#i have plans for HR that I mentioned earlier today and i also have plans for CD that Im really hyped about including a bunch of design | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

writer-k-pop · 5 years ago

Text

Misunderstood (P1)

그는 직원들을 정말 아낀다. He really cares about his employees.

Description: Starting as the secretary for the CEO of Starlight Entertainment should be exciting, But since moving from the engineering world to the entertainment world, you're not caught up on all the gossip and rumors floating around but you've heard some floating on the media. Will the rumors be true or is the CEO hiding another side of himself? Warnings: BRIEF mention of workplace inappropriateness (absolutely no details) otherwise nothing that I can think of Genre: Angst, Fiction, CEO!Soonyoung/Hoshi x Fem! Reader Word Count: 3.8k

Seventeen Masterlist | Masterlists

The first day was somewhat of a blur, with only some moments sticking in my mind. I wasn't planning on the day going the way it did but I guess it's what kept me from getting fired.

It wasn't a secret that the CEO of Starlight Enterainment was supposedly hard to work with even though he has a very successful company. So walking into the company was slightly, very daunting and nerve wracking.

The lobby was busy with people walking to and from. Some dressed in business attires with bags probably carrying folders. Some were in casual clothes dragging large outfit or make up bags behind them: the stylists. Then there were the youngest looking people in sweats and many carrying backpacks: the trainees.

It was very different from the strictly business professional engineering company I had come from. After leap frogging through the lobby, I made it to the front desk.

"Hi, how can I help you today?" The receptionist asked with a pleasant smile which I returned.

"Hi, my name is (y/n) and I'm supposed to be starting today." I told her, "I have a meeting with, uh, Ms. Lee."

The receptionist scrolls through her computer, looking for my specific appointment.

"Ah, yes. I'll let her know you're here." The receptionist nodded at me before hesitating for the briefest of seconds. "Are you by chance the new secretary for Mr. Kwon?"

The other receptionist at the desk looked over at the mention of the CEO.

I cleared my throat and glanced between the two receptionists. "I am."

The second my answer hit their ears and their faces changed to expressions filled with pity. "Well, I'll let know Ms. Lee that you're here. You can wait over there," She gestured towards a small area with a few chairs. "And it was very nice to meet you, (y/n)." She added like it was the last time I was ever going to see her. Which seemed odd to me since it was only my first day.

I sat in a chair and absentmindedly watched the people pass by. Only a few minutes had passed when I heard a voice call out my name.

"(y/n)?"

I turned and met with smiling face of Ms. Lee. She was dressed in a pair of nude slacks with a black button up blouse. Simple, sleek style.

"Hi, how are you?" I rose to my feet and shook her hand.

"I'm as well as can be for a Monday morning." She said with a half laugh.

I smiled, "I understand that feeling."

Ms. Lee led me towards the elevators while speaking about some formalities. "This is the lobby. If you go just beyond the bathroom sign, there's a cafe that makes a pretty mean coffee."

I looked towards the direction and quickly decided that I would stop by the next morning. The elevator dinged, announcing its arrival and opened its doors to an empty carriage.

We stepped in and Ms. Lee pressed the 10th floor button.

"I will be with you for a couple days to get you settled in so don't be afraid to ask me anything." She explained as the elevator doors closed and we began to ascend to my new office.

"Your desk will be inside Mr. Kwon's office, it'll be off to the side." Ms. Lee continued, "There is a receptionist outside the office to control the appointments."

"He has a receptionist and a secretary?" I wondered.

Ms. Lee nodded, "The receptionist keeps the company fort while you will accompany Mr. Kwon to meetings and outside company events and such."

"Interesting." I commented.

"Mr. Kwon is a very busy man." She informs me. "So you better wear comfortable shoes to work."

I looked down at my low heels and thanked my lucky stars that I decided to wear these instead of my stilettos.

"Is Mr. Kwon currently in his office?" I asked as the elevator reached the tenth floor and dinged.

"No, he's in a meeting." Ms. Lee informed me and walked out of the now open elevator doors.

As we walked towards Mr. Kwon's office, Ms. Lee pointed out different offices and rooms.

"Those three doors on the other side of the elevators are conference rooms. Mr. Kwon has many meetings in those rooms. The heads of each department have offices on this floor but as you can probably guess, they hardly use them." Ms. Lee randomly opened a door, revealing a clean, empty office.

I nodded, understanding that their jobs mainly take place all over the company instead of just in an office.

"This is my office." Ms. Lee opened the last door before the floor opens up slightly. "You can come find me anytime, I'm usually here. HR isn't needed everywhere like the others." She gave me a knowing look.

As we walked into the open space, a couch sat against the wall next to a pair of large double doors. A name plaque hung next to the doors with three words engraved in the gold plate: "CEO Mr. Kwon." A desk sat perpendicular to the doors. The male sitting behind the desk immediately stood up when he noticed Ms. Lee.

"Morning, Ms. Lee." The male greeted her with a small bow. "If you're looking for Mr. Kwon, he's in a meeting but should be wrapping up soon."

Ms. Lee shook her head, "I'm actually looking for you." She leaned against the tall reception desk.

"Well, then. What can I do for you?" He emphasized "I" and leaned forward slightly, ready to receive whatever task Ms. Lee was going to give him.

"This is (y/n). She's the new secretary starting today." Ms. Lee introduced me and I bowed in greeting.

"I'm Seungkwan." Seungkwan greeted before turning to Ms. Lee and giving her a look I couldn't quite decipher.

Ms. Lee rolled her eyes and moved towards the office, "This is your office, (y/n). Well, you get half of it."

We made our way inside and the good sized office shouldn't have surprised me but it did. It wasn't extremely crowded like some said and it wasn't extremely clean either. It just looked like ... an office. The desk was large with a couple folders placed on it. The monitors were placed normally and the filing cabinets were organized. But it was obviously the trash hadn't been taken out yet. It was overflowing with crumpled up pieces of paper.

"It's cute." I commented, moving towards the L shaped-desk. Setting my bag on the floor, I sat in the chair and turned on the computer.

Ms. Lee hands me a post it, "This is your username and the temporary password. When you enter the password, you'll be prompted to create your own password."

I nodded and typed the numbers and letters into the computer. Before Ms. Lee could say anything else, she was interrupted by a loud voice and multiple footsteps echoing through hallway.

"Where is Ms. Lee?" The loud voice asked. "She isn't in her office. Tell her to come to my office immediately." Something in his voice told me he wasn't all too happy about the conversation he needed to have with Ms. Lee.

"Seungkwan, do you kno- oh, Ms. Lee. There you are." A man dressed in a nicely tailored gray suit stopped when he noticed Ms. Lee opening the door to the office. I immediately recognize him from all the news articles: Mr. Kwon. I also notice the few people behind him also stopped, careful not to step in front of the man in front.

"Here I am." Ms. Lee replied kindly.

Mr. Kwon gestured for her to follow him back into his office.

"Fix this and this." Mr. Kwon instructed sitting in his chair, handing a folder to one of the men who were following him earlier, "And do it right this time, please." The man grabbed the folder, bowed, then quickly made his way out of the office. "Inform the trainees that evaluations will be held this Friday. No time table yet." He informed the other two and then waved them out of the room.

Finally, Mr. Kwon acknowledged the two us standing a few feet from his desk.

"Ms. Lee." He sighed, leaning back in his chair, "Who do you have with you?" He asked the corner of his mouth raising for a second.

Before Ms. Lee could introduce me, I spoke first.

"I'm (y/n). I'll be your new secretary, starting today." I introduced myself.

Mr. Kwon seemed slightly taken aback that I would introduce myself when Ms. Lee was standing right next to me.

"Alright, then." Mr. Kwon smirked like he had something up his sleeve, "How about your first task." He folded his hands behind his head, looking smug like whatever the task was, I wouldn't pass. He seemed certain I wouldn't.

"Sure, sir." I accepted the challenge with innocence.

"What are the stories for today?" He asked without even looking in my direction.

"Stories, sir?" I repeated, unsure what he meant.

"What are the happenings of the world today?" He rephrased his question though it did little to resolve my confusion.

I scrunched my eyebrows together, trying to think of what exactly he meant. I felt Ms. Lee's eyes on me and then saw Mr. Kwon glance at me, waiting for an answer.

Feeling the pressure, I spit out whatever I could think of news worthy wise.

"Uh, the weather app said it was supposed to rain today but judging from the scarce cloud coverage, I highly doubt it. The bakery across the street is advertising for a new type of cake. Kim Kardashian cried over spilt milk. Literally. And there's a spelling mistake on your website. Under the "About the Staff" page, the word "excellent" in one of the choreographer's biography was spelled with two c's and two t's." I rushed out, saying words before processing what I was saying.

The seconds of silence that followed also brought a tsunami of embarrassment and I bowed my head, staring at my shoes.

Mr. Kwon stared at me before breaking the silence with a slow laugh that quickly turned into a full laugh.

I glanced at Ms. Lee who was nodding with approval.

"She did not actually cry over actual spilled milk." Mr. Kwon sat up properly.

I shrugged, "The DailyNews article said it was milk from the last mountain cow alive."

"And the spelling mistake." Mr. Kwon continues, "How did you find that?"

"I was curious about the people I would be working with so I read through your entire website." I explained, "It was a little confusing in terms of navigating it but I got through it all the same."

"No one has ever noticed it before." He pursed his lips and nodded, "Maybe this one will work Ms. Lee."

Ms. Lee smiled, "You wanted to talk to me earlier?" She asked.

When Ms. Lee reminded him, he instantly reverted back into full business mode. "Ah, yes. You remember Mr. Kim in production?"

Ms. Lee nodded.

"He's put in his two weeks, so we'll need to fill his spot." Mr. Kwon shuffled through some of the folders before giving Ms. Lee one of them. "I emailed you the description we've used in the past but, agh, what am I saying. You know the drill."

Ms. Lee chuckles, "Of course. I will have a draft written up and on your desk by tomorrow morning."

"Very well." Mr. Kwon gave a single nod then looked at me standing slightly awkwardly. "Do you have a notebook with you?" He asked.

I shook my head, "Not currently but I can go get one from my desk."

Mr. Kwon motions towards my desk, "Please do, we have some things to start on."

I nodded and walked the few feet to my desk with Ms. Lee following me. Once near the desk, I took a deep breath.

"I have to go to a meeting right now, but you should be okay for a little while, right?" Ms. Lee asked, folder still in her hands.

I nodded, confidence slowly growing.

"If you need anything, I'm sure Seungkwan will know some of the answers." Ms. Lee said before heading out.

After the doors closed behind Ms. Lee, I scooped up the new notebook from the drawer and a pen out of the holder. Looking back at Mr. Kwon, he was typing furiously staring at one of his monitors. I walked towards his desk, standing slightly behind the chairs placed in front of his desk.

"Take a seat." He simply stated, not taking his eyes off the computer.

I gave a small nod, though he wouldn't have noticed, and sat in one of the chairs with the notebook open and ready for notes to be taken on it.

"Alright," Mr. Kwon landed a final click on his mouse and turned to face me. "So, welcome to Starlight Entertainment. Blah, blah, blah. Can you move my 2pm appointment to 3pm instead?"

I wrote down the direction but soon realized I had no idea which company the appointment it was with. I looked up at him with my mouth slightly open, a question sitting on the edge of my tongue but Mr. Kwon beats me to it.

"It's with the styling team for the new group debuting in two months." Mr. Kwon finished for me.

"Right, okay, I can do that." I nodded and wrote down the information before looking back up at him.

"Also, I was reading your resume," He pulled out a sheet of paper that I recognized as my resume that I applied with.

"Must've been a very interesting read." I commented noticing how he still had my resume.

"Actually, yeah, I'm just curious how you went from an engineering company to us." Mr. Kwon flicked the paper with an actual interest in my career.

I scratched the back of my neck, having to think about the answer. "I mean it was fun and interesting but the workplace was not ideal for me. It was a bit... rowdy." I searched for a couple seconds to find the right word.

"Rowdy?" Mr. Kwon repeated, leaning forward with a twinge of concern.

I glanced around the room, unsure if I should be telling the CEO, who I just met today, about my previous workplace. "The employees were predominantly male and they were a little... unpleasant."

Mr. Kwon suddenly looked down at my resume, his eyes scanned the paper quickly.

"Mr. Park's employees?" Apparently he knew my previous boss, how convenient. "I can't believe I'm hearing that. That's ridiculous." He picked up his landline phone, punching a number into the keypad.

I scrunched my eyebrows together in confusion.

"You can go talk to Seungkwan about your other duties." Mr. Kwon waved me off with the phone up to his ear.

I stood and quickly made my way out of the office. Seungkwan stood as soon as the door opened but immediately relaxed when he saw me walk out and not Mr. Kwon.

"I was instructed to have you fill me in on my duties." I leaned my forearms on the desk, "So, Mr. Receptionist, what are my duties as a secretary?"

Seungkwan leaned forward on his hands, "Well, it's basically the same role as every other secretary role."

"So I take notes and get him coffee?" I reiterated recalling the stereotypical secretary role.

"And then some." Seungkwan wiggles his eyebrows.

My jaw dropped and I slapped his shoulders, "You, you are terrible."

A loud crash echoed through the doors that made both Seungkwan and I jump.

Faint yelling is heard, something along the lines of "Hire better employees and be better for society!"

I made a move towards the door but Seungkwan grabbed my shoulder, holding me back. When I looked over at him, he just shook his head 'no.'

"Why not?" I questioned, glancing between him and the doors.

"You'll figure it out soon enough." Seungkwan started just as something like pens scattered the floor, "You have to wait until he calls you in. He can get riled up over things. Especially mistreatment of people."

"But my desk is in there." I countered, "Mistreatment of people?" I asked.

Seungkwan nodded in confirmation. "If you read what the articles say about him, you wouldn't take him for that kind of guy but he really cares about his employees."

I cocked my head to the side, then his intercom beeped.

"(y/n), you can come back in." Mr. Kwon's voice statics.

"You'll find out." Seungkwan whispered and nudged me towards the office.

"Oh, okay." I said heading towards the doors, slightly, very confused.

Opening the door, I hesitated before walking in. As I suspected, his pen holder was knocked over, pens scattered all over the floor. The first crash must've been the trash can that he kicked over and sent the crumpled papers flying.

Mr. Kwon was picking up the crumpled paper and I decided to help with the pens. I set down my notebook and pen on my desk before kneeling down to pick up the few pens that made it all the way over by my desk.

"(y/n) you don't have to. I can get this." Mr. Kwon commented, placing a few papers into the trash bin.

"Oh, it's fine, Mr. Kwon. I don't mind helping." I shook my head and continued picking up pens, "Plus if I left you to do this all by yourself you could be here for hours and you might miss your next meeting."

Mr. Kwon paused and rested his arm on his bent knee. A small laugh left his mouth, "Hours, huh?"

"You never know, sir." I politely joked back.

He waved a hand, "Oh, please don't call me 'sir' or 'Mr. Kwon,' It's way too formal for someone who's going to be next to me everyday."

"Then what should I call you?" I asked walking over to the desk, righting his pen holder and placing the few picked up pens.

"Just call me Soonyoung." Mr- Soonyoung said with a sweet smile.

I smiled back and went back to picking up the fallen pens.

"I apologize for the way you were treated at your old company." Soonyoung said quietly, also going back to the scatters papers. "I didn't think Mr. Park's company was like that. Could you cancel all my future appointments with him? I won't be doing business with such a company."

"All of them?" I asked, turning to look at him with confusion.

Soonyoung nodded, "All of them." He confirmed.

"I-"

"Seungkwan can show you how to do that." He chuckles to himself. "If he could, he would be an amazing secretary for someone."

"If he could?" I wondered.

Soonyoung nodded. "Seungkwan had an accident before his time here and it ended with him having a bum knee. He can't be on it for long otherwise it pains him and then he's out for a couple days. It's why he's at the reception desk instead of walking around everywhere with me."

I picked up another pen as his words sunk in. But more than his words, his tone resonated more. The tone of care and concern for another person. Seungkwan was right. Soonyoung does care for his employees contrary to what every single article has said about him.

"Can I ask you a question?" I said, picking up the last of the pens and setting them in their holder as Soonyoung also finished.

"Shoot." Soonyoung sank down into his chair.

"Why don't you ever correct the articles that come out about you?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" He questioned, crossing his arms over his chest.

"You obviously care for your employees. But yet there are articles constantly coming out about you that paint, well, not the best picture." I carefully explained, not wanting to overstep any boundaries.

Soonyoung sighed and just shrugged. "You pick up on a lot." He commented before moving on, "I have a meeting in a few minutes. You don't have to come, it is just your first day."

I shook my head, "No, no, I can join you. Though, what should I bring?" I asked sheepishly, realizing I definitely don't know what I'm doing.

Soonyoung chuckles, "Just you, your phone, a notebook, and a pen."

"You can't go in there." Seungkwan's voice seeped through the door. "Ma'am, ma'am!"

The door swung open and a lady wearing a pencil skirt and a very tight blouse waltzed in with a stern expression etched onto her face.

"Would it kill you to return my damned calls?" She nearly screamed at him, marching straight to his desk.

Soonyoung slowly turned his chair to face the woman who I recognized as his previous wife, Irene, though I thought they were divorcing. I walked backwards towards my desk, doing my best to ignore the conversation.

"Why would I have to call you back?" Soonyoung asked with a calm voice.

"Because I'm your wife?" She answered with another question.

"I thought we were divorcing." Soonyoung replied as if her question was a joke.

"It isn't finalized yet and we need to talk." Irene rests her hands on her hips with a bucket of sass.

"About what?" Soonyoung nearly rolled his eyes at her.

Irene glanced back at me, questioning my presence.

"She stays." Soonyoung noticed her gaze. "That's her desk, this is her office too. If you are so keen to storm into my office during my work days, anything you say can be heard by anyone who is around to hear it." Soonyoung stood, placing his hands in his pocket to making his point more clear.

Irene sighed heavily before turning back to Soonyoung with her arms crossed. "I don't want to divorce."

The air in the room instantly went stale and the mood went cold.

"I'm sorry?" Soonyoung questioned, his tone much more shocked than I was expecting.

"I am rescinding my side of the divorce claim." Irene stated again, this time with more confidence.

Soonyoung sighed and leaned his hands on the edge of his desk, head tilted down.

"I will talk to you later about this. I am very busy right now, and you need to leave." He said lowly.

"That's always your excuse. And who cares who hears. What? This new secretary who's only going to last a couple days like they all do? Psh. You never cared about anyone, always caring only about the business and the business's need. You never care." Irene ranted and stomped out of the office with a huff.

The door slammed shut and when the dust settled, Soonyoung and I didn't move a muscle.

Soonyoung's head was still lowered and he was breathing hard.

Quickly understanding that he needed a distraction, I spoke first.

"So that meeting?" I said softly.

Soonyoung's head popped up quickly and he had to take a couple seconds to remind himself where he is.

"Yes, yes, we should make our way over there." Soonyoung picked up his portfolio. He made his way over to the door while I picked up my supplies. I looked up and he was standing by the door, holding it open for me. "And I would appreciate if you didn't tell anyone about what happened." He whispered as I passed.

#seventeen #seventeen imagine #hoshi imagine #kwon hoshi #soonyoung imagine #kwon soonyoung imagine #hoshi #soonyoung #seventeen hoshi imagine #seventeen soonyoung imagine #kwon hoshi imagine

42 notes · View notes

bexterbex · 5 years ago

Text

A Soul to Mend His Own | Ch. 4

Warning, if it hasn't been obvious in the movies there is Nazi symbolism within the First Order. I will expand on this much more throughout the story. If this is something that bothers you, please just exit the story. The author does not condone any Nazi ideals, this is just for fictional uses only.

A Kylo Ren x Modern! Reader in a soulmate au with some canon divergence. —————————————SLOWBURN————————————–

He is already the Supreme leader, searching the universe to find you, his Empress. Your name on his wrist has been the only constant in his life, while you have doubts about his existence and his acceptance of you. He isn’t in the database and why did the name Kylo Ren cover Ben Solo?

Originally posted on my Ao3 Crystallclover. (Incase you missed it) Chapter Three

Chapter 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

Chapter 4: When the Machine Starts

Summary: “ALL REMAINING SYSTEMS WILL REMEMBER THIS, AS THE FIRST DAY OF THE NEW EMPIRE!!!” Cannon fire was heard in the distance.

_______________________________________________________________________

“Y/N? What do you think,” asked Carter.

You thought for a moment and answered, “I don’t know, this is all so much to take in. When are you guys thinking about registering? I don’t want to go alone, there will be too many people.”

“I was thinking about going tomorrow morning. The registration office closest to me doesn’t open until 9 AM but I want to guarantee that a line will start 6,” said Carter.

“I guess I really hadn’t thought that far to be honest. Too caught up in the alien thing,” said Hayden “Why don’t we plan on going together?”

“I think that would great, but Y/N do you need to go to a special registration center? As an American,” asked Carter.

“Let me check online,” you said while pulling up the government website on your phone. “It says it I should be fine if I go to the motor vehicle registration office, the social insurance number office, or the immigration office. I need my passport, social security card, immunization forms, birth certificate, driver's license, and work visa. It also says that I will be in a separate line and that my registration will take up to 1 hour to complete.”

“Sweet, I know you aren’t a fan of getting up early Hayden but what if we all go to the MVR office tomorrow at like 5:45 AM and just get it done together? We have no idea how long the lines will be or really how long it will take,” asked Carter.

“Fine, but like we need to get brunch afterward or I will riot in the streets. You guys don’t have to work tomorrow right,” asked Hayden. “Tony gave me the next few days off.”

“No, Henry gave us all time off. I’m pretty sure Scott and his wife will go awol. Like you should have seen him this morning. He was on his phone in the walkway for the first hour, late to our meeting. Ally had to message him asking if he was coming. He then walked finally went into his office and got ready. He blamed it on his wife being paranoid,” you said.

“Yeah but that is such a Scott thing to do, I am surprised Talia hasn’t evaluated him yet that man is a walking HR nightmare,” said Carter.

“That isn’t even the worst of it. Immediately after the announcement he kind flipped out. Talking about how the First Order will brainwash us and how we shouldn’t stand for it. Like I’m pretty sure he was going to blow a gasket. Daniel told him off and then he went to talk to Henry but not until saying that this may be the last time we will probably see our families, then Henry gave us the week off basically,” you ranted. “I honestly hate the man he’s late to everything, even deadlines, he also can’t organize his office even if his life depended on it. Plus he’s always on his phone with his wife. Just all around unprofessional.”

“Damn go off, I would hate to hear what you would have go say about me if I worked with you,” stated Hayden.

“Well, I’m glad we are just friends and not coworkers. Brunch sounds like a good idea to me, especially if we can start day drinking because guaranteed my registration is going to be more stressful than both of yours and I’ll probably need something to take the edge off. And if Scott is right about this being the last bits of freedom before the First Order starts brainwashing us or ‘probing’ us then I’d like it to be fun,” you ranted.

“Probing, damn I wish I thought of that earlier. You know we should start watching some really cheesy Sci-FI movies before the ‘Supreme Leader’ announcement,” suggested Hayden.

Both you and Carter agreed and you set up your phone to keep steaming CBC News and you set up “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” on your laptop.

After your third movie, you all just decide to pull up the news to avoid missing the announcement. The seemingly perfect white brunette anchorman and similarly perfect blonde anchorwoman were explaining once again where to register while also talking about the average wait time to register. You always found their perfect hair, teeth, and skin; they were just too perfect.

Live from Washington D.C.

The camera focused in on the Supreme Leader, “People of Earth, the First Order has so far been impressed by the cooperation we have received from you. As it was mentioned before, if you remain calm and follow all orders directed towards you, you will be able to live a long and prosperous life here.

Your respective nation’s leader should have informed you of more updates such as where to receive registration and changes to your planet's economy. The First Order and my self Supreme Leader Ren have a few more directives for you.

First as mentioned to you many times today, everyone on your planet must register with the First Order as citizens. Anyone refusing to do so will be dealt with justly. Second, all citizens upon registration will receive an education on the First Orders and the beliefs of the new empire. Any citizen who has an issue with this education should direct their comments and concerns to any Stormtrooper or First Order officer at their local registration station.

Finally, anyone found in favor of the New Republic or the Resistance will be dealt with immediately. The First Order would like to make this transition for Earth as smooth and as peaceful as possible. Any found being a traitor to the First Order may find themselves at a public execution!

My Allegiant General Hux has a few words for you.” He stepped to the side to reveal the ginger human-looking man.

“Today is the is the beginning of the new empire! And the end of a regime that acquiesces to disorder! At this very moment, in a system far from here, the New Republic lies to the galaxy, while secretly supporting the treachery of the loathsome Resistance,” The red hair man almost seemed to be foaming at the mouth while he was giving his speech. “Our alliance is a fierce machine that we will build, upon which we will stand, will bring an end to the Senate, and to their cherished fleet! ALL REMAINING SYSTEMS WILL REMEMBER THIS, AS THE FIRST DAY OF THE NEW EMPIRE!!!” Cannon fire was heard in the distance and the camera came to a wide shot of the podium’s stage.

On the stage, you could see the U.S. President, Supreme Leader Ren, Allegiant General Hux, and the silver armored soldier. Behind the stage, you could see the white house lawn filled with the white armored soldiers standing at attention. In the distance you could see there was now a banner over the white house, it was large and read with a hexagon with a star-like black symbol. You assumed this to be the flag of the First Order.

The camera cuts back to the news anchors who were now conspicuously wearing pins with the same symbol that was on the banner. “I like the sound of that, don’t you Karen,” asked the male news anchor.

“I sure do Jim. A new galactic economy and protection from a powerful new ally to protect us from the treacherous Resistance. I don’t think we could have asked for a better ‘alien’ invasion, do you, Jim,” responded Karen.

“Now it's almost as if fate was on our side, or should I say the Force. For everybody, at home, both Karen and I have been registered and have started our First Order education. That’s where we got these cool new pins that you will be required to wear once you’ve been registered unless directed to do otherwise,” stated Jim.

“Yes, it is important that all citizens register as soon as possible, and all citizens are asked to cooperate with the First Order. You all heard our new Supreme Leader Ren, they would like us to be peaceful and anyone found in contempt of the First Order may be subject to public execution,” stated Karen. “And I’m sure all of you remember 8th-grade world history when we learned about what happened to Marie Antoinette, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” She and Jim chuckled at her off-color joke.

“I’m sure no one wants that so if we all stay calm no one should lose their head. There will be nightly updates every night at 7 PM Eastern Standard Time from the First Order. We have been informed that it will be various officers as our new Supreme Leader is very busy,” stated Jim.

“I’m sure he is, and what a wonderful Supreme Leader we have. Dedicated to our safety and the safety of the galaxy. I can’t wait to learn more about him from my First Order education. Now stay tuned to the weather,” said Karen.

You muted your laptop once again. You, Carter and Hayden all sat in shock after what you just watched.

Carter was the first to speak, “well at least be getting the registration and education over an done with as soon as possible. That General Hux guy seemed pretty intense.”

“Your boss might be right Y/N we may just all be brainwashed soon. Why do I have a feeling like the First Order may be something out of a George Orwell's novel,” said Hayden.

“Just promise us you won’t do anything stupid Hayden, we will all have enough to worry about. Tomorrow at the registration office you might want to keep your conspiracy theories to yourself. I don’t know how much the First Order will like them,” you responded.

Carter seemed to be in agreement with you, “Why don’t we all just call it a night? We can meet in the parking lot of the MVR office at 5:45 AM and I’ll bring coffee for all of us.”

You and Hayden nodded in agreement. Both of them packed up their things and left. You cleaned up the kitchen and plates. Shut your laptop before preparing for bed.

You grabbed your pajamas and went into the bathroom and took a shower hoping it would relax you. Getting you changed into your clothes, brushed your hair and teeth.

You shut off the lights to your apartment and walked over to your bed. You plugged in your phone and set an alarm before crawling into bed and drifting off into fitful sleep.

#lets see if this works #kylo ren #kylo ren x reader #kylo ren imagine #kylo x you #star wars imagine #Star wars soulmate au #star wars #star wars first order #sw first order imagine #first order #feedback is appreciated #armitage hux #a soul to mend his own

226 notes · View notes

creek-cryptid-deluxe · 4 years ago

Text

So, It’s been awhile. There’s a reason. The last week or so has been... a week. jesus christ. I shall regale you of my tale, not in chronological order necessarily because that’s how I roll. BUT if you suffer through it, you shall be rewarded with an outdoor plant update post after. Bribery.

So. Early last week, The Spawn sat down with me and presented a proposal, a well researched proposal, advocating for her starting her own residential cleaning business because she finds it incredibly satisfying and relaxing to clean stuff and she does quite well. So we sat and brainstormed, researched, and talked about how she planned to advertise. She needed a business gmail (and all the tools that come with that), logo, business social media, website, and flyers.

Being her age, she doesn’t have the skill or knowledge to do these things. So, I volunteered to help with these things so that she didn’t have to spend money hiring someone. I created the email account, put all the brainstorm stuff into a google doc that saved to the biz drive, which included a to do list and the basic info needed. I created a logo. (At which point, she called me a wizard while watching me do so.) I helped her try to create a biz facebook account, but facebook immediately flagged it as breaking the rules. like literally as soon as I created it. So I appealed it & The Spawn wanted to wait to see what came of that before I went further. So she took me with her to shop for the things on her supply list, and we decided to go grab some of the smaller stuff still needed for J’s appt at the same time. This was Friday.

Saturday, I got a text from J in the early afternoon saying that he needed me. I quickly packed a ‘just in case’ bag, since I didn’t know what to expect or how long I would be there. Now, you have to understand that in the 7 years we’ve been friends, while he has discussed things with me via phone or text, in person he is like me, incredibly stoic. Hell even via text or phone, he always insists that he’s fine and responds to my reminders that i’m here if he needs someone, and to just let me know, he responds “I appreciate it, but I won’t”. So him reaching out like that is a MASSIVE thing. I showed up, let myself in, and he just walked up to me, wrapped his arms around me and started sobbing. I stayed the night, alternating between being comforting and being distracting. It was extremely disarming to see such raw emotion from him repeatedly over the course of the night and to hear him say the things that he is usually uncomfortable articulating.

The next morning he seemed better, thanked me for coming (to which I responded “Of course I came. I’ve not ever been lying when I’ve said that I’d come if you needed me, day or night, but you have to let me know.��) and apologized for ‘being a mess’. I told him every time he apologized (which happened quite a bit over the course of the night) that there was no need for an apology because this wasn’t something to be sorry for. He was struggling, as people do, and rather than embrace the darkness or fight it alone, he asked for help from someone he trusts and loves that he knows reciprocates. That i know how hard it is for him to do that and that I am proud of him.

Sunday afternoon the kids (The Spawn and The Bf) picked me up because she needed to take him home but didn’t want to leave the dogs alone. I got in the car after The Bf got into the back, insisting I take the front seat. We hadn’t even gotten out of the parking lot of the apartment complex when The Spawn casually asked “So are ya’ll fucking?”

that’s how I learned that I was the subject of a bet. Apparently, The Bf asked where I was when he came over and out of convenience, not wanting to really explain the relationship, The Spawn said I was at my boyfriend’s. I guess he went on about how how come I’m never hanging out with him, etc, so The Spawn explained the actual nature of our relationship. At the end The Bf said “Nah, they fuckin’ but your mom isn’t telling you.” The Spawn said, “No, she’d tell me because when I started high school I asked her about her past encounters and asked about what stuff was, if she’d done it, and if she enjoyed it, and she was always honest with me. That’s how I know she likes it up the butt.” He insisted that J and I were banging so The Spawn, knowing the truth, took advantage of this and made a bet. It was an easy win for her. SO...

I get asked this question & I look at her, eyebrows raised because she knows how our relationship is (granted if I were physically able and he was willing, I would definitely jump back up on that horse) and said, “No. Mom is no longer physically capable of fucking without risk of severe injury. Plus, despite having ridden that horse previously, I’m not into endangering our besties status. I would go into further detail and commentary but I don’t want to make The Bf uncomfortable. These are things you know, so why do you ask?” She told me of the bet, Then i promptly text J about it because I knew he’d get a laugh out of it. And I was right.

By the end of Sunday, she recieved an email stating that facebook was upholding the ban, so she and I talked and decided to make a webpage via WIX and after getting a few clients, she could upgrade her account with them to get extras that are offered, including her own domain (rather than the name.wix address) and a lack of wix ads on her page. And then it all went downhill from there.

Monday through Wednesday (yesterday) had The Spawn breathing down my neck more than any boss I’ve ever fucking had about when her business shit would be done. On top of what I’d already done, between Monday and Wednesday I: set up her google voice account for a business number, wrote her a “first time client” script, created a google sheets quick reference client database, created a google forms for detailed client records (all in a folder together that is searchable by client name, which would be the title of the form), set up the calendar, downloaded and edited/collaged her before and after photos she took via cleaning some of our spaces, and built her a 7 page website including the photos, facts, and little blurbs that go along with it. It went live at the end of yesterday.

Throughout this process, rather than just checking in and thanking me for doing it all to save her money, she asked me every couple hours what still needed to be done. When I was not as far along as she felt I should be, she got progressively more hostile. Yesterday morning she had the balls to text me “What all do we still need to do before I can get rolling?” I responded with “ ‘We’? hahahahaha *I* still need to [list].”

I’m sure you’re saying to yourself, “Am I missing something? Did you forget to list something in the list of stuff you did between Monday and Wednesday? You mentioned flyers....” You are correct. But yesterday while I was being driven to my 2nd vax appointment by my father, I basically told him that I’m fried. If a flyer just included facts, I’d be fine, but the part where I need the potential customers to be drawn in and want to learn more is not happening. The creative well has run dry to the point that it is reminiscent of the dust bowl. And I reminded him that there is a reason I no longer do this type of shit for a living. I mentioned that thinking about The Spawn’s company is making me stress puke and that any time The Spawn approaches me to talk about anything, I immediately feel incredibly nauseated.

Now it should be noted that when I mentioned this in a multi paragraph text earlier, he responded with “Just take a step back from it for awhile, then go back to it.”

and everyone wonders why on earth I don’t speak up when I hit my limits and why I just push onward despite the damage it does to me. THIS. THIS IS WHY. Everyone is all for me not pushing myself too hard... until it is inconvenient for them. So I basically screamed in the car. On the way back he said he’d help. Ok. cool.

Except that every fucking idea he had legit just tripled the amount of work I was going to have to do. I mentioned being burned enough that I was considering just paying a freelancer to do it. This motherfucker chimes in with “Oh! [Cool Ex Employee Who Left to be a Stay at Home Mom with her First Baby] does stuff like that. Let me reach out to see if she’d be willing to.” BRUH. That should have been the first thing out of your mouth after my original texts! Jesus Christ. I agreed but with the caveat that HE had to tell The Spawn and say it was his idea because he sees me getting overly stressed and has put his foot down. And he had to do it that night because I knew that if he didn’t, the first thing I’d hear today was “So when are my flyers going to be done?” and I am absolutely not dealing with that shit. The only thing I am doing from this point forward is showing her how to use her database/client files/calendar and I will be happy to answer questions or give advice, but that’s it. This isn’t my company and I’m not employed by her, so I’ve already put in far more work than should have been expected of me, with very little thanks outside of after I finished her logo and a couple times she came down and watched, then told me I’m a fucking wizard.

Really It was good in a way because I had been doing that thing lately where I wonder if I��m just being dramatic because admin type stuff isn’t that hard and if I could do it from home, I should be able to manage... but this put me back down on earth, where I absolutely am not being dramatic and I cannot fucking do that shit 40 hrs a week for some random asshole. Shit, this was for my own child and I was ready to give up, stab her, then tell her to go fuck herself.

so...that’s been my last week and a half for so. Also, my only side effects from Vax 2 (pfizer) is feeling more tired/run down than usual and a bit of extra joint pain... but those might actually be related to the stress and hell I just went through. who knows.

as always, don’t steal my shitshow. get your own shitshow. suffer through your own crap.

1 note · View note

go-redgirl · 4 years ago

Photo

Fact Checking Biden’s First Press Conference D'Angelo Gore 17 hrs ago

Neil Gorsuch Couldn’t Stop Complaining About the Rest of the Justices Today

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: How ‘The Bachelor’ Went Off the Rails Dealing With Racism In his first press conference since being inaugurated 64 days ago, President Joe Biden got some facts wrong Biden claimed that former President Donald Trump “eliminated” over $700 million in aid that Biden helped get for Central American countries.

That didn’t happen, but the Trump administration did reallocate some money and temporarily suspended other funding.

The president used the wrong statistics when saying that “nothing has changed” regarding “children” trying to enter the U.S. at the southern border. There was a significant 63% uptick in unaccompanied children being apprehended from January to February.

Biden said, “We’re sending back the vast majority of the families that are coming.” But in February, 41% of those in a family unit apprehended at the southern border were expelled.

The president said “over 50%” of Republican voters supported the American Rescue Plan Act. Some polls show that but others show a majority opposed the COVID-19 relief legislation.

He repeated two familiar talking points on taxes, including the misleading claim that “83%” of the benefits in the GOP’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act are “going to the top 1%.” That only becomes the case in 2027 when most of the individual income tax cuts are set to expire but corporate tax cuts remain.

Biden got it wrong when he said there were five times as many cloture motions “last year alone” than there were “between 1917 and 1971.” There were twice as many motions filed last year than there were from 1917 through 1970.Biden took questions from reporters on March 25.Aid to Central America Biden falsely claimed that his predecessor “eliminated” and “didn’t use” more than $700 million in funding to address migration from Central American countries that Biden helped secure when he was vice president.

“They’re coming because of the circumstances in country, in country,” Biden said of the thousands of people who are illegally entering the U.S. through Mexico. “The way to deal with this problem, and I started to deal with it back when I was … vice president, putting together a bipartisan plan of over $700 million to do the root causes of why people are leaving. What did Trump do? He eliminated that funding.

He didn’t use it. He didn’t do it.

”Biden appeared to be referring to funding for the “U.S. Strategy for Engagement in Central America,” which was as high as $750 million during the Obama administration in fiscal year 2016. It’s true that the annual budget for that initiative declined significantly during Trump’s presidency, but it wasn’t completely “eliminated” or unspent, as Biden said. According to the Congressional Research Service, the nonpartisan research arm of Congress, appropriations for the program declined to $685 million in FY 2017, $615 million in FY 2018, $528 million in FY 2019, $533 million in FY 2020 and $506 million in FY 2021.

Biden may have been referencing money that Congress authorized for use in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador that the Trump administration either reallocated to other initiatives or temporarily suspended in 2019.As a January CRS report said: “From FY2016 to FY2020, Congress appropriated more than $3.1 billion to improve security, governance, and socioeconomic conditions in Central America as part of a whole-of-government initiative to address the drivers of irregular migration.

However, in March 2019 — less than two years into the initiative’s on-the-ground implementation — the Trump Administration suspended most foreign aid to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. The Administration proceeded to reprogram approximately $396 million of aid appropriated for the Northern Triangle countries in FY2018, reallocating the funds to other foreign policy priorities within, and outside of, the Latin American and Caribbean region.

”The report indicated that the Trump administration “withheld most of the assistance Congress appropriated for Central America in FY2019 while it negotiated a series of agreements intended to stem the flow of migrants and asylum-seekers from the Northern Triangle to the United States.” As a result, the report said, the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development were forced to close down or cancel some projects and planned activities.

But CRS also said that — amid criticism from members of Congress who argued the funding freeze was counterproductive — aid to the Northern Triangle countries that was previously held back began to be released late in 2019, and “all of the previously suspended assistance for the region” had been “programmed” by June 2020.Immigration: Unaccompanied Children

Biden used the wrong statistics when saying that “nothing has changed�� regarding “children” trying to enter the U.S. at the southern border. To be sure, there have been spikes before in unaccompanied children arriving at the border, but the uptick in Biden’s first full month in office was significant.

Biden: Truth of the matter is nothing has changed. As many people came, 28% increase in children to the border in my administration. 31% in the last year of – in 2019, before the pandemic, in the Trump administration. It happens every single solitary year. There is a significant increase in the number of people coming to the border in the winter months of January, February, March.

Biden’s figures don’t pertain to an “increase in children to the border,” as he said. Instead, they pertain to the total number of apprehensions at the border — including single adults and family units. Those figures were cited in a Washington Post opinion piece by immigration experts who, similar to the president, said the rise in total apprehensions reflected “a pattern of seasonal changes,” in which immigrant apprehensions increase in the cooler months of the year.

We get slightly different figures using Customs and Border Protection data. There was a 29% increase in total apprehensions from January to February, when the level reached 96,974. In 2019, the January-to-February bump was 39%. As we’ve written, the recent increase in border apprehensions did begin prior to the election under then-President Donald Trump.

But the spike in unaccompanied children in the first full month of Biden’s administration is noteworthy — and, with a backlog of processing those children out of border custody facilities, it’s the main aspect of border immigration that has garnered media and political attention.

The number of unaccompanied children being apprehended at the border also began rising in October, before the election, but it spiked 63% from January to February, reaching 9,297 kids.

The Washington Post opinion piece noted that the apprehensions of unaccompanied children “appears to be more than just a seasonal pattern. ”CBP data show the fiscal year 2021 numbers of unaccompanied children apprehended are on track to rival or surpass a spike that occurred in 2019.Immigration: Families The president went on to say the “vast majority, the overwhelming majority of people coming to the border and crossing are being sent back,” mentioning “single people.” That’s correct. But then he added, “We’re sending back the vast majority of the families that are coming.” That’s not the case for the month of February, the most recent data from CBP.

The administration expelled 41% of family units in February. (See the figures for Title 42 expulsions.)Single adults, who make up the vast majority of those apprehended on the border, have been largely expelled under Title 42, a public health law. We asked the White House about Biden’s claim, but we haven’t received a response. Polling on American Rescue Plan Act told Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Biden has gone too far left, the president responded by saying “over 50%” of Republican voters supported the American Rescue Plan Act.

But public polling offers a more mixed reaction among Republicans to the new law than the president lets on. Biden: I would like Republican, elected Republican support, but what I know I have now is, I have electoral support from Republican voters. Republican voters agree with what I’m doing.

And so unless Mitch says the last thing I did, the last piece of legislation I did was so far left, well, then he ought to take a look at his party. Over 50% of them must be over that edge, as well because they support what I did. This has become a talking point for the president. He stated something similar on March 19, when he said “we didn’t get any help in the Senate or the House, but you have 55% of the Republicans in America supporting it,” referring to the COVID-19 relief bill. For sure, there are polls that show more than 50% of Republicans supported the bill earlier this month when it was before Congress.

A Morning Consult/Politico poll conducted from March 6 to March 8 found 59% of Republicans surveyed said they “strongly support” (29%) or “somewhat support” (30%) the COVID-19 aid package. Similarly, a Data for Progress poll conducted from March 5 to 7 found 54% of Republicans supported the bill. However, other polls found Republican support below 50% — not “over 50%,” as Biden said. A CNN poll from March 3 to 8 found only 26% of Republicans supported the bill (see Table 031).

A Pew Research Center survey from March 1 to 7 found that 41% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said they supported the bill. That poll showed a pronounced partisan divide in particular on the cost of the legislation — which was the primary reason for Republican opposition in Congress. Sixty-one percent of Republicans told Pew that the $1.9 trillion bill, which Biden signed into law on March 11, spends too much.

Lastly, we found a CBS News/YouGov poll taken from March 9 to 10 found 46% of Republicans supported the American Rescue Plan Act. “Among Republicans, there is more support for it among those with lower household incomes than among those with higher incomes,” CBS News wrote.

Taxes Comparing his tax priorities to those of Republicans, Biden revived two talking points from the campaign: the misleading claim that 83% of the tax cuts in the Republican tax law championed by Trump went to the top 1%; and the false claim that middle-income families pay a higher tax rate than “the average person making $1 billion a year.

”Biden said he found it “kind of interesting that my Republican friends were worried” about “the cost” of tax cuts and relief checks in the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act. The law, he said, “puts money in people’s pockets. Ordinary people.

”The law provides an average tax cut to middle-income earners of $3,720 this year, according to an analysis by the Tax Policy Center. The law also includes stimulus payments for most Americans, and extends unemployment compensation. Biden said he didn’t remember hearing Republicans express similar concerns about the cost of the Republican-backed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which is projected to add nearly $2 trillion to the deficit over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. “Did you hear them complain when they passed a close to $2 trillion Trump tax cut, 83% going to the top 1%?”

Biden said. This is a well-worn but misleading claim. As we have written, in order for the legislation to be passed via reconciliation, most of the individual income tax provisions are set to expire by 2027, while the corporate tax cuts would remain, making the tax benefit distribution more lopsided for the top 1% than in earlier years. So, while the top 1% got 20.5% of the total tax benefits in 2018, and 25.3% of the tax benefits in 2025, the share of the total tax savings that accrues to the top 1% in 2027 is 82.8%, according to an analysis by the Tax Policy Center. Republicans say they expect a future Congress will extend the individual tax cuts, rather than allowing taxes for many to increase, but of course there is no assurance that will happen .Biden went on to claim Republicans “reduc[ed] taxes to a point that people who are making, you know if you are a husband and wife, school teacher and a cop, you’re paying at a higher rate than the average person making $1 billion a year is. Something’s wrong. ”Actually, that claim is wrong. This is another version of a claim Biden made during the campaign, that the top 1% of taxpayers, on average, pay a lower effective tax rate than middle-income people.

In general, people in higher-income categories pay a higher tax rate. According to an analysis by the Tax Policy Center, the top 0.1% — those making over $3,452,300 a year — paid an average federal tax rate of 31.3% in 2019. That’s a higher rate than any other income category below it. By comparison, for example, those in the middle 20% of earners — with an expanded cash income of $50,001 to $87,300 — paid an average federal tax rate of 12.4%, according to the TPC analysis. Tax Policy Center did not break down its analysis for billionaires, but they would obviously be a fraction of those in the top 0.1%.“On average the top 0.1 percent of income pays more,” Howard Gleckman, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center, told us via email. “Are there outliers? Sure. But would be very rare. ”As Gleckman told us back in 2019, “You can invest all your money in tax-exempt bonds and pay no federal income tax on the interest. Investors can avoid paying tax on capital gains by simply not selling the assets (but they’d also have no income).

But in general, the federal tax system is very progressive. The more you make, the more you pay.

”William McBride, vice president of federal tax and economic policy at the Tax Foundation, told us Biden may be referring to an analysis by economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman of the University of California at Berkeley that concluded the average effective tax rate (for federal, state and local taxes) paid by the richest 400 families in the U.S. was 23%, slightly lower than the 24.2% rate paid by the bottom half of American households.

notes, however, that the Saez/Zucman data “excludes refundable tax credits so that the tax burden is overstated at the lower end of the income spectrum. When they are included, average effective tax rates for federal taxes go from 3.3% for the lowest quintile up to 30.3% for the top 0.1% (about 120,000 households).”McBride said the Saez/Zucman estimates for the top 400 households “rely on their assumptions about returns imputed from underlying wealth and income shares, which have been challenged by other economists like Gerald Auten and David Splinter.

They find that the top 0.01 percent (a bit more than the top 400) paid an average combined tax rate of nearly 50 percent in 2018.”In a post challenging some of the methodology of the Saez/Zucman report, Gleckman of the Tax Policy Center said that while it is true that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act “cut the taxes of high earners by more on average than for low- and moderate-income households, as a share of after-tax income,” that doesn’t mean, as a Washington Post headline put it, that “billionaires paid a lower tax rate than the working class. ”Cloture Motions Even though he pulled a card out of his pocket to read aloud statistics on the rise in cloture motions, Biden got the numbers wrong.

Biden: That it used to be that from between 1917 and 1971, the filibuster existed, there were a total of 58 motions to break a filibuster, that whole time. Last year alone, there were five times that many. So it’s being abused in a gigantic way. Cloture motions are filed to set a time limit on debate and bring a bill to the floor for a vote. The motion must receive 60 votes to pass — not a simple majority.

The Senate website lists all cloture motions since 1917, when the Senate first adopted the cloture rule. We counted a total of 58 from 1917 through 1970, the figure Biden cited. But last year alone there were 118 — which is more than double 58, not five times greater.

It appears that the president meant to say in the last Congress — not “last year alone.” In 2019 and 2020, which was the 116th Congress, there were 328 cloture motions filed — which is more than five times the motions filed from 1917 through 1970.But cloture motions aren’t necessarily filed “to break a filibuster,” as Biden said. That used to be the primary use, but not in modern times — a fact noted in a Congressional Research Service report on filibusters and cloture motions.

“In recent times, by contrast, Senate leadership has increasingly made use of cloture as a normal tool for managing the flow of business on the floor, even when no evident filibuster has yet occurred,” the CRS report said. “It would be erroneous to assume the presence or absence of cloture attempts is a reliable guide to the presence or absence of filibusters.

”Also, both parties are responsible for the escalating use of cloture motions.

There were 504 filed in six years (2009-2014) when the Democrats were in control, and 657 in six years (2015-2020) when the Republicans were in charge.

Editor’s note: FactCheck.org does not accept advertising. We rely on grants and individual donations from people like you. Please consider a donation. Credit card donations may be made through our “Donate” page. If you prefer to give by check, send to: FactCheck.org, Annenberg Public Policy Center, 202 S. 36th St., Philadelphia, PA 19104.

The post FactChecking Biden’s First Press Conference appeared first on FactCheck.org.

_______________________________________________________

OPINION: Joe Biden need to be “Fact Checked every time he makes a Statement or comment about anything that he says!

2 notes · View notes

neakco · 5 years ago

Text

TNA - Ch. 3

Ch. 2

This is the last chapter I will be posting online unless there is any interest in it. I love constructive criticism. I probably should have mentioned this earlier but my computer is broken and everything was typed up on my phone.

Chapter 3

Briar and Azalea entered the Godfrey Enterprises Lobby fifteen minutes before their meeting with Theodore and looked around.

"This place sure has a lot of gold and marble." Briar muttered quietly in Russian.

"You would think this was some cash grab of a casino or hotel." Azalea responded in Urdu.

Approaching the reception Azalea continued to speak in Urdu. "We would like to rent a suite please."

Briar had to turn away so he wouldn't laugh and the poor receptionist's expression.

"I am sorry, but would you be able to repeat that in English?"

Azalea kept her face remarkably straight. "Apologies. We have a meeting with the COO."

The man sighed in relief that she spoke English, "May I please get your names?"

Azalea answered since Briar had barely managed to stop silently laughing. "Briar and Azalea Willowbirch."

The man typed their names into the system before his face paled and his hands began to shake. He slowly looked up at them with false cheerfulness, "I am terribly sorry but you are both banned from the building and I must ask you to leave."

"No worries. Do you mind if we stay just inside the doors as I call our ride?" Azalea smiled brightly but Briar caught the glint of steel in her eyes.

The receptionist visibly relaxed, "Please go ahead."

Briar switched into combining multiple languages once they were close enough to the door, "You would think we were the worst of murderers. So what is our plan?"

"I am going to call our ride." She answered as she pulled out her phone. She then switched over to English for the conversation. "No, I promise we are not running late. In the lobby actually. Apparently we are banned entrance."

Briar heard the sigh.

"We were graciously allowed to stay here while calling for a ride. Though we are now being glanced at suspiciously."

Briar heard a ding and looked towards the opening elevator doors. He grinned as he watched Theo step out and hang up his phone.

"Ms. Willowbirch, I am happy to see you made it. Please grant me a moment to resolve this issue before we head up to my office." He then walked up behind reception and looked over the screen.

Azalea just grinned as she put away her own phone.

"Some ride you called us." Briar smirked.

"I think an elevator ride is still technically a ride, no?" She laughed as the strolled towards the desk.

They were close enough now to hear Theo's quiet conversation with the receptionist.

"You are new so please don't worry about it. Just now you know to check next time."

"Yes sir. Sorry sir."

Theo joined them near the elevator and swiped his badge to call it.

Once the door closed Theo relaxed,

"Apparently you two are highly dangerous and top security is to be called at any sign of you being uncooperative."

"Your father?" Briar asked.

"Just be thankful for the board ruling that he isn't allowed to make any company decisions after an event." The elevator began to slow and Theo again stood straighter, "Follow me and try not to stop."

The twins shared a look but followed silently. They quickly understood as various strong perfumes assailed their senses. A fast look around showed them multiple women wearing heavy masks of makeup and all positioning themselves within Theo's sights. Some seemed enthusiastic in their attempts to garner attention while others seemed like they would rather be doing anything else.

They were almost at their apparent destination when a women physically blocked their path to the door.

"Coffee for your meeting." She fluttered her very long and clearly false lashes.

Azalea blinked slowly, while others wore masks of makeup this women's face appeared to be sculpted of it. She switched to a mix of French and Spanish, "Brother, did we enter a horror cinematic?"

Theo accepted the tray of drinks and ushered them through the door before closing it hastily. "Sadly not a horror, just my life." He then stopped Briar from grabbing one of the drinks. "That women likes to lace things with aphrodisiacs."

Rob laughed from his seat on a side couch near the desk. "Is that the one that tried to feed you bright blue Viagra cookies and claimed they were blueberry?"

Theo sighed wearily as he collapsed in his chair, "That is the one. She just needs one more instance of time fraud and I can finally fire her."

The twins shared a look of concern before taking seats in front of the desk.

"Why can't you just fire her for harassment?" Briar asked with a suppressed shudder.

Rob answered from the couch, "Father's policy, Theo can't fire anyone that father directly hired unless they have 3 non-HR infractions of the same type."

"That isn't fair!" Azalea looked furious and was slipping into an unrecognizable accent, "How did the board allow that?"

"Father has the same restrictions on anyone I hire." Theo passed over a folder, "But you are here to talk business, not hear my problems. I managed to locate your parents arrival to Lattuck after I received your message last night with the date and time your parents initially boarded their train."

Azalea and Briar carefully studied the images as Rob stood up and pointed one out.

"Cameras lost 'em there at Bismark St. Tried to get the cab transcripts but they only uselessly keep those for two months."

"This is more than enough, thank you both greatly." Briar stated as he pulled up a map on his phone and started to marking locations.

Azalea looked at the brothers with a little suspicion, "How did you get this all done in one night?"

Rob grinned, "I stayed up a little late but Theo here came to work at 3 am."

Briar stopped what he was doing and both twins glared slightly at the brothers.

"Trust me you two, it was work on this or spend more time at Godfrey Mansion. We both jumped on the excuse to leave."

"The more I learn about Mr. Godfrey the more I contemplate trace less poisons." Azalea muttered into Briar's shoulder.

"Wait until we locate our own parents before you cause other people's to disappear. I refuse to finish this without you."

Theo chose to ignore the comments, "I am sorry we couldn't find anything more."

Briar laughed, "Are you kidding? We are used to following tattered wisps of month old gossip. This is a great lead."

Rob sat back on the couch, "So why didn't you two just hire a detective? Surely you can afford it."

"There are more than a few reasons but two main ones." Azalea started.

"The first is that our grandfather taught us it is wrong to spend our money for purely selfish reasons. For everything we spend we match it with a doubled donation to charities when we can. It is surprising a lot cheaper to travel and accommodate ourselves compared to hiring a detective." Briar stated.

"And the second is that there were no detectives that took our 16 year old selves seriously enough. Those that did try to humour us were very untrustworthy." Azalea finished.

Rob nodded but before he could respond there was a knock on the door and Roisin entered.

"I know I came in early today Mr. Sapphirus, but I gathered the employee pay statements for you."

"Thank you Ms. Ballantyne. If you wish you can compare them to the time statements online and look for inconsistencies, or you can choose to help the admin staff with their tasks."

Her eyes widened in fright, "I shall work on the comparisons." She smiled briefly at Briar before leaving to return to her tasks.

Rob looked at the door confused, "Shouldn't she be in here working with you?"

"Yes but that requires a desk, and even though I have the space for it I was informed that I am not allowed to move the secretary's desk she is now using in here." Theo let out a growl of frustration, "She apparently has her own desk arriving later today and under no instance shall I bring that one in because it will soon be in use again."

"I may not be an expert, but why does the news of help make you look like you would welcome death?" Azalea asked as Briar began packing away the photos in a small bag.

"Because Father is just going to hire another useless secretary." He sighed.

Rob chose to elaborate for her, "Father got the stupid idea in his head that if he hires enough women that eventually one will seduce Theo here."

Briar looked up rapidly, "What? Why?"

"A few reasons; he wants Theo to work less and figures if he is distracted then he can probably slip some more selfish policies in. He also wants Theo to provide an heir to our family legacy. I don't like women so I am useless to him."

"But adoption is a thing. He adopted both of you." Azalea looked offended.

"True, but he can't have kids. Plus i am sure he adopted Theo because I was such a disappointment. He would probably disown me if the media wouldn't have a field day."

Theo was face down on the desk and mumbled out, "I just wish father could understand that the restrictions he has placed on those women in their contracts causes me more work instead of less. I spend hours after everyone else has left just doing their jobs." Theo lifted his head to look at Rob, "and I don't care what Father says, you are the best older brother I could ask for."

Rob started to jokingly tear up, "Awww, you are adorable little bro, I love you too."

Azalea looked thoughtful and spoke without thinking, "Why do you not just hire your own secretary?"

She jumped as Theo suddenly leapt up and grabbed her hands, "Please say you want a job!"

Azalea looked towards her giggling twin then back towards Theo's hope-filled eyes. "I wasn't, but I have never been a secretary before. What would the job entail?"

Theo let go of her hands and sat back down to start typing, "You are the perfect fit. I saw first hand that you are skilled at data entry, You have told me before that you helped with your family’s own company when you could, you can be polite to the point that you could probably insult someone and they would thank you. Plus I feel I can trust you not to gossip about company secrets." He grinned as he handed her the contract he just printed off. "And the best part is that hiring you would annoy my father and he can't do anything about it."

Azalea looked up from the paperwork, "Administrative Assistant / Bodyguard?"

"Brilliant right?" Theo grinned, "You would be in charge of the entire Administrations Department, thus granting you access to the whole company’s files. Then by doubling as my bodyguard I get to take you to all my off-site meetings with high-end clients and contacts."

"You are granting me opportunities to find my parents while assisting you?" She looked a little stunned.

"Yes and if you look here," Theo came to her side of the desk to point some things out.

Rob took the opportunity to tap Briar on the shoulder, "While Petal is getting an offer I have one for you."

Briar looked at Rob curiously, "What kind?"

He pulled out a business card, "I own and run Umbra Security. I am need of an eye in the sky. Someone I can trust to run cameras and comms for me and my crew."

"I feel special, but you only met me last night. Why trust me?"

Rob pulled Briar over to the couch and sat him down. "I didn't last night, thought you were pulling a long game. So I did a bit of digging and found your family over in Germany. Your story checked out. The main reason though is that the job will give you access to all the public cams in town and some private ones when we got a special job. A handful of cash won't be enough to bribe you to look away and potentially lose that access."

Briar looked carefully at Rob's face, "Do you seriously not have anyone on cameras already? I refuse to put anyone out of a job just for a golden egg."

Rob took a moment to puzzle out Briar's meaning. "Just another reason you are trustworthy. Now normally I run 'em but sometimes I need to watch my crew around higher paying jobs. Last night could 'ave been avoided if I had an eye. Sometimes I get my man on cams but he is a twig and couldn't win a fight with a kitten." Rob's look grew more serious. "It is rare but sometimes thugs go after the cams. I know that I won't have to worry about anyone getting the drop on you."

"I will take the job on two conditions." Briar held up a finger, "I refuse to use a gun." He held up a second, "I am allowed to upgrade or change the room's security and equipment to suit me."

"What kind of changes?"

"Currently I am only thinking adding a pin pad and hand scanner combo that only looks like it will unlock the door." Briar grinned, "I will probably think of more things once I see the space."

"A red herring." Rob muttered before exclaiming, "I approve." He then held out his hand to shake, "All I ask is that you don't install anything deadly."

Briar shook, "You have a deal Mr. Umbra."

"Excellent, I can start you with Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Tonight can be the first shift if you want."

"Sounds good to me, where am I going?"

"It's a little hard to find, so tell me your address and I will swing by before 1900 to lead ya."

"Tranquil Estate." Briar laughed as Rob's eyes widened, "I know I know, my grandfather has the good taste not to name his properties after himself."

Rob laughed with him, "At least one business tycoon in the world does."

Briar looked over to see Azalea trying to fit a large bundle of papers into her bag.

Theo spotted his questioning look and explained, "Welcome package. It has everything she needs in order to annoy my father by following all the rules to a tee. It also includes her own badge so she doesn't need me to call the elevator."

Azalea stood up after succeeding in making everything fit. "If that is everything then I believe I shall go prepare for the battle to make your tower more bearable princess."

"Just don't stab any of the guards, they are prisoners too." Theo spoke through barely restrained laughter.

"No promises." Azalea waved, "See you tomorrow Theo."

Rob left first followed by Azalea and Briar. The latter leaned on his twin and whispered in Italian, " Grandfather would approve."

She chose not to respond verbally and instead shoved him off and went to wait for the elevator with Rob.

Briar chose that brief moment to greet Roisin and see if she would be free that Thursday.

Azalea waved him over when the doors opened and he rushed over with a large grin.

Azalea shook her head, "Come on Romeo, straighten your head back on, we have work to do."

And that is it. This honestly started as a maribat fanfic with Briar as Adrien and Azalea as Marinette. Rob was Jason and Theodore was Tim. Since I made it into an original I changed a lot of personalities and background characters. All because I wanted to twist the fake dating idea completely. Somehow it turned into a commentary on stereotypes and how it is okay to just be how you are. This covers gender stereotypes and relationship stereotypes. My favourite chapters I have written so far are chapter 7 because I have never written anything like it before and chapters 11 to 14 because they are the serious ones that made me decide to turn this into an original. So again, if you want to see more let me know, if I don’t hear anything you will just have to wait the ten plus years it takes me to get this published.

#Truths of the New Atypical #TNA #Briar Willowbirch #Azalea Willowbirch #original story #original writing #chapter 3

1 note · View note

juanantonionino2-blog · 5 years ago

Text

Insurance policy Representatives - How Does Yours Step Up? | Active Capital Reinsurance Panama

Insurance representatives can be a few of the most essential individuals you'll ever collaborate with. They will certainly assist you shield your residential property, your assets and your finances. The job of an insurance agent has the possible to save you from monetary destroy.

Active Capital Reinsurance Panama

You could undergo your whole lifetime and not require the services of an attorney. You can live as well as die and not need to utilize an accountant. However you can not stay in "the real life" without insurance coverage agents.

Yet keep in mind ... it's YOUR duty to learn which coverages are right for you.

Have you ever heard a story from a buddy or relative who submitted an insurance policy claim, just to learn that the protection their representative assured was not there? I listen to those stories ALL THE TIME, and also at the WORST POSSIBLE TIME ... AT ASSERTS TIME!

I began my insurance coverage career as a representative in 1973. I maintained my representative licenses active till 1992 when I came to be an insurance coverage adjuster. During that amount of time, I sold virtually every sort of insurance policy conceivable. That provided me a deepness of experience in insurance policy sales. But every one of that experience did not make me a professional in insurance coverage. I learned threat evaluation as well as sales methods. But I do not think that I ever before had one minutes' training in how to manage a claim. When my customers had a claim, I provided the business's contact number and told them to call it in. We sometimes completed an Acord type, which is a conventional market form for filing a claim. That was all we did.

Juan Antonio Nino

The best representative is an individual who has hang around researching insurance, not an individual who is an expert in sales. The largest percent of insurance coverage agents of all types are sales individuals, not insurance specialists. Your agent may or may not be a professional in insurance coverage. You'll need to merely ask your representative what his education degree is.

There are a great deal of schools that use levels in insurance today. In our area, the University of Georgia uses degrees in Risk Management and also Insurance Coverage. It's a quite well-respected program.

Representatives can additionally end up being professionals in insurance by experiencing proceeding education and learning, such as the Certified Property Casualty Expert (CPCU) education and learning program. Life insurance representatives can accomplish the Licensed Life Underwriter (CLU) specialist classification. There are other classifications readily available to representatives, however those 2 are the most extensively accepted curricula.

Representatives in the majority of states also need to finish a state-required variety of Continuing Education hrs yearly in order to keep their insurance coverage licenses. If they don't finish the hrs, the state cancels their licenses.

A representative has a responsibility to you, called the "fiduciary task." That means that he should keep your economic wellness first in his top priorities. If a representative sells you an insurance coverage due to the fact that it has a greater payment than another plan, he has breached his fiduciary responsibility to you.

Agents normally lug a sort of responsibility insurance policy called "Mistakes and Noninclusions" liability insurance. Mistakes and also omssions (E&O) is the insurance coverage that covers the agent's company, or the agent separately, in case a client holds the agent in charge of a service he supplied, or fell short to offer, that did not have the anticipated or guaranteed results. This shields agents and also their clerical staff from responsibility due to negligent acts, errors as well as omissions while conducting their organisation. It will safeguard the agent from issues like the following examples:

1. loss of client information. The agent merely sheds your data, physically or online.

2. system or software program failure. Computer at the representative's workplace collisions as well as all information is lost.

3. irresponsible oversell. The representative sells you insurance coverage you do not need, or offers you insurance coverage limitations greater than required.

4. claims of non-performance. This is a broad category however needs to be. This could consist of fees that an agent did not offer the appropriate policy, or the proper quantity of coverage.

The number 4 instance above is one of the most common and most unsafe for representatives. Right here's why.

People today have multiple insurance policy exposures, like:

auto physical damages

car liability

without insurance or underinsured drivers direct exposures

property owner physical damages

home owner obligation

excess liability

businessowner physical damage

businessowner liability

home-based companies

life insurance needs

medical insurance needs

impairment insurance policy requires

Any type of among the direct exposures listed above can impact any of the others. They are elaborately woven with each other in each of our lives.

Any representative doing service in the contemporary globe ought to do an insurance evaluation of any prospect's present insurance as well as his future insurance demands. To stop working to do so is an invite for a suit.

What does this mean to you?

First: If your agent makes promises to you about protection, as well as your insurance claim obtains denied, you can make a case against the representative's Mistakes and Noninclusions Liability plan. You may need to obtain a lawyer involved, yet that only boosts the possibility that your refuted case will certainly earn money.

Next: In my never-to-be-humble viewpoint, ALL representatives marketing ANY kind of insurance must carry out an Insurance coverage Requirements Evaluation for the possibility BEFORE offering the plan. Furthermore, I believe that a representative ought to very carefully clarify the searchings for of the Insurance policy Requirements Analysis to the possibility BEFORE marketing the policy. As soon as the description is total, the agent ought to call for the possibility to accept the plans that are marketed, as well as approve the plans and insurance coverages that are not offered. "Authorizing off" simply means that the possibility mentions that the agent has actually discussed all coverages, as well as he either approves or turns down any kind of given coverage.

Both celebrations. the representative as well as the policyholder ... advantage in this deal. The insurance policy holder has a full explanation of the plan he's purchasing and its partnership to all his other insurance. The agent sells the right protection, and also considerably decreases the risk of a suit or claim against his E&O protection for selling the wrong protection.

Here's what an insurance policy analysis procedure need to look like.

1. Personal Information Collection: get as much details about the insured as well as his member of the family as feasible.

2. Obtain Duplicates of Existing Plans: the representative needs to actually check out the existing policies.

3. Analyze Insurance Needs: determine the proper protections needed and the proper plan limits.

4. Referrals: what need to be acquired as well as prices.

5. Application and also Sign-off Evaluation: fill out the application and have the insured validate the analysis form.

6. Provide the Plan: An agent should supply the policy in person and describe it again, not simply send you a duplicate in the mail.

Also after all of the training and also education that any type of insurance coverage agent acquires, the representative is still not an expert in exactly how to handle an insurance case. I have actually had great deals of people tell me that they were going to get their representative to help them with their case. Later, they determined that the representative didn't know a lot more regarding the claims procedure than they did. As I composed earlier, agents can become experts, but their knowledge is usually in the sales and needs evaluation locations of insurance policy ... not cases. For most representatives, finding out the insurance claims process would certainly be a waste of their time, given that the majority of representatives are not accredited to take care of claims.

Certain ... some representatives will be given a tiny claims negotiation authority by the business they work for. Some representatives will certainly be able to resolve cases approximately regarding $5,000.00, and afterwards only in the property side of the claim ... such as a small water loss or a theft. Yet, generally, the insurer concentrates claims managing with the insurance claims staff members and also independent insurance claims adjusters.

One of the most vital approaches you must draw from this post are:

1. Meeting EVERY insurance policy representative to learn their level of knowledge. Just do business with one of the most certified, educated as well as experienced agents. Let the unskilled agents practice on people who do not care concerning protecting themselves the right ways.

2. Do not always chase after the most affordable costs. You get what you spend for. You 'd be much better served to pay a higher costs if an extremely qualified representative takes care of you. You do not drive the least expensive cars and truck you can locate, do you?

3. Never ever be hesitant to call the Division of Insurance policy of your state if you have troubles with your representative. Representatives are regulated for a factor.

#Juan Antonio Nino #Active Capital Reinsurance Panama

1 note · View note

wavesofthewest · 5 years ago

Text

Chapter 26: Leadership’s Bane

Anew smiled at her friend as they walked through the Iris district. They’d both lost track of time since they’d came - Bedankt more than Anew, but the Coliseum messed with time so much that they had no idea how long it had been since they had last been on Sornieth.

“You’re going back to Plague soon, I assume?” the fae asked, making Anew smile. Even though they had only been penpals before, she’d known that her friend would say that.

“Yes, I think so. It’s surprising how much one can miss home while away,” the coatl said, her words holding a melodic tune carried over from her native language. “Thank you so much for letting me stay, Bedankt. I hope our clans can continue to be allies with each other.”

The diplomatic visit had been a success in her eyes - not to mention she’d finally gotten to see Bedankt in the flesh, after years of just writing to her. It was good for their friendship for them to finally meet.

In front of them, a skydancer and guardian were conversing about something, holding a ball of something dark and spinning between them. They gave Bedankt a curt nod as the two of them passed, but her friend had other plans. The ball had caught her attention.

“Stay here,” the fae said to her, and Anew watched as Bedankt went up to the two. The three talked for a while, and the coatl could see the agitation between the three rise, before Bedankt yelled at them to leave and they left, taking the ball with them.

Anew could see the weakness in her friend’s body as she turned and grinned at her, and wasn’t surprised when she collapsed, writhing on the ground. Foam collected at her lips and she yelled for help. From what little she knew about medicine, this was some kind of poison, but she didn’t know what.

The guardian from earlier showed up quickly and took Bedankt’s squirming body from her. Anew couldn’t focus on what he was saying to others that had gathered. She herself was beginning to feel a little weak. The last thing she saw before passing out was the kindly face of a skydancer, face creased in concern and lips asking a question she couldn’t hear.

~ : ~

Corrie watched as February and Ichi walked along the shore, laughing and talking to each other. She would join them, but she knew that she’d only get in the way of their blooḿing relationship. It had happened before, with October, and most likely would have happened with December as well if she’d stayed in the coliseum. Romance was everything to her friends, and she wasn’t about to take it away from them.

Of course, that did leave her in a pickle. The young bane had never found herself in love as the others did. And both October and his daughter had found love rather quickly - not that she was surprised. Being the dreamer he was, it was only a matter of whom October would find romance with. February, though, had been a bit of a surprise. Ichi had been a friend for her since childhood. Corrie had never guessed that feelings had begun to emerge between them.

With a sigh, the banescale turned away from the beach, headed back towards the caves where they were spending the evening. Another night spent alone, it seemed.

~ : ~

Anew blinked her eyes open. A gathering of the dragons in the Tribe - that were in the coliseum - was in front of her. The skydancer from earlier was smiling down at her as she began to sit up.

“What happened?” she asked, blinking to get the sleep out of her eyes.

“Both you and Bedankt were poisoned,” the skydancer said. “Thanks to your call for help, we managed to get to you both in time to save you from the poison. Bedankt wasn’t as lucky, though. It had already gotten to her heart, and by the time we’d managed to identify what it was it had already paralysed her heart.”

Anew let that sink in. Her friend was dead. Bedankt was dead. They had both been poisoned, and the fae hadn’t been able to survive. But why? Who would want to kill the tribe’s leader?

“We also found knowledge of the cure on her,” the skydancer continued, glancing behind her where the makeshift hospital lay. “We don’t know why she was withholding that knowledge, and we’ve started to distribute it amongst the sick. They’re recovering.”

“What scares me is that Bedankt held it from us. That she knew how to end it but didn’t,” a guardian spoke up from her other side. Bedankt’s brother - Ashes. “And what if December would do the same? Psychopathic traits are passed down genetically. He could very well do the same.”

“But he hasn’t, not yet. We shouldn’t judge someone based off what could happen, Ashes. Besides, he has Eskid as Second, we both know that he’ll be able to guide December well.” Anew glanced between Ashes and the skydancer. They exchanged a look, one that held a million words, before Ashes stood up and left, leaving her with the skydancer.

“Anew, we’ve been thinking - Ashes, Eskid, Lost and I - about the future of the Tribe and how we can protect it. It is our home, and though we aren’t the most popular dragons, our loyalty to the others is unbreakable. It’s why Ashes is skeptical of December - he doesn’t want the others to get hurt. It’s why Eskid and I were speaking about the Shade earlier, because if we could study a sample, we could understand more about it and how to defend ourselves from those infused with it.

“We call ourselves ‘the Pact’, because we’ve promised to keep the Tribe safe until we die, much like Blue and Bedankt led the tribe until their deaths. We were wondering if you had the same aims. I know you were close to Bedankt, that you regarded her as your friend, and the alliance between our clans is strong. You’re a diplomat, no? Surely they’ll understand you staying a little longer?”

It was true. Being the daughter of her clan’s leader, she’d been raised to read body language and the meaning behind words. She’d learnt how dragons worked, thinked and behaved, and she was often sent on diplomatic missions. There wasn’t much from home she would miss, despite what she’d told Bedankt earlier - sure, Melody had been her best friend, but even the gaoler was starting to slip from her memory. It had simply been too long ago.

Anew didn’t really need to think. What did it truly matter if she stayed a little longer than she already had? So she nodded, watching as the skydancer smiled before telling her to rest to recover from the poison.

Poison and Ashes trained for a while and levelled up to level 9. Death streak consisted of Bedankt, Laia and Elena. Even though Bedankt was the highest level of them, she ended up dying...this is what happens when I overestimate my fighters’ strength.

On happier notes, Corrie got her secondary today from the apparel pull! All pairings I could have done are either separated (Abstract and Nera) or too young (February and Ichi) so I took the opportunity to give the young bane a gene. She looks gorgeous.

Also, welcome Anew to the crew! A solid figure with a kind heart, who only wants the best for her friends. Which isn’t easy, mind you, with everything that’s been going on. If only she hadn’t been introduced to Leula so early.

Things have happened lately, which is why this is so late. I’ve gotten sick, had entrance exams, joined an after-school club, have a Spanish exam in a week and started to actually have a social life. As an introvert, this means a lot to me. Not to mention that the coronavirus had made things crazy over here. While we’re not quarantined yet, there’s a whole lot of things that are making life harder.

Things are a bit weird with my schedule right now as I have to shuffle time slots around, but I should have at least one update (either here or on my nuzlocke, on the forums) every week. So sorry about that.

On another note, turns out I made a mistake when calculating my legacy heir thing. I started one generation too early, which means that instead of starting with a Water mate I had an Arcane one. Which means that at the end of the legacy I’ll have two Water mates instead of starting and ending with one. :’)

#journey #tribe of clear waters #fr #flight rising #fr lore #flight rising lore #pinkerlocke #fr pinkerlocke #flight rising pinkerlocke #lore

5 notes · View notes

lainelannister · 6 years ago

Text

So as I mentioned earlier today...I did some #MeToo-inspired re-writing to an old modern AU of mine, “Slayers and Stones”. You’ll find the edited version below- I’d love any feedback anyone can provide! If you’ve read the old version, I’d love to hear if the edits are working for you...and if this is your first time reading, those responses are also super valuable!

Her father calls her into his study early in the morning, a rare smile on his serious face as he passes her a laminated name badge. “Your internship begins tomorrow.”

Sansa looks down at the red-and-gold tag. The Lannister Inc. logo emblazoned across the top, her pseudonym (“Alayne Stone,” she likes the sound of it well enough) in bold font below, and beneath that...

“Marketing and PR?” She cannot keep a dark frown from pulling at her lips; Lannister Inc. has a top-notch corporate analysis program, and she’d hoped that she might have a chance to experience it first-hand...

But of course, this isn’t strictly a learning experience, is it?

“It’s the best place for you. You’ll be privy to every nasty rumor that passes through that place, which is very, very useful to us.” Ned Stark still wears his smile, but it has yet to reach his eyes- corporate espionage is not attractive to him, and if not for Jon Arryn’s urging, she doubts that he’d be encouraging her to do this in the first place.

“Besides, the PR department handles press releases, events, parties...it would be the most fun for you, love.”

Sansa grinds her molars together at that; she may have graduated cum laude from Bryn Mawr with plans to start at Harvard Business School in the fall, but in her father’s eyes, she’ll always be that giggly, vapid seventeen year old, throwing a tantrum because another girl wore the same dress to the prom.

But she just smiles back and nods. “I’m sure you’re right, Daddy. I’ll go and do my best.”

“That’s my girl.” And in spite of her annoyance, Sansa feels a flush of pride at her father’s affectionate words, and she eagerly steps into his open arms and lets him hug her tight.

“You’ll fit right in over at Lannister. They’ve got a thing for blondes.”

Sansa glares at her brother, who leans casually against the doorframe of her bedroom. She reaches up to run a self-conscious hand through her newly-highlighted hair; auburn curls now shine strawberry-blonde, and she has yet to become used to it.

When she doesn’t answer, Robb steps into the room and crosses his arms over his chest, a bright smile on his handsome face. “What are you planning to wear?”

“That.” She gestures to her closet door, where she’s hung the sensible pantsuit that her mother gave her right after graduation- “Classic, good for interviews,” Catelyn Stark had said.

Robb plucks at the fabric before shaking his head in distaste. “Sansa, I’ve been to Lannister Inc. You can’t wear that...you’ll stick out like a sore thumb.”

It’s not like her brother to pay attention to women’s fashion; the novelty of the conversation is enough to hold Sansa’s interest. “It’s a high-powered corporation. You’re telling me that the women don’t wear business suits?”

“They do...but not like that.” She’s starting to understand his implication, and her cheeks blush, just a little.

“Then what should I wear, Robb?”

To her surprise, her brother opens her closet door and begins to rifle through her clothing. It’s a comical sight, and she laughs.

“You seem to know your way around a girl’s closet. Do you pick out outfits for Jeyne, too?”

He makes some retort, but his head is buried deep enough in the closet that she cannot make out the words. Finally, he re-emerges, passing her a set of hangers and a pair of shoes.

“There. That’s what you should wear.”

Sansa huffs an incredulous breath through her nose- her brother has selected a black cocktail dress, short and tight. The other hanger holds a fitted black blazer, and the shoes are four-inch stiletto heels.

“What, is Lannister, Inc. an elaborate cover for a fancy prostitution ring?”

Robb rolls his eyes and smirks before heading to the door.

“Fine, don’t listen to me. But you’ll go there tomorrow, and you’ll see that I was just trying to help.”

When Robb leaves, Sansa evaluates her options. And with a beleaguered sigh, she places the sensible pantsuit back in her closet.

When she arrives at the skyscraper that houses Lannister Inc., Sansa realizes that Robb was completely correct. There are more svelte, leggy blondes here than there are at Conde Nast, everyone dressed to the nines. And not just the women; every man here looks like he walked off the set of a GQ photo shoot. She thinks for a moment of the lax dress code at Stark Incorporated: her father’s worn Frye boots, Robb’s polo-and-khaki uniform, Theon’s leather jacket. The comparison makes her giggle under her breath.

After a brief meeting with Kevan Lannister, the head of HR (an older, somewhat stern man, but pleasant enough), she’s ushered into the office of Genna Frey, the director of marketing. She takes a seat beside a handsome blonde man who appears about her age; her heartbeat skips when he smiles at her and asks her name, but the excitement quickly abates when he continues to speak, and she realizes how dreadful, pompous, and unpleasant he is. She makes a mental note to stay clear of this one ( Jeffrey, was it?) and turns her attention to the heavy-set, no-nonsense woman behind the wide mahogany desk.

The tasks she sets for the interns are very menial at first: archiving press clippings, calling publications to follow up on print deadlines. Sansa is a good listener, always has been, but even her best efforts at eavesdropping reap few results. She returns home each evening with dread building in her stomach, for she hates to look at her father and Uncle Jon night after night and tell them that no, she still hasn’t learned anything new. Failure sits heavily on her shoulders and keeps her awake deep into the night.

And yet she forces down coffee after coffee (even sneaking the occasional Adderall from Arya’s medicine cabinet) and throws herself into the work. Tedious as it is, she strives to surpass the other interns, and when Ms. Frey lectures her co-workers, holding up Alayne’s work and declaring, “This is how you document. I don’t want to see any more half-assed shit from you people, I want to see this ,” she blushes as brightly as she does at her father’s praise.

Finally, at long last, Sansa receives a reward for her hard work. There’s a meeting scheduled with the senior executives to discuss “the family matter”, and Genna invites her to come along and take notes.

(She does not invite Joffrey into the closed-door session, in spite of his Lannister blood, and Sansa feels a sudden admiration for Genna’s value of talent over nepotism.)

Sansa is, of course, well acquainted with the PR disaster that has befallen Lannister Incorporated. In fact, it would not exist at all without Ned Stark and Jon Arryn; they gained knowledge of the story from an executive at the Baratheon Corporation, and they’ve installed Sansa at Lannister to report on the fall-out.

Goosebumps prickle up and down her arms as she takes a seat beside Genna. The CEO is not present- in the weeks since she started here, Sansa has never once seen the mysterious Tywin Lannister, and she finds herself imagining him as a disembodied head surrounded by smoke, like the Wizard of Oz. But Kevan is here, along with CFO Petyr Baelish, Junior Vice President Tyrion Lannister, and Senior Vice President Jaime Lannister.

Everyone at the table appears tense, but as she looks at the man seated directly across from her, she thinks that she’s never seen a person more drained and empty-looking than Jaime Lannister.

She’s noticed him before, of course, sauntering down the hallways in his perfectly-tailored Italian suits, golden hair neatly combed back, tall and confident and devastatingly handsome. The junior associates whisper his legend in the break room and by the water cooler- he’s a ruthless, predatory raider, known for crushing smaller companies beneath his feet and pillaging the spoils. “The Slayer,” they call him in tones of hushed reverence. She’s watched with distaste as assistant after intern after associate tries to flirt with him, only to be rebuffed by a distant smile and words of cool courtesy. He’s only spoken to Sansa once, asking to borrow a pen and Post-It. But he winked at her when he handed the pen back, and she’s sure that the smile she gave him in reply was every bit as insipid as the ones she’d seen from all those other silly girls.

But now he does not look at anyone. He leans back in his chair and closes his eyes as Tyrion catalogues the leaked information. And it is, as Genna would say, an absolute shitstorm. The former junior vice president, Cersei Lannister, had listened to some extremely bad advice and made an absurd, careless power play for the company. Her illicit dealings and failed investments cost Lannister Inc. millions of dollars, and reports of her questionable character and distasteful personal life brought shame and derision upon the mighty Lannister dynasty.

Tyrion concludes his report by informing everyone that Cersei has been removed from public view and will be unable to do any more harm to the family or the company.

“Where is she?”

Jaime’s voice rings out rather more loudly than is appropriate, and no one can bring themselves to look at him.

(Sansa thinks of some of the more salacious rumors that Jon Arryn has drummed up about Cersei Lannister and her handsome brother, but Uncle Jon has always had a flair for the dramatic...)

“It doesn’t matter, Jaime...”

“What do you mean, it doesn’t matter?” He turns on his brother, emerald-green eyes flashing with rage, and Tyrion, usually so poised and glib, actually appears a bit frightened.

But the moment passes quickly, and the younger Lannister brother speaks in as even a tone as he ever does.

“I mean that we need to distance ourselves from her, for the sake of the company. Any outward show of support would make us all look weaker...but if she’s just the bad egg, that’s something that could happen to any family. She’s an embarrassment, and we need to acknowledge that.”

Suddenly, Sansa feels a discordant twang in her stomach at the coldness of it all. Yes, Cersei Lannister is a class-A fuck-up, but she’s still their sister, still one of them...and to just abandon her like that...

Her voice sounds strange in her ears, as though it belongs to someone else. “But she’s your sister.”

Every head whips around to stare at Sansa; Genna’s face glows red with rage as she mutters, “Alayne. Be quiet.”

“What was that, Miss Stone?” Tyrion asks.

She knows that she should shut up, that she must shut up. But the words fall from her lips of their own accord- “She’s family...how can you just hide her somewhere and...and throw her away…?”

“Alayne. Go get my Starbucks order and leave it on my desk. Now, ” Genna seethes.

As she rises from her chair, trying and failing to keep from shaking, she happens to glance across the table. Jaime Lannister watches her, beautiful eyes unblinking and intense.

And then his lips curve into a smile.

When she arrives at work the next day, Sansa finds herself immediately re-routed to HR. Her stomach sinks; she hasn’t told her father about the disaster of yesterday’s meeting, and she has no idea how she’ll explain getting fired...

But Kevan Lannister barely even speaks to her before directing her to a conference room. “Go in, please,” he says.

She mentally steels herself for an apoplectic Genna or a sneering Mr. Baelish, but she finds herself face to face with Brienne Tarth instead.

Sansa took an immediate liking to Jaime Lannister’s executive assistant; she rejects the couture that is the office standard in favor of loose, comfortable suits (“Probably buys them at the Big and Tall Men’s Wearhouse,” one of the catty, pretty office drones once snarked), and she gives off an undeniable air of competence. She’s calm, collected, capable, and discreet, and Sansa considers these qualities far more valuable than any pretty facade.

“Please sit down, Miss Stone,” Brienne says, gesturing to a chair. Sansa sits and waits for the other woman to continue.

“I don’t know if you’ve heard, but I’ve just been promoted.”

“Oh! Congratulations,” Sansa replies, and Brienne’s pretty blue eyes crinkle in a grin.

“Thanks. It’s a great opportunity for me- I’ll be a junior associate in the Boston office.”

“Then you’re leaving?”

“Yes, I move at the end of the week. And that’s why I’ve called you in.”

“Oh?” Sansa lifts a brow in surprise, while her insides jiggle in a hopeful dance- maybe I’m not getting fired...oh, thank God...

“The thing is, this all happened really suddenly, and HR’s been so backed up lately that they haven’t really had time to deal with new hires. Finding a replacement for me will definitely be a long process, lots of interviews...I’ve been with Jaime for five years, and he’s...very particular.”

“Of course.” Five years, that’s a long time...but it makes sense, he obviously relies on her so much...

“Anyway, until we can find someone he’ll like, we need a person to sit at that desk and answer his phones and manage his calendar. It will be a lot more hours than what you’re used to, at the same intern pay rate, so I completely understand if you don’t want to take on the added responsibility-”

“You want me to be Jaime Lannister’s assistant?”

She must be quite a sight- eyes wide, mouth slightly ajar- because Brienne laughs brightly before nodding.

“He asked for you specifically. Will you do it?”

Sansa thinks of the locked folders on the company drive, filled with information only available to the top executives and their assistants- she imagines having access to Jaime’s calendar, intimate knowledge of the second-in-command’s comings-and-goings...she begins to salivate, and she swallows it down.

A red-gold ponytail bobs up and down as she eagerly nods.

“Oh, yes. Thank you.”

She should have known better. Sansa curses herself for her naivety; just because Jaime gave Brienne the password to the locked files doesn’t mean he’ll hand it over to a twenty-three year old intern he’s barely met. She lets herself wallow in disappointment for a few brief moments, but then forces the feeling aside- there’s got to be another way. She’ll just bide her time; she’s good at being patient.

And so she fields phone calls and handles his e-mail correspondence and schedules meetings. The scheduling is by far the most interesting part of the job; he’s on the board of numerous organizations, and every night is a different gala, a different opening night, a different photo op.

She’d seen his picture on Page Six that morning, taken at a heart-disease benefit the evening before. He wore a tuxedo- he’s even better-looking in a tux than in a suit- and stood with his arm wrapped around his date’s narrow waist: Margaery Tyrell, the heiress to Highgarden Communications, beautiful and striking in Alexander McQueen. The Lannister PR machine desperately wants New York to believe that Jaime and Margaery are romantically involved, but when she considers that she must always arrange for a separate car for Margaery at the end of these events, Sansa thinks it rather unlikely.

Maybe he’s gay, she thinks to herself as she returns from the dry cleaner and enters Jaime’s vacant office, hanging his tux on the door and placing the newly-shined dress shoes beneath it. He certainly dresses well...and Margaery’s gorgeous, but he’s definitely not sleeping with her...

She crosses the room to water the little tree in the corner; Brienne schooled her carefully in the care and keeping of the plant.

She bends over to tip the watering can toward the back of the tree, and she does not hear the door open behind her. When she stands upright, she locks eyes with Jaime, who watches her with a peculiar expression.

“I think it has enough water. You’ve been very thorough.” Sansa nods and places the watering can down as Jaime furrows his brow, gesturing to the tuxedo.

“Where am I going tonight?”

“The opera, Mr. Lannister,” she replies, taking a small step toward the door, in spite of the fact that he’s directly blocking her path.

“Fuck, that’s right.” He rubs his eyes with the heel of his hand and sighs. “Which one is it?”

“’La Boheme’,” she replies.

“Hmm. I haven’t seen that before.”

“It’s beautiful,” Sansa volunteers with a soft smile. “It’s one of my favorites.”

“You like opera?”

“Yes.” She’s nearly at the door now, but he still hasn’t moved- she’s near enough to catch the scent of his cologne- musk and sandalwood- and her mouth begins to go dry... snap out of it, you’re being an idiot...

“Duly noted.” He grins at her, pivoting his body just enough to give her space to slide through the doorway, but not enough to keep her from brushing her chest against his arm as she tries to pass. “I’ll get you tickets next time.”

“I..I would like that very much. Thank you.”

When she closes the door behind her, Sansa falls into her chair and presses her palm to her heart. She scowls at the quickness of the beats and restrains the urge to smack her head on the keyboard over and over again.

It’s nearly midnight, and she’s completely alone. She’s sure of it- even the cleaning people have left for the weekend. Still, her eyes dart about anxiously as she retrieves the zip drive from her purse and plugs it into her computer. It will work...it has to work.

Bran had been surprised, when she approached him to ask about computer hacking. “I hack into gaming sites, Sansa,” he’d sighed with exasperation. But the same principles must apply, she imagines- she adjusted the codes, tweaked the infrastructure on her own computer, saved it all to the drive. And now she’ll be able to get into the locked files and secure her father some information far more valuable than the Cersei Lannister gossip.

Her toes tap and her fingers twitch with exhilaration- this is it, this is it, I’ll really prove myself now...

So engrossed is she that she does not notice the door behind her swinging open, not until a low voice echoes through the empty office-

“Still here, Alayne?”

She shrieks, whirling her chair around. Jaime stands in the doorway of his office, tie loosened and shirt untucked, a tumbler of scotch in one hand.

But no, I saw him leave for the museum gala, I called the car and got his tux...when did he have time to come back? When I was in the bathroom, maybe...God, I should have checked his office first, stupid, stupid, stupid...

She tries to push her self-loathing aside long enough to answer his question. “Yes, Mr. Lannister. Just trying to finish up the agenda for the next board meeting before the weekend.”

“I appreciate your dedication,” he drawls with a smile. “But can I persuade you to take a break?”

He opens the door to his office wider and gestures to her to enter. She hastily closes the open windows on her computer and complies, shutting the door behind her.

“Do you like scotch?” he asks. She doesn’t really, but her brothers and uncle are fond of it, and she knows she can hold it down when necessary.

When she nods, he fills another tumbler from a crystal carafe and hands it to her. “It’s good, smooth. Aged seventeen years.”

She takes a sip, trying not to wince at the burn of the liquid as it courses down her throat.

“Thank you.”

He sits on the sofa at the corner of his office and nods pointedly to the space beside him. As she lowers herself down, he removes his tie and tosses it on a side table, unfastening the top few buttons of his shirt. Sansa fights to keep from staring at the glimpse of his chest left exposed...she takes another sip and regrets the squeakiness of her voice when she asks,

“Why aren’t you at the gala?”

Jaime replies with a dry laugh. “I’m not in a very festive mood tonight.” His eyes darken a bit, and Sansa is reminded of the calls she’d forwarded to him that day from the private investigator. They still won’t tell him where she is, he has to hire his own detective...it’s insane.

She finds herself unable to keep the sympathy out of her expression when she nods. His gaze sharpens, but his tone remains calm and still.

“So, Alayne. Are you enjoying yourself here?”

“It’s a great opportunity for me. I’m learning a lot.”

“And what is it that you want to do? What’s your big career dream?”

Sansa answers with more candor than she originally intended. “I want to go to business school, then become an analyst. And eventually, I want to run a company like this one.”

“Not exactly like this one, I hope,” he sniffs derisively. “But you’re ambitious...everyone loves ambition here. They eat, sleep, and shit ambition.”

He refills her glass before she has time to protest, and the hard set of his jaw prompts her to change the subject.

She’s an easy conversationalist, and she turns the talk to music, art (he has an impressive collection), higher education. He makes her laugh with stories of his undergrad fraternity days at Yale, recommends business schools (he went to Harvard himself, and she bites her lip to keep from revealing her acceptance and inundating him with questions). And he keeps the liquor flowing, until Sansa drops her heavy head onto the back of the sofa, just a hairsbreadth away from his shoulder.

“May I ask you something?” She looks up at the clean profile of his face and breathes deeply, inhaling the scent of peat and alcohol and expensive cologne.

“Whatever you like.”

“Why did you ask for me? When you were picking an intern to help you, I mean. Why me?”

He reaches for her tumbler, and she relinquishes it. After placing both his glass and hers on a nearby table, he reclines back against the sofa and runs a hand through his thick golden hair.

“It was what you said in the meeting that day. About family...there are plenty of ambitious people around here, like I said. Lots of smart people and driven people, but there aren’t a lot of compassionate people.” He props his elbow on the back of the couch and leans closer; she can feel the warmth radiating from his body, and she inches nearer...

“What you said...it was very human of you. And that’s fucking refreshing.”

Their knees are touching now; if she moves her head just a fraction, her brow will fall against his. She sees the prickling of stubble along his jawline, the way his eyelashes become light at the tips. A lock of her hair falls across her face, and he reaches up to smooth it back behind her ear.

“You’ve got a lot of red in your hair,” he comments, twisting the strands around his finger. “Very pretty.”

So, so tacky, a cutting voice reverberates at the back of her mind. Powerful executive trying to get into his young assistant’s pants...he honestly couldn’t be more cliche if he tried.

His mouth barely hovers over hers at this point. And she’s not sure whether it’s defiance against those bitter voices coursing through her head or simply a total lack of fear (a middle-aged guy acting inappropriate with an intern, even in this day and age...that’s just sad), but she figures that she has nothing to lose.

She tilts her chin up and brushes her lips against his. Jaime cups her cheek in his hand, and the way he kisses her- soft, patient, gentle- stokes a fire in her belly, sending tingles up and down her limbs and between her legs.

Jaime’s tongue teases at the seam of her lips, and she opens her mouth for him willingly, knotting her fingers in his soft hair. He massages her tongue with his, and when he wraps a strong arm around her and eases her down onto the sofa cushions, she’s almost embarrassed by the ease with which her legs fall to either side, giving him unambiguously-direct access.

“Oh-” she sighs when she realizes that he’s settled his hips into the space between her thighs, his mouth lavishing attention on her neck, kissing and biting and sucking (enough to make her whimper and writhe, but not enough to leave marks- won’t have to break out the concealer, at least....).

It’s all moving along at an alarming pace, and the sensible side of Sansa, the one that regularly talked Arya down from her more fantastical flights of fancy and stopped Mya and Jeyne from becoming the subjects of especially-vicious high school gossip, urges her to slow things down-

“Mr. Lannister,” she begins (not very convincingly- she doesn’t actually want him to stop, although she knows it’s the right thing to do)-

“Jaime,” he pants into her skin, his tongue dipping into the groove of her collarbone. “It’s Jaime.”

“Jaime,” she repeats- it’s a good name to whisper nearly breathless, a good name to sigh- she imagines herself screaming it as she comes, and she spreads her legs wider, quivering with anticipation.

(And the practical part of her slinks into the wings, completely forgotten for the time being.)

Her nimble fingers slide between them, unfastening the buttons of his shirt. Her hands roam over the perfectly-contoured muscles of his body, and she’s momentarily distracted by the thought of the personal-training appointments Jaime’s had her schedule for 4:30am every day. “Who gets up that early?” she’d asked Kevan’s assistant Joy after sharing this story at one of their impromptu mid-afternoon coffee breaks. Joy had replied with a smirk, rolling her green eyes as she muttered, “Someone with something major to prove.”

He fingers the hem of her camisole, and she helps him pull it up over her shoulders, nearly surprised by her own lack of hesitation- she hasn’t been touched so intimately since she broke up with Harry almost a year ago, she should probably be more reluctant, more shy...

But the way Jaime presses his face into her chest and softly kisses the tops of her breasts...the way he mouths her nipples through the thin cotton of her bra...the deft way he reaches beneath her to pull the hooks open- nothing like Harry at all.

“You like that, don’t you?” he breathes as he scrapes his teeth over her left nipple. She pulls his hair tight and whimpers in response, and he laughs, taking one breast in each hand and pushing them together until he can suck both nipples into his mouth at once.

She lets out a little peep of objection when he releases her breasts, but then his lips trail lower, skimming over her stomach, tongue swirling into her navel. He lifts her skirt up and slides his fingers over her through her underwear, and she digs her nails into the leather of the sofa.

When he replaces his fingers with his mouth, kissing her through her boy-shorts, she growls his name low in her throat, surprised by her own abandon. The tip of his tongue teases at her clit, and the warmth, the soft pressure, the friction of the fabric- she reaches down to grip his shoulder, scratching at the golden skin, while her other hand kneads her own breast.

“Oh, please...” she begins, but soon interrupts herself with a sigh of delight as he catches her underwear in his teeth and pulls them down her legs. Jaime peppers soft kisses on her ankle, the inside of her knee, all up and down her inner thighs before spreading her folds and licking into her.

He’s slow and patient in his exploration, taking his time to discover the way she likes to be touched. When he curls his fingers inside her just so, his tongue softly massaging her swollen outer lips before resting flat on her clit, she finds herself moaning just the way Harry always wished she would, bucking her hips up and feeling her wetness pool over his fingers and his lips.

He kisses his way back up her body and then captures her mouth- she licks her own release from his lips and tongue. She can feel him pressed against her belly, and she quickly unbuckles and unbuttons until he’s in her hand, hot and hard. Sansa kisses along his jaw and takes his earlobe in her mouth as she begins to stroke; her other hand pinches his nipple, and he grabs her hip tight and releases a breathy trail of obscenities.

Then she brings her hand to his face and looks him in the eye, those gorgeous cat’s eyes, set in this laughably-perfect face- “The Slayer”, they call him, he has no soul, no conscience...but would a man with no soul care so deeply for his disgraced sister? Would a man with no soul place such a premium on compassion, on “human” behavior?

She kisses him again, hungrier than before, as she rubs the head of his cock against her. He moans into her mouth- “Alayne”, and she tries not to feel a prick of sadness- and his hips start to shift-

“Do you have a condom?” she thinks to ask him, just in time. His brows knit together, and she’s blessedly able to stop herself before she rolls her eyes. There’s something strangely vulnerable about him as he leans down to retrieve his wallet from the back pocket of his pants and fishes within until he finds a Trojan.

“Not sure how long this has been there…” he begins, trying to sell the curve of his lips as a gesture of good humor...but he’s fragile in a way she can’t quite understand, and she chooses to be merciful.

She takes the rubber from him and tears the package open with her teeth, sprawling flat on her stomach to apply it with her mouth.

Once this crucial task is complete, she guides him into her and lifts her knees to her chest, savoring the deep thrusts, the hard grip of his hands on her thighs.

Jaime lifts her legs so that her ankles rest on his shoulders, and he lowers one hand to caress her, turning his head to kiss the side of her calf. She comes again, even harder than before, and when he slides out of her, she wraps her hand around him and pulls off the condom before raining kisses over his shoulders and neck and chest until his ejaculate leaks over her fingers, pooling in the spaces between.

They do not move right away, content to stay coiled around each other, exchanging leisurely kisses with generous tongue. Sansa starts to truly consider what she’s done- this man is her father’s rival, a top executive in the company that Stark Incorporated is trying to destroy.

And these facts shouldn’t make her want him more. That’s childish nonsense...but there’s an appeal here that she can’t deny, can’t ignore. Between the leather and the sandalwood and the musk and the scotch and this powerful, beautiful man sucking on her lower lip-

But then she remembers the red zip drive conspicuously plugged into the side of her computer, and she pulls away.

“I should finish up and go home,” she murmurs. He does not object, but he keeps his arms around her as she tries to put her clothes back on, slowing down the process with his kisses and touches and wicked insinuations.

After she slips her top back on and wraps her hand around the back of his neck, pulling him in for a deep kiss, he whispers, “Come home with me. I want to fuck you in the back of the town car-” He brushes his lips beneath her ear- “-and in the elevator-” His stubble scratches at her collarbone as he moves down- “-and in every room in my apartment.” He gently squeezes her breast, and she shifts closer, nearly sitting in his lap-

But then she stops. She pulls away and stands, smoothing the wrinkles from her skirt.

“Not tonight,” she replies with a soft smile. He looks disappointed, but when she reaches down to brush an errant lick of golden hair out of his eyes, she can feel him smile against the thin skin of her wrist.

“We ought to clean ourselves up,” she says, watching as he tucks his cock back into his pants and crosses toward the closet. He drops a kiss on her shoulder as he passes her, opening the closet door and retrieving a clean white dress shirt.

“Very sensible, I’m sure.” He slides the shirt over his arms, and the fabric clings to his sweat-dampened chest as he fastens the buttons.

Before she loses her wits entirely, Sansa hastens out the door, shutting it behind her.

She gathers her things quickly, shuts off the lights, powers down her computer (but not before ejecting the zip drive and slipping it back into her purse).

Jaime emerges from his office a few minutes later in perfectly-clean clothes, briefcase in hand. He approaches her, graceful steps putting her in mind of a lion stalking its prey. When he closes in on her, his arm firmly wrapped around her waist, her lower back pressed against the desk, she feels that she wants to be ravaged and savaged and ripped apart. Of course, she reflects as she observes a thin scratch on his neck, courtesy of her sharp fingernails, I’d be able to give plenty of my own back, too.

“Will you let me drive you home, at least?” he asks, and she forces her head into a vehement shake.

“No, thank you. The cabs are lined up around the block at this hour.” She tries to straighten her posture, but he holds her fast against the desk. Just one more, she thinks as she pulls his face down to hers, the force of the kiss pushing her up onto the desk, her leg rising to wrap around him again-

A clatter of metal, and they both look down- she’s knocked her stapler and tape dispenser onto the floor. They separate, and she leans down to retrieve the supplies. When she stands back up, Jaime places a thumb on her lips, just a gentle pressure.

“Good night, Alayne,” he whispers before turning on his heel and heading toward the elevator bank.

She waits by the window until she sees his town car pull away. Only then does she leave; she opts against taking a cab, choosing instead to walk the thirty blocks to her parents’ townhouse.

Sansa strolls out to the river park, walking along the water that frames the west side. She slips a hand into her purse and closes it around the zip drive. And then she thinks.

Regardless of what just occurred between them (a #MeToo moment waiting to happen...she’s ashamed of the flippant nature of this thought, at the ease with which she left her own complicity out of the equation), Jaime seems to be a decent person. And Genna is decent in her way, and Kevan and even Tyrion...is it fair, is it right to help her father tear their company up like this? The information she’s stolen has the potential to obliterate Lannister Inc.... Can she...will she...?

She rests her hand on the railing that separates the pathway from the water below. The little red drive nestles in her fist, and she loosens her fingers-

But instead, she returns the drive to the inner pocket of her purse. Shutting the bag with a resolute zip, Sansa continues on her way home.

#my fics #jaime x sansa #modern au #fanfiction time travel #rewriting my stories from 7 years ago #you know #like you do

10 notes · View notes

downn-in-flames · 6 years ago

Text

9.9 Out of 10, Highly Recommend (chapter 1)

2 bets. 10 days. Endless shenanigans.

{A Brooklyn 99 meets How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days Jily fic}

Read it on: HPFT | AO3 | FFnet

THE BET

At 10 pm on a Tuesday night, James Potter and Lily Evans are both rather impressively drunk.

They don’t know this particular fact about one another though, because they’re at bars across town from one another, with totally different groups of coworkers.

Although if you asked Lily, she really wouldn’t be surprised to learn that James was drinking on a Tuesday - that’s not too far out of character for him, anyways. James, on the other hand, would be absolutely gobsmacked to learn that cookie-cutter rule-follower Lily Evans was getting smashed on a weekday, when they’ve got work tomorrow.

She has good reason for it though - she’s celebrating. She’s only found out earlier today that she’s getting promoted to sergeant in a new department, which is just one step closer to her dream of becoming captain of a whole precinct and then commissioner of the entire NYPD.

In other words, her entire 25-year plan is right on track.

“The precinct is going to be weird without you,” Mary says, taking a sip of her beer.

From anyone else, that would be a mild compliment at best, but from Mary, that’s practically the equivalent of an overly emotional hug, sobbing and all.

Mary may be one of Lily’s closest friends, but she’s always been an impressively impassive and private person, even with people she’s known for years.

“She’s right,” Marlene adds. “Who’s going to get onto Black every time he decides to do something ridiculous like fill the vending machines with rotting vegetables?”

“And then stop Lupin from punching him, because we all know how he feels about the office vending machine,” Mary quips.

It’s an odd thing to be passionate about, but Remus has an impressive level of dedication to the office vending machine, which is in all honestly probably older than all of them and can only be filled with candy bars because anything larger gets stuck.

Lily laughs - it’s louder than her normal laugh, a sure sign that she’s surpassed Three-Drink Lily. “You’ve got Kingsley and Dumbledore for that.”

Marlene rolls her eyes. “Please. Don’t get me wrong, they’re great at their jobs, but when have they ever been able to rein in Lupin and Black?”

“When have I ever been able to rein in Lupin and Black?” Lily replies, before frowning at her now-empty fourth drink.

“You’re able to rein in Potter, and Potter is able to rein in Lupin and Black.”

Lily scoffs at that, because, in her opinion, she doesn’t have much control over Potter either. And if she were more sober, she’d elegantly manoeuver right around that particular topic of conversation, because it’s a viewpoint she’s always differed with her co-workers on.

But she’s just crossed the threshold into Four-Drink Lily, and Four-Drink Lily has conversational grace equivalent to Peter doing ballet. That is to say, none whatsoever.

“I’ve got no more power over Potter than either of you.”

Marlene giggles at that. “You can tell yourself that all you like, but you know he has a thing for you.”

“Trust me,” Mary adds. “I have to watch him make heart eyes at you all day long. He definitely likes you.”

Mary’s desk does face James, so that claim is actually pretty plausible.

Lily still doesn’t buy it though. “Oh please, Potter doesn’t like me. He likes the idea of me.”

“Meaning?” Marlene prods.

“He’s created some idealised version of me in his head,” she says. “I’m the hot coworker who sits at the desk next to him - it’s practically a fantasy situation. And as such, he’s built me up in his head as this dream girl of his - and that’s the girl he has a crush on. Not me.”

Mary rolls her eyes. “Fuck, I’m going to need another drink if you’re going to psychoanalyze people this hard tonight.”

“Can you get all of us another round while you’re at it?” Marlene asks. “It’s your turn to buy anyways.”

“One beer, one whiskey Diet Coke, and one cosmo, coming right up.”

“You’re a doll, Mary,” Marlene replies, knowing full well that the term of endearment will annoy her coworker.

“Fuck off, McKinnon,” Mary retorts, before getting up and heading over to the bar.

Marlene almost immediately turns back to Lily. “Why are you so convinced he doesn’t actually like you? What proof do you have of that?”

“Potter’s the idealistic type, we all know that,” Lily replies reasonably. “He decided I’m his dream girl when I got assigned the desk next to him, and hasn’t paid attention to any evidence to the contrary ever since.”

The other girl eyes her skeptically. “And that evidence is?”

“We’re so different.” Lily has no idea how that’s not abundantly obvious to everyone.

Lily’s the type of person who has a 25-year life plan. James is the type of person who can’t think more than three days in advance - it’s why most of the precinct has taken to sending him calendar invites for every little thing. Lily color codes her sock drawer, and James has had the same empty Coke can sitting on his desk for the past four months and eight days.

She’s kept count of it. It’s been on her nerves for four months and seven days.

“They say opposites attract, you know,” Marlene replies, smirking. “But really, I don’t think you and Potter are actually that different. Yeah, you’ve got different habits and whatnot, but at the same time, you’re both fuelled by the same things. I know you say he’s blinded by a version of you that he’s created in his head, but you’re blinded by an imaginary version of him too, babe.”

“Am not,” Lily answers stubbornly.

“Honestly, if you just gave him a chance, I think you’d find that you two are good for each other.”

Mary returns with their drinks at that moment, which gives Lily a little bit of time to think through Marlene’s comments.

Lily would be lying to herself if she said she didn’t find James good-looking. It’s kind of hard not to find the boy attractive, what with the dark, messy hair, the sharp jawline regularly dotted with stubble, and the cute little dimple on his right cheek that pops out when he smiles. Not to mention that he’s over 6 foot and decently built - a bit on the skinnier side, but Lily’s always kind of preferred that to the gym bro archetype - all of which puts him firmly in the realm of exactly her type.

He’s also actually pretty funny, and some of his overly dramatic antics serve to lighten the mood on particularly stressful days at the precinct. And he was the first person to congratulate her today when the news broke that she was getting promoted.

So yeah, she’s definitely attracted to him, at least a little bit. But she’ll never admit to that - it’d practically be social suicide amongst her co-workers - and they’d inevitably blow it way out of proportion. Thinking a guy is cute and funny doesn’t equate wanting to spend the rest of your life with them, no matter what Marlene may believe to the contrary.

“I’m telling you, I doubt he’s actually into me like that,” Lily finally says, taking the first sip of her fifth drink. “He wants one part of me, and that’s it. The rest is something he’s created in his own mind. He’d take me for a ride, realise he doesn’t actually like the real version of me, and drop me.”

“And I say you’re wrong,” Marlene replies, taking her cosmo off of Mary’s hands.

“I’m actually with Marlene on this one,” Mary says. “He’s into you, full stop.”

Lily hates being outnumbered. And she also hates being told that she’s wrong, which is probably what fuels what she says next.

“I guarantee you that, if Potter knew what I’m like in a relationship - what he’d be signing himself up for in going out with me - he’d realise he’s not actually into me,” she tells them both. “Fuck, I’d even put money on it.”

“And I’d put money on it that he’s half in love with you, and ‘knowing what you’re like in a relationship’ wouldn’t change that one fucking bit,” Mary replies.

“You’re wrong,” Lily replies, looking Mary dead in the eye.

It’s a dangerous decision, getting into a staring contest with Mary, who could probably kill a man with a glare alone, but Five-Drink Lily isn’t afraid of anything. Even if she is pretty sure Mary keeps at least one knife in her combat boots at all times.

“What’s the wager?” Marlene says, breaking Lily’s concentration.

“What do you mean, ‘what’s the wager’?” Lily asks.

“Well, you two both just made a bet, and I’m just curious what’s actually on the table here.”

“That wasn’t an actual bet!” Lily defends immediately.

Mary scoffs. “Yeah, because you know you’ll lose.”

Lily whips around to look at Mary again. “I do not! But a real bet has to have a comprehensive set of rules associated with it, not just vague statements.”

“Let’s make that ‘comprehensive set of rules’ then,” Mary replies, and the use of air quotes has Lily feeling like her friend is most definitely mocking her. “You leave the office in ten days - that’s a built-in timeline right there. Starting tomorrow, you go after him. You take him out on a couple dates or two - no sex required, unless you just really want to, in which case, go for it I guess. You ‘show him your real self’ - but you’re not allowed to dramatically sabotage anything either. If he’s done with you by the time you leave the precinct, you win. If he’s still half in love with you at that point like I know he will be, I win.”

The speed with which Mary just came up with a fully-thought-out proposal almost shocks Lily, but then again, Mary’s only been drinking beer the entire night and has an alcohol tolerance equivalent to her and Marlene combined. So she shouldn’t be surprised, really.

“I can’t date a coworker,” Lily replies.

“Black and Lupin are fucking engaged,” Mary retorts. “You absolutely can date a coworker.”

Mary’s not wrong, per say. There isn’t anything in their HR manual about dating coworkers; it’s a rule Lily’s instituted for herself moreso than anything formalised by the NYPD. Future commissioners don’t get themselves involved in office romances.

“You can suspend your own rules for this,” Marlene adds, all but reading Lily’s mind. “You’re leaving in ten days - there’s no consequences to this like there would be if you still had to share a workspace afterwards.”

She… does have a point.

“Lily’s just making up excuses because she knows I’m right, and she knows she’s going to lose,” Mary says casually, taking another sip of her beer.

Sober Lily is already competitive as hell, and drunk Lily is that intensified tenfold.

“You’re on, McDonald,” Lily says, slamming her drink down on the table so aggressively that a little bit sloshes over the side. “Loser has to sit through one of Peter’s homemade cheese tasting demonstrations - and eat all of them.”

Betting money might’ve been the original proposal, but the comedic value of forcing Mary to sit through Peter’s impassioned explanations of all the possible cheese varieties is worth far more, from Lily’s perspective.

“And has to organise Black’s Drawer of Horrors,” Mary adds, grinning wickedly.

One of the drawers in Sirius’ desk has been filled with a whole host of terrifying objects over his tenure at the precinct - ranging from prank toys to food that’s probably sat there for years. Even Lily, who gets a thrill out of organising pretty much anything else, doesn’t want to get near that thing with a ten-foot pole.

But Lily won’t have to. Because she’s going to win. “You have yourself a deal,” she says, holding out a hand for Mary to shake.

Mary reaches out and shakes it, gripping just a tiny bit harder than necessary. Lily resists the urge to cringe at the force of it - that’s exactly the display of weakness Mary wants to see.

Marlene looks up from the message she’s been typing on her phone and claps her hands delightedly. “Oh, this is absolutely the kind of office excitement we’ve been needing!”

Lily arches an eyebrow at her. “We work at a police precinct. You really think that’s not exciting?”

Marlene shrugs. “Taking down crime rings and whatnot is cool and all, but the juicy gossip is what I’m really here for.”

Lily shouldn’t even be surprised by that, really. Honestly, Marlene could probably have a pretty decent career in reality TV if she ever decided to leave the precinct.

“There’s not going to be any juicy gossip,” Lily says. “James is going to go out with me twice, realise I’m not what he signed up for, and that’ll be the end of that. No juicy gossip involved.”

“Whatever you say, Lil,” Marlene laughs.

That’s really all there is to it, Lily tells herself. She’s going to win this bet, start her new job, and forget all about James Potter and his stupidly perfect jawline.

On the other side of town, James is on his fourth beer and absolutely thriving.

The four of them - Remus, Sirius, Peter, and him - are on a mission to taste-test every brewery in New York City. They’re nowhere close to accomplishing that goal yet, but they’ve made pretty decent headway and enjoyed acting like overblown beer snobs in the process.

“Ah yes,” Sirius comments, holding his drink out in front of him. “The hops in this brew are particularly pronounced.”

“There’s an earthy aftertaste to this one,” Remus adds, swirling his stout as if it’s a fancy glass of wine.

“And this one tastes like piss,” James replies, completely ruining the fake-classy theme Sirius and Remus had going with their commentary.

“Come on, guys!” Peter says earnestly. “Beer tastings are meant to be a serious affair!”

Sirius isn’t swayed at all. “They’re meant to get us drunk, Wormtail.”

James always wonders what other people must think of them when they hear the group of men calling each other by weird nicknames like Wormtail and Padfoot. In all honesty, James himself isn’t quite sure why the names have stuck as long as they have - they were originally inspired by the first major crimes each detective took down when they were all assigned to the newly-formed 73rd precinct, and they’ve lingered ever since.

Peter took down an organized crime ring from the inside - he was the rat, as the ringleader so eloquently called him in court. Hence, Wormtail.

“You sound like Fenwick,” James adds, before draining his glass.

“Nah,” Remus replies. “None of us are drinking pilsners. Ergo, couldn’t possible be Fenwick.”

They all laugh at that - Benjy Fenwick’s obsession with pilsners has definitely become a running joke throughout the office, despite the fact that the guy doesn’t even work there.

“You’re also nowhere near as much of a dick as Fenwick was,” James tacks on.

Sirius looks up from his phone. “Fenwick wasn’t actually that much of a dick. You just didn’t like him because he was fucking the love of your life.”

James crinkles his brows in disgust. “Fenwick is definitely not the love of my life.”

Admittedly, yeah, Fenwick isn’t ugly - he actually kind of resembles a guy James had gone on a couple dates with in college - but he has the all the personality of a loaf of white bread.

Ergo, very much not James’ type.

“You massively misinterpreted the usage of the word ‘fucking’ in that sentence,” Sirius corrects. “The love of your life is the person he was fucking.”

“Evans isn’t the love of my life either,” James replies defensively.

Well, not yet, at least. James could definitely see her becoming the love of his life though. He almost spilt his coffee all over himself the very first day she showed up at the precinct (he managed to contain the spill to one sleeve, in the end) because fuck, the detective he was supposed to be sharing a desk with shouldn’t have been that beautiful.

And then she opened her mouth and James started falling for her even more.

So yeah, at this point, he’s pretty hopelessly smitten.

And because he’s utter shit at hiding his feelings, all of his friends know it, most of the precinct knows it, and hell, Lily probably knows it too. Trying to argue to the contrary is a bit of a hopeless endeavour.

Remus looks at him skeptically. “Maybe not love of your life, but pretty damn close.”

James shrugs, picking up another one of the IPAs they’ve got on the table. “Doesn’t matter much though - she’s leaving the precinct in 10 days and I won’t have much reason to see her after that.”

When he first heard the news of her promotion, he’d secretly been kind of sad that he wouldn’t have an excuse to see Lily everyday anymore. But he also knows how important getting a promotion and moving up in the police department is to Lily, so he’d given her a bright smile and congratulated her anyways.

“Or, you could actually make a move sometime in those 10 days so that she actually wants to hang around with your dumb ass even after she leaves.”

James glares at Sirius.

“But you don’t have the guts for that, do you?” his best friend challenges.

“Pads...” Remus warns.

Padfoot, like the dog. Inspired by the major drug operation Sirius had sniffed out.

Sirius waves off his fiancé. “Prongs, you’re my brother, so I mean this in the nicest possible way, but you’re absolutely shit with people you’ve got a crush on, and Evans is no exception. You just make doe eyes at her from afar and that’s not going to get you anywhere.”

He’s obviously trying to get a rise out of James - giving him shit for all sorts of things that he knows James can’t stand being called out on - and maybe a more sober James would recognise that, and let Sirius have his fun without rising to the bait.

But that’s not the state that James is in right now.

“I am not shit with people I’ve got a crush on,” he argues. “I just happen to respect Evans’s boundaries because I don’t think it’s very professional to openly flirt with a coworker in the workplace.”

It’s not like the NYPD is known for its sexual harassment policies, so honestly, James probably wouldn’t get in any sort of trouble if he did decide to repeatedly ask her out on dates until she relented, but he’d never want to make her uncomfortable like that.

Hence, his (slightly pathetic) pining from afar.

“I’m not asking you to get a harassment complaint filed against yourself,” Sirius replies immediately. “In fact, I rather like Evans, so if you do manage to do something that warrants a harassment complaint or makes her uncomfortable, I’m formally obligated to kick your ass. But I’m just saying, this is your chance to shoot your shot before she’s no longer one desk away from you.”

Peter laughs. “Please. Prongs could never get Evans to fall for him in that period of time.”

Prongs could refer to the antlers on a stag - and James does love rocking a good pair of reindeer antlers from time to time - but the true derivation of that name was from James escaping and diffusing a hostage situation using nothing but an unloaded gun and a fork.

But damn. Hearing that insult from Peter stings - after all, the guy has had an even longer dry spell than James has. Really, he’s got no right to go around critiquing James’ wooing skills.

“Could too,” James replies childishly, only barely resisting the urge to stick his tongue out at his friend.

“Care to make an official bet on that?” Sirius asks, smirking. “I’ll take you up on that one - loser has to sit through one of Wormy’s cheese demonstrations.”

“Oh yes!” Peter claps his hands together delightedly, completely missing the point that this is a form of punishment for losing. “I’ve been needing more people to practice on!”

“I’m not making a bet on Evans,” James replies obstinately. “She’s a person, not a prize to be won.”

“Technically, you’re not betting on Evans,” Remus replies, serving as the voice of logic at the table. “You’re betting on your own abilities. If you win, you’ve managed to actually nail the partner of your dreams; if you lose, no one is any worse off than when you started. This is an entirely non-objectifying situation on all accounts.”

When Remus puts it like that, James has to admit that he’s got a pretty good point. And there’s no possible outcome to this that hurts anyone. Well, other than James himself if he fails, but honestly no more hurt than if he’d never even taken a chance with Lily to begin with.

He just has to… actually manage to charm the woman that’s shown absolutely no romantic interest in him up until this point.

Should be easy enough, he thinks to himself, and almost laughs aloud at his own internal sarcasm.

But he’ll also never turn down a bet - especially not when all his friends have been giving him so much shit all night. James Potter is a lot of things, but a coward is most definitely not one of them.

So he turns to Sirius, grinning wickedly. “You’re on. But two rules: you three can’t interfere at all, and no one tells Evans about it until it’s over.”

Sirius looks vaguely surprised. “You’re actually taking me up on this?”

“Come on, Pads, you know full well that I don’t back down from a challenge.”

James isn’t lying on that one. It’s gotten him into a fair share of sticky situations - most frequently with a particularly problematic cop in the Major Crimes Unit, who has basically made it his life’s goal to antagonise their whole precinct (but mostly James) on a regular basis.

“Plus,” James muses. “You’re right. I’ve got ten days until I’ll never see her again - if there’s ever a time to take a risk, it’s now.”

“You do realise she’s still going to be friends with all of us, and she’s only moving - ”

“Moony, hush,” Sirius waves a hand in front of Remus’ face, stopping him from finishing that sentence.

The way Remus earned that nickname - and the way he stopped a major car chase in progress - is still a story that none of the boys can get through without laughing.

“So we’ve got ourselves a bet, Prongs?” he continues, extending a hand out to James. “If Lily falls in love with you by the time she leaves the precinct, you win; if she wants nothing to do with you, I win.”

It feels like there’s a significant gap between ‘falling in love with him’ and ‘wanting nothing to do with him,’ but James doesn’t give that technicality too much thought. This is his dignity (and a cheese tasting with Peter) on the line.

So he takes Sirius’ hand, giving it a firm shake. “Let’s do this.”

Ten days from now, he’ll have made Lily fall for him, proving his romantic competence once and for all. His friends will inevitable find something else to give him shit for, but James will thoroughly enjoy his bragging rights.

Or alternatively, he’ll be sampling Peter’s homemade gouda, but James isn’t letting himself entertain that outcome right now.

#jily #jily fanfiction #jily fic #harry potter #harry potter fanfiction #hp fic #hp fanfic #james potter #lily evans #jily au #jily fanfic #modern au #jily cop bet fic

20 notes · View notes