#and that Maurice had to be set free from that even though he also got good things out of his relationship with Clive

[clandest1ne-g1rl]

maturing is realising Clive Durham is not a villain in Maurice's story but merely his own

[bailey-reaper]

Barok getting roped into a Dance of Deduction by Herlock while out on an investigation. Either as the subject of the dance, or Herlock's dance partner.

Of Death & Deductions

Notes: Sorry it's taken me so long to get around to this one, anon - it's such an amusing premise and I've been trying to think of the best way to deliver it! Hopefully this offering is alright!

Content Warnings: Herlock. Sholmes.; Tia tries to create a Logic & Reasoning Spectacular; tries is the operative word...; I'm sorry Capcom.

"Mr. Reaper!"

Herlock announced his presence loudly and with dramatic flair as he threw himself through the Prosecutor's (thankfully open) window and rolled along the floor before hopping up to a stand before the man's desk.

". . ."

Barok was quietly penning a letter to the Attorney General's Office at the time, and his pen did not even flinch at the sudden appearance of the irksome detective. Instead, he ignored his 'guest' (lit. intruder) and continued with his work.

"What? No welcome?! Not even a cry of shock!? I'm disappointed... clearly I must redouble my efforts," Herlock folded his arms while looking thoughtful.

"... A novel suggestion," Barok said, not looking up from his letter, "But perhaps try the door next time and, shockingly, maybe arrange an appointment?"

Herlock arched an eyebrow, "That's far too boring, my good fellow!"

"Ah yes..." having finished his letter, Barok set the quill down and powdered the paper so the ink would take hold, "Silly me," he folded it in half, slipped it into an envelope and proceeded to seal it with wax, "... Fine. Why are you here?"

"I'm SO glad you asked! There has been a murder most foul not far from here, I wondered if you might wish to accompany me to the scene!"

Barok arched an eyebrow, wondering why the detective had come here to inform him rather than a policeman. Still, it would be remiss of him to ignore the problem, "Why didn't you say that sooner?"

"I've said it at the appropriate time, now let us be off ── posthaste!"

──────≪⊰✥⊱≫───────

They arrived at Madam Tusspells in record time and went into the 'Law and Order' exhibition, where a number of prominent figures from the world of law were preserved in wax forever more - including Lord van Zieks himself.

He paid his own waxwork no heed, even though the corpse was collapsed before it.

"Now, dear fellow, everything is ready and thus it is time!"

"Time for what?" Barok asked, peering at the detective.

"Why!" Sholmes held up a finger and smiled, "Time for the main attraction that is Herlock Sholmes's 'Logic and Reasoning Spectacular'!!"

"... huh?"

𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔊𝔯𝔢𝔞𝔱 𝔇𝔢𝔡𝔲𝔠𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫

..... The game is afoot!

𝔗opic 1: the victim's identity

Sholmes (somehow) casts a spotlight upon the corpse, "Firstly, we must consider the man's attire. He does not appear to be wearing a uniform that would identify him as a member of staff. The fact he is wearing a suit might point toward him being a member of the nobility, but no! Look at how ill-fitting his suit is and how he clearly ignores all good and proper fashion trends. Clearly this man is an undercover police officer!"

"Let me stop you there," Barok interjected, already annoyed by the monologue, "This man clearly is not a police officer."

"Oh ho! So the reaper waits for no one! You wish to correct my deductions ad lib? Well... it's unconventional, but very well Mr. Reaper! What's wrong with my deduction?"

"This," Barok held up a business card, "The man is a fine arts dealer by the name of Maurice De Lioncourt. It would appear he is here on a visit from France, given that he also has his passport on his person with corresponding details."

"Oh ho! Well, yes, that wraps this topic up rather nicely!" Sholmes exclaimed.

ℭonclusion: the man is an undercover policeman a fine arts dealer by the name 'Maurice de Lioncourt'!

"Onward, then! To the second deduction!"

"Do we have to?" Barok muttered.

Apparently the answer to that was a resounding yes--

𝔗opic 2: the cause of the victim's demise

"So that leaves but one mystery for us to unravel, my dour friend! How did this poor visitor to our shores meet his untimely end?! I believe the truth of the matter is plain as day and incredibly shocking!"

Barok sighed, knowing full well the answer was about to be mangled into some nonsensical drivel by the 'Great Detective', "... Do tell."

"It is obvious that this man is a thrill seeker! Those who deal in fine arts clearly enjoy the heart pounding terror that comes with purchasing works and not knowing whether they've secured a genuine article or a terrible fake! With that devil may care attitude, our poor victim came to the Madame Tusspells Museum of Waxworks with the intention of being entertained -- but clearly he got more than he bargained for when he came face to face with the terrifying visage of a real life vampire! The horrifyingly pallid and dour face no doubt sent him into the throes of a most awful shock, causing him to suffer a most sharp and unmistakably fatal heart attack!"

"OBJECTION!" Barok snarled, "Are you truly going to suggest that the man, upon seeing a wax work of me, went on to suffer a heart attack?!"

"Indubitably my good fellow! Yours is a face that strikes fear into the hearts of hardened criminals! Think what it would do to an innocent museum goer!"

"This ... is ridiculous!" Barok hissed as he glowered at the detective, "Your narrative is full of holes!"

"Oh ho is that so? Then do feel free to point out where I've gone wrong, good fellow!"

"First of all, you claim the man is a thrill seeker who enjoys being terrified but this is NOT the 'House of Horrors' where one would go to be thusly terrified! This is the Law and Order exhibit!"

"Well perhaps this terrifying waxwork of a vampire has been mistakenly placed in the Law and Order exhibition?" Holmes opined.

"It's a waxwork of ME, man! And I am not a vampire!" Barok shot back indignantly.

"I fear the jury is out on that one, Mr. Reaper, but I suppose it's true enough that you are a Prosecutor so your waxwork might well be placed in the Law and Order exhibit. Pray tell, then, if you claim this man did not suffer a fatal heart attack upon laying his eyes on your most formidable and imposing visage, what did kill him?"

"Oh I wonder... Perhaps the knife in his back?!"

ℭonclusion: the man suffered a heart attack upon seeing Prosecutor van Zieks' face was stabbed in the back with a knife!

𝔇𝔢𝔡𝔲𝔠𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫 ℭ𝔬𝔪𝔭𝔩𝔢𝔱𝔢!

....... Elementary!

"And thus concludes Herlock Sholmes's 'Logic and Reasoning Spectacular'!" Herlock announced proudly, before sighing and looking dismayed, "I have to say, Mr. Reaper, you make for a rather woeful dance partner... your sense of decorum is quite shot! I shan't be in a hurry to invite you to take part in one of my Deduction Dances."

"Good, never darken my door again and call the police for God's sake man!" Barok snarled, before stalking out of the museum and directly into a Hansom, "To the Prosecutor's Office, good man, and send the bill to 221B Baker Street."

Sholmes sighed as he watched other man leave, "... Truly I do miss that brilliant young man... come back to London soon, Mr. Naruhodo!"

[nyxravessnow]

Review 2021 Kuromyu – Namashitsuji Secrets of the Public School Arc

Disclaimer: This is not an unbiased review so please proceed knowing that it is heavily opinionated.

2nd Disclaimer: I have never seen the anime or read the manga of Black Butler. All of my thoughts are based on comparisons to previous musicals and comments from fans about how accurate their portrayal is. I understand this may turn some people off my review which is understandable but I think an important thing for shows is how accessible they can be for people who don’t know the source material.

 FREE OF SPOILERS

Overall rating: 8/10

 Acting – 8/10

Music – 8/10 (I took an average of my song scores)

Ease of understanding – 8/10

Direction – 7/10

 Overall Summary:

I think the show was excellent and showed respect to the old shows but also did quite a few new things. All the scenes and songs had clear thought put into them and the acting showcased these things very well. It was not quite like what I expected it was going to be like but now that I’ve seen it, I can’t quite think of what I expected. I think if you like 2.5D or if you like Black Butler or the actors in this show then you will enjoy the show quite a lot. It is not exactly the same as before from every standpoint apart from it being Black Butler so I would say don’t go in expecting it to be just the same.

 I will move to a spoiler review under the cut but plainly, this show is very good and I think all the actors did a great job.

As I normally do I am going to give my thoughts on story, acting, songs and directing, then mention some extra stuff that I might think of at the end. I am sorry if I bring up the fact that I’m British and went to boarding school like my parents too much.

Story: The story was mostly pretty easy for me to follow, especially as a British person who knows about Cricket and boarding schools. I haven’t seen Campania so the dolls confused me a little at first but that is completely on me for not having seen the previous show. When watching I was very confused about what was going on towards the end but looking back on it that was mainly because of my migraine and not because it wasn’t clear. Scenes were set out well and the camera work was done in a way to make it very easy to follow along. But omg the cricket made me a little upset. It was super fun and all. But it was so inaccurate XD. I guess I now know the pain of people who like tennis when they watch the Prince of Tennis.

Acting: I am going to go actor by actor and give a rough overview of what I thought of them

Tateishi Toshiki as Sebastian Michaelis

I felt like we didn’t get a terribly demonic Sebastian in this show but otherwise I loved Toshi as Sebastian. He felt very elegant and reserved most of the time which contrast well with the times in which he was annoyed at Ciel. He wasn’t terribly present in a lot of the show but I did really enjoy him when he was on stage. His singing voice is excellent and I loved hearing him sing, will go into more about it later during the song summaries.

Konishi Eito as Ciel Phantomhive

I thought Eito was amazing as Ciel and he is my favourite Ciel so far. He showed Ciel’s switch between cute and normal so well and it really made me think about how good of an actor Ciel is. I don’t know how he did what he did to his voice but he makes himself sound like a young child with a slightly higher and scrapey voice than normal and it really makes you think that he is very young. I know many people were worried that they were casting an adult as Ciel because they wanted to sexualise him and this was not the case at all. He only showed any skin in the very first scene when in the cage and he had the sheet/robe-thing showing his shoulder. His singing voice is quite a lot mature than the previous two Ciels, for obvious reasons, and I think it really helped me enjoy his songs.

Okayama Ryousuke as Soma Asman Kadar

While I would still say I prefer Sho’s Soma, mainly bc Sho is one of my fav actors and I am biased, I really liked Ryousuke’s Soma. He was super energetic and friendly and really gave off this air of innocence as he believes Ciel’s reasoning for him to join Weston. His cricket was also very fun. His singing was pretty okay. I think this was as his singing suffered when he was trying to sing in Soma’s voice.

Ueda Kandai as Undertaker

I was honestly quite surprised how good Kandai was as Undertaker. I think his Undertaker voice got better as the show went on so I assume the reason it was less good at first was nerves. He wasn’t in it too much but I thoroughly enjoyed him in every scene he was in. I think I would love it if he learnt to sing in his Undertaker voice more but I also understand that is quite difficult so understand why he’s not doing that.

Sana Hiroki as Edgar Redmond

I thought he was very good as Edgar and carried the emotion needed for the more serious scenes, like the flashback about Derek, very well. He definitely emphasised the queerness of Edgar and had some rather flirtatious moments with Maurice and Joanne. However, despite being flirty and not seeming to be very serious, I completely bought it when he became serious and he played the shift very well (such as in the Maurice reveal scene). His singing voice is good.

Tazuru Shogo as Herman Greenhill

I thought Shogo was really good as Herman, even if it did feel like him playing a slightly nicer version of Sanada – his character from Prince of tennis. He was my 2nd fav of the four and I always enjoyed watching him in his scenes. He played the emotion in the Derek flashback amazingly and you could really see the pain in his eyes when he realised what he had done. His voice was really perfect for Herman.

Satonaka Masamichi as Lawrence Bluewer

I really loved Masa as Lawrence. I don’t know how accurate it is as he didn’t seem very sweet from what I read on his wiki page, but his Lawrence seemed quite tsundere. I loved his bit in the Cricket match when he was talking about wanting to win in his very last year. He also just seemed quite cute. I really enjoyed his singing.

Goto Dai as Gregory Violet

I LOVED Dai as Gregory. He definitely gave off the aura of being weird but he also seemed very sweet to Cheslock and the two actors had really good chemistry. He was really cute in his Cricket gear. He was by far my favourite of the prefects. Despite seeming cute and sweet to Cheslock he definitely retained the aura of mystery and you could never tell what he was thinking. His singing voice is pretty good but he didn’t have many solo bits.

Furuya Yamato as Clayton

While at the beginning I did get an intelligent stuck up vibe from Yamato as Clayton that kinda died away as the show went on and he became much more of a dork. I dunno how much of this is in character but to me it felt slightly like Yamato playing himself. As I think Yamato is an excellent actor, I was a little bit disappointed to see his character change quite a bit but I don’t know how much was him and how much was the direction. Since Yamato is known for comedy and his adlibbing I wouldn’t be surprised if this was actually just direction and the route they decided to go down for this character, hence why they scouted Yamato. I know his singing voice may not appeal to everyone, but I really like it.

Nakajima Takuto as Edward Midford

Takuto was very good as Edward and I think he played his straightforwardness quite well. I love Takuto but I don’t think Edward had much to do apart from the cricket which Takuto did very well. His singing voice is excellent.

Warning: Tsukasa is my favourite actor, and I am very biased

Taguchi Tsukasa as Maurice Cole

Tsukasa was AMAZING as Maurice. He played the changes in his character so well and even though he’s not a very nice person I felt really bad for him during his breakdown as Tsukasa’s scream was heart wrenching. When he was pretending, he felt so light and sweet and then when he was being his normal self he dropped down his voice and even changed his accent slightly as well as changing the way he would stand and walk. Ngl I was not paying too much attention to other people when he was in the scene and I don’t know if it’s just because I’m biased or because his command of the stage is that good but I really felt his stage presence. I loved the way he repeated 2 O’clock to Edgar and the others and how he mirrored the way he did it with Ciel and all the subtleties to his acting were great. He didn’t get to sing very much but he sounded really good.

Fukuzawa Yu as Cheslock

Apart from Tsukasa I think Yu was my favourite in this show. He brought so much energy to Cheslock and I don’t mean making the character energetic, just that he always has so much power and feeling behind his lines and he was so good and cool! He had good command of the stage and worked so well with Dai to be the one the stands out and the one that fades into the shadows. He mostly rapped so I don’t remember his singing voice very much.

Uchino Fuuto as Joanne Harcourt

Fuuto didn’t really stand out to me very much and I don’t think he had very much to do. His singing voice was pretty good.

Hayakawa Iori as Macmillan

He served his part in the story well and was very cute and energetic which I liked. He kinda reminded me of doll a little. His singing voice was pretty good.

Yamaguchi Kooki as Derek Arden

He wasn’t in very much of the show but he played his part very well and even though we got so little of him being unpleasant the way he played it made me hate Derek immediately. I don’t think he got any solo singing bits?

Takahashi Shunichi as Johann Agares

He filled his role very well. The most impressive thing was his falling from the stairs, I was very worried he was going to hurt himself, so I was really glad he was okay as he went from pretty high considering there were lower stairs. His singing voice was good.

Songs: I really love Yu(vague) the composer of the show and he is my favourite music composer. I think he did a really good job with the songs on the whole. I think he did well making them seem different and new yet familiar.

Opening song – 7/10

I think this song was a good opener. I wasn’t too sure about it at first, but it got better as the song went on. Toshi’s voice didn’t sound to be working with the song at first but since he sounded fine later, I think it was just his voice wavering at first from nerves so I’m excited to see what he’s like in the last show. I like how they did short recaps of the previous shows from Lycoris to Campania so the fans are caught up on what has happened, especially since it becomes important when Undertaker comes back with the dolls at the end.

2nd song, I think it’s called ‘It’s perfect black’ – 8/10

I really like this song. I think it is a nice scene setter and is very well sung by everyone. The dance works well and kinda brings Druitt’s dancing to mind with some of it. The song features the full cast and is effectively the Pawn and Sword song of this show.

Welcome to Weston song – 10/10

My first 10/10 song. I really love this song and I already can sing along to it. I love the prefects singing and that the others sing the chorus for them. (Also partly love it for its reprise but I’ll get to that later) I love how rigid and together it sounds. By that I mean that everyone is singing their lines as quite cutting and the harmonies are very crisp. Everyone is perfectly in time and there is no deviation. The rigidness shows the formality and tradition of the school which is reinforced by the students marching around the stage to get to the places. This is the case for everyone except the prefects who have more flowy lines and they walk a lot more freely showing the school’s hierarchy. I also love the prefects pushing Ciel around and surrounding him which foreshadows how he his treated.

Only Prefect Four – 9/10

I might be slightly biased as a Mankai stage fan as this song sounds so like a Mankai stage song but I love it so much. It would be 10/10 but I think their harmonies at the end could be a bit tighter. I think the soft and flowery and upbeat music works really well after the last song. Kinda indicating that the prefects live in a different world to the rest of the school which kinda serves as storytelling so that later when they’re so surprised by Derek’s actions it makes sense as they feel kinda separate from everyone else and it makes sense that they wouldn’t know what was going on in the rest of the school. I also love how they each get their solo bits which tell you stuff about the characters. Edgar’s dance is really reminiscent of Druitt which I really love. Herman’s music is a lot less flowy with a base note and the dance, using cricket bats, really gives off an image of strength. Lawrence’s mixes classical music into the instrumental and it has a more traditional feel. The dance involves a lot of stepping and stopping showing a formulaic approach rather than being flowy or strong. Gregory’s music has a grand feeling to it and it goes lower. Gregory doesn’t move much while Cheslock is doing some hip-hop dancing next to him. And instead of singing a solo section he talks about how he wants to go to bed.

Yes, my lord – 10/10

My favourite song in this show. It shows Ciel being told to do things and him passing his chores to Sebastian and Sebastian getting more and more annoyed with him, even breaking and calling him a brat at one point. The upbeat tone is quite fun and it works really well as a montage song. I like how it goes from Ciel saying ‘Yes, Clayton-senpai’ (senpai is a polite suffix for names of people who are higher up than you) to dropping senpai to just saying yes then turning to Sebastian. It really showcases brat Ciel.

Soma’s song – 10/10

His song is all about being Ciel’s friend and it’s really cute and energetic. The outfits from Soma’s song in Circus and brought back and it has a similar instrumental to his song there. He messes around a lot more in this song, though. Even though he is now much older than Sho was when he played Soma through this song he feels far more youthful through the more relaxed choreography and the energetic music.

Ominous prefect song – 9/10

This song is so cool. I really like the sharp shapes being projected onto the back with lilac light and the softly ominous instrumentals. (it comes right after Edgar mentions ‘the secret of what happened that day’). The vice-principal walking around at the back is really interesting as it looks like he is monitoring them. And the other students walking around with lanterns gives the song an almost supernatural feel. And then Undertaker peeking out from the back at the end gives a more direct hint of what is going on.

Nightmare, opening reprise – 8/10

This is just a reprise of the 1st song but I like it a bit better because it is shorter and the choreography of the cultists surrounding Ciel’s bed is really nice.

The Headmaster’s decision – 10/10

I like the fast pace of this song as Ciel runs around to ask about Derek and keeps just being told it was the headmaster’s decision. The students moving and singing together, then encircling him reinforces Ciel’s feeling like there’s a secret that everyone knows but isn’t telling him. I also like the use of Derek’s actor walking around the stage, always just beyond their sight from where they are.

Cricket song, last song of Act 1 – 6/10

This song is good it’s just not super enthralling. I think it’s probably the weakest pre-interval song out of the Kuromyus. At the beginning Sebastian and Ciel’s mics got really quiet for some reason and the instrumental was a bit louder than them. It’s a nice gentle and weirdly happy and hopeful instrumental which is a bit at odds with the past two ominous songs and I can’t decide if I like that or not. Also, I think the harmonies are a bit off so hopefully that will be better by the final performance. A lot of the singers sound like they have tension in their voices so I think they were all pretty anxious for this song. I do like the song and it might go up a bit if they can get the harmonies in the final show because they got almost none of them in this show. (The one that they did get sounded really good though)

INTERVAL

Cricket tournament – 9/10

While the previous song was also more upbeat than the ominous songs I don’t think it worked due to being directly afterwards, as the first song of Act 2 I quite like that’s it’s more energetic as it gets you hyped for the 2nd Act. This is the song that some Tenimyu, Prince of tennis musical, fans are saying was inspired by Tenimyu. And I will say, it was 100% inspired by Tenimyu XD. Yana-sensei is a fan of Prince of tennis and Shogo, Herman’s actor, was cast in a role very similar to his Prince of tennis role then the Green Lion section literally has lines that are exactly the same as lines from the team Shogo was in. Also, the music during their bit is actually somewhat reminiscent of the music that team normally has.

[Yu(vague) is so good at changing types of music during songs ahh, the Green Lion to Scarlett Fox transition is just so good.]

Honestly, this song would be a 7 or 8 out of 10 without the Violet Wolf part bc omg that part slaps so hard. Gregory and Cheslock high-five and the music just switches to electronic disco music and they rap most of their bit. I love it so much.

Sapphire Owl’s bit is cool too.

Scarlett vs Sapphire Cricket match – 6/10

It’s pretty good. Solid song but isn’t too exciting. Soma’s solo bit is really cute. Main thing letting it down is the ‘It’s cricket’ refrain that is in all three match songs. I was already done with it after like 30 seconds in this song and this song doesn’t have anything else lifting it above like the others do.

Violet vs Green Cricket match – 8/10

Cricket match as a rap battle. I dunno why Violet House became a rap house but I love it and I love Cheslock rapping about his awesome pitch. Then he and Herman having a rap battle is just so fun. I don’t know if this is as fun to Black Butler fans who know the characters a lot better or whether it would be uncomfortable but I had a blast in this song.

Sapphire vs Green Cricket match – 7/10

I really like the beginning instrumental and the short song bit at the very beginning of the song but the refrain hit again so it couldn’t go above a 7 for me.

Victory song – 6/10

Not a bad song but I don’t think the harmonies were there for this one and so I’m excited to see it in the last show again and hear if they improve.

Weston Reprise – 10/10

Oh my god I love this reprise so much. At first it sounds very like the original song then as the prefects slightly lose it as they realise what they have done it becomes more out of sync and the music quietens and it sounds more acapella and they sound slightly like they’re losing it due to the horror of what has happened. And the scratchiness of Gregory’s voice making it sound like he’s going to cry really reinforces that they are just children and they cannot deal with something like this.

Fight song – 7/10

I love the Undertaker taking Ciel to the side and staring at him crazily and singing at him. Again, I could hear Toshi’s nerves and I hope that he can sing the song better in the final show. I really love the Undertaker and Sebastian’s duet though and I think their voices sound really good together and I love the blood refrain in the song.

Finale song – 7/10

A pretty short but solid refrain of ‘It’s Perfect Black’

Direction: I thought the direction overall was pretty solid. There wasn’t anything really innovative attempted I don’t think but I didn’t really feel like there was anything lacking.

Overall: I really loved this show and look forward to seeing the final show and I think this show set up the new cast well for future shows.

Do I recommend buying the stream and DVD?

If you are a fan of 2.5D, any of these actors or Black Butler I really recommend trying to see this show. (The final show with be on 4th April on theatre-complex.jp and you can buy a ticket with just a vpn) While it is very different I feel like it was fairly faithful to its roots but is also trying to grow into something new.

Lastly: If you have any questions about the show, any parts, any songs or about any of the actors feel free to drop me an ask and let’s talk about it!

[popculturebuffet]

Pinky and the Brain: A Pinky And the Brain Christmas Review or I Just Think Schotzie’s Neat

Christmas Continues on this blog... and getting away from one set of Christmas commissions and into another, I offered my friend Blahdiddy three commissions as a present. The other two we’ll get to eventually, but with Animaniacs on the brain, heh, due to the reboot, he selected two Pinky and the Brains and one Animaniacs for me to cover. And while I intended to cover this one sometime this month anyway, my friend’s recent and sad covid diagnosis meant i’m bumping this one all the way up to the front of the line so he has some christmas cheer during this rough time. So with that in mind let’s talk about pinky, pinky and the brain brain brain brain brain shall we? Of course we can’t really talk about pinky and the brain without talking about Animaniacs. I absolutely love the series, I grew up with it as a kid and reconnected with it as an adult when it ended up on netflix. It was smart, well animated and most importantly really fucking funny. I highly recommend checking both the original and reboot of it out some time if you have Hulu. Speaking of the reboot while I might go on in full about it at some point it’s pretty good, with some creatvie jokes, some nice updates, with Rita Anita Anrita being a great new addition to the warner side of things. It’s only real flaw is it gets a bit reptitious as for the most part there’s only really the warners and pinky and the brain with a few exceptions one of which DAMN well deserved at least two segments and we all know which one that is. 

Bring.. this.. to series. The warners and pinky and the brain segments weren’t bad, but as is inevitible in a screwball comedy some just weren’t as good as others and those fell harder when you’ve already seen 2 or 3 better versions of this sort of skit in the season. They did really find their groove towards the end and if you like both Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain, or even just one or the other, it’s worth checking out.  But enough about the reboot let’s talk about those labratory mice whose genes have been spliced. Thanks to wikipedia, I now know the duo were based on Eddie Fitzgerald and Tom Minton, who worked with Tom Rutgeter on Tiny Toon adventures, with menton being the one who came up with Narf, even saying it in one episode of Tiny Tunes. During the creation of animaniacs, Bruce Timm, yes THE Bruce Timm, sketched the two, and Ruetger added mouse ears and the rest was history. Maurice LaMarche was the one who added the Orson Welles to the character, as LaMarche saw the Orson Welles in Brain, ran with it and got the part and a long and storied career in voice acting as a result. In a nice and fitting bit of contrast, Rob Paulsen got the part.. because he was already on the show. Not to downplay Paulsen’s clear talent, I just find it hilarious. 

That’s about what I could dig up on the behind the scenes of the show. From what I can tell it was greenlit because Animaniacs was a massive it, and Pinky and the Brain was the most popular segment, so it just made sense. The show would likewise be a massive sucess with both adults and kids, and go on for three seasons and what should legally be considered a war crime. 

For those of you blissfully unaware yeah, that happened, no no one people actually LIKED from Tiny Toons was in it. And yeah if you want me to talk about it commission it otherwise not going near this one. While I do need to tackle more bad animation... I’ve successfully avoided watching an episode of this show for 22 years next wedsday, I’m not breaking the streak for free. 

But some.. things aside I remembered liking the series as a kid but just never got around to seeking it out as an adult. I had nothing against the animaniacs segments and I even still have a stuffed brain doll I got at a garage sale.. the pinky is sadly missing and persumed dead. I just wasn’t as bit into it as I was the slappy bits rewatching animaniacs and didin’t really see reason to watch the show. Watching this though made me realize I was wrong and I probably watch more of it in the future This special is damn good, i’m pleased ot review it and to revive and old childhood memory. So with all the exposition out of the way let’s talk Pinky, PInky and the brain brain brain brain christmas edition after the cut. 

This was indeed a special: while it was presumably produced with season one of the show and is packaged with it both on DVD and on Hulu, where I watched it, the special was aired in prime time and even put on it’s own VHS.. which I found out and of course, like with my review of the Darkwing Duck Pilot, had to use as the art for old VHS’ tapes for cartoons.. was really fucking beautiful and it’s a nice break from my traditional screencaps.   So we open with a clever Christmas rendition of the theme, frequently sprinkling in bits of other christmas stuff, utterly fantastic. The intro animation is less impressive as it’s literally just the regular intro but with a stock snow effect over everything. In case you thought Ducktales doing that was a new thing. I do not blame the team however, as apparently they only had a week to get the scripts out, so I highly doubt warner was forking out more cash for the animation than they had to. They still forked out enough to make it LOOK really good mind you, something I wish they’d do more often with their DTV Movies but do do with their animated shows still with certain exceptions so good on them, i’m just saying they clearly cared more about money than having a memorable christmas opening. Given a budget to actually make one, i’m sure the animators would’ve come up with something lovely, and i’m sure the same is true of Ducktales and other shows and like i’ve said, i’m highly in favor of shows actuallly doing unique openings for the holidays, especially since Holiday episodes tend to get reaired every year as long as the show is in circulation on the network. Sometimes even if it isn’t. So it’s fully worth the effort to fork out a little extra for this as while you’ll most likely only use it once, you’ll be using the special for years. You can afford to treat yourself networks come on. It’s...

Just like Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain. But onto the episode itself after 80 years. We find Pinky writing his Christmas list to santa, complete with Narf, a gag I like. As usual for a comedy show, I will try to gloss over as much of the gags as possible, to avoid repetttion but yeah this episode is really damn funny and reminded me just how good these characters are. Maurice and Rob just have perfect chemistry. It’s like Tom and Jerry: It’s a very simple premise, that one being “Cat chases mouse and Mouse beats shit out of mouse”, and pinky and the brain of course being “Super genuis mouse and dimwitted but loveable sidekick try and takeover the world eveyr night”. But a simple premise can be used just about anywhere and adapated for anything. To me a cartoon’s premise only has to be as complicated as it needs to be to work. Sometimes you have a vast complex tapestry behind the world like She Ra, Steven Universe or Avatar with lots of planning and ins and outs and deep character stuff.. and sometimes you just have two mice who get into shenanigans because one is a would be dictator who sounds like orson welles and the other’s a loveable british weirdo/moron. Sometimes simple just works. 

Anyways, Brain, noticing Pinky’s distracted and replaces himself with a horrifying poorly made doll of himself called Noodle Noggin, which is both an excellent name and not the only time they’d use the name either, as there was an animaniacs short about Brain making himself a fad to endear himself to the children of the future with the same name. It’s just an inherently funny set of words, but also shows Brain’s genius in a subtle and clever way as he never spells it out, but despite sounding kind of ridiculous for such a buttoned up intellectual like brain... he knows that’s the kind of name kids will eat up. His schemes may often fail, but he’s an objectively brilliant schemer and i’ts often either PInky’s incompetence or his own miscalculation of humanity, either over or underestimating them, that undoes Brain.  Back to the plot, so Brain’s plan is to distribute noodle noggins around the world, make it the hot new toy, and as always, take over the world. Problem is naturally two Mice simply don’t have the resources to make the billions of dolls. But PInky stumbles upon the solution in the paper: a want ad for elves! Everything about that sentence except “pinky stumbles upon the solution” has not aged paticuarlly well, but point is they have a plan and we have our christmas special.  This does bring me to my one problem with the special.. Brain’s weird inconsistency towards Santa. What I mean is he spends the portion doubting Santa can do anything he’s claimed to despite being proven frequently he can. That part is not all that annoying as it’s in character with him and while yes, he is a talking mouse, he’s also a man of science and reason and Santa is the opposite of that. That would be fine... IF it wasn’t for the fact that said magical bollocks weren’t constantly part of his plans. Despite Brain constantly throughought the special doubting Santa... his plans FREQUENTLY rely on everything we’ve heard about him being right. His initial plan here ENTIRELY runs on the fact Santa has a massive workforce to make the toys yet even if that’s true by Brain’s own logic, he wouldn’t be able to deliver them. Later when the boys need to escape, They hide with the Reindeer despite Brain just saying santa can’t be everywhere in one night.. which if he can’t then the odds are slim he’ll wind up at Acme Labs isn’t it? It would be fine if the special acknowledged any of this outside of one bit we’ll get to, but other than that one bit.. they don’t. IT’s just really frustrating and really sticks out since the rest of the special is perfection, so this one failing bit really grates. That being said, it dosen’t last long enough to really drag the episode down as a whole, just to annoy me a bit every so often. It speaks to the episodes quality that the bad part ONLY drags so much because everything else is so well put together.  So our boys head to the north pole with the help of a kooky pilot and a santa dummy, this pilot is voiced by Tress MacNeile and is easily one of the best parts of the special. And naturally given their luck, she asks them to take the wheel so the plane instead jerks and causes them to fall out. Luckily they end up near Santa’s workshop and soon apply for temp work with local head of things and gruff type Shotzie, played by Jeff Bennett. And yes that is his name.  I like Shotzie: he’s a goateed elf and Bennett just plays him well.. hard to explain honestly I may just like his name and Bennett’s voice for him, one he used before in animanaics for various bit parts and in shows after this, it’s just a voice i’ve always liked. 

They get put to work in the mail room, which is the bit I mentioned: Brain earlier scoffed at Santa answering all the letters with Pinky simply suggesting that Santa had his elves go through all of them. Turns out Pinky was right... while he may be a BIT stupid, one intresting thing i’ve found about Pinky after watching the reboot that ironically the friend who comissioned this and I discussed is that he’s not ENTIRELY stupid, it’s just , much like Dan from Dan Vs his knowledge is just random.. he can not know how a lot of things work, but sometimes like in this instance Pinky generally just GETS something. It’s part of why he and Brain are such a good team despite their failures: Brain is all about planning and thought and research, Pinky is about intuition and gut instinct. He just does things and it often works out. This also makes their recently added backstories all the more brilliant as they explain this well: Pinky started life just being told to find the diffrence in cheeses and thus was taught form childhood to trust in himself and his weird brain. Brain was cruelly torturued with an experiment on learned behaviors via electroshock, and was taught to never give up control again, to always know what’s going on and to always control it. It perfectly sums up who the two are and why they are that way.  Brain however quickly pivots, as the mail room ends up being the perfect location to start his plans. Since their job is to file away what each person wants Brain simply adds Noodle Noggin to it and plans to put his plans into the workshop. While Santa and Schotzie are suprised and baffled, Santa quickly adds it to the list. However things hit a snag when Schotzie gets supscious when the two try to sneak into the blueprint room to drop theirs off and he accidently yanks off their disguises leading to a REALLY fun chase scene, as the boys end up in a toy wherehouse and thus try out various toy cars: a barbie dream car that dosen’t have a working motor, a toy truck that dosen’t go very fast, and finally an rc car that while fast naturally just means Schotzie can grab it and capture them. It’s easily my faviorite scene of the episode just for how clever it is and as someone whow as a kid around the time this came out, I applaud the accuracy.. granted I didn’t have any of those personally but I had lots of friends so yeah. 

So our heroes are interrogated.. and again Brain brilliantly pivots. Schotzie assumes since they have the blueprints their spies for the easter bunny or the tooth fairy or Herschel, the Hanukah Goblin. Why Herschel never got his own Hannukah special trying to stop Pinky and the Brain from using it to take over the world, I genuinely do not know and that’s something the reboot really needs to adress in the future. Seriously Hannukah needs a mascot and it’s either Herschel or the Hannukah Zombie. Kwanza already has Kwanzabot. I want to see more of Herschel the Hannukah Goblin dammit!. I love goblins. Especially this one.

And this one

And most of all this one

I likes goblins. It’s a thing. So anyway, point is Schotize has the blueprints taken in while our boys slip out and sucessfully make their way outside, though they have to find a way home to turn on the mind control device. They see Santa and brain being a dick refuses to let pinky hand in his letter.. but does as mentioned earlier have them pose as reindeer.  So our heroes make their way home and in time to be able to activate the device once santa’s route’s finished!

And.. then land directly on the mind control device thing, meaning they now have to scramble to repair it. Oh and Pinky is inconsolable after realizing Santa didn’t get his letter and Brain is a HUGE dick about it. Easily the worst i’ve seen him just far more focused on his machine than his friend’s wel lbeing especially since ALL he needs from pinky is for him to throw one lousy switch. 

But we then get easily the best part of the entire special. As Brain scrambles to rebuild his device while abusing his best friend we get a really nice tense sequence as Brain rebuilds while kids all over the world warmly receive noodle noggin. I mean.. it’s not the creepiest doll I’ve seen a kid enjoy. 

Also Bill Clinton gets one because the series apparently really likes “Bill Clinton is stupid jokes” Oh you poor innocent dears who haven’t had to suffer through the president being revealed to be a sexual predator, the one after him being even dumber if not a predator, the one after that being easily one of the best people around, and the outgoing one being a waking nightmare whose both a preadator and dumb beyond all comprehension ina dangerous and soul crushing way. 

But yeah onto the good part, Brain, for whatever reason, reads the letter.. and finds Pinky asked for nothing. He just wanted to give Brain the world at long last, recognizing his friend really and genuinely means well for it and that he’s worked hard to conquer it. And with that goal in reach, with the very thing he’s always wanted his... Brain instead uses the device to wish a merry christmas. He sees through his friend’s kindess and selflessness that he himself.. has been selfish once again turning something into a world destroying plot and being cruel to his best friend... when all his best friend wanted was to selflessly make sure he finally got what he wanted. It’s then that Brain, for all his cold and cynical logic and superiority complex, realized the true meaning of christmas, which i’ve said before and i’ll say again: it’s about giving, about giving someone something with your heart and soul just to be nice with no expectation of something in return. It’s about being selfless for once instead of selfish. I’ts about love. And Brain loves his friend too much to destroy his faviorite holiday. For once the world can wait.. and for once they all join in saying merry christmas to one another and in love and camradire. And I know not everyone celebrates christmas, there are other winter holidays and not everyone in the world would willingly do this. I know all that.. but the special has such a well meaning message, I really can’t be mad at that or get into the weeds too much> This isn’t some jackass making an entire movie, of which there have been several, saying “There’s a war on christmas” which instead equates to them just bitching about not everyone celebrating HIS holiday. It’s about a mouse for one moment truly being selfless and putting ihs loyal and faithful friend over his greatest want to give him a nice christmas and to do something nice for the world instead of trying to take it. And that.. that’s really damn heartmelting.  So we end on the two exchanging presents, with it being a little extra heartwarming as Brain likely already got Pinky something meaning even before his big revelation, he really does care beneath all the dope slaps. Pinky got him a keychain of the world and rather than be frustrated like you’d think.. Brain just takes it in stride. It is christmas after all.. the world.. it can wait. For now it’s just the two of them having one moment in time, this merry christmas.  Final Thoughts: If it wasn’t obvious, I loved this freaking special. It’s funny, clever and has one hell of an ending. There isn’t much more to say other than go watch it if you have Hulu.. you will not regret it and a sepcial thanks to Blah for comissioning this. it was an amazing time and is now a competitor for a spot on my best christmas special list. For now though it’s just really good and I say go check it out. Merry christmas, happy holidays and later days. 

[yeonchi]

Kisekae Insights #17: Angelina Ballerina

It’s about time I started the second run of Kisekae Insights after taking a break for the past few months. My objective is to hopefully cover Gokaiger, Decade and Soulbound this year, but there are some things that I need to cover before that because they are needed in order to understand certain aspects.

Like Fifi and Roary, Angelina Ballerina was implemented early on in my personal project and the characters continue to play big roles to this day. At the time, I was playing Warriors Orochi 2 on the PSP, which introduced me to the characters of the Samurai Warriors series. As a result, some of these guys got Japanese warrior names whereas the rest got Chinese warrior names.

In case you haven’t noticed, yes, I have (predominately) used the CGI-animated sequel, The Next Steps, in this project. Watching the sequel was how I got into this series a decade ago; while I have heard about the original 2D-animated series, it never really appealed to me, which is why I prefer this version over that. And look, I know there are people who don’t like the sequel for various reasons, but you are free to have your opinion as long as you respect the opinions of others. Don’t worry, characters from the original series have been implemented as well.

Setting the record straight (voice actors)

I’m putting this list before the break because this is really important. Here are the characters’ voice actors for the UK and US versions of The Next Steps:

Angelina Mouseling: Charlotte Spencer (UK/US)

Alice Nimbletoes: Rachael Louise Miller (UK)/Naomi McDonald (US)

Marco Quesillo: Louis Williams (UK)/Jules de Jongh (US)

Gracie: Charlie Cameron (UK)/Jo Wyatt (US)

Viki/Vici: Emily Dormer (UK)/Jules de Jongh (US)

AJ/AZ: Lizzie Waterworth (UK)/Larissa Murray (US)

Ms Mimi: Larissa Murray (US)

Maurice Mouseling: Simon Mattacks (UK/US)

Matilda Mouseling: Emma Tate (UK/US)

Polly Mouseling: Leah Zabari (UK/US)

Mrs Thimble: Beverly Klein (UK/US)

Alright, time to rant about the English dubs of this series. See, because the characters of this series are not credited under their voice actors, it can be hard to exactly determine who voiced who (a pain I know all too well in regards to Sea Princesses). On top of that, because there are different English voices for the US and the UK (because they don’t want American kids to end up speaking with British accents or vice versa), it can be easy to miss things or mess them up. Some US voice actors are based in the UK, which can throw things off as well.

Just as there are UK-produced children’s shows that get redubbed for the US, there are US-produced children’s shows that get redubbed for the UK (particularly on Nick Jr). In Australia, we tend to get the “original” version of the dub depending on where the show (or its source materials) originated – if it originally came from the UK, then we get the UK dub, but if it originally came from the US, we get the US dub. In the case of Angelina Ballerina, we get the UK dub and as such, I implemented the series with the assumption that the characters would speak as they did in the UK dub. As such, Marco and Gracie don’t speak in Hispanic or French accents.

Due to my initial ignorance and lack of information, I ended up crediting the characters’ US voice actors for Marco, Gracie and Ms Mimi instead of their UK voice actors. Even worse, I thought Naomi Wilkinson voiced Angelina until a friend of mine tweeted her years ago and confirmed that she didn’t voice Angelina. Also, the really funny thing is that there are people who unironically believed that Hilary Duff and Justin Bieber voiced Viki and AZ in the series. If only we all knew this one simple rule: If an actor isn’t credited in the series/episode, then they didn’t have a role in the series/episode. I did manage to work out the UK voice actors for the other characters, but why Alice’s voice actor was different in both versions despite her voice sounding similar I’ll never understand.

For some reason, I have been unable to find out who Ms Mimi’s UK voice actor is because nobody in the credits has owned up to voicing her. However, if I really had to guess, I would say that Emma Tate voiced her because even though the Scottish accent threw me off, she sounds a bit like Matilda (Angelina’s mum). As for Marco and Gracie’s UK voice actors, Louis Williams and Charlie Cameron, trying to find resumes or records of their past work has been impossible so I wasn’t able to find any proof, but I eventually did. Louis William’s LinkedIn profile mentions that he voiced Marco (he’s an English teacher in Japan now, shock of all shocks) and while Charlie Cameron doesn’t have a site or official profile of her own (why), I managed to link her roles for Dark Souls and Poppy Cat on IMDb to BTVA.

In the Moushouden Series, I ended up “recasting” Marco and Ms Mimi while keeping Gracie’s voice actor the same. Marco and Ms Mimi played major roles in my stories and I needed credits for them. “Getting” Louis Williams to “reprise” his role would have been impossible because he’s not an actor anymore, though it wouldn’t have been a big problem if I had found out earlier that he voiced Marco. Likewise, if I had managed to guess Ms Mimi’s UK voice actor earlier, then maybe I wouldn’t have needed to keep scratching my head all these years.

What’s in a name?

There has been quite a bit of speculation regarding the characters’ middle and last names, and I say “speculation” because there don’t seem to be any official sources that confirm it or the only official sources available can’t be accessed from the Wayback Archive because Adobe Flash is dead. Though the names were on the Wikipedia page at some stage, the only place where they exist now is on a poorly-maintained wiki of the series on Fandom. It is possible that Angelina and Alice’s middle and last names can be backed up because they were in the original series, but even then, I’m unable to do that due to lack of information (seriously, even the official website redirects to Mattel’s website, the absolute sellouts). So please take these names with a grain of salt:

Angelina Jeanette Mouseling

Alice Bridgette Nimbletoes

Marco Fernando Quesillo

Grace Madeleine “Gracie” le Chateau

Viktoria Andrea “Viki” Whiskerson

Adrian Zander James “A.Z.” Smithers (even though an official PDF from PBS WNET13 states that A.Z. stands for “Adam Zachariah”)

Mimi Jane Squigglytail

Maurice Rupert Mouseling

Matilda Felicity Mouseling

Polly Anne Mouseling

Harriet Cecily Thimble

Other stuff before I begin

In late 2015, there was talk of Angelina Ballerina getting relaunched in 2017 by Mattel and 9 Story Media Group. By 2017, however, nothing really came of it, or at least nothing significant that we could see. 9 Story currently have the distribution rights to both the 2D and CGI series, clips and episodes have been uploaded on the official Angelina Ballerina YouTube channel (a mix of UK and US versions, with Brazilian Portuguese and Latin American Spanish dubs on other channels) and the original books created by Katharine Holabird have been republished in the past two years.

Not seeing anything in 2017 has allowed Angelina Ballerina’s involvement in my personal project to flourish, but only time will tell whether anything else will come of this so-called relaunch. This series would probably have gone down the path of Fabio Yabu and Sea Princesses if it wasn’t so well-known all around the world.

The 9 Story pages show that there are some specials for the series. While the 2D series does have three specials, I could only find two movies in the CGI series that are fully original stories and not just episode compilations, namely The Shining Star Trophy and Dreams Do Come True. They don’t seem to be available on YouTube and the only online versions I could find use the US voices, meaning that a UK dub of these movies is unknown.

If you follow Gail Chord Schuler/Gabrielle Chana/The Church of Gail online, you might know that there is a Satanic Jesuit villain named Angelina Ballerina, depicted as a woman modelling a ballerina costume with wings. Rest assured that she is NOT the Angelina we all know and love, as Gail confirms in the comments of one of her videos (though there is a chance that trolls could have fed her that information).

All About Angelina

As I stated in #12, Maurice and the Takeda Army of Mouseland were in conflict with the Salacians before the Dimensional Merge. Because the time in their world, AB-561, was running faster compared to other worlds, they ended up on our Earth in 2009. In both timelines, Angelina and her family and friends became Hiroki and Parker’s comrades. In the first timeline, Angelina had an adventure with the Third Doctor. The second timeline is where things get detailed.

Before the Archangel Tunnel System was activated, there was no other way to get to Chipping Cheddar from Hong Kong, so when the Takeda Army were brought to this world, they had to do what they could to survive. Eventually, they ended up being controlled by another local army and used as their mascots. When Parker went to them to seek an alliance, he discovered this and helped the Takeda Army escape, which led them to pledge their allegiance to Parker.

Over the next two years, Parker and Hiroki became great friends with the Takeda Army’s officers. In 2010, Ms Mimi became disillusioned with Parker when she realised that he only seemed to care about fighting and enjoying himself on the battlefield. When the JIMPS were formed, Ms Mimi began to side with them as she saw Minnie and the others as the better strategists, but she had a newfound respect for Parker when he made peace with Minnie following their battle against each other.

When Squid Girl turns Minnie against Parker, however, Ms Mimi sides with the former again and a split occurs within the Takeda. Ms Mimi became one of the Sanada Army’s commanders while Gracie, AJ and Viki surrendered to the Sanada. Angelina was the first officer Parker found after being separated from Hiroki. Her family was being guarded by Alice and Marco before Parker arrives with reinforcements from the Date Army.

Months after Parker’s death and resurrection, the Sanada Army finally fell. Ms Mimi and the Takeda defectors rejoin their former comrades; Ms Mimi finally admits that she was a fool who never really understood Parker because she believed in loyalty and discipline.

With Parker’s army disbanded and the Flowertots returning home, the Takeda became the only close friends Hiroki had left. They supported him in his fight against Girl Power and the Teiro Army, so much so that they were willing to accept him in their ranks if he decided to leave his secondary school army. Ultimately, Hiroki declined their offer and became a ronin.

The Next Step

The Takeda Army eventually managed to resettle in Mouseland which was transported to Shizuoka Prefecture between the Archangel Tunnels to the Shikoku region and Cardiff. The Takeda Army had no significant relevance in 2013, but Angelina and her family attended Hiroki and Akari’s wedding, which was held in Chipping Cheddar (Kikugawa).

In 2014, the Takeda Army rose back to significance again as a result of events in real life (see #16). Following the Battle of Mikatagahara and Akari’s betrayal of Hiroki, Angelina joined the Doctor (again) as his companion. Later that year, Maurice would attempt another expedition to Kyōto when Girl Power forces stationed around Nagashino Castle in Nagoya would block his army’s path. When the Doctor arrives with Hiroki and Angelina, Hiroki gathers up some reinforcements before the Takeda Army splits up into three groups; one group defending the main camp, one group laying siege to the castle and one group attacking Girl Power forces stationed in nearby Shitaragahara. Despite the Takeda suffering severe casualties at the hands of the superior Girl Power army, Hiroki charges into Nagashino Castle alone and fights the enemy commanders before leaving his drones to crash into the castle keep.

Soon after, Angelina would participate in prototype testing for the Superhero Project, becoming the Pink Samurai Ranger alongside the Doctor and his other companions as they fought Girl Power in a parallel world. Following that adventure, Angelina would be summoned back by her father upon hearing word that Girl Power were preparing for an all-out siege on Yokohama. The Takeda Army allied with their old enemies, the Salacian (Uesugi) Army as they fought at Sekigahara and Ōsaka Castle. After the world was destroyed and restored, the Takeda were one of the armies that helped UNIT defend Yokohama from Girl Power.

Though Angelina stopped being the Doctor’s companion after 2014, she would regain that role again in 2017 when she and Alice officially joined the Superhero Project. Angelina and Marco make a cameo appearance in the Series 10 premiere as a couple and that’s the only time their relationship is brought up (I think that ship was hinted at in the series but not explicitly shown).

Having been selected, Angelina and Alice joined the Gokaigers as GokaiPink and GokaiGreen respectively. Their fighting styles were adapted to fit with their characters and the original Gokaiger footage; on top of predominately wielding guns, GokaiPink incorporates ballet into her fighting while GokaiGreen clumsily incorporates gymnastics which she makes up for with stealth and trickery.

As for the rest of the mouselings, they were hired by BOARD to become Kamen Riders as follows:

Kamen Rider Blade – Marco

Kamen Rider Garren – AJ

Kamen Rider Leangle – Viki

Kamen Rider Glaive – Ms Mimi

Kamen Rider Larc – Gracie

Kamen Rider Lance – Polly

Although not as significant compared to Fifi and Roary, the mouselings do play a significant role in the project. As with many obscure series I’ve encountered, finding accurate information is a daunting task. Though I have managed to find information that I haven’t been able to find in the past, there are times where I am still unable to do so, which results in me having to speculate missing information (usually by observation) that may or may not be correct. This is not so much a problem in Angelina Ballerina compared to Sea Princesses, but regardless, it’s better to have every piece of information confirmed than have even one piece of speculated information.

[lu-undy]

Chapter 82 - SBT

Here it is!

Mundy went to the kitchen and found his lover in a dressing gown, standing in front of the stove. The gentle smell of the omelette he was dealing with floated in the air.

“Mundy…?”

“Mmh…” The Aussie wrapped his arms around Lucien’s silhouette from behind and nuzzled in his hair and his neck.

“Bonjour, mon amour.”

[Good morning, my love.]

“Mornin’, love.”

“Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah, but I woke up and you weren’t there.” Mundy answered, complaining but still peppering kisses on Lucien’s neck, who chuckled under the gentle tickle.

"My apologies, mon loup. I woke up a long time ago and I didn't leave your side for an equally long while. Eventually I decided to stop being lazy and start the day."

"Mmh…" Mundy buried his head deeper in his lover's neck. 

"Come now, the omelette is ready." Lucien started moving and the Aussie followed, still stuck to him like a slug. 

"It's for me?" 

"For us, or for you if your appetite allows it." Lucien answered. 

"You callin' me fat?" 

"Brave enough for it is what I am calling you." Lucien chuckled. "I have seen you eat that and more than that by the past. Do you remember the pizzas?"

"Lu', c'mon, it was a one off and I hadn't had lunch that day! Also, c'mere…" 

Mundy sat down and pulled Lucien to sit on his lap. Everything was laid on the table, from the coffee to the toasts and  butter. The two of them enjoyed their breakfast as it was the weekend now and they didn't have to work. 

"Meow…" The fluffy white cat appeared at the door with her black companion. They both took a second to yawn and stretch before trotting to the table and finally jumping on it. 

"Bonjour mon bébé."

[Good morning my baby.]

"Sooty boy."

"You have your milk in the bowls." Lucien said and the cats went to the bowls that were on the side of the table before lapping it happily. 

"Look at them, they're beautiful." Mundy said, lacing an arm around Lucien's waist. 

"Indeed they are. But now that I think about it, you never told me how Perle met with Soot." Lucien said. 

"Well, I have no bloody clue. The only thing I know is that it was when you were supposedly dead. I was working for Maurice and would set Pearl free. She'd roam around without going too far. And then there was this one time where she just went away at night as I was having a chat with Maurice. I called her but she didn't come back. I already had the kittens back then and they started mewling cause Mum was away. I called again and at some point, she appeared. Right behind her was a dirty, slim black cat."

"So Soot was a stray?" Lucien asked. 

"Yeah. Poor thing was bone thin when he came to me. I fed him, which he liked, and washed him, which he hated. Now, he's happy as he can be with the wifey and the two old gramps." 

They exchanged a smile and Lucien handed Mundy his mug of coffee.

"What about the kittens? You said you had them before Soot came to you?" Lucien asked. 

"Found the kittens almost by chance. I noticed Pearl would go out in the evenings but i didn't think much of it. I thought she just wanted to stretch her legs, and she'd always come back. One night she went off and I decided to come along, see where she goes off to. She led me deep in dark alleyways that had nothing but bins, and I saw her slip in a soggy cardboard box. Remember that, baby?" 

"Meow." She answered as Soot was bathing her.

"I tried to open the cardboard box but she scratched me. I tried talking to her, to soothe her. I didn't get why she was bein' aggressive at me. When she finally let me open the box, I saw those little balls of fur clinging to her and my heart bloody stopped!"

Lucien chuckled. 

"So you brought them back to the van?" 

"Yeah. I asked Pearl first and then carried the whole box back home. I washed them and together with mummy Pearl, we found names for them. Star and Diamond were obvious, Glovy too. Then, I struggled for Lu' Junior."

"Oh?" 

"It's Pearl who found it. She told me there was really one person who had black hair except for the temples and the top." Mundy looked at his lover still sitting on his lap. "Only one gorgeous guy like that… And I understood she meant you." He kissed his cheek and Lucien smiled under the tender attention.

"But Mundy?"

"Yeah, darl'?"

"That means that you didn't notice her being pregnant? I am not an expert for cats but it is very apparent for us humans." 

"Yeah, well…" Mundy was ashamed. "I didn't notice even though she must have had a belly like a house…! I just noticed that she liked to eat a bit more, is all. And uh, to be honest, I was in my own bubble of sadness. Waking up to the same day without you." 

"Aw…" Lucien hugged him. 

"I feel bad about it." 

"Why?"

"Cause you asked me to take care of her and I failed to do it. Felt awful. She had to give birth far away and alone. God only knows how painful and scary it was for her… Alone and in a dirty cardboard box… To this day I look at her and feel guilty for this." 

"Don't be, please." Lucien comforted him. "If she felt like she needed you, she would have begged for your attention and would have got it in the end, do not worry for that. Non, she might have wanted not to worry you more than what you already were."

"What d'you mean?" 

"I mean that she might have preferred to give birth on her own to not put you under any more stress. You said it yourself, you were so distraught by my absence that you didn't even notice that she was pregnant. Chances are that you would have been a burden rather than an asset to her in such an intense moment." 

"Hm. Maybe…" 

"Aw, mon amour, please, give your old Lucien here a smile…? Ah, much better." Lucien cupped Mundy's face and gave him a tender kiss. 

"Thanks, luv'." 

"My pleasure. Now, go and get ready, I will clean up this mess we made." Lucien said. 

"Get ready for what?" 

The Frenchman stood up from his lover's lap and started getting busy with the dishes. 

"For today might be the day the idea of leaving me makes it to your head, and your heart."

Mundy's breath cut sharp. 

"What?! No!" He pushed his chair back and went behind Lucien and his gown, flying after him. "Love, don't say that, I told you. I won't leave you, not after the hell I've been through without you." 

Lucien sighed. 

"We shall see." 

Mundy gulped audibly. Whatever Lucien had in mind, it was putting him through a lot of distress.

They both got dressed and ready to go. Lucien put on his jacket and went to the door. 

"Are you ready?" 

"Don't know. You tell me. I have no idea where we're going." Mundy answered. 

"I shall take you there but then leave."

"Why?" 

"Because this does not concern me but only you." Lucien answered. 

"Don't say that… Whatever's mine is yours, luv'... Almost sounds like you're a stranger." 

Lucien frowned and left the house. Mundy locked the door after him and joined him on the motorcycle. They put on their helmets and the Frenchman started the engine. 

As usual, Mundy held on to Lucien, pretending that he was scared of the ride where in fact it was an excuse to just cuddle up with him, without it raising suspicion and bad looks around. But he found Lucien cold and unresponsive; not that he would usually turn around and hug him, but he would lean back or sometimes just turn his head slightly when the traffic lights stopped him.

But no. Today, Lucien was cold. 

They drove all the way to the suburbs, where small houses lined up as far as the eye could see. They all looked like copies of each other, apart from the color of the doors or the curtains that one could see from the outside. 

Lucien drove the motorcycle through the streets while slowing down. Mundy understood that they were getting closer. When they finally reached their destination, the Frenchman braked and stopped the engine. He turned to Mundy and removed his helmet to speak. 

"Here we are." 

Mundy removed his helmet and looked at the little house.

"What?" 

"Maurice gave me this address. He said it would be the dark brown door." 

"What am I supposed to do?" Mundy asked. 

"Give a knock."

"That's it?" 

"And please," Lucien raised sad eyes to his lover. "Forgive me, mon amour." 

Mundy's eyebrows jumped as Lucien lowered his head.

"Don't look at me like that, luv', you did nothin' wrong, did you…?" Mundy put a finger below Lucien's jaw and pulled it back up. "Did you…?" He repeated, but Lucien didn't answer. 

"I will drive back to the city. I have some business to attend to but I shall be back in half an hour at worst and will be waiting here." 

"You sure you don't wanna come with me?" Mundy asked. 

"You have to do this on your own." Lucien splayed his hand on Mundy's chest and lightly tapped it before putting his helmet again. "I… will see you later." 

"Yeah." 

Lucien started the engine again and as he was about to drive off, he felt something tap his shoulder. Mundy smiled at him and the Frenchman read on his lips. 

I love you. 

Lucien nodded and a few seconds later, Mundy was left alone in front of that house. He looked at the mailbox. No name. From there to the front door of the house, there were only a few meters paved by grey flat slabs of stone, gnawed by the years. There were a few flowers left and right from it, daisies and tulips. Mundy wasn't sure what the other ones were called but whoever lived there clearly took good care of them all, as the washed out water can showed. It used to be green but years under the sun made it lose its vibrant colour. 

The Aussie sighed. What the hell was that all about? 

He walked on the paved way and stopped in front of the door. Naturally, his eyes fell on the doorbell and he had a second of hesitation. Lucien's sorry eyes flashed in front of him and Mundy thought that he didn't have to do anything. No one would arrest him if he didn't ring that bell. 

No, he could just wait for Lucien to come back and go back home, never to talk about this ever again. If it disturbed his otherwise calm lover that much, it must have been quite serious, especially if Lucien thought that Mundy could end it all because of it. 

But he didn't want to! Mundy didn't want his story with the Frenchman to stop and he would fight to make it last, as he did in the past. He had lost everything of value in his life such that the only one thing that remained was Lucien. Lucien, and the cats. He would never lose them. 

Well that was it then. Problem solved. 

Mundy spun on his heels and went back to the pavement where he waited for Lucien to come back. He sat there, on the ground and watched the occasional passer-bys. The neighbourhood was pretty calm. Only families and old people lived there. It was calm, but lively. Neighbours seem to know each other and get along well.

Mundy daydreamed for a moment, wondering what it would feel to live in such an environment. Back when he used to live with his parents, Mundy's house was quite far from the city, in a green area just next to the desert. And now, with Lucien, he lived bang on in the city centre. Now that he thought about it, he would never believe he could settle in a city. 

"Sorry Sir!" 

"Oh, sorry, mate." 

A kid passed along with his bike and broke Mundy's train of thought. The Aussie stood up and moved out of the way. The young boy's mother passed along a few seconds after. He nodded politely before putting his hands in his pockets and walking back and forth on the pavement. 

What on Earth would scare Lucien to the point of thinking that Mundy would leave him…?

The Aussie stopped walking and looked at the dark brown, wooden door. 

What on Earth was stronger than Lucien's death, may it be fake, such that the Frenchman would think it was strong enough a reason to break up…? 

Nothing Mundy could think about. There was nothing. He knew Lucien was faithful, he knew he himself was faithful. So what could it be…? 

"Hm. Guess there's only one way to find out, eh?" 

Mundy gathered his courage and walked to the door again. He raised his hand and gave a short knock. 

Unbeknownst to him, Lucien had never really left. He had hid his motorcycle and was observing everything from a safe distance. He had seen it all, Mundy's hesitation, his refusal, and finally, his going anyway. 

It had been a heavy weight to carry on his shoulder. Maurice had trusted him with a truth that Lucien wished he could have trusted to Mundy before, or at the same time. Of course Lucien was used to carrying lies around and with the years and long experience as an outstanding spy, lies had just become a second truth. 

However this time was different. The truth he had hidden from Mundy had nothing to do with the Frenchman himself, and all with Mundy. It hurt, having to look the man who made his life complete and know that he held a life changing truth from him. 

It often kept him up at night. Lucien would pretend to sleep and when he would hear Mundy's breath stabilise, he would open his eyes and watch him sleep. He looked so peaceful, so innocent, oddly enough for a scruffy, almost forty-year-old man. But if Mundy had a clear conscience, Lucien watched him with his brow furrowed and doubt in his eyes. 

How to tell him the truth? 

Well, Lucien thought that it wasn't his responsibility to tell Mundy about it. Non. He had nothing to do with it. Maurice had just thought it would be good to let him know. Lucien found it ridiculous. It didn't have anything to do with him. So why tell him? Why make him an accomplice in bearing the burden of this? 

Lucien watched keenly from a few houses away, his motorcycle hidden in plain sight, invisible. Mundy gave a knock. He removed his hat and fumbled with it nervously. The door soon opened and Lucien's eyes opened wider. They were riveted on Mundy. 

The Aussie's jaw dropped and his hat dropped from his fingers. He took a step back and fell limply. 

"Merde…" 

[Shit…]

It looked like he fainted. Lucien rushed to him, he knew the people he was meeting wouldn't be able to do much. 

"Let me help…" Lucien hopped over the low wooden fence and carefully avoided the flowers.

"Who're you?" The man standing at the door asked. 

"His best friend." Lucien answered. 

"I thought he was supposed to come alone… Bah, nevermind…"

"Can you carry him inside?" A woman appeared at the door. 

"Oui, I can." Lucien slid a hand below Mundy's neck and made him sit up before carrying him off of the ground. "Gnh-!" He grunted.

"Come through here, put him on the sofa." The woman went on and pushed whatever stood in Lucien's way. 

"Please, bring some water and a few sugar cubes, I will wake him up." Lucien said as he made sure Mundy was lying comfortably on the old, worn-out sofa. Of course, the Aussie was too tall and his legs dangled off at the end. Lucien took his hand and gently tapped Mundy's cheeks. "Mundy…? Mundy, réveille-toi… Mundy…?"

[Wake up…]

The woman came back with a tray containing a bottle of water, a glass and a few sugar cubes in a bowl. She placed it on the coffee table. 

"Is he alright?" She asked. The man came at her side after shutting the door and she leaned on his side. 

"He will be. Give me an instant." Lucien answered. He opened the water bottle and poured some in his hand before slowly brushing Mundy's face with it. "Come on, Mundy… Please… Wake up… Wake up, mon loup…"

[My wolf]

Eventually, Mundy's lips parted. He groaned and blinked a few times before pulling his heavy eyelids up. 

"What… the… Lu'? Lu', is that you?"

"Oui, it is me."

Mundy frowned. 

"What happened? Where am I…?" Mundy's eyes scanned the room. He didn't recognise the old wallpaper or the dark wooden furniture. The room wasn't too spacious, certainly a bit smaller than their own living room. The wallpaper used to be yellow but the years and the sun through the windows made it beige. Mundy couldn't clearly see the motifs on them. There was a fireplace opposite the sofa, beyond the wooden coffee table, and on the mantelpiece was placed an equally old clock.

"I need to go and leave you, Mundy."

"No!" The Aussie grabbed his lover by his shirt, on his chest. "Where're you goin'? And you're leaving me alone? No, please stay…" 

"Mundy…" Lucien put his hand on Mundy and pushed it away. "This is your business, not mine." 

The Aussie was about to answer something when he saw a hand on Lucien's shoulder tapping him gently. The hand was old but looked like it had done manual labour all its long life. There were wrinkles but they looked quite sturdy, oh and Mundy noticed the golden ring on the ring finger. 

"Your friend's right, Mundy. We need to talk." 

Mundy's eyes snapped wide. 

"What the hell-?!" He jumped to his feet, tripped and fell back on the sofa. "L-Lu', tell me you can see him! Please! Tell me I'm not going mad!" 

The poor Aussie was sweating, his face was pale as if he had just seen a ghost. 

"Oui, I can see them." Lucien calmly answered. "Sit down, please." He sat on the sofa and laced an arm around Mundy's shoulders. 

"B-But what the… Fuck me, I'm going mad, aren't I? They can't be there! They can't!" Mundy frantically rubbed his eyes. 

"Micky…?" The woman sat next to him on the other side and put her old and tired hand on Mundy's thigh. She was old, in her seventies surely, wearing a beige dress and a pink pair of glasses. 

Mundy stared at her intensely, his eyes rediscovering a face he had known all his life but hadn't seen in years. It had changed very little, that face. It still beamed with empathy, kindness and softness, even though, admittedly, there were more lines on it. Her hair was more salt than pepper but the bun was the same, the locks of hair around her face too… 

"M-Mum…?" He stammered and she smiled, her wrinkles made her grin look even wider. 

"Micky, sweetie."

Mundy's head spun from Lucien, to his mother and the man whose hand was still on Lucien's shoulder.

"Dad…? Lu', tell me you can see them too, tell me it's really not just me… I-I don't know, slap me or something, please, I-I'm, I'm-" 

Tears came faster than he could hold them and he clenched his grip on his mother's hand, his whole arms and legs were shaking. 

"Oui, Mundy, I can see them too." Lucien put a hand on his shoulder.

"Micky, sweetie, come here…" Mundy's mother pulled him and he dived in her chest, crying out loud, drowning his face and her dress with tears he did not fully understand. How on Earth were his parents there? How were they alive? How did they survive? Why had they hidden for more than a decade? Why resurface now? 

Mundy's head burnt and hurt. It felt like it was too full and about to burst. He screwed his eyes shut and let the waters of his shock flow like waterfalls down his face. 

Lucien stood up and let Mundy's father take his place on the sofa. He stayed standing on his feet. 

"Micky, son…" Mundy's father took one of his son's hands and clenched his grip on it. 

"W-How…? You were alive…? All this time? Why didn't you say anything? Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"Caroline, go and make some tea, honey. I'll take care of him. And you, whoever you are, thanks." Mundy's father looked up at Lucien. 

"It was the least I could do. I shall leave you now."

"No! Please, Lu'... Please stay…?" 

Caroline looked at her son and then at Lucien. 

"Non, Mundy, you need to have a chat with your parents. I shall be there whenever you need me." 

"Thanks." Mundy's father added before pushing himself to his legs to stand up. 

"Non, please, it is fine, I shall find the door myself. See you later, Mundy." 

"I'll get you to the door before I go and make some tea." Caroline stood up and accompanied Lucien back. 

"Here, son." In the living-room, Mundy's father handed his son a handkerchief and the Aussie wiped his face from all the surprise wetting his rough cheeks. 

"Thanks…" 

Mundy rediscovered his father's face. It had a few more lines, but nothing had changed. Even the glasses were the same. Similarly to his mother, his father's hair was almost completely white now but it was still there. Mundy blinked repeatedly as he saw that even his father's love for short-sleeved shirts was still going strong. 

Caroline crossed the living-room again and went to the kitchen. 

"You're still shakin'. Are you cold? Should I bring you a blanket?" She asked as she passed.

"N-no, it's just the shock."

"Mike, go and get him one of your jackets or a blanket." She addressed her husband. 

"Right, don't move, son, I'll be back in a second." 

Mundy smiled and nodded. It slapped him across the face. His mother still could tell when he was lying just to be polite and save his old parents some trouble.

Soon, his father came back with a blanket and laid it on Mundy's back. Caroline entered the room not a second later with a tray. She placed it on the coffee table in front of them and each sat left and right from their son. Caroline served a cup of tea for everyone, starting with Mundy. 

"Here, sweetie." 

"Thanks, Mum… But… Is that really you?" 

"Yes, it is."

"Hold on." Mundy lowered the cup on his lap. "I… I'm not buyin' it." He frowned.

"What?" Mike's bushy eyebrows jumped behind his square glasses. 

"How can I be sure? I mean, you're supposed to have been dead for more than then ten years now. I saw the house, no way you could have escaped that. I was at the burial, I saw the… the coffins lowered to the ground. I visited you, even with Lu'... We both visited your graves!"

"Well, we're callin' you Micky, aren't we?" Mike asked. 

"Anyone could know that." 

Mike looked at Caroline and sighed. She put her cup back on the tray and cleared her throat. 

"See the sunset,

The day is endin',

Let that yawn out,

There's no pretendin'."

Mundy's eyes popped wide, he looked at his mother with the same eyes as he had three decades earlier, and she gave him back the same grin that she used to. He remembered his room with the green wallpaper, the jungle foliage motifs, his little desk when he was a young boy, his shelves, full of illustrated books about animals, his telescope next to his window, and even the smell of his room after his mother cleaned it. She used to always use a lavender freshener...

"I will hold you,

And protect you,

So let love warm you,

Till the mornin'." 

She stopped singing the lullaby and put a hand on his cheek. 

"Would anyone else remember this?" She asked with a sweet smile. "Whenever you'd wake up from a nightmare, or you couldn't sleep, I'd sing that to you, remember?" She brushed his cheek tenderly and Mundy was back to being a young boy with messy hair and big, round, curious eyes. "Remember when I had your father try to learn it but he kept on getting the lyrics confused?" 

"I… I do…"

Mike stood up and went to the coathanger.

"We couldn't save anythin' from the old house. But I kept this." He went to his coat and fetched his wallet. He sat back down on the sofa and opened it. "Here, have a look." 

It was a picture, not much bigger than a stamp, of young Mundy. It was old, and the black and white had turned into shades of washed-out light browns. He was but a child on it.

"How could I have this picture of you if I didn't keep my wallet with me, eh?" Mike said as he tapped Mundy on his shoulder.

"Dad… Mum, I… I've missed you so much." 

And again, Mundy let the cup rest between his thighs on the sofa and hugged his mother. He almost clawed at her as part of him still struggled to believe that after all that time, he was in his parents' arms again.

[treatian]

The Chronicles of the Dark One: Magical Loopholes

Chapter 32: Coming Clean

Useless. Moe French was wholly and completely useless!

He didn't take anything from Moe. Though he'd been tempted to hold the man down or wallop him over the head to get blood from him to find Belle, he resisted the urge. If she had left on her own and if she did come here, the last thing he wanted her to find was her father lying there bloodied by his own hand. Of course, the second that Moe told Belle about what had happened up in the cabin, he was doomed anyway, but at least he stood a better chance at getting to talk to her by leaving her father in peace. If she'd left on her own free will, if not…

It was time to start making further inquiries. He didn't want to assume the worst where Belle was concerned but history had taught him that he might need to plan for the worst. The worst, in this case, was that Belle had been taken. Whether she'd been lured off the property and taken or left on her own and been found by someone like Regina, he wasn't sure. But he had to consider either scenario.

Unfortunately, the moment he stepped outside the flower shop and looked around, he was struck by a foreboding sense of paranoia. There were people everywhere; people walking down the street, people driving cars, people going about their business. Anyone could have taken Belle. Regina would have been his first suspect, but he doubted that the woman would risk that right now. That still left others. Many others. Enemies he hadn't thought to find with Belle safe in his home, people he'd made deals with that might have carried grudges, even the ever-present shadow of his mother and father presented some torment. So many, many people. If Belle hadn't been taken yet, then he needed to find her before someone else did.

But he didn't know where to begin. He didn't know where to start. He was oscillating again, swaying from panic and anger back into debilitating sadness and hopelessness.

Fuck! He was the Dark One. He couldn't be brought to his knees like this. He had to focus! Usually, in this situation, he would have called Dove and had him mobilize his cousins. That brood would have found her in thirty minutes or less. But after the confrontation with Dove, he didn't know if the man would voluntarily work for him, and after he'd learned that his deal with Regina had fallen through the cracks, he wasn't sure if the one he'd made with Dove's father would have similar results. He was alone. He had to find Belle on his own, or else find someone who would be able to.

Someone who knew how to find someone…he knew of two people who fit that bill perfectly. One of them, unfortunately, was beyond reach at the moment. But the other…David. He and Mary Margaret had moved heaven and earth to get back to each other several times over back home. He knew how to find people, and, by some miracle, he was also one of the few people in town who already had a hint about Belle, thanks to a previous conversation. Maybe he could find her. Or at least tell him how to find her. They had, of course, made a deal to stay out of each other's business, but this arrangement would be a request, a loophole to that deal. And with his own wife and daughter missing, he might just be sympathetic enough to his plight to help in some way.

His magic traced David Nolan to Mary Margaret's apartment. It wasn't surprising. He knew that the makeshift center created in front of Town Hall had all but disappeared in the last few days, and he didn't expect him to go home and live with Kathryn now that their memories were back. The apartment made the most sense for a man waiting for his family to return from another realm.

He thought through his options one last time as he stood before the door, unhappy about what this might imply, but unfortunately, he came to the same conclusion he had before. This was his only option. With a deep breath, he knocked on the door, and it swung open what seemed like impossibly fast to reveal David, who immediately looked at him and rolled his eyes.

"May I have a word…" he managed to get the words out before David could close the door, only for his eyes to be drawn to something gold shining on his belt buckle. "Sheriff?"

"Uh, acting Sheriff," David corrected. He fought back a smile. Mr. Gold processed all the ways that wasn't technically legal, but he didn't particularly care one way or another. With Emma gone, the title suited David in some way. Besides, he'd bet Regina loved it. "And I'm already late on another busy day, cleaning up the mess you made."

"My apologies," he muttered as David ushered him in regardless. He meant it too, looking back on things now and all the trouble this had brought him where Belle and Bae were concerned. If he'd known that, he would have timed things differently. "That was a moment of poor judgment on my part. And it's not lost on me that I'm now here to ask for your help."

"Well then, it shouldn't be lost on you when I say no."

"Hear me out first," he insisted as the boy gestured to the door. He extended his hand and held out the picture of Belle. "I'm here to report a missing person."

There was a long pause while David's hands slid from his face to the paper and then back again, contemplating, thinking about it. His heart beat as he silently made up his mind, and he wondered if this wasn't a mistake. This meant she was anonymous no more. But, he reminded himself, there were worse people in this town that could know about her existence; the Snow Queen, for example. Finally, David took the paper, unfolded it, and looked at her.

"She left my home early this morning. Her name is Belle."

David's mouth hung open as he stared, then glanced up at him suspiciously. "Back in our land, you mentioned you loved someone once. Is-"

"Yes," he answered quickly, turning away from him and trying not to relive that memory.

"You also said she died."

"I'd thought she had." From behind, he heard the sound of the door closing. Good, that was good.

"Well, why don't you just use the tracking spell you gave me to find Jefferson?" Jefferson…was that who he'd been trying to find? Interesting, but not the reason he was here. And also…not relevant to this discussion.

"It only works if you have something the person owned. I don't."

"How can you be sure she's gone missing and not…run away."

"I can't," he interrupted as he felt a sharp pain in his heart that might have had something to do with being the Dark One and having a heart that was slowly blackening or Belle…he wasn't sure. He didn't want her to have run away, but he didn't want someone to have taken her either. Running away was reassuring but also heartbreaking. He just needed to find her. Then he'd know. Then he could decide how he felt.

"Look, the townsfolk are less than sympathetic to my plight. But you… You're in the rather unique position to understand exactly what I'm going through." David sighed and looked away, stared at something behind him. He was getting somewhere with him. He didn't dare look at what he was staring at, just waited for his gaze to return to him. "Will you help me?"

David looked back at him, his jaw set firm. He was staring, but he could practically see the wheels in his head turning uselessly. It was done. David was a stubborn man when he wanted to be. If he made up his mind, then it was made up. If the answer was "no," then he'd have dismissed him by now. The fact that he was still sitting here thinking through it meant that he'd already decided. He'd do it.

Finally, David sighed. "Look…for this to work, you're going to have to give me some information. I know that's not your forte-"

"What do you want to know?"

"Who is she? Really."

No, information wasn't his forte, and he wasn't pleased, but he'd expected that he'd require at least a bit of knowledge before outright agreeing. And he was old; he knew how to give away the essential parts while holding the truly important details close. For Belle, to get her back and make sure she was alright, he'd do what he had to.

"A Princess."

"She's royalty!" David balked. "Do I know her?!"

"Doubtful. She's the daughter of King Maurice," he clarified matter-of-factly.

He watched as David's eyes went glassy for a moment in thought, then widened in realization. "Moe French? The owner of Game of Thorns?"

He gave only a single, curt nod. "Yes."

"He has a daughter?!" David's eyes wandered down to the picture he'd given him on her.

"She was gone by the time you entered into that society. When his land was invaded with ogres, she made a deal with me that I'd rid her land of them, and she'd come to live with me as a maid. We fell in love."

David watched him from under his eyes, suspicion and judgment flashing in front of them before he picked his head up to observe him again. "You thought she was dead. Was that a lie?"

"No. After I dismissed her from my service, Regina informed me that she'd returned to her father and had died, but it turns out Regina had kidnapped her and was holding her against her will without my knowledge."

"Regina? That's believable enough, but where's she been all these years."

"Regina put her in an asylum, I suspect to bide her time until she could use her against me. Belle's curse was no memories, no family, no name, nothing. She was freed just before the Curse broke and found me. She got her memories back when the rest of you did. We've been together ever since."

"Okay…is there any reason to suspect Regina did something to her then?"

"No," he answered with little hesitation. "Regina has many flaws, but she's intelligent. She knows that if she dared to try something like that again, I'd kill her."

David huffed. "'Your business'…this is why you sent the Wraith after her after the Curse broke. You found out what she did to Belle."

He nodded.

"Against better judgment, or maybe because of it, I'll assume you already talked to Moe French."

"He claims that he hasn't seen her."

"Why can't you just use magic to find her?"

"In order to keep her safe, I put certain spells over her."

"Let me guess. Those spells make it difficult for even you to find her."

"Unfortunately," he growled.

"Okay, so you last saw her this morning. What happened before that?"

"We fought," he admitted tapping his cane nervously against the floor. It wasn't really a "fight." A fight implied two people arguing when in fact, she'd asked questions, and he'd refused to answer them, but he knew what David was searching for. Motive. He was looking for a reason she might have left. "Fight" was the best way he could think to describe it, even if it did chaff his soul a bit. "We argued over my use of magic. She got frustrated with me, I went downstairs, she went upstairs, when I went to find her, she was gone."

"Look…if she left-"

"Then I'll leave her be, Sheriff," he assured him. "But she has no knowledge of this town. Since she got her memories back, she's either been at my house, the shop, or the woods, aside from a few hours when she was out on her own when magic came back, she's never been anywhere else, hasn't met another soul for twenty-eight years, probably longer with how Regina kept her. I just need to know that she's safe, that no one has taken her, and she's left of her own accord."

"I was going to say, 'if she left, you might just want to wait for her to come back."

"If I had any confidence she'd be safe on her own, I would."

David took a deep breath, then folded up the paper he'd given him and stuck it in his pocket. "Fine," he muttered, moving toward to grab a leather jacket that was reminiscent of Emma's, only black instead of red. "We'll start on Main Street. If she's not been captured, then we have to assume she…wandered off," David explained as they left the apartment. His hesitation told him that he wanted to say "ran away" but had managed to stop himself in time. "If she's lost, then she'll likely go somewhere familiar, and it sounds like the closest, most familiar place is Main Street."

"And you what…just intend to start asking questions?"

David shrugged, slipping his keys into his pocket. "Let's see where it gets us."

The man moved to lead him from the apartment landing, but he reached a hand out and stopped him, unhappy with his plan of action. Belle could be anywhere, and he just wanted to start asking questions?

"Look, let's get this straight," David began with an attitude that suggested he had properly interpreted his frustration. "If we do this, then we do things my way. I do all the talking. If you can't agree to that, then you are more than welcome to find someone else to help you."

He wanted to strike back, to offer a quick comment about his way being slow and inferior to what he could do. He wanted to tell him that he didn't want his help nor need it. He wanted to remind him that it was only because of "his way" that he had everything he'd ever needed in life and more.

But he couldn't. And David knew it. He couldn't because the truth was that he wouldn't have been here if he didn't need David to help him with this. He had no other options, no other choice.

"If that's the way it must be," he muttered. But as he turned, it was David's turn to put his hands on him and stop him.

"Agree," he demanded. "No loopholes or tricks, agree."

Sometimes the False Prince was a damn bit too smart for his own good. But he had no time observations or arguments. Belle was out there somewhere, and David was leaving him with very little room to play with words. A younger Dark One, one who hadn't learned to love power and control as he did, wouldn't have seen any of what he offered. Fortunately, he did. He knew that there was a difference between "very little room" and "no room at all."

"If you help me, then I agree to do things your way until we've discovered who took Belle or where she's gone too. Happy?"

David crossed his arms and thought for a second before slowly nodded his head. "Despite the wiggle room you allowed yourself…yes."

David moved around him and descended the stairs leaving him shaking his head at the boy he'd watched turn into a man.

Too damn smart…

[queen-erika-the-songful]

what did you think about the live action beauty and the beast?

I wish I could like it more, but there’s just way too much that I can’t stand about it.

To start positively, I did like:

The new songs, “Evermore” especially. I think it’s the perfect compliment to “If I Can’t Love Her” from the Broadway musical. If you pair them together, they’re a great representation of the Beast’s character development

The overall visual aesthetic. The costumes were really nice, the sets were beautiful, and I really did like various mixes of white and gold in the castle.

Emma Watson and Dan Stevens had better chemistry than I was expecting. I appreciate that.

Luke Evans absolutely killed “The Mob Song”. He was really scary.

The attempt to give Belle and Beast some more scenes together. I think Belle reading to him outside and the talk they had in the garden were both sweet moments. They reminded me a bit of when Belle reads King Arthur out loud to Beast in the Broadway show. during “Something There”. They really needed some bonding moments between them to make the romance work. It also helps that I’m a big sap.

The main cast overall was pretty good, but Kevin Kline was the best actor in the entire film. His Maurice was so tender and loving; I really felt every emotion he portrayed.

Belle having a more active role in the climax, which is something I actually did want to see. I really like that she caught up to Gaston, and tried to take him on, even if was just for a second.

But then there’s stuff like this:

Like I said before, I do like the new songs...but seriously? We didn’t get one song from the musical?! And Menken even teases us with an instrumental version of “Home” when Belle first enters her new room. I mean they didn’t need to make it a full-on remake of the stage musical, but it would’ve been nice to see at least one or two of them implemented into the film. 

WAY too much auto-tune used for Emma. Her voice isn’t even bad. It’s not totally grand but it was serviceable. They should’ve either let her sing and not process her vocals or just dub her over with another singer. There’s really no shame in dubbing, I mean even the first High School Musical dubbed over Troy’s parts.

They cut the original version of “Days in the Sun” with the Queen and Beast’s verses, which I think was a massive mistake. It’s so much better than the final version.

The push to make Belle more “feminist” didn’t feel entirely genuine. I initially liked the idea of her being the inventor and Maurice a clockmaker, but they don’t do much with it. In addition, she was already a pretty feminist character anyway. She saw through Gaston’s handsome exterior to his black heart right away, traded her freedom for her father’s with little to no hesitation, and didn’t give the Beast even an inch of a chance until he started being nice. Not to mention, she also tried to fight off wolves to save Phillip with just a stick and later tried to save the Beast from Gaston even though she was small and weak compared to both of them. She was a kind, brave, perceptive, clever, romantic - it’s not like being a bookworm was her entire personality.

They tried to make Gaston a “deeper”/more “complex” villain by making him a war vet with PTSD. That was completely the wrong decision and a little disgusting. My dad actually has PTSD from being a Marine, so this is a bit of a personal gripe. But I can’t understand the decision to make turn the villain, the guy we’re supposed to see as the “true” monster, someone with a real mental illness that clearly just needs help. I’m not saying that Gaston wouldn’t use his position as a war hero to boost his ego and be all high-and-mighty, because he is supposed to be egotistic, but like what was the point? What was wrong with him just being a vain, misogynistic hunter that wasn’t going to let Belle say no? 

Also why did they put a set date/time for the movie anyway? What did that actually add? Maybe I just don’t get it.

What the hell was up with Agathe being the Enchantress and her showing up at the end? I don’t get it. She doesn’t need to show up in the story at all. She just needs to show up in the prologue and curse the Prince and that’s it. I know she’s supposed to be watching them or whatever but after the spell is broken she just stands around saying nothing. The leads don’t even see her so what was the point?

Who in their right fucking mind thought that the Lefou subplot was a good idea?! Oh yes, let’s make one of the first LGBTQ+ characters in a major Disney production the villain’s henchman with whom he is secretly in love, then give him a literal 2 seconds of screentime with one of the random bargoers at the very end of the film. Like...having him break out of a toxic, one-sided relationship isn’t a bad idea exactly, but it was done so poorly. Not to mention his name means “the fool” - sure, that’s a great name to give the only gay character. If they really wanted to break barriers, why not put Cogsworth and Lumiere together instead?

What did the Wardrobe/Madam Garderobe and the Harpsichord/Maestro Cadenza add? I mean, maybe they wanted to do what they did for Wardrobe in the Broadway show, but it’s different. There, she was given the name Madame de la Grande Bouche, and she was the palace opera singer. She and Babette (Feather Duster) were major side characters along with Mrs. Potts, Lumiere, Chip, and Cogsworth. In the live-action she and Cadenza weren’t even part of the court, they were visiting from another land. So why did they have to get cursed too? They were literally just there to perform and got caught up in the curse by chance.

They casted Audra McDonald and she didn’t even sing that much. Sorry but she should’ve been the one to sing “Beauty and the Beast” instead of Emma Thompson

I’m sure there are more things I’m forgetting to feel free to send in more asks if you want.

I guess if I was babysitting one of my school kids I wouldn’t mind watching it with them but I would rather just stick to the original and the Broadway show. I really feel like in an effort to “fix” the original, they both added too much and took away a lot and it ended up a bit of a mess. A mess that’s pretty to look at and listen too, but a mess nevertheless. 

[lu-undy]

Chapter 87 - SBT

Here it is!

Keys jingled and finally entered the lock. Perle and Soot jumped to their feet and trotted to the front door as the tall man entered. 

"Lu', I'm home, love."

Both cats meowed repeatedly and brushed themselves on Mundy's legs. 

"Hey, babies…" He crouched down to pet them and they purred.

"And what time do you call this?" The voice with the French accent answered from the living room. 

Mundy kicked his boots away and threw his sleeveless jacket on the coat hanger before joining his lover on the sofa. 

"I know, it's taken ages, I'm sorry… Oh-?" As soon as Mundy sat next to his lover, Lucien cupped his face and inspected it. "What's wrong? Lookin' for lipstick marks? I'm not the sheila magnet, you are!" 

Lucien smiled and chuckled as he shook his head. 

"Non, I was just trying to see how it went. And I can tell that it went well in the end, even though you had very strong doubts somewhere about the middle of the discussion." 

"What the hell…? How on Earth do you see that on my face?!" Mundy asked. 

"Mon loup, you forget I was a secret intelligence expert…!"

[My wolf]

"Yeah, well, that's spooky magic alright!"

Lucien chuckled. 

"Nah, seriously, how did you know?" 

"Your eyes are still red from the tears but your comment about the lipstick mark shows that you are in a good mood. You cried, but it went well in the end." Lucien explained. 

"Ah, yeah, makes sense…" 

"I made some dinner, would you like to tell me more as we eat?" 

"Sure, I'll lay the table." Mundy stood up, followed by Lucien. "What did you make?" 

"Lasagna." 

"Oh?" 

"I thought that whatever the outcome, you might enjoy your favourite." Lucien added with a wink. 

"Thanks, love, really… C'mere…" Mundy pulled him from his waist and kissed him. 

"My pleasure." 

A few minutes later, they were at the table and enjoying their dinner. 

"And yeah… My Dad ended up… accepting? I don't know, but I used the thing you told me and it got to him." 

"What was it?" Lucien asked as he sliced more of the lasagna in his plate.

"That I might not understand him, but I respected it. I told him that and I think it got to him. He said he himself couldn't wrap his head around what he had done but he was scared to the bone for Mum and him." 

"See? I told you. Fear and situations of extreme stress will change a man." Lucien nodded to himself. He put his fork down for a second to do his bun again as his hair was falling in front of his eyes.

"Yeah, you're right. And yeah, he said the same to me. He didn't understand how I could torture a man and kill him… Said he himself wouldn't have the guts to do half of what I did…"

"I can believe that indeed." Lucien said. 

"What?" 

"I don't mean it about your father in particular." Lucien poured some red wine for his lover and him. "Not any man can kill and even fewer men can torture their fellow humans."

Mundy took a sip of the wine and put the glass back on the table. 

"Guess so." 

"Oh for sure. I have seen men drafted during a war that no one knew when it would end, men who had nothing in their heads yet, and I saw more than half of them at least hesitate before a kill; that, or faint, get into some sort of seizure, fits of nerves collapsing… And that was just to shoot a man far away, I am not talking about torture."

"But you… You felt like a fish in a pond." Mundy said. 

"Unfortunately so, oui."

"How d'you… I mean, how does it work in your head?" 

"Don't get me wrong," Lucien wiped the corners of his mouth elegantly. "The uneasiness and disgust never go away. I learnt to mute them during the act and let them out after the mission is accomplished."

"Oh… Right…"

"But enough about 'spooky business' as you call it, let us come back to your parents. Did you tell them that you work for Maurice now?" 

"Yeah, I did. Dad said he uh… He actually said he was proud of me…" Mundy raised glistening eyes to Lucien whose eyebrows jumped with excitement. He took Mundy's hand across the table, between both of his, and Mundy clenched his grip on his lover. 

"This is excellent news! Hahaha! You see? I told you it would go well! I told you! Whatever happens, your parents are your parents and they love you!" 

"Yeah…" Mundy wiped a tear of joy and chuckled. "And uh… I told them a bit about you too." 

"Oh? What did you say?" Lucien asked. 

"Told them you helped get Duchemin and now we work together for Maurice."

"Ah, very well." Lucien let go of his lover's hand and his eyes returned to his plate.

"I also said we uh… We live together." 

Lucien's eyebrows jumped. 

"Oh… You might have wanted to tell them about that later, non?" 

"N-no, I didn't say it like that. Mum asked me where I live, told her I was rentin' a place with you as a… well… a housemate…?"

"Ah, I see." Lucien nodded. "They don't know for…?"

"Nah, they don't. They assume I only fancy sheilas." 

"Fair enough." 

"They want to see you, y'know, get to know the bloke I live with." 

"Mh-hm." Lucien nodded. "Anything else you told them about me or would rather me not tell them?" 

"Told them you're French, but I didn't tell them you were a spy. I don't wanna scare them or anythin'."

"Wise decision." 

"Oh and I told them that the reason why you were after Duchemin was because of your fiancée and son. I think that's all I said." 

"Fair enough."

Mundy wiped his mouth and finished his glass of wine. 

"Are you uh… I mean d'you… Would you be ok to meet with my parents?" 

"Of course, I would love to." Lucien's face beamed up with a sweet smile. "And don't worry, we are housemates, nothing more." 

"Y-yeah, sorry about that… So yeah, no holding hands or anythin' like that…"

"I know and I understand." Lucien nodded. "Let us clean this mess and go to bed if you want, you must be tired."

"Yeah actually." 

They cleaned the table and Mundy filled the water bowl for the cats. Later on, as the sky was now dark, both Lucien and Mundy were in their bed. The Aussie laid his head on Lucien's shoulder. 

"I imagine you feel empty now, hm?" 

"Yeah… it was hard. Dad nearly called the police on me to get out." 

"Did he?" 

"Yeah, when I told him we killed Duchemin. Said he didn't want a murderer to set foot in his house." 

"So much for that, he is about to let a former spy in…!" 

Mundy and Lucien chuckled. 

"Guess so, yeah. Also, uh… They loved the pastries." 

"Glad they did." Lucien answered as his arm laced back and his hand dangled above Mundy's head. He scratched his lover's scalp softly through his hair. 

"Told them it was your idea." 

"Oh? You could have told them it was yours." 

"I could have, but I'm sure they wouldn't have believed me. I'm not that kind of guy." Mundy left a kiss on Lucien's chest and started stroking it slowly.

"When do you want us to meet?" Lucien asked. 

"I told Mum we'd be free in a few days, over the weekend or something. Is that alright with you?" 

"Parfait." Lucien turned to kiss his lover on his forehead. 

[Perfect.]

Mundy raised his head and they exchanged a good night kiss, while they locked their arms and legs together. 

"Mundy?" Lucien whispered. 

"Mh?" 

"I am proud of you, and proud to be the man you choose to spend your days and nights with." 

Mundy hummed low and smiled against Lucien's chest. He peppered a few more kisses there with his eyes closed. 

"You are a very brave man, a good human being. Please, never change." 

"I won't, love, don't worry." 

The hug tightened on both parts and they fell asleep with a smile of their lips.

-- A few days later -- 

"I'm home, love." 

"Mundy! Finally!" Lucien answered from the bathroom or bedroom, Mundy wasn't sure.

"What? What's wrong?" He answered while removing his boots and jacket. 

"Come and see, I need your opinion, please!" 

Mundy frowned and looked for his lover in the house. He didn't have to really put any effort as Perle and Soot showed him the way. The Aussie found his lover in their room with at least half his suits on the bed. 

"What's happenin'? You're opening a backyard sale of your suits?" 

"Non! I cannot bring myself to choose which one is best suited for the occasion!" Lucien answered, wearing a pair of black boxer shorts with matching socks and garters, as well as a white tanktop. "Black or white are too formal, Burgundy red might be a bit too colourful, grey is too dull, beige might not be formal enough… Arh…" He sighed and leaned on the cupboard that contained his clothes. 

"Aw, poor princess…" Mundy came to his lover and put his hands on his waist, he kissed his lips and went for his cheeks and his neck. "Don't know what dress to choose?" 

"Mundy, please, help me…" Lucien looked up with his feline eyes and Mundy's smile widened. 

"You don't need to put on a suit, love. Just come as you are." 

"With a pair of boxer shorts and a white tanktop? Non, Mundy." 

"Nah, of course not like that, I meant normally."

"Normally I wear a suit, mon loup. But that doesn't help…" He sighed. "Which one do you think they would prefer?" 

"Either beige or that navy blue one. Both make your eyes stand out, they're gorgeous…" Mundy nuzzled in his lover's neck. 

"Mh… Are they…?" Lucien teased. 

"Lu'... Don't be like that…" Mundy dug his fingers in Lucien's sides. 

"Ooh, or else…?"

"Or else we'll be late for dinner with my parents cause I'll take care of you first…" 

"Fine, I won't tease you further… for now." Lucien answered and met with Mundy's lips. He felt the Aussie's hands slither down his back and grab two handfuls of what the Aussie preferred. "Oooh…!" 

"That's just to remind you how good it feels, eh." 

"Liar, it was for you to remember how good it feels, non?" Lucien cocked a playful eyebrow.

"Might be… But yeah, go for beige maybe." 

"Beige it will be then. And what about my hair? I was thinking of either a low ponytail or a braid, something neat and tidy." 

"Both are nice but the braid is extra nice. Ends up being salt and pepper all along, it's beautiful."

Lucien raised an eyebrow. He didn't know Mundy paid attention to his looks as much. 

"Well then it is settled." The Frenchman put his suits back in the cupboard except for the beige one. 

"I can braid it for you if you want." 

Lucien's eyebrows jumped. 

"You know how?" 

"Yeah, it's not hard." 

"Let me put on my clothes first and then, yes please, I would love it." Lucien answered with a smile. "And what about you? Will you go like this?" 

Mundy looked down at his polo shirt and brown trousers. 

"Yeah, why not?" 

"Your top is beige, it would be strange for us to wear matching colours, mon loup." Lucien buttoned his white shirt up before putting on the trousers and the vest. 

"Ah, yeah… I'll get a quick shower and a change. See you in a bit luv'." 

"See you." 

Lucien finished dressing up and varnished his shoes again before Mundy exited the shower. He saw his silhouette cross the corridor and couldn't help but go after him, back in the bedroom. He leaned on the doorframe and watched the tall Aussie put on his clothes. First, his boxer shorts, which now covered a part of Mundy's body that always beckoned Lucien, may it be dressed or naked. Then, came a light blue polo shirt, which slid on the back with the scars - none from Lucien however, the Frenchman noted it and thought he should change that. Finally, Mundy slipped a pair of brown trousers on and slid a belt in. He was staring at his waist to adjust it when he saw two pale hands slithering from behind and lacing around his sides. 

"Oh? You're here?" 

"I have been, oui." 

"How long've you been watchin' me?" 

"A few minutes." Lucien leaned his head on Mundy's back, hugging him from behind.

"You creep…" Mundy chuckled as he finished with his belt. He then turned to Lucien and cupped his face. "You've been starin' for longer, eh?" 

"I might have." Lucien smirked, his head raised to his lover. 

"Pff, c'mere…" Mundy bent down to take Lucien's lips between his own. "Now, follow me." 

"Oh?" 

Mundy took Lucien by the hand and they went to the living-room. 

"Sit down here." Mundy pulled a chair and Lucien obeyed. "Gimme a minute." 

A few seconds later, the Aussie was back and stood behind Lucien. 

"Right, so we said a braid, right?"

"Oui, please." 

"Meow…?" 

"Viens, mon bébé." Lucien tapped his lap and Perle jumped on it.

[Come, my baby.]

She lay lazily and purred while he stroked her fur. 

"Right… Here we go…" Mundy was mumbling behind his back while Lucien felt his fingers part his hair and start braiding. "On top, below, on top, below, on top, below…" 

Lucien smiled and tried to not move his head at all. It lasted for about a minute of Mundy chanting "on top, below" and Lucien felt his lover's fingers brush and move his locks to his will, which he adored. He relaxed and closed his eyes during the entire process until he felt that Mundy let go of his hair. 

"There you go, gorgeous." 

"May I see?" 

"Course." 

Lucien stood and headed for the bathroom, where the nearest mirror was. 

"Not bad at all…"

"Oi, don't sound too surprised!" 

Lucien came back with a wide smile. 

"I just did not know you had a talent for hairdressing." 

"Not really a talent, eh." 

"It is, and a beautiful one." Mundy smiled and blushed. "Are you ready to go?" 

"Yeah, let's go." Mundy headed for the door.

"Attends."

[Wait.] 

Mundy stopped sharp, the door knob still in his hand, and turned to Lucien. The Frenchman went to the tip of his toes and pushed his lips against Mundy's. 

"I am delighted to go and meet your parents."

"Yeah, me too. Though I wish I could tell them the truth." 

"Each thing has its time, as we say in French. First, you need to make sure that your relationship with them is good. They can learn about us later." Lucien was brushing Mundy's sideburns and cheeks with his thumbs.

"Yeah, you're right…" The Aussie let go of the door knob to pull his lover's waist against his own. He rested his forehead against Lucien's. "I hope they'll like you."

"Of course they will. I charmed the son, I can charm the parents too." 

"You plannin' on seducing my parents now?" 

Lucien moved to pull the door open and stepped out of the house. 

"Your mother at least." He winked. 

"Oi! Get away from her!" 

Lucien snickered as they both went to their motorcycle and put on their helmets. 

"I shall try my best…! But go ahead, you drive." 

"You'd better…! She's my mom, bloody hell! Right, get on, darl'." 

Lucien hopped on behind Mundy and hugged him tightly. After that, they flew by in the streets. But again, at some point, Lucien tapped Mundy's shoulder and the Aussie followed his favourite GPS. 

"Right, this isn't pastries, eh?" 

"Non, this is a flower shop, and over there, across the street, a wine one." 

"Ooh, that's great."

"Come along." 

Both men entered the florist's. 

"Good afternoon, gentlemen. How may I help?" 

"We would like a bouquet, it is for an important family meeting." Lucien answered and Mundy's insides burnt when he heard him talk about 'family'.

"Any precise idea or requests?" The florist asked. 

"It has to have daisies." Lucien answered. "But other than that, you are the expert."

"Very well."

"We will go shortly to the wine shop opposite you, would you mind keeping the bouquet until we come back?" Lucien asked. 

"Of course. It will take me a few minutes to make it anyway. See you in a bit!"

"Many thanks. Come, Mundy." 

They crossed the road and entered. 

"Wow…" 

They were surrounded by dark bottles, shelves of them  entire rows and columns, nicely organised, of bottles that all looked the same to him. 

Lucien went straight to the shopkeeper and started having a chat with him while Mundy was still observing the bottles. A lot of them had French names on them. He tried reading them, deciphering each letter and following them with his index finger, like a young boy would. He frowned. French was a nightmare to read. Too many silent letters, or letters that should be pronounced in an odd and absolutely counter-intuitive way. 

"Mundy?" 

Mundy's head jerked up. 

"Huh? Yeah?" 

"Do you have any idea what your mother will cook for tonight?" 

"Uh, no idea, no…" 

"Very well." Lucien turned to the shop owner again and finished his chat. A minute later, he paid for the bottle and they exited the shop with an elegant glossy paper bag in his hand. 

"I'll go and grab the flowers, get ready to go." Mundy said. 

"Parfait."

[Perfect.]

A moment later, they were back on the motorcycle, heading for the suburbs, and it only took them a few minutes before they reached their destination. 

"Right, here we go!"

"Mundy, wait." 

Mundy stopped sharp, his fist in the air, about to knock on the dark brown, wooden door. 

"Yeah?" 

"How do I look?" Lucien adjusted his own jacket and pushed a thin lock of silver hair behind his ear. Mundy bent down to his ear and whispered. 

"You look gorgeous as ever…" 

"Merci." 

[Thank you.]

Mundy smiled, he moved forward to kiss Lucien but the Frenchman backed off and shook his head. 

"They might see." Lucien whispered and Mundy nodded. 

"You're right. Let's go." 

The Aussie knocked at the door and a few seconds later, Mike opened. 

"Hey Dad!"

"Micky!" 

They exchanged a hug. 

"Dad, this is Lucien, my housemate. Lu', this is my Dad, Mike."

They shook hands and Mundy blushed. It was absurd. He wasn't introducing Lucien as he should but still, the image of Mike and him shaking hands made the Aussie weak. He wished he could capture that image and frame it somewhere, to look at it later, when his mood would change. 

And it was absurd how oblivious Mike would be and in fact was. But so was Mundy himself when he had first caught a glimpse of Lucien. Never had he imagined for one second that that man he had seen through his scope, beaten up and tied to a chair in that hangar where the alligators were to be swapped trucks - never could he imagine that man in the ski mask would be his reason for happiness.

"Nice to meet you, son." Mike said. 

"The pleasure is all mine." Lucien answered. 

"Come in, boys, don't stay at the door. Caroline? The boys are here!" 

"Ooh! Micky!" Caroline erupted out of the kitchen and threw herself in her son's arms. 

"Hey, Mum…! How's it goin'?"

"Alright-ooh! I suppose this is Lucien, isn't it?" Caroline wiped her hands on a towel and adjusted her glasses to examine the Frenchman better. 

"Yeah, it's him, Mum. Lu', this is my Mum, Caroline." 

"I am delighted to meet you, Madame." Lucien took Caroline's hand and bowed down to leave a polite kiss on it. 

"Wooh! Good manners that is!" She said. "Mike, come and take his jacket…!"

"Would you perhaps have a vase for these flowers?" Lucien handed her the bouquet and Caroline's eyes popped out of her head. 

"Of course! Of course!" She excitedly answered. "Ooh, look at these daisies…!" 

"Mundy told me they were your favourites." 

"Thank you, dear." 

Lucien's smile was a sight to behold for Mundy, but even Caroline looked to be under his charm!

"Mike, this is for you, I hope you will enjoy it." Lucien handed Mike the bag he was holding. 

"What's that? Oh, that's some wine! Hold on, let me grab my glasses to read this, come in, c'mon boys, Micky, get your friend comfy at the table…" 

"Right, thanks, Dad. Mum, d'you need help with anything?" 

"No, you sit with your father and your friend, I'll bring some nibbles. Are you ok with beer, Lucien?"

"Of course, Madame." 

"You can call me Caroline…!"

The men sat around the table and Mike put on his glasses. 

"Right… What do we have here, eh…?" The old man adjusted his glasses and put the bottle of wine a bit further from his face to read it better. 

Lucien raised his head and his gaze crossed Mundy's eyes. He winked with a flash of his pearly white teeth and the Aussie melted as his face turned red. 

"Here, some fresh beers, and a few nibbles to snack on…" Caroline placed them on the table. "C'mon, Mike, the wine isn't a newspaper, serve it and then read it if you want!"

"Micky, tell your Mum to gimme a minute!" 

"Mum…"

"Mike, if you don't serve them the wine, I won't let you have dessert…"

"Right, I think it's time for the wine, boys, eh?" Mike uncorked the bottle and served everyone. 

Lucien watched and tilted his head on the side. So that was Mundy's family. He took a second to observe them all one after the other - spooky habits die hard, as Mundy would probably say - and it made Lucien smile. 

It was true that Mundy didn't share any visual resemblance with his parents. But they loved him very clearly. From the way Mike was handing his son his glass of wine, to the way Caroline ruffled his hair as she passed him, like a reflex, yes, their love was very clear.

"So, Lucien…?" Mike raised his glass. "Let's all try your wine, shall we?" 

Lucien raised his glass along with Mundy and Caroline. 

"Let us indeed!"

[worryinglyinnocent]

Fic: A Rose in Glass

Summary: Lady Belle French is supposed to choose a betrothed at her father’s Christmas ball, but she would far rather spend her time helping the shy gardener with the French family’s priceless bottled roses.

Written for the @a-monthly-rumbelling moodboard prompt, available here. 

Rated: G

=====

A Rose in Glass

“Who puts roses in jars anyway?”

Belle glared at the perfect red rose growing behind its glass as she carefully set it down in the tray of damp sponge. The rose jars had always fascinated her ever since she had been a child, and now they finally had a gardener who was willing to share with her the secrets of how they were tended. It was a delicate process, and even after learning about it, Belle was not entirely convinced that there was not some kind of horticultural magic involved. 

On the other side of the conservatory, Rumple just chuckled.

“It’s something that your family have been doing for generations, although I’d never seen a real life bottled rose myself before I came here.”

“Huh.” Belle finished tending to the rose jars and flung herself down on the sofa as Rumple continued to prune the orange trees. It had long since been too cold to work in the garden, but he could always be found in the potting shed or the greenhouses, or, on special occasions, in the conservatory if Belle’s father had asked him to make sure that it was presentable before the guests arrived.

There would certainly be a lot of them arriving tonight; it was Maurice French’s annual Christmas Eve ball, and as always, it was the talk of their admittedly small town. Even more so this year, since Belle would be expected to pick her match from all of the eligible young man who were attending. Belle couldn’t think of anything that she wanted to do less, especially at Christmas, which should have been a time of peace and goodwill to all.

She leaned over the arm of the sofa, looking at Rumple upside down. 

“I wish you were coming to the ball,” she muttered. “You’re the only person that I can talk to around here. I know all of the young men who are coming, and none of them have any decent conversation at all. I dread to think what it would be like to be married to one of them. I fear I might die of boredom.”

Rumple laughed. That wasn’t his real name, of course. He was actually Mr Gold, but he always looked so rumpled whenever Belle saw him that the nickname had stuck, and he had welcomed it. He’d only been at Marchlands Manor for a couple of years, taking up the gardener position after being injured in the war, but Belle was far closer to him than she’d ever been to anyone else of her acquaintance, except her mother, of course, and perhaps Astrid, her maid. 

She gave an emphatic sigh as the prospect of the evening’s ball returned to the front of her mind. A gardener was a perfectly respectable choice of husband. Perhaps not a conventional one for a lady, but Belle had never been one for convention.

“There you are, Miss Belle. I’ve been looking all over for you.”

Belle jerked her head up on hearing the housekeeper’s voice and immediately felt dizzy. Miss Blue came into the conservatory and sighed upon seeing Belle sprawled on the cushions. 

“Really, Miss Belle, your father will be wondering why he ever sent you to finishing school if this is how you behave. It’s time for you to start getting ready; the guests will be arriving before you know it. Gold, are you almost done in here? The footmen need to move the furniture and set the card tables out.”

“Almost done, Miss Blue. Miss Belle’s done the bottled roses, if you’d like to take them to wherever they need to go.”

Miss Blue picked up the tray of jars and made to bear them ceremoniously out of the room, but not before admonishing Belle once more. 

“Astrid is waiting for you upstairs. Your bath will be going cold.”

As soon as Miss Blue’s back was turned, Belle rolled her eyes, but nonetheless she heaved herself off the sofa and smoothed down her frock. 

“Right. Onwards into the valley of death.”

“You’ll be fine.” Rumple put down his secateurs and came over to her, taking her hand in both of his. His entire manner was a bundle of nerves. “I hope you don’t mind me taking a liberty like this, Miss Belle, but I wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas. I won’t see you again until after the day now.”

“Oh.” Belle hadn’t thought about it like that. She wouldn’t see him until Boxing Day, by which time she’d be engaged to one of the stuffy imbeciles who would be attending tonight. The thought of it made her want to cry, but it also emboldened her. She dated in and pressed her lips against Rumple’s cheek, lingering just a few moments too long. 

“Tradition,” she said, on seeing his surprised face. “Mistletoe, and all that.”

“Miss Belle, there’s no mistletoe in the house.” Rumple’s voice was soft, and a little awestruck. 

“Well, there was in my imagination.”

Belle left the room, and when she looked back, Rumple was still standing there, shocked into stillness and silence by her kiss.

Astrid was her normal bright and cheery self, going on about how excited Belle must be. She could always talk enough for two, so if she noticed that Belle was quieter than usual then she didn’t mention it and just filled in the gaps in conversation herself. Belle, for her part, just let it all wash over her. She was thinking about the roses again. She felt a little like a bottled rose herself. A fragile beauty, kept behind glass for her own protection, never allowed to be her natural self. Every need was attended to, as long as she grew in the direction that her family wanted her to. 

She felt sorry for the roses, but she felt sorrier for herself.

X

The party was really not very different to all of the other Christmas Eve balls that Belle had attended in all the time that her father had been hosting them. The same food was served, the same wine was flowing, and all the same guests had arrived. Today though, there was so much more tension in the air as she moved around through the reception rooms to make polite small talk, receiving compliments on her gown. It was a new one that Astrid had made especially for the occasion, in white and pale blue. It reflected the snow and frost outside, and whilst it sparkled prettily, it also reflected the chill in Belle’s veins. 

She wanted to be anywhere else. There was no warmth of Christmas spirit in her tonight; she was amazed that she couldn’t see her own breath curling in the air in front of her. Everyone she spoke with had such an air of anticipation around them, and she could not stand to be the main attraction of the event any longer. All of the eligible young men had gathered in one room, all of them eyeing up the competition and wondering which of them would be the lucky suitor to win Belle’s hand. She had taken visits from all of them over the course of the last few months, all with her father’s urging, and none of them held any attraction over any of the others. It was going to be a case of choosing the least of many evils. 

Well, none of them were evil, per se. They had all been perfect civil – and some, indeed, charming – young men, but she knew so little about all of them that she could not be sure. Men could be charming until they got what they wanted, and then their true colours would show. If Belle was going to choose a person to marry, then she wanted it to be someone whom she really knew. Someone who had her best interests at heart, rather than the desire to increase their own estate with her considerable dowry. 

She wanted someone who understood her, someone who made her laugh, someone who would not make her cry and would hold her if she ever did. 

Belle looked around the room again, taking in all of the young men with their ambitious and hungry eyes. She felt trapped, like a rose behind glass, wanting to feel the cool free air on its petals just as she needed to feel the air on her face. 

She couldn’t stay here, not for a minute more. She couldn’t make this decision, even though she knew how much it would break her father’s heart. She couldn’t bow to tradition, even though she knew that it would be the talk of the town for years to come down the line, how the youngest French girl did not announce her betrothed at the Christmas Eve ball. 

God, she wanted to be free. She craved it more than anything she had ever craved before. She couldn’t be a bottled rose any longer. She’d lived with it before. She’d bowed to all of her family’s traditions and all of society’s rules, no matter how stifling she might have found them to be, like glass pressing in on her from all sides – invisible, but most definitely tangible. 

She couldn’t do it anymore tonight. She couldn’t make a decision that would determine how the rest of her life was going to play out. 

Belle took a shuddering gasp of breath, blind panic overtaking her. She couldn’t breathe, there was no air in her chest at all. She had to get out. 

A few of the faces in the ballroom had turned on hearing her gasp, and a couple of the older ladies, there with their sons in the hope of achieving glory, came towards her, genuine concern on their features. Belle didn’t see any of them. Her eyes had alighted on the rose on the mantlepiece, pristine behind its glass. 

She felt like it was silently screaming for freedom, just as she was, and she grabbed the jar, throwing it down onto the hard floor and relishing the screeching crash as it splintered at her feet. 

Silence reigned supreme in the ballroom for a minute, until Belle’s father spoke. 

“Belle? Are you all right?”

Belle didn’t reply. She’d freed her rose. Now to free herself. She plucked up the bloom from the glass, not caring a wit when the thorns scratched her fingers, and she bolted from the room, weaving in and out of all the other guests until she reached the front door. The footmen didn’t know what was going on, but she was going through that door whether they opened it for her or not. 

Sensibly, they opened it, despite her father’s protests echoing behind her. In that moment, Belle didn’t care if she was pursued or not. All she wanted to do was to get as far away as possible. She raced out over snowy grass, running as hard and as fast as her legs could take her, weighed down by her heavy gown. The skirt was catching and tearing at the hidden twigs on the ground as she ran, and she felt terrible that all of Astrid’s careful handiwork was coming undone, but she would make it up to her maid in any way that she could once she had calmed down and come to her senses. She needed to breathe. She needed to get away before she could make any kind of sensible decision. 

Finally, she reached the orchard at the end of the garden. The trees were bare now and there would be no fruit till the spring at least, but in amongst the thick bows, interspersed with evergreens, she finally felt safe, and she slowed, leaning on the nearest trunk to catch her breath, drawing huge gulps of the freezing air into her lungs. 

It was only then that she realised how far she had come in the cold night air, with bare head and shoulders and only flimsy silk slippers on her feet, soaked through now with the cold snow. Her breath was truly curling in frosty tendrils now, but there was no way that she was going back inside to face everyone. Not now; perhaps not ever. 

She wondered what her father was saying to appease the guests, but quickly decided that she didn’t care. She was outside. She was free for now. There would be no betrothal tonight. 

“Miss Belle?” The voice was soft, the accent lilting and so wonderfully familiar. “Are you all right? I saw you run past the cottage and I came to see if something had happened.” 

As a worn woollen cloak was draped gently over her shoulders, Belle felt the weight of the day finally come down upon her, and she began to cry. 

“Oh, Miss Belle. It’s all right. I promise, everything’s going to be all right.” 

She collapsed against Rumple’s chest as his arms came around her, rubbing her back. “You’ll be all right,” he soothed. “Come on, let’s get you inside and warm.”

Belle shook her head. “I can’t go back in there, please don’t make me go back in there. I can’t face it, not tonight.”

“Of course not. You’ll be safe with me, Miss Belle.”

Rumple put an arm around her shoulders, guiding her in the direction of the gardener’s cottage. It was a tiny little lodge at the edge of the grounds, just two rooms and a privy, but it was Rumple’s home, and on the rare occasions that she had been in before, Belle had always marvelled at how cosy and welcoming he had managed to make the small space. 

There was a warm fire burning in the grate and he added another log to it as Belle sat down in the old easy chair, stretching out her feet towards the flames as Rumple tucked in several blankets around her.

“May I?” he asked, indicating her slippers. He was holding a pair of thick woollen socks. “They’re freshly laundered, no need to worry.”

Belle nodded. “Thank you.”

Gently, he took off the slippers to reveal her feet red raw with cold. He rubbed them briskly before putting the socks on her.

“I don’t think that your shoes can be salvaged, Miss, I’m afraid, but when you’re ready to leave, I’ll run up the house and get Astrid to bring me a pair of your walking boots.”

“Thank you, Rumple. You’re so good to me.” His kindness brought fresh floods of tears to her eyes, and he gave her a handkerchief. She couldn’t help but wonder if any of the young men now in disarray in the ballroom would have treated her with such tenderness. “I don’t know that I’ll ever be ready to leave, though.”

“You’re welcome here for as long as you wish, Miss Belle. Like I said, you’re safe here.”

Although his voice was soft, there was something steely in it, and Belle remembered that he had been a soldier back in the past, before he had come to the garden. She knew that he would not make her go back and face her father before she was ready, and if her father came looking for her prematurely, then Rumple would stand between them until Belle could face him herself. 

It was then that she realised that, in her heart, she had already made her choice. 

“May I ask what happened, Miss Belle?” Rumple asked as he brought a cup of tea over to her. “I know it’s not my place, but you were so distraught, and I was worried.”

“I just couldn’t stay there. I couldn’t make that decision and be the perfect bride that they all want me to be.” She remembered that she was still clutching the rose from the jar and she held it out to Rumple. It was wilted and battered now, looking much past its best – just as she was – but it was free. It was out in the world where it belonged. 

Rumple prised the flower from her hand and she hissed with pain; the thorns had bedded in deep. 

“It will flourish here,” he said, laying it on the side. “It’ll regain its strength and return to its former glory.”

As he tended to the cuts on her fingers, he looked up at her, and Belle knew that he wasn’t just talking about the rose. 

“Rumple…” 

“Sh. Get yourself warm first. Then we can talk about it.” He finished dressing her cuts and turned her hand over, pressing a kiss to her knuckles. “You don’t want a crippled gardener.”

“I think I do.” She caught his hand as he went to move away and brought it to her lips, returning his kiss. “Thank you, Rumple. Thank you so much, for everything.” 

“Anything for you, Belle. You know that.”

It was the first time that he had called her just Belle, without the Miss. It felt right; like the boundaries of class and money that had stood between them before had been broken down here, in his domain. 

Although there was still so much more to say, Belle knew that this was only the beginning, and that true freedom was just around the corner. 

[polygamyff]

55. Part 3

I really wanted to go to bed, snuggle up to Maurice and sleep but no, my mother has invited him here “really mom? Could have waited” I am not ready for this right now, dealt with Leon and now this “he came, I didn’t invite him Robbie, he wanted to see you and I couldn’t just say no if he is here already” looking at Thomas and our eyes met and I looked away “I came here, Terry didn’t invite, I just want to talk to you Robyn” I sighed out “Reign has grown a lot, walking and even talking a little bit” side eyeing him “she was here Robyn, I couldn’t hide her. She was walking around” my mom knows I am not happy “she was quick to walk away from me, I guess I am a stranger to her now, but she is beautiful. Reminds me of you” rubbing my face “I don’t want to do this right now, no” I said “Robyn, just hear him out and then you can go about your night, just please” rolling my eyes “is Reign asleep?” I asked my mom “yes she is asleep” I swear to god, I don’t want this right now “right, ok” making my way to the couch, I huffed out sitting down “I just want to speak to you” Thomas said watching my mom sit next to him, I don’t know how she is able to sit next to a man that belittles her “which you are” Maurice sat next to me “my family” he added “I don’t get it?” I frowned, what does he mean “I don’t want no trouble, I just want to speak to my daughter” he looked at Maurice “he is staying here, he is family. It’s you that has no family” Thomas didn’t expect me to say that, he put his head down “constant bullying is still there, you think I am going to send Maurice off? He always gets me involved with his family business, but I send him off. This is what strained us in the first place, he is not a child. He will sit here, because he is family, to me, my daughter and my mother” Thomas does not like it, he doesn’t like that I am like this, he looks so annoyed  “I told Thomas that Maurice will be here, I don’t know why you had to mention it” my mom said “because he wants to know he still has a hold over me, no” I added.

This is terribly awkward now but what did he expect “I am here and I am listening, we won’t say anything” holding Maurice’ hand, who does he think he is that I will just send Maurice upstairs like a naughty school child, I am so annoyed with it “you know what I want to know, at what point I lost the person I called dad? At what point did you become such a horrible man?” I want to know “when Maurice entered our lives, I felt he took my family well broke my family. I made a mistake by lashing out and bringing up things I wish I didn’t, I regret it so much. I didn’t agree to him, I still don’t agree to him because he got my daughter pregnant and he wasn’t there as he was, and when he was I felt he didn’t respect me, he hurt my daughter. He was married Robyn, as a father I reacted like any father would, I am sure Maurice would be angry too” he pointed at Maurice “If my daughter is what twenty five and is pregnant, yes I will be angry but I wouldn’t constantly be an asshole to the man that is stepping up and belittle him in every sense. I wouldn’t either call her a whore, that is just me though” Maurice said “you took me in as your own Thomas, you took care of me. I called you dad, you were the only man I knew. I met Maurice and I told him I want my child to have a dad like you, you ruined it for what? Because I got pregnant and I started being with a man you hated and then my mother, she tells me you have always had issues with the fact she couldn’t have your babies? I am upset she lasted with you, she is beautiful and can do so much better. She did it for me! And what did you do? Made sure I knew I wasn’t yours because I have moved on, I didn’t become what you wanted me too but what did you gain from this Thomas? Nothing, I am a Surgeon. A mother, and a soon to be mother of two, a wife. Wasn’t that what you wanted from me!? To be happy? Or is the issue Maurice, you just didn’t like him?” I don’t get it.

Thomas’ eyes widened “you’re pregnant again?” he asked “I am, you know what. Thank you, I now know my real family. They came to me, and I met my real grandparents that could not stop crying, I got to see my uncle, I felt a real connection for once. I felt love, so thank you” I have to thank him for it” Thomas put his head down “I am sorry” he lifted his head up “I regret it, I jumped and I wanted you, Reign and your mother and myself to be happy. I feel like you can do better then Maurice Robyn, you have so much to give. I know my daughter and I know you can do better; he was a married man with money, a dysfunctional family. The only thing that sells it to me is the money, he is not a well man Robyn. He has hurt you on several occasions, you’re just going to be his carer and yes I wanted better for you. Any father would want that because I am not money hungry, his money doesn’t sell it to me. It’s him and his family” I am surprised how quiet Maurice is being “I gave Robyn the choice to not be with me, I don’t want her to be my carer” Maurice spoke, I didn’t expect him too but he did “you just came here all dramatic and wanted to sign your rights away, looking for attention that you got” he is just bullying Maurice now “nigga, you don’t know me and my life. I was doing the right thing at the right time; you don’t know my family. You are right to hate them because you think they would leave Reign alone? You can think what you want because you don’t know me, but I was protecting her, I didn’t ask Robyn to come to me. I set her free, it’s you that has this obsession with belittling me, but I don’t care my nigga, I am ok. I don’t ask for Robyn to look after me, trust me I don’t. I don’t get what you think you are getting out of attacking me bro? It’s not funny and you don’t gain. My family is dysfunctional, now what? I have hurt Robyn, but I am still trying to make it up to her. When I am not well and in pain, I stay away and be on my own it’s Robyn that comes to me, she is not my carer and if you trying to hurt me then so be it but it’s not helping your case. You hate me, I get it, but I am not your issue, I am not your son. I don’t care to attack you” my poor baby, squeezing his hand a little “I am good, I don’t have an issue. Attack me all you want; I am sorry I destroyed whatever image you had in your mind for Robyn. I do love her, and I have tried to let her go, I mean you saw and laughed but love wins” Thomas swallowed hard, he is annoyed.

This is not going to solve much at all “did you come to attack Maurice then?” I mean what else “not exactly, I was telling my reasons and I am proud of you, that you became what I always dreamt for you. I am happy for you that you are marrying the man you clearly love a lot, I have regrets and I am sorry I did and acted the way I did; I was trying to protect you. In my heart you are still my daughter, I swear Robyn I made a mistake, I was acting like a fool and I hurt you and Terry, I just was protecting you. You had such a good future ahead and I just got angry that you got pregnant and I hated him for it” staring at the man I once adored so much, it kills me inside. All of those years, the man that helped me with everything, a dad that I was so proud of and he ruined that “you hurt me” my voice broke “I didn’t need to know, I didn’t need to know about Rell. You forced my mom to tell me because you refused to back down, even now. You attack what I love, this hurts me. You could have backed down, this didn’t need to happen, but you pushed and pushed. That is not love, you stayed with my mom for what? Her looks, this must have been hard on her. This has nothing to do with Maurice because it’s me that is hurting the most and I don’t understand on what you are going to do with this? How can we start being the normal family now huh? I have met my real family and that is on you!” I pointed at him.

“Don’t get all upset, don’t stress yourself” Maurice said as he took the tissue from me “I am not, I am hurt. I lost a dad, you know. But I don’t see how we can start being a normal family now. It’s not logical really” I said to Maurice, he touched the side of my cheek with the back of his hand “I think it is best I do go” overhearing Thomas say to my mom “Robyn” Thomas turned around to look at me but I was already looking “I think it is best I go, seems like there is really nothing I can do. I made a mistake, out of anger and I have lost something I did really love” it’s always about him “imagine how I feel, you knew the truth when you took care of me. Imagine how I feel when all those years you was the man I looked up too and you ruined that over anger? It never had to be this way did it?” Thomas shook his head, staring at the man I called dad. He has hurt me so much, he ruined every good memory I had and it hurts me so much. Placing my hands over my face as I cried, it does hurt me a lot that this is happening.

My mom allowed me to calm down from crying before she even spoke, she just sat and waited “it’s ok” Maurice patted my thigh “are you ok Robbie?” my mom asked “erm” I paused thinking, I mean it’s hard to explain “I am not celebrating that I have now lost a guy that I call my dad but I also can’t accept his apology when he didn’t need to treat me the way he did and he still sat there and made sure to downgrade my husband, I think that yes he is sorry and he made a mistake but he can’t accept Maurice and he has made that clear, this is something I will heal from with the love around me but years mom, I have known that man for years. I am still hurt and, you know” I sniffled “Robyn, if you want to still have him around you can?” Maurice said “no, I think it’s a lot of hurt then. I don’t know to be honest. I don’t even think time will heal, he hurt my mom too and then he hurt me more by saying what he said about you, I just need time to think and sleep, I have had a lot to process and now this. I just want to go to sleep” I got up from the couch “I will join you, I will come up” Maurice said as I walked off “goodnight mommy” I said, a lot has happened and I need time alone and time to digest this, I knew this was going to be hard but I didn’t think I would feel like this.

I can’t believe how calm I was, I can’t believe I didn’t want to punch him because he is still so fucking cocky and I am honestly annoyed with it all but I remained calm for Robyn and I did what I need to do “I need to leave Cali” I said laughing as I stretched out “it’s not going well at all, just seems like there is a lot of issues and my body is not settling at all, the climate here and all that but Robyn loves It here” I said breaking the silence “true, I am sorry that Thomas said what he said to you, it was wrong but I didn’t want to add to it so I stayed quiet” Terry said but she was so quiet, didn’t even say one thing at all “I understand but how do you feel to this? I mean you are wanting to be with him. Why didn’t you tell him to go?” I mean it is odd he was here “I wanted Robyn to get this over and done with, also he did but I think Robyn is way too hurt to even forgive such a thing and I didn’t want him to come but he did, and I think I have seen a lot today, I have seen the side to Thomas that is still there. I can’t have that” nodding my head “Terry, I am not telling what to do but we have a lot of space in our home, you can stay with us. I can help you get work in New York. That way you can closer to us. And I know Robyn would love that” I am not even checking with her on this “I am happy here, even if I am without a man. I want you and my daughter to have the happiest time now, this is her time. Once she becomes your wife, these issues disappear, and she moves on. I am ok here; I have my family here still. I just also have things to think and I hate to see my daughter so hurt. Thomas is a bastard” I hope Terry is thinking of leaving this guy, I mean what the hell she keeping him around for when he is a dickhead “you know I am here for you if need anything, I better go and see to Robyn” getting up from the couch.

Walking into the bedroom “what did I expect from this Maurice” closing the bedroom door behind me “what do you mean Bonita?” I knew my baby would be so sad still “this, meaning seeing Thomas. Why do I feel more hurt then I did before?” sitting next to Robyn on the bed “I think because, it’s over?” I know that is the reason “mhmm, yeah. You are right, how can he say I was just being a father, there was no reason for him to tell me the truth. I loved him Maurice, I really did. He spoilt me so much and he did that to me, how could he” placing my arm around Robyn “this is why I said if you want him around you can, I won’t mind” I feel she does “I will get over it but all of those years he wasted for what? His hate for you” I am sad for Robyn, I don’t like that she feels that way because I don’t mind if she wants to keep in contact with him.

[xmxisxforxmaybe]

Decryption_Error: “The Aftermath”

Summary: Y/N has to deal with the aftermath of the incident in the server room, and not only does she have to worry about losing Elliot’s trust, but she has to navigate through the dirty layers of what it means to be a “Wall Street darling.”

Story Summary,  “The Server Room, Part I”,  “The Server Room, Part II”  “The Long Weekend, Part I”,  “The Long Weekend, Part II”

Word Count: 5300

Tags: @sherlollydramoine  @rami-malek-trash  @teamwolf2411  @limabein   @txmel  @hopplessdreamer  @ouatlovr  @backoftheroomandnotbelonging  @alottanothing  @moon-stars-soul  @free-rami

If you want added, let me know.

A/N: HUGE thanks to @alottanothing for helping me through this chapter. I couldn’t have done it without her cheerleading and feedback 💕

It took an extra coat of concealer to cover up the purple under my eyes from not sleeping at all, and to top off not sleeping, my beauty blender broke, the top tearing off just as I finished a light blend of my foundation. I threw it in the trash, hoping it wasn’t an omen for how the day was going to go.  

The train ride into work served as nothing more than calisthenicsfor my mind. I replayed my plan over and over again and tried to predict as many outcomes as I could before I found myself swiping my badge to get into CIStech.

I was early and not even Jayne was there yet to set a meeting with Miles, so I headed into the server room and performed a few more patches on the OS. Other than that, everything seemed to be operating as normal. Looking around the room, it was like nothing had ever happened. Once again, I found myself thinking about how absurd life is, just how complicated it can become in a single moment.

Speaking of complicated, things with Elliot were now permanently complicated. We had definitely moved from work-friends to friends, and then there was that kiss on the rooftop. The one I initiated after lecturing Elliot about waiting to know if what he felt was real—if I was this confused, I couldn’t imagine what he was feeling.

I shook my head and tried to tamp down the series of questions running through my mind—nothing could be answered until I dealt with the aftermath of the server room. When I asked Elliot to kiss me during the fireworks, this was why—today, everything would change. I just didn’t know if it would be for the better, the worse, or like most things, somewhere in between.

As I made my way back to my office, I startled Jayne who was just settling into her desk.

“Good morning!” she said, her eyes wide, her voice pitched high.

“Sorry to scare you,” I began as I gave her a quick smile. “I need you to set a meeting with Miles—his earliest convenience. Then, I need a meeting set with Colin and JaLeah as soon as they walk in the door.

“Got it. Anything else?”

“Not at the moment.”

I sighed as I entered my office, my thoughts returning to Elliot. I thought about the way he looked in that server room, how scared and confused. I thought about the way he acquiesced and just let me take care of him—the way he seemed so desperate to know someone cared. I thought about the way his hair felt as I ran my fingers through it when we were stoned. I thought about the feeling of his lips on mine. And I thought about the way I felt so lonely once he was gone.

I pulled out my lime green sticky notes, and I quickly scrawled, No matter what happens today, I still owe you a night that ends with making s’mores :)

I walked out and slid it under Elliot’s keyboard so just the edge was peeking out.

An hour went by as I checked my email and compiled the data I knew I’d need for my meeting. Franco had sent his bill, so I printed it out for Miles’ approval before it went to accounting.

The office came to life as the early morning waned; although I hadn’t forgotten about what was ahead, I did enter a zone of deep concentration. When Colin and JaLeah walked into my office and shut the door, my stomach dropped as reality immediately sharpened back into focus.  

“What the hell happened, Y/N?” Colin demanded, his hands shoved in his pockets while his eyes drilled into mine.

“Take a seat. Both of you. I was hoping Miles would be here so I’d only have to tell this story once.”

“It would’ve been nice to have known something before I got bombarded in the elevator by half of my team.”

“I’m sorry, Colin. I didn’t see any reason to alert you over the weekend because I took care of the damage.”

“Damage?’ JaLeah asked, her eyebrow raised.

I pushed back from my desk and walked over to the round table. Instead of joining them, I stood and leaned onto the chair in front of me, my sweaty palms resting on the edges.  

“A few of the white hats thought it would be easier to lock Elliot in the server room than actually do their job and fix the holes he kept finding.”

JaLeah’s eyes widened and Colin’s fingers began to drum on the table.

“While Elliot was locked in, four towers were damaged. I came in yesterday and set up four new servers, so everything is up and running smoothly. It’s like nothing ever happened, minus the bill for new servers.”

“Howwere the servers damaged?” Colin asked, even though it was clear he already knew the answer.

I was quiet for a few seconds, wishing JaLeah was in charge of the white hats because she didn’t an aversion to Elliot, unlike Colin.

“Elliot had a bad reaction to being locked up,” I said, keeping my voice even.

“You call smashing four towers to bits with his fists a ‘bad reaction’?”

“They weren’t smashed ‘to bits.’” I said, my fingers clutching at the top of the chair while I fought to keep my voice even.

“What the fuck is it with you and this guy?” Colin said, pushing back from the desk, his leg bouncing as his agitation grew.

“He needs fired. Now!”

“Fired because he got bullied at work? Do you watch the news, Colin? That’s a lawsuit waiting to happen,” I said, knowing Elliot would never put himself at the mercy of the legal system, but also knowing I could use this angle to help save his job.

“That’s what happens when you hire an anti-social freak who’s probably a part of some underground hacking ring!” Colin yelled, his face reddening.

I pushed off the chair and rounded on Colin.

“Elliot is not a freak, and once again you’re proving yourself to be a real jerk.”

“I don’t give a shit, Y/N. I’m tired of listening to my team complain about him. We never had this problem before.”

“And since we put Elliot on the team, how many tech issues, you know the ones we get paid to fix, have we had thanks to his automation scripts, huh? Did you forget my job is to track all of that? I just presented those numbers to you last week or were you too busy shoving your own head up your ass to listen?”

“Don’t you talk to me like that, Y/N. You may have your job because of who your father is, but I earnedthis position after years of doing good work.”

“Go ahead! Start proving my incompetence, Colin, since I’m only here because of my last name,” I said, gesturing at the chair behind my desk. “Sit down. Give it a whirl!”

“I don’t want your job, Y/N,” Colin said, finally taking his eyes off my face. “I just don’t want unnecessary stress because one person can’t play nice.”

JaLeah, who had been watching our confrontation with a cool, steady gaze, spoke up.

“Who locked Elliot in?”

“Aaron, Julia, Maurice, Corey, and Ali are the ones who signed out the latest, at the same time, mind you, on Friday night,” I said, careful to hide the fact I had more information, careful to preserve Elliot’s trust I had worked to gain.

Colin immediately asked, “So that’s it? You walk into a destroyed server room—”

“Damaged. Not destroyed—”

“And that’s all Alderson tells you? He got locked in? I call bullshit. No way the guy didn’t rat out who did it.”

“Fill me in, then, because you sure as hell seem to know a lot considering you weren’t there,” I bit back.

“What doyou know, Colin?” JaLeah said, her interruption reminding Colin and me we were in a professional setting, not a back alley gearing up to throw fists.

Colin huffed and rolled his eyes.

“I talked to Corey—it was just a bit of hazing. They were going to go back in a few hours and let him out, but he was gone—”

“Bullshit. No one else entered the building until I came back on Monday.”

Colin shrugged his shoulders, “They knew he’d gotten out.”

“Five adults locked another adult in a secure room, knowing there was no way out! Elliot didn’t have his phone or his badge on him and I guarantee they made sure of that.”

“What did they do—steal them?” Colin asked, a chuckle in his voice.

“You’re a fucking bully,” I said, my temper rising again.

“And you’re spoiled—just another Wall Street darling,” Colin spat.

“Colin, you are out of line,” JaLeah said just as the intercom buzzed and Jayne’s voice interrupted.

“Mr. Hanson is here to see you, Y/N.”

I moved to my desk and answered, Miles entering even before I even pulled my finger from the button on the intercom.  

“What’s going on?” Miles asked as the door closed behind him. “You assured me it was nothing you couldn’t handle, Y/N.”

I gestured to the table for him to have a seat as JaLeah rose and said, “I should get back to supervising my teams since none of them were involved, right?”

I nodded and we were all quiet as JaLeah walked out.

Miles’ bright green eyes flicked between the two of us and settled on me. He plopped his phone on the table and waited, his perfectly manicured nails not yet drumming, but clearly itching to.

Miles was no-nonsense and valued numbers far more than people; in other words, he was just the sort of corporate guy that would one day rise to the top. His main concern was keeping his reputation spotless so nothing would serve as an impediment to his climb.

“There was an incident on Friday,” I began as I shot Colin a warning glance. He knew he couldn’t play his little game in front of Miles because it would publicly call out that Miles may have promoted me because of my father. It took a long time, but I had myself pretty convinced Miles hired me because of my abilities. But at times, especially at times like this, I couldn’t ignore the niggling reminder that I knew it wasn’t wholly true. All I could do was my best work to remind everyone I was deserving—yes, I was born lucky, but I worked hard to be deserving.  

Miles kept his eyes fixed on mine as I sighed and took a seat at the table. I recounted every detail of Friday night, up until the part where I took Elliot home.

“So, an employee destroying company property is what this boils down to,” Miles said in his matter-of-fact tone.

“I think the circumstance warrants some pretty heavy merit, Miles.”

“Colin?”

“I expressed my distrust of Elliot on the day Y/N hired him—I just knew something was off. I knew something like this would happen.”

“I don’t deal in feelings, woulds, or coulds. I only deal in facts,” Miles said, giving Colin a pointed look.

“The fact is,” I said, “Elliot was a victim of workplace harassment. Events like this are taken seriously now.”

Miles gave me a measured look before nodding his head.

“What do you suggest, Y/N?”

“Colin and I conduct a formal investigation into the events surrounding what happened in the server room on Friday night. When the guilty parties are found, we fire them.”

“Oh, no way!” Colin interjected, his voice panicked. “Elliot Alderson should be fired. The others should get letters of reprimand in their file for unbegetting conduct in the workplace or something like that. Theydidn’t destroy company property!”

“The last time I checked, Colin, you didn’t have the authority to fire anyone.”

“You’re impossible, Y/N. You’ve turned this Alderson kid into some sort of charity case.”

“Charity? The fact he outperforms every single member of your white hat team has nothing to do with it, right? I am an expert in data analysis in case you’ve forgotten,” I said as I stood up and grabbed a file off of my desk.

I spread out the charts I had used at our meeting and focused on the parts I had revisited this morning to highlight Elliot’s performance. Elliot’s numbers spoke to his brilliance behind the screen, his outperformance of his teammates clear.

Miles looked over the charts, his eyes scanning every piece of information.

“Is this when Alderson was hired?” Miles asked, pointing to a date.

“Yes.”

“Impressive. Not only has our overall performance in prevention increased, but it looks the flaws in our security network have decreased by 32% since his hiring. Do you really think that can be ignored, Colin?”

Colin’s mouth was drawn into the tiniest line I had ever seen. I was pretty sure his lips had become a part of his face, completely absorbed into the skin surrounding his mouth.

He settled for a headshake no.

“I’m not going to spend any more time on this. Y/N, I want you to compile a job performance chart like this for each of the other employees in question. Set an example of them, but make sure it’s one that impacts CIStech the least. Any questions?”

“How is this fair? She could make those numbers show anything she wants!”

“And why would she manipulate data, Colin? Is there a shortage of cybersecurity engineers in New York City I am unaware of? An example must be set because we can’t run the risk of a lawsuit. I question just how closely you have been supervising your team, if I’m being straight with you.”

Colin’s mouth popped open and I watched as his lips reappeared. I did my best not to grin because Miles had put Colin right in his fucking place.

“Will that be all?” Miles asked pointedly.

“Yes,” Colin said.

“Thank you, Y/N, for ensuring our operations were not disrupted.”

“Elliot helped me set everything up yesterday—he feels terribly about the whole thing.”

Miles paused on his way out and added, “I want everything taken care of today. I’ll be checking in with HR at the end of the day to see what action you’ve taken. Work together.”

I walked behind my desk and sat down, sighing.

“It will take me about an hour to compile performance assessments on the five of them.”

“Don’t bother. I can tell you how this is going to go.”

“I’m not firing Elliot.”

“Of course that’s not an option now. You know how to play the right cards with Miles.”

I raised my brow and asked, “So how, then, is this going to go?”

“Julia, fired. She couldn’t hack her way out of a paper bag. She’s only on the team because Aaron recommended her and carries her workload. Aaron, now he’s good. I would like to keep him. Maurice, he can go. No real loss there. Ali and Corey,” Colin said, chuckling and shaking his head. “Well, you’re fucked. Corey’s dad is the CEO of Wells Fargo, so Corey gets to have any job for any length of time he wants it.”

I huffed, but before I could speak, Colin continued.

“And Ali,” Colin said. “Ali is the son of the first female to run a publicly traded bank in Saudi Arabia—

the family’s damn near royalty. Do you know what people will say about us if wefire Ali Olayan?”

I knew that a lot of people who worked for CIStech or for Precision Machining had connections, especially people in management. I did not know the extent of Ali and Corey’s connections, but it made sense. Neither of them had gone to college, yet they immediately secured positions with us.

“Why the hell are they even working?” I asked, my voice biting into the still of the office.

Coling laughed, an actual laugh so that his eyes crinkled at the corner.

“Why are youworking?”

“I work because I need to,” I said quietly as Colin ceased his laughter and turned a pointed glare to my face.

“I’d love to live off of daddy’s money--travel, do what I want, live how I want.”

“It’s not in my nature. I need to have direction. Purpose. Without either of those things, I’d end up in an asylum.”

Colin frowned, unwilling to make eye contact.

“Other people’s problems always look much better than your own.”

“Give me an hour to compile the reports.”

“You’re the boss,” Colin said as he got up and walked toward the door.

“Do not say anything to your team other than giving the directive to finish patching the holes Elliot found on Friday.”

Colin gave me a wave of acknowledgement as he left.

I gathered the performance data, and as I waited for each report to print, I thought back to Friday night. Elliot deserved to know there was good in the world—it just sucked that good always seemed to come with a limit. Sure, we can dole out some justice, but only some. Society isn’t ready, may have never been and may never will be, to house anything that is truly good.

And that just fucking sucks.

I pulled the charts from my printer and went over to the conference table and got to work analyzing each one. As it turned out, Colin wasn’t wrong. Julia was definitely out of place amongst the white hats, but Aaron had done a damn good job. While Maurice outperformed Julia, he underperformed Aaron, so Maurice was neutral territory.

Ali, as it turned out, was a damn good white hat, his numbers second only to Elliot’s. However, Corey seemed to perform somewhere in the in-between along with Maurice.

If we went by numbers alone, Ali and Aaron should stay, while Julia, Corey and Maurice were fired. However, I knew I couldn’t escape Corey’s connection. The wave his firing could make for Miles would end my own career.

I buzzed Jayne and asked her to send in Colin.

I relayed my findings, and Colin said, “What about Alderson?”

“We’ve been over this—”

“No, we haven’t. All you’ve said is, ‘I’m not firing him.’ Fine, but something has to happen.”

“What do you suggest?”

“Letter of reprimand so it’s on file for the next time something goes wrong.”

“Colin—”

“Yeah, yeah. I know. Seriously, though. I’ll accept Miles’ suggestion of listing it as ‘damage to company property.’”

I sighed, knowing I had to agree.

Colin was also quiet for a minute before he said, “Not that I care, but I do want to say this so I can say I told you so; Getting too close to Elliot Alderson has probably never ended well for anyone.”

“Don’t worry—I’d never think you could actually care about my life. But look at how well isolating him has worked out,” I added.

Colin shrugged. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

“Jayne—can you send in Julia?”

As it turned out, none of the five were surprised at being summoned into my office. While it was clear Julia and Maurice expected a repercussion, it was equally as clear they didn’t think it would be as severe as being fired. Julia sat stone-faced, her leg bouncing as she listened to the reasons CIStech was choosing to part with her services, and Maurice’s eyes filled with tears. I assured both of them they would get letters of recommendation from Colin.

Aaron, perhaps the most humbled and humiliated out of all of them, issued a thoughtful apology to us and as I would later learn, to Elliot. Instead of accepting a letter in his file, Aaron issued his resignation. I knew Miles wouldn’t be particularly pleased because someone else would scoop him up, but an unblemished record was important to Aaron.

When Corey walked in the room, I would more accurately describe it as a saunter. He knew he was untouchable and it finally occurred to me that that’s what I didn’t like about him—his arrogance. Corey wasn’t arrogant in an obvious way, well, not until he pulled his little stunt with Elliot.

Corey was subtly arrogant. It was in the way he smirked, in the way he took control of conversations to direct them to something he wanted to discuss. It was the kind of arrogance that was bred into a person—the kind of arrogance that got his father his job.

“Well, Corey,” I began. “I assume you know why you’re here.”

“Actually, I’m a bit perplexed,” he said, barely containing a smirk.

“Cut the shit, Corey,” Colin began, and for a minute, I actually liked him.

Corey gave Colin a measured look before turning his eyes back to me.

“It was a joke. We didn’t mean for it to get out of hand.”

“Corey, why do you work for CIStech?” I asked, throwing him off his game a little.

“I have an affinity for computers—always have.”

“But why thiscompany?” I said, careful not to push it too far, careful not to say, when you could get any job you want in your own father’s company.

“I like that it’s a mid-size company. I like the job I do and the people I work with, for the most part. I feel like I can learn a lot about the way a big company like Precision Machining operates by how it works to protects its assets.”

I listened, trying to get a read on how much of what Corey said was a truth or a lie, and how much was grey. I had a feeling Corey lived in a world of grey, of always pushing to see how much he could do without suffering a consequence.

“Corey—you’re off the white hat team. . .for obvious reasons. As of tomorrow, you will report to JaLeah for your duties,” Colin barked, uninterested in my question or Corey’s reply.

Corey nodded, his eyes roaming the room as if he were bored.

“Please consider this letter a memorialization of the conversation we held today. Note that any further transgressions against any personnel in this company will result in your termination,” I said.

“Where do I sign?”

I swallowed my disgust as Corey left the office, the scratching of the pen as he signed his name the last noise issued from him. No apology, no thanks for the leniency—nothing.

“Why do you hold such disdain for me and not for him?” I asked, knowing I shouldn’t care about Colin’s opinion, but also knowing my mind would never give me peace until I asked.

“Oh, it’s equal amounts of spite for all of you Wall Street darlings. It’s just I still have some power over Corey. For whatever reason, he listens to me. Plus, the dude’s a beast at our pick-up games on Saturdays and I like to win,” Colin finished, smirking at me.

He continued, “Get over it, Y/N. He might be your boss someday and we will lick his bootheels just like every other clown that came before him and will come after him.”

Nope—shouldn’t have asked. Should’ve just let my mind wonder,I thought.

“Jayne,” I said into the intercom. “Send in Ali.”

While Ali was as visibly unshaken as Corey, he lacked Corey’s arrogance. Ali was much smarter than Corey and his family was quite strict. His family trusted Ali to conduct himself with propriety and to maintain the legacy his mother was working to build.

Ali apologized and readily signed the letter; however, Colin was keeping him on the white hats.

“If you ever even sneeze in Alderson’s direction, you’re off the team.”

“I understand, sir.”

There was only one more meeting left, and my stomach was clenched in knots. I did my best to maintain a front of only casually caring, but I wanted to get this over with as painlessly as possible.

“Jayne—send in Elliot.”

I closed my eyes for a moment and hoped against hope that Elliot would be okay, that this moment wouldn’t ruin the trust we had begun to build.

“Hello, Elliot,” I said as I gestured toward the empty seat at the conference table.

“Hello,” Elliot replied quietly without looking up at me.

“Sorry to interrupt—” came Jayne’s voice over the intercom. “Mr. Hanson is here.”

“Send him in, Jayne,” I said after walking over to answer her and wondering why the fuck Miles was coming in for thismeeting.

If Elliot didn’t appear nervous before, he certainly did now. I could see the movement of his eyes beneath his lids as he examined the floor, probably counting the fibers in the damn rug under the conference table.

“Carry on,” Miles said, as he took a seat at the table, his eyes glued to his phone.

I cleared my throat, praying to god my voice didn’t give out.

“I understand several employees conducted themselves in a manner unbefitting of CIStech’s code of ethics. Those employees’ behaviors have been addressed, and we apologize for the stress endured as a result of their actions.”

When I said, “we,” Elliot looked directly at me. I averted my gaze, shame reverberating through my mind for what was about to come next.

“However, even though your actions in the server room were a direct consequence of their actions, we must issue you a letter of reprimand for the destruction of company property.”

Miles set aside his phone and interrupted, finally providing an answer for why he unexpectedly dropped in.

“Listen, Mr. Alderson,” Miles began. “Y/N is as professional as they come, so I wanted to drop in off the record. Your job performance is outstanding, and we don’t want to lose you as an employee. I am sorry this happened to you, and I want to do anything I can to help you think of CIStech as an ideal work environment.”

Elliot just looked at Miles, his eyes unnerving and unblinking before he finally said, “You’re lucky to have someone like Y/N in charge. I’m sure nothing like this will happen again under her supervision.”

I couldn’t believe Elliot was defending me—I was so shocked that I almost laughed out loud. Here I am, on the opposite side of the table, having agreed to his reprimand, and he’s defending me.

“I agree. She’s proven herself an asset time and time again,” Miles said, shooting me a brief smile.

Colin hmphed, a noise that did not go unnoticed by Elliot, but I’m pretty sure only I caught the quick flicker of his eyes in Colin’s direction.

“Just don’t be surprised to see our appreciation for your skills reflected in your new contract after the next round of employee evals,” Miles added, smiling briefly at Elliot before he turned his head to me, waiting for me to finish the reprimand.

I cleared my throat again, and said,“This letter serves as a memorialization of the conversation we held today. Please sign and date.”

Elliot’s eyes flew over the words on the page and he picked up the pen and scrawled his name and the date.

“That’s it, Elliot. Again, you have my apologies on behalf of CIStech and if you can offer any suggestions to better the working environment, I would look forward to talking with you,” Miles said, once again looking up from his phone.

Elliot nodded, but said nothing as he stood to leave.

The three of us watched him exit before Miles then dismissed Colin.

“Damn, Colin really bugs me. I shouldn’t say that, but he’s really such an—”

“Asshole,” I finished.

Miles chuckled.

“Exactly. Listen, I need to have my secretary put all this paperwork through to HR, but what do you say we leave at 5:00 and hit up that bar on Cedar Street?”

I had to admit that after today, a drink or two did seem in order.

As I walked out to meet up with Miles, much earlier than my usual quitting time, I met Elliot’s eyes. He paused his typing to watch my movement, his eyes quickly taking in my handbag and my tote.

I gave him a small smile, but turned my gaze forward, not wanting to draw attention to him or to myself.

By the time I got home around 7:00, I had a bit of a buzz. I probably shouldn’t have drank as much as I did, but it felt good to unload some of the day’s stress. After changing into some comfy clothes and rummaging around the fridge, I texted Elliot—my fingers had been itching to do it since the second I walked out of the office.

While some of the day’s stress was over, I still had no idea how much damage I had done to my relationship with Elliot.

Y/N: Hey—not sure what the appropriate greeting is for someone I just gave a letter of repri to?

I prayed to whatever higher power that existed he would answer. Just as I popped some leftovers into the microwave, my phone buzzed.

E: Hey about covers it.

Y/N: I’m sorry. I didn’t want anything to go on your record.

E: It’s okay. It’s not like I exactly used my head on Friday night.

Y/N: I really am sorry, Elliot. But I also want to thank you for what you said about me. You didn’t have to say that.

E: I meant it, Y/N. You did more for me than I deserved and I just wanted someone to know that even if they can’t ever know just how much you did. 

I stared at my phone and wished to god text messages were capable of conveying emotion. I wanted to know what Elliot meant by that. Was he implying I was ashamed of our friendship? Did he think I crossed line by helping him? Or was he just expressing gratitude? Maybe I was overthinking it like usual.

I jumped a little when my phone buzzed because I was so deep into asking myself unanswerable questions.

E: Actually everyone’s been nicer.

Y/N: Omg. Did people actually ask you about Friday night?

E: Not outright. It was like everyone just knew. Said they heard something went down and that it sucked. Said they were sorry people were such assholes. Aaron apologized and offered to take me to lunch.

Y/N: No way that you went lol

E: lol nah. But it was a nice gesture.

I waited, wondering if Elliot would text me anything else. I felt unsatisfied by our conversation, but didn’t want to force him into talking to me. I fiddled with my phone, typing and deleting, typing and deleting, eventually just tossing it on the counter and sighing.

E: Lol is there something else you want to say?

I laughed. Of course Elliot was watching his phone, probably almost-laughing in that way of his at my indecisive text bubble.

Y/N: Honestly? I don’t know…I just don’t want to stop talking to you.

E: Then don’t : )

My stomach did a little flip and a grin spread across my face. I settled in on the sofa, thinking of what to say next, knowing that it didn’t really matter because Elliot didn’t want to run, didn’t want to retreat inside of himself even though it was a difficult day for him.

I hadn’t ruined our relationship.

And now the aftermath was over. Elliot wasn’t fired, and even though I wasn’t happy with keeping Ali and Corey, I was only one person in a huge company and a Wall Street darling myself.

How much could one person really change in a day?

[katedoesfics]

Lacuna | Chapter 2

The early spring morning was cool, but the rising sun promised warmth in the coming hours. Still, Kahli shivered in the damp, empty house. She cursed her father silently as she dressed quickly and trudged through the house. She spent most of the evening debating whether to return to Barnarock, but finally decided against it. Even though she was completely alone in Portia, she didn’t exactly have much back home, either. And her aunt was all too eager to get her out of the house.

It was time she get out into the world and make a life for herself. She needed to find purpose, to find her place in the world. She had no idea where to start, but perhaps this was a blessing in disguise. It felt like a slap in the face, but she would make the best of it. It sure beat the long boat ride back, anyway.

She knew she would need to make some money if she wanted to do anything, and though she didn’t have any particular set of skills, her father did leave her with notebooks upon notebooks of sketches and instructions. It seemed she would be a builder after all. At least it would bring in some money.

Her stomach growled. Money for food. And coffee. She desperately needed both.

She stepped outside into the warmth of the sun and took a moment to take in her surroundings. A vast wheat field was spread out in front of her just on the other side of the road. She could make out a few buildings beyond the field, and what looked to be several other fields lush with green grass. She could barely make out the shapes of cows and horses grazing quietly.

To her left was the road back to the harbor. She had a clear view of the ocean, the sun glittering on its surface. Green, rolling fields stretched on behind her house to the distance mountains. And the center of town, tucked in behind its tall walls, was to her right.

She stepped through the gate and casually checked the mailbox, as if expecting to find another note from her father, but it was empty. She sighed, then followed the road through the gates and into town.

It was early in the morning, but people milled about the streets, stepping out of their homes and chatting with one another. A few kids ran down a hill, laughing and shouting to one another with book bags on their backs. Across the plaza was a row of buildings, clearly marked. The first one read A&G, the second read Commerce Guild, and the third read Townhall.

Kahli made her way across the plaza, making eye contact with a few curious strangers. She offered them smiles in greeting, feeling shy and overwhelmed. She hurried across toward the commerce building, trotting up the steps and inside.

A young man stood behind a round desk, and he looked up when Kahli entered. He offered her a smile and a soft hello in greeting. As promised, Presley was waiting, and he immediately approached her.

“There you are! Glad you came by. How ar eyou settling in?”

“Alright,” Kahli said sheepishly.

“Good, good,” Presley said. “Let me introduce you to the commerce guild. We’re the organization that orchestrates trade across the entire Free Cities region. Naturally, this is the Portia branch. We're pretty busy throughout the year. Lots of people comission our builders here. So, if you’re looking to make some money, this is the place to be. Whatta ya say? Up for the challenge?”

“Guess I don’t have much of a choice,” Kahli said.

“Well,” Presley started, hesitant.

Kahli offered him a smile. She had to remind herself not to take her anger towards her father out on anyone else. “I mean,” she started. “I just… I’m not my father.”

Presley offered her a kind smiled. “Well, now,” he started. “There’s a place for everyone here in Portia. If you decide this isn’t for you, I’m sure we can find something else, hm?”

“I’m up to give it a try,” Kahli said. “How do I start?”

“Well, you’ll need to register your workshop with Mayor Gale. Once you do that, you can start taking commissions and earning some money. Come on, I’ll introduce you.”

Kahli followed Presley next door. A short, round man sat behind a large desk, and he stood as they entered.

“Gale,” Presley started. “This Is Kahli, Maurice’s daughter. She got in last night. Here to register with the commerce guild.”

“Ah, yes, of course,” Gale said excitedly. “Welcome to Portia, Kahli! I’m Gale, the mayor of this town. It is truly wonderful to see young people getting involved in the telesis of our society.”

Kahli smiled. “Portia is beautiful. I can’t believe my father never mentioned being here.”

Gale hesitated. “Well, we’re glad to have you here.” He turned to his desk and shuffled through some folders for a moment, then pulled out a few pages paperclipped together. He moved to Kahli and handed them to her.

“Let’s get you set up then, shall we? Just need you to fill out some information here. Here, have a seat.” He gestured to a chair in front of his desk and Kahli sat. She took up a pen and began filling out the information as Gale continued to speak, informing her of the weekly town wide meetings and rambling on about some of the citizens in town.

“You’ll get to know everyone quickly, I’m sure,” he said. “You’ll also see Arlo, Remington, and Sam around a lot. They’re part of the Civil Corps. They’re responsible for keeping Portia safe, though I’m sure you’re familiar with the Corps. And there’s Petra and Merlin at the research center just down the road, next to the school. They’ll be able to help provide diagrams for some of your commissions, so be sure to stop in when you get a chance.”

Kahli finished filling out the forms as he spoke. She signed her name at the end and handed them to Gale. “Petra and Merlin, got it.”

“Well, now,” Presley said. “You’re a bonafide workshop owner! Your father would have been proud!”

“Sure,” Kahli said with a shrug.

“Thanks for your help, Gale,” Presley said to the mayor. “I’ll take it from here.”

“Good luck, Kahli. I look forwad to having you around town.”

Kahli followed Presley back to the commerce guild, listening as he babbled on about the commission process. Inside, they stopped at a bulletain board.

“Commissions get posted here,” he explained to her. “Based on the speed and quality of your work, we make a ranking of the workshops every week. Here, see?”

Kahli bit her lip. “There are other workshops?”

“Yup! Adding yours, there will be five workshops in our jurisdiction. But I bet you’ll be number one in know time, just like your father.”

“Sure,” she muttered.

“Once you’re done with your orders, you can pick up the commission fee from Antoine if it’s from the guild or directly from whoever commissioned you.”

The young man behind the round desk looked up at the mention of his name and waved to Kahli.

“You’ll likely make most of your money through the guild, but you can build and sell directly to the market as well. And since you’re just starting out, I’ve saved a commission for you. Your first one.”

But before Kahli could take the page from Presley, the door opened and a man entered. He immediately sneered at them, then snatched the page from Presley’s outstretched hand.

“Playing favorites are we?”

“Higgins,” Presley said sternly. “Don’t you have enough work to keep you busy?”

“There are never too many commissions,” Higgins said. His gaze narrowed on Kahli before stepping out the door, letting it slam shut behind him.

“That’s Higgins,” Presley said, his jaw clenched. “He’s the owner of the current number one workshop. Brilliant businessman, but I don’t like the way he does things.” He sighed, then turned to Kahli. “I’m sorry, that was the last one for today.”

Kahli offered him a smile. It was starting to seem that her decision to start a life in Portia was the wrong choice to make. Fate, destiny, whatever it was, it was clear to her that this was not the path she should be on.

She opened her mouth to offer an excuse, already planning to leave in the middle of the night like she was never here (oh, how she wish that didn’t make her her father’s daughter…) when the door opened once more. This time, a tall, red headed man entered, and he grinned when he saw Presley and Kahli.

“Hey, Pres,” he started. “I’ve got a job for ya.”

“Well, whatta ya know. Everything happens for a reason, hm? Arlo. Perfect timing. This is Kahli. She’s new in town and I’m sure she’d love to take on a new challenge.”

“Excellent,” Arlo said. “We’re looking to build a bridge to Amber Island.”

“So Gale finally up up the money?”

“Yeah, he figured that place coule be a real tourist attraction, with the haunted cave and all.”

Presley turned to Kahli. “This is a big first project. Think you can handle it?”

“I think that Higgins guy could use a little competition.”

“I like this one,” Arlo said with a grin.

Kahli blushed and pulled her gaze away. “So,” she started. “How, uh, how do I do this?”

“Your father has built a few bridges for us in the past. I’m sure he has some notes somewhere. You’ll need to gather the materials, though. There are a couple ruins here you can use to get what you need. It’ll take a little mining.”

“You’ll build up those muscles in no time,” Arlo said with a nod, his arms folded.

Kahli looked down at her arms. She supposed she was lacking in that area. She blew her bangs out of her face. “What the hell did I get myself involved in?”

Presley laughed. “Nonsense,” he said, pushing her out the door. “I believe in you. Better get to work now, hm?”

“And be careful in those ruins,” Arlo called after her. “I don’t want to have to rescue any damsels in distress.”

Kahli turned to throw a comeback at him, but the door was already closed. She stood outside in the plaza, blinking at the door for a moment, then sighed. So, this was it. This was her life now in Portia.

[emospritelet]

Key to the Cell - chapter 7

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [AO3 link]

Once she had made the decision that no matter the consequences she most certainly would not be marrying Gaston, Belle felt calmer. The approach of the wedding day was a concern, but she told herself firmly that all her research showed that the Dark One could be relied upon never to break a deal. Still, she wished she could talk to him beforehand, to make sure he was definitely going to get her away in time. She wondered what he was planning. If she was entirely honest with herself, she also found him fascinating, and wanted to talk with him some more, especially now that she had finished the book that Jefferson had given her. It had perhaps left her with more questions than answers, and she imagined only he could satisfy her curiosity. Perhaps he would be willing to talk to her again once their deal was over.

Gaston himself had dealt with their disagreement in the only way he seemed to know, which was to sulk until she couldn’t bear it any longer. He still hadn’t apologised, and sat glowering in silence, stabbing at his food and not looking at her, and so she broke the heavy, brooding atmosphere at the breakfast table by initiating conversation. Maurice gave her an encouraging smile when she asked him about his favourite topic - himself - and Belle felt herself cringe as she pretended to be interested in the hunt he had planned for the day after the ball. He grunted responses at her at first, but gradually opened up as it gave him an opportunity to boast about his skills in the field, and the wager he had made with some of his fellow knights. Peace made, Belle could return to her breakfast as he regaled Maurice with tall tales.

She excused herself as soon as it was polite to do so, returning to her room to continue reading the books on magical prisons and light magic. The Dark One’s insistence on a price being paid in return for magic made sense now that she had read more on the theory; she could see why he needed to ask a price in each case. Still, there was nothing that explained why he had only asked her name in exchange for what he had promised, and she wondered how each price was calculated. Was it based on what the Dark One wanted, or what those he dealt with could afford to give? She wasn’t sure either option made any sense in their case.

The day was over all too quickly, and Belle managed to sit through a tedious dinner and watch her father and Gaston get progressively drunker and louder. It only made her more certain of her decision. She just had to get through the next week or so, and the masquerade ball the following evening. Belle was dreading the ball, not least because she would have to pretend to be happy about the impending marriage. Still, perhaps she could spend most of the evening dancing, and avoid too much conversation.

Belle slept poorly, her dreams dark and threatening, and she wanted to stay in bed the moment the maid woke her, so she proclaimed herself to be suffering from a headache again. It had the effect not only of ensuring she could eat her breakfast in bed, but that she would be left alone for much of the day, and she spent the time reading her books. She was no closer to figuring out the Dark One’s true name, but she was at least far more knowledgeable about magical prisons and fairies’ use of light magic. It was surprising to find that much of what the Dark One had told her about his own magic held true for the fairies; perhaps he was right, and intent was meaningless so long as the balance was maintained.

By the time the sun was beginning to set, she decided she could not put off her preparations for the ball any longer. Laying her book aside with a sigh, she rang the bell for Marilee, and got out of bed to wash and dress. It took two hours for her to be made ready, for her hair to be dressed and studded with tiny jewels and her body to be powdered and perfumed and layered up with silk. The gown she had chosen to wear was a muted gold colour, intricate beading on the bodice. It left her shoulders bare, hugging her torso, her breasts pushed high. Belle wriggled her feet in her heeled slippers. At least those were fairly comfortable.

The last addition to her outfit was the mask, an elaborate jewelled piece in gold and red, hiding the upper half of her face. She had thought the idea of a masquerade to be a strange choice, but in some ways she was relieved; she would not have the chore of standing and greeting all the guests, after all. Music was floating up from below, and she took a deep breath as she stared at her reflection. I can do this. I can play a part for tonight, at least. Only ten more days and I shall be free.

Belle glanced to the side of the dresser, where the card issued to all those attending the ball lay, thick cream paper edged with gilt, Gaston’s family crest at the top and the hour that the ball would start beneath. On the back were the rules of engagement, which she knew by heart. No revealing one’s name unless someone guessed it correctly, and then only to that person. Talking and dancing with a large number of guests was expected, as were questions about their life and passions, in an attempt to guess their identity. Changing one’s voice was optional but added to the mystery of who lay behind the mask. On the stroke of midnight, masks would be removed, and the guests’ identities revealed.

A thin line had been drawn beneath the time of the ball, awaiting the false name that all guests would choose. Belle hesitated before dipping her pen in some ink and writing Taliah. She remembered the name from a favourite story she had read as a child, about a girl who decided she would never marry, and had run away from home when her father insisted on arranging a match. Taliah had disguised herself as a boy and had travelled to the city to become a scholar at the university, and then a teacher. Her adventures along the way had made for exciting reading, and eight-year-old Belle had announced that she wanted to be just like Taliah. Her father was unimpressed, and one day the book had disappeared from its spot on the shelf, never to be seen again.

Belle dusted the card with fine sand to dry the ink and took a final glance in the mirror. Ready as ever I’ll be, she thought. She made her way down the wide marble staircase, one gloved hand sliding over cool stone. The sounds of music and laughter rippled over her, and she took a deep breath as she swept along the corridor to the ballroom. It was already filled with ladies and gentlemen in bright silks and velvets, masks adorned with feathers and sparkling with jewels. Belle handed her card to one of the footmen, who announced her name loudly as she entered. The guests turned to look over the new arrival, and Belle moved swiftly to the long tables holding bowls of punch and glasses of wine and brandy.

She wanted to avoid conversation until she was more sure of the identities of some of the guests, and so she took a glass of punch and sipped at it, eyes flitting across the ballroom. She could see Gaston, easily recognisable by his size, and his bellowing laugh. He was deep in conversation with a woman who she suspected was one of Lady Tremaine’s daughters, but she wasn’t sure. Gaston leaned in to whisper something that made her squeal and slap his arm playfully, and Belle rolled her eyes. Flirting was expected at these occasions, of course, but she wasn’t in the mood for it.

Her father was nearby, talking to a man by whose voice and bearing she thought was King George. A young man stood by his side, a mask in blue and gold hiding most of his face, whom she suspected would be Prince James. His attention appeared to be on a dark-haired woman in a white dress and mask edged in silver and topped with white feathers, talking and laughing with another young woman. Belle sipped at her punch, smiling as two ladies in pink and green dresses which clashed spectacularly hurried past, arm-in-arm and giggling. The two clearly knew one another, and the blonde hair of one of them made Belle suspect Lady Ella was enjoying her first formal ball since becoming engaged to Prince Thomas. The music changed, and the guests hurried to put down their glasses in preparation to begin the dancing. Belle sighed as she glanced around for a partner. Time to do my duty.

“My Lady?”

Belle turned at the sound of a man’s voice, eyes narrowing curiously. The man who had greeted her was short, not much taller than she, and thin, with tight-fitting breeches in soft black leather beneath a gold brocade waistcoat and cream silk shirt, a close-fitting coat in blood-red velvet over the top. His hair was worn longer than was fashionable, brushing the collar of his coat, streaks of silver in amongst the brown. Something tugged at her mind, a flash of memory, and she found her curiosity grow. The man bowed, arms spreading outwards, and he gazed up at her with deep brown eyes behind his red and gold mask.

“May I have this dance?” he asked.

There was an accent there, a slight burr to his voice, and she felt that tickle of memory again. Setting down her glass of punch, she took his hand and allowed him to lead her to the floor as the music started up. His hand was warm at her waist, and he began turning her through the dance, her hand resting lightly on his shoulder. She realised that the colours of his outfit matched her own perfectly, as though it had been planned that way, though she couldn’t see how. There was a flash of colour at his wrist, a bracelet clumsily woven from coloured threads, its rough presence somewhat incongruous against the cream silk cuff of his shirt, and she wondered whether it was a clue to his identity. Belle studied his face, noting the fine lines around his mouth which, along with the silver streaks in his hair, indicated he was in his middle years. She mentally discounted a number of noblemen she knew.

“I believe we’re supposed to guess each other’s name,” she said, and he smiled.

“Oh, for my part that’s easy enough,” he said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you again, Lady Belle.”

His eyes were fixed on hers, dark and intense, and she felt her own widen as she recognised something in them. Something she remembered from a darkened room and a deal made for her freedom.

“You!” she whispered. “It’s you!”

“That is not guessing my name,” he said, with a touch of severity, the snide tone she remembered returning to his voice. “That is merely stating a fact.”

Belle giggled a little, feeling his hand tighten on hers as he turned her around.

“Well, as I haven’t been given your name, sir, you have me at a disadvantage,” she said. “You didn’t look this way when we met. Changing your entire face is against the spirit of the masquerade, you know.”

“This is merely a glamour,” he said, in a dry tone. “I suspect my true appearance would cause something of a panic.”

“Not to me,” she said. “How did you get here? I don’t recall sending an invitation to the Dark Castle.”

He gave a wry smile.

“I was called on by a desperate soul, of course,” he said.

“At Gaston’s ball?” she said, amused.  “I know I’ve been dreading the occasion, but it’s not something that requires magical assistance to escape.”

He grumbled, casting what seemed to be a critical eye over the dancers.

“Well, not something that any of your guests would care about, I suspect,” he said. “A poor peasant woman, robbed of the last few coins she had to feed her children.  Desperate indeed.”

“That’s terrible!” said Belle, upset.  “Were you able to help her?”

“Of course,” he said lightly.  “She asked for little. A roof over her head, enough food to keep her and her children alive through the winter.  All three are, as we speak, in a small cottage on the edge of town, no doubt with full bellies for the first time in months.”

“Good.”

“Along with an admonition to keep her coins out of sight in the future,” he added.  “It’s not wise to show gold in some parts of the town. Not the parts she was living in, anyway.  Little wonder she was robbed.”

Belle stopped suddenly, causing a nearby couple to side-step swiftly to avoid a collision. A dreadful thought came to her as she eyed the woven bracelet at his wrist.

“Gerta,” she said slowly.  “Her name was Gerta.”

“You know her, my Lady?”  He sounded surprised.

“I - I gave her the money,” admitted Belle.  “She was begging in the town two days ago, I - I only wanted to help!”

“And so you did,” he said soothingly, pulling her into the dance again.  “She’s well. She and her children. The boy no longer limps.”

Belle caught at her lip, emotion welling up within her.

“That - that was very kind of you.”

“Don’t say that!” he snapped. “I have a reputation to maintain.”

Belle giggled.

“Yes, I’m sure providing charity for widows and orphans will simply destroy it.”

“She asked for the Dark One’s help,” he said defensively. “I never break a deal.”

“And what did you ask in return?”

The Dark One leaned in, lips almost brushing her ear, sending a shiver through her body.

“All that they had in the world,” he hissed malevolently.

“Well, I happen to know they had nothing,” said Belle, unfazed.

He straightened up, smiled a little ruefully, and nodded to the bracelet of coloured threads at his wrist.

“Really?” said Belle, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. “Her daughter’s homemade bracelet?”

“As you said, they had nothing else,” he said carelessly.  “Besides, I have no need of gold.”

“Hmm.” Belle eyed him. “I think you’re not as dark as you want people to believe.”

He grinned, baring his teeth as he pulled her tighter against him.

“Maybe I’m darker.”

“If that were true, you’d have left them to starve,” she said, trying to ignore the way her heart thumped at the press of his body. “You certainly didn’t have to fix the boy’s limp. That wasn’t part of your deal.”

“If I hadn’t, he would only have been a burden on his mother,” he said, sounding affronted. “What would have been the point of me saving them if they just die more slowly? I don't have time to run around the kingdom saving waifs and strays every five minutes.”

“Hmm,” said Belle, lips pursing. “And here you told me you were evil.”

He pulled her a little closer, leaning in so that his lips brushed her ear.

“Oh, I am, dearie,” he whispered, making her shiver. “There are different kinds of darkness in this world. I could make that odious lump you’re promised to peel off his skin and dance until he dropped. I could turn the wine to poison and wipe out this entire ballroom. But oppression, exploitation and neglect: those are the weapons of your kind, not mine.”

Belle frowned, hand tightening on his shoulder a little, but after a moment she nodded reluctantly.

“I suppose in all too many cases that’s true,” she admitted. “But why would the Dark One care?”

He was silent for a moment, turning her around with a sudden whisk of his arm, making her cling on a little tighter.

“Magic is all about balance, whatever your intentions for the use of that magic might be,” he said eventually. “Give and take. If I didn’t try to keep that balance what sort of sorcerer would I be? Besides, no parent should have to choose between feeding their children or healing them.”

His eyes left hers for a moment, his gaze far away, and Belle wondered what he was thinking. She suspected that his final line, delivered in a flippant tone, represented his true feelings on the subject, but she doubted he would open up further.

“You were never a noble, were you?” she said. “You seem to have nothing but contempt for my kind.”

“Well, don’t feel too bad, I generally feel contempt for most people.”

Belle shot him a flat look.

“I wish I knew your name,” she said. “It seems wrong to simply call you ‘Dark One’.”

“That’s what I am,” he said, in a dry tone.

“You weren’t always,” she said. “I’ve read that the Dark One’s powers are passed from person to person. So you must have been an ordinary man once.”

His mouth had opened a little, his eyes widening behind the mask.

“You - read about me?” He sounded astonished, and Belle lifted one shoulder and let it drop, a tiny shrug.

“Of course. I never met a mystery I didn’t want to solve.”

He whirled her around, almost lifting her off her feet, and Belle was breathless when he pulled her close again, his warmth seeping into her.

“And what have you discovered, my Lady?” her asked, his voice a low rumble that made her belly clench.

“That the Dark One’s power is transferred by ritual,” she said excitedly. “Magic harnessed by the power of a mystical dagger.”

A muscle twitched in his cheek.

“A dark ritual?” he said quietly. “That’s one way to describe it, I suppose.”

“Am I right about the dagger?” she asked, and he eyed her soberly.

“All Dark Ones possess the dagger,” he confirmed. “Its use is - essential - in the creation of the next Dark One.”

“Where is it?”

His mouth twisted.

“I cannot say.”

Belle frowned.

“You can’t— do you mean you don’t know where it is, or that your curse won’t allow you to tell me?”

“I know where it is,” he said, but did not elaborate. Belle clicked her tongue in exasperation, anger at the Blue Fairy making her breath quicken.

“So you can’t tell me,” she said, almost to herself. “Right.”

They followed the whirling steps of the dance, easily side-stepping another couple, and Belle glanced up at him again.

“Were you a sorcerer?” she asked. “Before, I mean? The book said all Dark Ones were powerful sorcerers.”

He was silent for a moment, stepping back on one foot to whirl her around again, and Belle clung to his shoulder, breathing hard.

“The curse seeks out desperation,” he said finally. “The despair I felt was certainly powerful, but I had no magic of my own. Not magic as you would understand it, that is.”

"I don't understand."

"Magic is fulled by emotion," he said. "Rage, fury, and hate. Fear. Love. There is power in emotion. Controlling it is the tricky part."

"Does that mean anyone can learn to use it?" she asked, and he pursed his lips.

"Given time and training, perhaps," he said. "Some have a natural affinity, of course, but anyone can learn the basics of potion-making. Casting spells is more difficult."

Belle chewed her lip, thinking hard, her hand held tight in his as they swept across the floor.

“I read about fairy magic, too,” she said. “About light magic in general, and the balance that has to be maintained.”

“Yes,” he said dryly. “All magic comes with a price.”

“So who decides on that price?” she asked, and he sucked his teeth.

“How much is needed depends on the magic required,” he said. “How that price is paid is up to the wielder.”

“That’s what I thought,” she said slowly. “So in that case, is dark magic really any different from light? Is the source different, or is it merely the wielder that makes it dark or light?”

He was smiling slightly, his eyes gleaming behind the mask.

“You have an inquiring mind, my Lady,” he said. “You would have made an excellent apprentice.”

“Is that an offer?” she teased, and his smile grew.

“I have no desire to hide you away with me in the Dark Castle.”

“Couldn’t be any worse than becoming Gaston’s wife,” she said flatly. “D’you know the Blue Fairy tried to convince me that I should marry him for his own good? That saving him should be my life’s work?”

“Well, I can’t say I’m surprised,” he said. “The Chief Gnat and her swarm tend towards more traditional views. Nothing can upset the way things should be, in their eyes.”

“I’m sure they can’t all be like that.”

“Perhaps not as far as you’re concerned,” he said. “Their opinion of me is fairly - consistent.”

“I’m more than capable of forming my own opinion, thank you.”

“Oh, I should never try to contradict that.”

He turned them again, moving further away from the other dancers, and out onto the stone balcony, where he slowed to a stop. Belle held onto him for a moment, catching her breath, her fingers clutching at the soft velvet of his coat. The night was pleasantly cold after the heat and crush of the ballroom, and she turned her face up to the stars with a sigh. He released her, stepping back, and Belle turned to face him, smoothing the skirt of her dress, the flush in her cheeks not all due to the heat.

“How long can you stay?” she asked.

“I must leave soon,” he admitted. “I can already feel the magic tugging at me, wanting to pull me back in.”

Belle stepped forward, laying a hand on his arm, and he glanced down at it, as though surprised at her touch.

“I’m sorry,” she said sincerely. “It’s not right that you’re trapped. I wish I could help.”

“Thank you.”

The music from the ballroom rose to a crescendo and stopped, allowing for applause from the dancers before starting up again in another lively tune. Belle watched the Dark One stride slowly back and forth across the balcony, hands clasped behind his back and his head bowed a little, as though he was thinking. She could feel curiosity burning inside her, the need to know more about him almost unbearable.

“Why did you ask nothing from me but my name?” she asked, and his eyes flicked up to meet hers.

“Do you wish to give more?”

“Answering one question with another isn’t a real answer.”

He chuckled, glancing away from her, and there was silence.  She waited, unwilling to be the first to break it.

“I can see the future, you know,” he said at last.  “It makes for interesting viewing at times, especially when dealing with people. I can always turn it to my advantage if I so choose, while still giving them what they ask for.”

“And what did you see when I called on you?”

He turned his head to face her, dark eyes fixed on hers.

“Nothing,” he said simply.  “Nothing at all.”

“Is that unusual?”

“It’s never happened before,” he admitted.  “I was - curious.”

Belle took a step closer, until she could hear his breath and smell the scent of him in the air. Until she could almost feel the heat from him.

“What do you think it means?” she asked.

The Dark One held her gaze, and she could feel her heart thudding hard in her chest, her skin tingling with excitement. He lifted a hand, and for a moment she thought he was going to touch her, fingers dancing in the air. But then he stepped back on one foot, pressing his fingertips together.

“I don’t know,” he said. “But I’d like to find out.”

“So would I.”

Another pause, a moment when their eyes met and the air between them seemed to thicken and crackle and hum, as though something momentous would happen. Belle waited for it, almost breathless, but the Dark One dropped his gaze, reaching for her hand and bending over it. The press of his lips made a tingle run through her.

“Until we meet again, my Lady,” he said quietly, and disappeared in a plume of red smoke.

Belle started, looking around to see if anyone had noticed, but the guests were too absorbed in the dancing and each other to pay attention. She smoothed the skirt of her dress with restless hands, trying to calm herself. Gaston lurched over, brandy glass in hand and the smell of drink already floating around him.

"Belle?" he said. "It - is Belle, yes?"

She nodded wordlessly, and he took a slurp of his drink, bouncing on his toes.

"Who were you dancing with?" he asked.

"I didn't guess his name," she said, and he grunted, throwing back the rest of the brandy and setting down the glass.

"Short, skinny excuse for a man, from what I could see," he said. "Come and dance with me."

"I'm really rather hot and would prefer—”

"Come and dance with me," he ordered, and grasped her hand, tugging her towards the floor. Belle glowered at his back as he pulled her along.

Ten more days. Ten more days and I shall be free.

[littlebitoffanfic]

Warmth

Fandom: Planet of the Apes Characters: Blue Eyes, Ash, Maurice, others mentioned Relationship: Blue eyes/reader Request: I have a strange request for planet of the apes, if you are willing to write for it? It’s a x blue eyes wheres shes human but apart of the village and her and blueeyes are really close You had been with Maurice since you were a young child. He had found you, wondering through the woods scared, injured, sick and lost. You spoke, but not well. At first he thought you were mute and tried to speak to you in sign language, but you stared at him blankly. He had asked you ‘where’s family’, and that’s when he knew he would take you in. you told him you didn’t have one. You didn’t even know what that was. You said the men in white coats tested things on you, told you to keep quite or they would hurt you. He had scooped you up in his arms, told you he would keep you safe, and took you back to the village. He didn’t take you to Caesar first, only because he was with Koba and, even though you and Koba might have matching experiences, he didn’t was to risk Koba scaring you. So he took you to Cornelia. She had been up in the treehouse with Blue eyes and Ash, who were about the same age as you. Maurice also thought that perhaps having someone as young and small as you might help you settle a little. Cornelia had hooted in concern when he brought you in, not from what you were but how you looked. She fused over you, cleaning up some of your cuts and scraped from your escape before talking with Maurice. Blue Eyes and Ash had been very interested in you indeed. You were tiny, fragile. They of course know of human, but you were nothing like what they had heard. So you couldn’t be one of the human. Cautiously, they both stepped close and close, until they sat with you. Their speaking capabilities were better than those of their parents, only because they were learning to speak from birth now. Cornelia agreed with Maurice about you, and how they would keep you here, safe. She called Caesar up, and introduced you to him. Then Rocket. Everyone was concerned about how Koba might react to a human so they all stayed in the room when Koba was brought up. He took one look at you and snarled. But then noticed something on your wrist. Years of studying and listening to humans meant that he knew it was a tattoo, but you were too young. He grabbed your arm and pulled it out to show the number “132” tattooed on your wrist. Like he had seen on many monkeys and apes to mark them when he had been in the facility. he told Caesar this wasn’t a good idea, that you would grow up to be like them. But Caesar had said you would be brought up like an ape. You wouldn’t know that sort of life. Of course, growing up you knew you were human and different. There were many who still had slight reservations about you, but they couldn’t deny you had grown to be very kind and caring. you lived with Maurice, who had become a father to you, teaching you and helping you. Ash and Blue Eyes had taken to you from the very beginning, and that grew into a friendship. The three of you were known to get up to mischief whenever you could. But it got harder when you realised that Caesar, Maurice and Rocket were close as well, and there was no playing them off each other. With Blue Eyes being Caesars son, it also came with a little more protection. but, you were happy. Maurice had said he could have never predicted how well you would thrive in the ape village. Even Koba was kind to you. Some days he was a little more nastier than normal and you were the one to bare the brunt, but for the most part, he might have even cared for you. He certainly took a more protective stance over you when Maurice told him the sort of abuse you had endured during the experiments. Maurice and Rocket had been the ones to get you human things that you might need from the city. Clothes and such as well as anything they thought you might need. As you grew older, you would travel to the city that was now deserted apart from a little cluster of people in the centre. At first, all the apes have been fearful, both for your safety and if you would come back. But you returned with Ash, Blue Eyes and Luca (who was tasked with protecting you all). You had a bag filled with items that you had found. Package food, clothes, blankets and other thing. From then on, you would go to the city once a month to look for your own supplies. You never went near the humans, and only Maurice, Blue Eyes and Caesar knew why. They scared the hell out of you. You, Blue Eyes and Ash sat at the river. Well, you sat while the two of them fished with the spears. They would bicker, comparing fish sizes and you would play mediator between the two, laughing the entire time. While you could communicate in sign language perfectly, you preferred to speak while they would move between the two depending on the subject. For example, while Ash made fun off Blue Eyes for missing a target, he would holler and hoot with laughter while signing what an idiot Blue Eyes was. You giggled, pulling your blanket up a little, a cold wind sweeping off the water and into the forest. the boys came back from the river, sitting either side of you as they counted their catch, but you felt yourself leaning more towards Blue Eyes than Ash. Even though you were close friends with Ash, you and Blue Eyes had an unmistakeable bond between you both. Plus he was warmer. a hoot interrupted your silences as Ash turned and looked back towards the village with a sigh and turning back to you and signing. “I have to go back. Helping father with meat.” He rolled his eyes, making it clear he didn’t want to. “that’s okay, I think we’re going to try find out what up towards the end of the river.” You smiled, know how Ash didn’t really like having to walk far for little reward. Ash hooted a goodbye before leaving, taking both his and Blue Eyes catches back with him. You packed away your blanket in your rucksack you carried around with you. It was a habit of yours. You always had a set of dry clothes, a water bottle, a blanket and a few bits and pieces. Blue Eyes stood and waited for you, smiling when you jumped up. Even when he slouched over slightly, he was still taller than you. If he ran in his hands and feet, you were taller than him but that was rare. The two of you walked about three miles, following the river for the best part of 2 hours. It was nice, until the heavens opened. In the space of about 20 minutes, it went from being a fair day to pouring down. The two of you ran for cover at a cliff nearby that had caves in the bottom. You knew they were there because you and Blue Eyes had found them before. Ducking inside, you let out an exasperated sigh. “Looks like we’ll be stuck here till this clears off, Blue.” You said as you looked up at the sky which had went from a greyish white to dark grey mixed with black in some areas. You often called Blue Eyes Blue. The sign for blue eyes was a quick but pronouncing it was different. But he liked it becuase it made him feel special to you. the sky lite up as lightning strikes in the distances followed by a loud boom which made you jump and back away from the entrance. It was getting late, and the sun would set in an hour or so, leaving you in complete darkness. Luckily, Blue found dry wood at the back of the cave and you had a lighter on you, so you were able to make a fire. But no matter how close you sat to it, you never seemed to fully warm up. As the sun set, it only got colder and colder. You had taken off your clothes, leaving you only in underwear and the blanket you had. It was only slightly damp, after all. You ended up sitting against the wall with the blanket pulled up to your neck, shivering. “Change?” Blue suggested, his eyes darting to the bag you carried. “Those clothes are soaked too.” You shook your head, wondering if you could somehow water proof the bag to stop this happening again. Blue was almost completely dry now, and he had the added warmth of his fur. One thing that always worried him was how fragile you could be. Maurice had warned him about how easy it might be for you to break a bone or break your skin. He tried his best to protect you as much as he could. “Will you get sick?” Blue moved closer to you, worried beyond belief. If you got sick, and they couldn’t treat you, you might have to go back to the humans. And no one wanted that. “I don’t know.” You shrugged, your teeth chattering together. Blue looked out into the night. It would only get colder. While it was still raining, it wasn’t nearly as bad as earlier. He wondered about trying to get you back to the village but leaving the fire would be a bad idea. Moving closer to you, he sat right beside you. You immediately felt the warmth of his skin against your arm, making you cuddle into his side. Blue was quick to move his arm around you and you were pulled against him. You reached out your hand, you let your fingers brush the fur on his side, enjoying the warmth and companionship he always offered. Blue moved his free hand to cover your own, feeling how cold your hands were in comparison to his own. You moved the blanket over his own lap as you scooted as close as you could, the material dropping away from your neck, but you didn’t mind nor care. “Thank you.” You whispered to him, your eyes heavy. The warmth was slowly but surely heating you up and you were beginning to get tired. It had been a long day and your body was sore. With in seconds, you had drifted off. ---------------time skip--------------- When you woke, the sun was rising over the hills. You could see that the storm from the night before had all but gone. The fire had went out during the night but you could see from where you were that both sets of your both sets of your clothes were dry which gave you a burst of relief. At some point in the night, Blue had fallen asleep with you leaning on his chest. His arms were hooked around you protectively and his chin was resting on top of your head. In the distance, you heard a familiar hooting. “Blue.” You move a little, your voice cracking from not being used. “Blue?” He stirred on your second call, lifting his head. You looked up at him only to see he was now resting the back of his head against the wall and had fallen back asleep. “Blue?” you couldn’t, giving him a playful push as you sat up. This time, his eyes opened and blinked. He never was one of the first ones awake. “I think they’re looking for us.” You nod to the opening of the cave and then heard another hoot. Blue moved the blanket off him and got to his feet. He walked to the mouth of the cave then then let out a few loud hoots. It was a quick way of telling them you were both okay and heading back. Because of the storm last night, any hoots would have been muffled and not heard. You got to your feet, leaving the blanket on the floor as you gather your clothes and put on the spares from yesterday. You didn’t notice Blue glance back at you, making sure you were okay. “How did you sleep?” You asked, curiously. Blue didn’t use blankets because he didn’t need them at night. The huts that were built were normally warm with small fires. Young babies sleep in with their parents for a few years to get their warmth but then they get their own little hut right beside their parents. Blues was just under the large tree, which he preferred. And it was closer to you since yours was only a hut away. “Well.” Blue answered, but the way he moved his neck suggested he was suffering a little. “Do you think ive convinced you to sleep with covers?” you giggle, dropping to your knees so you could pack your bag. “maybe.” He chuckled, knowing that you slept with a whole load of blankets over you. There were a few times he came to walk you and you had already left but he couldn’t tell from the massive pile. The two of you set off back towards the village. You were sniffing slightly, but nothing too bad. ---------time skip ----------- When you both got back, everyone fussed over you. Cornelia held Blue eyes in her arms, scolding him for not coming back. Maurice made sure you were okay and not hurt. Even Koba popped his head in to make sure you were both fine. After the excitement of your return died down, the village fell back into its normal routine for the day. You helped Maurice with the children and speaking while Blue, Ash and Caesar went out with the others to hunt. Towards the end of the day, you called to Maurice that you were going to quickly go into the city for an hour. He wasn’t thrilled that you would be going alone after what happened last night, but you assured him you would be back within the hour. you knew the way like the back of your hand and went straight to a store which use to sell furnishings. You had gotten all your pillows and blankets from there. You quickly found a nice, deep blue blanket. It was soft to the touch and you quickly grabbed it and put it in your back before returning to the village. You were back before the hunting party, which was certainly a bonus. If Ash and Blue came back and found out you had gone to the city, they probably would have come to find you. but you were first back. You went to your hut with the new blanket, knowing that Blue would probably come see you after anyway. He liked to brag about his hunt without Ash since Ash liked to point out every time he over exaggerated stuff. Sur enough, as soon as you heard Spears hoots, Blue was coming into your hut. You laughed to yourself, amused that your own prophecy came true. While the rest ate in the communal area, you and Blue stayed inside. Maurice had said he wanted you to stay warm tonight and send food across to you. He even made sure it was your favourite. With the stone plates placed to the side, you decided to give Blue his gift. The two of you sat in the centre of the room round the small fire pit. You pulled your bag closer and pulled out the blanket. “A thank you, for last night.” You smile as you gave it to Blue. He smiled a little but then it dropped. “What?” “Doesn’t smell like you.” Blue frowned a little, as if confused. “Well, no. I went to the city to get it.” You couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed he didn’t like it. Until an idea dawned in your mind. “I could keep it for a bit. Or you could take one of mine?” You nodded to your bed, which was always messy with quilts, pillows and covers. The sight made Blue chuckle fondly. You got to your feet, going over to your bed and grabbing a quilt. “What about this one?” You asked, holding it out as Blue followed and shook his head. “too heavy.” He signed. “This one?” You grabbed a small blanket you normally used just for your feet and legs. “small.” He signed. “You’re impossible.” You roll your eyes and grab a blanket, throwing it over him. He hooted in laugher and you new he was just doing it to wind you up. He pulled the blanket off his head. “ill keep this one.” He holds it up in his left hand while signing with his right. “actually, ive decided I don’t want to give you one.” You grab the blanket and pull it away from him. there was a brief moment where the two of you looked at each other. That playful spark in your eyes was one Blue would never get tired of seeing before he dove at you. you fell back on to your bed as you tried to hold the blanket up over your head and as far away from Blue as possible. But you were laughing too hard and he was easily able to grab it out of your hand. Blue Eyes adored your laugher. In fact, he adored every part of you. It was easy to see that. You sat up, your laugher dissolving as you calmed yourself down. “Fine. But I want something of yours.” You pointed at him. “I thought it was a gift.” he signs, the smirk on his face telling you he was challenging you. “No, that one was a gift.” You pointed to the blue one on the floor. “But you didn’t want it because it didn’t smell like me.” “Don’t have anything.” He signed with a shrug that reeked of smugness and you knew he was lying. “apart from warmth.” “Well, I’ll take that.” You raise an eye brow at him as he looked at you in surprise. He drops his gaze, a soft smile playing on his lips. Moving over so you were in front of him, he looked back to you. “So we keep each other warm?” He asks, his voice low and gruff as his eyes met your own. All you could do was nod. Blue ducked his head, his lips touching against yours. The second they touched, your body felt like it was on fire. Kissing was such an intimate gesture in the village. It was a sign of trust and complete devotion. It was rare to see anyone kiss because of these reasons. Pressing your forehead against another’s was certain a way of showing love and caring for another, but this was a lot more intimate. you reach a trembling hand to rest on the back of his neck, feeling the fur as well as the heat coming from his skin. You felt him wrap his arms around you and you were pulled closer to him just before you pull back for a breath. there were so many questions racing through your mind right now. What would the others think if they ever found out? What would happen to you and to Blue Eyes? Would it be accepted? But those thoughts were lost when you opened your eyes to meet his own deep pools of blue. It was in that moment you knew that you didn’t care. “It’s a little cold in here. Could you stay for a bit?” You ask, your voice just above a whisper. Blue nodded but seemed to take your words a little more literally. He moved away from you to put another few bits of wood into the fire pit before returning to you. He pulled all the covers back so you could slip inside before he joined you. You instantly cuddled into his chest, the warmth engulfing you and everything was perfect.

[eirian-houpe]

Disparate Pathways - Chapter 5

Fandom: Once Upon a Time (TV)

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death

Relationships: Belle/Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold

Characters: Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold, Belle (Once Upon a Time), Maurice | Moe French, Gaston (Once Upon a Time), Spinster(s) (Once Upon a Time: Think Lovely Thoughts), Mad Hatter | Jefferson, Blue Fairy | Mother Superior, Black Fairy (Once Upon a Time), Baelfire | Neal Cassidy, Emma Swan, Prince Charming | David Nolan, Colette (Once Upon a Time), Red Riding Hood | Ruby, Widow Lucas | Granny, Dove (Once Upon a Time), Captain Hook | Killian Jones, Wicked Witch of the West | Zelena

Additional Tags: Abusive Parents, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Violence, Gun Violence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Torture, Dubious Consent, Eventual Smut, UST, First Time, Drama & Romance, Kidnapping, Extortion

Summary: Gold has a past, a past that he has rejected, but it seems one that will not let him go.  Belle, daughter of Governor Maurice French has been kidnapped, along with her mother, and just as the authorities raid the organization that is holding her hostage, decides to make her own bid for freedom, unknowingly derailing an undercover sting, and Agent Milnor has not choice but to take her into 'protective custody,' but is he all that he seems?  As the threads of the story grow more tangled and the threat to Belle, and to Gold, her appointed protector, grow ever more real, a growing, mutual attraction makes everything far more desperate and far too personal for Gold to ignore what he knows to be the truth.

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[Chapter 1]  [Chapter 2]  [Chapter 3]  [Chapter 4]

Chapter 5 - Takedown

It was entirely too quiet and it made Jefferson nervous. He’d tried to find out from some of the others what was going on upstairs, but no one had been willing to share.  All he knew was that they’d taken both the women up to the top floor of the house. He figured that didn’t bode well.

It certainly didn’t make his life any easier. If Rab was true to his word then some time today, the joint might of the police and the FBI’s HRT, and probably, just to add icing to the shit cake, a whole squadron of SWAT, was going to descend on the house like the wrath of God.

He checked his phone, just to make sure that it was on, with plenty of power remaining, and that he had a signal. The last thing he needed was to miss the heads up that his handler had promised to send him.

“Hey, Jared.” He started slightly when one of the other guys, Ace - a shortened version of his full name -  called out Jefferson’s undercover persona. “Expecting a call from your boyfriend?”

He gave the man a sour smile, recognizing that he was being mocked and shot back in return, “Least I have one,” and made a rapid up and down motion with his fisted right hand before pointing at the guy who’d called him out.

Predictably the ‘hard man’ took immediate offense, and started toward Jefferson, his eyes full of the intention to hurt. He stood his ground. He was taller than the other man by a few inches, even though the guy was heavier set, forcing the other man to look up as soon as they came toe to toe.

“Was there something?” Jefferson asked sarcastically, then lowering his voice to a dangerous growl added, “Because unless there is… Horace… then get the fuck out of my face.”

“Tough words, pretty boy,” Ace snarled, “but do you got the balls to back em up?”

Faster than the man evidently anticipated, Jefferson grabbed his hand and pulled the pudgy fingers against the front of his jeans, trusting in the shock tactics to keep himself from harm.

“What do you think, Ace?” he asked, leaning down until he was nose to nose with the other man.  “Care to take it for a spin?”

The man backpedaled, pulling away so fast that he almost fell over his own feet in his haste to put some space between himself and Jefferson, snatching his hand away and out of Jefferson’s grasp.

“You stay away from me, you fucking freak!” Ace squeaked.

“Methinks the man protesteth too much,” Jefferson teased. “After all, you were the one that came at me first.”

“Can it, you two!” Jefferson half turned at the sound of the other voice, a tall, leather-clad man with a scruffy beard and a missing hand came out into the hallway from one of the downstairs rooms. “Jared, you’re wanted upstairs. Ace, get in here… quit baiting the bloody man!”

Glad for a reprieve, even if it did come from Jones, an unwelcome bastard at the best of times, Jefferson headed for the stairs and started to climb, on the way up thinking to himself that ‘upstairs’ was a fairly vague description of who needed him, given that there were two floors to the house in addition to the first floor. Not to mention the basement, which technically meant the house was a four storey house and— what the ever loving fuck are you thinking, Jefferson.  Head in the game, man! He cut off his own racing mind; a sure sign of stress.

He made the first landing and began methodically making his way around, room by room, opening each one and checking inside, not just for the girl and her mother, but also for an alternative way out, should his chosen route become inaccessible. He couldn’t explain why, but there was a large part of him that had a really bad feeling around the way the day was going.

Crossing a room, he found a window that looked out onto a low balcony, and looking up he saw what looked like similar from above. It would do in a pinch, but it was risky.  One slip and he’d be looking at a shattered ankle; broken leg… he decided he just better make sure that he could get out by the method of his first choice.

“Oy! Jared,” Jones’ voice sounded from behind him, irritated. “I told you upstairs.”

“This is upstairs,” Jefferson snarked back. “And you weren’t actually that specific, you—” Movement in the corner of his eye made him forget what he had been saying. Someone’s sights? Careless, but then, no… he hadn’t had a message yet. Jones evidently picked up on it and came from the doorway to stand beside him.

“What do you see?” Jones asked.

Jefferson shook his head, about to say nothing - perhaps it had been his imagination after all - when a patch of shadow moved close by the rear wall of the yard, unnatural, not like the clouds passing across the moon. His heart began to pound in his chest. They were coming.

“Bloody hell!” Jones snarled urgently, evidently having come to a similar conclusion. “The law!” He grabbed Jefferson’s arm and practically swung him away from the window and gave him a push towards the door. “Go. Upstairs… warn the others.”

“What about you?” Jefferson asked as Jones turned back to peer into the darkness of the garden.

Jones shook his head. “I’ll go downstairs. We’ll be ready for them,” he said. “What are you waiting for? Go!”

Jefferson made it look as though he was rushing to follow the man’s instructions, once outside the door he slipped to his right, the opposite side from the stairs, and flattened himself against the wall to wait for Jones to come out. He looked around quickly to make sure there was no one else on the landing, relieved to still be alone on the second floor, and he wondered what the hell was keeping everyone either downstairs or up on the top floor, though not for long as he heard Jones’ heavy tread approaching the door.

Like comedy, timing was everything. If he moved too soon, he would alert Jones to his presence. Too late and the man would be out of reach. He hated moments like that; held his breath and pulled the gun he carried out of its holster and waited. One… Two…

Things rarely went according to plan. Jones must have sensed him, because just as he would have moved, stepped behind the man and coshed him over the head with the grip of his gun, Jones turned his head.

“Jared, what the—”

Jefferson tried anyway, lunging for the other man, only to meet Jones’ up-raised forearm and with an audible crunch, instead of the back of is head, and almost as if on instinct, Jones turned and swung the sharp hook he had in place of his missing hand toward Jefferson’s head.

Not fast enough thought, and Jefferson ducked under the weapon, at the same time turning to drive the point of Jones’ hook into the wooden door frame as he pushed the mans wrist against the wood. He tried to follow quickly, to bring his gun up again and wrap Jones into unconsciousness as he’d intended before while he was still stuck with his back to him, but Jones anticipated him again, and used the fact of his hook being trapped to twist his wrist, and pull his arm free of the latch that held the hook in place.

Jefferson ran at the man, wrapped his arms around Jones’ waist and drove his shoulder into the soft spot above his hip, attempting to hook the weight-bearing leg with one of his own, but Jones read him again, and let himself fall backward, heaving with both arms and legs, until Jefferson felt himself flying through the air, mercifully along the landing. He landed heavily, and his gun went skittering along the polished wooden floor.

He didn’t have time to worry about it; didn’t want Jones to get a chance to to reattach his hook, or worse, pull his own gun, which was precisely what Jones was attempting to do as he clambered to his feet, turning toward him gun in hand, so before Jones could aim the weapon, he kicked out blindly, by luck connecting with the man’s shoulder before he could fully straighten up. He knocked him off balance again to slip back down to the floor on hands and feet and the insecurely held weapon went flying. Jefferson didn’t wait to see any other effects of his timely intervention, he just pulled himself to his feet at the same time as Jones, Still winded from the heavy landing and fighting for a decent breath was scrabbling at the floor in an attempt to get to his feet.

Jones was really pissing him off, and was still getting up again, and Jefferson scrambled over, uttering a breathless, “Let me give you a hand there… mate,” mocking an expression of which Jones was overly fond, and speared his fingers into the man’s hair at the crown of his head, and twisting, tugging him upward, while at the same time grabbing a hold of his sleeve. Then before Jones could properly realize his intent, or fully regain his balance, Jefferson launched him toward the banister rail, without letting go, bringing Jones’ head down hard against the solid oak wood at the top, not once, but twice, before tossing him backwards, to land in a crumpled heap beside the wall.

It hadn’t been the quiet disposal he’d intended, and he was certain their scramble would have attracted some attention.  He didn’t wait to find out, simply moved as fast as he could, while still trying to catch his breath, toward the staircase leading to the upper floor.

He took the stairs two at a time, and half way up, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He snatched it out, and glanced at the screen, suddenly bursting into entirely humorless, and slightly hysterical laughter. The notification read: “We are Breaching NOW!”