#FV Chapter One | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

chickenfics · 2 years

Text

the way I love the ocean

Relationship: Robin Buckley x Female!Reader

Summary: It was the summer of ‘87. Nothing in your life had prepared you for Robin, but somehow everything had begun falling into place. It all started with a movie and a pair of ocean-blue eyes, and suddenly you were dancing to a Jukebox in a long-closed diner, or racing down the length of a pier, swimming in the moon-dipped lake and walking her home down yellow-lit streets, talking about the way The Smiths sound like indigo and the best time of the summer is when the fireflies start to come out.

It was the summer of ‘87, and you were falling in love.

Word Count: 8.1k

A/N: She/her pronouns used for reader, and she is described as being able to ride a bike but no other descriptions are given. Y/N used sparingly.

Let me know if you’d like to be tagged for future chapters!

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Chapter 2: Crickets

The evening air was cool -- thank god; the last thing you needed was to show up at Family Video a sweaty mess. You took your time, and the physical activity helped calm your anxiety as you watched the townhouses pass by in a line. The sky was lit in an orange glow, colored like someone had spilled paint across the horizon. Light from the setting sun bled through the patches of clouds, and the air smelled alive. Crickets set the backdrop, whirring loudly. You smiled.

By the time you reached Family Video, you had a good feeling about tonight. You were still nervous as all hell, but it was a good kind of nervous. An excitement.

The parking lot was empty save for one car, presumably Steve’s. You pedaled up to the side of the store, leaning your bike against the stone wall and hoping that no one would steal it while you were gone. Instinctively, you straightened your clothes, hands running over your body as you tried to make yourself look as presentable as possible. You wiped a bit of dampness from your forehead and then took a deep breath, holding it for three seconds before letting it out into the darkening evening air.

You could do this. It was just hanging out with some friends. People did that all the time. It didn’t matter that you hardly knew anyone. People did that all the time, too; it was practically what school was. And anyway, relationships had to start somewhere, right? When you caught sight of Robin through the window, leaning over the front counter, her hair falling in a feathery sheet across her face, you knew that a little bit of anxiety would absolutely be worth it if it meant a chance with her.

Suddenly you were aware of how tight your chest felt. Of the way you were standing, the sound of your breathing. Of how incompetent you were with small talk. God, what if there was small talk? Then Robin looked up and you were met with those damn blue eyes, clear as the ocean under a bright sun, and you thought your heart might actually burst apart into a hundred butterflies and flutter right out of your mouth. She smiled when she saw you, excitement brightening her cheeks as she gave an eager wave. You suspected then and there that your face would be hurting by the end of the night from all this smiling.

You gingerly opened the door.

“Hi! Hey, you’re right on time! Uh, come on in. Not everyone gets to see FV after hours, haha. At least we’re not haunted, or anything -- just, you know, dusty shelves and weird smells. The floor’s also kind of sticky because of the, like, super cheap soap that we use to mop. Steve and I keep trying to convince Keith to change it but he’s set in his ways. He’s our manager, by the way, but he….” she trailed off, growing a little small despite her height. “Sorry, I’m rambling, aren’t I?”

“It’s okay,” you quickly offered. “Keith sounds like kind of a pain. Soap isn’t really supposed to make things sticky, is it?” you grimaced, chuckling when your shoe made a velcro sound as you pulled it off the floor.

Robin’s brow furrowed in disgust and perhaps a little embarrassment.

“Ew, yeah. That’s, like, really gnarly.”

“Hey!” A voice interrupted as who you assumed was Steve sauntered out of the back room, pulling his Family Video vest off to reveal a polo shirt underneath. “Long time no see. So, are you gonna be like a frequent customer, or what?”

He flashed you a grin, then stuck his hand out. You took it, letting him shake your hand with unexpected softness, considering his flamboyant, slightly loud entrance.

“Steve Harrington, at your service. I’m this dipshit's chauffeur.”

“Ignore him,” Robin waved, nearly smacking Steve in the face as she stepped in front of him. You were pretty sure you were still smiling like an idiot. You were also pretty sure you weren’t going to be stopping anytime soon.

“Anyway,” Steve continued, leaning around Robin to peek at you. “We’re just waiting for another friend to show up and then we’ll get this show on the road.”

“Sounds good,” you managed, smiling between the two of them. Your eyes flickered back to Robin when you noticed the girl staring at you. Her cheeks darkened to a deeper shade of pink.

“Uh, I’m just gonna go back and… get ready,” she grabbed at her Family Video vest. “I’ll… be right back.” Holding up her pointer fingers, she waved them once as she backed towards the employee room, then spun on her heels and disappeared.

That left you and… Steve. He was leaning against the counter with his arms crossed. You picked at your sleeve and awkwardly crossed your ankles, suddenly not sure how to stand in a way that would be considered normal.

You’d heard about Steve Harrington back in high school. Everyone had, and though you’d never met him, being a year behind, you knew vaguely of him thanks to all the rumors. Well… you knew vaguely of someone; the man standing in front of you didn’t seem much like the King Steve everyone talked about, and, though you’d only just actually met him, you got the idea that a lot had changed since high school.

“She can come off as kind of weird sometimes, Robin,” he suddenly spoke up, jerking his head towards the back room. “But she’s great once you get to know her.”

You looked over at him, at the way his face was distantly fond, and you smiled.

“She seems great,” you breathlessly agreed, trying not to be too fucking obvious. “And I don’t think she’s that weird. I mean… she’s weird, but, like, good weird. Does that make sense?”

Your nervous laughter quickly became unnecessary when you saw how Steve was looking at you; like he was suddenly eager about something. Like he was pleasantly surprised.

“Yeah. No, it makes a lot of sense,” he nodded.

You had just been floundering for the next available small talk topic, cursing your inability to behave like a functioning member of society, when Robin reappeared, her flannel revealed over a loose t-shirt now that the vest was gone, fluffing her hair with one hand and tucking the front of her shirt in with the other.

She looked a little frazzled, and Steve turned back around to raise his eyebrows knowingly before grimacing at her.

“You ready or what?”

“Hey, don’t give me that look. Eddie’s not even here yet, so it’s not my fault we’re running late--”

As if on cue, the roar of an engine echoed through the parking lot. A pair of headlights blinded the three of you before a sketchy-looking van came to a screeching halt next to Steve’s car. You weren’t sure if you hoped that was Eddie or wasn’t.

“Finally,” Robin rolled her eyes. “I swear, that’s the last time we invite him to anything without at least a week's notice.”

“He said he was having a thing with the kids -- that dragon game or, whatever,” Steve lamely argued, shrugging. “Probably just ran late.”

“Well, in that case, we’re lucky he’s not, like, three days late.”

Steve’s lips curled into a reluctant smirk -- which morphed into an outright smile as a curly-haired, leather-clad man barreled his way through the door.

“Sorry I’m late. Dustin’s a butthead.”

“Tell us something we don’t know,” Steve shot back. You were confused.

Thankfully -- or, maybe not thankfully, considering your brain almost left the building -- Robin lightly grabbed your arm and smiled encouragingly at you.

“This is Eddie. Eddie, this is Y/N…”

You managed to pull yourself out of the depths of Robin’s eyes and look over at the man, who flashed you a smile and a dramatic bow.

“Pleasure to meet you.”

“Yeah, you too,” you replied, smile widening at the way Steve rolled his eyes at Eddie’s theatrics. Though, you thought maybe you saw a hint of a blush. What were the chances that you’d been so worried about Robin when actually all three of them were…

You mentally scoffed, immediately telling yourself that there was no way in hell you’d ever be that lucky. It just wasn’t possible.

“Alright,” Steve clapped. “You bozos ready? Oh, and… you,” he shyly added, seeming to remember that it wasn’t just him and his friends anymore.

“Steve!” Robin smacked his arm. “Have I told you to ignore him? Seriously, ignore him.”

“It’s okay,” you laughed. “I assumed I was included in the bozos, anyway.”

“I like her,” Eddie grinned at Robin, leaning his shoulder into yours.

You tried not to completely lose your cool. Had making friends always been this easy? How was it that you’d struggled all these years when over the span of a week and a few minutes you’d somehow met three new people that accepted you into their little group without a second thought? And somehow it had just…. worked.

You were still trying to figure it out as the four of you piled into Steve’s BMW. He and Eddie took the front and you and Robin climbed into the back. You breathed a shaky sigh of relief, glad that you’d get to spend the whole ride next to her. The drive-in was on the edge of town, so it would be a bit of a scenic route. Any worries you’d initially had that the ride would be awkward were immediately forgotten.

Steve was insistent that they were going to miss half the movie -- the name of which you still didn’t even know -- and Robin had to keep telling him that it started at eight-fifteen so they had plenty of time. Eddie turned around in the passenger seat to tell you that they were “always like this,” and Robin groaned while Steve began protesting loudly and very defensively.

All you could do was laugh so hard you were now one hundred percent certain you’d have the worst headache of your life by the end of the night. It didn’t matter -- you were having too much fun to even care. If Robin wasn’t bickering with Steve, she was smiling at you; little sideways smiles that made you feel like you were a part of the conversation even though you weren’t. Smiles that said “I’m glad you’re here” even though the two of you didn’t get much of a chance to talk directly to one another.

Up front, Eddie made a comment about how Steve’s music was “killing him slowly,” and suddenly pulled a tape out of his pocket.

“Woah, what the-- where the hell did that come from?”

“Just be glad I have it, Harrington. Might be able to save this fuckin’ trip after all.”

“Alright, just-- not too loud, okay? We don’t want to scare the new girl off.”

“I don’t mind,” you butted it, smiling as Eddie whipped around to give you a gesture of thanks and then flip the bird at Steve.

“Not everyone’s as high maintenance as you, Stevie,” he insisted, and going by the look on Steve’s face, Eddie was lucky the man was currently preoccupied with driving.

“Hey,” Robin’s voice, low and melodic, pulled you back into the backseat. “How, uh… how are you doing? I hope this isn’t, like, totally weird or overwhelming or anything.”

“No,” you jumped to offer -- and actually scooted across the seat a little, that way your voices could stay low as Eddie’s music began to blare. “I’m good. This is fun. I don’t really have a whole lot of friends -- and definitely not friends like this, so… yeah.”

“Cool,” Robin breathed. “I mean! Not cool that you don’t have any friends, but, like, cool that we’re not super scary or off-putting.”

“I mean,” you scrunched your nose; Robin’s eyes seemed clearer in the dim light of the car. You wondered how that was possible. “Steve’s music taste is kind of off-putting.”

“Hey, I heard that,” his eyes turned from you to Robin in the rearview. “What, did you recruit her to bully me like the rest of you?”

“Oh, shut up Steve,” Eddie teased.

“Yeah, what happened to not scaring off the new girl? And you say we’re bullies -- you’re being a total bully.”

“After I drive you everywhere, too. Unbelievable.”

“Holy shit!” Robin suddenly rasped, Steve completely forgotten. “That reminds me. The tape! Did you listen to Tango in the Night?”

“Oh my god!” you turned to face her. The two of you had somehow gotten closer. “Yes! I’ve been listening to it, like, all week. It’s so good. Thanks for recommending it,” you shyly added.

“Are you kidding? Of course! I swear, it’s such a great album. God, the whole,” she started bobbing her head, hands gesturing as she hummed out a chorus before softly singing “Mmmn ‘someone with that kind of intensity,’” she laughed at your reaction -- wide-eyed and giddy -- then grew playfully serious again. “‘You touched my hand, I played it cool -- and you reached out your hand to me…’” She held out her hand in a dramatic gesture, and you grabbed it out of excitement, giving it a little shake.

“Oh my god,” you half-squealed. “It’s so, like… romantic.”

“Right? It totally is!” Robin replied, reaching forward to grab your knee now, seemingly just as excited as you were. “And the whole, ‘if I live to see the Seven Wonders--’ and her saying that she’ll never see something so beautiful ever again.”

“Ugh,” you groaned, leaning back with an awed smile. “Literally amazing.”

“Literally amazing,” Robin repeated. “Okay, I’ve got to know what you think of ‘When I see you again…’”

By the time you reached the drive-in, you’d completely forgotten that it was where you’d been going all along. You would have been content to let Steve drive you right out of Hawkins as long as you got to keep talking to Robin. Your anxieties were gone, left somewhere in the taillights, probably curled up between the handlebars of your bike and awaiting your return. But for now, you’d forget that they even existed. How could you not, when Robin was smiling at everything you said, laughing in that way that made her nose wrinkle and lines appear across her skin; saying something funny and totally endearing before immediately apologizing, somehow thinking that you’d find it annoying. Her apologies came like second nature to her, but every time you waved them off they grew a little less frequent until, by the time the BMW pulled through the gates of the drive-in theater, she wasn’t saying it anymore.

You honestly thought that she just forgot; her brain moving too quickly now, too excitedly, to even think about apologizing. And even though you sometimes had a hard time keeping up with her, she always had those quiet moments of reflection, of sudden shyness, where she would softly ask you what you thought about whatever she’d said, or something about yourself; your favorite color, what other music you liked to listen to, which season you thought was better because she was sure that people who liked summer were crazy but people who liked winter were even crazier.

Spring, she said. She liked spring. You wanted to tell her how that made sense because her eyes were the color of a breeze and her hair was the color of a fawn, and her freckles reminded you of pebbles in a stream, and streams always looked the most magical in spring.

You wanted to tell her, but you didn’t know how, so instead all you replied with was, “I like the time of year when the fireflies start coming out.” And she’d looked at you like you just got it. Like you understood exactly what she’d been asking beneath the words she'd actually said.

Steve bought everybody popcorn and sodas from the concession stand. He didn’t even ask, didn’t mention it, just parked the car and disappeared dragging Eddie behind him, a quick glance at Robin in the rearview that seemed to conceal a tiny conversation within it. When the car doors slammed shut and the two of you were alone, you both sat back against your seats, silence, for the first time, finally settling between you. It was loud after following nearly thirty minutes of constant noise. You tried not to breathe too loud, at the same time thinking about how sweet Robin’s own breathing was. But not sweet in the way a grandma calls someone sweet -- more… sweet like strawberries or root beer floats, or the sound that trees make when everything is really still and quiet and there’s just enough of a breeze to make you feel like the Earth itself is alive. That kind of sweet. The kind that’s found in the dirt, underneath a pile of leaves and roly-polys. The kind of sweet that feeds the worms.

“Hey, uhm… thank you for coming,” Robin softly started, and if her breathing was sweet, her voice was enough to feed the whole Earth until it bloomed. “I honestly kind of feel like we’ve kidnapped you, this is so crazy.”

“Yeah, of course… I’m really glad that you invited me��” you shifted. It was now or never, and then the night would be over and you’d regret it. “I, uh… I was actually really hoping you’d be the one to call me, a-about the tape. I thought maybe you’d just have Steve do it…”

“Oh,” Robin breathed, then shook her head. “Uh, trust me, he usually would. Getting numbers is usually his thing, haha. He’s always trying to pick up girls. Honestly, it’s kind of insufferable, working with him when he’s all like ‘hello ladies,’” she pulled a face that was fantastically Steve-esque and pointed finger guns.

You laughed, and she watched your reaction through those intense springtime eyes.

“But,” you smiled. “You called this time?”

You weren’t sure what exactly you were asking, considering you knew she’d called. Maybe you were asking why. Maybe you were trying to figure out what Steve picking up girls had to do with her being the one to call you. Maybe you wanted to know if that meant what you hoped it meant.

“Yeah,” she whispered, eyes searching your face. “Yeah, I-I did.”

“Alright ladies,” Steve ducked back into the car. “We’ve got two Cokes and two Pepsis. I guess we can fight to the death over them, or something…”

“Don’t call us ladies,” Robin grimaced. “And I call a Coke. Oh,” she turned to you. “Unless, what do you want? If you want Coke, you can have mine. I won’t fight you to the death, or anything,” she laughed nervously, smiling brighter when you laughed, too.

“I’m fine with either,” you started, not wanting to be a bother, but Steve shook his head.

“Nope, we don’t do that bullshit here unless you’re under the age of sixteen--”

“Steve has, like, six adopted children,” Robin interjected, her eyes widening adorably as she took a sip of her drink. “Sometimes Eddie and I co-parent.”

“Anyway,” Steve insisted. “You pick. What’ll it be?”

“Uh… I’ll take the other Coke if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all. Jesus, it’s so nice to be around someone who actually has manners,” the comment was directed toward the other two as he handed a cup and a bag of popcorn back to you with a smile.

“Thanks,” you instinctively said, then smirked. “You know, it, uh, might have something to do with the whole… six adopted children thing.”

“See, you’d think that -- and it’s true -- but these idiots still have the shittiest manners of anyone I know, and this particular idiot,” he pointed to Eddie, “Got held back like four times. He’s practically thirty at this point and he still can’t say ‘please’ or ‘thank you’ to save his goddamn life.”

“Jesus,” Robin groaned around a mouthful of popcorn. “Can you stop complaining for like two whole seconds? You’re ruining the mood.”

“Oh yeah? And what mood is that?”

Robin ignored him and turned to you.

“We need, like, a curtain or something.”

“How would we watch the movie, then?” you giggled.

“Honestly, at this point, I don’t even care. Anything to get away from this dingus,” she threw popcorn at the back of his head.

“Hey! Not in the car, man -- what is wrong with you?”

“So, Y/N, having any regrets yet?” Eddie asked with dry teasing as the previews began to play. Steve jumped to adjust the radio station for the sound.

“Nope,” you easily replied, glancing at Robin out of the corner of your eye. “No regrets here.”

Her eyebrows raised slightly, eyes locked with yours until music began to blare through the radio.

“Got it,” Steve announced, and all of you settled in for the movie.

You still didn’t even know what you were seeing. It didn’t matter, anyway. You weren’t paying attention to what was on the big screen in flashing lights and pixelated graphics -- something about an alien, maybe? You couldn’t focus on much of anything at all the second that Robin scooted close enough for you to feel the heat coming off of her leg.

Drive-in movies aren’t really meant to be viewed from the back seat of a BMW. Usually, if you’re in the backseat of a BMW during a movie you’re doing something else…

Your face heated at the thought, made worse by the close proximity of the most attractive girl you’d ever seen. In order to see around Steve and Eddie, you and Robin had to slide into the middle seat. Which wouldn’t have hindered your ability to watch the movie if it hadn’t been for Robin’s leg brushing against yours, or the fact that you could practically feel her breathing. The contact, at first, had been an accident -- one that Robin had softly apologized for, to which you could only reply with a hasty shake of your head and thoughts about all the things you wish you could tell her about all the things she was doing to you. But gradually, as flashy fight scenes and dramatic music carried on, Robin began to inch her leg towards yours.

You watched it from the corner of your eye -- watched as she shifted closer, retreated, then shifted closer again. You watched her fiddle with one of the rings on her hand, then mess with the button on the sleeve of her flannel, buttoning and unbuttoning it until you were sure the string had to snap any moment now. When her leg finally found its way towards yours again, you tried to ignore the way your chest was threatening to burst open and instead did something that probably would have made that feeling worse if you hadn't already gone numb.

You opened your legs, bumping your knee against hers. It was quick contact -- gone almost as quickly as it had been -- but it was enough to make the whole left side of your body vibrate with warmth. You could almost still feel the lingering warmth of her knee against your own, even through the layers of fabric that had separated skin.

God, you wondered what her skin felt like. You weren’t sure you’d actually survive finding out.

You weren’t sure you’d survive when Robin's knee bumped against yours, knocking softly against your thigh a few times before settling there, finally staying. From that single point of contact, your entire essence grew warm with the feeling of her. Right then and there, you knew you wanted more. You wanted to wrap yourself into her flannel. You wanted to get lost in the way she smelled, take that smell with you even after she left. You wanted to lay your cheek against her neck and listen to the sound of her heart in her throat.

Instead, you managed to adjust in your seat. Your hip barely brushed hers, but this time she looked over at you, hair fanning across her cheek before settling back against her ear. Her eyes were wide, and somehow they were even brighter in the darkness; even bluer. They reminded you of the ocean at night, pale but not dark enough to be called grey; nothing short of a melancholy, silvery blue. A tired blue.

Your face must have been a reflection of her own because she spent a few seconds searching across it -- flickering between your eyes, trailing down the bridge of your nose… your lips.

You thought you might actually die when she looked at your lips, gaze quickly flickering back up to meet your eye, perhaps to see what she would find there. You weren’t sure if you were hoping she’d find the truth or something else. But, whatever she found, she smiled gently at it -- that soft smile, the one that reminded you of a warm room, lit dimly; just enough to be safe, but not too much to be glaring.

You wanted to taste it. You wanted to see how it felt against your own smile.

Your hips stayed touching, and halfway through the movie, Robin shifted again, propping her arm just behind you. Her shoulders were slanting towards yours, and you’d never felt… safer. More secure. Being close to her was like falling asleep slowly when you were tired; it felt good. Natural, like a stretch in the morning. You couldn’t believe that you’d never felt this for another person before. You couldn’t believe that you were even feeling this right now with a girl you’d known for barely a week -- someone you’d only actually talked to twice, including the drive over.

But nothing about Robin felt strange or unfamiliar. It didn’t feel like you’d known her your whole life, or anything like that; you just had the feeling that you didn’t need to know her to be sure that you already liked her. You also had the feeling that you wanted to know her anyway, because how much more was there to like?

By the time the credits started to roll, the crook of Robin’s shoulder was pressed firmly against yours. Your faces were barely a foot apart, and though your back hurt from the odd angle you’d just spent the last hour and a half in, you felt like you were floating. It wasn’t until Eddie and Steve began to talk, arguing -- obviously -- about the movie and how it had ended, that the two of you leaned away from each other. In the quiet atmosphere of the movie, with the distracting hum from the radio and the flashing lights draped down onto the car, it had almost felt like you’d been in another world. But now that cars were starting back up, engines revving as people pulled out of the drive-in and through the gate, now that the movie was over and reality had returned, the real world came rushing back; the world in Hawkins, Indiana, where your dad was worried about you seeing boys and Robin touching you like that would probably wind up being a fluke. She’d just been trying to see the movie, anyway.

But, when you chanced a look over at her, a comment about the movie that you hadn’t been paying attention to on your lips, Robin’s expression shut you right up. She was already watching you, and when she caught you returning her gaze, she arched her eyebrows in an almost knowing look. A wrinkle appeared between her brows, and her mouth was half-open like she wanted to say something, but then Steve was turning around in his seat.

“So, what did you ladies think?”

You opened your own mouth, but nothing came out. Robin’s eyebrows raised an inch further, and then she turned her head towards Steve, dragging her eyes away from you at the last minute.

“I told you, don’t call us ‘ladies.’ And it was… good.”

Steve turned sideways to glance at her.

“You didn’t like it,” he said after a moment.

“No! That’s not what I said, I said it was good.”

“Yeah, which totally means you didn’t like it. What about you? What did you think?”

“Uhm,” you started. “Yeah, it… it was good. I liked it.” Steve looked a confusing mix between slightly exasperated and… smug. Like he’d been right about something.

“The ending was a little weird,” you continued, and suddenly Eddie was throwing his hands up.

“Thank you,” he insisted.

“I’m telling you. I’m surrounded by bozos. And this time I mean you, too,” he pointed at you in the rearview, and you laughed at his almost motherly tone. He smirked, but he wasn’t done yet. “Seriously, you’re officially a part of this shit, now, so you’re fair game.”

“Can you stop harassing my plus one?” Robin insisted, leaning forward to say it as close to his ear as possible. He swatted her away like a mosquito. “I’d like for her to maybe want to keep coming around, and you bullying her isn’t helping, Steve.”

“Wha-- ‘bullying’ -- I’m not bullying anybody.”

“You are being kind of a douche, Stevie,” Eddie sang, eyes wide as he glanced around the car like he was a lawyer in a courtroom.

“I drive you assholes everywhere!”

“I feel like at this point I might as well get ‘ignore him’ tattooed to my forehead with a big red arrow pointing to Steve,” Robin muttered to you, and your barely stifled giggles nearly exploded when Steve threw a wadded-up popcorn bag directly at her head.

Robin gasped, feigning annoyance as she launched it back at him a moment before turning to duck towards you and breaking into laughter. Steve turned to Eddie.

“They’ve only had one date and already they’re teaming up on me.”

Just like that, neither of you were laughing anymore. Steve, on the other hand, realized what he’d just said and was awkwardly trying to laugh it off.

“I mean, haha, I was just kidding. I didn’t mean, like…” he took one hand off the wheel to rub the back of his head.

“Steve,” Robin hissed, shoving his shoulder before turning around to look apologetically at you, her usually rosy skin red with embarrassment. “I swear, I'm gonna get it tattooed.”

You laughed even though you were panicking because holy shit what if? Because… Robin seemed to be panicking too, so maybe that meant she was wondering the same thing you were. So… you had to say something.

“I don’t mind. Besides, as far as dates go, this is probably the nicest one I’ve been on since I was in, like, seventh grade.”

You weren’t going to tell them that the ‘date’ you were talking about was when you and Elsie Brown had gone to the candy store in town and then held hands on the soccer field while you talked about what you wanted to be when you grew up. Elise wanted to be a singer. You wanted to go to outer space. Not be an astronaut, just… get away from everything. Space had seemed like a pretty good distance.

“Oh,” Robin’s voice, raspy and slightly panicked, replied. “Yeah, I mean… same. Dates, haha, they can be, like, super weird, am I right?”

“I guess,” you pulled a face between a smile and a grimace. “Honestly, I haven’t been on many dates since I was in middle school and everyone was, like, married to each other.”

“Oh my god,” she snorted. “They totally were. What the hell was wrong with us all when we were kids?”

“I have no idea,” you laughed. “I guess it seemed reasonable at the time? Like, fifth-grade math was fucking hard, so might as well get married to fucking Brett Weaver underneath the bleachers because your parents would probably approve of him, if he’d, like, stop picking his nose.”

Robin burst out laughing, a fluttery, velvety sound, and you immediately loved it with everything inside you. You didn’t want to ever stop hearing it.

“Ew, Brett Weaver. I remember him,” her nose wrinkled. “He used to do it just, like, out in the open even though we all told him to knock it off. He never even turned red or anything.”

"Which is crazy,” you added. “Because I can't even ask for directions without feeling like I'll actually melt into the ground."

"Holy shit," Robin waved her hands in eagerness, her body needing to do something in the moment it took to catch up with her brain. "Me too! It's honestly an issue."

"It is," Steve confirmed. "If a customer's mean to her I have to peel her off FV's floor and wrap her in a blanket like the victim of a crime."

"The sticky floor," you added, and Robin laughed harder, high and squeaky. God, this girl.

“The sticky floor,” she excitedly insisted, grabbing your knees. “Oh my god, you’re so cool…” It took her a moment to realize she’d said it, and then she was trying to cover up the way her voice had gone all genuine with a timid joke. “I mean, to be fair, I only ever hang out with fourteen-year-olds and this dingus,” she nodded to Steve. “So I probably don’t have the best cool gauge on the planet.”

“Well in this case I don't think you’re wrong.” Eddie piped up, sounding like he knew something the two of you didn’t.

“Oh jeez, I don’t know,” you felt your face getting hot as you fiddled with your hands. “Thanks, I guess…”

“Alright dipshits, everybody get buckled,” Steve insisted as he shifted the car into gear. It had taken a little while for the parking area to clear out, and he was finally able to pull into the exit lane.

“That’s a new one. Am I included in the ‘dipshit’ category or just the ‘bozo’ one?”

“Well, now we’re gonna have to make a third ‘wiseass’ category. That’s a first, considering the rest of you are idiots.”

Eddie and Robin both began protesting at the same time -- Eddie because Steve had just called him an idiot and Robin because Steve was still being “a fucking bully, I know for a fact your mom raised you better, dingus.”

Steve insisted that you had started it, and then he’d sent you a smile and a wink in the rearview as Robin was still determined to defend your honor against her dumb best friend. You told her that it was fine; you had a reputation for being a little too sarcastic -- something your parents reminded you of constantly. The girl replied that her parents told her that she talked too much when it wasn’t appropriate.

Eddie insisted that both your parents were douchebags and the two of you were just fine the way you were.

“What do parents know, anyway?” he asked as Steve pulled out onto the road, adjusting the radio so it was only a soft hum in the background, the song lyrics indistinguishable under the sound of the engine and your conversation.

It was late and the road was dark save for the slice of headlights that cut through the curtain of black pavement and the gaping darkness that made up the forest. Inside the car, a faint glow from the dashboard created a pocket, like a bubble in the ocean, where the four of you moved through the night at a leisurely speed. It felt like you were standing still in time. It felt like you were going everywhere and nowhere all at once -- like you were moving a hundred miles an hour but would always stay here, on this road, in this night, together.

You and Robin had returned to your seats, and the distance between your thigh and hers felt like it spanned the whole universe. You missed the warmth of her body, being able to sense it in the air, moving particles around like a warm breeze until every inch of you was touched by it. You hated how it felt like winter in the absence of her spring.

So you leaned in slightly, propping your arm up on the middle seat and tilting your head like you were looking out at the road. Headlights skipped over the pavement, the occasional loose rock, and you thought you could make out the pale-yellow center line that separated the sides of the road. It was eerie, but it felt familiar, too. It felt like a memory. After a moment, Robin’s hand was inching toward yours. It was nothing drastic, nothing strong enough to push you spinning into orbit or moving forward in space -- just enough to make it smell like spring again. And the only unfamiliar part was how your life as of only a few hours ago now felt cold and empty without that breeze. Without Robin and her warmth and her smile and her glorious flaw of talking too much.

You wondered how you were going to sleep tonight. You wondered if you’d ever get to see her again.

When Steve pulled into the Family Video parking lot, those questions rested heavily on the backs of your eyelids. You saw them every time you blinked. Steve put the car into park and everybody climbed out. Eddie opened your door for you, giving you a genuine, eager smile when you thanked him. He was so different from what you’d been expecting when his van had pulled into the lot. The same van that Eddie returned to after patting Steve on the back, shaking your hand, and giving Robin a hug with the declaration that he “had fun, even if the ending was stupid,” to which Steve rolled his eyes. He was smiling, though, and couldn’t help but give a determined “drive safe, alright?” before Eddie pulled out onto the road, his music blaring loud enough that he’d definitely piss some people off. He didn’t seem to care.

When you turned back from the road, a faint smile still on your face, you found Robin watching you. When you saw her, your smile widened, though you tucked your chin to try and conceal it, hoping your expression didn’t give you away. But she tilted her head to follow you, pressing her lips together as the corner of her mouth twisted into a dimple that you wanted nothing more than to kiss.

“I guess I should get going,” you weakly offered. “This was really fun… thanks again for inviting me…”

“Of course,” he replied, voice hushed. “I’m really glad you came.”

It felt like you needed to whisper, with how quiet the night was; crickets chirped softly, and you didn’t want to speak over them on the chance that you’d miss something important within their humming choir.

Robin was a special kind of beautiful in the moonlight. Her hair looked even softer to the sound of crickets. Her skin, pale smoothness interrupted by dark freckles and blush, looked ethereal beneath such a quiet sky. The fact that you were in a video store parking lot was probably for your own benefit; you weren’t sure you’d be able to handle it if the two of you were somewhere even a bit more beautiful. You might have actually stopped breathing.

You almost did when Robin took a step towards you, one hand crossed over her body to cradle the opposite elbow.

“Uh, if… if my dingus friends haven’t scared you off yet… maybe we could do this again sometime?”

A smile bloomed across your face, and your brain was racing too fast to even register what was happening.

“I’d like that,” you replied, a single breath hidden beneath the symphony of crickets.

“Cool,” Robin replied, just as softly. “Awesome. Great. I mean… yeah, I-I’d like that, too -- if you’d like it. Uh…” She shook her head, never breaking eye contact with you. You felt like you were floating and sinking all at the same time, suspended in air.

“Awesome… great,” you repeated with a smirk.

“Hey,” Steve’s voice interrupted your staring, and the two of you managed to drag your eyes away from one another. “Uh, shit, did you bike here?”

“Yeah,” you hesitantly replied. “It’s fine though, I bike pretty much everywhere.”

“Yeah, but it’s, like, pretty late,” Steve said, propping a hand on his hip, and suddenly you remembered that he was a bit older than you -- though it seemed like more than just a couple of years when he got that worried mom look on his face. “Come on -- throw your shit in the back, I’ll drive you home. Don’t want you getting kidnapped or anything.”

“Oh, you really don’t have to,” you waved your hands, but Robin was nodding.

“No, Steve’s right. It’s super dark out, and we’re, like, surrounded by the woods, and you’re alone, so it would be, like, ridiculously easy for someone to just pull up beside you and yank you into a van.”

“See,” Steve raised his eyebrows and pointed at Robin. “Even she agrees.”

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean, dingus?” Robin glared at him before turning a pleading expression back to you. “Please,” she sang, folding her hands together. “If you bike home I won’t be able to sleep because I’ll be worried that a pervert kidnapped you and is selling your organs.”

“And she’s not even kidding,” Steve added.

“I’m not.”

“Okay, okay, fine,” you caved, smirking. “But… I don’t know if my bike will fit in your trunk.”

“We’ll make it work,” Steve shrugged.

He insisted on carrying it over to his car for you and Robin rolled her eyes. You smiled, too distracted by the faces she was making at her friend’s chivalrous behavior -- comparable to someone who'd eaten bad food -- to notice that Steve had already managed to carefully shove your bike into the back of his car. He couldn’t close the trunk, but you told him your house wasn’t far and he didn’t seem worried about it.

“Alrighty ladies -- hop in.”

“Jesus Christ, Steve, will you stop that,” Robin insisted, waving her hands before dropping them suddenly and staring at the car. “Oh. Shit, uhm…” she turned to you. “Do you want to sit in the front or the back? O-Or we could both sit in the back? I don’t really know how--”

“I don’t mind sitting in the back,” you offered before she could get herself too worried about it. You gave her a reassuring smile, and Robin’s anxiety seemed to deflate. Her shoulders loosened and she smiled back at you.

“Okay cool. As long as you’re sure?”

“Yeah, totally,” you shrugged, already opening the door. “No big deal.”

“Okay,” Robin nodded, and you got the idea that she was reassuring herself now.

You barely kept yourself in the back anyway. Leaning between the two front seats, you propped your elbows on the armrest so you could direct Steve to your house. You probably didn’t need to actually lean on the storage compartment to do that, but the minute you had, Robin had turned to and asked if you’d ever been to the diner in town because she liked their strawberry milkshakes. Before you’d had the chance to answer, however, she’d backtracked because “Of course you’ve been to the diner in town” so instead she asked you what your favorite flavor of milkshake was.

You almost missed telling Steve where to turn onto your street. By then, you almost wished you had because as he pulled in front of your house, the porch light glowing glaringly onto the yard, you realized that the night was over and now you were home. Now you’d have to go inside and you wouldn’t see Robin until who even knew when. You felt a sinking disappointment fill your stomach as you got out of the car. But then Robin was climbing out after you and helping you pull your bike out of the trunk of Steve’s car. Her elbow brushed yours and instead of apologizing for it, she gave you a little smile and carefully maneuvered your bike onto the asphalt.

“Well,” you scratched at your arm. “This is me…”

“Yeah,” Robin softly replied, scuffing the toe of her converse along the pavement. You heard the hum of crickets, the same backdrop as Family Video; no matter where you went in Hawkins, there would always be the song of crickets.

“This was a lot of fun,” you whispered, glancing between the cherry red of her converse and the ocean blue of her eyes. Everything about her was color; she was like a rainbow, even in the darkness of night. The yellow from the porchlight your parents had left on lit up her hair like a candle, shadows slanting over her face, making her look even more stunning.

You wanted her to come inside with you. You didn’t want this to be where you parted ways.

“Uhm,” you continued, needing to say something. You were too scared to tell her what you actually wanted so instead you said, “It was a pretty good date… as far as dates go.”

You wanted to sound like you were joking. You guessed that you likely didn’t. Robin laughed anyway. The toe of her shoes jabbed into the pavement. You realized that she’d doodled on the white rubber, shapes that you couldn't make out in the shadows and dim light.

“Yeah,” she laughed huskily. “Yeah, it was. I guess according to middle school logic, that makes us married, right?”

You smiled, glancing down at your feet again.

“Yeah, I guess it does. So, uh… I guess that also means I’ll be seeing you around?”

“Um, yeah… sure,” Robin’s eyes widened like she couldn’t quite believe that you were real. You knew the feeling; you still hadn’t figured out if she was. “You, uh, know where to find me,” she lifted two fingers to her forehead in a salute. God, you wanted to kiss her.

“Alright, well…” you murmured. “Night.”

“Night,” she replied, a soft whisper as she reached up to brush some hair behind her ears.

She watched you wheel your bike up to the porch, and then she watched as you turned back around to give her a final wave before slipping inside. She also watched your door slam shut. It was only when the porch light turned off that she was able to actually move.

When she ducked back into the passenger seat, Steve was already staring at her with that annoying look on his face, mouth half open in a grin.

“Shut up, shut up, don’t even say anything, Steve, I swear.”

“Hey, I didn’t! I didn’t say anything,” he raised his hands in surrender before pulling the car back into the street. “Didn’t say anything…” he repeated, staring straight in front of him. Robin was rubbing her temples.

“Holy shit, Robs.”

“Stop.”

“She’s so in love with you.”

“Steve,” Robin wailed, dropping her face into her hands with a dramatic smack.

“What?! I’m being completely serious! Dude, she’s, like, head over heels. Robin,” he insisted, and the girl groaned. Finally, though, she looked up at him through her fingers and slightly smeared mascara.

Steve smiled kindly and lifted a hand. After a moment of hesitation, Robin rolled her eyes and placed her hand in his. He gave it a squeeze -- and then a little shake, and Robin was trying not to smirk.

“Be excited, Buckley,” he encouraged. “That was, like, really good.”

“Oh my god,” she groaned. “It was so good.”

“So good!” he agreed, nearly crashing the car because he was grinning so wide. Robin squeezed his hand back -- more out of stress than anything else -- and he took that as a good enough sign to let go of her and assume she was no longer at risk of flat-lining in his car.

“What am I going to do, Steve?” she whispered, her smile not completely erasing the genuine worry in her question.

“Easy,” he softly started. “You’re gonna get the fucking girl.”

Robin scrunched her eyes shut.

“And then you’re gonna get married -- for real, none of this middle school bullshit -- and I’m gonna plan your wedding because you’re way too unorganized for that--” Robin was laughing now. Steve smiled. “And we’re gonna have to bribe Max to wear a dress. I’ll probably have to buy her that skateboard she’s been wanting just for her to even think about it.”

“Oh my god,” Robin groaned again, but this time the pain of it was offset by her laughter. “Holy shit…” she breathed. “How did that just happen? What even just happened?”

Steve looked over at her and smirked.

“One of us had to get lucky eventually, right?”

And right now, with the rosy tint to her cheeks and the way she was absolutely vibrating with eagerness and excitement and anxiety -- all the symptoms of love -- Steve could safely say that he was glad it had wound up being her.

________________________________________________________________

Taglist: @alonezz, @gaysludge, @gray-cheese

#robin buckley x reader #robin buckley x you #robin buckley x female reader #robin buckley x y/n #robin buckley fluff #robin buckley fanart #robin buckley #st #stranger things #ST fanfic #steve harrington #steve and robin #eddie munson #eddie and steve #steddie #ao3 link #ao3 fanfic #fanfiction

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burrakkumoa · 2 years

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FV Stroheim was only in one chapter and never seen again 💀 💀

#jojo no kimyou na bouken #jjba #jojo's bizarre adventure #anime #jojo fanart #jojo no kimyō na bōken #rudol von stroheim #Fritz von stroheim #part 7 jojo #steel ball run #johnny joestar #gyro zeppeli

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o-avosetta · 2 years

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Extended authors' note: Lost Wardens bits from the bins

I saw making the rounds this one post about the secret lore authors have about their own stories/fics, so I feel like sharing some stuff about the longfic/novel that finally crossed that AO3 line to Completed yesterday. Just some behind the scenes stuff, if anyone's so inclined. Big spoiler-y things are after the cut.

Here's the fic.

Here is a playlist, and here are the playlist notes with tiny spoilers.

Here are some videos of influencer crabber (! — feel like that's something Alex would have enjoyed, lol) Luke McFadden that I watched for some references. I also watched a whole bunch of FV Miss Paula content, and that's where I learned about the crab tagging Alex does with the scientists. Pretty sure I still got some details wrong; feel free to correct me 'cause I ain't no crabber! They use "hawk" to refer to what I called a "marker buoy" in my fic, for instance, but I wanted to avoid confusion with another type of crab trap called a crabhawk.

By happy coincidence, it was actually Stardew Valley's seventh anniversary yesterday. I wasn't aware when I hit post on those last chapters, but I'm very glad. Wouldn't have made any of this without ConcernedApe's own labor of love.

Sections:

Origins

Wardens of Magic, Go!

Jonathan

Cathy

Mr. Qi and Sandy

Calendar math

Personal/other writerly stuff

Origins

The first chapters of The Lost Wardens went up on AO3 on 03 Nov 21, but I definitely started working on this a lot earlier — 07 June 21, according to the file details in Docs. The original title was A Comparative Study of Southern Ferngill Crab Trap Designs. There were a bunch of attempts to get this going before I finally knew where I wanted to go:

Crabber Mullner - 07 June 21

Comparative Bins - 01 July 21

The Lost Wardens 0 - 05 July 21

The Lost Wardens - 28 Aug 21

NaNoWriMo prep doc - 16 Oct 21

Wardens Annex - 04 Jan 23

I like to keep a "Bin" file of scraps, scene drafts, notes, etc. that I cut or revise but don't want to delete entirely. Lots of frozen darlings in there, lol. Looks like I finally figured out the direction I wanted to go at the end of August, when my third draft document became the main working one. Wardens Annex was set up just this year only because the main doc got too unwieldy for my phone's memory.

Anyway, I just wanted to write a love story in the style of cheesy TV movies. It was supposed to be about 3-5 chapters long; I thought my Seb fic was kicking off a bunch of these short fluffy pieces about different characters in the Valley.

So, in "Comparative Study", Alex was supposed to get hit by a truck and break his arm right before his big tryout, and as he processed how much this was going to change his life, he was supposed to learn that what he wanted was ✨💖right there all along💖✨. Leslie is surprise pregnant, Alex proposes, the end.

But, as you maybe know by now, another idea crept in, and I started thinking about the not-so-secret magic in the game and the little bits of lore we glean from stuff like that one Lost Book in the Pelican Town library. I liked the idea of a magical ensemble of some kind, too. I've always loved stuff about superpowered/magical teams, so I started to think about what kind of group would make sense in the world of Stardew Valley.

Originally, Rasmodius in crow form was supposed to cause the truck crash in an attempt to keep Alex from leaving the valley and not becoming warden. Jonathan, on the other hand, was all for letting Alex decide his own fate. In the final story, we only hear from Rasmodius in the penultimate chapter, but he figured a lot more in the early drafts, haha.

Digging around in the bins, I see the original group of younger wardens was going to include Abigail on the mountain, Leo in the forest, Jas with magic, and Vincent for memory. I wanted to end with Alex now in the role of mentor, as Jonathan had been to him. But as I got into Abigail's hidden ancestry and thought about Leo being raised by Linus, I felt that putting Abby on the mountain didn't really make sense. (She can still have a sword if she wants, though.)

The next group of younger wardens I had in mind was Alex, Leslie, Sebastian, Abigail, and Leah (forest). I also had ideas of Leah/Sebastian going on in the background. That didn't pan out once I decided to drop Leah from the group (sorry, Leah fans).

Anyway, I'd written about seven chapters out of these beginnings and then decided that the stakes didn't feel big enough. Alex's choice didn't feel like a real one. What was going to stop Alex from ultimately getting over what Rasmodius did and choosing to be warden, when it was basically the only good opportunity in front of him? I realized that the crash couldn't happen, and it was starting to feel too melodramatic for me, anyway. Gridball had to be back on the table. I had to start again.

Wardens of Magic, Go!

I am not kidding about the magical ensemble thing. I had them associated with different weapons and bird avatars but decided the weapons weren't really going to come into play.

Leslie - lowlands - black-naped oriole - golden scythe

Alex - sea - osprey - trident

Abigail - mountain, later memory - mockingbird/whip-poor-will - galaxy sword (gifted) or dagger

Sebastian - magic - crow - wand/staff

Leo - forest, later mountain - parrot - slingshot/bow

Sandy - desert (kinda; it's unclear just how much Qi's handiwork has distanced his domain from the rest of the Circle over the years) - red-tailed hawk - ? (whip, lol)

Boon Kiat - lowlands - [Eurasian] tree sparrow

Jonathan - sea - osprey

Joanna - memory - mockingbird

Cathy - forest - horned owl

Rasmodius - magic - crow

Qi - desert - vulture

Linus - bald eagle

Jonathan

In the early versions, Jonathan was a more benign figure who simply encouraged Alex to make his own choices. He even supported Alex and Leslie's relationship; he just wanted to make sure Alex could freely decide what was best for Alex.

But as the story shifted, I started to feel Jonathan needed more to do. I thought more about what would drive Jonathan's interest in Alex's life. I hit upon the idea that it should be Jonathan, not Rasmodius, who is responsible for Alex's troubles. Next to Cathy, Jonathan was the most hurt by Raul and Joanna. So, who was he, really? And how far was he willing to go to keep Alex from going through what he did?

It was also probably around that time that I stopped calling him Samuel and his boat the Amaranth, lol. I was still kind of fresh from a Dishonored kick and wanted to maintain a connection. But as Alex's skipper became more his own character, he and his boat needed their own names.

I'd always planned for him to be the old mariner, and a good number of people guessed that early on. The thing is, though, the old mariner is a spirit. Jonathan was not yet a spirit, and he had stuff to do before that happened.

As a consequence of these changes, Alex spent a lot of the fic avoiding Jonathan and being mad at him. I realized that maybe too late; it became a problem when I had to write the final chapters. I started to worry that I'd only told people how much of a father figure Jonathan had been to this boy; maybe I hadn't shown it enough. The first drafts had more scenes of the two of them working together, joking around, having heart-to-hearts, etc. — stuff, I feel, would have strengthened the impact of Alex's conflicting feelings about the skipper once he found out the truth. This was the main reason for the flashback in Ch. 25; I hope it worked.

As for the big challenge showdown that never was, Rattle said something somewhere about how there doesn't always have to be a big fight with the "villain"; sometimes the villain turns out to be not bad at all, and sometimes the real villain is just trauma or indecision or life. Jonathan is sometimes an antagonist, but I never really saw him as a villain, just as someone who made questionable decisions in the name of protecting someone vulnerable and young. I wanted Alex's future to always end up in his own hands and for his heart to lead him there.

Cathy

I had also planned to write something to fill in the gaps about Cathy's life. We would actually see the "movie" in Ch. 24. Maybe Alex deciding last-minute that he didn't need to see it was a cop-out, but I just decided I didn't want to write this part anymore. Maybe it would've been too much of a detour from his own story, and I was already setting up a lot of pins to knock down as it was.

So, for those who're wondering, Cathy and Joanna had always been competitive. They were both cunning and charming, but Joanna was older and prettier and definitely got more attention. Cathy was open to Raul's advances, partly because the young wizard could get it, and partly because it would get one up over her sister. Soap operatic, maybe, but also human, maybe.

The reason for her "academic drift" away from forestry and her ending up at Fish and Wildlife after the big blow-up is Jonathan. His stepping in to shield her from Joanna left a faint magical imprint or echo, and part of the "drift" was driven by her own subconscious reaching for something familiar.

A while back IRL, there was a bunch of news stories about spies being outed, and for some reason they were all professors. My SO (works with some international academics) reasoned that it was because they can come into contact with and influence powerful people under the guise of advising and research. I entertained ideas of some intelligence agency using Cathy's memory problems, conference trips, and government ties to cover up the smuggling of documents and data. She could even be aware of it; she was cold enough when it came to JojaFish. But, as I'd already decided not to fully write out her story, I didn't develop these ideas more.

This might also be a good place to mention that I'd thought of having the war with Gotoro be one of the ripple/butterfly effects of the older Circle breaking apart. But I abandoned that idea, too.

Mr. Qi and Sandy

I love them. I hoped to get into their backstory at some point, but I never did work it in. Mostly because I was a coward and didn't want to get hate about their age difference.

Sandy was one of Joanna's first doves. Qi found her and kept her for a while, out of curiosity. As he grew attached and then concerned about how brief doves' lifespans are, he asked Joanna to un-dove the kid, and then he placed her with some business associates who were having trouble adopting. He barely saw her after that; he was too busy with growing his empire and was content to be a distant godfather who sent birthday and Winter Star presents.

When Sandy, strangely drawn to the desert and the Oasis, came looking for a job, Qi recognized her as his successor. He trained her in all the ways of hotel/hospitality management, and in magic. They developed an excellent collegial friendship. Qi suspected he might have even stronger feelings but kept them to himself, told himself to focus on business. He was about twice her age and blue; it wasn't gonna happen.

Even if he had (has) no plans of dying at a normal time, he decided to bring up his succession plans to Sandy at some point. She was the one who said it would be more fun if they got married.

Calendar math

This fic received the most planning I've ever put into a fic. You might have seen my map and notes on geography. I also downloaded a blank calendar and worked out where some dates would land if each season lasted three months instead of one. Here's a glimpse:

Of course, this makes Alex a Cancer. 🦀

I also read up on fetal development and pregnancy in case anything Leslie was experiencing might be good to mention. Admittedly, I could have done that more. But after Alex went to training camp, he was around her less, and I also just focused on him more.

Personal/other writerly stuff

As you can maybe tell, I really love the sea. I think working on this fic helped me reacquaint myself with that love. There's so much focus on farming and the farmer in a lot of SDV fan work, but I really enjoyed digging into the fact that Pelican Town is a seaside town — and in the process, I got to think about all the things I loved about growing up close to the sea myself.

I know I also resorted to a lot of figures of speech related to music. Maybe they're crutches for me at this point, but explaining things the way I'd describe music or moving through water or water moving (plus weather, especially storms) is maybe the best way I know how to verbalize the thought or feeling I want in the story. Under the ecliptic zodiac, I'm an earth sign, and under the Chinese zodiac, my element is fire. But water and being in or close to the water gives me a sense of equilibrium and clarity; maybe it's a balancing thing (says the person who also says she doesn't believe in astrology). Outside of the water, the next thing that gives me that is music.

This fic also saw me processing some personal stuff about life stages and getting to move forward to the next one. Alex and Leslie's happy ending/beginning is a bit of wish fulfillment for me. They channel magic through their work, which means they will still go through all the mundanity and struggle of farming/crabbing/fishing, but they will have a home together at the end of every day. I am working toward the quiet magic of love in my everyday, too.

I have some ideas for the next thing I want to write, but they need to simmer a bit. In the meantime, I'll go back to actually reading fics and seeing what else other people are writing (I try to avoid the AO3 feed during a big WIP to prevent idea osmosis).

Thanks for reading (especially if you got this far, lol). Leave a note or a comment if you like. :)

#writing #the lost wardens #personal

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pixelcars-tutorial · 1 year

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Chapter 13 - a few studies on bases

I have made changes to other people's WIPs over time to illustrate my suggestions. Since this is easier than making my own bases from scratch, it's a lot of fun and sometimes I push these "little suggestions" into sever-hour-long makeovers. You might find them useful.

I will be showing my changes in comparison to the state I took over not to dunk on them, but show what you can learn.

The main theme in all these changes is balance between accuracy, simple shading(for tuneability) and aesthetics.

Case 1 - BMW M3

BMW M3 G80 by ClassicSS. Not an easy car, many weird shapes to be rendered with only 5 shades.

But the palette is weird, and shading is too dark and overcontrasted. It's shaded like a dark car (see Chapter 11), and that's not suitable for most uses. I switched the palette to the one I usually use first, and then made the whole thing much brighter.

The usual shading requires a middle shade to be a 'baseline'. In this case, 4th one is to allow 3 first shades to be used for all highlighted creases. This could be done using two, and then you have regular darkness of the whole paint.

The same treatment was applied to RV. Notice that antialiasing is way more minimalist - sometimes make simple clues and eye will fill the rest, like the bottom edge of the boot. Doing body lines as barely visible as possible is a trick I've been using for some time with I think very satisfying effects.

I've done the least on FV, but the treatment was the same - brighten up and simplify and tidy antialiasing. Especially consider the differences on the hood.

Case 2 - Mazda RX-7

(Thom's final version on the bottom. I used his pillars on FV/RV and taillights)

Working on Thom's RX7 ended up being one of the most difficult things I did in pixels, and I am first person to say that my FV still sucks. What I wanted to show you was where to go with SV especially and RV a bit. Note that this base has six shades, so you have to do some things a little bit different.

The first thing to touch up on is proportions. You can compromise having accurate proportions with having nice KK shape. My version is several pixels longer, but still looks like a proper KK.

Another thing is to use brighter shade on the B pillar - more shade range allows to show more subtle angle changes. That pillar should in my opinion be a pix narrower. To retain proportions with the boot line, I made that line brighter too, making it visually thinner.

To continue with brighter body lines, i made all of them as bright as possible, and also in some places I even deleted them. If there is continuity, the eye will fill the gap. Especially note the use of that trick on the bottom of the door, when you have to put both highlights from the wider skirts, and an apparent dark edge of the door gap (and outline of the vent!).

Other minor details include deeper rear bumper, more accented main body highlight and thicker skirts with simpler vent there.

On RV few things moved a pixel here and there, but most importantly I simplified the taillight shape, added a gap between taillights and rear window, and also simplified the shading of the sides of the bumper and rear fenders. Pillars are from his final version.

Once again, this post is not to dunk on these authors - their final versions improved on these posted here. These are just some tips what to look for and my approach on some commonly made (in my opinion) mistakes.

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magnolia-penn · 4 years

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Future Vision

Chapter One: A Blast To The Past

Hahaha YEET. Here comes chapter one right at ya. I thought maybe people would be more interested if I shared the actual first chapter so here we go!

Warnings: Swearing, Ocs, Spoilers?(A little later in the series), Oc Death(I Glossed over it tho) lemme know if I missed anything

□■□■□■□■□■□■□

Love comes from the most unexpected places. You certainly weren’t expecting to find love when you felt yourself suddenly lurch forward and land face-first into some sand.

Sand? You thought to yourself. How in the hell?

You were just in your bedroom, about to be picked up by your friend for a snow-filled weekend at her family’s winter cabin. Sand seemed like a million miles from you, and yet, there you sat, in the sand.

“Look out!” A voice cried from behind you.

In an instant, you were lifted from the ground by the back of your jacket heaved to the side. You were just barely out of the way as a burst of lightning struck where you just sat. All you saw was a flash of purple before you were tossed unceremoniously into the awaiting arms of a man dressed in red robes.

He carefully pulled you into his chest as a burst of flames erupted from his side with a … squawk? That definitely sounded like a bird.

You pulled yourself out of the strange man’s chest long enough to see where the fire was directed. There, surrounded by a few other men, was a gigantic swirling mass of colors, seeming conducted by the man on one knee below it.

“Don’t look.” The man holding you instructed.

You did as you were told and buried your face back into his robes. He was warm, you noticed, in a comforting way. You were at a distance, but you could still hear the words of the man on his knee.

“Try as you might, but Liv will bring an amplifier to Lord DIO’s World!” You could feel the piercing stare from the man. “No! That’s not the right one!”

You felt an invisible force start to tug at you, pulling you in the direction of the man. There was a sharp tug before it was cut off by a voracious cry from the same purple being that previously pulled you to safety.

The colors quickly disappeared from the air as the man took his last breath, beaten to death by the purple manifestation. The man holding you let you go, only to scramble to keep you from falling to your knees.

“Easy there, Miss.” He caught you by the back of your legs and hoisted you up bridal style. He gently carried you to where the others stood.

They were discussing something when you were brought to them. You took note of all of their appearances. They were a strange bunch.

There was an old man at the center of the group, dressed in clothes you would see adventurers wearing in movies. Khakis, tan short-sleeved shirt, hat, all the works. You guessed it made sense with all the sand. He was grey in his hair and beard, but his broad shoulders and muscled physique left no doubt your mind that he could throw you quite far if so prompted.

He was yelling at a teen dressed in a thick black gakuran with a chain attached to the high collar. He also donned a black hat that was adorned with gold charms and torn in the back.

The old man also took the time to scold a man with silver hair slicked up with gel. He was wearing a black, one strapped tank top that barely contained his pectorals and had cute little broken heart dangle earrings. Every time he would whine to the old man, he spoke in a distinctly French accent.

“And what are you laughing about?” The old man’s fury was directed at the hardly concealed chortling of the last remaining member of the group. He was also a teen wearing a gakuran, although his was slim fitting and green. His hair was a cherry red and had a long curl that fell in front of his face.

You also took a moment to study the man holding you. His body heat and thick robes had you concerned for him, but there wasn't even a bead of sweat on his brow. He didn't show any sign of faltering, even after holding you for almost ten minutes. The most notable feature on him was his interesting… scars? That accentuated his facial structure.

They were all very attractive, you noticed. Each in their own ways.

“Um,” You quietly got your embracer’s attention. “What’s going on?”

“That will take some time to explain.” He responded.

“Oh.”

You didn’t say anything after that. The two of you stood in silence as the old man continued to yell at the other three.

“Yare yare. I don’t see the problem here.” The teen in all black grumbled. “Killing Eli was the only way to stop ‘Receiver’, so I did.”

The old man glared hard at the teen, his left hand twitching with audible metal clicks.

“The problem, Jotaro, is without Eli to open ‘Receiver’, we can’t send her back.” He pointed a thumb back at you, still in the arms of the dark male.

“He said his sister has the same Stand.”

“That’s not the point, Jotaro! She’s also with DIO, and now that we killed her brother, I doubt she’ll want to help us!”

The two began to bicker again as the teen in green and the man with white hair slid closer to where you stood, slightly hiding behind the man. The other two fought for quite a while, although it was primarily the old man talking.

You asked to be sat down, and the man complied. He was gentle and introduced himself as Muhammed Avdol, and his Stand, Magician’s Red. The other two peeped in and introduced themselves as well. The teen was Noriaki Kakyoin and Hierophant Green, and the man was Jean Pierre Polnareff and Silver Chariot.

The fight between the old man and the teen dressed in all black looked like it was about to escalate into something physical before Avdol spoke up.

“Mr. Joestar, I don’t believe that this is any way to behave in front of a lady.” He scolded.

The old man, Mr. Joestar, suddenly clamped shut and turned to face you. He quickly started to sprout apologies for both him and his grandson, the presumed Jotaro.

“It’s alright,” You said with a chuckle. “I’ve had my fair share of stubborn and edgy teens while in school.”

“Edgy?” Mr. Joestar repeated, puzzled by the adjective.

“Huh? Oh yeah, it’s a term used to describe dark, brooding people who act tough.” You explained. “It’s a dead meme, but I still use it.”

“Meme?”

“Are you that old? Memes are internet jokes.” You knew that some people weren’t the dankest of meme lords, but you don’t have to be that dank to understand what a meme is. It’s 2020 for crying out loud! Who doesn’t know what a meme is?

“Internet? Like the big clunky computer thingamajig?”

“Computers, laptops, phones, tablets, gaming consoles, anything with a wifi connection.” For emphasis, you pulled your smartphone from your pocket.

There was a collective gasp from the males, concerning you. You could understand Mr. Joestar, but the other young adults made no sense. Anybody who’s anybody has a smartphone these days.

Slowly, as you put more thought into it, your face began to drop. You knew about Stands, both from having one yourself and from your friend, Magnolia, who worked at the Speedwagon Foundation and taught you how to use yours. Yet, you could never imagine a Stand being powerful enough to...

“Avdol?” You called out quietly. “What year is it?”

“1989.”

“Excuse me a second.”

With that, you stepped away from the group and crested a sand dune. As soon as you got out of sight, you cover your mouth with your hands and screamed out a muffled, but still quite loud,

“HOW IN THE ACTUAL FUCK!!”

You took a moment to scream wordlessly into your hands before regaining your composure. You turned to walk back up the sand dune when a green head popped up from the side where the men were.

You recognized it as Hierophant Green, Kakyoin’s Stand. You sent it a reassuring smile and activated your Stand. Your Stand, Chemical Romance, was an incredibly short-ranged Stand that allowed you to touch, talk to, understand, and locate other Stands. You extended your arm to allow the emerald Stand to enable it to climb up it, a gesture you often offered to Magnolia’s serpentine Stand. It took the Stand a second to process what you were doing, but as soon as it did, it raced up your arm and wrapped itself loosely around your neck.

You gave it a gentle pat on the head and giggled when you heard Kakyoin yelp from the neural connection amplified by your Stand.

You slid down the sand dune and almost tripped at the bottom, your embarrassing face plant postponed for another time because Hierophant Green used his coils to catch you. You cast a haphazard smile to the group before picking the Stand up and off your shoulders. Hierophant stretched and turned to a semi-solid mass, the same way cats do when picked up, and you could see Kakyoin shiver from the amplified feeling of ghost hands.

“Sorry about that, I needed a minute. How much of that did you hear?” The priceless looks you got confirmed that they heard it all.

“So, uh, what’s the issue?” Polnareff asked hesitantly, not wanting to set you off again.

“Nothing much. Just the fact that I was dragged 31 years into the past.” You replied innocently.

Your words received a couple of nods, and a sigh of relief as the meaning of what you said glossed over their heads. You didn’t say anything, knowing their reactions would be hilarious when it finally hit them.

It was Mr. Joestar who broke first.

“OH MY GOD!!”

#Future Vision #FV Chapter One #kakyoin #kakyoin x reader #jojo kakyoin #noriaki kakyoin

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piggy-i-broke-the-conch · 2 years

Text

Lord of the Flies manuscript- an overview

Preamble:

(if you don’t care about this, I start talking about the actual manuscript under the cut. but be warned- it is very long)

So as some of you know if you've been following my blog, I have been wanting to go and see the original first draft of Lord of the Flies (handwritten by William Golding in a college notebook and currently held by the University of Exeter's special collections here in the UK) for a really long time now! It took a while, but today I finally went! I'm sure a lot of you are curious about how it differs from the final book so I decided to put together a list of things I noticed. Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to quote anything from the manuscript verbatim due to copyright restrictions, but I'll try my best to tell you what I can without getting into legal trouble (hopefully). Also, I only managed to get through the first 7 chapters before the library closed (I'm truly devastated) partly because I struggled a lot to decipher Golding's very messy handwriting and also just because I'm not a very fast reader and I only had about 5 hours with the manuscript, so I'll just be talking about what I've read so far. I plan on returning in the summer to see the rest so there will be a part 2 to this post eventually!

Also also, at the time of posting it is 3am and I am too tired to proofread this properly so apologies in advance for any mistakes.

Now, onto the part of the post you actually care about- talking about the manuscript!

The majority of differences between the original and final versions (which I'll be referring to as OV and FV respectively throughout the rest of this post) are just minor changes to phrasing and fixes of grammatical errors, but there are a few more pronounced differences which caught my interest. This post will be split into two sections, one for smaller differences which I found particularly interesting and one for major differences which greatly affect the story and characters.

A note on the typescript:

As well as looking at the original LotF manuscript (the handwritten one), I also had the chance to look at a typescript (a later version of the manuscript typed out on a typewriter) while I was there. The typescript is a lot more similar to the FV than the OV so there isn't as much to say about it, but there are still a few interesting things in there which I ought to mention so you'll see me bring it up from time to time. Some major aspects of the OV stuck around for quite a long time before eventually being cut from the FV (although many had already been toned down quite a lot by the time the typescript was made, I'll elaborate later on). You can see that someone has marked the typescript, crossing out references to these features as well as fixing some more phrasing and grammar errors. I'm not sure who did this as while some of the annotations appear to be in Golding's handwriting, others are not. It was most likely a collaborative effort between Golding and his editor, though.

Now that that's cleared up, let's move on to the differences between these versions of the novel!

Smaller differences:

• Some minor characters had different names in the OV. Johnny (the littlun who likes to bully Percival) was originally called Jamie, and Henry (mulberry kid's cousin who also likes to bully Percival) interestingly had a surname, going by Henry Williams

• I'm not completely sure about this one because I couldn't make out everything Golding was saying due to his handwriting, but I don't think Jack's eye colour is mentioned at all in the OV while it comes up quite a few times in the FV. This interested me because I have a vague theory that Johnny is supposed to parallel Jack, which is why they both have blue eyes (no one else's eye colour is mentioned in the book) and their names are both diminutives of John, so I found it intriguing that Johnny's name and Jack's eye colour were added in later. It's a very minor detail so not necessarily what Golding was going for, but cool either way.

• This is kind of the opposite, but while Jack's physical appearance is described a bit less in the OV, Roger's is described a bit more. His skin tone is said to be olive and he has a lean face. His facial expressions are also a bit... weird, but I'll expand on this later

• Percival's address is slightly different from the FV, with his street name being St Michael instead of St Anthony

• Some lines of dialogue are said by different characters in the OV- for example, in the FV's chapter 2 Maurice suggests that the boys should put green branches on the fire to make more smoke, but in the OV Roger is the one who says this

• Similarly, some actions are performed by different characters in the OV- Simon is actually the one who calms the littluns down by making them laugh in chapter 5 instead of Maurice (speaking of which, I think Golding didn't quite know what to do with Maurice at first since he seems a little bit inconsistent to me in the OV and the lines of dialogue attributed to him are almost random at times. I'm happy that Golding later made him into a more consistent comic relief character)

• Some lines that aren't attributed to any specific character in the FV are given to specific characters in the OV- for example, the person who suggests that the choir could be an army in chapter 1 is said to be Roger in the OV (can you tell i was interested in Roger's dialogue in particular?)

• Ralph's age is slightly different- he is 12 years and 1 month old in the OV, while in the FV he is 12 years and several months old. I'm not sure why Golding made this change, but it might be to make Ralph's age less specific.

• Simon is said to be 9 years old, while in the FV his age is never specified

• Piggy's accent is more exaggerated in the OV- for example, every 'h' at the start of a word is replaced with an apostrophe (e.g.- 'is instead of his). This makes his dialogue very hard to read at times, which is probably why these instances have been crossed out and replaced with regular spelling in the typescript.

• When Jack talks about who doesn't deserve to speak at meetings in chapter 6, he includes Piggy and Roger in the OV but not in the FV (i just find it funny that he insults Roger here, don't ask why)

• Another funny one, this time from chapter 5. While arguing about what the beast is, the argument suddenly shifts to whether there are ghosts in the Bible and whether Jesus is a ghost or not. This argument culminates in Jack essentially accusing Piggy of being an atheist, which is treated as being very scandalous

• If you've done a bit of digging into LotF or studied it at school, you might know that an alternate title for the book before it was published was 'Strangers From Within'. The typescript goes by another alternate title- 'This Island's Mine'. However, the title was crossed out on the typescript and had been replaced with the familiar 'Lord of the Flies'

Major differences:

Ok, this is the part I'm most excited to write about. Some of these major differences are already public knowledge (I knew about a lot of them before I checked out the manuscript, and I've talked about some of them on my blog before), but I'll try to elaborate a bit more on these as well as talking about some others

The first chapter:

As I've mentioned on this blog several times in the past, the reason I was so excited about seeing this manuscript is that there is an additional chapter at the start of the OV which expands on the events leading up to Ralph climbing down the rock at the start of the FV, including the plane crash. However, I found out that this isn't actually an additional chapter but an extended version of the first chapter in the FV. This means that the original first chapter is very long, which is actually a big part of the reason why LotF was rejected by so many publishers at first since most didn't read past the first chapter and so didn't really get into the plot of the novel. The extended part of the chapter has been cut entirely from the typescript, which makes sense. Personally I think the original first chapter drags on a lot and probably wouldn't be too interesting to the average reader, but it was interesting to me since it gave me some valuable extra info about the characters I've grown to love over the years.

Here are some of the key things I found:

• As mentioned by Piggy in chapter 1 of the FV, an atom bomb was dropped on England which seemingly destroyed it

• The novel takes place during a fictional war between England (and possibly others) and the 'Reds' (quote from the FV, although a similar name is used in the OV). I believe this is likely referring to the USSR but I couldn't find any solid evidence

• The boys had been on the plane for 10 days prior to the crash, stopping in a number of countries along the way (chapter 1 of the FV reveals that Simon fainted in a lot of them)

• There is a lot of detail about the boys' feelings during the journey and subsequent crash. The crash is described in full, with quite horrific detail at times-we see the boys screaming and panicking as the plane goes down

• Eventually one boy (I'm not sure if Golding gave any details hinting at which boy it was due to the handwriting thing again, but my theory is either Ralph or Piggy) pulled on the emergency lever, allowing the remaining boys to escape from the burning plane

• After the crash, we see the boys all collapsing and falling asleep in the scar left behind by the plane followed by them exploring the scar/jungle in the daytime and searching for food

• The rest of the chapter follows Ralph specifically. We see a lot of him running around and having fun as he eats fruit and explores

• Interestingly, several scenes involving Ralph having fun in the first chapter were crossed out in the OV, including the whole scene where Ralph discovers Piggy's nickname and the one where they swim in the lagoon (although both of these did make it into the FV virtually unchanged). There is a note from Golding by the former scene which suggests he was not sure if Ralph was being too casual about the situation or not, although it seems that eventually he decided it was fine and kept Ralph's characterisation the same

The Coral Island:

This one is another thing I've talked about on the blog before. Lord of the Flies is essentially a fanfiction of a book called The Coral Island by R.M. Ballantyne, which is an adventure story from the 19th century about three teenage boys/young adults getting shipwrecked on a tropical island and converting the local 'savages' to Christianity (it is very racist as you can imagine). From what I've heard, Golding wrote LotF partly out of spite because he felt that TCI was inaccurate and boys wouldn't get along as well as the ones in that book in reality. He also made fun of the imperialism in TCI, with the posh white British boys being the ones who end up becoming savages in LotF.

TCI is name dropped twice in the FV, but it is brought up a lot more in the OV and has a major influence on Ralph's character. To put it simply, Ralph is a huge TCI fanboy. His obsession with TCI actually quite closely mirrors my own obsession with LotF- he's almost memorised the book, thinks about it all the time, and wants to be friends with the characters. I have a lot of examples of Ralph's obsession which I want to talk about so I'll put them into a list to make things easier:

• Ralph's motivation for climbing the rock at the very start of the FV is because the TCI characters do something similar shortly after they get stranded on their island

• Ralph compares the TCI trio with himself, Jack and Simon very frequently throughout the OV. He considers himself to be like TCI Ralph (yes they have the same name, Jack also has the same name as one of the TCI trio) and actively seeks out the remaining members of the trio even before he meets the other boys on the island. Essentially he wants to live out the novel in real life and wants idealised companions that he can rely on and have a sense of camaraderie with. Because of this he really romanticises his situation and becomes very attached to his relationships with Jack and Simon (but also very disappointed when they don't live up to his expectations)

• When Ralph finds out Jack's first name, he becomes really excited just because he has the same name as TCI Jack and automatically considers the two of them to be part of the same trio

• He decides that Simon is Peterkin (the last boy in the TCI trio) for basically no reason. He just looks at him and feels the two are alike without knowing why, although he is disappointed that he couldn't find someone with the same name as Peterkin to complete the trio

• When Ralph says he wants three boys to go up the mountain in chapter 1, he blushes and the other boys don't understand why- it's because he's thinking about recreating a scene from TCI again

• In chapter 3, the 'He wanted to explain how people were never quite what you thought they were' line from the FV is replaced with an explanation that Ralph is sad that Jack and Simon aren't actually that much like their TCI counterparts, with Jack being too invested in hunting (instead of being the responsible, mature leader who cares deeply for his companions' wellbeing like TCI Jack) and Simon being too quiet and good-natured (while Peterkin is a very adventurous and mischievous character)

• Similarly, when Ralph says 'Only-' and cuts himself off in the FV, in the OV this is followed by an explanation that he wanted to tell Jack about how Simon doesn't live up to his expectations but (I assume at least) he didn't think Jack would understand

• One of Ralph's dream sequences (I think the one where he thinks about the wild ponies in his back garden in the FV? the first one anyway) is different in the OV. Instead of thinking about his childhood, he dreams that his father appears on the beach and they have a conversation about the island. I found it interesting that Ralph's dad gets dialogue here (even if it is in a dream) since he doesn't in the FV. One funny thing from this conversation is that Ralph's dad essentially tells Ralph the onion thing from Shrek except with bananas instead of onions (as in, he calls Jack and Simon bananas and says that Ralph needs to peel them in order to find what he wants, aka his ideal companions/TCI Jack and Peterkin). When he says this, Ralph sees Jack and Simon smiling at him on the beach

While the majority of these things are already omitted from the typescript, quite a few references to The Coral Island remain (although almost all of these have been crossed out by- probably- the editor). Several have annotations above them which replace the TCI references with lines that appear in the final version, which makes me think that these changes came quite late in the editing process.

The fourth chapter:

So originally I was going to scatter the things I'll cover here across different sections, but since they all take place in the same chapter I decided to just put them together. The main interesting thing in the OV of this chapter is Roger's characterisation. As well as being portrayed quite differently in his scene at the start of the chapter (the one where he bullies small children/ throws rocks at Henry), he also gets an additional scene at the end of the chapter which was cut from the FV. I was pretty surprised about the additional scene to be honest, I wasn't expecting that to be there since chapter 4 sort of phases into chapter 5 in the FV and it seems to flow quite well so I didn't imagine another scene being stuck in the middle of it. This is probably why the extra scene was cut though.

Okay, let's talk about OV Roger:

• As I mentioned much earlier in the post, Roger makes a lot of weird facial expressions during his scene with Henry. He is described as looking like he is in pain several times while watching the littluns on the beach, with his pain seeming to intensify into an expression of agony as he stalks Henry. I don't get why he was supposed to look like he was in pain here? but cool that we get to see more of his emotions I guess

• Continuing with this theme, Roger's excitement at throwing rocks at Henry is described in much more detail in the OV. He goes from a state of extreme pain to a state of extreme ecstasy very quickly. His mouth is also described as moving in a way I didn't really grasp (because of the handwriting I couldn't read half of it)- I think he might have been smiling creepily but it's hard to tell, maybe he was holding back a smile or something else. To be honest I was just imagining him making Kira expressions (from death note, look it up) the whole time.

• We also get more intense descriptions of Roger's physical reactions to this scene. In the FV, after retreating behind a palm tree to avoid being caught by Henry, he is 'breathing quickly, eyes fluttering'. It's hard to describe without quoting directly from the text, but basically in the OV his reaction seems more drawn out- he's breathless, his heart is pounding, he's exhilarated and maybe a little afraid. My point is that this Roger is much more emotive than the one in the FV, who expresses his emotions very subtly (e.g.- through a slight movement of his eyes or a shadow crossing his face). Personally I prefer FV Roger much more, being very apathetic and hard to read fits his character a lot better imo. I guess both are creepy in different ways though.

• Okay, the extra scene. Basically Roger leaves the others while they are all gathered around the fire eating meat and goes down to the beach to continue what he was doing at the start of the chapter. He doesn't find any children to bully, so instead he starts murdering limpets with a rock. He makes it into a twisted game, seeing how many times he can hit them before they die. It reminded me a lot of Roger Elwin (Roger's actor from the 1963 movie adaptation of LotF), who used to throw lizards into a fan to see how many pieces they would be cut into. Life imitates art and all that. Anyway, this scene just sort of ends and cuts very abruptly to the start of chapter 5 (which is similar to the FV). While I do think that starting and ending the chapter with scenes involving Roger is quite interesting, like I said before I definitely think that the transition from chapter 4 to chapter 5 in the FV flows a lot better and really maintains the tension established throughout the chapter (which I will be talking about a bit more later...)

• I should also add that at some point during the scene with the fire there is an author's note that mentions Roger (again I can't directly quote it, but essentially it asks what he is supposed to be doing during this scene). At first I thought he may have been intended to have some dialogue during the argument between Jack and Ralph, but now I think this author's note may be referring to the extra scene at the end

As you can probably tell, I like Roger and he is very interesting in this chapter. It's funny because I hated him for a long time but suddenly my opinion did a 180 and now I like him. Or I find him interesting, at least. Maybe I don't like him that much as a person haha. Anyway, on to the other interesting things in this chapter, because there are quite a few:

• Ralph cries during the 'they let the bloody fire out' scene. This was interesting to me because in the FV he only cries once in the entire book (right at the end), so it's interesting that he is allowed to cry here too in the OV. Simon and Piggy also cry during this scene.

• Jack realises how badly he fucked up (to put it plainly) when he sees Ralph's tears in the OV (instead of his 'scarred nakedness' as in the final version) and thinks to himself that they are the tears of an adult, not a child. I actually like this a lot better than the FV since it has more of an emotional impact and really highlights Ralph's despair and desperation in this situation. On the other hand, I do quite like him only crying once in the FV since it gives that scene more weight- both are good.

• Another place where I greatly prefer the FV of this chapter over the OV is that the tension between Ralph and Jack, particularly Ralph's anger towards Jack (and also Jack's resentment towards Piggy), is much more pronounced in the FV. Instead of the scene where Jack refuses to give Piggy meat which we get in the FV, Piggy just takes meat and sits with the others. It is even mentioned in the narration that he is being included for once. Also, there is a cute moment where Jack and Ralph smile at each other and feel like friends again. Basically it's a lot more wholesome in the OV, which is nice for sentimental fanboys like me who just want to see everyone get along, but not so great for the actual story given that this event is supposed to very nearly destroy Jack and Ralph's friendship completely (and certainly it still plays a big part in this even if it takes a little longer for their friendship to fully fall apart)

Simon:

Alright, onto the part I've been most excited to share with you guys. I wanted to put this section last, but something I'm going to talk about in the next section kind of needs the context from this one to be fully appreciated so it will have to be the penultimate section instead. This is another one of those major changes which is public knowledge, but essentially Simon is a very different character in the OV compared to the FV. While the FV gently hints at Simon having a deeper spiritual significance (aka being Jesus), this is placed front and centre in the OV with Simon being a deeply spiritual and contemplative, something philosophical, individual who has occasional prophetic visions and is basically clairvoyant.

Let's go over Simon in a bit more detail:

• Like in the FV, Simon has a very close connection to nature. When Jack and Ralph first talk about hunting in chapter 1, Simon expresses sadness that they would waste the natural beauty of the island. In addition, it is mentioned that he knows a lot about different types of animals and plants

• In fact, Simon is described as having a lot of knowledge in general. Many passages relating to him talk a lot about knowing and seeing things, possibly relating to him being some sort of prophet/visionary

• Golding spends much more time exploring Simon's perspective on events and characters throughout the OV. He contemplates major themes of the novel like morality and human nature, and in chapters 3 and 7 he analyses Jack and Ralph in great detail. I'll save what he says about Ralph for later because it is very interesting, but I will say that he shows disappointment in Jack's growing madness and bloodlust and appears to feel a lot of pity for him.

• He also mentions in chapter 3 (during one of these long scenes of him thinking about stuff) that he understands Jack's fear and feelings of being hunted while he is in the jungle alone, foreshadowing his own death scene.

There are two major things I want to say about Simon in the OV which are going to require their own subsections. The first is another additional scene which replaces the scene where Simon sits alone in the jungle and looks at the candle buds at the end of chapter 3 (actually the candle buds aren't mentioned at all in the OV, which made me a bit sad because I like them). This scene is much longer than its replacement and leans very heavily into Simon's spiritual/visionary side, but I'll go into that shortly. The other thing is Simon's relationship with Ralph, which is delved into in much more detail compared to the FV and reveals some very interesting things about both characters.

The vision:

• When Simon leaves Jack and Ralph near the end of chapter 3, he retreats into jungle as he does in the FV. From this point, things become very different from the FV. Simon spends some time contemplating Jack and Ralph before he suddenly faints and enters a dream sequence/prophetic vision which continues for the test of the chapter.

• In the vision, Simon dances with a group of littluns who follow him around and try to copy his movements (it's very cute). He then picks up the conch and calls an assembly, during which everyone joins in with the dance. I found this interesting because in the FV only Ralph and, on one occasion, Jack blow the conch. Since Ralph's relationships with both Jack and Simon are given prominence in the OV (because of all the coral island stuff), it makes sense that Simon gets to blow the conch too even if it's only in a dream sequence.

• After dancing for a while, Jack gets bored and breaks away from the group. He runs off down the beach, prompting a lot of the other boys to follow him. They all race each other down the beach. Simon starts to freak out as he watches more and more boys start running off, screaming for them to stop and really panicking. Eventually he just stares after them with resignation, feeling particularly sad upon seeing Ralph chase after Jack with the others.

As you can probably tell, this scene quite heavily foreshadows Simon's death. There are also a lot of references to the Bible which I didn't mention here (I think Jesus might show up at one point? there's also something about forbidden fruit and Eden). To be honest this scene was a nightmare to get through since Golding's handwriting made it so hard to understand, especially since it was like an acid trip to begin with. I did my best to summarise it for you but there's probably a lot of stuff that I missed.

Ralph:

Oh God, Simon and Ralph. I have been itching to talk about them since I first saw the manuscript. Let's get right into it:

• In Chapter 3 (a bit before the vision scene), Simon thinks for a long time about Ralph and Jack. He seems to almost venerate Ralph at times, seeing him as this very idealised but also very tragic figure. Simon feels intense affection for Ralph to the point of it bordering on devotion but also intense pity for him.

• As you might have guessed by now, Simon is canonically, explicitly in love with Ralph in the OV. I was genuinely shocked by this when I saw it for the first time as I didn't think Golding would go beyond hinting at it as he does in the FV. While I can't quote anything directly so you kind of have to just take my word for it, it does say that he loves Ralph multiple times in the OV. I wasn't quite sure if this was meant to be more of a spiritual love like the love that Jesus feels for people or a romantic love, but I think it is supposed to be read both ways. I believe it's relevant to mention that when thinking about Jack in chapter 3, Simon claims to like and admire him equally as much as Ralph but does not ramble about him nearly as much and doesn't say he loves him.

• During the scene where Simon bashes into a tree after 'he ceased to think about himself', it explicitly says in the OV that he is thinking intently about Ralph. He mentions his pity for Ralph as well as his love, which is described as being overwhelmingly intense.

• There is also a lot of physical contact between Ralph and Simon throughout the OV, with Simon often touching Ralph's arms. He does this during the fire scene to comfort him while they both cry, and again in the scene with the tree while trying to persuade Ralph that he doesn't believe in the beast/trying to redeem himself in Ralph's eyes after the humiliation of the meeting in chapter 5. Simon also touches Ralph's arms in the FV but not as often

Several of Simon's more contemplative/philosophical passages are still present in the typescript but have been crossed out, while the entire vision scene has already been replaced with the candle bud scene. It seems that Simon's spiritual side was steadily toned down until eventually it was almost entirely removed from the character. Personally I like FV Simon as he feels a bit more realistic, but I find OV Simon really interesting as well and I like that we get to see more of his thoughts and feelings. Simon's feelings for Ralph are also greatly toned down, and some passages relating to their relationship have been crossed out and edited in the typescript as welI. I wonder if this was censorship from the editor or if Golding just felt that it didn't fit the FV as much? Anyway, I always felt that the trio of Jack, Ralph and Simon should have been explored a bit more since they are set up to be close friends in chapter 1 and Ralph is thinking of them when he starts crying in the final scene, so I like that the OV included some more of this. I do really like the Ralph/Simon/Piggy trio (or the three blind mice as I call them) though so I don't mind the FV placing more emphasis on that.

The seventh chapter:

We finally come to the last chapter I managed to read before I got kicked out of the library. Again, I fully plan on returning later this year to see the rest so I can hopefully tell you guys about the second half of the manuscript in the relatively near future. I'm particularly interested in seeing the interaction between Simon and the pig head/Lord of the Flies, how the manuscript ends and Simon and Piggy's death scenes. I already know about some slight differences to the ending and Piggy's death scene so I'm really excited to see what else this manuscript has in store for me.

But for now, let's talk about chapter 7:

• This is a very minor thing but Jack is described as being flushed when he says the 'Couldn't let you do it on your own' line to Ralph while this isn't mentioned in the FV. It could be due to exertion, but I like the idea that he was embarrassed. This is a bit of a side note, but I was quite surprised to see that not much really changed about Jack between the OV and the FV. He is sometimes a bit friendlier to Ralph and occasionally Piggy but that's the only thing I really noticed. Jack is by far my favourite LotF character so I was hoping I'd have a lot to say about him, but compared to characters who change quite drastically between versions like Ralph, Simon and Roger, he is pretty consistent. This is speculation of course, but my take is that Golding had a pretty clear idea of what he wanted to do with Jack from the beginning. I've heard that Jack was inspired by Golding himself as a teenager, so maybe that's why he had a better idea of what his character was going to be like compared to some of the others.

• The most interesting part of this chapter for me is the 'You'll get back alright' scene between Ralph and Simon. Now this scene does not actually appear in the OV, although there are two author's notes which refer to it- one at the end of chapter 6, and another near the start of chapter 7, where the scene ended up being placed in the FV. My theory is that Golding knew he wanted this scene to take place but hadn't decided whereabouts it should go, so he added it in in a later draft. At first I was disappointed that I couldn't see how this scene was different since it's one of my favourites in the book, but when I glanced over at the typescript I was surprised to find an extended version of the scene there!

• The extended scene (which has also been heavily crossed out and reworded in places) delves a bit more into Ralph and Simon's thoughts, with Simon trying to assess what effect his words are having on Ralph whereas Ralph is unsure whether to believe him or not. Simon also comments on the others calling him batty and seems hurt that Ralph doesn't believe his words because he was humiliated at the chapter 5 meeting, while in the FV he just says 'No, I'm not' in response to Ralph calling him batty and doesn't react to it beyond that. Actually speaking of which, OV Simon seems to be a bit more insecure than FV Simon (or at least we see his insecurities more clearly because his thoughts are explored much more often). In chapter 3 he self-deprecatingly describes himself as a weak boy who has fits in contrast to his idealised image of Ralph. I'm getting a bit side-tracked though, so let's move on.

• At the end of Ralph and Simon's conversation in the typescript, Ralph asks Simon if the others will also get back alright. Simon just smiles and says they will. After this, Ralph thinks to himself that despite still thinking Simon is batty, he feels strangely comforted by his words. It's very wholesome and gives their relationship a bit more depth I think, although of course the FV of the scene also does this to an extent.

• Another very minor thing but Simon is blushing while they have this conversation and I think it's cute. We are blessed with so much wholesome Simon in this version, it's great.

• The final thing I'm going to talk about is a very tiny extra scene (or part of a scene since it's only like a paragraph long) which appears in place of the 'You'll get back alright' scene in the OV. In this scene Ralph eats a bunch of fruit, then Jack shows up and eats some with him. It's described in a bit of a grotesque manner, possibly to show how they've become less civilised since they arrived on the island but I don't know. They talk for a short while about how they want to catch fish and hunt, and again they seem to bond a little bit before Roger shows up abruptly and calls Jack away. I do find it interesting that he specifically calls Jack away in this version, while in the FV he just shouts 'Come and see!' without specifying who he is calling.

Closing words:

And that's it! Can you believe this isn't even everything I made notes on? A lot of the other stuff was just stuff I wasn't sure if I could mention or not due to copyright as well as lots of Coral Island references (seriously there are so many I couldn't be bothered to list them all).

Thank you so much for sticking with me to the end, and I hope you found this as interesting/enlightening as I did! If you want to ask me anything about the different versions of the text or need me to elaborate on anything I covered in the post (or if you just want to talk LotF), feel free to send me an ask or DM me on my main acc (@earl-grey-by-the-lake) and I'll try to answer as best as I can!

Okay, after spending 10 hours on a train, 5 hours trying to decipher almost illegible handwriting and giving myself a headache in the process, and a further maybe 8 to 10 hours writing up notes, fact-checking and composing this post (all over the course of 3 days and while sick), I am going to finally get some sleep. Thank you again for reading, and hopefully I'll have some more things to share with you soon!

126 notes · View notes

sixth-light · 2 years

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Amongst Our Weapons

Yes, it came out three weeks ago; no, I did not read it before today because I knew it would eat my brain (which it did, I sat down to read a chapter before doing some other things and then got up two hours later).

No spoiler take: I enjoyed it! The series has now settled pretty firmly into its new shape as a much more conventional procedural with less worldbuilding weirdness, and it’s doing a good job of keeping the pace on existing plot while having a self-contained story. I think I liked it more than False Value but FV happened at a very specific emotional time in my life so I probably need to re-read it to check whether that’s really true. I am SO stoked that [SPOILER] is back on the scene. I can’t believe Peter is still living in a pre-Brexit world, the lucky bastard.

(full-book spoilers below the cut)

First up, the ending scene: I was vaguely spoiled for this by my dash but I’m neither surprised nor that worried about it? It makes perfect sense for Nightingale to want to retire, he’s been on the job for over a century, and they’re finally at a place where he’s tactically useful but not strategically necessary, as it were. Also, it’s been firmly established that his conception of himself as the last wizard in Britain wasn’t even close to being true. From a Doylistic perspective, this is a great way to ease out of the question of ‘why doesn’t Nightingale save the day’ every time Peter is in trouble. Besides, at the rate the books are going it probably won’t happen for another five or ten anyway.

Taking down the Folly wards and physically damaging the building feels very Symbolic in terms of where the series is going.

I liked Danni but I’m not sure I got a strong sense of her as a character - she seems a good foil for Peter and flexible enough to handle the Folly.

I’m so glad we got to see the twins being born! Fatherhood is something Peter has wanted for a long time.

Also so glad Peter is in ongoing therapy because Jesus Christ does he need it.

All of the Lesley stuff fed my addiction to the whole Peter & Lesley BEST NEMESES dynamic perfectly, loved it. She’s smart but Sahra is right: Peter always overestimates her, she’s not as smart as she thinks she is or as Peter has convinced himself she is. I would like her to stick around as a supervillain for ages. Chef’s kiss.

CAROLINE CAME BACK WITH A BLACKSMITH GIRLFRIEND, A+, NO NOTES.

I can’t believe the central plot was about the Spanish Inquisition, even given the title & chapter titles I was still not expecting the Spanish Inquisition. Yes, I know that’s the joke.

There’s something there about the metaphysics of allokosmoi and ghosts and the Mary Engine but I am definitely going to have to read False Value again to get my thoughts on that straight.

The whole sequence with the dead airmen was really beautiful.

I really want AOW!Peter to time travel back and tell RoL!Peter he’s going to sleep over at Seawoll’s house one day.

This book leaves the vague impression that at least half of Peter’s friends are queer women. Again, no notes.

We all saw the line about the coach house being a retreat for “gay young wizards” in the 20s y/y? Lol nice.

I did spot one minor error re timing - Peter talks about Alistair McKay not having been “me too’d” but that parlance didn’t take off until 2017, whereas Peter is still in early 2016.

Which leads me to reflect that I am very glad the books are going in the direction of Peter’s relationship-building, especially with Caroline and Grace, because I am more and more uneasy about a series that is going to follow Peter as a police officer through the RL events of the UK 2016-2022 (and counting), because jesus there’s some grim stuff coming up. No matter how good Peter is at institutional juggling and bureaucratese (which is so good it’s catching) he’s not good enough to not be an agent of the system. His fear over killing Francisca in this book is a small reflection of that. It felt...relieving...to know there are other people out there, doing their own things. Not because I don’t like Peter as a character but because between False Value and now I’ve lost any personal belief that the structural problems with the police can be fixed from the inside.

I realise I haven’t mentioned Bev and that’s because she didn’t really DO a lot except provide light domestic entertainment, but she seems to be living her best life so good for her?

I remain very amused that Peter, when being questioned about his religious beliefs or lack thereof, did not drop his partner’s divinity on Danni. I guess that’s waiting for a later lesson.

#rivers of london #amongst our weapons #aow spoilers

107 notes · View notes

sm-baby · 2 years

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Family Vacation (Chapter 3)- "The Trip to Poseidon"

AH, THE LONG-AWAITED CHAPTER IS FINALLY HERE, GREAT...

Chapter 1 : ("Carriage Ride")

Chapter 2: ("The Motel Room")

Word count: 11,921 words 65,612 characters

GOD... THESE JUST KEPT GETTING LONGER..I will say this will probably be the longest a FV fic is going to be, from this point on I everything else will be ficlets uwu

Go enjoy my ramblings!! I know this was messy I didn't use many writing techniques ;;

Ok Bye bye!! Enjoy~ <3

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

8:30am in the morning. Leftover cold polluted the air. Water droplets slowly fell from the ceiling edges. The weather was colder than most. Aside from the obvious wealth, Zeus was known for its cold weather as they neighbor the north Iceologers. Most everyone outside was wearing sweaters and long sleeves, while the most prone were wearing full-on coats.

Speaking of the people more prone to the cold: Gracious Simpleton, alongside her companion Leonardo Birch, finally stepped outside after their two-hour nap. Leonardo was off wearing a sweater that he rolled up to the elbow, while Gracious, not only wore long sleeves, but also a jacket on top. This time, with thicker material.

"Alright, I'm ready."

Leonardo cleared his throat.

Grace turned her head in confusion. "What?" She literally just woke up and she messed something up already.

The man pointed passed her, towards her messy bed. She cleaned herself up but seemingly nothing of her surroundings. The big man did his fair share on his side of the room, you wouldn't guess which one the noble would be if you entered it without seeing them first.

The woman rolled her eyes. " Room service will handle it."

" It's rude to leave a mess for other people to clean up." Leonardo crossed his arms. He was already nearby the exit earlier while he was getting ready to leave, but this time it was almost like he was guarding it. "Besides, you're not going to have room service in the vacation house. "

Grace stared at him as if it was a completely unheard-of thing to ask of her. She would be incredibly insulted had it been someone else. The woman was very reluctant, but she followed through after much convincing.

The Seniors were finally out of their Motel room to the cold morning. They descended the outside stairs, Leonardo went down first and Grace was not that far behind him.

There lounged their kin. Noah, Wilbert, and Flint were down munching on their breakfast, while the adults were off further into the kitchen. Catherine and Sheldon were manning the stoves, while Erma and Simon chatted with them from their seats.

Wilburt paused mid-chew to greet the big kind man who he saw not that long ago "hello, Mr. Leo!" This took the other’s attention.

Noah waved happily upon seeing his grandfather.

Sheldon, pan still in hand, took a few steps back to see his father in view "Heyyy, there's the man of the hour!” Everyone turned with him “Good morning, Papa!"

"Hello, Papa!"

"Good morning, Papa."

"Bonjour, Papa!"

"Buenos Dias, Señor! And…” Simon squinted his eyes to see the white silhouette behind the man “Mama!" He flinched, his body immediately arranged to tend to her. “Excuse me for a moment, I’ll be right-”

“Simon?” Catherine frowned, She looked more concerned than anything. “Hon, We talked about this. “

“I-” He sighed “...know. But just this once? I do want to see if mother is well.”

“Oh, of course, don’t let me stop you! Just-” Catherine put her hands up in a sort of shrug, and scrunched up her face, wanting to find the appropriate words. Her fiance knows this look. “...Know your limits?”

“I will try.” He gave her a quick kiss on her nose and started walking off “I promise, I won’t be long! ”

Catherine waved to him with a reluctant smile and an unsure look in her eyes.

“I have no idea what’s happening there, but boy am I worried about your fiance.” Erma raised a brow. Although they were looking reserved, She and Sheldon were listening in to the couple’s chat.

Catherine shrugged, “ He’s working on it.”

Simon arrived as quickly as he left. His mother had barely even touched the floor yet. The nobleman's posture was a little more straightened the closer he was, and he fixed his outfit to at least not look like a mess in front of his mother. She deserves a clean son.

"Boker tov, Mama!" He leaned down to give her a kiss on the cheek and laid his hand out for her to hold. He escorts her often when she is in unfamiliar territory. It eases her worries for at least a little.

"Hola, Hijo."

"Do you need anything? A coat? It is quite cold this morning-" her son asked. It was freezing after yesterday’s storm, he was wearing a jacket himself! His own frame was also quite thin for someone his size.

" Hijo-"

Simon could only imagine how his mother handled the temperature! He had his darling offer him some body warmth last night and earlier this morning; surely white sheets weren’t the most warming. His mother was wearing a coat and her gloves but was that truly enough? " I could give you my coat! I'm using it right now but I have a couple extra-"

" Hijo, I don't need anything!” His mother interrupted. “I wouldn't go downstairs unprepared. "

" Are you sure?"

" Si. estoy segura. Now, Off with your friends you go. Don’t let me be a distraction."

" .. well, alright. But if you need me…"

" I will call you. I know."

Leonardo dusted off the table with his hand and sat down. His children turned to greet him with small talk and to see if he needed anything. He did already feel his energy draining as-- he was running on less than 5 hours of sleep, so he shut down the conversation from him in a very subtle, clever, and tactful way that only a man who’s interrogated spies and higher-ups could come up with. " What's for breakfast."

Sheldon rolled his eyes. " Oh, you know what’s for breakfast, papa." He tapped the order Flint wrote that was taped to the wall, returning back to cook his steak

When all the attention was taken from him and back to each other, Erma, with her usual devious smirk, slipped away to the sleepy old man who was currently resting his face on his palm on the table.

" I'm surprised you're not the one staying up cooking.”

Leonardo flinched, a little surprised and honestly impressed that he hadn’t heard her. You learn a thing or two from serving Athena I guess.

“ You usually wake up at 4am to cook for us when we were little. When you were home, that is."

" Mrs. Simpleton and I had a talk."

" Simon’s mum?” Erma nodded along “I’ve heard a little dingy or two about her, She seems quite alright with me." she snickered, “You know, aside from the snot-nosed capitalism.”

" I’m not giving you material to gossip, Erma."

" Oh you know I don't like gossiping about you! Makes me feel dirty."

" Mmmhm." Leonardo rubbed his eyes and was losing focus on the conversation.

Erma saw this as her queue to leave and left him a classic smile. " Alright, I’ll give you some space, old man." She pats his back before walking off to the Birch siblings in the kitchen.

Erma wasn’t alone, as Simon had also come back from a conversation with his mother. That was fast. Hopefully for a good reason.

Grace was overall impressed by how the Motel was set up. For an establishment in Artemis, She thought the place would be a little more run down. But apparently not. The public kitchen areas were separated into large booths with their own tables. She can hear other tourists talking among themselves in their own areas. With a place such as this, not to mention one so close to the gate of Zeus, it must have been funded by a Zeus witch such as herself.

The noblewoman turned her attention to the bunch she came with. Everything was quite lively. From the young ones at their table to the adults in the kitchen area. The last time she saw this much chatter was at a noble party where, as far as she knows, most everyone was faking their chipper attitudes. But this time was…strange. It was a little overwhelming. She wasn’t used to this.

Her face scrunched up unsure of the sight. Until she noticed the half-asleep Ares- er… Man at his table. He was the only one not talking to anyone. And the only one who she knows isn't the most chatty.

Ahem

Leonardo sighed. What’s a man to do to have some peace around here? The man looked up to find Mrs. Simpleton. The woman he was rooming with last night. Wow, taking initiative. He’s impressed.

“Uhm..” she stammered and gestured to the space beside him. “May I?”

The old man nodded and moved over. He hadn’t even bothered to greet her. He just went back to resting his head on the table. Not that Grace minded.

A comfortable silence fell between the two. Leonardo crossed his arms on the table and placed his forehead on it. Grace was just sitting calmly, with her back straightened, still with her proper etiquette. Admittedly, she too was resting and closing her eyes.

“What did you tell Simon.”

She opened an eye “Excuse me?”

“What did you tell him.”

“I told him nothing, uhm. Leonardo.”

“Did you. ” he turned his head to peek at her. “Can I take your word for it.”

“If not mine, then his.” She shook her head, brows slightly furrowed. “I have no reason to lie.”

Surprised, The Birch completely turned to her upon hearing her tone. She almost sounded defensive. “What exactly did you tell him then.”

“I told him that I didn’t need anything and that he should head back to his company. He offered me his coat, but I denied it. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Leonardo exhaled and leaned back from his seat. “Good.”

“It's the bare minimum, as you've said.”

“It is. And I’m not praising you for this behavior. What I will tell you though,"

From the corner of her eye, Grace spotted her son laughing during a conversation with his friends. His fiancée fed him a dish he hadn’t tried before, and his eyes lit up at the taste.

“...is that he looked like he needed that.”

The woman had an unreadable expression on her face. It seemed to still be quite the blank mask, but her thoughts could tell you otherwise. “...Hm.”

" Alright! Pork Chops and baked potatoes for the great elders!"

Grace flinched, her attention completely taken. She hadn't even noticed the Junior walking near them.

"Sorry, I burnt some of the pork chops. " Sheldon placed the plates on the table and rested his palms at the corners. He wasn't paying too much attention. He hadn't even noticed that he gave the burnt pork chops to his future brother-in-law's mother.

" Thank you, my boy." Leonardo nodded.

His son smiled and started walking back " Bone apple teeth, as how Erma would say"

Erma frowned " Sheldon, you're so lame."

Grace just stared at her meal, barely even paying mind to the family's shenanigans. The woman was not the eating type, she never even agreed to eat this morning. But she was in too deep so she might as well. Goodness, what would her business partners say if she put on more weight… that must be quite the turn-off. She's at least glad that she's retired now.

Other than the subject of weight, she didn't think the junior was aware of what he was doing. The meal was prepared in a way that she was extremely unfamiliar with. She was already missing her personal chef's cooking. She might have taken them for granted..

All that, but what turned her off the most, was that she was given the slightly burnt dish which wasn't the most appetizing. That part just made her a little…sad, however. If she were perfectly honest, she was looking forward to a good meal today. Not that she would care. She didn't need to eat.

"Grace."

She didn't notice him calling out to her. What he saw was a woman staring blankly into the dish and thinking to herself. She had the utensils in hand, but she didn't even have the energy to use them. She barely had a grip on them.

"Grace?"

God damn it, Grace. Why can't you just grow up? Why does even food make you uncomfortable?? You can't even finish a single plate that isn't perfect?? Your father would be ashamed of you!

The woman put her hand up to signal that she needed a moment. Her head was building up again. She just needed a minute to reassess herself. " I'm fine." She sighed.

Leonardo frowned at the sight quite honestly. Maybe it was a little too quick to put a posh woman in such a completely different environment. It was just food. But…baby steps. She's already doing quite a bit of progress.

" Here. Have mine." The man slid his plate over to her side of the table and took hers to his.

" Thank you. "

And, trying to make the best of the situation, Grace regained her grip on the utensils and started eating out of her plate. She covered her mouth with her hand while chewing, though it shouldn't really be that bad.

" What's wrong?" Leonardo followed not that far behind her.

" It's nothing." Grace sighed. She never really shared this with anyone, but she couldn't lie to the man either. " Sometimes there are days when I get very uncomfortable when I eat certain meals. There are very few dishes that I'm safe eating, but weeks go on when I eat only that specific dish I don't end up meeting my healthy diet. " The woman turned away from him. She would cross her arms if it weren't for the fact that she was holding the spoon and fork. " I'm just being picky. That's all. "

" Hm." Leonardo rested his elbows on the table, head turned towards her. "Tell me, what's this dish that you can't get enough of?"

" It's…" she muttered, "...salmon. "

" Salmon."

She nodded.

" Well. Thank you for sharing that with me."

Grace managed to turn back to him again. Briefly making eye contact before going back her plate. " Thank you for listening. And...for not judging."

" Ofcourse." He shrugged and went back to his business. This man is a father. And a good one at that. Hes done this before.

" I hope you're not going to spread it around."

" I'm not one to gossip." He shook his head, but interupted himself not long after. "Well… I'm one to listen, but not to spread it. "

She felt a smile coming through. This man can be a little funny sometimes. " Thank you, Your majesty-…Leonardo."

Leonardo squinted his eyes at that. "You know, when I said that you could call me by my real name, I didn't mean it as a command. You can call me whatever is comfortable. "

" Oh, Of course, I knew that! "She turned to him quickly, no less than embarrassed. " It's just a bit of an adjustment-- That's all." Grace lost eye contact with him. But this time, it wasn't because she felt bad.

The Birch siblings were still cleaning up their cooking while Erma and Simon were waiting for them at their table. They had to wrap up breakfast soon and pack everything up to get back on the road.

They chatted and gossiped about their time in the military, while Simon nodded along and sipped from his cup of coffee. Sometimes he forgets he's with people who've experienced war. He can't say he can relate. He stood up from the table and went over to the sink to put away his cup which is, coincidentally, where Catherine also was!

"Querida…!" He whispered

" Hm?"

" I need to go to the toilet, I'll be right back. "

" Don't take too long. Sheldon and I are right about done"

" I won't be. Can I have a kiss before I go?"

Mwah

" Thank you! I'll be right back!"

After finishing up his dish, Leonardo stretched his limbs and stood up from his seat. "Alright kids, wrap it up." All attention was given to him. He took both his and Grace's plates and walked over to the younger adults at the kitchen to clean. "Once everyone's done, you should pack your bags and settle in at the new carriage up front. It's a self-driving one, you can't miss it." The senior pointed at his son " Sheldon, you know what to do. Man of the house. Take control if I'm not there."

His son nodded and Leonardo left the booth.

Grace followed behind him as she said she would, only she realized that he was going in the opposite direction from their room " Where are you off to?"

"Toilet. Pack your things, make sure you don't forget anything."

"Ofcourse, sir." She nodded a slight bow and started walking off.

As Leonardo was on his way to the bathroom entrance, he was about to turn the nob before he was immediately interrupted by the Junior Simpleton opening it from the other side.

"Señor! Hello again!"

"Simon." His future In-law bowed politely, almost like a greeting.

"Pleasure seeing you here!"

"It's the bathroom, Simon."

Oh my god, this mumbling idiot can barely greet this man Hello without dying first. He felt just as silly as he did last night! “Oh! Alright alright, don’t let me get in your way!” He moved over to the other side of the door, clearing the entrance for him and joining him outside. Leonardo just looked back at the man twiddling his fingers.

"Señor, might I tell you something?"

"Yes, son?"

Simon flushed at that. He was aware that the man refers to most men below him as such, but with the newly added context, he can't help but be happy to hear it from him.

" I wanted to say that…" He folded his hands together, and cleared his throat. "Thank you. For giving me and my mother such a wonderful trip. I have never seen her so sure of herself and so happy to be around people. " He said. " I've seen her at your table! She smiled! You're very kind and patient to both of us and I can't thank you enough." The boy bowed at him slightly. White coven etiquette.

Leonardo stared at him, eyebrows raised. He didn't expect this today, but he was glad that the two of them felt welcomed. " My family and I are more than happy to give you this opportunity. We like you. I don't speak for my children, but I'm happy to invite you two to these occasions moving on. "

" Really?"

" Ofcourse." Leonardo pats his shoulder, "You're family now, son."

Simon froze, eyes sparkling at him…he looks like he could burst from happiness! He was a smiling idiot! cheeks flushed and hands playing with each other happily.

His future father-in-law rolled his eyes. It was just as amusing to see him try to contain himself as it is to make him feel embarrassed. Recalling the physical touch his daughter gave him, Leonardo put his arms out.

" Bring it in."

Oop! There Simon goes, clinging onto his future father-in-law at a speed that almost made him stumble back. "I won't let you down sir!"

The Senior almost choked from the fast pressure but, managed to give the boy a pat on the back. This man does not get fatherly attention often. "Take care of my daughter and you got yourself a deal."

Erma was just done helping her friends pack their things. And by helping, I mean she sat at the side while she watched her red coven suckers carry her luggage. Truly, another day of hard work by the purple menace herself.

She was just escorting them to the carriage their father said was waiting outside for them, but low and behold she was impressed by what she saw. "Shells! Cath! Take a look at this baby!"

The Birch siblings caught up with her, and something about their ride immediately caught their eye. A white carriage, large, but this one was larger than usual. What was especially strange though was the symbol at the back entrance. It was obviously a white coven carriage, but that wasn't the official white coven insignia. It was familiar. Though they feel like they've barely seen it around.

" Huh! And papa said this was self-driving?" Catherine tilted her head to look at the front. " Doesn't have any horses either."

Erma replied. "It's that wack white coven technology, I tell you. Perks of being close allies of Poseidon I guess. "

" No matter! A bigger carriage means more space for us. " Sheldon huffed and placed the bags on the carriage floor " Cath! Help me out here!"

" You got it, Don!"

" Erma?"

" No."

" Whore." Sheldon jokingly shook his head at her as if telling her to be ashamed. It was Erma. He was practically expecting that reply. "Hey, speaking of little menaces, where's my son?"

And as if right on queue, his little iron golem was practically waddling in with his, Wilbert, and Flint's bags stacked in his arms. Noah held them all with no problem! The bags were almost as heavy as he was!

"Woah! Did you bring all that yourself? Good job! " Sheldon gave his little delivery boy a pat on the head and took some of the luggage from the top. He piled it along with the others at the carriage floor which Catherine stored at the trunk. " Say, where's your cousin and friend?"

Noah signed to his father.

" Having fun with the vending machine, huh? Well alright," He crouched down to his son's height as if to whisper to him. "In 15 or so minutes, I want you to get them back here in time. and in return, I'll get you some extra ice cream for dessert. Deal?"

Noah's eyes sparkled at that request before nodding his head excitedly. Sheldon took that as a yes. " Atta boy." He reached into his pocket to pull out some emeralds, placing it in Noah's itty bitty golem hands. " Here's some money. Get papa some chips and soda."

Noah ran back to meet the others, and then Sheldon promptly stood up. Erma could feel the earth's vibration from Noah's heavy steps.

Erma crossed her arms and nudged her best friend "I love your kids, man."

" Right?" Sheldon shook his head light-heartedly and went back to helping his sister with the luggage.

" Hey, some of that soda better be for me!"

" I can't keep you away from them even if I wanted to!"

" Yeah, you know it!

The two men were on their way to the front entrance from the bathroom. The Junior Simpleton decided that he might as well wait for him since he was there, and now they were off to the gates to meet their family.

" Señor, can I ask?"

" Mm." Leonardo turned his head

" You did not charge me for this vacation, and trips like these are usually very expensive. What with-- all of you moving from Ares and Athena to Zeus, and then us moving to Poseidon-- to- renting our own space near the beachfront." Simon rambled. "No offense, but I did not take you as a richman."

Leonardo looked back forward to the gates, calmly explaining " An old friend of mine insisted she paid for everything. She said she owed it to me for all my service." He shrugged. "She's one of you, actually. Zeus Witches."

" Oh do I know her? Who is she?"

" Uhhh.." He squinted his eyes to think, trying to remember. "The Queen?"

" THE QUEEN!?"

From a distance, near the carriage, Grace had just spotted them. Previously, she was standing near Erma, watching the Birch siblings take her bags.

" Leonardo! Hijo! " She called out, waving at them.

" Coming! " Her son yelled back.

And with that, the Birch siblings had finally wrapped up putting all the luggage away! All that was left was to get their families' butts in here to prepare for the road.

Speaking of putting his family's butts in the carriage, Noah should be coming right about… ah! The Birch saw his son running to him, literally carrying his cousin and friend in his arms! Sheldon placed a palm on his face, but he loved how proud of themselves they all looked. Noah was happy to have extra Ice cream, and Flint and Wilbert were happy to have so many snacks on hand.

The sight, to the father, was adorable. The hand that was previously on his face was now on his lips as he crossed his arms, endeared. "Catherine. Look at your child. "

" Oh I'm looking." His sister stood beside him having the exact same stance.

"Come here, little man." Sheldon picked up his son after he put down his live delivery. Someone was definitely getting ice cream later.

Grace put her hand down after calling out to her son and his father-in-law. It wasn't long until she noticed who she was standing with. Erma Blaire. She knew nothing of this woman except for the fact that she was the only other person here who had access to the book of maps. She didn't look related to the family, and she seemed to be of Athenian descent from her fashion style. She was just some random woman on vacation with them. Maybe she was a close friend like how the little ones brought in a child villager.

She knows her for something else though. Leonardo had previously told her of the woman who chose the vacation spot near the beachfront. The one that she particularly swooned over last night. " Are you the little lady who chose the place we're staying at? "

Erma nodded pompously, "The one and only! What can I help you with? "

" Nothing. I just wanted to say that I think you chose a very beautiful place to stay at. I don't usually like these sorts of events, but your picking makes it all worth it." Ms. Simpleton smiled at her calmly with a slight nod on her head "You have excellent taste, young lady. "

Erma was just left incredibly flushed at that! Frozen even! What's she supposed to say to that?? She looked around flusteredly and panicked before smiling in confusion! "... Oh! Uhm-- thank you! I'm-- I'm glad!" This woman does not get motherly attention often.

" Mrs. Simpleton! " Sheldon called out, finally gathering up his family inside.

" Coming..! " Grace said, walking up the carriage stairs that she, being the shortest, struggled to get up on without help. Luckily, the funky librarian was there to give her a hand.

Speaking of helping short people walk the stairs, "Erma!" He called out to the woman who was honestly still flustered and frozen in place. " Erma, you okay?"

" I think I just had an inner child moment. " Erma mumbled.

"oh my god, an inner child moment…" Her best friend calmly gasped and matched her energy. "Come on, you can tell me all about it in the cart."

And with that, the two families went on about their journey. This carriage was double the size of the old one, which in itself was already big and stable enough to hold a family of 8 or more. It was shaped into a big square except for the entrance at the back, and a table taking up the whole front side. The ceiling was MUCH higher, with a space for the luggage being lockable at the back. The glass of the carriage was completely down, but if they were up, you could tell that they were bulletproof. What was the most impressive of all was the extra tea bags hidden in a glove compartment. Technology at its finest.

The children sat on the right, while the older adults sat on the left. The great elders were seated at the space from the back cut off to the far right by the entrance.

The families had spent half the day just to get through a little bit of Artemis. They made quick stops in the middle of it, joining tourist attractions and eating some meals. Leonardo often showed Grace the map to help him decide on a stop, which she was more than happy to do with him. He offered her a sense of control and warning which she greatly appreciated.

Near the end of their tourism, almost everyone was exhausted, and Grace ended up asleep on his shoulder. Leonardo, now seeing that the family has had enough, put the book of maps away and rerouted the carriage.

This was an endearing sight to him; The kids had found out that there was a bed mode on their side of the seats and decided to lay down and take naps. The younger adults had already been tired of their chatter and decided to be exhausted with each other in silence. Sheldon and Simon laid their heads on Erma and Catherine's laps, while the women slept on each other.

Yeah…This is what he was fighting for…He would kill for this family, and he has. Leonardo was the last to fall asleep, putting one leg over the other and crossing his arms.

Some of them were awakened by the feeling of a rocky trail under the carriage wheels. It had made the ride shake a lot which made it hard to sleep. not to mention, the very high and strong winds coming from the windows, yet somehow it was almost suffocating. It didn't take long before they started shaking each other awake, and the sounds of panic filled the air.

" Huh…?" Erma opened her eyes to the fear of everyone's voices. They were all looking outside in which she turned around to look for herself. They were at the side of a mountain... They were so close to reaching the skies they could no longer see the bottom! Catherine rushed to look at the front of the carriage to see where they were headed and was met with horror…

"...Why are we driving to a cliff?"

" Leonardo?? " Grace shook the man who was already half-awake during the whole commotion.

" Hm? Oh, don't worry about it. "

" Señor, we're serious. There’s nowhere to turn here. "

" Mhm.

" PAPA! " Everyone screamed frustrated, in unison.

At this point, the carriage had gained a lot of speed! By that rate, maybe they wouldn't crash into the mountain below, but they will most definitely die of the fall!

The wheels reached the end of the cliff and drove off the mountain. The passengers were holding each other and saying their prayers. They all started being lifted from their seats as gravity took the carriage first. This would be..a little fun if it weren't for the fact that they were gonna die.

But mere seconds later, as if they spawned there, wings have accumulated at the side of the carriage and caught them from the fall. Any real physical damage was safe. Emotionally, maybe not so much. They all plopped back down in their seats as the carriage made its way through the air.

Everyone was looking around trying to process what had just happened. They all looked outside again and Sheldon recognized fully functional wings made with similar technology as elytras at the side of the ride. He hadn’t recognized this kind of machinery, though admittedly it was a little familiar… This technology has never been released to anyone before!

well...anyone except for-

" SEÑOR, IS THIS THE QUEEN'S CARRIAGE!?"

"THE QUEEN'S WHAT!?!" They all yelled after him.

They were all met with the shrugging Leonardo still with his little look "It's. One of the queen's carriages, yes."

"Woahh!!" Everyone's attention was taken by the young Wilbert looking out the window.

When the clouds cleared up, the family had a very clear view of Artemis. They passed through cities and villages with ease, and flocks of parrots sometimes joined them on their flight. Flint, Noah, and Wilbert wanted to pet a few of them.

It didn't take long until they all started looking out the windows to admire the view. Flight technology has not reached the public yet-- ever! Unless you yourself were a trained professional or if a machine was specifically built for it! It's never something as simple as a carriage! For all they know, they could be the first people aside from the queen to experience Artemis from this high!

Simon and Erma were enjoying the wind in their hair, Sheldon saw a beautiful waterfall in the distance, while Catherine spotted a beautiful forest clearing that she'd love to camp at. Noah saw the mountains, Wilbert saw the Ocean, and Flint was still fixated on the birds.

Leonardo was at least glad that they were enjoying the view. This is what he was hoping to happen, just, without the brush of death from earlier, in which, he felt a little guilty for. He turned to his right. Grace. Unlike the others, she wasn't indulging in any way. She was just crossing her arms and looked frustrated at him

" So I take it that you're mad at me." Leonardo frowned and looked at her.

Grace's expression couldn't make up its mind, however. She looked more like she wished she was mad. "I can't. " She sighed. "You make it so hard to." Her crossed arms broke and she just went back to relaxing her shoulders. "I'm not going to elongate this. We were all so scared. Why didn’t you just tell us?"

" If I told you, I would just be giving you excuses."

" Well?" she nudged him " That's what I'm asking for, isn't it? Tell me."

" I was incredibly tired didn't want to handle it. I knew everyone was safe." He shrugged, looking down. " And I." he muttered to himself. " I thought it would be fun for them. Looking back, that's a very foolish assumption. But I didn't know that. Otherwise I would not have let it happen."

Grace frowned at him. But there was a part of her that already started to forgive him because of the explanation. He did sound rather remorseful. "You're right." She turned to him. "You are quite foolish."

Hhh Leonardo nodded at that! " You can be mad at me."

" Oh I am aware." The mother turned her nose and lost eye contact.. " And I am not mad. I'm just disappointed."

OOOGH The younger adults felt that in their BONES. Sheldon felt physical pain from that phrase! Leonardo's expression also looked like the very definition of "fair, but ouch".

His kids tried their best to conceal their snickering. They were just happy to see their old man getting scolded. Though most of them forgave him, they loved the taste of sweet vengeance.

He squinted and sighed through gritted teeth. He feels as if the woman was enjoying this a little too much. “As you should be.”

Grace smiled. She could hardly contain her own laughter. " Mhm."

A piece of Leonardo died that day.

It didn't take long until they all went back to resting again. Heading to Poseidon by air was faster, but it still took quite a while. The only downside to it is that they couldn't make that many stops, but they didn't seem to be particularly eager to anyway.

Grace took a look at the book of maps again. Ahead of them was nothing but water and sea. This-- honestly gave her a bit of Anxiety, but she shook it off and didn't let it get to her. She was sure Leonardo got them on the safest route. Besides, open seas were a good sign. They were close and they could feel it.

From the corner of her eye she saw Simon and Catherine sharing a short kiss before continuing on with their lounging. Grace was actually a little happy for him, as much as she didn’t approve of the woman he chose. She didn't have the privilege to be as in love with her husband as they were, so she was glad he could have something that she didn't.

She sat in comfortable silence for a while. This time, the bunch she came with was quiet, and yet they all seemed so calm and relaxed. They were doing nothing but be comfortable in each other's presence. She didn't even know that was possible. The air from the open windows was refreshing, and the flow from the ride felt like a gentle cradle. She took a deep breath to take everything in and exhaled. For the first time in a while. She was grounded. Like she was in her body.

Grace closed the book and put it to the side. Feeling the most relaxed she's ever been, she skimmed through her bag and pulled out a pen, paper, and another book to help her write. She had a lot to say. Her penmanship was once again noble, but this time, in its own subtle way, it was calm.

"My dearest sister,"

Simon was back laying his head on Catherine's lap, where she sat petting his head. It was a most gentle one. and he looked up at her with a happy smile on his face. His fiancee's smile didn't seem to be the same one though. Hers seemed a little sad.

"Aren't I just the luckiest man to be able to wed the most beautiful woman in the world?"

She chuckled." You're not lucky, Simon and you know that."

" That's right. " He hummed and gave his future wife a gentle tap on her nose. " I earned you myself. fair and square. It's what you deserve after all."

She managed to get out a fairly sad laugh. But her fiance caught on to it easily.

" Are you alright, my love?"

His fiancée shrugged. " I’ve seen better days. But I. Don't think I want to talk about it right now."

Simon frowned and sat up to see her. " Well, can I ask for a short summary?"

Catherine frowned. Her response was delayed just thinking about it. Her voice got just a little bit sadder, as well as her eyes. " I thought I lost you there, Simon…"

" Because of what your father did?"

" Yeah."

A short silence went between the two. It was half to let Catherine breathe, and half for Simon to process what she had just said… oh his poor darling…

" You didn't lose me." He put a hand gently on her cheek and looked her in the eyes. And with a soft voice, he continued. "I'm here, you are here, your child is here. Nothing bad is happening. We are fine."

Catherine leaned into his hand, eyes still a little sad. She knew what he said was right, but it was still a very sad thought.

" We will leave it here. I just wanted to let you know."

" I know…" she put her hand on Simon's. " Thank you."

" Ofcourse." no longer eager to put his head on her lap, he leaned back to give her space.

" Actually, can I have a kiss?"

Mwah

Catherine chuckled softly and leaned her head on his chest. "I love you."

Flint woke up from their wake to the sound of the open seas. They yawned, and rested their head near the window. It sure was cold out… They wished they could take out one of the blankets they packed; It would've been perfect for the bed option. But, instead, they just took off their coat and put it over themself.

"Helloo, good afternooonn…" you know who else had woken up from their nap though! Wilbert Smith who was laying next to them!

Wilbert Smith was the other child Noah had brought along. The adults didn't want to make him feel lonely so they insisted that he bring a friend with them. As far as they knew, Wilbert was a normal villager child who lived in a normal villager town…well..if you called The Player's city "normal" that is… Wilbert wasn't even at all scared of any of the witches when he saw them. Sure a little shy, but it was almost as if none of their instincts told them to run away. How odd!

"Oh hey, you're up. What's up, little guy?"

" I'm bored." Wilbert also rested his head on the carriage window. Only his was-- plenty more sleepy than tired.

"Oh man, if only I could use my soundboard, that would entertain us a lot."

"Why not?" Wilbert turned to them.

Flint shrugged. "Too loud and too much noise. Papa wouldn't let me use it when there's others around."

Wilbert blew a raspberry at that. That blows. He would make sick ass tunes with that soundboard.

"How about… a good ol' game of I spy?"

Wilbert shrugged and nodded his head. Oh well, at least it's better than nothing.

"I spy with my little eye…"

Leonardo woke up and stretched his legs. To his right, he saw Mrs. Simpleton writing on a piece of paper, but what surprised him was the fact that she had on the red jacket that he set aside.

" Cold?"

" Hm?" Grace looked back, caught a little off guard from her focus and onto him. "Oh! Uhm- Yeah! it's just-- so cold here, you know?"

" You took it because it was comfortable."

" Yes I took it because it was comfortable." she quickly admitted, " It's like a bed that wraps around me, I swear. " and shrunk back in the monstrous sized coat.

Leonardo raised his unibrow. That is. Strangely an adorable way to put it.

"Well, we do have tea bags here. I can make you some tea if you're that cold."

" I'm… not that eager for tea at the moment. For the same reason as before."

" Well. What are you eager for?"

Mrs. Simpleton went quiet for a while, and Leonardo could tell that her posture became a little bit more timid. She didn't want to admit this or if she was even allowed to ask for it. But since he insisted… "Do you have any of that hot cocoa from last night?"

Leonardo paused. "Oh. "

Grace at this point just looked embarrassed and kept looking up at him.

"Oh."

He knew he was a great brewer

He was flattered, he didn't expect that! Alright then! " Well. I ran out last night so I can't."

" Ofcourse, nevermind, I don't need anything."

" But," Leonardo continued, " I can buy some when we arrive at the resort. They should have shops nearby."

" Oh you really don't have to--"

"Nonsense. I like my own cocoa too, thank you."

" I spy with my little eye something green."

" Green, green, green… hm…" Flint looked around. There really weren't that many green things in the carriage. The whole ride was white and everyone was wearing their warm civilian clothing. "is it uncle Sheldon's eyes?"

Wilbert shook his head. "Nope!"

"Hmm.. is it… the emeralds on Uncle Sheldon?"

" Noo, it's outside! "

" Uhh…" Flint looked back at the window and thought nothing about what they saw. "Oh is it that island?"

"Ding ding ding! It's the trees."

Hell yeah, score one for the Flintstone! The Island in question was big. There seems to be a landing doc, but otherwise, it didn't seem to be surrounded but any sort of civilization. In fact, the nearest village seemed to be quite a while away! They were getting real close to it and pretty low, I wonder- anddd they were landing.

They made it.

Once safely on land, the adults were out to take their bags, and The children were told to wait outside, which they happily did. Playing little games and making chatter along the way.

The kids found a fallen tree bark and used it to sit on; Wilbert found some rocks making a trail and decided to hop from one to another. And yet, they were still playing their little game.

“I spy with my little eye something brown”

“Tree bark. I spy with my little eye something hard.”

“Rock. I spy with my little eye…”

Erma Interrupted. "I spy with my little eye a little blue man walking towards us. "

Leonardo turned his head upon overhearing their chatter. He sighed and muttered under his breath "Poseidon."

" Heyyyyy!! Welcome to Poseidon, asshat!"

Leonardo was told there would be someone in the island to escort them. He didn’t anticipate this little surprise. Poseidon seemed to have some men with him, Perhaps assistance if anything happened. Lord, he hasn’t seen him since he announced his retirement. And his old friend seemed to be oh so thrilled to see him again.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and walked over, telling his kids that he had it handled.

Marcus Poseidon, arms wide open and a painfully fake smile on his face, greeted his old friend with an aggressive handshake. "Oh, Ar- old friend, how are youuu. I see that you brought the kids!"

" Mhm."

Quickly, Ares felt a squeeze, and before he knew it Poseidon pulled him inches away from his face to whisper. " Do you have ANY IDEA how much trouble I had to get into just to make sure Zeus knew you were safe!?"

" Oh I can't possibly know."

" YOU DON'T! I told her that I could get a lookout to escort you, but she INSISTED I go cuz she trusts me. So now you're stuck with ME, asshole."

" I miss you too. "

Poseidon huffed and pulled eachother off.

“ Excuse me, uhm, who might you be?” Simon pulled a finger up in question and crooked his head confused. The blue man’s demeanor seemed to have completely changed upon seeing him.

Ahem

“ Greetings, friends! I will be your escort for today. The Queen has personally assigned me to guide you safely in your current residence! “ The petite man bowed. His little introduction took the family’s attention. “Seeing as your ride is…” Poseidon stared at the white carriage behind them. Ah, it's like looking at your child who came back from college. “Special, and clearly engineered by the ever most handsomest smartest engineer around, You will be shot dead if assassins found their way here thinking that queen was inside! “

A few of Poseidon’s men made their way to the carriage, taking their bags from the trunk and the Birches who were previously tending to them. “My team and I have provided you with a regular set of horses to guide us to town. You will be escorted first and your luggage will be delivered after. Any questions?”

Flint raised their hand “Uh, how long will the ride take?”

“By horse? 1 hour 30 minutes. But Poseidon has developed advanced transportation systems so the time should be significantly lessened. Any other questions?”

Everyone stayed quiet.

“ Perfect! Now come, don’t dilly dally! I have more…” Poseidon stared Ares dead in the eyes “Important. Things to tend to.” The guide turned and left to his own horse.

“Well, he seems nice.” Simon said in sarcasm

Catherine chuckled and shrugged at him. “He is. I’ve seen him around, He’s nice when he wants to be. ”

And there they were set! They passed through the Poseidon island by horse. Grace and Simon were seated on a white stallion, Catherine and Flint on a brown one with a red tint, Sheldon and Wilbert on a brown one with a black back, Erma and Noah were on a cream-colored one, and Leonardo sat on his own on a black one with a diamond on its nose. They were all led by Marcus, with a gray horse.

They arrived at a tunnel riddled with some sort of brown sand. Now that they think about it, the horseshoes were looking rather strange. They had that familiar funny glow on them.

The tunnel had a sort of aquarium-like setup to it. Above were fish and squid going about their day. The only thing separating them from the ocean life above and beside them were thick glass

"This is one of Poseidon's systems. Soul sand is scattered across the entire tunnel, where under is water. The old greats used this as fast travel in the olden times, but we figured out a way to engineer the two to avoid--"

Poseidon notices that none of them seems to be paying attention. He agrees it was pretty, but Is he the only one who finds this fascinating?? God, he feels like a math teacher. He's getting too old for this.

"Oh whatever, it's old science stuff. Just hold onto your horses!" He laughed at his own pun, some seemed to chuckle with him. " No seriously, cuz we will not be able to notice if you fell off."

And there they were, going through the tunnel at around 50-60 m/s! behind the tunnel was one of the towns on the island. It seemed to be a smart community, a very well about place. The witches seemed to be friendly, smiling and waving at them as they passed the town with their horses. Already, they could spot shops and restaurants they could go to if so needed. It didn't seem to be vacation-worthy, but it sure did look like a lively village to stay at.

That wasn't where the vacation house was, however. They were going uphill just passing the town on a road owned by a big business renting out houses near the seaside. Some of the townsfolk envied the fact that they were going to that trail.

They arrived at a blue gate, briefly stopping so Marcus could show them proof of visit. But just as they did, Simon was incredibly captivated to see the ocean, in all of her glory, from the side of the mountain… The wind blew strongly on his and his mother’s hair, and he can’t help but love every possible minute of it. They saw boats just passing from far away, islands far and near…

“Mama, look!”

Simon and Grace had never seen such breathtaking nature before! Or at least ones that weren't plastic or coddled in pots! These looked like they were grown on their own! Living organisms thrive by their own will!

They found themselves staring in clear amazement. Catherine noticed and smiled endeared… She was happy that she was able to help him see these sorts of things. She could almost see him melt in the horse saddle! Oh my! Her fiance was adorable sometimes.

They all held on as the horses trotted downhill. Even from the distance, they could all spot the vacation house from afar. Grace recognized the green surrounding it. It was far from the forests, away from any potential aggressive mobs, but also comfortably near the ocean. Despite the beach, it didn’t shy away from having its own indoor pool, which in itself had its own little separate building.

God, it looked huge, and modern with its design. This must have been… quite expensive. It looked so big, like every one of them could comfortably have their own rooms. Ofcourse, it’s not as big as Grace’s mansion, but she must admit… It looked so much more fun.

They all got off their horses once they landed on the beach. Most everyone was enjoying the seaside, the wind blowing through their hair, and taking in breaths at the fresh oxygen. Simon was once again checking on his mother, this time more excited and wanting to bond with her about their shared wonder. Catherine was marveling at the view with Erma, Flint was running around with Noah in the sand, yelling their “Woohoo!”s at such an open space, And Sheldon, arriving last, helped his little villager friend off the horse to join his buddies.

Leonardo however, wasn’t with the crowd, as he was walking with Poseidon towards the house, making sure everything was in order.

Poseidon jingled the keys over and handed them to The Ares. "If you need a couple of extra just ask the owner of the establishment. Your bags will catch up shortly."

“ Right.” Ares sighed and put the keys on his person. It didn’t take a genius to notice that his old friend wasn’t at all making eye contact. He didn’t know what to say to make it a little more comfortable for him. Or even if he could…

Ahem.

”Everything aside… Thank you for coming all this way, Poseidon. I know it must have been a lot. It’s nice to see you again.”

" Yeah, yeah.. " he rolled his eyes and looked away, arms crossed. Body, slightly turned away from him.

“ I’m.. sorry that I left you behind. I haven’t seen you in years and I didn’t exactly get to say goodbye after I left..”

“ God you’re being all gross and sentimental again!" Poseidon groaned, "You and your stupid brain-- reading people so easily!” he pinched the bridge of his nose. His tone sounded like he finally let out a breath that he was holding for too long. “I’m not mad anymore, Okay?? I’m just upset, and I-- miss-- you and your stupid face!”

Leonardo blinked in surprise! Maybe he didn’t realize it but Marcus when in distress seemed to struggle with his speech. It almost felt like he was taking a breath every few words.

“You- just-- Haven’t replied to any of my letters, and It makes me feel like you don’t like me anymore! Or that you never did! Which-- sucks, because, aha, newsflash motherfucker, I like you.” Marcus took a deep, almost shaky, breath and sighed. “A-And what you did, really hurts me, because you, are one of the best people I have met in life, and-- actually made me feel wanted-- without wanting anything in return.” he continued “I’m hurt, and I want you back, but I’m scared, and I don’t feel like I deserve it.”

Leonardo’s eyes soften at that. He had no idea that’s how he felt after all this time… he felt great pity, but was also proud of him for allowing himself to say it. He was being vulnerable with him, which wasn’t the case years ago when he struggled to accept any sort of help.

“ So there! No need to make it all dramatic...”

Leonardo, after so many years, slowly started smiling. A small one, proud as it could be.“ How did you learn to express yourself so well like that?”

“ I’ve been...” the petite man grumbled under his breath “...seeing a therapist. ” Marcus, upon seeing the smile on Leonardo’s face, had an instinctual, grossed-out, and embarrassed frown “dON’T give me that look! I swear, You fucking whore.”

His friend chuckled softly. “ How is it going for you?”

“ It’s good. I’ve been meeting new people lately.”

“ Oh really?”

Just as The blue man was about to answer, he shook his head as if interrupting the thought “ You know what? We don’t have the time to catch up. I have meetings to go to and projects to finish, while you have these little bastards to manage.”

“You’re right.” Leonardo shrugged and rolled his eyes, speaking with a sort of casual mischief in his voice. “We should talk about it over tea sometime.” He raised his unibrow, looking back at his friend expectedly.

“...Oh, you’re good.” Marcus smiled at him. “You asking me to hang out?”

Leonardo shrugged once again.

“ Oh, You piece of shit… make it pizza and you have yourself a deal.” he put his hand out to shake, in which Leonardo accepted the gesture

”Deal.”

The little man howled a laugh and started running down the stairs from the house entrance “Suck it, loser! You’re paying for everything!” he yelled!

“You mean Zeus is paying for everything!”

“ HAHAHAAAA!” he laughed but stopped himself mid-run after remembering something “Oh right! Speaking of Zeus, I’ll let her know you made it!! SHE SAID HIIII BY THE WAAYYYY!!!”

“ Tell her I said hi back!”

“That's what I thought you’d say you stupid fucking whorree!” Poseidon went back to running to his horse.

Sheldon whistled at how big the vacation house was. It was crazy how his father could just get these sorts of favors from the queen… but like the others, he was quickly distracted by the wind the beach brought. It reminded him of a sweet memory. The feeling of finally being able to be free wearing his brown coat. To finally take off his hat and sit under a tree not having to worry about the next war. It took a lot of sacrifices. But he didn't regret where he was now.

At the corner of his eye, He saw the little blue man struggling to get up on his horse. The ex-witch knows this man. He doesn’t remember much from him at a young age, but he managed to start a sort of bond with him during his time serving the witches. They haven’t spoken much since he left. And he was sure he wouldn’t be able to speak to him again any time soon.

Sheldon took a deep breath…

and before he knew it his legs were already moving.

Ahem.

“Hello,, Uncle Poseidon.”

Marcus scoffed, sensing the familiar looming aura. “Leo, I got it handled oka-... Sheldon?”

“Yeah, it’s…” The boy rubbed the back of his neck ” It’s me!”

The blue man had not seen his nephew in a while. He was much bigger now, he had to look up at him. But he can't help but drop everything to talk to him.

“Oh, it… it really is you, huh.” What does he even say? Last he’s seen him, he was just another one of the leaders he could sass and order around! But this? He hasn’t seen this man in decades! Until recently, he was fully under the impression that he was dead! Last he saw him, he was just a kid! He didn’t have a son-- or extended relatives, or a family?? What do they even have in common anymore??

“How’s the uh… son.”

“He’s doing good.” Sheldon smiled at him, as gentle as he could muster. “I’ve been considering getting him enrolled at a school, but. You know.”

The silence continued between the two. It looks like it wasn’t just Marcus who was having trouble continuing the conversation.

“And the. Wife?”

“I don’t have a wife.”

The man laughed at that “ yeah, well, don’t need one to make a kid am I right?”

His nephew laughed with him, though softly and so much more endeared.

Marcus’ smile fell a little after hearing it. Sheldon really did resemble his old man so much. It was kind of bittersweet.

The man stretched his arms and leaned back on his horse.“So how’d a king like you end up hanging out with these losers? Don’t you have some books to read?”

“Ha! Yeah actually, I do!”

Marcus’ smile crooked and brows furrowed in a sort of light hearted cringe. “God, you’re as nerdy as I remember you.”

“You are literally an engineer.”

“Exactly. That should really say something coming from me.”

They laughed.

"Oh gorgeous!" Simon gasped upon stepping inside the house door. Some members of the families have already started settling in the home. The house had a big kitchen, multiple bathrooms, and a long corridor with doors leading to 8 separate bedrooms! The house's bedrooms were similar, but enough slight changes for them to be unique in their own way. "Mama, look! Poor people Interior!"

"I can see that, Hijo. Yes."

The Birches sort of recoiled upon hearing that exchange. Sometimes they forget that these two bumbling idiots lived their whole lives in a mansion. It was almost gross to hear. Blegh.

Erma was passing by all the rooms in the corridor, before stopping dead in her tracks the moment she spotted one littered bookshelf after bookshelf. She quickly started admiring the hardwood and making herself at home in the room. It had a king sized bed too! Perfect for a sleepover for two! Well she knows which room she and Sheldon are staying in! "Shells come look at this beauty!" She yelled.

…

After hearing no response she perked her head out the door. " Shells?"

She later met with Catherine at the porch, leaning on the railings, and looking down below.

"Cath, have you seen your whore of a brother?"

"Shhh… " The sister shushed and pointed at what she was staring at.

From a distance the both of them saw Marcus and Sheldon sharing a soft embrace. Their brother had to really perch down, while his god-uncle pet the big man's back. Despite the size difference, it was Sheldon who felt more like the child in the situation.

The ladies awed at the sight. Unlike her brother, Catherine never really met the man when she was a child, so they had no connection. But she knew her brother had something there with him. Even the way Marcus talked was more akin to an uncle talking to his nephew. If they met during a meeting, Sheldon came back a little more cheered up than when he came in...

Erma sighed, endeared. "Can't believe Sheldon's having an inner child moment."

" Oh my god, an inner child moment… " Catherine chuckled. " What do you need him for anyway? "

" I found us a good room filled with books. If papa doesn't give it to us I am so questioning his parenting choices. "

" This house has 8 rooms and you still wanna room with Sheldon? "

" Yeesss. Wouldn't you want to be roommates with your best friend? "

" Fair, fair. "

Back at the corridors, Noah and Wilbert already made themselves home in one of the bedrooms. One with a clear view of the ocean and with two twin beds at the center. Wilbert was happily jumping from one bed to the other while Noah was sadly not allowed to. He was happy to just swing his little itty bitty feet at the side however.

Flint was just outside, peeking in but not entirely joining them. They scanned the hallways, and walked towards their grandfather as soon as they saw him. They had something else in mind for themself.

" Дедушка?" Flint asked meekly.

" What is it, Sweetie."

" Can I have a separate room from the other two?” They asked “ As much as I love my cousin, I… sort of want my own privacy. "

Leonardo's brows got a little sad hearing that… he had a sneaking suspicion that they felt out of place during the entire vacation. They didn't exactly have someone their own age to be with. "I thought so. Here."

Flint smiled softly at the key in their hands…they were happy to just have this little thing for themselves for the time being. " спасибо, дедушка."

Their grandfather shook his head, " Don't thank your old man. " And put his hand on their shoulder. "Я тебя люблю. And I'm sorry if this hasn't been fun for you."

"No, no. It's been great!" they said. " I'm just…a little homesick is all. " The DJ leaned their head on their Grandfather's chest, in which he replied by wrapping his arms around their back, and patting their shoulder.

" You can still write letters." he said.

" Yeah but it's not the samme.."

" You know what is the same? "

Flint tilted their head up. “ What?”

" My grandchild being the darndest, most talented bard I have ever met. "

They laughed at that one! That was cheesy, but very in tune with what their grandfather would always tell them in these kinds of moments. " Papa! "

" I said no lie. " Their grandfather shrugged. " You charm your way into people's hearts very easily. That town did have some very friendly witches. "

" I guess… " Flint chuckled, " Okay." And pulled away from their grandfather who later gave them a kiss on their forehead. "Thanks for the room keys. I'll see you around, Papa!"

Leonardo waved as his grandchild left to their room. Two other familiar faces approached their father not long after. Erma Blaire and Sheldon Birch overhearing conversations as always. They were just happy to see their little buddy go. It has been a rough few years for them.

"Good for them." Sheldon said.

"Aren't you worried about Wilbert and Noah being left on their own devices?"

"No." Their father shrugged " I'm more worried about the person who's going to tell them. "

" Not it! "

" Not it. "

Sheldon Blinked. " Oh wow you're really just going to leave me like that. "

" It's your kids, man. "

" Papaa..! "

Leonardo looked away. He didn't seem to have any objections. He wasn't saying Erma was right. But Erma was right.

" Father, why have you forsaken me?"

The sun had started setting and Catherine was looking for her fiance deeper into the corridors. She was just told by the kids that he was scouting for a room, and she wanted to look with him. She slid her finger tips against the wall while she walked by, her blue proposal ring glistening in all its glory.

She stopped as soon as she saw her fiance on one of the room's balconies. He was leaning on the railings, watching the oceans and nature from a distance. Seemingly admiring it. It was hard not to spot the man, as he wasn't exactly the most camouflaged in his all white fit. She smirked and went inside the room.

" Hey, you!"

" Querida!" He perked up from the railings. " Nice of you to join me."

" Do you like this one?" Catherine joined him on the balcony, she herself leaning her arms on the railings and feeling the wind going through her hair.

" Yes, I'd say so. The other rooms don't have as amazing of a view. "

" Then we can have this one. "

" Don't you want to explore the other ones first? " Simon crooked his head to the side.

God… what could she say? Her fiance can be adorable sometimes. She's never seen him be so fond of his surroundings before. His eyes were beaming, but his smile was much softer and calmer than how it normally was. She really was happy that she got to see this side of him. And she's happy to be a part of the reason why. "I don't need to..."

" How are you, my love?"

" Okay now. I still don't think I'm ready to have that talk from the carriage though."

" You have all of the time in the world. I am even okay if we end up talking about it after vacation."

" I know. But I think I just want your presence for now."

Simon smiled at her before turning his body towards her, away from the railings. " Well I have two arms and a warm body. That is what I have to offer. "

Catherine chuckled and shook her head in amusement before leaning her forehead on his chest. "You are the best."

Her fiance softly put his hands on her back, one palm over the other. and there they sat in silence for a couple few moments.

At one point, Simon went to kiss her on her forehead…

later on her nose,

her cheek,

Then they looked at each other's lips… before leaning their heads in to-

"So you two are taking this one." Leonardo said from the doorframe.

Simon's whole everything instinctually stiffened at his future father-in-law's presence, entirely out of embarrassment. Can't a man show his Fiancée some love in peace?

Catherine however, took it very light heartedly. She guessed the comical interruptions continued even after her father's blessings. The spy laughed. " Yes, Papa! We're taking this one!"

The sky looked more and more beautiful now that the sun had completely set. The temperature slowly dropped cold as it entered the night.

The families turned their lights on inside the house.

Sheldon heard the small carriages outside, presumably the ones that held their luggage. He went to call for his father to let him know, and Leonardo was about to walk over, but…

" Leonardo? " The white coven called out to her friend just outside a bedroom door.

" Grace. "

" I like this one." She pointed, and went inside.

The man told his son to go on ahead of him, before following the madame to her preferred room.

He wonders what made it so admirable to her. The house didn't exactly have any fancy decorations. As soon as he went inside though, he could tell very easily. "Ofcourse you'd go for the white based one."

Grace frowned, salty at his judgmental comment. " Don't act like you weren't eyeing the room with red sheets, king Ares."

Leonardo couldn't argue, and just shrugged his shoulders. " You caught me."

The woman crossed her arms and walked towards the bed, later picking up one of the many plushes neatly placed around the room. " Besides, it comes with these little darlings." She had a stuffed pink colored rabbit, and held it in her arms as if it were a newborn.

…Oh.

Leonardo had a mental gasp of realization. He couldn't tell if this was healing her inner child, or generally nurturing her motherly needs. Whatever it was he didn't mind. As long as the room treats her well.

After helping his family with their belongings, visiting each room to see how they were doing, and saying goodnight to his rascals, Leonardo finally had the chance to head to his own quarters. He didn't get the opportunity to enter it that whole time. He barely even got to see it.

It was based on red and black furniture, but still carried its own modern look to it. He didn't need to see the spare ones, he already made the decision. The balcony had red curtains, the bedsheets were a nice ribbon color, and the bedframe was made of dark oak. He started taking off his foot wear, but opened the curtains before he decided to collapse in bed.

Even from where the bed was, he can see exactly what he came here for. He didn't have the best view of the house but he can appreciate it for what it was. The sound of the waves of the ocean, the stars twinkling at night, and the moon making a lovely reflection on the water.

The man felt pleasantly cold from the ocean wind. He could wear a blanket but...Nah. he’ll do it later. His body was already great at dealing with colder temperatures. And once again, he enjoyed it too much to change it.

#Leonardo #Grace #Catherine #Simon #simpleton #Erma #witch friend #Librarian #Sheldon #Wilbert #Noah #Iron son #Poseidon #Fanfic #writing #Family Vacation #The Trip to Poseidon

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simsroyallegacy · 3 years

Photo

Anissa Crawford Speaks Out: That B*tch is Crazy!

Last night Lady Anissa Crawford, a Lunarian socialite best known for her stint as girlfriend to the teenaged Prince Nicky, broke her silence on her experiences with Princess Isadora of Castille. She gave an interview to famous late night talk show host Francesca Valentine, giving an in depth look into the early signs of Isadora’s troublesome behavior. The interview drew in millions of viewers to Late Night Tea with Francesca and started the trending hashtags #TheWickedWitch and #BurnIsadora after Lady Anissa let loose how the younger Castillian Princess would send people to harass the young socialite during her relationship with the Crown Prince. View the full interview under the cut!

Francesca Valentine (FV): Now that we’re back from the break, here’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for this evening my dear viewers! Tonight’s special guest is a socialite we all know and love to hate, a woman who has dabbled in fashion design, modeling, and dating very wealthy men: Lady Anissa Crawford!

The audience bursts into applause as Lady Anissa walks onto the stage and seats herself across from Francesca.

Anissa Crawford (AC): Thank you so much for having me Francesca, I’ve always been a big fan of the show!

FV: It’s a pleasure to have you here, Anissa, though it feels like you’re always on my show one way or another.

AC: *laughs* Well, I’m always happy to give you something to talk about, dear!

FV: *smiling* Tonight you asked for this to be the platform from which you speak of events kept as secrets you’ve held close to your heart for many years now, correct?

AC: Yes. I’ve kept quiet all these years on the advice from my parents and lawyers but now that some of the truth has come out about Isadora I feel like I should share my experiences with her, if only to give the people a better understanding of what poor Nicky must have gone through and by extension Princess Minerva.

FV: It’s so brave of you to do this, Anissa, truly. Let’s start with having you explain how exactly you started your relationship with the Crown Prince?

AC: Nicky and I met at a Hartfordshire Academy sports event when we were both in our junior year of high school. I attended Hartfordshire’s sister school, an all girl’s private academy right across the street from the boys. We would rarely be allowed to interact with each other anywhere but sports events were always the exception.

FV: So you caught his eye?

AC: Actually, I started talking with one of his good friends at the time, Jack Pierson. I thought Jack was cute and wanted to get closer to him and so I started hanging out with his friends which included Nicky. Anyways, long story short Nicky and I got to be friends before we started dating; we actually didn’t realize we liked each other until he invited me on his birthday trip to Selvadorada.

FV: Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t Princess Isadora on that trip as well?

AC: She was. Everyone who went on that trip were Nicky’s closest friends and family at the time. Prince Gabriel, her older brother, had been his childhood best friend since before they turned eleven. He’s always been close to him and Isadora – he treated her like his own sister.

FV: What were your first impressions of her at that time?

AC: The moment she realized I was a part of the trip – before Nicky and I even got together on it – she was glaring at me and complaining to her brother about an “outsider” travelling with them. She made several passive aggressive comments about that childish nickname jealous little girls gave me back in my teens: “Easy-A”.

FV: What did HRH say about it? Didn’t he defend you against her?

AC: He pulled me aside and told me not to take it personally, that she did this to everyone who came into their circle of friends. Nicky pitied her because of her family situation, you see, and explained part of it to me. I pitied her too after that.

FV: Oh? Care to share?

AC: I don’t think I will, sorry, but that stuff was personal to the Castillian Royal family and I’m not comfortable airing the entire family’s dirty laundry to the world. Just know that she had a seriously messed up childhood and started taking it out on others. I tried not to let her hostile behavior get the best of me on that trip but when Nicky and I announced we were a couple she started to escalate her vicious attitude.

FV: How so?

AC: When no one was looking she’d trip me up, spill things on me, hide my things; those were just petty little kid things, honestly, and didn’t bother me too much. It was when she stole my phone and texted my parents the nastiest things – she was calling my mom wh*re and b*tch and even told my father that “I” had found out about an affair my mom was having with her assistant! – they both were so angry with me! What nobody knows about that trip is the fact that my father had me sent home early because of the cheating accusation.

FV: Was there any truth to it?

AC: Absolutely not! But at the time he honestly thought it was something I had told him in confidence, he had brought all of my siblings and my mom together for a dramatic family meeting where they started fighting over it. I had tried to tell them that it wasn’t me who said those things, that it was all a lie from that little brat but neither of them believed me.

FV: What happened during after that?

AC: My parents thought I was acting out for attention and sent me to therapy. Funnily enough, it really helped me focus on my home life and school, which were things I didn’t care too much about back then. It even ended up bringing me closer to Nicky, who was so, so supportive to me during that time. Nobody ever believed me that Isadora was the one who was using my phone to “grab attention” from my parents though.

FV: Was that the only time you had contact with her? Or were there other incidents over the years?

AC: There were tons of situations where she would straight up shove me – she even “accidentally” caused me to fall down a flight of stairs at an event I had gone to with Nicky! I ended up only spraining my ankle but that was seriously messed up of her to do – she’s obviously had a homicidal streak in her for years. It’s honestly not a surprise to me that she’s behind the attempted assassination of Princess Minerva.

AC: She would also follow Nicky around all. the. time. Honest to Watcher, she was stalking him. She’d make sure to fly out to Lunaria every weekend to see him and would become furious when he didn’t include her in his plans. She would guilt trip him constantly into inviting her along on our “dates” and when it got to the point where I’d become angry with him over it he’d pull the “she’s like my sister” card and say he’ll make it up to me.

FV: And did he make it up to you?

AC: Honestly? Yes. He was an attentive boyfriend, despite the weekly Isadora interruptance. He always knew how to make me laugh, was patient when I had my infamous diva moments, got along great with my family, and really pushed me to be better. He also bought me some pretty great gifts. *laughs*

FV: The public was in an outrage over his spending habits for your gifts, no?

AC: *snickers* He did know how to spoil a girl.

FV: If you were getting along so well, how did it all fall apart?

AC: After Nicky and I went to separate universities, we kind of took a break.

FV: Kind of?

AC: We still had every intention of getting back together in the end, but I wanted to be free during my college experience and I thought he wanted the same. He ended up rooming with Gabriel and of course Isadora constantly came around under the pretense of “visiting her big brother”.

FV: Is that sarcasm I’m detecting from you Anissa?

AC: Damn straight. I don’t know exactly what happened but she got her claws into him. Made him think I had been cheating on him for our whole relationship, – I still believe it was her who was feeding the press “exclusive” interviews about my Easy–A behavior – she also fed him lies that I was just using him for his money.

FV: You were constantly asking him for things though...

AC: I never asked him for much more than his love and time. He bought everything he knew I enjoyed because that’s the type of person he is. He’d give the entire world to the person he loves the most if he can, that’s what makes him such a great partner. I don’t know how Isadora poisoned his mind against me like that, it’s like she was a witch or something *laughs*.

FV: *laughing* Well, she’s certainly wicked!

AC: The last straw for me was after his graduation from UBrite when those photos of him and Isadora were published. I had traveled out to see him at the home he had been given as a graduation gift, hoping to talk things over with him and see if we could salvage or relationship but...*sighs*

FV: But what?

AC: Let’s just say it was too late for us. He began dating Isadora openly after we split and I vaguely remember saying some seriously nasty things when I was cornered about our split. I feel terrible for implying that Nicky was such a selfish man, that he was only with her to “get it out of his system”. He truly loved her then, I know that. He had always loved her to some degree, platonically as children and romantically after we grew into adults. I was devastated to hear about those abuse rumors – he didn’t deserve that, no one does, ever. I’m so happy she’s been exposed for what she is: a crazy b*tch. I hope they catch her soon.

FV: Will you be reaching out to HRH now that his eyes have been opened to Isadora’s evil ways? Is there a chance you could rekindle your romance?

AC: *laughing* Dear Watcher, no! That chapter of my life is over and I’ve fallen for someone else.

FV: Oh? Who is the lucky guy?

AC: *smirks* Oh Francesca, I don’t kiss and tell. Maybe you’ll see us together on my Simstagram someday...

#sims 4 royal legacy #sims 4 royal family #sims 4 monarchy #sims4 royal family #sims4 royal legacy #ts4 monarchy #ts4 royalty

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nancylou444 · 3 years

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Sadio Mane (Liverpool Football) PP

Sadness (Inside Out) PP

Saiko Yonebayashi (Tokyo Ghoul:re) FP

Sailor Chibi Moon PP

Sailor Moon PP

Saitama (One Punch Man) FP

Sally (Nightmare before Christmas) PP

Sam Malone (Cheers) FP

Sam Winchester (Supernatural) FP PP D FKC

Sasuke (Naruto) PP

Scarlet Witch PP

Scratchy (Simpsons) PP

Selina Kyle (The Batman) PP

Sersi (Eternals) casual FP PP

Severus Snape (Harry Potter) PP

Sgt. Slaughter FP

Shang Chi (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) PP

Shank (Ralph Breaks the Internet) FP

Sheldon Cooper (Big Bang Theory) FP

She-Ra (Masters of the Universe) PP

Shopkeeper/Stephen King (It :Chapter Two) FP

Slinky Dog (Toy Story) PP

Snoopy PP

Snowball (Rick and Morty) PP

Sombra (Overwatch) PP

Sora (Kingdom Hearts) PP

Sorrento (Ready Player One) FP

Sparkle Specialist (Fortnite) PP

SpiderGwen PP unmasked PP

Spiderman PP black suit PP Zombie Hunter (What If) PP

Spock ST Beyond FP w/cat FP

Spongebob Squarepants rainbow PP

Sprite (Eternals) PP

Squirtle (Pokemon) FP

Stay Puft (Ghostbusters) PP Afterlife FP

Stellina (Tokidoki) PP

Steve (Stranger Things) Baskin Robbins FP

Stewie (Family Guy) FP

Stitch (Lilo & Stitch) Elvis PP w/ducks FP aloha PP w/drink PP

Stone Cold Steve Austin FP

Stretch Armstrong PP

Sulley (Monsters Inc) PP w/Boo FP

Superman Clark Kent/Superman FP Clark Kent/Superman PP PP

Sylvie (Loki) FP

Tahani Al-Jamil (Good Place) FP

Tardis (Doctor Who) PP

Target Lady FP

Thaddeus Valentine (Mortal Engines) FP

Thor PP Thor Ragnarok PP Love and Thunder PP

Thumper (Bambi) FP

Tina Belcher (Bob’s Burgers) PP

Tinkerbell PP

Tiny Tina (Borderlands) FP

TnTina (Fortnite) PP

Tony the Tiger PP

Tony Tony Chopper FP PP

Toucan Sam PP

Tower Recon Specialist (Fortnite) PP

Tre Cool (Good Day) FP

Trix Rabbit PP

Tubbs (Miami Vice) FP FV

Tyrion Lannister (Game of Thrones) PP

Uhura (Star Trek) Mirror Mirror FP

Undertaker FP

Ursula (Little Mermaid) PP

Valkyrie (Thor Love and Thunder) PP

Valor (Fortnite) PP

Vanellope (Ralph Breaks the Internet) PP

Vault Boy (Fallout) PP

Vegeta (Dragon Ball Z) PP

Vers (Captain Marvel) PP

Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool Football) PP

Wall E PP

Weapon Hex (Infinity Warps) FP

White Rose (Mr. Robot) FP

Winnie the Pooh FP PP holiday FP bedtime FP Make a Wish FP

Wolverine PP

Wonder Woman PP w/lasso PP Twist of Fate PP classic w/cape FP classic w/cape PP

Wong (Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness) PP

Woody (Toy Story) PP

Wreck It Ralph (Ralph Breaks the Internet) PP

Wyatt Earp (Tombstone) FP

Xena FP

Yelena (Hawkeye) FP chase FP

Yoda (Star Wars) PP

Yungblud FP

Zero (Nightmare before Christmas) FP PP

Zoe Washburne (Firefly) FP

Zoey (Fortnite) PP

Zorn (Son of Zorn) PP

#my funkopop collection #funko pop #s-z

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chickenfics · 2 years

Text

the way I love the ocean

Relationship: Robin Buckley x Female!Reader

It was the summer of ‘87, and you were falling in love.

Word Count: 7.7k

A/N: Reader is described as wearing a dress (waitressing uniform) and as being able to ride a bike, but no other descriptions are given. Y/N used sparingly.

Let me know if you’d like to be tagged for future chapters!

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Chapter 3: The Smiths

It was hot out. Like, really hot. It felt like the sun had been cranked up to one hundred. The usually pleasant yellow sunlight turned to a blaring white, and even as the afternoon rolled into evening, the pavement continued to bake underneath blinding heat. You could have cut the air with a knife. Instead, as you shouldered your way out of the diner’s doors, the glass cool against your bare upper arm in a too-quick moment of relief, you took the plunge into the muggy atmosphere. It hit you square in the face, and for once you found yourself thankful for your thin waitressing dress.

A customer walked by and you held the door open with your elbow, giving them a tired smile in reply to their thanks and trying not to drop the cardboard cup holder in your hands. The styrofoam cups tilted concerningly before you finally stepped away from the door and steadied them with a hand. You squinted up at the sun, hoping that the milkshakes didn’t get too melty -- knowing that they probably would.

After your night at the movies, you’d realized that you hadn’t even asked Robin for her number. After three days, you’d felt slightly ridiculous when you realized you could just look it up in the phone book. You did, but then you’d realized that if you called her home, someone other than Robin was very likely to answer, and you weren’t sure what you’d say if one of her parents asked you who you were. So… you’d ended up just calling Family Video instead. At least with FV, there was a fifty-fifty chance of Robin answering -- with the other fifty-per-cent being Steve, who you were much less apprehensive about talking to than Robin’s parents. Plus, this way it felt less like you were intruding on her privacy. It felt less weird.

Predictably, considering your history with luck, Steve picked up after a few rings with a very chipper, “Family Video, this is Steve, how can I help you today?”

“Hi, uh, it’s Y/N--”

“Oh shit! Hey!” he replied before you even had a chance to explain yourself or apologize for calling them at work. “Hey hey, how’s it going? Long time no see. Oh, do you want me to get Robs? She’s just stacking shelves, but I can grab her real quick.”

“Oh,” you started to panic. “If she’s busy, you don’t have to--”

“Nah, no way. It’s pretty dead in here anyway -- the shelves can stay unstocked for a few more minutes,” he snorted. “Besides,” his voice dropped an octave, “If Robin found out you’d called and I didn’t let her talk to you, she’d probably strangle me. Hang on a minute?”

“Yeah, sure,” you managed. “Thanks, Steve…”

There was silence on the other end, followed by the sounds of shuffling before--

“Hey!”

“Robin,” you couldn’t help but smile at the sound of her voice. “Hey, how are you? I, um… sorry for calling here, I just… well I didn’t really know how else to…”

“No, it’s totally fine. I’m glad you did. Call, that is. Much better than talking to an impatient mother of three who insists she returned ‘Back to the Future’ even though ‘I have it here in my records, ma’am -- you definitely did not return the VHS, so you had better ask little Timmy what he did with it because he didn't give it to us.’”

You laughed, and she laughed, and everything felt right with the world.

“Tell me about it,” you leaned against the wall, playing absentmindedly with the phone cord. “Today I had an old guy insist that he’d asked for his eggs sunny side up, and that he should get free breakfast since we’d gotten it wrong. I swear I thought he was going to dump the whole plate on me when I showed him that I’d written down his order and he’d definitely asked for scrambled.”

“Customer service sucks,” Robin said with a grin that you could hear. You laughed some more.

“Customer service sucks," you agreed.

“Oh shit,” her voice grew a little more distant as she presumably leaned away from the phone. “Speak of the devil; I better go, Steve’s waving me down. We work better as a team when it comes to dissatisfied customers. I think our combined presence unsettles people.”

There she had you laughing again. You wished you could see her face…

“Uh… I could give you my number,” she hesitantly added. “Then, if you wanted, you could call my house later tonight. No angry customers to interrupt us then -- just my mom,” she laughed nervously.

You didn’t tell her that you’d already looked her up. Instead, you wrote down the number that you practically had memorized at this point before telling her you hoped she had a good day.

That had been less than a week ago. Now you were pedaling toward Family Video and trying not to pass out from heat exhaustion. The skirt of your dress rode up your thighs, but you couldn’t be bothered to care. The breeze created by your speed broke up the stagnant air, but by the time you caught sight of the parking lot, you were drenched in sweat and ready to drop. The sun beat down on your head almost mockingly, and you wondered how it could possibly still be this hot even when it was nearly six in the evening.

Pulling your bike up to the side of the building, you glanced around before lifting the hem of your skirt and wiping it across your face, trying to stop yourself from sweating any more than you already were. In hindsight, this might have been a bad idea. At least the milkshakes were still somewhat cold thanks to the styrofoam.

Shaking out your arms and smoothing the front of your uniform, you tried to make yourself look the least disheveled possible before rounding the corner and backing your way through the door. When you spun around, you were greeted by Steve and Robin staring at you like you’d just appeared in Family Video via UFO -- except they actually looked excited to see you rather than concerned.

“Jesus Christ, did you bike here?” Steve demanded.

Okay, maybe they were a little concerned.

“Uh… yeah,” you felt your face heat up despite the air conditioning that you had just mercifully stepped into.

“Oh my god, are you, like, okay?” Robin asked. “Do you need water or anything -- Steve, do we have water?”

“I’m fine! Really. I just came from work and wanted to bring you guys, uh…” you set the cups down on the counter and pulled two straws from your apron pocket. That must have been when Robin noticed what you were wearing because suddenly the other side of the room was a lot more interesting than you were.

“What… are those milkshakes?” Steve asked, mouth falling open.

“Yeah,” you smiled. “I figured since it’s so hot, and I wanted to give a little 'thank you' for the other week. I, uh, didn’t know what you liked, Steve, so I just got chocolate. Hope that’s okay”

“Are you kidding?” Steve grabbed the cup. “This is perfect -- thank you.”

“‘Course,” you grinned. “And, uhm, Robin, I got you strawberry. It probably won’t be as good as the diner in town, but--”

“No, holy shit, that is so nice. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

If you’d been hot outside, you were absolutely going to explode into a ball of fire as Robin took a sip of the milkshake and grinned over at you, declaring that it was the best strawberry shake she’d ever had.

“And I worked in an ice cream shop for a whole summer, so I have a vast catalog of experience in this department.”

All you could do was smile down at your feet and try not to combust.

“So, uh… I didn’t know you worked at Tiffany's,” Robin said, hopping up onto the counter and swinging her legs over the side. She was wearing brown corduroy shorts and suspenders and you thought you might actually die if she didn’t stop being so cute.

“Y-Yeah. Started working there my senior year. Tiffany was just getting it up and running around that time -- I think she’d only been in business for a year or two.”

“I remember when Benny’s burned down, everyone wondered where they’d be able to go to get a good burger,” Robin tilted her head.

“Yeah. Really sucks, what happened to him.”

“Mmm,” she agreed, her brow wrinkling for a moment as you both considered it. “Still, I’m glad Tiffany’s Kitchen opened.”

“Me too. It’s a decent job. There aren’t many of us, so we get paid pretty well since we’re usually working overtime.”

“Hey!” Steve interjected, coming back from flipping the ‘open’ sign to face inward. “Are you gonna help me close up or what?”

“Steeeeve,” Robin whined, kicking her legs before casually crossing her ankles. “Y/N brought me a milkshake. Why can’t you do it this time?”

“Uh, she brought me a milkshake, too, and you don’t see me slacking.”

“I think you can manage,” she slowly articulated, eyebrows raising challengingly. With a dramatic sigh, Steve gave in. Still, he made sure to grumble enough for the two of you to hear him.

“Sorry about him,” she lightheartedly apologized. “We come as a package deal at this point, so you’ll have to overlook his general dingus behavior if you want to stick around.”

“I don’t mind,” you said with a smile. “How’s the milkshake?”

“Perfect,” Robin replied with a pop.

“Hey,” you suddenly remembered. “I’ve been meaning to ask… do you have any more music recommendations. I think I’ve burned a hole through ‘Tango in the Night.’”

“Wait seriously?” Robin straightened, and you barely had a chance to wonder if she meant ‘seriously you want more recommendations?’ or ‘seriously you burned a hole through Tango in the Night?’ before she was hopping off of the counter and flipping through the display of cassettes, her eyebrows scrunched in concentration.

After a moment, she grumbled something to herself before spinning around to face you, milkshake abandoned on the counter.

“Okay, so The Smiths have a really great album but I don’t think we carry it anymore. Uh… but I have it at home. I could totally lend it to you.”

“Cool,” you shakily replied, trying not to pass out before the question was able to leave your lips. “Uhm… maybe we could listen to it together sometime? Only if you want to!”

Robin's eyes widened, and you had just begun to kick yourself for making a move when--

“I… would love to, y-yeah. Totally. I, uh… I don’t have a car,” she said it almost like a question, and with a slight frown that betrayed how much of a deal breaker she seemed to think that was.

“Me neither,” you offered. “I have a bike, though.”

“Yeah,” Robin laughed, the corners of her eyes dimpling. “I know.”

“Right -- sorry. But I mean, if you wanted, we could meet in the middle? There… um, I’m not really sure if you're into this sort of thing, but there’s a park by my house. It’s really woodsy and stuff, so there usually isn’t anyone else around…” You said that last part slowly, eyes scanning up to look meaningfully into hers.

It kind of felt like staring into the sun, those eyes; like something you shouldn’t be looking directly at. It made you feel fuzzy and hot.

“Okay,” she breathed. “'S long as we don’t run into any axe-murders, sounds like fun.”

“I have yet to cross paths with an axe-murderer, so we should be alright,” you replied, smirking at the way her scoff quickly migrated towards a laugh.

“Cool--”

“Whenever you two are done making dinner plans, or whatever, I’m ready to close up shop -- no thanks to you,” he leveled Robin with a stern look. She rolled her eyes, shooting you a look that said ‘can you believe this guy?’

“I should probably be getting home, anyway,” you quickly offered.

“Hey, thanks again for the shakes,” Steve said, and you’d just opened your mouth to tell him that it was your pleasure when Robin perked up.

“Can we take you home? It’s, like, super hot out and heatstroke is no joke--”

“Hey hey hey, who drives the goddamn car? What, last time it was kidnapping perverts and now it’s heatstroke, Jesus Christ what is wrong with you?”

“I’m just cautiously prepared for any worst-case scenarios, Steve.”

“And I’m not a fucking taxi service!”

Robin turned to you.

“He doesn’t mean it. He always does this. I think he feels the need to act like an asshole so that people don’t think he has an actual heart beneath all that stupid hair.”

“It’s true -- well,” Steve furrowed his brows. “The part about me not meaning it. I don’t know where that other shit came from -- I think Robin’s been breathing in too much VHS dust. Anyway, yeah, I’ll take you home. No big deal.”

“It kind of sounded like a big deal…”

“Ehh,” Steve drawled with a curl of his lip as he waved a hand dismissively. Robin nodded encouragingly to you, so you gave in. You probably would have done anything if she was the one asking you to.

Steve insisted on carrying your bike again. Robin rolled her eyes just as hard the second time. When the three of you finally piled into Steve’s car, you were all sweating buckets and Robin insisted that she’d definitely gotten a sunburn while Steve insisted that “that’s definitely not how the sun works, Robin” before checking his own face in the rear view. You leaned between the seats again -- what now sort of felt like your place among their duo -- and laughed.

Sometimes you forgot that you’d only met them a few weeks ago.

Steve didn’t remember the way to your house, explaining, with surprising genuineness, that he didn’t have the greatest memory any more thanks to several concussions. You’d wanted to ask him if he was okay -- your knee-jerk reaction -- but before you could, Robin was directing him to take the next turn.

“It’s Nora Avenue, dingus,” she said, her tone a bit gentler than usual -- probably on account of the whole ‘concussions’ thing.

You were still trying to figure out your feelings surrounding Robin knowing how to get to your house from just one trip -- and in the dark, no less -- when Steve pulled onto the curb.

“Hey, thanks again for the milkshakes. You should come around more often--”

“Steve,” Robin hissed before spinning around to look at you. “I swear we’re not just friends with you because we want you to bring us milkshakes.”

“Wha-- that’s not what I m--”

“Wait, we’re friends?” The question came out before you could stop it, and you immediately wished you could take it back because not only was it the quickest way to fucking friend-zone yourself, but now you also sounded like a total loser.

“I-I mean… yeah?” Robin murmured, her eyes searching yours -- and she looked like she was worried she’d just sounded like a loser, too. “I-If you want to be, that is. L-Like I said, this isn’t a kidnapping, haha…”

“I… cool,” you grinned. “I mean -- yeah. For sure.”

Robin exhaled a breath, nodding minutely as her smile grew, lips curling above her teeth. She really was beautiful.

“Great,” Steve interjected. “Now that we’ve got that figured out -- care to help the lady to her front door, Robin?”

The girl scoffed.

“Don’t tell me what to do, dingus,” she said, flicking him in the ear, but she threw open her door anyway. Before you could even touch the handle of yours, she was opening it for you.

“Thanks,” you managed, voice more than a little breathless. You told yourself it was just because of the heat -- which was stupid because you knew it definitely was not.

And when Robin’s hand brushed yours as she helped you get your bike out of the trunk, you decided that heat stroke was the least of your worries; Robin might actually kill you by accident. The sun never stood a chance.

“We should get, like, a bike rack or something,” she softly teased, grinning as you laughed in response.

“I’m not sure Steve would be on board…”

“Psh, who cares what he thinks,” she replied, obviously joking. You could see it in her almost proud smile, how much she cared for her friend. And, though you didn’t know Steve well, you could understand why.

“So,” you straightened back up, wiping some sweat off your forehead. “I’ll, uhm… call you later, then?”

“Y-Yeah,” Robin raised her eyebrows. “I’ll be waiting. This time with no customers or dinguses to interrupt us. You’ll have me all to yourself.” Her laughter was like nervous birdsong; fluttery and high and unmistakably glorious. Fuck The Smiths, you wanted to listen to that sound on repeat until the tape crumbled to dust.

“Alright,” you smiled, and you thought maybe you were giving the sun some competition, too. “Talk to you later.”

“See ya,” Robin replied, her dimples creating valleys for her freckles to hide in.

You managed to remember your manners and called a quick ‘thank you’ to Steve, giving them both a wave before booking it for the air conditioning.

That night, you and Robin made plans on the phone. When you hung up, you both began counting the seconds, waiting for the moment you’d get to see each other again.

________________________________________________________________

You stood next to the sign for Oak Street, fingers tightening and loosening over your bike handles as you tried to combat your nerves. You were excited -- more excited than you’d been in a long time -- but you couldn't help feeling some anxiety, even if you knew that Robin was cool and kind and likely just as nervous as you were. You tried not to think too hard about what that meant, or the fact that you couldn't remember a time when anyone had ever been flustered by you, as you waited.

You were early by fifteen minutes. You may have gotten a little excited and left sooner than you’d needed to -- maybe peddled a little faster than you usually did -- but you just couldn’t help yourself. You hadn’t wanted to be late for fear of Robin thinking you’d been axe-murdered on the ride over. The only downside was that now you were worried she had been axe-murdered. Or, perhaps a tad more realistically, that she had Steve had crashed and were lying in a ditch somewhere.

The possibility that she’d stood you up didn’t even enter your mind; it seemed so far away from something Robin would do that you hadn’t even considered it. Instead, you’d worried that something had gone wrong at Family Video until, with the soft humming of an engine, you saw Steve’s BMW climbing over the hill, distant and small like a child’s toy.

When he pulled up beside you, Steve rolled his window down and gave you a charming grin.

“Need a ride?” he asked, and you laughed, feeling your nerves increase tenfold as Robin’s head appeared above the car.

“Hey!” she called. “Sorry I’m late. We had this guy come in like five minutes before closing and he was a total douchebag, so of course he hung around until we practically had to herd him out the door even though he threatened to tell our manager -- who’s literally Keith, so we told him to go right ahead and tell him because Keith would absolutely love a crack at the guy. I think he genuinely gets off on conflict because he just, like… shit, sorry, you didn’t really ask, and… hi,” Robin blushed, smiling at you as she ducked her head shyly.

“Hi,” you replied. It hadn’t even been a minute and already she’d taken your breath away. From the car, Steve snorted.

“Good luck,” he called to you. “Robs, you good on getting home?”

“Yeah. Thanks, dingus.”

“Yeah, whatever. Just be safe guys.”

“Thanks, Steve,” you waved as he rolled up his window and pulled out onto the road, leaving you and Robin standing alone by the Oak Street sign.

“Hi,” Robin said again, smiling at her feet before looking back up at you through her eyelashes.

“Hey,” you whispered. You felt like it was necessary to whisper -- like anything louder would break the sky and snuff out the late afternoon sun; like it would all somehow be a dream if you didn’t move slowly or speak softly.

“I, uh, brought the tape…”

“Right!” you blinked, trying to jumpstart your brain into doing something -- preferably something normal and not embarrassing. “If we walk past the playground there’s a hiking trail,” you pointed across the small clearing.

“Oh, awesome,” Robin replied, tilting her head in invitation. You left your bike near a bush hidden from the view of the road and eagerly followed after her.

The two of you walked in silence for a moment, surprisingly comfortable as you looked around at the trees and the empty playground; as you’d predicted, no one was around. School was only just now letting out, and no one ever really came around this particular park, anyway. It was too out of the way for most people, and the forest that stretched on either side of it gave the place a sense of isolation. It was perfect. As if reading your mind, Robin turned to you as you led her towards the wooded path.

“This is so cool. I’ve never been to this part of Hawkins.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Do you think it connects to the woods around Lover’s Lake?”

You tried to imagine a bird’s-eye view of Hawkins.

“I think so? Maybe. Lover’s Lake would be… that way. I think,” you added. It was very likely that you had no clue what you were talking about.

“No, I think you’re right,” Robin insisted. “The last time I was near Lover’s Lake, I remember thinking how crazy it was that the trees just kept going, so it makes total sense that they’d come all the way out here.”

“Do you, uh… spend a lot of time in the woods?” You cringed at the awkwardness of the question, wondering if you’d just managed to make yourself sound like a total creep.

“Not usually, but Steve and I… and some other friends, we… well, it’s kind of a long story, but we had this thing we had to take care of and so we sort of wound up spending a few nights out in the woods. It was… not a good time, but you know,” she shrugged.

“Does that… have anything to do with the whole… thing that went on last year?” you hesitantly asked.

You’d heard about Chrissy Cunningham, and then Eddie not long after, but only vaguely. It had taken you almost a week after the movie to realize that Robin and Steve’s Eddie was actually Eddie Munson, infamous cult leader -- or so Jason Carver had claimed. You’d never listened to a word that came out of that douchebag’s mouth, and you weren’t about to start now -- especially after you’d met Eddie. Besides, Robin didn’t seem like the kind of person to keep murdering cultists around as friends.

“Uhm… yeah, sort of,” she admitted, wincing.

“Sorry -- I shouldn’t have pried.” It really wasn’t any of your business, anyway.

“No, it’s okay! It’s just, like I said, a very long and labyrinthian story that, honestly, if I told you, would probably end with you thinking I'm crazy.”

“Oh, I dunno if I could think that,” you meekly offered. “But I get it -- you totally don’t have to tell me. We’ve all got stuff that’s a little complicated to explain.”

Something in your face must have convinced her that you were being sincere, and she broke out in a smile.

“Don't I know it. Sometimes I feel like they’d lock me away if I ever actually said half of the stuff that was true about me. Which is kind of an issue, considering I, for some reason, find it insanely difficult to shut up sometimes.”

Her laugh was raspy and light, and her nose scrunched as she gave a toothy grin. You were helplessly whipped.

You’d made it a good distance into the woods, and the previously bare dirt path had widened into a clearing with grass and wildflowers growing underfoot. You stopped, leaning down to pick one up, twirling it between your fingers and watching the blue and purple petals whirl together in a blur.

“This place is kind of magical,” Robin said, her voice hushed as she blinked around at the small clearing surrounded by sturdy trees, a green canopy of branches interrupting the patch of sky, creating a bowl above your heads.

“It is,” you grinned. “We could stop here awhile, if you wanted?”

“Oh yeah! We could, uh, listen to The Smiths,” she sang, waving the hand that was currently stuffed into her jacket pocket -- where you assumed her Walkman was. You nodded, grinning eagerly as you headed for a tall patch of grass. Robin followed as you sat down.

“I don’t really know if you’ll like it,” she was saying. “And it’s probably not even their best stuff, but I think it’s kinda cool. It reminds me of, like… I don’t know. It’s like taking a deep breath of really cold air in the summer, or… listening to the crickets at that time of the day where it’s, like, indigo out.”

“Awesome,” you exhaled, scooting closer to Robin’s side as she pulled her jacket off, removing her Walkman and headphones before spreading it out on the grass.

Laying on her stomach, she propped her elbows onto the jacket and got to work untangling her headphone cord. When she finally managed to get it somewhat un-knotted, she turned to smile softly at you, jerking her head in invitation. You rolled onto your own stomach, lying next to her, your shoulders brushing. It was a single point of contact, but it was enough to make you buzz. Your whole side felt warm, like she’d wrapped you in a blanket.

Robin lifted her headphones, offering you one side. You leaned down towards the foamy earpiece and waited.

“Hopefully it’s not total trash or anything -- and if you don’t like it, we don’t have to listen to the whole album. I think it’s like almost an hour, so… oh, there it goes,” her already quiet voice fell into a whisper, and she clamped her mouth shut.

You pressed the pad of the headphones to your ear and Robin followed suit. Her cheek was so close to yours; you were tempted to count every single freckle that dotted her skin. You would have if it wouldn’t have been completely obvious that you were staring. But God, how you wanted to stare. You wanted to stare at her skin -- at the smoothness interrupted by small wrinkles and laugh lines and pores, at the rosy color of her cheek followed by the paleness of her jaw, at the spray of auburn freckles that seemed to cover every inch of her skin, at her lips, so red that you were convinced they had to taste like cherry.

You were still thinking about cherries and Robin’s lips as the first song began to play. ‘Reel Around the Fountain,’ you read on the case of the cassette. You’d heard a few songs from The Smiths on the radio, but never this one. It was melancholy; slow and sad, and it wove through the blades of grass and the trees and the hum of a late summer evening. The blue sky above your head felt wider as Morrissey’s voice softly filled it up.

‘Fifteen minutes with you

Oh, I wouldn’t say no

People see no worth in you

Oh, but I do’

You looked over at Robin, who was already watching you, and you smiled.

“How is his voice so… sad.”

“Right? God, it’s like listening to someone’s heart if their heart could, like, talk. Does that even make any sense?”

“Yeah, kind of,” you laughed, nose scrunching as you smiled, and as you listened, and as you tried not to wonder what Robin's hands felt like, her arm, her neck.

The tape whirred and there was a brief moment of uninterrupted birdsong before the next song began to play, more upbeat than the last one -- almost frenzied, a tired kind of bitter.

‘You are your mother’s only son

And you’re a desperate one

But I don’t want your lover

I just want to be seen’

“This is amazing.”

“Oh my god, I’m so glad you think so. I was kind of worried you were going to hate it and then you’d never want to hang out with me again.”

“Wha-- Why wouldn’t I want to hang out with you just because of your music taste?” you questioned, eyebrows furrowing gently even as you smiled at her obvious relief.

“I don’t know,” she laughed. “It’s totally ridiculous but it kind of kept me up last night.”

“Well, I like it. And even if I completely loathed it with a passion, I’d definitely still want to hang out with you.”

“Wait, really?” Robin asked, a little breathless. “Because I’ve found that most people tend to check out around this time in the relationship.”

You would have had a hard time believing that if it weren’t for the genuine look in her eye. Then again, it felt like everything Robin showed you was genuine. You knew she wasn’t always, like when she gave Steve a hard time or was extra polite to customers, but you were almost completely certain that you’d never seen that side of her. If you had, she was pretty damn good at hiding it.

“Yeah. Definitely. You’re…” Amazing. Beautiful. The coolest person I’ve ever met. The sight of you literally makes it hard for me to breathe. “Uh, I really like hanging out with you, so.”

It was a dull replacement for the things you wanted to tell her, but it seemed like the safest option because you really didn’t want to screw this up. If being her friend was the only way you still got to see her, you’d just have to find a way to live with that -- even when her lips looked like they would fit perfectly against yours.

Robin stared back at you like a doe, her blue eyes wide and her lashes heavy, and her fingers shifting like insect wings over her side of the headphones as Morriessy’s voice danced in the space between you like a spell of demanded silence.

‘I’m not the man you think I am

And sorrow’s native son

He will not rise for anyone

And pretty girls make graves…’

Robin opened her mouth, a single breath drawn in, expanding her ribs so you could see the movement of them through her t-shirt like the shudder before an earthquake. Her eyes were bright as they sought yours, and in them was such alarming clarity that you were sure she knew everything. When the moment for her to say something passed, she used it up by turning onto her side. You swore you could feel her breath fanning against your cheek as she looked at you so delicately, so contemplatively that you wondered if you’d died and this was all some hallucination filling the time it was taking your soul to trade the Earth for whatever came after.

You could only return her look with a soft smile of your own, wondering what she was reading in your face -- what it was telling her even though words had failed you long ago. Maybe you wouldn’t need words, though. Maybe something in Robin would be able to understand that similar something within yourself. Maybe you could communicate with each other in a way that was completely reinvented; through hands brushing over bike handles and the sharing of tapes and cryptic glances that had yet to be deciphered.

Robin gave you one of those looks, the kind you wish you had something like a roadmap to understand, and then turned onto her back. You followed suit, unable to tear your eyes away from the sight of her, hair sprawled out around her head like a halo in those old religious paintings they used to show in history class -- of Mary with a veil and her hand clutching her chest. Robin looked like an ethereal being, lying there in the grass. She looked like a saint or a goddess, or maybe a knight. She looked powerful and reverend and holy; as if she belonged in a museum, painted with wildflowers.

And when she smiled at you, you decided that a higher power must be real because there was no way someone like Robin happened by accident. Or, maybe that was the beauty of it, because maybe Robin had just been a chance taken by the universe, and maybe your meeting had been purely coincidental. Whatever it was, you couldn’t help but feel a desperate gratitude for the steps that had led you here, laying in the middle of the woods with a girl who’d described The Smiths as the sound of crickets and the color indigo.

“That cloud looks like a heart,” Robin whispered, pointing toward a corner of the sky. You tilted your head and followed the direction of her hand.

“Oh yeah,” you whispered back. “It does… Look, that one looks like a -- like a big bowl,” you snorted. You’d just followed up one of the most romantic things that had ever happened to you with ‘hey, look at that bowl cloud.’ Jesus Christ.

But Robin was laughing.

“Oh my god, it totally looks like a bowl. Look!” her raspy voice raised an octave in excitement as the gentle breeze twirled the clouds around, shifting them into new pictures. “It looks like spaghetti.”

“A bowl of spaghetti,” your eyes widened as you giggled.

“God, now I’m hungry,” she groaned, and you laughed harder.

“Shit, me too. I want spaghetti.”

“Oooh, and breadsticks,” Robin squeezed her eyes shut as she imagined it, and the breath of your laughter fanned against her cheek.

“Holy shit, Robin!” You reached over to smack at her arm, and her eyes flew open to meet yours before following your pointed finger to the sky.

“Oh my God,” she cracked a grin as she caught sight of the lines of clouds you’d found that maybe looked a little like breadsticks. “There’s, like, a whole Italian dinner in the sky right now.”

“Stop,” you gasped, clutching at your stomach as you tried to repress your laughter. “My guts are gonna explode.”

“Oh, shit,” Robin whispered, reaching out to lay a hand over the one that was pressed against your stomach. “Keep ‘em in there. Generally speaking, I don’t think guts are supposed to leave the body.”

“Ow,” you furrowed your brow as you laughed. “My abs hurt.”

“Well, that’s better than losing your guts--” she grinned as you squeezed your eyes shut, shoulders shaking with silent laughter.

The two of you had been so busy goofing off about sky spaghetti and the proper orientation of your insides that you hadn’t noticed the tape had clicked off. Stopping to catch your breath, you turned to look over at Robin, a stray tear curling down your temple and landing on her jacket.

“So,” she alluringly began. “What do you think?”

“I love it,” you smiled drowsily. Robin sighed in relief, grinning so wide that you could see her canine teeth peeking out from behind her lips. “You were so right about the indigo thing, by the way. That’s exactly what it reminded me of. Like -- you know in summertime when the air starts getting cool in the evening and you feel like you can finally breathe?”

“Yes, exactly! That’s exactly how it feels!”

“I’ll have to try and find a copy somewhere,” you said, sitting up -- stretching the muscles in your back. You’d like to listen to it again.

“You can have this one,” Robin suddenly offered, clicking the Walkman open and holding the tape up to you. You looked down at her with widened eyes.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, totally,” she nodded. “I’ve listened to it, like, a million times. You can give it back to me after you’ve listened to it like a million times,” she smirked, and it went right into the pit of your stomach. It made you warm.

“Thanks, Robin,” you softly replied, taking the tape from her, looking down at it for a moment before slipping it into your pocket. It felt like more than a tape -- felt like some priceless lost treasure that she’d just offered you. It made your heart pick up pace.

“Sure thing. I’m glad you liked it. I’ve tried listening to it with Steve, but I don’t know,” she shrugged. “He’s a dingus. He, like, can’t grasp the depth of emotions, or something. Cyndi Lauper is more his style.”

“Cyndi Lauper?” You gaped. “I never would have thought…”

“Yeah, most people don’t,” she smirked. “Though he does like ABBA, so at least there’s that. Not that Cyndi Lauper and ABBA aren’t, like, emotionally deep, or anything, just… I don’t know, he’s got weird taste.”

“Sounds like it,” you laughed. “He’s cool, though. How, uhm… how long have you guys known each other?”

“Mmm,” Robin’s brow pinched as she thought, and you had to stop yourself from having a stroke when you realized she was still practically lying beneath you. “I mean, we’ve known each other since high school, unfortunately -- but we didn’t really start hanging out until, I think almost three years ago, now.”

“Nice--” Nice? You were fucking impossible.

“Yeah,” Robin grinned at you like you weren’t a total loser. “We worked at the Starcourt mall together before, you know, and we’ve kind of been inseparable since.”

“Oh shit, I didn’t know you worked at the mall.” You’d heard about what had happened there -- everyone in Hawkins had -- and it sounded pretty intense.

“Yeah. Those were definitely some… weird times…” she trailed off, eyes fogging a bit as she seemed to get lost in thought before snapping back to reality -- and to you.

“I feel like I should ask you a question now, but I already know about your job and your favorite season, and honestly I’m kind of drawing a blank.”

“Well,” you smiled, glancing down at your lap. “What do you want to know about me?”

Robin studied you for a moment, eyes scanning delicately over your face, down your neck, skipping quickly away from your chest.

“Everything?” she softly replied. “Like… what’s your favorite color? Or, what kinds of things can’t you live without? What food do you hate -- o-or what’s one thing you absolutely have to do before you die? What's that one thing people do that drives you up the wall even though it's so stupid and really not that big of a deal, but for some reason, you can’t stand it?”

You were in love. God, you were completely and utterly in love. You barely managed to hang on to the questions she’d asked you under the weight of your overwhelming need to kiss her; stronger than your need for oxygen or the blood to keep pumping through your veins. If you were about to take your final, dying breath, you still would have wanted to kiss her.

Instead, you picked a flower from the grass and began to talk. You told her what your favorite color was, she told you her favorite top three since she couldn’t pick just one. You opened the window to your soul and gave her the answers to all she’d asked -- the things you couldn’t live without, the things you wanted to do before you died, the things that annoyed you even though they were trivial and dumb. She told you that she wanted to see a solar eclipse before she died and that she hates when people chew with their mouth open.

You agreed. On both counts.

She asked you what your parents did. You told her that it was nothing special -- your father was a manager at the bank and your mother was a stay-at-home mom when she wasn’t working small jobs here and there. You asked her what her parents did. She told you that it was equally nothing special -- that her dad worked a boring desk job and her mom was a receptionist who also sold Avon on the side.

“You should hear her sometimes -- she’s always trying to get me to wear makeup and do my hair all nice. God, she wanted to take me to get a perm for my sixteenth birthday,” Robin winced. “Like, can you imagine?”

“No,” you wrinkled your nose, smiling apologetically -- but Robin didn’t seem to mind.

“Anyway… parents, right,” she chuckled, sounding a bit nervous again. She did that, bounced between confident conversation and nerves. It made your stomach flutter like someone had let a whole conservatory full of butterflies loose between your ribs. “Can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em, haha…”

“Yeah,” you nodded, twisting a few flower stems together. “I mean, my parents are fine, I guess. They could definitely be worse, but… you know, I just,” you shrugged, glancing up. Robin was watching you with such an openly enthralled look that you found yourself continuing.

“I just -- sometimes I feel like they don’t even know who I am. Like they’ve got this… I don’t know, this idea of me in their heads and that’s the only version they see.” You glanced up through your eyelashes, just starting to feel self-conscious that you were oversharing when you saw the expression on Robin's face. Just… lovely.

“No, yeah, I get it. I mean… my mom’s always had this expectation of what the ‘perfect daughter’ should be like,” she gestured with her hands. “I’ve always kind of felt like she wanted a doll instead of a real kid. Like, this little thing she could dress up and show off at parties or dinners, or whatever, and just… bend to her will. I don’t think I’ve ever met that expectation of hers.” She shrugged, smiling sadly.

“I’m sorry,” you whispered. “That must be really tough.”

“I guess,” she shrugged again. “I mean -- thanks! Thank you, but, uh… I don’t know, I guess I’m over it? Which sounds horrible, but--”

“No, I get it,” you quickly assured. “It’s like… you spend your whole childhood trying to be perfect for them and then one day you wake up and realize you’re never going to be, so… why bother trying, right?”

“E-Exactly,” Robin’s eyes widened as she blinked at you, mouth half-open. “That’s exactly how I feel, like, all of the time. I just wish they weren’t so exhausting, you know?”

“Yeah,” you laughed, nodding as you glanced down at your lap. “God, they can be so exhausting sometimes.”

“So exhausting,” Robin agreed, looking at her own lap. It was only then that she noticed what was happening on yours. “Woah -- what’s…”

“Oh,” you started, holding up the crown of flowers you’d been weaving. “I used to do this all the time as a kid,” you smiled, glancing at Robin to find her smiling back at you, her eyes shining in the evening light.

“It’s really pretty,” she said.

Yes. Yes it is, you thought, your eyes getting lost in the oceans that were hers.

“Uhm,” you struggled to pull yourself out of her grasp -- even for just a moment, long enough to speak. “Uh, let me just,” holding up a finger, you turned your attention back to the flower crown, giving it a few finishing touches before looking back at Robin.

“Here, if you just--” you scooted closer, holding the crown up, and Robin sucked in a breath before stooping down to meet your hand.

You took extra care placing the flowers onto her head, arranging her hair around the winding stems. The colors of the pedals looked so delicate, so vibrant against her sandy hair, almost lit aflame by the growing sunset. The very same sunset that you found lighting up her eyes as you leaned back. Robin’s eyes had grown a bit darker, you noticed, and it took you a second to realize that it was because her pupils had blown out.

“H--” she drew in a shaking breath, rearranging her voice to do its best impression of something lighthearted. “How does it look?”

Your eyes flicked up to the crown nestled in the soft waves of her hair, then down to the freckled expanse of her forehead and the curve of her nose, the wrinkles in the fine skin under her eyes, the crow's feet from years of laughter and smiles. You stopped there, afraid of what you’d do if you caught sight of her lips when you were this close.

“Beautiful,” you whispered, a breath. “Looks beautiful.”

“R-Really?” Robin asked, her voice somehow softer than yours.

“Yeah,” you nodded, and this time you couldn’t help yourself -- you glanced down at the curve of her cupid’s bow. God, her lips were so red, and they looked so soft, and they were parted just enough that you could see the tiniest hint of teeth.

You sucked in a breath, hoping that it didn’t tremble, and then held it. She felt too close for breathing, and time stood still as you noticed the way her eyelashes were almost laying against her cheek and --

She was looking at your lips, too.

Your face burned at the realization, heart stuttering in your chest, lungs threatening to burst -- and then it was all over. You and Robin pulled back at the same time, each glancing away, out into the darkening forest.

“Oh,” you whispered, the first voice to break the silence since you’d called Robin beautiful. “Look.”

She followed your pointed finger out into the trees, where the first lightning bugs had begun to appear. You noticed that the crickets had started up, too, and your smile met Robin’s as you glanced at each other.

“The Smiths,” she said with a small raise of her eyebrows, tilting her head towards the scene in front of you. The forest was bathed in indigo.

You smiled and listened to the crickets.

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