[Ashley McKenna-Chase]

The Lie-in King

Years of trying to persuade Will to accept “the joys of glitter” flashed through Ashley’s mind, one particular incident standing out against the rest. A young Ashley, six at most, sat firmly on Will’s chest in an attempt to pin him down so that she could apply some of the brand new glittery eyeshadow her mother had bought that afternoon which Ashley had subsequently stolen for her own dress-up purposes. In the end, he’d consented to one sizeable blob on the end of his nose, but she knew he’d washed it off the second she’d gone to bed. At least he’d tried.

Ashley definitely did not eat this much cheese usually. This slumber party feast was definitely quite a one-off for her diet – particularly as she’d been so busy with PR shoots and appearances over the last few weeks – but it was absolutely worth it. Alice’s pizza was amazing and Ashley definitely took note of the successful addition of bacon. She’d been so focused on enjoying it that she’d failed to catch Alice’s reaction to her slice.

“So,” she began, taking another pineapple-heavy bite, “Do you like it? The whole mix just kinda works for me but it might not be for everyone…”

She casually pushed part of her ambitious mouthful back into her mouth as she talked. So classy, so subtle.

Moana had been a great pick. Alice joined in enthusiastically with every chorus, her gusto she’d shown previously during the Lion King now enhanced by the fact that she was actually familiar with the songs. Although she was hardly a great singer, Ashley was pleasantly surprised by her rendition of ‘You’re Welcome’. Maybe basically becoming a demi-god herself got her in the right frame of mind to perform it.

Alice was really quite excited about the bet, and Ashley did her best to entertain. Leaping up from her throne, Ashley plucked her flowery boxers from the top drawer and pulled them up over her clothing, waistband as high as she could possibly yank it for extra comedic effect. Then, quickly setting up her backing track, she turned to face Alice with a serious face and hands confidently placed on her hips.

“Alice and Alice we are gathered here today to witness a very special karaoke performance by the one, the only, McKenna Chase…!” Ashley began, her voice as deep and booming as she could manage. “I present to you, in her floral underpants, McKenna’s rendition of Shiny!”

She allowed a small pause for her audience to cheer before pressing play and hoisting her underwear up once more.

“Well – Tamatoa hasn’t always been this glam… I was a drab little crab once…!”

Alice Morrow

443 words

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[Alice Morrow]

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

Alice fell over backwards, shaking with laughter. She managed to get out a brief bout of cheering, hoisting herself back upright, before the sight of Ashley prancing about in flowery underwear overwhelmed her once more. It was absolutely perfect, Alice could completely visualise Ashley on stage in a crab costume for the musical. The addition of flowery underwear pulled above her waist only made it all the more perfect, and hilarious. She crawled forward to the edge her pillow fort, peering over it at her live entertainment. She tried not to interrupt, but couldn't help herself as she giggled uncontrollably. By the end of the song she was out of breath, and shaking with the effort of controlling herself. Her ribs were aching and she had to pause between each word to regain her composure… sort of. "That… was… so… good…" She lay back still laughing, although she was running out of steam now that the performance was over. That had definitely been worth it. She raised a hand to her face and realised that she had been crying when her fingers came away wet. "Seriously. If I'm ever down about anything, just do that. I don't think anyone could watch that and be sad." She jumped up and hugged the brunette then collapsed back onto the bed, taking Ashley with her. She abruptly looked serious. "Seriously though, have you ever considered adding that to your performances. I really think they would be improved if you did that at every concert." She grinned, "Or not, maybe the crowd would go wild if you did that. They might rush the stage!" She looked out the window. It was definitely dark now, the sun having long since sunk below the horizon. She yawned, then grabbed another slice of pizza. It was definitely cool now, but they had been so monstrous that there would have been no way she could have gotten through the entire thing. Also, cold pizza was still pretty good. It would probably end up being breakfast.

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[Ashley McKenna-Chase]

The Lie-in King

There was nothing that could quite compare to performing on a huge stage in front of hundreds, thousands of people… but Alice’s reaction was definitely up there. The further Alice descended into hysterics, the more Ashley threw herself into her performance – eventually traversing the room sideways snapping her imaginary claws to the beat. The song definitely did not match her usual vocal style which only added to the hilarity, and it wasn’t like Alice could really hear her clearly over the sound of her own giggles anyway. The song came to an end and Ashley finished in a triumphant, yet crab-like, pose, beaming down at a rather tearful Alice.

“Thank you so much San Francisco, you’ve been amazing,” Ashley announced, still trying to sound like Tamatoa. “You can catch me in Lalotai for more sparkling crustacean creations.” She bowed deeply, delighting in Alice’s laughter before she whipped up and began laughing herself.

“That was weirdly fun,” she admitted. “I think that’s a good future pick-me-up for the both of- OOF!”

Alice had jumped to her feet, ensnaring her in a tight hug. Ashley beamed, wrapping her arms around just to be taken by surprise yet again as Alice sent them plunging onto the bed in a fit of giggles. Ashley rolled over to lay on her back, trying to catch her breath, and was worried by the sudden seriousness on Alice’s face.

She shouldn’t have worried.

“You can pitch that to my team if you like,” Ashley said, unable to quite replicate the seriousness Alice was portraying. “It would be worth it just to see you try and explain it to a bunch of people in suits. You could present them with a demonstration,” she added with a wink.

Oh no, Alice was yawning. “Hey!” Ashley shook her by the shoulder. “No yawning, there’s still karaoke and late-night sleepy gossip on the agenda yet!”

She got to her feet and began looking for appropriate songs for Alice to croon along to.

“The stage is yours now, any requests?”

Alice Morrow

338 words

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[Alice Morrow]

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

Alice jumped up, shaking the sleep out of her head, she wasn't going to be the one to fall asleep first. Certainly jumping around and singing would help. It had clearly worked for Ashley. She crossed to Ashley's side, looking at the screen of her phone as Ashley scrolled through Spotify. It was an eclectic mix of music, some modern pop, but just as much classic music that was as old as, if not older than Alice was, as well as a mix in between. She spotted a track she recognised, and one that she was pretty sure she could at least get through most of from memory. She pointed quickly, sounding excited. "That one, that one!" Ashley tapped on the track and the familiar notes of 'Sugar, We're Going Down' began to trickle out of Ashley's almost comically overlarge speakers. Seriously, they were almost the same size as Alice's torso. She guessed that was important though, gigs always had massive speaker systems, it had to be for some reason other than dick-waving. Alice was not a good singer, it was clear that she didn't have any experience beyond pep-rallies and school, and they tended to value volume rather than note. Still, she knew the song well enough that she was able to follow the tune, and barring a few mumbled lines, knew almost all of the words. She flopped down after a few minutes, clearly much more out of breath than Ashley had been, but grinning all the same. "Wooo… I didn't know singing could take it out of me that much." Her eyes suddenly widened as she remembered something, something important. She leaned in a little, conspiratorially. "I've got something else to show you as well. It is so cool!"

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[Ashley McKenna-Chase]

The Lie-in King

Alice was bringing the music up from kindergarten party to middle school levels, and Ashley was happy to get not only a glimpse of Alice's music taste but also a wonderfully nostalgic blast from the past. Ashley had a very broad music taste and, although her own style had strayed pretty far from the likes of Fall Out Boy, she still enjoyed listening to this kind of music. This song was on several of her playlists for a reason, after all.

While Alice was definitely the karaoke star of this song, Ashley joined in with a backing vocal or two every now and then. Otherwise she played the adoring fan, bouncing on her knees with her arms raised in praise. She only teased the performance once - when Alice fumbled a particularly hard-to-remember line - and she immediately admitted that she wasn't sure of the lyrics either.

The show had left Alice a little fatigued, and Ashley laughed at the girl as she sprawled on the bed, catching her breath.

"See this is exactly why you need a gym buddy," Ashley declared. "We're gonna up your cardio game! That way you can beat up bad guys and still have breath for a victory song at the end."

Ashley sat up a little straighter, eyebrow raised in interest.

"Oh?" She racked her brains, unable to quite figure out what this surprise could be. "Sounds exciting, is it super top secret?" She lowered her voice and joined in with Alice's conspirtatorial tone.

Maybe it was surprise dessert. Ashley wasn't sure she could handle surprise dessert, but she'd give it a go.

Alice Morrow

269 words

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[Alice Morrow]

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

Alice nodded ferociously, "super top secret." She rolled away from Ashley and began to move towards her bag, discarded by the opposite wall. It was not particularly small, and it was clearly full. Far more full than it reasonably should have been considering the fact that she was only staying over for one night. She began to unzip it, then paused, thinking. She half-turned back to Ashley. "Seriously though, this is serious." She paused a moment longer, "turn your back though, this should be a surprise." It only took a few minutes. She'd been practising getting dressed quickly, even so, the suit fit her well, so it was sometimes a little awkward to get it all on, especially in a rush. She glanced over to make sure that Ashley wasn't peaking. She'd seen the other girl's abs and Alice's stomach was certainly not as flattering. Eventually she had pulled on the whole outfit, pulling up the mask to cover her nose and mouth. "You can look now!" She struck her best power pose as the singer turned back around. Now Alice was Paladin. The suit was impressive. Even Alice had to admit that, and she'd not really felt like a hero until she had put it on and seen it in the mirror. It might not be what Stephen had envisaged himself designing, but it was clear that he had a gift for it. Even if he had taken some liberties with how it fit her chest. Thanks to her power it hadn't even been damaged yet, though Stephen had promised if he found something tougher he would remake the suit. "What do you think?"

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[Ashley McKenna-Chase]

The Lie-in King

As Alice began to open up her bag, Ashley was starting to get the feeling that it wasn’t going to contain surprise dessert. She’d assumed the bulk of the bag had been the result of over-packing for a one-night stay (which Ashley had certainly been known to do herself) but now it turned out that it contained secret treasures! Ashley tried to not let herself get carried away in her guesses, but she was already imagining everything from diamond rings to dream journals.

“Okay, okay, I won’t look,” she promised, only slightly disgruntled at the delay. “Promise that it’s super cool as well as serious?”

She hummed for a second to herself as she stared at the photos on her wall before her. It was a thoughtful array of polaroids, photographs and ticket stubs that had gradually evolved throughout her teenage years – considerably trimmed down now to just a select few – and she was quite content to look through all the smiling faces while she waited for a signal from Alice.

Whipping round immediately at Alice’s invitation, Ashley’s jaw had dropped before she’d even fully registered what she was looking at. Who she was looking at.

“You look amazing!” she exclaimed, clapping her hands. “Straight out of a superhero movie, woah…” She took a moment to look at the suit in more detail, standing up so she could take it all in. “Your friend did a great job, maybe I need to give them a call about stage outfits…”

Ashley didn’t wear anything remotely close to a superhero suit while performing, of course, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t open to experimentation with more flashy costumes.

She stood back, eyes sparkling in awe.

“Have you taken it out for a test drive yet?”

Alice Morrow

293 words

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[Alice Morrow]

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

Ashley's reaction was not disappointing. Admittedly, Alice did look pretty good, anyone who hadn't been at least a tiny bit impressed probably took themselves too seriously for her to worry about anyway. They would definitely take her seriously once she had demonstrated what she could do though. It would be hard not to. She held out her hand and put on a mock gruff voice. "Stay calm citizen!" She pulled the mask down so it rested about her neck, revealing her broad grin. It was clear that she was immensely proud of the costume, and it worked. Simply by donning it she had filled the room, demonstrating the kind of presence anyone who knew her would have been shocked to see. It had faltered once she pulled down the mask, a little of her self-consciousness showing itself once more. "I'm glad you like it. Stephen's done really well with it. I really feel like a hero when I'm wearing it." She nodded in response to the question, "I've been out in it, my power means that no one can touch it! So it looks almost like new." She moved to sit on the bed, closer to Ashley, "Do you remember that big drug bust a couple of days ago?" She smiled as realisation dawned in Ashley's eyes. "That was us." She neglected to mention the fact that she had put the man through a wall. That was just details, and it wasn't like he'd been that badly hurt. It had been a big bust though, and though she was more than happy for the SFPD to take the credit, she wanted at least a few people to know that she was out there doing some good. She was making a difference. Or at least she was trying.

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[Ashley McKenna-Chase]

The Lie-in King

It was actually a little bizarre to witness the shift that took place upon Alice pulling down the fabric that was covering the lower part of her face, a toothy grin emerging. Standing as she had been – powerful, majestic – Ashley had felt like she was not so much in the presence of her friend, but a genuine, awe-inspiring hero. It was like the suit actually transformed Alice into an entirely different person. With the mask down, the spell broke a little, and she looked more like a young girl in particularly impressive cosplay.

Ashley knew the truth however. Alice was certainly not just playing the role of a superhero.

“You’ll never have to worry about wear and tear again,” Ashley teased as Alice bragged of her power’s benefits. The suit did look in perfect condition. It was probably also helped by the fact that Alice was definitely the type to treasure her new toy. Ashley could picture her diligently and carefully hand-washing it with the gentlest of products to ensure it looked its shiniest. She could relate.

It took a moment for Ashley to realise what drug bust Alice was talking about – she hardly kept an eye on that kind of news – but then she remembered her parents discussing it over dinner. She hadn’t even thought to make the connection that maybe Will and his group of powered friends had been involved. It was an automatic reaction to think of the police dealing with those kinds of incidents – vigilantes weren’t quite an automatic fixture in Ashley’s perception of the world yet.

“You were in the news!” she exclaimed. “Well, they talked about it, they didn’t actually mention you… I’m sure my parents wouldn’t have skipped on that detail… That is amazing! How did- was it scary? Did you beat up any bad guys? Was that like, an official police job?”

It was ironic to imagine Will ending up right back at the SFPD.

Alice Morrow

323 words

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[Alice Morrow]

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

It had been all over the news. Things had been bad in the city for the last few months, and the SFPD had wasted no time in crowing their victory from the rooftops. They hadn't mentioned the vigilantes at all in their press release, and any articles Alice had read had only cryptically referred to an anonymous tip-off. Which was technically true… After Alice had embedded the dealer in drywall they had called the cops, telling them what they'd found, but neglecting to leave their names. That the men involved hadn't said they'd been taken down by costumed vigilantes was strange. Either they had and the police had dismissed it, or the cops were keeping it to themselves in order to take the credit. Even more worrying was the idea that the men who had been arrested had simply not talked about who had put them in the situation they had been in. Why they might keep it to themselves was anyone's guess. Perhaps they felt humiliated. After all, the man had been more than six feet tall, and she'd put him down with a single backhand. Alice wasn't exactly short for a girl, but she was skinny, and clearly not muscular. Alice shrugged. "I don't think it was official or anything. At least I don't know. Maybe they'd been watching him for a while or something." Her face turned a little more solemn, though not for long. "I mean, I was sort of scared, and I guess I sort of overreacted a bit. I didn't mean to hit him all that hard but I think he was OK. It was so exciting though. Really. Like I actually got to go out and make a difference. It didn't seem real until we actually did something. You know?" She bounced a little on the bed, "It was just so cool!"

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[Ashley McKenna-Chase]

The Lie-in King

Nodding enthusiastically, dangling from Alice’s every word, Ashley suddenly spread her arms wide and collapsed back onto the bed with a breathless, over-excited “ooft”.

“They’ll owe you one now, right? Biggest drug bust, like, ever. Probably – definitely in the last six months. They must be super grateful.” Her eyes widened as she stared up at her ceiling. “Maybe you’ll get a reward! Key to the city and a million BIG ONES!”

She started to giggle at her own ridiculousness and fell quiet as Alice continued, her tone far closer to seriousness than it had been previously.

It was crazy to imagine her friend and her brother were involved in something so serious. It wasn’t just a movie – this was the real world and these were real criminals that they were coming up against. Real guys that Alice could apparently hit hard enough to stop in their tracks. Ashley would almost be jealous of the intoxicating glory Alice was obviously revelling in were it not for the fact that she would last no longer than two full seconds against a bunch of bad guys. Maybe three if she had the opportunity for a sneak attack.

The bed shifted up and down as Alice bounced, Ashley lifting herself up to avoid being thrown around any further. She bounced on her knees beside her in mirrored excitement.

“I bet it was! How are you not just running straight back out there to deal more justice? Asides from the obvious attraction of a Disney-themed sleepover, of course,” Ashley said pointedly. She didn’t want to fall too far in Alice’s priorities, after all. They were rapidly hurtling towards the kind of friendship you only saw in movies and she kind of wanted to keep it that way.

Alice Morrow

292 words

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[Alice Morrow]

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

Eyes rolling, Alice joined Ashley's position on the bed, lying flat. "I don't think they even know we helped them. We just called in, like, anonymously. Gave them a tip about where the guy was." She looked momentarily guilty. "It's not like he was going anywhere anyway, he was pretty out of it." Alice nodded enthusiastically, "I would not mind a million bucks though. Think what you could do with that much money." She stared wistfully at the ceiling, following the vague textures of the paint as she idly imagined what she could do with seven figures. Move into a bigger apartment for a start. Although she'd settle for being able to comfortably pay this month's rent. The accident had hit her harder than she'd thought, and missing more than a week of work had emptied what meagre savings she had managed to scrape together. She hadn't had much in the first place, but rent and now the health insurance bills that had arrived through the door were beginning to rise higher than what she was earning. She was going to have to beg favours from the landlord, and she certainly wasn't looking forward to that. "Sometimes you just need a break from saving the world." She shrugged, "Plus your brother sucks and won't let anyone go out without him. Was he always such a square?"

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[Ashley McKenna-Chase]

The Lie-in King

The fact that they just called in as an anonymous tip somehow made the whole thing even cooler to Ashley. It had probably been Will’s idea, he was the expert in that field after all. Maybe the police wouldn’t have taken too kindly to a group of untrained vigilantes with undocumented abilities taking matters into their own hands. It was just like in the movies.

“You’re just selfless heroes doing it for the good of the world, not glory,” Ashley swooned, entirely over-romanticising the situation. “And hey, don’t beat yourself up over… uh, beating someone up,” she said sternly – until she broke into laughter.

They both took a moment to fantasise over the concept of having $1,000,000 in their bank accounts.

“I’d probably get my own place,” Ashley mused after a quick internal debate. “But like, big enough that I can have a roomie or two, you know? I would, like, die if it was just me in the house all the time. I think it would be fun to live with friends.” She bit her lip, suddenly feeling guilty. “Not that like, my parents aren’t super sweet to live with! But I am twenty now.”

She said it a little boastfully, as though the milestone indicated a significant level of maturity beyond her years.

“Will isn’t a square!” Ashley said defensively. “Or, well, if he is, it’s one with rounded corners. He’s just protective, that’s all. And after all his years as a cop… the stuff he’s seen, who can blame him? It’s good, means you can count on him to always have your back.”

She beamed proudly.

Alice Morrow

269 words

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[Alice Morrow]

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

"I mean, it'd be cool for people to actually like, see me in costume… but I've got these powers, if I just wanted to be famous I'd be going on TV. Maybe it's clichéd, like Spiderman, but that's just what I want to do. I want to help people. This is how I'm going to do it." Alice nodded, raising herself onto her elbow to talk more easily. "That would be sweeeet, I could be your roomie! I mean, I live alone now and it suuuuucks. It's nice to have your own… uh… space" Alice thought of her own apartment, to call it spacious would be beyond generous, it would have been an outright lie. "But it's nice to have someone around as well, it can be weird, like being all alone." She'd never really had that much of her own space. The various foster homes she had been through had all had other kids, either fostered, or the biological children of the families. Of course she'd jumped at the chance to get her own flat when the support had been offered. Things might have been easier if she'd looked for a shared place. "Will totally is! I mean, I know he's doing it to look after us, I just wish he could relax a bit. He always looks so disapproving y'know? Even though we're out there helping people. I'm glad he's around though, so much stuff I wouldn't have learned otherwise." She frowned, "So what was it like growing up with a brother that's like twenty years older. That's got to be weird. Not that I'd know whether it was weird or not…" Shrugging, she laughed, "I bet you were really annoying!"

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[Ashley McKenna-Chase]

The Lie-in King

It was both impressive and terrifying to see how committed Alice was to her cause. Heroism was definitely her vocation. Ashley wondered dryly if that had ever come up when discussing future career choices with a guidance counsellor. In all reality, a naïve and excitable young comic book geek may very well have made such a suggestion… However, it was also likely that said comic book geek’s dreams were very gently, sensitively, but nonetheless laid to rest.

“Don’t worry, I won’t give away your secret identity, even if it would definitely help me out with the whole ‘famous’ thing,” Ashley teased. Beneath her humour, however, was a deadly seriousness to her promise. Alice would have no fear of being outed by Ashley, ever.

She was pleasantly surprised at how much she liked Alice’s hypothetical situation. “Ya, definitely! We could have karaoke nights and movie marathons all the time – and you could make us the most delicious dinners…” Ashley took a moment to drool. “At least, even though you live alone, you always have your cooking to come home to. I could always come visit some time if you want, maybe bring dessert? Store-bought or mama’s own, I promise.”

She wouldn’t insult Alice with her own attempts at cooking. It wasn’t that she was completely abominable, but Ashley was self-aware enough to recognise where her strengths and weaknesses lay.

Alice’s question caught her by surprise and she had to take a second to think about it. “Well he didn’t live here but he was around a lot. Doted on me totally, apparently.” Her use of past tense gave the false impression that Will hadn’t continued to do exactly that, just with slightly less of a patronising nature. “I guess it’s kind of like having a cool older cousin or something, except you see them outside of special occasions. He’s the best – no matter how busy he gets, he always has time for me.

“And you bet I was annoying! Still am,” she said smugly. “Somehow I think I ended up being the bossy one. So if he ever puts a toe out of line, you let me know,” she added, giggling. “The Chase women can handle themselves, that’s for sure.”

Alice Morrow

369 words

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