you wanna cook for yourself,” she explained. “Later tonight our team should be getting together for a meeting, I’ll text you the details, kay?” Trixie almost mumbled the last part as she frantically punched the keyboard of her phone, obviously annoyed with the person she was texting. “Enjoy your stay!”

Before Gigi could even say bye, Trixie was gone. She understood for the most part, but she couldn’t help but notice Trixie hadn’t said anything about the portion of the building across from the apartments. The curiosity ate her up, so she opted to ask Adore.

“What’s over there?” Gigi motioned to the glass doors that led to the mystery area.

“That’s where all the businessy stuff happens,” Adore rested her head in her hand. “You’ll probably go there to do your model stuff. The further in you go, the crazier the shit is.”

“Crazy shit? What kind of crazy shit?”

Adore bit her lip, knowing she’d said too much. “Enjoy your stay, Miss Goode.”

Gigi raised an eyebrow. Something smelled rotten at the Fatelle headquarters, and the young woman was dying to learn more. She followed instructions to get to her room, a spacious and immaculately decorated space. Flopping on the bed, Gigi closed her eyes, imagining what it would be like to own such a large company. She’d never considered designing clothes, more than happy to stick to modeling. Speaking of which, she had a dinner to get ready for. She sat up, releasing her ginger waves from their ponytail with a shake of her head, exhaling a breath. After she unpacked, she was going to make herself look smoking hot. Crystal would not regret choosing her to be a model.

———

Gigi knocked on the glass doors leading to the private seating of the restaurant, trying to get Trixie’s attention. She’d worn her fanciest mini dress and most expensive Louboutins in hopes of impressing her team. The table was large, maybe ten or eleven girls crowding around it. And in the back, she spotted Crystal.

Or did Crystal spot her? Because they were making eye contact— holy shit they were making eye contact and Crystal was the prettiest girl ever what the fuck? Gigi gulped as someone else, a girl she didn’t recognize, let her in.

“Hey! Here to meet with The Methyd team?”

“Mhm,” Gigi nodded, air kissing the other woman. “Gigi Goode.”

“Oh, awesome! I’m Rock M Sakura, one of the makeup artists,” the shorter girl grinned at Gigi, her appearance reminding the model of a magical girl anime. “But you can just call me Rock.”

“Rock? What’s that short for?”

“Rock and Roll, baby,” she made a face and sat back down at the table, leaving Gigi to giggle and flick her eyes around to find an empty spot.

Of course the only one left was right next to Crystal.

And of course Crystal was smiling at her the entire time she walked to the seat.

“Hey, you’re Gigi right?” The designer asked, making the model blush at the fact that she knew her name. 

“Good morning, it’s an honor to meet you Ms. Methyd.”

“Ah jeez, just call me Crystal! We don’t use last names here,” Crystal motioned to the laughing girls around the dinner table. “It looks like everyone’s here actually, we can finally introduce ourselves!”

Gigi glanced at Trixie, who was sitting close by, her facial expression reading “is this girl always this sweet and peppy?” The manager caught her eye and shot her back a look that said “yes.” 

Crystal tapped a wine glass, garnering everyone’s attention. “Everyone, thank you all for coming to start this journey with me,” the designer started, a grin wide across her lips. “I know we’re all gonna make an amazing team, we just have to, uh, know each other’s names first?” Everyone chuckled lightly. Crystal looked towards Gigi with a sparkle in her eye. “Why don’t you start?”

Gigi took a breath, wanting to make sure her expression was stone-cold. “Nice to meet you all, I’m Gigi Goode, I just arrived from Los Angeles, I’ll be modeling.”

Crystal smiled, beckoning the rest to introduce themselves.

“My name is Jackie Cox, I came in from New York not too long ago, and I’m your backstage coordinator!”

“Bonsoir, I am Nicky Doll from Paris, obviously. I’ll be modeling as well.”

“Hey y’all, I’m Trixie Mattel, which you probably already knew, because I got you all here, because I’m your modeling manager.”

“The name is Jaida Essence Hall, and I’ve been modeling with Fatelle for some time now. I’m looking forward to working with Miss Methyd.”

“Hi, my name’s Rock M Sakura, just got here from San Francisco!  I’ll be your assistant makeup artist!”

“Raven. Lead makeup artist.” 

Now this chick seemed… off. She was extremely out of place amongst the rest of the girls in the group. She was just sitting there, glaring at the rest of the crew and almost… taking in information? Her face was sharp and beautiful, but her eyes pierced through Gigi’s soul as she, for some reason, stared her down. They moved on.

“I’m Plastique Tiara, I’ll also be a model. I can’t wait to start!”

“Hey there, I’m Brooke Lynn Hytes, if you’re Canadian, you know me. I’ll be helping get you guys outfits and hair stylists.”

“Ugh, great to meet y’all! I’m Jan Sport, I’m another model!”

There was only one girl left, thankfully, and only one more name to remember. “Hey, I’m Dahlia Sin. I’ll obviously be modeling.”

Crystal rubbed her hands together excitedly. “Yay! Now that we all know each other, hopefully the waiter’s coming sooooon!”

The table murmured in agreement, returning back to their previous conversations.

“It’s so nice to meet you, Gigi,” Jackie said from her left. Nicky peeked over her shoulder and nodded, flashing a gorgeous smile.

“The pleasure is all mine!” Gigi replied. “I can’t wait to try some authentic French cuisine,” she liked her lips.

“That’s right, you just got off the plane!” Crystal exclaimed. 

Gigi confirmed. “How long have you been staying here?”

“Oh gosh, not long, maybe a month or two. Most of this team has only been working at Fatelle for less than a year.”

“Except moi!” Nicky’s thick accent interjected, an eyebrow raised playfully. “And Raven. Jaida’s probably been here just over a year. But yeah, apart from us, even Trixie’s a baby.” 

Raven seemed to sense her name being spoken, but only tossed them a glance before returning to typing on her phone. Trixie was enthralled in some deep phone convo, the hard worker never seeming to catch a break.

“Oh, I just can’t wait to start! These designs have been in my head for years and they finally get to see the light of day on my amazing models!” Crystal gushed. The passion for her work seemed to be flowing out of each word she spoke, the radiant positivity infectious. 

“We’re so excited to see you succeed, Crys,” Jan quickly complimented before returning to an apparently intense debate with Brooke and Dahlia. 

Gigi noticed the waiter walk in through the glass door to take their drink orders, the model smiling at the thought of finally getting some real food in her. The only thing she’d been eating for the past 48 hours were shitty plane meals and junky snacks to try and make it through the thirteen hour joint flight. 

When the door was open, however, Gigi couldn’t help but notice three distant figures sauntering down the restaurant hall. They looked super important, super rich. They must have been supermodels, but she couldn’t tell from how far away she was.

Jackie caught her line of sight. “You know them, right?” She asked, an edge of malice in her tone.

“I couldn’t exactly see who they were, but I’m sure I’d know of them.”

“They’re some bad business,” Jackie grunted. 

“Really? Who are they?”

“Those are just some of the other models. Aquaria, Valentina, and Naomi Smalls,” Crystal explained, making Gigi’s eyes widen.

“No way! They’re insanely famous! Isn’t Aquaria supposed to take over the company or something?” Gigi raved.

“That’s up for debate,” Nicky rolled her eyes. “It sure looks like it, though.”

“If Mean Girls was real life, Aquaria is Regina, Naomi is Gretchen, and Valentina is Karen,” Jackie said. “And don’t you dare try to become Cady.”

Gigi laughed. “I won’t, I promise. I like you all too much.”

“Their people are another beast altogether,” Nicky spat. “One that we’ve been trying to conquer, but they’re just so full of themselves they can’t see past their own noses.”

“They’re working for Fatelle Official, so they’re doing something right,” Crystal tried to reason. 

“Well, I’m working for The Methyd, which is gonna be bigger than Fatelle. I can just feel it,” Gigi grinned. Crystal laughed airily, a tinge of red hitting her cheeks.

“Thanks, Gig!” 

Gigi couldn’t help but blush once again at the cute nickname Crystal has already begun to use. They all placed their drink orders, and Gigi managed to converse with Crystal without exploding. The older girl was dressed in a sparkly cocktail dress, with bright colored eyeshadow and thick eyeliner. Her hair was curly and mouse-brown, and it framed her face while flaring out in the back. Crystal was dastardly gorgeous, with twinkling eyes, a tiny nose, and lips ever-curved into a smile. Thank god it was normal to look at someone while they talked to you, because Gigi couldn’t stop looking at Crystal.

Gigi sipped the mixed drink that was brought to her at last, while Crystal looked at her with a playful smirk. 

“Have you ever thought about going blonde?”

“Ha! Maybe? Why?”

“One, you’d look good. Two, I’ve been wanting to go redhead but I don’t want to come for your brand!”

Gigi laughed heartily, wiping a bit of drink off her lip. “I’ll have to think about it!”

“If you do it, do it before the show!”

“And do it at a hairdresser,” a voice said at the other end of the table. It was quiet and barely audible over the chatter of the other women, but Gigi realized Raven had been listening to their conversation. She made eye contact with the older woman and grew hot, her gaze making Gigi anxious and want to look away. She nodded at Raven and turned back to Crystal, cringing.

“What’s her deal?”

“Raven’s?” Crystal bit her lip, not entirely comfortable with the makeup artist’s presence either. “The higher ups said she needed to work with us since everyone was new, and she is the best makeup artist in the city, really,” she shrugged. “I couldn’t say no.”

Gigi nodded in understanding. “She keeps looking at us.”

“I know,” Crystal chuckled. “But I mean, who wouldn’t want to look at you?”

The model turned bright red, rubbing the back of her neck. “Thank you, Crystal. It… means a lot coming from you.”

It was the designer’s turn to blush, and for a few moments the two sat in awkward silence before they were interrupted by the waiter taking their orders. Gigi hadn’t even looked at the menu— she was too busy talking, so she just ordered whatever Crystal got. 

Gigi knew, even from the short time she’d spent with her new friends, that she was in for a wild ride. And she knew something was up with Raven, Aquaria, Valentina, Naomi, and Adore, and she was going to get to the bottom of it before Fashion Week was over.

———

It was 11:58 PM when Raven opened the great wooden doors to the study, shutting them gently behind herself. She spotted Violet Chachki perched on the desk as usual, smoking a cigarette from a holder ring. Violet shot the makeup artist a look before clearing her throat.

“Darling, Raven’s here.”

In a movie-like scene, the huge velvet chair behind the oak desk spun around, revealing a disinterested Miss Fame. She too, was smoking a cigarette, but in a much less dramatic fashion than her assistant. 

“So?” She pressed.

“You definitely want that Gigi girl. And you want Methyd, too.”

“Right. And?”

“You’re in luck, because apparently they’re a package deal.”

Violet grinned, glancing to her lover who seemed to share the same sentiment. The designer and the model. The CEO and the burlesque dancer.

Fame looked back to Raven, stubbing out her cigarette with her own finger.

 “History repeats itself, it seems.”

[note-katha]

Evenfall Chapter One

Alright, according to my notes, it’s just about time for the story to begin. Now, before we get started, we should review some very important things.

What we discuss while this story unveils you might want to keep secret. You could tell people, but then I’d tell you to expect more than a few weird looks and questions about your mental stability. If that’s what you were aiming for, go ahead!

I personally find that keeping the ongoings of Everless a much more favorable (and easier!) solution.

Secondly, I hope you don’t find yourself at a loss with all the information the story requires, I understand that there’s quite a bit you don’t know, but that doesn’t mean you can’t learn! Learning is very important and you can count on me to be a wonderful teacher!

So, without further ado, let’s begin!

The Melpomene dorm was the school’s oldest dorm, the first one built and the smallest to boot. It wasn’t used as often as the other dorms, only really being used if there were too many students. Or given to a very particular type of students, which was quite rare but not unwelcome. Usually.

For one reason or the other, Kalavathi, Juli, and Ardis found themselves assigned to the dorm, taking residence alongside six others.

Taking the other suite on the single floor of the dorm was a quartet of second-year students who seemed very...odd.

While we know that there is much more to the world than humans, these people seemed to barely pass as such.

Oh yes, and filling out the fourth slot in their room was a girl named, hm, really? One moment, let me check this.

Right, yes, yes, that’s actually her name? Wow.

Filling out the fourth slot in their room was a girl named “Mary Sue”. Yes, really. I can’t believe it either.

The final person in the dorm was their “RA”, resident advisor. A relatively charming demon-type who rarely fit the assumed archetype for demons. Don’t let the horns fool you, they’re very nice. You see, however, the problem with demon names is that they’re written and pronounced in a script which is also used in magic, usually demonic specific magic. It’s not hard to say words in that script normally, but those not trained to know the difference usually face some problems.

Their name will damn any normal human that attempts to say it to another realm in which no one has ever been able to return to, so when I tell you, don’t say it out loud.

It’s Tattvagyega. They usually go by Tatti or Cels. They visit me frequently and we talk about the people trapped there. Cels visits them to apologize and bring snacks. They make a mean sugar cookie, you should try them one day.

Apologies, that was off-track, let’s focus on our main trio, yes?

Kalavathi was the first, as usual, to arrive. “So, this is my new home,” she thought aloud, as she was prone to do. “Could be worse,” she shrugged, pulling the school-provided luggage cart behind her as she walked up. Kal pulled the keys to the dorm out, this building is so old they have keys instead of cards, scary, I know. She unlocked the door, entering the quaint and warm building. She walked in backwards, in order to properly pull the cart in.

“Hello!” A voice called out to her, “Welcome! I’m your RA, Cels Ev’rals. You are?” Kal didn’t answer for a moment as she yanked the cart into the building.

“My name’s Kala—” she cut herself off with a panicked scream when she finally turned around. Cels was a demon, a Southern Demon to be exact, which meant deep red skin and curly, ram-like, horns. I can see why that would be a bit scary, especially for someone like Kal who managed to make it this far without realizing that Evenfall wasn’t normal.

Cels frowned, cocking their head to the side before glancing down. “Aw man, I forgot my glamour, didn’t I?” They, in fact, had but with a quick rambling recitation of their glamour spell, the young demon appeared far more human. A deep tan and messy brown hair replaced their demonic visage. “Better?” they asked.

Kal stared blankly for a moment, running through what had just happened in her mind. As rational as she usually was, she had had a sneaking suspicion that Evenfall wasn’t normal, one that was just confirmed. Taking into account that information she groaned. Quite loudly as she crouched to the floor.

Cels took a step forward, unsure how they could help.

“Kalavathi Nayri, I prefer Kal and I’m a Computer Science and Graphic Design double major.” She took a moment to regain her composure and stand. “On my acceptance, it said W, Creation. I have no idea what that means.”

“Oh, Creation Witch?” Cels offered, glancing at his list, “That matches up. You’re our only second circle. Nice.”

Kal opened her mouth to ask questions.

“Wait till orientation, they’ll explain better than I can.”

“Alright,” Kal nodded. “Nice to meet you, by the way, Cels,” she said, offering a hand to shake. Cels beamed as they accepted the handshake.

It was now that our second and third main characters finally managed to make their first appearances in considerably less fanfare than Kalavathi.

Ardis pushed the door open, scanning the room with a hesitant expression. Or, rather, it seemed like a mostly blank one, but that’s because Ardis isn’t the best at facial emotions. I can relate, Ardis, so don’t feel bad.

“Hello?” He called out to the two. “Uh, I’m here to move in?”

Cels waved, “Hello, welcome!” They took a few steps back, giving room for Kal and Ardis to adjust their carts, along with a third person, whom as previously mentioned, is Juli. “Welcome to Evenfall, if I can get you two’s names, I can leave you alone to unpack before your orientations.”

“Ardis Akiya-Blair, freshman Astrobiology major.”

“The Nature Witch,” Cels said aloud as they checked it off, “And you?”

“Juli Cárdenas Rivera Silva Vicente,” she answered without hesitation, “Major is currently undecided.”

“The Voice Witch, nice to meet you guys. Let me know if you have any questions! This right here,” they pointed at the entrance right beside the group, “is actually your suite. Four rooms, a full kitchen, and a common area. We’ll deal with rooming agreements tomorrow, you guys relax tonight and have fun at orientation.” Cels gave them a charming smile, as they were prone to do, smile before heading off.

“Uh, they’re not human,” Kal said as she faced the group. “Are you human? You look human but I’m not sure what to trust anymore.”

“I’m pretty sure I’m human,” Ardis nodded, “I found out about the magical thing, which might make me not human.” He shrugged, “My name’s Ardis, by the way.”

“Kalavathi, but you can call me Kal,” she answered on instinct, “Thinking about it now, I probably shouldn’t be that surprised that this school isn’t normal.”

“Yeah, I kind of just came because it was in-state for me. Magic was not expected,” Juli admitted, “Call me Jules, nice to meet you guys! We’re suitemates it seems, huh?” She grinned at them, “Then that means we gotta team up to figure out everything new we’re gonna experience.” Ah, fortunately, Jules was at the very very confident end of her confidence spectrum. Good, that’s going to help today.

There was a beat of silence and before anyone could speak, the door swung open.

“Of course, I get this kind of dorm,” someone groaned loudly as they entered.

Ah, yes, her. Mary Sue stepped into the building, her blonde hair tied up into a ponytail. A somewhat ridiculous expression of apparent irritation. Her scowl got worse as she looked around as if she had heard something.

She eyed the group, “Do you know where the RA is?”

The three pointed in the direction Cels had gone in. Without even any thanks, she walked off to find Cels.

Jules frowned lightly, but shrugged, “Hey, anyone have a preference about their rooms in the suite?”

“Let’s get into the suite first, then pick,” Kal offered, “We should head over for orientation afterward.” Aw, Kal’s trying to socialize. I’m so proud of her!

Orientation took place in the school’s amphitheater, the heart of Evenfall University’s campus and a typically beautiful place which students often used as a hangout spot.

However, now, as the sun was slowly beginning to set, students of all types that made up the freshman class were finding seats on the grass. Many whispering between each other, trying to figure out what was going on.

Not too long after our trio arrived, taking seats close to the stage, did they notice the two professor-looking adults milling about on the stage itself.

“What school does their orientation when it’s getting dark?” Kal murmured, “On top of that, what school makes their freshman wait until the day after orientation to sign up for classes?”

“It’s certainly weird,” Ardis nodded, “The school’s seemingly pretty well functioning, so I don’t think there’s much cause for worry.”

Before Kal could respond, there was a small commotion. The two professors scrambling off the main stage before an explosion of smoke erupted and spilled out of nowhere.

Lights were the first thing visible. Shapes on the grass, ones that began to light up everywhere.

A line within a triangle within a square within a pentagon, all starting from the very top of the pentagon with a small dot in the center. Ah, yes, the Five Circles of Magic! A lovely symbol.

Once the smoke dissipated, there stood a woman, brightly smiling and illuminated by the sigil beneath her feet.

“Welcome to Evenfall University!” The woman waved, “My name is Suvati Kair and I’m the Dean here at Evenfall.” Ah, yes, Suvati. Her flair for the dramatics will never end, it seems. “I’m sure many of you have questions, so allow me to explain.” With a flick of her wrist and a recitation of something that wasn’t exactly English, lights began to flicker to life around her, fifteen to be exact. “It might come as a surprise to some, though I imagine at least a few of you have figured it out, but Evenfall is home to one of many magical universities devoted to providing a place of education and safety to all students. We also work to find students with Nevermore heritage or magical background in order to educate them on their identity and abilities.” She pointed at one of the professors, “Dr. Avali here will take over to discuss the basics of what Nevermore and Everless are.”

Dr. Avali, an Angel, and not exactly the type you’ve read about, though I can see why you’d think that, with the fluffy white wings and all, took center stage.

“Hello, my name is Dr. Alex Avali, I’m a professor here, I teach a variety of mathematics classes along with the Angelic Educa class here at Evenfall University,” he began, his voice managing to ring throughout the amphitheater yet remain soft. He’s using a vocal enchantment charm, to explain. Alex loves those things, he doesn’t have to raise his voice for people to hear him. “We’ll start with what is Everless. The answer? This.” He waved his arms around, “Here is Everless. This town, this country, this continent, this world, this solar system, galaxy, universe.” Dr. Avali listed.

He glanced around, not seeing enough understanding in the students. I know I could explain it far better, but he continued. “We are the other side of the pond, but I don’t mean across the pond. Everless is the place when you jump into the pond and emerge on the other side. The other side to us is Nevermore, the birthplace of magic.”

Kal leaned forward, entranced. She didn’t need to spare a glance to her new roommates to know that they shared in her wonder.

Taglist, asked to be added or removed: @spacebrick3, @no-url-ideas-tho, @arynneva, @superwaywardangel, @likeicarusifall @aschenink, @writing-for-the-batfam, @ekrizdis, @wiccanchester

[lovesdarkness]

Playlist CH-01

Paring: Thor x OC

Summary: After losing someone close to him, Thor goes to the Avengers to try and escape his grief. While there he makes a new friend who makes it her mission to help him heal.

Warnings: Slight angst…eventual NSFW.

Word count: 3302

Feedback and comments are appreciated. If you wish to be tagged when new chapters are posted please let me know.

Chapter 1 - The Story

All of these lines across my face 

Tell you the story of who I am

So many stories of where I've been

And how I got to where I am

But these stories don't mean anything

When you've got no one to tell them to

*

Having returned to the S.H.I.E.L.D. base from a mission with Natasha, Phoenix walked off the Quinjet with her gear slung over her shoulder. She signed off on some essential paperwork before heading out of the hanger, nodding to a few agents she knew as she walked past. Feeling a buzz from her phone she stopped to read the message she had been sent. A smirk spreading over her lips she gave her head a shake as she pocketed her phone and kept on walking.

Her stomach let out a grumble as she made her way to the cafeteria to grab a few things to eat, she was always hungry after missions, and made sure to grab a few things for Mia as well before making her way down to the tech labs. She had a feeling that her friend had been holed up in the lab for days working on something and most likely had neglected to eat much, which was common for her.

Walking into the labs Phoenix saw Mia huddled over a keyboard furiously typing code for some new S.H.I.E.L.D. weapon onto it, completely oblivious to the world around her. “Oi, Labrat.” she called, a thick Irish accent slipping from her lips as she threw a package of Goldfish crackers at the back of Mia’s head before walking over, dumping her stuff on the floor, and sitting next to her. “When was the last time you left this bloody room?” She asked, opening a bag of chocolate covered pretzels and popping some into her mouth.

She laughed a little as Mia cast a glare at her, pushing her glasses back up her nose as she straightened up in her seat and stretched her arms over her head. “Honestly I have no clue. I have to get the schematics for this weapon done so I can get to making it.” she said reaching for the package of Goldfish and opening it up. “And I need to have some real food...not this shit.” she sighed as she dumped a handful out into her hand and shoved them into her mouth. “So...how was the mission? You were gone for a while, the facility must have been well hidden and well guarded. Not that that would ever stop you.”

“Yeah it was guarded well, but Nat and I still kicked ass and took names. The bad guys ran, we chased after them. We shot at each other and then we beat the crap out of them.” Phoenix said as she popped a few more pretzels into her mouth.  “The one guy I fought was pretty cute. Too bad I had to put a bullet in his head, otherwise he might have made a nice fuckboy.” she shrugged a little as she ate more of the salty snack. “Norway was gorgeous though. I'd like to go back in my free time and have a better look around.” She shrugged her jacket off and tossing it on top of the rest of her things. Leaning over she looked at the computer screen her friend had been working on moments before reading over the program.

“Yes well you can count me out of that trip any time soon.” Mia said, shoving Phoenix out of the way so she could get back to work. “I need to get the final work ups for this thing done yesterday...or else Fury is going to have my head. Now get out of my lab so I can get to work please.”

“Ah, I guess you haven’t checked your phone then. Fury sent us a message, he wants to see us in his office. Apparently we’re being reassigned.” Phoenix said as she pulled out her phone and showed the message to Mia who in turn furiously searched her desk for her own phone, finding it under a stack of concept sketches she had drawn up.

“Huh? What the shit!” she hissed, throwing her phone down and reaching up to rub her face. “He can’t do this to me now...I need to get started on this damn prototype…I don’t have time for this shit...” she grumbled as she shoved the papers around trying to get them organized.

“Well you’ll have to make time, cause he wants to see us right away.” Phoenix said as she moved to grab her bags from the floor and slung them over her shoulder. “I mean I’d love to go take a shower right now to wash all the mission sweat off me but I’ve barely got time to dump my stuff back off at our room.” she muttered as the two of them headed out of the doors. They headed back to their quarters quickly so Phoenix could dump her bags before making their way to Fury’s office. As they walked down the brightly lit hall their footsteps tapped against the polished floor and echoed down the corridor as a few other agents rushed past them with important tasks of their own. They took an elevator up to the top floor of the base, where Fury’s office was located. When they reached the tall, ornately detailed mahogany doors Mia opened them and the two entered the massive office of the director of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Fury looked up from the papers on his desk when the two of them walked in and trained his eye on them. “Ah Agent Masterson, Agent O’Connor. You got my message, thank you for coming.” he said as he got to his feet and motioned for them to sit. “Now I…” he started, but was quickly interrupted when Mia started ranting.

“Look Nicholas let me just cut to the chase here.” she said, green eyes blazing as she stood cross armed in front of Fury’s desk. “I really don’t have any time for your silly games here. I have some very important work I’m doing here and time is of the essence. I don’t have the time to pack everything up and jet set willy nilly to whatever place you plan on relocating me to. I have a weapon to develop, a job that you so graciously bestowed upon me and unless this place you’re sending me to provides me with a better lab to speed along my process…”

“That’s precisely why you’re being relocated.” came a voice from behind them and when Phoenix and Mia turned to see who it belonged to Phoenix had to snort back a laugh as her friend started sputtering uncontrollably. “Avengers tower has the best state of the art lab on the planet, we have all the best and newest equipment so it would be the perfect place to work on your little project.”

When Phoenix looked over at Mia she saw that her face had flushed red and she was holding her breath, something that often happened when she grew excited. Rolling her eyes Phoenix gently elbowed her and she sucked in a breath. “Tony Stark...I mean...Mr. Stark...it’s an honour...a pleasure. I can’t even…” Mia stammered excitedly as he walked over and shook her hand.

Rolling her eyes at the scene Phoenix let out an annoyed little huff. “Mia be cool...you’re embarrassing me.” she hissed softly before turning back to Tony and smiling. “Hey Tony, nice to see you again.” she said, tossing her long raven hair over her shoulder.

Tony gave a charming grin as he reached out to take her hand. “The lovely Phoenix, always a pleasure.” he said with a wink as he kissed the top of it. “Now, I’m sure you’re both utterly confused as to why we called you here.” he said, turning quickly on his heel and heading over to Fury’s desk and sitting on the edge, hands clasped in his lap. “Mia I’ve been following your work and quite frankly some of your latest designs are brilliant, and I think the Avengers would greatly benefit from your talents.”

Phoenix glanced back to Mia to see the stunned expression on her friends face, green eyes wide and mouth ajar in shock, clearly speechless that she was being offered the opportunity to work with the tech genius. She couldn’t help but bite her lip to stifle a giggle at the the woman’s starstruck reaction to the offer. Phoenix had interacted with the Avengers a few times so this was nothing new to her, but Mia still had never met them and had idolized Tony for years. Once again she elbowed her friend to remind her to breathe and Mia sucked in a breath and laughed nervously.

“Oh thank you…” she breathed, her face flushing dark.

Tony chuckled softly and shook his head as Fury turned to Phoenix. “As for you, Agent O’Connor...the Avengers have a series of missions coming up that we feel could use some of your expertise.” he said as he walked over to stand in front of her, crossing his arms over his chest. “Natasha was singing your praises during your last mission together, so it’s come to the conclusion that you’d be a great asset to the team. You’ll be assigned to Avengers tower for the time being.”

“You mean until Steve Rogers decides he can’t stand me even more than normal and sends me back?” Phoenix asked with a derisive snort, earning a stern look from Fury. Not taking the hint she continued, looking over at Tony. “Is this really about a mission or does Tony just want some fresh faces and better company around the tower?” she asked with a playful grin, making Tony laugh. Fury gave her another stern look and she rolled her eyes. “I’m just kidding. Sounds like we’ll have lots of work to do. Which means we should get back to our quarters and get packing.”

With a nod Fury dismissed them and the two women went back to their room. Wanting to wash the mission grime from her body Phoenix showered quickly and dressed before pulling out her luggage and starting to pack. Mia had already finished by the time Phoenix stepped out of the shower and was sitting on her bed reading a book, so Phoenix had to work quickly. As she was working on folding up some shirts her phone buzzed and she made a face after checking it.

“Ugh, thank God we’re getting out of here for a while. That Billy guy I fooled around with last week is wanting to get together again and he just isn’t getting the hint that I don’t want it anymore.” she said, tossing her phone down on the bed with disgust.

Having just turned the page in her book Mia looked over at Phoenix, raising an eyebrow. “Yeah? Same guy?” she asked, wondering how the woman was able to keep track of all her partners, while simultaneously having a tiny grain of jealousy. Phoenix was tall and strong and beautiful and attracted men left right and center, where Mia for the most part was fairly invisible when it came to attracting the male gaze, but then again Phoenix was an outspoken flirt who lived to party, while Mia was a raging workaholic and rarely ever left her lab except for when Phoenix dragged her out. “What’s wrong with this one?”

“This guy is so...clingy and needy. I don’t do needy.” Phoenix said with a shudder, making a face as the phone buzzed again and she silenced it before shoving it into her pocket. She sighed, going back to folding her shirts and stuffing them into her suitcase.  “Maybe if I ignore him he’ll go away. If I’m all the way in New York he can’t bug me...right?” she asked as she looked back over at her friend.

Mia let out a laugh and shook her head. “Something tells me that’s not how cell phones work sweetie.” she said as she marked her place in her book and stuffed it into a bag. Getting up she walked over to help Phoenix fold her clothes and pack them away. “I really can’t blame you though. ‘Needy’ is rarely a good trait for a guy, especially by the sound of him.”

“Can’t I just find a guy who likes to screw around a little? No strings, no feelings, no attachments. Just...lots of sex. You’d think there’d be more of them around.” Phoenix said with a sigh as she finished packing and reached up to rub her face. “After a while they all end up being needy. And honestly none of them really does it for me anyway. Probably because I can beat the shite out of them so easily.” She continued as she walked over to her closet to pull out a black leather jacket and slipped it on. There was a sudden knock at the door and when she went to open it Tony was standing on the other side, flashing them one of his charming Stark grins.

“Ladies.” he said as he pulled his sunglasses off and winked at them.

Phoenix smiled and shook her head, turning to face Mia. “This one is one of the neediest.” she joked, jerking her thumb at him before bending down to grab her things.

With Tony helping Phoenix with a couple bags the three of them headed towards the hangar and boarded Tony’s jet taking off shortly after. The flight didn’t take very long and a couple hours later they landed at the tower and once they had gathered their things and left the plane, Tony gave them the grand tour. He pointed out the living area and the kitchen should they get hungry, then proceeded to show Mia, who was struck speechless, around the the labs where she would be working. Lastly he showed them where the workout and training rooms were. They said their hellos to the other inhabitants of the tower before Tony finally showed them to their rooms.

“Alright, take the rest of the evening off to get settled in and what not. Cap says to be up early for a meeting in the morning.” Tony said, laughing at the groan Phoenix let out before leaving them be.

*

Phoenix was not a morning person at all. She never had been. So when her alarm went off at what felt like the crack of dawn to attend the meeting that Steve had called she was not exactly thrilled. Taking a cold shower did nothing to help wake her so she headed to the kitchen to get the one thing that might help. Coffee.

She was sipping on her sixth cup as she sat at the table with the rest of the Avengers and Mia going over a plan. The room the meeting was held in was bright and spacious, the walls were floor to ceiling windows so the whole room was lit up with sunshine flowing through. She noted the bar over in the corner, realizing Tony also used this as a party room for entertaining, and that there was a door that led outside to some sort of platform.

“We’ve been looking at the data Nat found during that raid of the Hydra lab up in Norway.” Steve said as they looked through photos and reports of the mission Natasha and Phoenix had been on. “We think there is one Hydra cell that is working on a top secret experiment involving genetic modification in humans, and another cell developing high powered weapons in order to attempt a hostile takeover. The problem is that we don't know where else they've set up shop. We need to figure this out fast. Nat and Phoenix, being the two who worked on that mission the bulk of this may fall to you. We were hoping the two of you would be able to figure out where their next area of operations would be located.”

“Yeah I’m sure we’d be able to find something.” Natasha said, with Phoenix nodding in agreement as she took a sip from her coffee.

As the group moved on to the next topic of discussion the bright, sun-lit room suddenly darkened. They all paused to look out the windows to see dark clouds billowing and the sound of thunder could be heard rumbling in the distance. Tony and the other Avengers knew what the thunder heralded, and a moment later there was a flash of lightning and Thor stood out on the landing pad. Though instead of immediately coming in to greet his comrades, he remained outside, looking solemnly out over the city. Everyone could instantly tell something was wrong, his whole demeanor looked like that of a man broken.

Tony frowned as he watched Thor a moment before turning back to the group. “Newbies, you stay here please.” He said to Phoenix and Mia before nodding to the others to follow him out to check on their fellow Avenger.

Phoenix cast an annoyed look at Tony for telling them to remain behind as she and Mia watched the scene. Quietly they got up and walked over to a window to get a better view.

“This is the first time I’ve ever seen Thor.” Mia breathed as the two of them watched the group gathered together outside. The girls watched as they got caught up in a heated discussion with Thor that wound up with the men patting him on the shoulder and Natasha giving him a hug.

“I’ve seen him in pictures but...in person...wow.” Phoenix said with a soft laugh. She swallowed and bit her lip as she felt a knot form in her stomach, her eyes wandering up and down his  impressive form. “Jesus look at those arms. They’re far nicer than any guy I’ve been with.” She sighed before turning to Mia and smirking. “I wanna lick him...alllllll over.”

“Phoenix!” Mia gasped, her head whipping around to look at her friend as she let out a laugh. “Are you seriously sexually objectifying a Norse God?” she asked and rolled her eyes as Phoenix gave her a wicked grin. “Yeah...I guess I should have expected that from you of all people. You’re a horrible perv.”

Phoenix just laughed and stuck her tongue out at her friend before looking back out the window. She was silent as she watched the scene, observing the thunder gods body language and when he turned she finally got a look at his face she saw the immense grief in his eyes. She knew that look all too well and knew exactly what must have happened. “He lost someone.” She murmured softly. As he turned to follow Tony and the others inside she once more saw the pain and grief in his eyes and it broke her heart. She didn't understand why but part of her wanted to take him into her arms and comfort him in any way she could. Biting her lip she turned back to Mia and grabbed her arm. “It looks like they need some privacy. Come on let’s go.” she said, nodding her head towards the door. Mia nodded and the two of them hurried towards the door.

Hearing voices enter the room as they were about to exit Phoenix stopped a moment and looked back, watching Thor with sympathetic eyes. He happened to look over and as their eyes met she gave him a small smile. His hollow eyes held hers briefly before looking back at his comrades, and with a heavy heart Phoenix left the room.

It’s true, I was made for you

I know that it’s been a while since I updated, I promise I’m still working on chapter 2. I’m sorry it’s been so slow going...I’m going thru a lot right now.

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S2 Ep 41: It’s Mai’s Turn to Get Electrocuted

Hey guys, welcome to the Christmas Break.

It’s TV watching season, so lets watch some TV and over-analyze a 20 yo kid’s show, you in?

Odion, after suffering from a lightning strike and getting impaled by many pieces of that fake millennium rod he was holding gets dropped off in the only room on this blimp that has sheets. He also had the added shock of witnessing his brother morph into a somewhat evil-er dude with saiyan hair, which I dunno, I’d want to take a nap too, that’s a lot to deal with.

(And thanks to some reader input, turns out this Marik isn’t so much a ghost situation so much. I mean, I guess it’s more of a Season Zero --this is your deep down scary personality taking over-- type thing but it’s not like I really finished Season Zero so...We’re just rolling with it.)

Glad we have an actual hospital wing--confused as to why Bakura isn’t here.

But I guess lightning strike is slightly worse than having a bleeding stab wound for 12 hours. I mean I’m no doctor, maybe it is? Anyway, Odion is hooked up to all sorts of computers and life support although there aren’t any cords attached to him anywhere on his body. Not even one piss-yellow IV bag.

Check out the size of that IBM. This is what a widescreen used to look like.

The rest of the Yuge Crew are here although I’m pretty sure that’s not how hospitals work. Pretty sure you have to be related to drop on in directly after being put in intensive care but like, they are on a blimp so I guess it’s different up there. But also, this guy has abducted them once already and just tried to kill Joey for the second time, and now they are like “We’re basically on BFF family terms with this Odion guy, lets visit that bedside.”

Although, mind you, his real family is Marik and Ishizu, both of which have never said aloud that Odion is their brother. This family is sort of bad at life, TBH.

Since we’re barrelling right into a Mai arc we have to confront one of her 2 big Mai character conflicts--which is either “this is why I don’t get married” or “OMG I am going to die forever alone.” Which is interesting, because last time we hung out with her, we did whatever we could to keep her independent, while in this episode Mai mourns that being independent is the ultimate curse. Girl wants whatever she doesn’t have, pretty much.

Ah, Miss independent, never thought I’d get that song stuck in my head again. Thanks, Mai. Except in this version, instead of falling in love, Mai just makes weird friendships with jail bait teenagers. Why can’t she make friends with like, Roland? He’s her age. Or maybe this nice doctor? But whatever, age is meaningless on this show.

(read more under the cut)

Anyway, Joey has decided to tell us all about that dream he had but leaves out the parts where he dropped everything he owns, and then knocked himself over a desk onto his face, and then in the same dream Kaiba kinda walked in from off screen, dunked on him, and then walked directly off screen again.

Mai is deeply touched.

And then, because she is Mai, gets extremely offended immediately afterward.

I can keep hoping it’ll be Duke Devlin but like...as much as I want him to do more on this show, I really think the only people who remember Duke Devlin at this point are all the animators who were like “HOW many people are in this shot?! Why did we make a season where every scene is a freakin crowd scene!?”

*I know the shading on her ass was supposed to be attractive but it looks like nasty sweat stains*

(Also what the hell computer-machinery is supposed to be behind them in this scene?)

This one time where Joey doth protest too much is the first time we have ever, ever on this show seen Joey act less than vague towards Mai. During the dream episode he blushed, but I thought that was because of Serenity being there for her brother in his dream. I didn’t at all think that was over Mai at the time.

But I guess this is happening now? I mean people kept saying “yes, Joey and Mai will be a thing” and I was like “they better start building up to that because like...nothing is happening.” but this show’s version of building up to that was by just not being vague one single time.

Which in this show is a big deal, I guess. Because shortly after this event, Tea remembers that her character description sheet says “Is bossy AF” with red underline and was like “OMG I totally forgot and it’s been like 20 episodes since I did anything, I gotta hurry” and she just lost her lid.

I’m regretting more and more that joke I made that TeaxKaiba was way more reasonable than TeaxYugi, because sometimes when Tea goes ham she may as well be wearing a long spiky coat with boots leggings. Tea had two very different personalities way before she ever got possessed by Bakura. Like, Tea is kind of a monster actually, but we rarely get to see it because she gets completely distracted and cries a lot when it just feels like...the other half of her, the half that bit a guy once--like she legit bit a guy on this show--that side of Tea would just never cry over cards. Or cry, period. She sure wasn’t crying when she bit that guy!

This is mostly because I think the writers didn’t know how to write a girl like Tea since she’s a mix of a Season Zero Tea and this more old fashioned-’feminine’ version I think they were trying to turn her into for this series. It’s weird. It’s weird that this group of friends have nothing to say about these very abrupt changes in her behavior. Then again, it took them a while to notice the abrupt changes in Yugi.

Anyway, Joey isn’t done getting harassed by everyone he knows yet.

We have Marik trapped in a blimp in the sky and the entire Kaiba security force, why are we dueling him anymore? I mean I know why, we are contractually obligated to show lots of card content in this show to sell cards, but at this point I feel like maybe they should drive the blimp over international waters and resort to maritime law. Give Kaiba a gun.

Actually don’t do that, it would be bad. Don’t give Kaiba a gun. Give it to Duke or something, he seems stable enough. He seems like he’d be able to shoot somebody but not everybody, if you know what I mean.

And because it’s the Mai arc, we gotta have Mai duel next. There’s only 3 people left to go against: Ishizu, Kaiba, and Marik. I think. There’s so many people on this show. Tea isn’t playing, right? I mean I really do feel like like I’ve forgotten someone--maybe Shadi? Miho? So many people are on this blimp.

Whatever, I’ll just roll with it, if I forgot someone I’m sure they’ll show up at some point.

Mai sure is that girlfriend.

Anyway, lets see what Marik’s up to. Ah, he really is visiting his older brother after all.

That’s right--Marik has to play twice. I mean obvi the first Marik was Odion, but still, it just feels like it’s Marik playing twice.

Also can we please talk about Marik’s cargo pants obsession for a little bit? This arch villain is in CARGO PANTS. Like, they have puffy pockets. He figured out that the hoodie was a bad look, but then he was like “I’ll just cover my tum-tum, and then put on my khaki cargo pants with a sensible belt.”

It just sort of insinuates that Marik only owns cultist robes and cargo pants. Just those two things. Imagine if every pant in your closet was cargo pants. Just imagine with me. You’d go mad, too. Imagine you packed for a trip, a nice vacay on a blimp, and then you opened your luggage and you were like “oops! all cargo pants!” you’d fly home.

Marik looks like he’s going to Casual Khaki’s Friday at the office from about the stomach down, and then stomach up up he’s ready to join piccolo and fuse brains or whatever the hell goes on in Dragonball Z.

And Yugi and his friends are late to Mai’s duel because they are teenagers and also of course they would. This whole season was introduced with Yugi being chronically late to stuff.

The bathroom joke in this episode is canon, PS. I skipped a Season Zero episode where Tristan went to the loo and so Yugi held his spot in line and it took like 30 minutes before Tristan finally got back. Tristan’s epic poops have apparently been Yugioh canon since the very beginning.

I’m learning so much about the lore.

Now that Marik no longer has to hide who he is, he has decided that he’ll just use the Shadow Realm willy-nilly now. Although Marik did this without playing any cards at all, it doesn’t seem to register to Seto Kaiba that this is not a hologram. Maybe Kaiba sneezed when Marik summoned it and just assumed he missed a card play or something.

So now, for our gimmick!

Every time we fight in the Shadow Realm it feels like the rules are a little bit different, and Marik decided to make this duel a memory fight.

The Shadow Realm seems to eat on your greatest insecurities, and for Mai it’s feeling all alone. Not sure how that works once the duel is over--her friends will still be there, so like...she can just get a heads up on the one day they went camping that one time and then boom, friendship rekindled, I think. But for now, this is very scary for everyone involved.

But I mean at least she isn’t a playing card, or being thrown into a graveyard by being played as a card, or being devoured by gloopy blobs, or rapidly dying because of the exposure to the shadow zone. As far as Shadow Realms go this one seems kind of tame.

But I guess we shall see if somehow losing Tea will effect her story in any way.

Depends on which Tea, in my opinion, but if we’re going for the normal boring one that only cries wellllllll I wouldn’t notice if she were gone, just saying. Now, if it’s the fun Tea that bites people and yanks their ears off their face, well being forced to lose my memories of her is what the writers do to me basically every episode of this show. Let Tea bite more people in the arm. Let that girl rage.

But all that will be for another recap where we can all watch Mai get Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind-ed as if a memory wipe hasn’t happened at least once to every single person on this show with the exception of Mokuba. And Mokuba was a paper card for like I want to say about 10 episodes, so...

Anyways, if you just got here I do have these in chrono order from s1 ep1, here is a link.

[imaginekpoplikethis]

7 Years - BadBoy! Jeon Jungkook X Reader - Part 12

Sorry to keep you guys waiting but there was an issue that I got caught up in. Nevertheless, here's the next part to 7 Years.

I'm quite happy with the direction this is going, do I have reason to be? I don't know.

Anyway, love you all and thank you so much for the support and kind, encouraging words. It really makes my day.

Wonder Girls - Be My Baby is still an absolute bop. Just had to put that out here.

Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4  Part 5  Part 6  Part 7  Part 8  Part 9  Part 10.1  Part 10.2  Part 10.3  Part 11  Part 12 - Here  Part 13  Part 14  Part 15  Part 16  Part 17  Part 18  Part 19  Part 20 - Final

When your class had exited the plane and gathered their luggage, you all immediately headed for the hotel you would spend the next week and a half residing in. Jungkook offered or rather demanded to take your suitcase for you. Both options practically meant the same thing to Jungkook. Your classmates stood in awe at the unexpectedly large hotel in front of you and you were the first one to break away from the group, intent on getting some sleep.

You had made it to the front desk before you remembered you could speak limited Japanese and you stumbled upon your words, hoping the receptionist would understand you. A hand on your shoulder made you shut your mouth and you watched in shock as Jungkook gave the receptionist the information needed in what sounded like fluent Japanese.

"You speak Japanese!?" He leaned on the desk whilst the receptionist typed away at her computer and smirked at you, smug at another opportunity to impress you.

"Yeah, Tae teaches me. I'm glad he did because the look on your face is worth it." Before you could even think about closing your gaping mouth, Jungkook whipped his phone out and snapped a picture of your shocked face.

"You better delete that, you I-" as you closed in on him, readying yourself for your attack, your teacher arrived at the desk followed by your fellow classmates.

"Jungkook stop winding Y/N up. We've barely been here for an hour and you two are already at each other's throats."

"That's because they're in love!" The obnoxious shout from the back of the class made the rest of your classmates erupt into childish giggles and you could only glare in mild embarrassment.

"So immature..." The only ones who seemed to hear your mumble was Jungkook and your teacher. Jungkook seemed to be enjoying every moment of the situation and was staring straight at you, seemingly committing your embarrassed expression to memory.

"Um..." The receptionists unsure tone caused you to return your attention back towards her and she had a collection of keys placed upon the desk. Your teacher exchanged a few words with her before turning back to the rest of you, a smile on his face.

"As you should have expected, we're splitting you into two groups: boys and girls.  Boys will be on the first corridor of the third floor and Girls will be on the second corridor of the third floor. You will each have a roommate that I have already decided upon."

He proceeded to begin calling out the pairs that would be sharing rooms and you anxiously waited for your name.

Please, for the love of all things holy, don't make me partner up with Hye Mi.

You felt a pair of eyes on you and you quickly realised that Jungkook was still staring at you, a small smile painted on his lips.

"Jungkook and Jae Hyun." Jungkook's smile dropped and he switched his now blank stare to the boy who was confidently strutting towards him. Jae Hyun was what people classified as the schools most popular athlete. Thus why he had an ego that could rival Seokjin's except it was less cute and more irritating. Mixing Jungkook and Jae Hyun could end up as a disaster and you could already tell that Jungkook was getting irked by the hint of a glare he was trying to hide.

"Y/N and Ji Hee." Upon hearing your name called out, you snapped your head to the side, eyes searching for Ji Hee. When they landed on the shy girl, they softened and you flashed her a kind smile to which she returned one of her own. Taking your rooms key from you teacher, you slipped through the other students to get to Ji Hee.

"Hello Y/N. I guess we're sharing a room together. I hope you don't mind..." Her overly kind nature was one that made you want to protect her from all things bad and you grinned at her, shaking your head.

"No not all! I'm happy I'm rooming with you. I hope we can become good friends."

Ji Hee raised her eyes to meet yours and a timid smile spread on her lips.

"Me too!"

She seemed to be warming up to you already.

-

You had already decided which bed you would take and had collapsed on said bed, burying your face into the pillows. Ji Hee was currently checking over her suitcase, making sure nothing was lost.

"I hope you don't think I'm prying or anything but... how and why are you dating Jungkook?" If you were completely honest with yourself, you were not surprised at Ji Hee's question. You were pretty sure everyone was dying to ask you the same thing. Turning your head in her direction, you thought of a suitable answer to give her whilst absentmindedly watching her search her luggage.

"I've known Jungkook for as long as I can remember, he's helped me through some pretty rough times. Over time I just fell for him. Apparently, he felt the same too." You hoped your answer wasn't too vague as you didn't want to go into detail about your relationship. You were much too tired for that.

"That's... that's quite nice... I think you both make a great couple." A delicate smile spread on your lips at her words and you began to wonder what Jungkook was doing at that exact moment.

Suddenly, your rooms door slammed open and Ji Hee shrieked at the unexpected sound. Sitting up you glared at a heavily breathing Jungkook. When his eyes found yours, a satisfied smirk grew on his face.

"Found you." He walked into the room, not bothering to close the door and Ji Hee stared with wide eyes. His eyes scanned your room before landing on you once again.

"Wow, now I see who got the best room. I might just sleep here." Jumping up on your bed, you grabbed the pillow your head was previously resting on and swung at his own head with full force.

"What the fuck Jungkook! You scared Ji Hee, fucking apologise!" He tackled your body and you fell back on the bed, his arms circled around you and the side of his face pressed onto your stomach, eyes glancing at Ji Hee from her position on the floor.

"Sorry Ji Hee." She stuttered out an 'It's fine' before slowly turning back around and continuing her task at hand.

"Why're you here? You're not allowed in our room, Jungkook." He merely rubbed his cheek on your stomach and tightened his grip around you.

"Don't care. Jae Hyun pissed me off." As if on cue, Jae Hyun appeared at your doorway, a deadly glare directed at Jungkook.

"You bastard! Why the fuck did you empty my shit like that!?" You pushed up off your bed, Jungkook following your movements.

"Your shitty suitcase was on my bed." Jae Hyun stalked into your room when Jungkook replied, fists balled at his sides.

"I called dibs, It was my bed! You broke my favourite fucking mug!" A shrug of Jungkook's shoulders was the immediate reply.

"Why are you being such a prissy bitch and bringing a mug with you to Japan? That's not my problem." You decided to intervene and slapped Jungkook upside his head to which he yelped out in mild pain.

"If he wants to bring his mug, he'll bring it. Why are you touching other peoples stuff, you idiot."

"I wanted the bed closest to the second corridor so I could be closer to you." You were touched to say the least. Such an innocent intention resulted in a fight. Well, It was Jungkook so it was understandable. Ji Hee let out a soft 'aww' and Jungkook grinned at her response.

"Whatever, what are you gonna do about my mug? It was my lucky mug, how the heck am I going to do great in my games now?" You stood from the bed and pried Jungkook's arms off of you, walking to your suitcase and searching for your purse. When you  had found it, you pulled out some money and walked in Jae Hyuns direction.

"Here, I hope you're able to buy another one with this. I'm so sorry." Before Jae Hyun could even think about accepting the money, Jungkook's hand shot out and pulled your own down.

"No! Don't worry Y/N, I've got it. I'll get you some compensation money." Shooting off your bed, he sprinted out the door but not before sending a wink in your direction. Jae Hyun stood speechless at Jungkook's sudden change in attitude and then directed a grateful smile at you.

"You really know how to handle him. Thanks Y/N!" He too jogged out of your room and Ji Hee broke the silence that fell upon the room.

"Jungkook really won't let you trouble yourself. That's so sweet."

Yes. How very sweet.

-

It hadn't taken you long to fall into a nap once again and you were awakened hours later by a certain someone jumping on top of you. You made a poor attempt to push Jungkook's head away from you but he grabbed your wrist and dragged you off the bed.

"Jungkook, what in gods name are you doing?" Your words came out slurred and you blinked several times, trying to wake yourself up as he dragged you out of your room, barely managing to close the door behind yourself.

"You've been sleeping for ages and I'm bored. So we're going to go explore." You knew that arguing with him would get you nowhere so you kept your mouth shut and allowed him to drag you down the stairs. When you reached the ground floor, you took notice of a couple of your classmates wandering around.

"I heard there's a bath house here and a koi pond. Which one should we check out first?" A koi pond sounded much more appealing than going to a bath house with Jungkook at this exact moment in time.

"Yeah, no thanks to the bath house. Let's go see the koi pond." Flashing you a smile, Jungkook led you outside towards the pond a little ways away. When you arrived, he took you across the small bridge and to the centre.

"Koi fish are so cute." Your comment did not go unheard and Jungkook shoved his hands into his pocket, rolling on the balls of his feet.

"Aren't they just basically goldfishes?" You crouched down beside the pond and leaned forward, taking a closer look at the multitude of different coloured Koi.

"Actually, they were bred from Carp idiot." He feigned a hurt look before reverting back to his original expression. "Sorry, I don't do extensive research on Japanese fish for fun. I'm not that sad."

Rolling your eyes, you ignored his comment and instead pointed towards an orange koi.

"Doesn't this one remind you of Jimin?" He took a step forward and bent down beside you, leaning in to take a closer look.

"Yeah, kind of." A sudden splash startled you and you watched as another koi, this one yellow, quickly swam away. Jungkook sighed beside you.

"Well, I know that reminds me of Hoseok." You nodded in agreement, a small smile spreading on your lips.

"Makes sense... that big one reminds me of Namjoon and the small one Yoongi." He turned his head towards the two fish you pointed out and silently nodded.

"Taehyung is that one that keeps swimming back and forth." Jungkook's long arm motioned towards the orange and white koi.

"What makes you say that?"

"It looks confused, which Tae is half of the time. He gets himself lost when we go on trips." You didn't find that hard to believe at all.

"The one with the long fins is Seokjin because he has broad shoulders and that's the closest thing to shoulders." Jungkook sat himself down and you did the same, legs tired from the strain of remaining crouching for a long period of time.

"We just named a bunch of fishes after our friends. Is this what they call having no life?" You were pretty sure it was a rhetorical question but you answered anyway.

"Well, I wouldn't know now would I? I'm not you."

"Now that hurt."

His amused grin said otherwise.

[arplis]

Arplis - News: La catastrophe: My La Compagnie flight to the South of France that never happened

The United States and France have had a special relationship since the former’s birth. No surprise that the two should be linked by a large, and growing, number of flights. The smallest of the airlines linking the two nations is Paris-based La Compagnie, which began flying in 2014 and operates to less than a handful of destinations in each country on less than a handful of planes with only one choice of cabin, business class. Despite the lack of scale — it focuses only on Newark in the U.S. and Paris and Nice in France with what’s currently a three-jet fleet — La Compagnie takes advantage of that crowded US-France traffic to offer competitive fares in a market built on pricey business fares. La Compagnie has a new Airbus A321neo in its small fleet, though my flight was to be operated by a much older Boeing 757. (Photo by Zach Honig/The Points Guy.) And that’s what drew me to them for a trip this summer. We were long overdue for a visit with a friend and her family in Paris, so early this year, we decided to get a rental house together in the South of France for both our families in August. And why not get there in comfort, I figured, especially since we would traveling with a baby who’d proven to be pretty good about going to sleep on planes? So La Compagnie’s once-daily flight from Newark to Nice, about a half hour by car from our rental house, seemed like the perfect choice, a wonderful way to treat ourselves after nearly a year and a half of changing diapers. The result, however, was easily the worst airline-related experience, as a passenger, of my life — and I’ve flown on both North Korea’s airline and one where the pilot threatened passengers with decapitation. So, like, bad bad, not “they didn’t thank me for my elite status” bad. Here’s why I will never fly La Compagnie again. In This Post A promising start I got our August round-trip tickets for our La Compagnie flight from Newark Liberty Airport (EWR) to, at least theoretically, Nice Côte d’Azur Airport (NCE) all the way back on Jan. 9 two different ways. I used the Platinum Card from American Express to buy a ticket for my wife. Our son, who’d be just over 17 months for our trip, was listed under her fare and got a separate ticket, but there was no charge because he would still be under 2 at the time of the flight. Like the website instructed, I noted that he’d need a kid meal and milk. The fare for my wife and son’s tickets came to $1,543. For my own fare, I redeemed 86,662 points on my Chase Sapphire Reserve card with the help of a specialist at the Chase Travel Portal. My receipt listed $698 for the flight and $601.93 for taxes and fees, minus $1,299.93 in credit from my redeemed points, leaving me with a grand total of zero dollars to pay in cash. We were all booked on the same row, and I was going to hold our child as a lap infant, but when later I called La Compagnie to confirm our seats, the agent said that we might be moved to a bulkhead row with a bassinet on the day of our flight. She also confirmed that they’d have kid meals and milk stocked. I’d chosen a red-eye specifically with the idea that our child would fall asleep soon after the 11:30 p.m. Eastern-time departure, and would wake fresh as a daisy — I’m allowed to dream — not too long before we landed at 1:50 p.m., France time, the next day. Because we were traveling with a very young child, I didn’t look at connecting options. With our flights purchased and pretty much settled, nearly seven months passed without incident, and I let myself start to fantasize about cracking open freshly baked French bread to the sounds of the Mediterranean breaking against the sand. We even bought our toddler tiny black Speedo briefs so he’d fit right in with the older men on European beaches. The day before our flight, La Compagnie emailed me with confirmation of our upcoming trip. Everything was going swimmingly. The next day, it all went horribly wrong. Strike one: Canceled flight … ? I was in the middle of triple-checking that Tickle Me Elmo was turned off inside our checked luggage and wouldn’t prompt a bomb scare with peals of demonic laughter echoing through the cargo hold when something nagged at me to see how our plane was faring the afternoon of our departure. “Delayed,” FlightAware warned. The plane, apparently, was still in Nice. But there was no word of any issues from La Compagnie, so I let it go, at first. But I kept checking, and when there was only an hour or two to go before we had to pack up the car for the hourlong drive from Brooklyn to Newark, it became obvious that the fact that our plane might still be stuck in France could have serious implications for our trip. I never made it to La Compagnie’s gate at Newark. (Photo by Brian Kelly/The Points Guy.) Finally, I got an email from the airline saying the flight had been pushed back about 20 minutes. Then an email came saying my flight was canceled for technical reasons and the company was working on getting me on a replacement flight. Weirdly, though, my wife and son’s original travel itinerary was supposedly still on, according to La Compagnie. I wasn’t about to send my wife off to haul our kid and two weeks’ worth of luggage through the South of France all by her lonesome, so I called La Compagnie customer service to find out what was going on. Repeatedly. I kept getting a recording that kept me on hold for a long time before asking me to try again later and then hanging up on me. So I gave up on them and called the Chase Travel Portal, where a Chase representative confirmed that, yes, the entire flight was canceled. She called La Compagnie on my behalf and actually got through. On a three-way call with Chase, La Compagnie’s customer service said we ought to head for Newark Airport, where there’d be replacement tickets waiting for us. Instead of flying business to Nice, we would be booked on the economy airline XL Airways France, which has since ceased flying. She also promised that milk and kid meals would be available on the XL flight. But we’d land in the wrong city: Paris, around 430 miles from Nice as the crow flies. These are the seats we were supposed to fly in for our flight to Nice. Instead, we flew a now-defunct airline in coach. (Photo by Brian Kelly/The Points Guy.) How would we get from Paris to Nice? They’d have it worked out by the time we landed, the La Compagnie rep, based in Guadeloupe in the French Caribbean, promised. Actually, they seemed to have sorted it out on our drive over to the XL Airways desks at Newark Terminal B, emailing my wife, at least, an itinerary that showed that she and our son were booked for an Air France flight from Paris Orly Airport (ORY) to Nice, leaving the next day at 3:25 p.m. and arriving at 4:55 p.m., or a smidge over three hours after we’d originally expected. None of it was ideal, but it would still put us at the rental house in time to have a pleasant welcome dinner with our friends. I assumed — hoped — that I’d get an email with the same itinerary. At this point, I didn’t really have a choice. These angle-flat seats would have been a whole lot better than economy on XL Airways. (Photo by Brian Kelly / The Points Guy).Strike two: No ticket pour moi At Newark, I learned never to assume anything with La Compagnie: My wife and kid were booked from Newark to Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG), as expected. I wasn’t. Neither was one of the other guys behind me. After several frantic minutes that involved a snowballing number of bewildered desk staff and management shuffling papers and disappearing behind a door to consult another computer and possibly make calls to Paris, we learned that La Compagnie headquarters had sent XL Airways a list of people from our flight who needed seats on that night’s flight to CDG. For some reason that was never explained, at least two of the people on the list were never actually booked seats, including me. After a few more minutes, though, we were finally all booked on the XL flight to Charles de Gaulle, on Flight SE051, leaving 11:59 p.m. New York time and landing at 1:10 p.m. Paris time the next day. Our seats were even next to each other. I’ll skip most of the description of the substitute flights we ended up having to take — though I’ll point out that the XL crew had no idea what we were talking about when we asked for the milk and kid meal the La Compagnie agent had promised. This was never intended to be a story about XL Airways or Air France, after all. Instead, I’ll skip to our experience once we landed in Paris, where La Compagnie managed to take an unfortunate situation and make it much, much worse. It was like a summer job where you accidentally spill the ice cream while handing a customer his ice cream cone and, instead of throwing it out and getting a new one, picking the scoop of ice cream up from the dirt with your fingers, putting it back in the cone and handing it to your customer, hairy with grass and twigs and wriggling with ants — and expecting them to pay you $2.50 for it. Plus, it’s pistachio or rum raisin or a flavor like that. An XL Airways Airbus A330. The airline stopped flying in September. (Image by CT Cooper via Wikimedia Commons.)Strike three: Impossible connection After landing in Paris at Terminal 2A on the next day, going through immigration and collecting our baggage, we hightailed it to Terminal 2F, only to have our boarding passes for the flight to Nice — we actually had all three of them this time — rejected at the check-in kiosk. The reason? Bag check had closed before we’d gotten there. In buying our tickets, the third-party, evidently France-based, company La Compagnie uses to manage rebookings hadn’t taken into account that we had to deal with customs and immigration after an international flight, not leaving us enough time to get off the plane from Newark, go through the bureaucratic paperwork, get our bags, change terminals and check in with a different airline. So now we were given the choice of either abandoning almost all our bags, including two weeks’ worth of necessities, or finding another way to Nice. More calls to La Compagnie’s customer-service line. More recordings and hang-ups. The incredibly patient woman manning the Air France customer-service desk told us that if we wanted to make it to Nice that day, our only shot was an 8 p.m. flight from Paris Orly Airport (ORY) that landed in Nice at 9:25 p.m. But the seats were filling rapidly, she warned. Strike, uh, four: Forced to rebook myself Finally, a call to La Compagnie found a live person. The agent said that they’d book us on the Air France flight from Orly to Nice. Alternatively, we could find a hotel, spend the night, and try to catch another flight the next day, and La Compagnie would pay for up to 200 euros ($220) for lodging — in other words, enough for a Motel 6 level of hotel in Paris at the last minute. We picked the Nice flight that night, and the agent said I’d get a phone call once it was taken care of. So we ate, tried to relax and waited for the call from La Compagnie, which never came. I called them again, made it through the gauntlet of recordings and hang-ups, and reached the same La Compagnie customer-service rep, who said that the booking company that the airline used was slow that day because it was dealing a whole cruise ship full of passengers who had to be rebooked to the South of France too — and that took priority. But our new, new flight to Nice would be taken care of by the time we got out of the cab to Orly, which they’d pay for. I’d get a call by the time we were at Orly, she said, but we should hop in a taxi now. La Compagnie’s promises rang hollow at this point, so I realized we needed a Plan B. We went back to the Air France staffer who’d been helping us, and one of her eyebrows went up skeptically when we repeated what the plan from La Compagnie was. Behind her, another Air France agent tut-tutted and asked what company we were dealing with, then shook his head. “This doesn’t make sense,” our agent said. “This is something that takes less than a minute. Why would they make you wait to be booked?” So, working with the helpful Air France agent, we worked out the Plan B: We wouldn’t immediately trek with all our stuff and infant to Orly, in case it was all to find out La Compagnie had fumbled again (from CDG, north of Paris, to Orly, south of it, is about a 35-minute ride away in decent traffic but can be more than twice that in heavy traffic). Instead, we’d stick around the customer-service desk at CDG and check in with her every once in a while to see if we’d been booked on that night’s flight yet. After all, the Air France computer would be updated immediately after it happened, and it was clear that La Compagnie wasn’t exactly on the ball when it came to communicating with customers. If, by the time we had to leave CDG for ORY, La Compagnie still hadn’t bought our tickets, I’d buy the tickets myself. Then we’d take a cab to Orly. If La Compagnie still hadn’t gotten us our seats to Nice by do-or-die time at Orly, we’d travel on our self-bought tickets. If, however, La Compagnie actually came through before we had to check in for our flight, I could talk to an Air France agent at Orly for a one-time-only-these-are-unusual-circumstances refund on what were normally nonrefundable tickets. So we gave La Compagnie nearly four hours to buy tickets that should’ve taken them literal seconds to take care of. And they whiffed yet again. With taxes and fees, our tickets for two adults and one infant from Orly to Nice bought directly from Air France cost me 203 euros (about $225), which I put on my Chase Sapphire Reserve. We left CDG at 5:50 p.m. and got to Orly around 6:40 p.m. in an Uber that cost 64 euros ($70). (Photo of Orly Airport south of Paris by AFP/Staff via Getty Images.) Before we got in line for an Air France kiosk at Orly, I checked for messages from La Compagnie. Nada. With bag check and security still to deal with, and not wanting to risk missing a second flight in a row, there didn’t seem to be much point in giving La Compagnie any more leeway. We checked in with the tickets I’d bought myself. Only after we made it through security and to the gate and had waited around a bit, maybe 15 or 20 minutes from the first boarding call, did my phone chime to let me know there was a voicemail from La Compagnie. Their booking company was trying to get us tickets on the Air France flight to Nice but saw our names were already on the manifest. Could we contact La Compagnie right away so they could sort it all out and arrange our seats? One last time, I made the all-too-familiar round of attempts to call La Compagnie. The connection was terrible, and I could barely even hear the recording before it hung up on me. When I finally got through to a live representative, she cut me short as I started to give her my name. “Yes, I know who you are,” she said. It wasn’t the voice of someone happy to hear from me. When I told her we were already at the gate on tickets I’d bought myself, though, she seemed to perk up. “Oh! Then it all worked out! Have a good flight!” “Of course, I expect you to reimburse me for the tickets I had to buy myself,” I said. But she wasn’t having that, and said that because I’d bought my own tickets instead of letting La Compagnie arrange it, I was on the hook for the 203 euros. I could take it up by emailing customer service if I felt I needed to. And then the line went dead — either the poor connection had given out again, or La Compagnie had hung up on me yet again. I didn’t bother trying to raise them again. It was time to board. Air France Flight 6232 landed at Nice Airport around 9:30 p.m. By the time we booked our tickets, adjacent seats weren’t available, so I sat with our son in my lap while my wife was in the row in front of us. After we got our luggage and to the car-rental center, the rental agency was down to a single staffer who could get us the child car seat we’d reserved, so we didn’t make it to our rental home just outside Cannes till just before midnight. Cannes, France. (Photo by Nick Ellis/The Points Guy.) I’d bought tickets for an eight-hour, 20-minute flight that was supposed to get us from door to door in under 13 and a half hours. We ended up on a grueling odyssey that involved four airports, three cities and three airlines and took closer to twice that. Après NCE, la catastrophe For the Newark-Nice flight on La Compagnie, I never interacted with anyone at the airline besides the customer-service telephone agents based in Guadeloupe. Though the woman I dealt with most obviously grew increasingly exasperated as the saga went on, her demeanor remained cool and professional, if not exactly sympathetic, throughout. I can’t say the airline didn’t hire cool-headed staff for their call center. What I can say, however, is that their information was late, incomplete and often incorrect, and if I’d followed their directions the whole way through, we wouldn’t have made it to our intended destination until the third day. For some reason, the emails we received were different depending on whether it involved my wife or me. Whoever did their rebookings flubbed basic travel practicalities not just once but twice and possibly three times (depending on whether it was their or XL’s fault I wasn’t booked on the replacement EWR-CDG flight). That’s not great customer service. In fact, it’s downright crappy. And it took a customer-service agent from another airline to salvage the situation, which La Compagnie should frankly find embarrassing. TPG’s Editor at Large Zach Honig also experienced poor customer service when dealing with the airline on a flight from Paris to Newark a few months ago — but he actually got to fly on a La Compagnie plane in business class. All that was exacerbated when La Compagnie continued to refuse to reimburse me for the Air France tickets I’d been forced to buy on my own to get us to Nice. The day after we landed in the South of France, I emailed customer service with my receipts and explanation, then waited. At least we made it to the South of France, right? (Photo by Nick Ellis / The Points Guy) It only took a couple days for them to email me, apologizing for the technical issue with their plane and offering to refund $261.75 per passenger to compensate for the downgrade in service from Newark to Paris, plus $700 “cash regulatory compensation” per flyer (or a $1,000 voucher per person to be used toward a La Compagnie flight within one year — a nonstarter, of course). But there was no mention of paying me back for the Air France tickets, so I asked them again. Nearly three weeks after the aborted Newark-Nice flight, they emailed again and flatly rejected the idea of paying for the Air France tickets. “First and foremost, we have to point out, though; Regulation dictates when it comes to canceled flights, passengers shall be given the choice between a rerouting at the earliest opportunity or the refund of the unused flight,” the email said in broken English. “Despite, you could have been postponed on another airline and granted with the downgrading compensation, you decided to purchase new flights on your own with Air France. In this instance, you’ll understand we must respectfully deny your request to refund these extra costs.” I repeated my appeal, asked them to bump it up to the higher-ups and once again painstakingly laid out the account, minute by minute, of why I ended up having to buy my own tickets to Nice instead of relying on them to rebook my flight. I pointed out that if I’d waited for them to book the Orly-Nice tickets, it would have been physically impossible, for the second time in one day, for us to make it before check-in closed. One month and two days after La Compagnie had canceled our flight from Newark to Nice at the last minute, they gave in. “Having review your file, we must reconsider our previous email,” they wrote. “Indeed, our record shows the flight we booked was not convenient for your journey. Hence, we will participate to your Air France ticket fee for $222 (203€) and will process the refund on your bank account.” I could finally close the book on my brief but unhappy relationship with La Compagnie. Bottom line It’s tempting to write my experience off as a one-off incident, but whenever there’s a story on The Points Guy about La Compagnie, the comments section is almost invariably filled with horror stories involving technical problems, canceled flights, “inflexible” and unreachable customer service, stranded passengers, sudden downgrades and a litany of ruined trips. When I read those complaints before I booked our flights, I wondered whether it were a case of anonymous-comments-sections histrionics. Now that I’ve interacted with the airline myself, I can verify that the complaints about La Compagnie are spot on. Once we actually got to our rental house, our trip ended up being wonderful, thankfully, but the airline’s operations are clearly seriously brittle, with a tiny, aging fleet, questionable choice of rebooking agency and customer service that’s easily overwhelmed when crisis strikes — so much so that I’ll still be wary of the airline even after its entire fleet is modernized. The airline wants to be known for offering passengers the flying-experience equivalent of entrecôte, but it serves it to them on a paper plate. It’s a shame, too, because our La Compagnie flight back from Nice showed the potential: The flight attendants were thoughtful and kind, there was milk and a surfeit of choices of infant meals, and the seat — well, at that point, I’d already resigned myself to serving no purpose other than human Barcalounger for our kid for nine hours and 45 minutes, so I counted the facts that he was happy and didn’t disturb any of the other passengers and that my spine still worked when I stood up as big wins. (Though it’ll be so much better when they replace the 757 and its angled-flat seats on this route with the A321LR and its true lie-flat product.) And, of course, I never had to deal with the awful customer service or nonsensical rebookings this time round. But a good-enough flight on the return wouldn’t be worth taking the chance of another disastrous outbound trip. If you’re just happy to land in France and don’t really mind where you end up or how many days or hours it takes you to get there? Sure, give La Compagnie a shot. But if you’ve got people counting on you, either waiting for you on land or traveling with you by air? Do not fly La Compagnie. America’s special relationship with France has withstood bloody revolutions, diplomatic spats, mercurial governments, two world wars, the Cold War and Jerry Lewis. But if we depended on La Compagnie to keep the ties between the U.S. and France alive, we’d be better off learning French with a Quebecois accent. Featured image courtesy of William Verguet via Wikimedia Commons. #S-reviews #LaCompagnie #News

Arplis - News source https://arplis.com/blogs/news/la-catastrophe-my-la-compagnie-flight-to-the-south-of-france-that-never-happened

[twogargs]

C4 Winnipeg: The Worst Convention I Have Ever Attended.

TL;DR I will never return to C4 Winnipeg. The convention is horrible from start to finish.

Okay, so here’s the story of C4 Winnipeg 2017.

Not too long ago, before the advent of mainstream organizations taking over conventions, they were run by well-meaning but inexperienced volunteers. It was considered standard for there to be hiccups, miscommunications and confusion in every process from registration to teardown.

Nowadays, we’ve seen a better way: We’ve seen competence, organization, and we’ve experienced being treated with respect by people who know what they’re doing.

Which is why C4 Winnipeg was such an unpleasant shock.

I haven’t exhibited at C4 for must-be-more-than seven years now; my buddy Kyle says it was ten. I do remember, however, why I stopped:  Back then, the show had poor attendance, was poorly run, and the staff were atrocious— to the point of LAUGHING AT VENDORS WHO GOT TRAPPED IN AN ELEVATOR FOR MORE THAN AN HOUR. Let that sink in: Laughing at people who are in crisis. Between that, low sales, and a general demeanour among the attendees that they didn’t really understand what a comic convention was, I dropped the show and haven’t been back before now.

I reasoned that seven to ten years was long enough for the show’s organization to improve, and so Kyle and I chose to share a table at the show as we thought it would be “low risk”: we were disastrously wrong.

Blanket statement that remained true for the entire weekend: No volunteer anywhere could answer any questions. They were confused, lost, disjointed, or had incorrect information. In fact, a Facebook friend of mine tried to attend on Saturday- and was given so many incorrect directions to registration that he gave up and left without entering the con! Think about that: a paying attendee, who wants to come in and spend his money, can’t even get directed to the proper entrance due to absolute incompetence and ignorance. How many people do you think gave up? How much in terms of potential earnings was lost due to stupidity? (Fortunately, my buddy chose to return on Sunday to buy from me, but only because he wanted to meet me and was motivated to do so!)

So- check-in. We only had hand luggage so we didn’t need the loading dock (which only had very limited spaces and had to maintain a very tight load-in load-out schedule because the venue simply could not handle large volumes). I thought we could simply take the escalator up to the third floor exhibit hall but no, we were shuffled into that same elevator from years ago; they had shoehorned, in fact bottlenecked, all vendors who weren’t using the loading dock freight elevator to cram themselves into the tiny, unreliable and ridiculously slow one. Imagine— making everyone line up for a single small elevator!

After that, I learned the locations of escalators and ignored any and all staff who attempted to direct me to the elevator. It was just ridiculous in the extreme.

At sign-in, they couldn’t find any record of me, or Kyle, and had all their information on large recipe cards. Not sure what I was filed under but they eventually found me after fifteen minutes of cross checking and verifying each of their piles. Has this show ever heard of a “computer?” Apparently not.

I was not given any “exhibitor’s package,” not even a map of the show floor.  I had to hunt one down just to find my table. Too, the “Exhibitor Badges” were wristbands that were identical to the wristbands of regular 3-day con attendees. We were stopped twice from entering the exhibit hall because of this. To issue the exact same band to an exhibitor as to a regular attendee is the absolute nadir of stupidity.

As I was a last-minute exhibitor, I didn’t get a place in the Artist’s Alley, but rather in the Indie Gaming section— and I had to pay for a booth as opposed to a table. I expected a booth with curtains and a backdrop, but no— it was just a plain table, with no chairs. No. Chairs.  We had to steal some from neighbouring tables in the gaming section. Higher price, but not what was advertised.

One hour after the show opened, I got a phone call from the AA organizer— asking where I was! I told her I was exactly where I was supposed to be, as listed in the con program and on the website.  Ten minutes later she came around the corner to find me, apparently she had mixed up where I was supposed to be. I thought I was going to have to move, but she okayed the location.  Meanwhile, an empty table sat between me and the next dealer so I was offered half of that table to make up for the lack of a booth.

I can’t say the location of my table was to blame for low sales, as many in the AA commiserated about lack of same, but this was far and away my worst show ever: I broke the hundred dollar mark on the last half of Sunday.

I can’t find the original hotel sign-up document, but our hotel was advertised as being one block away from the convention space. It was not. It was SIX blocks away, which precluded taking our luggage there unless we wanted to pay for a cab – in a city whose cab drivers were not motivated to provide any kind of service.  So we left our bags behind our table and just took a change of clothes and toiletries in a backpack to walk to the hotel.

Saturday night, after the show, we were almost mugged— a man who had been gazing “nonchalantly” at the wall when we passed by fell in step behind us, causing me to pull my little rolly bag close to me, and only when Kyle made his box-cutter pocket knife plainly visible in his hand did the man veer off to study another wall. Downtown Winnipeg is not safe at night, is the moral of the story.

The program book, incidentally, did not include anything like a schedule for the exhibitors, or indeed autograph/photo times for the celebrities— it had an utterly illegible floor map, which was badly photocopied onto the page, and the whole booklet was a bad photocopy, utterly useless to convey information. You couldn’t have said “Ghetto convention, amateurish and unprofessional” any more clearly than with this document.

Extra “Ghetto” bonus was the bathroom– there was a pool of urine in the men’s washroom that was nearest to our table, and it was never cleaned the entire weekend. They couldn’t even be bothered to check their own washroom to keep it clean.

Finally, the show came to a close— we began to pack up at five p.m. on Sunday— and at 5:15 an announcement came over the loudspeaker saying to stop packing up, the show was open until six.  I double checked the website— it read FIVE P.M. as the closing time.  We doubled our tear-down speed and took the escalator down and out the door, jumping in the nearest cab. (We had tried to book cabs twice that day, and neither company was interested in our business or indeed in communicating clearly. Not con-related, but Winnipeg-relevant, so there’s that).

Winnipeg’s C4 show is, without exaggeration, the worst convention I have ever attended. I will not be returning and I urge all my fellow Artist Alley exhibitors to give this show a miss, both for your own financial well-being and for your mental health. (and, considering its location downtown, your safety as well!)

C4 Winnipeg: The Worst Convention I Have Ever Attended. was originally published on Two Gargoyles Comics

[baltics4engbergs]

Our flight(s) home

We spent two days getting home to Albuquerque, and this was the plan, but some aspects of our travel days didn’t go to plan, but that’s to be expected, I guess!

Our flight out of London Gatwick was at 1:30 p.m., so we didn’t really think we needed to put ourselves in an insane rush.  Turns out we should have maybe been a little less nonchalant about it all.  We had thought we’d just Uber it to Gatwick, but I guess it’s on me that I forgot how far that was, since I always used to just take the Gatwick Express train there and it took thirty minutes, so I didn’t think much of it.  Well, that thirty-minute train ride translates to 1 hour and 30 minutes by car, so we were like, “uh oh.” We thought getting to the tube and to the train with the kids, the carseats, and all our luggage would be  nightmarish.  Well, we ended up having no choice but to face that nightmare.  We Ubered to Victoria station and then used the Gatwick Express tickets we’d bought on my phone en route, and then, after I got off the elevator with the kids in the stroller, we got immediately on the train, and it left, with no minutes to spare.  There are trains every fifteen minutes, but it’s good we got on the one we did.

Our Uber driver was really interesting.  I am sure you can all relate.  If you ever talk to a cab driver or an Uber or Lyft driver, the stories you hear are really informing, and this guy was a medical doctor from Afghanistan, who’d gotten his medical degree in Russia, but he could not practice in England because he was not ever (over the last twelve years) able to pass their spoken and written English test.  He spoke well enough for us!  He said that when the Taliban overran Afghanistan, they wanted doctors to perform really horrific procedures, like cutting off hands, etc., and he was like “umm, no thanks,” so he fled illegally to England.   We asked whether he liked living in England and he said, not really: “we are nothing in England.” You know, that really made me think about a topic I’ve thought a lot about, and of course I’ve written about (many articles and my book The Pluralist Imagination) -- and this brings to the fore the difference between how some countries welcome/assimilate those who come as immigrants or refugees versus how other countries do.  He was really interesting to talk to and I know I will remember that conversation for a long time.

Anyway, once we got to Gatwick, everything went pretty smoothly.  We have access to some lounges through one of our credit cards, so we went there, and I was famished, but we just had a few minutes, so I wolfed down some tomato soup and I kind of let the kids have a free for all with oranges and blueberry cake and graham biscuits.  They had no problem with my nonchalance. We got to our gate and boarded a Reykjavik-bound flight and we ended up talking to a family from Grindavik, which is by the Blue Lagoon in Iceland, and their daughter, also four years old, was so forward, so cute!  She liked leaning on Eric, stroking his legs, and just getting in my kids’ faces -- which, of course, they didn’t mind.  My kids’ concept of personal space is still very much in development. 

We arrived to Reykjavik and learned we had a one-hour delay, so we got something to eat before boarding for JFK.  On these European flights, you can  “gate-check” your stroller, but you do not get it back at the gate on the other end, just at baggage claim, so we had to navigate the really, really busy Keflavik airport without our double stroller, and just used the ones they have available, and they do not, shall we say, handle very well.  That airport is really jam-packed every time I’ve been through.  The whole checkin, double passport-check, go to the gate, and taking a bus to another gate,  board, etc., situation seems like it might be improved.  We met a cool American family while going through this series of steps to actually get on the plane that had just been traveling for eleven months and were going to move to St. Criox in two weeks because the dad, who was in IT, could work from anywhere. So they were like, “why not”?  Their son was 7 and was wearing a super hero outfit --which his aunt in Scotland had made for him--with silver lamé pants, a cape, wrist cuffs, and silver sneakers with fully lit-up soles.  Rowan was pretty into him.  

We finally boarded and --because I like to remain in the vanguard of poo-and-sleep blogging I will share this with you-- Cece had a serious serious meltdown like two hours into the flight.  She was squatting (apparently, Alia told her how to do some bouncy squats to help her poo-poo) and she was just waaaiilingggg.... she would flail, wail, scream, refuse a bottle, refuse food, etc., and then, when she finally got her poop out and I changed her, she was right as rain, and I am sure everyone on the plane was relieved.  She fell asleep very soon after than, and then Rowan told me how tired he was, so I had two sleeping children flanking me.  I knew this could come back to bite us overnight in New York, which it did with Cece awakening at 4 a.m. and not going back to sleep (this was the same deal last year coming back from Iceland).  But the kids were out.  So out.   I was really exhausted too, so I think I got a few winks during the flight.  I also popped open my computer and did a little writing for this blog and for one I’ve been keeping for Cece. 

When we arrived to JFK, all of the deplaning and getting our luggage went smoothly, but you know, our maiden use of our Global Entry cards wasn’t super smooth.  We had gotten them for all of us since we’ve been internationally traveling in the summers and we though they’d make things go more quickly, but the interface on the Global Entry computer was shite (’scuse my language, but as a technical communication teacher, I teach user-oriented design, and seriously, that UI was not user-oriented).  Anyway, we did manage to get through it, but I got scolded by the border agent for not having all of our documents organized in the right way when we approached his desk.  Ah well.

We got a big Suburban Uber -- the most spacious Uber we’ve had, which fit all of our stuff and the kids’ seats-- and it took us over to Laguardia, to the Sheraton there, which is where we were leaving from the next morning.  The kids got to sleep pretty well at the Sheraton, but I was starving, and so I hoped to get something to eat after everyone went to sleep, but alas, all I found available was a Nutrigrain bar, an apple, and a glass of wine.  I suppose it could’ve been worse. 

The next day, we got ourselves to Laguardia with no problem and traveled home to Albuquerque -- and I will write a bit about that in my next post, in which I will also offer some salient memories that perhaps I haven’t shared yet along with some concluding thoughts that I will mostly pull together for myself, because I do have a tendency to like to tie things up in a “nice bow,” so I will see what I can do in that vein in my next post. 

[phantasmkiss]

Calypso

QC Monthly Challenge #19

Billionaire Mason Parsons had an ego, that much was obvious. He'd commissioned an obscenely large yacht, and from what I could tell, it was mostly to impress other people. He loved his new toy so much that he commissioned a website to go with it, and that's where I came in.

I'm a graphic designer by trade, and I made a bid on the job. I couldn't say why he chose me, but he did, and I was determined to live up to expectations. Mason invited me and my daughter to see Calypso herself on a weekend-long holiday off the coast of Newcrest to get a feel for her before I began. How could I say no?

I met his family first, and wondered what I had gotten myself into. His father, Matthew Parsons, was a big-wig investor who'd started out as a "Mailroom Technician," which sounds like a fancy way to say he brought people's mail to their desks. He'd recently married a woman younger than either of his children, and the two were definitely in their honeymoon phase.

Mason's sister, Madison, had a Can I see your manager? haircut, and I recognized her husband, Ramsey Zeng. He was one of those young men who'd made millions launching companies. Chronos magazine had called him a "Tech Guru" and a "Dot-Com Pioneer." He seemed to be trying to talk to their daughter, Audrey, as Madison complained about how long it was taking to set the stairs up next to the yacht.

Finally, the man himself showed up.

I'd dressed my best and was glad of it. For all the Internet stalking research I'd done, seeing Mason Parsons in person was an experience. The ego I'd expected, but not the charm. Mason was outgoing, self-assured, and, dare I say it? Extremely handsome! He welcomed me and my daughter, Alexandria, as though we were the guests of honor, not an employee doing hands-on research and her plus-one.

We chatted for a bit, then he led the way, a brisk breeze ruffling our clothing as we mounted the steps. There we met the pilot, Mitchell Kalani, and the activities director, aptly named Summer Holiday!

We went to the bridge while the crew brought our luggage and readied rooms. I pulled back the scarf I'd worn to protect my hair from the wind and promptly forgot to be nervous in my excitement.

Mason and Mitch explained the navigation equipment to me while Alexandria asked Summer every question she could think of. How fast could Calypso go? (Eighteen knots, though she cruised at twelve.) Who'd built her? (She was based on a design by Christensen Shipyards, originally called Casino Royale.) How big was she? (Forty-six squares long by fifteen squares at her widest.)

I even got to wear the Captain's hat!

Alexandria and I were shown to our rooms by Siobhan (pronounced sheh-vahn) Fyres. Each room had a double bed, a desk and Wi-Fi enabled computer, a lot of storage, and a private bathroom. Alexandria claimed a room on the starboard side, and I was across the hall.

I found something in my room which hadn't been in my daughter's, and began to wonder about our host's true intentions.

Little time passed before we were back out on the deck. It was late afternoon by then, as we said goodbye to Twin Oracle Point and began our journey to sea.

We were called to supper promptly at 7 pm. and the spread was fabulous! Alexandria, Mason and I chose the lobster, though there was also steak, gnocchi, and several things I couldn't quite identify. I ordered a non-alcoholic Purple Rain and Alexandria had something pink that shot off sparks when she first got it!

We were joined by Sims I hadn't realized were aboard, and I got a little starstruck. Apparently Mason's friends include the Landgraabs and the Goths, though Bella Goth was missing during the meal. Geoffrey Landgraab is a really nice, down-to-earth guy, something I hadn't expected, considering his wife's rumored criminal activity.

After supper was karaoke! Some of the guests were a little juiced by then. Matthew's wife, Aura, broke the ice with Madonna's Like a Virgin, which was a little awkward for the rest of us. Mason's niece sang Somewhere Over the Rainbow before being sent off to bed, and she did an amazing job!

I wanted to sing, but didn't have the nerve until Alexandria dragged me on stage. It was tough finding a duet that wasn't romantic, and even harder finding one we both knew, but we finally settled on Good Time, by Owl City and Carly Rae Jepson. It was a lot of fun!

A few Sims wandered off to bed, Alexandria included, though I think she was more interested in gossiping to her friends online than she was in sleeping! The rest of us went out onto the upper deck for music and dancing.

I recognized Alice Spencer-Kim on the piano and waved hello. This would be a nice job for her, but I bet she couldn't wait to get home to her family!

After hours of socialization, I needed quiet, but didn't want to stray too far. I stopped at the edge of the deck to look out over the water. The night was beautiful, buildings along the shore lit up, moonlight reflecting off the water. I wasn't alone for long.

Mason joined me, and for some moments, the silence was comfortable. When he spoke at last, he said some things I won't write, lest my daughter read this!

Our earlier tour hadn't included the master suite, but it was as modern and sleek as the rest of the yacht. It had the usual bed and storage, of course, but also had two walk-in closets, a vanity, and a high-end television.

I took the time to write down notes for my web design before checking out the master bathroom as well.

The master bathroom was as large as my entire suite! It had the same amenities, a shower and a tub, but dual sinks and far more space.

Later I met with Alexandria on deck. She loves kids, and had made fast friends with Audrey. This forced her parents to spend time talking with each other, which seemed to work out. Her mother was finally beginning to relax.

I was talking with Mason when I saw sea turtles off the port stern. They swam alongside the yacht for a moment, but when Alexandria came over, she had missed them!

We talked, and everyone decided to go for a swim, or snorkeling, or simply lounging in the sun. I took Alexandria with me. I spotted the turtles again! This time Alexandria didn't miss a thing, and we watched them for some time.

It was one thing seeing aquatic life from the yacht, but quite another to swim amongst it all. We saw schools of fish below a nearby dock, sea grasses and flowers, and I thought I saw a treasure chest, though I lost track of it in the excitement. Maybe someone else will be lucky!

We returned to Calypso, where the Parsons family was having a casual lunch on the top deck. We ate and talked where the night before we had danced. I decided I had misjudged Matthew's young wife. She really did seem to love him, and he could be as charming as his son.

After lunch, most of the others wanted to lie in the sun. Alexandria and I took that time to go exploring on-board! We started with the door off the dining room, which naturally led to a kitchen.

The kitchen had a double wide refrigerator and two sinks, as well as two dishwashers! I could smell something baking and hear someone moving around in the next room, so we took off before we could get caught!

The kitchen wasn't the only crew area we wandered into. We found an office/lounge as well. It was sparsely furnished, but clean and well-stocked. We talked about taking a skeleton key with us, but didn't actually do it. Anything that was locked up, we were fine staying out of!

The last stop on our private tour was the engine room. I hadn't imagined how much machinery it would take to run a ship of this size! Alexandria and I looked, but didn't touch, and finally we went to rejoin the party.

Mason was with Geoffrey Landgraab in the gym. Summer offered to coach us if we wanted to try the equipment, so we changed into our workout clothes and jumped onto the treadmills!

As promised, it was a bracing environment to exercise! I've rarely had so much fun exercising, though I wasn't at it long before I pulled a muscle.

Alexandria took me to the infirmary, which was small, but had everything I needed. Summer and Siobhan tended to my injury, which was thankfully minor, and I was advised not to overexert myself for the rest of the holiday. I had been very active!

There was a movie playing in the recreation room, and several Sims gathered to watch it, to read, or to play chess. Audrey played a very good game against her grandfather, though he won in the end.

I was feeling inspired, so I brought out my paints and easel. Alexandria watched me for a while, as I began to paint a passing canal boat, but Audrey came to find her, and they left together.

I later found them together, reading The First Unicorn. It was one of Alexandria's favorite books from when she was younger, and she'd brought it in case she got bored. That had never happened, but she had found someone else to share her love of reading!

Supper was amazing again, and this time everyone joined us. The table seated all thirteen Sims, with room to spare!

Alexandria and I stayed up half the night talking about everything we'd seen and done. She confronted me about my feelings for Mason, but I assured her that I have no intentions of settling down any time soon! She swore to me that if he broke my heart, she'd punch his yacht.

Finally, our holiday was at an end. It was hard saying goodbye to the crew, who felt like friends now, hard saying goodbye to the life of luxury, and to Mason.

While Alexandria hugged Audrey goodbye, Mason and I stepped aside to talk. I told him that I didn't feel right beginning a relationship while I was working for him, however distantly. I thought that it would be easier to do the job than to risk my heart after so many years with only my daughter to care for.

He countered with a rose, as fresh and beautiful as the one I’d found on my pillow that first night.

We had exchanged contact information before this weekend even happened, and though I'd heard he was a non-committal playboy, he promised to contact me again. Is this the end of a holiday, or the beginning of something else?

At last, Alexandria and I stood alone on the dock, watching Calypso ready to move on.

Who is Mason Parsons, really? An eccentric billionaire? A heartless rogue? Or is there something more to him, below the polished walls he puts up all around him? Maybe someday I'll find out.

Yacht: Calypso in the Sims 4 Gallery

Parsons Family in the Sims 4 Gallery

Note: Captain’s hat is CC and not included. You can find it here, though.

(Origin ID: PhantasmKiss)

[greatplanettahoe]

Japan Log Day 1

I kind of want to create a log of my time in Japan. I think it’d be fun, and from what I’ve heard, I’d be able to remember my trip better! There may be a day delay for me, at least for day one because that was all flying and lemme tell you, after a 13 hour flight, a 3 hour flight felt like NOTHING, haha. I felt like I played on my DS for a half hour and it was over. So, I don’t know when entirely I’ll post these, or if anyone cares, but I don’t. Because it’ll be fun for me to look back on and remember ;)

Day one - The day of insane travel

Our journey began as most other journeys do, of sitting at home, counting away the hours and having panicked thoughts of what you still need to do and what’s been done. My way of coping was to blast music - sorry Tegan - and stare blankly at a wall. Not productive when packing was half done. Luckily, I got everything ready about an hour before my friend came to pick me up. About ten minutes before, I began to stress clean. I guess that’s exciting? Lilia’s parents graciously took us to Vancouver In'tl Airport (YVR)- Canada. The car ride felt short. Shorter than I thought it was to get to the border. Right before we hit, we got to see the tiny little peace arch. Cool! Going in, the border guard is looking over our passports, doing the routine questions. 

Then, he leans in and goes “Alauna?” and I sheepishly correct him as he clearly wasn’t quite sure how to pronounce my name. He informs me that I need to sign my passport and I need to do that before I check in at the airport otherwise they may not let me fly. OOPS! Luckily Lil’s dad had a pen that I could use otherwise I’d have to hunt for somewhere to sell a pen at the airport at MIDNIGHT! Getting into the country, I receive a text from my mobile provider. CONGRATS! T-Mobile works in Canada text/data free, call 20c/min. Neat! 

After a pretty good wait in line - China Eastern is apparently a very popular company - and chatting with the nice lady in front of us we reach the airline official. Neither of our passports scanned into the computer. Probably because Lilia’s is 9 years old, mine’s 1 month. He was very kind, making sure that we knew our layover was between two different airports in Shanghai (more on that later, ugh) and asked us if we had any illegal items to which we both said no. He smiled and said “I trust you two, you both look very trustworthy”. He then noticed that we were seated at least 10 rows away from each other. With our permission he changed our seats to be together. Once he got our tickets, he pointed out what information we needed to know. Lilia got seat C, he was going to be in seat B, I in A …. wait. There is no seat B! :P With a very heartfelt thank you, we asked where the gates were and said our farewell.

Getting up to security, was a very small line with a long wait. It looked like the officer’s battery had died on his scanner and had to get a new one. Oh well. After that, it took about 2 seconds to make sure our tickets were valid - phew! and go onto phase two with the bag screening. They instructed us to put laptops in a separate tray. Confusedly, I ask the man why. He mentioned because laptops could be bombs. Which, I never thought about and by the look on my face, he must have understood and had a small smile as we thanked him. Lilia got through security fine. The metal detector beeped for me. Contrats, I’m wearing a bra, because that was literally why the detector beeped for me. Past that, we walked through a small mall with a bunch of stores, and very glittery flooring. Our gate was easy to find, and had a subway near us. We just got chips and ginger ale as we both weren’t feeling fantastic.

There’s not much meant to be said for the flight. Although, as it took off, Lilia looked at me and said; “I regret every jet I crashed in GTA 5” 

It was nearly 13 hours and insane. Neither of us slept much, which sucked. But, at least it was quiet as pretty much everyone else did sleep. Except for one guy in the row beside us whose entertainment screen wouldn’t turn off and he was trying to sleep so he had his jacket backwards to cover his face LOL. I did kind of feel bad for him since it was legitimately malfunctioning. Their movie selection was pretty bomb. Lilia and I synced up our screens so we watched Furious 7 together. The airline provided us dinner. I accidentally got shrimp noodles, which thank you that my medicine works, and Lilia got some sort of beef patty and rice. There was also some sort of custard that was similar to cheesecake, but not entirely. It was delicious. We both tried to sleep for a while. Gave up. We got breakfast which was two adorable hash-brown patties, an omelette, and a very undercooked, disease sausage link which neither of us touched. At that point, Lilia started up Day After Tomorrow, and I started Secret Life of Pets … which got interrupted a total of a billion times. I managed to finish SLoP right before they cut off entertainment for landing purposes.

The drive after landing and getting to our gate was probably half the time of our flight. We get another text from T-Mobile. Welcome to China! Your phone has free texting, call 20c/min, and 2g unlimited data! AWESOME!

Immigration was easy, whom also informed us that our connecting flight was in a separate airport, security was easy (they have thermal screening, so that was definitely interesting!), and getting our luggage was SUPER easy. Customs, we had nothing to declare so went through that line no prob, and exited the airport into a throng of people all shouting ‘taxi!’. One guy dogged us for a long time and we eventually rolled with him as the bus to take us to Honquaio was in another hour and we only had four before our other flight. Driving in Shanghai is terrifying. Our driver nearly creamed 2 people on mopeds, and almost hit countless other cars. I never want to drive in Shanghai. As nice as the city was, there was no telltale building style, and all the buildings were insane colors. I saw an apartment complex that was hot pink. OK. We arrive at the airport, to where the cabby swindled us out of a little more money than what we agreed on, but both of us were tired and didn’t care at that point. The line in this airport was about two times longer than YVR, but went quickly enough. Again, getting to our gate was super easy, and we had about an hour of downtime before boarding.

Second flight felt way too short, and they provided us with spaghetti and another of those delicious cluster squares! Hell yeah. I think I played my DS for the entire time, but it was hard to tell since the flight felt super short.

Getting into Japan, immigration was NUTS. The line was insanely long, although it went quickly. Got fingerprinted so if I crime in Japan, they’ll know it was me. Shucks. Too bad I wasn’t planning on anything anyways. We both had our first experience with a Japanese western toilet which I’m now convinced they all have bidets since our hotel toilet has one too. FYI, the seats are very warm when you sit on them, and the one in the airport played gentle music to mask the fact that I had the best racehorse pee in the universe. Sorry, TMI? We get ANOTHER text from T-mobile. HOORAY! Your phone works! Free text, 20c/min call, 2g unlimited data! WHAT?! I wasted $40 on SIM cards before we left, and now we don’t need them! Oh well, lol.

Hitting up the international ATM, my card was declined. WHAT!? I had called my bank, so they should know I’m here! I managed to get the attention of an airport lady who graciously tried helping, but it declined for her too. Lilia was able to get out some cash. What the heck?! We asked the airport lady where the Keikyu line was and if Pasmo was over there, and she instructed us what to do. We thanked her for her time and assistance. Meanwhile, there was another American having the same problem as I. I noticed his card had a chip. Lilia’s didn’t. Ding ding, it’s the chip. We got sodas and some Japanese candy and a fruit cup, got Pasmo’s and went to the station towards Kawasaki - after a little help as we didn’t see our stop. 

The train wasn’t too terribly crowded. But, went approximately the speed of a fighter jet. My shoulder and back is still sore for hanging on for dear life while making sure my luggage didn’t go anywhere. There was a lady I kept bumping into and I kept apologizing whenever I did though she just smiled and told me it was OK. There was also a nice man there who watched us to make sure we were OK and whenever another train passed us, make a slight thunking noise, probably had a great internal laugh at my face whenever I had a slight panic about it.

Getting off the station and heading down some steps, there are apparently designated sides which you move. We went down halfway the wrong way, realized, and moved over with our luggage. Sorry! Walking here is definitely interesting. There’s people crossing the streets, not even really looking. I think we saw 1 personal car on our walk to the hotel.

Getting into Noanoa was easy. Manager was SUPER nice, got our luggage taken to the room, and let us stay in the spa room while we waited the last hour before the official check-in time. While there, Lilia opened up her fruit cup, which has jello instead of juice, and I had my candies which were DELICIOUS, and apparently limited time, so guess what I’m buying more of once I get cash? Because Japan is a very cash-heavy type of country.

Our hotel room is a little small, but nothing we can’t handle. I’m sure Lilia feels weird actually being on par or taller than most the people we’ve passed walking to the hotel. We spent half the day exploring the tiny room, seeing what was on TV and being very confused over a child’s show before turning it off. We figured out google translate, and have translated pretty much everything in our room. We still need to figure out the unit on the wall, but we at least know lighting, what the controls are on the bidet, and how to work the mechanical nightmare that is the shower. We put on a Youtube show that we both like, and I crashed just before 7PM after roughly 24 hours of travel and not sleeping. Lilia poked me awake and we officially went to bed around 7PM. 

We have not eaten since at least noon on the flight, and it’s going on 14 hours. Yeesh.

Our plans today, as I’m finishing this up around 2PM, is to visit an actual bank so I can hopefully withdraw cash, find somewhere to eat, and hit up a couple parks and museums. There’s also the Keihin Fushimi Inari shine that we’ll probably explore. Today is slotted to be a low-key day as we’re both pretty tired even after sleeping for a solid 12+ hours.

Note: Edited for easier reading

[ek-triptych]

Third Day of Triptych Christmas: Meeting Lawrence

//It’s the third day of Christmas, and KV and El have collaborated to bring you... a masterpiece. Let’s officially meet Lawrence Rynn!

"Hey, so Father is coming home today," Falcon called one morning from the kitchen, where he was clumsily scrambling eggs for breakfast.

"Great," replied a distracted Three as he stared at his computer screen at the dining room table. "Welcome back."

Falcon rolled his eyes as he stuck his head into the dining room. "Thanks, glad to be back. Before anything happens, though, we should get our story straight.  What are we gonna tell him?"

"We're out of hot pockets?"

Falcon came up behind Seth and smacked his head with a damp dishtowel.  “Seriously, man.  Do you know how smart Father is?  We make one slip up and he will catch it, I guarantee.”

Seth looked back at Falcon, irritated. "What, you think the drug story won't work on him? Or you're not comfortable with the lovers thing?"

“Okay, well, I already told him you’re on the run from the government so…”

"Oh, Romeo."

“But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?  It is the east, and Juliet is the-”

Seth shoved Falcon's chest and turned back to his computer. "Don't do that."

“These violent delights have violent ends, and in their triumph die, like fire and powder which, as they kiss, consume.”

"Well I hope your violent delights involve something like kissing a poisonous snake."

“You started it.”

Seth shrugged. "Alright, well if you want a straight story, we're not lovers. But I don't see the point in making something up or explaining anything away. What's so complicated about this."

“Okay, so then you just want to give him the truth?  I mean, it’s your story bro; up to you.”

Three closed his computer and stretched his arms. "How about we cross that bridge when we get to it. When's he coming back?"  

Falcon checked the clock on the wall behind him. “Two hours or so.  Maybe three, depending on how crowded the airport is.”  He suddenly remembered his eggs and sprinted back into the kitchen, sliding to a stop before the vaguely smokey stove.

Seth walked up behind the other boy and looked over his shoulder. "Nice eggs."

“Yeah, they’re eggcellent,” Falcon said flatly, dumping the very browned scramble onto a plate.

"And I'm not hungry, so have fun eating it by yourself," Three told him.

“I’m telling Gabe you didn’t eat.”

"I'm telling Gabe you tried to poison me with burnt cooking. If you can call it cooking." Seth disappeared from the kitchen.

A few hours later, the front door opened and a wind-swept figure stumbled in.  Chewing absently on his thumbnail and muttering to himself, Lawrence kicked off his shoes without even looking up from the myriad of papers in his other hand, leaving his luggage by the front door and walking right past Seth, who sat watching him from the couch in the front room.

“I am home!” Lawrence called in the general direction of the stairs. “Falcon, come look at this!  These results are incredible…”

Seth could hear a series of very loud shuffling noises follow Lawrence down the hall as he apparently bumped into walls and almost tripped over something on his way to the office. Considering his next move for a few seconds, Three contemplated the best way to go about this before finally putting his computer on the side and going to follow the man through the kitchen, where Lawrence had just bumped into the island.

At this moment Falcon emerged from the side-door, took one look at the mess left in the entranceway, and let out a guffaw.  

“I see Father arrived,” he laughed, giving a friendly bump to Three’s shoulder as he passed. “Come on, I’ll introduce you.”

Three looked at Falcon skeptically. "Is he… actually here right now?"

Falcon shrugged. “We just have to snap him out of work mode.  Hopefully we can catch him before he settles into his chair; I might have to physically pick him up if he has.”

Walking over to look through the office doorway, Three leaned back out and told Falcon, "Brute force it is."  Falcon poked his head in as well and sighed.

“Oh great.”  Striding over to the man hunched over his desk, he leaned down and tapped Lawrence’s shoulder. “Hey,” he said. “Earth to Father, are you there?”

Lawrence didn’t even look up, just reached blindly for the top of Falcon’s head and rubbed it, messing up his hair.  “Yes, hello son, how was your week?  One moment; I’ve almost got this, then I’ll be with you.”

Falcon snorted.  “Yeah, no, you just got off a ten hour flight.  You need a shower and food, emphasis on the shower.  Let’s go.”

“Yes, of course, just one minute…”

Falcon turned to give a “What did I tell you?” look to Seth in the doorway, who shrugged and stepped inside the room. "Hi, Lawrence Rynn."

“Yes, hello,” Lawrence replied absently. “How are you?”

“Okay, that’s it,” Falcon said.  He grabbed the back of Lawrence’s chair and tipped it backwards, dragging across the floor and out the door with a loudly-protesting Lawrence still sitting on it.  “What kind of detective are you?  You didn’t even see that there’s a new person in the house, Father.”  

Three followed silently, watching without expression as Falcon practically manhandled Lawrence into the bathroom and shut the door on him.

“There,” he said with satisfaction, patting imaginary dust off his hands. “Don’t come out til you’ve showered, Father!”

"This is how a family with teenagers works…," Three half-commented, half-asked.  

Falcon shrugged. “Probably not.  It’s how ours works though.  You hungry?”

"Okay."

Several minutes later, the bathroom door opened to a cleaner and significantly more mentally-present Lawrence, who walked sheepishly up to Falcon and engulfed him in a bear hug.

“Hi,” Falcon laughed, patting his back. “Good to have you home.”

“Hello again, son,” Lawrence replied. “It’s good to be back.”  

He disentangled himself from his son and turned to Seth instead, extending his hand. “And welcome to you, Seth.  My apologies for earlier; it has been a long week.  It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Seth took his hand. "Yeah, nice to meet you too. Welcome home."

All three of them looked up when suddenly the doorbell rang.

"Who could that be?" Lawrence looked puzzled.

“I ordered in pizza,” Falcon announced, already halfway to the door. “Sorry, we’re fresh out of hot pockets.”

As he disappeared, an awkward silence began to settle over the other two as they listened to Falcon greet the delivery person outside. Finally Three turned to the man, looked him over briefly, and commented, "So you're a detective."

“Yes, a private investigator.”

"That's cool." Seth moved back to lean slightly against the wall. "What kinds of cases do you take? Homicide? Theft?"

“A mix of many things,” Lawrence replied.  “It depends on who hires me.”

"What kinds of clients do you usually get?"

“Usually people looking for missing family, background checks, that sort of thing.”

"Missing family's that common?" Three made no attempt to hide his interest, cocking his head to the side. "So are your services pretty expensive?"

“Yes,” Lawrence told him.  “But, if you are asking for a specific reason…?”

"Well, I was recently beginning to look for family right now." Seth paused to reconsider his statement. "Except you could say that I'm the missing person, I guess."

Lawrence raised his eyebrows. “Interesting.  Well, it is certainly easier to find people who haven’t disappeared than those who have.  Has Falcon run a check for you?”

Falcon returned with the pizza as Seth answered, "Not that I'm aware of."

“Not aware of what?” Falcon asked, a slice of pizza already stuffed in his mouth as he walked up.

"How hungry you were," Seth told him, turning to face him. "It doesn't take that long to get to the dining room and sit down."

“I’m a multitasker,” Falcon said with a grin. “Why walk then eat if you can do both at the same time?”

"Because it's rude in some places, but no one cares about that anyway."

“My house, my rules.”

“Actually, it’s my house,” Lawrence interjected. “Likely my money that paid for it too.  I want one.”  Falcon set the box down on the table and doled out pizza slices, not bothering to get plates.

"You're kind of a big deal in your field, right?" Three continued to ask Lawrence as they ate. "If your services are that expensive."

“Most private detectives’ services are expensive,” Lawrence replied between a bite of pizza.

"But wouldn't your comparison of your prices be relative to the prices in your own field?"

Falcon decided to contribute here. “His don’t cost especially more than others’. He just takes a lot of ‘em.”

"Okay." Three leaned back, dissatisfied but apparently not going to push it any further. "Then would a kid like me be able to hire you?"

Lawrence answered him with a blunt, “A kid like you, or you?”

Three paused suddenly to watch him. "Is there a difference?"

“You’re my son’s friend," Lawrence said; "if it was in fact you I would be willing to help you for no charge. A kid like you, however, might have a harder time affording it.”

Three tilted his head slightly as if hearing a curious statement. "What's the difference between someone your kid's attached to as opposed to someone he's not, though?" he mused. "Does it make someone more important? It's the exact same work for the exact same end cause."

“My son doesn’t make friends lightly,” Lawrence said. “And he is obviously wanting to help you if you’re in my house.  Falcon has good judgement, so I'd know my help is warranted in this case.”

"Alright," Three acknowledged. "In other words, it's a pre-screening for who's worthy of your time, and in this case, Falcon's your judge. Then... yes, I'm the one who needs your service. So you'll help?"

Lawrence nodded.

Seth asked, "When can we start?"

                                      -- To Be Continued --