#WHEN I TELL YOU I SCREECHED WHEN PICO CAME OUT | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ayy-jayy-siciliani · 3 years

Text

One Year || Self-Para

When: March 23rd, 2021 ; March 22nd, 2020

Where: Pico District, Santa Monica, California; Ocean Park, Santa Monica, California

Warnings: Gaslighting, Emotional Abuse, Violence, Abuse Mention.

Featuring: Lexa and Maverick Maxwell

Like every Tuesday, AJ made his way to therapy to talk about his mental health struggles and life in general. It was nearly two years ago that he decided to go into therapy because of the haunting childhood memories coming back in flashes, but today, marked a year. It was a very serious year that he didn’t talk about, the turbulent times with his ex girlfriend, Madison. Today would be the day he’d open the letter to himself that he wrote to himself last year. It would be a day where he’d probably cry in the office and ask Lydia to lay on her lap later on and drown out the noise from the world. Either way, it was a hard day because of what surfaced back to the surface.

When he was handed the letter from Dr. T, he could feel his heart racing against his chest.

“Take your time, AJ. It’s okay.”

He nodded at the woman, biting his lip nervously as he opened the letter and took at the scrawled writing. He could remember how shaky his hands were as he wrote down everything in an account. It was a page of pain, of heartache, of feeling so useless, of feeling like he failed as a human being. When in reality, none of it was his fault.

******************

March 22nd, 2020, AJ’s Beach House.

“Luke hangs around the other two and I don’t feel comfortable having him at the party,” AJ pointed out with a concerned look as he leaned against the counter.

Madison scoffed, rolling her icy blue eyes as she made her way through the living room, picking up for the event. “None of them have been around here at all, so it’s likely Luke realized the other two guys aren’t shit and he just wanted to have fun. It’s no big deal.”

It was something Madison always said to AJ. She constantly invalidated how he was feeling, constantly made him feel like he was paranoid.

“You’re being such a Sag, chill out,” She retorted at his silence. AJ sighed, and shook his head. He was standing his ground this time.

“Nahh man. He’s real simpatico with the other two, I’ve seen it before. Even Mav’s seen them talking—“

“I mean I didn’t see that he was talking to them, bu tat this point. There’s nothing we can do. It’s mad fucked up to be like ‘jk, you can’t come because you know people we don’t like,’” She interrupted him.

At this point AJ started to back down and then said, “I’m just saying, keep an eye out for that cause he can’t be trusted. I’mma leave it at that.”

“If we’re taking back invites, then you can tell them,” Madison responded, her ice cold glare met AJ’s defeated stare. She was relentless. Always pushing, always wanting to climb the ranks. She’d do anything for a smidge of popularity. Even if it meant making him and his friends uncomfortable.

“If you want to invite them, that’s your prerogative. I’m just saying be careful what you say around him since you want to keep him. That’s all,” He finally said as he pushed himself off the counter to go grab the door, but before he could, Madison snapped. In typical Madison fashion.

“If you want to fucking tell them that they’re not invited then that’s YOUR prerogative and you can go ahead and figure out how to do that without making us look like a bunch of jackasses and making it so no one wants to come to the party because we take back invitations and don’t let people in if we don’t like the people they hang around. I’m not sitting here pointing fingers at the whole city —“

AJ had dissociated so hard, that he didn’t even realize that Maverick had walked into the apartment with the beef and cooler for the beer to where he saw the whole commotion. He looked at AJ with sad eyes, watching him get completely torn apart by that pompous bitch. Ever since she moved to Santa Monica, she swore up and down that she was queen of the joint just because her family was good at real estate, big fucking whoop.

“I mean, I was about to invite Lexa and that bitch is buddy buddy with Vanessa and your sister. Like we aren’t giving people we don’t know chances now? Like literally NONE of those guys have been around to harass you or your friends. Sometimes people like to party hop, who are we to judge? But if you want to kick him out, you can tell them and you can figure out how to do it,” She rambled.

“You know what, fuck you, Madison. I’m tired of your fucking shit. Leave AJ alone and go fuck off somewhere,” Mav snapped at her, causing AJ to snap back into reality.

“Mav, it’s good—I got this,” He said.

“Are you going to let him fucking talk to me like that, Anthony?!” Madison screeched.

“Madison, shut up, holy shit!” He yelled at the top of his lungs, his body trembling in anger.

Maverick quickly backed out at how loud AJ had yelled, as he had never seen the other male ever this angry. Madison, was stunned to silence.

“Fuck this. I’m out. Do whatever you want,” Madison finally said after a moment of silence.

“It’s not even my fucking party, so???” AJ called out.

“Fuck you, I’m out. Do whatever you want. Cancel it, send everyone home. I don’t care because I’m not dealing with this disrespectful petty bullshit,” She fired back.

“Aight, bet. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out,” He shrugged.

“You know how fucking toxic and fucking bullsht and petty that is? And if you don’t, then I don’t know what to say, either way, we’re done here. I’m out. I’m not doing this again. I literally said I wouldn’t do this again if it was like this, so I’m not,” She rambled on.

“Okay, so what’re you doing here then? I already told you, don’t let the door hit you on the way out. Do I need to spell it out for you, Mads? It’s over. O-V-E-R,” He said with vitriol filling his system. She attempted to go in to slap him when a hand came in and twisted her arm.

“He said it’s over and I believe he asked for you to leave, did he not, Madison?” Lexa called out.

“Ow, you’re hurting me!” She shrieked.

“And yet you were about to hurt a good friend of mine. Make that make sense. It doesn’t right? Here’s the deal, sweets” Lexa twisted the woman’s arm harder and pushed her up against the wall.

Meanwhile, AJ made his way over to the bathroom with Maverick in tow to make sure his best friend was okay.

“You’re going to leave MY city by the end of the night or I will let Gossip God in on the whole ordeal and I will make sure your reputation is destroyed and your family’s little ‘empire’ will fall to pieces at my hands. You’re done here, Madison,” Lexa responded, venom seeming through every word.

Madison looked at Lexa with contempt for a moment as Lexa continued to twist the woman’s arm harder until there was fear, and pain, in her eyes. “Do, I make myself clear?” Lexa asked.

“Crystal,” She yelped out.

With that, Madison was out the door and never to be seen again…and AJ had to be put together in order to brave through this party.

****************************************

“Dear AJ,” AJ began, “You went through a nightmare of an evening. You dumped your girlfriend after months of invalidation, of feeling worthless, of feeling less than a man. It was hard, but you had your friends to support you.”

He took a breath, and wiped a tear away. “I hope, a year from now you’ll be in a better place. That you’ll find love within yourself. That you’ll learn the good about astrology rather than the bullshit Madison fed you. You’re a good Sagittarius…you’re a good person. Don’t let her take away your power,” He continued.

“I’m proud of you no matter what. Ma’s proud of you, Ivy’s proud of you, Lola’s proud, Nonna and Pops, your whole family. Don’t let yourself feel less than because of one insecure person. You are worthy of being loved. You are worthy. Hang in there,” He breathed out and could feel the tears welling up.

Dr. T slid over the tissue box towards AJ and he took a few, wiping a few tears away and took a breath.

“How did that feel?”

“Freeing,” He smiled and nodded. “Definitely freeing,” He took a breath.

“AJ, you’ve come a long way from this. Look at you, in a committed relationship, rising the ranks in the NFL, you have a strong support system. You’re getting there, and even I am proud of you,” the older woman nodded with a smile.

“Thanks, doc.”

#sp

2 notes · View notes

darkgreiga · 6 years

Text

Wishes, Dreams, and Memories Chapter 15

Fandom: Rune Factory 4 Rating: T (to be safe) Genre(s): Adventure, Hurt/Comfort Characters: Lest, Dolce, Pico, Amber, Dylas, Leon, Frey, Arthur, Margaret, Forte Summary: She had a wish to see him again. He had a dream of her last moments. They had their memories of having only each other. The amnesiac Earthmate never knew that by bringing his best friend back wouldn’t make his daily life go back to normal. Nor did he know she was the key to his and his ancestors’ past. Chapters: list Navigation: <<prev | next>> Author’s notes: The action scene at the end is basically a compilation of what kendo matches usually like, but it’s not entirely the same as the actual matches. For now, I’ve got nothing else to add about that part.

Chapter 15 – Corrupted

It was pitch black all around him. The hazel-haired Earthmate opened his eyes and looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings. Tall leafless trees were the only ones he could see on his left, right and front along with the cloudy night sky above him. He took some steps away from his initial spot and the sound of dried leaves being crushed was the only sound he could hear. He walked as he called out for his friends, but he was surprised that no voice came out. It was as if he couldn’t talk at all.

The atmosphere of the forest of dead trees was starting to make him more uneasy and he quickened his walking pace straight forward. He didn’t know where he was or how he got there in the first place, but he felt that something was wrong in the area. The air was fresh, the forest was quiet, but he couldn’t feel any signs of life coming from the forest at all. He couldn’t feel any signs of rune energy flowing like he used to and the thickening fog was making him feel worse.

Lest stopped in his tracks in the middle of the foggy forest and looked around at his barely visible surroundings. After all those years of battling monsters, his senses were telling him that something was there with him within the foggy area. He stood still as he was trying to pinpoint the other presence as the sound of footsteps was getting louder and louder.

A low growl came from behind him suddenly, making the Earthmate turn around instinctively to look straight at a pair of glowing red eyes. Lest quickly reached for his sword sheath, but it wasn’t on its place. He was completely armless with something or someone trying to attack him in a bad environment. The red glow suddenly disappeared from his sight, which had Lest slightly lower his guard, only to be welcomed by a box-like shape shoved against his stomach.

The impact had knocked Lest towards the tree behind him, but the presence quickly left the area before Lest could have a chance to counter. Lest got back to his feet to be greeted by the blowing wind with the scent of flowers. The scent became stronger as a strong wind blew past him, knocking him several feet back.

Lest had held on to a tree before he could fall from the sudden wind, but he could still hear footsteps getting louder and louder. He turned to hide behind the tree and hoped to see who or what was approaching him at high speed, but the fog had limited his vision down to only a few meters in front of him. He could hear the sound of a screeching horse before the tree he had used to hide broke and he was sent flying from his attacker’s sudden impact.

The Earthmate landed hard on the sea of dried leaves into a small clearing with a single narrow path created by his attacker as broken tree trunks were all over the place. Lest could feel a slight pain coming from his legs as he slowly rose to his feet while looking at the pathway in front of him. The fog had slightly cleared out as some light from the moon had shone on the small clearing, but Lest could only make out blurry silhouettes of his previous attackers.

His attention shifted when a familiar cry was heard. It was the familiar pained roar of his best friend, and the silhouette of her had slowly shown itself to Lest along with the silhouettes of Lest’s previous attackers. Much to his horror, his previous attackers had some familiar shapes which he had never forgotten. It was a silhouette of a butterfly flying around as if it was dancing around the struggling dragon, a silhouette of a horse ramming the dragon’s body, and a silhouette of a coffin box flying near the dragon with a faint red color between the two silhouettes.

Lest knew that he had to run and save his friend once more, but his legs had betrayed him as he couldn’t move them at all. The pained roar had cut through all the quietness in the forest, but Lest couldn’t even move to do anything to help her. He forced himself to move, but stopped as he felt another presence from behind him. He had braced himself for any other attacks which might come, only to be greeted by a soft object falling on his head.

The object fell to Lest’s feet and he saw that a wooly doll was the object which had hit his head. He looked up at the sky and saw more dolls falling on top of him, but all of the dolls were harmless towards him. When the raining dolls had stopped, a tall shadow was cast over him and made Lest turn to look at the source of the shadow. He suddenly felt something grabbing his chest as he turned around, making him unable to take a good look at his attacker.

Lest only caught a glimpse and the only things he could see were the glowing red eyes and the hat he used to seeing daily.

The Earthmate opened his eyes and sat up on the bed quickly while panting, only to realize that everything he had experienced was just a nightmare. He breathed a sigh of relief before noticing and extra weight on his pajamas. A hand was clinging onto his top, coming from his still sleeping wife beside him. He let out a small smile as he watched Dolce’s sleeping figure with Pico on the other side of the bed.

Lest gently held her hand to his chest before stroking the female Guardian’s long wavy hair as he watched her peaceful sleep. The exhaustion from the night’s events had kept her from being awakened by Lest’s sudden movement and he decided that he shouldn’t be waking her up over midnight for his own problems. He laid back on the bed while still holding her hand and drifted back to sleep, completely unaware that his wife had already been awakened earlier. Dolce kept her own position and let Lest hold her hand before going back to sleep with a contented smile on her face.

It was an hour past midnight. The castle was quiet as the guests had either left the kingdom or rested in the guestrooms. The sound of footsteps echoed in the empty halls before the door leading towards the king’s audience chamber opened up and shed some light into the empty halls. The king was sitting on his throne along with Arthur by his side, waiting for the person to approach them with a polite bow.

“Please forgive me for having you present at this hour, Miss Frey,” The king spoke up.

“It is fine, Your Majesty,” Frey looked up at the king with a smile, “I’m grateful for all the things you have done for me in the past and I’m offering my service in order to repay your kindness.”

The king nodded slightly and returned her smile, “Very well,” The king turned to the blond young man beside him, “Arthur, would you please inform Miss Frey of the latest status in Selphia?”

“Certainly, Father,” Arthur turned his eyes from his father and towards the pieces of paper he had been holding before fixing his glasses, “The head of our kingdom’s guard division had sent a report earlier tonight, as I had informed you before during the party. Some of the scouts he had sent reported that dark fog had started forming around four different areas. Those areas are-”

“If I have to guess…” Frey suddenly spoke up, cutting off Arthur’s explanation as his attention turned to her, “They are areas around Yokmir Forest, Water Ruins, Obsidian Mansion, and Leon Karnak, aren’t they?”

Arthur looked back at the report he was holding and nodded, “Yes, those are the areas with rune spots. It seems like the corruption is slowly spreading around Selphia.”

“I see…” Frey turned her attention away from Arthur and looked up at the king, “Your Majesty, if I may-”

“I cannot allow you to go,” The king’s stern voice had silenced the Earthmate, “Given your condition and your abilities as an Earthmate, you are most likely to fall victim to the corrupted runes.”

“Given… her condition?” Arthur turned to his father in confusion, “Father, is Frey currently ill?”

The king didn’t turn to look at the blond merchant and kept looking at Frey, who had lowered her head. The whole room went silent for a moment until Frey went down to her knees, bowing down completely to the king, “I beg of you, Your Majesty…” Frey looked up at the two men with teary eyes, “I can’t… I don’t want to let him get hurt…” Frey’s head fell back to her hands, bowing at the king once more, “It’s my mother’s final wish for me to take care of Lest in her place… I know now I have the strength to keep that promise!”

The king looked down in silence before suddenly rising from his throne, much to Arthur’s surprise, “Father? Is there… is there something between you and Frey in the past?”

“Arthur,” The king spoke up quietly, but it was loud enough for Arthur to hear, “You might not have understood it. A mother truly cares for her children, just like how theirs care for them,” The king turned to look at his son, “I cannot change how you view your mother, however. When the time comes, you will learn how your mother truly feels for you, her son.”

Arthur looked at his father quietly before turning to head for the door, passing through the still-bowing Earthmate, “I shall head for my room to think.”

The blond merchant left the audience chamber before the king went down to Frey’s level as she had slowly risen to her feet. Her eyes still showed the same determination as when she asked for her mission a few minutes before. The king let out a nod and smiled, “I assume that you are aware of the risks and are still determined to complete the mission.”

Frey let out a nod, “Yes, I will complete this mission in place of my former subordinates within the intelligence division in order to atone for my previous failure. That failure is the start of everything happening in Selphia and it is my duty to end it.”

“Yes,” The king nodded in agreement, “You may consider this mission your last mission I give you, the head of the kingdom’s intelligence division.”

Frey saluted confidently, “Yes, sir!”

It was the fourth day of fall and the weather had cooled down enough after the hot summer weather. The restaurant in Selphia hadn’t opened for the day just yet, but the restaurant’s chef famous for eating his customer’s orders had already been busy in the kitchen. The plump chef had paced back and forth between the stoves and the kitchen counter while carrying some cooked dishes, but not without having a bite or two on the dishes.

A finished apple pie was set down on the counter beside a plate of cookies, but the chef’s hand found itself trying to take one of the cookies before it was prevented by having the whole plate taken away just in time, “Hold it! These are for today’s contest, remember?”

The chef let out a disappointed sigh, “But I’m hungry…” As if it was done subconsciously, his hand found itself once again at the apple pie, but the man quickly snagged the plate away and let himself fall in his attempt on saving the food, “Dylas! Are you okay?!”

“I’m fine, don’t worry,” Dylas slowly got up and took the plates with him as he walked towards the kitchen, “I’ll help with the cooking today so it’ll be done faster,” Dylas stopped in his tracks and set the plates at a safe distance from Porcoline’s reach as he looked at him, “Didn’t Margaret say that she’s going to help out as well?”

“Oh, yes!” Porcoline grabbed a bar of chocolate from his pocket and started nibbling on it, “Meg should be here to help delivering the food to the plaza.”

The kitchen door suddenly slammed open, surprising the two men in the room, “I’m sorry I’m late!” The female elf noticed the blue-haired figure standing in front of the counter filled with various cooked food, “Dylas? Are you helping out today too?”

“Well, sort of,” Dylas shortly replied before he snagged another plate before Porcoline could get it, “I have to keep an eye on him in case he eats anything that’s to be served in today’s contest.”

Margaret put her hands on her hips as she let out a sigh, “Porco! You can’t eat the food before the festival started!” The elf turned to look at Dylas, “But are you sure you can help out today? You look a little pale.”

“Huh? D-Do I?” Dylas asked nervously, “No, I’m fine. You should start delivering the food before Porcoline devour everything.”

“You’re not fine, Dylas,” Margaret scolded sternly before she dragged him away from the counter and out of the kitchen, “I’ll keep an eye on Porco so you can get some rest, okay?”

Dylas stood in silence for a moment as Margaret went back into the kitchen, only to hear her scolding the chef once more for eating the dishes. Dylas let out a slight chuckle before pulling a chair for him to sit on, “Fine, I’ll leave him to you.”

Hours had passed and the contest had finally started. The townsfolk had gathered in the plaza with the competing contestants sitting in front of long tables with some fruits and dishes on it. Margaret and Dylas were standing by the table with the rest of the fruits and dishes for when the contestants asked for more. Volkanon acted as both the judge and the commentator, though his latter job couldn’t be performed better with the loud crowd cheering in the background. A very full Forte was walking around the area to make sure the contest went smoothly as she claimed, though she was walking around as she had eaten too much during her participation.

The stack of plates piled up quickly on Porcoline’s side while the other contestants had started falling from the massive amount of food they had. The attention of the crowd was fixed on the final two contestants still eating, which were Porcoline and Doug. Doug’s stack was less than half of Porcoline’s, but his determination had earned the crowd’s attention. As the crowd’s attention was fixed on the contest, nobody had noticed that a single person had emerged from the crowd while walking unsteadily.

Dylas had passed the next plate to Doug and was about to return for more dishes, but a single out-of-place figure behind Porcoline had caught his attention. The figure put his hand on his sword hilt, ready to unsheathe his sword, but the Guardian was fast enough to run towards the other side of the table, “Porcoline! Look out!”

The chef stopped eating and turned to the source of the voice, completely unaware of the situation. Dylas quickly ran towards the plump chef and pushed him off his seat, leaving himself open for any possible attack. He braced himself as the sword was raised above the figure’s head, but the sword was blocked in time before it could hit its intended target.

Forte held her sword tightly before twisting it, exposing the attacker for more attacks and letting him fall helplessly. The knight turned to Dylas, who was still standing on his spot in shock, “I’ll take care of this! Get everyone to safety!”

“R-Right! Sorry!” Dylas helped Porcoline back to his feet before turning to the rest of the crowd watching the whole scene, “Stay out of the plaza! It’s not safe to be hanging around here!”

Forte watched cautiously as the crowd made their way out of the plaza and into the castle before turning back to her opponent. The figure was wearing armor just like she was, but the different style of armor enabled her to recognize that the attacker wasn’t a soldier from the Kingdom of Norad. As the man was slowly trying to get up, Forte pointed her sword at his throat, “State your business in Selphia, soldier!”

“Business…” The man’s stance was wobbly as if he was drunk, but his hand never let go of his sword as he raised it against her single-handedly, “Business here… ya say…?” The wobbly stance suddenly shifted into a much refined one as he held his sword with both of his hands. The man looked at the dragon knight with a pair of glowing red eyes before a dark aura covered his whole body, “To destroy… YOU!”

The soldier charged quickly with his sword pointed forward, but Forte managed to move to her left and had her shield up in defense. She charged in to counter, but the soldier had quickly turned around and clashed her sword with his own. Forte tried moving her sword left and right to find an opening, but their swords kept locked together making her take a big step backwards to find a better opening to strike.

The soldier charged in once more, leaving their swords locked together again. The soldier pushed their locked swords to the side and left Forte out in the open, but she was quick enough to recover and raised her shield on her arm to block the incoming attack. Realizing his attack had failed, the soldier kicked Forte angrily on her stomach, knocking her to the ground. She wasn’t given time to recover as the soldier had pinned her down with his sword down on Forte’s raised shield.

Using every ounce of strength she could gather, Forte pushed to soldier to the side and gave her some time to get back to her feet. After all those relentless attacks from him, the dragon knight was panting in exhaustion as she raised her sword once more. As the soldier was trying to stand up, Forte quickly charged in to strike with her sword. The impact had pushed the soldier back as he walked backwards while trying to keep himself from falling.

Forte gave him another push, which put him in an unbalanced position, before rushing toward him and landed a single slash across his armored abdomen. A single scar was left on the armor, but much to her surprise, more dark aura came pouring out from the scar, which was deep enough to hurt his skin. The soldier let out a loud groaning sound before putting both of his hands on his head.

“S… Stop… no…” The soldier whispered between his pained groans before slowly bringing himself to look at the knight with his eyes, which were no longer glowing, “Hit… hit… me…”

The soldier dropped his sword, leaving the knight to look at him in confusion, “Huh?” Forte lowered her sword in confusion, “What… what do you mean?”

“… can’t… hold it…” The soldier let out another pained groan before his eyes glowed in red once more as he looked at her, “Try and stop me, knight! I am better than the likes of you!”

The soldier picked up his fallen sword to charge at her once more, but Forte quickly moved out of the way. The soldier passed by her and still had his back turned to her, leaving his back exposed to Forte’s sword. A slight, hesitant swing of her sword left a slight scar on the back, but not enough to actually wound him. He pushed himself back to his feet and quickly turned to Forte along with a swing of his sword, but his sword met with hers for a moment as she had pushed the sword to the opposite side.

The push had given her enough momentum to spin her body along with her sword for almost a full circle. Forte put both her hands much closer to her sword’s crossguard, leaving the end of the hilt exposed as she raised her sword to her opponent’s eye level. She brought the blunt side of her sword to the soldier’s helmet hard enough to cause a dent as he felt to her feet.

Forte stood still for a moment, but saw that the soldier had barely moved from the spot where he fell. She cautiously walked to face the soldier, who was trying to reach for her in his shaky arm. She knelt down and saw that the dark aura surrounding him had slowly vanished as he looked at her with his normal eyes.

“I’ll get some help for you,” Forte stood up and was about to leave the scene when the soldier suddenly grabbed her foot, “H-Huh?”

“H-Help… him…”

#rune factory 4 #rf4 #fanfiction #fanfic #adventure #hurt/comfort #rf4 lest #rf4 dolce #rf4 amber #rf4 dylas #rf4 leon #rf4 frey #rf4 arthur #rf4 margaret #rf4 forte #rf4 pico #original character #rf4 lest x dolce

2 notes · View notes

coconutseaways · 7 years

Text

July 16-2017 - I love my job!

July 16-2017 Hey guys! We are obviously still having a great time here in the Azores and our Airbnb's have just been amazing. July 10, we came back to Horta to prepare for the Belgian family that was coming aboard. We set anchor and I let them know we were here and ready for them tomorrow morning. They invited us to the beach but we were tired from sailing and had just arrived so we politely declined and told them we would see them tomorrow. A little bit later in the evening I got a message from them saying they could see the boat in the harbour and were excited for the next day. Early in the morning on July 11, we went and tied up to the concrete pier in front of the port authority. This is where you can get gas and water. We filled up our water tank and put some gas in, in case the wind dies and we have to motor. While we were tied up an English couple came and tied up beside us. We started chatting, and they were getting ready to sail home to England after a 2 year voyage. Lionel was the guy's name but I didn't catch the girls name. They had a border collie named Buddy who loved eating fish. Mike caught one while we were tied up and fed it to Buddy who gobbled it right up haha. They were in the Caribbean for a while and now here in the Azores. They had planned on leaving a week earlier but had some rigging damage that needed repairs first. It worked out in our favour because while talking with them, we told them our plan of sailing down to the Caribbean and they gave us two great sailing guide books of the islands down there. Best places to anchor, restaurants, beaches and all kinds of insider knowledge to help us. They had gotten the books from another guy down there so they were passing it on. It was very nice of them and it just shows how friendly most sailors are. Everyone is always willing to lend a hand or a book. So now we are totally set for when we head down to the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean. I already learned something new from one of the books and that is that hot lime juice dissolves sea urchin spikes. Sea urchins are everywhere and if you get poked it will hurt like a mother. Once we were loaded with fresh water and fuel, our guests arrived. They only brought 2 suitcases and 2 backpacks which was awesome for us! They left a couple bags at their other Airbnb because they knew of the lack of storage space. Kris, Ingrid, Lobke and Flo make up the Mast family. The three girls and I went for a walk to the grocery store while Kris and Mike stayed on the boat. We bought ingredients to make kebabs on the BBQ for supper that night but forgot the skewers haha. So we ended cooking up the veggies and meat separately. It tasted delicious either way and besides, you take all the food off the skewer to eat it anyways. Kris and Ingrid spoke English very well, Lobke could understand most of what we were saying but wasn't sure of speaking it and Flo needed most of the conversation translated back to Dutch. It worked out well though and Mike had the girls laughing with his Mr. Bean impressions which don't require translation lol. It was great though because Mike can speak Afrikaans which is a mix of Dutch, German, French and Hottentot. He was able to recognize a lot of words they were saying and also speak to them and they were able to understand. It was a fun time learning new words and doing translations. We set off and with the wind coming from the North, we headed south to start our way around Pico. We sailed for about 3 hours and unfortunately the girls were feeling a little green. So we stopped in Sao Caetano, a little niche about half way to Lajes Do Pico where the marina is. Mike dropped anchor and we got in the water and did some snorkelling. The water was so clear here and we had literally thousands of fish under us. Check out Instagram for some awesome pics. I got in with my go pro and I was in the middle of the school. It was amazing. After about an hour we continued on to Lajes. We arrived in the early evening and tied up to a dock for the night. We had our stickless kebabs and then went for ice cream. They had Bounty ice cream which was divine! The others got crepes or waffles but I was so content with just my coconut and chocolate ice cream. Lajes is a lovely protected lagoon so we knew there would be no wave action coming in as we didn't want the girls to feel ill since they were now feeling better. The boat was very still until we laid down to go to sleep. Then the tide came in and because the full moon had just passed, the tide had a little more energy in it then usual. The dock made a terrible knocking and screeching sound as it lifted with the water and unfortunately all of us didn't have a great sleep. But everyone was still in good spirits the next day. Before we left we found a Moray eel hanging out in the rock wall beside the boat. I got a nice clip of him coming out of his hole. Our guests booked one night with us on 11th and then another night on the 14th. In between they had an Airbnb on Pico. So we parted way with them for the day, we kept their luggage because they were going to scooter from Lajes to the eastern tip of Pico where their Airbnb was. Mike and I sailed to the tip and met up with them again to give them their luggage. Then we continued around the island. We had planned to meet them in Sao Roque on the northern side, since sailing all the way from the top back to Horta would most likely be too far for the girls and might make them dislike sailing, which is the opposite of what we want. It was getting later and we were feeling tired, the wind was not cooperating so we decided to beam reach over to Calheta on Sao Jorge island which was only 7 miles away, instead of Sao Roque do Pico which was 11 miles away. We got there in the early evening and set anchor in the small harbour. We walked around a little and saw they were setting up for a party for the next day. Luckily, we were a day early and we could get a good rest because the stage was right by the boat and the way these Portuguese party, they go until 4 or 5 in the morning haha. It was another rocking boat night but we managed to get some zzz's. We did some fishing and I saw the brightest red starfish so far. Mike also found a huge sea snail and a small octopus. I held the octopus and it is the coolest feeling. Little suction cups all over. Very very cool. The next day we sailed over to Sao Roque, which is where we were meeting the Mast family. We got there with a day to spare so we could do a little tidying up and also get groceries and a little fuel. While we were in Sao Roque, a large navy ship came in - a frigate. It was cool to see. We went for a pizza at the cafe which was delicious, but they don't put pizza sauce on it so it's not quite like home but still very yummy. I will make pizza sauce and dough and we will make our own pizza. Our guests came to the harbour around 11 AM and we did some more snorkelling and walking around the rocks. Kris LOVED being on the boat. You could tell he was just in pure heaven. We did lots of fishing and I think everyone had a really great time. We hung around Sao Roque until about 3 PM and then we set sail for Madalena. It was a nice short 2 hour sail there which I think Flo was happy about. We got into harbour, dropped anchor and headed to the grocery store for meat, beer and wine. Mike made his famous spaghetti bolognese for us and I prepped a salad and some delicious garlic bread. After, we went for ice cream again and by the time we were done and back on the boat we were all ready for bed. That night we all slept very well, and I was out like a light. The harbour was very calm and I was clearly very tired. The next morning, Kris was making the most out of his last day and out fishing early in the morning. He took a line and went out with a snorkel. He came back with a good size fish and we netted it to bring on board. We left Madalena around 12 and got to Horta at 1. I checked us in and we got them ready to depart. Their flight was at 530 but they had to get a cab to take them to their first Airbnb so they could get their other bags, and then get to the airport a couple hours in advance. We had a nice large beer together and said our goodbyes. Lots of hugs and handshakes between new friends as we said farewell. It is always sad when our guests leave because we have made new friends and it's like a piece of us is leaving. Kris and his family had an amazing time and I could tell by the look in his eye that he truly had the time of his life. Kris said "I truly hope we get to meet again" and I'm sure we will in the future. It is such a nice feeling to know that we are able to give people such an amazing experience that they will never forget. After they left I felt a little buzzed from the beer, so we walked around town for a bit. We came back to the boat after a couple hours and Mike and I fell asleep so fast. We were spent. We woke up around 10 and had some left over spaghetti and then we went back to sleep. Oh man were we tired. This morning, July 16, Mike rowed the dinghy to the concrete pier where the container ships and big fishing ships go. They have blocked this pier off from pedestrians but that is where Mike painted his original painting when he was here in '84. He tried to spot his old painting but sadly, the wall has been wrecked from pipes being added in and he couldn't see it. It is really too bad that they allowed the wall to be ruined because it is a magnificent piece of history, of the boats that came here and left a mark for all to see. We will put our own new painting on one of the other walls closer to the harbour before we leave. Now we have 10 days before our next guests, so Mike and I have decided to head to Graciosa Island which is north of Sao Jorge. Another island for the list. We will head out tomorrow or the next day and spend a few days there before coming back to Horta for another Airbnb. We are doing great, we are making it work and I love my job. I miss you guys! I miss home, the family and friends. But man, this is the dream and I don't want to wake up! Keep following us on Instagram #coconut_seaways and Facebook Page: Coconut Seaways for pics, videos and updates. Share our page with your friends and our Airbnb page with anyone you know with a travel itch. I promise we will give an experience that they will never forget! Lots of love from the Azores!!

#sailing #sailboat #azores #portugal #coconutseaways #athena14085 #Airbnb #boatlife #island #islandlife #snorkel #dive #swim #fish #marine #underwater #beautiful

1 note · View note