#stances tag is for attraction sort of things... Although perhaps it would be better to re-name that instead...

[radiomogai]

Maybe you could tag them like Stance : RQ pro or something to make it where if people want to find something Anti RQ they can, but also still have everything in one place ? Sorry ifs a bad suggestion !!!

Also I'm sorry abt that anon who was talking abt public validation, that did come off very passive aggressive and you'll don't deserve that !

Also you guys are very very cool ! And remember to take breaks for yourselves !

That is a very good idea! If we do implement tags like that, it likely will not be used to indicate a coiner's personal stance (given that would require us to memorise the stances of many, many, *many* people, which would be exhausting and slow down our work considerably, not to mention the many dimensions of discourse opinions out there!), but rather an indication of a stance expressed within a term or flag itself. So... antiradqueerfuckoff would get a, 'stance: anti-radqueer' tag, but radqueerfuckoff would get a, 'stance: pro-radqueer' tag.

This, in combination with the 'made by radqueer' tag someone else suggested, would easily allow those who wish to avoid seeing things that are even slightly pro-radqueer do so, while also allowing them to see things that are anti-radqueer if they wish to. Likewise, radqueers would be able to filter out terms related to anti-radqueerism if they chose to do so, which supports our value of remaining as unbiased as we can be in our archiving.

This could potentially be expanded towards other common discourses as well. The more I think about it, the more I like this idea. At current, we tend to be very slow when it comes to archiving terms related to specific discourse opinions, largely for our own anxiety. I believe that tags like this would assist with that anxiety and make it easier for us to archive them.

Unfortunately it is an inevitable part of having a platform. It is annoying, and we will try to say something when we are being treated rudely, but it cannot be avoided entirely. Fortunately, it is not very common. People are very kind to us and we receive little hate. We are very grateful for that, it means a lot to us to be treated so well.

Thank you, that is kind of you to say!!

[waywardandwestward]

Let Me Be Your Shelter

Chapter 2 (Updated) 

Gally x OFC

Warning(s): Never enough editing, Not beta-read.

When you lose someone, you try to remember the last time you saw them. And most of the time it’s a blurry memory, because at that time you had no idea it would be the last.“ - Hedonist Poet

A/N: Hello friends, enjoy chapter two! I’m still having some issues with adding links and having the post show up in the tags. For now I’m going to reblog this post an hour after the upload with a link to the Masterlist and Chapter One, so check out the notes to find those!). If you have have any, questions, comments, or concerns please feel free to let me know!

Day 1: Rules and Regulations

Gally's words had been kind, if not comforting. But they hadn't stopped me from trying to run away again. I had attempted to escape at least six other times that afternoon while most of the boys continued to fight over my fate. My fate, as if I had no choice in the matter.  

After the second or third breakaway, Gally had officially been put on guard duty. He was bigger than most of the other boys, and by the time I had gotten to my sixth escape attempt, he was able to tie me arms down against a tree in the middle of the woods, or "The Deadheads", as I had heard him call it.

 The wind whistled and a sunset flamed through the trees.   The Deadheads were quiet compared to the overwhelming shouts that came from the campfire the rest of the boys were holding.

"Now," Gally said letting out a frustrated puff of air. His stance was wide and his arms were crossed. "Are we ready to start acting like civilized human beings instead of running away every three seconds?"

"Civilized? You're the one who tied me to a tree!" I defended struggling with the ropes around my wrists. "And I'm not the one living out the middle of nowhere. Is that what your calling civilized?"

"Hey!" Gally snapped. He took a step closer. "Alby's worked hard to keep us all together and healthy. We might be forced to stay here, but this is our home. The least you could do is show a little respect."

I froze for a second, relaxing into my restraints. "What do you mean forced? There are four different exits out there. Pick one and get out of here."

"It's not that simple," he said. "The maze won't let us leave."

"Maze?"

"That's what I've been trying to tell you all day, Greenie. But, you keep running away."

"Well it's gonna be a little hard to run away now," I retorted trying to wave my trapped arms in the air. "So, explain."

Gally stared, flummoxed by the force in my voice. "Do you hear that?" he asked A low, rumbling growl shifted the air and vibrated the ground beneath our feet. "Those exits out there are closing. It happens everyday just before nightfall.  Once they close... you'll really start to hear things...." He paused. "Loud screeches, clicks, scratches..."

"What is it?" I asked hesitantly.

"We're not sure exactly," he said. "We think part of it is the the walls moving, changing itself. That's why we call it a maze, it's impossible to find your way through. But there's something living out their too.

"What?" I asked.

"No one's ever seen one. But, according to Alby three guys have died because of that maze," he explained with a pained expression on his face.  "I witnessed one myself." He paused again, swallowing deeply and clenching his jaw. "It was pretty obvious by his screams that there's something else out there."

The silence between every sentence had me hooked on his speech, but it also drove me mad. As it turned out, I wasn't very good with silence. "Aren't you at all curious if there's a way out?" I asked. "There has to be. I mean it's a maze, which means it's a puzzle, right? There has to be-"

"We can't risk losing anyone else," he replied firmly. Perhaps I had touched a nerve.

I'm not sure where the thought came from and I almost didn't want to pry, but it just slipped out. "The boy you saw go into the maze. Were you close?"

I had definitely touched a nerve. "I don't talk about it with other Gladers," he forced through his mouth.

"I'm not a Glader, I'm a Greenie."

His face softened and he rolled his eyes. There was a small, but sad smile that cracked his armor. "Maybe another time," he said. "So now that you know why you can't leave... are you gonna run away again?"

I bit lip slightly, and shook my head no.

"Okay, then," he sighed. He pulled a knife out of his pocket and ran it through the rope.

"Josephine," I breathed out the minute his hand touched mine and my writs felt felt relief from the binds.

"What?" Gally raised an eyebrow.

"My name-it's Josephine," I said it again, but the word didn't quite taste right.

"Josephine?"

"No," I said. "I mean yes, but- could you call me Jo?"

Jo. That name felt right.

"Jo," he tested the sound of my name on his own tongue. "Okay Jo, then I have something we need to do. Follow me." He began heading in the direction of the Glade.

"Where are we going exactly?" I asked, my feet dragging though the long blades of grass.

"It's time for your initiation, Jo," he smirked. "Come on, keep up!"

Neither of us made it much farther, however. "Gally!" A voice rang out. "Greenie!" Newt was running up to us from behind. Gally and I both stopped in our tracks and turned to face him. "You sort everything out?" He asked Gally.

I didn't allow the boy next me to answer before I said, "For now."

Newt nodded in understanding but the way he avoided eye contact made him seem less than comfortable, "Well, okay then. Listen, Gally and... Greenie-

"Her name is Jo," Gally corrected him.

I could see Newt had raised an eyebrow at me, and I just nodded with a smile. "Alright, Gally and-and Jo," Newt corrected. "Alby's called a meeting."

"Can't it wait ten minutes?" Gally asked. "I was gonna show Jo The Wall."

"You can show it to her later," Newt said. "Right now we have some things we have to work out." Newt then turned around and headed back towards the fire.

"Gee, by 'things' do you think he could have possibly meant me?" I asked rhetorically.

Gally gave an apologetic grin. "Come on."

The moon had officially risen. As Alby settled everyone down, I sat twiddling my fingers between Gally and Newt. Zart, another glader with striking blonde hair, rosy cheeks, and a square jaw, calmed down the fire.  

When the group finally quieted, all eyes went towards me.

"Look it's no secret that things are different," Alby addressed to the group. "There are seven of us now. Which means pretty soon we're gonna start needing more resources."

"The box is still sending up supplies," Mikey, the fifth Glader who was sitting directly across from me replied. He was attractive looking with dark, curly hair and a chiseled face. He had ears that just slightly too big for his head. "Do you really think that's our biggest problem right now?" He glanced over at me. Mikey's judgmental glare was immediately off putting.

"I think what Alby is trying to say is after what happened yesterday, things could be changing," Although he tried to be more discreet, I could see Newt's eyes flicker over at me as well. "Things are changing. And it's better to be prepared for it."

"How do you suggest we do that?" the sixth and final Glader, Bach, who sat hunched over next to Mikey, responded. Bach was the oldest of the group, or at least he looked the oldest. Much like Gally, his face held a stern glance on nearly all occasions.

"Newt, Gally, and I talked it over last night," Alby said. I turned my head to both of them, almost as if I was trying to read their minds to see what Alby was going to say next.

"Wait, you didn't think to include us in this little conversation?" Mikey folded his arms over his chest. He was clearly angry, and to be honest, I didn't blame him. The look on Bach's long face made it clear he felt the same.

"You were already asleep. And that's why we're talking about it now," Alby defended himself. "The point I've been trying to make, is that I think we all need to take a little more responsibility. Who knows how many more kids are gonna come up in that box. Boys or girls. We need to be able to take care of them, and ourselves."

"Look we already elected you leader," Mikey said aggressively. "What more do you want?"

"It's like Alby said, we need to take more responsibility. We need ground rules," Gally replied. "That way everyone feels safe here."

"They're right," Zart spoke up. "I mean, it would certainly make me feel safer."

"Alright. Well then, rule one," Alby stated. "Everyone does their part. No slackers. We can't just sit around all day and do nothing, there's too much at stake here."

"We should all take up a job," Zart agreed. "Maybe I could work in the garden. You know, making sure there's enough food for everyone."

Newt raised his hand, "All in favor?" The rest of us raised our hands.

"We need shelter too," Bach said. "The ceiling Mikey built- it's falling apart. We need something better."

"Gally's the strongest," Newt offered. Looking over at him. "And he did make that hammock forest for us to sleep in."

It took a minute for Gally to respond, but eventually he shrugged and said, "I guess I could do that."

"All in favor?" Everyone raised their hand. "Alright, Gally's our Builder."

"What about you, Greenie?" Mikey turned to look at me with the cheesiest grin I had ever seen spread across his face. "What can you do?"

"Her name is Jo," both Newt and Gally exclaimed almost too proudly.

Slightly embarrassed by their declaration, I simply waved awkwardly. "Yeah, hi."

"Well?" Mikey pressed.

Truth be told, there was only one thing I wanted to do, and I knew at least one of them wouldn't be on board. But, I spoke my truth anyway. "Well, I was thinking maybe we should have someone go out and map the maze during the-"

"No," Alby's answer was brief and direct.

"Did you pay attention to anything  I said, Greenie?" Gally barked and shook his head in his hands before looking back up at me. He looked me directly in the eye with that same gaze that had me terrified so much on our first meeting. "It's not worth the risk," he gritted through his teeth.

Looks like I'm back to Greenie, I thought bitterly to myself. I wasn't going to let his stare-down faze me. "It's my life. I'll decide if it's worth risking."

Gally's eyebrows lowered."That's not how this works."

"Who the hell are you to-?"

"Gally's right," Alby said.

My lips pierced in concentration waiting for Gally to look away. "So, what? I don't even get a say?"

"Of course you do," I heard Newt's voice behind me. "You get a vote. We can call for one as soon as one of you decides who's won this pissing contest." It was then that Gally and I realized how immature we were being. We both looked down, a bit ashamed of our behavior, "All in favor?"

Bach and I were the only two to raise our hands. I almost let out a sigh of disappointment, but I chose not to waste my breath. I knew exactly how that vote was going to go down.

"Seriously?" Mikey whispered to Bach.

"The girl's right. The Maze is safe during the day, as far as we know. And we all wanna find a way out of here, right? If she wants to risk her life trying to save our asses, I say let her do it."

Zart spoke up as well. "Bach's got a poi-"

Gally immediately cut him off. "We already voted. Majority rules." He looked over at me again probably with a frown, but I refused to give him the satisfaction of looking up. I just stared down at a broken twig on the ground, and then threw it briskly into the fire.

"How about for now, you help Gally as a builder. He's not gonna be able to build an entire homestead on his own," Alby suggested.

I almost laughed at the proposal. I moved my eyes to meet Alby's just so he could see how pissed off I was. "I am not working with that shank." Shank was a term I had heard Zart calling Mikey earlier on that day. I didn't really know what it meant, but I knew it was an insult. Clearly so did Gally. He was about to defend himself, but Alby jumped in before he could.

"Let's move on. We can assign everyone else's roles when we're finished."

"So what's rule number two then?" Zart inquired.

"Never harm another Glader. Trust is the most important thing here," Alby stated. "Without trust, we'll start turning on each other, and we'll all be dead within a month."

"I like that," Newt said. "I think it'll make some of us feel a little safer. Right, Jo?"

"That depends, Newt," I replied, my eyes focused on the fire. "What happens if you break the rule?"

"I think we should all get a vote on that too," Mikey jumped in.

"How about we all vote on whether or not they're guilty; you know, whether they should actually be punished or not," Bach suggested. "And then Alby can decide on the punishment."

"I could build a jail," Gally offered up, speaking for the first time since our argument. "We could lock em up for a few days. Maybe without food... If it's really bad we could banish them to the maze." He had merely mumbled the last part of what he had said, but it was clear enough to make everyone in the circle shift in their seat.

"Again, I think maybe we should let Alby decide."

"I'll take that into consideration, Gally," Alby replied with hesitance. "A jail cell sounds like a pretty good idea though." Gally nodded.

"Are we all in favor of rule number two?" Newt asked. We raised our hands unanimously.

"Two rules seems pretty good," Mikey sighed, clearly growing tired of the conversation. He was just about to get out of his seat, but someone stopped him.

"One more," Gally spoke up again. "Number three: Never go outside the Glade."

There was a silence, a small moment where we all looked around at each other, knowing that this rule, would mean being trapped in within these walls indefinitely. "All in favor?" I was the only one who didn't raise their hand. Bach looked at me and shrugged. "Sorry, Greenie," he mouthed.

"These are the rules that we'll live by," Alby said. "We save the right to change them, but the vote must be unanimous. Now, to assigning the rest of your positions..." Alby's voice began to blur. I stood up, overwhelmed once again. I was alone once again.

"Where are you going?" Newt asked quietly.

"I just need a minute." The second I turned around, tears began to fall from my eyes.

Gally was wrong. I was still alone.