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polaristhngs · 2 years

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Fearless (5/x)

Pairing: Dodge Mason x Female OC

Summary: Spark ignites as a new challenge emerges. The Graybill House is haunted. Everyone in Carp knew that, but it wasn’t particularly the house that was Josie was scared of. But not Dodge. He wasn’t scared. That was what Panic was all about: no fear.

Warnings: Minor Explicit Language, Mentions of Abandonment, Mentions of Death, Electrocution

Word Count: 5.8k

Disclaimer

I do not own the series of Panic or the characters. This is a slight AU of Season 1.

Masterlist || I. PANIC || IV. ESCAPE || VI. VISIONS

V. PHANTOMS

After the player's ball, and their little "talk", Josie ended up not talking to Dodge. It's been a few days and she's been avoiding him. Running the other way at a small glimpse of him. It was a little difficult since he's everywhere around town. She sees him walking across the street, she wouldn't utter a single word to him. She thinks the boy's catching up with her avoidance.

She cringes at her words that night. For the reason of embarrassment. She never opened up to someone before. Personal things she never told anyone but mostly just kept to herself. Josie doesn't know if it was the atmosphere that made her tipsy but a part of her felt comfortable with Dodge. He was a good listener. Now the feeling faded.

He knew just enough of her and she wasn't fine with that. Her mind pondered towards Panic. Maybe he could use that against her. The boy still remained a mystery to her. She wasn't even seeing the boy, so why would she think about him?

As if fate was playing with her, she spots Dodge on the other side of the street. Her feet seemed to stop moving. Just as he was about to enter the diner, he turns to his side, feeling a pair of eyes gazing at him. It was Josie. Josie immediately switches her view straight ahead towards the road. Walking and paced faster as she could to get out of there.

Before Dodge can call out her name, she left. He noticed she was avoiding him ever since the player's ball. He was confused. He didn't know what happened between them. Did he do something wrong? He thought they were starting to become friends and it was a good thing.

He had a new perspective on the girl. It was growing into something. There was a weird feeling in his chest that he hasn't really given the time to think about.

Dodge deeply sighed. His mind lingered at the text he got from Natalie, reminding him about the challenge tonight. He was growing worried. If anyone else knew about his weakness, it could be used against him. Dodge has one weakness, and it was his sister. And no one knew that, besides Natalie.

----

Josie figured since her walk away from Dodge was literally leading her nowhere, she went home. After receiving a text about Panic, she decided to rest until the challenge tonight. She wasn't particularly in the mood to compete in Panic tonight but she decided to suck it up. Her mind was flowing elsewhere and she needed to clear her head. Seeing the car parked in their driveway, Josie figured her Nick was home.

"I'm home!" She greets.

"Hey." A deep male voice greets back.

Josie heads towards the kitchen, surprised to see him even being near a stove. "What're you doing?" She leans over the table, watching Nick badly attempt to cook something that she could only assume was pasta.

"I'm making us dinner. I'm not coming back to work until late tonight, so I figured we could have that normal family dinner."

She slowly nods. Definitely trying not to notice the burning smell coming from the stove. One of the reasons they don't have those normal family dinners, aside from his bad cooking, is because it was always been Nick and her. Ever since her dad died and her mom left, Nick has been taking care of her. Working multiple shifts he can support her through high school. Trying to give her the best opportunities possible. Managing the house and bills needed to be paid. She owed everything to her older brother. If she was going to win Panic, it would be for him. There were times when Josie would see him passed out, dead asleep on the couch after spending hours and hours at work. Making the minimum wage he can to pay the insane amount of cash needed to spend. Nick was sometimes absent in her life, in ways that she can understand. But he always tried to be there when it mattered. Part of the reason why she resented her mother is that her leaving means dumping all the responsibilities on her brother who was only still in college when she abandoned them. She didn't care about them. If she did, she never would've left.

Nick tries to tell her about his day while trying to tame the dish she believes could be pasta. She couldn't take it anymore. She moves from her spot, heading over to the stove. Nick laughed embarrassingly, admitting he doesn't know what he was doing, why does he still bother anyways, and just lets her do her thing. She was a way better cook than him.

"I thought we already agreed that you can't cook." She quipped, turning the heat down, grabbing a spoon, and gently stirring the pot. "Just order in tonight, though. I have a thing tonight."

Nick's eyes darted. He understood what she meant. Josie told him before the summer that she was gonna play Panic. She quickly dropped the bombshell on the first day of her senior year. He remembered quite well because she began her sentence with, "Now I'm officially a Senior..." He was against the idea, of course. He wouldn't be. The accident about last year's Panic game struck the town's core. It was a regular summer day and then suddenly, two kids had died. Regular folks heard multiple rumors but a more silent group of people about how the kids truly died that year. Nick was working at the time the hospital received the call about Jimmy and Abby. He gave a long hard talk to Josie about the dangers of participating in the game. But he knew nothing was gonna stop her when she puts her mind on something. She didn't tell anyone that Nick knew she was gonna play Panic. Most especially Natalie. She figured they'll ask questions and wouldn't trust her.

"Just remember," he reminds.

"Be careful." Both say in unison.

"I know. I know." Josie repeats. "I'll be fine. I'm telling you." She focuses back on the cooking pot, stirring whatever substance in it. Josie pulled a quizzical face as she sniffed down the smoke exiting the pot. Maybe it could be saved, she pondered.

"Speaking of fine..." Nick trails. "Mom called."

Josie drops the spoon at his sudden mention of her. Her shoulders tensed up as flashbacks from those painful memories she had with her rapidly grows in her mind like wildfire. It was always been a sensitive topic to her. She mostly tried to ignore the idea of their mother when there were moments Josie would be reminded of her, but now, it is a definite reference. Josie could already feel the emotions clasping down her throat.

"Why? Does she need money again?" She said coldly.

"Josie..."

"Am I wrong? She only calls when she needs something." She turns around, looking Nick in the eye. She was right. They would rarely get calls from her but when they do, it would always be about money. She'd include some flowery words in her messages too. But Josie knew it was all fake.

"She called asking how we've been..." Josie laughed at the thought. Nick frowned at her reaction. "She's doing great, Jo. Ever since..."

"-So she needs a place to crash." She bitterly grins. Unsurprised by the notion. The small heartbreak in her tone was obvious.

Josie focuses her attention back on cooking. Or at least she tried to. Trying to focus on anything else but her mom. Heatedly stirring the pot as her emotions grew. Her hands were shaking as she gripped the spoon. She's coming back. She'll fall for it again. The sweet talk about how she missed both of them. How she has grown up so much since she last saw them. Maybe spend a day or two with them, if they're lucky, and then she'll leave again. It was the same old routine.

Nick tried to say good words to his sister, trying to calm her down. But she couldn't help it. She meant it when she said she never want to see her again.

"Are fucking you serious, Nick?! You're honestly just gonna let her back in here!" Josie snapped. Frustratingly running her fingers through her hair as she let out an exasperated breath. She chuckles to herself. "And of course, she calls you 'cause she knows you'll basically let her get away with anything! Am I wrong?!"

Her brother only kept silent at her outburst.

"She'll waltz back in here and by the end of the week she's off to god know's where with half our money."

"She says it's different this time."

"Not the first time I've heard that." She intoned.

"We gotta give her a chance, Josie."

"NO! We gave her plenty of chances. She always does this!" Josie infuriatingly slams her hand down in anger. She cursed under her breath as her hand caught a bit of the heat from the stove. Nick moves forward to his sister in concern, grabbing a first aid kit in the process. Looking down at her scalded palm, Josie didn't know which pained her more, her hand or her mom. Either way, she resisted a tear. She didn't want to waste any more on her. He then proceeds to aid her wounded hand, taking worried glances at his sister.

It wasn't easy for Josie. Her mother and Josie were quite close when she was younger. That's why it broke her heart when she left for the first time. Despite that, she tried to keep in contact with her. She'd call her mom constantly. Texted her whenever she could. Josie always kept a tiny beam of hope whenever she replied. Even if it was just a brief OK, Josie was satisfied. But there was a time when Josie called her once again, but this time her mom didn't answer. That one time happened twice and then it became thrice, soon after, she stopped talking to them altogether. Josie would always hope her mom would finally stay every time she would walk through the door. She would let her guard down and she was disappointed. She was always left disappointed. It still surprised her how she can never get used to that feeling.

"I don't want her back here, Nick."

"You're too hard on her, Josie."

She closes her eyes, seemingly holding back any emotions. Her breath caught on her throat.

"My answer's still no."

----

"Congratulations to all of you for completing the challenge at Spurlock's Ranch. Up until now, you've been competitors. But tonight, you become enemies."

Josie drove herself to the challenge instead of riding with Heather and Nat. After that sudden mention of her mom seemingly catching up with Nick, she stayed in her room the whole afternoon crying until it was time to head over to the next challenge. She was upset and wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone. Walking closer to the group of people standing in front of the porch, she decided to forget about all that and focus on the game. Her afflicted emotion seems to give her a drive, a thirst to win this challenge.

Dodge's gaze followed the girl as she searches for her friends and walked up towards them. She was the last one to arrive at the venue, he noticed. He was anticipating when she'd make an appearance. He hasn't gotten a chance to talk to Josie and hopefully, he can speak to her tonight. He shouldn't let himself get distracted though, especially with everything at stake but he couldn't help himself. His eyes never left her as he listened to Diggins.

Noticing her friend's depressed demeanor, Heather smiles softly at Josie as she stands beside her. "Hey, Josie. You okay?" She asks, wrapping an arm around her. Her tone was probably one of Josie's favorite things about her. Heather never failed to show how much she cared about her friends. Heather could see the little red under her eyes and her puffed cheeks. She couldn't even ponder the thought of what made Josie look so down. Josie nodded her head, giving her a reassuring smile. "Yeah. I'm okay." She spoke quietly. Hoping it was convincing enough.

Feeling a pair of eyes on her, Josie's gaze shifted towards its direction, the trail shockingly leading to Dodge. Their eyes locked, surprised to see him already staring at her. Josie quickly turned away in embarrassment as Dodge's eyes lingered on her for a bit.

"It is Panic tradition to screw each other at the Graybill house challenge."

"And we all came for that reason," Ray smirked as laughter accompanied the group.

"The rules are simple. You guys stay inside till we come and get you. Players' points will be deducted when you submit proof of them being scared shitless. For tonight and tonight only, keep those cameras on."

"Sabotage is highly encouraged. As a reminder, Heather is still in the lead with 200 points. Dodge is closing up the gap with 175 and everyone else is holding up with 150. And last but not least, there is a 50-point bonus for whoever can solve the riddles in the blood."

Josie's eyes narrowed as she exhaled sharply. Deciding to get her head in the game and put all her energy into the challenge. She was gonna win no matter what the costs. She was more than determined now to win Panic and win the $50,000. Josie was holding up only 150 worth of points. If she wanted to be in the lead, she has definitely got to spend the whole night there with all of these people and solve all the riddles. She crosses her arms in impatience. All she wanted to do was to rush in there and get this whole thing over with.

"Uh, what do you mean, in the blood?" Drew quivered.

"Blood always tells."

"Good luck players."

----

Everyone began to make their way into the house. Flashlights lighting up the empty and dark foyer.

The Graybill house is haunted. Everyone in Carp knew that.

There was a legend surrounding this house. They said that old man Graybill bought the lands despite being warned by the locals that it was a site of burial grounds. He thought the warnings were foolish and decided to build the mansion right above the buried graves. It was a normal night like any other. Just as the children were getting ready to go to bed, blood trickled down their throats as it was slashed viciously with a knife. Screams were echoed in the walls of the house. As Mrs. Graybill left the bedroom to follow the source of the sound, she found her husband covered with blood and holding a knife dripping on the floor. The next thing they knew, four more graves were dug outside the house. The locals continued to be haunted as they saw the hanged figure of Graybill on top of his crooked tree.

This was a continuous horror story told by every single person in Carp. Whether it was to teach kids to not purchase haunted lands apparently or whether it was simply just to put a scare towards someone. But whatever it was, Josie thought it was bullshit.

As everyone warily hides behind Dodge as he first makes his way into the homestead, Josie unusually overtakes him, now being the first in the house. People whispered at her confident behavior. Normally, she would've gone with Heather and Natalie in challenges, but she was in a competitive mood and wants to be alone.

Josie shined her flashlight at the sight of blood splatters on the floor trailing to the wall. She was unfazed by this. There was no way the judges would use real blood for the game. It seemed too costly to buy actual blood just for a game.

"Anyone else freaked out by the random blood?" Drew asked. Shivers ran through the rest of the group as they examined the blood.

"If you're panicking at the sight of this, your certainly not gonna last long." Josie surmised.

She peered closer to the riddle written on the wall, touching the freshly painted blood. Feels real, she commented. Illuminating the flashlight at the wood for better insight. "Dorothy lost her ruby shoes. The wizard lost his head. The king was counting reasons for clues inside the dead." Josie read aloud. The competitors peering behind her were thinking hard about what the riddle meant.

"Wizard." Josie recited. The people in the room focused on her words. "Jimmy Wizard. It was Jim's nickname when Abby started dating him. Some of us started calling her Dorothy." She deduced. The mention of the previous kids' names sent chills down their spine.

"Holy shit," Shawna murmured.

"Clues inside the dead? If the judges are crazier as they seem, guess we have to find the bodies." Josie says.

The rest of the group follows the girl as she made her way further inside the house. Treading quietly and carefully behind her.

"AHHHH!!!"

Josie's screams echo the room. Her peers, except Dodge, stopped and flinched in panic as they heard her frightened scream. Their hearts beat heavily in their chests as they shake in apprehension. They looked around her direction, frighteningly wondering if the Graybill murder legend were true.

"What?! WHAT IS IT?!" One of them questioningly screams in fear.

"It's a chair." Josie hilariously turns back to them. Her flashlight shone below her face, mockingly imitating a ghost. She grins in wicked amusement at the group as they pretty much proved how they can easily pee their pants at a little ghost story.

The group looked pissed at the girl's smiling figure. Yep, she scared them. It might just give her an advantage now as everyone's already scared shitless.

Sparring no other glance at them, she wastes no time and went through the hallway and into the rooms of the house as the group tried to think about what is about to happen. Her mind was already all over the riddle. She went at her own pace. Stirring away from the group.

----

Josie looks around the house after getting a lead from the riddle she was solving. "The Cook and five to dinner, make six tally late. The final count's the winner behind the hands that wait."

Josie figured it was leading to the kitchen so she treaded towards there. She needed points if she wanted to catch up with the rest and win. This entire night was stressing her out. The brief talk about her mother affected her so much. But she needed to keep her head in the game. She wasn't scared of haunted houses. She didn't even believe this one is. It's the people here she was wary about. She wasn't teaming up with anybody. She certainly wasn't planning on hooking up with someone here to pass the time. Sabotage is plausible.

She wandered around the hallways looking for other possible clues. If this place was fixed upright, it could've been a nice house, she noted. Her flashlight examines the walls filled with torn-down wallpaper and broken picture frames. Just then, she stumbled upon a wooden door and a familiar figure trying to open it.

It was Dodge.

He breaks his attention at the entrance and turns around, recognizing the girl's presence. He sees her. Despite that, she abruptly turns around, ready to sprint away.

"You're avoiding me." Dodge pointed out the obvious.

Josie halted, squeezing her eyes shut. Shit, did he see me? Her mind started calculating if she were to run away, would he catch up. This is the last thing she needs right now. With the issue at home, she didn't expect to run into him. She can do this. Can you? Her mind fought against her. She can't handle talking to him right now, but she decided to suck it up for the challenge.

Josie turns back to him. "What? No." Her nose flares. It was clearly a lie. She tried to pass on a nonchalant expression, which failed by the look on Dodge's face.

"Need help?" Not knowing what else to say, she changes the subject. He extends his arm to the door, gesturing "after you." He moves to the side, giving her space. Josie walked towards the door, moving beside him.

The pair tried to open the lock. Pushing the door but it won't budge. With her attention on something else, Dodge used the opportunity to examine the girl. This has been the closest they've been since the player's ball. It was only been a couple of days but it felt like months. He'd only seen her whenever she would pass by the diner or around town and would run the other way. It was good to see her. Dodge's eyes traveled down, noticing the bandage wrapped around the girl's hand.

"What happened to your hand?" He stops his actions, moving his attention to her injured palm.

"Nothing," she brushed off. This doesn't stop him. Dodge grabbed her hand, gently inspecting it. He traced the burnt mark on her hand with his fingers. Just softly touching the bandage above the surface as he looks at it seriously. Josie exhales, trying to ignore the exchange.

"I burned my hand." She explained. Dodge snaps his head back, breaking his look on her hand and onto her. His eyes daunting hers. "It was an accident." She continued. "I was cooking and my hand touched the pot or something..." She yanks her hand out of his hold. "It's nothing."

"You should be careful, y'know." Dodge sighs.

"You sound like my brother."

She successfully opened the lock as they began pushing open the door. The sound of wood scraped against the cold floor as they finally made it into the kitchen. Dust and cobwebs were made visible surrounding the room as their flashlights illuminated the area. The lights flickered on and off as they entered the room. They continue to examine the corners of the room, looking for clues, till their gaze settled on each other.

"That's what I call mood lighting." Her sarcasm is evident.

"Aren't you afraid of the curse?"

"I'm pretty sure I have bigger problems than a little electricity." She beams up towards the flickering lights right above them.

Silence befalls them. Josie trying not to think about Dodge's lingering eyes sneaking a look at her. His haunting presence beside Josie. She should just solve the riddle and get out of there. Yep, that's the plan. Dodge can't seem to shake away his thoughts about her too. This is not the place nor the time to talk about this. But he needed to. He wanted to. He just had to know.

"So is there a reason why you've been avoiding me?" He breaks the silence.

She averts her gaze. "I'm not avoiding you."

"You know your nose flares up when you lie."

Josie was speechless at his observation. She blinked fast, trying to hide the heat rising to her cheeks. She decided to ignore him. That seems easy enough. She moved towards the corners basically any direction where he isn't, searching for possible clues.

"I doubt they'd hide a clue at the sink." Dodge taunts her. "Maybe try the dishwasher."

Her eyes rolled. Josie was already pissed off at the beginning but her annoyance seems to grow bigger by the second as she inhales sharply. She's still on edge at the talk back home about her mom coming back. Her feeling of embarrassment from sharing personal stuff with Dodge is still there too. Both things seem to be striking her at the same time. She soon takes out her anger at the kitchen stuff. The scrabbling sound echoes in the kitchen area. Josie tries to remain composure as the other boy casually leans against the wall watching the girl rummaging stuff.

"My bad. I don't think they have a dishwasher at this house."

She broke composure. "What is your problem?!"

"Me?" Dodge innocently asks. "I don't have any problem. Maybe you have a problem with me."

She exhales the breath she didn't know she was holding. She knows where this was going. Dodge saw the fragile expression of the girl. He decided to shoot his shot and ask her the questions that have been stuck in his brain ever since.

"Are you really just gonna keep ignoring me forever?"

"It's been three days." She corrects.

"Is this about the night of the party? Did I say something wrong? Did I do something wrong?" Dodge motions towards her. He tries to reach for Josie's hand but the girl moves further away from him. Josie shakes her head, she runs her fingers through her hair in frustration. "You know you can tell me anything right."

"Just because I told you my sob story doesn't mean I wanna run to you whenever I have a problem."

"We're not friends, Dodge. Ok." She coldly says. "We're nothing and you're nothing to me. So you can stop this good guy act you are waving at my face and just leave me alone." She tried to exit the kitchen, not liking where this is leading towards. Josie needed him to be far away. Josie needed him to stop. For both their sakes. She didn't have time for this. This is the last thing she expected to happen tonight.

Dodge blinked. He wasn't gonna lie when he'd say her words didn't hurt. Dodge could see the pent-up anger in her was doing all the talk but Josie's words still cut through him like a knife. He'd never been the one to care about what other people thought about him but hearing her say that she was nothing to him...it stung. Dodge looks down at his feet, debating in his mind what he should do.

"You think that's gonna do you any good?" He asks.

Dodge's words made Josie halt her steps just as she was about to walk through the door.

"I don't remember asking for your opinion."

"And I don't remember you answering my question." Dodge enunciated. "You think running away is gonna solve your problems? It's not."

"Maybe you should just learn how to back off from time to time, don't you think?" She snaps at him.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're suffocating, Dodge. You're suffocating to me. And you're probably suffocating Dayna."

This was the trigger. "Don't talk about Dayna."

"Why? I'm just speaking the truth."

"You know what else is the truth? You complaining about your mom running away from your family, but you're out here doing the same thing she's doing."

"Shut up! I AM NOT!" She defends

"REALLY?" He says widely. "Then what was that whole thing you've been doing for the past few days?"

He cornered her into a wall. She leaned back, overwhelmed with everything. Amongst the other growing feelings, it scared her. This man who she has only known for a few weeks had known more about her than anyone else in her life. Not only that but he also proved how she could talk to him if she wants to. Why does he care so much? Josie's always been cautious of people. They either left or disappointed her. She wasn't gonna make the same mistake again.

"So what's it gonna be, Jo..." He drew closer. "What do you want?"

That was the question. Josie closes her eyes, sinking in the exhaustion she was feeling. She was tired. She was tired of all of this. She was tired of the argument. She was tired of avoiding Dodge. She was tired of carrying this baggage and weight on her shoulders. She can't breathe. Everything else in the world felt like a giant ball trapping her, having no else to go. Slowly the corners of its inside grow smaller and smaller, crushing her. Opening her eyes once more, she found Dodge staring deep into her. She felt like he could hear her thoughts. Know every single word running through her mind. Know the next move she was gonna make just before her brain could process it. Josie knew what she must do. She stood up straight, the cold facade showcased clearly towards Dodge.

"To win the game."

Josie walked past him, finally exiting the kitchen door and making her way to the hallway. Dodge exhaled at her fading figure. He ran his hands across his hair exhaustingly at what just happened. He meant what he said when he said she could go to him. She could talk to him about anything, and he would sit down and listen. He thought they were actually getting along but her reaction made him question a lot. That night wandered on his mind. He was frustrated and confused at the girl. All Dodge could do was retreat back from the walls in his mind. For the first time in his life, he wasn't sure what to do next.

----

After her walking away further from the kitchen and following a trail of clues that lead her into an isolated bedroom, Josie collapses, sitting down near the wall. Trying not to let her growing tears streaming down her face. Her arms wrapped around herself. She tried her best to remain silent. Hearing other voices in the other room. Josie fidgets her hands resting on her lap. If anyone else saw her, they might as well mess with her right now. Her mind didn't drift towards Panic, but just by the thought of people seeing her so vulnerable. She hated feeling weak despite it being a natural feeling.

She exhaled frustratingly. What is wrong with me? The question echoed through her head like a church bell. Dodge probably thought she was messing with him. Being all nice to him one day and then suddenly turning to the other page. He was right. She was running away. Maybe it's genetics. Or a thing that runs to their family and had only skipped Nick. The bedroom lights continued to flicker above her peering figure. Technically, it wasn't the house that was scaring her. It was something...someone else.

Josie darted her attention to the door as it suddenly closed. The feeling of worry transitioned to anger as soon as she heard a click of the lock and a couple of giggles from the other side. As she said, Sabotage is plausible.

"Haha. Very funny," she says unimpressed. "Now, open the door. It's freezing in here."

Josie waited. Waited for anyone from the outside to listen to her and open the door. Trying to get a glimpse of the sight behind the door through a tiny keyhole, Josie cursed under her breath. Fuck. No one was there. He or she just left her locked inside the room. Unbelievable. This was probably payback for messing with them earlier in the challenge, she figured. Josie kicks in frustration as she remains locked inside.

----

As the hour of the night continued, Dodge made his way further into the lower ground of the Graybill house, taking note of the cobwebs and bags of dust filling the pathway. Regardless of the frigid eeriness of the setting, Dodge kept his cool. Moving swiftly, silently, and carefully, illuminating his forward movement with only the booming silence filling the room. Normally, other kids would've been frightened just by being an inch close to the house. But not Dodge. He wasn't scared. That was what Panic is all about: no fear. Dodge has fears. Everybody does. But he couldn't afford to be scared. He wasn't afraid. He just didn't care.

Suddenly stopping at his feet, Dodge breaks his attention from the darted walls. The boy holds his breath as he sees a haunting silhouette that his brain optimistically anticipates who it could be. As Dodge tries to further solve the riddles in the house, he's been internally hoping that he would cross paths with the girl once more. A single footstep or a breath of the wind gave him chills. He tried not to seem disappointed when he turns back and see that it wasn't her. But he was. Dodge crossed the line by mentioning her mother. But the way Josie mentioned Dayna had set him off. Before the boy could apologize for a second slower than his realization, Josie dashed out of the kitchen. The conversation obviously got out of hand. Dodge called out her name but she dismissed it.

Peering his flashlight visually closer to the darkening figure, Dodge sighed in annoyance at the appearance of Ray Hall and his lackey, Tyler Young, wandering behind him as they spotted the house's basement.

"And I'm telling you, that bitch just left me there for dead—" Tyler tells Ray.

The teens' eyes squinted as the lean boy continued to shine a bright glare onto them, striding closer to them. Ray challengingly smirked as he saw the adamant Dodge Mason.

"You wanna smoke in the shithole?" Ray asks Dodge, pointing at the door.

"Nah. I'm cool."

"Well, if you change your mind..." Tyler grinningly laughs before heading his way down the basement, then followed by Ray.

Disappointment striking again, Dodge decided to ignore those pending thoughts and continue with the challenge. Opening double doors, Dodge enters a desolated room. It was cleared. Nothing on the floors. Nothing hanging from the ceiling. It was skeptically empty. The only thing filling the room was the mucky, old curtains, and a large clock.

Wait, he thought.

Surveying back to the clock, Dodge's brows wrinkled as he noticed the hour hands stopping still at the numbers five and six.

"Five to dinner. Six late" Dodge recited from memory. "Behind the hand."

Dodge examines closer to the timepiece. Looming over for any traces of hints to finally solve the challenge and get out of there. He jiggles the device again. Pushing and pulling it back and forth, searching for a way to open the clock. Dodge looks over at the top, bottom, and behind the piece. Finally, his eyes narrowed, staring straight into the X-marked in red ink right on top of the electric circuit. Dodge hastily drags the large clock out of the way to get a closer glimpse of whatever's inside the thing.

The taste of victory felt somewhat bitter as the boy's mind was filled with confusion as he reads out from a small piece of paper.

Emma Campbell, Eddie Douglas, John Davis, Abby Clark, and Jimmy Cortez

"This was all the people who've died on the game."

Clues inside the dead. His mind lingered back to what Josie previously recited earlier on. Even so, he was still bewildered by all of this. He didn't understand why the names of the previous players have been mentioned. Is it some kind of game the judges are playing at?

Speculating even further, Dodge moved fingers back to the powerless outlet. At a stroke of bad luck, a strobe of electrical light bursts out of the socket like a flash of lightning as the power comes back on, throwing and knocking Dodge out swiftly.

----

Still trapped, Josie hugs herself, taking a moment to examine the empty room she could only assume was the master's bedroom, judging by the size, figuring out a way to unlock the door. The dark night seems to set her back as she only had the moonlight to illuminate her surroundings.

Like an intuition, she turns towards the positioned lamp across from her. Looking weirdly over at the flickering light inside its bulb.

Josie's shoulders quivered upwards as the lights suddenly came back on.

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42 notes · View notes

greeksorceress · 3 years

Note

Love your Curly x reader headcanons! Can we get Tim x reader too please?

Tim Shepard x Reader (you) headcanons ✨

You’re not very sure how you two even met.

But once you see each other for the first time, you start seeing each other everywhere.

You notice him immediately wherever you go and he catches you staring more than once. He stares right back.

You’ve heard about his reputation so you’re wary at first, but you cannot deny how much you have started to like him and you haven’t even talked to him yet.

You like everything about him, from his icy eyes, to his unruly hair, to the scar that crosses half his face.

Your friends don’t support your little crush much at first, because they’ve heard about Tim too. They do get more and more supportive as they get to know him and see how he treats you.

His gaze makes you feel nervous; you never know what’s going on inside his head when he looks at you.

He’s mostly serious at first, which makes you feel like he doesn’t actually like you.

You don’t give up. One day, you go with your friends to a parking lot near the Curtis place where you know a football match between the gangs ins going to start. You talk to him for the first time there.

It’s casual and you don’t get much of a conversation at first, but it sets a start between you two.

The more you see each other around after that, the more you start to talk, and soon enough he’s smirking at you and even joking around. You’re shocked to lear he’s actually very funny and not as serious as you first thought.

You love seeing him interact with his gang or his siblings. He has an aura that really captures your attention.

You two kiss one day in a party. You kiss a couple more of times and see each other in a very unofficial way for a bit.

He takes the longest time to admit he actually likes you, and pretends you don’t exist for a while when he realizes his feelings.

He comes around pretty soon after you confront him about this, though, and goes all or nothing with you.

As soon as you officially start dating, the word gets around so FAST.

Proudly shows you off at any chance he gets.

Likes having a hand over your waist or hip.

Back hugs and temple kisses.

Unsurprisingly, Dallas is the person that likes teasing him the most about this. Whenever he wants Tim to put up a good fight, he throws your name around. Tim falls for that every single time.

However, it isn't like Dallas dislikes you or something. He actually respects you a lot, and is always reminding you that you “could do much better than little ol' Timmy”.

It's one of the things that makes Tim (very lovingly) want to kick his ass.

Curly likes making jokes about your relationship too, but tries doing it when Tim’s not around.

You can't catch a second of peace in the Shepard's home.

Curly and Angela are always fighting and they want you to back them up. You learn from Tim pretty soon that siding with any of them is a pretty bad idea.

You get into a few arguments with Tim over his choices, fearing that one day he'll be thrown in the cooler for too long.

He keeps you in the dark regarding his gang activities, but he does take you to some of the meetings and it’s very important for him to make you feel like you belong with them.

This is good because he has everyone looking after you whenever he’s not around.

But he’s always making sure you’re never in a dangerous situation because of them.

He’s very protective.

You do have the whole gang taking care of you, but Tim’s siblings are the ones who do it the most.

Tim likes taking you out for dates as often as he’s able to, but he’s very private about this so he usually takes you to very isolated places where you can have your privacy.

You have never paid for a movie since you started dating him.

Road trips across the state become your thing. You have also driven to other states as well, but that’s a bit less common.

You two literally take the car and ride off together without telling a soul where you’re going, and disappear for days (and even weeks) to be alone together.

Sharing short, quick kisses while he’s driving. If you stop by a red light then it means you get a proper one.

He drives you to work and picks you up when you finish your shift. It’s all the same if you’re studying, he even drives you to the library when you need to go.

He “works” too but you know better than asking.

He's actually very sweet to you, and is on his best behaviour whenever you’re around.

He’s pretty big on PDA. He reserves his sweetest moments for your alone time, but he doesn’t specially care if you’re in public whenever he kisses your, or hugs you, or throws his arm around your shoulders.

Pinches your cheeks to annoy you from time to time.

Knows what you want or need before you even say it. He can always sense when you’re cold, or hungry, or simply having a bad day.

You don’t know if you love or hate how well he knows you.

Because he seems to read you like a book, you can never lie to him. It’s not like you want to lie to him, but sometimes you want to prank him or cheat during a game and it’s impossible.

He’s a very good listener. He always asks about your feelings or thoughts when he senses you’re not doing okay, and listens to everything you got to say without interrupting once.

What’s even more surprising is that he’s actually pretty good at giving advice too.

“How can you give such good advice and yet you’re always in some kind of a mess?” “That’s ‘cause I don’t listen to my own advice, darlin’”

“Darlin’” is his number one term of endearment for you.

You’re literally the only one allowed to call him Timmy.

“What’s mine is yours” is something that he always tells you. And he means that, because so far, he has offered his clothes, his food, his money, his home, his family... He has basically offered you everything he has.

You give back as much as you can, and he’s very grateful for that.

This makes your relationship a strong one, and you two know you can rely on each other.

Which surprises almost everyone because they’re pretty sure Tim has never been this serious or nice with anyone else ever.

He trusts you a lot. It’s not easy at first, but he does it as your relationship grows. He starts talking about what he knows about his parents, or about his struggles as the older brother. He even mentions some of his concerns regarding Curly’s future or the gang’s activities.

You actually spend so much time with Curly that you have started to see him as a brother.

You practically move in with him.

Says “I love you” a lot, specially when you’re sharing a cigarette at night.

You don’t remember who said it first, but you both say it now equally.

You two have definitely danced in the rain more than once.

Your fingers are always caressing (messing) his hair when you kiss.

Beach dates.

You’re basically married.

You adopt a dog together.

i know it took me a bit, i had a couple of weird days! i hope you like these anon! Tim is the love of my life, so i understand you! hahaha 💕 thank you for your ask, darling!

#asks: anonymous #tim shepard #i love ONE man and that man is tim shepard #how can you not love him?#tim angel shepard #he literally has never done anything wrong #shhh <3 #reader can be me hahaha #tim x reader #neutral gender reader #the outsiders #my headcanons #my hcs #curly shepard #angela shepard

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harrys-reverie · 4 years

Text

Dog Years // Harry Styles O.U.

Part 3: The Bookstore

a/n: hey everyone! welcome to part 3 of dog years. sorry it took so long on the update -- i just got back to college. i hope you enjoy this chapter!!! i personally consider it harry’s very subtle way of opening up to people (how i’d imagine it) as always like, SHARE, COMMENTS, feedback, all appreciated!!! xoo

STORY PAGE I PART ONE I PART TWO

To be fair I didn’t hear from Jeff or Harry for two whole days. I was starting to feel like they lowkey didn’t want me to be part of their ‘team’ anymore. I couldn’t be bothered even if they didn’t, because at the end of the day I worked for Eve, not them. But at the same time all I could do was sit and recollect about my night with all of them. Everything seemed to go so well, and i really thought they liked me. I liked them.

So since Eve figured my pay was now around the clock, if I wasn’t doing anything that I needed to do be doing something. It was just a bunch of menial tasks like picking up garbage around the premises, scooping up vile dog shit and what not. Honestly, it kind of sucked. I rather be fetching candles and dropping them off to Harry.

But finally it was Sunday and it was my day off. A part of me wanted to go back to my nans house, stop in and say hi. Then I remembered Sunday’s were her brunch and bingo days and she went out with all her cute old lady friends. I was starting to feel extremely lonely.

So I was left to myself in my little cottage. It was pretty relaxing, but all the time cooped up in here was becoming boring and repetitive. And to think I had 4 months left of this. Just sitting in my bed scrolling through shopping sites putting tons of clothes in a cart I’d never get around to purchasing. Even being payed around the clock wasn’t enough to buy a whole new wardrobe.

So yes, I was starting to get a little antsy that I heard nothing from Harry or Jeff. I sneakily biked by Harry’s cottage multiple times to see if he was still there throughout the two days, and his car was still parked in the driveway each time. I hadn’t seen him even around the premises at all doing anything. Or anyone from his group for that matter. I tried to tell myself by the end of the first day that they were all just super hungover. I knew that was a stretch but it eased my mind. Then yesterday rolled around and I had no comforting excuses for why I hadn’t heard from them.

I expressed my worry to Eve and she insisted that they were probably just getting settled. Okay, I’ll take that. That’s got to be it, right?

As I continued to worry in my head about what may have gone wrong I reached for my phone. Nope, no messages. Fuck. This was quickly becoming a bad habit, constantly checking my phone. Bravely I pressed Jeff’s contact, hovering my thumb over the call option. Should I try to reach out? Eh. Sighing, I locked the phone and tossed it to my side. If they needed me, they would act on it. I didn’t want to be a nuisance and bother any of them.

Focusing my attention back on my laptop I popped open a new tab on my Safari browser. I began typing his name, enter and then search.

Instantly an endless amount of brand new and just days old articles displayed across my screen. Harry Styles this, Harry Styles that. There was one recurring theme throughout all of these article titles though, a girls name - Camille.

“Camille Rowe, ex lover of musician Harry Styles states that he’s ‘overly jealous and begged her to stay when they broke up!’ Oh no, poor H. Read more here.”

“Apparently Harry Styles is a Freak in the Sheets! Ex Girlfriend Camille Rowe recollects on her sex life with the pop star in her new book ’Truth Be Told.’”

“Feeling bad about getting cheated on? Don’t feel bad,Harry Styles has been in your shoes too...his ex girlfriend opens up about the mistakes she made that ultimately led to the lyrics of Harry’s sophomore album, Fine Line.”

I couldn’t help but let out a gasp, all this couldn’t be true, could it? I exited out of the tab quickly, afraid to go on and read more of those terrible headlines. I honestly felt bad if all that was true, and if Harry’s ex girlfriend really did that, then I could only imagine how he might be feeling.

I could tell Harry really valued his privacy, why else would he be out here in the middle of nowhere in complete hiding? I thought back to him telling me how he had a disdain for California, I was now beginning to think she had some sort of connection to it. Poor Harry. Almost instantly I was feeling guilty, like I invaded Harry’s privacy by seeing all of those headlines. Imagining what the whole world most think and know of him right now is extremely unsettling. To bring up how he has sex and his most vulnerable moments and just like everyone know about it, it’s beyond fucked up.

Ting.

The world has a funny way of working making connections sometimes. Deep down in my gut I had a feeling it’d be Harry or Jeff who left me a text, it just had to be. Before I even reached my phone I saw the capital H, I knew it was Harry. Of course, he was texting me now, after I saw all that and felt so fucking bad. If he was any other person I’d ask if he wanted to have a nice chat, bring over some ice cream and wine and help him relax.

I wasn’t slow to swipe up on the message and see what he wrote.

‘Hiiiii Colette. Hope you’re well, it’s Harry. Have a huge favor to ask you whenever you get the chance. X”

Hah, he’s acting me for a favor as if I’m not getting paid to help him with whatever he needs. He’s too nice. I didn’t hesitate to start typing back.

‘Hi, Harry! How are you? I’ve been just well! As for the favor...sure anything :)”

Not even five seconds later my phone was vibrating and ringing at the same time, Harry’s name flashing across the screen. Ah, so he’s one of those people who have to make phone calls for everything. My hands felt like jelly as I went to accept the call. Even though we had a great night, him not talking to me for a couple days made me rethink how great that night might’ve actually been. Maybe I was just super tipsy and thought it was amazing when it was just subpar.

“Hello?” I chimed, placing the phone to my ear.

His deep Americanized-British accent greeted me, “Morning Colette!” He sounded extra chirpy this morning.

“Harry! Haven’t heard from you in a while..” I replied nervously.

There was a small pause. “Sorry ‘bout that just keeping busy and what not. I meant to text but, I was so preoccupied I forgot. ‘M sorry, won’t pull something like that again.”

My heart felt like it was being squeezed, my intention was never to make him feel bad but I could sense that I did. I wondered how stressful it was on him always being so kind to everyone, literally everyone. At all times of the day. I had a feeling that most of the time he was putting on an act when deep down he was just having real human problems that he had to keep tucked away.

“Don’t apologize,” I rushed. “It’s fine, seriously. What’s up?”

“A little bit of this, a little bit of that,” He joked. I could hear his soft chuckle from the other line. “Sunday’s.”

“The most relaxing day,” I noted, it was true.

“Relaxing enough where I feel like I should take some time and start a book.”

Oh, fuck. There wasn’t much enthusiasm in his voice anymore. I had a feeling I knew where all of this was heading, and I didn’t like it.

“Any day is a great day to start a book,” I suggested trying to hide my nerves. The universe really was one giant head fuck.

“Actually the favor I was going to ask you,” Harry drawled, a slight tinge of hesitation is his voice. “I really want this specific book.”

Yep, this was his heading right where I thought it would.

“Ooo which one?” I questioned excitedly, like I didn’t know. I was really hoping he’d take me by surprise and say that new Twilight book or something.

“It’s called Truth Be Told. Actually, bet it’s sold out everywhere. Can’t even Amazon fuckin’ Prime it.” He laughed. Maybe he was taking this a lot lighter than I thought...?

“Y’ know what. I don’t need it. Um, do you have any book recs?” Harry rushed.

“If you want that book I’ll go out in town and look for it, but if not I do have some recommendations,” I offered.

“Okay, how ‘bout this? I’ll lend you my car and could you get me that uh, Truth book or whatever and also, get me a book you recommend for me and I have one I recommend for you.”

“You trust me in your car? I just only started to learn to drive on the opposite side of the road,” I admitted with a smile, not like he could see it.

“If ya crash my car, I wouldn’t even try coming back...avoid the wrath of Harry Styles at all costs,” He countered.

“Uh-oh I’m scared,” I fake gasped.

“Hm, should be. I’m not like the papers say, ‘m actually a real diva.”

I was starting to really like this conversation.

“A lot of work, huh?”

��You think you can handle it?”

It’s like I could hear his smirk through the phone. This conversation went really, might I say flirtatious, really fast. I knew it was just his personality and I shouldn’t over think it. But if there is one thing I loved in life, it was a good flirt. And Harry, he was good at it.

I must have been zoned out for a moment because I heard Harry awkwardly clear his throat when I didn’t reply back to his flirtatious line.

“So ‘m gonna pick you up actually. We’ll go back to mine and then you can head off to get those books? Sound good?” He spoke into the line.

“Oh yeah, sure.”

“See ya soon.”

With a click, the call was finished. As much as I wanted to sit back and recollect on what the fuck went down in that call I knew I needed to get out of bed and make myself presentable. He didn’t give me an ETA so I assumed I didn’t have much time on the clock.

I ran to my overflowing duffle, with all the time on my hands I really needed to get around to unpacking it. Was it bad that I wanted to try to look a little more dressed up than just jeans and a tee?

Yep, it was probably bad because I shouldn’t care how I look in front of him.

“Ugh!” I exclaimed, rummaging through all the wrinkled clothing. I settled on black jeans and a black blouse. It looked a bit funeral-esque, I’m hoping it came off as chic. I’d look like a rag doll next to him anyway, the least I could do was try.

He really wanted to go and get his ex girlfriend’s book, huh? I don’t know why he’d want to do that to himself, either way I was going to play dumb as rocks when he gave me the list of the name and author of the book. It’s not entirely an act though, I just read a few headlines. Correction, I just google searched his name and scrolled throw a bunch of headlines about how you have sex and cry — how terrible that would sound if he knew it was true. I will be taking that one to the grave with me.

I swore not even 5 minutes had passed by and the purring of Harry’s engine was already echoing through my house. He was only up the hill after all, but he gave me absolutely zero time to fix myself up. I just had to suck it up and go out there with my frizzy hair and oily skin and tough it out.

But that wasn’t even my biggest concern, my biggest concern was the fact I, a shit driver in the first place, was now being trusted to drive Harry’s extremely fancy Range Rover to a book store of some sorts somewhere. As soon as we traded off the car my plan was to start Google mapping a place and praying that it was close. The quicker I’m in and out of that vehicle, the better.

My phone pinged.

Harry.

“Should’ve gone to the bathroom before I left. Can I come in for a quick wee? X”

I just couldn’t get a break, my bathroom was cluttered with skincare products and dirty clothes piling on the side. I ran to the bathroom swiping up the dirty clothes and tossing them in an empty drawer in the dresser. He’ll just have to excuse all my beauty products, I didn’t want to keep him waiting too long.

“Come in!!!” I texted him back.

The sound of a car door slam was almost instantly followed by a polite knock at my door. Although the cottages were spread far apart I rushed over to the door, not wanting him to stay outside too long, afraid he might get noticed.

I peered through the peephole and was blessed by the handsome looks of Harry. He was tapping his foot against the cobblestone, the hood of his Nike rain jacket pulled over his head completely, while his hair was covered by a black beanie. Even being so covered up he was still so good looking. I opened the door for him, allowing him inside.

“Hi there,” He grinned as I welcomed him in. I’d love to chat but ‘m actually bout to wee my pants. Give me a moment please.”

Harry then fast walked his way over to the bathroom, obviously familiar with the floor plan. He must’ve stayed in one of the smaller cottages before. The smell of his heavenly cologne suffocated the room instantly. I knew I’d still be smelling it lingering in the air even later on tonight.

All the rushing to get ready and let him in, I wasn’t even focused on my stomach which was knotting like crazy. It felt like it could explode from nerves at just any minute. I don’t remember ever feeling this nervous when I had to see him. Granted I’ve only seen him those two times, but I played it off so cool then. I think I was just working myself up over nothing right now.

I heard the sound of running water and momentarily the steps of his shoes making their way back over to me.

“Can we redo the greeting?” He questioned with a big smile.

“Ok..”

“No, ‘m actually just going to pop outside, knock again and everything,” Harry insisted seriously.

“I’ll pretend like you didn’t just rush to the bathroom like a toddler who hasn’t gone to the bathroom all day,” I agreed, going along with his little act.

“Great.”

Harry popped open the front door, shutting it behind him and going back into the hazy morning air, doing a quick spin before making contact with the door once again.

Knock.

I couldn’t help but giggle as I opened up the door for him the second time.

“Morning Colette, how are ya doing on this fine September morning?” Harry asked me extra cheerily, creeping in for a hug. I embraced him back, the scent of his cologne engulfing my senses once again.

“Doing just fine Mr. Styles. Could I offer you some tea?” I asked in a proper tone, putting on my best imitation of a British accent.

Harry rolled his eyes, breaking the act...”That’s the best you got? You’ve only bloody been staying in England for a whole month.”

“Is it that bad?” I asked appalled.

“Terrible.”

“Better luck next time.” I sighed jokingly.

“Don’t even try. I like your voice just how it is naturally, anyway,” He spoke honestly. The second it left his mouth he too looked taken aback at the compliment he had just thrown at me.

“Want to go get those books?” I suggested awkwardly, dismissing his compliment and changing the topic. Back to business.

Harry seemed surprised by how I brushed it off and maybe even a little embarrassed, his finger began fiddling with his bottom lip. I was starting to pick up that was a little thing he did when he was nervous.

“The books. How could I forget,” He replied dully.

“If i’m being honest I don’t even know where a book store is around here,” I huffed.

“I do,” He smirked.

“Well that’s no help considering I’m going by myself,” I rolled my eyes back at him playfully.

Harry was leaning his body weight on the wooden table by the entrance, a huge smirk painted on his face.

“Guess you’re outta luck then.”

“Would it be bad if I asked for you to come with and guide me?” I asked bravely. I was taking myself by surprise with how upfront I was being towards him. It was just so hard not to be when he was just so normal.

His face dropped a little. I couldn’t tell what sort of reaction he was feeling towards my question but he looked upset. I instantly regretted it because I know my request was about to be rejected.

“As much as I’d love to...” Harry began. “I can’t.”

“Stupid of me to ask,” I replied casually brushing it off. I wanted to change the topic.

“No, it’s not. Maybe I’m better off ordering books online, anyways.”

“I mean, I could still, go get it for you. Something to do.”

Harry brushed it off, shoving his hands in his sweat pockets. “Nope, don’t want you to anymore..the ratings weren’t even that good.”

Oh wow, Harry has some pettiness in him. I couldn’t blame him though. I think anybody else would feel the same way. I wanted to just reach out and tell him I knew why he wanted that book, and that it’s not even worth a bother. I really felt for him. I too had a bad ex, as we typically all do. I can’t say it was as bad as Harry’s past relationship, but mine was bad in it’s own unique way.

“Fuck it.” He mumbled before turning his gaze back towards me. “Let’s go get them books.”

I was surprised, “Really?”

“I hate to do this and act like a macho pop star but ‘m really gonna have to go incognito. Can’t even step out the car with ya unfortunately, but I’ll drive us.”

My heart warmed at his offer, I knew he was probably going against what his strict hiding rules were in order to go through with this. If he was just driving a heavily tinted car though, was there still a way for paparazzi to notice him? I was excited, I think he could tell because he let out a small giggle, shaking his head.

“Let’s hit the road then!” I exclaimed.

“After you,” He grinned, holding the door open in front of me and leading me to his car.

_________________

The ride with Harry was going well. He had a incognito get up of sunglasses, a beanie and his hood up, making sure there was no way someone could detect it was him. His car smelled like fresh leather and mint, there was an abundance of chewing gum packets stashed in the front compartment of his car along with miscellaneous receipts. Lucky for the both of us, the roads were almost completely clear and there was no traffic heading into town.

Harry was just as attractive looking while driving as I thought he would be. To be fair there was something so enticing about having any guy drive all manly and taking control. But especially Harry driving was a beautiful sight to see. The background music of the radio was humming in the background as the two of us chatted along casually.

“How are you going to recommend me a book if you can’t even come in?” I questioned him.

He turned to me, “Who said I’m not coming in?”

“You did!”

“Might just be your lucky day then,” He smirked. “Do you have a good recommendation in mind for me? Shall we surprise one another?”

I nodded my head, “Sounds like a plan.”

“No soppy romantic books, please,” He scoffed.

“But those are my favorites!”

“Don’t care. I’ve probably read all the best of them anyways,” Harry argued back, a huge smirk painted on his face.

Deep down I knew already which book I was going to pick out for him if it was there. I didn’t care if it was a romantic one or not because I had a feeling he hadn’t read it yet and I had an ever greater feeling that he’d fall in love with it.

The two of us went back and forth chatting to each other another until we began to reach a cobblestone path that led to a small selection of shops. The plaza was secluded and had just a few small buildings overgrown with ivy unevenly placed amongst one another. I’d say there was a max of 5 or 6 cars in the whole parking lot. To be fair, we were pretty far out of town I’d say we had been driving for at least 20 minutes.

“You ready?” He questioned. I could tell there was a hint of nerves in his voice. He was awkwardly fiddling with his wallet and pushing his hood down. He was now just left with his oversized black beanies and sunglasses as his ‘disguise.’

“Are you sure you want to do this? You don’t have to,” I insisted earnestly. I didn’t want to push him to be in a situation that could get messy really quick.

“I’ll be fine here,” Harry reasoned, turning his gaze to the entrance of a little shop by the name of ‘Greg’s Books and More.’

“If anything goes bad, it wasn’t my fault!”

I didn’t want to be responsible for anything that might ensue, after all Harry was the one who insisted to walk in the shop with me. I had a good feeling that we’d be set though, there was literally nobody around and we were far from any major city with large amounts of people.

The two of us hopped out simultaneously shutting the car doors together. Walking side by side with him in the bright daylight made me more aware of the height difference between us, one I had barely ever noticed before. His single strides were equivalent to almost double mine and his shoulders were just a slight amount higher than my eye level.

“Good morning!” A sweet old man, short and stout greeted us from behind a counter of the shop. Harry and I both waved back.

“Morning sir, how are ya doing today?” Harry asked kindly, stopping short to stand and talk to the man.

“Just having a cuppa, enjoying the Sunday,” The man replied. “Let me know if you two kids have any questions.”

I shot the man another small smile before turning to Harry. “May the best book picker win?” I joked.

“You’ve got 10 minutes.”

“1...2..” I began counting down, but before I could even reach the number three, Harry was already rushing to the rows of books, an agenda already on his mind. He seemed so confident in what he was going to pick that I soon began to re think what I was going to choose for his book.

I hurriedly rushed to the other side of the bookstore, scanning the shelves with my eyes. The shop was small and I could hear Harry rummaging through shelves on the opppsite side. I had 10 minutes to find the book I had in mind, something I loved that I wanted to pass on to Harry.

The thought of trading off books to someone who a very intimate gesture, an invitation to be apart of another’s brain. I still couldn’t believe I was here right now with Harry Styles, a now friend, spending my Sunday out and about the town. I knew it was my day off but I knew when I arrived back to my cottage I’d want to inform Eve.

As my eyes panned over the endless covers and names of authors and titles a familiar bright blue and green cover popped up. Ah, I knew what this was. Before I had even fully removed it from the shelf, the yellow cursive script was already showing.

Love is a Mix Tape.

Given his career in music I knew right away this would be the perfect book for him. I had read it months ago, but the impact it left on me remained the same. A story not specifically circled around romance, but hints at the struggles of love and loss. It was funny and a joy to read.

I looked over the book making sure there were no imperfections, torn pages or bent covers. Luckily there was none, I angled it to my side hiding it just in case he’d pop out of of nowhere.

Walking up to the cash register there was no sign of him, he was probably still amongst the jungle of books so I took this as my invitation to check out.

“Hi,” I chirped to the old man who sat behind the desk, his glasses almost falling off his face as he read through the book in front of him.

“Hello there love, you all set?” He asked, walking over to the vintage-like cash register.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” I put the book down between us already beginning to reach in my purse for my wallet. I really hoped Harry hasn’t read this one yet.

“Can I just give you money to cover both my book and the other customers? Like, pass it on..” I spoke handing the man almost triple the amount of my single book. He looked at me inquisitively and then began to smile.

“I’m sure that young man will appreciate it,” He smiles, a glimmer of knowingness in his eyes. I knew the gesture was small and i knew money was not a problem for him but I had such an urge to just do it anyways.

I thanked the man as he wrapped up the book and placed it in a brown paper bag, graciously taking it from him. Harry was still amongst the jungle of shelves and I didn’t want to prowl or cause attention so I decided to wait outside the store. The air was fresh and crisp, the sound of chirping birds and whistling trees engulfed my senses. I’m almost sure Harry had reached his 10 minute mark, but I wasn’t going to rush him. I had a feeling it was a rare occurrence for him to be able to aimlessly shop around, crowd free.

“Ya ready?” His voice erupted behind me, the bell of the door pinging in the quiet air. I turned to face him, his paper bag tucked underneath his arm.

“Not really,” I joked, it wasn’t a complete lie though. I wouldn’t mind shopping around with him in little hideaways all day. Harry caught up to me and we began the short walk back to his car in quiet. As my hand began to reach the handle he quickly swooped in front of me, opening it himself. I looked at him with a stupid look on my face, in awe of a gentleman.

“Oh thanks,” I spoke sheepishly.

“My pleasure.”

I hopped in and moments later Harry was back in the drivers seat beside me pressing the car on and pumping up the heat.

“Thanks, by the way.” He gestured to the paper bag.

“Oh, not a problem at all! Random acts of kindness or whatever,” I brushed it off.

“Not used to someone covering the bill,” He admitted. “Not like that type of stuff matters to me.”

“Well don’t even worry about it.”

“I’ll get you back next time,” He noted.

Next time. So there’s going to be a next time? A next time of us going to the book store? A next time of us hanging out? A next time of what?

“Should we swap these books or what?” I questioned, changing the topic once again.

“So eager, huh?” Harry laughed.

“Well we’re just sitting here in a empty parking lot, you have any other suggestions?”

“You’re right,” He quipped. “Here you are then.”

The two of us exchanged the bags. He lifted it to his ear, shaking it as if it was a surprise gift and he was trying to guess what it could be.

“Just get on with it!” I exclaimed.

“Hush, hush.” He began opening it, very carefully, soon revealing the book I had chosen for him.

“Lucky for you, I’ve never read this. Thank you,” He seemed very grateful as he looked over the front cover, going back and forth between the pages quickly. “I’m excited.”

“Thank God,” I huffed. “I was nervous you’d have read it before.”

“Nope, never. You did good,” Harry compliments, his eyes falling back to my unopened bag in my hands. “Now it’s your turn.”

Oh, yeah.

“I hate when people watch me open stuff,” I admitted. My hand was toying with the bag as I looked at him nervously. I didn’t like people watching me because I was afraid that I wouldn’t give off the right reaction to whatever they may have given me. It was too much pressure, and especially Harry watching me so intently it made me nervous.

“Want me to turn away?” He offered earnestly. “I know people like that, my sister.”

“Maybe just like causally look out the car or whatever.”

Immediately he began fiddling with his windshield wipers, intently focusing on them as if they were some sort of puzzle. I wanted to tell him not to use them when it wasn’t raining and it’d damage the car, but I’m sure he knew that. I took that as my queue to quickly unpack-age the book, afraid he might cause damage.

When I opened it up it revealed not one but two books. The one on top made my heart sink, I recognized the title right away. It was his ex girlfriends book. Why would he give this one to me? Should I act like I know what it is and what it’s about? No. Play dumb. Underneath it though, was a book by the name of ‘Betting On The Muse’ by Charles Bakowski. Ah, poetry.

“You done yet slowpoke?” Harry interrupted my thoughts, the two books sat between my lap.

“You can look,” I complied. “Are they both for me?”

“Yes,” He replied simply. “But, I have some stipulations.”

“This wasn’t a part of the deal.”

“I would like if you read the Bukowski book first. It’s poems, I want you to read them and guess which one is my favorite when you’re finished,” He instructed sweetly. Although there was direction in his tone, it came off so kind. “As for the other one..” He paused and then let out a huff.

“I don’t even want you to touch it,” He continued. “Don’t look it up, reviews, synopsis...anything.”

“Okay,” I agreed. I was confused but I didn’t want to let that on.

“One day, if I give you the ‘ok’ I want you to read it. If you want. You don’t have to listen to me by any means, but yeah,” He finished awkwardly.

“So just hold onto it?” I asked, holding up the Truth Be Told book. His eyes glimpsed down to it before quickly shooting back up to meet my gaze. The cover was what I was assuming to be her, his ex. Her hair was messy, lips full, topless with her arms covering her breasts in shades of black and white.

“Yeah, just hold on to it,” He stated.

“You’ve got my word,” I smiled. I could feel the tension in the car and I didn’t want it anymore. This was supposed to be a lighthearted excursion and I wanted to keep it that way.

“Great, well thank you for the books. I’ll start mine right away,” Harry began as he started the car once again. “You ready to take back off?”

I nodded watching him look over the book I had gotten him one last time. He smiled at it before turning to smile towards me. I smiled back. He then brought his hand to the radio, clicked a few things on his iPhone and then turned the notch up loudly. As he began to pull out of the cobblestone parking lot, the beautiful sound of his voice filled the car. This time it was in song.

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theres-someone-to-write-about-it · 3 years

Text

Banshee friend helps Bella through dark days

Edward leaving crushed her, mind body and soul. When Sam pulled her out of the woods muttering and crying that he was gone. I almost went to kill him myself. I didn’t care where he was, he was an absolute asshole for doing this to her.

I couldn’t sleep those first few weeks because I couldn’t feel that she was alive.

The first three months were agony to watch her suffer. If I could have carried her through it, telling her it was going to be okay, I would have. Her night terrors and screams hurt my throat even though I know she couldn’t feel the pain.

Living next door to her was a constant battle between wanting to sneak into her room and knowing what I’d find wasn’t her. Wasn’t Bella. She was a shell, a hallowed frame with nothing inside.

I came over and brought food to Charlie under the pretense of a good neighbor. He would barley talk and I knew better than to ask.

When a flickering ember of her life finally came back, I wanted to run to her. To hug and hold her, so happy to know she was starting to be alright. But there was still so much more she needed to heal.

I stayed with her as often as I could. Even when she didn’t acknowledge I was there. I’d sit at the lunch table with her, no need for conversation. I saw she was only responding to direct questions. Not healed enough yet to be human.

Her waking up was a blessing and a curse. There was more pain, the dryness of her faint embers igniting was a hopeful sign but hard to breathe through.

I followed her and Angela to the movies. I should have just gone to her, tagged along to the trip like a normal person. But silent curiosity got the better of me. I imagined it was easier for her to believe I was just one of her normal human friends. Rather than someone who could clearly see how exactly she was hurting and what she was feeling.

Her hallucinations weren’t necessarily all in her head. They were more like psychic echos, pieces of the real Edward peaking through her shield while also being encased in them. I could see them to an extent and feel what they did to her. I never dreamed she’d use them as a lifeline and devote herself to extreme sports to witness them.

Stubborn and hurt as she was, I knew she would’ve found any reason to see her visions again. I suggested some fun times. My motorcycle wasn’t necessarily top notch in the speed department but a ride on the back got her high enough the first few times.

I taught her how to ride it next and that lasted a while before the feeling wore off again. Eventually, we were able to just sit and talk like normal people. I remember the first time I heard her laugh again so clearly, I’ll never forget it.

We were sitting on my living room floor messing with a map and haphazardly talking about the best roads to ride on the bike with. Her eyes were still only a light purple underneath as opposed to the bruise colored they were just weeks ago. I was doing most of the talking, like normal.

“This road is really good if you want to go fast, like 100 miles an hour fast. There are no cliffside or blind curves and surprisingly no cops,” I pointed to another winding highway, “This one will definitely get your thrills in, but you can’t go over 70 without the goal of jumping a cliff. Screaming weeeeee all the way down.”

I don’t know exactly what made her laugh, but my heart stopped when I heard it. It wasn’t her full laugh, but it was more than I’d heard in months. By the look on her face, it was more than she’d heard from herself too. If I didn’t have such good emotional control, bordering on ridiculous control, I would’ve cried right there in front of her.

A short pause was all I afforded myself, acting like it wasn’t such a huge thing. I made a comment about how I liked her laugh offhand. Then we, mostly me, went back to talking.

Talking about Edward or the Cullens made her feel like falling apart all over again. But I found subtle ways to try and heal her mind and heart.

When Laurent came down for the visit that almost killed her, I had to catch myself from running to help. Even from miles away, I could feel her fear and despair of being in that clearing.

There wouldn’t have been anything I could have done to save her. I’m still essentially a human with some fae gifts. No super strength or ability to take down a vampire. But damn I would have tried had the wolves not showed up.

It was some short time after that I let it slip about my not-so-human origins. Jacob Black wanted back in her life after he’d changed and it was important she knew exactly what type of world she lived in, surrounded by mythical creatures and at least one of them who loved her. Obviously I couldn’t tell her that part. I never even brought it up.

We were pacing the forest since it was hard for her to be still nowadays. As much as I tried to veer away from the path she walked that day with Edward, it was like her body had a mind of its own. I rambled on about the trees before coming upon this one particular one who was dying. I’d been searching for a segway the entire day.

I pressed my hand into the trunk that still looked alive, “This tree will be dead by next year.”

Not one to perk up at some of the weird things that come out of my mouth, Bella just nods and mutters an agreement. I thought for a moment that I’ll literally have to spell it out for her when I see a giant wolf track right next to me. Wonderful. “Wow, that’s a big paw print. What kind of wolves are they breeding up here?”

At that, her head snapped up finally. She came over to where I was and saw it instantly in the wet earth, “it’s probably a bear or something. Grizzlies can get pretty big.”

“Or you have a particular loyal pack protecting you.” We were right beyond her yard after all. She attempted to stammer away and excuse before I cut in again, not being able to take it anymore. “I know werewolves are a thing and so are vampires.”

I hadn’t realized I turned away from her when I said it until I was facing the dying tree again. I was afraid of her reaction if she’d think I’d betrayed her after all this time. “What are you talking about?” I sighed, hanging my head with closed eyes.

“Those aren’t the only types of legends that exist in the real world. There are other creatures and types of people. It just so happens Forks is a good a place as any for them... us... to settle down.”

“Us?” I couldn’t even look. Her emotions were going haywire trying to figure it out, process the words I was saying in a way that made sense. Probably wondering if I was a vamp sent to kill her, that particular fear cut deep.

“I’m not dangerous or hurt people. I don’t turn into an animal or anything. I’m a banshee and we see and feel death. I can see and feel the emotions of people around me and feel when someone is going to die.”

The silence was gut wrenching but I knew she had to process and it would take time. “How?” I think she asked it on a whim, the first thing that popped in her head.

“My ancestors were fae. Like fairies only a lot weirder. Eventually they came to be with humans and through a few centuries of evolution, here I am. Seeing death everywhere I go.”

“Huh.” I couldn’t tell if that was an intrigued or scared response so I peeked over to see her last in thought. Better than running for the hills I guess. “I can’t have normal human friends to save my life.”

After a moment shocked me back, we both laughed and I can tell you, I’ve never felt more free. I couldn’t tell her everything like the spirits in town or the lost souls or some of the more unsavory things. But whenever a newly dead soul came to be moved on, I told her the process as I did it. Opening the veil and leading them to the other side.

She was interested what lied beyond the veil and I told her what I’ve seen of other people’s afterlives how there are infinite possibilities depending on what you believe. I could’ve sworn she was about to say that she didn’t believe in anything after death but bit her tongue. Eventually it became easier to tell what she was thinking based on her emotions, or when I was feeling lazy, almost everything was written in her face.

After Jake wormed his way into letting her in on the secret, he became more of a permanent fixture in her life. Not that he was a bad person, he was far more loyal and slightly more understanding than the boy who said he loved her previously. But still young and volatile and unpredictable.

Meeting Jake for the first time was not what I expected or intended for that matter. Bella got the ridiculous idea of cliff diving and had the stubbornness to go alone, picking the absolute worst timing.

I was in the reservation before I knew what was happening to me, drawn there by imminent death. My soul worked on autopilot, moving my body and I guess making sure I got there in one piece even though I still can’t remember a single road sign or turn in this place I’d never been.

I arrived just after they said the prognosis wasn’t good. Regardless of how much I knew it wasn’t the cause, I felt guilty for being there. Like Harry’s death would be my fault because I could feel it before it happened. I kept my camouflage well, that way no one disturbed me or even noticed I was there when I snuck into his room.

The light was already fading from his body as his soul was ready to leave. I must have been there only in spirit because even the medical staff didn’t shoo me out of the room when he coded the first time. They paid me no mind as I held his hand. I told him everything was going to be alright, that he was safe now.

He was stubborn and wouldn’t go until he had everyone around him. His whole family, most of his friends, and others gathered around to wish him goodbye. The second time I took his hand, his soul went with me. I told him he was going somewhere wonderful and led him towards the light. It took me a while after he was gone to remember where my body was. Outside in the parking lot.

It took me what felt like hours to control the sobs grasping from my throat and even longer to realize what I felt was drowning. Bella drowning after cliff diving right before a storm. I’ll owe Sam and Jake eons for saving her even though I knew they didn’t do it for me.

As I drove to her house, I felt for her energy to know she was alright. Knowing she was with Jake made me feel marginally better. At least his werewolves strength could protect her if needed. She already felt sick with worry and guilt so no need for me to give her anymore.

We pulled up at the house at the same time. The same moment we recognized the car. I knew the presence of a Cullen and immediately went to her side of the car, holding the door before Jake could think to drive away without dragging me along the gravel

He was tense and angry and, above all, concerned. “It’s Alice.” Was all I had to say before Bella was practically running to the door, leaving Jake and I to meet officially. We’d heard enough about each other. Me from Bella and him from what seemed a mixture of places.

“You were at the hospital with Harry.” I nodded. “You didn’t kill him did you?” I shook my head, the vibrating in his shoulder decreased ever so slightly, the tension in his knuckles never ebbing. He kept watching the door, weighing his options. If it was worth breaking the treaty. For her. I would’ve.

I put my hand on his arm, almost pulling back from the heat. I knew to expect it but somehow it still surprised me. “I can go inside and make sure she’s alright and find out what Alice wants or stay out here and tell you what she feels.”

He blinked a couple times, not exactly sure what I meant. “I’m a Banshee. Which is how I know you need to be assured she’s alright, ideally in a way that doesn’t involve you hulking out. So I can either stay here with you and tell you that she’s feeling incredibly relieved and happy to see Alice or go inside and get the full story then report back out here. Your choice.”

“I think I’ll go look for myself thanks.” Typical dude bro. I rolled my eyes and easily kept pace with him even when clearly he tried to beat me to the door.

Alices energy was always different than the others and I never could tell if she had a blind spot for me too with her visions or if I just seemed another insignificant human to her.

When I walked through the door, with Jake shortly behind, Alices eyes went cold and threatening. Bella got in between us and assured Alice we were safe. Introductions were made and things were civil for Alice and I. Alice and Jake were like hot oil and water, sputtering and tense.

Bella explained the wolves and my being a banshee really quickly, trying to get it over with so she could hear about why Alice was actually there. Upon hearing what I was, Alice looked at me a bit harder, trying to get a read on me and my future. She clicked her tongue in some sort of verdict and explained about seeing Bella jump and the stupidity.

Things happened pretty quickly after that. Alice got the call from Rosalie and how Edward knew something happened to Bella. I tried to stop Jake from answering the phone but the moron did it anyway. The tension in his posture and tone told me all I needed to know as I ripped the phone from his hand. He barley had time to say ‘funeral’ before I said his name.

“She’s okay. She’s alive. Bella is safe. Reasonably.” I couldn’t hear breathing or feel anything but I willed him to hear me. “Harry died. Bella is okay.” The line went dead.

I could fear Bella breaking all over again and I didn’t hold myself back from holding her as she almost fell to the ground.

At least he knew she wasn’t dead. Gods know what he would do if he thought so. I prayed with everything in and around me that he could know I was telling the truth.

I left her with Alice for the night, pulling Jake behind me practically by the scruff. They needed time alone. She explained Victoria and the wolves protecting her. I didn’t pay attention to if she bothered explaining me. I was afraid of what she’d say.

One thing we all did learn from Alice was that they were planning on coming back. All of them. I wish I’d burned their house down.

Edwards return felt more dramatic than it was. And all the drama was second hand to me. All I focused on was how to help Bella. How to help her see this wasn’t healthy. She was stubborn and independent and amazing. She deserved so much more.

I arrived at their house around ten minutes before he arrived. The Cullens were surprised, especially Alice. It was a first for her. I guess she couldn’t see me after all. Good to know.

I waited outside until I was invited in, civilized and cordial. They all gathered in the living room, in the middle of dusting off the home they’d emptied out of. “I want to talk about you all returning to Bella’s life.”

Carlisle nodded, speaking up for his family. “It is only Bella’s decision whether she accepts us back.”

“I’m aware. Personally, I have no problem with any of you. I’m not sure what you’ve ever heard about Banshees but I’m not here as a representative of my kind. I’m here as someone who... loves Bella very much. All I ask is an audience with Edward before he sees her. To give him some information and ask questions about his return.”

They let me sit on the couch for what felt like years before he walked in the door. He was ragged and haggard. I tried not to have some sick satisfaction with that. But it was a fraction of what Bella suffered.

“She’ll kill me when she finds out I’m here.” Edward nodded, confused and concerned that he can’t read my mind. “I’m a Banshee. We have some shielding ability to keep our thoughts private. Can we talk?”

He only nodded again. “Good. Do you think you could handle some pain right now? A glimpse into the last six months. What happened after you left?”

His voice was so strained and ragged, “I deserve it.”

“I don’t necessarily disagree but right now I don’t think it’s the best time...” I played everything over in my head of what I think would happen. His only relief would be Bella and her him. It was inevitable they’d be back together and she’ll want to forget any of this ever happened while he went on always feeling guilty.

“You left her to keep her safe. Believing a life without you would be best. You were wrong.”

#twilight #banshee in forks #headcanon #folks #bella swan #werewolves #vampires #edward cullen #cullens #orginal story

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neo-culture-mafia · 5 years

Text

공기가 없다

I don’t know how it got like this. Everything is blurry Lights cascaded around me like I was twirling in the middle of a circus at midnight; in a way that enveloped me in warm air that ironically chilled my body yet still melted my mind. My thoughts start seeping out of my brain and leaving me with none other than a single worded question that also described my everyday life with ease:

“Help?”

“Help me...please.” I begged, literally laying at the feet of Jeno. “I will just get the hell off the ground,” he said as he picked me up by my arms, “it’s dirty.” He concluded as he pushed me towards the kitchen table.

Johnny said I was running out of time and that I was basically on borrowed time now. Mark is still being too hard-headed and annoying...and I can’t convince him to leave with everyone.

I try to understand him when he said he was afraid of facing Taeyong again...but I just physically can’t. I would think my love for the boys would be way stronger than the fear of seeing an old family member; but I am me, not Mark.

So I turned to Jeno...if anyone was to talk to him without pissing him off -- Jeno was the man to go to.

The boys were all out doing their own thing while Jisung and Chenle slept on the couch; sleep filling their bodies instead of dinner.

“We need to go. Soon. I’m running out of time.” I said as we both sat down. “Oh, this again.” Jeno sighed as he took off his glasses. He rubbed the bridge of his nose like a father would once he received his child’s bad report card; frustrated and outright tired of it. “No, not ‘this again’.” I said and he looked at me, his eyes giving me a tired and stressed look.

“I don’t think you understand, Jeno. If we don’t leave -- we’re on our own and we have no one.” I plead. He rolled his eyes, leaning back in his seat and cleaning his glasses with his t-shirt.

“Seven Stars still see you as part of Neo Culture. They don’t care what happened between Mark and Taeyong-” “What Taeyong did to Mark.” Jeno corrected my words. I bit my tongue; pet peeve of being interrupted conquered. Yet, I continued. “They don’t care about that. They have Mark and Junior Forces in their files.” I brought to his attention.

“You can scream, cry, and tell them that you’re not Neo Culture anymore...but they don’t care...Neo Culture was you, and still is you.” He finally started realizing the situation when I saw him bite his lip and look at the two sleeping children in the living room. The only thing for warmth was each other as they laid on the crappy pull out mattress.

“They wouldn’t survive if Seven Stars came knocking on the door right now.” I said as Jeno still looked at Chenle and Jisung. “They deserve better right now. They deserve to have 3 meals a day and a warm bed.” I countered while looking at the sleepy boys too.

“And they’ll never get better if you and everyone else can’t realize we’re running out of time....I got us help, but all you have to do is reach out and ask. Johnny wants you guys back and I know so many do also.” I said, eyes getting wet at the thought of never getting them out of this mess.

“They’re ready to have you guys back. They need you.” I said finally letting a tear escape. Jeno looked at my tears and broke completely. “I need you guys to go back and help fix this. Your students...they miss you. They miss their teachers.” I started listing off reasons on why they needed to go back and fix this.

“I need you to come down with me and live. This,” I motioned to everywhere around us. “this isn’t living. It’s surviving, Jeno.” I said and his hand came to hold my shoulder comfortingly.

“This isn’t fair to you, or Mark, or Jaemin, or Renjun, or Chenle, or Donghyuck, or Jisung...none of you. And it gets harder every time I come over here because you guys are getting used to this.” I spill and finally let the tears spill over like a damn.

“Just...please help.” Was all I said as I got up and walked to the front door. I opened it to Mark who was standing there. I didn’t want to do this right now.

“Y/n?” Jisung called from his spot on the mattress. “Can you please close the door? I’m cold.” He mumbled and my heart broke. His body snuggled closer to Chenle and I could only stare at Mark.

“What’s your call now...leader.” His pride looked hurt as I bumped his shoulder and walked past him and down the hallway of the old apartment building.

I met Renjun and Jaemin on the stairs, as they came back up with a ramen pack and a bottle of water. “Y/n? Where are you going?” Renjun asked as he stopped to have a conversation with me.

“I...need to be alone right now.” I called as I didn’t stop down the stairs and out the door where I literally ran into Donghyuck. He grabbed my arms to steady me. “You good?” Was all he asked and I could only shake my head ‘no’. “I need to be alone.” I said and broke out of his grip. I jogged out of the almost vacant parking lot and into the deafening silence of a street at midnight.

My chest hurt and ached with worry. I just wanted everything to be easy and go as planned. But I didn’t realize Mark’s feelings and emotions and didn’t factor it into the equation of the situation...and it’s a major set back.

My feet were putting one in front of the other as if it was pre-determined.

It was getting harder to walk and act like everything was going to be fine when I knew deep down...it was never going to work out.

I sat down on a curb and breathed. The occasional car would pass by and the passengers would look at me to see if it was really a girl sitting on the side of the road at 2 in the morning...and wasn’t stone-faced or pissed drunk.

I was just running on the pain of realizing my world was over while other’s were still living in their own. How could people carry on with their life when my life was basically crumbling at my feet?

MARK

“What’s up with her?” Jaemin asked as Renjun stepped inside with the ramen pack. I shook my head, walking in the apartment.

Chenle and Jisung were trying to get comfortable again. “Don’t sleep.” I said and they both looked up at me -- puzzled. “Everyone.” I looked around at them and they lazily paid attention.

“Pack your bags and be ready by 8.” I ordered and they all looked at each other as if I had gone mad.

“We’re going to Busan by 9pm tomorrow night.” I said and they looked at me like I had gone absolutely off my rocker, except Jeno who smiled smally to himself.

“...why are you guys not moving?...” I asked and they just stared at me more. “I gave an order.” I said and just like that -- the sleep had gone from Chenle and Jisung’s eyes and they were packing the very little things they had.

Jeno was smiling to himself as he packed the important documents and our stack of cash for our ‘rent’. Jaemin and Renjun were packing up everybody’s clothes and individual documents. Hyuck who must have overheard started packing the small armory that we had brought.

I walked out the door and someone called after me. “Where are you going?” Jisung asked and I was determined, “Getting the last family member. We’re not doing anything without her.” I said as I walked out of the door and into the cool night.

Fear was running through my veins...I’m not going to lie. I am super scared.

Of Taeyong, of me making the right decision...of failure.

But this is the last option I have to make, and I know deep down this is right....

...so why does it feel like I’m breathing in water and I have no air...

...there is no air...

← Previously chapter & Next Chapter →

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janelevy · 5 years

Text

sinkhole

requested by @thena0315

summary: on her way to work one morning, ava ends up in a sticky situation and has to rely on her skills to help others before paramedics arrive. nothing romantic here, just our fave being a badass!

warnings: some descriptions of injuries, nothing super gory. just lots of blood. also minimal swearing

also by the way, i finally figured out how to allow anonymous asks, so if anyone prefers to send asks/prompts on anon y’all should be able to do that now! thanks <3

Ava was running a little more behind schedule than she would’ve liked, but she knew a decent shortcut to get to Med. Switching lanes, she turned her car away from Monday morning traffic and took an exit off the freeway.

Her day hadn’t gotten off to the best start. Somehow she slept through her alarm, then she didn’t realize she threw on her scrub shirt backwards until people gave her weird looks in Starbucks. On top of that, she woke up to a missed call from her mother and judging by the length of the message she left, it wasn’t a happy “How are you?” kind of call. Oh, and of course - it was raining. If April showers bring May flowers, then what do May showers bring? June floods? Ava thought to herself with a sigh. She slowed at a stop sign, glanced left then right, then proceeded into her shortcut through the neighborhood.

She yawned - somehow she was still tired despite getting more sleep than intended - and watched her windshield wipers work through the drizzle. She coasted to another stop sign; a fleeting glance in her rearview mirror showed a tailgater who literally appeared out of thin air behind her. Ava rolled her eyes and continued forward... then downward.

It was like the road surface below her car’s tires turned to liquid. One second she could see the overcast rainy sky, then the next second she was several feet below ground with dirt crumbled over her windshield.

It all happened so fast that it took a minute for her to recover. As soon as the numbness of shock wore off, Ava registered the feeling of her heart crawling uneasily up her throat. “Shit,” she panted, unbuckling her seatbelt and trying to open her door. At first it didn’t budge, but after a few more solid kicks and shoves, it fell completely off its hinges and rested on a large chunk of earth with a groan. She stumbled out, steadying herself against the side of her now thoroughly busted-up car. Damn, she was so close to having it paid off, too.

Then for the first time, Ava fully took in her surroundings. The tailgater’s truck had also tumbled into this pit with her, and the guy didn’t look to be in great shape. A car that had been parked above but appeared to be empty had also fallen in with them, and other than that Ava couldn’t see any sign of life. She drew in a stinging breath filled with dust and dirt, then tried to move toward the truck. The crumbly earth below her feet definitely didn’t feel sturdy, so she kept her steps steady and light. The rain still coming down made the ground too slippery and muddy.

Everything around her was deadly quiet. It felt like it was just them, rain-slicked mud, and the sky, which was now much higher above than before. Ava picked her way over to the pickup in about a minute and once she arrived she surveyed the scene. It looked like the truck had taken a direct nose dive into the sinkhole if the busted-up front end indicated anything. The passenger side airbags had deployed, but the driver’s hadn’t, which explained the mask of blood that now coated his lower face. He moaned, eyes lazily flicking to her as she reached through the open window for the lock.

“What...” he mumbled, and the rest of his question turned into a violent cough. Ava noticed more blood splatter on the steering wheel, so she started working faster. Blindly her fingers scrabbled around the inside of the door until they found the door lock, which she flipped the other way before she stepped back and wrenched the door open.

From a brief examination, it looked like the worst of his injuries was blunt force trauma to his face and chest from slamming into the steering wheel. He definitely had the grounds to sue the manufacturer of his truck’s shitty airbags. Ava nudged the door open the rest of the way and moved in closer, running her hands firmly over the man’s torso. He seemed pretty out of it, but she hoped to at least get a name and pain rating out of him.

“Hey, hey. What’s your name?” she asked, hands pausing at the base of his ribcage.

He winced and twisted his head away from her. “M- Mark,” he grunted through gritted teeth. “Who are y...” He trailed off, doubling over when her hands found a particularly bad spot.

“Okay, Mark. My name is Ava, I’m a doctor.” Gingerly she pressed on the area again, and a whimper escaped Mark’s throat. She would best be able to tell what was the problem if she could cut through his shirt, but she had a hunch Mark wouldn’t be a fan of that idea. Instead, she let another question speed off her tongue. “On a scale from one to ten, one being nothing and ten being excruciating, how is your pain here?”

One last time, she applied pressure, and Mark leaned forward again while trying to swat her away. “God dammit! Ten. It’s a ten. Eleven, if you like. Seems you’re... trying to make it an eleven.”

“I’m just assessing the severity of the wound.” Ava removed her hands and glanced back at her car. Now that she knew he was stable, she felt better going back for her phone. “I’ll be right back, I’m going to call for help.”

Within a few minutes Ava was back at Mark’s truck and was on the phone with 911. “Hello, my name is Ava Bekker and I’ve been caught in an accident with one other victim.”

“... wait, wait, Dr. Bekker? That’s you?” the voice on the other end demanded.

“Yes?” Ava stood with one hand on her hip, squinting around at the mounds of dirt. She could’ve sworn she heard another voice on her way back over here.

“I know you! You were my mother’s surgeon last year.” Ava’s impatience was already starting to come to a head, but luckily the operator got back on topic. “Anyway, what happened? Where are you?”

Ava frowned as she tried to recall the intersection she’d been at before literally falling into the ground. “Um... I believe we’re somewhere near the intersection of Buttonwood and... Oak Streets? A sinkhole opened up in the Englewood neighborhood a few blocks from Med. I’m sure it’ll be hard to miss it.” Her eyes flicked down to Mark, who was still sitting dazed and breathing heavily. “I’m fine but I have a man here in his late forties, early fifties who has blunt force trauma to the face and chest. Some broken teeth, definitely some bruising and broken ribs. Possibly dealing with flail chest, but I have limited resources. Not exactly an OR down here.”

Right as the operator began to reply, Ava distinctly heard a soft call for help. “Hold on,” she said and held the phone away from her ear. “Hello?” she yelled, throat hoarse as she tiptoed over the loose ground toward a pile of earth. “Hello? Is there someone else there?”

“Help!” There it was again. Ava knelt down and brushed away several layers of dirt to discover a woman slathered in mud and cuts of various sizes and depths. Ava worked to uncover more of her body. “Make that two victims,” she barked into the phone, then froze. The woman was trapped, alright; a heavy rock was planted on her left leg, nearly crushing it into two pieces. Blood was everywhere.

“I- I was walking my dog and... and the ground just...” The woman threw her head back, and Ava noticed another gushing laceration on the side of her scalp.

“Just opened up, right? I know. One minute I was in my car on the road, then the next I was down here.” Ava did her best to smile at her despite the situation and her exhaustion. God, she was still probably going to have to work a full shift after all this. Fuck Mondays.

Ava took in the mangled leg and the blood pouring incessantly from where the boulder sat on what had to be a pulverized kneecap. Instinctively she took off her scrub top, leaving on the thin long sleeve t-shirt underneath, and pressed the black garment to the wound to act as gauze and absorb the blood. Right away it became clear that wouldn’t be enough. She needed a makeshift tourniquet to curb the bleeding. Ava made her way back over to her car, then was back in a flash with the only piece of fabric long enough to be sufficient: her white coat. It was one of her older ones anyway, and she had plenty of others, not that she cared. She slid the coat beneath the leg, and the woman let out a sob. “It’s okay. You’ll be okay,” Ava muttered, concentrating on tying the coat tightly above the injury while continuing to press her soaked scrubs on it. She could bleach these all she wanted but there was no coming back from this.

Then, at long last, she heard the sirens. Ava hung up on the operator and looked up; the faces of many first responders peered back down at her. She waved and yelled, “We have to work fast, I have two critical patients down here!”

It took a good thirty minutes, but eventually Ava was back aboveground. Of course she allowed Mark and the woman to be carried up first. Once she was back up, they offered a ride in an ambulance and she accepted. She wasn’t about to stick around to watch them bring up the vehicles - she’d already retrieved her important documents and her still-warm coffee from her car, anyway.

The first person Ava saw upon walking through the ED doors was Maggie, who stood at the desk with her jaw on the floor. “Ava! Don’t tell me you were in that sinkhole, too?”

Ava sipped her coffee and leaned on the counter. Only now was she really feeling the pain and exhaustion deep in her bones; the adrenaline was wearing off. “Yes. Thought I’d take a shortcut to work. Now I have to go car shopping again.”

Maggie shook her head in awe, then Ava looked over and spotted Connor emerging from a consult in treatment five. He noticed her too and finished rubbing hand sanitizer into his hands as he jogged over. “Ava! Where have you been? You’re never late.” Then he halted and gave her a once-over. “You look like hell.”

“Thanks. So do you.” She grinned and patted his shoulder as she brushed past him. “I don’t think I need an exam, but I know it’s a good idea. So make it quick, because I have an operation in an hour.” And without protest, he followed her.

#chicago med #ava bekker #fanfic

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prettywordsyouleft · 6 years

Text

Too Good To Be Wrong - Part 1

Summary: No matter how much you tried, you couldn’t resist Park Chanyeol, even if you knew it would test everything that you thought family stood for.

Genre: childhood friends & “siblings” to lovers au / forbidden romance / older woman - younger man au

Characters: Park Chanyeol x female reader

A/N: This is a series about falling in love with your “brother” Chanyeol - your family took him in when you were younger. It will contain mature content in later parts, but for the majority of the story it’s about reconnecting as adults and discovering feelings for each other.

I am expecting Too Good to be Wrong to be around 10 parts long, but this could change depending on how the story progresses in further parts.

Too Good To Be Wrong will be posted every Tuesday at 10am NZST.

Prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

You groaned when you checked your phone again, the short vibration indicating that it was a text this time. It was another message from your mother and in any other situation, you would have answered her when she called the first time an hour ago. But it was your second week as an intern at your new job and you were a little busy.

And by a little, you were literally being run off your feet.

Answering her call would have to wait but she seemed incessant about getting in contact with you that you started to panic. Was it something to concern yourself over? You had been preoccupied trying to balance two trays of takeout coffees as you dashed back into the office when she rung the last time. Then you were photocopying enough copies of the month end report for all the team members when you felt it vibrate in your pants pocket once more.

Deciding you couldn’t do anything about it until you could squeeze in a toilet break, you made the decision to place your phone into your bag under your desk and began typing up the sales reports your supervisor had just placed down next to you.

“Y/N, I need them in an hour!” she called out after her departure and despite your pleasant response, you were grumbling on the inside. You’d even have to hold on to go to the bathroom now too.

Finally, your work day was over and as you exhaustedly left the office you turned out the lights, being the last to leave for the day. You were barely out of the building before you heard your phone vibrate again and you groaned, fishing it out of your bag and pressing talk.

“Oh what, Mum?!”

“Finally, you answer!”

You sighed heavily from your outburst and pulled the phone away from your ear momentarily to see how many notifications had stacked up over the day. Gasping at the number, you pressed the device back to your ear. “Is everything okay there?!”

“It would be too bad if it weren’t with your lack of attention. What made it impossible for you pick up a call for five minutes?” she prattled and you heaved another sigh, your annoyance returning.

“Having five minutes to myself today would have been a blessing,” you admitted with a groan and narrowed your eyes on the darkened street ahead of you. All you wanted now was food, a shower and your bed.

“Well, do you have five minutes for me now?” she asked, her tone changing. You knew that tone all too well and it made you teeter between hanging up and listening on to what she had to say. “Do you?”

“What, what?” you bit back, hearing her triumphantly laugh at garnering enough of your curiosity. “Let’s hear what’s been so important for you to blow my phone up about!”

“Your apartment, remember how your father and I helped pay the deposit for it?”

“Please don’t tell me you took out a loan and now I’m homeless so you can pay it back,” you breathed down the phone and the older woman gasped.

“What do you take me for?! It was your Uncle that one time and I paid you back every cent I borrowed. Some filial daughter you are.”

“Fine, what?”

“Channie.” She started and you huffed out air at the mentioning of the real pride of your family. “He’s coming to Seoul.”

“So?”

“He needs a place to-”

“What, no! Mum, you know Chan and I never get along together. He’s so frustrating and I’m too old to put up with him,” you cut in, shaking your head at her half spoken request even though she couldn’t see it. “I can’t, I have adult friends and important things that I do with my life.”

Like order in Chinese food and cry over k-dramas romances, you thought sadly to yourself, unable to even bring your pathetic lifestyle up to the woman who raised you.

“You act like Channie is still that awkward kid who followed you about everywhere. He’s an adult too. It’ll only be for a couple of weeks, maybe a month at max. He’s landed a job up there as a music teacher at a university, so it’s not like he won’t be able to pay his way and I told him he has to treat your house rules as gospel. Come on, Y/N. He’s not even going to be in your way much.”

“But…” You had no comeback, and the woman on the phone knew it. “Ugh, fine but if he does so much as one thing wrong I’ll kick him out immediately, okay?”

“He’ll be there in two days, thank you!” The call disconnected and you let out an indignant scoff at her manipulative ways.

Fried chicken and beer it was for dinner tonight.

It was the weekend when Chanyeol arrived and it was far too early in the morning too. You stood in your doorway with sleep in your eyes and a scowl attached to your face. He grinned at you. “Some things never change.”

“Know that I only agreed to this because Mum made me aware that I’d get paid for you staying here.”

“Duly noted, what a generous heart you have towards your brother,” he admitted as he stepped inside with his belongings and you cringed, shaking your head at the tall boy.

“Ugh, brother is too much and you know it, Chan.”

“Our parents were thinking of adopting me last year but I told them I was fine with it being the way it is. I’ve been a part of your family for so long now I don’t need it to become legal. Besides, it’s fun being able to tease you about it.”

“What, that my Mum dotes over you more than her own flesh and blood?” you challenged and he smirked, nodding his head once. “You even admit to it now so freely!”

“You left home and I filled her heart, what can I say?” he retorted with a grin as he went back to the door to head out and grab more of his belongings. You merely stood there, watching as box after box filled up your small living space. Shaking your head, you waited until he closed the front door and smiled at you.

“I’m going back to bed.”

“It’s ten in the morning!”

You nodded slowly, as if he didn’t understand the need for sleep anymore. It used to be him that you’d be kicking out of bed in the early afternoon only a few years ago. “Try being an intern who works for one of the biggest editorial companies in Seoul and see how well you sleep during the week. I’m an adult unlike you most days!”

“I can’t guarantee I’ll be quiet,” he warned teasingly. You marched over to his side and gazed up at him, your nose scrunching up at how tall he was now. He had grown again, you were sure of it. He watched you bemused as you turned and climbed up onto your sofa to gain some height and authority over him. Chanyeol tried to suppress his laughter but his shoulders bounced and you swiftly kicked him in the leg. Yelping out a curse, he bent over enough and you smiled triumphantly. “My house, my rules.”

“Noona! Didn’t you just tell me you are an adult?! Still playing your dirty tricks with me!”

“Like you said before, some things never change,” you told him sweetly and shutting your bedroom door behind you.

Having Chanyeol living with you wasn’t as difficult as you imagined it to be. It was lively and you embraced any moment you had to tease him, the younger boy giving it back just as much. Such as your relationship was, nothing was ever serious and you had been laughing all weekend. You had learnt despite all this he had actually gotten himself a pretty decent job at the university near your work, and it allowed you to bribe him to take you to work in his car. This not only gave you an extra half an hour in the morning to sleep, but you would get to escape the woes of the crowded subway too.

You decided having him stay was going to benefit you in the morning.

“Remind me why I’m doing this for you?” he asked as he strapped in his seatbelt, glancing at your all too happy expression. “Noona, you look deranged.”

“Just drive Chan, I can’t be late.”

“Like I’ll make you late, I know how to drive,” he muttered and pulled out of the car park. It was silent for a few minutes until he reached over to turn on the radio, loud music full of drums and bass immediately blasting out which made you groan. Chanyeol laughed. “What? My car, my rules.”

“Petty son of a bitch.”

“I got taught by the best, what can I say?” he replied with a laugh as you reached to turn it down a little. You would placate his music taste as long as you could hear yourself think.

“So, this week should I be aware of any plans where I might need to vacate the apartment?” he asked and you glanced at him, your brows knitting together. Chanyeol smiled, keeping his eyes on the road. “Mum said I have to be mindful of your male friends. I of course asked her what friends but – oof!”

You slapped his chest and Chanyeol shot you a glare. “I’m driving!”

“You’re being a butthead!”

“You’re almost thirty and you still use language like butthead? And you say I’m not an adult?!”

You folded your arms over your chest in a huff.

“So, no male friends then?” he tried again, holding up a defensive arm as your own shot out to attack instinctively.

“Park Chanyeol!”

“It doesn’t suit you anyway,” he mentioned after laughing at you for a moment and you looked at him from the corner of your eye. “You and a man? I can’t imagine it.”

“I’ll have you know I am capable!”

His eyes widened. “I don’t want to know how much!”

“Then you shouldn’t ask such questions,” you surmised smugly, turning your attention to out the window. Inwardly, you whined over his attack and wished for the car ride to hurry up.

You were regretting not taking the subway now.

_________________

Part 2

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elareine · 5 years

Text

In the shallows

Chapters: 1/6 Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, some swearing Relationships: Dick Grayson/Jason Todd Characters: Tim Drake, Donna Troy Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Celebrity, NO CAPES, Identity Porn, Romantic Comedy, Drama & Romance, Texting, Online Dating AO3: /18803473

Summary: Jason Todd is a rock star... and an asshole. Dick Grayson has to do a movie with him. Luckily, there's this cute guy he's started texting recently.

Jason Todd was a rock star.

Yeah, exactly. Now, Dick had worked with some… less than talented people on set before. He’d made his debut in dance movies, for God’s sake, of course not everyone had been ready to play Hamlet.

But a total newbie? Never been on stage or on a movie set before? Dick really wished the producers had consulted him about that before making the decision. They hadn’t even done a chemistry test.

Okay, sure, it was a blockbuster movie about an interracial gay couple. Funding wouldn’t come easy. If the names ‘Richard Grayson’ and ‘Jason Todd’ had to be attached to make the money happen, they would be. And Dick knew Tim Drake, the executive producer, well enough to trust him with this. Tim wouldn’t have cast Jason if he thought it’d be a total shit show.

The thing was - the script was beautiful. The writers had really poured their hearts into it, and it showed. Dick had almost forgotten to read it from an actor’s perspective, he’d been so engrossed. By the end, blinking away tears, he had texted his agent that he would do it before going on a run to shake some of the heaviness away.

It wasn’t like there was a sad ending, exactly. Dick wouldn’t have taken anything with a ‘bury your gays’ feel to it. It was just… it made him feel a lot, this script.

He wanted to do it justice. Hopefully, Jason Todd wouldn’t be the one to drag them all down.

Dick sighed and looked at the script in front of him again. Specifically, at the part marked: ‘Vano: [singing]…’

The other worry he had was quite the opposite from his first. At least Jason Todd didn’t have to worry about singing. Dick had heard his songs as much as anyone could without actively seeking them out, which was to say all the time and everywhere. Jason had been around for years at this point; it didn’t seem likely that his popularity would be abating any time soon.

(When he wasn’t busy critiquing Jason’s casting, Dick could freely admit that his songs were pretty great. They always gave him that on-the-road-looking-for-freedom feeling that he loved. He might be following Jason on Spotify, even, but shush.)

Dick, however… well. He’d been taking singing lessons ever since he’d moved into closer consideration for this role. His vocal coach attested him with enough skills for the songs he’d seen so far. He’d gotten the accent of his character down to pat, too, even when singing and screaming. Still, compared to Jason Todd…

And they would be singing duets.

Giving up on his concentration for the evening, Dick decided to just go for a run. He was already pretty sure he wouldn’t sleep tonight, but exhaustion might help.

It didn’t really. Dick slept like shit and then had to deal with the worst traffic he’d ever seen (and he’d lived in New York for years). He barely made it in time. Tim was already waiting for him outside the lot. That was a sure sign he was getting ready to herd Dick exactly where he needed to be as quickly as possible.

Tim greeted him with a friendly wave. “Hi, Dick, welcome on set! Kate is over at the sound studio, but she’ll be here any minute to start the read-through.”

“Thanks, Tim. Good to see you.” Dick refrained from hugging him only because he knew the younger man preferred it that way on set. “Sorry, I wanted to be here early. I seriously underestimated LA traffic.”

“Yes, I expected that. Just plan in enough time from now on, okay?”

“Of course, Tim.”

Tim sighed. “We’ll see, I guess.”

They entered the building together. Tim guided him towards a smaller meeting room. Jason Todd was already there, sitting in the small circle of chairs. There would be a full cast reading tomorrow; today it was pretty much only Kate, Jason and Dick with the producers.

Dick’s first thought was that he hadn’t expected Jason to look so… soft. He was used to the torn jeans and t-shirt look he rocked in his videos. The knitted sweater he was wearing didn’t exactly fit that image.

The smirk on his face, however, did.

Dick mentally steeled himself. Here we go. He held out his hand. “Hi, Jason. Nice to finally meet you.”

“Hi, Dick.” Jason’s handshake was firm without being too crushing. “Sorry we couldn’t meet up before. I’m pretty literally just coming back from a World Tour.”

Oh, great. Bragging.

“No worries. It’s good to get this started now.” He looked pointedly at the script in Jason’s hand. If Jason had just been on a world tour… “Did you get any time to prepare?”

“I’ll know my lines if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“It’s kind of about more than that.” Okay, that came out catty. “Like, the music, for example.”

Jason seemed to perk up at that. “Oh, yeah, that’s done. I did send the tapes of some suggestions to Kate. But we’ll workshop together, see what you think first.”

Dick would’ve preferred it if Jason had just presented him with finished sheet music and a tape he could imitate, honestly. He had no idea if he had any musical input to offer. And how did you workshop music, anyway? He’d done that with scenes before (though Kate wasn’t the type to welcome a lot of input from her actors beforehand), even settings, but music?

“Sure. Yeah. Let’s do that.” He tried to smile. “I’m looking forward to hearing what you came up with.”

It was probably a good thing Kate entered the room at that moment, introducing herself again and bidding them to start the read-through.

Dick usually lost himself in a performance pretty easily. Even in a read-through, it only meant that he focused even more on letting every emotion shine through his voice.

Vano was pretty unlike Dick himself. Sensitive, shy, in desperate need of approval (okay, that one Dick could relate to) and unsure. Dick found it interesting how his character was juxtaposed with his actions. Vano was so, so afraid; yet he let himself be swept up in a whirlwind romance and even ended up the one pursuing Jason’s character when everything seemed to fall apart. His courage, in the end, was as quiet as it was present. Dick was determined to do him right.

So he concentrated on developing his voice further. He wanted it to be recognisably different from Jason’s character, but also harmonious.

Still, he couldn’t help but judge Jason’s performance.

He wasn’t bad. Honestly, this wasn’t a great script for a read-through - a lot of stuff went unsaid between the two main characters. So a little wooden-ness was expected. Dick was a bit annoyed at the way he stumbled over lines sometimes as if he was reading them for the first time, though. Unprepared partners were the worst.

Afterwards, Kate didn’t look happy. Her first critique was voluminous, including more background notes on their characters and a very detailed rundown of what had sucked about their dialogue. Ah, well. Dick didn’t mind. She wasn’t known to be a coddler.

She complimented Dick on his excellent accent, though. He thought Jason (who spoke in his own accent, or at least the one he always used in interviews and stuff) looked a bit sour at that, which pissed Dick off. He’d worked hard for this, okay. He was actually a trained and studied actor, despite what some people might think.

It also made him wary of the months ahead. Jealousy on set wasn’t cool, even if it was purely professional.

“Tomorrow we’ll go through the script scene by scene and talk through your suggestions. Is there anything fundamental you’d like to say now?” Kate asked.

Dick shook his head. This was honestly one of the best scripts he’d ever read, and he trusted her direction fully. Jason seemed to hesitate, but then he followed suit.

Dick spent some time after talking with some of the crew members that were setting up the sets. He knew some of them from previous movie sets - Tim liked to reward good work with more, better-paid work - and was glad to chit-chat about their careers and families.

Still, Jason seemed to take his time, too. They arrived at the parking lot at about the same time.

“Can I give you a ride?” Dick offered when he noted that Jason was looking a bit lost.

“I’m actually here on my bike,” Jason said, pointing at a frankly gorgeous machine, black, sleek and utterly pretentious.

Dick mentally snorted. Of course he was. Rock star and all that

His own family sized van didn’t match up to that, but honestly, who cared.

“Okay. See you tomorrow, then.”

Jason didn’t even say goodbye, just waved. Dick was tired of him already.

When he entered the house he’d rented for the year, Dick headed straight for his studio and dropped down onto the mat. He needed a proper stretching after today and couldn’t quite face this house yet.

Mostly he was happy with it. It was spacious, including his own dance studio and a pool, and not too far away from the Wayne Brothers lot, but he was able to keep it up without no personnel beyond a cleaner and the occasional garden hand.

Days like these, it was a bit… lonely.

He would have been better off staying with his friend Donna Troy. She’d offered, after all. Dick had thought he would need some quiet to focus on this part, not to mention a room where he could practice his singing parts without annoying the shit out of everyone.

It was just that he wasn’t made for the quiet. His head got too loud when he wasn’t exercising. Usually, he filled that space by concentrating on his current role; he wasn’t precisely method but slipping into someone else’s headspace had always come easy to him. Today, though, that was exactly what he wanted to get away from.

He briefly toyed with the idea of going out and picking someone up. Getting laid worked better than pretty much anything else for him.

Except that wasn’t exactly what he wanted, either.

Look. It wasn’t as if Dick had problems meeting people. The opposite, really. Dick knew he had a good body, okay, and he was charming enough.

He wanted something else, though. He wanted to get to know someone without them already knowing (or thinking they knew) everything about him. He wanted to be sure someone actually liked him for himself. He wanted someone to call in the evenings when he came home from set. Someone to come home to.

Dick sighed and re-arranged his limbs into a backstretch.

People wished for this kind of things all the time. He was just being silly. His mother would’ve straight up laughed at him if he went to her complaining about the drawbacks of fame, a profession he loved and obscene amounts of money.

Dropping his hips open and leaning into that delicious burn, he took out his phone and texted Donna: Going out and getting laid, yes or no? Any bar tips?

The answer was immediate.

Donna: Honey just use tinder like the rest of us

…Why not.

Donna: That was a joke.

Donna: But go ahead I guess.

Thinking about it, Dick finished his routine and headed upstairs to change into some comfy sweats, then back down to the kitchen. A bowl of cereal wasn’t exactly a glamorous meal for a movie star - but neither were Dick’s cooking skills.

Grabbing a beer, he plopped down on his couch and gave in. At least the tinder app was free on the app store. Going through the set-up motions, he hit the next snag, though.

What do I use as a profile picture??? I can’t show my face on this, can I?

Donna: Use your abs

Donna: no wait

Donna: Your butt

Donna: Or maybe that’s too recognisable. Abs it is.

Dick chuckled.

…Thanks I think.

For a second he considered just cutting something out of a promo pic or one of his dozens of semi-nude photoshoots, but who the fuck knew how well Google would be able to match these up. Dick wasn’t going to risk the headline ‘Actor famous for starring in romances is looking for hook-up on tinder’ (though of course TMZ would be far pithier than that) just for his vanity.

Though he did find some shots that hadn’t ever been released and cropped his face out of one of these. That would do. As for his username… he went with the hero of the first movie he’d ever starred in and combined that with his year of birth once the system informed him the name was taken.

After a brief hesitation, he set his sexual preferences to ‘all genders’.

Finally, everything was set up. Dick settled down to check out some hot singles in his area.

Sadly, the selection wasn’t that great. Especially with the dudes. Dick was sure that about half of them were either a decade older or younger than they pretended to be. The women were clearly better at taking selfies, too.

It was possibly the wrong time to be picky. Dick wasn’t usually - a good smile was pretty much all it took on a good day. But hey, he had just spent the day in the company of the hottest rock star the 21st century had produced so far. Every mortal would have difficulty competing with that.

(Not with Jason’s personality though. Easily bottom 20% material there. Urgh. Dick was trying to forget about that.)

After that thought, he swiped right a few times. So far, no one had matched with him, but that was fine. He had just signed up, after all.

Then, finally, came a pic that stood out.

Funnily enough, this profile pic was as profile-less as Dick’s. All it showed was a bare back. It was mirror shot, probably, but with none of the glariness of the other pictures. The guy’s skin was almost as tanned as Dick’s, but what caught his eyes was the sheer endless mass of muscles it stretched across.

Dick swiped right.

A message appeared on the screen. ‘You matched with Rock_n_Rumble, 29’.

He switched apps and texted Donna again: There’s a cute guy! We matched! But I can’t just go meet up with him, can I? Wally would kill me

Donna: you genuinely just thought of that???

Yes^^’

Donna: Stop trying to make manga emojis happen again, Dick

Donna: Just… talk to him, flirt a bit; maybe it’ll be ok

Donna: This is LA after all

Donna: Or he’ll just send you a dick pic

Donna: I do not want to know if either of these possibilities occurs.

I will describe everything that happens in explicit, excruciating detail.

Dick switched back to tinder and pressed ‘OK’. A chatroom opened. He stared at the entry field for a long second, pondering how to start the conversation. He’d never felt the need for chat up lines before. Honesty and friendliness had always worked best for him. Hopefully, that would translate over into the Internet.

Nightwing86: Hi

Rock_n_Rumble: Hi.

This was where Dick would usually make a comment about the venue they were at or the way the other person looked, but… how did you compliment someone’s bare back without sounding like a total creep?

As he watched the seconds tick by without either of them writing anything, he realised that oh. Rock_n_Rumble wasn’t exactly in a better situation. Oh well, there was nothing for it then.

Nightwing86: With a body like that - what on Earth are you doing on this site?

Rock_n_Rumble: Shouldn’t I ask you the same thing?

Rock_n_Rumble: Musician, ex-addict, grew up in New York - and also shit at flirting, in case you didn’t notice. Should I continue with that list?

Nightwing86: Eh, you’re doing fine.

He was. Dick kinda dug the self-deprecating sarcasm. And at least he had something to work with now.

Nightwing86: Musician?

Rock_n_Rumble: I’m a guitarist

Nightwing86: Oh, you’re in a band?

Rock_n_Rumble: Kind of

Rock_n_Rumble: Nothing fixed, but I go on tour a lot. Weird staying in one place for work right now

He must be recording an album then. Considering that good guitarists in LA were like sand at a beach, Dick mentally re-evaluated the fame level of his conversation partner.

Nightwing86: I get that; I travel for work a lot too

Rock_n_Rumble: What do you do?

Dick considered lying, but honestly, what was the point? And anyway, they were in LA. There were thousands of people calling themselves actors here.

Nightwing86: I’m an actor.

Rock_n_Rumble: oh cool. Film or theatre?

Nightwing86: Mostly film these days. Was up on stage in NY for a bit, kinda miss it.

Rock_n_Rumble: Oh really? When? Might’ve seen you, I went to Broadway a lot once I could afford it.

Nightwing86: its been a while, 2004-2006

That information wouldn’t give him away. Again, tons of people tried to make it on Broadway. Still, maybe he should address the fact that he wasn’t ready to talk about who he was.

Rock_n_Rumble: So I notice neither of us is forthcoming about names and identifying information.

Rock_n_Rumble: Proposal: We stay anonymous for now, see how we get along, decide if we want to actually meet up later.

Nightwing86: oh thank god

Nightwing86: yeah, that would be great. I don’t like lying, but coming out to a stranger isn’t…

Rock_n_Rumble: same. Like, I’m technically out, but with the industry being what it is, the gossip isn’t fun.

Nightwing86: How does being ‘technically out’ work? All I ever get is ‘if you so much as breathe into the direction of someone who isn’t a cis woman we’ll kill you’

Rock_n_Rumble: It’s called ‘being a shit liar’.

Rock_n_Rumble: Also contrary enough that management knows that my reaction to being told that would probably result in me sucking a dick on stage.

Dick laughed.

Nightwing86: Now that is a mental image to take to bed with.

Rock_n_Rumble: I like that we’ve been chatting for ten minutes and I’ve already got a kink noted down.

Nightwing86: You remember you’re talking to an actor, right? Pretty sure we’re 85% exhibitionists.

Rock_n_Rumble: …okay, that’s a fair point.

Rock_n_Rumble: Still noting it down, though.

Nightwing86: Please tell me you’re not literally doing that.

Rock_n_Rumble: Maybe.

Rock_n_Rumble: Look, you want to exchange numbers? I’m not going to stay on this platform, I think.

Nightwing86: Aww, am I enough for you?

Nightwing86: 344-394-2222. Do me a favour and don’t pass that on.

Rock_n_Rumble: Promise. I’ll text you, just one sec.

Barely a few seconds later, a WhatsApp message popped up: Hi it’s Rock_n_Rumble. Thought this might work out better than text if you’re travelling a lot, too.

After some consideration, Dick saved the contact as ‘R_n_R’. The consideration was mostly about adding a butt or shoulder emoji to it, but he decided to be classy instead.

Out of curiosity, he checked out the WhatsApp profile of the other guy. Sadly, the pic was of a bright red guitar. His own was of the bird plushie that had accompanied him through his childhood and ever since, though, so he probably shouldn’t complain.

Hi again. Good thinking.

R_n_R: Oh good, it’s you and not someone completely unsuspecting.

R_n_R: So what are you up to? Apart from tindering, obviously.

Trying to decide if I want to watch something. Any Netflix recs?

Dick later mentally congratulated himself, because that question started a conversation that lasted for at least half an hour. Their taste didn’t seem too different, though Dick kinda had to snort when R_n_R recommended some of his own movies to him. In the end, they settled on ‘Luther’, because Idris Elba and murder. How exactly ‘recommend me a movie’ had turned into ‘let’s watch this series at the same time and shoot the shit over text’, Dick wasn’t sure, but it was pretty fun.

So fun, actually, that it took a text from Donna to remind him how much time had passed.

Donna: So how was it? Don’t leave me hanging, bird-boy.

I’m getting rid of tinder. All I got were three dick pics and two girls accusing me of catfishing them using Dick Grayson’s photos. Another girl explained to me that headless pics usually mean someone is married or in a relationship and doesn’t want their significant other to see. She called me an asshole for that, that’s why she even swiped right. Then she blocked me.

And if Dick was honest… he kinda liked the thought of trying this with Rock_n_Rumble, and Rock_n_Rumble only. The first person he’d talked to on there. The only one he connected to, even if only on a superficial level so far.

(Yes, he had screenshotted and saved that picture. Whatever.)

Donna: One gender clearly came out ahead in this.

And the cute guy is still chatting with me. We’re keeping it anon for now though. It’s been an hour and no sex talk, so I guess he’s legit.

Donna: facepalm Dick, do you ever consider your life might’ve turned into a romantic comedy?

We’re just talking.

Donna: Right. Well, I’ll leave you to do that. Good night, Dick. Have fun.

#jaydick #jason todd #dick grayson #fanfic #elareine writes #in the shallows #dc

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sierrabinondo · 5 years

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woodland creatures tour - day 7 (greensboro)

normally i feel very weird about sleeping over people’s houses, just in general??? you know what i mean? sometimes you just can’t get comfortable because you’re not in your own bed, not because of where you are or who you’re with. on tour i’m so fucking exhausted and so comfortable with living like i’m a backpacker that it’s all just normal to me. like a brat i located the couch and crawled up onto it while everyone else took an air mattress. i would have slept on an air mattress but we couldn’t fit one lmao.

i automatically woke up at like 8:30 and couldn’t fall back asleep, so i got up and started getting ready. tour has also made me skilled at being able to freshen up and do my makeup in the crevice of any house, hotel, car, you name it. i try not to make noise but inevitably everyone heard me and slowly woke up one by one. the door was unlocked so i started to pack whatever i could into the van. god, it was so beautiful out. though we were in the south, and the temperature was still pretty high day-to-day, at this moment it just felt like the most beautiful fall weather. we managed to get out of the house at 9:30 am, which we were aiming for. james’ roommate, who was leaving for work, kindly wished us well as we packed up the van to head out. we unfortunately missed james so i shot him a text.

the day before, taylor and i coordinated a group outing to the greensboro science center, which was a museum, zoo and aquarium all in one. for the price of $12 per person, since we were a group!!! incredible! before heading to greensboro, which would be our shortest drive all of tour (an hour and a half!), we hit starbucks and panera again. when we pulled up to the panera it was in a shopping plaza with people lined up waiting for like... verizon to open???? so bizarre.

i desperately needed to hunker down and get some work done before we hit the road, for the most part my phone was providing reliable wifi but i had a time sensitive task that needed to be completed. once that was done we hit the road. we arrived to the science center and once pulses. showed up, we headed in. the science center was so sick. we started our trek around the building at like 1, and penguin feeding was at 3:30. but with so much exploring to do, we knew we’d be able to kill two hours and a half easily.

we started with the zoo portion a

nd saw a lot of cool animals. they had a lot of atypical mammals you don’t always see at zoos. what they DID have was R E D P A N D A S, and theY WERE AWAKE. back at home we have the cape may zoo which is soooooo sick, i love going there, but their red pandas are always sleeping. i literally cried because the red pandas at this exhibit were so much closer, and they were romping around their lil home. the one red panda hopped off its perch and CAME TO THE WINDOW TO SAY HELLO IT JUMPED UP RIGHT IN FRONT OF US. i definitely made a fool of myself getting loudly emotional but i didn’t care in the slightest. my entire life was made. we also saw an owl at the barn where the petting zoo was!!!

we were all laughing so fucking hard cracking jokes at every exhibit. it felt like an adult school field trip hahaha. i was having so much fun. it was nice to enjoy something together and not be stuck in a van in a rush to get somewhere. the outdoor area tuckered us out pretty badly from being in the heat, so it was nice to get back inside to go check out the aquarium in the air-conditioned building. the aquarium was pretty sick, there was a tank that was home to the biggest octopus i have ever seen in person. i was most interested in the otters and penguins, to be honest. we also hit the touch tank which was sick, except i had to soak my entire fucking arm just to maybe get a crumb of attention from a sting ray. they were swimming everywhere but where i planted myself.

after going through the aquarium, we still had some time to kill before the penguin feeding at 3:30 pm. we hit the gift shop, where they had red panda and barn owl plushes. what a coincidence, both our tour mascots!! i’m a sucker for stuffed animals so of course i bought one. taylor bought an owl for pulses. so now we both had FRIENDS to represent our bands. we went downstairs to go check out the snakes and lizards. not as exciting for me, but still sick. we were going to hit the museum part finally, but it was 3:20 so we figured might as well head over to the penguins. it was worth the wait. there was a penguin named gojira haha

it turned out that there was enough time for us to get food together before the show. jaime found a restaurant named pastabilities, it was a sit-down but you could make your own pasta dish chipotle-style???? so i got chickpea pasta with chicken, sundried tomatoes, spinach and mushrooms. sooooooooooooooooooo good. i wasn’t going to get pasta because i was going to try to be a healthy guy but ugh what the fuck ever. i love pasta. i’m not going to rob myself of pasta opportunities!!!! we had another really wonderful meal together as a tour package. i guess because we were the biggest group and you could hear us talking loudly about tour the staff figured out we were musicians. the manager came over and started asking who played what haha.

after a delicious early dinner, we drove to our hotel for check-in so that we could drop our personal bags. pulses. followed us because they were just driving home after the show later, and waited in the parking lot until they could head to the venue. i forget the name of the hotel we stayed at but the people in there were super suspect, and projecting those vibes FOR sure. taylor said she thinks she saw a guy walking around with a burner phone as a car was slowly driving in circles around the parking lot. i’m like great, last thing we need is another scary motel. our stuff ended up being fine though, it was one of the better spots we stayed at.

pulses. awaited us at the venue and we arrived a little after load-in started. it was super quiet when we showed up, we set up quickly and waited around. the house we played, ice house, was huge. so much more massive than houses in new brunswick where students in jersey host shows, mostly. there was so much room to move around and sit, it was nice. at first it seemed like not many people were inside, but then you go outside and there’s DOZENS of kids hanging out drinking. eventually more and more people came inside to watch the bands too. glow and terms x conditions were great!

for all of us, it had been a weird afternoon, but we did our best to be positive and just rip our set(s) as best as we could. and the change in attitude paid off! both our bands received awesome crowd response from the people who attended. it was awesome to see people jamming out and genuinely having a good time. also uh a fight broke out during our set??? insane. there was a kid trying to take down everyone, like just to the ground lmao, and when he tried to do it to david he put in a chokehold. and david grabbed his arm and was just like, STOP. i made everyone stop playing until we sorted out that everything was all right. i had to play without my in-ears which sucked, in the past i have always struggled and tired myself out trying to sing loud enough over the monitors. so i just tried to listen carefully, sing carefully and trust myself. and joe said i hit some like bananas note during synapse that i haven’t been able to do since?? i remember going for it and it was fine, idk maybe it was actually BAD, but i will never know now haha.

we didn’t sell merch, nor make a lot of money, but i think what counts as a successful show is when people receive you super well. leaving a positive first impression on somebody as a band is so important to me because that person could potentially go on to listen to us for a long time. i will say though, it’s important to try to help touring bands make money if you can, like legit anything. i know we’re small guys and we’re not worth much, but we travel so far from home. and this is the ONE time of year that we actually do need money to operate. i’ve run into people who don’t believe in this, or don’t understand. i guess it won’t be possible to make those people understand until it happens to them. it’s why we can only tour on vacation time and even then we deplete our funds.

we sweat our fucking asses off playing the house because it had no AC, so nothing could feel more refreshing than loading out during a rainstorm. i wasn’t even mad that it was raining. it felt so amazing. normally i bug out during crazy storms, but the thunderstorm was lighting up the sky in an incredible display. it continued as we said our goodbyes to pulses. before they headed back to virginia late, and we made our way to sheetz for post-gig eats. i wasn’t going to pig out but i was feeling the munchies. sheetz doesn’t really have anything wawa doesn’t have except for the tacos, so i got some hard shell tacos that were absolutely banging. also wonderful, they had my favorite flavor of bon & viv (black cherry rosemary) so i grabbed that too. eating tacos and drinking late was NOT a smart move the night before we played our last show on tour, but boy did it feel like a nice TREAT after playing a fantastic show.

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umichenginabroad · 5 years

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My first full day at INSA!

On Friday, I joined my INSA buddy for breakfast and boy was I glad that she had suggested we eat at 7:15am, the tiny eatery was empty enough that the two of us could go at a snail's pace so I could comfortably figure out how the breakfast line worked.

The options were relatively basic, bread, plain yogurt, various little packets of jam and Nutella, and some fruit. There were also some drink dispensers, for hot drinks, milk, fruit juices, and ol' water. Speaking of water: while the tap is safe to drink and sinks are obviously everywhere, I noticed there was a distinct lack of drinking fountains on campus. I haven't seen /any/ in my time here.

After breakfast, I made a quick shopping trip to a store about 5 minutes away to grab some various items I'd need for the dorm (tissues, toilet paper, dish sponges, etc).

I noticed cars parallel parked in between tree fixtures, which I guess is one way to prevent the problem of That One Guy who takes up two designated parking spots, and it also took us ages to find out where the store actually was.

The grocery store, Carrefour, also had these shopping carts/baskets/basket-carts, which were really convenient

We quickly scurried back to campus with an armful of items because there is a bag tax here--plastic bags cost an additional 5 centimes. Most of the people in the checkout line were quite prepared with bringing their own reusable bags or just simply using an empty backpack, and at around 10am, we began our tour of campus.

Not only were several buildings in the process of being renovated, but there was a bunch of construction along the roads, and preparations being made for a campus-wide event this weekend. It's almost like I never even left Ann Arbor 🙃 All of the buildings were of similar shapes and colors, with the main exception of a bright [Ross-]orange building that had a giant traffic cone in front of it.

there's a PokeStop for the cone in PokemonGo, and it’s dubbed the “VLC”, presumably in honor of the video streaming application

Once our tour and brief orientation session wrapped up, a couple other exchange students and yours truly briefly went to a mall in Part-Dieu to do some shopping.

Lyon has been coined one of the smartest cities in France, and the way tech has been embedded into facets of everyday life, like this funky tram map, has been cool to see. Now if only our dorm could have WiFi...

There were a couple familiar stores, mostly those that sold cosmetics. I specifically saw Sephora, M.A.C., L'Occitane, The Body Shop and I smelled also found a Lush store. I stopped by a tiny food stand to grab a quick bite to eat, and I thought I held the conversation in decent French, but upon getting my card back from the cashier and receiving my food, she said "Thank you" in English, which caught me by surprise. I was genuinely worried that my French was so bad she resorted to using English. When I had paid for my groceries in the morning, the card reader initially had a display in French ("Insert/Tap your card", "please wait", etc.), but the "Remove card" message was in English. Maybe there's something embedded in my card that somehow affects the language of the card reader? And maybe that’s how she knew I wasn’t French...

In the afternoon, we had a cooking demonstration + apéro* planned from 2:30pm through about 8pm. An English teacher at INSA joined us for the spectacle in order to translate instructions and general comments that chef Dominique had made. We helped peel some asparagus, but after that point, chef Dominique and his assistants took care of the rest (with the exception of one student volunteer piping the whipped cream on the strawberries).

The menu for tonight consisted of:

cured ham, asparagus, and some very-well seasoned mayonnaise/hollandaise sauce

broccoli, small potato pancakes, and duck served with a vinegary-orange duck-based sauce

some cheese (I didn't take a picture of this, but I assure you, you will see a lot more photos of cheese)

freshly cut strawberries that were macerated with sugar

That was all happened Friday, and next up: Vieux Lyon (Old Lyon--a very beautiful, colorful, historic, and cobblestony part of Lyon about 20-25 minutes away from campus)

a+,

Christina

Computer Science

Entrepreneurship with INNOV@INSA

Lyon, France

Two fun facts because I forgot some in my last post, thanks for sticking around:

"prendre l'apéro" - "to have an aperitif" is the literal translation, where an "aperitif" would typically refer to a drink consumed before a meal, but this was a whole ordeal where we had some kir, savory finger food, and of course, the food that we watched the chefs prepare in the kitchen. It was delicious, so far, I've been fairly impressed with the food here, and Lyon is living up to its name as the gastronomic capital of France.

AND

Most, if not all, plastic water bottles I've seen with the smaller caps snap open/close, instead of being a screw top. This is supposedly an intentional design to prevent the caps from getting completely lost, and the Carrefour store also had several different kinds of recycling bins, including one dedicated to bottle caps. It’s interesting to see this much consideration toward bottle caps, now if only I could find a recycling bin on campus...😬

#umichenginabroad #christinaliu #IPE Summer19 #IPELyon

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tumblunni · 6 years

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Okay the BIG TODAY THING

It seems i might possibly be gone for six months

I've been talking with my support worker about taking a course at this place thats uhh apparantly gonna help me get better with the depressions and stuff. And we had a meeting to go look around the place and make introductions and stuff but i had NO IDEA it would be all such short notice! I might have to move in IN TWO DAYS FROM NOW, what the fuck!!! And like if its not that its gonna be at the end of the week or next tuesday at the latest. Im so fuckin unprepared and im really freakin out!!

..uhh...how to describe it..well i guess its literally a mental asylum? But it's absolutely NOTHING like the horror movie stereotype! Its not a hospital with cages or locked rooms, its just like a big comfy cute shared house. Like a bunch of completely normal small apartment rooms but they just happen to be all connected to a shared kitchen and stuff and have on site nurses and a big schedule of therapy sessions and group activities like pottery class or bowling. You have the freedom to come and go as you please if you're on "voluntarily admitted" status (that's me!) and even if you're on what they call "sectioned" its still not scary loss of all your freedom. The highest level of sectioning is just like "requires an escort"? You're still allowed to go outside but you have a higher level of supervision from your key worker because you could potentially be a danger to yourself. But that's very rare and most people are only on maximum sectioning for a few weeks at the start of their treatment, if they've come straight from a situation of self harm or other concern factors. Most of the "sectioned" patients just have a time limit on how long they can spend on unsupervised outside activity. It's a pretty generous 8 hours apparantly!

So yeah i was getting worried about nothing, thinking i was gonna be in big scary solitary confinement and locked inside a tiny broom closet or jabbed with brain lazers. It honestly just seems like a summer camp resort for adults! And everyone there seems very nice, and im excited for being able to learn life skills like cooking and potential steps towards getting educational qualifications someday. And to have the help of a more specialist support worker who can assist me with even the smallest little problems. Like this nice lady Tazmin (who might be the one i get?) was saying how they've had other people with social anxiety before, and how we could plan "gradual exposure" to all the things that scare me. Like she said she'd be able to come with me and we'd take the bus and them get off at the next stop. That'd honestly be really helpful to help me get over being scared of the crowded spaces on buses, but i'd never be able to do it normally cos i'd be too embarassed taking such a short bus ride. Plus well itd be a waste of money,but if i'm a patient here i would get a free bus pass so it wouldnt be a problem.

Oh and the area seems really nice! Its so different from my stupid house right now in a crowded neighbourhood with NOTHING but houses everywhere for a mile! Its seriously almost a mile's walk to the ONE SINGULAR SHOP IN THE AREA and they close on sundays and dont sell vegetarian food. :( This area around the shared house thingie is a really nice bustling shops place but not super shops? Like i mean its a lovely village that has all the small shops you need, not a huge skyscrapers busy tourist place. The perfect balance of conveinient and not scary! They have a library and a park so close to the place, and a bazillion charity shops holy FUCK im so excited to have charity shops again!! I think you call them thrift shops in america? But i just always really love bargain hunting and finding nice surprises in places like that! And there's places to do pottery classes and group trips sometimes to do stuff like cinema or bowling or just having your big ol scary therapy meeting at the nice coffee shop at the end ot the road.

So yeah dont worry about me guys, im not trapped in some horribke hell place! I'm sure it'll be as non threatening as an Intensive Therapy Boot Camp can possibly be, im just still nervous as hell cos well yeah I Have Social Anxiety And That Is Why I Am Here In The First Place. Im scared im not gonna be able to succeed at this. I really wanna leave at the end and be all mentally buffed up and ready to make all these nice nurses proud!

Oh and man Richard has been so nice about this?? He was super freaked out and apologetic about it being Scary Short Notice, we had a bit of a dumb misunderstanding where he clearly told me and i clearly said yes but i somehow completely misunderstood what he was saying and thought i was saying yes to something else??? So im so fuckin glad that at the very end of the appointment right when i was gonna get out the car he was like 'oh so remember your suitcase on wednesday' and i was like WHAT. Like man can you imagine how much more terrifying it would have been if i just turned up on wednesday with no supplies but the shirt off my back and was like 'wtf where is he driving me OH GOD NO'. Bunni why you so bad at the good of talking!! Seriously richard thanks so much for clearing it up but also AAAAA i accidentally agreed to the shortest of short notice and i dont know if he's gonna be able to reschedule it!!!

And man i was there crying in his car about how i dont wanna be in hospital on my birthday, and babbling all the different things i had planned fot the next few months. And GOD DAMN MY DUMB BRAIN i ended up blurting out that i had a preorder of a videogame that i was gonna miss. And i straight up started explaining pokemon to my mental health counseller who is also a dj, how damn fake does my life sound?? Anyway he said that i'll still be able to keep him as my support worker when i get back out of this, and we'll still have weekly or monthly meetings while i'm in there. And he keeps reminding me that i'm free to leave if i feel uncomfortable, but i know that i'd feel like a failure if i did! So he legit fuckin goddamn said (THIS SOUNDS SO FAKE) that i could take a day off when the dumb game comes out, and he'd play co op pokemon with me. HOLY GEEZUS RICHARD YOU'RE LIKE THAT HOLY GRAIL OF THERAPISTS! And man he even said it wasnt embarassing for me to sleep with a teddy bear and he'd help me pack it up safe and ensure nobody saw it while we move my bags into my new room. And then i was like "uhh but also the teddy bear is a giant lifesize embarassing pokemon merchandise" and he was like "okay so we need DOUBLE STEALTH". Apparantly the new sequel to Pokemon Go is Pokemon Sneak! God he helped calm me down from this freakout so much, he's always great with lil jokes and motivational sayings. And i talked about how i first started being interested in Obscure Deep Sea Slug Facts because pokemon has some characters based on weird real life animals, and like its Very Educational Honest, And Has Appeal For Both Kids And Adults. How on earth did this turn into Motovational Pokemon Blabber Time??? Anyway thats how i ended up texting a professional psychologist pictures of gastrodon at 7.30pm.

Yeah

In summary

I'm mostly just worried cos this is short notice! And cos its such a big commitment that being short notice is Super Bad. I need to friggin clean the whole house top to bottom in two days, so it doesnt get all gross and attract flies while im gone. And i need to toss out like a hundred bucks worth of frozen food that aint gonna keep for 6 months. And i need to wash all my damn clothes. And i dont even have a suitcase and this is at a terrible time where i dont get paid for a week so i cant buy a new one right now!! And damn i DONT EVEN KNOW WHAT TO TAKE AAAAAA

And the BIGGEST PROBLEM

Is that i wont be able to talk to you guys for half a year!!!

They dont have wifi and im not allowed to take my computer anyway. They only allow laptops and all i have is a desktop and AAAA its too short notice to save up enough to get a laptop mannnnn! Fuck man i didnt even think about that, i need to go pause my broadband internet for six months, do they even allow you to come back after that long?? And man part of me wants to ask to borrow money from friends to get a laptop but i know this time i cant promise to pay you back within the month cos AAAGH ALL OF THIS SHIT!! Like damn man if anyone is willing to let me pay back a hundred and fifty quid in 6 months??not bloody likely!! And man the only place to get a laptop in TWO GODDAMN DAYS is stupid fuckin Amazon :( but god im gonna go stir crazy being unable to do art or gamemaking or friggin anything to occupy myself!! I can bring my 3ds but i barely have any games for it and ive already finished all of them except harvest moon a new beginning which i quit cos it was bad. And the screen is broken anyway gahhh. SO MANY THINGS I NEED MONEY FOR IN SUCH A SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME THAT IS NON CONDUCTIVE TO MONEYING

So anyway GAHH i wont have an internet connection in the house, and i'll be able to walk down the hill and use the library computers hopefully at least weekly, but they forbid all social media sites. So like can i get the emails of everyone who wants to keep in contact? Man i dont know how im gonna manage this AAAAA!!! i will send u loads of pics of scenic asylum beauty and dumb updates on my stupid life of probably very little progress.

And AGGGHHH i dont even have the time to plan a blog queue or anything fuck man geez aaaaaaaa

I NEED TO BUY A NEW PAIR OF TROUSERS WITHOUT HOLES IN THE KNEES man i cant live on singular pantage in a shared house

#bunni is gone #alas #mourn they #soon to be departed from the web

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shinobicyrus · 7 years

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Monster Heart

A late, late entry for Ectober Day 6 because I am bad with deadlines. Decided to do ‘Shipwreck,’ with a bit of a sci-fi/horror theme. Warnings for squicky alien biotechnology.

Computers aren’t known for their sympathy. Just efficiency.

The shipboard AI pitilessly shocks Valerie back into consciousness like it’s turning on just another machine. Her whole body locks rigid like a muscle spasm, heart pounding and drowning in stims as her mouth gasps agape with a throat that can’t scream and intake oxygen at the same time.

Eventually, the agony subsides and she slumps in the cockpit’s heavy-gee couch, body and brain swimming in exhaustion and a chemical cocktail sharpening her nerves into a raw razor. Training helps her keep her last meal down instead of getting into her helmet. The suit would eventually clean it, but never thoroughly enough to get rid of the smell.

MAD-E pipes up in that calm, motherly voice its programmers thought was soothing. “Welcome Back, Lieutenant Gray!”

Valerie is unsoothed.

She’s painfully aware of every sore, aching inch of herself. Each inhale presses down hard on her chest, but she manages to rasp: “Status.”

“Emergency landing maneuver successful! We have touched down on Nova Ventura with only thirty-four percent damage to-”

“What happened?”

“On the twenty second of July, at approximately zero-three hundred hours standard, coded orders from the-”

“To me, you glitchy pile of-”

“Of course, Lieutenant,” MAD-E says agreeably. “I’m afraid you sustained life-threatening injuries on impact, despite the forced landing countermeasures. You were put into emergency stasis until the pod’s medical program and your internal nanites could repair the damage.”

That would explain the splitting headache, yeah. “How long was I out?”

“Stasis was initiated thirty-six hours, twenty seven minutes ago.”

“Good thing I get paid by the hour.” Valerie raises a palm and brings up the holo-displays with a thought. The walls of her pod buzz to life- most just showing black and three-dimensional scrolling text the computer diagnostic is spitting out. Her fingers tap at the controls and she’s given another error notice. “I can’t raise anyone on comms.”

“Communication with the Hartmann and other support elements was cut off thirty-three hours, thirteen minutes ago.”

A cold claw of dread squeezes something in her chest. “Cut off?”

“A signal of unknown origin is interfering with communications and long-range sensors. If there are still friendly elements in this system, we have no way of contacting them- or even ascertaining if they are even there.”

Valerie slumps in her gee-harness, suddenly feeling worlds heavier. “So we’re on our own.”

"For the moment, Lieutenant.” It goes for soothing again.

Like hell.

Valerie sweeps aside the mess of diagnostics and accesses the hatch controls. “Lieutenant,” MAD-E says, chiding. “I do not recommend egress at this time. Forced-Landing Protocol states-”

“First Lieutenant Valerie M. Gray, Lexic: Red Nine-Two-Four Slash-Wolf-Vee. Override Code: Shut Up and Do The Thing.”

“Override Accepted.”

Either the Hartmann and her entire wing were debris up in orbit, or the battle is still dragging on. Both options mean there are still hostiles in-system. Maybe even on the planet with her. Staying put in a tin can like a good little regulation soldier strikes her as a profoundly bad plan.

The pod floods with hissing mist as the pressure equalizes and hatch finally blows open. Valerie’s helmet visor immediately darkens so she isn’t blinded by the rush of natural light.

Crashing at Mach-3 and laying in a death-coma for thirty hours would give anyone sore legs. Valerie still manages to climb out of what’s left of her fighter. She’s outside, her pod resting in a crater-bed of cracked insta-crete on the rooftop of some building. There’s an entire city skyline behind her, fresh nanofactured towers barely a few years old glittering like diamonds in the shine of an alien sun. One of them has a hole in it, clean as a gunshot, lining up where Valerie’s pod had finally come to a rest.

“Damn,” Valerie whistles. “Any landing you can walk away from.”

From the quick briefing they’d all gotten before dropping in-system, estimates had Nova Ventura at around fifty thousand colonists. Not bad for a fresh terraform on the rim.

Walking down the street, sidearm ready in her hand, Valerie didn’t find a single person left.

Everywhere the juxtaposition of life: lights, scrolling holo-advertisments, parked cars, half-finished meals spoiling on outdoor cafe tables; but no people. No indications of a struggle. A dropped bag here, a crashed groundcar there. Hell, the worst damage in the city was caused by Valerie when she crashed.

There hadn’t even been a distress signal. It took days for people to figure out that something was wrong. The Hartmann just had the luck of being the closest ship that could investigate.

She almost jumps straight out of her suit when a shop’s automatic door slides open at her presence, raising her gun at cheerful holograms. Re-purposed pop-songs for last year’s fashion lines echo down the hollow streets. Valerie chuckles a little to herself, tension leaking as she lowers her pistol. The outer colonies were always behind on the trends.

“Mads?”

“Two-point-six kilometers ahead,” it reported, no irritation at being asked for the sixth time that hour.

MAD-E had reported when Valerie made it down to street level that there were signs another ship had crashed. Residual radiation from engine wake, unusual EM readings...the great big collapsed building Valerie could spot from the roof.

“Still no contacts on motion, heat, or biometric sensors,” MAD-E reports.

“Any change upstairs?”

“My attempts to cycle through all military and civilian bands remain unsuccessful.”

“Great.”

Valerie decided to keep her helmet on. MAD-E had said there were no detectable bio-chemical agents or radiation. Yeah, real assuring- no telling what the hell happened down here.

Normally, hiking the streets of a completely habitable colony would have a literal walk in the park. Fresh off a patch-job on her bones, head, half of her internal organs, it feels like barely holding together with nothing more some little robots and teeth-grinding stubbornness. Even with the the suit picking up the slack every breath is effort, every step is a fresh ache on a somewhere she didn’t even know could bruise.

Machine efficiency, of course. MAD-E didn’t care how uncomfortable Valerie is, only that she’s functioning.

Three blocks from the crash, street signs and wall screens flash warnings in a flurry of different languages and universal symbols for ‘get the hell away from here.’ Even without any people the city’s automation is still trying to respond to the emergency of a spaceship crash downtown. All citizens were advised to vacate the area with assurances that emergency personnel are ‘being dispatched.’

Too bad there’s no one left. Poor dumb computer’s probably trying to figure out why the slow response time.

Danger! Peligro! Achtung!

“Yeah, yeah, I hear you.”

She steps over the emergency barricades that have sprouted up from the road, ignores the persistent warnings (Zorgema! 危険!) and passive-aggressive holographic legal notices about failing to respond to municipal instructions during an emergency situation. A path of destruction carves right through the main thoroughfare, flattened groundcars practically embedded into pulverized insta-crete. Long furrows swipe across building faces like scratches from enormous claws.

There’s less dust and smoke than Valerie expects- maybe cleaned up by municipal nanites that are supposed to keep the air clear. The crash site ends at an intersection, crashing into a building when it ran out of road. Valerie’s boots crunch glass shards and pulverized road as she heads towards it.

She almost slips on something and loses her footing. Swearing, she lifts up her boot and sees a glowing greenish fluid- like she stepped in a broken glow-stick.

“The fuc-”

Oh.

Oh shit.

A surge of adrenaline rushes through her, spiced with dread and danger. Her pulse pounds in the narrow confines of her helmet. The canyon of the buildings press around her, menace at every angle.

Le Danger! A sign says. Valerie agrees, but still approaches the end of the road, pistol raised.

(It’s not enough, just a measly little peashooter. She needs to be strapped in, enclosed in her cockpit pod- grip tight on the control yokes)

“I should have stayed in the pod,” Valerie mutters.

“I would agree, but I have been prohibited from speaking about the Forced Landing Protocols.”

Bucketfuls of lambent green stains smears down the street, a path for her follow. The air is thicker at ground zero, clogged with dust, but its still enough for Valerie to make out the shape of the ship.

It’s enough to recognize it: the blurry, blown-up images on her displays. An elusive sensor profile. A black shape against a blue sky, blurring past when Valerie slammed the air brakes in an ill-advised maneuver.

Valerie’d seen enough crashes to piece together what had happened. Hit the street skidding until a bad angle twisted it into a rolling tumble, stopping only when it crashed into the side of a building. Laid out on its side like a beached whale.

No, smaller than a whale, but the comparison is too accurate. The thing looks more like a dead animal than a shipwreck- cracked iridescent black plating like a bug’s chitinous exoskeleton. The sickening bend of its fuselage reminds Valerie of cracked bone. More green fluid pools beneath it, fed by a steady drip.

"Jesus, you guys are ugly up close.” Valerie tells it.

Dogfights were for fantasy sims and anachronistic biplanes. Most engagements were hundreds if not thousands of kilometers away, the enemy just green blips and sensors ghosts on screens. Never with her own flesh eyes. Never close enough to reach out and touch.

Not that Valerie would actually walk up and poke the goddamn alien ship. That would be beyond stupid. She was a combat pilot- screened, trained, and tested. A veteran of a three-dozen combat missions- a goddamn professional.

...she also has no idea what to do now. She doesn’t think she’s ever heard of anything like this happening, before.

After weighing her options, Valerie decides to hunkers down and observe the thing from a presumably safe vantage point behind some rubble. Watching it for for any signs of activity.

No heat or energy fluctuations. Nothing on the EM band save the slowly dissipating particle trail from its engine wake. No activity coming from it at all except the slow and steady drip of green fluid on the broken insta-crete, pothole puddles vaguely glowing like a cartoonish caricature of ancient nuclear waste, because how stupid had nuclear-age humans been before space colonization, right?

An hour goes by. Two. Still nothing on comms either, that makes over twenty-one hours of radio silence. Valerie cleans her gun five or six times, suggests MAD-E try one trick or another that it has probably already tried before, but will do again anyway if only to humor her. She tries to weigh all the worse-case scenarios she knows are horribly likely with all the less-grim reasons why she couldn’t get a hold of anyone friendly. It doesn’t really help.

Maybe they really were all dead, and she’s the last survivor.

(Drip drip drip, the ship bleeds)

That still wouldn’t explain why everything was still being jammed, if the battle was over and done with. If the enemy won, why weren’t they sweeping for stragglers, or coming to collect their fallen buddy? Was that even something they cared about? Rescuing wounded, collecting their dead?

Fucking aliens. They made no sense. No declarations, no demands. Just death and a dozen outer colonies scared shitless from the horror of humanity’s first real glimpse at an unknown that nature never intended them to meet.

It’s not lost on her how much the wreck almost resembles an old DP-4 starfighter. As though they tried to make their own cheap knockoff by...growing it, or something. Used to be they took less conventional forms. The classic squiddies: amorphous, protean things that swam through space and captured ships with their tendrils. Or those sharp angled fast-movers that were like the skeletons of winged, alien predators.

Others were immense and asteroid sized- impossible geometric shapes that fizzled out sensors and gave pilots vertigo if you tried to look at if for too long instead of shooting it. No two were ever the same, each one a species all their own.

Now there were these new...ship-shaped ones; no one had answers, but everyone had a theory. Are they adapting to human tactics? Or is it all just single-celled mindlessness, evolutionary mechanisms reacting to new stimuli without any real intelligence or malice? For all they knew, the whole damn war is an gigantic misunderstanding between two races that were so different it’s impossible to understand the other. The death toll just a side-effect of bad communication.

Valerie doesn’t care for that last theory.

A practiced flick of her eyes summons the clock in the corner of her helmet display. Hour three and still nothing from the wreck. Maybe it really is dead, and Valerie’s gotten herself skittish over what amounted to giant roadkill. The slowly building restlessness that’s been building since Valerie woke up, the ingrained military need to do something accumulating in her like itch, all the maddening for being ignored.

...oh hell, she’s gonna go poke it, isn’t she?

A growl escapes between her teeth- half determination, half berating herself. She checks her sidearm again, as it would do shit against that thing’s hull if it did try to pounce. Still, it was a security blanket. A 5 millimeter security blanket.

Valerie steps out of cover, gunsight trained on the bogey, still inert and dripping. Minds her footing to avoid the worse of the smears of green fluid that still show no sign of drying up.

Closer. Closer. This is what it must have been like for some ancient ancestor, stalking up to a mammoth as it slept. Roar, I am woman, Fear my pointy stick, giant sky-monster.

Just an arm’s length away, now, and so far Valerie isn’t dead. Clearly, the gods have blessed this hunt.

Up close she can see the damage (wounds, she almost wants to say, but doesn’t): holes piercing the hull, fist-sized and larger that could only be hits from a fighter’s kinetic guns. Valerie raises up her hand and feels the edges of one of the bullet-holes.

(Grip on the yokes, thumbs on the toggles, threading the needle at mach six.)

Valerie feels a swell of satisfaction. She might have gotten shot down, but she sure as hell didn’t go down alone. “Bullseye, you alien fuck.”

Touching the thing’s hull, Valerie feels a vibration from deep inside, shuddering through her suit right down to her bones. Like a purr without a sound- the low reverberation notes of some great undersea thing, immense and mourning.

HolymotherofstarspangledChrist that thing is still alive.

Valerie springs back like she’s been burned, gun raised on instinct. The hand is still tingling, her grip numb and insubstantial. The need to be airborne hits her like a phantom ache. Grip on the yokes, thumbs on the toggles, flick a switch so she could shred it apart with her cannons.

She waits for the feeling to come back to her hand. “Mads? What was that?”

"Please specify.”

“I just felt something from inside that thing. Like...like...a vibration, or something.”

“I did not detect any variances in the ship’s hull.”

“So it’s just a coincidence it did that when I touched it?”

“There is no indication that the vessel has the capability to perceive individual lifeforms of your size, were it operational.” MAD-E’s reply is even and calm, but Valerie friggin’ hears the ‘lol look at the dumb human’ in its tone. “I can only theorize it was psychosomatic, perhaps an adrenal response to being in close proximity to something you have instinctively registered as dangerous.”

If it was alive before- if a thing like this could even qualify- did that make what just happened its death throes? One last whimper before it was finally spent?

Well...its engines are still cold. It’s not going anywhere. She ain’t gonna scurry off like a dog running from a cleaner bot. Enough jumping at nothing. Time for morbid curiosity cleverly disguised as critical intelligence gathering.

A few cautious, gingerly steps in the slick green mess of whateverthefuck, Valerie's boots slide like she’s skating on grease. Easy Gray, don’t want to fall ass-first in the alien juice- be embarrassing on the footage playbacks.

The biggest...wound is at the neck of it, broke like two halves of a snapped twig still stubbornly hanging onto each other. Probably happened when it first crashed into the street nose-first. Now there’s a gaping hole- cracked hull and gooey insides like an egg.

The...shell is scraped all to hell with the world’s worst case of road rash. It also looks more...melted at the mouth of the wound. Heat from entering the atmosphere...or maybe it was a sign of it slowly repairing the damage? Healing itself? This was way above her paygrade.

Still: know your enemy, like The Lance would say. He loved to throw out proverbs like that from those ancient books of his.

“Okay squiddy, let’s get to know each other a little.” Yeah, perfect. Let’s stick our head in the probably-but-maybe-not dead alien ship creature thing like a disposable side-character in a horror sim. Why the fuck not.

Oh hell, her jumpsuit is even red. Foley would have a goddamn field day.

Needing both hands for this, Valerie holstered her gun gripped the sides of the hole, and hoisted herself up into the belly of the beast.

¡Cuidado!

If this thing was...alive, its insides weren’t anything like dissection in science class. She’s in a cavity lined with a white fibrous membrane filled snaking tubes like veins and thousands of hair-thin strands branching off in every direction. It’s a twisting, coiling mess that reminds her of fungal closeups under a microscope. A marriage of biology and architecture.

Jesus. This is officially the most disgusting thing she’s ever seen. The record has been set for all-time, never to be surpassed. Why is she even doing this again?

“This is very exciting!!” MAD-E chirps.

“You want to trade places? Be my guest.”

“If only!” it replies with disturbing sincerity. “I will have to be satisfied with purely vicarious observation.”

“Yeah, guess I’m just born lucky.”

She decides to follow the snaking cords- some as thick as her arm, others thin as straws from a fizzy-bottle. More than a few were torn and leaking new and exciting fluids, white and snotty. Follows their route further into the main body of the ship-thing.

The cords and wires terminated at the base of the neck, right before the main body of the ship. Some kind of round...organ....sack? Big enough to wrap her arms around; a semi-solid translucent mass like an egg without a shell, layered in an iridescent film like oil on the surface of a bog. All of the sharp white hair-like things and the tubes were feeding into it.

“The hell?” Her emergency pack has a med-kit, she takes it out and waves a bio-scanner at the egg-sack. It was designed for finding cracked bones or dangerous pathogens- not amateur xeno-biology. Whatever. Close enough for government work.

“Mads?”

“The scanner is detecting electrical signals coming from the unknown mass, too complex to be random discharges.”

“Is it...a control unit, maybe? A brain?”

“Unknown.”

"Great,” Valerie mutters.

It doesn’t quite...move, but beneath that sticky membrane is a hint of swirling viscosity. Like a squirming bacteria or a dollop from her dad’s antique “lava lamp” he insists is “cool.” As if lava is supposed to be cold.

So, like a moron who has already peaked at ‘huge idiot’, Valerie slowly stretches out her hand and lays it flat on the thing’s surface. It’s...surprisingly firm, soft but not a lot of give. It’s hard to get much sensation through her gloves.

Then the shadow of another hand touches hers from the fucking inside of it.

Valerie screams and pulls away so sharply she slips on green sludge underfoot and falls backwards out of the hole, landing hard on her back onto the goop-stained pavement below. Not as rough as her earlier landing, but it’s a rude reminder. She lays there for...a while, panting hard and swimming in the agony like a pulled muscle- but everywhere.

She waits out it, mind still reeling because: “What. The. Fuck.”

“Lieutenant Gray, are you alright?”

“What the fuck was that?!” She never thought she’d be grateful to have MAD-E with her- ever- but having something to talk to that could at least talk back...Well, if anything she’s got a newfound appreciation for those stupid programmers or whoever the hell thought up having a computer-nanny momming into her ear.

“You saw that right? Tell me you saw that.”

“Image recorders captured what appeared to be-”

“There’s...there’s a fucking person in there!”

“Based on the dimensions of the hand, that would be a likely conclusion.”

“Marvel of technology, you are.” Getting up felt like high-gee in basic again. Pushing past the pain, Valerie climbs back up into the hole and crouches in front of the egg sack thing again. The thing with a fucking person inside it.

Oh God. Is...is that what happened to the colonists here? To the crew of all the ships that vanished on the Periphery, the people in the orbital space stations and asteroid habs? There were never any remains- no bodies to recover. Just dark, gutted, and exposed to hard vacuum. Were they all ripped away, processed, shoved into the guts of a monster-ship to be used against their own families like parts?

“Lieutenant Gray, your heart rate is elevated.”

She has to. Needs to. Not just...stand there...gawking. Rummaging through the crash kit doesn’t yield a whole lot of options to work with: extra clips, repair tools, med kit, nutrient packs, a deployable lean-to.

Tycho Station was a floating cloud of debris ten trillion miles away and this whole colony’s gone Croatoan, like old spacers whisper about over engine-room moonshine. Valerie is going to save one goddamn person for once.

“Lieutenant, I am recommending you have your suit administer a mild sedative.”

The repair tools? No, those were designed for patching up ships, the plasma torch would probably hurt whoever was in there. Wait. A standard combat knife. Whose bright idea even was that? She flies fifty billion dollar star fighters; a knife is goddamn neolithic. Still, there’s a satisfying shnk as she yanks it from its sheath.

By now, MAD-E’s probably figured out what she’s planning. “Lieutenant. I don’t think-”

“Shut up and just keep recording.” If she’s going to play amateur alien dissection, might as well have some documentation. Yeah, nice home movies. Put that on the net, she’ll be a star.

The knife’s a carbon composite, manufactured by industrious little nanobots on the cheap, shaping the blade down to the nanometer. There’s barely any resistance at all when she stabs it into the oily membrane. She put too much force into it, expecting more resistance. She’s already wrist-deep in it, has to pull back her arm to try again. There’s some suction- like it’s almost try to pull her into it. Yanking her arm free, she goes at it with a lighter touch. More precise. At least pretend she knows what the hell she’s doing.

Distantly, Valerie knows she should be disgusted by this. Crawling into some alien thing and carving her way through it like a burrowing carrion eater. She’s goddamn Jane the Ripper, striking fear into all the little aliens. If the Hartmann’s really gone and this thing’s buddies come to find a crazy goo-covered human with a knife, at least they’ll have a story to tell.

She remembers herself, gets tangled in the fungal cords like a mess of wiring. Yanks the knife free and starts sawing instead- less hack, more scalpel. Don’t want to shank the person she’s trying to rescue by mistake.

No commentary from MAD-E, obeying her order to letter. Just her own grunts and heavy breathing filling the helmet, the wet scraping noise of the blade meeting white tissue, the hiss of suction as the membrane splits open like a mouth.

“I-I don’t know if you can hear me in there,” Valerie starts babbling, “But just...hang on, okay? I’m almost- I think I’m almost through. We’re getting you out of there, Okay?” Goddamn it, just a little bit more.

(There hadn’t even been a body, at her mother’s service. Just the artifice of an empty urn. No one to say goodbye to.)

She slices through something big. Green water the color of rotted limes hits Valerie full-on like a floodbreak, rushing past her and escaping the hole behind her to pool outside, as if it wasn’t a mess already.

And just like that, Valerie finds them.

Their skin matches the soft issue of the ship’s innards: washed-out white like antiseptic bleach. At first she doesn’t understand what she’s found until she hears a soft gasp. They try to move- a pale, painfully thin arm lifts towards her, reaching. Valerie grabs it and they recoil, struggle, try to pull away, but they’re so weak it’s hardly any effort at all to hold on.

She tries to pull, almost loses her grip. Their skin is slick, covered in more of that oily, goopy crap.

“It’s okay! I’m not trying to hurt you! I’m getting you out of this, okay?”

More of those cords and wires get in the way, like they’re tied up in- oh. Oh God. It takes a minute to fully process what it is she’s seeing: that shit is...fused to them. Like they’re plugged into the goddamn ship. Jesus, as if this isn’t already enough of a horror show.

Whatever this crap is, it wasn’t made to be sturdy. Just thrashing around on their own is enough to snap and tear some of the tangle. It has to hurt too, with how pained mewling their gasps are getting as more of the mess breaks off.

Fuck it. Time to rip off the galaxy’s nastiest band-aid. Valerie hacks away at the thickest of them, simultaneously fighting the nausea in her throat. The knife has to go back into its sheath messy- she needs both arms to get a good grip under their armpits and pulls back with all the force she can muster. They continue to thrash limply, probably too confused to understand what’s happening to them.

The legs are the last to go, too-white and slick. Valerie watches them slide out of what’s left of the ruined egg sack with a final sucking sound until all of them is free. Almost falls backwards on her ass, again.

It’s a pain to climb out of the hull. Everything's been washed in more gross alien goop and Valerie needs both arms to hold onto them steady. Leftover green stuff patters from the edges of the hole onto the ground like dripping rain.

“There we go, I got you. It’s okay. You’re safe now, alright? I got you, I promise.” Dammit, is she even doing this right? Talking to shell-shocked civilians- nevermind victims of alien abductions- wasn’t exactly covered in flight school.

She looks down to check her footing and- oh. She’s a girl, thin and frail looking in Valerie’s arms. Her skin is caked in an oily film of greenish spume, giving her a sickly pallor. Pieces of those cords and wires still dangle off her skin like hangnails. Her hair is an oily rope hanging heavy off her limp head, washed-out white as the rest of her.

Boots back down on solid ground- the girl is spasming pathetically in her arms, barely any trouble. She’s so damn light, Valerie doubts she even needs the nanites in her muscle fibers to carry her.

The girl makes a choking sound and coughs, hacking up more of the gooey crap.

“That’s it, let it out.” Valerie coaches her. “Try to breathe.”

It becomes obvious that’s she’s not, though. It doesn’t sound like choking anymore, more like a desperate wheezing of someone slowly suffocating.

“What’s wrong?” Valerie instantly feels stupid for asking. The girl’s gasping like an asthma attack, squirming like she can somehow wrestle air into her lungs.

Valerie puts her down on the least uncomfortable-looking patch of gooey road and fumbles with the med-kit’s scanner. “What’s wrong with her?”

Shut-up order officially rescinded, MAD-E syncs with the scanner and starts pouring over the data it’s pulling from her. Come on, come on, if it could put Valerie back together again it should be able to help her, too.

“The patient’s lungs are dangerously underdeveloped,” MAD-E is unaffected even as the girl imitates a suffocating fish. “She needs a proper medical facilities with the ability to augment or stimulate their growth.”

“We don’t have ‘proper facilities!’”

“Working. The medical kit: second row, third vial from the left.”

MAD-E walks her through preparing the dosage. This, Valerie can do. She keys in the proper delivery ratio into the injector gun, then presses the business end on the girl’s chest.

Valerie warns, “Sorry, this is gonna hurt.” and fires.

From the looks of it, it does. She jerks and goes rigid, whimpering while the dose of nanites goes straight to her heart. Valerie hovers over her with the scanner while they start being distributed through her entire circulatory system, oxygenating her blood directly to compensate for her weak lungs. Within a minute, her breathing isn’t nearly as labored.

“That was only a temporary measure,” MAD-E says. “She will need another injection in four hours, or her respiratory condition will deteriorate.”

“Temporary is good. I can work with temporary. Set a reminder for me.”

“Yes, Lieutenant.”

Breathing easier, the girl hugs herself and shivers. Right, one problem solved, on to the next.

The survival kit has what she needs. Valerie places a fist-sized disc on the girl’s bare back, still pockmarked with angry green wounds from where the cords had been torn loose. They’re all over her; arms, her legs, the prominent ladder of her ribcage. Valerie pushes a button on the disk and watches the material flatten and spread itself over the girl’s skin until forms a simple white and black jumpsuit. Not nearly advanced as Valerie’s flight-suit, but enough to regulate her temperature, monitor her vitals, and is a touch preferable to nudity.

There’s also a heat-reflective blanket, which Valerie expands and drapes over her. Even asleep she instinctively wraps it around herself and curls smaller into herself.

MAD-E reads the data from the jumpsuit. “Her vitals are holding steady for now, Lieutenant. I think this is a good opportunity for you to get some rest as well.”

The last thing on Valerie’s to-do list is to sleep within 10 klicks of a goddamn alien monster ship, dead or no. But seeing the girl wrapped in her blanket flips a toggle in Valerie’s head, like the weight of everything that had happened since she’d woken up six hours ago finally settled into her, like gravity-sickness.

Guess her body isn’t counting being in stasis for thirty-six hours as proper sleep.

First step is a proper camp. The girl doesn’t stir when Valerie picks her up, blanket and all, and sets her a few more meters away from the crash, back near the rubble piles Valerie used as cover before. Not much of an improvement, but at least they’re not completely out in the open, anymore. She lays out a few thumbnail-sized security sensors around the perimeter and sets up a UV lamp in the middle for when it starts to get dark. There, now all they need are those marshmallow and graham cracker ration packs the brass won’t approve for inscrutable reasons.

Sitting is a more complex maneuver than Valerie remembers. Maybe carving her way into a giant alien corpse-ship was a thing that you shouldn’t do while recovering from a near-fatal crash. Maybe not. The universe may never know. Her only blanket is currently being hogged by the new addition. The crash-kit also has the deployable lean-to, but the idea of getting that damn thing unfolded properly is a task she should have thought about while she was still on her feet. This nice pile of rubble she’s got her back up against will do just fine.

With a final what-the-hell, Valerie also pops the seals of her helmet and gets her first breath of fresh, un-recycled air since she was planetside three months ago; is immediately filled with regret and something else that makes her nose crinkle.

Oh. Right. The dead gutted space monster-ship. What an amazing smell she’s discovered.

Inaction looks to have been a signal for her entire body to start clamoring with a vengeance. Food not being a thing she’s had in technically two days, her stomach starts growling. Wonderful. The flavors are all universally bad, so it doesn’t much matter which ration pack she picks from the survival kit. Those hard-working little nanites floating around in her have to get their energy from somewhere.

She breaks the seal and starts sucking up flavored nutrient-gel through the nozzle. There was no escaping the slimy-goop bullshit today. Of course she could have just had the suit inject her with an infusion instead, but MAD-E would probably raise a fit about it being reserved for massive blood loss and other medical crap.

Valerie keeps slurping on her goop-dinner, watching the strange girl she pulled out of an alien ship sleep. Even scrunched up fitfully her pale face is ethereal in the lamplight; the shallow rise and fall of her assisted-breathing a pattern Valerie finds reassuring.

The packet falls half-deflated onto Valerie’s lap when she finally falls asleep.

Valerie doesn’t realize she’d dozed off until a noise wakes her. She’s reaching for holster before she’s even half-awake, faltering when it registers that its the tell-tale siren-call of the heat blanket, crinkling loudly like a crackling fire.

The solar lamp had turned itself on when the sun set, casting soft light over their little makeshift campground. At the edge is the shape of the wreck, a looming dead presence like the bones of some primeval beast. Valerie shivers from a half-dissolved dream: a hunting shadow slithering over a field of stars, the red glow of her emergency cockpit lights, the fear of being buried alive in a universe’s worth of nothing.

She breathes deep and almost welcomes the bracing rot. At least it wakes her up.

The girl is already awake herself, sitting up and wrapped in her blanket like an extra-large ration pack. Most of that gunk from the ship’s innards looks like it’s finally dried off into a tacky, flaked mess. Her snowy hair is stained and matted in crusty clumps.

She doesn’t acknowledge that Valerie had woken up at all. Too busy examining her own hands in the lantern-light with a peculiar fascination.

“How are you feeling?”

The girl looks up at the sound of Valerie’s voice and-

It’s like being back up in the sky again, seeing streak of green plasma blur past her ship in the corner of her eye. Never saw the one that hit her engines and sent her in an uncontrolled spin- tore her out of the sky.

Her eyes are bright, luminous green. As piercing as those shots, impossible and strangely beautiful.

“Lieutenant.” MAD-E says.

A wire of tension unspools in her. Valerie is surprised to find her hand tight around the grip of her gun.

Valerie finally grasps the edges of her mistake, slippery for all the alien goopsnot. That isn’t the glowy-eyed, thousand yard stare of young civilian still reeling from the trauma of a violent abduction.

“What is hell is this, Mads,” it’s a demand, not a question.

“Underdeveloped lungs, muscle atrophy, deficiencies of vitamins D and K, calciu-”

“I’m talking about her fucking eyes.” She hisses, because they’re still goddamn staring at her.

“Based off the limited capabilities of the medical scanner, I cannot definitively-”

“MAD-E.”

“There were anomalous results from her genetic scan. I noted several unknown variations and genesets that do match any known human genome.”

Valerie could almost swear she felt her insides go still- breath, blood, and all. Just a few steps away the girl’s otherwordly eyes blinked, uncomprehending.

“Furthermore,” MAD-E goes on blithely, as if she hadn’t already dropped a fucking bombshell. “Despite the subject’s decreased bone density, her skeleton shows no detectable traces of breaks, stress fractures, or microfissures that would be present for a human in her age range.”

That...shouldn’t be possible. Even with nanites or collagen regeneration, there was always going to be scarring. Signs of damage and healing. Of...of...living.

Unless.

“How old is she, Mads?” Valerie asks quietly, eyes never leaving the girl.

She looks like she could be any average college co-ed. Skinny like someone raised in low-gravity, but not stretched out. Even the hair is pretty tame compared to the crazy augs some people did, but those eyes-

It’s not just the glowing. It’s the wide-eyed, naked bafflement of everything she’s looking at. Clueless as a kitten.

“Her telomeres have been altered, making the margin of error for any estimate-”

They-

They fucking grew her.

Had she ever been outside of that ship, before now? Even sitting up she was swaying unsteadily from the strain of her own weight. Forget walking, standing is probably beyond her at this point.

In the sky, it’d been a different story. Like trying to outswim a shark. A creature made for the Black. Picking off Valerie’s wingmates one.

By.

One.

Something in Valerie’s body language makes the...girl (the pilot, the heart of that monster) tilt her head, quizzically. Almost birdlike.

The gun’s out of its holster, sitting in Valerie's lap next to the unfinished ration pack. She never thought about its weight since the first time she had to pick up a gun in basic. The density. The complexity of so many moving parts just to fling a few grams of bullet faster than a pair of glowing alien eyes could see coming.

“Do you remember what it was like when you were in that thing?” Valerie gestures at the dark husk overlooking them with the gun. The alien-eyes remain fixed on her, captured by the sound of her words but deaf to the meaning. “Did you realize what it meant, when you shot those other ships down?”

She’d burned her engines past red and still couldn’t reach them before their radios let out an garbled scream and a burst of static that meant Orion and Hotshot hadn’t had time to eject. No waiting it out safe and cozy in stasis. Only the hard vacuum and the wreckage of their birds for company.

The girl doesn’t answer. Keeps watching Valerie with those bright, ghost-light eyes as though Valerie was the most perplexing puzzle. Keeps sitting there, wrapped in the foiling cape of her blanket. Like she’s waiting for Valerie to keep going.

Benign only in ignorance, she tells herself. If she understood the noise Valerie was making with her mouth, if Valerie told her that she’d been the one to bring her down, would that blank, soft face contort with a twisted snarl and try to lunge at her, atrophied muscles be damned?

No. She’s just grasping for any excuse to finish off the last living piece of that Thing that killed her wingmates. Leave her body in a puddle of goo next to her corpse-ship like they were floating cold in their own wreckage.

"This would be a lot easier if we were both back up there, instead of down here,” Valerie tells her.

A chime from her helmet on the ground beside her. “Lieutenant.”

Valerie stands up sharply, pistol still in her grip. Crosses the distance between them and stands over her.

The girl blinks up at Valerie. Her breath rasps.

Valerie crouches down in front of her and prepares a new dose. The weight of the injector in her other hand makes her feel titled. Off balance.

(Grip on the yokes, thumbs on the toggles, flick a switch and )

To her credit, the girl doesn’t even flinch. She puts her hand up to the injection site on her neck, grasping at her own steadying pulse. Valerie can almost hear the connections are being made. Basic animal cause and effect.

Valerie holsters her sidearm and lifts injector a hair higher. “That should keep you for a bit. You’ll need another injection in a few hours.”

The girl opens her mouth. “Jeck-shun” Her tongue stumbles on the syllables.

Valerie freezes in the middle of packing the kit back up. “...yeah. Jeck-shun. Close enough.”

“Klo Seenuff.”

Goddamn it that one actually makes Valerie burst out a surprised laugh. The girl tilts her head again at the unfamiliar sound.

Valerie stands up, considers the speculative look on the girl’s face. She turns around and walks back to her side of the camp and eases herself back down.

“You’re lucky I have a thing about strays.”

“Luh-key.”

“You have no idea.”

“Eye-Deeya.”

“You still recording this, Mads? Riveting stuff going on here.”

“Yes, Lieutenant,” it pipes up from Valerie's helmet.

She frowns with concentration. Valerie's tempted to almost call it adorable. “Loot..ten. Ant?”

“Congratulations, you officially say it better than Dash.”

“Dha-sha.”

Valerie sighs. “What am I going to do with you?”

Surprisingly, she doesn’t answer. Maybe it’s the tired resignation in Valerie's voice.

Whatever. Ultimately, the question was moot. A decision will be made all on its own, with or without Valerie's input. All there is to do is sit around and wait to see who drops out of the sky first.

The sky. Valerie cranes her head up. The stars grow thicker here, on the edge of settled space. Diamond dust overflowing on a black canvas. She’d almost forgotten why she enlisted all those years back, before the Amitié Mission vanished, before Elmerton Station and her mother’s empty urn.

Danny was right. It really is everything, up there.

A movement at the edge of her vision. The girl was looking up too, transfixed at the starry dome over their heads.

“Like the stars too, huh?”

“Stars.” She mumbles, barely blinking.

The crash must have knocked out the power on this block- the UV lamp is a lonely circle of light surrounded by indistinguishable dark. Their own little Island on a seas of stars.

It’s like something out of a bad sim: a pair of unlikely castaways alone on a conveniently habitable planet. Then again, in all likelihood, the two of them probably are the only people left on the entire planet- alien weirdness notwithstanding.

Valerie points at a thin white streak. “Look, a shooting star.”

“Shoot.”

“No, a shooting sta-” A blast of thunder shudders down from above, a long echo grumbling through the empty city spires. The girl squeaks with surprise, but Valerie shoots to her feet. There is not a single stormy cloud up there, and the shooting star is getting larger.

“Something’s just hit atmo...” Valerie dives for her helmet and put it back over her head. “MAD-E!”

“Three distinct shockwave events.” MAD-E reports.

She clenches a fist. “Profile?”

It takes four long, agonizing seconds for MAD-E to deliver its verdict. “One Riptide class shuttle and a fighter escort. They have already breached the stratosphere and are decelerating. Most likely vector is towards Nova Ventura.”

“Yes! Hell yes!” The weight of the past two days slides off her shoulders from the tide of sheer elation. “Hail them.”

“Working...I am unable to raise them on emergency channels. There is still interference from the jamming signal.”

Shit. That means there were still unfriendlies around. Without comms or sensors any of search-and-rescue op would be risky at best, hugely dangerous at worse. Someone up there must really like her.

The pilot trades off between glancing worriedly at the sky and back to Valerie rummaging through the crash-kit. “Loot-ehn-ant?”

“We are out of here, bright-eyes,” Valerie points skyward. “Take a look up there, that’s our ride.”

The shooting star from before has grown in size, flaring with the heat-bleedoff from a steep entry.

“Shoot.” the girl says again.

For once, Valerie appreciates the neurotic preparation of the nerds who designed the crash kit. Flares were ridiculously low-tech, but without a way to signal the ships, the only other option Valerie has is sticking out her thumb.

They ignite with an angry hiss, throwing dark green light that make the shadows dance. Lighting every single one, Valerie tosses them down a few meters down the road to mark a good LZ.

The escort fighters do their flyover first, the rumble of their own engines lags behind after they pass. Valerie watches them circle in a holding pattern with a tinge of envy. Down the road, the lights of the shuttle come toward them, following the same route the alien ship made on its way down, if less crashy.

Spotlights orbit around the crash sight, settling over them and the ship. The visor of Valerie's helmet compensates automatically, but the the girl flinches and hides her head under the flaring surface of her blanket.

Engine backwash blows gales of dust as the shuttle’s thrusters pivot, leveling it out and slowly easing it down on the broken road.

“Strange,” MAD-E remarks. “I am not receiving any IFF transponder signals from the shuttle, even at this range.”

“Can’t imagine why they wouldn’t want to broadcast their position,” Valerie replies, more focused on the decent of the shuttle’s gangplank.

The girl is outright trying to hide under the heat blanket at this point, frightened by the noise the strange ship. Valerie goes to her and lifts up a corner of the blanket. Two panicked, neon green eyes peer at her.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to hide. You’re with me, I’ll take care of you. Promise.”

“...pra-miss?”

“Yeah. Promise.” Valerie holds out her hand. The pilot looks at it, incredulous. Slowly, her pale, thin fingers lightly touch the glove of Valerie’s suit. Valerie grasps it as firmly as she dares before letting go and standing up. Should probably warn the SAR team about this so they don’t spook the-

A swarm of boots drum down the gangplank. Not Search and Rescue medics, but two full squads of troopers geared head to toe in bone-white armor sweep the landing zone. Their rifles are primed and ready- as though they were expecting an ambush from every corner.

Valerie raises a hand. “Evening, fellas. Glad you could finally join us. Not to sound ungrateful or anything, but-”

None of them even look her way, their full-faced helmets betraying nothing. Sometimes she’ll see them glance at one another, a nod here or a minute motion there that suggests they were talking to each other in a way Valerie couldn’t hear. Probably all sharing scrambled, short-range comm.

One squad breaks away and starts marching her way. “Finally. Hey guys, can anyone tell me what’s going on upstairs? I haven’t been able to get through to-”

They march past her like she was invisible, guns raised and cautiously approaching the crashed alien ship.

“Don’t worry about that thing. If it wasn’t dead on-impact, it definitely crashed after I-” She trails off, because a four-man team just formed a semi-circle in front of them and have all trained their guns on her. No, not just her.

“Loo-Ten-ant?” The girl huddles in her blanket anxiously.

Valerie steps in front of them, blocking most of their shots. “Whoa, whoa hey now, safety those things. The hell are you-”

“Stand down, Lieutenant Gray.”

Two of the soldiers part without breaking their sight lines. A pair of men in the plain, unassuming white uniform of the Observer’s Office step through the gap. Their hair is shaved even shorter than regulation length to the point of baldness and their eyes are hidden under black specs.

“Finally, some human contact.” Valerie snaps. “Can someone explain to me what the hell is going on?”

The first Man in White motions at the girl hiding behind Valerie’s legs with a gloved hand. “Please step away, Lieutenant.”

“Loo-ten-ent?” She asks quietly.

“Listen-” Valerie pulls off her helmet- one of the solider tenses and raises his rifle a little higher before. “I’ve been down in this creepy-ass colony for the past forty-six hours. The whole city is empty, I haven’t been able to raise anyone on comms, I’ve got no idea what’s going on up there-”

“The situation is under control,” The Second Man says coolly.

“What does that even mean? What happened to the Hartmann?”

“Relax, Lieutenant. The battle’s over. The Hartmann is intact and station-keeping in high obit about the planet’s southern pole.”

Valerie exhales. “Thank God- wait. That doesn’t make any sense. How are we still being jammed if the enemy is-”

It’s like crashing all over again. First the hit, losing control as the world spins.

“It’s been you,” she breathes. “The squids haven’t been jamming comms. It’s been you the whole time.”

The First Man in White starts reciting: “Under Special Directive granted to the Observer’s Office by Director Masters and the Ecumene Council, this area is under quarantine.”

The second man continued. “Lieutenant Gray, you are hereby ordered to report for a full debrief. All footage starting from when you came out of emergency stasis will be confiscated and classified Above Top Secret, including the full contents of your Virtual Intelligence Asset.”

MAD-E starts to say, “I would be happy to assist however I can. However, I-”

“Lexic: White Zero-Six-Three Over Specter-Kay.”

“Confirmed,” MAD-E responds obediently, then, apologetically to Valerie: “Their credentials are valid, Lieutenant. The orders are legal.”

Years of military discipline keeps her mouth fixed in a firm line. “...what about her?”

“That,” The Man in White nods first to the wreck, then to the girl. “And that are to be taken into custody.”

“Step aside, Lieutenant.” The cold edge in the second’s one voice is as subtle as a knife to the throat.

A gloved hand motions one of the troopers to stow away their weapon. Valerie watches them move towards the girl and is very aware that the other three still have theirs leveled at her. She’s standing in political black hole, where scruples get devoured and crushed beyond recognition. It wouldn’t be hard to sell that one lone, relatively skilled but ultimately insignificant fighter pilot had been shot down and died in the crash. Too much damage to the pod on impact, full stasis and life support failure. Her father would get a flag, a posthumous medal, and an empty urn to put beside his wife’s.

Valerie does nothing as the trooper grabs the girl. Hears the frantic crinkle of the heat blanket, the weak grunts and a shout.

“Loo-ten-ent? Lootenent!”

Valerie can’t even tell her she’s sorry. Not now, not with those hidden eyes watching.

The trooper walks past. Valerie feels a desperate tug on the sleeve of her flight suit and she has to keep her eyes locked on the Man in White. It’s the only way to keep her expression from betraying her.

Another four man fireteam escorts the trooper carrying the thrashing girl to the shuttle, where a pair of medics wait at the gangplank and administer a sedative that reduces her to a ragdoll in seconds.

Jeck-shun, Valerie thinks. “What’s going to happen to her?”

“That’s outside both of our paygrades.” The other Man in White snorts. His partner shoots him a look- probably the first damn show of emotion she’s seen from either of them since they landed.

Valerie looks past them and watches the girl be carried up the gangplank and vanish into the shuttle. Valerie can’t hear what any of them are saying, but their body language speaks volumes. None of them seemed confused or alarmed at the sight of ghostly pale, glowy-eyed girl being dragged from the site of a crashed alien ship. Certainly not as bad as Valerie had taken it, when she found out.

Her heart jumps at another sonic boom. More ships entering the atmosphere, probably bringing in the personnel and equipment they’ll need to start preparing the main body of the wreck for transport. Half the troopers have already moved from securing the scene to setting up tripods for high-powered lights and portable generators. It all plays out with the clockwork smoothness of a routine well-practiced.

Crossing her arms, Valerie looks right into the image of herself in the lens of the Man in White.

"She’s not the first you found, is she?”

90 notes · View notes

thenarator · 7 years

Text

Cisco and the Loyal Dragon

HAPPY BIRTHDAY @hedgiwithapen! if you’ve been reading my little flash/temeraire crossover thing and are expecting more fluff, you might want to brace yourselves because this falls a little more on the angsty side. it’s still cisco and a very protective dragon however, so if that’s what you came for then you’ll like this.

If you’d told Cisco Ramon five years ago that one day he’d be making the rounds of every butcher in Central City buying them out of ground turkey, he’d have laughed in your face. Nobody liked turkey, which was why people only ate in once a year. It was dry and gross and it cooked weirdly, and only weird people ate it if given the choice to eat something else.

It was also, as it happened, the cheapest type of meat to buy, barring undesirable cuts of chicken. So if you needed enormous quantities of raw meat on the regular but didn’t have the money to slaughter a cow every week, ground turkey was the way to go. Not for the first time Cisco wondered how this had become his life as he paid for the seventeen and a half pounds of ground turkey that was all the butcher had left at the end of the day. He’d already hit up every other butcher in the city, so this was his last stop.

“What do you need all this for?” asked the woman on the other side of the counter, who looked like she could break Cisco in half without much trouble.

“I’m one of those people that likes to spoil their pets,” Cisco told her honestly. He did not mention that he had only one pet, that it was more like he was her pet, and that she happened to be a dragon.

The woman gave him an understanding smile and Cisco tried not to imagine the collection of vicious dogs he suspected she was picturing, perhaps somewhat reminiscent of her own. He walked out of the shop, laden with turkey and thinking about what he’d recently read about Chinese dragons eating cooked meat rather than raw. He wondered how he would theoretically cook this much turkey without it drying out, his brain immediately beginning to construct a device similar to the revamped slow cooker he’d constructed for his mother, and he only dimly noticed the unmarked black van parked directly outside.

He noticed it more however when the side door slid open and four men in full combat gear leaped out. Instinctively Cisco dropped the turkey and put up his hands, but this turned out to be the wrong thing to do. Immediately two of them grabbed him, kicking his legs out from under him and dragging him toward the van. Cisco yelled, but there was no one nearby, and he found himself hoisted inside by strong hands, unable to even struggle to free himself. He yelled again even as the door slid shut behind them, but then there was a crackle of electricity and a searing pain in his side.

The last thing he saw before he blacked out was the word “Army” on the chestplate of one of his attackers.

***

One of the things that Gussie was thankful for was that Cisco was not generally given to being late.

Cisco liked being at the lab. He loved working, he loved the people he worked with, and he loved spending time with Gussie. The lab was literally his favorite place to be. He did not stay away for long periods of time if he could help it. He did not come in late. And he certainly did not do either of those things without telling someone.

“Where is he?” Gussie asked no on in particular as she paced agitatedly around the cortex.

“He’s usually here by the time I leave on patrol,” Barry said, sounding somewhat concerned himself. He was already in his Flash suit, but he was waiting on Cisco before going out.

“He’s not answering his phone,” Caitlin said, holding up her own phone demonstratively. If Gussie squinted she could see a lot of outgoing text messages, but none in response.

“I’m going looking,” Gussie announced, striding purposefully towards the door.

“Bad idea,” Barry was suddenly standing in her path. “Remember what happened last time you went off looking for Cisco?”

“Yes,” said Gussie. “I found him.”

“You found Iris,” Barry corrected, “who still hasn’t forgiven me for lying.”

“That,” Gussie snapped, “is your problem.”

She made to go around Barry, but he was suddenly in her way again. She tried to go the other way, but once more she found him directly in front of her.

“Barry’s right,” Dr. Wells piped up, drawing Gussie’s attention off Barry and onto him. “We don’t even know that anything’s wrong, and it’s not yet fully dark. The last thing we need is more blogs like Miss West’s talking about sightings of dragons.”

“I do not care,” Gussie’s tail lashed. “I want to find Cisco.”

“I may be able to help with that,” said a voice from the doorway.

All three of them turned, to find a man dressed in an army uniform standing just outside the entrance to the cortex. Immediately Barry’s mask was on and he was racing to place himself between the soldier and the rest of the room’s occupants, and Gussie dropped into a crouch, preparing to spring at the man if he threatened anyone.

“I presume General Eiling sent you,” guessed Dr. Wells, turning his wheelchair to face the newcomer. “What information do you have about Mr. Ramon?”

“I can take you to him,” said the soldier, not looking at Dr. Wells or at Barry, but rather at Gussie over Barry’s shoulder. “But this offer is one time only, and only for the dragon.”

“You’re nuts if you think-” Barry began.

“Deal,” said Gussie, without hesitation.

The soldier nodded, turned, and marched off down the hallway.

“Gussie you can’t!” called Caitlin, getting hurriedly up and running after Gussie as she took off after the soldier.

“I am going to find Cisco,” Gussie said. She did not see why Caitlin seemed so upset. “I will bring him back here, and everything will be alright again.”

“You honestly think they’re just going to let you?” Barry easily kept pace with her as Caitlin began to fall behind. “You think-”

“I know they will let me, because I am much bigger than them and can breathe fire,” Gussie explained patiently. “They will not have a choice.”

“I’m coming with you,” Barry insisted.

“The offer only stands if we go alone,” the soldier said over his shoulder.

“Stay here,” Gussie ordered Barry. “I will get Cisco, and we will be back soon.”

***

Gussie flew behind the soldier’s car as he led her out of the city. It was not yet entirely dark, so Gussie could keep track of the car even at the height she had to maintain to not be seen. She had very keen eyes, which Cisco said came of having ancestors that lived on mountains and had to see human bandits coming from a long ways away. Sometimes the man changed direction unexpectedly, and sometimes he even went back the way he had come, but eventually they made it out of the buildings and into the forest.

It was harder to track the car through the forest, with its dense trees, but there was only one road to follow, and that was where the trees were thinnest. She followed the road all the way to a wall, which surrounded a collection of small, squat, ugly buildings. A gate in the wall opened to admit the car, but Gussie simply flew over the wall and landed in an open space just past the gate.

“Where is Cisco?” she demanded immediately, as the soldier stepped out of his car.

“All in good time,” said a voice Gussie had not heard before. She turned, to see an older looking man with greying hair and deep wrinkles on his face. He was dressed like the soldier who had brought her there, but the soldier stood at attention when he approached.

“Who are you?” Gussie asked as the man approached her, tail lashing. “Where is Cisco?”

“I’m General Wade Eiling,” the man introduced himself, “and your friend Cisco is inside. I’ll bring him to you, once I’m certain you understand your position.”

“You should understand your position,” Gussie hissed angrily. “I am very big and I can breathe fire. You should give me what I want.”

Eiling, of all things, chuckled. “I thought you’d say that.”

Suddenly, from everywhere at once, there came a horrible piercing scream. Gussie flinched, knowing Cisco’s voice when she heard it, but she could not tell where it was coming from.

“Cisco!” she called, turning circles as she tried to pinpoint the source of the screaming. “Cisco, where-”

The screaming stopped, and Gussie whirled to face Eiling.

“Where is he!” she snapped. “If you have hurt him-”

“I have hurt him,” Eiling admitted, surprisingly her, “and I’ll hurt him again. Over and over until you understand your place, monster.”

“I’m not a monster,” Gussie said, “I’m a marvel, and you-”

The scream came again, louder and more pained than before.

“Cisco?” Gussie screeched, turning this way and that as she tried to tell where it was coming from. “Cisco, I am coming, I am-”

“You are not in any position to correct me,” Eiling interrupted once the screaming had stopped. “I can hurt your precious Cisco as much and as often as I like, and the only way you can stop me is by doing what I say.”

“Where is he?” Gussie asked. Asked, rather than demanded, because as much as she did not want to admit it, she was afraid. She was afraid for Cisco, and what it was that was making him scream. She did not want to hear the sound of Cisco screaming every again.

Eiling smiled, cold and cruel, then held up a small black box to his mouth. “Bring him out.”

The door to the building behind Eiling opened, and out came a trio of soldiers. In the center of the group was Cisco, one of them holding each of his arm and the third one walking slightly in front of the other two. His stumbled as they dragged him outside into the open space, coming to a stop a few paces behind Eiling.

“Gussie!” Cisco said in surprise when he saw her.

“Let him go!” Gussie howled. “Let go of him, you-”

“Shut up!” Eiling shouted, at a surprising volume for something of his size.

The soldier who had been at the front of the procession turned around. He looked at Eiling, and when Eiling nodded the soldier drew back his hand and punched Cisco with what looked like a considerable amount of force. Gussie screeched but stayed in place, not daring to breathe fire at the soldier for fear of hitting Cisco too.

“Will you do what I say?” Eiling asked. Cisco shook his head at Gussie, eyes wide.

“No!” Gussie snapped petulantly.

Eiling nodded to the soldier again, and he drew back his other hand and hit Cisco again.

“Stop!” Gussie’s feathers were fluffed up as high as they would go.

“Will you do what I say?” Eiling asked, louder this time.

“Never!” Gussie flared her ruff at him, but Eiling did not back down.

This time the soldier took something from his belt, and when he placed it against Cisco’s neck Cisco screamed again.

“Stop it!” Gussie clawed at ground but did not attack, still afraid of hurting Cisco. “Stop it, stop it!”

“Will you do what I say!” Eiling shouted.

“No!” Gussie insisted, “I will not, I will-”

The soldier pulled his gun from its harness and pointed it at Cisco’s head. Cisco stared down the barrel of the gun and swallowed, then looked at Gussie and shook his head again. No.

“Will you do what I say?” Eiling asked, voice quiet and deadly calm.

Gussie hesitated a moment, looking into Cisco’s fearful, pleading eyes. There was only one possible answer.

“Yes.”

***

Gussie was not back soon.

They waiting for over an hour, but Gussie did not return and no one received a call or text from Cisco. At Dr. Wells’ insistence Barry went out of patrol, but nothing could take his mind off his missing friend. This would be the second time Cisco had been kidnapped and Barry hadn’t been able to do anything, hadn’t even tried to do anything, to save him. He couldn’t help but feel like a horrible superhero, and a horrible friend.

“Any sign of them?” Barry asked once he had come to a stop in the cortex.

“Not yet,” Caitlin shook her head.

Barry stripped off his suit and changed back into normal clothes in the blink of an eye. “What about the news, any word about a fire breathing dragon going on a rampage?”

“The news networks and blogosphere are all quiet,” Dr. Wells told him.

“You know,” said Caitlin suddenly, “Gussie does have a tracker in her collar.”

“Is it active?” Barry demanded, racing over to stand next to Caitlin. “Where is it?”

Caitlin tapped at her tablet a few times, then turned it to display a map of Central City. The map zoomed in on the forest to the west of the city, until a collection of buildings surrounded by a thick wall came into focus.

“There’s an army base just outside the city,” Caitlin told him. “The tracker’s sigal is coming from in there.”

“Perhaps we should-” Dr. Wells began, but Barry was back in his Flash suit and out the door before he could finish.

***

The army base was surprisingly easy to get into. The gate was open when he arrived, no guards stationed on the wall spotted him, and there did not seem to be anyone in the courtyard created by buildings on three sides and the gate on the fourth. Everything was quiet, and under cover of darkness Barry stopped and wondered which of the three buildings to look in first. The central building seemed to be the biggest, probably the place where Eiling might hide a captive dragon, and the massive front door was ajar. It was almost too easy.

Exactly why it was too easy became apparent when the courtyard was flooded with light.

“Hello Flash,” said Eiling, stepping out of the shadows to stand squarely in Barry’s path. “Fancy meeting you here.”

“Barry get out of there,” came Dr. Wells’ voice in his earpiece.

“Where are Cisco and Gussie?” Barry demanded, ignoring Dr. Wells to focus on Eiling.

Eiling signaled to someone behind him. “Let out the beast,” he barked.

From the shadows of the open doorway to the central building, out stepped Gussie. Her wings drooped, her feathers were flattened to her skin, and her head hung down as though in shame. She was not wearing the collar Cisco had made her, but rather a heavy black harness that looked to be made of kevlar.

“Gussie,” Barry called urgently, “let’s get out of here! We’ll find Cisco-”

“Fire!” shouted Eiling.

Gussie opened her mouth and let forth a jet of flames. Barry just barely made it out of the way without getting scorched, and she followed him with the fire until he was backed into a corner of the courtyard.

“Gussie!” Barry cried frantically. “It’s me! I’ve come to help you-”

“You can’t help,” said Gussie shakily, “I have to do what he says.”

“No you don’t!” Barry argued.

“Fire!” Eiling shouted again.

Gussie inhaled deeply and then fire was pouring once again from her mouth. Barry ran in the opposite direction this time, and thankfully by the time he reached the opposite corner she was out of breath.

“Gussie, why?” Barry asked plaintively.

“Because he’ll hurt Cisco if I don’t,” Gussie groaned pitifully. “You don’t know . . . you don’t know . . .”

“Fire!”

***

“Barry’s vitals are dropping,” Caitlin announced, bent over her workstation. “I think he was hit.”

“Caitlin,” said Dr. Wells calmly, “would you be so kind as to take a van and get as close to the base as you can? I think Barry made need a ride home after this.”

“But-” Caitlin started to protest.

“I’ll handle things here,” Dr. Wells assured her.

Thus mollified, Caitlin turned and left the cortex at a run, leaving Dr. Wells alone at the comms.

***

The comms were fried.

Everything was fried.

Barry could feel his bare chest knitting itself painfully back together, but nothing could repair the damage to the front of his suit. Gussie’s fire was hot enough to melt titanium, and certainly hot enough to burn away even Cisco’s reinforced tripolymer fabric. He struggled to sit up, but suddenly he felt hot breath wash over his face.

“I’m sorry,” said Gussie as she positioned herself over Barry, pinning him down. “But they will hurt Cisco.”

“I understand,” Barry said hoarsely. “You have . . . . to protect . . . “

“Finish him!” Eiling commanded.

“No!” Gussie howled, looking over her shoulder at Eiling.

Eiling lifted a radio to his mouth and said, “Bring him out.”

There was a sound of something being struck and then a punctuated cry, and Cisco stumbled out from around the corner of the central building. His hands were bound behind him, and he was flanked by two soldiers carrying assault rifles. He had a black eye, a split lip, and what looked like an electrical burn on his neck.

“Cisco!” Barry yelled.

“Cisco!” Gussie howled.

“Enough!” Eiling barked. “Finish him, or Ramon dies!”

One of the soldiers raised his gun and pointed it at Cisco’s head. Gussie turned back to Barry. Barry closed his eyes.

In hindsight Barry wished he had not closed his eyes, because then he might have understood what happened next better. There was a whooshing sound to his right, a cry of alarm from the direction of the soldiers, and then Cisco’s voice above him screaming for Gussie to stop. His eyes popped open to see Cisco standing beside Gussie, his arms thrown around her neck, face pale and sobbing into her feathers.

“What . . .” Barry began in bewilderment, but he was ignored.

It took Gussie a moment to realize what had happened. That Cisco was no longer with the soldiers, a gun to his head, and that he was instead beside her. Once she did realize it however she rammed her nose into Cisco’s stomach, crooning joyfully and nuzzling him fiercely.

“Cisco!” she managed, in between wordless noises of affection.

“I’m ok!” Cisco said, over and over. “I’m ok, I’m ok, I’m-”

Suddenly Gussie wrenched away from him, one foreclaw pushing him toward Barry. Cisco looked stunned for a few seconds, until Gussie turned to face Eiling.

“Gussie no,” said Cisco, face pale and horrified. “Gussie stop, Gussie-”

Gussie did not respond to him. She spread her wings and leaped, gliding the distance between where she had been standing and where Eiling was now backing towards the open doorway in alarm. Cisco shouted for her to come back, and Eiling screamed for her to stand down, but Gussie had decided on her next course of action and she would not be dissuaded.

It was oddly quiet in the courtyard as Eiling’s first scream split the still night air. His second scream was a bit gurgly, owing to the fact that Gussie’s front claws were embedded in his lungs. His third strangled, soft scream was cut abruptly short as Gussie bit into his neck, and that was the last sound General Wade Eiling ever made. His body made a few more noises, sickening squelches and visceral tearing sounds as it was reduced to its component parts by sharp talons. In the end though, when Gussie was through, there was silence.

***

They’d had a hell of a time cleaning Gussie off.

Eventually they’d had to just take her down to the parking garage and spray her down with the hose. It dislodged a few feathers, but there was no other way to get all of the blood off of her before she went upstairs. There was simply no getting all of it off the roof where she’d landed, and the hallway where she’d tried to come inside would have to be power washed as well, but eventually they got her clean enough for Cisco’s lab.

Caitlin treated what wounds Cisco had and checked him over for further injuries, of which there were none. Cisco did not say anything about going home, and Gussie did not mention it either. Barry also didn’t want to go home, and in the end only Dr. Wells returned to his own house for the evening. Iris and Joe were called to spend the night as well, and Gussie slept soundly with all of them cuddled against her side. Cisco lay with her head in his lap, and when she awoke during the night with a mournful croon he scratched at her feathers until she could lay her head down again.

The next day people had to go to work however, so Joe and Iris and Barry had to leave. Caitlin went back to her own lab, to her own work and her own projects, and Gussie and Cisco stayed in the workshop. Cisco tried to work on his machines, but his hands were shaking a bit too much, and in the end he and Gussie ended up watching an old Charlie Chaplin film projected on the wall.

“Why is this funny?” Gussie asked, despite the fact that she was laughing also.

“Timing,” Cisco said simply, wiping tears from his eyes. “It’s all about timing.”

Gussie nuzzled him affectionately, then laid her head in his lap. She could only watch the film out of one eye like this, but that was alright.

“Gussie?” Cisco asked, voice quiet.

“Yes?” she replied, just as quietly.

“You shouldn’t have attacked Barry,” he said.

“Eiling would have killed you if I had not done it,” Gussie told him, knowing the truth of it deep in her bones. “I could not have let him hurt you.”

“You can’t hurt people just because-” Cisco began, but Gussie cut him off.

“Yes I can,” she said firmly. “If it will keep you safe I will burn this city to the ground. You may tell me not to if you like, but I will not obey you if it puts your life at risk.”

There was a pause where Cisco did not say anything, and Gussie waited nervously for his reply. Then his hand came up to stroke the feathers on top of her head.

“I know,” he admitted, “and I know that’s in your nature, but I have to at least try to stop you.”

“You have tried,” said Gussie, as though humoring him. “If you want to stop me from hurting people to protect you, then I suggest you stop being kidnapped.”

“I’ll try,” Cisco said, and it came out somewhere between a laugh and a sigh.

“Good,” Gussie concluded, then closed her eyes and nuzzled into Cisco’s belly.

#the flash #cisco ramon #cisco and the dragon #hedgiwithapen #angst

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formerprincess · 7 years

Text

A tale written with fangs and claws || Chapter 2

Chapters: 2/? Fandom: Teen Wolf (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken Characters: Liam Dunbar, Theo Raeken Additional Tags: Alpha Liam Dunbar, Slow Build, Friends to Lovers, Dunbar Pack, Bisexual Liam Dunbar, Werewolf Theo Raeken, Alpha Theo Raeken Series: Part 1 of Morning Dew Pack

Theo and Liam go on a weekend trip to relax and just recharge their batteries after a stressful year at Seattle. And that's how it all started in the end.

Liam leaned back in the passenger seat and watched the street in front of them. It was a bright sunny day without a cloud in the blue sky and incredibly warm. Perfect weather for a weekend trip, they were really lucky. After settling into their apartment and making themselves a home in Seattle, life had been busy. University was demanding and even though Liam and Theo liked it, it was different than high school and took more time to get used to. And then they both got jobs aside from college to have some money for themselves and not have Liam’s parents pay literally everything. Liam also became part of the lacrosse team, only to realize how bad they were. They didn’t have a coach, to begin with, and most members could be good at the sports but since they lost every match they clearly lacked motivation. Shortly after starting lacrosse, they voted Liam as captain since he clearly had the most passion for it, and now it was Liam’s task to coordinate his team members and manage training and games. Plus they also kept in touch with the other pack members and even managed to visit Corey and Mason once. Liam missed his pack but after almost a year of living in Seattle, the pain had dulled and he became better at coping with it.

Now he and Theo were on their way to a small cabin near a lake. It wasn’t far from Seattle but they both needed some time to just relax and catch their breath. Both of their classes were only starting on Wednesday next week, giving them four full days off.

“What’s the first you’re going to do when we’re there?” Liam asked and Theo shrugged, eyes never leaving the road. “I don’t know yet. Settle in a bit and see what goes from there. Why? Do you have a plan? That would be a first.” He teased Liam and Liam swatted his leg. “Don’t hit the driver!” Theo scolded playfully, making Liam laugh. “Instead of complaining, you should make sure you don’t miss the road to the park, Mr. Driver.” He mocked and Theo simply snorted. “I know what I’m doing, little Beta!” “Keep telling yourself that!”

Liam grinned and looked out of the window again, enjoying to see the trees flew by. They reached their goal after a while and Theo pulled from the main road into a smaller one leading right towards the lake you could already see in the distance. The cabin they were heading to belonged to a small park with various cabins scattered around the lake.

“First step?” Theo asked and Liam pulled out his phone to check his mails. Theo usually was the planner out of the two of them but he had been swamped with assignments and work and so Liam decided to plan their trip after Theo had suggested it. “We have to gather the keys from the park manager at the reception. The office should be right at the beginning of the park.” Liam looked up from his phone and pointed ahead. “Over there!” Theo followed his direction and soon parked in front of the cabin. A sign claiming this was indeed the office was affixed right next to the entrance door. The door was open to get in some fresh air and you could see a reception desk inside. Liam unbuckled and open the passenger door. “I’ll go and get the keys.”

With that, he got out of the car and walked into the office. Behind the reception desk were two desks littered with papers and various other office items as well as a computer on each desk. On the right side of the wall behind the reception was a board with various hooks, some with keys on them, some without and each hook with its own number above. Behind the desks were two offices Liam could also see desks in. “Hello?” He called out and soon a woman emerged from one of the offices in the back. “Welcome.” She said with a warm smile. She had her black hair tied back with a bandana and wore beige jeans as well as a red shirt and white sneakers. It matched perfectly with her tanned skin. Her brown eyes were awake and sharp but also very warm and welcoming. “Mrs. Fairclay? I’m Liam Dunbar, my friend and I rented a cabin for the long weekend.” Liam politely introduced himself and her smile turned even warmer. Now that she was close Liam could see she was an elderly woman with a few wrinkles on her face and some gray strands in her hair but at the same time she was full of energy and gave off the impression that she seriously could kick your ass. She was like Mrs. McCall, just older.

“Ah right, I remember. You rented cabin number seven.” She chirped and then grabbed a folder from underneath the reception desk before grabbing a key from the board. “I just need you to sig here. You already paid in advance, so just sign to confirm you read and accept the park rules.” She put some documents in front of Liam and he grabbed a pen, eyes fitting over the pages and then signed it. The rules were simple and common. No wildfires, no disturbing other guests, respecting the nature and keep an eye on your things. There were some wild animals around, Liam knew, but he doubted they would come close to the cabins. After handing the documents over again he received the keys and Mrs. Fairclay told him how to get to their cabin. “If you need anything, the number of the reception is right next to the phone in your cabin. Don’t hesitate to call.” She smiled once more and Liam felt himself returning the smile. “I wish you and your friend a nice stay, Mr. Dunbar.” “Please, call me Liam. I’m only nineteen-years-old, I’m too young to be Mr. Dunbar.”

She laughed and then held out her hand for him to shake. “Okay, Liam, in that case, I’m Lana.” She replied and Liam laughed before shaking her hand. “Nice to meet you.” He looked around after that. “So, any tips for being around? Things we need to check off our list?” He inquired and Lana shrugged. “Just relax, find some peace, do whatever your heart desires. It’s a very calm surrounding and yet so full of life and possibilities. You will find more than enough to enjoy your time here. Especially our kind enjoys being here.”

Liam frowned. “Our kind?” He asked and narrowed his eyes slightly. All the things he had been through made him suspicious if someone said something like that. But Lana kept her comforting smile and then her eyes flashed gold. “I know who you are. Liam Dunbar, first bitten beta of the True Alpha Scott McCall. The story of your pack traveled far and even reached us here. Besides, I smell you being a wolf.” Liam’s shoulders relaxed, he had instantly moved into some kind of defensive stance when she started talking but when she explained she didn’t seem hostile. And he knew many had heard about Scott McCall and to the extent, they also heard about Liam. “So you’re part of the pack living around here?” He inquired, curious about the other werewolf. Lana smiled with a fond look on her face. “I am. My husband’s the Alpha. Though our pack is very different from yours, that much I admit. You surely will meet some members of the pack during your stay here. Don’t worry, they are all peaceful and open.” “Amazing.” Liam liked meeting other werewolves and as long as they were nice towards him and his pack, he had no problem with exchanging stories. It would be nice to meet a whole new pack, he had to admit.

“I should better get going, Theo’s waiting. See you around. And thank you.” He then said and Lana nodded. Liam left the office and walked back to Theo’s truck. Theo was playing on his phone and merely glanced up when Liam opened the door and got into the car again. “The receptionist is a werewolf and her husband is the Alpha.” Liam announced cheerfully and dangled the keys. “We have cabin number seven, this way.”

Theo stared at him. “You just wanted to get the keys. How do you go from getting them to realizing she’s a werewolf and her husband’s the Alpha?” Liam shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. “She told me. We talked. Her name is Lana. She’s nice.” Theo laughed and started the car engine. “You make friends everywhere, huh? You’re like a puppy, everybody just loves you.” “I’m not a puppy!” Liam protested, causing Theo to scoff. “You are, trust me. A little human puppy.” Liam growled playfully and Theo laughed again. “if you do that, you sound even more like a puppy.” “I hate you.” “No, you don’t.” Theo said cheerfully. “Now, show me the way, puppy.”

Liam pointed him into the directions and soon they arrived at their designated cabin. It was a nice building with light wood and a red roof. Liam instantly liked it. He could see the lake behind the cabin and when he climbed out of the car, he took a sniff off the fresh air. Traces of pine and cedar mingled with the sweet smell of flowers and well...summer. Those were going to be four amazing days. “Unpack and then walk to the lake? Maybe go for a swim?” He suggested while Theo grabbed their bags from the truck bed and handed Liam his own. Liam took it and since he had the keys he was the first to walk to the front door and unlock it.

Upon entering the cabin, the young Beta whistled, impressed by what he saw. The whole interior was kept in bright and warm colors and the sun was shining through the big windows. There were two floors, the ground floor completely covered by the open kitchen and living room with a big table to sit and eat or play some board games or whatever and three couches arranged so they were pointing at the tv. A door led to a small porch with a barbecue area and some chairs as well a rounded table. The lake was even closer now and you had a perfect view over the lake and the surrounding woods. Across the entrance, stairs were leading up to what Liam assumed were the bedrooms and bathroom.

“That was the best idea you ever had, T.” Liam breathed out and beamed at his friend. Theo had looked around as well and now faced Liam, also smiling brightly. The open and honest smile Liam loved so much. It made Theo’s eyes sparkle and Liam had to suppress a sigh. Theo smiling like that made him look even more gorgeous than usually and it always made Liam’s heart skip a beat. Theo had never noticed which Liam was really grateful about.

Theo now stepped closer to one of the big windows and looked outside. “Love the view.” He muttered and Liam had to agree. It was spectacular. Making his way up the stairs, the younger of the two of them already felt himself relaxing. Being surrounded by this beautiful and calm place and the sun shining brightly made him feel happy and carefree. Exactly what he needed after the last few months.

Upstairs were two bedrooms and bathrooms, just like Liam had expected. One master bedroom with a kingsize bed and another one with two separate smaller beds. Liam raised a challenging eyebrow at Theo who had followed him upstairs and Theo rolled his eyes but smirked and threw his bag on one of the two beds. “Liam tsked. “Always so chaotic.” He teased. Theo gave him a once over. “I live with you, sweetheart. You’re worse than me.” “Aw, the pet names are coming again. Love you too, sweetie.” They both needed this banter, it was an essential part of their friendship. Bicker all the time like an old married couple (according to Corey) but during a fight, they were completely in sync and lethal. They trusted each other completely and blindly, because they both knew, despite them both claiming otherwise once, they would die for each other. Theo now sighed. “Why do I keep you around?” “Because you love me!” Liam stated and winked at the chimera before throwing his bag on the second bed. “Come on, I want to go to the lake.” “What happened to unpack?” Theo asked but Liam was already halfway down the stairs. Theo soon followed suit.

They took the small path over the porch and then towards the lake and soon reached a small jetty reaching into the water. The lake had looked smaller from the distance but now that they were there, Liam noticed it was quite large. He could see some other cabins around, heard some children play in the distance and he inhaled the fresh air deeply. “I love Seattle but this fresh air is amazing.” Theo next to him made an agreeing sound and then kneeled down to dip his hand in the water. “Nice temperature, not too hot or too cold.” he stated and glanced up at Liam. The young Beta also kneeled down next to him. “Perfect to swim, huh?” He inquired, eyes fixed on the water and only when he glanced at Theo he noticed how close him and Theo really were. It made his heart jump in his chest. Theo didn’t make any attempt to pull away and they just looked into each other’s eyed for a while. How did a simple walk to the lake turn into sparks flying all of sudden?

A howl coming from the woods startled them and their heads snapped into the direction of the sound. “Was that...?” Liam started. “A wolf? Yeah. It was a happy howl though.” Theo confirmed. Curiously Liam looked at the older man. “How do you know that?” “It has something with the sound colors. A happy howl is higher than a pained or angry growl. I learned it during my time with the Dread Doctors.” Theo explained and Liam remembered Theo could shift. He probably learned more from actual wolves than Liam had known. “It’s cool you know such things.” He admired Theo’s wide range of knowledge. Mason was eager to learn and he did know a lot already but Theo was also incredibly smart and Liam really, really liked that about his friend. Knowledge was kind of sexy and Liam knew how that sounded but it was true. Theo now smiled at him, a happy smile again. Hearing Liam liking what he had to say and adored his knowledge was always making him happy and proud.

“Was it a real wolf? Can you hear that too?” But Theo shook his head. “Sometimes. Not right now. If a werewolf has experience with howling and shifting, doesn’ even has to be a full shift, it’s hard to tell.” Liam nodded, he understood that. It was still pretty cool.

Theo let his hand still glide through the water and Liam decided to take off his shoes and dip his feet into the water. It was really refreshing; Theo soon followed his example and the two friends sat next to each other on the jetty, watching their surroundings.

“I always liked the woods. They were mysterious and cool and as a child, I thought this was where the fairies lived. Then I grew older and liked to run in them but then I got bitten and suddenly the woods became scary and full of danger.” Liam suddenly said while surveying the woods around them. He saw Theo turning his head towards Liam from the corner of his eyes but he kept looking ahead. “But this here? I really like it. This is peaceful.” “Because you get older, And suddenly the monsters you see everywhere turn out to be just trees. Don’t get me wrong, there are still enough monsters lurking in the shadows, but as you get older you diversify between real danger and what your mind makes up. It’s still amazing that you can see the beauty. That’s what makes you Liam. You always have this optimistic streak.”

“And you can’t see the beauty?” Liam asked and barked out a laugh. “I certainly do not have an optimistic streak, not always at least.” “I can see the beauty too, yeah.” Theo said and Liam was too focused on the woods in front of him to notice that Theo was looking at him instead at the woods. Then he gave Liam a look that clearly said he wasn’t buying it. “Uh uh, but you have...puppy!” “Theodore!” Liam yelled in fake anger but then started laughing. Goofing and joking around with Theo was what he loved. “Don’t call me that, puppy!” Theo teased back with a laugh on his own. Liam grinned. “But I like calling you that” He mocked the older and instantly regretted it when Theo lunged at him and and started to tickle him. Liam yelped and then struggled to free himself from this vicious attack. “Theo, no! Theo, stop! Stop! Stop it! Please!” He begged while laughing so hard tears were streaming down his face. He was ticklish and Theo the fucker knew it.

Theo let go of him after a while and Liam scrambled away from him. “I hate you so much.” He panted and Theo just smirked, proudly at that. Liam rolled his eyes and then shoved Theo’s shoulder. The chimera had obviously not expected that, lost his balance and toppled over the jetty and into the water. Liam was shocked for all of five seconds, then he burst out laughing, rolling on the jitty and held his stomach. It took him some time to actually move to the edge and check on his friend. Theo had surfaced again and was sputtering right now, apparently needing a moment to overcome the shock of being pushed into the water.

When he finally did, however, he glared at Liam. “You are aware that means war, right?” He asked, eyes narrowing, but Liam could not help and chuckle. The threat held a lot less venom when it was uttered by someone who looked like a drowned rat. Theo growled and then splashed water at Liam, effectively hitting him in the face and laughing at this. Liam squeaked in surprise and thus the water fight started.

****** They were lounging on the porch of their cabin, watching the sun slowly setting over the lake. After their childish and entertaining water fight that ended with Theo pulling Liam into the water as well, they had returned to the cabin, soaking wet but laughing all the time, and had taken a shower and changed into dry clothes before finally unpacking and then checking the kitchen, finding it fully stocked. They really cared about their guests here.

They had just fixed themselves two sandwiches and ate on the porch, sitting at the round table and enjoying the view. The sky was tinting pink and Liam had never felt more eat peace than now. He could have stayed here forever if he was being honest. “I really like it here.” Theo muttered in this very moment, toying with the strings of his hoodie and Liam smiled. “Me too.” He agreed with his friend. And there was no one else he would rather be there with than Theo. His presence did a lot to Liam feeling so calm and collected. Just like an anchor should.

A knock on the front door made the friends turn their heads and Theo frowned before Liam shrugged. The chimera got up from his seat and shuffled into the cabin to answer the door. When he opened it, he was greeted with Lana smiling at him. She had shed her bandana and now her hair was in a loose side ponytail. She was still wearing her clothes from earlier but now she had added a black jeans jacket. “You must be Theo. Hello, I’m Lana.” She introduced herself to him and held out her hand for him to shake. Theo took the hand and shook it. “Nice to meet you, Lana.” Liam had gotten up too and closed the door to the porch behind him when he walked into the cabin and over to them. “Are you checking on us to see if the cabin is still standing?” He joked and Lana laughed. “No, we trust you with that. My husband would have already shown up otherwise.” “Liam said he’s the Alpha of the local pack.” Theo remembered and again Lana got a fond look on her face when she nodded. “He is. Speaking of, we would like you to invite you over to our cabin for a small BBQ. I tend to prepare way too much food for just two people and we thought it would be nice to chat with you. Don’t feel pressured to say yes, it’s just an invitation.”

Liam and Theo looked at each other when she ended. They had eaten just a few sandwiches and Liam would lie if he said the thought of a BBQ didn’t make his mouth water. Theo seemed to think the same way because he nodded softly. “We would love to, Lana. Thank you so much.” Liam accepted on behalf of both of them and smiled gratefully at Lana. She rejoiced. “Perfect. Just follow me.” Liam grabbed the keys and then the followed Lana, locking the door in the progress.

Their way to the cabin of Lana and her husband was quick and Liam realized it was the first one he had noticed upon arriving. It was bigger than theirs but looked just as cozy from the outside, lamps illuminating the path to the front door but Lana led them around the cabin. Behind the cabin was a bigger barbecue area illuminated by Chinese lanterns in between the trees. A big table was right in the middle of the area, near a big grill which was already fired up but sans food. Right when they arrived a tall man with dark hair and broad shoulders stepped out of the cabin and when he saw Lana, his face lit up with a loving smile. Liam could not help but smile too when he saw the couple embracing and him nuzzling his wife’s cheek. When he looked over at Theo he also saw the small smile playing around the corner of his mouth. Even after all those years, the chimera was open about his feeling to Liam but when it came to other people, he still was distant.

Lana’s husband now stepped closer to the two young men and extended his hand. “Welcome, I’m very happy you decided to accept our invitation. My name is Byron.” His voice was soft and there were laughter lines in the corner of his eyes. His dark hair had some gray streaks too Liam noticed now and his grey eyes were watching their every move without making it look hostile. Even without him greeting Lana like that, Liam would have known he was the Alpha. There was something about the way he held himself and despite his words being spoken softly, Liam was sure the guy, just like his wife, could kick ass. he just had this quiet authority that told you, you were a fool if going against him. He shook Byron’s calloused hand. The man must be working a lot with his hands and Liam figured working at the park brought that with it. It was probably also the reason Byron was so tanned.

“Sit down, sit down, want something to drink? I would offer you a beer but I know Liam’s nineteen. How old are you?” Lana asked Theo. “I’m twenty-one.” He replied and then shrugged. “A coke is fine, right, Lee?” Liam nodded. “Totally fine.” He agreed wand moved towards the table to sit down next to Theo when Byron indicated for them to do so. Byron was putting some meat on the grill, then he joined them. Lana came out of the house, carrying their drinks and then finally settled next to her husband. Instantly his hand moved to hers and they laced their fingers together. Liam had to smile, he loved small gestures like that.

“Thank you for inviting us.” Theo now said and Liam nodded along. “Yeah, it’s really nice.” “You’re welcome. Lana told me how nice you were when you picked up the keys and so I wanted to meet you too.” Byron chuckled. “I was also curious to meet two members of the McCall Pack.” Theo moved a bit in his seat. “Liam’s a member of the pack, I’m just an ally.” He stated softly and Liam’s head snapped around to look at him. “What?” Theo said with a shrug. “That’s a fact. I’m always an ally but not an actual member of Scott’s pack.” “Yeah, but...” Liam bit his lip and thought about it. “You’re part of my pack, the puppy pack.” “Yeah, okay.” Theo agreed and sipped his coke. “We’ll discuss the name later.” He then added and winked at Liam who huffed. “That’s what I put up with every day!” He acted like it was the biggest chore to do so when he now complained to Lana and Byron. He and Theo were so used to their banter, they often involved others as well because they saw no problem with joking and teasing around. Lana and Byron laughed, hinting they got the joke.

“You have your own pack?” Lana now asked Liam and he actually blushed. “No. I mean yeah...kind of...not really. I took over when Scott graduated and left town for a while. Basically as Substitute Alpha if you want to call it that. Me and my friends, we’re the younger members and so we had to stay and graduate.” “Fight off hunters and the Anuk-ite.” Theo added and Liam had to agree with that. Byron scratched his chin. “We heard what your pack did, all of it. We heard about the whole town hunting you for what you are. It’s astonishing you all made it out alive.” He told them and Liam and Theo hunched their shoulders. “Would have been even better if a few more people survived.” Theo finally muttered. Brett, Lori, the deputy, even Gabe. Liam looked over to Theo and offered a soft compassionate smile. Theo returned it and reached over to squeeze Liam’s arm. They were so focused on each other, they missed the knowing look Lana and Byron shared.

“The sad truth is, loss is an essential part of life. The question is what you learn from it.” Byron shared his insight, making Theo and Liam snap out of their little bubble and look at him again. “And sometimes loss creates something better, something that wouldn’t have been possible before.”

Liam smiled and glanced at Theo again. Without Gabe dying the rest of the pack would have never seen how much Theo had changed. They would have never realized he wasn’t the bad guy anymore.

“Yeah, sometimes it creates something even better. A friendship, for example.” Liam agreed and Theo looked at him with a soft smile. A smile that was only reserved for Liam, that much Liam knew. Byron chuckled. “That’s what I’m talking about. Loss, even though it always hurts, isn’t always just bad. It just takes time for someone to realize that.”

Liam knew he was right. It was part of growing up, he had learned this very early in his life. Hurt and pain and loss belonged to life, especially to their life. But he tried to focus more on the positive aspects and look ahead instead of dwelling on what they have lost.

Taking a sip from his drink, Liam leaned back in his chair. “Anyway, after it got quieter and calmer, we were able to finish school and be somewhat normal teenagers while the older pack members were trying to live their life outside of Beacon Hills. My best friend Mason started to refer to us as pack and me as Alpha. But I’m not. An Alpha I mean.” “Because you don’t have red eyes?” Lana guessed and Liam shrugged. Byron got up to tend to the meat on the grill and made a doubtful sound. “There is so much more to an Alpha than just the color of his eyes, Liam. The way they act, the way they talk, the way they treat their Betas. The way they treat others.” He summed it up. “And just like every pack, every Alpha is different. Our pack, for example, is so different than yours too.” He said thoughtfully and flipped the burgers and the steaks.

“Yeah, you said that too earlier, Lana.” Liam remembered. “What do you mean by that? Isn’t every pack determined by hierarchy?” Lana shook her head. “You are right and you are wrong. Right because yes, there are Alphas and Betas. But even an Alpha can be a beta to some extent.” She started to explain. “See the Alpha pack.” Theo supplied helpfully and Lana nodded her head and pointed at him. “Exactly. They all were Alphas and yet Deucalion was their Alpha. So, you see, even the hierarchy can change and be not as outlined as it is in theory. And like Byron said, it all depends on the Alpha. How they treat their pack is how the pack acts and how they treat them in the end.” ”And what kind of Alpha are you?“ Theo asked Byron and the Alpha chuckled while sitting down at the table again.

“A respectful one, at least I hope so.” He said amusedly and Lana looked at her husband with a look full of love. “You are.” She confirmed and leaned in to kiss him softly. Byron smiled at that and Liam admitted it was cute how in love they still were. “See, I believe that even though I’m the Alpha, my Betas have their own lives and I have no right to just interfere, not completely at least. I protect them, I give them advice, but in the end, I let them do whatever feels right for them. I don’t barge into their houses like it’s my right to do so. I saw other Alphas do it and I never liked it. I respect their boundaries and it’s my opinion that an Alpha needs to do just that in order to be a good Alpha. I try to give my Betas the feeling we see eye to eye and it’s rare I use my Alpha authority to reign them in. Sometimes it’s needed but I intend not to do it if I have a choice. Other Alphas choose a more rough approach to make their Betas know who calls the shots. That’s up to every Alpha to decide. In some ways, it’s like being a parent. There are many ways to raise your children and you need to figure out what’s the best way for you.”

When Byron ended, Lana spoke up. “I can only say this much: I’ve never been an Alpha myself but I’m an Alpha’s mate and so I know a thing or two. And I learned that if an Alpha respects their Betas, the Betas are loyal, no matter what. I’m not saying they don’t speak their mind and cower but I’m saying that even if another Alpha demands their obedience, they will stay true to their Alpha. And that’s one of the strongest bonds an Alpha and a Beta can have.” Liam considered that. What they said was true and he especially liked the image of the Alpha being a parent. He always had considered Scott more like a big brother and he had tried to be like the older one. The thing was, Scott was a True Alpha, and no matter what he did Liam never felt like he was righteous and as ethical as Scott. It had put a bummer on Liam’s mood whenever something happened.

Registering what Lana had said in the beginning, Liam now scrunched his nose in confusion. “What’s an Alpha’s mate?” He asked. The term was unfamiliar to him; he couldn’t remember ever hearing Scott mention those words. Byron and Lana shared a look. “They’re probably too young.” She said to her husband and Byron shrugged. “Too young to be mated probably but not to know about mates.” He turned his attention back to Liam and Theo. “Mates are an actual thing for werewolves. It’s a connection between a couple far deeper than anything you ever felt or saw. It runs deep into your bones and it ties you to another person forever. You belong to this person and they belong to you. You claim them and if you do, they become a part of your soul.” “I remember coming across this one.” Theo suddenly said. “I thought it was just a lore.” “It’s not, it’s real and the most powerful bond ever.” Lana squeezed Byron’s hand and he raised it to his lips and kissed her hand. “The decision to become mates was huge for us but I never regretted it. He’s mine as much as I am his and I wouldn’t want it any other way. I am proud to carry his mating bite.” “And I am proud to call this beautiful and strong woman my mate.”

Liam could not help but adore this. Seeing something like this really made his heart melt. He never experienced a love that deep and pure and devoted. They were basically glowing and it was obvious these two would tear the world apart for each other if needed to. Peaceful or not, this love was stronger than anything.

He glanced at Theo and this time Theo’s smile wasn’t faint but real as he watched the mated couple. Maybe he wished for the same thing as Liam, to find a love that strong and pure for himself. Liam really hoped one day Theo would find the person to see how amazing he really was and loved him like he deserved it.

“Being mated sounds like a very deep and meaningful thing.” The chimera now stated and Byron nodded. “It’s a big responsibility because if your mate dies, a part of your soul dies too. So you protect them at all cost. It’s definitively worth it.”

He got up again and finally served the meat to his guests. Soon they all had a plate in front of them with either burgers or steaks. Liam tasted the steak and moaned. “God, this is delicious, Lana.” He muttered and she beamed at him. Theo next to him made a sound of agreement. “It’s really delicious.” And Lana beamed at him too. Byron looked exceptional proud of his mate and ate happily. They all fell into an easy conversation while eating; it was nice to talk with two other werewolves. Liam knew their pack was unusual, they were still so young, so talking with two born werewolves with lots of experience gave him the possibility to learn from them.

“Mind telling us something about your pack?” He asked after a while and grabbed his coke to drink from it while waiting for an answer from Lana or Byron. “Well, I don’t know if you ever heard the name before, but we are referred as the Morning Dew Pack, because of the way nature around looks every morning. You will see tomorrow. We are very involved with nature around, part of our strength comes from being in the woods and our strong ties with nature. We are peaceful, never actively searching out the fight but defending ourselves if we have to. We believe that everyone can be part of the pack if they want to and we believe in protecting and cherishing. It served us well all this time. Our young wolves are being taught the harmony between the inner wolf and the human side. Only if you find the balance you can reach your full potential. I don’t know if that makes us different than any other pack. What makes us different for sure is how we choose our Alphas.” “You choose your Alphas? How does that work?” Theo asked surprised, voicing Liam’s exact thoughts.

Byron rumbled out an amused chuckle. “You heard about the different way to become an Alpha, right? One by birthright when the Alpha dies and you are next in line. Then you can become an Alpha by killing one. Alpha by conquest is another way. The pack treats you like an Alpha, you act like an Alpha, so one day the Alpha spark lights up inside you. And then there’s our way. See, we are peaceful, we don’t believe you should become a leader by simply being stronger than the current Alpha or just being born into the right family. We believe that an Alpha needs certain traits and values to be a suitable leader. And that’s why the Alpha pays close attention to every member of the pack. They watch how the pack develops, how each member develops. And when it’s finally time the Alpha gets too old and too weak, they decide on a successor. It doesn't matter if the successor is the Alpha’s child or somebody else, maybe the successor wasn’t even part of the pack from the beginning but the Alpha sees the values in them. If the Alpha deems them worthy, they ask the successor to accept the Alpha power and if they do accept, a ritual is held and the Alpha spark gets transferred from the old Alpha to the new one.”

“I distinctly remember Stiles saying something about Derek giving up his Alpha spark to save his sister. That’s basically the same thing, right?” Liam asked and Byron nodded. “Transferring power, yeah. It’s just a different ritual.” That made sense and Liam sipped his coke, pending on what he had learned. There were still so many things he didn’t know about being a werewolf. Next to being a True Alpha, this seemed like one of the most honorable ways to gain Alpha status. “Is there a special time when the successor gets chosen?” Theo inquired after a few moments of silence. He was obviously just as eager as Liam to learn about this uncommon way to become an Alpha. “Whenever the current Alpha feels like they are too old or don’t do the pack justice anymore. I, for example, am looking for a successor right now.”

“What? You’re not that old!” Leave it to Liam to blurt out such a statement. Theo looked highly amused when he looked at Liam and couldn’t suppress his chuckle before drinking from his coke. Liam hunched his shoulder in embarrassment. “Sorry.” But Byron threw his head back and laughed loudly. “You say what’s on your mind, I like that.” He said after a while of just laughing. “It’s a good trait to have. But I am too old to be the best Alpha this pack deserves.” He sighed. “It’s just not really easy finding somebody to take my place.” “But if it’s common in your pack to chose the next Alpha, shouldn’t the successors lining up and trying to give off their best impressions?” Theo questioned and it was Lana who took over from her husband when she replied. “Yes, that was the case for many years. But nowadays the younger wolves moved away to find work in the cities. They mostly leave forever. Jobs around here are rare and I understand young people want to see the world. They start their own packs or join others and so the ones we have here are either too old themselves or just children. The few pack members in the right age don’t want to take over and we accept that. We never force anybody; we ask and if they say No, that’s okay. But since we don’t have children ourselves finding a successor is difficult.” “As long as I don’t find anybody, I’ll stay the Alpha, but I would like to retreat and live the rest of my life as Beta if I have the choice.” Byron confessed and Liam understood that. Being a Beta was far less demanding than being an Alpha. He was aware Scott had a lot on his shoulders too. Being an Alpha wasn’t something Liam pictured as easy. He had struggled as well when Scott had been out of town so he could relate on some level. “I hope you find the right successor to keep your legacy.” He said with an honest smile. Byron returned the smile. “Thank you, Liam.”

****** Liam softly pulled the front door shut behind him to not wake Theo up. He had woken up really early, still in his rhythm from college, and had not been able to sleep again. Theo still slept peacefully in the bed across the room and Liam had gotten up after a while, changed into basketball shorts and a tank top, put on his running shoes and decided to go for a run before preparing breakfast them.

Now outside he inhaled the fresh air again, closing his eyes for a second, and then opening them again to start jogging towards the lake. He had just passed the cabin of Byron and Lana, when Byron appeared next to him, also in running gear. “A morning jog is always a good way to start the day. Good thing you young people see it like that too.” He greeted Liam with a smile and Liam returned it. “Best running course?” He inquired and Byron made a motion with his hand before jogging into a direction, so Liam followed him.

They jogged away from the lake and up a hill, leading directly into the woods. Liam was fit, he had a good condition, but it was commonly known Alphas had the better stamina. So after a while of keeping up with Byron, he felt himself falling back and finally he came to a halt. “You’re really good at keeping up.” Byron praised when he had stopped too and walked back to Liam. Liam grimaced. “I still fell back.” “Because you don’t use your full potential. You are strong, stronger than most Betas, and yet you still hold yourself back.” Byron said matter-of-factly.

Liam sighed deeply. “I have to hold myself back. I have anger issues. If I let my IED run freely, my wolf would probably kill someone.” There was something about Byron that made it impossible for Liam to lie. He trusted the elderly Alpha. “Now you’re focusing on one aspect of the wolf. The force, the strength. But there is so much more.”

He made a few steps until he reached a small clearing and then waved Liam over. Liam followed, even though he had o idea what was going to happen next. “Kneel and put the palm of your hand on the ground.” Byron instructed and kneeled down himself. Liam did the same and extended his hand, putting it on the ground, “Good. Now close your eyes and tell me what you hear.”

Scott had tried to make Liam do exercises like this often but Liam always grew impatient after a while and failed them. “I’m not good at this, Byron. I’m too impatient for this.” He warned in advance. “Just do it, Liam. And stop selling yourself short. You can do more than you may know.” Liam sighed again but then he decided to go with it for once. So he closed his eyes.

“I hear birds. The wind in the tree crowns.” He announced after a while. “That’s what you know you hear but it’s not what you hear.” Byron replied cryptically and Liam frowned, opening his blue eyes again. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

The Alpha chuckled and took a small rock from the ground. “This rock for example. You know rocks are grey so you will tell me the rock is grey. And you are right but if you take a closer look and just really go for what you see, you will realize the rock’s not just grey. See? It’s green where the moss is growing on the side. And those little brown dots here? They even appear yellow in the direct sunlight.” He turned the rock in his hands to show Liam what he was talking about. “You see the way the sun falls on the rock and creates patterns of shadow and light. How it looks slightly blue in the right light.” Liam had to agree, there was far more than just grey. “It’s the same with the hearing. What your brain knows you hear and what you really hear are two different things. So I want you to try again and tell me what you really hear.”

Liam took a deep breath. He still wasn’t convinced it would work but he would try once more. Closing his eyes again, he tried to just listen. Really just listening and not let his brain tell him what he was listening to. “I hear the wind playing in the tree crowns. And I hear birds.” He took a breath again and tried to focus harder. Something inside him urged him on to hear more.

And suddenly it felt like someone had removed headphones from his ears and he could hear what he had not heard before. “I hear the heartbeat of a smaller animal. Their tiny paws on the ground.” “Which direction?” Byron guided him and Liam tilted his head, trying to figure it out. “From the left...I think. Don’t know full well but I’d say left.” “Correct.” Byron confirmed. “What else, Liam?” He tried to listen to more sounds but aside from their two heartbeats, he could not hear more. “That’s all.” He muttered, somewhat disappointed in himself. When he was about to open his eyes, Byron stopped him.

“No, keep your eyes closed. And now tell me what you feel. Start with your hand on the ground.” He instructed and Liam tried to follow his words. He inhaled again, loving the smell of the woods around them, and just focused on what he felt.

“The ground’s warming up. It’s soft underneath my palm. I can almost squeeze it with my fingers.” His fingers twitched when he said that, feeling the soft ground. “Amazing, Liam, keep going. What else?” “Uhm, I feel the sun on my skin. It’s also getting warmer and I feel the breeze.” Again he tried to sense more. He felt how the breeze ghosted over his naked arms and legs and the sun getting warmer by the minute. Today was going to be another warm summer day. He uttered his impression to Byron and the Alpha squeezed his shoulder.

“Okay, Liam, focus on all the impressions you currently get. The sounds and the feelings.” Liam had to admit that he never took his time to experience things like this before. It was unfamiliar but he also felt his inner wolf liking the new way of taking things in, realizing how surrounded by nature he really was. “And now I want you to run. Run until you reach the boulder on top of the hill, okay? Go!”

Liam’s eyes snapped open, glowing bright gold, and he leaped to his feet, immediately starting to run up the hill. His wolf howled happily inside him, happy to just run and enjoy the little exercise. He was so caught up it took a while to notice he was running faster than usual and due to that reached the boulder faster than expected. Stopping right there he put his hand against the boulder, trying to grasp what just happened.

“I was never that fast. Fast yes, but never like that.” He told Byron when the Alpha followed him. “How did I do that?”

“That’s what I was talking about when I referred to the harmony between wolf and human. We all, real wolves and werewolves, have the animal side and the animal is part of nature. If you manage to channel your wolf’s powers through nature, you will be faster, stronger, in some regards. It’s like paying tribute to the animal side of your soul and you get the full power of the wolf in exchange. It takes some time to learn how to really use the power to its full extent but you did well for your first try.”

Liam beamed at Byron, happy and proud that he managed to tap into that part of his power as a werewolf. He was still figuring his way out, the older he got, the more he learned, the more options he had to stay in control and using his werewolf abilities like he wanted to. He still had never thought about nature as a positive trigger. He could not wait to tell Theo about what he just learned and so he happily jogged along with Byron when the Alpha continued his run, leading them back to the cabin Liam shared with Theo.

The chimera was in the kitchen when Liam stormed in, sipping on a mug of steaming coffee, and glanced at Liam, one eyebrow raised.

“You won’t believe what just happened. Byron and I went for a run and there was this rock and then he told me to listen to everything...because you see more than you know and then I ran and I was faster and....” Liam blurted out, words spilling out in one single breath and Theo put his mug down before stepping closer to Liam and putting his hands on Liam’s shoulders. “Breathe, Liam! I don’t understand a single thing.” He said with an amused smile. “Take a deep breath and then tell me again what happened. Because what you just said made no sense at all.”

His fingers squeezed Liam’s shoulders slightly and Liam followed Theo’s suggestion to take a few breaths, calming himself down enough so he could talk in a more calmer manner. And then he told Theo everything that happened on his morning run.

The first chapter, I am excited. I know not that much happened but stuff is about to happen very soon. Hope you liked the philosophy of the new pack. Share your thoughts with me, guys. I'm curious what you have to say.