#i ended up going to sleep like right after i logged out yesterday so i never did look at the pics i took but kdhdjfbjff

[cheswirls]

short asl thing based on @where-does-the-heart-lie's modern au :) i started this over a year ago but the beginning is all dialogue and felt more like a script to me i suppose??? which deflated my desire to work on it. anyway i checked it over recently and it's completely fine lmfao, self-confidence restored here we go !

-

"Yo. Aren't you usually in the middle of your shift by now?"

"I've been banned from the hospital."

"Like, for life?"

"No. For the next, uh.. Twenty-two hours."

"That's oddly specific."

"It was twenty-four, but I fell asleep after leaving the building."

"That wouldn't have to do with why they kicked you out, at all?"

"Hmmm. I'm too sleep-deprived, apparently."

"Ah. And, um, you called me because...?"

"I pressed a random number in my call log after waking up. Lucky you, I guess."

"Yeah. Right. Lucky me. And your car keys are...?"

"Confiscated."

"Ah, right, of course."

A beat of silence. Two. Three, then "Look, if you're busy, then–"

"No, no.  You called me, so I'll be there. Give me twenty minutes."

"Alright. Thank–"

"Thank someone else. Also, if you fall asleep in my car, I'm taking it as express permission to drive you around wherever I want."

"Ugh, go die. I don't even know why I bothered."

"LUCKY YOU, I guess," sounds off way too loudly in his ear. "No take backs. See you in ten."

"I thought you said–" Sabo breaks off as the call ends, leaving him staring blankly at his phone's too-dim screen. He squints, turns the brightness all the way up, and still squints as the sunlight proves too strong for the display.

Ace shows up in more than ten but decidedly less than twenty minutes. Sabo doesn't waste much brain power on it, only climbing into the passenger seat and yawning into his palm while his other hand fixes the seatbelt into the buckle. Not a second too soon, too, as Ace roars the engine to life and peels away from the curb at record speed.

Ace fiddles with the radio. He turns the music up, then dial it back down to inaudible. They hit the expressway and he leans over the steering wheel, frowning with his eyes fixed on the road far ahead. Sabo yawns again and this appears to be the limit to his patience. 

"Hey, so, I had a thought after you hung up on me."

Sabo grimaces. "You mean you–"

"Today's Wednesday."

He doesn't elaborate. Sabo is too tired to process. "Yes," he follows, after a second. He glances at the sky out the front window. "What time is it?"

"Oh, uh." Ace fumbles with hand placement so he can lift his watch to his face. "Nine forty."

Sabo takes a couple beats to try and process this, moves his eyes away from the skyline, and sighs as he pulls his phone out. 2:47 is what the display reads, which sounds much more believable.

"How did the minute hand get off?" he mutters to himself, chancing a look at Ace's busted wristwatch. Ace raises a brow, taking his gaze off the road to scrutinize Sabo. "No, it doesn't matter," he mutters to himself once more, sliding his phone away back on his person and out of his hands.

"My point is," Ace continues, like he hasn't just been interrupted by a whole thing. "Your timeout will be done midday Thursday. Did they switch your days off?"

"No." Sabo sighs. "They technically gave me the next thirty-six hours. Technically closer to forty. Something like that. I go back in on Friday. Sometime.” He tries to smile and it turns out very lopsided, from that he can make out in the rearview mirror. “Can you tell I’m tired?”

“I don’t think ‘tired’ is an accurate description,” Ace quips. “When did you eat a proper meal last?”

“Uh, yesterday. Maybe.”

“Maybe??”

“A ‘proper meal’ means different things to the two of us,” Sabo huffs. “On my account it was yesterday. I’ve had food since then, of course.”

“Alright, so here’s the plan,” Ace announces before absolutely whipping it around a curve. Sabo is his passenger in the passenger seat and had fully prepared to be so when he got in the vehicle, but he’d been vastly underprepared for this sudden course of action, which is how he ends up halfway out of his seat with his cheek slammed into the cold window. Ace doesn’t quite notice his brother’s terminal velocity until the car is once again on the straight and narrow, and only then it’s because of the audible thunk Sabo’s face makes when it collides with the glass.

“Aw shit. You good bro?”

“Ow,” Sabo mutters. “If I have broken bones I’m suing your ass.”

“Well, if you’re good enough to make jokes, I think you’re better than you’re letting on.” Ace keeps the wheel steady with one knee while he takes both hands away to crack his fingers. When he glances over at Sabo again, he looks even more pathetic – like he’s becoming one with the glass. “Anyway, as I was saying.

“I’m taking your ass home. You’re going straight to sleep and while you crash, I’ll make you something decent to eat and stick it in the fridge for you to heat up later. I’ll even make you two servings to eat two different times, since you clearly can’t be trusted to take care of yourself correctly.”

“Ouch.”

“I want you to conk out for as long as your body allows. We can reset your sleep schedule tomorrow, alright? Put your phone on silent; do not answer any calls. In fact, you know what, just give it to me.

Sabo glances over to see Ace’s hand held out to him, palm up. Fingers wiggling expectantly. His lips pull up into a grimace. “I’m not doing that.”

“Fine.” Ace takes his hand back. “But you will comply with everything else.”

“Wow! It’s so funny, I didn’t realize you turned into my mother overnight! Really tapped into your mom potential, huh? Anything exciting happen in your life that would cause that? I guess I wouldn’t know, since I’ve been a zombie for the past two days.”

“There’s nothing wrong with acting like your older brother, you dipshit, especially if you keep putting yourself through the wringer like this. You go home. You sleep. You wake up and eat. You go back to sleep. Then we do laundry. Does that sound agreeable?”

“That’s negotiable, at the least,” Sabo mumbles. “I will accept good food as a form of bribery.”

“Oh, nice, because I’m flat broke at the moment.”

Sabo makes a mental note of that, and then they’re pulling into the driveway. Ace lets him exit the vehicle by himself and then promptly manhandles him all the way onto the couch where it will be easier to force his body to relax than in a real bed. Ace knows this, so he calls him weird before chucking a loose blanket at his head. Sabo is almost too tired to function at this point, so he lets Ace have the last laugh in favor of finally closing his eyes.

Coming to is a surreal experience, especially since the sun is still out. He must make a noise because Ace is suddenly within view. His limbs are tangled in the blanket and still so heavy that he doesn’t bother moving. “Thought you would be gone,” he half-groans, eyes slipping shut again for a moment.

“I did leave,” Ace confirms. “I had to go pilfer some stuff to make stew with. It’s almost done, so I’ll hang here until then.”

Pilfer. That could mean any number of things. Sabo chooses to believe in the option where Ace is an upstanding citizen, and then remembers Ace saying earlier that he had no money. He frowns and squirms on the cushions enough to where it looks like he’s checking his pockets. “Where’s my wallet, Ace?” he bluffs.

“Somewhere around here,” Ace pipes up. “Your stomach will thank you for your contributions to the Portgas Household’s pantry!”

“Ugh, I got robbed,” he complains. “This sucks. ‘m going back to sleep.” He rolls over so his back is to Ace.

“Yeah, you do you, bro. Stew will still be here later. I’ll see you when you’re back in the world of the living.”

—

Luffy comes in late that night and slams the front door shut as loud as humanly possible. When he appears in the main room, he doesn’t seem to be upset, so Ace writes it off as a Luffyism. Sabo hasn’t stirred at the noise, so it’s all good.

Realizing this, Luffy pads closer to Ace’s side and looks at Sabo’s unmoving body warily. “Why is Sabo passed out like a corpse? Is he sick?”

“No, he’s not sick, he just can’t take care of himself. Which is why we are going to let him sleep for as long as possible.”

Luffy just nods to this, but it’s the uncomprehending Luffy-nod that means he’s just going to end up doing whatever he wants to regardless. Ace sighs, then jerks his head towards the kitchen. “He ate a little earlier, but I want him to eat again when he wakes up. There’s stew in the fridge if you want it – just leave him a little. Got it, Monkey D. Luffy?”

Luffy throws him a salute and then runs off in his socks. “Yippee! Ace made stew!”

“Think of your brother, Luffy, and make good choices!” Ace calls after him. “He’s a pathetic man who needs food to feel better or he’ll end up sleeping through Laundry Day!”

—

Sabo does not sleep through laundry day, but he does sleep for sixteen whole hours, so it’s just around noon when he forces himself up off the couch and into a warm shower.

Ace is around, which is mildly unexpected. But he’s still half-asleep, so everything is at least a little unexpected. He glances up from playing video games with Luffy to see Sabo leaving the steam-filled bathroom with his hair hanging around his shoulders. “You look like a wet cat,” he calls.

“Sabo’s awake!” Luffy cheers. “Ace thought you died at one point.”

Ace elbows Luffy in the gut, making him hunch over. “I did not!”

“He totally checked to see if your heart was still beating!”

“I’m undead, actually,” Sabo says completely seriously.

“Does that mean you don’t need to eat anymore?” Luffy questions. “Because I ate all the stew last night.”

“I saw that coming and made extra.” Ace finger-guns in Sabo’s general direction. “That’s why I bought two sets of ingredients. With your money!”

“With my money,” Sabo echoes, because it’s such a wild statement to have to deal with this early in the day. Well, early for him. “Fuck you.”

“I mean, I can tell Luffy where I hid–”

“Thank you, Ace, for agreeing to share your quarters with both of your brothers so we can all do laundry today on your dime!” Sabo raises his pitch so his voice is mockingly squeaky when he says this. He starts moving down the hall before Ace can start to argue, letting his and Luffy’s voices bleed into the background.

When he comes back out, now dressed, it smells significantly better than before. “I reheated the stew,” Ace announces, gesturing for Sabo to take a seat at the kitchen counter. “Let’s all have lunch before we head out.”

“You have to drink this too,” Luffy tells Sabo, sliding a Gatorade across the counter so it sets in front of him when he finally does take a seat. “Ace’s orders.”

“Gotta get those nutrients back somehow.”

“Aren’t we so considerate, Sabo?”

“Do you even know what ‘considerate’ means?” Sabo asks, lips quirking up into a half-smile. At Luffy’s shrug, it turns into a real smile. “Well, thanks anyway. Both of you.”

“No sweat. And look!” Ace brandishes a five dollar bill for both to see. “I found this baby for us to use on coins! It’s all on me today–”

“Where’s my wallet, Ace?!”

[oracle-of-dream]

Dumb Bunny

Minors DNI

Summary: You and Kai would always compete, ever since you were kids, the two of you would one-up each other at every opportunity. But, now that you're older, you're starting to notice the differences between the two of you...

Warnings: Male reader, Blowjob, Throat fucking, Bigdickkai, Wall fucking, multiple orgasms, reader dumification, degradation, shower masturbation, fingering, college au rivals, unprotected sex, cum eating, creampie, rough sex

Wordcount: 3.6k

This is a request!

Knock Knock Knock

The loud knocking at your dorm room door shook you out of your sleep. "Y/n!? I know you're in there! I don't have my keys, lemme in!" A voice pierced the silence of your room.

You rolled over, trying to cover your ears.

"WAKE UP!" The voice shouted again, louder this time while there was more banging on the door.

You dragged yourself out of the bed, stumbling over to the door. As soon as you unlocked the door, it opened and almost hit you in the face. The light from the hallway spilled in as a shadow entered your room.

The shadow moved the light switch and brightened the room, illuminating his face. "You sleep like a log." Kai's black hair was a mess, he was wearing grey sweatpants and a black sweatshirt.

"And you're forgetful. This is the third time this week that you forgot your keys." You rubbed your eyes as you got used to the light.

"I was in a rush, I had to get to the gym and I left them in my other bag. He said as he started digging in his backpack, searching for his keys.

You had morning classes, and Kai had ones toward the afternoon, so you had time for mid-day naps while he always rushed to make it through the day. It's always been like that for the two of you. You've always been three steps ahead, but his natural dumb luck would help him keep up with you. Even when you met for the first time in middle school at an award ceremony for high grades. You'd worked your ass off, day and night, to get your scores up, and Kai slept through every class. But still, he'd get higher scores than you. Which only pushed you to work harder to beat him. Every competition, you'd ruin your sleep schedule to one-up him, and he'd somehow make it a tie or barely beat you...

You walked into the bathroom to wash your face, and Kai started changing out of his gym clothes. The both of you managed to get a spot in the honors college dorm room, only available for students with a certain GPA upon enrolling, and you ended up being slotted with him since your other roommate strangely transferred out before the semester started. Leaving you in the company of your worst enemy that you've had for several years.

You closed the door to the bathroom and started getting undressed for your shower when you heard the doorknob shake.

"No way you're about to shower," Kai said through the door.

"You should've been quicker." You giggle to yourself as you take your time getting ready.

He shook the doorknob again. "Come on! You knew I wanted to shower–I always shower right after the gym. You're going to make me late for class!"

"Not my problem. You should just shower at the gym. That's why there are locker rooms."

"No!" Kai kicked the door, "there's no way I'm showering over there! It smells horrible, and there's a bunch of people there. Please let me shower first!"

"Not gonna happen, you always leave hair in the shower, and it's fucking gross. And I have somewhere to be, too!"

"Well, you take thirty years, and you're not even washing your hair!"

"How do you know!?"

"You washed it yesterday! I could smell your shampoo."

"Are you sure that wasn't you using mine?"

"I was running out of my own! I said I'd buy you a new one!" Kai kicked the door again, harder this time. "Like, let me shower with you at least, I can't miss this class. I have an exam next week, and today's the review day, and there's no way I'm going while smelling like B.O.!" Kai stepped away from the door and shoulder-checked it, shaking the entire door.

You jumped at the thud. "You idiot! If you break this door, I'm not paying to get it fixed!" You covered yourself with a towel before opening the door.

Kai looked like he was ready to try hitting the door again before you opened it. "Thank you." He was covered in sweat, his hair sticking to his face, and his clothes dark in some spots. But what stuck out was his hard dick swinging in his sweatpants.

You looked away, covering your eyes. "Jesus, dude, no underwear again?"

He chuckled. "Don't act like you don't like seeing it anyway. I've caught you looking a few times."

"Fuck you." You spat back at him. You tried to walk past time but he blocked the way. "Can you move already?"

"You said you had to go somewhere, so we both gotta shower. We can share. We're both dudes." Kai said as he stripped his shirt off before you.

"Gross, I'll pass–"

"Stop being a bitch and get in the shower." His voice was more serious this time, not like his usual nagging. Without his sweatshirt, his figure was a little more imposing, especially with freshly pumped muscles.

You awkwardly submitted to him without any extra argument, moving into the shower. If Kai wanted, he could've easily carried you into the shower, so it was better not to push him. There was shuffling from the other side of the curtain before it parted. You instinctually turned away from him, feeling warm in your ears.

"Turn the water on. Don't make the water too hot. I'm not looking to sit in a sauna." He commanded.

You braced as you turned on the water. Ice-cold water ran across your skin, immediately making you scoot backward into Kai.

"Watch it." Kai put his hand on your back to stop you from moving closer to him.

"I-Its cold!"

He sighed. "Then switch with me. You can lather up while I get some time in the water."

You slowly started scooting in his direction, trying not to look at him. But Kai started getting impatient, grabbing you by the shoulders and forcing you behind him. You peeked over your shoulder to see his broad back facing you, water running down it. You never really looked at Kai's backside, but he was more muscular than he looked under his baggy clothes.

"The soap," Kai said, handing you the bottle, not turning around.

You took it from him. Now facing his back, you couldn't help but notice how big his butt was. He loved working leg days, but he'd always been blessed with a better ass than you... You could feel your whole body getting hot while looking him over so closely. You felt like a perverted weirdo, looking at him like that. You turned around, facing the wall, and started lathering soap onto you, waiting for Kai to switch with you again.

"The water's not cold, so we can switch now." He muttered.

You switched places with him again, letting the soap rinse off you. It felt better to face the wall, but you couldn't stop thinking about Kai standing right behind. You could feel your dick twitch at the thought, your breath hitched as you tried to focus. But your concentration was cut off by a soft sigh, almost a moan but it was cut short. Your book ran cold. Did you somehow slip a moan out and not even realize it? You peeked over your shoulder to see Kai's reaction, but his back was turned to you.

Kai's eyes were squeezed shut, gently and quietly jerking himself off while biting his lip to keep quiet.

You faced the water again, throat dry but your body tingling. "H-Hey, I think I'm ready to get out now."

"O-Oh, yeah, okay. I'll finish up, you can go first..." Kai said, barely loud enough to hear over the shower.

You stepped out of the shower, water dripping on the floor as you left Kai alone. You hurried out of the bathroom, changed clothes, and crawled back into bed. All you could think about was Kai jerking off...

You tossed in your bed until your leg rubbed against your cock, grinding against you. You couldn't stop yourself from slipping your hand into your pants, stroking yourself slowly. Your eyes slowly shut as you get more into it.

"Kai...," you softly moaned his name.

You could feel him hover over you, whispering seductively. "Oh? Getting into something and calling out for me?"

You replied with a moan, wanting more from him.

Kai's hands moved to your sides, sliding up your torso. His hair tickled your face as it swept across your face.

"Are you daydreaming? Y/n?" He cooed. "Why don't you open your eyes and see the real thing."

Your eyes cracked open in confusion to see Kai sitting over you. You didn't even hear him turn off the shower, much less get so close.

"What's wrong, y/n? You were having so much fun a second ago.." Kai slid his hand over your hard-on, earning a rewarding flinch from you. "Touching yourself to me, even though I'm in the next room, how shameful."

Your face got hot again. "Well, it– You. You were doing it too!"

He raised an eyebrow. "Me? When?"

"In our shower together! I saw you jacking off, and moaning in secret."

"Y/n. I just got back home." He said flatly.

"No, we just showered together..." You muttered.

He shook his head. "I just got back from the gym. I remembered my keys this time, so I let myself in. I thought you were sleeping until you called me, and I saw you like this." He chuckled. "Did you dream all that!?"

You tried to push him off you, but he was firm in his position over you.

"Okay, laugh it up or do whatever you're gonna do." You crossed your arms and let your head fall against the bed, waiting for Kai's endless teasing to begin.

You were instead greeted by Kai's mouth meeting yours, his hands grabbing yours and holding them above your head.

"You should be careful about letting me do 'whatever' to you." Kai bit at your neck

"Kai–" You tried to push him, but he had to much of a grip on you.

"You wanted me so badly in your dream, so why can't I want you back?" He giggled as he licked at the new mark forming on your neck.

"I don't understand..." You shyly muttered.

He let you go, letting you sit up as he held you. "It's okay if you don't understand. I do. You finally get it, that I'm better. You've given up fighting me, and now you're willing to be my second place."

You reeled away from him. "That's not what this is about!"

He raised an eyebrow. "Isn't it?" His hands smoothly moved to lace his fingers with yours. "You can feel it. You can't really beat me, I'm just naturally better. I'm smarter, stronger, and faster than you. You're so fucked up by me that it made you obsessed, so much that you couldn't even really realize it. Your brain couldn't handle it so your body decided to spell it out for you." He said in the condescending tone he loved to use when talking to you.

He continued, "To be honest. I wanted to impress you in the beginning when we met. So I tried to work hard to get you to see me, to show my feelings for you. But then, you went crazy about me. About beating me, don't even lie that you didn't. I could always tell you'd do anything to be better than me." Kai slowly slid you back down onto the bed, towering over you. His hand slid into your pants, gripping your cock.

Your whole body melted under his touch, reacting like electricity. But you didn't get why...

Kai quickly and roughly jerked you off while he spoke in between neck kisses. "You can't even put words together, can you? My dumb little bunny. You're just so in love with me, you can't fight it anymore. You're even dreaming of me."

Something in your brain snapped when he called you a dumb bunny. You finished his hand, body jerking at the sensation.

"Oh no, bunny. Did I tell you to do that?"

You shook your head no.

"Speak."

"No, you didn't..." You muttered in defeat. Every word and touch made it feel like you were falling deeper into quicksand. You tried to think about it, the moment you fell for him. But you could only see Kai in every memory. You knew you hated him beating you, but you also had a feeling of enjoying his teasing when he beat you.

"Then, take your pants off," Kai commanded.

Your body moved before your brain understood, stripping off your pants and waiting for more directions.

"Can you suck me off? You like cock, don't you? You dumb slutty bunny."

You nod mindlessly. You loved hearing him call you Bunny. Hearing him call you dumb slowly made the static in your brain get stronger. You weren't really thinking anymore.

Kai pulled down his pants and let his thick cock slap against his toned stomach. He sat you up on your knees and stood at the edge of the bed. He let out a sharp breath as you took his cock in your hands, and let your tongue slide out to gently lick his tip.

"This is your first time, isn't it?" He whispered.

You look up at him with shy wet eyes, nodding.

"Then, I'll make it a good time for you. You'll crave me even more after this..." Kai pushed your mouth on him, pushing you to take him. Moaning and closing his eyes as he felt his shaft enter your mouth.

You struggled to handle him, but Kai didn't let it stop you.

He pushed more, urging you to take more. And you obeyed without a second thought, taking as much of his length as you could. "Take a deep breath and hold it bunny. I'm going to push you."

You felt Kai pull out of your mouth completely, giving you the chance to breathe. You held your breath as you felt him hold your head in place. His tip pointed at your mouth, waiting patiently for you to allow his entry. You opened your mouth and he slowly pushed in, keeping you from moving. Inch by inch, it slid into your mouth. Your eyes shut as your body twitched.

"Good, bunny." Kai moaned as he kept going. "Almost there, just a little more." Kai let out a louder moan and stopped moving, his cock buried completely in your mouth. Your eyes rolled back as you fell limp in his grip. "No gagging? Oh, you're such a special slut, aren't you? I'll get a little rough with you then..."

Kai pulled out completely again before slamming his cock back into your mouth, fucking into it while holding you in place. The noises are so wet and gross, but you couldn't help but love every second. Your throat burned, your jaw ached, Kai pulled at your hair tightly, and tears streamed down your face, but Kai's moans kept you going.

You could feel the muscles in Kai's thighs tensing. His body heat growing. You moaned in excitement.

"Oh, you're ready for it? Then, here's your first reward!" Kai shouted as he came down your throat.

Pump after pump, his eyes rolling back and face contouring into pleasure. It was so much that you couldn't swallow everything, and it started leaking out of your mouth. "Oh, well that's okay for your first time. But I'd prefer it if you swallowed as much as you can. It's less messy."

You felt Kai pulling away but tried to use your mouth to suck on him more, pulling him in. You swallowed as much as you could, almost every drop. Then kept sucking on his shaft.

"J-Jesus! Bun, wait–calm down!" Kai moaned.

His body tried to pull away, but you used your hands to hold him.

"Bunny! Stop!" Kai shouted at you.

You snapped back to reality and let him go. "I'm sorry, I don't know why I did that..."

Kai lifted your chin. "It seems like you want more, right?"

You, embarrassed, nodded.

"Beg for me then. Tell me you want more."

You threw away the last ounce of dignity that you had. "Kai, I really love your cock. Please give me more! I'm such a dumb, stupid, bunny. I'm only good for whatever you want me to do. I–I..."

Kai smiled. "You, what?"

"I'm just a cock slut for you. I only want your dick..."

Kai laughed softly. "I know, bunny. You really are crazy about me... So, go, lay down. On your stomach"

You listened to him as you lay on the bed. Face down, your back instantly arching.

"Oh, what a perverted bunny. You already know the position... And what great for you have." Kai said as his hand traced your arch and stopped on your ass, giving it a hard smack and earning a pitiful yelp from you. "Stay here, I need to prepare you. Talk to me if something's not right."

You wait patiently as you hear Kai shuffle around the room, looking for things and opening drawers on his desk. You feel a cold liquid hit your whole, slimy and drippy. You shiver for a moment, but the cold is immediately replaced by the introduction of a warm finger inside of you. Your body reacts and pulls away from it, but Kai holds you in place.

"It's your first time, so it's going to be a little difficult. But if you run, it will be more difficult." Kai takes his time preparing you, talking to you the whole time. checking on you, making sure you're able to handle the next level as he moves in with more fingers. "Okay, it's time. Now's the chance to stop if you need Bunny. You came twice just from me prepping you..."

You were sweating and drooling on the sheets. You could barely form real words, but you knew you went through all of that for a reason. You needed him in you. Your body shuddered as you let an embarrassingly loud moan, begging for Kai.

"Okay, then. We'll keep going." He whispered as he slicked his member up. "Remember to keep breathing."

You took long deep breaths as you felt his tip positioned outside your hole. One of his hands held your hip and guided you backward onto him. You felt it enter you, and you could almost see colors. It was so hot, that all your brain could muster was the word hot.

"Oh, it's hot, so hot, very, hot cock." You drooled.

"It's not hot, it's just not your body temperature. You'll get used toit."

You twitched as he pushed slowly deeper into you.

"You're doing such a good job, bunny. Just hang in there."

You could feel Kai splitting you apart with how thick he was. And it felt like there was no end to his cock. You thought every inch would be the last but it just kept going. But then he hit the bundle of nerves that made you almost scream and buck backward onto him, forcing the rest into you. Your mouth hung open, drool slipping out, and your eyes started to lose focus.

"Bunny! Are you okay?" Kai stroked your back, not wanting to move.

After a few minutes of not moving, you managed to get back under control.

Kai stared at you in disbelief. "I don't know you did it, but you're seriously taking all of me... Feel it." Kai took your hand and pressed it to your stomach, letting you feel a small bump in your gut. "You have me so deep in you, bunny. Good job!" Kai shifted you, leaning you into his arms. Your back against his chest. "Now, here's the really fun part..."

Kai lifted you off the bed, cock still in you, and maneuvered you against the wall. He spun you around on his cock so your back was against the wall, so he could look at you while fucking you.

"Look at you, so easy to toss around." He said as he did his first thrust into you.

"So cute with my cock inside you, bulging your tummy." He said as he did two more thrusts.

"Twitching, squeezing, and milking my cock. You want me, bunny?"

You nodded. "Please fuck me, Kai. I need this!"

Kai didn't respond, he pressed you harder into the wall and started slamming into you. He held you against the wall the whole time while fucking you, kissing you on your neck and lips. Occasionally licking away your tears while you rode out the waves of pleasure splashing into you. Kai stopped holding back completely, going even faster, making you cum all over the both of you.

"My turn," Kai grunted as he slammed into you, holding your hips against his body to get as deep as he could. He drains his balls into you, every last drop pouring into you as he uses one hand to feel his cock in your stomach as it pumps into you.

Kai took his time to breathe before guiding you back to the bed and laying you down carefully. "Did you live, bunny?"

You breathlessly nodded. You came at least 4 times in one session and were this close to passing out. Your lips were red and swollen, your hair a mess, and had a necklace of kiss marks around your neck.

"Well, bunny. Now that you're mine. It's my job to take care of you now. So why don't I give you a nice shower..." Kai chuckled as he kissed your forehead. He carried you into the bathroom as you started dozing off, leaning on him as he cleaned you...

[dandylovesturtles]

I should be asleep lol

Immediately post-S2

———

Donnie grew up in the sewers, so maybe he has no room to judge, but Draxum’s apartment is pretty terrible.

The first night - after they defeated Shredder, with their home so destroyed they couldn’t return, Draxum had (only a little begrudgingly) offered them a place to stay - Donnie had been so tired he hadn’t given it a second thought. He’d collapsed in the nest of blankets and sleeping bags they’d made and slept blissfully through the night. He learned the next morning that Raph had not gotten much sleep at all, too keyed up and full of adrenaline, but the rest of them had conked out immediately.

The second night, Raph had joined them in sawing logs. And they’d all slept soundly through the third night, too. But now it’s night four, and Donnie’s finally well-rested enough to realize that everything is very wrong.

The sheets are a different texture. The thermostat is set too low. The ambient sounds of the apartment building are not the ambient sounds of the sewer.

His dad’s snores from the couch and Raph’s deep rumble are familiar, at least. Both of them are out, Splinter the first to fall asleep that evening in front of Draxum’s crummy TV. Even Leo is asleep again, his insomnia yet to rear its ugly head, and Donnie can’t help but be a little jealous.

And of course, Mikey can sleep anywhere and anytime, so Donnie knows without even looking that he’s asleep. It’s just Donnie awake, then, staring at the ceiling and trying to will away the persistent itch of incorrectness.

At least, that’s what Donnie was thinking, until he hears a distinct sniffling noise from the pile of sheets that is his little brother.

Donnie goes as still and quiet as he can, listening closely. Maybe he just misheard? No, but that was definitely another sniffle… and the mound of sheets is quivering, now.

Mikey is crying. Donnie’s little brother is crying, and he may not be the one who usually handles these things, but Donnie is still a big brother, and more importantly he is the big brother who is awake.

He sits up, blanket draped around his shoulders, and carefully scoots himself around Leo’s tangle of limbs. Then he flops down next to Mikey’s mound, reaching out to lay a hand on top.

“Mikey?” he whispers.

There’s some shuffling, and then Mikey’s face peeks out from under his sheets. His eyes are wet, visible even in the dim light of the room, and he keeps snorting. Donnie makes a gallant effort not to flinch at the sound.

“Dee?” Another sniffle. “Did I wake you up?”

“No, I was already awake.” He rubs at the mound, for all the good it will do. “Are you okay?”

Mikey snorts hard, then blinks furiously to banish his tears. It doesn’t work. “I’m fine,” he insists, but it comes out hoarse and stuffy.

Donnie holds up a finger, then pushes himself to his feet. He pads across the apartment to the coffee table they’d shoved aside to make room and retrieves a box of tissues that he brings back, setting it pointedly in front of Mikey.

Finally, Mikey sits up, letting the sheets pool around him. He pulls out two tissues and blows his nose as quietly as he can - it’s still pretty loud, but Splinter’s snoring covers it up.

“Thanks,” he whispers once he’s done, tossing the balled up tissues to the side. Donnie pointedly ignores them (no matter how gross) and focuses on the matter at hand.

“What’s wrong?” he asks, not giving Mikey an out this time.

Mikey chews his lip. “It’s just… hitting me finally, I guess.”

Donnie tilts his head. “What is?”

“That… that the lair’s really gone. That we’re not going back.” New tears spring to his eyes, and Mikey grabs another tissue. “It’s just… I mean, we saw it yesterday, but… I don’t know. It’s l-like I didn’t really g-get it until right now.”

His voice is wobbling hard by the end. He chokes off a sob, rubbing his nose furiously with the tissue. Donnie knows that there’s definitely snot on Mikey’s fingers and probably his arms, too, but he can’t watch this anymore. He offers Mikey a hug, his arms barely open a second before Mikey is throwing himself into it.

As Mikey holds onto him and cries, Donnie thinks about the day before (well, really the day before the day before - it’s after three AM, now). They’d gone to the lair, to see what they could salvage. Everyone had been subdued; even Leo wasn’t managing to joke like he normally would. Only Mikey was still upbeat, able to see the silver lining in every cloud, cheering over every item they found that was still intact enough to bring with them, encouraging them to come back later and look for more.

Maybe they’d been a little too complacent that Mikey was going to be okay, after all that. But of course he isn’t; he loves their home as much as the rest. Sewers and all.

“We’re homeless, aren’t we?” asks Mikey after a minute or two. Donnie hasn’t really thought of it like that, but now that Mikey has said it, he knows he can’t refute it.

“In the technical sense, yes,” he says, and regrets it when Mikey bursts into a fresh round of tears. For the first time in his life, he abhors technical correctness.

But while it may be correct in the technical sense, what about other senses?

Donnie pulls Mikey down onto the sleeping bag, then works the sheets and his blanket over the both of them. Finally, he snakes a hand around to grab another fistful of tissues for Mikey, passing them over without dislodging Mikey from his hug.

“Do you know what I think Dr. Feelings would say, if he were here?” Donnie asks, once they’re both settled.

Mikey blows his nose again, then peers up at Donnie. “What?”

“I think he would say that home is where the heart is. As long as you’re with me, and Leo and Raph and Dad, you can’t be homeless.”

He delivers this with a great amount of conviction, so he can’t help but be a smidge irritated when Mikey laughs.

“Hey! I’m trying to help!”

“I know!” Mikey giggles, burying his face against Donnie’s plastron and lightly head butting into his chin. “That was a really great Dr. Feelings, Dee. Thank you.”

“…Hm, well, I was just passing along his recommendation.”

Mikey hums. There’s still a bit of a wheeze from breathing through a stuffy nose, but he sounds like he’s stopped crying.

“Hey, Donnie?”

“Yeah?”

“Love ya.”

“I love you, too.”

Sleep doesn’t find Donnie that night. But it finds Mikey, and he considers that a win.

[darkwitchingflower]

ITS BEEN A WHILE but here's things me and my friends have said as pjo character pt 4/5???

Annabeth: That's not very feminism of you (@wraith--2)

Hestia: maybe build like a life size bread bloke (@carpcranium)

Leo: Feels like my toes are bleeding but it's just cause they're defrosting (@wraith--2)

Percy to annabeth: Nooo pookie don't leave ill get her a spider abortion (friend not on tumblr)

Annabeth: I thought I'd die before seeing common sense in this gc (friend not on tumblr)

Jason: It's not boring to want money and to not be even more mentally ill (@indecisivenb)

Leo: Sure bud (me)

Piper: Jesus was not straight (@wraith--2)

Some random camper in the dining pavillion: Hes staring into my soup (@wraith--2)

Leo: Everyone needs a piece of Leo (friend not on gc)

Leo: Me dehydrated: must not drink sex juice (@wraith--2)

Jason: Me and Percy cockfight like 3 times (@chefchennan)

Piper: Harry x hermione

Ron x jesus or smth

Luna x whoever tf she ended with? (Friend not on tumblr)

Mr D to someone being given a quest: You don't have a choice

They don't have a choice

It's equality all around (me)

Piper: Im not a people pleaser, im a woman pleaser (friend not on tumblr)

Jason (idk why but i instantly thought Jason): saggy balls? (@chefchennan)

Thalia: From your local asexual xx (@wraith--2)

Thalia: Homicide on Pinterest is an interest (@wraith--2)

Chiron: oh that's nice to see! A camper with a smile! (My criminology teacher)

Annabeth: ye I made percy smile by telling him I didn't like him in greek! (Friend not on tumblr)

Apollo: Will! Thoughts on be crime do gay?! (@carpcranium)

Thalia about Frank: Me and him are still friends we shoot kids together yesterday (@chefchennan)

Will doing some form of doctor test idk: I'm gonna skedaddle into your scrotum (@wraith--2)

Thalia: I f**king love garlic bread yummers. Its gotten so bad that I eat is everyday. I sweat garlic butter and shit out logs of bread. It's an endless cycle and I remake the garlic break with what I unleash (friend not on tumblr)

Percy to Annabeth (leo helped after frank found them in the stables): Thine eyes are blessed with the sight of her. Her.

Who I wake to every morning and think of

Who I dream of at night

Aphrodite has forsaken me yet she is my light

The waves will roar and crash

And I know, she is always up for a smash (@wraith--2)

Leo to literally any girl with a pulse: When I see her thoughts are gone

And all I can do is simply long

She could never be mine

Yet still I pine (@wraith--2)

Rachel thinking abiut percy: Days will pass and the sun shall set

All the while I'd place a bet

That I'm still there

Twirling my hair

Dreaming of something that was never fair (@wraith--2)

Thalia: is is the most fun I've had in ages, I'm trying to teach the bot aromanticisum (@wraith--2)

Thalia: As a matter of fact I am definitely aromantic but thanks for the suggestion (@wraith--2)

Leo, he meant to say floppy disks: Have you ever seen one of those floppy dicks-...🤏 (friend not in tumblr)

Mr D: Anyways orgies (@wraith--2)

Will to Nico: She's like nah, no love hearts have an onion were like Shrek now (me)

Percy: When I go to sleep I'm going to dream about gay sea creatures aren't I? (@wraith--2)

Annabeth: It's okay I'm a big girl I cry into my pillow (@wraith--2)

Annabeth: ohhh right in the trust issues (@thatonelazyghost)

[gumnut-logic]

Lego Volcano (Part 4)

Alexander Sweetapple series | Lego Volcano - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Here is the next bit. I apologise for the chaos that is Alex's brain. Unfortunately, I think he inherited it from me.

This one was sparked by @idontknowreallywhy, @sofasurf, @womble1 and @sailing-on-a-puddle and other wonderful Thunderfam peeps.

Many thanks to the amazing @onereyofstarlight who read through this one and helped me tweak things. Sorry I am so mean to da bois.

This fic is m/m romance fluff with a dash of h/c and sickfic. If that isn't your thing, this isn't your fic.

This is definitely turning out to be bigger than expected, now at 6500+ words with plenty more to go.

I hope you enjoy it.

-o-o-o-

Alex was awake.

Since it was barely 4am, this was annoying.

Beside him, the slightly too warm mass of Virgil was breathing noisily but slightly better than he had been earlier.

Gordon was right. This bug, whatever it was, had hit Virgil hard. The engineer, however, routinely tried to rise above it, attempt his usual activities and then fall on his face.

It was irrational and Alex could clearly see why their grandmother was so often exasperated with them if this was the norm.

Over the last three days, Alex had made it his sole purpose to keep Virgil distracted and cared for as much as possible.

He may have resorted to using their grandmother as a threat at least once. Mostly because of his own exasperation.

“Virgil, you’re sick. Slow down.”

“Two needs her checks before she can go out again.” The man was throwing on clothes and while Alex was definitely admiring the scenery, five minutes earlier Virgil had been sleeping.

But even through the soundproofing of the villa, he was able to hear his Thunderbird return from its latest mission.

Virgil hated being left behind. That much was so obvious.

“I’m sure Gordon is quite capa-“

“Gordon?” It was said with both offence and love at the same time. He shoved on his jeans.

“Brains then.” Alex had met Brains once and…wow, he lived up to his name. How had Alex ever had a chance with a genius engineer like that on the Island? But it was clear Virgil and Hiram were only very good friends.

The Island was full of geniuses and just slightly terrifying.

But at least the mention of Brains had Virgil pausing.

Alex took the opportunity and slid off the bed. He came up behind his frustrating hero and wrapped his arms around him. “C’mon, love, stay with me and rest.”

“You could come down to the hangars with me.”

“And be castrated when your grandmother discovers I colluded with you?”

That did it. Virgil’s shoulders dropped and he relaxed just a little back into Alex’s embrace.

Alex planted a kiss just below his ear. “Brains can do the maintenance. Stay here with me.”

Ultimately, he had been successful in keeping Virgil out of the hangars, but he could clearly see why Gordon had thought it necessary to haul in Alex.

Sometimes the hero needed reining in.

Alex brushed a kiss into sleeping Virgil’s hair and quietly slipped out of bed.

If he was honest, he wasn’t used to getting this much sleep himself, so being unable to sleep at 4am was no surprise.

Erica would laugh at him, so much.

She certainly had enough words to say about Alex working from Tracy Island yesterday. Just because he felt bad for leaving Erica on the lurch to go save his boyfriend from himself was apparently not enough excuse to log into his workplace when said boyfriend was ill.

Erica had been very emphatic about that. To the point of kicking him off the server, claiming he didn’t trust her with their work, and to damn well go look after Virgil.

Virgil, at that point, was absolutely fine apart from the convulsions of laughter he was struggling with beside Alex on the couch.

Of course, laughter led to a coughing fit, so Alex did end up signing out rather quickly. But despite grabbing water for the man he loved, said man still managed to rib him about it for the next hour.

So Alex had a work ethic. Virgil certainly couldn’t talk.

Alex sighed just a little as he threw on Virgil’s spare dressing gown.

Every time he landed on Tracy Island, Alex ended up stealing clothes. Usually Virgil’s, but there had been some obvious additions to Virgil’s wardrobe that Alex doubted had ever fit the well-muscled and shorter man.

It was just another thing to love about him.

And a possible reason why Alex hadn’t moved anything here but the basics.

He slipped out of Virgil’s rooms with the intention of maybe hiding for a little in the guest quarters that were his officially allocated space when on the Island. He did spend a lot of time in Virgil’s rooms, however, and was seeing less and less of being a guest.

It was still dark, starlight shining through the rafters of the residential block. He padded down the hallway only to encounter the glass that led out onto the residential balcony. The doors were closed, but the vista was enough to take his breath away.

Starlight gave the Island shape and glittered on the ripples in the lagoon. Despite having visited here multiple times, Tracy Island still held magic for him.

His mum wasn’t wrong when she said he had looked for this island so many times.

Considering who lived here…

He swallowed, as always, completely blown away that Virgil loved him and the events of the last couple of years had even happened.

He shook himself. It was too early in the morning to be thinking straight. Or maybe he had had too much sleep over the last three days. That was probably it. His brain was in shock.

Erica cracked up laughing in the back of his head.

Yep, losing it.

He turned away from the vista and headed down the stairs to the comms room. At least there he wasn’t going to disturb anyone.

The villa was a maze that he was slowly becoming familiar with. He was pretty sure he wasn’t aware of all of it. There were gaps in the structure, places he couldn’t account for in his growing mental map. But this was Tracy Island and it needed its little mysteries.

He slipped into the comms room on bare feet and found the glass doors open with the tropical breeze wafting through.

Wow, the scents, the sounds, bloody amazing place.

He eyed the mound that outlined Lego Tracy Island, still in the process of being rebuilt and made sure to give it a wide berth.

“Alex?”

He jumped.

How had he not seen Mr…Scott sitting there? The man was at his desk, the hologram in front of him lighting up his face like someone about to tell a horror story around a campfire.

A blue campfire…must be odd chemicals in the wood…but-

Focus.

“Mr Tracy?”

“What are you doing up? Is Virgil okay?” His eyes caught that blue holographic light and lasered it at Alex as he moved to get up.

Alex held up his hands and hurried over. “No, he’s fine. He’s sleeping.”

Scott sat back in his chair. “That’s good to hear.”

Alex let his hands drop, ever so aware of those eyes gauging everything about him. Mr…Scott had been so kind to him since Virgil declared his intentions.

Intentions.

Virgil’s intentions…he wanted to bounce on the spot.

Scott cleared his throat and Alex jumped.

Just a little.

God, he was hopeless.

“He listens to you.” There was something in those eyes. “Thank you for coming on such short notice.”

“He’s sick. Of course, I came.”

Mr…Scott looked away, back to whatever he was working on. “Thank you, anyway.”

It was a dismissal. Alex frowned. “What are you doing up this early?”

“Things to do.” And Mr Tracy was doing something. Numbers flashed across the hologram as he shunted something aside. He looked up at Alex again. “You?”

“Uh, just stretching my legs.” Those eyes weren’t tearing into his chest, ripping out his soul, and dissecting it for answers. No, not at all.

The eye of Sauron had nothing on this.

But then blue was on the high energy end of the spectrum and Scott did have two eyes.

Did that mean Sauron had poor depth perception?

Probably how two hobbits made it into Mordor without him noticing.

One eyed and all.

“Alex?”

Those eyes wanted answers.

“Uh, yeah, you have a great view.” He gestured towards the balcony.

Those eyes followed his gesture.

“We do.” Mr…Scott stood up slowly and walked towards Alex, momentarily disappearing into shadow as he moved away from the hologram, only to appear beside Alex at the doors to the balcony.

Alex did his best not to bolt entirely.

He muted it down to a small step sideways.

He was being stupid and he knew it. Scott was Virgil’s brother. Scott held all the values Virgil held. Scott could be a goofball; Alex had seen him with his brothers many times now. The man was commanding kindness itself.

But Scott was Mr Tracy. Even now when Mr Jeff Tracy had returned and made his space in the family. Scott was THE Mr Tracy. He was someone Alex had admired and looked up to for a good percentage of his life. The man’s values and charisma infected all of those around him. He had power in a mere glance.

Eyes of bloody Sauron.

And maybe Erica was right when she said Alex shouldn’t make any decisions between one and five in the morning.

A heavy, warm hand landed on Alex’s shoulder and he tried not to flinch.

“I meant it, Alex. I’m very grateful you are here for Virgil.”

“Um, yeah, me, too.” Get it together, Alex, for goodness sake.

Mr Scott turned to look towards the sky and all the stars. So many stars with the lack of light pollution. Bloody amazing.

Magical even.

“I worried about him, you know. All of them really. We live like monks out here. Day in, day out, saving so many lives, but not living our own.”

What?

Mr Scott let out a breath. “It is so easy to get caught in doing what is right…for everyone else.” He turned to look at Alex and his eyes glistened in the starlight. “I’m so glad he found you.”

Umm…

He looked away again. “Virgil has been so happy these past months. You’ve brought so much joy into this house.”

Uh…

The hand on his shoulder gripped tight as those eyes turned back to Alex and pinned him where he stood. “So, when I say thank you, I mean it.”

Alex stared at him. This was a side of Mr Scott he had not seen. He knew he cared for his family pretty damned intensely. He’d heard International Rescue working over comms those few times he had been on Tracy Island during an incident.

Incidents happened a lot. The Tracys worked themselves to the bone.

Maybe Scott was just tired. Alex had seen Virgil tired enough. The man had fallen into his arms more than once with exhaustion, curling up in Alex’s bed, sometimes fully dressed.

Alex could understand the obsession with work. Especially since the Tracys’ work involved lives. So many lives. It was one of the reasons why he had come without Gordon asking. Virgil was as obsessed as any of them and if Alex thought too hard it led in the direction of Virgil one day sacrificing his life for a stranger and Alex’s brain just did not want to go there.

But Mr Scott…

“Are you okay?” It fell out of his mouth without thought.

The hand on his shoulder disappeared and Mr Tracy straightened. “I’m fine, Alex.” He stared out towards the caldera every bit the starlit hero.

But his eyes were still glistening.

Alex reached out and touched his arm. Heat seeped through the thin fabric of Scott’s shirt.

Far too much heat.

“Mr Tracy?!”

Those eyes turned to him again, emotion in their depths. “Promise me you’ll look after him.”

“I-“ But Alex was grabbing the man as he suddenly wavered on his feet.

Heat radiated off him. What the-? “Mr Tracy?!”

“I’m f-ine.” But it was little more than breath as Scott’s focus faltered.

And those gloriously powerful eyes rolled up in his head.

Alex struggled to catch him as he fell.

His knees hit the wooden floor hard and his foot collided with something that clinked and broke into pieces.

A vague neuron in Alex’s head acknowledged the objects scattering around and jabbing him were probably Lego, but Scott’s head was lolling onto his shoulder as his limbs splayed everywhere, and-

“Mr Tracy?! Scott?!”

No response.

Those eyes remained shut.

“John!” He yelled at the top of his voice, knowing somewhere someone would hear him. “Thunderbird Five!”

“HELP!!”

-o-o-o-

TBC

[reimissme]

Been eating like a normal person this weekend and i am so close ending it all like my thigh f@t is literally my 13th reason can someone give me a g\/n i won't be alive to give it back tho,

Anyways i'm too lazy to even log my calorie intakw to mnd i just put s*it there and put it to like 4000 cvls the f*ck i care I am so happy that school week is starting again so my mom can't be up my a*s every 2 seconds like she f*cking took me and my brother eat out sum greasy asf food yesterday and i took the ones w the least cvls i think but then she was like "just 4 nuggets?🥺" i wanted to sh**t her right then and there but i ended up having to take the fkin larger greasy fries and sum milkshake which did taste so good but i literally couldn't even make myself go see the cvls that thing had and i couldn't even p**ge that out bc she wanted to go to stupid stores after and it took so long that i didn't think there would even come anything out and even if we went straight home it would've been impossible bc she was up my a*s like i was taking my contact lenses off and that b**ch came there asking if i was throwing up like i made me wanna bl*w her br**ns out idc like i wasn't even p**ging and she was still up my a*s like wtf she is so super annoying and today she was like "you need to come eat RIGHT NOW" the urges to thr*w her off the window were so big and ended up going to eat w them and then i just raged at her dor being annoying asf and told her to go to h*ll and she was super angry and started yelling at mw but i was wearing headphone so i heard none of that s*it she was yapping abt and i'm glad she is angry at me bc then i can be at her so i don't have to go eat w them bc then i'll just tell her that i don't wanna see her stupid face (i don't🤓) anyways tomorrow i just won't eat anything and prolly go straight to sleep after skl and then just tell her to suck d*ck or sum and f@st for as long as i can and i don't even have snacks in my room anymore so i can't eat smth i don't have

If someone has a good workout plan for f*cking big thighs please share i need to get rid of those meat sacks as fast as possible like 3 weeks would be good to lose like 10cm from them pls🎀💕🌸

[millerflintstone]

Gigabyte seems to have lost even more vision and / or cognitive function. Today has been slightly better. This was yesterday:

She walked into the window room where I work and instead of heading up her ramp or to her food bowl, she went to her cat tree and was trying to make her way behind the cubby that's under there. She's never done that before

She tried it again and then went behind the couch but didn't just hide back there like she's done in the past. She couldn't make it past the back because I have a box behind there

She fell in between the footboard and the mattress (butt first)of the bed right as I logged out for my scheduled lunch yesterday. She was meowing and meowing for about 10-15 seconds but since that rarely happens and it didn't sound desperate, I thought she was just looking for me. She was clinging onto the bed just looking panicked. I stuffed additional pillows in the gap

She almost walked right off the foot of the bed at midnight. She usually snuggles next to me and gets up during the night to snack and drink water. I was only lightly asleep and I noticed she didn't turn right like she's supposed to. I yelled her name and bolted out of bed and that stopped her (and woke Unfriendly up). I led her down and she wandered around confused for a bit. I had a snack while she nibbled. Then I tried to create blockers around the foot of the bed while so sleepy but she ended up on pushing one of the pillows off and fell at around 2 am. She was ok. Just stunned. But it scared me.

When she came back in, she went around the bed to Unfriendly's side. I thought she was going to go under the bed because that's where she hides when she thinks it's vet time or she's overstimulated. Nope. She was so confused. She was walking into the wall not sure where she was. She ended up lying down right where Unfriendly would put his feet down, so I moved her. He'd totally not see her and step on her

I ended up taking her downstairs and at first was going to try to get her settled in the bathroom. She did not like that. She got agitated being in a small room even though I was with her. So, I closed all the doors, blocked off the stairs and slept on the couch a bit and then she woke me up meowing because we have lots of boxes down there that are foreign to her but not blocking the main path. I threw my papasan cushion on the floor and picked her up to snuggle. She fell asleep with me for a bit then woke up to eat and pace.

So it was a pretty sleepless night. Sunday into Monday was also a low sleep night for no good reason. Two days of bad sleep suck. I need to fix her bed blockers so she can be corralled the right way down her bed ramp

After she slipped yesterday afternoon :

This morning

[abbysbasement]

LIFE WITH TINY/CHIBI ABBY

was thinking about that Abby sackboy from yesterday, and felt like having a little Abby of my own was a life need. insp a little bit by those early 2010s fanfiction of ‘owner manuals’ for chibi characters! enjoy your own adorable tiny abby. sfw/fluff

🥺 I truly cannot decide if she’s plushie sized or super tiny, hamster-sized BUT SHES LITTLE.

- at first glance, the idea of having your own tiny abby feels like having a house pet, right? but in reality, she’s a very intelligent, sensitive little creature, and it’s a job in its own keeping her happy, healthy, and alive.

- a bit of a crybaby, and if she feels rejected, will go off into a corner and sulk. will not talk to you about it. if you ask her if she’s crying, no, she never cries! (with tears pooling, obviously.)

- please don’t lift the poor thing up by her braid, it gets her dizzy and upsets her. hold her gently in two palms, or scooped into one of your arms! abby will typically nestle up into any loose clothing you have, and it isn’t uncommon to feel a strange heaviness on the back of your neck and find her sleeping in your hood!

- hyperactive and easy for her to disappear on you, only to find her tearing up your towel rack, or spinning around while riding a Roomba. Try setting up an endurance course for her to do if you enjoy peace and quiet, because she can and will turn your house inside out if you let her.

- abby’s favourite passtime is reading and loves to curl up on your chest while you read a book to her, especially if she gets to pick out the book. she loves fantasy books, not so much nonfiction, and if a book is too scary, it’ll give her bad nightmares. it’s common that if your tiny abby won’t fall asleep, the best practice is to read to her until she dozes off. sometimes, this might backfire, and you’ll end up being asked for ‘one more chapter’ until the night ends.

- refuses to sleep in or let you sleep in. rises early in the morning way before the rooster crows, and will nudge your head over and over until you wake up. if that doesn��t work, be prepared to get jumped on until you’re ready for your day, she needs to pick off your breakfast, remember?

- a heavy eater, and even if you make her her own meals, she’ll usually end up picking off of yours anyways. truly eats much more than you’d imagine such a compact frame to hold, and if you let her, will eat eggs until she gets sick. loves treats, and will sit quietly if you leave her sitting next to a plate of strawberries or sweet apple slices. if she ever gets a hold of caffeine, good luck.

- practically has no concept of danger; everything is a fun adventure to her no matter how much you try to keep her out of harms way. you might have to baby proof your entire house, because no matter how many times you tell her not to do something, a tiny abby is a miniature juggernaut, and a little shit who will get into anything any everything. known to become uneasy and disoriented at extreme heights, so it’s best to keep valuables on a high table or shelf.

- as an extension to her occasionally self-serving nature, tiny abby is prone to attitudes and throws a fit when she’s told no. you’d have her sitting on your desk while surfing the web or working, and she’d get so frustrated after being told that you weren’t ready to log off that she’d try to somehow find her way down herself. Next thing you know, against both of your better judgements, she’s swan diving off of your desk, leaving you to catch her moments before she collided with the hard floor. Somehow this causes you to dote and baby her more, so mission failed successfully?

- even though she’s comparatively so small, abby is bigger and stronger than most where she’s from, so she has a strong urge to be useful, even when she’s completely out of her little depth. will pick up and put down random items to show off to you, and will get disheartened if you don’t look and cheer EVERY time. yes, even if she’s picked up your wallet 6 times today. typically, this takes the form of helping you out with all of your chores in any way she can: holding out your ingredients for you when you cook, or adding the detergent pods to the wash when you do laundry (even though she accidentally fell in once while putting them, oops!) when she’s mad though? expect her to take out her frustration by throwing all of your shit on the floor, pushing your cup of tea off of your desk like a cat, or hiding all of your stuff in spots only she can get to. unfortunately, she’s too cute to be mad at for long, even when she feels all too satisfied with her mischief.

- definitely uses it to her advantage. needs attention, and will have a fit if she isn’t constantly by your side, or if you leave the house for too long, as she gets really lonely. fortunately, there are always new friends for your tiny Abby to make, and she places well with a Tiny Manny or Tiny Lev and Yara. if you value your mental health, personal belongings and inner peace, do NOT place her with a Tiny Ellie, as they are not compatible and *will* raise hell and cause catastrophe.

- is very enamored by the concept of glass, and got knocked out for a couple of minutes by running full speed into a door once. put her in front of a mirror, and she’ll be entertained for hours wondering how you got two of her, how there’s even more than one of her to begin with.

- it’s recommended to sleep abby in her own area, such as a little bed, or a pillow with a tiny sheet or blanket, but sometimes, if she truly trusts and love you, your tiny abby will come and sleep with you on her own accord. just be careful not to roll over her!

[benkyoutobentou]

31 Days of Productivity Reading もう一回！: Day 2

Before: Another day of letting a spinner wheel choose my reads. This is a lot more fun with manga where I can spin nearly once a day compared to novels where I could spin twice a week maybe. Two things about it though; first, to add to the chaos fun, I’ve decided that I’m going to keep series on the options list until I have no more volumes, and second, I think I’ll be changing my goal to read eleven volumes of manga instead of ten because I realized that after that volume of BASARA, I’ve read 190 volumes total in Japanese and I want to get to 200. I track my manga over on my MyAnimeList so if you'd like to see what I'm reading all the time, you can find my profile here.

Anyways, today’s read is オハナホロホロ！I’m really excited to read this one, I heard someone talking about it and asked them to tell me their thoughts after they finished it, but then turned around and bought it before they said anything else. It just sounds so exactly like something I’d love!

Last little non reading tangent- I finally got my laptop back today after an entire week of it being in the shop! The hard drive went out on it, but it works so well in every other way that I decided to just get a new SSD instead of an entirely new laptop. I'm also completely terrible with any kind of technology so I had a professional replace it, which was a good idea because the first SSD I bought ended up being completely unusable. Then, no stores around me carried the right size of SSD, so I had to order another one online. And the best part is that the swap over didn't even log me out of anything (and I can finally catch up with my shows)!

After: My time management was so bad today. By one am I was halfway through today’s read and figured that it would be no problem to finish it tonight. Then I decided to check what time dressage started. I expected it to start at two or three am but it started at one, so I ran to the tv to watch that with half a volume left. Luckily there’s always a lot of time between riders in dressage compared to show jumping or cross country but I definitely felt out of sorts as I like to be pretty much ready to go to sleep when it starts, and I very much wasn’t this time.

Between all the breaks, I did manage to finish volume one of オハナホロホロ！I’m really enjoying it so far, I love the unconventional family dynamic and how flawed all the characters are while still being endearing. I also really like the flowy art style and the way that there’s an air of everyday calmness to the story, even when things start to get chaotic. So in total, today I read 191 pages of manga. Certainly not as impressive as yesterday but I’m still pleased! This was more of a normal manga to me, both in page count and words per page.

[pbandjesse]

I'm at Jess's house watching Mama Mia. Which is very fun. But man am I tired. Today was a long day. I was happy but also nervous about the trip. And just very tired.

I slept better. I woke up at 6 to see if James had made it to the water yet for their kayak trip. And they had! I took a screen shot of their location dot in the harbor and went back to sleep.

When I woke up I was a little uncomfortable. James was home though and I would go and get washed and dressed and felt alright. I was mostly just happy to see my husband.

James would come upstairs to sit in the floor with me for a bit while we decided what we were doing this morning. It was decided we would go to Southside and then run a few errands.

I had to rewash my face because my blush stained in weird dots. But soon I was ready and we were off.

It was humid. It would rain hard later. But it was fine for now and we went to brunch.

I dont know why but I tend to feel sick half way through the meal at Southside almost every time we eat there. And it sucks and I don't understand why it happens. I was also just a little stressed when I got an email that the organizer from yesterday sent payment to the wrong venmo. And so I had to figure out how to log in and James and me were able to work together to get that settled but it was very stressful. And I would take half of the food home. They even gave me a soda for the road.

James would run the leftovers to the car and we would walk around five below. James had promised to come back for an inflatable raft I wanted and we got a bunch of freeze dried candy to try out. Which I was excited about but ended up being very very strange! The gummy worms were like a cheese curl.

We would go to ace hardware next to get the latches for all of our doors. We were struggling to find them but James went and asked for help and we were able to get exactly what I wanted.

Our last stop was to go to the dispensary. I have never been in one before so I was nervous but I just followed James's lead. Brought my id and everything. And the customers were all very strange in their own special ways.

I was very tired though and was ready to go home.

When we got back we brought in our things and put things away. I would collect my temperature blanket yarn and brought it outside to work on measuring out june. James brought Crabcake outside and I would hang out on the porch swing. Measuring and cutting and getting through the whole month.

I was very tired though and I kept wanting to quit but I knew I would feel better if I finished it. And I would feel better in the end.

It started drizzling and I decided that that was going to be my deadline. And would rush to finish cutting and then assembling everything. Which did take most of an hour. But it was nice being out there. And just as I was finishing the big rain drops started. And we brought everyone inside.

I would hang out on the couch with James for a while. Tried the candy. James downloaded a new video game. We cuddled and talked. And at 1 I went upstairs to take a shower.

I for sure felt a little better after the shower. Still sleepy but better. James would come upstairs to lay with me. And that's when the rain really started to pick up.

We talked through my packing and I felt pretty confident I had everything. While we were sitting and talking I got a call from Kathleen, from the markets, who had a few questions she wanted answers from a vendor perspective. And it was a really eye opening conversation for me too. She told me how she gets paid to run the markets and encouraged me in trying to organize more of them after doing the one in the spring. An interesting concept for sure. A little scary! But neat.

After I got off the phone with her I decided I should probably leave a little early for my appointment. The rain had gotten really heavy. And I for sure made the right call.

We said goodbye in the living room. And I got my umbrella but the rain was so heavy it collapsed! And me and James were screaming and running to the car and James basically threw my suitcase in the car and ran inside. I'm glad we had already kissed goodbye. It was nice to leave with so much laughter.

I was also just really glad I had a towel in my car. I sat for a moment and tried to dry off. I was still laughing. And then I headed to the doctor.

It was not an amazing drive. Everyone today was driving stupid. But I made it in one piece and it wasn't even raining anymore.

My appointment went fine. And I got my shots. The nurse accidentally got me in the nerve of my right leg and my leg spasmed and twitched for a half hour! We were both very confused. But it didn't hurt. Just felt like worms wiggling in my leg, all the way through my knee. It was very odd.

After checking out and using their bathroom I decided to check the map. I was unsure how I was getting to Jess's. But it turned out there was no quicker way. Traffic was horrible and would be horrible for 80% of the drive.

First people just absolutely were not paying attention and not letting people merge and I sat in a back up that I can't even explain, no evidence of a crash or anything, for a half hour. Then I was still in the tunnel for a while. And people were just being horrible. Then it started pouring again and we were down to 30 mph on the highway. But once I was over the Susquehanna River things got easier.

It still took me over two hours to get here when it should have taken an hour and 15. But I made it.

I was very happy to see Jess. We would hug and she helped me bring my bags inside. And we would laugh and joke and it was just really nice to be here.

We decided to go to Applebee's for dinner because we thought that was funny. And it actually turns out to be really good. We had a nice conversation on the way there and it only continues throughout the whole night.

The reason we went to Applebee's was because I wanted mozzarella sticks. Which turned out they were having a 50cent mozzarella sticks night. How lucky am I. And we would get salads and fries and cheese curds. Which was a lot of cheese to be fair but it was a lot of fun. And we discussed the cruise and Jess's new medical stuff and my medical stuff. And a guy who was sitting at the bar (who clearly was treating this Applebee's as his hometown bar) as weirdly flirting with me?? But I was still having a lot of fun.

Jess needed to get bananas for her house sitter, Nick. Who apparently eats one every day. And so as we were leaving the restaurant she says "banana time!" And in my mind I go and maybe a little ice cream. And she says workout me saying anything "and then ice cream time!" I love how in sync we are.

We would find the bananas. Jess did not know how much a banana would cost and was excited to find that she could get 6 for $1.50. we also got pomegranate ice tea lemonade to have tomorrow. It's the little things.

We would go and get custard instead of ice cream. Jess got chocolate and I got white chocolate. And then we went home.

When we got back where we looked at our packing and discussed some stuff about the trip and the house. And then we would hang out on the couch. She just got a replacement for the fancy one that turned out was broken. And this one is bigger and so much more comfortable. It's great.

Jess would ask if I wanted to watch Mama Mia and I had never seen it so I said yes and it was great but I mostly took away from it that I want to be Meryl Streep. Not shocking, she's beautiful in this movie.

And it was just nice hanging out and watching a movie with my best friend.

We both just said goodnight and brushed our teeth and are in our own beds. The guest room is pretty comfortable. And I am very much looking forward to sleeping.

And then tomorrow is cruise day!! I'm very nervous. But it will be a very good time I'm sure. We will leave here by 9. Get to Jess's parents. And leave there around 11. And our port call is 230. It's the last one and I'm nervous about that but it will all be okay. It's going to be a great day.

I hope you all have a great day. Sleep well and be safe!! I should have WiFi on board tomorrow (I paid for it) so let's hope posting is not interrupted!!

[yidhraloves]

Alt. Gabriel x Gn Researcher Reader “Shining Star”

Previous Parts:

{Log entry 3 |->Download failed, File Corrupted. Please try agai6iii6i¡¡¡¡6}

The next day, when you arrived at work, Gabriel was already waiting for you outside, his usual wide grin plastered all over his face.

He greeted you happily, after which he presented the new test results to you.

You forgot to ask him about the missing people yesterday, so now you asked him.

"Oh, you didn't know? 2 days ago, the alternates arrived here. Within these 2 days, 11037 people have gone missing in the surrounding areas, 187 of them happening to be all of our friendly coworkers and managers that worked in this building, so it's just the two of us now!:))"

When you asked Gabriel why he was able to remember all of those numbers, he just deviously smirked at you.

It was really cute.

You gazed into his eyes, softly smiling to yourself.

You didn't notice you were intensely staring at Gabriel while smiling to yourself until 10 minutes had passed. Gabriel spent all that time curiously staring back at you, sometimes tilting his head to the left or right in confusion.

"You should go to sleep earlier" he bluntly stated.

You smiled at him in response, but you knew you wouldn't be doing that, since your old research partner would be coming over tonight to help you continue the research and tests on the alternate corpse.

Ah! You completely forgot about the time! You were going to be late!

You quickly said goodbye to Gabriel and rushed home.

It was so weird, when you were with Gabriel, time flew by!

Your friend was already there waiting when you arrived at home.

Both of you headed downstairs to continue the research.

He made you feel useless, your friend was so good at researching!

He might've found out why alternates have such a cold aura around them.

You were amazed! He found out so much within just two hours!

And you had spent weeks pulling all nighters just to end up with nothing.

Your friend took your hand into his, his warm hand slowly stroking yours.

He was so warm, so calming you almost fell asleep. His face was getting closer to yours.

I don't want this.

What am I doing?

There was a weird screeching noise in the other room. Scratching at the door.

Your friends face was getting closer to yours.

His warm hand touched your cheek. You quickly moved away from your friend as the door flung open,

.

.

.

.

A ALTERNATE.

In your house.

WHAT.

You were frozen, you didn't know what to do, you slowly moved away from the alternate, your back against the wall. You were so scared, you didn't know what to do.

The alternate was whispering inaudible words, moving closer and closer to your friend.

His hands were wrapped around his neck, he——-

he———

Gabriel.

Why is Gabriel here? How did he get into your house?

Gabriel embraced you and kissed your forehead.

He looked deep into your eyes, his gaze felt like it was looking right past your eyes, right into your brain.

Ah right! You had called Gabriel for help!

With your phone!

Didn't you leave your phone upstairs? Why would it be in the research room?

Gabriel was helping you with your research.

.

.

?

Gabriels eyes were so hypnotic, you wished you could be like this, in his embrace forever.

Before you went unconscious, you could hear Gabriel whisper into your ear "Don't worry, my love, it will all be okay. I'll always be here for you, I'm going to protect you, no matter what."

Wasn't your friend helping you with your research? Gabriels touch is just like your frieeee33333 described an alternates touch!

Gabriels touch...is so nice and warm......?

What friend? Are you being delusional? Your f37299292 had already died.

Had he?

It feels like something is messing with your mind.

[foreveralwaysanauthor]

Camp Wanamaker (Ch. 3/10)

July 1, 2023

Notes - I almost had this finished yesterday, but I ended up passing out at my desk and forcing myself to go to bed. Then, this morning, I woke up at 3:30 because our neighbors are morons and that only started the insanity for the day, so I ended up finishing this a lot later than I intended to.

Chapter 3 - Good Vibrations

Hazy rays of sunlight filtered in through the thin cotton curtains that just barely clung to their rod, the light catching the floating specs of dust that hung in the air. Birds chirped outside, their melodic songs filling the air alongside the gentle hum of crickets. The early morning air was crisp and cool as Sunday’s overnight rain brought cooler, less humid air to the summer camp. Soft voices from the other room filled the log cabin with laughter and conversation, but there was still one resident of the Lakeside Lodge who had yet to join the festivities. Pale blue eyes peeled open slowly, only to wince at the brightness of the light coming into the room and slide back shut. The bed creaked and groaned as Miles shifted onto his side and attempted to bury his face in his pillow. If the noise from the other room was anything to go by, he was sure everyone else was already awake and somewhat ready for the day, but that didn’t mean he had to be just yet.

Despite the fact that he hated mornings with a passion, Miles found them peaceful when he was allowed to wake up on his own time. On his days off, he would spend an hour or so letting himself adjust to the day if he was lucky. After a while, he would pry himself from the mattress and drag himself to the kitchen to make breakfast if his brothers hadn’t gotten around to it first. In more recent days, however, he’d been forced to wake up with the sun and be ready for the day to begin. He would rise with the rest of the counselors and get dressed, the hike to the mess hall further rousing him from any remaining slumber he had in him. Once he was awake, things weren’t so bad, and he could get into the rhythm of the day. It was just the mornings that dragged everything out of him.

The distant sound of a plane flying overhead reminded Miles of home - where elderly snowbirds spent their retirement money flying down south for the winter before returning to their northern homes for the warmer seasons. In a way, Miles supposed, he was now just like one of those elderly people -spending his summer in New Hampshire. No matter how hard he tried to ignore the sunlight beaming through his window, Miles was pulled further from sleep as the silence of the early morning was broken only by the sound of Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go. Though the song was fun, and he genuinely liked it when it came on over the radio while he drove the kids wherever they needed to go - listening to them scream-singing along to it in the backseat - Miles slowly lifted his head and glared at the window as though the song offended him before slumping back onto his mattress with a groan of complaint. 

The night before, they had spent a few hours around the campfire after dinner, learning where they would be stationed for the entirety of the summer and putting in song requests for the morning wake-up call. He knew a few of the selections their group had made - Royce and Bentley offering a few of their favorite songs while Carrie and Vivien went back and forth, offering a bunch of songs ranging from ABBA and Madonna to Britney Spears and Avril Lavigne. He couldn’t recall anyone suggesting one of Wham!’s greatest hits around the fire, but whoever had put in for the bubbly, energetic, 80s pop song was going to feel his wrath. Who, in their right mind, would want to wake up to something so blindingly perky first thing in the morning? Not Miles, that was for sure.

Using his pillow to muffle the four-minute-long song, Miles tried to return to sleep but found it growing more and more impossible. A solid knock on his bedroom door halfway through the song made Miles let out a grumbling plea for just a few more minutes to relax in the comfort of his mattress, but the person on the other side of the door was insistent. Miles tried to roll onto his stomach and ignore the person as they pushed their way into the room, but that didn’t stop the human alarm clock from grabbing his blanket and pulling both it and Miles’ lumpy pillow away.

“Fuck off,” Miles grumbled. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Butchy chuckled. “Up and at ‘em, sunshine. The first round of campers is going to be here after breakfast, so if you want any coffee before they get here, you need to get moving.”

Miles let out a groan as he rolled onto his back, staring up at Butchy with tired eyes, “Why do you have to be the voice of reason?”

“Would you rather I let Vivien come wake you every morning?” Butchy asked in response.

Miles remembered Vivien’s wake-up calls all too well. After housing the brunette for a few months, he had learned to at least try to wake up to his alarm. While Bentley and Royce would at least try to get him out of bed with words, Vivien resorted to violence, jumping onto his bed and beating him with a pillow until he was awake enough to fight back. To make matters worse, when he had to be up for work, she had refused to make coffee until he was awake and dressed. In a way, her tactics were effective, and he quickly learned to get up and ready before she came in swinging so that he would get his coffee before heading out the door, as the alternative would be much worse.

Quickly shaking his head, Miles pushed himself to sit up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed as he told Butchy, “I’d much prefer the voice of reason to her assault and battery.”

Butchy chuckled, tossing Miles’ pillow and blanket to the end of the bed, “Well, then, I suggest you get up before I release the hounds.”

As Miles pushed himself from his mattress with a yawn, he muttered, “I’m going, I’m going.”

The taller brunet left Miles to his devices and returned to the living room, where Vivien had perched herself on the back of the couch, watching the biker with an almost maniacal grin. Butchy shook his head as he passed her, patting her on the arm as he said, “Not today, piccola.”

“Aw,” Vivien sighed in defeat, allowing herself to slide back onto one of the couch cushions. “Why not?”

As Butchy rounded the couch and perched himself on one end, he said, “Because I threatened him with you, and it worked.”

“As it should,” Carrie chimed in with a knowing grin. “I’ve seen you attack him first thing in the morning.”

Placing a hand over her chest with an overdramatic gasp, Vivien turned to Carrie and said, “I do not attack people! I awaken them.”

“Ah yes, because digging your bony ass knees into someone and smacking them silly with a pillow first thing in the morning is how you should wake someone up,” Riven spoke sarcastically as he sat on the armrest.

“It is when it comes to Miles,” Bentley stated. 

“He hardly ever gets out of bed on time unless he absolutely has to,” Royce agreed. “Having Viv wake him up was the only way he would be up early enough to make breakfast before getting out the door for work sometimes.”

“It was hilarious,” Bentley beamed. “Royce and I would watch her beat him up from the doorway.”

“Good to know you two like to see me get beaten up by a literal child,” Miles deadpanned as he made his way into the living area, running a hand through his hair as he closed his bedroom door.

“This ‘literal child’ has access to couch cushions,” Vivien said with a smirk.

Shoving Vivien’s head from behind, Miles said, “Try me, noodles-for-arms.”

“Bitch,” Vivien scoffed, taking one of the decorative pillows from the couch and smacking Miles in the chest with it.

“I know you are, but what am I?” Miles taunted in a childish voice.

Vivien snorted, “Now, who’s the child?”

Before Miles could come up with a snappy comeback, Mick spoke, “You both are; now let’s go before everyone takes the good food, and we’re stuck with nothing but granola bars and yogurt.”

Dropping her weapon onto the couch, Vivien joined Miles as everyone followed Mick to the door. Peering over at the biker with a grin, she muttered, “This isn’t over, dipshit.”

“Didn’t think it was, asshat,” Miles retorted with a smirk.

After breakfast, the group was divided and made to go to their stations to wait for the campers to arrive. The other campers would be assigned to a cabin upon arrival and be made to stay with those people for the duration of their time at camp. Bentley, on the other hand, was in a cabin with seven counselors who were assigned to different tasks, and, therefore, he had no set schedule. Although Bentley was still, technically, a camper, he was allowed to roam freely throughout the camp without being told off by the workers.

His brothers had been taken to different areas - Royce taking up the front desk at the library and Miles working with Vivien in the music hall - so Bentley was left roaming around until the camp was flooded with kids of all ages. He had enjoyed spending the last week being treated as the only camper, but with everyone else piling into the camp and filling all of the empty spaces, he was minutely worried that he’d be forgotten in the fray. Granted, as he drifted from place to place, he was sure certain people would make space for him if they could. 

Royce’s spot in the library would be fairly easy for the curly-haired boy as he loved books to no end, and while Bentley knew he could spend as much time as he wanted there, he wasn’t overly fond of how quiet it normally was. On the opposite side of the camp, the music hall was practically a free-for-all unless it was during lesson hours - Vivien offered drum training while Miles taught people to play guitar, and others offered different string, woodwind, or brass lessons. The fitness center had only so many places for people to work out, but Bentley knew Butchy wouldn’t care if he just sat around at the desk for a while. Carrie and Riven were working in the playhouse together, and while Bentley wanted to talk to Riven more and fill him in on how things worked between their worlds, he knew it would be nearly impossible as they worked on helping others with their acting, singing, or dancing. He could spend all day with Mick if he wanted to, as she was filling two roles at once. Flitting between archery and lifeguarding was no easy feat, but she was determined to manage both until the end of the week when someone else would be able to cover her position on the lifeguard chair.

As Bentley perched himself on the porch that wrapped around the main office, he wondered just how long it would be before everyone began arriving. According to the long talk they’d had to sit through after breakfast, it would be just after lunch, but Bentley wasn’t even sure what time it was - nor did he have any desire to pull his phone out of his back pocket and find out. Keeping track of the time was like watching grass grow - tedious, pointless, and boring. All he knew was that the sky was beginning to grow cloudy as the forecasted rain showers drifted closer to the small town, and the closer they got, the more time had passed.

Bentley sucked in a sharp breath as something cold pressed into the side of his neck. Jumping, he whirled around only to find the mess hall’s resident vacuum cleaner, Ding, standing behind him with his tongue flopping lazily out of his mouth and his tail wagging happily. Relaxing back in his seat, Bentley chuckled softly and raised a hand to the large dog’s fur, smiling to himself as the dog ducked under his hand and leaned into the scratches Bentley gave him. Ding sat beside Bentley, leaning up to lick Bentley’s cheek as the boy scratched just under his collar.

Chuckling, Bentley admitted, “You scared the crap out of me, Ding; I hope you know that.”

“He has a habit of doing that,” a voice claimed not far away. 

Looking up from the dog’s colorful fur to where George stood with a smile and a pair of cups filled with a mysterious green liquid, Bentley smiled and greeted the man as he sat on the other side of the massive dog, “Hey, Chief.” The man smiled and held out a cup of green juice with something floating in it. Upon further inspection, it was a plastic beetle. Raising an eyebrow as he hesitantly accepted the cup, Bentley asked, “What is this?”

“Bug juice,” George replied. “It’s a mixture of Sprite, lemon-lime Kool-Aid, and lime sherbet. It’s something a lot of campers fight over here as we usually only have it a few times every week, and once it’s gone, there’s no making anymore.”

Bentley took a sip of his drink and hummed; he could see why everyone liked it so much. Nudging Ding’s nose away from the cup, he turned his attention to the camp’s director and asked, “What did you mean when you said Ding has a habit of scaring people?”

George chuckled, “Despite being the size of a small horse and stumbling around camp like an idiot, Ding’s got a way of sneaking up on people when he wants attention.”

“How did he learn to do that?” Bentley asked.

“Hell if I know,” George chuckled before taking a sip of his drink. “My guess would be either my wife or Hayley since the little menace is always nipping at their heels.”

Hayley was Vivien’s birth mother; Bentley knew that much. It seemed as though they were close, and if Vivien’s pictures were anything to go by, they looked a lot alike. “Hayley,” Bentley began, “she’s your daughter, right?”

George nodded, “She’s the younger of the twins, and Ding’s always adored her more than anything.”

“Is that why he likes to sit with Viv at meals?” Bentley wondered.

“It’s one of the reasons,” George agreed. “She gives him an endless supply of food to keep him happy, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he spent the rest of the summer bouncing back and forth between her and Hayley when she gets here.”

Bentley nodded thoughtfully. That’s right, Hayley was supposed to be coming to camp at the end of the week. Saturday was the first of July, and the only reason he remembered that Vivien’s biological mother was coming that day was that Vivien had put it on the calendar in their cabin in bright red marker, circled it a few times, and drew stars around it for good measure. Thankfully, Saturday was when the campers who were only there for one or two weeks would leave, allowing them a weekend mostly to themselves. Maybe he would get the chance to know Vivien’s birth mother during those little breaks between weeks.

“What’s Hayley like?” Bentley asked.

“She’s a lot like Vivien, actually,” George mused. “Adventurous, intelligent, full of snappy comebacks and witty remarks. She was a bit more rebellious in her teenage years, however.”

“How so?”

George let out a laugh, “Let’s just say that Vivien is tame compared to Hayley.”

Bentley smirked, “Now I really want to know!”

With a glimmer of something in his eyes, George opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by his wife as she approached, “Don’t go telling the boy about how Hayley stole your motorcycle and rode up to Maine just for a concert.”

“I wasn’t,” George chuckled, raising his empty hand in surrender and smiling at his wife’s grin. “I was going to tell him about the time she smoked some of my weed and began arguing with your parrot.”

Shaking her head, Dawn turned to Bentley with a smile, “All in all, Hayley gave us a run for our money until she got herself a job at that wire company, but we gained enough stories of her escapades over the years to write a novel about.”

Bentley chuckled, “It’s no wonder she and Vivien get along so well.”

George hummed, “As I said, Vivien is tamer compared to Hayley, but she still thrives on adventure all the same.”

Sipping at his cup of bug juice, Bentley thought about just how much fun this summer could be once the woman arrived at camp. Maybe she would bring an extra sense of chaos to the camp and help keep things lively and adventurous. If she was anything like she was as a teenager, she would definitely keep people on the edge of their seats. He could only imagine what it would be like having two Viviens at camp. Vivien used the line between adventure and potential time behind bars for breaking and entering as a jump rope, and while he was sure her biological mother had calmed her reckless side at least a little over the years, Bentley hoped she was still just as adventurous as she had been in her younger days. Smiling to himself, Bentley returned to scratching the dog beside him as he realized he would only have to wait another five days to see exactly what camp would be like with both Vivien and her aunt running around.

Tuesday was the first full day of actual camp, and while things were certainly moving along better than they had when everyone was still figuring out their bunking spots and how to get from Point A to Point B, there were still groups of people huddled around, comparing their schedules, and fussing over how to stick with their groups. Thankfully, most of the issues would be solved quickly as the campers were spending more of their time at the art barn, making shirts with their chosen cabin names plastered on the front. Whoever had suggested naming the typically numbered cabins after Greek gods for the summer, like in the Percy Jackson books, had been victorious, and the idea was an instant hit with the campers as they worked on naming everything.

The girls in Cabin 1 had claimed Aphrodite as their cabin name just as quickly as the boys in Cabin 2 had chosen Poseidon. The rainbow goddess, Iris, was taken for Cabin 3, Apollo was claimed by Cabin 4, and Cabin 5 had taken their time choosing Athena before leaving for their cabin. Hades and Persephone came in for 6 and 7, respectively, Ares for 8, and Nike for 9. Fittingly, the group that showed up late and nearly fell asleep in their soups during supper had chosen Hypnos, the Greek god of sleep, to be the mascot for Cabin 10. Artemis was chosen for Cabin 11. Cabin 12 took Hephaestus, and if what Bentley had said during his brief visit to the office was true, they were all pretty good at building things in the art barn. The gaggle of girls who looked as though they had come straight from the set of The Craft was quick to name their cabin after the goddess of magic, Hecate. To round out the list, Cabin 14 took the name of Dionysus, and Cabin 15 chose Nemesis. 

Unlike the rest of the campers and staff, most of the people who resided in the already-named cabins didn’t mind that the others got to choose while they didn’t. In the case of the people who now lived in the Lakeside Lodge, they had no issue with the naming choices made by the others. Vivien, Mick, and Riven had been going to the camp for as long as they could remember, and the ever-changing names of different cabins were nothing new to them. The others simply couldn’t bring themselves to care as they were happy where they were.

It was clear that some campers were having issues finding their way around, and it was for that very reason that both the chief of the camp and his wife were making the rounds, showing kids where they needed to go. Instead of holing herself in the music hall to avoid the chaos until it was time for lessons with a pair of kids from Apollo, Vivien had been pulled aside by her grandmother and asked to manage the desk in the main office, answering phone calls, helping kids find their way, and talking to parents who chose to stop by and drop off things their kids had forgotten to pack. She, of course, had no issue with such tasks as she had done so for years, but as another disgruntled mother left after dropping off something her child had forgotten at home, she found herself getting bored.

As the old clock on the wall ticked another minute past two, Vivien glared up at the clock and sighed, hoping for once that the batteries in the old junkyard-worthy thing were finally dying out and it was simply showing her the wrong time. Time after lunch always crawled by like a snail going uphill through molasses, but as she was waiting for something in particular to happen, it felt even slower. Vivien jumped as the phone on the desk rang, hurriedly reaching for it and holding it up to her ear before giving the typical greeting, “Camp Wanamaker front desk, this is Vivien. How can I help you?”

A crisp, cheerful giggle came over the line, and Vivien paused. She knew that laugh. “Goodness, Vivi, you sound so mature,” the person claimed.

“Aunt Charlie?” Vivien questioned.

“Hey, sunshine,” the woman chirped. “I was hoping your Nonna was at the desk so that she’d connect me to you, but I guess I don’t have to go through all that now.”

“I guess not,” Vivien agreed, tucking the phone between her shoulder and her ear as she tugged her ponytail tighter. “What’s up?”

Vivien could practically hear the woman’s pearlescent smile as Charlie said, “Hayley and I wanted to let you know that we’re getting ready to leave New York.”

“Really?” Vivien asked, glancing at the calendar that sat on the desk. “I thought you weren’t leaving until Thursday.”

“We weren’t,” Charlie agreed, “but Hayley is determined to stop by some museum in Massachusetts on the way back, so I’m sure we’ll spend at least a day there.”

“Sounds familiar,” Vivien smirked.

“Tell me about it,” Charlie chuckled. “Heaven help me when I end up at some maritime museum with the two of you.”

Distantly, Vivien could make out her Aunt Hayley adding her two cents to the conversation, “I already said we should take her to the Titanic museum!”

“Did you hear that?” Charlie asked with a sigh. When Vivien hummed in confirmation, Charlie said, “She plans on taking you during one of your school breaks - winter or spring, probably - and bringing you to Branson, Missouri. I told her that she’s out of her fucking mind if she thinks we’re going out to that frozen tundra in the middle of winter.” 

Vivien couldn’t contain her smile at the idea. She had been following the Titanic museums for years, having fallen in love with the ship of dreams when she was still young enough to need training wheels on her bicycle. “There’s a museum in Tennesee,” she offered.

Charlie shifted the phone, hollering to Hayley, “You hear that? Even Vivi thinks a nice, warm trip to Tennessee would be better than spending winter break freezing our tits off in Missouri!”

“Missouri is still warmer than New Hampshire,” Hayley called back.

Letting out a sigh, Charlie turned her attention back to the conversation at hand, “Anyway, I figured you should know that we’ll be on our way back. We should still be getting there on Saturday, but plans might change if your other mother spends too much time gawking at dead people’s artifacts.”

In near-perfect unison, both Vivien and Hayley replied, “There’s no such thing as spending too much time in a museum.”

Scoffing, Charlie sighed, “Tell my feet that after she drags me through every floor five times over.”

“You’ll live,” Hayley commented, her voice audibly closer than before. Once the call was on speakerphone, she said to Vivien, “I made sure to save you some Playbills from the shows we saw.”

“Really?” Vivien questioned, although she already knew the answer. “Thank you!”

“Always,” Hayley replied. “I’ll send you some pictures before I pack them.”

“Speaking of packing,” Charlie segued, “I need to get back to it if we plan on getting up north on time.”

“I’ll see you guys when you get here,” Vivien spoke. “Have fun at the museum for me.”

“Next time,” Hayley began, “you’ll be there with us.”

“Absolutely,” Charlie stated. “Have fun at camp.”

“Enjoy watching the new kids run around like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off!” Hayley commented with a smile evident in her voice.

Vivien could imagine Charlie smacking Hayley on the arm, reprimanding her biological mother for the comment, but heard nothing as she smiled and said, “I will. Love you, guys.”

“Love you too, baby girl!” Hayley exclaimed. 

“Love you,” Charlie stated. “See you Saturday.”

“Saturday,” Vivien nodded to herself, listening for the telltale click of the other line ending the call before setting the device back on its hook. She stared at the old phone for a while until her phone screen lit up, a series of messages coming in with images attached. Vivien scrolled through the pictures with a brilliant smile before taking in a deep breath and glancing at the calendar beside her on the desk. She could wait another four days.

Wednesday brought nothing but rain, and, with a simple order after breakfast to keep the campers inside as much as possible to avoid anyone getting sick, everyone went their separate ways. Seeing as they had no choice but to sit around in the music hall despite the fact that nobody had signed up for lessons that day, Miles held the umbrella between himself and Vivien as they walked through the trails leading up to their station. The older wooden cabin was fairly tall, the ceilings were vaulted for better acoustics, and, as Miles closed the umbrella and stepped inside, he realized there were a few leaks in the roof that Vivien quickly remedied by placing buckets on the floor. 

The music hall smelled of wood, as most buildings at camp did, but there was a faint odor of the rosin that they used on the bows for the string instruments. The piano on the far wall went almost unused as more teenagers were interested in taking their frustrations out on the drum set Vivien favored. Slouching into the cushioned armchair Miles had chosen for himself the first day in the music hall, he sighed and looked around. It wasn’t much, but it was a place of comfort.

Rain pattered against the windows, and as the sky illuminated with lightning, Miles hoped everyone had gotten where they needed to be before the storm started. Those in charge of lifeguarding or handing out snacks at the pool were dismissed to help elsewhere, and Miles was fleetingly glad that Vivien’s friend, Noah, had been assigned to the playhouse where he would be destined to help Carrie and Riven with putting sets together for the showcase at the end of the summer instead of being holed up in the library with Royce. Royce was, thankfully, practically alone in the rather soundproof library and could probably manage the storm by reading or listening to music to cover the noise of the storm.

Miles sighed to himself as Vivien crossed the room, checking for any more leaks drizzling in from the roof. He knew Royce had grown more capable of handling storms after having Vivien with him for a few months in St. Pete Beach, but that did nothing to quell the bubbling concern within him. Miles was still worried about Royce having to deal with it alone. Then, as though his younger brothers had been reading his mind, Miles’ cell phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out to find that Bentley had sent Miles a sneakily-taken picture of Royce. It was obvious the fifteen-year-old had taken the shot without his brother knowing as Royce looked as though he was in the middle of reading, his mouth partially open and a book in his hands. Three little dots glowed on the screen before a hastily written message appeared.

Benny: Royce and I are pk. Stop worming an talk to Viv.

Miles let out a snort, easily deciphering his youngest brother’s message. Despite the incorrectly typed words, Miles was somewhat proud of Bentley. He’d gotten better at texting legible messages over time, but still refused to use autocorrect as he wanted to work things out himself. It wasn’t long before the next one appeared.

Benny: You know what I mean. Just stop thinkimg and hace fun.

Tapping out a quick reply, Miles sent Bentley a message in return before placing his phone on the music stand beside his chair and scanning the room for Vivien. Though he could hear soft, almost inaudible music, he couldn’t see her, so Miles stood and called out, “Viv?”

“In here,” she called from the back room. 

Maneuvering his way through the minefield of pattering buckets of water and musical instruments that had been pulled out of the way of danger, Miles made it to the entrance of the backroom, finding Vivien sitting on the floor with a guitar on her lap and drawer full of guitar picks and drum sticks on the floor before her. “What are you doing, kiddo?” he asked as he leaned against the frame of the door.

Setting the guitar aside, Vivien tucked some stray hairs behind her ears and peered up at Miles with a small sigh, “Trying to teach myself guitar.”

Letting out a soft chuckle, Miles crouched low to the ground beside her and asked, “Let me guess; it’s going about as well as teaching yourself French did?”

With an almost sarcastic gleam in her eyes, Vivien scoffed, “How did you know?”

“Because there isn’t a tab sheet in sight, and you’re holding it wrong,” Miles stated with a small smile.

“Not like I can read sheet music in the first place,” Vivien muttered, tossing the pick she had been using into the drawer she’d taken it from.

Shifting so that he sat on the floor next to Vivien, Miles asked, “If you can’t read music, how do you play your drums?”

“With my heart,” Vivien replied easily, emerald eyes flickering toward Miles. “I let the music take me where it wants to go. No two performances are the same.”

The more Miles thought about it, the more it made sense. He had heard her band practices and had spent time listening to Vivien bang around on her drums for fun, but he had always assumed that she knew all the songs she played by heart and never needed papers to tell her what to do when performing. In a way, he supposed he was right. Allowing a smile to tug at his lips, Miles asked, “Do you want to learn?”

“Do I need to in order to play guitar?” she asked in return.

“At first,” Miles admitted, “but after a while, you won’t need it anymore.”

Vivien nodded in understanding, letting out a soft sigh, “If you feel like taking the time to teach me, I’d be more than willing to try.”

“Atta girl,” Miles beamed, nudging Vivien with a hand before grabbing the guitar and standing. “Let’s go.”

As Miles left the foam-padded room, Vivien pushed herself from the floor and brushed imaginary dust from her clothes before shoving the drawer of picks and sticks back into the storage container it belonged to and following Miles out of the room. Standing to the side as Miles dragged a set of chairs from the rack they hung them on every night, Vivien watched as he set them up away from the cases of string instruments. She watched Miles bring over a music stand and some blank papers before he sat on one chair and gestured for her to take the other.

Miles set up the music stand in the space before them as Vivien took her seat and picked up the guitar. Quickly shaking his head, Miles held out a hand and took the guitar from Vivien, who raised a brow curiously, “I thought you were going to teach me?”

“I am,” Miles nodded. “But, it sounds like you learn the same way I do - by sound. I figure that I could play something for you, then show you how to play it instead of making you try to read tabs or anything like that.”

“Is that how you learned?” Vivien asked.

“Mhm,” Miles hummed. Adjusting his fingers on the fretboard, Miles smiled and made sure he had Vivien’s attention before saying, “I’m only going to play the easy version of this song, so promise me that you won’t laugh.”

“I make no such promises,” Vivien smirked. However, as she caught onto Miles’ nervousness, she smiled reassuringly and stated, “I won’t laugh.”

Miles let out a breath of a laugh as he shifted the guitar over his leg, “I’m trusting you, kiddo.”

“Your funeral,” Vivien shrugged.

With a shake of his head and a smile, Miles took in a deep breath and relaxed before beginning to strum out a few cautionary notes. As he began playing the song he had in mind, Vivien watched his fingers move over the frets, switching chords with ease. Then, as Miles gained more confidence in his playing and began subconsciously humming along, Vivien caught onto the familiar tune. 

Emerald eyes widened, and as Miles began playing the second verse of the song, Vivien sang along to his humming, “Needless to say, I'm odds and ends, but I'll be stumbling away; slowly learning that life is okay.”

Choosing to join in, Miles sang with Vivien as the song continued, “Say after me: it's no better to be safe than sorry. Take on me.”

Letting her voice carry her excitement to have someone else sing with her, Vivien continued as Miles focused on the music once more, “Take me on. I'll be gone in a day or two.”

Just as Miles prepared to start the next verse, a heavy sound filled the music hall as the lights above them flickered off. Vivien looked to Miles for answers, but when he had none, she turned to the windows and saw the other buildings flickering into darkness as a loud rumble of thunder passed overhead. Rising to her feet, Vivien made her way to the window and let out a disbelieving scoff as Miles joined her and muttered, “I think the whole camp is down.”

“Looks that way,” Vivien sighed. Glancing up at Miles, she asked, “What are we going to do?”

Miles shrugged, “Is there no protocol for something like this?”

Thoughtfully, Vivien shook her head, “We used to have a backup generator, but it stopped working, so we got rid of it in February.”

“Maybe we should head to the mess hall,” Miles suggested. “Wouldn’t everyone gather there?”

“It’s practically a glass box,” Vivien stated. “It wouldn’t be safe.”

“I guess you’re right,” Miles agreed.

Miles peered out the window as Vivien headed back toward her chair and sat down. As much as he wanted to go out and make sure everyone was safe, he was sure that if they all stayed where they were, things would be fine. A sharp, static noise sliced through the silent room like a knife, jolting both Miles and Vivien from their thoughts. Vivien pulled her phone from her pocket and read, “Severe weather alerts are in effect for Belknap, Carroll, Merrimack, Rockingham, and Strafford Counties.”

“That’s half of the state, isn’t it?” Miles asked as he took his phone from where he’d left it.

“Yeah,” Vivien agreed, quickly scrolling over the news alert. “Expect thunderstorms, power outages, and potential hail as the storms progress.”

Looking over Vivien’s shoulder at her phone, Miles asked, “Does it say anything about when the power will be back?”

“No,” she replied with a shake of her head as she returned to her home screen. “I’ll call Nonna and ask if she knows.”

Miles waited patiently as Vivien scrolled through her contacts and pressed on the one for her grandmother, watching as Vivien put the call on speakerphone. The phone only rang twice before Vivien’s Nonna’s voice came over the line, “How are you holding up, sweetheart?” 

“We’re alright,” Vivien replied. “Any idea when the power will come back?”

“Not yet,” Dawn replied. “Your grandfather is on the phone with the electric company, but they’re dealing with a lot of people calling in, and it feels as though we’re nowhere near the top of their list.” 

“Great,” Vivien sighed sarcastically.

Dawn hummed, taking in a long breath before saying, “I’m going to start calling the different counselors and staff and tell them to send their cabin leads back to their cabins with the campers while they come and get some food and drinks for everyone. We’re going to have to wait out the storm until we can either get through to the electric company or borrow a generator.”

Vivien sighed, nodding to herself. Then, as though a brilliant idea had occurred to her, she asked, “What about the generator at the Hill House? Does that still work?”

The woman on the other end was silent for a moment, presumably thinking of an answer, before answering, “It should; why?”

Glancing at the boy to her right, Vivien said, “Miles and I can take a run up there with Butchy’s truck and get it. If we can hook it up to the camp’s electrical grid, we’ll be back in business.”

“Good thinking, eaglet,” Dawn commented. “Come to the office and grab the key to the house before you go. You’ll need to pick up the gas cans your grandfather leaves in the garage while you’re up there.”

“Alright, see you soon,” Vivien stated before hanging up the phone. Turning to Miles, she offered him an apologetic smile before saying, “Guitar lessons will have to wait, I’m afraid.”

Miles chuckled as he made his way to where he’d left his umbrella, “That’s fine.” Pulling open the door as Vivien joined him, he asked, “Where, exactly, are we going?”

“The Hill House,” Vivien answered, pulling her sweatshirt’s hood over her head before stepping outside and closing the door to the music hall. “It’s Nonna and Grandpa George’s house just up the road.”

“They have a generator up there?” Miles asked.

Vivien nodded, “The winters up here are brutal, but the generator helps when the power goes out. We used to go up there during every blizzard when I was little because we lost power downtown a lot faster than they did up here.”

“Understandable,” Miles shrugged. “I’ll go get the keys from the cabin, and I’ll meet you at the office.”

When Miles offered her the umbrella, Vivien simply pushed it back into his hand and shook her head, “I’ll be fine. Just go.”

Without giving Miles a chance to argue, Vivien took off in a run, the rain pelting through her hoodie as she left Miles standing in the middle of the trail. Miles shook his head at the girl’s antics before taking off for the cabin they shared. Meanwhile, Vivien ran through the camp, weaving through familiar trails now lined with mud, her sneakers slipping through the uneven terrain as she made her way toward the old lodge at the front of the camp. Launching herself onto the deck that wrapped around the building, Vivien kicked the mud from her shoes off the side of the deck and swiped beads of rain from her glasses with a sigh as she pulled open the screen door and stepped inside the main office. 

The office was dark and unusually warm as the air conditioning that usually cooled the building had gone off with the electricity. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves as she called out for her grandmother, Vivien reached into her pocket and produced her cell phone, hoping its protective case was enough to keep the phone from getting wet. Unlocking the device, Vivien hurriedly flipped on her flashlight and looked around, the silence and overall darkness of the usually lively building setting her on edge. She wasn’t a fan of the dark, and the silence was unsettling, to say the least. Normally, she would be greeted by her favorite dumb dog or someone at the desk, but it appeared as though nobody was there. 

Making her way past the front desk into the main hall where people could play a handful of arcade games, some foosball, ping pong, or air hockey, Vivien took in a deep breath and called, “Nonna? Grandpa George? Is anyone here?” 

A clear, low “A-woof,” echoed through the main hall, and Vivien turned toward the dog’s bark as Ding trotted over from his resting place on the cool stone hearth next to the unlit fireplace. Clearly pleased to have been woken up for attention, the shepherd-rottweiler circled Vivien’s legs with a bounce in his steps before sitting in front of her, his front legs tapping back and forth on the hardwood floors as his tail dusted the floor and his tongue lolled out of the side of his mouth.

Vivien knelt down and set her phone on the floor so the lumbering giant could receive some scratches and muttered, “Hey, Dingy.” The gentle dog panted happily in response, raising his paw for a shake out of habit. Vivien chuckled and shook the dog’s paw with a smile before saying, “I’ll give you a treat in a minute, buddy, but I need to find Nonna.”

As though the dog had understood the conditions Vivien had laid out, he stood and trotted over to a door on the far side of the room that led into a meeting room they used primarily for interviews before the summer started. The dog turned back toward Vivien and sat by the door before giving a short breath of a bark. Pushing herself to her feet, Vivien grabbed her phone from the floor and followed the path the dog had taken, meeting him by the door. As she neared the door, she could make out her grandmother’s voice on the other side, and Vivien smiled to herself as she reached down to pet her family’s dog.

A knock on the door later, Vivien heard her grandmother moving around in the other room before the door opened, and she came face to face with the woman. Stepping out and closing the door behind her, Dawn sighed, “If I have to explain power outages to another counselor who thinks they’re above the power company, I’m resigning.”

“You won’t,” Vivien claimed with a smile.

“I won’t,” Dawn shook her head, “but it sure is tempting.” Looking over her granddaughter with an exhausted smile, the older woman reached up and took Vivien’s glasses from her face, cleaning the smudges from them with her shirt before sliding them back into place. “Are you sure about this, sweetheart?”

Vivien nodded, “You guys said that if I want to help run the camp someday, I need to think outside the box, right?”

Dawn smiled as she cupped her granddaughter’s face in her hands, “That’s never truly been a concern with you. For some reason, it appears you see things just the same as your grandfather - always outside of the box.”

Though she smiled in return, Vivien’s confusion was evident as she asked, “What do you mean?”

“He offered to go pick up that generator just before you called,” Dawn confessed. “I told him that if he plans on being able to use his back at all, he'll stay here, and we can just wait it out.”

“Did you tell him I was going to get it?”

“Of course not,” Dawn said with a small shake of her head. “He would have either tried to stop you or join you, and - to be honest - I’m getting sick of hospital trips because of his stubbornness.”

Vivien knew all too well how many times they had ended up at the hospital after her grandfather had tried to do something himself and gotten injured for it. Thankfully, none of it was severe, but it happened all too often. The last thing they needed was another trip to the emergency room in the middle of a power outage. With a nod, Vivien decided, “I guess we should get going, then. The sooner we get it and get back here, the less likely he is to take off for it himself, and the sooner we can have power again.”

“Good thinking,” Dawn claimed, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a single key attached to a small chain and a dangling silver eagle. Once Vivien had pocketed the key, Dawn pulled the teenager down enough to press their foreheads together momentarily and press a quick kiss to the girl’s cheek. “Be careful, my eaglet.”

“I will, Nonna,” Vivien reassured with a small smile as her grandmother walked her back to the office at the front of the building. “I’ll see you when I get back.”

Dawn hummed, “I love you.”

“Love you too,” Vivien called as she made her way back toward the front door.

Dawn watched her granddaughter push open the screen door, seeing it thump back against the frame as Vivien ran toward a familiar pickup truck and hopped inside. The girl spoke animatedly with Miles as the door of the truck slammed shut, and she buckled herself in. Stepping onto the porch, Dawn leaned against the wooden frame that held the roof over her head and watched with a smile as the pair backed out of the space their friend had parked in, giving them a simple wave as a parting as they backed through the mud and drove toward the long road that led out of the camp. 

Smiling to herself, Dawn sighed, “She’s just like her aunt.” Giving a bark in agreement, Ding nudged his head against the woman’s leg, softly asking for attention. Dawn chuckled, running a hand through the dog's fur before turning back toward the office as thunder rolled overhead, “Back inside, Ding. I’ll get you a treat.”

Their windshield wipers clearing the window a mile a minute, Miles and Vivien rolled down the bumpy driveway of the camp in relative silence. The defogger roared to keep the windows clear as much as possible, but it did little to keep Vivien from wiping hers with her sleeve. Miles said nothing about it, having done the same to his window when he first climbed into his best friend’s pickup. Music played softly from the speakers, having connected to one of their phones upon starting, but neither occupant of the vehicle knew whose it was.

“Turn right up here,” Vivien gently ordered as Miles reached the end of the unpaved road.

“Alright,” Miles said, flicking on the blinker as he glanced down the road, turning in the direction Vivien had told him to. “You know, I thought your grandparents lived at the camp.”

“Yeah?” Vivien wondered, watching Miles for his nod of confirmation. She chuckled, “Sometimes it feels like they do. They’ve always favored camp more than their house.”

“Why not just sell the house and move onto the camp’s property?” Miles asked.

Vivien shrugged, “They want to eventually, but they’re not done having the plans made up for their special cabin.”

Miles hummed, pulling more of his attention back to the road as Vivien stared out the window in anticipation. At the same time, Vivien felt her knee begin to bounce as the house came into view in the distance. While Carrie’s reaction to her family’s property had been about on par with what she’d hoped it would be, Miles was more of a question mark for her. They had a great relationship, and, over the months she had spent in his house over what was supposed to be a week-long vacation to their world, she had begun to see him as a pseudo-brother - a man she could trust with just about anything and knew he would be there for her as much as he was for his brothers. Taking in a deep breath, Vivien tried to force herself to relax into the leather seats; she had always intended to bring all three of the Murphy brothers to the house at once to get their reactions at the same time, but that concept had left her the moment helping camp came into the picture.

Glancing at Miles through the corner of her eye, Vivien swallowed thickly. Maybe this would be her way to get a taste of how Royce and Bentley would react to her family’s financial status. Discreetly letting out the breath she’d held, Vivien turned to Miles and said, “It’s the white house on the right with the horses at the end of the driveway.”

Miles turned briefly toward Vivien before turning his gaze back to the road and asking, “Horses?”

Vivien nodded, “A pair of stone horses by the road. The animal Nonna chose for Grandpa George was a spotted horse, so he made some when they got the house.”

Miles smiled at the thought, but as he scanned the street for the house with the horses by the end of the driveway, it faltered ever-so-slightly. Tearing his gaze from the mansion on the hill, Miles glanced at Vivien once again, pointed to the building, and asked, “Is that the house?”

Vivien nodded silently and, when Miles' expression shifted from confusion to shock, she stated, “They’ve had it longer than I’ve been alive.”

“Holy shit,” Miles breathed as he slowly turned into the driveway, blue eyes flickering over the large home. As he pulled to a stop at the end of the driveway, he shut the truck off and examined the house in more detail. “Are you sure this belongs to the same people who made us bug juice and breakfast for dinner the other day?”

Vivien allowed the corners of her lips to tug upward slightly as she nodded, “It does. They bought this when my mom and Aunt Hayley were little since they wanted them to have enough space to grow and, eventually, bring their families to stay.”

“Wow.” Miles chuckled in a breath, turning to Vivien with a smile that made her relax a little, “Think they’d adopt me and the boys?”

Surprised by the older boy’s statement, Vivien let out a squawk of laughter, staring at him in disbelief before dissolving into giggles. With a shake of her head and a smile, she turned to Miles and sighed, “This isn’t how I thought this would go.”

“How what would go?” Miles asked.

“This,” Vivien said, gesturing between them and the house. “I haven’t brought a lot of people up here, but I thought you’d have more questions about it.”

Miles smiled at the girl and said, “Although I definitely have to say this isn’t what I was expecting - I was thinking more of a house like mine - I’m not entirely surprised your grandparents have this huge house.”

“You aren’t?” Vivien wondered, her eyebrow raising past her soaked bangs. “How come?”

“I’ve seen the pictures of the camp over the years,” Miles stated. “You have to have some serious money coming in to be able to expand the property and build so many new structures on the land.”

“They also have partial ownership of my parents’ winery since it was theirs first,” Vivien added.

“I bet that was a fun switch,” Miles said with a smile.

Taking in another deep breath, Vivien said, “I just don’t get how you’re not curious for more information. I would be.”

Thinking about his reasoning for a moment, Miles asked, “You got the chance to learn all about us when you came to Florida for a while; did you enjoy that?”

“Well, yeah,” Vivien agreed. “I liked getting to know more about you guys and seeing the world you come from.”

“That’s what I mean,” Miles stated. “Now we’re getting the chance to learn more about you and your world, at your pace. We’re not going to push for more than you’re willing to give.”

“Oh,” Vivien breathed. He made a lot of sense.

“Yeah, ‘oh,’” Miles chuckled, reaching over to nudge the girl. “Now, are you going to help me get that generator back to camp, or am I going to have to search the property for it myself?”

“Alright, alright,” Vivien said with a playful roll of her eyes. “Let’s go.”

A typical Thursday at Camp Wanamaker was filled with activities, and most everyone was brought to the soccer field for a sort of field day before the end of the week. However, with rain turning the ground into mud and tree limbs falling all over the place the previous day, most workers were assigned to their typical areas to clean and fix whatever the rain had damaged. Royce was one of the lucky few who hadn’t had to worry as the library ceiling had been redone before winter the previous year, and no leaks had seeped through. Other structures, such as the playhouse, weren’t so fortunate. 

Upon their arrival at the playhouse, Riven and Carrie were saddled with cleaning up the buckets of accumulated water, mopping the floors, and getting everything ready for the end-of-the-week show. On Friday evening, each cabin would go up on stage and show off something they had worked hard on throughout the week for the parents that filled the uncomfortable metal seats they would set out. Though Carrie seemed optimistic and hopeful that the show would go over well for the parents who would come, Riven seemed less enthusiastic.

“If we’re lucky,” he had claimed, “there won’t be any eight-year-olds shooting flaming arrows on stage this year.”

They had propped the doors open with bricks and begun working on carrying out bucket after bucket of water as the rest of the workers got started on fixing set pieces and making sure nothing in the back rooms had gotten damaged in the storm. As Carrie lugged the last bucket of water outside and dumped it into what was now a very well-watered bush on the side of the building, she heard her name being called and froze, looking around for anyone who could have been summoning her. Shrugging, Carrie began heading back for the building, only to hear her name being called once more.

Turning toward the voice as it got closer, Carrie smiled as she saw Vivien barreling toward her with a bright smile, the girl’s hoodie tied securely around her waist and fluttering out behind her like some sort of skirt. “Hey, Vivi,” Carrie called in return, setting her bucket aside and bracing herself for the attack hug the teenager gave to seemingly everyone she cared for. 

Sure enough, the brunette’s arms found security around Carrie’s middle as she bounced excitedly in place. Backing off just enough to capture Carrie’s arms in her hands, Vivien said, “You’ll never guess where my Aunt Hayley and Aunt Charlie are today.”

“Where are they?” Carrie asked, knowing better than to try to guess as she was sure she’d be wrong.

“They’re at a Titanic museum!” Vivien squealed. “Apparently, there’s this museum in the back half of a jewelry store in Massachusetts, and they sent me, like, a zillion pictures of everything, and it looks like so much fun, and I just have to show everyone the pictures.”

The excitement radiating off of Vivien was palpable, and although Carrie certainly didn’t mind being included in the girl’s list of people she wanted to show, she knew that if she didn’t stop Vivien now, the girl wouldn’t stop until she had gone searching all over the camp for everyone else on the list. Beaming her usual smile at the girl, Carrie said, “That’s amazing!”

“I know, right!” Vivien giggled. Peering past Carrie into the playhouse, she asked, “Have you seen Riven? I want to show you both the pictures.” 

Chuckling, Carrie asked, “Why don’t you show everyone at lunch so you don’t have to go running all over creation, searching for everyone?”

Vivien looked ready to say something in her defense, but as the thought took hold and she realized how much sense the blonde’s idea made, she chuckled hesitantly, “I didn’t think of that.”

Carrie let out a short laugh and shook her head before resting her hands on her hips, “Tell me you didn’t leave Miles to handle all of those kids by himself.”

Vivien’s eyes gradually widened as realization dawned on her. Glancing up at the music house where she had abandoned Miles with a few drummers, a handful of hopeful guitarists, and a child who was adamant he wanted to play the tuba for his performance at the end of the week, Vivien sucked in a breath and sighed before glancing back to Carrie. “Yeah,” she breathed, “I might have fucked up a little bit.”

“Yeah,” Carrie snickered. Patting Vivien on the arm, Carrie smiled, “How about you go up there and help him out, and the rest of us will just have to wait until lunch or dinner to see those epic photos of yours?”

“I think I should, yeah,” Vivien breathed. Taking a few steps back, she said, “I’ll see you at lunch.”

“Have fun,” Carrie teased, earning herself a roll of Vivien’s green eyes before the girl turned and took off for the music hall once more. Shaking her head at the girl’s antics, Carrie picked up the bucket she had left on the steps of the playhouse and headed back inside.

Riven met her by the chair racks near the stage and asked, “What was that all about?”

“Viv left Miles alone to deal with a bunch of gremlin children,” Carrie replied as she pulled down a few chairs.

Riven made a face as he took the chairs, “I can’t imagine that’ll go over well.”

“Me neither,” Carrie chuckled as she helped Riven bring over some of the chairs and set them up in organized rows for the show. 

Around the lunch table that noontime, Vivien pulled her phone from her pocket and excitedly passed it around, letting everyone see the pictures her family had sent her during the day. Though most of the conversation revolved around the girl and her excitement for the return of her aunts, and the food ran a bit cold as they each took time to stop and scroll through the images Vivien had received, nobody seemed to mind. They were all simply glad to listen to her ramble on and on about the different artifacts and displays she had been sent pictures of.

Typically, most of the days at Camp Wanamaker are varied and different from each other, but the only constant in an ever-changing schedule is that of Fridays. Friday nights were the host to many events - campfires and beach parties for the workers while the campers had the end-of-week performances. Fridays were the start of the week’s end as, after the end-of-week performances concluded for those who were only staying a short span at the summer camp, some campers would return home with their parents. While most kids waited until Saturday to be picked up, there was always a handful who chose to leave early to spend the full weekend at home.

Fridays were also the only days that the camp would have music constantly filling the air, the speakers throughout the trails playing whatever songs were chosen the day before. For a few, however, the music that played outside the buildings was muted by thick soundproofing and went fairly ignored. Mick wasn’t usually one of those people who sat around in the music hall, playing music to keep herself entertained while others puttered around the camp, intent on being obnoxious on their free day. If anything, she would have preferred to relax on the beach with Butchy and have a peaceful picnic. However, Vivien had practically begged for help as she and Miles had no clue how to help the violinist who wanted to perform a cover of Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill, and, as any good friend would, Mick had given up her free time to assist in any way she could.

Hours of accompanying the violinist on the piano later, Mick’s hands were cramping, and as she waved a final farewell to the excited child, she let out a relieved sigh. Once the door closed behind the kid, Mick rubbed at her wrists, hoping to quell some of the strain in them as Miles approached her with a knowing smirk. Raising an accusatory finger, Mick scowled, “Not a word.”

Pretending to look offended, Miles placed a hand on his chest and gasped, “Me? Why on earth would I say anything?”

Approaching the pair with a confused expression, “Anything about what?”

Mick sighed, “It’s nothing.”

Miles turned to Vivien with a smirk and explained, “Butchy tried to teach Mick how to play the piano when they first started getting close, and she acted like she had no idea how to play. It was awful.”

“But Mick’s played piano since she was little,” Vivien said slowly. “Why would she need to do that?”

Without giving Mick a chance to clear the air, Miles laughed, “So that he would have to adjust her hands and stay close to her the entire time.”

“That wasn’t the reason!” Mick protested, smacking Miles in the stomach with the back of her hand.

“Oh yeah?” Miles asked. “Then what was?”

Mick looked ready to argue her case, but resigned to sighing and shaking her head as she admitted, “Alright, maybe that was the reason, but I wasn’t bad at acting.”

“You were, too,” Miles chuckled. “You had him wrapped around your finger so quickly that he couldn’t see how terrible your acting skills were.”

Mick rolled her eyes, relenting with a smile as she stood, “Yeah, alright, whatever. Are you guys all set for the show now?”

Vivien met Miles’ gaze questioningly before the pair nodded, and he answered, “We’re good. Are you going to the show or the worker’s campfire?”

“Not sure yet,” Mick claimed as she allowed the pair to lead her toward the door. Turning to Vivien, she asked, “Is your band performing?”

“Not at the show, no,” Vivien replied with a shake of her head. “We’re thinking of playing some favorites tonight either at the campfire if nobody else is playing, but that’s about it.”

Mick hummed as she nodded, “Well, when you guys figure things out, let me know, and I’ll tell the others where to meet tonight.”

Vivien nodded and watched her old friend take to the trails, disappearing in the foliage that graced the walking paths. Heading back inside the music hall, Vivien helped Miles get everything put away before taking a seat on one of the remaining folding chairs and sighing. Smirking at the brunette as she stared up at the vaulted ceiling, Miles nudged Vivien’s foot with his and asked, “What’s up?”

“The ceiling,” Vivien replied, shifting her focus onto the taller male as he took a seat beside her. Sighing again, she admitted, “I’m worried about tonight.”

“You have nothing to worry about,” Miles reassured.

“Says you,” Vivien mumbled. “You pick up a guitar, and everyone loves whatever you play. I make it sound like injured cats screaming for help.”

“You do not,” Miles laughed. “You sound amazing.”

Vivien shook her head, her gaze falling to the slightly tattered Converse she refused to give up despite their condition, “I just don’t think I’m ready to perform for everyone, Miles.”

Noting the girl’s hesitance, Miles reached out and took her fidgeting hands in his, gaining her attention as he declared, “I do. You’ve been practicing, and it shows. If you decide not to play for everyone, that’s fine, but just know that, no matter what, I can tell that you’re ready.”

“You can?”

Miles smiled as he nodded, “I can.”

Scanning Miles’ eyes for any sign of deceit yet finding none, Vivien slowly nodded, “I’ll think about it.”

“That’s all I ask,” Miles accepted. Letting go of one of the girl’s hands, Miles latched onto the handle of a guitar case and slid it into view. “Just do me a favor and take this with you before we lock up - even if you don’t play tonight.”

Vivien nodded, accepting the case from Miles as he stood and folded the chair he had perched himself on, bringing it to the rack it belonged on. As Miles made his rounds one last time, Vivien opened the guitar case and peered inside at the guitar she had been practicing on with Miles for the last few days. They had been solely focused on practicing their acoustic version of Take On Me by A-ha as it was one of the only songs Miles had suggested that Vivien knew normally. Taking it slower and piecing the song together bit by bit had shredded the teen’s patience, but as she allowed Miles’ words to sink in and take hold, she smiled to herself. Maybe she could handle it after all.

Later that evening, as she relaxed on the beach, surrounded by only her closest friends, Vivien nudged Miles and asked for the guitar as discreetly as possible. Settling down on the sand in the spot she had risen from moments before, Vivien adjusted her grip on the guitar and took in a deep breath before strumming out a few hesitant chords. As she gained everyone's attention, Vivien focused on the strings under her fingers and began playing the first few notes. Once she had finished the introduction, Vivien swallowed her nervousness and began softly singing the way she did during her practices with Miles, “Talking away, I don't know what I'm to say. I'll say it anyway; today's another day to find you. Shying away, I'll be coming for your love, okay?”

Adjusting her fingers for the chorus and taking in a quick breath, Vivien tried not to jump as Jade’s voice joined hers, “Take on me. Take me on.” Looking up from the guitar just enough to see the beaming smile on the lead singer’s face, Vivien smiled and allowed herself to sing just a bit louder as she continued playing, “I'll be gone in a day or two.”

More voices joined in for the second verse - Mick, Miles, Riven, and Erica, namely - and Vivien found herself relaxing more as more people joined her. Another chorus and a bit of an instrumental break later, Vivien happily let her voice be drowned out as Royce and Bentley joined in from either side of her with unavoidable smiles on their faces. As the song played to its finish, those in the circle applauded, forcing Vivien to let out a laugh of relief as the last coil of tension eased from her shoulders. Once the guitar was out of the way, Royce and Bentley assaulted her with questions, and, for once, Vivien couldn’t think of a better way to end the week.

With all of the anticipation surrounding the end-of-week performances and her own guitar solo, Vivien had been so distracted that, when a phone call from her Aunt Hayley came in early the next morning, she realized that the excitement was far from over. Vivien had begun her day easily enough after that early morning phone call, throwing her blankets back into place and going for a swim to pass the time just a bit quicker before showering and returning to her room to get ready for the day. After all, it wasn’t just every day that her aunts came to camp.

Well, technically, it was as they went every year, but the fact still stood; it was a big day, and she wanted to be ready.

Practically wolfing down breakfast, Vivien found herself looking for something - anything - to keep her mind busy from the crawling time. Royce had offered to read with her, but that hadn’t lasted long as they both realized she had been checking her watch as subtly as possible. Swimming with everyone in the pool hadn’t gone well, as Vivien was too antsy to do much with them. Riven suggested she take some time to bang around on her drums in the music hall, but even that hadn’t gone over too well either, as she ended up checking her phone for any sign of a message.

Eventually deciding she couldn’t continue waiting around for a sign of a message to come through, Vivien handed her phone off to the one person who seemed impervious to her pleading eyes no matter how hard she tried: Carrie. Carrie took the phone hostage with ease and kept it in her pocket, watching with mild sadness as Vivien resorted to pacing the porch that wrapped around the main office and looking over every time the device made a noise. After a while, Carrie had to relinquish her possession of the cell phone as she was asked to help make a batch of punch in the mess hall, but she sent Riven a text before she left, asking him to watch the girl for her. Although Carrie knew that Vivien’s spot on the office porch gave her a good vantage point of the parking lot and the driveway that led to the camp, she wasn’t sure it was wise for the teenager to place herself there for the rest of the day.

Every car that pulled into the parking lot was met with scrutinous yet hopeful stares from a pair of emerald eyes that watched the mouth of the driveway like a hawk. The sixteen-year-old had eventually resigned to sitting on one of the rocking chairs her grandparents had made long before she was born, keeping herself occupied with rocking back and forth, petting her loyal companion as she went. Despite bribes of treats from others, Ding stayed by Vivien’s side, accepting attention from parents and campers alike as they came and went from the campground, yet refusing to leave the girl alone as the others helped parents get their kids ready to leave.

Lunch came and went, yet Vivien stayed in her place. Royce brought two trays from the mess hall and stayed on the porch with his girlfriend, talking with her and trying to keep her occupied for a while. By the time lunch had ended, a large portion of the campers who had signed up for the first week of camp had gone. Pressing a kiss to his girlfriend’s forehead, Royce took their trays and claimed he would return after he brought the trays back to the mess hall, leaving Vivien alone with her thoughts and the camp’s mascot, who greedily worked his way through the bits of hotdogs Vivien had passed him from the extra Royce had brought.

Staring out at the parking lot before her, Vivien sighed and pulled her phone from her pocket. Swiping through her apps, Vivien chose her maps and tracked the distance from the hotel her aunts had stayed at to the camp. Even if they had left at ten, they should have been there already. Two and a half hours had certainly passed since Vivien had received the selfie they had sent her, letting her know they were getting ready to leave. Frowning as she placed her phone on her lap, Vivien glanced up at the road as she heard yet another car pull into the parking lot. To her dismay, the rust-colored Buick Skylark was certainly not the bubblegum pink Volkswagen Beetle she knew Charlie had made Hayley drive for the duration of their journey.

As another child rushed through the screen door, letting it slam behind them as they barrelled out of the office and to their relative’s vehicle, Vivien slouched into her chair and stared up at the overhang that covered the porch. She tried to remain optimistic as much as possible, but it was beginning to become increasingly difficult as more time passed. Thoughts of car accidents, explosions, and a myriad of other horrible disasters flooded Vivien’s mind no matter how hard she tried to keep them at bay. Taking a deep breath, Vivien focused on Ding, pushing her thoughts away as she ran her fingers through the dog’s multicolored fur. Maybe it was something simple like them stopping at a friend’s house along the way and simply not texting - Vivien knew they both had friends in Massachusetts and understood just how much they liked to visit when they could. It wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility.

As Vivien tried to think of something else, a pair of black and white Chuck Taylors with the laces tied around the ankles came into view. Vivien knew of only a few people who did such a thing, and as she looked up, she held up a hand to block the sun as she found Butchy standing above her with a small grin. “What’s up, big guy?” she asked in a sort of sigh, her gaze drifting back toward the dog who had remained by her side for most of the day.

“We’re going down to the lake,” he replied, crouching down beside the girl’s chair so that they were on more even ground.

“Have fun,” Vivien said, forcing the corners of her mouth upward.

Butchy settled his gaze on the younger brunette and restated, “Vivien, I meant all of us. That means you.”

Taking in a slow breath, Vivien sighed, “I can’t. I have to wait for my aunts to get here.”

Resting his elbows on his knees, Butchy asked, “And you don’t think that your grandparents will let you know the minute they walk in the door?”

“No,” Vivien replied quickly, accusatorily, “I know they would. I just-”

“Have been making everyone worry all day,” Butchy interrupted, watching Vivien's expression shift from defensive to something between concern and disappointment. When Vivien said nothing, Butchy continued, “We know you’re excited for your family to get here, but keeping watch like this will only serve to drag things out. If you keep yourself busy, time will go by faster, and they’ll be here sooner.”

“Don’t you think I’ve tried that already?” Vivien scoffed, slouching in her chair. “Nothing I’ve tried has worked yet.”

With a heavy sigh and a shake of his head at Vivien’s apparent defeat, Butchy gestured to the door and offered, “Alright, well, if you insist on staying out here in this heat, why don’t you come in and get some juice to keep yourself hydrated?”

Though she felt the slightest hint of deception in his words - a plan of some sort she was sure he had planned - Vivien ignored her instincts and nodded, placing her phone on the table between the rocking chairs and sighing, “Yeah, alright.”

Butchy smiled and pushed himself back to his full height as Vivien stood. Once she had stretched, the tension in her body coming out in creaks and pops, Butchy quickly ducked low, hauling the teenager over his shoulder in a sort of fireman’s carry as she let out a screech of surprise. “Sorry, piccola,” Butchy apologized, sounding very not sorry as he made his way down the porch steps and away from the main office, “but you need a break, and if you’re not going to take one on your own, I’m going to make sure you do.”

Vivien fought along the way, digging her elbows into the older brunet’s back and kicking her legs in an attempt to escape, but Butchy was firm in his decision, and, as the pine needle pathways parted into a sandy beach, the girl finally relaxed. “Okay, I get it; I need to stop worrying so much,” she tried. “You can put me down now.”

“Not yet,” Butchy claimed, a hint of mirth in his tone as he stepped onto the wooden pier that stretched out over the water.

Figuring out the biker’s plan just a moment too late, Vivien’s voice rose as she hollered, “You better not push me in!”

“He won’t,” another voice replied. As Butchy lowered Vivien to the wooden slats, she turned to find Miles standing to the side with a smile, Riven standing just behind him with a knowing smirk. Piping up again, Miles said, “But we just might.”

Vivien was fast and could easily outrun Miles, this she knew, but even she had to admit Riven would reach her long before she reached the shore. Deciding she wasn’t one to give up easily, Vivien turned, ducked around Butchy, and shoved him toward the edge of the pier with a push to the chest before bolting. Sure enough, about halfway down the pier, a pair of arms wrapped around Vivien’s middle and hauled her into the air, her knees pulling to her chest out of instinct as she shrieked. Though she attempted to pry Riven’s arms from around her waist, Vivien knew it was a lost cause as he dragged her back to the spot where the piers met.

Miles caught one of Vivien’s ankles as she kicked his way and snagged the other when she froze in surprise. Then, as Riven’s grasp slid and his hands gripped under Vivien’s arms, her eyes widened, and she screeched, “Don’t you fucking dare!”

Though she could only see Miles’ beaming smile, she could hear Riven’s as he decided, “On the count of three, Miles?”

“No!” Vivien exclaimed as Miles nodded, and Butchy stepped forward to remove the girl’s glasses. 

“One,” Miles began.

“Two,” Riven continued.

Vivien watched as Miles nodded to Riven and glanced up at the clear, blue sky as they counted the dreaded final number in unison, “Three!”

Time slowed as Vivien sailed through the air; the only thoughts filling her head were those of murder - three slow, torturous murders that she now had to commit. Maybe she would use rat poison or antifreeze. Perhaps, if they were lucky, she would be merciful and use eye drops in their drinks. As the cool water of the lake engulfed Vivien, her mind emptied, and her eyes wrenched shut as she slid beneath the chilled water’s surface. Grateful to have been dumped in a deeper part of the lake, Vivien kicked her way to the surface and took in a deep breath as she pushed her hair from her face.

With her first breath of air, she gasped, “You dickheads are going to die!”

The blurry figure on the left chuckled, “You can’t kill us if you can’t see us, kiddo.”

“Don’t care, asshat,” Vivien grumbled. “I just washed these shorts, and now they need to be washed again. You’ll die for this.”

“Well, at least she’s focused on killing us instead of worrying about when Hayley and Charlie will get here,” the blur in the middle declared.

“Yeah.” Chuckling, the last of the three blurry stooges turned his head toward Vivien and taunted, “Did that cool you off any, Pip?"

“Ha-fucking-ha, you ass,” Vivien snarked. Although it had certainly cleared her mind of the racing thoughts that had kept her on edge throughout the day, she wasn’t going to admit that to them. “Will you three just get me out of here so I can change?”

“Are you going to hang out on the beach with us once you’re done?” the voice in the middle that she recognized as Butchy’s asked.

Sighing, Vivien nodded as she stretched out a hand, “If it means I can go wash the seaweed smell from my hair, yeah.”

It took the three men little time to pull a waterlogged Vivien from the lake, but it took even less time for her, in all of her puddling glory, to chase them back down the pier to the sand once she received her glasses. After shoving two of the three men into the shallower water and tackling Riven to the sand with a flying leap, Vivien retreated to the lodge, where she squelched her way to her room to grab something to change into and trailed a line of lake water to the bathroom where she quickly showered. Once she had ditched her sodden clothing into the hamper to be washed as soon as possible and changed into something dry, Vivien dried the puddles she had left in her wake and made her way out to the sand where everyone had gathered.

Royce shifted to the left to allow Vivien a place to sit between himself and Bentley, smiling as he asked, “Where were you?”

“Taking a shower,” Vivien replied.

“How come?” Bentley asked. “It’s not even close to lights out.”

Instead of giving a direct answer, Vivien sent a playful glare at the three men who sat across from them and said, “Ask the three stooges over there.”

Riven, Miles, and Butchy quickly looked away, eager to avoid the questioning glances the rest of the group sent their way. Eventually, Vivien dismissed the topic, and conversations began to flow once more. Gradually, Vivien felt herself relax as she dug her feet into the sand and allowed herself to laugh at Carrie and Riven’s retelling of their day in the playhouse - something about a rather unfortunate mishap involving wet paint and the new air conditioner they had just put in. Time glided by like a bird catching a gust of wind, and after what felt like only minutes went by, Vivien jumped as she heard a familiar voice call her name. 

Turning toward the line where the pine needle paths met the sandy beach, Vivien’s smile broadened as she spotted a tan-skinned, brunette woman with a Titanic shirt sliding through the sand who dragged a woman with dark skin and a head of almost neon pink braids behind her. “Vivien!” the woman in front called.

“Aunt Hayley!” Vivien hollered in return, pushing herself to her feet and stumbling through the sand as she ran toward the pair. Colliding with the taller of the two women, Vivien laughed as the older woman dropped the bag she had been holding and enveloped her in a tight embrace.

Smiling a the sight, the woman with the pink braids put her hands on her hips and asked, “What am I - chopped liver?”

Releasing her grip on her Aunt Hayley, Vivien let out a breath of a laugh and brought her arms around the shorter woman’s shoulders, “Of course.”

“If that’s the case,” the woman drawled, a teasing tone in her voice, “maybe I should just forget about all those souvenirs we brought back for you.”

Vivien’s eyes ignited like fireworks as she leaned back enough to smile at the woman, “Only the best chopped liver in the world.”

“Mhm,” Charlie hummed, a smirk settling on her face. “Thought so.”

Before allowing either of the women to break out the items they had returned with, Vivien gestured toward the group she had been sitting around with, took one of their hands in hers, and began rambling, “Now that you’re here, you can meet all of my friends, and we can share stories and hang out together and, even though I’ve told you all about them, I’m sure you’ll love to hear it all again and-”

As Vivien continued her long-winded, borderline-incoherent ramblings showcasing how genuinely excited she was for some of her favorite people to finally meet, Hayley and Charlie shared a look, smiling knowingly as the brunette before them ranted and raved about her summer and the people they had only seen pictures of prior to their arrival at Camp Wanamaker. With any luck, they would have names memorized by the end of the week and be able to enjoy watching everyone grow as time went on. They had claimed that excitement always seemed to fill every corner of Camp Wanamaker, and with a few new characters added to the fray of their normal summer group, that fact seemed to be all the more truthful.

[yourgamemasterthewhiterabbit]

The great regular sleep experiment 2024 part "failure"

So I was kind of back on schedule except each day i was spending longer in bed after my wake up time, fisrt it was 1:30, then 2, then 3:30, then 4+ pm/am or later where I hadn't gotten enough sleep so I just kept trying to squeeze a bit more in, but it seemed like mostly being on schedule... But yesterday I didn't sleep that well on the night shift, so I spent to long sleep adjacent on the day shift, so I didn't call my doctor, right?

But then I got up and cleaned and organized the stuff out of 3 more totes.

And that would be good, great even, except then I was really awake and I ended up not sleeping. Stayed in bed past my alarm this morning just wanting sleep, got up late, tried to go to be on time for the day sleep shift, did, but didn't sleep much or well so ended up staying in bed until 8 pm... 2 hours before my bedtime.

What's happening is as I get used to sleeping at certain times, I can't sleep at those times at all, and then I end up in bed all day just trying to sleep, and the 4 hours it takes me to get up and get going eat the whole day.

With no scheduled sleep at all I can sleep all I want so long as I am tired, but that ends up being 12-16 hours every day, and then I'm unusually productive when I am awake.

I need 5-10 am to be wake-up time, and I think I can get away with napping 12-4. But I do not sleep well at night, I just never do, and I need some daytime hours to get noisy shit done, and I sleep better in shifts of 3-4 hours.

And for the past 2 weeks I have been slipping more and more on dishes and laundry, and I don't want to do that. I want to get my bedding washed and all caught up so I have no dishes or laundry.

But finally my curse is broken and I'm just going to stay up and clean what I can without making too much noise until I get tired. IG.

And this is kind of part of the problem. A sleep schedule will seem to be working and cemented until one thing comes up. An appointment, a headache, doing too much physical activity, getting the random sleepies, something and then it's suddenly or slowly spiraling off track and I realize one day the schedule part of the schedule died and too the sleep part of the sleep schedule with it.

At least if I am up at night I can babysit having my window open to get cool air in here while the sun is down. It's already so stupidly hot.

I did not, btw call my doctor because I went to bed before 9am and woke up after 4pm and that's me sleeping through their office hours entirely right there is what that was...

I do not know if I am going to continue these or consolidate it into my personal journal under it's own heading, I don't know how many of you are here for "disabled person just tries to get regular restful sleep" compared to how many of you want to read my personal logs.

[echantedtoon]

A Champion Time For The Heart Ch22 To Hammerlocke Again

Whelp. After all the craziness that was yesterday..You shouldn't have been surprised when you ended up sleeping in. After you had gotten back to your hotel room last night after the rain, you had yourself a quick hot shower, then quickly changed back and went to bed with the oncoming sounds of the storm still ongoing outside when you drifted off. Needless to say you slept like a log in deep slumber through the rest of the night and well into the morning. At one point you did half wake up and thought you heard music, but you almost instantly fell right back asleep still more tuckered out than a snorlax. By the time you did come too it was because Silver couldn't stand waiting around longer for food and had continuously shouted at you and patted your face until you were forced to get up to him frowning and chirping at you more and more.

Your tired f/c eyes blinked tiredly at him and you yawned before stretching the dusty blankets of the hotel falling off your body. "Ok Ok. I'm up."

The very first thing you did was trudge yourself back to the shower to wake yourself up and wash all the dust from the bed off of your body. The second thing was getting dressed and ready, making sure all of your belongings including your were packed away, and you pulled out some of your food rations for yourself. Handing off some of the strange jerky you had obtained from before to Silver as he literally wouldn't let go of your leg as he wrapped himself around it like a little kid as he did and shout at you until you did. Honestly, he acted more like a sobble than he did what a drizzlie was supposed to act like. When you looked out of the window you had noticed that it was still raining, not as much or hard as it was yesterday or last night, but it was still thundering with the stormy clouds and rain still hit the roof with apparently no end in sight. With a sigh you quickly made the bed(the hotel might've been abandoned but it would've still been rude of you to just leave a mess), you grabbed your bag flinging it over your left shoulder, and took off with Silver at your heels. As soon as you stepped out into the hallway you were greeted with a sight you weren't expecting. All three teens just standing there chatting away in the hallway but they looked up hearing your door open.

Gloria was the first to respond when she smiled and waved. "Y/n! Good mornin'! Ye finally woke up huh?"

You sighed walking towards the trio and nodding. "Yep. Silver here decided he wanted breakfast now."

"Silver?"

You gestured to the pokemon at your heels. "Thought it would've been better to give him a name. Silver Veil reminds me of the rain and he's a water type so it kinda stuck." You looked to Hop. "I don't suppose you're ready to battle Piers huh?"

"Aw cute name!!"

Hop looked nervous for a moment reaching up to rub his head. "Yeah about that. Sorry, Mate. But we already did battle Piers and won may I add."

.......You blinked at him. "HUH?!"

"We battled him earlier this morning," he repeated to your blank face. "We tried to wake ya, but you were asleep deader than a rock! Victor thought it'd be better to let you sleep and heal up from yesterday...Sorry about that."

"You already battled him?" He nodded. "Man...I hoped he put on a good show."

He then beamed making you smile in return. "YEAH! There was this cool trick he used using his skuntank's more stinkier attacks to keep Wooloo from going near him because it smelt so bad! And he was blasting this really loud music and singing and-"

"I think she gets it, Mate."

You chuckled before nodding towards the stairway down towards the exit. "What do you say then? Back to Hammerlocke again?"

They all agreed and with Silver tailing you all, you all went down the stairs into the abandoned lobby and like the night before when you opened the door rain is what greeted all four of you. Although you were right in that it wasn't as bad as last night. Sighing, you pulled the hood of your jacket over your head and headed on out into the world. Being daylight out now it was a lot clearer to see the streets wet from the water as you all headed out and into the rain. Most of you weren't really all that prepared from the rain after all. You clutched your backpack to yourself as you lead the charge with Silver at your heels(guess being a Water-Type meant he wasn't affected by the rain at all) Hop and Gloria shared shelter with Hop holding his jacket over the both of them to the best of his ability, and Victor just used his giant pack as a makeshift umbrella. As you all briskly walked down the streets, your group passed the gym. Glancing briefly over at it, you didn't see Piers at all on stage or in the Gym's area. Perhaps he went home? The four of you walked and walked down the streets and took twists and turns past the abandoned ice cream shop and down the streets you remembered back towards the exit. And not once did you all see Team Yell or Piers...Or that blasted wall. Guess Piers kept his word and had them fix everything you all were almost to the exit from the city of Spikemuth when you spotted a particular pink pokemon center and decided to take a dive through it's doors and you were surprised when it opened and what the inside contained. Just like the rest of Spikemuth the place looked pretty much abandoned except the place where Nurse Joy would usually stand, which was occupied by a Team Yell grunt which must've been this town's Nurse Joy. It didn't take much to convince both the guys to allow Nurse Joy to check over their pokemon as you thought it'd be better to do it now then to make them wait days and days before getting to Hammerlocke. It didn't take long at all, and soon you all left with some abandoned umbrellas Gloria had noticed someone had left to collect dust in a pot by the doorway. Hmm. Maybe you all should've bought umbrellas along with all your other supplies when you bought them? No matter now. You were already dreading the trip back to Hammerlocke for obvious reasons so you had better suck it up early. The small group left the town (which to Piers's credit was opened back up) and stopped in front of Spikemuth for Victor to quickly recheck his regional maps.

He pointed forward after a moment, "We need to go back straight ahead back onto Route Nine and then back onto Route Eight leading back to either Hammerlocke or Circhester, and then just take the road back to Hammerlocke.''

"Sounds like a plan. Let's get walking before the weather gets worse."

 You all walked until it was too dark and still raining. You certainly had a hard time pitching the tents with Gloria and Hop trying to balance holding umbrella's over you and Victor as you all put up the tents. Getting practically soaked in the process...and even more soaked when Silver all soaked still wearing that sweater hoodie you got him, decided it'd be a good idea to flop himself inside the tent all wet from the rain. Safe to say you both had a harder time sleeping that night then the boys. Same thing the next morning trying to gather your things and put the tent away as it still rained, tho not as bad as before. The rain persisted for the next three and a half days as you all traveled. Having trouble setting up tents and staying dry during it all, silver certainly wasn't making it any easier on the lot of you. Thankfully by the middle of the fourth day the rain hand leaked the last of it's water and the clouds began rolling away. But you made sure to keep your umbrella put away and handy just in case. You'd definitely want to keep that in case you'd need it again. Continuing to walk through the forested areas you had come to known since before getting to Spikemuth, you were fairly certain that you were nearing the end of said forest as the days continued to pass by and you were pretty sure that any day now you all would come out the other end and see the Route Nine Tunnel, and the halfway point back to Hammerlocke ......Sigh. And Raihan. But you'll deal with him once you get there.....If the ground under all yours feet hadn't shaken like an earthquake. It all happened so suddenly. One moment you four were almost out of the woods, the next moment BOOM!! The ground shook under your feet and you all wobbled around, but it wasn't very strong. Only almost making you lose your balance. Overhead a couple bird like pokemon flew away in a real big hurry with caws of worry, Victor flung his arms about trying to stay balanced, and Hop instinctively grabbed Gloria in a protective hold gold eyes blow wide at his surroundings. But you somehow managed to remain on your feet, only Silver falling over onto his bum in the process. At the end in left the lot of you on edge and frantically looking around the forest you all were in.

"WHAT THE BLOODY RAPIDASH CRAP WAS THAT!?," Gloria cried out still clutching onto Hop wide eyed.

"I have absolutely no idea!," you answered back blinking and looking around with an uneasy feeling. "...But whatever it was it seems to be gone now." You straightened back up now giving a careful look around but didn't see anything out of the ordinary within the forested area. "...I say we keep going and get out this neck of the woods before it happens again."

"I second that!," Victor piped up.

The others quickly agreed too and without hesitation you all sped walked away from the area. Speculating what it was that happened back there. Earthquake not very likely. There would've been much more damage and panic from pokemon. Hop suggested perhaps it was a couple wild pokemon fighting or maybe someone having a battle nearby and that seemed more likely in your mind. After all how many times have you watched the Pokemon anime and the main characters just ran into someone while in the woods?? ...You lost count but def a lot of times. And you all couldn't have been the only people who ever traveled along here or caught pokemon in the wild. ...And you all DID run into someone. You all had traveled about one or two hours away from where you had first felt the earthquake or whatever it was, stopping to have a quick break and eating some food from your food rations before continuing, and then you ran into someone who was walking rather quickly in the opposite direction heading towards you all. The man seemed a bit spooked as he walked, but did catch notice of you all when Gloria gave a friendly passing wave.

"Mornin' to yas! Nice day ain't it?"

The man stopped as you approached before quickly shaking his head and pointing behind him. You were almost out of the forest at this point you reckoned. "H-Hey. N-No not really! There's some trouble on Route Nine! It's so b-bad even the Champion's come to sort it out!"

"Lee?", Hop perked up but then again you figured he'd pop up at any mention of his famous brother.

"Trouble?," you asked eyes widening at the man who nodded. Did it have something to do with the shaking earlier? "What kind of trouble?"

"T-T-There's a giant pokemon on a r-r-rampage down by the highway! .....Oh, hey! You gave Piers a good thrashing didn't you?," he asked pointing to Hop and Gloria seeming to recognize them. Huh. Did he see their battles against other gym leaders and figured you came from Spikemuth? "You should head over there to help! C'mon then!" Wait what?! "I'll show you the way?" He turned and pointed towards the place you all were heading anyways. "U-U-Up there b-by the Tunnel!! ...Heed my warning though! If you're s-s-smart you'll get out of here as fast as you can like I'm doing!"

"Wait what are- HEY!!" You nearly got knocked into Victor, he flinched, by the man who then in a hurry pushed past you and sped up his pace back towards the way you had just came from. You shooting a dirty look after his retreating form. "HEY!! SAY EXCUSE ME NEXT TIME BUDDY!!"

"LEE'S HERE!!"

Uh oh- Your head snapped to Hop and an arm instantly flung out to stop him but you barely missed him fingertips inches away from his jacket as he, as you expected, wide eyed and smile on his face took off up the road through the woods. "HOP COME BACK!!"

"WAIT FOR ME, MATE!!"

"GLORIA!!" It was the same song and dance between Victor and his twin as she slipped past his grab at her and too both of your horrors ran off right after her best friend. Both your faces paled and a rock sank in your stomach. OH NO!! There was a giant pokemon rampaging up ahead that was so bad even LEON had to be called out to stop it and those two were heading right towards it!! Victor growled holding his hands up like claws before sighing and looking towards you. "C'mon! We gotta stop those ninnies 'fore they dig 'emselves an early grave!!"

Well scottish accent intensified. But all jokes aside you totally agreed! Those two were going to get themselves turned into pancakes!! Without hesitation both of you RAN to catch up to the others. Up through the forested pathway the both of you ran, around one corner, straight ahead for a little while, and then around another corner and straight again with the tree line breaking before you to open grasslands- BOOM!! In a flash of red and another shaking you tripped. Just like when Milo's wooloo bowled you over, you fell face first onto the shaking ground and there you laid as Victor kept wobble-running not noticing you had fallen over. At least you didn't have to worry about further harming your shoulder. A VERY LOUD cry of some kind of animal roared out in the sky, dirt stuck under your nails as fingers curled into the ground, and you felt light as the shaking rattled the poor body further. It was like back in your dream when you were falling and heard the roar of Leon's charizard. But different...You might've not gotten up even as your body instinctively froze at the flashback of heights, if Silver had shouted as LOUDLY as his tiny lungs could into your ear. Disoriented you screamed in fright, throwing yourself away from the flashing images of the corvinight coming to take revenge...But blinked only seeing the greyish skin of Silver and then a flash of pink as he chirped loudly at you and slapped your face. A groan escaped you and you pushed yourself up and out of his reach of slapping. Head still spinning and everything still wobbling, you blinked towards the horizon. And far far in the distance if you squinted, you could see the Tunnel (even though it was more like a bridge-) and faintly the figure of Victor still running ahead.....!? And you scrambled after him. So even after you broke the tree line you ran....and ran....and ran. Your heart began to get to the point of pounding in your ears, and your lungs were starting to REALLY ache and burn but you didn't stop in a desperate attempt to catch up to the three teenagers who ran off in front of you. Head spinning and body aching, you were rapidly approaching the tunnel and was met with both an alarming and relieving sight that both alarmed and made you relax. Silver right behind you, you quickly started to come down from the adrenaline rush from the vast amount of distance and saw that there was a couple officers putting up a road block in front of the tunnel and not letting anyone through. Anyone being Victor, his sister, and Hop. That made you all relieved as you were sure they wouldn't be allowed near any danger, what made you ALARMED though was a car that looked absolutely RUINED from a crash with ten elephants was knocked off from the highway above the tunnel and was stationed crashed halfway down the hill!! What the world happened?! Was there a car crash!? It didn't look like there was any signs of anyone that was seriously hurt thank goodness. But that didn't answer your question as you slowed down to a walk approaching breathing heavily as your body felt as stable as a bowl of jello that got thrown off a skyscraper. Victor was shaking Hop by his jacket, scowling, and very angry and you could only catch the last sentence when you finally made it over to them.

"WHAT. WERE. YE. BLOODY. THINKIN'!?," He yelled at Hop scottish accent becoming more thick with each word he threw out at them. "Are ye tryin' ta give me a heart attack or somethin'!? Or do ya got a death wish!?"

"i'M SoRRy!!," Hop garbled out dizzy somewhere between the shaking. Between all the shaking you managed to slowly walk over and bluntly push your way between them making Victor let go of Hop as the dizzy purple haired boy stumbled back into the arms of Gloria who looked equally guilty as you took the chance to lean forward in an attempt to catch your breath. Breathing heavily and coughing as you attempted to get your heart rate to still. Behind you some where Silver flopped face first onto the ground out of exhaustion.

"What *gaaaasp* ....happ-p-p-pened!? *cough cough*", you demanded between gasps of air not even looking up.

"Y/n! This is mad....You know what I mean?," Hop asked back.

"What..... was;....*cough cough!!* t-t-t-that*gggaaaaasssssppp* loud noise?"

"That's what I'd like to know. That noise..It was like some massive explosion! There was this huge surge of red light and then wild pokemon just started dynamaxing around me brazon as you like!"

"One pokemon," Gloria corrected holding up a finger, "One pokemon dynamaxed. And it's on the other side of the tunnel!" She then gestured to the blocked off entrance currently occupied by at least seven officers who were laser focused on your group so close to the entrance. "They're not letting anyone through due to safety or somethin'."

"And it's a good thing they didn't!", Victor scolded, "You two are nuts you are!!"

You groaned. Tuning out the rest of their convo in order to focus on your breathing and trying to get the burning sensation out of your lungs as you stood there. Oh what you wouldn't give for a chair at this moment in time to sit down and rest your sore body for just a little while longer. You didn't notice the giant flying form of a charizard flying through the sky over head and coming down towards all of you...But Hop sure did. And Gloria and Victor as they looked up along with the police officers as whoever it was came down fast and if it wasn't for the tuning out you were doing you would have heard the landing. You only really noticed anything when Hop suddenly barreled (again-) away from the group making you yelp and blink to where he suddenly ran off too. And quickly understood why.

"LEON!!," He cried out with a giant smile on his face waving his arms, unfortunately he was stopped by the officer and portable gate barricade. Leaving him to wave an arm, call out to his brother, and lean left and right to try and get a view of his famous older brother. "OVER HERE!!"

The Champion who was just starting to walk towards the tunnel paused hearing his name being called and turned his golden eyes around. By now the other two had already joined Hop and slowly you brought up the rear groaning and stretching out your back. Of course seeing your little group, Leon instantly smiled and his direction changed from towards the barn towards you all.

"Hey everyone!," he greeted picking up his pace and stopping on the other side of the portable fencing in front of all of you. "Wow! Look at all of you! Haven't seen you all for a while. What's the lot of you doing all the way out here?"

"We're headin' ta Hammerlocke!" "We're here to help you take down that pokemon!" Hop and Gloria answered at the same time.

Leon blinked for a moment before smiling again and reaching over to delivery a small pat to Hop's head. "Ah! I see news always spreads faster than Charizard's wings. Thanks for coming but I've got a handle on this. Whatever's making that noise I'll see to it!" They both frowned at the gentle shot down for their help Leon gave them before he returned his hand to his hips. "But seeing as you're here on Route Nine on you're way to Hammerlocke, that can only mean one thing." He winked and pointed. "You all just finished defeating Piers, right?"

"Yep!," Gloria confirmed proudly crossing her arms, "No offense but we got this in the bag, Lee! And we can totally still help ya out too!" Hop eagerly nodded in agreement making Lee chuckle again.

"I'm sure you could, but now isn't the right time for that." He pointed a finger up. "I already told you, didn't I? Keep your eye on the goal. And for you, that's winning the Gym Challenge! Unless you have still have any other gym leaders to defeat, the only gym badge left is the one you'll get from the dragon gym's leader, Raihan. Right? Raihan is the only trainer out there I consider a real rival. He's that good you know! So you both might have a hard time beating him."

"Mr. Champion!" Leon hummed and looked behind him to where a nervous looking policewoman was looking between him and the tunnel. "S-S-Shouldn't we t-take care of the rampaging pokemon first? I'm not sure how long our distraction is keeping it docile."

....He blinked and reached a hand up to rub his neck. "Ah. And there I go again. Sorry, but I suppose this is no time for me to be stopping for a chat. There's a bit of trouble here with my name on it! But don't you worry about a thing!" He sent a smile and thumbs up to the surrounding police force. "The unbeatable Champion is here to look after things and keep you all safe!" He turned back to your group and in a slightly more serious tone spoke to them. "Alright you three. It was really nice seeing you again, but unfortunately I have to go take care of some serious business here." He pointed back up the way you came towards the forest. "Now I know I'm bad with directions but there's another pathway through there that goes around the long way back to Route Eight. I want all of you to go back and use that pathway instead immediately. Just because you all fought dynamaxed pokemon before doesn't make this any less dangerous."

"But-", Hop started but was stopped when his brother grabbed his shoulder. His face dropped when Leon shook his head.

"Sorry, Hoppy. But a big responsibility of the Champion is making sure those around him are safe, and I know Ma would want you to be safe too. So please. Trust your big bro on this one, ok?" He smiled widely. "I'm gonna be heading to Hammerlocke too anyways! So if you all hurry we can meet up there. In fact let's make a game out of it!" He pointed to your small group. "If you three can beat me to Hammerlocke I'll buy everyone a free full meal! Ok?"

"I'm sold!," you answered hearing the prospect of free food.

"I-..." Hop gave one last look at his big brother before sighing and giving a nod. A determined look once again taking over his face. "You can count on me Lee!"

He nodded and went to say something else but before either of you had the chance to say anything else it happened again!! A giant BOOM noise and a roar that sounded like a monster came from directly behind you all. The three teens in front of you all grabbed onto the portable fence and Leon instinctively leaned himself over the smaller kids protectively turning almost horrified behind him as you tried not to fall again. Soon after the trembling stopped ...and everyone slowly looked back up with shocked or concerned faces.

"Are you alright?," Leon asked turning back to his brother and friends who nodded. He breathed a sigh of relief before nodding and leaning back up. "That's good. I want all of you to leave now and go as fast as you can to Hammerlocke. I'll meet you there ok!" Without giving any of you any time to answer he turned back around to the tunnel smirk on his face. "That came from the tunnel wouldn't you say? Seems I'm about to have a champion time!!"

And he left. Or more like ran away as he turned and ran off past you and the officers and into the tunnel entrance. You took that as your cue to gently tug on Hop's shirt and as quickly (but gently) as you you could quickly guide them around and shooed them around and too even your disgruntle back up the pathway which had come judging by the roars that echoed from behind you all, Leon must've confronted the beast. With new worry and adrenaline in your system, you snatched Silver off the group with a giant chirp and pushed them to walk faster and faster as the ground shook under your feet again. Looking over your shoulder every so often and thinking you caught a glimpse of towering pokemon but you weren't sure. You were too busy pushing them all back to the forest and urging Victor to check his regional maps for the other pathway, which thankfully he listened to you and whipped out his phone. Although clearly by the faces of the children they were distressed and worried. You were too but Leon was THE Champion of Galar. He wouldn't be defeated that easily by a random wild pokemon. By the time you had reached the forest again, aching bodies be darned, the group had shaken quite a few times and the roaring sounds of the battling pokemon could reach your ears completely. But you didn't let that distract you in your mission of pushing these guys to the other path.....Which granted DID take a bit of time to find, since two giant bushes had grown over the front of the entrance. No wonder no one noticed it at first. It looked so old and overgrown. Never the less another shaking urged you all to flee down the pathway. And from there you traveled more and more. The forest went on and on for a good while until the path lead out of the woods and into a large open area of grasslands and the occasional house again. Guess this really was the long way around. The four(five of you counting Silver too) traveled all day along Route Nine's other path until the sun had set and you all were forced to make camp and rest for the night, before waking up the next morning and following the road again. The trip was like any other you all have taken before. Taking many days and passing the occasional small town, houses, or other passersbys. Only this time it took a bit longer until you all eventually rounded back onto the main road. Even when you all stopped at a small town to restock supplies, stay at the local inn, and even did a few odd 'poke jobs' to earn a bit of pocket money. A day or two's journey later your group ran into a fork in the road and stopped as Victor whipped out his phone to check his regional maps.

"This is where Route Eight connects to Route Nine," he explained looking at his phone's screen smiling, "So we should just keep walking straight forward onto Route Eight and by that we should reach Hammerlocke in no time."

So back on Route Eight you all made for Hammerlocke ...and it's Gym leader which you really weren't looking forward to seeing again at all. 

"Hey! Take a look at the news!" He held his phone out to all of you and you looked. There was a picture of Leon there arms crossed next to a GIANT pokemon that looked like one of the evolved forms of Meowth you thought. It looked like a reporter took a picture of it at some point with some professional journalism colom under the picture with a caption. "See! There's Lee! He really is the greatest, right?" He took his phone back beaming at the picture with wonder. "Lee and his charizard took down that dynamax pokemon in the blink of an eye! I knew Lee was strong but this? Really makes you appreciate how great he is eh?" He smiled widely a new excitement in his step. "Let's go meet up with him everyone! He should be at Hammerlocke stadium!"

"And that free food bet!" Your mind disregarded any disgruntled thoughts of Piers's smooth voice laughing or even Raihan coming to mind as your stomach grumbled at the thought of any good food.

"Well what are we waiting for?," Gloria asked pointing forward, "Let's get to Hammerlocke!!"

For days and days you all traveled. Discussing Raihan and their battle strategies for him. Turns out unlike other leaders Raihan's gym would only conclude in two battles. One would be a tag team battle with two pokemon and the last a dynamax one against his dragon type. ...While battling inside a sandstorm....Great. You REALLY weren't looking forward to this. As days past and your food rations getting lower and lower, you all FINALLY came across Hammerlocke finally. The castle town reared it's head up at you and the pathway lead up to a draw bridge being the entrance. Picking up your speed, you four all made down the path all the way to Hammerlocke. You already taste what curry Leon would be treating you too if he wasn't already there, which you doubted he would be. He was terrible with directions after all. Like any of the other times you came back to Hammerlocke there was a man who worked for the league stationed there and the three had to show him their gym badges in order for them to get inside. Guess that rule was still applied here, and inside you four went. It looked exactly as you all left it since the last time you left here weeks ago to travel to Spikemuth....But there was a clear difference this time. You were on edge. Eyes narrowed and looking this way and that for that fanged gym leader. If you two were gonna meet again you definitely weren't going to be caught off guard. Yep! You were NOT going to be surprised by anything- Hop gasped suddenly and you yelped. Jumping back and bringing your arms up to defend yourself from any flirts!

"Over here!" He cried pointing in front of all you and a little ways away right in front of the entrance to Mr. Rose's power plant was Leon. Hey! And Sonia too! You hadn't seen her since Circhester. "Look! There's Lee! C'mon!" And the three ran...As you blinked. Before sighing and letting your arms slump back to your sides. Get it together Y/n. You had to keep your mind about you. You trudged slowly behind as the others ran towards Leon and Sonia. "LEON!"

The Champion paused mouth open in mid conversation with Sonia....before looking behind him and like a switch going off in his mind, he instantly smiled, turned around, and opened his arms out. Unfortunately he didn't take into account the force of three about fourteen years of age kids leaping into said Champion's arms. Hop got there first of course, Leon letting a loud 'OOF!' at his contact but smiling happily, then the twins...And you watched as Leon went down to the ground under the weighed down hug of them all in one giant laughing mess. Sonia blinked in surprise but then chuckled at the sight. As did you shaking your head and slowly walking up to them. By the time you got there, Leon had sat up with his hat somehow ending up on Hop's head as he laughed at them all.

"Well if it isn't the troublesome trio," Sonia greeted and then smiling in your direction as you walked up to her, "And Y/n! It's been so long since I last saw all of you! How were things in Spikemuth?"

You waved. "Hey Sonia!" You greeted. "Been well. And it looks like you've been doing pretty well too. Have you put together any clues with the tapestries?"

She nodded as Leon stood up. "I think so. It's only a matter of time until I figure out why the tapestries were separated in the first place."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out!," Leon complimented. In the time you two were talking, the others had gotten up and placed the hat back on his head. "It's like fighting a pokemon. It takes a few tries but in the end you'll end up catching it!"

"Speaking of which you made the news pretty recently," you commented hands on your hips.

He chuckled back at you and smiled. "Well I couldn't have it causing anymore damage to anyone else. Luckily no one was hurt but it could've gotten wild if I hadn't taken it down."

"I'd expect nothing less from you and your charizard, Leon," Sonia commented, "You took down that dynamax pokemon in no time."

"Well I am the unbeatable champion after all. But what's going on here?"

Sonia hummed and brought a hand to her chin, a thoughtful look on her face. "An overflowing red light...Pokemon dynamaxing without a power spot?"

''Yeah. But why?," Hop asked. Yeah. You'd like to know too. That was a weird experience.

Sonia shook her head. "I'm not sure. What's going on? That red light could suddenly appear again at any time and we'd have no way of knowing." That wasn't a good thing. If it happened again other people might be hurt. You shivered at the thought of the crashed car you remembered seeing at the Tunnel. If that meowth thing did that what if a pokemon dynamaxed in a city?!

"But being able to predict such things is part of a scientist's work. Didn't you forget, Dear?" The six of you looked over at the new comers voice and you had jumped at the prospect of Raihan..but relaxed when you saw WHO it was. Definitely not Raihan. Too old and not even a boy....But what were the odds of Sonia's Grandmother coming here?! YES. Ms. Magnolia was here. Her can making a tapping sound as she walked up to your group.

"GRAN!?" Sonia gaped mouth open in shock. "What are you doing here?" She asked as if hearing your thoughts.

"The Chairman called for me," she explained carefully. The Chairman? "He wanted to know all about the red light's relationship to the dynamax phenomenon. But I wasn't expecting you running into you all while arriving."

"Did the Chairman know anything?," Leon asked and....and you looked at him. An unexplained familiar feeling falling over you and a bad feeling sitting into your gut. ...Huh?

Ms. Magnolia shook her head. "Nothing worth my time. The Chairman's all wrapped up in fretting over the future our energy apparently."

"Is it really that big of a problem?," you asked and everyone turned to you as you rose a brow, "I mean..Everywhere we've gone there doesn't seem to really be any really bad power cuts or anything."

Leon sighed and reached a hand up to rub his neck. "I'm afraid so. It may not really look like it to you especially since you're from a whole nother region, Y/n. But.....You saw Spikemuth right?" You...Nodded. And Leon frowned further. "The entire town was almost completely shut down due to the power problem. And nearly a quarter of Wyndon City now too. The Chairman's trying to combat it by installing a lot of green energy supplements. Solar panels. Wind turbines. Things like that...But it just seems most of the energy they've been zapping out's been going missing too." He shrugged. "It's a mystery we're trying to figure out. We think someone might've been stealing the power but we haven't detected any outside tampering or signs of electric type pokemon seeping up the energy..Besides the occasional small jolteon."

You looked at him stunned. So Piers's situation was really out of his control. You frowned a feeling of pity falling over yourself. Poor Hot Pink. He was blaming himself when all this time he couldn't have really done anything to prevent his town from falling apart. "Well what about his scientists? Haven't they figured out ways to fix it?"

"I'm afraid it's not as easy as it sounds dear," Ms. Magnolia sighed. "He's left everything to that executive lady. We just don't have enough data. That's why I wanted you to start looking into things too, Sonia. You know more than anyone about the Darkest Day after all."

"Hold on! Are you saying that the red light and the Darkest Day are connected?!"

"Hey." Leon hummed and turned to Hop who grabbed his arm. "Do you reckon there's anything we can do to help out?"

"There must be!," Gloria insisted.

Leon stared for a moment before smiling. "Thanks. I appreciate the thought. But all I could ever ask of you would be that you join me in the greatest final match ever. I'll do my part to make that happen by keeping everybody's future safe." He ruffled Hop's hair with his other hand. "So you both just keep on doing your part by winning your way through the Gym Challenge!"

"Right! 'Course! You're the unbeatable champion after all, right?!"

"Gran," Ms. Magnolia looked back to Sonia as she asked her, "There's something I wanna look into. You'll help me right?"

"Naturally," she answered back nodding, "Come. You can tell me all about it while conversing with the Chairmon." She turned to the powerplant's entrance. "Come along. We mustn't be keeping Mr. Rose waiting. Arceus knows what's going on in there?"

And with that Sonia turned and followed without another word, and you all watched their retreating forms as they walked away. ..Until Leon sighed and turned back to all of you. "Looks like we all know what we need to do. So you three clear the Gym Challenge." Hop and Gloria smiled and chuckled as the older brother ruffled there heads with a teasing smile. "So we can meet again at the Champion Cup. I've had so much fun watching your battles!" He turned to Victor and smiled. "And you!"

Victor jump and held up his hands. "No wait! Lee not my hair-"

Too late. Leon ruffled his hair and beany as Victor groaned and Gloria giggled at him. "Hmhmhm. You're doing a great job capturing those shots on your blog! I know Hop looked so great in those pictures you took of him Battling against Opal! I'm so happy the camera I got you is working so well! I'm sure both our Mums are so happy you three are doing so well for yourselves." Victor groaned even after Leon stopped ruffling his head but didn't complain like he did with the snow in Circhester. You blinked when he finally turned to you. And your eyes bulged out of your head like those funny googly eye stickers when he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small stack of money!! And it was small. Only being around sixty dollars as you stared silently as he held it out to you. "Now I believe I promised you all lunch. I'm afraid I can't join you as the Chairman has called me as well, but this should be enough to tide you over."

".............Huh?,'' you asked.

"Wha- But Lee. We didn't get here before you remember?," Victor pointed out.

And you finally snapped out of it nodding and pointing to him. "Y-Y-Yeah! What he said. ...And why are you giving this to me?"

He smiled before placing the money in your hand using his other hand to close your fingers around it, and you looked between him and the money into your hands as he waved you off. "Take it as a thank you for looking after my little bro and his friend on their journey." You opened your mouth but he held up a hand to stop you. "No. Please. I don't give hand outs, but I also know it's a bit rough for you out there not having any money like the others. I can't give a whole lot but I hope this helps you. Go ahead and get everyone some lunch and the rest is yours."

"You're not joining us?"

He turned to the kids and shook his head. "Sorry guys. But the Chairman calls. It's a part of the job. But I promise I'll make some time to spend with all of you soon." He gave a thumbs up. "But you all go ahead and get some food in the mean time! I can't wait to see how you all handle my own rival."

Oh right....You all were originally here to see Raihan. Joy. You all bid Leon good bye before he turned and jogged off in the direction where Sonia and her grandmother disappeared towards the power plant, but not before pausing and taking another glance at you to give a giant smile to which you blinked at. You stood there for a long moment before looking down to your hands to the $60 sitting in your palm. Not believing what had just happened....but grateful for the kindness he showed you. He really was a really nice guy.

"I know what I need to do all right!" You blinked at Hop pumping a fist into the air. "Defeat that Piers once and for all! You're off to Hammerlocke stadium yeah? Raihan's a tough nut to crack! As Lee would say! Let's do our best!!"

"....Uh Hop. We just came from Spikemuth."

Hop paused...blinking for a moment before lowering his fist. "Oh yeah. I forgot. I guess I got a bit carried away."

"Well before any of that," they turned to you as you held up your hand with the money Leon had given you, "Why don't we get something to eat first like Leon said?"

"I wouldn't be opposed to that," Victor agreed.

You nodded and smiled. "Alright. I remembered there's two places to eat around here." You leaned back up and looked around a good portion. And stopped pointing off towards the train station. "Do you guys want to eat at the small curry corner at the station or the cafe on the other side of town?"

The three voted for the cafe on the other side of town and you nodded in agreement before heading over there. Silver trailing behind. But of course you kept an eye out looking around for that fanged fiend. To your relief not seeing anyone fitting his description. Safely arriving at the cafe and going inside. It was ...nice. Quiet. And the store owner smiled greeting you all as you sat at one table. You all practically had the place to yourselves too, with there only being one or two other people in there with you. And you all ordered. Curry for everyone of course for Gloria to get more pictures of for her curry Dex. You got another Egg curry, this time being different from the others. The Dry Boiled Egg Curry, as you didn't think Silver would handle the sour, bitter, or spicy egg curries. Like a hawk, Silver's yellow eyes laser focused on your plate as soon as it was brought out to you. And soon you all got his reaction. Silver had grabbed a hold of your pants leg wide eyed and immediately began babbling off and looking expectantly between you and the egg sitting in the middle of your dish. When you didn't immediately give it too him he started whining and tugging on your pants to get it.

"Ok ok." He watched as you carefully picked up the egg in your hands and he instantly held his tiny pink hands out towards it. Smacking his lips once it was gently lowered to him. Guessed he must've been really hungry too. "Here. Man. It seems you get hungrier every time I turn around." Silver ignored your comment in favor of shoving half the egg into his mouth and plop himself down next to you. With a sigh and roll of your eyes you turned back to the others. "So...Have you all figured out what you're going to be doing?"

"We're still working on that," Hop answered pointing his fork at you. Somehow already these three were already half way done with their food. "I figured I could stop by the stadium and see when one of us could battle Raihan. I haven't met him yet and seeing him in person could help me get a feel for what he's like in battle beyond the videos I've seen."

Gloria held up her hand. "I'm gettin' more food!! Since the Champion Match ain't gonna take place til the end of the year, we'll need more supplies for in between time!....And just in case we need ta stay extra days ta defeat the bloke. Eh?"

Victor nodded in approval. "Exactly why I'm goin' to be settin' up our camp sight right outside the entrance by the Vault. It's late in the day so someone has ta get a spot for us ta stay before dark."

You nodded. All of those sounded like a pretty good idea. Camp. Supplies. And a time scheduale for the upcoming battles. Preparing ahead was always a good idea. "That sounds like a good idea. When you're all finished eating you can go ahead and do all that. I'll finish eating and probably join all of you back at camp. Ok?''

You didn't think they could've eaten any faster and soon their plates were empty and they were getting up from the table bidding you far well for the moment. You reminded them all to meet back at the camp sight Victor would be setting up on their way out and you were left with Silver lazily sitting at your feet to finish your own food. With a sigh you enjoyed the silence of the small shop with the elevator like music playing, and the delicious smells coming from the cafe's kitchen in the back. You only really looked up when Silver tugged on your pants again and with a curious chirp pointed to your drink. With a roll of your eyes you handed him the glass of water as he took it. And drank. Forgetting he was a water type for a moment. Guess he must've needed water too. As you nearly finished eating the cafe door opened again, only being alerted to it when the small bell rang. But you didn't look up when the man in the orange bandanna walked in.

The cafe owner paused but quickly smiled and leaned his arms against the counter. "Well, well." He said amused raising a brow. "Coming in town this late in the day? Hmhm. Weren't you on a long holiday yet?"

You finished eating and sighed leaning back as the bandanna man chuckled back. Still not looking up or aware as it was none of your business. And not suspecting anything. "Well, I was. But you know me by now. I have to stop by every so while in case there's anyone here for me. Y'know that a lot of them dropped out thanks to Kabu again?"

The cafe owner chuckled again. "HA! Doesn't surprise me one bit. That old geezer's been doing that ever since he came here years ago. *sigh* But back to business. What can I do you for today? The usual?"

You took a couple seconds fishing through your pockets to pull out the leftovers from after you paid for everyone's food and rose a brow trying to figure out how much exactly you should leave for the tip before you leave. Mr. Orange Bandanna chuckled and put his hands behind his head. "Yeah. Y'know what..Can ya make that to go? Oh! And a dozen of those pokemon-safe donuts! My guys deserve to have a little treat too yknow."

"Hahaha! Ever the classic Raihan!" Your body froze. The cafe owner turned a moment. "It'll take about twenty minutes. Feel free to sit and wait while I go get everything."

"Sure! I got time."

Your body froze. Cold shooting through your veins like ice was directly injected into you. Your face paled whiter than Circhester's snow....And you slowly, ever so slightly looked behind you over your shoulder. Not enough to show your entire face but just enough to let you see clearly behind you. And your f/c eyes widened, pupils shrinking. And the money was almost dropped into your lap. .....OH NO- Standing there looking off bored thankfully away from you ....Was Raihan. The Gym leader didn't seem to notice you or even recognize your existence literally a few feet from him. You stared wide eyed and he didn't seem to feel your intense stare on him either. You nearly jumped when he yawned showing off those fangs (what HUMAN had fangs!?) and looked forward again. Removing one hand from his head he reached down into one of his jacket pockets and pulled out his phone. Oh CRAP CRAP CRAP! You snapped back forward...Big mistake. Because the suddenly movement caught the eye of two people. Silver who held up the now empty cup to you, and Raihan who hummed and turned his head curiously to you. ...Before turning back to his-....Scrunching his brows his face dawned a 'Wait a minute-' look to it before he turned his head back towards you and rose a brow. Even though you didn't know he was looking at you, you swore you could FEEL those blue eyes on you. Unlike Piers's electric bright blue eyes, Raihan's were a periwinkle baby blue. And soft like the petals of flowers, but somehow also gave the impression of a fierce storm about to rain itself upon the world. Not like Piers's at all which gave the impression of a tired hard working soul but also some hidden exciting 'electric' personality. You quickly flipped through your money trying to find something, before just settling on a five dollar bill and left it down on the table. All the while Silver had stood and like a toddler with his mother, kept chirping at you, tugging your jacket, and holding up the cup to you. Raihan's eyes blinked shifting between you...and that familiar shiny drizzlie....And his eyes lit up as something clicked in his mind. .....And he smiled.

You flung the five dollar bill onto the table for the tip and went to stuff the money back into your pocket- "ACK!" A glass bumped into your cheek and you frowned over at Silver who innocently chirped and tried handing you the glass again. With a sigh you finally took it from his teeny pink hand. "Sil. You couldn't have waited for me to finish?" You didn't notice the guy sit down in the chair next to you. Head in one hand. "We need to leave." You looked back up and placed the cup down, in view now of the man. "Cuz I'm not gonna-".....You paused mouth slightly open making Raihan chuckle right next to you. You nearly JUMPED out of your chair bristled like a cat as you snapped over to the guy. "GAH!?" Instead you leaned away fast arms up. "WHAT THE HE-...YOU!?"

He ended up chuckling a deep rumble that sounded like a deep purr. Now any other woman, and some men, would've swooned or blushed at the sound of such a chuckle..But instead you frowned. It only reminded you of a sound a cat would rumble out before chasing a mouse. He gazed at you with half lidded eyes and waved his other hand at you. "I thought I recognized you from somewhere."

....You frowned and lowered your arms but didn't stop leaning back. "Oh joy."

Despite you not hiding your annoyance he simply chuckled again a lazed smirk pointed at you. "Y'know...I actually didn't think it was you at first." he shrugged. "Honestly didn't expect to see you at all again either. But the chances of another woman with f/c hair and f/c eyes running around with a shiny water type are pretty slim to none." His smiled widened to show his fangs. "But I'm not complaining.~"

"Bro. What the heck?," you deadpanned at him and crossed your arms, "I thought I told you, very politely might I add, last time that I wasn't interested."

He hummed and nodded. '' You did. You did. I'm not denying that fact for a bit."

....You rose a brow. "Ok. Then what do you want then?"

"That's just the thing." He sighed looking you over as you narrowed your eyes. Silver chirped in question peeking over your leg curiously to why you were angry. "...You see...I usually don't get the kind of reaction you gave me all those weeks ago. Not so fast. Not so blunt." He chuckled and rose a brow. "And definitely not with the kind of sass you delivered. I haven't been able to forget about it."

"Not my problem, Dude. Not interested."

"Oh come on. That's a little unfair since you don't know much about me. I'd like to get to know a girl like you more! Why don't I buy you dinner and we can chat?"

"I already ate thanks." You pointed to the dishes. "And I have some people waiting for me so...Polite pass."

He smiled brightly an idea flashing from behind those eyes and you cringed. Oh no. He pointed at you. "Hey! That's right you were with that gym challenger right?" You didn't like where this was going. "That could only mean she's passing through or here to battle me right?"

"The latter," you answered truthfully.

His smile got wider. "Then how about this? If I win against her I get to take you out for dinner!"

You have a huff staring at the wild suggestion he even made. "You honestly believe I'm going to agree to THAT!? You don't know when to stop huh?"

His hand was placed on his chest. "You got me. But yes. I'm known for being pretty determined for the goals I strive." He winked at you. Oh brother. "But I promise I don't bite.~.....Much.~"

You were already darting your eye around on edge trying to figure out a way out of this mess you had accidentally and unintentially put yourself in. UGH!! WHY COULDN'T THINGS JUST BE EASY FOR YOU FOR ONE DAY!? Your f/c eyes gazed over him and eventually locked onto his hood....then to the white straps on his jacket. A light bulb switching in your brain as an idea finally came into your head. And it made you cringe. Oh. You DIDN'T like it. Faaaaar from it....But it would certainly be a fast ticket out. You just had to suck it up and go for it!......May Arceus have mercy on your dying pride for what you were about to do.

Forcing yourself to relax, you inhaled a deep breath before exhaling your tense body relaxing. Before leaning forward towards Raihan and smiled. Eyes half lidded. "Yeah?~ Well Dragon Boy. Maybe I ought to kidnap YOU and see how you like it.~" Raihan paused. Seeming to blink taken aback for a moment. His blue eyes looked over you at the confusion of the sudden flirty (GAG-) tone you were forcing yourself to do. But you didn't give his brain any time to process it before standing up in the blink of an eye and leaning over him. "Maybe I ought to badger your handsome face and see how cute you look.~" You cringed inwardly SO SO SO HARD and reached your hand up and over his still processing face to grab his hood. Gently pulling it over and placing it softly on his head. "And how sweet you look in his hoodie of yours.~ You know what else is a good look for ya?~"

.....Raihan relaxed, a flirty smirk printed on his fanged face as he delivered another rumbling purr-laugh. God you wanted to hide and RUN!! "No.~ Why don't you tell me?~"

You chuckled and stared at him. ".....THIS!!"

In a flash your hands grabbed onto those white straps and YANKED!! In an instant, with a ZIP noise raihan's hood shrank in around his head and he suddenly gave a loud yelp of surprise at the suddenly hoodie attack you gave. You didn't even blink. Not waiting for him to respond, you quickly whipped around, snatched Silver into your arms with a loud chirp from him, and RAN!!

"SAY HI TO LEON FOR ME!!"

Booking it out the store, the bell rang like a maniac above your held as you legged it panic running through your veins like when the onix was chasing you back in the Wild Area. Not even caring anymore. You went right down past the other stores, past the Vault and homes, and past through the draw bridge exit Hammerlocke had. Stopping and breathing heavily from panic you looked around wildly, you spotted them. Two tents set up a little ways out of the exit like Victor had said, and right in front of said tent was Hop and Victor talking. Without hesitating you RAN towards them. Victor was first to notice then Hop hearing the incoming footsteps and both seemed surprised as you skidded to a stop in front of them breathing heavily with Silver in your arms. .....Both boys looked at each other. Hop Shrugged. Then looked back to you.

"Um....Are you ok, Y/n?," Victor asked uncertainly.

"Yeah. What happened to you, Mate."

With a final breath you scowled in annoyance at nothing in particular. "....Don't ask. Move over. I'd like to hide-...I mean sit in the tent for a bit."

[lyon-amore]

Mr and Mrs Liars Chapter 22

Chapter 21 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *MC POV*  When I wake up, I see Jake at the foot of the couch sleeping.  I released a sigh and covered him with the blanket that I had. He's going to ache all over his body when he wakes up. What's he doing sleeping on the floor?     "I must be awake to take care of you, right?" I frowned, crossing my arms. At least... He sleep peacefully "You can't help it…" I let out a laugh and stroked his hair, careful not to wake him up. I make a silence gesture to Gizmo when I see that he wants to kick him on the head. He ends up lying on top of him, curled up in his lap. I took the mug from him and took it to the kitchen to clean it up. He must have been busy working on who knows what. These habits are hard to break. I decide to take my cup and make myself a decaf coffee. After yesterday, I'm still nervous.  I go up to my room and look at the messages I have. In the chat, Jessy congratulates Jake on dating Aleena. She forgets that I was in this group. I also have a missed call from the bridal shop. Lucky they also have my friends number in case they can't reach me. Separately, Jessy messaged me. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jessy MC! I'M REALLY SORRY! I totally forgot you were in that group! And I also forgot that Jake is your ex because you are going to marry Phil and I am so happy about it 😔 You forgive me? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  It's impossible for me to be mad at Jessy. Well, yeah, she didn't tell me that Jake was back. But I can understand that, since I’m already engaged, I don't have to care about that Jake is with someone else.     "But it's not like that…" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MC Hey, calm down Jessy I haven't bothered to read it Aleena already told me too I'm happy for both of them 😊  Jessie PHEW! Goodness! The truth is that I was worried I already know that there are no feelings ahead But to say that… 😓 

MC You were excited, I get it I'm also excited that Jake found someone -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------      <<Lie…>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jessy Do you think they will go to the wedding together? 🤔 🤭  MC I don't think so, Jake told me that he would already be working by the time the wedding takes place Besides, he doesn't know anyone except the group, I don't want to pressure him  Jessy Aww.. Too bad... But I'm glad to see that you get along That is important I mean… Neither of you have deceived the other So the respect you have for each other is admirable 🥺  MC Well, from the start we trusted each other So it's normal that we're fine with each other  Jessy OH! By the way! They called me from the bridal shop They asked about the last fitting of the dress  MC I have seen it I'll talk to them later I'm busy  Jessy Alright I'M SO EXCITED! I still can't believe we're going to be like sisters!  😊 

MC Jessy, I must leave you I have things to do, sorry  Jessy OK, take care! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I put the phone aside and lie down on the bed. I don't feel like calling the store. I wish I could put it off a bit longer, just because I'm not feeling well at the moment.     "Finally I find you" I hear Jake enter the room, approaching the bed "Did you sleep well?"     "Better than you" I sit up in bed, looking at him concerned "Does your back hurt?"     "I’m perfect." he sits on the bed and complains. I raised an eyebrow and sighed, although he ignored the pain out of pride. "I have something to tell you."     "Okay, I'm listening."      He sighs looking me directly in the eyes. He looks pretty serious. And worried.     “I logged into Schneider's computer."     "What?" I blink incredulously, but rather worried now "How come you did that? Without consulting me first?"     "I did it precisely for you."     “And what if you get caught?” He looks away from me, but I forced him to look at him by placing my hands on his face, “Jake, you can't do this to me- You can't do this to your sisters! Not again!"     "Calm down, it's all good." he lowers my hands slowly, speaking to me calmly. "The program is safe this time. There is no reason to be alarmed."      Slowly, he releases me. I place my hands in my lap, squeezing them tight. I hope he’s right and that he’s safe.     "And what have you found?" I give up and ask.     "It's true, he is involved with Charlotte and her disappearance." I turn to look at him quickly. His expression is angry. "Although it is not only about her, MC…"     "I want to see everything."     "I don't think it's a good idea now."     "Jake, please," I begged with a nervous look. "I need to see those proofs..."     “Alright,” he stands up and offers his hand to lift me up, “but there's a video you better not watch. I did it and…. I prefer to forget it. Although it is a proof that is going to serve us well."      I get scared when I hear him. I don't know what to think anymore after what happened yesterday. I can expect anything. I sit in the chair, with the folder in front of me. Inside everything is separated by photos, videos and documents. Some photos are of me from my teenage days. I couldn't believe this man had such a thing about me.     “This is just a backup for now,” Jake tells me as I scroll through the photos. “Just in case it all disappears. “      Although I listen to him, it seems to me that he sounds far away. Charlotte's photos are even worse. I close the photo folder because I don't dare to continue looking. I feel like throwing up when I see them.     "This is horrible...“     "MC, now I want you to get ready." Jake sits next to me, holding my hand lovingly. “You are not going to like what you are going to read, but I want you to know that you can stop at any time, you don’t have to read everything.“      I nod and relax.  I read Peter and Schneider's conversations. A lump rises in my throat as I read Peter's words. He was someone I trusted, who was always there for me when I needed him, but he didn't really do it the way I thought. I start to cry, feeling bad about myself. I had been so blind...     "Why didn't I know to see it before?"     “It's not your fault.” Jake squeezes my hand hard, gently parting my hair to see my face.     "But I should have realized," I pointed to the screen, stifling a cry. "Do you know the worst of this? It's just that now I realize many things and they all point to the fact that he was a disgusting bastard. And I was treating him like a poor man who has been killed for being innocent when he is not!" I get so excited Jake hugs me to calm me down. I bury my face in the crook of his neck, unable to calm down even though the hug is warm. Feeling betrayed is horrible. I had him like a family member. But it's not me they've hurt, it's Charlotte. I don't want to think that without her, I would have ended up in her shoes. It's the worst thought I can have. The thing to do is find out what happened to her and ruin Schneider's career. It's what I want the most.     “I want to show you something.” Jake pulls me away slowly, playing a video. Seeing my father walk into the office makes my heart skip a beat. Hearing his voice made me have many memories. The more I watch the video, the more I understand.  He… He protected my mother and me.  My father never wanted Schneider to get close to me from the beginning, but now I understand why the friendship between him and Peter drifted away a bit. He doubted him, but he didn't want to because he was his friend. Unfortunately, he was always wrong. My father wasn't perfect, he too could have let his feelings come between the two of them and believe that his best friend wasn't a monster. No one wants to know that someone you trust can be something so… Terrible.     “He was always looking out for you, even years after it happened.” Jake tells me, though I don't look away from the computer.     "That's why he wanted me to forget it." I wipe away my tears and try to breathe calmly, even though I has a hard time. "He never liked talking about this case, but I would always bring it back."     "And is finally finished." I look at Jake, who seems more hopeful than me. "MC, you can leave it now. You have found the murderer who has hurt Charlotte, Ansel, and you and your father so much. Now you can stop."      Hearing Jake speak that way, I burst into tears again, but screaming in pain. Jake hugs me tighter again, whispering in my ear that everything was okay. All those times I was arguing for my father about this case, it was Schneider's fault. Because of him, the relationship with my father was always tense. He pretended everything was fine when it wasn't. I was never a victim: Charlotte, Oskar and my father were.For my part, I feel like I'm a trigger. The guilty.     "My idea is to access Schneider's computer and sync up all the screens in the station showing all this evidence." Jake slowly moves the computer away from me as I try to compose myself a bit.     "How... How long do you think you can take?"     "I don't know, it's much more secure than just one, plus…" I see that he frowns, looking at the screen very seriously. "It's weird, it doesn't seem like he's been online since yesterday."     "What do you mean?"     "He doesn’t logged in since last night." He tucks his hands under his chin thoughtfully. "And by the time it is, he should have been in by now. The program cannot identify me as a user."     "Something like an incognito tab?" I ask, with the only comparison in my head.     "Something like that, since the program is surveillance, I can come and go whenever I want, although that doesn't mean that Malcolm has put some special things for me given the position I have now." I keep looking at him a little confused, I think after so much information I feel like I'm exhausted again, although I'm not sleepy this time. "For example, if I wanted to now, I could go into your cell phone and look at the messages, and if you had received one at that moment, it wouldn't give it as read, since it detects that I'm only watching, not controlling it. But I can if I want to put a virus."     "And why do you have something like that? I mean…. That's bad if you're not careful."     "Serves as a distraction," he smiles proudly. "As long as the virus doesn't let him access the computer, I can keep it under control so that he doesn't delete anything. Activate and deactivate."     "You really impress me." I don't know how but he manages to make me smile.     "Like I always have, haven't I?"      I let out a small laugh and he joins me. I would spend hours listening to him talk about everything he likes and I wouldn't get tired. If I already understood the subject or not.     "Then maybe you can log in now with no problem." I say, looking at the computer, "And if he does log in to the computer-"     “I block it with the virus."     "Do you need help?"     "No, I'm fine." We both relaxed. The atmosphere is calm again.      I bite my lip remembering the chat. I have to tell him, it's impossible to hide it anymore.     “My congratulations about you and Aleena.” I say, my voice almost out from crying. "You both are really perfect for each other."     "MC, about that-"      I hear my cell phone ring from upstairs. I signal to Jake by way of apology and get up to go get it. I have to assume it's Phil. I couldn't talk to him yesterday because I told him I'd be busy.     <<I hope you don't realize from my voice that I've cried…. Please don't let him know... >> *Jake POV*  All I want her to know is that I'm not dating Aleena. It has nothing to do with my feelings towards MC, but I don't want them to tell her lies about me. But if it makes it easier for both of us to stay away with this lie, then I'll let it slide until this is over and she's married. While MC is on the cell phone, I keep an eye on Schneider's computer. He hasn't logged in yet. Where can he be? I need him to be there so that he is publicly humiliated in front of his co-workers for all that he has done. And also stop Hammer's funeral with honors. He does not deserve it. I feel my blood boil at the thought. I'm even angrier than when I found out that Richy was the culprit behind Hannah's kidnapping and that he wanted to lure MC into the mine. This situation is on another level. And if he ever removes the evidence, I can threaten Schneider that I have everything to charge him with. He will not escape his fate.     "Jake..." I turn to listen to MC. His expression is surprised "It was Richy... "     "Richy?" I frown, annoyed "Why did he call you from prison?"     "He wants me to go, he has said that something has happened, but he can't tell me over the phone. "      I grip the chair tightly, getting up quickly. I approach her, who raises her hands to stop me.     "Jake, wait-"     “I'm not going to let you go alone,” I say, prying her hands away from me carefully. "And this time you will be able to ask him why he wanted you to go to the mine.” She lowers her head, uncomfortable. I bring my hand to her chin and lift her face up, forcing her to look at me. "I'm with you and you need to know the truth."      She nods, slowly removing my hand. I have been able to notice how her hand trembles.     "Okay…he doesn't even know you yet."     "Well, it's about time he got to know me." Going back to the prison in less than twenty-four hours makes everyone look at us as we pass. The guards whisper as we pass by. MC is nervous, she hasn't told me why Richy wants to see her.  When Richy sees us go in, he shifts in the uncomfortable seat. He can't even look at us, well, at MC, even if he wants to, embarrassed and feeling guilty. Are their encounters always like this? Is it so hard for him to look the woman he threatened on the phone in the face? We sit down and he takes a quick look at me, to return to MC.     “I thought you were coming alone.” he says, his voice almost inaudible.     "Richy, this is Jake," MC looks at me and then at him, hands on the table, squeezing them tightly "Hannah and Lilly's brother."      I see how now he looks at me. Terrified. He knows exactly who I am because MC has told him about me. He know who I am for being the one who was investigating my sister's kidnapping with MC.     "I… I would shake your hand to greet you, but it's not allowed." I don't know if he's joking or just wants to be polite.     "I wouldn't accept it." I replied, controlling my anger.     "I know, but I don't know how to greet you." he ignores my look, turning back to MC "Well the thing is-"     "Not so fast." I cross my arms as I tense up. I can see MC's worried look. "We need to know one thing before you tell us what you have to tell us. But I don't want a vague answer, you're going to be direct. "     "Alright…"     "Why did you want MC to go to the mine?" I don't control my tone of voice, so I'm not calm.      MC places a hand on my arm, grabbing the fabric of my clothing. She is afraid of the answer. Richy sighs, scratching his forehead, thinking. He doesn't dare to look at us, it's hard for him. I'm sure MC is analyzing every gesture he makes, she must know much better what he thinks. I, on the other hand, let myself be carried away by rage. I can't feel sorry for him.     "I started to investigate MC right after faking my attack." he begins to narrate, still without looking at us "I needed to know who she was, but I only had a name, there was no more information about her."     "That’s why there was only my name in Michael's house and not any pictures." says MC, looking at Richy almost without blinking.     "I wanted more information, to scare you into letting my plan go through to the end. But I had to stop because Jessy and Thomas broke into the house. "     "That doesn't answer my question." I say annoyed.     "Okay," he tries to fit his hands into the cuffs. It seems that it annoys him "The more you investigated, the more afraid I was that you would find out who I really was. Your texts telling me to stop made me feel like that."     "I had my doubts because I didn't want to think that my friend was lying to my face." Now it's MC who is speaking harshly. It almost seems like a mother talking to her son. "You failed in not adding The Man Without a Face in your video call."     "I wanted to tell you everything in person" Richy's eyes pass by MC. He has no expression, just stares. "I would have told you the whole truth."     "And after that?" MC tries not to raise her voice, but it's clear that she's furious with him "Did you think that I was going to leave you alone in the mine to die?"     "It's better than being locked up here..." I bang on the table, glaring at him. Would he rather die than be here? Is he that cowardly?     “Hannah was already hurting from what she did in the past.” I say through clenched teeth ‘’She wanted to redeem herself and you psychologically tortured them."     "And who has had a better defense thanks to money?" Richy asks me annoyed. "Who really deserves justice but Jennifer Hanson?"     "Who made Amy Bell Lewis commit suicide?!"     "I had been guilty for years and I never received a word from them about what happened! They abandoned me as if I had not participated!"     "Both of you! Stop it!" MC yells at us, quite angry.      A guard approaches us quite serious. I think we should relax.     "The next time you raise your voice again, you leave, last notice. Is that clear?"     "Yes, we're sorry." MC apologizes for us.      The policeman walks away and we relax.     "Thanks for your answer, Richy." MC looks at him calmer, but I know she's upset. There are many feelings involved "Can we now talk about the subject we have come to?"     “Yeah, sure."      Richy and MC pull themselves together, while I'm still a little tense. I'm letting my emotions act instead of calming me down. This is not good for me.     “The guy you met with yesterday, Jan.” He pauses for a moment, looking at the policemen. Then he looks back at us. "Well, we find out that they found him dead in his cell, just before bedtime."     "Really?" I ask interested. This seems important. I look at MC who is listening carefully. It's like she already expected it to happen after what happened yesterday.     "There's quite a stir around the prison, actually," Richy clenches his hands on the table nervously, "they even say that a certain Manfred Schneider has disappeared after visiting the prison just after Han's body was discovered."    MC and I looked at each other. That's why the computer was down.     "From the way you look at each other, I think you know who I'm talking about."     "We're investigating that man," MC whispers, taking great care with her surroundings. "Let's say he did something and now we're trying to put him in jail."     "Well, if he's disappeared, we're going to have a hard time finding him," I also comment in a low voice. "He may have even disposed of his cell phone so they don't track him down if he's guilty of Jan's murder for having confessed to you that it was your father who hired him.” I look at MC worried. "What he's done having a connection with you."     "We have to be careful then." MC she hugs herself, afraid. "Who knows if he will come for me."     "Seeing you guys talk reminded me of Jessy and me," Richy smiles wistfully. But is it a sincere smile or does he want us to feel sorry for him? "I hope one day she come to see me... I miss her so much."     "I highly doubt that after everything you did to her, she wants to see you," MC reproaches him. "Thanks for the information, Richy and…. Thanks for your sincerity."     "You're welcome." He looks straight into her eyes. What I feel is not jealousy, but anger. For everything he did. He shouldn't have the right to look at her that way. "And give my regards to the group… Although I know that no one is going to want it, but…. I want you to know that I still consider you my friends."     "Sure." MC slowly gets up from the table and I do the same. I see that she tremble a little from so many emotions in so few days. "Take care Richy."     "I'm saying the same thing," he looks at me now and smiles. "Nice to have met you Jake."     "The feeling isn't mutual." I replied, turning me around to leave.      We walked calmly unlike yesterday. No one says a word on the way home. I look at MC who keeps walking silently. She doesn't look at me or speak.     "Are you okay?" I ask, worried about what happened.      She shoots me a quick look, as if she's annoyed with me.     "MC, if you are at this moment doubting whether to feel sorry for Richy, it is better that you forget it."     "How can you say that?" She turns abruptly, stopping me "None of this would have happened if Hannah had sat down to talk to Richy too and reached an agreement before wanting to redeem herself!"      "Are you blaming my sister now? You're serious?"     "NO! It's just- AG!" she sits on the first bench she sees, putting her hands to her head "The threats, pretending he didn't know who Jennifer was, attacking Jessy, taking pictures of her friends, being cold-blooded about take the corpse of a person who had committed suicide and leave it in the woods, the damned house he rented… It was all the work of a madman! Not someone cowardly as you say! I thought he really was going to kill them all! You know the fear of someone wanting to kill your friends?!" I sit next to her, letting out a long breath. Of course I knew. That's why I distanced myself from my friends. Because I thought that by getting into trouble, I would put them in danger. I was afraid that I might hurt them. Although I was more afraid that someone could betray me in exchange for surviving. Though I wouldn't have blamed them. We humans do anything to survive, after all.     “You have a right to be mad at him,” I finally say. ”But believe me when I say that what he did to you I will never be able to forgive him. Yeah, what Hannah did of leaving him out wasn't right, but you went through something I'll never forgive myself for.”     We look at each other and I see that she continues with anger in her eyes. I try to be the calm one of the two now.     "It's not your fault, stop apologizing-"     "I'll do it as many times as I need, MC." I move a lock from her face, to see her gaze perfectly. ”But I hope you have found peace with his answer.”     “What did he want me to feel guiltier because he died because I couldn't save him?” She lets out a soft laugh ”What a peace…”     "Well, actually, I would have felt guilty not to since I was the one in the mines."      She nods with a shrug, still with that look on her face. The last thing she says leaves me surprised.     "I would have killed him if you had died because of him."     “Come here.” I say, inviting her to hug me.      MC approaches me and hugs me tight. I try to calm her anger as best I can, stroking her hair to calm her down. Little by little, I notice that her body is no longer tense and her breath tickles my neck. For a moment we forgot about the case and talked about something we never did. The only good thing Richy did was that we got to know each other. That's the only thing I'm thankful for. *MC POV*  All this accumulated anger had never let go. I think I had never spoken of Richy in this way. Every time I would come back from seeing him, I would always say 'Oh, it did well' but it didn't. I guess I didn't want to worry anyone with my way of thinking towards him, the rest were already angry enough for me to be too. Someone had to calm them down.     "Are you better?" Jake pulls me away and smiles at me.     "Yes, thanks." I smile back, much calmer. "Okay, we should- Jake?      I see how his expression changes, he seems alert. He makes a sign to me in a hidden way.     “I think someone's watching us.” he says, looking carefully around so he doesn't show it.     "Schneider?"     "No, I don't know," he makes me stand up next to him, still nervous "I haven't been able to see anyone."     "And what do we do?"     "For now, we can't go home." We walk slowly so as not to raise suspicions that we know we're being watched. "We have to blend in with people until they know we're out of danger."      I try to think of where would be the perfect place to lose someone who is chasing you. I have never seen myself in this situation before.     "It's weekend…" I comment, thoughtful "Is it worth a shopping center? There are a lot of people there."     "Yes, and so I can secretly use my cell phone to locate a signal that is approaching us while we go to the mall."     "Then let's go." Chapter 23

[spoopy-action-at-distance]

A Burnout Update:

I currently have limited modes of operation, which keep fluctuating over time. When I finally acknowledged that I was burned out, I had a single mode: Overwhelmed And Exhausted. Then I progressed to having two separate modes: Gotta Do Something and Crash. After that, I alternated between Sleep and Exhaustion for a while. I've now made my way up to having whopping four separate modes: Sleep, Exhaustion, Boredom, and Ache.

Right now I'm in Ache mode. This may have something to do with yesterday's mode being Boredom, which is, even when I'm doing better, a good predictor for "I'm gonna end up Doing A Thing that will entertain my friends later". I'm not impulsive, exactly - it's more like what that one post that's been going around is about, the one that talks about how disabled people also have the right to sometimes overdo it on purpose for dumb reasons. I might know I'm probably going overboard, but damn I am tired of sitting on my hands, so you get something like what follows.

I left home to go see a candle display in a park after sunset. A friend was supposed to also come, but was too knackered, so I was left to my own devices. This may have also contributed alongside the Boredom. See, as pretty as the candles were, I didn't feel like they had provided quite Sufficient an Experience for me not to be bored any more.

Wracking my brain for something else to do, I remembered that there was a nature path a few kilometres away. It goes around a small lake in the woods and is only about 3 km long, which seemed ideal at the time. I'd last been there some ten years ago so it wouldn't be overly familiar, either. But that also meant that I didn't remember the way very well, and did I mention it was already dark? Because it was dark already. But there might be lights along the paths, you know?

Spoiler: There were no lights.

What there was, instead, was a long dirt road that felt like it was going into Dead End Redneck Cannibal country, and an unexpected but adorable gaggle of city teenagers, who had very clearly come there specifically to play a game called "OoOoOoOoo Spooky Dark Forest, Who's Too Chicken To Go In?" One of them saw my bike's headlight when they were getting out of their car and promptly freaked the fuck out, so they were off to a great start. I couldn't really cast any stones there, though, since I was there for pretty much the exact same reason as they were. We went in different directions, but for a good while I could see their juddering phone lights across the water and hear them yelping and screeching at each other.

As for myself, I stumbled over rocks and tree roots for about an hour. I chose not to use my phone for a light because whenever I turned it on it made it much harder to see anything that wasn't directly illuminated. There was just enough wind to remove the "what was that noise" factor, and there were some low-hanging clouds, which reflected the lights from nearby settlements back down enough to give the scenery a sense of sunset colours faded into black. It let me see just enough that there was only one time I almost walked into a tree. Here's my attempt to photograph the pretty, if dim, lake:

Every now and then I would come across a duckboard, so I knew I was still on the right track. I lost my way just once, when the path forked in the middle of a patch of bare rock and the right path was hard to find in the gloom. The other path led away from the lake, into a large logging clearing.

That was also where I had my single instance of Proper Nerves during the entire adventure, because there was a Big Black Lump in the distance and I thought it might have been a moose. Now, a deer - that would have been mundane. A wolf sighting would have been incredibly cool and rare luck, and a bear would have commanded Respect. But a moose? That's a half-a-tonne antisocial tank on stilts. I backed off fast and left the lump, whatever it was, to its clearing, and fortunately found the right path after a more thorough search.

The highlight of my hike came when I arrived at a sparsely wooded little peninsula made of bedrock scored clean by the last ice age, with an unobstructed view over the lake. Unlike the last time I'd been there, it was furnished with a wooden table covered by a canopy, a grill, and an outdoors toilet. There were several good spots for a tent or a hammock, too. Someone else had recently been there, because the grill still held some glowing embers. I considered trying to heat up water for a cup of tea, but decided against it, because if it got any darker it'd take bloody forever to get back to my bike without accidentally pitching face-first off any surprise inclines. It was a shame, though; the place felt magical and I would've loved to stay longer.

The teens were long gone by the time I got back to the parking lot, so we sadly couldn't congratulate each other on beating ourselves at the Chicken Game.

Now I just gotta figure out how to convince some poor unfortunate soul to let me drag them there after dark, to share the experience with them.

Oh, and because I didn't get a single usable photo on the entire trip, here's me a couple of days earlier, enjoying the spoils of a camping stove - a cup of hot tea - in the middle of a bog.