🎵 The Lady in Red… 🎵
22-May-2026

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🎵 The Lady in Red… 🎵
22-May-2026
I love the beginning of the show, the Rookie, because they have scenes like this one. This scene made me smile 😃
"Well! This Is Just Like Old Times, Now, Isn't It?"
Laertes stands up off the worktable. It won't be. It will be different this time. He'll make it that way.
"Feeling nostalgic?" That's right, stay angry, stay on his guard. She's learned a lot from her brothers and father. The second they stop biting back, let their spark die, they lose.
"Not Really! This Is Far More Interesting! I Wish You'd Done This Before!" Nikola turns to a drawer, rummaging through the contents. She doesn't know exactly what she's going to do yet, but that's half the fun! An effect, is what she wants. Something new.
Laertes scoffs and desperately tries to ignore the way she feels something in her puncture at those words.
"Sorry for being bad entertainment." If he pumps his voice with enough sarcasm, it will sound like he doesn't mean it.
"That's Alright! You've More Than Made Up For It With This!" No, no, no, no, he doesn't want that godawful hope there- "How Did You Manage To Stay Out Of Our Reach? We Worked Very Hard To Find You, You Know!"
They pause at their pacing, like a nervous dog's movement before a storm. He's twenty six, around his brother's age. The age he'd been in the hospital with Marc. The age of someone bigger and less afraid than they are.
"I'm a magic quilt."
Nikola tilts her head. "I Think You Mean A Doll!"
Laertes feels the sudden and violent flash of a blank canvas through her head, before letting it pass on with the wind.
"No. I didn't."
She turns again to watch him, painted face alight with curiosity and confusion alike. When had it learned to stand its ground?
Instinctually, he sits back down on the table.
"You Really Have Changed Quite A Lot! I Didn't Know You Could Do That!"
"You didn't know a lot of things." Laertes spits out, unadulterated spite tempered only by a little sadness. She didn't know the dance, and she didn't know him. She'd never even wanted to, had she?
"Well, That Is Rather The Point!" Nikola giggles, which was never the point at all. "Where Did You Get That Skin, By The Way? It's Rather Nice Quality! I Guess You Did Pay Attention To Our Lesson! And Here I Thought You'd Hidden Yourself Away For It!"
He had hidden himself away, and this isn't real skin at all. But Laertes stands firmer ground in deflection and obfuscation, so he grins wide with a mouth full of teeth and old, wrathful desperation.
"Was That A Question, Nikola?"
Hmm. This trick is getting old. Is the room starting to smell like smoke?
She bridges the gap, cupping his cheek in a gentle plastic hand. "Nikola? Why, I Thought You Called Me Momma, Poppet!"
The effect is instantaneous. A wide-eyed twelve year old stares back at her, broken eyes an anguished tug-of-war.
Does she want it to call her that?
Laertes panics, trying to wrestle himself free. Nikola smiles wide at the odd affair. "Fascinating!" She pulls her hand back, and they slump, like she'd somehow taken all the energy out of them with that simple motion. At this rate, he isn't going to get out of here as himself.
As if she ever could have.
"Fuck you." He mumbles, one last defiant swing. "Touch me again, and I'll- I'll bite."
Nikola pokes a broken eye, nearly cutting herself on it. Huh. She'll need to find more durable buttons than these last ones.
"Ah-Ah-Ah! I Could Just Get Your 'Friend' Back Here, Couldn't I? Ooh! Or One Of Those People Convinced You're Their Brother! Very Clever Act, By The Way! You're Smarter Than I Gave You Credit for! Now, I like Jack, So Not Him! But He Had An Older Brother Too! Jude, Right? I'll Just Bring Him In Here! Wouldn't That Be Lovely?"
Fuck. That can't happen to him. It can't. Not like Ellery. They- They wouldn't be able to-
"Cat Got Your Tongue? Shame! And Here I Thought I Would Be The One To Cut It Off, Ha Ha!" She finally finds the tools she wants. His eyes lock on them and don't let go.
There's no point talking to her. S h e p r o b a b l y w o u l d n ' t l i k e t h a t , a n y w a y .
No. She would. And they won't give her the satisfaction.
Nikola frowns after a moment. Well, that's not so interesting. But this steely resolve is still more than the hollowness she's seen so much of. It makes her want to find out what will happen if she takes the step and starts cutting.
She takes her position, seam ripper held delicately as a flower and precisely as a scalpel. Laertes stares back silently, the both of them focused so intently on what comes next.
Time to see what it takes for this one to break.
The Start of Something
■●●●■●●●■♤♡◇♧■●●●■●●●■
With @clinicalquinn as Harley
And
@thatretro-mistaj as Joe Rousopoulos
Staring
@onebulletprayer as Jonny Walker
It was 1977 in June, the late night scene of the city when Joe first saw her. In his club, dancing and drinking with girl friends and having fun. He found her very beautiful and those bouncy blonde curls made his loins want her to themselves. He passed back the joint handed him and takes a sip of his Manhattan drink before putting it down and standing. He was wearing a silver partially see-through overcoat on top of a groovy orange brown and tan button up—worn unbuttoned at the chest; his pants were an indigo purple and were a bit sparkly in the right light. His hair was black, his skin was a cold Caucasian tone, and his eyes big and very green, the grass is greener on the other side kind of green.
She was with 3 other girls, but he'd take them all if they were up for some cash grab tonight. He walked through the dance floor and up to them with confidence, being taller than average height he was often intimidating. So he smiled at them and slid right into their little clique to match their dancing. He looked at each one of the other girls deliberately. Then, looked to the babe in interest.
"What's shakin' baby?" He says with suave voice.
John Austen -- Hamlet
Red String Theory, Part One (Rough Draft)
The fifth-grade class was filled with chattering children. “This so cool!” “It’s so stupid and gross- why do I have to learn about some girly-” ‘My parents told me years ago.” “I’ve never even heard of-” “My dad says that was he was a kid, they didn’t learn about it in school until seventh grade!” “No way!” Everyone seemed to have an opinion on the subject. Everyone, that is, except for a girl sitting in the corner of the room, sunglasses over her closed eyes, running her fingers along the bumpy pages of her book. She wished everyone would be quiet. She was the first person to hear the teacher coming down the hallway. The moment she heard the familiar footsteps, she stood up, grabbed the white cane lying next to her, and walked over to her desk. “Class! Please settle down and get to your seats! I know I’m a few minutes late, but that’s no excuse to disturb other classes. Now, I know what I said yesterday, but we still need to get through this week’s vocabulary words.” The entire class let out a collective groan.
Scene One: Take One - A Man, a Woman and a Gun 1970, Ronald Chase (1971)