#eeep!

Jill had been surprised to hear that they were getting a new recruit directly into S.T.A.R.S. The going rumor was that the new hire was originally going to be a beat cop for the R.P.D. but Captain Wesker must have seen something extraordinary in her. It wasn't unprecedented—Wesker frequently did whatever he wanted—but it was rare enough that it had caused a bit of a stir in the weeks leading up to her arrival. Everyone was anxious to see what was so special about Grace Ashcroft, but Jill was more concerned with making sure she felt welcome.

The R.P.D. had a number of women among the ranks, but S.T.A.R.S. had always been a bit of a boys club. They were good men at heart, especially Barry and Chris, but at the end of the day they often didn't understand that it was simply different for Jill and Rebecca, and now Grace. Jill had initially planned on offering to give her a tour of the station and make a show of taking Grace under her wing, but that had changed the moment the other woman had stepped through the door to the S.T.A.R.S. office for the first time.

There had been a chorus of "Welcome!"s and introductions but Jill had been struck silent by the sight of her. There was definitely something special about Grace Ashcroft. She was visibly anxious as anyone would expect of someone on their first day on the illustrious task force. But there was also a quiet intelligence hidden beneath her awkwardness. On top of all that, Grace was simply too damn cute that it practically hurt and Jill couldn't stop staring at her.

Jill hadn't even realized it was her turn to introduce herself until Chris elbowed her in the ribs and hissed, "Earth to Jill!" She desperately hoped Grace hadn't noticed her staring, or the slight blush she felt warm her cheeks and she halfheartedly said, "Jill Valentine, welcome to the team." She offered her hand for a weak handshake accompanied by an even weaker smile. As Grace moved on, guilt coursed through Jill's veins. She had been no better than a typical guy, oogling Grace like a slab of meat and she hated herself for it.

Over the next few days, Jill's inner mantra became, "don't stare at the new girl, don't hit on the new girl" but before she realized it, that had accidentally turned into avoiding Grace altogether. Admittedly it wasn't that hard because it was Grace's first week and she was busy all the time. By Friday, Jill knew she had to put a stop to it, and she'd already been chided by some of the other members for being "aloof" all week. But more importantly, it wasn't fair to Grace, and Jill did want to offer to show her the ropes. What did it matter that Jill thought she was attractive? Grace probably wasn't even into women.

It was turning out to be a lazy day in the precinct, dominated by paperwork and admin. It was the perfect kind of day for a long lunch break. Most of the officers were in more casual clothing, and Jill was wearing a blue, cotton shirt with the S.T.A.R.S logo and a pair of fitted black trousers, her gun holstered on her hip. Jill couldn't believe how nervous she was as she sidled up to Grace's desk. She didn't usually get nervous, at least not from something as simple as talking to a coworker.

"Hi, Grace," she squeaked, because of course she did. "Jill?" she added, gesturing to herself because the blonde had probably forgotten her name considering she'd been a ghost all week. "It's pretty dead today, I was wondering if you wanted to grab lunch?" Good, perfectly reasonable. "There's a good burger joint a few blocks away, and maybe I could you show some of our favorite haunts around RC?" Jill groaned on the inside because while that had sounded good in her head, out loud it definitely sounded like she'd just asked Grace out on a date. The slight waver in her voice and the flush in her face weren't helping either.

The nights of the last gasp of study season seem as though they go on forever, and as I watch the clock on the wall of Michelle's cluttered dining room, I could swear on my life that time is slowing down. It takes an hour for five minutes to pass, while the numbers on the maths book in my hands seem to merge together into some sort of mathematical soup right in front of my eyes. 

For some reason, with Michelle and Jen nattering history facts to one another on the other side of the table, I think about Alison and what she might be doing right now on the eve of the summer exams. Is she pulling an all-nighter too? Maybe, but not for studying. Alison hardly needed to study at all, that’s how clever she was. Even in those party frenzied days of early winter when she and I would pop a molly and stay up until dawn gurning she would still appear in class the next day and answer the teachers questions perfectly with a bored nonchalance about her while I sweated in the seat behind her, fighting a battle that I would inevitably lose to the boys toilets by the eleven o’clock break. 

okay so my first attempt at bobby/athena and it's mostly dialogue - which is so not my norm but that's the direction it went - hopefully ya like it luv 💚

this can also be found on ao3 if you'd rather

“I’m sorry can you repeat that?” “You sweet little turnip,” Athena says, shaking her head. The look on Bobby’s face is still a kind of adorable flabbergasted. “Okay, so I did hear you right, but …” Bobby trails off. “Is this one of those times where it sounds like you’re saying something nice, but it really means you don’t think I’m playing with a full deck of cards.” Athena smiles, “Not this time—this time, it’s quite simply that I find what you did and said adorably sweet.” “Wonderful, another one of those phrases that might be good or might mean I have a few screws loose.” “Well, you are regularly around people who have more than a few screws loose, so it was bound to happen to you as well.” She looks out at the rest of the 118 gathered in their backyard.  She’ll stand by the fact that they all have a few screws loose, but she’s never met a better group of people. They’ve spent all day helping them move things from storage into the new house, so they still have some things that are theirs mixed in with all the new. Every single one of these people has been here all day, helping in one way or another, and it’s made the day so much better than it would have been otherwise. “Should we get back out there?” Bobby asks, and she turns to him and nods. They walk back out, and instantly, they’re caught up in the conversations. At one point, she looks across at Bobby and then around at the rest of them. She doesn’t know what she did to get this lucky, but she’s glad she has.

I'm back baby! Good news is that my current major projects Sym, In my, and Final G were all up to date on itch, so I've only lost a few hours work, no biggie.

Bad news, lost ALL my work on my secondary projects. So Sym spin offs went off into the void and I lost the few pages on the hypothetical Star Wars project, but that one is not so bad. Take away from this second major melt down?

may your path be the sound of your feet upon the ground.

independent || private || mutuals only Paul “Jesus” Rovia from amc’s the walking dead