#no one really asked for this

[lostinbooks14]

Times in the Wilderness

Leo comes to the Wilderness School

Leo had his head down in the car, his face buried in the paper bag in his hands as he tried to keep himself from vomiting.

Goddammit he hated cars. He hated wherever he was going too. And the stupid court for saying he had to go there. And all his stupid foster parents and his stupid Tìa and his stupid fire curse and his stupid self for ruining everything.

"Leo," his social worker sitting next to him called sharply. She was middle-aged. Probably in her late forties, with light brown hair pulled back in a bun. She was about his height, but he couldn't really tell because of her heels. She was wearing a frilly green blouse and black tight skirt. He thought she was trying too hard.

She'd been really nice to him the first few times they met, but eventually she'd given up. He couldn't blame her. He'd been in eight foster homes and orphanages in the last five years, run away from six of them- her patience was probably wearing thin.

When they caught him five days after he ran away from his eighth home, he'd been taken to court. They said they'd put him in a mental hospital if he ran away again. And he'd overheard his social worker saying she'd be fired if he didn't find a home soon.

"Leo, are you even listening to me?"

"Sorry, m'am," he mumbled, glancing up from the paper bag for a split second.

"Look, kid, I don't know why you keep running-"

"I told you he-"

She ignored him just like everyone else did, "But I need you to stay put this time, ok? My job's on the line here. I've got a kid who's college fees I need to afford, and another who's getting married soon."

"What if someone hurts me?" He mumbled, tears stinging the back of his eyes. Everything was happening way too fast.

"This is a school for children like you," he knew what that meant, delinquents "Teachers are always on the lookout for any signs of bullying. You'll be fine."

He didn't say anything, what was there left to say anyway? She always said he'll be fine everytime he was taken to a new home. He never was.

They'd finished going over the bumpy roads now, he could see the school just up ahead.

It was just a normal building, victorian style, no barbed wire fences or barred windows. Appearances can be deceiving, he knew that better than anyone. But no bars was good. He would've gone insane if he'd been locked behind bars, especially after that incident.

OK, he was not going to think about that.

Or about where they were taken to after it.

Or about what happened when they ran away.

Or about where he was taken to after it.

Yup, he could do this. Totally.

"Leo, we're here."

He got out, leaning on the door of the car for a few seconds to get the puke taste out of his mouth before taking his backpack. It was blue and worn and held every possession he had left. It had been with him for six years now. It was probably his best friend at this point.

A smiling man met them at the door. "Hello, you must be Leo and Mrs.Patroner. I'm Mr.Donovan, head teacher here. We're very delighted to have you here." Somehow Leo doubted it, he could clearly see the sweat on his bald head. "Let's go talk in my office, shall we?"

The school looked old, he supposed it would've looked grand if it weren't for the dirt and mud splatters on the carpet. There were high ceilings and steep wooden stairs curving up eight stories. He couldn't see any machines anywhere, not even a lift. He really hoped the dorms weren't at the top. The thing that caught his eye, though, was the fireplace.

He shrank back from the golden flames involuntarily. They were dancing and licking at the wooden logs, and Leo felt that familiar tugging sensation in his gut. It always appeared when he was close to flames, as if they were calling out to him. Begging him to make them hotter and brighter and stronger. Leo turned away.

"Leo Valdez, yes? You've got quite the resume here," the man laughed nervously. "So, uhm, you'll be boarding with four other boys-"

"Couldn't he have a private room?" Mrs.Patroner interrupted, glancing at him nervously. "He's had a bit of a rough time over the past year," Wow understatement of the year- "so it's probably better if he could stay alone?"

Mr.Donovan looked confused. "Why?"

Mrs.Patroner looked uncomfortable so he spoke up.

"I'm a psycho, sir. I have violent tendencies. Killed a bunch o' people last year," he nodded at his file, forcing himself to keep his voice steady. It'd be worth it if he could get a room alone. He didn't want to talk to anyone any more than he had to. He pretended to count on his fingers, as if their faces hadn't been haunting his nightmares for weeks "Like three, right?"

"He didn't do it on purpose!" his social worker cried, glaring daggers at him. "And the term psycho is very strong, Leo. You can't just throw it around."

"Just saying what you were thinking, m'am," he shrugged.

"Well, uhm, I'm sorry, miss," the head teacher started, choosing to just ignore him. That was fine with him. "You need to pay extra for private quarters. As for the therapy sessions the court ordered, he will have two per week to start with. Ms.Loraine is very nice. Leo can talk with her after you leave. Get his school schedule and all that. Afterwards he'll be assigned a student to show him around. I'm thinking Piper McLean, she's here because of her tendency to steal, but other than that, she's a very sweet child. He'll be getting his uniform and books from the school of course. And he's been assigned to Year 10, though he should be in Year 7, since he's still twelve. I must say he's got an excellent mind."

"Got that from my pops," he grinned, Mrs.Patroner looked at him wearily. "He was mighty good at running away too ya know. Took off three days after I popped out, or so I heard."

Thankfully a knock on the door prevented anyone from reacting.

"That must be Ms.Loraine. Come in!"

A lady came in, dressed in a nice beige coloured business suit with her golden shoulder length hair curling around her shoulders. She wore a white shirt under her coat, a gold chain encircling her throat. Her eyes were large and green. She looked young. Leo bet all his money- well he would've if he had any- that guys went to therapy just to stare at her.

"Good afternoon! I'm the school therapist. You must be Leo."

His social work gave an encouraging nod.

"Yes, miss."

"Come with me to my office? I'll talk you over the school rules, the subjects you'll be taking, and about your mental health for about an hour. After that classes will end and Piper will meet you at my office."

"Sure. See ya m'am," Leo gave a mock salute and practically ran out the door.

[inkskinned]

because sometimes there are invisible tests and invisible rules and you're just supposed to ... know the rule. someone you thought of as a friend asks you for book recommendations, so you give her a list of like 30 books, each with a brief blurb and why you like it. later, you find out she screenshotted the list and send it out to a group chat with the note: what an absolute freak can you believe this. you saw the responses: emojis where people are rolling over laughing. too much and obsessive and actually kind of creepy in the comments. you thought you'd been doing the right thing. she'd asked, right? an invisible rule: this is what happens when you get too excited.

you aren't supposed to laugh at your own jokes, so you don't, but then you're too serious. you're not supposed to be too loud, but then people say you're too quiet. you aren't supposed to get passionate about things, but then you're shy, boring. you aren't supposed to talk too much, but then people are mad when you're not good at replying.

you fold yourself into a prettier paper crane. since you never know what is "selfish" and what is "charity," you give yourself over, fully. you'd rather be empty and over-generous - you'd rather eat your own boundaries than have even one person believe that you're mean. since you don't know what the thing is that will make them hate you, you simply scrub yourself clean of any form of roughness. if you are perfect and smiling and funny, they can love you. if you are always there for them and never admit what's happening and never mention your past and never make them uncomfortable - you can make up for it. you can earn it.

don't fuck up. they're all testing you, always. they're tolerating you. whatever secret club happened, over a summer somewhere - during some activity you didn't get to attend - everyone else just... figured it out. like they got some kind of award or examination that allowed them to know how-to-be-normal. how to fit. and for the rest of your life, you've been playing catch-up. you've been trying to prove that - haha! you get it! that the joke they're telling, the people they are, the manual they got- yeah, you've totally read it.

if you can just divide yourself in two - the lovable one, and the one that is you - you can do this. you can walk the line. they can laugh and accept you. if you are always-balanced, never burdensome, a delight to have in class, champagne and glittering and never gawky or florescent or god-forbid cringe: you can get away with it.

you stare at your therapist, whom you can make jokes with, and who laughs at your jokes, because you are so fucking good at people-pleasing. you smile at her, and she asks you how you're doing, and you automatically say i'm good, thanks, how are you? while the answer swims somewhere in your little lizard brain:

how long have you been doing this now? mastering the art of your body and mind like you're piloting a puppet. has it worked? what do you mean that all you feel is... just exhausted. pick yourself up, the tightrope has no net. after all, you're cheating, somehow, but nobody seems to know you actually flunked the test. it's working!

aren't you happy yet?

[hinamie]

surprise it's yuri!!!in 2024

[beybuniki]

boys learning about healthy communication

[chloesimaginationthings]

Gregory asks Michael an important FNAF lore question..

[halogalopaghost]

TIL that you can assign an AO3 next of kin to control your account in case of your death???

[nenayaquisieras]

my brain is saying 141 with a reader that sees dead people. like they notice how respectful she is to the dead. when she kills she moves the bodies, sometimes says a small prayer to herself. they see her looking at things that aren’t there. “Did you see that? Never mind.” or she mentions she feels something weird in the air, or something wrong. talks to the team about the sleep paralysis she gets, always leaving out the grayish dark figure that accompanies her on those nights.

She’s never told anyone until she got drunk enough to were she’s literally laughing saying

“oh yea i see dead people.” And the guys obv think she’s joking and egg her on about said dead people she sees. but then she tells them about the entities that follow them, the people they’ve killed, always following them around. some are very angry, she feels their malicious intentions. ends up describing them in grave detail, they way they looked, what they wore, the last words they spoke before her teammates pulled the trigger. Something that only THEY would know.

“oh man, let me tell you about Gilbert my sleep paralysis demon. I swear he’s been visiting me more and more recently.”

[hellsitegenetics]

this is literally the coolest gimmick blog i have ever seen, i took a genetics class in tenth grade and i’ve been obsessed ever since. could you analyze this ask too?

String identified:

t ta t ct gc g a , t a gtc ca tt ga a ’ c. c aa t a t?

Closest match: Lysandra bellargus genome assembly, chromosome: 10 Common name: Adonis blue butterfly

[pencilscratchins]

to everyone asking when i’m gonna post art again… hey guys i recently acquired six incredibly large clown paintings so i’m sort of booked at the moment

[wasyago]

a balanced diet ^_^

im still amazed at the fact that etho used spider eyes as his main food source in his lp for quite a while. willingly. what is wrong with this guy, i need to study him under a microscope.

[wiltkingart]

at your service (or demise)

[somnimagus]

My page for @sheikahzine; about Impaz's duty to her village, empty of people and full of memories.

[id in alt text]

[birrdies]

carry yourself through the frozen desert, empty your thoughts into the well of pressure (x)

finally tried my hand at some 3L desert duo designs (ft. matching back scars) !!

[askinsufferableprick]

@mspaintjade

[xiewho]

no time to celebrate

[canisalbus]

Real fan art is coming one day, but for now I really wanted to see if it was feasible to simplify their gradients into something that would fit a simple style like Bluey’s 😅

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