#this day just keeps piling on i feel like the guy pushing a boulder up a cliff rn
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I don’t know what happened but I love you and I love seeing your stuff! Hope things get better cus you deserve it
you guys are too nice to me 🥹🥹🥹
#compared to the guys who upset me. they do NOT care about being nice lmao#or at least genuine niceness lol#also its not just one things its many things#this day just keeps piling on i feel like the guy pushing a boulder up a cliff rn
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I’LL CRAWL HOME TO YOU
A Hizzie fanfiction / update
Pairing: Hope Mikaelson/Lizzie Saltzman
Fandom: Legacies
Rating: M
Chapters: 2/?
Summary: In many ways, meeting Hope in a different reality had helped Lizzie put things in perspective, and perhaps even understand her in ways she hadn’t before. Understand them, their connection, the palpable animosity that had turned into a reluctant friendship and now something far more tangible. The rest, well, she doesn’t tell Josie. Not about waking up after three weeks away from her real home, tucked under the covers of Hope’s bed with their clothes discarded around the dormitory, with a light sheen of sweat on her forehead and her hair sticking to her cheekbones. There were some things better left unsaid. (Upon her return from an alternate timeline a Malivore monster teleported her to, Lizzie must deal with the aftermath of her time spent away, and her newly doormat feelings for Hope Mikaelson.)
chapter 1 here
READ CH. 2 HERE ON AO3 or under the read more
[ 3 WEEKS AGO ]
A muddy splash sends speckles of murky water coating a pair of white boots. Under the full moon, an owl hoots, as Lizzie Saltzman breaks through the branches that leave a bloody mark on her left cheek. She reaches for it, with a mumbled expletive as her breathing grows heavier and her knees start to give. Behind her, a black wolf with yellow tinted eyes that shine through the darkness of the woods gives chase, snarling as it draws closer to her.
She’s been sprinting for a while; Lizzie’s exhausted, pushing past the burn on her thighs as she rounds a corner and leaps over a log dangerously set on the ground, almost losing her balance as her boot skids through the mud. Its drizzling, her clothes are weighing her down, her hair is ruined – if she had the mind to complain about the other terrible but insignificant, personal circumstances, she’d be holding an ice pack to her cheek and ranting over a Strawberry Smoothie. Instead, she finds herself here, in the outskirts of the woods in Mystic Falls, barely managing to get on her feet before the wolf catches up to her.
“Lecutio!” She’s all out of magic after –– the ball of energy flies ahead of the wolf and crashes against the tree behind it, effectively snapping off the branches and watching as they fall near the wolf long enough to distract it. It wasn’t her intention, really – she was aiming for it’s head. Soon enough, the wolf turns it’s head (and it’s disorienting eyes) in her direction, growling.
“Crap…” And she takes off again, her boots splash, splash, splashing rapidly on the wet floor. This is not how she pictured spending a Sunday night.
Her lungs are giving out, her body begs her to stop running; she might pass out from exhaustion alone, and her vision – on top of that – blurs as the light drizzle of rain washes over her face. She wipes it away with the palm of her hand, but it obstructs her already impaired vision in the dark, and trips over a boulder on the ground. Lizzie groans, her body rolling through the mud, and the wolf slows it’s approach. She’s cornered. She’s screwed. She’s dead.
The wolf stalks forward. Lizzie raises her hands to her face, and it launches itself through the air.
Lizzie screams, anticipating the powerful impact, the bite, but instead another wolf collides in the air with her attacker. White, with speckles of grey. They roll around in the mud, snarling at each other, growling, taking bites anywhere their teeth can sink into until they’re both back on their feet. Lizzie watches, covering her mouth as she gasps, pushing herself back until her shoulders meet one of the trees behind her.
Then, the white wolf attacks the black one again. They begin their vicious snarling, and as Lizzie finds the force to pick herself off the ground, she hears one of them whimper. When she looks back, the black wolf is retreating, disappearing through the trees, and the white one turns, even slower in its approach. Lizzie’s eyes widen, out of magic, and out of breath, but she turns around in an attempt to try and run away again.
Except she spins out, when she feels her black hoodie being yanked away from her body, leaving her in a tank top under the rain that starts to pick up. She turns around angrily, but instead of finding a white wolf stalking back, she finds –
“Hope?”
Hope is sporting her too-big-for-her hoodie over her naked body and watching her with her arms crossed over her chest. It covers just enough. Not everything. Just enough.
“Oh, thank God!” Lizzie exclaims, throwing her arms around Hope in sweet, sweet relief as she tries to catch her breath. “I thought I was dead. Dead, dead.”
But she knows Hope Mikaelson. Always coming through with her last minute heroics.
Except this time, Hope pushes her away, hands on her shoulders, taking a step back to get a good look at her. They look at each other, almost comically; Hope with an eyebrow quirked and Lizzie, with her mouth agape. Then, Hope’s strange behavior is perfectly clear –
“Who the hell are you?”
------
[ PRESENT DAY ]
“Lizzie!”
Hope’s tired voice carries down the hallway. Behind her, Lizzie can hear her footsteps approaching – faster, faster – until they stop at her side, walking in tandem with her into the vast, otherwise dusty library at the end of the hall, where students gather quietly over a pile of books raging from anything about the occult to the mundane – European History and an old, thick Gaelic book about Magical Portals that thuds on the ground as it falls sloppily from the top of the bookshelf and almost takes Lizzie out. Talk about head trauma.
“Hey, watch it!” Lizzie looks up as dust gathers below her. Alyssa Chang stands on the top of the rolling ladder, shrugging nonchalantly. Whoops.
Lizzie picks up the book, coughs, swatting the dust away and piling it on top of Hope’s already busy hands. Hope says nothing, only blinks away the speckles of dust as she trails behind Lizzie with concern.
“I haven’t seen you all day. Is everything okay?”
She shouldn’t be taken aback, but she is, by the genuine worried inflection in Hope Mikaelson’s voice. Hope is tired, the evidence marked clearly on her face, vaguely darkened circles under her eyes that Hope barely had mind to conceal this morning with even the smallest layer of makeup. No one would be able to tell, not really, but Lizzie can. She knows that look Hope carries around like a weight on her back when something’s been keeping her up at night.
In front of the tinted window sill, Lizzie turns. The yellow light reflects off Hope’s exhausted, blue eyes, and Lizzie almost stutters, opting to instead, snatch the book back from the pile already gathered on Hope’s arms and toss it onto the nearest unoccupied table.
No, Hope. I’ve been avoiding you all morning until this very unfortunate meeting where we’ll be subjected to a torturous hour of incessant nerd rambling on how to kill the very same monster that sent me through a hell portal into another dimension where I hooked up with you and your unforgettable muscles and now I can’t even look at you in the eyes without thinking about it, so–
“I’m fine”. Lizzie says, saccharine sweet. Too sweet. Enough to make Hope suspicious, as she looks at the book Lizzie tossed on the table with an eyebrow raised. “I was having a perfectly fine morning until MG interrupted my strictly scheduled morning meditation and after reluctantly agreeing to meet here in exactly five minutes, the kitchen was out of Belgian Waffles, so I had to settle for a non-fat Greek yogurt. So yes, I’ve been severely inconvenienced, but it has nothing to do with you”.
“I never said it has –” Hope starts. “Shouldn’t we talk about it? About what happened…”
Lizzie stiffens.
“With the monster…”
She deflates.
“We still don’t know if there are any side effects to any of this. Doctor Saltzman said you refused to talk to Emma about what happened –”
“And now you’re giving me advice about what I should and shouldn’t talk to our school therapist about?” Lizzie scoffs, on the defensive, arms crossed tightly over her chest. “That’s rich, Hope”.
“That’s not what I meant –”
“Everyone at this school is so prolific at internalizing every shitty thing that happens to us on a weekly basis but since this one particular thing happened to me, then of course I’m the one who has to have the damage control, witchy therapy sessions with Emma despite the fact that I’ve already told everyone who’s asked that I’m fine!”
“Lizzie –”
“Is that why you were looking for me this morning? You wanted to check up on me?”
“Yes”. Hope says sincerely. Its her version of an olive branch – honesty. Lizze frowns, but Hope touches her wrist and she stays frozen in place, like she’s been jolted and immobilized by an invisible force. “The same night you found your way back to us you rushed into the woods on a near suicide mission to help me fight a monster we’re still not sure how to kill. Of course I wanted to check up on you. I was worried. You left my bedroom so suddenly last night that I didn’t even have time to ask how you were feeling. I wasn’t sure if you were ever going to come back. I wasn’t sure if we were ever going to see you again.”
Lizzie takes a breath, defeated. We, we, we – she has no right to be stung by the plurality of the word, but it gives her that feeling in the middle of her throat, like it runs dry, like one wrong word from Hope and she might break down in tears.
“I want to make sure you’re okay”. Hope continues. “You’re my best friend”.
And that’s the tragedy of it. She’s Hope’s best friend. Anything beyond that is nothing but something she could only clearly wish for in another timeline. One where Hope doesn’t know about her baggage, one where they got a clean slate to restart their history, no rumors, no backhanded comments…
“Me too”. Lizzie whispers. She brings her thumb up to brush over the side of Hope’s hand.
She thinks about holding it. She almost does, until –
“Yo, guys. We should get this show on the road”. Jed interjects, seemingly out of nowhere, picking up the book Lizzie had discarded on the table earlier and hopping over the banister towards the center table in the now empty library, where the rest of the squad has now gathered around one of Wade’s Dungeons and Dragons books.
By the time Lizzie pulls her hand back and they both gather around the table, Wade’s already settled in with the group.
“– That’s the thing though. Dimensional Warpers don’t usually engage in combat, but they do like learning about their enemies and their battle tactics. They’re not usually ones to initiate but they’ll fight if they sense that their life is in danger.”
“That explains why it disappeared last night and didn’t come back”. Hope pushes her way in between MG and Jed at the front and center of the table. “Do you think it’s after something?”
“Maybe. I can’t imagine another reason why Malivore would’ve spit that particular monster out. They’re elusive, hard to kill, and they only come out at night. Their night vision is impeccable”.
“How do we kill it?”
“Well, they are giant, bipedal, flying snakes, but they’re still snakes. I think we all know what the easiest way to kill one is –”
“Cut off it’s head”. Lizzie deadpans. Everyone turns, and Lizzie stands on the other side of the table, looking intently at the picture of the creature on Wade’s book.
And Hope, looking at the magical artifacts on the far side display, slumps her shoulders.
“We’re gonna need a very big sword”.
------
[ 3 WEEKS AGO ]
“Is your name Lizzie Saltzman?”
“Yes”. Between two slender and shaky hands, an orb flashes blue.
Across the antique, expensive looking desk in front of her, and a family portrait in the space where a tinted window used to sit, Klaus Mikaelson looks at Hope with concern and curiosity. Hope, looking taller and prouder as her hand rests upon Klaus’ leather chair, gives him a side eye.
She remembers Klaus from when she was younger, just as intimidating and commanding as he had been the day he’d sought out their help to save Hope from the Hollow all those years ago. She also remembers the Klaus she’s read about, in the books tucked away in the very same library a couple of doors down the hallway; the tales about The Great Evil. The boogeyman to end them all. The man who had terrorized Mystic Falls and claimed New Orleans like a dynasty, the man who had courted her mother until the day he died — but she also remembers the Klaus Mikaelson that Hope had told her about. The father. The man weighed down by the consequences of his choices and the drive to ensure his family’s survival, their safety, no matter the cost. In one universe, it had already cost him his life. In this one, the story seems to have been painted differently.
In this story, Hope is different. She’s prouder, she wears a scowl like armor but not with the purpose of pushing everyone away. This Hope reminds her of an heiress. Someone destined to inherit something bigger and greater than herself. Maybe it’s all this, Lizzie thinks. The Mikaelson School. Maybe it’s another kingdom entirely.
She looks… Good. Really good.
“Are you Alaric Saltzman’s daughter?” Hope continues.
“Yes”. Blue again.
“That doesn’t make any sense”. Klaus moves to take the orb from her hands, but Hope is faster — much faster — grabs his father’s arm before he can snatch it.
“Dad, you can’t fool the magical lie detector. They’re simple yeses or no's”.
Klaus respects her, she can tell, because he backs off and opens a drawer in his desk, takes out a heavy looking file — and pulls out a picture of her dad. He puts it in front of her.
“This man is your father?” He asks her again.
“Yes”.
And like clockwork, the orb shines blue again.
“That doesn’t make any sense —”
Lizzie goes to interject but Klaus holds his finger up, standing from his chair with his hands behind his back, circling around the office like a man with a decision to make. Technically he is… a man with a decision to make. About her.
Which really, really gives her the chills. The bad kind.
“— You see, Alaric is a slobber of a drunk man who unfortunately lost his wife on his wedding day. He was supposed to father two children, twins actually, and his psychopathic to-be brother-in-law murdered his fiancé at the altar. His daughters perished with her. He lost his Tenure at Mystic Falls High, now teaches a second-rate-history class at a local college, and he let the rest of his dreams die in the bottom of a bottle of stale whiskey and fatty liver disease. That man never got to father any children. He’s barely a man at all. No purpose. No drive”.
“Apparently not in this life —” Lizzie mutters. The orb flashes blue and Hope’s eyes immediately snap to Lizzie’s.
“What is that supposed to mean?” She’s the one taking the orb from her hands in a blink of an eye. She’s fast. Really fast. It takes her a second to realize, as Hope holds it between her fingertips and looks at her with blind distrust, that the Hope in this universe might not be jaded by the loss of her family, but this one might be jaded by something else.
Like her own death.
Oh.
“You’re gonna want to sit down for this one”.
------
The Mikaelson School library is even bigger than The Salvatore School’s. The Stallions were branded as the rich, spoiled, and troubled children of Mystic Falls, but the Mikaelson school rivals the self-made stereotype by a tenfold. Lizzie’s staring at a row of books about magic she could have only ever dreamed of reading — it’s obvious to her that Klaus Mikaelson’s vision for a school for the Supernatural was slightly different than her father’s. Somewhere witches, vampires, werewolves and others could live their powers to their full potential.
She picks a book from the rack, takes another one down with it, but Hope catches it before it can fully fall off the shelf — Necromancy: The Art of the Undead — and pushes it back in its place.
“If what you told me is true then your father built a school with the same purpose my father did”. She offers. This Hope, now a little less guarded and lit by the light of the full moon by the library window, is much softer, willing to momentarily let her guard down around the pretty stranger with the wavy blonde hair. “He wanted a place where I felt like I belonged. Somewhere he could offer a safe haven not only for me, but for all the witches, all the vampires, and all the werewolves who are forced to do all of this all on their own. The world is cruel and unrepentant. My dad knows that. So he and my mom bought this mansion, expanded it, and made it into a school for the Supernatural. It’s taken off since; we have a branch in Belgium and another one in development in South America. Argentina. Something about the wine…”
For the first time since she’d been blindly dropped into this dimension, Lizzie smiles. But after a much noticeable glance at Lizzie’s lips, Hope continues. “We thought all the Gemini witches were dead. They’re rare. Powerful —” Hope says. It takes a second for Lizzie to notice she’s sizing her down.
She doesn’t want to talk about how that makes her feel.
“You have to take someone’s magic to use it, right?”
And Hope offers her hand. Lizzie’s brows furrow, but she takes it anyway. She’s siphoned magic from Hope before, but not a fully triggered Tribrid Hope. When she drains her power Lizzie feels an adrenaline rush like no other, like sticking her hand directly into a fuse box and taking all the energy in Mystic Falls with it. She watches Hope carefully for any sign of pain, but Hope doesn’t flinch. She doesn’t move, only watches their joined hands.
Then Lizzie raises her wrist, flicks it, and closes all the doors of The Mikaelson school in simultaneous fashion, making the building tremble.
“Something like that”. Lizzie grins and Hope lets her hand go. She’s grinning back and Lizzie doesn’t know why that makes her feel drunker than taking all that power from her. “The stronger the source the stronger and the magic we can do, but we can take from anything that’s come in contact with magic. This building, for example. A vampire, a werewolf — miscellaneous…”
“Well, here at the Mikaelson school we’re always looking for other powerful witches. I know you want to go back home eventually, once we figure out how to send you back, but if you want to stay, we can make room for you.”
They walk past the archway, to a display case with magical artifacts and weapons of all kinds. Some she recognizes, like the dagger that had started it all that brutally eventful day when Rafael joined the school, the urn, an enchanted compass, Papa Tunde’s blade…
“We’ve collected those over the years”. Hope motions to the display case. “Some of them were already in my dad’s possession before we put them here. The display case was enchanted by my aunt, so it’s practically impenetrable and impossible to open unless you’re a Mikaelson, but my mom thinks it’s important to teach these kids everything we can about magic and everything that could hurt them. Some of them —” She continues, sliding her finger over a display case of weapons. “— are just purely decorative though”.
Lizzie watches Hope’s finger land on the glass over a large broadsword.
“What exactly do you know about my family?” Hope asks. When she looks at the display again, Lizzie can see her own reflection next to Hope’s on the glass, and when she looks closer at the weapon, their faces on the side of the broadsword.
“Oh, you have no idea”.
------
[ PRESENT DAY]
Sparks cloud Lizzie’s vision. At the old mill, in the dead of night, Hope sharpens a sword Lizzie thinks is larger than her standing up. She’d poke fun at her, for wielding such a big weapon for such a small person, but if the past few weeks — days — weeks — whatever, had taught her anything, is how immeasurable the power Hope wields at her fingertips is. Maybe she could provide them both with a quip, if she wasn’t so busy staring at her, agape.
God, get it together, Lizzie.
She clears her throat and Hope stops.
“Hey! I thought we could get a head start with this old thing. Your dad kept it downstairs but I think it’ll give us the firepower we need. It’s a shame though, it’d make for a nice decoration”.
Lizzie wants to laugh. No, it would make for an awful piece of decoration. She’d seen it displayed neatly on a case, but ancient artifacts and old swords make her think of ancient cursed castles and the ghosts within them.
“So asks-too-many-questions Hope has now become knight-in-shining-armor Hope. I gotta say, I think I like this version a little bit better”.
“Because I’m not asking questions?” Hope challenges.
“That’s part of it”.
They both laugh, look at each other as Lizzie takes her place beside Hope, until Hope goes stoic again. She puts the blade down, wipes her hands on her dark jeans.
“Lizzie, I know this isn’t by far the most threatening monster we’ve ever faced but, I think you should stay inside the school. Kaleb and I designed a foolproof plan to kill the —”
“Why are you sidelining me?” Lizzie frowns. “I was of perfectly good help last time you almost got sucked into a portal too, remember?”
“That’s not what I meant —”
“Then what do you mean Hope? I know this isn’t about glory. So what is it? Martyrdom? Pushing people who care about you away?”
And Hope is surprisingly calm, despite the tension in Lizzie’s voice, despite the way she raises it, despite the way it cuts through the sound of the chirping crickets in the woods. “No. It’s the opposite, actually. It’s about trying to keep the people I care about safe. I don’t want you to end up somewhere you won’t be able to come back to us if we risk it”.
“What about Kaleb, then? Surely you care about him”.
A beat.
“Not the way I care about you”.
They stand there, in the cold of the Old Mill, looking at each other as Hope picks up the sword on the table, and Lizzie realizes for the first time, Hope is making an entirely selfish decision… And it’s all about her.
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Summary: Yunho, Mingi, and San are at the cabin with their girl and her family for a month of summer fun and relaxation. Mingi finds it hard having to hide again, with both his loves so close and yet so far. Meanwhile an old friend appears, catching the eye of San. And a careless moment reveals a little too much to her family.
Wordcount: 11.7k
Content warnings: Small references to misgendering and families not accepting of non-traditional gender identities, anxiety about relationships, pining, making out, a little sex, impregnation kink, exploration of a new relationship.
“Are you guys ready to go for a swim?” she asked, five towels piled high on her shoulders as she leaned on the wall outside the room the four boys were sharing. The double bunk beds in the cabin had never been completely filled before. A few years ago her brother had been allowed to bring a friend who had stayed in there with him, but more often, she had shared the room with him while other family members used the extra queen room that wasn’t where her parents were staying. They liked spending their whole summer there, all four weeks they could take out of the city and away from everything and everyone.
As a kid she hadn’t always enjoyed it; feeling like it was forever without her friends and her activities and everything she liked doing. Her dad eventually gave up on trying to limit the number of books she took to read, happy enough that she still went out for swims, walks, and to take the boat out on the water. She and her books were even good company when they went out to fish for some dinner. She didn’t mind being quiet and she was patient. It was great, in his personal opinion.
This year the cabin was full to the bursting. She had the extra queen bedroom, her parents had their favorite place, and all the boys were packed into the bunk beds in the kid’s space, despite most of them no longer being kids at all. It didn’t matter, the whole family was together and life was good. The summer weather had been lovely and hot, but not too humid, meaning that the heat at the worst part of the day was easy to escape by heading to the shade, or better yet, into the lake.
“Yeah, coming!” Mingi’s raised voice came from behind the door to the room. Thumping and shuffling noises followed alongside muffled discussions as her three boys struggled in the small space to get into their swim shorts and flip flops to walk down to the dock. She suppressed a smile as she waited for them to emerge.
“Oh you have the towels,” Yunho said, stepping out of the room, his broad chest bared to her eyes. If she could have been sure that her parents or her brother wouldn’t chance by, she would have stepped forward and given his nipple a teasing lick, but alas, she couldn’t be sure.
“I do,” she handed him one and peeked around the corner to see San and Mingi looking nearly ready themselves. Mingi seemed to be looking for something but she couldn’t imagine what since he seemed to be dressed and had both of his shoes. “What’s up babe?”
“I can’t find my watch,” Mingi turned in a small circle, knowing it couldn’t have gone very far. “I just don’t want to lose it.”
“Look in the bedsheets,” she suggested, hugging the frame of the door to stay looking at him while also leaving room for San to push by, grabbing one of the towels off her shoulder while he did.
“Thank you Chipmunk,” he said, giving her cheek a kiss as he lifted the towel off her shoulder.
“No problem, Sannie,” she nodded.
“Ah ha!” Mingi triumphantly lifted the leather and brass object of his search up, placing it in the little drawer of the bedside table they all shared.
“Good job, babe,” she laughed as he finally padded towards her. “You ready to go swimming?”
“Yeah,” he nodded, taking a towel off her shoulder and throwing it over his before he leaned over and picked her up in his long arms. “Let’s go take a dip.”
“Love, you don’t have to carry me all the way down to the docks,” she laughed, throwing an arm around his neck.
“I know,” he said quietly, so that only she could hear. “But it's a good reason to hold you for a little while. I miss having you beside me when I go to sleep.”
“I miss you, too,” she sighed. “I’ll figure something out soon, okay?” Mingi nodded and gave her a slightly melancholic smile. Following behind San and Yunho, he carefully minced his way over the winding path down to the dock that reached out into the still, sparkling lake. He managed to get the both of them down to the water with only one incident of getting her hair caught in a low hanging branch, largely thanks to the very narrow space on that part of the path.
As soon as the dock and the lake came into view Yunho and San were off like a shot, competing to see who could make it into the water first. She and Mingi shared a look, shaking their heads at the sight of the two of them unable to keep their competitive nature from taking over at the first chance it was presented to them. Somewhere near the shore, Mingi put her down in the protective shade of one of the large trees that lined the lake.
“Do you want to hop in?” She took his hand, looking up at him.
“Maybe not yet,” he admitted, looking at the other two boys splashing around in the water.
“Okay, let’s just sit in the shade for a little while,” she suggested, spreading out one of the towels on one of the broad, flat rocks nearby.
“You can go swim if you want,” Mingi rushed to assure her, feeling bad that he was keeping her from having fun with everyone else.
“I’d like to spend a little time with you,” she grinned up at him, patting the space beside her. “And the water will still be there later. I miss you too, you know.”
“You sure?” He checked, a shy smile on his face.
“Yeah, babe,” she nodded. “Are you having fun out here?”
“Yeah, of course,” Mingi was quick to reply, his stomach turning at the thought she might feel like he wasn’t grateful to be there with her and the whole family.
“I know this sort of place isn’t really your sort of place,” she bumped him with her shoulder. “You’re a city boy and that’s okay. The bugs, and the sun, and none of your games are here. It can be a little bit of an adjustment. Actually,” she turned to look up the hill as an idea struck her. “Do you want to go grab something that we can read together for a little while?”
“I already read most of the stuff I brought,” he sighed.
“That’s okay,” she assured him. “I brought some things I think you’ll like, we could sit in the shade for a while and I’ll read it to you.”
“You don’t mind?” He checked, not wanting his slightly off mood to burden her, or anyone else there.
“It actually sounds like a good way to spend the afternoon,” she assured him. “We’ll grab some drinks and snacks and maybe something better to sit on. Come on.” Standing up, she extended a hand to him, bounding back up towards the cabin to get everything they needed for a relaxing afternoon on the shore. Gathering a picnic blanket, some sandwiches, a bottle of soda and a half frozen bottle of water together in a couple of cloth bags, she also went to her room and grabbed a well worn paperback from the side pocket of her suitcase before jogging out to meet Mingi still standing in the kitchen.
“Ready?” She asked, taking one of the bags from him and offering him a hand. Mingi nodded, entwining his fingers with hers and letting her lead the way back down the path to the water.
“Hey,” Yunho greeted as they drew near, stepping back up onto the shore. “I was wondering where you had gone. What did you bring?”
“Just some snacks and something to read,” she said as she put the bag down against a rock near a flat place in the shade. “We were feeling a little more like relaxing and doing some reading. Maybe saving swimming for a little later.”
Mingi felt a pang of gratitude that she had made it sound like a decision they had made together, rather than calling it out as him being a bit of a wet blanket. He started working on pulling out the blanket and smoothing it out on the ground under the tree.
“Oh, we can wait on swimming if you guys want to do something else,” Yunho offered, flipping the damp hair off his face.
“No, no, no,” she waved him away as she slipped off her shoes and stepped onto the blanket. “Go swim, we’ll be right here when you want a break or a snack or something to drink. Have some fun, yeah?”
“Okay, if you’re sure,” Yunho looked between them then blew them both a kiss before jumping back into the water.
“Do you want to lie down, babe?” She asked, patting her lap after she sat down with her back leaning against a boulder that was sticking out by the edge of the blanket. Mingi happily curled up on his side, his head resting on her lap. The dappled sunlight swept his face as the breeze stirred the leaves overhead. She laid a hand on the side of his head, threading her fingers through his hair as she ran her nails lightly over his scalp. In her lap, Mingi visibly relaxed as he brought one arm up around her knee with a happy sigh.
“Should I read a little to you?” She offered in a gentle voice.
“If you don’t mind,” he nodded slightly.
“Not at all, babe,” she soothed. “Let’s see.” Picking up the old book, she flipped to the first page of the first chapter. “Sophie couldn’t sleep. A brilliant moonbeam was slanting through a gap in the curtains. It was shining right on her pillow…” Mingi heard her voice more than he heard the words, half following the story but mostly enjoying a quiet moment in her lap. After their trip to New York and feeling the freedom of being out and being able to reach for both of them and kiss them whenever he felt like it, having to be careful around her family was cutting him. He was skin hungry. He needed to have those moments before he drifted off where he felt the warmth of their embrace.
Really, he was grateful to be there. A month would have been an intolerably long time for her to be gone, but this half compromise of being around her but feeling like he was on eggshells half the time was harder than he thought it would be. Still, he would never say anything. He didn’t want to complain. He didn’t want to be a problem, especially when they were all being so generous to include him anyway.
So caught up in his thoughts and in enjoying the moment he was able to steal with her, he didn’t notice when she paused in her reading. It was only when he felt her second hand brush over his jaw that he took note of the fact she wasn’t reading to him anymore.
“Why did you stop?” He asked, lifting himself up on his elbow.
“You were frowning, love,” she informed him, brushing hair off his forehead. “I thought maybe you just needed a few minutes of my undivided attention.”
“Oh, sorry,” he looked down at his hands. “I’m just… I miss you a little. I know its stupid because you’re here so I can’t really miss you but--”
“I miss you, too,” she told him gently. His eyes snapped up to hers at her words. On her face was a warm expression, a gentle smile that made her eyes sparkle.
“Yeah?” He gave a little chuckle as color rose on his cheeks.
“Yeah, baby,” she tilted her head to the side as she cupped his cheek. “I’m not sleeping as well without you. I actually thought about borrowing a shirt from each of you to sleep with so it’s easier for me to fall asleep.”
“Oh, that’s a good idea,” his eyes widened and brightened at the thought. “Can I have something to take to bed?”
“Sure,” she nodded, giving the tip of his nose a little peck. “I’ll give you something. You can hide it under your pillow or something.”
“Is there somewhere we can get away for just a little while?” He looked up at her with a slightly pained look on his face. “I just want to hold you both for a little while. We don’t have to do anything. I just want… I miss you.”
“Mmm, me too,” she sighed.
“Is that who I think it is,” a voice that Mingi didn’t recognise came from a few meters down the shore.
“Alex?” She said, a little surprise in her voice as she said the name. Mingi sat up and looked behind him towards where the voice had come from. He found someone he didn’t recognise standing there. They were dressed in a large baggy t-shirt and basketball shorts with a short haircut that was nearly buzzed on the lower half. Actually it reminded him of his haircut, but shorter on the top. He wasn’t sure exactly why but they seemed nervous and a little awkward as they stood a little ways away from them.
“Yeah, yeah,” they nodded, rocking on the balls of their feet. “Long time no see, huh?”
“You look good,” she said, moving to stand up and go to the new-comer. “It’s really nice to see you.” Their girl pulled the other person into a hug which they returned after half a second.
“Um, so like, are you here with your family or did you just come with friends or something?” They asked, looking at all the unfamiliar faces. Yunho and San hadn’t even noticed the newcomer as they swam in the water, competing to be the fastest or to stay under longest.
“Oh the whole family is here, but I did bring some friends this time,” she gestured at all of her boys. “Ummm actually, the family doesn’t know but I’m actually dating the blond and the one with the blue hair. Don’t mention it to the rest of the family, but I know you can keep a secret and all.”
“Yeah totally,” they nodded, looking between both of the boys. They stepped closer to her and asked a little quieter, “Both, like at the same time?”
“Yes,” their girl whispered back with a grin.
“Nice,” they nodded and raised their hand for a fistbump. Their girl met the gesture with her own fist and a big grin. “So if those two are boyfriends, who’s Mr. Dark Hair, out there?”
“That is San,” she replied. “He’s my brother now. We sort of adopted him a little while ago. He’s cool and he is the only one who knows about all of us.”
“It’s cool that he knows,” they nodded. “Uh, so, how long are you going to be here and all?”
“The rest of the month,” she replied. “We’ve only been here about a week now. What about you?”
“Another couple of weeks,” they rocked, sticking their hands in their pocket and looking around a little as they answered.
“Do you want to come and sit with us?” Their girl offered, gesturing over towards where Mingi was still stretched out on the blanket. “We have some drinks and some snacks.”
“Umm, sure, if I’m not being a bother,” they nodded with a shrug.
“Not at all,” she said, looping her arm through their arm and leading them over to the shaded blanket. “I’d love to catch up with you and to have you meet all my boys. How long has it been now?”
“Like a year and a half I think,” they said after a brief pause. “The last time I think was that Christmas thing our parents made us all go to.”
“Oh yeah,” she breathed, eyes widening. “I still can’t believe your dad made you wear a dress to that thing. Do you mind if I ask if he’s gotten better about things?”
“Eh, he lets me dress how I want even around him now,” Alex shrugged. “He still insists on calling me Alexandra half the time and doesn't get the whole they/them thing.”
“Man,” she sighed. “I’m sorry about that. That really sucks. How are things at school though? What are you studying?”
“I’m actually doing digital art and design,” Alex replied, bringing their knees up to their chest. “Just at the local community college back in Rochester, though, so…”
“That’s really cool,” she replied. “Actually, one of our best friends back at the university is also studying design, though he is focused more on fashion and graphic design. I think you’d like him. He’s pretty cool and funny actually.”
“Oh he must be smart to be studying there with you guys,” they nodded, giving a half smile.
“You know you’re pretty cool and smart yourself right?” She told them encouragingly. “Have you thought about maybe applying as a transfer student someplace? Maybe see if you can’t get a little distance from your parents and all?”
“Maybe, but I don’t think I’m good enough to get anywhere,” they shrugged, digging their heel into the soft sand through the blanket.
“I would bet you are,” she said warmly, putting a hand on their shoulder. “I think I remember seeing a few things you did a while ago. I bet you’ve gotten even better since then, too.”
“You always were really nice about my stuff,” they offered her a smile. “Thanks, it means a lot that you believe in me, even if it’s just on principle.”
“Not just on principle,” she laughed. “I remember you were good, really I do. You should have a little more faith in yourself.”
“Hello everyone,” San said coming up from the shore, still dripping slightly. “Who do we have here?”
“Hi Sannie,” she greeted, smiling up at him and Yunho who was just behind him. “This is my friend Alex, their dad works at the same place as my dad.”
“Oh?” San said with a perky interest. “Then you must have been friends with Chipmunk for a while then.”
“Yeah, a little while,” they nodded. “You call her Chipmunk, too?”
“She’s my little sister,” San said with faux affront. “Of course I am going to use my favorite nickname for my precious sister.”
“Oh, right,” they nodded, a pink rising on their cheeks.
“Sannie, you are such a tease,” she smacked his leg, the only piece of him she could reach, pursing her lips at him and shaking her head.
“Ooo ouch,” he pouted at her for emphasis, taking a seat on the boulder she had begun the afternoon leaning against. “Is this your way of telling me you don’t love me anymore?”
“Oh my God,” she rolled her eyes. “You are just so ridiculous. Alex, don’t mind him, he’s just a flirt and completely ridiculous. But he is also a complete sweetheart that I trust with my life. You’ll get used to him.”
“Did you say you had snacks maybe?” Yunho asked as he took a seat near her and Mingi.
“I do, love,” she nodded, reaching for the bag of snacks and things. “Do you want some chips?”
“Chips sounds good, but,” he scooted closer to her and put a hand on Mingi’s arm before whispering. “I could really use a kiss if we can sneak away for a few minutes sometime today.”
“I already told them we were together,” she whispered back, giving his cheek a quick peck as well.
“Oh?” Yunho grinned. “In that case,” Yunho cupped her face, bringing her lips to his and giving them a leisurely brush. He nibbled at her bottom lip, tasting the softness of them as his hand caressed her cheek. Pulling back, he turned to the nearby Mingi, still lounging on the blanket, tilting the other boy’s face up so that he could steal a similarly tender kiss from him.
“Wow, you guys like really are all together, aren’t you?” Alex asked, not quite having thought the two boys would have been comfortable like that.
“They are the stupidly cutest set of people ever to exist,” San said as he leaned in conspiratorially. “It would be sickening if they weren’t also the nicest, cutest, and sweetest people on the face of the earth.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Alex gave a nervous chuckle. “I know she’s always been really nice and cool. It makes sense that she would fall for someone… or I guess, someones, who are also nice.”
“They are,” San agreed. “Which is a good thing, because I would hate to have to kill them for hurting my precious baby sister.”
“Hey,” Mingi protested. “What if she breaks our hearts; would you not defend us?”
“Okay, who here thinks she wouldn’t and if she did, she would probably be justified?” San asked the group as a whole. Literally everyone but their girl raised their hand in the small circle, including Mingi. “Aaaaand that should put that question to rest.”
“How, what?” She sputtered. “What is this odd faith you all seem to have in me.”
“You are the nicest person I know,” Alex shrugged.
“Yeah, love,” Yunho reached out and stroked her hair. “I know you wouldn’t ever want to hurt us. You haven’t given me reason to doubt that.”
“I… you…” she sputtered. “Thank you, I guess.”
“Hey, Alex,” she asked as the boys started packing up the picnic blanket and the mostly empty container that had held the snacks she and Mingi had gathered earlier. “I was thinking of maybe doing a bonfire and camping out here by the lakeside tonight. Do you want to join us?”
“Uh, you sure it would be okay?” They asked, furtively looking at the group of boys on the other side of her. “You don’t have to invite me to just be nice.”
“No, it would be fun,” she shook her head and smiled. “The more the merrier. Ummm, why don’t you come by after six. Do you by chance have a tent? I think dad only brought one and I’m not sure if we could all fit in it comfortably.”
“Oh yeah,” they nodded. “I can bring something. I can also bring some snacks and stuff. Do you still like making s’mores?”
“If you have marshmallows and half decent chocolate bars that you can bring, I will love you forever,” she replied forcefully. “Jacob ate all of the chocolate bars we brought before I could and I still haven’t decided if I have to murder him yet. Please, save us both.”
When she took one of their hands in hers, holding it pleadingly with a face asking to be saved, Alex couldn’t help but let out a giggle. She was so earnest in her hyperbole it was endearing.
“Trying to bring a fourth person into our little family?” Yunho teased, coming up behind her.
She looked at him with a wide eyed expression and sputtered at him for a few seconds before regaining the ability to speak. “You know, they aren’t going to know you are joking. Play nice, mister.”
“It’s okay,” Alex rushed to assure her, not wanting to be the reason for a fight or discord. “It’s just a joke, no biggie.”
“He thinks he’s so funny,” she said, putting her hands on her hips and shaking her head.
“He kind of is,” Alex leaned in and laughed.
“I know, but he doesn’t need to know it,” she whispered conspiratorially. “He already knows he is awesome, we don’t want to give him an even bigger head.”
“Ah,” they nodded, a grin spreading over their face and a little bit of tension leaving their shoulders.
“We have to go up and help with dinner, but see you in a couple of hours, yeah?” She asked, taking a step to follow the boys who were starting up the path to the cabin. Behind her, San caught Alex’s eyes, giving them a smile and a little wink before turning to walk up the hill.
“Yeah, see you soon,” they said, watching the cheery group go.
“Hey dad, where is the tent?” She asked, poking her head in the third cabinet as she looked for it while they waited for dinner to be ready to be served.
“It’s in the closet by the front door,” he replied, poking his head out of the kitchen. “Why are you looking for it?”
“We’re going to camp by the lake tonight,” she replied with a grin. “Me and the boys and Alex.”
“Oh she’s here with her family?” Her father asked, a happy tone in his voice.
“They dad,” Jacob said from the armchair without looking up.
“Huh?” Her father blinked at his son.
“He’s right, Alex goes by they dad,” she replied as she walked over to the closet in question. “I know it isn’t natural to you yet and you knew them a lot longer as she, but just do your best to remember. Their dad isn’t really doing a great job letting them be who they are, but we can do our best.”
“Right, of course,” her dad nodded, trying to make a mental note. “I don’t know that there is enough space for all of you in that tent. It’s big but not that big.”
“It’s okay, Alex is bringing a second tent,” she explained. “It should be fine if we have two that we share.”
“Oh good,” her dad smiled. “Then you can share with he-them and the boys can take the other tent.”
“Just going to say,” she pulled the tent out and then stood looking at him with narrowed eyes. “I’m 20 now, I live with the boys, and for all you know, I could totally be attracted to Alex. They look good these days, in my opinion. Nice undercut and everything.”
“Well, they can’t get you pregnant and ruin your future,” her father retorted.
“Thanks to modern medicine, neither can the boys,” she returned with equal attitude. This time it was his turn to sputter and blink at her assertion. He really wasn’t quite ready to see her as an adult, despite all the evidence to the contrary. Much as he wanted to protest, he was at least happy that she was being responsible. At twenty, if his own experience was anything to go by, she could probably speak from experience. He wasn’t ready to ask about certain things but at least she was giving him every indication she knew to be careful. For now, that was all he wanted to know.
“Hey, Alex,” her father said as he answered the door after dinner. His daughter and the boys were busy throwing the last of the blankets and pillows they needed into bags to take down for the evening. “It’s good to see you. How have you been?”
“I’m good, sir,” they replied, giving him a little bob of acknowledgement and deference. “I hope you’ve had a nice summer so far.”
“Yeah,” her father nodded. “The weather has been nice so far which means I’ve been able to get out on the lake whenever the mood struck.”
“Yeah, dad has been doing a lot of fishing,” they nodded. “I’ve been doing my best to avoid it. If you wanted to go out with him, it would probably save me some suffering.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” her father laughed as the shuffling sound of the kids making their way down the hallway drew closer behind him. “Everything ready?”
“Yep,” his daughter nodded, pillow under her arm and a canvas bag in the same hand. “But if we forgot anything, we’ll just pop back up.”
“Try not to be coming in and out a lot after ten, okay?” He requested. “Your mom and I are probably going to sleep about then, so just try to make sure you have everything you need before then.”
“Okay dad,” she agreed, leaning into his hug as she passed him to head out the door. “Thanks and we’ll come for anything we need.”
“Have fun,” he kissed her forehead and let her go to head out the door. “No night swimming though.”
“Okay, we’ll be safe,” she promised. “Thank you dad.” Leading the way, she headed down the hill back towards the shore where they could camp and have a little bonfire. Everyone followed behind her, hauling armfuls of blankets, pillows, tents, snacks, food, and various little things they thought they would need for the night.
By the shore they started to set up camp, putting up the tents and putting down towels to sit on before gathering up some loose kindling they could use to start a fire. Dried old wood littered the ground of the woods around them. Once the tents were set up, San, Mingi, and Yunho set off to gather what they could for them to use.
“Did you already have dinner, too?” She asked Alex as they stacked the kindling in preparation to start the fire.
“Yeah I had something with my parents.” They nodded as they moved some of the small rocks in the area into a circle to help contain the fire they would build there.
“Okay, good,” she nodded. “Just wanted to make sure.”
“Umm, can I ask how you like, adopted San?” They asked as they carried over another small rock.
“Oh, yeah,” she nodded. “Ummm, he sort of went through a tough time after graduation and luckily my dad heard that he needed some love in his life so we took him in for Thanksgiving about a year ago and he’s really been part of the family ever since. I’m not sure what I would do without him now. He’s loyal as a puppy and probably just as sweet. But don’t let your guard down,” she shook a finger at them warningly. “That man is a total flirt and he will weasel into your heart before you even notice. Fair warning.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” they laughed as they adjusted the last few stones to make a full circle.
“Can you pass me my big canvas bag over behind you?” She gestured towards the item in question. “The long matches are in there for me to light the kindling.”
“Oh sure,” they nodded and reached behind them, passing the bag over to her just as the boys returned with armloads of wood.
“Look at you all,” she said proudly as she stood up to watch them as they arrived with their hard earned loot. “Such good hunters of the wild and wily dead wood. Excellent providers if we ever got stuck out in the wilds.”
“Of course, did you ever doubt us?” San tried to sound wounded by her lack of faith in them.
“Never, never,” she assured him, rolling her eyes dramatically. “I know that all of you would 100% be glorious manly hunters who would never let me suffer even for a moment.”
“Darn straight,” Mingi laughed leaning in to give her a peck on her temple as he dropped his wood in a pile nearby.
“Such good boys,” she cooed at him and Yunho as he came up to stand behind the other boy. “I’ve got the very bestest of boys, don’t I?”
“At least you are aware,” Yunho chuckled, caressing her cheek with his thumb.
“How could I forget when you are here to remind me?” She gave him a look and puckered her lips playfully.
“So, what I am hearing is that I need to remind you of this at every opportunity,” Yunho joked, lifting her into his arms to hold her up at a level where they were face to face.
“Mmm,” she nodded. “That sounds like a plan to me.” Yunho kissed the tip of her nose before putting her down again and picking up a few pieces of wood and piling them on the kindling. Leaning in with Mingi, the two boys started working on lighting their evening bonfire.
Alex felt San draw up alongside them and flicked their eyes to try and covertly take him in. Did he need something? Were they in the way?
“Am I really so scary?” San asked, putting out his bottom lip slightly.
“What?” Alex asked, feeling their eyes widen in surprise and a slight sense of panic.
“You look like you are expecting me to bite,” San said just loud enough for them to hear. “If I promise to only do that if you ask, will you take a breath and relax a little?”
“I… I’m sorry,” they gripped their hands in front of them, shifting on their feet nervously.
“No, no,” San smiled, putting an arm around their shoulders. “Come sit with me. I want to know more about you.”
“I’m not that interesting,” they demurred.
“Everyone is interesting in their own way,” San smiled and shook his head. “I know everyone else here pretty well, but I’d like to get to know you better. Let’s start with what you like to do in your free time?”
“Umm, music, I guess,” they stuttered out, all memories of what they did in their free time for fun having fallen out of their brain the moment the question was asked. “Drawing, reading, movies…”
“What do you like to draw?” San followed up as he took a seat, patting the space beside him on the blanket to invite them to sit as well. Without a word, they took a seat, leaving a few inches between them
“For fun, I enjoy drawing fantasy scenes and making characters,” they shrugged. “But I also do a lot of stuff for school and sometimes stuff people need for a project or something.”
“Oooo,” San’s eyes widened with interest. “I’d love to see some of what you do.”
“I don’t really have much here,” they shook their head. “Just a little sketch pad to keep me from going crazy out here. I mostly do digital art.”
“I’d still love to see it,” he gave them a gentle bump with his elbow. “Could I maybe commission you for something?”
“Like what?” They turned to look at him, interested but worried he would expect too much.
“Do you do portraits or characters based on people?” He questioned as an idea struck him.
“Sometimes,” they nodded.
“Could you do something with all of us?” San proposed. “Something with each one of us as… something else, more than just our boring selves.”
“Do you mean like as animal characters?” They quirked their head to the side.
“Hmmm, or maybe like fantasy creatures,” San suggested excitedly. “Can’t you see her as a fairy? Or maybe a witch? And the boys as her familiars?”
“Oh dude, yeah,” They replied excitedly. “She would be the cutest forest witch and maybe Yunho would be her wolf and Mingi… maybe her fox?”
“Oooo, yes, I like it,” San gushed with a wide grin. “What about me? What would I be?”
“Oh, you feel like vampire to me, I think,” they replied without missing a beat.
“Is that why you seem to think I must bite,” he teased.
“No,” they laughed, a real relaxed laugh for the first time that day. “But you are too charming, I have to stay on my toes.”
“Charming?” He puffed out his chest at the compliment. “Are my charms working on you?”
“Maybe, a little,” they suppressed a smile.
“Guess I’ll have to try harder then,” San leaned in closer, giving them a meaningful look. The conversation between the two of them was interrupted by a triumphant Mingi and Yunho hooting over their primal success at making fire. She looked proudly at her two boys raising one of her hands above her head in a celebratory gesture at their success.
“See, we can take care of you, even if we have to run away into the woods because society collapses,” Mingi laughed.
“Never had a doubt,” she replied, opening her arms to him as he came to join her where she had taken a seat. “I have the best boys.” She welcomed his curling around her as he took a seat behind her and pulled her back against him. He tucked his face into the top of her head, breathing in the scent he missed so much. Just the smell of her, the feel of her soft warmth in his arms made the tension start to melt from him and his chest feel just a little less tight. Yunho took a seat beside them, entwining his hand with one of Mingi’s, scooting until his thigh was pressed against the other boy’s.
“They really were made for each other, weren’t they?” Alex asked San as they both watched the three of them settle in together. “How do their families not see it? Like how do they keep it a secret?”
“Some of it has to be that they don’t want to know,” San shook his head. “And at least her family, they know something, they just… I don’t know that it would occur to them that they would make it work, the three of them all together.”
“Yeah, I guess I didn’t get it either, even when she said it,” they agreed.
“For a while I wished they had just… taken me in too,” San admitted.
“You mean like, not just as a friend?” They asked, eyes widening slightly at the thought.
“Mmm,” San nodded. “I think I just wanted that kind of acceptance and to be that important to someone. I like both of the boys but…”
“But you don’t really want to be with them like that,” Alex filled in for him.
“Maybe I’d like it more than I think,” he nodded. “But having kissed them all… Chipmunk is really the only one I really feel that way about. Or did? Maybe… It gets to be a little confusing sometimes.”
“I think I’m a little too selfish to want to share like that,” they admitted. “Not that I can even find one person who wants to be with me, but, you know.”
“Oh? No boyfriend or girlfriend… or gender neutral partner?” San asked, trying not to reveal too much with the question.
“No,” Alex gave a little scoffing laugh.
“So you’re telling me I have a chance?” San leaned closer and gave them a charming smile.
“As if you would,” Alex could feel a flash of heat rise on their face and chest at the flirting. He doesn’t really mean it, they told themself. He’s just teasing.
“Alex?” San said their name softly, coaxing them to look at him. Pausing for half a second in indecision, he took his chance. After all, no risk, no reward. San reached out, cupping their cheek and holding their face at the right angle for his lips to meet theirs. It was a bare brush of lips, nothing too much or too aggressive since he wasn’t sure it would be welcomed.
“Why?” Alex asked as he pulled back slightly to be able to look into their eyes.
“Because I think you’re cute and interesting,” San replied gently. They looked back at him, scanning his expression for any sign of dishonesty or teasing, but found none. It didn’t make sense that such a gorgeous guy would like them and they didn’t really trust it… but…
Alex leaned in connecting with Sans lips again, taking the initiative. They tilted their head, letting their nose brush past his as they let their lips part just a little as they took his. San gladly took the invitation and brought his hand to the back of their head, pulling them closer as he sucked their bottom lip into his mouth. They drew in a quick breath at the sensation as their nose brushed against his cheek gently.
San felt a shock of arousal and satisfaction as they gave into the kiss. He couldn’t deny that they had caught his interest from the moment they had appeared so fortunately on the shore of the lake talking to her. There was something… kind about them. Something under that sense of discomfort in their own skin was a clear gentleness and desire to make those around them comfortable, even as they couldn’t find that for themself.
Much as he could have happily gone further, San pulled back. They were worth going slow for and, at the very least, they had all night to see where things would go.
“Would you roast a marshmallow with me,” he asked, letting his hand drop from cradling their head, instead going to entwine his fingers with theirs.
“Do you want to make a smore to share?” They suggested. “I brought good chocolate for it.”
“I’d love to,” San beamed, giving them a peck on the cheek before he reached for one of the metal skewers propped up nearby.
10:35 P.M. in the cabin
“I’ll be right back,” Her dad said, slipping on his shoes near the door to the cabin. “I’m just going to check on the kids one last time.”
“I’m sure they are fine, honey,” her mother smiled at him as she continued to read in the comfy armchair under the lamp. “But I know you’ll feel better if you go make sure. Tell them all to sleep well for me.”
“Alright,” he nodded and laughed. She knew him too well, but how could she not after more than a quarter of a century being married to him? The moon was full and bright overhead, lending a light to the forest below where it was open to the sky. His years of visiting this place meant that the dark parts of the path felt like second nature to his feet. It hadn’t even occurred to him to bring a flashlight.
He could hear the kids before he could see them. Even though he couldn’t make out what was said, he could hear San speaking in a soft teasing tone followed by Alex snickering. It may have been a while since he had seen h- them, he corrected in his mind, he recognised it. A smile spread across his face. It sounded like they were all having fun.
Before he got to the edge of the trees he could make out their group and what he saw made him freeze in his tracks. Seated between him and the bright, flickering bonfire was his daughter and her two best friends. There was nothing unusual about seeing all of them together, even to see them all touching, or piled in each other’s laps. But what he saw was something more.
She was nestled tightly between Yunho’s lanky legs as he held her against him with one long, gentle arm. His other hand was resting softly on the forearm of the other boy who was seated as close as he could manage, his legs slipped under hers and weaving around the butts of the two people he was facing. Mingi was not only sitting curled around the other two, something he would have found perhaps confusing but not surprising given how close they had always been. No, he was busy kissing his daughter. A deep, passionate, familiar sort of kiss that wasn’t something that just happened between friends on a whim.
What really confused him, was how comfortable Yunho was being so close as they made out like that. He had never had a friend like that. His mystification at that only lasted a few seconds until Mingi pulled back and then moved to connect his lips with the other boy who met him with equal passion. All at once, things started to fall into place for him. All the years of saying she couldn’t choose, all the years of them being so inseparable as a trio. The way they looked at his daughter and seemed to trail after her with hearts in their eyes.
Why didn’t she ever just say something? He asked himself as he took a step back, heading up to the cabin again. Would he have ever let her move in with them if she had told him when they were all starting university together? No, probably not, he admitted honestly. He probably would have thought they were insane. They were kids after all, what did they know about life and love? I guess enough that they are that happy even after living together for a year.
He walked in the door and headed to the bedroom where he found his wife already dressed and lying in bed, reading the same book she had been reading when he headed down, now just tucked into the covers of their bed.
“What’s up honey?” She said, folding her book in her lap. “Did one of the kids say something stupid, or were they doing something they shouldn’t?”
“No, just…” he started as he took his shirt off to change for bed. “Are we good parents?”
“Of course!” Her tone was scolding and surprised at the question. “What did they say? Who do I need to go yell at? They are kids, what do they know?”
“No, no, no one said anything, but,” he sighed, pausing long enough to finish changing so he could crawl into bed beside her. “Something is happening with our daughter and the boys.”
“Oh that again,” she relaxed a little against the headboard as she put the book down on the bedside table with the lamp. “They are the best friends I could have asked for our daughter. I can’t really ask for more as long as she is happy, honey.”
“They really love her,” he sighed.
“Why do you make it sound like that is a bad thing,” she chuckled at him, picking up his hand and giving it a squeeze. “I know it might be making it hard for her to find someone to date but I can’t say that it breaks my heart too much right now.”
“No, I don’t think there is room for anyone else there,” he sighed.
“That will change with time,” she tried to soothe. “Someone will catch someone’s eye and they’ll all have to go their own directions. I just hope they really do stay friends forever.”
“You know how I’ve always said she must be dating one of them,” he tried again, starting over. “But I could never figure out which one it was?”
“Yes, yes,” she smiled at him.
“It’s because it’s both of them,” he turned to look at her, wanting to gage her reaction, in part, needing to know he wasn’t the only one who had been blind to that possibility.
“I know they are all close, but that doesn’t mean--” she started, trying to tame his worries.
“I saw them kissing,” he clarified. “All of them.”
For a second she stared back at him, trying to take in the information or find some other explanation and failing. “Like kissing kissing? She was kissing both of them?”
“And they were kissing each other,” he emphasized. Admittedly he hadn’t seen her kiss Yunho, but he had no doubt she had, given the way he was holding her as Mingi did.
“Oh,” she said slowly, sitting back and looking thoughtfully into the space at the foot of the bed.
“Are we bad parents that she felt she needed to hide this from us?” He asked after a moment of silence.
“No honey,” she assured him. “Of course not. But… I think I can see why she might think we wouldn’t understand.”
“I don’t think I do understand it,” he shrugged. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t accept it.”
“And that is why you are a good dad,” she gave his cheek a kiss before leaning her head on his shoulder. “Did you talk to them?”
“No,” he admitted, feeling a little embarrassed that he had basically run away. “I was so startled and I didn’t know what to say to them.”
“Should we talk to them tomorrow?” She offered. “We can all sit down and get it all out in the open.”
“No, I…” he gave a sigh and flattened his lips into a line as he tried to figure out what he wanted to say. “I want her to come to us. She isn’t a little kid and she is allowed to have secrets and decide when she is comfortable letting us in. I just… I want her to know that we will love her no matter what. We just want her to be happy.”
“Well then let’s make sure she knows that,” she slipped an arm around his waist. “Gosh, it isn’t just her secret is it?”
“What do you mean?” He asked, returning the gesture.
“Well, even if she thought we would accept it, at least at some point,” she sighed with a slight sadness. “I think she knows she is also keeping it to protect the boys she loves.”
“Oh, right,” honestly the thought hadn’t occurred to him yet.
“Mingi’s father has always been a little biggoted hasn’t he?” She pointed out. “I’d imagine that wouldn’t go over well with him, really.”
“Well we took in one adult son already,” he joked. “What’s a couple more, right?”
“Right,” she agreed with a smile. “Maybe letting them know that is a place to start?”
“This is why I married you,” he gave a contented sigh and pulled her into a full hug. “Always pick someone smarter than you.”
10:31 P.M. at the lake
“What would you think of heading to bed soon?” Yunho suggested, placing a kiss on the side of her neck as he cuddled her back against his chest.
“We should make sure that Alex feels okay with San though,” she pointed out as her fingers played with the hand pressed against her stomach.
“They look like they might be grateful for some privacy actually,” Mingi grinned broadly, casting a glance at them. She turned to look at the pair off towards the side of the fire, cuddled up together as San flirtily whispered something to Alex, who blushed and smiled.
“Did we play matchmaker,” she whispered to the boys excitedly.
“Maybe,” Yunho chuckled with both of them. “Oh my god, are we becoming those people?”
“Those people?” Mingi asked, his brow furrowing.
“The happy coupled people who want everyone around them to pair off,” Yunho couldn’t help but laugh, hiding his face in her shoulder as he tried not to be too loud.
“Oh no, maybe,” she grimaced. “But in our defense, we didn’t do it to set them up.”
“True,” Yunho nodded, pressing his cheek to the top of her head as he looked at Mingi.
“Do you think your family has gone to bed yet,” Mingi asked, his gaze flickering towards the cabin even as he reached for them.
“What time is it?” She grabbed Yunho’s hand to look at the watch he had on one wrist. “Oh probably. It’s 10:30 so they probably went to bed a little while ago. I’m a little surprised they didn’t come to check on us, but… yeah I guess they figured we would have come if we needed anything.”
“The only thing I need is you two,” Mingi pouted, leaning closer to them.
“Aww, my poor love,” she reached out and cupped his face. “We have all night, though I suspect I should probably slip into the tent with Alex sometime before dawn.”
“Do you think someone will come and check?” Yunho asked.
“Not so much check as I think dad will probably come and get us for breakfast and he would notice if I wasn’t in the right place,” she sighed. “But we can have a few hours just the three of us and we can give San and Alex a little more time to get familiar if they want as well.”
“Does that mean I can kiss you now?” Mingi asked, a hopeful look on his face as he slid his legs under hers, getting as close to her as he could.
“I think it’s safe, love,” she nodded, looking up into his face as he drew close. Mingi gave her a dreamy look for half a second before he took her lips. One of his hands helped her head move to the right angle while the other slid over to rest half on Yunho’s thigh and half on her waist. The slightly smokey taste of roasted marshmallows clung to her lips, mixed with the deeper taste of chocolate over the flavor of herself. He could feel the sense of contentment he had been craving flow through him at the touch. His nose brushed over the peach fuzz softness of her cheek as he felt Yunho’s large, warm hand caress over his forearm. With a gentle suck, he pulled the tip of her tongue into his mouth. A shiver went through him at the soft velvety sensation of it moving past the softness of the inside of his lips.
Yunho waited patiently, hearing the impatient sounds Mingi let out, completely unaware that he was doing so. It was one of the things he loved about him. He was completely guileless in his enjoyment of them. Somehow he didn’t seem to have it in him to even pretend an indifference or patience, even for show. He was earnest in his need and wants and you never wondered where you stood with him.
Pulling away from her, he turned his hooded eyes on Yunho and moved to take his lips. Between them, she happily leaned her head against Mingi’s shoulder and listening to his heart throb. The moist sounds of her two boys kissing sent that familiar thrill through her as their bodies held her between them. She had missed this more than she thought and a hunger trickled over her skin.
Pushing Mingi away slightly, she turned to look at San and Alex who were sitting cozily together not so far away. “Alex,” she began, addressing her friend gently. “Are you okay with San if we… take a little time together in the bigger tent?”
“Yeah, we’re okay,” they replied, cuddling more into San’s side. “We might take some time in the other tent while you, uh, do your thing.”
“Yeah?” San looked at them closely. “We don’t have to rush anything. But if you want a little time alone, I wouldn’t say no.”
“Let’s put out the fire and then we can go… talk a little more,” they blushed even as they suggested it.
“Okay,” San nodded, brushing a soft kiss over their lips before he stood up to get a little water to smother the fire. They stood up behind him, picking up a bowl to gather a little water to help smother the fire.
While San and Alex busied themselves with the fire, Yunho led Mingi and their girl into the tent and zipped the door closed behind them before lighting the little battery powered lamp that hung from the highest point of the inside. Mingi crawled over their girl, asking her to lay down with his body rather than his words. She happily stretched out on top of the slick fabric of one of the sleeping bags as he lowered his body over hers.
“You so eager to make love to our girl?” Yunho teased, stretching out beside them.
“I want you both,” Mingi replied, reaching out for him. “What do you want to do tonight?”
“I want us both to make love to her,” Yunho’s eyes seemed to darken in the tent as he spoke. “I want to see you make our girl cry out your name, then I want to have my turn. I want us both to come inside her; all of our cum filling her up and mixed together. Maybe…”
“Maybe this time we’ll fill her until she has our baby?” Mingi finished for him, one of his hands traveling down to stroke her still trim waist. In the time since their trip to New York, the fantasy had become one of Yunho’s favorites. The fact that none of them were really ready for children didn’t matter. They all wanted it someday and the image of her round and carrying their baby had been something that clung in the backs of their minds. Someday it would happen and anyone who saw her would know she was taken, she was theirs.
“Maybe,” Yunho agreed. “If we keep her filled up all the time, it will happen one of these days, won’t it?”
Under Mingi she shivered, feeling pleasure pooling in her stomach and between her legs. Her thighs cradled his narrow hips and she squirmed against him as she looked for friction. There were too many clothes and it had been too long. She wanted to feel filled and enveloped by her boys. Tonight was already feeling too short and impatience was rising in her with the same ferocity as her pleasure.
“Do you want that too, love?” Yunho asked, petting her head gently from the side.
“Yes please,” she whimpered. “I want everything off and I want you both to fuck me, please.”
“I don’t want to fuck you tonight,” Mingi used his hands to turn her face to look at him. “I want you under me and around me as long as possible. It’s going to be so long before I can do it again.”
“Oh babe,” she cradled his head as he pressed his forehead to hers. “I’ll find time again soon. I promise to find at least a couple times a week for the rest of the time we’re her, okay?”
“Promise,” he looked at her with puppyish eyes.
“Mm-hm,” she lifted her lips just enough to touch his. “Maybe a picnic tomorrow? We can have an afternoon, just the three of us?”
“Please,” he nodded, letting out a sigh.
“You know I’ve missed you too, right?” She assured him. “I miss my precious Mingi’s arms around me while I go to sleep. I miss the way you snuggle up when you aren’t quite ready to get up in the morning. I miss the way you stick your knee between my thighs just to get a little closer when you curl up against my back.”
“Waking up tangled up with both of you is my favorite part of the day,” Yunho confessed, curling around them both from the side. “Someday I’ll never have to let you go again.”
San lay down on the pillowy material of the sleeping bag as Alex zipped the tent closed. He watched as they paused briefly after closing them both in the intimate space of the tent.
“You okay?” San asked gently. “We can go back out and hang out on the dock or something if you want.”
“No, no,” they turned around, carefully moving to sit beside him. “I’m just… I don’t really do this so I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do.”
“There isn’t anything you’re supposed to do,” He smiled, sitting up. “What do you want to do?”
“I’m not sure,” they blushed. “Can I just lie down with you for a little?”
“Of course,” San nodded, scooting over more to the side of the tent to give them space. They lay down on their side, tucking a pillow under their head, facing him in the dimness.
“Won’t you come a little closer?” They reached out towards him.
“Gladly,” San agreed with a pleased look and a sparkle in his eyes. “Just let me know what you want.”
“Okay,” they agreed, eyes fixed on him as he came closer. A small part of them still expected him to pull away or say he was just kidding and couldn’t keep up the ruse. Someone as handsome as him didn’t like people like them. They weren’t that lucky. Maybe he was just lonely being stuck with what was seemingly the happiest thrupple in existence. But even if that was what it was, they wouldn’t turn him down. Who could turn down the chance to bask in the sun that was the attention of someone like him, even if it was just for a little while. It was better than nothing, wasn’t it?
“What’s that sadness I see in there?” San pouted, brushing his fingers over their cheek.
“What?” Their eyes widened, wondering what was being revealed through their expression.
“Just something in your eyes,” he explained. “They are beautiful, but sometimes I think I see something that just makes me want to tuck you in my pocket and keep you safe.”
“You make me sound like a kid or something,” they scoffed slightly, wrinkling their nose.
“Not a kid,” San scolded sweetly. “Just someone very special that deserves to be protected from the meanness in the world.”
“I do okay on my own,” they shrugged.
“Do okay, huh?” He sighed giving them an enigmatic look. “I want to see you be that bright shining person I catch glimpses of when you laugh without thinking about it. You’re beautiful when you’re like that. Or should I say handsome? Maybe enchanting?”
“Beautiful is okay,” they assured him. “I mean I’m not, but I don’t mind you saying it.”
“But you are,” San scolded, pulling himself up on his elbow as he looked down at them. “Looking in your eyes gives me butterflies, they are so lovely.”
“I wish I believed you,” they admitted.
“Should I tell you what I see?” He asked, running his fingertips over their cheekbone. They only nodded in return. “I see eyes that sparkle with laughter when you think no one is watching. I see blushy cheeks that are so cute I just want to reach out and hide them with my hands. I see a nose with little freckles that remind me of a dusting of cinnamon on a cookie. I see lips that just beg for kisses. And behind all that, I see someone warm and wonderful who deserves to be adored just for being themself.”
Alex looked at him across the short distance, looking for some sarcasm, some something that showed he was just flattering them for fun or some other ulterior motive that would have made much more sense. Yet, they found none. They had a few friends at school, some people who accepted them without judgement and question, but they weren’t that close and none of them had ever had anything resembling a crush on them. They just… weren’t really anyone’s type. Or maybe it was just that they weren’t someone people noticed. Except, it would seem, the most beautiful guy they had ever seen.
Pushing past the doubts and the feeling that this was just too good to be real, Alex pushed up and leaned over San to bring their lips together. For a second San was surprised, not expecting them to be so daring, but he quickly recovered, moving his hand to cradle the back of their head. His lips parted and his palm stroked along the fuzzy softness of their short hair where it blended into the back of their neck. Their warm breath puffed nervously across his cheek as their hand gripped the muscles of his bicep just a little tighter than necessary. San smiled against their lips, letting out a satisfied chuckle.
“Sorry,” Alex pulled back at the sound. “Did I do something wrong?” San didn’t even answer, just pulled them back to lie on top of him more fully as he guided their lips back to his.
She gasped at the stretch as Mingi slid home inside her. His body covered hers, enveloping her in the warmth and scent of his skin. Yunho held one of her hands in both of his as he laid beside them watching and waiting for his turn. She could feel the burning heat of his eyes even as Mingi’s hands cupped her cheeks, holding her face to keep their gazes locked.
“Mingi baby,” she whispered, running her other hand up along his spine. “I love you so much more than I could ever tell you.”
“I wish I was waking up tomorrow like this,” his eyes searched her pleasure dazed gaze. “My chest hurts when I think about not being able to just be able to hold you. I feel like I’m alone again.”
“Babe, we can find a little more time to sneak off now,” she soothed. “Do you want a sort of safe word for when you need one of us to make time?”
“I know I’m being stupid about it,” Mingi sighed, pressing his forehead to hers.
“No babe,” she shook her head, nuzzling her nose against his. “I hurt when you hurt. What you need is what I need too.”
“I just need this,” he breathed, moving his hips with a slow deliberation. “I need to feel you around me.”
Yunho kissed his shoulder, moving his lips gently against the soft warmth of Mingi’s skin. Mingi turned his face to look at the other boy even as he kept moving inside their girl. His lips met Yunho’s with a clashing hunger. His need for both of them flowed over his skin. The past few days had felt like he was in a cage that was slowly filling with water until it threatened to go over his head. Their presence were the hands unlocking the door and pulling him out.
“I love you, Mingi,” Yunho breathed against his lips. “I’m so sorry I’ve been neglecting you.”
“How are you so patient?” Mingi whined, kissing the corner of Yunho’s mouth.
“Because I know I have you,” the blue haired boy explained, love shining in his eyes. “I would be happy to hold you both in my arms every moment of the day, but I know, even when I can’t, I always have you. If I had to wait a hundred years for you, I would. Sometimes I forget to make sure you feel the same.”
A lightness bloomed in his chest, letting it loosen like a lock released by a key. It wasn’t the touch alone that he had been craving. He had needed that affirmation that he was loved and needed by them in equal measure. Had they not been so patient and hidden their wants so well, that sense of isolation and need would not have felt so suffocating. He buried his face in the pillow draped with her hair, emptying his mind of everything but the scent and the comfort and the sensation.
The feel of San’s warm hands on their back sent shivers over their skin. His touch just felt right. They couldn’t help it and let out a soft whimper. Beneath them San let out a satisfied chuckle.
Alex pulled back and gave him a pouting look. “Are you laughing at me?”
“Yes,” he grinned in playful challenge. “You’re so cute.”
“What if I don’t want to be cute?” They gave his shoulder a light push.
“How about sweet?” He tested and they wrinkled their nose and shook their head. “Adorable?” He tried again. They lifted their hand, making a so-so sort of motion. “Oooo, how about hot… sexy… tempting?”
“Am I really?” They asked, a little of the mask of teasing falling away.
“You don’t believe me?” San scolded.
“Not… exactly,” Alex shrugged.
San took their hand and pressed it to his taut stomach before slowly dragging it lower until it rested over his very hard length. “You don’t have to believe when I say it, but you are very tempting.”
“But doesn’t that just, like, happen,” they asked, a blush blooming on their cheeks, yet they didn’t pull away.
“Sometimes,” San admitted with a quirk to the corner of his mouth. “And sometimes it's for a very specific reason.”
“I, um,” they stuttered slightly. “Should I help you with it?”
“It’s okay,” he shook his head, lifting their hand up to rest on his chest. “No reason to rush things.”
“Is… is it uncomfortable,” Alex asked, letting him hold his hand even as their eyes traveled to the bulge of his crotch. “We can… if you want…”
From the other tent, a strangled half moan, half cry drifted through the air bringing a blush to both of the people in the isolation of the second tent.
“I want to wait,” San shook his head and pulled them down to cuddle against his side. “I want my first time to be something special. Something like what they have.”
“You haven’t been with anyone before?” They were surprised to hear that. If there was anyone they would have imagined had their choice of people to sleep with, someone who should have been experienced, it would have been him.
“Nah,” He sighed, nuzzling into the longer hair on the top of their head as it rested on his shoulder. “Growing up I always heard about love at first sight and soulmates from my parents. My dad said he knew mom was for him the first moment he saw her. He never wanted to be with anyone else. Then I saw those three together and it sort of cemented it for me. I want to be with someone who makes it feel like there is only us in a room, even when it’s full of people.”
“You never had someone that made you feel like that?” They bit their lip and tangled their fingers in the fabric of his shirt.
“There might be someone I met recently,” he murmured with a cryptic humor, holding them closer.
“What—” Alex tried to sit up and look at San, not sure he really meant what he seemed to be implying.
“Shhhhh,” he stroked a hand over their cheek as he held them tightly against his side. “Let’s just enjoy the time we have. We can figure things out later.”
Alex relaxed against his side, taking the moment of feeling valued and seen by someone they never would have dreamed would have looked at them twice. His hands, strong and comforting, held them closely against him. His touch was affectionate without being demanding, skating that thin line between making them feel wanted without pushing for things to go further. He was right, Alex thought as they closed their eyes, their head cradled against his chest. They had time to see where this might go.
Masterlist
#ateez smut#song mingi#jeong yunho#choi san#kpop smut#mingi smut#yunho smut#san smut#ateez fluff#kpop fluff#kpop angst#ateez#ateez yungi#YunGi
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re:union (kataang week 2021) DAY FIVE
prompt: healing
re:union
chapter five: her hands, again
summary: "They sat in silence while Katara worked. Her hands guiding the glowing orb of water down his chi pathways, following the line of his arrows from the nape of his neck down his muscular arms to his wrists. The silence, Katara suspected, wasn’t helping keep the tremble out of her touch, keep her surgeon’s hands steady, but the thought of breaking the silence made her all the more antsy."
read it on ao3
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It had really only been an hour.
Zuko realized, once he had regained his wits and dealt with the matters at hand, that he actually had no idea how Aang was with babies. He was the Avatar, though, and his closest friend. And really, it had only been an hour. Of course nothing could have gone wrong. Of course he trusted him with his daughter. Of course he did…
Returning to the Fire Nation embassy in a similar huff to the way in which he had left it, Zuko found two guilty looking pre-teens, one cradling a sleeping baby Izumi, the other preparing an ice-pack, hunched around a scowling and scraped up Aang.
“What did you two do to him?”
“Nothing! We were just playing out in the courtyard, and he wanted to show us some airbending trick, and well…”
“Kiyi tripped him.”
“I did not!”
“Did too!” Zuko surreptitiously snuck Izumi out of Tom Tom’s arms before Kiyi’s inevitable strike knocked the accusatory boy on his backside.
“Guys, guys! I’m fine, really. It turns out my air-scooter is just a little bit rusty. Absolutely not your fault.” The kids didn’t hear him, already a tangled pile of elbows and mean names on the floor. Aang met Zuko’s gaze with a glint of guilt in his eye. “How was your emergency?”
“It’s been handled. How were the kids?”
“Great! We had lots of fun!” Aang’s voice was cheerful, but his expression was pained. His attempt at easing Zuko’s worries with platitudes pushed through clenched teeth was not going to cut it, and he knew it.
“Clearly…” Zuko appraised his friend once more, realizing that he was clutching his left arm with his right rather awkwardly. He groaned. “I’ll send for Katara.”
⬭
Her hands were cold on his skin before she even bent the water from the basin up to meet them. They ghosted over his shoulder, tapped his collarbone, adjusted his elbow. Each spot she touched felt electrified. Each touch reminded him of the last time he had touched her. How familiar it had been. How formal this felt.
“How do you dislocate your shoulder with a bunch of kids?” Her voice was warm, amused, but not quite teasing, not quite yet.
“Oh, well… it was an accident really. Air-scooter…”
“Ah…”
“Yeah.” He instinctively brought his uninjured arm up to cover the infrared embarrassment emblazoned on his neck.
Upstairs, baby Izumi started to fuss. “Excuse me,” Zuko, pacing and clearly deep in thought on the other side of the room, cleared his throat. Taking his leave, Zuko glanced briefly at Aang and Katara, appraising the awkward tension between them and clicking his tongue at himself, realizing that, perhaps, he should have left them alone much sooner.
They sat in silence while Katara worked. Her hands guiding the glowing orb of water down his chi pathways, following the line of his arrows from the nape of his neck down his muscular arms to his wrists. The silence, Katara suspected, wasn’t helping keep the tremble out of her touch, keep her surgeon’s hands steady, but the thought of breaking the silence made her all the more antsy.
“It—It’s good to see you, Katara.” His voice broke as the silence broke with it.
She bent the water back into the nearby basin, deliberately turning away from him as she did it, knowing full well that her face was aflame.
“It’s good to see you too.” She still wasn’t facing him, nervously drying her hands on her skirt even though they were bone dry the moment she expelled the water from them. “You—you look older.” She immediately tensed up and bit her tongue, realizing how her comment could be misconstrued.
Aang, pushing through his own bouncing butterflies at the compliment and Katara’s resultant discomposure, chuckled. “What? I thought I was looking pretty good for my age! Not a day over 84, as far as I’m concerned.”
Katara spluttered, but she had turned to face him now, ignoring the blush that she was still sporting in favor of holding her own against his teasing. “I don’t know… you can’t even stay on your air scooter, Oldtimer. It might be time to put you out to pasture…”
Aang’s jaw dropped at the jab and he threw his arms, both now back in tip-top shape thanks to Katara’s healing, in the air. “I am young and sprightly, thank you very much! I only fell because the kids were distracting me!”
“Sure, Aang. I believe you.”
Aang fought the urge to stick his tongue out at Katara, only stopping himself when he caught her eye and realized how much she, too, looked older. Her body had filled out in places, her face had thinned out in places. Her eyes still sparkled with resilient hope, but they held more wisdom, more discernment. His breath caught in his open mouth and he sobered at the sight of her. “Honestly, I’m pretty out of practice. I, uh, haven’t really been doing much bending lately.”
“Not keeping up with your katas, pupil Aang?” She chided but her voice was soft and fond.
He omitted the fact that he had never missed a day of waterbending. Every evening he’d wade in whatever water he could find and feel the push and pull. It was a relief on days when everything around him felt like squishing and stretching. It was a relief on days when he missed her. He waterbended everyday.
In the other elements, though, he’d gotten lazy. Toph would probably chuck a boulder or two at him the next time he saw her, and Zuko would glare in that unnervingly disappointed way only he could. (Fatherhood, Aang thought, was well suited for Zuko.)
He had kept up more with his airbending, if only to show the acolytes and to navigate the haunts of his childhood in the way that they were designed. But he had to force himself, sometimes, to fly. It was less than exhilarating when he was surrounded only by memories of the people he once flew with.
He wanted to tell Katara about the times he would lie in the orchard on his back with Gyatso. How they would watch the birds coast through the air, drafting off of one another. “See how the birds always flock together? Flight is a communal activity, air is a communal element.”
He wanted to tell Katara about the games that they would play as children in the air on their gliders. Diving and diverting and drafting. Dancing around one another in the air to the music of the wind and their own laughter.
He wanted to tell Katara about the way that they spoke to one another, words flowing in on the wind, stories building upon stories, voices rising over voices.
He wanted to tell her how silent it had been. How empty. How even the birds had seemed to have abandon the place long ago.
“Just didn’t really have anyone to practice with.” He told her instead.
“Now you do! Come on.” He followed her out toward the harbor, wondering the whole way if it was too late to nonchalantly take her hand.
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look y'all! They spoke to one-another
@kataang-week
chapter one
chapter two
chapter three
chapter four
chapter six
chapter seven
#kataang week 2021#kataang#ao3#foxford writes words#avatar the last airbender#atla#katara#aang#healing
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Magic and Miracles and BEYOND Chapter 14
Ya'll, when I say, that the writer's block for this story practically parked it's 18 wheeler sized ass in front of me, like a boulder on a mountain road AND THERE WAS NO WAY AROUND IT, to the point that I didn't know if I ever would get to write it again and I had to take a break for...way too fucking long. Also- for the record, all of this still happens in my head in 2018, you know, when I started writing this story, because BY GOD, all these characters should have had their weddings and a small piece of happily ever after BEFORE COVID comes to fuck everyone over. But Hazel's dress, that's still 2022 Pnina Tornay, it's a fantasy story, I'm fudging the timeline, a little. Also Hazel's engagement ring? Chocolate diamond. She's a foodie. It made sense.
Also, Yes, I do realize that I am face casting Alex Pettyfer twice. The first was as modern Ravus Nox Flueret, and then...as Dash Parr in my modern Incredibles AU Why So Jaded. Look, I just adore the guy ok? He's...incredibly good looking and talented, and HOT. They don't happen in the same alternate universe, it's fine, it's fine.
Anyway, so back to the road block, sorry, detour, anyway, so then, tragedy struck in my personal life, ok several tragedies kind of piled up all at once it felt like and shook me to my core, and suddenly those earthquakes, knocked that boulder off the road and opened up the creative roadway to this story again, then I wrote something truly horrific for this particular story. AND IT'S AWESOME, like it's brutal, will reach inside and grab your heart, put it into a blender before handing it back to you as you cry and say thank you, kind of awesome, so angsty.
But, I couldn't just...post it and not keep wrapping up other character's story lines because this was still "everyone needs to find their happily ever after" foundations laid. So. What that did, was give me a "if you want this- angsty thing to happen, how do you get the story from here to there, now that you don't have this fucking boulder in the way." and my brain finally went "I got it! TREDD IS AN ASSHOLE" and boom, problem solved. See I had- most of the components to this particular chapter, already written and mentally mapped out and planned out but the "go juice" to write it was empty.
But Tredd, lovable, asshole Tredd, gave me what I needed. I don't even know if I should tag who I used to tag...however long ago I used to post chapters to this story or if they have all changed their usernames and stuff or if any of them are still interested. But you know what? I'm gonna post it anyway. So enjoy.
Also, @the-immortal-marshal, thanks for sticking with me and hanging in there, THE PAIN IS COMMING NEXT CHAP. ENJOY the last moment of "peace and happiness where everything is perfect and nothing hurts" while it lasts.
Magic and Miracles and BEYOND
Chapter 14
“Hello Behbehs!” Selena cooed when she came home from school to her dogs and Duchess who eagerly greeted her before she got all the packages from the little stylish boxes she built out of pallets to create a little place for packages to be stored on her front porch before she and Ravus could get home and get them in their apartment.
“Ah thank goodness.” Selena breathed in relief when a couple of them were those pre prepared meal kits. Because with both her and Ravus being in school and both of them working too, they rarely had a chance to go grocery shopping anymore and the meal kits were a healthy alternative to fast food and surprisingly less expensive than take out and right now they were still in their “try everything once to find our favorites” stage. But Selena barely had them all unpacked and put away by the time her phone chimed.
‘Hope you had a good day today Darling’ Ravus texted when his phone chimed that she had made it home.
‘It’s been fine, busy, how about yours?’ Selena texted back.
‘Not great, I’ll be happy to call it a day soon.’ Ravus texted back as Selena frowned at her phone before she got an idea and raced up the stairs to get dressed in more business formal attire that was clearly flirtatious that covered up some ridiculously sexy lingerie and some really good ‘fuck me’ heels and put on some makeup and put her hair up in a quick bun then quickly left their apartment to go to Miracles Hospital where she parked next to Ravus’ car and purposefully strutted into the offices, using the badge keycard Sylva had made for her to get in before she made a B-Line for Ravus’ temperoary office while his was under construction before she checked in with Kathryn to make sure he was alone in his office before she opened his office door and struck a pose in his door frame with a smoldering look and a mischevious smirk on her lips that had Ravus’ jaw dropping to the floor at the vision she was.
“Hey. What are you doing here? Is there a problem with…?” Ravus began to ask as she closed the door, locked it then sauntered up to him and straddled his lap before she kissed him passionately as he eagerly held her and pulled her to himself as he kissed her back with equal passion that had Ravus thanking God that he put such an amazing, wonderful and sexy as hell woman in his life that could give him the one thing he wanted that he knew money could never buy- her love, priceless and perfect as it was. And with her love came devotion, loyalty, honesty, faithfulness and right now- desire and it was his life’s goal to make himself as desirable to her as he could possibly be because being the object of her affection was all he could ever want and he wanted her to feel as lucky that she had him for a partner- that he felt about her.
“How’s your day now?” Selena purred when they broke for air.
“Ah-amazing, I can’t, can’t complain.” Ravus answered truthfully, his mind desperate in it’s grasping for coherent thought as he was completely blown away and delighted by her little surprise visit as his hands traveled down her body, appreciating every nuance and curve she had.
“Good, now do you want to fuck me here or in the sleep studies wing, in the car or at home?” Selena asked and watched as he swallowed thickly as his own eyes grew a dark stormy gray with lust.
“Is there an ‘all of them’ option?” Ravus returned which made Selena smile brighter as he quickly hiked up her skirt the rest of the way to reveal that she had not been wearing underwear but was wearing thigh highs attached to a matching green silk garter belt ,which were his favorite kind of stockings as his cock tried to break through his pants trying to get into her as he gasped and ‘oohed’ in surprise and delight as she made quick work of his pants and underwear before she managed to seat herself onto him as he let his chair lean back and rest on a filing cabinet so they wouldn’t crash backwards and also so that Selena could ride him as hard as she wanted to without hurting anything as she opened up his silk dress shirt so that his chest and neck were bared to her before he yanked down her shirt and undid her bra so that her breasts, which had been pushed up to show her amazing cleavage before- were now bared to him in turn as he suckled as his hands went to her hips to guide her over him and when his other hand reached down to stroke her clit with practiced ease as he whispered some absolutely filthy things to her in French which he had discovered could get Selena all riled up and to hear and see and feel that was like a drug to him.
Selena could feel her orgasm approaching as her body and mind were in absolute bliss and to hear Ravus whisper, moan and growl in her ear in between kissing and licking and playfully biting every inch of skin he could reach as he drove up into her as hard as he could and rub her clit just right. Not too hard, not too fast, but as if he was delicately conjuring her soul through her pussy was the greatest pleasure she had ever known and she didn’t care what he was saying to her in French, but the way he said it, the way it rolled off of his very gifted tongue and the way he could enrapture her mind, body and soul so easily, as easy as he breathed and leave her so desperate for him, desperate for more. Just one more touch, one more kiss, one more thrust, one more profession of love, of promise, of adoration, everything. How she was his everything and how he was going to love her and cherish her for as long as he lived and she had the utmost faith in every word. And she knew that she was going to love him for the rest of hers. She didn’t care if he lost his fortune or the hospital or anything. She would keep him and he would keep her. And that would be all that mattered.
In rapid succession Selena came, her shuddering cry of bliss was the most perfect sound in Ravus’ ears as he smiled victoriously that he was able to give her the greatest pleasure possible before Ravus’ own face scrunched up as he came himself, a grunting, hissing moan. His cock throbbing but since his injections, there were no loads, other than an extra load of precum before they both collapsed in the chair as they held each other as Selena let her head rest on his shoulder as they recovered.
Selena traced random designs on his skin around his chest hair that was starting to fill in nicely along with more muscle mass that had started to build just in the last few months since he graduated highschool and gotten back from the most epic summer vacation. It was as if he was a late bloomer. All the bulky muscle he had always wanted was finally filling in the way he wanted it to and he was having to buy new suits and shirts because his old ones no longer fit him the way he wanted them to, but thankfully that glorious cock of his stayed the same, much to Selena’s utter and complete delight.
The only thing that hadn’t grown was thankfully his feet so that meant the man didn’t need to buy new shoes. Which was his own guilty pleasure and obsession, especially dress shoes. While they had gone cross country all summer, he and Luche would hit up all the thrift stores and speciality shops looking for old shoes to restore and when they had been in L.A. They had hit the mother load. All these places that had all the shoes from the old stars of hollywood, whether they became famous or infamous or never even made it on the map. But their very expensive and very good quality shoes were left behind. One shop in particular was run by a couple of older gentlemen that were so happy to see some younger guys were into this kind of thing that they gave them the deals of a lifetime and even Tredd and of course Ignis came along and between Ravus and Ignis, Luche and Tredd got quite the crash course education on shoes, in particular old dress shoes as the four of them practically bought the store out and had to ship out most of them back home because they wouldn't fit with their former travel plans. Ravus and Ignis were the way about shoes the same way some women were about fashion and purses.
Of course that wasn't the only "obsession" Ravus and Ignis had shared with Luche and Tredd, Ravus' mother and of course his grandparents were avid fountain pen collectors and when Sylva's parents had passed, they went over her parent's very, very extensive fountain pen collection that was in the thousands of pens large, Ravus insisted that about two dozen of them go directly to Selena so she could "impress" her more "financially affluent" clients she was starting to get as Sylva happily let those precious few go to Selena, then the rest were picked through by Sylva, Lunafreya who was also an avid fountain pen enthusiast as well as Ravus and Ignis who then coached Luche and Tredd of all people who showed an interest in what he called "rich people shit", just like jewels, yahts, jets, shoes and the like, which amused Sylva who humored him enough to go through what made a good fountain pen and what made different pens valuable and what the more "famous" or well known "name brands" were and what inks were best for which pens and corralating inks to the pens themselves as Luna did the same thing with Selena so that Ravus could coach Luche through the same thing too as the rest were divided evenly and "put away" so that they could become an "inheritance" for the next generation.
Meanwhile Ravus wasn’t the only one who had gone through some changes over the course of the summer and now fall, Selena too seemed to fill in quite nicely, she had gained some weight over the summer, her hips had filled out and her derriere had plumped out and her breasts had grown, filled in and rounded out and while she had gone up a few dress sizes, Ravus couldn’t be happier about the developments. Like she had transformed from lithe teen to full blown woman and he was all too happy to replace every piece of clothing in her wardrobe so that she was comfortable and could embrace her current body.
And with Selena landing what in her opinion was the dream job at Fosters as a junior designer and was currently designing all her friend’s houses as Oak Creek Estates under the supervision of a woman named Samantha Leeds, who had taken Selena under her wing and was showing her the ropes and helping get all the classes at the local college. Selena had had the hardest time understanding CAD but when she finally figured it out. She quickly excelled.
“So what’s going on?” Selena asked after they seemed to recover but were in no need to change their positions or state of partial undress.
“Something stupid in office politics.” Ravus huffed.
“Ok…” Selena urged.
“Some of the board members are getting greedy, in particular Mr. Greed, they look at how much Project Recovery is making them and they’re seeing dollar signs at the other pharma we produce.” Ravus revealed.
“But I thought your mom had a pretty good stance that when it came to life saving drugs like insulin and other medications like it- that you put a cap on all those so they’re affordable to everyone.” Selena frowned.
“She did, but the other board members see Luche and I coming onto the board and think they can get to us and pit us against mother or pit us against each other- thinking their greed is going to be contagious or something or that we’re too young to know what we’re talking about and too inexperienced to have valid opinions.” Ravus grumped before he kissed her forehead sweetly, grateful he could bare his heart and soul like this to her so freely.
“Well that’s not going to work right?” Selena said as she raised her head to fix him with a look.
"No, it's just frustrating to deal with until they retire, although I can’t imagine dealing with Roman or Ainsley is going to get any better, all I hear is ‘chip off the old block’ when Rob talks about them." Ravus shook his head.
"Is there any way we can get Mr. Greed to retire early? Get some peace before Roman and Ainsley come on board or is it not just Mr. Greed that’s giving you all the headaches?" Selena hoped.
"I wish it was just him. But it’s not. It just...comes with the territory. Besides if there was a way to make Mr. Greed and the others to retire early, I'm pretty sure my mother would have done it already. They've been thorns in her sides most of her life and they’re proving to be thorns in ours as well." Ravus mused as Selena frowned deeper.
“Don’t worry about it, it’s not your problem to fix, but thank you for listening.” Ravus thanked her gratefully as he held her comfortably in his arms. “And thank you for this, this was the best surprise.” He smiled appreciatively as he nuzzled her face with his.
“You’re welcome.” Selena smiled happily.
“Hey you wanna go out to dinner?” Ravus asked hopefully. “We could see if Lu and Ada wanted to join us?” He asked.
“Sure,” Selena nodded as she and Ravus worked on getting straightened up as Selena pulled her dress down a bit more so it was a bit more modest and pinned the top up to a much more modest height and by the time they got squared away and unlocked the door they saw Ada coming out of Luche’s office dressed similarly to Selena and Luche himself had the same love drunk smile Ravus was wearing.
“Hey,” Selena greeted as both Selena and Ada blushed before they looked pointedly at each other’s shoes then back up to each other before they both tried to stifle their giggles because they both knew exactly why the other was wearing those heels as they beamed knowingly at each other.
“Dinner?” Ravus asked as he self consciously smoothed his hair as Luche did the same as Luche gave Ada a questioning look and smiled when she eagerly nodded her head.
“Oh yeah.” Luche agreed before they all hopped into Ravus’ new Land Rover and drove to the restaurant that piqued their interest and hunger.
“So how’s the wedding planning going?” Ravus asked Luche while they looked at the menus.
“Good, still deciding on invitations, although we've narrowed it down to three different choices.” Luche answered.
“We did agree to use the same venue Sylva used when she got married.” Ada revealed.
“Yeah, that’s the same venue we decided on too.” Selena smiled happily.
“Do you have any ideas what dress you’d want?” Selena asked.
“Actually yeah.” Ada nodded as she scooted closer to Selena in the booth to show her the dresses she had found on Pintrist.
“Oooh, I like that one.” Selena agreed.
“It’s just going to be a challenge to find one that doesn’t drown me out. Because I’m so short and petite, but I don’t want to walk down the aisle in like 7 inch heels just to not trip over the dress.” Ada confessed as Ravus nearly lost it Luche’s grin as he had that ‘I wouldn’t mind’ kind of expression.
“Are you excited to go back to Kleinfelds?” Selena asked.
“Very much so, I’m already packed.” Ada confessed.
That weekend, the whole crew went back to Klinefelds for Ada to do her dress shopping. As Sylva made sure that Ada’s parents and Luche’s parents were in the middle couch while the boys made sure to keep Luche preoccupied while all the girls happily rallied around Ada as they all had their own ideas of what Ada should wear while Morgan got Sylva’s picks and other dresses into the room.
“Ok, this is Crowe’s pick.” Morgan said as she brought Ada out in the first dress.
“Aww,” they all awwed.
“You’re drowning in it though Love.” Ada’s mother noted as others kind of grimaced and nodded in agreement.
“So what do you love about this dress?”
“I love the bling, I love the tiered layers, it’s just a little too poofy.” Ada offered Morgan.
“Ok, so let’s try again, we’ll be right back.” Morgan offered the crew.
“Ok, so this is a mermaid, fit and flare,” Morgan announced as she brought Ada back out.
“It looks amazing, I just can’t really move because it’s so restrictive.” Ada realized as the rest of her family put in their 2 cents about it before she was back and tried even more, trying on her mom’s picks, Linda’s picks then finally getting to Sylva’s picks but Sylva made sure that Morgan didn’t tell Ada that they were her pick’s and instead urged Morgan to introduce them as her picks before sneaking one into Morgan’s hands that was brand new that had not been there when they had been there last.
Ada softly gasped when she saw it, it was perfect, it had the tiered layers but it also had lace and glitter and just a little bit of everything. It was perfect and when she put it on, she couldn’t help but cry. It was a soft, blushed ivory. It complemented her red hair and her skin tone gorgeously. She felt like a proper bride in this and she could see in her mind- so clearly- how Luche would probably cry tears of happiness if he saw her in this. This was it, this was the one.
“There’s that smile.” Morgan grinned victoriously as she looked at Ada in the mirror after she cinched the corset back closed and got it looking like Ada was born into this dress.
“This is it, even if all of them hate it, this is it.” Ada insisted.
“Well then let’s show them.” Morgan insisted.
Everyone could tell that Ada’s smile practically came from her toes, she was practically glowing with happiness as Sylva got choked up which caused Linda and Ada’s mom Amelia to start crying as all the girls started gasping and cooing before Morgan happily snagged an appropriate veil and put it on her and that’s when they were all practically sobbing.
“It’s perfect Love, absolutely perfect. It has those tiers that you love and the lace is so romantic.” Amelia cried as she squeezed her husband- Richard’s hand who was also getting choked up as they passed a box of tissues down the line.
“You look stunning Ada, really, just perfectly beautiful.” Linda praised as she had already made her peace with Ada being a daughter in law.
“And it still has enough sparkle and glitter to it, that even in low light, you’ll glitter like the jewel you are.” Sylva added.
“So, are you saying yes to the dress?” Morgan asked.
“Yes, I’m saying yes to this dress.” Ada confirmed happily before Amelia got up off the couch and hugged her daughter tightly before her dad hugged her tightly too along with her brother who had also been flown in for the event with his fiance.
A week later, Hazel and Sylva returned to Klinefelds as Sylva had flown out Hazel’s sister Mei and her mother Huan and her dad Tommy along with Titus' mother Helen and Titus’ sister Jenny in for the appointment. Helen and the rest of her family had been all too happy to welcome Hazel into the fold. Once Titus was thirty and then almost 40, Helen gave up on the idea that Titus would ever get married and settle down, especially when the rest of her children were giving her grandchildren at this point but it seemed she was too hasty when Titus finally met Hazel and seemed to get with the program and settle down “properly”.
Meanwhile Huan and Tommy were also over the moon that Hazel was finally settling down and even though Billy wasn’t wild about the age difference at first, the more he and Titus got to know each other, the better they got along, Tommy was happy that Titus made Hazel happy in addition to Titus’ character and stability and profession and Huan was so happy to learn that Titus was a good man, who had a house and was planning on building another with Hazel and when Titus and Hazel adopted Brutus who was Kona, Kahlua and Sasha’s sibling, while Tredd and Stella adopted Brutus’ brother King. To Huan- a grand-dog was close enough to a grandchild, for now. While she was always proud of Hazel for earning her own way though the world and earning enough to take care of them in their retirement, she had been on Hazel since she was in her twenties to have someone take care of her. And it seems Titus had finally come along and to do just that.
“So what are you looking for?” Meredith asked Hazel after everyone had been introduced.
“I’m looking for a very simple, not too many embellishments, comfortable, light weight wedding dress. Titus and I are getting married at the beach next May, right after school lets out, because he is highschool football coach. It’s going to be a very small, intimate wedding with just family and really close friends.” Hazel answered.
“Aww, that’s awesome, is there a price point we’re comfortable with?”
“Ten thousand.” Hazel answered.
“Ooh, more than enough to work with, well let’s go.” Meredith urged as she brought Hazel back into a dressing room to get changed before she went hunting for the perfect dress.
“Simple, light, comfortable.” Meredith echoed over and over again as she combed through the back room, her almost encyclopedic knowledge of the backroom to her aid as she went through all the dresses before she found several that would fit those criteria.
Charlotte came into the bridal shop, a giddy grin on her face as she came and “snuck up” on her family as Sylva turned her head and smiled at the newcomer.
“Surprise!” Charlotte announced to her family.
“Charlie?!” Tommy smiled happily as he got up and gathered up his daughter into his large arms. She may have been a wanted criminal and fugitive, but he was always happy to see her and to him, she would always be his "little Charlie".
“I thought you were overseas?” Tommy asked.
“And miss this? Nah, it’s Hazel’s first big day before the big big day, I wouldn’t miss it for anything.” Charlotte happily murmured into her dad’s chest before Tommy put his arm around his daughter’s shoulders and introduced her to Titus’ family who were completely oblivious as to Charlotte’s true identity as Charlotte sat next to Sylva.
“It’s nice to see you again. Different kind of exciting this time,” Sylva offered with a mischievous grin that Charlotte mirrored.
“I take it you didn’t get any kind of trouble from the last time we were in each other’s company.” Charlotte offered.
“Nope, not a peep, thank you.” Sylva reassured her.
“You’re welcome, this was wonderful, thanks for letting me know, when you get to know their wedding arrangements, forward them to this number, I doubt the groom would be comfortable with Gil and I coming but I want to send them a proper wedding gift that won't be on any kind of gift registry, at least domestically.” Charlotte nodded as she handed Sylva a slip of paper written in Mandarin as Sylva read it quickly, nodded and put it into her billfold just as Hazel came out in her first dress and stopped when she saw Charlotte.
“Charlie?” Hazel gasped in excitement as she saw her sister.
“Hey you, don’t you look beautiful.” Charlie greeted as she set her large, heavy purse on the seat and came over and embraced her sister.
“I didn’t think I would see you again.” Hazel admitted as she hugged her sister tight.
“Sylva invited me, hope you don’t mind.” Charlotte explained.
“Nope, not at all.” Hazel readily assured her sister.
“Is Gil here too?” Hazel asked.
“He’s doing business, as usual, plus I don’t think Dad would be cool and I know your fiance wouldn't be cool if Gil and I showed up to the wedding itself, so this is the best I can do and this is exposed enough without making things difficult or uncomfortable or "unsafe".” Charlotte excused.
“I get it, I'm still really happy to see you and that you're here. It means a lot, especially to Mom and Dad, and of course me as well.” Hazel nodded as Charlotte nodded in unison.
“So is this your dress?” Charlotte asked, changing the subject.
“This is just the first one, you came just in time.” Hazel answered.
“Well then let’s get to it.” Charlotte insisted as she returned to her seat.
“So this is dress number one. What do we think?” Meredith asked.
“It’s nice, I’m not in love with it, but it’s nice.” Hazel answered honestly.
“It makes you look like you’re wearing a tent.” Huan criticized as Helen and Jenny nearly choked on their spit and looked at Huan in alarm as Charlotte akept her snickering quiet enough to pass it off as a cough as Mei just rolled her eyes and complained to her mom in Mandarin that she was being too harsh.
“You don’t look like you’re wearing a tent, but the cut isn’t quite right. You need a more flattering shape to the fabric.” Charlotte offered.
“Agreed.” Sylva nodded.
“Well, that’s what first dresses are all about, finding what elements can work and what elements won’t.” Meredith explained before they tried on a few different picks as Charlotte looked around as did Sylva at the other dresses on display at the other dresses in the store.
“That one,” Charlotte and Sylva said at the same time once they both locked eyes on it and pointed to it.
“Well go get it then, bring it to her, it will mean more to her if you do.” Sylva encouraged before Charlotte got up and strutted across the floor to get the dress in question before she asked to see which room her sister was in before she came to the appropriate dressing room, a security guard shadowing her.
“Try this one.” Charlotte suggested as she handed the dress over to her sister as Hazel gasped softly when she saw it before Charlotte saw her way out and went back to the group and waived the security guard back a little farther so his presence was not felt by everyone else.
“And?” Sylva prodded.
“She had the gasp and the smile.” Charlotte answered as she checked her phone.
“Please let this be the one, I’m running out of time.” Charlotte whispered as she looked at the time on her phone and read the messages her henchmen were sending her as they stood guard a short distance away as her driver himself was scanning the police channels as Gil’s other men were monitoring the area.
Hazel came out a short time later, wearing a smile that shamed the sun, moon and stars as everyone else gasped and oohed and awed.
“Now that’s the dress, you look exquisite Hazel.” Huan finally complimented as Charlotte and Sylva gave each other a meaningful smile as Hazel nearly burst into tears as Jenny and Helen were already crying too.
“It’s perfect, but still incomplete.” Hazel began as she stood up and pulled a special box from her bag and took out a set of jade jewelry and put it on Hazel as Huan and Mei cooed and practically giggled as they put it on her as Charlotte gave Hazel a special sachet as well before Charlotte’s phone chimed.
“Do you have to go?” Hazel asked as Charlotte’s eyes watered as she tried to put on a brave, happy smile but nodded yes.
“Thank you for coming and for all of this. Thank you for being my sister. I love you so much.” Hazel thanked her as the two hugged before Charlotte got to hug every member of her family as Sylva got to get a quick picture of them all together, both with Charlotte’s phone as well as other members of her family so that each one would have a picture of this moment to treasure forever before the Henchmen came over and cleared their throats to get Charlotte’s attention as Charlotte hugged her parents, specifically her dad one last time.
“I have to go, I love you.” Charlotte bid her family before she used her handkerchief to dry her eyes and left with the henchmen as her driver was already anxiously out front, waiting to take his Empress back to a safer, less ‘exposed’ space.
“How come she couldn’t stay?” Helen asked.
“She’s a very busy woman. She lives half a world away and she probably had to fly back pretty soon, and security at the airports is a nightmare.” Sylva delicately excused as she waived it off.
“But now that we found the dress and the veil and obviously the jewelry. Let’s get settled up and get dinner shall we?” Sylva encouraged with a bright happy smile.
When Sylva came back home from flying and taking care of all the other guests, she came home to see all of her kids and their fiances and their friends as they had made a really nice dinner for everyone as Pelna and Yasmine, Gladio and Pashmina, Prompto and Cindy, Luche and Ada, Libertus and Crowe and Craig and Iris were on their way as well as Luche’s family and Ada’s family.
“Hey! So how did it go?” Luna asked as she gave her mom a big hug.
“Good, Charlotte came and surprised Hazel and the family.” Sylva revealed which caused everyone to freeze and look at each other worriedly.
“Charlotte Stevens?” Luna asked, taken aback by the news.
“Oh don’t look so surprised, when Charlotte and Gil used the jet they left a single phone number for the pilot to give to me and said I get to use it once. And I knew Charlotte wouldn’t want to miss the milestone in Hazel’s life because Charlotte knows she probably won't be welcome at the wedding since Cor is one of Titus' groomsmen, so I used it and told Charlotte the plan and she was very grateful for the invitation since no one else in her family knew how to get a hold of her to tell her. Besides, Titus’ family was blissfully ignorant of who she really was and Hazel’s family got to have a nice little reunion within the realitive safety confine of a public space and Charlotte got to see Hazel in her wedding dress as a good sister should. It was fine, I mean she had to be carrying four guns on her and who knows how many knives on her person, she had to have two guns in her outfit and at least another two in her purse and her four henchmen were armed to the teeth as well and she could only stay for about an hour but Hazel found the dress and everyone gave it their stamp of approval and Charlotte gifted Hazel some really pretty jade jewelry which is customary for a Chinese bride to receive which honored that part of her heritage and traditions, which was really nice, it was a lovely time.” Sylva waived off as she got the picture and showed everyone the family picture she took.
“She has got to have the biggest balls in the world.” Tredd noted, impressed when he saw the picture.
“She’s got you beat, that’s for sure.” Stella teased.
“She’s got everyone beat.” Sylva laughed.
“So is this everyone or are more coming?” Sylva asked.
“More are coming.” Luna reported.
“How many more?” Sylva asked before her doorbell rang and slowly then all at once, everyone came as everyone started pulling all the components at the table, setting it up for a large extended friends and family meal before Luche and Ada came in last, both of them having anxious smiles on their faces.
“Is everything ok?” Sylva asked Luche as she tried to keep her knowing smile to a minimum.
“Yeah, yeah, everythings great.” Luche reassured her.
“You sure?” Sylva asked as she looked from Luche to Ada who had the same anxious smile on her face.
“Ok, so we have some news and we wanted everyone to be around to make the announcement and we don’t exactly know how it’s going to be received.” Luche hinted.
“If it’s what I think it is, I will do my best to lead the way in accepting the announcement with all the happiness and joy that such an announcement garners. But I also want to be the first to offer my congratulations.” Sylva reassured them both.
“Thank you.” Luche and Ada breathed in relief.
“Come on, dinner is getting cold.” Sylva encouraged them before they all came into the kitchen where everyone was getting something to drink with their dinner.
“So Luche and I chose wedding invitations!” Ada happily announced as she handed every couple an invitation as well as one to her parents and one to Luche’s parents as well.
“Wait, I thought we agreed on May 18th, this is in December..only three months, it’s the weekend before Nyx and Luna’s wedding?” Linda pointed out.
“Well that brings us to announcement number two. We’re pregnant, or rather Ada is.” Luche announced as there was just a hint of nervousness to his excitement as Sylva was the first to squeal, almost an excited scream in delight, only half a second before Crowe did which got everyone else to cheer joyfully as Sylva came over and hugged them both and offered her first “official” congratulations which got Linda and Ada’s mother Amelia and Linda to get over their initial shock and plaster on happy smiles and congratulate them before Ada was swarmed by the girls with hugs and congrats as the first ultrasound pictures were passed around that she had gotten the day before.
“So how far along are you?” Sylva asked.
“Ten weeks.” Ada announced as Tredd, Nyx and Ravus shared a rather knowing smile, but no money was passed between the three because Tredd and Ravus had “seen it” when Sylva had as well. Crowe especially was super happy because she wasn’t the only one pregnant anymore as her own little baby bump had seemed to pop out since her own wedding.
“Baby bump!” Crowe happily cheered as she gently bumped her little baby bump into Ada’s belly which got Ada to giggle as the two hugged tightly and couldn’t stop laughing.
“Congratulations man!” Libertus congratulated Luche as he hugged him super tightly.
“Thanks.” Luche laughed into the hug before he got more congratulations from everyone else as even Tredd was, for once, gracious.
“So what are you hoping for?” Tredd asked.
“A healthy baby and a non complicated delivery.” Luche answered honestly.
“Good. Ok, everyone listen up! Taking bets on due dates and gender, where’s a white board?” Tredd suddenly turned, raising his voice to shout over everyone as he received a mixture of laughter and groans from some of the adults as Sylva laughed the hardest as Tredd took the whiteboard off the fridge and the little marker and erased all the important reminders after taking a pic of what was on it so none of it would be lost.
“Ok so that technically puts Crowe five months ahead of Ada so if gestation is 40 weeks, that’s basically ten months and Ada is already ten of those 38-40 weeks in- that puts us at...holy shit you’re due on your original wedding date- May 18th. OK, So, taking bets on three day spreads May 18th, 19th and 20th? Any takers?” Tredd continued undeterred.
“You asshole, I announce my fiance is pregnant and you immediately turn it into a bet?” Luche laughed, not surprised by his friend’s behavior, but was hoping he would have at least five minutes before Tredd turned into “The Lovable Douche Asshole”, the lovable part was questionable though most of the time.
“May 12th through the 15th, and a boy and the winner gets bragging rights but all the money and proceeds go to Luche and Ada.” Sylva said as she fished several hundred dollar bills out of her wallet and handed them to Ada before discretely handing Tredd another one too.
“Sweet, first better, Sylva Caelum, May 12th through the 15th and a boy.” Tredd repeated as he wrote that down and put a note in his phone.
“Oh what the hell. Twenty quid on the 16th-19th and I want a granddaughter so I’m betting on a girl.” Amelia offered as she handed Luche and Ada the money with a laugh of her own.
“May 9th-12th, a boy.” Ignis said as he handed Luche a few hundred dollars as well.
“May 19 through the 21st and a boy as well.” Luna giggled as she handed the couple a few hundred dollars too.
“May 14th through the 17th, boy as well.” Ravus added as he gave Luche most of the money in his wallet.
“Amelia it looks like if it is a girl, you’re getting amazing odds, five to one, that’s pretty awesome.” Tredd grinned at Amelia.
“Oh hell, I say May 21st through the 24th, also a girl.” Linda added as she gave Luche and Ada some money too as soon Luche and Ada were holding wads of cash and laughing as their friends were giving them money as Tredd was taking “bets” from everyone as everyone joined in on this impromptu gamble.
“Ok, so this isn’t so bad.” Ada had to confess to Luche as they tried to organize their “winnings” into a “gift bag” that Sylva had on hand before they all sat down to eat dinner as Luche nodded his agreement to that. That had gone way better than he was fearing as Selena, Stella and Luna all looked at their fiances with thinly veiled suspicion as they were looking at each other knowingly as they also noticed that Sylva also seemed particularly smug as they all happily enjoyed a very nice friends and family dinner as they discussed baby shower ideas as well as when to plan all the bridal showers and such and made a new, accelerated timeline.
#Magic and Miracles and Beyond#Magic and Miracles and Beyond Chapter 14#FFXV#FFXV modern au#Lunyx#Luna Nox Fleuret-Caelum#nyx ulric#ravus nox fleuret#Selena Ulric#RaeLena#luche lazarus#Ada Ardens#Luche and Ada#gladio amiticia#Gladio and Pashmina#ignis scientia#noctis lucis caelum#Ignoct#prompto argentum#Prompto and Cindy#iris amicitia#Craig Foster#Craig and Iris#titus drautos#Titus and Hazel#the return of Charlotte Stevens#No I can not find the original picture of her#So I recast her face#Sylva Nox Fleuret#Sylva Nox Fleuret Caelum
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It's what you do with the things you love!
3 times the boys give Julie kisses and 1 time they have a cuddle pile.
AKA an excessive number of hugs, kisses and I love yous because they're all touch starved and they deserve it.
ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29331480
{1} Alex
Somewhere in the back of her mind, Julie knows she's dreaming. But that knowledge doesn't make her feel any better. She can feel the staccato thrum in her chest even as she sleeps, her lungs filling and deflating too quickly, making her feel hollowed out like a wind tunnel. Dreams, some nonsensical, others entirely too real, blur and warp in her head. She sees her mother's casket being covered in dirt, hears the pulsing, beeping heartbeat seemingly echoing from the very walls of a hospital. She sees the boys, her boys, laying in a haphazard pile, tear stained and rumpled and slowly disintegrating, turning to bone and then ash and then dust, blown away by a source-less wind. She sees-
"Julie."
Her frantic twisting and turning in bed is disturbed by a voice laced with concern. She can still feel her heartbeat in her ears. The rise and fall of her chest does not slow down but she is mercifully rescued from her dreams. She begins to cry. Big, loud sobs that judder and heave like a ship on a stormy sea.
"Hey, hey, hey," the voice says, gently. She turns her face to see Alex crouched by the side of her bed, resting his hands on the edge like he wants to reach out and touch her but he's not sure if he's allowed. He turns one palm up in silent question. Julie nods desperately, sobs never ceasing.
Alex moves slowly, sliding in next to Julie, half sitting up. He wraps his arm around her shoulders and she gratefully buries her face in his chest, body still shuddering. His other arm comes around to encircle her completely. He doesn't say much - there's not much he can say that would actually help - so he just holds her to his chest and runs his hands over her hair and down her back in long, soothing strokes.
He slides down a bit more so that her head is fitted under his chin, her damp breaths against the collar of his hoodie. The tears have quietened a bit, beat out by sheer exhaustion. When she speaks, her voice is raw.
"Thank you, Alex."
"Of course, Jules. I love you."
"Love you, too," she murmurs into his chest.
He tucks his chin, pressing a soft kiss against the crown of her head, her curls tickling at his nose. She lets out a deep sigh, her tense muscles relaxing in small increments.
"Will you stay with me?" Her voice is small, uncertain.
"As long as you need."
Her breathing grows deep and slow, a slight rasp around the edges that approaches a snore. Alex lets his eyes pull shut and slips off into sleep.
~~~
Sometimes Ray wakes in the middle of the night, filled with a sudden dread and the urgent need to check on his kids. Tonight, he has a distinct sense that something is wrong with Julie.
Quietly, he swings his legs out of bed and makes his way down the hall, feet scuffing against the floor in a hushed whisper. Her door stands slightly ajar and he nudges it further open, eyes searching out his daughter.
He is momentarily startled to see not one but two bodies in her bed but the sun rises in his chest at the sight before him, dispelling the menacing shadows of night. A pink-clad torso curls protectively around Julie, shielding her from any and all threats within and without. Alex's soft gold hair falls in every which direction and his normally anxious face is eased with sleep. Ray smiles and pulls the door shut.
{2} Reggie
Julie's noticed something. Reggie always wears the same clothes. It's always some combination of his black skinny jeans, a tank top, his leather jacket and his flannel. Luke and Alex seem to mix it up more, so it's not a ghost thing. Maybe he's just committed to the aesthetic, Julie thinks, but she's not so sure. It nags at the back of her mind for days.
She brings it up to Luke. He looks at her with his big, sad puppy dog eyes. "Yeah, I guess he does. His parents weren't - they didn't really…" Care. He trails off but Julie fills in the blanks. She feels something in her chest harden in anger and yet also soften with tender affection. The result of some strange oxymoron of love.
Luke doesn't offer any more information and Julie doesn't press but plans are already forming in her head.
She has a hushed conversation with her father which ends with a credit card pressed into her hand and the encouragement to "go nuts - within reason". She tells the boys the next day that she's hanging with Flynn and that they should under no circumstances interrupt her. It's not a lie - Flynn's eye for clothes and talent for thrifting is an invaluable part of this mission.
They spend the next day rifling through thrift stores and shopping centres, collecting flannels and t-shirts and jeans that match Reggie's style. (And perhaps they purchase socks and undies for all of the boys because honestly. And maybe Flynn stumbles upon a band shirt that would be just perfect for Luke and Julie finds a fanny pack that was made for Alex).
Tote bags full-to-bursting perched on her shoulders, Julie makes her way down the garden path and pushes her way into the studio. She finds the boys lounging on the couch, Luke and Reggie idly plucking at their guitar strings and Alex hanging upside down off it.
"Julie!" they chorus as she enters.
A small laugh enters her voice. "What are you guys doing?" It turns into a full-belly laugh as Alex tries to extricate himself from his precarious position and ends up landing on his head.
Reggie notices the bags on her shoulders. "Whatcha got, Jules?" His enthusiasm is infections.
"Well…," she says, drawing it out. She sets the bags down on the piano and starts unloading them, making a small pile off to the side for Alex and Luke. Once she's finished, she steps back with a satisfied nod and a flourish. "It's for you, Reg."
His smile drops. "For me?"
She nods, biting her lip nervously. Now that she's here, she isn't sure how he'll react. Would he be mad that she'd overstepped? Embarrassed? She watches his face carefully for a reaction. Her heart drops to her shoes when tears start spilling down his cheeks.
"Oh! Reggie, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have assumed, I should have asked before I -" She's abruptly cut off when warm arms pull her into his chest and she lets out a soft oof. But she revels in the embrace, letting Reggie hold her as long as he needs.
When he pulls back a bit, his eyes are red and puffy but he's smiling once more. "Don't apologise, Julie. I - It's just that no one's ever - no one's done this before. Thank you."
Julie can feel a stinging sensation at the back of her eyes and a boulder forming in her throat but she manages to croak out, "Of course, Reggie. I love you." She tugs on his necklace affectionately.
Fresh tears spill down his face. He leans forward, ducking his head down to press a gentle kiss into the softness of her cheek and pulls her back into an embrace.
"Love you, too, Jules."
~~~
"You bought us underwear?"
"Yes."
"I dunno how to feel about that, Jules."
A sigh. "Just say thank you and move on."
"Thank you, " is said in a three-part chorus.
{3} Luke
Julie lays on her bed, stomach pressed against the soft duvet and heels kicking in the air behind her. But her eyebrows are furrowing in tense concentration and her fingers are tight around her pen. Spread haphazardly before her are various textbooks and notebooks, her laptop open off to one side. An irritated sigh drives its way out of her throat when disorderly curls fall into her face again.
As if summoned, Luke poofs into her room. She doesn't look up.
"Hey! Jules. You nearly finished with your school work?"
"No." She says it flat and terse, eyes fixed on the page before her.
"Oh." His face momentarily creases but he shrugs and makes himself comfortable at the end of her bed, leaning his side up against it. His chin rests just on the edge. "I'll just wait here until you're done then."
Julie doesn't respond.
Time passes. An hour perhaps, but Luke's never had the best sense of time. His brain always seems to warp and shift it. He stays admirably quiet, considering, if he does say so himself. He paces around the room, fiddling with knick knacks and keepsakes, admiring (from a distance) pictures of Julie and her mom. He gives the dream box a wide berth (even if his eyes keep being drawn to it. Especially so).
Eventually, he sits himself back down in his original position, eyes glancing around the room. Absentmindedly, his hand reaches out to tug at a curl that had fallen forward over Julie's face.
"Would you STOP that?" she snaps.
His hand jerks back as if scalded. "Julie - what - I - I'm sorry, I didn't mean to - ". His eyes are wide, eyebrows practically disappearing into his hairline.
Julie's breath leaves her chest all in a rush, as if trying to beat the traffic at the end of a concert. Her face drops into her hands. Luke looks at her in consternation, unsure where he went wrong until he sees her back begin to shake with awful, desperate sounds.
"Julie - I - are you okay?"
She doesn't answer but continues to tremble.
"Julie. Jules. Talk to me. Or - or do you want me to leave. I can go if you want. I didn't -" He begins to rise, backing up.
He's stopped in his tracks, half crouched, by a garbled sound that he thinks was no.
"Okay," he says. He sits back down. Thinking. His eyes never leave Julie. "If, if you don't wanna talk about it, would you like a hug instead? I'm told I give pretty good hugs."
The hiccupy almost-sobs are interrupted by a wet chuckle. Her head nods minutely. Luke's not sure he would have noticed except for how close he's watching her.
His muscles bring him to standing and he opens his arms wide. "C'mere," he says. Just quietly. She swings herself over the side of her bed and just about flings herself at his chest. He wraps his arms around her, as tight as they go, matching her grip, and just holds her for a while, rocking back and forth slowly.
~~~
Luke's hugging her so tight. She feels so safe and so warm. His small shushing sounds cease when he presses his warm, dry lips against her forehead. He keeps them there and strokes her hair gently, careful not to snag any curls. Julie feels her shoulders drop, finally, some of the tension unspooling from her spine. She breathes in, 2, 3, 4 and out, 2, 3, 4 and in and out for a while longer.
Once her heart has calmed from a jackhammer to the mere ticking of a clock, she pulls back to look at him. His eyes are like an ocean at storm, a wild mess of greygreenblue.
"Luke, I'm sorry, I - "
"You don't need to apologise." One of his hands comes up to cup her jaw, dragging a thumb under the corner of her eye where tears still linger. She feels her heart grow a couple of sizes.
"I want to," she insists, looking down bashfully. "I'm sorry for snapping at you. I've just been really overwhelmed by my school work and it was feeling like too much. But I, um, I think I just needed a really good cry 'cause I haven't in a while and I - " Her words stumble when she looks back up because there's a bittersweet crinkle around the corners of his eyes and his eyebrows are so earnest that she has to just reach up and touch one, grazing her thumb along it.
He laughs a little. Just softly.
"And thank you. For the hug," she says. "You really are excellent at hugs. 10 out of 10. Would hug again"
His eyes crinkle again but this time with mirth. "Of course, Julie. Anytime. Day or night."
Her thumb is still on the tail of his eyebrow and the rest of her hand is cupping his cheek. He may be a ghost but she can feel the warmth of his skin against her palm, the rushing of blood beneath the surface, the faint freckles that wander across his nose.
And his eyes. She could write entire songs about his eyes - whole albums - and still not know what colour they were or how to capture how they shift with his mood like a flag in the wind.
Her gaze drops to his lips without her permission. As they lift into a tentative smile, her thumb drags over the crease of skin where his smile lines form and tugs at the edge where his mouth curls up, making him smile wider.
Julie looks back up to his eyes after eons to find him staring back just as intently. His lips part slightly, as if in awe, unsure what to say. Finally, they resolve into the soft sounds of her name.
"Julie. Can I - ?"
"Please." Her voice is barely a whisper.
Slowly, as if encased in glass, he lowers his face to meet hers. Their lips brush, mere millimetres away from each other. The air crackles. And then breaks.
Julie pushes her lips up to meet his. They're warm (still). And soft. Her whole face, her whole body, is alight, lines of warmth spreading from every place skin meets skin. She presses into him harder and he presses back. The hand still on his face hooks around his ear, bringing him closer. One of his arms curls around the small of her back, pulling her in and his thumb rubs small circles on the sharp of her cheekbone, his calluses catching against her skin. She never wants this to end but she has to breathe, even if he - technically - doesn't.
She pulls back but doesn't go far, resting her forehead against his. She can practically feel the curlicue of his mouth against hers, his breath tickling her face.
"You're amazing, Julie." His expression is thunderstruck, disbelieving, electrified.
"So are you." She is filled with awe at the idea that she gets to have this. Him. Luke Patterson, the boy she. She - she loves.
Oh.
Oh.
"I love you," she says in wonderment. "So much."
He laughs, incredulous. She feels unstoppable. "So do I. I - I - I love you so much I don't know what to do with it all."
Julie laughs back. Delirious. Just this side of hysterical. "Me neither. I wrote an entire song in my head because I had nowhere else to put it."
Luke snorts. "Me too."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
Their smiles could blind astronauts all the way in space.
{+1}
Julie turns over in her bed again. She tries to resettle her sheets but her feet get tangled up in the knotted blanket. She lets out a deep sigh and can feel irritation clawing its way up her arms and legs, tugging at her nerve endings, making her want to scream. She turns her head to read the time off her phone and another heartfelt sigh is pulled from her chest as she watches the numbers tick over to 1:13 am.
She lays there a moment longer, staring up at the ceiling like she's a character in The Office looking at the camera. Hoping - praying - that some semblance of sleepiness would overtake her. But no, that would be far too easy. It's just that something's wrong. She can't put her finger on it but she feels as though the air around her is ill-at-ease with the objects in its path and something in her chest twinges uncomfortably.
She rolls over and tumbles out of bed, half stumbling to her feet, and makes her way downstairs, outside along the garden path and into the studio. The sight that greets her when she enters is … unnerving.
Reggie lays in the middle of the floor, arms and legs spread wide, just staring fixedly at nothing. Over on the couch, Luke sits, picking a melancholy tune out on his acoustic. On the floor next to Luke's legs, Alex sits with his knees pulled up to his chest, his chin pressed harshly into them and arms wrapped around his calves. He too looks off into the middle distance.
"Uh. Hey, guys."
At the sound of her voice, Luke's fingers falter and the other two's eyes seem to snap back into this reality but none of them move.
"What's…going on?" she says uncertainly. She feels the weight of three sets of eyes on her, burdened by some incurable sadness. Luke has stopped playing but he still holds his guitar in his lap, clutching it to his chest.
"Nothing," he says like a lying liar who lies. "We're fine. What're you doing up?"
Julie narrows her eyes at him, looks to Alex, then Reggie. "Don't change the subject." Her eyes soften though. A few steps across the garage and she settles herself down by Reggie who has yet to move except to bring his hands together over his stomach and begin tugging at his fingers. Gently, she lifts his head up and settles it in her lap. He lets her without argument and she begins to comb her fingers through his soft hair.
"Clearly something's going on. So spill." Her words are direct but her tone is mild.
Alex's chin lifts from his knees. "We - I, I was just thinking about my, um, my parents?"
Julie nods encouragingly at him even as she continues to play with Reggie's hair.
He continues. "I don't know what happened to my parent since I died. I - I don't know if I wanna know what happened to them. They weren't - they didn't, after I came out -"
Julie just nods reassuringly. She feels so lucky that her dad was understanding when she told him about her sexuality, even if he didn't understand all of the terminology entirely.
"But my sister. I think I want to know what happened to her. How she's doing."
"You have a sister?" Julie's not sure why she's so shocked to find this out.
"Yeah, a younger sister." He smiles a little, crookedly.
Julie furrows her eyebrows a bit, considering. "We could find her? If you wanted. I'm sure Dad would be happy to help track her down."
"You'd do that?" His blue eyes shine with something like hope.
"Of course, Alex." She watches him as he scrubs a hand across his mouth and sniffles. She elects not to say anything but just opens one of her arms. He crawls over and slumps into her warm embrace, breathing shakily.
Reggie speaks now. "I don't think I want to find my parents. It would be - " He shakes his head and a tear rolls down the side of his face and drops noiselessly onto the floor.
"That's okay, Reggie."
"Thanks, Julie. I just sometimes wonder - it doesn't matter though." His watery eyes brighten a touch. "You guys are my family, now."
Julie feels a warm tear leak out the corner of her eye and make its way down her face, hanging off her chin.
She turns her face to Luke who hasn't spoken since the beginning. He chuckles softly, shaking his head. His face is dry but his eyes are brighter than normal. "You know my story, Julie. And I'm so …," he tips his head back as if searching for the right words, "… grateful to you for giving my parents closure but I still miss them, y'know?"
Julie does know. "Luke Patterson, you'd better get your butt over here."
He smirks a little at that, placing his guitar off to the side finally. As he does so, Julie wiggles herself down so that she's lying across the rug, carefully positioning Reggie's head on her stomach. Alex presses his face into her shoulder on the opposite side to Reggie, throwing his arm over her upper torso. She curls her arm protectively around his shoulders, her thumb stroking against the place where it rests. Luke plops himself down beside her and wedges a cushion under her head. She smiles at him gratefully. He positions himself at her other shoulder, cushioning his head on her outstretched arm so that he lies parallel to Reggie. He loops his arm over Reggie, pulling him to his chest.
As if they'd planned it, they all released a breath simultaneously. A damp giggle erupts from their pile on the floor.
After a few minutes of just existing together, Julie clears her throat.
"I love you guys," she says quietly. "You're my family and I'll do anything I can for you. You've already done so much for me. So if you want to see your families, or if you don't, I'll be here to help you. Just say the word."
"Thank you, Julie," Alex answers for all of them.
Time passes and she can feel Luke's breath begin to deepen against her neck and the rise and fall of Reggie's stomach slow. Alex burrows further into her shoulder. Her own eyes feel as though they're being pulled down like the shutters of a shop at the end of the day. She lets herself fall into a deep, restful sleep.
When morning comes, she lays a kiss on each of their cheeks before she makes her way inside. Because, after all, that's what you do with the things you love.
#jatp#julie and the phantoms#fic#jatp fic#platonic kisses#platonic cuddles#found family#they just love each other v much okay>#light juke#juke
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Eden: BLEACH [2]
ZERO / BLEACH (here) / TWIST / REVERSE / DYE / RED
++++
One lives in the hope of becoming a memory. - Antonio Porchia
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There was a knock on the open door. Sakura scowled before she even looked up.
“Go away.”
“You sound more and more like him with every day.”
Sakura finally lifted her head from the ancient manuscript. She lowered her magnifying glass.
“Headmaster,” she greeted Hashirama. The older man, who hadn’t aged a single day since she had first met him, smiled in return. He lingered in the doorway, well aware of the fact that she hadn’t actually invited him inside. She just blinked at him.
Hashirama sighed.
“You’re really just like him. I wanted to let you know that those spell books you requested last month are finally here,” he informed her. And then his eyes drifting to the pile sitting on her desk. “Oh… you already got them?”
Sakura paused. The truth was that she recalled in her long nightmare several days ago that these books would arrive. Just to be sure, she had popped into the library to check. And there they were. Labelled with her name and her department.
It was unsettling- if that was the right word for a situation like this.
Coincidences happened all the time. But was it a coincidence if so many of them piled up at once like this?
“How goes the research?” Hashirama then asked.
In response, Sakura extended her hand. She imagined the molecules in the air gathering into a solid surface. The shield expanded, shoving Hashirama all the way out the door. Hashirama examined the shimmering surface of the shield. When he poked it, static electricity crackled off the outside. He jerked his hand back.
“That’s a nice touch,” he commended. And then he waved his hand. “Alright. I get the hint. I’ll get out of your hair.”
“Thank you,” Sakura replied, already turning back to her reading.
Madara cackled when Sakura recounted the encounter to him that night.
“Good. Keep that geezer far away from you,” Madara agreed, crunching a pistachio between his back molars.
Sakura thought for a moment. She turned away from the stove for a moment. It was her turn to cook dinner. “You’re no spring chicken yourself, Papa,” she reminded him. Madara frowned at her.
Sakura paused. She lowered her spatula.
“Sorry, was that too much?” she asked.
But Madara only smirked, leaning against the counter. He ruffled her hair.
“Don’t worry about that kind of crap, kid. We’re always fine,” he assured her. And then he pointed at the pan. Sakura went back to stirring the garlic before it could burn.
“Quit snacking on those. You’ll ruin your appetite,” Sakura told him. She heard him chuckle.
“Are you my grandmother? Quit nagging.” And then he crunched through another pistachio, grinding it to pieces between his teeth.
Later that night, Sakura laid on her bed, phone pressed to her ear.
“Are you sure you won’t come? The guys are cute. I promise,” Ino pleaded one last time. And then she added: “Sorry. It’s just… I haven’t seen you in forever. I miss you.”
And Sakura smiled at the ceiling.
“Yeah. I’ll sit this one out, Ino. I’m not feeling it,” Sakura answered. She heard Ino sigh.
Before Ino could worry too much, Sakura then said: “I do appreciate the invites, Ino. I know you’re just thinking about me. I’ll be at the next one.”
Ino’s tone brightened. “Okay. I’ll talk to you tomorrow then.”
“Take pictures so I can see them later.”
“Yeah yeah. I’ll drop by the shop?”
“Yeah.”
“Love you.”
“Love you too.”
Letting out a sigh, Sakura dropped the phone and rolled onto her side. She stretched her arms over her head. As she lay there, she could hear footsteps downstairs. She thought for a moment. And then her mouth opened.
“Papa,” she called.
No response.
She considered getting up, and then she extended her left arm. Pointing, she flicked her wrist as she called him again.
This time, the “Papa” traveled down the stairs, spreading through the third floor like mist. She could feel the way the word surged ahead, knocking walls and doors, spreading until she was sure that it could be heard everywhere.
There was a pause. And then she felt Madara’s magic wash over her in a wave. Soft. Just a little warm- as were the spells of most fire affinity casters.
What.
I’m bored.
There was a drawn-out exhale. Madara trudged up the stairs, his glasses dangling from the chain around his neck. He stood in the doorway, hand on his hip.
“What do you want me to do about that?” he demanded.
Sakura tilted her head to look at him.
“Dunno. I wanna eat something.”
Madara squinted at her. “We had dinner.”
Sakura stared right back at him.
He pushed off the doorway, already walking out of the room.
“You want toast?”
“With butter and jam,” she called after him. Hugging a pillow to her chest, she fell back on the bed again.
“Brat,” he grumbled, stomping down the stairs.
Sakura laughed.
They stood at the counter eating together, barefoot, scolding each other for getting crumbs everywhere.
Sakura loved the way the butter melted in her mouth, mixing with the sweet taste of strawberries. Madara even cut the toast into triangles, just the way she liked, even though she had never once asked him to.
It struck her, staring out the kitchen window, how fortunate she was. The people who had abandoned her had never written or called. She was sure that the Senju Institute and Madara knew of some way to get in touch with them. But she didn’t want to know.
Madara had taught her when everyone else said there was something defective about her. He had given her a place to belong. And as all these thoughts swam around in her head, Sakura let her head fall against Madara’s arm.
“You know…”
Madara looked at her as he took a bite of his toast.
“I really like being here with you, Papa. I feel happy here,” she told him.
Madara stopped chewing. He looked away.
“Then stick around, kid. It’s not bad having you around too,” Madara replied, not meeting her eyes.
Sakura beamed. She didn’t have to say anything else. They finished eating their late-night snack together. Brushing crumbs off their face and licking jam from their fingers once they were done.
++++
On the days that she wasn’t working at the dream shop, Sakura was working on her own research. Her thesis was exploring how magical barriers and fields interact with dreams. If shields and charms were cast in the real world, would those protections extend to dreams? (No.) Could they be manipulated to work in dreams? (Maybe- she wasn’t sure yet.)
Her undergraduate studies in abjuration focused mostly on shields and banishment. Shisui had laughed when she announced her major to them one morning at the shop. As Itachi and Sasuke both punched his arms, he tried to explain that it was a good thing.
Of course you would want to protect people. That’s just like you.
Everyone in the Uchiha family agreed that Sakura’s shields had a kick to them. They didn’t just block. They fought back when attacked. One of her favorite shields was one that she liked to call The Urchin. It looked like any other shield- clear but shimmering faintly under the right light. If touched gently, it had no reaction. But if struck with force, thousands of spikes rose out of the surface to stab the threat.
For Sasuke, who favored evocation magic, Sakura’s shields were a great source of amusement as he tried to find ways to break them down with fireballs and bolts of lightning. And Sakura in turn would then work to fix those weaknesses to render his attacks harmless. Neither of them ever admitted it out loud, but their playful competition was what had probably driven both of them to excel in their studies during their undergrad years.
Itachi worked almost exclusively with illusions. His ability to blur illusions with reality made him a fearsome sparring partner. It was no surprise that he had graduated at the top of his class in record time. Even now, his old professors joked that Itachi had walked into the school and then walked out with his diplomas.
Shisui was the only one among them that hadn’t gone on to college. But that didn’t seem to bother anyone- especially not his parents. Because as soon as it was legal, Shisui was scouted to work with the city’s observatory to test how celestial bodies and their positions influenced casting. It was a new field that not many people were familiar with. Shisui had a tendency to pack his car with his telescope and spectrometer and drive off into the mountains whenever the skies were clear. If his frequent absences irritated Madara, he didn’t say anything.
With so many people around her who excelled at magic, it wasn’t hard to find someone to assist her with research on most days. Even her friends from school, Ino and Naruto, were usually around to lend a helping hand.
But Sakura liked it best when Madara was the one to help her with her experiments.
“Because I ask the least amount of stupid questions,” he guessed when she told him so.
They sat cross-legged in Sakura’s room in the dream world. Madara looked around at all the crystals that filled the tall shelves. She had recently extended the height of her room just to accommodate them all.
“No. You just… you’re good at knowing how to help. You’re kind of a natural, Papa,” Sakura replied.
Before Madara could touch any of the dreams, Sakura made a sweeping gesture with both her hands. The room around them dissolved into a gentle blue mist. And when it reformed, they were standing in what looked like the city park. There was even a swing creaking gently in the breeze nearby.
Madara was sitting on a boulder now. He patted the surface a few times, nodding approvingly.
“The texture’s pretty realistic. You’ve got a good eye for detail,” he commented.
Sakura took a moment to smile before she closed her eyes and gathered energy into her palms again. This time, when she swept her arms, the particles in the air began to vibrate, knitting together. Closer and closer, closing the gaps until they formed a standard shield.
Madara picked up a small stone and tossed it at the shield. It bounced off.
“Well. Looks like it’s holding this time around.”
As he spoke, the smooth surface of the shield began to ripple. Like a soap bubble, it popped. Sakura’s arms fell to her sides. Her lips jutted out.
“Oh man, I thought I really had it this time,” she lamented.
But Madara just patted the empty spot beside him. Sakura made her way over. She climbed up on the boulder and plopped down beside him.
“I wonder why shields don’t work in dreams. It would be helpful for lots of people,” she grumbled. She pulled her knees up to her chest.
“Why’d you choose something so hard? No one’s ever managed to make abjuration magic last here. The dream world doesn’t follow the regular laws of nature,” Madara pointed out. And as if to drive the point home, he held up his pointer finger. A flame appeared at the tip. Only it was burning upside down.
Sakura copied him. She lowered the temperature of the magic until it turned a dull, almost brownish color. When she lowered her hand, the flame dissipated completely.
“There’s lots of people. Kids especially. Who feel scared. And maybe they didn’t have some weird artificer popping into their heads every night to make the nightmares go away,” she explained. When she met Madara’s eyes, he was smiling again. Sighing, he patted her head a couple times.
“You got a real heart of gold. You know that, right?” he commended. But the praise almost sounded a little sad.
Madara’s hand fell away.
“By the way, I wanted to ask.”
“Yeah, Papa?”
“You’ve been at home a lot lately. Something happen with your friends?”
It wasn’t like Madara to pry into her private matters. He hadn’t asked why she had started casting a barrier over their home every night before they went to bed. And he didn’t ask why she had suddenly started texting him every day while she was at work.
It was just a nightmare. One of countless ones she had dreamt over all these years. It still made her feel sick to remember the scene. So much blood.
She did feel guilty for not speaking to Gaara again. He hadn’t done anything wrong. But the image of him laying dead there next to Madara had felt too strange. Part of the reason she had chosen to minor in divination was because dreams and divination were often linked together. Dreams could be a warning of some events to come. And if Gaara was part of that ominous message, she didn’t want to involve herself with him in any way.
“Just been busy. Too tired to go out, mostly. Everything’s fine with my friends. Ino’s gonna drop by the shop tomorrow. I might get lunch with her,” Sakura replied, looking down at her hands.
They both looked up as they heard distant beeping.
“That’s your alarm,” Sakura told him, turning to Madara again.
He hadn’t aged a day since he had picked her up from the Senju Academy all those years ago. She knew that really talented casters who were constantly working with magic often lived much longer. Bathing in all that energy had a rejuvenating effect. She suspected that her aging would begin to slow soon too. It was rumored that Professor Tobirama and Professor Hashirama were centuries old- although no one would know from looking at their faces.
Madara nodded.
“See you soon, kid.”
He tapped her shoulder once before he dissolved into black mist.
When Sakura opened her eyes, she could hear the faucet running in the bathroom. Her phone was buzzing on her nightstand. She reached over to hit the snooze button. The faucet shut off.
“Papa,” she croaked half into her pillow.
There was a pause. When she pried one eye open, Madara was opening her bedroom door. There was a towel around his neck.
“Pancakes,” was all she mumbled.
Madara rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, yeah, Your Highness,” he complained, closing the door again.
++++
The peaceful days continued even as the weather grew cold. Snow fell on the city, but the inside of the dream shop stayed cozy thanks to an enchantment cast by Madara at the beginning of every winter.
Sakura didn’t really have to duck her head when she entered the store. But her cousins did. It was one of the few times when she was glad to be so much shorter.
She unwrapped her scarf and tossed it into the air. It hovered there. Waiting until she unzipped her coat and threw it too. Only then did the magic whisk them both away to hang on the coat rack.
“Morning,” Sasuke said from behind the counter.
“Hi. I’m freezing,” she replied. Nose red from the cold, Sakura rubbed her hands together.
“There’s still some coffee in the break room. Help yourself,” Sasuke told her. And when he began taking off his hoodie for her, Sakura waved his offer away.
When she approached, Sasuke turned the appointment book around so she could see the day’s schedule. Itachi was upstairs dealing with a client already. She didn’t have anything booked until after lunch today.
“Shisui?” she called.
“In storage,” came a muffled reply.
She found him digging through one of the shelves. To the side were rolled pieces of paper. She picked one up and opened it to find a star map.
“What’s this?”
Shisui’s head popped up.
“Ah. Weather looks real clear tomorrow. I’m gonna head out and get some readings.”
Sakura felt her knees buckle. She gripped the edge of the shelf as she remembered something else from that nightmare that had never faded from her mind.
“Shi.”
“Yeah?”
When she didn’t speak, Shisui straightened. Dusting off his shirt, he stepped toward her. When he saw the look on her face, he rushed the last few steps. He grasped her shoulders.
“Hey hey hey. What’s wrong?”
Sakura grabbed his forearms.
“Do you have to go?”
“What?”
“On your trip. Do you have to go?”
“Yeah, kid. Been planning this for a while. What’s wrong?” he said, slowly. He searched her face as he spoke. She hated the way his forehead wrinkled with concern. Hated even more the way Sasuke opened the door. Standing there with his fists held in front of him, as if getting ready to punch whatever had upset her.
“What’d you say, you turd?” Sasuke snapped. He shoved Shisui aside. He ducked to get a better look at Sakura’s expression.
“You don’t look so good. Let’s go sit down,” Sasuke suggested. He took her hand. Waited for her to slowly curl her fingers around his. As he guided her to the door, Itachi appeared. His face brightened as he spotted her.
“Hey. When’d you get here?” he greeted her.
The warmth in his voice made her burst into tears.
“What’d you two say to her?” Itachi immediately accused. He crossed the threshold to wrap his arms around her, holding her close to his chest. He patted her back as he went on with his scolding the others. “She’s tired enough as is without you two saying something stupid to her.”
“I didn’t do anything, I swear.”
“I just said I was going on a trip.”
Sakura bawled into Itachi’s shirt. She didn’t have the energy to care how stupid she must look. She needed to tell Shisui not to go. Not go away. Because what if that awful dream came true and he disappeared forever again? And then Itachi would go too. And to imagine the sorrow in Sasuke’s face hurt more than all those other things put together.
“Sasuke, go get her something to drink. Shisui, go get a blanket out of the back,” Itachi was ordering now. And then he lowered his voice.
“There there. Cry it out. You’ll feel better once you do,” Itachi murmured, patting her back again.
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Half-Life
Summary: My first written story for Gigan and Showa Ghidorah. Gigan is trying so hard to go the honest route in earning Ghidorah’s forgiveness, but one’s true nature will always come to light eventually.
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Never before has he felt so frustrated over one person...
Or was it three people...?
Eh, it was one person, all three heads spoke as if they were one, so...
He’s getting off track. He casted a glare at the golden dragon, wasting his time destroying plants of all things. This planet drew the serpent in with the promise of life, but the only life here were boring ass plants. Ghidorah didn’t seem to care, he was wiping them out anyway like it was the only thing he could think of.
Gigan wondered if there was anything else better for this three-headed asshole to do.
Guess he shouldn’t expect different. He heard about Ghidorah through his masters. He knew the dragon was created by another race, specifically to destroy. Not that different from himself, actually. He still remembered the days in the nest, back when he was all flesh. And fluff. And eyeball. And more fluff.
He would rather not be reminded of how cloyingly cute he looked, but alas, his masters thought it necessary to keep baby photos of him. And download them into his memories, never to be erased...
Point was!! He used to be mortal, whole, before he was old enough to leave the nest for his first hunt. He never got to enjoy that first hunt, for his Masters came and took him. Changed him. Kept him under that blasted mind-control Ghidorah hated so much. Blamed him for.
As if it was his fault. He wasn’t the one who studied Ghidorah’s creation. He wasn’t the one that got the bright idea to enslave him. Sure he was involved in his capture, but it wasn’t like he was in control of that.
The damn dragon and his damn grudges.
Not that different from himself, actually. Gigan can hold a mean grudge if he ever cared enough to.
Hell, he would probably hate Ghidorah more if it wasn’t for their shared past. Both created, made the way they are, by unnatural means. Both had their Masters destroyed (though from Gigan heard, it was Ghidorah that turned on his own creators, as well as destroyed Gigan’s Masters as revenge). Both were free of the mind-control and free to do and roam as they please.
And here Gigan is, spending that freedom following a dragon that didn’t even want him there.
But it’ll be worth it. He was never one to take “no” for an answer, and he admits, he saw something in Ghidorah. Perhaps it was his massive wings, resembling his own sails but much larger. Or perhaps, it was the gold scales that resembled the original gold feathering of his species. They were beautiful, the way they caught the light, as if from a well-preened female.
Gigan lost his own gleaming feathers a long time ago, gone was the last remnants of what he truly was. In the back of his mind, he wondered if THAT was the true reason why Ghidorah didn’t lust for him the same way.
He shook his head. He knew that was bullshit. He’s been following this dragon long enough to see that he showed no such interest in ANYONE. Not even fellow dragons, it seems, ones that resembled him far more than any other lifeforms he had stored in his memory’s database. No doubt, those draconian creatures served as blue-prints for Ghidorah’s creation. But even then, Gigan saw no courtship behavior, no attempt at casual conversation even. No interest outside of the usual “kill them all”.
Gigan loved the kill as much as the next person, but Ghidorah REALLY needed a hobby.
“Hey,” he called out from his seat upon a sizeable pile of boulders, his voice holding a mechanical edge to it. Ghidorah’s response to his voice was immediate and already full of tension so thick, Gigan can slice through it.
“Leave me alone.” Those words again, Gigan’s heard it plenty and it just sounded like noise to him at this point. So he ignores it, as he gave a casual stretch of his arms and tail, before leaning back on the larger rock behind him.
"Whaddya say we get outta here and go to the bar? Grab some drinks, have some fun. Kill a few folks."
"No."
"Heh, bet you don't even know what the bar is."
"Nor do I need to know." Ghidorah hissed, clearly not amused by the cyborg’s playful tone as he turned back to the forest blazing around him. “If you’re there, I want no part of it.”
Gigan frowned, but he doesn’t lose his cool yet. This was all a game of patience, a battle of wills, and he will not be the first to break. He will continue to wear this dragon down until he gives in.
“You’re destroying plants, of all things!” he pushed. “The bar is a much better time than this place. I’ve sharpened these bad boys-” He lifted the blades on his arms for emphasis. “-for the past hour just hoping for something interesting to happen.”
“Then go,” Ghidorah grunted. “Do something useful for once and stop distracting me with your half-life.”
“Oh~?” Well, this was new and served as a confidence boost as he pulled himself up from his seat and stepped over towards the golden dragon. “I’m distracting you, am I? Tell me more about my ‘half-life’ then.”
Ghidorah’s left-most head turned to glare at him, while the other two Gravity Beamed the forest around them.
“I grow tired of having to filter out your presence when I’m looking for new victims to destroy. My crests constantly detecting you and throwing off my hunt for lives more worthy of my time than you will ever be.”
“More worthy?!” He shouldn’t feel so insulted by that, but he does. Especially when the three-headed monster turned away fully. “These are nothing but damn trees you’re wasting time on! They don’t even scream and you think this is more fun than I am?!”
“These trees,” Ghidorah continued without even looking at him. “It gives me great pleasure to snuff out their life-force. They scream in their own way. You, on the other wing, only give me annoyance with your constant blabbering and useless ‘apologies’.”
“Useless apologies?!” Gigan sputtered, his sails fanning open wider with indignation. “You’re lucky you’re getting ANY apologies from me! You know how many others I’ve apologized to? A grand total of ZERO!! But, nooo, apparently that’s not good enough for you!”
“Because I know what a real apology looks like,” Ghidorah growled. “I have seen many who fall at my feet, seeking forgiveness for whatever crime they felt they committed to earn the fate I bestowed on them. I see more genuine regret from those pitiful creatures than I see in you.”
Gigan said nothing for a long moment, the red glow of his eye growing brighter as his anger begins to build. But his voice remains calm.
“So basically, you want me to beg at your feet.”
Ghidorah turned his heads again, watching him for a moment before a cruel look grows upon all three of his faces, his own red eyes gleaming.
“That would be a start, wouldn’t it?”
The cyborg’s tail tip clicked loudly with agitation before he broke eye contact. He should just leave, track the dragon down another day and avoid this bullshit altogether. But if this is what he had to do to finally make some sort of progress...
Ghidorah better be the best lay he ever had.
Swallowing his pride, he stepped closer and with another moment’s hesitation, he lowered himself down. One knee, then both knees. All three of his sails flatten to his back. It was the single hardest thing he’s ever done, and he dared not look up at the dragon. He didn’t want his embarrassment to be seen on his face.
“I’m sorry,” he grumbled through his teeth.
“For what?” Ghidorah pressed and Gigan’s tail tip gives another sharp spin. It takes another moment to respond, resisting his body’s urge to upper-cut the tip of his blade into one of those stupid chins. But he doesn’t and his voice softens.
“For what my Masters did. For what I did. I wasn’t in control, but I’m sorry anyway.”
“Hm...” was the only response he got and he finally gives a single glance towards those three faces. And no sooner than he did that than a golden foot slams itself right into his exposed chin and throat, causing him to fall back. He was stunned for a moment, his senses both organic and mechanic struggled to get back online. He almost missed the words being shot at him with venom. “As if I will ever accept anyone’s apologies, much less yours.”
.....
The amount of sheer rage that boils from within his core was unbearable. This game, he lost it. He broke as he pushes himself up with his elbows to glare seethingly at this good-for-nothing, piece-of-shit lizard!
“That’s it! I tried playing the nice guy with you, but I’m done.” He pushes himself to his feet, storming over to the three-headed asshole who stands his ground. “I’m done with your damn attitude!!”
“Then leave, or die.”
“Oh, you would like that, wouldn’t you? But I’m not leaving empty-handed. I’m getting what I want, whether you like it or not!”
He swiped for Ghidorah’s middle head with a scythe, the dragon pulling back with the slightest of nicks. Without hesitation, he slammed all three heads into Gigan’s chest to push him away. But the cyborg was not so easily swayed, as he kept his footing and jumped for him with an arm raised. His sights remained on the dragon’s middle head and he just needed one good hit to-
A Gravity Beam met his chest, causing him to fall to the ground. More beams around him brought rubble exploding from the ground and onto his face and chest. Before he can recover, he felt a heavy weight crash onto him, Ghidorah’s feet planted on his shoulders, wisely avoiding the buzzsaw on Gigan’s chest.
Those red eyes glared down at him, those three mouths opening to no doubt unleash another blast of energy. Gigan wasn’t giving him the chance and lifted his tail up, lunging it forward to stab the end into the dragon’s back.
This got a shriek, as a spray of blood escapes from the wound. Gigan gathered his strength, pulling his tail back to get Ghidorah’s weight off his shoulders. He shifted to get to his feet and swung a blade towards the middle head, but it struck the side head that thrashed in the way.
But Ghidorah can’t pull away from Gigan’s grip, those sharp ends fastening onto his spine. One wrong move would cause irreversible damage and clearly, Ghidorah was unused to having blood drawn. Those scales were hard and durable but even they were no match for the weapons the cyborg yielded.
Such a shame though, that he had to stain those beautiful scales.
It’ll be worth it though, as he makes another swipe and successfully landed the tip of his blade directly into the base of Ghidorah’s middle skull, behind the horns where his mane met scales.
Got it!
The jolt that went through the dragon’s body can be felt, and Gigan couldn’t stop a smirk on his face as he met the wide eyes of his newest victim.
“What’s wrong, Ghiddy? Did you forget?” He opened the blades of his tail tip, and pulled his tail free of Ghidorah’s back violently, with another spray of blood. Ghidorah lets out another shriek, but he doesn’t run. “I know far more about you than you’re willing to admit. Have you never wondered how I’m able to track you down so well? You think being mind-controlled left you unscarred?”
The cyborg struck again with a blade; this time, across the dragon’s chest to draw more blood, causing Ghidorah to stumble backwards. Gigan snickered, stepping forward.
“You still have that chip,” He lifted a scythe once more, tapping the pointed tip right into the wound he left in Ghidorah’s head. He can see the blood already beginning to mat into that oh-so-luxurious mane. “The same chip my Masters and I activated when we first met, remember? Of course you do, that’s why you never tried to kill me, huh? Because you knew that I can do it all over again.”
The blade tenderly moved from the wound left down to the dragon’s mane and all the way down that neck, tracing the dragon’s blood onto those scales. “I wanted to go the honest route for once, thought you would be worth the trouble. Figured it was the least I could do.”
Ghidorah still does nothing to fight back, even when Gigan kicked him and sent him crashing down onto his wounded back. Another shriek escapes, but this one was filled with anger. Gigan can see it, the way the dragon’s muscles convulsed beneath those scales. Ghidorah was fighting the chip, a battle sure to be lost.
“I guess I should thank your Masters as well as my own,” Gigan continued as the dragon carried on his mental struggle to keep control. “For being a rather stupid bunch, they chose such a strategic spot to ensure you can NEVER truly be free. For all your grandeur, you always were just a pawn for someone else. Even without the mind-control, all you’ve ever done was follow the programming given to you like a goddamn robot. Yet you call me the half-life?”
He planted a foot onto Ghidorah’s chest, staring down at those six eyes that began to lose focus. “Well, this ‘half-life’ owns you now. So let the fun begin~.”
#ghidorah#king ghidorah#gigan#godzilla#gigadorah#first story deviating from the usual monsterverse stuffs#gigan's dark side#poor ghidorah#when a villain loves you#it's not fun#even for other villains
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Hello! I have a request to make, if that's okay? Can you write some good fun times in camp between fem reader and Arthur? Like they play a game of side 'n seek mixed with tag then go for a swim in the lake at Clemen's Point and smut happens? Lol.
This one was hot! Thanks for sending it, Anon! Sometimes you just need a good, hot session with Arthur on the beach.
Warnings: Must I add this? It’s required is it? Fine. SMUT AHEAD, Y’ALL!
It’s a hot day. You’re used to heat of course, you grew up near Blackwater. But today is just hot. It doesn’t help that it rained last night, adding humidity. You find yourself thinking more and more of jumping into a stream or a pond, anything to cool down.
You’re riding along with Arthur, your saddlebags laden down with skins, herbs, a variety of stolen goods, and even a gold bar. A few days back, Arthur met some guy claiming to be a famous treasure hunter (Arthur said he was probably famous for his idiocy) and bought a map from him. He asked you to go with him to find the treasure and you’d heartily agreed, of course. Any reason you could get to spend time with your beloved cowboy.
The treasure map had led you to two other pieces hidden in different locations around New Hanover, ending at O’Creagh’s Run where the last map claimed the treasure was hidden on the small island in the lake. Arthur found a small boat and rowed to it, finding two gold bars. He’d given one to you and kept the other for himself. After that, you made your way south to Emerald Ranch to sell your gains.
You head over to the fence at the ranch, where Seamus stands behind his pile of crates. He folds his arms, trying to look innocent (and rather failing at it in your opinion). You and Arthur sell your items to him, coming out quite a bit richer than before. Arthur of course reminds you to give the gang its share, though you don’t need reminding.
You’re making your way back to camp now, positioned at Horseshoe Overlook, but it’s so damn hot and you’re just not ready yet to go join the others. Despite the last three days of being with no one but Arthur, you feel like you’ve hardly spent any quality time with him.
“Arthur, let’s go fishing,” you plead, your eyes wandering south to Flat Iron Lake. He stops his horse and looks back at you.
“Sure, we can do that. Ain’t gone fishin’ in a while.”
You give him a cheeky grin. “Race you there!”
You don’t give him any more warning than that and kick your horse into a gallop. Arthur calls after you, claiming you’re cheating, but you don’t slow down.
“I’m gonna get you!” he hollers.
“I’d like to see you try!”
You reach the trees on the edge of the lake and dismount your horse, aware that Arthur’s still chasing you. Despite the humid heat, you keep running, your heart pounding. You giggle as he yells again. You dart off into the thickest part of the trees, hiding behind a particularly large trunk.
You can hear Arthur running through the foliage, searching for you. He calls your name but you ignore him, grinning.
“You playin’ one of your goofy games again, Y/N?”
Still you don’t respond, but you shift your leg and break a twig. Arthur turns immediately to the sound and grins. He comes over slowly, making no noise. He jumps around the tree and grabs you around the waist, making you scream.
“Gotcha!” he yells.
You giggle and stretch up to kiss him. He pushes you against the tree, a wicked grin on his face. You think he might be about to try and make a move, taking you right here right now. He plants his hands near your shoulders and bends down. Just before your lips meet, he opens his mouth a bit, his hot breath washing over your face.
“Catch me if you can.”
He darts off around the tree, and you’re too taken by surprise to immediately follow him. Goddammit, he played you! You rush off in the direction he went, but there’s no sign of him.
“Arthur!” you whine, but there’s no response. Guess you deserved this. Luckily his horse is a dead giveaway, as she’s very attached to him and likes to follow him. You just watch where she goes and then you see his elbow, sticking out from behind a tree. You grin and crouch down, going over to him as silently as you can. When you’re near the tree, you stand up and reach around, grabbing his arm. “I caught ya!”
He raises his hands, smiling. “That ya did.” You reach up and plant your lips on his. Just as he’s about to wrap his arms around you, you push him away. “That’s for teasing me!”
You run off again, hiding behind a boulder. For the next little while, you and Arthur play your game of hide and seek. Whenever you find each other, you reward the winner with a kiss. On his fifth find, you reach up and kiss him, pushing him against a tree. He groans a bit when you gently bite his lower lip. You know exactly where to hide next.
“Cover your eyes, Arthur. My turn to run.”
He chuckles, though you can tell he’s a bit disappointed. He does as you say though and puts a hand over his eyes. You run off, heading towards the lake. You start removing clothes as you run, purposefully leaving a very visible trail.
When you reach the shore of the lake, you strip out of the rest of your clothes and then wade into the warm water. Arthur’s minute is over, you know it, so you quickly go in deeper until the water is to your shoulders. You lower yourself so that the water is right under your chin. You’re getting a bit chilly in the water, but you stay where you are.
Arthur easily finds your shedded clothing and it only takes him a moment to find where the trail ends. He looks out into the water and easily spots your head and you grin.
“What ya doin’ in there?” he calls.
“Cooling down. Wanna join me?”
He grins and you watch him strip down, your eyes unashamedly going to between his legs, his length semi-hard. The last thing he removes is his hat, though he’s given you quite a show. He walks slowly into the water, teasing you as he goes agonizingly slow.
“Will you just get your cowboy butt in here?” you holler. He grins and stops, putting his hand on his hip and cocking it out a bit. He’s trying to lure you over to him and it’s working. You start walking over to him where he’s wading up to his hips. When the water gets below your breasts, he stares just as shamelessly as you stared at him, but you don’t mind.
When you get to him, you wrap your arms around his waist and reach up, kissing him. His lips part and his tongue comes out to explore your lips, and you eagerly meet it with yours. His hands glide up your back and he lets out a long, deep breath. You press your body against his and you feel his rock hard cock pressing against your hip.
“Mm, happy to see me?” you grin.
He responds by leaning down a bit and sliding his finger through your slick folds, making you yelp a bit. “About as happy as you are,” he chuckles.
You grab his hand and lead him over to the shore. When the water’s around your ankles, he’s gone far enough. He grabs your hips, spins you around to face him and then pushes you down. You immediately spread your legs, wrapping your arms around his neck. His lips crash to yours and he sinks down, his erection pushing into your opening. You groan as he pushes himself as deep as he can.
“God, you feel good,” he moans against your lips. His right hand leaves the sand and squeezes your breast, making your fingers dig into his back. His lips glide from yours, down your jaw and settle over your neck. He starts to kiss and lick your neck, making you even more excited. You push your hips up a bit and feel him smile.
He begins to buck slowly, his length sliding in and out. “Oh, Arthur,” you say breathily as he moves at a steady pace. His finger leaves your nipple and glides down your body, finally ending at your thigh. He slides his hand behind your knee and then lifts it up, allowing him to sink even deeper. You hiss as he pushes in hard, spreading your walls further. You start grinding your hips in response, which only causes his bucking to become faster and harder. His head brushes your spot, making you yelp again.
He chuckles and bends your leg so it’s crooked around his waist and then his hand slides between your sweating bodies, going for your slit. He tickles your clit, making you tilt your head back as he continues to kiss your neck. He keeps on thrusting into your core, brushing your spot while he rubs your center. The stimulation is too much and you feel yourself hurtling towards the edge. You feel your release growing, stars erupting in your eyes as it gets closer. Arthur bucks hard and you’re gone. You grit your teeth, your back arching. You push your hips up as much as you can manage beneath him. He chuckles into your neck and brushes your clit again, prolonging your orgasm.
“Arthur!” you whimper. You can’t take anymore of it, it’s getting close to torture. Arthur seems to sense that you’re done, so his hand leaves your folds, but he continues to push himself in and out. He’s chasing his own release now. You run your hands over his chest, brushing through his hair. You know this turns him on and he responds, his thrusting becoming less rhythmic and harder. His hips snap and he bursts inside you. He bites your shoulder gently, his hands squeezing your hips as he thrusts a bit more, every push growing softer. Finally he stops, his length growing soft and then he gently pulls himself out of your tender opening.
He rolls over onto his back, the sun bathing his skin. He couldn’t look more handsome if he tried. Your eyes rake down his face, his neck, his chest, down his treasure trail. He sees your eyes wandering and he blushes.
“Come here, you,” he says, extending his arm to you. You grin and roll over, curling into him and plopping your head on his chest. His fingers trace across your shoulder. Despite the intense heat from before, this feels perfect. The water lapping at your lower legs helps keep you cool while the sun washes over your naked bodies. Arthur’s hot beneath you and you listen to his pounding heart, which grows slower and steadier as he calms down from your session. You rub your hand up his stomach and to his chest, gently brushing the hair there.
You look up at Arthur and smile. “I love you, Mr. Morgan.”
“And I love you, Mrs. Morgan.”
#arthur morgan#arthur morgan x female reader#arthur morgan x reader smut#red dead fanfic#awkward asks
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WHO: The Fearless Fifteen
WHAT: The castaways get lit and eat good.
WHEN: Day 8
NOTE: For future reference.
Divya
"Alright everyone," Divya approached the camp with her hands clasped together, an excited smile on her lips, "I know we all had a really rough day yesterday, like absolutely terrifying and exhausting, but–" A pause for dramatic effect. "Today is a new day and with everyone here together, me, Lex, and Cherry thought what better way to celebrate our triumphs and what we've overcome than with..." God, she wished she had a drum kit so she could build the adequate amount of suspense she wanted. "...a party!" Divya spread her arms out and flailed her fingers at the reveal. After a moment, she dropped her hands to her sides and continued on with her speech. "Me, Lex, and Cherry have been working all morning. We've got games planned, some treats, and even food! Like not even berries or nuts or anything, like actually. Cherry found a load of clams down somewheres by the beach," she tossed a thumb over her shoulder to give a rough estimation of where that was, "and Lex and I got a fire going with that lighter from the pilot's bag. Thanks again, Mr. Shepard–" She gave a quick salute. "–so it's gonna be like a proper thing. A whole meal!" Divya grinned, looking expectantly at the girls, hoping they were as ecstatic as she was. "So... thoughts, feelings? If you all are ready, we can head down over that ways where the fire's going and get started on the clams. It's honestly taken all of my will power to not just go for them."
Jude
the idea of a party with games on a deserted island maybe seemed a little silly to jude, but hey, she wasn't going to turn down a party, and she wasn't gonna rain on everyone's parade. they could all use some kind of dumb distraction, right? and what jude was really excited about was the food. "oh, shit! clams? like, food? real food, with meat and everything?" she stood up immediately, lightheaded by the act of it. "dude, i could kiss you guys right now. fuckin' hunter-gatherers and shit, getting food for us!" she cheered. "let's do it," she said eagerly. holy shit, she just wanted some clams and vodka. never in her life had she wanted seafood this bad. she feels like her stomach is trying to eat herself.
Alexa
she stands by Divya shifting on her feet, very nervous as to how the rest of the group will take on their event idea. She spent a good half a day just looking for the perfect herbs to mix in with the clams. She'd only cooked them thrice before so she wasn't exactly certain how to make them perfect, but was sure that some mushrooms from the woods along with thyme and basil would make it work just fine. They'd still had coconuts too and Alexa had kept them cool throughout the day so they could mix the vodka in and not die of dehydration. With Cherry in charge of actual clams and Divya the games, the whole thing came together so perfect Alexa wished she'd had her phone around to brag about it on instagram. "Right, also we've got a real nice surprise for those who join us as well..." she was referring to the weed of course, but it was not the right time to reveal all their secrets just yet. With long earrings dancing around her neck and a dead husband robe hugging her sheer nightgown, she headed to the fire. "Let's go bitches..."
Joss
After the unintentional mud bath, courtesy of the depths of the jungle paired with Jude and Divya’s clumsiness, Joss had spent a good hour or two in and out of the ocean, trying to feel even remotely clean again. She’d washed her hair, relishing in the luxurious scent and the sensation of basic hygiene. God she had missed it. With clean hair, clean skin, a fresh pair of Lex’s underwear and freshly brushed teeth, Joss felt like a million bucks - or whatever the plane crash survivor/ desert island castaway equivalent of that was. She returned to camp anew and took her usual seat atop her puffer jacket, looking up at the girl’s as they approached with an announcement. “Oh my god,” she chimed, a couple of gleeful claps following her words “Fuck yeah, you guys, I’m in” she assured them, excited about the clams ahead, she quite liked seafood when it didn’t look like the inside of a sea urchin. “Amazing” she cooed in response to Divya’s question, though she hadn’t the slightest clue who the fuck Mr Shep- oh. Never mind she thought, as it dawned on her. “Nah seriously, you guys are legends, thank you,” she said again, another clap or so, before she realised she could just about see Alexa’s nipples, thanks to the blonde’s costume change. It was then that her eyebrows raised slightly and she made an effort not to make it obvious that she’d judged the outfit already, “Oi, what’s the surprise?” She asked lex directly then, “Do I maybe already know about it?” She asked playfully, adding a cheeky wink for good measure. God she loved being the secret keeper, even if she hadn’t kept the secret at all. Really, she just loved being the first person to know anything.
Jenny
Truthfully, Jenny wasn't sure they were up for a party. The day before had been arguably one of the most taxing so far, aside from maybe the first. And once again, they had spent almost all of the night awake, save for a few minutes here and there. However, it was hard to say no to Divya's enthusiasm (or Divya, full stop), even harder when she said how hard she, Lex, and Cherry had worked on it, and then even, even harder when she mentioned actual food. Jenny felt their heart flutter a little bit at the very idea of not having to eat nuts or berries for the first time in a week, and their features visibly lit up at the thought. " No fucking way, that's awesome, " They said, joining in the general consensus of excitement from the group. When Joss thanked the others, they echoed her directly, " Yeah, thank you, " looking back to Divya and the others as they did. Pushing themselves to their feet and dusting off the sand, they tried not to notice Lex and Joss having another little moment, Lex hadn't been lying when she said they got along apparently. They ignored it as best they could, instead looking to the other party planners, " Lead the way then almighty party planners, " they teased, a small chuckle falling from their lips.
Shane
to say shane didn’t feel like herself after the day before would be an understatement. she tried to pretend that everything was fine and that what happened wasn’t as serious as it really was, but it was hard. she was sitting in the sand, starting out into space when the girls made their announcement. while a party felt like the last thing shane wanted to do at the moment, the others seemed excited and shane didn’t want to be a downer for the others. plus now they had found something more real to eat which she couldn’t deny didn’t sound amazing after days of berries. so she forced herself to look as happy as the others, probably falling flat by she tried her best, and joined in the chorus of thank you’s for them, “thanks guys.” her eyes shifted to lex at her addition, already guessing what the surprise was since joss is the worst person to keep secrets on the island. but considering shane had snapped at lex the day before, she doubted she would even want to share with her today.
Divya
Divya was so pleased that everyone seemed to be excited for the festivities they had planned. She gave a little squeal, clapping her hands together as she stood on her tiptoes for a second before leading the way. “Alright, come along. A feast awaits.” She made her way to where they had set up a small fire, a cooking station of sorts for their clams. It was by this large boulder so the sun didn’t absolutely destroy them that afternoon. “Everyone grab a seat around the fire,” she encouraged, taking a seat on the sand herself. She bounced in place excitedly. “I think Lex found some herbs or summat to mix in with the clams so we are being proper fancy this afternoon." If she closed her eyes and ignored about 90% of their reality, it was almost as if they'd actually made it to Hawaii. "And we aren't just eating today but drinking too! Cherry and I boiled some of the luggage rain water we collected the other day and they've cooled down by now so it's totally safe to drink whilst we eat the clams."
Luna
Luna wanted to enjoy the party. She did. She had also wanted to help find Shane. But neither was really possible when she felt so exhausted. All she could hope was that it was nothing serious--a mild bug or heat stroke or just plain old exhaustion and dehydration--but she couldn't help the dread she felt anyway. Still, she pushed it down, flashing a smile and following Divya to the fire. "Wow. This is proper fancy," she commented, sitting down beside the other girl. "We have water too?" Oh thank god. "What are we drinking it out of?"
Divya
"The water bottles! Solid quality honestly." Divya reached over to the pile and plucked one from the bunch. The Dawn of Eve water bottle once perfectly powder pink now had burn marks going up its sides but Divya would argue for a very good cause. "Sorry if we worried anyone about where they'd gone. We tried boiling them in some old Coke cans to start but they were so much smaller and harder to fish out of the fire compared to the bottles that we gave up halfway." She shook the bottle and you could hear the sloshing of water inside. She held it out to Luna. "We counted to a hundred to be safe but I think it's actually only a minute of boiling honestly till it's good for drinking."
Andrea
A party was just the kind of thing that they all needed. Whether Andi wanted to admit it or not, she wanted to be lifted out of her piss-poor mood. And she wanted something -- anything -- to feel normal. Heading down towards where the other girls were, she eventually sat down by the fire. "You guys actually did it," she said with a tinge of amazement in her voice, looking at the water bottles and everything else they'd been able to get together. "Where'd you find the clams? How'd you get all of this together?"
Oona
Oona pulled her hair back and out of her face as she settled in. It felt so long since she’d last sat down for an actual meal that even in their stained, ripped clothing, it almost felt like a fancy occasion. Plus, there were clams. She’d never been big on seafood in the past but by the way her stomach was rumbling it was clear that it didn’t care what it got at this point. “That’s what I want to know, too,” she echoed Andi. “It must be a good story. Have you gone clamming before? I have no idea how to even begin to look for a clam.” She rubbed her hands over her knees in anticipation, then shot Divya a warm smile first. “Really, this is so nice of you guys. Above and beyond.”
Alexa
she looks over at Joss at the cheeky grin and a question and although she’d already gotten over being yelled at, she still had just about enough pettiness in her to shrug, smile and go “yes Jocelyn, but I suppose Jenny and Jude know it slightly better having already dipped into that surprise with me a bit so...maybe not so much a surprise to some of you but...” she will pull out large pre-rolled spliffs and one blunt. “— ta-da!” It was basically no surprise to anyone at this point but she’s finally got her night around the fire with weed, food and booze. “As far as nights in this inferno go, I’m pretty sure we’re at the peak so settle in before whatever fucking storm, fire or beast the devils that run these hunger games throw at us next.” Yes she mixed in all the references she could think of, apart from matrix she supposed but she could sneak that in later. Regardless, Alexa was not shy to show she was actually genuinely happy. She crashes on the floor next to Cherry and looks over at Andi tapping the floor beside herself. She then shifts her focus over to Oona and Andis question. “Ah the clams, star of the show, Cherry, Div? You wanna take this one?”
Divya
"Errr," she pulled a face in thought, "not sure to be honest, that was all Cherry." She looked at the other girl then. "Point is though: she found them and now we," she looked at everyone around the fire then, "can eat them." She turned her head to face Lex now. "Can we please eat them?" It wasn't so much a question as a reminder. Lex was the chef after all. The only thing Divya knew how to cook was beans on toast and even then, she burnt the toast sometimes. "Do we just toss them on the fire and wait or something? How will we know if it's ready?"
Andrea
It didn't matter what'd happened before. If she'd been angry with anyone, or if they'd been frustrated with her. Right now, all Andi could think about was having a full stomach, perhaps for the first time in over a week. "You're a fucking angel," she grinned, watching eagerly as Alea took out the spliffs. "I've been saying it for days -- we deserve a chance to actually have fun. Who knows how long we've got here? Might as well fucking enjoy it." She brushed some hair out of her face, leaning in as Divya spoke. "Please -- can we just cook these bad boys and have a meal? I'll even cook them myself. I'm volunteering. That's how hungry I am."
Jude
weed? food? call jude a handmaid 'cause it was a blessed day! "throw those bitches on the fire," jude cheered in agreement, taking a seat in the sand around the fire and reaching for a bottle of rainwater. she felt like a cavewoman. she probably looked like one, too, for that matter. "let's get full, let's get high, let's forget we're on a fucking island," she announced. "andrea's right. since we're almost definitely gonna pull an amelia earhart and get eaten by crabs, we might as well try and have a good fucking time."
Shane
shane watched as the others became excited over everything. while she should also be happy and excited to eat and relax, shane still hadn’t gotten rid of that nagging guilt in the back of her mind after yesterday. so she stayed quiet, sitting with the group around the fire. her fingers dug into the sand absentmindedly. “mhm,” she hummed in agreement with jude. maybe after she drank and smoked a little, shane would start to feel like herself again.
Oona
Oona’s eyes widened when Alexa pulled out pre-rolled weed. Were they usually that big? She didn’t know the difference between a blunt or a joint or whatever, partly because she had never seen one in real life before and mostly because her parents routinely screened everything they watched as kids to make it was squeaky clean. She didn’t see a sex scene until she was fifteen. She didn’t know anything about weed. Oh my God, she was going to look so stupid. “Oh! Oh wow,” she exclaimed, a little stilted with the way she tried to make it sound natural. “I’ve never—I mean, I don’t. I don’t usually do that but um, that’s really cool! Thanks for sharing. Is that going to be a post-dinner thing?” Did she want to try? She didn’t know. She wanted to ask what it felt like without showing her hand. Oona heard Shane hum along, a little detached, and looked over at her. Shane smoked weed, right? Or was that rude of Oona to assume? She leaned toward her and spoke lower as an aside. “Are you going to—?” Her eyes cut to the bag in Alexa’s hand.
Shane
shane looked up from the small hole she was digging in the sand when she heard oona say something to her, clearly not wanting everyone else to hear. she could tell but her reaction to lex pulling out the weed that oona has probably never tried it. a little surprising to shane considering everyone she knew back home has smoked at least once. but then again, that was new york and she knew very little about oona and how she grew up. "huh? uh, yeah, probably," if lex allows her, but shane didn't say that out loud. "have you smoked before?" she asked, not wanting to embarrass her if she hadn't.
Andrea
It was cute, really, seeing Oona's face change as Alexa pulled out the goods. Andrea assumed that all of them had smoked before -- at least once. But then again, maybe there were some people who were more innocent than she was -- less tarnished by whatever circumstances life had thrown their way. She didn't quite hear what Oona said, and reading lips was too much work. So instead, Andi decided to chat with Jude. "Eaten by crabs? Haven't heard that one yet. -- So what's the deal? Do we die first, and they feast on our corpses? Or are we gonna have to suffer through every single pinch?"
Joss
To say that Joss was shocked that Lex had been smoking with Jude and Jenny without her was a marked understatement. “Yeah, righto,” she uttered fairly obtusely, shifting uncomfortable where she sat, in response. The fuck, Lex? She wondered, watching the other girl for a moment or two, trying to read her. Jocelyn was certainly not an expert on the disappearance of Amelia Earhart but she was pretty sure she’d never heard the conclusion that the esteemed aviator had been eaten by crabs. In fact, Joss wasn’t sure she’d ever heard of anybody being eaten by crabs. Thus, she assumed it was another one of Jude’s dumb theories, like tropical bears. “Fair sure you have to boil clams,” she was as eager to get ‘those bitches’ on the fire, as Jude had so eloquently put it but she didn’t want them to go to waste if they ended up burning to a crisp.
Jude
"oh, shit," jude got genuinley introspective in response to andrea's question. "we better die first. i'm not going down to a bunch of crabs without a fight, right? fuck crustaceans. maybe they won't eat me, 'cause i'm one of them - born july, y'know, cancer," she explained. jude's astrology knowledge is admittedly limited, but like any good white teenage girl from new york, she DOES have co-star installed on her phone. "whatever, though, let's do this. we're not dead yet, right?" she said, getting up eagerly and tossing clam after clam on the fire without putting much thought into it. jude's not really a cook. she can hardly make toast. still, she's got hubris, and maybe that's enough. "we leave it for - uh - five minutes? then crack 'em open like cashews?" she offered.
Oona
Oona smiled sheepishly at Shane’s question. She should’ve known she wasn’t exactly being subtle about the whole thing. She bit down down on her thumbnail briefly, then shrugged in embarrassment. “Honestly? No...” she trailed off. It was a little funny, she had to admit. Girl from the Denver area who’s never gotten high? Someone call the local news! But this was Oona’s first time in her life when she wasn’t under constant supervision. She had one blip, granted, about nine and half months ago, but no adult in her world let that happen again. Her own legal adult status didn’t seem the matter. “Should I? I feel like it’d be a good thing to check off on my lifetime to-do list,” she joked in an attempt to push down the rising nerves at the prospect. “You know, plane crash? Check. Stranded on a tropical island? Check. Survive solely on Diet Coke and bags of mixed nuts? Check.” She counted the so-called accomplishments on her fingers. “Weed must be the only logical continuation.” And then she heard, a little to her left, ‘they feast on our corpses’ and she immediately clocked back into the group conversation. Jilll’s missing body wasn’t something she was going to forget anytime soon. “Excuse me, what’s going to feast on our corpses? The crabs?” She glanced warily toward the ocean.
Shane
she gave a weak smile at oona for her confession. if shane had to guess, she and oona have lived completely different lives. which wasn't a bad thing, she was pretty sure that none of the other girls have done half of the things shane has in her life. "hey, nothing wrong with that," she tried to reassure her that she wasn't judging. "i feel like you deserve it after all the shit we've been through," shane said with a chuckle. "but really weed is nothing serious, it's a good time." she wasn't trying to pressure her into do it, but more to reassure her that it wasn't as big of a deal as tv and movies made it seem. when the attention turned to whatever the fuck jude was talking about, shane turned to look at the other girls. "if we're stuck here any longer, i'll happily let the crabs take me," she said as a joke but considering how she's acted the past 24 hours, it was probably a bit concerning to say.
Divya
After seeing Jude toss some clams onto the fire, she figured it was good enough for her and followed suit, tossing a few more on there beside Jude's. "Five minutes should do I think." She casted a brief glance at Lex for reassurance before turning back to the fire. "Anyway, shouldn't they like pop open or something? Like popcorn... but for seafood?" Confused, she scratched the side of her head before deciding they could probably see when it'd be ready to fish out and leaned back on her hands again. Hearing talk of crabs over by Oona and Shane, Divya perked up. "Wait, do we have crabs?" She asked with a lit up face, having missed most of that conversation in her excitement of watching everyone get seated and tossing clams on the fire.
Joss
Joss couldn’t help but laugh at Divya’s innocently intended question, foiled by poor wording. “We? Yeah, nah, not me, I get laser treatment every couple of months,” she teased, barely convinced that Divya would realise the connotations of her words even now. She wiggled a finger loosely in the direction of a few of the other girls, Lex, Shane and Jude in particular, “Can’t speak for the rest of the crew though,” she insisted, Jude in particular struck her as somebody who had a working knowledge in the field of STIs and the like.
Jude
jude gave a low whistle, raising her eyebrows at joss. little miss prefect gets laser treatment to avoid crabs, huh? jude's mouth fell open at joss' wiggling finger, and she put a hand to her chest. "how dare you," she deadpanned, eyes wide. she used a stick to pull a clam out of the fire - it'd been almost five minutes, and they felt hot - and held it up in demonstration. "you can't get crabs like this, ma'am," she said, before eating the clam in the way that she might eat.... something else. you know, just a graphic demonstration of lesbian sex, noises and all. dinner and a show, right? "see, bitch? i'm clean!" she laughed, slurping down the clams.
Shane
shane easily understood what joss was implying and despite the fact that they seemed to be on good terms, shane was right back to wanting to slap the blonde girl when she pointed to shane and some of the other. “what’s with you and thinking i’m such a fuck boy, joss?” she shot across the circle just as jude made a show of eating one of the calms. “exactly!” she cheered the other girl on.
Joss
She raised her hands defensively, still laughing as both Jude and Shane shot back at her defensively. Maybe she’d unintentionally found a sore spot for eat of them. “Fuck me, relax hey, it’s just jokes- you can’t tell me you didn’t think the same thing,” she insisted, surely she wasn’t so filthy minded, so much more so than the others that she was the only one that saw the double entendre in Divya’s question. Joss hadn’t caught onto where Jude’s announcement was going until it came with a full blown theatrical performance, sound effects and all. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, message received, clean as a whistle, bloody hell,” she waved a hand at Jude dismissively, her cheeks flushing as she realised that she was the one to inspire such a graphic performance. “Have you gotten that out of your system now? Some of us haven’t eaten yet, I’d like to actually keep my dinner down, if you don’t mind,” she was half joking, though the last thing on God’s green Earth she wanted to picture throughout her meal was Jude going down on somebody. She sat up on her knees then, trying to get a good look at the clams in the fire. She wanted to know if they were cooked properly or if they tasted any good but she had a funny feeling that Jude might not have registered either during her taste test.
Jenny
Like a lot of other conversations that had happened while on the island, Jenny was in and out of listening to them. Picking up pieces here and there of Oona and Shane talking about weed, Jude talking about the grand Amelia Earhart Crab Theory (Jenny was personally more subscribed to the Captured theory or the Bermuda Triangle theory but to each their own), and then finally Joss bringing up a different type of crabs. Sure, maybe if it had come from anyone else Jenny would have found it really funny, but Joss had an air of rich bitch judgement around her that prevented them from laughing aloud. However they did laugh at Jude's response, and loudly too. Grin growing on their features with ease as they elbowed her lightly in encouragement. But then, for certainly not the first or last time, they furrowed their brows a little in Joss' direction. Their smile didn't quite fade completely, the idea of eating protein for the first time in a week and amusement at how quickly Joss changed her pace keeping it there. " You're the one that brought it up, dude, " they said, shaking their head a little with a breathy chuckle, before reaching for a nearby stick so they could safely poke at the fire.
Krafty
was a huge fan of anything sea food, blame it on the fact she had grown up near the ocean. so when she had heard that some of the girls had gotten clams for actual sustenance she couldn't help but excited. making her way over the hill from where she had to pee, she rejoined the group and walked in at what seemed to be a tense moment between joss and jude. reading body language she chose not to intrude but sit next to the fire patiently, hoping that soon enough she'd get a great taste for the oysters. she grabbed a recently boiled water bottle of water and took a few swigs. this was as close to a party as she'd felt in a long time, she only wished her crew was here with her.
Joss
She wrinkled her nose and nodded her head, hands in the air once more “-well Shaneo enjoyed it so, you’re welcome, I guess,” she offered, finding the positive angle instead of taking responsibility for making a shit joke. She watched Jenny with the stick, deciding that that was probably the best way to manage things herself, though she’d wait her turn. Once she had a clam to herself she pressed her lips together, analysing it for a moment as if it required a secret code to open. She laughed at herself then, “Fucking hell, now I’m all self conscious like I’m gonna be graded on how shit I eat this,” she joked at her own expense. Her experience with cunnilingus was embarrassingly non existent but she’d had oysters once or twice before. “Wouldn’t mind some pasta to go with this,” she confessed a moment later, thinking out loud.
Jude
"oh, we're definitely gonna judge you," jude nodded, eyeing joss as she went in for another clam. her experience with oysters was embarrassingly nonexistent, but she was a self-proclaimed expert in cunnilingus, and it's basically the same, right? "god, pasta sounds good," she nodded in agreement before chugging down some more rain water. she hadn't realized how hungry and how thirsty she had been until now. "or, or - like, a sub. like, a hoagie from the little shop down the street from my old place. they were so fucking good. i would kill to have another meatball hoagie before the crabs eat my body once and for all."
Shane
“yeah, fuck you, joss,” shane said, giving up on trying to defend herself to the other girl. so many one time she made an extremely poorly timed sex joke, now joss will forever view her as some sex crazed person. “oh we judge you all the time, this will be no different,” shane shot back at her. despite how little they’ve eaten in a week, shane just didn’t have much of an appetite, so she instead just watched the others, still half lost as she tried to keep her thoughts from drifting away to other things. “god i could go for one too.” after a second, she thought of something, “or you know what would be perfect? magnolia’s bakery,” she announced before smirking and giving jenny a knowing look.
Oona
With one wide-eyed moment of innocence over and done with, Oona tried her best to keep her face blank as Jude went to town on a clam for fear of cementing herself as the Ultimate Ignoramus. But there was also the fear of looking too judgmental. The last thing she wanted was to turn any of these girls against her. People had sex. Oona could totally handle it. But still, her brain sort of skirted around the imagery then zipped at lightning speed toward Joss and Jude’s latest comments. “Oh, yeah. Seafood pasta’s good. Like a shrimp scampi. Or—Gosh, I had a really good lobster mac and cheese once.” She sighed when Shane mentioned a bakery. “I think I miss popovers the most, food-wise. And waffles. I’m too American to go this long without processed sugar, I think.” Oona shook her head and reminded herself to be positive. "But the clams will be good! Alexa found herbs to go with them, you said, Div?"
Krafty
she couldn't help but chuckle at jude's snark remark, sometimes they were well timed and she was okay with admitting that. finally she helped herself to a clam and managed to crack it open helping herself to the protein inside. "pasta, some fresh cheese on top, shit," she couldn't help but miss her favorite seafood restaurant from home. "oona yes, lobster mac n cheese is to die for, i feel ya on that one," she couldn't believe this was her life but hey, maybe she was doing her hero bear grylls proud with this...maybe they all were. "this is dope guys, seriously, i didn't say it but thanks."
Divya
Predictably, Joss’s joke went right over Divya’s head, causing the girl to furrow her brows. Still, she offered barely there laugh though because she didn’t want the blonde to feel bad that her brand of humor wasn’t particularly the funniest. What did laser treatment have to do with crabs? Her gaze shifted from Joss to Jude, wondering why that earned such a reaction from her. Her eyes widened to the size of saucers at what happened next. Now it wouldn't surprise anyone to find out Divya wasn’t the most experienced in that area. In fact, it was better to say she wasn’t experienced at all. Everything she knew of sex came from awkward Sex-Ed classes and that one time she and her best friend paid a visit to PornHub when they were 14 that ended with the laptop being kicked under the bed and destroyed when her Uncle Marty walked in without knocking to tell them dinner was ready. Needless to say, her cheeks were flushed pink and hot by the time Shane chimed in with cheers and Joss was waving the New Yorkers off. Divya busied herself with poking at the clams with a stick, hoping the warmth in her cheeks would subside sometime soon. She was just pulling one of the clams out when Oona mentioned her name, thankful that the other girl gave her something else to think about than Jude’s theatrical performance featuring their lunch. “Oh yeah, I think she also had mushrooms or something?” She turned to Lex. “Right? Mushrooms, herbs?” She turned back to Oona. “Something along the lines. It’s probably in that bag over there.” She pointed to the Dawn of Eve bag closest to Lex. Hearing Krafty speak, Divya smiled warmly, glad the girl was enjoying the festivities. She was just happy all of them could take a breath and enjoy themselves for once.
Jenny
Seeing as the last time Jenny had purposely called Joss out they'd nearly hit her, they didn't quite join in the chorus of yes, Joss, all the gays are gonna judge the shit out of you. Thankfully, the subject changed as Jude and the others brought up all the different foods they wanted. They nodded in agreement with the group. Even if they'd never had seafood pasta, they could absolutely dream of a hoagie. " Dude, what I wouldn't do right now for like, the greasiest, grossest bacon, egg, and cheese. " They said, stomach aching at the very thought. And to wash it down with some energy drink that had definitely caused someone to have a heart attack, that would be heaven. When Shane brought up Magnolia's Bakery they had to press their lips together to stop a chuckle from tumbling right out, but the smile still showed. The two proving in that very moment that everyone had been judging Joss. At least, the East Coast Gays definitely had been. If the girls had just had the clams and the fire, that would have been impressive enough. But mushrooms? Seasoning? They were beyond grateful. " I can't believe you guys could find all this stuff, " They said, using their stick to pull one from the fire now that it seemed it had been long enough for them to be edible. " Do y'all cook much at home? " They asked, looking up. Mostly they were addressing Lex and Divya, but really it was open to the group, they'd be interested to know the answer from everyone.
Joss
Joss had thought that she and Shane were mates by now but there was something about how quick the brunette was to jump aboard Jude’s anti-Joss campaign that made her think otherwise. Maybe they were just pals when she was the best option, or more hurtfully, the only option. She tried not to show the hurt and offered a small laugh to show that she was totally in on the ribbing. Then came the Magnolia joke and the glance at Jenny. What the fuck was that? Joss had mentioned visiting the famous NYC bakery with her family to both Jenny and Shane, had they discussed the fact? She was aware that she’d be judged harshly, Shane had been honest about thinking she was a bitch the first time they’d met. Joss has assumed that she’d redeemed herself after that but now she wasn’t convinced. Did the whole group just see her as the butt of the joke? Maybe that explained the poor reaction to the bags she’d discovered and the lack of gratitude for the effort she’d put into orchestrating the search party. “I left some stuff out to dry, just gonna grab it before I forget,” she explained, hopping up quickly and abandoning post to collect the imaginary laundry. She felt a sickness in her stomach, reminded of how it felt to have people laughing at you, judging you, making fun of who they thought you were and what they thought you did behind your back. She hadn’t felt it so strongly since leaving Melbourne airport, noting the way her Dad’s hug felt just a little bit awkward as he pat her on the shoulder and offered a curt goodbye.
Shane
shane held back a laugh when she and jenny locked eyes, both clearly trying to keep it together after a dumb inside joke between them at joss’ expense. shane looked over at joss, expecting her to unintentionally play along with their joke. but then the other girl’s face changed with realization before she quickly excused herself from the group. shane’s smile dropped, teeth digging into her lower lips as she went back to anxiously digging in the sand. maybe that was a bad joke, but she didn’t think joss would take it that way. after all, the two of them always jabbed at each other. their whole relationship was making fun of one another with “fuck you”s thrown in there. was it because jenny was involved this time? this was exactly why shane didn’t do friends, everything was complicated and got messy. she kept her eyes locked on the sand as she let all of her thoughts consume her, uninterested in whatever the group was talking about now.
Alexa
Alexa was in and out of the conversation still looking over food with Cherry and making sure she was paying attention to what was happening. Joss was entertaining the group just fine it seemed and so Lex couldn’t help but look over at Jenny and Shane as the blonde spoke to scope their reactions. She laughed at Jude and then as a Divya spoke to her directly she nodded. “Ah yes mushrooms I’m just putting them all on a stick so we can grill them on the fire marshmallow style.” She added placing more mushrooms on the current stick she was holding. She looks over at Oona knowing the other didn’t really seem all that familiar with weed. “See I think food would be best after weed because munchies will be nuts over these bad boys but...I guess we can always grill more mushrooms and there’s also like leftover soup and...fuck, I do wish we had some like crisps or sugar or something...anyways, Oona girl, you don’t gotta smoke if you don’t want to. But I just want you to know that weed was legal prior to hippies being against the war in Iraq and then it became classified as a drug so they could put hippies and minority kids in prisons. It’s by no means gateway anything, the government just doesn’t want people having a good time. Not since Woodstock anyways...” she sighed and then started passing the mushroom sticks. “I cook a lot at home Jenny, thanks for asking. I think the thing I would cool right now if I were home...rather simple actually, lasagna with some garlic bread and banana. Veggie lasagna by the way, but I know how to cook meat as well and like fish and clams yes....seafood is big in the house...” she realised she was talking far too much so she chuckles. “Anyways, yeah please guys help yourselves...”
Krafty
"thanks," she replied as alexa passed around a few skewers of mushrooms krafty helped herself to one roasting it on the fire. it sort of brought her back to cooking up fish by the fire when she would go camping by the water. she had to agree with her though, food would have been a hell of a lot better after weed because the munchies were inevitable, especially for her which she had proven time and time again. "we're stranded on a fucking island, there's never been a better reason to smoke," krafty joked in reply to the girl's long winded story about the legalization of weed post woodstock. it had been far too long since the last time she had gotten high, or truly drunk for that matter. "wait, you cook seafood a lot too?" she questioned, almost shocked that they shared something in common.
Jude
"it feels so fucking good to be full, holy shit," jude said, flopping back onto the sand, a sizable pile of clam shells laying beside her, absolutely ravaged. she wasn't exactly the queen of moderation. "y'know, i know i'm fuckin' useless here, aside from being good eye candy," she acknowledged, "so i really am grateful you guys are, like, gourmet survivalist chefs or whatever. it's impressive as hell." jude was physically strong, but they hadn't exactly run into any tropical bears to wrestle, so that didn't do much good. jude plays hockey, she doesn't forage for food and build shelters. just because she has the emotional maturity of a cavewoman doesn't mean she has the skills of one. "it's been - i don't even know how long it's been since i've felt full. i don't know how long we've been here. i don't know what the date is. all i do know is that i could really go for some fucking weed," she smiled, closing her eyes and shielding them from the sun with her hand as she lay in the sand.
Jenny
Jenny didn't feel anything close to guilt when Joss stood with flushed cheeks and excused herself from the group. Honestly, if they'd been as angry as they had the morning before they likely would have flipped her off as she left. In place of that they simply rolled their eyes a little as their focused shifted to the clam in their hands. They ate quickly, not even caring that it was a weird and new texture and taste for them, only that it was food. The conversation continued to move around them but they didn't have much to add to weed history or cooking talk, so they just stayed quiet, appreciating the feeling of something solid in their stomach. They nodded as Lex explained what she'd love to be cooking at home, they weren't going to say it out loud but it was incredibly unexpected that Lex could cook at all. Seeing as she could probably afford to pay top chefs from across the globe to cook for her whenever she wanted. Then came conversation of actually smoking, and while Jenny was excited for that, they had noticed the way Shane seemed to be reacting to Joss' departure and how no one else seemed to care. They didn't like her, and they didn't really care that she'd left in fact it was a little bit of a relief– but seeing as Shane had walked off and disappeared only yesterday and everyone had gone looking, it seemed a little fucked to just let her go. And on top of that, if they could prevent Shane from feeling any worse they were gonna try. " Okay not volunteering but should someone maybe go after her? " They nodded in the direction that Joss had headed. " Just to check, before we get fucked. "
Jude
nosey bitch model citizen that she was, jude volunteered, taking a swig of her rain water. "i can do it," she offered, glancing at jenny and shane. better her than them, right? jude didn't even know what the fuck a magnolia was, so she was probably one of the less offensive people to joss at the time, right? "i'll be two minutes, mates," she waved the others off, trying to an australian accent but ending up with something closer to texan-british. she pushed herself to her feet, wandering off after joss into the jungle. "jocelyn!" she called, stretching her arms behind her neck and cracking her joints.
Alexa
Alexa has not realised anything was wrong with Joss, after all, she said she’d be right back. Mostly, she didn’t know why she needed to be called back as she missed larger part of that conversation trying to focus on food. Now that she was eating, slow and steady like a hungry cow, Jenny of all people wondering about Joss, made her question if Joss was alright. Not enough to abandon her position on the floor by the fire though. Luckily, Jude seemed to have had it under control. “Damn bitch, we need to feed you more often huh?” She laughs at the impression “Oh and, Jude hun...” she smiled at the other as she she got up and tossed a whole zoot her way. “You can spark this mazza when you’re back huh? If Joss doesn’t wanna come, drag her by the hair!” She said, having decided not to allow Joss to delay the only thing she’s been looking forward to on this Island since the crash with her sudden disappearances and runs and whatever the hell she was doing at this point. “Anyways guys, Divya, what games are on board again? Is that now or...?”
Joss
Joss had expected to return to the camp on her own volition before anybody actually bothered to go looking for her. She'd explained where she was going, she'd explained why and as far as she knew, she'd managed to keep her discomfort under wraps so why would anybody find it necessary to check up on her? The question would remain unanswered, she realised, straightening her posture as she prepared for Jude's arrival. "Hey! I'm here, I'm good," she assured the other girl, realizing then that she'd told everybody that she was going to fetch laundry that didn't exist. Fuck. She turned to face Jude with a chuckle that would have made her year 11 drama teacher roll her eyes, "I already brought my bloody clothes in- I just totally forgot, like an idiot," she explained, attempting to justify why the fuck she was standing in the middle of nowhere by herself, seemingly doing nothing. In truth, she'd been trying to clear her head and get out of her own thoughts. She couldn't fall into the trap of believing that all of the girls, just like the ones at home, thought of her as nothing but a running gag at that when the shit hit the fan, they'd have no qualms about letting her take it in the face.
Jude
jude waved winningly at lex before heading off to meet joss and her inexplicable ghost laundry. “right,” jude raised one eyebrow and shrugged. none of what joss was saying made sense, obviously - even if there was laundry to bring in, why walk off in the middle of lunch to do it? “i know i busted your whole laundry excuse, but you don’t have to come back yet if you don’t want,” jude shrugged. if joss wanted to meditate or pray or whatever it was she did when she was off by herself, that was none of judes business, so long as she was sure joss was still kicking. “we’re about to light up - i mean, i dunno if you’re too good for that, prefect and all. but i can leave you to... do your laundry,” she gestured at the empty space, “since i know you’re not dead. that’s one option. or, you could come back with me, and get high out of your mind. personal favorite. option 3 is you come back, stay sober, eat some clams, and play nice. kind of boring, but doable. option 4 is i stay here while they get high, and you lay down and pretend i’m a fancy australian rich people therapist, and you tell me all about how you’re hallucinating laundry,” jude listed. “there are a few more options after that, but they get kinda dirty, and you’re probably not into that. up to you.”
Joss
Joss became frustrated then, not with Jude but with herself and how quickly her measly attempt at cover her ass had fallen apart and how little effort it had taken for Jude to dismantle it, "I'm not even a fucking prefect anymore," she snapped, her emotions getting the better of her. "Sorry- I just- I don't-" before she sounded like she was having a stroke, to calmed herself, taking a moment to breathe and elucidate her intention. "I'm not too good for it and I don't think that. I don't think I'm too good for anything- or like, for any of you, I mean- like, I don't think I'm better than any of you," she insisted, fumbling on her words until she got to where she had meant to be. "I know it sounds that way, probably but- I was just joking before. I was-" trying to fit in, "-just messing around," she realised it was a lot easier to be accepted when all you had to do was have a car of your own, a questionable BMI and a decent amount of likes from average looking boys on your selfies. Having substance was difficult. Jokes? Impossible. Culture? She didn't have much of that either. Stories? If they didn't involve her pissing herself at a Westfield, they were vanilla and had such an anticlimactic final act that they just sounded like straight up bragging. She folded her arms uncomfortably across her chest, her gaze on Jude's feet instead of looking her in the eyes as she listed off Jocelyn's various options. Though she wasn't in much of a laughing mood, she couldn't help a small laugh at option 5- or option 4.5 or whatever it was; the option that Jude needn't explain. "You're gross," she teased habitually, forgetting that her brand of teasing hadn't translated well before. "-but funny," she added, in case it wasn't clear. She straightened up then, taking a deep breath, "Righto so," she started as she digested her options, "I've had it up to my ears in counselling so- I reckon I'll just come back with you- but just...like, give me a sec, yeah?"
Divya
God, it was so nice to eat proper food. Divya didn't realise how much she missed it until she was actually eating away, clam after clam. Hearing her name mentioned, she finished off the clam she was eating before turning to Lex. "Hm? Oh! Games! Right!" She tossed the empty shell on her little pile of finished clams. Clapping her hands together, she stood up so she could garner everyone's attention better. "So, after we're done here," she gestured to their clam circle, "we've got a few games planned. Limbo to start but... honestly, I think we're all a little full to be bending like that so we'll put it on the back burner for now. The next game on the itinerary is Pictionary!" She announced with gleeful bounce. "So it's much of the same, whoever isn't up to draw gets to sit down and guess whatever it is the person drawing is... drawing." She frowned momentarily, feeling there was one too many 'drawings' in there. "Anyway," she continued on, "if we guess correctly within the allotted time, the person drawing gets a point. If we don't, then the person drawing..." She drummed out a beat on her thighs. "...has to drink alcohol!!" Sure, for some people that wasn't much of a penalty but for lightweights that were new to the drinking scene like Divya, it was definitely enough to motivate her into pulling out some of her best work. She walked over to her stash of party prep things and retrieved a Dawn of Eve swag bag and the bottle of vodka. "So, if you lot are ready, we can head on over there with the sands a bit more packed and get to drawing. We'll reuse the clam sticks as pens."
Jude
jude bit her lip, but she couldn’t even be surprised. weren’t they all angry, thinking about the things they’d never be again? “i get it,” jude said. “there’s a lot of things i’m not anymore,” she said, a rare moment of sincerity. ew. anyways! “it’s cool. we’re all just telling shitty jokes.” she laughed when joss called her gross, because, well, yeah. “gross, funny, a goddess, a dumbass - all ways i’ve been described. by my ninth grade math teacher,” she remarked. motor mouth jude can never turn it off. “whenever you’re ready,” she said, a little softer, slinking back a bit to give joss some space, but not leaving - buddy system, right?
Joss
"Do you?" she asked, caught between feeling alone and feeling, perhaps for the first time, that Jude was being candid with her. It was always hard to tell, Joss had discovered but it was like Lex, she thought; between the shocking statements, disgusting anecdotes and otherwise outrageous utterances, there were some things that slipped out from behind the girl's teeth and actually meant something more. Her lips parted to ask about the math teacher but she decided against it. Prying for sincerity twice in a row was asking for far, far too much, Joss thought. She was lucky to have Jude talking to her at all at this point and it wasn't worth pushing it. "Yeah- cool, thanks," she nodded in agreement, "I'm not gonna run away and fall asleep or anything but- yeah, thanks," she assured taking another deep breath in, steeling herself to face Jenny and Shane again. "Does everyone just think I'm a massive cunt?" she asked then, after a few moments of pensive silence. If Jude couldn't be honest with her, then she doubted anybody else on the island had the capacity.
Jude
"yeah, man. i mean, i used to be a virgin," she joked, flahing joss a toothy grin. "and, like, a not-orphan. hockey star. mediocre musician. a bitch NOT on an island. never much a prefect, though," she admitted. she trusted joss enough to not, like, get lost in the woods, but she wasn't going to leave her, either. with their luck, joss would end up facing off against a tropical bear. DID everyone think joss was a massive cunt? "not everyone," she answered truthfully. she's not a mind reader, but. "i mean, jenny probably does. or maybe not, 'cause it was their idea someone went to get you. that could just be 'cause they don't want the elements getting you, so they get to be the one to take you down, though. lex still has no idea she's on an island. andrea's too busy being excited about weed. and i dunno about shane. i mean, i got the feeling she hated to see you go, but loved to watch you leave," she shrugged.
Joss
Not-orphan. That was the one that stood out to Joss the most. How could she mention that with such a shit eating grin on her face? Right. Maybe that was the only way she could mention it. Everybody had different ways of coping with things. Some got angry, threw their fist at a wall. Some cried until their eyes were red and sore. Some ran away and pretended there was nothing that needed coping with. "Seriously?" she asked and it was a fair enough question, she thought. Not only was Jude prone to cracking jokes whenever she could slip one in but on top of that, it was hard the believe that of all people, Jenny had been the one to voice their concern. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure you were right the first time- fair sure she hates my guts," she insisted, "-but- she really said to come get me?" she couldn't justify it, she hoped that Jude could. Hm. Not as satisfying as she thought it would be. Did Jenny really want Joss to survive, just to be the one to neck her? It didn't seem likely. "Come on, you don't really think that," she hoped, "Jenny's not like that," she spoke with confidence, despite the fact that she didn't know Jenny at all. She ran her tongue over the surface of her front teeth, a pensive expression creasing her brow as she thought about the other girls, "-and Shane, yeah, nah, that wasn't it. Definitely wasn't it," she insisted, confident that Shane had been more than pleased to see her go and hadn't taken any notice of her when she did, certainly not in the way Jude was implying, if the implication was indeed a cheeky (no pun intended) one. "-and you?" she asked, raising an eyebrow then, realising that Jude hadn't placed herself on the list.
Jude
jude nodded, intrigued by how confused joss seemed. "yeah, jenny's idea. i mean, i was just kidding about the killing you thing, but i was a little surprised, too. i kinda got the vibe that neither of you really got along," she explained. "they said someone should go after you before we all got too high." jude laughed and joss' quick denial of shane scoping out joss' ass. "maybe. but my lesbian third eye isn't often wrong," she remarked. that was a lie. jude was wrong all of the time. at joss' question, jude had to think on it. really, she went in between thinking joss was a major bitch, feeling kind of bad for her, and finding her pretty damn entertaining. "i don't think you're a cunt," she said thoughtfully. "or i do, but i'd be a cunt, too, if i were you. i mean, i kinda am a cunt, and i'm not you. but you've never decked me in the face, and if i were you, i definitely would have by now, so i kinda like you," jude said earnestly. "i mean, you did imply i had crabs, but i'm moving past that. forgiveness and all of that shit."
Joss
Joss nodded her head in agreement but then shrugged her shoulders a moment later, "I mean, it's not that," she explained, trying to be diplomatic about the situation, "Tension was pretty high yesterday for obvious reasons, that's all," that wasn't all but it was all Joss was willing to admit to, "-but we've had a few normal chats," chats where they weren't at each other's throats, she meant, "I just- yeah, I don't know, we don't always see eye to eye," she shrugged again, as if that would suffice in place of reasonable words. Yet another phrase to take Joss aback and although she was actively trying to use her judgmental face, that one was just a little but too much for her to breeze past. "Lesbian third eye?" she repeated, "That's a new one," she'd heard gaydar before but clearly Jude wasn't one for cliches. "Thanks," she uttered before Jude elaborated, "Oh," she uttered, almost under her breath a moment later, since it was too late to take back the gratitude. "Mhm," she hummed listening to Jude speak. She couldn't help but laugh then, "If you were me?" she asked, wondering what the fuck that actually meant, "If you were me, you would have never thrown a punch in your life," except for when she did Boss Boxing at her gym, which definitely didn't count. She wrinkled her nose at the reminder of her poor taste joke, "It was supposed to be funny," she attempted to assure the other girl, "Maybe it's an Australian thing- I'm just used to talking shit with my mates, I don't actually think any of you have crabs," unless any of them did have crabs, which would be fucked. No. No more judgement, she reminded herself. She was already on thin ice and if she kept striking out with the other girls, she'd have to find her own clams for dinner.
Gianna
a party. gigi was unsure - she'd been to parties back home, but she wasn't certain things were going to work the same way out here. an island wasn't a bar, right? it didn't matter - she was already late because she'd taken the time to go for a evening swim. with sand piling up against her wet feet, gigi was wringing out her hair as she made her way closer to the sound of chatter and -...a good time? a little bit of excitement building up inside her, gigi eventually came upon the scene and was rather pleased with what she saw. seeing food and smiles on the others faces was enough to bring one to her own, and the swimmer's first move was to fulfill the growling in her stomach. praying for something other than meat for the offering, gigi almost jumped out of her skin at the sight of...mushrooms. she was a shit forager, so finding food right in front of her, especially something as good as mushrooms, gigi was a happy camper. the blonde instinctively reached out for a stick of mushrooms and proceeded to bring it over to the fire to warm it up. she passed familiar faces and offered a friendly smile in greeting here and there; she was a quiet person who only really opened when she knew someone well. finding a place around the fire a moment, gigi left the fungi stick sitting in the flames without thinking about it and leaving a second later to see what else was available. when she returned to the fire and pulled out her stick of mushrooms, the blonde was more confused than anything to find that the vegetables had been burned to an absolute crisp, almost inedible. "what the fuck...?" she muttered to herself innocently, but knowing that wasting food was considered practically a sin around here the blonde took a hesitant bite from the rubbery, dried out vegetable on a stick. at least nobody was witnessing her folly, at least she'd hoped.
Andrea
Andrea followed the others' leads, taking some of the clams and tossing them besides the others. "I don't cook," she stated, matter-of-factly. It wasn't exactly true; she could make enough different meals to keep herself satisfied if she had to, even if they were rather basic. Glancing over at Gigi, she watched the girl take a stick with the mushrooms on it. It's burning, she wanted to warn her. But what did it matter? If she wanted to waste her food, she was more than welcome to. That's why they had rations, wasn't it? "Well, hope you enjoy eating charcoal," she laughed, scooting closer to add some mushrooms of her own. "You can't just throw things on a fire and not pay attention to them. That's how you get the whole camp on fire and shit -- you know that, right? Fire's not like your grill at home. -- Assuming you don't actually live out in the woods."
Shane
shane looked up from the sand when she heard gigi and then andi’s words, her eyes falling to the burnt mushrooms. of course andi would try to be “helpful” in the bitchiest way. but as soon as shane thought that, she stopped herself because clearly she was just as much of a bitch since she caused joss to make up an excuse to leave the group. looking over at gigi, shane tried to give a weak smile. “hey it happens, we’re all learning. you can have my share if you want,” she offered considering she had no appetite to start with. sure, shane should probably eat, but she couldn’t even bring herself to think about it. maybe after they broke into the alcohol and weed, she’d feel better enough to eat whatever was left. she looked over at divya after she explained the activities for the night. really, shane would take anything that could help her get out of this funk. “let’s get this party started,” she said with the most enthusiasm she could muster up.
Gianna
gigi scooted over and allowed some room for andrea to sit beside her, watching intently as the other prepared and cooked her own stick of mushrooms. it seemed so effortless, why couldn’t she do it right? fidgeting slightly in her seat, gianna listened to her explanation and nodded along in understanding, “of course i know that,” she clarified quickly, blinking back her slight embarrassment. shane’s voice broke through her confusion and she glanced over, eyes slightly widening at the sight of the girl offering her her food. swallowing the lump that had suddenly formed in her throat at the verbal contact, gigi struggled to find the right thing to say. “wow, really?” she asked quietly, taking the offered food . “i appreciate that. like, even more than when leia told han luke was just her brother, or when luke couldn’t kill anakin. well, i mean i guess you could say darth vader, but it’s been so long, if you don’t know at this point, you don’t -...” she stopped her nervous ramble, biting down on her tongue. “thanks,” she shook her head dismissively, before turning back to andrea. “is she still looking at me?” she whispered anxiously, thrusting the mushrooms into the fire once more without any thought.
Andrea
Grateful for the extra space, Andrea made herself comfortable. She would never admit it aloud, but it was nice, having everyone together, actually hanging out, as if they were actually just a group of friends having a beach weekend instead of living in the seventh season of LOST. "Right, well, your technique needs work. -- Do you have another one? I'll cook it for you. That way you won't totally starve tonight." She knew that she had to be nicer... in theory. She didn't want everyone on the beach to hate her -- especially if they were going to be stranded there until they died. "Listen... I'm just hungry. Like, really fucking hungry. Didn't mean to be a complete bitch."
Shane
shane tried to fight the urge to chuckle at the shock on gigi’s face when shane was actually nice to her. it was a rare occurrence that shane was, so she didn’t blame the other girl’s reaction. “yeah, no worries,” she said simply, passing her mushrooms over. “uh, right...” she said the star wars comment, shane had very little knowledge of the franchise other than she fell asleep during all the old ones. the new ones here okay because daisy ridley is hot, but that’s as much as she knows. shane nodded and went back to staring at the fire, wondering where joss and jude were.
Luna
"I don't mind a bit of charcoal on the mushies," Luna commented from across the fire, looking directly at Andrea when she said it before glancing to Gianna. "It'll be like roasting them at home." She eyed off the clams. "Not so sure about them though." Her stomach still felt uneasy so mushrooms--burnt or not--felt like a safer option than seafood. "Never cooked things on a fire before. Who here has?"
Andrea
Of course Luna wouldn't mind. The girl seemed to be content with pretty much anything. "That's why you've got your own mushrooms, then," Andrea offered. It was a simple enough response, and maybe Luna would get the hint that she wasn't adding to the conversation in the way she thought she was. "Of course I have -- you've had mountain weekends or whatever, right? Or like... bonfires for holidays or whatever? I know you don't have the Fourth of July..."
Luna
Luna got the hint and shrugged, holding her own mushrooms over the flames. But as Andrea started talking about roasting food on a fire as if anyone must've done it, she felt her cheeks turn red. "No, I never had 'mountain weekends' or whatever," she replied. "And bonfires aren't really a big thing for holidays. Fire hazard, I guess, in summer. Besides, my parents didn't let me go camping or anything like that. And they probably thought being around a campfire smoke would be bad for me." She hoped they just sounded overprotective--which they were--and no one else would cotton on to exactly why.
Gianna
brushing off andreas apology with a shake of her head, gigi handed over the new skewer after a second of letting it sit in the fire so that andrea could do it right. “thanks, andi...” she thanked andrea with a sigh? just wishing she had some good food in her stomach. gigi gave luna a shy smile in thanks and apology - perhaps andi wasn’t the best when it came to sensitivity, but gigi struggled to find friends who would tolerate her. “my moms the same way,” she offered to luna in understanding. “this is the first time i’ve ever been anything remotely to camping.” she smiled happily, as if the entirety of the situation wasn’t weighing heavy on any of their shoulders.
Andrea
She took the second skewer from Gigi, scootching closer to hold it over the fire, turning it every so often. "How crispy do you want them?" she asked. But then she turned her attention back to Luna. Now that was something that Andrea couldn't relate to. Her parents rarely cared about those kinds of things. As long as she came home in one piece and texted them every so often, they seemed fine. That was, until everything else happened. "Your parents need to get a grip and try living in the real world for once. There's enough things out there in the world that can kill you. We might as well have some fun. It's not even the same thing as smoking cigarettes... so what's their deal?" She pulled the skewer out of the fire and handed it back to Gigi. "This good?"
Jenny
Per Divya's instruction Jenny held onto their food stick even after their stomach felt more full than it maybe ever had, even though they'd only eaten a little. They poked at the sand and the fire a little as the group talked around them. Noting little details about each of them and the ways they interacted with each other. Wondering if Jude and Joss were ever coming back and not speaking up again until the conversation turned to cooking things on a fire. " I haven't either, not before being here. " They admitted, siding with Luna and Gigi. " Basically never left the city, and you can't really have a campfire in the city. " Though Jenny's reasoning for not camping was significantly different to their's, they still related to feeling inexperienced on the island.
Gianna
andi seemed to know what she was doing and for that gigi was grateful, so she played it by her ear and let the girl decide when the food was ready for eating. “thank you,” she smiled widely when andi presented the food to her, taking it gently and waiting a moment for it to cool down. she had to agree with andrea on that one; parent sometimes could do to step back and let their kids experience life. at least that’s how she felt about her own mother. “are cigarettes really that bad for you?” gigi asked curiously, biting down on one of the mushrooms. then noticing shane, who didn’t have any properly cooked mushrooms, gigi felt a little bad. she’d remember to save the last few on the skewer for her. that’s what han would have done for leia. “you can if you have really big matches. the billboards probably ignite real easy.” she nodded towards luna seriously.
Jude
some stretch of time later, jude had returned to the clam shack, joss presumably not far behind. she only picked up the tail end of the conversation - "i mean, they can kill you," she shrugged, "but so can planes, and we still got on one of those. carpe diem or whatever," she shrugged, taking a seat around the fire and grabbing another clam. "what are we lighting on fire with really big matches? the weed?" she asked, chewing on fish meat.
Alexa
Alexa was finished with the food for now, saving some for after the weed has been blazed up so she can indulge freely and carelessly. If that ever happened apparently. As the girls talked around the fire, she pulled out a nail varnish and began painting away, she kept looking over the shoulder to see if Jude and Joss were on their way back yet and looked up only to witness Shane act like a really nice human being towards Gigi and wonder why she’d never been that nice to her. Andi being typical Andi made her smile a bit and she’ll blow into her nails as Jude finally returns. “Bitch finally, let’s go!” She shifts slightly to the left to allow space for Jude. After all it was a weed rule to always pass left, at least that’s what Max had taught her back in the day. “Cigarettes do kill but I’m pretty sure statistically you’re more likely to die in a car accident and like Jude said...we still be doing all that shit so, it’s one of those things...” she brushes her palms against her knees waiting for the spliff party to begin so she can lay down and look at the stars, eat and pass out. “Okay let’s go!”
Shane
shane looks up when she hears jude join in the conversation; she wasn’t really sure what they were talking about now. but then her eyes moved to joss for a second before darting back to look at the sand like some scared puppy waiting for the other girl to yell at her or tell her off. “everything kills you eventually,” shane mumbled, trying to actually be apart of the conversation for once, “but i’m here for a good time, not a long time.” her words would be far too real and concerning if anyone truly knew how serious she actually was about that, but everyone has their secrets. she looked over at lex with a small smile, still expecting her to kick shane out of the circle for snapping at her the day before.
Luna
"I'm down with a good time and not a long time," Luna added, her tone joking though she was entirely serious. "After all, it's not like our parents are here to tell us that smoking is bad for you." And quite frankly, Luna wanted to be high right now. To drift off, and not worry about anything for a while. "So let's do this."
Joss
Joss wasn't sure what the conversation was about when she returned but whatever the subject, it sounded pretty bloody morbid. Everything kills you eventually? Jeez, Shaneo, maybe yesterday had had more of an impact on the brunette than Joss had anticipated. Maybe that was why she'd taken such offence to Jocelyn's words. Assuming that Shane was in a shitty mood was easier than taking responsibility for making an un-funny joke, after all. "Fair sure eating stuff straight from the ocean is worse than having a ciggie," she chimed, taking a seat in the sand and glancing around the circle at the other girls, waiting for one of them to tell her to just fuck off again. She regret her words then, looking over at Luna, trying to catch her attention as she signaled a thumbs up and a questioning expression, making sure that she was 100% good for it, especially after feeling crook for the last day or two.
Jude
when joss said that, jude slowly drew the clam away from her mouth, eyeing it. this? a simple clam, worse than a cigarette? she raised an eyebrow at joss. "tell us the truth, joss. did you poison the clams?" she joked. "did my public display of affection for them just really get to you?" why would ocean food be bad for you? it's there for a reason, right? whatever. she shook her head of the thoughts, waiting for the weed to be passed over to her as she finished up her probably-not-poisoned clam
Joss
Joss chuckled and brought her knees to her chest, her arms wrapped around them loosely, "Yep, you caught me," she teased, though she was pretty sure the idea of her poisoning everybody wasn't the best sort of gag to lean into when they already had plenty of reasons to think she was a dickhead. "I've been doing it the whole time, right under your nose," she added vaguely and with a light chuckle because she didn't really know anything about how to purposefully poison somebody and the joke was already getting old by now anyway.
Shane
with the mention of poisoning and joss playing along, shane glanced over at jenny, almost nervous for their reaction. not that she thought they would say anything in front of the whole group, but still. instead shane looked back at joss and decided to go along with the joke. “looks like we’ll have some more bodies to move together then,” she joked at jill’s expense (rip bitch). part of her was hoping that if joss accepted her joke or even just smiled at it, it would mean that they were okay. at least for now, until one of them fucked up and said the wrong thing again.
Alexa
As soon as Joss came back it was back to clam talk and Alexa had for one had enough of it. “Jude light the zoot or the most likely to kill thing will become me, yeah? Also guys it’s two hit pass, we have enough for everyone but no hogging alright...” she said, throwing a lighter over to Jude as she kept looking Shane and Joss over. She could have swore she saw Shane smile here way at some point but, it just have been a muscle twitch or something.
Jude
jude caught the lighter flawlessly like the jock bitch she was, lighting up and puff, puff passing after a long inhale. "fuck, that takes me back to like two weeks ago, before i was stranded on an island," she said gleefully, exhaling into the sky. "yo, i wanna hear everyone's 'first time' stories. if you've never gotten high, then first time getting drunk or laid or something," she remarked, passing to her left. "first time i got high, i was, like, 14. it was so fucking stupid, it was this girls all-night sleepover thing the august before we starter high school, like a get to know you thing, right?" she explained vividly, looking around the circle. "and my friend remy's older brother was a total stoner, so she snuck a couple of joints in by putting them in her bra, and at, like, 4 am, we went to the school basement while everyone was sleeping and we just got high as fuck. when we were walking back to the gym, a couple of teachers caught us, right? but they'd, like, definitely been fucking. so they just kinda looked at us, and we looked at them, and they were like "go back to bed, girls," and we never got in trouble."
Joss
There was no way in fresh hell that Joss was going to tell the story of losing her virginity when she was trying not to even think about it at all and she couldn't even remember the first time she'd been properly drunk. Joss' jaw dropped at the mention of the teachers, she couldn't imagine anything like that happening at her own school but then again, she couldn't imagine anybody getting away with getting high in the basement either. Actually, she couldn't even imagine anybody getting away with simply going to the basement or anywhere else that was out of bounds without a hiding. "My parents went away on this like- two or three day cruise thing up the coast and left my older sister in charge. She had a few friends over and one of them brought this shitty bong her brother had made and I pretended I smoked all the time- which was really stupid because my sister was sitting right there, knowing I'd never done it before. I didn't actually know she'd ever done it before either, at the time- I was like, maybe thirteen, I reckon?"
Shane
shane chuckled lightly at jude’s story; sounds about right for a new york school. she was actually surprised that joss had a story to tell, she didn’t strike her as the type to get high at all considering how she held herself. shane didn’t really want to think about her first time, she spent the previous day doing just that. not to mention, her first time was with something much harder than weed. but the others didn’t need to know that. so she gave the watered down story. “summer before my junior year, my, uh, friend made me go to this party. we snuck off to a bathroom together, pretty sure we cut this long ass line too but she didn’t give a fuck. got high and went back to the party. best fucking night of my life,” of course everything went down hill from there, but no one needed to know that. she waited her turn for the joint to be passed to her and tried to focus on the present fucked up situation instead of the ones from the past.
Joss
Admittedly Joss was surprised to hear that it had only been a couple of years prior, the first time that Shane had gotten high. Not quite as surprised as she was to hear about teachers banging on campus but surprised nonetheless. "On what?" she asked curiously, without realising it was the first time she'd addressed the other girl since her awkward exit earlier. "It's such a bad habit but after a few drinks, I always want a smoke- like a cigarette, not a joint- like if people are smoking I'll always steal one but I won't smoke weed at parties for some reason," she explained candidly, more honest than she had been about most things up to this point.
Shane
shane balked at joss for a second when she asked for more details. not only were things tense between them, but shane thought she would have gotten away with giving very little details. “uh, coke,” she admitted, looked down at the sand, not wanting to see the blonde’s judgment. but she tried to keep up with the conversation to keep the attention off what she admitted. “cigarettes when you’re drunk just hit different. but if my coach asks, i never said that,” she joked, looked back up at the other girl. “why don’t you smoke weed at parties?”
Alexa
She listens intently as the others describe their first time and feels a sting passing through her as she recalls her own. So far only Andi had actually known about Max having known her for a long time but, only Jenny had ever been told about him. She didn’t wanna say his name or speak of him so she joined in on other stories instead. “I’d have not pegged you for a party smoker either to be fair, but I mean you’re full of surprises girl so...can’t put that past you either.” As Shane mentions coke her eyes widen. “Oh shit really party animal, huh? I’ve never done coke, for some reason every dealer always assumed that’s what I’m after...” she shrugs. “I’m a pussy though, I can barely hold my booze you guys know...” she was pretty much a weed only kind of girl but occasionally she did indulge in some hash too. “I can smoke my weight in weed though guys be warned.”
Jude
"i only did coke two - okay, no, like, four times. but i don't pay for that shit, i just take what's offered to me, it's too fucking expensive. shrooms, though?" she laughed. "that's another story." jude had dabbled in most party drugs she deemed "basically, like, harmless." weed was her go to, though. "fuck, i'd give anything to be in new york, doing shrooms in my car and eating pizza instead of here. no offense, guys. i mean, the poison clams are good and everything, but... it's hot as fuck out here," she explained. that being said, it almost didn't matter to jude where she was if she squinted her eyes hard enough. pissy here, pissy there. only difference is, now she's gonna die with a couple of australians.
Joss
Joss nodded her head in simple acknowledgement, a look of understanding in place of a look of judgement. She should have been able to figure that one out, why else did girls disappear into the bathrooms in pairs if not to rail lines on the toilet seat? At Shane's comment she chuckled and nodded her head, this time in agreement, "Yeah, same here- if literally any adult asks, I don't even know how to hold a cigarette," parents, teachers, friends of parents, parents of friends and sporting staff alike didn't need to know a single thing about the partying habits of their teens if Joss could help it. "Um," she thought about it, perhaps for the first time then, "Yeah- I don't know, hey, I guess I just feel kinda like, maybe tired?" she offered, "I don't like feeling too..." she hesitated as the words 'out of it' stuck to the tip of her tongue. If she hadn't been so bloody out of it at Lucy's house, she wouldn't be on the island at all. "I like feeling energy at a party or music festival or whatever," she chuckled at Lex's words, "Yeah and to be fair- your weight in weed isn't like...a lot," she teased, "Apart from the dump truck, obvs," she added, careful not to devalue Alex's notoriously phat ass if she could help it. "Never done shrooms," she'd never even seen shrooms, as far as she knew. She didn't know where they came from or how people got them but then again, she didn't really know where any of the drugs they used came from, they just sort of magically appeared in the pockets of her friends and emerged when the time was right. She laughed at Jude's lamenting and raised her hands defensively, "None taken, I'd rather be in New York eating pizza too," she admitted but would she rather be at home? She wasn't sure. "Is it cold in New York right now- or hot? I don't really get your weather,"
Shane
shane couldn’t even count or remember all of the drugs she’s done in the past two years. most of the time, she didn’t even bother to ask, she’d just take eliza’s word for it before doing whatever it was she bought them. she looked over at lex when she commented on it, “we’re all full of surprises, i guess,” she said with a half smile before turning her attention to joss. “yeah fuck that, adults don’t need to know any of the shit we do,” she said with a laugh. her parents would probably kill her if they knew exactly what she did at those parties. not to mention the real reason she had her pills. “shit jude, that’s the life though. nothing better that.” shane wasn’t a big fan of hallucinogens but she could appreciate them from time to time. “yeah, i’d be cold back home right now. probably snowing actually, which i guess i am glad that i’m not there for that bullshit.”
Jude
"i like feeling slowed down. it's why i take adderall," she remarked, though, to be fair, she didn't mind feeling energetic, either, as long as it was a manufactured, intoxicated energy. anything to get away from her own head for a while, be it getting high and zoning out to CSI on the couch, or getting turnt and cleaning her entire house and smelling like cleaning products for twelve hours. "i'll drink to that," jude said, "fuck adults," she agreed, groping for the vodka and taking a sip straight from the vodka, giving a wincing grin at the feeling of it burning up her throat on the way down. "it's cold as fuck back home. but i like snow, though. i hate the hot weather, fuckin' humitidy and shit," she said. hot weather made her feel like she was boiling in baba yaga's stew. it made her feel guilty, somehow, like the air was gripping at her shoulders, shaking her.
Joss
Joss cocked her head slightly at Jude's comment, "What is adderall?" she had heard about it on TV but she didn't really understand what it was for or how people got their hands on it- though Jude's words enlightened her a little; Joss had always thought it was like taking caps but apparently it was the opposite. "Like, I've heard of it," she clarified but she didn't have anything more to contribute than a vague awareness of the name. She chuckled once again, "Yeah, you'd fucking hate it at home then hey, it gets bloody hot and pretty humid sometimes- like not as bad as up north but pretty bad. This weather is pretty much like Queensland, I reckon," she noted, looking around the island, "-don't think we're anywhere near it though," she added, thinking of her conversation with Luna about the Southern Cross.
Alexa
She smiles back at Shane with a nod, completely immersed in the conversation at play even if she didn’t contribute much. As she took the first hit of the zoot she could feel her whole body buzz and she remembered why she loved it so much. “I don’t really like being slowed down as much as I like...not caring? You know when you smoke and you just have the buzz and your mind is fully engaged into whatever the fuck show or video or conversation you’re into? Like that...I like that. I used to get high daily...” she smiles and nods towards Joss. “Got it from my mama...” she didn’t really but she thought a Cardi reference was due. “I like the cold too, I like the shitty moody UK weather with some hot summer months and then back to cold and depressing. But I travel a lot so...” she sighs passing the zoot. “I think I prefer the cold because it’s hard to feel productive in heat, I just lounge and think about like fun stuff to do and not shit that should get done. But then winter rolls in and it’s such a mood killer too like....I don’t know, I just hate the whole thing. Is there a place that has eternal spring? That’d be cool...” she shrugs realising weed had already hit her on the account of her speaking so much. “Still I’m glad this island is a tropical disaster as opposed to a winter one...at least my tan is fine and my clothes aren’t useless garbage.”
Jude
adderall was so fucking common in nyc, jude was surprised there were still people who didn't know much about it. "it helps you, like, focus. it's for ADHD - which i've got, so mine's legal, baby - but some kids take it to pull all nighters and shit. if you have ADHD, you focus in, like, a zen, determined kinda way. if you don't, it's, like.... i dunno, crack? i mean, it's an amphetamine or something, which i think is, like... meth?" she offered. "listen, don't get me wrong, i'm glad we don't have to fight off, like, polar bears. i'm just saying, i don't love the tropical storms and shit, either. i feel, like... STICKY. all of the time. and you know what likes heat? bugs. i feel like one day im gonna wake up with an ant trying to live in my leg hair."
Joss
Jocelyn thought about Alexa's reasoning and came to conclusion that Lex's reason for smoking was the reason Joss didn't like smoking at parties. While Lex felt more relaxed, like she cared less, Joss felt more out of control, like if she didn't care, she'd do or say the wrong thing. "I get that," she said, instead of admitting that she felt the opposite way. She was surprised to hear that Lex got high every day, however. Did her parents not care? Were they even around to have an opinion either way? She was sure she'd be shipped off to the Dawn of Eve a hell of a lot sooner if her parents even knew she'd ever smoked, let alone tried drugs or was getting high every day. It was crazy to think how different the girls sitting in the same circle all were. She listened to Jude's explanation of Adderall and it was a bloody good one if you asked her. She'd gone from knowing nothing at all to feeling pretty competent in the field, "I don't reckon it's a big thing at home, like I don't know anyone that's ever had it- or like, maybe they do for ADHD but none of my mates," that said, something to help her focus and study properly sounded like a God send. It would certainly beat sitting with her tutor for two hours straight on a Wednesday afternoon. "I'm the opposite, hey. I feel so unmotivated in the Winter like, if it's raining I barely want to leave the house but when the suns out it's like- go for coffee, go to the shops, have a beach day, go for a drive. Like, literally, I'll do anything just to get out of the house," she admitted.
Divya
Divya was learning so much listening to the girls chat away. She really only knew of drugs and partying and the like through movies and TV shows, and she took that with a grain of salt knowing how much Hollywood liked to embellish things. Her firsthand experience with such things were abysmal. Awfully non-existent. Perhaps if her aunt didn’t play such a big hand in her life over the last few years, she’d have had a chance at having sharing some of the experiences the girls were talking about. But no, Divya led a very much sheltered life thanks to her aunt’s strict nature and conservative ideals. Whatever freedoms her mother had given her growing up was bit by bit stripped away and replaced with long hours revising, less time with her friends and barely doing things she actually enjoyed. More and more did those things take over her life until her aunt didn’t even have to lift a finger anymore, warping Divya’s way of thinking to the point where she believed she had to do those things to succeed. She shifted uncomfortably where she was seated on the sand at the memory of her former self. “So how does one smoke the... zoot... thing?” She asked, unsure if she was referring to it correctly. She just wanted something to do. Other than sit and listen. Maybe partaking wouldn’t be such a bad idea. Especially since weed was meant to relax you to her understanding. “Might be a bit of a shocker to all of you,” she said, sarcasm laid on thick, “but I’ve never... puff puff passed or whatever it was that Lex said.” Warmth flooded her cheeks at the admittance. “I’d like to try though,” she said, sitting up a bit. “My first time drinking was with you guys, might as well tick off another first while we’re all here with no adult supervision.”
Joss
Jocelyn tried not to laugh, remembering the way her sister's friends had chuckled when Joss had almost choked on her first bong hit. With pressed lips, she tried to get the sound of 'zoot thing' in Divya's adorable accent out of her head. "Inhale slowly, exhale slowly- have a drink if you cough, it's just your throat saying 'what the fuck' basically," not exactly a clinical explanation of the whole concept but good enough, she decided. "-and you probs won't feel it at first but don't let that fool you, I made that mistake once with pot brownies and got so fucked I couldn't get out of bed- like, at one point I actually started crying because my mate told me I'd tied the string on my PJ shorts too tight and I thought I'd have to wear them to school on Monday," the same friend had blocked her on Facebook now.
Jenny
As the conversation moved on, they stayed quiet. They'd always been much more a listener than a talker, much preferring to just sit and listen, waiting for their turn to take a hit from the joint. Since Joss' joke they were at least gonna wait a minute before touching the vodka she'd found a couple days ago. As the conversation continued to be people listing off all the things they'd done, specifically the drugs they'd done, they couldn't help but make a small joke of " So glad we're not playing Never Have I Ever again right now, I'd be fucked. " A chuckle falling from their lips as they did. They didn't look to Shane immediately when adderall and ADHD was mentioned, they didn't want to out her. But they did a couple moments later, just to check she wasn't freaking the fuck out. They found it hard to believe that the conversation then shifted to weather but they continued to listen, poking their stick in the sand. " I'm with Jude on this one. I think I'd take gross snow sludge over just feeling like I'm sweating constantly every second of every day. " They said, deciding to contribute just a little once again. Personally, they loved the cold. The only thing they didn't like about the winters they'd known was sludge. Then Divya piped up and Jenny also had to stop themselves from laughing at her innocence. Pressing their lips together so it couldn't escape but they couldn't hide the smile. Eyes moved to Joss when she instructed her on how to smoke the zoot thing, nodding in agreement with what she said. " Slow and steady, " they added, both in regards to breathing and how Divya shouldn't be fooled if she didn't feel it at first. They were amused by Joss' story but they didn't imagine it was really confidence boosting for the first timer. " You'll be fine. " They assured with affectionate tap of her knee with the back of their knuckles. " And if you do go a little too far, apparently you've got a whole team of experts to look after you. " They smiled at her.
Shane
shanes jaw clenched when jude brought up adderall which lead to joss asking about her. she her eyes closing as she listened to it be explained, making a mental note that jude must actually have adhd and shane should be careful to keep her secret that much more of a secret. then the other equated it to meth if you don’t have adhd, which completely true, but shane wasn’t expecting to hear that so candidly. her eyes shot open and looked around the group before landing on jenny who was looking back at her. she gave them a look that said ‘dude i’m panicking, what the fuck’ but she couldn’t do anything about. instead she just let her hands clench into the sand and pretend to focus on the conversation without actually hearing them. maybe she should come clean, at least to jenny, that she wasn’t completely honest about why she takes them. maybe they would understand and they could talk about it. but maybe they would get pissed that she had lied to them. both options scared her. she tried to focus on divya, giving her an encouraging smile, but wasn’t sure how well it came off.
Joss
Joss wondered what it was about Divya that made her so damn likeable. Joss hadn’t seen Shane smile like that before, in fact, Joss hadn’t been aware that Shane was capable of smiling like that. Maybe she was already high, that was the only explanation for the brunette’s sudden sense of camaraderie, Joss deduced. She wondered then, what she would have to do to be more like Divya, to be universally liked by the group instead of the golden standard when it came to motivating everybody to roll their eyes at once.
Luna
Despite Luna's partying, she'd done relatively few of the drugs mentioned here. She'd gotten drunk before, had some weed, done a few nangs. Nothing major. Not adderall. Certainly nothing like cocaine. She was pretty sure anyway. She had no intention of ending up back in a hospital. Listening to the group, it was wild how different the experiences of all the girls was. "The stickiness is the worst," Luna agreed. "Give me a dry heat any day. At least after the rain it's a little less humid." Not much though. Joss was right, it was like Queensland. Or, rather, like that one trip her family had made to Queensland. Which had been cut short. Luna tried not to think about that. "Can I have some?" she asked to distract instead, nodding to Divya.
Divya
Inhale slowly, exhale slowly. That seemed easy enough. Slow and steady, Jenny then added. Divya could do that. She kept their advice in mind as she raised the... 'zoot' to her lips, the thing pinched between between her thumb and index finger because she couldn't begin to know how to actually hold it. How did people hold cigarettes? How did people hold... zoots? Was there a manual when you were going into this or did people just instinctually know? Whatever it was, instincts or something else, Divya didn't have it so she kept Joss and Jenny's advice in mind when she put it between her lips. She inhaled slow, she would have exhaled slow too if the smoke didn't practically burn her throat. How did everyone make it look so easy? She pulled the zoot away from her mouth almost immediately, sputtering into a fit of coughs. "Oh my god–" Cough, cough. "Oh, that's horrid. It hurts." She touched her vacant hand to the base of her throat. She didn't expect it to hurt. Joss had mentioned 'cough' so casually, she figured it would be because of the smoke, not the pain. "Please, go ahead," she held the 'zoot' out to Luna, more than happy to part with it. Once it was handed off, she reached for one of the water bottles and took a couple of big sips to soothe her throat.
Alexa
She watched as the others guided Divya to take her first ever hits off a zoot and her eyes glimmered with joy as the other did. Her head was feeling the effects of the plant and she leaned on her knees as the other coughed, laughing. “Here here...” she passes her the booze to follow down the water and smiles. “Hey you did so good! Coughing actually implies you done it right, how do you feel?” She asks, as if the other was supposed to have a full on report on it already. As the spliff moves on to Luna she will follow it with her eyes and pass her some water as well. Alexa was happy with how everything was working out, their full day of effort leading to some pretty relaxed atmosphere. She couldn’t even bother to care what sort of eye convos and low voice conversations some of the individuals were having. She was just happy everyone seemed happy, even Shane. Maybe things were changing, maybe they were all gonna get along better from now on. Weed did that. For once she wasn’t trying to get attention or say something ridiculous or be a part of the conversation. She felt okay to just be and to sit back and relax like she used to back in the day. Her eyes kept following the faces in the circle and she’ll look to her left, somewhat unaware of who was actually there. “Do you think we will all still hang out once we’re off this island?”
Oona
Oona carefully watched Divya as she inhaled from the zoot. “I like it when it’s cool and sunny,” she said a little absently. It had been beneficial to observe how everyone else took part in smoking it, but Divya was also new to this. It might’ve been a little selfish and a little cowardly, but it was a comfort to know Divya was jumping in first (and hopefully Oona would be able to learn from any mistakes). It was easier to concentrate on than the primary line of conversation before it inevitably turned to the weather, which Oona was pretty sure was a byproduct of the drugs or not in and of itself. “It’s always pretty sunny back home, but we get hit by pretty intense blizzards and we’re stranded in almost three feet of snow multiple times a year.” Oona’s days were jampacked—school, then tutoring, then volunteering, then Bible Study—and her weekends weren’t all that much different. Her Church was not only filled with lifers who were raised in the faith, but with many people who were ex-somethings—drug addicts, petty criminals, recovering alcoholics. They actively turned away from a lifestyle of depravity and toward a clean, sober one with Christ. There weren’t many opportunities to pop pills or to take shrooms, or at least none that she sought out herself. Her brow furrowed when Divya started to cough and she winced at the word horrid. Oona reached out to rub soothing circles on her back as she drank from a water bottle. She blinked at Alexa’s question, not feeling particularly like she was included in that we, so she merely shrugged to allow someone else to answer it. She wouldn’t mind hanging out with them again. It felt like the first time in her life she was surrounded by honesty.
Shane
shane watched as divya went for it and ended up coughing, but in a weird way, she was kinda proud that she actually did it. after all, divya seemed like the most innocent of the girls in the group along with oona. “everyone coughs the first time, right of passage,” she said in support. looking over at lex, shane thought her question for a second. she’s definitely thought about it with a few of the girls before; some more than others. “i’d like to hope so,” which was probably the most surprising thing shane has said this whole time, even more than the fact that’s shes smiled a total of three times today. “can’t really go through a near death experience and just forget each other,” she added on.
Gianna
gigi wasn’t the most experienced partner. she had still been in that rebellious phase where she wore what her mother didn’t like and skipped swim practice and had a few shots at a party; drugs weren’t her optimal area of knowledge. so she just watched quietly as the girls passed around the weed, trying to keep her thoughts to herself - if she said something, chances are she’d probably make herself seem like an idiot. she’d keep quiet for now. “you guys do this, like...all the time?” she asked with a little awe, wondering how they led such exciting lives. “don’t you get in trouble?” gigi added, wishing she could be half as ballsy as some of the girls in the group. “i mean i’ve had mushrooms,” she held up her stick of vegetable, “but i don’t really feel anything when i eat them.” she shrugged casually.
Jude
"yeah, i get in trouble," jude laughed, "why do yo think i was on that fuckin' plane?" admittedly, her mom never really cared what kind of wild shit jude was into, as long as it was safe. her uncle was a whole different story. jude's eyes widened at gigi's explanation of vegetables, and she laughed a little bit. "maybe you've just got a mad high tolerance," she speculated, knowing gigi had misunderstood them, but going along with it anyways, because she was an asshole.
Jenny
While Jenny had managed to hold back their laugh when Divya had asked how to smoke the zoot, they couldn't when she started coughing and complaining. They could remember doing the exact same thing first time they'd smoked, and their brother telling them to shut the fuck up so they didn't wake the rest of the family. The clapped their hand against their leg in congratulations. " Now you're a deviant, just like the rest of us, " They mused happily, though Divya was far from the only innocent in the group as Gigi would prove in a few moments. Truthfully, Jenny didn't expect them all to stay in touch. Sure, they hoped they would. At least some of them. But they didn't think that would actually happen. Everyone would get back to their lives, their friends, and probably realise a lot of what they had in common on the island was just the island. They nodded along with what Shane said though, deciding to build on it. " I don't think I'll ever get on a plane again though, we'll have to come up with some elaborate pen pal system. " They suggested in jest, small smile tugging up their features. They weren't gonna be the one to bring the mood down. Their smile spread again as Gigi asked her question and Jude answered it so boldly. A chuckle falling from their lips. They decided not to answer it though, they didn't really want to reveal that there was more than drug use their parents had to be worried about with them. They chuckled again when she asked about shrooms, misunderstanding what the others had been talking about. " Special mushrooms, not really ones you eat with dinner. " They tried their best to clarify once Jude had their fun. They waited a beat but then they had a question, mainly for the innocents of the group but they'd be interested in what the others had to say too. " What's the wildest thing y'all have ever done? Like heart thumping in your chest, you know you shouldn't have, but shit, you might just do it again - wild? "
Andrea
Jenny asked a good question -- one that she wasn't quite sure that she had the answer to. Instead of answering right away, she ate another mushroom of the stick, waiting for a moment to see if anyone had an answer. "I mean, there's got to be something, right? Even if you just... I don't know, had a beer one night when everyone was asleep. You've had to have done something." She didn't mean to push, but it was surprising how naive and innocent Gigi and some of the others seemed to be. Andrea wanted to share her own story. But she also knew that if she did, she'd be telling them all why she was on the 'retreat' to begin with. She wasn't sure she was ready for that yet. "I had a threesome," she shrugged. Maybe that would be enough to get people comfortable talking.
Shane
shane chuckled at gigi’s question and jude’s answer that she gets caught. “my parents don’t know half the shit i do,” she said honestly. if they did, she’d probably be sent off to some boarding school or rehab or to a feminist retreat meant to strengthen young women into successful members of society. oh wait, that did happen. “it’s all about plausible lies and not getting caught.” nodding as jenny added on to her thought, shane agreed. “yeah they’re going to have to sedate me to get back to new york or else i’m taking buses the whole way. but at least we have modern technology to keep in touch.” she thought about the question, trying to think of a story that didn’t expose her party habits, when andi said she’s had a threesome. “damn, okay, kudos,” she said with a laugh. “i’m graffitied our rival school’s building before a big game. half my team got drunk and we thought it would be a good idea. everyone knew we did it but they didn’t have proof so we got away with it.” she looked around to see who would go next.
Alexa
She didn't much like the idea of not seeing the girls again, but considering how the things were going she thought there might never be a need to worry about that as the rescue planes or boats or whatever the fuck were nowhere in sight. Still, she finds Shane actually acknowledging her rather encouraging and it perks up her spirit. "Well, I don't mind flying at all I mean...the chances of us being in a plane crash and surviving are ridiculously low as is...for us to be in one twice is practically impossible. I'll have daddy's plane pick everyone up, that should be less terryfing. And if needed champagne and sedation will be provided. To us...not, not the pilot. Maybe whoever organised the Dawn of Eve flight had that bit mixed up." she laughs and takes a sip of the vodka mixed into her coconut. As they speak of crazy shit they've all done, Lex feels it's her time to shine. She had an abundance of stories relating to Jenny's question and struggled to pick just the one so she took a note out of Judes book and decided to blurt out the last straw that got her put on the forsaken plane. "I fucked a ganitor during my dads fundraisor at the Louvre." she chuckles and proceeds. "I mean, that's what got me here. I have a lot of sex in public stories that may or may not include a Ferris wheel, downtown LA, a chess tournament...so Louvre maybe not the craziest shit I've done." she'll admit. "Anyways, I once stole an ARRI camera off a film set my uncle was working on just because I wanted to make YouTube videos in high quality and because I didn't want to get caught I sold it for parts on the dark web just to get rid of the evidence. Now, I know what you might be thinking...it's a lot of effort to get rid of a camera but, in my defence, my uncle is a dick and I was fourteen."
Gianna
it hadn’t occurred to gigi that the girls were on the plane for a reason different from her own - another reminder that she wasn’t the only person on this island. “so, like the ones you have with lunch?” she asked with a raised brow, not understanding the insinuation behind jennys words. the mushrooms she had at lunch were the same she had at dinner - maybe she was just doing it wrong. shed have to ask andi about it another time, when she didn’t feel so out of the loop. listening to the others talk about their experiences, gigi smoothed her hair behind her ear and glanced at the flame of the fire. she wasn’t nearly as adventurous, no matter how much she thought she was. she wasn’t having sex with janitors (or anyone, ever, for that matter), and she definitely wasn’t destroying property. she had a long, long way to go. for a moment she wondered if she even belonged here. “i fought a cop once,” she muttered to herself and the fire, shrugging. it was all she really had to offer for the group - “the cop won.” she grimaced, sighing in defeat.
Joss
Joss hummed thoughtfully at Gigi's question. She wasn't used to getting into trouble, not really. She'd been grounded a couple of times for staying out too late on school nights but she'd never done anything quite as scandalous as Jude or Lex had managed. Not purposely, anyway. She decided not to participate in the discussion, not wanting to make a mention of her reasons for being shipped out of Melbourne airport and on the way to the Dawn of Eve retreat, so she busied herself with putting her jacket on and stuffing her hands into her pockets to keep them warm instead of getting closer to the fire. Joss had been trying so, so very hard to not be outwardly judgmental of the other girls but the moment Gianna mentioned her fight with the cop, she just couldn't restrain herself anymore and her face warped into an obvious 'what the fuck' expression as she mouthed the words themselves. Was she kidding? She wondered as she looked around the group, hoping to understand the statement a little bit more clearly from the reactions of the others.
Jenny
The fact that Andi just opened the gate with threesome was fucking surprising. Another chuckle falling from Jenny's lips, unable to stop it. " Okay, okay– good start. " They mused, nodding their head even if it had been completely far away from their own story they'd thought of, it was definitely a good start. Shane's didn't surprise them, they'd already said her whole life revolved around soccer, and they still thought it was a good thing. The listened with easy smile, arms holding legs to their chest. The craziness of Lex's wildest moment (or moments) didn't shock them either, they had expected as much. But the actual content was shit they never could have predicted. Lex's life sounded like sex Jackass, they didn't know how she could keep up with herself half the time. Then the most surprising of them all: Gigi. Gigi who still wasn't getting that shrooms were different from regular old mushrooms, had fought a cop. Their mouth dropped open a little, but different in the way that Joss' did. Jenny was impressed. It totally blew their stupid aquarium story out of the water, and they hadn't even told it. " No fuckin' way, I did not see that one coming. " They chuckled again, anyone who had interacted with Jenny in the past week might be realising quickly they started laughing a lot when they smoked. " You don't have to tell the story if you don't want but, like– just a pinch? Just a little context, please? " They asked, holding a hand up and pinching their thumb and index finger together to indicate just how much of a story they were after.
Andrea
Andi was rather pleased with herself. She expected that most of the others would have good stories -- but that they wouldn't be willing to share them... unless someone else shared first. And it wasn't like she was embarrassed about the threesome. It wasn't the best sex she'd had, but it certainly wasn't the worst. As the girls went around sharing, she listened. It was impressive, hearing what some of them had gotten away with. Or... maybe that they hadn't gotten away with. "Gigi. No, you can't stop there. We need the whole story on that one -- how the hell did you get into a fight with a cop? I mean, kudos. But still," she echoed, after Jenny spoke. "Do you need something to help you loosen up? Cause we can make that happen..."
Libby
as the weed finally made its way around to libby, she could literally feel the tension that she had been carrying for the past week ease away — or at least ease as much as possible under the circumstances. she found it kind of funny that the original purpose of the retreat was to straighten her out and get her to quit her drug use and yet here she was, up to her same old habits. libby’s lips turned upwards as she listened to gigi. “you fought a cop? ” gigi seemed so sweet and innocent that it was difficult to imagine her getting into some sort of altercation with anyone, let alone an actual cop. after andi spoke, she nodded. “yeah, agreed. gotta give us some context there. she thought about what she could share without getting too personal and finally deciding. “one time i shoplifted like..... a shit ton of stuff over a weekend long period. not sure how much but it was a lot.”
Gianna
nobody had ever really been interested in gigi or her stories; it was a miracle if she could make sense of one. but she felt accepted and encouraged and the swimmer shifted in anticipation in her seat on the log. “last summer i’d gone to a party for a cousin of mine. it was really just a whole lot of us running around drunk while my aunts and uncles stayed inside cooking.” she began casually, before andi offered something to loosen her up. “no, it’s alright, i’ve lost a lot of weight, so my clothes are pretty loose already.” she shook her head with thanks before continuing. “my cousin knocked his brother into the grill when they were wrestling and set one of the lawn chairs on fire.” she went on, popping another mushroom in her mouth before handing off the last few to shane, as she had promised herself. “my aunt called the fire department, and cops showed up. i tried making it better, they don’t tell you that vodka can set on fire, so it didn’t make things better when i tried pouring it on to diffuse the situation,” she mused quietly, shrugging. “underage drinking. fires. cops. it took all of five seconds for a grown ass man to pile on top of me and restrain while i kept pouring vodka in the fire.” she mused with purses lips, remembering how she’d used all her power and energy to push a grown cop off her body and scurry to the other side of the yard. “that back and forth went on for a few minutes before i was eventually thrown in the back of his car and picked up at the station six hours later.” there was quiet, and gigi took a sip from her coconut with water to break the silence. “oh shopliftings fun. and it’s easy you just put the clothes back, like, a week later when you’re bored with them.”
Joss
Joss had truly expended every ounce of energy she could spare, pretending not to be completely judgemental of Gigi. Instead of gawking at the other girl, however, she brought her water bottle to her lips to disguise her expression as she processed the information, bit by bit. Fuck me, she thought. She really didn’t know the first thing about these girls, did she? As she looked around the group, she realised just how foreign the rest of the Islanders were and wondered how many more stories of chaos, debauchery and God knows what else they shared between them. Then her eyes landed on Shane and she remembered something. Something that made her stomach stir uncomfortably. “This trip was my parents way of saying congratulations, that plus my birthday,” she heard Shane’s voice in her head, lying so easily. “So, Dawn of Eve really was just a- like a cute boot camp, hey? Scared Straight but with swag bags,” she voiced to the group, though her focus was mostly on the brunette, only shifting when she fell silent again.
Shane
shane took the remaining mushrooms when gigi offered them back. finally allowing herself to eat something, and picked a piece of one and popping it in her mouth while she listened to the girls story. “jesus,” she muttered. she really didn’t think the other girl had it in her to fight a cop but the rest of the story kinda made sense. finally, shane was starting to loosen up and not be so stuck in her head as they all shared stories. that is until joss spoke. shane looked up to see that she was looking right at her. she remembered the conversation she had with joss a few days ago and how shane didn’t tell the whole truth to her. “something like that,” she mumbled before looking away from the blonde.
Krafty
there was so much under the surface of each of the girls, shit even the ones she wouldn't have pegged as a troublemaker had secrets and she guessed that was kind of the point right? if they had been where they were supposed to be...at the dawn of eve they would have been forced into some kind of bonding but this, it felt more natural? like how it was supposed to be in a way. "damn gigi," she let out in a breath through the silence. "i didn't fight a cop but i've ran away from them more than once," she shrugged, "my friends and i spent the night in an abandoned amusement park...they tried to catch us the next morning but even with the asthma i run pretty quick when i want to," krafty chuckled. "i'm with joss, i think this retreat was just some bullshit fix yourself program." coming to that realization though, she couldn't help but wonder if her grandparents really thought that low of her. sending here on this trip to rehabilitate her. was she really that bad?
Jenny
It's hard to say if Jenny was laughing at Gigi's story, the silence from everyone else, or if it was just because they were giggly but all the same they couldn't help the chuckle that tumbled forward as Gigi finished up the story. " Okay, yeah, that's wild. " They said, nodding their head and raising one of the boiled water bottles in a sort of cheers before they took a sip. Their head turned then to Krafty, once again easily impressed. " That's dope, dude. I've always wanted to go to like abandoned places and shit. " They didn't really care that no one else had the same energy as them, until Joss spoke, thinking she was coming to some sort of realisation. Brows furrowed a little but as they looked around it seemed a lot of the group was thinking something similar. " No. " They said at first, unintentionally a little bluntly as they tried to put together exactly what they wanted to say. " It wasn't like that for me. " Their situation was different, they decided. " I mean, I didn't wanna go but that's because it sounded like some lame sleepover kumbaya camp. But my parents wanted it to be a good thing, make me feel better. " Make some new friends were their exact words but they weren't gonna say that. " It wasn't a punishment, or like The Ranch or whatever, is what I'm tryna say. " They got to eventually, feeling as though they'd successfully got their point across once they threw the Dr Phil reference in.
Luna
Luna loved listening to these stories. She liked to think she got up to wild things, but the truth of the matter was she was still sheltered. She snuck out, yes, but even so it seemed a lot of her life had been tame compared to the girls here. Except maybe Gigi and Oona. Well, maybe including Gigi at this rate. But as the topic changed, she frowned. That didn't sound like what her parents had wanted to send her on. Or anything they would send her on. "It wasn't like that for me either," she chimed in. "My parents wouldn't--They're super protective and all that." Luna looked at Joss. "They wouldn't let me out of their sight if they thought it was some kind of boot camp. They thought it was a good thing. A make some friends thing. It's the first time they've let me go anywhere without them. And," she added, thinking about how they must be freaking out, "I can bet it's going to be the last time after all of this."
Divya
It took a bit for Divya to respond to Alexa, busy getting water down her throat and taking a breath after that ‘fun’ little new experience. She offered a what smile she could manage at Oona who was rubbing circles into her back. “Other than my throat hurting and the strange taste,” Divya shared once she felt confident enough to speak again, “not much different. How do you know it’s worked? Do I need to do more to actually feel the effects?” She felt a bit better over her reaction when most of the group assured her that coughing was normal and that it actually meant she had done it right. Perhaps even proud when Jenny clapped a hand against her leg and dubbed her a ‘deviant’. Divya the Deviant. Look at that, go her. Hearing everyone’s theories of what the Dawn of Eve actually was, Divya had to disagree with Joss and Krafty and agree with Jenny and Luna. “Same here.” A good thing to make her feel better, she agreed with that sentiment exactly. “My dad thought I could like, relax and make friends here, feel more confident in myself, before I had to go back to school later in the year. A treat, a fun thing, not... you know, a ‘fix yourself program’,” she echoed Krafty’s words for it. Yes, she’d gone through some things last year. But her dad wouldn’t. Sean wouldn’t. Neither of them would ever put her through... a boot camp? The thought was ridiculous. “Female-centric learning and growth, right? That’s what the lady said in the video. On the plane.” Not the mention the brochure. All ‘empowerment’ this and ‘awakening’ that.
Jude
jude thought about it for a minute; she'd done so many things, it was hard to pick. still, she opened her mouth: "so, i was at this party, right? and i was drunk, and i'd skated there. and there was a pool. soooo, someone dared me to skate off the second story roof of andy tanaka's house into the pool - fully clothed. i did it, and i broke my collarbone and my ankle, some-fucking-way. just about fucking drowned, but this hot girl, she was a part-time lifeguard, and she hauled me out. i was conscious and everything, but she was all ready to do mouth-to-mouth, so i kinda let her. then i went to the hospital." "i got sent here for bein' a delinquent. but, like, i guess my uncle thought if he sent me to something less military school, and more 'female retreat,' i'd be more likely to buy into it or whatever. i mean, it's not scared straight or anything, i don't think, but i was definitely supposed to 'shape up and stop fucking around, jude' or whatever," she said, taking on a deep voice to mimic her uncle.
Andrea
The others were raising some interesting points. But Andi wasn't sure what to think about the Dawn of Eve retreat. The way it'd been framed to her was that she didn't have a choice in the matter. She was going to go, and she was going to 'change her attitude,' or she'd end up having much more serious consequences. The retreat was a threat looming over the rest of her senior year. And while she knew why she was being forced to attend, she didn't quite realize that others might've been in the same boat. "So half of us believe the bullshit 'this is a chance for you to discover your true self and uplift other women and yourself' thing that's on the brochure. And the rest of us think this is some kind of punishment. Can't it be both? Some kind of retreat for us to like... bond over 'girl power,' but also... I don't know, put us on 'the right path' or whatever? Clearly all of our parents wanted us to get something out of this and come back different somehow."
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Surviving The Walking Dead - Truth (Chapter 20)
Author: @stilessdylanobae-ddixonlove
Characters: Daryl Dixon, Lydia, Magna, Negan, Beta, Alpha, Whisperer Terry, Whisperer Ben, Evan, Maggie Rhee, Ezekiel, Judith Grimes, RJ Grimes, Yumiko and Reader.
Summary: Y/n struggles with new and old feelings as her and Magna attempt to escape the Whisperers. Negan gives an epic apology and Daryl recovers from his wounds.
Note: All you who wanted to see more of Y/n and Negan, you’ll like this chapter. <3
Though the story line is greatly different and many changes have been made, a small amount of the dialogue in this chapter is the same as or is very similar to those that took place in AMC’s The Walking Dead Season 10 Episode 11. I do NOT take credit for those.
Warning: Cursing, violence, sexual content, threatening dialogue, painful triggers/loss, vulgar remarks and quite a bit of fluff.
Chapter Twenty - Chapter Twenty-One
Lydia had just barely managed to pull Daryl from the old gas station and into the woods, as he was in and out of consciousness. They stumbled through the trees, where he finally collapsed underneath the trunk of a very large one. Luckily, it was out far enough from the recent danger. Lydia quickly tore off a piece of her blue and baggy long sleeve shirt and tied it around his bleeding thigh as tightly as her hands would allow. Daryl looked to her and only saw one thing; you. Things were blurry and the world was spinning, but he saw you none the less.
As he tried to keep his eyes open, he called out your name in his compromised mental state. “Y/n.” He mumbled, his voice fading as he finally lost control and let go of the world around him once again.
Everything went black.
Several hours later, Daryl woke in a panic. His head felt somewhat normal again after he recovered from all the blood loss.
Lydia put her hand on his chest to calm him and to force him to stay sitting. “Easy.” She said. He slowed his breathing and watched her tearing away anxiously at a pile of leaves in front of where she sat.
“How long have I been asleep?” Daryl questioned.
“Most of the day.”
He squinted his eyes at her in wonder, still feeling rather weak. “And you were just out here?” He asked.
“Yeah I left Alexandria, couldn’t stand it. I want to help. So I was watching you and then I was watching them. And then I was watching you and my mom.” She admitted, her bottom lip quivering slightly.
“Did you kill her?” Daryl asked, knowing Alpha wasn’t in the best shape either the last he saw of her.
“If it was your dad could you have?” She replied, her deep brown eyes quickly moving back and forth between his hooded blue ones.
______________________________
You had found it. The secret route the Whisperers would take in and out of the mine. It was well hidden, the entrance was small, very dark and behind a large boulder that took a lot of man power to move. You’d just traveled through it with them-still at the end of a rope, still their hostage. The outside world was blinding to your adjusting eyes. You were forced to sit in the dirt beside Magna as the two of you watched Beta pace uncomfortably in front of the caves. He was getting nervous.
“Somethings wrong. Alpha should’ve been here already and now he’s losing it.” You noted. Magna nodded in agreement while Negan leaned against a tree waiting and watching, unsure what the brute would want to do next without his leader to decide for him.
“Maybe you should go looking for her.” Negan suggested, trying to conjure up his own plan. Beta growled at him. “I mean, something obviously is keeping them.”
“Stop talking.” Beta enforced. Negan frowned. He hated how quiet these people were all the time. They didn’t talk or engage in each other at all. Truthfully, he was going a little crazy by the uncomfortable silence.
Magna watched the exchange, trying to prevent herself from wanting her fate to rest in Negan’s hands. She still couldn’t stand the guy but a part of her wondered if he’d be the cause of your escape and survival. “What’s he doing?” Magna leaned in and whispered in your ear.
“Fishing for a way to help us I imagine.” You responded. “He owes me.”
“I can’t believe he joined them. What do you think they’re up to? Are they gonna attack?” She wondered out loud.
“They’re gathering up the herd, so probably.” You both sighed, ultimately being distracted from your conversation by the sudden commotion of someone else’s. Beta was leaving.
“But, what about them?” One Skin asked, short in height and hiding behind his mask. He pointed to you and Magna.
“I don’t care!” Beta hollered, taking off with only a select few.
“I’ll watch them.” Negan offered. Beta shrugged it off as a few more of their people followed him back to the road. You rolled your eyes, unamused by whatever he had up his sleeve. He came and knelt down in front of you, smiling from ear to ear. “He may be big but he’s dumber than a god damn post.” He chuckled to himself.
“What are you doing?” You questioned, looking up to see the other less important Whisperers that stayed behind staring at the three of you endlessly. “You can’t help us. If they come back and we’re gone, they’ll know you can’t be trusted and our entire plan is ruined.” You said quietly. Magna instantly turned to you in question. She furrowed her brow and waited for more information.
“So what, you want me to let you die?” Negan said quietly but with more frustration in his voice.
“If that’s what it takes.” You answered while Magna shook her head intensely.
“Well that’s not gonna happen, obviously.” Negan scowled at you, noticing something was different. You didn’t have your usual spunk or determination. Your sparkling personality was immensely lacking.
“She doesn’t mean that. And what plan? Will someone tell me what’s happening?” Magna insisted. You shushed her, firmly placing your hand on her arm and lightly shaking your head. She huffed in response.
Negan stood and spun around, anxiously rubbing his hands together. “Well, everyone’s gotta piss at some point right? We’ll be right back.” He told his fake ally’s and grabbed the rope that was still attached to the both of you where your hands were tied. “Well come on then, we got shit to do.” Negan pulled forcefully. He brought you around the corner and further into the bushes to speak freely. The wind blew through your long y/h/c hair as you all came to an abrupt stop. “If you really do have to go, now’s the time.” Negan smiled as he tilted his head to further gawk at you. “Still wearing those pretty pink panties?” He teased. Magna’s eyes grew wide and you deadpanned him. Once again taking note of his infamous leather jacket he wore, much cleaner than the last time you’d saw him. Maybe the Whisperers had finally stopped testing him and let him in, it was a good sign. His hair was nicely pushed back and his smile was bright. He was handsome but he was still Negan.
“I’m serious. They will kill you before you are able to kill her.” You insisted, letting Magna in on the plan since not having another choice. She let her mouth gape open in surprise and tried to hide it as she brought her tied hands up to scratch her nose, awkwardly.
“You really are a genius.” She put together. Negan winked.
“You can’t say anything to anyone.” You told her.
She huffed again. “Who the hell am I gonna tell when we’re clearly gonna die out here?”
Negan was trying to think on his toes, trying to ensure that wouldn’t happen. “Ladies, we don’t have long before someone comes checking in on us, so-”
“So, nothing. I told you they will kill you and this will have been for nothing.” You interrupted.
“Are you saying you care about what happens to me now? Or is this all still just part of your plan to save the folks back home?” Negan harassed. You locked eyes with him as he leaned in closer and watched your chest as it began to rise and fall heavily. He was making you more uncomfortable than the life threatening situation you were in. “Relax. I’ll be fine. And so will you.” Negan told you, placing his hand on yours and sliding his small pocket knife against your palm and within your grasp.
Magna watched closely. “Smooth.” She admitted. Negan kept his eyes on only you as you couldn’t help but be mesmerized by his need to protect you.
“When the time is right.” He said, squeezing your hand and then letting go to take you back to the caves entrance. He shoved you back down where you sat before and tied your rope around a tree. Then he made his way back over to the group of Whisperers who were still awaiting the return of their leader.
“I get it now.” Magna said, blinking her eyes continuously at you. You turned to her, overly frustrated and confused. “He’s in love with you.” She pointed to where he stood with his arms crossed.
“What?” You hollered. “Negan doesn’t love anyone. He’s too in love with himself.” You grimaced.
Magna stared in disbelief. “Does Daryl know about this plan of yours?”
“No. I didn’t want anyone to know until it was done.” You admitted, looking to the ground with a heavy sigh. “Carol knows because she caught me leaving that night. And now you.” You told her honestly.
Magna readjusted herself, moving her legs out straight in front of her. You rested your hands in your lap, firmly gripping onto the knife Negan gave you. Your wrists were red and sore, as were hers. “What if Negan didn’t have that? Would you really just give up?” She asked you sincerely.
“I don’t know.” You admitted, letting a single tear fall and stain your dirt covered cheek.
“What about your baby?” She asked, concerned. You sniffled, took a big deep breath and thought a moment.
“You were right, I didn’t mean it. Okay?” You told her. She hesitantly nodded, thinking about her own heartache. Wondering whether she was still in a relationship or if she had anyone to go home to. She was sure you at least had that feeling in common.
_____________________________
About another hour had passed and it was all too quiet now, almost eerie as a heavy fog entered the forest. The sun was going down and it was quickly getting dark. Two men-Whisperers, who’d removed their masks stood guard now which was good because if Negan was the last to be watching you when you escaped he might be blamed. They looked you and Magna up and down for much too long, putting her on edge. She grunted and scowled at them.
“Ugh. Men are pigs.” She noted, disgusted. The taller one with messy long black hair bit his lip as he peered down your tank top. “Why don’t you just kill us already?” She asked, unable to take them staring anymore.
“Maybe we will.” The other man with a short graying beard told her. “Or we could have some fun first.” He grinned. Magna let out an exaggerated gag.
“Like Alpha says, we’re animals.” The black haired man agreed, laughing. Negan shook his head, wanting nothing more than to knock them both out.
“Hey, since when do any of you people talk so much?” He yelled at them. They chuckled.
“Since Alpha and Beta aren’t here to keep them in line. They’re weak, frightened men. That’s all.” You glared up at them while they instantly lost the smiles on their faces. “Don’t listen to them.” You turned to your friend.
Later that same, long night after many Whisperers had finally dozed off, Negan came and sat next to you. It was very dark and very cold. Magna rested her head back against a tree a little ways back and pretended to sleep as well. Your body was shivering uncontrollably now as you began putting Negan’s knife to use, planning to sneak away in the dead of the night. He stopped you though when he suddenly grabbed your hands and brought them to his mouth, blowing his warm breath onto them. You raised your eyebrows, a bit taken back by his kind gesture. You stared into his eyes while he continued to try and warm you. “I don’t need you to feel sorry for me.” You said, slowly lowering your hands away from him and continuing to cut away at the rope.
“Not gonna say goodbye?” He asked, looking to your hands.
You shook your head, pulling away at the remaining rope and quietly handing the knife off to Magna. “You’re taking too long here.”
“I have to earn her trust. I’m not there yet, why can’t you just trust me?”
“Gee, I don’t know.” You hissed.
“Listen, Y/n. In all seriousness, I’m sorry. I’m sorry you’re here. I’d much rather you be safe some place far from here.” He told you.
“I know.” You sighed.
“And I’m sorry about everything else. I’m sorry about, you know, them all those years ago.” He said, referring to all the friends and family you lost back at the Sanctuary. You swallowed nervously, never expecting to hear a sincere apology from him. “Being locked up all those years, I had a lot of time to think. And the truth is, I fucked up. A lot. But I was always honest and true to one thing.” He shared, searching your eyes for several minutes before awkwardly looking down to his hands, wringing them uncomfortably. “I promise you now, when this is all done...and I will get it done, that I am indebted to you. Whatever you want, need I’ll get it for you. And I will not harm anyone that means something to you. Ever.”
“I wish I could believe you.” You gulped.
“I’ve never lied to you.” He quickly replied, smiling at you. He could see it on your face. Your cheeks red, your eyes glossy and your expression stoic. You cared for him, it wasn’t just about using him to save the others. “There’s a shack of some sort a few miles north from here. An old cabin more like, if you need some place to stop and rest. No one here knows about it to my knowledge. You’ll be safe there.” He stood up and reached his hand down to help you up. You looked at him the way you hadn’t looked at him since the beginning. It warmed his troubled soul. “They are gunning for Hilltop. Warn them.” He whispered.
You nodded. “I still have to see this thing through. If you are able to get away for a minute to update me, meet me there.” You asked just as Magna stood up, now fully free of her ropes as well. He agreed and turned to walk away. “Negan.” You stopped him. “Try to meet me there. So I know you’re okay after we leave here.” You gulped.
He grinned. “Will do, Princess.”
________________________
The following morning, you spotted the cabin deep in the woods that Negan spoke of. He told the truth. You slowly entered it, holding Negan’s pocket knife high in the air; it being your only weapon now.
Magna pulled at some spider webs near the front door as she followed you inside. “What are we doing here?” She asked. “I was all for getting as far away from those freaks as possible. But shouldn’t we warn Hilltop?” She asked.
“Yeah. You have to.”
“What? What about you?” She bellowed.
You shook your head and tucked a strand of hair behind your ear. “I’m not ready to go back. I’m not sure I was before all this. Please go and warn them. You know where I am.”
“Y/n, Daryl thinks you’re dead.” She firmly pointed out.
You shrugged. “So tell him I’m not. By the time anyone comes looking for me again, it’ll all be over. I know it.” She sighed heavily and pulled you in for a hug.
Magna searched your worried eyes, her expression nearly matching yours. “I don’t like a lot of people. You are one of them, so please don’t be stupid.” She begged. You nodded with a smile and hugged her back.
“Go. Seriously.” You grinned and watched her leave on a new mission. Magna had become a friend and you didn’t want to lose that but you were more focused on this plan with Negan than ever.
_________________________
Back at the Whisperer camp, Negan woke to find Alpha had returned. Standing in one piece, staring down at him.
“Shit.” Negan jumped. “You shouldn’t wake somebody standing over them like that.” He said, standing up. “Glad to see you’re alright, I was getting worried.” He grinned, flirtatiously.
Alpha scowled at him, raising her right eyebrow and placing her hands behind her back. “Beta tells me we had some stragglers from the caves.” She began. Negan nodded. “Where are they now?”
Negan played dumb. His acting was beyond brilliant. He spun to the tree where your severed ropes still laid on the forest floor. He pointed and then looked back in fake utter confusion. “Terry and his little sidekick were on guard last. Clearly, they did an excellent job of that, damn it. I’m sorry. I should’ve stayed up watching them.” He told her. She eyed him and sighed.
“Fine. We are leaving for Hilltop soon, we will put an end to them there.” She told him. “Help gather the horde.” Negan nodded, secretly terrified she might still suspect him. But for now, he was safe. He still feared he might have to do something extreme to fully earn her trust back.
“I’m ready for my skin suit. I am all in.” Negan told her. “So, let me be in.” He shrugged.
Alpha smiled, gratefully. “Go with Beta. I have a meeting with Ben and Terry.” She smirked, preparing to punish them. Negan was more than okay with letting those perverts take the fall.
By that afternoon, Negan had his mask. He roamed the area watching others collect loads of sap from the surrounding trees. He was bored and pretending to help gather more of the dead to join the herd that would surely take out Hilltop in just a few short hours.
He swung his bat around proudly. “So uh, what’s with the sap? Some sort of fire starter?” He asked Beta who led the group collecting it. But he only grunted in response, always a man of few words.
__________________________
Several hours had passed back at Hilltop. Daryl and Lydia had safely returned to rest and allow his leg to heal. They saw Alpha and Beta reunite on their journey home, not knowing they’d just missed you.That evening, he sat alone on a table outside near the line of occupied trailers. He was quietly brooding over his losses while the people slept soundly in their homes with their families. Most of them anyway. He stared into space, lost in thought as Maggie appeared from the shadows and approached him cautiously. She looked down at his wrapped leg. “I’m sorry about before. I don’t want you to get hurt.” She told him.
He sighed as she grabbed his upper arm, squeezing it gently to comfort him. “We’ll have to talk about her, all of it eventually.” Daryl mumbled to her before they both fell distracted by figure running towards them. As he slowed his pace and stopped in front of them, they could now see it was Evan struggling to catch his breath.
“What’s wrong?” Maggie asked, frightened.
“Magna.” He said in between pants. Daryl instantly stood up. “She’s here.” He said, gesturing for them to follow. As the three of them came to the main house, there she was sitting on the steps next to Yumiko. But it was only her-you were no where in sight. Daryl’s heart pounded in his chest as he hesitated to go any farther.
Her face was covered in blood and she instantly felt saddened by the sight of Daryl approaching. “We kept pushing. Searching.” She began, locking eyes with Yumiko. “And then we separated.” She added. “I had to blend in.” She explained how the blood on her face was not her own. “We both got out and were held hostage by the Whisperers. Negan’s with them now.” She let slip out, then hung her mouth open not wanting to say anymore. “They’re coming here. The horde wasn’t far behind me.”
“And Y/n?” Daryl asked with a harsh swallow.
“She told me to come warn you, I don’t know. But she’s alive.” She replied. Daryl let his shoulders fall in relief.
“Get the others. We’ll evacuate the kids first.” Maggie ordered.
“They are too close for that. There’s no way we’d make it anywhere in time.” Magna shook.
“Then we fight.” Lydia appeared out of nowhere. Daryl looked to her and smiled. Both feeling a little better after hearing you were okay.
“Yeah.” He agreed. “You two.” He pointed to Magna and Lydia. “Come with me.” They followed him inside rather quickly. “Wait here, please?” He asked before disappearing up the stairs. Daryl came back with Judith and RJ who’d been staying here the last few days with Aaron and his daughter while Michonne remained at Oceanside. People were panicking, running in and out looking for their loved ones. Daryl caught a glimpse of Ezekiel and called after him, then ran to meet him on the front porch. “I need you to take the three of them to Earl before we start this. Maggie has him watching the rest of the kids.” Ezekiel nodded. “If one of us doesn’t make it out of this fight-”
“Then the other will go find the kids.” The King agreed completely. Daryl patted him on the back in thanks and returned to the living area inside.
Daryl crouched down in front of little Judith. “Promise me something.” He said to her. “If Ezekiel comes to find you after the fight you go with him, again. You and your brother, okay?” Judith hesitantly nodded. “It’s okay to be scared.”
“I’m not scared.” She said firmly.
“Maybe I am, a little bit.” Daryl admitted honestly to everyone in the room.
The young girl readjusted her sheriff’s hat and folded her arms tightly across her little chest. “But if I was, maybe I would be scared for RJ because he’s so little.” She sighed.
“I get that.” Daryl replied.
“Maybe I’d be worried about my mom. Or I’d be afraid you’d get hurt and I’d lose you.” She looked to her feet. Daryl leaned in and hugged her tightly as she wiped away a few tears. Daryl rubbed her back gently, feeling torn between her and finding out more about you. He always thought he would never be brave enough to have kids of his own-especially not in this world. But even still, with a father like his and the way he was raised, he never felt like he was good enough. He always figured it would be kinder of him to not. He’d also watched Carol lose not one, but two and he witnessed Rick struggle to keep his safe time and time again before he died. He never felt he had it in him, watching after their kids was hard enough. But when he hugged little Judith just then, thinking about you-something about it instantly felt a little different. For family, for you-with you he would do just about anything. He finally let go and smiled at her, then pointed to Ezekiel. “Wait.” She said, reaching for his vest that sat on the arm of the couch next to Magna. “I made you something. It’s for luck.” She said, holding his iconic leather vest high in the air, showing off her latest art project. She had painted on his missing angel wing. It was different shades of blue and white and matched perfectly, looking better than it ever did.
Daryl smiled uncomfortably. “No way.” He brought his hand to his mouth with a smile. He felt happier than he had in days. “I love it.” He finally said, slipping it back on to wear for the battle, as she clearly intended. “How does it look?” He asked, spinning around to show it off. Judith finally giggled.
“It looks good.” She agreed. He smiled back and got closer, looking the small girl in the eyes.
“Promise?” He asked her again. She nodded. “Give me another hug.” Daryl said as he brought her in close and looked up to Lydia next.
“You too.” Daryl added as he stood up straight, tapping the teens forearm.
She instantly frowned. “What? I saved your life yesterday!” Lydia cried, throwing her arms down to her sides.
“And now I’m saving yours.” He said, pulling her in for a hug. He held her tight, needing to keep her safe from this as well. He knew it would be entirely too much. She let out a big regretful sigh in his ear before finally letting go and leaving with Judith, who took her little brothers hand. Daryl watched them disappear into the night with Ezekiel. He then remained a little dazed, staring long after they’d been gone.
“You aren’t leaving?” Magna asked. Daryl shook his head and limped his way over to sit next to her on the couch for a moment.
“I can’t yet. I’m gonna fight. But before I do that I need you to tell me everything.” Daryl stated. “If Y/n stayed out there and she knows what’s coming, she might do something stupid. Something that gets her killed. Do you know where she is?” He pleaded. She ultimately nodded, trying to decide whether to tell Daryl the entire story.
____________________________________
@jodiereedus22 @dashesoflipstick @theunofficialduke @dixonluvv@nikki082489 @jordangdelacruz @lunatheumbreon @dbtvluvI @letsstarsfalling @escaping-reality-22
Let me know if anyone would like to be tagged in future chapters (:
Thanks for reading!
I hope you are enjoying my version of this story. Sensing a love triangle yet??
Yes, I changed this into it’s own chapter instead of doing two parts like I was originally planning. I ended up going a different direction and I think it works better this way.
Next time: A fiery battle at Hilltop, an unforgettable reunion and an intense moment between Y/n and Negan.
ANDDD let me know what you thought of this chapter here —–>
<<Chapter 19, >>Chapter 21
#the walking dead#the walking dead fanfiction#daryl dixon#daryl dixon fanfiction#daryl dixon x reader#daryl dixion imagine#Norman Reedus#norman reedus fanfiction#negan#negan fanfiction#negan x reader#Jeffrey Dean Morgan#jeffery dean morgan fanfiction
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can’t we all just get oolong? ch. 2
AO3
title: can’t we just get oolong?
author: Reyxa
rating: T
summary: au where zuko and iroh settle in ba sing se post-banishment. when a pretty water bender start frequenting the jasmine dragon, zuko’s world turns upside down.
note: slightly shorter chapter this time around but the next one will be Beefy so stay tuned!!
Chapter 2: White Tea
Katara has spent the whole morning distractedly tugging on her braid, a little anxious at the notion of returning to the Jasmine Dragon.
It’s less that she thinks it’s dangerous and far more that she’s nervous to see Zuko. She hates more than anything the way he stirs her chest, the way his name is etched across her mind right now.
“Katara!” Aang jolts her from her reverie, calling her name as he emerges from their bathroom. “You wanna go looking for your mom’s necklace today?”
She searches desperately for an excuse. She just can’t take Aang with her to the teashop. She wouldn’t risk it, especially since it seems like those two firebenders had ties to Azula herself. It would be too dangerous touting the Avatar around like that.
And maybe a part of her really just wants to scope out the teashop again by herself.
“We can’t, Aang.” Sokka pipes up before Katara can even begin to form coherent sentences. “I really want to go talk to some more aristocrats and government officials around here. Knock on some doors.” he combs his hair into his wolf tail as he speaks, squinting into the mirror. “Remember that one guy across the street who warned us about the Dai Li after Joo Di left that first day searching for Appa? I’m sure there’s more people around here willing to talk to us and having the Avatar around won’t hurt.”
Toph is toying with her headband, using it to poke between her toes. “I’m with Snoozles. We should really try to get our plans to the Earth King as fast as possible. Then we can get the hell out of this city.”
Katara hops off the couch to refill her waterskins at the basin, trying to hide her relieved expression. “They’re right, Aang. We should focus on finding Appa and figuring out the invasion first. I’m sure my necklace will turn up! It always does.”
Aang nods. “Yeah, I get it. But we’ll find it as soon as we can, okay?”
She smiles reassuringly.
~
Zuko peers into the teashop from behind the counter, counting the amount of customers who need serving. Sure that his uncle can handle it on his own for a while, Zuko slips out the backdoor into the alley.
The alley is empty save for a few abandoned carts collecting dust. The bustle of the main streets can be heard on either side but hardly anyone glances into the dark cove.
The mid-afternoon sun is high and heavy, but Zuko relishes its presence. He draws on its heat, feels it burn through his veins. Breathing deeply, eyes closed in concentration, he slides into a basic stance.
Drawing on his inner fire, he steps and throws a punch down the alley.
He opens one eye, praying for some sort of flame. His fist smolders, prickling with a fire that won’t burst.
He grunts and throws a regular punch at the wall, hardly feeling the skin on his knuckles split against the brick.
The one thing he was born to do and he can’t even do that.
Okay, okay, what would Uncle say right now? he contemplates, holding his mildly bleeding hand against his chest. ‘Zuko, it is not your ability that is wanting but your ability to look within yourself to seek your true abilities.’ he groans internally. That still makes no sense.
Shaking his head, he commits to working through a few more firebending forms, at most producing short erratic sparks. He isn’t sure how much time has passed but sweat is pouring down his temples and drenching his Jasmine Dragon uniform.
He throws in the towel, mounting frustration turning his mind to shreds. Wiping sweat with the corner of his apron, he slides back into the shop.
As much as he wants to rush upstairs and wash the afternoon off himself, his uncle is waiting by the door, tapping his foot expectantly. “What were you up to, nephew?
Zuko sighs. “I was trying to firebend.”
Iroh’s brow lifts in surprise. “Firebending? Any particular reason?”
Bracing himself for another lecture, Zuko stalks over to the teapots, pouring himself a chilled glass. “How many times do I have to explain, Uncle? Azula is on our tails! She’ll be expecting a fight, you know how she is.”
“This again.” Iroh shakes his head. “Prince Zuko, I understand I cannot remove this notion that the Fire Nation is chasing you. I know it is both what you fear and what you desire. But, please, at least do not let my teashop become collateral damage to your ways.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Zuko storms out into the teashop, piling dirty cups angrily.
He feels like he’s teetering on the edge, like his mind is a hurricane thrashing away at his grip on reality. The last time he had felt so tumultuous, he was angry at being stuck here in Ba Sing Se, instead of being allowed by his Uncle to chase the Avatar. All he had wanted was to return home, Avatar in tow. He had been neglectful of his burn wounds, barely caring for his health and lashing out at his uncle who did.
It had taken a long time for that anger to turn to dejection to turn to acceptance of his circumstance.
But the sight of that girl, with eyes bluer than Ember Island oceans and fierce unyielding words spilling past her lips, had made him regress. She’s a curse, he knows it.
But something tells him she’s his answer too.
~
Katara knows breaking into an unsuspecting teashop full of firebenders in the middle of the night may not be her brightest idea yet but it’s too late to turn back.
The streets are emptied save for a few Dai Li posts but she fancies herself a master of stealth as she hugs the shadows. Her shoes are soundless against the stone-paved streets and she keeps half of her water tucked in the palm of her hand.
The gang still hadn’t really figured out what the deal with the Dai Li is quite yet but Katara does know she’d rather not get caught breaking curfew. She had noticed their piercing gazes and Joo Di’s tight smile when any Dai Li were posted nearby. Though the city was a refugee haven, something told Katara they wouldn’t care very much that she was the Avatar’s companion if she were caught breaking the rules.
The sound of feet slipping against stone whispers in her ear, sending her ducking into an alley until her heart stopped pounding in her ears. The patrol of Dai Li, marching in stiff lines to match their stern faces, pass by her hiding spot without glancing her way.
She steals further down the dark alleyway, not particularly sure where in Ba Sing Se she was. Navigation is Sokka’s thing and she’s only been to the Jasmine Dragon once.
Sighing, she heads back down the main street, still lurking in the shadows. Time passes her by but the moon remains high in the sky, lighting her path.
“Hey! You’re breaking curfew!” a voice shouts behind her.
Katara’s spine stiffens, heart pounding wildly. She draws the rest of her water from her water skin, its presence assuring her she would not be the captured one tonight. She pivots on her toes to face the Dai Li voice.
His rocks are poised to handcuff, feet already in an earthbending stance.
But it isn’t her he’s shouting at.
Dirt flies as she throws herself behind a vacant food stall. She counts her heartbeat as the altercation develops to blows.
“I need back up!” The Dai Li soldier shouts. Katara can hear the sounds of struggle but she isn’t sure who was on the other side.
Against her better judgement, she peeks over the dusty wooden table. The Dai Li soldier slides into his bending forms solidly, pushing rock after rock. Clearly trained well, he springs off the wall as he narrowly escapes the deadly end of twin swords.
Twin swords Katara finds a little familiar.
No way.
Scrambling on hands on knees, she crawls closer to the fight. Her head pokes out from the left side. Across the stone-paved street is the Dai Li agent, sweating under his green robes as he ducks under the reach of a broadsword. Two other agents run in from the far side of the street, faces illuminated beneath the street lamps. Between them is the swordwielder, a flurry of motion as he fights off the agents. A mask conceals his features, a taunting blue smile with tusks on each end.
The man hesitates just for a second before throwing one of his swords to pin a soldier against the wall. Katara can’t help but imagine golden eyes staring at her.
She wants to run. Go back home or keep skirting the streets to find the Jasmine Dragon but she feels glued to her spot as the swordwielder takes hit after hit. He remains soundless, even as a boulder to the chest takes him down. His last sword skitters out of reach.
The Dai Li wear triumphant smiles as they wrestle him to his feet to cuff him. The flash of Water Tribe lapis lazuli tied around his wrist winks at her for a second before rock binds his hands together.
Her heart stops, she blinks as if imagining it. Sighing, she rises to her feet, watching a Dai Li agent reach for his mask. I’m gonna regret this, aren’t I?
Adrenaline is already filling her veins as her waterskins pop open.
Feet pounding against the pavement, she encases her arms with the water and reaches across the street to the agent. The water stretches, wrapping around his shoulders. Katara flicks her wrist, throwing the man against the wall.
Her water splashes over the masked man and the other agent who takes no time to summon a few boulders.
She skids out of their path, throwing ice shards at the agent. His distraction with her loosens the grip he has on the man in cuffs. She watches the rock encasing crumble away from his wrists as he slams them against the brick wall. Katara can’t help a silent smile as he rushes to grab his swords.
Dai Li agents seem to double in numbers every second that passes. They emerge from the shadows and Katara finds herself fearing arrest. For every single agent she knocks out, two others replace him.
She sweeps her leg, water follows its trail and knocks back several Dai Li agents. A presence at her back sets her spine straight but it’s only the masked stranger standing at her back, swords a swift blur.
Instinct takes over. Her body moves through bending forms on its own volition while overly aware of the potential firebender at her back.
A streetful of Dai Li agents either lying unconscious on the pavement or pinned to several buildings are left when they’re done.
Katara’s panting wildly, her heart pounding out of her chest. So much for a discreet heist.
“Come with me.” the masked man grabs her risk and drags her off before she can bother protesting.
~
Zuko tears off his mask as they duck into the alleyway behind the Jasmine Dragon. He waits for surprise to flicker over the waterbender’s face but it doesn’t come.
She simply looks at him, arms crossed. “I have questions.”
“It seems like you always have questions.” he rolls his eyes, sheathing his swords.
Indignation fills her voice. “Yeah, well you owe me answers! Why do you have my mother’s necklace? You took it from me on purpose, didn’t you? Of course you did, why wouldn’t you stoop so low, firebender? You know—”
He grabs her shoulders, hushing her quietly. “Please, stop. You talk more than my uncle.”
Her blue eyes blaze. “Fine. Say your piece.”
He shakes his head. She really is something. “Fine. I didn’t take your necklace, you left it here.”
“And you decided to comb the streets of Ba Sing Se looking for me?! Why?” she’s straining to keep her voice low.
“Let me talk!” Zuko didn’t exactly have an answer as to why he thought taking the necklace and sneaking out would be a good idea. There was a very slim chance he would run into her or find where she was staying but he had taken the chance anyway. He can’t help but feel a little smug that it worked out. “I needed answers. I needed to know what you know about Azula.”
“I’m still not convinced you’re not working with her. Your uncle is nice enough but you, I don’t know.” she steps away from him, eyeing the necklace dangling from his wrist.
“I’m not working with my sister and I never would!” he chews his lip, eyes flickering over her face. He sighs. “I just want to keep my uncle and his teashop safe from her. If she found out we were in the city…”
Her eyes soften a little and something in Zuko’s chest shifts. He throws the feeling to the back of his mind. There’s no time to analyze that. “I— fine. But I have questions too.”
He nods, feeling the pit in his stomach dissipate. He’ll finally get answers. He can finally find peace.
“Are you two going to keep shouting in the alleyway or will you at least come inside?”
Zuko jumps back at the sound of his uncle’s voice. The waterbender is holding fistfuls of his shirt, equally startled.
Iroh grins at them, still in his pajamas. He gestures for them to follow, humming as he leads them into the teashop.
Zuko and the waterbender girl glance at each other before she yanks back her hands and follows his uncle.
Zuko shakes his head and shuts the door behind them.
#my writing#atla#cwjgo#katara#zuko#avatar the last airbender#my writing AND updating a fic????#not me wrong bitch#i will finish this fic#even if it kills me
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Homecoming, Pt 2: Bosph, Ch1
Chapter 1
Confusing Practices Breed Confusing Outcomes
Fandom: The Mandalorian, Star Wars
Characters: The Mandalorian, Gender Neutral Reader
Words: 2.1k+
Warnings: More adjacent angst!!!
Summary:
I have no idea why the bounty hunter is being nice to me. Or rather nice-ish. I mean, I haven't been frozen in carbonite yet, so that's promising???
Homecoming Masterlist
By the time we landed on the outermost planet in the habitable zone, I was back to feeling like a normal being. I was clean, fed and shockingly uncuffed. The last had happened soon after the Mandalorian had left me in the hold. The cuffs had buzzed and loosened enough for me to slip out of them, and I was almost positive he’d done it on purpose. Just like giving me food, freeing my hands seemed strange and un-bounty-hunter-like, but I didn’t want to question it too much lest it all got ripped out from under me.
The flight hadn’t been that long, two days at the most in hyperspace. Luckily, my space sickness ebbed halfway through the trip. I hadn’t seen the bounty hunter since getting rudely awakened in the hold’s crawl space, but I didn’t mind it. I’d leave him alone if he’d leave me alone. And as far as ships went, the Razor Crest wasn’t too shabby.
But I was itching to get out of the hold and onto solid ground. Even if that meant seeing Mihcas.
Stretching in the cramped bunk I’d claimed as my own, I touch the walls on all sides, trying to soak in what little peace I could before my ultimate demise. Two days in the cargo hold had lightened my mood, even if it was only because I was off that backwater moon and in the skies again. The atmosphere down below was warmer than the upper deck, almost uncomfortably so. But as I had gotten used to the bantha moon’s heat, it didn’t bother me too much.
A sharp knock sounded outside my little haven before the curtain was ripped back. The Mandalorian, fully geared, glowered down at me. He flung a pair of cuffs at my midsection, and reflexively I curled up to protect myself. I wasn’t fast enough; the cuffs landed heavily on my stomach.
“Good morning to you too,” I muttered, flopping back onto the pillow and covering my face with my arms.
The whirring hum of the charging blaster warned me that he wasn’t in a good mood. But really, when wasn’t this Mando in a not good mood? Sighing heavily, I sat up slowly to pick up the cuffs. “This isn’t really necessary, y’know. There’s nowhere for me to run out there that isn’t under Mihcas’s thumb.”
The Mandalorian trained the barrel of his gun at my chest.
“Fine,” I whined in a pretty good impression of a bratty youngling. I locked my left wrist in first, then, with some frustration, my right, and held my hands out for inspection. The Mandalorian leaned into the bunk, rough leather gloves double checking my work, snugging the cuffs a little tighter with a practiced squeeze. He motioned for me to get out of the bunk, taking several careful steps back with his blaster still pointing at me.
In the least graceful way possible, I wriggled my way out of the bunk. I’d dragged half the bedding with me, and I cursed angrily as I tried, unsuccessfully, to kick the tangle of blankets from my legs.
In one swift movement, the bounty hunter yanked on one of the sheets, instantly untangling me from the mess but knocking me off my feet and onto the floor. Dazed, I stared at the wires and ducts nestled cozily above me and wished that I was anywhere but on this fragging ship. A smart boot to the hip brought me back. Rolling onto my side, I pushed unsteadily to my feet and waited, frazzled, for the Mandalorian to reveal his plans. I frowned at him. He stared blankly back. We stood there, facing each other like that for what seemed like an eternity. My life was getting ready to come to an abrupt end, and the pressure and stress of it was almost too much to bear. I’d have preferred if he had said something scathing, something I could latch onto and be mad about, but all he gave me was silence.
I couldn’t take it anymore, not when I was about to die at the hands of my dosh-faced ex-boss.
“Well,” I said with about as much swagger as a nerfherder. “Let’s go get me killed.” I stepped boldly forward, purposefully not looking at the hunter, and headed for the hatch. A strong, solid arm hit me in the chest midstep, making me suck in my breath; my chest was still tender from our first encounter a few days ago. Salvaging what little balance and self-respect I had, I took a step backwards and snorted. “What?”
The helmet angled toward me, arm dropping to his side. “This… Mihcas. What is he to you?”
A harsh laugh bubbled up my throat. “The guy you’re turning me over to? He’s nothing, and everything,” I fumed. “Mihcas is the reason I’m in this mess. He owns me.” Swallowing back the bile and rage, I faced forward and lifted my chin. “I can’t take back all of the horrible choices I made, but I don’t have to accept what he believes is righteous, no matter what that does to me.” Striding past the silent Mandalorian, I approached the hatch controls. Fumbling with my bound wrists, I whacked the panel harder than I should’ve, bruising the side of my hands. The hydraulics hissed as the motors released the locks and lowered the ramp.
“Let’s go get this fragging show over with.”
The Crest’s hatch opened onto a rocky outcrop well back from the main road into the mining district. The sky was an unhealthy shade of orange, the air tinged with a metallic flavor that clung to the back of my tongue and stung my eyes. Bootsteps followed slowly behind as I marched down the slope of the ramp and onto the barren earth. Rubbing at my eyes did nothing except irritate them more, my tear ducts working overtime to wash out the pollution.
The bounty hunter paused in front of me. “Here,” he grunted, thrusting a portable respirator and goggles into my bound hands.
I blinked skeptically at him. He huffed and turned away, impatiently scanning the bleak landscape while I hastily kitted up. Once the mask and goggles were in place, and I was breathing easier, the Mandalorian took off at a stiff clip, heading towards a squarish blob on the horizon. Since there was nothing else I could do, I tagged along, easily pacing him but keeping a stride or so behind; I wasn’t the one wearing beskar, and I didn’t exactly feel like being pumped full of holes by the mercs patrolling Mihcas’s compound.
The compound was a full-day’s march from the Razor Crest over rough, unforgiving terrain. The hunter didn’t pause for breaks, and I didn’t ask, suffering screaming back and legs in silence. I’d be dosh if I turned whimpering coward now that I was facing Death, and I wouldn’t give the Mandalorian, or Mihcas for that matter, the satisfaction in seeing me break.
Dusk had fallen by the time we reached a shallow gully only a few miles from the perimeter fence. Trash and rubble were scattered across the ground, piled here and there in towering, teetering heaps. The bounty hunter had said little on our trek across the desolate land, only begrudgingly noting hazards in his monosyllabic way. With my throat parched and my tongue glued to the roof of my mouth due to the arid air filtering through the respimask, I wasn’t in much of a mood to talk either.
We passed countless piles of junk and rock, weaving our way through the haphazardly tossed garbage until we came upon a spot that was relatively sheltered compared to the rest. A larger hill of rubble had collapsed, drifting aimlessly into surrounding heaps. Some of the rocks had shifted along with it, creating a sort of cave that appeared dry and uninhabited. He waved me in, following close behind. Once inside, I allowed my knees to buckle, collapsing with a grateful groan onto the uncomfortable dirt.
A cracked boulder rumbled through the opening, the Mandalorian behind it. Positioning the rock at the entrance, he swung his rifle over his shoulders and laid it over his knees as he sat down on the makeshift seat. I eyed him for a moment, only a little worried about the shock-prongs at the end of the gun. Seeing as he wasn’t getting ready to electrocute me, I straightened out my back and rolled my shoulders and neck to work out the kinks. I sigh forcefully through the respimask and scrub my hair with my bound hands. It stuck out in odd spikes all over my head, and I looked absolutely devilish covered in the soot and grime of the polluted planet.
The Mandalorian shifted noisily, and I chanced another peek at him. He wasn't a particularly loud being, which was surprising for the amount of kit he packed, and the sound of him moving proved disconcerting.
“Something wrong?” I murmured, half accusation and half curiosity. My time around others of his creed had been brief, but even so I’d never encountered anyone remotely like him. His careful movements were always so calculated and quiet, and anything contradicting that was intriguing.
A crackly hiss blew over the vocoder, and he wearily dropped the point of his helmet to his chest. “The information you gave me was… accurate,” he admitted brusquely.
Eyebrows shooting upwards, I rolled painfully to my side and pillowed my head on my cuffed wrists. “Go on,” I rasped.
Noiselessly, he unclipped the canteen from his belt and handed it to me. Greedily, I tore off my respimask, unscrewed the cap and took a big swig. The water was tepid and stale, but I didn’t care; it was wet and I was thirsty. The liquid dribbled down my chin as I took another mouthful. Blissfully refreshed, I capped the canteen and gave it back, pulling the respimask back into place. “So. You believe me,” I croaked unquestioningly.
This time the sigh was unmistakable. He lifted his head and angled it away. “No,” he replied simply.
“I see.”
“Do you?” A hint of curiosity in his tone. Interesting.
“You don’t trust me, I get it. I don’t trust me; just look where we are.” Rolling my eyes vaguely at the trash surrounding us, I decidedly pushed off my arms into a sitting position so I could look at him easier. “I don’t know what info you got on me, and I sure as dosh don’t know what you found on Mihcas. But I can tell you this: he is not a man of his word, and he will kill me, and possibly try to kill you as well.” My hands trembled between my knees, and I curled my fingers into fists to stop it. Inhaling deeply, I looked down at my lap. “I know my job wasn’t strictly legal, but I tried my best to make it better, even if my best wasn’t the right thing to do at the time,” I mumbled, the guilt clawing its way up my throat. The shadowy ghosts began to scream and moan inside my mind, and I shook my head violently to stop the onslaught. Now was not the time to relive the past.
The long, biting pause that followed did nothing to chase the ghosts away. As I sulked amongst the rubble, fighting back the tears and the bile brought on by the guilt, the Mandalorian gazed stoically out onto the gully, gloved fingers tapping a jittery tattoo on the stock of his rifle. It was well into the night before he said anything.
“Do you know how to use a blaster.”
Raising my weary head sullenly, I squinted at his shadowy form in the opening. “I don’t like guns,” I replied to the nonquestion.
Exhaling in mild frustration, he repositioned himself to face me. “Come here,” he said, beckoning me to the entryway. Pale moonlight washed out the landscape, leaving it a land of gray shadows. I blinked a few times, letting my goggled eyes adjust to the dimness, then crouched beside him, elbows resting on my knees.
Taking out his blaster pistol, he pointed at various sections, giving me a short lesson. “This is the chamber where the blast cartridges go. Once it’s primed, it’s ready to fire. Don’t point it at anyone unless you are willing to shoot, don’t pull the trigger unless you’re willing to kill.” He returned it to its holster and held out a gloved hand, palm up. “Give me your hands.”
Confused, I held out my hands. He punched a sequence into his vembrace controls and pulled on the cuffs. They loosened, slipping over my knuckles. “What are you doing?” I asked, bewildered by his actions.
Handing the cuffs to me, the bounty hunter jerked his head to the back wall. “Get some sleep.”
I nodded my head silently, taking the cuffs back to my spot. Setting them between me and the wall, I curled into a ball with my back facing the Mandalorian and fell into an uneasy sleep.
#moose writes#the mandalorian#the mandalorian fic#the mandalorian fanfic#the mandalorian fanfiction#fic#fanfic#fanfiction#star wars#star wars fic#star wars fanfiction#mando#mando fic#mando fanfic#mando fanfiction#din djarin#din djarin fic#din djarin fnafic#din djarin fanfiction#din djarin x reader#mando x reader#the mandalorian x reader#reader insert#star wars universe#angst#angst adjacent#almost angst#gender neutral reader#series#mandalorian series
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The Great Work
(For Celine in her recovery)
I’ve been thinking a lot
About all the beautiful words everyone has been saying.
Words that mean love and hope and care and forever,
And about how I am a writer.
And somehow I have none.
I can say hope,
But I want to talk about wildflowers.
I want to say something about how I’ve been cycling a lot lately,
Which you love
(and which I do to stay sane through this horrible year)
And I want to tell you how I started to cry over purple-tufted thistles
Along the sidewalk.
The way they towered over the yellow clover
Reminded me of you
But then I had a panic attack on the side of 34th and couldn’t catch my breath.
I went to the river to learn how to breathe again
(don’t worry, it was close)
And there were bees and butterflies and cicadas
And the water was green jade
And clear
And I knew it would be alright
(Because of the bees and the butterflies and the cicadas)
But I couldn’t stop crying anyways.
There was a man sitting on a sandbar
So I pretended I wasn’t.
I picked up some litter,
Because when you’re hurting the best thing you can do
Is make someone else’s life better
(and the Earth makes all our lives better, so why not help a gal out?)
And I spied along a culvert, in the stillness
A little family of ducks
Kicking their palmate feet in the green
And they made me think of you, too.
I didn’t cry that time, but I did smile
Pretty weirdly, probably
Because that guy on the sandbar was staring.
So I put foot to pedal and wheel to pavement
And then the revolutions came,
One after the other beside the green jade river.
The current moved unconcerned
Ever-flowing from glacier to ocean
And it felt a strange place to be,
Caught between the rail yard (a city of industry!)
The river
And the cottonwoods on the other side (lovely, dark, and deep)
Like a swallow struggling south;
An ant pushing tiny boulders up a hill.
I used to think that if I got outside I could spread all my problems out
Like bedsheets, unfold them
Take them and smooth them
And fold them back, one by one.
Tighter, neater, so they took up less space.
I’ve never been able to let the wind whip one off the line.
These days, the linen pile just gets bigger.
I’m scared all the time.
I cry almost as much as I did when I was a kid.
I’m worried about the world, and the plague, and the fact that there are nazis again
And that the police should keep people safe, and not kill them
And that your brain should keep you safe, and not try to kill you
But your brain expands with tumours
And my synapses misfire
And sometimes I think very hard about biking
Just straight into that jade green river
And letting the current take me all the way to the sea.
I want to say beautiful words in your recovery
But all I can think of is how this is a plague year
And how so many things that matter seem to have been taken from us
I think about the act of grieving
And how it feels suspended now
(but isn’t it always something out of time? Waiting for us? For us to arrive?)
And the word quarantine, and how it comes from
Quarranta – fourty, for fourty days in port.
Fourty days and fourty nights
And about the Deluge, and how it was real
And how I feel sometimes, a lone boat
Trying to stay afloat on words I don’t want to say
And tears I don’t want to cry
And a history I wish I could drown.
I bike along a derelict train
The cars are black capsule pills
And I don’t want to swallow.
I’ve swallowed so much already.
I think I’ve got something in the pedal well –
It would be just like this year to gum up the gears.
To the right is a parking lot – for what I don’t know
There’s nothing but field stretching to the railyard and condos
Nothing but field.
I’ve been trying to find the Inglewood Wildlands for years, you see.
The thing is, I don’t like maps, I like discovery
(Which means sometimes it takes me years to find things)
I had thought it was the small field across from the Bird Sanctuary
(Based on a description from a kind guide at the centre)
But I steered off the pavement and onto gravel and into the tall grasses and up the hill
And you should have seen the wildflowers
And the bees, and the butterflies, and the cicadas
And the way the hot sun glinted off the leaves
Burnishing grass gold.
The thing about the Inglewood Wildlands that touches me most though
Is all the bad things that happened to this land
Colonialism first, and then an oil refinery, and then a bitumen plant
32 hectares of land
Slowly poisoned with spillage
Hydrocarbons in subsoils and ground water
13 years alone, isolated, trying to heal.
And then the great work began.
They did surgery here, too – did you know?
They scraped away barren soil, and then transplanted fertile.
They turned what they couldn’t get rid of into a lookout hill
So they could see how far they’d come
So they could see the change, the bloom
Of bad to good, of clover and thistle and dandelion plumes,
And they chose what to plant. But they planted what made sense.
What grew in this land originally – what should have been.
Do you understand? Do you see what I’m trying to say?
Wolf willow, saskatoons, buffalo berry, cottonwood, spruce.
And then yarrow came on its own, and the clover, and the aster.
Tansy and goldenbean, and all the wild grains came after.
They grew on their own.
They came back –
With the bugs and the ground hogs and the deer –
The grass is so soft and so safe
They bed down right in the middle of it
And when you’re out of the hospital,
I’ll take you there.
And maybe it was never the space I needed
To spread out my linens and air my heavy thoughts
Maybe it was the place I needed
To feel my muscles work and my heart pump
And to feel the wind on my face
To hear the buzz of insects working quietly in the fields
To get hot sun delirious
To tramp into places unknown
So I could know them
To watch the trailing flight of butterflies
To listen to the twittering birdsong
And watch clouds trek across the gradient blue
From pale jean to cerulean
To spot deer runs and find their safety
And leave them to it
To know that it all continues
The great work
If we just leave the world to it.
~ Natasha Levesque
#original poetry#poetry#free verse#poems about friendship#wildflowers#anxiety#depression#hope#and love#does this count as a ballad of it doesn’t have rhyming couplets?#if it does i guess its a free verse ballad#if not whoops#YYC#Calgary Alberta#Canada#landscape poetry#regional poetry#inglewood#inglewood wildlands#poems about cycling#ecological poem
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stars and stardrops
A/N: new chapter! i think this is the best one so far OvO
this chapter reader’s nimbo-ness almost comes out full force, almost
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Ao3 Link
chapter 5: cows and slime ( click for chapter 1 )
<<last chapter | next chapter>>
Summary: you meet a cow and go to the mines
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Ever since Bruno gifted you your fishing pole you've been fishing almost anywhere, any chance you could. It required a lot of patience but you were actually getting the hang of it and had even caught a few things. You also found it very relaxing, spending most of it waiting and staring off into the distance.
Today, your main focus was fishing at a pond you had seen on the map. Who knew what you could catch there, but first you were making a stop to a place nearby.
On your map, not too far from the pond, was a spot labeled Reimi's Farm. One of the multiple buildings in town you still haven’t been to yet.
When you get there you immediately notice a cabin a distance away. That was strange. There's no marking for it on the map. Well, guess you have two places to visit now!
You head up to the ranch and a cow greets you with a ‘moo’ as you walk past the gated area attached to the ranch. It ambles towards you. You didn't know cows were the curious type or maybe this one was just an anomaly?
"Hi..."
The cow moos again in response.
I’m a cow whisper.
"Hello!"
You whip your head to the side. Why do people keep sneaking up on you?
An older woman with wavy pink hair stood next to you. "Looks like you and Moodonna are getting along well.”
You giggle a little at the name before you can stop it. "Sorry. I think so? I didn't know cows could be curious."
"It's actually pretty common. They can also be quite friendly too! I'm Reimi by the way and you're ___ . " She smiles and holds a hand out for you to shake. "Nice to meet you."
You grab her warm, calloused hand and return a smile of your own. "I was actually coming over to introduce myself since I was walking to the pond, but I've been beaten again--first Bruno, now you!"
Reimi gives you a curious look.
"Ah, nevermind," you say.
Reimi looks as she’s considering something before she speaks again. "Have you ever wanted a chicken farmer?"
You pause from the sudden question. "What? Like to eat?"
She laughs. “No hun, for eggs!”
"Oh!” You feel your face heating up. “No, sorry, I never really thought about that?"
"Well it would be very profitable for you as a farmer if you did get some. Along with some cows... Maybe some ducks too!"
“D-Ducks?”
She did have a point but you'd never taken care of a house pet, let alone a farm animal.
"I don't really know how to though."
"No worries ___, I'll be there to help you out," she states. “Whenever you're ready just visit me.”
"Uh okay, sure!"
After saying bye to Reimi you head to your next stop--the cabin.
You knock on the door and wait a moment but nothing happens. Maybe whoever lived there was out at the moment? You’d just have to visit another day.
-----
A few days ago you spent some time at Trattoria Trussardi with ‘The Bucci Gang’, as you fondly referred to them--of course they didn’t know that.
“I can't believe Speedwagon is allowing the removal of that boulder,” Abbacchio grumbled.
"The one closing the mines?" Fugo asked.
Narancia perked up at this, “REALLY!?”
Abba, sighed at the boy's tone. "That place is dangerous and you three know it!"
"We never actually go down though! It's fine," Mista waved him off.
"Why would you three even go into the mine cave?" Giorno asks, curious.
Fugo rests his head against his hand. "Narancia liked the echoes of his music there and we just keep him company."
"Oh man I can’t wait to go back there! It’s been too long," Narancia smiled, completely ignoring Abbachio's warning look.
You listened quietly, intrigued.
After wandering around town, you finally find the mines. Abbacchio could not find out about this ever.
You walk through the wooden entrance of the mine and into an opened area of dirt, scattered with rocks and boulders. The lanterns perched on the walls light the space in a dim glow.
What you aren’t expecting to see but aren’t exactly surprised by are Narnicia, Mista, and Fugo sitting among the rocks.
“Guys you shouldn’t be here! Abbacchio is gonna get all huffy if he finds out.”
“Pshh, that's not going to happen cause he’s not going to! And even if he does he most likely won’t do anything….maybe,” Narancia says.
“You should be more worried about yourself. Why are you even here?” Fugo asks.
“Okay calm down there sassy pants.” You cross your arms, “I’m just passing by….”
Mista smirks, “You’re such a shit liar.”
You pout, “....JUST LEAVE!”
All three of them laugh but to your surprise move to leave the mines.
“Wow y’all are actually listening to me?” You hadn’t known them for that long but in the last two weeks you realized pretty quickly that they did whatever they felt like unless Bruno was involved.
“We were about to leave anyway,” Narancia says.
“He already went through two albums of his annoying music,” Mista adds.
Narancia huffs at him in offense. “It’s not annoying!”
“Don’t do anything stupid,” Fugo warns.
And with that they exit the mines.
You sigh and walk further into the mine. There's a ladder descending into a hole near a pile of rocks. You also notice the elevator at the back.
After waiting for a while, you realize that pressing the up button does nothing.
Part of you wants to go down the ladder and see what's waiting at the end but you don't know how sturdy it is. You're already taking a risk being in a mine that's entrance apparently collapsed at one point.
Reluctantly, you decide to just head back before something bad happens and Abbacchio chews you out for it, but as you walk towards the exit the elevator behind you pings and you turn to see a tall brunette exit it.
"Hey!" You raise your brow when he points a finger at you. "What are you doing?" He squints, “...and who are you?"
You freeze under his skeptical look. "...I’m ___."
"I don't know any ___."
You rush to explain yourself. "The new farmer who moved in!" For some reason you felt nervous, like a child caught eating sugar.
The man continues to stare you down before realization crosses his face.
"Oh!" He adjusts his scarf, "It's great that you're here then cause I totally forgot to deliver that letter Lisa Lisa asked me to!" He scratches at the back of his neck.
"...Huh?" This had to be your strangest interaction in town so far.
"I’m Joseph by the way. Joseph Joestar."
"I’m ___."
"You already said that."
"Oh yea."
"I swear not this dense! Usually just a regular level of dense." You fiddle with your overall straps.
"Oh man, I was worried you’d be a stick in the mud like Caesar but you seem chill! You should totally join our guild."
You blink. "What guild?"
"The adventure guild obviously! You haven't heard of us? Haven't you've been here for over a week?" He continues without waiting for answers. "Anyways, it's a guild where we go into the mines to kick the shit out of monsters and pretty much keep them from over running the mines. It’s been awhile since we’ve actually gotten to do that though..."
You gawk. "Monsters?" This man couldn't be serious. “There're monsters in these mines? T-Those exist?"
“Yep and they're super scary!”
You swallow nervously. Why would you want to be involved with something like that?
"Kidding! They're mainly cute slimes, pesky bugs and bats until you get deeper. Then they start to get really weird."
"You're making me seem super old! I'm only like 26 so just call me Joseph. The mines really aren't that bad though." The way this man switches from one topic to another would take some getting used to.
He reaches to his side where a sword hangs, unhooks it and holds it out to you.
You make no move to grab it.
"Why don't you try the first couple of levels? I promise you probably won't die. The elevator will bring you back up whenever you get tired."
He pushes the sword into your hand. "When you're done just visit the building next door. I’ll leave it open for ya!"
After that he leaves.
Were you supposed to go right now? You stare at the rusty sword in your hand.
Well you wouldn't even be in Pelican Town unless you didn't take risks. (And you actually wanted to go down, you just had an excuse to do so now.)
You ignore the logical side of your brain saying that that wasn't comparable to going down into a monster filled mine and head towards the ladder.
This is really dumb.
-----
The gelatinous mass of a pissed off giant, green slime lunges at you. You barely manage to get into a defensive position and block its hit towards your body.
Your arms shake as you push your weight forward and shove the green blob backwards with the side of your sword. Blood runs from the fresh cut you just gained across your palm due to your careless grip on the sword’s blade. Ignoring the sting, you quickly raise the sword knowing the slime will lunge again.
When it rushes at you, you bring your weapon down as hard as you can. It was slightly late but fortunately, the sword’s blade easily slices through its soft, green body and manages to catch it in the center. The blob’s movement abruptly stops as it struggles to keep its consistency.
A second passes before green slime rushes past your whole body. You accidentally get some in your mouth.
After the slime starts to settle, you cough and wipe at your face, trying to get it away from your eyes.
‘Cute slimes’ my ass.
While you grumble about Joseph's lack of warning, you try to get the slime off your hands. This distracts you enough that a small slime manages to jump onto your leg. You swiftly shake it off then realize small slimes are forming from the goo around your boots.
After you handle them, you high tail it to the elevator door before more crap tries to attack you.
You’ve definitely had enough for today.
-----
You enter the wooden building covered in dirt and drying goop--you were taking a long shower after this.
"OH MY GOD YOU ACTUALLY DID IT!?" Joseph's loud accented voice makes you jump.
He's sitting near the counter. A lady behind it with long brunette hair and sunglasses looks at you. Why she was wearing sunglasses indoors, you didn’t know but they looked good on her.
"Uhhh yea… Wasn’t that the point?"
"I didn't think you’d actually go down there you mad lad!"
You open your mouth but no words come out in your confusion.
"Jesus Christ Joseph can you shut the hell up!" A voice comes from a room in the back.
A blonde man with a colorful headband comes through the door. "Why are you being so loud for anyway-" His eyes land on your slime covered form.
He immediately turns towards the brunette man. "What did you do?" He says, irritation clear in his voice.
"What! You're already blaming me!?"
"Yes because only you would cause something like this!”
You stare at the two bickering worried that they might actually get physical.
"Boys."
They both quiet down immediately.
You brows raise in surprise.
The lady stands up from the chair looking directly at you. Her smooth, authoritative voice continues. "Looks like you've got what it takes to fight. Even though I told Joseph to keep watch--"
You see Caesar shoot said man a glare. Joseph only smiles and looks away.
"--you handled it on your own though and right away at that."
She removes her glasses from her face. "Are you ready to start your initiation?"
#might have had a little too much fun writing joseph lol#stars and stardrops#chapter 5#jjba#JoJo's Bizarre Adventure#Jojo no Kimyou na Bouken#imma only list the new characters that showed up#reimi sugimoto#joseph joestar#caesar zeppeli#lisa lisa#My writing#fic#reader insert#imma just let my reader be a dumbass#cause it feels right#stardew valley#stardew x jjba
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Incalescent- Chapter One
Pairing: Paul Lahote x Fem!OC
Summary: Em just wants to be loved and have a family for once in her life. But nothing has ever gone right in her life before so why should it now?
Word Count: 7.3k
Warnings: some violence and shitty writing
A/N: Listen, I don’t think I’m a good writer so bare with me this could be terrible! Let me know what you guys think of it!
People say the only thing guaranteed in life is death but for me that's a lie. I had only been on this earth for twenty-three years and I knew death would never come for me, at least not a natural one. The only thing guaranteed for me was the all consuming loneliness and disappointment that seemed to only get worse as each year ticked away.
Sometimes it would hit me that this was my life forever. The thought alone could suck me into a blackhole of despair, my chest tightening and my lungs fighting to get oxygen. I was thankful this never happened in front of anyone, I could always pull myself out of it before I had to explain anything to my dad.
My father was just as tense as he usually was with his hands gripping the steering wheel, driving us to our new home. I had lost count over the years how many times we moved, it felt like so many that it would be impossible to even count to the number anyway. With every new place we moved came even more distance between us.
Nothing was ever the same, the only thing the same was my father. He hadn’t changed at all since my first memory of him, no wrinkles on his face or grey peeking through his carefully coiffed hair. He was the reason we had to move all the time, he had been doing so for about three hundred years before I made my appearance in the world. After being in the same town for a couple years, people began to question how he never seemed to age, coupling that with the uneasiness people felt around him we always had to move.
Keeping our secret was the only way to survive in the world. We wanted to be civilized, living in a house, having a job or in my case continuously going to school and hunting animals instead of humans. We had met others like us, more so like him, over the years of us traveling the world and they were practically unhinged. They never seemed to care about human life, their beady red eyes darting around looking ready to drain every last drop of an innocent without a second thought.
Meeting other vampires were few and far between, thankfully. My father always made sure to sniff out the town, literally, before moving to it. Vampires who had red eyes were very territorial, their hunting grounds not something to mess with. Even with us explaining we didn’t hunt humans they wanted nothing to do with us but it was fine because we didn’t want to deal with them either. It had only happened twice when I was still little and my dad had moved us to a new town right away.
I understood why we had to move all the time, especially lately with how me and my dad looked the same age. There was no way he could pass for more than a few years as my dad and even that was pushing it. I just didn’t understand his intolerance of me, he tried his hardest not to talk too much with me or have a deeper relationship that I had seen other fathers have with their daughters. Years of my life I felt had been wasted trying to get him to do anything fatherly with me, I had never even heard him say ‘I love you’ to me.
“We’re almost there,” He muttered quietly to me, if I didn’t have vampire hearing I wouldn’t have caught it. I side eyed him and found he was looking at me wearily, his dark golden eyes became emotionless once again after a minute. I pulled my cardigan tighter to my body and crossed my arms, letting out a small huff. As we passed by a sign that said ‘Welcome to Forks’ it began to pour, loud booms of thunder piercing through the otherwise quiet car. Times like this reminded me that I was half human, everytime the weather even became the tiniest bit gloomy I began to get a severe migraine.
The whole area we were driving through seemed to be nothing but trees. Huge, drooping trees that were being weighed down by the pouring rain. Rain pelted the car, having not once let up since my father had announced that we were close to our destination. Thick moss covered huge boulders that lined the sides of the road. Deer seemed to be in abundance, practically lining the trees just inside the tree line.
Bright red leaves caught my eye once we pulled down a new street. The only color besides green I had seen for miles. The tree the leaves covered was huge and almost hid the whole house behind it. The tree was semi wrapping itself around a telephone pole. The trees color contrasted heavily with the plain white house behind it and the surrounding greenery. To the left of the massive red tree was an even bigger green one, a few branches so weighed down with water that they were almost touching the ground below.
“You can stay in the car if you want,” My dad mumbled to me as he shut off the car. He got out and cold wind whipped into the car before he could close the door. I pulled my cardigan tighter to me again and watched him as he walked toward the moving truck I hadn’t seen before. There were two men standing outside of it, soaked from the rain, waiting for him. They exchanged some brief words before opening the back of the truck and climbing on to begin getting stuff out.
I tried to play around on my phone while they moved our stuff into the house but nothing was interesting. Every article was just another reiteration of the same few stories that had gotten big the past week and I had already read into them. This week I knew far too much about some youtuber who had put out toxic makeup, next week would probably be the same. Endless stories about useless things I used to fill any void I felt.
My eyes lifted from my phone to see my father single handedly carrying in a huge recliner as the two movers stared at his retreating back in awe. The two of them exchanged a look and shrugged, silently agreeing neither of them get paid enough to question it. They moved box by box and pillow by pillow and were done in record time. My father was handing them a tip as one of the movers bravely asked how my dad was able to lift things that were so heavy and move so quickly.
He chuckled lightly and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand nervously. Then he muttered something about having a daughter who didn’t want to move in the first place, so he wanted to get it done as quickly as possible. The two movers looked over to me as I sat in the car and nodded in agreement with my dad as they probably noticed the irritation on my face.
The two movers said goodbye and got into their truck and took off down the road. Each turn of the tires on the truck made a wet, crunching sound as they pulled off onto another street and out of view. A gust of chilly wind flowed through the car when my dad pulled open the driver seat door to reach in and grab his bag. He said nothing to me as got his stuff and the car keys, slamming the door and marching his way into the house. I watched as the door closed behind him with a small clicking sound.
The rain and my headache had lightened up a little bit but they were both still annoyingly there. It seemed that I had spoken too soon because just as I decided to get out of the car and go inside the rain began to pelt the car harder and searing pain shot behind my right eye and to the back of my head. A loud crack of thunder sounded across the sky, shaking the ground slightly and making me wince in pain. Gritting my teeth I got out of the car and ran through the rain to get inside.
The front door opened to reveal a narrow hallway and a bulky staircase to the right of it. I could see into the living room just to my left from the front door. My dad was already putting together the TV and wifi, kneeling in front of the fireplace mantle that had our tv displayed on it. He was muttering to himself about how technology these days was useless and combing through different wires he had in a box. Even with his advanced senses he had difficulty with today's technology, which didn’t make sense to me because he had been alive for over 300 years and watched as technology progressed.
“Do you need help?” I asked him, setting my bag down on the couch across from him. He shook his head and didn’t bother looking up at me. “I guess I’ll go set up my room a little bit and take a nap, I have a killer migraine.”
“Sure,” he muttered, pulling the wires out of a box and trying to untangle them. I watched him for a minute, waiting for him to maybe say more to me. Or maybe show that he cared even a little bit about me. Watching him became awkward and disappointing quickly so I grabbed my bag and ran up the stairs two at a time. The door at the top of the stairs was open and I could see my stuff all piled around the room, I hadn’t seen the house beforehand so he had just assigned me a room.
It wasn’t a bad choice on his part, it was the master bedroom with an en suite. When you first walked in the first thing you would see was a huge picture window with a window seat attached to it and a small bookshelf under the seat. To the left was my bed and to the right was a wall covered by a bookshelf and the door to the en suite.
My mind wandered to all the different things I could do with this room to try and make myself feel at home. I took out some decorative pillows and a couple throw blankets and threw them onto the window seat. The next thing I did was put my bed together, throwing on my favorite blue sheets and quilt set.
The distraction of arranging my room took my mind off the weather and my headache, during which time both had gone away. Though my mood and the weather were still gloomy it was nothing compared to earlier.
My body felt heavy as I got some sweats out of one of my clothes boxes and pulled them on. The freshly made bed in front of me had never looked more inviting so I climbed in and wrapped myself in the quilt. I wasn’t one who usually fell asleep quickly but as I yawned and snuggled closer to my pillows I knew it wouldn’t take long today.
I shot awake what felt like two minutes later, sweat beading all over my body. My breathing my heavy and uneven, the quilt I had wrapped up in now at the end of my bed having been kicked away during my dream. It was the same dream I always had when we first moved to a new town, yet I never expected it.
There was a woman, completely and utterly starved. Her eyes were sunken in and surrounded by the deepest black, worse than any black eyes I had ever seen. Her lips were chapped, white pieces flaking off here and there with deep splits in them covered in dried blood. Her hair was the same color as mine except hers looked like it was covered in dust.
The clothes she was wearing were stained in blood, some fresh and some all dried up. Her chest didn’t move up and down with every breath, she was still. There was no sign of life left in her
Someone was screaming her name in the background, managing to choke it out between sobs. You could hear the endless chant of “Mary, please don’t!’ and “Mary, please stay with me!’ but there was nothing else the person could do, her eyes were blank as they stared ahead. Whoever she was she was gone and not coming back.
I pressed the palms of my hands to my eyes and tried to calm down. The dream felt like a memory, a distant one. This dream came around all the time but I couldn’t place who the woman was, I couldn’t recall that I had ever seen her. A few years back I had even tried looking up what dreams meant but came up short.
Taking a deep breath I realized my dad was cooking something downstairs, the scent of garlic was now making its way into my room. I didn’t want to think too much of it but he never usually cooked for me since he doesn’t eat. He would go out and hunt his dinner while I stayed home with stolen blood bag and whatever I decided to cook for myself.
I got out of bed and followed the scent down into the kitchen to see my dad leaning on the counter while something was cooking on the stove. He had a small piece of paper in his hand and he was staring at it, a look of grief on his face. He was so distracted by whatever the paper held that he didn’t know I had come downstairs and almost jumped when he saw me. He shoved the paper quickly into his back pocket and went back to the stove.
The only sound in the kitchen was the popping of the food he was cooking. We didn’t say a word to each other as I went to sit at the island in the middle of the kitchen and watched him cook.I had caught him a few times looking at what I assumed to be the same paper, him never telling me what it was. I noticed the piece of paper sticking out of his jeans so I leapt up from the table and trying to go as fast and as quiet as I could I went to grab it.
My success was short lived because just as I got a hand on whatever it was he had his hand around my wrist stopping me. He had turned around so fast, his senses alerting him to my movement practically before I even decided to do it. That was the trouble with being on half vampire, you were barely half as powerful as a full one.
“Em,” he whispered, with a threatening hint to his voice. I stared at him for a minute, my chest heaving as I decided on what to do. Without hesitation I threw my head forward, every negative thing I had pent up coming out in this moment for no reason. My forehead hit his mouth, hurting me more than him but taking him by surprise. The paper was still pinched between my fingers, his grip loosened on my arm and I spun around looking down at whatever the paper was.
“Mary,” I gasped, recognizing the woman on the paper. She looked much better here, her bright eyes not sunken in and her hair was exactly like mine, shiny with life. She was smiling widely, her nose crinkled as she laughed at whatever the camera hadn’t captured.
“How do you know her name?” My dad asked gravely from behind he. For some reason his words came out breathless though he had no reason to breathe, he didn’t need to. Slowly I turned around to look at him. My brain was going over every possible answer to who she was, trying not to go to the one I was dreading.
“I-I dream about her sometimes,” I whispered to him. He looked crazed, his eyes wide and darting from my face to the picture in my hand. I looked away from him and down to the picture again. There was no getting around it, this could’ve been a picture of me if I had ever been given the opportunity to laugh.
“Mary’s your mother,” He stated, his voice no longer breathless. He had straightened his posture when I looked back up at him. He was now glaring at me, disgust written all over his face. The woman in the picture that I had been dreaming about for years was my mother? He had never once talked about her. I didn’t even really know the concept of having a mom until he put me in school and I saw that everyone else had one and when I asked him about my mom he always ignored me or told me not to talk about it.
“You’ve never…” I let my sentence trail off. He wouldn’t talk about her with me and yet he kept a picture of her that he looked at all the time.
“You killed her.” He spat at me and I froze looking at him through the corner of me eye but not directly. He had backed up into the hallway and out of the kitchen. Whatever he had been cooking was now burning and sending smoke through the house.
“No, I-,” I cut myself off, my eyes darting around trying to remember more of the dream. How could I have killed my own mother? She had never been there and I could remember further back than a human could, I could remember practically back to when I was still a tiny newborn.
“When she was pregnant you sucked the life right out of her,” He explained quietly and when I finally looked up at him with tears spilling down my cheeks he looked like he regretted bringing any of it up. My stomach lurched and my chest tightened thinking of it. I had killed my own mother?
“I don’t…” I tried to start another sentence but they weren’t forming. Realization rushed at me so fast I almost fell backwards, I ended up stumbling back a couple steps before stopping myself. I suddenly felt this hatred bubbling up inside me, I hated everything about my life before and now I could feel hatred for myself. I shouldn’t exist, a human and a vampire shouldn’t have made a child. A killer.
“Em, I don’t know what else to say,” my dad mumbled suddenly closer to me. He ice cold hands gripping my upper arms. My eyes met his sorrow filled ones and tears continued to pour from mine.
“I get it now,” I whispered, shrugging out of his grip. I set the picture down on the island before slowly walking toward the door. Everything in my life suddenly made sense and even though I had clarity I felt no better. I felt worse. My dad looked at me as I slid the backdoor open and turned around to gaze into the backyard.
“That’s why you don’t like me,” I said quietly, as I looked toward the sky. It was pitch black out and rain was falling so heavily I don’t know how I didn’t hear it before. The sky lit up as a flash of lightning struck across the sky, followed by thunder so loud it shook the house and even made me stumble a bit. I looked back at him before continuing to speak. “You hate me because I killed her.”
“Em-” I ran out the back door before he could finish. My clothes became soaked almost immediately, sticking to my skin as I ran as fast as I could through the forest. My bare feet went numb from the cold and I couldn’t feel the ground underneath me but I didn’t care, I kept running as fast as I could.
My mind was reeling as it made sense of everything. My dad not taking an interest in having a relationship with me make complete sense to me now. He hated me for killing the woman he loved even though I didn’t do it on purpose, I never would. I was half vampire but I couldn’t bring myself to kill a fly, let alone my own mother.
I heard a loud scream and was startled before I realized it was me. While I ran my body vibrated with anger, nature seemed to agree with me as lightning started to strike more frequently and closer. This was going to be my eternity, wandering the world by my dads side while he hated me. I let out another scream before I could even stop myself. A loud crack of thunder shook the ground I was running on at the same time.
Ahead of me was a river so I tensed my body and made my legs push me off the ground as hard as I could. I flew through the air and just as I was about to land on the other side a big mass of fur came out of nowhere and knocked me backwards into the rocky river. As the mass knocked into me I had felt something sharp pierce my right calf. My body turned as I fell and slammed into jagged rocks. My whole right side getting scraped up and my head hitting hard. My breath hitched in my throat as the pain coursed through my body.
I rolled off the rock and into the water, it wasn’t deep but if I laid my head back too much it would be completely submerged. A sob loudly broke from my chest as I used my left arm to try and pull myself up. I couldn't stop my crying but something had just attacked me and I wasn’t going to die this way. My right leg was ready to give out from under me, a huge bite mark was present, most of my pant leg torn away. As I stood and blinked my eyes to clear my vision the huge mass of fur was making its way toward me. I stood completely still, frozen to my spot as I realized what it was.
A huge wolf, at least 5 times the size of a regular wolf was stalking toward me. His silver/grey fur gleamed in the moonlight. I dared a glance up at the sky, the clouds were parting letting the moon peek out. When had it stopped raining?
“Go ahead and kill me, that’s I deserve,” I sobbed out. There was no way this wolf understood me but he was going to kill me anyway so I might as well make it therapeutic for myself. “I shouldn’t even be alive, I killed my own mother. I deserve to be torn apart, my father would love it.”
The wolf stopped walking toward me and cocked its head to the side. The wolf looked to be examining me, his eyes roaming my body and stopping to look at each gash on my right side. When our eyes locked I could’ve gasped, they looked human. The raw emotion coming from them was unbelievable. He looked as if he was in awe as we stared at each other. Underneath the awe was complete sadness, like he understood what I had been saying.
I didn’t want to risk moving and startling the wolf so I stayed as still as I could but my legs were beginning to shake, ready to give out from how much pain I was in. I could feel the blood dripping down my face, neck and arms from all the gashes I had sustained slamming into the rock. My right arm couldn’t move, whether it was broken or just knocked out of the socket I didn’t know and I didn’t think I’d find out since the wolf in front of me was probably planning on having me for dinner.
After a minute my legs gave out and I collapsed to my knees, clutching my right arm as I went. Hot, fat tears rolled down my cheeks knowing the wolf took this as a surrender and was probably gearing up to eat. When I caught his gaze again there was even more emotion than before, he looked undeniably upset. Sadness and anger all mixed into one. He took several steps back and let out the loudest howl I had ever heard and ran up the rocky cliff and disappeared into the woods.
My whole body relaxed when he was gone from view but that was short lived because the pain I was feeling before was nothing compared to what I was feeling now. Struggling through the pain I began to inch forward, using my left arm to pull me up the rocky embankment. Before I was even halfway up I heard someone coming down, it wasn’t a wolf this time. Warm arms wrapped themselves around my body and pulled me up gently.
“Are you okay?” The person carrying me asked. My eyes were closed as pain coursed through my body. I would heal quicker than a human but I couldn’t escape the pain. I nodded in response to the stranger and let my body relax in their arms. He was warmer than most humans I had met, the warmth strangely comforting as he walked through the woods.
“We should get out of here quickly,” I mumbled, sounding very tired. “There was a really big wolf and it’ll probably come back for us.”
He chuckled, his chest rumbling against my body. “We’ll be fine.”
Despite knowing better I kept going in and out of consciousness. My eyes not opening even once to look at the man helping me. My mind not even questioning how he was so strong and warm or how he was able to navigate the pitch black woods as a human without enhanced vision.
Before long I regained consciousness a little and felt myself be laid down on something soft, I could hear voices around me talking but wasn’t aware enough to decipher words yet. I felt a warm, wet cloth on my feet, someone was washing them very gently and muttering something as they did. Before long the cloth was on my face and neck, cleaning up the blood that had probably caked my skin.
“She’s healing really fast,” A voice murmured to someone, different than the voice of the man who had carried me to wherever I was. I felt small, warm fingers prodding the skin of my arm and shoulder. “The injuries she sustained from hitting the rock are practically gone. The bite mark you gave her isn’t though.”
“Maybe she’s a wolf too since her healing is incredibly fast,” the voice was female and very beautiful. The words flowing out of her mouth like a song. I was comforted by the fact that it was a woman cleaning me up and not another man.
“She looked scared when she saw me. If she was a wolf she would’ve phased to protect herself,” another voice said, the same one of the man who carried me here. There was a murmur of agreement between the three voices. The man who carried me here sounded like he was saying that he was a wolf and that would explain the emotion in the wolf's eyes but that wouldn’t explain his existence. But who was I to say anything when my father was a vampire and I was half.
“We’ve dealt with vampires and werewolves before, who’s to say there aren’t more supernatural beings out there? When she wakes up we can ask her but until then she needs her rest, she’s been through a lot.” The female voice was back, taking control of the situation. Her small hands stopped examining my wounds and left my body to be replaced with a blanket.
I wanted to open my eyes and start explaining myself to them and thank them for helping me but I was beginning to drift off again. It took my body a lot of energy to heal, sleeping it off was always my best bet. Before I could even begin to argue with myself that this might not be the safest option I was asleep.
My senses were in overdrive as I came too a while later. I wasn’t even fully awake, my eyes cracked open just slightly as I leapt off of the couch. My feet hit the floor and a shooting pain went through my right calf and up my body, almost making me fall. I was breathing hard as I tried to concentrate and gather my senses.
Three people were standing around the room, the two closest to me were men and the one furthest sitting at the kitchen table was a woman with violent red scars down her face. The woman had a sad expression on her face as she looked at me, my face pinched up in pain from my leg wound that oddly hadn’t fully healed yet. One of the men mirrored her face, his eyes were sad and somehow he was still the most handsome guy I had ever seen. The man next to him was tense and watching me with weary eyes, he was standing in a defensive position with his hands up as a warning for me to calm down.
“Take it easy,” the defensive man said, trying to relax his position a little so I would feel at ease. It didn’t work, my human side and my vampire side were fighting over what to do. The vampire in me needed to be on defense, ready to fight anything that came my way. The human part of me wanted to surrender because these people had helped me and clearly were not an enemy.
“I’m Paul,” the handsome man stated, taking a step toward me. He gestured to the man next to him as he got closer to me, “That’s Sam and the woman over there is his fiancee, Emily. She’s the one who cleaned you all up and gave you fresh clothes.”
“I’m Em,” I murmured looking around at all of them trying to get my body to recognize that there wasn’t a threat. Paul stepped closer to me, arms reaching out and wrapping one of them around me. I let my legs give out from under me and he easily scooped me up and placed me back on the couch.
“What are you?” Sam asked finally relaxing and sitting on the coffee table that was just in front of the couch. Emily walked over from the kitchen to join him and I looked around at all three of them. All eyes were on me as they got right to the point, their eyes filled with curiosity.
“You guys waste no time,” I mumbled, wondering if I should tell them anything. My mind flashed back to before when I was laying down on the couch half awake listening to what they were saying, how Paul insinuated that he was the wolf in the woods that attacked me. “Maybe I should be asking you the same thing.”
“Have you heard the Quileute legends?” Paul asked from beside me. I looked over at him, his eyes already on me. His eyes were the exact same ones the wolf had, both filled with a look of awe as they searched my face waiting for me to answer.
“No, I’m not familiar with anything from this area. Or any area really,” I mumbled the ending quietly, the three of them all exchanging glances.
“We aren’t going to bombard you with too much at once. Our ancestors, going back for a long time, have been able to shapeshift into wolves.” Sam started to explain, his eyes darting toward Paul who had grown tense next to me. The heat radiating off of him was unbelievable, it was like sitting directly next to a heater.
“So which one of you attacked me in the woods?” I asked looking between the two men. I excluded Emily because judging by the scar on her face she wasn’t a shifter, just someone who had been attacked by one. They had also mentioned earlier that they thought I could be a wolf from my fast healing so the scar on her face was also an indication she wasn’t one of them.
“I did,” Paul said from behind me confirming his story from earlier. When I looked over at him he looked ashamed of himself, like he was ready to jump under a bus from how much he regretted it. I felt the sudden urge to comfort him, the stranger who had attacked me in the woods, I almost laughed from how stupid I felt over it.
“He thought you were a vampire from how fast you were running,” Emily interjected, placing a hand on my knee. My dad, bile rose in my throat as I thought of him, has always been very clear about sharing our secret but I felt safe here and I doubted that they were going to just let me go without answering them. The way they had taken care of me made me think that maybe they could be friends. Maybe they could finally give me what I had been missing my whole life.
“Well, you’d be half right,” I told them. They all exchanged looks again and Sam leaned back running his hands along his thighs as he spoke. He seemed very unsure of how he was going to say what he seemed to need to to me.
“We have a treaty with some other vampires who used to live here, the Cullens,” he paused and looked at me waiting to see if I recognized them. The way he said ‘The Cullens’ made them sound like a bigger coven than I had ever been used to but he said they were gone now so I didn’t have to worry about a fight over territory. When I didn’t show any signs of knowing them, he continued. “Vampires aren’t allowed on our land, it’s a rule we have to protect our families.”
“Oh,” I whispered suddenly disappointed. The part of me that had let myself get comfortable in their presence was now tense and remembered how my life usually went. To stay alive and inconspicuous I had to hide myself away, only doing necessary things to blend into the town and not be spotted.
“Maybe if we knew more about you we could let you and only you, come back here sometime,” Emily offered up, looking over at Sam hopefully. Sam was staring at Paul and paying no attention to anyone else. Paul also had the same hopeful look that Emily did as he stared back at Sam.
“What do you want to know?” I asked them sitting up straighter and waiting for the real interrogation to begin. It seemed to be two against one with Paul and Emily against Sam, who was clearly a leader of some sort to them.
“Are you alone? Do you have like a mate or whatever vampires call their boyfriends?” Paul asked from beside me. That was not the opening question I was expecting. He looked hopeful while I probably looked dumbfounded at the first question, not having expected it.
“Uh, no I don’t have a ‘mate’ but I just moved here with my father who’s a full vampire not just half,” I told them and Sam tensed, his eyes going between Emily and Paul. They all looked nervous and like I just made them think of a million more questions.
“How does that even work? Being half a vampire, we’ve never experienced that and our legends don’t speak of vampires being on ‘half’,” Sam asked, no one else had wanted to continue. I bit my lip unsure of how to continue too. I hadn’t really known either until a few hours ago and the truth was shocking and not something I want to tell strangers about myself. Especially when they had taken care of me.
“I didn’t know until a few hours ago either, I never questioned it and my dad doesn’t really speak to me so I know next to nothing,” I started, gauging their expressions again. Next to me I could feel Paul staring at me and when I looked at him he was looking at me like I could never tell him anything that would make him not like me. The intensity of his look, we were total strangers so it didn’t make sense for him to look at me like this, knocked the breath out of me.
“Continue,” Sam instructed, breaking me away from Pauls gaze. I felt myself frown a little going over every way I could answer them without telling them the complete, horrible truth.
“My vampire father had sex with my human mother and she got pregnant,” I relented shrugging my shoulders and looking around at them. “I don’t know much about vampires or humans really so I don’t really know how any of it works.”
“Where’s your mom now?” Emily asked, making my eyes almost bulge out of my head. How could I even go about explaining this?
“I really don’t know, my dad never talks about anything with me let alone my mom,” I replied sounding casual, to me it sounded too casual. They all seem to be satisfied with my answer, as none of them looked like they were still questioning me.
“This is something we’ve never heard of,” Sam muttered and mumbled under his breath about the legends.
“I thought vampires couldn’t have children,” Emily mentioned sounding puzzled. “Their bodies don’t change, they’re frozen in time.”
“My father only ever told me what I absolutely needed to know about vampires, stay away from the ones with red eyes and hunt inconspicuously. This is all I know,” I said sounding a little defensive.
“Your father doesn’t have red eyes?” Sam asked, a very little bit of relief present in his face.
“His eyes are golden, sometimes black depending on when the last time he hunted was,” Sam nodded at me, seeming to believe what I was saying. Next to me Paul scooted closer to me, our knees touching.
“Do you know anything about a red headed vampire? She’s been coming through Forks and La Push for a while now, she’s after one of our friends,” Paul asked and I shook my head, I had met a red headed vampire a few years back but she wasn’t alone.
“I’ve only met a few other vampires, one of them was red headed but I doubt its her because she was part of a small coven with her mate and a friend they picked up along the way,” I answered them, if it was her they were in trouble. When I met her, Victoria, she had been with her mate James and their newest addition, Laurent. James was the most lethal tracker in the world according to my dad and it had been surprising to him that they left me alone.
“Was her name, Victoria?” Paul asked shifting beside me and grabbing my shoulders to bring me out of my thoughts. I looked up at him in surprise, my mouth opening but no words coming out. Paul looked worried and cast a look over at Sam who was standing now, looking out a window into the early morning light. I had been here for longer than I thought, it was almost time for my first day of school.
“I’m guessing you’ve met her,” Sam stated not bothering to really ask or look back at me. I shrugged out of Paul’s grip and got up and went over to him.
“I have never met anyone who has ever made me as uneasy as Victoria and James did, they are absolutely lethal. James is a tracker, once he ‘tastes’ your mind he can find you anywhere, he does not give up,” I said looking around the room, mainly toward Emily. Paul and Sam had some advantage over the vampires but Emily was defenseless. “Victoria I would say is even worse, she can’t be caught. Some vampires have gifts like James does, I know that much about them, somehow Victoria has the gift of self preservation or that’s what my dad heard over the years.”
“The friend she’s after was friendly with the Cullens. James tried to kill her so the Cullens killed him and now Victoria wants revenge,” Paul explained coming over to us. I relaxed a little hearing that James was dead but Victoria alone could be deadly.
“We haven’t picked up her scent in a little while though,” Sam said eyeing me. Next to him Paul tensed up at the look Sam was giving me. “It’s good to have some information on her though, now we can be more vigilant if she shows up.”
“I can always help,” I offered, the look on Paul’s face making it clear he didn’t want me to help but Sam looked surprised. “I only have school, my first day starts soon so I should be getting to that so I look normal or whatever but I can come back...if you want.”
“You’d help us kill one of your own?” Sam asked sounding intrigued.
“She’s not one of my own, I don’t really have anyone. I guess my dad counts as my own but I probably would fight him too if it was to save innocent people,” I explained, practically wincing when I mentioned my dad. My brain was trying desperately to suppress the events that had taken place back at my house and focus solely on this.
“You should come back but I wouldn’t want you getting hurt helping us,” Paul replied quickly. My face flushed when he said it was him that didn’t want me to get hurt. There was something about Paul that I liked but I couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was.
“You can come back but let your father know he isn’t welcome on our land,” Sam told me, he didn’t wait for me to say anything else or leave. He disappeared to a room just off the kitchen, the door slamming shut so loudly that even I flinched.
“He’ll come around,” Emily assured me but looked over at Paul, more so assuring him. The last few hours had been a lot of information to take in and I was too overwhelmed to question anything more about Paul. Emily was moving around the kitchen quickly grabbing stuff and putting it into a paper bag.
“Can I walk you home?” Paul asked, taking my attention away from Emily.
“You can, you’ll just have to leave before we get too close to my house. My dad doesn’t like me talking to anyone unless it is absolutely necessary,” He frowned when I said it but quickly pushed that thought out of his mind.
“Here you go, some breakfast and lunch since we kept you so long and you’re running late for your first day,” Emily handed me the paper bag she had been filling. She had a wide, cheerful smile on her face as she waved Paul and I off.
My heart hammered in my chest at all the possibilities of my new home. In a matter of hours of being here I learned so much, way more than my dad had ever wanted me to know. I felt like I was going to be able to finally become independent from him and able to set my own course in life. I didn’t know what the end result would look like but I knew it was happening.
Tagged:
@angelenemies @twilightxcx
#paul lahote#paul lahote smut#paul lahote fic#paul lahote fanfic#sam uley#jacob black#quil ateara#embry call#seth clearwater#leah clearwater#jared cameron#esme cullen#carlisle cullen#jasper hale#alice cullen#emmett cullen#rosalie hale#edward cullen#bella swan#twilight#new moon#eclipse#breaking dawn#twilight fic#twilight fanfic
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