#if any old friends wanna go on a cross country road trip to hang out with me as my reward for hard work I'd be very into that | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ariespageofbreath · 6 years

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Monster Summer Mash: Surface Road Trip

This is legit the longest oneshot I’ve written for this event wow-

Partially dedicated to @thelazyhermits for your love of the Gaster Bros (and also taking the inspo of the bros travelling) and @ut-stuff, because I know you like G. ^v^

I hope everyone enjoys reading this as much as I liked writing it. <3

(Also may or may not write more for this idea later-)

Your parents may not approve of you going on your little cross-country trip, but in your opinion, this was the best choice you could have made. The sense of freedom you gain from driving along the wide open stretches of country road, elbow resting on the rolled-down window sill of your old RV and wind in your face and radio turned up loud, is more more than you could have ever asked for. Things were so stifling back home, but here, you could do and go wherever you wanted, experience new things, and no one could tell you not to.

Your trip had started three weeks back. You were tired of being stuck inside for such a gorgeous summer, so you had called in your unused vacation days, packed up your bags, and broke out your parents’ untouched RV. You were gone within a night, and so far, you hadn’t regretted a moment of it.

About the only thing you missed were the people, especially when you were on a road like this without much to distract you. You’d kept in contact with any friends via social media, but beyond messaging a few of your closer friends, you tried to stay away from such apps. The last thing you wanted were your parents breathing down your neck, disappointed in you for dropping everything to “live like a hooligan.”

You were plenty civilized still, thank you very much. It could be worse. You could have decided not to take the RV and just walk out with only the clothes on your back and live in alleys for the duration of your trip.

You’re pulled from your thoughts by the honk of a car in front of you. It’s a cute little white van with several children in it, from what you can tell. They’re honking at the cars in front of them, who have slowed down for some reason. You stick your head out the window, curious about what’s causing such a ruckus.

Oh. It’s a pair of people, standing on the edge of the road, thumbs out in the universal sign of hitchhiking. From what you can tell, they’re wearing giant straw sun hats and dark coats, which you don’t understand, given the fact that it’s so hot out.

For a moment, it looks like the car might let them on, but then they simply start driving again. Their thumbs falter minutely, but remain stubbornly in the air. The next several cars drive past as well, leaving you feeling sorry for the poor pair loitering on the side of the road. However, as you pull forward, you think you understand why the others rolled past them.

It’s a pair of monsters. Skeletons, from the look of it, with a pair of matching scars and the same grim look of determination. The taller of the two has a long, black coat, a grey turtleneck sweater, and fancy black slacks. A pair of forest-green irises float in the black expanse of his sockets, though the one in his right-which is sagging-is much smaller and dimmer. He does not look like he belongs on the side of the road with a crappy straw sunhat. His companion is dressed almost similarly, with a cream sweater and a black, cropped jacket with the sleeves rolled up. A pair of tight black jeans and a brilliant yellow eye finish off his look. He gives you a lopsided grin from beneath his sunhat. Both of them are carrying a heavy backpack, and Yellow-Eye has a guitar case resting at his feet.

Smiling down at them, you lean out the window, reaching over blindly to shut off the radio. “Howdy, strangers. You two look like you could use a lift.” You jerk your thumb at your vehicle, throwing in an enticing wink. “I’ve got a real nice rig here. Got full plumbing and everything.”

They seem very surprised you’re actually willing to offer them a ride. Yellow-Eye gives you a look of thinly-veiled suspicion, drawling, “Uh, heh, you sure about that, buddy? It doesn’t bother you that we’re, y’know, monsters?” Wow, that’s a nice voice.

“If it bothered me, I wouldn’t have offered,” you reply, unable to stop yourself from chuckling. He still doesn’t look convinced, so you decide to throw in, “Of course, if you really don’t wanna trust me, I don’t blame you-no offense taken. I’ll just be on my way, in my nice, air conditioned, comfortable, fully stocked RV…”

You watch them exchange glances. Yellow-Eye holds up a finger and grabs Green-Eye, turning him so they can huddle together and whisper. You rest your chin on your arm, watching them with an amused grin. You can tell how badly Green-Eye wants to get out of the heat, and Yellow-Eye looks like he hasn’t had a decent nap in years. These poor saps are in bad need of a break, and you’re more than willing to give it to them.

Finally, they turn back to you and grin. “Think we’re gonna take you up on that, buddy. Thanks for the lift,” Yellow-Eye says, reaching down to grab his guitar and adjust his bag.

You sit up, smiling wider. “Hey, it’s my pleasure, friend. Bring your stuff on around, I’ll let you in through the side door.”

They obligingly carry their things around to the side, where you’re already waiting with the door open. You reach out to take their things, and while they protest a little, assuring you it’s no trouble, you refuse to let them haul all of it around a moment longer. As you expected, this crap is heavy, and you have no idea how long they’ve been trudging along with all of it one their shoulders. You can’t imagine it’s very good for their spines.

Once you’ve set everything down, you turn and extend your hand, introducing yourself. Green-Eye takes your hand first, smiling warmly down at you. (It’s at this point that you realize they’re both very, very tall compared to you. Like, probably pushing seven feet, in Green-Eye’s case.) “My name is Aster. Thank you very much for your hospitality, my friend. I has been quite a while since we’ve had somewhere to rest our weary bones.”

Yellow-Eye takes your hand next, giving you the same lopsided grin, though it’s much more sincere now. “Yeah, thanks, buddy. We were starting to think we’d just have to walk to the nearest town. You can just call me G.”

“Well, there was no way I could just leave you standing out there all day,” you reply, brushing off their gratitude with a slight blush. Clapping your hands, you draw their attention away from thanking you and to their temporary ride. “So! Welcome to scenic my RV! Right back there is the bedroom; I’ve taken the top, but I don’t mind sharing rooms, so one of you can take the bottom, if you want. I’ve also got a loft up above the driver’s seat-” You gesture to it. “-and I’ve got a little futon right here.” You gesture by your knee. “So feel free to take any of those!”

You wander further towards the back, pointing things out as you go. “This is sort of our kitchen space, including those cabinets of there. My food it yours, so feel free to raid it whenever. We’ve got a bathroom right here, fully equipped with sinks and showers and toilets and things. I’ve got shampoo and stuff too, but uh…” Here you sneak a glance at them, grinning. “I don’t think that’ll be much of a problem for you two.”

Your efforts are rewarded with a grin from Aster and chuckles from both, leaving you slightly giddy. “I’m currently on a little cross-country adventure, but if you guys have got somewhere specific you need to go, I’d be glad to take you there.”

“Honestly, we were just lookin’ to hitch a ride to the nearest town,” G replies, glancing around your RV curiously. He fixes you with another look and grin. “Wherever you’re headed is fine. We’re sort of on our own road trip, you see. Just sort of… exploring.”

“Well…” You pause, uncertain, but you decide just to go for it. You give them a grin. “If you’d like, then… you could tag along with me until I’ve finished up my journey. I’ve been out and about for a few weeks now, but I still have lots of places I wanna go, and I don’t anticipate stopping anytime soon. So if you wanted, I’d be cool with you hanging around. Unless you just wanna leave after the first town we hit, I don’t mind that.” You punctuate this statement with a careless shrug, although you’re sort of hoping they say yes. It’s pretty lonely being the only one here, and you’ll admit, you’re very curious about your companions.

They exchange another glance. You have expect them to turn around to consult again, but instead they simple smile down at you. “Thanks for the invite, kid. If you’re serious about that, I think we’ll take you up on it,” G says, reaching out to nudge your shoulder lightly.

Aster nods, adding, “We’d be delighted to join you. Thank you again for your assistance.”

You snort, giving them a nonchalant smile to hide your excitement. “Hey, it’s no big deal, don’t mention it, really. I’m just glad to have some travel buddies. It’s more fun running around the countryside with someone else, you know?” You nod towards the driver’s seat. “I’m gonna head back up there, so make yourselves at home, and lemme know if you need anything.”

They both agree, so you pick your way back to your seat and start up the vehicle. It’s weird to hear two additional voices in the background, but it’s a good kind of weird that makes you happy.

You could get used to this.

____________

Picking up G and Aster was probably the best choice you could have made.

The brothers (step-siblings, apparently, though they got a little funny about it when you asked) were a riot. Not a moment passed by without some kind of shenanigans from them. They could not be more opposite. Aster was sweet, soft-spoken, eloquent, and a huge book nerd; most of is stuff were books he’d collected from places they’d already been. G was funny, spunky, loud, and laidback. He loved playing the guitar, and after hearing some of your favorites, he’d start playing for you when there was nothing good on the radio. (Admittedly, you’d taken to turning it off completely just to hear him sing. He was so dang good at it.)

With their different personalities-and senses of humor-they often got into little play fights and good-natured bickering. There were times when Aster would be trying to help you navigate the roads and G would come up and distract him, so you ended up hopelessly lost. Those were usually the best trips, however, as you could never quite expect what you were going to get, and it resulted in some pretty crazy and wonderful adventures. You knew more puns and jokes about literally everything than you’ve ever known in your whole life, and take every opportunity to get into a joke fight with G, which you’ve learned Aster hates.

(Or so he says. You’ve seen him crack a smile sometimes when he thinks you’re not looking, and he’s even made a few very subtle and clever ones himself, so you’re pretty sure it’s all for show.)

You learn a lot about the brothers as you travel with them, from little things like their favorite drinks or songs to interesting habits and personality quirks. You’ve noticed they both have a knack for sensing and subsequently evading trouble, and they’ve got quite the silver tongue. It’s bailed you out of more tough situations than you can count. You’ve also seen quite a bit of their magic as this point, from the mundane acts of dishes and laundry to teleportation and summoning bones. You’ve never actually seen them fight, but it’s come close a few times, and you know you never want to see them when they’re not holding back.

(Friendly skeletons or not, they can still be spooky.)

As the days pass, your RV starts to look less like your parents and more like yours-all or yours’. Aster’s books fill up certain shelves, and G’s clothes can be found scattered on all the furniture, mixed in with yours. Sheet music and coffee takes up the counter, and if anyone would to check your trash, they’d find an odd mix of tea bags, energy drinks, and condiment bottles. The previously pristine beds below your and in the loft are now rumpled with use, and even a few stuffed animals or other knick-knacks. You have tons of pictures of the three of you pinned to walls or tucked in books, and a skeleton charm dangles on your rear-view mirror.

It’s the most homey the RV has ever felt, and it’s all because of these two. These are the days you never want to end.

And of course, that’s just when they do.

You’ve been just about everywhere by now. You’ve met thousands of people, and seen thousands of things, and done thousands of things you’ve never done before. There’s not much else for you to do anymore, and you dread to end it, but you’re on the road back home.

You’re pulled up at a care to eat when it comes up. The skeletons notice that you’re not your usual exuberant self and, exchanging telling glances, G speaks up. “Okay kid, time to come clean. What’s been eating you?”

Snickering half-heartedly, you take a sip of your drink. “Good one, G.”

He stares at you blankly for a moment, before realizing that he’s accidentally making a pun and snickering. Aster sighs, apparently taking it upon himself to figure this out, hopefully without punning. You give him a startled look when he grabs your hand. Seeing he’s got your attention, Aster smiles soft and says, “My dear friend, it is obvious that something is troubling you. G and I are worried. I know we are heading towards your home; is it your parents?”

“Sorta?” you question, making a convoluted face. Aster tries to puzzle out your emotions as you speak. “I mean, yeah it’s kinda my parents. I know they’re not gonna be happy about this. Especially not that I’m practically living in an RV with two monsters.” You roll your eyes, clearly annoyed with their attitudes.

G snorts, taking a swig of his coffee. You can smell the espresso from here. “Your parents are lame. And you’re a grown adult, you can decide who you hang out with and whether you live in an RV with two monsters.”

This seems to make things worse, as your frown twists deeper and your grip on Aster’s hand tightens. Aster directs his glare at G, who holds his hands up meekly, looking bewildered. He has no idea what he’s said to upset you. Aster rolls his eyelights and returns his attention to you, gently squeezing your fingers. “My dear, please, do tell us what is the matter.” He hesitates, then asks, “Is it… That you are, currently, living with… us?”

Your head snaps up, and you give him an appalled look, as though offended he would even suggest it. “What? No! No, that’s not it at all, I love living with you guys! Living with you guys is the best thing that’s ever happened to me!”

Silence. A few people at the surrounding tables glance over, curious. Both skeletons are giving you a startled look, a faint blush on their cheek bones. Your face heats quickly to match them, so you duck your head and continue in a lower voice, “You guys are my best friends, no doubt. Living with you has been great, and I… I wanna keep living with you,” you finally admit, meeting their eyes to prove your sincerity. “I really do. But it’s just… We’ve been everywhere. There’s… There’s really no where else to go. We agreed you’d tag along with me until the end of my journey, but… This is it. The journey is over, so I was worried you might wanna… leave.”

More silence. Neither looks like they know what to say. Suddenly, G starts snickering, quietly at first, and then louder and louder. You glance at Aster, but he looks just as lost as you, and a little embarrassed when G starts pounding on the table lightly, rattling the silverware.

It takes a moment to collect himself, but when he finally does, he looks up to give you a surprisingly intense look, if not still amused. “Sweetheart, journey ain’t over ‘til you says it’s over. There’s so much more to explore out there. There’s a whole world, for Asgore’s sack!” He reaches over the table, grabbing your free hand firmly. His eye glows brightly, like it’s responding to his determined statements. “We’ll stay with you as long as you want to. We’ll go wherever the journey takes us. You’re not gettin’ rid of us that easy, buddy.”

Aster grins as your starstruck face, affirming, “That’s right, my friend. As long as you want to continue travelling with us, we will not leave you. You are part of our family now, my dear, and we won’t be so easily shaken.” It’s not often you see him look so sure of himself, so confident-it looks good on him.

You don’t know what to say. You’re overwhelmed with happiness and content, sitting across from them in a warm diner with their hands firmly in yours, smiling at you. Your family. Two people you’ve chosen to care about, and who’ve chosen to care for you.

Their expressions soften slightly, and G reaches out, brushing your cheek with his fingers. “Why you cryin’, sweetheart? You really wanna get rid of us that bad?” He’s teasing, you can tell; there’s no way he could miss the giant smile on your face.

You shake your head, firmly gripping their hands. “I don’t ever wanna get rid of you two.”

They nod approvingly, and after mopping up your tears, breakfast continues like normal. When you’re done, you all pay and clamber back in the RV, heading on your way. You’ll drop by your parents, just for a bit, to let them meet your boys, and then you plan on finding a new route to take with the two of them.

You’re not quite sure where you’re going yet, or where you’re going to end up, but you know as long as you’re with the two of them, you know it’ll be a worthy adventure.

#gaster bros #g #aster #undertale #undertale au #monstersummermash #event #raffle #day something #i don't even remember anymore #too many days

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kiebs · 6 years

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Whale Tales 8

Fandom: Free!

Genre: Modern Fantasy

Pairing: Soumako; MakoxOC; SouxOC; SoumakoxOC

Characters: Matsuoka Rin; Original Character; Tachibana Makoto, Yamazaki Sousuke; Nanase Haruka

Summary: It all began with a storm that totaled a boat. And overly friendly mermen.

It’s been forever and a day, but I hope you enjoy this most recent chapter of Whale Tales!

Also on AO3

Rin crossed his arms, eyes looking out over the marina. "So, you're sure this is okay to do?"

"Sousuke said it was okay," Tohru responded, twisting a hair tie between her fingers.

"Yeah, but…just because he says so—"

"Rin, you were there, too. Did he look uncertain to you?"

"I don't want our friends getting hurt because a big dumb fish thinks he can get over his trauma by forcing himself to hang out with humans."

For a moment, only the seagulls answered him.

"…everything will be okay," she murmured. "Makoto-san and Haru-san will be there."

"Great, more fish."

"They're not fish. They're cetaceans."

"Don't you get all technical on me—"

"Cetaceans are mammals. Fish aren't. There is no technic—"

"They both swim!"

"Now you're being childish."

Before their bickering could go any farther, and both of them knew they were bickering only because they were nervous and this was how they sometimes made the other feel better, a bright, cheery voice rang through the air. Both turned towards the sound, a sense of levity immediately fluttering over them.

"Rin-channn! Tohru-channn!" A ball of energy and blond hair dashed across the dock, almost knocking both of them over in his haste to hug them. "I missed you!"

"Oof! Hey, Nagisa," Rin greeted. He ruffled their friend's fluffy locks. "We missed you too."

"How was your European adventure?" Tohru asked warmly.

It was good to see her friend again. It had been about a month or so since she last saw him and, well, he didn't look much different. Nagisa still stood only a couple centimeters taller than she did and he was as tan as she was, but he had cut his hair and a shiny bicolored ring glittered on his finger. Otherwise, he was the same old Nagisa, bubbly and cheerful and bringing sunshine wherever he went.

He clasped his hands together with sparkling eyes. "It was amazing. I didn't realize just how close all the countries were, so we just took a super long road trip!"

"And what about your budget?" Rin asked, but his eyes had lifted from the blond man to his husband.

Rei pushed up his glasses with a mild twisting of his mouth. "Stretched, but nothing too overboard."

"Did you have fun, though?" Rin asked.

A smile curved up their bespectacled friend's lips. His face immediately softened, looking as boyish as he did when he was in high school. In moments like this, Tohru saw the reason why Nagisa so loved Rei.

"I did, very much so," he admitted. "Even with the language barrier, I had fun."

"Yeah, yeah! Thankfully, Rei-chan could get around a little with his English!" Nagisa added happily. He bounced on his heels away from her and Rin. "But we picked up a lot! And souvenirs! We got you some cool things!"

He immediately began rifling through his bag and produced two gift bags. Rin and Tohru eyed them cautiously, remembering previous gifts and souvenirs that had been less than what they expected. And by that, she meant that they had been some really weird and esoteric thing that they didn't even know where or how he got them. Nevertheless, they took the bags.

Inside the bag sat a simple cardboard box. Tohru lifted it out and cautiously turned it in her hands. It was light, but had some weight to it so that it didn't feel like it was full of fluff. That didn't exactly ease her, but she opened the box anyway. Wrapped in paper and sparkling once uncovered, she found a pretty metal and glass statue of a stingray. The glass was a mixture of milky blues and grays, though a few places were clear and bright cerulean. It was beautiful and extremely thoughtful.

Rin had a similar piece, but his was a shark and red. Tears beaded in his eyes the moment he unearthed it from its paper cushion. He sniffed loudly, gently placing the shark back into the box so that he could rub furiously at his eyes. Tohru smiled indulgently at his actions, putting her own statuette away.

Seeing Rin cry was actually a good sign, all things considered. With the curse and the mermen, she was afraid he was going to fall into depression again, but he actually crying meant that he hadn't. He became remarkably aloof when he was depressed.

"Aww, Rin-chan!" Nagisa cooed, throwing his arms around his waist.

"I-I'm not crying!" Rin hiccoughed gruffly.

"Rin, that's never worked," Tohru teased, gently bumping his shoulder with hers. "We know you're crying."

"S-Shut up."

"You're going to make Rei-chan cry, Rin-chan!"

"I am not going to start crying, Nagisa-kun!"

Nagisa laughed joyfully, smiling up at his husband.

It felt weird to think of Rei and Nagisa like that, to think that they were married now. It felt like they would be boyfriends forever, though they had also felt married before they had even been engaged. Then again, Tohru couldn't imagine a time when the two weren't together and it was weird to think that there actually had been. She much preferred them now.

Rin pushed Nagisa away, but he kept his hand on the smaller man's shoulder. Tears still reddened his eyes, but he was smiling as he gestured to the boat. He cast a conspiratorial look towards her before speaking.

"Let's head off, all right?" he remarked, placing his box back in the bag. "We're losing daylight."

"It's not even ten yet!" Nagisa whined, but hurried onto The Shark nonetheless.

"Like you're not excited to go out," Rin returned with a grin.

"We went on a cruise, too!" their friend huffed, turning up his nose.

Tohru lifted an eyebrow and looked curiously at Rei. "Did you?"

"Mm. In Sweden," the glasses-wearing man explained. He gestured for her to go first; she did. "It was rather beautiful."

His voice was almost wistful, which was a surprise. Back in high school, he had refused to go near, let alone in, any water, and even in college, they were hard-pressed to actually get him to join them in the pool. (Teaching him to swim had been a nightmare.) She supposed Nagisa's and her work had something to do with his recent fondness to bodies of water. He still got horribly seasick, though.

Once Rei was on the boat, Rin untied it and hopped in himself. As he passed her, he dipped his head.

"You wanna bring it up or should I?" he asked softly.

Tohru tilted her head up accordingly. "I can. I won't mention the curse."

His smile was relieved in return. He nodded.

Now…the question was how to bring up the mermen.

Technically, her real question was if she would even get a chance to speak as Nagisa dominated the conversation the moment they had all settled in the cabin. He regaled them on his and Rei's European adventure, telling them about the food, the people, the cities, and just about anything else that he could remember. Sure, intermittently when he ran out of breath, Rei would add a few things or tell them about the architecture or simple beauty of the towns in Europe before Nagisa would continue his tale. And he was a very good speaker, always had been, and created such pretty imagery with his words alone. They could have been there with the way he was describing everything.

But Tohru needed to tell them about the mermen. She felt extremely guilty about even needing to do so, because she had promised the mermen—she had promised Sousuke—that she or Rin wouldn't tell anyone else. Yet here she was.

Sousuke's voice echoed through her mind, interrupting the images of some kind of German pastry Nagisa was describing.

"I understand. You can tell them."

Guilt still tied up her throat, but she would rather forewarn her friends than blindside them. There was just the very likely happenstance that neither Rei nor Nagisa would believe her. Nagisa might be a dreamer, might love fantasy, but he also knew the boundaries of reality. Even he would question her sanity.

She sighed softly, smiling despite her inner turmoil. Despite how nervous she felt, she was happy that she could share this with her friends. Even more so, she was happy that Sousuke understood why she had to bring them out. She had been extremely reckless to go diving without a partner; she recognized that now. Thankfully, Sousuke understood that, too. He had actually lectured her after she had explained why she needed to bring Nagisa. It was flattering.

"…ru…"

Being lectured had never been so enjoyable before.

"T…ru…n…"

Even Makoto had gotten huffy when she explained her recklessness.

"Toh…n…"

It was…cute.

"Tohru-chan!"

Tohru jolted from her daze.

"W-What?" she gasped, looking quickly between Nagisa and Rei.

Rin coughed sharply.

Rei raised an eyebrow while Nagisa pouted.

Oh. She must have really daydreamed hard.

"Were you even paying attention, Tohru-chan?" Nagisa huffed, crossing his arms. His bottom lip wobbled.

"Until Vienna, sorry," she admitted with a wince.

"You missed our whole adventure in Padua!"

"To be fair, Nagisa, you have been talking for a while," Rei murmured, touching his husband's knee. "I'm sure Tohru-san and Rin-san have had adventures while we were away."

Nagisa's eyes widened. His lips wobbled before he lunged onto Tohru's lap.

"I'm sorry, Tohru-chan! I didn't even ask how you were doing!" he wailed, looking up at her. "Especially about that storm!"

Ah, that had been the only time they interrupted their friends' honeymoon. Well, Kou had interrupted their honeymoon because Nagisa and Rei were two of her best friends and she needed to vent. They had almost returned, actually, if Rin hadn't given them a lecture about the romance of a honeymoon.

"We're doing okay," she answered with a smile. "Well, I'm getting better, but, well, Rin and I…had another adventure…"

Nagisa sat up quickly. "What happened?"

Rin snorted loudly.

Tohru took a breath.

"Okay, so…it…it kind of connected to the storm we were in," she began nervously. "Um, so…we…we kind of had help getting out of it and, uh…look, it's going to sound really weird and-and impossible, but you have to believe me, okay?"

Her friend narrowed his eyes at her, but nodded. Rei also nodded, looking skeptical.

"Go on," Rei encouraged.

She blew out loudly. "Okay, so. We were saved by mermen. Aaaand they've kinda been helping me out with the stingray research? And they visit us all the time when we go out now."

Unsurprisingly, silence answered her.

Her mouth was dry, her tongue gummy, her throat tight. Rei and Nagisa just stared at her, both with confused looks, though Rei's grew more and more concerned as the boat sailed on. She rubbed her clammy palms against her knees as she waited for one of them to respond.

After many long, excruciating minutes, Rei cleared his throat. He adjusted his glasses and then fixed the collar of his shirt. He took a breath. The whole preparation made Tohru sink farther down in her seat.

"Are you sure you didn't hurt yourself in the storm?" he asked in such a concerned voice that it embarrassed her. "Mermen don't exist."

"Doctor said I was fine," she muttered petulantly.

"Maybe you hallucinated…?" he continued, rubbing his chin. "Or created something to help you cope."

"But wouldn't mermen be so much cooler?" Nagisa interrupted. "Real live mermen! Think about it, Rei-chan!"

The bespectacled man offered his husband an indulgent smile. "As exciting as that would be, it's improbable."

"We've only explored like five percent of the oceans, Rei-chan!"

"I feel like we would have found something that was human sized by now."

Tohru cut in then, "Rei, we know very little about the blue whale and they get about thirty meters long! It's not farfetched that we could miss something the size of a human."

"She's got a point," Nagisa added excitedly. His bright gaze turned to her. "Did you really see mermen?"

"They were probably dolphins!" Rei argued huffily. "Tohru-san, Nagisa-kun, please."

“I mean, yeah, but it would be so much cooler if they really were mermen!” Nagisa gushed.

This was exactly how she expected it would go, to be honest. Nagisa had been the one to force her to join that folklore class, after all. He would be willing to believe in mermen. Rei was just too logical and rational for anything magical like this.

Tohru blew her hair out of her face angrily. Despite knowing this would happen, she was still frustrated. It was teaching Rei how to swim all over again, except harder. At least he had believed that swimming existed. Yeah, he had given a lecture on how humans had evolved to live on land and swimming was counterintuitive because of that, but he had very much knew the swimming was a real thing. She would have to take drastic measures with making him believe in the mermen then.

"I'm anchoring!" Rin called out. He turned around with a wicked grin. "Let's get this merman show on the road."

He picked up his stereo and headed out.

"Not you too, Rin-san!" Rei cried, standing up to follow. Nagisa was on his heels as they exited the cabin. "There's no such thing as mermen!"

The door swinging closed muffled their voices as they headed to the deck.

Her head pounded. She hadn't even realized the boat had stopped until Rin had spoken. Rubbing her forehead, she even wondered how any of this was going to work out with how vehemently Rei was denying the existence of the mermen. At least he hadn't resorted to saying they were tripping balls as Rin had done, but, well, the day was young.

As she changed into her wetsuit, her heart fluttered excitedly. Frustration with Rei aside, she was going to do her own research. Research that she had decided on. That was exciting. Even more exciting was all the equipment she could use. Like underwater cameras and recording devices and tags. Her grant allowed for that and she didn't have to go through her stupid cousin this time. No more hand recording her findings or trying to remember what she had seen. As it were, of course, most of the equipment wouldn't arrive to her apartment until next week, but she at least had an underwater camera already.

Grinning happily, Tohru skipped outside just as a large wave of water splashed a lecturing Rei. She gaped. Her friend was frozen for a solid few seconds before, abruptly, he screeched in shock. Nagisa immediately began cackling at his husband's sodden appearance.

Their loud responses broke whatever spell had descended on her and she giggled in surprise. Still snickering, she trotted over to the end of the boat and leaned over the rail.

"Hello, Sousuke," she greeted the nonplussed merman warmly.

He frowned up at her, though it really looked like he was pouting, before a slow, amused smile slipped onto his face. He looked rather pleased with himself she would have to say. Honestly, she was rather pleased with him, too.

Makoto, on the other hand, did not share their amusement, apparently. He surfaced next to his mate looking adorably annoyed. He shoved the larger merman.

"Was that necessary?" he asked exasperatedly.

Sousuke huffed. "I thought so."

"Rin was the same way!" Makoto groaned, covering his face.

"No, Rin kept insisting he was tripping balls," Sousuke retorted, lifting an eyebrow. He looked up towards Tohru. "Not started lecturing on why we couldn't exist."

"Do you want to come say 'hello'?" she asked with a grin.

The whale shark merman wrinkled his nose, as if the thought irritated him. Instead of bumming her out, the sight made her grin even more. She liked that she was able to interact with them like this. Those scant few days where she couldn't had left her feeling melancholic and the whole curse deal had saddened her, as well. Yet now, with their silly and sassy interactions, she felt so much better.

Makoto finally lowered his hands, but his exasperated look stayed on his face. Even more so when he saw his mate's distasteful expression.

"Sousuke…" he chastised lowly.

"Mm. All right. I'll come to you then," she announced. Almost immediately, wet arms hooked under hers and pulled her back. "Whoa!"

She looked up in surprise to find a flustered Rei staring down at her. His cheeks were pale, water droplets gleaming on his skin. His hair stuck to his forehead too.

"W-W-What do you t-think you're doing?" he exclaimed. "W-W-Who were those voices!?"

Nagisa suddenly appeared at her side. His eyes sparkled. "Was that—!?"

Music began playing behind them and the boat swayed.

"Tohru!" Makoto gasped, leaning over the side of the boat frantically.

Sousuke was scowling next to him, also hanging onto the ledge. Loud splashes sounded from behind both of them, which probably meant that their tails were thrashing back and forth.

Rei's arms dropped. He made a breathless noise, almost like a whimper, while Nagisa squealed in excitement. Tohru wasn't sure who to deal with first, though she turned quickly to catch Rei before his trembling legs gave out. Rin, thankfully, hurried over to help her.

"Yo," he called over their friend's shoulder to the mermen. "Where's your third wheel?"

"There's another one?" Rei whispered in horror.

His face was almost gray in shock. She gently nudged him over to one of the deck boxes and, with the help of Rin, eased him down. He pulled off his glasses and rubbed his face, groaning lowly. He sounded like he was going to be sick.

Hands latched onto her arm, shocking her to look up into the glowing face of Nagisa. His grin cut across his face like a crescent moon. He bounced excitedly.

"They're mermen!" he hissed excitedly. "Mermen! Me-e-e-e-ermen!"

"Yes, yes, they're dudes with fish tails," Rin remarked, ruffling the younger man's hair. "Give your husband some space."

"Sousuke is the only one with a fish tail," Tohru muttered, rubbing Rei's back. He groaned again.

"Is he okay?" Makoto called out nervously.

"He's seasick," Rin responded with a shrug.

"Whale shit," Sousuke responded, receiving an elbow jab from his mate.

Rin lifted an eyebrow, but grinned. He took a few steps towards the mermen.

"You miiight have freaked him out?" he amended with a shrug and hand wiggle. "You're supposed to be, mmm, improbable, did he say?"

He looked over his shoulder, probably to get Tohru's affirmation on his choice of words when a blur of blond hair sped past him and almost pushed the mermen back into the water. Sousuke lurched back, his grip on the railing the only thing preventing him from falling backwards. He gritted his teeth, eyes snapping past Nagisa towards her.

Tohru winced and hurried over to them just as her friend began to launch into a rapid barrage of questions. Sighing heavily, she gripped his shoulders and pulled him backwards, hoping to give the mermen space. Belatedly, she wondered what would happen if Sousuke had fallen backwards into the water. Did tonic immobility affect him like it did sharks and stingrays?

"Nagisa, give them some space," she scolded softly. "Also…you're speaking really fast."

"But Tohru-chan!" he gasped, whipping towards her and cracking their foreheads together.

They both yelped, jumping apart and clutching their heads. She whined lowly, a high-pitched version echoing hers as she pressed her hands to her wounded body part. Her equilibrium felt off and she knew she was swaying from the pain, so she squatted down to cut down her chances of falling. Slowly, the pain dulled.

"Honestly," Rin remarked, placing a hand on her back. "What am I going to do with you two?"

"Give us ice?" Nagisa begged.

Tohru squinted at him. "Did you bring a cooler?"

"This time. Hold on," Rin sighed, standing.

His footsteps hurried down the boat.

"Tohruuu…" Makoto whined plaintively and she shuffled closer to him.

Her eyes were still mostly closed, but she was now gently rubbing her forehead, wishing the ache to ebb. Cool fingers joined hers, coaxing her head to tip slightly back. Her hands dropped to savor the wonderful chill that Makoto's hand held. She hummed softly.

A tingling sensation spread across her skin, like the feeling of your muscles going numb. It fizzled and danced under and over her forehead until any pain she felt was gone. The tingling sensation disappeared with it. She blinked her eyes open in surprise, reaching upwards to touch the hand that still rested on her forehead.

"Wha…" was her intelligent response, eyes widening with the realization of what just happened. She tried tilting her head to the side to look up at Makoto. "Did you…was that…?"

"Magic? Yes," he offered. He lowered his hand. "How are you feeling?"

"The pain is gone," she remarked, gently touching her forehead where he had. Her skin was wet. "And I feel more alert somehow."

She looked up to catch him looking thoughtful. A faint glow rested in his eyes, much more so than the sunlight could allow. She suddenly remembered the bright and feral eyes of Sousuke not two days ago.

"That's a side effect," the whale shark merman said lowly. "Healing head injuries tends to make the patient more alert than they were."

"It won't last long, though," Makoto added with an apologetic smile. "Give it a bit."

"Magic is coooool," Nagisa slurred. "Ahhh, so nice and cold."

Tohru turned to see her friend pressing a large bundle to his forehead. Rin stood behind him with his hands on his hips and an expression that was a cross between disbelieving and combatant. However, he sighed instead of saying anything and shook his head.

"We're in a god damned fairytale," he muttered loudly, rubbing his neck. "Mermen and magic and sea witches…"

"Sea witches!? Ow…" Nagisa exclaimed before pressing the bundled icepack to his forehead again.

"Witch. Singular," Sousuke corrected. He laid his head on his arms. "Not that you're ever gonna meet her 'cause then we'd lose our tails."

There was a beat of silence.

"…like…cut in half or…you'd get legs...?" Rin asked in confusion.

Tohru would admit that she was curious too.

Sousuke grimaced, but he looked just as confused as they felt.

"It's…It's a saying," the merman explained. "We wouldn't actually lose our tails…"

"Like 'whale shit'?" Now Rin had a grin.

She covered her face with a groan. He was actually five, wasn't he? Totally and completely five.

"Yes, like that."

She was going to shove Sousuke off the boat.

Nagisa snickered.

That was it.

Collecting her wits about her, Tohru stood. They were wasting daylight and as much as she would love to spend the day talking to the mermen, she should start her job. The nice, fantastic job as a marine biologist which she slaved through university for and finally, finally, had a grant to do research outside of the Churaumi Aquarium.

"I have a job to do," she announced, placing her hands on her hips. "Nagisa, when you can, please suit up. We have a survey to do."

She used her best administrator voice and everything. Nagisa gave her a thumbs up.

"Yes, ma'am!" he chirped, struggling to his feet. He made his way to the cabin and closed himself inside.

"…remember when he used to strip right out on the deck?" Rin remarked almost fondly.

She raised an eyebrow and pointed at Rei. "Rei's literally right here, Rin."

Her best friend sputtered fantastically.

"Excuse you!" he managed to snap. "Like hell, I'd find Nagisa attractive!"

"But he's cute," she said, tilting her head. "Don't you like cute?"

"Not that kind of cute," he grumbled. "Besides," and his voice changed into a bad mimic of hers, "your guppies are literally right here."

And in English. For added injury.

Her cheeks burned at the insinuation. She didn't have that kind of relationship with either Makoto or Sousuke. She barely had a relationship with them at all. Even if they did visit all the time and helped them out despite getting in trouble with the sea witch.

"Again with the guppies," Sousuke remarked with huff.

"I still don't know what a guppy is," Makoto added a little petulantly.

The heat in her cheeks doubled in force.

A new voice spoke up.

"Wait, they know English?" Rei gasped and she turned her attention to him.

He still sat on the deck box and he still looked like he might pass out at any moment, but he was peering at them curiously, eyes squinted from taking off his glasses. His hair was tousled, probably from him running his hands through it the more they had been talking to the mermen. Still, despite his disheveled appearance and his grayish complexion, his natural curiosity had him asking questions.

Even Rei wasn’t immune to the allure of knowledge. Especially knowledge about something completely and utterly unknown to the rest of the world.

"We have a natural proficiency with languages," Makoto explained, just like he had so many days ago.

Gosh.

Had it been days? Hell, it had only been a couple weeks, hadn't it? So many things had happened that it felt like so much longer. Like months had passed. It was an odd thought that not a lot of time had passed.

She barely knew the mermen if she really thought about it. Even with all that happened, she didn't know them very well at all. Her head hurt again. She leaned on the railing of the boat, so that she didn't fall over.

"Is there a limit?" Rei asked and that too was like two weeks ago

Immediately, surprisingly, Tohru remembered what Makoto had said.

"Non c'é un limite," she sounded out, frowning at the foreign words in her mouth.

She should work on her Italian.

"That was very good," Makoto said warmly.

She quickly looked up at him, cheeks heating up. He had a bright smile on his face and a fonder look in his eyes. She wondered if he realized that she had remembered what he said.

"No limit?" Rei spoke up and she turned to look at her friend. He squinted at her. "Since when did you know Italian?"

"Well, mom taught me a few phrases should I ever go to Italy," she explained, "but, um, that's how Makoto-san responded last time we asked about languages."

Rei put his glasses back on, pushing them up in an all too familiar way. Violet irises sparkled despite the pallor of their owner's skin. He leaned forward, rubbing his chin.

"So the musical ability to which legends refer extends to languages as well," he remarked. "Is it a voluntary choice to use a certain language? Or involuntary, such that they hear a language being used and respond to it?"

Well, Rei's curiosity had been piqued. She was rather surprised, actually, at the swiftness in which his tune changed. Then again, he did have a natural curiosity like Nagisa and, if someone close to him reacted calmly to something, he too was likely to have a favorable reaction.

Maybe this would be easier than teaching him how to swim.

"Voluntary."

Sousuke's voice surprised her, mostly because she hadn't expected him to be the one to respond. She turned to the mermen.

"So you choose what language to use?" she pressed.

"Well, I feel like it's both?" Makoto responded this time, looking thoughtfully upwards. "Like, we are more likely to respond in a language we hear, rather than choose a different language. But we don't have to respond in that language. If that makes sense."

"Yeah, it does," Rin remarked with a nod. He looked towards them. "Do you ever mix languages?"

Sousuke raised an eyebrow incredulously.

"Not particularly." Makoto shrugged. "Since we're usually talking to other merfolk, we don't have to use anything but mermish."

"Mermish?" Rei asked.

"Our language," Makoto said with a smile just as the cabin door burst open.

Nagisa sprinted from the small room, sliding the last few feet to the mermen on his knees. He had something in his hands, which he thrust out towards the two. Again, Sousuke reared back.

Tohru stood from her leaning position to ease Nagisa away from them. She was sure Sousuke was already overloaded with human interaction. She didn't want him feeling anymore uncomfortable than he probably already did.

"It's cool that you guys speak so many languages, but check this out!" he chirped happily. "This is a guppy!"

He held up his tablet, which she only knew was his due to the bright pink case it had. Tohru covered her face in disbelief, hiding her reddening cheeks.

Rin began to snicker.

"…I don't understand," Makoto finally said. "How does that…?"

"Our tails look nothing like that," Sousuke huffed.

"What do your tails look like?" Nagisa asked brightly and excitedly.

Tohru took that as her cue.

"Suit up and you can see them in their natural environment," she ordered, nudging one of their air tanks with her foot. She smiled at the two mermen. "You two might want to move back."

Sousuke immediately dropped into the water. His actions were a bit abrupt, but she understood why. No doubt Nagisa had overwhelmed him. Care for him or not, her friend did tend to have that effect on people, even with all his good intentions. Besides, Sousuke shouldn't be forcing himself out of his comfort zone too much in too short a time. Makoto smiled indulgently at the water before dropping down himself.

Once they were gone, Tohru clapped her hands. She felt much better without an audience.

"All right. Nagisa and I will be down for an hour," she began explaining to Rin and Rei. "My camera is set up to immediately send any photos I take to my laptop, which you know the password to, Rei. We're just going down to take pictures and grab samples from the vegetation and silt for the control group and to analyze. Save for the mermen, nothing should bother us. Everyone got that?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Nagisa saluted her while Rin and Rei agreed.

"All right. Let's go!"

With a quickness that came from years of experience and practice, both she and Nagisa were in the water in record time. Blue stretched around them as they dived down towards the seafloor. Silence reigned as they explored, but Tohru felt much better now that she had a diving buddy. If they had radios, she might feel even safer, but that diving equipment was going to arrive with the rest of the equipment she had ordered. Nevertheless, she enjoyed her friend's presence in the great expanse of the ocean.

As they swam closer to the rocks, a dark shadow passed above her and Makoto appeared in her peripheral vision. She waved at him, ignoring Nagisa's excited fist shaking and finger pointing at the sight of the orca merman's tail.

"Sousuke's taking a nap," he reported, swimming around them with ease. He came back to her left side.

Tohru tilted her head, wishing she could ask if he was okay. Makoto, thankfully, seemed to understand.

"He's all right," he said with a smile. "Too much human interaction. He'll probably stop by again, once he recovers. He gets lost easily, y'know."

A snort bubbled up her throat, forcing her to press a hand to her mouthpiece so she wouldn't spit it out from laughing. Of all things, a whale shark getting lost was not what she had expected. Her shoulders shook from her suppressed laughter, which eased when she caught sight of the way Makoto's eyes crinkled with his smile. Suddenly, the hand against her mouthpiece was to prevent a startled gasp from drowning her. In that moment, he was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

Cheeks warming, she quickly returned her gaze forward so that she could get to work, rather than ogle the merman. There would be other times for more covert staring, better times than when she was underwater. Right now, she had research to do. Of course, it would be a while until they got close enough to the bottom so it would be rude to ignore him the whole time, but she really should focus.

Nagisa seemed not to care, gesturing excitedly to Makoto. He was trying to say something or maybe it was ask, but she couldn't understand it. Neither did the merman, honestly, as he looked confused, but he swam over to her partner's side nonetheless. Nagisa resorted to pointing at random body parts to emphasize his questions. Both she and Makoto caught on at that.

Nagisa pointed first to the merman's tail.

"I have the tail of an orca, yes," Makoto explained. Nagisa's finger remained pointing at his tail. "Ah, um, I have a lot of qualities like an orca, too. Um, like, echolocation is one."

Nodding, Nagisa then pointed at his hands. The merman frowned, looking confused as he held up his hands for them. Pale gray webbing connected his fingers together, which admittedly was the only weird thing about his hands. That and the black flesh on the back of them when he flipped them around to prove that his hands were totally normal. He even put his palm against Nagisa's when her fellow scientist reached forward eagerly.

"They're just like yours," Makoto said in confusion. Nagisa's fingers barely passed the first joint of the merman's fingers. "Maybe a little bigger..."

Nagisa pointed at the webbing. Tohru inched a little closer to see it, fascinated by the opaque membrane. The more reasonable part of her brain told her that she should be swimming lower, as there was still almost ten meters left to dive until they reached the bottom. The excitable scientist in her, however, wanted to examine and learn more about the merman in front of her. Especially since he was so willing to teach her.

He glanced up at her, catching her off guard, and then offered his other hand to her. Tentatively, she took his hand, running her gloved fingers over his palm before gently spreading his fingers to touch the webbing. She couldn't really feel anything, though, too eager in her excitement to remove her gloves. Frustrated at the lack of sensation, she released his hand to tug off her right glove, which she shoved into her belt. She then held his hand again and ran her bare fingers over the membrane.

It felt odd, simultaneously like human skin and something much smoother. Considering the difference between his patterns and the more human skin, this made sense, but the sensation of touching it nevertheless confused her. She stroked both sides of the webbing and found that they felt the same before she indulged her curiosity.

Turning his hand, she pressed their palms together and, like Nagisa, her fingertips barely passed his first joint. She supposed that made sense since she and Nagisa were almost the same size; she, admittedly, was heavier than he was and much curvier. Nevertheless, the size difference made her blush because she had never really been anything but the big girl. She liked that her hand was so much smaller than his was.

Her cheeks felt a little warm and awareness came back to her with a jolt. Maybe a little too fast, she pulled her hand away. Her mask covered her expression so Makoto would thankfully not see her distress, but that still didn't stop her from dropping her eyes to her hands. Her fingers shook as she fumbled to put her right glove back on. As much as she wanted to look up, she stayed focused on her task, as she was still too flustered to face either her partner or the merman. Even when she did lift her head, she looked between them and brusquely pointed to sandy seafloor. Then she turned and returned to her descent as quickly as she healthily could.

She was acting weird. She knew she was. Since when did she get so flustered over someone being bigger than her? When did she ever get flustered over anyone, period? Well, there was that one time when her idol, Professor Nishiyama, came for a lecture at her university, but that was different. That was a celebrity. Most people became flustered around celebrities. That was expected. A merman, however, wasn't a celebrity. A merman—well, a merman wasn't supposed to exist. It was illogical to get flustered about a mythical creature.

And yet, here she was acting like a school girl, swimming away because she got excited over the simple fact that her hand was smaller. Her hand was smaller than a lot of people's. Like Rin. He had bigger hands than she did. So did Rei and Seijuurou. She took as deep a breath to calm down, more sensing than seeing that Nagisa had joined her. She wasn't sure if Makoto had followed her or not. No matter, she had a job to do.

***

Makoto kept his distance as Tohru and Nagisa did their work. He half-watched the humans, more focused on his hand to give them more than an occasional glance. He kept flipping it back and forth, fascinated by the skin and bones and tendons that he had seen all his life. His palm still tingled from where Tohru had pressed hers to his. Only Sousuke had ever caused such a reaction in him and he was so fascinated that a human could cause the same reaction.

Maybe...Maybe he should be worried that she could.

After all, Sousuke was his mate and, yes, they had known each for years now. Yes, they were familiar, but that didn't mean palms touching and bodies touching and his skin on his skin couldn't cause excited shivers and sparks dancing down his arms and bones. Familiarity meant that they knew what excited the other, even if they were young and a little inexperienced. But he had only just met Tohru and her fingers on his skin and her palm against his tickled his nerves with the same intensity that Sousuke did. That meant something; he was sure of it.

He flipped his hand again, glancing up at a shadow passing overhead. Sousuke swam above him, gazing out towards where the humans were carefully doing something by the rocks and corals, before he swerved downwards to lie next to him. His mate kissed his shoulder in greeting, the brush of his lips making his skin prickle from the attention. A shiver followed not a moment later. Makoto shifted closer to the other merman, seeking more contact. Their shoulders bumped together and even Sousuke's rough skin couldn't deter him in his hunt for the buzzing heat.

His skin felt just as it had when Tohru pressed their palms together.

"How is Tohru and her...friend doing?" Sousuke asked.

"All right," Makoto hummed. "Nagisa is very excited about us. He kept asking questions."

He belatedly realized how that sounded.

"...how?"

"Oh, he just would point rather vigorously at anything he wanted to know." Makoto grinned a little sheepishly. "I think Tohru got annoyed, though."

Sousuke propped his head up. "She did say she had a job to do. Which, technically, we do too."

Makoto huffed as he slid down the rock. His chin rested on an uncomfortable edge, but that didn't matter. He pouted, but now that Sousuke mentioned their job, he did feel guilty. He had just been more focused on helping Tohru and Rin than protecting his town. Which was bad, especially for a so-called guardian, but he was curious and he already thought of them as part of his pod. And they were in more danger than the town at the moment.

Sousuke brushed his fingers down his back, derailing his thoughts. Shivers erupted where their skin touched. The fingers did not stop, instead swirling around in patterns up and down his spine and over his lower back and shoulder blades. They left heat in their wake and the heat pooled in his cheeks.

Makoto whipped up from his lying position and twisted his head around to stare at his mate when the sensations grew too much. Sousuke looked placidly at him, his chin on his palm and the other hand hovering in the water. He slowly blinked as a smile grew on his face.

"Is now the time?" Makoto hissed.

Nevertheless, he wanted more.

His mate hummed. "I wasn't doing anything."

"Uh-huh..." he grumbled before settling much, much closer to him. “Don't make me flip you."

"Mm, is now the time?" Sousuke teased, raising his eyebrows and settling his arm around Makoto's waist. He grinned at Makoto's displeasure before nudging their foreheads together. "Seriously, though, it wasn't my intention to rile you up."

Makoto pouted, narrowing his eyes, before he sighed.

"Sorry. Maybe I riled myself up," he murmured.

"How so?"

He glanced down at his hands, idly moving his fingers. He flipped one to see his palm.

"...Tohru...pressed her palm to mine and..." he trailed off with a sigh of bubbles and a rush of heat to his cheeks.

"And?" Sousuke pressed.

"...and I don't know," Makoto confessed with a frown. "I don't know how to explain it. It was...It was like when you touch me...or-or something."

Fingers trailed up his shoulder.

"Like...when I touch you?" Sousuke echoed. "Does...it bother you...when I...?"

Makoto laughed softly. "No, no. If it does, only ever pleasantly. Which is why...why I'm so confused."

All was silent save for the faintest clicking noise, which he assumed was from the humans. The sunbeams dappled Sousuke's already spotted skin with more spots. Makoto walked his fingers between the shifting light.

"I didn't think you fell so easily," his mate remarked. His voice was guarded.

"Don't be ridiculous," he huffed, tapping Sousuke's nose. "I'm not in love with her. I love you. I'm just...I'm curious..."

Teal eyes regarded him intensely before fluttering closed. Bubbles spewed between them.

"I can't blame you," Sousuke grumbled. He glanced towards where the humans were. "I'm curious too. ...a mermaid would have been easier, though."

Makoto snorted before nudging his face against the other merman's neck. Sousuke jumped and sputtered something incoherent as his chuckles popped against his skin. His shoulders sagged until he was almost completely flat against his mate, almost pushing him onto his back. Sousuke's grip on the rock was the only thing preventing that.

They couldn't rightly form that kind of relationship with Tohru. After all, how would it work between a human and a merman? Tohru couldn't breathe underwater without help from some apparatus and, well, they had tails. Besides, human mating and courting rituals were a mystery to them. For all they knew, Tohru and Rin might already be together. They certainly never seemed to be apart these last few weeks. Maybe...Maybe he was getting ahead of himself...

Before Makoto could follow that any further, Sousuke stiffened against him. He needed nothing else to alert him of danger as he swiftly moved away from his mate and began surveying their surroundings. His gaze didn't go very far when it landed on a group of four medium-sized sharks meandering around and between Tohru and Nagisa. He bristled, despite the relative calm both sharks and humans exuded. He swallowed a click of distress.

One of the sharks bumped Tohru and he almost darted forward at that. The only thing that stopped him was the ease with which the human woman dropped her hand and patted the nose and back of the shark. It wiggled and spun around her, bumping into her waiting hand excitedly. Slowly, she brought up her other hand and let it hover under the shark's chin as she rubbed its nose. She had to move it, however, when one of the other sharks came up to her other side, bumping against her. That too received a nose rub to appease it. Nagisa was doing the same with the remaining two sharks, though the animals frequently switched between the two humans despite their new sluggish behavior.

Makoto stared in shock, sinking down as he watched the two humans pet the sharks. He didn't want to remove his eyes, in case something happened, but he blindly reached out and patted Sousuke's shoulder. His mate gave his hand a squeeze before his spotted tail headed towards the divers. Breathless and shell-shocked, he followed him.

The sharks were unperturbed at their arrival. Tohru did look up briefly at their shadows, her shoulders tensing for the briefest of moments until she realized the shadows belonged to them. Makoto smiled at her and her shoulders lowered a little before she returned her attention to the strangely affectionate sharks. Sousuke floated down to them, glancing over the humans, but paying the most attention to the animals, which gave little acknowledgment to them. His eyes began to glow before he tapped each shark between the eyes. They froze and he began swimming away.

The sharks sluggishly began following him, abandoning the humans with little mind. With a glance towards his mate, Sousuke sped off with his new entourage. It didn't take long for them to disappear after him.

After several moments, wherein Makoto swam protectively around the two humans, Sousuke finally reappeared. He looked significantly drained, but otherwise was no worse for wear. His eyes no longer glowed as he rejoined them.

"Are you all right?" he asked once he reached them.

Makoto turned to see Tohru nod and then point upwards. With little other warning, she and Nagisa began their ascent back towards their boat. They seemed unperturbed by the encounter, but that didn't stop Makoto from encouraging Sousuke to follow them with him in case more sharks showed up.

They surfaced just a few strokes away from the boat. Both the humans removed their eye coverings and mouthpieces. Nagisa's eyes were wide and they seemed to sparkle as he took in Makoto and Sousuke. For coming face to face with sharks just moments ago, he was remarkably unfazed. A big grin formed on his face despite Tohru urging him to return to the boat.

"You're a whale shark!" he was saying, as he tried to both climb the boat and look at Sousuke.

"Nagisa, you're gonna fall," Tohru scolded.

"Oh, don't worry!" he laughed, waving his hand. "How many times have we made this climb?"

She rolled her eyes, but she kept a watchful eye on him as he clambered over the railing of the boat. Makoto didn't blame her, considering all that had happened to her and Rin. He himself was swimming worriedly behind her as they watched her friend scramble over the side of the boat.

However, she didn't immediately follow. Instead, she shifted closer to him, eyeing the boat before she leaned her face close to his. Makoto stiffened at her nearness and his cheeks heated up. A serious and nervous look decorated her face when she looked into his eyes.

Bringing up her hand to the side of her mouth, she whispered, "Nagisa and Rei don't know about the curse. I…I would like to keep it that way for the moment."

He frowned.

"Are you sure?" he whispered back, inclining his head towards her.

"One big surprise at a time," she murmured and her smile was a little wry and a little sad.

"What about the sharks? Won't he wonder about that?" he pressed.

Her mouth twisted as she thought, glancing back at the boat. She hummed before looking back at him. Another wry smile sat on her mouth.

"Probably not," she answered. "He might just think of it as an exciting occurrence. We have swum with sharks before, so..."

"What do you mean you've swum with sharks before?" Sousuke cut in.

"It's no big deal," she insisted and she turned back to the boat. "We weren't by ourselves."

"That—you're a human."

Tohru began climbing the side of the boat. She tilted her head curiously before she slid over the rail. Pulling her goggles and black hood back, she leaned back over to flash them a puzzled look.

"What does that have to do with this?" she asked, leaning her elbows against the railing.

Sousuke leaned closer to the boat. "You live on land! You're prey!"

Her eyes flashed and she opened her mouth to retort before pausing. Again, her mouth twisted as she thought over what he said. A mildly irritated hum sounded from her throat.

"...you're not wrong," she grumbled before huffing, "but it's not like we swam with them when they were hunting or anything. We were careful."

Sousuke scowled.

"Even still, you could get hurt," Makoto said, hoping to disrupt the ire growing on his mate's face. "Promise us you won't anymore?"

Tohru winced.

"I...can't really make that promise," she confessed. She glanced behind her before sighing. "Y'see...I work at an aquarium and I work with sharks there. And I have to go into their tank to make sure that they're healthy."

He frowned, confused.

"An aquarium?" he echoed. The word sounded familiar, but he wasn't sure why. "What's that?"

She hesitated, looking conflicted. Again, she glanced behind her before she grimaced.

"It's, uh... It's a...a building and..." Her fingers rapped against the railing before she began tugging at them. "Well, we display fish and-and similar animals there. O-Of course, Churaumi—er, that is the aquarium I work at, has taken the turn to rehab center in recent years so m-most of our animals only stay until they recover, b-but we do have some permanent residents, l-like Jinta because he's half blind, but most are released once they've healed!"

For some reason, she looked distressed as she explained what an aquarium was. Though the rehab part didn't sound too bad, whatever that meant, he couldn't help focusing on one particular word.

"Display?" both he and Sousuke echoed.

"What do you mean by that?" Makoto pressed, feeling more and more concerned.

Her mouth twisted and her shoulders rose to her ears. She looked away from them, but before she could speak, Nagisa jumped up to her side.

"They're in tanks relative to their size so that people can admire them," he explained, looking remarkably serious. "We take great care in making sure our animals are comfortable and stress free and, besides, any animal that isn't in the rehab program was born in captivity and even then, it's only our really tiny fish."

Just like aquarium, the word tank sounded familiar and hearing that they kept fish in them made him shiver a little. What was the point of that? The fish had to be miserable, even if the tanks were big enough to fit them. Nothing could compare to the sea. Nothing could compare to seeing them in the sea.

A brief flash of Lady Miho's lecturing face filled his mind, a lecture from a while ago, back when they were children. Warnings about humans, warnings about humans called scientists with greed burning in their eyes and mysterious tanks to hold captured creatures and other horrors she hadn't said, but alluded to with meaningful glares and looks into the distance.

Tohru, however, had never looked upon them with greed. She had never tried or alluded to capturing them, had never wanted more than to just know. This had been the first time she even mentioned an aquarium or tanks and even then, even now, she looked worried...worried about their response.

Despite himself, a smile lifted his cheeks. He should feel more wary, especially now with this new knowledge, but he couldn't find it in him to be. Not with how distraught Tohru looked and the seriousness on Nagisa's face.

"I may not agree with it. Fish belong in the sea," he began, considering his words, "but you seem sincere about the good that your aquarium does, so...I guess...it's okay?"

The glance towards Sousuke was instinctual, checking to see how his mate would react. He didn't appear upset, a carefully blank look on his face, but he was still scrutinizing the humans. It would be good to give him the space to consider his own opinion.

Makoto returned his gaze upwards. Thankfully, Tohru looked less upset and even she had a small smile on her face. His heart lurched when she leaned against the railing and reached over, her hand dangling downwards. Without much thought, he slid his fingers around hers.

"I don't much like having the animals in tanks myself," she confessed. "I much prefer seeing them in their natural environments, but...well, humans are arrogant and us scientists are trying to fix the damage caused by other humans. Sadly, that often requires tanks and aquariums to protect them. Especially the animals that have been injured beyond recovery."

"Like the one you mentioned?" he asked and her smile grew.

"Yes, like Jinta," she agreed. She gently bobbed their hands. "He has cataracts on his eyes and, though we removed most of them, he still has some issues seeing. He's been with us a while, so he at least knows the parameters of his tank so he doesn't get hurt. He's a good boy."

"...she says about a ten meter shark," Rin remarked from behind the two scientists.

Makoto tilted his head at that. From the way he said, that must be big. He wondered how big, though.

"He's closer to twelve, actually," Nagisa corrected, twisting to look behind him before quickly looking back at Tohru. "It is twelve, right?"

She nodded. "Mmhm. Last physical we did had him at twelve point twelve, which we thought was amusing. Samemaru is a little smaller at ten point seventy-five and Bei-Bei is eleven exactly, so they're all fully grown. Or, at least, as fully grown as they'll get in an aquarium."

Murmuring in understanding, Nagisa nodded.

Makoto was still horribly confused. A quick glance to his mate proved that he wasn't the only one confused.

Sousuke leaned his head close to his and, softly in mermish, whispered, "They're saying words and I have no idea what they mean."

"Don't be rude," Makoto scolded back, also in mermish. "...they're talking about sharks, I think."

"What do the numbers mean?"

He frowned thoughtfully. "...size, maybe?"

"Tohru, don't forget to take your gear off," Rin spoke up again, drawing their attention upwards.

"Oh, I forgot," Tohru murmured and her hand slipped from Makoto's. She disappeared from view.

Nagisa, however, stayed in sight. His attention was on his fellow humans.

"How do you forget? Your tank alone is like thirteen kilos."

"When I'm not moving too much, I don't notice. Besides, it's more like eleven," she answered and a few clunking noises followed. "I've lifted heavier. You've lifted heavier."

"Yeah, but it's not me wearing it, is it?"

"Am I going to have to give you another lecture on sexism? Do not test me, Matsuoka."

"Tohru can judo throw you, Rin-chan," Nagisa added with a grin. "Hell, she can judo throw Sei-chan. Twenty kilos of scuba gear is cake."

"They're saying numbers and words again," Sousuke grumbled.

Makoto nudged him before asking loudly, "What are meters and kilos?"

"Oh!" Tohru's face immediately popped up over the railing. "Meters are a human measure for length and kilos are a measure of weight."

"Yeah, and thirteen kilos is heavy," Rin chimed in.

She rolled her eyes before her face brightened. Quickly, she twisted around and something made faint clinking noises. When she turned around again, a big grin sat on her face.

"Tell me if this is heavy," she said before hefting her air tank over the side of the boat. She was careful to ease it down between him and Sousuke. "It's actually lighter at the moment, since it's not full anymore, but it does have a heft to it since I have a steel tank."

The tank was long, but still shorter than his arm. It was thin, too, or at least, thin enough that Makoto could grab it relatively easily with one hand. He still brought up his other hand to hold it, but as he passed it between his hands, bringing it a little into the water, he would hardly call it 'hefty'. Bringing it up out of the water again, he held it out one-handedly to Sousuke with a shrug.

Sousuke took it with a faint wrinkle of his nose. Still, he rolled the tank just like Makoto had, looking more and more confused. At least Makoto wasn't alone in his confusion. The tank wasn't all that heavy, barely heavy at all. Balancing the tank on one hand on one of its narrow ends, Sousuke lifted the tank back up to Tohru.

Both she and Nagisa were gaping at them. It took them a moment to even move, let alone take the offered tank. Nagisa was even mouthing words as Tohru pulled the tank closer to her, finally pulling it over the railing. Oddly enough, her cheeks were red.

"It's not that heavy," Sousuke remarked.

Makoto nodded. "It's not like it's a tuna or grouper."

"T-Those are significantly heavier!" Tohru squeaked. Her cheeks darkened.

"Exactly," Sousuke said. From his tone, Makoto knew he was lifting an incredulous eyebrow. "You weren't that heavy either."

Tohru began sputtering, her whole face an unhealthy shade of red. The noises she made almost sounded like the shrill cries of seagulls. She covered her face with her hands and sunk down behind the railing.

Nagisa lurched over the railing with wide eyes and grin. He dangled there and fluttered his hands before he could even speak.

"When did you pick up Tohru-chan!?" he exclaimed.

Makoto slapped Sousuke's hip fin before he could speak.

"She fell overboard one day and we helped her back onto the boat," he explained with a smile. "The water had been a little choppy that day."

"Tohru-chan, how clumsy!" Nagisa cackled.

Makoto smiled a little. He felt a little bad having to lie to them, but explaining how Tohru had almost died that day would be a feat. Besides, a promise was a promise, even a nonverbal one, and he wasn't going to break it just minutes after she asked.

Sousuke shifted next to him before he disappeared in his peripheral. A quick glance told him that his mate was swimming below the surface. At least he was staying nearby. He would really rather not look for his mate once they said goodbye to the humans.

A shadow covered the water. Makoto looked up to find Rin leaning over the railing where Tohru had been. He looked very serious.

"You broke Tohru," he accused before Makoto could open his mouth.

Makoto sputtered, feeling his eyes widen. How did he break her? What did Rin even mean by that?

A grin split across Rin's face, which made him look decidedly wicked. Or shark-like, really.

"Such guppies," he teased.

That made Makoto's cheeks warm.

"I don't know what you even mean with that!" he cried. He frowned. "And what do you mean I broke Tohru?"

"Sou-chan said she wasn't that heavy," Nagisa pointed out with his own wicked grin.

"Well, she wasn't," Makoto insisted.

A shrill noise followed his words. The two human men looked positively gleeful at the sound.

Makoto didn't share their glee. He was much more worried about Tohru. If Rin wasn’t leaning so close to the railing and Nagisa wasn’t leaning on it, he would pull himself up to make sure she was okay.

"Let's just say that Tohru doesn't often get that, eh, statement in regards to her weight from human men," Rin explained with shrug.

"And, by human standards, you and Sou-chan are very, very handsome," Nagisa added. "So hearing that she barely weighs a thing to you guys… Well…"

Both human men wiggled their eyebrows. For some reason, that made Makoto’s cheeks burn.

"Please, can we not talk about this?" Tohru begged abruptly from her hiding place. "Can't you guys focus on something else?"

"But they're super strong, Tohru-chan!" Nagisa laughed. "That's really fascinating, right? As far as I know, there are no myths about mermaids being super strong!"

"What about the myths about drowning sailors?" Rin asked.

Makoto frowned and flicked his tail in agitation. That was one of the few things he knew about humans, about how they feared merfolk because of tales such as that. The sirens were the ones at fault for those…for the most part.

"Oh, I guess that could be an example of super strength…" Nagisa amended with a hum. "Seeing as a lot sailors tend to be on the burly side…"

"Merfolk don't drown humans," Makoto spoke up. He couldn't help the sour expression from coming out. "It's against our code."

Nagisa's eyes widened while Rin grimaced.

Finally, Tohru peeked over the railing. Her cheeks were still red, but from what he could see of her face, she looked more composed. Seeing her eased the angry ball in his stomach.

"That makes sense," she murmured. "Otherwise you and Sousuke wouldn't have saved me and Rin."

"Then why do we have so many myths about mermaids drowning sailors?" Nagisa whined, flailing his hands.

Makoto couldn't help sinking into the water until his chin rested on the surface. The same reason they had all those myths was also the reason that Rin and Tohru were cursed. The same reason he didn't venture far into the depths alone.

"Sirens," Sousuke answered for him as he surfaced.

Rin's face contorted again, but Nagisa's eyes only seemed to get bigger. The smaller human leaned farther over the railing and only Rin's hand on his shoulder kept him from falling into Makoto and Sousuke.

Comparatively, Tohru remained mostly hidden by the side of the boat. Only the top part of her head was visible. Her eyebrows furrowed over her eyes when their gazes met.

"Sirens…" she echoed softly, lifting herself until her chin rested on the railing. “…what differentiates them from merfolk?"

"Appetite, mostly," Sousuke said. Water sloshed as he shrugged. "They're more…magical than we are. They…ugh, what is it again? Desires? They make desires seem real."

She hummed and leaned away from the railing. Her fingers ran over her lips as she took in this information.

Makoto wanted to change the subject. Sirens had always bothered him, had always made him fear going out alone. They were vicious and coldhearted and cared little for who or what they seduced. And worst of all, it was because of a siren that Rin and Tohru were cursed. He swung his tail in agitation, slipping under the water to lap the boat a couple times. Bubbles spiraled around him and danced in the sunlight and the shadow of the boat.

Once he had calmed down, once he no longer felt like fear was going to choke him, a tug of guilt had him return to his mate's side. How rude of him to disappear like that. The humans wouldn’t understand, even if Tohru was very accommodating with their quirks.

When he resurfaced, Tohru was conversing softly with Sousuke and both of her friends were gone. That guilt shot through his chest. He hoped he hadn’t offended Rin or Nagisa. Sirens just…made him uncomfortable.

"How are you feeling? Are you okay?" she was asking, tentatively reaching out to him.

Sousuke brushed his fingers against hers, letting her stroke his knuckles. He tilted his head a little.

"…I'll be all right," he confessed and both she and Makoto huffed.

The noise drew her attention to Sousuke’s right. She jumped a little, but happiness decorated her face rather than surprise.

"Oh! Makoto-san!" A smile bloomed on her face before it was again replaced by worry. "Are you okay? We're not overwhelming both of you, are we?"

He managed a small smile.

"I'm fine," he said before assenting at her pout and Sousuke's nudge. "Sirens are…a bit of a phobia of mine. They…someone close to me…"

Tohru offered her other hand to him immediately.

"You don't have to explain," she said when he took her hand. "I'm sorry that we brought up bad memories. I'm sorry to both of you."

"Why?" he asked. He rocked their hands. "What could you be sorry about?"

Her smile reeked of regret. His heart ached at the sight.

"That you got involved with us," she admitted, albeit quietly.

"I'd probably do it again," he countered and felt his cheeks warm at her surprised face. "Uh, I, that is…"

Her next smile glowed. It took him a moment to remember how to speak or what to speak or who he was. His tail stilled for a moment and he went under, surging back up a second later. His cheeks felt like his skin was boiling.

Sousuke snorted.

Tohru's smile became giggles.

"Are you okay?" she asked again.

"I, uh, yeah, I'm all right," he stuttered.

He swatted his mate's hip when he didn't stop snickering. He would bet that he too had been stunned for a moment by her smile. He just had the more embarrassing reaction.

Tohru laid her head on her crossed arms.

"Okay. I'll believe you," she said and he didn't think she really believed him. "…and let me know whenever you're uncomfortable. I know…I know I get caught up in…in the science and discovery of you guys and…I've made you uncomfortable before. Nope, don't try to say you weren't. I literally just ran my hands over you the first time we met."

Makoto couldn't argue with that, but the memory of her hands running along his arms no longer made him feel uncomfortable. Instead, his skin tingled at the memory, wanting more of that attention.

"All right. We'll let you know," Sousuke spoke for him. "Likewise."

She smiled at that.

"I don't think you've made me uncomfortable," she admitted.

"Not even the fiery comment?"

She laughed.

"Not even that."

"Mm. You're still pretty fiery."

"I'm still amazed you know what fire is."

Makoto smiled at their interaction, enjoying the teasing tone that Sousuke had adopted. Out of all the humans, he was probably most comfortable with Tohru, if only because she was just so willing to listen and learn. It made his heart soar that his mate was so comfortable around maybe his favorite human.

Just like before, a shadow fell over them. Just past Tohru was Rin, who cleared his throat loudly.

"As much as I enjoy your obvious flirting," here he ignored Tohru's attempts to contradict him, "we need to head back to land."

"Eh? But—!" Tohru began, twisting to look up at her friend.

Rin gave her a look.

"We didn't pack lunch or anything kind of food," he reasoned. "The only thing in the cooler is bottles of water and Pocari."

"It's…It's only been…" she trailed off, looking down with a frown. “…I don't know how long it's been."

"It takes about an hour or so to get out here and then you go down for about an hour," he explained counting on his fingers. "And we left at nine this morning, rather than eight because Nagisa and Rei are still jetlagged. So it's almost noon now."

"An hour did not pass from us just talking!" she argued, but her cheeks reddened all the same.

Rin raised an eyebrow and held up some kind of rectangle. There were symbols on the screen and Makoto thought they might be numbers. He had seen something before in some of the shipwrecks he and Haru had explored in their youth, but written language was a mystery to him. Haru probably would know what they meant.

Whatever the symbols meant, they made Tohru gasp.

"Say goodbye to your guppies and go get changed," Rin instructed.

Tohru floundered for words. She didn’t move.

"I-I don't need to get changed!"

Her friend crossed his arms. He honestly looked a little like a father in that moment. For a long moment, neither moved.

She pouted and looked between him and Makoto. She looked torn.

"Okay, fine," she relented after a moment of silence. "But I'll say goodbye after I change."

She stood and stalked down the boat. A door slammed and the music stuttered. Her other friends made confused and worried comments at that.

Rin clicked his tongue. He watched her for a moment before turning back to them.

Makoto straightened at his sharp look. He immediately began planning out an apology and explanation for everything he had done since meeting the humans.

"Okay," the human man began, kneeling down next to the railing. "Just what are your intentions with Tohru?"

That…hadn’t been what he was expecting.

"Eh?"

"You guys flirt with her, but you two are obviously together," Rin explained, pointing between them. His eyes narrowed. "I don't know about merfolk, but humans tend to be monogamous. So what's your intention?"

Makoto shared a look with Sousuke. His mate raised his eyebrows before looking back towards Rin. He followed suit, feeling an odd mix of emotions.

"Is Tohru your mate?" Sousuke asked. "We don't mean to intrude if—”

He stopped abruptly.

Rin's face had become alarmingly red after his question. His mouth opened and closed for a minute or two, but no sound came out. Quickly, he shook his head.

"Agh, no way!" he hissed. "She's like my sister! I'm asking because of-of brotherly worry! Not because we're dating!"

A surprising amount of relief flooded Makoto's body. So Tohru wasn't in a relationship with Rin.

"We, uh, that is, merfolk are open to many forms of relationships," Makoto explained. His tail swished faster. "Many have multiple mates and some only have one. And. Uh. That is, I-I didn't mean, um, well, a-a-about us f-flirting."

He really didn't know where he was going with this. He hadn’t thought he had been flirting with Tohru. He hadn’t thought either he or Sousuke had been flirting with Tohru. All he knew was that he was disproportionately happy that Rin and Tohru were not mates. He covered his face to hide the incoming panicked whine.

Rin hummed incredulously.

Sousuke brushed his shoulder as he moved closer. His fingers ghosted over his side.

"It's way too early for us—.” Sousuke's mouth snapped closed with an audible click of teeth.

"Why does Makoto-san look so uncomfortable? And why is Sousuke so serious? Rin, what did you do?"

Makoto whipped his head up to see Tohru standing next to Rin. Her fists were on her hips and she was wearing those softer clothes again. Unlike her wetsuit, they covered up her curves and made her look almost a little formless, but she looked incredibly soft. Like a seal or a dugong. He wanted to hug her.

Rin grimaced before turning to look up at her. Her eyes narrowed at what no doubt was an attempt at a placating grin.

"Don't worry about," he said with a blasé flip of his hand. "Just something between us guys."

He shot a quick, threatening glare at them.

Tohru crossed her arms and frowned down at him.

"Uh-huh..." she said slowly. “Just you guys, huh?"

"Yeah, so, don't worry about it."

She hummed and it was a very similar sound to Rin's own incredulous hum. Her gaze switched from her friend to Makoto and Sousuke, the former of which jumped at the attention.

He could feel the heat of his blush increase at her staring and his traitorous heart skipped a beat or two. Sousuke cleared his throat nervously. They ended up holding hands because for some reason her quiet stare was both intimidating and attractive.

She sighed.

"All right. Fine," she admitted. She ruffled her hair. "Well, let me say goodbye so we can head back for lunch. But! Next time, we're bringing lunch!"

"You're the boss," Rin chirped. He flicked his fingers from his forehead outwards at Makoto. "See you guppies later!"

"We-We're not guppies!" Makoto cried, but the human man was already gone.

Tohru had wrinkled her nose at her friend before sighing again. Her smile was lopsided when she turned back to them. Again, she knelt by the railing and leaned over it towards them.

"I guess I'll see you later?" she said, but it sounded more like a question.

Her eyes darted between them.

"Of course," Makoto said.

He smiled despite his hot cheeks.

"Just...stay safe," Sousuke added. "We've...become a bit attached to you."

Tohru's smile grew. Her cheeks became rosy and she giggled.

"I'll do my best," she answered. "I'll keep an eye out for Rin too. And...I've become a bit attached to you guys, too."

Her words and her accompanying soft smile made Makoto's heart dance. His mouth felt a little dry, which was such an odd concept, and Sousuke's words from earlier flashed through his mind.

He didn't fall that easily...did he?

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itsybitsybatsyspider · 6 years

Text

If You Give a Troll a Taco: Book 1 Part 2/10

Summary: Jamie Bennett knew a lot can happen during the night. He just never thought that making friends with a half-troll and aspiring wizard with tacos was one of them.

Notes: The perspectives will be changing between the three J’s. Jamie, Jim, and Jack. And i’ve decided that If You Give a Troll a Taco will be the first book of two. So enjoy!

Warnings: mild swearing and anxiety.

Word Count: N.C. (No Clue)

The trek from Arcadia to New Jersey was tiring to say the least. Jim didn’t know what to expect as he and Claire made the cross country backpacking trip, but he didn’t think it would be this hard. According to Claire’s calendar, he, Claire, Blinky and the trolls had been walking across the country for roughly 4 months. It probably wouldn’t have taken this long normally; but alas, they were trolls, and could only move from dusk to dawn. All while avoiding campsites, security cameras, horse ranches, and the regular couple camping by the side of the road. And don’t forget about the rogue goblins or other malicious creatures that sought to do the trolls of Trollmarket harm. It was exhausting. Jim never really thought about how well Blinky and Aarrrgh!!! moved around without being noticed, but now he did. And he has to admit, he has a whole new level of respect for the both of them because of it. Of course, Claire was usually the one to go into convenience stores or gas stations to buy more supplies for the group. So Jim didn’t really have to worry about her being spotted. Only the mass group of 350-400 trolls that relied on him to get them to safety. No pressure there. And after a week or so after the Battle of Arcadia, Jim’s armor shut off, leaving him with tattered jeans and a torn up piece of cloth that barely resembled a jacket. The transformation from human to part-troll wasn’t kind to his clothes. So one night during their travels, he and Claire snuck into a mall and stole some. Claire decided to tag along because she was getting tired of sleeping and walking in her armor, so she opted to a simple

t-shirt, pants and boots. But she chose to leave the bracers and greaves on, just in case they came across goblins or something. But about a week after that, Claire got tired of not being able to protect the group that so desperately needed protection. She was getting antsy and tried to do anything that kept her mind off of that fact. Which is where the dozen or so friendship bracelets came from. But that’s not important. So after talking with Merlin, he decided to help her make another staff, a new one. This one made up of black wood that curled around itself, with a purple gemstone glowing at the top of it, wood curling around that too. The making of the staff was the easy part, but it was the magic that was hard. After some serious thought, Claire decided on what she wanted her new Shadowstaff to do and they worked on it every day for five days whenever they decided to make camp or rest. It turned out to be pretty badass, having it make shadows bigger and darker and allowing the wielder to melt into shadows. It wasn’t the exact same as the Skathrun, but it still had some of the same properties to it as it did. After some practice with her new staff, Claire became a master of it in no time. Sparring with Jim and sometimes ARRRGH!!! while they were took breaks from the road. It was nice to be sparring with her again, it made things seem almost normal and that they didn’t change like they did in the past weeks.

But when Jim entered Burgess, Pennsylvania, he was not expecting what Blinky said. “Watch and listen. Never know what you might see here.” He then proceeded to talk about the strange incidents of the town and that occurred there in the past. Flash freezes, chaotic frost, unpredictable blizzards, stinging hailstorms, and wind gusts that could tear down anything less than brick and wood. It had started just over 305 years ago. And it was worrying to say the least. For just by the way Blinky was saying it, it seemed that the causes of these phenomenons was not natural. So Jim was anxious when they entered Burgess. He didn’t know what he was up against like he did with Gunmar and Angor Rot, and that made the enemy all the more dangerous. You can’t hit what you can’t see.

They had been in Burgess for no more than twelve hours, when they were passing through the backstreets of the town and experienced some trouble. One of the trolls, Zulg, had apparently smelled something good in one of the trash cans and decided that it was a good idea to rummage through it. Alerting the entire neighborhood that there were trolls passing through their backyards. Luckily, no lights turned on from the homes within. Jim let out a sigh. That was the umpteenth time Zulg threatened to expose them, him and his apathetic responses made it aggravating to work with the guy. After scolding him for the thousandth time, Jim thought that they would be able to get away this time, without any bumps or glitches. Oh, if only the universe was that kind. But then there was a flash. Out of the corner of his eye. And that was all it took. Before he could say anything, the Daylight armor appeared and the familiar sword glowed in his hand. Claire’s new staff was at the ready, glowing a dangerous purple and prepared to do whatever kind of damage it needed to do.

“What was that?” Claire asked tense.

Everyone held their breath, waiting for something to come out of the shadows and attack them. When nothing happened, everyone let out a sigh of relief, and slowly began to move forward.

“We need to be more careful.” Jim whispered. “That was a close one.”

Claire nodded. And they began to move forward once more. Jim hoped that that was the last strange thing they would see in Burgess; but that was just the beginning.

By the time dawn came around, the trolls were able to find a spot deep in the woods and make camp. They set up large tarps, family size tents, stolen bed sheets, and umbrellas to make up for the lack of shade. It wasn’t ideal, but it was the best they could while travelling on the road. and while they were travelling along the roads, they came across a Walgreens that hadn’t opened yet. Seeing as how they were just starting to run low, Claire had decided to wait till it opened to gather some more supplies for the group. So she deviated from the group and sat by the doors waiting for the store to open. Jim was worried though that she’d run into trouble, a young girl by herself sitting on the streets this early in the morning, so after he helped the trolls set up everything and told Blinky where he was going, he went off to find her.

After some searching and remembering, Jim found the Walgreens and saw Claire leaning up against the side of the door, head tilted to the side and ebony hair covering her face. Jim smiled. She had fallen asleep. Sneaking behind the drug store, Jim came around to Claire and lifted her up into his arms. She cuddled up against his warmth, despite his skin being rough, and her head laid on his chest. A content growl rumbled from his throat and in that moment Jim was glad that Claire wasn’t awake for that. He would have never heard the end of it. He rounded the corner and crept behind a dumpster before sitting down, Claire now lying in his lap. She looked so beautiful there, just sleeping. How did he end up so lucky as to have met Claire?

They had been hanging around the dumpster for a few minutes, when all of a sudden Jim heard something odd. It sounded like a bird twittering and vibrating. Like a hummingbird. Why would there be hummingbirds here in the middle of autumn? In the back alley of a drug store? Don’t they usually hang around in parks or forests? But as much as Jim wanted to investigate, he couldn’t for fear of waking up Claire. So he just sat there and waited till Claire woke up.

When the Walgreens finally opened and the interior lit up, Jim looked down at Claire and decided that it was time to wake her up, much to his dismay. She was so cute while she slept! Shaking her shoulders, Claire slowly began to wake up, her voice hardly a gravelly whisper.

“No.... I don’t wanna get up yet.....Five more minutes.” Jim smiled softly, and tried to wake her up again.

“Claire? It’s time to get up. The Walgreens is open now.” She groaned the only groan you would groan in the morning and proceeded to sit up. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Claire smacked her lips obviously having that morning breath syndrome that everyone got and suddenly realized where she was. A blush crept up and blossomed in her cheeks, making her whole face turn red. Jim began to blush too, and he was regretting that he couldn’t stop it. She smiled. Oh what a beautiful smile that was too. And even though she just woke up and her smile was all lopsided, it looked even cuter to Jim and he tried his best in that moment not to melt.

“You were saying something about Walgreens?” She asked. Jim gulped down the lump in his throat and tried to talk. Nothing came out. Claire scoffed and went to brush the hair from her eyes, the stark white bangs flashing.

“Jim?” Claire prompted.

“Uh, yeah! I was just saying that the Walgreens opened just now. So you should probably get going.”

Claire nodded before getting up and off of Jim’s lap and went to take her bracers and greaves off. They glowed one last faint purple before they disappeared into her pack and Claire shouldered the backpack on.

“Good morning!”

“Good morning.” they said to each other like an old married couple. “Would you like me to get you some whipped cream for breakfast?” Claire asked, an eyebrow raised. Jim laughed.

“Yeah, that’d be great. And if you decided to get coffee, i get the cup.” Claire gave her boyfriend a nod and exited the alleyway and into the early morning light. She turned around just to be sure Jim was safe and out of sight when he gave her one last toothy grin. She smiled and went to enter the drug store.

On their way back to the camp, Jim and Claire talked and ate their breakfast. Whipped cream/the can for Jim and a cheese danish and some black coffee for Claire. They talked about anything that came to their minds and it was nice for them to have that. It was a bit of normalcy in their crazy lives. Claire talked to Jim about her new staff and how excited she was to use it, and Jim couldn’t help but smile at how cute she was when she was happy. It was like watching a little kid at Christmas!

Jim talked about the new things he learned from Blinky that he never knew existed till now. Like how Blinky started teaching him how to navigate using constellations and stars one night when he saw Jim looking at them. He could now name every constellation in the sky, with some thought, and predict the movements of planets and when they would appear. Claire was glad to hear that Jim had something like that going for him. Something to distract him from the weight of protecting the survivors of Trollmarket, leaving his mom and Toby behind in Arcadia, and not being human anymore. But Claire didn’t want to bring that up, so she stayed quiet and listened to Jim talk.

They arrived at the camp just in time. The sun was slowly reaching up overhead, and racing against the sun was hard. Despite how many times they had already done it. Jim got nicked by the sunlight a few times, but it wasn’t anything too serious thankfully and the injuries went away quickly. They spent the rest of the day inside the camp; checking in on everyone, helping when a sheet or tarp feel over, sparred a little, and checked in with the main defense trolls. Who guarded the camp while they were both on the move and resting. The first day they decided to have them, Jim turned to talk with Draal about being in charge of the group, but then he remembered what happened and a piece of his heart cracked a little bit more.

They reported nothing bad had happened, but there was something rather unusual. One of the trolls on the PaTroll, Keja, said that she saw a glittering shadow running through the trees before vanishing into thin air. She also said that it smelled cold and like rotten wood. Before, when Jim was human, these descriptions would’ve meant nothing to him, but now that he was part-troll, he had noticed scents that he never smelled before. So now he understood what she said when it smelled “cold”.

The sighting of this creature only added to Jim’s fear. He was aware that out here in the daylight, they were all vulnerable to an attack from a supernatural creature; which is why he wanted to find the new Heartstone as soon as possible, get the trolls started on their new home, and then head back to Arcadia to Mom and Toby. That was the plan. Or at least, the plan that he had. But the main point was that Jim was anxious. In fact, he was anxious about everything. Whether it was about getting enough food, hiding, protecting the trolls, getting enough rest, avoiding daylight, dying, his mom missing him, Toby all alone by himself, that he’s convinced that he should be having meds for that shit. So hearing about a possible malevolent creature, did nothing to improve his current mental state.

But other than the sighting, nothing out of the ordinary happened for the rest of the day. It was just after dusk and dinner when Jim thought it’d be a good idea to check the perimeter, so after telling Blinky and Claire, he headed off to the edge of the forest. Alone.

The walk there was peaceful and nice as he breathed in the crisp autumn air and enjoyed the way it cooled him down. The leaves in the trees clapped their hands, the last birds of the day still sang and the sound was sweet to Jim’s ears. The sky was a deep shade of purple with creamsicle orange clouds still hanging above the sun. The stars were just starting to peep out from their black curtains and as he reached the edge of a forest, you could see just how green the grass was. It was one of those moments that you wished lasted forever.

Another breeze fluttered by, seeping through Jim’s sweater, and causing him to shiver. Even if it was just a little.

Jim thought it’d be best to view the landscape from above. That way he could see more and be a better look out in case something bad came along. It also gave him an excuse to see more of the sunset. So he climbed a tree and rested on one of the stronger and bigger limbs. Sighing, he pulled out the amulet and began to fiddle with it. Something he began to do as they started traveling. It helped to occupy his mind and pass the time.

Jim had been sitting up there playing with amulet, till the sun disappeared and the stars came out in their shining glory. The birds stopped chirping, crickets taking their place and the air cooled down to a formidable degree. Sighing out of boredom, Jim leaned his head against the rough bark of the tree. Thinking about what else this town would bring. It had been less than 24 hours and already, there had been things that he couldn’t explain. The bright flash, the fluttering of a bird behind a dumpster, and then that shadow creature. Something was off about this town, and Jim wanted to know what. But he didn’t have time to find out and neither did anyone else. They had two-three days max before they had to start moving again, it wasn’t long, but it was long enough to gather new supplies. The stuff Claire got at the convenience store wasn’t enough for another three weeks on the road.

Suddenly there was a sound of rustling and footsteps. The sound perked up Jim’s ears, drawing his attention. It was coming from within the forest. Slowly standing up on his branch, Jim got ready to do his job as Trollhunter. When suddenly a voice called out.

“Master Jim?”

The Trollhunter breathed a sigh of relief. It was just Blinky.

“Up here!” He replied. The six-eyed troll looked up and relaxed. He must’ve been slightly worried about where Jim was. After all, he hadn’t been back to camp in some while.

“Deya’s grace! How did you get so high up?” the scholar exclaimed.

“Umm, i just climbed? I take it trolls don’t climb trees too often.” Jim said as he climbed down back to the ground.

“No, we do not. You know that we prefer the ground, Master Jim. It’s where we live! I must say, what were you doing up in that tree anyway?”

“I was just keeping a lookout. I have a weird feeling about this town.”

Blinky chuckled. “You and I both.” He then noticed the look on Jim’s face. It was one of worry. “Master Jim? Are you alright?” Jim shook his head.

“No. I’m just really worried about what’ll happen while we stay here. Already there’s been incidents. I’m not so sure that staying would be the best idea. Even if it is just for a few days.”

Blinky nodded. Taking Jim’s words into account. “I understand your apprehensiveness, but alas, we cannot move forward without our supplies. But fear not,” Jim looked up at Blinky. “I have no doubt that our Trollhunter is strong enough to take on any disputer he may come across.”

Jim smiled at the words of praise. “Thanks, Blinky.” The said troll nodded with sincerity. He gave Jim a one-sided hug, who gladly returned it.

“Well, I should probably head back to the camp. I told them that I’d bring you some snacks in case you got hungry. It has been a long day for you. For us all.” Blinky said as he reached into his satchel and pulled out three soda cans and a nearly empty can of whipped cream. The same can that Claire had gotten this morning. Jim smiled at how much Blinky cared for his health. He always did, even when he was human and still in Arcadia.

“Thanks Blinky. Again.” Blinky nodded. “I will see you back at camp, Master Jim.” were his last words before turning around and heading back into the forest. A smile still placed on Jim’s face, he climbed back up his tree and started to eat his new snacks.

He chewed on the soda cans for a bit, before moving on to finish the whipped cream. But before he could, the crickets went silent. the Trollhunter paused in his binging, all attention on his surroundings. Ears perked, shoulders tense, and pressurized can forgotten, Jim was alert and aware of everything and anything around him. He heard the sound of crunching leaves and footsteps. Even the puffs of someone breathing if he strained his ears enough. He quietly said the incantation to summon the armor and once again, within a day, Daylight glowed softly in his hand.

Eyes narrowed and growling softly, Jim was ready for anything. He saw someone enter his vision. And then he threw Daylight right at them. Or at least nearly. Until he saw that they were just a kid and nothing more. Other than the hoodie and torn pants, he looked like an ordinary human being. That is until Jim caught his scent.

He smelled cold. A low growl picked up in his throat once again, and Daylight glinted menacingly in the moonlight. And Jim knew that it was the middle of an autumn night, so of course anyone would be cold. But this was something more than that. It was a deep-rooted cold that held strong to someone’s bones and didn’t let go. It must’ve been the same creature that Keja spotted. Was probably disguised as a human too. Jim was determined to not let it into the camp, and it will not get away.

Before Jim could think about what he was doing, Daylight flew from his hand and pierced the ground before the ‘creature’. He jumped from his post, screaming a battle cry and landed right before the thing. Prepared to take on the creature. The boy fell back, a yelp escaping his throat and eyes wide at the person standing before him.

Jim waited for something to come from the boy. An evil laugh or smile was suspected. But nothing came. Instead, he laughed. the Trollhunter tried hard not to reveal how confused he was, but his facade was tearing down a little.

“Yes! I knew it! Do you know how crazy you’ve made me look!? My friends thought i was going insane! I’ve been looking for you guys all day!”

Jim’s facade fell. He was thoroughly confused about what was happening. Was this not the creature that Keja saw earlier? If not, why did he smell cold? If he wasn’t the creature, then Jim just made a huge mistake. And his face showed it.

“Oh no.”

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babaleshy · 3 years

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Something I May Need to Stop Doing...

I'll be venting in this post, but this is about the desire to move out of a desperate want for change right now even though such a move is not meant to be.

On occasion, I go onto zillow's website and check out houses around Pittsburgh out of curiosity just to see what houses are going for what price in what kind of condition. I've noticed something incredibly enticing: there are some houses going for under $100,000 and are technically livable. It's just got flaking/chipping paint, may need new rugs, and other general clean-ups. The only "major" thing I wanna do to any of these houses falling under this criteria is the fact that I feel more comfortable with a tin roof.

These houses that I find are within city limits, most of these houses I've shown an interest in are close to sidewalks. This means if I were to move into one of these houses, then I'd have a chance to properly commute!

Ah, but why exactly am I making this post? What is it that I'm venting about? And what did I mean earlier when I said "not meant to be?"

Back in 2014 (autumn, specifically), my husband and I had to move out of our apartment in downtown Pittsburgh to my parents' farm in Ohio. Two reasons made us do this: one was the skyrocketing rent prices when HUD sold our building, causing rent to go from $539/mo to $720/mo. My husband worked at a casino, and was making $10/hr, so when rent prices went up like mad, we really began to struggle to survive. The other thing was bedbugs. The building manager laughed at our discomfort and said, "What do you expect me to do about it? Where would everyone go for the building to be treated?" Like, you're a shit manager if you haven't come up with those contingency plans.

Paying $720/mo for a bedbug-infested apartment (bedbugs are fucking hard to get rid of) and living in a constant state of itchy breakout made us decide it was time to move in with my parents. Because we literally could not afford to live anywhere else, and our student loan debt fucked up our credit scores, so we couldn't even get a house (and we were looking for one at the time!).

We used to think living on this farm was temporary until reality set in, that there is absolutely no possible way for us to make it on our own now. My husband has ADHD and anxiety and is still struggling to practice to get his driver's license (it's hard when my dad is a major source of my husband's stress; my dad's an asshole and gets worse by the year), and I'm Autistic, so I can't hold down a regular job, and nothing else is hiring.

In terms of getting a job for me at all, either I'd have to go to school for my special interest for the job (ecology, entomology, and/or paleontology) or I'd rather work in a library.

Welp, college is far too expensive for me to pay out of pocket, and my already existing student loan debt is barring me from getting any sort of financial aid to go back to school at all. As far as the library is concerned? Remember when I said my husband is currently struggling to practice for his license? (He doesn't get much practice because my dad is a stressful asshole that makes my husband have a horrible headache and anxiety after he drives). We have 2 vehicles, one my mom uses to get to work, and the other my dad uses to take my husband to work as well as do errands in like grocery shopping and shit like that.

I can't get a ride.

Can't ride a bicycle, either. It's definitely not safe (I live in America, if you couldn't tell). My parents' farm is deep within one of the back roads with one of the properties on this road being an oil rig. The oil workers drive like assholes, not caring what animal they hit, speeding through here. There are dirtbikes and four-wheelers that speed through here, too. There's no room for 2 vehicles to pass one another, and nothing but pure fucking hill the moment you step off the side of the road. I literally cannot bike here.

But let's pretend I got onto one of the main roads on either end of our road. It's even worse! And STILL no room for bicyclists! This goes for fucking miles until you reach a residential area! Except for a nearby little village-town that has the closest library branch. It's the village my husband grew up in, but there's a lot of sketchy turns, corners, and again, no room for bicycles. This includes main roads.

With all this in mind, I actually considered the possibility of moving to that village, because the village itself is actually safe enough to bike ride in. The problem is: I'm not guaranteed to get a job at the library at all. I tried getting a job as a library clerk at the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh, got interviewed and everything, and didn't get the job for whatever reason. In fact, I'm not guaranteed a job at all at any library branch, regardless of the neighborhood. So moving to such an area depending on the chance of being hired there is not worth it.

Such a village is actually rather unfriendly, and that goes for a lot of communities here on this side of Ohio. You'd think this was one of the southern states from its people and what flags they fly.

So why not Pittsburgh? Why not move there if we could?

Well, I thought about it. It has all the perks I could expect such as public transportation, somewhat safer bicycling areas to commute to school and work, and more importantly: THINGS TO DO.

Living in the middle of nowhere blows when you want to, on your own without relying on someone to drive you, go and do something, such as buying fabric or art supplies for future projects, or going to the library, or anything, really! Yeah, I do want to garden, but I don't have the means to do that on a damn farm (long, frustrating story that made me stop believing my parents' promises).

Not to mention, I still have friends in Pittsburgh, If I wanna see them, they don't have to drive an hour and 45 minutes (and that's if they have a car) to visit. I got 2 friends here in the area, and they're busy with their work's demanding schedules. When we do hang out, Cards Against Humanity, Uno, and D&D can only do so much until it gets old and boring and you wanna do something else that isn't hanging out at a dead mall. There is truly nothing to do here. Pittsburgh has the museums, libraries, parks, and far more interesting establishments to lurk in.

So again: why not Pittsburgh?

Because that city has changed and is still changing compared to when I was last there. My regular watering hole (The Beehive) is no more. There are neighborhoods being gentrified (meaning I'm not guaranteed to keep my home even if I pay it off). Businesses are closing, meaning people will be losing their jobs, and some of the other places hiring (like libraries) are not guaranteed to hire me, especially when I haven't had a job since 2010.

There's also my cat to consider; she gets stressed at the sound of a lawn-mower (I don't blame her). She wouldn't be able to handle the sounds of the city. Unless we found a place not too close to downtown, such a move is a no-go.

I've daydreamed about living in Pittsburgh again. I'm homesick for Pittsburgh. I've realized only recently that that city was my home. Not this farm, not even the house I grew up in. I felt like a person who didn't have to rely on people for rides and such. It's the only place where I've truly lived on my own and enjoyed it.

I've actually considered moving out of this country and found that even more impossible. No matter which country you pick, no matter what language you learn, not only do you have to pay for your things to be shipped, for your plane ticket for a one-way trip, or whatever you need to become a citizen there, you still have to pay at least $2,000 to revoke your American citizenship or else you will be forced to pay American taxes despite never setting foot on American soil ever again.

Thanks to capitalism, America has made it fucking impossible for the average person to leave for good. If you are born here, you are financially enslaved here unless you're wealthy enough to leave.

So... What's the plan?

Well, for now: not much. The pandemic has set plans back a bit, but my parents have a lien on the house thanks to my private student loans my mom was bullied and forced into co-signing for. She... I guess?... is almost done paying them off? I don't know. My parents don't like communicating need-to-know info with me and then get mad when I don't absorb it through osmosis. Once the lien is taken off the house, mom wants to move north to be near her sister, and she said she'll try finding a farm for sale near Kent State so it'll be an easier commute (be it by bicycle or by car). My intention is to enroll there to be able to get a job as an ecologist (focus in entomology, specializing in arachnology) with a minor in paleontology.

Once I've gotten that all taken care of (as well as my husband going back to school for what he wants), we move to the pacific northwest, mainly just north of Seattle somewhere.

I hate Ohio. I hate running into people I've gone to school with that I try to avoid (more like I see them, but they don't recognize me? At least I hope not?). I hate this place so much. I hate this climate, being near people I don't want just randomly showing the fuck up. And what's the use of living near family when they don't want to bother visiting you? I hate hearing my mom tell me so-and-so that I obviously want nothing to do with told her to tell me they said hi. I'm tired of fearing I'll run into someone that abused me in the past because now they're back in the fucking area again apparently.

I've got my fingers crossed that something is gonna give and college to some level (community college?) will be free for residents or something. It'll give me a chance to go back to school for something close to what I wanna do so I can maybe get a job? Completing something at a community college would at least make it easier for me to get enrolled at a university.

My husband and I picked Seattle (or close to Seattle) for its climate. It's (usually) not blistering hot every goddamn year, and it's not horribly cold thanks to the mountain range (I'm quite cold-intolerant). We both enjoy overcast weather and rain. We'd rather take our chances with volcanoes than earthquakes or hurricanes in areas where these things are guaranteed to happen yet nobody ruling these areas wants to invest in infrastructure that helps stand a chance against them. Seattle also has a nice combination of city and wilderness side-by-side. Not much of that with Pittsburgh.

If I was forced to only move to Pittsburgh and no other city, I wouldn't mind, especially since I'm more familiar with Pittsburgh than I am with anything in my current local area (because I had to travel on foot instead of relying on a car to get to places!). Fuck, my mom wouldn't even let me do anything by myself out of the yard when we lived in the village I grew up in because she was a paranoid fuck and by the time I JUST STARTED gaining independence for having a bike and bicycling to the post office everyday, we moved to this farm.

Oh, this isn't a roof over my head I should be thankful for. My parents got screwed. Our water is full of iron and calcium that no filter can fix, so we constantly have plumbing problems, the post and internet connections are questionable at best, we get ant infestations from 2 species EVERY YEAR, all for a farm my mom wanted for horses she always wanted and eventually got but has little next to no energy to spend the time she wants with them and she refuses to admit her age has a lot to do with it on top of her working so she sits in the living room on THREE DIFFERENT DEVICES sucking up bandwidth to religiously watch every fucking livestream of a country singer she likes (and complains if she's missing it for any reason!), scroll through Facebook, and play a fucking shitty app game!

Our internet out here? The physical equipment is outdated (copper wires instead of fiber-optic cables) because the fucking company doesn't wanna spend the money to upgrade it.

So instead, we're stuck here, with my husband losing his sanity bit by bit by the day at his shitty retail job (every other available job offering would be worse in this area) and I sit here and hope that maybe, JUST MAYBE, I could start gardening soon.

I miss Pittsburgh. I really do. But despite all of its benefits it would give me and my husband if we moved back, I don't think it will happen.

In the off-chance that we don't move north, that my dad's assholery intensifies and he decides to remain here (he has to legally agree to sell this house in order for my mom to move north; dad's reasons keep fucking changing), Pittsburgh is a nice back-up plan. Pitt University actually has the major I'd want to go back to school for, as well as what my husband wants to go back to school for, and we'd already be familiar with the city and what to expect of it. However, we're aiming higher, and hoping to move to the pacific northwest, instead.

But I think to avoid losing my sanity, I should stop daydreaming about a future that may never be.

Fingers crossed!

#rant #ramble #vent #I wanna move so bad but can't

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ginasneesby · 4 years

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September- Viv and Andy part 2

On my previous trip to New Zealand in 2008, I and my friends spent a crazy month driving around the whole country with multiple stops and lots of road time, this time round I wanted to spend less time in the car and more time doing things. Top of Viv and Andy’s list was Whale watching in Kaikoura which is on the South Island near Christchurch. With our base in Auckland we decided to fly down meaning maximum time doing stuff and no long days hauling ass down the country. Domestic travel is super easy in NZ so I booked us some last minute fights to Christchurch for the Monday and with no plans till the next day we were able to take our time and minimise travel stress.

We got in mid-afternoon and with google maps in hand tried to work out where our hostel was in relation to the airport, fairly typically I remember it being the opposite side of town, but decent buses and small bags meant it wasn’t too much of a hardship. We stayed at a youth hostel near the botanical gardens in a 3 person room, I guess meant for a family with one child, Viv and I hadn’t shared a room for a good few years so that was a bit weird; but it was comfy enough and we were going to be out most of the time anyway. After a quick freshen up, and a mini google, we headed back out to find somewhere to eat, Monday night in a big city, shouldn’t be too hard eh?

The town centre was absolutely dead. The shopping streets were clean and well-kept with big high street brands, wide streets with multiple pedestrian crossings and yet no people around except us. There didn’t appear to be any little bars dotted around, no bustling restaurants, the only place we found that had a few restaurants/bars in one location was dark and shut up. Perhaps this is different at the weekend, but it gave a slightly abandoned vibe, since the 2011 earthquake it seems lot of people left town for safety/work/the ability to drive on roads that hadn’t collapsed; and really you can’t blame them. We eventually found a small place that was one of those airstream caravans with a heated outdoor seating area that did burgers and pints of beer, by this point we were pretty hungry so it would have been good but honestly, I remember it being particularly good. On the way back to the hostel we passed a giant old school joystick controller mounted in the pavement which was linked with a large screen on the side of a building, with this you could play a giant game of space invaders. Again, we were the only people around in the streets so we played undisturbed for some time; although Andy was the only one good at it so after a while we gave up.

We were picked up Tuesday morning by a local man with a van who drove us all the way up to Kaikoura for the day, it’s about a 3 hour journey so a lot of driving for a day trip, but if you wanna see whales, Kaikoura is where you need to be. It was also really great to have a local drive us as we didn’t know much about the earthquake, save what had been on the news, so getting his insight and experience was sobering but important. On the way out the city, he pointed out some of the local sights that were no longer there, including the CTV building that completely collapsed leading to 115 of the 185 deaths in the disaster. The roads up the coast were also all twisted and broken having been fixed up slowly over the previous 7 years, at one point completely undriveable due to landslides and collapse. They took a long time to be fixed to the point of everyday use partly due to the extensive damage but also lack of money in region (Canterbury is quite a large area to share a budget).

Looking into the earthquake, the reason it was so devastating was three fold:

1) It measured 6.3 on the Richter scale, the epicentre was only 6 and half km from the city centre and it was shallow. This meant there was simultaneous vertical and horizontal ground movement, with eye witness accounts describing people being ‘tossed in the air’ as well as increased liquefaction causing more ground movement, undermining many building foundations.

2) There had been 2 large quakes in 2010, one measuring 7.1, which had already weakened some buildings and infrastructure in and around the city.

3) It was midday so the city centre were full

We made our way fairly slowly up the coast with a bit of chat and narration, over the last 7 years despite the money problems, a lot of work had been done to make these roads passable. Highways in New Zealand are pretty much all single lane and in most places it’s the only road, so with highway 1 out of commission there is no way north from Christchurch without going across to the west coast and back again (a 400km dogleg.) We were booked on a whale tour in the early afternoon and arrived with just enough time to have a loo stop and a quick drink before heading out; we had to watch a health and safety video first which was basically, boat go fast/sit down. The company then took us the last bit of the way to the harbour and onto the boats which were catamaran style and set up inside with swish bucket seats. The boat was pretty full with what seemed to be one large group of Chinese tourists so if we had any hope of getting 3 seats together and by the window we needed to be quick; I knew from experience that I get a bit sick so having somewhere to sit inside where you can still see the sea is useful. After another small health and safety talk (boat fast/sit) we were on our way; most of these tours have the ‘if we don’t see anything we’ll book you on another tour’ policy which isn’t always great coz people don’t tend to hang around Kaikoura for more than the day they’re booked, but it does mean the company would lose money so they really want to see something as much as we do.

Sick as a dog, I spent the whole time sitting outside on the back staring at the horizon coz I was told staring at a stationary line can help (it didn’t) but I made it through without spewing so I call that a win. We didn’t see much to begin with but these boats are set up with all sorts of underwater gadgets so they can try to identify where whales can be located. Kaikoura sits at the southern end of the Hikurangi trench which has depths of 3km very close to shore which has led to a large number of deep sea species ending up here; this food source is pretty irresistible to whales and so unlike a lot of places they can regularly be seen within a short distance of the coast. The boat sent out a pulse thing and the responding squeaks gave us a heading and eventually we came upon some sperm whales; the sickness subsided for a few minutes so I could watch and take some pics. To be honest, the whales were great, but even just being on the sea and looking back across the southern alps was amazing enough to justify the days travel, I’ve never heard my sister exclaim as much as our drive up once we got near the mountains. We returned to the harbour and were met by our driver who took us into Kaikoura for our included fish supper, having felt sick for the last few hours a giant pile of chips with decent ketchup was literally the best.

On our journey back we went at our own pace stopping for photos across Kaikoura, the southern alps and the pacific ocean; every one suitable for display like most of the south island. We also came across roughly a billion seals lying on spits of rock right next to the coastal road who were totally unfazed by our proximity and were, I swear, posing. The main bulk of the journey back we spent listening to our own things, I’m pretty sure I had the newest episode of ‘My dad wrote a porno’ which I was trying to get through without disturbing the driver or laugh so hard he asked what I was listening to. Having consulted my guests, we cannot remember what we did that night so it was clearly super important but having had a long day I’m sure we just flopped into bed.

Our flight back wasn’t until the evening so we had the whole day to play with in Christchurch; I wanted to go to the earthquake memorial which was a short walk through town. I had been the CHCH briefly in 2008 but only stayed for a half day due to time constraints so I don’t really remember what it looked like; I only really have a picture in my head of an old cathedral with a spire on a square. This, as it turns out, was the famous Christchurch cathedral who’s spire fell in 2011 and still wasn’t safe for visitors so they had built a ‘transitional cathedral’ while they fixed up the original. This was right next to the earthquake memorial so we were able to see both; the memorial ‘185 empty white chairs’ is a sombre little patch of grass on a junction with a bunch of chairs all painted white to represent the 185 people that lost their lives. The chairs are all different and range from wicker to kitchen to office to wheelchair, there’s even a baby carrier as sadly there were some children who died. There is discussion of how to make this memorial permanent as the chairs are just made of normal chair material and have required some upkeep and painting since 2012; I think it’s totally worthwhile as it’s a poignant reminder of the 5th worst disaster in NZ history.

After lunch we still had some time so we headed to the Canterbury museum in the botanical gardens, here there was a large exhibition on Antarctic exploration as a number of famous expeditions have taken off from CHCH. Now people tend to travel from Chile or Argentina as it’s a shorter journey by sea and they come to the Antarctic Peninsula which has a lot of wildlife, however, what’s-his-name Scott and thingy Shackleton didn’t know this in advance so left from NZ on a few trips. I don’t remember what else was in the museum but we did head to the café for a cuppa and large piece of cake before retracing our steps from a few days earlier and heading to the airport. I was really hoping for us to get back in time for my regular Wednesday night pub quiz at Zac’s bar; we just about made it only missing the first round. As we were 3 extra we had to form our own team so Canterbury UNT were not the same size as all the other teams put together; I don’t remember how we did but I’m sure we won. Right?

#newzealand #travelling #christchurch #earthquake #kaikoura #whale watching #wildllife #fish and chips #canterbury museum #pub quiz

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geminirumisidd · 4 years

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[Wanderlust][Chapter One: Insults. Lots of Insults]

He was a weird kid, that one. I mean, not the scar, that was chill (or not), he was just really intense for a fifteen year old. Endeavor introduced me to his son because he hoped we would be classmates. No strings attached my ass, Endeavor wanted something but I wasn't gonna let him have it. "Todoroki Shoto." He bows in greeting.

"Pleasure. I'm Bakugo Kagome." I bow back, less zealously. A nauseating confidence to my lazy bow and way back up. It seemed to register in his head that I was in the same boat as him. "Your dad has me in on recommendation for U.A."

"Don't expect the same kindnesses from me as you do from him."

"So, I should expect kindness from you? No offense, but I only stick with your old man cuz it's a good business opportunity. He's a rotten excuse for a person," I say as I notice him climb on. "But you knew that, huh? What's your quirk? He mentioned you being powerful and my age but nothing else."

"Ice." He demonstrates his ability and puts it into my orange juice. "And fire, but I don't use my left side."

"Why not?"

"Ever thought about minding your own business, Bakugo?"

"Never crossed my mind, Todoroki." I smirk at him and he turns away. Endeavor glares at us both and moves to sit in his seat in the plane. "Your kid's cool." I say. "But he isn't as hot as I thought he'd be." I look at Todoroki beside his father and I swear Shoto's eyes widen just a little and he almost turns to look at me. Is that opening up, I see?

"Shoto, go sit with Bakugo in the cabin behind this one. I have business." Endeavor commands, rubbing his forehead because of my uncontainable attitude, and Shoto does what he's told.

When he closes the door to the cabin, I stretch. "Thank god, that was excruciating to breathe."

"That was really unnecessary," comments Shoto.

"But you thought it was funny, didn't you?"

"Listen, Bakugo. We are not friends. I don't need people like you distracting me from my goals. I will be the number one hero, and I refuse to let myself a millimeter off the path." Shoto sighs.

"Wow. Okay, that stick up your ass must really be in there." I get comfortable in my seat. "If not me, someone's going to get it out eventually."

"Don't you have people to talk to or something? Ah, I suppose not." Shoto looks me up and down, and his gaze ends up on my eyes. "I don't use my left side because...." daddy issues, I can tell. He points with his chin to the cabin door. "You aren't wrong. That man is rotten on levels that no villain would understand."

"Are you opening up to me," I scoff, but then it dawns on me. "You have trust issues, but you're at a limit and don't care who you're taking to."

"Perceptive. You'd make a good number two he-!"

"Sorry, I like the number one better." I interrupt him. "I didn't just drop out of one of the top sponsorships in the world to be number two."

"What's your quirk?" Shoto ignores me.

"It's like your left side. I don't use it. I refuse to hurt people with it..."

"You don't have to say more," Shoto nods at me. "I respect that."

"Thanks. But it's an explosion quirk. I haven't used my quirk since I was like, six or something." Sure, Shoto was one of the most intense people I'd ever met, especially for fifteen. That didn't matter when he understood me before I explained myself. This one was going to be a valuable asset to have in the future. "I know you said we aren't allies, but are you sure you want a stranger to know that there's a stick up your ass?"

"I suppose not. Sure, we'll be friends." Shoto shrugged.

"I don't do friends," I scowl. "But you seem strong, and I like that. So just this once."

He didn't do much else besides train, I'd learned. Scrap that, all he did was train according to his lifestyle, and I could relate. As soon as I'd been scouted by Endeavor, I threw myself into training, too. Swimming and not using my quirk. When you're as stubborn as me, you don't get in many other places beside the one you want. "How many years has it been since you've visited home, To-umm... Shoto?"

"I actually came with my father for this one trip. I've spent my whole life in Japan. And you?"

"I haven't seen my family in person in a little over nine years. I can't wait to see my old hag and old man." I smirk to myself thinking about the other blonde. "I have a twin, too. Not sure how that's going to go." Shoto analyzes me for a few seconds. "What?"

"I would do many things to be in your place, Bakugo."

"It's Kagome. And yeah, I know. I'm actually better off like this, but I do still love my family, including my dipshit of a brother."

"Do tell, how much of your vulgar vocabulary is profanity?" Shoto judges harshly and sarcastically.

"How much of your vocabulary did you fit into that one question," I taunt back. "Kidding. The guys in the swim team I hang out with were very eager to teach the six year old bad words. My first one was," I think back to what I called Bakugo. "The first time I cussed was when I was six. Asshat or something like that, to my brother."

"Damn, okay."

"Watch your profanity, cussing is my job." I jab his shoulder harshly twice. He winces and pokes me back. We ended up becoming friends, I suppose, in a shaky sort of walking-a-diving-board act. I didn't leave home for nine years to make friends, so i didn't really have any. And if I ever spoke with anyone, I never spoke with girls my age. Most were fake, and I didn't need that drama in my life. "I'm ready for the test more than I am to see my family at the airport," I say to Shoto when we are about to approach. The whole flight (a very long flight actually,) Todoroki and I stayed awake talking about random crap. I think we even talked about the stupidest shower thoughts we'd ever had. Cuz, guys. Studying is a contraction of student and dying. And I'm sleep deprived in whatever number of countries we passed on our way here."

"Yeah, yeah," he rolls his eyes. "But you should be ready to get some rest. It's going to be impossible to sleep like this. The test is in ten months."

"Wanna meet up to train or shit?" I ask, holding my phone out, a contact reading 'Ice Cube Issues' already set. "My brother will come up with worse. Something like... I dunno 'lukewarm water,' so be happy with it." Shoto types his number in and smirks at me.

"Smooth way to try to get my number, Kagome."

"Your dad will actually kill me." I poke his chest looking up at him. "So no, keep your number."

"..."

"I'm kidding, stone face." I smack my forehead. "Okay, now act like we hate each other or didn't talk the entire time when that door opens in 3," I start.

"Okay, I can go without knowing you." I look at him and he dryly says, "kidding or am I."

"2, 1," and the door opens. "Endeavor, your son is a pain in the ass." I say as soon as he walks in.

"It's both too late and early for this Bakugo." Shoto comments as he stiffens his posture and follows his father out.

"It's noon, Elsa wannabe." I tiredly follow the two and the minute I'm at an accessible area, I find myself in a hug. Endeavor and Shoto had left as this happened but I didn't mind too much.

"Kagome!" My mom, Mitsuki Bakugo, squeezes me tight.

"Let me go, ya old hag, I have a bra to do that for me." I complain, but hug her back equally tight.

"Shut up, you brat," she mutters. "It's been so long, look at you! You haven't changed a bit."

"No hug for your old man?"

"Course there is!" I hug my dad tightly. "How's work? Are the other two are driving my poor, sane, old man out of his mind?" I snicker.

"YOU TAKE THAT BACK, RAT HAIR!" Shouts my mother like she does over the phone.

"I HAVE YOUR HAIR!" I groan in annoyance as she smacks my head. Nothing, and I mean nothing, has changed here, not here at least.

"It wasn't the same without the three blondes, that's for sure," Dad chuckles and scratches his neck. I grin at him as he pats my shoulder proudly.

"Kagome." I look up at the owner of the deep, almost unfamiliar voice. It was always different over the phone.

"Katsuki." I reply. "Still an asshat?" I ask him with a growl.

"Still haven't had a date?"

"Turned them all down, dipshit, not that you'd get asked on a date with your anger issues-!"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"

"YOUR SISTER GETS BACK AFTER NINE YEARS AND YOU WANNA PULL THIS, YOU LITTLE SHIT!"

"Stay out of this old hag." Katsuki growls and turns to face me again. "BITCH!"

"DUMBSHIT!"

"PORCUPINE!"

"FUCKTARD!"

"STICK UP YOUR ASS!"

"FRIENDLESS NUTCAS-!"

With each insult Katsuki and I take a step towards each other he pulls his hand up front making mini explosions and I rear my hands, perfectly ready to take what he's going to throw. "-WHY YOU LITTLE-!"

"YOU FUCKING BRATS THE ENTIRE AIRPORT IS STARING AT US!" Mom smacks both me and Katsu upside the heads and drags us by our ears (with us fuming) to the car. "Little shits I gave birth to. Paid for hospital expenses when I could've had both of you in a toilet." Mom grumbles and Dad sighs.

"You two know you've missed each other." Dad reasons with us. "It's hard to be without your twin for this long."

"..." I stay silent.

"..." Katsuki stays silent.

"..." Mom stays silent.

"That's the quietest you've all ever been in your entire lives," Dad comments. "It's terrifying. But, Kagome, explain something to me, would you?"

"Hmm," I grunt, still pissed at my brother sitting beside me. We mirror each other's positions: hair frizzy from the argument, Arms crossed, legs spread over the car seats and belts not in.

"You were one of the best swimmers and got sponsored by Endeavor's Company. Why did you quit?"

"I..." I huff before I continue. "I didn't like that I was in second place. And I have been since I was a kid. I don't want to be better, I want to be the best."

"What's your new plan, then?"

"I'm..." a side glance at Katsuki tells me this is going to come as a surprise. "I'm joining U.A."

"YOU'RE WHAT!?" Roads Katsuki. "You can't get in without a quirk, and you refuse to use yours."

"Hmm." I hum, not wanting to acknowledge Katsuki. He's gotten more fiery, lost all his cool. I can't lose my shit in U.A if I don't want to be roped in with him.

I don't know what time we arrive home, but it's 10 at night when I wake up in my room. The decorations of an old place, yet there's not a single one out of place. A bit emo, and a bit rock, the posters for all my favorite bands. I find myself tucked in. Mom couldn't have carried me in, and Dad wasn't the type to do that. It must've been Katsuki. I stretch, crack my back a couple times and head outside my room. I follow the worn carpets to my brother's room and knock on it out of habit. A muffled "come in," has me entering.

We look at each other for a bit and I sit myself on the foot of Katsuki's bed. He puts his comic down and swivels in his chair to face me. I honestly don't know why I'm here, but I feel I have to say something. I know what it is, but I don't know how to say it, so I start with an awkward tap at the ice between us.

"U.A," I sigh.

"Just like we planned when we were younger."

We stare at each other and it's to the point where I can't take it anymore. "... I'm sorry for what I said earlier." We both say at the same time. He stands up to put the comic in the bookshelf and we awkwardly look away from each other, him scratching his neck and me aggressively huffing. He turns to me with his arms in his sweatpants pockets and an exasperated expression on his face before he slightly lifts his arms, maybe an inch or two and I let myself be hugged by him.

"It's been too long since we actually got along," I sniff, and continue to admit, "I missed you, Kacchan."

"I missed you, too, you bitchy little shit."

"Shut up, asshat. We're supposed to be having a moment." He shoves me off him and I brush my hands over my arms. "This changes nothing, though. We're siblings, yeah, but we don't need to get along. I haven't forgiven you for bullying Izuku."

"Whatever, he's a damned nerd."

"You're an asshole." I comment. "And besides, he's a damn smart nerd. Anyway, I'm gonna watch TV."

"I'll come with, I want food."

"You glutton," I comment, fully aware of goading him.

"SHUT YOUR ASS!"

We make it down the stairs and I turn on the TV.

"Earlier today. Around 3 in the afternoon, a villain made of sludge attacked a young man, Bakugo Katsuki."

"You're on the news." I shout to Katsuki, pointing at the screen. Was I here when that happened? No. No, I was on a flight.

"SHIT!" He yells and clambers over the sofa. I hold the remote out of his reach but he's tall, so I opt to stuff it in my shirt instead. I read the captions and the remote falls out of my shirt as I nearly have a heart attack.

"You got targeted by a villain?" I ask.

"What about it?!" Katsuki growls. I continue to watch the TV as he fumbles with my probably unexpected reaction.

"Izuku?" I read off the TV. "He was there too and he- HE TRIED TO SAVE YOU?!"

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networkingdefinition · 4 years

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Travel Quotes

Official Website: Travel Quotes

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• A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving. – Laozi • A man of ordinary talent will always be ordinary, whether he travels or not; but a man of superior talent (which I cannot deny myself to be without being impious) will go to pieces if he remains forever in the same place.- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart • A traveler without knowledge is a bird without wings. – Saadi • A wise man travels to discover himself. – James Russell Lowell • A wise traveler never despises his own country. – William Hazlitt • All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware. – Martin Buber • All the pathos and irony of leaving one’s youth behind is thus implicit in every joyous moment of travel: one knows that the first joy can never be recovered, and the wise traveller learns not to repeat successes but tries new places all the time. – Paul Fussell • All travel has its advantages. If the passenger visits better countries, he may learn to improve his own. And if fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it. – Samuel Johnson • And if travel is like love, it is, in the end, mostly because it’s a heightened state of awareness, in which we are mindful, receptive, undimmed by familiarity and ready to be transformed. That is why the best trips, like the best love affairs, never really end. – Pico Iyer • And, obviously as a, as one who likes to travel around myself a lot, I think the Earth is a beautiful place. And, I’m looking forward to some new perspectives. – Duane G. Carey • As a dreamer of dreams and a travelin’ man, I have chalked up many a mile. Read dozens of books about heroes and crooks, and I learned much from both of their styles. – Jimmy Buffett • As the traveler who has once been from home is wiser than he who has never left his own doorstep, so a knowledge of one other culture should sharpen our ability to scrutinize more steadily, to appreciate more lovingly, our own. – Margaret Mead

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'Travel', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '68', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_travel').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_travel img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); ); • Be the inner journeys, be the outer travels, all trips elevate man, all voyages lift him up! – Mehmet Murat Ildan • But that’s the glory of foreign travel, as far as I am concerned. I don’t want to know what people are talking about. I can’t think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything. Suddenly you are five years old again. You can’t read anything, you have only the most rudimentary sense of how things work, you can’t even reliably cross a street without endangering your life. Your whole existence becomes a series of interesting guesses. – Bill Bryson • But why, oh why, do the wrong people travel, when the right people stay at home? – Noel Coward • Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living. – Mary Ritter Beard • Escape through travel works. Almost from the moment I boarded my flight, life in England became meaningless. Seat-belt signs lit up, problems switched off. Broken armrests took precedence over broken hearts. By the time the plane was airborne I’d forgotten England even existed. – Alex Garland • Experience, travel – these are an education in themselves. – Euripides • For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. 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You know I’ve got to hang on, drive too fast, I might be last. – Jay Kay • I love to travel, but hate to arrive. – Albert Einstein • I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train. – Oscar Wilde • I see my path, but I don’t know where it leads. Not knowing where I’m going is what inspires me to travel it. – Rosalia de Castro • I travel around the world constantly promoting my projects and endorsing products. Yes, I do get paid to go to parties; in fact, I’m the person who started the whole trend of paid appearances. But when you see me at a party, I’m always working or promoting something. – Paris Hilton • I travel light. I think the most important thing is to be in a good mood and enjoy life, wherever you are. – Diane von Furstenberg • I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.- Robert Louis Stevenson • I traveled a good deal all over the world, and I got along pretty good in all these foreign countries, for I have a theory that it’s their country and they got a right to run it like they want to. – Will Rogers • I wanna hang a map of the world in my house. Then I’m gonna put pins into all the locations that I’ve traveled to. But first, I’m gonna have to travel to the top two corners of the map so it won’t fall down. – Mitch Hedberg • If you actually look like your passport photo, you aren’t well enough to travel. – Vivian Fuchs • If you wish to travel far and fast, travel light. 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Schulz • In traveling, a man must carry knowledge with him, if he would bring home knowledge. – Samuel Johnson • In travelling I shape myself betimes to idleness And take fools’ pleasure – George Eliot • It is not fit that every man should travel; it makes a wise man better, and a fool worse. – William Hazlitt • Let your memory be your travel bag. – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn • Life is a journey that must be traveled no matter how bad the roads and accommodations. – Oliver Goldsmith • Like all great travellers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen. – Benjamin Disraeli Live, travel, adventure, bless, and don’t be sorry. – Jack Kerouac • Man is an artifact designed for space travel. He is not designed to remain in his present biologic state any more than a tadpole is designed to remain a tadpole. – William S. Burroughs My home is in Heaven. I’m just traveling through this world. – Billy Graham • Never trust anything you read in a travel article. – Dave Barry • No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow. – Lin Yutang • NOT I – NOT ANYONE else, can travel that road for you, You must travel it for yourself. – Walt Whitman • Once the travel bug bites there is no known antidote, and I know that I shall be happily infected until the end of my life – Michael Palin • Once the travel bug bites, there is no known antidote. – Michael Palin • Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quietest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey. – Pat Conroy • One of the great things about travel is you find out how many good, kind people there are. – Edith Wharton • One travels more usefully when alone, because he reflects more. – Thomas Jefferson • Only by going alone in silence, without baggage, can one truly get into the heart of the wilderness. All other travel is mere dust and hotels and baggage and chatter. – John Muir • People travel to faraway places to watch, in fascination, the kind of people they ignore at home. – Dagobert D. Runes • People travel to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars; and they pass by themselves without wondering. – Saint Augustine • People who don’t travel cannot have a global view, all they see is what’s in front of them. Those people cannot accept new things because all they know is where they live. – Martin Yan • Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends. – Maya Angelou • Please be a traveler, not a tourist. Try new things, meet new people, and look beyond what’s right in front of you. Those are the keys to understanding this amazing world we live in. – Andrew Zimmern • Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything. – Charles Kuralt • The attention of a traveller, should be particularly turned, in the first place, to the various works of Nature, to mark the distinctions of the climates he may explore, and to offer such useful observations on the different productions as may occur. – William Bartram • The fool wanders, a wise man travels. – Thomas Fuller • The impulse to travel is one of the hopeful symptoms of life. – Agnes Repplier • The more I traveled the more I realized that fear makes strangers of people who should be friends. – Shirley MacLaine • The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see. – Gilbert K. Chesterton • The traveler was active; he went strenuously in search of people, of adventure, of experience. The tourist is passive; he expects interesting things to happen to him. He goes ‘sight-seeing.’ – Daniel J. Boorstin • The trouble with travelling back later on is that you can never repeat the same experience. – Michael Palin • The true traveler is he who goes on foot, and even then, he sits down a lot of the time. – Sidonie Gabrielle Colette • The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality. – Samuel Johnson • The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are. – Samuel Johnson • The value of your travels does not hinge on how many stamps you have in your passport when you get home — and the slow nuanced experience of a single country is always better than the hurried, superficial experience of forty countries. – Rolf Potts • The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land. – Gilbert K. Chesterton • The wise traveler learns not to repeat successes but tries new places all the time. – Paul Fussell • The world is a country which nobody ever yet knew by description; one must travel through it one’s self to be acquainted with it. – Lord Chesterfield • There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign. – Robert Louis Stevenson • There is a part of me that still wants to go out and grab a backpack and unplug – not take a cellphone or even a camera and just get out there and experience the world and travel. I have yet to do that, but someday I hope. – Emilio Estevez • They say travel broadens the mind, but you must have the mind. – Gilbert K. Chesterton • Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not. – Ralph Waldo Emerson • To move, to breathe, to fly, to float, To gain all while you give, To roam the roads of lands remote, To travel is to live. – Hans Christian Andersen • To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted. – Bill Bryson • To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive. – Robert Louis Stevenson • To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries. – Aldous Huxley • To travel is to live. – Hans Christian Andersen • To travel is to take a journey into yourself. – Danny Kaye • Too often travel, instead of broadening the mind, merely lengthens the conversations. – Elizabeth Drew • Tourists don’t know where they’ve been, travelers don’t know where they’re going. – Paul Theroux • Travel becomes a strategy for accumulating photographs. – Susan Sontag • Travel brings power and love back into your life. – Rumi • Travel can be one of the most rewarding forms of introspection. – Lawrence Durrell • Travel does what good novelists also do to the life of everyday, placing it like a picture in a frame or a gem in its setting, so that the intrinsic qualities are made more clear. Travel does this with the very stuff that everyday life is made of, giving to it the sharp contour and meaning of art. – Freya Stark • Travel is a fools paradise. – Ralph Waldo Emerson • Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime. – Mark Twain • Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness. – Mark Twain • Travel is the art form available to Everyman. You sit in the coffee shop in a strange city and nobody knows who you are, or cares, and so you shed your checkered past and your motley credentials and you face the day unarmed … And onward we go and some day in the distant future, we will stop and turn around in astonishment to see all the places we’ve been and the heroes we were. – Garrison Keillor • Travel is the frivolous part of serious lives, and the serious part of frivolous ones. – Sophie Swetchine • Travel is the most private of pleasures. There is no greater bore than the travel bore. We do not in the least want to hear what he has seen in Hong-Kong. – Vita Sackville-West • Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world. – Gustave Flaubert • Travel teaches toleration. – Benjamin Disraeli • Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education; in the elder, a part of experience. – Francis Bacon • Traveling in the company of those we love is home in motion. – Leigh Hunt • Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things: air, sleep, dreams, sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it. – Cesare Pavese • Traveling is a fool’s paradise. – Ralph Waldo Emerson • Traveling is like flirting with life. It’s like saying, ‘I would stay and love you, but I have to go; this is my station. – Lisa St. Aubin de Terán • Traveling is seeing; it is the implicit that we travel by.- Cynthia Ozick • Traveling tends to magnify all human emotions. – Peter Høeg • Travelling is the ruin of all happiness. There’s no looking at a building here after seeing Italy. – Fanny Burney • Unusual travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God. – Kurt Vonnegut We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend. – Robert Louis Stevenson • We can be said only to fulfil our destiny in the place that gave us birth. I should on this account like well enough to spend the whole of my life in travelling abroad, if I could anywhere borrow another life to spend afterwards at home! – William Hazlitt • We must go beyond textbooks, go out into the bypaths and untrodden depths of the wilderness and travel and explore and tell the world the glories of our journey.- John Hope Franklin • We travel for romance, we travel for architecture, and we travel to be lost. – Ray Bradbury • We travel, in essence, to become young fools again – to slow time down and get taken in, and fall in love once more. – Pico Iyer • We travel, initially, to lose ourselves, and we travel, next, to find ourselves. We travel to open our hearts and eyes. And we travel, in essence, to become young fools again—to slow time down and get taken in, and fall in love once more. – Ray Bradbury • We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next to find ourselves. – Pico Iyer • We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next to find ourselves. We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate. We travel to bring what little we can, in our ignorance and knowledge, to those parts of the globe whose riches are differently dispersed. And we travel, in essence, to become young fools again- to slow time down and get taken in, and fall in love once more. – Pico Iyer • We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls. – Anais Nin • We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment. – Hilaire Belloc • What you’ve done becomes the judge of what you’re going to do – especially in other people’s minds. When you’re traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don’t have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road. – William Least Heat-Moon • When one realizes that his life is worthless he either commits suicide or travels.- Edward Dahlberg • When traveling with someone, take large does of patience and tolerance with your morning coffee. – Helen Hayes • When you are everywhere, you are nowhere. When you are somewhere, you are everywhere. – Rumi • When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable. – Clifton Fadiman • Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow. – Anita Desai • You do not travel if you are afraid of the unknown, you travel for the unknown, that reveals you with yourself. – Ella Maillart • You get educated by traveling.- Solange Knowles • You know more of a road by having traveled it than by all the conjectures and descriptions in the world. – William Hazlitt • Your true traveller finds boredom rather agreeable than painful. It is the symbol of his liberty – his excessive freedom. He accepts his boredom, when it comes, not merely philosophically, but almost with pleasure. – Aldous Huxley

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equitiesstocks · 4 years

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Travel Quotes

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