It stared out innocently enough with a call from the owner of the Gallery that Tamsin had been part of a showing of up-and-coming artists a few weeks earlier. A friend of the collector who'd bought the one--and only--piece Tamsin had sold through the several days of the exhibit wanted to meet with her.
Even that first meeting had been innocent. More than a little unexpected, and bordering on too-good-to-be-true once Tamsin found out what Kit wanted to see her about, but innocent enough that it didn't take much to convince Tamsin to say yes. It wasn't like there wasn't historical precedence for it, and really, when you looked at it, Kit's offer wasn't that much different from any of the other side jobs or commissions Tamsin took to keep herself in art supplies while also keeping a roof over her head. The only real difference was that Kit's commission wasn't for something specific, just for Tamsin to keep doing what she was doing anyway.
And that's how it was, Kit was her patron, and Tamsin had a few extra hundred dollars a week freeing up her budget while keeping her in supplies and freeing up the time she would have spent on side jobs so she could spend it on her own projects instead. Win-win for everyone.
Sure, the exact amount of her stipend had grown over time, and yeah, she might have half jokingly mentioned to Kit during their semi-frequent conversations that with her own apartment becoming ever more crammed full of half completed projects since Kit started footing the bill for her supplies, she could really use a studio. But she'd never really expected Kit to follow through and find her one, let alone gift her an entire warehouse for one.
Tamsin made another slow 360 as she took in the empty, well lit space. It wasn't huge as far as warehouses went, but she could easily fit her whole apartment inside it at least twice and still have room left. Add in the large skylights in the ceiling that let in plenty of natural light, and it was too-good-to-be-true.
Tamsin smiled at her phone, only halfway paying attention to the other passengers around her as she made her way through the airport. The first thing she’d done once her flight had taxied off the runway was take her cell off airplane mode and fire off a ‘I’m here.’ text. Two of them, in fact, the second to her mother who should already be at the airport to pick her up despite the slight tailwind that had gotten her back to Louisiana twelve minutes early.
It was the reply to the first text, however, that had her grinning. Though it might be more accurate to say the smile was thanks to the sender and not the smiley face and clapping emoticons she had sent.
A bump against her arm knocked Tamsin out of her happy stupor, and she flashed a smaller, sheepish grin at the older man walking beside her. “Sorry.” She apologized, tucking her phone into her purse as she shifted to the side—after checking to make sure she could—to give him enough space to pass without another collision.
Without her phone to distract her, Tamsin picked up her pace as well. A little over a minute later she emerged from the main arrivals gate, making sure to step to the side before she rose up on her toes to get a better view as she searched for Flora.
“Momma!” Tamsin waved her free hand over her head, the other still tight on the handle of her carry-on. “Over here!”
Send ☕ and my muse will ‘spill the tea’ about what’s happening in a thread with another muse
I'm not sure this applies to a particular thread so much as a general verse.
Tamsin's head comes into view, a wide smile on her face. She waves at the camera and says, "Hi again," before the rest of her enters the frame as she settles into the chair.
A hand appears from out of frame and hands Tamsin a small card. Tamsin looks off camera as she takes the card. "Thank you very much." A muffled voice replies followed by the sound of the booth's door being closed.
Tamsin read off the card, flips it over to check the back, then flips it back over to read the front again.
"Alright," She shrugs, "Not like it's the first time I've talked about them." She looks up at the camera and points a finger at the lens. "But all y'all are expecting any dirt on them, you are going to be sorely disappointed. My folks are amazing and wonderful people and I will not say a word against them that they haven't earned." She tucks the card between her thighs, then reaches back, slipping the scrunchy off her wrist as she ties her hair back into a ponytail.
"Now..." Tamsin tilts her head to the side, then looks around the booth. "Did y'all change something since I was last here? It looks different?" She continues to look around the booth for a few more moments before she shakes her hand, cutting her hands horizontally through the air to dismiss the subject.
"Alright, let's get this over with; I've got brownies in the oven. You all want some tea on my Momma and Daddy, do ya? Well my favourite tea is Sweet Tea-" She winks at the camera. "So y'all are going to get some sweet tea spilled. My Momma gives the best hugs ever! Now, I know there are some of you out there thinking that you give the best hugs ever, or that you know someone who does and I am here to tell you that you are wrong; it's my Momma. 100%. And as for my Daddy, Joss... well, there's a reason my Momma loves them; they are the kindest, sweetest, strongest person I know next to my Momma and we are both better off for having Joss in our lives."
Tamsin nods, then licks her lips, then leans in towards the camera and lowers her voice to a whisper. "And I reckon they use the horse shampoo for their own hair because, good golly, is it every glossy. But I don't have any proof of that, so don't go spreading it around as gospel, and if I ever do find proof, I'm going to start using it myself because you cannot argue with those results."
Send ☕ and my muse will ‘spill the tea’ about what’s happening in a thread with another muse
Since no thread was mentioned, Tamsin will be spilling some Apartment verse tea.
"So I just talk into the camera?" Tamsin points towards in front of her while looking off to the side. An indistinct voice can be heard from out of frame. Tamsin nods, "And you're sure none of the others are going to see this?"
The voice from out of frame can be heard again. Tamsin turns to the camera then back to the side. "I don't know. This doesn't feel right."
The voice can be heard again. Tamsin looks back at the camera half way through, then back at the speaker.
"I guess that's true; It's not like any of this is canon for any of us, is it? And you promise everyone else is going to do this if they get called up?"
More muffled speaking from out of frame.
"Alright," Tamsin nods as she turns back to the camera, quickly combing her fingers through her hair as she shuffles in her seat to get more comfortable. "But if this comes back to bite me in the fanny, y'all better remember that I know a dragon and a werewolf."
Tamsin brushes her hair back behind her shoulders, then tucks it back behind her ears as she looks straight into the camera. "Both of whom I will not be spilling any tea on, thank you." She leans forward and drops her voice to a stage whisper. "I am not much of a gossip in general, so if all y'all are expecting something juicy, you're probably going to have to wait for one of the others to come along, but... Santana has a teddy bear she got from Rachel for her birthday, one of those ones that you can record a message into, and sometimes when Rachel's not around, Santana will hide in her room and listen to it."
Tamsin leans back. "Now if y'all are wondering what message Rachel recorded, that is a detail you're going to have to ask someone else for. And don't go getting snippy about it; I told all y'all that I'm not a gossip."
“What about a coffee shop?” Angela looked up from her laptop.
Rae lowered her book to her chest as she turned to face Angela. “What?”
“A coffee shop.” Angela leaned forward from her spot on the couch. “For your new career. You could run a coffee shop. Think of all the built in AU potential”
Tamsin looked up from her sketch book, eyebrow arched as she turned to Angela from her spot at the other end of the couch. “Is it an AU if you’re already an OC?”
Rae half rocked, half rolled herself as went from being comfortably draped sideways over her chair to sitting upright. “One, can we step back from the Meta a bit. And two, coffee shops aren’t exactly the first thing that comes to mind when you think ‘helping people’.”
“Of course it helps,” Angela protested, picking up her own half empty and barely steaming coffee mug. “Think of all the people that need caffeine to be functional. That double espresso you just sold them might save their life.”
“Uh-huh,” Rae hummed skeptically as she nodded towards the blonde sprawled out and half sunk into her beanbag chair out on the balcony. “And have you seen how dangerous some people are when the get caffeine?”
“…Okay, fair point” Angela conceded before quickly rallying, “but Hannah is the exception to the rule.”
“And Tamsin?”
“Hey!”
“Or Lennox? Or Jade?”
“Hello! Why am I getting dragged into this?”
“Okay, I’ll give you Tamsin-“
“I am sitting right here!” Tamsin leaned forward, waving her hands in the air between Rae and Angela to draw their attention. “And I don’t even like Coffee. I am a Sweet Tea girl, thank you very much.”
“Tea has caffeine.” Jonathan said under his breath. Not under enough judging by the glare he got from Tamsin as she slumped back into her seat, arms crossed over her chest.
Without so much as a glance in their direction, Angela continued,“-but Lennox is dangerous with or without Caffeine-“
“Damn right I am.” Lennox, already grinning from watching Tamsin grow more irate the longer she was being ignored, smiled wider as she twirled a throwing knife between her fingers.
“-and Jade is more dangerous without Caffeine than with,” Angela waved vaguely towards the subject of her point.
“That’s true. Caffeine is my comfort food.” Jade said from her chair, nodding slowly as she twirled a pair of antique silver sheers around a finger.
Jonathan’s forehead wrinkled in thought. “I’m not sure Caffeine counts as a food. Food additive, maybe, but not food food.”
“And I hate comfort. And yet I still say it’s my comfort food- Jade brought the spinning shears to an abrupt stop, the tip pointed in Jonathan’s direction. “But if you still want to argue the point-“
“No. I’m good.’ Jonathan leaned away from Jade as he shook his head. “We’re all good.”
“That’s what I thought.” Jade resumed spinning her scissors.
Angela, undeterred by the antics of the others, pressed on. “I still say a Coffee shop could work. It could be like one of those Hallmark detective shows. You know the ones; someones a baker or a history professor or whatever and they end up helping the real Detective slash love interest solve the crime? Only you’d still be a P.I. and the Coffee shop would be you base of operations. And you could use your super hearing to listen in to your customers to find out who needs help. The coffee shop could even be your cover if you wanted to throw a little supernatural superhero in there. Like Clark Kent, but a werewolf barista instead of a Kryptonian journalist.”
Jonathan turned to Rae. “I mean… that does sound kind of cool.”
Rae started at him for a beat, then Angela for another. “… Okay, yes, that does sound kind of cool, eavesdropping aside. But I don’t know if it’s what I want.”
“One way to find out, right?”
“If you’re about to get meta again, I swear I’m going to turn this whole post around.”
“Now who’s getting meta?” Jade said.
Rae turned to Jade. “You do know silver doesn’t hurt me, right?”
Jade’s scissors slowed in their spinning. “No, I did not.”
“But isn’t that a thing with werewolves? Silver hurts them, and wooden stakes for Vampires, right?” Jonathan asked.
“And Werewolf bites are supposed to make you a werewolf, but where I’m from, that doesn’t happen,” Rae shrugged, “Most of that stuff is just made up by Hollywood and gothic writers anyway. I mean, you don’t see me going all Grrr, Argh just because there’s a full moon, do you?”
“No, but someone is definitely not doing their part to clean the shower drain.” Rachel said as she entered the room/ Her eyes lingered on Hannah as she surveyed the seating arrangements before taking a spot at the far end of Jonathan’s couch.
“We all have our own showers, so it’s probably one of your girlfriends. And given that most of them are some flavour of brunette, unless it’s blonde hair you can rule out at least one of them.” Mal said, her tone bordering on board as she stepped into the room from the Kitchen, a bag of cookies tucked against her chest with one arm, and a large glass of milk in her other hand.
“Is anyone else a little weirded out that the dragon said Brunettes have different flavours?” Jonathan asked.
“No, because Mal doesn’t eat people. And I should know, I’m one of her twins.” Tamsin sprang to Mal’s defence and her feet, quickly moving to hook an arm with Mal’s.”
“Not twins. Not triplets. Not related.” Mal ducked away from Tamsin as she headed for the hallway, leaving a pouting Tamsin behind.
“I’m sure she didn’t mean it.” Jonathan said.
“Oh, yes she did.” Lennox and Jade said simultaneously, earning a grin between both and a head shake from several of the others in the room.
Tamsin, arms now crossed over her chest, shook her head at the room. “Y’all just woke up on the wrong side of the bed today, didn’t you?”
“Maybe they need some caffeine?” Angela wiggled her eyebrows at Rae.
“Okay, fine. I’ll put it on the list. But that’s all I’m doing.”
Rachel clapped her hands. “I’ll send you some vegan friendly recipes.”
“I said I’d put it on the list, not that I was going to start working out the menu- You know what, knock yourself out.”
“Only don’t actually knock yourself… out.” Jonathan trailed off as several sets of eyes turned to him. “You know, I think I hear- Yeah, yeah, that’s someone calling me. I’ll just… go.”
“See what y’all did? You scared him off.” Tamsin shook her head at the others for a second time before rushing off to catch up with Jonathan. “Hold up, I’ll come with you.”
Jonathan could be heard from the hallway. “You really don’t ha-“
“Not a problem. We can stop by Mal’s room so you can apologize for saying she eats people.” Tamsin’s voice drifted back into the common room, growing fainter with each word. Jonathan’s “Great.” was the last of the conversation the others could make out before the pair moved out of earshot.
“Did she have caffeine this morning?” Angela looked around the room as she asked the question.
“Two Pancakes, extra syrup, four slices of bacon, hash-browns and two eggs.” Hannah sat up. “And a glass of Peach juice. No coffee.”
Silence filled the room for the next several seconds as everyone stared at Hannah. Hannah grinned back.
“I- Does anyone know what to do with that?” Jade finally broke the stalemate.
A chorus of noes came back.
“Right...” Lennox said, “Moving on.”
“Wait!” Hannah jumped to her feet. “Before any of you go anywhere: Did you finish it?”
Everyone looked at Hannah. Everyone but Angela followed Hannah’s gaze back to Angela.
“Finished what?” Rae asked.
“Nothing!” Angela closed her lap top , taking it and her coffee mug with her as she got to her feet.
“Ang?” Rae leaned forward, a grin slowly spreading across her lips.
“It’s-”
“The next chapter.”
Several heads turned to Angela, the rest turned to Hannah. After a beat, they heads switched.
“Next chapter of what?” Jade asked, a cheshire grin spread wide across her face.
Rae started to laugh, then shook her head at the pout Angela turned in her direction. “Aww, no, Ang. I’m not laughing about that. I promise. I- it’s just makes all the AU stuff make sense.”
“I am laughing at you,” Lennox said, absent proof of her claim beyond her grin.
“I’m just pissed you’re hiding it from us.” Jade added.
“Wait, you read Fanfic?” Angela asked.
“Have you seen the show I come from. My canon is basically fanfic. And don’t even get me started on the-
“JORI!” Tamsin and Aurora could be heard shouting from the far end of the hallway.
“Seriously, how do they do that?” Rachel asked as she got up to peek through the doorway. “It’s like they’re psychic.”
“More like psycho.” Jade groused, before turning back to Angela. “But yeah, *crazy shippers aside-” Jade looked over her shoulder as she called out the targets of her ire. A second duet of “JORI!” came back down the hallway.
“Psychics.” Rachel stage whispered as she headed back to her seat.
Jade rolled her eyes “Aside from those people, I am a storyteller even if most of my stories are meant to scare your pants o-” Jade glanced at Hannah out of the corner of her eyes. “Scare you, I love a good fanfic.”
Hannah bounced forwards, slinging an arm across Jade’s shoulders to drag her along as she headed over to Angela. “You’ll love this one. It’s sooooo much better than Good. It’s great!”
“So, full of smut, then?” Lennox asked, eyebrow arched in sarcasm.
“No.” Hannah said, her tone full of wondrous surprise, ”That’s the weird thing. It’s amazing, but there’s no smut in it at all.”
“Well,” Angela blushed slightly, “Not no smut, but-”
“Wait, what?” Hannah leapt forward, forcing Angela to leap back to avoid a collision. “When did the smut come? Where is it? Let me read it.”
“It’s not- There isn’t any.”
Hannah’s shoulders slumped. “Awwww.”
“Yet. I did rate it M for a reason.”
“So there will be smut?” Hannah perked up.
“Eventually.”
“Knew it.” Lennox shook her head as she got to her feet. “You-” she said, pointing at Angela, “-send me the link.” Without waiting for a reply, she left the room.
Rae shook her head, then turned to Angela. “I’d like the link to, please. If you’re willing to share that is.”
“Of course she’s willing to share.” Jade pointed her scissors towards Hannah who was currently trying to get Angela’s laptop from where Angela had hidden it behind her back. “She let that one read it.”
“That’s different.”Angela rose up on her tip toes, her laptop held high above her head. “I didn’t meant to show it to her. She found it online and figured out it was me writing it.”
Hannah stopped trying to snatch Angela’s computer long enough to flash Rae and Jade a grin. “I’m a spy, it’s what I do.”
“Yeah, you’re a spy... who’s loosing a game of keep away with an accountant.” Jade pointed out.
Hannah stopped again, head tilted to the side. “... Huh. Good point. I’ll be right back.” Hannah ran out of the room.
Angela glared at Jade. “If I end up getting kidnapped, shot, or-”
Send her the link to the latest chapter and she’ll forget all about it. “Jade cut in. “And send it to the rest of us while you’re at it. And if I like it, I’ll send you a link to some of mine.”
“Wait!” Rachel shook her head hard in disbelief before focusing on Jade. “You write fanfic.”
“I’m a sto-ry tel-ler,” Jade replied, stressing the last two words. “Film is my preferred medium, but scripts come first, and a script is basically a canon fan-fic.”
Rae cocked her head to the side. “That’s actually kind of poetic.”
Jade winked at Rae “I do good work.”
Hannah leaned towards Angela, “Are they fl-”
“AHH!” Angela jumped. “What the F- Don’t! Do! That!”
“Do what?”
“... Forget it.”
“Forget what?”
“Anyone else getting a ‘who’s on first’ vibe?” Jade asked.
“You know who’s on first?” Rachel asked.
“You know who’s on first?” Jade replied.
“It’s a classic.”
“Exactly.”
“Are they fl-”
“No, Hannah. No one is flirting.”
Hannah dropped herself into Angela’s former spot on the couch. “And that’s why we need Fanfic. Speaking of-” Hannah opened Angela’s laptop which was now sitting on her thighs.
“Wha- When- How?”
Hannah looked up. “I’m a spy. It’s what I do.”
And thus ends an (almost) entirely smut free Apartment verse post. I know, I’m as shocked as you are. Also part six of Rae’s Career Crisis. I have to say, the idea of a Coffee shop owner by day crime Solving P.I/Vigilante by (moonlit) night is one I like, and it would fit in really well with Rae’s primary reason for wanting to live in the human vs Fae world--she’s fascinated by people. Getting to watch them go about their day to day lives over a cup of fresh brew and put her Fae abilities to use helping those that need it would be a fun concept to explore.
Also, I would 100% watch that movie/series.
And speaking of series, this may also mark the end of the Career Crisis series. Time will tell soon(ish) enough, and we do still have to find a new career for Rebecca so there may be a spin-off series either way. In any case I (and this indie) aren’t dead yet, so if you want to bounce your muses off of any of mine, please do.
“But why not?” Hannah groaned, looking up from Tamsin’s feet in her lap, her fingers paused mid massage as she stared at Rebecca in confusion and disappointment.
Tamsin lowered her sketchbook and joined Hannah in looking at Rebecca from their spot on the other couch. “Because you don’t want to have one, or because you have a problem with them in general?”
“I’m wondering the same thing.” Rae said, a small smirk on her face.
“You,” Rebecca pointed at Rae, “Shut it. You already said enough when you started this nonsense.” She turned to Hannah and just shook her head before turning to Tamsin, “And you… No, I don’t. As long as they feel safe and comfortable doing it, are of age, and are doing it because they want to and not because they’re being pressured into it by someone else or out of financial desperation, I fully support sex workers of all stripes. And even if they’re being forced into it for financial reasons, my issue isn’t with the person, but the lack of other options available for them. It’s just not for me. I mean, would you? You were on the same reblog I was.”
“I would.” Hannah “I have accounts set up for all of us.”
“You what?” Rebecca asked.
Tamsin poked Hannah’s thigh with her toe. “You didn’t, like, set up cameras in our rooms or anything like that, did you?”
Hannah’s nose scrunched up in disgust. “Ew, no! Of course not. Consent is key, and I would never invade your privacy like that.”
“Aren’t you a spy?” Rae asked, “Isn’t invading peoples’ privacy kind of your day job.”
“That’s different.”
Rebecca waved off Rae and Tamsin, both of whom were drawing breath for follow-up questions. “Can we get back to the part where you set up OnlyFans accounts for all of us?”
“I wanted to make sure you could all watch when I started posting on mine. And if you decided to join me, Bonus!”
“That actually kinda makes sense.” Rae said, nodding slowly.
“How?” Rebecca turned to Rae, “How does that make sense.”
“Including the guys?”
Rae, Rebecca, and Hannah turned to Tamsin, who immediately started to blush. “What, I’m just curious if Hannah was planning for *all* of us to join in, or just the women.”
“Mmhmm,” Rae grinned at Tamsin.
Tamsin ducked back behind her sketch book. “Shut up. It’s a perfectly valid thing to ask.”
Jonathan stopped halfway through the entrance into the living room, eyeing the four women for a beat before glancing back over his shoulder. Turning back to them, he asked. “Am I- should I go?”
Rae and Hannah both answered, “No,” while Rebecca answered with a, “Yes.” Tamsin remained silent.
“Uhmm…” Jonathan looked over his shoulder again, then shrugged as he headed for an empty seat, joining Tamsin in the pink cheeks club as he ignored Hannah patting her lap in invitation.
“Hannah made us all OnlyFan accounts.” Rebecca said, her feelings on this news clear in her tone.
Jonathan nodded slowly, his whole torso gently rocking with the gesture. “Why?”
“Because we’re all sexy bitches, and I wanted to make sure you could all watch mine.”
Jonathan stopped rocking. His head tilted to the side. “What?”
“Every one of us here, with the exception of Rae, made the list of muses who would have one, so I don’t know why everyone except Rae is acting like I’m the weird one for running with the idea.”
“Really? You can’t think of a single reason?” Rebecca asked before waving her hands to cut off any possible replies. “Changing the subject.” She pointed at Hannah, “And you are giving me the login for my account so I can delete it.”
“But-“
“No buts. And no puns about butts either. We’re supposed to be trying to figure out new jobs for Rae and me, not turning this place into an amateur porn studio.”
“Is it still amateur if you’re getting paid.”
Rebecca covered her face with her hands as she shook her head. “Seriously, Rae?”
“I’m just asking. I thought the difference between amateur and professional was that amateurs didn’t get paid, which we would be if we were on OnlyFans.”
“She has a point.” Jonathan pointed towards Rae. “I mean, technically we wouldn’t be amateurs if we got paid.”
“Since none of us are going to be getting paid either way, it doesn’t matter.” Rebecca countered, uncovering her face to look at Jonathan.
“I might.” Hannah mumbled.
“Fine, one of us might be, but the rest of us-“
“Maze might,” Rae said. “I know she didn’t make the official list, but I could see her doing it.”
Jonathan nodded. ” Yeah, me too.”
“Right? So that makes two of-“
“I hate you all.” Rebecca dropped her face into her palms again.
Rae leaned over and very gently reached out to put a hand on Rebecca’s shoulder. “Sorry, Beks. I promise we won’t talk about it any more.”
“Still hate you.” Rebecca turned her head towards Rae, the small grin on the half of her face exposed taking the sting out of her words.
“Then I’ll just have to find a way to get back into your good graces,“ Rae grinned back. She gave Hannah a pointed look. “Starting with no more O F talk, right?”
Hannah huffed her discontent with this edict, but nodded.
“See,” Rae turned back to Rebecca and gave her another smile. She squeezed Rebecca’s shoulder before giving it a friendly pat.
Rebecca rolled her eyes, but smiled. “It’s a start. But I’m going to expect some serious grovelling from you before you’re forgiven. Or at least some cookies.
“Snack run!” Hannah jumped to her feet, earning a squawk from Tamsin as her feet were tossed out of Hannah’s lap.
“She’s going to come back with jello, isn’t she?” Rebecca asked after Hannah disappeared into the kitchen.
“I’ll go.” Jonathan started to get up only to be shooed back down as Tamsin got to her feet.
“I’ll do it,” She said. “And I’ll get your login stuff for the-site-which-shall-not-be-named while we’re in there.”
“Thanks, Tam.” Rae said, the hand on Rebecca’s shoulder sliding down to rub Rebecca’s back.
“Lower. And a little to the right.”
Rae shook her head, giving a light chuckle as she followed Rebecca’s instructions.
“… So,” Jonathan said, “What, uh, jobs had you already ruled out?”
Part 5 (or deleted scene part 2--who even know any more) of Rae’s (and Rebecca’s) Career Crisis (and the end of the OnlyFans arc of this ridiculous rambling journey... I’m like 95-ish percent sure) For anyone who missed it in the last part, the link to the reblog they talk about is here
