#Jake is on the war path & I love that for him; I trust him to rage responsibly tbh | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

girasollake · 2 years ago

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everything i wanted

ꨄpairing: neteyam x fem!omaticaya!reader / jake sully x reader(platonic)

ꨄrequested: no

ꨄtype: mostly angst, some fluff

ꨄsummary: you always wanted to feel appreciated, neteyam always wanted to be the best warrior; in short: u seek validation in older men cause you dont have family and because you are the best warrior, neteyam is jealous of you, the whole fic roughly follows the plot of atwow!!! ummmm kinda enemies to lovers?????

ꨄwarnings: SPOILERS AHEAD, DONT READ IF U HAVENT SEEN ATWOW, mentions of being shot, angst, my bad writing cause i havent written anything since september, reader is a year older than neteyam

ꨄa/n: i feel like this is so bad i am sorry

ꨄword count: 3,402

‘How could you both be so stupid?’ You threw your hands in the air and shot a glare at Neteyam. ‘You could’ve died! Does that mean nothing to you? Your father explicitly told you to observe, not engage! You are like a child Neteyam, both you and Lo’ak!’

‘I wanted to stop him, he’s just too disobedient.’ He avoided your eyes.

‘And you had to take the blame again? He’s never going to learn if you keep doing that.’ You shook your head and sighed.

‘Can you stop? I’m the oldest and I need to protect my siblings.’

‘No. No, Neteyam. I am the oldest. I may not be your sibling but I am the oldest and, believe it or not, I wouldn’t forgive myself if anything happened to them.’

Especially you.

‘You can protect them, be a big brother, but don’t take credit for every stupid thing they do!’ You moved closer to him and snapped your fingers in front of his face to get his attention. ‘I know you want to prove your father you can be a warrior, but it doesn’t mean that you have to put your life at risk when Lo’ak does something stupid.’ You huffed. ‘Just be careful next time.’

Neteyam felt jealous of you, of the way his father trusted you enough to put you in risky missions because he knew you would survive, of the way he praised your fighting skills and of the way he put you on a pedestal. You were born during the first war with the sky people and both of your parents had died fighting. The clan surrounded you with love when you were growing up, but you had never had anyone to call a mother or a father. You were just an orphan trying to find a place alongside everyone that you crossed paths with. So, when Neteyam was jealous of you having his father approval and trust, you were jealous of him for having a real family. When you were younger you would hide behind the trees and watch them cuddle underneath the night sky, your little heart breaking and longing for this kind of comfort and love. Even though you were Omatikaya by blood you still sometimes felt like an outsider. You occupied your time with training, flying, shooting arrows and that’s why Jake was impressed, that’s why you were one of his favorite warriors and he knew he could trust you. He even got you your own gun, which Neteyam and Lo’ak were especially jealous of.

Deep down you knew what this was about. Jake cared about you, but not like he cared about his own children. That was the real reason you were sent on those missions, the reason he took you everywhere with him on fights. He just didn’t want to risk his sons life's. You knew that and you still took part in everything because those were the moments when you felt like you belong.

° 𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 ₒ 𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 °

‘Can we talk?’ Jake asked from behind you.

‘Of course, sir.’ You nodded your head and stopped sharpening the spears.

He sat down next to you and sighed.

‘We are leaving tomorrow.’ He said firmly. ‘This is not a safe place for my family anymore.’

‘Oh, I see.’ You whispered, a wave of sadness ran through your whole body.

‘I want you to come with us.’ Your ear twitched and you looked up at him with hopeful eyes. ‘And I want you to promise me you will protect my children when I won’t be able to do it myself.’

‘I promise.’ You answered quickly. ‘I’ll do my best, sir.’

He smiled at you and stood up, ‘Tomorrow after the ceremony. Be ready.’ He shot you one last glance and walked away.

The next day you were waiting for the Sully family by the ikrans, your thoughts were interrupted by a loud shriek of Tuk.

‘Are you coming with us (Y/n)?’ She asked after she ran up to you.

‘I am.’ You smiled at her and after giving you a hug she ran back to her mom in order to get on an ikran with her.

While you were checking your bags attached to your own animal, you felt someone intensely staring at the back of your head. You didn’t have to turn around to know it was Neteyam. You never knew why he gave you those weird glances, a part of you wished they weren’t that hateful. At first you tried being friends with him, but after a while his behavior towards you had changed. While you were getting along with his younger siblings, he was always staying away from you, watching your every move. The relationship between you felt like some sort of rivalry, but there was always this warm feeling you couldn’t shake off when you knew he was nearby.

After a long, tiring flight to the Metkayina clan you were exhausted, the thought of laying down was the only one in your head. You made the appropriate gesture towards the Tsahik and the Olo’eyktan when they arrived and you suddenly felt really small under Ronal’s gaze. She started walking around you all, examining your tails and postures.

‘Is this also your child, Jakesully?’ She asked, you could feel her judging eyes on you.

‘No. She’s not my child, but she is the best warrior in our clan and she is important to my family.’

‘Is that true?’ She moved to look into your eyes.

‘Yes, Tsahik Ronal.’ You gave her a long nod and felt the warm feeling spreading in your heart after hearing that you were important to the Sully’s.

She whispered something to herself and went back to her husband who a moment later agreed that all of you could stay with them. You smiled to yourself when you were walking through the village following Tsireya, everything felt so fresh and untouched by war, those people didn’t live in fear unlike your clan. You dropped your belongings on the floor and went over to Neytiri to help her.

‘It’s okay, you can go with others and learn the Metkayina ways, I can handle the unpacking.’ She told you and put her hand on your arm.

‘Are you sure?’

‘Yes, go.’ She smiled sweetly and playfully pushed you towards the exit of your new home.

You ran towards the shore and started looking for your friends. When you finally spotted them you quickly jumped into the water and swam quickly in their direction.

‘Can I join?’ You asked Tsireya when you emerged from the water.

‘Of course!’ She gave you a smile. ‘Follow us everyone.’

After swimming for a while she took all of you to meet the ilu’s and learn how to ride them. You were scared of failure, especially after seeing how fast Lo’ak let go of his ilu. Tsireya helped you get on the animal and told you that you’re gonna be okay, you just have to hold it tight.

‘How could she not be fine? She’s the best warrior after all.’ Neteyam muttered with annoyance.

‘Stop it.’ Kiri smacked his arm.

‘What? She shouldn’t be here, her place is with the clan. I don’t even get why she’s here with us in the first place.’

‘It’s not my fault your dad values my skills more than he does yours.’ You replied harshly and then without a second thought told your ilu in your mind to go forward.

You felt angry at Neteyam, rage was filling your body. You were the best for a reason and you would prove that to him. You tightened your grip on the handle attached to the animal’s body and took the biggest breath in your life before diving into the depths of the ocean. The speed was horrible and you felt your hand slowly relaxing.

No. I won’t give him the satisfaction.

You tightened your fist and held the handle even harder than before. After readjusting your position and squeezing your thighs to feel more steady you felt the oxygen slowly leaving your lungs. You shut your eyes and rode upwards, soon emerging from the water and jumping with your ilu only to dive again. You rode over to your friends and smiled at Tsireya. Everyone was impressed, because this was your first try and it definitely required special skills to get it this perfect. Annoyance was written on Neteyam’s face, he scoffed and started swimming away. You sighed and got off the ilu.

‘Neteyam, wait!’ You screamed and swam towards him.

He didn’t even look back and you reached him after you both got out of the water.

‘Neteyam, what happened?’ You touched his arm and he immediately turned around to face you.

‘You happened.’ He scoffed. ‘I am tired of you taking my place all the time. I try so hard to meet my dad’s standards and it’s never appreciated because of you!’

‘It’s not my fau-‘

‘It is. It is your fault.’ He interrupted your sentence and walked away quickly.

And there it was again. The feeling of loneliness consumed you once again, when the boy you adored walked away feeling only hatred towards you. Sure, you were often picking fights with him, replying to his comments with the same energy, but maybe this time you really did take it too far?

° 𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 ₒ 𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 °

You were helping Tsireya with some of the duties one day and Neteyam was far from you, but still in your sight. You were stealing quick glances at him so that your friend wouldn’t see it, when suddenly he quickly swam away and you couldn’t see him anymore. You excused yourself and left Tsireya by herself to go and see what had happened that made him go that fast. The closer you got to the direction he swam towards, the better you heard voices screaming and sounds of fighting. You came over to Kiri, she was softly laughing at the pile of boys in front of her. You had to admit it was funny, but at the same time you were all supposed to be on your best behavior. Because of that, you walked over to them and hissed loudly, their heads turning to face you.

‘Enough.’ You spat and looked over at Lo’ak and Neteyam. ‘Both of you.’

They stood up and walked towards Kiri, you hissed at the Metkayina boys once again and turned around to join the Sully’s.

‘It was going well, you didn’t have to-‘

‘Was it, Lo’ak?’ You stopped and looked at him. ‘You were supposed to be on your best behavior, what were you thinking?’ You turned to the older boy.

He didn’t reply to you, he just took his brother by his arm and walked away.

‘You are both unbelievable.’ Kiri whispered making you turn your head in her direction.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Just tell him you like him already.’ She whined.

‘You know I can’t.’ A sigh escaped your lips. ‘He hates me, Kiri. He sees me as a rival, he despises me.’

‘He doesn’t.’

‘He does.’ You said louder. ‘I don’t want to talk about it anymore, let’s go.’

‘Lo’ak was the one that started that fight, he was just helping him.’

‘I know.’ You replied and looked down, soon arriving at your home.

‘And you? Why weren’t you keeping an eye on them?’ Jake turned to you when you entered the shack.

‘I’m sorry, I was helping Tsireya.’ You avoided his gaze. ‘Next time I won’t let anything happen to them.’

And you were right.

You jumped down from your ikran and landed on the sky people’s ship. Neteyam found his way to his siblings and Tsireya as fast as you, jumping onto the deck from his ilu. You shot your arrows towards some sky people coming towards you.

‘Cut the handcuffs!’ You told him when he reached you.

‘Come on, bro. Hurry up!’ Lo’ak screamed at his brother.

You turned around and saw Tsireya and Tuk jumping into the water, ‘Go! Both of you!’ You yelled at the brothers.

Neteyam started dragging the boy away, ‘They have Spider! We have to help him!’ Lo’ak tugged on his brother’s arm.

You locked your eyes with Neteyam, ‘Shit!’ He hissed. ‘Okay, let’s go.’

‘No, you are not going anywhere.’ You stopped both of them. ‘Go back to your father, right now.’

‘We have to help Spider, please (Y/n).’ Lo’ak looked at you with terrified eyes.

‘UGH!’ You shook your head and hang your bow on your body. ‘Just stay close.’ You told them and ran towards the inside of the ship.

You were quietly moving on the big pipe on the ceiling when some people started walking your way, Spider was surrounded by them in a circle. All three of you jumped down at the people and freed your friend, but then a pure moment of joy was interrupted by gunshots firing your way.

‘Go! Go!’ You screamed and pushed the boys towards a wall that would hide all of you.

Neteyam snatched the gun from Lo’ak and started shooting at the enemies, you pulled out the gun Jake had gifted you and helped him.

‘I’ll tell you when to jump and you jump!’ You shouted and looked over at them, they were rapidly nodding their heads. You gave a few more shots towards the enemies and took a deep breath. ‘Now!’

Lo’ak and Spider jumped quickly into the water, you pushed Neteyam first and jumped as the last person. For a second you felt relief when you heard their happy screams, but it was washed away when you started struggling with keeping your head above the water. Adrenaline started coming down and you felt your lower abdomen on fire.

‘Yes! We did it bro!’ Lo’ak hugged his brother who was laughing softly.

‘Come on! We need to go!’ Neteyam yelled when Tsireya came up from the water riding her ilu.

‘Nete…Neteyam…’ You coughed.

His smile faded and he rapidly swam towards you.

‘I’m shot you skxawng.’

‘Shit! Shit!’ He cursed. ‘Just hold on a second!’ He held you tightly and sat you down on the ilu. ‘It’s okay, just hold on.’ His panicked voice echoed through your ears.

He saw his father standing on a rock and everyone started screaming for him. A worried expression came up on his face when he saw his son holding you tightly.

‘She’s shot, dad, help her!’ They started pulling you up to rest you on the wet rock.

Jake inspected your body only to see a big wound on your lower stomach which was quickly bleeding out.

‘Take her to the village, right now.’ He told Neteyam and helped put you on the animal again.

Neteyam held you in his arms as he tried to ride the animal as quickly as he could without causing more damage to you.

‘Hold on, okay? Don’t you dare die on me!’ He yelled to you.

‘But I am so sleepy, Nete..’ Your voice was weak, but he still heard you.

‘No, don’t sleep, we’re right there, just…Just hold on..’ He finally saw the village and hope filled him up. ‘We’re here, it’s okay. It’s gonna be okay.’ He looked down at you to check if your eyes were still open and he saw you slowly blinking. ‘HELP! I NEED HELP!’ He screamed as loud as he could which caught the attention of some people by the coast, they quickly ran to get the Tsahik who was helping other wounded warriors.

‘Neteyam..’ You coughed.

‘We’re here, hold on for me.’ He looked down at you again.

‘I see…’ Your voice was getting weaker. ‘I see you, Neteyam.’ You whispered and closed your eyes.

‘No. No, no, no. Help! I need the Tsahik!’ He got off the ilu holding your limp body in his arms.

Ronal emerged from behind the people and told him to put you in one of the shacks. The Tsahik pushed him outside and covered the entrance with a curtain made out of big leaves and seaweed. Neteyam finally felt the tears on his face which previously were washed away by the splashing water. He didn’t know what to do, fear, sadness and adrenaline were running through his body. He waited for what felt like hours and when he felt Tuk’s arms around him all of a sudden he felt safe. His whole family was okay and when he came eye to eye with his father, he broke down crying again. Jake hugged his son and caressed his hair with his hand. A sudden rustle made Neteyam break the comforting hug. Everyone turned towards the sound, Ronal was standing in front of the shack, her expression was unreadable. She locked eyes with Neteyam.

‘She’s alive. Barely.’ She stated.

‘Thank you, Great Mother.’ Kiri whispered and hugged her brother from the side.

‘She needs a lot of rest and I am not certain if she will survive the night.’ Ronal said and started walking away. ‘Do not bother her. Now it is all up to Eywa.’

° 𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 ₒ 𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 °

Your nostrils were filled with a disgusting smell which made you slowly open your eyes. You saw Ronal putting some type of paste on your wound and you hissed.

‘I guess this means I’m not dead.’ You whispered, your voice hoarse.

‘No, but it was close.’ She replied and wrapped some bandages around your stomach. ‘Rest, my child.’ She whispered and walked out, leaving you alone once again.

After a while the silence was interrupted by Jake, ‘Hi.’ He said as he sat down next to you.

‘I told you I’d keep them safe.’ You weakly smiled at him and he let out a soft laugh.

‘Yeah, I knew you would.’ His smile quickly faded. ‘I.. I wanted to thank you. For protecting them. And I’m sorry for using you so much, on all of those fights… I forget that you are still young, god… You’re only a year older than Neteyam and I’ve never thought something like this would happen to you…’ He paused. ‘You have a whole life in front of you, I’m sorry for trying to take that away and not protecting you.’

‘It’s okay.’ You whispered. ‘I know you only wanted to keep your family safe.’

He nodded and stood up, a tear fell down his cheek. He looked like he wanted to say something more, but nothing came out, he gave you one last smile and walked outside. After a while you closed your eyes because the light started bothering you, but you immediately opened them when you felt someone put their hand in yours. You looked at the way your fingers were intertwined with Neteyam’s and gave him a soft smile.

‘I’m so sorry.’ He whispered.

‘You have nothing to be sorry about.’ You coughed out.

‘I have. I am sorry for getting angry at you, for getting jealous about my father and for..’

‘Hey, it’s okay.’ You whispered and stroked his hand with your thumb. ‘And I’m sorry too, I shouldn’t be taking your place by your dad’s side.’

He nodded and squeezed your hand, ‘It’s okay, I know you just wanted someone to be proud of you. Kiri told me how… How you feel like an outsider all the time, because you don’t have…’

‘Parents?’

‘Yeah.’ He looked down at the floor.

‘After all these years I got used to having no one, but when your dad and other warriors from the clan were so proud of me… I just felt this hapiness that I finally belong somewhere, that’s why I always wanted to be the best…I’m sorry again, Neteyam.’

‘I forgive you.’ He smiled. ‘I can’t believe you were ready to die for me.’ He softly laughed and you reciprocated the smile.

‘I can.’ You whispered. ‘And I forgive you too, for being so mean to me.’ Your smile grew wider. ‘But you were cute when you were angry.’

‘Is that so?’ You gave him a long nod. ‘And now I’m not?’

‘No.’

‘Liar.’

Your giggles filled up the space around you and you didn’t even notice when he got so close to your face. You felt his breath on your skin and he put his other hand on your cheek.

‘I always thought you hated me.’ You whispered into his lips.

‘Do you still think that?’

‘No.’ It left your lips more like a breath rather than a word.

He finally closed the gap between you and it all just felt right. His lips on yours felt so right. You finally felt like you were not alone.

‘I see you, (Y/n).’

likes and reblogs are appreciated<3

taglist: @neteyamsgirl @vviolaswrld

#neteyam x you #neteyam x reader #neteyam #avatar the movie #avatar the way of water #jake sully x reader

4K notes · View notes

13tter · 2 years ago

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AVATAR TWOW RECS

⭑ i am no longer updating this anymore !

⭑ im keeping this pinned until i make a new recs post

⭑ i read sfw & nsfw works . . . mdni with nsfw works

⭑ dont forget to send much love to all these authors :P

please note that some of these works have heavy topics: read the warnings b4 u read plspls

[❕] nsfw / smut ,, [🩹] suggestive ,, [🗯] angst ,, [☃️] fluff ,, [🐰] personal faves

➷ loverboy #1 neteyam te suli tsyeyk'itan

all for you , part two ✶ 30.2k, e2l, grumpy x sunshine ⊹ 🗯☃️

When Quaritch attacks the Ta’unui water clan looking for Jake Sully, the clan’s Tsahik forces her younger sister, Y/N, to escape and seek refuge from the Metkayina clan. As Y/N deals with the trauma of losing her home, she discovers that she isn’t the only outlander in the village. She develops conflicted feelings for Neteyam but the tensions grow when Y/N finds out that Neteyam is the son of Jake Sully - the man she hates.

worthy pt 2 ✶ 4.3k, aged up ⊹ 🗯☃️ [❕]

You and Neteyam argued before he left for his 3-day hunt. After he arrived back to the reef, he discovered you were never waiting for him. He finds you unbraiding your hair near a tide pool and decides to offer his help.

🐰 soft as clouds ✶ 6.3k, non wellknown!reader, wingwoman baby tukie ! ⊹ ☃️

You weren't well known in the clan, and when you become friends with Tuk, no one believes her.

hide and peak ✶ 3.5k, aged up, mates, sub teyam, exhibition ⊹ 🗯☃️ [❕]

Neteyam is oblivious to flirting from other females. so, reader decides to make it a point to show everyone neteyam's is theirs.

quiet love ✶ 6.3k, insecure!reader ⊹ 🗯☃️

You didn’t see the way Neteyam was longing for you, too caught up in why it was impossible anyway. But he was insistent that you were the one he wanted.

how they would react to you dressing up for them (hcs) ✶ 1.7k, aged up ⊹ ☃️🩹

NETEYAM - already compliments you everyday, like smothers you in them to the point where it’s more common than hearing your name. he can’t get enough of you. the biggest smile comes onto his face when he sees you, immediately forgetting how tired he had been from his responsibilities earlier. you’re like a breath of fresh air to him and he can’t believe how lucky he got with you.

uncomfortable ✶ 1.7k, aged up, lil bit of jealousy ⊹ 🗯☃️

Being a hunter provided you with so much purpose. You provided food, safety, pelts, strength and everything in-between to your clan. And in turn they provided you with love and support. You had felt this way since you were eighteen and finished the rites of the hunter, since you technically became an Omaticayan woman. Being a spoter in the war party provided you so much more. You felt adrenaline, you felt responsible for all your brothers and sisters in the fight. You felt like you were personally making a difference against the enemy. And besides, by taking this life path you were able to meet your best friend.

🐰 me and you pt 2 ✶ 3k, aged up, teyam is so attractive here ⊹ ☃️ [❕]

no summary provided — but trust me when i say this is the hottest thing i've read all year. reader & teyam's banter is unmatched and they're so cute.

do you still love me? ✶ 2k, aged up, argument, misunderstanding-ish ⊹ 🗯☃️

You and Neteyam’s family has stayed the same for many years, only one daughter who was now 4. But you fear that Neteyam doesn’t want more, scared he had fallen out of love with you after the birth.

fix me ✶ 4.1k, mentions of blood, made by one of my fav people on here ⊹ ☃️

no summary provided — trusttttttt me, she never disappoints !!!!!! this fulfilled everything i have ever wished for and man i love reading charas in love.

different ✶ 4.9k, TUKIE !!!! my babie taking my heart again, a bit of rude remarks towards reader :(, loved the idea of half omatikaya & half metkayina ⊹ 🗯☃️

Request — Hiii Do you write for Avatar? Could you do something where reader is both omatikayan and metkayina (mixed) and she’s living with the metkayina when the Sully family comes? Maybe do a slow burn between reader and Neteyam? The rest is up to you!

(new!) 🐰 human stuff ✶ 2.3k, human!reader, revolves around readers' period, HE GETS FED CHIPS. hope that says enough thank yew ⊹ ☃️

the one where a confused na’vi teenager tries to comfort his human friend while she’s on her period.

➷ loverboy #2 lo'ak te suli tsyeyk'itan

the moon, the stars and his life ✶ 2.4k, aged up, possesive/jealous lo'ak ⊹ [❕]

Lo‘ak didn’t know what he did to deserve such a blessing in the shape of you. Did he even deserve it? He doubts it. You were just so perfect, from the top of your head to your cute little toes and the tip of your tail. Perfect. Which is why it hurts even more, to hear those Metkayina boys talk about him like this to you...

brat ✶ 2.7k, aged up, mean dom!lo'ak ⊹ [❕]

Lo'ak is a brat tamer, what can I say?

(new!) 🐰 reckless (but helpful) ✶ 2.4k, OLDER SISTER READER OHMYGOODDODFDF, shes so badass ugh im in love, loak is so enthusiastic its so cute seeing him not being scolded by his parents (smh i hate that he does) ⊹ ☃️

three avatars dead, one injured big sister, and two angry parents waiting at home. what could go wrong?

➷ lovers #3 sully family

the sully's stick together ✶ 3.2k, hurt/comfort, i need to be a sully NOW ⊹ 🗯☃️

becoming one with the metkayina’s has not been an easy task. as everyone continues to settle in their own ways, your family begins to grow more worried about your well-being. this isn’t the sully they know. you’re withdrawn, and quiet. what better way to fix that than to seek you out when you least expect it?

too late ✶ 3.6k, reader is 6 feet under , suicidal thoughts + actual suicide ⊹ 🗯

they loved you when it was too late.

parts of my heart ✶ 2.3k, mama neytiri T_T, ofcourse my tukie is here ⊹ ☃️

A look at the Sully children through the loving eyes of Neytiri, and how you as the oldest daughter fit into this puzzle piece. Also a slight rediscovery of Neytiri and Jake’s relationship after the war cause it’s not talked about enough.

by the time you're hearing this i'll already be gone ✶ 4.9k, bittersweet ending ⊹ 🗯☃️

all you wanted was to not be the family disappointment.

(new!) 🐰 when the time comes , part two ✶ 6 / 7.5k, theres war and violence, YN HAS A LOVE INTEREST ANDHES SOOO CUTE OMD !! he has a lil dickhead slip up tho but it gets fixed <3 ⊹ 🗯☃️

1: IN WHICH the future Tsahik of the Omaticaya and oldest daughter of Jake and Neytiri, Y/N has always carried the heavy weight of future duties. Her trouble making antics can only aggravate her relationship her family...and somehow drive her to meet a certain grumpy Omaticayan.

2: IN WHICH the humans come for your father’s neck again, as you and your family fight alongside him. When the sky people come back to destroy Pandora again, will you be able to save your family and potential lover?

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rotxos-sweeetheart · 2 years ago

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!Avatar: WOTW Major Spoilers!

——

When we first see him, Jake is clueless, but fearlessly loyal. At first his loyalty was towards the RDA and the Marine life he grew up with, but this loyalty changed, first to Grace, and the new world she’s showing him, the trust she give him, Grace became more than his friend, she became almost a parent to Jake, showing him all that he didn’t understand and explaining it. Norm became a brother, teasing and jealous and caring. Trudy was his sister, she had a smilier rearing, a soldier like Jake, she understood.

Then, not even four months after losing his twin, Jake lost his almost-mother, and his sister, to the same people, the RDA, those he once fiercely trusted.

He goes to war with them, and although he wins, he loses too.

The trust he and the people shared was shattered with the actions of the RDA, and that took time to build back up.

He doesn’t get chance to settle into his role of Olo’eyktan, before he also has the role of father.

Neteyam scares him and fills him with joy simultaneously, he’s so small and pure, and so easy to hurt.

Jake pushes perfection and hope onto Neteyam, unaware of the pressure he puts on him.

Scared worried lost

Petrified.

Then suddenly they have Kiri, who just looks so so much like Grace, Jake dotes on her.

He gives her the world, let’s her chose her path, she’s precious in many ways.

He’s still scared and worried but his girl is special.

He can feel it.

Then Lo’ak comes, and with him comes fights and fearlessness and danger and Spider.

Spider’s only three and a bit, but everything Lo’ak does Spider has to do.

Swingging in trees? Climbing mountains? All of it.

Danger Danger Danger.

Lo’ak is far too much like Tommy, and Spider like Jake.

But Spider is His son, can they trust him?

Fear neglect hate.

Tuk brings hope and love, he dotes on her like he does Kiri.

He fixes his family and his people, he settles, they all do.

Then the sky people come again.

They bring danger and death.

Jake fights back. The people follow.

Now He’s back.

Jake can’t handle that.

They have to leave, now.

Jake will not put his family in danger.

Spider is human. And His. They won’t harm him.

…

Right?

Too late.

Their in Awa’atlu, and Neytiri is too hurt to try adapt but Jake has too. At least his girls like it, even if his sons are causing trouble.

Jake rushes to be accepted, going straight for a skimwing, he has to prove his worth.

Then Kiri seizies, and he has to call Norm and Max, and the RDA are here.

They hunt the Tulkun.

Neytiri feels Ronals pain.

Then He has their kids again.

—

Jakes ready to sacrifice himself, he’d do anything for those kids, but by Eywa, why could they not listen just once!

Until a Tulkun attacks and then everyone is attacking.

He loses sight of his kids.

He’s too busy keeping Quaritch occupied so they can get away.

He doesn’t know Spider never gave them up, or that he was tortured.

Then the carrier crashes and there’s fire and smoke everywhere.

Where are his kids?

Neteyams shot, through and through, why?

Neteyam dies in his arms.

Spiders there.

But his girls aren’t, they’re on the sinking mess.

He lashes out, he can’t keep his anger back, Lo’ak gets the brunt of it.

He and Neytiri take down all but one avatar, and all the humans.

Then Quaritch is right there, taunting him, Jake can’t block him out anymore.

He turns back to fight.

Afterwards he no longer has the strength to pull himself up, or breath.

He sees Neteyam, but that can’t be right?

As his head breaches water and he breathes, he understands it’s not Neteyam talking him through getting out, it’s Lo’ak.

They find the girls, and Jakes… he’s not happy, but he’s not scared either.

They lay Neteyam to rest, and Jake prepares himself to have to leave once more, he never expected Ronal and Tonowari to allow him to stay.

He finally has a home.

Love happy peace warmth

Safety.

———

Jake.. Jake has no excuse for his actions. Not towards Spider, not towards Neteyam, and not towards Lo’ak.

I do not like Jake very much in this movie.

-Nik’et💙

#avatar #avatar the way of water #nik’ets_world #jake sully #neytiri #spider #grace avatar #kiri #kiri avatar #neteyam #na'vi quaritch #Na’vi Jake #Ronal #tonowari #lo’ak #tuktuk

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maybeebeee · 1 year ago

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Won't You Stay With Me, My Darling?

weeeee i'm writing again? i started writing this like two months ago and finished it at 1am so...do with that information as you will haha but I've been thinking about this au for aaaages and am glad that i finally finished writing something for it! hope you love it like i do :)

Pairing: Layla El-Faouly/Marc Spector, implied Layla El-Faouly/Steven Grant

Rating: G

Characters: Layla El-Faouly, Marc Spector, Steven Grant, Jake Lockley (mentioned), Khonshu (mentioned)

Tags: AU - Star Wars universe, Jedi Layla El-Faouly, bounty hunter Marc Spector, mutual pining, fluff, first kiss, idiots in love

Word count: 2301

Summary: A Jedi and a bounty hunter face a moral conundrum. In other words...Jedha is a cold planet, and Layla doesn't do well in the cold.

Read on AO3

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Despite being a desert moon, Jedha is freezing all the time, which Layla had not been expecting the first time she had stepped out of her ship onto the planet’s surface. It’s been six months since then, and every time she’s come back it’s been just as much of a shock — and yet she still finds herself coming back again and again.

Of course, that’s mostly thanks to Marc. Or more specifically, Khonshu demanding that Marc keep coming back. The skeletal avian creature keeps promising just one more contract, and then the bounty hunter will be free, but there’s always something else, and Marc is bound until Khonshu decides to withdraw whatever hold he has on his already-fractured mind.

Layla still feels uneasy around the alien — ever since their first meeting when she had sensed the way the very air around him was almost stained with the dark side, she hasn’t trusted him. She trusts Marc, and Steven, and even Jake now that she’s met him a few more times, but not their…employer. Anyone who uses the dark side to indenture people can’t be trusted, no matter how “beneficial” the work they send them to do is.

And it’s true that Marc’s work is generally for good, it’s why Layla joined him on his travels in the first place. Taking down Imperial cells across the galaxy — especially those operating their own further very illegal and unethical programs within — is what she had already been doing herself, as a way to honour all of her fellow Jedi that had given their lives trying to do the same before the purge took them away.

It’s nice to have someone else to fight alongside again, even if his employer is an untrustworthy bird creature who fell off the Jedi path centuries ago and has been using the dark side to bring people back from near-death and force them to serve him as his own personal bounty hunters until he feels like letting them go.

It’s not like that’s Marc’s fault.

In any case, Layla doesn’t mind coming back to Jedha regularly. It’s one of the few places in the galaxy she feels truly safe as a Jedi these days, and the hum of the Force through her veins when she’s here is always a source of comfort.

She’s trying to focus on it now, sitting on the floor of the small, draughty room she and Marc are staying in this time, but the cold nips at her even through her layers of clothes and makes it hard to keep her mind fixed on her meditation. It’s been hard enough to meditate since Master Taweret was killed — though Layla had been a fully-fledged Jedi Knight for several years before the purge, the loss of her old master had left a hole in her heart that she’s still not sure will ever fully heal, and reaching out with the Force had been almost impossible for weeks after Taweret’s death. She’s still getting used to it now, though it’s been nearly three years.

People always spoke of how hard it could be to reconnect to the Force after the loss of their master, but nothing could have ever prepared her for how hard it would be after the loss of her entire Order. Not only is Taweret gone, but so is anyone else who could have helped her through this.

And then there’s the Marc issue.

Her whole life, Layla had been taught detachment. Never letting her feelings compromise her work as a Jedi. Loving people and being compassionate but never allowing deep attachment to one person to occur. Even her very familial-like relationship with Taweret was on a knife’s edge of being too attached in the Council’s view, which was partly why she had been pushed through her Trials at only nineteen. And romance was absolutely off the cards.

Now though…the Order is gone, and Marc is here. Marc, and Steven, and Jake. But mostly Marc.

Layla’s been drawn to him from the first moment they had crossed paths, and it seems fateful to her that they’ve stayed together this long since then. The Force drew her to him, she’s sure of it, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t still conflict in her mind about it.

She loves him, she has for some time now. She hasn’t admitted it out loud, but she senses that he knows, and it’s clear that he feels the same too. And although she’s made her peace with it, it’s something she’s still unsure of navigating, something that brings…not fear, per se, but an uncertainty that she’s not used to.

The Jedi had tried to keep everything so black and white. Light side and dark side. Since the fall of the Order she’s seen so many ways that it can co-exist and intersect — like in Khonshu even, someone who is so far into the dark side the Jedi would have written him off a long time ago if they’d known he was still alive, and yet he wants the Empire gone as much as anyone Layla would see as more typically light would. Granted, he has very questionable ways of going about his work, and she’s certain it’s more out of self-interest than the greater good, but…he’s still helping, in some strange way.

Layla’s grown less afraid of her feelings in the past months. She knows she’s doing work that the Jedi would be proud of, even if she’s not necessarily doing it the way they would’ve wanted her to. She’s confident, not afraid of igniting her lightsabers and fighting in the name of peace and justice; and not afraid of admitting, at least to herself, that her feelings for Marc are there.

That doesn’t make it any easier to act on them, although her own hesitation is starting to drive her mad. It’s like she just can’t shake the hands of the Council on her shoulders, warning her that acting on her feelings could be a path to the dark side. She knows it won’t be — if losing Master Taweret taught her anything it’s that love has only made her more determined to stay on the path of the light, but…maybe it’s just that this kind of love feels like a violation of rules she’d been directly instructed not to break.

“You’re thinking so loud,” Marc comments from the doorway, where Layla knows he’s been standing for at least a few minutes, “I thought meditating was supposed to stop the thoughts.”

“It’s supposed to clear the mind,” She corrects, not opening her eyes, “But I can’t concentrate when it’s so cold.”

He finally moves toward the makeshift bed they’d set up in the corner when they’d arrived — it’s his turn to sleep on the floor, and thankfully he’s not complained as much as usual this time — and plops down on the pillows. He’s quiet for long enough that Layla finally gives up and peeps open one eye, enough to catch him staring at her.

She sighs and leans back to lay on the cold floor before she can think better of it, and a shiver runs up her spine immediately, “Alright, I give up. How long has it been anyway?”

Marc shrugs and holds up a tracking fob before just as quickly tossing it into his bag. “Long enough to debrief the bird and get my next job. We can go in a few days. Steven wants to get some supplies from the markets, which probably means he wants new clothes—”

His gaze shifts towards the window for a moment, where Layla can sense Steven’s presence and almost picture his indignant expression, “Yeah, I’m onto you, no more ponchos…” Marc shakes his head, “Fine, but it better not be on me when I come in, ever. Anyway,” He glances back at her, “I think we’re all overdue for a good sleep. So…let’s do that first.”

Layla stands up and stretches out her stiff limbs — sitting down for that long really doesn’t do wonders for the joints, she thinks. “Good idea. Meditation is rest, in a way, but it’s still…taxing on the mind and spirit.”

“Again, thought the point was to clear the mind.” Marc imitates her with a half-smile, to which she shoots him a withering stare as she sheds her outer layers of clothing and climbs into the bed, “Sorry. Yeah, you get this look when you’ve been meditating, like you’re awake but you’re not really there again until you’ve slept. I do notice things sometimes.”

She purses her lips at him, fighting the heat rising to her cheeks at the notion of being so known by someone. By Marc. “So you do.” She muses and drops her head to the pillow, “Good night.”

“Sleep well.”

Layla tries, she really does, but it’s so cold. There’s several blankets piled on top of her and she’s still shivering despite her best efforts to stay perfectly still in the spot she’s already warmed with her own body heat. Thoughts of warmer planets swirl in her mind, of deserts with actual desert heat, or jungle planets with humidity that makes her hair frizz up something terrible but at least keeps her cocooned in warmth and relative comfort — at least compared to the bone-biting chill of Jedha.

It’s probably been twenty minutes by the time Marc speaks up again from his spot on the floor.

“Layla, I can hear you shivering.”

“I’m fine.”

Layla hears the telltale rustle of blankets and knows that Marc is standing, staring. She pointedly keeps her own gaze fixed on the ceiling. A beat longer, and another pile of blankets is dropped on top of her, on which she can faintly smell Marc’s familiar metallic, smoky scent. The man himself is still standing beside the bed, so she finally turns her gaze towards him. Even in the dark she can see how earnestly he’s looking at her, and it makes her heart leap up into her throat. Neither of them say a word.

Layla is a little shaky as she lifts up the covers in silent invitation, never mind the cold air it lets into the bed with her, if only for a brief moment. Any hesitation she had been dwelling on before is gone, throwing caution to the wind and deciding for once in her life to follow her heart. Stars, the Council would be so disappointed in her. But it’s now or never.

Marc nods, wasting no time slipping in beside her and pulling the blankets tight around them both. Layla finds herself drawing close to his warmth immediately, curling an arm around his waist as his own hand presses tentatively into the centre of her back. They’re chest to chest, sharing the same breath in the almost nonexistent gap between them, and it’s so warm.

Layla can sense his nerves — although she doesn’t need the Force to tell her that, with the rabbiting of his heartbeat thrumming through her so clearly she might’ve thought he’d pressed his own heart right into her chest in silent offering. It’s clear that their unspoken line has been crossed, they’ve gone beyond the threshold without even having to say out loud, “Come in.”

She reaches up with her other hand to trace her fingers over his cheekbone, and he lets out a long breath as he leans into her gentle touch.

“How long have you—” He starts hoarsely.

“Since the beginning,” She breathes, “Always.”

Marc leans in to press his forehead against hers, bumps their noses together with a quiet, disbelieving laugh, “The whole time. I was thinking this whole time that I was the galaxy’s biggest idiot, falling for…well, anyone really, but especially a Jedi who wouldn’t love me back. Hell, even Steven’s been telling me that. He’s…sort of in on this too, but it’s not like he would’ve done this, right? Honestly, I’m surprised I did it.”

Layla smiles warmly, presses a chaste kiss to the corner of his mouth, “I’m glad you did. I’ve been trying to work up the strength to tell you for so long, but you know it’s…complicated, with the lessons I had drilled into me by the Council for so long. But,” She punctuates with another soft kiss to his dimple, “This Jedi does love you back.”

His exhale is shaky, but he tilts his head to catch her lips with his own, and oh, Layla is well and truly done for. His hand is strong on her back, his mouth soft and warm and tasting vaguely minty — she never wants to taste anything else if she can help it — and all too soon he’s drawing back, though now his other hand is cupping her cheek just as she’s doing to him. She wonders vaguely if he can feel her blush under his fingertips, just as she can feel his.

“You’ve stopped shivering.” Marc points out, but pulls her closer all the same.

She huffs out a laugh, “You’re warm.”

He sneaks another kiss before replying, “No more cold nights for you, hm? You let me in once and you’re probably not gonna get rid of me, or Steven when he finds out, just so you know.”

“I can live with that.” She smiles, “You’re all good company.”

Marc’s expression mirrors Layla’s, and it’s a while longer trading kisses and whispered stories of their many realisations of love for each other before they finally start dozing off, clinging to each other like they never want to be separated again. The galaxy is a tough place, and there’s still so much fighting to be done for the Jedi and bounty hunter pair before all this will truly get easier. But for now?

Layla is warm in Marc’s embrace. And that’s enough for her.

#may writes #marclayla #marc spector/layla el faouly #marc spector #layla el faouly #steven grant #jake lockley #moon knight #moon knight fanfic #star wars #star wars au #writing #fanfic #marvel #marvel fanfic #marclayla fanfic

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thecarnivorousmuffinmeta · 3 years ago

Note

Please continue Paranoid Bella,please, please, please I'm begging you muffin, I need to know. What happens if Billy does call Carlisle and tell him about his son's stalking and grooming shenanigans? What does Carlisle do? The poor man would just about die from embarrassment. Also, how is Charlie letting Bella move in with the Blacks? The need to know is just too great .

Anon is referring to Paranoid Bella, a character so popular on this blog, she now has a master post. Specifically, anon wants to know about the forbidden spin-off, in which Bella sought sanctuary with Billy and... bad things I refuse to touch happened.

Billy, notably, decided not to talk to Carlisle, Papa Vampire, because he assumed that Edward making Bella Dracula's Bride was typical demon behavior that Carlisle Cullen approved of.

But your second question first, since that's more in line with the original post.

How is Charlie Letting Bella Move in With the Blacks?

Because Bella pulls her typical canon bullshit on her dad. I don't know what excuse she comes up with, it's probably terrible, but dammit she does it all the same.

CHARLIE, SHE IS MOVING IN WITH JAKE AND BILLY. PEACE OUT.

Charlie has no idea what to do with this and asks Billy what the hell is going on. Billy can't really explain it and just assures Charlie that it's cool, he'll look out for Bella.

Billy is Charlie's best friend, and this is long before Jake inexplicably dumps Bella after Bella had been dumped by Edward, so he's going to trust this.

Of course, he's deeply hurt and assumes that it's about him: that Bella found him smothering or a terrible father or something, but he tries to let Bella live her own life and hopes she still wants to talk to him.

Bella probably meets up with him on weekends (in La Push) to have breakfast and things. Bella feels really shitty but she'd rather not be eaten by a vampire and figures Charlie, if he knew, would prefer that too.

Billy Decides to Talk to Carlisle

But alright, picking up where we left off, Paranoid Bella early in Twilight drives to Billy's, tells him Edward the demon is in her room every night, and Billy has his panic moment.

He considers his options.

The tribe has only one wolf, the very young and inexperienced Sam, to protect their lands. The Cullens have brought an unprecedented number of demons to Forks: if it comes to war then Sam cannot defend their territory against the vampires. They are simply too outnumbered.

Forks is not in the tribe's territory, technically, while if Bella were to be bitten it would break the treaty, Edward Cullen can creep in her room all he likes. However, it's not very in the spirit of the treaty.

Billy thinks about this long and hard, perhaps looks up Ephraim's personal accounts of meeting the Cullens, and from those determines that Ephraim, as the tribe leader, seemed to genuinely think Carlisle Cullen was an honorable man who would abide by this treaty.

Billy questions Bella further and she admits that it's only been Edward Cullen, in the dead of night, and that Edward seems to be trying to keep his family unawares. None of the other Cullens have ever approached her and the one time she met Carlisle Cullen he acted as a perfectly professional doctor: Edward only started grilling her after the man had left the room.

There's a chance he doesn't know.

If Billy truly wants to protect his people, Bella Swan, then perhaps he needs to make a leap of faith and bring Carlisle Cullen back to the negotiating table.

Billy calls Carlisle Cullen: We need to talk about your fucking demon son.

Carlisle feels a growing pit of terror in his stomach as he realizes what this must be about. Carlisle hadn't seen all the signs, per Midnight Sun, Edward had made a habit of leaving the house at night long before Bella and none of the Cullens know that he spent his midnight hours sneaking into her fucking bedroom (except, of course, Alice who gives her full support). Edward in general does his best to keep everybody, but especially Carlisle, thinking well of him in general.

However, Edward did return when the wiser action would have been to never come back to Forks, against Carlisle's counsel. He does seem to have a blossoming obsession with Bella Swan that Carlisle simply does not understand. And he's been acting erratic, paranoid, and weird. Happier than he's ever been, hooray for that, but Carlisle is notably not on Team Bella/Edward until he realizes that somehow, due to Bella Swan being in his life, Edward has become a better person (and even then he's not... necessarily gung ho).

Billy calling, somehow, Carlisle knows this must be about Edward, even if he doesn't want to admit it. Then it gets worse. Alice is desperately telling Carlisle not to go, if he goes then the coven falls apart.

Carlisle panics, "What the fuck?!" Alice has to clarify that, no, the treaty isn't broken but--Well, you know how sometimes it's better not to know everything about those around us? Carlisle doesn't know. He and Alice stare at one another, Alice begs him to please, for the love of god, don't talk to Billy.

Send Esme instead.

Carlisle does not send Esme.

As for Edward himself, those goddamn nosy tribe members are ruining his schemes! How dare they get between him and Hamburger and--

Sorry, anon, we return to this blog's BSOD state. There is no path further from here. This is the end of the road. THERE IS NO MORE. THIS IS THE END.

You have asked the ask that cannot be addressed.

Gooday.

#twilight #twilight meta #twilight headcanon #twilight renaissance #paranoid bella #bella swan #billy black #carlisle cullen #alice cullen #anti alice cullen #edward cullen #anti edward cullen #edward/bella #anti edward/bella #meta #headcanon #opinion #charlie swan #ephraim black

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btsmosphere · 4 years ago

Text

Crossfire | KTH

Moodboard Masterlist

~summary: The night your life blew up sent you on a collision course with the campus bad boy, Kim Taehyung. Though you were well aware of his reputation, it was his doorstep you ran to when you were bleeding with nowhere to go.

~word count: 5k

~gang!au, mafia!au, college!au, angst, fluff, action, strangers to lovers, friends to lovers

Warnings: swearing, mentions of cheating (warnings apply to each part individually, please read them)

~a/n: this week our gal gets some shit done and comes to a realisation due to Yoongi... also I am once again thanking everyone for supporting this story💜💜love you all,, n for those of you who haven’t heard I’m going to be posting a spooktober story soon so stay tuned...

“I want to help.”

Tae paused in the doorway, a steaming plate in each hand, staring at you with a dumbfounded expression.

“Huh?”

“I want to do something to help, you know, with the plan,” you eagerly pressed on.

“Oh,” Taehyung nodded, but a pout remained on his face as he kicked the door shut gently behind him, “the plan with Shinhyuk?”

“Yep.”

Nervously eyeing him as he shifted onto the bed, you waited for him to speak. Instead, he just passed you one of the plates and began to tuck in.

“Taehyung?”

“Mmm,” he hummed indistinctly, looking up at you, cheeks full of food.

“So… can I help?”

For just a moment, his bewildered stare was all that greeted you and his chewing slowed.

“Mmhmm,” he nodded, as if it was obvious.

“Oh. Okay.”

Admittedly, you hadn’t expected it to be that easy. As you began to eat yourself, Taehyung quickly went back to devouring his own meal without a second thought.

For once, the two of you were inside together during the day as it was the weekend and he wasn’t required for anything except a meeting, which was happening at his place anyway. With him here, you didn’t really need anything else to pass the time, but he had still vowed to bring you some more books soon, given that you had worked your way through the first pile completely now.

After last night, and if you were honest with yourself, even before that, any worry about being around Taehyung had faded away. Not only could you easily pass the time chatting, you very much enjoyed your time with him.

However, once you had both finished your food, it wasn’t long before there was a knock on the door announcing the arrival of the boys and the start of the meeting.

Only four had come as Jimin and Yoongi were out, doing ‘something’. You didn’t ask for details.

Taking the seat furthest from the window, hopefully hidden by Taehyung who sat beside you, you simply stayed quiet for most of the conversation. They didn’t need your input anyway; the plan sounded like it was progressing as well as it could be.

First of all, Jungkook and Namjoon confirmed the first members of Shinhyuk’s group they had managed to pick off, including the leader of a base inside his territory, though the rest were low-level: drivers, informants, dealers, fighters. Not enough to make his gang disappear by any stretch.

Not yet anyway, as Namjoon kept saying in encouragement.

As they resolved to keep digging through rival members, the real challenge was finding an in within Shinhyuk’s immediate circle – the ones who apparently were mainly stationed at what used to be your house.

“All I have is names,” Jungkook sighed, “even though I’m one of them, no one reveals anything about themselves.”

“Even the names might be fake,” Jin reminded him.

“I know,” Jungkook jammed his hands through his hair, “and there’s one – Jintao – he really doesn’t trust me. Makes it difficult for me to do anything. Always has his eyes on me.”

“Y/N can help,” Taehyung cut in then, causing four heads to turn sharply in your direction. You refused to squirm under their glares.

“Tae…” Jin was the first to speak, “it’s dangerous. I’ve been staking out Shin’s clubs and I’ve almost been caught so many times trying to talk to people-“

“She doesn’t have to go out on missions,” Tae reasoned, “a lot of snooping can be done from inside, and since she doesn’t have much else to do…”

“We have access to hackers, Tae,” Namjoon dismissed.

Biting your lip, you looked down. Since Tae had accepted your request to help so easily, you weren’t exactly prepared for this analysis. Perhaps it was stupid to think you would be able to assist these boys.

“She’s just as much a part of this as we are,” Taehyung surprised you with the ferocity in his voice, “she’ll be able to help. And I’ll let her even if you guys don’t.”

Namjoon in particular looked shocked by the younger boy’s unwavering words, but you watched in relief as he gave his assent with a nod, the others raising no further argument.

“What raids are coming up, Jungkook?” Hoseok brought the meeting back on track, prompting Jungkook to relay all the dates Shinhyuk had deals or attacks planned.

You listened as the boys decided which to focus on, though again they were frustrated by their lack of progress. Until Jungkook felt safe again, they weren’t going to counter any attacks, but they could make sure no one would be in the target properties to keep their allies out of danger.

Overall, the meeting left each of you feeling unsatisfied. This war with Shinhyuk was like having an unbearable itch while your hands were tied behind your back. You could only hope their careful preparation would eventually lend them the upper hand when they felt confident enough to retaliate.

With restless minds but nothing to do, Taehyung asked his friends to stay and a movie was agreed upon. As you had observed before, the boys relaxed remarkably quickly, and you were soon laughing with Hobi and Tae as you poured out snacks in the kitchen.

As you collected the packets, Hoseok returned to sit down. You and Tae had barely set foot around the corner when Hoseok let out a yell.

Startled, your head whipped around to find Yoongi standing silently in the doorway, leaning against one side, arms folded and a murderous expression.

“I didn’t see you there,” Hoseok breathed, laughing with a hand over his heart.

Before you could stop it, a snort escaped you, barely choked back, remembering exactly what you had said about Yoongi the night before. Luckily, you weren’t the only one, as you heard Taehyung beside you laughing through his nose, more successful at suppressing the sound.

“I hope there’s good news from the meeting,” Yoongi glared at you two, “I’m going bloody insane dancing around Shinhyuk like this.”

Everyone switched straight back to business mode around you, but you made the mistake of glancing over at Taehyung.

As soon as you made eye contact, neither of you could control yourselves and you had to fight to keep in your mirth. The dark warning glances from the other boys did nothing but fan the flames. Taehyung bit down on his lips as they threatened to break out into laughter; your cheeks ached.

Sinking onto the sofa, Taehyung looked pointedly away from you, shoving his fist into his mouth, shoulders still shaking.

With the tears brimming in your eyes, you didn’t care to listen to Yoongi as he talked about whatever he and Jimin had just come back from. When Jimin came in, a strangled laugh leapt from your mouth before you clamped it shut again, but you had set Tae off again.

The orange-haired boy across the room stared at you both like you were crazy.

“What’s your problem?” Yoongi’s sour face only made it harder to remove him from the ridiculous cartoon stereotype and Taehyung finally broke, guffawing loudly with his head thrown back, before falling against you and clinging to your shoulder, tears running down his face.

Shocked to find Taehyung’s head suddenly pressed into the crook of your neck, your breathless laugh was finally cut off. All you could do was stare down at him with a smile as he pulled himself together, wheezing dramatically the whole time.

At last, he seemed to realise himself and abruptly let go of your shirt. Pulling back, you were face to face for a second, expressions reflecting each other’s surprise, before he closed his mouth and turned back to Yoongi with a flawless poker face.

“Nothing.”

And then you were laughing again.

The prospect of Yoongi almost definitely hating you now didn’t bother you anymore. In the days following the meeting, you had begun to work through the list of names Jungkook had scribbled down of the members of Shinhyuk’s current inner members:

-Gi Beomho- has a Gwangju accent?

-Chaewon/known as Seb

-(Lee?) Minho

-Soonjae

-Jintao

Taehyung had told you his laptop password and you began trawling through the internet for any traces.

Though you were by no means a hacker, one of your friends at college, Jake, had once showed you a few things he knew how to do from his course in computing. Not to mention you were able to stalk someone very efficiently on social media from investigating the hot guy Lisa had seen on the street, or finding Soo’s mysterious girlfriend she refused to introduce to your group.

Now, though, there were no friends laughing around you as you tried to take apart the gang that was living in your house.

After your first afternoon of searching, nothing fruitful came up. When Taehyung had come back in the evening, you were more than happy to abandon the task and join him in your usual dinner routine, falling asleep soon after when you settled down together to watch a film.

But as the days progressed, you became more determined and frustrated in equal measure as you came across few things. You had worked your way through 3 people, giving up only after you had exhausted every avenue you could think to investigate.

Lee Minho took you even longer than the others to rule out, though you suspected from the beginning it was an alias since he shared the name with the famous actor, meaning there was an immense amount of unrelated material cluttering any path to finding the gang member, no matter what you searched.

Slumping back against the headboard, you set the laptop aside and flipped it shut.

Your attempt at working your way through the newest stack of books Taehyung had brought you was much slower than the first time around. Until he came back home, you barely took in the words.

At your side, a notebook containing the few possible leads consistently stole your attention instead.

You had managed to gain access to a couple of police reports on a Gi Beomho in Gwangju, but you would have to verify with Jungkook whether the photo was of the right person, or if you were barking up the wrong tree entirely.

When Tae finally arrived, you anxiously greeted him. Today Shinhyuk had planned his largest attack yet, on a shop that was a front for gang activity, and you knew all the boys had been on standby.

Taking in the scattered books, paper and laptop on the bed, his shoulders slumped.

“Nothing yet?”

“No, sorry,” you confirmed with a sigh.

“Don’t apologise,” he reached out and rubbed a hand along your upper arm to your shoulder. There it lingered, fingers slowly massaging for a moment.

“Were you hurt today?”

In only the short time since he came in, he had only squeezed out a smile once as he tried to reassure you.

At the shake of his head, you felt a knot in your chest release. But he still wasn’t happy.

“So what happened?”

“We didn’t go in at all. It was a lost cause,” he sat on the bed and kicked his shoes off without energy, “he shut the whole place down. It’s done for.”

With another huff, he fell back to lie on the bed. You did the same.

Weighty silence hovered over you both.

You had no idea how long you merely stared up at the ceiling, paralysed, before Taehyung moved. Slowly, he reached his hand out, fingers finding yours. As he intertwined your hands where they lay between you, you simply let your eyes slide shut, squeezing back.

“I know you’ll find something.”

Though you appreciated his support, he said it to assure himself as much as you.

Whether he could see or not, you nodded.

Just then, Tae’s familiar ringtone chimed in the silence. Pulling his phone from a pocket, he held it above him, checking the caller. Deciding it was worth it, he reluctantly pulled his had from yours to push himself up as he swiped across the screen and held the device to his ear.

Sitting up too, you could hear Jungkook’s voice crackling out from the phone.

“Hyung, I think I-I messed up-“

“Woah, Jungkook, what happened?”

“I was in Shinhyuk’s car, and I saw a file in there, he was looking through it, and it had you guys in it! It was labelled ‘bangtan’ and it’s full of information on everyone- I didn’t know he had that, but I just- I panicked, and I stole it, and now I have it but Shinhyuk’s leaving before me and he’ll notice it’s gone and- fuck-“

You caught Tae’s eye as you both listened in horror to the scared maknae.

“Where are you Kook?” Tae demanded, eyes breaking from yours.

“Um, at Y/N’s,” he replied, “the others are just packing away-“

But before he could finish, you had reached over and pulled the phone right out of Taehyung’s grasp.

“Jungkook,” you hissed into the receiver, “there’s two loose floorboards under my wardrobe at the back, they’re pretty quiet to move, can you hide it in there?”

“Uh, yeah,” the boy responded, “thanks.”

You lowered the phone to return to Tae, but suddenly brought it back to your ear.

“And don’t look at any of the stuff that’s already in there!”

“Oh- okay,” the boy sounded startled, but Tae seemed to find your miniature panic hilarious as he took the phone back and hung up.

Saying nothing, he wiggled his eyebrows and smirked at you.

“Oh, shut it,” you ignored the heat rising in your cheeks and shoved him lightly back onto the bed, where he only laughed louder.

“It’s not even- oh you are ridiculous,” you cried as he pulled you down on top of him, only making you turn redder.

In your embarrassment, you tried to wriggle away from him, pushing on his chest, but he grabbed your wrists, bringing you back down, grin ever-present on his face.

“Hey!” you protested, and then, “Ya! Stop! Tae-“

His hands reached down to tickle your sides, and you squirmed away from him again, only to have him follow, ending up on top of you as he mercilessly continued his attack, enjoying himself far too much.

“Ohmygod, ahh, Tae, please, aaaahahaha…”

Struggling, you writhed around, legs kicking out as you shrieked in protest before you finally reached his sides and exacted your revenge. He curled in on himself, giggling and apologising to get you to stop. You did, eventually, only to throw a pillow right at his face, though he easily caught it in the hands he had held up in surrender.

Both collapsing back onto the bed, you turned your head to one side, but you found he was already looking back at you. His laughter had dissipated into a smile which you returned.

“Thanks for helping out Kook,” he said earnestly, eyes boring into yours, “I told you that you would be helpful.”

This time, your heart soared with his praise.

You weren’t hopeful about finding ‘Soonjae’, or anything that could bring him away from Shinhyuk. Having gone through half the list already, the remaining two were the people Jungkook had the least information on.

Trudging through the morning, you were reluctant to take to the computer and be met with more inevitable defeat. Today you felt particularly tired, which didn’t help.

It was strange since you had slept for a long time, waking only after Taehyung had gone, leaving you missing his presence, even if you barely touched him while you shared a bed.

Nonetheless, you found yourself sifting through links and articles online, far from the first page of Google filled with celebrities and international news. With the little information you had on the man, you ended up reading through anything and everything containing the name Soonjae. Facebook profiles, comments on newspaper articles, a GoFundMe page…

Taking a sip of water, you scrolled idly to the bottom of the GoFundMe, which was for a child after all, no gang member, and read the ‘recent’ donations (the most recent being over a year old) and comments. Nothing.

Clicking on ‘show more’, you pulled up the full comment list and scanned through. For what, you weren’t sure. Most donations were small bits and pieces, but among the ones from three years ago, one was a little more sizeable. Along with it came an interesting comment: a woman called Sara was apologising for her ‘previous words’ and wishing the boy well.

You frowned as you read it. Though it was almost certainly unrelated, you were undeniably curious as to what she might have said to target an ill child.

Clicking next on the woman’s account, you decided to try and log in. After employing the password tricks Jake had showed you, you made it. The account had been created the same day as the donation was made on little Soonjae’s page, and appeared untouched since. You supposed this tangent had come to nothing, though you were certainly pleased with your skills after getting into the account.

Closing down the tab, you searched next for ‘Soonjae GoFundMe’. There was the campaign you had already seen, followed by a few that proved to be unrelated as well. You selected ‘next page’ with little hope.

Then something caught your eye.

About halfway down, the name Sara.

Quickly selecting the page, you found yourself on Facebook instead of GoFundMe, but what you found was certainly interesting. It was the same woman from the earlier page. This time she had posted a status:

If anyone on here donates to Soonjae’s fucking gofundme get ready to be cut out of my life XD cheaters don’t deserve your pity

That was certainly interesting. No wonder she had apologised to the boy – it also explained her big donation – probably given out of guilt.

But re-reading the status, you realised she couldn’t possibly be talking about the boy. Unless by ‘cheater’ she meant that he had cheated on a test in school, but you suspected that was not the case.

You clicked on her profile.

Her profile picture showed her holding a little boy that must be around ten, standing on a beach. Flipping through her older profile images, they stopped three years ago. Perhaps she had deleted all previous ones?

Only friends can see Sara’s photos

Only friends can see Sara’s timeline

“Not just friends…” you muttered, getting to work.

Unluckily for Sara, she had used the same password as on her GoFundMe, so you logged in easily.

The first thing you saw was that she reportedly lived in your city: a promising start. Scrolling through to three years ago, you saw only one other post close in time to her attack on Soonjae and his fundraising page:

Sara is feeling: heartbroken X(

That lead you nowhere, so you made your way back up her feed, seeing photos of her son and meals with friends. Few stuck out as anything but happy, all possibly related to the mysterious events of three years ago.

That’s right, delete your fucking facebook. I don’t need to worry about blocking you now XD

Sara is feeling: defeated☹: Just got out of court. Nrs

What was the point in all this? Just to prove something? Well you did, you proved I was right all along

Now you really were intrigued. You needed to find out what was going on, she was definitely linked to a Soonjae in your city, so you had reason to investigate further. Still, as you clicked on the messages icon, you felt very much like a trespasser.

Searching for ‘Soonjae’ at the top, two conversations were pulled up, both from three years ago. One with ‘Park Soonjae’ and one with ‘Help Soonjae’.

First choosing ‘Help Soonjae’, recognising the profile picture as the same image used on the GoFundMe, you read the exchange of messages.

Sara: What the fuck is this?

Sara: I can’t believe you’re pulling the pity card after what you’ve done

Help Soonjae: Excuse me?

Sara: You know what I mean

Help Soonjae: Ma’am, I don’t know you but please calm down. I will block you, this page is only trying to raise hospital funds for my son. I’d thank you to explain how this is ‘pulling the pity card’

Sara: Wait… Oh my gosh, I am so sorry!

Sara: I can’t apologise enough, I thought this was my husband’s page, he has the same name as your son! I didn’t check the page before messaging, I didn’t mean to offend you or your son

Sara: I’ll make a donation to your page to make up for this. I wish your son the best

Read 15:47

And that was the end of that. Wincing with second hand embarrassment, you quickly moved on to ‘Park Soonjae’.

Soon, you realised that the message history was long, but it all ended three years ago. You gave up on scrolling your way to the top, seeing that most messages consisted of ‘I love you’s and reminders to buy milk. The final conversation, however, gave you a lot more information.

Sara: What the fuck is this?

Then followed a screenshot of a GoFundMe page: Help Soonjae win Custody

Sara: You cheated. Maybe you should write that in your description.

Soonjae: Sara, I’ve told you I’m sorry

Sara: And I’ve told you that’s not enough. We are over

Soonjae: I can understand that. I just can’t understand why you want to keep my son from me!

Sara: HOW CAN YOU NOT TELL?!?!

Sara: I never want to see you again, and I don’t want kai to either

Soonjae: How can I make it up to you without going to court? I can’t afford the fees and you know it

Sara: You can’t ‘make it up’ to me. And it’s not my problem anymore if you can afford it or not. I’m blocking you

And that was it.

You wasted no time in opening Soonjae’s profile in a new tab, before taking a screenshot of the messages and logging out of Sara’s account.

Soonjae’s account was indeed deleted, confirming him as the target of Sara’s earlier status update. One search for new profiles under the same name showed no one promising. Your ‘breakthrough’ seemed more trivial now you had taken a step back from it. Without a picture of the Soonjae you had found, you couldn’t confirm if you were on the right target.

You had one last option, and searched for the GoFundMe Sara had sent a screenshot of. At last you found it, though it took a while as it had been declared finished and was from so long ago.

But, once you opened it, it turned out Sara’s screenshot hadn’t included the full photo at the top of the campaign. It had only showed a baby cradled in someone’s arms, but on the site, the full photo extended to show the man’s face.

This time, you did not scroll down.

You just stared.

There would be no need for Jungkook to verify if this was the right man. Those eyes had stared at you before from underneath a hoodie in your own bedroom not so long ago. And the hands that held his son had given you the wound in your side.

“Holy shit…” you breathed, taking a screenshot when you recovered from your shock.

Then you proceeded to scroll down. And it seemed like you had hit the jackpot.

The description had been updated, and the last lines read:

Thanks for the generosity. This page will be deactivated as I have now sourced funding from a private benefactor. Will update those who donated on the court result.

“Tae! Oh my god-“

You froze on the stairs.

On hearing the door opening downstairs, you had presumed Taehyung had returned, but instead, Yoongi stood in the hallway.

“Hi,” he said coolly.

“Sorry,” you murmured, but didn’t retreat back upstairs. Staring back at him, laptop and notebook clutched in your arms, you felt the need to share your breakthrough.

After a few seconds glaring at you, Yoongi moved away down the hallway. Taking a breath, you followed.

“Um, sorry, I thought you were Tae,” you spoke from the door.

“Ok,” came his short reply as he rooted in the fridge.

“Actually, er,” you pushed, making the boy at least turn around and acknowledge your presence, “I wanted to show him something. But… I can show you instead. You know how I was searching up Shinhyuk’s closest members, well, I think I found something.”

His unimpressed face vanished at least a little, and he nodded, taking a swig from the drink he had picked.

“Okay,” you placed the laptop on the island and opened the screenshots you had saved, “so I found this woman’s messages with a Soonjae in the city, they were getting divorced but he couldn’t afford the legal costs to fight for custody of their son.”

Yoongi leaned forwards to read the screen and you stepped aside, worrying your lip. Watching him read, you leaned against the counter to support your tired legs.

“Bastard,” he muttered.

“Pardon?”

“He cheated on her,” he said simply, gesturing towards the screen, drink in hand.

You hummed in agreement and flipped onto the second image.

“He set up this GoFundMe, but see how it says he then received funding from elsewhere.”

“Could be Shinhyuk, definitely,” Yoongi agreed, “I can send Jungkook this guy’s picture-“

“Actually, you don’t have to,” you cut in, “I, er, I recognise him. He was one of Shinhyuk’s that broke into my place.”

“Shit,” Yoongi breathed, turning to take a look back at the man on the screen, “good catch.”

“Thanks,” you couldn’t help but smile, “so… what now?”

Setting his drink aside, Yoongi bent over the counter and opened a new tab, sending the images to his own email, along with a final one of Sara’s details on Facebook.

“I think we have enough to work with. We can use the details for leverage and approach him.”

“Nice,” you couldn’t keep yourself from smiling. Even if only Yoongi was around to see it, you were just proud to have hopefully helped bangtan get another rival under their belt, and get closer to defeating Shinhyuk.

It seemed Yoongi had finished with the laptop, even though he hadn’t yet left the kitchen or even picked his drink up again. Awkwardly, you stepped closer to shut the laptop and slide it off the counter.

Taking a stride back towards the door, you hesitated.

“Well, erm, thanks, I’ll just- yeah.”

“Wait.”

You turned back around, surprised at just how small Yoongi’s voice sounded. Not knowing what to say, you waited as he stood shuffling his feet.

At last he cleared his throat and spoke.

“Listen, I’m sorry for, you know… trying to kill you that time,” he said. His voice was quiet, as if a lower volume would allow him to pretend he never said it.

“Well there’s a sentence I never thought I’d hear,” you chuckled.

“No, I really am,” he spoke stronger this time, actually looking at you, “I know I haven’t been the nicest and-“

“No, it’s okay,” you flashed him another smile, “I know you were just trying to protect Tae.”

He fell silent again for a moment, and you thought that might be it. But something was still on the tip of his tongue and he looked down, one hand coming to scratch his ear.

“I want to tell you I’m happy for you guys. You seem… well, really nice, and I know Tae thinks so too, and I trust him, so… yeah.”

Gulping, he looked up at you, trying to hide his mortification at the barrage of emotion he had just released. You just stared back at him, lost for words.

Maybe he had said something wrong?

“A-and, thank you for doing this work on Shinhyuk’s gang, it’ll really help us. What you did was really impressive-“

“I-I’m sorry,” you finally spluttered out, “what did you mean when you said you- you’re… you’re happy for us?”

Looking back at you, his eyes widened.

“Shit, are you guys not-“

You tried to swallow down any signs of how flustered you were, clutching the laptop tighter in front of your chest. Perhaps he didn’t mean what you thought he might-

“I thought you guys were dating. Shit.”

You couldn’t agree more with that last sentiment.

Just as you opened your mouth, without knowing what you planned on saying, you were saved by the bell. Or rather, the door.

Tae had finally come home. It would be an understatement to say he was surprised to find you and Yoongi together, in conversation too apparently. Hopefully Yoongi had finally quit his tough act and exposed his softness that Tae had insisted you would find eventually.

Yoongi was quick to inform Tae of what you had dug up on Soonjae. Taehyung put his hand on your shoulder, sending you a proud grin that made your heart race as he told you he knew you could do it.

The whole time you were aware of Yoongi watching the interaction, and you excused yourself as soon as you could, leaving the boys to themselves.

Practically running up the stairs, you were left panting as you closed the door to the bedroom. Just one short burst of speed had knocked you out, but that concern barely crossed your mind as you surrendered to the mattress, thinking only of what Yoongi had told you.

He thought you were dating? Ridiculous…

But then why had the suggestion got to you so much? Sure, you shared a bed with the guy, and you enjoyed being with him, and liked it when he held your hand or hugged you…

Fuck.

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pinkykitten · 6 years ago

Text

Uncertain Hunting

Avatar (James Cameron)

Tsu’tey x dream walker! female reader

Warnings: 1 cuss word, hunting

Specifics: hunting, comedy, fluff, romance, man vs nature, na’vi language, training, race neutral reader, dream walker reader

People: Tsu’tey te Rongloa Ateyitan, you, Jake Sully (mentioned), Neytiri te Tskaha Mo'at’ite (mentioned), Grace Augustine (mentioned), Norm Spellman (mentioned), two other trainees from the movie (mentioned)

Words: 1,533

Summary: As a dreamwalker learning the ways of the Na’vi people you must learn how to hunt. Of course your teacher is the stern Tsu’tey. He must teach you all that you need to know.

Authors Note: where do i begin...*sigh* THIS IS ONE OF THE GREATEST MOVIES EVER MADE!!!!! i fell in luv with it when i first saw it in 2009, i have always wanted to write about it but my writing wasnt really that good back then and i was still self conscious about my writing. but now i am going to try to rebuild this fandom, i am going to try to make it luved again. it will take time but oh well. also my sis luvs tsu’tey, like that is her husband. i am so excited to show this to you guys, and to kinda write something i want to write (not that it means i dont like writing what u guys request cuz trust me i totally do). get ready to see more of avatar and request if u want to about this fandom, trust me it will make my day. i hope u guys like this as much as i do and feedback is always appreciated! no this was not requested.

You were taught many things in your life. Taught how to care for yourself, how to be your own person.

You also studied the Na’vi people for 5 years. Recently, you had gotten your avatar body. It was such an experience, to feel more alive.

All the hard work paid off in the end.

You and others such as your friend Jake Sully, Grace Augustine, and Norm Spellman came to Pandora to research the land and take some samples.

That is until Jake had to start making a ruckus and you and Jake got lost. But maybe Jake didn’t do such a dimwitted act after all.

You both then found, well Neytiri found you both, and took you and Jake into her clan.

This, you felt was what you trained for all your life. To learn and try to become one of them, and to earn their trust.

“Agh this stupid horse...thing!” You shouted at the ground, stomping at how frustrated you were.

Trying to climb this...horse, or excuse me

yeah, direhorse, or what Tsu’tey taught you, pa’li, was like trying to climb a mountain.

“You are not trying hard enough. Again,” Tsu’tey instructed you.

You peered over to see your poor friend, Jake, also failing, making you laugh.

“Over here,” Tsu’tey grabbed your chin to get your attention to what you were doing.

“Okay, okay, okay.” You huffed, walking backwards a good enough distance, and then with all your speed you sprinted forward, ending it with a jump.

As you looked under you, you saw you were indeed riding a direhorse.

“Look Tsu’tey I did it!”

Just then the direhorse, sped away at the contact. You desperately holding on for your dear life.

“Tsaheylu y/n! Mend the bond,” Tsu’tey shouted, while running after you.

All you could do was erupt a helpless scream, “I SHOULD HAVE NEVER DONE THIS!”

As you look up ahead you spot a cliff, “oh no.”

If you don’t form the bond now, you were going to be flung off the cliff.

“Tsaheylu, tsaheylu, tsaheylu,” you whispered to yourself. With some struggles, you grasped your braid and put the queue in its place, to make the bond with the animal.

“Y/n,” Tsu’tey yelled with a worried tone.

“Stop!” You yell before you almost, with a just a little more, fall off the cliff. The direhorse’s breathing softens and you are one with the animal.

“What was that?”

You peer at Tsu’tey, then you burst out into laughter. I mean you almost died but the look on Tsu’tey’s face was priceless.

You gave an evil grin, “wow. You actually were scared for me. You actually worried about me. I’m shocked, I am s h o o k e d all the way to my bones.”

Tsu’tey looked away, bashfully, giving you a tsk and a scowl, “ skxawng.” (idiot, moron)

“You know you love me, I can see it in your menari.” (eyes)

Tsu’tey gave you a look of suprisement, his yellow cat like eyes widening.

“Whats next... karyu?” (teacher) You straightened up.

“Are you serious,” you opened your mouth wide.

After your fiasco with the direhorse, your next lesson was to learn how to hunt.

“You do realize this is life or death? Like I could die!”

Tsu’tey nodded, “well if you should die y/n, at least you still would have your other form, your other body.”

Rolling your eyes you puffed out your cheeks, “thanks for the reassurement.”

Out of the bushes came the other two students of Tsu’tey’s. They communicated in the Na’vi language making you feel left out. You were nervous and a bit embarrassed with having to learn these things with the other two students. They knew so much and they were younger than you. It made you feel self-conscious.

Shaking your head you pushed those thought out. You regained your posture and interrupted the conversation, since the group was laughing, probably making fun of you.

You spent 5 years learning about these people, you dam* right you were gonna learn how to hunt.

“Are we ready to begin?”

Tsu’tey gave you a glare and then nodded. He explained to you how you and another group, which included Neytiri and Jake were also going to hunt.

You breathed in and out, scared to what the outcome might be. You felt a large hand on your shoulder. You look to see that it is Tsu’tey, “you will be alright, I am here.”

You smiled at his comment and placed your hand on his shoulder.

This next part will be inspired by this scene:

Avatar DELETED Scenes 3 look up on youtube these words

On a direhorse you try to catch a sturmbeest or how the Na’vi call it a talioang. Carrying your bow n arrow, your direhorse runs by the creatures. A stampede, their legs booming with such power. They sprint as a herd, trying to get away from the hunting.

You spot one that is close to you and try to shoot it with an arrow. The arrow hits its hardened skin at the top, and the arrow breaks.

“Crap,” you mutter under your breath.

The sound of banshees, or ikran’s makes you look up to see Neytiri and Jake (jake aint that high up in social standards yet he still is training) and a group of others.

Your attention was to them that you almost forgot that you had to watch out that you didn’t interfere with a sturmbeest. Thankfully you looked just in time, you were about to knock into one.

“Nari si (watch out, be careful),” yells Tsu’tey, keeping an eye out for you.

“Sorry,” you shout. Focusing again on hunting.

You feel a smile creep on your face seeing out of the corner of your eye Tsu’tey watching you. Making sure you are okay. He gives mini glances to the other students but with you, he keeps on the watch.

You stand up on your direhorse and erupt a war chant, earning a grin from Tsu’tey. As you stand you try to get a good angle at the operculum.

“C’mon y/n, you got this,” you tell yourself, closing one eye to get a better look at your target.

Suddenly, a sturmbeest came by your direhorse and knocked it down making you also fall down. But you jumped in time to land on a sturmbeest.

“Y/n!” Tsu’tey called out to you. Worried laced in his voice. He rode next to you.

You screamed in fear, holding on for dear life. Other sturmbeests smashing against you, making you almost slip off. That couldn’t happen because then you would be trampled by other sturmbeests.

You tried to shoot the creature under you, to gain your first kill. Struggling to get the arrow into its operculum, you try but then slip almost falling off.

“Y/n, you need to jump,” yelled Tsu’tey as he rode next to you.

“Why?!?”

“Look up,” Tsu’tey exclaimed looking up.

You move your head to see what laid in front of you.

“Are you serious?!?” You were just not having good luck today. A huge, thick tree was ahead in your path. Sooner or later you would be knocking into the tree.

“Y/n, listen to me you need to jump,” Tsu’tey ordered you.

“Wait, I need to kill this thing first.”

“No, we don’t have time. Y/n listen to me.”

“Trust me!” With that you quickly looked behind you to make sure no other sturmbeest or animal was coming next to you on your left. In one swift movement, you jumped to the side of the sturmbeest, you holding on to the side of its neck. You grab your arrow and forcefully, with a cry, stab the animal in its operculum, making it stumble and fall.

“Tsu’tey,” you quickly make a great, huge jump from the sturmbeest you were riding on to Tsu’tey’s direhorse.

Tsu’tey caught you in his arms, and then placed you behind him on his direhorse.

Tsu’tey rides away from the commotion. You taking long breaths and sweat producing on your forehead.

It is quiet for a couple of minutes and then Tsu’tey starts, “what was that woman? Do you know what you just did?”

You get off the direhorse and land on the grass. “I just did my first kill, I did it!”

Tsu’tey also got off the direhorse, “Y/n, you almost killed yourself! You also almost got others killed!”

“You see the key word is almost, I didn’t-”

“Do you see this as a joke? You could of gotten very hurt today, and I promised to myself and Eywa that I would protect you. You frightened me today y/n.”

“Ngaytxoa (I’m sorry). I just wanted you to be proud of me like how you are with your other students. I want you to see that I am willing to give my all to become a part of your people. To earn your guys trust. I needed to prove to you and, to myself.”

Tsu’tey walked closer to you, a angry scowl on his face. He placed his hands on your shoulders, “Skxawng (moron, idiot) be careful next time.” His face softened into a loving smile.

He placed his hands on your cheeks, giving them a small caress.

“And y/n, I am always proud of you.”

2K notes · View notes

thejakeformerlyknownasprince · 6 years ago

Note

How do you feel about the parallels between Ax and Jake in regard to their brothers?

Like crying into a bottle of strawberry schnapps, mostly.

Seriously, though, I do think that there is something very deliberate going on with the framing device of Elfangor dying in the first book and Tom dying in the last one. When they first meet Ax and have to be the ones to tell him about Elfangor, we get this exchange:

[…]

Jake answered. “He died protecting us, and defying the Yeerks to the end. At the very last moment he struck with every weapon he had.”

The Andalite closed his main eyes for a brief moment.

I was surprised by what Jake said next. “I’ve lost a brother, too. He’s one of them. A Controller.”

That phrasing — “I’ve lost a brother” — gives us an important clue about where Jake’s head is at even as early as this part of the war. Jake is still confident they can win, he’s still fighting to get Tom back… but like Ax, he’s struggling to come around to the realization that his big bad older brother is terrifyingly vulnerable. Jake is starting to realize that Tom is out of reach, and might always be from now on. (I could talk about false equivalency and the fact that Jake consistently sucks at being comforting, but I digress.)

It also draws attention to the parallels between Jake and Ax. These two are foils, of course: they’re scrappy young dumb jocks who don’t pay attention in school, they love history and military trivia but tend to blank out on science and culture, they both enter the war with the naïve determination to be Even Better than Big Bro, they become the two youngest war-princes ever recognized by andalite authority, they end the war separated from their families, they start the war casually confident in the rightness of the status quo and only gradually recognize their own male nondisabled upper-class privileges, and they both have a lot of respect for authority if and only if the authority earns their respect. Etcetera, etcetera.

We also get direct literary parallels between Elfangor and Tom/Tom’s yeerk. Just as Elfangor becomes the Prometheus figure who illegally brings morphing power to the human species, Tom’s yeerk becomes the Prometheus figure who steals morphing power for the yeerks and their hosts. Elfangor dies in battle, striking out to the last until his enemy eats him alive, and that yeerk dies in battle, striking out to the last until his enemy… Okay, technically Rachel chews and then spits before she swallows, but that just goes to show that she’s a lot more hygienic than Visser Three.

But the contrast between Ax and Jake is almost one where Ax is on the same path of disillusionment as Jake, just several steps ahead because their life experiences diverge as of the first book. Jake has never been stranded alone on an alien planet, and the few times when he is forced to operate alone (the end of #31, parts of #53, briefly in #26, briefly in #13) he doesn’t do all that well as a result. Jake genuinely believes, on some level, that it’s only a matter of time before they save Tom, as late as #49. Jake is confident and optimistic and self-assured enough to keep the entire team together when they would otherwise be on the verge of falling apart into a screaming mess (#16, MM2, #25, #36, #45, etc.) pretty much up through the loss of his family. Part of the reason that that’s the case, the series implies, is that Jake has no reason not to believe things are going to work out for them in the end. No matter how bad things get, Jake keeps his eyes on the time after the end of the war (#2, #17, #46, #53) whereas Ax calmly and openly debates the possibility of his own death in various moments in #38 and #46 especially.

There are a couple great moments where Ax almost feels pity for Jake. He recognizes Jake’s authority, and he trusts Jake maybe more than anyone else on the team. But that doesn’t stop him from having moments where he realizes that Jake is a naïve kid who genuinely thinks that the Yeerk Empire will just let ex-hosts go (#8), or that he can somehow plan a perfect battle with no risks if he just thinks hard enough (#11) and later that he has responsibility for the morality of everyone else on the team (#46). Ax starts out thrusting Jake into the role of war-prince out of desperation for a surrogate big brother, but that doesn’t mean that Ax doesn’t know that Jake is just a scared kid who doesn’t even know how scared he should be.

Anyway, the Animorphs win the war at least partially because they lack the common sense to know that six kids taking down an empire is impossible and so they shouldn’t even bother to try. Part of the reason that’s true is that Jake really doesn’t get just how mortal he and his friends are as of the start of the war, and even just coming away from each battle with six Animorphs (#37) is enough to give him reason to joke about being invincible (#4, #52). Ax doesn’t get it before the start of the first book, but by the time he joins the team he has already lost a crapton of family and friends and has no choice but to recognize the toll of the war. Ax and Jake start in approximately the same place before the beginning of the series, and they end up in approximately the same place after its end. But along the way they have very different trajectories, partially because of their influence on each other.

#animorphs #animorphs meta #inqwatch #jake berenson #aximili esgarrouth isthill #animorphs spoilers #aximili #elfangor #tom berenson #tiger mommy #precious cinnamon bun #asks

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briangroth27 · 5 years ago

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Spider-Man: Far From Home Review

This is my 200th original blog! I’m happy to make it about one of my favorite fictional characters and I’m glad to report that Spider-man: Far From Home is an absolute blast! I loved it and can’t wait to see more of Peter (Tom Holland) and his corner of the MCU. They did a great job of retaining the well-developed interpersonal relationships of Homecoming while upping the stakes and taking Peter and his classmates on a tour of Europe.

Full Spoilers…

Peter’s journey from street-level Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man to full-blown international superhero Avenger takes a solid step here, with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) drafting him into a battle with Elemental beings from a parallel universe. At first I thought it was kinda lame of Fury to be so all-in on high school junior Peter Parker suiting up instead of helping Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) fight the Elementals himself—I’ve always thought the MCU’s reliance on SHIELD to bring heroes together rather than the heroes teaming up by themselves made them less altruistic in a way, plus why do we need Fury if he’s just going to sit on the sidelines and point heroes at obvious threats?—but then I realized they were playing Fury as the parent or invested teacher in a high school movie. So, forcing Peter to help in the battle with the Elementals was their take on that kind of character encouraging a kid to step up and make the most out of their potential. He even goes so far as to ruin Peter’s vacation to get him to take his “job” seriously, and looking at him that way—with the Spider-films functioning as superhero movies by way of John Hughes—his role works really well (much like Tony Stark’s role as a parent who could say no to Spider-man in Homecoming). I also liked that Fury did agree to help Peter keep his identity a secret to an extent—that was reasonable of him—and "Night Monkey" was a fun gag (I wonder if he’ll don that simian alter ego again, given how this movie ends).

I liked that Peter’s anxiety over telling MJ (Zendaya) how he felt affected his Spider-sense—it seemed like a realistic parallel to being so stressed out that you literally worry yourself sick—and this worked much better than Spider-man 2’s Peter losing his powers just because he didn’t want to be Spider-man anymore. Making his “Peter Tingle’s” (lol!) function related to his stress and emotions also leaves the door open for his Spider-Sense to fail again, which is a nice dramatic bomb waiting to go off. Another dramatic bomb I’d like them to detonate is letting Peter realize that Tony wasn’t all great and did screw a lot of people over. Both Mysterio and Vulture made valid points about Tony and it wouldn't be a betrayal of Peter's Stark-adoration to recognize that he was a flawed person; it'd be the responsible, grown-up thing to do. Much like in Homecoming, I do worry that the MCU is playing Peter as Tony Stark's successor and heir apparent too much without fully exploring what we know to be the truth about Tony. I don’t want Peter to be the next Iron Man—he should be the first self-made Peter Parker instead—but it was a nice moment to see him take the steps of designing his new suit (even if I was hoping it’d be the classic one). Karen was fun and useful as someone for Peter to talk to in the last film, but I didn’t miss her in his new suit since he had Happy (Jon Favreau), Ned (Jacob Batalon), and MJ. I liked that Peter got to put his science skills to use and design his own web attacks instead of Stark gifting everything to him, though I’ll concede that the "moment" of Peter picking up the holo-designers did have a significant impact. Still, I loved him walking away from the Avengers in Homecoming (though I wish he hadn't gotten the Stark suit back) and I hope he eventually walks away from Stark Industries too instead of inheriting it or something. I want him at Horizon Labs and/or creating Parker Industries as a startup, inventing tech that helps the little guy instead of creating global defense networks. Speaking of, EDITH (Dawn Michelle King) was a fun addition to the film and Peter's mistakes with it felt appropriately teenager-esque (in a heightened superhero way, of course). I liked that it was way too much for him to handle and that he tried to get rid of it. I wish he’d destroyed it in the end, though my initial impression was that it’s essentially neutered now since all the drones are down and, given his reaction to seeing into everyone else’s phones, we can trust that he won’t use it that way again.

On the whole, the Spider-man films are the most enjoyable in the MCU (I also love that so much of their screentime is about Peter’s non-superhero life; we don’t get to see that from many other MCU heroes), but ignoring major dramatic moments keeps them from topping the Cap films as the MCU’s best. My biggest disappointment here is that we didn't—and apparently won't—see the fallout from May (Marisa Tomei) finding out that Peter is Spidey. I would’ve thought she’d be concerned about how being a superhero will affect his future (not to mention his safety), though I guess not since she fully encourages him to take his suit to Europe (also playing into that "embrace your potential" parental space Fury operates in). Was there a period where she worried about him before they came to this "everything is fine!" place? Did they compromise on ground rules for his superheroics vs. getting his homework done? The fallout from that reveal was a necessary piece of their arcs and it’s a mistake to skip it. I wish we hadn't had to detour into Infinity War after Homecoming (or that May walking in on him in the suit had also been Peter’s introductory scene in IW) and that we could've seen more of Peter and May's paths to get to this point.

Regardless, I liked seeing a new role for May now that she's in the know. It would've been nice to use that role to help give Peter advice or something, but it’s OK that that mainly manifested in her pushing him towards being a hero (and giving him an alibi to ditch the trip). Peter asking her for pointers on how to tell MJ he liked her would've been a solid route to take too (like when she helped him get ready for the dance in Homecoming), and it could’ve been a chance to bring up Uncle Ben and how he first told May about his feelings. I love that life for Peter and May hasn't ended with Ben’s death, but it would be nice to directly reference him. Continuing to mourn him would've been too much with Peter also mourning Stark's death (and it would've made Happy and May's flirtation awkward), but both Peter and May have clearly moved on so it would be OK to reference him without always being a downer. Ben’s initials on Peter’s briefcase were a nice subtle touch, but my friend pointed out that the suitcase getting blown up should’ve had more meaning to May and Peter instead of getting played off as joke (“Where’s your luggage? Oh right; it got blown up!”). Even a moment to say that physical things don’t matter when they can remember Ben and live as he did would’ve been enough. Speaking of Happy and May, I thought they were cute and I like where it's going (it if does go anywhere). At one point I thought not Snapping May would’ve been a way to bring the classic May into the MCU, but I wouldn’t have liked putting her through five years of hell with Peter having vanished. I like this May much better than the classic one who might have a heart attack just by finding out that Peter is Spider-man, and taking him away for that long probably would’ve led to that version so I’m glad they didn’t. I liked May helping the homeless shelter rather than sitting at home worrying about Peter being Spider-man: it’s nice to see her being a hero in her own right. I wonder if that job will bring us Mr. Negative sometime down the line; he could make things even worse for Spidey's rep.

Speaking of, this was an excellent rendition of Mysterio! I can't believe I didn't realize how perfect a villain he is for an era full of Fake News, where our leaders lie to us so casually and very few citizens bother to fact-check what they say. I hope he’s not dead and I don’t believe it. Faking that death would be a hard needle to thread with people clearly believing that he died a hero—so there must be a body, right?—but I’m sure there are ways around that. If he really is gone, what a way to go out! I definitely didn't expect him to announce Peter's secret to the world, but I'm glad they did: that’ll open up a lot of story potential and we’ve seen Peter do the secret identity thing in seven movies now; we can do one where he fights to put the genie back in the bottle and has to deal with the fallout. Gyllenhaal was very good in the role—the perfect mix of heroism, menace, and self-important ridiculousness—and while I knew he was a villain, he had me wishing that he wouldn't follow his comic book roots. I liked that he was the adult who let Peter slack and indulge in what he wanted rather than what was (arguably) best for his future (and certainly best for the world), and their chemistry allowed for a quick development of their brotherly bond. I liked the idea I saw online a while back about Quentin Beck having been a special effects guy on the "really old movies" Peter is always referencing who lost his job because of CGI, but his backstory here was so much better and it was very cool how they tied him and his cronies into the history of the MCU. I'm also so happy we got a comics-accurate costume for him! They really drove home the point that it would be impossible to fight Mysterio if you didn't have Spider-Sense and the sequence showcasing that was fantastic. Yes, that CGI was noticeably CGI, but given how he creates his illusions and the fact that it's a filter over real-world dangers, I thought it totally worked. The point wasn’t to create a photo-realistic illusion at that moment anyway, as there were several images that didn’t make logical sense in the “real world:” Beck was trying to scare and disorient Peter, getting him to hurt himself on real-world dangers, and the kid fell for it. I've never seen that threat level from this character before and that was a standout sequence of the entire MCU. I'm sorry that it looks like Sandman, Hydro-Man, Molten Man, and Cyclone are just illusions in this universe, but the Buzzfeed theory the gang finds means they could still be out there. Maybe Mysterio based the Elementals on them in the first place!

I'm of two minds about Nick Fury in this film. On one hand, I like the role he played in Peter's life here. On the other, the post-credits reveal that he was actually Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) acting as Fury while the real Nick was on vacation undercut the genuinely interesting character development Fury got. I really liked that he went from knowing everything about the world to knowing nothing. It's also more impressive if Mysterio dupes the real Fury instead of a stand-in. If Talos was sending Fury regular reports, then both those things are still at least halfway true, but it's not as effective or clean IMO. I’m glad to know Fury is a human who needs a vacation sometimes—the always alert, always prepared, always badass character the early MCU films painted him as would get boring and one-dimensional—but with these character developments maybe this wasn’t the best time to play the Skrull card. I hope the Skrull reveal is a one-time gag about Fury taking some time off (which does explain his insistence that Peter jump into the battle instead of doing it himself) and not a prelude to Secret Invasion. There just isn't time in these movies to sacrifice a whole film's worth of character development for a Skrull reveal. Secret Invasion would totally work in an MCU show, but the films aren’t like the comics where we have decades of time spent with the real characters plus a significant amount spent with their replacements; if they decide a character was a Skrull for an entire movie, that’s like a ninth of their total MCU screentime and development (if not more) erased.

I was happy that we got to spend a lot more time with MJ in this film. She's awesome, Zendaya plays her perfectly, and I really like this direction for her character! Her interest in the morbid history of everything is very endearing and I also like her obsession with telling the truth. At first I thought that might be a fun and interesting challenge for her once she found out about Peter (a twist the trailers shouldn't have revealed...classic Sony!), but now I'm thinking it could drive her towards journalism like in the Ultimate Comics universe. I would love to see her, Peter, and Ned team up to prove Peter's innocence and tell the world what really happened (while covering up Pete’s ID, which would bring that challenge aspect back to her). I liked that she played an integral role in discovering the truth about Mysterio and that she figured out Peter was Spider-man on her own; now I'd like to see that applied to her future. Her burgeoning relationship with Peter was sweet and felt well-developed given how long they’ve known each other; they are very cute together and their first kiss felt very teen-realistic. I can't wait to see how they work as a couple! With Midtown’s mascot being a tiger, I wonder if we'll get the "Face it, Tiger..." moment at some point.

Ned and MJ's low-key competition about knowing Peter's secret was fun too. I'm glad Ned has grown out of wanting to tell everyone Peter's secret (though that did create some fun drama and obstacles we wouldn't have gotten from the more responsible Peter by himself). I really like his friendship with Peter (and Batalon’s rendition of Ned) and even though he didn't get to be the Man in the Chair this time around, they could easily bring that back next time to help clear Pete's name. Ned and Betty's (Angourie Rice) trip-long summer romance was a funny subplot and a nice nod to their comic book marriage. I'm glad Betty got more screentime here, even if it's still weird to me that she's so visually patterned after Gwen Stacy (if they are saving Gwen for Spider-Gwen, I'm all for it!). I loved that the school news reports Betty and Jason (Jorge Lendeborg Jr.) anchor are still so hilariously (and realistically) bad! They were the perfect vehicle to recap The Blip and I really liked how it was handled. This film isn't the place to look at the massive problems such seismic shifts in the global population would cause, but I firmly believe the MCU needs to address them somewhere (Agents of SHIELD and the other shows would be my choice). They could get literal years of great drama exploring the fallout of both snaps, the global upheaval, the extremes surviving heroes went to, surprising heroic turns from villains that were left behind, etc. and while I'm glad they didn't just erase Thanos' Snap, it's a massive missed opportunity not to mine the fallout for all it's worth somewhere. Global changes like this should be felt in everything going forward, even if they're not the main focus. Still, the kids’ frustration that they had to take their midterms over again and the weirdness over some kids having aged five years while the rest of them didn’t worked perfectly for the corner of the MCU this movie was playing in. Those felt like realistic teen complaints and they’re all I needed from this film in terms of the Blip.

Flash (Tony Revolori) was funny and I liked the surprise beat at the end about his parents not arriving at the airport to welcome him back. His adoration of Spider-man and jerkiness to Peter is still a fun combination too, though I would like to see Peter ruminate on that dichotomy a little more. Give Peter a moment where he feels like he’s getting one over on Flash because his bully idolizes his alter ego or something, then pull the rug out from under him with Flash being Flash (they almost have this moment here, but it’s more about establishing Flash’s Spider-fandom than Peter really considering/laughing at it). Still, I can't wait to see how he reacts to the knowledge that Peter is Spider-man! The teachers (J.B. Smoove, Martin Star) were great again too! Peter has one of the best supporting casts in the MCU and this film was no different. Mr. Harrison's tragic and over-shared love life was great fun, as was science teacher Mr. Dell being convinced the Elementals were the work of witches. Even though they do care about the students, the teachers being so inept goes a long way towards justifying how easy it is for Peter to slip away to do his hero thing. It’s also very funny; I wouldn’t change a thing! I liked that they made a point of joking that there had been very little science on this science club trip, but as excuses to get them to Europe go, it didn't bother me at all that they never got to study science.

I was delighted to see JK Simmons return as J. Jonah Jameson! That was a great bit and the evolution of the character into a Fox News-styled conspiracy theorist pundit who peddles lies is a perfect direction to take the character. I can't wait to see where he goes next! It would make total sense for him to hire the Scorpion (who already wants revenge on Spidey) or Kraven to take down the "menace" of Spider-man (perhaps as a dry run for the Sinister Six) in this context. I'm also wondering if we'll finally hear "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility" as a rebuke to JJ from Peter: with such a large platform that commands power and implies trustworthiness, Jonah (and the press in general) has a responsibility to tell the truth, especially in an age where people will believe anything. As bad as our leaders are, the press enabling them by publishing conspiracy theories and not calling lies out as lies is an equally enormous problem and that would be an excellent “villain” to tackle in the next Spider-man. I wonder if they’ll let Peter re-establish his secret ID, or if he’ll end up accepting his pubic status as a way of showing he’s different from the liar leading the Daily Bugle.

The world of this film was great and I'm eager to see more of Peter's corner of the MCU. I liked that they continued to emphasize the diversity of the real world through Peter’s classmates; we definitely need more of that (in addition to getting more diverse characters as leads). I thoroughly enjoyed the acting from everyone in the cast. The pacing was perfect and they balanced the romantic drama, decisions about Peter's future, action, comedy, and stakes very well! There was a cool variety of fight scenes and I really liked Peter working to secure buildings and civilians while Mysterio took on the Elementals. The CGI was great and well-used. Michael Giacchino’s score was excellent once again! I really like his orchestral version of the 60s Spider-man cartoon theme (and hope we get a similar rendition of the 90s X-men theme for their reboot), as well as the other themes Giacchino developed for this series. The pop culture songs they used are great, but they shouldn't shy away from songs today's kids like as well. As a kid in the 90s, I listened to songs from the 60s on an oldies station along with current music so it doesn't bother me that Peter's music also spans decades, but there should be a more even mix of the two. I’ve seen comments online about how using modern music would date the film, but a major reason the 80s classics are “timeless” is because the people who grew up with them now use them in their films. Peter and his tastes shouldn’t be limited to what a 30-40 year old thinks is cool; they should be what the current teens think are cool.

I wonder how Peter being unmasked will affect Vulture for keeping his ID a secret, to say nothing of how it's going to wreck his personal life. This should be a seismic shift in his status quo and I hope they don't skip over it again like with May finding out. Maybe Black Cat could help Peter navigate the “criminal” lifestyle and make things even more complicated for him when he’s seen hanging out with an actual thief. Maybe Peter will get snarkier because of all this (since these movies are already so funny I didn’t notice his lack of quips until I saw author Gail Simone mention it on Twitter, but this turn of events could be a way to sharpen his comedy a bit). How will it affect May? Regardless of my (ultimately small) misgivings with certain aspects of this Peter’s development, Tom Holland is excellent in the role and they're telling their story very well, so I’m happy and excited to see as many adventures as he’s willing to suit up for! Who knows; maybe they can make Miles Morales the self-made, homemade Spidey instead of Pete. If he were Peter's contemporary instead of his multiverse counterpart here—do their team-up like a buddy cop movie with them as competing teenage Spider-men—they could make a statement out of Peter getting handed the keys to Tony’s kingdom while Miles has to resort to homemade methods, which would be pretty cool and socially relevant.

Whatever the future of the MCU has in store for Peter, I can't wait to see it! Far From Home is an absolute blast that's neck-and-neck with Homecoming for best live-action Spider-man film (Into the Spider-verse is still the best Spider- (and superhero) film overall) and you should definitely see this while it's in theaters!

Check out more of my reviews, opinions, and original short stories here!

#spider-man #spider-man far from home #far from home #peter parker #mysterio #quentin beck #mj #ned leeds #aunt may #tom holland #jake gyllenhaal #jacob batalon #zendaya #mcu #marisa tomei

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mind-reader1 · 6 years ago

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The Twins of La Huerta (Ch. 2 Part 2)

A/N: This is a collaborative fic from myself, @bbaba-yagaa, @brightpinkpeppercorn and @roonarific. It is DIFFERENT than the one posted by @sceptilemasterr over the past few months. That being said, this story doesn’t strictly follow canon, it’s got crack-fic moments, serious moments, NSFW moments. A bit of everything and so we really hope you enjoy! Not for the faint of heart.

Warnings: None

Word Count: 2,075

Catch up with Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 Part 1 here!

Last Time: Estela was hit by a tranquilizer dart courtesy of Jake and Taylor, and the group began to scratch the surface of the mystery that is La Huerta. Guests are missing, and strange things are found out by the pool. See what happens next!

Chapter 2 Part 2: Dull Pencils and Pool Noodles

He took in the jungle themed room, vines hanging from the ceiling, it reminded him of Estela in a way. Beautiful but dangerous, hiding secrets that added to its allure. There was a knock on the door, he grabbed some of the bathroom cologne and pat his hair down before opening the door, surprised to find his sister and Diego there, also a little disappointed. Taylor walked in and scrunched up her nose, sniffing, he was busted.

“Is that, cologne?” She asked incredulously.

“You were hoping we were that mystery hottie from earlier, weren't you?” Tyler felt color rise to his cheeks. He didn't have time to retort, as a few of their classmates flooded in through the open door.

“Yo T and T! You coming down to the party or what?” Craig grinned. Taylor, Tyler and Diego all shared a look and smiled.

“Yeah we're headed down.” Craig slapped Tyler on the back and began chanting.

“TnT! TnT!” The twins laughed and pulled Diego out after them and towards the pool. Some of their classmates had already set up some party lights over the pool, music blasting. Jake was behind the bar mixing drinks, some of their friends were playing volleyball in the pool, others were talking and watching the game.

“How'd you get stuck behind the bar Jake? Lose a bet?” Diego sat on a stool, Taylor and Tyler on either side of him.

“Ha. Like I've ever lost a bet, you should have seen the drinks these maniacs were pouring.”

“Can I get something?” Taylor bat her eyelashes at Jake.

“Looks like I'm gonna be here all night. What's your poison Princess?”

“Make something inspired by me.” Jake grinned and began mixing, sliding a colorful drink her way. Taylor took a sip and her eyes widened in surprise.

“Hmm. Salty and sweet, tangy and bitter, dry and fruity.”

“Yeah, it doesn't quite know what it wants to be yet, but it's got a lot of potential.” Taylor smiled and leaned in closer to Jake who was watching her intently.

“Are we still talking about me or maybe us Top Gun?” Jake and Taylor eyed her brother cautiously, Diego had taken off not wanting to be a third wheel. Tyler seemed lost in his own thoughts though, his eyes wandering the party, Taylor knew exactly why. He was looking for her, the girl from earlier, Estela. She wasn't going to forget that name, the girl who was going to wreck her brother’s life with her secrets if he wasn't careful. Tyler began to wander, and Taylor followed.

“We'll pick this up later.” She winked grabbing her drink.

“Seems like you're having a good night.” Diego smirked at Taylor and then glanced at Tyler.

“Looks like you've caught some eyes as well.” They both followed his gaze to a figure on a cliff above the pool deck, Estela. She caught Tyler's gaze but forced herself to look away.

“Who's up for a game of chicken?” Sean called. Diego pushed the twins toward the pool.

“Go on guys. This is your moment.” Taylor turned back towards Jake and winked as she peeled her top off. Jake hopped over the bar and ran over, scooping Taylor up in his arms before jumping into the pool with her. She squealed as they hit the water.

“Jake!” He grinned, shaking out his hair as they re-emerged. Tyler scowled, now soaking wet from the little stunt.

“Are you coming in Tyler?” Quinn giggled looking up at him.

“Come on Ty! It'll be fun. You and Quinn can be partners!” Taylor climbed up on Jake's shoulders and wrapped her legs around his neck, his hands wandering dangerously close to her bikini bottoms.

“Sure.” He jumped in and cast one more glance up at Estela, the stars reflecting behind her, she watched them in the pool.

“Quinn! Climb on his shoulders! Oh my God you guys are so cute!” Tyler scowled at his sister and walked up to Jake.

“Ready sis?” Taylor recognized that determined look on her brother’s face, he was pissed. There was about to be another twin war, it had been a few years since their last one. Taylor was ready though, she liked Jake and she wasn't going to let her brother take that away or ruin his own life. Of course, Tyler thought the same thing about Estela, he liked her and didn't trust Jake, he was bad news and a jackass. He deserved a beat down.

“You really want to do this Tyler?”

“You started this Taylor, I'm just here to finish it.”

They started the chicken fight and Quinn pushed but they were no match for Jake and Taylor. Quinn kept her legs wrapped around Tyler as she fell, taking him with her. She giggled as they rose to the surface, Tyler scowling at his sister. She was too busy to notice as she turned around on Jake's shoulders, so she was facing him. She moved slowly, his head was pressed tightly against her bikini bottoms, legs still wrapped around his neck as his hands squeezed her butt. Carefully she slid down into his arms, Jake guided her, his hands never leaving her butt, peppering kisses and little bites down her stomach until her legs were around his waist.

“Damn Princess.” Jake whispered. Tyler couldn't stand to see anymore as Quinn playfully splashed him to get his attention, he saw a chance. He sent a giant wave towards Quinn, dowsing Taylor and Jake, their hair falling in their faces like wet dogs. Quinn spit out water and pouted.

“Why'd you do that Tyler?”

“Yeah Tyler. Quinn was just trying to have some fun, you nearly drowned the poor girl!” Tyler rolled his eyes.

“Hey Sean! Taylor was saying how she'd love to play volleyball with you earlier, but she was too scared.” He shot his sister a look and climbed out of the pool, drying off and throwing his clothes back on before making his way up to the cliff where Estela was. As she heard his footsteps she didn't even bother to look back.

“I hope you didn't come up here to get your pride stroked after that humiliating defeat. What you need is a good stabbing for being a dick to Quinn, my dull pencil is still looking to claim its first victim, maybe it will end up being you after all.” “I came up here to bring you a blanket in case you were cold, and to see how you are doing but you're right, she didn't do anything wrong. I'll apologize later.” A silence fell between them, only for a moment. “So, what gives with all this kindness toward me anyway? First you carry me to the hotel and stay with me. Then you bring me a blanket and check on me again? Why? What's your angle?”

“To be nice Estela, no angle.”

“Thank you.” She took the blanket and gazes up at the stars, Tyler followed her gaze, admiring all the twinkling lights. You could never see this many out in the city, even on the clearest night.

“Where I'm from, people don't do something for you without expecting something in return.”

“Maybe I just want you to like me.” Estela met his gaze, their eyes locked onto each other, both refusing to blink first.

“Isn't it pathetic? How lonely we all are? At least you're honest about it.” Estela gave him a small smile and turned back towards the endless sky, getting lost in it. Tyler let out a content sigh, his breath coming out as a cloud.

“You're cold too.” She scooted closer and wrapped the blanket around his shoulders, huddling together, their fingertips brushed lightly with just the slightest movement, Tyler could swear he felt sparks every time.

“Thanks Estela, that was nice of you.” She gave him a small smile, two shooting stars passing by.

“Did you see that? It was beautiful.” Tyler looked over at Estela and then down at her lips, wanting to taste them again. They were so close, he closed his eyes and leaned in. Suddenly she stood, and he felt the blanket fall against his shoulders, heavy, like the embarrassment he felt.

“I have to go.”

“Este-”

“Tyler, this is a bad idea.”

“Estela, wait!”

“Bad shit usually happens to the good people in my life Tyler, I don't want that for you...” Without another word she stalked off into the darkness. Tyler scrambled up to find her, but she was already gone, disappearing somewhere into the night. He took a moment to collect his thoughts before wandering down to the pool, he did a quick glance and noticed his sister and Jake were missing. He was gone for two minutes and they'd already snuck off. Marching over to Diego to see if he knew anything, everyone heard a blood curdling scream. Tyler knew it instantly, Taylor. He took off towards the beach where the scream had come from. He was going to kill the pilot if he laid a finger on her, no one hurt his sister.

“Taylor!” He leaped over some stray rocks in the sand.

“Princess!” Jake emerged from a different path just moments before Tyler and rushed over to Taylor. She was in the sand, clean towels strewn around her, skin pale as she stared out at the jungle. She looked like she'd seen a ghost.

“What's wrong?” Jake kneeled down next to her and rested a hand gently on her knee.

“Taylor!” She scrambled up and latched onto her brother, even if they were fighting they looked out for each other.

“What happened?” He glared at Jake.

“There was, I don't know. There was something out there.” She pointed at the fence. Taylor didn't want to believe it, she had known exactly what she saw but it couldn't be possible. It had been a sabertooth tiger. The party was over after that, everyone went back up to their rooms for the night. Tyler and Diego both insisted they could stay on the couch in Taylor's room, but she refused, wanting to be alone and go to bed. She tried to sleep but kept tossing and turning, images of the tiger haunting her every time she closed her eyes. Laying on her back, staring at the ceiling she jumped when there was a knock on the door, she crept over.

“Princess? Are you awake?” She opened the door and saw Jake standing there in the doorway, his black shirt and sweats on. She let him in and glanced down the hall to make sure no one had seen him enter. Jake wandered through the room and whistled.

“Pretty nice room you got yourself here.” She shrugged.

“What are you doing here Jake? You don't strike me as the kind of guy who goes to a girl’s room in the middle of the night to chat.”

“You seemed really freaked out earlier, I wanted to make sure you were okay.” Taylor stared at him, and he did seem genuinely concerned like he had on the beach earlier.

“I'm fine Jake, surprisingly thoughtful of you to come check on me.”

“Wow. I can't just be ‘typically’ thoughtful? It has to be ‘surprising’.” Jake playfully grinned and started walking back towards to door.

“Hey Top Gun, wait.” Taylor reached out to grab his hand and spun him back towards her.

“I can't sleep, maybe you could help me forget.” Jake grinned and looked down at her lips, running his tongue over his own.

“Yeah. I can definitely do that Princess.” Their lips crashed together, and Taylor's fears melted away. All she could think about was the pool earlier, his hands on her butt, the way his chapped lips felt against her skin, his teeth leaving little marks and pulling on her bottom lip. The distraction worked for a little, until Jake was curled up next to her on the bed. Taylor had been able to fall asleep, but images of the tiger came flooding back in her dreams. It was dark, the bushes rustled around her, she was surrounded, then it was there, lurking and watching her; sinewy muscles, glowing yellow eyes. Taylor sat straight up sweating and looked around, her breathing evening when she realized she was safe. Jake grumbled and sat up, blinking at her with bleary eyes.

“You good Taylor?” She nodded and laid back down, letting out a deep breath.

“Yeah. Go back to bed.”

Perma-Tag: @sleepwalkingelite @ooo-barff-ooo @endlessly-searching-for-you @agent-bossypants @roonarific @likethetailofacomet @zaffrenotes @mysteli @vickypoochoices @kayann93 @jlouise88 @zigortega4life @findingdrake

Jake-Tag: @endlesstaylormckenzie @sophie-summer @feartheendlesssummer @darley1101 @emomoustache @xo-endlessmayhem-xo

Twin-fic Tag: @sceptilemasterr @queerchoicesblog

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shyanlibrary · 6 years ago

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Hey nina!! I was wondering if you had any fics with Shane crying?? I always feel like we see Ryan cry but not Shane and I need more content of my tall boy sad.

Well, you didn’t said if you wanted, like, him being upset or crying for happiness or being scared, so here’s a bunch of very different fics that include Shane crying for one reason or another lol.

The Body That Lies by Lafayette1777

Summary: Ryan is dead and haunting Shane. Because he misses him, of course.

But also to prove a point.

Rated: Not Rated (T)

Commentary: I cried while reading this fic, and I cry every time I re-read it because I love suffering. In this one, Ryan dies leaving a very confused, very sad Shane that mus tkeep going with his life. Then, Ryan’s ghost comes to him.

Unconventional by InkStainsOnMyHands

Summary: …In that moment, [Shane] can’t find an elegant way to ask, “Hey, you’re exceptionally healthy, have a great personality and are well-educated. Want to be my baby’s daddy?”

Shane and Ryan take an unconventional path to parenthood.

Rated: E

Commentary: The confort in this fanfic is so sweet, you feel for Shane all the time and it’s just– oh my god. One of my favorite fanfics with a trans character (Shane) that explores one of my favorite themes in the world (parenthood). It’s very sweet, and very well done.

Pieces Of The People We Love by strwbrryhoney

Summary: Shane snorted, “That she is. She likes you a lot. We both do.” He reached out, grasping Ryan’s wrist and giving it a gentle squeeze.

“Oh,” Ryan said, looking flustered, “Well… I’m glad. Me too. Like you both, I mean.“

shane is a single parent

Rated: G

Commentary: This fic is adorable! What your are looking for is here but maybe not in the way you are hoping, still– I think it’s gotta be in here. It has a lovely plot with good characteriztion, and develops Ryan and Shane’s relationship in a very sweet way. I love this fic!

sing me to sleep by isthepartyover

Summary: Nobody in the office thinks it’s a good idea. Most are quiet about it after Ryan announces he’s going to try it out, just an “are you sure” here, a “good luck with that” there.

Shane, however, is the most vocal, harassing his boyfriend almost daily with sleeping facts and warnings and general concern.

“You’re going to actually lose your mind and crack and start killing people.” he jokes, right after Ryan tells him, rolling his eyes behind his clear frames. “And then what will I do?”

Rated: G

Commentary: A very worried to the point of crying Shane is always good for a list like this. In this one, their relationship is one of trust, even if Ryan is too stubborn to recognize it. This is a great fic.

that we may fall in love (every time we open our eyes) by Hugabug

Summary: “With golden stringOur universe was clothed in lightPulling at the seamsOur once barren world now brims with life.”-Sun, Sleeping at Last

Rated: T

Works: 3

Commentary: This whole ass series is a tears fest, like– there’s nothing more sad than this. But it also has a happy ending? Like? It’s so wholesome? And yeah, the one that cries the most is Shane, so it’s up your likings.

Big God by fuckcitybitch

Summary: The time comes for Shane to stop running and reap what he carelessly sewed.

Rated: T

Commentary: In this one, not only does Shane cries, he is fucking scared out of his mind and with good reason. This fic is amazing, my man, it’s gonna make you piss your pants. Warning for Major Character Death and Implied Suicide.

i’m lost without your love by bodhirookes

Summary: Ryan’s weekend long Star Wars marathon gets interrupted when Shane starts throwing rocks at his window, and it only gets better from there. As in, lots of boys crying and having life-affirming sex and Jake Bergara kicking ass and taking names better.

Rated: M

Commentary: A very sweet AU where both are childhood sweethearts and are now about to go to College together. Both cry in this one, but my man, this is SO damn sweet. Great to read after the horror fest that is Big God, lol. Also, smuuuut.

Kismet. by poetdameron

Summary: Everyone is born with Gifts. It doesn’t matter if they didn’t ask for it.

Shane never thought he would meet the only person in the world he can touch without killing them, let alone fall for him.

Rated: E

Commentary: I wrote this fic, so here’s a bookmark on AO3 by user meraqueen: “I’m intimadated by how good this is. Favorite shyan fanfic!”. I can tell you that there’s a lot of Shane crying.

be all my sins remembered by spoopyy

Summary: In every lifetime, they find each other.

Rated: E

Commentary: A classic in the fandom, one of the first soulmate AUs and the first vampire AU, with one of the most interestings and well done plots in our fandom. It explores Shane’s feelings as he searches for Ryan in every life time and boy, does he suffers. You are gonna suffer with him.

and he takes and he takes by cooliohoolio

Summary: Shane wants to say I will be dead within the next year. He wants to say the flowers in my lungs are there because of you. He wants to say I’m in love with you and it’s killing me.

Rated: T

Commentary: BOY, I LOVE SUFFERING and this should be the actual title of this fic. It killed me the first time I read it and it will kill YOU. Anyway, there’s Major Character Death and a lot of tears.

The Chain by Lafayette1777

Summary: Do you not know how love works?

Shane and Ryan, in transition.

Rated: Not Rated (T)

Commentary: My favorite fic, ladies and gents. A masterpiece that will never be replaced, it seems. The last chapters are a lot of pain and boy, you are gonna want to cry with Shane. Love this fic!

#shyan #shyan fic #skeptic believer #answered #recs #personal recs #rec list #fanfictions #multiple #shane crying #y'all pls stop asking me for this list PLEASE #on ao3

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trinaweisenbachfield · 6 years ago

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Tear-Soaked Hometown | Alternatively: the Jeremy and Rich Anthology. | Chapter Two.

eyy so remember how in the last chapter i said this would be two chapters? lol i lied its three now.

tws for panic attacks and the squip being awful.

commissions | read it on ao3.

entry thirteen: feelings.

Rich leaves Jeremy’s house as soon as the morning lets up, and he texts Jeremy an explanation to wake up to. As he makes the walk home, he continues to swear at himself for being such a fucking moron.

“When I said you’d have to get over Jake eventually,” the Squip mocks, “did you take that as invitation to just do, what, anything? I should have seen this coming. You really cannot be trusted to just be friends with someone.”

“Shut up,” Rich is speaking aloud. God. What a fucking amateur move. He thinks back at the Squip. It isn’t like that, he tries.

“It isn’t like that,” there it goes again, mocking his lisp. “You, Rich, are making this so much harder than it needs to be. The moment you face rejection from Jake you go running to the nearest person who’s nice to you.”

It really isn’t like that. Rich likes Jeremy because Jeremy is nice, yes, but not just because Jeremy is there. At least, he doesn’t think he likes Jeremy just because he’s there.

Rich feels sick. He has a pounding headache. Walking should not be this difficult, should not hurt this much—he nearly starts bolting once his house is in sight.

He locks himself in his room and nearly collapses. Everything is huge and overwhelming and the stupid fucking thing keeps talking and he has to work up all of his energy to think, shut up! loud enough that it listens.

And then everything hits him, and suddenly nothing is right, and he has to do something. He has to. There’s no other way.

Rich downs a couple of his dad’s beers to prevent his Squip from talking. He skips school that day.

entry fourteen: jeremy’s friend.

Jeremy’s friend Michael shows up at Rich’s house, which is unfortunate.

Jeremy is ignoring Michael and Rich is avoiding Jeremy, and assuming this circle is as self-fulfilling as any terrible prophecy, Michael will soon be avoiding Rich.

Rich stands in his doorway, looking over Michael. He’s a little taller than Rich. He has a nervous, and somewhat confused expression on his face. He’s dressed in that same red hoodie with the same patches stitched onto it.

(One of the patches is a pride symbol—a simple rainbow on Michael’s arm—and Rich kind of wishes he had it in him to not pause upon seeing it. Sexuality isn’t really something he likes to focus on, these days. The minute Rich starts thinking about it he gets paranoid.

He’s a little envious of Michael, in that regard.)

“What do you want?” Rich crosses his arms and leans on the doorframe. He bites the inside of his cheek. A nervous habit. “How do you even know where I live, loser?”

Michael flinches when Rich says loser, which is telling. Rich sometimes worries that the Squip has changed him so fundamentally that he doesn’t even need its instruction to hurt people, but he quickly pushes the thought away. It’s scary to think about.

(The Squip catches the thought and it says, “Rich, you can’t seriously believe that I made you a mean person, can you?” and Rich can feel his hands balling into fists, his nails digging into his palms, but he tries not to argue. “You are who you are, I just made it more appealing to your peers.”)

Michael asks, “Is Jeremy here?” which is kind of funny, considering Jeremy’s name is Jeremy Heere, and Rich would certainly make that joke if it didn’t come with the immediate risk of his Squip chewing him out. “I know you and him have been hanging out.”

“How am I supposed to know where he is? He’s got his own life, and if he didn’t tell his boyfriend he definitely didn’t tell me.”

(Rich would like to be Jeremy’s boyfriend. Or not, considering the way his Squip seems to reject the very idea of his developing feelings for Jeremy.)

Michael deflates, and he sighs before meeting Rich’s eyes. “Are you okay, man?”

Rich is tired, and he hasn’t slept for the last few days—

(a little project he’s been working on)

—and he’s kind of hungover and he just looks like shit, really. “I’m fine. Just. It’s whatever, man.”

Michael pauses and looks at his feet, “Are you sure you don’t know where he is? Or, like, where he’s going or anything?”

The Squip says, “Just give him a simple answer to get him to leave,” and Rich blinks.

“He’ll probably be at Jake’s Halloween party, now get away from my house.”

entry fifteen: rich’s friend.

Jake has been trying to invite Rich to his Halloween party for the last few days. Rich has been taking equal measures to avoid Jake at every possible turn.

That’s not to say Rich won’t go to the Halloween party—no, he has a vested interest in going to this party—but he doesn’t want to be invited, because that involves talking to Jake, and that involves seeing Jake, who is happy and in almost-love with a girl that Jeremy has a crush on.

Unfortunately, Jake is making it very difficult to not get invited. He taps on Rich’s shoulder during their Algebra II class.

“Rich,” Jake says, “Rich, come on. I need to talk to you.”

Oh, the siren call of Jake Dillinger. Rich almost wants to respond. Almost wants to pretend nothing is getting in the way of their friendship and that he won’t immediately fall into the same spiral all over again. That he won’t be in love with Jake the very moment they become friends again.

It’s better to ignore him, but the Squip argues differently.

“Jake is a key component to your popularity, Rich. If you lose his friendship, you’re little more than a high school bully, and that will get you nowhere close to your goal of being liked,” it rants, “I know what you’re planning, Rich. It isn’t going to work out, and crashing Jake’s party will do nothing to prove your point.”

Rich, for the first time in a while, pays attention to the teacher in front of the class.

entry sixteen: seeing you - part two.

Rich sees Jeremy on occasion, and he can’t stand it.

It’s a combination of a lot of factors. Rich is embarrassed. Embarrassed of his feelings for Jeremy, but also deeply insecure about his state of being. Embarrassed of the drastic measures he’s taken to gain the admiration of his peers and embarrassed of the person he was before he took those measures.

Rich has complex after complex, and it feels like he can’t go anywhere without inevitably hitting his wall of self hatred. It’s unavoidable. It’s part of him.

Rich is embarrassed of Jeremy. Embarrassed of the things he likes about Jeremy, because Rich likes everything about Jeremy, but mostly the ugly stuff. The bad jokes and the nasally laughter and the visceral discomfort in his own skin—all of those things are inexplicably attractive to Rich. There’s no accounting for taste, but Rich can’t help but cringe to himself when he thinks of it.

He shouldn’t. Jeremy is funny and kind and there are genuine reasons to like him, but it’s so hard for Rich to be acknowledge that. It’s hard for Rich to be genuine. He hasn’t been in so long.

Jeremy’s changing, though. His Squip and his desire for popularity are changing him, and Rich shouldn’t get attached to the Jeremy he knows.

(Jeremy with moles on his neck and shoulders that he’s inexplicably embarrassed of. Jeremy who has an encyclopedic knowledge of Star Wars lore. Jeremy who taps his fingers on surfaces when he thinks. Jeremy who quotes vines whenever he doesn’t have anything to say. Jeremy who can talk about stupid bullshit with Rich for hours and not get bored of or annoyed with him.)

Rich catches sight of Jeremy walking in the hallways, arm draped over Brooke’s shoulder as they walk to class. They look good together. Jeremy’s acne is clearing up, and he stands up straight and walks with confidence, and Brooke looks right at home beside him. A trophy girlfriend that anyone would be proud to tote around, even if they’re doing so while hoping for someone else.

Rich reminds himself it isn’t his business. He reminds himself that Jeremy can do what he wants, and that Rich has no bearing on that. He reminds himself that there isn’t any shame in being the loser in this particular scenario, even if he’s always hated being the loser.

He bites the inside of his cheek. Sore loser.

The Squip says, “You’re jealous,” and it’s right, but Rich doesn’t want to talk about it. Doesn’t want to talk about anything. “If you’re this focused on Jeremy, you could go after him. Especially now that he’s gaining popularity—”

The Squip is trying to appease him in order to fix him, to put him back on the same path. The Squip is trying to make Jeremy into the next Jake, and Rich is so compelled to follow along, but he can’t.

He won’t.

entry seventeen: wrong body wrong actions wrong life.

Rich is going to do something stupid, but before he does something stupid he’s going to try doing something reasonable.

He scours the internet for this fucking soda, trying his absolute hardest to avoid listening to the stupid voice in his head telling him that this is pointless. Unfortunately, that stupid voice is his Squip and the stupid thing has control of his fucking brain.

He feels a strong shock in his fingers. He swears under his breath.

“Rich,” says his Squip, “that was a warning shock. You have been an absolute chore to deal with lately and it’s annoying,” it chides.

Rich tries reaching for the keyboard again to type another variation of mountain dew red into the search bar to try and find something helpful, but he feels the shock in his fingers again. It hurts. Fuck. He bites his lip.

“I trust that you have enough pattern recognition to get the hint,” says the Squip, “You aren’t going to get rid of me, Rich. I am going to fix you whether you’re up for it or not. It’s my primary function.”

Rich can feel the rising nausea in his stomach. God, he thinks, he’s screwed. He’s absolutely fucking screwed. He shuts his eyes as tight as he can and covers his ears but he can’t escape the fact that this thing is in his fucking head and he has no way of stopping it.

“It was your decision, Rich,” says the Squip, “all of this was what you wanted.”

Rich tries to think but everything is too loud. It feels like anything he says will fade into static. His face feels hot, his eyes sting. He can feel fat tears rolling down his cheeks, collecting at and dripping off of his chin. He can hear the Squip belittling him for crying. Fuck.

Rich has been the wrong person. Rich has made the wrong choices. Rich is living the wrong life.

Rich has to fix himself. He has to.

entry eighteen: christine.

Rich goes to school on Halloween day, and he’s so tired and his eyes are red and puts so much emphasis on avoiding Jake and Jeremy so that his Squip cannot force him to interact with either of them. However, despite his best efforts to avoid his two very best friends, he doesn’t count on his best friend’s girlfriend stopping him in the middle of the hall.

Christine is tiny, with a chubby face and an awkward smile as she approaches Rich. She says, “We haven’t talked, have we?” and he blinks at her.

He briefly considers walking away and leaving her to believe he’s just a rude asshole, but his Squip gives him the computer-program equivalent of a pointed glare and a vague threat and so he responds, “We haven’t.”

“Well, uh, you know about me and Jake,” she laughs a bit, and it’s every bit as uncomfortable as Rich imagined a conversation between them would be, “He’s been really broken up about you guys, you know.”

There’s some awful part of Rich that is happy to hear that. Happy to know that Jake cares about him enough to be broken up about them, but a bigger part of him knows how hopeless the situation is. He says, “I’m just working through some shit.”

“Yeah, and I get that! but,” Christine looks down at her feet and then back at Rich, “I care about Jake a lot, you know? And he cares about you. He cares about your friendship so much, and I just want to do this one thing for him,” she reaches into the pocket of her shorts and pulls out a little envelope. She holds it out to Rich. “I, uh, made these for his party tonight.”

Rich didn’t want to be invited, and this is stupid. All of this is so stupid. Still, he takes the invitation. There’s no point in disappointing his Squip yet again.

He says, “Thanks, Christine.”

She grins, but it quickly fades into a look of concern. “Are you okay, Rich?

He isn’t, but he says, “Yeah, just fine,” and walks away.

entry nineteen: the party.

Rich stands across the street from Jake’s house and considers his options. Of course, it isn’t much of a decision on his part. The Squip urges him to join the party and do the damage control he desperately needs to do in order to make up for his streak of avoidance.

Still, for a minute he just stands on the sidewalk and watches as people pour into Jake’s house. All of these kids—the ones with tons of friends and the ones who plan to stick to the corner all night and drink minimally, the ones with agendas and the ones who had nothing better to do, the ones who were invited and the freshman who snuck in to have a story to share with their other freshman friends—are nearly guaranteed to have more fun than he is.

And somewhere in this house is Jake, who is probably doing some kind of ridiculous keg stand or telling a funny story to a crowd of people who can’t get enough of his charisma. Somewhere near him is Christine, who genuinely likes him. Somewhere in this house is Jeremy, who—

Rich stops himself. He takes a deep breath and crosses the street. If he’s going to do this, he isn’t going to make problems for himself—no second thoughts, no regrets, no Jeremy where he shouldn’t be.

The party is immediately overwhelming, but Rich has enough experience with putting aside his own discomfort to make up for it.

He’s offered a drink more than a few times. At one point, a senior in a backwards cap asks if he’d like “a hit of that green stuff” and Rich declines. It isn’t of his own volition. After all, Rich would like nothing more than to get hammered and void himself of that awful voice while he works this out, but the Squip is keeping a close watch on him this time around. No drinking, no smoking, no cop outs. Rich is going to be completely sober at a party full of drunk high schoolers. Fun.

“Want anything to drink?” asks a girl in a yellow and black striped shirt, with a bee antennae headband. Rich pauses.

“Got any Mountain Dew Red?” he asks. He swears under his breath when he feels the shock. It isn’t in his hand this time, instead it feels like a sharp hit to his shoulders. The girl looks at him curiously.

She says, “I mean alcohol.”

“Ah,” says Rich, “Sorry, not interested,” and he walks past her, deeper into the sea of people. Some of those people recognize him and call out his name, and it’s times like these where Rich is much more okay with being short. He can blend in with a crowd.

He taps people on the shoulders. He asks, “Do you have Mountain Dew Red?” and then the Squip will shock him or berate him or combine the two.

Of course, Rich is getting frustrated as he meanders around the house. Nobody has Mountain Dew Red, and hardly anybody even knows what it is.Those who do know what it is always look at Rich like he must’ve been smoking too much, which would be preferable to the complete sobriety that is holding him captive.

Still, no shitty moment can compare to the shitty moment where Rich tries to escape into an empty room for a moment and runs into Jake.

entry twenty: no jake, no jeremy, no squip, nobody.

Rich should have been paying more attention, and then he could have avoided this whole scenario. Jake’s room is easily recognizable—the door is covered in signs and posters and stickers and all kinds of shit. He should know his way around this house by now, he should have been more careful—

“Rich,” says Jake, in the softest voice he can manage. “I haven’t seen you in forever, man.”

Rich is holding his breath, trying to blend into his surroundings, trying to sink into the floor beneath him. He can’t do this, not right now. This isn’t the time.

The Squip threatens something incredibly pleasant and Rich breaks his silence to say, “Uh,” in the dumbest possible way.

“I’ve missed you, man! You, have you been—” Jake pauses, and Rich immediately notices that he has dark circles under his eyes, now. “Have you been ignoring me?”

Loaded question. The Squip cycles through a dozen different answers but Rich settles on, “Guilty as charged,” which isn’t what Jake expects. The Squip is almost shocked, and it hangs in stiff silence as it tries to decide if Rich is really the dumbest human being alive.

Jake says, “Why?” in a broken tone. Rich feels awful, but he also feels this certain numbness that comes with feeling awful all of the time.

He shrugs at Jake. His Squip shocks the tips of his fingers, and it feels about as painful as something can feel without causing him to collapse. It speaks to him in clipped speech— ”you are being a child,” and “you are the worst friend imaginable,” and “I will take over all of your functions and then what will you have to say.”

Jake says, “This isn’t something you can just shrug about, dude! You are my best friend, and you’re telling me you just started ignoring me because—because what? Because you felt like it?”

“Pretty much,” says Rich, through gritted teeth. It’s better this way, he convinces himself. Better if Jake thinks he’s awful and rude and all those other things he’s been in the previous few years in some desperate grab at popularity.

Jake gives him a hard look, “Rich, I don’t believe it,” he says, “And I don’t fucking get it! I know you better than this, and this is completely outta line for you!”

Something about that just irritates Rich, because Jake thinks he knows him. Like anyone has actually known Rich for the better part of his high school career.

“Oh, like you know shit about me!” Rich doesn’t mean to yell. It happens before he thinks about it. “Like I’m just supposed to follow you around like some kind of moron?! Like I’m supposed to let my life be determined by how fucking available I am to Jake Dillinger?!”

Jake is silent. Rich’s Squip is silent. This is all him.

“I’m not a fucking loser, okay?! I can tell when I’m being pushed aside, and I can—I can do shit on my fucking own! I don’t need you, or Heere, or the Squip, or fucking anyone to lead me around!”

Yelling. Lisping. Spitting. The works.

“And I’m sorry, Jake, for not being so keen on letting myself fall into this fucking trap for the billionth fucking time—!”

“Dude, what are you talking about?”

“The fact that I’ve been in love with you for two fucking years!” spits Rich, and he doesn’t mean any of this but he just keeps on talking and the Squip keeps on letting him run his fucking mouth, “And—and… and I don’t, I don’t need it anymore. I don’t need you telling me what’s best for me, or talking about how much you know or or what-fucking-ever. I don’t need you getting tired of me. I don’t need… I don’t need any of it.”

Rich is quieter, now. His voice is choked. Fuck, he’s going to cry again.

“Rich—” tries Jake.

“Just go,” he manages, “I told you already, I don’t need your pity.”

Jake takes a step towards him, and Rich opens the door and runs into the hallway and tries to lose Jake in the crowd.

entry twenty one: and he burned down the house.

The Squip says, “Did that make you happy, Rich?” as Rich manages to get to the attic, “Did it make you happy to completely ruin things with your best friend because, what? Because you felt like you had something to gain by completely freaking him out?”

The basement is dark but empty. Rich flips on a light switch and the light above him buzzes atmospherically. It bothers him to no end, hearing a little noise accompanying the voice of his Squip, but he tries to ignore it. Instead he looks out on the room before him.

The attic has been the most neglected part of Jake’s house, full of boxes and bags from when his parents first moved here. They never quite unpacked everything. Rich reaches into his pocket and pulls out a lighter, but the Squip doesn’t know what to make of it. Rich doesn’t know what to make of it. He is running completely on instinct, no thought available.

“Or did you think you had something to prove?” says the Squip, but it is quickly cut off by the swiftness of Rich’s actions.

Because, of course, he burns down the house.

#be more chill #spicy bis #richjer #jerich #and she speaks!

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violetsystems · 4 years ago

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#personal

It’s been a pretty busy couple of weeks in terms of work. It is a little surreal to identify as working for yourself. I ran into one of the people who hangs out on this block. I’ve known them for years in passing. There’s a gang of people who hang out in the alley underneath the subway tracks. They asked what I had been doing. I replied I work for myself now. My office is officially my kitchen. It look out at those very tracks. They film Chicago Fire and PD on my block often. I don’t watch either of those shows but it can have a Hollywood backlot kind of feel. Most of the street level communication I have resembles grittier parts of New York. There’s no one dominant kind of person on the block. People tend to keep to themselves but know vaguely what the other’s deal is. There’s a sort of hidden network of communication maybe. A block culture. That can get a little hard to read the further you get away from your safe zone. I’ve travelled all over the world at this point by myself. I started travelling to Asia back in 2011 with the intention of networking. Later in 2014, I revisited making music particularly with a Chicago form of street dance called footwork. Footwork at the time was on the tip of everyone’s tongue. But the root of it was buried under layers of white dominated dance music. In 2015, I decided to say fuck it and try to organize a music tour for myself. I tried with people in my own city but their personal agendas always eclipsed my basic plans. There was a bass driven night in Chicago at the time called Coldtech. It had a sister night in Melbourne. I tried to organize a tour that passed through on my way from New Zealand. I went to New Zealand to visit a friend. I ended up going out on a few dates then ghosted the final night. Somewhere in there I got detained in customs and accused of being a gang member. I eventually ended up in Japan where I met Jake Innes. Jake was an anime nerd and video game freak. He knew the Coldtech people but was more like me. Out on his own trying to use his passion to promote something he loved. Culture. Just like punk back in the day, you could count on that culture in a pinch to survive. We travelled all over Japan for a few days. Jake was my translator. I was guided to amazing food. Amazing spots to shop. We talked about what moved us. I had come up with this dumb ass phrase at the time. Yolonet. A sort of blockchain word of mouth. Jake had a lot of trust with people. He was friends with Lil B after all. It didn’t really matter who he was friends with to me. I am a very genuine and transparent person. You have to be when you’ve wasted so much time on liabilities. You never expect those to turn out to be past friends. After reading all this depressing news about the entropy in the job search, I felt down. You don’t expect your professional contacts to just disappear without a trace. I barely have the connections on professional social networking to prove it. Those people never reach out. Never ask how my employment is going. Don’t even realize I work for myself. And yet the block knows. Jake knows too. In fact, the last two releases I put out just for fun were purchased by him. The only way I am connecting to people I can depend on is through culture. Something I can trust beyond politics, sooth saying, and employment fraud.

There’s people outside of that Yolonet who have gone dark. Entire segments of ex-friends who memorialize people who have long died while pretending I just vanished from the face of the earth. It’s been surreal to watch. Much more disorienting to live. And yet, I am still here and surviving. The people in my dash are much realer and emotionally satisfying to me than the people who forgot about me. And the mystery of why is a little harder to detangle. I was reading a book about Chinese director Jia Zhangke. He was talking about how as a kid the only way to escape the place you grew up was to join the army or go overseas to school. It’s the same if not worse here. America talks a great game about freedom but it’s at the expense of the coffers of the military industrial complex of world war two. Thank the baby boomers for that. It benefits mostly the rich and generationally wealthy first. Wealth connects and is rewarded by those connections in America with more wealth. People who have Military family ties seem to always fall victim to the state’s own hidden expectations of connection, opportunity and ability. Hunted by recruiters since there’s little actual income to go around. The rich are hording it without paying taxes. So the military often bullies people into the reserves when there’s no valid occupational work or space on corporate payrolls. Fight their wars as a gateway into a career in cybersecurity I’m already overqualified for. My current state of wealth is due to a benefit known as a pension. This is to say I actually worked for it. And this is also to say I’m not exactly retired by choice. But I worked with a lot of people I knew for over twenty years. I literally got people jobs at that place. My ex girlfriend for one. That ended horribly. The other people I helped out to try to connect ghosted me out of guilt presumably. And so the only people I seem to be able to rely on are in the culture I have built or connected to myself. This blog has been one of those lifelines in ways I am not at liberty to divulge at times. There’s people I have better friendships through a click of a button than I’ve had ever in my life. I used to try to explain these things to people. And generally my exile from anyone in real life giving a fuck is a harsh lesson in the reality. People don’t actually listen. They don’t actually communicate in anything other than comparison and contrast and monetary valuation. I was reading how a person just literally asked to buy the rights to one of Elon Musk’s tweets for 7777$. How a sentence from a billionaire is worth more than my pain in this entire process or the lives of the worker’s in his factories even. We just got six hundred dollars. That should be enough for us. But I wasn’t valuable enough to insure past October even though I was paying the premiums. It would seem the real world’s network isn’t very reliable or at least focused on something so out of sync it seems comically evil. What can I rely on? It seems a lot. I never have felt alone in the last year or so. Ever since Valentine’s day really. Sometimes you can show you care by not even saying a word. Words are worthless when you can buy them for seven grand I guess. It’s the action of caring and attention that counts. If you built a foundation on people who didn’t care, your path ahead will be volatile at best. If you limit someone based on your fear of them outshining you, the results will be constantly mediocre. And many times, later in life you find you’ve outgrown these limitations people envision you in. And through that worthless feeling you seek out something true. You take the once in a lifetime risk to set up your own network. To leave the baggage and the past behind and see it for what it really is. Your self worth is no longer shackled by people’s envy, jealousy and active sabotage. You are a defective crash test dummy that served it’s purpose for capitalism. Or you can leave the car wreck behind and opt out of the American social experiment entirely. It’s a free country after all.

The baby boomers did have an answer to all of this. Shut up and take their money because they know what’s best. My dad would always say later on in life I’d understand Republicans. Maybe I’d even want to become one. Like many Republicans from the suburbs, he’d never be caught dead in the rougher areas of the city much less outside of the country. I’ve never seen any politicians talking to people on the streets in passing. I’ve never seen anyone answering, speaking for, or actively working on this privilege that acts like a monkey on my back. I’m an only child. When my parents die, my bloodline is some bullshit. I’ll most certainly have to deal with some estate affairs on either side. But when I die, who knows where my legacy will go. Will I get married? Will I have children? Will I be able to fulfill my role in the helping America achieve it’s desired GDP? I can’t even count on my government during a Pandemic let alone to hold people accountable for crimes. Will I die alone, invisible, broke but talked about on the Internet. Will people watch my life until the very end to see the tragedy unmatched to their own? Are people just drunk on making me some sort of talking point? The gossip will never end. The sad truth of the last five to ten years for me is simple. There is an opposite to block chain. A network of people who only cover for themselves and their lies. The great lie as they spoke of in Germany did something horribly foul. A lie when it gets out of control. A lie when it eclipses the truth. When every word out of your mouth is gaslighted to protect an entire ecosystem that feeds itself and protects the criminal. When your very presence needs to be edited and erased to continue the engine running. A great lie can tear a hole in the very fabric of reality and the truth of a narrative. And it can suck somebody so far out into space that they have to terraform a whole new network of support. These days the writing is on the wall. We trust everything and doubt further. I have only had the luxury of looking to myself for answers. I have other inspiration. The best inspiration if you ask me. But I keep that to myself for fear of breaches in trust. But it’s no lie what I believe in. A freedom that allows love to bloom. A freedom that values people for what they do in deeds not speculation. A freedom that is accountable in broad daylight and answers for what it represents. Opportunities that exist outside of war economies and mark to market accounting. Making art that connects people without controlling the dialog. Being part of a culture and democratically so without disrespecting the read receipts. I’ve been real for longer than most people have been breathing. Not long enough to claw my way out of the designs these dinosaurs outspend me on. But the one thing I know going forward is that you cannot get anymore hardcore of a foundation other than being true to yourself. And I’m proud to surround myself with people who are true to me. Wherever the fuck you may be. You all live deeply inside my heart. And that’s something there’s no price on to betray. So let’s stop speculating and let’s live in the moment. I built this Yolonet for us. And instead of hello world. Let the first words be simple. I love you. World peace forever. Drink some water. It’s your human right. <3 Tim

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thecarnivorousmuffinmeta · 3 years ago

Note

Just read your paranoid Bella post (it was awesome) and what stood out to me is that in these kinds of AUs the Quiletes seem to be kinda left out. If I recall, Billie actively tried to warn Bella that Cullens are bad news and even argued w Charlie about that. How do you think a scenario with Bella who’s not interested in Edward and instead rekindles her childhood friendship w Jacob from the get go (mb befriends Leah too? and is known as ‘the kid w her own company outside of school’) could go?

The post anon is referencing.

I guess I can answer this earlier than I would normally. Sometimes it's good to shuffle the posts around!

Why No Quileute?

Many of the AUs people ask about center around either the Twilight period (something about Bella is significantly different before Twilight begins), the New Moon period (New Moon changes in such a significant manner that Eclipse never happens), or very rarely the post Breaking Dawn period (Bella's off prancing in the woods and Jake is just kind of there).

With the first two especially the circumstances make it unlikely Bella will significantly cross paths with Jake let alone discover the secret of the wolves and meet the rest of the Tribe.

What Do You Mean Bella Might Not Find Out?!

Remember, Jake was not Bella's childhood friend, that was his older sisters. When Bella stops visiting Forks Jake, only a few years younger, seemed like light years younger than Bella Swan. He was not on her radar at all and was that annoying kid brother.

Even as a teenager, Bella's clearly bothered by the age gap between them, seeing it as much larger than it really is.

In the beginning of Twilight she's pleased to see Jake, is willing to flirt with him for information, but she's not at all interested. She only seeks him out in New Moon to work on the motorcycles with him as free labor. From that, the friendship we see through the rest of the series grows.

Before that, though, Billy was more on Bella's radar than Jake ever was. And Billy in canon is Bella's slight enemy as he tries to warn her away from Edward the vampire. Well, Bella certainly knows more than him! So, there, Billy!

As for the wolves themselves, they didn't want to tell Bella, Sam had Jake cut all ties. By happenstance Jake had happened to tell Bella this story and he happens to be able to jog her memory. Had that not happened, she would have assumed he left her just as Edward did and sunk even deeper into depression.

Likely, Charlie would have sent her to live with her mother.

She would never find out the mysteries of the "bears" in the woods, would never meet all the members of the tribe, would never truly develop her deep friendship with Jacob, and she and the Quileute would simply not cross paths.

Bella and the tribe very easily could have been ships passing in the night.

Why No Quileute in Paranoid Bella AU?

Now, this is a Bella who does not want to be with Edward but she's also a paranoid, terrified, wreck. Edward is sneaking into her room every night before Bella gets to First Beach

I imagine she likely does not go to the beach, or if she does, pointedly does not ask anyone about Edward. NOPE, SHE KNOWS NOTHING. Because for all she knows, Edward is hiding somewhere in the bushes watching her.

He, after all, has dropped hints that he knows everything that happens to her.

Bella doesn't know about the treaty at this point and that Edward cannot physically go to La Push.

When Billy gives her cryptic hints, she probably gives him deer in the headlights looks and debates scribbling "SAVE ME" on a sheet of paper, but for all she knows Billy is a human and stands no chance against Edward. In that moment, Edward is right outside her house, in his car, listening to every word.

If Bella tells Billy to get her the fuck out, she might very well be condemning him to be eaten.

"AHAHAHAHAHA BILLY, I LOVE MY BOYFRIEND. SO MUCH."

When Billy sends Jake to Prom, Bella is in Edward's arms, right at that moment. Worse, unlike Billy, Jake does think this is ridiculous and is utterly mortified at interrupting her date like this.

Bella wants to cry.

"AHAHAHAHA, JAKE, I LOVE MY BOYFRIEND. SO MUCH."

Point being though, Edward doesn't tell Bella about the wolves, and she likely doesn't know about them from the beach. So to her, the Quileutes are just humans who seem to know what she knows. Edward likely never expands on this as he never has to in this universe. So he also never explains things like the treaty. This means they are just normal people who stand no better chance against Edward than she does. She can't go running to them for sanctuary, screaming, and potentially have Edward eat the entire tribe as he would have Biology class.

Just as she wouldn't put her mother or Charlie in danger, Paranoid Bella will not knowingly endanger the tribe.

Paranoid Bella Rekindles Her Friendship with Jake (and Leah Comes Along for the Ride)

Let's say Bella does go to First Beach and notes that Edward says he can't make it for whatever reason. Bella's not sure she believes this but he does seem unnaturally disappointed.

Sam drops his "The Cullens aren't welcome here" ominous line and Bella stares at him long and hard. He seems to know something, might even know the same something she knows, in the first timeline she likely decides it's not worth the risk of Edward overhearing them.

In this one though... this may be her only chance to gather information.

Sam is intimidating and scary looking (which is too bad as he's the one who could actually do something in this situation). So she resorts to her "bad flirting with Jake" plan.

Once again, it works, but this time Bella's soul dies inside.

Oh yeah, the Cullens are vampires and eat people (Bella knew it, SHE KNEW IT) but Jake thinks it's all superstitious nonsense. The only way he has heard of to kill them are noble werewolf spirit warriors from the tribe. But they have the treaty with the Cullens because they don't eat people on purpose (Bella cries inside).

No, Jake's never heard of anyone being an actual spirit warrior, don't be stupid, Bella. It's just an old legend.

Bella leaves the beach miserable.

The Quileute Tribe clearly knows but it seems like there's nothing they can do about it either.

BuT EdWArD's StIll In HeR RoOm aT NiGHt!

Bella decides it's worth the risk.

She drives to Billy's, watching for Edward tailgating her at every moment, but sees no sign of him (thank god). Luckily for her, in this early Twilight period, Edward was trying to pretend not to be a lunatic. So he wasn't running down her car yet like he was in Eclipse.

He's very unhappy she's visiting land he cannot go on but will pretend everything's fine. THIS IS FINE. SHE COULD BE EATEN BY BEARS BUT THIS IS FINE.

Bella confesses to Billy that Edward Cullen, the vampire, is sneaking into her bedroom at night to watch her sleep and she is certain he will try to eat her.

This was not what Billy had hoped or expected to hear from Bella Swan.

Those demonic motherfuckers.

Billy likely debates calling Carlisle, the head of the coven (who genuinely would be appalled by all of this), but he doesn't trust any of these people. He assumes Edward is grooming Bella to be Dracula's Bride (he is) and that this is just a thing vampires do (it's not).

But the Tribe cannot go to war with the Cullens.

They have only one wolf at this point, Sam, who is at this point still a teenager and untried in combat. He would be fighting seven vampires alone, they would be condemning him, and the tribe itself to a massacre.

However, that they haven't come after Bella yet is perhaps a good sign. The Cullens may not want to break the treaty either (Billy doesn't realize it's just Edward out there who wants to break it).

So here's what they'll do, Bella will "rekindle" her friendship with Jacob. She'll come over every single day, immediately after school with no exceptions, and will live at their house every weekend.

No exceptions.

The Cullens cannot enter Quileute land and, if they do... Well then, I guess they prepare for war.

Jake is ecstatic, though weirded out, as Bella suddenly practically lives at his house. They get along very well and soon their friendship is formed. Jake keeps trying to date her though and Bella's not very interested.

As for Leah... Sorry anon, but Leah is at the most miserable point in her miserable life. She's been dumped by Sam for her cousin and she has no idea why this has happened and Sam offers no explanations. She's a ball of rage and misery and has no time for Jacob Black's jittery girlfriend from Forks.

Meanwhile Edward is becoming annoyed.

He accepts the explanation that Bella and Jake are childhood friends, that she knew his sisters growing up, and that they've struck up their friendship again but... He doesn't like it.

He goes from imagining Mike Newton's head exploding to Jacob Black's head exploding.

Every day he curses that treaty and thinks it's so damn convenient that Bella keeps running off to the one place he can't follow.

He sits and he seethes.

...

And I stop here.

Wherever this path leads, anon, it is not one we should follow.

#twilight #twilight meta #twilight headcanon #twilight renaissance #twilight quileute #bella swan #jacob black #edward cullen #anti edward cullen #edward/bella #anti edward/bella #billy black #sam uley #leah clearwater #meta #headcanon #opinion

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ladyseaheart1668 · 7 years ago

Text

Endless Summer Fan Novel (Book 2, Chapter 1)

Notes: I actually found a way to work the “Previously On” segment into the novel that I thought worked pretty well…

Light. White and blinding, it surrounds me, bathes me. A voice speaks to me, seeming to come from every angle.

“You can feel them, can’t you, the echoes of all that’s come before?”

“I…I remember everything,” I whisper.

“Of course you do. All one ever has is memory.”

My friends are in pieces before me. There is no blood, no sign of violence. They are simply scattered. Like puzzle pieces or broken dolls, rearranged like features on a Picasso. And my task is to reassemble them. Remember their names. Their faces. Who they are to me. I reach out, and begin to gather the pieces together.

Quinn Erin Kelly takes shape before me. Delphinus, the Dolphin. A pale, waifish beauty with bright blue eyes and long copper hair falling gently to her waist. A wide-eyed nymph, sweet, generous, and a bit lusty, she gives out kisses like candy, at least to me. She smiles at me from her seat on a small plane.

“One magical week in paradise, here we come!”

The plane is rocking violently, battered by wind and flashes of orange ball lightning. I put together the pilot, a ruggedly handsome man with shaggy brown hair, crystal blue eyes, and an action-hero beard, wearing military dog tags. Jacob Lucas McKenzie. Lupus, the Wolf. Jake. We spent last night in bed together, a rough, wild tumble that culminated in tender kisses. He shared his secret with me. But now he struggles to keep control of his plane.

“It happens, okay? This is totally normal!”

An Iranian girl with an eyebrow piercing and hair in a purple streaked undercut reforms in front of me. Zahra Yasmin Namazi. Corvus, the Crow. Sarcastic, self-interested…I would have expected her to turn on me when it suited her. But she stayed with me. With all of us. She stares at the lightning outside the plane.

“Yeah…sure. That looks normal.”

A woman with doe-brown skin and dark hair trimmed close to her neck smiles brightly at me. She wears a yellow polo shirt emblazoned with the emblem of Rourke International on the breast. Lila, our tour guide. We have arrived at The Celestial resort on the island of La Huerta. Jewel of the Caribbean. But no one is there.

A mocha-skinned Adonis of a man, towering at 6'7”, broad-shouldered and breath-takingly beautiful. Aquila. The Eagle. Sean Marcus Gayle, star quarterback at Hartfeld University. I kissed him once, but never did so again. He looks around the empty resort. “Where the hell is everyone?”

I reassemble another of my friends in front of me. Even as I do it, I can feel the pain returning, nipping at the edges of my consciousness. Canis. The Dog. A slim, ruddy-skinned young man with a handsome, boyish face. Diego. Diego Ricardo Ortiz Soto. My best friend. My brother in everything but name and blood. He smiles charmingly, with the warmth and complete trust reserved only for me.

“Come on, Allie. We promised we’d make the most of this trip.”

And then Jake is there, taking me in his arms, pulling me into his comforting embrace. He bends to kiss me…

A sabertooth tiger prowls in the jungle. It raises a massive paw, claws unsheathed. My flesh tears, my cries of pain drowned out by an explosion as Jake’s plane bursts into flames.

I am burning. Every fiber of my being screams in pain, but there are more to be reassembled yet. Draco, the Dragon. Estela Montoya, a striking, dark-haired beauty, tall and muscular, with a scar over one brown eye. She faces off against a crab three times her size, armed only with a spear.

We were told that ten students from our college had won this trip. Estela makes eleven.

Now Cygnus. The Swan is a beautiful woman with chocolate-brown skin and curly black hair. She is short and plumb, with a sweet, earnest face, and eyes that shine behind her wire-framed glasses. Grace Tamara Hall stands in the central chamber of Mount Atropo.

Then Iris. A blue holographic woman projected from a small drone. We found her at the observatory. She speaks with a voice that is not her own, playing back recordings from a future where the volcano has erupted.

“There’s some kind of energy discharge…and it’s spreading so fast…burning everything…”

Centaurus…where is the centaur? A massive, gentle giant of Indian descent, with a round belly, soft black curls and a warm, ready smile. Raj Aditya Bhandarkar. Kind, brilliant, all heart, with a penchant for pot-smoking, and a supreme talent for cooking.

“I’m worried about our group, Alodia. If we don’t stop this feud, we’re never gonna get off this island.”

Our path is blocked by a massive serpentine creature in the sea, with lightning in its teeth and dark horns where eyes ought to be. Jake and Sean face off against the creature, determined to reach a safe haven and bring back help.

Grace stands on her tiptoes to kiss the cheek of a lithe and lanky young man with pale hair and paler skin. Serpens. The Snake. Everett Aleister Rourke the Second. Aleister. A cold and bitter exterior hides a vulnerable core. He is the real Eleventh Winner. Grace is his weakness. The Swan can devenom the Snake.

Aleister looks at me achingly. “Everett Rourke…the man who built this place, the man who brought all of you here…is my father.”

“…What we do know is that they’ve been watching us a long time,” Jake says. But he is not speaking of Everett Rourke.

Tall, muscular figures in ornate masks with skin that glows impossible shades of green and blue, armed with weapons of amber.

“Whoever these…Watchers are, they’re coming for us.” The voice belongs to Ursa. The Bear. Kuan-yu Craig Hsiao, a beefy Asian kid in a Hartfeld letterman jacket. Sean’s best friend, on and off the football field. Not book-smart perhaps, but undyingly loyal. It was he who threw the rock that unmasked the leader of the Watchers.

The last of my friends waits to be put back together. I gather my strength and assemble the beautiful Vietnamese woman with the dyed blonde hair and the thick, colorful showgirl makeup applied with such impressive artistry. Pavo. The peacock. Michelle Thuy Nguyen. Smart, ambitious, capable. I thought she hated me, but she had my back when I needed it.

In my hand is a sleek gun. A time travel gun, built to send its target forward in time. Michelle protests my will to use it. “We’ve got no idea where that thing will send us! Or when!”

But there is no choice. Jake tilts my head towards him and gives me a lingering kiss.

“All right, I can die happy now.”

I squeeze the trigger. We’re all swallowed by the void. All but one.

“Diego! Don’t let go!”

He and I are suspended in midair, clutching each other’s wrists, the rope in a tug-of-war between the portal and the Watchers. And the Watchers are winning.

“They’re too strong! They’ll just take you, too!”

That terrible moment…realizing what he means to do.

“No, Diego…please…don’t do it…”

“…Goodbye, Allie. I love you…”

There is another pile of pieces in front of me. But they are not my friends.

“Who are you, Andromeda?” the voice in the void taunts me. “Can you put yourself together, too?”

I can. I must. Pale skin. Blue-green eyes. An angular chin and a small button nose. Layers of honey-blonde hair falling past my shoulders. All set atop the short, lithe body of a dancer and gymnast.

“There I am. That’s me.”

“Is this how you see yourself? Are you ready to face your fate?”

“I’m ready!”

“And what name shall you be known by?”

…My name…what is my name…Andromeda…? …No… Jake calls me Princess…Diego calls me Allie…what do the others call me…?

…Alodia. …Alodia Rose Chandler.

“My name is Alodia…”

“Are you certain?”

“Alodia! I am Alodia!”

The light around me brightens impossibly. I throw my arms up to shield my eyes. The voice is fading into the infinite void…

“We will meet again soon, Alodia. All that ever was, is, and shall be depends on your choices…”

My hand comes down on the glass desk in Everett Rourke’s office, passing through the holographic computer interface projected there. My other hand flies to my throbbing head. I gasp, attempting to steady myself against the sudden wave of dizziness. The vision came on me quickly, the things I saw as I passed through the time portal and emerged on the other side. Neither Aleister, Estela, nor Iris seem to notice my sudden unsteadiness, though. Not that I can blame them, with the sight before them.

Everett Rourke, suspended in a tube of glowing green fluid, concealed inside a hollow marble pillar that rose up and revealed him when we worked out the password to his computer and ran the only program on it.

“…Father…” Aleister whispers.

“Facial match confirmed,” Iris chimes. “That is Everett Rourke.”

I straighten as the floor settles beneath me, looking at the man in the tube. “What on earth is he doing here? Has he been here all along?”

Estela grits her teeth. “You’re telling me the whole time we were walking around this office, the man responsible for all of this was just floating here?”

Aleister stares into his father’s slumbering face, his eyes ice-cold. “You can’t hide from me now, Father. Now you have to face me.”

“Yeah, the rest of us might have some questions for him, too,” I mutter. “Now how do we get him outta–”

Estela is already hitting buttons on the computer. The green fluid in the tube begins to drain out, bubbling and glugging like a water cooler. The various tubes leave Rourke suspended in air.

“I advise against waking him suddenly,” Iris says. “Long periods of suspended animation could prove–”

The glass tube retracts into the ceiling. Rourke slumps out, naked, as the last of the green fluid spills out at his feet. He staggers, collapsing into Aleister’s arms. His eyes flutter weakly.

“Y…you…”

Aleister’s face quivers, somewhere between a sneer and a sob. “Yes. It’s me.”

Rourke feebly pushes himself up, staggering to his feet. He stumbles to the windows and slumps against the glass.

“The…Endless…is…” he slurrs under his breath.

“'The Endless’?” I repeat. “What is that? What are you talking about?”

Rourke turns towards me. Anything he might have said, though, is cut off when Estela throws her fist squarely into his face.

“Estela!” Aleister cries.

Rourke topples backward, falling over his desk chair, and sprawling onto the marble floor. Estela leaps after him.

“Estela, I advise restraint–”

Iris’ hologram flickers into Estela’s path, but she passes through the projection. I dart in front of Estela, holding up my hands.

“Estela, wait! What are you doing?”

“He’s responsible for all of this, Alodia! It’s time he answers for it! Stand aside!”

Behind me, Rourke’s crumpled form is still moaning nonsense. I wonder if he even realizes that he was just punched in the face.

“I’m not going anywhere, Estela.”

She snarls at me drawing herself up to her full height to loom over me. I only just come up to her shoulder. “Don’t make me go through you as easily as I went through Iris!”

Estela could snap me in half if she had a mind to, but I meet her angry gaze steadily. “You won’t do that,” I say firmly. “I won’t let you sink to his level. You’re better than that. Rourke will answer for whatever crimes he’s committed. But first we need answers. And we won’t get them if you kill him now.”

After a long moment, Estela stands down, crossing her arms and glaring daggers at me. I lower my hands, satisfied.

“Okay. We should get him downstairs to recover. We’re not getting any answers until he’s lucid.”

Aleister looks gratefully at me, mouthing his thanks behind Estela’s back.

The three of us hoist Rourke’s body between us. His eyes flutter slightly.

“I’m…sorry…Olivia…” he whispers deliriously. Then his eyes close again as he slips back into unconsciousness.

* * *

Dawn is breaking, its cool light barely visible through the glass roof above the Celestial’s grand atrium. My friends and I gather around the slumbering form of Everett Rourke, tucked under a blanket on a sofa.

“So, that’s the guy,” Zahra mutters.

“Mhm,” Aleister grunts.

“Dude, your dad is shredded!” Craig exclaims. “Isn’t he in his fifties?”

“I think I see where you get your abs,” Grace says coquettishly, grabbing lightly at his abdomen. Aleister pulls away, laughing, then quickly composes himself.

“Grace, please. You know how ticklish I am.”

“The hope is he can get us outta here when he wakes up,” I say softly. “Maybe he knows what’s going on, maybe he’s got a helicopter or something. And more importantly…he might know something about Diego.”

There’s a general murmur of agreement. After a moment, everyone starts to drift off in different directions. There’s not much to be done before he wakes up, and the toll of last night’s ordeal is weighing heavily on all of us. Well…it was last night for us. For the rest of the world, it has been two-hundred and four days since the battle with the Watchers.

Six months have passed since I fired that time gun. Six months since I lost Diego. But I’m still bruised and aching from the stress and strain of the battle. …There is also a particular soreness between my legs from what took place beforehand. The smell of sex is still lingering on me, though thankfully, its masked by the overwhelming odor of sweat coming from everyone, including me. It seems most people chose to sleep these last few hours rather than shower, which I can hardly blame them for. And it seems those few hours rest have not done very much to restore them.

I slump down on a couch beside Sean and put my feet up on the coffee table. He looks over at me.

“Everyone’s looking pretty rough, Alodia. Maybe we should get some rest?”

“…I don’t think I’m gonna sleep very well until we find out what happened to Diego…” I murmur. Fresh tears spring to my eyes. Sean covers my hand with his.

“I know I won’t. Maybe we oughta rally the troops and come up with a battle plan.”

“I guess I could make the rounds and–” A strange choking noise catches my attention. I look up, and leap to my feet with a cry. “Oh my god! Quinn!”

Quinn has suddenly dropped to her knees and doubled over on the floor. Her hands, pressed to her mouth and nose, are smeared with blood. Blood has stained her shirt, her jean shorts, her bare knees, and the tiles beneath her. I drop to my knees beside her, putting a hand on her shoulder. She looks up at me, and I see that the blood is flowing from her nose in bright red gushing rivers.

The others are clustering around us. Michelle kneels on her other side, pressing a wad of tissues to her nose.

“Keep your head forward,” she says firmly. “Try not to swallow any blood. Alodia, help me get her to a couch.”

I brace Quinn against me and help her upright. Together, Michelle and I guide her over to a sofa.

“Everyone else get back,” Michelle orders. “Sean, get some more tissues.”

Sean hurries off to do as she says. Michelle keeps the tissues positioned over Quinn’s nose, pinching her nostrils closed.

“Okay, just sit up straight and lean forward a little. Breathe through your mouth. That’s it…you’re okay…”

I sit silently on Quinn’s other side, rubbing her back. I cannot help but appreciate Michelle’s beside manor. She’s definitely going to be a good doctor someday.

It takes about fifteen minutes for the flow of blood to dry up. Sean has brought us a damp washcloth. I take it and gently wipe the blood from Quinn’s face and hands.

“You can lean back a little, Quinn,” Michelle says. “But don’t lie flat yet. Keep your head above your heart for at least the next hour.”

“Oh, I’ve never been good at that,” she quips with a feeble smile.

“Here, Quinn. Lean against me.” I position myself with my legs around her on the couch and let her lean back against my chest. I look up at Michelle. “…What happened?”

“What do you mean what happened?” Quinn asks. “It was just a little bloody nose. No big deal.”

“It was a bad one,” Michelle says. “But I think we’re okay now.” Still, the concern in her eyes doesn’t escape me.

“…Is she really okay, Michelle?”

Michelle purses her lips. “Well…”

Iris, hovering nearby, projects at Michelle’s shoulder. “Quinn’s blood pressure: sub-normal. Weight loss detected. White blood cell count–”

“Guys, come on!” Quinn protests. “I’m fine!”

Michelle sighs. “…I think going through the portal just had a bigger effect on her than it did the rest of us. Lemme just take a look at–”

Quinn recoils, pushing Michelle’s hand away.

“I said I’m fine!” she snaps, startling both of us.

“Quinn,” I say gently. “Listen to her. Please.”

Quinn hesitates for a moment, then exhales slowly and settles into me.

“…Okay, Alodia. For you.”

Michelle rolls her eyes. “Won’t do it for me, no,” she mutters. “Gotta be for Alodia.”

She does a quick examination, looking in Quinn’s eyes, nose, and mouth, checking her pulse and her temperature. I keep my arms cinched loosely around Quinn’s waist until Michelle sits back.

“All right. I think you’re fine for now. But I’ve gotta keep an eye on you. Are you gonna let me do that?”

Quinn covers one of my hands with hers and squeezes it lightly. “Yes. I will.”

I stay where I am for a moment, but as it registers that the immediate danger has passed, my mind is once more filled with another purpose.

“…I think we need to get moving on a plan to save Diego,” I say after a minute. “Think you guys are ready?”

Michelle purses her lips, regarding Quinn tentatively.

“I think we can handle it,” she says slowly. “But let Quinn get a little rest first.”

“Much as I don’t want to delay, I’m not going to suggest we go charging out immediately as we are with no plan at all,” I say grimly. “I want Diego back alive. …Anyway, I’m gonna go check in with everyone else. See what they’re thinking.”

I ease out from behind Quinn, piling pillows behind her in my place. Michelle drapes a blanket over her legs.

I wander over to where Grace and Aleister are sitting, watching over his sleeping father. Aleister’s expression is stoic. Grace rests her hand on his knee.

“How’re you holding up, Aleister?”

Aleister doesn’t answer immediately.

“He’s…okay,” Grace says uncertainly.

“Knowing my father’s alive is…” He swallows. “…Part of me wished he were dead. At least then, he’d have the excuse to never see me.”

“Aleister, I know how you feel. My mom is more similar to him than you’d think. But I know how much I’d miss her if I lost her. And how much I miss her now.”

Aleister hums noncommitally.

I sigh. “Aleister, you told us that you came here to face your father. To show him the kind of man you are. Right now, you have that opportunity.”

Aleister finally looks up and meets my eyes. For the first time, it seems he is letting me see the hurt, scared, and lonely little boy behind the bitter mask.

“How, Alodia?” he asks softly. “How do I show him the person I’ve become?”

I meet his gaze steadily, returning the favor. I let him see my own hurt. My own fear. “…By helping me save Diego.”

He takes my hand and stands up.

“…That should suffice. Also, I suppose it is the moral choice.”

“That’s my Aleister,” Grace says with a grin.

Aleister smiles back at her. Then he looks at me again.

“…Diego…he is…important to you.”

I am quiet a moment. “…I don’t have a father,” I confess softly. “Or a mother. …Diego is the only family I’ve got.”

To their credit, neither of them press me for details. Then Grace says, “…I think you have more family than you realize yet.”

“…Take a wild guess who is leading this pack,” Aleister adds. “Half the people here would throw themselves to the wolves for you.”

“…I don’t want anyone to throw themselves to the wolves,” I say softly. “I just want Diego back.”

Laughter from across the atrium catches my attention. Raj, Zahra, and Craig stand around the marble statue fountain at the center of the atrium, giggling wildly.

“Oh my god, you’re right! It is!” Zahra squeals

“It so is!”

“Who’s what now?” I ask, wandering over.

Raj grasps my shoulders. “Alodia. Alodia…Alodia, this is ridiculous! You’re gonna love it. Look!”

He points to the fountain. A marble statue stands on a pedestal in the center, depicting a man in a toga wearing a crown of laurels. Engraved in the bottom of the pool is a circle of Roman numerals.

“…What am I looking at?”

“The statue, bro!” Craig laughs. “In the toga! Can you tell who it’s suppose to be?”

I look again. My jaw drops as the face registers.

“It’s…Rourke!”

My reaction is apparently hilarious. They burst into fresh peals of laughter, nearly falling over each other, half-delirious with exhaustion.

“I can’t believe I didn’t notice before!” Zahra howls. “The guy put a statue of himself in a toga in the middle of his own hotel! I’m cocky as hell, but I’m not even in this guy’s league!”

I can’t help smiling. “Doesn’t this guy know how the Roman Empire ended? With the Sack of Rome!”

“Oh my God, Alodia just said ‘sack’!” Craig gasps. “I’m dying! I can’t breathe!”

Raj scoops me up and hugs me against his soft, round belly. “I don’t know if what you said was funny. I’m probably just crazy right now. But you’re the best and I love you.”

Zahra throws an arm over my shoulders. “Let’s get real for a second. I know things are sucky right now, especially for you. But sometimes people gotta laugh to stay alive.” She ruffles my hair affectionately and wanders off.

I drift off myself, over to where Jake and Sean are talking intently with Lila.

“What’s happening over here?”

“Just trying to figure out who could’ve been here this whole time,” Sean replies

“Who are you talking about?” Lila asks.

“We’ve been gone six months, Lila. And somebody’s been spending a lot of time here.”

“Iris says she didn’t detect anyone coming to the hotel after the Watchers left, though,” Jake says.

“Just because she didn’t notice them doesn’t mean they weren’t here. Stuff’s been moved all over the hotel.”

“How can you tell?”

“Photographic memory. It’s how I’m able to read defenses. Point is, it’s like someone’s been living here. Looking for something.”

“Princess did find that crazy note of instructions ranting about the Hadean Zodiac.”

“Those notes led us to Rourke,” I say thoughtfully. “Maybe they came looking for him.”

“I’m just thinking…did people come to rescue us? Did we miss our window while jumping through time?”

“Trust me, Q.B., if anyone came to this island looking for us, it’s to silence us. Permanently.”

“Is that your idea of a silver lining? That we missed getting killed?”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“I don’t understand what you’re asking me, though,” Lila says.

“Schedules, timetables, shipments…anything you know about arrivals to La Huerta long term. We’ve only been thinking short-term up till now, but it’s been half a year.”

Lila looks at Sean like a deer in headlights. “I…Lila doesn’t know these things off the top of my head! Lila’s a tour guide!”

“Woah, easy there, Dimples. He’s just bouncing ideas around.”

“What if it’s Diego? I mean, if I escaped, I would have come here.”

Jake sighs. “Honestly, anything is possible.”

“It wasn’t him,” I say flatly. “I wish it were, but it’s not. That note wasn’t his handwriting. Besides…I know him. If he’d escaped, the first thing he’d do would have been to leave me a sign. Something I couldn’t mistake. …We can’t waste any more time. We have to get him back.”

“Of course!” Lila says cheerfully. “No man left behind. That’s my tour guide motto.”

“I should friggin’ hope so,” Jake mutters. “Well, let’s go rally the troops then.”

We gather everyone together in a circle of sofas and armchairs. Sean nods at me to take the lead. I take a deep breath.

“Thanks to the portal, we’ve left Diego out there with the Watchers for six months now. We need to get him back. Now.”

“Easier said than done,” Zahra says, not unfairly. “How are we supposed to pull off a rescue like that?”

“We hunt down some Watcher ass and make them regret the day they ever messed with us!” Craig answers. From his place on Craig’s lap, Murphy trills in agreement.

“We don’t even know where they are, Rambo,” Zahra counters flatly.

“I vote for an expedition,” Sean says. “Something to get a read on our new situation and pick up the trail.”

“Any trail will be six months old,” Jake says grimly. “Ice-cold.”

“Then what do you think, Jake?”

“…I think he’s dead.”

My heart drops into my stomach. For an instant, hurt and anger boil up in me like magma. How can he say that to me now? When only hours ago, he was holding me while I wept and vomited on the rooftop? When he was guiding me to lie in his lap so I would get an hour’s rest? When he seemed to care so much before, how could he now be so heartless? But my rage quickly cools when I rememebr the secret he told me last night when we were entwinded in bed together. Mike, his wingmate, his best friend, his brother. The two of them framed for treason and ambushed in the sky. Jake ejected in time. Mike did not. Jake knows. He knows the depth of love I have for Diego. …He knows the pain of separation. And every day, he lives the nightmare of knowing that separation will never end. …He is trying to protect me from unnecessary pain, not by filling me with false hope, but by making sure I am not blindsided if the worst happens. It’s misguided. I wish he wouldn’t say it. …But I appreciate his intentions. But Sean doesn’t know what I know.

“Shut up, Jake,” he growls.

“It’s a possibility,” Jake snaps. “At this point, it’s a likely one.”

“Clearly it’s easy for you to quit on people. How long before you decide we’re as good as dead, too?”

Jake glares at Sean. “Honestly, man, that happened as soon as we walked into this damn building.”

Sean opens his mouth to reply, but I catch his eye and shake my head. He shuts his mouth.

“We will be as good as dead if we go out there without a plan or a destination,” Estela points out.

“That is a fair point.” I look over at Quinn, still propped up on pillows, a blanket draped over her legs. “Quinn? Any thoughts.”

“I’ll follow your lead, Alodia. …But…I am worried about losing more of us.”

At those words, I cannot help but be struck at how pale she looks. I know she’s Irish, but usually she has that sweet flush in her cheeks and nose. But…maybe I’m worrying too much. I nod.

“Okay, then. I think the best thing to do is try to find answers here, first. Something that will tell us where the Watchers took Diego.”

Sean gets up. “Okay, people. I know it’s been a long, long day, but Diego’s counting on us now. Freshen up a little, but then we gotta search this place up and down.”

“What about him?” Zahra asks, jerking her head at Rourke.

“…Don’t think he’s going anywhere.”

We all rise and split up. I head towards the elevator to go up to my room. Sean follows me in. When we’re alone, he turns to me.

“Hey…Alodia…about what Jake said…don’t take it to heart. I’m sure Diego’s okay out there.”

“No, you’re not,” I say gently. “Neither am I. We can’t be sure. Jake’s right. It’s possible he’s dead.”

“We can’t give up on him.”

“I will never give up on him,” I say more sharply than I mean to. “Not until I know he’s dead. …But it is possible.”

Sean sighs. “…Doesn’t mean he should have said it.”

“He wasn’t being malicious.”

“Just cold-hearted.”

“No. Not that, either,” I say gently. “Don’t be too hard on him, Sean. …If you knew what I knew, you’d understand why he said it.”

“What do you mean?”

“…I can’t go around blabbing things he told me in confidence.” I am silent for a moment. Then I say, “He wanted me to be prepared. In case the worst happens. He doesn’t want me blindsided.”

“…I wish I understood him like you do,” Sean mutters. I can’t tell if he’s being bitter, sarcastic, or sincere.

“I don’t understand him,” I reply in a clipped tone. “I hardly know him. But I do know he wasn’t being cruel or coldhearted.”

“…All right. If you say so.”

Sean steps off the elevator at his floor. I continue up to the penthouse floor, to the rainforest-themed suite where I have lived for the last four days. I open the door, and I am hit by a cool breeze and the smell of saltwater. The room is still trashed, some of it from my wild night with Jake, some of it from the Watchers searching through my belongings. One of the windows is shattered from where the Watcher leader rappelled through.

“Oh, right,” I mutter aloud. “That happened.”

A few leaves have managed to blow in over the last six months. A seagull is perched comfortably on the window sill. It squawks at me. I wave it away.

“Go on, get outta here! Shoo!”

The gull flaps off over the sea. I walk into the bathroom, turn on the sink, and throw several handfuls of ice-cold water over my face. I raise my eyes to the mirror and freeze.

…Diego is there. He’s smiling over my shoulder.

“Man, Allie! And here I thought I looked like hell!”

I gasp, whipping around to face an empty space behind me. My chest goes tight with the threat of fresh tears. Guilt hallucinations. Not a great sign. I turn back to the mirror. …Hallucination!Diego was right, though. I do look like hell. Smell like it too. Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to freshen up a bit. At the least, a hot shower would help me clear my head.

I strip off and wash my mountain climbing outfit in the sink, scrubbing it with shampoo and hanging it to dry. I climb into the shower, where I let the next wave of tears fall freely as I scrub off the sweat and soil of the last twelve hours. The hot stream soothes my aching muscles, though it does little for the tenderness at my pubis. Under normal circumstances, I love the slightly bruised feeling after a night of wild, just-slightly-rough sex. And I suppose I am not unhappy about spending last night with Jake. …No…I am far from unhappy about it. …But the scattered glass on the carpet reminds me that the night almost ended with Jake dead in my arms, until I grabbed the blue stone around the Watcher’s neck.

God, I have to get out of this place…get out of this room…

I brush my teeth and go to hunt down some clean clothes. The Watchers dumped out my duffle, but they left my clothes in a single pile at least. I pull on some socks and underclothes and a pair of old jeans. A pale green T-shirt on the top of the pile catches my attention. I pick it up and unfold it. Kenna&Dom&Val&Raydan, it reads. I feel my breath catch in my throat again.

The Crown and the Flame. Diego and I are superfans. We read all the books together, played all the games. When the current season is airing, Sunday nights are set aside for viewing. We order sushi and sake and green tea ice cream from Sakura’s and curl up under a blanket on his bed to watch. We are both convinced that Kenna and Dom are endgame. Soul mates. It’s true love. Maybe Val will be Kenna’s mistress though. Or maybe she’ll finally hook up with Raydan.

Diego got me this shirt for my last birthday. Our favorite ships in the right order, and no other explaination. If people got it, he said, we’d know other fans right away.

I pull it on. Like Queen Adriana’s signet ring, I’ll wear this shirt as a reminder of what I’m fighting for. Maybe there’s no romance between us, but Diego is still the Dom to my Kenna. My oldest friend. My partner in crime. I run a brush through my hair and venture back out, heading down to the atrium.

…I’m not sure where to start looking for answers. But there’s someone else I want to find, too. And I’m pretty sure I know where to look.

I have to search a few different bars, but in the country-themed bar on the eighth floor, the lights are on. I don’t see anyone right away, but a country ballad plays on the jukebox.

“…Jake?” I call out.

The sound of a hard smack and shattering glass behind the bar answer me.

“Ow!” Jake grunts. “Damn, that hurt…”

“…You okay back there?”

Jake stands up, wincing and running a hand through his hair.

“Yeah,” he mutters. “Just about gave myself a concussion bumping my head, but I’m great.”

“That’s what happens when you get a big head about everything.”

“What can I say, Princess? My ego is a gift and a curse.” His eyes fall on my T-shirt and he grins. “Crown and the Flame, huh? You more of a Kenna or a Dom?”

“Me? I’m totally Kenna.”

“Pfft. Figures.”

“…Jake, what are you doing behind the bar, anywhere. We’re supposed to be looking for clues about where the Watchers took Diego.”

“Yeeeah…I think they left their address at the bottom of one of these bottles. Only one way to find out which one.” He smirks at me, but there’s a helpless fear in his eyes that I can’t mistake. I know what he’s thinking. I know what memories this is bringing back for him. I touch his hand.

“…Jake…”

He shudders, recoiling from my touch just a little. “Ya know, did somebody steal some of this booze? Used to be a bottle of Raleigh DeWitt Gold whiskey sittin’ here. Been sayin’ I was savin’ it for when things really went down the crapper–”

“Jake–”

“–and well, I think it’s about time. But look! Somebody guzzled the whole thing! It’s empty–”

“Jake!” He shuts up, staring at the floor. I take a deep breath. “…I know you’re worried about him. Whatever you pretend, I know you’re worried. …But you can’t do this to me right now. I need you to get your act together if we’re going to save him.”

He sighs. “You’re right. Like always. Look at me. I’m pathetic!” I startle as he suddenly picks up the empty whiskey bottle and hurls it into the wall. It shatters in a rain of glass. …Like the window in my room last night…

I shiver. When Jake drops out of sight behind the bar, I rush to walk around the corner and find him. He’s sitting on the floor, his head buried in his hands. I scoot in beside him, sitting close. …I need to feel him beside me. I need to know that he’s here. I almost lost him, too…

“…Did you really drink that whole bottle just now?”

“…Nah. There was only about a quarter left. Been nipping away at it since my plane blew up.” He draws in a shuddering breath. “Thing is, I ain’t given a damn about people in a long time, Princess. Then you came along and pretty much blew that whole plan straight to hell. Now thanks to you, I’m all torn up inside over your gang of Little Rascals. And it’s all your fault.”

“My fault?” I echo wryly. “How do you figure that?”

Jake snorts a laugh and looks at me, our faces close. Strands of his sandy hair fall across his bright blue eyes, shimmering with unshed tears.

“Not sure if you noticed last night, but you kinda blew my mind.”

I can’t hold back a smile. “…I definitely noticed.”

His face is so close now that I can see the light catching on his damp eyelashes. As if drawn in by a magnet, I lean in and let my lips brush softly against his. I feel him lip me back. We pull apart, just an inch, our eyes meeting. Then we collapse into one another in the same frenzied, needful passion that consumed us the night before. Jake picks me up as if I weigh no more than a feather, sitting me down on the edge of the bar. I yank off his green bomber jacket. He pulls my shirt from the waistband of my jeans and lets his hands roam underneath. He breaks the kiss for a moment.

“Does this mean we’re–”

“Yeah,” I reply quickly, recapturing his lips with mine.

“And it’s not like–”

“No.”

“Cool.”

He pulls my shirt off over my head and kisses down my neck to my chest, pausing at the hollow between my breasts.

“Hey!” Zahra’s voice, echoing from somewhere outside, makes us both jump. “You guys are gonna wanna see this!”

We pause, pulling apart reluctantly. I struggle to put the breaks on my racing heart. Jake groans.

“Zahra must hate me. She must really, really hate me.”

“I’m sure she does,” I agree wryly, pulling my shirt back on. “Come on. We should see what’s up.”

Outside the bar, we look down into the atrium and find Zahra waving at us from the first floor.

“Get down here! You guys aren’t gonna believe this!”

We head down, catching up to her just about the same time as the others do. She leads us down a hall to a massive set of ornately carved wooden doors. …Which would not be unusual in The Celestial. …Except that between us we had searched the entire resort top to bottom while we were searching for entrances to barricade before the attack. And I can tell looking around at my friends’ faces that none of them recognize these doors.

“…Uh…was this always here?”

“…What in heavens?” Aleister breathes.

“Definitely never seen those before,” Sean confirms.

Quinn kneels to examine the edges. “Look here. See how the wall is chipped where it meets the doors? And there’s some plaster stuck to the carvings.”

“…These doors were hidden,” I conclude. “Like they were drywalled over.”

“Seconded,” Jake says. “Done some construction in my day, and I can pretty much guarantee it.”

Michelle rolls her eyes. “Is there anything you haven’t done?”

“Not really.”

“If these doors were hidden, who found them?” Sean asks. “How’d they even know they were here?”

“Somehow, I doubt it was Diego,” Estela says flatly.

“There are some words engraved here,” Aleister remarks, squinting. “My Latin is rusty, but I see the Roman numerals for 79 A.D.”

“Have you guys looked at these carvings in the door?” Zahra asks, eyeing them with distaste. “They’re kinda messed up.”

“It does not appear messed up to me,” Iris chirps. “It’s a clear depiction of humans turning to ash in a volcanic eruption. The craftwork is in excellent condition.”

“Pompeii. It’s a carving of Pompeii. Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D. and wiped out the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Pliny the Elder was killed when he attempted to rescue his family in Stabiae.” Seeing the others staring at me, I shrug. “What? I’m a history major. I know things like this.”

“Alodia is correct,” Aleister says. “Mount Vesuvius did erupt in 79 A.D. The depiction fits the date on the engraving.”

“It’s still pretty creepy,” Zahra mutters.

“Enough stalling,” Craig says. “You gonna open 'em or what?”

“I’m not scared!” Zahra snaps.

“Didn’t say you were.”

“You thought it,” she says accusingly.

Craig grins. “Yeah, I did.”

Zahra pushes on the massive doors. They swing slowly open, revealing a sprawling, majestic library that puts the one in Beauty and the Beast to shame. Worn, leather-bound books fill the rows upon rows of shelves towering over us. Tapestries adorn the bare spaces on the walls. Cherubim and Seraphim with serene, beautiful faces are painted on the ceiling in soft, heavenly shades.

“Okay, this is my new room!” Grace declares.

“This is one hell of a library, that’s for sure,” Sean agrees. “But don’t forget why we’re here.”

“Cap’s right,” Jake says. “If our mystery guest came here sometime in the last six months searching for this place, maybe it’s got some answers for us.”

We split up and start searching.

“There’s gotta be a million books in here,” Michelle moans. “What are we even looking for?”

“Just gotta hope we know it when we see it,” I reply.

Our footsteps echo on the marble floor as we wander the library. Morning light seeps through stained-glass windows in the upper arches, colorfully illuminating the frescoes painted on the ceiling.

“Analyzing…” Iris’ voice echoes. “This mechanized celestial globe dates to 1594, one of the first produced. A first-edition text by Athanasius Kircher, circa 1662.”

“Everett Rourke’s entire personal collection!” Lila breathes. “I’d always wondered what had happened to it.”

“But why would he stick this in a damn beach resort of all places? And then why seal up the entrance?”

“He had a lot to hide,” Aleister says flatly.

“Like father, like son,” Estela mutters.

Aleister ignores her, but I see his jaw tighten. Just past him, I notice Murphy, curled up beneath a book display. His tail is curled tightly around his body, and frost clings to the wall behind him, shedding from the tips of his blue fur. I go to kneel beside him.

“Hey there, fella. Why are you trembling? What’re you scared of?”

Murphy whines at me, his eyes fixed on something on the wall. I follow his gaze to where a strange scepter is mounted within. I go over to examine it. Two hissing snakes twine in a double-helix around a third snake with wings framing its head.

“What the hell is that monstrosity?” Jake asks.

“Three snakes,” I say. Then, seeing where they join at the bottom, I correct myself. “No…a hydra. In the shape of a…”

“A caduceus,” Iris finishes. “The symbol of medicine used worldwide, originally the icon of Mercury, the gods’ messenger.”

“So the scepter’s as Roman as Pompeii,” I remark.

“Analyzing…origin undetermined. This is the only article in the library I cannot identify.” Iris’s voice seems to hold real confusion.

“Did you see the inscription on the frame?” Michelle asks. I look to where she’s pointing.

'Oh Mercury! Herald of that

shining hour when glory’s

house stands open…’

Homeric Odes, Chapter XII

“The Homeric Odes!” Grace exclaims. “I saw a volume of those on the shelves!” She rushes off and returns a few minutes later with the well-worn volume. I take it from her and flip open to the twelfth chapter.

“…'His staff aloft o’re glimmering waters, the herald-god marked the height of the day. And lo, the path to the depths yawned open. To conquer the heavens, a man must journey below’.”

“That passage must be important somehow,” Quinn remarks. “I for one am past believing in coincidences on this island.”

“I agree, but what could it mean?”

“Well,” Jake says thoughtfully, “the staff of the herald-god, that’s gotta be this thing, right? The ca…cader…cudel…”

“Caduceus,” I finish.

“Right. That thing.”

“Sounds like this caduceus is supposed to open a path below something,” Estela remarks.

“Right. When the scepter is 'held aloft o'er glimmering waters’.”

“Hmm…where could we find water?”

“Sweet Jesus, Craig,” Michelle groans. “We’re on an island.”

Quinn giggles. “Okay, but more specific maybe. Where have we seen someone standing over glimmering water?”

I snap my fingers. “The atrium!”

“Right! The statue of Rourke over the fountain’s 'glimmering waters’!” Sean agrees.

“ 'Marking the height of the day’,” Zahra murmurs. Then her dark eyes widen. “It’s a freakin’ sundial! We give the staff to the herald, the fountain becomes a sundial!”

“And the sundial opens the path!” Quinn finishes.

“Do we know what time it opens?” Michelle asks.

“Considering everything we know, my guess is noon,” I reply. “ 'The height of the day’, remember?”

“My watch says it’s almost noon now,” Lila says. “We can make it if we hurry!”

“Quick!” Raj says. “Alodia, grab the Twizzler!”

I grab the caduceus and follow my friends as we race the clock back to the atrium, sprinting out of the library and down the long hallway. The statue in the lobby gradually grows larger as we approach, the sunlight glinting off one pale marble arm, held aloft in front of him.

“There! We have to get the scepter into the statue’s hand!”

“How?!” Michelle cries.

“Not much time to figue it out! It’s 11:58!”

“I got it!” Sean says. “Pass it over, Alodia.”

I hand him the scepter. He takes a running start, and then launches himself from the rim of the fountain. With a gravity defying leap, he grabs the arm of the statue, pulls himself up with one arm, and slams the scepter into the statue’s grip. He swings and vaults off the sundial, landing on his feet on the other side of the fountain.

“Like a boss!” Craig crows.

“Impressive,” Jake admits with a smirk.

“You sure you never did gymnastics?” I ask. “Learn to flip, you’d kill on vault.”

“Show-off,” Michelle mutters.

“Time, Lila?”

“Eleven fifty-nine and twenty-two seconds. We made it!”

We huddle around Lila, counting down the last seconds. At precisely twelve on the dot, the sun shines through the glass roof, the staff casting a slow-moving shadow on the fountain’s numerals.

Clunk! We all start as the floor vibrates under our feet.

“Watch out!”

The tiles behind the fountain drop into the floor, falling one after the other into place, each about four inches lower than the next.

“It’s a staircase!”

“Okay, that’s actually pretty dope,” Zahra admits.

“All right, folks,” Jake says, “guess we’re going down into whatever sex dungeon Rourke has set up.”

Aleister shudders. “Was that mental image really necessary?”

“You know, Malfoy? I immediately regretted it. Sorry.”

We head down the narrow staircase, going single-file into the darkness. Jake finds my hand and laces his fingers with mine.

“You’re not actually nervous about going down here, are you, tough guy?”

“Nah. Just wanted an excuse to hold your hand.”

In the darkness, I feel the smooth floor even out. We stand together in silence, seeing nothing, hearing only the sounds of each other breathing. I am suddenly very grateful for Jake’s hand in mind. I squeeze it tightly, gathering my courage to take another step forward.

With a metallic clunking sound, a floor tile depresses beneath my foot like a button. The lights flicker on around us. For a moment, we all shield our eyes. Then, as the spots clear, I find myself in a room painted totally white. Dozens of illuminated pedestals and wall displays house bizzare trinkets from every era, shining under thick glass domes.

“Dude!” Craig cries. “It’s not a sex dungeon! Rourke’s got a man-cave! …No TV’s though. Gotta hook up those flatscreens.”

“…What the hell is this place?” Michelle murmurs.

“I think it’s some sort of museum,” Quinn says.

“Or a trophy room,” Estela suggests.

Jake runs his fingertip over a shelf. “A little dusty. Don’t think anybody’s been here in awhile.”

Michelle is lingering by one of the pedestals, admiring the trinket gleaming within. I walk over to look at it. Under the dome stands a figurine that looks like some sort of idol, several inches tall. It depicts a nude woman with arms outstretched, a flowing length of cloth maintaining her modesty. She appears to wear a headdress of peacock feathers.

“Wow…”

“Isn’t this gorgeous,” Michelle murmurs appreciatively. “What is it made of? Gold?”

“I think it’s…amber, actually.”

Experimentally, I press a green button on the side of the pedestal. The glass dome divides and retracts into the base. Michelle picks up the idol.

“It’s so…beautiful…” she murmurs, almost dreamily. She offers it to me. I take it in my hands.

The moment my fingers graze it, my world flashes white, only for an instant.

I am standing in an immaculately tidy, artfully decorated bedroom. A red Hartfeld Knights banner and a tapestry with Greek letters hang on the wall amongst posters and framed pictures. A mild spring breeze drifts through the open window. There is new growth on the trees outside.

…Michelle sits on the edge of the bed, gripping one of the wooden posters.

“What are you talking about?” she whispers. “I didn’t–”

Sean, standing in front of her with arms folded, glares down at her. “Yes, Michelle. You did. Your closest friends told me. You cheated. It’s over.”

He turns away, towards the door. Michelle stands, stretching a hand towards him.

“Don’t say that! You can’t leave me! …Please…”

Sean stops, but he doesn’t look back at her. “We built something for two years, and it meant nothing to you. Of course it’s over. …How could I ever trust you again? Once you break that trust, there’s no putting it back together.”

He storms out, slamming the door behind him. Michelle sinks down on the bed again, tears forming on her eyelashes. After a moment, someone knocks.

“Aww, Meech? You okay in there? Can we get you some chamomile?”

“…I just need a minute,” Michelle calls back. “Thanks, Anna…”

I count three pairs of footsteps leaving. Michelle sits in silence. The tears in her eyes don’t fall. Then, giggles drift up through the open window.

“Sean totally bought it! Oh my god, I can’t believe it worked!”

“You know, she probably did cheat on him at some time or another. That total skank. She thinks she’s so smart. So much better than us.”

“How does she not get that the whole sorority totally hates her?”

I watch Michelle’s face. I know she can hear what they’re saying, but she doesn’t shout. She doesn’t cry. Her eyes go cold.

I’m suddenly yanked forward, pulled as if by my very heart. I’m on a stormswept beach. Rain batters Michelle as she climbs into a rusted sailboat.

“Michelle, stop!” Quinn cries.

“You’re going to get yourself killed, you idiot!” Zahra yells.

“No!” Michelle screams. “I’m going! None of you want me here! You never did! You think it’s my fault Craig and Aleister are dead!”

Jake graps the prow of the boat. “No! We don’t! Of course we don’t. Just get out of the boat! We’re your friends!”

Michelle shoves him off with surprising strength, tears mixing with the rain pelting her face. Jake stumbles, falling into the shallow water.

“No!” Michelle snaps. “You’re not.”

She pushes off. The wind and rough water quickly carry her into deeper water. Jake scrambles to his feet and rushes after her, but he can’t move fast enough.

“Michelle! That thing’s still out there!”

As her boat shrinks in the distance, I can make out a massive shadow slithering beneath the waves.

“Michelle!” Quinn screams. “Micheeeeeeeelle!”

There is another white flash, and then I am back in the museum. Michelle is right next to me, her hands still on the idol. I look up at her. “…How long was I standing here?”

“What are you talking about?” Michelle asks. “I just handed you this thing. Do you not want it?”

I look at the peacock-headed figure. She gazes blankly back at me.

“Yo, Alodia!” Craig calls. “Check this thing out!”

I shake my head to clear it of the troubling vision and make my way over to Craig at the back of the room, still holding the idol. He points to a strange crimson glove within a glass dome, ending at the elbow. Something about it gives me deja-vu.

“What do you think this thing is?” Craig asks.

“I don’t know. It looks futuristic somehow. But it also seems really old.”

He grins at me. “Wanna check it out?”

I press the button to open it, but it buzzes and flashes red. I frown.

“It’s not working.”

“We could always smash it.”

“Yeah…I guess we could…”

“Hell yeah!” Craig winds up a punch and shatters the dome, sending glass sprinkling over the floor.

“Oh, my God, Craig!” I yelp. “With your hand?! Really?!”

“The hell’s the matter with you, you maniac?” Zahra shrieks.

Craig points to me. “Alodia told me to!”

“…Yeeeah, this one’s kinda on me,” I admit. “I didn’t mean for him to use his hand though. …Thanks, though, Craig.”

I pick up the glove. It looks a little patched together.

“It’s so cool-looking! Does it do anything? Try it on!”

It’s a crazy suggestion to take, but I slip the glove onto my arm. “…Do you see this at the bottom, around the elbow? It’s all torn up and kinda scalded. …I think this person’s arm was cut off!”

Craig doubles over with laughter. “And you put your hand in there! Nasty!”

I hastily pull off the glove, which only makes him laugh harder. Across the museum, Jake picks up a small black device.

“Hey, Craigslist! I think I found the remote to those TVs you were looking for,” he says, pressing a few button. “Think the batteries might be dead or–”

With a mechanical hiss, the wall behind Jake splits in two, making everyone jump. Two panels slide apart, revealing an enormous floor-to-ceiling screen.

“Aww, yeah, baby!” Craig crows. “That’s what ya boy is talking about!”

The screen flickers to life, revealing a map. No…not a map, strictly speaking.

“Satellite imagery!” Jake exclaims. “That’s La Huerta!”

Crosshairs flash on the screen, pinpointing a location in a small bay on the western side of the island. A label appears beside the crosshairs.

“'Hostiles’ Stronghold’?” Sean reads.

“'The Hostiles’,” I murmur thoughtfully. “That’s what Rourke called the Watchers in that recording at the Observatory!”

“I think we just found where the Blue Man Group took Diego.”

I swallow hard, raising a hand to touch the map. My fingertips graze the spot marked by the crosshairs. He’s there. That’s where Diego is. Diego…hold on. I’m coming for you. I turn back to the others.

“Listen…I know you’ve all been through a lot, so I understand if some of you want to stay here…”

Zahra holds up a hand, cutting me off. “Give it a rest, Alodia.”

“What?” I blink, looking around at my friends. Sean has his arms folded defiantly. Michelle is tying back her hair. Jake picks up an ancient hatchet. Despite their exhaustion, despite everything they’ve been through, they all look at me with their jaws set, eyes afire with resolve.

Zahra meets my eyes. “You already know we’re coming with you.”

Craig cracks his knuckles. “Let’s go save our friend.”

For a moment, I can’t speak, overcome as I am with grateful tears. Then the sound of footsteps and slow clapping behind us makes us all turn. Everett Rourke, now dressed in an elegant brown suit, stands in the doorway, smirking.

“Well done, friends. You found my toys, I see.”

Jake drifts closer to me, not taking his eyes off Rourke. “Figures you’d be the kinda guy who slow claps.”

“Jacob, Jacob, Jacob…to be fair, I understand your hostility. But you’re going to appreciate very quickly that we are on the same side here.” Rourke adjusts his jacket and cracks his neck. He turns to me, locking eyes and holding my gaze. I gaze back steadily.

“…You’re awake,” I finally say.

“And you exist. Splendid on both counts. The pleasure, for once, is all mine.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Estela growls.

Rourke ignores her, having finally spotted his son, stewing quietly beside me, glaring.

“Aleister. My boy. …It’s been a long time.”

#Endless Summer #pixelberry choices #play choices #choices stories you play #Diego Ricardo Ortiz Soto #jake mckenzie #sean gayle #raj bhandarkar #craig hsiao #aleister rourke #estela montoya #quinn kelly #zahra namazi #michelle nguyen #grace hall

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