Sneak peek of a possible fic I came up with last night! This scene would be way down the line in it, but I'm too excited not to share it because there's no way I'm getting to the fic itself for a while.
The main pairing in this fic is Helen/James/John/Nikola/Ranna.
(Word count: 1,062)
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Chapter ? of: Isn't it Lovely?
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Helen felt her lip quiver slightly as she faced Nikola.
He made no move to come closer to her. He stayed feet away from her, hands in the pockets of his coat, staring at her warily, as if she were crazy for being here. As if she shouldn't have been here, when he was the one that shouldn't have been.
"Helen." he repeated her name, shifting.
If he turned away, Helen swore she was beat him to a bloody pulp on the sidewalk. She wanted to. She wanted him to turn away so that she had the excuse. So that she could make him hurt and bleed, to show him a fraction of the pain he had caused.
"How….how are you? How are the others?"
She swallowed, taking a breath and letting it out, trying to contain the rage and the pain that filled her now.
She thought of bloody hands and blanket forts and grief in the dark.
"You left us."
Nikola winced, his expression changing, as if she had greatly hurt him for immediately bringing it up. As if he wished that she hadn't. As if he had expected to get away with what he had done.
"You left us, Nikola."
Her voice shook and Helen wanted to tell herself that it was in anger, but it was in grief. In wanting to demand why. To scream at him and cry and release all the pain that he had added to. He hadn't been the initial cause, but he had doubled it in one night.
"I know."
"You left us!"
Since he wouldn't close the gap, she did, marching closer to him, fists balled in the pockets of her coat, though she wasn't sure if it was to stop them from shaking or to stop herself from hitting him in the face.
"I know what I did."
Nikola's voice was quiet.
"Then why did you do it?"
Nikola's shoulders curved and he looked down.
"Why?"
"I couldn't take it, Helen. I couldn't…I couldn't stand it. I had to go."
"You couldn't stand the people that love you grieving? That's why you left us?"
He flinched and Helen had to swallow a hot ball that had formed in her throat.
"It wasn't you. It was me."
"You selfish bastard."
Nikola didn't respond this, looking weary.
Tears stung Helen's eyes and she forced them back.
"How are they?" Nikola asked quietly.
"Grieving James. Grieving you."
He looked smaller at the last words and Helen felt a sick sort of pleasure at this. She wanted to tear him open, drip poison into the wounds, because there was no way that he had as many as the rest of them.
"We lost you, just after James. Do you know what it's like, Nikola, to wake up the day after the funeral and find another person gone? A bloody note on the kitchen counter? To wake up and lose another person that you love? To have to face that they chose to leave you?"
A tear ran down her face.
Nikola made a strange jerky motion, as if he were going to come closer and stopped himself.
"How are you?" he pressed, as if he were desperate for the information.
"I had to come to New York to track you down, you bastard. How do you think I am?"
Helen clenched her jaw, hardly able to stop herself from screaming the words at him.
"I never hid where I am."
"You never returned any calls either."
"Are you here to ask me to come home?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because they need you."
"Why?"
"You want to know how they are, Nikola?"
Helen stalked closer, even though there was no one else around to hear what she was about to say.
"John has been seeking….revenge for James. He comes home with blood on him. We clean him up and I stitch up any injuries, so no one knows."
Nikola's eyes widened in alarm, in shock.
"He--"
"Yes."
Nikola dragged a hand through his hair, shaking his head in denial. As if he couldn't believe that a man such as John had turned to such a darkness.
Helen no longer remembered if she had been surprised that seemingly gentle, uncertain John had become a killer, but she supposed her reaction had probably been the same.
"And…and Ranna?"
"She's carrying a child that's already lost two fathers. How do you think she is?"
Nikola cringed.
"They need you, Nikola. You may not deserve to come home, you may not deserve them, but they need you."
Her tears ran down her face freely now and Helen hated herself for it.
She was supposed to be the strong one. She was the one that was supposed to be steady, for the others. She was the one that had come to New York to bring Nikola home.
She wasn't supposed to be crying now.
He moved closer now, as if to take her in his arms, but Helen threw up her hand to prevent him from doing so.
Nikola's eyes searched her face, expression pleading.
"What about you, Helen? Do you need me?"
"What I need doesn't matter."
Nikola's eyes scanned her, lingering on her face.
"You're sick, aren't you?"
His voice was so soft it was nearly lost despite their proximity.
Helen swallowed and nodded.
Nikola's expression broke and she saw the fear and the pain.
"Do they know?"
"Yes."
"Do they know how serious it is?"
"No."
"Can you survive?"
"Perhaps."
Nikola grasped her shoulders and stared her in the eyes, terror in his.
"What are you planning, Helen?"
"Protecting my family."
She shrugged him off, seeing the tears in his eyes. That was something she couldn't stand.
"Come home, Nikola. Stop being a coward when people love you."
He kept staring at her and Helen had the impression that she had taken a hammer to the cracked world he had been living in since they had been told of James's death.
She smiled as the rain began in earnest.
Good.
He would have no choice but to come home now.
"Helen--"
Helen turned and began to walk away, ignoring him even as she kept crying.
Her mind was already far away from where they were, back in a blanket fort and warmth and safety, which was more than the man behind her could give her now.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Rating: General Audiences
Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Categories: F/F, Gen
Fandom: Sanctuary (Canada TV 2008)
Relationships: Helen Magnus/Ranna Seneschal, Declan MacRae & Helen Magnus, Declan MacRae & Ranna Seneschal
Characters: Helen Magnus, Ranna Seneschal, Declan MacRae
Additional Tags: Fluff, Family, Tea, Friendship, Post-Canon, Post-Episode: s04e13 Sanctuary for None: part 2, Pregnancy, Established Relationship, Sperm Donor, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Summary:
Helen doesn't quite see the point of slowing down when she isn't the one carrying a baby, but she tries for Ranna's sake, especially when Declan stops by for a visit.
Trottie's favorite color has got to be red. Her shop is red. Her bedroom is red. Her fingernails are painted red. The most consistent color in her wardrobe is red.
I imagine that they will later reveal her favorite color to be blue or something in the show.
huge fan of when characters love each other and are closely bonded in an explicitly nonromantic way. however ☝️ i am very much not a huge fan of what happens when characters like this are introduced to fandom
So I just simultaneously did, and possibly didn't lose my job today :)
Very much did in the sense that I literally do not know where my job is at the moment. But, for the time being I haven't been let go because nobody else including the store owner knows where it is either.
So, I don't wanna risk doxxing myself by posting pictures but goddamn am I tempted because this is not a believable event. This is a cartoon problem. For looneytoons.
But yeah, so, I work(ed?) at a kiosk selling boba tea, right? Freestanding kiosk in the mall with full water and electrical hookups and multiple fridges and sinks and a mini kitchen and the works. Fully functional tea shop. Very important to note that it was there last night, The work chat was discussing another issue last night at closing time. I'll get back to this.
It's been showing signs of being on the way out with how business is being handled lately and I've been considering other options, which is probably why I'm not as torn up about this as I should be, but maybe it just hasn't set in yet, but that's not the point. The point is there's been a lot of shit breaking and not being replaced and nobody mentioning anything about it until I walk into work in the morning and have to figure out why shit like the fucking cash register isn't there today. So I'm kinda used to having to ask questions about big things that nobody bothered to update me on. I was out for two weeks recovering from a surgery, so I came to work this morning assuming there'd be some kind of bullshit, yeah?
So, the question I had to ask the chat this morning was:
Not a text I ever thought I'd have to send in sincerity, but there it is. Because what I found instead was a fenced off patch of discolored tiles and a few holes in the floor where my entire place of employment used to be.
And the answer? Nobody knows! It was there last night when the mall closed, and every single trace of the structure and all its contents including drink making supplies and our safe and cashbox was gone when it opened again. And when I say nobody knows, I mean everyone from last night's closers to the actual (former?) owner of the store jad no fucking clue about this until getting that text from me this morning. For once I am actually the first to know. 🎉.
So. I guess I didn't so much lose my job as had it stolen. Not by AI, but good old fashioned hands-on human beings picking it up and carrying it away somehow. All mall security would tell me was that they were instructed not to tell me anything and have us contact our management. Who also don't know anything. And later on I came across some construction workers around the gravesite of the kiosk discussing filling in the holes, asked them about it, and was told that they "weren't at liberty to say".
So, not only is my job gone in the most literal physical sense of the word, but it was taken in some kind of super secret kiosk extraction in the dead of night without any warning or witnesses and nobody is allowed to speak of it. The store owner said she was gonna figure it out 10 hours ago and still no word back.
I don't know what else to say aside from I've been laughing all day and I'm gonna have a hell of a time explaining Schrodinger's Unemployment to the benefits office.
Update that is not an update because I'm basically certain this isn't what actually happened:
My mother in law thinks the FBI took it.
Not any of the other stores around the state. Just the one little kiosk.
Why? Because she loves a conspiracy and is just a little bit extra.
Also because she was around for the massive crackdown on Yakuza-owned businesses in Waikiki (in her homestate) that did actually involve the FBI seizing stores (no confirmation of making kiosks cleanly disappear in the middle of the night though).
Still no word from my job on what's actually going on, but the most likely theory so far is that maybe the kiosk was on lease and got repossessed? The mystery continues
(also shout out to the person who proposed Carmen Sandiego)
According to the owner, based on what she's been able to find out, the kiosk was not removed legally and they're starting a potentially long process of legal action. I hope she gets to sue the shit out of whoever did it but for now at least I know for sure I'm unemployed.
Really hoping for more details in terms of who/why/how, so I'll keep updating if I learn anything.
For now the summary is: An unnamed entity that is most likely mall management (on account of mall security cooperating with them) stole an entire kiosk and all the contents including money and machinery with barely a trace in the middle of the night grinch-style, with zero warning or explanation, and ensured the silence of both security and the construction crew, in an action that was definitely preplanned and illegal, and as far as I know nobody knows its whereabouts.
So now I'm officially out of a job. Because my workplace was literally stolen in the night.
Actually fuck it let's share some photos cause I wouldn't be inclined to believe this myself. It's not like anyone can stalk me at my job now and I'm not gonna have to see any coworkers that might find my tumblr.
Enjoy the unintentionally funniest text I've ever sent in my life
Aaand a close-up:
The last remains of a once Very Much Solid And Immobile Workplace
So apparently, over the summer, Quibi (the shortest-lasting streaming service ever lmao) did a quarantine project called “Home Movie: The Princess Bride” where a bunch of celebrities recreated The Princess Bride in tiny chunks at home.
And like there was no permanent cast, all these celebrities seem to have gotten a scene or part of a scene to do (i’m not sure exactly, I did not ever watch Quibi and thus haven’t seen this yet), and then they just… recreated it as best they could. At home. Under quarantine.
So like, you had Jennifer Garner in a blanket cape playing Princess Buttercup AND the Booing Old Woman with a crowd comprised entirely of stuffed animals:
Or Taika Waititi paying Westley off a badly-drawn Inigo on a piece of cardboard held in front of someone’s face:
And it’s all just delightful.
But my absolute favorite part of this thing that I’ve sadly never seen but assume is probably absolutely hilarious and a treasure and I want to find it some day and watch the whole thing… is that Carey Elwes is in it.
In case you need a comfort watch and because Youtube search nowadays sucks rancid putrescence, I remind you of the Princess Bride Home Movie from the lockdown, starring everybody
OKAY CAN SOMEBODY EXPLAIN TO ME HOW THE FUCK YOU SHIP A PACKAGE OF COOKIES TO A FRIEND WHO LIVES IN NEW JERSEY, ONLY TO HAVE IT NOT GET THERE ON TIME BECAUSE IT SOMEHOW ENDED UP IN GUAM?
SO FOR SHITS AND GIGGLES, @homebeccer @phantomrose96 @cupcakecreeper AND I WANTED TO KNOW HOW MUCH IT WOULD ACTUALLY COST THE U.S. GOVERNMENT TO INTENTIONALLY SEND THESE COOKIES FROM TEXAS TO GUAM TO NEW JERSEY AND???????????????
AND
IT’S
IT’S
IT’S NOT AN OPTION IT’S NOT AN OPTION I CAN’T I-
I COULDN’T EVEN HAVE SENT THESE COOKIES TO GUAM EVEN IF I’D HAVE TRIED
Ok I know this is super old now but I work at a post office and I was curious about the price so I did some digging and I still don’t have a definite answer because THE REASON it says “no shipping services available” is because all shipping services were actually suspended to Guam at the time. As in no packages, parcels, letters, or mail of any kind could be sent to Guam. So not only is it mind boggling that it got sent so far in the wrong direction of its intended destination, but because nothing should have been able to get in to Guam period.
You QUITE LITERALLY could not have sent these cookies to Guam if you tried.
