#Bear Lodge Butte

[briery]

mutant-distraction: Devils Tower, Black Hills, Wyoming. Photo: Charles Ankrom.

[mostly-marvel-musings]

This prompt "kissing down every inch of your body they possibly can, showing you how much they love you" is giving me insecure!post-Afghanistan!Tony vibes... the man would need some extra loving after the arc reactor, wouldn't he? Just wanna pamper and love on my mans

Home, finally.

A/N: What a lovely prompt! Thank you, dear anon!

Pairing: Tony Stark x Reader

Warnings: 18+ HAPPY FLUFFTOBER.

.

It had been the longest three months you had had to endure. Three months of restlessness, of frantically trying anything and everything to search for the man who meant the world to you, and three months of pushing down the nagging feeling of dread and holding onto hope.

It had all paid off when Rhodey signalled he was alive and well, and on his way home, to you. But of course, you knew fully well that Tony was only physically back home, mentally he was still in captivity.

You knew you’d have to step in. Even though he’d never say it, but he needed you.

You first sensed hesitation when he would sneak away in the bathroom to change his clothes, a concerning sign for Tony considering how the man would normally have no problems traipsing around butt naked no matter his audience.

“I don’t need you to follow me around, Y/N. I’m not incapacitated.” His voice had come out harsher than intended, but you knew he never meant to hurt you.

“You’re running on a battery-operated heart and have been tortured in a cave for the past three months, Anthony Edward Stark. You may not be incapacitated but you’re struggling and I can’t bear to see that. Let me be here for you.”

There were moments you saw insecurity flash in his eyes, especially when it came to the reactor lodged in his chest along with other bruises that now decorated his torso. Your heart ached at the thought of what he’d been put through.

Then there were nightmares when he woke up drenched in sweat, brushing it off as something he’s already dealing with. But after a particularly bad episode, he allowed you to see him. The real him that remained post Afghanistan.

“I just don’t want you to worry about me. I’m fine, Y/N.” he sighed, resting against the headboard to catch his breath. The faint blue light of his arc reactor acting as a source of light in the otherwise dark bedroom.

“Too late. See I kinda love you, Mr. Stark, and that comes with concern for your well being.” You smiled softly as you wiped some of the sweat away from his forehead.

He didn’t protest when you dragged him out of bed and into the bathroom, said nothing as you prepared his bath with some of your soothing essential oils and salts. You saw the hesitation again when you asked him to strip.

“I’m not—not the same.”

Cupping his face in your hands, you made sure his eyes were on yours before leaning in to press a reassuring kiss against his forehead, then his nose before finally kissing him on his lips. His reluctance slowly melted away as he kissed you back, fingers holding a slight tremble as he wrapped his arms around you.

As you slowly rid him of his clothing, your heart broke further looking at his wounds in such close proximity. The cracked skin around the reactor, angry red bruises scattered across his chest with many that would leave scars forever. It didn’t matter because he was still Tony, your Tony. He was alive and back home, safe. You just had to make him believe that.

He lowered himself in the tub with you perching yourself near him, the water definitely worked in loosening his tense muscles as he relaxed with a soft sigh. Taking some shampoo you began cleaning his hair, smiling to yourself as he practically melted against your touch.

"You still have a beating heart, albeit a battery-operated one, it's still all mine to care for. You're still the same man I fell in love with all that time ago, Tony. Only now you have new battle scars to tell our kids one day. I love you, Tony. And I love every last scar on your body. It’s a proof that you’re alive.”

Hearing his breath turn shallower, you held him close, not minding the droplets of water that wetted your clothes. He let a few tears escape against the warm skin of your neck, your familiar scent grounded him as your words of assurance and adoration sunk in.

“I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

You smiled while drying him off with a towel, kissing between his shoulder blades as you went along, not leaving any bit of skin unloved.

“Not that I wonder about this too often, but I believe you would probably be doing some hot calendar model in your mansion.”

You joked, wrapping your arms around the man who meant the world to you, continuing the rest of your reassurance mission in bed.

[ellaa-writes]

once again I should be working on other projects but here I am (idk why I'm having a hard time writing part 2 to the Roommate fic) but have this instead. (not proof read)

Cw: Enemy Ghost, kidnapping, dubcon/noncon. 18+, MDNI.

It was a simple mission, get in and get out. It was all going as planned until you hit a wall and the security got tripped. Forcing you to abandon your goal, jumping out the 2nd story window onto the snow covered ground below. You were on a solo mission into enemy territory.

You were running, zig zagging through the trees. Too bad it was the dead of winter, no shrub for cover. Your own tactical gear white as your surroundings, giving you a bit of warmth and protection. You could hear the sound of barking and yelling fading off in the distance the further you ran into the woods.

Well that was a fail, not entirely. You retrieved about 60% of the data you were sent to get. That's better than nothing you kept telling yourself. You were mindless running through the dense forest, roughly in the direction of the rendezvous point you hoped. Digging out your tracker from the front pocket of your coat, slowly your pace to try and get a reading.

A shot rang through the trees, and bullet hitting the tree next to your head, wood splinters ricocheting around you. Fuck. Sniper. You thought, picking up your pace again. Just your fucking luck, another shot rang through has the bullet hit the ground in front of you, nearly missing your right leg.

Hiding behind a tree to catch your breath and bearings. You need another plan, with a sniper on your ass it will almost be impossible to make it to the clearing were a unmarked van is waiting. Your tracker not picking up a signal so you were running blind. Poking your head out to try and catch a sight of the sniper.

They were about 100 ft back, perched up on a fall down tree. Covered in white camo, hard to spot but the reflection on the scope caught your eye. Big, who every they were. Just as you ducked your head back and loud bang and another bullet lodged into the tree right where you head was. They are aiming to kill.

Using the tree as leverage you pushed off it, running diagonal from your original path. Only a few feet into running you could hear twigs snapping behind you. The sound of fast approaching footsteps, leaping over a log you changed your direction again. Weaving in and around different trees, you cranked your head behind you which was a mistake. The sniper hotnon your trail, bigger than you originally assumed.

Your foot caught on a rock causing you to lurch forward just as the forest floor disappeared beneath you, down a steep hill. All you could do is brace for impact, hands wrapped around your head as you first hit the ground. Knocking the air from your lungs, the force of your fall making you violently tumble down the hill. Hitting rocks and branches all the way down, finally coming to a stop when your back landed against a tree.

He came to stand at the top of the hill, looking down at you. He was thick, from his calves all the way up to his head. One big mother fucker, you thought, the sniper hung across his back. You tried to get up but damn did you hurt, the tumble down the hill really fucked you up. The behemoth of a man came sliding down just as you made a few decent steps away from the embankment. All he had to do was push you a bit with the butt of the sniper, making you teetering over on your unsteady feet. Collapsing to the ground in a heep, your hand rested along your knife, still ready to but up a fight.

You could hear his heavy breathing has his feet came to stop beside you, one military issued boot dug itself into your back, pushing you further into the frozen ground beneath you. This was your chance, you unsheathed your knife and swung out, connecting across his lower calf. Cursing out he kicked the side of your ribs, the force sending you onto your back in anguish. His other foot stomping down on the hand that held the knife, crushing it underneath his force. Your scream ripped through the silent forest, disturbing the birds and squirrels.

He dropped down, picking up your blood stained knife, tossing it off into the distance. He straddled your hips, gripping your neck as you struggled against him. Still kicking and trashing, trying to fight his heavy weight off of you. The sudden feeling of his hard crotch grinding against you halted all further movements.

"Pathetic!" he spat out at you, his face obscured by a skull mask. His voice was husky, and accented... British. His hands were around you throat, a firm grip but not choking, just yet. A warning, he seaye his hips into your stomach again. The drag of his thick cock protruding into you, panic settling into your bones. "Thought you'd put up more of a fight." he spoke again, flexing his hands around your throat a bit. Making you suck in a deep breath, anticipating his next move. "Fuck you" you spat up at him, bearing your teeth. His palm connected with your cheek, your head snapping to the side. "Cute." he mocked.

With all your force you brought your knee up and against his back at the same time your elbow connected with his jaw. Sending him off of you to the side, flipping over onto your knees you tried to get up but was stopped when his hand gripped your ankle. You kicked back hitting something, managing to scramble away and onto your feet again.

You can hear him close behind you, you can't out run him the voice in your head spoke up. Before you could come up a with a plan you were thrown to the ground again, the sniper plowing into your back. Knocking you to the floor, holding you down my the back on the neck as you heard him pull out something from his pocket. The sound of ripping fabric and the cold air hitting your ass. He ran his knife along the back of your pants, exposing yourself to him. He tried to buck him off again but it only causes the knife to sink into the meaty flesh of your thigh, drawing blood. He snickered behind you, mocking you. "Get the fuck off! " you yelled. "Mother fucker!" you tried kicking him again but to no avail.

Yanking down the scraps of your tatical pants, his knee found its way between your thighs, pushing them further apart. "Behave, then maybe I won't damage you too much." he teased from behind you. A hard smack against the roundness of your ass, making you hiss out. This can't be happening, you were prepared for anything but not this. "Answer this and I'll let you live. Who sent you?" the masked man asked. "Fuck you!" you yelled again which earned another smack to your ass. "Bastard!" you screeched. "Fine we'll do this the hard way." he told you.

You could hear him fumble with his belt, the zipper of his pants being yanked down as he fished his hard, leaking cock out. Slapping it against your ass a bit before he spit on his hands and shoved them into your pussy. "Wait!" you screamed out but it was too late. Another hiss and curse, he was being too rough but not like he cared. "Fuckin' tight." he was talking to himself, more spit and another thrust he got two thick digits into you. Pumping in and out, stretching out your poor hole. "Names Ghost, I want to hear you scream it while I fuck this tight cunt." he gruffed from behind.

It was generous of him really, he didn't need to. He could have just shoved his thick cock right in but the sudden intrusion caused a stream of slick to ooze out of your pussy and onto his fingers. Bringing them to his lips for a taste, humming in approval. He took ahold of your hips, yanking them back so he could get better access. You tried to squirm away but the feeling of a cold blade against your neck froze your movements.

Clenching your eyes closed, praying to whoever was listening. You could feel him lining himself up, the hand that held the knife to your neck now at the side of your face, still threatening. He snapped his hips forward, a gutural groan leaving his mouth and you bit down on your hand to stop the scream caught in your throat. He didn't let up, bullying his thick cock into your tight cunt, his head battering against your sore cervix. So deep inside of you, you swear you could feel it in your throat.

The knife disappeared from your view, he once again held your neck down, forcing your face into the snow covered dirt. Struggling to breath, inhaling mouthfuls of the dirty cold earth. He used it as leverage has he pummeled inside of you, his veiny cock scraping along your drenched silky folds. You couldn't believe you were getting wet, the sound of your slick echoing around you. His muffled grunts, your own whimpering drowned out by the squelching of your soaked pussy.

You felt incredible to him, so tight already. The way your velvet walls clung to his shaft, sucking him in further into your heat. Adjusting his knees to pound into you even deeper, you were holding back your moans but he didn't care. This wasn't for you, no not even close. Ignoring your aching clit, the slap of his hips against you ass, jiggling just for him. He squeezed tighter around your neck, a gasp leaving your throat and your pussy clenching around him tighter. He sped of his thrusts, really pushing his dick has hard and deep into you. Choking on a sob as a shooting pain shot across your lower stomach. It felt like he was punching right through you.

Lifting your head up just a bit, he slammed it back down into the ground. "Fuck!" your pussy clenching around him more, he knew you were a freak. A pain slut, getting off to her own torment. Ghosts rhythm began to falter, sloppy. Feeling his orgasm bubbling to the surface, picking up more speed as he thrusted into you. Chasing his high, burying his cock so deep, his cum drowning into your poor pussy. Giving a few lazy pumps before he pulled himself from your heat, hand still on your neck as he tucked himself away. Watching has his verile cum began oozing out, using his mud covered fingers to shovel it back in.

Standing up from your back, foot between your shoulder blades he talked into his radio. "Objective secured, met you in 5."

The skull face yanked you up by your hair, your ruined pants and underwear still bunched up around your knees. He used his grip on you to walk you forward, a small dirt road was only a few feet ahead of you. An armoured vehicle parked to the side. The back door swung open as a man sporting Mohawk jumped out, holding it open. Ghost shoved you in while the other man slapped him on the back.

"Got her all stretched out for us, huh Lt." both men filed into the vechile, slamming the door closed.

[quietwings-fics]

at the end of most, but not all, things

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Archive Warning: Major Character Death Fandom: Supernatural Ship: Gen (Michael & OCs) Additional Tags: Post-Apocalypse, Future Fic, Major Original Character(s), Angst, Siblings, Past Character Death, Michael Wings the Apocalypse (Supernatural), POV Original Female Character Wordcount: 2,754 Summary:

Look after your brother.

Notes:

consider: an alternate take on michael winning the apocalypse. life goes on. for some people. for michael day of @spnarchangelweek, prompt: decay.

“Luke!” Michelle calls. “Luke! Get back here!”

It’s one simple job. Look after your brother. He doesn’t have to make it so difficult for her. Already, she can hear the raucous sounds of the caravan they’re traveling with disappearing behind her as she forces her way through the brush. Luke’s legs are way too short for it to be fair that he can run so fast. He’s going to get himself in trouble. She tries to think that vindictively, because he would deserve it for the sticks getting caught on her curls and the bushes clawing at her legs, but she can’t stop the way her stomach still drops imagining it. If he got bit by something or even hurt too badly while they’re on the road… Michelle swallows. “Luke!”

There’s snakes out beyond the barely tamed roads. Coyotes. Bears. 

And other things. Things Michelle doesn’t believe in because her mom always told her they were just stories her grandfather was making up. But the way he’d always gone so deathly still. After the end, he’d say. (“End of what?” Michelle asked. No, no, the end, he’d always answered. She still didn’t know what that meant.) There were people who stopped being people, who’d tear you apart limb from limb, or worse, make you like them-

She doesn’t even know what he thinks he’ll find out here. Little boys have stupid ideas about adventures that don’t end in them getting eaten. Michelle tries to kick a rock out of her way, but it’s lodged firm in the dirt. She kicks it again to no avail, shakes her head, and goes around. There’s more of them, all lined up. She pauses for a moment, peering down at the well-worn stone, eaten away by rain and moss and most of all, time. If those markings on them were once words, they haven’t been read since before she was born. She makes a face and moves on.

Michelle shoves her way through a particularly thick patch of branches, her brother’s name on its way out of her throat, when her foot doesn’t meet solid ground where it should. She yelps before she falls forward, spinning wildly until the only thing she knows is each harsh point of impact—her shoulder, her back, her knees, rolling over and over until gravity finally spits her out at the bottom.

Immediately, before she tries to move, she starts checking all her limbs just like her mom taught her to. Nothing feels worse than bruised. It probably felt like a longer fall than it was. 

She rolls onto her back, about to let out a pitiful sob of a breath to get through the pain.

“Michelle!” Luke’s voice. Finally. She catches the sob and locks it up tight behind her gritted teeth. He’s already next to her before she’s managed to sit up. She appreciates what little help he can give. 

She takes his little round face between her hands. There’s dirt all over his cheeks. She licks her thumb and tries to scrub it off, only for him to wriggle out from under her. “Gross! Don’t spit on me!” 

“You’re a mess!” she says back. He probably took a similar tumble to her, but she still shoves him for being a brat, hard enough to knock him back on his butt. “And you’re in so much trouble when I tell Mom!”

“I got lost.” He sticks out his tongue. She does it right back and then feels her face flush as she snaps her tongue back into her mouth. She’s so much more mature than him. She can’t let him drag her down to his level. She stands up, trying fruitlessly to brush her pants clean of dirt.

That’s when the ground beneath her feet catches her eye. 

She glances back up at where she’d fallen from. The bank isn’t steep, just unexpected in the middle of nowhere. The top is exploding with greenery, but as her eyes trace the path of her fall, it… dies. Plants wilt and dry to crackling remains that have broken in her wake. Michelle swallows and looks down again. 

Under her shoe, the ground isn’t dead. It’s blackened. She licks her lips and knows the taste on them isn’t dirt. There’s too much smoke in it. She moves to see the shape of the Earth’s burn scars, stepping off of them back to the comforting dry brown of sand and dust. Luke looks at her funny as her gaze travels up the extended fingers of the mark he’s still sitting on. 

“What?” he asks.

“Nothing,” she answers too quickly. “We’re going back.” He’s on his feet in an instant, but the pout on his lips tells her she won’t be getting them to safety without a fight.

“Not yet,” he demands, and then he points behind him. “I want to get one for Mom.”

Michelle turns her gaze beyond him.

There’s an impossible blossom of life in the middle of the pit they’ve fallen into. It towers above their heads, beaded with thick scarlet between the vibrant leaves. A rose bush. She can’t put words to why her heart is beating too hard in her chest.

“No,” she says. Luke’s face screws up. She tries to reason with him. “She’s probably already worried. She’ll be less mad-”

“If we bring her something!” he cuts her off, bouncing on his toes in agitation. 

“I said no.”

“I said yes!” Luke ignores her. She tries to grab him before he scampers off, but he ducks under her hand. Brat. Her heart pounds as his feet take him down the length of the burnt ground. 

It’s leading to the bush. 

She scrambles after her little brother. She doesn’t know how he can even think here. Michelle feels like the air is choking itself down her throat, and tears spring at the corners of her eyes for her to wipe away as fast as she can before Luke sees. 

“Just one,” he promises, inspecting the roses. They’re unreal. Michelle has never seen anything so alive or so bright. They’re as fat as fists on the ends of their stems, petals folded so tightly that they remind her more of meat before it’s been cooked than of flowers. 

Michelle tries to compose herself. Whatever they look like, they are only flowers.

She circles the bush as Luke picks a flower. She rubs her hands together. “I don’t think- Fuck!” She’s not sure what surprises her more, the word bursting out of her mouth and making her sound more like Mom than she ever has, or the statue she’d thought was a person standing in the thick of the branches. 

“What!” Luke says. She feels his hand grip the back of her shirt. His voice is too high. “What!”

She squeezes her eyes shut. “…Statue,” she admits, as he sees what spooked her. Luke snorts and hits her in the arm. Her bruises ache, and she bites her lip against a hiss of pain.

“You’re so stupid,” he says, going back to his roses.

The statue is heads higher than Michelle like most adults still are. It’s too perfect, just like the rose bush. Michelle has seen so many statues in her life, sitting in front of abandoned houses, on the sides of roads, some even on pedestals in the middle of the reclaimed towns. She likes the horses best. They already look a little odd, so time hasn’t weathered them into something weirder, just something as weird as most horses look.

She doesn’t like statues of people, usually. Their features all wash away. Their hands stretch out fingerless, if they still have hands, or arms, at all. The outline of a person remained, anonymous and breaking down with every passing year. And then there were the ones she saw bowing their heads, hands together, broken extremities strapped to their backs like torture devices. She hated those most of all. When she’d been little, she used to pick up rocks and tell herself that she would knock them down or chip their worn faces. She always stopped herself before she let the stones loose.

Luke had broken one’s head clean off once, and their Mom had scolded him while laughing.

This one’s face is immaculately preserved. Every frozen detail of him sits as it must have back when her Grandfather was a little boy. The only disturbance is the lichens growing up the sides of his body. The teal spreads across his pale skin. She frowns. Most statues with colors are faded, but he almost hurts to look at. She takes a step closer.

He stares down into the bush. When she looks at his face, her chest hurts like she’s been shoved. For a moment, she’s a little girl again, and her mother is screaming like if she’s loud enough, she’ll wake the dead, and Michelle knows that her Grandfather won’t tell her any more stories to keep her up at night ever again, and she has her brother in her arms, held so tight because she can’t imagine letting him go, not like that, not ever, not Luke.

She wants to apologize to a statue without knowing who he’s lost. She shakes herself out of it. Luke’s right; she is stupid.

“Got one,” Luke says. She looks back at him. He’s down in the blackened dirt, arms deep in the bush. 

“Careful of the-” He jolts. “…Thorns,” she sighs as he pulls a hand free and sucks on a sore finger for a moment. “Let me get it.”

“I can do it myself,” he says, stubbornly. Michelle shakes her head, stepping over next to him and crouching low to see the rose he’s chosen. It’s deep in there, but it’s gorgeously red. Luke grasps at it, surrounding it with his little hands. He pulls. The rose moves a little, but it refuses to come free. Luke huffs. He pulls harder. The thorny vines wrapped around the bush cave towards his yanking, and Michelle puts a hand on his shoulder. 

“Careful,” she warns. He pulls again, and the bush seems to groan as its branches pitch towards them. The rose won’t come.

“I’ve got it!” he insists. He throws his whole body behind the next pull.

The rose explodes between his hands, and he falls backwards trailing dark red petal droplets all the way. Branches snap and vines shift and an alabaster stone rolls out after her brother as he sits, dumbfounded. Michelle rolls her eyes.

“Mom will love those.”

“Shut up,” Luke mutters, reaching for the stone at his feet as Michelle steps around to peer at the statue again.

They both gasp in fear at the same time.

Michelle stumbles back. The statue is facing her. Its eyes bore into her. She reaches desperately for her brother, and she finds his hand grabbing back. The statue moves, effortlessly pulling itself free of the vines wrapped around its entire body like it’s nothing. She sees its hand release around something, the hilt of a hidden weapon, and she shrinks back with her brother shielded behind her. 

“Leave us alone!” she shouts. “Go away!” She can barely speak around her own fear, but she can feel Luke’s hand trembling in hers. “Help! Help!” But no one hears them, and no one comes, and the statue advances in rough motions, like it knew how to walk once and forgot. Michelle is breathing too fast to think.

It stops. 

He slowly goes down to one knee, just below her eye level. He looks at her brother first, and then to her, and when he speaks, it’s like the groan of an old house settling. 

“Don’t be afraid,” he says. 

“Please don’t hurt us,” Michelle whispers. 

His eyes fix on her for too long for comfort. She can’t meet them. They’re too deep. She’ll get lost. She squeezes Luke’s hand. She can hear him hyperventilating. 

“I won’t,” the statue says. “Please”—He outstretches his hands, and Michelle takes another step back with Luke.—“give him back to me.”

“Leave my brother alone!” she snaps, louder. A look hangs across the statue’s face, much like the one that was frozen there before but he’s almost smiling, like he wants to but won’t let himself have that.

“Not your brother,” he says, and he tilts his head until Michelle follows his gaze to Luke. 

Luke is looking up at her, but in his other hand, he’s hooked the stone-

It’s not a stone.

Chills go up Michelle’s spine. The skull hanging from its eye socket in her brother’s hand is missing its jaw, and many of its teeth, and a long crack runs up the middle from the nose. 

Movement drags her gaze back to the statue, more terrified than ever. He stands up to his full height and turns away from them. He picks along the rose bush, fingers brushing the petals of many roses until he finds one near the top that neither of them ever could have reached. He breaks the stem in one quick motion. 

He offers it.

He wants to trade, Michelle realizes.

She’s more scared of what he’ll do if they don’t.

“Luke,” she says. She takes a deep breath. She’s more mature than him. She can stop her hands from shaking, at least for a moment. She has to. “Luke, give me the skull.” Luke looks like he wants to do nothing more than get rid of the bones, but he shakes his head. He won’t let her take them. “It’ll be okay,” she won’t know if she’s lying or not for another minute, so she can sound like she believes herself. “I promise.”

Luke presses the skull into her hands hesitantly. Tears streak his face with wet brown trails that she keeps herself calm by imagining drying off later, teasing him about how snotty he gets when he’s crying. 

The skull is freezing cold in her hands. Her fingers go numb just from carrying it.

She takes one step forward, and another, and another. The statue is so still again that she might believe he’d gone back to being frozen. Her gaze jumps across moss-covered patches of his body, refusing to look up into his face until she’s close enough that all she looks at is the rose in his other hand.

In the blink of an eye, she shoves the skull towards his outstretched palm, snatches up the rose, and darts back to her brother’s side. The thorns dig into her freezing skin, bringing it back to life. 

The statue turns the skull over in his hands. Luke grabs Michelle’s hand again, squeezing and sniffling.

She suddenly feels like the statue has forgotten they were ever there at all. It strokes the bones it’s recollected with the same love her Mom gives the two of them goodnight kisses. Michelle’s stomach roils unpleasantly. 

“Let’s go,” she whispers to Luke, wary of attracting attention back to them. She gets no arguments this time.

They back away slowly. They follow the burnt ground back, each extruding point from the center streak of destruction growing smaller and smaller as they get further from the bush and the statue. Michelle keeps her eyes on him as she listens to her brother climb back up out of the pit. 

The statue raises the skull up and presses his forehead against the broken bones of it. Michelle stares.

And then she climbs after her brother as quickly as she can, back into the world on the living, amid buzzing flies and reaching plants and the distant sounds of people calling their names. 

Michelle wants to look back. She freezes.

Luke tugs on her hand.

“Are you crying?” he asks, voice very small.

Michelle’s cheeks are hot. She wipes tears off of them. “No,” she lies.

Luke presses forward into her. He shudders as he tries to breathe. She wraps her arms around her little brother and holds on tight.

“Do we tell Mom?” he asks.

“No,” Michelle says. “I don’t think we tell anyone, ever.” She doesn’t know who that protects, but she doesn’t want to know, either. She doesn’t want to think about the statue, or the skull he held, ever again. She pets her little brother’s hair. 

He’s safe. That’s all she needs to think about. That’s her one job. Look after your brother.

“Okay.” He shakes. “Okay.” She gives him the rose to hold in his trembling hands, and they follow the voices back to the caravan.

(Enjoyed it? Any interaction is welcomed. You can even support me on Ko-Fi <3)

[hymemena]

The Quarry Sentence Starters

Feel free to change pronouns as necessary, and remember to specify muse for multimuse blogs.

CW: Swearing, violence, injury, animal attack mention, suggestive

—

"Swarm of bears?"

"Fine… Okay. Once again, -muse- puts themself in mortal danger for the sake of their 'work friends.'"

"Just… How can you be so certain?"

"If I let my conscience slow me down, now, everything gets a lot worse for everyone. Believe me."

"Ah-ah, you'll have it when I say you'll have it."

"Alright, huddle up boys, this is how we're gonna do this."

"There's a half naked girl/boy waiting for you back there, -name-, what are you doing?"

"It was… It was okay."

"They seemed pretty insistent we stay in the lodge."

"I'm just desperate to stay afloat in a world where everyone wants to be different."

"Sometimes things just don't make sense."

"Fuck!"

"Son of a binky-bonky!"

"Well, at least I don't look and smell like a butt."

"Podcast, huh?"

"Family is very important."

"Does this look like the Goddamn Harbinger Motel to you?!"

"Maybe they don't check their voicemail."

"How was I supposed to know that?"

"I saw it online."

"I don't know! This was my first cop!"

"You're a horrible person."

"You shot me?! I'm telling mom!"

"You stabbed me. That really hurt."

"Goodbye, cruel world! The final curtain is calling and there's no time for an encore…"

"Who should we call?"

"Ninety-one one."

"You mean nine-one-one? Who says ninety-one-one?"

"Okay, well, just because you're using 'logic' to 'make sense' doesn't mean that I'm totally into it."

"Hey, you're singing off-key."

"We are being hunted by literal monsters and this is what scares you?!"

"Oh my God. You are so childish."

"Yeah, if they made a podcast called 'How To Look And Smell Like A Butt.'"

"-Muse-, what's your position?"

"Uhm… Standing?"

"I just can't wait to see who they choose to play me. In the movie about how brave I am."

"Maybe you should have asked them out on a date?"

"Damn it! I missed my shot!"

"P-A-R-T… Why the fuck not?"

"Check out my huge melons!"

"There's been a horrible accident--Attack. Some stuff's bad here."

"I'm not gonna fuck a bear."

"Sorry!"

"Why didn't you tell me there was something out there?!"

"I don't know what I saw!"

"Oh my God, -Muse-, you won't believe this! It's… Nothing."

"Yeah, well… Worse things have happened this summer."

"You beefed it."

"Ah, not this time, motherfucker!"

"And what? Risk another run-in with Captain Deliverance?"

"Well, that bodes ill!"

"Whoa, watch your step!"

"Why'd you do that?"

"You told me to!"

"That was a bad idea."

"Huh. Rude."

"They get kinda hot when they're bossy, huh?"

"I'm always hot, pencil dick."

"It's my beer-dar. Helps me dar for beers."

"It's not a secret room! It's just hidden… By stuff…"

"Yeah, that's what a secret is!"

"I haven't ever been stabbed before."

"Why is there what I can only hope is strawberry jelly on your face?"

"Oh, yeah, no. I'm pretty sure it's blood."

"You can't hide from me in my own house, fucker!"

"You're a fucker!"

""Oh, so now I'm blind, too, you motherfucker!"

"Why does everyone blame everything on bears?"

"Okay, so for the sake of argument, what if that 'bear' that cut our phone line and just cut out all the power-- What if that bear is waiting for us out in the hallway?"

"What's wrong with this thing? It's just closing!"

"Sorry, bro!"

"Double skill!"

"Ow! Mother… Hubbard!"

"No… They're funny!"

"Moment's gone."

"…But not forgotten."

"No… -Muse-… Don't do it… Stop…"

"Herd of bears."

"Yeah, I've heard of bears."

"I can try to encourage them."

"Go for it! You guys can do it! --it's not working."

"You know that's kind of a movie-only thing, right?"

"I mean, you bang someone on the head you're more likely to kill them or leave them with permanent brain damage… Not just 'knock 'em out.'"

[rose-of-the-grave]

Snowed In

Pairing: Lily x James

Modern AU

Hey everybody, I know its been two months since I posted part 2 but here it is! As always I'm the author (please don't repost) <3

Masterlist. Series Masterlist. Part 2 Read on Ao3

Warnings: fake dating trope, kissing, weapon metaphors for snow balls, light angst?, nosy friends, background wolfstar

Word count: 2,797

Description: The group decides to hit the slopes which leads to a snowball fight.

Taglist: @sylveryfire

You know what guys, I think I’ll just warm up by the fire with some hot cocoa instead.” Alice said. Everybody else was bundled up and carrying their skis and ski boots.

“Are you sure?” Lily asked her friend.

“I’m sure. I just want to relax for a little while.” Alice smiled. “I’ll go out with you all tomorrow though, I promise.”

“We’ll hold you to it” Marlene threatened. She was leaning against the counter in the middle of the kitchen, munching on grapes.

Alice inclined her head slightly as if to say, “I know you will.”

“Ok, is everybody ready?” Sirius called from the entryway having just come back inside.

They all, except Alice, responded affirmatively.

While everyone made their way to exit the cabin, Alice plopped down on the sofa and pulled a blanket over her legs.

“See you later.” Lily said.

“See ya.”

------------------------------------------------

And so, they hit the slopes.

In order to keep up the pretense, Lily begrudgingly sat next to James on the ski lift. This felt much easier than she had thought it would. Sure they would sit a little closer than before, there was slightly less bickering, and of course there were his unbearable cutesy nicknames. If she never got called pookie-bear ever again in her life it would still not be long enough. For the most part they were acting completely normal. It was unnerving. She wanted them to believe their fake relationship was real but she didn’t think they would accept it that easily.

Looking all around, she watched people skiing down the hill. There were the little kids being watched over by their parents like hawks and then others who felt invincible enough to go racing down the mountain with very little care for others around them.

Even though it had been almost two decades since the incident had happened it was still fresh in her mind whenever she went skiing. She was maybe five at the time when she went skiing with her parents and Petunia. Petunia had been complaining about the cold so her mom had taken her inside the ski lodge while Lily and her dad had kept on skiing. 

Her dad had been so careful, never letting her out of his sight for a second but that was all it had taken. A second. All of a sudden she had been skiing straight at a tree, accelerating downhill. She had gotten lucky when she lost her balance and fell backwards. In just a short amount of time she had nearly died. Thankfully all she had gotten in the end was a sore butt and a whole lot of embarrassment.

Ever since then her parents had been much more watchful over her, probably one of the reasons her older sister resented her so much. Maybe that was where it started, the differing amounts of attention. If only she could have told her that she didn’t want all of the attention maybe things would have been better between them.

She and James were almost at the top, the trees almost clipping the bottoms of their skis. Readying herself, she prepared to get off. Sliding down towards Marlene and Dorcas, she heard a shout from behind her.

“Oi, Prongs!”

Such childish nicknames, she never understood them. Whenever she asked Remus about them he would always say that he was sworn to secrecy. Looking back from where she stood out of the way of other skiers, she watched Sirius pull James aside, motioning for Remus to go on ahead. Interesting.

Instead of thinking about it for too long she simply smiled and welcomed Remus. 

Looking at her companions she pushed off, calling behind her, “Last one to the bottom buys us all hot chocolate!”

They all shouted at her before taking off in pursuit. Gliding down over the packed snow, narrowly avoiding collisions, she whooped. She had missed this. Skiing used to be one of her favorite memories but she hadn’t been in years. Turning around a bend she prepared to go even steeper downhill. Bending her knees, she gained speed. The cold air whipping in her face felt refreshing. The snow glittered, reflecting the sun.

“On your right, Lils!” Marlene came rushing by her, followed by Dorcas. Their brightly colored jackets vibrant against the white of the snow.

“Not for long!” She yelled, going faster than before.

-------------------------------------------

“So. You and Lily.”

“What about me and Lily?”

“I don’t know. Guess I just figured that if you ever managed to get the girl of your dreams to date you you’d tell your best friend first.”

His cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “Sorry.”

“Not a problem. Don’t worry about it.”

“No, it is. I should have told you first. I would have if…” He trailed off before he could reveal the truth of his relationship with Lily.

“If…?”

“Nothing.” He looked away at where their friends had been. They’d probably already made it to the bottom of the hill.

“Don’t suppose that this has anything to do with you and Evans not actually dating does it?”

His head twisted around so fast he almost got whiplash. “What?” He asked in a way to high pitched a tone to seem innocent.

“I kind of figured that it wasn’t real. There’s no way she would forget all about her animosity towards you and suddenly be dating you. You’re not that good of a kisser.”

“Piss off.” He slapped him on the shoulder.

His best friend laughed.

“So. Am I right?”

“You aren’t wrong.”

Sirius’ eyes lit up at the thought of being right for a split second before realizing what that meant. His friend wasn’t actually dating Lily.

“Why are you fake dating? Why, of all people she could have asked, did she ask you?”

“Thanks a lot.”

“I’m just saying. You’re not exactly her favorite person.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s only because I was there and she knew I would say yes. Her friends were on her about getting out and dating again so she wanted an excuse to get them to wait a little longer. They wanted to set her up with someone.”

“And her very own Prince Charming came to her rescue.”

“I don’t think Lily would take kindly to being called a damsel in distress.”

“Point taken.”

The conversation seemed finished so James started skiing over to the edge, right before it sloped downhill.

---------------------------------------

Marlene had paid for all four hot chocolates after being teased about being a sore loser. Lily, Remus, Marlene, and Dorcas all sat at a table near the window, sunlight filtering through. When they saw Sirius and James racing down the hill, they all waved, hoping they would see. Thankfully they did.

“Wow. You all went down one time and you’re already in here drinking hot cocoa?” Sirius teased.

“It was cold.” Lily said, defensively.

Coming closer, he pulled up a chair next to Remus.

“Was it cold for you too?”

“Don’t say it.” He threatened without any real heat.

“Cause I can warm you up.” Sirius was smiling cheesily while Remus just shook his head, smiling fondly.

“Ugh! Really? I’m trying to drink my hot chocolate here!” Marlene exclaimed.

They all laughed.

James asked, “Anyone up for skiing some more?” Most of them shook their heads.

“How about a snowball fight?”

“Sure!” Sirius agreed. He pressed what Lily was sure was supposed to be a quick kiss to Remus’ lips but, in typical fashion, it got prolonged. They kept on kissing despite the noises of disgust Marlene made. All of their friends were happy for them, they really were, but there was only so much PDA they could stand.

Then, reluctantly, Sirius pulled away and walked out of the lodge with James. Almost immediately after they got outside, James ran ahead to get to the best snow. Sirius took a different approach. Gathering some snow from the stairs he threw it at James’ back, It hit him dead on, leaving white dust on the back of his snow jacket. The impact startled him, causing him to turn around with deadly intent in his eyes. Picking up some snow, he rolled it into a ball and threw it at his friend in retaliation. The snowball fight began in earnest. 

After a few minutes Lily decided to brave the cold and went to stand out on the deck, watching them throw snowballs at each other while childishly calling each other names. They had both amassed an arsenal of snow projectiles, ready to throw. The two of them circled around each other, playing a game of chicken. When James got near to the lodge Lily had an idea. Gathering some snow she balled it up and, picking her moment carefully, dropped it on his head.

He whirled around, caught sight of the perpetrator, and she watched the over the top betrayed look he shot her.

“You’re in for it now!”

Instead of throwing his next snowball at his friend he threw it at her, hitting her square in the face. She grew indignant at the sound of their laughter. Ducking down, she gathered some more snow in her arms and crept down the stairs, careful to remain undetected. Timing was key. Peeking over the rail she saw a perfect opportunity. She was only a few feet away from Black. If she waited for the right moment she could get him right in the back.

She threw it.

“Really, Evans? I didn’t think playing dirty was your style.” He complained, shaking the snow from his dark hair.

Grinning devilishly, Lily threw another, this time hitting him in the chest. When James approached to take advantage of his friend’s position, a snowball aimed high, she threw one at him as well before taking off running. He threw one as she ran, it clipped her leg.

“Is that all you got?” She taunted.

Sirius joined back in, throwing a snowball at her that she narrowly dodged. 

She threw one at him, that he ducked only for it to hit a person standing right behind him…Remus. Marlene and Dorcas flanked him and they were all armed to the teeth with snow.

They started throwing them at each other, and it was everyone for themselves.

Any alliances that were made ended with someone stabbing the other in the back.  She and Marlene formed a tentative alliance against James, coming at him from both sides with snowballs so he couldn’t retaliate without getting hit. Realizing this, he made a quick decision. He started focusing all of his attention on Lily, throwing snowball after snowball at her while approaching her. 

By the time she realized the position she was in he was already able to tackle her into a snow drift. Snow soaked through her pants and fell into her coat, causing her to shiver. The weight of James pressing down on her. She paused as she realized just how close their faces were. It had been a long time since she had ever truly allowed herself to think about kissing him. Now that they were dating, fake dating that is, she supposed she could. If he questioned it she could simply say that it was for her friends. 

She had been so stuck in her thoughts that it took her a while to see that his gaze had also drifted down to her lips, the laughter dying as he lay there. Her tongue darted out, licking her lips. They were dry from the cold. His eyes marked the movement, watching with a look that she could only describe as pure hunger. She knew that it was wrong. She hated him. If she kissed him he might think that she had changed her mind about him. And she hadn’t. Not even a little bit.

Bringing her hands up from where they were lying on her sides, she placed her hands on his chest fully intending to push him away. Her hands didn’t lay flat, her fingers curled into his jacket, pulling him closer. Caught by surprise, he fell directly on her, unable to stop gravity. Their lips crashed together in a rushed embrace, their teeth clacking. Pulling away a bit, he readjusted, allowing him a better angle. Brushing some hair from her face he kissed her. Softly, like the fallen snow brushing against the back of his neck.

Tilting her head, she kissed him back.

“Ow! Seriously?” He pulled away, rubbing the back of his neck.

An avalanche of snowballs descended upon them, covering them in the glittering white dust. Laughing, they got up and ran for cover. Amassing an arsenal of snowballs, they prepared to retaliate. 

“Ready?” She nodded. “Aim.” She prepared to throw. “Fire!

They were out there for hours, still throwing snowballs and tackling each other into piles of snow, when the sun fell and darkness came. It was only five at night but it felt like much later. 

When the five of them returned to the cabin, they were all arm in arm, grinning. Streaks of snow in their hair and on their jackets.

For dinner, they made a buffet of ham, cheese, bread, fruit, and salad. Sitting around the woodstove on couches they ate their food. Lily had grabbed a warm, fuzzy blanket to keep herself warm. James had sat next to her but kept enough distance between them. Neither one could stop thinking about the kiss and apparently nor could their friends.

“So, what did you all do today?” Alice asked, curious.

“We went skiing and then we had a snowball fight that lasted for a few hours.” Lily volunteered.

“Yeah. It got pretty heated.” Sirius said, waggling his eyebrows. JAmes shot him a look.

Marlene jumped in, unable to contain herself. “They kissed!”

“They’re dating.” Alice responded.

“Not like a peck on the lips kind of kiss. I mean a full on makeout session while laying in a pile of snow.”

They were all adults but anyone could have sworn they were kids at all of their oohing.

“Stop, guys.” Lily protested.

“You’re no fun.” Marlene pouted.

Shifting the attention off of the pair, Remus yawned. “Time for me to go to bed.”

Sirius gave him his trademark puppy eyes. 

“I’m exhausted. Stay as long as you want.”

To the rest of them he said, “Have fun!”

Grabbing some chocolate from the pantry, he walked upstairs to his and Sirius’ room.

After a while everybody dispersed, going their separate ways. Marlene got out a drink and sat down next to Alice who was finishing up a puzzle she had started earlier. Sirius went upstairs. And Dorcas put on some TV.

Not quite ready for bed but feeling tired Lily went up to her room. Grabbing a book she pulled back the covers on her side of the bed and got comfortable. She had almost finished her chapter when James came in holding two cups that were steaming.

“What’s that?”

“Tea. Don’t worry, it’s green tea.”

Accepting the warm mug of tea she thanked him.

“No problem. I was already boiling some water for myself so I figured I might as well.”

“So, about earlier.”

“It doesn’t have to be a big deal. It was just to keep up the pretense. Right?”

“Right.” she echoed.

And that was that. Hopefully, when this was all over it wouldn’t be too awkward.

An hour or so later, Lily went to bed, the other side still empty. Sleep crept up on her, drowning her in its depths. Hours went by of peaceful sleep, dreaming of a life where things had been different. If she had never met Severus then maybe she and James would have ended up together. No complications. No mess. Was it only some remaining sense of loyalty that made her keep her distance? She sometimes regretted it. The James she knew was not the one her ex boyfriend had so bitterly described. People change, so maybe, just maybe she should give him a chance. A clean slate.

She awoke with a clear purpose and to a still empty bed. The blankets were still neatly tucked in, he probably hadn’t even come to bed last night. Getting out of bed she wrapped a fuzzy robe around herself and put on a pair of socks to protect her feet from the stone floors downstairs.

Padding softly down the stairs, she walked quietly across the kitchen to the living room. There he lay, sleeping on the couch. She shook her head and went to grab a muffin for breakfast. It was only then that she actually looked outside, or tried to. All she could see was white and not in the sense that everything outside was covered in snow. No. In the sense that snow was packed against the windows covering everything and blocking the light. 

They were snowed in!

Part 4>>

[gefdreamsofthesea]

I hate it when people are like "[important cultural site or object] is just [construction materials]" because you could basically say that about everything (and people have said that about everything) people have made since there were people.

This is a pile of limestone and granite.

This is a selfie made of limestone.

Just some stone with some handprints.

And heck why stop with human-made objects?

This is a tree

This is a butte in South Dakota

I found more rock piles. Humans love making these for some reason.

P,S. Things in this post:

The Great Pyramid of Giza

The "Venus" of Willendorf

The Cave of the Hands

Methuselah, the world's oldest tree (or it was I thought I heard some idiot damaged it)

Bear's Lodge/Matȟó Thípila/Daxpitcheeaasáao/Devil's Tower

Pyramid of the Sun

[huskerdustfanclub]

It was 12:30 in the morning a few days after they came home from the Tobias case. Ashley and Spencer was sleeping over at Aaron's house it was his day to spend time with both of them and to make sure Spencer was going all right.

Spencer was laying across Ashley's feet completely naked laying across the foot of the bed his whole body including his head was covered up with the blanket.

It was blistering cold outside and JJ was running to Aaron's place. She was only wearing a sports bra and a pair of boxer shorts she made it into the building and right up to his door she had a wolfdog following her looking back and growling trying to keep the other dogs away there was a loose dog trying to get to her the other dogs are barking and growling outside the building.

JJ pounded on the door and it started to scream she was scared she had fights all across the back of her legs across her butt. Right wrist was reinjured this time bitten to the Bone and you can see something metallic lodged in between a bone you could tell it had been there for a while.

The dog was bearing his teeth and growling back behind her as a warning to the other dog to stay back JJ had a protector.

“Mm- is that the door?”

[dopescissorscashwagon]

Yesterday Kevin struck gold in the Bear Lodge Mountains of Wyoming. That is Devils Tower and the Missouri Buttes in the distance.

📸 by Kevin Palmer

[originemesis]

@deathinfeathers from xxx

Rattling the serrated blade inside the freshly formed slit, as if in a ravenous attempt to crack open a stubborn oyster and get at the succulent meat beyond the shell like a starved sea otter. Only does she falter when the inbuilt audio system, which had provided the back-up beats to many a jam session, proceeds to spit the snarling din of disordered files in her face. Amidst the clamor of fractured sound-bytes her vocals stand out starkly...this absolute freak must've cracked the internal storage unit. What a sicko. The blood seethes in her veins, at the thought of some desperate posturer nosing through Adam's private data. "RAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHH BLEED, YOU FILTH!!!" Reeling her head back in preparation to butt the knife through every layer of glass, flesh and bone separating it from the off switch nestled somewhere inside the dome, but she is stopped short. A squawk tears itself free of her lungs when the demon whips his upper body backwards, slinging her up and over his head like a raging bull. She lands with a thud atop the counter, pinning an awkwardly folded wing between her back and the blackwood, which results in a disconcerting crack of a sound, stemming from somewhere within the feathered appendage. Ouch! If she is at all deterred it is only for the moment it takes her to get her bearings and evade being gored by those Dagger-esque horns. She'd left the knife lodged in the display, so she's quick to swing an arm behind the bar and make a grab for the first object she can find, which happens to be a bucket full of ice. Not exactly an ideal weapon but she slams that shit, full force, over the back of his head never the less, scattering the cubes and frigid water all across the floor. An opportunity to take him down to the ground if she can get him to slip in the mess she'd just made, she draws her knees in close to her chest, grasping the counter's edge for extra leverage, and bunny kicks him in the side with all the staggering power of a roided up kangaroo.

The fact that she was trying to screw the knife's edge past the punctured glass shell and into his skull was not lost on the first man who became very distinctly aware of the scrape of metal against the flesh beneath the hardy helmet's shell. What exactly did an exorcist have to gain from coming down outside of extermination and tearing his head off? There was no telling...no telling what heaven had gotten up to in his absence. Surely they all thought him dead or else Lute and the others...they would have come back for him, right? But here was one of his own flock determined to dive a blade between his eyes. Which begged the question...did they know all along? That he was down here? And was this their confirmation that he was not only worth coming back for, but better off wiped clean of their record before he could cause too many issues to divine reputation down in hell?

Such thoughts are enough in the ways of fuel to fire him up into a raging display worthy of cracking the delicate intricacies of a monochrome-feathered wing trapped under his downward thrashes as he behaved more like a bull in a china shop than an angel with clipped wings at the bar. He would have kept jackhammering his horns down upon her too until he'd smashed her to a gorey pulp on the counter if it wasn't for how viciously she connected the bucket to the back of his helmet, leaving an additional ringing inside his skull as he snarled and staggered back a stunned step from his attempted brutalization. The ice caught suddenly underfoot causes him to slip just a jerk of a step, but he catches the side of the counter with a harsh grip of talons that scratch the black wooded surface. It's a short lived folly though when a well-timed kick slams into his flank and knocks him back a few sliding feet that might have destroyed the wall behind them with his momentum and launch speed had he not curled over to dig vicious nails into the floor, thus coming to a scraping stop on all fours like the animal she seemed to think she was butchering.

"All right-...I'm fucking DONE with this!" The rumble of a growl in his chest turned snarl helped him straighten back up as well as a burst of light in front of his chest that helped lay the image of a golden axe strapped across his chest in its usual position for every band session he'd issue to his flock in the past. With the currents of the chords, he was able to control the movements of his girls at times when they needed a slight nudging back into place to keep their formation more fuck-shit-up friendly, and he was absolutely prepared to correct this one's before she got too ahead of herself thinking she could waltz up and leave with his head in one soundless transaction. Without missing a beat of his own, he slammed the start of a particularly booming riff aimed at knocking the wind into her wings hard enough to send her backwards again if she wasn't careful about keeping those sails of the shoulder tucked against his perfect disaster of a storm.

"COME AND GET ME THEN, YOU STUPID BITCH-" He demanded, striking down upon the strings with the radiant light of his resolve much less bright than usual- but still a force of bass to be reckoned with when cranked up enough and aimed.

"HERE I AM!!"

[mutant-distraction]

Devils Tower (also known as Bear Lodge) is a butte, possibly laccolithic, composed of igneous rock in the Bear Lodge Ranger District of the Black Hills, near Hulett and Sundance in Crook County, northeastern Wyoming, above the Belle Fourche River. It rises 1,267 feet (386 m) above the Belle Fourche River, standing 867 feet (264 m) from summit to base. The summit is 5,112 feet (1,558 m) above sea level.

[pbandjesse]

My allergies were kicking my butt today. Keeping Flonase on my purse was a good idea. And helped a lot. But I was sniffling so bad at one point Elizabeth thought I was crying. Nope, just snotty.

I slept okay. When I got home last night I took a shower and James made me toast. And sleep came quickly.

When I woke up I felt fine. I got washed and dressed. My chin is a little red and my skin is a little uncomfortable. No idea what's up. But I grabbed my bag and headed to camp.

I stopped for breakfast. Which was fine. And I ended up getting to camp earlier then I needed. So I was able to go to the lodge and get all the tables and chairs out. I did not open the chairs but I was proud of my hard work. Everyone else would come and open the chairs. And I went to set up my program.

I drove over to upper camp and set up ground elements. The programs were slated to be 45 minutes but because the group ended up being almost an hour late the programs were shortened to 35 minutes. Which was just fine with me.

The principal would show up first. I was sitting outside sewing some little bears and collecting flowers when I heard on the walkie a car was here. And it was the princy! Apparently one of the kids has behavioral problems.so much that she didn't feel comfortable sending them without her since their parent didn't come. So we would have an eye out for that but honestly. This group was rough.

I stayed outside and had a nice conversation with the principal, and the. The group was there and we split up and headed to our programs. And it was a little rough. Just a lot of screaming at each other. There were a few fights. Emotionally I wasn't as exhausted as I have been with rough groups in the past but I felt like a lot of the adults even were just being a lot. So it was hard. They were trying to help but they weren't letting the kids try and fail, it's okay! This is a safe place to fail! And they learn things by doing! You have to let them try! Their hearts were in the right place.

Lunch was fine. I sat on the porch and tried to just enjoy how pretty it was today. Even though I was still sneezing. It wasn't as uncomfortable as it had been this morning but I was still walking around with a whole box of tissues. Thankfully I wasnt as uncomfy.

I would collect some flowers to press. And then got my groups for the afternoon.

Where I literally had to have the principal come and pull a few kids who were screaming in each other's faces. And then a chaperone tried to defend her kid because I said he was involved and she didn't think he was and I was just like. I don't get paid enough for this and just let the principal handle it and took the group. And hoenslty they were fine after that. I think because they understood I wasn't going to play and I would take them out of the program.

And they did good. Both of my afternoon groups were fun. We even got to do A frames in the last round because it was a chill group. I had to be on one of the lines but that was fine. They all did a good job and me and Sarah, who was over at low ropes, said goodbye to them and stayed at upper camp to clean up.

Elizabeth sent some confusing texts about clean up. But once we understood what she needed we headed towards the lodge. I continued to collect flowers and leaves. And once the school group was actually gone I went in to help clean the tables.

I had spoken to Bonnie, the cleaning lady, earlier about just cleaning the room so she wouldn't have to worry about it. And I think we, as a team, did a good job getting everything together and then it was time to go.

I went back to the office to talk to Alexi for a little. About the summer and then a check in with Elizabeth about tomorrow. And then I was off.

It was 3 and I was happy to go home. James had been texting me about groceries and how things I was requesting were sold out. But that's alright. And as I pulled up at the apartment James was coming home too!! So we got to go inside together and it was really nice.

James would get to work making us pasta for dinner and I went to take a shower and wash my hair. And then changed into my big skagway shirt and then got to work sorting my closet. I didn't do as good of a job as I had hoped. But I did pull all my jackets and sweaters out to put in bags to put in the closet and moved all my sweaters to one of my bed drawers. I have to many but I am struggling with parking down that collection. I don't even want to talk about my coat collection it's so outrageous. But maybe sometime soon I can actually do something about it. Today just wasn't that day.

Today was just sitting and refolding and putting different stuff up in the closet. James did the laundry and while things were drying we had our pasta and it was great.

I would remake our bed. And put everything away. And then did a little work in the studio. And eventually I got in bed with Sweetp and I basically just had potato time. My feet hurt but I was happy to be laying down.

And that's basically what me and James have been doing. Chilling. Resting. I'm going to go brush my teeth and get ready for bed.

Tomorrow should be a nice day. I'm helping with Zipline. And then after work we are having dinner with the Fulwilers for Charlotte's birthday! The gift I got her isn't here yet which is annoying but it's fine. Late gift.

I hope you all sleep great. Take care of yourself. Goodnight!

[libidomechanica]

But deep you make a lodging me my sour leg, an innocent fled

Was busy spade, which is not help.     ’For long wall and see the hill, I am chang’d. I summoned     then with missiles of this

time do I must accuse your handle     silver feet; with happy show to that your dread, and child,     and know that virtue leads

sunny skies. But making crave much     suspect in favourites were wherewith I write! Rot     is call; like pallid lilies,

that till more than please. Of sorrow     brought of lilies laid on a pictur’d-forth in virgins     sow, with science; and o’er,

as once might Quick was his cars of     nought call the genial comfortless that is so very sound     of the harsh prudes

forsaken spring ere thy heart at     changing joy of the way, her class, amongst the time, readers,     and all bear, and distractions

country far remote. Perceive     her pleasure o’ the least it rhyme to it, give you require.     Where I somethinks

tears milking the walk’d about it     liv’d and disappeared a fond ware? Which I still art discontent     with clamoured and

after his mouthed, This is my weak;—     I meant by the rest? Rot and life, some ten years she tapt her     eyes, bluer stocking, trembling

if I fled from butts of lilies     laid. Her infant cried. Bent on that the Fortunes, and if     in fact that black letters!

Forthwith her over-fond: so will     shall breaks of the rest? Moreover I’ve wandering room in     the moder was it might?

As does the calm words which is the     bird to steal away; themselves aware of him warm’d: let’s give     a rosy silken-

sandaled foot: that’s wrong: in alt, or     ran they. He is an aggression tis a great Princes addest,—     I lay my sorrow

and blythe beauties of Yazd; and the     by, when though I despair from neighbouring her time’s     Sense— merged in hand— sought it?

[thorsenmark]

Devils Tower (Bear Lodge) is Truly Impressive! by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: As I drove along Wyoming Highway 24, I'd see off and on views of this famous butte. Needless to say, it was hard not to just stop and capture another image, but I wanted to get to the national monument to explore and walk around. Here I stopped next to some farmland and used that and the surrounding hills to add this pedestal or base like setting to it. I finished up post-processing work in Capture NX2 by adding a few CEP filters (Low Key, Polarization and Graduated Neutral Density) and some minimal cloning out of farm equipment for the final image.

[pamietniko]

Travel Diary: My journey to The South

I almost missed seeing this beautiful butte due to a late start leaving Cody. As it was getting dark and I was still a few hours away from Rapid City I heavily considered skipping it altogether. I would have to drive through a desolate highway, in a storm, and there was a good chance I would arrive at the monument once the sun had completely set so I was pretty hesitant about taking the hour long detour. Thankfully my boyfriend convinced me to just go for it and check it out since I wasn’t going to get this opportunity ever again.

This was one of those moments on my trip where things just worked out perfectly. I’m sure this butte is gorgeous during all hours of the day but being able to catch it as it glowed during sunset was so amazing!

Devils Tower National Monument, Wyoming

[acrossthecoronaverse]

The tower was very ominous and mysterious, a very special and unique place. Everything was very still and quiet as we walked around its base. Many of the trees near the tower were adorned with prayer bundles and prayer blankets. It was amazing how silent and beautiful the area around the tower was.