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#because they think they got docked 5 points for one or two little things
bmpmp3 · 2 months
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when people complain about getting like, a 98% grade on something because it was "so close to perfect" its like. i understand what you're saying on a technical level. but that is a line of thought so far away from my experiences and ways of thinking that i do feel like im from another planet. 100% isnt even a real number to me
#i kinda understand when its something like a multiple choice test or something where there is an objective answer#it might feel like u got so close but just missed one#again still a bit alien to me because my scholarly performance is mysterious and anything over 70 is great to me#but i mean ive had a 98 before once in a math test. i did get exactly 1 bit of 1 question wrong#but i didnt really care that it was one off from perfect i was too busy being happy because that was the highest mark id ever received#and the previous math test i had taken got a 53% . grade 11 was a wild time for me in math class GHJKSHFKds#anyway i kinda see where ur coming from with stuff with right or wrong answers like that#but i sometimes get friends in class complain that they got a 95 or something on an art assignment#because they think they got docked 5 points for one or two little things#but i dunno. thats not really how fine arts departments in university tend to grade things#you dont start at 100 and get docked marks for things you got wrong. i dont think ive ever seen a 100% on something like that#tbh the numbers are a little arbitrary i find. i do prefer to try to get em higher because that helps with grants and stuff#but the numbers dont mean all that much in fine arts or in art history (my two majors) a 75 and a 95 can function the same depending on lik#weighting and context and feedback and whatever. i dunno its a wild world out there#it might just be the perspective of someone who did really goodbad in school. (GoodBad (tm) its when ur good but also kinda bad at school!)#compared to someone who got a lot of perfects in mandatory schooling. i sympathise i really do that kind of pressure sounds insane#but while i sympathize i cant really empathize as much unfortunately with this specifically orz its a world very far outside my purview!#100%s arent real to me so they never cross my mind to be worried about LOL
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tsukikumai · 1 year
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Seatbelts, whispers & patience
Shu Yamino x reader
slightly nsfw!! Established relationship.
A 4 seater car for 5 people, you were “forced” to sit in one seat with Shu. What could go wrong?
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You were picked up at the UK airport with Vox, Nina, Luca and Shu. You were the last to arrive there, and Vox drove everyone there to meet up with you.
So you gathered your luggage, got through customs and met the squad. Everyone was just what you expected, cheerful and funny as always. You gave everyone a good hug. Vox, Luca, Nina and then… Shu.
Shu’s hug was rather longer and more intimate than the others. You wrappped your arms around his neck, and his slender arms held you by your waist.
He chucked, “Hi babe, long time no see.” His sweet voice flowed through your ears, although you had called him everyday while you were apart, hearing him in real life was so much better.
“Shuuu~” You cooed, nestling your head into his shoulders. “aksjdj s-stop, let’s get going, they’re waiting on us.” He coughed, embarrassed.
=========more under the cut==========
Luca, Vox were simply having a normal conversation, backing off so you guys could have some time. It seemed as though Nina was a part of that conversation, but upon closer inspection, she was staring at you two with the largest grin on her face.
Shu helped you load your luggage on to Vox’s car and it was time to go to the Airbnb you all booked.
However, there was one flaw about this plan, Vox’s car was a four seater.
You and Shu hadn’t been together for a very long time yet, but this was the only reasonable plan to proceed with.
Shu sat back and opened his legs, patting the available area infront of him, telling you to sit down. Honestly he didn’t think too much about this, because he was the one who pitched this idea. He was probably too focused on the solution, rather than realizing how intimate the 30 minute ride would be.
“You guys alright back there?” Vox inquired, starting up the car.
You both hummed in agreement, even though you were awkwardly sat in front of Shu. “Hey, you know you can sit back a little more right? There’s still some space here.” He noticed your discomfort, and tried to scoot back into the seat a little more.
Little did he know that he would’ve regretted this offer.
You scoot back. His thighs trapped your lower body like a docking station (I’m sorry for this simile). You were so close you could feel his breath of the back of your neck.
Suddenly, the car rocked, and instinctively Shu grips your waist to stop you from moving. The car rocked again, his hold tightened.
“Sorry guys I don’t know why this road is so bumpy.” Vox said, “I’m just following the GPS, so just hold on for a minute Y/n.”
“Alright…”
“I suppose Shu can just be Y/n’s seat belt for a bit” Nina laughed teasingly.
“I m-mean, that’s the only way right?” Shu stuttered.
Shu was trying his best to be your seatbelt, his hands held strongly onto your waist, and his thighs lightly squeezed your body. You rested your hands on Shu’s legs, your very own Shu-chair.
“Are you doing okay there, Shu?” Luca, who was sat on your right questioned. “Your face looks a bit red, is it too hot in here?”
At this point, Shu had realized the situation, the problem to his solution. You felt his breath hitch, his heart beat thudding faster on your back.
“Y-yeah, I”m… fine.” He spoke slowly, facing the window. “It is a little h-hot in here.”
You weren’t sure why, but Vox turned on the radio, slightly louder than it should’ve been.
You felt something touch your lower back, you stiffen in his hold.
Ah. That was why.
“S-sorry, babe.” He whispers in your ear, the air sent shivers down your spine. “I didn’t t-think this whole thing through.”
You felt red sneak up to your cheeks. He rested his chin on your left shoulder, blocking Luca from seeing his face.
You took a glance at Shu, his face was red, his left eye was closed, contrasting his open mouth lightly panting for air.
“Oh dear.” You whispered back to him. “Vox, how long til we get there?”
“10 more minutes.” The demon replied, you knew it was gonna be the longest 10 minutes of your life for the both of you.
You tried to give Shu some space by taking your hands off his legs and scooting forward away from him. However, the sorcerer quickly grabbed your right hand with his, wrapping his right arm around your waist, pulling you back.
“Shu?” You questioned, quietly.
“Luca m-might see.” He explained, “I’ll be f-fine.”
“You sure don’t sound like you’re fine, Shu.” You teased.
“Don’t make this h-harder for me.”
With that, you proceeded to shut up by request of your boyfriend.
The car, however had no plans to stop. Every bounce the vehicle had, you would collide with your beloved, it was getting more difficult for him to hold in his voice.
“Haah…”
“Hnggh…”
“Mghh…”
His quiet moans weren’t heard by anyone else since Vox turned on the radio, but you heard it clear as day, with every noise sending butterflies in your stomach. Electricity pulsing through your entire body.
Now you were two red tomatoes, waiting for the ride to be over.
“Finally we’re here!” Luca exclaimed, getting off the car with the rest of them. Shu held tight onto your backpack at a convenient place, and quickly dragged you into the Airbnb.
“So how do you like it?” Nina asked.
“It’s great! Very spacious.” You nodded in approval.
“You have a shared bedroom with Shu! Isn’t that pog?” Luca chimed in, pointing at the door.
“Might not want to keep him waiting though.” Vox leaned in and whispered. You glance to the side, Shu was still holding your hand, running out of his usually unlimited amount of patience.
You smiled to the three of them, “I’m gonna go take a quick shower.”
You lead Shu into your shared bedroom.
“Thank god,” he drops your bag onto the floor with a thud and locks the door.
“Come here, baby.”
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OKAY PART 3, I’m trying to narrow this down to 5 parts so this is going to be pretty long. Just 2 parts left. I have a LOT of story because I was writing uncontrollably for like… 2 weeks but I don’t want to drag this out. Either way, I’m hoping y’all enjoy and I was asked about a tag list on part 2 and I am so sorry… I have no idea how to do that. BUT YOUR SUPPORT MEANS SO MUCH TO ME SO THANK YOU.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Warnings: Depiction of depression and paranoia.
Word count: 10.8K
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It’s been about two months since you’ve left the apartment, you’ve been too paranoid to leave because you’re afraid of your stalker, after the window was fixed it’s been permanently locked and bolted. Groceries have been far between, you get them delivered every few weeks if you have the money for it but since you’ve secluded yourself your work has been docking your pay. Even though you’ve put in the same amount of work, just at home instead of in the office.
You’re sitting in bed and wrapped in a blanket, working on your next big article when the phone starts ringing, you look down and immediately recognize the caller id. It’s Miguel, you pick up, your blood boiling.
“Funny that you told me not to bother you, It’s 3 in the morning. Why are you calling me?” You pull the phone away as the line hangs up, giving it a confused look. ‘Great, I guess he’s into prank calls’ you think to yourself, going back to your laptop to continue typing up the article.
You continue on for a few more minutes before hearing your doorbell ring, your blood turns ice cold as panic claws at your skin. You sit frozen on your bed before it rings a second time, finally getting up on shaky legs with bat in hand. You make it to the front door as the doorbell rings one more time, looking through the peephole and you groan. You open the door, bat still in hand just in case it’s a trick.
“Again, it’s 3 in the fucking morning, why’d you call me? I thought breaking and entering was your thing”
Miguel sighs, he honestly looks a little defeated and you give him a confused look, “your apartment is starting to smell like a corpse, I can smell it from below you because it’s so strong. Honestly thought you’d killed over.”
“Again, your charm never fails to shine through, I’ll plug in my wax warmer or something, happy?”
“Far from it,” he says, glaring down at you. “Also, your mailbox is flooded, I think the mail person got confused and can’t fit anymore in there so they put your shit in my box.”
You curse at yourself under your breath. “Of course they did, why would they read the names on the mail boxes?” you sigh softly, rubbing your face. “I’ll take care of it, now please get the hell out of here, you appeased your curiosity, I am in fact still alive. Have a nice night.” You go to close the door before Miguel stops you.
“Listen,” Miguel sighs “I don’t like people, I don’t like talking to people, but I want to help you out. Your apartment smells like a health hazard, and I don’t want to have to be subjected to it anymore. Also I’m sure your wrist is a hindrance.” He points out the cast still encasing your wrist.
Even though he’s already seen it you still tuck your wrist behind your back, blocking the entrance to your apartment. “Okay, let me put this differently, I do not want your help, this shouldn’t matter so much to you, I’m an adult and I can take care of myself.”
He grimaces and pinches the bridge of his nose. “God you’re infuriating, the only reason I’m concerned about what’s going on is because I barely hear your footsteps anymore, I can hear your alarm go off for HOURS before you stop it, I damn well thought you were dead! Your alarm is annoying, the smells are annoying, I. Am. Annoyed!”
You feel the dam start to break, your eyes prickling with tears as you look down. He’s so harsh to you and in your fragile mental state you have a hard time controlling your emotions. You wipe your eyes softly. “Okay fine, I get it, can you just leave? Please? I don’t need to be scolded and talked down to right now and I’d appreciate it if you could leave me alone.” You try to close the door again but he holds the door open easily. You could swear his eyes are glowing a deep red as he looks down at you.
“I won’t make you pay to have my seat professionally cleaned if you let me help you clean your apartment” he bargains. Half of you thinks he’s joking.
“I don’t need your help Miguel, I don’t need you to baby me and treat me like I’m fucking fragile!”
“It’s gonna cost you $5,000 to clean the seats, they’re custom made and incredibly difficult to clean”
You go wide eyed at the price, that’s the equivalent of your rent. You sigh softly, “I… I’ll pay for it, I don’t need your help, especially since you’re just going to degrade me…”
“You obviously do need my help! Your apartment is a wreck, so I’m going to help you out, I’ll hold back on the insults. Whatever it takes to make you clean this goddamn place and actually get some human interaction! I’m helping, end. of. story.”
You can feel the tears starting to fall down your face now and a sob block up your throat. “I don’t want you here Miguel! I want you out of here, now! It’s 3 in the morning, I don’t know why you care so fucking much! There’s not much to care about!” Your voice keeps cracking and your throat feels almost weak. “Can you please just leave?!”
You watch him take a deep breath. “I’m coming back here tomorrow to help you clean up, I’m not going to give up on you like you’ve given up on yourself. I’ll be here at 8”
“God I hate you right now, I don’t want you here tomorrow. We’re not friends, we’re just neighbors who were unfortunate enough to cross paths”
“And that’s fine, but I’m coming back here tomorrow, we don’t have to be friends for me to help you” he glares at you one last time before moving out of the way.
You don’t waste a second and slam the door shut behind him, locking it and wiping your eyes some more. ‘God I fucking hate nosey neighbors’ you think as you shuffle back to your room. You climb back into bed and wrap back up in your blanket, turning your laptop back on and continue on working.
Time passes by so quickly when you’re distracted from the world, before you know it it’s 8:30 am and there’s no sign of Miguel. ‘Maybe he’s not coming back’ you assume, you climb out of bed and shuffle over to your bathroom. You look in the mirror and immediately feel worse about your situation.
“God maybe I should shower…” you say as you let your hair out of the headband holding it back. You’re about halfway through before you hear a knock at the door and practically jump out of your skin. ‘Oh you’ve gotta be fucking kidding me’ you look at the counter and realize your phone isn’t here with you, groaning and trying to finish up as fast as possible while the door bell is spammed a few more times.
“I’M COMING! CALM YOUR SHIT!” You yell towards the door, climbing out of the shower and drying off. You slip a robe on and dry your hair before rushing out to the front door, you look through the peephole and unlock all three locks, two of which you installed soon after you came home a long two months ago. You open your door just a sliver and poke your head out. “I told you not to come back.”
“And I told you I was,” Miguel shrugs, holding a bucket full of cleaning supplies and gloves. “Now where are we starting?”
It took the both of you about a month to clean your apartment well enough to where the smell faded, you had to throw many dishes out as well as half the items in your fridge. Slowly, Miguel starts being less intense and starts to actually talk to you instead of insulting you. You didn’t like having to see him so often at first but he eventually grew on you. You had to confess that it was nice to see his face, his stupidly handsome face. He must have liked spending time with you as well because another month passes and he’s still coming over, less frequently but still often enough to where you feel comfortable letting him in now. You sit down on your couch to relax before hearing a knock on the door, Miguel then comes in for your weekly movie night. He quickly pieced together that you were seriously lacking in friends and ‘it’s important that you interact with people’. You have the same response every time ‘maybe you should practice what you preach’. You look over the back of the couch at him.
“Breaking and entering yet again?” You jest.
“You know me, I love breaking into places” he says with the same flat tone as always. He comes in with two grocery bags of take out. “I went to the Mexican food place down by Park, they seem authentic and since I really don’t feel like cooking tonight, I just decided to pick something up for us.”
“Well shit okay, yeah let’s try it, I’m excited” you smile at him, patting the cushion next to you and takes one of the bags as he sits down. “What exactly did you get?” You ask as you take the box out of the bag.
“Empanadas, Carne Asada, fresh tortillas, good old fashion tacos, and some tamales, only the best stuff for movie night”
You snort, “so already better the Taco Hell” Miguel made up that little nickname after you mentioned how often you eat there during one late night movie session.
“Yes, SO much better then Taco Hell”
You laugh “okay, my main argument is that you don’t go to Taco Hell for authentic Mexican food, you go there for half assed food that’s got white people levels of spice”
And that’s when it happened, the side of Miguel’s mouth twitched, was that a smile? “That’s a horrible joke” his gaze moves from you to the sauce dripping onto his hand and down his arm from the taco he’s holding. You watch as he takes one big bite before licking up his own arm, you’re almost shocked by his actions before he glances back over at you. You look away with a blush and take a bite out of an empanada.
“What were you looking at?” Miguel asks
“I could have sworn that Mr. icy cold exterior just smiled at my joke.” You take another bite of your food, “also you just licked up your arm, it’s hard not to stare at something like that”
“I didn’t smile. You must be mistaken. And sorry for my lack of manners?” He continues to eat. “So are we gonna turn on a movie or something? Or just listen to ourselves chew?”
“What? You don’t like hearing me chew? You don’t like ASMR?” at this point you’re purposely speaking with puffed cheeks full of food just to gross him out. He rolls his eyes.
“See? I don’t know why I apologized for a lack of manners when you’re talking with your mouth full, anyway, pick a movie, let's turn something on” he grabs the remote, “and no, we’re not watching twilight.”
You were dead asleep halfway through the movie you both decided on, curled up on the arm of the couch and covered in a giant quilt. At some point Miguel left, you wake up a few hours later to a note and a clean table.
The hand writing is probably the most elegant thing you’ve seen in a while. ‘Hey, I put the left overs in your fridge, I’m sure they’ll still be good when you nuke them later. I’ll see you next week, same time. Miguel.’ You smile at the note, it’s been a long time since you’ve had a friend and you definitely didn’t expect to have such an attractive and caring one. You stick the note on your fridge and yawn, starting to shuffle towards your bedroom in a haze. Stomach full and feeling good you climb into your sheets and easily fall to sleep.
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Full disclosure, I based this off of how I handled my depression/paranoia before I started taking meds and going to therapy. So it’s not everyone’s experience! But I tried to keep it authentic to the source material. Anyway! Hope y’all enjoy. I’ll figure out a tag list eventually…
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rakumel · 8 months
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Raku Plays Her Faves, Ys VIII, Chapter 5: Who You Gonna Call?
So another side plot I kinda like is the one about the ghost pirate ship. It's not nearly as exciting as the whole deal with the actual killer in Chapter 2 - in fact, it's a bit of a step down, kind of like an old Scooby-Doo cartoon after a true crime show. But like almost every other character and story that we've encountered so far, it's a little deeper than it first appears.
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There's still some spoilers left over from Chapter 4 below. And some for part of Chapter 5, of course.
At this point in the game, you're given a couple of options as to how to proceed. Well...kind of. The only choice you're really given is which one you want to do first. Ultimately you have to do both to advance the game.
One of them makes more sense to do from a story advancement standpoint. If you saw the end of my last post on Chapter 4, you also saw that Dana is somehow now in Adol's time, the present. By this point she's physically recovered but still has a massive gap in her memory. She's also now officially in Adol's adventuring party, so you can play as her permanently now. (Yaaaay!)
You also may remember from past posts that the two big problems the villagers need to solve in order to escape the Isle of Seiren are 1) building a boat and 2) getting rid of the massive ship-destroying squid monster that patrols the island.
Dana thinks she may be able to help with the second one. She tells them that the squid monster - the Oceanus - was a problem in her time, too. There was once a research facility called Baja Tower that may still have information on how it was defeated back then.
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I will not be talking about the Leaning Tower of Baja Blast this time, but I do want to share some pictures of it because I absolutely love this atmosphere it gives off. (Though my old eyes do not appreciate the nausea-inducing camera angles this level sometimes uses.)
Nope, we're going to talk about the ghost pirate ship option.
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So some of the villagers have been seeing an old, abandoned looking ship sailing nearby, which then disappears behind a cape to the southeast. It moves incredibly fast and is consumed with blue fire that doesn't burn up the ship itself. While some of the villagers are convinced it's a haunted ship with evil intent, some of the more practical ones are just wondering what the hell it is. Is it an actual ship they can maybe use, or at least salvage some things from? Are there people actually sailing on it? It's all a big mystery, so professional adventurer Adol and his party go to investigate.
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By now you should have enough people rescued to open the way to this massive cave where the pirate ship is currently docked. It certainly looks real, and not like, say, a projection on some fog or something.
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Laxia notices the name "Eleftheria" carved into the hull of the ship. Sahad was already nervous at the prospect of setting foot on a haunted ship, but now he really doesn't want to get on it, because he recognizes that name. According to the tales he's heard, the Eleftheria belonged to Captain Reed, leader of an infamous band of bloodthirsty pirates who reportedly terrorized the seas about a century ago. But, says Sahad, he'd never heard of Captain Reed going to the Isle of Seiren.
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Since way back in Chapter 1, Adol's occasionally come across skeletons dressed in pirate rags, some of which had handwritten notes. Up until this point, the notes were just kind of there to find, with no real explanation of how they got there, or why they matter to Adol's group now. A couple of the notes mention the unusual beasts on the island and how terrifying they were, but you don't really learn anything new about them or the island itself.
But from the five notes found so far (there's six in all, the last one is on the pirate ship), you can kind of get the gist of their story. A pirate crew came to the Isle of Seiren (somehow), over half their number died due to the beasts (and another possible cause we'll learn about later), a mutiny was attempted but thwarted. And...that's it. We don't know yet what ultimately happened to the crew or their captain.
The captain isn't named in the notes, but Laxia puts two and two together and now wonders if the skeletons they'd been finding were once members of Captain Reed's crew.
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When they all get close enough to the ship, the gangplank lowers, as if inviting them on board. It could be a trap, but that doesn't stop Adol and his crew from stepping aboard (reluctantly, in some cases).
Shortly after they're all on, the gangplank is lifted, and the ship takes off for the open sea. Well, shit.
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Worse, these pirate skeletons start coming to life all over the ship. It's easy to knock them down, but they'll just get up again shortly after; you can't actually defeat them now. To properly defeat them, you'll need an item that you won't get until well after this part is done, which is one of the few things about this game that I didn't really care for. But at least you can use these enemies to level up your characters' skills if you need to. Otherwise, it's best to move quickly along to keep from getting swarmed.
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But the good news is that there's treasure chests scattered all over the ship. Some contain good loot, while others contain the pages of Captain Reed's ship log, which explains how he ended up on the Isle of Seiren - and fills in some important details that the old rumors left out, or flat-out got wrong.
I'm just going to post the second page of Reed's log verbatim, as it does a good enough job summing up most of his story:
"Before I reach the Isle of Seiren, I must reveal a simple truth, regarding the scouring by fire of the archipelago's villages. None were spared…certainly not the men, but women and children fell just as surely." "The people curse the name of Captain Reed, and blame me for these heinous acts… but I tell you, I am innocent." "The Eleftheria is crewed mostly by victims of the slave trade… including myself. It seems the authorities did not appreciate us banding together and fighting to emancipate the slaves, that we could all stand free. The people of the archipelago accepted us, and even took to calling us the Pirates of Justice. Truly kind folk, they were." "And just as truly, it was the men of Greek's navy that put the villages to the torch. Word later reached my ears that they did this to draw us out, to purge the Gaete Sea of our ilk." "I'd sooner wallow in horse manure for a hundred days than obey those of so twisted sense of justice. But the people have suffered enough, and I would trouble them no further." "After giving it much thought… I have decided to go to the naval headquarters and turn myself in."
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So yeah - even though Captain Reed was a pirate, he swears it was the navy that destroyed all those villages, just to try to flush him out of hiding. So to prevent further attacks, he willingly turned himself and his crew in to the authorities.
Sahad points out that the Greshun navy has a sterling reputation, so he's a little bit shocked to find they were hiding a scandal of this magnitude. He also mentions that "Eleftheria" means "freedom" in their language, which given what we now know about Captain Reed and his crew, seems an appropriate name for the ship. (Coincidentally, were any of the devs fans of One Piece? Because this setup sounds very familiar.)
(And speaking of coincidences: No, I had no clue tumblr was going to do an ad campaign for a live action One Piece thing back when I was first writing this. Unlucky timing on my part. Just adding that in for the record.)
Anyway, as the group explores more of the ship, they find more pages of Reed's log. The navy offered him a deal: he would explore the dangerous Isle of Seiren for them, and in exchange, they would let his crew go free - IF he made it back alive. It was clearly a bullshit deal, but Reed more or less had to take it - if he didn't, the navy would simply execute his crew instead.
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For the journey to the Isle of Seiren, the navy replaced his usual crew with a bunch of actual criminals, none of whom had any experience sailing, or even any idea about how dangerous the island actually was. Many of them had absolutely no loyalty to Reed either. He mentions one guy that tried to mutiny; Reed simply kicked his ass overboard into the ocean. (One of the pirate notes seems to be written by that guy: he survived the ocean and washed ashore, only to get cornered by beasts later.)
Despite all these handicaps, Captain Reed landed his ship on the island, even managing to escape the Oceanus. But the voyage rapidly went downhill from there. Not only were the men getting picked off by beasts and rebelling against him left and right, but Reed himself contracted some sort of disease that he thinks was unique to the island. (None of the current castaways ever get mysteriously sick though. Unless the poison status effect counts.)
Still, Captain Reed persisted in exploring as much of the island as he could, not only for the sake of his original crew, but also for a handful of the guys on the new one, who had come to admire him too. Unfortunately, after the last page, it's implied that he eventually succumbed to his illness, and neither he nor the navy's men ever made it off the island. His only comfort was that he'd heard that his family had escaped from the navy and was safely in hiding on a small island in the Gaete Sea.
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After searching the whole interior of the ship (well, as much as possible - some parts are underwater and therefore not accessible right now), everyone finds themselves back out on the deck. And it wouldn't be a new area without a boss to fight. Unlike the skeletal minions, it IS possible to defeat this big one, for some reason.
Anyway, after you defeat it, the spectre leaves behind a very important item.
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Yep, it's a sea chart of the waters around the Isle of Seiren, which includes the migration path of the Oceanus. So not only will they know where it will generally be at any given time, but also where it makes its nest. This knowledge, combined with the information obtained from the Tower of Baja, will finally allow them to defeat the Oceanus once and for all, clearing the way for them to leave the island.
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And it should be no surprise by now who put that chart together, or whose angry spirit they just defeated, for that matter.
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Yep, it's the ghost of Captain Reed, and the chart was his work. He lets them take it; besides, like he said, it's not like he has any use for it himself.
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The old ship returns to the dock it came from, and lets all its living passengers disembark.
But before Captain Reed departs for the afterlife, he singles out Sahad, recognizing him as a fellow man of the sea, and tells him they'd better not meet up in the underworld anytime soon.
Unfortunately the rest of Reed's farewell speech is a little corny, and it doesn't help that they gave him a stereotypical cartoon pirate voice. But, all the same, it's a bit of encouragement.
Soon after Adol and his group leave, the ship loses its unearthly blue fire and sinks further into the water, never to sail again. You can go back to it from the map, though, just like any other location. (In fact, you'll have to, if you're the type who needs to complete everything. It's just not possible to fully explore and loot the ship the first go-round.
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So the story of Captain Reed isn't perfect. But, I still kind of like it because it's another example of a detail that they didn't just forget about. It would have been easy to just not do any of this - to just have the pirate skeletons be there with no explanation other than, hey, maybe they crashed here a long time ago. Or the sea chart could just be found in a chest somewhere.
But they took the time and effort to put in a little backstory, and make an entire pirate ship level with a boss and everything. It was hinted at near the beginning of the game, and a nice payoff came later. I just...like that, y'know?
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dating poly!woosang
part 4/7 of the poly!atz series (it’s been extended!); nsfw at the end :3 | taglist: @nari-nim​
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a peaceful time?? with woosang???
unfortunately, the number you have dialed is no longer in service
you knowingly got into a relationship with two people who can’t shut up about their 8 YEAR FRIENDSHIP
so this is technically your fault
or so wooyoung claims....
Kang Yeosang
a little bridge troll
will openly gag when someone says that he and wooyoung make a cute couple but then will stew and marinate in his self-doubt when it hits 1pm and wooyoung still hasn’t given him his stupid good morning kiss yet
tends to stick to your side like glue and as long as he’s holding on to SOME part of your body, his head will turn this way and that all day to look for your third
but also will deny it to DEATH if you call him out on it
he doesn’t like when you bring up his and wooyoung’s 8 year friendship because he doesn’t want you to feel left out
but also uses it as an excuse to get away with SO MUCH shit
whenever he wants to pull a prank on wooyoung and needs to convince you to turn a blind eye on the fact that he’s buying 25 rolls of gift wrapping paper, he’ll distract you by taking you through the long-suffering story of their precious EiGhT yEaR FrIeNdShIp all over again
the dollarama cashier: 👁👄👁
you find out at the same time as wooyoung 2 weeks later that yeosang had used those 25 rolls of gift wrap to wrap EVERYTHING in wooyoung’s room, including his BED
will run to you snickering gleefully as soon as wooyoung starts screaming
cue the prank war that shaves 5 years off your lifespan every time you find out one of them decided to get revenge
you’re literally dating tom and jerry
you complained about it once but then they both started fighting over which one of them was jerry
doesn’t hold grudges
but also doesn’t hold back on being savage
views you as wooyoung’s greatest weakness so he will NOT hesitate to use you as collateral damage in The Prank War™
needs some serious convincing for him to realize that wooyoung’s greatest weakness is also equal parts HE HIMSELF
once he realizes, starts using himself as prank war collateral
and that’s when you realize yeosang has ZERO sense of self-preservation
gen z existential dread jokes
uses dark humour casually
a driving wooyoung, screaming, almost runs someone over
yeosang in the passenger seat, deadpan: “that’s fifty points for gryffindor!”
but despite his trolling, is actually really sweet when it counts
will take you to a quiet park for a picnic date where he will proceed to nap on you until your leg circulation cuts off
will drag you and wooyoung to his favourite chicken restaurant so he can have all three of his favourite things at once
will make going for ice cream at the nearby convenience store late at night ✨a date✨
HOWEVER, when he’s not hanging out with just the two of you or if you’re hanging out in a group that he’s unfamiliar with, he turns SHY!!
ERROR 404: savage yeosang not found
the MILLISECOND shy introvert yeosang needs protecting, The Prank War™ gets put on hold
ENTER WOOYOUNG: fierce protector of all things yeosang
these two are at that level of unspoken trust where yeosang will trust wooyoung to speak FOR him
and that’s a level of trust that is NOT easily attainable
if some rando tries to talk to yeosang during a party, they basically  just end up talking to wooyoung no cap
despite yeosang’s usual independence, will 100% need his hand held during a party
if you let go, he WILL die
uses wooyoung as his extrovert shield
uses you as his social battery charging dock
strangers usually make the assumption that you’re either dating yeosang or dating wooyoung, but connecting the dots between wooyoung and yeosang??? it’s less likely than u think
at the same time, those two have been caught making out in the bathroom more times than you have fingers
literally never says “i love you” or any version of it except when someone questions your relationship
he just trusts that you know, and you do know, right? 🥺
it’s SO RARE hearing it from him that even you two are surprised when you do
-cue some random insulting wooyoung at a party-
yeosang: “hey! that’s my boyfriend”
stranger: “huh?”
wooyoung: “HUH??” *heart eyes*
100% tsundere
he cares about both of you a LOT, but constantly struggles to show it
also struggles to use the big L word (love)
however, his love language is ABSOLUTELY quality time
so even though he doesn’t say it often or hold your hand a lot or drape himself all over you all the time the way wooyoung does, he ALWAYS makes sure he’s close to you
will hold the door open for you and the 8 other people behind you before he gets sick of it and just slams the door shut on the 9th person
then he’ll run in tiny so he can catch up to you
feels almost homesick when neither you or wooyoung are around
wooyoung is literally his oldest friend, his anchor, his soulmate, even if he has a hard time expressing it
and you, you’re his best friend, and the one that makes his heart catch fire
how can he live without you two??
never wants to be an inconvenience so he sometimes holds back, especially when he’s feeling insecure and insignificant and he’ll bottle that shit up until he breaks down in the bathroom
especially with wooyoung, yeosang tends to get disheartened over how easily he’s able to open up around other people and how much time he spends with his other friends
but he’s also the type that will NEVER voice it. he’d rather die thanks
so you’re often the in-between for the both of them - the peanut butter and jelly between two pieces of toast 
when you finally shove nudge wooyoung in the right direction, the both of them become INSEPARABLE for the next few days, yeosang becoming so SMOTHERED in love he can barely stand it by day 4
you know it’s reached that point when yeosang shows up at your bedside when it’s time to sleep and asks if you can hide him
cue wooyoung DIVE BOMBING into your bed and right on top of yeosang at 4am in the morning, shrieking and wiggling around and ignoring both your moans of complaint until you’re both suffocating under his armpits
and then much to your fond exasperation, it’s back to The Prank War™
can sometimes be oblivious as hell
but the SECOND he figures out that either of you (or both) want to do something more than kisses with him, he gets red and FLUSTERED AS HELL and doesn’t know what to do with himself
and THAT exact moment is the moment evil horny wooyoung lives for
yeosang is a double-edged sword - savage with his tongue but somehow still so soft and innocent
and his soft and innocent side is the side only you two get to see
all his life, he’s found it really difficult to open up and let people in
so it’s really special that the two of you are among the few who’ve been allowed to bear witness to the deepest parts of himself ❤️
but then you slowly start to realize that the longer the three of you are in a relationship, the more and more corrupt yeosang is becoming...
the realization hits you like a wall of bricks when one day, yeosang starts giving you wooyoung-style bedroom eyes
and that, ladies and gentlemen, is the first time wooyoung ever got a tv remote control to the face before he could even walk through the front door
Jung Wooyoung
chaotic evil
despite claiming to be jerry, he is 1000% tom (sorry wooyoung)
his only purpose in life is to bother the fuck out of you and yeosang
or so yeosang claims...
but one time, wooyoung went back to visit his parents for a weekend and the two of you were L O S T
there was:
no one attempting to suffocate you in the morning through the sheer force of their thigh muscles
no one ripping open the shower curtain while you’re in there and ignoring your screaming just to tell you you’re out of cool ranch doritos
no one staring at you seductively from the couch in a “paint me like one of your french girls” pose as soon as you open the front door
it was a weird fucking time
but also:
no one to cook you all of your favourite dishes when you’re feeling down in the dumps
no one to chase the ice cream truck with you around the entire neighbourhood just for you to realize you both forgot your wallets
and then no one to slut drop into a sexy dance for the ice cream truck man for a popsicle worth $2
no yeosang screaming for you from the bedroom for help while a cackling wooyoung presses him down with his full weight and tries to give him a hickey
wooyoung enters your life so unapologetically, like a tornado through a room, that whenever he’s not with you, the silence is deafening
SURPRISE KISSES, EVERYWHERE, ALL THE TIME
but instead of smacking a kiss onto your cheek, he likes to do it right over your ear because it’s THAT much more annoying
already lost in The Prank War™ 14 weeks ago but no one has the heart to tell him
has so much freaking energy that you and yeosang can’t keep up sometimes
the type to wake up at 8am to skip to the gym, drink at least 3 iced americanos throughout his day, and then stay up playing video games until 2am
does this guy even need sleep??? nobody knows
unlike yeosang, has NO QUALMS with bragging about his and yeosang’s 8 year friendship to you - but unlike yeosang who only does it to get out of trouble with you, wooyoung will do it for ANYTHING
and if you start feeling left out and insecure??? ma’am, they both love you enough that they didn’t even need 8 years of your friendship first before they were willing to commit to you
and wooyoung will show it to you again and again and again
unlike yeosang who will snuggle quietly with you in bed with the lights off and ask you what’s bothering you, wooyoung will literally BITCH SLAP your insecurities right in the goddamn face
INSECURITY?? IN THIS HOUSEHOLD??? not on WOOYOUNG’S WATCH
kind of oblivious about these kinds of things, but the moment he realizes, he’s ON IT
is so aggressive about loving you afterwards that you seriously wonder why you ever doubted yourself in the first place
will wake up in the middle of the night to drag you from your bed so you can both bother yeosang in his
alone time??? he literally doesn’t know what that is. sounds fake. never heard of it. doesn’t exist
lives like he has 76 hours in one day
takes his job as yeosang’s extrovert shield VERY seriously
it actually makes him feel all warm and fuzzy inside to know that his presence makes you and yeosang feel protected and secure
is also what makes his chest puff out with pride
LOVES to feel that he’s needed
is an ✨attention whore✨
literally balances out yeosang’s lack of physical and verbal affection by being OVERLY physically and verbally affectionate
says “i love you” to both you and yeosang a minimum of 10 times per day
and if he isn’t there to say it, he’ll text it, voice message it, send it to you in morse code, or scream it from the other room - whatever he has to do to make sure you hear it
and then after sending it, he’ll call you over and over again until you pick up and then ask “did you get it??? did you get my message???? did you get it?? I LOVE you”
like yes wooyoung, the entire neighbourhood heard it too thanks for asking
really into cheesy kdrama moments and will embarrass the fuck out of yeosang trying to drag him into acting it out
but will also approach it subtly like he wasn’t the one who wanted to do it in the first place
wooyoung, leaning in: “hey yeosang, you have a little something on your mouth”
yeosang: -grabs a napkin to wipe it off himself-
wooyoung: “NO!”
unlike yeosang, LIVES for each annoying nickname that he receives from you two
you once jokingly called him your sweet pink pumpkin bubblegum princess and he PREENED
how wooyoung sleeps at night knowing he was annoying as fuck all day: (◡‿◡✿)
do you two love him for it??? unfortunately yes, and he KNOWS it
sometimes has a hard time understanding that not everyone’s love language is physical affection, which is so different from yeosang who tends to shy away from touch
it puzzles the hell out of him
but if there’s one thing that’s really great about wooyoung, it’s that he’ll always try his hardest for the people he loves
yeosang isn’t feeling for physical affection today? that’s okay. he’ll write ‘i love you’ in ketchup on yeosang’s omurice instead
yeosang doesn’t want to be hugged to sleep tonight? then he’ll give up his favourite hoodie for yeo to sleep in!
you just can’t help but UWU at the sight of your two boys
and they’re all yours ❤️
except when wooyoung calls you for a ride home at 3:14am in the morning because he lost track of time being an idiot with san and missed the last train home
in which case, you no longer claim him
jung wooyoung??? never heard of him. sounds like a fake name. doesn’t exist.
but then a particularly soft yeosang shows up at your door with his dangerous SWEATER PAWS and his phone in his hand telling you that woo called him asking for a ride
and goddammit, if there’s one thing you can’t refuse it’s yeosang
and THAT, ladies and gentlemen, brings us to the first time wooyoung has ever gotten picked up at 3:45am by 2 people on a BICYCLE
“WHERE AM I SUPPOSED TO SIT????”
yeosang, 100% deadpan: “on my lap”
❗ NSFW ❗
i feel like with woosang in particular, they don’t fall into any specific roles
they just do what feels good - just two horny boys desperately chasing their high
having said that though, if there’s ONE thing that can get wooyoung hard instantly, it’s seeing innocent yeosang horny and flustered
and when yeosang feels like he doesn’t know what to do with himself, he tends to crawl over to you to hide his face because he knows you won’t tease him like wooyoung does
but boy does wooyoung LIVE for that shit
he’ll crawl over to you both with the widest smirk on his face, taking his time to watch the way yeosang trembles in your hold before he starts slowly running his hands all up and down yeo’s milky skin
sometimes, wooyoung’s forwardness can be too much for him, but when you’re there too, yeosang feels like he can take on so much more
you’re his safe space 🥺 though he’ll never tell you
and by god if yeosang isn’t sensitive as all hell
anywhere you touch him has him shaking
has such a hard time suppressing his noises
and pulling his hands away from his face and telling him that you want to hear him just gets him even more embarrassed
SO easy for you and woo to gang up on poor yeosang
i feel like with these two, you can take on ANY role you prefer and it would match up PERFECTLY with these two
they just fall in line for you so easily
if you’re more dominant in bed, wooyoung will eagerly ask you how and where you want them; there’s nothing that gets him off faster than knowing you’re pleased with him
and if you’re more submissive in bed, wooyoung will automatically take the reigns without a word, falling into a more assertive headspace
wooyoung is just such a huge switch that he can blend seamlessly into any dynamic
yeosang strikes me also as a switch but leaning more towards submissive
he KNOWS what he wants, he’s just too shy to ask for it
with yeosang, there’s a VERY THIN LINE between him being too embarrassed to do anything and him saying fuck it to all his inhibitions and either just BEGGING for release or snapping and taking control of it himself
but in order to get there, you need to push him there
however, despite it all, seeing dominant yeosang is still a little rarer
as said earlier, wooyoung has the habit of shielding yeosang when things get to be too much for him
the SAME shit applies to the bedroom
after 8 years, wooyoung’s protective instincts over yeosang are so ingrained in him, he doesn’t know how to turn it off anymore
and though woo might be thick-skulled sometimes, NO ONE is as attuned to yeosang’s bedroom needs than he is
and he does it so subtly that you barely notice
yeosang’s becoming overwhelmed? bratty wooyoung will get all up in your face and goad you into spanking him
embarrassed yeosang doesn’t know how to respond to dirty talk? wooyoung will demand your attention by talking back
you can’t do anything to yeosang without doing it to wooyoung too, and some part of you has long accepted that these two are a package deal
you either get both or you get none at all
and in a way, seeing wooyoung so comfortable in his own skin has slowly taught yeosang how to be more comfortable in his own too
and as if confident yeosang isn’t the sexiest thing you’ve ever seen
wooyoung will come either WITH yeosang or AFTER him, but never before
and when you’re all done and spent will be when yeosang needs his time alone
and this is the part where you’ll need to stop woo from chasing after him
it happens EVERY TIME and you’ve learned to just smother him with all the hugs and kisses and cuddles that he wants while yeosang watches you two shyly from the other end of the bed
and of course, whenever yeosang’s ready, he’ll rejoin the two of you - sometimes it’s within the hour, sometimes it’s not until the sun starts to rise
but no matter what, you three are always, without fail, tangled up in the morning
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evita-shelby · 2 years
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Between the Shadow and the Soul
chapter 5
Gif by @twvstedsouls
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When the police men raided the homes in Birmingham last November, Eva could do nothing except try to soothe her grandmother while two coppers turned everything inside out.  
It had been when she heard of Inspector Campbell, a man she’d already seen die by in a phone booth the moment he showed up in Small Heath. He had assumed she had stolen the guns because México was still at war and that must have been the reason her uncle took her to that meeting.  
Later that day when the Peaky Blinders asked her to take her grandmother’s photograph of the King to burn at the bonfire, she went. There she met Polly Gray, who then introduced her to the reporter, so the newspaper could have the words of a veteran of the great war and foreign woman who had left her country seeking safety printed side by side to shame the King.  
Eva had then told her about her family dying in the Revolution and in turn Polly told her of losing her children. One thing led to another and before they knew it Eva was telling Polly how she can’t read tea leaves and Polly was telling her how having her children taken away took her second sight. Polly Gray then became her first friend in Small Heath.  
Polly has always been kind to Eva and she’s glad to see nothing has changed. Part of Eva feared their friendship would change for the worse, but Polly remained mostly unchanged.  
“The universe has been sending me the strangest signals lately. Must be my brother Gabriel who’s watching over me.” Eva said as she quietly set the tea out. She preferred coffee, especially café con leche, but people in Europe drink tea, so she must adapt to it.  
She had told Polly at some point how Gabriel was her favorite brother. Felicidad was too old to really be a playmate unless they played dress up, Alan was always busy, if he wasn’t practicing for the next charreada he was helping papa at the docks or the office with Uncle Sebastian, so Gabriel and Eva naturally fell together.  
“What makes you think so?” Polly asked interested. Eva hardly talked about her family, it always hurt and half the time she ended up in tears. The first time she went to Polly’s house, she ended up crying so much Polly gave her a handkerchief. Eva had returned that handkerchief and embroidered little flowers on it as a thank you.  
“This morning as I was bringing in the milk an orange butterfly landed on my hand and in the next moment a dead rat fell from the roof next to me.” Eva smiled. Gabriel had accidentally kicked a dead rat from a roof nearly six years ago which ended with Eva dropping a basket full of eggs.
Eva had been just about to turn eighteen and Gabriel was a week away from turning twenty, first time they had laughed since their eldest sister, Felicidad, died in childbirth and their parents had died at the hands of the Americans in the Battle of Veracruz the year before. “I looked up, to see where the rat had fallen from, and instead I saw Gabriel leaning out the window laughing telling me to be happy. When I got back inside, I found my cards on the floor with the Two of Cups at the very top.”  
Two of cups meant a soulmate, or a perfect romantic partner when it’s a reading about love, and while Eva didn’t truly believe in the idea of soulmates anymore, part of her liked the idea of the infamous Thomas Shelby being hers. Like they were just meant to find each other.  
“You know when I first met you, I thought you would be perfect for him.” This was news to Eva, she was no stranger to matchmaking, but she had not seen Polly wanting to set her up with her nephews, least of all Thomas.  
“Had you told me that months ago, I would have said you were insane, Pol.” Eva jokes. Black Star Day would have ended so differently had Tommy never grown curious about her. “To think it just a month ago he asked my uncle for his blessing to take me to the Derby.”
“I was afraid that whatever you saw at the Derby had scared you off, I’m glad to see it didn’t.” Polly thanks her for the tea making sure they kept their noise to a minimum.  
Eva and Tommy had agreed to keep it between them, after all they were the ones defying fate, but Polly is the exception. “Sometimes my second sight will show me things that aren’t true just to fuck with my emotions.”  
“You felt the pain of heartbreak just as you realized you are in love with him.” Polly says with a knowing smile and Eva blushes. Even if the nuns at her school had practically beat her shyness out of her, nothing could really stop her from turning as red as a strawberry when talking about love. “I might not have the sight anymore, but I can read people, Eva.”  
Elizabeth Gray nee Shelby had been born with the second sight like Eva, something she inherited from her mother. Unlike Eva, Polly didn’t practice witchcraft ---although many witches would argue that the minor things Eva does doesn’t count--- and unlike Polly, Eva hasn’t lost her second sight to her own grief. The only way to bring it back is to have a near death experience, but Eva isn’t going to tell her that anytime soon.  
“A skill that hasn’t led you wrong. Tommy says he is over her, and I have decided that I will believe him.”  for now. Eva doesn’t need to say her name. Grace Burgess is a curse in Small Heath. Some said she was killed at the train station by the Inspector, but Eva had seen her shoot the man in the knee.  
“Tommy wouldn’t hurt you like that.” Polly assures her, as if she knew that unsaid ‘for now’. “Thomas Shelby is very stupid when it comes to love, but he is not the type to betray someone that way.”  
“I know, I told him love was making him stupid the day I warned him about Grace.” She admits. All people were made stupid by love, nothing blinds you to reality more than love.  
Which was why Tommy hadn’t believed her thus leading to the chain of events that culminated with Eva asking the universe for a sign that she and Tommy were meant to be and it responded in the most Gabriel-esque way it could. “And now many months later the Universe has told me I won’t find a better man than Thomas Shelby, whole thing would have sent me straight to Bedlam had I seen it coming.”  
The postman knocks on the door, loudly because he is new and still hasn’t figured out there is an elderly woman who panics at loud noises. “Speaking of Bedlam,” Eva mutters under her breath.  
She had already seen her rejection for her approval to become a British Subject ---because this pretentious country used the word subjects and not citizens--- thanks to the efforts of one Grace Burgess. Had Grace not said anything to the police about her father being wanted for murder, perhaps one Eva Smith Riley would not be facing possible deportation, a deportation that leads her to be executed for treason she did not commit.  
Unfortunately, there is only one other way to get a British citizenship.  
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bottoms-movie · 3 years
Text
SAMBUCKY FIC RECS PT. 2
The first part did really really so I decided to make a second part of sambucky fic recs. Just as the last one: the fics are split into three categories: based on tfatws, canon divergence, and au. CHECK OUT PART ONE HERE All fics are completed and all are on AO3. 
BASED ON TFATWS
The Truths Beneath Our Ribs | Mature | 6,742 words
5 times Bucky wears Sam's things +1 time Sam wears something of Bucky's
anything you can do, i’ll do you better | Explicit | 5,526 words
Steve is going to kill them if they don't learn to get along, but did they have to take it so far?
making amends | Explicit | 8,645 words
“Not Cap yet,” Sam said. He looked a little ruefully at his hands, which were covered in nicks and cuts. He could already feel his palms bruising from that last shield catch, but at least nothing was broken this time.
“I respect that,” Bucky said slowly. Sam raised an eyebrow, but didn’t respond. Bucky flexed and unflexed the vibranium fingers of his left hand, a nervous habit that Sam had clocked ages ago. “And you’re right.”
“Thanks, I know.” Sam waited a beat. “About what?”
Muscle Memory | 3 parts | Explicit | 13,156 words part 1: Muscle Memory | Teen | 1,766 words
Barnes sighs, and it’s a deep, soul-weary thing. “Maybe no one ever told you this, but I’m telling you right now. You don’t have any obligation to care about me because Steve did. You don’t have to pretend.”
Sam blinks, taken aback. He has to think, really think, about what he says next, because it’s - it’s either going to build or break something.
You’re My World | Explicit | 6,585 words
“I… oh, I get it now.” Sam tilted his head, perceptive as ever, goddammit. “All this flirting with my sister, that was just to get my attention, wasn’t it? I know it was. Say it.”
“That wasn’t—” Bucky croaked, but Sam wasn’t having it.
He huffed a low laugh, and bulldozed right through Bucky’s feeble pretense. “You like it when I pin you against the wall? Take away all that power you have, that strength that your arm gives you? Make you feel small, maybe?”
Call Me By Your (Pet) Name | Teen | 6,928 words
“You got a list of the nicknames available to us lesser mortals?” Sam continued, staring straight ahead at the seat in front of him. “The ‘you’re not Steve Rogers, so don’t even think about it’ collection?”
“Yeah, sure, there’s a list,” Bucky replied, pausing long enough to draw a pointed look from Sam. “Bucky,” he finished, gesturing broadly with his arm to convey the obviousness of the answer.
5 times Sam and Bucky used pet names as a joke + 1 time they used them in earnest
That’s not very gunkle of you | 2 parts | 4,325 words part 1: Bestie Vibes Only | Teen | 1,822 words
“What’s buzzin’ cousin?” Says Bucky, sitting down next to Sam on the docks.
That’s the moment that Sam realizes he needs to change tactics, no more subtly looking up definitions for his weird old person slang, it’s time to fight fire with fire.
“Not much bro, this view is highkey just hitting different TBH” he says, casually looking out at the water.
There’s a beat of silence and then,
“That’s swell doll, I just ate some four-o cackle jelly with side arms, and I’m looking for some kicks, you dig?
Oh, this means war.
misunderstandings | Not Rated | 3,167 words
Sam thinks Sarah and Bucky had a date, and he's Not Okay
you walked into my life to offer me a better view | Teen | 2,534 words
He was standing twenty feet away at the edge of the docks, chatting with Sarah, and Sam couldn't take his eyes away. Bucky's smile was warm, wide, and when he tipped his head back and laughed, his nose scrunching up and eyes crinkling at the corners, Sam could feel it vibrate straight to his heart.
falling, falling, flying | Teen | 2,778 words
Bucky had kissed him.
And Sam had pulled away, because that beautiful golden sunset made Bucky’s hair gleam with the faintest touch of blond, that rare summer breeze hissed like a dying missile past Sam’s ears, the kiss was so familiar, too familiar, and Sam was falling, falling—
(“Let yourself be happy, Sam. Please.”)
lonely boy, you are my world (and i could be anything you need) | Teen | 5,747 words
It all starts with Sam, a shelter, and this sweet kitten that reminded him far too much of a certain century-old, grouchy super soldier.
too dangerous to fall | Explicit | 3,466 words
Bucky Barnes is a one-armed menace. He has murder eyes and no care for basic safety protocols. His jokes are terrible and his bad moods are worse. He’s a godawful roommate who leaves his wet towels on the floor and his combat knives in the linen cabinet. Sam can’t stand the sight of him.
What happens in Louisiana | General | 3,478 words
But just then, in the engine room of the Wilson family boat, away from prying eyes, it felt like something they both needed. The closeness. The warmth.
Steve would laugh at them. Two grown men not being able to get it together. He would roll his eyes at Buck, nudge him with his elbow and tell him “you’re sweet on Sam Wilson so make a move already, punk.”
keep the ashes from my heart (and walk away) | Explicit | 4,412 words
“Jamie asked me out on a date,” Sam says. Bucky swallows. “Took him long enough,” he says, keeping his tone light. He bumps their shoulders together for good measure. “You should go for it.” “You really think so?” Sam asks, looking at him. “Yeah, man,” Bucky says. He fixes his gaze on Torres, high up in the sky, sunlight glinting off his wings. It hurts Bucky’s eyes. He blinks, rapidly. “You should be with somebody who can make you happy.”
(In which Sam starts dating someone who is not Bucky, and Bucky pines, gets seriously injured, and proves himself wrong.)
Hey Samuel | Teen | 3,223 words
"Bucky."
"Yeah?" He looked up eyes wide. Did he say something out loud?
"We're walking the wrong way."
"Oh." Right. Um. "Let's get ice cream."
"I don't know about you, man, but if I eat ice cream in this weather I will get sick."
Bucky was at a loss for words. What now?
OR Ride along Bucky's journey of figuring out when exactly did he fall for Sam Wilson.
Anyday, everyday | General | 6,735 words
He moved his head and locked eyes with Sam. "D'you- can you.. help me cut my hair?" He asked. He forced himself to look away, feeling embarrassed for asking him to come all this way just to give him a haircut.
His stomach dropped when he felt Sam let go of his hand to stand up. Of course he was about to leave. Who wouldn't want to leave Bucky?
"C'mon, Buck. Let me cut your hair." Bucky's eyes snapped up to Sam's. He had a small smile on his face and his hand was reaching out, waiting for Bucky to take it.
Or; the five times Bucky fell more and more in love with Sam, and the one time he finally got the guts to tell him.
If You’ll Have Me | Teen | 4,779 words
Sam casually shrugged, although there was an intent look in his eyes, "Yeah, well it's getting late and I didn't feel like flying anymore so I was wondering if your old man self is okay with-"
"You can stay here." Bucky quickly finished for him.
I like Bucky, Sam I am | Not Rated | 2,653 words
"I would kiss you on the boat. Or in Wakanda by your goats."
Static in the Dark | Teen | 4,989 words
So prompt idea, some bad guy follows Bucky to the docks for revenge (over whatever you can decide) and Sarah gets to see how protective Bucky really is over Sam when he gets in the line of fire
CANON DIVERGENCE
A Different Kind of Problem | Explicit | 7,616 words
“Do you know what it feels like to be insatiable?”
Two months ago, an interrogation gone wrong left Sam with Bucky’s explicit words seared into his brain and body.
Now, Bucky is living in the Avengers Compound, making pancakes and wearing Steve’s huge sweatshirts, fluffy haired and a little shy, seemingly completely content to be on house arrest — and Sam has never been more confused. Whatever Steve thinks, Sam doesn’t have a problem with Bucky. This domesticity is just so at odds with the feral sexuality Bucky had used to rattle Sam during his interrogation. Where did that side of Bucky go? And why can’t Sam stop thinking about finding it? Maybe Sam does have a problem with Bucky… it’s just not the problem Steve thinks it is.
Bucky’s Choice | Not Rated | 4,753 words
When Bucky enters Westview to try to help Wanda Maximoff, he is confronted with something he never expected- Steve Rogers, back from the dead and ready to start a life with Bucky in Westview. It's everything that Bucky ever wanted, everything that Steve abandoned when he went back in time to live his life with Peggy Carter. But Bucky and Sam have been involved for months, and Sam is waiting for Bucky outside of the Hex. Bucky has to make a choice- the life he always wanted with Steve, or a new start with Sam?
tonight i’ll need you to stay | General | 2,227 words
For once, Bucky wants to stop leaving when things are finally looking up. And he wants people to stay with him, too.
(or, 3 times bucky needed an excuse to stay with sam, and the one time he didn't)
How to Win a Supersoldier in Ten Days | Explicit | 14,901 words
When they realize that all the Winter Soldier's interactions with Sam are just him trying to Awkward MurderBot Flirt (TM) with the sexy man, Steve, Tony, and Nat convince Sam to play the honeypot and bring Bucky in.
Sam's pretty sure the honeypot isn't supposed to fall in love with the target, but what can you do?
at the end of the war (what’s mine is yours) | Mature | 4,290 words
They don't talk about it: that's how it works.
warm blood (feels good, i can’t control it anymore) | Explicit | 4,492 words
Sam's just chilling watching TV one evening when Bucky comes in and stares at him silently for a minute or two before sitting down on the couch. He's pretty close to Sam.
Okay, he's really close to Sam. Like, Sam would be using the word 'cuddling' if it wasn't so bizarre.
"What," he says, carefully not looking at Bucky, and Bucky huffs a sigh.
"Steve's not here," he says as if it's obvious. "Don't make it weird. Just- shut up."
Caught With Their Pants Down | Explicit | 3,539 words
“Sam, this guy is not coming, the intel was false,” Bucky replied. “I get this whole ticking boxes and what not, but Rogers got it wrong, and for the love of God I need a fucking toilet.”
“You need to learn to plan your water intake better, is what you need. You’re a damn fool and I don’t know why I put up with you.”
“Because you love me,” Bucky replied, and Sam could hear the smile in his voice.
“In your damn dreams, Barnes.”
They’d been fucking for about six months, but Sam didn’t want Bucky to go getting a big head about it.
AU
sharp teeth, soft heart | 3 parts | 17,866 words part 1: you touch me within and so i (know i could be human once again) | Explicit | 12,444 words 
It’s inevitable, the way it goes. He’s my friend, Steve says, and he is, he is, he must be. Sam’s best friend is Steve, and Steve’s best friend is a werewolf, that’s just how Sam’s life works now.
But once he realizes he’s attracted to Bucky and Bucky can tell, everything becomes, like, a thousand percent more difficult to negotiate. Sam’s just trying to live his life, that’s all, and he keeps getting confronted by Bucky Barnes in a soft flannel shirt, sleeves rolled up, hair all soft and shiny. Bucky glances over at him and smirks, and this is really very embarrassing, how Sam can’t hide his attraction even if he keeps a totally straight face.
I’m so into you I can barely breathe | Explicit | 6,515 words
Sam Wilson had a long day dealing with morons, so he decided to finally go to the famous club in town. There he meets someone who just might get him back in a good mood. And then some.
twelve ounce steak (boxers in briefs) | Explicit | 3,753 words
Sam has pretty lips. Bucky seems to think so, too.
caught it bad (i’ll be on the way) | Mature | 4,830 words
Sam constantly gets roped into doing dumb things with Steve, but this time, it works out perfectly for him.
meet me in the a.m. | Teen | 3,147 words
Steve accidently starts a fire and Bucky's tired. When unbelievably hot firefighter Sam saves the day, though, he can't really be that mad.
i wanna savour, save it for later | Not Rated | 6,419 words
"It's his damn ratings, man," Sam says. "It's weird 'cause when you read the reviews, he seems to like our food and all. Nothing but praise for days. And then you get to the rating, and it's always the same. Three goddamn stars."
Bucky tips his beer bottle from side to side, lips pursing slightly. "I see. And that's… a bad thing?"
"We are not a three-star joint," Sam says flatly.
Or, the one where food truck owner Sam gets caught up in his quest to unmask an anonymous food blogger. Falling for one of his regulars was never on the menu.
we were a fire with no smoke | Explicit | 15,295 words
Sam can’t help but roll his eyes. Take the boys out of New York but they’re still Brooklyn Catholics, that’s clear enough. Bucky catches the gesture, smirks hard enough Sam can see his eye teeth. It should be dangerous but he’s beautiful, pale and charming and recklessly easy.
“You wanna come in?” Sam asks, ignoring the noise Steve makes, and Bucky’s smile gets wider.
“Yeah,” he says. Steps up close to Sam. “I do.”
my house of stone, your ivy grows | Teen | 9,042 words
When Sam Wilson inherits the manor of the old man he once took care of, it feels like his luck is finally looking up. It's an opportunity for a fresh start, something he's in desperate need of. When he arrives, however, it becomes clear that an easy transition into estate living is not exactly a possibility. The house is run-down, nothing like Sam remembers it, and the groundskeeper — who Sam apparently has to share the house with, wants nothing to do with him.
You Smiled Because You Knew | Teen | 3,754 words
"You've got the wrong address," the man who'd answered growled. He had long, scraggly hair that had mostly escaped his attempts to pull it away from his face. He had nice eyes, and wouldn't have been unattractive, especially with a shave, except for the scowl. "Nobody here wants or needs your . . . services."
It was apparent by the tone the man did not appreciate Sam's hard work.
Well, that was tough shit.
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endlinetheredeath · 3 years
Text
Meeting the crew
“We will be docking with my ship in a few minutes” Nak said and as the shuttle left Earth’s atmosphere completely all the turbulences suddenly stopped, and everything went quiet. All i was able to hear was the rumble of the engines and Nak’s flight equipment’s quiet beeping.
I got up from my seat and took a few steps towards the cockpit, i stopped at it’s door and held onto the frame. As i looked out in front of us i narrowed my eyes in concetration and i saw a ship in the distance, it was barely bigger than a the speck of a star in the vast blackness but it was really far away. Before i could open my mouth Nak looked up at me and said
“ I wouldn’t stand there if I were you, that's the emergency door and if the shuttle loses pressure ...”
I quickly looked down at him while i stepped forward my mouth slightly open
“If you want to look out front just sit in the copilot seat... just don’t touch anything!”
i nodded and sat down next to him. Now the ship in the distance was just a little bit bigger and I pointed to it.
“Is that your ship over there?”
Nak looked at me surprised ...
“ You can already see it?”
“ Yeah, it’s pretty small from here but i can definitely see it... must be huge up close...”
Nak turned back to his instruments ...
“Interesting....”
“Why you can’t?”
“No... and no species we know of can see that far ...”
“Oh...Hmm...”
I looked down at the instruments in front of me, this being the copilot seat it was an exact copy of Nak’s side. The first thing that caught my eye was an artificial horizon of course useless in space but comes in hand in atmosphere, than next was what i assumed was an altitude gauge but as I couldn’t read alien i was not 100% sure than next a radar screen and a bunch of buttons with labels that i couldn’t read but must be for power, engine, etc. The last thing i saw before i looked up again was the comms screen light up, and than as looked out of the windscreen again my vision was filled with an absolutely huge spaceship in front of us.
“That was quick...” I sat there wide eyed half shocked how fast that little speck became a giant.  Nak reached out and engaged the comms and started speaking an alien language, I looked at him and than back out again as the response came and the ship opened up before us. As the doors opened we flew in, the doors closed behind us and with a loud hiss air was vented in around us, once the pressure equalized another set of huge doors opened. Behind those doors laid an immense hangar filled with all kinds of vehicles and equipment as well as at lest two more shuttles as far as i could see. Between the items all around i could see figures of all shapes and sizes moving around working, some were even flying.
“Woow... so many species, I fell like a little kid again watching one of those sci.fi movies but....I’m ...I’m actually here, this is amazing!” I was at this point leaning forward looking out below us grinning like an idiot not even trying to contain my excitement.  Nak looked at me for second and smiled but said nothing before quickly concentrating back on the controls and landing the shuttle next to the others. As the landing gear settled he shut off the engine and powered down the machine before he stood. Now standing he looked at me smiled and said...
“Come now let’s meet the crew, and we’ll answer all your questions, i bet you have a lot. After that I think the crew has just as much if not more for you as well.”
“Alriiight...” I practically jumped from my seat and followed after Nak.
He opened the shuttle door and a ten person group waited for us outside the door in full hazmat suits although these suits were nothing like i ever saw.
“Oh yeah i forgot about them... “ Nak looked up the ceiling sighing deeply.
“No no, it’s better this way now that i think about it the human body is kind of a hotbed of all kinds of bacteria and illnesses... it’s actually good that you didn’t shake my hand earlier, i wouldn’t want to give you some virus that’s able to jump the species barrier.” I said turning to the hazmat team.
Nak stepped up next to me  “ I’m not worried my species has one of the strongest immune systems in the galaxy but thank you for the consideration, although it is quite concerning what you just said for the rest if the ship.”
While we talked the team erected some kind of energy field around the shuttle and one of them walk up to us handing Nak two small circular objects. Nak put one on his robe handed the other to me saying...
“This will incircle you in an energy field similar to the one that covers us and the shuttle right now so we can be safely moved to the medical bay for examination.”
I put the device on my shirt as Nak activated his by pressing the middle so i followed suit and turned mine on as well. After that we were quickly moved and examined thoroughly. They determined that most of what was in me was not able to affect others and the few that were dangerous they could make vaccines for rather quick, so me and Nak waited in one of the med bay rooms while the doctors did their thing.
“Soo...back on Earth you didn’t get to answer... are you using a translator ot did learn English?”
“No I’m using a translator, but your language is easy enough that i could learn it fairly quick, given my specieses language is the hardest that we know of as of yet and English doesn’t have anything i can’t pronounce. Well as far as i know...”
“Nice, tough English is actually not my language i just learned it myself my native tongue is Hungarian... and it’s if i recall correctly the 3rd hardest language on Earth...”
“Oh... How many languages do you humans have?”
“Well I don’t know exactly but if we count the dead ones as well the number is around 200 or even more... but as i said i don’t know the exact number”
Nak’s eyes widen at my response ...
“That many ... the most we knew was 5 and the majority of species only have 1 or 2 with dialects... and what are “dead” languages?”
“The number that i just said does not count dialects because well that there are just too many of those, and dead languages are ones that are not spoken anymore because the people who spoke it either died out or were integrated with an other culture that spoke a different language.”
Nak didn’t respond he just hunched over and held his head in his upper two hands and stared at the floor still wide eyed. i looked at him concerned that i broke him but he was snapped out of his contemplation by one of the doctors who just entered the room holding something... most likely the vaccines.
Nak’s head snapped up to the doctor...
“ Ah doc is the stuff already done?”
“It is” said the doctor
Nak turned towards me...
“He’s one of the best in his field but this was rather quick.” he smiled.
“Well the strains were easier to deal with than we first thought.” With that the doctor grabbed my arm and injected the vaccine into it, i winced and rubbed the place of the injection.
“Alright now you can actually meet the crew.” Nak said.
“Wait don't you need a vaccine shot as well?”
The doctor turned to me and said
“He already got it...” He pointed up to the ceiling where a small grate was “we dispersed the vaccine throughout the ventilation  system but you needed a more diverse vaccine and in a bigger dose, hence the direct injection.”
Nak paused at the door and reached in his robe. He pulled out a small thin circular device and handed it to me.
“Almost forgot... a translation device for you, just put it on your temple it activates automatically.”
“Wait you don't have one on your head, is yours subdermal?”
“Well yes, with so many languages on Earth do you have personal translation devices as well?”
“Well no nothing like this, we have to learn the languages that we want to speak, we don’t have the technology for it just yet, but it has been theorized and we are working on it.”
We walked out of the med bay and headed back towards the hangar. When we stepped back into the vast hangar a sizable group were already waiting for us.
Nak stepped up onto a crate and started talking his voice now booming loudly so that everyone can hear him...
“Everyone please welcome Tommy a member of the first sentient species from a class 12 planet!”
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heyitsjay03 · 3 years
Note
Headcanons about each of the lords (+the Duke if you're writing about him) if they ever happen to adopt a little child?
THANK YOU ANON MY THE UNIVERSE BLESS YOU WITH PILLOWS THAT ARE COLD ON BOTH SIDES
okay okay okay okay this has definitely been on my mind so lets get into the thick of it
Alcina Dimitrescu
(im starting off with alcina for obvious reasons)
Alcina would be on the way to the church with the slimy moron, the demented doll, that disgusting manthing and Mother Miranda
She'd kiss her daughters goodbye and head off through the snow, quietly muttering about how cold her ankles were
while Moreau is literally up to his chin in snow but its fine
as she gets closer to the church she keeps hearing this. thing. it sounded familiar but she couldn't exactly put her finger on it.
she strays from the path to find it because it was just so familiar
as she weaves her way through the snow, her dress gets caught on something. she leans down to get her dress unstuck when she realises its this tiny basket.
like seriously. just a little woven basket in the middle of the snow. and it doesn't look like its been there for that long- there's hardly any snow on it
when she tugs at her skirts again, the basket makes the same noise she's been hearing
she stands back up to her full height, staring down at the basket with narrowed eyes
this cannot be a good idea, can it? opening a strange basket in the woods after being lured out here. it's probably some village manthing's trap.
she's about to step away when she hears the sound again- much more intense and much more clear
Alcina leans down and opens the lid of the basket
inside is this tiny thing- all soft and warm in a padding of blankets
a baby
she stands and looks around
who on earth would be so moronic as to leave their baby in the snow? it's much too cold for a baby to survive-
oh
she sighs, getting onto her knees to pull the baby from the blanketed basket
the meeting will have to wait. it's too cold even in the church for this tiny thing.
when she finally makes it back home, she's greeted by her daughters in a swarm of buzzing flies.
as they manifest in their true forms, they're asking what- or who, rather- their mother brought for dinner
Alcina smiles and shakes her head, unwrapping the small bundle clinging to her breast
"this... is your new sibling" she announces, "they'll be staying with us from now on."
and the sisters are ecstatic. a new sibling!
Daniela especially is happy that she is no longer the youngest. she usually is the one to parade around the castle with her sibling on her shoulders, showing them the coolest hiding spots for hide-n-seek and the windows with the best views
Bela is incredibly protective. like. incredibly.
she smelt blood from across the castle and when she found her little sibling sniffling about a skinned knee earned from a game of tag with Angie, she lost her shit and almost broke the damned thing with her sickle
And Cassandra has been caught reading bedtime stories by nightlight multiple times. she tries to play it off but everyone knows that she loves- absolutely adores- her newest sibling
we all know Alcina is such a wonderful mother to the girls so adding another baby to the mix was a guaranteed success
she's so doting and careful (a little overprotective at times but she means well) as she is with her girls
as the child grows into a teen, she panics a bit because "my beautiful baby is growing into such a beautiful, talented adult" so expect a lot of late night visits when she just sits on the edge of her bed and just admires how much you've grown
Salvatore Moreau:
now this one is an easy one too if i'm 100% honest
think Moses type beat
(if you don't know, Moses was found in the riverbank in a little basket)
apparently i really like baskets
anyways
Moreau was so out of his element when he found this tiny, screaming, writhing piece of soft flesh
the first few weeks were rough
but he eventually got the hang of it (with Alcina's help of course)
he would take his child fishing every now and then- just the two of them out on a boat for a few hours
the kid would literally swim more than walk and that little fact would make Moreau so freakin proud
also this kid would be so well-versed in movie and film history it's stupid
like expect this little 4 or 5 year old babbling not about toys or snow or how many sticks they found but instead about the copyright war over the film Nosferatu and the destruction of its copies
Moreau, as the child gets older (like 11 or 12) would have just a tad of trouble trying to keep the kid out of the village
he'd wake up one day and go out onto the lake, expecting his child to be swinging their legs off the dock and watching the sun rise over the water
and when he finds that they were not, in fact, swinging their legs off the dock and watching the sun rise over the water, he p a n i c s
i mean, full blown red alert
all of the lords are summoned to help Moreau look for his missing kid, the lycans are given an article of clothing to help find the scent, Mother Miranda goes to search the village herself- the whole shebang
and when the kid is found playing with the village children, Moreau bursts into tears
needless to say, the kid isn't allowed to go to the village anymore
until they're fifty (Moreau's words, of course)
but the kid sneaks off more and more as they get older, using Alcina or Donna or Karl as an excuse to be away
and Moreau knows but he never says a word
seeing his child happy and free with the kids their age makes him happy, even if he is a tad, a tad, a tad bit nervous
Donna Beneviento:
when Donna found this child huddled up against the base of the stairs leading up to her front door, she at first thought it was a doll of hers
it was only when she actually walked outside that she realised it was this shaking, shriveled child in tattered clothes
she spent a good five minutes just staring, wondering how on earth she's supposed to react
that's when Angie jumped in and pulled at her skirt, telling her to "let the kid inside, already!"
Donna went immediately to work on some clothes- why on earth were they wearing such ragged things?! it's freezing outside!- while Angie entertained in the parlour
honestly, it didn't go well
the kid was a little bit unsettled by the floating doll that moved and spoke on its own FOR GOOD REASON
and when Donna walked back in with her measurement tape and some fabric, the kid backed themselves into a corner of the room with their gangly legs tucked into their chest
Angie sighs from the opposite side of the room, letting her little feet fidget as she gestures to the kid. "they're no fun" she pouts, "wouldn't even let me know their name"
Donna puts her materials down slowly and lifts her veil back before attempting a small smile
it takes a while but upon the offer of food, the kid finally lets Donna make them some clothes while Angie makes conversation
she works in silence, only offering small awkward smiles
Angie finally brings up the topic of where their parents are when the kid's clothes are done
when the child goes silent, Donna nods in understanding before hurrying off to make a room for them
as Angie helped tug the blankets up to the child's ears, they promised they'd be gone in the morning
Angie was the one to tell them off.
"You'll stay as long as you need, you silly goose!"
and the child did
Donna would let them tag along for meetings so long as they promised to keep quiet and help keep Angie out of trouble
most of the time, it didn't work and they both would end up in trouble but Donna let them come nonetheless
and when the other Lords question where on earth this little kid came from- all dressed in black fabric that matched Donna's dress, she just shook her head and let Angie chase them off verbally
she'd spend literal HOURS locked in that workshop making new little friends for her child and when they were old enough, she'd let them into the workshop
and when they were even older, she'd walk them through making their very first doll on their own
she'd just watch with pride as they carefully painted the freckles with a shaky hand while Angie danced around their ankles singing of how excited she was to have another friend
The Duke:
he would be setting up shop near the base of the Dimitrescu castle when he catches a kid trying to steal some his wares
he wouldn't be terribly upset, more concerned
it wasn't something shiny or expensive that they were trying to steal
it was some of the steaming-hot food he had left to cool in the wintry air
he confronted the child gently and with a warm smile
"That's cordon bleu," he says, gesturing to the steaming plate. "I can make you some if you'd like"
and as the child eats, the Duke continues tidying up his shop for any future customers
the child, through a mouthful of food, points to different items and asks their purpose, their price, their possible enhancements
the Duke answers each question with patience, happy for the company
but he doesn't just let the questions go one-way
"How about a trade?" he asks as the child asks about the strange-looking bottle of green liquid. "An answer for an answer."
the child agrees and the Duke starts to peel back layers of why the child was here looking for food
they had been orphaned by the last lycan attack, only barely making it out by fleeing into the woods
they tried to forage off of berry bushes and successfully managed to kill a pig- only for the blood to attract lycans before they could properly eat it
the Duke nods and continues busying himself with his shop, feeding the horse that pulls the wagon
the thought had hit him when he watched the child petting his horse
that horse hated everyone. including him at times.
maybe...
when he offered to take the child in, the kid nearly burst into tears and thanked him repeatedly, swearing to earn their keep
and they did, seven times over
what started off as a purely business venture morphed into something more as time went on
when the child would come back from selling smaller household items like gasoline and the occasional package of bullets, the Duke would have them climb onto the roof of the wagon and watch the sun set together with a plate of food
speaking of which, like Moreau, the Duke would raise the most cultured child
this kid would know how to prepare and identify different dishes and their ingredients just by looking at them or smelling them
and their palate would be far more sophisticated than most adults
the Duke, as the child gets older, would eventually allow them to choose destinations to set up shop- even outside of the village
wherever his child wants, the shop would go
it allows them to see the world and its earthly wares together- something the Duke had lacked in his life before the child was brought into the picture
Karl Heisenberg:
listen to me very very carefully
this man would be the most chaotic father ever to walk this earthly realm
when he finds this kid in the elevator of his factory, he's kinda standing there like 🧍 "what the hell-"
and when the kid starts spamming the button while maintaining eye contact, he kinda snaps out of it and starts chasing after them as they drop down to a different floor
it goes on for a solid twenty minutes before he finally managed to track them down in the corner of his office
and when i say this man is confused, i freaking mean it
i mean
why the HELL would some random kid be in his factory? don't they like... play with ponies or something at this age?
to be fair, this man literally has never been allowed a childhood so
obviously he starts scolding the kid ("what the hell are you doin' in here? it's dangerous and there's some really freaky shit here, kid"), dragging them to a nearby sink because "holy shit kid, you're filthy"
the kid is silent essentially the whole time, just kinda staring into his eyes
and of course Karl's gonna be like "...the fuck're you doin'?"
the kid's face is cleaned off and Karl sends them back out towards the village with a scratchy blanket he pulled out of the bottom of his desk drawer
he's working on his 'equipment' one day when he starts reaching for a wrench, keeping his focus on the body on the table
when i say this man jumps skyhigh at the kid asking a question, i mean it
he drags the kid back out, yelling about how dangerous it is and how "you shouldn't do that! you're gonna get yourself killed! go back home!"
the kid doesn't listen
it becomes a regular thing- Karl finds the kid wandering around the factory, Karl brings the kid out of danger, Karl tells them to get lost
eventually (day thirteen of this) he asks why the child keeps coming back
and he hates the answer he gets
it was something along the lines of "it's warm and there's nowhere else for me to go"
so Karl reluctantly eagerly lets them stay
it's a lot of rules at first (a kid shouldn't be allowed to just wander around a bunch of mindless cyborg killers, let alone a factory) but eventually the child learns to mind Sturm and the others
doesn't mean Karl does not have a fullblown heart attack when he walks into his workspace to find the kid tracing their finger along the center of the battery for the Soldats
after a very long talk (and some deep breathing) Karl reluctantly eagerly lets them sit against the very far wall to watch him work on the machinery- not, under any circumstances, the actual bodies
as the child blossoms into a young adult, they start to help out with certain aspects of Karl's work
exclusively machinery because Karl could not physically handle having his kid watch him get elbow-deep into a corpse
and Karl is so freaking proud of it
when the Soldat is kicked to life, he's got his kid in his arms and cackling like the proud dad he is
yeah. paternal Heisenberg>>>
220 notes · View notes
Watching the Rise of the Titans movie and I'll be documenting all of my thoughts/reactions here. [Spoiler Warning]
So instead of reblogging every new update, I'm just going to have this post up on my phone as I watch and type my reactions in a bullet list format.
Nari's human disguise is so cute. As someone who does have a cottagecore aesthetic, I want to cosplay her so bad
Are Skrael and/or Belroc non-binary coded? Regardless, I'm also obsessed and I want to fuck Skrael and be Belroc.
STEVE CARING ABOUT JIM BEING HURT YESSSS!!! My god his redemption has probably been one of the greatest there is because he doesn't just suddenly go from being a bully to a completely good person. You can see the gradual shift in learning better throughout the shows which is awesome.
IN NEW YOOOOOOORRRRRRRK!!!!!! CONCRETE JUNGLE WHERE DREAMS ARE MADE OFFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!
The mugshot montage reminded me of season 1 of trollhunters when toby and Jim were arrested at the museum.
STRICKLER PUT A RING ON IT??? HE'S THE ONLY DILF IVE EVER ACTUALLY AGREED WAS HOT WYM I CAN'T HAVE HIM??? well I'm still really happy about his arc over the series probably one of my favorite character growths.
Eli my guy got his growth spurt!!! As an 18 year old who is still 5'0", I'm happy but envious for him
So I went into this movie without watching any trailers or promo, but I doubt anything could have prepared me for the existence of mpreg. In fact, I wasn't going to document my reactions until I saw that.
NAMURA!!!!!!!!! MY BELOVED!!!!!! I CAN STILL THIRST FOR YOU WITHOUT GUILT
The coach teacher just called the kids zoomers so I have to dock one point from my final rating just because of that. Unforgivable
Those husky animation models suck lmao
Oh fuck the titans got power ranger zords!!
God why did they include the mpreg??? This movie would have been perfect without it.... After that plot point being revisited only one time I'm already beyond done with it
Like it's bringing me back to the v*ltron days where they're was a suspiciously high amount of klance omegaverse and mpreg fics and art created and it physically hurts because Steve and Keith's voice actor is the same person meaning this is especially cursed to me since I was unfortunately in the v*ltron fandom and remember all of that
But like on another note, how old are these characters again??? I haven't checked any wikis because of spoilers but is Steve an adult??? I know aja might be technically a lot older than 18 because alien but is whatever age she is equivalent to an adult as far as emotionally and physically in Akaridion development??? IS THIS A TEEN (M)PREGNANCY IN A KIDS SHOW????
Like bruh I saw a singular post on here before going into the movie that was like "rott spoilers without context" and there was a pregnant belly but I was absolutely not expecting the actual context of it. I'll find the post after I finish and edit this post to tag the creator right here: @makoden
This entire post is just gonna be me ranting about mpreg huh
Anyway I love the whole roundtable allusion to the legends of king arthur (not the toa version but the one he's based off)
THERE'S 3 TO 5 BABIES????? I need to take a break bruh this is just too much
Alright I've taken a 30 minute break got some food and did some things i love (decompressed by tactile stimming with some owl plushies and watched some videos on my favorite owl, Garu. He lives in Japan with his owner and is a domesticated eagle owl who basically just acts like a sky cat. If anyone else needs some eye bleach, here is their YouTube channel)
Blinky and ARRRGHHH!!! saying their "if one of us doesn't make it" talk my god one of them is going to die I can see it and I will be utterly crushed. Jim can't lose another father figure and Toby can't lose his wingman again I will riot if this happens
On a similar but unrelated to the movie note, can we just talk about how toa started with Jim having 0 dads and (if strickler and blinky live to the end) will end with 2 dads? Like I just really feel happy for him that he has two dads who actually figured out how to put the past behind them to not have any infighting between them so that both of them are healthy father figures. Jim has already been through literal hell and back losing his actual humanity in the process so if he loses one of them, I'm going to be really pissed because at this point, this is just Jim torture porn. Y'all know how as SpongeBob SquarePants went on, the show just became Squidward torture porn? It's starting to feel that way for toa and I really hope they cut the shit by the ending
Jlaire is such a good ship but like I feel like it's too perfect they never disagree with each other
YESSSSSSS Someone finally doesn't treat toby like a fat waste of space who messes stuff up!!! I think out of all the characters that would have been most deserving of a rewrite, it's Toby. Sometimes I just feel he's only comic relief and any heartfelt moments he's had in the series was also born of stupidity (ie his flour baby project being unharmed was seen by him as divine intervention from his parents but was actually just Eli and Steve behind the scenes).
Ohhhhh yesssssss Archie's father!!! I was hoping I'd see him again because we got so little of him last
Ooooooooooh Asian trollmarket!!!!!
Oh never mind slavery trollmarket
Bruh titanic camelot
I feel like we're not seeing enough of the villains because I completely forgot about the power ranger zord things
NAMORA NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MY LAST CRUSHHHH
STRICKLER NO NOT YOU TOO PLEASE
WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THE ONLY TWO CHARACTERS I SIMP FOR ON THIS SHOW DIED WITHIN FIVE MINUTES OF EACH OTHER
THAT WHOLE ASS RANT I WROTE IS COMING TRUE FUCK THIS MOVIE THIS SERIES IS JUST JIM TORTURE PORN
WAIT JIM'S SPERM DONOR INFO?
Oh thank God I don't want to know anything about that person
For the record, I call that man Jim's sperm donor because he has no business being called a father to him. All he did was donate some swimmers to the creation of him and give him abandonment issues
Oh another blind troll elder???? This fucker is just if vendel was a bad guy
Bruh I was grieving
PACIFIC RIM WITH GUN ROBOT VEX AND THE BELROCZORD? I've never seen that movie but I know the reference
Bruh Blinky doesn't read horoscopes? Does he realize conspiracy theories are just the manly version of horoscopes?
NO DON'T KILL VEX STOP KO-ING FOUND FAMILY MEMBERS
Oh thank God he's okay
NO NOT ARCHIE AND CHARLEMAGNE OH MY GOD
oh never mind they're just gonna coup de tat I believe in them :))
But I want to see him again
But I'm glad to see vex
Yay they're in arcadia!
But yeah I wondered why the trolls and Merlin didn't keep the whole "daylight doesn't hurt trolls" feature from the eternal night but now Guillermo del Toro I see you were playing the long con in that just to kill my girl Namora :(((
Oooooh I love the animation of the Narizord over Chihuahua!! It looks very good and realistic (if only they could have put some of that into those huskies from before smh)
Bruh the character designs of the arcane order are so good I want to be them
Nari making sure the Skraelzord doesn't crush the bus
DAMN DOUBLE HOMICIDE
Bruh I'm just glad we finally have an answer on why arcadia had everything going on as opposed to literally anywhere else!! I always found that as a weird coincidence for plot convince.
BRUH WERE BACK TO THE MPREG IM SO JEALOUS I FORGOT ABOUT THAT EVEN THOUGH IT WAS BECAUSE I WAS GRIEVING THE LOSS OF MY LOVELIES.
Oh that's real convenient that the ninth configuration meant all of them. Way to not decide which character gets more attention. Though it probably was a smart way to not have any infighting in the fandom between each character's stan group.
Bruh I just realized where is Barbera did they just ditch her on the Camelot ship???
And where are the other trolls that migrated at the end of trollhunters s3? They said something about new jersey but obviously Jim and the other main characters got on Camelot instead.... This feels like a plot hole
And we never learned the process of how changelings are made and bonded to humans and stuff. We just know it's super painful but I'm curious ffs!!!!
THE DONT THINK BECOME HERO SPEECH ALL SAID TOGETHER!!!
BRUH THEY REALLY HAD TO SHOW HIM GIVING BIRTH??????? WAS THAT AN ABSOLUTE MUST??????
Plus the main audience for this series is little children (the rating for the movie is literally TV-Y7) so even though my adult ass is not in the target audience, I STILL DONT UNDERSTAND WHY WOULD MPREG AND ANAL BIRTH WOULD BE AN IMPORTANT THING TO 7 YEAR OLDS???? THIS IS A LITERAL FETISH HIDDEN IN KIDS CONTENT ITS ELSAGATE ALL OVER AGAIN Y'ALL 😭😭😭😭😭
Though it's probably hypocritical of me to think fetishes don't belong in kids tv when I've openly admitted to thirsting for strickler and namora
HUZZAH
NEW AMULET WAZ GOOD????
STAB THAT BITCH JIM
WAIT NO I SAID STAB NOT GET STABBED
Alright good job just missed the directions at first but you fixed it
SEVEN KIDS?????????
T O B Y ????????????
W A I T NO
N O
IS HE ACTUALLY
OH MY GOD THERE'S HOPE
NO THERE ISN'T
F U C K THIS SHIT THEY REALLY JUST HAD HIM TO BE BULLIED THEN KILLED
Y'ALL IM ACTUALLY CRYING THIS NEVER HAPPENS
I NEVER ACTUALLY GET SO EMOTIONAL OVER MEDIA THAT I CRY IT ONLY HAPPENED ONCE AT THE END OF VOLTRON BUT AHHHHHHHH
W A I T
HE'S GONNA BE BROUGHT BACK?????
HOLD UP THEY'RE JUST GONNA BRING ALL THOSE DEAD PEOPLE BACK??????
WAIT IS HE
BLINKY CALLED HIM A SON
HOLD ON IS THIS GOING TO BE A CLIFFHANGER???????????
BRUH THEY REALLY JUST CAN'T END THE SERIES WITHOUT CLIFFHANGERS like there's always an open ending
TROLLHUNTER TOBY????? You know what forget the whole rants I had on how toby was written they just redeemed it all
And that's all! I'd rate it a 6.5/10 because it's definitely the weakest of all the sequels but still had amazing animation and some good plot points. It's just really hard to look over the bad stuff enough to rate it any higher.
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Title: Hibiscus Kisses {6}
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Chris Evans x OFC Ajali Rambaue AU {Ah-Jah-Lee, Ram-Bow}
Warning: Plot, Cursing, Angst, Blood, Lots Of Words, Death
Words: 8.3k
Summary: Ajali decides on a rash decision to go on a Disney cruise, not for her love of Disney, but because she needs time to figure things out after things get even more complicated in her complicated life. She only expected peace, quiet, tropical drinks, and an overabundance of Disney songs. What she got was more than she bargained for when the cruise of a lifetime on the brand new ship Enchantment turned into a nightmare. The only saving grace is that she’s not the only one living through the nightmare. Can Ajali survive the test of a lifetime and the dangers ahead of her, and better yet, will she finally be able to live a little?
Note: Please feel free to tell me what you think. I’m super excited to explore this one with you all. 🤗
As always, thank you so much for reading! If you enjoyed this, please LIKE, COMMENT, REBLOG! ❤️❤️
I appreciate each and every one of your guys’ support and love!
***VERY Loosely Edited/Proofread***
**Interactive**
Previous Chapters: {1} | {2} | {3} | {4} | {5} |
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You must have stood at the back of the yacht for a while because the shore and the docks were barely visible at this point. Every minute that ticked by you weighed your options of just diving in and swimming back. Everything you came up with seemed fine to deal with. So what if your hair got wet and you had to go through your four-hour wash and treat routine. So what if you attracted a shark or two, you could swim. So what if everything in your bag got drenched, you could replace them.
 With the number of rebuttals you came up with, you should have jumped in already. The major con that was flashing in your head in neon lettering was you are an adult and not a child who ran away from difficult situations. The sound of laughter had you turning around to see Chris laughing with Harper. He looked like he didn’t have a care in the world. Scoffing, you turned back around and crossed your arms.
 Almost a minute later you felt Chris standing beside you. “If you want to swim back I’m sure you could make it.”
 If looks could kill, the one you gave him should have done it. All you had to do was push him overboard to a watery grave. Chris lifted his hands to show his no threat status and that was when you walked away.
 “All right folks. It’ll be another forty minutes before we arrive at the best fishing spot in all of the islands. It’s my little secret. In the meantime, you have a choice of activities. You can go down below and marine watch, stay on deck and do some pictures and sights, or go into the bubble where you are surrounded by the ocean. It is optimal for fish watching. I’ll let you folks know when we’ve arrived.”
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You nodded and walked toward the steps that would lead below deck. You fully intended to get as far away from him as possible. Ignoring the way he turned to you as if he had something to say, you carefully went down the steps and to the back of the yacht. There you found what Harper was referring to. It looked like an actual bubble with two seats. Once you sat down you saw why this was mentioned as the most sought-after experience. You really felt like you were alone under the ocean and not apart from it but one with it.
You watched a school of yellow and black striped fish swim by and a small box popped up to the right of the screen with a still photo of the fish and a few listed facts.
 “Moorish Idol fish. These fish commonly inhabit tropical to subtropical reefs and lagoons. These fish usually travel alone or in small schools. These fish mate for life and adult males show aggression to one another.”
 Your jaw dropped. You hadn’t expected it to be high-tech. In front of you, you grabbed the flipbook and flicked through it to see a variety of sea creatures. The announcement of another fish brought your attention back to the ocean before you and that is where your eyes remained. Creature after creature swam by and up to the glass. Each one was announced and described. As they came up, you took pictures of the pretty ones you liked ready to show them to your family when you returned home.
 You were so wrapped up in fish watching that you didn’t notice that you weren’t alone until it was too late. Chris slipped into the seat beside you, startling you. Your harsh glare landed on him with the force of fifty blades behind it. He wasn’t looking at you though, his eyes were glued to the water and passing reef life.
 “Oh wow, Nemo and Dory,” Chris exclaimed inching closer to the glass.
 That was all it took for your attention to go right back, and lo and behold there were Dory and Nemo lookalikes.
 “Wow.”
 Mirroring Chris’s actions you slid to the edge of the seat as well and touched the glass. They were pretty in animation but that had nothing on real life. The orange and blue were so striking up close.
 “They’re even best friends in real life,” Chris quietly said.
 For the next few minutes neither of you spoke again you were too wrapped up in looking at all the fish that passed by one after the other. When you’d reached a part of the ocean where life was scarce, you sat back and crossed your arms.
 “Can I please explain?”
 You sighed and dropped your head back to rest on the hard headrest, keeping your eyes trained in front of you.
 “I promise I’m not this asshole you have me pegged as in your head.”
 “So you don’t go around trying to charm women out of your panties and in your bed for notches on your bedpost?”
 “God no!”
 You rolled your eyes not believing one word.
 “I solemnly swear that I am up to nothing but good,” Chris replied holding up three fingers.
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A smirk teased your lips at the Harry Potter line he’d just repurposed for his own use mixed with the Hunger Games salute. You shook your head unable to ignore how adorkably stupid he was.
 “You know those two have nothing to do with the other, right?”
 Chris slyly smiled and shrugged. “It’s sorta my thing. Sleeping around and I have nothing to do with each other also.”
 You snorted and shook your head. He was smooth.
 “You’re real smooth, I’ll give you that.”
 He sighed and turned his body more to you. “It’s a misunderstanding,” Chris began.
 “Let me stop you there. Ninety-nine point nine percent of the time anyone starts off with that, chances are there was no misunderstanding,” you dryly informed.
 “That high? Okay, then I fall in the point one percent.”
 You glared at him again but he didn’t back down, he held your glare but behind his eyes, you saw nothing but sincerity rather than the hostility you had spearing behind yours. When you didn’t object, he opened his mouth to speak again but you looked away.
 “There’s no need.”
 “Why won’t you let me explain?”
 You knew why. If he explained and the explanation seemed plausible and he looked sincere the chances of you believing it would be eighty percent and that was high. You would then continue spending time with him because you did enjoy his company and conversation and eventually sleep with him. Maybe. Letting him explain was step one that would lead to a series of missteps. Then you’d find yourself in a situation come the end of the cruise when both of you went your separate ways. There were too many what-ifs in the air.
 “Ah, I think I know. If you let me explain then this image you have of me being a womanizer who is after fast and quick ass, who would come on a cruise to chase women for a notch would be debunked. If it is debunked, then you’d have to admit that you liked spending time with me and enjoyed yourself. Then you’d have to admit that what might have happened if my phone didn’t ring wouldn’t have been a one-off. You’d have to face the possibility that there might be something here past our physical attraction.”
 Well damn, you thought. For a moment your thoughts betrayed the steely animosity in your eyes and you knew your shock shone through. You quickly looked away from him and tapped into your inner Elsa while watching a school of white fish pass by. You could feel him beside you staring at you as if trying to crack your resolve. You fought against him and kept your breathing slow and steady.
 “You don’t have to tell me I’m right. I know I am and it’s not because I’m a cocky prick. It’s because—,” Chris paused then sighed heavily before he continued. “I liked spending time—with you. Like really liked it and this was before anything physical happened. You’re funny and fun and not phased by this thing called fame that is wrapped around me. You probably don’t understand it, but that’s something refreshing and attractive to me.”
 Unable to resist any longer, you sneakily glanced at him while wondering if any part of what he’d just said was possibly true.  
 “Before I came on this cruise to get away from my life—run away from my life.”
 Your interest piqued. Why was he running away? Didn’t he have everything?
 “My friend, the one you heard on the phone was teasing me about the reason. I didn’t want to give him the real deal so I kept quiet which led him to the conclusion that it had something to do with a woman. It didn’t but he thought it. So the phone call was him stating his opinions again, his way of life. Now I’m not condoning what he said at all but that’s his life. I didn’t come here for any of that and that night wasn’t about that for me.”
 “What was it about?”
 You blurted the question without a thought and once you’d asked, you regretted it. The answer wouldn’t do you any good.
 Sighing, you looked back out to the water. “Don’t answer that.”
 And he didn’t. The silence stretched and your thoughts did as well. You contemplated his explanation and the probability of any of it being true. He had all the reason to lie right now, but the more you thought about it the more you guessed he didn’t need to lie being who he was. He could have just shrugged and put you on the side that wasn’t a fan of his and kept it moving.
 “Look,” Chris said shoving his phone to you with the text exchange between him and someone named Austin was visible.
 “I know what it is to be distrustful of strangers or everyone really and proof means a lot to me. Since the burden of proof is on my side, here it is.”
 You read through the exchange from a little over a week ago and sure enough, his friend Austin was scum. The irrefutable proof showed those sentiments were his and even showed Chris admonishing him for those sentiments and setting him straight. The banter that continued was Austin teasing him about his good boy behaviors. From the texts, you could tell they were close, and you could also tell that Austin was the asshole between them and Chris was possibly a good guy.
 Groaning, you looked away and dropped your head back to the headrest again. You did not need this. Sighing, you closed your eyes and listened to the silence. Several minutes passed by where neither of you spoke and just when you were going to Harper’s voice came in over the ship’s intercoms.
 “We have some dolphin action up here if anyone’s interested.”
 “Dolphins!”
 Your head snapped to Chris hearing the uncharacteristically excited squeal. Did he really just turn into a Powerpuff girl? Chris leapt to his feet and began walking toward the steps leaving you there to wonder just what kind of man he was.
 A few moments later, you emerged from below and walked to the railing to see a dolphin jump out of the water in the distance.
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“Oh my god!”
 At that moment you felt your smallness in the world. There were so many other creatures that were bigger and yet humans always thought themselves so superior. It was baffling.
 “It’s not always like this, they must be here to greet you folks,” Harper said as another jumped out and one swam up.
 You dropped down to your knees and peered over the railing and marveled at the aquatic beauty.
 “They’re so friendly.”
 Just then, a dolphin popped up showing its long bottlenose and black eyes and in the same breath, a stream of water came at you drenching you. In your shock, you just sat there while Chris and Harper heartily got their laugh in at your expense. To add insult to injury the dolphin even sounded like it was laughing. Who could be mad though? It was too cute. You looked across the way and saw Chris snapping pictures of you with a wide smile on his face. Being alarmed, snapping at him, or even telling him to delete the pictures would have all been acceptable reactions but you didn’t react in any of those ways. Instead, you brought your attention back to the dolphins in the water. Let him take his pictures, you thought.
 Twenty minutes later you were sitting at the side of the boat with your legs dangling over the edge enjoying the breeze, sun, and tranquility being on the ocean brought. There was something so serene about being in the middle of a giant body of water with creatures of plenty underneath its depths while there was nothing in sight for miles and miles. It was peaceful. The pictures you took of the horizon, the sky, and the water were breathtaking. You knew they’d make great printouts to add to your walls when you returned home. When you realized your battery was running low, you dug into your bag for one of your four fully charged portable chargers and slipped your phone into one of the many waterproof pouches you had your belongings secured inside.
 Your sister liked to make fun of you for how well you prepared for things. When you went out for every day, your purse contained every possible thing you would and could need for the day. You didn’t like being unprepared for whatever you came across and that included something as minor as rain all the way to the major things like abductions. You’d been the butt of many jokes but you didn’t care.
 Glancing to the other side of the yacht, you watched as Chris followed the instruction of Harper as he practiced a variety of sailor’s knots. It didn’t look like he was a novice though. You could tell he’d done it a few times before. Sooner than you could look away, Harper caught you then motioned you over. It would have been rude to ignore him, so you walked over to them and sat before them.
 “Here, try your hand at sailor’s knots,” Chris suggested holding out a length of rope to you.
 “It’s not as easy as it looks,” he followed up as you took it.
 “You look like you’ve done it before.”
 “Once or twice,” he replied.
 You studied the knots surrounding Chris for a few moments then took a stab at it. From the beginning you messed it up but didn’t quit, instead, you undid it and tried again. You didn’t quit easy. That was probably why you were in your current relationship predicament. A few minutes and several failed attempts later, you held up the finished product that looked identical to Chris’s.
 “So you have one of those brains where you can see something and replicate it?”
 You scoffed and shrugged. “Kind of. I just pick some things up quickly.”
 Chris nodded and held out another length of rope and pointed to a different pattern. “Try this one.”
 You knew it was a test. You grabbed the rope and studied the new pattern that was a lot more intricate than the first. Though it was more intricate it took you a shorter amount of time to start. When you held it up for them to see, less time had passed and you hadn’t made one mistake.
 “Wow,” Harper exclaimed before he chuckled.
 “What can I say, I’m pretty amazing,” you joked.
 Both men laughed but didn’t debate the fact.
 “We’re coming up on the cove that gives me the best fish. Of course, we’re catching and releasing, but it won’t dampen the experience,” Harper informed.
 Within a few short minutes, Harper had pulled up to one of the most beautiful coves you’d ever seen. The water was aquamarine crystal blue. It was so crystal like you could see several feet into it. The giant rocks that created a maze had moss growing off the tops of them that were lush green and created a nice contrast of colors. If you could have picked up this view and brought it home with you, you would have. It was that breathtaking.  
 You weren’t the only one thinking it, Chris was a few feet away snapping every picture he could get, only he didn’t look like a tourist. He looked like a professional travel photographer. When he dropped to one of his knees to get a different angle you just leaned against the railing and watched. The sun beaming down on him gave his hair a reddish hue which looked good on him. It even accentuated the freckles peppered along his arms. You remembered what was under that shirt of his at that second. You remembered the muscles, the hair, and the tats. It was an unexpected sight but one that you wouldn’t mind seeing again. Instantly you kissed your teeth and slapped your forehead.
 “Cut it out.”
 “Did you say something?”
 Chris was looking at you with a quizzical expression with his camera still posed up.
 “Nope, nothing.”
 He didn’t look like he believed you, but slowly he went back to snapping his pictures while you tried to create even more distance between you.
 “Get a grip, Ajali. It hasn’t been that long. You’re not affection starved either. Get—a—grip.”
 You took a few slow breathes and focused on the scene before you. You now understood why many people said this island was a top destination for vacations.
 “And we’re ready. You both said you’ve fished before, right?”
 You walked toward Harper’s voice then saw he had fishing rods, buckets, gloves, and all the other supplies lying at his feet.
 “I’ve done some fishing,” Chris offered before both sets of eyes landed on you.
 “Never.”
 “It’s not hard, I promise,” Harper assured bending for the rods. He held one out to Chris and the other to you.
 “Thank you.”
 “I’ll explain everything and its function. If either of you have any questions let me know.”
 Harper walked a few feet away leading the two of you to a shaded portion of the yacht. Once there, he explained everything in detail. He showed the parts of the rod, showed how to put things together, explained their function, and then went on to the different kinds of bait that were available. When he began demonstrating how to hold the rod and posture you paid close attention and imitated what he did. You knew though this was something that would take some getting used to.
 After twenty minutes, the three of you were in your spots ready to cast your rods. You watched Harper cast his first and it looked so fluid. You could tell he’d done this thousand of times. Then you watched Chris and though his movements weren’t as fluid, it looked like he was far from a beginner. You sighed and tried your best. The rod was heavy in your hands and affected your ability to control it and cast it perfectly. Glancing at Harper, he shrugged.
 “Good enough. You got it where it needs to go.”
 A soft chuckle escaped both you and Chris.
 “What kind of catch do you get out here?”
 Harper proceeded to explain the different kinds of fish he’d caught to Chris while you partially zoned them out. It didn’t take long for you to understand why people liked fishing. It was calming. You could leisurely do it while letting your mind drift and worries float away. Thirty minutes later it was your line that tugged first. You yelped then squeaked as you panicked.
 “What do I do?”
 “Reel it in,” Harper said.
 The resistance on the line was giving you a good arm workout. The struggle went back and forth. You doubted this was a baby.
 “This thing is strong.”
 “You got it, put your back into it like Ice Cube,” Chris teased making you narrow your eyes at him. That only made him laugh loudly.
 A few more moments of struggle persisted until you’d yanked the rod backward tucking it out of the water, over your head, and flopping the fish right on the deck.
 “Aaaah, oh my god! I caught a fish!”
 You jumped up and down excited by your success. Forgetting any prior slights you jumped closer to Chris and bumped shoulders with him.
 “I did it!”
 “You did.”
 “Good job. This here is a Barracuda,” Harper announced.
 “Ooooh Barracuda,” you and Chris said in unison like the song. The two of you giggled together before returning your attention to Harper.
 “It’s not an adult, but it’s no baby either. You want a picture?”
 “Yes!”
 You scurried to your bag and pulled out your phone then handed it to Chris before you dropped down to your knees and bent to the fish still flopping on the deck and smiled as you’d just won the lotto. Chris laughed and took the picture a few moments later. After the first few shots, you changed poses and let him take a few more. You watched as Chris’s face went from wide smiles to solemn confusion. Just as you were going to ask if your battery died, Harper spoke.
 “Do you want to do the honors of releasing it?”
 “You mean touch it?”
 Harper nodded and you ardently shook your head. “No thank you. I hear Barracudas like to bite.”
 Harper laughed at you as he effortlessly grabbed the fish by its tail then chucked it back into the ocean.
 “It was just an adolescent.”
 Chris held your phone out then walked back to his rod without a word. Slight confusion washed over you as you glanced at your screen to see one of the pictures he’d just taken, but your battery was fully charged.
 For the next few hours Chris barely spoke to you, but when you glanced over to him, his eyes were always on you before he looked away once yours met his. It was a complete turnaround from before. It shouldn’t have bothered or affect you at all considering the reality of things, but it did bother you a little bit. Once the three of you had had your fill of catch and release the sun was beginning to disappear. Harper caught a huge Mahi Mahi, scaled and fillet it right in front of you, and Chris showing off his impressive knife skills. He then took the fish to prepare what he promised would be the best open ocean fish you’d ever had. You were excited to see the finished product.
 Once Harper had disappeared down below you walked to the cooler, took out two beers, and walked over to Chris. He was sitting toward the back of the yacht watching the rocks in silence. You sat beside him, held out the beer, and waited for him to accept it. When he took it, he wasted no time twisting off the top and taking a mouthful. You sat there in silence looking over the view.
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“Who knew a celebrity could fish.”
 “I’m not a celebrity all day every day. I have hobbies and free time.”
 “I take it fishing is a hobby?”
 “When I can get to it. Sometimes I can’t go off the grid to do it.”
 You nodded and tried to picture him at a lake with a rod and bucket of bait catching fish. A soft smile spread across your face before you gulped your beer.
 “What’s one of your hobbies?”
 Taking a deep breath you slowly released it. “Painting.”
 “You’re artistic?”
 “Depends what you call artistic. I can slap some paint on a canvas and call it a day.”
 Chris looked at you for a few moments. “Somehow I find it hard to believe it’s as lowkey as you’re describing. I bet you’re a modern-day Frida Kahlo.”
 You smiled and shrugged. “I wouldn’t go that far.”
 Silence spread between you again and the two of you sipped from your bottles. It was a semi-comfortable silence.
 “Are you departing tomorrow or staying on?”
 You wanted to ask why he wanted to know but decided against it. “Staying on.”
 Chris nodded. “Me too.”
 Neither of you spoke again, instead, you watched the sky as the sun slowly began its descent behind the water. When Harper returned, the air filled with such a delicious scent that your belly grumbled loudly.
 “And dinner is served. Harper placed the platter down on the table and you and Chris walked over to it. Your jaw dropped in amazement.
 “What kind of kitchen do you have down there that can produce that?”
 “I’ve had tons of practice.”
 The Mahi Mahi that was alive less than two hours ago was now cooked to perfection and decorated with papaya, and a green salad.
 “Wow, this looks mouthwatering,” Chris complimented.
 “It’s nothing fancy, just some fish with a papaya and seaweed salad.”
 “Seaweed salad? Oh wow. You utilize everything huh.”
 “Absolutely. I can tell you more about using everything you can to not only survive but make good food,” Harper said motioning you both to sit down.
 “No one is serving you here, help yourselves there’s plenty.”
 The three of you dug in taking portions of fish and salad. When you took a bite of the Mahi Mahi your eyes rolled to the back of your head. “Oh my god. This is so good.”
 “All it needed was some salt, pepper, and lemon. Sometimes keeping it simple is the best way.”
 Chris moaned and nodded in agreement with you. “Delicious.”
 As the three of you ate, Harper told you all about his travels and time living on his own on the ocean and how he’d learned to survive on little to nothing. It was so interesting to hear his story. From it, you gathered he was determined, creative, meticulous, and persevering. He didn’t let anything stop him and because of that mindset, he said he’d seen a lot of wonderful things and had a beautiful life. Listening to him speak about his loves and losses and how it was just him in the end you couldn’t help but think about your relationships.
 When he began listing off the life lessons he’d learned you made note of each and every one of them. You always thought the stories of the older generations were interesting. While most of their experiences were relatable, a lot of it wasn’t because of the difference in eras. In Harper’s era being a bachelor past twenty-two was seen as taboo, yet that was the life he lived. When he spoke of when he did get married, it was to the one woman he’d loved since he was twenty years old. The woman he’d been stupid about and missed out on two times. From the way he spoke about her, you knew she was his soul mate.
 Glancing to Chris who was sitting diagonally from you, part of you wondered how relatable Harper’s experiences were to him. You thought back to the very few tabloid and gossip stories you’d read about him but nothing jumped out to you. The tabloids didn’t focus on one woman that he was possibly seeing, they didn’t highlight any crazy behaviors with any of them or even highlight breakups. That was part of how you’d pieced him together. The lack of information left for such a wide breadth of possibilities to put together.
 “Take it from me young ones, when you’re walking down a dimly lit street of soft lights, and you happen to find that anomaly among the sea that shines a different light and makes everything else pale in comparison you do whatever it takes to hold on to that. You fight for it and don’t let anything or anyone make you miss out on it. None of us are here for a long time. One day I’ll join my Angie and we’ll be together again. I welcome that day, until then I’ll keep drifting.”
 The three of you sat there in silence, each of you lost in your thoughts and worries. Was Javii that anomaly or was he part of the sea and you’d been mistaken this whole time? When Harper returned to the helm to captain you back toward land you were secluded from the rest of them and still lost in your thoughts. It had been days since you left and you’d figured out nothing. If anything, you’d added more to your plate to think about. This was what you hadn’t wanted to do and that was the reason you chose this option rather than staying in the city.
 You began to wonder again about the person who would be that anomaly that Harper spoke of. Rather than thinking of your experiences with Javii, your irresponsible mind thought of your run-ins with Chris. When you’d seen him in passing before boarding the ship you’d noticed him in the sea of people and amidst every chaotic thing happening around you. Your brain singled him out. It did it again when you saw him in passing topside when you’d met Genevieve and in the lounge club. It was something you hadn’t focused on before but now it was all you could think of.
 “Get a freaking grip, Ajali!”
 You smacked your head and dropped it down hunching over to hug your shins. Suddenly, you felt raindrops and those drops quickly turned into a waterfall.
 “What the--,” you began holding your hands out confused how a downpour like this could just suddenly start.  
 Unexpectedly, the ship lurched hard to the left sending items on the deck toppling over including your beer bottle and the empty ones around it. Thinking quickly, you grabbed the railing to not tumble. Your grip was precarious thanks to the downpour and you knew you wouldn’t be able to hold on for long. Just as you were losing your grip, that was when the ship lurched again only this time to the right. With no time to grab for the railing, you tumbled over but before you hit the deck arms wrapped around you stabilizing you.
 “I got you.”
 Glancing up, you found Chris with rainwater pouring down his face and beard. He was holding on tightly to one of the metal poles while holding you tightly in his other arm. When the rocking went from deadly to manageable, Chris slowly let you go.
 “Something must be wrong. Let’s go.”
 Both of you took off on the search to find Harper. Every few seconds the rocking of the ship made items fall and roll. Chris was the one to pull you in every which direction to help you avoid the bigger items. When the ship bucked back you both slid back.
 “Aaah, fuck!”
 A sharp slice caught you off guard making you fall to the deck. Before Chris could react the boat rocked again sending you rolling back a few feet. When you slammed into one of the walls you shouted out in pain. Seconds later Chris was bent before you.
 “Are you okay?”
 His eyes quickly scanned your body and found your bleeding foot.
 “Oh god.
 Chris quickly pulled off his tropical printed shirt, ripped it, and began wrapping your foot.
 “I’m sorry I have to do this tight to hopefully slow the bleeding,” Chris informed before he yanked the material, knotting it tightly around your injury. You tried to stifle your groan but it didn’t work. Your shout echoed across the open water and carried it competing with the downpour from the sky.
 “I’m sorry. Ready to keep going? We’re almost there.”
 You nodded and let Chris help you up. With his arm around your waist and yours draped over his shoulder the two of you hurried to the small enclosure where Harper was steering the boat. Every so often thanks to the falling and rolling items you and Chris looked like circus performers, jumping, dodging, and sliding out of harm's way. The way Chris managed to go into protector and alpha mode had you seeing a new side to him. Women did love a man who could take charge.
 When you finally made it you found Harper passed out on the floor.
 “Oh my god!”
 Chris placed you along one of the windows so you could lean against it before he dropped down to his knees to check for a pulse. The longer it took him to turn to you, the more anxious you became.
 “He has a pulse, but it’s thready. Looks like he may have hit his head,” Chris informed before he ripped the while men’s tank he wore at the hem and pressed it to Harper’s forehead.
 On impact, Harper groaned then bolted up.
 “Hey, take it easy,” Chris shouted trying to compete with the loudness of the ocean and the rain.
 “No. Storm. We’re in a storm. We call these pop-ups. They happen all the time,” Harper explained as Chris helped him to his feet.
 “If you knew it was coming--,” you began.
 “I didn’t. No one can predict these and they’re increasingly more dangerous.”
 The yacht whipped as if it were a leash sending all three of you knocking into whatever was closest. Immediately the pain that whisked through you had you screaming. That was the first time you thought you were going to die. All you could feel was pain, all you could hear was the sound of your heart beating. You slowly opened your eyes but couldn’t make anything out through the haziness. You couldn’t pinpoint where the pain in your body was coming from, it felt like it was everywhere.
 “Ajali!”
 Snapping your eyes open you saw Chris’s drenched and concerned face before you. “Open your eyes. Stay with me!”
 It was a forceful command. One that you slowly obeyed. He helped you to a sitting position then turned back to Harper who was trying to stand to look over the built-in equipment of the ship.
 “We’re way off course here. Somehow this storm has put us way off route. It makes no sense.”
 “What does that mean?!”
 “It means we’re drifting and not towards the islands. We’re drifting away.”
 “What!”
 Harper tried to turn the key for the engine but it stalled then sputtered. He tried it again and again but the result was the same.
 “This is bad,” Harper added.
 “What do we do?”
 The ship rocked again but this tilt was so drastically different. It actually went so far on its side that it felt like you were going to capsize.
 “We’re gonna tip over!”
 Chris ran from the small room fighting against gravity’s pull to yank him over. Your first thought was he was leaving you.
 “Hang on tight!”
 Your scream was so loud you doubt you’d ever gone that high before. Terror gripped your heart and your entire life flashed before your eyes. You were certain you were done for. There was no way to make it out of this. You began mumbling but you didn’t know if what you said made any sense. A few seconds later, the ship dropped back into the water allowing you to remain top side up. You felt hands on your body and you opened your eyes to Chris shoving your arms in a bright orange life vest.
 “I could only find one right now so it’s yours.”
 “What—what about you?”
 “I’ll be fine. Hold on tight.”
 He spun around looking at Harper.
 “I have to get below.”
 Harper hurried out without another word and Chris turned back to you.
 “I’m going to help him. Stay here.”
 He made a move to leave and you grabbed his hand pulling him back to you.
 “Don’t leave me.”
 “I’m not. I’m going below with Harper. I’m sure he’ll need my help. I think it’s safer for you up here.”
 You still held tight to his hand fear controlling your movements. Chris’s expression softened before he took a step close to you to hold you at the side of your neck to the base of your skull.
 “I swear to you I won’t leave you, no matter what. We’re in this together. I will be back and we’ll laugh about this one day. For that day to come though we have to get through this and I have to help him down below. You’ll be safe. Hold on tight, stay low.”
 You nodded and took a few breathes trying to psych yourself up.
 “You got this,” Chris said before he pulled away and walked from you.
 You closed your eyes and said a silent prayer hoping for him to come back and that his words weren’t bullshit.
 The seconds seemed to slowly tick by and the minutes went on for lifetimes. Every jolt of the ship leveled you to a whimpering mess. You did just as Chris has instructed—kept low and held on for dear life. You didn’t care how numb your hand became from gripping the cold metal for so long you kept holding on. You didn’t care how cold you got from not only the ocean water but the rain and the strong wind gusts, you remained in your corner shivering refusing to come out. It didn’t matter how much the pain you felt intensified the colder you got you ignored it and kept whispering your silent prayers. You didn’t want to die. Not like this.
 You heard something like a loud crack then the groaning of metal then the ship once again tilted. You screeched and tried to hold yourself to the railing but the further the boat tilted the harder it was to hold on.
 “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!”
 You screamed again and braced yourself to end up in the water under the boat, but instead of it tipping it once again dropped back onto the water’s surface.
 “Oh my god!”
 “Ajali, can you hear me?”
 You whipped your head around trying to find where the voice was coming from without letting go of the railing. You were too scared.
 “Ajali. Can you hear me!”
 On the dashboard, you saw a red light flashing and guessed it was the radio. The only problem was for you to get to it, you’d have to let go and walk over to it. If the yacht tilted again you’d slid your ass out the room and off the boat. It was a risk.
 “Ajali, pick up. We’re down here trying to fix the engine but we need you to turn her on for us. Can you do that?”
 “Fuck!”
 You slowly stood, fighting against your aching joints, bones, and muscles, and stood upright with most of your weight on your uninjured foot. You assessed the distance from where you were to the dashboard and knew slow and steady was the best way but you doubted you had that time. You took a deep breath and took three hops on your good foot toward the dashboard. When there was just one hop left to take the vessel rocked sending you off balance and smack dab into the glass with your face.
 At this point, there was no part of your body that wasn’t in pain. A metallic irony taste filled your mouth and you knew you were bleeding. You had no idea from where though, your face was completely numb.
 “Ajali!?”
 Using the back of one hand, you wiped across your mouth and took another deep breath, and hopped to the dashboard throwing yourself across it and holding it for dear life. You took a few moments to calm yourself then grabbed the walkie.
 “I’m here.”
 You heard Chris exhale as if he was relieved. “Thank god, I thought something happened.”
 “I’m fine,” you lied while trying to wipe away the blood that dripped across the dashboard.
 “Try to turn the engine on.”
 You twisted the designated key all that happened was a long exaggerated sputter then hiss.
 “This time keep it turned don’t release it,” Chris suggested.
 Doing as you were told, you waited and begged the engine to cooperate. When you heard a yell over the walkie you knew it wasn’t good.
 “Damn it! There’s water in the engine. The only way to even begin to work on it is for it to dry out. That’s gonna be impossible during a storm. It’ll just keep flooding. We’re not moving. Damn it!”
 There was a full range of banging over the walkie that only made you panic more.
 “Can everyone not fall apart right now? Please. I’m terrified enough as it is,” you pleaded.
 “Listen to my voice, it’s okay. We’re coming back up. We just have to weather the storm,” Chris said. His voice sounded like he was panicking but was also trying to showcase calm. You heard both.
 Another loud crack echoed but it wasn’t on your end, it was over the walkie.
 “What was that?”
 The sound rang out again and everything went dead silent over the walkie before a loud crash of something breaking echoed out. At that moment the ship lurched again only this time the groan of metal was so loud it made you shake from fear. Garbled speech went in and out over the walkie alarming you.
 “He—hello?”
 The only response you got was the walkie dying.
 “Hello? Hello?” You pressed buttons and turned switches not knowing what any of them did but hoping one of them brought communication back.  Nothing helped though.
 “Chris! Hello? Chris! Answer me goddamn it!”
 You threw the corded walkie and dropped your head down and wailed. There was no hope at all you thought.
 “I’m gonna die.”
 You cried, finally letting out the angst and terror you were feeling. There was nothing positive about your current situation. You were in the middle of the ocean, practically alone while a storm was raging around you. people went missing like this, people died like this. You were suddenly so tired. A wave of water brushed against your feet but you didn’t think anything of it. You almost couldn’t lift your head.
 “Ajali!”
 As you lifted your head you saw Chris racing toward you.
 “We have to get off this ship.”
 “What!”
 “The glass broke. We’re taking in water and sinking—fast!”
 Hearing those words you found the energy to rise. “What do we do? Where’s Harper?”
 “He’s lowering the life raft. Let’s go.”
 Chris wrapped his arm around your waist and helped you along. When you made it down the steps to the deck you saw that it was completely filled with water.
 “Oh my god.”
 “It’s all right, I have you.”
 He must have gotten tired of your hobbling because he scooped you up and hurried along treading through the now calf-level water.
 “You’re freezing cold,” Chris mumbled.
 “What are we gonna do?”
 Chris reached Harper who looked as if he’d been through hell. From one glance you could tell he was hurt.
 “Climb down first,” Harper said to you as Chris put you down.
 You flinched as the saltwater wreaked devastation on your injured foot.
 “I’m scared.”
 “I know. it’s expected, you’re human. I need you to work through that fear though and climb down into the raft,” Chris reasoned.
 You nodded and tried to get over not only the terror but also will your muscles to move through them being near frozen. You tried to move your legs in some coordination to climb over the railing but it was taking a bit of time on your own. Chris stepped closer and helped you to take the first step down the ladder. When your injured foot joined your other one it slipped and sent you down a few of them only stopping when you were able to get a grip on the metal.
 “Are you okay?”
 “I’m okay.”
 You slowly went down the remaining steps until you got to the last one and saw you’d need to jump off the railing to land in the raft. You took a few breathes, hoped that you made it in the raft and not in the ocean, and jumped. Landing on your back you couldn’t relax. It hit you that you were now in a life raft about to drift to god knows where. From above you heard the two men arguing back and forth over who should go next. When you saw Chris was the one climbing down the ladder you knew Harper had won.
 It didn’t take him nearly as long as it took you. A few seconds later he’d jumped in next to you. The strong scent of gas immediately hit you.
 “You smell like gas.”
 Chris smelled himself then his eyes widened and pointed back to the ship. The two of you looked up just in time to see Harper bringing back up the ladder.
 “What’re you doing? Come down!”
 “No can do brother. This here is my ship and a captain always goes down with his ship.”
 Your eyes widened in horror. He couldn’t be serious.
 “That’s not funny Harper. The gas is leaking, there is no saving it. It isn’t worth your life. Come on, there’s time for you to save yourself too,” Chris rebutted.
 “I’m long past saving,” Harper said lifting his shirt to show the large shard of glass that was sticking through his abdomen. It looked like it had gone right through him. You knew that if it were removed the chances of him living were zilch.
 “Oh my god,” you mewled before clamping your hand over your mouth to stifle the wail that followed.
 “Harper--,” Chris began but never finished.
 “I always knew I’d die on this ship and that’s all right. I’m at peace with it. If I get in that raft with you I’d be doing you a disservice. Sharks would be on your tail in no time.”
 Harper flung a pack over the railing into the raft.
 “I’ve already pre-packed all the emergency packs in the raft. They’re in the side compartments as well as underneath the zipped platform of the bottom. These are things you’ll need wherever you wash up.”
 Another bag followed the first and landed on the raft. “This one is some rations. Remember to conserve the water. You can survive without food longer than water.”
 You cried louder while using your hand to muffle as much of the sound as you could.
 “Come on man,” Chris pleaded.
 Four more bags followed including your backpack. By then you’d fully lost it and had ventured into a nervous breakdown.
 “Inside the raft, there is a transponder. I am going to set off the homing beacon on my ship it’ll give search and rescue some idea of where things went wrong. They’ll be able to follow the signal and rescue you no matter where you are.”
 Harper bent forward and groaned. He must have been in so much pain you thought to yourself. On its own, your hand gripped the ripped hem of Chris’s tank and held it tightly. Chris glanced back at you and you saw the same anguish you felt.
 “I’m sorry about this folks, I really am.” He paused and shook his head before he continued. “You have each other though.”
 An explosion shook the vessel and lit up the sky behind Harper.
“That’s my cue. Get outta here. I’ll do my part. Remember live your way, it makes death a peaceful conclusion.”
 With that Harper hobbled away holding the railing.
 “Go!”
 He disappeared from view leaving the two of you sitting in the raft, in the pouring rain heartbroken and terrified. Another explosion erupted and Chris sprang into motion yanking the cord that controlled the motor startup. He yanked it once, then twice until it sparked alive on the third try. You both looked to the ship unsure what to do. The decision had been made for you, there was nothing either of you could do but go.
 Slowly the raft began to drift away from the sinking ship and neither of you could peel your eyes away. Two more explosions boomed and then Harper’s voice echoed out.
 “I’m coming, Angie!”
 “Oh my god,” you whispered dropping your head to the surface of the raft. Your cry was loud and showcased the tragic sadness before you.
 You watched on before another and final grand explosion ripped the ship apart sending parts every which way.
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“Fuck!”
 Chris leapt for you throwing his body over yours using himself as a shield to protect you. The sound of flying metal around you only made you scream more and more. Still, Chris didn’t come off of you, he kept his body over yours while maneuvering the rod steering of the raft. After the sound of flying metal subsided and the warmth of fire died down Chris rolled off of you. There was nothing to be seen except the fire from the explosion that was quickly being extinguished as the rest of the ship sank to the depths of the ocean.
 “Oh my god, Harper.”
 “God,” Chris groaned out, dropping his head down. “Rest in peace.”
 There it was. Death. It was staring you right in the face and you feared it hadn’t had its fill quite yet. Your sobs returned and soon they were the only sounds traveling across the water, along with the motor. Neither of you spoke for a few minutes as you both tried to digest everything that had just happened and how everything had gone so wrong.
 “What’re we going to do?”
 It was a question asked just above a whisper. A question that held so much uncertainty, a question that also brought so much fear with it. What were you going to do?
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katnip225 · 3 years
Text
SBI alien au
Read a lot of alien SBI stories so here is my take. Only an outline and doubt I will ever fully write it out.
So in this au, Wilbur is the human and the rest of sbi (including Tubbo and Ranboo) are the aliens
The interspace committee does state that Earth is off limits but as you know, crime exists everywhere.
Wilbur has been in space for about a year before meeting SBI
Wilbur met Eret first, an alien who looks pretty close to a human except for their eyes. Eret helped Wilbur escape the ones who abducted Wilbur. Wilbur was locked up for about 2 months before Eret rescued him.
Eret and Wilbur stuck together for about a month before the two were forcibly separated. Eret did teach Wilbur a lot about space and left with him contacts to fool other aliens about his species. As long as a body scan was not done then no one will know.
Wilbur was able to get a ship and started to do some not legal jobs to survive. He was able to get a ship with a really advanced computer (at least to him. In reality it was a really old ship but to Wilbur it was really advanced) that was able to help give him knowledge that Eret was unable to in the short time they had
Wilbur was looking for a way to get to Earth but sneaking in would be tricky. There are guards watching Earth and Will does not want to risk getting caught.
Wilbur stayed under the radar for 7 months alone. The only way aliens know of him was by the nickname Siren.
One day, he was hired to do a mission that would pay him good and let him get some parts to update his ship. The catch being he has to work with SBI (another group that does a lot of not legal jobs) .
Wilbur agrees, figuring that it would be a one time thing and the reward was too big to pass. (Little did he know that getting involved with the SBI just means getting adopted)
So this would be where the fic would start (if I was writing a fic but really don’t have the energy to do anything but something like this)
It would start with the SBI getting noticed that they will be working with Siren. Tommy and Tubbo are really excited to meet this mysterious alien.
So SBI is given the comms number to contact Siren.
So the group talk about the mission and agree to land their ships next to each other.
SBI is surprised to see that Siren is a Fulzul (that is the name of Eret’s species). While they can do some cool things, from the little information they have of Siren the things they can do is nothing that a Fulzul can do.
Siren goes straight into what they think would be a good plan for this mission. Phil and Techno add in some suggestion from knowledge they know about the planet they are on and soon a plan is formed
The group makes some small talk and does some banter as they head to the mission site. Ranboo’s species can sense emotions so he can sense that Siren is really nervous and scared.
During the mission, SBI see Siren in action. They notice he does not use the abilities that Fulzul can do. Siren uses mostly stealth and persuasion. Siren sees how SBI work together and their abilities
Things go well until the very end. Something happens that causes the group splitting off in groups of twos and running off. Tommy and Tubbo, Techno and Ranboo, Phil and Siren
So everyone has to stay low for awhile and it is here that Phil gets to learn some more about Siren.
Phil starts to figure out that Siren really has no one to help him. During the mission there were some signs but Phil chalks that up to a person doing solo missions a lot. But as he sees more of how Siren acts and a few comments from Siren, Phil sees that Siren is alone. So Phil starts to ask some questions
Siren does answer most of the questions honestly. (Wilbur only lies when something can be used to reveal that he is human. It is easier to keep track of the lies that way)
So Phil learns that Siren lost his family at a young age and has been surviving by himself for most of his life. SIren did have a few friends but they are unable to communicate now (mostly because Wilbur’s phone got damaged plus no phone would work in space. )
Phil feels bad for Siren since no one should be alone. And since Phil is a serial adopter he decides that Siren will be his newest chick.
Meanwhile the others are placing bets on how long it will take Phil to adopt Siren. Ranboo is the one who wins
So Phil tries to get Siren to agree to stay with the SBI but Siren is like no. And Phil is please “Please” repeat cycle for the next 5 mins
Phil does relent since as much as he wants the new chick, he can’t force Siren
So everyone is able to return to the ships and they go their separate ways.
Well they try to go their separate ways since soon they are being chased by some space pirates
Cue spaceship fight
Fight ends when Siren notices that the space pirates have really done some damage to SBI’s ship. He has quickly grown attached to the group and does not want to see them hurt so Siren quickly gets the attention of the pirates and gets them to leave the SBI alone
The others get worried and as soon as the ship is stable they chase after Siren. How do they know where Siren is, Tubbo put a tracking device on Siren’s ship
They soon find Siren a few planets over from the one they did the missions. Siren’s ship is pretty badly damaged. Luckily he was able to hide from the space pirates.
When Siren sees SBI he is like “WTF are you doing here. I got their attention so you guys didn’t have to get hurt”
SBI is like “Like hell we wouldn’t make sure you are okay”
Siren is like “I am fine. Ship is a no go through. “
Phil is like “Well if you want, we know someone who can fix your ship but it is a way’s travel”
Siren agrees but states as soon as his ship is fixed then he will leave
SBI is like “Got it. So bets anyone on how long until Siren says he wants to stay with us”
SBI’s ship is much bigger than Siren’s ship and also has a place for ship’s to dock. So Siren’s ship is placed there.
Things are a little awkward at first since Siren is not used to others and mostly stays to himself.
Tommy is the one who gets Siren to leave his room.
Cue some nice fluffy moments with the group
Siren is now very conflicted since he wants to stay with them but is scared if they find out he is human.
They get to the ship repair person who is Nikki. (yes in this au she can both bake and repair a ship. Plus I need to have the syndicate)
So Siren’s ship is almost repaired when the space pirates show up again.
So the space pirates are led by Sally. Big fight happens which ends up with Siren getting seriously hurt and being knocked out. Soon Techno tackles Sally to the ground and gets her crew to stand down.
Once things calm down, the group finds out why the space pirates are attacking them. Turns out a few missions ago, Tommy and Tubbo from Sally. That itemed turned out to be one of the first devices her son (Fundy was adopted by Sally) made. They chased after Siren since they sensed the object on his ship. Turns out the tracking device was the device or at least a replica of it.
Phil scolds the boys for doing that. Tommy and Tubbo apologize and return the device.
Sally offers to help heal Siren since she does feel bad for hurting someone who had nothing to do with what happened.
So they put Siren in the medbay and find out he is human since they did a body scan.
So now they are panicking since they have no idea how to heal a human. Also, how did a human last this long without anyone knowing.
Nikki remembers that while fixing Siren’s ship there were many features that she had no idea what the purpose was. They might be related to Siren being human.
So they bring Siren into his ship and luckily it seems the ship’s computer can talk them through what to do.
Cut to Siren waking up in his ship confused as hell. Also with the thought ‘need to get my contacts out now and get some eye drops’
Unfortunately the others are there so he can’t really do that without revealing his secret
Well the group explains what happened and slowly Siren remembers what happened. And dread slowly grips him as he realizes that his secret is out.
Finally the group tells them that they know he is human. Siren quickly pulls out a laser gun and points it at them while quickly backing up. The others are shocked but they can easily tell he is doing this out of fear.
They try to explain that they are still friends and they won’t tell anyone but Siren is too much in a panic state to really listen. All he knows is that he could end up like he did when he was abducted.
Tommy asks the ship if it knows anything that can help Siren which it does.
So the group calms Siren down enough so he can listen to what they are saying.
Siren does have some doubt but figures they could have just done something while he was panicked so he relaxes a bit.
The others ask him what he needs. Siren asks for them to get his contact case on the sink in the bathroom and some eye drops. Siren then takes out the contacts and puts some eye drops in
Phil is like “So that is how you fooled everyone though still surprised you survived this long. How did you know about the Fulzul?”
Cue backstory time of Siren’s time with Eret
Siren does reveal that his real name is Wilbur.
He answers some questions about earth including what a siren is.
Techno gets really interested since he is a big mythology guy and wants to hear more about this greek mythology
Wilbur agrees to stay with SBI since they know his secret now. He does say he does want to return to earth since he has some friends that most likely think he is dead.
SBI agrees to help Wilbur out but do say they will figure out a way for him to talk SBI while on earth.
The group does keep in touch with Sally.
Do have more ideas but they really don’t have endings. They are more start of ideas so will leave things off here.
The others idea are SBI learning about humans, a story involving las nevadas, meeting Eret again, Sally and Wilbur getting together, and Wilbur giving a tour of Earth to SBI and any others that wanted to come
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corpsebasil · 3 years
Text
Easily Replaced | Part 5
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part 6
The Ocean looked like it wanted to strangle you with both hands.
"There's no other way out of Kerch?" You demanded, clinging to Jesper's arm as you walked towards the docks.
Since you were eight, you’d hated the sea. Hated the smell, the look, everything. It looked angry today, not even a day after you and the Crows had hired the Conductor, the sky murky overhead, the humidity making your hair frizz. You wrinkled your nose and gripped Jesper's arm tighter, savoring his familiar scent and warmth.
"I've got you, you know that." He told you, stunningly gray eyes winking down at your pinched face. He knew why you hated the water—what haunted your worst nightmares. He had nightmares, too. "We'll be in Ravka soon. Then we can rob a Grisha tent, or feed Kaz to a Volcra."
"We could feed Inej to a Volcra." You mumbled, and Jesper poked you roughly in the side.
"Inej is lovely. As are you." He reached over and fiddled with the Volcra tooth on your necklace, pinching it between his index finger and thumb. "Where did you get this, by the way?"
      She tugged it out of his grasp gently, the tooth sharp against your skin. Memories of a snowy wasteland north of Ravka and a woman with a cane and the temperament of a wet cat came to mind. You missed Marmee, the woman you’d lived with from the time you fled Ketterdam at eight until you were fifteen, and her strange Fjerdan ways, desperately, even now.
Even when you bore scars from the country that had pulled you out of the lowest point of your life.
"My grandmother." Was all you said, and Jesper took the hint to drop the subject.
"We'd better hurry," Kaz's voice met your ears and you shivered involuntarily, refusing to meet his eye when he passed you on the dock. "this weather is shit. We'll be lucky to get into Ravka by sundown in these conditions."
His limp was worse today than usual—it always pained him more when the weather turned cold and rainy, and he clutched his cane roughly, a scowl on his face. You knew he'd be grumpy today. He always was when he hurt.
"Maybe you can bully the ocean into calming down." You mumbled, and Kaz shot you an exasperated look.
You weren’t sure what you’d expected to change between you and Kaz as of last night, but you shouldn't have been surprised when the first words to you from him were rude. He made a face at your hair, piled hazardously on top of your head, and snorted.
"Did you battle a wildebeest?" He asked, gesturing vaguely at your head, and you didn't deem him worthy of a reply.
"Good morning." The Conductor sniffed, nodding his head at you as he approached the group on the docks.
"You're late." Kaz deadpanned in reply.
"Are you excited to cross?" Jesper asked The Conductor loudly, ignoring his friend, and the mustache-wearing man looked up from being jabbed in the bicep with a sharp nail from you as a greeting.
"It's all part of the trade. I've crossed more times than I can count." He gestured to his sleeve and smiled half-heartedly.
You reached over and snatched up his arm.
"HEY—" you squealed, and Kaz flinched. "Look at this. Look." You commanded, and held the poor man's arm out towards Kaz. On the Conductor's left forearm were quite possibly the most tallied scars Kaz had ever, in all of his eighteen years, laid eyes upon.
"I want this many tallies," you said, grinning down at the man's arm. "the Fold is so scary—how do you get across it? Have you ever fought a Volcra? I have."
"You have never fought a Volcra," Kaz commented, but everyone ignored him.
"It's a trade secret," the Conductor replied, giving you an amused look. "you'll see once we land in Ravka."
"Where's Inej?" Kaz asked, turning to Jesper, and you let out an unflattering grunt.
"We're holding up the ship." You said and pulled your arm from Jesper's, stomping your way towards the deck. Your eyes darted towards the churning water as you stepped over the gangplank to the ship, your stomach tossing in unison as you forced down haunting images that always followed the sea.
If you didn't lose your lunch before you got to Ravka, you’d lose your mind.
~
"It's not fair that I wasn't born a Sun Summoner," You pouted and crossed your arms over your chest, slouching aggressively. "Why does Alina get to win? I'd look great in a Kefta."
      The boat trip to Ravka had been brief but debilitating. You’d only seen Inej once, puking over the side of the ship, but you were still so irritated with the Suli girl for winning Kaz's favor and for cutting your face that you didn't do more than offer her a handkerchief.
Even then, the two of you stayed in tense silence around each other.
    Now that you were in West Ravka, piled into a carriage, you and Inej wouldn't stop playing The Staring Game, waiting for one another to crack under the weight of the other's stare. You were crowded against the window of the small carriage you were in, and it was burning hot.
"You look great in everything." Jesper told you, pulling your attention, and scooted closer on the bench beside you, stretching out his long legs.
      The Conductor wasn't leaving either of you much room and Kaz, across from you, wouldn't stop death-glaring you like he expected you to summon a demon onto the carriage just because you were there.
"What the hell are you looking at?" You snapped, irritated with the weight of Kaz's glare, and he rolled his eyes.
"How'd this happen?" Jesper asked, and poked your cheek with a frown on his face. He ignored his best friend when Kaz gave him a glare that implied he was committing treason. "And where'd you go off to last night? I saw you sneaking off down the street all dressed up in your murder gear."
You glared at the person you liked the most out of everyone in that carriage and poked him right back.
"None of your business," you said maturely, and glanced over at Kaz. He watched you with an inscrutable look on his face that made him look like he'd smelled something foul. "I got bit by a snake." You said, and shot daggers at Inej with your eyes.
The girl at least had the decency to look embarrassed for throwing a knife at you.
"I bet." Jesper snorted, elbowing you like you were talking about an inside joke, and Kaz cleared his throat.
"If you two are going to be annoying," he began, and rolled his cane between his fingers, "you ought to ride in the box on the back of the carriage. Some of us have more important things to do than gossip."
"Like what?" You demanded, and Inej stared at the window like she was waiting for a miracle from God.
"Like the Conductor." Kaz started, his eyes sliding to yours, and he frowned before looking to the man crammed against the window beside Jesper. "I didn't hire you simply to get us across the Fold. You're with us because you smuggle Grisha out of the Little Palace, and that's the location of our target."
"Sun Summoner." Inej corrected.
"Alleged." Kaz cut back, and Jesper snorted.
"They wouldn't keep a fraud in the most secure location in all of Ravka," Inej pointed out, and Kaz ignored her, sending a zing of satisfaction up your spine.
"You said you have a contact who can get us inside. A Heartrender." Kaz continued, and the Conductor nodded.
"Mmhmm."
"How do I know we can trust her?"
"Nina grew up there."
"Most Grisha grew up in the Little Palace. Very few would betray their general, and fewer still would help foreigners kidnap their most prized possession."
"Nina's a radical. Thinks Grisha should get to choose if they serve the Crown. She despises involuntary service more than she does Fjerdans."
"What's wrong with Fjerdans?" You scoffed, raising an eyebrow, and Kaz rolled his eyes. You thought you were going to hurt him if he rolled his eyes at you one more time.
"She's Grisha." The Conductor laughed bitterly, casting you a look. "Don't be stupid, girl." He said and despite yourself you felt embarrassed.
"Watch the way you speak to her." Kaz set a dark look onto the Conductor and the man frowned.
"My apologies." He grumbled, turning to look out the window, and you mashed your lips together to prevent a smile.
tags| @balmasedas @euphoniumpets @subjecta13-thefangirl @itisroe @thefandomplace @kaitlyn2907 @alice-the-nerd @beeposstuff @kykymyeon @emberlei @tomhollandisabae @sakuramadae @louweasleymalfoy @thehighqueenandking
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jj-babebank · 3 years
Text
Camp Willowdale / JJ Maybank AU / PART 6
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Synopsis: Camp Willowdale is buzzing with new campers. It’s Caroline Windsor’s first year as a camp counsellor after attending the camp as a camper for ten years. Little does she know that this year Willowdale Lake is going to be a little different from what she is used to it being…
Warnings: future chapters may include curse words, mentions of drugs, mentions of alcohol, mentions of sexual activities, mentions of death.
Pairings: JJ Maybank x fem OC Part 1 ; Part 2 ; Part 3 ; Part 4; Part 5 ;
Masterlist
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Part 6 -
49 days of camp left
“The thing I don’t understand is,” said JJ, taking a sip of his coffee several days later at breakfast, “How is everyone so chill about all of this?”
“Yeah, everyone except for us,” said Caroline.
“And Topper,” mumbled Sarah.
Her three friends all looked up at her, eyes wide.
“What?” she looked back at them, eyes equally as wide in confusion, “Why’d you think he’s been moping around camp, face looking like a slapped ass?”
“Sarah, why didn’t you say anything at the campfire?” Caroline asked angrily.
“Um, I did,” defended Sarah.
“Um, no you didn’t,” clapped back JJ, getting visibly annoyed.
John B nodded and mumbled quietly, “They’re right, you didn’t…”
“Not now, John B,” snapped Sarah at him, turning towards her other friends, “What do you mean I didn’t?”
“When we asked you about what Topper said, you literally said ‘oh nothing of importance, he doesn’t care about the bitch either’ and then you went back to glaring at those girls goggling at John B,” said JJ.
Sarah scoffed, “I was only glaring because they refuse to listen to me and only do whatever he says,”
“That’s beside the point, Sarah,” sighed JJ, “If you weren’t too busy doing that, perhaps you’d have mentioned that Topper doesn’t buy the whole boyfriend story either, which could mean that we’ve got an ally amongst all of these lunatics!”
“Sorry,” Sarah shrugged, “I guess I just got distracted,”
Caroline shook her head sighing, “Anyway, it’s almost 9,” she looked at JJ, “What’s on our schedule for today?”
“Funny you ask,” JJ responded, “We’ve actually got swimming until 11, which means the kids have swimming until 11 and we can just chill by the lake,” he wiggled his eyebrows, “If you know what I mean,”
In the days since camp began, the whole Madison thing had died down and since there was no new occurrences and, well, no new leads, Caroline and JJ decided to put their primary focus on their teens. They’d made a small rule that every time their schedule indicated that they’ve got an activity where their physical participation is not directly required, Caroline would sneak some whiskey in their thermoses and they would quietly drink it in secret, just to spice up their day.
So far Caroline was doing a pretty good job at hiding her crush on JJ, which was somehow becoming bigger by the day. For some reason everything that JJ did was attractive. Whether it was him running, or teaching the boys how to tie a noose, or eating (pretty messily) his food, or not to mention swimming practice when he was required to get naked – Caroline could just stare at him all day. She was somewhat happy about their newfound tradition of taking over some of their daily tasks while tipsy because the alcohol was somewhat helping her seem more confident and less shy.
Caroline tied her long brunette hair in a Dutch braid and smeared the tiniest bit of mascara on her lashes, just to seem effortlessly pretty, of course. She adjusted the straps of her swimsuit and grabbed her and JJ’s prefilled thermoses before heading out to meet the boy and their group in front of the camper’s cabin.
“There she is,” said JJ, unable to hide his excitement, “We ready to go?”
The campers all agreed and they made their way down towards the lake, where Caroline and JJ sat at one of the benches while their campers hurried into the water.
“Now, now, Teens 2,” said JJ after them, not too bothered about sounding strict, “Usually our timetable says swimming, but since we’re all grown ups here, we can all do whatever we want, as long as we don’t go too far away from me and Carrie’s eyesight, alright?”
Everyone agreed and JJ sat back down next to Caroline, who handed him his thermos.
“I’ve gotta give it to you, Maybank,” she said, taking a sip of the spicy liquor in her flask, “You’ve got a way with kids,”
JJ smiled down at her, taking a sip too, “I mean they’re hardly kids, C,” he said, “Besides, I try my best, I wouldn’t want to embarrass myself in front of you,”
That blush that Caroline was all too familiar with crept back onto her cheeks, “In front of me?” she repeated, surprised.
“Yeah,” nodded JJ as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, “I don’t see any other pretty girls around here,”
Caroline looked in the opposite direction, too shy to look at JJ, as she took another rather large sip of her drink, “JJ…”
“What? Can’t a guy give you a compliment?” he smirked, “Hey, come on now, we’re in this together, besides… your mom did say -”
Just as Caroline was about to turn towards JJ with a panicked look in her eyes, fearing what exactly her mom had said to him, two of their campers began screaming their names, diverting both of their attentions.
“Carrie! JJ! You’ve gotta come see this!”
JJ shot up, helping Caroline up as well, as they ran towards the dock. Bobby and Eli, the two campers who had called out for them, were hastily swimming back to shore.
“What is it?” Caroline asked, worry filling up her nerves.
“We found something dope!” said Eli, reaching the dock, “But we can’t reach it without you guys’ help,”
“What did you find?” asked JJ.
“That,” Bobby pointed in the direction they’d just swam from. There, a good distance away, in the middle of the body of water, stood an abandoned-looking stilt house.
“The old lake house,” JJ and Caroline said in unison.
“That’s just an old building, it’s been there forever and there’s literally nothing in it,” explained JJ, his nerves calming down after the initial jump scare, “Trust me, we’ve looked,”
Bobby rolled his eyes, “Oh, come on, you can’t be serious,” he moaned, “That place looks wicked!”
“Yeah, if you watch a lot of horror movies,” said Caroline, “JJ’s right, there’s nothing in there. I’ve been numerous times, it looks way cooler in your imagination, believe me. Reality is underwhelming,”
Eli crossed his arms, “If it’s so underwhelming why don’t you wanna take us there?”
JJ sighed, “Eli, taking you there would require taking the boats, which we’re not allowed to do unless it’s on our schedule, which it’s not, and if we take you there, we’d have to take everyone there, and -”
“Take everyone where?” came Jennie, another one of their campers’, voice suddenly.
“Yeah, JJ,” more campers gathered around the dock, “Where are you taking us?”
JJ and Caroline sighed in defeat as they shared a defeated look, making Bobby and Eli high five in victory.
“Change of plans, kids,” said JJ finally, giving in, “Swimming’s cancelled, looks like we’re going to be learning how to row today,”
_________________________________________________________
“You sure about this?” JJ grabbed Caroline’s hand as she was stepping off the boat and onto the back deck of the abandoned stilt house.
Caroline turned towards him and gave him a reassuring smile, “It’ll be just like the old days,” she said, her tone sounding promising.
JJ followed her onto the deck and they helped their campers tie their little boats on the deck’s cleats.
“Looks like y’all were really paying attention during our noose tying workshop,” JJ said proudly as he double-checked that all the boats were securely tied, “I’m gonna make sure to bring that up to Miss P and we might have a shot of winning at the Will-all-hail banquet,”
Caroline snorted at the name, “So tacky…”
“Come on guys, follow me and Carrie and watch your steps,” JJ signaled, catching everyone’s attention, “This place is crazy old so be careful! One wrong step and you may end up in the water,”
Carefully, the group entered the old creaky building. It was all too familiar to Caroline and JJ, the smell of mold and condensation hitting their nostrils as the single dusty dark room they had secretly lurked into numerous times as kids presented itself in front of them. Part of Caroline had always secretly wished for the old lake house to serve as a passageway to a parallel universe, or to hold some great big secret, or even to be inhabited by the not-so-friendly ghost of whoever built it back in the day, however unsurprisingly, nothing seemed out of the ordinary yet again. The room was empty, other than the numerous spider webs which decorated almost every corner and crease.
“There you go,” Caroline said, turning to leave, “Nothing to see here,”
JJ agreed, “As always, underwhelming and empty,”
“If it’s so empty,” spoke one of the campers, “then what’s that?” the teenager pointed in the direction of where there was once a door leading towards the front deck.
Everyone’s heads turned in that direction and sure enough, on one of the old nails sticking out of the door frame, was hung a piece of red fabric, barely noticeable from the inside, let alone from where the shore to camp was.
“Stand back,” said Caroline, slowly stepping forward towards the fabric. She peeped her head through the door hole cautiously, checking if there was anyone on the front deck, holding her breath as she did so. She breathed out in relief once she saw that the coast was clear and analyzed the fabric, “Hey, J, can you come over?”
JJ, half-impressed, half-paralyzed, snapped back to reality as he walked over to the girl who now looked so brave in his eyes, mentally slapping himself for not being a man and volunteering to go instead of her.
“Why does this look familiar?” Caroline said once JJ came over to piece of clothing. It turned out to be a dress.
JJ shrugged, pulling at the material and taking a sniff, “Whoever’s it is was here recently,” he said, “Smell of perfume is fresh,” he sniffed again, “And super strong,” he scrunched his nose, a look of disgust on his face.
Caroline took a sniff too, “Yeah, that smell is so familiar, but where from…” she sniffed again, closing her eyes in an attempt to figure out where she recognized the scent from.
“Probably one of the girls from your cabin,” concluded JJ, “I’d put my money on Jenna Kinley, she seems like the type to sneak around,”
Caroline smirked, “Sounds about right, she was probably up here sneaking around with Barry, I hear her talking about him all the time,” she unhooked the dress from the nail, “I’ll bring it back to her, she must think she’s lost it,”
JJ nodded and they led the campers out of the stilt house and onto shore again. Caroline tucked the dress in her bag along with her thermos and waited until after everyone’s daily activities were over to meet Sarah by the showers and tell her about her and JJ’s scandalous little discovery. Ever since they’d arrived at Camp Willowdale and had their phones taken away for the rest of the summer, the only source of news and gossip was whatever was happening around camp, and since it wasn’t all that much, every little bit of spice counted.
“So how was archery?” she asked Sarah as she folded her underwear and turned the water in her shower on.
Sarah followed in after her, not bothering on going into a neighboring shower stall. They had developed his habit of showering together about three days into camp, with Sarah seemingly having separation anxiety and insisting that “they’ve both got the same bits and pieces” and that how “any guy would be lucky to be in the position Caroline is in,”.
The blonde groaned as she squeezed some of her purple shampoo in her palm, foaming it up and working it into her hair, “Horrible,” she said, “How do you see me with a bow and arrows?”
“Do you really want me to answer that question?” teased Caroline, mirroring Sarah’s actions and washing her hair.
“Whatever, C,” Sarah rolled her eyes, “How was your swim date with your boyfriend?”
“Okay, first of all, he’s not my boyfriend,” said Caroline earning a smug look from Sarah, “And second, you’ll never guess what we found,”
“Oooh, is it the incessant lust you have for each other?” teased Sarah.
“No, it’s better,” said Caroline, ignoring her friend’s words, “We went to the old lake house and we may or may not have found what we believe to be Jenna’s dress just hanging there,” Sarah’s eyes widened at her words, “Yeah, we assume she’s sneaking around with Barry, how fucking scandalous is that?”
“Shut up!” gasped Sarah.
Caroline nodded excitedly, “Right? She’s been yapping about him nonstop and we just put two and two together,”
“Who’d have thought… little miss perfect and Barry,” scoffed Sarah, “D’you have the dress? It’ll be so embarrassing once you give it back to her, I can picture her face already,”
“You bet I do, it’s in my bag,” said Caroline, “Must’ve done the deed recently, it still reeks of her,” she scrunched her nose at the thought of the horrible smell.
Sarah raised an eyebrow, “What’re you pulling that face for? Does she smell that bad?”
Caroline shook her head, “It’s her perfume,” she explained, “Smells like what I imagine Miss P’s underwear drawer smelling like,”
Sarah scoffed, “Now you’ve got me intrigued,” she quickly rinsed her hair and body off, hurrying for her towel, “Where’d you say this dress was?”
Caroline nodded her head in the direction of her bag, “Somewhere in my bag,” she said, “But I’m being serious – you’ve been warned,”
As she continued rinsing her hair, Sarah dove her hand into Caroline’s bag, searching for the dress in question. When she finally felt it in her hand, she pulled the piece of clothing out pressing it against her nose to take a sniff. Her eyes widened in horror as realization consumed her.
“Carrie…” she mumbled not loud enough for her friend to look up, “Carrie, this isn’t Jenna’s dress,” she spoke louder.
This time, Caroline looked up at Sarah with a look of confusion in her eyes.
“The perfume you’re talking about,” said Sarah, “It’s Guerlain Shalimar, I’d recognize it anywhere,”
“Your point being…?”
“This perfume doesn’t belong to Jenna,” Sarah turned to look at Caroline, her eyes still wide in horror, “It’s Madison’s,”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: chapter 6 is upppp!! I hope you like it!! let me know what you think and if you want to be added in the tag list for future chapters, tell me!! xxx
tags: @k-k0129 ; @hayleyy-l ; @marvellover04
Part 7 here
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Text
If you find me on the edge, we’ll jump together.
Gwynriel Pirate au pt 6 
this chapters a little long and fluffy but I really like it and I finally gave it a name
Here are the other parts if you’re interested :) pt 1, pt 2, pt 3, pt 4, pt 5
what had azriel’s life become? In the past 24 hours his ship became infested with dangerous females, he had given up his most prized possession, and he was on his way to find a being that still haunted his nightmares. 
Berdara was a fine persuader but money was even better. Too bad they seemed to come in tandem. The captain of the shadowsinger needed this hall and there was no way in hell he was loosing a dime to the cutthroat redhead he now lived with. 
He stole a glance toward her to find her staring intently at the map. Her mind, her calculating, cold, ruthless mind at work. Her eyes shot up to his and she gave him a smirk, flashing the whites of her teeth and winked. he knew others would see a friendly smile but all he saw were fangs
Infuriating as she might be, she had not said one word, in the past few hours about his meltdown or the other thing he had yet to let himself dwindle over. He was caught between appreciation and the feeling that he wasn’t worth a second thought to her. 
“so where will my crew and I be sleeping” her voice was light but there was a slight edge. 
“The room next to mine.” He grit his teeth in preparation for the comment that was sure to follow that statement. “now you’re going to say something crude” 
at the same time gwyneth said with a wink, “want to keep me close, captain? all you have to do is ask?”
The slight shock on her face elicited pure joy from azriel. While hidden, a practiced eye saw the way her mouth slightly parted and her eyes flare. It was his turn to smirk as he responded, “Your majesty is becoming quite predictable.”  
gwyn smiled her psychotic smile and stepped closer to him. too close. “wouldn’t want that,” she whispered into his hear as if she was telling him a secret. Her voice wrapped it’s claws around his throat and squeezed, pulling him to her. 
Azriel coughed “You’re all going to have to share a room.”
“it’s quite alright, my crew and I have shared beds before.” There was a suggestive glint in her eyes. and blood rushed to his face faster than this girl could threaten and flirt in the same breath. 
“I don’t believe I said anything about sharing beds.” 
“Oh I know, but sometimes, shadowsinger, we must learn the difference between necessity and pleasure.” Azriel’s pupils dilated and his skin felt tight and hot.
Gwyn leaned in once again and teased, whispering, “Predictability is worth seeing you blush like a school girl.” She threw her fiery hair over her shoulder and walked away leaving him gaping like an idiot. 
cassian and rhys walked out from his room and rhys said with a chuckle “she’s something alright.”
cassian looked at him with mock sincerity “promise me I’ll be the bridesmaid at your wedding”
“and will it be a double with you and that second of hers?”
He held his hands to his chest and tilted his head, “only in my dreams”
Rhys swung his arm around him laughing, “You’re pathetic.” 
————————————————————————
5 days passed and every one of them was torturous. His crew at their wits end with hers. Apparently the two blondes were causing quite a bit of trouble. It had seemed one had wiped the floor with his entire crew when it came to the cards while the other was a bit of a thief, a petty thief. 
His sharpshooter had made the mistake of whistling at Emerie, she tossed him into the ocean without so much as batting an eye. Thankfully they got him out in time and rest assured there were no more comments or touching. 
He hadn’t seen Berdara much as she had been holed up in her room barely leaving beyond the occasional meal. Though every time she did grace his presence, she was sure to leave him flustered beyond relief. What about this girl make him loose all of his composure, he wasn’t sure. But avoidance was a useful tool. 
Don’t think about it, don’t care azriel thought as he watched Cassian and Rhys spar on the deck of his ship. HIs two best fighters, facing off until suddenly rhys was knocked to the ground from behind. The culprit, the silver majesties second, Nesta. 
There was a determined look in her eyes, cold ambition. 
Cassian laughed, unfazed. 
“my turn.” her voice was one of mock innocence, venom drenched in sugar.
“don’t be so eager sweatheart.” 
“Eager to knock your arrogant ass down a few pegs” 
“Ooh she’s feisty.” And with that Nesta attacked. She wasn’t graceful but she fought as if her life depended on it, a sure sign that at one point or another it did. She swerved and jabbed with a desperate urgency, one you could only learn on the streets. Cassian dodged and deflected, though he was working much harder than usual. It seemed he also had something to prove. 
Azriel turned, knowing this fight would not be over any time soon, to find Berdara walking right towards him. “Nesta will not loose this fight.” 
“funny, neither will cassian.” 
Gwyneth gave him a serious look. “She does not loose, she never has and she never will.” 
“hmm. It’s never too late to try new things.” 
gwyn rolled her eyes before a glint appeared in them. “care for a rematch?” 
“fists or swords?” 
“Let’s spice it up, swords.”
“double or single?”
“A sword and a dagger.” 
“Surrender or mercy.” 
“Seeing you kneel to me will be sweet.” she paused. “Surrender.” 
“You’re on.”
“Pirates oath?”
“A gentleman always plays fair.” She unsheathed her sword and dagger holding one in each hand and smirked. “too bad I am no mere man.”  she lunged but azriel had been expecting that and side stepped pulling out his own sword and dagger. 
Where nesta had been brute force and aggression, Gwyneth was all grace and speed. She fought with the efficiency of someone who trained with the queens guard themselves. It was like fighting a tornado, she was fast like lightning and when she struck she struck hard. Every move was beautiful and deadly, just like her. 
————————————————————————
“We dock in 15 minutes.” Azriel called out to his crew. 
“What no, we need to keep going.” Gwyn replied.
“What we need is to restock supplies so we don’t starve to death before we’re richer than the queen herself.” 
she gave him a confused look, as if he was speaking a different language.
“We’ve been sailing non-stop for almost 2 weeks and we are out of supplies.”
gwyn mumbled something that sounded like “pathetic.” 
As soon as Azriel dropped the anchor his entire crew rushed off the shadowsinger, desperate to be away from the insane women. With of course the exception of Cassian for he was leaning against the rails of the ship bothering Nesta while she was pointedly ignoring him. 
“Hey, enough with the heart eyes we’ve got shit to do.” Azriel barked at Cassian who then frowned and sulked off the ship while nesta stared at him with her cold, blank expression. “You too sunshine. Let’s get moving.” 
“Order me to do something again and I will cut off your limbs one by one and feed you them for breakfast.” 
“I’m counting down the hours.” Azriel narrowly missed the dagger she threw at his head.
“Don’t call me sunshine.” and nesta walked off the ship, katanas at her hips glinting in the cold sun of the winter court. She looked right in her element. 
Before he called these women insane but that was far too gentle of a statement, the females that had found their way onto Berdara’s ship were absolutely, completely batshit crazy. 
Az was sure everyone was off his ship, everyone was accounted for and yet something was nagging at him. 
A flash of red caught his eye and he turned to see the captain of the silver majesty sitting on the railing, one misstep and she would fall. Though there was no doubt in his mind that she would survive the deadly drop. This women seem to defy all odds, why not death? Her smile was wild and just a little bit mad as the wind swept and curled through her hair pushing it back from her face. As if it wanted nothing more than to be flowing through her her fiery locks that mirrored her spirit. Gwyn closed her eyes, feeling the breeze, the sun lighting up the freckles that spread across her cheeks. She was
“Are you done gawking?” she said without even opening her eyes. 
horrible, she was absolutely unquestionably horrible. “If I may, what are you doing majesty?” 
She turned toward him, in the sun the blue of her iris’s had a twinge of green as if she was born for the sea. “I am simply reminding myself why I left.” Her eyes gazed hungrily over the vast sea as though she saw a challenge, one she had to conquer. “who could resist all this?”
It was unlike her to offer such a raw statement with no ulterior motive and while it was entirely possible she did have one, Azriel believed her. Azriel believed her because he shared the exact feeling. The longing for freedom, the found solstice in constant change and motion, and the occasional guilt for leaving that ultimately fades because it will never not be worth it. 
“I pity them.” 
“Fools.”
“Utterly.” She offered no more as she hopped down from the railing. 
They walked in comfortable silence as they both took in the beauty of the winter court. It was all ice and snow with a slight aura of loneliness. 
Together the two captains arrived at the inn. It was cozy and warm and was placed separately from the rest of the town. His eyes shifted and he saw what had to have been the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. It was a bar. Thank fucking goodness. Azriel knew without a doubt that they all desperately needed some liquor. 
In the bar he immediately found both their combined crew. A crowd of men and women had surrounded Rhys, hanging on every word he said while he soaked it up flirting to his hearts content. Azriel was going to have to give him a limit on the number of people he could fuck at once, this was getting ridiculous. Next he found Cassian, Tarquin and Viviane doing shots at the bar. But he noticed every time his glance shifted to a certain girl in the corner of the room. Nesta was in a booth with Emerie sipping whiskey, talking in low voices. Cressedia and Drakon were in a heated drinking game and-
Azriel knocked into a body he immediately recognized as Lucien and he held out his hand at once glaring. 
“Hey captain.” He said cheerfully. 
“empty now.”
The kid dumped a pile of jewels, wallets, and id’s in his hand. 
Azriel smirked approvingly “get me a ruby, an Id of a man who could pass for the high lord of the winter court, and 500 more dollars.” Lucien nodded greedily and ran along. It had been a game between the two of them for Azriel to give him outlandish challenges to sharpen his skill as a thief. 
But before Lucien could leave the bar every lamp extinguished and the bar turned quiet. 
Strangers gasped and knives were drawn. 
Moments later the lights reappeared and once his eyes readjusted he saw a women holding two daggers to the throats of Tarquin and Viviane. They struggled against her. But she just laughed and scolded. “No no no. shhhh” Before she looked up again. 
“We need to have a chat.” every word was clipped and short. “Put your weapons away and these two might get to live to see another day.” It was an order, and a threat. Azriel didn’t take kindly to threats. 
Gwyn looked to the 3 remaining who followed her and nodded at them to listen. He nodded to his own crew. 
Nesta sneered but dropped her katanas to the ground. She opened her mouth to speak but Rhys beat her to it, pushing away the women he was flirting with as he drawled to the women in front of them. 
“It’s been a long time Feyre, darling.”
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lukin08 · 3 years
Text
All Summer Long
Here is my submission for the Summer Lovin @frozines.  A big thanks to @punkpoemprose for putting this together.  Amazing, as always
Rating: T
Words: 5261
Also available on AO3
The bell dinged over the door as Anna pulled it open. She took pause at the sound and looked around. At first glance, the store looked exactly as it had from her childhood. Knotty pine planks lined the walls and ceilings matching the cedar siding on the outside of the building. T-shirts ran across the top of the long back wall, all beckoning tourists to purchase them. The racks leading over to the checkout were full of snacks and hats for anyone unfortunate to have forgotten their own. Anna walked over reading all the fronts of the baseball caps. She had to use all her self-control to not grab the pink and black one that read ‘Boat Waves, Sun Rays and Torch Lake Days’.
After closer inspection, much had changed to Pabbie’s. New floors, a quick serve area that had about every grab and go food you could think of, and most importantly, a bakery and ice cream counter all filled out the large space.
She was flipping through a rack of sweatshirts when a voice called out. “On your left, Red.”
Anna jumped out of the way as a man passed her quickly carrying two large boxes over his shoulder.
“Sven!” A middle-aged woman called, following quickly behind him.
“Gotta go. We’re on fire today!”
“You tell him I need his order today before 5.”
“I’ll try.”
“Do it or you’ll be out of luck next weekend! No pilfering from the store when you run out of supplies anymore. It’s messing up my books!”
“Love you too, Bulda!” He said, flashing her a grin then disappearing out the front door.
The woman stopped next to Anna, put her hands on her hips and sighed. “Those two will be the death of me, I swear.”
“Everything ok?”
The woman looked at Anna and smiled. “It gets busier earlier every summer. Used to be until the third week of June when the water got warm when the crowds started, but we’ve been running full steam since before Memorial Day.”
“Wow. That early?”
“Who would have thought? Guess we aren’t the best kept secret of Michigan anymore.” The woman took a long look at Anna. “Anything I can help you with?”
Anna glanced out the window at the marina. “I actually had a question about an installation for a dock. Do I need to go next door?”
The woman waved her hand. “No need for that. Follow me.”
Anna followed her over to a counter at the other end of the room. The sign above it on the wall read ‘Torch Lake Marina’. There was all sorts of literature on boat rentals and storage and marine services on the counter.
“I didn’t realize the marina was part of Pabbie’s. I had to double check the address when saw it.”
“We purchased it a few years ago. Now what can I do for you?”
“I need to schedule a dock installation.”
Anna gave her the information and after a few minutes she had a time for the next week for the Marina to come out.
“Arendelle. Now that’s a name I haven’t heard in years. There was a family that had a place on Cherry Road named Arendelle. Are you any relation to them?”
“Yes. That’s me… I mean that’s my family. My parents owned the house. We used to come up here a long time ago.”
“I remember your father. He was in here all the time with the boat in the summers. Got along well with my father. How is your family doing?”
That was all it took. One simple question and Anna was off, spilling her guts to a stranger. She explained her parents' passing five years prior and the over ten-year absence due to her parent’s intense focus on her sister’s health. But Anna was back with a vision for the house and being up at the lake this summer was just what she needed. Internally she was screaming at herself to just stop talking. But Bulda kept asking her questions and seemed genuinely interested in what she was saying that Anna just couldn’t stop.
“That all sounds amazing, dear. You must keep me updated with how things are going. Can I give you one piece of advice?”
“Sure.”
“Make sure to take a minute to breathe now and then. You can blink and the entire summer will be over.”
“I will. Some friends from home are coming up tomorrow. I think we are going to head over to the sandbar. It should be fun!”
“Or at least entertaining. The sandbar on the weekend is always good for that.”
-------
This wasn’t what Anna had envisioned for a day out on the water. The morning had started fine. Anna was thrilled to be back out on the water again. To understand the depths of Torch Lake’s beauty and appreciate its deep aqua and turquoise colors, you really had to take it in with your own eyes on the lake. It was even fun at first when they anchored at the sandbar. But things took a turn for the worse as the day went on.
They anchored with a group of boats and the faces were all familiar. The uppity groups she remembered from school, all in the same social circles her family were in hadn’t changed a bit. They played their music too loud, drank too much and Anna quickly remembered why she left Ann Arbor as soon as she could. As much as she was trying to rekindle old relationships, perhaps some of them were better left as old friends.
Fending wanting to check out more of the sandbar, Anna decided to venture away from the group. It was easy getting around. Barring the occasional deep spot, the water wasn’t more than up to her thighs most of the time and in some stretches it was only at her ankles. There was over two miles to walk if she wanted, but Anna was on a mission.
Rumor was there was a pontoon that served food on the sandbar. She didn’t really believe it, but she was intrigued enough to go in search of it. After a few questions and only getting turned around twice between all the boats she looked up at the large yellow and black sign that read ‘Burger Barge’ stretched across the pontoon.
After spotting what looked like the area to order, Anna went up the side of the boat. As soon as the person in front of her was handed the foil wrapped sandwich, she stepped up closer. “I’ll have a burger. That’s all you have, right? Or is there something else?”
The man up at the boat was in front of the grill. He didn’t bother to look up. “A little busy here.”
“I can wait. How long do you think?”
He pointed his spatula down to the end of the boat. “Order in the back, princess. Just like everyone else.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I saw you hand a burger to someone. I thought-“
“Does it look like I take orders here?” he snapped. “Do you see the prices anywhere? You think I’m going to handle everyone’s money and cook all the food at the same time?”
“I’m sorry, I-“
“Do I know you?” He had stopped what he was doing and was staring at her now.
“Excuse me?” Anna tried to make out his features, but his blond bangs hung over a wide bandana covering his forehead and sunglasses obscured his eyes.
“Do I know you,” he said slower, dropping his sunglasses down to get a better look. His brown eyes glared over at her.
Anna crossed her arms in front of her, annoyed at the tone he was taking with her. “You most certainly do not!”
He grinned, which only infuriated Anna. “Good. Line’s at the back of the boat. Get moving.” He pointed again and went back to flipping the food on the grill.
“Well maybe I don’t want to eat here anymore.”
“Suit yourself. Good luck finding something else to eat out here.”
“Rude,” Anna said under her breath. She went to walk away because he did not deserve her business. But her stomach rumbled in protest and what other option did she have?
The line was long and snaked behind a few other boats. It only gave Anna time to stew on the conversation and what an absolute ass the cook had been.
“Hey, Red! From Pabbie’s right?”
Anna was almost taken back at the smiling face in front of her. “Yes. Sven? Did I get that right? I think that’s what the owner called you.”
“You got it. I’m always having someone chase me down calling my name. What can I get you?”
Anna bit her bottom lip looking at the choices. “What do you recommend- the chicken sandwich or the burger?”
“You can’t go wrong with anything, but,” Sven leaned forward. “We’ve got the best burgers on the lake. Trust me, I know the cook.”
“Oh, him.”
Sven glanced behind him then back at Anna. “From here or…somewhere else?”
“A few minutes ago.”
Sven’s face relaxed and he smiled again. “Don’t mind Kris. His bark is worse than his bite.”
“I don’t plan on talking to him again, but thanks.”
“Stick with me Red this summer at the Burger Barge. I won’t steer you wrong.” Sven handed her the burger and a canned drink. “The Coke’s on me. For your pain and suffering.” He winked at her before turning away to take the next customer’s order.
------
The truck pulled onto the driveway, the long trailer behind it making a metallic rattle against the sections of dock it was carrying. Anna got up from her chair on the beach and threw on a shirt over her bikini top, not bothering to button it up. Old shorts and cover up seemed appropriate enough to meet with the dock installers. She was halfway back to the house when two men got out of the truck.
“I don’t know. Go ring the doorbell.”
The voice that got out of the passenger side was familiar, but he was turned away from Anna. She jogged over, waving her hand. “No need. I’m here.”
“Red!” Sven turned and grinned. “We keep running into each other!”
“Hi Sven. And it’s Anna. Anna Arendelle.”
Sven tipped his hat. “Pleased to meet you, Anna…officially that is. How was the burger?”
“Best one I’ve had in years.”
Sven laughed. “I knew it!” He pointed across the truck. “I think you’ve met my business partner.”
Anna looked through the windows of the truck and recognized him immediately. He was standing there with his head down, clearly not happy. “Oh no.”
Sven bumped Anna’s shoulder. “Relax. If it makes you feel any better, he’s probably freaking out right now.”
Anna giggled as she looked through the window again and saw the man take a deep breath and go to walk around the truck.
“Anna, Kristoff,” Sven said as he introduced them.
“Ma’am,” Kristoff said.
There was a part of Anna that was pleased with how nervous he looked, but she decided to let him off the hook. “Just Anna please.”
Kristoff nodded. “Anna, could you show us where you want the dock?”
A few minutes later, Sven and Kristoff were rolling the sections of the dock down to the beach. Anna took her place back on the beach and picked up her notebook. Sven made small talk with Anna as she went through her plans for the house. Kristoff, on the other hand, kept his words short and only talked to Sven about what they were working on. Still, Anna found herself drawn to Kristoff, watching him from behind her sunglasses. He was easy to keep an eye on, watching him work in the water with just his swim trunks on, the muscles in his back flexing against the weight of the dock. A girl could get used to a view like that.
“Pay no attention to my rude friend,” Sven said as he leveled the two closest sections of the dock together. “He doesn’t like talking to anyone who isn’t a local.”
“I’m a local.”
Kristoff barked a sharp laugh. “For what, five minutes?”
“Ok. Then how long until I’m considered local.”
“Make it past Labor Day and we’ll talk.”
A little later Sven ran back to the marina to pick up extra posts, leaving Anna and Kristoff alone. Anna watched as Kristoff looked like he was mulling something over. After a few minutes he took a deep breath.
“I’d like to apologize for how I talked to you on Saturday. It was rude and unprofessional, and I shouldn’t have done it.”
“No you shouldn’t have.”
“The guy in front of you was trying to scam me for a free burger. Said the order was wrong. It wasn’t. What a crook.”
Anna laughed remembering the scowl on Kristoff’s face. “Apology accepted.”
“Thanks.”
“So, you aren’t just the Burger Barge’s master chef, I see,” Anna said as she watched Kristoff work.
“That’s just a weekend gig Sven and I came up with to make extra money when we were in college. It just took off and we haven’t stopped. I run the marina most of the time.”
“So that’s connected to Pabbies?”
Kristoff nodded. “Family business. It was my grandfather’s. My mom and dad took it over when I was kid and have been running it for years now. We bought the marina when I came on full time after school.”
“We used to go there all the time. It’s one of the good memories I have of my childhood. Spending time on the lake and going over to Pabbies to get a snack was the highlight of my summers. I was so sad when we stopped coming up to the lake.”
Kristoff was leaning against one of the posts now, watching Anna. “So, what are you doing here?”
“What do you mean?”
“Its just you in this giant house by yourself? Seems like a waste.”
“My sister didn’t want to deal with it anymore. It's all part of her freeing herself from worldly possessions process she’s going through. I couldn’t bear the idea of selling it and I needed a fresh start, so I bought out her half from her.”
“So, you’re just here with no plans?”
“If you must know, I do have plans. I’m updating the house and turning it into a bed and breakfast. And I’m going to run it.”
“Great. For more rich tourists to find the lake.”
Anna shook her head. “No. I want it to be affordable. I want people to bring their families and get to enjoy the lake like I did as a child. I want them to have those memories. As many people as possible. There’s so much land on the property, I was thinking of eventually expanding if it goes well. Maybe even hosting weddings. This house was built to be filled with joy and laughter of many people. I feel it in my bones.”
Kristoff went back to anchoring one of the posts. “Sounds ambitious.” Anna was about to argue with him when he added. “But nice. We need more of that around here.”
-----
Anna wasn’t exactly sure why she was nervous, but she was pacing up and down the landing outside of Pabbie’s waiting for Kristoff. They had struck up a bit of a working relationship, with Kristoff working on several smaller outdoor projects on the house as the main work inside was being done. She looked forward every day when he strolled onto the property after his work at the marina, often staying for dinner when she absolutely insisted. He seemed less and less resistant to stay every time she asked. Today was the most excited she’d been all summer. Her boat had arrived at the marina and Kristoff called her that morning saying it was ready for her to pick up. Now she was waiting for her to bring it around and take it out for a test run.
“Need a lift?”
Anna spun around only to see Kristoff pulling up along the landing with a big grin on his face. He put the boat in neutral and waved at her to come over to the edge. In one strong movement, Kristoff lifted her at the waist and into the boat. Anna let out a small squeak when he put her down, breathless at how effortless Kristoff made that look. He went slowly out of the marina area and past the no wake zone of the sand bar. As soon as they were past the buoy, he turned to Anna. “I’ll take it out then show you where everything is. Then it’s all yours.”
“Sounds great!”
“Where to?”
“Anywhere.”
“Want me to open it up? This baby goes fast.”
“Yes! I love to go fast!”
Kristoff gave her another grin and let open the throttle.
-----
They were out in the middle of the lake where Anna had stopped the boat. She was laying on the back of the boat without a care in the world. The water had been too tempting, and she couldn’t resist jumping in. Safely that is, Kristoff insisted on her wearing her life jacket out in the open water. Now she was laying on the towel, stretched out enjoying the warmth of the afternoon sun. Anna felt Kristoff’s eyes on her, but she didn’t dare look over.
Kristoff leaned back on the seat, stretching his legs out. “We’ll get the boatlift put in tomorrow then I’ll bring the boat over.”
“Sounds like a plan. Hey, I need an opinion.”
“Ok.”
“How many boats do you think I should have for next summer? I want the guests to be able to go out on the lake and enjoy it. I was thinking about one pontoon, but is that enough?”
“You want my honest opinion?”
“Duh. That’s why I asked you?”
“None.”
Anna lifted her head and looked at Kristoff. “Wait, what? None?”
“You heard me. Boats are a lot of work and you already have one. What you need is kayaks and paddle boards, a couple canoes and maybe a raft for swimming. That’s all. Keep it non-motorized.”
“But don’t you think I should have something?”
“Not everyone will want to use them. Plus, the expense of keeping them up and the insurance is only going to force you to keep your rates higher.”
“Mmm, suppose you’re right…for once.”
“Watch it.”
Anna pondered her options for a few minutes before sitting up, stretching and wrapping the towel around her. “I’ll just have to recommend Torch Lake Marina as our exclusive source for rentals.”
“I think we may be able to work a deal out with…wait, have you come up with a name for the B&B yet?”
“Working on it.” Anna looked up at the afternoon sun, wishing the day could last longer. “I suppose we should head back. I’ve kept you out too long.”
“I didn’t mind. It was nice spending the time with you. Let’s just hope Sven Actually did some work while I was gone.”
Anna tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. “It was nice today, wasn’t it?”
“Hey Anna?”
“Mmm?”
“I won’t be able to come out to the house for a few days.”
She sat down in one of the seats, feeling a sense of disappointment that she wouldn’t be seeing Kristoff, but also that he hadn’t asked her something different.
“Of course. Is everything alright?”
“Just gearing up for the 4th. It’s going to be hectic. Sven and I are going to be out on the boat at the sandbar all week. I wish we could both grow an extra set of arms its going to be so busy. But I’ll see you for the fireworks if you still want to go.”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world. Oh wait! I just had the best idea!”
“What?”
“Do you trust me?”
------
“Who thought this was a good idea?” Kristoff was tapping on the wheel of the pontoon waiting at the landing at Pabbie’s.
“This was all you, my friend,” Sven said with a laugh. “Relax. Anna will be fine, and we need all the help we can get this week.”
“She’s late. We should have left by now.”
“Five minutes isn’t going to change anything.”
“Have you seen the boats out there already?”
Sven rolled his eyes then pointed to the parking lot. “There she is.”
“What the hell is she carrying?”
“I’m here!” Anna yelled walking as fast as she could with the large cardboard box. As soon as she got to the boat, Sven grabbed the box and helped her step on. Kristoff was already in the process of untying the ropes and started moving before Anna sat down.
“Don’t mind him, Red,” Sven said. “He’ll calm down once we get anchored in a good spot. What did you bring?”
Anna smiled. “I’ll show you as soon as we get set up.”
She took the short time it took to ferry out to the sandbar to relax. Anna wasn’t sure what Kristoff’s reaction was going to be with the surprise, but she hoped he was open to it.
“Absolutely not.” Kristoff shook his head when Anna showed him the t-shirts that read ‘Burger Barge Torch Lake’ on them with a silhouette of the pontoon.
“Why?” Anna and Sven whined simultaneously.
“How are we going to sell those and the food? And I don’t have the money to pay you for those, Anna.”
“Relax. You have me to help and I promise I won’t sell a single shirt that gets in the way of the food orders.”
“No one’s going to want those.”
“Wanna bet? You take care of the burgers and I’ll stay out of your way and help sell these. You can pay me back out of the profits from the shirt sales. If they don’t sell, I’ll eat the cost.” Sven and Anna stood there holding their breaths. Finally, Kristoff relented, his face softening. “Ok, but the food is a priority.”
“Aye, aye, captain.”
“Don’t start.”
-----
The fire was soothing as Anna sat near it on the double swing. She was bone tired from working these last few days on the pontoon and staying up for the fireworks tonight. But it was a good tired. An ache from an honest day’s work and pure satisfaction. Kristoff came over and sat next to her. He handed her a stack of bills.
“What’s this?”
“Your cut from the week.”
“I don’t need-“
“You earned it. We made more than ever, even splitting it three ways. There’s also the money for the shirts.”
Anna gave Kristoff an impish grin. “I already placed another order. Told you we’d sell out.”
“You were right, and I was wrong.”
“Mmm say that again.”
Kristoff nudged Anna. “Seriously. Thank you for helping us.”
“Anytime.” She rested her head on Kristoff’s shoulder. “How do you do this all the time.”
“You get used to it. Its only for a few weeks in the summer then it quiets down.
“Still impressive.” Anna looked over at the property’s dock and noted the flags flying. “So, who’s the Michigan State fan?”
“Oh that? It’s where I went to school.”
Anna chuckled. “My dad would not be happy with you.”
“University of Michigan alum?”
“Worse, he was the president of the school.”
“The president? Let me guess. You and your sister followed suit.”
“My sister went full ivy league. I pushed back against every expectation and went to Ohio State.”
“Ohio State?! That’s treason. I’d tell you to fly that flag at your place, but it would be like putting a target on your back.”
“Guess I should fly the Michigan State flag then.”
“Nope. Not allowed unless you have someone that lives there.”
“Maybe one day,” Anna said through a yawn as her eyes closed.
The next thing she remembered were warm strong arms carrying her back to the truck to take her home.
-------
“I can’t believe how much nicer it is on the sandbar today!” Anna looked around. There were people, but the masses were gone. There were places to move and not a drunken party every ten feet.
Kristoff was sitting on the back platform of Anna’s boat, legs hanging in the water. “Sven, tell Anna the rules of the sandbars for the locals. Since she isn’t one, she needs to know.”
Sven came over to the group and hopped up on the platform. “Rule 1!” He called out. “Never go to the sandbar on the weekend!” Everyone raised their drinks and cheered. “Rule 2. Stay away from the west side. Only tourists go there! Rule 3. Don’t act like an asshole! And Rule 4. The most important of them all. Don’t engage with the tourists!” Everyone cheered. “Here’s to making it through August everyone. One more week and the summer season is officially done.”
They all clinked their glasses together in solidarity.
The rest of the day was a blast. Anna spent her time talking to everyone, playing games and even making plans to meet up with a few of the girls the next week. It had taken all summer, but Anna felt that she was finally starting to feel at home. She found herself walking with Kristoff later. She also found herself being a little flirtier than usually, a little more playful than normal. Maybe it was her comfort level, maybe it was their seclusion away from the group. Whatever it was, Kristoff didn’t seem to mind.
“I bet I can.”
“No way.”
“Three tries.”
“Three. That’s it. Then you have to admit you can’t do it.’
“Deal,” Anna said in agreement. “Now hold your hands out like that. Remember if you take a step, then I win.”
“And what do you win?” The grin on Kristoff felt dangerous. Anna didn’t want him to stop.
“I’ll tell you after I win.”
She squared herself up to Kristoff, lined her hands up with his, pulled them back and then pushed as hard as she could, contacting his palms. Kristoff stumbled back, surprised at Anna’s force. But then he took another step back, losing his balance as he stumbled and fell into a deep spot on the sandbar.
Anna was doubled over in laughter when he came out of the water soaked and hair flattened down past his eyebrows. “You think that’s funny?” he said, brushing his hair back with his hands.
“N-no, no!” Anna said, trying to talk and laugh at the same time. “I got you. I totally got you!”
“I’ll show you something funny!”
Anna didn’t stand a chance. She screamed in laughter as Kristoff scooped her up and ran. “Kristoff, put me down!”
“Oh, you want down?”
“Yes!”
“Ok.”
Kristoff unceremoniously threw Anna off the edge of the sandbar. Anna screamed, hitting the water. She didn’t stay under long, a strong arm grabbing her, bringing her up. Kristoff was standing just where Anna couldn’t touch the bottom. He held her tight, his hands wrapped around her bare waist.
“You dirty rat. I won.”
“Yeah, what are you going to do about it?”
They didn’t move, locked close together. Anna’s breath hitched at the way Kristoff was looking at her with a want in his eyes. She gave into it too, closing her eyes, leaning in ever so.
“Kris! Anna! Where are you? Time to go! We’re heading out!”
Anna broke away from Kristoff, the moment lost. “We should head back,” she said, walking back to the boat without waiting for him.
-----
“Oh hi, dear.” Bulda was restocking the shelves with shirts. “Anything you need?”
“I was actually looking for Kristoff. Is he over at the marina?”
“He took off early to do some work over at my house for me.”
“How’s he been?” Anna was following Bulda around as she went to clean up the counter near the bakery section.
“Fine. A little quiet. But nothing unusual. Why? Is there something I should be concerned with?”
“No. I just haven’t seen him since before Labor Day and I was wondering how he was.” Anna looked down, wringing her hands. “Bulda, can I ask you a question?”
“Anytime dear.”
“Have you ever tried to do something that you wanted to do, I mean really want to, but then miss your opportunity? And then make it worse because you doubt yourself and over analyze everything. Then make it weird and even more worse by avoiding it all together?”
Bulda stopped what she was working on to listen to Anna. “I don’t know about anything that specific, but I will say that holding something back never helps. Best to just get out what you need to do and move along. Otherwise, it festers.”
“I suppose you’re right.” Anna turned to look across the street at the home on the lake. “So next door?”
Bulda nodded. “In the backyard.”
She knew he saw her, pretending not to notice, then giving in and walking over to the swing.
“Hey.”
Anna patted the seat. “Sit with me.”
He sat, dropping the weight of his body the last few inches with a weary sigh. Neither of them said anything at first as they slowly swayed back and forth.
“Anna, I'm sorry.”
“Kris, there’s nothing to be sorry about."
“But there is. I’m sorry if I read something wrong and made you uncomfortable.”
“You didn’t.”
“Then why have you been ignoring me?”
Anna turned to face Kristoff. “The house is finished and the permits came this week. I think I can start having guests this fall. I just need to get the staff up and running and the marketing done.”
“That’s great. But I don’t understand what that has anything to do with what we’re talking about.”
“It does. The house. The project. It’s the first time I’ve ever been able to do something truly for myself. Where I can say this was my idea. This is what I want to do. Do you know how scary that can be?”
“I guess.” Kristoff was leaning forward, elbows on his thighs, clearly concerned with the conversation. When Anna placed her hand on his thigh, he looked up at her.
“There’s other things that I want too. But that’s just as frightening sometimes to trust my feelings.” Anna took Kristoff’s hand and led him to sit back up and face her. “I’m the one who’s sorry. For ignoring you and for ever doubting what I want. Because I know. I truly know there’s nothing more I want right now than you.”
Anna felt Kristoff's whole body go from rigid and defensive to relaxed. He grinned at her, rubbing her knuckles with his thumb. “You know I have a rule,” he said resting his head against the back of the swing.
“Still won’t consider me a local. Ridiculous.”
“Well, you did make it past Labor Day, so I guess you are officially a local now.”
“Would you stop talking and kiss me?”
“Gladly.”
His hand cupped Anna’s cheek pulling her into a soft kiss. Anna closed her eyes, grinning through the kiss as she savored the moment, never wanting it to end. A cool breeze blew in from the lake. Kristoff wrapped Anna tighter in his arms as she shivered. It was a reminder of how quickly things could change and this time Anna welcomed it with arms wide open.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you, I finally have a name for the B&B.”
“What’s that?”
“The Toasted Marshmallow.”
Kristoff let out a hearty laugh.
“You like it?”
Kristoff leaned down lips brushing Annas. “I absolutely love it,” he said before kissing her again.
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