#Decking Glasgow | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

jintaka-hane · 8 months ago

Text

The Date

Masterlist

Summary: You and Heat have your first task together: buying provisions in the village where you've just docked. To get the job done, you decide to wear a beautiful, light summer dress, something that will reveal your companion to be quite the gentleman and charmer. Notes: I'll be honest. The amount of time it has taken me to write this fic is not normal XDD Word Count: 2700+

"Someday, I'll take out a girl like that," said a young Heat, hidden in an alley, hungrily biting into a stolen loaf of bread as he observed elegantly dressed girls pass by.

"Don't tell me!" mocked one of his friends. "And let me guess! You'd treat her to ice cream?"

"Of course I'd treat her to ice cream," he replied so proudly that his group of friends erupted in laughter.

The years passed, and with them came the street gangs, the violent fights, and the Glasgow smile, causing this memory to fade forever from his mind.

******

That day was resupply day in the village.

After the shout on deck announcing that you had just docked in the harbor, you hurried to get ready in your cabin, assuming Heat was probably already prepared. It was the first time you had been assigned a task together, and you didn't want to keep him waiting.

Your fingers began to sift through the different hangers in the flung wide open wardrobe in search of something light to wear. Summer had arrived on the islands, bringing with it hot, sunny days, so you needed something cooler than your usual outfit.

Discarding the leather jacket—too hot despite being sleeveless—along with the set of gothic corsets and harnesses, and the collection of dark t-shirts with spiked dog collars, your fingers halted on a hanger holding a much more delicate garment.

A few weeks earlier, Quincy had convinced you to buy a summer dress from a store that sold everything at half price. Lavender in color, with a sweetheart neckline and tiny embroidered flowers on the skirt, it was a garment you had never worn, partly out of embarrassment and partly because it wasn't the most suitable attire for the strict life at sea.

Holding it between your hands, you thought it was a shame for it to hang there unused. What if you wore it that afternoon? Oh, the crew would surely laugh at you when they saw you, but... it was cool and airy, perfect for high temperatures... and besides, the village seemed so peaceful and tranquil, with little risk of having to face a street fight. When else would you have such an opportunity to wear it?

You chuckled to yourself at the realization that you were making excuses to wear it, and slipped it on without further thought, completing the outfit with a pair of matching heeled sandals instead of your usual black leather boots.

As you stepped out onto the deck, everyone stopped what they were doing to look at you. Everyone except Heat, who appeared absorbed in reviewing the shopping list over and over again, seemingly unaware of the catcalls and wolf whistles that started to fill the air.

Slightly embarrassed, you hurried over, snatched the berry bag that Killer handed you, and turned to Heat, lifting your chin to meet his gaze, suddenly aware of how tall he was.

"Shall we go?" you asked, eager to disembark as quickly as possible.

The pirate with bluish locks lifted his gaze from the paper and blinked several times before looking you up and down. His face flushed pink, and before he could stammer a word, the shopping list slipped from his hands, falling to the ground right by your feet. Grunting, he bent down to retrieve it, unable to prevent his eyes from flicking a quick glance at the straps of your sandals, admiring how delicately they encircled your ankle bones.

"Uh, y-yes, let's go," he stammered, straightening up and brushing back the hair that had fallen across his face in cascades, his cheeks still tinged with a deep blush.

As he looked back at you, you were already descending the gangplank, teetering slightly in your heels. He slipped a hand into his pocket, discretely counted his allowance, then hurried to catch up with you.

"Behave yourself, Heat!" someone shouted from behind both of you.

*****

The port turned out to be a lively and pleasant place and Heat, once over the initial shock, seemed more animated than ever. He chatted incessantly, his bright eyes fixed on you, gesturing emphatically with his hands, and constantly making you laugh with his antics.

You moved through the picturesque streets, going from shop to shop, oblivious to how the passersby crossed to the other side of the street at the sight of him.

Your companion was constantly attentive to you, always gallantly holding the door open at every shop and insisting on carrying all the shopping bags himself.

On a couple of occasions, unaccustomed as you were to wearing heels, you stumbled on the shop's entrance step, and Heat caught you mid-air as laughter bubbled between you. The shopkeepers watched with curiosity, puzzled by the unusual pair you made.

Once you had finished all the groceries Killer had instructed, you moved on to the list of personal requests. You giggled together as you read items such as a can of blue paint, nail polishes, a trident sharpener, and a special shampoo that Heat eventually confessed was for himself.

It didn't take long to gather everything, but not wanting to return to the ship so soon, Heat suggested taking a leisurely stroll through the heart of the village to explore.

"Doesn't it bother you? You're loaded down with bags," you asked, concerned as you saw his fingers, white under the handles.

"No, not at all!" he chuckled carelessly.

You walked without haste, chatting more calmly after the earlier excitement of the day.

The village boasted a wide array of peculiar products you had never seen before, and each time you paused to observe them in the windows of closed shops, Heat took the opportunity to admire the reflection on your face, filled with curiosity.

Heat wished the evening would never end, but before you both knew it, the sun descended from the sky, signaling it was time to return to the ship.

Walking side by side and enjoying the tranquility of the streets in comfortable silence, you made your way back.

You could already see the harbor, the masts of the moored ships jutting out in the distance, when your crewmate halted silently, a smile touching his scarred lips.

"Heat?" You stopped next to him, peering at him inquisitively.

Following his gaze, you saw a modest ice cream parlor at the end of the street. It was small, with a limited selection of flavors displayed at the entrance.

He looked at you, a small blush creeping up his cheeks once more.

"Do you want ice cream?"

A radiant smile lit up your face, like that of a little girl.

"YES!"

"Let's go." He patted one of his pockets to double-check his allowance. "I'll treat you."

"Really? No need, Heat, I can—"

"Let me treat you, please."

You beamed at him, somewhat surprised by his sudden generosity.

"Thank you so much!"

As you approached the ice cream flavors display the vendor greeted you with a friendly gesture, his smile quickly vanishing when he saw your companion coming up behind you.

There weren't many flavors to choose from, but the ones available looked delightful. Your eyes scanned the different options, hesitating over which would be the best.

"Psst, hey miss..." the vendor whispered in a voice only audible to you, watching warily as your companion bent down to eye the mint flavor. "Are you in danger?"

You lifted your gaze and saw the man discreetly gesture toward Heat. Then, you bursted into laughter, amused as you watched your friend smile and point at the creamy, greenish ice cream with chocolate chips.

"Oh, no, no, he's with me."

Once each of you had your ice cream scoops nestled in a waffle cone, you slowly made your way back to the ship.

Since his hands were occupied with the bags, you carried both ice creams, pausing now and then to give him his, bringing it close to his lips while placing your other hand underneath to prevent spills—somehow, the ice cream seemed to melt remarkably fast near him.

This strategy worked the first few times, but eventually, it became impossible to avoid making a mess.

As you brought the cone to his lips, several treacherous drops fell from the corner of his mouth and rolled down to his chin. Without thinking, you swiftly used your thumb to catch them, briefly sliding it along the seam of his scarred lips, feeling the indentations of his scars. He jerked back, involuntarily withdrawing his head with an abrupt movement, surprising both of you.

Immediately, you pulled your hand away, embarrassed for touching him without permission and realizing it was the first time you had touched his scars. How foolish of you; perhaps it hurt him, or perhaps he found it unpleasant for someone else to touch them...

“F-forgive me, I didn’t mean to-” you began, visibly ashamed.

"It’s okay," he cut you off, cursing himself for his own reaction and for scaring you away.

You both continued walking in silence, the only sounds on the street being the rustle of your dress, and the click of your heels against the pavement.

Heat's thoughts were consumed by the gentle brush of your fingers against his scars, the sensation of your touch replaying in his mind over and over again.

"Heat…" you decided to break the silence.

The pirate glanced at you out of the corner of his eye, seeing how you hesitantly held out your waffle cone toward him.

"Do you want to try mine?"

He halted beside you, his fists gripping the handles just a bit too tightly.

"Um... yes."

As he bent down and your hand approached his mouth, his heart started racing. His lower lip trembled as he tasted the sweet flavor you offered him, and his gaze drifted to your fingers, observing how they carefully cradled the ice cream. How had he never noticed before how delicate they were? He studied them, noting the shape of your nails, barely maintained due to your lifestyle, yet still elegant and beautiful.

"Do you like it?" you asked.

He remained lost in your hands, his eyes admiring the smooth, velvety skin of your wrists, so close to his lips that he could almost kiss them…

"Heat! Can you hear me?" you laughed, giving him a friendly tap on the chest to get his attention. "Do you like it?"

"Yes..."

*****

It was already nightfall when you returned to the ship.

After climbing the ship's staircase, you headed to the pantry, which was warmly lit, echoing with the voices of your crewmates from outside.

"Oi!"

“Welcome back!” They greeted you cheerfully.

Heat dropped the heavy bags on the table, grabbed a few bottles of booze, and turned to stow them in a cupboard.

"Well..." Quincy began, glancing sideways at your dress while pretending to inspect the groceries, "how was the date?"

Heat's back muscles tensed, his hands freezing with the bottles held mid-air, as he listened attentively to the conversation behind him.

"The date?” You laughed, grabbing a couple of apples and placing them in the fruit bowl. “I haven't had any dates. I can't remember the last time I had one."

Quincy hummed. Her eyes moved from the tense, motionless posture of the tattooed pirate, to the vivid color in your cheeks.

"Well, that's a shame... you're gorgeous. And you look especially lovely tonight," she raised her voice to make sure everyone could hear.

"Oh, Quincy, stop it! You're going to make me blush even more."

"But you really are!" she pulled you into a hug from the side.

You returned the hug, then focused on organizing the provisions, working in silence while your friends chatted around you.

*******

Back in your cabin, you sat on your bed reflecting on how the day had gone.

It hadn't been bad; you had quite enjoyed yourself.

Surprisingly so, considering it was just a day of shopping.

You lifted your feet to untie the straps of your sandals and rotated your ankles, stiff from the forced position of the heels. Barefoot, you rose from the bed and stretched your arms above your head to reach the zipper that fastened the dress at your back.

Knock, knock, knock.

A soft tapping on your door caught your attention, so faint that you mistook it for the usual creaking of the ship’s wood.

You grumbled, trying to make the zipper budge when the tapping came again, this time with more determination.

Knock, knock, knock.

With your dress half-open, you walked to the door and opened it, revealing the towering figure of Heat standing on the other side.

"Hey, Heat?" You greeted him.

The pirate looked at you in silence, his shyness causing his eyes to drop to the floor, landing on your bare feet. He quickly looked back up, a rosy hue spreading across his cheeks.

"Heat, do you need something?"

"I had a great time today," he blurted out.

"I did too," you offered him a smile.

Running a hand through the untamed waves of his bluish hair, he continued.

"A-and I was wondering if you… well, it's completely understandable if you don't want to. It's fine, really, if your answer is no, but…” He propped his tattooed elbow on the door frame, trying to strike a seductive pose, “would you like to go back to town tonight?"

“Oh!” you exclaimed. "Did we forget to buy something from the list?"

He blinked at you, his heart sinking like a dead weight into the depths of the sea.

“No, no, we didn't forget anything,” he assured you.

You looked up at him. "Then?"

"It's just that... I was thinking…” he began to fidget with the laces of his vest, “maybe we could go to town to have… dinner?"

He ended the sentence with a questioning tone, wincing at how awkward he sounded.

"Dinner?” Your face lit up, suddenly realizing how hungry you were. “I could have dinner! When do we leave? Are the others ready?"

Heat couldn’t believe how difficult this was turning out to be.

"NO. No, the others wouldn’t be coming."

"...oh," you said, awkwardly. "...OH.”

He kept his gaze fixed on you, and his eyes studied your reaction as it all clicked into place for you.

"... so... it would just be you and me? Like—"

"A date, yes," he confirmed, unable to bear the suspense any longer.

How could you have been so silly? There was nothing you wanted more in the world than to spend more time with your striking, blue-haired crewmate. The corners of your mouth lifted, your eyes sparkling as you gave Heat the most beautiful, thrilled smile he'd ever seen.

"Yes! Of course I'll go! I'd love to go back to town with you!"

Heat let out the longest breath, and something about the gesture made your heart melt.

“Just..." you remarked as you realized you were barefoot and with the dress halfway off, "...give me a moment to get ready, okay?"

"Okay," he nodded.

The moment you closed the door, he punched the air in quiet triumph, a satisfied grin stretching from ear to ear as he made his way to the deck, where he would wait for you for the second time that day.

Perhaps, if the evening unfolded well, he might gather the courage to hold you in his arms... and perhaps, if you allowed him, he could show you how much he had loved the feel of your skin against his scars.

..........................

Taglist: @fanaticsnail <3

#one piece #fic one piece #kid pirates #one piece x reader #x reader #heat one piece #heat op #heat kid pirates #heat x reader #jintaka stuff

234 notes · View notes

mybeautifulchristianjourney · 2 years ago

Text

One of the passengers aboard the Titanic was a godly Pastor from Scotland, by the name of John Harper. Harper had recently spent three months ministering at the Moody Church in Chicago. He had not been back in Britain long when he was asked to return. He quickly made arrangements for himself and his six-year old daughter, Nana, to return via the Titanic.

The Titanic struck the iceberg on April 14, 1912. Harper wrapped his daughter in a blanket, told her that she would see him again one day and watched her safely board one of the lifeboats. (She survived)

One survivor distinctly remembered hearing him shout, "Women, children and the unsaved into the lifeboats!" Harper knew that believers were ready to die but the unsaved were not ready. Harper then ran along the decks pleading with people to turn to Christ,he called upon the Titanic’s orchestra to play, "Nearer, my God, to Thee." Gathering people around him on deck, he then knelt down, and "with holy joy in his face" raised his arms in prayer. As the ship began to sink, he jumped into the icy waters and swam frantically to all he could reach, beseeching them to turn to the Lord Jesus and be saved. John Harper then sank into the depths and passed into the Lord’s presence; he was 39.

Four years later, a young Scotsman named Aguilla Webb stood up in a meeting in Hamilton, Canada, and gave the following testimony:

“I am a survivor of the Titanic. When I was drifting alone on a spar that awful night, the tide brought Mr. John Harper of Glasgow, also on a piece of wreck, near me. ‘Man,’ he said, ‘Are you saved?’ ‘No,’ I said, ‘I am not.’ He replied, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.’ The waves bore him away; but, strange to say brought him back a little later, and he said, ‘Are you saved now?’ ‘No,’ I said, ‘I cannot honestly say that I am.’ He said again, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,’ and shortly after he went down; and there, alone in the night, and with two miles of water under me, I believed. I am John Harper’s last convert.”

488 notes · View notes

scotianostra · 3 months ago

Text

Friday 2nd December 1960 saw tragedy strike when a firefighter from Glasgow Fire Service lost his life at a fire on board the German cargo ship MV Pagensand at Prince’s Dock.

The story started a few days earlier when the vessels crew had discovered the fire on the Tuesday that week, when they were 2 days out of Gothenburg, Sweden. A decision was made to seal the holds and make for port. Smoke still continued to come from the hold. What made matters worse the ship was carrying matches and paper!

The Captain had radioed a warning ahead and the vessel was advised to head for The Forth and dock at either Leith or Grangemouth but on getting closer to Scotland decided it was safe enough to make it to Glasgow instead.

When the ship docked at Princes Dock, Govan late on Thursday the officer in charge and the Captain agreed that the sealed hatches would remain in place until daylight.

On the Friday during daylight the deck cargo was cleared and the firefighters prepared for entry into the hold. When the hatch was opened several firefighters and some Dockers went below. Within minutes there were shouts for help and 11 firefighters and a Docker had collapsed and also required rescue.

Station Officer Douglas Mearns could not be revived after the incident, he was 45 years old, married and had three children, there is a plaque at the Millennium Bridge remembering him, members of Govan Fire Station pay tribute to him their annually on this date, SO Mearns is also on the Monument to the firefighters at Necropolis.

#scotland #scottish #history #firefighter #Glasgow

13 notes · View notes

jor-elsemissary · 2 months ago

Text

A Pirate’s Life For Eternity

Although I may or may not pick this up, I do have a world built for it. It’s a mix of Smallville and Pirates of the Caribbean. Essentially Smallville characters and lore and PotC lore mixed together.

Here are some things I have established in this AU, starting with our favorite pirate, erm, businessman:

Captain Leonel “Blackmane” Luthor

Born in 1675 in a small hamlet outside of Glasgow, Scotland to Lachlan and Eliza Luthor.

Abused by his drunken father who was a dockworker in Glasgow and neglected by his gin soaked mother.

Murdered his parents at the age of 19 in an ‘accidental’ fire and stole their life savings (which wasn’t enough to restart anywhere).

Stowed away aboard an English merchant ship called The Gloriana leaving for the New World in order to escape the authorities.

Half way through the voyage, was found and flogged for stowing away and stealing from the galley.

Became indentured to that merchant captain for five years.

Met his best friend, Morgan Edge, on the same ship.

In 1699, with Morgan’s help, mutinied against the captain and stole the crew and ship. Thus began his life as a pirate.

In 1700, met a merchant’s daughter, Lillian, in the new coastal city of Metropolis and fell in love with her. Marries her six months later and Alexander Luthor is born three months after that.

Leaves his family in Metropolis while he pillages up and down the eastern colonies with Morgan as his First Mate.

1702 he has an affair with a prostitute and sires Lucas whom he hands over to a midwife to raise for him. He murders Rachael Dunlevy.

1704 he has another affair with Lillian’s best friend, Pamela Jenkins, and lets her keep the child. It’s this child that Lillian realizes he’s being unfaithful.

Builds businesses in Metropolis and makes political connections that turns the English port into a safe haven for his crews.

1715 Lillian dies from a heart problem and curses her husband. He renames The Gloriana to The Red Lily in honor of her despite their falling out. He changes his flag to the skull and bones with a red lily in its teeth, and dyes his sails red.

Not long after Morgan acquires his own ship and goes his own way down in the Caribbean.

He makes Lex and Lucas cabin boys aboard his ship to introduce them into his way of life.

In 1720 he makes Lex his First Mate

1721 he steals the title of Pirate Lord of the Atlantic from the current one by attacking his ship and killing him. He learns a year later that Morgan has taken the title for the Caribbean.

He strives to become Pirate King.

1722 Lutessa Jenkins shows him up in a tavern, demanding a spot on his crew. Amused and impressed, he agrees.

Lucas and Lutessa eventually earn their own captaincy.

1724 The East India Company attacks Metropolis and focuses on the Pirate Slums. Many pirates are killed and Leonel learns his eldest has betrayed them, choosing to take a privateers life to hunt down pirates.

One of the ships he and Lucas hunts down has prisoners taken from the Slums. Among them is a woman named Martha Kent whom he knew from years ago.

She proves to be unyielding and honest, and knows how to handle him. Leonel finds himself attracted to her and takes her aboard.

He finds out her husband, a farmer, had died in the raid while trying to protect her and her son. She does not know what became of Clark.

She does not see Metropolis for four years as Leonel spends the time hunting his traitorous son. He falls in love with her and Martha is wary of his advances.

1728 He is attacked by an East India Company ship, surprisingly, captained by Martha’s son. Apparently he blames the pirates for the loss of his parents and had spent the last four years cleaning up Metropolis and the Atlantic.

Leonel manages to beat him in a ship battle but soon discovers that he’s dealing with a demi-god when the fighting is taken to the decks.

Martha stops them from killing each other and Clark learns it was Lex who had betrayed everyone that fateful day.

They work together to find Lex, Leonel promising to retire once he has revenge against his son.

1729 While Clark takes his mother back to Metropolis, Leonel catches up with Lex off the coast of North Carolina.

He loses the battle, his crew is slaughtered in front of him and Lex has his father tied to the main mast before scuttling the ship.

He drowns once his ship completely sinks but not before he sees the colors of Clark Kent on the horizon.

Post 1729

This is where more of the PotC lore comes in and Smallville’s Krypton lore is altered a bit…

Leonel is sent to Davy Jones locker when he refuses to sell his soul to the devil himself. He knows Lex will pay for what he’s done and although he would want to return to Martha, it is mostly unrequited love.

He suffers in the locker, a broken mockery of The Red Lily rests on a sandbar beyond his reach. He tries to swim to it, but it is endless and he drowns from exhaustion.

He finds himself alone on another sandbar some time later. There is no life and the sun never sets, always existing at the hour he died.

Soon enough the sandbar sinks or the sea level rises and he has no choice but to tread water. Eventually he drowns again trying to reach his ship or land, but the distance is endless.

Enough time passes and he gives up and just lays there on the sandbar, letting the locker drown him over and over again.

He had begged God and whatever gods there were to end his suffering. His pleas go unheard.

Then one day a small crab appears and he realizes it’s the familiar of a sea goddess he has only heard stories of.

He drowns one last time in the Locker.

He finds himself back on his ship, alone, but the gentle, cool breeze of the open sea tells him he is alive.

Cautiously he finds a goddess at the stern of his ship and makes a bargain with her.

Serve the god, Jor-El, and he would have his life and ship back. Fail and he would be returned to the Locker to drown.

She sends him back to Metropolis, his ship guided by the spirits of his dead crew until they reach port.

He eventually rebuilds his crew, finds out what he is to protect, reconnects with Martha and discovers he is cursed when Lutessa tries to kill him.

He hadn’t realized his bargain had been literal. He was to serve a god and the only way a mere mortal could do that is if he was immortal.

Emissary of Jor-El

He serves Jor-El faithfully while still living his life as a pirate and marrying his mortal son’s mother. But time eventually catches up to him and he learns the second curse his bargain has bestowed him.

He outlived his children and grandchildren. He outlived Martha. He outlived his closest friends and comrades. He outlived piracy and finds himself wandering as the world ages and he does not.

He becomes a mercenary, a revolutionary, a wanderer, a teacher, a soldier, and eventually a businessman.

He comes to believe in reincarnation as he finds his first wife and his children again. He encounters Martha Kent years later and falls in love with her again.

He learns Kal-El is reborn after a century without him.

He still serves Jor-El when he is needed and once more he has to betray his family to protect the god’s son.

This second time around, he wants to fail and suffer an eternity in the Locker.

Martha keeps him from doing so and he begs Jor-El to let her follow him through time or release him.

Jor-El refuses to release his servant but gives him a boon when he succeeds in helping Kal-El ascend this time.

#smallville #lionel luthor #martha kent #mionel #lex luthor #clark kent #tess mercer #lucas luthor #morgan edge #calypso #jor el #alternate universe #multiverse #pirates of the caribbean #pirate!lionel verse

9 notes · View notes

weclassybouquetfun · 3 months ago

Text

Jacob Elordi is one of the judges at the Marrakech International Film Festival and instead of people trying to figure out just what made the organization choose him to be on panel, many are focusing on his facial hair.

I must say; I love it.

It is drawing comparisons:

Without the facial hair the only thing he has going for him is his height. Let him have this!

More Jacob and the SALTBURN alums.

Joining Jacob in Emerald Fennell's adaptation of WUTHERING HEIGHTS is Alison Oliver who played Venetia.

Still going strong with Josh O'Connor.

Venetia and Felix, you'll always hold my heart.

Barry Keoghan is at work on CRIME 101 with Chris Hemsworth; and according to Ringo Starr himself, Keoghan will be playing him in his biopic.

-Richard E. Grant who can be seen on HBO's THE FRANCHISE, recently wrapped the Nicholas Galitzine / Emma Corrin / Maika Monroe romantic fantasy 100 NIGHTS OF HERO. Here he is running with the crew. Reading his lovely most recent autobiography, one of the things he talks about it his love of running and running through halls and hotels. I don't think he mentioned dancing like in a vid with his friend Helena Bonham-Carter, to the sounds of singer-actor Johnny Flynn.

-Archie Madekwe will soon be seen in the series HAVEN with Sophie Turner. He gave her her award at Harper Bazaar's Woman of the Year awards.

Galaxy brained Archie had a great Halloween costume. Who else would think of the fail! Oompa Loompa from the disastrous Glasgow Willy Wonka Experience?

-Rosamund Pike wrapped NOW YOU SEE ME 3 (here with costar Justice Smith).

-Ewan Mitchell amazingly has nothing on deck, with the exception of HOUSE OF THE DRAGON. But as long as he keeps getting invited to events, his red-carpet looks are entertainment enough.

#saltburn #barry keoghan #jacob elordi #rosamund pike #richard e grant #archie madekwe #alison oliver #ewan mitchell #movies #films #felix catton #oliver quick #saltburn alums

17 notes · View notes

ginandoldlace · 7 months ago

Text

Royal Navy light fleet aircraft carrier HMS Triumph arriving in King George V Docks Glasgow with aircraft and men lining the decks, April 1949.

12 notes · View notes

theresattrpgforthat · 1 year ago

Note

I saw your recent recommendations for psychic vigilantes games, but do you have recommendations for anything with a more inception or psychonauts feel (aka exploring/influencing dreamspaces or representations of a person's mind)?

THEME: Exploring Dreamscapes

Hello friend! When I first saw this ask, I thought I might have one or two games off the top of my head, but there’s actually many more game options than I thought already stored away in my folders! Without further ado…

Praedormitium, by Joie Martin.

Named for the transition of wakefulness to sleep, Praedormitium is a tabletop roleplaying game inspired by the experience of lucid dreaming. Players portray Hypnopomps, characters with the innate ability to manipulate the Realms of Dream as they travel through it on strange and wonderful adventures.

Praedormitium uses a deck of tarot cards as the basis of its resolution system, cooperative play, and the unlimited power of players' imaginations to build a cohesive narrative experience. Anything is possible in dreams, and the game can be as wild or whimsical, as dark or surreal as the players choose to make it.

This game has some really intriguing lore that creates some backstory as to why your characters are Hypnopomps, and what that means in the game. It’s not extensive though, so there are plenty of gaps and spaces for your play group to fill in. Your main role is to keep the balance of dreams: nightmares and phantasma all have a role to play. The game uses tarot cards, and incorporates tarot card suits into the lore, so if you like games that tie the mechanics to the setting, you might be interested in Praedormitium.

Lucid Sea of Dreams, by The Games Gardener.

A roleplaying game about Lucid Dreamers and their adventures, tribulations, and mysteries in the Waking World and the Sea of Dreams. Inspired by dreams, nightmares, and Jewish folklore (and much much more). Has been described as 'inside-out meets pan's labyrinth’.

Lucid Sea of Dreams makes lucidity something that your character can lose. Your character has Lucidity points, which kind of doubles as Hit Points - lose all of your Lucidity points, and you wake up. In the waking world, losing Lucidity points could lead to becoming unconscious, or even death. This means that there’s much higher stakes in this kind of game - in fact, it’s tagged as horror, so be prepared to enter dangerous scenarios and meet difficult foes. The dice resolution system uses d10 dice pools, which I personally find very satisfying! This game was Kickstarted back in 2022, so I’m not sure if it’s in its final stage, or if there’s more to come.

Nyx, by Doctor Glasgow.

When the Day of the Comet came, much of what was sank into the world below. Into the murky ebon twilight of a most ancient realm, Nyx. Since the very first sparks of light danced behind the eyelids of our ancestors, this realm began to swirl with Dreams. And yet, in sleep, there too, are Nightmares…

Nyx is a role-playing game, set in a darkened realm of sleep and dreams. It is an interpretive game, wherein the strange setting is only just barely glimpsed, like a dream half-remembered when one wakes from slumber. It is up to the players and the Dream Master (DM), to interpret the vague setting details as they see fit, and form a vision of Nyx wholly their own.

Nyx combines dice and cards in an average play session, with plenty of set-up questions to encourage a collaborative world-building and a point-buy system that fuels character creation. Your character is pretty customizable, allowing you to increase specific stats, improve character skills, or focus on special abilities and spells. There’s also different character forms, which I really like - as dream-entities, race or species don’t really make sense. It’s totally possible that your character has been different things over different iterations. The art in this book is lovely and does a really good job of conveying the magical and surreal theme. The full game is only $5, but if you want to see what you’re getting into first, you can always get the Free Beta version at the bottom of the shop page.

18XX Dreams, by Deep Light Games.

THE DREAM REALM WELCOMES YOU: This land has always been here, visited by some, forgotten by many. Something changed. An increasing number of people have been waking with fantastical ideas and feelings. Now, dreams are becoming more solid: books, paintings, scores…

The barrier is thinner. Some are trapped here, some search for what they can’t reach elsewhere, some just roam, exploring and helping others. What meaning is hidden in your dreams?

18XX Dreams is only 4 pages long, which is pretty standard for 24XX games. This game relies on a handful of polyhedral dice, a small inventory, and special abilities that align with your character archetype - a minimalist set-up that focuses on creativity to overcome obstacles, with elements of OSR play. There’s a page of d12 roll tables for the GM to roll on when they want to introduce something new to the dream, and the game even comes with rules on how to create a DreamCrawl, a simple map that helps the players navigate different parts of a dream-scape.

Dreampunk, by Xavid.

At night, you dream. Your dreams are not idle imaginings, but visits to a persistent world of wonders and dangers both personal and alien. Will you find power there? Will you find freedom? Or will you slowly slip into Entanglement, and be trapped there forever? Play to find out!

Your character is a Dreamer, someone from a waking world who is drawn to the Dream when they sleep. As a Dreamer, you have powerful abilities to shape the world around you. To do so, you must play a card and incorporate into your action an element of your choice from the card.

To play Dreampunk, you’ll need to either buy the Dreampunk Deck of Cards, or a deck of cards with similarly surreal art. Dixit cards, for example, would be an excellent tool for this game. The game uses a series of Moves, but rather than rolling dice, like you would in PbtA games, you play cards from your hand. The game designer cites Belonging outside Belonging and Jenna Moran’s work as inspiration, so I’d expect this game to be well suited for players who are willing to work in the grey areas of interpretation, and who are looking to embrace themes and motifs rather than damage and gear lists in their style of play.

Onira’s Slumber, by FantasticJean.

Welcome to Oniria - a place where Dreams and Nightmares come to life and make the city their own. In this game you play as a member of the Quixotic Society and are tasked with investigating and containing the Reveries when they start becoming too messy.

This is a game that is compatible with TROIKA, which, while originally is meant to be a kind of multi-verse science fantasy, easy translates to a surreal dream-scape. You don’t need Troika to play though - the rules are included to make this a standalone game. Onira is meant to be a place that can be explored, and the game comes with a number of place descriptions, special events that might affect the characters, and an introductory adventure for a first-time group.

If you want more dream-related supplements for Troika, I’d recommend Oneironauts and Oneironauts 2, by Thriftomancer.

#tabletop games #indie ttrpgs #dnd #game recommendations #dreamscapes

53 notes · View notes

toomuchracket · 1 year ago

Note

have at it <3

i can make myself cum in less than a minute if i think about matty and i don’t know how to feel about that lol. just had to get this out of my system

on a different note YOUR LAST FIC WAS SO CUTE omg i can’t wait to read more… <3

my jaw is on the floor ok legend!! but i do get it like sometimes i see a pic of him and my knees weaken. had i not been literally frozen solid for glasgow n1 i fear i would've hit the deck lol

also THANKS i'm so happy you like the fic. more to come, hopefully soon!! <3

#mads answers asks #chatty bits #matty

8 notes · View notes

lizisshortforlizard · 2 years ago

Text

Living Dangerously - Chapter 27

Jurassic Park’s animal handlers: none of them ever mentioned by name in Michael Crichton’s original novel. Who were they? What were their lives like on Isla Nublar? Did any of them survive the disaster?

A year in the life of those responsible for the care of the dinosaurs. Many people would kill to have their jobs.

But would they die for it?

Jurassic Park novel/Jurassic Park film (1993)

Viewpoint: 3rd person female oc

Warnings: alcoholism and consequences thereof, animal abuse in a circus context

Tagging: @heresthefanfiction @ocappreciation @wordspin-shares @howlingmadlady @arrthurpendragon @themaradwrites @starryeyes2000 (please lmk if you would like informed of my sporadic updates)

Read on Ao3

Chapter 26 | Chapter 28

The King of Wishful Thinking - Go West

Lizzy still remembered the very first real elephant she ever saw. Tragically, not a majestic wild creature roaming the savannah. That particular elephant was a heavily scarred, cowering soul with a chain around her neck, from when she and her siblings had gone to visit the Kelvin Hall Circus that had descended upon Glasgow in the early 1970s.

Lizzy was still a kid, she honestly didn’t know any better, how cruel it was. The poor animal was entertainment. They all were, the lions, zebras and hyenas. And of course, the stars. The Big Attraction. The elephants.

Halfway through the act Lizzy had gotten the uneasy feeling something was wrong. The old elephant was twisting her trunk up in distress as she moved around the ring, the whites of her eyes showing. And God, the smell seeping through from the pachyderm lodgings at the back of the building was sickening, the heavy scent of ammonia and manure burning in her nostrils. They definitely hadn’t smelled like healthy animals.

The ringmaster had ignored the creatures’ discomfort and cracked his whip, the elephant mounting the step to begin her most impressive trick, walking the tightrope.

Lizzy’s heart had been in her mouth the entire time, the crowd had whooped and cheered, and then the old beast had collapsed, toppled to the sawdust-covered floor while coming off the platform at the other end of the tightrope, crashing limply to the ground and lying motionless.

The ringmaster had sworn, and struck the animal with his whip, over and over, but the elephant wouldn’t get up.

The audience had eventually been ushered out early. No money back.

She remembered covering her youngest brother’s ears as the twin bang-bang of the shotgun had risen over the jaunty pipe organ music, following them out of the door.

Lizzy lost her appetite for the circus after that.

As it turned out, a collapsing elephant and a collapsing Tyrannosaur made a very similar sound.

Isla Nublar, present day. The Rex had begun to sway drunkenly, worse by the second. Lizzy had gotten as far as pointing while stammering “T-tom…” before the dinosaur disappeared from view behind the fence with a long-drawn out grunt. There was an almighty racket of splintering wood as she crashed straight through a grove of monkey puzzle trees before she hit the deck, then ominous silence.

“Oh, Hell…I think my radio’s dead!” Lizzy clicked the call button on the side before whacking it with her open palm ineffectually. “Give me yours!”

”Dude, I haven’t got one…”

They stared at each other. The tyrannosaur groaned.

Going to have to run.

”I’m faster.” Tom took off through the trees like a hare before hounds, hurdling tree trunks and roots while Lizzy ran to the paddock fence.

***

Well, just beat my seven minute mile. Tom thought upon stumbling into the staff lodge. His calves were on fire. He began hammering on doors and yelling for the veterinarian. Someone had to be here, anyone.

Then he heard Muldoon and Baker answering him. Oh thank you Lord. Thank you Father for I have sinned.

“Really wrong?” Kathy quoted with raised eyebrows once he located the both of them. “What do you mean?”

“I dunno man, she just went down like a Goodyear blimp!” He leaned against the wall for support. “We might need the strong stuff.”

”The ‘strong’ stuff?” Muldoon raised an eyebrow.

Tom nodded. “The more permanent stuff.”

His frame of reference was old farm horses whose legs went out from underneath them, and seldom got up again. Tommy, got get the shotgun-

As far as he was concerned, the Rex was toast.

Meanwhile, Gerry Harding had emerged from his own room, blinking. “Someone call for a doc?”

“Emergency-“ Tom wheezed like an eighty-year-old asthmatic.

Gotta quit smoking.

“Exciting!” Harding instantly became more animated. “Let me go grab my kit!”

“Do you know where Lizzy is?” Kathy asked Tom quietly.

“With the Rex.”

Muldoon’s head snapped around nearly fast enough to give himself whiplash. She’s where?! “Not in the paddock with her?!” Kathy was alarmed.

”Well…huh-” Tom shrugged. “She wasn’t when I left…”

“Let’s hope that’s still the case.” Muldoon said glumly.

“What’s all this racket, then?” Richardson added to the chorus of voices in the hall.

“Mr Richardson, Rexy’s down. C’mon, help us.” Tom beckoned him out of his room.

“We clocked off at five today.” The animal supervisor didn’t seem enthused.

“Yeah, so?” He didn’t see the issue.

“Going into the park out of hours, and especially at night is not my business, Thomas.” The shorter man said irately. “It’s not yours either.”

Tom’s lip curled in irritation. He didn’t have time for this bullshit. An animal was suffering, and his boss didn’t even seem to care.

He couldn’t take it anymore.

“Hey, screw you, man.” He turned his back to leave.

”Thomas, if you go back out there with that lot tonight, I’m not giving you any more chances.”

Kathy overheard them.

Huh? What does that mean?

But her thought was forgotten quickly, gone in the flurry of activity as doors opened and yet more animal handlers flooded the corridor, all wanting to lend a hand as word spread quickly. She quickly tried to brief them all on a vague plan.

Rexy was a popular girl, it seemed.

“So be it.” Richardson muttered as he shut his door on the ruckus.

“Meet you guys out front. Hey!” Kathy snatched the car keys straight from Muldoon’s hand. She wasn’t forgetting the state he was in earlier in a hurry. “You can’t drive!”

”It’s a stick shift, neither can you, Baker!”

His voice followed her out into the night as Kathy sprinted for the garage.

***

“All right, folks. I think…-“ Gerry Harding concluded, removing the stethoscope from his ears and patting the scaly skin of the prone Tyrannosaur. “-she has a heart murmur.”

“Reptiles can have heart murmurs?” Kathy queried, extremely worried about the fate of one of her biggest charges. She’d honestly thought the big girl was a goner.

”They’re birds though, aren’t they? Dinosaurs.” Isaac nudged her.

”I presume anything with a heart can.” Harding said casually. “In the meantime, don’t be alarmed if it happens again.”

”So, if she collapses, just let her come around by herself?”

“Yep. I treated a Hyacinth Macaw for a heart murmur back in San Diego Zoo.” Harding recalled. “Sometimes he’d just fall off his perch. The keepers had to modify the enclosure for him.”

“We now have a fainting Tyrannosaur as one of our visitor attractions?” Muldoon couldn't believe it. “Oh, good. Hammond will be so very pleased.”

Harding was still mid-anecdote, undeterred. “Anyway, prescribed him beta blockers and he was still alive when I left the place, so I must have been right. Damn bird made sure to bite me on my last day, in fact.”

Muldoon made an unhappy noise.

”What’s wrong, buddy?”

“Harding, if you put the Rex on beta blockers, I’m going to have to be beyond careful if the damn thing needs tranquillised at short notice ever again.” “You aren’t beyond careful with that stuff anyway?” Harding sounded amused.

“I could end up killing it. Quite easily, in fact.”

Better not drink, then Lizzy thought bitterly. If it’s delicate work.

“We’ll weigh up the pros and cons in the morning.” Harding brushed worries aside with a huge yawn. “But, my professional diagnosis? Heart murmur. Needs meds. Got some math to do.”

“Dosage?” Lizzy asked.

”Mhhm.” He smiled at her grimly. “They’re usually in pill form, and I’m unsure if blockers come in such a thing as thousand-packs.”’

“That’s InGen’s problem to solve, not yours.”

”Yeah, but I hate having to ask the big bosses for things I might not get.”

Gerry missed his state-of-the-art veterinary clinic on the California mainland where he could send his staff out to collect obscure medications, and have them waiting on the desk in his office later that same afternoon. San Diego had the Good Drugs.

“You should know she doesn’t always eat every day either.” Lizzy pointed out. “And that, my darling, is yours and Muldoon’s problem to solve, not mine.” Harding countered sarcastically. “Maybe you can hide the pills in some peanut butter.”

And he chuckled at the thought of the small woman lobbing a soccer ball-sized lump of Jif into the Tyrannosaurus enclosure.

The team dispersed, but the vet motioned at Lizzy to help him carry his kit out of the enclosure.

Something was off, about the way she was acting around Muldoon, and she’d looked decidedly shifty when he’d left the responsibility of getting meds into Rexy up to the pair of them.

The ethologist did a double take when she noticed Harding was watching her intensely as they made their way back up the hill.

“What?” She demanded. “Why are you staring at me?”

”Did you and the big man have a falling out?” Harding asked matter-of-factly. “You haven’t said a word to him all night.”

”None of your business!” Her voice was an octave higher than usual.

Harding smiled knowledgeably. “That’s a yes. So, you’re free for dinner tomorrow?”

“I’d sooner contract malaria than be related to your daughter, Mister-Sarah’s-Dad.”

They reached the veterinarian’s Jeep.

“I am nothing if not persistent.”

”Pestilent, more like.”

“Seriously though, Liz, I’ve been thinking.”

”Well, that’s never good.”

“I did some research. You know how selective breeding for desirable characteristics in dogs can lead to certain health conditions?”

”I didn’t really, but I’ll take your word for it.” Lizzy had never owned a dog, despite desperately wanting one, especially when she’d lived in New York. She’d have been happy with a mongrel. But both Simon and their landlord had denied her. Allergies, Simon had claimed, sniffling for effect.

“Hip dysplasia in German Shepherds, dermatitis in Dalmatians, and blood clotting disorders in Bassett Hounds. Pre-disposal to cancer, leukaemia, brain tumours. Orthopaedic problems and hearing loss.”

”Jesus. Okay.” Lizzy frowned. Maybe her ex had done her a favour by refusing to become a dog owner. “Where are you heading with this?”

There was a faint cheer from the animal handlers.

“Gerry, she’s up!” Kathy called over from near the fence.

The veterinarian graced her with a nod and a wave. ”I also read that the Mesozoic had much higher concentrations of oxygen in the atmosphere than the present-day. And I got to thinking, these animals were made in the lab, right?”

“They’re poorly suited to live on a Costa Rican island in 1992? They’re all effectively asthmatic?”

“Maybe. If we consider them as birds, that animal is built all wrong. Look at her legs, the way she walks. She’s been selectively bred, like a pedigree dog. She looks like she’s skipped a few generations and gone straight to inbreeding depression. I don’t think real dinosaurs looked like that, at all.”

“Which I’m guessing is a problem, physiologically-speaking?”

”The problem is, this island is severely lacking in ethics.” Harding told her, as if the word tasted bad. “And heart murmurs are usually congenital.”

”You think Rexy has genetically-engineered hip dysplasia?”

“I think she’s in pain.” Harding said. “She doesn’t know any different, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it hurts her to exist.”

***

When the cavalry had arrived on the scene at the Tyrannosaur paddock with a screech of brakes, fortunately, Armstrong had not already scaled the fence into the paddock, Muldoon noted with relief.

Instead, she was hopping foot to foot near the gate, desperate to get inside. Yes, she was still breathing. No, she hasn’t gotten to her feet yet the ethologist confirmed. It was not more than ten minutes since Kennedy had raised the alarm. The boy was fast.

But of course, Muldoon couldn’t allow neither Armstrong nor Harding to do their jobs until he had done his.

Insurance shot. Not as dramatic, but it meant the dinosaur wouldn’t be waking up to surprise them all anytime soon.

Kathy and Lizzy had swapped glances while they were waiting for the gate to be opened, a wordless exchange. You with me? Team?

I’m with you. Team.

Guilty, tired grins and relief from both sides. Their falling out remedied with a single look.

They were going to be alright.

But Muldoon wouldn’t have her forgiveness quite so easy, Lizzy had already decided.

The Rex lay prone, blood slowly oozing out of her jaws from biting her own tongue as she’d fallen.

Flies were still buzzing in a black cloud, despite the temperature dropping and wisps of fog beginning to drift in off the sea as Harding began his examination, wrinkling his nose at the odour that followed the dinosaur around as closely as a shadow.

Now, panic over, the Rex up and on her feet again, Armstrong was still staying far away, helping Harding to pack his kit back into the Jeep, not even glancing up at him in passing.

Muldoon wasn’t a fan of the silent treatment. Not at all. The irony just made it sting more.

Now she stops talking. Of course.

“Armstrong?” She kept her head down, as if she’d heard nothing. Bloody woman was deliberately ignoring him. “Armstrong. Can we sort this out?”

Oh jeez. Here we go she thought.

“Sort what out?” Lizzy tried acting nonchalant when she finally spoke. “There’s nothing to sort. Everything’s fine.”

She still wouldn’t look at him, pottering around, mouthing numbers as she pretended to count hypodermic needles. He could tell she was faking it.

Lizzy soon realised her act wasn’t convincing enough and quickly turned to leave, hoping to slip away. But Muldoon’s arm shot out to stop her, blocking her escape route with his hand firm against the Jeep door.

“What are you doing?” She asked flatly.

”Five minutes.” He’d had just about enough of the selective muteness. “You’re being immature.”

“I am being professional.” She insisted. “I’m no longer mixing my work and my private life. They stay separate from now on. I should have done that from the start. Maybe Richardson had a point, for once.”

“Well, I don’t like it.”

“What you like is no long-…eh…none of my concern. I only want to talk about the dinosaurs while we’re at work, please.”

Her voice was getting increasingly louder. People were starting to stare.

Muldoon glanced at Kathy for help, who just shrugged and mouthed you got this.

Well, if Armstrong wasn’t above dirty tactics, neither was he.

Last resort.

“As you wish.” He paused. “Elizabeth.”

The ethologist froze.

Muldoon continued. “If you want to be professional, then it’s alright to use your full name, isn’t it?”

Kathy and Isaac, open-mouthed, began edging slowly backwards away from the epicentre.

“Oh, you-“ When Lizzy finally looked straight at him, her face was screwed up in annoyance.

Eye contact. At last.

“Five minutes. That’s all. Sort this out.” He dared her. “Come on, let’s have it.”

“On one condition.” She agreed frostily.

“Which is?”

She took a few deep breaths before she spoke, practically burning a hole in the ground with an intense stare. Most likely counting to ten, he imagined.

Good.

“My name is Lizzy. Not Elizabeth. Not Armstrong. Lizzy. Lih-zee.”

”I’m aware of that, yes.”

”Then use it.” She demanded. “Say my name.”

“Oh, snap.” Kathy breathed.

Isaac whispered “What’s going on?”

”I’ll explain later, hun. Just- shhh.”

“Alright. Lizzy-“ It’s fine. Got to compromise. It’s fine. “Can we please go somewhere else to discuss this?”

“Hm. Better.” One corner of her mouth turned up. “Okay, you’ve got five minutes.”

“Oh…my…God…” Kathy was beside herself.

”What just happened?” Isaac was stumped. “What’s the big deal?”

”Muldoon has used her actual first name, that I know of, exactly once before.” She checked side-to-side to see if anyone else had picked up on the significance. “That was the second time. Do you know how many times he’s called me Kathy?”

”Uh…never?” He hazarded.

”Correct!” Kathy pointed at the heavens triumphantly. ”Certainly never in front of the other guys. Ugh, I wish I’d snuck into the back seat. This is huge. Mega, even.”

“If you say so.” Isaac shrugged. He clearly didn’t care as much about behavioural nuances. “She kind of made him do it.”

”Mega!” Kathy announced again.

“Hey, want to go get a popsicle before we turn in?” Tom cheerfully appeared over her left shoulder. “Got a hankering for something cold.”

“I-…” Kathy nearly refused, given their shared history, but since truces seemed to be the theme of the night she decided to go along with it. And she never said no to ice cream. “Sure?”

***

“Well, I’m listening.” Lizzy stared straight ahead through the recently-mended Jeep windscreen.

“I am painfully aware of that.” Muldoon sounded anything but enthusiastic. “Makes a nice change.”

“Yeah, right. You lasted, what, four hours? Clearly missed me talking to you.”

“At me.” He corrected.

“At you.” She agreed. “Your turn.”

Just silence. Nothing happened.

Lizzy had just about had enough of him closing himself off at a time like this.

“Talk.” She prompted. “For once. Just talk. It’s me, for Christ’s sake.”

Muldoon honestly wanted to tell her everything, but where to begin? The words weren’t coming liked he’d assumed, hoped, they would, now they were alone.

Lizzy sighed, realising she was being a tad callous.

She saw how much he was struggling, and she felt bad for him. She’d been there herself. A long time ago. A mixture of too shy and too stubborn to say what was wrong.

She picked at the stitching on the Jeep’s seat covers under her legs.

God, she really didn’t want to be here, didn’t want to do this. It was so awkward. But she figured it was time. There was no point in him trying to explain his story if she wasn’t willing to share hers. She wanted him to understand why it hurt so much.

More than that, Lizzy did want to move on. She wanted him back.

She needed him.

Their relationship, professional or otherwise, could never be the same as before. But maybe it had potential to still work, somehow.

She’d have to put the effort in. They both would.

And now she had to swallow her pride and lead the way. Jeff would be so disappointed in her if she didn’t at least try.

Lizzy had been given so many second chances in life, she knew it absolutely made her a hypocrite to be unwilling to pay it forward.

“Would it help-“ she offered. “-if I went first?”

“First?” He seemed surprised at her offer. “Only if you’re sure.”

”I think I need to. I’ve been putting it off for a long time, you may have noticed.” She fidgeted in the seat, bouncing her leg. “Don’t say anything until I’m done. If I stop talking, just…give me a minute.”

Breathe. Just breathe.

Lizzy started in Govan. Not long after that fateful visit to the circus. This time around, every moment she felt the wall threatening to come up, she fought it back down, almost running out of air with how desperate she was to keep her momentum going.

As promised, Muldoon just listened.

She explained why she wanted; no, rather needed to be called Lizzy so badly. It was the name her dad had chosen for her. My wee Busy-Lizzy. All that she had left of him now except memories. Not even a photograph.

How every time she was called Elizabeth, as she elaborated with a sly glance sideways, it felt like someone was sticking a pin in her ribs.

Elizabeth, like her mother had insisted on calling her. Or the school writing home when she was in trouble. The hospital admission band on her wrist when she found out she wasn’t pregnant anymore.

She left that last part out, thinking it might have been a bit much for the park warden.

”Well?” She finished abruptly. “What’s the verdict?”

He nodded slowly. “A lot of things make sense now.”

Massive understatement. Why she had been cagey and stand-offish around her birthday. Why she shot from her right, instead of her dominant side. Why she had quite rightly wanted nothing to do with him anymore outside of work.

He understood.

She’d be well within her rights to be on a ferry bound for the mainland the following evening and never want to see him again.

Lizzy’s leg stopped bouncing, the flight or fight ebbing away with each breath. But the emotion need to go somewhere and was threatening to manifest in the form of tears.

Don’t cry. Do not cry. We’re not done yet.

Her shoulder ached.

“Now you.” Lizzy’s voice wobbled. “Come on, you were the one who wanted to sort this out.”

“I know.”

Muldoon was far from happy.

This sort of talk warranted a few measures of Scotch beforehand.

But that’s what got us in this sorry mess in the first place.

He started more than four thousand miles South-East from Govan, and not quite as many years ago. He finished with the offer that he couldn’t refuse from InGen that felt like a lifeline, and the decision to leave his daughter in Kenya with her maternal grandparents until things had settled down.

“It wasn’t supposed to be this long.” He admitted. “But I thought she might be better off without me, for a while.”

“No!” Lizzy insisted. “A girl needs her dad. I could have told you that twenty years ago.”

“I have considered bringing her out here.”

As long as it’s safe.

“You’ve got to!” Lizzy nodded excitedly. “Come on, it takes a village.”

”It’s her schoolwork that’s the issue…I’ll think about it. Maybe next summer.”

“I’d love to meet her.” She offered sincerely. “María can teach her French, Rico can teach her Spanish. I’ve got Biology covered.”

“We’ll see.” It was a nice thought, but Muldoon didn’t want to get too optimistic just yet. “So, how do we move forward from here?”

“You’re still on your own with the, uh…drinking, I’m afraid.” She smiled sadly. “That is the one thing I can’t get involved with. Just can’t. Sorry.”

Lizzy genuinely was sorry. She would have done her best to be supportive, but for the sake of her own well-being, it was beyond her.

“Not true.” Muldoon insisted. “Not on my own.”

”Oh?”

“Baker tells me she’ll help.” He paused. “Not quite sure how she’s going to manage that.”

“Oh...”

That made a rather large difference to Lizzy. Her own mother hadn’t felt the need to change. Tom’s dad didn’t either. But this was different, though foreign to her. Muldoon clearly wanted to turn matters around.

It felt a little early for hope, but still…

“If Kathy says she will, then she’ll find a way.” Lizzy agreed. “She’s the best. I’m going to miss her, if she gets that job. ”

“Makes two of us. I got very lucky with my team here, that they do as I say.” She smirked when he turned to look at her. “Most of the time.”

“It’s showing initiative!” Lizzy exclaimed. “Thinking outside the box!”

”The box is there for a reason.” He replied, completely deadpan.

She laughed, even though she was torn two ways. Instinctively wanting to trust him, but knowing there was a very good reason she couldn’t just yet.

“I appreciate how difficult this is.”

”Haven’t even started.” Muldoon grimly wondered what ideas Baker had up her sleeve.

“Not that.” She elaborated. “I meant talking about things that obviously make you very uncomfortable.”

“It’s better with you.” Lizzy noticed he seemed surprised with himself at being so forthcoming. “You’re easier to talk to.”

“Good. I’m glad.”

There was a long pause. Fifteen seconds, or five minutes. It could have been either. Lizzy didn’t feel the need to break it.

“I like having you around.” Muldoon eventually said gruffly.

“I like being around- ” She started before she could stop herself.

You. I like being around you. Or at least I did.

”What do you mean by that?”

“I mean-“ Lizzy hesitated. “Eh…I don’t know what I mean, actually.”

She deliberated, playing with the end of her braid before she answered him. “ The closest I can put into words is that…the silences are comfortable. Or maybe I’m just comfortable with the silence. That doesn’t happen very often.”

“Hm. I agree.”

“It’s loud up here, sometimes.” She tapped just above where the metal arm of her glasses sat against her temple. “I have shout to hear myself.”

Muldoon was suddenly struck with a horrible thought.

“You’re not thinking of leaving, are you?”

“Kathy did try to talk me into it.” Lizzy admitted.

“And?”

“Already booked my flight out of here.” She winked. “Nah, I’m not going anywhere. But don’t you be giving me reasons to start looking.”

“Would you go back to Africa?”

”Probably.”

“Namibia?” Would she consider Kenya?

“I…don’t know, I haven’t really thought that far-…Hey, what’s with the questions? I already told you, I’m not leaving!”

“Hm. Good.”

Baker’s words echoed. It’s just a job. You’ll get another one.

“Unless you call me the E-word again.” She said sternly. “That really is unforgivable.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it…Lizzy.”

If Kathy had been present she would have lost her shit. The third time. Twice in one night. “Uh…shoot, it’s been longer than five minutes. Way longer.” Lizzy pointed out, glancing at her watch. “Not long until we’re back at work again, actually. We should go home.” That wasn’t what Muldoon wanted. He felt like driving further into the park, into a more isolated corner where it really felt like The Wild. Staying up until the sun rose over the East side of the island. Finding out more about her. There had to be more to her story than a miserable childhood.

Why had Blacklaw decided to take her under his wing? Given this scrawny little city-slicker the benefit of the doubt in a place like Africa, that should have, quite literally, eaten her alive?

Why was she still standing, after no less than ten years of living in the wild?

She’d overcome the tremendously bad hand she’d been dealt in life. But Muldoon felt she hadn’t quite told him everything yet.

“Better get you back to the lodge.” Was what he mumbled instead.

”Yeah.” Could have been wishful thinking, but she sounded disappointed too.

When they pulled up he saw the curtains in Baker’s room twitch. Still awake. Checking they were both back safe.

Muldoon was about to let her go without another word. But he needed to know.

“Armstrong?”

“Yes?” She was already jumping down from the passenger side.

”We’re alright now? You and I?”

Back to Armstrong. Back to some kind of normality. Lizzy was honestly glad of it. Haven’t even started the difficult part yet. Her conscience reminded her.

”We’re alright. But…”

“But?” He was expecting bad news.

”We could be better than alright again.” She grinned as she slammed the door, leaning back through the open window on her forearms. “That depends on how badly you want it. Good luck!”

The she tapped the Jeep door twice, and was gone without looking back.

Muldoon leaned back in the driver’s seat, thinking for a moment.

”That bloody woman.”

***

Thanks for reading!

Yay, a Princess Bride reference!

But Muldoon saying “as you wish” to Lizzy has me wanting to skip ahead several chapters O.o

#jurassic park oc #living dangerously #welcome to jurassic park #oc: dr lizzy armstrong #jurassic park female oc #jurassic park #robert muldoon #robert muldoon x female oc #gerry harding #kathy

13 notes · View notes