#s/i: marco

[gael-garcia]

As Boas Maneiras ('Good Manners', 2017 🇧🇷) directed by Juliana Rojas & Marco Dutra

[introspectivememories]

buggy, dreamily sighing: did you see marco today?

shanks, warily: yeah? why? we see him like every other month?

buggy, immediately gushing: wasn't he soo cool? like the way he transforms and those muscles! didja see his muscles, shanks? he could probably pick me up with one hand....

shanks who has just realized that he never wants buggy looking at another man who isn't him: .....yes... cool

[jh-arts]

Summer of 51’s Day 7: Sharing

They argue too much, what better way to help them get along? Probably not this 😅

I know I’m very behind but im working on it, I’m gonna do what i can for this event!!!

[autoraton]

i think a normal amount about @thejakeformerlyknownasprince's A-town.

commissions are open!

[robylovi]

Just a couple traumatized kids

[izzizzels]

An autumn walk with little Link and his dads 🍁

[frogremi33]

Guys what is their ship name I need to know I can’t find it anywhere

Gonna dump any i can think of in the tags

[zexal-bunny20]

Can you draw meterora as Rapunzel and Mariposa a female version of Flynn rider?

Here you go, thanks for the request. 😊

[twpsyn-who]

Something something soulmate au in which you dream little moments of your future up until you meet your soulmate for the first. The catch? First, you dream only of your future with your soulmate. Little moments of you two together. If your soulmate isn't there, you ain't seeing it. Second, it is a dream. Not everyone is going to remember those. Third, it stops once you meet your soulmate.

Now this but JeanMarco. And I don't know about Marco, but Jean 100% remembers his dreams. It just sucks because more often than not there's more people around so, you know, finding out who's actually the soulmate takes some time on his part. Also he takes notice of the fact that he only sees moments of his time as a trainee. Aka something happens. Cue to Jean spending all his childhood trying to understand what his dreams are trying to say and eventually trying to keep them both alive during Trost.

[gralixe]

One Piece has so much gall giving so much screen time to characters I truly do not give a fuck about

[rocicrew]

the expanse is about naomi nagata actually. it is her story. a woman who had her agency taken away from her and was scarred so much at the beginning of her life that she run from causes and leadership and shut herself out from the world that slowly over the many decades reinvents herself and finds love and her place and faces her past and her regrets and finds a way to live forward anyway despite everything that happens. an oppressed woman who did care about her people but whose trauma made her shy away from violence having to be in constant battle with herself with how much action she can bear to take for her people and for the system. until enough is enough, and as much as she tries to hide she chooses to walk head in a leadership position and make the difficult choices she run from in her past and find a way to make peace with what acts of violence and to what degree she can handle giving when fighting back yet another totalitarian power

[heatherfield]

And me too!!! Redcricket selkie au please and thank you 😊

I knew you'd see that.

Like, doesn't this just scream Red Cricket?!?!!?

Definitely a little treasure to tuck away and see what I could do with later...

[roxannarambles]

teal mask fixit-fic on the fly part 8

(Current story so far: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 -

Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7)

The following day, Carmine had reported to the group that her grandfather required a special material in order to finish repairing the Ogre's mask. Some sort of fancy crystal that could only be found at the very top of the Oni Mountains. She suggested (well, it was more of a demand) that someone accompany her on the trip, since it was a long hike and the wild pokemon in the area could be pretty tough. At first, Juliana was going to be the one to go, but then Nemona suggested they all go, and Juliana realized that seemed like a much better idea. Carmine did not seem to be a fan of this plan, but she was very quickly outvoted by the rest of the group.

When they all set out on the journey, Kieran was nowhere to be found. In a way, that was a good thing, since it would have been difficult to keep the purpose of the trip a secret from him. However, it did worry Juliana a little. He'd been acting very sullen and withdrawn since yesterday. Carmine assured everyone that she'd seen him head off towards Loyalty Plaza and that he was fine, just being a moody teenager. Juliana wasn't quite sure if she bought that, but then again, it wasn't like she knew him well. So she tried to put the worries out of her mind and simply enjoy the trip in the beautiful mountains.

It ended up being a very enjoyable walk. Juliana had already walked partway up the mountain on her first day here, when Kieran showed her the Ogre's den. This time, though, they went much further, through a region of the mountain that was covered in a fine, white ash. Apparently, the Oni Mountains were volcanically active. There were different kinds of volcanoes, though, as Juliana had learned in school; not all of them were violently explosive. The Oni Mountains had a calmer sort of volcanic activity, which was much easier to monitor and keep safe around, the lava bubbling slowly and volcanic gasses escaping from beneath the ground they walked. The area also seemed to be a hotbed for Fire-type and Poison-type pokemon, which made sense. There were other types present as well, though, including some unique species Juliana wasn't very familiar with. The little bell-shaped pokemon floating about--Chingling-- were especially cute to Juliana, their melodic cries filling the air with a soothing sound, like wind-chimes.

It was a hot day, and towards the end of their hike, trudging up the steep incline started to really exhaust the group of teens. However, it turned out that the trip had been entirely worth it. When they finally climbed the last ash-covered step and reached the mountain's summit, they were rewarded with a breathtaking sight: the crystal pool, a large, still lake of the purest, clearest water Juliana had ever seen in her life. Beneath the water's surface, massive columns of crystals could be seen; they shimmered and glowed an ethereal light, reminding Juliana very much of the tera crystals found in Area Zero. Docile Chingling floated around all over the area, providing a lovely backdrop of chiming calls.

"Oh my god, this is incredible," Nemona said, quickly moving to the little bridge to gaze down into the waters. The others followed suit and Juliana pulled out her phone to take some pictures.

"I know, right? I bet you don't have anything this beautiful in Paldea. This is the Crystal Pool. Normally outsiders aren't welcome here, 'cause this is sacred ground, so consider yourselves lucky. The water here's the purest in the world, they say. There's even rumors you can see the spirits of the dead here, at night."

Arven asked,

"Spirits of the dead? Like human spirits, not pokemon?"

"Yeah," Carmine said, shrugging.

"Probably just a rumor, but who knows."

"Oooh, it's so cool and nice," Nemona said. She'd pulled her shoes off to dip her feet into the water's edge.

Carmine commented,

"I'm glad you think so, 'cause somebody's gotta jump in there and get us some crystal shards, and you seem like a good volunteer."

Juliana rasied a brow.

"Why not you? You're the local expert here, after all."

"Pshh, and mess up my clothes? I mean, uh-- I-- well I can't swim, it can't be me!"

Juliana's expression suggested she had some very strong doubt. Nemona interrupted,

"It's fine, a swim would be amazing right now! I'm all sweaty and hotter than a Houndour from that hike."

Arven let his oversized bag drop to the ground.

"You know what, you're right, I think I'll take a little dip too."

It did not take much convincing for Juliana and Penny to join in as well and begin to wade out into the inviting, cool waters.

"Oh, damn, that is nice," Penny said as she stepped in. Carmine called after them,

"W-wait, hold on, you all can't-- you can't just leave me out!"

"Well, you said you can't swim, right?" Waist-deep, Juliana turned and grinned at her.

Carmine gave an annoyed huff.

"I meant I can't swim well. But, I mean, it's a pretty shallow pool, so. I guess I could try it out."

Soon they were all fooling about in the crystal pool, and it was honestly amazing. The sun was beating down on the peak of the mountain with the full heat of the day, but the waters were perfectly chilly and relaxing. In some parts of the pool it was much shallower, where the huge colums of crystal had sprouted from the floor and reached quite tall; Juliana could walk on them with her bare feet and enjoy how perfectly smooth they felt. They glowed gorgeous shades of blue and green, and Juliana realized even the water itself seemed to retain a faint glow.

At some point, while they were horsing around, Nemona suggested they play 'Slowpoke Slowbro,' and Juliana laughed and seconded the idea.

"We're not grade-schoolers, you guys," Arven scoffed. Nemona crossed her arms and smirked at him,

"That sounds like something a guy who's afraid of sucking at Slowpoke Slowbro would say."

Arven snorted.

"You're not gonna get me with that trick. Besides, I can't possibly suck at it if I've never even played it."

"You haven't?! Well now you have to, Arven!"

Arven groaned and Nemona said,

"Penny, Carmine, c'mon, back me up, he should play, right?"

"I have no idea what you're even talking about," Carmine said, looking very wary. Nemona explained the kid's game to her, and to no one's surprise, Carmine thought it sounded stupid. However, the combined enthusiasum of Nemona and Juliana was a force to be reckoned with, and it didn't take much wheedling to win everyone else over.

When Arven had asked who should take the first turn, Nemona had called out, "Not it!" which spurred Juliana and Penny to quickly echo her; Carmine, looking confused but getting the jist fast decided to shout it as well. Arven apparently thought this was very unfair, even after Nemona explained it was a time-honored tradition. Carmine however did not support Arven on this point, since she was just happy she wasn't "it" first.

Arven announced that he hated everyone, but he moved to the center of the pool anyway, closing his eyes. There was a heavy tone of resigned exasperation in his voice as he said,

"Slowpoke."

The others all answered 'Slowbro' in chorus. Arven turned and drifted forward blindly in the pool, calling 'Slowpoke' again, and the game carried on as such.

Despite the initial reluctance of some of the teens, they actually seemed to have a good time, for the most part. Arven ended up being very good at the game, although he seemed especially good at catching up to Penny, first following slowly and then lunging at her with a sudden burst of speed (Penny claimed it was unfair because she had shorter legs and couldn't swim as fast). In contrast, Carmine was pretty terrible at being 'It'; she quickly grew very frustrated with blundering around blindly, so the others could easily take advantage and swim laps around her. At one point Juliana just let herself be tagged by her, because she didn't want Carmine to get so annoyed with it that she gave up. Juliana reckoned that both she and Penny were just average at the game; Nemona seemed to be as good as Arven.

They killed a lot of time this way. Amusing hightlights for Juliana included the time when Carmine panicked and shrieked as Arven suddenly lunged in her direction and grabbed her about the waist, lifting her a little as he did so. She'd immediately blushed a dark crimson and swatted angrily at him, prompting him to complain "Ow ow ow ow!" and let her go, apologizing. It seemed Carmine quickly rescinded her anger, though, and she meekly muttered something to Arven that Juliana couldn't make out but apparently had smoothed things over.

Another highlight was when Nemona was 'It' and Juliana swam closer to chant 'Slowbro' repeatedly at her, just to be annoying and see how long she could get away with it. She didn't last too long, Nemona eventually grabbing her and pulling her underwater, where they proceeded to grapple until they had to surface, sputtering and laughing.

At some point when Arven was 'It,' he'd lurched forward, a wall of water splashing in his wake, and then turned around, looking annoyed.

"Okay, real funny, guys. Who'd I get?"

"What do you mean?"

He crossed his arms.

"Haha. Look, I know I tagged somebody, who'd I get?"

Some of them exchanged a few looks.

"Arven, you weren't near anyone!"

"Yeah I was! I--"

He frowned, noticing everyone looked genuinely puzzled. He said,

"Then . . . who did I . . ."

A large figure suddenly erupted from the center of the pool, and everyone screamed in surprise and scattered.

Rising from the waters was the large, elegant shape of a Milotic, its serpentine form coiled and its scales glinting brilliantly in the blue-green light of the crystal pool. It didn't take the teens too long to scramble from the water and onto shore, but during the time it took them, the Milotic underwent a transformation: its entire body became coated in shimmering, dark purple crystals, starting from its tail before quickly spreading up its entire body, finishing where the crystals created a draconic terajewel atop Milotic's pointed head.

The Milotic turned in Arven and Juliana's general direction and gave an angry cry. Arven cursed, stumbling in his haste to get further away, while Juliana struggled to find where she'd left her bag.

"Hold on, I've got this!" Carmine shouted, throwing a pokeball and releasing her Morpeko. It seemed that in everyone's race to find their pokeballs, she'd managed to come first.

"Morpeko, Aura Wheel!"

In a bright flash, the little rodent pokemon went barreling right into the Milotic, the sound of electricity crackling loudly in the air, but the Milotic seemed almost entirely unfazed by the attack.

"It's Dragon type, Carmine, it's terastalized!" Nemona called, and Juliana could see the irritation flash in Carmine's eyes.

"Damnit! Right, I was just-- i-it was instinctive!"

Nemona had recovered her pokeballs too and quickly threw one out, shouting,

"No worries, I'll back you up!"

Her Goodra materialized, and Nemona ordered,

"Dragon Pulse!"

The Milotic was struck by the purple beam of light, which seemed to anger it; it turned in the pool and coiled its body, before striking out with its tail in a sudden, powerful jerk. The strike hit Goodra head-on and sent it flying, which was honestly a sight to see, since Goodra was no lightweight. Nemona's pokeball kicked in and recalled Goodra before it could sail too far away.

"Whoa," Nemona said, eyes wide.

"This thing knows Dragon Tail?"

Meanwhile, Carmine had recalled her Morpeko and was chanting to herself,

"Dragon type, dragon type . . . crap. Okay, okay."

She threw another ball, her Mightyena appearing. Soon after, Nemona had thrown another ball too, sending out Pawmot.

"Crunch!"

"Ice Punch!"

The pokemon leapt after Milotic and struck one after the other, the Ice Punch causing the Milotic's entire body to shudder from the impact, and the Crunch doing damage but clearly not as much.

The Milotic did not enjoy being ganged up on. It sunk down deep into the pool, the water swirling as it swam in circles, then leapt up and sent a wave of water crashing out in all directions. All the teens were soaked, but the Pokemon were much closer to Milotic and took the brunt of the hit.

Coughing water, Nemona called out,

"Ice Punch, again!"

Carmine yelled,

"Double-Edge!"

The Milotic took heavy damage from the second Ice Punch, but it was able to launch a second Surf before Mightyena could attack-- both pokemon fainted at once.

"Wow, this thing hits hard!" Nemona said, taken a little offguard. Carmine was busy fuming,

"I don't have anything for this!"

She threw her Morpeko back out, at the same time Nemona deployed her Dundunsparce. The Milotic, meanwhile, began to glow a soft white light. Carmine looked on in horror, shouting,

"Oh, no you don't!"

But it was too late. The white light engulfed Milotic's body and sank into it, reinvigorating it. The pokemon lifted its head and glared out at its opponents, giving another cry.

"Aw, man, did it seriously just Recover?"

"I don't have time for this crap. Morpeko, Thunder Wave!'

The words had scarcely left Carmine's mouth when she suddnely seemed to regret them, her eyes widening as she called,

"WAIT, Morpeko, never mind, don't--"

It had been too late, since Morpeko had already sent out the shock wave, which struck Milotic, the electricity crackling along its body.

Carmine proceeded to use some very colorful language, much to Nemona's confusion.

"What's wrong? I don't understand--"

"It could have ****ing Marvel Scale-- goddamnit I knew that, I just--urghghh! How could I be so stupid?"

Remaining calm, Nemona said,

"Hey, it's okay, we still got this. Dundunsparce, use Dragon Rush!"

The silly-looking snake was cloaked in a strange blue light and its body coiled, its little pairs of wings flapping; then it began to charge, rapidly building up speed as it moved. When it struck Milotic, it hit with tremendous force, its foe crying out in pain. Yet, despite how intense the move was, it did not do as much damage as they had hoped-- Milotic did not fall. Its teracrystal encasing didn't even break.

Then, Milotic revealed its fourth move: swirling in the pool, it created several rings of water that circled its body. Aqua Ring.

"Oh my god I can't believe this, we would have had this by now if I hadn't given it the stupid Marvel Scale boost!" Carmine shouted, looking truly disgusted with herself.

"Carmine, calm down--"

Carmine wasn't listening.

"Now I have to be bailed out by these Naranja students! In my home turf!"

Nemona's worried eyes met with Juliana's, and the look seemed to ask her for advice; What do I do here? Pokemon battling was one thing, but she was less adept at dealing with this sort of situation.

Juliana came forward and whispered to her. Nemona nodded, then turned.

"Carmine, tell me what we should do next!"

The girl paused in her raging to shoot her a confused look.

"What? You're the master-Champion-whatever, you tell me!"

Nemona shook her head.

"Carmine, I don't even know this pokemon's name. You know its Ability, you know its movepool, its stats-- you're the one who can run the show here, if you just take a moment to think!"

Carmine blinked at her, then glanced away, scowling. She did seem to be thinking, though. That was good.

Although, less good, the Milotic seemed bored of waiting. It was turning in the water, preparing another attack.

"U-uh, guys--" Juliana started in warning.

"Do you have any pokemon with a stats-lowering move? Something fast, faster than Morpeko," Carmine asked Nemona suddenly.

Nemona hesitated.

"Umm, let's see, I don't think I . . . wait, yeah! Yeah, I do, Lycanroc has Scary Face right now."

"Good, send it out and target Morpeko with Scary Face! Now!"

Juliana's brow crumpled in confusion, but Nemona didn't question it-- she simply grabbed her pokeball and sent Lycanroc out, ordering it to turn on its own ally.

Milotic sent another wave of water crashing out at them. Lycanroc fainted, but Morpeko hung on, probably due to its Focus Sash.

Carmine cried out,

"Morpeko, now's your chance, Lash Out!"

The little rodent's red eyes flashed. It charged, with a stunning amount of rage for such a tiny body. When it plowed into the Milotic, the tera crystals shattered in a brilliant explosion, purple shards flying everywhere.

The Milotic sagged weakly. Morpeko took the time to snack on a seed stored in its pouch, reverting quickly back to electric-type.

"YES! Morpeko, go for the kill, Aura Wheel!"

The Milotic reared up, lifting its tail for a last-ditch attack, but Morpeko dodged, ramming into Milotic cleanly.

The Milotic fainted. Carmine cackled in glee, shouting,

"YEAHHH!! Did you see that?! Morpeko crushed it! Take that, Naranja dorks!"

Juliana, Arven and Penny just stood there, looking at her. She said,

"What?" Then she sighed and rolled her eyes, adding,

"All right, fine, so Nemona helped a little."

Nemona didn't seem to hold anything against Carmine, though, simply walking up to her and saying brightly,

"That was so cool, Carmine! Really clever thinking, boosting up Lash Out with your own ally, I loved it! Looks like we're not a bad team, huh?"

She held out a hand. Carmine reluctantly shook her hand and said,

"T-thanks. Yeah, I guess so . . ."

Collecting the necessary crystal shards was easy after that. They were laying all over the place-- since the tera crystals, as it turned out, were exactly what they'd been looking for, one and the same with the crystals that grew in the Crystal Pool. The students returned to town, triumphant.

[deliveringcandypizza]

Emotional baggage. (Marco addition)

been   cheated   on   |   been   bullied   |  had   your   heart   broken   |   broken   someone’s   heart   |   told   a   horrible   lie   |   been   betrayed  |   been   framed   /   set-up   | stolen   something   of   value |   overdosed   on   drugs   |  been   drunk  |   cheated   |   bullied   |   been   publicly   humiliated   |   punched   someone   in   the   face   |   been   beaten   up   |   broken   a   bone   |   been   admitted   to   a   hospital   |   put   someone   in   the   hospital   |   had   a   near   -   death   experience   |   been   drugged   |   done   drugs   |   smoked   |   been   arrested   |   been   homeless  |   been   forced   to   commit   a   crime   |   died   and   came   back   to   life   |   kissed   someone   you   weren’t   attracted   to   |   bled   severely   |   killed   someone   |  been   forced   to   kill   someone  |   had   an   attempt   on   your   life  |   made   an   attempt   on   your   own   life   |   lost   someone   |   loved   someone   |   watched   a   loved   one   die   |   failed   to   save   /   help   a   loved   one  |   felt   helpless |   watched   your   world   die   /   disappear   |   had   your   life’s   work   stolen   /      destroyed   |   gone   without   food   for   over   three   days   |   gone   without   sleep   for   over   three   days   |   been   tortured   /   questioned   |   been   shot   |  been   stabbed   |   been   poisoned   |   been   held   prisoner   |  been   trapped  |   been   buried   alive   |   been   held   hostage   |   held   someone   hostage   |   been   stuck   in   a   different   world   /   universe   /   time   |   been   abused   by   someone   who   should   have   loved   /   appreciated   /   valued   you   |   had   a   panic   attack   |   had   night   terrors   |   been   in   a   car   accident   |   lost   your   job   |   lost   a   fight   |   had   sex   with   a   stranger   |   been   divorced   |   been   abandoned   |   passed   out   from   pain   |   cried   yourself   to   sleep   |   spent   a   whole   day   in   bed   |   hurt   yourself   |   taken   your   anger   out   on   yourself   |   taken   your   anger   out   on   someone   you   love   |   been   used   |   been   manipulated  |   felt   used   |   manipulated   someone   else   |   had   your   memories   /   mind   wiped   /   stolen   or   tampered   with   |   been   taken   over   by   a   hostile   force   |   been   terrified |   played   a   cruel   game   on   someone   |   been   forced   to   smile   |   felt   too   many   things   at   once   |   laughed   when   you   felt   like   crying   |   been   in   denial   |   been   denied   |   faced   your   demons

[snekinahat]

Hello @lerya-fanfic !! You were my giftee for One piece secret santa this year :3 I hope you´ll like your present! Happy holidays to you! <3

@op-secret-santa

[starlingsrps]

shot in the darkest dark.

jamie corcoran is one of rebecca’s favorite student at saint monica’s. he’s sweet and considerate, which is more than she can say for most five year old boys and definitely more than she can say for his father. darren corcoran is an assistant da for the city and has the personality of a pit bull. then rebecca thinks about some of the pit bulls she’s met and realizes that that’s an insult. the pit bulls she’s met are kind. darren corcoran is just an asshole. you don’t get that far in politics or law without being one she guesses but that’s also a terrible excuse as far as she’s concerned.

nothing good can come from being called into an after school meeting with him. while she packs her bag and locks her classroom, she tries to think of anything that it could possibly be about - jamie is smart and always brings home gold stars but she’d had to use leftover pink hearts from valentine’s day last week and darren corcoran seems like the type to make a big deal about it.

sister francis is at her desk while darren corcoran sits in one of the chairs before it with a wad of nicorette gum in his cheek. rebecca can’t help but think that he looks like a nicotine addicted gerbil. his greeting to her is short and clipped. clearly, there won’t be any small talk.

“if this is about jamie, i can assure you-“

“you work at limelight?” 

rebecca glances at sister francis but her face is a serene mask, as always. “i - i don’t know what that has to do with anything.”

the wad of gum shifts and he leans in slightly. it’s a little claustrophobic. “it’s a yes or no question.”

“i - yes. i’m a bartender a few nights a week.” she gives sister francis an apologetic look, as though it’s her fault single income as a teacher in san francisco is a pipe dream. “the tips help with rent and-“

corcoran cuts her off. “you know it’s a front, right?” she must look confused because he scoffs. “ask your little boyfriend: i’m sure he’ll be happy to explain.”

“he’s not my-“ rebecca cuts herself off there and clears her throat. she’s losing control of the situation and it doesn’t occur to her that she’s never had control of this situation. she turns her attention to sister francis, someone more level headed. “sister, i really don’t know what i’m here for and if you could just explain?”

her voice tilts up at the end, turning it into an apology instead of a request.

“mr. corcoran has reason to believe that you’ve violated the morals clause of your contract.”

she immediately thinks of her fingers in marco’s hair and his lips on her thigh before remembering that no, no she can’t be talking about that exactly. “i don’t understand?”

corcoran makes another scoffing sound and seems ready to launch himself back into the conversation but apparently even attorneys aren’t immune to a silencing stare from a nun. sister francis continues. “when you told us you had a second job, we understood but had reservations about it being in nightlife.”

rebecca closes her eyes for a moment and braces herself. she’s going to get fired for being a bartender. of course darren corcoran would be the one.

“you’ve always had sterling character in the classroom so we didn’t see it as cause for concern until mr. corcoran informed us of the nature of this establishment.”

she stays quiet, even though she wants to say that they aren’t even allowed to show nipple at limelight. then she realizes that they’re waiting for her to tell them just what kind of establishment it is. “it’s a bar…we have floor shows. i’m-“ she glances at corcoran and then back at sister francis. “if i need to quit, i understand.”

“it’s a fucking mob bar,” corcoran finally barks. “like i said, ask your little boyfriend what he gets up to in the back and you’ll find out it’s not just tits and cosmos.”

rebecca flinches, more from the tone than the words. they just don’t sound real, they don’t sound like something that could happen to her. it sounds like a bad movie or one of lily’s romance novels. the mob?

“the da office has been investigating the civellas for years and i haven’t nailed the little shit yet but-“

he keeps talking but the blood has rushed to rebecca’s head and she can’t hear him over the roaring in her ears. this can’t be real. the mob isn’t real. it has nothing to do with her, nothing to do with marco. it can’t. she’ll wake up from this dream any minute now and it will all be exactly the same. she’ll tell marco about it later and he’ll laugh that short, dry laugh before telling her she’s crazy. lily will tell her she skipped right over the sexy part of the mafia boyfriend fantasy and went straight to legal consequences.

she would know. she would know if she was doing something illegal, wouldn’t she? she would know if marco was doing anything illegal. 

right?

“-and i don’t want some slut teaching my kid.”

“that will be enough, mr. corcoran,” sister francis interjects. “thank you for your concern. i’m sure you’re a busy man.”

darren corcoran leaves in a flurry of righteous fury. his briefcase bangs against the back of rebecca’s chair as he passes and she can’t imagine it was fully an accident. sister francis is looking at her with the same sad, kind expression that the sisters used to look at her with when they realized she wasn’t a carbon copy of marie. “rebecca,” she starts. the softness in her voice makes her stomach churn. “mr. corcoran assures me that there is no reason to suspect you had anything to do with…criminal activities at this club. however, you must understand that we simply cannot have these associations with the school.”

rebecca forces herself to nod because she does understand and because she’s a nice girl who doesn’t disagree with superiors. she hears the echo of marco calling her good girl, the words sliding along her skin and into her blood stream. it had felt good then, like praise and power at the same time but now she feels dirty by association. for as gentle as sister francis is being, rebecca still feels like she knows every single thing she’s done.

she’s fired. it doesn’t matter how softly the words are delivered, they’re still the same. the shame slams into her, followed by the overwhelming urge to cry. she forces it down. she knows she will later, once the adrenaline has worn off, when the panic sets in. she gets through it with her fingernails dug into her palm, manages to shake sister francis’ hand and leave on legs that aren’t shaking yet.

she sits down hard on a bus bench halfway down the block when the shock wears off and drops her head in her hands. she doesn’t know what to do. there are a million thoughts in her head, bumping into each other and making her more confused. she has a month of rent saved but she needs to get another day job but she can’t give up limelight. she wants to talk to lily because lily always has an idea but she can’t explain what’s just happened because she still doesn’t know what just happened. 

this is real. this is painfully real.