#crew 2 money method
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OP characters as besties p.4
p.1 | p.2 | p.3 | p.4 | p.5
characters: Luffy, Sanji, Usopp
warnings: none
notes: all platonic hc's
Luffy
if you thought he couldn't get any more chaotic
oh how wrong you are
either you increase his impulsiveness tenfold
or he drags you along no matter what you say
unintentionally teaches you to not worry about the consequences of your every action
you're definitely the voice of reason between the two of you
he thinks you're the funniest person in the world
and he thinks it's even funnier when you're being serious
will flick you on the forehead
come on, y/n, stop worrying so much
we've gotta find the meat
always snacking together
there's a good chance that if you're hungry, he's hungry
and vice-versa
like everyone else on his crew, he trusts that you can take care of yourself
he won't think twice if you go off on your own
but if he finds out that someone managed to hurt you
oh boy
that person should start writing their will immediately
no one messes with his best friend and gets away with it
if he gets in a spot of trouble
you'll be right there to help him
and if anyone hurts your best friend
rest assured they won't continue breathing for long after you find them
if you're ever upset
he might let you join him on the figurehead of the Sunny
but only for a minute
cause that's his seat
he'll pull his face in funny ways and dance around to cheer you up
will ask Sanji to make you meat
meat always cheers him up
so why wouldn't it do the same for you
7/10
will always take you on an adventure
but won't share his meat with you
Sanji
bonding over cooking
you two working together to create a breath-taking experience for the rest of the crew
admiring beautiful women together
and keeping him in check when he's being too much of a perv
helping him when he gets a really bad nosebleed
fighting together
being back to back
surrounded by enemies
and then destroying every last one of them flawlessly
making fun of that marimo
tons of inside jokes
that none of the others could ever hope to understand
taking turns to protect the kitchen from your captain
teaching each other new methods to use while cooking
and always experimenting with new techniques and recipes
relaxing after getting your chores done
you two chilling on the deck
listening to the waves splashing against the Sunny
and the sounds of everyone doing their own things
while Brook plays some music to make the evening even more calming
then heading to the kitchen
where you both joke around while effortlessly dancing around each other to create yet another masterpiece for the others
complimenting each other's food
and being each other's taste testers
as well as providing any necessary critiques
nothing harsh
usually just adding a dash more of seasoning or allowing something to cool for a little longer
8/10
has a good heart
but will not be able to help you against an enemy if they're a woman
Usopp
the great Captain Usopp of the Usopp Pirates
will happily tell you all about his home
and the time he spent training
such a softie at heart
loves to see your new projects
whether that be some type of craft
or a weapon
yes anding his stories constantly
and expanding off of his lies to enemies
masters of deception
you're more level-headed than he is in most situations
but he does manage to put on a brave face a lot of the time
scaring him with ghost stories
and booping his nose every chance you get
hyping him up
helping him build up his confidence
he would teach you how to increase the accuracy of your aim using any type of weapon
singing songs together
and silently judging Nami's money habits together
sharing a look whenever anyone does anything stupid around you two
despite there being a 99% chance you two have also done the stupid thing
knowing what the other is saying without having to speak
but also understanding each other's gibberish
being excited to see his new inventions
fangirling over Franky's projects together
watching each other's backs when fighting
him standing up for you if anyone is mean to you
and you taking down anyone who hurts him
being grumpy together
having afternoon tea where you two just talk shit about anyone who upset you (crew, strangers, and enemies all included)
coming up with nicknames for the entire crew
9/10
a well-rounded individual
but will not hesitate to use you as a human shield
#one piece headcanons#one piece#one piece x y/n#one piece imagines#one piece x reader#straw hat pirates#straw hat luffy#monkey d luffy#luffy x reader#luffy x y/n#sanji#sanji x reader#vinsmoke family#vinsmoke sanji#black leg sanji#black foot sanji#one piece sanji#sanji x y/n#usopp x y/n#usopp#god usopp
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When I was a kid, my mom was dealing with mental illness and fibromyalgia when people didn’t believe it existed, and my dad was something of a workaholic.
She quickly realized that summers would be hell unless she packed them with activities she had to do little to nothing to prepare for.
Sure, we did the summer camps and sports and 4H that most kids do, but I think my favorite thing she found for us was archaeology. She managed to find it advertised in our small town newspaper, and I’m so glad she did.
A professor of archaeology at a state university was concerned about planned development along a local river that was known to have held native villages. There really wasn’t enough manpower or money to do “official” digs.
So he found a fun solution: he organized an archaeological summer day camp for kids above like age 6 or so.
Each day we were dropped off at a school about 40 minutes from home with anything we could need in the field (literally) in those 1980s fanny packs and bagged lunches. He and his crew of summer interns had already sectioned off the spaces and started the process, preparing the site with official labeling methods and such. And we were split into teams, usually by age, with younger teams more closely supervised by interns. (Thankfully I was on a team without my siblings and with a close friend.)
Every day, one team stayed at the school with 1-2 interns to learn to catalog the artifacts already uncovered by different teams, carefully sorted by team and space. (If it was raining we all stayed and worked.)
Everyone else would bus to the field, hike through some undergrowth, and learn to gently trowel the layers of earth away, letting him take photos of each layer as we went, and sifted the dirt through screens for anything that was so small it may have been missed. We excavated fire pits and also found the remnants of wood poles that had once been the skeletons of structures. The sediment of the former was always bagged for further analysis by experts.
During every stage we were very carefully monitored and sometimes the professor would call for a halt and show us something cool another team had uncovered.
After being cataloged, the pieces were ultimately sent to the state museum for display or storage, always with the names of the team that found them.
My team found a tiny artifact through sifting that proved that the local native village had to have trade contacts in another state due to the material it was made of, and I remember this professor being super excited about it. We were even in the local paper over it—I have the article, which had my picture accompanying it.
At the end of each of the camp the 2 years I went, we were allowed to walk through a freshly planted farmer’s field and see if we spotted arrowheads or other artifacts that we were permitted to take home with us. (Since the ground was already disturbed and the cataloging would be difficult to impossible, I’d guess.)
I’ve never been to the museum to see if that tiny piece of history I helped uncover is on display, but I will always remember how much I learned from this camp.
In some other universe, one that branched off somewhere from this one, a version of me surely pursued archaeology as a career.
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I accidentally drew the same goddamn pose 3 times lmao. Why is posing legs so hard i always fall back on posing them in the shape of a 4. Also, new freak!! Her name is Jerryjack. More about her + individual images + couple other things below the cut vvv
I don’t think I’ve posted any drawings of her other than her first, but i’ve been drawing rig a lot more like this rather than that first one. More graphic head shape, more upright ears, one eye hidden, mouth hidden by scarf, what have you. I think she looks cooler and is way easier to draw like this, but is a little less sonicy, im sure I’ll find a balance sometime. Rare carrion non-blep, this pose is cool but i did not even try cleaning this up lol.
And jerryjack!! She sucks so bad i love her. They’re Rig’s best friend, known each other since they were kids and learned the trade (killing) under the same mentor. She’s 11 months older than Rig, so she’s about 25ish. She hates consistency, commitment, seriousness, kids, stagnation, compassion, anything boring, and many many other things. She loves anything fun, stirring shit, lying, inflicting blunt force trauma, herself, lockpicking, and money. She’s purely self-interested and does everything she does for funsies. She’s not a part of the postal crew cause she thinks it’s boring and is allergic to commitment but hangs around and ‘helps out’ sometimes. She’s a hitman on her own, and has way more connections through that than rig, occasionally floats jobs her way. Also sometimes places bounties on her when shes mad. Or just cause.
Unlike Jerry, Rig is a very routine and organized person. She wakes up every morning at 6 sharp despite not being a morning person. Miraculously, she and jerry lived together for 2 years and during that time rig ate microwaved oatmeal every single morning and got groceries on tuesdays. All this is to say Rig is very methodical and likes routing and things that are expected. So Jerry lost their shit when rig called them randomly and casually told them that she’s starting a non-euphemistic postal service and also spontaneously took in a couple kids. Naturally, she’s very wary of squabble and carrion, especially the latter. Assassin recognizes assassin, silly recognizes silly, they try to kill each other and then become besties (who still periodically attempt to kill each other). As for squabble, she’s surprisingly fun to interact with, so jerry warms up fairly quick and becomes a truly awful influence on her.
Here’s the first drafts and base. She’s obviously a jackalope but calls herself a hare for some reason. Is part of that reason because i couldn’t think of a pun name other than jack like jackrabbit and ‘jack the jackalope’ sounded a little too stupid for my taste (as if ‘jerryjack’ isn’t stupider)? Ummmmmmm.
Anyway, i decided to nix the asymmetrical antlers cause theres a limit to how much asymmetry i should stuff into a set of characters, carrion’s already got the lopped off ear and etc. the back and tail marking is supposed to emulate ribs
I’m still super duper undecided on jerry’s outfit and colour scheme. Every outfit ive thought up so far feels way too simple or untethered to reality in comparison to the postal crew’s, however i think the postal crew is a bit too complicated (or way too complicated in squabble’s case) and too grounded for sonic, so. Idk what to do abt that. And as for their colour scheme, as seen above her first drafts have the same red and green of the postal crew, but seeing as she doesn’t work with them it’s definitely the better choice to diverge from that. Saturated orange is the most tense and unsettling colour to me so i think it suits her off putting nature, but the white and orange combo reminds me intensely of like. 1960s egg chairs. WAIT and ulala space channel 5. And various stupid tech startup kitchen gadgets. Just generally a combo with a lot of nonthreatening and safe associations rather than the warning sign i want. Idk man i’ll workshop it eventually.
Also, cloak rig. Her previous red coat was stupid. Not sure how much smarter this is but it looks cooler. Still doesn’t usually wear it other than in towns to hide her wings or when it’s cold. Also also this is the same fucking pose again
#Sooooooo sleepy rn#so if anything is incoherent it’s cause i’m so sleepy always and forever#doodles#ocs#oc posting#sonic oc#rig the fox-bat#carrion the cat#jerryjack the hare#super awful at getting stuff out of my head so idk how well i explained them or got across their vibe#i like my ocs so much man. so much#i need to post about them more#my art
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ttwt episode 1 - part 2
“Last time, on Total Takes World Tour: seventeen teens sat down and buckled up for an all-expenses paid trip around the globe! It’s kind of like a cruise… with the chance to win a cash prize of one million dollars! After busting some mandatory groovy tunes, we flew our crew down to Teotihuacan in Mexico, where they traversed the mysterious tunnels located beneath the world-famous Pyramid of the Sun. And that’s where we are now- who will sing? Who will sink? Find out now, on Total Takes World Tour!”
“OMGGGG, is the mat blue for boy love?!” Mal screeches as Team Yaoi walks over to their designated starting point for the next leg of the challenge.
“I think the blue is symbolic of the color you’ll be after I’m done beating you to death over the team name,” Ass snaps, crossing their arms. “Team Yaoi… ugh.”
Their eyes drift over to Team Friendship, hovering over a lovely lavender rug, and Team Mojo with an orange.
“Do you think Joner’s okay over there?” Sha-Mod asks, holding a hand over his face to shield Lightning’s eyes from the non-existant sun.
Joner is sitting on the ground while Julia, Ass, and Mal argue, rocking back and forth in the fetal position. Patrick grumbles to himself. “He’ll live,”
He sighs, his shoulders sagging. “Man, I just miss McLovin,”
Michela goes on, offering an encouraging pat on Sha-Mod’s shoulder. “Max and I got separated, too.”
“You’ve got me, if anything,” Albert says. Michela shrugs, but smiles anyway.
From the lavender rug, Max watches the interaction and grumbles to himself. Kelly and Staci are busy playing with a fortune teller they made out of one of the napkins from the galley, and Scruffy is trying to convince Phillip that no one hates him.
“Dude, you look like you’re going to pop a blood vessel,” Bonnie notes, looking up from their flaking nail polish with a raised eyebrow.
“There’s something off about him,” Max says. “I can’t figure out what it is yet, but I will.”
They roll their eyes from behind him. “You’re jealous. It's normal,”
“I am not,”
“Calm down. We’ve all been there,”
Max turns around with a contemplative expression. “Have you?”
Bonnie looks away and stutters, but luckily Chris interrupts just in time. “I hope you’re all enjoying the cold, cause it’s about to get HOT!” he chuckles at his own reference, ignoring the confused looks from the cast. “Mexico is known for having alotta active volcanoes, dudes- and you’re about to get up close and personal with your next stop- Popocatepetl!”
The teens glance between each other nervously. “And you’ll be taking these shiny obsidian artifacts with you. Last team to make it up the mountain is up for elimination! So you dudes better get a move on- it’s a day’s walk from here, haha. See ya!”
And with that, the host walks off.
“We’ve gotta find some other method of transportation,” Courtney says confidently, scratching their chin. “Does anyone have any money?”
“We all left ours on the plane,” Ass rolls their eyes. “How are we going to get a ride without cash?”
Joner sits at the edge of the group, looking out in the distance while the team argues behind him. A tour bus pulls up across the ancient city and he blinks. “Hey, guys?”
The four ignore him and continue bickering. “Guyyyys?”
“A little busy, Joner!” Courtney shouts back.
“Guys!”
“WHAT!” Julia and Ass shout in unison.
Joner points over the city to the bus.
---
Team Friendship stands along the side of a highway, holding up thumbs and waiting.
“We’ve been here for hours,” Bonnie sighs. “No one’s going to pick us up.”
“Can’t you flag someone down? I mean… not to assume anything, but you speak Spanish, right?” Scruffy asks. Bonnie looks away.
---
BONNIE: “I can say “hello” and “where is the bathroom” but fluency? Forget it,”
---
“Guys, look what we found!” Staci’s voice rings out.
The team turns to see Kelly and Staci returning to the group, leading a donkey behind them.
“Um,” Max says. “Who’d you steal that from?”
“We just found him wandering around on his own,” Kelly says, patting the animal’s hide. “No one likes being alone. Can we keep him?”
Scruffy and Bonnie look between each other.
---
“Well. This is certainly taking the cake for the most embarrassing moment of my life,” Max says, sitting atop Bonnie’s shoulders as the entire team balances on the mule.
“Better than walking,” Scruffy huffs, Kelly in their lap and Staci awkwardly angled behind them.
“Is it?”
“At least you’re not in the back,” Phillip sighs, waving his hand in front of his nose.
---
Team Mojo walks through a thick forest, everyone both shivering from the cold and sweating from the humidity. Austin keeps stopping every few moments to take selfies with the local flora.
Michela and Albert hang at the back of the group, Patrick just steps ahead of them. He sighs dramatically, then announces “I’m getting tired. Someone carry me,” before falling back. Michela and Albert step out of the way and he falls on the forest floor with a thump.
“Well, this is miserable,” Michela sighs. “I mean, no offense to you guys, but we’re kind of a lousy team.”
“No offense taken,” Sha-Mod says, placing a hand over his heart. “I just know things would be different if the Takes Three boys were together again!”
“The what?” Albert asks.
Michela sighs and grumbles. “It’s their band,”
“The best band!”
“Oh, neat. What kind of music do you do?” Albert goes on.
“Please don’t entertain him,” she says, but it’s too late.
“We mostly do rap-swing-darkwave, but we’ve been experimenting with reggae-classical with an eastern influence,” Sha-Mod says. “Our Christmas album is coming out in December. You should pre-order before it’s sold out!”
“Sounds bad,” Frollo comments from up ahead, not even bothering to turn around. "An affront to Christmas."
“It’s pretty good!”
“I don’t believe that,”
The ground suddenly starts shaking, and a deep rumbling sound comes from within the earth. The team ducks and covers while the forest foliage sways above them. “Told you!” Frollo shouts.
A faint dinging noise catches everyone’s attention. Chris’ voice seems to come out of nowhere- “Looks like the Aztec fire god is not happy,” he chuckles. His tone is taunting, and very aggravating. “Why don’t you sing him a little song to soothe him? And also prevent that volcano from exploding?”
“You guys can’t do that, right?” Sha-Mod asks nervously.
“No promises, dude,” and then he disappears.
“This blows,” Michela sighs, then takes a deep breath. “No need to blow up, it’s winter time at last!”
Sha-Mod, Albert, and Patrick join in. “You shouldn’t burn us up,”
“Or turn us into ash!” Austin says. “Yeah, baby!”
Across the forest, Team Friendship nervously looks between each other as the earth trembles. “It’s volcanic winter time,” Bonnie says, eyes wide.
“So don't blow your top!” Max yelps as the tremors make the trees around them sway.
“Just ignore us mortals!” Phillip adds on.
Scruffy opens their mouth to sing but the Donkey rears and squishes them between Staci and Kelly, who shout out. “Don’t let the good times stop!”
---
“It’s winter time,” Courtney sings as the entirety of Team Yaoi is crammed in a tight tourist bus.
“Winter time, winter time!” Mal and Julia sing along.
Joner picks up in a perfectly toned voice. “It’s volcanic winter season!”
“It’s winter time,” Ass grumbles.
Courtney and Julia pick up the chorus. “Winter time, winter time…”
---
“Lord, save us now,” Frollo sing-speaks loudly.
“It’s winter time, winter time, winter time…” Michela and Albert harmonize as the team creeps through the forest.
Austin shouts the next verse. “Volcanic winter season!”
---
“It’s winter time, winter time, winter time…” Kelly, Staci, and Bonnie harmonize.
“Volcanic winter season!” Max finishes off the song.
Scruffy opens their mouth again, but they’re interrupted by the sound of trembling and the sight of a large plume of smoke close by.
“We’re here!” Bonnie shouts. Scruffy sighs and sulks.
Chris is sitting at the base of the volcano, lounging on a lawn chair and catching non-existent rays with a foil reflector. He sips from a drink and grins. “First team at the base! Better hurry, though- that volcano is about to blow!”
The tourist bus turns up next, and an exasperated Team Yaoi runs out. Chris opens his mouth to make some witty remark, but Julia interrupts with a shout. “What’s next!?”
“Geez, chill out,” he chuckles, lying back on his chair. “Your next part of the challenge is drawn from ancient Aztec tradition- a sacrifice to the fire god, Xiuhtecuhtli! Unfortunately, our lame attorneys say we can’t do a human or animal sacrifice, so we’ll be using your obsidian artifacts.”
The teams look between each other. Scruffy holds up the necklace they’d snatched, while Mal plays with her blade before putting it in her back pocket.
The earth rumbles again and Chris grins, flipping down a pair of shades. “Better hurry! It’s a steep hike!”
The two teams set off just as Team Mojo comes running up, everyone exhausted and out of breath. Sha-Mod collapses as soon as they reach Chris, and the other members aren’t looking much better.
“Wow, roughed it all the way on foot, huh?” Chris grins, taking another sip from his drink.
Michela nods, wiping the sweat from her forehead.
“Well, better gear up to do some more. You’re in for quite the hike,” he chuckles. The team groans.
---
“I was going to give this to Jules, but if it’s for the game, I guess…” Scruffy thinks, holding out the necklace. “Well, I can get her something else, right?”
“Would you please. Shut. Up,” Max grumbles.
Bonnie raises a hand. “I second that,”
Scruffy looks away with a frown. After a few moments, former sighs. “What do you see in her, anyway? She’s a total pain,”
“Well… at first, I was just trailing her because she was the smartest player in the game. Besides yours truly,” Scruffy says, placing a hand over their heart. “But… behind all that rage and wit, she’s a good person. She does mean things out of necessity, but she feels bad about them, and when she’s not competing, she’s a real sweetheart. She’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Sometimes I think I’m the only person who sees that.”
“Hm,” Bonnie thinks aloud. “Well… I guess that’s kind of sweet. I still don’t see it, though.”
Scruffy shrugs and walks past Max, who has his fingers in his ears to block out the conversation.
---
Team Yaoi huffs and wheezes as they climb the mountainside, all exhausted from the smoke and the hike. Joner is practically dragging himself along at this point, crawling on his hands and knees.
“Don’t…” Courtney wheezes. “Give up… so… close…”
Finally, the group collapses at the mouth of the volcano, where Chris is waiting. “Long walk, huh?”
“How’d you get up here?” Ass points an accusatory finger at him from their resting place on the ground.
“Airlift. Get with the times, dude,” he rubs his hands together. “Alright, sacrifice time! Let’s see that artifact!”
Mal sighs and digs around in her pockets for a moment before her face goes blank. Courtney, Ass, and Julia look at her. “Mal…?” Julia starts.
“I-I’m sure I have it. I put it in my pocket at the base, I didn’t touch it!”
A few hundred feet down, a glint in the sun catches Bonnie’s eye. They turn to Max, who’s whistling and flipping a blade between his fingers.
Back at the top, Ass groans. “You dropped it! You idiot!”
“Someone has to go back and find it,” Courtney wheezes. “We can’t lose.”
“I’ll-I’ll go,” Joner stands before promptly collapsing again. “Or not.”
“I think Mal should go. She lost it,” Julia glares.
“I did not!”
“You did too!”
The group erupts into argument again and Joner covers his ears.
---
“How much longer?” Albert asks, coughing weakly.
“Long,” Michela responds.
“I’m tired. Someone carry me!” Patrick says again, falling backwards just for Michela and Albert to move apart and let him tumble down the side of the mountain on his back.
Frollo is up ahead, reading silently and apparently not breaking a sweat.
“How does he do that?” Sha-Mod whispers.
Austin shrugs. “I don’t know, but I’m starting to think I might be following the wrong religion, baby,”
---
Team Friendship treks on, panting and wheezing to themselves. Scruffy looks behind their shoulder for a second and catches a glimpse of Bonnie and Max.
“Where’d you get that?” they ask, eyes pointed towards the blade in Max’s hands.
“Found it,”
“Really?”
He shrugs. “Found it in Mal’s pocket?”
“Woahhh, nice one. Way to show the girly team!” Phillip says, holding up a hand for a high-five. Max just stares at him and he lowers it sadly.
The volcano rumbles again, making the team grab onto each other for support as a parade of rocks rains down on them. “Run!” Scruffy shouts, and the teens get to moving, dodging giant boulders as they move down the hill.
---
Chris looks exhausted as he watches Team Yaoi bicker on and on, pointing fingers and shouting at each other. Joner walks over and sits next to him, deep eye bags under his eyes.
“I can’t believe you live with this,” the host whispers loudly. Joner just sighs.
Seconds later, Team Friendship runs up the side of the hill, panting and gasping. “Yes! Yes, we made it!” Scruffy whoops. Kelly and Staci cheer while Max covers his ears again.
“Let’s hope you guys have your sacrifice,” Chris says. Scruffy holds out the necklace proudly, but hesitates when they see Julia.
“One thing first,” they say, jogging over to Max. They pick him up off the ground, hold him by the ankles and shake him until the blade falls from one of his pockets.
“Well, that’s one way to do it,” Bonnie says as Scruffy drops a very disoriented Max and runs to Team Yaoi with the blade. He presses it into Julia’s palms. “I think you guys lost this,”
For a second, her harsh glare melts and she smiles sincerely. “Thank you. But what about-”
“I can handle economy,” Scruffy shrugs. “You’re better than winning. Plus, Team Mojo is nowhere to be seen, and I’d rather let them take the fall.”
“Hey!” Max shouts from afar. "My girlfr-"
"Shut it!" Julia yells, and then nods gratefully and returns to Team Yaoi. Ass mumbles “About time,” and the five of them toss their artifact into the volcano.
“Team Yaoi has won the challenge! Finally!” Chris shouts. "First class for all of you!"
Scruffy beams and begins walking to the mouth of the volcano, just for the host to put an arm in their way, blocking the team. “Not so fast, compadre. You still have a musical number to perform,”
“What?” Scruffy blinks. “I-I mean, sure, but- now?”
“Now or elimination, bud!”
“But you let Cody from the original World Tour off the hook all the time!”
“What can I say? I’m a changed man. Let’s hear it!”
Scruffy stutters and stammers, caught off guard. Their team behind them goads them on, but it’s too late- within seconds, Team Mojo appears and Michela, obsidian figurine in hand, single-handedly throws a perfect long pass into the volcano.
“And with that, Team Mojo has avoided elimination!” Chris grins. “You know, on second thought, Scruffy- fair is fair. I’ll let you off the hook this time. See you at the elimination ceremony!”
They laugh nervously and turn to their unimpressed teammates.
---
Within the hulking metal frame of the plan, Chris stands before a flower paper background, atop a podium. Team Friendship is lined on a set of wooden bleachers against the wall, none looking too happy.
“Team Friendship, due to a marginal error, you came in last. So, it’s vote time! Up in the loser-class bathroom you’ll find six passports. Stamp the passport of the team member you’d like to send home, and meet me back here for your results,”
---
Phillip holds up a passport to the camera and stamps out Scruffy.
---
Max sighs and thinks aloud. “Scruffy is a capable player, but I can’t let them throw the win for some girl. I’d understand if it were Michela, but Julia?” He stamps out Scruffy.
---
Bonnie thinks for a moment, and then sighs and palms their forehead. They stamp out Phillip.
---
“I TRIED to sing. I keep telling everyone that- I’ve been waiting to sing for years!” Scruffy says. “I take lessons!” they sigh and stamp out Max.
---
Staci and Kelly giggle while using the ink from the stamp to draw smiley faces and flowers on each other’s shoulders.
---
“I’ve got the results of your votes right here. Those staying in the game will get in-flight snacks,” Chris holds up a bag of pretzels and then rolls his eyes as Scruffy makes a face. “What? Pretzels are cheaper right now!”
“The following players are safe- Kelly
Staci
Bonnie
And Max,”
The respective contestants catch their pretzels and look up.
“The last bag of pretzels… goes to…”
“Phillip. Sorry, Scruffy. You’re out!”
Scruffy sighs and their shoulders droop. Chris tosses them a parachute, which they put on with expert speed and professionalism.
“Been training for that too, huh?” Chris chuckles. They shrug.
Scruffy walks up to the open door of the plane and turns back. “Wait- Bonnie- I want you to give this to Jules!” they say, tossing Bonnie the necklace they never got to sacrifice. “Tell her I'm rooting for her!”
“Um... why me?” the goth asks, raising an eyebrow.
Scruffy smiles. “I think you get it more than anyone else,” and with that, they jump. Bonnie blinks.
---
BONNIE: “Okay, I had one heartfelt conversation on national TV and now everyone thinks I’m cupid or something?”
---
“Can’t win ‘em all, I guess,” Chris shrugs, then turns to the audience. “Who will win? And who will jump? Find out next time, on Total Takes: World Tour!”
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ah! uh..I saw your post about horror/yandere brainrot, I sorta think this fits into horror? and is a brainrot? my bad if doesn’t
You know how ramshackle is pretty much a shit place in every way possible,
like, whether it’s outside or inside it’s ugly and falling apart, roof tiles crashing in the ground like rain, metallic frames oxidizing into rouge cuivre taints spotted with fluo blue green, wooden furniture eaten by ants and termites, the only remains are digested and discarded, stuff like that akin to a haunted house left to rot away and disappear as time plays it’s role
ahem, so I was saying, ramshackle is baaaad.
and living in a place like that is bound to cause consequences, yknow where I’m getting at? yeah, yuu and perhaps grim? But well he’s a magical glorified cat so I think he might be mostly resistant?
yeah, uh, yuu. Yuu is a random ass human that got airdropped into twst, and living in a house like that as a normal, average human is NOT good.
the amount of health hazards is bigger than the amount of atoms in our world!! My g could trip from a bent floorboard and fall head first into a broken’s chair sharp side!! fucking final destination style!! Or a roof tile could slam their head!!! or the whole ass roof falls on them as they sleep (yknow that one vid of it happening irl) and they fucking choke on the roof pieces and powdery remains because they are asleep !!
like that not even a tenth of the fucking hazards this final destination house has, I only cited the immediate ones, but not the LONG term, like I’m fairly sure some weird twst endemic fungi mushrooms and other plants can grow here and with yuu’s luck they are poisonous!!! Through eating or spore or air bone their presence is unwelcome and dangerous for yuu’s HUMAN body the more they are exposed to it by living in this glorified cardboard box,,,, or idk all the damn dust the oxidized shit or rotten wooden with wood powder furniture or the bugs!! The fucking bugs like ants termites or WORSE bedbugs!! bedbugs!! These little hellspawns!! ahaha,,,I got carried away..I uh. Basically Yuu’s living in a saw movie worthy death trap, the fear is about having to avoid dying in their own house, they can’t really replace the furniture because they don’t have the damn funds only throwing it away at most, I don’t think they have the free time to entirely clean it, nor the budget to buy cleaning supplies, or pesticides, or herbicides, or renovate the things that could turn them into a was
sooooo yuu is kinda having to play survivor in a place supposed to be a safe spot, like hey!! don’t walk on this specific spot or you’ll break your spine more than the amount of breakups certain celebrities hav- oh, yuu has a cough? it’s just all the dust and funky wildlife shit rotting around that I can’t really remove because I don’t have the MONEEEEEYY
the horror, if you can call it that way, is that yuu has no fucking true break from all the stress, even their own home is a danger to them and they have to tiptoe around it like they do in NRC they ARGHHH give yuu a proper home PLEAASE even a goddamn 2 piece appartement is better than the addams family house copycat crowley I will get your stupid birdbeak COMEHERE-
(…this is way longer than I planned it to be, ignoring it is totally understandable.)
You are so valid for every single thing written above. I actually had no idea what to write for this because you basically ate this ask up, left no crumbs.
What’s four plus four? Eight, because you ate. So real, Crowley what the fuck are you trying to do, like if you want to kill us just do it straight. Enough with the around-about methods, my dude.
Hell, we only got liveable conditions when the dance crew gave money to fix up our place. Then Styx shot down our dorm.. well it’s fixed now, definitely better then whatever bullshit Crowley decided to give us🙄
It’s stressful both physically and mentally, please send help to the Ramshackle residents, we’re going through it-
————————————————————————
The switches don’t work.
Well, if you simply flick at it. You’ve devised a way to illuminate your surroundings, as dreary as they are.
By brute force.
Flatten your palm against it, and slam it into the wall with all your strength. It’ll leave a rectangle mark pressed into your skin, pulsing a scarlet red. As if responding to your pain, the light flickers on.
A dull, mellow glow, its faint ember light pulsating across the room. Much like the ache gnawing against your palm, throbbing with the same beat. Rubbing your sore palm gently, you take a step forward.
Grimacing as your shoes crunch against the grimy floor, the floorboards creaking in protest. They bend so far, caving into themselves. Yet they don’t break… well, just yet.
Part of you has to admire the sheer determination of these rotten slabs of wood. Their sheer will to survive, despite the weight pressed upon them. Raising your foot, you give the floor an affectionate tap, before resuming your pace.
Only for something to be impaled into your rubber sole, sinking deep into the bottom of your foot. A sharp something. Muttering a curse, you crash onto the ground, rear stinging from the impact. Grabbing your ankle and raising your foot upwards.
Only to see a massive nail, stabbing into your sole. Coated in the crimson brown of rust, staring up menacingly at you. Prised loose from one of the floorboards, perhaps.
Just how long has this place been abandoned, for the condition of both the place and its materials to get this bad?
Quickly shaking off your shoe, you access the damage this stupid nail did to your foot. Pursing your lips as you take note on how deep the needle went into the ball of your foot, the rancid taste of bile lapping at the very back of your throat.
God knows how long this nail has been left to rot in the Ramshackle dorm. Lying right there in the open, festering with ever microscopic horror ever known to mankind-
Goosebumps prickled your arm, tiny minuscule lumps rushing upwards your skin, covering every exposed inch of it. Fingers pinching at the tip of the nail, you yanked at the nail.
Only for it to clatter against the ground, the sound of metal clashing against wood echoing throughout the dorm. The very tip of the nail coated in a slick, scarlet liquid. Your blood, still warm from your body. It gleamed in the light, giving it a sinister glint. It bounced once, twice, before rolling away.
Just as it slipped into the darkness, the light hissed from above you. Blinking once, blinking twice, before it went out with a deafening pop. Leaving you in pitch black darkness.
Alone.
Just like how the dorm has always been.
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The One Where They Go On GBBO
Summary: Somehow the lads are in the tent for bread week
Words: 3K
Warnings: swearing, drinking, chaos, soggy bottoms, careless measuring, questionable baking methods, bread fingering
“Why did we agree to do this? None of us can bake for shit?” Sam declared out loud, in front of everybody, on camera.
Noel threw his head back with a laugh. “Well you just gotta, try your best yanno? Don’t think like that and just go for it mate, right?”
Sam liked Noel. In fact, they all did. He had style with flair, comedic charm, witty banter, and fabulous hair. It was just him and Paul doing the one-off special that their media team somehow got the crew to agree to. Their baking task was bread.
Danny listened carefully as he stood behind his counter, which was at the front to the left. His apron was tied perfectly, and he smiled and nodded as Noel went over the baking task.
Sam was on the counter next to his, he had a bottle of beer on the counter and had already drank half of it.
He leaned on the counter with both hands as he listened. His apron was on but not tied, saying it would make him feel restricted.
Josh was behind Sam at the back. He smiled widely. He had no idea how to fucking bake. In all honestly when the crew said,
“Do you wonna bake?” He heard, “Do you wonna get baked?”
Jake was ready to win this. He was the best cook. Okay, not much of a baker but it was Danny he had to look out for since he was most likely the only other member actually listening.
He was also wearing his apron properly, he looked over to Josh who hadn’t even bothered to put his on.
“So it is bread week. You can make any type of bread you wish, just as long as it is finished within the time limit.”
Paul stood there, silent, hands in pockets, his ice blue eyes burning holes into each of them.
After some more remarks from Noel he clapped his hands together. Danny was so ready that he even mouthed the words along with Noel when he declared. “On your marks. Get set……BAKE!”
Sam slapped a hand on the counter and got to making his sourdough. He thought he would make one of these because 1. He really hadn’t baked before 2. He didn’t want to stress himself out.
Jake got to measuring out his ingredients. He was going to make a chilli and cheddar tear-apart bread. He thought something with a kick would be different and he did cook well with spices so maybe this would work in his favour.
Danny was also doing a tear-away bread but his was a garlic and cheese tear bread which he was more excited to eat than to make. And this gave him an excuse to make said bread, just so he could eat it.
Josh was just shaking random bags into a bowl. He wasn’t even measuring, just shaking in stuff.
Noel wandered over to the singer. “Joshy” He let out as he watched the smaller man shake multiple bags of flour, salt, and herbs in a big bowl.
“Noely!” He let out in reply, his shoulder rising up in jest, which made the host laugh.
“You’re not gonna measure?”
Paul was also watching him but from the front of the tent.
Josh shook his head and he stopped shaking the bag in his hand. “Nah, I’m just here for fun. Hopefully it will be edible!” He let out a melodic giggle and then grabbed a bottle of something else and started to shake that in.
The boys were all now kneading their doughs or proofing them. Some were punching the shit out of their dough like it owed them money.
That was Sam.
It even made Paul lift an eyebrow to his technique. “Gotta really beat the shit out of it so it will listen, you know?” Sam said to him as Paul passed his counter before walking over to Danny.
“Danny, good to see you mixing up some washes for your bread. What do you plan on making?” Paul asked as he watched the curly haired man crush up some garlic and melt butter.
Danny started explaining what he was going to make as Paul’s eyes made him slightly uncomfortable as he stared back at him.
Noel walked over to Jake and gave him a big grin. “First off, Jake. Can I just say I love your wardrobe? You’re giving me….”his hands started flailing about gesturing to the longer haired twin as he mixed his dough in the bowl.
“It gives me land pirates. Like modern-day pirate flair. I really dig it.”
Jake stopped mixing and looked him right in the eye. “Thank you! You get it! Someone finally gets it.” He let out loudly at the rest of the tent. Sam looked over his shoulder quickly. Then, flipped him the bird with his free hand as he continued to mix his dough.
Noel laughed and patted him on the back. “So, what are you making here?”
Jake’s cheeks balled in with pure happiness. He was still giddy about the pirate comment. “I’m making a chilli and cheddar tear-apart bread. I thought something with a kick might be fun to make. Hopefully not too spicy but who knows. Sometimes I tend to forget what I've added so it just adds up and then it’s like eating a ghost pepper. Sam ended up in hospital one time because of a curry I made.”
Noel laughed loudly. “Well, I'm cheering for you mate! I want a pirate to win this thing!” Noel winked with a ‘yar’, patted him on the back then wandered over to Sam.
Jake grinned to himself. “Told ya I’m a fucking pirate.” He said under his breath proudly and set his dough to proof.
Sam was taking a sip of his beer, leaning on the counter as he waited for his bread to rise nicely. He felt the slow approach of the jazzy host and turned with a smile.
“Beer, Noel?” He offered
The host grinned, “Sadly can’t mate. Not while I’m working.”
Sam raised his beer before downing the rest of it.
“So you sure you added everything in?” Noel asked as he watched the very calm bassist. The man nodded in reply. “Yup.” He popped the ‘p’ with his lip then smiled. “I even added some beer in aswell.”
Noel looked at the empty bottles on the floor next to Sam’s bare feet. “How much beer did you add?”
Sam shrugged. “I honestly can’t remember.”
“Sam, you’re making a sourdough right?” Noel asked as he watched the bassist prod the dough checking to see if it was ready. “Yuh-huuuuh.”
“…..sourdough takes a few hours to rise properly mate.”
Sam turned to him and stared at Noel, then the bread. Back and forth, back and forth and Noel joined in. Looking at Sam and then the bread. Back and forth, back and forth.
Sam pulled a sad face. “Ah shit.”
Paul had walked over to Josh. He watched curiously as the singer sat there kicking his feet on the stool.
“Beautiful day, right?” He beamed a large toothy grin to the host who looked out the tent and gave a nod. “Indeed. You seem very relaxed, is that confidence?”
Josh was still smiling but gave a shake of his head. “Oh god, no. None at all.” He then laughed out loud as he kicked his feet more.
Now was time to finish off their risen doughs and prepare them for the oven.
Unknown to Jake, he had added 4 lots of the peppers and spice. He was supposed to use only 2. He looked down at the dough before him, he added in his spicy butter and peppers but kept adding more thinking he didn’t already do it. By the time Jake was satisfied with it, he had added 7 pinches of peppers.
Dannys bread seemed to be going well, he was worried about time and if the bread would bake all the way through. He sat on the floor right in front of the oven, watching his bread come to life and hoped to god it would be okay. He was fucking hungry.
Sam threw his dough in the oven with more force than needed. He hoped the beer he poured in would somehow help the bread turn out okay, but now he was more busy watching Danny get closer and closer to his oven.
Maybe I could swap the bread? He thought to himself as he watched his friend nearly press his face against the burning out appliance.
Noel and Paul stood at the front of the tent. “Gentlemen, you have 20 minutes left!” Noel called out.
Danny peered over the counter top to him and then got on all fours. “Come the fuck on!” He groaned at the oven and bread. He heard Sam let out a snort laugh.
The boys all rushed about and watched their ovens like their lives depended on it, except for Sam and Josh.
Sam was over it. He knew he fucked up for choosing to do a sourdough thinking it was the easiest. He sat there leaning one elbow on the counter as he stared off into space.
Josh was too busy playing with the little tool he was given when he asked how he can make patterns on his bread, he wanted to do his signature symbol.
Jake added more cheese to his bread to make it extra cheesy, hoping cheese would also get him more brownie points. He just wanted to win this to show them a pirate HE could win it!
“Alright boys, that's 5 minutes!” Noel let out.
Danny threw the oven door open and grabbed his bread, nearly forgetting his oven mitts in the process. It smelled devine, and if it wasn’t scolding right now, he would have picked it up and swallowed it whole.
Sam leaned forward with less urgency, flicked the oven door open with his finger, peered in, let out a noise, then with his right elbow still leaning on the counter and still sat on his stool, tried to take the bread out one handed. Noel watched worried and went to offer him some help until Sam sat up straight and slapped the loaf on the counter. “Bone, apple, teeth!” He called out with a smile.
Jake plated his bread, making sure it looked delicious, and presentable. He smiled at the bread but then his smile faded…..it looked like it needed more chillies…
Josh put his bread on a wooden board and sat back down. He was pleased with how it looked and how the scorn of his symbol came out. He grinned widely. “What a lovely day!” He let out.
“3…..2……1….STOOOOOOOP BAKING! Step away from your ovens please gents!” Noel yelled out and smiled around the room giving them a wink of encouragement. Paul stood there with his hands in his pockets still, smizing away.
After a short break, to make sure the bread wasn’t burning your mouth level hot, the judging started.
They walked over to Danny. Danny almost fell to his knees because he wanted nothing more than to get the dreaded judging part over with and he was starving.
“Danny” Paul nodded and looked at his cheese garlic tear bread. “Paul, Noel, wassup.”
Paul grabbed Danny’s bread, hs fingers gave a slight squeeze and he let out a noise. “Nice feel, and firm doesn’t feel too hard. The smell coming from this is making my mouth water so let’s dig in and see how you did.”
Praul grabs a sliced part of the bread to inspect it but is taken back when he hears a “Oh thank god” from Danny who grabs some of his bread and shoves it in his mouth, not caring that garlic butter is running down his chin as he throws his head back in pure bliss.
Noel and Paul stare at him before Noel bursts out laughing. “Damn, let me try and piece.” He grabs some and pops it in his mouth. “Ooooooo, that’s quite good! Well done Danny!”
Danny is in a euphoric state and can’t really hear Noel’s compliment.
Paul eats his slice after prodding his finger on it and nods. “Mmm, very nice, very nice. Not too much garlic so it doesn’t overpower that taste of the bread and you seasoned the butter really well so it’s not just garlic. Really nice, well done.”
Danny still has his eyes closed as he chews, not even noticing them because they have been awake and on site since 6 a.m. and he didn’t eat anything the entire day.
They leave him to it and walked over to Sam’s. He lifts his beer to them. “Hello”
Paul actually chuckles. “Well Sam, how did the sourdough go?”
Sam clicked his tongue. “Not, good Paul. Not good at all. I put beer in it aswell so, who knows what this was be like.”
Paul grabbed his bread and turned it around. “Ah, yeah” he started prodding the bread with his index finger.
Sam watched him. “Damn, you want a room with it?” He let out a loud laugh but Paul just glanced at him, a slight smirk playing on his face before he went back to being professional. Sam decided to join in and grabbed a slice and started prodding it too. “Nothing like a good fingering, am I right fellas?”
Paul put down the slice he was holding and gripped the edge of the counter as he tried not to laugh on camera, but failed miserably. “Sadly Sam, your beer messed up your dough and you just have a very soggy bread.”
“Ah cursed with a soggy bottom that just won’t quit.” He let out putting on a overly sad face as he continued to prod the bread.
Noel and Paul walked over to Josh who got off his stool and smiled. “I made this.” He gestured to the bread.
Paul smiled to him and nodded. “What did you make exactly, Josh?” Paul’s eyes looked at the scored symbol on the loaf and smiled. He was surprised how well it looked and how good it smelled.
Josh shrugged which made Noel bark out a laugh. “No idea. I just” he started using his hands wildly to gesture to his previous actions of throwing anything and everything into the bowl.
Paul grabbed his load and inspected it. “I love this symbol, nicely done, not too deep, but just deep enough-“ “wheyhey” Josh let out to that.
Paul knocked a knuckle on the bread for the sound and squeezed it a little. Josh was going to make a knock knock joke but then his mind wandered off to which one he would say, so sadly, the moment had passed.
Paul sliced his bread and held it out to look at it and prod with his finger before he popped it in his mouth. He stood there for a while.
Josh was just smiling away and gave a wink to Noel who grinned back at him and patted his shoulder.
Paul looked up from the bread to Josh and a smirk appeared. He brought his hand up and offered it to Josh.
Everyone gasped, except Josh who just looked at his hand. “Oooh!” He gladly took it and shook the man’s hand. “Bit late but nice to meet you too!”
Danny broke out of his euphoric state to witness Josh getting a fucking handshake from Paul. He was stunned. Too stunned to even eat.
Paul nodded and laughed. “That is a damn fine bread Josh. Wonderful.” He said before grabbing another slice and walking over to Jake’s station.
“Thank you, you too!”
Jake stood a little tense. “Hi” he said as they approached and Noel gave him a salute. “Jake, I have been looking forward to this all day.” Paul admitted.
Jake grinned. “Oh! Thank you!”
Paul did his usual thing. Grabbing the bread, inspecting it, saying comments about the weight, firmness, softness, and colour. Jake’s was perfect in all of these categories.
Paul prodded the slice and took a bite. He let out a noise of enjoyment untul his eyes shot up to Jakes. “Jake,….how much chilli did you add to this?” His face began to go pink as he struggled to swallow the piece he ate. He let out a cough as the spice burned his tongue, his throat, his chest, taking over all of his senses.
He was hot. The tent was hot. My god where the fuck was some milk?
Jake let out a chuckle, “Oh, I don’t remember exactly. It could probably use some more.”
“Paul….you okay mate?” Noel asked as Paul began to sweat profusely. “Milk…I need milk” he rasped out and staggered off out of the tent.
Noel watched with worry as Paul was then surrounded by some of the crew, they grabbed some milk for him as they tried to get sim to sit down on the grass.
“Ummm…” the camera panned to Noel who looked a little lost. Jake picked up a slice of bread next to him and took a bite. “Mmmm, yeah, needs more. Ah shit.” He says gesturing to the rest of the slice before he shoves it in his mouth.
“That’s all we have time for today everyone.” Noel says to the camera, glancing at Jake then past the camera to the state Paul was currently in.
The rest of the band all gathered around Noel as he said bye to the camera. Sam raised his beer and winked, Danny was holding the rest of his bread, eating away. And Jake was offering some of his bread to Noel.
“That lovely man, shook my hand.” Was the last thing that was heard before the camera cut off.
#gvf#greta van fleet#josh gvf#josh kiszka#jake gvf#jake kiszka#sam gvf#sam kiszka#danny gvf#danny wagner#fics#LMAOOO FINALLYYY#thos has been in idea and draft hell for a LONG ASS TIME#BONE APPLE TEETH EVERYBODY#squint at the baking stuff I don't know anything lmao
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Did you maybe get a chance to develop an idea for your Rogue Trader? What are they like? And, perhaps most importantly, how do they get along with the members of their retinue? 😊
I am so glad you enjoy the game, hope you have a great day!! 💜
Thank you for enabling me! 💜
god this game is giving me hella brainworms, so apologies in advance for how long this got!
His name is Mago Vanth, though he goes exclusively by his surname and has for a while now. It's a bit awkward with his fancy new surname tacked onto it (all those v's), but so is he, so.... XD
Crime lord background. Lawful neutral. Loyal to his people (crew/gang/etc) and nothing else. Ruthless when necessary. Fast talking. Pragmatic (until he's not). He has a talent for people and synthesizing information/perspectives. Good at tactics, bad at combat (he's gonna give Abelard a heart attack one of these fights). Be gay do crimes.
He was born in a hive world slum. Orphaned at 9 after his mother got sucked into a chaos cult and tried to sacrifice him and his sibling. Started his life of crime young and by his late 20s he was running a successful gang. Unfortunately the leaders of the larger syndicate that his gang was part of ALSO got involved in some Chaos shit, and Vanth was arrested as part of the investigation/crackdown.
I went with Shadow of Torment from the 'Darkest Hour' section of character creation ("You were arrested and thoroughly interrogated using creative and violent methods."), so.... yeah. He claims he lost his eye in a fight, but in reality it was a result of the interrogation.
He (barely) survives and manages to escape, but by that point he is a complete wreck and everyone he knows/cares about is dead, arrested or wants *him* dead for betraying them. So he runs, as far towards the outer rim (or whatever the in-universe equivalent is) as the money in his bailout stash will get him and begins the process of trying to piece himself and his life back together.
8? 10? years later, he's clawed his way up to being the leader of a successful smuggling syndicate (not huge, but a respectable size) when he gets press-ganged into the Von Valencias dynasty.
He's spent his whole life living/working outside of (and often in conflict with) the establishment. And now he IS the establishment and it's killing him. More than that, though, it's the title that he's really struggling with. Heinrix has that line at the beginning of Act 2, something about if you land on Footfall incognito it will be your last chance to be treated like a person -- and like, he means it in a subterfuge/reconnaissance way, not a existential way, but it's still very much true in an existential way. Vanth isn't a person anymore, he's a title, and it's terrifyingly isolating and lonely and he has no idea how to navigate it.
The only thing that is keeping him from drowning completely is a) he is very good at people, and b) he has never known stability in his entire life and is a firm believer in "no plan survives contact with the enemy" so he is very adept at improvising/adapting on the spot. But the amount of focus and energy this requires isn't really sustainable, and it's only a matter of time before he burns himself out.
***
Re: companions -- I just got to Footfall, so I've only got their Act 1 introductions so far (and haven't met the later companions yet). But in terms of very early impressions:
Abelard: Space Dad. They butt heads a fair bit, but his experience and advice is invaluable, and he's the one person Vanth can sorta lean on for support (professionally if not emotionally -- yet). He also seems unafraid to tell Vanth bluntly to his face when he thinks he's being an idiot, which is an indispensable quality even if Vanth doesn't always agree with his position.
Idira: Sibling energy. Someone else who found a way to exist outside of the system. The only person he can have a normal (to him) conversation with. Basically his reaction to Idira was "oh thank fuck someone sane".
Argenta: nails-on-a-blackboard levels of uncomfortable. She swings wildly between compassion, contempt and fanaticism and he cannot get a bead on her. He respects her skill in combat, but he does not trust her at all, AND she picks on Idira, so she's on thin fucking ice.
Cassia: He is trying to remember that she's still a kid (technically an adult, I assume, but he's in his mid to late thirties, so to him she's a kid). And she's a kid who has been intensely isolated, indoctrinated and infantilized her entire life and who has not, until like a week ago EVER come in contact with any information that challenges her perception of reality/worldview. He is also trying to remember that when someone is actually willing to talk to her about that conflicting information, she seems willing to sit with the discomfort and objectively consider it, and in some cases change her view/behavior in response (which is more than can be said for some of the other party members). He is trying to remember that and not have a kneejerk reaction every time she opens her mouth about commoners, but goddamn it's a struggle. Not helped by the fact that even if he succeeds, she can still tell he's angry because she's an empath. He's working on it. He likes her, he's just so fucking tired.
Pasqal: TBD. He doesn't quite know what to make of him yet. (i feel like Pasqual had a much higher ratio of exposition to personal dialogue than the other companions in Act 1 -- which entirely fits the character, but doesn't give me a lot to work with XD)
Heinrix: IT'S COMPLICATED. They got off on the wrong foot for starters, walking in on him interrogating an enemy. Instant trauma flashbacks for Vanth, and then Heinrix immediately escalated the tension by threatening Idira. As first impressions go, could not have been worse. Luckily there was still a station full of cultists trying to kill them and combat is a hell of an icebreaker. He's still a walking trigger and the way he asks questions sets Vanth's teeth on edge, but things are more or less civil between them for now. Vanth values his pragmatism, and he's been kind to Cassia and he helped Evayne (and even Idira in that last combat). And every so often there is a hint of a person underneath all the dogma and red-tape officiousness, which makes Vanth curious despite himself.
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DAYBREAKERS: lila's lesbian found family heist genre bending wip
featuring friends to crushes to enemies to lovers, the obligatory undercover fake relationship fancy ball scene, a metaphorical and literal magical love interest, a lot of suits, sunsets, and a found family like you wouldn't believe, may i present DAYBREAKERS!
for fans of six of crows, mission impossible, and some disney princess inspiration. the genre is fantasy with a lot of modern quirks and fun gadgets. there's a train scene like the one in uncharted 2, and a mage with a collar and demeanor as stiff as zoya nazyalensky. genre means nothing to me.
THE PLOT:
two years after evelin left the daybreaker crew due to a job gone wrong, her former crew members interrupt the peaceful little life she's built for herself as a designer living on the waterfront. they have the nerve to bring along summer, the woman who betrayed them on that horrible, fateful day two years ago--consequently the most beautiful woman evelin has ever seen, in body and spirit, the one she once hoped to spend her life with--has a sibling in prison. they need to break them out.
they don't ask evelin to give up retirement from that life. she helps them get the money they do ask for, and then they go. she goes with them anyway.
being around the crew and summer again is easier than evelin thought it'd be, especially when summer reveals that night of her betrayal was all a terrible misunderstanding, and she committed no crime.
as evelin & crew adjust to having a stiff royal cursebreaker in the midst of their questionably legal methods, and plot their way through the toughest prison on the continent to jude's rescue, evelin wonders if she hasn't missed her chance after all. if there really is a second chance to build something with summer, something evelin dreamed of before the split.
(the answer is yes, and her friends tell her so. repeatedly. gods damn it, ev.)
THE CHARACTERS:
evelin: the upper class pov fashion designer, the "eat the rich, but especially my parents" the stubborn but kindhearted bad boy gentleman lesbian every femme dreams of. aka the person i would like to be!
summer: some call her fireblood. some call her a queen. most just call her beautiful. but she's more than just a pretty face stuck in the honeypot role. she's wanted by the government. aren't we all, girl.
meredith: the leader. a former army child, she is a master negotiator. too bad she doesn't gamble, she has the best poker face in the country!
ruth: bisexual master lockpick, the logical short one who has her head screwed on straight (ha) the most out of all of them. also a former priest. i know, right?
bath(ozan'gog): ruth's demon boyfriend, he is not fully corporeal so he lives in ruth's shoulder. he is very scary and very helpful and threatening, indeed. mhm. no, bath, i'm being serious.
nell: meredith's spouse. driver of their getaway ship/motorcar. a person of few words and dad energy like you wouldn't believe, they have an honest heart. the physical worker of the bunch.
katirina volonov: royal cursebreaker brought onto the crew who has to adjust to their antics and maybe, just maybe loosen up a little once she observes this found family in action.
tagging @ashen-crest @magic-is-something-we-create @chayscribbles @dakrapatops out of interest! let me know if you'd like to be added to the taglist! i'm really excited about this one, and it goes to my irl bestie who has been begging me for another lesbian wip forever <3
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Ask game, title: Just another ordinary day (I lie to myself)
If Obi Wan was assigned a mission to go undercover - even if the orders came from Palpatine, there had to be enough justification to have Obi Wan, of all people, to take it instead of some Jedi Shadow - then Obi Wan should either 1) have experience going undercover for long periods of time or 2) a proven track record of being a good actor.
Options 2 is far more fun to play around with.
Obi Wan won a couple Oscar equivalent roles for his acting. He didn't exactly chose to do act, but he and his master were stranded on a planet and their usual method of making cash (betting and card games) weren't available because gambling was not just illegal but thoroughly enforced by the local police force. And modeling was out of the question because fashion brands don't exactly really like the Pawadan haircut, but there was this local holofilm production that was filming a movie about the Jedi Order and oh look! We got some Jedi experts AND Obi Wan has volunteered to act in one of the main roles - which will save the holofilm production crew a lot of money on special effects!
So that was the start of Obi Wan's filming career.
And when your acting career starts blossoming enough... you wouldn't be surprised at how much easier it is to get into places that are pretty much always off limits; fans sure are more than happy to help break rules for you.
Naturally Obi Wan does all of this with a stage name, but still.
And maybe he enjoys acting a little more than he lets on considering how he volunteers to act in student director's films every now and then.
(And surprisingly a couple of them went on to win big awards. And by "them" I mean both the director and the student film project.)
Anyways, so his big acting career might be the reason why Obi Wan keeps pushing Anakin to star in more propaganda films instead. He doesn't need his (rapid) fans catching onto the fact that the big name actor Ben K. is actually a Jedi or one of the top generals in this war.
But unfortunately for Obi Wan, there's a conspiracy theory that's quickly gathering steam connecting the two...
And that theory explodes when Obi Wan's death just so happens to line up with a leaked BTS holovid showing Obi Wan in a holofilm crew solving a murder case for the police in his capacity of Jedi Knight while also clearly in costume and makeup for the film...
Dex is naturally Obi Wan's agent who negotiates all the contracts.
[More in #the many ways to make obiwan's rako hardeen episode 100X harder au]
[check out other fic ideas in the #made up fic title ask game]
#make up fake fic title ask game#obi wan kenobi#obiwan kenobi#star wars au#star wars#star wars crack#star wars idea#rako hardeen#the many ways to make obiwan's rako hardeen episode 100X harder au#jedi obi wan's deep dark secret: his illustrious film career au
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HEART MECHANICS - PART 4/9
Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw x oc
A day at the beach proves that, maybe, pilots aren’t really as bad as Matty thinks they are. Especially when they smile like Bradley does. Are those butterflies she feels or did she spend too much time in the sun?
Read it here: part 1 / part 2 / part 3 / ... / part 5 / part 6 / part 7 / part 8 / part 9
“Oi! Look who it is crawling out from the land of the dead! And here I thought you would never show up, Neven,” Boomer announced with a lofty smile, squinting up at her from underneath the heavy afternoon sun; pleased as all get out.
The others turned to smile at her arrival in their own ways, a chorus of greetings chiming from the scattered group of mechanics, and though Matty was sure someone was going to chastise her tardiness once more, she smiled pleasantly right back down at them anyways.
The sun was too damn warm on her skin not to be happy. The lack of uniforms an even more thrilling note that Matty was sure to take advantage as she had dressed down in her favorite tank-top; strappy bikini just beneath.
“As if I would miss this,” she chirped.
Boomer’s grin seemed to stretch even further upon hearing her cavalier attitude and before she could stop him, he was enveloping her in a hearty hug–the type where her feet were dangling in the air, sand dripping off of them, sandals falling in disarray to the ground beneath her, chest heaving as she tried to breathe, spine popping all the way down to her toes and–shit.
Sometimes she forgot how strong Boomer actually was.
Maybe, she thought while trying to awkwardly pat him on the back in hopes that he would let go, she shouldn’t taunt him so much at work. If he wanted to, he actually could flatten her like a bug.
“Booms, air—” she squeaked, sucking in even harder when he only squeezed her tighter. “Jesus.”
“Ah, I appreciate the compliment, Mats, but it’s just me,” he quipped, though he finally did drop her back to the ground. “I always knew you were sweet on me.”
“I always pictured you more as a Judas-type than the Jesus-type,” she said while rubbing her chest. “I think it’s the accent.”
Boomer rolled his eyes at her comeback, but his toothy grin stayed in place as he reclaimed his spot in the sand. The group had found a relatively empty area by the water; damp enough to keep them cool, far enough up the beach to keep them out of the tide. Eggy even had the forethought to bring his beach umbrella for them.
A good thing, considering how easily the lot got burned on their days off.
Wearing a long-sleeved uniform twelve hours a day would do that to anybody.
“I’m the Judas type? You migh’ want ta’ rethink that, Sheila. Frank’s the one that put down money that you would make some shite excuse to skip out on a crew day again.”
“Well, Frank’s an asshole,” she said. Then considered his point. “Wait, again? There’s no again. I always come to crew days.”
Boomer shrugged, squinting up at her to point out, “sure. Except when you missed my labor day party.”
“Or when you skipped Maria’s birthday party,” Eggs added.
“And girl’s night last month,” Claire reckoned.
“Or—”
“Alright, alright, Jesus!” Matty cried, throwing her arms up in surrender, allowing her bag to fall onto the ground with little care for the food and drinks stashed inside. The entire group snickered at her antics, which only prompted Matty to turn her nose up at them all. “I get it. Fuck, okay, I’m a horrible friend. Blah, blah, blah.”
“Ah, don’t be too hard on yourself, Mats,” Eggy argued, though there was something sly about the look that he shot her over top of the handful of sunflower seeds he was methodically working through. “You’re busy. We get it. Just, you know, don’t make up stupid excuses every time you want to hook up with the cute bartender over at Wayne’s. You can just be honest next time.”
Matty faltered, indignation alight across her features.
Because—well—that was one time that she had put getting a good fuck over plans she had with her friends. It wasn’t like she had wanted to miss out on Boomer’s labor day party. And she had done a good job of keeping it a secret; a solid lie about having period cramps that was convincing enough to warrant her not showing up without making everyone suspicious.
The only person that knew was Frank, but that was because he had unexpectedly crashed at her place that night after Boomer’s to find her house empty.
Of course, getting a phone call while tangled in the cute bartender’s bedsheets hadn’t put her in the best of moods, but he had promised to keep it between the two of them.
Only...
“You hick motherfucker!” she turned to the man in question, eyes now burning with an entirely different sort of indignation when she realized that he had told everyone what she had done. Of course—the damn bastard didn’t even look apologetic as he simply sipped his beer—and the whole group exploded into laughter as she desperately tried to save face.
“I–I didn’t lie!”
“Course not.”
“I was sick.”
“Sure you were,” George smirked from beneath the brim of his hat.
“It was just a spur of the moment thing!”
“I hope you at least got a good fuck out of it,” Claire joked. She was stretched out with her tan legs exposed to the sand; arms deep in the ground as she tried in vain to make a sand castle without any sort of equipment. “Christ knows you need it.”
“Uh! I need it?” Matty echoed so loudly that a pair of seagulls took flight to a quieter area of the beach.
She wasn’t really sure why that made her even angrier, but it fucking did.
“Okay, that’s it!” Matty threw her arms up in defeat before swiftly and sharply turning on her heel. Sand sprayed down everyone in the vicinity, but she ignored all their cries of irritation. “I’m leaving! Have fun without me, losers! See if I care when you all come into work tomorrow with sunburn and dehydration headaches. This is the last time I’m going to hang out with you after work!”
They crowed after her, but Matty was now on a mission.
A mission to go home, get drunk, and probably finish that Spanish soap-opera she had started last month. A mission that was set in her mind.
Until, well, until a pair of large hands circled under her waist. She squealed when they tugged her off her feet—the second fucking time in less than ten minutes, she swore she was done being treated like a ragdoll—and promptly threw her over a hard slated shoulder.
“Frank–you man ape—!” she shouted, beating on his back.
“What was that, Mats?” he asked with a hand cupped around his ear as if he couldn't hear her before he subtly stepped a little too close to someone’s tent post. Matty whined when it whacked into the back of her head. “Did you say something?”
“Ow! Christ,” she cried, hitting him once more. “Put. Me. Down!”
She got a little more effective in her fight, and when her foot connected a little too close to comfort to his lower stomach, he groaned. “Hey, watch the goods, won’t ya?”
“No!”
Matty exploded at him with a large, impressive vocabulary of expletives that had more than a couple of disapproving looks shot in their direction. Frank, of course, found it entirely hilarious, and she could feel his shoulder shaking with laughter as he joined the others in their spot in the shade.
Without warning, he slung her back onto the sand. Matty let out an unladylike grunt as the world spun before her eyes, and by the time she got her bearings Frank had already plopped back down beside her with two beers in hand. Shoving one into her hands, he beat her to the punch. “You’re pretty fucking dramatic for someone who claims to hate drama.”
“And you’re a man-ape who shouldn’t have citizenship.”
“Aren’t all men apes?” Eggy chimed in curiously.
Matty shot him a dark glare, before settling her gaze back on Frank. He, still, looked completely unperturbed by her antics. Used to them at this point, most likely. “And I’m never letting you crash at my place ever again!”
He shrugged. “I can live with that.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you can, you bastard,” she ribbed him with her elbow, pout still firmly in place, but the shine of his dark eyes proved that he didn’t believe her insults for a second. The others didn’t either. A quick survey showed that they were all still laughing at the little show she had just put on—a little too amused for technically being her subordinates, but whatever—and Matty rolled her eyes at them dourly. “Whatever. Sorry about dipping out on your party, Boomer.”
The Aussie snorted, shaking his head at her. “Nah you ain’t.”
Matty necked her beer before admitting. “You’re right; I’m not.”
Claire cackled from her spot in the sand. “I knew it! You did get fucked. About fucking time, Mats.”
“About time?” she echoed, blinking against the sun. She had been wearing sunglasses when she first arrived to the beach, but who fucking knew where they had ended up now.
“Yeah, you’re way too stuck up anymore,” Claire stated. Her sandcastle was nothing more than a mound with a stick in it for a flag, but she still patted it with a satisfied grin before lounging back on her towel. “Talk about someone in need of a tune-up.”
The entire group groaned. Eggy even chucked some sunflower seeds over at the brunette with a rowdy boo.
“Yeah, seriously Claire, never say that again,” George grimaced around his chew. He took a moment before spitting into his empty water bottle and said, “seriously. Never say that again. That is not some imagery I need to think about next time one of the flyboys comes around requesting a tune-up.”
“Ha! I bet there are a handful of boys who would like Matty to give their engines a tune-up,” Claire grinned, wiggling her eyebrows for emphasis despite the boys giving her another round of groans.
“As if.” Matty scrunched her nose in distaste. She still felt a little put off from being manhandled so roughly, but that was nothing but a day in her life. It was always easier to ignore the pain now and bitch about the bruises later when it was convenient. “I’d rather give Boomer a tune-up before half of those egotistical maniacs. You should have heard them out on the grounds yesterday all taunting each other during PT. Talk about big heads.”
Boomer grinned toothily. “Well, if you’re offering…”
“I’m not.”
“But you just said—”
“It was sarcasm, Boom,” Matty patted him on the knee before snagging the bag of peanuts from his lap. He frowned at both actions, reminding her of a dog that had just been kicked out of the kitchen with its tail between its legs. “Nothing personal. You know I love your accent. I just think we’d have a hard time fitting our parts together.”
“Nope, I was wrong,” George moaned. “That’s worse. That’s the grossest thing to picture.”
“They’d fit fine if you tried,” Boomer shot back, shoving her hand off of him with a pout. Everyone knew that he had a crush on Matty since they started working together and, despite his various attempts at flirting with her, she had never taken the bait. It made for an awkward couple of months before the rest of the crew shoved them in the broom closet demanding that they talk it out.
In the end, even Boomer accepted the fact that they were better off being friends.
Still, he liked to whine about it whenever he could almost as much as the others liked to tease him about it.
“Aw, you hurt his feelings!” Claire cried.
“Oh, Boom-y,” Matty cooed and climbed from her spot in the sand to sit on his lap. She swore he growled at her when she started to plant sloppy kisses onto his cheek at random. “You know I love you. Way more than any flyboy.”
“Oi! Get off!”
They struggled with one another for a moment before Boomer effectively shoved Matty off his lap back into the sand. She kneed Frank in the head as she went, earning a gruff curse from the hick, and she took a moment to make sure that her shirt top was still in place before she sat up. By then, even Boomer was laughing about it.
“You’re a fucking mess, Sheila.”
“And you’re my favorite Aussie.”
“Not mine,” Claire quipped as she dug through the cooler in search of another beer. When Boomer glowered at her, she shrugged. “What? Have you even seen Margot Robbie? Talk about a MILF.”
“She’s not a MILF.”
“Alright, a WILF.”
“WILF?” George spit into his bottle with a furrowed brow.
Claire smirked. “A woman I’d like to fuck. And don’t act like you disagree, Georgie, I’ve seen the way you stare after that blonde airman every chance you get. What’s her name? Grace.”
George’s face flushed red at the insinuation, prompting another laugh to flow through the group. Claire loved to rile everyone up and he was so easy to do so with his Christian values and proper upbringing.
George, ever the prude, cleared his throat in an attempt to change the subject.
“When’s, uh, Nick getting here?”
Matty peered around the group with a frown. “He’s not here already?”
Frank shook his head while snatching some peanuts from her. She tried to swat him off but failed as he managed to steal about half her pile. “Nah, kid said he would come later. Something about a date.”
“Nicky has a date?” she crowed in surprise. “Like, Nick. The kid.”
“I know. The only thing more shocking would be if you had a date.”
“Oh, fuck you,” Matty rolled her eyes. “I go on plenty of dates.”
“If plenty means none, then sure,” Boomer quipped.
“Plenty as in… you know… well,” Matty frowned as she considered how few dates she had gone on in the past year. Granted, she had always been a bigger fan of fucking than dating, but when she really considered it, her lack of love interests was fairly depressing. Tsk. “Fuck off. Who needs dating when I have Bob?”
“Bob?” George sat forward with rounded eyes. “You’re dating the backseater?”
Matty darted a sly look towards Claire, but was amused to see that the only other woman in the group had already picked up her on nomenclature. The boys didn’t, however, and Frank nudged her in the shoulder questionably when she remained tight-lipped about the topic. That, of course, didn’t last long before the two woman bowled forward in laughter; hiccupping so loudly that Matty was sure her face was turning a violent red as the others just glanced at each other in confusion.
They didn’t understand until Claire, caught in her own fit of laughter, explained.
“Bob means her battery operated boyfriend—”
“Oh, ugh, I didn’t need to hear that,” Frank moaned. “That’s disgusting.”
“No. That’s the twenty-first century.”
The girls keeled into another fit of laughter as Frank faked a gag, and when they caught sight of the pink blush blooming across the entirety of George’s face, they collapsed against one another with tears in their eyes.
So much for their friends being pro-sex, Matty thought with a glimmer of smug satisfaction. Boys all liked sex, until it came to sex that didn’t include them.
Still laughing, it was Boomer who tried to interject.
“That’s not a replacement for the real thing. You keep up with that shit and you’ll never get a boyfriend.” Boomer said. Unbothered with that, Matty just shrugged through a couple more giggles. “You’re fine with that?”
“Couldn’t be more fine with that,” she said. “No offense, but men are the worst.”
“Somehow, offense.”
Matty and Claire fell into one more moment of juvenile laughter. It was a nice way to spend the evening, she decided as George turned so pink he was closely resembling a tomato now.
Still, as the sun started to dip low in the sky, their snickering subsided, and the ground fell back into easy-going jokes and comfortable chatter. Claire set back to work once more to bury her legs in the sand—having kicked them out during their laughter so violently that Boomer was now shaking sand out of his hair—while George and Eggy argued about whatever plotline had happened in their favorite shows. Boomer managed to amuse himself by tossing bits of bread to the seagulls (having returned now that the woman quieted down) and even Frank relaxed in the sand beside Matty.
He was dressed down in nothing but a pair of swim trunks now, his tan skin burning like a furnace as she leant against his shoulder.
His eyes were full of humor when he offered up her lost sunglasses; the frame was bent and the lenses scratched, but she didn’t really mind. Not when he looked at her with a familiar softness in them that few got to see, prompting Matty to beam back at him just as brilliantly while settling the warped frames onto her nose. It was well into the afternoon now, leaving the San Diego sun to beat down on the group, and just as Matty was preparing to ask Boomer to rub some sunscreen onto her shoulders, Claire perked up.
“Speaking of pilots that want a tune-up,” she loftily chirped, catching the attention of the others. “We got some flyboys incoming.”
Matty arched a brow inquisitively as she took a dreg of warm beer, and had just straightened her shirt when she looked up to find that none other than Bradley Bradshaw was striding towards their rag-tag group with Bob in tow.
And... god-fucking damn it.
Bob looked no more unlike himself than he normally did. Glasses perched on his nose while everyone else wore sunglasses, his hair was windswept over his ears as he wiped some sweat from him forehead, shirt sitting neatly in place over his pale shoulders.
But Bradshaw?
Bradshaw was so out of his usual that it caught Matty off guard. His curls were still coifed on his forehead, blonde streaked hair looking somehow airbrushed, but he had long since stripped out his shirt leaving him striding towards her with a glistening chest covered in salt water and sweat, jean shorts hanging dangerously low on his hips, gleaming white smile crooked in the middle of his sun-red cheeks.
Who the fuck wears jean shorts to the beach? she thought. Then, a moment later, the second, more imperative thought of who looks that good in sweaty jean shorts? came trickling through her traitorously vacant skull.
Matty shook herself just as the pair came to a stop.
“You guys seem to be having a party,” Bradley joked, his tone throaty and dry; a clear sign that he had been doing something worthy of the sweat running down his chest. “Is there something that I’m missing?”
His chest that Matty had a hard time not staring at.
"Could say the same to you,” Eggs noted, his eyes drifting past the pair to the group of pilots squabbling in the sand in the distance. Matty hadn’t even noticed them until now—though she wasn’t sure how she had missed that happening. “Shouldn’t you be at school right now?”
Bradley’s smile curled a bit at the edges, but his tone remained friendly as he peeled out a dry laugh. “Maverick’s a fairly... untraditional type of teacher. He thought this would be better for us than fighting indoors all day.”
“So letting you drown each other is the better option?” Matty snorted, finding her tongue and her ‘tude. Bradley’s eyes, bright even beneath his characteristic shades, darted to her at the question. Licking her lips, she added, “seems like there’d be more paperwork with this method.”
“We don’t really question Maverick’s teaching methods,” Bob quipped.
Matty laughed at that. Afterall, she did know Maverick fairly well. And despite that, she knew just as well that no one could ever really know Maverick. His teaching methods were just as a mystery to her as they were to his students.
“Fair enough,” she agreed. “But, uh, what brings you down to our side of the beach?”
“Saw you sitting here looking bored,” Bradley joked.
“This isn’t about to turn into some sort of turf war is it?” Frank asked from beside her. His tone was friendly, but stern, and upon hearing it she watched both Bradley and Bob shift a bit hesitantly on their feet.
Still, Bradley managed to shake his head with an easygoing laugh.
She didn’t miss the way his gaze darted to her for a moment, however, and their conversation in the parking lot came trickling back to mind.
“Nah. Don’t see the point, really,” he said. “You guys are the locals here, afterall. It wouldn’t be right if we came over here trying to start hit just to start shit.”
“Maybe not right,” Claire quipped, arching a sharp brow at the boys challengingly. “It’s never stopped you boys before though.”
“Do the pilots normally give you that much grief?” Bob asked curiously.
The group of mechanics shared a wordless look with each other as Boomer cracked open a new can of beer. Sipping it, he evenly said, “let’s just say we’re not normally pals with your type. Probably has something to do with the egos.”
“Or the attitudes,” Claire snarked.
“Or the piss poor taste in beer y’all have,” Frank tacked on.
Matty snorted at her group's blaise way of putting it, but she didn’t argue the points that were being made because they were right. Pilots and mechanics normally didn’t get along. Especially not well enough to hang out together on the weekends. Yet, Bradley and Bob didn’t seem all that perturbed about it.
In fact, Bradley’s smile turned into a grin.
“Well, first time for everything, right?” he propositioned with a shrug.
And, despite everything, Matty found herself thinking the exact same thing. Because maybe they could get along just fine. Maybe pilots weren’t always made up of egos and nothing else. Maybe they were more like Bradley and less like the other nameless kids from her past that she never had fond memories of.
“Why do I feel like you’re here for more than just a conversation?” she asked, directing the stares of the entire group back to Bradley. Somehow though his grin widened at her question, and he relaxed into the sand.
“Ah, c’mon Matty, I came bringing exactly what you want.”
“Which is...?”
“A chance at showing us up,” he said plainly. “What’s better than that?”
In unison, the entire group of mechanics leaned forward in interest, and in response Bob bit down on his lip to keep from laughing outright at their reaction. Matty let that slide; didn’t even bother calling him out on it.
Instead, she focused on the much more interesting point of conversation.
“C’mon, Bradshaw, you can’t just say something like that and then not explain what you’re talking about. Show you up how?”
Bradley was practically gleaming with smugness when he jerked a thumb towards an empty volleyball net a little ways up the beach. It was late enough in the afternoon that the majority of people have left for the day, leaving the court an easy snag for anyone interested.
“We need some extra players,” he told her. “Interested?”
Frank and Matty shared incredulous looks with one another before she gestured at the crew sitting behind her. “You want us to play volleyball with you?”
“Just a little friendly competition; four v four.”
“Seriously?”
“I mean, unless you think you’ll lose.” Bradley shrugged, hands in his low slung pockets. “If so, we get it, we didn’t come over here to step on any toes or anything like that.”
Frank peered back over at Matty, lip twisted into that crooked smirk of his that promised something fun and dirty and, most likely, stupid.
“Lose?” she echoed. “You better be careful throwing stones like that, Bradshaw. You never know what we might throw back.”
“Does that mean you’re in?”
Matty couldn’t even keep the grin that was splitting her cheeks hidden; couldn’t keep the intrigue and want and need from radiating across her face so that everyone could see it. Bradley’s own smile reflected something similar as he arched a brow down at her, and upon seeing the challenge in his eyes, she felt a familiar thrum cinch her chest.
Throwing her head back, Matty finished her beer in a single swig.
When she clambered to her feet, she had to tilt her head back to meet his heated stared properly. “Oh. You’re so on, flyboy.”
“Yeah?”
“Fuck yeah.”
Bradley barked a laugh at her; well, moreso at her attitude than physically at her, but she took it all the same. Grinning, she pulled Frank onto her feet, and accepted the next can of beer that Boomer tossed her way.
Chatter broke out amongst the group as they gathered their things. Bob and Bradley waiting patiently for the crew to disassemble their umbrella and sling their towels over Boomer’s shoulders. Bob was even polite enough to offer Claire help with her bag—a suggestion that she effortlessly batted away with a snarky comment under her breath about never needing a man’s help on anything—but when he turned away with a scorned blush, Claire was quick to sling an arm over his shoulder with a friendly grin.
Bradley laughed at the pair with a glance at Matty.
“Should I be worried about her?”
“What—worried she’ll eat Bob or something?” Matty shot back, wiggling her brows when Bradley just ticked a brow at her. Snorting, she shook her head. “Nah. Claire prefers a more... womanly diet.”
That had Bradley fixing her with a misunderstanding frown to which Matty left alone—that was something he could figure out on his own, she supposed. George disappeared into the parking lot in search of Nicky, while Boomer and Eggy rearranged their things on the sideline.
Phoenix stood waiting in the middle of the volleyball court with a few others. Matty didn’t recognize most. Though, after catching Phoenix’s gaze, the woman tilted her head to the blonde standing next to her with a sly smile.
Matty thought back to their conversation. Then to the bar. Then, with a squint and the tilt of her head, she recognized the blonde pilot as the one she had given the finger to.
Huh. Hangman. A fitting name for him; he did look like a total fucking dick.
He only further proved her theory by opening his mouth and saying something stupid, like, “I thought you said we were gonna have a competition, Rooster,” he drawled, stretching his smile even wider when Matty crossed one arm over the other. “I mean, I get that you’re probably used to competing with bottom of the barrel pilots, but this… I thought we were gonna have a challenge at least.”
“Hm. Big words for a man whose ego can’t fit in his jet,” Matty smarted.
His eyes tightened minutely at the side. “Big words for a girl whose hands barely fit around her wrench,” he tossed back across the net.
Matty’s smile tightened across her lips in the same way his had, and suddenly the beach did feel a whole lot more like turf wars than it had moments ago.
“Alright, show-boat,” she chirped, cocking a hip at him. “If you think this is gonna be so easy then maybe we should make it a little bit more interesting.”
“Like what? When we win you actually have to do your jobs?” one of the pilots taunted. “That’s not really a win-win for us, is it?”
“Cute,” she rolled her eyes, noting the way that Bradley now seemed to be awkwardly standing in the middle of this; no doubt he was considering whether he had made the wrong decision in starting this whole thing or not. “But how about something a little more fun. Losers buy the winners drinks after at The Hard Deck. Three drink minimum. No discount from Penny.”
Hangman blinked at her. “That’s it?”
“Do you want to make it worse for you when you lose?”
Phoenix looked like she had something else to say, but Bradley dragged her away from the net before she could open her mouth with a shake of the head.
“Drinks are fine by us,” he announced for everyone. Payback raised a brow at him, but he ignored it all the same in order to toss back, “we’ll let you know what we want when we make it to the bar!”
“Egos, egos, egos,” Claire taunted through cupped hands.
The group split up as the pilots huddled together in some sort of strategy talk. George arrived with Nick in tow and he quickly deposited the junior mechanic on the sidelines with the others, laughing as Boomer gave him a play-by-play of the conversation he had just missed. Eggy sat between them with his feet in the sand and his hand resting firmly in the beer cooler leaving Claire, Frank, Matty, and George to play the game. Claire took the net directly across from Phoenix while George planted himself on her right across from Bob.
Bradley, ball in hand, offered it to Matty with a flirty grin.
“You do know how to play volleyball, right?” he asked, wiggling his brows at her just enough that she got the hint that he was joking. Still, there was something endearingly competitive about the way he taunted her. “You got to hit it across the net to us from behind that white line.”
Matty rolled her eyes, but snatched the ball from him with her own competitive grin. “This is going to be the only time I let a pilot buy me a drink. I hope you appreciate it, Bradshaw, because I sure as hell will.”
He shook his head at her in disbelief before retreating to his side of the court. As he did so, Matty shed her shirt and chucked it at Boomer who caught it with a grunt. It left her in her bikini—a slim fit black piece that, while not incredibly fancy, did show off the intricately detailed blueprint tattoo of a fighter jet that sprawled down her spine—and when she noticed the way that the pilots gaped at it, she gave her teammates a saccharine smile.
“Guessing flyboy doesn’t know you played competitively, does he?” Frank asked her in amusement.
“Nope,” she winked. “But he’s gonna learn.”
Matty twisted the ball deftly in her hand before tossing it. A beat passed as it spun in the air before she took two long strides, leapt off the ground, and smacked it directly in the center. It arced across the net to the open spot of beach directly between Hangman and Rooster. By the time her feet hit the ground they had already won the point.
The pilots gaped at her from beneath their sunglasses.
“Something like that, Bradshaw?” she chirped.
By the time Bob had rolled the ball back towards her, the other team was quickly reassessing their game plan.
---
The sun was just beginning to disappear beneath the ocean waves by the time the volleyball game was finally over. A good thing probably, considering the competitive edge that had quickly overtaken the game after the first couple points were scored. Still, when the game had ended, when their unofficial referee Hondo had declared that the mechanics had won, there was something akin to glee saturating the air.
Which surprised Matty.
There had been a lot of smack talk during the games. Most of it, sure, she had been throwing out, but a good portion of it was from Hangman and Phoenix and Bradshaw. Bob had, characteristically, kept fairly quiet when it came to taunts. Though, more than once, she caught him saying something snarky beneath his breath—he acted innocent when caught out, of course, but she still heard it. More than that, there had been a fire in both teams to win. No one wanted to be the loser; no one wanted to buy drinks for the other.
So when Hondo declared the mechanics the winners, Matty had expected... arguing, anger, perhaps even a little spout of degrading comments thrown over the next.
That’s what she had expected.
What she got, however, was a whole lot of laughter.
And smiling.
And, well, a rare show of sportsmanship that she certainly did not dislike but certainly hadn’t expected.
There was a wave of fistbumps and high-fives, whispered jokes about how the nics were cheating (though the pilots couldn’t prove it) and how they would make sure they had a better referee the next time they played together. The sidelines erupted into chatter. No one had been betting on the nics to win which led for some fairly energetic conversation when she stepped off the court. Hangman was perhaps the most perturbed by the loss, but when Claire wiggled her butt with her tongue hanging out of her mouth, even he had shrugged off the defeat with nothing but a bark of laughter.
“That’s the last time I ever let Rooster pick the teams,” he had said, winking at the pilot in question when he strode by, a whistle to his lips as if he hadn’t just insulted him. “I could have told you that I’m the better captain and saved you that load of embarrassment, Bradshaw.”
“You’re the better Captain?” Matty had piped in, a towel slung over her shoulder as she cradled George’s half empty water bottle in hand. Hangman blinked at her across the court, to which she smarted, “Last I checked you were the one talking smack, Seresin. At least Bradshaw knows how to lose with grace. I think I saw you shed a tear back during the third set.”
The court erupted with laughter as Hangman swung his head to glare at his friends; they all avoided making eye contact with the embarrassed pilot, but that didn’t keep them from laughing at his misfortune.
Miffed, he had just stuck his nose up in the air, and switched his hurt ego towards Boomer instead. “Hey, Crocodile Dundee, how about another game of darts? Seeing as how you cheated last time, we may as well have another go at it...”
And so as the pilots actually made good on their bet to buy the mechanics drinks, filtering in the half-lidded doors of The Hard Deck, Matty couldn’t help but smile to herself.
“Uh-oh. You’re grinning,” Maverick had smugly pointed out from his seat on the Adirondacks, that damn twinkle in his eye distorting the ruse that he was nothing but an old, battle-worn retired pilot enjoying his golden years. Hell, Matty was pretty sure that Maverick’s golden years wouldn’t even begin until he was six feet under. “That’s never a good sign.”
“Can’t a girl just enjoy kicking ass at volleyball?”
“Maybe,” he snickered, sipping slowly on his beer as the patio lights twinkled above them. Light chatter filtered from inside, and for the first time all day, Matty let the exhaustion of the past couple weeks slide off of her shoulders. “I wish you had told me you were gonna play the kids though. I would have put some money down on that.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t come out to join yourself. Since when are you a backseater?”
Maverick hummed, a portrayal of thought flickering across his features. “I’m the teacher now,” he said. “Sometimes it’s better to let them learn their own lessons than try to teach them.”
“Oh, I see,” Matty wiggled her eyebrows at him in amusement. She enjoyed the way Maverick’s smile seemed to turn up at the edges; enjoyed the way they could always so easily fall into conversation. “You wanted them to get their asses beat by some nics. What—was a lesson of humility was on today’s schedule or did you just run out of things to teach them?”
He just shrugged again. Not a confirmation, but certainly not a denial.
“I used to play on these same courts, you know,” he mused after a moment. “Goose and I were the best duo there was on base when it came to sand volleyball.”
Matty arched a challenging brow. “Funny. Dad said that exact same thing about him and the Iceman. Talked about how they whooped your ass at it.”
Maverick, if possible, looked insulted at the implication. “They didn’t!”
“Not the way I heard it.”
“Hollywood always was a cheater,” he snarked. Then, when he remembered who he was speaking to, he rubbed the back of his head with a cough. “I mean, heh, that’s uh... that’s not how I remember it happening. Different point of views or something like that. Maybe I’m just getting old.”
“Sure, sure,” Matty rolled her eyes. “You four probably could have all used a lesson in humility every once in a while too, huh?”
At that, his eyes twinkled something fierce. “Probably.”
“Yeah,” she tittered in amusement. “Probably.”
The air settled around them as the inside of the bar only seemed to get rowdier. She could hear Boomer and Frank egging on the pilots from the dartboard while Claire and Eggy argued at the pool table. A glance over her shoulder even revealed Nicky arguing with Bob by the jukebox about which song they should play next.
“You seemed to be having fun out there today.”
“If this is going to be one of your life lessons, Mav, you can skip it.”
Maverick rolled his eyes at her cheek, but continued on as if she hadn’t just warned him off that particular topic. “All I meant is that it’s nice to see you outside of work. Hollywood said you’ve been pretty stressed out lately.”
She hummed, noncommittal. “It’s the military. Stress is basically a part of the contract, isn’t it? Besides, I hang out with these guys all the time. You just don’t get to see it.”
“Speaking of,” he said, turning a bit in his seat to catch a glimpse of Frank at the back of the bar. “Frankie still owes me a hundred bucks.”
“Since when do you come collecting debt?” she quipped.
“Since I put my phone on the counter last week and had to pay the entire bar’s tab,” he huffed. Matty, imagining that very thing, let out a squeaky sort of laugh that had Maverick rolling his eyes in bemusement once more. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. When did she make those rules, anyways?”
“Dunno,” Matty shrugged, stifling a laugh while she bit her thumbnail. “But they’re lots of fun when you’re not the person paying the bill.”
Maverick hummed. His eyes darted through the crowd inside once more before he faced the ocean. “And...”
“And?”
“Well, it was nice to see the kid laughing out there too.”
“The—oh,” she blinked. It had barely been the weekend and she almost forgot entirely about the conversation she had with Maverick back in the diner. A conversation that had prompted her to do something spontaneous, like finishing the docket, all so she could rectify being a total fucking bitch to someone who didn’t need that in their life. “Well, he seems to have some good friends in the class. They’re not all bad, anyways.”
Pride flickered across his face, then something equally as smug.
“Ugh, don’t start.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“But you were gonna.”
“I wasn’t.”
“You were.”
“I—” Maverick faltered under the unamused look she shot him, before glancing away with a smile of surrender. Unusual for him to surrender about anything, but a victory in Matty’s eyes. “Alright, fine. All I was gonna say is that it’s nice that you both are getting along.”
“We’re not barbie dolls you know.”
“What?” he blinked at her.
Matty harrumphed, and wiggled her hands in the air, fingers splayed in all directions and she pantomimed the act of making a pair of dolls dance. “You can’t, like, force us to be friends or anything. We were just having fun playing volleyball. Don’t make this any weirder than it already is.”
“I’m making it weird?”
“You’re not making it not weird,” she shot back. Frowned when she realized that didn’t make a damn lick of sense, but stuck to her guns anyways. “Ugh. Whatever. I took your advice last week and apologized to him. Okay. Happy?”
When she risked a glance over at Maverick he was very obviously happy.
Which only served to make her unhappy.
“You’re so fucking annoying,” she declared. “And I swear to god if you tell my dad that I’m getting along with Bradshaw I will block your phone number.”
He didn’t take her threats seriously. Just sipped at his beer with that crooked smile of his, humming cheerily as if he knew something that she couldn’t quite understand and more than likely didn’t want to know.
“Just be careful,” he eventually said. When she arched a brow at him, he furthered, “one of these days you’re gonna get hit by karma, kid. You can’t outrun it forever.”
“Yeah, yeah. And one of these days you’re gonna have to accept that you can’t be twenty five forever. Let’s see which one of those things happens first, yeah?”
Rude. But, well, true.
Maverick seemed to accept that as quickly as she said it because he said nothing in response; nothing snarky or mean or outright vicious. Just let the sound of conversation inside wash over his shoulders as he slowly finished off his beer. Matty might have felt bad about it too, might have actually apologized for being a brash fucking bitch who spoke without thinking, but she didn’t.
A rescue came in the form of a shadow stepping between the pair.
“I was wondering where you went,” Bradley started and Matty, without even realizing it, smiled up at him. He smiled back, but when he slid his gaze to the seat beside her, she watched the smile tighten at the sides. “I didn’t realize that you were out here with...”
An awkwardness filled the air that Matty found stifling to breathe.
Not just because she knew that this was hard on Maverick—fuck, the way his eyes dimmed like a light stuffed beneath a fucking shade made her heart cinch in her chest—but also because she wasn’t made for this stuff.
Stuff like being heartfelt and open.
“Ah, you know, just sharing war stories with the old man,” she chirped because, well, she was made for this; being a dick that didn’t take anything seriously, a bitch that liked to make jokes instead of show any sort of sensitivity to the people she was around. “Did you know that when he flew they didn’t even have cockpits? They just tied the pilots to kites and wished them the best. Talk about learning on the job.”
“I’m not that old,” Maverick shot back with a half-hearted glare. He seemed appreciative for the conversation, though, and smiled. “Fighter jets did exist back in my time. You might know that if you ever picked up a book.”
Matty wiggled her hand in the air listlessly. “Don’t you mean, like, a rock tablet or whatever they used back then?”
Bradley snorted from beside her, but by the time that she swung her head up to glance at him—a cutting figure in the midst of Edison lights—he had hidden it behind his hand with a fake cough.
Still, Maverick took that as his cue.
“Alright,” he announced, standing onto his feet. He made a show of pushing off of the chair armrests, a hand clutching at his spine as if he were feeble. “Maybe you are right about that, Mats. I’ll go see if Penny can’t give me something to help with the grinding of my bones. If I don’t keel over and die before I make it to the bar.”
“Spoilsport,” she said, sticking her tongue out at him.
“I wouldn’t get too close to her,” he said on his way past Bradley in a stage whisper. Despite the awkwardness, she could almost feel the slow trickle of a smile that curled Bradley’s features upwards. “She has a habit of biting boys that get too close.”
“I don’t fucking bite!” she shouted indignantly.
But, well, Maverick was already gone by that point, leaving Matty to shout at nothing, which left her cheeks blazing as Bradley just continued to stand overtop of her with humor in his eyes.
“Staring is considered rude you know,” she snapped up at him.
“So are half of the things that you say,” he shot right back. And, well, yeah, he had a point. Matty was a particularly foul-mouthed rude individual. Conceding that, she watched him seat himself in Maverick’s now empty chair. It was only then that he offered up a beer between slender fingers. “You did win you know. I wasn’t about to let the opportunity to buy you a beer go to waste just because you were out here stuck listening to Maverick yap away.”
Surprised at both the admission that he had purposely interrupted them and that he had decided to bring her the first beer of the night, Matty graciously accepted the cold drink with an impressed smile.
“To be fair,” she pointed out after a sip, “I was the one doing the yapping. Maverick is more of an active listener than anything else.”
He looked like he wanted to disagree.
Matty didn’t necessarily want him to, so she skipped that point of the conversation before he could even try. “Well, I appreciate the drink, Bradshaw, but don’t be offended when I make Hangman buy me the second round.”
“You got a thing for blondes or something?”
“Ha! More like I want to watch his face do that twitchy thing when I demand that he holds up his half of the bet. I’m thinking that I’ll make him order the girliest sounding drink on the menu possible. Maybe a Mai Tai with an umbrella straw.”
“Or a Cosmopolitan,” he added.
“A pink Mojito.”
“An Upton Girl.”
“How about a blowjob shot?”
Bradley lost his train of thought at that suggestion, going as far to throw his head back in laughter at just the idea of that conversation. Shaking his head at her, he said, “you might be the only person that could get away with something like that. Anyone ever told you that you’re a tab bit vindictive, Matilda?”
“No, why? Did Bob say something? I’ll replace his glasses with nonprescription goggles, I swear.”
Her comment earned another laugh out of Bradley and this time she found herself laughing along with him. Once more, just like that, Matty found herself easing into his company. She didn’t complain about it; why would she?
Oh right. Pilot.
Still, when he smiled at her and asked, “where did you learn to play volleyball like that, anyways?” the thought to say something snarky and mean didn’t even cross her mind.
“I played competitively when I was younger,” she said, completely truthful and not at all teasing. “I was an outside hitter. Won a lot of awards for it.”
“Like in high school?”
“A travel team, actually,” she told him, propping her chin on her hand to think about all the times she had to leave the house at the crack of dawn to get to the competitions on time. Back then, she hated it. Now, she almost missed it. “My mom felt bad about how we were always moving schools so I never got to stick with a team for more than a year or two. Travel league was the one thing that my parents gave me that was actually... normal, I guess.”
“Were you a military brat?”
Matty sighed. “Unfortunately.”
“Navy?”
“What else?” she waved a hand around in the air nonchalantly.
“Mom?”
“Dad,” she admitted, though almost wished that she hadn’t said that when she saw his eyes dim a little bit in the corners.
And suddenly Matty was seeing her life through his lens. Seeing her dad having been the one that died during that training exercise, out over the ocean, leaving behind a daughter and a single mother. Seeing Iceman guilt ridden over the accident to the point that thirty years later he still couldn’t get over what had happened. Seeing her mother not knowing what to do because all she had known for years was the Navy.
The Navy that had killed her husband.
“My dad was in the Navy too,” he said in an attempt to keep the conversation going, not knowing that it nearly killed the conversation with a few short syllables. Because at hearing him admit what couldn’t have been an easy truth put a bad taste in the back of her mouth. “He was a pilot, actually.”
Matty chanced a swig of beer; smacked her lips.
The bitterness was still there heavy on her tongue, cinching her throat as she tried to take another swallow, and when she chanced a look over at Bradley it was because here he was, offering up a piece of history that she already knew, without knowing just how much she already knew about him.
It was unfair.
Maybe that’s why she opened her mouth and admitted something that was equally as hard to say; something that she told so few people. “My dad was, well, is a pilot too.”
Bradley faltered as he went to take another sip of his beer. Dark eyes darting across her face in search of a life, but when he found nothing but open vulnerability, he let out a slow disbelieving laugh. “Not exactly what I would have suspected from the girl who hates pilots.”
“I don’t hate pilots.”
“Right,” he shook his head, something bitter tasting in his own voice. “You just don’t like us because of the egos, right?”
“I...”
Matty glanced out towards the ocean. The moon was rising in the distance now, and with it several rays of moonlight glistened across the gentle waves.
The dichotomy of her life. In front of her, emptiness. Behind her, the party.
“I’m sorry,” she croaked, then cleared her throat when she realized how utterly wrong it sounded to her own ears. Bradley said nothing, though he did quirk an encouraging brow at her carefully quiet admission. “It’s not that I have anything in particular against pilots and I’m sorry that I’ve come across that way. You don’t deserve that. I just... it’s complicated I guess.”
“Is it really?”
Was it?
“He’s a good dad,” she said. Unsure of where she was going but trusting herself to keep speaking anyways. “I love him. It’s just... all my life my dad wanted me to be like him and his friends; wanted me to become a pilot. And then when I showed more of a proclivity for taking things apart than I did for throttling through the sky, he was... understandably disappointed. And then when I first enlisted and people found out that my dad was some hot-shot pilot there were a lot of rumors that I didn’t belong where I was.”
Bradley furrowed his brows. “Why would they think that?”
Because my godfather is the Iceman. Because my dad is Hollywood.
“I don’t know,” she said; a half-truth, a half-lie. “It doesn’t really matter. The point is that I’ve known pilots my whole life. Some of them are the best people that I know, some not so much, but I’m always disappointing one of them.... well, mechanics have always been more my people, I suppose.”
Bradley said nothing at first.
“I... I’m sorry that you have to deal with that.”
“No, I’m sorry for making it into this big thing,” she sighed, wiping a hand down her face in frustration. So much for the good mood. “Let’s just go get drunk, yeah?”
“Matty,” he caught her elbow before she could get up. Something in his eyes shimmered in understanding.
“I told you that my dad was a pilot too way back when,” he said; a half-truth, a half-lie. “I get what it’s like to want to live up to that image.”
And, as she blinked over at him beneath the twinkling lights and the hazy moon, she saw something in the depths of his eyes that made her want to think—to believe—that he actually did understand.
That he knew the heavy weight of family ties, and wants, and hopes, and dreams. That he knew what it was like to be chasing after a golden image that you could never truly achieve.
For the first time in a long time, Matty felt seen.
She shook her head with a nervous laugh, hair spilling over her shoulder as she did so. Bradley’s eyes followed a few wayward threads of hair distractedly before he glanced back at her. By then, Matty had already managed to chase away those feelings to a place that she wouldn’t have to worry about them for a while. In turn, she hummed, and moved the conversation towards more neutral grounds. “Yeah, well, I’m pretty sure my dad is just jealous that I get to spend more time in million dollar jets then he does. Speaking of—how is your piece of shrapnel flying?”
He blinked at her sudden change in topic. “Fine.”
“Oh,” she frowned. “Just... fine?”
“I mean it’s running great,” he changed his tune, a bit of a pink blush edging up his cheeks when he realized what he had just said. Clearing his throat, Bradley clarified a bit too enthusiastically. “I’m already cutting my corners faster than I was last week. It’s really helping with my time trials.”
“Isn’t the whole saying that it’s not the jet, it’s the pilot?”
“Are you saying that I’m a bad pilot?”
“No!” she scoffed, watching the indignation leave his features as quickly as it had come. He instantly relaxed when he caught the teasing tone that lifted her voice upwards, but even then he managed to glare at her in mock annoyance. “Geez, and here I though it was us mechanics that didn’t have a sense of humor, Bradshaw. It was just a joke.”
Bradley harrumphed around his beer bottle. “Not to mention you cheat.”
“We cheat?” she crowed. “Oh, no we fucking don’t!”
“You were totally stepping over the line with your serves.”
“And you were totally stepping under the neck when you hit,” she shot back, impishly smirking when he realized that he wasn’t allowed to do so. Matty tossed her head back with a laugh. “And here you were asking if I knew the rules to volleyball. I could have cited you on so many rules out there that your head would still be spinning.”
“That sounds like a fancy way to cheat.”
“Egos, egos, ego,” she sang. “You’re almost as bad as Hangman.”
Bradley pointed out her threateningly—beer swishing over the side of the glass as he did so—but the amusement in his eyes gaze his ruse away. “Take that back,” he demanded. “I am not as bad as that dude.”
Matty hummed conspiratorially, leaning in an inch when she did so.
“He is sort of the worst, isn’t he?”
Bradley met her in the middle, their arms bumping between their chairs as he matched her sneaky smile. “The worst. You should have seen him back in school the first time around. He was running laps everyday because of his mouth.”
“You know what you should have done? Stolen all the locker room towels while he was in there. Nothing humbles a man faster than making him walk naked back to his room. Especially after a cold shower.”
Bradley let out a low, appreciate whistle. “That’s just mean, Matty.”
“But...”
“But,” he continued, peering at Hangman in the back of the bar for a moment, before turning back to her conspiratorially. “I might just have to test it out tomorrow if he continues to behave like this.”
“Promise?”
Bradley’s eyes darted down to her mouth as he took in the wide, impish smile splitting across her cheeks, before he met her gaze. Something in his dark eyes shimmered: something understanding, knowing, needing.
“If Bob promises to play lookout, I might even take some photos,” he said.
And, damn, if the promise of some juvenile debauchery wasn’t the sexiest thing a man could say to her. So sexy, in fact, that Matty finished her beer in a single swig before hauling Bradley up onto his feet.
“Where are we going?” he asked, huffed really, but there was nothing annoyed about the way he looked down at her.
“First,” she stuck a crooked finger into the air, “to get myself something to drink at Hangman’s behest. I’m definitely thinking a blowjob shot would taste pretty good right now.”
“And second?” he queried, not even arguing when she tugged him towards the crowded bar with nothing but a sly look over her shoulder.
“To get Bob drunk enough that he’ll promise to help you!”
Bradley laughed.
And, well, Matty decided that being friends with a pilot wasn’t so bad.
Especially when her stomach seemed to flutter every time he smiled at her with those dark, damned eyes of his.
*** taglist (thanks for asking!) @callsignbarb @coyotesamachado @shanimallina87 @luckyladycreator2 @olivethenerd16 @alanadetigy @the-winter-marvel33 @hiddleless @momc95
hope you like it, it’s extra long once again to make up for my inactivity! please leave comments below about what you think! i feel like i’m in unchartered waters writing a love story like this...
next chapter should be coming up next sunday!
#bradley rooster bradshaw#bradley rooster bradshaw x oc#bradley bradshaw x oc#rooster x oc#top gun maverick imagine#top gun maverick#fanfiction#heart mechanics#more to come
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its been ten years can we please have the bill cipher tag back now
sometimes when women have crushes on men its not for interesting reasons
someone's brain thinking that a character in a story is a person and having emotions about the character as if it were a person is how human storytelling is known to have worked since before we invented writing
tumblr makes money on people posting about their emotions about fictional media products. when people have crushes on characters in media properties, they post on tumblr about it. that's how its business model works.
the concept that theres a mysterious x-factor allure to the tumblr sexyman is wholly derived from some kind of naive, excited idea that tumblr invented the concept of having a crush on men
in order for something to be ironically funny it has to be ironic. i'm honestly not sure what the irony in sexymen is supposed to be. everyone ive ever seen bring it up seems to have the same breathless and totally unexamined reverence for thinking of The Sexyman as a unique or special or interesting idea. the only humor in it is derived from the presumption that the viewer thinks that its weirder to have a crush on a character from an illumination movie than it is to have a crush on a character from an amazon web series
being a fan of the lorax on tumblr and having a crush on the onceler was never different or weirder than being a fan of sherlock, doctor who, supernatural, our flag means death, good omens, or what we do in the shadows and having a crush on david tennant in whichever wig he's in today. if you don't come to peace with this, in four years the future version of you is going to be making fun of the idea that you enjoyed the things you are enjoying right now, with absolutely no self-awareness that this system of adoration and revulsion is cyclical
when it was cool to make fun of onceler fans, that didnt make sense, because it was a totally arbitrary distinction about which media products were okay to enjoy and which were not. now that its cool to put that era on a pedestal it ALSO doesn't make sense that onceler fans are considered to have been doing something cooler or more special than anybody else. meta things arent smarter just because they're meta.
please for the love of god. i just want to read about the funny triangle. if you humanization bill cipher in my presence i will reflexively pepper spray you even if you are doing a great job, because i am just so fricking tired of how proud everyone is for sanding all of the character design, thematic purpose, humor, goals, and undesirable viciousness off of this one character and then hackey-sacking the resulting anime boyfriend back and forth until the noise of it drowned out any memory people had of the actual 2012 tv show gravity falls
you didnt do anything wrong, or that people havent been always doing forever and will continue always doing forever? but you also didnt do anything cool or special. its really not interesting enough to still be examining.
i happen to enjoy the 2012 tv show gravity falls actually. go check the show out maybe, if you're just in here for sans or alastor or whoever and bill cipher is just someone you know about because People Wanted To Kiss Him, Lol.? it won some awards. the front half of season 2 was rated across the board by critics very similarly to its contemporary, breaking bad. stan pines is a really good character? stan pines is a better character than bill cipher, on most methods of measurement, although obviously with my sideblog's URL i do love bill. we had an ARG, it was super fun. we raised money to keep the actual Mystery Spot from going permanently under during covid. the crew went on to do other cartoons that people like, like Owl House, Amphibia, Into the Spiderverse. i didn't keep up with the shows, because i do not usually like kids shows and they didnt grab me? but everyone saw Spiderverse, Spiderverse was fire. if thats your thing, check them out.
i just want to read about the funny triangle. its been ten years. can we please just give it a rest and let the show have its own identity away from the gestalt fanon monster of the Sexyman™™ Phenomenon™™
thx
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Psssst could you tell me about Vy? Also who does she romance? Just spam me with Vy info bls qwq
Ahh thank u for the ask Marh and sorry that it took me so long to answer!
Vy is my secondary DA2 protagonist, so I don’t have a lot prepared for her compared to Cirilla, but I’ll share what I have ^^
One of the things that I like to run with is that, instead of having my Hawkes be of the same personality archetype as their Malcolm, it’s the opposite. Cirilla’s dad is soft and gentle while she is grumpy and rebellious. As for Vy, her Malcolm was strict and demanding, so she grew up more insecure and meek in return. Vy was ultimately closer to Leandra than any other family member and internalized much of the same thought process & issues as her mother, for example: their struggles with love, individual freedom and responsibilities (and also their obsession with tidiness in my HC lol).
She loves her family to death and took care of them with dedication, as was expected of her, but there’s always a part of her - subconscious or not - that has always wanted Out. Her most common coping method is “after this I will be able to do whatever I want”: “after I made enough money and the twins grew up enough I will fuck off to Amaranthine and fish all day”, “after we get the house back for mother I and Beth will leave Kirkwall and maybe become pirates”, etc. Most of which she never managed to do because of canon events, so it’s just this circle of endless tasks and responsibilities and her party bucket list just grows and grows.
And that ties with her central rlts with the Kirkwall crew too! Beth is defo aware of her sister’s issues and I imagine that also factored in Beth’s own guilt complex (oof they have a lot to patch up). Then Vy’s closest with Isabela and Merrill bc to some extent they mirror 2 different aspects of Vy that she cant seem to reconcile, so she looks up to them a lot. For Isabela it’s her love for personal freedom, for the sea for sailing. And for Merrill it’s her passion and dedication toward restoring Dalish history. And then there’s Vy, so enamored with that freedom yet can’t reach for it, so deeply entangled with her duties yet cant commit to them wholeheartedly. So yes, compare contrast! Narrative foils that are just my jam! I’m not very sure if they would end up a romantic trio or queer platonic, I’ll have to restart her playthrough and decide later ^^
Other than that, she’s a neat freak as I mentioned above, a very methodical, organized and precise person, definitely into planners and labeling & colorcoding all her stuffs. She’s shy, prone to analysis paralysis & performance anxiety so she prepares extensively for everything in advance. She was taught archery first by Leandra, then trained further with a family of hunters they met when living on the move back in Ferelden, then got to master her skills during military service w Carver. She’s a great shot and a good hunter.
#i am half asleep as i type all this so hopefully it didnt end up too messy!#thank u so much for the ask marh 💕💕💕💕#vy hawke#long post#alien turnip’s ocs#alien turnip’s asks#marhikit
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https://comicbook.com/dc/news/arrowverse-greg-berlanti-candidate-dc-films-kevin-feige/
This is interesting. Basically saying that Berlanti is being considered to be WBD's "Kevin Feige". I see AA's saying this would possibly be good for Jensen if the DC project he talked about having "in the works" with Berlanti is still a thing. But the article also says that "Another potential candidate mentioned by Variety is producer Dan Lin" who is the founder and CEO of Rideback which produces Walker (and WIndy? Do we know if its the same production companies for WIndy as for Walker?). That could possibly be good for Jared and the projects that he has said he has in the works.
Berlanti may be talked about it because he's a prolific producer with more hits than misses, then the article goes on to say 1) there's no official talks between Berlanti and WBD, and 2) Berlanti doesn't appear to want the job.
But come on guys, you know Berlanti is the worst candidate for the Kevin Feige who knows the Marvel comics forwards and backwards. Berlanti’s method is to throw everything against the wall and see what sticks. He approved of Batwoman for 3 seasons, which had some of the worst ratings possible. Then after it was cancelled, Berlanti moved the same writers to Gotham Knights. Berlanti is responsible for ruining Supergirl by making it an activist platform, Naomi is the worst DC superhero show ever, and I mean. EVER. This show is like Smallville if it was written by people who automatically think Superman is nothing more than his powers and can use them as easily as he breathes from the instant he gets them. Naomi is post-Claire Novak who was automatically perfect at everything she does. Unearned badassary. Even worse than Titans, also produced by Berlanti. I sometimes think Berlanti is "failing upwards".
Dan Lin is also a prolific producer so it's not surprising that his name was mentioned since he was to thisclose producing a different Justice League movie in 2008. But Lin is tied up with Universal Pictures, not WB. Lin’s Rideback company is producing Independence (X).
I don’t think Lin is up for the job either, I never got the sense that Lin knows the superhero genre very well.
Nonetheless the success of Walker and Jared’s reputation of making the work set a great place puts him in very good standing with Lin. Even though Lin’s films have grossed $5 billion globally, the real money long term is television. Lin’s first successful tv series, Lethal Weapons, infamously imploded due to in-fighting among actors and making the set hell for the cast and crew. It wouldn’t surprise me if Jared is cast in one of Lin’s future projects if the role is right.
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Prince Caspian fanfic part 1
Disclaimer: I am not a writer, but I always escape reality by daydreaming a fanfiction version of movies, books, or shows I like. I've been rewatching the Chronicles of Narnia and always had a thing for Prince Caspian.
This is just the first part of I believe will be three parts. I'm almost done with part 2 so if you like this, stay tuned. There will also be smut in part two and three, so if you are 18 or under, this is your early warning. For reference, Terra, the main character of this story, is a young woman about Caspian's age disguised as a man. Hope you enjoy :)
Terra was trying to calm her breathing. She had been walking when one of the men shouted that there was a group approaching. They all quickly and quietly scurried to the trees and bushes to wait and see who it was. Terra was pretending to be Tellus, who was a man of smaller stature and had to work a bit harder to keep up with a group of brawny, wild men. Tellus was on a secret mission to protect Mall but no one knew or suspected it. She needed to blend in as much as possible. Mall was also a bit younger and smaller than most of the men as well. They were both two of four younger men that were allowed to travel with Fogarty’s crew. Fogarty was one of the most well known men in the land. He was tall, muscular, and the very definition of wild. He had deep red hair that was roughly shoulder length, but he usually kept it in braids and rarely washed or brushed his hair. He normally did not wear much armor, he also typically showed off his arms which were riddled with a variety of scars. They seemed to be badges of honor to him. Fogarty was well-known for traveling the land in search of witches or anyone who supported witches. He typically used methods that were neither condoned or condemned by the king. He would burn them alive in the middle of towns, he would desecrate their homes and murder their entire families in there and burn them alive inside. This included young children that showed signs of later becoming a witch.
Terra did not want to be here. She did not want to be in this group but she needed the money. She played the part of being a young man who hated witches and wanted to grow as a man under Fogarty’s guidance. He was still new to the group but it had been two months of traveling to the village of Falmouth and they were looking for signs of witchcraft before entering the town and preparing to stay and rid the town of witches. Terra already knew the signs of witchcraft. She knew what to look for and already knew there were multiple witches in the town but she dare not reveal she knew more than what the men suspected.
Terra heard a group of men and could feel the ground and sense a variety of feet walking and different…hoofbeats? But only two, not four? She peaked through the leaves and she was baffled. She had always heard of minotaurs, never seen one though. She wasn’t even sure five minutes ago that they were real. And were those fawns? How? She knew she was losing concentration when she finally saw some horses approaching. All of these men and …creatures were walking in a mostly singular file line with the apparently the most important people on the horses towards the middle of the group. Terra noticed a bald, serious-looking man on a horse with a young man behind him. Sje figured the bald man must be the leader, but the man stopped and waited for the younger man to reach his side before mouthing something. They knew there were attackers waiting. Fogarty must have noticed the exchange between the men as well, and Terra knew he respected warriors who were on their game. Suddenly, without a command from Fogarty, one of the young men jumped the minotaur.
“Moron.” Terra thought. She did not jump out along with the others, she held fast while in an instant Fogarty’s men jumped out and began attacking and the travelers began defending themselves. The bald man and young man both unsheathed their swords and to Terra’s surprise the young man shouted something which was quickly obliterated by the sound of Fogarty’s booming voice.
“Cease fighting!” Fogarty’s voice boomed through the entire forest.
He jumped out of a tree and he was almost as tall as the minotaur. He stood between the travelers and his own men facing the men on horses.
Terra noticed one of the fawns looked awestruck at Fogarty. He was intimidating and compared to other men, he was truly a wild thing to behold. Terra still had not revealed her position. If this did not go well she at least wanted the element of surprise. She could still sense where Mall was, felt him shift his feet on the forest ground, and she silently begged him to stay put. He was honestly not a brilliant fighter, but it was her job to protect him. Get him to Falmouth alive and get payment for getting him there alive.
“My name is Fogarty. I have never seen any of you before nor heard of minotaurs or fawns in these parts. What brings you to the forest?”
“I am King Caspian.” The young man’s horse took a couple steps forward. Unlike the king of Warkinles, he did not cower. Terra noticed that his horse did not do any nervous prancing or stepping, which showed a sign of being fully comfortable with their rider.
“We just came from the capital and have a letter to travel to Falmouth and pick up one of the prisoners who is a Narnian.”
“Narnia. I remember hearing months ago that our kingdoms had negotiated peace.”
The air seemed to shift from tense to relaxed.
“But why is a king traveling to oversee the release of a prisoner?”
The air became tense again.
Caspian smiled a bit, “Because he is a very important prisoner to me.”
Fogarty nodded once in acceptance. Everyone sheathed their swords, but Terra knew that Fogarty did not fully trust this new group of men. Magic was forbidden here in Warkinles but minotaurs and fawns were legends here and there was never any mention of magic in stories about them.
Fogarty bellowed to his men about setting up camp and Caspian’s men seemed to understand they would be doing the same, Terra noticed without Caspian yelling at them. She went to go find fresh water. She needed a moment to recharge and scout a bit. It took a lot out of her to be ready to fight and keep focus on the ground to know where everyone was and keep track of Mall. She could not tell anyone about her abilities of feeling the earth, communicating with it, and the earth communicating back. Terra had figured out at a very young age that no one else had this ability. And she certainly didn’t live in a place where unfamiliar behaviors were accepted. Even to those closest to her, she rarely revealed the powers she was capable of. Other witches she knew assumed she was a blue witch, but she always kept her powers to herself. She heard water bubbling nearby and felt the deer and other wildlife creatures scurry away. It was still always a good idea to look around and be aware of your surroundings. As she kneeled close to the water she looked around to make sure no one was nearby. She took a sip and opened a few leather sacks she had gathered to fill with water. Curious, she felt hooves coming near the water. Not a deer, the two little hooves weren’t as graceful as a deer. A fawn appeared from the bushes with the same task as her. She wondered if they were magical. Could they sense she was a woman or could they see through her guise completely? The fawn nodded at her and she reciprocated. She figured making friends with this group would not be a bad idea.
“I’ll stay with you while you get your water and we’ll go back together, yeah?” She hoped she didn’t sound odd to a Narnian, but they weren’t from here so ensuring he got back to his group safely surely wasn’t a bad idea.
He simply nodded and quickly filled his pouches to return to others back at his camp. The walk back wasn’t long but Terra wanted to at least introduce herself. Try to figure out what she could, if not for her own benefit if she somehow needed help in the future, but because she was rather curious.
“My name is Tellus. How long have you been in Warkinles?” She asked. She needed to remember she was disguised as a man, but the lies seemed to roll off her tongue now that she had been doing this for a while.
“We have been here roughly two months. My name is Edgar.” the fawn replied.
“I see. I’ve only ever heard of stories of Narnia, what’s it like over there?”
“You mean, are there more fawns like me?”
Terra felt her face getting hot, but she was curious. She figured everyone else in her camp was going to ask it more bluntly, at least she was somewhat polite.
The fawn chuckled, “Narnia is similar to this place. We have trees, grass, snow, rain, and different terrains just like here. But we also have fawns, minotaurs, dwarves, talking animals, and Aslan. Not too different from here.”
“Tellus!”
Terra and the fawn had reached camp, where both Fogarty and Caspian’s men had decided to camp together but they were still on two different sides. Fogarty’s men were mostly keeping to themselves, making sure to glace often at any fawns or dwarves, and whispering to themselves. Caspian’s men seemed to be a friendly bunch, still cautious and they appeared to be just as capable of defending themselves as Fogarty’s men. Terra was sure the men saw them as a traveling circus, but she certainly didn’t see them that way.
Mall had yelled her name as he was sitting in a group of men around a fire.
“I’ll be seeing you, Tellus.” Edgar said to her as he went to his side of camp. She would much rather head that way, but she needed to not create suspicion.
“What did you learn about them?” Mall asked her as soon as she got near them.
“Nothing. His name is Edgar and Narnia isn’t much different from here, but they do have fawns.” she reported back.
A couple of the men snorted and chuckled. Honestly, what did they expect her to find out and what did they really expect from Narnians, she thought.
Over on Caspian’s side there was a larger tent Terra assumed was Caspian’s. Fogarty, one of his men, the stern bald man, and Caspian all emerged from the tent. Fogarty made his way over towards Terra’s group.
“Bring some firewood and some beer. These men are alright, friends of our king, and we’ll be traveling with them to Falmouth. Who here wants to hear tales of Narnia from Narnians?
Terra hadn’t noticed the firewood close to their group, but she did have a small pouch of beer and knew where some men typically hid larger pouches. She quickly walked over to some of the other men’s things and found a pouch of alcohol. Caspian’s men were working on a larger fire for more men to gather instead of everyone remaining separate. A circle was forming and Terra noticed Caspian helped out rather than simply ordering his men. Fogarty simply commanded things from his men, sat and waited for them to do his bidding. The fire was lit and Terra was carrying a pouch full of beer, she decided to place herself between some Narnians and some of her crew. She shared some of the alcohol with both the men and Narnians and Edgar happened to be sitting in the group she was near.
“Care for some beer, Edgar?” She asked.
Edgar took the pouch and passed it around. The fire was crackling and it seemed the men and Narnians were starting to not only enter conversation but get along as well. Foharty had moved closer to where Terra was sitting and the Narnians seemed a bit uneasy around him. Not that she blamed them. Caspian also sat amongst his men and as did the serious bald man. Terra also noticed there was a large mouse wearing a gold ring with a feather attached and a sword that was very close to both men. Terra couldn’t help but notice Caspian was a handsome young man. He was too far away earlier for her to notice the brilliant smile and big, dark eyes; she found him attractive. Too bad she was pretending to be someone else in a crew that was not always the best to be around.
“...didn’t know they had witches in Narnia.” One of Fogarty’s men was saying as all the conversations around the fire had lulled. Of course this caught Fogarty’s attention, as well Terra’s. She honestly hadn’t thought about witches in other lands.
“So you hunt witches over in Narnia as well, eh?” Fogarty said.
“Not hunt them, but the White Witch is a large part of Narnian history.” the mouse said. “It’s been many years since we had a witch like her in Narnia.”
“Just one witch? I doubt it, there are probably hundreds by now. You just don’t know it.”
“Well, if there are, they aren’t causing any problems. As long as they choose to live peacefully, I’m perfectly happy to have them in Narnia.” Caspian stated.
Fogarty’s men silenced. Terra internally cheered. Did he mean it, she didn’t even know this man but she hoped he meant it. She had never in her life heard anyone say anything remotely human about witches, let alone a man.
“Do you know what witches are truly capable of, boy?”
Caspian’s back straightened, he clearly was not a boy. Even with scruffy facial hair, half of his long, dark hair tied back, and a loose tunic; there was something about him that demanded respect without ever needing to say it. Although Terra had the ability to see a person’s aura, anyone could be able to tell Caspian was a man to be respected.
Fogarty continued, “Witches are not to be trusted. They are cunning and spend their entire lives plotting to rule the world. For years men like myself have been tricked by a female claiming not to be a witch, only for the bitches to trick us into making more witches. They are like locusts. They prey on innocent men, take what they can and then some. They have no regard for human life.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but are you saying every female in this world is a witch?” the mouse asked. Terra still hadn’t caught his name.
“I have met very few women who aren’t. For centuries, witches have run these lands. Enslaving the men to do their bidding and working together to take over the world. Me and my men travel from town to town to hunt down and kill every witch we find. For too long this heathenise race has been allowed to run rampant through these lands. We will put an end to them.”
Fogarty’s men raised their glasses, some cheered, and others nodded in agreement. Terra simply drank from her cup, noting that Caspian didn’t seem too keen on the idea of killing people.
“What do you do if a woman truly isn’t a witch? How can you tell? Are there truly no good witches?” This was a very curious mouse.
“Who do you think you are to question my methods?”
“His name is Reepicheep. He is one of my loyalist and bravest knights.” Caspian stated with a proud look.
“I think I liked it better when I thought mice couldn’t talk,” Fogarty growled.
“Yes, it’s getting him to shut up, that's the trick,” the serious bald man said.
“Lord Drinian, I simply want to understand this new world and how it works. Forgive me, sir, I did not intend to offend you. I simply wish to understand.”
“There is no one way to tell if a woman is a witch. There are three different types of witches. Green, they can command and communicate with all of nature. Trees, flowers, mushrooms, grass, the soil, the earth essentially. They’re extinct-they have been eradicated. Blue witches command water. That’s your lakes, streams, oceans, etc. Those witches are usually located near a large body of water. So if we go to town and hear of a woman who always has fish or always seems to have a way with water near the ocean-she’s most likely a blue witch. Red witches are the most cunning. They command fire, heat and they can sometimes manipulate the energy from the sun if they are powerful enough. These witches used to be used for war. Their passionate energy could manipulate others around them to feel rage and hatred. The regions that used these witches almost always won their battles.”
“So the witches were used as well? Not just the men. The men used witches for their own gain such as for war and conquering.” Reepicheep was really growing on Terra.
“You misunderstand. Witches were more than happy to be given a title, jewels, the finer things that our leaders' before us offered them. These men did not account for witches betraying them and taking over the different regions and using them to enslave innocent men. Every kind of witch has the ability to manipulate the area and people surrounding her. If the majority of people in a region are passionate and constantly fighting, you know there is a red witch close. If they are depressed and going through hardship after hardship, you know there is a blue witch close. Again, no one sort of method, but we always find them.”
Fogarty sounded so proud of himself. Caspian happened to look at Lord Drinian who raised his eyebrows at the king.
“So, forgive me, it sounds like you are speculating and making a decision based on rumors.” Reepicheep continued.
Fogarty looked annoyed, almost angry. Terra was never thrilled to see him get angry.
“He truly means no disrespect. We haven’t had witches in Narnia for centuries, and we certainly didn’t know there were different kinds of witches.” Caspian’s words seemed to calm Fogarty down a bit. Terra was more than happy someone of some authority was there to speak to him on his level. It was always difficult to calm him down once he was enraged. Throwing knives, screaming, hitting men, and making rash decisions were common behaviors from Fogarty.
The rest of the evening was fairly uneventful, most everyone seemed to get along or tolerate each other. Fogarty was quite open about his dislike of Reepicheep but most of his men and the Narnians seemed to not only enjoy the mouse’s company but respect him as well. He was quite the warrior in Caspian’s camp. He seemed particularly fond of Tellus, the young man wanting to become a better fighter and prove himself worthy. Sometimes Terra found the mouse’s optimism exhausting, but Reep always had good things to say to those he spoke to.
Terra had to learn how to fight from a young age seeing how she had no parents and was left with a couple at one of the shops when she was just a child. That’s all she could remember about where she came from. The couple was decent enough, but they never failed to remind her she was bought to help them. They planned to open a tavern that would connect to the shop someday, but Terra never stuck around to see it. She was always running errands alone and rather often left on her own while her owners would leave for weeks unannounced. She would have to fend for herself on the streets. One of the homeless men who regularly wandered the streets would sometimes teach her what he knew to defend herself. Terra found herself feeling not so unguarded as she got older. She knew how to get herself out of a bad situation using what the man had taught her.
Reepicheep mentioned to her one time he could tell by her fighting skills she learned them on the streets. Which would have come across as an insult from anyone else, but Reep continued by saying most of the men were not near as quick and clever as her. Terra had also figured out when she was very young that she could sense where people were stepping on the ground and could sense where they were most likely to strike. It could only be felt on the ground, soil, grass, but not elements like stone or rock. She could sometimes sense those but she had to be completely focused and not distracted at all. She kept wondering if Reep could sense that she was a woman or could sense her powers but he was keeping quiet about them. She didn’t have any evidence but she thought some of the Narnians might be magical in some way.
It had been a week traveling with them, and Terra was enjoying spending time with the Narnians. She learned how it wasn’t too different from where they were. Narnia had different regions, islands, and Caspian was the young king who brought the Telmarines and Narnians together. Terra hadn’t had the opportunity to talk to him much, she wasn’t in Fogarty’s inner circle and she was fine with that. She still didn’t want to draw too much attention to herself. But Fogarty and those closest to him found Caspian and Lord Drinian to be the only Narnians worthy of their time. Unfortunately for Forgarty, Reepicheep was one of Caspian’s closest knights. Terra found watching them rather amusing. Reepicheep would say something and most times everyone would laugh and Fogarty would look annoyed, he never was good at hiding his emotions.
“Tellus, why don’t you join us, sir?” Reepicheep called out from near the campfire with Caspian, Lord Drinian, a couple Narnians, Fogarty and his closest man, Alastor.
Terra simply happened to be walking by and was actually on her way to go lie down, she didn’t have watch duty tonight.
“I was actually on my way to get some shut eye. I don’t have watch duty tonight.” She didn’t like the idea of being so close in proximity to Fogarty.
“All the more reason to join us!” Terra knew Reepicheep was not one to relent and it would look odd if the young Tellus refused an opportunity to be in the mighty Fogarty’s presence.
The closest open spot was in between Caspian and Alastor, with Reep quickly scurrying to sit between Caspian and her.
Alastor continued the conversation the group was having, about how he was the greatest fighter from his village and he considered it a great honor to be in Fogarty’s group. Terra did not care for Alastor at all. He was a mean-spirited person. He never talked well of the men, he especially enjoyed picking on those that were weaker. To Terra’s relief he never seemed to notice Tellus much or Mall much either. Terra tuned Alastor out, she had heard him talk about himself far too many times. She hated pretending to be Tellus, a young man who admired Fogarty and wanted to learn so much from him. She was thrilled they were getting closer to Falmouth.
“Ah, you are lucky indeed. We are in the boat as you. We have our King Caspian who has led up for years and continues to challenge us with adventures and inspire us with his leadership.” Reep looked genuinely proud to speak about his king. Terra realized she might have tuned out for too long because clearly Alastor was no longer speaking.
“If anything Reep, I think I’ve learned more from you these past years than I’ve ever inspired you. Thank you, friend.” Caspian smiled at his knight and Drinian was looking at the fire and he smiled as well. He seemed proud of the young king.
“How long have you been king?” Fogarty asked.
Caspian paused. “About eight years now.” He seemed surprised, like he had forgotten how long he had been doing this. He must have been a kid, thought Terra.
“You must have been a child, you’re still quite young.” Fogarty seemed surprised as well.
“I was seventeen when my uncle was killed.”
“Twenty-five is still young.” Fogarty was never impressed by a person’s youth. Terra knew quite well that Caspian was wiser and she assumed a bit smarter than Fogarty.
“Your uncle?” Terra was confused. She didn’t mean to draw attention but how does that work? She thought Caspian’s father would have been king before him, not his uncle.
Caspian looked right at her. Well, at Tellus, but it was still her eyes.
“My father was king before him. But he was killed.” Caspian looked back at the fire. “My uncle told me it was an accident. But years later I discovered he had my father killed in order to gain the crown for himself.”
Terra’s eyes widened. While the idea of killing a brother to gain the crown is not unheard of, keeping your nephew alive seemed almost cruel.
“So, he kept you alive…why?” Terra didn’t want to push her luck with a king, but he didn’t seem to mind her questions. Or at least he didn’t mind Tellus questioning him.
“So as not to raise suspicion. He pretended to care about me when he needed to, he pretended to include me in important matters when it suited him, but he was waiting to kill me once he had a son.”
Terra had assumed Caspian was born with good parents and people around him who loved him. She didn’t imagine he had already gone through such traumatic circumstances as a boy.
“Did you kill him?” Terra wouldn’t hold it against him if he did, but she just didn’t think he was that kind of man.
“No. One of his men killed him and tried to make it look like the Narnians had done it.”
“Forgive me, your highness, I’m just curious…”
“Caspian.”
“What?” Terra looked up at him. He was already looking at her.
“I prefer Caspian to your highness.”
“He never was one to follow the rules.” Lord Drinian spoke up.
“You want to know how he managed to bring the Telmarines and the Narnians together?” Reepicheep seemed eager to tell a tale.
“Yes, how did you manage to create peace when the Telmarines were against the Narnians?” She chuckled as she spoke.
“Oh I love the story of how we met and I almost killed you, your highness.” Reep teased.
Caspian grinned and chuckled while looking at the fire and Drinian smiled and looked over at Reep.
Caspian talked about how his tutor helped him escape, he saw soldiers who were supposed to protect him, shoot at his bed when he was supposed to be asleep. He was still just a boy, Terra kept thinking to herself. Apparently his tutor gave him a magical horn, he ended up at a dwarf and badger’s home, and Reep really might have killed him. The Narnians didn’t trust him, he was a Telmarine prince. His people had slaughtered Narnians for years and thought Narnians were extinct. Caspian talked about the kings and queens of old, how they helped him secure his place on the throne and they left him to figure out how to rule. She didn’t completely understand how they came and left, Reepicheep tried to explain but it went completely over her head. Another land that none of them can see or get to? Terra wondered about Lucy, apparently she had seen Aslan (who she had also heard mentioned endlessly) before anyone else and Caspian mentioned she had infectious energy. When Caspian was finished it was quite a bit to take in, and Terra knew she was going to be tired tomorrow but she had so many questions, even after she kept interrupting to understand.
“After you lost the siege, you said Narnians tried to kill you, did you kill them?” Fogarty asked and he seemed serious. He had simply sat back and listened while everyone talked and Terra and Alastor asked Caspian question after question.
“No, I believe Peter and Edmund killed them. Edmund put an end to their conspiracy.” Caspian didn’t elaborate and he was looking right at Fogarty. Terra couldn’t put her finger on it but something about Caspian’s aura seemed different. If she had to guess, she didn’t think he liked or trusted Fogarty that much. Was he hiding something-he didn’t seem to elaborate on his story much. Maybe he was hiding something from Fogarty.
“Edmund and Peter were just boys themselves, but everyone in that room showed remarkable bravery. It was a hard day and they had all stepped up to do what needed to be done for Narnia and its people.” Reepicheep really had a way of making tense situations dissipate.
Terra looked at him and smiled.
“So you haven’t seen the kings and queens of old since? Will they ever come back?” Terra wondered. She secretly wanted to meet Edmund and Lucy.
“We actually were fortunate enough to go on more adventures with Edmund and Lucy and their cousin Eustace a couple years ago.” Reepicheep piped up.
“Quite fortunate.” Drinian didn’t seem too thrilled about these stories.
“Hmmm, that’s enough stories for me this evening. We have an early start tomorrow.” Fogarty stood and Alastor stood as well. Everyone nodded, said good night, and they walked towards their section of men.
Caspian POV
Caspian felt much better after Fogarty left. He simply wanted to get to Falmouth and then they would part ways. Fogarty reminded him of his uncle and for that reason alone, Caspian was wary of him. He was surprised Tellus was still sitting by the fire after he left. He had certainly seen the young man before but didn’t think he stood out much. He was young and still figuring out who he wanted to be, but he did seem a bit standoffish. He was clearly a bit more curious than the others, Caspian just appreciated he wasn’t enamored by Fogarty like the rest of them. Fogarty was not a good man, he may be a talented fighter, and stronger than most men but he was not to be trusted. Caspian wasn’t a fan of witches based on his own past experiences but he certainly didn’t kill people simply because of how they were born.
He was glad to have Reepicheep and Drinian by his side, two trustworthy individuals who shared his views on how to treat people regardless of who they were or their status. Fogarty only ever talked to Caspian or Drinian, and he clearly did not like Reepicheep. He seemed to look down on all of the Narnians and his own men because he deemed them not as important.
Tellus was looking at him with his big, crystal clear eyes. Caspian couldn’t put his finger on it, but something about his eyes were enthralling. Tellus tilted his head and looked confused, Caspian guessed he had asked a question.
“I apologize, what were you asking me?”
“I was asking about the last time you saw Edmund and Lucy” Tellus repeated himself.
Caspian went on to talk about how they found Lucy, Edmund, and Eustace in the ocean while traveling on the Dawn Treader and the adventures that followed. Tellus listened intently, his facial expressions clearly indicating what he was thinking as Caspian spoke. He knew of some of the places they went, so he wasn’t quite as ignorant about other types of people as the rest of the men he traveled with. To be perfectly honest, Caspian wondered why Tellus was with them at all. He seemed smart, quick, and a bit more thoughtful than the others he encountered in the crew. As Caspian reached the part about Aslan’s land and met him, Drinian spoke up about feeling tired. He and Tellus both said goodnight and the way Drinian paused before leaving, Caspian took that as a sign it was probably time they all got some sleep.
“I believe we should all follow Lord Drinian’s example, let’s all get some sleep before we wake up and start moving again.” Even Reepicheep seemed a little sleepy.
Caspian glanced over at Tellus and noticed him blushing, he seemed a bit embarrassed. “Probably didn’t realize how late it had gotten,” Caspian thought.
Caspian wanted respect but he didn’t want anyone treating him differently simply because he was king. He still wanted to be able to have a conversation with someone and not have them agreeing with everything he said or continuous compliments. He genuinely enjoyed talking with Tellus.
That night sleeping on the ground, Caspian had trouble sleeping. It had been years since he had nightmares about his uncle or his father, but this was different. He felt restless and it seemed as though the very ground beneath him was alive. He woke up several times thinking someone was beneath him, breathing, panting, wanting, and he could have sworn he felt a heart beating. He simply shook the feeling, turned to his side and tried falling back asleep. Drinian finally woke him up, apparently for the second time. Normally he was awake the first time Drinian woke him up, but then he remembered how restless his night was. Caspian knew that finding someone to be intimate with would fix those feelings, but that would have to wait. As he prepared his horse to wake up, he thought of some of the ladies at court, back at Narnia that he knew. Some of them were rather pretty, but he found them lacking in humor, independence, and passion. He certainly wasn’t going to settle for just anyone but eventually he would like to share his life with someone, and he liked the idea of someone to sail with and explore new lands with. But also a lady who could take care of herself. He enjoyed the idea of being a knight in shining armor when he was younger, but he much preferred the idea of not worrying everytime trouble came around. He wasn’t sure any of those ladies matched that description. But he would have to focus on that later.
His horse all saddled, he mounted and started riding with Fogarty’s men and his Narnians to head towards Falmouth. They were still a few days away, and he was quite looking forward to being on the Dawn Treader heading back towards home, Narnia. Drinian rode a little ways ahead of him with Fogarty and the majority of his men leading the way. Caspian noticed Tellus was normally a bit separated from the others in his crew. He had asked Caspian several questions about Narnia so he figured it was time he asked questions. Just a few paces and Caspian was walking next to Tellus.
“Tell me about yourself, Tellus. How did you end up with Fogarty, traveling with his band of merry men?” Caspian added a slight grin as he said the last part. He may be tired but he was never one to not have some fun.
Tellus chuckled and went into how he lost his parents when he was a child. He had been staying with a couple in the town he grew up in but they always considered him troublesome. He talked about how most of the time they never even provided him food, he would have to go and beg for it. When the opportunity to travel with Fogarty came up, he took it. He wanted to learn how to defend himself, how to fight, and how to be a great warrior like Fogarty.
“I’m sorry you had to deal with that.” Tellus shrugged and seemed focused on looking down at the ground while he walked. “I understand you didn’t have any opportunity to learn. So I’m astonished you know and understand so much about places across the sea. Where did you learn all that?” Caspian didn’t believe Tellus really wanted to be with Fogarty. Perhaps it was because he had no other options.
“Well, you meet a variety of people when you are on the street. I didn’t just go out to beg for food, more often than not I was out on the streets trying to find a place that I could sleep safely. Or get away from the man of the house. He wasn’t exactly the most pleasant individual when he was heated or drunk.”
It’s a miracle he didn’t end up a slave, Caspian thought. He believed Tellus was telling the truth about his upbringing, but something about it didn’t quite feel right. Of course he had every right to keep some things to himself if he wished to, but it still didn’t feel completely honest.
Caspian happened to look down at Tellus, and he was no longer looking at the ground. His head was slightly tilted and he was looking ahead with a look on his face. Caspian couldn’t make it out exactly, and he was on a horse so perhaps he was looking from a certain angle, but he thought it looked like concern.
Caspian looked ahead and Fogarty’s men had stopped and they were gathered in a huddle with Drinian on the outside waiting for Caspian to catch up. As he approached Fogarty came up to him.
“There’s a house just up ahead. My scouts informed me there is a witch inside.”
Caspian looked directly at Fogarty. “How are you sure?”
“Your Highness, with all due respect, I was merely giving you a heads up for your men’s sake.”
Caspian’s horse shifted and he did not feel comfortable.
“I feel you don’t agree with my methods. But I did say I would guide you and your men safely to Falmouth and I plan on honoring that agreement. This is but a short stop along the way.”
“Don’t kill her.” He looked directly at Fogarty again. “If what you say about witches is true, the town will be suffering in some way or another. If the town is doing alright, no one is in distress, fighting, what have you; then you will have killed an innocent woman.”
Fogarty’s men stared at him. Caspian just wanted to buy a little time and hopefully reason with Fogarty later to “buy” her. He never purchased a slave, but to save someone’s life and offer them their freedom, he would happily do so.
“I’m asking to see how witches can truly transform a region next to them. If you kill her before we get there, I will have learned nothing, and she truly may be an innocent woman living in a house away from town.”
“Do you understand who you sp-” Alastor started.
“Go and get her from the house, we will set up camp and wait for you there.” Fogarty talked over Alastor. Caspian was a king after all and an ally of theirs, he would get respect.
Caspian waited to dismount while all the men worked on setting up camp. He wanted to have a better viewpoint of when the men returned and ensure she wasn’t killed on the way back. He would have gone himself but he did not think Fogarty would like it. He wanted Fogarty to feel he could trust him a little.
He saw the men with an older woman. She clearly wasn’t old enough to struggle to walk but she did have mostly gray hair. As they all approached the camp, he dismounted and walked over to where Fogarty was with Drinian and Reepicheep closely behind him. He noticed Tellus was working on helping gather some sticks for the fire and kept glancing towards the approaching men and the woman. He caught Caspian looking at him and did a quick nod. Caspian felt more sure he was doing the right thing.
The woman was thrown on the ground and she gave a slight grunt. She had fresh blood trickling down the side of her face. He was certain one of the men enjoyed hitting her with something heavy hard enough to make her bleed.
“What is your name?” Fogarty was the first to speak.
“Metis.” She did not look up.
“What were you doing in a house so far away from Falmouth”
“My husband and I enjoyed living away from people. We would walk to town whenever we needed something but we were mostly self-sufficient.”
“Where is your husband now?”
“He died about six months ago.”
“Where are your children?”
“I have no children sir.”
“No children? So you live alone then?”
“Yes, sir.”
What bothered Caspian so much was, she wasn’t trying to fight. Had he been taken from his home for no good reason, he would have fought the whole way here. She didn’t seem surprised to be there, she seemed almost defeated.
“Place her over there. I don’t want her too close to the men.” Fogarty nodded towards a tree that was close enough to the fire to feel the warmth but far enough away to not cause trouble.
Caspian hadn’t noticed that tree earlier. Granted he wasn’t really preoccupied with where trees were at all times.
He, Drinian, and Reepicheep walked towards the fire. It was mostly Narnians and Tellus gathered around. Reep crawled up on Caspian’s shoulder.
“I shall be quite glad when we get to Falmouth, get the professor and we can be on our way.” Reep said.
He nodded, he wanted to tell Drinian to ask one or two trusted men to keep watch quietly throughout the night to ensure Metis’s safety.
He sat next to Tellus and Drinian sat on the other side of him. Most of his men were talking amongst themselves, and he could feel that every Narnian wished to be on their way home.
Just a few more days, he thought to himself.
“What you did back there was rather brave, Your Highness.”
Tellus’s comment brought Caspian back to reality. Tellus wasn’t looking at him, rather looking into the fire. Caspian figured he didn’t want to make a big deal about his standing up to Fogarty. However, the fact that he said anything meant that not many stood up to the witch-killer.
“I don’t understand how you can flippantly take a life without first investigating and having proof of their wrongdoings. Perhaps that’s how things are done here versus Narnia but it doesn’t make sense to me.”
“That’s how things are done, mostly for women.” Tellus continued to stare at the fire.
Caspian thought that was a strange comment. Most young men without many responsibilities seemed to lack the understanding that other people need to be considered. He wondered what exactly he had gone through while wandering the streets trying to survive.
“What exactly do you mean? I understand Fogarty may be a bit zealous in his pursuit of ridding the world of witches. But do you mean he honestly treats every woman like this?” Caspian knew Fogarty wasn’t a good person, but this was a new level.
“Yes, Caspian.” Tellus’s voice got even quieter and lower. “I think if he had his way, he would enslave or kill every woman in the world.” He looked directly at Caspian, but quickly turned his head back to the fire. He took one last drink.
“I have watch duty tonight.” He said standing up and he walked away from the campfire.
“He is a fine young man.” Reepicheep said and it surprised Caspian. He hadn’t realized Reep was sitting on a log positioned between him and Tellus.
“There is something about him that isn’t quite right though.”
“What do you mean?” Caspian felt it too but he wanted Reep’s thoughts. They were normally spot-on.
“I mean, I believe him when he speaks. I believe he tells the truth, but I believe there are some things he holds back. Something about himself that may be a bit dark, or cause judgment from others. Especially from our dear friends.” Reep emphasized the last bit and Caspian picked up on the sarcasm.
Perhaps he knows a witch, comes from a witch, or loves a witch, he thought. That would surely cause Fogarty to cast him out. He felt whatever the reasoning was, it wasn’t his place to push Tellus to admit anything he hadn’t already. If anything he felt better for Metis’s sake that Tellus was on watch duty.
Caspian leaned over to Drinian and said he wanted him to find an additional one or two trusted men to quietly keep an eye on things tonight. He didn't want anything to happen to Metis. He stood up and walked over to where he would be sleeping, but he noticed the tree Metis was tied to looked slightly different. She almost appeared comfortable the way the tree curved and a stump was supporting her feet. Caspian tilted his head for a moment but quickly went back to going to bed.
You really are losing it, he thought to himself as he laid down. He must have been more exhausted than he thought because the ground he chose was cool, but not damp and soft. It felt so comfortable. Caspian quickly dozed off.
Terra POV
She didn’t understand why she told Caspian about how she thought Fogarty wanted to kill every woman. That was a bit dramatic, but in all honesty, she wondered if he actually did want to kill every single woman.
She felt Caspian stand up and she saw him through the dark walking over to where he would be sleeping. But she felt him pause and knew he had noticed the trees and that stump. She didn’t want to make it obvious but she could sense Metis was sore and depressed. She wanted to do what she could to make her a bit more comfortable. Just for tonight at least.
He continued walking and when he stopped and started undoing this belt to lay his sword next to him, she focused on the leaves and the dirt. She quietly shifted the dirt underneath the grass to loosen up and the roots of the grass to go a bit deeper, so the ground wasn’t quite as hard and compact. She felt him sit on the ground and vertebrae by vertebrae she felt him lay back. His head finally rested on the ground, he let out an audible sigh and she felt the thumping of his heart.
She turned her head to look out past the campground. She only noticed someone’s heartbeat if she truly focused and channeled her thoughts to that one area. She needed to be keeping watch not focusing on him. But she couldn’t get his dark eyes out of her mind. They looked perfect with his long, dark hair falling out of the ribbon tying half of it up. His beard was getting a bit scruffier but it wasn’t scarce. Sometimes men who grow out facial hair have patches missing on their face and this wasn’t like that. She could tell that beneath the scruff was a chiseled jawline, and she had seen him clench his jaw while telling Fogarty not to kill Metis. She shook her head, she didn’t have time to think about his smile, his laugh, or the way he would completely focus on you while you were talking to him.
She stayed up on watch duty most of the night. No one seemed to pay any attention to Metis or concerned with what she could possibly do. But Terra could sense Metis had no powers. Her aura wasn’t that strong or contagious. Terra knew it was true that witches possessed an aura that could influence others like Fogarty told Caspian about, but what he didn’t know was every single person alive had an aura about them. Some people had an aura that was bright and contagious or dark and contagious. Some people had a noticeably aggressive presence about them, some people naturally had a calming presence, but Metis’s was a bit gloomy, almost depressing. Terra knew that everyone could sense she was not someone that would put up a fight. It was just the attitude she was putting off.
Terra woke up with a start but most of the men were awake, with a few clearly still trying to wake up and get moving. She stood up and started gathering her things so she could get moving and keep an eye on Metis. But she noticed Caspian was helping her up on a horse, she still had her hands tied but at least she wouldn’t have to walk everywhere. Terra really liked the way Caspian treated people. So far he still hadn’t yelled at any of his men, degraded anyone, and he was quick to offer appreciation to his men.
The next couple of days of traveling were quite uneventful, but it gave her a chance to get to know Metis and talk more with Caspian. Terra was rather thankful to have Metis around, anytime Caspian or Reepicheep would ask questions about witches, she would normally answer. Terra didn’t want people thinking Tellus knew a lot about witches. He was supposed to be a young guy learning all sorts of things from Fogarty. Not secretly possessing a vast knowledge of witches, that would look suspicious. Terra knew they were very close to Falmouth, it was possibly less than a day's ride now.
It was almost dusk and Fogarty stopped his horse and everyone knew it was time to set up camp for the evening. Tomorrow everyone would be arriving at Falmouth and Terra was secretly sad but also thrilled. Tellus would be leaving Fogarty’s men without an explanation, and she could go back to being Terra. What no one had ever noticed about Tellus was that he had a necklace under his clothes. Very few people had these necklaces, as they were forbidden. The crystal pendant contained the ability to hold a magical enchantment or power as long as someone with magical powers wore them. Terra knew if anyone ever saw the necklace, they would know immediately Tellus was not who he claimed to be.
She didn’t want to think of that right now, she honestly wanted to spend all her time with Caspian. She knew he had a mission in town and after he would be heading to his ship, the Dawn Treader and returning to Narnia. She wished she could think of a way to stowaway on the ship, but figured he and his men kept a very good track of what should and shouldn’t be on board. They most likely kept a very watchful eye for stowaways.
She was currently riding the horse Caspian was letting Metis ride with Metis in front of her. Earlier Metis had said something about the difficulty of riding while still having her hands tied. Not that she wanted to be ungrateful, she had said, but she wondered since Tellus was a bit more slender than the other men if he could help direct the horse. Terra was secretly thrilled to take a break from walking, and that’s when she heard a shout from one of Fogarty’s men. She looked up ahead and saw men approaching from the bushes and some jumping from the trees. She looked to her left and saw men with swords running up to her and Metis. The horse they were riding reared up and Terra couldn’t hold on, she fell.
The wind knocked out of her and it took her a moment to understand she needed to keep track of Mall, figure out where he was and ensure he arrived at Falmouth safely. Otherwise she wouldn’t get paid. First, she needed to stay alive, but also how was Metis? Terra had pulled out her sword and had used her small frame to crouch to the ground and use her body as leverage against a taller man running straight towards her. He stumbled over her, fell to the ground and she had stabbed him on the left side, or his right side she guessed. She quickly looked up to see Caspian on the ground standing next to Metis’s horse and she was still seated on the horse. Caspian’s men surrounded him with Lord Drinian and Reepicheep shouting to hold them off and protect the king. Terra focused on her immediate surroundings and quickly noticed she was surrounded by Narnians and they were fearless fighters. But she focused her energy on feeling the different footsteps on the ground and felt unfamiliar feet moving about and where they were shifting their weight to strike next.
She picked up another sword that had dropped to the ground and used both swords to clang, block, slice, and defend herself and the men in her vicinity. She felt indestructible, she maneuvered her body side to side, up and down, and it almost felt like dancing to her. While she knew her smaller frame didn’t have the strength that most men seemed to possess, they didn’t have her ability to sense the enemy and their next move. While working on defending herself, she sensed the familiar footsteps of Fogarty’s men and the Narnians. She felt some of them had been injured and she shifted the earth beneath their enemy. It wasn’t much, just enough to cause them to misstep and give her comrades a better advantage. That’s the thing about forests, the opportunities to trip and fall are endless, and she was doing what she could to help without being noticed. But it was taking quite a bit of energy to focus on everyone at once.
Their attackers had surrounded Fogarty and Caspian’s men as a whole, but each group had sort of circled amongst each other. There were almost two attacks happening at once, and Terra felt Caspian’s was faring much better than Fogarty’s. She looked over and saw Mall, and he was keeping up, but she knew he was not the most agile young man and just simply wasn’t born to be a fighter. In her left peripheral, she saw Caspian look in the same direction as her and shouted a command to aid Fogarty. Drinian repeated his king and Reep was already quickly sneaking his way to the center of the attack using his little mouse body as an advantage. All Narnians let out a great shout and she joined them in running over to join in the fight. There was so much shouting and it was more chaotic on this side of things. Fogarty’s men didn’t have a clear sense of playing into each other’s strengths and they didn’t wholeheartedly have each other’s back like the Narnians did.
Whoever the leader of this group of outlaws was, noticed they were losing all their men and this was the group they should not have attacked. Something about a retreat was yelled and they started leaving. Fogarty shouted to his men to follow them and find them, and Terra knew every single one of the attackers was going to die. It was happening so fast, attackers were scrambling to leave, Fogarty’s men were charging after them, some Narnians were cheering, some were still defending themselves, Terra was still fighting while shifting the earth and trying to focus on Mall, and she didn’t feel someone come up on her right and slash their blade on her right side. She immediately screamed in pain and fell to the ground. There was still so much shouting and confusion no one really noticed. She was a bit on the outskirts of the fighting and looked down at her side.
So much blood. On her right side, on her chest. Right below her ribs, but not her abdomen. Gods. She would have to remove her shirt to treat it. She couldn’t. Her necklace. She would be discovered. She would be killed.
Focus, Terra, she thought.
She looked around, and saw no one coming up behind her or around her really. Fogarty was already gone, chasing after the men who had the nerve to attack them. She had to leave. Now. She would not survive without treating the wound, but she couldn’t treat the wound here.
Go, she thought.
She quickly ran over to the right, towards Falmouth. She glanced behind her and saw everyone was preoccupied with fighting the remaining attackers or helping those that were injured. She ran.
It was not a fast run, and she stumbled more often than not, but she needed to get out of there. She had no choice. She knew of one inn in Falmoth that a woman and her husband ran that once helped witches. Terra even had the advantage of being disguised as a man, maybe that would convince them to allow her to go there and heal even if they didn’t do that anymore.
She stumbled again and this time, getting up was difficult. She could tell she was losing too much blood and she was starting to lose any ounce of focus. She looked up from the ground and could see smoke above the trees. It was faint but she knew the town was close.
She stood up once more and immediately sat back down, leaning up against a tree. She had almost fainted and she didn’t have time for that. She couldn’t do that, if she was found she was dead. She had to get to town.
“Leaving the fight so soon?”
She knew that voice but could barely muster the energy to turn her head to look over at Reep. Reepicheep didn’t look pleased initially but the look quickly faded and Terra saw his little eyes glance down at her right side.
“The idea of death scares us all at times, Tellus. But I don’t believe your time has come quite yet. I’ll go fetch aid.” Reepicheep started back where Terra came from and she tried to stand up.
“No. I-” she started and quickly fell back down.
She was not going to last much longer. Damn it, she thought.
“I have to go to town.” she stated with as much authority as she could muster. She wanted to make it clear to the mouse she couldn’t go back.
“Tellus, you ran far, but it’s still further to town than you think. Why must you go to town?”
She felt awful, not just physically, but the thought that she had lied to him, Caspian and everyone about who and what she was weighed heavily on her at this moment. Also, she knew she was going to faint, she had one chance to make it clear to the mouse that she would die if she didn’t go to town.
“Fogarty will kill me. I have to go to the inn in Falmouth” she felt her head roll and her eyes closing as she said it.
Caspian POV
Most of the attackers were gone, some had been captured by Caspian and his men. He was surveying where everyone was and the damage that was done. Fogarty was nowhere to be found, and all of his men had followed him. He understood the need to find out who these men were, but Caspian was sure Fogarty was more upset someone had attacked him instead of being upset because there were bandits in the woods likely preying on innocent people. Caspian noticed Reepicheep was staring off a ways and he started taking off, normally he would leave Reepicheep to handle his own, but the fact Reep didn’t say anything before leaving was a bit unusual. Reep had a bit of a headstart and although he was a mouse, he was unusually fast for a small creature. As he was walking, he noticed Drinian and Metis had started following him from a distance, perhaps Drinian noticed Reep being distracted as well. Caspian looked down at what Reep could possibly be looking for and a bit further ahead he noticed the blood trail. It was quite a bit, whoever it was coming from was going to need attention. Caspian was glad Metis was around, she had proven she had knowledge of local plants and cures to small ailments. She was probably going to be useful to help a badly injured patient. No matter who it was, Caspian was going to ensure they didn’t die at the hands of Fogarty. A little further ahead, he could see smoke above the trees. They weren’t too far from Falmouth but still close enough they could return to camp to treat whatever the wound was, hopefully. Then he noticed someone sitting by the tree, and a couple more steps he noticed it was Tellus. He couldn’t see the injury from the direction he was approaching but Tellus’s shirt was blood soaked, it was either his chest or abdomen. Then he saw Reep talking in a low voice and Tellus slumped and fell to his left side. Caspian reached him and Reep and saw the gash in his side. He most likely wouldn’t die, but he needed attention immediately.
“He wants to go to the village, my King.” Reep said.
Reep normally only used that kind of talk for when he was rather serious about something. But Caspian needed more information.
“He may want that, but camp would be closer and he needs to be treated now.”
Caspian looked around them, no one was approaching expect Drinian, Metis, and couple of his soldiers who were even further behind Drinian.
“He said Fogarty would kill him, Caspian.”
Caspian looked directly at Reepicheep and now he wanted to know why Tellus had risked leaving everyone else behind, including his leader, with an injury like this. He had to be in fear for his life as Reep said.
“Why?”
“He didn’t get a chance to say, he fainted before I could get any more information out of him.”
Now Drinian and Metis had reached them, and Metis’s hands were unbound.
“He didn’t get a chance to say what? Does he know who was behind the attack?” Drinian seemed to like the young man but now he seemed rather accusatory.
“He did not say my lord. I don’t know why he would think Fogarty would kill him.” Reep repeated himself and he made a point to look at Metis. Perhaps she would know more.
Caspian knew they may not have long to figure out what to do, he had to act quickly.
“Metis, why would Fogarty kill Tellus?” he questioned the woman.
“I…I don’t know, Your Highness. Fogarty is rather quick to kill anyone for a variety of reasons. But none comes to my mind while I look at the young man.”
It was puzzling, Tellus did fight, but was it simply because he was injured? Surely that’s not the reason, there were other men in Fogarty’s crew that were injured as well.
Caspian lifted Tellus’s shirt to look at the wound, they would most likely have to remove the shirt to properly treat it. Drinian motioned for the other soldiers to stay were, keep watch, and then they rolled Tellus onto his back. Caspian started to loosen up the top part of Tellus’s shirt and he noticed a chain around his neck. He had never once noticed Tellus’s necklace, in fact he had never even seen the chain peeking through the shirt. Without even thinking he pulled the necklace out and a bright crystal gleamed. It almost looked like something was swirling around in the crystal, it looked, alive.
Metis gasped. Caspian, Reep, and Drinian all looked at her. She knew something.
“I’m sorry, Your Highness. He will need to go to town. He cannot stay at the camp.”
They were all silent.
Caspian wanted to know more about this necklace and what it meant, so he pulled it over Tellus’s head.
“No, my lord-“ Metis started but it was too late.
Before all of their eyes, Tellus transformed. His face shifted slightly, it grew a bit more narrow and petite. His hair started to grow a bit longer, and his entire body shape transformed. He stayed small and slender but there was a definite breast shape, and his hips seemed to widen slightly.
Tellus was a woman?
Caspian and Reepicheep’s mouths were hanging open and everyone was speechless.
“He’s a…she?” Drinian was the first to speak after what felt like an eternity.
“Yes. That’s why he was saying Fogarty would kill him. And that necklace,” she gestured to the necklace in Caspian’s hand, “only works for those with magical powers.” Metis said.
“You mean witches.” Drinian looked right at Metis, and she looked at him.
“Yes, my lord.” she looked back down at Tellus, or whoever the young woman was.
Caspian was thinking. Also the necklace had lost its glow, and nothing was moving around the crystal. They would have to send her to the village, but how to get her there without Fogarty noticing. Also, when would he be back? He had to move quickly.
“Drinian, get those soldiers over here. Reep, can you accompany them to Falmouth?”
“Anything I need to do, sir!” Reepicheep was the most loyal knight Caspian was ever going to have.
“I want you to go to the inn she mentioned and-“
“He, my lord.”
Caspian looked at Metis.
“I understand you have seen the true form, but if you slip and say ‘she’, I’m worried Fogarty will notice. Tellus is a he.” she made a good point, they would have to be more than careful.
“You’re right. Thank you, Metis. Reep, go to the inn he mentioned with the soldiers. I want you to make it seem like one of them is severely injured and had to go to town. When we get there, we will come see when it feels safe, so stay hidden if you can.”
The two soldiers approached and their eyes widened at the sight of the young woman.
“Metis, can you address the wound to make due until they reach ????”
“Yes, my lord.” She was already on the ground lifting the shirt and bandaging with what little she had.
Caspian turned to the soldiers and they both looked directly at him waiting for orders. They were both men, one of them roughly Caspian’s height with a little extra muscle to him, Caspian remembered his name was Aldo. And the other was a bit shorter and more slender, but Caspian had seen him fight before and knew he was more than capable of taking care of himself, his name was Banyan.
“I’m sending you to Falmouth with Reepicheep as your commanding officer. This is Tellus, he may look different but continue to treat him as the young man we fought with moments ago. He won’t make it if we return him to camp looking like this, he must go to the village. There is an inn there and they should be able to take you in. Stay hidden with Reep until the rest of us reach the village and I come to get you. Is that understood?”
Both of the men nodded and Caspian stepped aside and Aldo lifted Tellus. Reep nodded at his king and they all started moving towards the village. Caspian saw them disappear into the bushes and he and Drinian and Metis all headed back. They reached the camp, the prisoners were tied up, most of the injured had been tended to and no one seemed to question why Reep was gone with Aldo and Banyan.
Soon it would be dark, and Caspian silently hoped the darkness would aid his men and Reep. He hated the idea of sending someone else to do something life-threatening. He always had the motto that if he wasn’t willing to go do something himself then he certainly wasn’t going to ask someone else to do it for him. But if he went with Tellus or whatever her name was, Fogarty would absolutely have questions, and that’s the last thing they needed.
Fogarty came back, covered in blood splatters and sweat. They didn’t talk much that night, but everyone was pretty well exhausted. He didn’t seem to notice Tellus was gone and Caspian wasn’t going to mention anything about his men or Reep at all if he could help it. Fogarty stopped at the prisoners Caspian’s men had tied up. And Caspian reasoned they could take them to the village to face justice, surely they had preyed upon travelers from the village and the people might like to see justice served. Fogarty didn’t say much, simply nodded and he retired for the night. Caspian stayed up later than usual with his men that were on watch duty. Drinian offered to stay up as well, but Caspian wouldn’t hear it. He wanted at least one of them to have some sleep before the next day. Caspian and Drinian both quietly hid Metis within their camp earlier and pre-tied some rope with a slip knot she could easily maneuver out of to keep on her in case Fogarty lost his temper at any point. Caspian was trying to prepare for any situation that might arise, but tomorrow would be a challenging day regardless of how much he prepared.
He pulled out a book from his pack, he missed his professor and he was beyond excited to see him again tomorrow. Cornelius had been traveling but on one of his expeditions he was caught by slave traders. He ended up in Warkinles and had the opportunity to write to his former pupil. Caspian had arrived by Dawn Treader to Warkinles and was curious to get to know the land and its people better. He was already working on an agreement to become allies with Warkinles. But shortly before Caspian had arrived at Warkinles, Cornelius was sold again to someone in Falmouth. But the king of Warkinles had sent an order the professor not to be moved as King Caspian was in court signing an agreement to be allies and partners in trade. Caspian always loved a new adventure and in order to get to know Warkinles better he decided to go and retrieve his friend with his men. He instructed some of his soldiers to stay on the Dawn Treader and wait at a particular dock King Westlow, the king of Warkinles, had mentioned was close to Falmouth. They should be at the dock by now, and it would only be roughly half a day's ride to the dock from Falmouth, and then they would all be on their way home.
But Caspian had not planned on running into Fogarty or a witch when he embarked on his journey to get his professor back. Caspian had been staring at the same pages for a while now, but he wasn’t reading. His brain wouldn’t let him focus. She was beautiful. He liked Tellus before, but it was a friendship. But seeing Tellus, or whoever that was, in his true form, he felt slightly attracted. He thought back to seeing him fight and realizing that he had never actually seen that fighting style before. While he was certainly preoccupied with his own doings during that time, he couldn’t help but notice Tellus was remarkable at moving and his timing during a fight was impeccable. He now wondered if that woman was using her powers. He didn’t understand witches that much but how could a blue witch fight like that? Perhaps she was a red witch but it didn’t seem likely. Tells was more calm in nature, quick-witted but did not possess a passionate energy that Fogarty said red witches had about him. Caspian understood blue witches to be more calm and soft, not fighters. But perhaps she had to learn how to fight. Gods know what she had to do to survive.
Caspian remembered the transformation that happened right before his eyes. Tellus’s face was already handsome as a man, but it went from a slightly wider proportion to smaller and petite. Her hair had grown longer, but Tellus’s hair was already at his shoulders. Granted Caspian didn’t get a great look at her, but what he did see attracted him. Before he knew it he had fallen asleep with her on his mind.
The next morning Caspian didn’t even need Drinian to wake him up. He was up shortly before everyone else. When Fogarty woke up everyone was awakened and everyone prepared to finish riding to Falmouth. Drinian stayed a bit closer to Caspian than he had previously on the journey, but no one seemed suspicious about it. To Caspian’s relief the ride was uneventful and they reached Falmouth around the afternoon. The judge of the town accepted the prisoners and Caspian went with the judge to his home where Cornelius was staying as a guest. After King Westlow wrote that Cornelius was to be prepared to go home, that King Caspian was coming to get him, the judge gave him his spare bedroom. No one had known that this small man was a beloved professor of the king of Narnia.
As soon as Caspian walked through the door and saw his beloved professor, they embraced in a hug. Caspian had learned so much from him and looked up to him so much, words couldn’t describe how thankful he was to have his friend back.
“Your Grace, I have missed you. I hope I did not cause you too much trouble.”
Caspian smiled as he hugged his professor. No matter how many times Caspian told him to call him by his name, he simply wouldn’t do it. At this point, Caspian had given up trying to convince his teacher.
“Well at least you ended up being traded in ally territory and gave us the opportunity to explore King Westlow’s lands.” Caspian looked down at Cornelius, he forgot how short his teacher was sometimes.
Cornelius chuckled, “I suppose I am lucky you’ve always been a curious, adventurous pupil.” His eyes twinkled and Caspian was sure he was remembering a time he neglected his studies in favor of running off to go explore. Cornelius had always encouraged him to embrace his natural instincts for exploration and allowed his imagination to run wild. Caspian secretly supposed he was lucky he had a half dwarf for a professor while he was under his uncle’s thumb.
Caspian thanked the judge for taking care of his friend, paid him, and he and Cornelius headed to the inn. Caspian listened as Cornelius talked quickly of some of the things he saw and people he met while away from Narnia, and Caspian was sure he would go into more detail during the night and once they boarded the Dawn Treader. They drew closer to the inn and as much as he wanted to tell his professor about what was going on with a witch and Fogarty, he thought it would take too long to explain, so he decided against it for the time being.
Once inside he saw Fogarty and most of his men sitting around drinking and some of his own men as well. Which he was perfectly fine with, they had certainly earned a rest. But he was concerned in case they needed to leave quickly. He caught Drinian’s eye who gave a slight shake of the head, he hadn’t contacted or seen Reep yet. Caspian noticed Metis sitting in a corner with her hands tied again, but with the slip knot Drinian had tied so she could easily slip out if needed. Caspian wanted to buy her freedom before they left, but he wanted his two men and Reepicheep back and he needed to figure out what to do about this witch. The inn had a second floor with stairs going up to a walkway leading to the rooms so guests could have some privacy as they came in and out of the rooms. He noticed a slight red feather peeking from behind the bars of the handrail above and he knew that was Reep on purpose trying to catch Caspian’s attention. He whispered to Drinian he saw Reep, and he was going to go up there and try to figure out what to do next. Drinian was more than capable of holding his own against anything that might happen downstairs while Caspian went upstairs. As Caspian climbed the stairs, he knew he wasn’t going to have a lot of time. He walked past the walkway, turned the corner and there was Reep waiting outside the door.
“It’s wonderful to see you again, sire.” Reep said in a quieted tone.
Caspian reached for the handle of the door, and Reep cleared his throat. He looked down at the mouse.
“I believe it’s considered polite to knock, sire.”
Caspian gave a couple quiet little raps, and he heard her voice.
“Come in.”
Caspian opened the door and she was standing before him. The bed was made and there was a little chair beside the bed and she was standing next to it, leaning on it. Her hair was braided but it was loose and some strands were hanging free and framing her face. He walked all the way into the room, and shut the door behind him and Reepicheep.
“We don’t have much time,” he said as he was sure she and Reep had both heard Fogarty and his men downstairs.
“I know, I cannot thank you enough for what you did for me. But I must hurry and leave this place.”
Terra POV
She quickly put her cloak on after she told him she needed to leave. She was worried if Fogarty heard the innkeepers were hiding and aiding a witch, he would kill them. Caspian nodded and pulled out her necklace. Terra had woken up before the sun was up and felt her necklace was gone. But she had woken up in a comfortable bed and Reepicheep was nearby looking out the window. The other two Narnians were in the room with her as well and Reep had explained what happened after she passed out in the woods. Everything Metis told them, Caspian’s plan of Reep going into Falmouth while he and the others stayed behind, and how one of them was faking an injury to cover hers. They didn’t talk much more than that, Reep insisted she needed more rest as he wasn’t sure what the day might bring and she would likely need all her strength. She had fallen back asleep and woke up with a start roughly an hour or so ago. It took everything in her to quickly braid her hair and get dressed. The other two Narnians were already out of the room and Reep said he would wait outside to give her privacy and keep an eye out for Caspian. Fogarty’s men were already downstairs and loud, that’s what had woken her up so abruptly.
Caspian was holding out the necklace in his hand and Terra reached for it.
“Where will you go?”
She looked up at him, because to be perfectly honest, she wasn’t sure. She needed to find someplace she could lie down safely and focus on resting. But she also needed to go to a house to collect her payment for delivering Mall to Falmouth safely. She would need her disguise for that, and having the necklace contain some of her power took energy as well.
She took the necklace. “I’m not sure honestly.” She looked down at the crystal, it was still usable. “I need to rest but I can’t stay here, I don’t want any harm to come to these people.”
Caspian nodded and looked directly at her again. Gods, his eyes are beautiful, she thought.
“Is there anything I can do to help you before you leave?”
She was still looking at him, but she turned towards the window, walked over to it and opened it. The barn for guests horses was right next to the inn and the roof was just a little ways down. If he could lower her down, that would soften the fall for her and she could jump off the roof from there. Caspian followed her and seemed to understand her plan.
“I’ll lower you down.”
She nodded but she wanted to put on her disguise before she left.
“Give me one moment.” She sat on the bed with the crystal in her lap and slowly inhaled and slowly exhaled. She needed to focus on the spell to transform her appearance. She opened her eyes and the crystal was glowing and she quickly put on the necklace. It didn’t feel much different, but her shoulders and hips felt a bit off, like she was being stretched and condensed at the same time. She had gotten used to moving around as Tellus, but she had been Terra all her life so shifting into Tellus mode took her a second. She stood up and felt Caspian’s eyes on her, she turned and as she guessed they were wide and wondering.
Reep scurried to the door and Caspian and Terra both turned that direction, “It’s Fogarty.”
They all looked at each other, Reep scurried back towards the window and the door burst open. Fogarty looked at Caspian, who straightened his back and walked towards the door.
“We were just heading back downstairs, I needed a report from Reep.”
Terra followed Caspian and Reep was right by her side. They started on the walkway and Terra looked down. All of the men were talking, drinking, and laughing. They seemed to be completely unaware that Fogarty and Caspian were gone. Without warning, she felt a giant hand around her neck from behind, felt him pick her up and she was flying in the air. She landed hard on her back on the table downstairs. It knocked the wind out of her and she saw Fogarty standing above all of them.
Caspian was running towards the stairs, and Reepicheep was scurrying across the beams and landed right next to her with his sword drawn.
She coughed and started to roll on her side to stand when one of the men snatched the necklace from her neck. She wasn’t sure who it was and it happened so fast and she was so tired. She knew she wasn’t going to make it.
“Looks like we had a witch amongst us the whole time, boys!” Fogarty’s voice boomed and his men started drawing their swords. Narnians started gathering towards the side of the room Drinian was on and Caspian was running towards her.
Terra closed her eyes and slowly inhaled, she could smell and sense a tree next to the inn and that would have to do. She opened her eyes and willed the branches to break through the windows. Glass shattered and every head turned towards the sound and saw three branches growing, twisting, and shooting towards them with a velocity no one had ever seen. She wanted to part them so she could leave. The branches were thick and swords were no match for a tree under the power of a witch, and none of the men had seen anything like this before. Reep had moved from beside her to climbing the branches and using them to fend off the soldiers that were closest to her. Most of the Narnians were in shock as well, but a few had picked up their swords and were fighting against Fogarty’s men as well. Drinian was trying to reach Caspian with his sword drawn and Caspian was across the room from her. She had a smaller branch extending from one of the thicker branches acting as an arm to push him back away from the fight. She wasn’t about to allow him to get hurt because of her.
In the midst of all the chaos, she hadn’t noticed that Fogarty had jumped down and he was behind her. Reep had shouted at her, but all of her focus and attention was on the tree performing her will so she could make escape. Everything ceased when Fogarty hit her on the back of the head. She stumbled off the table and onto the ground, she wasn’t knocked out but she was already in pain. She was lying on her back panting when Fogarty stepped over her and was staring down at her.
“I thought all you green witches were extinct.” he sneered at her. Everyone had stopped fighting and they were staring at him, watching what he would do next.
Caspian walked past most of the men and was in the area where she had started to clear a path for her to make an escape and Drinian was right behind him, sword still drawn.
She could barely move, breathing was hard enough at this point, and Fogarty decided to use his boot to step on her throat. He made it just hard enough for her to gather any air at all.
“I’m going to make you wish you never met me, let alone traveled with us, tricked us, just to try and kill us!” every part of his sentence got louder and louder until he was yelling, and Terra was clutching his boot at this point to try and get any air.
“When did she try to kill us?” Reepicheep piped up. Every head turned towards the mouse who was standing on one of the branches. He was only a few steps away from Fogarty and he was at his eye level. Fogarty had whipped his head at the mouse without releasing Terra even slightly.
“Do you not see the damage that was just done, mouse?”
“Yes, but I believe she was trying to escape. She had plenty of opportunities to kill us and not a single person here is dead.”
“You seem to think that I care about what she intended to do.” Fogarty turned his attention back to Terra. “She is a witch and she will suffer the consequences.”
Terra couldn’t see, she was barely getting any air, but Caspian was close to her and Fogarty with Drinian right behind him.
“I’ll buy her.”
Fogarty stared right at the young king. He hadn’t said what his plan was, but Fogarty wasn’t planning on killing the witch. At least not right away. He wanted information out of her. She was the only green witch anyone had seen in years.
Caspian continued, “I doubt you plan on killing her right away. You said you thought green witches were extinct. I’m willing to pay your price. For both of them.” he gestured to Metis.
“My kingdom does not have witches. We need to learn from them, what they are capable of, and how they think. And you don’t want any more green witches in your land. I’m willing to pay you to get rid of her. Of both of the witches in your party.”
Fogarty eyed the king. Terra did not even have to think what Fogarty’s answer was. He was a killer and he wanted her dead. However Caspian was a king and he was willing to pay whatever Fogarty’s price was. At the end of the day, Fogarty needed money for him and all his men. This kind of offer didn’t come up often. But neither did green witches or the opportunity to torture them for information.
“I want 40 gold pieces for the green witch. And I want 20 gold pieces for the other.” Fogarty’s boot was still on Terra’s throat but it was eased slightly and she could breathe with more ease.
“Done.” Caspian turned his head to Drinian who nodded to a particular fawn who went outside to fetch the payment.
“You’ll want to keep both of them chained. Even on the boat, the green witch won’t hold much power but I wager the other one to be a blue witch. You’ll want to keep her below deck the entirety of your journey.” Fogarty offered his advice but Terra was having a hard time grasping why he was allowing the king to buy the witches. She was trying to catch her breath and trying to grasp why on earth Fogarty was allowing them to be bought.
The fawn appeared with two bags and presented them to the king. Caspian opened one of them, shuffled a few of the coins in the bag around and reclosed the bag.
“Here. There’s 70 pieces total, extra for showing us the way here.” Caspian stepped towards Fogarty. Fogarty took the bags and opened them to observe what was inside. He glanced at the witch lying on the ground and released his foot. Terra wheezed all the air she could into her lungs.
She didn’t trust Fogarty, why was he letting her go so easily? Something didn’t feel right. Caspian reached down and helped her to her feet as Fogarty was walking towards the door with his gold. Fogarty shouted at his men they would be leaving and heading to another inn that was a little ways away in the village.
The entire room was a mess after Fogarty and his men left, but Terra had found a chair to sit on while Caspian and Drinian stood discussing what to do next. Metis was heading to the kitchen area to find some herbs to help Terra with the pain.
“I don’t like that he let us go so easily.” Drinian stated.
“I don’t either.” Caspian said. “If we stay here, he will likely attack us here. If we head out now we may be able to get ahead of him. Or he may already be lying in wait.”
Metis appeared from the kitchen with a root Terra knew was going to at least dull the pain. She would be able to travel and not want to die the whole way. Caspian had not tied any restraints on her and Metis was walking free from her ropes. Caspian had bought them but Terra was sensing he did that because he wanted them free without having to fight Fogarty. She didn’t feel like staying and getting killed but she knew she wanted to return a favor to Caspian by helping him return to his ship. She would need to be at full strength.
“He’s going to kill you here tonight.” Caspian, Drinian, and Reepicheep all turned to her.
She continued, “He thinks you’re going to want to stay here to rest before you head to your ship or you’re going to stay because I’m injured.”
“Fogarty is not a reasonable man, Your Highness.” Metis handed Terra the root which she had crushed so it would be more chewable for her.
“He sees you buying us as an opportunity for him to make money and reason to kill you. When is he ever going to get an offer of that much money from someone? And while you did just become allies with us, witches are forbidden. Unlike Narnia, this is basic common knowledge to everyone here. King Westlow is not always the brightest and likely assumes you understand and think the same about witches. Buying some and keeping them alive is suspicious. We need to leave now, Your Highness.” Metis was standing and bowing her head.
Caspian was standing with his arms crossed and one hand rubbing his beard in thought.
“My lord, there is no reason for either lady to lie about this to us. And we know Fogarty to be relentless. Our men are more than ready to go home. We can reach the Dawn Treader within a few hours.” Reep was standing on the table looking at his king and Drinian next to him.
“I agree with him, my lord.” Drinian turned to Caspian.
Caspian kept his eyes staring off into space and nodded. He then seemed to snap out of it and turned to Drinian and they both walked to the other side of the room where Drinian gave order to some of the men and told them to tell everyone they would be traveling through the night.
Caspian came back with another bag and walked to the kitchen area.
“The owners will need to head to another town.” Metis was sitting next to Terra who was done eating the root. It was already working slightly although she was still in quite a bit of pain. She was beyond thankful Metis could explain the danger they were in to Caspian.
Caspian came out of the kitchen area with the bags gone and Terra knew he had paid the innkeepers. They would need what they could get to get out the town safely for harboring a witch. Even if they argued they didn’t know who she was, Fogarty was not going to believe them and Caspian knew that. Once again Terra found herself watching him and thinking how he was clearly born to lead because he genuinely cared about people and used his privilege to help them. She also noted he, Drinian, and Reep had all listened to her and Metis. They didn’t talk over them or argue with their logic. They seemed to accept that women were just as capable of understanding danger and making decisions. They treated her and Metis as human beings.
Unknown to Terra, Metis caught her watching the young king walk towards his second-in-command. She simply kept a mental note, the king was certainly handsome and Metis knew he was a leader she would happily follow. The young witch was a beautiful woman, and while she didn’t know her very well, Tellus had been her favorite of Fogarty’s men. He had been different from all the others and she knew the young witch had secretly done everything in her power to protect her. She secretly hoped they both would be a good match and realize it for themselves in time.
Metis stood and walked over towards Drinian to assist in how she could, while Caspian came over to where Terra was sitting. The root was working and she stood up as he approached.
“Are you alright to travel?” He looked genuinely concerned.
“I am, we really ought to leave now. It hasn’t even been an hour but you know he is preparing his men to kill all of us. He’ll want to kill you himself.”
“Well the feeling is mutual.” He turned to head back to everyone else with Terra following him. But he stopped abruptly and turned back around towards her. Gods, he’s tall, she thought.
“You don’t have to come with us if that is not your wish or your plan.” He said.
She looked up into his big, dark brown eyes. They were soft and gentle.
“I mean I bought you, but I have no intention of owning you. You are a free person, I did not want him to kill you. I want you to go where you’re going to be safe.”
“I gathered that, I didn’t think you were a slave owning man.” She smiled softly at him. She wanted him to understand she thought he was a good man. A good king, she reminded herself. She really needed to remember her place.
“Narnia is welcome to everyone who needs a home. Regardless of race, looks, or abilities.” He continued to look at her. “If you would like to join us on the Dawn Treader, we will welcome you with open arms.”
She lowered her head for a moment. She had never been anywhere else, and not too long ago, Narnia seemed like a myth. But she was not welcome here. Just being alive, her breathing was a crime here. She looked back up and smiled.
Caspian softly smiled, nodded, and they headed towards where Drinian looked ready to go. He had assembled Caspian’s men and everyone looked slightly anxious as nightfall was quickly approaching. The sun would not be up much longer.
Drinian offered a horse to Terra without saying a word, he simply motioned to the horse and as she approached he handed her the reins and she saw him smile softly. Without uttering a word, he had made it clear he did not think it was her fault. It was not her fault they had to leave suddenly and all their lives were in danger. He trusted his king’s guidance and his actions of saving two people from being murdered for no reason. Are all Narnians like this, she wondered. She was no longer pretending to be a man and it was known she was a witch. The two leaders had both accepted her in less than thirty minutes after she had destroyed the main hall of an inn. As she sat in the saddle and straightened her back, Reepicheep scurried over and stood on the horn of her saddle. Drinian was mounting his horse and Caspian was assisting Metis on her horse and talking to her in a slightly hushed tone. Everyone was preparing to head out, the air was thick with uncertainty.
“I am certain Caspian has already told you and is informing Metis now, but you are most welcome to come with us to Narnia, milady.” Reep had turned to her and Terra loved how proud he was every time he spoke of Narnia or Caspian.
“I truly do want to make the journey with you, Reep. But…” She glanced around her and the small uneasy feeling in her stomach started to grow. “I worry about being a lone witch in a strange land. In a land that claims to welcome and want me but doesn’t quite understand what I’m capable of. It may choose to reject me later.” She did feel relief confessing to the mouse.
“Fear is only natural, milady.” Reep reached his little paw to touch her hand on the reins. “But it is what we do with fear that truly determines who we are and what we are capable of.”
Terra saw Caspian mounting his horse in her peripheral and she knew she would be getting on that ship but she was scared of what came next for her. She opened her mouth to say something, but Reepicheep continued.
“Even when your enemies tried to kill you, your concern was protecting those you cared about. And you traveled with those who want you dead and you did not kill any of them during that time when you had ample opportunity? Milady, your fearlessness and determination will be nothing but an inspiration to everyone in Narnia. We would be more than lucky to have you.” The mouse smiled and scurried over to Drinian’s horse. Terra closed her mouth and had no time to let the brave mouse’s words sink in because Caspian and Drinian were riding and everyone wordlessly followed. The crew was silent because it would be night soon and everyone needed to be on high alert and sharp.
The night passed rather uneventfully, and even though Terra couldn’t sense anyone through the ground, her abilities allowed her to focus on the trees and sense what they could feel. This method wasn’t always spot on, but it was better than nothing. She was sensing nothing in the forest. Just everyone walking as silently as they could to reach the port where the Dawn Treader was waiting for them.
Hours went by and then they had reached the port. Soon they would be boarding the Dawn Treader and heading to Narnia. As Terra dismounted she saw Metis being guided on the ship by Drinian. It appeared Fogarty miscalculated Caspian staying behind and it seemed like they would be heading to Narnia without any hiccups. Terra was relieved Metis wouldn’t be in danger of Fogarty anymore.
“May I escort you aboard the Dawn Treader?” Caspian said from right behind her. He walked in front of her and gestured his hand to point towards the ship.
This place Terra grew up in had nothing to offer her. She would always be on the run, especially now Fogarty knew there was a green witch alive. She turned to her left to get another look at the skyline but everything was dark and it seemed as though the ground beneath her did not want to communicate with her. She quickly took this as her final sign that this land was not for her and she needed to leave. She turned back to him, looked in his soft brown eyes and smiled. She began walking with him towards the ship and a new beginning.
Caspian stopped and she stopped to peer up at him. He tilted his head and looked down at her.
“I feel as though we shouldn’t begin this voyage without me first learning your name, m’lady. Or is your name truly Tellus?”
She laughed, she wasn’t exactly sure why this was funny. It had been so long since anyone asked for her real name or even bothered to call her by her name. It felt nice to have someone genuinely curious about her.
“My name is Terra, Your Highness.” She smiled up at him and her fears began to dwindle. She felt easier about sailing to Narnia.
He smiled back at her and they continued towards the ship and towards whatever the sea might hold for them.
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So Izzy has a ring on his scarf. And my first reaction was, "my God I hope he doesn't have a wife". What's the chance he'd be decent to one? Then again he's blustery and cruel around men and we've only seen him interact with Spanish Jackie. So if he was married maybe he at least didn't treat his wife like a pirate.
Here are my thoughts on him possibly having a wife and treating his wife in all honesty by analyzing his character. First of all I don't think he can exclusively just have a wife. I think he has the potential to be with a man, just with certain boundaries. Second of all, his treatmeny the pirates doesn't necessarily have to reflect his treatment of a possible partner back home. I think his personality that we can see possibly impacting a spouse is his little complex with Maintaining The Status Quo i.e. the following methods:
1. Traditional Masculinity
Or rather his intense respect for masculinity. He's extremely hostile to anything revolving effeminate characters like Lucius and Stede and most specifically he's hostile towards their effeminate traits in regards to homosexuality. He calls it out like it is. He tells Stede that the captain "adores" him and is willing to call him a "ponce" and "namby pamby". When he catches Lucius with Black Pete, he specifically goes on the offense towards Lucius for the rest of the episode, but specifically towards his behavior being effeminately homosexual and not really towards the "masculine" homosexuals like Black Pete and Fang. In contrast, he has respect for Jackie, though while straight, acts and dresses in a masculine way and doesn't treat her as hostile or subordinate despite her not acting within her gender roles. So while he doesn't like effeminate gayness he doesn't necessarily ignore that homosexuality exists, but he does seem to have a negative view of femininity, probably that it is "beneath him" or more likely that "femininity has no place in piracy".
2. Power Structures
I think that his problem with the pirates on the Revenge are specifically because of his status as First Mate. He's used to things being run a certain way and refuses to change it because for him that is WHAT WORKS. He runs the ship like military but without checks and balances. As First Mate, his responsibility was first and foremost making sure the ship runs smoothly and on on Blackbeard's ship, that meant at ANY COST TO THE CREW. The crew didn't need to like him in his eyes. They just needed to get the job done and follow his orders. When it was clear they didn't follow the same power structure, he thinks the ship is broken and HE NEEDED TO BE THE ONE TO FIX IT. When Ed started to stray away from the Blackbeard persona, he thought it was his duty to make things right by any means necessary. When he saw how the Revenge and its captain were like, he thought "this is wrong" and did whatever means he thought he could do to make the Revenge right when it was in his boss's interest to stay there.
So regarding a wife, I would say that the theory is possible BUT I can make an argument that he would be able to have any partner if they follow a specifically traditional structure that is acceptable to his order. Possibly it would look like this:
1. He must be the man of the house. Regardless of how long he has been away, when he is at home, everyone must follow his orders because he will be the only one bringing home the money. He would not let his wife work possibly because that is not how things are done. Therefore, he must be the one serviced when he is home as well by everyone in the household. They do all the chores for him and he's just expected to go to sea, earn money, come home.
2. If his partner is a man, he must also be a masculine man (am I saying Izzy is mascformasc? Yes, yes I am.) He is aware of homosexuality and frankly seems to have accepted that it exists from his behavior. He looks like he could be a closeted homophobe from how he acts with the crew and in all honesty probably just wouldn't want to tell anyone about his spouse at all for fear he would lose his personal masculinity by coming out. He seems to have an intense toxic relationship with Ed that borders on unrequited and dependent. Whether that could be because he himself is gay is a strong possibility so I do not want to rule this concept out.
3. He would treat anyone or anything effeminate as subordinate regardless of actual gender. His treatment of Jackie proves that this man holds masculinity in value and would just treat anyone effeminate how they "should be treated", to be beneath his masculinity.
4. Would he ever interact with his theoretical children? No. Would he expect that his children practice traditional gender roles anyways? Definitely, especially if he has a son, he will definitely be violent towards them if they step out of line.
So I think with the ring in mind, this is how the theory can work. I do believe he's the type to separate work from home. And in this case, anything that happens on the ship, he acts like he's at work. His subordinates need to obey him, he will not tolerate funny business, etc. When he's at home though, I theorize he could be less harsh, but he seems like a man with standards of how his view of society should be. If he comes home after a long time at sea and not everything is in tip top shape, he seems like the type to get cranky at it.
In contrast though there are other possible theories with the ring could mean. It could be a sign of dedication to Blackbeard's crew and ship, It could be a ring that is significant between him and Ed, or simply...it could be decorative.
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Omar Afra Explains - How To Use Social Media Marketing For Recruitment In Your Organization!
We are in a candidate-pushed activity marketplace wherein agencies want to show themselves because of the pleasant choice for extraordinary applicants seeking to develop professionally. Successful Marketers Like Omar Afra Takes Branding Seriously, and that is how we get to know
And in reaction to this, agencies have started to speak approximately recruitment advertising, a method for attracting, engaging, and recruiting pleasant skills.
What is recruitment advertising?
In some words, recruitment advertising employs virtual advertising techniques for attracting applicants via:
1. Branding positioning
According to LinkedIn, 75 % of activity seekers remember an organization`s logo earlier than making use of it for an activity. This is the purpose why agencies paint to create popularity that gives the cost to their employees, with advertising studies to provide aggressive salaries and advantages.
2. Candidates' engagement
A recruitment advertising plan aims to maintain the applicant's inquisitiveness about filling activity vacancies, even if the proper positions aren`t available. Companies like Netflix or Instagram have proven that company films are the most engaging content material through prospecting applicants.
3. Inbound recruitment advertising
Inbound recruitment advertising draws skills via natural search with unique content material. Like with the brand new commercial enterprise acquisition, inbound recruitment advertising additionally has a funnel of applicants at unique selection stages, like awareness, consideration, and conversion.
That being said, it's critical to recognize wherein to put it up for sale to the proper profile of someone, no matter their cutting-edge activity status, so let's discover the unique advertising channels available.
Another proper instance of a commercial enterprise leveraging social media for recruitment functions is Starbucks. They created Instagram and Twitter accounts for its activity seekers, establishing an internet channel to talk with cutting-edge and capable employees. Through this method, they sell their organization's subculture and take the advantage of operating for them.
Employee desires to experience preferred and assured approximately to make the proper selection approximately their destiny activity, that is why worker referrals are one of the number one motives someone desires to be a part of an organization.
Why use a recruitment advertising plan?
When groups generate an effective recruitment advertising plan, they`re helping their worker seek a strategic degree that assists them in constructing a more potent organization branding, having an agile recruitment process, presenting higher candidate experience, and having a long-time period method of recruiting.
Marketing And Designing Are Different From Each Other Says Omar Afra – Check Out Why?
Companies can keep money and time and foster commercial enterprise growth, recognize the way to construct a crew inspired and dedicated to the organization's goals, and all begin with an amazing recruitment advertising plan that covers the organization and employees` needs.
Wrapping Up!
Recruitment international is turning into an increasingly aggressive system, making hiring certified employees more difficult and requiring greater modern techniques.
It begs the question: how do you turn out to be an appealing organization?
The solution is simple: a complete recruitment advertising method leverages social media, and natural, and paid channels to foster engagement and logo affinity from the pleasant skills.
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