[Ashley McKenna-Chase]

Serendipity in the City

“Batter up,” Ashley said, grinning.

She’d been enthusiastic about the plan right up until Alice was in agreement, and now Ashley was painfully aware that the plan involved hitting somebody with a golf putter with quite some force. She didn’t want to be responsible for bruises – although she supposed that was the worst likely outcome. As strong as she was, Ashley wasn’t sure that she’d be breaking any bones with this kind of move. All she had was Alice’s word that her power would work in this scenario, but she trusted it, and if that trust was misplaced then at least there wasn’t much of a risk.

“Y’know, I think they reached that conclusion back on the first hole when my rogue golf ball nearly took out a grandma and her grandkids,” she said wryly. “Definitely just stupid kids.”

Whatever hesitancy remained in Ashley quickly dissipated as Alice slipped into a completely alien impersonation of the bitchy head cheerleader type who so commonly graced the screens of teen television. It was a lot easier to motivate herself to swing her putter in the direction of somebody obnoxiously popping imaginary bubblegum.

“C’mon hole in ONE!” Ashley yelled excitedly, whipping the putter up and straight into Alice’s face as she tried her best to stare intently at the course in front of her.

She flinched instinctively just before she imagined the putter would connect but… instead of an impact, there was nothing!

It was like the putter had just halted in mid-air – deciding against its designated course of action – and simply rested itself gently on Alice’s cheek. In actuality, this halting had occurred the moment it had reached her face, instantly sapping the energy from Ashley’s swing.

She lowered the putter slowly.

“Woah, that’s cool.” With wide eyes, Ashley moved closer to inspect Alice’s face. Not even a touch of redness. “I can see why you wanna go fight crime now.” She lowered her voice, eyes gleaming with excitement. “You’re invincible!”

Alice Morrow

329 words

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[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Ashley McKenna-Chase + wearing

Alice flinched a little as the putter rushed towards her face. She'd spent a lot of time practising with Mason and Dom, they'd punched her, hit her with pieces of metal and even baseball bats. None of it had even scratched her. That didn't mean she was used to it though, and she still had to fight her instinct to get out of the way of whatever it was that happened to be coming her way quite so fast. She felt the slightest touch on her cheek as the putter gently came to rest against her skin, as though Ashley were fondly tapping her face with it, not trying to break her teeth. Alice grinned as the brunette turned around to inspect the damage, or rather, where the damage should have been. "Barely felt it" she said with a smile, "I'm guessing you forgot arm day the last time you were at the gym." Ashley was clearly on board when it came to the idea of fighting crime. After all, who wouldn't want to when they had a power like this? It was like she was super man without the flight and laser vision. To her it was a responsibility as well as an ambition. What nerd hadn't wanted to be a superhero at some point? How many of them actually got the chance? She didn't know why the Doctor had chosen her, but she was determined to do as much good as she could with what she had been given. That said, she wasn't sure if she was totally invincible, and said as much, laughing "Woah, I don't know if I'd say I'm invincible. I haven't tried stopping bullets or anything and if I'm honest I'd rather not take that risk. It would be a pretty crappy way to find out the limits of my power." Right now though, there were more important things to consider, like who was going to end up wearing underwear on the outside. "Right, we won't count that last one cause you were testing out my power, but don't think that means I'm going easy on you. Oh no."

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[Ashley McKenna-Chase]

Serendipity in the City

Alice was remarkably accurate with her comment on Ashley’s gym schedule. Arm day wasn’t really high up on her list of days. She wasn’t really concerned about being particularly strong or muscular – she toned rather than bulked – and her arms in particular she’d rather keep slender. Still, she probably packed a tougher punch than a lot of women her age and a targeted swing from a golf club should have done more damage than it did.

“Nuh uh!” she protested regardless.

She held her putter aloft and posed, flexing her arms. “Do these babies lie to you?”

Although entirely overcome with awe, there was a little part of Ashley that was shaken by Alice’s display of clear supernatural ability. It was one thing to hear of the thing, and talk about it as a concept, but to actually see it was unnerving, irrefutable proof. For twenty years Ashley had lived a life ignorant to the reality of super powers. Now, it was all here in front of her – and it was up to her to acknowledge and make sense of it in her own head.

She was excited, sure, but it was a wild, confusing breed of excitement with its roots in unchartered soil.

“You can take my totally informed advice here,” Ashley said, light sarcasm dancing from her words, “But maybe it’s a good idea to stick to the whole avoiding bullets thing…

“Don’t want to get bloodstains on your new costume.” She grinned.

Ashley edged her way back into position, this time actually striking the ball without attempting to injure anyone in the process.

“Pur-lease, I’m just getting warmed up.”

She watched her ball roll to a fairly respectable point, quite far from the final hole but not an impossible finishing putt.

“…Still warming up.”

Alice Morrow

297 words

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[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Ashley McKenna-Chase + wearing

Alice would have looked unimpressed at the flexing were it not for the fact that Ashely was clearly flexing muscle as opposed to her own, which had more in common with string beans than weights. She looked at least moderately jealous. "They do look pretty honest. But then the really good liars always do, so what do I know?" Now Alice felt a little uncomfortable herself, and she wondered if this was how Ashley felt sometimes. The shorter girl was looking at her with not a little awe. It was as though she were something beyond human, and she supposed in a way she was. She didn't want to think like that though. She had these powers, and maybe that made her special, but it didn't mean she was better than normal humans. She snapped herself out of the suddenly melancholy train of thought, and back to Ashley's words. "Can you imagine, my laundry would be terrible. Maybe I'd have to start wearing red like Deadpool. He could never get the blood out of his costume either." Alice yawned dramatically as Ashley's ball stopped well before the hole. She tapped a hand over her mouth and raised an eyebrow. "You planning on warming up today? Or can I go and take a nap while I wait?" She took her shot, and the two continued their game, ending up a little further down the course with Alice still just in the lead. As she was waiting for Ashley to take her shot she glanced around the course, seeing that there were now a few other people in here, including a pair that were rapidly catching up to them. Two boys in fact, probably a little older than them. She elbowed Ashley without looking, interrupting her shot. "Hey look"

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[Ashley McKenna-Chase]

Serendipity in the City

She was just about to make the shot of her life – definitely, absolutely, certainly not about to continue her mediocre streak of making par – when Alice cruelly distracted her with a swift elbow to the side. Ashley dropped her putter in surprise, shooting her competitor an evil glare.

“Hey!” she complained, just about to accuse Alice of cheating when she registered Alice’s words. She followed Alice’s gaze, raising an eyebrow when she realised what she was looking at.

Boys.

Ashley was surprised that Alice was so easily distracted by their presence; it wasn’t like they were anything special. They were fairly tall, fairly good-looking, one a little broader than the other but neither out of shape. It was amusing to see how immersed they were in the competitive spirit of mini-golf – each boisterously doing all he could to thwart his opponent.

“Oh, you liiike?” Ashley chuckled, retrieving her putter from the ground so she could prod Alice with it. “Look at you, stop drooling already!”

Alice was not remotely drooling, nor did she seem to show more than that slight hint of interest in their presence, but it was fun to tease nonetheless. Ashley’s closest friends were usually far more obvious about these kinds of things and were always throwing each other at guys they found promising. It was partly why Ashley had had so many dates, despite clearly not being great at actually dating. A good wingwoman was valuable indeed.

With this in mind, Ashley took it upon herself to grab their attention.

“Hey, you guys any good? This one’s a pro.”

Ashley gestured proudly towards Alice with her thumb, not entirely lying about the girl’s golfing prowess. She’d laced her tone with just enough of an edge that she was sure it would appeal to their blatant competitive streaks. If they threw down a challenge, it’d be an opportunity to a) get to know them, sure, but more importantly b) watch Alice wipe the floor with them.

Alice Morrow

329 words

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[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Ashley McKenna-Chase + wearing

"What? They're hot!" Alice returned the prod with her own putter, taking advantage of the extra length her height had granted her. She shrugged, continuing airily, "Sorry, I forgot that you spend all your time with underwear models and super-hot rock stars. Some of us can only fantasise about meeting people that hot and instead we have to settle for the mere mortals that spend time in the local mini-golf course." She grinned to show that she hadn't really taken any offence. The two boys weren't unattractive, but they were certainly not hot enough for her to drool over, no, she'd probably just have to dream about men that hot. It seemed unlikely that any would ever be interested in someone like her. She blushed as she realised that Ashley had called for the boys attention, received it, and then used it to place Alice squarely in theirs. She glared as subtly as she could manage at her petite friend, whispering urgently. "What are you doing? They're gonna…" She smiled widely as the two boys approached them, pushing her hair back with one hand as she let the putter rest by her side. Ashley was safe from prodding for now, but Alice would have her revenge. One of them spoke up. "Sounds like a challenge. Have you girls been keeping score?" Alice bristled a little at suggestion that they hadn't been. Who played mini-golf without keeping score? What was the point? She told the boys their score, and they looked suitably impressed at hers. Less so at Ashley's. In fact Alice was only one behind the broader guy's, who wasted no time in mocking his friend for being beaten by a girl. "Hey. You're only one ahead, let's wait and see if you're still ahead at the end…" She glanced at the other guy and shrugged, "Then you can make fun of him all you want"

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[Ashley McKenna-Chase]

Serendipity in the City

Alice definitely had lofty ideas of how Ashley spent her time.

“Eh, maybe I’ve grown immune to their charms through over-exposure – there’s only so many underwear models a girl can handle,” Ashley joked, as though her life really was one endless stream of beautiful men. Truthfully, she didn’t spend much time with models and lord knows she’d never date a fellow musician. Too much drama and too high a risk that they’d write a song about her if things went south.

Well well, lookie here. Seemed like Ashley had sussed these two guys perfectly. In less than a heartbeat they had stepped in front of them and brewed a new competition with Alice, who rose to the challenge beautifully. Ashley was definitely the worst player of the four of them judging by the scores, but not by much. She wasn’t so worried about beating Alice any more – although it would be nice not to have to perform Disney songs in her underwear – but definitely fancied her chances at a solid third place if she managed a few lucky shots.

She bit her lip and assessed her current shot once more.

“Let’s see – maybe I’ll get to make fun of somebody..!”

By some complete fluke, Ashley sunk the ball in one via a series of lucky bounces.

One of the guys looked impressed, but the one in the lead wasn’t so easily fooled. “Lucky shot, fun size – let’s see you keep that up.”

Ashley quirked an eyebrow.

Fun size?

At least his friend had the grace to look embarrassed on his behalf.

Alice Morrow

261 words

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[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Ashley McKenna-Chase + wearing

The game of mini golf definitely stepped up a notch in competitiveness. Alice wondered if it was something to do with testosterone, but then she couldn't exactly call herself innocent in the matter of competition. After all, it was pretty heated between her and one of the boys. They were well ahead of the other two now, but remained close together, jockeying for first place. Competitive though she may be, she still wasn't taking it that seriously. This was about having fun after all, but the guy she was competing with seemed to be taking it more personally. It didn't help that his next poorly chosen mockery was of Ashley, and not his own friend. "Ooooh now you did it buddy…" She prodded him in the chest with the end of her putter. "I'm gonna kick your butt up and down this golf course, and when I do that you can say sorry to my friend." He smirked, "What if I win?" "You still have to say sorry." "Fine. But if I win you go on a date with me." Alice didn't quite know what to say. She smiled, her mouth half open in surprise. She had to admire his guts though. After a moment of stunned amazement she finally regained control of her jaw to respond, "Su-sure…" She regained a little more of her composure, prodding him in the chest once more. "If you win." They went back to the game, Alice and the boy, Jason she discovered, pulling further ahead of the other two in their competition. It became clear after another few holes however, that Alice was the better player, and she began to draw ahead. Jason was funny, and not a bad guy, if a little too competitive for his own good. Eventually he gave up on that competition when it became obvious he couldn't catch up, and became more relaxed.

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[Ashley McKenna-Chase]

Serendipity in the City

Smirking with a childish kind of satisfaction as Alice stood up for her in the face of such rude, height-based insults, Ashley’s expression quickly blended into one of bemused surprise. Turns out that this guy was not only very competitive, but he was also very confident – and forward with it. It was apparently quite an effective tactic, catching Ashley’s champion off-guard for a moment.

Jason was definitely trying to show off, and his score was suffering for it. Alice managed to keep her cool and was actually making her way to a victory by the last holes – at which point the guys both resigned themselves to a defeat and spent their time trying to impress the girls through humour rather golfing skill.

“You’ll never make that,” Ashley goaded as the other boy – Eli, sometimes confusingly referred to by his friend as "Teak" – balanced on one leg, lining up to shoot the ball backwards for what could have been a fairly straightforward final putt.

“Not with that attitude,” he said with a wink, proceeding to slice it and send the ball careening around the course to end up further away from the final hole than he’d started.

It was a moment that seemed to heal a bit of Jason’s wounded pride. He had, after all, actually managed to land his ridiculous trick shot that involved chipping it over Eli whilst he was lying down in the way. Ashley had actually applauded that one – it was a tricky shot made harder by Eli’s attempts to catch the ball mid-air.

“Can’t take you anywhere bro,” he sighed dramatically, turning to Alice and clapping a hand on her shoulder. “Looks like a spot’s open for a new mini-golf buddy. You in?”

Ashley immediately marched over and planted herself in between them, grabbing Alice’s arm.

“Nuh-uh, she’s mine, you’ll have to try and steal her for something else,” she insisted. “Like uh… miniature railways… or miniature horse racing… or something …does it have to be miniature?”

Eli caught Jason’s eye and sniggered. Clearly the miniature something that he was suggesting was not PG.

Alice Morrow

348 words

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[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Ashley McKenna-Chase + wearing

The two boys engaged in a set of trick shots that would have put dude perfect to shame, if they'd pulled them off that is. It was all good fun though and despite the earlier competitiveness they were all laughing by the end, especially when the origin of Eli's nickname 'Teak', came out. He was shorter than Jason, but not by much. Both of the boys were taller than Alice, and positively towered over the diminutive Ashley. Perhaps this was part of the reason they were all in stitches at the story. The end of the course was in sight now, and after a few shots, Alice sank her last hole. Jason behaved as though he'd just been shot, clutching his chest and collapsing to the floor with dramatic death sound effects. Alice giggled, it was clear now that he hadn't taken being beaten by a girl too much to heart. "Stop! You're such a loser." She helped him back to his feet, leaving her hand on his arm perhaps a moment too long. They waited while the others caught up to them, laughing and talking quietly. When Eli and Ashley had finally finished they headed back towards the putter racks together. They slotted their putters back into their home and headed back towards the entrance to the course. It had clearly become time to split up. Jason pulled a face, "Well I guess I lost the game, so I lost the bet." He turned to Ashley and bowed low, "Sorry for insulting your stature m'lady." Alice punched him in the arm and he flinched in mock pain. "No date for me then I guess…" Alice looked disappointed, "Heyyy… I never said you had to win for that…" She looked over at Ashley, "Look I gotta stay with my friend right now, but give me your phone." She tapped her number into the device and gave it back before heading off to join Ashley at the door. He gave her a grin, which she returned, "Call me or something. OK?"

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