#I made friends with the scavs at least that's what matters to me

[therantingsage]

I am. Absolutely awful at Rain World. And Downpour isn’t on Switch yet. But I am certifiably obsessed and so I simply had to draw them all.

[whumpflash]

Acacia Aneura: On and Up

cw: noncon drugging, beating aftermath, slavery/captivity, branding, briefly mentioned noncon

previous ///// masterlist ///// next

×××

Most scavs were loners at heart, and Judd was no exception. He had friends back at the camp, sure. They'd swap tips, share tools, maybe even split a haul if someone came up empty handed. But not a single one would stick their neck out for him. Judd didn't expect them to. He sure as hell wouldn't do it for them, not if he could get away scott-free.

So why the fuck had Skye come back for him?

The thought burned away at his skull, dancing the fucking two-step with the bitter dismay of his failure to escape. 

Judd and Skye were each fitted with heavy restraints, courtesy of the slaver's market; an apology to the buyer for the hassle the pair had caused. The man saw fit to drug them both for the ride as well, pinching Judd's nose and forcing his jaw apart when he tried to fight it. Not Compliance, but something thick and bitter that leadened his limbs and made him drowsy. The two captives were tossed into a storage compartment in the back of the buyer's transport, and locked inside.

Judd tried to reposition himself in a way that didn't put too much pressure on his bound arms, grimacing as the compartment began to rumble with the start of the vehicle's motor. This was it, then. He was about to disappear from the wastes, maybe forever. 

As shitty and brutal as the desert could be, it was still his home, and the fear of leaving it all behind overpowered the heavy pull of the drug, keeping him from slipping under.

Beside him, he could feel Skye struggling into a better position. There was hardly any room to move between the two of them, and by the time he stopped his squirming, he was leaning heavy on Judd. Any other circumstance, he would've shoved the other man away. Cussed him out. But the drug and his throbbing head and the feeling that he owed the older man something, kept him silent.

For some reason, he was caught by surprise when Skye spoke.

"Listen close, bully," he mumbled, his words coming out half-slurred. "Man who has us is very rich, and he came down to the market himself. Hand-picked you." He paused, taking a shaky breath. "Means he has a purpose already in mind for you. Likely either as a pit fighter or a pet."

"Pet?" Judd repeated.

"Bedslave," Skye replied, confirming what Judd already knew, and intensifying the sinking feeling in his stomach.

He clenched his jaw, willing the feeling away. It didn't have to happen. He could still escape.

But even as he thought it, he knew how pointless that hope was.

"What about you?" he asked.

The older man shrugged against him. "I'm an afterthought. Pits or labor. Doesn't matter." His voice sharpened. "You need to get him to make you a fighter. Don't know if that's what he's already got planned, but if it's not, you need to change his mind."

Judd scowled, despite knowing Skye couldn't see it. "What difference does it make? Still a slave either way."

"Fighters need to put on a show," Skye said, suppressing a wince as he shifted again. "They escape the drugs, the Compliance, at least when they're getting ready for a match. They get to train. It's your best chance at escape."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"The better your chances, the less I have to worry about you."

Judd grunted, pressing his cheek against the metal inner wall of the transport. "You should've just fucking ran," he said in a near-whisper.

"That's where you're wrong," Skye replied. "I couldn't be responsible for a fellow scav losing his freedom."

"Now you're responsible for two."

Skye had no response for that. Judd pushed further into the wall, until the pressure on his face built to something almost painful, biting past the dragging effects of the drug. He was going about this wrong, he knew. He was shackled, in the hands of a man who thought he could own him, on the way to a city that might as well be alien. He needed all the allies he could get.

"What about the kid?" Judd said, changing the subject. "Is he—?"

"She is miles away at our camp. Safe." The way he said it sounded almost sad. Resigned.

"What's going to happen to her if you're…" Judd bit the inside of his cheek. "With me?"

A sigh from Skye. "She… I told her not to come after me. Said if I was gone more than a week, to just move on."

"Just move on?"

"Hell knows if she'll listen or not." Affectionate. "Evyr'll be okay. She's a tough kid. She knows I wouldn't just leave her. That if I don't come back it's… it's because I can't."

Judd swallowed. "You said becoming a fighter's the best chance at escape. You think there is a chance then?"

"There's always a chance. Tough one, but scavs are tough. We can make it, but we gotta stick together best we can."

"Thought you said you don't wanna have to worry about me?"

"Doesn't mean I'm gonna leave you high and dry. Faster alone, further together, ever hear that saying?"

The transport suddenly stopped, metal shuddering and creaking. Judd flinched as an odd feeling spread over him, a drop in his stomach. Were they..?

"Don't panic," Skye mumbled. "It's the lifting mechanism. Moves transports up to the floating cities. Kind of like a… shit, y'don't know what an elevator is, do you?" He sighed. "It's taking us up. That's what's important."

"What about getting back down?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

Judd grunted in response. How the fuck did Skye know so much, anyway? How could he be so sure about any of this?

The odd drop in his stomach stopped before long, and soon after, the transport slowed. A pair of burly men, neither of them the buyer, threw open the door to the storage compartment and hefted its occupants out. Judd's legs gave out the moment he tried to put any weight on them, the drug's lingering effects rearing their ugly head. 

They were in a small concrete bay, empty aside from the transport, and cold. They had air cooling units at Judd's camp, but they didn't offer much against the heat of the wastes, and were nothing compared to the chill of the room. 

In the light, Skye was looking worse for the wear; blood drying on his lips, in his hair, one eye swelling shut. With the hits Judd had taken, he doubted he looked much better, and the pain and the cool air and the drug all combined to leave him shivering. No doubt the picture of a pathetic mess. 

The buyer was climbing down from the passenger compartment of the transport, and it gave Judd some meager comfort to see that he was sporting a black eye.

"Where do you want them, Mr. Burke?" One of the burly men hefted him to his knees by the collar, and he winced as it dug into his already-bruised throat, adjusting his position so he could still fucking breathe.

"Have them processed and put in a holding cell," Burke responded, adjusting his shirt collar. "I still need to decide on a sufficient punishment." He disappeared through a shiny white door as soon as he finished spouting the instructions, and his goons hauled Judd and Skye roughly to their feet, pulling them to a second, significantly less shiny door.

It opened on a staircase that was somehow even colder than the bay room. Getting down it while chained and dizzy was no easy feat, but both men managed to reach the bottom without falling.

There was a hall, then another door, and another, and then they seemed to have reached their destination; yet another fucking concrete room.

Rubber tubes dangled from the ceiling, and below them, rows of metal drawers lined the walls. In one corner sat a squat furnace. If not for the absence of any parts, it'd look like the kind of repair bays Judd had seen in the grounded cities. A pretty well-equipped one at that.

The man holding Judd dragged him toward one of the hanging tubes, pulling the chain around his neck taut and attaching it to a hook above his head. Burke's goon grabbed the nearest tube and took a step back, angling it at Judd, who let out a strangled gasp as a jet of cold water came spurting out.

Somewhere behind him, he could hear the sound of tearing fabric, followed by protesting curses. Skye was getting the same treatment.

The stream of water soaked into his hair, drenched his skin, worsened his shivering. He watched as the red dust of the wastes washed off him, trickled into the drain.

So much water. A city luxury stealing what little he had left of his home. How stupid was he, to mourn for dust?

The man unhooked his collar and dragged him closer to the furnace. If nothing else, Judd was grateful for the slight heat coming from it, lessening the chill that gripped him. He felt the goon reach behind him, fastening his wrists to the wall.

"Don't move, or this will be a lot worse."

The other goon was hauling Skye over, attaching his restraints to another point in the wall to keep him in place as he reached towards the furnace, pulling out a long metal rod.

A choked, almost fearful sound escaped Skye, and only then did Judd realize what was about to happen. He thrashed, as if he were capable of breaking metal with something as weak as fear. The restraints dug painfully into his wrists.

"Shit— shit, no, don't—!"

"Hold him."

A hand closed around the back of his collar, yanking his head back, better exposing his chest.

Judd cursed as the red-hot iron came closer to him, too panicked to make out the outline of whatever it was they were about to brand him with. He tried again to jerk away, but the man holding him gripped the collar tighter, cutting off his air.

The metal seared into his skin, right below his collarbone, and his scream came out strangled, warped by the pressure on his throat.

Vision white, dizzy from the drug and the pain and the lack of air, Judd's legs buckled. The goon holding his collar caught him, wrapping an arm around his waist and propping him up.

The smell of his own burning flesh was like cooking meat, and it sickened him that it made him feel almost hungry, of all things.

Judd blinked away tears, breathing through clenched teeth as he waited for the pain to ebb, even just a little.

Across from him, Skye's head was hung as the man with the iron approached him, the burning brand in his grip.

The older man didn't try to struggle or curse. He didn't even look up.

But he still let out a blood-curdling scream as the iron pressed into his skin.

When it came away, leaving Skye panting, though still upright, it left behind a bright red circle with a pair of B's in it, mirroring each other, as if to form the outline of a butterfly.

They did Skye's on the right side, not over his heart like Judd's, and when he squinted through blurry vision he could see why.

Over Skye's heart, below his collarbone, was a different mark. An encircled pair of X's, one overlapping the other.

Another brand.

×××

@kira-the-whump-enthusiast @kixngiggles

[reylo-trash-4ever]

HELLO LOVELIES!!!

Here is part 4 of my fic! Jesus it took me so long... but it’s here now and Happy Valentine’s day! As always - shout out to @scav-eng-er and @mojona1999 for being the BEST humans out there! Y’all mean the world to me. I HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR V-DAY GIFT! 😘

!!! Fair warning: some of this gets a bit steamy !!!

The Game: Chapter 4

“Computers have passwords on them for just these scenarios, Rey,” Rose said from across the table, “The chances of him getting into yours is very slim. Especially because he doesn’t know the first thing about you.”

Rey made an unrecognizable noise from inside her arms that were crossed over the table where she hid her face from her friends. Poe, Finn, and Rose were all trying to console her at their favorite coffee shop after the “incident”. She had texted them furiously saying it was an emergency, and their ‘drop everything attitude’ almost made her feel better about the whole situation… almost.

“He’s such a dick!” She hissed suddenly, throwing her head up from the table and smacking her fist against the wood. Poe gasped in surprise and Rose sighed. Finn reached across from his seat next to Rose and placed his hand on her arm.

“Try to stay calm, Rey,” he said, trying to comfort her, but his eyes begged her to keep quiet and she remembered she was in a public place. She glanced around the room and felt her cheeks heat as she noticed a few people staring apprehensively at her.

“Have you tried getting into the laptop yet?” Poe suggested, taking a sip of his latte.

“No, because I won’t play into his sick little fantasties,” Rey retorted, still unable to completely suppress the anger inside of her.

“Well, if he’s going to make it so easily accessible, you should at least try. I, for one, would love to know what’s on the personal laptop of the rich boy jerk.” Finn released her arm back to her, and Rey felt herself becoming a little more curious with each word he said.

“I bet there’s some real shady shit on there,” Poe said, glancing down at Rey’s bag that was in between their two chairs. She recognized the look in his eyes, but before she could do anything to stop him, he had snatched the laptop from her, despite her protests. She tried to take it away from him, but he kept her back with one arm and passed the computer to Finn and Rose who were infamous with techie things like this.

“Let’s see how hard this proves to be,” Rose chuckled, cracking her knuckles. She had an evil sparkle in her dark eyes as she looked down at her quarry.

Finn slowly opened the laptop with everyone’s attention on him. Rey groaned and sunk back into her seat, but she couldn’t hide the curiosity she secretly felt.

“That’s… unnerving,” Finn finally said, breaking the silence that had fallen on the four friends. Rey felt her stomach flip and she knew she had to do something before she got them into a legal mess they couldn’t get out of.

“Look, if it’s too difficult, we can just ignore it because it’s not that big of a deal-”

“No,” Finn cut her off, “it’s just that there’s no password at all.”

“That’s super suspicious,” Poe mused, “you’d think someone as prominent as ‘his majesty himself’ wouldn’t want just anyone getting into her personal things.”

“Do you think he knew this would happen?” Rose asked, looking between the group with suspicion written all over her face.

“That’s impossible,” Rey said quickly, trying to reassure herself more than anyone else.

“I don’t know,” Finn mumbled, scratching his chin absentmindedly, something he only did when thinking hard, “it’s possible he had this planned from before the moment he met you. If he wanted to figure out who he was working with, maybe he intended to steal their belongings anyway, no matter who they were.”

“You just might have made his job a lot easier when you forgot your bag in Holdo’s office,” Rose agreed. Those two were always like that though. From the moment they met each other, being introduced through Rey, Finn and Rose loved to swap conspiracy theories and tech questions and over all crazy nonsense. They were both huge nerds, and she loved them for it, but sometimes they fed off of each other in ridiculous ways that made her roll her eyes, as she did now.

“You guys, there’s no way he’s that conniving, or that smart.”

“Weren’t you the one who said he’s like a ‘lawyering protégée’, or something?” Poe asked, taking another sip of his coffee. He loved to do that so conveniently whenever he said something he thought was poignant or important.

“First of all, ‘lawyering’ is not a word,” Rey retorted, watching him with the sides of her eyes, “and secondly, I guess you could call him a protégée, but I’ve never actually seen him do anything, so I don’t know if it’s even true. In my opinion, I think that’s just what people say to puff up his pride so he’ll like them better. Rich people get opportunities simply handed to them just because they were born to the right parents. He probably only has his privilege to thank for the reputation he has.”

“Yikes,” Finn muttered from the corner of his mouth in the silence that followed. They all knew how Rey felt about these kinds of things, but even she knew she could be a bit harsh because of what she had to go through to get to where she was. She couldn’t help it though! It was unfair that she had to do so much work to be noticed, and now this ‘high and mighty’ rich boy was going to take all of that away from her? She was just going to have to make sure she proved him, and everyone else who didn’t believe in her, wrong.

“Give me the laptop,” Rey said, making up her mind. She reached across the table and grabbed the device, her fingers easily wrapping around the sides. Finn made a noise as she pulled it away from him, and he stuck out his bottom lip in a pout.

“You can have your ‘toy’ back when I’m finished,” she teased, turning the screen so she could see it better. It had a simplistic, default background which Rey found oddly too plain. All that was on the desktop was a folder labeled ‘work’. She scrolled over and opened it, revealing file after file of apparently old cases. Each one was labeled neatly with the name of the case followed by the date. Rey was shocked by how many there were, and a quick look at only a few of them showed her how organized Ben Solo actually was. The work looked legit and she found her spirits dropping with each case she reviewed. She had to swallow her pride before she could admit to herself that for all intents and purposes, he really did seem good…

The thought felt bitter in her mind and she almost felt it clawing up her throat. Could this all really be true? There was something in her that was excited to work with someone so experienced, but it fought with her sense of previously shamed honor. This arrogant son of a bitch was proving to be more and more difficult by the second.

“What’s wrong?” Poe whispered. He must have seen her face fall as she researched, but she found she couldn’t say anything. The cases seemed to jump out at her to prove her wrong at every turn. It was infuriating.

“If this is any indicator, he might actually be-”

Rey was about to say “good”, but the rest of the sentence got caught before it could escape her lips. She pulled open the start menu and found something that disturbed her beyond words. In the ‘recently opened’ tab was a file named ‘the kid’. Something in her knew that it was talking about her, especially with the memory of how Ben Solo would hurl that word at her like an insult. She felt numb as she hovered over the file before finally gaining the courage to double click it.

Her heart was beating hard against her chest as she scanned the pages. She discovered that it was a bunch of compiled information on her. Where she grew up, where she went to school, to college. Somehow he even got a hold of her grades and past presentations. There were things in there that she didn’t know could be found, such as pictures of her at parties, newspaper clippings from when her school projects collected her prizes at fairs, and even certain hospital records. Rey wondered how much money and power you had to have to get this kind of personal information on someone.

She kept speed reading and suddenly, the worst part of all was popping out of the screen and practically punching her in the face. A complete list of all the cases she had ever worked on, and all the clients she helped, stared back at her. Details only she was ever supposed to know about how she worked, things she didn’t even share with her friends, were all listed in annoyingly neat little sections. Her hard work and dedication so perfectly singled out in one file on a stranger's computer for him to see right through and judge.

Rey slammed the laptop shut, almost catching Poe’s fingers as he was inching closer to turn the screen towards him. He wrenched his hand back, a wide eyed look of shock on his face that quickly turned to worry when he met her fiery gaze.

“Rey, what’s going on?” He asked, but she ignored him once again and jumped out of her seat, sliding the laptop into her bag and slinging the whole thing over her shoulder in one swift movement.

“Nothing,” she said too quickly, “I just remembered a project that I have to be working on right now.”

“Isn’t this the only project you have today?” Finn asked, obviously not believing her as she threw on her coat and haphazardly slung her scarf twice around her shoulders.

“It’s definitely not so shut up, Finn!” She called back to her friends, walking away before any of them could call out for her to stop. It was a talent that she actually liked about herself, her ability to blend. Her friends told her it was just another aspect of the ‘Black Cat’ nickname that fit her so well. She could melt into any crowd and become practically unseen.

Rey raced through the snowy streets of the city, not really sure where she was going. All she knew was that she had to escape. She had to be anywhere but there with all of those prying eyes. Everywhere she looked it felt as if every person could see right through her the way Ben Solo had done. Were her secrets so plainly written on her forehead for all the world to see?!

She felt naked as she ran at almost a full on sprint now. She tried to focus on the streets in front of and below her feet, forcing her gaze down as to avoid any and all possible interactions with other humans. All Rey could feel was the overwhelming urge to crawl into a hole and be alone for the rest of her life. How could one person make her feel this way? As if she were completely see through and like he knew everything about her?

It was entirely unfair since she apparently knew nothing about him. At least, nothing that wasn’t just a rumor or a connection she had no proof was real. How could she ever compete with someone she knew so little about, who apparently knew all he needed to about her? He knew how she worked, how she seemed to think, and what her skill sets were. He would shoot her down at every turn, take advantage of her naivety and make himself out to be the boss of her every decision and thought.

But there was no way in hell she was going to let that happen. This was supposed to be her time to prove herself worthy of becoming jr. partner and she wasn’t going to let that dark and brooding monster of a man get in her way any more than he already had.

Something in her stomach seemed to ignite, and she suddenly felt a fire burning beneath her fingertips. It was a tingling she hadn’t felt in a while, the fierce resolve of a woman on a mission and when Rey set her mind to something, it got done. It didn’t matter that Ben Solo knew how or why she did what she did, all that mattered was that she did it.

Suddenly, an idea began to form in her brain. It was crazy and idiotic, but Poe had always told her those were the best kinds. Rey slipped into the nearest Starbucks, which wasn’t hard to find since there seemed to be one on every corner in New York City, and ran to a window with a counter protruding out just far enough for her set the computer down on.

It didn’t take long for her to find what she was looking for. For someone as seemingly elusive as Ben Solo was, he wasn’t very good at covering his tracks when he made them. Rey smiled at the newfound discovery and once again snapped the laptop shut. She was happy with what she found and it was all she needed at the moment. She would show that asshole just who he was dealing with.

***

There was a rustling of satin sheets as the woman beside him moved in her sleep. He didn’t look over at her. Instead, he kept his focus on the book he was reading and decided not to give her the time of day. She was just another body next to him, nothing more. He met her on his way home from work earlier that morning. It had been another ‘tense’ encounter with her obviously knowing who he was, or at least that he was made of money. Women loved men with the means to buy them out of their insecurities.

“Good evening,” she whispered into his ear, apparently awake and a lot closer than he had realized. He didn’t say or do anything in response, still decidedly cold and not caring. The woman seductively bit his ear and peppered kisses onto his neck. Sure, they felt good in the way any human contact did, but when Ben was focused, nothing could tear his attention away. Most people thought his intensity was unnerving, but it was just another circumstance of people’s behavior that he couldn’t care less about. No one else’s feelings about him mattered.

Which is how he normally felt, but today, he couldn’t stop thinking about the girl from before. His new ‘partner’. Sure, he had done his research on her, like he always did for anyone he was being forced to work with, but nothing compared to how she actually behaved. He was slightly taken aback by her abrasiveness. The girl he looked into was supposed to be shy and awkward, not fierce or a spitfire. Her stubborn and hateful eyes seemed to seer into his mind and he just couldn’t shake her own intensity.

Ah well, sometimes people surprised him, but more often they didn’t. He was sure she would turn out to be boring just like all the rest. It wasn’t anything to dwell on seeing as he was sure she would be like all the other girls he had ever known.

The woman, who was so desperate to get his attention, was now practically lying her whole naked body on top of his. He turned his head to avoid her lips while he read the last sentence of the chapter, letting her caress his chest and run her hands greedily through his hair.

In one motion, he shut the book and threw it on the desk beside his bed, swooping up the woman in his arms and kissing her passionately on the lips. She squealed as he grabbed her and pulled her fully on top of him so that she now straddled his hips with her knees. He hungrily touched her skin, running his hands all over her back and squeezing her ass, causing her to let out another sound, this time lower and more animalistic.

But just when they were getting to the point of no return, Ben felt the pang in his chest again and he instantly saw those eyes. Her eyes.

It took him out of the moment so quickly that he practically shoved the woman off him. She yelled her surprise and fell back onto the bed, but he didn’t even hear or care. He quickly stood up from the bed, the blankets sliding off of his bare body.

“Get out,” he hissed, running a hand angrily through his hair. How dare she interfere with something like this. How dare she invade his personal thoughts at a moment as pivotal as that was. It was disgusting.

“Did I do something wrong?” The blonde pleaded, crawling to the edge of the bed and reaching for Ben. He slapped her hand away and turned to glare at her.

“I said, get out!”

It was a yell this time, and the woman did as she was told. Without another word, she hastily slipped on the green dress she was wearing only hours before and stuffed the rest of her clothing into her purse. Ben didn’t give her another glance as she left the apartment, the door slamming shut behind her.

Once he was alone, he let out a heavy sigh and rubbed his face with both his hands. This was not the way he intended the day to go. He had woken up that morning with a nonchalant attitude towards the whole ordeal. He knew he wasn’t going to like what Amylin had planned for him, he had laughed in her face the first time she proposed it, but he also knew it was what he had to do. His mother had made it very clear that this was the last chance she was ever going to give him.

It’s not like he asked for her her approval, he hadn’t wanted or needed that since he was sixteen and her and his father made it very clear that they cared more about their company than they did their own child, but he didn’t want to lose the cash flow she regularly sent to his bank account. He was a talented lawyer and genius prodigy who didn’t need his mommy’s help to make it in the world, but the fact of the matter was that it was easy. He would much rather have his lavish and debauchery filled lifestyle be paid for than have to work for it himself. It would just be so boring and meaningless that way.

Ben pulled on a pair of fresh boxers and went to clean his face in the bathroom. A few splashes of ice cold water would do well to wash away the thoughts of that obnoxious young woman who thought she could get the better of him. He resisted the urge to smile at the “adorable” notion. Let her try, he could squash that little girl like a bug. She would be nothing but a nuisance and a thorn in his side if he didn’t make it abundantly clear who was in charge. The stunt with laptops was just a random opportunity that he couldn’t resist playing with. There was no way in hell she was smart enough to get into it, and he quite honestly couldn’t care less about what was on hers. He already knew all he needed to about her, he had just stolen the device to show her that he could.

She was probably like all the other women he had ever met, climbing the social and political ladder with her vivacious body and little brains. It would be easy to manipulate someone like her and he wasn’t fully against getting a little fun out of it along the way.

Ben finished dressing and was getting ready to spend the rest of the evening with his book and bottle of wine, when there was a sudden rapping on the door. His eyebrows scrunched together as he looked over at it, convinced he was hearing things. There was no way the footmen would let a stranger up to his penthouse without his knowing. He wasn’t expecting anyone either, not that he had any friends to expect in the first place. Who the hell would disturb his peace?

Another rapid and furious knock erupted the silence and Ben almost snapped a ‘who is it’, but he thought better at the last second. A thought crossed his mind that it could have been the random woman who left only moments before, but he thought he had scared her enough not to come crawling back.

With a groan, he slowly lifted himself from his armchair and walked to the door. He didn’t look through the peephole before wrapping his fingers around the handle and pulled it back towards him.

The last person he expected to see was standing in the doorway, her arm raised and her fist tightly closed as if she were about to bang on his door a third time. She looked as startled as he felt and for a moment, they stared at each other in disbelief.

It ended quickly, Ben realizing he didn’t want her to see his shock, and he broke the sudden deafening silence that swirled around them.

“Rey, what are you doing here?”

[mojavejourneys]

A Meeting with Mothman

Okay I had to write something about this because holy shit this was Angel’s most defining moment, when he finally got to see Mothman. Featuring Elias, @redrocketwarrior‘s OC as well :3

Warnings: None

Another day of scavving in Appalachia. Angel had finished salvaging the usable parts from all the junk he'd brought back and had finished putting it away when he heard a knock on the door to his crudely built but surprisingly sturdy wooden structure. Sure, Vault-Tec were total bastards but their Construction and Assembly Mobile Platform technology was second to none.

“Come in!” Angel called. The door swung open and a man wearing a well-worn Responders jumpsuit came in, black hair messy but his eyes carrying the awed look that a child would have. It was then that Angel looked up from the workbench, smiling when his misted eyes finally focused on the man. “Elias! Fancy that!” He set the gun he'd been modifying down for now. “What've you got for me?”

It took a moment for Elias to calm down enough to speak. What he'd witnessed had been nothing short of a dream come true and he'd basically dodged Scorched left and right in order to find Angel's C.A.M.P and tell him the news. He still couldn't believe that it had happened. He took a few breaths. “I... I saw Mothman. I saw him, Angel! He was real, and there, and--”

Angel's eyes widened and his jaw fell open. “Y-You saw Mothman?! For real?!” He practically dived towards his backpack and quickly pulled out his notebook and a pen. “Slow down, take a few breaths, and tell me what you saw. I have to know.” He passed a carton of boiled water to his friend. Elias took a drink and sat down on top of the storage box, taking a few breaths.

“It was at the lighthouse. So...” Elias had to pause to breathe again, sipping the water as he told Angel about how he'd had to fight off radtoads at the lighthouse, collecting bioluminescent fluid from the fireflies and how he and another survivor of the Vault had had to watch the air pressure. Angel was constantly taking notes as Elias explained that once everything was right, that was when the Wise Mothman descended from the heavens above to deliver his knowledge. “... and that was how I finally saw Mothman.”

Angel finished taking notes and closed the notebook, depositing it back into his backpack. “I knew he was real, and you've gone out and proven it. I only wish I could've been there, but I was caught up dealing with mole miners up at the mines again.”

“It all happened so fast. I couldn't believe it either.” Elias pulled out his own notebook and showed Angel a drawing that he'd made of Mothman. “But that's what I saw.” Angel looked over the sketch and gave an approving nod.

“We'll have to go up to the lighthouse together sometime.” Angel led Elias outside towards the cooking station he'd set up, tossing some chopped tatos and corn into the pot. “I really have to see this for myself. But now I know that all my research was worth it.” He began to stir, sighing a little. “My brother never believed all this, he always thought it was bullshit and fairy tales. God damn it, Jules.”

Elias took a seat by the fire, holding his hands towards it to warm them up slightly. “Not everybody is as open minded as we are. Was your brother in 76 too?”

“Jules? Nah.” Angel added some salt to the pot, along with some spices and a few herbs he'd found. “He was up in Boston with my nephew. Think they got taken to Vault 111, since Jules had done work in the military. If they made it to the Vault, I reckon they'd still be fine. Hey, we survived in the Vault, right?”

“True enough.” Elias sniffed up. “Glad I turned up when I did. That smells amazing.” He smiled at Angel then. “At least your food tastes good. You'd think that most people had forgotten what seasoning is.”

“No shit!” Angel let out a hearty laugh. “It's almost like they don't know how to add flavour.” He reached for two bowls and began to dish the soup into them. “Well, here's something that'll help stave off the hunger. Corn and tato soup with plenty of seasoning and spices.” The two practically demolished the soup between them to the point where there wasn't even any left for seconds.

After cleaning up the cooking station and washing the bowls, Elias began to head out. “Tell you what, we'll meet at the lighthouse tomorrow night. Bring your best weapon. We'll need to take out lots of radtoads to get the stuff we need to summon Mothman.”

Angel gave him a thumbs up. “You got it. See you tomorrow?”

“See you tomorrow.” Elias waved and began to head back.

~ ~ ~

The next night, Angel had headed up to the lighthouse to meet Elias at the designated point. He'd packed several weapons – the Deathclaw gauntlet that he'd salvaged from parts that the Blood Eagles had been hoarding and his favoured shotgun, a gun where aim wasn't quite as important. He had his notebook, enough food and water to stay around a while and a few stimpaks just in case. Now it was just a matter of waiting for Elias to show.

Almost as if on cue, the man showed up just moments later, fire axe in both hands. “Right, here's the plan.” Elias looked to Angel, who nodded slowly. “Fireflies and radtoads are gonna make their way to the lighthouse. All we have to do is kill them, harvest the glowing fluid from them and drop it into the lamp at the top. Once we pour in enough fluid, the glow will bring Mothman to us. Got it?”

“Got it.” Angel nodded.

It was as if on cue that fireflies began to gather around the lighthouse, followed by radtoads. Angel and Elias were making short work of them, harvesting every bit of fluid that they could. Eventually they had a system going – as one headed up to the lighthouse to drop the fluid into the lamp, the other would be harvesting more fluid and would then head up as the first came back down.

As the night drew on and more radtoads fell, Angel was about to head back down from depositing glowing fluid into the lamp when the thing suddenly let out a very bright green glow. He heard Elias shout from below and he quickly rushed down the stairs.

In front of the lighthouse, surrounded by wispy mist, was the Wise Mothman, purple eyes glowing bright against his black body. Angel gasped and fell to his knees, jaw dropping open in awe. “I knew it... I knew it all this time! Mothman IS real!” All his years of researching the elusive cryptid had finally paid off. Elias simply smiled.

“Exactly!” Elias was struggling to hide his own giddiness. The Wise Mothman spread his large wings out, fluttering them ever so slightly. The two men looked on, feeling incredibly blessed to be in this presence. Eventually Angel managed to calm down enough to get his camera out of his bag, taking some pictures and asking Elias to take some of him with Mothman.

“This moment... nothing can ever compare to this moment. This was everything I could have hoped for, and more...” Angel was still unable to take it all in. And as the Wise Mothman spread his wings and took off into the night sky, he began to head back with Elias. “I still can't believe it. We saw Mothman.”

“It still takes me by surprise every time. But yes, we saw him. And that... well, that more than makes up for all the shit we put up with out here.”

“I totally agree.” Angel put an arm around Elias' shoulders as they headed back in the direction of Elias' C.A.M.P, taking in the calm stillness of the night air.

[survivorelara]

Episode #1: “So thank you Gods and Goddesses.” -Ci’ere

three people on this tribe are 100% pros they have mangastars as their pfp im scared

Okay, this is my second time typing this because I accidentally deleted the first attempt ASDF. Hello every1 out there 👽 I'm so thrilled to be playing Elara because I know that the hosts are going to make this an awesome experience! We began our journey about an hour & a half ago, but something tremendous has already occured... I happened to snatch the Zosma idol on my first guess! Something about the placement of the 39th star spoke to me & luck was definitely on my side, so thank you celestial gods and goddesses! I’m kind of wondering if the idol locations & the iconic phrase “18 people, 39 days, 1 Survivor” have any correlation. Hmm. :O Even though I have some power to fall back on now, I don’t wanna have to rely on the idol to save myself so I’m stepping up to the plate socially to hopefully solidify myself in this group. I was hyped before, but this hype train has went through the ceiling!

Not only am I in this game with like many other Facebook ORGers.... I'm the least popular of them all. Like I see Emma, Ci'ere, Andrea and Toby... like they have a good friend group and people generally like them. Me on the other hand, I get easily annoyed with certain people and groups within this community and I have been told that I am a rainy and dark cloud. I mean, LOVE the comparison... but when you're in a "scavenger hunt" and one of the things is to get 50 reactions on a post and I average about 5-6... it ain't looking good for this bitch. And ITS ONLY DAY 1.

Great question. I am trying to figure that out. I realize not knowing discord puts me at s disadvantage. Let’s hope we win till I can figure it out.

Well I like this tribe, I'm feeling good about things at the moment, I've talked to loris, Andreaa, and John who I had a prior relationship with. They all seem nice enough. I'm hoping to make more connections with people in the near future, because with only 6 people on the tribe I need to make ABSOLUTE sure I'm in the numbers.

I'm such a flop, I did almost all my voice recordings on my phone while I accidentally left voice chat on. My Computer Mic isn't great and it was only for a little while, nobody said anything, so I don't know if anybody caught anything I might have said for the challenge, but the worst thing that might have been caught was my statement about Dani

We're approaching the end of Day 1 and I don't think I've made much progress with anyone other than John... this tribe is very quiet, and I don't know if that's due to many different timezones, or inactivity, or what have you. Regardless I'm a little worried about this challenge, but hopefully a win can be pulled out.

Its so quiet dawg

ok i love selfie scavenger hunts so this challenge is great. as for my tribe mates, roxy and i are in F6 in atomic together, so thats a interesting. Drew H was in that season and like. i have no idea what our relationship is going to be like ydgfs. the only person who I haven't talked to at all is Odd. i should get on that

Oh these motherfuckers think they got me found. They think they know me. Expect drama.

My tribe is ducking stacked with people I like so this is hot hopefully we can get this scav hunt done and get max point WEW

Well. I’m doing another one. Do I have the time? Nope! Is this a good idea? No ma’am/sir. But I’m doing it anyway. This is an...interesting tribe for me to be on. I have my one true love, Sam Drachus, and a tribe of people that probably don’t know he’s my husband. Of course, a pregame relationship never equates to an ingame relationship necessarily, so I will not rest in my socialisation (especially given I will have ass for physical game for a while). Louise I’ve hosted twice, Ci’ere I’ve hosted and played with. Dani and Brian I don’t really know properly but they seem very inactive. I am quite sure we will lose this challenge, but hopefully I can be active and bond-build enough to be Victorious!!

i hate this challenge because im so lazy

hi!! so my social game is going pretty good so far, i'm v tight with andrea, emma and i said we don't want each other to go, john's an icon and i like talking to zach. kori doesn't talk a lot so he'll probably be an ez boot. also i think im gonna end up with the most points for our immunity so that'll probably let me be spared if we do end up losing :)))). ALSO,,,,,,,,, i found the legacy advantage bc i clicked on seamus' manga on the tumblr?? of course they hid it behind the ugly one... no one looks there.

So our first challenge is a cute scavenger hunt & one of the 10 point items is getting 50 likes on a FB post. When I initially made the post, only a few people reacted to it so I knew I was going to have to do something drastic in order to get more people’s attention. I stole Nicki Minaj’s brand & started running KWEENT (6 letters Jack :p) Radio! I put in a lot of work to get people to help me out, but I also wanted to have fun with it & in the end it paid off. I’mma bit worried however since only Louise, Sam & I have made contributions to the challenge thus far. We don’t have that much time left & there’s still three empty columns... I’ve been talking a lot to Dani who I find I probably relate to the most. They made it pretty far in the actual Survivor casting process & they have also been talking to Sam. Sam is so nice & has that straight male humor, YEET. Louise is obviously a kween & we’ve played together before so I think I could work something out with her? Toby’s timezone & schedule is tough to work through, but I think I might be able to charm him up hehe. Brian is the only person that hasn’t shown any sign of life so I’ve been pushing for him, but of course he shows up now ASDFG.

Did so many challenges but have trouble uploading to gdoc

Anxiety is a bitch. Like I already have alot of it due to work and school, but for us to be submitting things for the scavenger hunt last minute... that made my heart quicken a bit more than needed. ESPECIALLY if your video links for the video portion of the hunt DON'T WORK. Like wth ODD? Like if you're gonna submit late.. like at least check the damn links so you can actually win the points for the videos that you are submitting. OH AND IN OTHER WORDS. I didn't think Jack was gonna view my poem to him. And he watched it. I have no words. Like let me die of embarrassment because I am flummoxed with a straight man once again in my life. ALL FOR 6 MEASLY POINTS IN A GAME! LIKE WHAT THE FUCK!?

That's so FETCH! Even with Odd's bumbling incapabilities, he can make us get a narrow win for reward! Maybe my frustrations were misplaced with him! But I am glad that I will not be the first boot and get to stay here for another 3 days or so! Pumped!

well just as i thought,,, TRASH this tribe has good people that i like but apart from ci'ere CHILEEEEEEE we sucked so bad we didn't deserve to win. I think it's brian that's going tbh he wasn't active till the last 4? hours of the comp and people have already said if we lose it's him so yikes guess that's what is happening.

we won the challenge which is actually surprising. Odd's links didn't work but if they did I would've had the lowest score. I was gonna do so much more but my phone won't charge !! and i went to a college fair ok. I love how i said i was good at comps during my live interview. i swear im not a liar hosts

Woo we won, I put a fair amount of work in, so I'm glad we got results... unfortunately it didn't REALLY matter because of how badly the losing tribe did.

I think I have a decent shot of making a 4-person alliance with John, Andrea, and Loris. Hopefully I can get that going through. Emma is LIKELY the weak link on the tribe, which is fine by me she has yet to talk to me really, so I'd have no qualms voting her out.

I have a funny story. I spent a half hour walking and  looking for a license plate with ce on it. I had to use scooter plates. Half the cars only have one letter. When I finally found the plate parked in front of a restaurant . I got on one knee to take the pic. It was night so flash went out. A guy came out and demanded I delete the photo. Not kidding. He was not happy. I couldn’t explain what I was doing. I deleted it. He drove away. I was really bummed. So I got on my motorcycle and drove to the university where I knew there were hundreds of scooters. I slowly drove while looking on both sides of the parking lot. I must of looked at more than 500 plates. Finally I found one. Guess what? It was the same scooter from earlier. This time the guy not around. I was still really nervous like I was breaking the law. When the flash went off I was waiting for the guy to start running at me. He didn’t. Success.

Well, I'm a bit scared. Apparently, Sam has already found something? Or someone has... Item 39 purportedly received the "There was something there, but isn't anymore" treatment, which is Scary AF! Like, if someone has an idol THIS early in the game...if I got idol'd out THIS early in the game!!

But, I suspect that whatever was hidden in Position 39 was not, in fact, an idol, but was rather some clue or aspect to the idol system. 50 possibilities isn't enough of a competition space for an idol search, right? I mean, I bloody hope so because the alternative is that a Zosma idol is already flying around at the literal first tribal council and, man, I don't need that paranoia right now.

Winning this challenge was way easier than I expected, I figure some inactive is about to die on the other tribe so no worries there. I had a blast this thing is gonna be a fun time if the challenges continue to be similar to this.

Well it's day 2, John and Andreaa seem on board for an alliance, now all I need is to hear what Loris thinks and if he seems on board, I've got my 4-some right there. Which'll leave Emma and Big Z on the outs. Which is fine, we could even split the votes in case of an idol if we felt like it.

But I can't afford to get too comfortable, players can be real snakes and I can't let myself be too trusting. I just have to work on being super relateable and someone people feel comfortable talking to.

I just hope I didn't start "talking game" too early…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Onr3BoPGJzA

I guess I cast assess now! Loris: he is a mood and playing hard but he likes me so for now we r gucci. He is super fun to talk to and we share idol guesses so hes aight! I dont want to work long term with him. Kori: Yikes. He's super inactive but he was like i like u lets form an alliance so ofc I'm like ok. He left me on read on the first day and randomly offered and im like k wyd i wasnt born yesterday Emma: Queen? I knew her before this we used to be married until she deactivated and I divorced her but like that literally not even the point. Shes kinda  inactive and very on the bottom besides Kori so I'm hoping I can convince Loris to keep her if we go to tribal twice. Big Z: Ok I have never met him before now but OMG ive heard so much about him AND I LOVE HIM!!! I get the hype and then some. I wish we talked more. I 100% would not vote him or Emma out rn. John: he's cool! I havent talked to him too much but were in an alliance Basically im really happy we won LMAO. I am in an alliance I have no plans of following through with. life is interesting. I may just go off the rails. I am predicting Brian goes home because Zosma is a facebook clusterfuck right now.

I’m winning this org... I’m in a silly alliance with kori Andrea and John that I’m not gonna take seriously but kori probably will... me and Andrea are rlly good allies and I have the legacy??? give me my money

We lost the challenge by a landslide. https://tenor.com/view/davonne-rogers-pretends-to-be-gif-6175133

Zosma was 400+ points behind the other tribes so they really did snatch us huh. I’m happy to hear that they’re active though unlike some of my tribemates for the past two days l m a o. I scored more than half of our aggregate, so I think I should be set to survive this vote.

Toby wants to share idol info and I can’t decline that so I gave him fake receipts hehe. He also stated that I’m the person he’s connected to the most. Sam says that I’m easy to talk to as well, so I think my social game is going pretty well at the moment!

Sam wants to vote for anybody that isn’t him & he also said he loved me 😳 L i s t e n: love is a BIG word (to me at least) & you can’t just throw it out to anyone & their mother, Sam. Louise is in the same mindset as myself as she’s talked to Toby/Dani more than Brian so let’s just snipe Brian right? Well, Toby comes to me after scoring 0 & says he has a “gut feeling” that we should vote out Dani because Brian is preoccupied with Mount Olympus. Does that make any sense? We just lost the challenge by an extremely large margin & you want to keep the person that doesn’t prioritize this game? Go to sleep Toby, you’re drunk. I guess it’s hard to judge who will be more active since it’s only round uno. Dani was present, but only sent in one thing…& Brian had internet problems. I had a great conversation with Dani the first day, but it’s day three now. Should I stick my neck out for him? I told Toby what he wanted to hear because it was 3AM for him & he wanted to sleep, but there’s still a lot of time left & I want Brian dead.

I need to talk to people more often hn

I mean this vote is as simple as it gets, it's basically a battle of which inactive should we kick. Most votes seem to be going on brian, which I do feel bad about cuz I love him in mount Olympus and feel he could easily be a number to drag. but at the same time he's been so inactive to the point where he'll probs just die at a swap or something. I feel bad for toby since he already voted dani but im sure he'd understand with all the timezone differences, I would like dani to go but if brian stayed, we would probs lose again then he would just leave so rip

Hi!! It's me john coffey!!! So I love the theme of my tribe being like  the emotional players and I love the vibe of all my tribemates. However I know that the emotional players are also sometimes the messiest players because I forsure fall into that category sometimes!! So far I have just been trying to chill tf out and get to know people, and use the scavenger hunt to show that I really want to be here. I may not have as much to offer in future tribe challenges so I like being able to use scavenger hunts to really go ham. I got the highest score on our tribe and I think the second highest behind Roxy so woo! Now let's move on to my fellow tribe mates. Kori - the only person I was familiar with going into this game. I played with him in my most recent game where he witnessed me win. We had a good bond the entire game but he also voted for me when he thought I was the majority vote, setting aside any connection I had made with him, so that is always kinda going to be on my mind in this game. But as of now he is the person I trust the most. Andrea - I LOVE her! We bonded quickly over being messes so that's always fun. I could see myself growing close with her in this game. Loris- I really like him, I always like British guys LOL it's been kinda difficult getting to talk to him at a time that works for both of us but I really like him so far Emma- she hosted me a few years ago though I didn't know it was her at first, I like her but haven talked to her as much as the others Big z - I like him though we haven't talked too much but I immediately see him as my biggest threat at this point. Just something about him idk.

As far as other tribe members go - drew Heuser is one of my favorite people to have played orgs with. He was the reason I was first boot in my first Tumblr game but has remained a dear friend of mine ever since. I met him in person and he's the besssst. If I have a chance to play with him I'm excited to see what the outcome will be.

https://youtu.be/TfQ4Xmeb2J8

Brian is voted out 5-1.