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k7l4d4 · 3 years

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Midnight Striga: Fairy Tail/Owl House Cross Fic Episode 5 Part 7

Once more, I arrive, with Midnight Striga in tow!! Everybody Clap Your Hands!!

Boyd was utterly bored. Groaning, he slung his knife, Radical Chop, over his shoulder, lightly kicking the twitching corpse next to him, one of Reticulus’ leftovers. Those were never fun to deal with, ‘cause they were already dead! What was the point of a killer guarding a corpse, instead of, you know, killing? Eh, maybe he could practice his mutilations, he had been getting a little rusty in that regard. Humming to himself, he slung the ragged body beneath his feet into an upright position; a girl from the looks of it, brown hair styled into three rings on the top of her head, her left eye gouged out, and missing her tongue. Glancing down he saw that her heart and stomach had been extracted. By his estimate, he’d say she was about 12, verging on 13. Ah man, he could’ve had such fun with her!

Sighing, he twirled his knife before pointing the tip towards her. The knife lengthened, stretched, and bent, contouring around the edges of her face, slowly and cleanly skinning off the layer of tissue. If only that eye wasn’t missing, then he could’ve added it to his collection! Ah well, better luck next time. While he was seemingly distracted, one of the nearby Witches decided to make a break for it, a boy whose hair covered his eyes and possessed rather bat-like ears. Without even glancing his way, Boyd’s knife shot out like a bullet, cleanly slicing through his throat in an instant. He didn’t even have a chance to scream, how boring!

“Stupid Witches, can’t even die properly.” He grumbles, flicking the boy’s blood off of his precious blade. “Stupid Reticulus, never leaving any good corpses to slice up.” He briefly wonders again as to why, exactly, he was being stuck with this stupid job. He was one of the Squadron’s best killers, so why were his talents being squandered? He mulled it over in his head, knife idly slicing through the girl’s corpse, when a creak drew his gaze forward. As the reason finally clicked, he deadpanned. He was being used as bait, and as a test; great.

Three kids stood in front of him, staring at him like he was some kind of fucking monster; to be fair, he was one, no doubt about that, but it was always so annoying when people looked at him like that. He briefly contemplated trying to figure out which one Reticulus wanted to test, but decided it would be more fun to just kill the little shits. Not like they really mattered anyway. The chunky girl with the glasses started doing that stupid circle thing they did to cast spells, can’t have that. His knife shot out, smoothly slicing through her wrist and across her face, stabbing through her eyes into the brain.

Before the other two could do more than widen their eyes, he struck again. His blade ripped through the neck of the Mint-headed girl, and wasn’t that a color, sending her head rolling. Before the smaller boy could even scream, the knife slammed through his skull, entering through one ear, and exiting out the other. Scowling, he called Radical Chop back to him. No trouble at all, not even worth the effort of being clean. He sighed, only for a familiar, sharp pain to rush through his body; he had been stabbed. Glancing down, he was both surprised and not to see a dagger driven into his gut, the angle allowing for it to be dragged into his other vital organs easily. He spoke up, perfectly calm in the face of his death. “You can drop the invisibility now.”

As the air next to him rippled and faded, he was pleasantly surprised to see another kid, her face carefully blank save the familiar rage in her eyes, the kind he saw in all the kids who saw him kill their friends. He smirked. “Gotta say, pretty cold of you to throw your friends into the grinder like that.”

The girl snorted, calling over her shoulder. “Gus! Drop the illusion.”

“Got it!” A young voice called out, the corpses of the kids fading along with the blood coating his precious blade, the kids from before shimmering into view, ready to pounce if things turned dicy for the kid stabbing him at the moment.

Boyd snorted. He had underestimated them. He gave the girl who had effectively killed him a smirk. “So, you’re the little rat Retic wants to test, eh?” He laughed at her furious expression. “If you’re looking for him, he should be up ahead, going over the latest batch of bodies. Now, if you’ll excuse me…” Before they could blink, he whipped his blade, his beautiful Radical Chop, up to his head, driving it through his own skull.

Gus gagged, while Amity and Willow looked on stoically. It was certainly an improvement over Gus actively heaving and the girls shouting. It was to be expected, as this was the fifteenth kill by this point, though they had only gone for the stealth option when they saw how quickly he had killed that Witch trying to get past him.

Amity glanced down at the Witch the man had killed. She recognized him. “Hey, I think I know this one.”

Luz walked over, glancing down at the bat-eared boy, curious. “Really? Who is he?”

Amity shrugged. “I honestly don’t know him personally, but Skara was interested in him a little.” She sighed, knowing that she’d have to deliver the news to her friend. “I really hope she takes this well.” She glanced up at the feeling of a hand on her shoulder, seeing Willow giving her a comforting, if hesitant smile, which she returned.

Luz sighed. “Let’s go, we’ve still got to take down Retic if we want this to end.” The others nodded. Bracing themselves, they moved, ready for the fight to come, or so they thought.

Eda moved to Lily’s side, shaking her roughly. “Come on Sis, we don’t have time for this!” She cried, frantically gesturing to the crowd under attack. She bit her lip, tilting Lily’s head up. “Listen, Sis, I know we usually don’t see eye to eye, but if you can’t get out of your head, that crowd is going to die.” She thought she saw a flicker of light in her eyes. “You always said you wanted to be in Bonehead’s Coven to help people, well now’s your chance to prove it! Those people up there? They came here to see you, because they believe in you! Are you really going to let them down!?” She got down on her knees, pleading. “Sis, I need your help, as painful and ridiculous as it sounds, it’s the truth! Please!” She glanced back at Rudolph, who had paused, enjoying the show. The bastard was enjoying watching her beg for her sister’s help.

Rudolph snickered, and laughed. “It truly is amusing to see! Earlier, I had lamented your decision to keep the wretched thing alive, but I see now that I was wrong!!” He cackled, relishing the look of enraged confusion on Eda’s face, even as the crowd desperately fought to survive.

“What in hell are you talking about, you psycho!!” Eda growled, bracing herself to defend if necessary.

Rudolph gave her an ugly smirk, oozing amusement. “Simple. You may not have killed her body, but you certainly killed her spirit! She’s lost the will to live, I’d say!” He cackled, soaking in the look of dawning horror on Eda’s face, the soul-crushing realization of what her display had done, even if she couldn’t comprehend how.

“No.” Eda breathed out, slowly walking away from Lily. “That wouldn’t happen, not with her! She’s too strong for that to happen!”

“Is she?” Rudolph mused, genuinely curious. “Everything we’ve gathered has pointed to a woman with a rather fragile ego; seeing her baby sister showing her up once again must’ve been quite the shock.” He was amused at Eda’s denial; for all she claimed to be the strongest on the Isles, a statement not totally devoid of fact, she seemed to be a tad oblivious to the fortitude of those around her.

“Gathered…” Eda muttered, her eyes widening. “You’ve been spying on her!?”

“Oh her, the schools, the government, you, everyone really. We carefully staked this out ever since we arrived.” He placed his hands on his hips, looking pleased with himself. “I must say, we certainly displayed an impressive amount of restraint, building all of this up.” He shrugged. “Normally, we just come and kill everything and everyone we come across. It was quite the learning experience!”

“You…” Eda growled, pure hate coloring her voice. “Just who do you think you are!?”

“Why, my dear, I think I’m the one leading the attack on your people, at the moment at least.” Rudolph cheekily replied. “After all…

“... We are the ones who hold the power in this situation.”

Mattholomule silently cried behind a stand, the crazed laughter of the maniac out front still ringing in his ears. He had just seen a woman torn limb from limb by flying chains, her organs and blood splattered all about. Bria sat next to him, biting her lip, while Gavin and Angmar played Rock-Paper-Scissors to figure out what to do. That choice was taken from them, however, when a chain yanked Bria out of hiding, prompting the three to scream in fear.

“It is simply the way of the world, after all. The powerful thrive, the weak die. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Emira held in a curse, while Edric hyperventilated next to her. Two squads of the invaders had just finished corralling a group of kids into a corner. She closed her eyes, trying to tune out the screams, Edric silently crying next to her, as the Mages ripped the children apart in a hail of magic. Glaring daggers at the murderers, Emira paused, a plan coming to her. Whispering to Edric, who nodded firmly in agreement, the two slunk into the shadows.

“Why, it is only natural for those with power, namely us, to do with it as we- HURK!”

Reticulus loomed over a potential donor, their limbs spread by his veins, dislocated from his body and acting as ropes to bind and restrain his target. He licked his lips. It wouldn’t do for the fools to potentially damage his prize with unnecessary struggling, now would it? Just as he reeled back to rip his prizes from the worthless husk before him, his body registered the sensation of a blade digging into his arm.

“Just shut your fucking mouth.” Eda warned, the butt of her staff slammed into the sadist’s gut. Seeing his hands take on that icy glow, she raised her leg, slamming him back with a kick to the chest. “You don’t know anything about the people of the Isles!” She shouted, her eyes spotting Bump summoning some Abominations in the stands, directing them at Rudolph’s troops.

“You think just because you’ve got a lot of power, you get to throw it around, and we’ll just take it?” She countered his frost with a fireball, landing a cracking blow across his jaw. When Rudolph slammed his hands against the ground, summoning an encroaching sheet of frost, she ripped it away with a shockwave of magical force.

“Your resistance to the inevitable is growing irksome!” He yelled, forming a fang of ice around his hand, lashing out at Eda. She blocked his blow with her staff, grunting as he forced her back. Spines of ice formed along his arms, stabbing towards Eda. “Your people are a pack of sheep, blindly following the words of a false prophet in their inane desire for safety!!” He encased her wrists in ice, preventing her from casting, before slamming his forehead into her eyes. “You may well be the strongest on the Isles, but that title is as hollow as their leader’s words!” He slashed his blades at Eda’s sides, a cry of pain ripping from her throat. Unbeknownst to either combatants, Lilith twitched at Eda’s cries.

“I…! Have stood on my own two feet… my entire life!” Eda choked out, hands grabbing at the claws currently pinning her in place.

“I do what I want to do, nothing more… nothing less…!”

Bria screamed, feeling the skin of her arms and legs stretching from the chains pulling her in either direction. The pain was like nothing she had felt before. Angmar and Gavin were being pinned in place, metal blades pushing into their hands to keep them from casting. She was… she was going to die here. Tears came to her eyes at the thought.

The maniac tormenting her gave a demented giggle, gesturing for the chains to rip her apart, once and for all.

“Stay away from Bria!” A young voice shouted. The agent turned in shock, his casting forgotten, as a fist as large as his torso careened towards him, pulping his skull. Standing defiantly, was Matty, tears of rage in his eyes.

“But for all that I hate Bonehead… I love the Isles… and the people who call it home…!”

With the plan prepped and ready to go, Emira glanced towards Edric. Grimly, she nodded, with him flashing a thumbs up in response. In perfect sync, the two yanked on the cords they had set up, releasing a colossal explosion of smoke into the groups of killers. Working in concert, the twins cast a spell onto the two groups. When their vision cleared, both groups saw the other as a squad of Coven Guards. Reacting to the apparent enemy, the two sets of invaders unleashed their magic upon each other, and in a matter of moments, all were dead. The twins dropped the spell, clutching each other in relief.

“So if you think I’m just going to stand back… and let you kill people because you feel like it… then you’re even crazier than you look!!”

With a scream of rage, Luz drove her blades into Reticulus’ eyes, while Willow used her vines to rip free the near-victim, Amity conjuring up her Abomination to cushion the fall, Gus using his Illusions to guide the way to the exit. Using his broad back as leverage, Luz pushed herself off of his body, landing in a crouch near the others, eyes glaring daggers at the hulking monster before them.

Rudolph scoffed, his humor long gone. “And did you forget that my magical frost builds up and hampers you further the more of it you are exposed to? Hmm?” He accused, eyes narrowed in contempt.

“Nope!” Eda gamely replied. “I just decided I hated the look of you more than I was afraid of dying against you.” Her cheeky grin turned daring, eyes bright with challenge. “Even if I die, I’ll have died fighting for my freedom. Give me your best shot, you two-bit bully.”

With a roar of rage, Rudolph reared back his arm, fully intending to skewer the arrogant Witch who dared to challenge his might! His eyes widened in surprise, however, when his attack clashed against a raised staff, brilliant aquamarine eyes glaring at him.

“Stay. Away. From my sister.” Lilith hissed.

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foxtophat · 4 years

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another long one, coming in at 9k words because i am goddamn trash

HEY GUYS SORRY ABOUT THAT UGH today just didn’t go the way i wanted it to. you ever feel like that? well anyway here is the 11th chapter!!! fun fact: hurk and sharky show up! second fun fact: i am 90% sure that it is not moonshine they’re peddling. 3rd fun fact: i don’t know if they know what an apple looks like any more

i don’t have much to say about this chapter, although i will say it involves casual drinking if you’re not into that. i think i’m gonna go have a newcastle myself once i’m done writing this up... which i guess means now!

as usual my dudes, i want to thank you all for being so tolerant of my bullshit and so open to my dumbassery! it’s so nice to feel MOTIVATED to post for once, which might not come through when i get delayed like i have the last 2 chapters, but it’s true! i have so much trouble working on things without feedback, so you guys really have been awesome.

if you wanna contact me, my askbox is always open! as always, i appreciate any and all comments, kudos, likes, reblogs, casual links, private discord messages, idk whatever i don’t even use discord

below the cut is the full chapter for those of you who don’t wanna go off-site! thank you again for reading guys, and i will talk incessantly about this fic soon!!!

The next three days are marked by a surprising peace. Nick had suspected that once the cat got out about John, they would be fielding a flurry of calls, or maybe even some in-person confrontations, but so far they've been left completely alone. Maybe telling people on their way out of the county has something to do with that. Maybe they'll need to wait for Hurk and Sharky to come back and spread the news if Jerome's decided not to do it himself. Nick's not sure if that's even what he wants , but it feels like the inevitable next step. Eventually, if the community is going to come together, the cat's gonna have to get out of the bag.

John is just as nervous than before, although it only shows whenever they hear distant engines or a far-off gunshot. The night after the caravan, he and Jerome spend a full thirty minutes on the radio, but it only makes him more pensive and reserved. Nick wouldn't mind so much if Carmina weren't also acting bummed out — sure, she's just upset that she lost a friend before she could make one, but it still sucks to see his daughter acting as morose as John.

At least Kim's optimism hasn't been phased. She's been determined to look at the situation from every positive angle available, and none of Nick's uncertainty has put a hamper on it. She rallies them all for a second day-trip down to the river, hell-bent on cheering each and every one of them. It's a day of sunlight and clear water, and the fish are jumping like mad. It must be spawning season, or something, because the suckers are easy pickings.

The nice weather and the easy fishing both do wonders for Carmina's mood, which is becoming more and more fickle every day. Nick dozes in and out with a rod in hand, and although John spends most of the time staring at the water, he touches base with reality once in a while. Mostly just when Kim includes him in conversation, but it's still enough.

It's... nice. Nick doesn't know the last time he felt so relaxed. He doesn't think that memory exists anymore, lost to time like so many other positive thoughts, but he's enjoying the reminder to relax his shoulders and turn off his anxious brain for a few minutes. With the sunshine just as warm as ever and the water a bright, nearly unnatural blue, Nick figures all they need is an umbrella and some beach towels to drive the point home. Hell, at this point, they might as well claim this as their private waterfront.

Grace shows up after breakfast the next day, ready to take Carmina for some target practice at her range. She isn't strictly speaking to Nick yet, but she keeps it cordial, even friendly with Kim. Maybe Jerome talked with her, or maybe she came to accept the situation on her own, who knows. Either way, Grace ignores the sight of John out on the back porch and treats Carmina to a genuine smile when she comes downstairs, rifle in hand. Finally, three-quarters of the year later, the situation with Grace has finally returned to normal, taking one more weight off of Nick's shoulders.

She promises to have Carmina back before sundown. She also promises to leave her radio on, just in case. Nick knows what she means by just in case , but he can't say no to the added security.

Nick retreats out back, letting Kim have some time with Grace without the awkward tension of his presence. John pointedly refuses to look at him, sorting through a box of components as though he hasn't already picked it apart.

It isn't until after Grace and Carmina leave that Nick remembers he has an out — well, now it's just a regular chore. He's got to deal with the so-called freezer in the hangar, which is full of fish and sucking up all the fuel for the generator. Either he has to make it viable to use long term, or they're going to be shit out of luck for food preservation beyond salting and pickling.

From the look on his face, John wishes Nick would ask for his help, but Kim has already called on him to help harvest the last of the spring planter, so he's shit out of luck there. Nick doesn't have any damn sympathy for John — gardening is boring, and Nick will do anything to avoid it, especially something as easy as throwing John under a bus.

So, the good news is that the freezer still turns on. Nick hadn't expected much after finding it under part of the collapsed roof, but it hasn't shorted out once since they hooked it up to the generator about a week ago.

The bad news is that it's not a good use of power at all. The rubber seal is nearly worn off, so it keeps losing coolness, and there's definitely a coil burnt out or something in there because it barely manages to keep its temperature lower than the air around it. Sure, maybe it'll come in handy around winter , but that's not going to help them with summer around the corner.

As it is, Nick's only sure that the fish from yesterday are still good. There's a covered pot of stew underneath that they put in after the caravan left, which is probably fine, too... but Nick wouldn't put money on the rabbit they put in at the start. After all, it hadn't been all that fresh to begin with, and it's been wrapped in cloth for a little too long.

Well, maybe once they get some chickens and find a post-apocalyptic appliance repair center, it'll be worth being the energy sink that it is. For now, Nick has to figure out what to do with these goddamn fish and the leftover stew from the other night. It's their own damn fault, thinking they'd still have company after revealing John, but that doesn't change the amount of food they have on hand.

At least when Grace comes back, they'll have something to repay her with, although Nick isn't sure she's willing to eat any of their food yet. She'd been okay about seeing John in the backyard, relatively speaking, but there's no way she actually believes any of the progress being made. And as much as Nick would like to tell her that her distrust is unwarranted, he can't exactly tell her how to feel. It's just gonna have to take time, and she's going to need a different kind of proof than Nick.

They aren't expecting any visitors, so the sound of engines on approach shakes Nick out of his thoughts and puts him on immediate high alert. He can't make out the number of vehicles, but it sounds like a goddamn posse, which can't be good. When he goes out into the yard to check on Kim, he finds her missing; John is the only one standing there, waiting nervously by the planters and looking for any sign to bolt.

"Stay here," Nick tells him as he approaches, heading straight for the front.

"Yes, I know ," John snaps, but Nick isn't going to stop to argue with him. He slows his anxious jog as he comes around the side of the house, catching sight of Hurk's motorcycle through the trees coming down the drive. Kim is standing in the front yard, arms loosely folded over her chest; she looks cautiously excited for the company, although neither of them are sure if this is strictly a social call. Nick sure hopes it is — he's not sure they could hold their own against a group with an RPG and a whole lot of crazy.

Hurk kills his engine once he sees they've got an audience, leaving his bike with the others in the drive. The big, blissed-out guy and the smaller, wild-card one stay on their bikes, while Sharky talks to somebody sitting on his ATV briefly before following his cousin's tracks.

Kim greets them with a warm smile as they come up. "Hey, you guys. We weren't expecting you to stop by again."

"We radioed ahead," Sharky grouses. "But nobody answered."

"Sorry, I wasn't near the receiver. We've been out back all day."

Hurk pulls off his sunglasses with a dramatic flair. "Yeah, I figured it was something like that," he says, with a tone that implies Sharky had a different theory, one Nick imagines involves John staging some sort of coup. "Well, whatever, we're here now!" Looking around coolly for a second, Hurk realizes he still needs to explain himself and bashfully elaborates, " Somebody oughtta know we got back alright, so we can get hired out again and whatnot..."

"Everything cool?" Sharky asks. He makes no effort to hide how he's looking for a fire that he can blame on John. Well, at least he's trying to find a good reason to beat John up this time.

"I should be asking you that," Kim counters, wearing a smile that's enough to disarm Sharky's gruff posturing. "How far did you get?"

"We hit Great Falls before we figured any further was a one-way trip. They're probably past Missoula if they kept up the clip."

"And how'd everything look?" Nick asks. "I mean, relatively speaking."

Sharky shrugs. "A whole lot of the same," he replies. Hurk rolls his eyes in his cousin's direction, fixing him with an annoyed stare that eventually wears Sharky out. Shoulders slumping in defeat, he opens up semi-reluctantly. "It wasn't the, uh... wild wasteland I was expecting. Lots of empty land and road stops. Some friendly, some... uh, not so much. But that group can handle it."

Nick is happy to agree, and not just to placate Sharky. "Yeah," he says. "Hope County breeds tough people."

"Did you guys pick up somebody along the way?" Kim asks, having just done a headcount of the remaining posse. Nick remembers the two on their bikes; the new guy, he remembers from the third car, quiet and quick to leave but otherwise unmemorable.

"Oh, that's Mud," Sharky says, pointing at the three who probably can't hear much over the rumbling engines. "He was with the caravan, but he changed his mind." Sharky's chest puffs up as he confidently tells them, "He's ridin' with us now."

"That's great!" Kim exclaims. She's genuinely excited by the news and the chance to socialize, and the effect of her positivity is hard to fight. Sharky can't help but smile back, even if he's trying to act tough, rubbing his hands together as he casts another approving glance back at his gang.

"Are you going to do anything to celebrate?" she asks.

"Not much to celebrate, he's kind of a nerd."

"Come on," Kim laughs. "You left home and came back with more people than you started with. I think most people these days would count that as a win." She rubs her hands together, looking briefly at Nick and suggesting, "We could have a fish fry?"

"Hey, that's an idea," Nick replies. "We caught some bass yesterday and they're just gonna get composted if we don't do something with them."

"I dunno about that," Sharky says, cutting off Hurk just before he can excitedly agree.

Kim presses her hands together. "Come on, stay," she pleads with a smile. "At least let us feed you. When's the last time you had something more than jerky and booze?"

"Well..." Sharky trails off uncertainly.

"Kim's right," Nick cajoles. "We got plenty to spare."

"Grace is going to be back with Carmina in a few hours," Kim adds. "I'm sure she'd be glad to see you guys."

Sharky rubs his beard, looking back at their waiting posse. "Grace, huh?" he repeats. He trades a few unsubtle glances with Hurk before finally turning back to Kim and Nick. "Yeah, that should be okay. Except — ah, shit. We promised Wallace and Tiny we'd start doing things democratically now that we won't keep tying over everything. Hold on, gotta go confer with the boys."

They only spend a minute talking it over before the two motorcycles kill their engines, which is all the confirmation Nick needs to know they're hosting company. "I'll go tell John," he tells Kim under his breath. "Somebody should give him a heads up before Sharky punches him again."

Kim sends him off with a pat on his shoulder as he heads for the backyard. John is still waiting by the planters, although he's staring longingly for the safety of the hangar. Nick can't blame him — he's still sporting a dark and noticeable bruise from the last time Sharky socked him. Hopefully, seeing his lingering handiwork will satisfy Sharky, otherwise, John might wind up with a matching set.

"Sharky and Hurk are back," Nick says. John doesn't exactly relax, but knowing he doesn't have to prepare for another ugly reintroduction keeps him from bolting. "They're, uh, gonna stick around until Grace gets back."

"Then I probably shouldn't be around," John replies.

"What, you wanna go hide all night?" Nick rolls his eyes. "No, don't be a baby. Worst that'll happen is you'll get knocked down again." John doesn't look convinced, so Nick tries another route. "Come on, we went through all that just so you wouldn't have to hide out every time we have company. And people are gonna have to get used to you eventually — at least Sharky and Hurk already know you're alive." Finally, when none of that seems to work, he sighs and promises, "I'll make sure nobody decks you for no good reason, c'mon."

John finally relents, sighing and gesturing vaguely. "Fine," he says, "Whatever you say."

And, even though Kim isn't around to force him to it, John sits back down at the planter and resumes pulling carrots. It's probably entirely out of spite, but at least it keeps him busy while the posse of would-be raiders filters into the backyard. Nick stands awkwardly at first as Wallace and Tiny stare aggressively at John's back, but when Kim rounds out the group and nobody takes a shot at either of them, he forces himself to ease up on the suspicion. From here on out, Nick is going to try his damnedest to act like everything is absolutely normal. Well, as normal as it can be.

Kim has Sharky talking from the outset, which makes it easy for him to avoid acknowledging John at all. It helps that she's genuinely interested in what he's been up to since they last saw each other — other than open-channel conversations on the radio, the Ryes haven't seen them since the world ended. With only one car and not a lot of fuel, they haven't had a chance to go exploring the east side of the county since climbing topside.

As it turns out, Sharky and Hurk have shacked right back up at the old trailer park. They'd met up with Wallace and Tiny sometime after coming topside, and right now the four of them are in the middle of making the park more hospitable. Sharky keeps mentioning a reception area, and Hurk says something about expanding the lot, so Nick suspects they're looking to cash in on the heretofore abandoned hospitality industry.

For now, though, it's just home to four wildcards and one multi-use distillery made from old airplane parts. "It's pretty much fucked," Sharky says, although truthfully, Nick thinks it sounds kind of badass. "But with enough elbow grease, we'll probably be able to make it livable." He looks around, craning his neck to eyeball the mostly-intact hangar and their secure house, and offers a genuine compliment. "You guys got lucky. No hate, just glad you had somewhere to hole up in. It would suck to really have to rough it with a kid around."

"Tell me about it," Kim agrees emphatically. "Although, it took a lot of work to make it this nice, and there's still a lot more to do."

Sharky and Hurk settling in around the fire-pit is all the invitation their crew needs to make themselves more at home. It's no surprise that they pretend like John isn't there — nor is it a surprise that John returns the favor. It's a little tense and a lot awkward for Nick, but for now it's at least a peaceful holding pattern.

"It sorta sucked, seeing everything as trashed as it is here," Tiny says somewhat morosely. "I mean, at least we ain't alone, but..."

"Hope Valley got the best of it in general," Wallace says. "Right in the sweet-spot. Ideal Collapse."

"He means most everything else got blasted," Tiny clarifies, a sort of post-Bliss interpreter. "You can tell when you leave the county. Eases up after a couple of miles, but there's, like, a big old ring around us."

"No doubt, no doubt," Wallace agrees. "Protecting the good stuff."

"It's pretty fuckin' weird," Hurk says. "But I don't know nothin' about nu-clear thermodynamics and whatnot. Could be normal as the albino deer and shit."

"Uh, you think that the caravan's gonna be okay out there, if everything's just as wrecked?" Nick asks.

"Oh, sure," Hurk drawls. "There were all sortsa people makin' due out there, one way or another. They'll be fine ."

Sharky sighs, opens his mouth, then thinks better of whatever he was going to say and changes course. "They made it pretty clear they would be happier without help," he says. "Hope that works out for them. Me? I'm ride-or-die Hope County. At least 'til Hurk here goes international again. Then, uh, I guess I'm gonna be ride-or-die Miami."

"Hell yeah!" Hurk shouts. "Gonna get the business back in business, y'know what I mean? First stop: check in on mama and Xander. Second stop: top of the world, baby!"

The posse rallies around Hurk's promise with excited whoops. Nick doesn't know what Hurk's job was before the apocalypse, but considering the contraband he used to get his hands on, it's probably something that will only flourish here in the apocalypse.

"'Course, she's probably dead," Hurk adds somewhat morosely at the end, sort of ruining the whole vibe.

Sharky slaps his shoulder a few times out of sympathy. "Don't know 'til we go lookin'," he says, which manages to prop Hurk's mood back up for the time-being. "Anyway, we got a whole slew of islands and mountains and shit to explore once we get established. Spending the rest of my life riding around Montana sounds like a waste of a good apocalypse, if you ask me."

The new guy, Mud, looks more confused than Nick about these future plans. "So, what'd they offer you for joining up?" Nick asks him. "Ten-percent of Boshaw-Drubman LLC?"

Startled, Mud shakes his head frantically. "No way. Uh-uh." Bashfully, he says, "I just, uh... got cold feet. But I don't got much out here, not since the, uh..." He glances past Nick, definitely eyeballing John, then swallows and edges around the truth. "Well, um, Sharky let me ride back, on account of the — well, uh, I didn't wanna get left behind either direction. And since I don't got anything, I offered to join up." He frowns, "Except I don't have a bike, or gas for a bike, or a gun, or bullets for a gun..."

"I told you," Sharky scolds like a mother hen, "We'll figure that shit out later."

"It's smart to stay together," Kim says when Mud fails to pick back up again. "It's what we should all be doing. Does that mean you're staying with them at the trailer park?"

Mud nods, while Tiny goodnaturedly jokes, "Not that there's much left to stay at..."

Sharky is quick to defend their home, even if he doesn't sound super convinced by his own argument. "Hey, we just haven't had time to, y'know, clean and all! We've been busy, man, you know that! Gathering ammo, building the still, brewing ..."

"Would be nice to have a roof over our heads, that's all," Tiny laughs.

"Where do you want me to go, the roof store ?"

The argument is mostly playful, but Nick knows it's only a matter of time before that playful resentment becomes real. Hurk already looks bored by the ribbing, which tells Nick a lot about how long this joke has been running. Even John is paying attention, although Nick only catches an uncomfortable backward glance.

It's a contentious problem for the gang, for sure. But Nick doesn't have to reach far to come up with an easy solution, one that he figures will benefit everybody involved. After all, even considering their own needs, they've got more than enough spare scrap to spare, and Hurk and Sharky's goodwill comes with guns and alcohol, so...

"You know," he says, "John and I found a lot of scrap cleaning this place up. Maybe you can use what we can't."

Sharky opens his mouth to say something, probably pretty rude, but he catches himself before he gets that far. "Wouldn't want to put you out like that," he mutters.

"Hey, we're all in it together, right?" Gesturing towards John, who looks like he'd rather fade back into the dirt around him, Nick offers a sort-of compromise. "We've been trying to figure out what to do with the surplus. This seems like a better use than anything we came up with."

"Well, I guess it couldn't hurt," Sharky admits reluctantly.

Kim recognizes the need for some decisive action, and so she claps her hands together and takes the reins from her grateful husband. "Nick, you and John should take Hurk to look at what we've got. Then, all three of you can bring some wood back so we can get the fire started."

Sharky opens his mouth to object, but Hurk speaks up before he can. "Sounds good!" he exclaims, throwing himself to his feet with ease. Nick can't help but envy him — the guy's got twenty years on him, but Nick doesn't hear his knees popping randomly when he stands up.

"Y'all don't go startin' trouble," he warns his gang, waving Nick on. "Let's do it!"

John turns and heads immediately for the hangar door, disappearing inside without a backwards glance. Hurk lingers once they reach the door, casting a wide look around the empty wash of dirt leading out to the old landing strip before following John inside. He doesn't seem concerned in the slightest that John might be waiting to ambush him.

"Sorry about Sharky, by the way," Hurk says once the three of them are standing in the shade of the tarp overhead. "He's been real stressed is all, tryin' to act all fuckin' responsible and shit. John here making it after the deputy beefed it just hit hard, I guess."

Well, if that's the way Hurk's been referring to it, then no wonder Sharky's sensitive about it. "It's, uh. It's fine. We figured there'd be some... y'know. Reasonable resentment."

John does that thing where he pretends he can't hear he's being talked about, going straight to the log pile stacked against the back wall. Hurk doesn't seem to notice the silent treatment, turning to the organized junk spread out over the cracked concrete. From broken two-by-fours, bent fence-poles, chainlink scraps, and stacks of not-quite-moldy plywood, there's gotta be something here that can help fix up the trailer park. Nick makes sure to highlight the best scrap for Hurk's consideration, although he avoids mentioning their surplus of nails and stripped screws for now. No use showing his whole hand, right?

"Damn," Hurk says at last, looking around in mild astonishment. "Can we hire y'all to do this to our scrap?"

Nick laughs. "Yeah, like I wanna do all this again ."

"What about you?" Hurk asks John's back, ignoring the way he tenses at being directly addressed. "How do we rent you out?"

"You don't," John says, his tone briefly icing over as he turns, regarding them coolly over his armful of logs. He's more petulant than angry when he explains, "I don't owe you my life, so I don't owe you my labor."

"Fine, I'll just save you from a burning building or some shit," Hurk replies, as if he couldn't care less that it's John Seed he's bantering with. "I guess we gotta talk trading, now," he sighs reluctantly. "Man, I fuckin' hate this barter-system bullshit. You know, actually, I got a box full of bottle caps if you wanna..."

Nick waves away the extremely bad offer to invest in an unbacked currency. "Hey, don't worry about it," he says. Hurk frowns heavily at that, so Nick suggests a compromise. "Look, if you and Sharky wind up with your own microbrew, you owe me a case — and yes, I will take payment in installments. That sound fair?"

"If ?" Hurk replies. He lets out a big laugh. "Buddy, I got news for you."

Hurk, John and Nick each take an armful of wood back to the fire pit, where Kim seems to have everything under control. Sharky is less openly hostile when John reappears, anyway, which is a good sign. Mud and Tiny have apparently been given fire-starting duty, jumping to the task as soon as they drop off the wood. Sharky, a true pyromaniac, manages them from his seat by shouting directions at them as they stack the wood in the pit.

Before they can sit back down, Kim turns Nick and John back around for the fish. It's a one-person job, but John doesn't complain about being sent away.

"You okay?" Nick asks John when they reach the freezer.

"Yes," John replies automatically. Nick stares at him for a solid five seconds before he cracks with a frustrated sigh. "I'm just a little overwhelmed. That's reasonable, isn't it?"

"Sure," Nick agrees. He picks up the old bin they've been using to cart fish back from the river. "You can stick around here for a bit if you want. Take a breather."

John scoffs at the idea of taking a break, as per usual. "I thought the point was not to hide," he replies tersely. He reaches out to yank the cracked plastic container from Nick, a frustrated and instinctive reaction that he curbs at the last moment, fingers curling briefly into a fist as he forces himself not to just take things from Nick.

Taking pity on the dumb bastard, Nick pushes the bin into John's arms, flipping open the freezer door and staring down at the slimy, not-yet-smelly fish. "Well, if you need a break, just say you're gonna get more firewood." Nick shrugs. "Someone's gotta check on you eventually, but Kim knows the drill."

John doesn't respond as Nick loads up the bin, but Nick hopes he takes the out to heart. There's not a social obligation out there that Nick hasn't gotten out of by dedicating himself to some dumbass chore nobody else wants to do.

They return to find a roaring fire that is... hopefully under control. The mismatched seating has been pulled back to accommodate the fire's larger-than-average size, accompanied by a couple of chairs from inside to make up the difference. Sharky and Mud have disappeared, although they return just after Nick, each carrying a variety of bottles and jars of different sizes.

"Shit, I didn't think you brought the entire brewery with you!" Nick exclaims, not in the least bit upset by the development.

"Not until you clean all those up," Kim says before Nick can get ahead of himself. "You don't want to be handling a knife right after a shot of... whatever that is."

Nick groans, but she's right. As much as Nick would like to get drunk off his ass on torpedo juice, he has to get his priorities straight. Still — there's a lot more fish than Nick's willing to handle by himself, so he enlists a willing Wallace and Tiny to help out. He picks them mostly because they're openly carrying hunting knives, and because John is just plain bad at deboning fish. John stares at him resentfully, but since he hates handling food as much as he hates gardening, Nick's sure he'll get over it before dinner.

Nick doesn't have much control over the food once it's been cleaned, as Sharky and Hurk have some kind of bet going about who's the better cook and they don't need anybody else throwing their hat in. As far as Nick's concerned, their cooking tastes delicious but indistinguishable. Of course, Nick's waiting for his own dinner, so other than a few bites to try and judge the difference, he doesn't get to eat much of it.

Tiny and Wallace split and down an entire mason jar of mysterious dark liquor while they wait to eat. Nick wants to join them, but Kim's waiting until Carmina is home to start drinking and really, Nick should be doing the same. From the way John's watching distrustfully from the side, he's not likely to get into any moonshine himself.

Nick manages to hold out until after he's finished eating, but then Hurk offers him some moonshine directly and he can't say no. It would be in bad taste, right?

Oof. Turns out the moonshine is in bad taste, but that's what he should expect from something that's easily 120 proof. Nick takes one swig and immediately regrets it as it turns his chapped lips to fire and carries the heat all the way down the back of his throat. There's no taste or anything, just an intense, full-mouth burn and this lizard-brain instinct that everything is going to go horribly wrong if he drinks more of whatever that is.

"Jesus Christ !" he gasps. It's only Hurk's quick reflexes that keep the jar from crashing to the dirt, but Nick doubles down before Hurk can pry it out of his hands. Even as he struggles to form a sentence more complex than, " Poison ," he's got to go back for a second sip. As if somehow a second one would make things better — but of course it doesn't. At least, not to begin with; first, it's gotta turn his shredded lips inside out and throw his tear-ducts into overdrive better than an overripe onion.

"Well don't drink more of it," Kim huffs, way too late.

"Now be honest," Hurk asks, "Can you taste any apple?"

Nick pushes the jar back into Hurk's attentive hands, choking disbelievingly on the word, "Apple ," although now that he thinks about it... No, nope, no after-taste whatsoever. It does , however, warm him from the inside out, leaving him feeling a decent buzz for two conservative swigs.

"Whatever it is," Nick sighs at last, after a big swig of water, "It's great."

"You know," Kim says, "The sooner we put the stew on the fire, the sooner you can eat. Maybe then you could handle more than a couple of baby sips."

Nick clicks his tongue, taking some childish offense at his wife teasing him about his tolerance. At the same time, she's right — and Nick is getting hungry. There's still enough uncooked fish left for when Grace and Carmina get home, but if he wants them to have as much as everyone else, he'll have to settle for the three-day-old stew. At least Kim and John are stuck in the same boat as him.

Before he can get started on that, though, Grace surprises him by returning early with Carmina. Admittedly, it's still pretty late in the afternoon, but he hadn't expected her back so soon. She isn't surprised to find company, which is also a surprise, although she eyes the whole group somewhat distrustfully as she and Carmina round the side of the house. When she sees Hurk and Sharky drinking from their unsanitized brewing bottles, she finally relaxes, letting go of Carmina's shoulder so that she can join the not-necessarily child-safe group.

"Grace!" Sharky exclaims, leaping from his seat and almost grabbing her for a hug before remembering personal boundaries are a thing. "Holy shit, the world literally ended last I saw you!"

Grace returns Sharky's enthusiasm with her more subdued version of it, smiling fondly and following through the rest of the hug for him, the same way she'd grabbed onto Nick and Kim when they'd first come back topside. "Sharky, it's good to see you," she says, her voice deep with emotion.

"I radioed her while you were getting firewood," Kim mentions to Nick as Hurk takes his chance to get a hug from the usually reclusive sniper. "I thought she would appreciate a head's up. And, you know, it cheered Sharky up."

"Hey, good thinking."

Carmina approaches gleefully, carrying the rifle over her shoulder triumphantly. For a nine-year-old, she's pretty natural with the thing, which is a mixed blessing as far as Nick's concerned.

"Aunt Grace made moving targets!" she exclaims, excitement overriding her confusion momentarily until she looks at the group. "I didn't know we were having people over today..."

"It was a happy surprise," Kim tells her. "These are the guys who were helping that caravan heading west, remember?"

"Yeah," Carmina says. She looks immediately to John, who is way too busy staring tensely at Grace and Sharky's reunion to notice her.

"Don't worry," Nick says. "Everything's fine."

"Uh-huh," Carmina says, unconvinced. Thankfully, she doesn't seem too worried about another fight breaking out. That probably has something to do with her attention being focused in an entirely different direction. "Do we have pulleys? I wanna make a shooting range here! It's really easy!"

Nick's gut reaction is to say no, but Kim interrupts him. "Maybe while your dad is getting the stew, he can check," she offers, looking from Carmina to Nick significantly. "Then we can have some dinner and talk about it."

Although it looked like John hadn't been paying any attention before, he stands as soon as Kim mentions going to the hangar. "I remember seeing one," he says.

"You can help me look, then," Nick offers. "Maybe get some more firewood?"

"Yeah," John says absently. Nick barely steps into his line of sight, but that's all he needs, turning and making his way to the hanger down the same invisible path he was glued to before. Nick sighs, rolls his eyes at Kim entirely for show, and follows. Maybe once they get some food in him, John will stop being such a cagey bastard about the whole thing, and they'll be able to actually put things to rest with Grace and Sharky at last.

When the world ended, Nick had figured that meant the end of life as he knew it. In some ways, he'd been right — things will never be as easy, as safe, as peaceful as they used to be — but when his expectations had been wrong, they'd been completely off-base. He'd expected a nuclear wasteland, only to find a lush and thriving field. He'd expected roving gangs of murderers, and instead, he's only encountered desperate, decent people who would rather not waste the bullets. Hell, he'd expected to spend every day struggling to survive, and here he is, sitting in the backyard with a full belly and a shot of liquor to wind down. Sure, the gathering is a primitive knock-off of a barbeque, but Nick knows now that all they need is time and practice. Maybe someday, they'll even have a grill — burgers, corn on the cob, the whole works.

But hey. That's for the future, and right now, Nick isn't going to complain about some bad liquor, mediocre food and Hurk's stripped-down Slayer's cassette blaring from his beat-up stereo.

Carmina finally gets a chance to show off her skills to people other than her family, and so Hurk's boys take turns calling out targets for her to cap in an attempt to take her down a peg. Nick isn't sober enough to trust his daughter with a gun, but Kim hasn't gone back for another taste of "apple" moonshine yet, and Grace is sober as a rock, so they're more than capable of handling things. Mostly, they nix any particularly dangerous targets, keeping Carmina's shots focused out in the yard. Well, for the most part — neither of them can resist watching Carmina shoot the wind-vane still clinging to the roof, even if it means going right over everyone's heads.

It's all in good fun, of course. And, to their credit, not one of the guys even jokingly suggests taking aim at John as he sits apart from the group. It's a good thing, too — John looks uncomfortable at how good a shot Carmina is. Maybe Nick would be uncomfortable with it too, if he hadn't drunk a bottle-neck's worth of moonshine beforehand.

Nick doesn't have to drink a lot to feel downright tipsy, which is great. Back in the day, he used to like getting buzzed every so often, but he'd given up ever feeling safe enough to get inebriated as another lost memory from yesteryear. This... this is nice. And once the guns get put away, it'll be even nicer.

"I think you might be a better shot than Tipsy over here," Wallace tells Carmina, gesturing towards Tiny, who is indeed too tipsy to be a decent shot at all.

"Only one way to find out!" Tiny shouts, failing to move after his declaration.

"Maybe another time," Kim replies uncertainly. "When alcohol isn't involved?"

"Hey, Carmina," Hurk coos, pulling his battered gun into his lap, "This is a Kalashnikov, you ever shoot off one of these?"

"Ooh, no!"

Grace is much less diplomatic than Kim, cutting him off before he can feed Carmina's excitement any more. "Hurk!"

"What? Oh, uh... she's probably too young for an automatic, huh? What is she, nine? I got a Magnum in my saddlebag..."

It's not long after that they run out of targets, forcing an end to Carmina's demonstration of skill. Kim thankfully takes the gun so that nobody gets hurt, and Carmina spends the next twenty minutes peppering the crew with questions about their guns, their tattoos, their trip out with the caravan, and whether or not they have a moving target range like Grace does. Nick relaxes when he realizes that none of the guys are keen on giving a little girl another weapon, more interested in spinning drunken tall-tales that, truthfully, might be a little too PG for Carmina. At least Grace is listening in to fact-check any of their more problematic bullshit.

John isn't any less tense now that Carmina is disarmed, but Nick's not surprised. Sitting on the opposite side of the fire from everybody else, he might as well be hiding in plain sight. That goes against the entire point, but it's also his modus operandi these days. Normally, Nick would just ignore it, maybe even avoid John on purpose to show him how bad it feels, but tonight calls for a more direct approach.

"Need to get some firewood?" Nick asks him, coming to stand in his line of sight.

John squints up at him around the firelight. "No," he mutters, lying through his teeth before changing the subject. "Carmina has good aim."

"That's all Kim's genes. I'm more of a spray-and-pray kinda guy."

John doesn't quite hide his sarcasm, replying, "You don't say."

Nobody's offered John any liquor yet, he's pretty sure, so Nick holds the bottle out in an easily declined gesture. "Wanna try?" he asks, just in case he's being more subtle than he thinks. "Supposed to take like apples."

John gives the bottle an unimpressed once-over. "I don't think so," he decides, not sounding entirely sure about it. He adds defensively, "My tolerance is shot."

"If you say so," Nick replies, pulling the bottle back. "It's not like I'm gonna peer pressure you. This isn't high school. But, uh, try to relax. If anyone was gonna take a shot at you, they would've done it by now."

"Easy for you to say," John sighs.

It is easy for Nick to say, but he hopes John actually listens to him for once. He's not expecting miracles or anything, but if John's going to stick around, he's going to have to learn how to relax. Well — at least that's one learning curve that everybody is struggling with. Baby steps, right?

Nick leaves John alone for now; maybe he'll warm up into the idea of mending some metaphorical fences before everyone leaves, which would be ideal. For now, Nick goes back to the rest of the group, taking a few more sips as he listens to Carmina start to spin her own tall tales. Now that she's recognized the pattern in all of the stories the adults have been telling — larger-than-life enemies, intimidating names, lots of Foley work — she's attempting to match their vivid stories with a highly interpretive retelling about the turkey she saved her mom from a few months ago. The way she tells it, Nick would've expected the turkey she'd brought back to be at least the size of a car, but if Kim is playing into her part as a damsel in distress, Nick isn't going to ruin things by being the cynic realist.

They trade a few more stories. As they do, Kim takes a few extremely sour drinks of whatever the dark stuff is. She's been on hosting duty all day already, and Nick hasn't done much to help, getting tipsy right away with the rest of the guys like he had. But, with things starting to get late for a family of three, Nick decides it's his time to step up to the task of parenting.

Carmina hasn't had enough life experience to have many stories to share with the encouraging group of drunken manchildren, so once the attention turns to Tiny's story of his first swim after the world ended, Nick uses the out as a chance to usher her away.

"I think we oughta get you ready for bed," he tells Carmina, who boos under her breath but doesn't put up a fight, mostly because the story involves lots of nudity that she isn't at all interested in hearing about. Nick can't blame her — he doesn't wanna hear about Tiny almost getting his nuts bit off by a demon fish, either.

"Okay, but I want a good bed-time story," she demands, reasonably enough. Nick doesn't have anything as funny as Hurk's story, or anything as action-packed as Sharky's retelling of the first roadblock they encountered out on the road, but he has to at least try.

The good thing about Carmina not knowing anything about life before is that Nick can stretch some truths without repercussion. So when he tucks Carmina in, he decides to tell her the story of when she was born — this time, though, he doesn't leave out the roadblocks, or the deputy's shitty driving, or the narrowly-missed explosions. Couched in a long line of tall tales and exaggerated stories, Carmina doesn't believe most of the true stuff and only playfully believes in the bullshit.

Between Nick's bedtime-story voice and him gently stroking her hair, it's a wonder Carmina stays awake for as long as she does. Eventually, though, well before he finishes the story, she closes her eyes and finally stops resisting the chance for a good night's sleep. Nick stays put, lying next to her for a few minutes as he listens to the faint sound of conversation outside. He tries to make out the voices, to decipher who might be talking to who, but he only hears a dull hum.

He'll get up in a few minutes, go down and have a real drink with his wife for the first time in nine years, but the alcohol he's already had entices him to lie still just a little longer.

He doesn't know how long he dozes for, but when Nick is next aware of his surroundings, the light has changed in the room from the rising moon and the conversation outside has shifted in tone and pitch, the way any party might as it enters the late-night phase. Sitting up, Nick immediately knows he needs two things — more water, and one or two more swigs of that awful moonshine, just to keep the hangover from starting before he actually goes to bed.

The back porch is still wide open. The fire has died down, although it's still enough light to see by as Nick reappears. Kim sees him immediately, lifting a half-empty jar of dark liquid in his direction and waving him down with her free hand.

"This one is much better," she tells him as he approaches, holding out the jar. Well, Nick isn't about to reject his wife's kind offer, although he immediately regrets it when he takes a swig.

" Ugh ," he chokes around the harsh burn, feeling it drain all the way back into his throat. "That tastes like paint thinner!"

"Trade secret!" Hurk exclaims, adding immediately after, "Not that there's any paint or thinner in there, or anythin'. Nope. It's 100% organic malt liquor!"

Nick has no idea how Hurk would manage to find barley, but sure, he'll buy it. Another sip doesn't do any better, and to his surprise, he realizes that he actually prefers the moonshine.

As he hands the jar back, Nick does a quick head-count, coming up two short. "Uh, where's John?" he asks.

"Oh," Kim says. She points towards the hangar. "We needed firewood," she says. "Except, eventually, we really needed firewood. I sent Sharky to get some." It seems like only when she says it does she realize what a bad idea it is. "Well, we were in the middle of something, and I was distracted," she explains reluctantly.

"I wasn't," Grace utters next to her.

Kim rolls her eyes. "You should go check on them. I mean, it's fine. But maybe you should, anyway."

Nick looks over at the hangar. There aren't any lights to speak of out here, but Nick can see the glow of the lantern through the open doorway, shadows moving around behind the worn-out wall. "Yeah," he agrees, turning and heading across the wash. He only thinks of grabbing a drink for the journey after he starts walking, but he's already halfway there and he doesn't have time to turn around and come back.

Sharky appears in the doorway, forcing Nick to pull up short to avoid running into him. He looks — fine? There's too much beard and too little light to see his expression clearly, but Sharky doesn't seem phased in the least to find Nick in his way. He passes by Nick with a few logs under one arm, patting Nick heavily on his shoulder with his free hand.

"It's cool, bro," he says, "We're all good."

"Uh... okay," Nick replies, deeply unsure as Sharky casually heads back for the fire. Briefly worrying that he might find John knocked out on the ground, Nick tries not to stress out as he heads inside.

John is sitting on a discarded chopping block by the woodpile, the lantern settled by his feet. Nick doesn't see any blood or a new black eye; just John, rolling a nearly-empty glass bottle between his palms as he drifts in thought.

Nick almost feels bad interrupting, but John catches sight of him before he can retreat undetected. He looks surprised — genuinely, openly surprised to see Nick standing there, sincerely confused when he says, "I thought you went to bed."

"And miss out on all the action?" Nick chuckles. He gestures at the bottle. "So much for your tolerance being shot, huh?" he teases.

"Oh, hmm?" John looks down at the bottle like he'd forgotten about it. "Only enough to get them off my back." He sighs, following it up with a swig that he barely winces through. "After all, saying no ain't my thing ." Nick isn't sure if that drawl is for sarcastic quotation purposes, or if John's had enough moonshine to play at being white trash. "Then again, I only quit drinking because of Joseph. No point resisting now."

"I guess," Nick agrees reluctantly. "Is that, uh, what you and Sharky were talking about?"

John rolls his eyes. "No," he says. He holds out the bottle, waiting until Nick takes it to elaborate. "Kim suggested they sleep out here tonight. He was making sure there's room."

"Oh." Nick takes a drink; maybe it's just the malt liquor talking, but now Nick can sort of taste the apple around the burn. He takes one more swig, just to make sure, then hands the bottle back. "Well, as long as he wasn't hassling you."

"No more than I deserve," John says. Nick must make some kind of face, because he sighs and placating adds, "It's fine, Nick. I'm more than capable of handling a few sarcastic comments from some hillbilly outlaw." He looks down, tipping the bottle a bit to swirl the moonshine inside.

"He... means well," he says eventually. "Everyone means well."

"You don't have to sound so bummed out about it."

John chuckles. It's the first time Nick's heard his laugh and not mistaken it for a cough or wheeze. "I don't mean to be," he says. He takes a drink and looks up at Nick with a... weird look on his face. Open. Genuine? Nick's not sure. But despite the topic, John's expression radiates a deep, contemplative peace. "It's more generosity than I can bear from people I genuinely thought of as the enemy."

He is definitely drunk. "Oh, boy," Nick sighs, reaching out for the bottle before John drops it or finishes it off himself. "To be fair, uh, it's easier to be nice to you since we won, and all."

"Oh, I do not doubt it." John relinquishes the drink, seemingly aware enough to admit, "I've had more than enough."

"I think everybody's had enough," Nick says, proving his own point by immediately regretting his next swig. "God damn . Okay, well — we should probably get some wood. I gotta feeling those guys are gonna be up for a while, and we wanna keep them happy."

John nods, but he doesn't rise from his spot. "Wait," he says when Nick goes to pass him, so Nick obligingly stops, raising an eyebrow at John's half-lifted hand.

"You have to understand," he says. "I'm not — I don't know how I'm supposed to express my gratitude towards you. With Joseph, with — well, everyone , I've always known how to express my loyalty. I knew what they expected from me, what would make them happy, what... wouldn't. But with you, with Kim... I don't know anything. I feel like a child. I don't know how that makes me feel, other than like an idiot."

He heaves a frustrated, heavy sigh, ducking his head towards his nervously entwined hands. "Just — thank you," he finishes miserably.

"Wow," Nick utters in response. He doesn't know what else to say, really, except the obvious, but he genuinely means it when he replies, "Well, you're welcome. Man, and here I always figured you were playing me for a sap."

John laughs, shaking his head. "Manipulation has never been my strong suit," he admits. "I'm too heavy-handed for that crap. Intimidation and brute force, on the other hand..." He lets out a relieved sigh. "Thank God I was too sick to revel in my self-destruction."

"Yeah, I'm glad I didn't have to shoot you," Nick chuckles. "Sorta would've gone against everything I'm trying to build, you know?"

"I do now," John says. "I only wish I'd realized it before the end of the world."

"Hey, the world hasn't really ended," Nick points out. "There's still a whole left to do." He gestures towards the woodpile. "We can start by making sure Kim doesn't leave me for the raiders giving her free alcohol."

John stands, shaking his head as if he could clear the smile from his face. "I'm sure you have nothing to worry about."

"Yeah, not until they figure out how to brew a decent beer. Kim was going without for the baby. She probably would've murdered me if it meant she could've had a case of Newcastle in the bunker for a few months there."

Then again, she had also been freaking out about the nuclear apocalypse occurring above-ground, so Nick really should cut her more slack.

"You definitely have nothing to worry about," John reiterates. "But fine. No more back-talk."

"Yeah, fat chance of that. C'mon, give me a hand."

Nick leaves the bottle on the chopping block and utilizes John's uncanny strength, loading him up with an armful of wood before taking a few logs for himself, to give the appearance of helping. John doesn't complain, which isn't unusual by itself, but tonight it feels like genuine complacency, not just something he's doing to survive. And when they return to the fire, dropping off the wood for Mud and Tiny to utilize, John doesn't retreat to the safety of the other side of the fire. He instead lingers by Nick, going so far as to play along whenever Kim asks him questions, just to make him feel included. He, unlike Nick, is smart enough to refuse any more of the malt liquor Kim's taken a liking to, but he holds the jar for show from time to time, just to keep Hurk happy. In a weird way, Nick feels like he can actually see John taking those wobbly steps Kim is always hoping to see, and even weirder than that, the anxiety that maybe he's making a mistake fails to manifest, leaving Nick with a warm, fuzzy feeling that could very well be pride.

#far cry 5 #fc5 #fcnd #new dawn #john seed #nick rye #kim rye #far cry fanfic #my fic

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jacobseedvaas35 · 5 years

Text

Befriended

(Chapter 7: Veterans Centre)

Word Count: 1339

Starting from this chapter we will be starting to welcome a lot of familiar Resistance members. In this chapter we have Eli Palmer, Nick Rye and Wheaty. Also special mentions to Sharks Boshaw and Hurk Jr. as well as John and Joseph Seed

Jacob stood in front of the closed gate of his old Veterans Centre, examining every inch of it. He had missed this place. It was like his home but now this dearest place was going to keep the girl he loves, safe from those evil people that want to hurt her.

Jacob looked back at the Sheriff and smirked, "Thanks Sheriff".

"You're welcome Jacob. Let's go and have a look around. See what needs fixing" the Sheriff said, taking the keys out and unlocking the gates.

"I'm certain the cages are going to need some fixing up and I'll have to go up to check my office out" Jacob said walking through the gates.

"We are going to need a lot of security around here"

"Where are we going to get those security from? There were only peggies around here" Jacob said.

"Jacob, all those people that you hurt, want to help you. Nick Rye, Sharky Boshaw, Hurk Jr, Jerome and even Eli Palmer" Sheriff Whitehorse suggested a few names. "We can get them to take turns to keep an eye on the prisoners, when you're not around. Even Pratt and I will do it too".

"I don't know Sheriff. All those people you've mention, they've gone through so much because of me"

"The past stays in the past Jacob Seed" a voice came from behind.

Jacob turned around and saw Eli, Nick and Wheaty, standing at the entrance of the courtyard, with friendly smiles on their faces.

"So, who are we after?" Eli asked, approaching the sheriff and Jacob.

"My girlfriends ex-fiancé and her parents. They've hurt her a lot in the past and I'm 100% certain they've come back for more" Jacob explained.

"The ex-fiancé came a while back and he has already physically abused my Deputy. If it wasn't for Jacob, he could have killed her" the Sheriff added.

"So we have an abusive ex to deal with? What's the plan?" Nick asked.

"I want to put him and her parents through hell. Teach them a lesson and show that Isabella isn't alone anymore. They came to Hope County thinking they'll get away with it again but not on my watch. It's time someone did something about this" Jacob explained to the four men. "No lady should ever go through something like this. As for her parents, I'm going to make them realise that money doesn't bring happiness".

"What do you have planned for them?" The Sheriff asked.

"From What Bella has told me, her parents were happy for her to get beaten up because at the end of the day, they were getting money from the guy. I'm going to show them that money doesn't bring happiness. I'm going to make Bella the happiest girl on this planet, just to prove to them that she is happier without them and Mark" Jacob explained. "They've lost their daughter and don't have any idea about it. But they'll learn once they start missing out on Isabella's happy days".

"Make them feel guilty?" Eli asked. "I like the plan. What about the ex-fiancé?".

"Well Bella did say she was beaten up by this guy, day and night. I'm going to do the same thing to him" Jacob said, a smirk forming on his face. "I'm going to put him through the same exact pain, he put Bella through. See how he likes it when the tides turn".

"We get to help with the beating up too? Right?" Nick asked. "I've got a wife and kid. I wouldn't let anyone hurt them like that".

"And by the sounds of things, you really love this girl" Eli added.

"She's my whole life. I don't want to lose her or even see her live with fear. I want these people to be afraid of Isabella now" Jacob said and turned around to look at the huge building.

"Well don't you worry Jacob. You've got the whole Hope County behind you and Isabella. We will help you both" Eli said, putting a hand on Jacob's shoulder. "It'll be like the good old times. The only difference is, this time we are on your side pal".

Jacob turned around and looked at Eli, he put his hand on his shoulder and nodded. "Thanks....pal".

“Let's get cleaning" the Sheriff said and all the men followed him into the courtyard.

Meanwhile, Isabella was left at home with Deputy Hudson and Deputy Pratt, while Jacob was out. She had no idea where Jacob was but she trusted him. She also knew the Sheriff was with him but they were up to something and Bella was curious to know.

"So the Sheriff hasn't told you both anything?" Bella asked the two Deputies?.

"Not a single thing" Pratt said and looked at Hudson.

"I'm going to call Jacob. He said he would be home before dinner. It's almost 7pm and he hasn't come" Bella said, grabbing her phone and walking into the bedroom.

"Hello" Jacob answered.

"Jacob! Where are you? Do you realise what the time is?"

"Bella calm down. I'm on my way home now" Jacob said, calming her down.

"Can you hurry up please. I need you here"

"I'm ten minutes away. Is Hudson and Pratt still with you?" Jacob asked.

"Yeah but they are getting very tired. That's why you need to come home so these people can go home and get some rest"

"Ten minutes. I promise".

“Okay. See you soon"

"Bella?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you"

Bella smiled and blushed at the same time. "I love you too Jacob".

Like Jacob promised, ten minutes after the phone call, he and sheriff arrived home. Isabella opened the door and ran straight into Jacob's arms.

"God, you took your time" Bella said against his chest. She turned her head, putting her ear against his chest and listening to his heart beats but something in the distance frightened her. She started shaking in Jacob's embrace and pulled away from him. Tears already flowing out of her eyes.

"Bella? What's wrong?" Jacob became worried almost immediately.

"It's him" she whispered. "It's Mark. He's over there watching us".

Sheriff Whitehorse, Jacob and the two Deputies all looked in the direction of where Isabella was staring and sure enough, there he was watching all of them behind a tree.

"Hudson, Bella get inside right now" the Sheriff ordered and the two girls complied.

Jacob didn't waste any time and started running towards Mark. The moment he saw Jacob coming, Mark turned around and started running himself. Deputy Pratt and the Sheriff weren't too far off from Jacob.

As the men chased Mark down the street, Bella was back at home having a panic attack. Hudson rushed through the house, looking for something that could help Bella breath. Eventually she found a brown paper bag and rushed back next to Isabella.

"Here Rook. This will help you breath" she said and handed the paper bag over.

Bella immediately started using the bag, until her breathing was back under control. A few breaths later, Bella was able to calm her breathing down but this time, started to cry hysterically.

"He's going to kill me. I know it"

"No he won't Bella. Jacob will kill him first" Hudson said, hugging her friend. "I'm going to call John. He should be here". Hudson took her phone out and dialled her husband's number. "John".

"Dear, where are you?" John asked.

"John, you need to come to Jacob's house right now. It's really bad here and Jacob could do with some support from his baby brother" Hudson suggested.

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong?" John asked.

"Isabella's ex-fiancé is causing really bad problems for Bella. She's terrified. We just saw him spying on us. Jacob, the sheriff and Pratt are chasing him down right now. Bella's having a panic attack. I need you John".

"I've just jumped in the car. Don't leave the house. Lock the doors until Jacob comes back. Do you hear me?"

"Yes. Please hurry John".

#jacob seed #isabella jones #far cry 5 #fc 5 #far cry 5 fanfiction #befriended #smutty story #joseph seed #john seed #sheriff whitehorse #sharky boshaw #hurk jr #nick rye #eli palmer #wheaty

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naromoreau · 5 years

Text

Crime Does Pay

A Far Cry 5 fic Pairing: Sharky Boshaw/ Female Deputy Rating: Explicit Words: 5121 Also on AO3 Note: Another super self indulgent oneshot of my now fave pair, because I have no life. Also big thanks to @shelbypnw (love you sweetheart!) and to the Awesome Far Cry Discord (YOINK you guys!) for pushing me to post this long ass thing.

============== Summary: In the aftermath of Faith's demise, the Resistance has a bit of solace and Rook is finally confronted with her feelings for the pyromaniac.

art by @colonelrogers

“So, honey, care to tell me when are you jumpin’ those bones?” Adelaide took a sip from her beer, sitting cross legged on the stool at the bar, while Mary May chuckled, cleaning a jug absentmindedly.

Rook flushed up to her ears, green eyes open wide and mouth hanging. “I-I dunno what you mean Addie,” she stuttered flashing glances to Mary May as if she was looking for a savior. Her pulse quickened slightly as she fiddled with the glass in her hand.

“O’cmon Dep, you ain’t that dense,” Mary May intervened, lips curled in a crooked smile. “Girl, you have it bad.”

She flicked her tongue across her lips, to gain some time, brow furrowed and boot tapping against the wooden panel of the bar. “Seriously you guys, I have no idea what you’re--” she was almost slurring, and she knew it. Damn .

“Stop that love,” Adelaide cut her words, waving a manicured hand in front of her, “I’m old enough to know you want to drag that pretty mouth of yours all over my idiot of a nephew.”

Rook spilled her drink gracelessly, eeking a faint yelp followed by a grunt as she hid her beet red face on her arms. “Oh for fucks sake, Adelaide!” she whispered agitatedly, lifting her head slightly, catching a glimpse of Sharky and Hurk standing by the pool table.

“Nah, honey, you no need to worry,” Adelaide said patting her head with one hand and taking a sip with the other. “I’m just sayin’ I don't get why you’re still here and he’s there, like don't you want to be spanked or somethin’?”

Rook grunted, straightening on her seat, trying not to shrink before Adelaide and Mary May intense gazes. “It’s not that simple,” she said taking a gulp of stale air, diverting her eyes to the dance floor, where Kim and Nick swirled at the rhythm of an upbeat tune. “I’m his best bud, and I can't do this to him, I mean -- I don't think he sees me like that--”

For the second time her words were cut short, but this time by the ringing laughter of Adelaide and Mary May combined.

“Oh hon, you’re a good deputy, but you’ve no idea ‘bout this,” Adelaide said bumping her shoulder with her own, “you should trust me and put to good use that cute outfit of yours.”

“I don’t see how--” Rook felt all the blood on her body pooling on her now scorching cheeks. She was completely sure she’d kept her crush for the pyromaniac in check, even if half the time her eyes swept his ass or the front of his pants, gaze cautiously hidden behind her sunglasses. God bless sunglasses. She would’ve known if what they said was truth, but in fact all his comments lead to believe that thought was a very far fetched scenario. “I don’t wanna embarrass myself,” she said taking a swig of her drink, putting it back on the counter with excessive force, the glass hitting wood with a hard click, “he’s definitely not into me.” Oh damn, was she bitter?

“Okay now,” Mary May chimed in, “that’s where you’re wrong. Haven’t you seen his goo-goo eyes whenever you’re around? He checks your ass at least four times each hour, and it’s a non-stop screwball when he talks to you.”

“And Mary here hasn’t been around us on the field, sweetheart,” Adelaide offered, with a wicked smile, “that’s just pathetic to see-- I mean, Charlemagne is not the most subtle individual around so I think even Hurk Jr. knows by now. Seriously honey, we all could be dead tomorrow, or-- are you waiting your chance with Johnny Boy?”

Rook cackled at the last sentence but it didn’t deter her mouth of going dry, the tip of her fingers numbed by a sudden rush of adrenaline. She shot a glance towards the pool table, eyes fixed on the familiar green hoodie for a second. Oh, she wanted him bad . A hot curl uncoiled between her thighs, her heart thumping under every inch of her skin.

“So?” Mary May said, elbows on the counter, staring at her with an amused expression, “what you waiting for?”

Rook cleared her throat. Fuck, just do it.

“Can I have some liquid courage first, Miss Fairgrave?” Rook asked, offering her empty beer mug to Mary May, but she took it, putting it aside and offering her two shots of tequila in return. No salt. No lime.

“Trust me dear, this is better.”

It was now or never. The semi-unplanned gathering was the perfect frame to get rid of that thorn on her side. She gulped the shots, one after the other, furrowing her brows and squinting. “‘Kay. I’m all geed up so bring it.”

She stood up, adjusting her black skirt that seemed determined to roll up her thighs. She heard Adelaide and Mary May laughing and clapping at her back, like fucking teenagers. Really . Nevermind. No one would notice. The music was loud and the alcohol had everybody focused on their own stuff.

She gave slow steps towards her target, where Sharky was apparently arguing with Hurk. It’d been a matter of events, one intertwined after the other and she couldn’t help to fall for him. He had the most beautiful smile she’d seen, and he was always so keen to follow her without question, it was heartwarming. And when he held his flamethrower bustling around her, laughing and yelling at the rhythm of peggie bullets, it made her feel alive. And, was she about to spill all those things in front of him? Her breath was shallow, and she felt sweat breaking on her palms. It was stupid really, now that she thought about it. What if Addie and May were wrong? But the rational part of her brain that screamed to back off, was muffled by alcohol and blood buzzing in her veins.

She was thinking that maybe it was just better to take her own ass back to where it came from, when Hurk lifted his face from his drink. She didn’t fail to notice how he digged Sharky in the ribs before she stepped in front of them, trying to pull her no bullshit facade out her ass.

“‘Sup Dep?” Hurk scratched his forehead beneath his banana, looking a bit high, “so are you sure Faith’s dead huh?”

“Pretty much Hurk, why?”

“I dunno, I was just thinkin’- it’s sad man, ‘cause she had this potential to be Mrs. Hurk Drubman Jr. y’know?, what a cute little thing she was,” Hurk said taking a long swig from his drink.

“I don’t think your mom would’ve approved that, Hurkie,” she said snorting, and quickly added, “maybe you should go there and ask her what she thinks, and bring me a beer on your way back, ‘kay?”

Hurk blinked for a second before perking up again. “‘Aight Dep, sure, sure, I got you babe, you gotta celebrate your victories!”

When he was gone, she closed the inches away from Sharky, ignoring the whirring sound in her ears, and her skin tingling, every breath more heavy than the last.

“Man I love Hurk but his screws are way loose,” she said, standing next to him, hopping on the pool table.

“None of that Shorty, he’s a fucking genius!,” he said as he took his beer bottle to his lips, and her hands tugged at the hem of her flannel to draw away her need to reach a hand and touch him. “‘Cuz’s been around a lot, and he kicks ass, he’s like-- like a one man army. Damn I wish I was more like him y’know?”

“What you talking about Boshaw? Your scrawny ass is the cornerstone of the resistance, man.” She chuckled, breathing in, breathing out, trying to quell her nervousness. “And by the way, never thanked you for saving my head from being blown up by peggies today, that was a swell move, man.”

“I got you shorty, I’m like--- I’m smooth like a ninja,” he said turning slightly with the same smirk he flashed everytime they blew up some outpost and it caused breath catch in her throat. “Gotta be your protector ‘cause your reflexes ain’t that good, but don’t feel bad, not everyone is like me y’know? I’m like-- I’m like the lovechild of Bruce Lee and James fucking Bond.”

Rook almost bent over with laughter. Damn she loved this man. Wait, what? She kicked the thought to the back of her mind. That path was just trouble and then some.

“Woah, woah easy there, you heathen,” she said hopping down the table with a fake scowl on her face. “My reflexes are much better than yours-- I’m a fucking officer with training and I’m gonna fucking prove it to you.”

Without giving it much thought and before her words could sink in his inebriated brain, she stood on her tiptoes and swooped his hat from his head, grasping it far behind her back.

“Hey! That ain’t fair, give it back, that’s theft!”

He extended a hand but she swatted it away, like if it was a pestering mosquito.

“Uh huh, you want it, you gotta take it from me,” she said shaking a dainty finger at him, leaning forward with a mischievous grin.

“Oh yeah? Well, bring it on chica.”

He tried to pounce at her by her right side, but she dodged him, giving a few steps back, away from the pool table. She giggled as he strode in her direction trying to clasp her arms, but she swirled around a table, bumping into a chair.

“You ain’t going free amigo! Hey Joey, handcuff the Dep!” He yelled in Hudson’s direction, but Joey rolled her eyes and shook her head, continuing her conversation with Pastor Jerome, unbothered.

“No one can help you, Boshaw,” she said with a smug grin, retreating into a small corridor out of everyone’s sight. She almost lost her footing, skirting around. Damn, the alcohol was kicking in.

He followed her close behind, but she didn’t relent. She jumped back when he tread to her, a half smile on his face. When her butt hit the wall, she understood her mistake.

“Got ya!” Sharky leaned forward, extending a hand in her direction. “Give it back, shorty, crime don’t pay.”

She exhaled a shuddery breath. He was so close her cheeks were flushed, heat that she didn’t know if came from the situation or the booze in her system, pooled in her belly.

“I said, you gotta take it from me,” she dared, boldly.

A question popped in his eyes, and she held up the cap and glasses in her hand. When he leaped forward, she swiftly hid her hand again. He slanted pressing both palms against the wall for support, her body now bracketed between his arms.

She was already dizzy from his scent, leathery and musky, a tinge of sandalwood and propane climbing up her nostrils. She moved a leg slightly upwards, to brush his inner thigh.

“Ah, Dep? You okay?” He wetted his lips, his words hiding an undeniable tremor.

She put his hat on her head, tilting her head up. Even with her high heeled boots she barely reached his chin. “More than fine,” she said placing her hands on his shoulders.

“Shit, I-- I think no more drinks for you tonight,” Sharky said, but his voice was lower and huskier that she’d ever heard before. He dipped his head an inch and stopped, lips slightly parted.

His breath was hot and moist, and she could feel it puffing against her lips. She flicked her tongue out, sweeping her lips, locking eyes with him. The dark hue of his usually bright blue eyes sent a shiver down her spine, a curl of need drifting down her groin, as his gaze fleeted from her lips, down her neck, up her eyes again.

“I’m not drunk, if that’s what you think Shark,” she said whispering practically into his lips.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he went down the last stretch, pressing his thin lips against her full ones. It was a timid kiss, nothing more than a chaste peck, before he pulled back.

“Jesus fuck Dep, you sure ‘bout this?” He asked, fanning her face with breathed words. “‘Cause I’m totally into this, but you’re like, you’re-- you’re ten football stadiums outta my league and I’ve been wantin’ to-- been wantin’ to do this from since fuck knows when.”

She gave him a lopsided smirk, and caught his lips with hers, sucking and nipping at his bottom one, pushing her tongue into his mouth, earning a soft groan from him. She felt him loosening up, his right hand now holding her tight at the small of her back, pulling her flushed up with him with an eagerness that made her moan. Wetness spread on her panties at the feel of his erection rubbing against her stomach, trembling as she thought of his calloused hands grazing her over sensitive skin, dipping into her. Fuck.

She felt her knees buckling and held onto the hard line of his shoulders as his tongue circled and pressed against every corner of her mouth, his ‘stache and beard tickling her chin and jaw.

“Ain’t you gonna bust our asses for public indecency po-po?” He said between gasps, his lips nibbling the rim of her jaw, sucking on the soft skin of her neck.

She smiled, lost in the tingling sensation of his tongue against her skin, craning her neck to allow him better access. And boy, oh boy, as much as she liked to be fucked against the wall by the pyromaniac of her dreams, they definitely needed a better spot.

“Mary’s office is-- is just right there,” she managed to stutter between sharp gasps, signaling to the door at their right.

He said nothing, pulling her into a tight embrace, ushering her inside the dark room. When the door closed behind them, he crashed her mouth with his and picked her up from the floor sliding his hands down to cup her ass. He squeezed gently making her gasp into his mouth as she felt each one of his fingers digging into her skin. Her parted thighs closed around his hips, skirt rolling up, as he moved her to the sturdy desk in the corner, placing her on top. His hard on rubbed against her panties and she grinded her hips, coaxing a growl from him that she swallowed eagerly, tongues tangled in a wet mess. He rolled his hips in response, cajoling a loud moan from her.

“All good Dep?” He smirked breaking an inch apart, his pupils blown wide with hunger of her, flaring up her own desire.

She didn’t remember to have wanted anyone as she wanted him, in that knee-weakening, panty-drenching, make-you-shiver all around kind of way.

“You ass.”

He gave her an eyebrow waggle that elicited a chuckle from deep within her belly. God, she was screwed. She fucking loved this idiot and he--. Don’t go there . She finally surrendered her trophy, taking his cap off and her fingers skidded under his hoodie, digging into the lean muscles of his shoulders, licking his jaw, and pressing flat kisses in every inch of exposed flesh she could reach. She couldn’t believe how wet she was already, a sodden patch on her undies that was probably soaking the front of his pants as well. A pink flush bloomed on her cheeks at the thought. He unbuttoned her flannel, slowly, taking his time as he sucked her earlobe without stopping the infuriating roll of his hips. It was something she wasn’t expecting. Sharky jumping her bones like a rabbit in heat? Yeah. Sharky being all smooth and devouring her one course at a time? Definitely not.

“Fuck, Sharky,” she said huffing a moan and tugging at his chestnut hair, while he finally opened her shirt and unclipped her bra, stripping them off her.

He traced the rose tattoo on her upper left breast with flitting kisses, his beard adding to the pleasure of it. “Shit babe, you’re beautiful.” His raspy voice scrapped across her skin, flaring goosebumps all over her, and she tilted her head back, mewling when he closed his mouth around one nipple.

Her fingers carded in his hair as he sucked, tongue circling and lapping at it, while his hand groped her other breast, kneading it gently as his thumb rolled over her nipple. The pace of his tongue had her rolling her eyes, as he licked the valley between her breasts, mouth now moving and closing around her other hard nipple.

“Jesus fuck, shorty, you got such a nice pair,” he said squeezing both in his hands, before giving two hard sucks to her pert peaks, “could eat them all day long.”

“Ah! Glad you-- like them,” she whimpered.

He pulled back, taking off his shirt and hoodie, and she admired his flame tattoo going up his arm, joining to a skull on his right pec. She propped up on her elbows, humming when her fingers grazed the toned lines of his abs and chest, not too buffed but just enough. Just right .

He rolled up her skirt, bunching it up at her waist and hooked his thumbs at the sides of her black panties. Her cunt was already throbbing in anticipation and she bit her lip watching him getting rid off her underwear.

“Grab onto some shit babe,” he said kneeling in front of her, grinning with teeth at her, “Imma give you the Boshaw special.”

She barely had time to brace herself before he hoisted her legs up on his shoulders and his lips skimmed along her inner thighs, fingers stroking her damped folds, sliding along her slit.

“Fuck Dep, you’re so fucking wet.” He was almost purring, one hand now palming on her mound to squeeze gently while the other spread her open, two fingers slipping easily inside her.

She shivered, spilling broken words, digging nails in his scalp and her thighs tensing around his head. He started thrusting his fingers in and out of her, controlled and steady movements building up her orgasm, lips and tongue teasing her vulva, nuzzling the patch of wiry hair.

“Man, look at ya, you’re perfect y’know?,” he said planting fat kisses along her inner thighs, lazily pumping his fingers into her, his other hand grabbing her hip, thumb drawing circles on her skin.

She grunted as any response. Her whole body was on fire, every last nerve raw and feeling his every move. He started scissoring as her breathing became ragged, chest going up and down as he now sucked on her labia. He stopped suddenly and she mewled in disappointment, before she felt his tongue at her entrance. He gave big, broad strokes along her slit, finally pushing his tongue all the way in, curling it, following the angle of her walls.

“Holy shit-- shit, man, ah!” She yelled and her voice sounded like a screech in her own ears. He was tearing her apart, one thrust at a time, her throat unable to emit more than cracked moans and whimpers. She writhed on the desk, her body now covered by a thin sheet of sweat.

She groped and squeezed her breasts, pinching and rolling her nipples, her hips bucking instinctively into his mouth.

“Holy fuck shorty, you put my porn collection to shame,” he said with a hoarse voice glancing at her, eyes fixed on her fingers teasing her nipples, his gaze almost searing her through and through.

His cheeks were flushed as he finally closed his lips around her clit, making her holler louder than before. Fuck! His fingers filled her again, before her walls complained at the loss of his tongue, and he let out a moan that pulsated on her clit wrecking her completely.

Her head was spinning, heart thrumming in her ears as he sucked the nub, adding his tongue to the mix, alternating between light flicks and steady strokes. She was positively thrusting her hips forward. Her stomach tightened, the ache in her core now a pulsing beat she was closer to topple.

“Ah-- shit Shark, you’re amazing, ah, shit!”

She entwined tense fingers on his hair, pulling his face closer as his rhythm quickened, licking and sucking her more frantically. His teeth raked at the bundle of nerves, then sucking again and his fingers curled inside her hitting against that sweet spot. Her vision blurred and with a loud, keen cry she finally came on his face, gushing out all over him. When he stood up, licking his lips and cleaning his mouth with the heel of his hand and a cocky smile plastered on his face, she knew she needed him. All of him.

“Jesus Shark, I-- that was some good shit ,” she panted, the quivers still raking over her body, her legs feeling like jello.

“Told ya I wasn’t kidding, babe.” The look on his eyes was feral as he pulled her up, kissing her roughly, biting her lower lip, and pushing his tongue inside her mouth. She melted in his embrace, tasting her own salty tinge in his lips.

His bulging cock still trapped in his jeans rasped her over sensitive skin and she arched in his arms.

“Can you-- can you fuck me now?” she almost begged when they broke apart.

“Don’t need to tell me that twice, shorty.”

He unbuckled and unzipped his pants as fast as he could, and his cock sprang free in no time. Her walls clenched at the sight. It was thick and longer than she’d thought, the perfect curve at the tip sending a bolt of lust to her cunt.

He pressed his body against hers, rubbing his tip along her entrance, coating himself in her wetness. They kissed slow and thoroughly, his hands clasping her waist.

“Can we change scenery?” she whispered a scant inch away from his ear eliciting a gulp from him.

“What you got in mind?”

She guided him to sit in a padded chair, and he flopped down with a thud, his pants pooling at his ankles. She shimmied her hips, shucking off her creased skirt, bending over before him with her back turned.

“Now that's just cruel Dep,” he drawled.

She faced him, giggling as she straddled him, sitting high on his thighs, his hard dick pressed between them, his tip brushing below her navel.

“That's better,” Sharky said and she hummed in approval.

He cradled the nape of her neck, pulling her down for another kiss, as his other hand crept up her thigh grabbing a handful of her ass.

She closed her hand around his cock, her thumb smearing down the pre-cum beads from his tip. His tongue glided across her lips as she pumped him slowly, gulping down his moans and throaty grunts.

When she lifted her body off him supporting with a hand on his shoulder, he looked at her almost in awe and a tide of prideful lust beamed inside her. Yes, he wanted her, maybe as much as she wanted him. He lined him up to her entrance until his tip grazed her folds. Sharky bit his lower lip, his fingernails now almost scratching her skin. She sank down slowly, both staring down at his cock disappearing inside her to the hilt.

He let out a strangled moan, tilting his head back. “Oh shit.”

“Damn, Shark,” she whimpered.

He filled her just right, the stretch stinging slightly but not painful. She moaned rolling her hips, adjusting at his size.

“You okay babe?,” he asked between a low moan and a heavy grunt, clasping her hips and steadying her on his lap.

“Mhm,” she mumbled, closing her eyes for a second, reveling in the sensation of his erection throbbing inside her.

She started bouncing with a slow rhythm, savoring how he spread her wide every time she dropped down on his cock. Her toes curled, and a myriad of small gasps whiffed against his neck as she buried her face into his maddening scent. He shifted his position a little to angle into her, meeting her thrust for thrust, rocking his hips upwards.

“Oh, fuck Dep, you’re so fuckin’ tight, so fuckin’ tight--,” he said brushing her ear shell with moistened lips, “best fuck I’ve had, shit!”

“You’re- ah, you're not so bad yourself,” she said with a smirk, feeling the layers of his control tattering with every clench of her cunt around his cock.

He shot her a wolfish smile, a hand sliding to cup her breast, taking it to his mouth. She cried out when he sucked hard, his teeth grazing her nipple, and fingers massaging the surrounding swell.

Damn, he was good. With a strong hand on her ass cheek he guided her movements as she kept plunging onto him harder and faster. She arched into his touch when he snapped at her breasts and then anchored his hands at her bottom.

“Oh fuck, fuck, fuck!,” she yelped almost singing her curses when he grounded her down on his lap, licking and sucking at her collarbone.

“Shit Dep,” he moaned between airy grunts, “wanna-- wanna fuck you forever babe, you’re fucking delicious.”

She was barely listening at this point. The way he angled his hips to ram into her, knowing exactly where to hit was making her vision bleed to white, her cries probably loud enough to let anyone outside know what was going on there. His mouth seeked hers, kissing her softly, almost sweetly, in complete contradiction to their hard fucking. When they broke apart, foreheads touching, he looked at her breathless and longing. Her heart flitted in her chest, getting all fuzzy but she stomped the feeling down. Live the moment . And so she did, closing her eyes focusing in the rippling pleasure bursting inside her in wild flames.

“Look at me Dep,” he begged her, pressing his thumb flat against her clit, and she cooed while his hips jerked against hers. “Wanna see you come on me, shit- you’re more than beautiful.”

He circled her nub with steady movements and she leaned back supporting on his thighs for more leverage, pushing down harder and faster until it was too much.

“Oh, shit, shit, fuck Shark, holy shit! ” She crumbled forward, scratching his shoulders, walls clamping down on him and boy had he been right all along, she was hollering her lungs off.

He kissed her, pounding steadily still, whispering words she was too far gone to catch and held her tight as she rode the waves of her orgasm, her skin prickling with random bursts of pleasure flooding her like a tidal wave. His fingers now threaded in her hair, another hand spread wide on her back as he chased his own release, mouth wide open against her neck.

“Fuck babe, I’m close,-” he grunted.

Shit . Her mouth watered at the thought of having him all over her, so she rotated her hips when he wanted to stop, lifting her ass and dropping down, still managing to fuck him how she wanted.

“Please, Dep, I can’t--” he begged digging his fingers in the plump flesh of her hips.

When she felt the tremor in his body, she pulled off of him as he growled, letting him pump out his load, hot and thick, on her breasts.

He looked at her slack jawed, almost awestruck, as she slid a finger through his cum, tasting him with a moan. “Fuck shorty, you’re amazing,” he panted, milking the last spurts of his throbbing dick onto her. “I fucking love you-- shit, fucking love you.”

She felt her cheeks burning, as her brain fumbled with dignified responses for that scenario. It was probably just the afterglow talking, she decided, so she tried to compose herself and smiled at him.

“I love you too Shark,” she said, standing up and kissing his forehead, amicably enough she thought.

She quickly searched for her flannel and something to clean with, to try and make a hasty retreat, but she found nothing. She picked up his cap from the floor and grunted, making short use of her shirt, not yet deciding if framing it or burning it later.

She heard the ruffle of his jeans and the clicking of his belt at her back, so she quickened her movements, putting on her panties and skirt.

“You mean it?” He grabbed her hips, turning her to face him.

If she could, she would’ve melted in a puddle of goo under his bright eyes, but she spur herself to not let her knees betray her. She placed the hat on him and rehearsed a confident smirk, one that she was far to feel as she stood in front of him, shirtless and emotionally wrecked.

“Yeah, hon, best pals, right?” She gave a gentle tug to the bill of his cap, but he didn’t relent.

“C’mon Dep, y’know what I’m talking ‘bout,” he said and she trembled feeling his thumbs drawing circles on her hip bones, “‘cause I was dead serious.”

She gaped at him, as he towered over her and-- Maybe she didn’t get that right.

“I don’t understand Shark,” she said blinking as if she had been staring at the sun for too long.

“Jesus fuck Dep,” he bristled, “I’m tryna telling ya I love you!”

She blinked again, frozen in place and she felt his hands sliding off her. No, no don’t go.

“Wait, Shark!” She reached to hold his hand, and took his fingers to her mouth, kissing them softly. “I do-- fuck, by now saying I love you it’s an understatement.”

An all teeth smile broke on his face. “Shit, for real?”

“Real deal,” she said, tenderly caressing his face as she had dreamed so many times before. Fuck, it was finally true.

He smiled at her with unbridled love and kissed her, slowly, tracing the line of her jaw with his thumb.

“So, what now?” She asked looking around, when they parted, “I can’t leave in a jizz-covered shirt.”

“It’s cool, babe. I got you.”

He reached for his shirt and hoodie, giving her the latter. When she put it on, it almost covered the hem of her skirt.

“It looks like a fucking dress on me,” she complained.

“Nah, you look fine as hell, Mrs. Baeshaw.” He slid a hand around her waist, nuzzling her ear, unable to erase the foolish smile from his face.

She gave a short laugh. ”Pet names and all uh? You look awfully pleased with yourself Boshaw,” she said quirking a brow.

He chuckled, hugging her tightly. “Hell yeah, finally nailed it babe, you’re the fucking jackpot.”

#far cry 5 #fanfiction #my writing #sharky boshaw x female deputy #sharky boshaw #deputy rook #I CAN'T HELP MYSELF OK???#I JUST LOVE THIS PYRO SO FUCKING MUCH IT HURTS #and yeah #I probably won't stop writing these self as fuck indulgent fics #no regrets

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papa-rhys · 5 years

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New Dawn: Where are they now?

Here are my headcanons for what Hope County folk would be up to in New Dawn (if they all survived). I stuck to main characters (catergory 1 and 2) for this and I didn’t count anyone who died in fc5 canon because there’s 100% no chance they’d be in New Dawn and this is meant to be a “what I expect from X character if they appear in ND” thing. If I missed any important people out, then let me know and I’ll see about adding them in!

Holland Valley

Mary May Fairgrave: Lives in Prosperity, even though she doesn’t enjoy it as she can’t quite shake the thought that John used to live there. She runs a makeshift bar in the kitchen. She tells everyone that it’s because it boosts the morale of the people living there, but really it’s because she misses the connection that the Spread Eagle had to her parents. She grew up behind the bar, so in the first 10 or so years after the bombs fell, when she was kept away from the Spread Eagle, she didn’t feel like herself. Making her own replica of the Spread Eagle in John’s old kitchen makes her feel like she’s a little closer to home.

Jerome Jeffries: In charge of Prosperity. He lead a few people to John’s ranch to look for shelter after they crawled out of their bunkers and as the group has steadily grown in size, they all look to him as the founder/man in charge. He doesn’t like to sit indoors and let people do his bidding though, so if he sends someone out on a supply run or a job, he’ll likely go with them. Otherwise, he feels like a bossy control freak who doesn’t care about his people and just has them running around and working themselves to the bone for him. It makes him feel too much like Joseph and he obviously hates that.

Casey Fixman: Casey still cooks for the people of Prosperity primarily (also sending nice home cooked meals to the Wolf’s Den once a week as a treat for the remaining Whitetails), but he also provides valuable knowledge about combat and the inner workings of human beings. He’s a very knowledgeable guy and Jerome can often be found having hush-hush meetings with him behind the kitchen whenever Jerome needs advice on how to handle a problem.

Nick Rye: Nick looks after the kids of Prosperity. He doesn’t fly much anymore as he’s found happiness in other things, like spending time with his family and looking out for the children that were born into this new world. He finds it incredibly rewarding to give them some kind of normality in the form of reading to them or playing hopscotch with them in the grass – things that he believes all kids should do.

Kim Rye: Kim works with Nick as a duo. Whilst he has fun with the kids, she gives them an education. She teaches them basic things, like reading, writing, maths (the important bits), etc. But she also teaches them basic (and age-appropriate) combat. Among other things, she teaches them how to hold a knife, how to fire a gun, and how to break free if someone grabs them. She loves working with the kids and takes pride in knowing that she’s helping them to stay safe. Nick is also super proud of the work she does and tells her everyday, of course.

Carmina Rye: Much to Kim and Nick’s misery, Carmina is a total brawler and is always desperate to go out on runs with the supply team. She wants to explore the world outside the walls of Prosperity and meet new people, often sneaking out of Prosperity and scaring her parents to death. She gets into trouble with Hudson a lot, mainly for silly teenage pranks or generally causing trouble. She likes Wheaty a whole lot and always finds an excuse to go with the trading team when they deliver things to the Wolf’s Den. She denies that it’s a crush, but it 100% is. Safe to say Nick doesn’t like Wheaty much anymore.

Grace Armstrong: Grace runs an adult combat training program. The kids get basic training from Kim, but once they get to a certain age, they move up to the adult tier, where Grace will give them full training. Including, but not limited to: how to use all types of firearm, how to properly use knives, how to fight without weapons, how to free yourself from restraints, different signals used in combat (and what they mean), and how to stealth kill. She’s basically doing the same job as Jacob, except she does it way better than he ever could.

Joey Hudson: Hudson is still a cop! She’d live in Prosperity and she’d patrol the place and make sure that everyone is getting on okay. She’d handle any arguments and disputes that people had, because even though they’re all on the same side, they’re still bound to fight. So she keeps the peace. She has a shorter fuse these days and has a tendency to get mad at people pretty quickly sometimes, but everyone knows what she went through and they cut her some slack, knowing that she doesn’t mean any harm.

Whitetail Mountains

Tammy Barnes: Tammy lives in the Wolf’s Den and still does the same kind of stuff. She “handles” what’s left of the cultists and still looks after Wheaty (who is now 36 years old and still doesn’t do his own laundry). She’s toned it down with the torture in recent years though, and has more time to do mundane things (like cooking, cleaning, and spending time with Wheaty) which she finds a lot of solace in doing. She also managed to find her true calling – knitting copious amounts of scarfs that Wheaty wouldn’t be caught dead in, although he appreciates the sentiment.

Wheaty: Wheaty now runs what’s left of the Whitetail Militia out of the Wolf’s Den. He went straight to the bunker when the bombs hit and after things had settled, he focused his efforts on rounding up as many of the remaining Whitetails as he could, desperate to hold onto Eli’s legacy. Now he trades with Prosperity and offers the help of his men and women should Prosperity ever need it (and vice-versa). When he’s not swamped with work and making sure his people are safe as they scavenge for supplies, he’s winding down by watching old tapes of Eli’s favourite TV show or home videos of Eli and his family celebrating Christmas or birthdays. He also still enjoys his music; often playing records for Tammy - the same ones that the Deputy collected for him all those years ago.

Hurk Jr: Still resides in Fort Drubman, which he’s built upon and fortified since his dad’s death. He doesn’t really do much outside of shooting at beer bottles and setting off rockets in his backyard, which he claims to have a good reason for beyond “it’s a whole heap of fun, amigo.” He occasionally works as a hired gun, helping out on supply runs for the Whitetail Militia whenever they need someone a little more… “heavy-handed.” In exchange, they give him a fraction of the supplies that were found (which is increased if he sustains an injury on the run). Other than that, he’s all about “kicking back and gettin’ buzzed, man.”

Jess Black: Jess lives in the wilderness, setting up her camp in a different place each night. She makes an effort to stay pretty clear of other people, suspecting that human beings have only gotten more dangerous since the end of the world. Tammy gets in contact with her from time to time, just to make sure she’s okay (after Eli and Dutch died, Tammy took on the responsibility of checking in on Jess), but other than that, Jess rarely has contact with people. She dedicates all of her time to surviving in the wilderness and any spare time that she has is spent on hunting and crafting. I could see her sat in front of a campfire crafting arrows or cooking a rabbit for her dinner. She doesn’t really care for anything else and is more than happy to live a secluded life alone in the forests of Hope County.

Staci Pratt: Pratt needs something calm, easy, and mundane ever since his brains were scrambled by Jacob. He can’t handle stress anymore and isn’t safe enough to be in combat or unsupervised around people. So he assists Casey in the kitchen, cooking food for Prosperity, which he enjoys more than he thought he would. In his spare time, he likes to read – mainly because it helps him to practice focusing his mind. He struggles picking out individual thoughts, often jumbling things together and getting stressed out by it. So reading a book and forcing himself to take time focusing on each individual sentence is really helpful for him. He also enjoys the escapism and seeing characters get happy endings. Other than reading, he likes spending time with friends; especially Hudson, who he feels very connected to after going through similar things.

Henbane River

Earl Whitehorse: He tried to secure the prison after getting out of his bunker, but it was too far gone, so he moved on to Prosperity. For a while, he acted as Sheriff of Prosperity, helping Hudson keep the peace in the ever-growing settlement. But he eventually began thinking of the apocalypse as his second chance. He figured that if he survived the war in Hope County, the Bliss, and then the nukes, then that has to mean something. And he didn’t want to waste his new lease of life on doing the same thing he’d been doing for the previous 30+ years. So now he spends most of his days fishing in the river behind Prosperity, providing fresh (albeit oddly coloured and disproportionate) fish for Casey to cook and providing himself with a taste of the well-deserved retirement that he never got to see.

Tracey Lader: Tracey has a whole lot of anger to share with her enemies (and people in general) so she found her place as a soldier. She acts as one of Jerome’s most trusted lieutenants and is second in command (and sometimes completely in charge, when Jerome isn’t there) of most of the supply run teams that are sent out. She debated going it alone like Jess for a while, but she ultimately likes human contact too much to live like that – no matter how annoying people can be sometimes. She’s pretty busy running the show for Jerome, so she doesn’t get much spare time, but when she does, she spends it in her room, brooding.

Sharky Boshaw: Sharky goes back and forth between locations; sometimes living in Prosperity, and sometimes living in Fort Drubman with Hurk. He still likes fire. A lot. But he contributes a little more to the grouthan he used to, using his “creative genius” (his words) to devise traps for enemies, ideally keeping said enemies as far away from the walls of Prosperity as possible. There’s sharpened branches, there’s tripwires, and most importantly; there’s fire. In his spare time, he messes around with Hurk, getting up to all kinds of trouble and not being inconspicuous in the slightest – much to Jerome’s dismay.

Adelaide Drubman: Adelaide is 83 years old now so it’s a miracle she’s still alive and you best believe she doesn’t let anybody forget it. She’s still rampantly horny, but doesn’t have the energy to keep up with her own needs anymore. So she spends most of her days messing with people around Prosperity; picking on them and getting a kick out of getting adverse reactions from them. She’s quite close with Carmina Rye (unfortunately for Nick and Kim), who keeps her feeling young, and Carmina finds her hilarious. The pair can often be found sat on the front steps of the former ranch, giggling at passers by and enjoying some time away from the destruction and misery.

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teamhawkeye · 5 years

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Guns/Fangs for Hire Rankings

(Saw some other people floating around their lists of the companions and where they rank them and i figured I’d take a crack at it too!)

9. Hurk

- He always manages to miss his target, blow me up, or both. he’s funny but i also find him not worth the headache

8. Nick

- Love Nick to death...but my god, he’s constantly being shot out of the sky or flying himself into a mountain or another plane. i get “Nick Rye is Unavailable” so often it pains me

7. Sharky

- Again, i LOVE Sharky to death. he’s probably the single funniest character in the game and i love having him along for commentary. that being said...boy’s a hazard. he’s lighting me, my other companion, hostages, or himself on fire and generally not being helpful most of the time, lol

6. Peaches

- I like her stealth approach, but for some reason her durability doesn’t seem to stand up next to the other two Fangs for Hire. She’s also constantly picking fights with a person or other animal she can’t handle and getting downed. I have to run and rescue her more often than she does for me and that makes me ere on not bringing her along unless it’s far away from any action

5. Cheeseburger

- Love Cheeseburger, but he also doesn’t so much attack as much as absorb bullets while i take down the Peggies. I don’t like seeing him get hurt so that often pains me more than anything else and i mainly just use him when i’m running around in the wilderness goofing off where he can be safe with me

4. Adelaide

- Adelaide flying Tulip can be a nightmare, because much like Nick, she’s often being shot out of the air. Adelaide on the ground, however, is an entirely different story. She’s much more capable on foot and with her rifle - plus, unlike Nick, she can land her aircraft and let you fly it instead, so she has the added benefit of bringing a helicopter to you whenever you need it to use yourself

3. Grace

- Grace is really competent and that’s more than can be said for some of the others on this list. My only real complaint is that they never gave her the option to use a silencer - they seemed to rectify that with Nana in New Dawn, but Grace with a silencer would have been AMAZING. Her “sniper fire scares the enemy” perk isn’t really all that helpful to me and i’d have loved to use her more for stealth runs

2. Jess

- Jess can light me on fire as much as Sharky, but her capability makes up for that. She’s silent, deadly, and strong and i appreciate that in outpost fights and the like! Plus, she’s not getting attacked by wild animals every other second or getting spotted as much by Peggies which is also super useful for stealth runs.

1. Boomer

- What can i say other than “did you honestly think anyone else would rank number one in my list”? the BEST BOY! i don’t like having to whip out my binoculars and mark people every 10 seconds so having him do that for me is such a great perk. he collects extra ammo and money from bodies even after you’ve looted them, he’s ignored by Peggies until you attack or tell him to attack so he’s perfect for stealth, he intercepts animals trying to come and pick a fight with you a lot of the time, he will run straight for you when you’re downed to help revive you and not worry about picking a fight with anybody else still hanging around, and when he’s got his perks stacked, he’s a little mini-tank! I have never, ever not had Boomer at my side - it’s always him and whoever else i’m fancying at the time because he is my go-to companion. I could honestly go the whole game with it just being me and him running around Hope County and I’d be satisfied

#Katie plays Far Cry 5

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glowwormsmith · 5 years

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Here’s my FC5XTrailer Park Boys crossover (if you don’t know what Trailer Park Boys is, it’s the misadventures of three guys Ricky, Julian and Bubbles living in the Sunnyvale Trailer Park and trying to get rich quick through dumb schemes while being opposed by drunk park supervisor Mr. Lahey and his lover/assistant Randy. Watch it on Netflix, it’s crass but funny as shit).

-So the Boys’ latest scheme goes south, like really south. They are now facing serious jail time, so they bust it to the US and just so happen to land in Montana to lay low for a while. It’s Ricky, Julian, and Bubbles, with Corey and Jacob tagging along by hiding out in their trunk on accident. Mr. Lahey and Randy are in hot pursuit, determined to catch the fugitives and bring them in once and for all.

-Course they find themselves in Bumfuck Hope County, right as the war between resistance and the cult is underway. Bubbles is freaking out, while Julian is only mildly concerned, and Ricky thinks this is just how America typically is.

R: “‘S no big deal, guys.This is just how the Unified Stateses is. Let’s go find some weed, we’ll get drunk with these yanks, and have a good time.”

-Julian has the bright idea of making money of this thing and begins playing both sides, though it’s clear he feels more sympathetic for the Resistance side. Ricky ends up perplexing everyone, but there’s no one who is confused and hateful towards him more than the Seed’s.

John: “Do you want to confess your sins?”

Ricky: “Shit, I mean my old man was into all that Bible stuff, but I’ll give it a go. There was all the times I robbed the liquor store, but those guys make money every day so I don’t see how I’m robbin’ them, just takin’ what I can get. Then I burned down my dad’s trailer, but like it wasn’t really my fault, you know, I just wanted to be with Lucy, and the fuckin’ fries just got too hot to handle and everyone was getting lap dances at the club, so it’s kinda their fault too. Been to prison lots of times, but prison’s great. You should try it, y’know, maybe it’ll make you guys less dicks. I grow weed, but that’s not a sin, ‘cuz it’s legal in my homeland to grow your own hash, no big deal, it’s just plants from God...”

John: “Stop, dear god, stop."

Jacob: “Can I cull him already”

-Sharky and Hurk Jr. love Ricky, they become amigos and it’s a clusterfuck of weird stupidity with these boys. Sharky and Hurk are the new Corey and Jacob, don’t @ me.

-Bubbles loves Peaches! “She’s just a big ole kitty at heart, boys. She’ll only hurt the bad guys.” Hates Miss Mable’s guts and is trying to keep Peaches with him for good.

-You know Trevor, the sidekick of Corey who mysteriously disappeared and was replaced with Jacob? He’s been living in St. Francis, working with the cult because he finds Joseph to be cool.

Julian: “Trevor, why are you working for these guys?”

Trevor: “Sorry, Julian, he’s just too cool. Look at his shades” Holds hand up for Joseph to hit.

Joseph: “Please put that down, my son.”

Trevor: “He’s like the dad I never had.”

Ricky: “He’s perfect for you, Trevor, you’re both fucked outta your brain. Fuckin’ idiots, Jacob makes for a better Trevor anyways.”

-Ricky and Julian swear they remember Faith from someone. Rachel Faith says they must be mistaken and works harder to get rid of them.

-Ricky is immune to Bliss, it just gives him a good high. The Resistance have used it to their advantage, Faith is very upset.

-Lahey is drunk the whole time, gets real fucked on Bliss. Randy tries his best to keep it together and is able to think clearer due to not having cheeseburgers to eat (Cheeseburger the bear does try to eat him a few times). Lahey is then able to quit due to Joseph’s five-step program and becomes a new man. It doesn’t last long, Ricky always does some shit to bring him back.

Feel free to add more, I just added a few ideas from when me and my bf were talking haha.

#far cry 5 #trailer park boys #fc5 au-ish

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krycss · 5 years

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Actions Speak Louder Than Words | Jacob Seed x f!Deputy

Chapter 12

[Read on AO3]

Previous Chapter - Next Chapter

OOF! Sorry for the lateness everyone! I'm writing this and my Red Dead Redemption 2 fic, Crossroads, at the same time. I originally was pushing out a chapter for both fics each week but seeing as the chapters for Crossroads end up being around 10k words each I decided to alternate publishing. So you'll get a new chapter of this every other week.

Otherwise, enjoy! Wedding time!

Be sure to check out the art I made for this chapter as well: here.

The next few weeks after Jacob’s proposal were a whirlwind of activity. When the other Seeds had found out they quickly took up the reins of getting everything set up for the couple – much to Jacob’s complaint. The man would be happy if it was just the two of them and Joseph but Joseph had insisted that it has to be a special occasion for his older brother. Especially during these trying times before the Collapse, Joseph had added. So for now it was simply up to Rook and Jacob to continue their work for the Project while the others handled the wedding.

Jacob was more than happy to let the others deal with it.

Rook was antsy, to say the least.

Growing up she had all these ideas of her perfect wedding – a big venue, the fanciest dress, her family and friends, a world-tour honeymoon. She knew she couldn’t get that, but it didn’t matter. The one thing she didn’t plan for as a teenager was a scruffy, somewhat psychotic, ex-military, pseudo-cultist to take a hold of her heart. And if that meant they spent the rest of their lives in Hope County for the foreseeable future, then she was happy with that. It didn’t matter if they had a big, extravagant wedding, or a small one where they just hung out with the rest of the Seed family for the day. She just wanted to be with Jacob.

She thought of inviting some of her closest friends in the resistance. She had picked up the radio a multitude of times. If nothing else, she wanted Kim there, the woman at least wouldn’t be too surprised since she was the first to know about Rook and Jacob. She wasn’t sure if Nick would allow her though because of her pregnancy. And the dangerous cult aspect. Sharky and Hurk would probably come just for the prospect of a good party – they’d certainly provide entertainment. She briefly considered Adalaide but quickly got rid of that idea. Everyone else though, they wouldn’t understand. And she didn’t blame them. Perhaps she could bring Cheeseburger, she certainly missed the big goof. She wasn’t certain that Joseph, or anyone really, would be thrilled with that though.

It was sad, Rook thought, that every time she’d leave the Veteran’s Center she had to look over her shoulder. She used to bulldoze her way through Hope County with no worries of anyone getting the jump on her. They had to worry about her getting the jump on them. Now, however, she was always paranoid that someone was going to kidnap her again – it was becoming a bit of a nuisance. She wasn’t sure if she was more upset about being scared of the kidnapping part, or the fact that if anyone did it’d probably be by people she once called friends.

Still, she had to leave. Especially with the wedding planning. She just couldn’t let the others handle everything. Jacob had insisted he come along to protect her but Rook had continuously turned him down. One, because she knew he didn’t want to sit for hours with Faith talking about fabrics for the dress and decorations, but also because she was planning a surprise for the man. If he had figured something was up he didn’t say, but he was smart. If anything, he was at least a little suspicious. Any time he asked why she had to go at least three times a week to visit with his siblings he was met with a variety of answers. “We’re choosing flower arrangements”, “we’re going over music”, or “Joseph just wants to go over some things.” They weren’t complete lies. She was doing those things – Jacob insisted he came along for the food tasting, though, much to Rook’s amusement.

She had something she needed to do with all of his siblings, and she wanted – no needed – it to be a surprise for Jacob. He had done so much for her these past few months, it was the least she could do.

Hope County was experiencing an eerie sense of peace this past week. Joseph wanted nothing to go wrong on the day of the wedding and so he had been slowly taking Project members off the roads in order to make sure his island was protected. Whether or not the Resistance knew why, there was no word. The radio chatter that Jacob and Rook did pick up was mostly the same, if not for a bit of confusion on the Resistance’s end.

Still, Rook didn’t want to think about that stuff at the moment. She was currently being pampered on by Faith and a few of her followers as they got ready for the big day. She was inside one of the houses in Joseph’s Compound while Jacob was in another.

They had kept her makeup simple – a light dusting of powder, some eyeliner, and a red lipstick. Faith’s followers were currently working on a crown of Bliss leaves. Rook was thankful that Faith was still understanding about her hesitance on the flower and instead was just using the leaves which would cause none of the effects. Another of her followers had lightly curled her black hair. Rook had been keeping it up in either a bun or a ponytail since she started officially working at the Veteran’s Center so she was thankful for the opportunity to, quite literally, let her hair down.

Faith had insisted on making Rook’s dress for her and she couldn’t complain, the final product was beautiful. The top half, which ended just above her waistline, was covered in the same lace as Faith’s dress while the bottom half was layered in chiffon that flowed behind her. It wasn’t too long, but dragged just a bit.

Rook smiled at herself in the mirror. It had taken some time, but she was starting to look past her scars. The holes had started to close up, like when you forget put your earrings back in for a few years. She imagined that after a while they’d end up just barely noticeable. She felt…beautiful. For the first time in a very long time. Jacob had told her many times in their private moments, but she had never believed it herself. At the thought of the man Rook’s smiled widened. She couldn’t wait to see what he looked like. Apparently John had insisted on dressing his older brother. Rook would admit she appreciated it as she was sure Jacob would have just worn his normal look, if not a bit cleaner. Bless him, she thought.

Faith walked up to Rook and they both looked her over in the mirror. She handed her the bouquet, it was a mix of the Bliss leaves as well as a few wild flowers from the area. The stems were wrapped in a piece of burlap and around that were Jacob’s dog tags. Rook fiddled with them for a moment.

“You ready?” Faith whispered excitedly.

Rook nodded.

There was a knock at the door, quick but gentle. Faith answered it and Joseph was standing there. He had on his white shirt and jacket for the occasion. He smiled at Rook when he spotted her and she met him halfway for a hug.

“You look lovely.” He pulled back to press their foreheads together.

Faith’s followers followed her out of the house to head towards the church with a quick goodbye to Rook.

Rook took in a shaky breath.

“Nervous?” Joseph asked with a smile as he held out his arm.

Rook wrapped her free hand around his offered arm, holding her bouquet in the other. She shrugged.

“It’s okay if you need to change your mind, I can improvise.” He winked, causing her to laugh softly.

Rook looked around the compound. There were still some members of Eden’s Gate wandering around. If they weren’t here outside the church, then they were down closer to the water where the reception was being held. She could faintly smell the food being prepared from where they stood. The few people that were around smiled at her. She wasn’t certain if it was for her or the Father, though. She still got some looks and a few comments from some of the members that didn’t think her joining made up for the deaths she had created on their side. Mostly everyone in the Veteran’s Center respected her though so she didn’t mind if people outside had their questions. She looked back and saw that the wrought iron Eden’s Gate fence was locked and guarded by more soldiers than was probably necessary.

They were now standing in front of the church itself. Nothing much had changed on the outside except for a few garlands of flowers around the door to announce the occasion. Faith poked her head through the door quickly, letting them know everything was good to go and that they could enter when they heard the music begin. Joseph thanked her. Rook let out a shaky breath and she looked up at Joseph with a grin. She bounced on the balls of her feet, thankful for the low heels that Faith had given her so she wouldn’t injure herself.

She wasn’t nervous, she was excited.

Her nerves did, however, flare up when she heard the piano begin to belt out a familiar tune. Joseph placed his free arm over the hand she had wrapped around the crux of his elbow.

“It’s time.”

Rook nodded, taking in a deep breath as the door opened.

The first thing to hit her was the smell. Gone was the dusty, stale air of the church from the last time she was there. Instead the windows were open, allowing a draft as well as the many flowers that Faith had decorated the place with that gave off a great multitude of scents. The two members holding the doors open nodded at Rook who smiled back quickly. She was thankful that she didn’t really know many people in the Project which meant that the amount of people inside the church was rather small. She glanced over the heads that had turned around when the doors had opened. She spotted the members of her team from the Veteran’s Center. The largest man of her group, a normally stoic man named Tex, was currently fighting a losing battle with his watery eyes. The others were smiling, both at her and at Tex’s expense. Rook had tried to get Jacob to allow Pratt to show up if he wanted, but he had turned her down for some reason. The rest of the faces were a mix of familiar people from the Center as well as a few unknowns.

A small gasp drew her attention to the stage on the opposite side of the church. Rook’s eyes connected with Jacob and she couldn’t stop the smile on her face if she wanted to. He had a crisp, white button up shirt that was rolled to his elbows. Over that was a red waistcoat with black dress pants and shoes. She would have to thank John later for making her soon-to-be husband finally own some nice clothes.

Her eyes were brought back up to Jacob’s and she couldn’t remove them from the man as she got closer. Finally, after the short walk which felt much longer, Joseph released her arm and pressed his forehead to hers before leading her to Jacob. She passed her bouquet to Faith who was standing behind her. Both of her hands were now held within Jacob’s. She still loved looking at the difference in their hand sizes. Joseph was beginning the ceremony but her and Jacob were in their own little world as his voice became distorted. Soft was not a word she thought she’d ever use with Jacob, but right now that’s how he looked. They were both smiling at one another and she was certain her cheeks were going to hurt later but it would be worth it.

They were drawn from their little world by Joseph placing a hand on Jacob’s shoulder, causing the small crowd to chuckle a bit.

“Jacob,” Joseph smiled at his brother. “Your vows, if you will.”

Jacob nodded, coughing a bit as he was brought back to the moment.

“I, uh, I never believed in love. If I did it was a long time ago. Cat, you’ve believed in me when no one else would, and you’ve shown me how to love again with unconditional acceptance. I’m not sure a lifetime is long enough to return all you’ve given me in our short time knowing one another, but I promise to spend the rest of my days by your side. I promise to protect you, and I know you’ll have my back as well. I promise to be a home for you. A safe haven.” He smiled down at her and Rook could feel a tear slide down her cheek.

“I didn’t know I needed you, but once you came into my life, I knew it was always only you. For now and always.” Jacob let out a sigh as he ended.

Rook could only imagine the mess she looked with her tears streaming down her face. She couldn’t take a hand to wipe them as she was currently clutching tightly to Jacob’s to keep her from simply jumping the man. Jacob looked about ready to cry himself, she could see the tears forming in his eyes but could tell he was keeping them in check and not allowing them to fall.

Joseph turned to Rook who nodded at him, then to Jacob, and then to the crowd.

“Catherine has also elected to recite her own vows.” Joseph placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Jacob’s eyes widened and glanced between the two of them.

Surprise successful, Rook thought as she smiled up at him. She let out a nervous breath of air and forced herself to keep her eyes trained on Jacob’s. She had been spending the past few weeks practicing speaking with the rest of the Seeds. Small bits of conversation here and there in order for this moment. She wasn’t certain if she’d be able to talk to anyone else any time soon, but this was enough for now.

“T-they say actions speak louder than words.” Rook began, squeezing tightly to Jacob’s hands. She took a deep breath, steadying her voice. She could do this, she told herself. “You were there to bring me out of a dark place, and I promise to always be there to do the same for you.”

She gently squeezed his hands again, gaining the confidence to push out the last of her vows with what energy she had left.

“No matter what trials we encounter together, or-or how much time as passed, I know that our love will never fade. I know that we’ll always find our strength in one another, and that we’ll continue to grow side by side. I promise to love only you for as long as I am able. Yesterday, tomorrow, and today. A-always.”

When she was done she could feel her hands shaking like crazy. Jacob was running his thumbs over her knuckles soothingly.

“I’m so proud of you.” He whispered.

If he was controlling his tears before, he had given up as a few fell down his cheeks. He didn’t bother getting rid of his either.

Joseph spoke up again, gaining their attention. “Jacob, do you take Catherine to be your lawfully wedded wife? Do you promise to love, honor, cherish, and protect her, forsaking all others and holding unto her in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer as long as you both shall live?”

Jacob smiled down at her. “I do.”

“And do you, Catherine, take Jacob to be your lawfully wedded husband? Do you promise to love, honor, cherish, and protect him, forsaking all others and holding only unto him in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer for as long as you both shall live?”

“I do!” Rook grinned.

Joseph took the rings they had picked out earlier from his pocket. He handed the first to Jacob as they went over the words. The ring was a simple, thin, gold band. When he was finished he quickly brought it to his lips, kissing the ring on her finger. Rook was still smiling as she took the ring from Joseph and went to place it on Jacob’s. Her voice stuttered as she recited her part but she didn’t think anyone was judging her for it. When the ring was on his finger she did the same and brought his hand to her lips.

“Well,” Joseph brought their attention back to him. “With the power invested in me as the Father by the grace of God, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Brother, you may kiss your bride.”

Jacob barely had time to react as Rook took the initiative and leapt into his arms, she could feel him laughing against her lips as she wrapped her arms around his neck. His arms instinctively held her up in the air and she’s so lost in the moment that she didn’t notice the applause from those inside the church until Jacob finally placed her back on the ground.

She was no longer Catherine Rook.

She was Catherine Seed now.

Cat couldn’t keep the smile from her face as they all walked down to the reception area. They stopped briefly for someone to take a few quick photos to commemorate the event, but not enough to seem vain according to Joseph. She could faintly hear music mixed with chatter from those who were already waiting. It was mostly just those who were staying in the Compound. Cat didn’t mind the crowd, besides, she imagined a few of them were happy to have a chance to party for a little bit. Her hand was linked with Jacob’s, her husband. It wasn’t as weird to think about as she thought it would be. Any time she looked up at him he had a smile on his face. It was nice to see him show his emotions more, he usually kept it between the two of them.

As they got closer the guests there turned their attention and started clapping. Cat smiled in thanks but she was fairly certain it was mostly for Jacob and the other Seeds. Though, she thought, she was now a Seed too.

Joseph stepped into the cleared space in the middle of the tables.

“My Children,” everyone quieted. “I want to thank you all for coming and celebrating the union of our beloved brother, Jacob and his new wife Catherine. Before the libations begin, I’d like to invite the new couple to enjoy their first dance.”

As he left the space to join John and Faith and the guests clapped politely as Cat and Jacob stepped forward.

Jacob already had a suspicious grin going on.

“What are you up to?” Cat whispered, her eyes scrutinizing his face.

She realized what it was very quickly. The song began and Cat immediately let her face drop to his chest as she laughed. She had put his dog tags back around her neck and could feel them press into her own chest.

“Only you…” She felt Jacob’s soft singing through his chest as they swayed to the music.

“You’re ridiculous.” Cat spoke. “Good thing you deconditioned me or this would be a hell of a party.”

She tuned out the people around her. She might not be comfortable talking with them, but she could at least talk to Jacob around them.

“I know.” He placed a kiss to the top of her head. “We really did it, huh?”

He brought her into a spin which earned a laugh.

“We really did. Funny how this worked out.”

“I never thought…” He brought her back close. “I never thought I’d have this chance, you know. I had given up on the idea of marriage as a possibility for me.”

Cat looked up at him, giving him her full attention.

“Didn’t think anyone would give me the chance, no one seemed to want to get past all of this.” He gestured to his face and arms. “And then there was you.”

“And I wormed my way into your heart with my stubbornness.” Cat pulled him down to kiss him quickly.

“That you did.” He hummed. “Though, I don’t think you would have considered marrying me back when we first met.” He laughed through his nose.

“Cages aren’t exactly romantic, but I still found you attractive, don’t worry.” She winked at him.

They continued dancing, mostly just swaying around the area as neither bothered to properly learn to dance for the wedding, until the song wound own. Everyone clapped once more as they made their way over to their table where the rest of the Seeds were sitting. They took the two seats in the middle. Faith was the first to make a quick speech, toasting to her new sister and wishing them all the love. John went next, teasing his older brother about finding a woman far too good for him to which Jacob agreed. Finally, Joseph. His speech, of course, was grand and filled with biblical metaphors and mentions of the Collapse but Cat didn’t mind. She was just thankful that he had allowed their union despite the trouble she had given them in the past. A few of her teammates also had some words to say though it was mostly just simple congratulations and then the party really began.

The food was rather good, simple but good. It was a lot of vegetables that had been grown in the compound as well as some of the supplies that could be spared from John’s bunker. There was a part of Cat that had wished for a bar at the party, but alas, that wasn’t allowed. She could tell Jacob and John were thinking the same thing and Cat couldn’t wait for the start of her honeymoon. She already knew what she wanted to do at some point: a simple fishing trip with her new husband and case of good beer. Smiling at that thought, she was brought out of her reverie by Joseph coming up next to her.

“Catherine, there’s something you should see by the front gate.” He whispered in her ear.

Cat looked over at him, confused.

“W-w-what do you mean?” She blindly reached for Jacob’s hand next to her to steady her speech.

“You’ll have to see for yourself.”

He stood and walked away slowly, allowing Cat time to follow.

She dragged Jacob along with her although she knew he would have followed anyways. Her confusion continued until she could see the still-closed white gate. The people behind it, however, were enough to cause her steps to fumble, knocking Jacob into her back. It was a bit of a shock to see Armstrong and Whitehorse, but what really caught her off guard was seeing Hudson, Burke, and Pratt as well. Joey was still in a bit of disheveled mess seeming to have been taken from John’s bunker rapidly. Burke was practically glowing from his time with Faith, literally. And Pratt was staring at her, or rather, behind her. His eyes were hard but still respectful as he stared at Jacob. The others though, Armstrong, Hudson, and Whitehorse, were staring at her. A mix of emotion on each of their faces. Confusion from Whitehorse, what looked like disgust from Armstrong, and anger from Hudson.

Joseph stood in front of Cat.

“When I originally ordered the capture of them it was to punish them, to punish you.” He said quietly. “But you are my sister now, and it would be cruel of me to keep your friends locked away. I understand if you want to say goodbye and so I had them brought here with their…escorts.”

Cat nodded slowly. She felt Jacob squeeze her shoulder and she melted into his touch. She turned to look at him.

“I-I don’t know if I’ll be able to talk to them.”

“I’ll be right here, unless you want me to go with you.” He whispered, brushing a loose hair from her face.

She took in a deep breath before walking off towards the gate. Her steps were unsteady but she held her head up. She stood far enough away from the gate to keep out of reach – just in case – but close enough to hear them.

It was silent for a while.

“What did you do?” Armstrong gritted through her teeth.

Cat turned to look back at Jacob.

“Hey!” Armstrong called out. “I’m talking to you, don’t look at him.”

Cat flinched and her head turned back.

“I-I-I’m sorry. I shouldn’t-shouldn’t have left like I did.” She twisted the ring around her finger. “But I’m happy here. I-I really am.”

“He kept you in a cage!” Joey cried out. “He tortured you, his brother tortured you. His brother tortured me! We were partners.” She growled out. She was holding her side, obviously still wounded.

“I k-know! It’s different-”

“You betrayed us, Dep. Look at you now.” Armstrong spoke up again. “A Seed.” She practically spat the name out.

“It doesn’t – It doesn’t have to be like t-this. Just go.” Rook pleaded.

“Tsk.” Armstrong went to help Hudson to the van that was waiting behind them. “After everything you did for us, for the County. You’re just gonna give it up? For them?”

Cat’s shoulders straightened at that. “I did s-so much for all of you. I didn’t ask for a t-thank you. But you wouldn’t have gotten n-nearly as f-far without me. And you know it.” She grit her teeth. She was the backbone of that resistance for a long time. How dare they throw it back at her.

Armstrong just shook her head as she walked to the driver’s seat. Hudson kept her eyes forward as she sat in the back. Whitehorse helped Burke into the back before turning towards Cat. He gave her a small smile. She wasn’t sure if she was happy that he didn’t say anything, or upset. Pratt stood there for a while. His eyes flicked between her and Jacob.

“Y-you’re welcome to stay with us, Staci. I don’t t-think we’d be able to handle all that work without you.” Cat smiled quickly.

“I…” He hesitated.

“Pratt! Let’s go!” Hudson yelled out from the van.

He shrunk into his shoulders, his gaze drawn to the dirt as he walked back to the van. As he got in, he chanced a glance up at Cat and then Jacob again before the van took off, leaving a trail of dirt in the air.

Cat stood there a moment, watching the van as it drove quickly down the dirt path until it was out of sight. She didn’t realize she was shaking until Jacob wrapped his arms around her shoulders, tucking his chin on the top of her head.

“It’ll be okay.” He whispered.

Cat nodded, careful not to bump his chin. “Let’s head back. We’ve got a cake to eat.” She smiled, pushing the negative thoughts away for the time being. It could wait until they were alone.

The rest of the party was rather uneventful when compared to the shock of seeing her friends again. Still, Cat wasn’t about to let it get her down. This was a happy day for her, even if her friends didn’t see it that way. She briefly wondered if they’d even be considered her friends anymore.

John had somehow managed to get ahold of the most extravagant cake he could find. It was probably the most expensive thing there next to his custom Eden’s Gate buckle and earrings.

“Ah, Cat.” John sighed dramatically as she sat next to her with a piece of cake. “I still don’t know what you see in my older brother. It’s not too late to change your mind, you know?” He winked slowly, letting her know he was teasing.

Cat laughed, shaking her head as Jacob stole the cake from John’s plate in retaliation.

“Don’t worry, Johnny.” Cat bumped her shoulder with his. “You’ll find someone who can put up with you.”

As the party wound down the people there slowly began to trickle out. The Project couldn’t be put on hold for much longer and they still had jobs to do. Eventually all that was left was the Seed family, Cat included. She was currently sitting in Jacob’s lap, soaking up his energy as her social interactions for the day had been drained away. Joseph called for everyone’s attention.

“I heard from the Voice again last night.” He ran the beads of his rosary through his fingers. “The Collapse should be coming any time now. We need to make sure we’re prepared. Now more than ever.”

The four siblings nodded, discussing quietly everything they still had left to do. Cat was currently focusing on her new wedding ring. She still couldn’t believe it had actually happened. She hadn’t even met the man that long ago but, she supposed that when you knew you found the one it was always meant to be. Besides, she thought, if Joseph was right and the world was about to end, well, she at least picked the right man for the apocalypse lifestyle. Jacob then nudged her shoulder a small bit, drawing her attention.

“You ready to go?” He whispered.

Cat nodded, she was eager to get him alone. She felt the urge to scratch at her lust tattoo. They might not have been planning their wedding, but they had certainly been planning their honeymoon. They couldn’t exactly go on a vacation out of the county, but they did have a cabin hidden away in the Whitetails that they could stay at to get away from it all just for a bit.

They said their goodbyes to their family before heading off. Jacob’s truck was already packed with some things they would need so they hopped right in.

“I hope you know that my vows weren’t my only surprise for you.” Cat smirked over at Jacob.

He let his gaze fall away from the road for a moment to follow her hand as it pulled up the edge of her dress. The red garter around her thigh was enough of a hint for Jacob to press the pedal to the floor earning a whoop of laughter from his wife.

#fic: actions speak louder than words #my ocs: catherine rook #far cry 5 #jacob seed #jacob seed x female deputy #fc5 #fc5 fic #hopefully this shows up in the tags

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red-writer-js-blog · 7 years

Text

Maturinus: School Days Preview

Chapter One: Transfer

“You’re a very special girl Catherine. You’re going to change the world.”

“Hi there! You must be the new girl! I’m *******, that’s *******, and that’s *******! Let’s be friends!”

“Do it again!”

“I can’t!”

“You’re getting out of here. I won’t let them keep either of you, even if it kills me.”

“Catherine… they’re dead. I’m sorry.”

“Freak!”

“Weirdo!”

“Stop it!”

“Hello?”

The voices died as she snapped awake, and as the dreary remnants of sleep fled she realised that she was face-to-face and hand-to-throat with a stranger, digging in tight enough to mark the skin a whiter shade of pale beneath her fingers. She jerked away at the realisation of what she was doing; staring at her hands in disbelief before bringing one to her forehead to try and calm the gentle throbbing that was spreading out from there in waves of static. Surprisingly, the young man she’d assaulted was rather unfazed by her actions, rubbing the engravings gingerly as he rose from his crouch, shooting her a toothy smile.

“Sorry about that, my fault. I should have learned not to shake dreamers awake prematurely by now; bad luck and all that.”

His voice drew her back to the man she’d tried to kill. He was lean and slight like a beanpole, and if she stood up he’d be about a head taller than her, said head covered in messy black hair. He was dressed casually in a loose shirt and jeans, combined with some kind of metal choker around the base of his neck. She recalled something her Aunt had said about a similarly looking boy on the cover of a romance novel once; handsome, in a sad poet kind of way. He looked a little uneasy, but it couldn’t have been due to the accident, because he’d already brushed that off. It took a moment to click that she should speak back instead of just staring at him. Not that she had much experience with talking to boys, or anyone really. Thankfully, he took command of the conversation with an awkward smile as she rose from her seat. It carried over into his speech as well, shaking a little for reasons she couldn’t understand. It wasn’t like she was intimidating in any way, shape or form.

“Anyway, allow me to introduce myself. Alexander King.”

He held out for a handshake and was taken up in a limp fashion. Withdrawing after a single pump, he turned his attention to the tablet computer under his arm. She didn’t get a chance to respond before he’d started up again.

“They’ve already given me a bit on you though. Catherine Holmes, but you prefer Katie for simplicity’s sake. You recently turned sixteen; birthday is the 28th August 2034. Happy birthday, by the way. B negative for blood type with a mostly medical record for the most part, not counting that time you broke your arm falling down a flight of stairs at school. Speaking of which, you’re quite the bright one, huh? School records favour high marks across the board, with an unbeaten streak of A+ in the sciences, very impressive. You enjoy science-fiction and horror novels, electronic music from the turn of the millennium and sweet foods. Dislikes include-hurk!”

His sentence was cut off as a thick appendage wrapped around his throat, pining the hand that had been reaching up for a casual scratch. Before he could utter anything else he’d been dragged down to his knees, their positions reversed as she stormed to her feet.

“W-w-who a-are you? H-how d-d-do you know all that?”

The appendage tightened, Alexander catching an unhealthy shade of red from it.

“A-are you an s-stalker? D-d-did you k-k-kidnap me?”

The new limb stretched unnaturally in her fitful fury, and he was slammed into the ceiling hard enough to crack the tiles, the shattered chips raining down around them in a haze of dislodged dust.

“Where am I, w-why can’t I r-r-remember a-anything, and w-why do I have a s-s-snake for a-an arm?”

She couldn’t explain it, but it felt like something was missing from her. No, not something; lots of things. Things that she felt she should know. Important things. Birthdays, family, the broken arm; entire years were gone, no matter how she reached back for them. She couldn’t even remember which school her uniform was from. Was that why everything was so fuzzy? Glowing eyes fought to stay open, running down the length of what had used to be her arm to meet hers.

“Technically, I believe that would be called a tentacle. Also, it would be much easier to explain if you weren’t constricting my windpipe. Please, calm down.”

His response wasn’t spoken but came from inside her head, the sentence fading as soon as it had been imprinted. Swallowing heavily, she lowered her ‘arm’, the tentacle loosening its death grip on the man’s throat to allow gravity to apply its own touch instead, and he fell awkwardly to his knees. With Alexander back on the ground she dared to look at it, the thick, fleshy rope that now extended from her forearm, drooping onto the ground to turn over itself in a coil. With a deathly shudder up her spine, Katie collapsed to the linoleum floor, covering her mouth to hold in the lurch of nausea, demanding release from the sight. The feeling was eased by Alexander folding around her, rubbing her back as he embraced her. The comforting motion broke what little composure she had left, and she was left heaving with sobs as she subconsciously burrowed into his shoulder.

“It’s okay. It’s going to be fine Katie. You’re among friends.”

The platitudes did nothing to assure her, her crying growing heavier, only to catch in her throat and became rougher, a rasping, spluttering cough adding to the sounds of her confused misery. She could feel herself being brought up as Alexander settled her back into a chair, still petting her as he pulled away.

“Okay, I’m going to get you a glass of water, so sit tight, enjoy the view and don’t freak out. You know, any more.”

And with that he exited the room post-haste, leaving her to stare out blankly and collect herself. Katie forced herself to breathe deep, trying to ignore the taste of bile in her mouth and sickly feeling in her stomach as she tried to process that she had been A: brought halfway across the country against her will at best, B: kidnapped by people who knew everything about her and had most likely been monitoring her for her whole life. Not to mention C… Wait, what was C again? Something about… no, it was gone. Never mind, it would come back to her. She also realised that the young man had left without answering any of her questions, and that her hand was still nowhere to be seen. Biting on her lip to hold back the tears in her eyes, she turned her attentions to the aforementioned view. The hallway she’d woken up in was unremarkable, long and cream with only her seating position and the window opposite to break the monotony. It was outside that was more interesting, even in her state of dulled shock. She appeared to be at some kind of port, full to the brim with both military and commercial vessels. Warehouses, stock houses and repair bays of all shapes and sizes littered the bay along with giant, quad barrelled flak cannons at the end of long, solid stone piers. Shops of all sorts lined what little she could see out the right-hand side of the window, leading towards the centre of a residential district. Every inch of the place was lined with redcoat soldiers, bayonetted rifles glinting in the weak September sunlight. It might have been any other idyllic seaside town if not for the military presence. The squeak of the hallway door signalled the return of Alexander, entering the room with two plastic cups of water and a handkerchief hanging over his wrist.

“We’re in Guernsey, for your information. St Peter’s Port, commercial and tourist capital of the whole island, mostly because it’s the only town on the whole island. Here.”

He held out one of the cups and the handkerchief, Katie taking both as he settled into the chair next to her, taking a sip from his drink. He waited for her to follow suit with an uneasy gulp before he took a second shot, mussing up his hair with a sigh as he began to speak.

“Sorry for that little info-dump, I thought you’d be reassured that you were supposed to be here, but I guess it came off kind of creepy. I’m not normally involved with these introductions, but orders are orders after all.”

She took another gulp of water, trying to ignore that most of it spilled onto her shirt, and hoping that he would as well.

“G-Guernsey… why does t-that sound f-familiar?”

“You’ve probably seen it on TV. The Adept Games?”

The look that appeared on his face when she shook her head was somehow relieved and surprised at the same time.

“I’m amazed you’ve never heard of it, seeing as it gets shown year-round. The Empire’s Most Popular Show since 1991, if you can believe it.”

She couldn’t help feeling a little uneducated, and went to look at her shoes hoping that her sudden onset of blushing wasn’t too visible.

“W-we d-don’t have a-a television. I read m-mostly.”

Alexander rose out of his seat and drained his cup, throwing casually it down the hall, and even Katie could tell that the attempt was nowhere close to the bin at the other end. But as the cup reached the halfway point and hit the ground, it popped up and launched itself the rest of the way, arcing nicely into the bin. He didn’t even react to the impossible shot, stretching his arms into the air with laced fingers, a series of pops and cracks sounding from his back and shoulders.

“Good for you, it’s an awful program. Anyway, as you no doubt have some questions, let’s take a walk. It’ll be easier for you to understand if I show you the place than if I were to just rattle off info at you without pause. You know, like I just did… and failed at.”

With an awkward cough, he held out his hand. Katie managed to look up from the floor to meet his eyes for the first time. Despite the dark patches under them, they were very nice eyes, a bright cerulean blue that seemed to glow in the morning light. She was staring again, but if he noticed her checking him out the notion flew over his head as he continued with his non-stop sentences, flowing one into another without pause.

“I understand that you’re hesitant. Everyone is at first, and I realise that I’ve kinda ruined everything straight off the bat for you.”

He knelt down to meet her sitting height, still smiling despite all that they’d inflicted on one another.

“But I promise you, I am absolutely the last person who would hurt you, on this island or anywhere else.”

Maybe it was that sentence and the look of certainty as he said it. Maybe it was the fact that he was the only one with answers. Maybe it was the fact that he was the first person not related to her, and a good looking boy at that, to hold a conversation with her in years. Or maybe it was simply that she wanted out of the room. Whatever the reason, she finished her own cup and took the offered hand as they both rose, Alexander giving her a brilliant grin.

“All right then, allons-y!”

“Um… what?”

“It means let’s go. In French. I forget no-one speaks it anymore. Well, no-one other than me and a couple of towns in France that refuse to see sense and switch to English completely. Good on them I say, sense is overrated.”

He was already whisking her out the door before she had time to decipher any of that, through a small reception area and out into the brisk air of mid-afternoon. He didn’t even pause to let her adjust to the light before he’d turned on his heel and began briskly leading her up towards the coastal town, her hand still held tightly in his.

“W-wait!”

Her guide turned back to her, gently tilting his head to one side.

“W-what about m-my hand?”

“Oh, that? You sorted that out yourself a few minutes ago. You used it for the handkerchief, remember?”

She looked down in surprise to find that he wasn’t lying. Her hand had returned to normal, back to soft pale skin and well-chewed nails. Alexander continued as she turned it over to check every detail, pinching to check – right, definitely wasn’t dreaming.

“That’s why I had you calm down. Adepts with transformation abilities sort of – “snap back” to normal form if they settle themselves. The change was caused by stress, so some gentle breathing and focusing on the scenery subconsciously changed it back. Best part is, you were so focused on more important things that it probably happened right after I left the room. Neat, isn’t it?”

Neat was not the word she would have chosen, but the young man’s continuous cheer was rubbing off on her, so she nodded weakly and let him begin leading her again as they swanned through the town, wondering what on Earth an “Adept” was as they joined a large crowd of people being escorted by yet another group of soldiers. Children babbled and screeched excitedly as their parents inspected even the slightest of dark alleys with paranoid eyes, while groups of teenagers and young adults held conversations about some kind of sporting event and the players, bags stuffed to overflow with merchandise layered over them. She had no idea who Fenrir was or how he’d earned his place on a t-shirt, but by the way the twenty-something girl gushed about him, he was a “dead cert” to win the day’s event. Alexander simply ignored it, having them keep pace as the head of the pack. As they continued, the lighting started to dim despite the sun being high up, and the cause became immediately apparent.

The dark, monolithic structure curled gently around the edge of the town and off into the distance, built directly into the island’s circumference to reinforce the borders against the sea. It towered over the rest of the island, stretching straight up so far it hurt her neck to stare at the top, where yet more anti-aircraft guns and soldiers were placed, intersecting with spotlights and watchtowers all along the parapets of the great wall. Only one entrance could be seen before them, a stone archway holding a set of black oak doors, the arch decorated with curving letters carved into the stone that she couldn’t quite make out until she squinted them into readability. Confidis teipsum ad meridiem morabantur. Trust no-one but yourself. It clicked in her mind just as Alexander translated.

“Trust no-one but yourself.”

Katie gave a double-blink as Alexander chimed up again in a slightly subdued tone.

“It’s Latin. The headmaster’s fond of old things and being generally depressing, and Latin lends nicely to that.”

“Yeah, I k-know, I c-can r-read it. Why c-can I understand it? I don’t k-k-know Latin.”

Alexander cocked his head to one side as the doors began to slowly creak forward in harmony with the sound of churning gears, soldiers calling for the crowd to step back. His voice sounded in her mind again.

“How odd. A side effect of your powers maybe? In theory, the mind of a shape-shifter could subconsciously adapt to situations before the user registered them, but uploading an entire language without thinking about it seems a touch odd, even for us. I might as well explain now. I’m the same as you. A lot of people on this island are. This is my power, Telepathy, the ability to talk via thoughts or read those around me. I should also mention whilst we’re around normal people, don’t mention your powers around normal people. Best case scenario, they tend to freak out. I shan’t mention the worst case. More to the point, if you ever want to talk to me using my power, just think out loud. Go on, give it a go.”

“Um, l-l-like t-this?”

Her wince at realisation that her stutter continued in her mind as well was cut off by a sudden uncertainty that Alexander jumped on before it should surface.

“No, I’m not reading your thoughts all the time. I can turn it on and off when I want, but I’ll know when people need to contact me.”

“W-wait, then how?”

“Lucky guess. As you can imagine, people get rather unnerved when you tell them you can get inside their minds. I’ve kinda got this explanation thing down to a science. Anyway, let’s get a move on, there’s a car waiting for us.”

Said car turned out to be a self-driving Triumph with blacked out windows, a hunched over beetle of a machine that elusive celebrities tended to use. Alexander opened the back door for her, exposing a leather interior made for six. Once she was buckled in he made his way around, settling himself into the seat parallel to her. The rest of the crowd were herded onto a coach, the vehicle pulling away with surprising haste the moment the last woman was aboard. Next to her, Alexander adjusted his seatbelt, fumbled with the tablet he’d ambushed her with earlier and knocked twice on the opaque pane behind him, setting their car in motion as well.

“Right, let’s try this again. As you’ve guessed, you’ve been taken from your home and relocated off-shore to the island of Guernsey. This entire island is a training ground and facility for people like us. Before you ask “like us?” the technical term for humans with superpowers, supernatural abilities or physical phenomenon associated with them is Adept. Which never made sense to me personally; seeing as it comes from Adeptus, meaning ‘one who has attained’, but that was in reference to transmuting metals, not breathing fire or growing wings. Ah well, c’est la vie.”

“S-so, w-what’s my p-power then? T-turning into a s-s-slimy b-blob monster?” Alexander’s smile flickered, before setting into an upturned line as he fingered his throat.

“Not at all. For one, there was nothing slimy about that tentacle, trust me. Secondly, it appears it’s more like general physical transformation, primarily revolving around animals and animalistic characteristics. Here, take a look at these.”

A quick flick across the tablet’s interface produced a series of pictures from a CCTV camera of surprising quality. The first of them showed Katie crossing the road outside a school, a car rushing towards her. The rest showed her turning to challenge it as her body grew in mass and size, changing shape as she transformed into…

“A gorilla?”

“An eastern mountain gorilla to be precise, albeit one about twice the size of a regular specimen. Not quite sure what was going through your head at the time, but I’m guessing that you wanted to ride out the impact with something stocky and solid. Adept powers tend to be revealed in times of crisis, and you certainly picked quite the crisis.”

The pictures continued with the collision, gorilla taking the blow shoulder-first, the impact driving it backwards down the road as both it and the car came to a skidding halt. The last pictures showed her falling towards the kerb, gorilla body stripping off in a haze of fur to blow away in the wind.

“To answer one of your earlier questions, the reason why your memory is so patchy seems to be a result of the accident. You were brought here after you were cleared from the hospital. It’s pretty fortunate no-one saw you; these kinds of incidents are rather hard to cover up, especially one as dynamic as this. Your Aunt has been informed of the situation, but I’m afraid you’ll be here with us for at least the next year or so whilst we teach you how to control and utilise your powers. Don’t worry; the classes are quite large, so you won’t be alone for the endeavour.”

Aunt? The word had come to her earlier, but there had been no connotations with it. Now it brought a faded image to mind: glasses, a ponytail and jumpers. Other than that, there was no definition to the term. Still, it was a small comfort to know that at least she wouldn’t be on her own. She hadn’t had many friends back at her old school, but maybe she could find a few among students like herself. If it wasn’t for the gaping hole in her memories, she’d probably have been thrilled for a new start.

“But, what a-about my m-m-memory? I-I mean, it’ll c-come back r-right?”

Alexander gave her a sympathetic smile that was only slightly belied by the supernatural glow of his eyes.

“Memory tends to be a tricky thing, especially considering the nature of your loss. It’s an unfortunate reality that many of the students here come in similar circumstances, as well as those that are suffering with other mental conditions as well. These things are a lot easier to deal with considering the number of psychologists on staff, as well as a couple of psychics like me to help when these things are really deep-seated. I can’t promise anything, but in most cases, the bulk of important memories tend to be recovered within about a year.”

Did everyone with powers come here after life threatening accidents? That seemed rather odd. At least there seemed to be a good chance of recovery though, which put her slightly at ease despite the strangeness of the day’s events. Alexander continued on and on with an endless stream of information as they drove on, living arrangements and schooling timetables piling up in her lap as he levied papers on her from a folder he’d extracted out from under his seat. It was only by chance that she noticed the road splitting in two, catching the coach they’d seen earlier carrying on towards one of the largest buildings she’d ever seen, another indifferent wall of gunmetal grey steel casting a blot on the green plains stretching out from around it.

“That’s the Coliseum.”

Alexander must have caught her staring as he was suddenly very close to her, looking out in the same direction with only scant centimetres between them. She yelped, bolting back in her seat as he sniggered gently at her expense.

“Sorry, couldn’t resist.”

“P-please t-t-try to in-in f-future.” She managed to choke out as Alexander folded back into his seat, still playing that self-satisfied smile.

“Sure, sure. To answer your inevitable question, that ugly building is the one that houses the Adept Games I mentioned earlier. The Elizabeth II Memorial Coliseum, better known to most as the Grand Coliseum. Standing at a size comparable to four Wembley Stadiums stuck together, it is the largest” – He snorted, the next word marked with finger-quotes – ‘sporting arena’ in the British Empire. That coach you saw is the only one heading up today as part of a VIP party and event. It’s normally closed off between the end of the summer term and the beginning of the autumn. The damn things are non-stop for the rest of the year. On that note, I should explain about the games now, as you’ll be participating in them at least once during your schooling here.”

He pulled out yet more paper from the packs he’d unearthed, showing the skittish girl a map of the building. The three sections coloured red, blue and yellow respectively, the yellow section equal to the size of the other two combined.

“The Coliseum is split into three sections, depending on which event students are taking part in. Yellow is the Assault Course, blue is Performance Arts and Sporting Events, and red… red is The Arena. That’s the one that attracts the most attention, both televised and in attendance numbers. You’ll become more familiar with the yellow and blue areas more than the others, as we hold a couple of football, hockey, and rugby leagues in the blue, with both used for P.E. exams. The Assault Course is a mandatory event held twice a year, once at the beginning of the school year two weeks from now, and once two weeks before the end. It counts as a separate grade of its own. Students are free to use it at set times whenever they feel like they need training though, and there are a few other televised runs a year for additional credits and such.”

“W-wait, how h-hard is all t-this?”

It was getting a little much. She’d only begun to learn about her ability, and they wanted to make her display it, and in front of people no less? She’d never been in the fittest student either, so just the words Assault Course made her stomach lurch as they implied all sorts of exhaustion in her future. Alexander’s explanation didn’t help matters as he carried on, oblivious to the sudden cold sweat that had broken out on her brow.

“Well, the exams themselves are rather simple; all you’ll need to do is display control over your powers, and a decent amount of stamina. The Assault Course can be a mixed bag, as you’ll never run the same course twice, and the obstacles range from ‘walk in the park’ to ‘oh dear god, why?’ Ah, don’t worry! It’s all achievable with the training and schooling you’ll get here!”

She knew she was suffering a panic attack, but the knowledge didn’t ease its passing as she buried her head in her arms and tried to erode away the crushing despair that squeezed around her heart. The car slowed to a stop, and she could feel Alexander doing his best to help, rubbing her back and folding a handkerchief into her palm. It took a few minutes for her to unfold and longer to stop shaking, but she refused to relinquish her grip on the cloth, cupping it over her mouth in a vain attempt to settle her breathing as she weathered the fright. Alexander looked somewhat sheepish as he set the car into movement once more.

“Sorry for doing that to you… again. Still, better you learn about it now then it being sprung on you at random.”

He waited for his travelling companion to calm down again before explaining further even if the feat took another hastily swallowed bottle of water before Katie was ready to listen again.

“The red zone – The Arena – is the problem area. The good news is that you’ll only need to compete in it once per month to demonstrate your progress, but there are also seasonal tournaments where you can… okay; you aren’t looking well at all. Do you get car sick?”

She was silent and shaky for a good time, and when Katie’s voice found the strength to immerge from the hole it had scurried away to, it crawled out scratchy and feeble.

“No, b-b-b-but… I-isn’t t-t-there away t-to avoid f-f-fighting? O-or doing a-a-any of t-t-these w-weird events?”

Alexander shook his head sadly, and when he spoke his voice sounded oddly resigned, as though he disliked his own answer. Glowing eyes stared deep into hers, and Katie fought down the desire to avoid his gaze. For all his bluntness, he was trying his best, so she would too.

“I’m afraid not. Most Adept powers tend to be ones that can seriously harm in the wrong hands, so it’s a requirement of any completed tutorage that students learn to access and master their abilities in a safe environment, and then are tested to see if they can maintain the same control in pressure situations. Otherwise we could have Adepts blowing up all across the country at the slightest bit of stress. Events that tend to channel a lot of adrenaline, such as faux combat or high-demand physical activities, are usually best for this.”

He gave a small sigh, his voice returning to its normal sympathetic tone as he folded his tablet under the seats.

“If it’s any consolation, no-one ever gets seriously hurt in any of this. It wouldn’t do to throw our students into life or death situations now, would it?”

With a weak chuckle as justification, he lowered the window to let fresh air in as they left another cut-off wall much like the one they’d walked through back at the port.

“Here, take a look. We’ll be coming up on the Maturinus Academy now. Named for the saint of comic actors, likely by someone with no humour themselves.”

Taking a peek out, Katie beheld the other monstrous structure on the island. Unlike the sheer wall of the Coliseum, this was a cluster of uniformly rectangular buildings, most about three stories high but with the centre pair reaching up far higher than that. She couldn’t make out any details of them from the car, but a suspicion grew that even if she had been right up next to one it would have made no odds to picking out individuality in the tightly knit complex of sharp angles and unmarked grey and glass. As with the Coliseum, all greenery and nature had been cut off and smothered under a harsh plane of concrete to serve the blank-faced buildings of the academy, with exception of a small port on the east side to connect the academy to the sea, a ferry - The Marianne, the proud flank read - floating there.

“Um, I-I’ve been m-m-meaning to ask s-something.”

“Hmm?”

“W-why are t-there s-s-soldiers all over the p-place? And all t-t-those b-big g-guns? Why d-does the island n-need a wall at all?”

She could see them now, all along the wall that had followed them from St Peter’s Port. If anything, the armaments had been getting heavier as they got nearer to the school. For reasons she couldn’t understand, looking at the pitch black metal sent a small part in her stomach turning over backwards with nervous tingles. Alexander looked a little surprised at the inquiry, shifting in his seat to follow her line of vision.

“I think that’s the first time I’ve been asked that.”

“Oh… I’m s-sorry.”

Of course, it was probably obvious to everyone else right away. She wondered if her power would let her turn into a chameleon and vanish into the seats. She needn’t have bothered, as Alexander rejected her apology with a wave.

“Don’t be, I’m actually impressed. It’s a nice surprise having someone question it. Most students just accept their presence. Comes with our military culture I suppose. In any case, why do you think that they’re here?”

The car was filled with a few seconds of shifting and stuttering as Katie pulled her reasoning together.

“W-well, the wall g-g-goes around t-the whole island, right? S-so it’s either to keep people out… or…”

“Or?” The word was drawn out, extending with his smile.

“Or to keep us in?”

Alexander’s eyes lit up to a lighter shade of blue as he lent forward, the light-hearted voice in her mind overriding the flat tone that filled the car.

“This is a major military hub as well as being the pinnacle of Adept education. It makes sense for this place to be heavily defended. It also functions as a minor recuperation centre for soldiers who have been posted aboard and are in need of some R&R, so the men here are only semi-enlisted. But I assure you that they are here first and foremost for your protection, and only carry tranquiliser rounds for the most part.”

“It’s a bit of both really.”

He winked conspiratorially, and was talking over her before she could ask why he’d hidden his real answer.

“But I wouldn’t worry about it too much. It’s not like we keep students imprisoned here or anything. You will get to go home eventually.”

The amusement at his own joke lasted up until the car pulled up outside a low-key building, the sign under the security camera identifying it as the reception area. Alexander slipped out first and came around to her side, opening the door as she gathered up the papers he’d given her and made to get out the car. Her brain caught up to her a moment later as she jerked to a stop, the seatbelt still tightly secure. Fumbling with the latch she hastily exited, pointedly not looking at Alexander in her embarrassment. If he was concerned he didn’t voice it, the slam behind her preceding him taking the lead to hold the reception door open, letting her scurry through with the hurried squeak of “Thanks.” Inside was another waiting room type area, which she saw for all of one second before the floor suddenly demanded her attention. She heard the hiss of a wince behind her, and some sort of muffled, choking laughter from the room. So much for a new start. Perhaps instead she could stay where she was, wait for whoever was in the room to walk over her before retreating to an isolated cave, never to be seen by humans again.

“You okay down there?”

It wasn’t Alexander, strangely enough. For all his rambling and personal space intrusion, even he seemed to have enough common sense to know not to step over someone just to inquire of their wellbeing. Katie took stock of her options as the question was repeated. She could either lie down forever, or try and salvage the situation by engaging whoever it was she was inconveniencing. The former was still more tempting, but the choice was made for her when a hand shook her shoulder, forcing a glowing face to meet a far prettier one. Hopefully the older girl looking down on her would assume the redness to be damage instead of embarrassment. The stammering started up slowly and low, winding up like a gramophone to machine-gun stuttering as she somehow managed to achieve a secondary layer of embarrassed red over the abused blood vessels that were already working overtime. By the time the strangled half-word finally crawled out of her throat to die, she had been picked up and dusted down, the other girl admiring her handiwork of patching up the broken doll as Alexander squeezed himself into the room to examine the rest of the new students waiting in cheap chairs, with the exception of the raggedy looking boy in the upright stretcher, dressed to the nines in bindings and restraints.

“Oi, you listening?”

Katie bolted in shock as she realised that she’d accidently ignored someone for the second time that day. The panicked snapping of her attention to the girl happened so quickly that her neck cracked on the trip, which turned out to be a rather counterintuitive movement to being social, as the pain created a spike of neck-holding agony, leaving her leaning forward and hoping that her barely-muted cry hadn’t been too noticeable. The cursory glance upwards killed that hope in its crib as she found the room staring right at her, and Hannibal Lecter over in the corner was practically dying of laughter behind his mask, until his stretcher was suddenly tipped forward by some unseen hand, mimicking her entrance to a tee. Alexander took a step forward, and overturned it upwards so he could stare down disapprovingly. It was weakened somewhat by his ever-present smile.

“Now, now, let’s be nice to each other. So…”

The stretcher was lifted back from the floor, bringing the two eye to eye. Alexander reached forward and loosened the mouth gag, before twisting the boy to face Katie, ignoring how she flinched away at the new proximity to the maniac.

“Apologise, and we’ll get along with the tour.”

Dull, dark ringed eyes tracked down her from behind a stringy black fringe, the boy wearing a cruel smile so tight and wicked she could see a canine tearing into his lip as he began to spit poisonous words.

“I’m sorry you’re such a retard, you flat bitch.”

The girl from before began to step forward with a warning but needn’t have bothered, as Alexander spun the stretcher back the way it had come, his smile waning.

“That’s not…”

His reprimand was stopped dead in its tracks as a blinding red flash lit the room. Even if Katie had been able to see, she was in no condition to act as something heavy crashed into her, letting her resume her ongoing affair with the floor once more. The red light vanished as quickly as it had come, but her vision still rang in time with the piercing sound in her ears, and looking around became impossible without receiving a wave of nausea. She focused instead on the figure crouched over her, shielding her from whatever chaos had broken out. Considering that Katie hadn’t said a word to her, it seemed a good idea to at least thank her when she wasn’t getting thrown around and blinded. In the centre of the room, Alexander was looming over the stretcher boy again, foot planted to keep him down and one hand poised over his chest, fingers splayed. A blood red sphere was hovering in the open space between the two, pulsating and surging as it flickered, indecisive about its target. It never found one as Alexander snapped his fingers to burst the orb, the rupture creating a ring of droplets around them. The bound teenager was already working another globule of bloody spit at him, only for it to be popped by a swift kick to the jaw. A follow-up boot to the temple rendered the unruly Adept unconscious, allowing Alexander to force the mouth piece on him once more.

“Well, that explains a lot. You got the biography on this guy Angela?”

The angel behind him was stirred into action at the sound of her name, and there was no other word to describe her, as she couldn’t have fitted the image more perfectly unless she stepped out from a stained glass window. A pale girl a couple years younger than herself, her blonde bob cut and blue eyes the only colours on her that weren’t white, the sensible skirt and short sleeve shirt matching the body-length wings that framed her in feathers. Despite how pretty they were it seemed like they were troubling her greatly, her movements slight and stiff as she fumbled through various menus on the sizable tablet computer she held, finding the appropriate information and showing it to Alexander as her stern expression broke with the faint smile of someone taking satisfaction in one’s job. The blush was a bit much though.

“Bradley Liefeld. Age sixteen, blood type A positive, which is his power… but you probably guessed that already.”

“A Haemokinetic? Haven’t seen one of those in a while.”

“There’s more in his file you should see as well.”

She held the tablet out to Alexander, pressing herself into his side as he ran a finger up the screen she was showing him, soft noises of muttered reading filling the room as the assembled Adepts began to pull themselves up, including Katie’s current millstone, who leant back and fell onto her backside, freeing Katie as her senses cleared up, the ringing from the flash already fading away.

“So, you finally feel like talking to me?”

“Y-y-yes! I-I’m s-s-sorry!”

Wide dirty-green eyes swelled as hands flew up, both girls cutting each other off and mangling sentences together, rough Australian and timid English accents fighting the squabbling and complaining voices of dissent that were beginning to flood the room behind them.

“Whoa, didn’t mean to…”

“T-t-t-thanks for g-g-getting me up…”

“Just figured that…”

“A-a-and f-for p-protecting …”

“Sorry if I squashed anything…”

There was a pause as the pair simultaneously realised that they were getting nowhere fast talking at the same time, staring at each other awkwardly before the sun-kissed girl held out for a handshake.

“I’m Sabrina, Sabrina Martin. Pleased to meet’cha.”

“Catherine Holmes. P-please, c-c-call me Katie. I go b-by t-that a-apparently.”

A brief spot of arm-jangling followed, a broad smile lighting up the foreign girl’s tanned face. She quickly let go and popped up on the spot only to hold the same hand out to help Katie up. Despite the chill outside, she was daringly dressed in a t-shirt and tight shorts, filling out both easily. Katie took the hand once more, actually finding her feet for what was probably the first time that day. Up once again, Sabrina shot her a dazzling smile framed by two locks of raven hair, the rest tied back in a plaited ponytail that ended only when it reached the small of her back.

“There we go. All right, let’s see if they dealt with that bastard already.”

A shaky smile was the only response Katie managed to give as they turned back to the room, only to be met by open mouths and shocked stances as the other teenagers in the room pressed themselves against the back wall. A sharp clap sounded, Alexander beaming at the pair.

“Now that’s what I like to see. Jolly cooperation.”

The rest of the group turned their stunned looks to him, the tallest girl in the group finding her voice first. Said voice was a scratchy northern accent that scarred the ears the second she began caterwauling.

“Are you kiddin’ me? First there’s this murderin’ bastard, and now you’re tellin’ me you’re puttin’ us together with a fuckin’ Aussie! Are you tryin’ to get us all killed?”

Sabrina crossed the room in two strides, forcing her way into the girl’s personal space with a scowl that would surely incinerate her on the spot if looks could it kill. It occurred to Katie that such a thing might just be within her power.

“Hey, hey, hey! What’s wrong with being Australian?”

“What, you mean other than being a criminal scumbag from shit of nowhere? I bet you’ll have your hands round me neck just ’a fill a quota!”

“Frankly, the fact she survived Australia to be with us today is rather impressive to me. Also, watch the language.”

Alexander’s comment was lost as he was shoved out the way, the telepath resigning to lead Angela over to a large desk and hopping up onto it, taking the tablet to help her sit next to him. The northern girl stood face-to-face with Sabrina, the pair glaring at each other like opposite reflections in an asymmetrical mirror, white and peroxide blonde versus tan and raven black. Puberty was clearly being kinder to them then to her, both tall and full bodied as opposed to her slightness. Whatever confrontation was about to occur between them was stopped before it could even begin as an invisible force grabbed Sabrina and pulled her back, slamming her into the west wall with her limbs outstretched like the wings of a preserved butterfly under glass. On the opposite wall, the northern girl was struggling with the same pinning, cursing up a storm at all and sundry, so much so that her voice began to crack under the litany of swear words, some of which Katie had never heard and a couple she was sure the girl had made up on the spot. Alexander had pushed off the desk and walked to the centre of the room, glancing between the two with folded arms.

“All right, all right, enough with the oestrogen and casual racism. If you two want to fight, there’ll be plenty of that coming up in future. Now…”

He took a step back and Sabrina was whisked back towards her nemesis of all of two minutes, the girls posed inches away from each other, so close they could probably smell what the other had for breakfast.

“Kiss and make up, and we’ll get a move on.”

“Go to hell!”

The three-word slur would likely be the first and last time the pair agreed on anything. Alexander seemed more bemused than insulted, and Katie wondered how long he would have held them there had Angela not tapped his shoulder.

“Alex, I think this counts as sexual harassment.”

Alexander thought about that for a moment, his response a shrug of indifference. Angela held his gaze over his shoulder, a soft frown marring her otherwise neutral expression. The staring contest was over in a heartbeat, Alexander losing with a reluctant sigh. The two would-be combatants dropped to the floor, ire focused on the psychic. If he cared for the death stares leveled at him, Alexander refused to acknowledge them, instead running a hand through his hair with another heavy sigh of irritation.

“This has run on for far too long, and I don’t want any more trouble. We’ll have to split the group. Angela, you take Sabrina, Katie aaaaand… she’s been quiet, so I can’t see there being much problem there. I’ll grab the rest, take another route and we’ll meet up at the student accommodation tower.”

Angela popped off the desk, setting herself to work with a sharp nod. Crossing the room over to the back corner, she tapped the shoulder of a girl smothered in a concealing jumper, blonde tresses buried in a magazine she’d found. A dull green gaze met the stern angel, who was doing her best to look authoritative.

“Come with me.”

The blonde nodded without expression, rising to follow Angela over to Katie. Angela cast a look over to Sabrina, who had yet to break her glare from Alexander, and made a gesture to the door. She made no attempt to move, and Alexander went on the charm offensive, his smile plastered back in place.

“If you could please follow my assistant, she’ll show you around the academy.”

“Why the hell should I? I’ve been getting looked down on since I got here, and not just by this stringy bitch! And I sure as hell don’t trust you, you goddamned weirdo!”

The room went dead as wills clashed together, glowing eyes running over the bare-teethed snarl and tightened fists. Katie didn’t know what each was looking for in the other, but whatever it was they were fighting for, Alexander relented first and shooed out the silence before it could become accustomed.

“You might not trust me, but you still need to be here nonetheless. Especially with a power like yours, Miss Martin. Besides, why judge a whole school just because two people are slightly obnoxious? Tell you what though, if you take part in the tour and introduction events and find legitimate reasons to leave, we’ll ship you back to the mainland. Promise.”

Sabrina never broke eye contact, looking for some deceit in his expression. Either she couldn’t find it or she had changed her mind about holding her ground, as she marched towards the door with muttered curses, knocking his shoulder as she went. Alexander’s voice cut the room just as she found the handle.

“Oh, and Sabrina? Try to make at least one friend. It might improve your idea of the place.”

A snort, a slammed door and the girl was gone. Alexander shrugged again.

“That takes care of that I suppose. We’ll see you later.”

With another sharp nod, Angela took Katie and their third party member by the wrists, leading them out as well. Sabrina was leaning against the wall, glaring at the pseudo-cityscape. She straightened up upon seeing the trio. Angela released the surprisingly tight grip she held on the other two Adepts as she and Sabrina made towards each other, but the angel carried on is if she wasn’t there, already heading into the mass of buildings, much to the mutual confusion of the paired Adepts. Sabrina’s surprise ended first.

“Hey, I thought you were supposed to be guiding us?”

Angela paused, wings folding up tighter as she tilted her head to look back at them at a rather diagonal angle that added to the list of impossible things Katie had experienced already.

“I thought you’d have enough sense to follow the guide you’re given.”

She had already begun walking again as Sabrina boiled over, stomping off after her with silent rage. Katie exchanged a nervous glance with her other companion, who simply took off at a pace that looked closer to floating then walking. Already left at the back of the pack, Katie hastily stumbled forward to catch up. It occurred to her that she should ask the unknown girl’s name.

“Cherri Wavewind.”

So she was another telepath then. Uneasiness rose in Katie’s chest, the idea of an island full of people who could all read her mind at any time disagreeing with her system for some reason. She knew that it was completely unwarranted, as the girl and Alexander were nice people, just… odd.

“I feel we should all know each other’s names, no?”

Or maybe she was simply far more comfortable opening up to complete strangers, as opposed to accusing them of being mind readers. Katie tried not to squirm with embarrassment at her presumptions. Thankfully, Sabrina saved her from any more internal cross-examination.

“Wow, your parents must have been a real pair of hippies.”

“I don’t think you have a right to judge others based on only initial perception, Miss Australian.”

The tall girl ground her teeth, redoubling her ire at the buildings as the group made their way forwards. Katie just kept her head down and prayed that everything would go smoothly.

Catherine Holmes wakes up with no memories and untapped power at her fingertips, only to be forced to fight in a world of broken history and heroes. Find the full novel at https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01IBPIVLK

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chyrstis · 4 years

Text

Self-Indulgent Sunday /WIP Wednesday

Okay, I’m just going to break even here and do a two-for-one entry. XD

Tagged by the lovely @fadedjacket @scarlettkat86 and @fluttyseed I’d love to pass a few tags along for both categories above, and you’re welcome to choose whichever ones you’ll have more fun with, if not both.

Tagging: @sharky-broshaw @amistrio @shallow-gravy @tommymillers @softmillers @ma-sulevin @narcis-the-monk @redroci @shellibisshe @painterofhorizons @finefeatheredgamer @teamhawkeye @geronimo-11 @marymay-fairgrave @risenlucifer @faithchel @raisinghellinotherworlds @ofravensandgenesis @mackie-hattwie @strafethesesinners and anyone else that’s interested! <3

First off, some Hana/Sharky, b/c I might’ve been working on more for this section waaaay down the line today, and though I’ve posted the part right after this, I thought it’d be good to post the first part of it too (and I don’t think I have yet?, but if I have whoops, and if not, excellent). I’m always weak for these two, and really should get on writing more for them, stat.

“What’s-what, what are we-?” Sharky’s head perked up the minute he caught sight of her. “Oh, uh…hey Dep. Wasn’t thinking-didn’t think I’d see you ‘til morning.”

“I got in early, and I-”

His relieved grin made her trip over her next words. Even half-asleep like this his smile warmed her to her very bones, and nearly told him that outright.

“I, um, I couldn’t wait to see how my favorite guy was doing. Just wanted to see if you were actually getting any shuteye in, and didn’t think you’d be all the way out here.”

“Cabin was full-up, and while I can dig that for a while it’s just…a guy’s gotta have some space, man.” Sharky yawned, stretching his arms out, and ran a hand through his hair once he was able to recover from it. “Ground’s also ass compared to a bed or the truck, but…it works.”

“It’s also cold as hell out here, and I was thinking-”

Even half-asleep like this, he seemed to snap to attention. Unzipping the entire bag, he lifted it up for her.

She’d been ready to drag him back to the cabin. To carve out a space with the others and find a way to make it work, because there really was no reason for him to stick it out here alone. Not with a roaring fire being offered up indoors, and four walls surrounding them.

But she knew what was waiting for her back there. Where she’d stay up, thinking about too much already, before adding alcohol to the problem. All of this without him.

And she’d done enough of that over the past week. She’d done enough of it to decide she didn’t want to do it ever again.

Quickly zipping the tent flap back into place – nearly busting it in the process – she peeled off her jacket and unlaced her boots before slipping in next to him. He shifted back to allow her to, fitting her back against his chest, and nearly sighed at the change in temperature once she settled into his arms.

---

Then the No-Cult AU, b/c really this is my self-indulgent Sunday entry right here. It’s been practically writing itself since last Wednesday, all b/c the idea struck while I was sitting at my dentist’s appointment. Sharky’s off working on something fun with Hurk, and John has a question to ask.

---

Something buzzed right at his hip, making him start as he swept the dirt up, and nearly tipped it over onto himself. Stabbing the shovel into the pile next to him, he scrubbed his hands off on his jeans, and dug his phone out.

John. That had him raising an eyebrow, and as soon as he read the message, the second one joined it.

Color one, or color two?

“Wha..?”

Sharky stared down at the text, scrunching up his face as he read and re-read the words until the next set of messages popped up.

Two squares one by one, both red.

Okay, this had to be a mistake of some kind. He’d been thinking that after the first text, and now with this sitting in front of him, he was left scratching his head over it long enough for John to send something else.

Either or, or neither?

dude its red

Clearly, but I’m undecided on the shade of paint I want to use, and thought your opinion might sway me.

Shit, so John did mean to text him after all, but the last thing he’d slapped a coat of paint on was his flamethrower, and he doubted John was looking for any pointers on something like that.

yea cuz im someone thats got an eye for this kinda shit

Possibly better than you think. And I thought it’d be worth it to ask.

Snorting, Sharky rolled his eyes, but after a minute took another look at the pictures.

Maybe there was something different here. Something he wasn’t getting due to light, or the giant thumbprint he’d left on the screen, but he wiped it off and tried again. Squinted as he held the phone up to his face, rotated it, shielded the sun from it with his hand, and marinated on it for a good five minutes.

But in the end, red number one was no different than red number two, and he couldn’t do a thing other than shrug at the screen. Then actually typed something out, because John wasn’t exactly here to see him do it, and wouldn’t know shit unless he told him directly.

---

And finally a theoretical part from the Trap fic, b/c I remembered I had this, and really hope I can find a way to make this work judging from the route I’m trying to pin down.

---

Continuing up, she jumped to grab the next and felt her arms strain as she went. Every single time she’d complained about pull-ups flashed through her head, the worst kind of, ‘I told you so,’ but she made it. Moving higher and higher as they went, until the ground below was far enough away to make anyone miss it.

Huffing out a breath, Hana knelt by the ledge to watch for John. “Got it?”

Still eyeing her, he was able to get a better hold from his position, using the height he had on her to get a better hold.

“I see no reason why I wouldn’t, Deputy. In fact, I’d say that-”

Moving his foot, whatever was under it gave, and she caught the shock crossing his face just as it hit.

Slipping back, Hana grabbed for him, and dug her heels into the ground until she was jerked forward, nearly slamming her chin into the dirt. John’s fingers clamped down onto her wrists, holding on as she was dragged forward until they came to a clear stop.

Eyes open, teeth clenched tight, she could hardly manage a breath as she swallowed.

But John was still there. Staring right at her as he breathed himself, pale and with sweat beading on his brow, his composure just as shredded as hers was.

“John?”

He didn’t blink, didn’t move, just kept on looking right at her.

“I’m going to try and pull you up, okay?”

Blinking once, he didn’t let up on his hold and gave a short nod.

#wip #now to see if I can finalize the trap route tonight so I can get back to writing the first few chapters #b/c then the fun can really begin #(and also I can focus on the future fics more b/c boy do I want to 👀)

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chyrstis · 4 years

Text

Self-Indulgent Sunday

Tagged by @pd3 @nightwingshero @redroci @shellibisshe and @scarlettkat86! You’re all too kind to do so, and I think this is a fine tradition to start. :D

Tagging: @sharky-broshaw @amistrio @tommymillers @softmillers @ma-sulevin @geronimo-11 @finefeatheredgamer @teamhawkeye @guileandgall @painterofhorizons @writerofblocks @sneaky-apostate @marymay-fairgrave @ofravensandgenesis @risenlucifer @tomexraider @faithchel @hawkfurze @raisinghellinotherworlds @fromathelastoveritaserum and anyone else that’s interested, especially since I’m squeezing this in super late to begin with!

Post a passage, a piece of art, an edit, a gif, anything you’ve made within the last week that you’re proud of and feel like sharing!

Work’s been lingering in the back of my mind over the past week, so I’ve been more than a little scattered in terms of figuring out which WIPs I want to focus on, but a few did manage to win out here. :D

First off, more of the discussion way down the line between Hana and John post-game (as part of the Sharky/Hana/John series) involving books, b/c I might be enjoying it more than a little, and managed to get some more work in on it recently.

---

“John,” she gasped, holding a hand to her chest, “you wound me. Here I was thinking you were a man of taste. Of substance, even.”

The offended look he shot her almost made her lose it. “Taste? You’re talking about an adaptation.”

“I am.”

“Which means liberties were taken.”

“Uh huh,” she said, spinning around to keep walking with him, but with her back to the rest of the hall. “It happens.”

“And I suspect for this one, quite a few liberties were taken.”

John wasn’t much taller than her, but to stay ahead of him, she had to pick up the pace a bit. Keep her steps going to keep from crashing right into him, and the distance between them was dwindling fast.

“Hey, it’s fun! Not the least of which because of the music in it, and I’d have half a mind to make you watch it with me if we actually had it. Just have you sit down and power through it, because it could surprise you.”

“That still isn’t a guarantee that it’ll be a good one.”

“Snob,” Hana shot, and noticed he’d sped up too. They were almost toe to toe now, and she prayed there wasn’t a wall waiting for her, or worse, someone coming from the opposite direction. She’d barrel into them without a thought. “Don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it.”

He hadn’t lost any of his skeptical edge, but the amusement there was hard to miss. And it only grew when he made a gesture with his hand, waving her towards his left, and Hana almost side-stepped into a group of boxes left in the hall as a result.

His left, meaning your right, genius.

She swore under her breath, but quickly shrugged it off. “And it’s far from the worst thing I could suggest to watch. Trust me, I know more than a few winners.”

“And all of them well suited to your…taste, I gather?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Hey, you watch it. Because the odds of you getting invited to this hypothetical movie night are dropping fast.”

John held his tongue after that. Actually closed his mouth, as his eyes damn near twinkled at her, and she had to turn around after that. Doing that was easier than ignoring the blush creeping onto her face.

---

And this entire exchange amused me greatly the first time I wrote it down for the I won’t ask for much AU, but I’ve made a few added tweaks to it recently, and think it totally counts as a decent offering for a self-indulgent Sunday.

---

He’d already said the magic words - and really, tacking fire onto anything made it magical - so Sharky let his grin come back in full force.

“Oh, yeah. Shit, for the numbers you’re looking at, you’ll need something big, like-” Moving his hands, Sharky gestured wide as he visualized it. “A pit a couple of feet across, but not too huge, ‘cause that’ll be rough to light and keep lit, and you can’t just pour more and more shit in there to keep it going. I mean, you can, and it’ll go, but then you’ll have more fire than pit, and I know you...uh, you might not want that.”

“I agree. That might be somewhat excessive.”

Sharky snorted. Of course he’d think that. But when he glanced John’s way, he hadn’t paired it with an eyeroll like he’d expected. No, John had set his chin on his hand as he listened to him, and seemed like he was giving it the same kind of thought he was.

He’d let his eyes travel somewhere off to Sharky’s right, but they found their way back to him before long, zeroing in with an intensity that made his start want to start skipping around.

“But I do happen to know someone with more than a little experience handling such things, so it’s possible that could be avoided entirely.”

The words took a few seconds to click, but the minute they did, Sharky froze in place.

“…Wait, you do?” John’s responding ‘are you fucking kidding me’ look told him all he needed to know. “Fuck!”

John’s smile shifted straight into a frown as Sharky kept on kicking at the ground, swearing a blue streak that wasn’t guaranteed to stop anytime soon. “Is that-I didn’t think that would be a problem.”

“Hurk was right. Should’ve got our shit together quicker, ‘cause we’re always missing out on things like this!”

“What are you-” Sighing deeply, John pinched the bridge of his nose. “Charlemagne, I can count the number of people I know on one hand that regularly deal in flammable items and explosives. People that I know personally, and would borderline even consider allowing within a foot of these things, given their past history.”

“Well, you’ve seriously gotta give me their info, ‘cause I could’ve sworn I had a handle on all of that shit in the county, and yeah, I don’t got a business card, or a phone number to call, but moving in when they know someone else’s got that down? That goes against common courtesy, man. Like, we’re breaking potential pyro bro codes left and right. You don’t just-”

“You! You are the person I know!” John shot, throwing both hands up as he gestured towards him. “You would be the one I’d hire! How you could even think otherwise is beyond me!”

The sound of a throat being cleared made both of their heads snap towards the front, and Sharky nearly did a double-take when it became clear who it was.

“I’m not interrupting, am I?” Joseph asked, looking between them.

#wip #definitely no pressure at all since this really is late #but I'd love to see what you've all enjoyed working on lately!

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chyrstis · 5 years

Text

Rest (and try to relax a little)

Adelaide is a challenge to write, but absolutely priceless to run around with in-game. Between her comments and Sharky’s I’m dying about 70-80% of the time, and wanted to write something light before finally reaching Jacob’s region.

Rating: T Word Count: 3.6K

Link to AO3!

___

Adelaide is not what the Deputy is expecting, not at all. And with the Whitetail Mountains within reach, she decides it’s better to kick back and rest for once.

She just doesn’t realize how much she’s going to need it.

______________

When Sharky mentioned having an Aunt Addie, Hana had to admit that she had a picture in her mind of your stereotypical TV or movie aunt. Liked wine, tried to get real with the kids while remaining cool as hell, and loved their fair share of gossip. This was the case for most of her friends, at least from what they’d tell her.

Her only aunt had been none of those things, engaging little with her until her mother had died, and only through support checks in the mail. So, when stories came up, she went with the movies instead. Built her up that way. It was a sillier, kinder picture, and one that stuck.

So, she went into this building up just what she thought an Aunty Addie could shape up to me, not expecting much different from that.

But then she met Adelaide, and while a few of those boxes did seem like the kind she’d tick, she blew most of the others out of the water when she grabbed an extra rifle and threatened to rip every last dick off of the Peggies left on her property.

It was a stance that was pretty tough to argue against, and once they cleared them out, Adelaide told them both that she would gladly put extra foot to ass for any other task that they needed her for.

That is, until she brought up Tulip.

Tulip, as it happened, was her helicopter. Her missing helicopter. Hana tried not to break out in a sweat as Adelaide covered the basics of what had happened, how she was precious, and how she wanted her back in one solid, functional piece.

The key words being one, solid, and functional. The odds were not looking good.

Prayer was not her thing. Not even remotely, but she did make a few pleas for mercy as she and Sharky proceeded to shoot down two helicopters in the pursuit of the third. And when she climbed into Adelaide’s pride and joy and stared at the controls, she muttered every reassurance in the book before taking to the air.

The true test came when they were coming in for a landing.

The last chopper she landed she broke the landing gear of. Somehow found a way to bust it while landing it outside of the jail with minimal effort.

The thumbs up Sharky gave her on the descent almost felt like a cruel joke, but she held her breath as they touched down. Squeezed her eyes shut when she really shouldn’t have.

But no alarms went off, Sharky didn’t start yelling for them to bail, and when she opened an eye to check, saw in the distance only the pleased face of one Adelaide Drubman.

The older woman rushed up to meet them, her style cues making Hana think of a saucier Rosie the Riveter, and loved her for it.

“My Tulip! Oh, my beautiful girl, tell me they didn’t hurt you.”

She rested her hands against the helicopter’s frame as the two hopped out, still cooing over it, and Hana tried not to sweat it out at the fact that she could’ve easily pitched the poor vehicle into the side of a mountain. Or could’ve flown in scratched to hell and smoking. Either would’ve been a recipe for hurt feelings all around.

Eventually Adelaide did step back, sighing happily as she took her in recovered ride. “I can’t thank you enough for doing this, and I hope you gave every last one of those goddamn Peggies hell.”

“Fo sho. We lit them up!”

Hana returned the fist-bump Sharky gave her, and found herself grinning like he was. “That, I can totally confirm, and then some.”

“Good. It’s less than what they deserve after royally fucking us after we played nice for the last few years, but it’ll do.” Adelaide set her hands on her hips, and sighed. “It’ll have to.”

The Marina had been shot to hell and back, though most of the buildings had held up to their assault, even with the smoking gunboat left burning by the pier.

“Holy hell. Good thing I was planning on remodeling the place, but…not this early. And not like this.”

She started dragging one of the pallets towards the garage, and Hana tailed Sharky as they ran over to help. Between the three of them, plus Xander and the others Adelaide had working on the marina, they were able to put most of the fires out, and set up watch rotations just in case any retaliation was incoming.

The Drubman Marina was right on the edge of Silver Lake, the largest body of water in the area. If you wanted to take advantage of that, you could use that docking point to transport goods, people, and bliss to any of the Heralds’ chosen territories, and when Faith felt that loss, Adelaide was going to pay for it.

Hell, maybe she could make a call over to the Jail to see if the Sheriff could get a group of people up here. A proper squad for rotations with more firepower to back this up.

She’d still have to get Adelaide’s okay first, but the extra guns wouldn’t hurt, and if the Resistance could get a patrol going here or nearby, the added pushback could be the start to taking the Henbane back. It was an option, and one they badly needed.

“Where are you two headed now?” Adelaide asked, adjusting the dark pink bandana she’d tied around her hair. It’d been rough going earlier, but the older woman hardly showed it. “I wasn’t expecting a visit to begin with, and didn’t think this was going to turn into some kind of a whirlwind two-week holiday. I mean, I’ve got the supplies for it, but…”

“Up north to grab Hurkie.” Sharky jabbed a thumb over his shoulder, aiming towards the mountains in the distance. “Dep here wants to do something pretty damn great, and she wants us along for the ride.”

“Hurk? She wants you two teaming up?” She turned to Hana. “Honey, you do know what these boys are known for, right?”

Hana gave a small shrug, hooking her fingers in her beltloops. “I may have heard a few stories here and there.”

“I’m tempted to ask which, considering you still showed up here with my nephew in tow.”

“Mostly the Testy Festy, and I still can’t believe that’s an actual thing here, but that’s beside the point. I do need their expertise. Not to light giant flaming dicks in fields, per se, but they know their way around explosives, and we do need to light a pretty huge target up.”

“So, spill it. What’s getting blasted, and not in the fun, alcohol-fueled way?”

“Broseph.” Adelaide gave Sharky a look, and he spoke up to clarify. “Stone cold statue Broseph though. Cause if we had a shot at the real him, not gonna lie, I’d go for it. Use the same kind of stuff too.”

Adelaide started to chuckle, looking between the two, and shook her head. “Fucking directly with the Father himself. That sounds almost too good to be true. I thought you were thinking of weeding a few of those goals out, though?”

“Uh, yeah, Aunty Addie, I’ve been doing some more thinking about that.” Sharky made a face, but straightened his posture. “Now, stuff’s still tangled, and I know you said to get on being more proactive in how I want things to go in my life. Planning, short-term, and some long. Mostly short, but a goal’s a goal, man. And not all of them to do with blowing shit up, believe it or not.”

The smile Adelaide gave him, while genuine, had a wry tilt to it. “That’s sounding pretty damn promising.”

“It’s still about fifty-fifty,” he said, waving his hand back and forth. “Er, sixty-forty, if you count the stuff that’ll enable more of that, and if we’re talking Peggies, you really can’t do it halfway without taking a shot at them…”

“Now, hon, you don’t want to be too much trouble.” Adelaide aimed a curious glance at Hana, but her next words were entirely meant for Sharky. “I can respect the fact that you’re trying, but the deputy here might not like being that close to a walking roman candle, let alone one always on the verge of going off.”

“I’ve seen his file,” Hana blurted out, “and he’s already saved my ass a bunch, so it’s all water under the bridge, really.”

Both of Adelaide’s eyebrows shot up. “Well, hell’s bells!” she exclaimed with a laugh. “That’s something I never thought I’d hear from one of Earl’s. Water under the bridge? I’ll have to mention that to him the next time I see him.”

Because you totally have the power of handwavium, Han. That’s just what he hired you for.

“Now, the Sheriff, he did give me some authority, but that’s not…I’m not here to-“ She stopped when she noticed both Adelaide’s amusement and Sharky’s hopeful glance, and groaned. “Shit.”

“I’m just teasing. You keep doing you, and long as you’re helping us, Earl’ll keep on loving the hell you’re raising. Mostly,” Adelaide conceded. “If he complains at you too much, though, just send him my way and I’ll set him straight.”

She had been staring at her feet as her face burned, but when Adelaide gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze, Hana gave her a small smile.

“Now, I meant it earlier. Rest up and get your energy back, because you’re looking more than a little peaked, hon. Like you’ve been running nonstop for three days straight. Tomorrow’s another day. You two can head out then, and hopefully those mountains’ll still be standing. But I can’t say the same for the dickless wonder waiting up north,” she spat. “You see any sign of my ex-husband looking for Hurk, just dodge him. He’ll try to rope you into his run for Senate, and won’t take no for an answer.”

Noted. Double-noted, at that.

Hana looked down at herself, seeing the rumpled mess she’d been rolling around in, and was glad she didn’t have a mirror. “I look that good, huh?”

“You do, and I’m not buttering you up for nothing, but a shower always works wonders, so you let me know if and when you might want to borrow it. Though you might want to wait until…” She raised her eyes to the sky as she thought it over. “Oh, one to two hours from now before heading over. All of this adrenaline’s going to need a wonderful, limber outlet, and lucky for me I have one.”

Adelaide gave her a wink before walking away, her hips swaying all the while as she approached her house. Xander followed soon after once he caught both her direction – and the motion she used to beckon him to follow her - leaving both Hana and Sharky staring after them.

“Wow,” she said, trying to hide a grin. “I was not prepared.”

Sharky cleared his throat, the sound a little strangled. “Yeah. She’s the kind of person that inspires poetry and shit. Lots of it.”

“Poetry, eh? I can see that. Well, what do you say we take her advice and actually stop for a bit after we move the last of this shit back?” She tapped a nearby crate with the heel of her boot. “Though if I stop, there’s a good chance I’m just going to keel over where I’m standing, leaving me with my ass up in the air. Promise to drag me over to a less embarrassing spot if I do?”

“Drag, carry, either way the offer’s still open,” he said, helping her to lift the crate up to take to the garage. “Just gotta warn me first.”

“I did. And consider the offer open on both ends.”

That got a laugh. “Seriously, Dep?”

“I will drag your ass wherever, whenever, if it needs dragging. Don’t laugh, but there was a small period of time when I was thinking about being a firefighter too, and did the test, so…I could lug you around,” she said, giving him a playful grin. “Or just sweep you right off of your feet. I’d be gentle, promise.”

The crate slipped, both of them swearing heavily as she was left to juggle it while Sharky grabbed for it, and it fell right on the toe of Hana’s right boot. She shot right back, holding her foot up as she clenched her arms in front of her, and if she did let out an embarrassing sound, she wasn’t about to admit to it.

“Aw, oh fuck!” Sharky’s hands flew up, reaching for her. “Sorry Dep, I just-“

Hana held up a finger, her lips pinched shut as she hopped in place.

“But-“

“Nope,” she choked out, her foot now moving to the throbbing stage. “Just, give me a sec. I’ll just…walk over there, sit down, and we won’t talk about this.”

“You sure you don’t..?”

“No go, bud,” she said, grimacing. “Just let it go.”

His face fell as she limped away, and she tried not to think about the kick to the feelings that was as well.

Finding a spot in the back, she sat herself down onto a pallet by a set of stacked crates, and closed her eyes as she rested her back against one of them. She flexed her foot, testing it as she propped it up, and was glad that nothing felt broken. It was going to smart for a while, but she could deal with it.

If only she could just kick back for a few. And just…

Something touched her shoulder, giving her a gentle nudge. “Psst.”

“Hmm.”

It nudged her again, and this time she heard a voice. “Hey, chica? You still out?”

“Not out if I’m talking,” she grumbled. “Or actually understanding most of what you’re saying, Shark.”

She shifted, her hands reaching down to adjust how she was sitting only to feel something soft covering her legs.�� She opened her eyes, taking in the flowery throw covering her, and looked up at Sharky. He had two beers with him. One that he was currently taking a long drink from, and the other he held out when he noticed her eying it.

“God, what time is it?” Everything was dark, short of the fluorescent lights still on in the garage.

“Moon’s up, sun’s down, and we’re all still sober, so there’s plenty of night left to go.”

Hana’s whole body ached when she shifted, moving to get up. The place and the position she’d picked hadn’t done her any favors, but her foot wasn’t hurting, and the spotty sleep did leave her feeling more alert. She was also starting to eyeball the beer dangling from Sharky’s hand. Judging by the way he was waving it in front of her, she wasn’t being subtle about it either.

She took the beer, but didn’t open it. “You should’ve woken me up, man. I wanted to help clear more junk out, get in that shower, or do watch. Whichever.”

“Nah, you wanted to be left alone, and I didn’t wanna wake you up for nothing.” He shrugged and took another drink. “Beer-thirty, though? That’s something.”

“Hey, now. If you’re waking me up to get stuff done and then give me this,” she joked half-heartedly, “I don’t know how good of a help I’ll be mildly soused.”

“You can shoot a Peggie buzzed. I’ve shot a dozen while skating down one shithouse high after torching a bunch of their flowers. It was kinda cool, kinda weird watching three versions of myself kick ass like a movie within a movie, but semi-recommended, cause while there’s a chance it’ll kill you, you really can’t beat that shit.”

“So, I should be cool then?”

“Real fucking frosty.” His eyes lingered on her, before dropping down to her hands. “Uh, so you want help with that?”

Sharky pointed at her beer, the one she’d all but neglected.

“Sure,” she said, handing it over. He popped it open in record time, and Hana made sure to give him a small toast once he handed it back. “Cheers, and here’s to one hell of a long-ass day. Let it finally end.”

He snapped his fingers mid-drink, and swallowed the rest of the beer down with a cough. “Shit, almost forgot. Aunt Addie’s got food indoors, and I wanted to tell you about it before it disappears. She told me not to eat all of the chicken, but it’s been a while since I’ve had food that hasn’t come out of a wrapper or been three days past, and…you might wanna grab it while you can cause leftovers ain’t happening.”

Her stomach reacted accordingly, reminding her that like most people, she needed something solid to run on. Not just coffee, the occasional cigarette, and adrenaline spikes.

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” she said, pushing off to sprint towards the main house.

Sharky ran off with her, sticking close even with her head-start. She barely managed to beat him through the door to Adelaide’s, slipping through the doorway only to crash into Xander once inside.

He did beat her to the punch on the last drumstick, however. And seeing as that was a solid trade for what went down earlier, she didn’t complain about it one bit.

---

“Reports are stating that due to drought-like conditions hitting the eastern side of the state, farmers are yielding a third less of their wheat crop, leading to concerns about making ends meet. Costs to improve these conditions through increased irrigation may be too high for them to afford-“

Hana fiddled with the radio in her lap, counting to five before switching it to the other channel.

The music that drifted through was somber and without words, and she could only stand to listen to it for close to a minute before switching back.

“Hospitals are unable to meet the needs of patients, having to turn them away due to being understaffed-“

“Jesus.” She sighed, and set the radio down.

Sitting outside alone on the docks, she’d been unable to sleep after all, opting for watch instead. It’d been quiet – too quiet, and she’d tried not to feel guilty about it – and found herself looking for a distraction before long. Something other than staring down at the dark water below, any skipped stones she’d chucked sinking after two hops.

It was easier to keep her mind blank that way, but it drifted like it always did. Started asking questions about tomorrow that she still didn’t know the answers to, and wasn’t sure she wanted asked to begin with. The news only fed on that, reminding her that outside of this place the world was still running. Still struggling, and though there was a chance they could all manage to save this, it was a drop in the bucket to the rest of the world.

But this was her world now. Had been the moment she took the job. It needed her to pull through this. To care. To keep on pushing, like the others were.

But damn, if the bruises and aches weren’t adding up. She’d scored plenty of new ones after picking up Sharky at the trailer park, joining the others dotting her upper arms. They hadn’t even fully faded yet, and earlier she’d taken the time to count each and every one while staring into the mirror in Adelaide’s bathroom.

Eight. Nine, if she counted the odd mark on her lower back. That was a new record, not that her old one had been hard to break.

She rubbed the back of her neck, idly trying to ease more of the tension out that had settled there, and eventually gave up. Rest really was a luxury, and yet here she was. Taking five on the cusp of heading north straight towards another Seed.

Jacob she could only recall from what she’d read in Dutch’s bunker, and the little she’d seen of him that night at the compound. The blurred photograph and the short breakdown covered only the basics, much like with John and Faith.

He was the one that armed and trained the soldiers of Eden’s Gate, pushed people to turn on each other on a dime, and up in the Whitetail Mountains there were an infinite number of trails to use. Places to hide, and wait, and bide your time if he happened to be the patient kind.

What would he do once she managed to piss him off?

She was going to find out either way, but the uncertainty chafed. Made her hair want to stand on end. It hadn’t taken much effort to get John to step in. Faith had taken a more subtle route, though maybe that had just been the bliss talking. Not her, just a projection that the drug had fed her.

She’d call Dutch in the morning. He always had an ear to the ground, and had to have heard more. Maybe even heard something from up north that she wasn’t privy to yet. What would it hurt?

The rest was up to her. Well, Sharky and her…and Hurk, once they managed to get to him. It was going to turn into a proper party after that, and Jacob would surely come calling then.

The news ended after two more reports, switching to a tune that felt better suited to an old black and white romance flick. One where the two leads were so swept up in each other that little else mattered. It was fun to think about for a few seconds as she listened, trying to picture it.

Hana chucked one last rock far out across the water, watching as it skipped across the surface once, before disappearing.

And as the song went on, she couldn’t help humming along to it.

And I do, and I do.

There is no one else, only you.

Only you, bring me joy, my sweet lover boy.

#far cry 5 #far cry #deputy hana #sharky boshaw #adelaide drubman #fanfiction #this one's actually shorter for once #but I can already tell the next is going to be a doozy #fic series: you'll be okay I promise #FC5 fanfiction

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