#Sand Creek Post Office | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

trinity-mia · 8 months ago

Text

a story as endless as the ocean

the titan's curse

1.2 the land without rain

warnings : lots of blood and gore, monster fight, graphic descriptions of impalement, cursing, minor character death

word count : 6.0k

1.2 One is Lost in the Land Without Rain

We rode the boar until sunset, which was about as much as I could take. Imagine riding a giant steel brush over a bed of gravel all day. That's about how comfortable boar-riding was. And I had never been a champion rider.

I have no idea how many miles we covered, but eventually the mountains faded into the distance and were replaced by miles of flat, dry land. The grass and scrub brush got sparser until we were galloping across the desert.

As night fell, the boar came to a stop at a creek bed and snorted. He started drinking the muddy water, then ripped a saguaro cactus out of the ground and chewed it, needles and all.

"This is as far as he'll go," Grover informed us as he clambered off awkwardly. "We need to get away while he's eating."

Nobody needed convincing. We slipped off the boar's back while he was busy munching on the cacti. Then we waddled away as fast as we could with our saddle sores.

After its third saguaro and another drink of muddy water, the boar squealed and belched, then whirled around and galloped back toward the east.

"It likes the mountains better," I guessed.

"I can't blame it," Thalia replied. "Look."

Ahead of us was a two-lane road half covered with sand. On the other side of the road was a cluster of buildings too small to be a town: a boarded-up house, a taco shop that looked like it hadn't been open since before Zoe was born, and a white stucco post office with a sign that said GILA CLAW, ARIZONA hanging crookedly above the door. Beyond that was a range of hills... but then I noticed they weren't regular hills. The countryside was way too flat for that. The hills were enormous mounds of old cars, appliances, and other scrap metal. It was a junkyard that seemed to go on forever.

"Does anybody else have a bad feeling about this?" I muttered warily, eyeing the place suspiciously. I didn't know why, but something about it put me on edge.

To my surprise, Zoe gave a nod of agreement.

"I believe that you are correct," she answered, teasing her bow, which had randomly appeared from nowhere again. "There is something in the air that makes me feel wary. We must take care."

"Well, either way, something tells me that we're not going to find a car rental here," Thalia sighed. She looked at Grover. "I don't suppose you got another wild boar up your sleeve?"

Grover was sniffing the wind, looking nervous. He fished out his acorns and threw them into the sand, then played his pipes. They rearranged themselves in a pattern that made no sense to me, but Grover looked concerned.

"That's us," he said, jabbing a finger at said nuts. "Those five nuts right there."

"And?" I pressed him. "What else?"

"That cluster right there," Grover said, pointing to the left, "that's trouble."

"A monster?" Thalia asked.

Grover looked uneasy. "I don't smell anything, which doesn't make sense. But the acorns don't lie. Our next challenge..."

"Let me guess," I huffed. "Over there." I jerked a thumb toward the junkyard. With the sunlight almost gone now, the hills of metal looked like something on an alien planet. To my utter lack of surprise, Grover nodded, an anxious expression on his face as he confirmed my suspicions.

"Great," Thalia mumbled.

After some debate, we decided to camp for the night and try the junkyard in the morning. It was only logical. After all, monsters are always stronger in the dark, and we were weakened by the lack of proper vision. Going at daylight might delay us, but we'd be better off being slow than being dead. Besides, we had to sleep at some point. Being human was so inconvenient, damn.

Zoe and Bianca produced five sleeping bags and foam mattresses out of their backpacks and passed them out. The atmosphere was almost amicable, and I felt like Zoe and I could tolerate each other. She really wasn't that bad, now that we had come to a truce of some sort.

The night got chilly fast, so Grover and I collected old boards from the ruined house, and Thalia zapped them with an electric shock to start a campfire. Pretty soon we were about as comfy as you can get in a rundown ghost town in the middle of nowhere.

"The stars are out," Zoe murmured. She was right. There were millions of them, with no city lights to turn the sky orange.

"It's so amazing," Bianca replied, her voice awed. "I've never actually seen the Milky Way."

"This is nothing," Zoe declared. "In the old days, there were thousands more. Whole constellations have disappeared because of human light pollution."

The way she talked, it was clear that she was not one of said humans. I was curious about what she might really be, but bit back my questions. We were getting along, and with Luke, Brylie, and Artemis on the line, I didn't want to risk jeopardizing that.

Grover sighed. He was still looking up at the stars like he was thinking about the light pollution problem. "If only Pan were here, he would set things right."

Zoe nodded sadly.

"Maybe it was the coffee," Grover considered. "I was drinking coffee, and the wind came. Maybe if I drank more coffee..."

I was pretty sure that coffee had nothing to do with what had happened in Cloudcroft, but I didn't have the heart to tell Grover.

"Grover, do you really think that was Pan?" I asked gently. "I mean, I know that you want it to be him, but it's been thousands of years since he was last heard from. Why would he interfere now?"

"He sent us help," Grover insisted, conviction filling his voice. "I don't know how or why. But it was his presence. After this quest is done, I'm going back to New Mexico and drinking a lot of coffee. It's the best lead we've gotten in two thousand years. I was so close."

I didn't answer. I didn't want to squash Grover's hopes. But my question remained. Why now, and not before? Was it the Great Stirring?

"What I want to know," Thalia said, looking at Bianca, "is how you destroyed one of the zombies. There are a lot more out there somewhere. We need to figure out how to fight them."

Bianca shook her head. "I don't know. I just stabbed it and it went up in flames."

"And Allie—"

"I don't wanna talk about it. Maybe there's something special about your knife?"

"It is the same as mine," Zoe dismissed my theory. "Celestial bronze, yes. But mine did not affect the warriors that way."

"Maybe you have to hit the skeleton in a certain spot," I offered another guess.

I felt a jab of pity as I noticed how uncomfortable Bianca looked with everybody paying attention to her. The others noticed it too.

"Never mind," Zoe told her. "We will find the answer eventually. In the meantime, we should plan our next move. When we get through this junkyard, we must continue west. If we can find a road, we can hitchhike to the nearest city. I think that would be Las Vegas."

I was about to protest, saying Grover and I didn't have the best experience in Vegas. Not to mention it'd probably be the most likely place for me to get recognized, but Bianca beat me to it.

"No!" she exclaimed desperately. "Not there!"

Zoe frowned. "Why?"

Bianca took a shaky breath. "I... I think we stayed there for a while," she stammered. "Nico and I. When we were traveling. And then, I can't remember..."

I was suddenly hit by a dark suspicion. I remembered what Bianca had told me about Nico and her staying in a hotel for a while. Then I thought about the last time I had been in Las Vegas.

"Bianca," I said seriously. "That hotel you stayed at. Was it possibly called the Lotus Hotel and Casino?"

Her eyes widened in surprise. "How could you know that?"

I swore. "Gods, Bianca," I groaned. The strange things around the two siblings suddenly made so much more sense, but bits of the puzzle were still missing. How long had they been there for? Why were they there, and who had sent them there in the first place? Why didn't they have any memory?

"Wait," Thalia ordered, holding up her hands and looking confused. "What's the Lotus Hotel and Casino?"

"About a year and a half ago," I began to explain, "Luke, Grover, and I got trapped there. It's designed so you never want to leave. We stayed for about an hour. When we came out, five days had passed. It alters your perception of time. There were people there for decades, and they thought it was only a week or so."

"No," Bianca denied, shaking her head desperately. "No, that's not possible."

"You said that somebody came and got you out," I remembered.

"Yes."

"What did he look like? What did he say?"

"I... I don't remember. Please, I really don't want to talk about this."

Zoe sat forward, her eyebrows knit with concern. "You said that Washington, D.C., had changed when you went back last summer. You didn't remember the subway being there."

"Yes, but—"

"Bianca," Zoe interrupted her again, "can you tell me the name of the president of the United States right now?"

"Don't be silly," Bianca scoffed, an edge of hysteria to her tone. She told us the correct name of the president.

"And who was the president before that?" Zoe asked.

Bianca thought for a while. "Roosevelt."

Zoe swallowed. Thalia covered her mouth with her hand to hide her gasp, and I continued to think of more and more questions, trying to understand how the two had ended up in the Casino. And why they had come out now, of all times. With the Titans rising, the timing was suspect, at best.

"Theodore or Franklin?" Zoe's voice had a hint of a shake in it, and her dark eyes were wide. Her jaw was tight and her hands were curled into fists. I didn't blame her for it. She was acting better than I would in that situation, that was for sure.

"Franklin," Bianca replied confidently. "F.D.R."

"Bianca," Zoe said slowly, carefully. "F.D.R. was not the last president. That was about seventy years ago."

"That's impossible," Bianca gasped. "I... I'm not that old." She stared at her hands as if to make sure they weren't wrinkled.

Thalia's eyes turned sad. I guess she knew what it was like to get pulled out of time for a while. "It's okay, Bianca. The important thing is that you and Nico are safe. You made it out."

"But how?" I pressed. "We were only in there for an hour to us and we barely escaped. We wouldn't have managed at all, if I wasn't so resistant to mind control. I practically had to drag Grover and Luke away from the place. How could you have escaped after being there for so long? You didn't even know your heritage back then. You couldn't have broken out of the spell alone."

"I told you." Bianca looked about ready to cry. "A man came and said that it was time to leave. And—"

"But who? Why did he do it? Why then, and not seventy years ago?"

Before she could answer, we were hit with a blazing light from down the road. The headlights of a car appeared out of nowhere. We grabbed our sleeping bags and got out of the way as a deathly white limousine slid to a stop in front of us.

The back door of the limo opened right next to me. Before I could step away, the point of a sword touched my throat.

I heard the sound of Zoe and Bianca drawing their bows, and Thalia summoning her spear. As the owner of the sword got out of the car, I moved back very slowly. I had to, because he was pushing the point under my chin.

He smiled cruelly. "Hello again, sweetheart."

"Lord Ares," I spat the name bitterly, old feelings of resentment welling up within me again. "How're your heels?"

His smug expression darkened at the reminder that a sixteen-year-old half-blood girl had managed to wound him in battle before, and he growled slightly in warning.

"Watch your tone, girly," he warned. "I might not be able to kill you yet because of Uncle P, but you get me angry enough and I might be able to pass it off as an accident."

I smirked, knowing the threat didn't have anything behind it.

The war god glanced at my friends.

"At ease, people."

He snapped his fingers, and their weapons fell to the ground. Bianca gasped in shock, casting a worried look at Zoe, looking for instructions. The elder Huntress glowered at him bitterly.

"This is a friendly meeting." He dug the point of his blade a little farther under my chin. "Of course, I'd like to take your head for a trophy, but someone wants to see you. And I never behead my enemies in front of a lady."

"What lady?" Thalia asked.

Ares looked over at her. "Well, well. I heard you were back."

He lowered his sword and pushed me away.

"Thalia, daughter of Zeus," Ares mused, blatantly looking her up and down like he had done to me when we first met him, making her shiver and glare at him. "You're not hanging out with very good company."

"What's your business, Ares?" she demanded. "Who's in the car?"

Ares smiled, enjoying the attention. "Oh, I doubt she wants to meet the rest of you. Particularly not them." He jutted his chin toward Zoe and Bianca. "Why don't you all go get some tacos while you wait? Only take Allie a few minutes."

"We will not leave her alone with thee, Lord Ares," Zoe said.

I shot her a look that I hoped communicated my appreciation for her support.

"Besides," Grover managed, "the taco place is closed."

Ares snapped his fingers again. The lights inside the taqueria suddenly blazed to life. The boards flew off the door and the CLOSED sign flipped to OPEN. "You were saying, goat boy?"

"Go on," I told my friends. "I'll handle this."

I tried to sound more confident than I felt, but I don't think Ares was fooled.

"You heard the girl," Ares said. His voice was mocking, and it took all of my self-control not to punch him. "She's big and strong. She's got things under control."

"Big and strong enough to defeat you. Shut your mouth."

Bad thing to say, but I was also very confident he wouldn't kill me. Like 76% sure. At least I was right, and all he did was glare at me.

My friends reluctantly headed over to the taco restaurant. Ares regarded me with loathing, then opened the limousine door like a chauffeur.

"Get inside, sugar," he said. "And mind your manners. She's not as forgiving of rudeness as I am."

He practically pushed me into the limo and as soon as I was in, I became instantly confused. I was looking at myself, just... better. Like before I went on deadly quests and would walk red carpets, but better. For the first time in a long while, envy filled me.

She was wearing a red satin dress and her hair was curled in a cascade of ringlets. Her face was the most beautiful I'd ever seen: perfect makeup, dazzling eyes, a smile that would've lit up the dark side of the moon.

At first, she looked exactly like me, white hair, sea-green eyes. Then she changed, mostly switching from looking like me, to Selena Gomez, to Marilyn Monroe at some points. Then I was looking at Gigi Hadid and then Beyoncé, it made my head spin.

When she smiled at me, just for a moment she looked a little like Luke. Like, what he would look like if he were a woman.

"Ah, there you are, Allie," the goddess smiled. "I am Aphrodite."

As if I hadn't already managed to put two-and-two together yet. I had enough thinking ability to figure that out.

"Uh... hi?" I was on the verge of straight out asking her what she wanted, but I bit my tongue.

"Oh, you really are gorgeous!" She started looking like me again. "Could you hold this for me?"

She handed me a polished mirror the size of a dinner plate and had me hold it up for her.

"Now... what shade do you wear most often for lipstick?"

I was confused, especially because there was no way this could be what prompted Aphrodite to visit, but I complied.

"Most of the time I do a wine red. Sometimes a nude. If I need to go any darker, I'll use a maroon color. I've been obsessed with tinted glosses as of recent. I just recently signed with Dior Beauty as an ambassador so I use the lip oils a lot."

She nodded, like that was the correct answer, and pulled out a cherry red tinted Dior lip gloss.

"Do you know why you're here?" she asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Why are you on this quest?"

I avoided meeting her gaze as I replied. "I was given the prophecy. Artemis, Brylie, and Luke need to be found."

"Ah yes!" She sounded triumphant, which made me worried. "Luke. Tell me about him, Allie."

Oh, damn.

I went with the safest answer that would probably get me out of here the fastest. "I can't," I answered. "Luke's indescribable."

"Aw, how sweet!" She cooed. "He almost made an oath to protect you two summers ago, didn't he?"

"Uh, yeah? What's that got to do with anything?"

"It was absolutely adorable!" Aphrodite declared. "So noble, knowing that you'll probably die young, yet determined to try and save you anyway. Just like Romeo and Juliet!"

"That's reassuring," I commented, taking as much snark out of the statement as I could. Getting bored of holding it, I put the mirror down.

"Now listen to me, Allie," Aphrodite urged. "The Hunters are your enemies. Forget them and Artemis and the monster. That's not important. You don't need to become one of them. You just concentrate on finding and saving Luke."

"Do you know where he is?"

Aphrodite waved her hand irritably. "No, no. I leave the details to you. But it's been ages since we've had a good tragic love story."

"Whoa, what d'you mean tragic?" I demanded, feeling panicked. "Isn't the whole Great Prophecy thing enough?"

"That's all been done before, darling," Aphrodite replied dismissively. "But it'll be a good part of proving that love really does conquer all. I mean, just look at Helen and Paris. Did they let anything come between them?"

"Uh, they started the Trojan War and got thousands of people killed."

"Pfft. That's not the point. Follow your heart."

"My heart is dead set on not telling me what I want to know."

She smiled sympathetically. She really was beautiful. And not just because she had a pretty face or anything. She believed in love so much, it was impossible not to feel giddy when she talked about it.

"Not knowing is half the fun of being in love," she told me. "Exquisitely painful, isn't it? Not being sure who you love and who loves you? Oh, you kids! It's so cute I'm going to cry."

Now, I've had many a mental breakdown over love and men being shit, but that seemed a little over-the-top.

"And don't worry," she patted my hand. "I'm not going to let this be easy and boring for you. No, I have some wonderful surprises in store. Anguish. Indecision. Oh, you just wait."

"That's really okay," I told her earnestly. "Don't go to any trouble."

Please don't go to any trouble. We got enough of that stuff from the Fates. We didn't need the goddess of love adding to our problems.

"You're so cute. I wish all of my sons could break the heart of a girl like you." Aphrodite's eyes were tearing up. "Now, you'd better go. And do be careful in my husband's territory, Allie. Don't take anything. He is awfully fussy about his trinkets and trash."

"What?" I asked. "You mean Hephaestus?"

But the car door opened and Ares grabbed my shoulder, pulling me out of the car and back into the desert night.

My audience with the goddess of love was over.

"You're lucky, brat." Ares pushed me away from the limo. "Be grateful."

"For what?"

"That we're being so nice. If it was up to me—"

"So why haven't you killed me?" I shot back. It was a stupid thing to say to the god of war, but being around him always made me feel angry and reckless.

"I told you, I don't want to offend Uncle P by killing his 'precious baby girl,'" he said, rolling his eye all the while. "I'd love to kill you, seriously. But there's also the other situation I have. Aphrodite thinks that you're some kinda soap-opera star or something. I kill you, that makes me look bad with her."

He snapped his fingers and the world did a three-sixty, spinning in a cloud of red dust. I fell to the ground.

When I stood up again, the limousine was gone. The road, the taco restaurant, the whole town of Gila Claw was gone. My friends and I were standing in the middle of the junkyard, mountains of scrap metal stretched out in every direction.

"What did she want with you?" Bianca asked, once I'd told them about Aphrodite.

I nearly lied, but decided that a watered down version would be better. "She thinks that Luke and I make a good love story," I confessed. "Says she's going to make it nice and tragic for us. And warned me about her husband's territory."

Zoe narrowed her eyes. "Be careful, Allie," she warned me. "Aphrodite has led many heroes astray."

"For once I agree with Zoe," Thalia said. "You can't trust Aphrodite. It's not a good thing that she's taken an interest in you and Luke."

"I know," I agreed. I dreaded finding out what Aphrodite would consider being 'interesting'. And what was that about a gift?

"So," I said, anxious to change the subject, "how do we get out of here?"

"That way," Zoe answered, pointing. "That is west."

I double-checked her calculations and nodded, hefting my bag into a more comfortable position. "Shall we?"

With an aura of grim determination and resignation hovering around us, we began making our way west again.

"Guys," Grover called after a while, pointing urgently. "Look!"

We'd reached the crest of a junk mountain. Piles of metal objects glinted in the moonlight: broken heads of bronze horses, metal legs from human statues, smashed chariots, tons of shields and swords and other weapons, along with more modern stuff, like cars that gleamed gold and silver, refrigerators, washing machines, and computer monitors.

"Whoa," Bianca breathed. "That stuff... some of it looks like real gold."

"It is," Thalia confirmed grimly. "This is the junkyard of the gods."

"Don't touch anything," I added. "If it's here, it's cursed or something. There'll be consequences for touching it, even if it is junk."

"Junk?" Grover picked up a beautiful crown made of gold, silver, and jewels. It was broken on one side, as if it had been split by an ax. "You call this junk?"

He bit off a point and began to chew. "It's delicious!"

Thalia swatted the crown out of his hands. "We're serious!"

"Look!" Bianca called, pointing towards something. She raced down the hill, tripping over bronze coils and golden plates. She picked up a bow that glowed silver in the moonlight. "A Hunter's bow!"

She yelped in surprise as the bow began to shrink, and became a hair clip shaped like a crescent moon. "That's so cool!" she squealed.

"It's like your swords, Allie," Thalia commented when we got to her side.

"You have to put it back, Bianca," I added.

"Allie is correct," Zoe agreed. "If it is here, there is something wrong with it."

Bianca gained a mutinous look, clenching her fist around the bow. "I don't—"

"Leave it, Bianca!" Zoe snapped, eyes flashing.

"But—"

"It is here for a reason. Anything thrown away in this junkyard must stay in this yard. As Allie said, if it is here, it is defective. Or cursed."

Bianca reluctantly set the hair clip down.

No one protested, and we started picking our way through the hills and valleys of junk. The stuff seemed to go on forever, and if it hadn't been for Ursa Major, we would've gotten lost. All the hills pretty much looked the same.

I kept my hands clenched around my necklace, trying to calm myself. Grover found a broken tree made out of metal. It had been chopped to pieces, but some of the branches still had golden birds in them, and they whirred around when Grover picked them up, trying to flap their wings. Bianca, too, kept stopping to examine things, and Zoe continually had to force her to leave them behind.

Finally, we saw the edge of the junkyard about half a mile ahead of us, the lights of a highway stretching through the desert. But between us and the road...

"What is that?" Bianca gasped.

"Nothing good," I drawled, eyeing the thing tensely.

Ahead of us was a hill much bigger and longer than the others. It was like a metal mesa, the length of a football field and as tall as goalposts. At one end of the mesa was a row of ten thick metal columns, wedged tightly together.

Bianca frowned. "They look like—"

"Toes," Grover stated.

Bianca nodded. "Really, really large toes."

Zoe, Thalia and I all exchanged nervous looks. If this was what I thought it was, we could be in a lot of trouble.

"Let's go around," Thalia decided. "Far around."

"But the road is right over there," Bianca protested. "It'd be quicker to just climb over it instead."

Ping.

I raised my sword while Thalia hefted her spear and Zoe drew her bow, but then I realized it was only Grover. He had thrown a piece of scrap metal at the toes and hit one, making a deep echo, as if the column were hollow.

"Why did you do that?" Zoe demanded.

Grover cringed. "I don't know. I, uh, don't like fake feet?"

My temper flared, and I glared at him. "What the Hades, Grover?" I snapped. "Are you trying to get us killed? This is the gods' junkyard! That's probably an automaton! A dangerous robot!"

He paled and swallowed, looking at the ground.

"Come on." Thalia looked at Bianca and Grover sternly.

"Around," I emphasized, still eyeing the giant toes.

After several minutes of walking, we finally stepped onto the highway, an abandoned but well-lit stretch of black asphalt.

"We made it out," Zoe sighed. "Thank the gods."

But she spoke too soon. At that very moment, I heard a sound like a thousand trash compactors crushing metal.

I whirled around. Behind us, the scrap mountain was boiling, rising up. The ten toes tilted over, and we found ourselves under the shadow of the largest automaton I'd ever seen. It was a bronze giant in full Greek battle armor. He was impossibly tall— like a skyscraper with legs and arms. He gleamed wickedly in the moonlight. He looked down at us, and his face was deformed. The left side was partially melted off. His joints creaked with rust, and across his armored chest, written in thick dust by some giant finger, were the words WASH ME.

"Talos!" Zoe gasped.

I let out a long string of swears (I mean, really, what else is new?).

"Who— who's Talos?" Bianca stuttered, looking terrified.

"One of Hephaestus's creations," Thalia explained. "But that can't be the original. It's too small. A prototype, maybe. A defective model."

Talos didn't like being called 'defective' apparently.

He moved one hand to his sword belt and drew his weapon. The sound of it coming out of its sheath was horrible, metal screeching against metal. The blade was a hundred feet long, easy. It looked rusty and dull, but I didn't figure that mattered. Getting hit with that thing would be like getting hit with a battleship.

"Someone took something," Zoe declared. "Who took something?"

She stared accusingly at me.

I shook my head. "I admit I was tempted by a few things, but I'm not an idiot. I don't steal from the gods. Ever."

Bianca didn't say anything, but I could see guilt flashing over her expression and I knew what she had done. But I had no time to do anything about it, because the giant defective Talos took one step toward us, closing half the distance and making the ground shake.

"Run!" Grover yelped.

Great advice, except that it was hopeless. At a leisurely stroll, this thing could outdistance us easily.

We split up, the way we'd done with the Nemean Lion. Thalia drew her shield and held it up as she ran down the highway. The giant swung his sword and took out a row of power lines, which exploded in sparks and scattered across Thalia's path. Thankfully, she was resistant to electricity, and simply ignored the sparks.

Zoe's arrows whistled toward the creature's face but they just shattered harmlessly against the metal. Grover brayed like a baby goat and went climbing up a mountain of metal.

Bianca and I ended up next to each other, hiding behind a broken chariot.

"You took something," I accused, in what was probably a harsher tone than was truly necessary. "That bow."

"No!" she denied, but her voice was quivering. Oh yeah, she had stolen something. Despite the warnings Thalia, Zoe and I had all given of the dangers of the junkyard, she had arrogantly ignored us and taken something she wanted. And endangered all of our lives in the process.

I glared furiously at her, making her flinch and let out a sob. I had no sympathy.

"Give it back!" I snapped. "Throw it down!"

"I... I didn't take the bow! Besides, it's too late."

"What did you take?"

Before she could answer, I heard a massive creaking noise, and a shadow blotted out the sky.

"Move!" I tore down the hill, Bianca right behind me, as the giant's foot smashed a crater in the ground where we'd been hiding.

"Hey, Talos!" Grover yelled, but the automaton just ignored him and raised his sword, looking down at Bianca and me.

Grover played a quick melody on his pipes. Over at the highway, the downed power lines began to dance. I understood what Grover was going to do a split second before it happened. One of the poles with power lines still attached flew toward Talos' back leg and wrapped around his calf. The lines sparked and sent a jolt of electricity up the giant's backside.

Talos whirled around, creaking and sparking. Grover had managed to buy us a few seconds to escape, thank the gods.

"Come on!" I told Bianca, tugging her arm. But she stayed frozen. From her pocket, she brought out a small metal figurine, a statue of a god.

"It... it was for Nico," she stammered. "It was the only statue he didn't have."

"How can you think of Mythomagic at a time like this?" I demanded.

There were tears in her eyes.

"Throw it down," I ordered. "Maybe the giant will leave us alone." Small chance, but a chance all the same.

She dropped it reluctantly, but nothing happened.

The giant kept coming after Grover. It stabbed its sword into a junk hill, missing Grover by a few feet, but scrap metal made an avalanche over him, and then I couldn't see him anymore.

"No!" Thalia yelled. She pointed her spear, and a blue arc of lightning shot out, hitting the monster in his rusty knee, which buckled. The giant collapsed, but immediately started to rise again. It was hard to tell if it could feel anything. There weren't any emotions in its half-melted face, but I got the sense that it was about as pissed off as a twenty-story-tall metal warrior could be.

I ran up to help her, but the giant immediately turned on me and kicked me back over to Bianca.

She screamed and I 100% thought it was just out of shock and because I was barely inches away from crashing right into her, but then I realized why.

I'd gotten stabbed by a huge rod of metal sticking out of a pile of garbage I landed on. It went straight through my side, only just missing my vital organs. My eyes widened and, just by moving slightly, my side flared in a fiery rage of pain.

I cried out and Bianca stumbled towards me.

"I need you to listen very carefully to me, Bianca."

She nodded.

"Grab my hands."

She did so.

"Okay, now pull me towards you."

"You want me to pull you off of this thing?!"

"Uh, yeah, I kinda need you to, otherwise, I'll die. On my count of three. 1, 2, 3."

Thankfully, she made the split-second decision to listen to me and with a painful scream coming from me, I was pulled off of the spike. I fell to my knees and Bianca landed beside me.

I finally got the chance to look up at the automaton. Right in the back of its calf, there was an indent that could turn it off. Potentially. I nodded towards it.

"I need to get there. Get me some of the way and I'll do the rest."

She nodded and didn't really seem to see what I was saying, but at about a third of the way there, she stopped in her tracks.

"What are you do—"

"I'm sorry about this, Allie. Make sure my brother knows I'm sorry, too." She shoved the Mythomagic figure in my hand, which she had to have picked back up, pushed me to my knees, and ran the rest of the way. With all of the blood and energy I'd lost, the only thing I could do was holler out in opposition. She didn't listen and she disappeared into the automaton.

Grover had somehow managed to dig himself out of the junk pile. He played his pipes frantically, and his music sent another power line pole whacking against Talos' thigh. The monster turned. Grover should've ran, but he must've been too exhausted from the effort of so much magic. He took two steps, fell, and didn't get back up.

"Grover!" Thalia ran towards him, but I knew we'd be too late.

The monster raised his sword to smash Grover. Then he froze.

Talos cocked his head to one side, like he was hearing strange new music. He started moving his arms and legs in weird ways, doing a very jerky dance routine that would have made me laugh in any other circumstances. Then he made a fist and punched himself in the face.

Thalia picked Grover up and dragged him over to me, then started fixing my side, though there wasn't much she could do. If I died now, did that mean Bianca would live?

One shall be lost in the land without rain.

The giant hit itself in the head again and dropped his sword. A shudder ran through his whole body and he staggered toward the power lines.

"Look out!" I yelled, but it was too late.

The giant's ankle snared the lines, and blue flickers of electricity shot up his body. I hoped the inside was insulated. I had no idea what was going on in there. I could only hope for a miracle, and that Bianca was safe, though I knew it was too much to ask. The giant careened back into the junkyard, and his right hand fell off, landing in the scrap metal with a horrible CLANG!

His left arm came loose, too. He was falling apart at the joints.

Talos began to run.

"Wait!" Zoe shouted. We ran after her, but there was no way we could keep up, especially with Thalia having to carry me and Grover. Pieces of the robot kept falling off, getting in our way.

The giant crumbled from the top down: his head, his chest, and finally, his legs collapsed. When we reached the wreckage we searched frantically, yelling Bianca's name. We crawled around in the vast hollow pieces and the legs and the head. We searched until the sun started to rise about half an hour later, but no luck.

Zoe sat down and wept. I was stunned to see her cry.

Thalia screamed in rage and impaled her sword in the giant's smashed face.

I fell to my knees, half out of exhaustion and half out of grief, and buried my head in my hands.

"It should've been me," I muttered, guilt-ridden. "It was my plan. It should've been me." My shoulders and side flared in pain, but I didn't care. I deserved it.

Grover recited the line from the prophecy. "She's- she's... gone."

"I was gonna do it. She... gods."

Thalia ended up shoving a square of ambrosia in my mouth and I took off my shirt to act as a bandage. I pulled on the extra tank top I'd packed, enforcing the pain in my shoulders and side, but it didn't compare to the pain in my heart.

For the first time in a while, everything came crashing down on me and I allowed myself to cry.

* * *

previous | next

SERIES M.LIST | MAIN M.LIST | TIPS

#alliejackson #a story as endless as the ocean #asaeato #female percy jackson #lukecastellan #lullie #trinitymia

1 note · View note

cdt-toomi-vangrizzle · 1 year ago

Text

Yellowstone Pt. 2

August 11-15

After getting our permit for our first night in Yellowstone, we continued our route through town to resupply and hit the post office. Then we took the bike path out to meet the “red line,” or official CDT. The bike path was extremely new and part of it was unfinished. While on the path, we met the project engineer! Back on trail, there was not a lot of water to be had. We crossed from Montana into Idaho, then camped off the side of the road.

The next day, we continued up the dirt roads until we hit trail and soon after reached the Yellowstone National Park boundary. We walked through a burned forest and valley and eventually got to Summit Lake Campground, where we stayed. Owen still wasn’t feeling well.

I’m the morning, Owen was really having a rough time. Usually the one rushing us to get going, Owen requested more time to rest in the tent. He was quite sick. Finally we got going and walked slowly. Owen had to take several breaks and even laid down while I made him peppermint tea for his stomach. We ran into some northbounders who asked how we were doing, and Owen answered honestly. It turned out that one of the pair, Skitch, was a newly retired doctor. He asked Owen lots of detailed questions about his symptoms, what he’d been prescribed before, etc. Skitch was pretty sure Owen had Giardia. We were worried about getting the right prescription, because we weren’t near any major medical centers. Skitch revealed that he had extra of the top recommended prescription and gave it to Owen. He also gave him some anti-nausea pills, because one of the side effects of the other meds was nausea. The trail provides!! Thanks Skitch! Owen took the dose immediately and we continued on. We went to Biscuit Basin and then on to the the Old Faithful geyser basins. We hung out at the Old Faithful Inn long enough to eat some large servings of ice cream, then we hitched down to Grant Village, where we’d left off with Liam, Julia, and E-Dawg. In Grant Village, we got a tent site, did laundry, and showered. In the morning, Owen felt much better, so we hit up the breakfast buffet to fill his depleted tank. Then we got some more permits and hit the trail.

We hiked out to Heart Lake, which was lovely. On the way, we took a side “trail” that disappeared quickly. That took us through many thermal features, including a spot with a small waterfall next to steaming hot springs. We had to be careful where we walked, though, because we dipped our toes in some hot marshy areas. Finally we got to the lake and stopped to play some cribbage. We continued on to Basin Creek Campground, which a ranger told us is one of the most remote sites. Near that site, we ran into a pair of sand hill cranes, which make a call that sounds like a mix between loons, peepers, and the rhythmic pulse of a woodpecker. The birds circled us repeatedly on foot and flying. It was a bizarre experience. Were they being territorial? Herding us somewhere? Playing a game or doing a mating dance? They finally stopped circling us and we got to the campsite. There were a great tent site and food site, although the food site had several piles of bear poop right near it. Based on the size of the turd piles, we assume it was a black bear.

The next day, we hiked out of Yellowstone. We took a route west of the official trail in order to drop down into the Grand Tetons. We had a few river crossings and our first views of the Teton range. We got to Flagg Ranch, where we picked up a package we’d sent ourselves then started into the Targhee national forest, where we camped near a river.

#cdt #yellowstone #wyoming #national park #national forest

0 notes

spl1tknot · 2 years ago

Text

Picher, Oklahoma

Ghost Town 02

Population: 14,252 (1926) - 20 (2010)

Country: America

Years active: 1913-2009

Why Was It Abandoned?

After mining was ceased in 1967, contaminated water from 14,000 abandoned shafts, 70 million tons of mine tailings, and 36 million tons of mill sand and sludge remained as a huge environmental clean up problem.

In 1994, Indian Health Service test results revealed that 35% of children living in Picher had concentrations of lead in their blood exceeding 10 micrograms per decimeter. In 2006, the environmental hazards were proven to be so severe that the government decided to close Picher and relocate its residents.

On May 2008, an EF4 tornado struck Picher, causing severe damage to 20 blocks of the city, destroying many homes and businesses. There were 8 confirmed deaths and at least 150 people injured.

Most final residents left around 2009-2014 because the city was considered to toxic to be habitable. Gary Linderman, who was the owner of Ole Miner Pharmacy, vowed to stay for however long was needed to help anyone left. However, he passed away June 9, 2015.

Town Life

During 1917-1947, Picher was one of the most productive lead-zinc mining field in the tri-state district, producing over $20 billion worth of ore. More than 50% of resources mined from Picher were used in World War 1. Mining was ceased after 1967.

2009 was the year Picher would stop activity almost completely. The last final class of Picher-Cardin school district would graduate due to an agreement of residents dissolving the school district. The post office and police department would also close, and the final residents said their goodbyes in the school auditorium on the last day. By 2010, it was reported that Picher had only one active business and 6 occupied houses.

By 2014, the last remaining buildings were the high school, a christian church, the mining museum, some mercantile buildings, and numerous abandoned homes.

In 2015, former residents would hold christmas parades and march from the high school to main street. This was to preserve the memories they held living in Picher.

Pop Culture / Media Representation

The Creek Runs Red

Tar Creek

Life After People: The Series

Unsolved murder case of Danny and Kathy Freeman along with their daughter, Ashley Freeman, and her friend Lauria Bible.

#ghost towns #history #oklahoma #america #american history

2 notes · View notes

rjzimmerman · 3 years ago

Text

Couple of stories about water in New Mexico that seem contradictory

One, this story from the New York Times about flooding in New Mexico:

Two women were killed and another person was missing in New Mexico after flash floods swept through an area that had been burned by the state’s largest recorded wildfire, officials said on Friday.

Emergency responders found the bodies on Thursday afternoon in a creek, along with a capsized vehicle, the San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement late Friday. The flash flooding occurred in an area east of Santa Fe where the wildfire has burned through hundreds of thousands of acres in recent months.

The New Mexico State Police and other agencies were still searching on Friday for the missing person, who they believe is a man, the statement said. The victims’ identities were not disclosed.

Heavy rain continued to fall across the burned area on Friday, state officials said in a news release. In some places, more than an inch of water fell in less than an hour.

A “surge of monsoon moisture” is expected across much of New Mexico on Sunday, and there will be an increased risk of flash flooding through the middle of next week, the National Weather Service office in Albuquerque said on its Facebook page. It warned that burn scars caused by wildfires would be “especially susceptible to runoff, flash flooding and debris flow.”

Wildfires occur throughout the American West every year, but scientists see the influence of climate change in the extreme heat waves that have contributed to the intensity of recent fires.

Wildfires make it easier for even short bursts of heavy rain to cause flooding, because they destroy vegetation and make soil less permeable. A recent study found that in the West, global warming is greatly increasing the likelihood of extreme wildfires being followed by heavy rainfall.

Then this story from the Washington Post about the disappearing Rio Grande River:

A stretch of the Rio Grande near Albuquerque that supplies farmers with water and a habitat for an array of aquatic life is drying — an unsettling sighting of climate change’s effects in a populous U.S. city.

As the summer’s hotter and drier weather has fueled drought and fire throughout the West, federal and local agencies are salvaging what they can along a 100-mile section of the river: rationing the water for 66,000 acres of agricultural land and rescuing silvery minnows stranded in the remaining puddles of water. If the area doesn’t get consistent rain soon, the drought not matched in four decades could worsen.

They are also warning residents to prepare for the sight of a bed of mud and sand where one of the nation’s longest rivers should flow. While southern stretches of the river regularly dry out, this reach has not experienced a drought like this since 1983, said Jason Casuga, CEO of the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District.

#New Mexico #flooding #wildfires #Rio Grande River #drought #monsoon rains

2 notes · View notes

infjsnightmare · 4 years ago

Text

How You Met: Guild Style

A/N: Hello! This one was so much more difficult to write. I think maybe I just don't have as good a grip on the personalities of the guild so much. Lol. So, this might have a bit more OOC than the other two. Also, I flip-flopped for a while and decided not to include Francis since he is canonically married, but if anyone wants me to, I can probably include him on the same one that I include any other extraneous characters on. With that out of the way, I sincerely hope that you like this! Feedback of any kind is always welcomed and appreciated.

John: You were scanning the aisles of the convenience store, looking for any food that was on sale. Your eyes lit up when you found a tuna salad sandwich for only 99 cents. You should have enough change for this at least. All your money went to rent since being laid off and you actually hadn't eaten in two days. This was like a holy grail. Placing the sandwich in front of the large man at the register, you turned your change purse inside out. Meticulously counting each coin, you realized you only had 87 cents, which was 12 cents too short. The man scoffed taking the sandwich away as he chastised you and told you to "get a job". You were on the brink of tears when a hand came up from behind you and dropped the remaining needed change on the table. An angry looking young blond man glared menacingly at the employee as he spat at him, grabbing the sandwich and placing it in your hands.

"Why don't you get a life, jackass?"

Lovecraft: The sun was beaming hot as you lay back in the sand and let the warmth overtake you. The smell of the ocean and the distant cry of seagulls relaxed your body. You sighed, sitting up to watch the waves crash against the shore when you saw something dark begin emerging from the water. At first it looked like seaweed, but slowly a tall lanky man in a suit slowly walked up out of the water, absolutely drenched. Your eyes widened in fear as it looked like something straight out of a horror movie. You watched intently as the man walked up on to the beach aimlessly. Then he turned his head at an unnatural to look straight at you.

"Where can I get some ice cream?... It's too hot."

Lucy: You were at work, scrubbing the floors by the cash register even though your shift ended over an hour ago. You weren't going to get paid for this overtime either, but you knew you needed the job to make ends meet. Your boss also knew this, unfortunately, and took advantage of it. The manager lazily eyed you as they were laughing with a friend of theirs who had stopped by. "Put some more elbow grease into it!" You heard the teasing chirp from the idiot. You felt like a dog. Gritting your teeth, you scrubbed furiously, imagining the spot on the floor to be your manager's face. Until you were interrupted by a the voice of a young girl with a slight blush adorning her face, almost the same shade of red as her hair.

"It's really none of my business....and it's not like I care or anything...but, you shouldn't let your employer treat you like a slave."

Edgar: You were perusing the mystery section of the library and had finally settled on which book you would like to read next. Pulling it of the shelf, you tucked the book under your arm and made your way to the sitting area to give the first few chapters a quick read before deciding to borrow it for the week. When you got to the desk, you noticed that there was a printed manuscript left on the table. You set down the book you were holding in favor of the paper-clipped pages. You were delighted by the writing. It was a magnificent mystery. You were smiling from ear to ear as you read each page with fervor. You were slightly take aback at the light tugging at your clothes, looking down to see a raccoon. Followed closely behind him was an adorable man with tousled dark hair and a crimson blush over his whole face.

"Ah! My manuscript! I must have left it here, I'm so sorry!"

Mark: You were walking through your usual peaceful trail in the woods, following the path of a small creek. The crunch of dead leaves underfoot and the crisp autumn air made the atmosphere serene and enticing. You could've have lost yourself to the sounds of nature if it weren't for the the whooping and hollering that you heard further down the creek. As you drew closer, you could hear the shattering of glass breaking, followed by another victorious yell. You finally came to a small clearing, seeing a vivacious young man with bright orange hair shooting rocks at glass bottles with a sling-shot. He looked at your direction and aimed the sling shot towards you. You opened your mouth to protest when he released the stone. It whirred past your head, hitting a bottle strung up on a tree branch behind you. The man beamed with glee.

"Boom! Nailed it!"

Nathaniel: Looking out your window this morning, you felt giddy at the light dusting of snow you saw. Snow was a rarity in December and here it was, on Christmas no less. Placing your jacket on, you dashed out of your apartment to walk and see all the lights around town and the couples holding hands. It was a joyous atmosphere despite it being a minor holiday. You stopped in your tracks when you saw a tall man dressed in priestly garb, sitting and reading from a book that you could only assume was religious in nature. You'd never seen a priest before and were rather awestruck as you watched his silver hair fall in front of his glasses as he poured over his book. You didn't even look away when he stopped reading to stare back at you. Or when he cleared his throat with his brow lifted in irritation. Or even when he stood up and walked the few steps closing the distance between you. But, once he spoke, you finally felt embarrassment as your cheeks felt hot against the winter air.

"You do realize that it is particularly rude to stare, right?"

Margaret: The vending machine whirred as you selected your drink. It was sweltering out and you definitely needed the cool liquid to combat the heat during your break. You'd been moving containers off the ships all morning, so you were pretty beat by the time your break rolled around. You sat on the edge of the dock listening to the squabble between two passengers on a boat. One passenger was dressed in religious attire and seemed apathetic towards the argument. The other passenger was a tall woman dressed in a large frilly dress with a rather robust petticoat. Her honey-hair was pulled up under a sun-hat like a true southern american belle. In opposition to the man's apathy, she seemed quite fiery, eyes steeled and jaw clenched. In a huff, she marched down off the boat. The ramp led next to where you were sitting, eyeing the woman as you drank your beverage. Her eyes snapped towards you as she noticed your watchful gaze. She relaxed her her face ever so slightly meeting your eyes as she motioned towards the man on the ship.

"Bless his heart, but I swear some men just aren't raised proper."

Herman: The rain was was all you could hear as it pitter-pattered against your umbrella while you made your way back home. Your feet were walking along the slippery cobblestone sidewalk with a practiced gait. You always took this path home. The same scenes, the same faces- nothing to shake you from your daze. However, the faintest glow of white caught your attention. You rubbed your eyes with your free hand to confirm that you were, in fact, seeing a small white whale happily floating through the air and rain. You followed it in wonderment until you came across an older gentleman sitting on a bench smoking from a pipe, umbrella propped against the back of his seat. You watched as the whale twirled around. Compelled, you sat on the wet bench, next to the sun-tanned man drawing him out of his own thoughts. He gave you a wry smile as the whale danced between you.

"Care to sit and chat with a tired, old man?"

Louisa: It was a busy day. You were run ragged as you tried to complete all the errands you had scheduled for yourself today. You had already dropped off a few packages at the post office. Renewed your insurance for the year and now you were in a hurry to pick up your dry-cleaning before the store closed for lunch. You picked up your pace, reaching for the door. Only, when you opened it, an armful of bagged clothing came tumbling on top of you. With it, fell a small-framed young lady with round glasses and the cutest flustered expression you'd ever seen. Her eyes widened in shock as her face turned scarlett.

"Oh n-no! I'm so so so so sorry! Please do-don't be angry!"

#readerxguild #readerxbsd #bsd #hope you like this #i tried my best #i really did #the guild #John simp

22 notes · View notes

maybedefinitely404 · 4 years ago

Text

Day 17: Royality

@tsshipmonth2020 (does this still count so late?)

What’s that? Ly creating content? Unbelievable. (I have writer’s block, leave me alooone /j)

Thanks to @marshymoop for suggestions and encouragment when making this bad boy! Love ya <3

Day 17 - Everyone has heterochromia, one eye is your natural color the other is your soulmate’s natural color. Once you meet all eyes return to natural color.

Content warnings: food/drink mention, alcohol, mentions of hangover, vampires, referring to drinking blood as “eating”, non-explicit blood drinking, being chased.

Word count: 6.9k

THE CITY OF DEWMORE WELCOMES YOU

Patton tapped his fingers on the steering wheel excitedly, nearly vibrating as he passed the weathered sign. Beyond it, beckoning him forward, stood a forest more densely packed and darker than he’d ever had the pleasure of exploring, the achingly tall pine trees swaying minutely in the breeze, their tips barely visible through the blanket of fog. Just imagining what could be held within those depths made his leg bounce; forgotten, moss-drenched stone paths, broken stumps of fallen trees that hadn’t made a sound upon impact, patches of mushrooms scattered in the shadows, and whispering creeks. It was the perfect way to spend his spring break, and one his photography teacher had wholeheartedly encouraged him to take. If he hadn’t had so many midterms to mark, Patton was almost sure the man would have tried to join him.

Almost an anxious tic at this point, he ran his free hand over the photography bag in his passenger seat, as if to make sure it hadn’t disappeared in the three minutes since he’d last checked. The thing was his prized possession, given to him by the very same photography professor at his university. It had been the elder’s own, before he got his newest camera, and gifted the whole set to his favorite (but don’t tell the others) students. It was full of perfectly kept lenses and two miniature tripods, extra batteries and memory cards, speedlights, and most importantly, the camera tucked safely into the biggest pouch. It was more expensive than Patton would ever have dreamt to buy, so it was truly a gift he’d never forget. Now it was up to him to finally take some shots worthy of the thing.

The forests continued to grow denser and thicker until, in almost a shocking snap, they disappeared to reveal a quaint city that he hadn’t quite expected. The first few buildings he passed looked like they may have stood there for hundreds of years, weather worn and faded. Their signs were either scratched to nothingness or blaringly new, shining metal names standing out against an ancient backdrop. He was looking for a motel, figuring there had to be one, even in a town of less than two thousand people. His backup plan was to just sleep in his car. He’d brought his sleeping back and extra blankets, so it wasn’t a huge concern, but he’d still prefer a bed. But whenever he’d tried finding anything online, he’d come up blank.

A fog still covered the town, and though it created an air of calm and mystery that Patton was itching to capture, he also knew the area was surrounded by towering mountains that he also desired so badly. To his right, the buildings stopped abruptly, revealing a grey beach, all rocks and no sand, criss crossed with logs, opening to a dark lake. The other side wasn’t visible through the mist.

The further he drove, he realized the buildings weren’t improving in their modernity, just giving way to more and more old infrastructure. One stood out, a grocery store, it’s lights piercing through the evening dim. Patton didn’t get a look inside before he passed, once again surrounded antique houses and shops, a post office to his left, and a tavern just across from that. A sign above the door read “Vacancy” in peeling white letters, and that was all the enticing Patton needed to pull his car into the gravel parking lot in front of the building. There was only one other vehicle there, a matte red pickup truck that he parked next to, and what appeared to only be three more parking spots. From the high placed windows, a soft orange light bled, and a round of raucous laughter filtered through the cracked open door. Patton smiled. The photographer inside him was going to have a field day here.

He stepped up the concrete steps and ruffled his hair with one hand so it covered his eye, heaving a sigh in hopes to calm his nervous butterflies, and pulled the door open.

All at once, the chatter inside died, and Patton internally shrank as every face in the tavern turned to look at the newcomer. There was a moment of tense silence as he tried his best for a smile and met the gaze of the men scrutinizing him, drinks forgotten on high wooden tables, jubilance halted. Patton waited with baited breath, for someone to do something, why were they all just staring, when a voice spoke from behind the bar.

“Don’t worry about them, sweetheart. We don’t get a lot of new people around here.”

And the lull was broken as suddenly as it started, the men now ignoring him in favor of joking over mugs of fizzing ale. Patton swallowed thickly and turned to the voice, shoving his quivering hands into his pockets and shaking his head again to assure the curls were safely covering his eye. As usual.

The man standing before him, leaning on the bar with an easy smile, was almost enough to take Patton’s breath away. If he were a religious man, he’d go so far as to call him heavenly. Eyes as dark as the depths of the surrounding forests, auburn hair pushed back from his face in what he could only think to describe as an intentional bedhead. His skin was too flawless, teeth just a couple shades too white, everything perfect in a way that was almost…

Patton couldn’t put his finger on it.

“What can I get you, newbie?”

“Uhm-” Patton took a cleansing breath and sat at one of the barstools, all of them empty seeing as the crowd seemed more drawn to the tables in the center of the room, “I don’t come to bars that often. I don’t know.”

The bartender hummed, pushing up his already rolled up white sleeves and giving Patton a once over, almost investigating him. “You drink?”

“I… I guess.”

“Been on the road for a while, tired?”

“Do I look that exhausted?” Patton breathed a laugh, suddenly aching to pop his spine. He’d been driving since before dawn for the past three days, barely hunkering down for a decent sleep before he was off again. He’d been really excited to get here, plus he didn’t want to waste more of his meager break driving.

“I got just what you need, darling.” With a wink, the bartender straightened up and pulled down a series of bottles, cracking his knuckles with flourish before measuring them into a silver canister. “So what brings you to Dewmore?”

“I’m a photographer,” Patton said, “Or, a photography student. Down in Florida.”

The man whistled as he shoveled ice cubes into the mix, “Long drive for some pictures.”

“I’m… dedicated,” Patton laughed, scratching at his neck nervously. “My prof recommended it, said it might be a nice place to spend my break.”

“I assume you’re looking for a place to stay then, as well?” He plopped a cap on the canister and began to shake it above his shoulder, grinning widely, “These guys are always just like, ‘Gimme a beer’ this, ‘Gimme a beer’ that. It’s great to actually make fun drinks again.” With hands flying too fast for Patton to process, he grabbed a glass, popped the lid of the shaker, and poured the deep orange drink, tossing on a green sprig and sliding the drink over. “Enjoy.”

Patton took a cautious sip of the drink and had to fight not to sigh, the refreshing taste a welcome relief after three days of gas station Gatorade and hotel sink water. He could barely taste any alcohol, more focused on the ice cold sweet tartness at the back of his tongue. The bartender looked pleased, huffing a satisfied laugh and beginning to put away his bottles. He was taking another sip, satisfied with the backdrop of joyous chatter and clinking glasses, when he remembered why he’d come in.

“Yes, I am. Uhm, looking for a place to stay, that is.”

The bartender looked at him over his shoulder, “We haven’t had visitors in… a while, at least. You’ve pretty much got your pick of the rooms.”

“Do you have anything facing the water?” He took another sip, the photo possibilities already flowing through his mind. One through the window, just far back enough to catch the flow of the curtains and the chipped wood of the window ledge, a monochromatic lakeshore in the bottom third, a barely visible mountain looming ahead…

“Sure thing, sweetheart. Let me just finish this up, and I’ll get you on the ledger.”

“Patton.” He downed the rest of the drink and rested his elbow on the counter, chin in his palm, an easy smile playing on his lips.

“Hm?”

“My name’s Patton.”

“I’m Roman.” Tossing the towel over his shoulder, Roman gave him another wink before disappearing into the back room, coming back moments later with a thick black book. He was already thumbing through the pages, finally landing on the one he wanted, and spun a pen between his fingers.

“What’s your last name, sweetheart?”

Patton spelled it out for him, and was surprised when the man clapped the book shut after the final letter. “That’s all you need?”

“Yup.”

“No… ID, or anything?” It was at that moment when it occurred to Patton that, although he was legal, his baby face often prompted bouncers and servers back home to ask for identification. Roman hadn’t even blinked before serving him.

“Got anything to hide?”

“Uhm… no, I-”

“Good enough for me. It’s not like we’re a high traffic tourist spot. I don’t think we’ve had anyone take a room in, like, two years, and who knows how many before that. Frankly, I wouldn’t care if you were on the run for murder. Don’t kill me, and we’re solid.”

Patton blanched, unable to tell if the man was being sarcastic. Finally his expression cracked into a smirk and he brandished a key towards Patton, dangling it by the ring. “I’m messing with you. I mean, don’t kill me, that’s legit. Here you go, cutie. Let me know if you need anything.”

With that, he sashayed away with a tray of beers (when on Earth had he filled those?), and the men whooped loudly, startling Patton.

“Easy, boys,” Roman purred, beginning to round the tables, and Patton hopped off the bar stool to get his things from his car. He couldn’t wait to pass out in bed with the knowledge that he could sleep in however late he wanted.

-0-0-0-

But apparently sleep didn’t have the same ideas as him, because even after he was in comfortable clothes and tucked into the covers, he continued to toss and turn. Maybe it was the concept of being alone in a strange town, or the full moon shining through the thin curtains, or just plain excitement, but he suddenly felt wider awake then he had since he started this trip.

There was a soft rattling somewhere across the room and, with begrudging acceptance that he wasn’t going to sleep any time soon, fumbled his glasses on to search for the offending sound. With a grumble, he threw off the blankets and padded across the room to the window and tossed back the curtains, giving the moon a scalding glare for shining so darn brightly. It was the window, fitted loosely in its frame, being shook by the gentle wind that was causing the noise. Patton gave it an experimental tug, followed by a more forceful yank, and found it didn’t budge down at all. Instead, it continued to rattle mockingly, in what sounded almost like whispered giggles as he crossed his arms across his chest.

Fine. He turned his attention to the scenic view before him, letting out a minute shudder as a small gust of wind blew through his thin pajama shirt. Moonlit waves crashed against the rocky shore, tossing up silver spray against the dark backdrop of the forest. Patton took a breath, feeling an overwhelming sense of peace just staring at the silent town, the stone spires rising above the forest-

Wait, what?

Patton blinked sharply a couple times, leaning forward until his nose bumped the window and squinting through the glass. Those… things... definitely looked like manmade objects- the shape made it impossible for them to be natural- but you’d think he’d remember something that looked like a castle directly outside his window. In fact, he’d spent a significant amount of time upon first entering the room just admiring the view, and a castle one hundred percent would have been on his radar. Oh, if the thing was abandoned, imagine the photo opportunities, and even if it wasn’t he could totally just get some of the outside-

Yeah, there was no way he was sleeping now.

Before he’d even processed what he was doing, he’d slipped out of his pajamas and hurriedly pulled on the outfit he’d laid out on the desk chair, because there was no way he was digging through his suitcase to scrounge out more clothes. He threw a beige sweater over his white shirt, however, remembering the chill the night had brought and, after he’d adequate tucked them into his slacks, he threw his camera bag over his shoulder and trotted down the stairs.

Unsurprisingly, the first floor tavern was empty of all customers, overhead lights traded for softer electric lamps on the walls and the illuminated sign above the bar, where Roman was wiping down the counter, seemingly unbothered by the late hour.

“Can’t sleep, sweetheart?” The bartender called out without turning around, tossing his rag across the counter and into a full soapy bucket behind the bar.

“Uh, yeah, something like that,” Patton responded, shaking his bangs so they covered his eye. “I think I’m just too excited to start getting shots.”

“Mmm, you and me both.” He waggled his eyebrows and pulled a bottle of what looked like whiskey off the shelf. “What’s your poison?”

Patton snorted but shook his head, patting his camera bag, “I want to go out, and it’s probably not smart to drink before going out in a strange town at night.”

Roman shrugged before pouring himself a shot and downing it in one smooth motion.

“You’re allowed to drink on the job?”

The bartender hummed, replacing the bottle and locking the cabinet presumably for the night, “Once my tavern is empty, I consider myself off the clock. And I’m my own boss, so I hereby give myself the night off. I have a coffee machine in the back room, one of those Keurigs, if you want something fancy. Hasn’t been used in ages, but I’m sure if you wanted something, I-”

“No, it’s okay. Really.” Patton ducked his head and messed with his shirt, making sure the white collar stood above the neck of his sweater. He made his way over to the bar and took the same stool as before, leaning on the counter as Roman dumped out the dirty cleaning water into the sink. The clock above the bar, barely illuminated enough to see, revealed it was just after midnight. “Are there any old structures, like churches or anything, in the forest?”

Roman tilted his head, giving Patton a look over his shoulder he couldn’t quite understand.

“There’s nothing there besides wolves and ticks, sweetheart,” he said slowly with an almost condescending smile, “Why? Hoping the little town in the middle of nowhere has a mystery?” He rinsed out the bucket and placed it in the cabinet under the sink.

Patton shrugged, scratching at his temple, “I saw something outside of my window.”

“Like a tree?” The rag was rinsed as well and draped over the faucet.

“No, definitely not.” He tried not to feel too offended that Roman was clearly teasing him, but he was certain what he’d seen hadn’t been a tree. They were too tall, too angular, and too symmetrically placed for that.

“Pattycake, I grew up hunting with my dad and partying in those woods, and I would know if something were there.”

“Are you sure?” Patton implored, “There’s definitely something man made, could it be, like, an old castle, or something?”

There was a moment of silence between the two as Roman continued to look at Patton like he was crazy, the barest hints of an impish grin tugging at his lips, before he sucked in a sharp breath; as if he realized something.

On a dime, Roman’s expression contorted into one of anger, eyes alight with fury as he leaned into Patton’s space. As he spoke, his voice almost reverberated, like a choir speaking in unison.

“There is nothing in those woods, Patton. Understand? Don’t go wandering into places you don’t belong, or you won’t like what you find.”

Patton reared back from the forceful words, hand coming up subconsciously to readjust the hair on his face. Roman leaned just a tad closer, growling out a warning, “Got it, sweetheart?” The electric lamps on the walls, once creating such a homey, soft environment, suddenly flickered and Patton flinched, whipping around to face the large room as it seemed to strobe under the malfunctioning lights. Goosebumps spread across his arms as the flashing grew faster and his hand clamped over the back of his neck when a shiver raced up his spine.

“What’s going on? Why are-”

And then the lights went out completely, an eerie quiet settling over the tavern. Roman was silent. Was he even still in the room? Could he have left so quickly? The only sound in the empty room were Patton’s shaky breaths, in through the nose and out through the mouth, as he fought down a scream. He wasn’t a fan of the dark.

A single street light barely shone through the window, too dim to even light up the tables near the glass, and Patton turned to focus on it. In through the nose, out through the mouth. In… out… in… out-

A silhouette appeared in the window.

The lights were back to their original gleam before he could even open his mouth to scream, filling the room with a dull hum as if nothing had even happened. Blinking rapidly, Patton took a calming breath (it’s just old lights, it’s just old lights, relax) and swiveled back in his chair to find that Roman was smiling at him innocently, cleaning out a glass with a rag.

“Everything alright, sweetheart?”

“Didn’t you see that?” Patton asked incredulously.

“See what?” The bartender placed the glass into the last space in a row of them, giving Patton that same condescending grin as before.

Patton sighed and lifted his glasses to rub his eyes tiredly, shaking his head. “I think travelling for so long has me seeing things.” Careful as ever, in the same fashion he’d so masterfully perfected in elementary school, he shook his head to cover his eye- his stupid, left, ‘soulmate’ eye- before removing his hands and letting his glasses fall back into place.

Other kids won’t like it, sweetie. I don’t think the teachers will either.

I know you can’t help it, my love. If I could take this burden from you, I would. But this is yours to handle until… well, you know.

I don’t know why, Patton. You’ll find them someday. And then you’ll understand.

“Why do you do your hair like that?”

“Hmm?” Patton blinked.

Roman smirked, leaning casually on the counter in front of Patton, “Covering half of your face like that. You shouldn’t, you know. You’re a stunner.” With that, he reached forward, intent on moving that hair out of his face.

No.

“NO!” Patton yelled, stumbling off the barstool just as Roman’s hand made contact with his face. He ducked his head, roughly scraping his hair back in place with shaking hands, but the damage was done. A single cute guy compliments him and he forgets the habit he’s built up for years? How could he be so stupid-

“Everything alright? I’m sorry for scaring you, sweetheart.”

Was it possible he hadn’t seen it? Maybe Patton had moved fast enough, maybe the bartender had been too surprised to get a good look, maybe everything was fine. Roman didn’t seem horrified, or at all perturbed. Instead, he just looked… worried.

Either way, after that reaction, Patton was aching to be left alone to stew in his embarrassment. His rented room held nothing for him that he wanted, and sleep felt farther than ever, so his only choice was outside. The promises of a maybe-crumbling ancient building, illuminated by a full moon, were far more tempting than anything inside had to offer.

“Actually,” Patton said nervously, “A coffee would be great.”

Roman squinted at him, biting on the inside of his cheek before huffing a breathy laugh through his nose. “Alright, darling. Give me just a second to dust off the Keurig.”

The moment he disappeared behind the door to the backroom, Patton tightened his hold on the camera bag and sprinted from the tavern, into the grips of the cool night.

-0-0-0-

What would he say when he got back to the tavern? Would Roman make him leave the inn? Had he crossed a line he hadn’t known existed; would he have to cut his trip early because he couldn’t help his curiosity? Was bothering the only innkeeper in town really the smartest decision to make?

All wonderful questions that Patton wished he’d considered before running.

But if he did have to leave, and if this was his last night in this delightful and equally terrifying little town, he was going to make the most of it. At least, that’s what he’d thought he would do as he’d left the few city lights behind and treading deeper into the forest. He had a flashlight with him, thank goodness, so he wasn’t completely screwed, and he’d already gotten a few great shots. He stayed in the areas that the full moon could still shine through the trees, and some of the clouds had rolled away, so he was having the time of his life working with silhouettes against the star filled sky (thanks to the little to no light pollution Dewmore offered).

The more prominent thought in his mind, however, were the spires steadily growing closer above the treeline. He couldn’t understand what Roman had been talking about. How could anyone living in this town not see whatever he was walking towards?

(Admittedly, curiosity was also a huge reason he was chasing something he’d been warned to avoid. He’d never been that great at impulse control.)

It had to be nearly two in the morning when he came to an incline; a steep path constructed entirely of rocks fist-sized and larger. At the top, Patton could just barely see what looked to be the back of the castle, and he bounced slightly on his toes in excitement. He couldn’t tell from this distance the state it was in, or if it was possible anyone still lived there, but dang it if he wasn’t going to give it a go before he left. He’d walked all this way, after all.

The first few steps up the hill were the loudest thing he’d heard since he’d started his midnight adventure, and he cringed as they dropped away under his feet, knocking against each other as they fell to the ground.

“You shouldn’t be here.”

Patton spun around, his flashlight slipping out of his hands. It rolled down between the rocks, casting split second light beams in every direction as it bounced towards the source of the voice, and stopped dead in the middle between the two of them. It settled on an indent created by Patton’s steps, aimed at the newcomer. Patton breathed a sigh of relief.

“Roman, goodness gracious! You scared the bejesus out of me,” Patton laid a hand on his chest and let out a huge gust of air. Roman didn’t move, and for the first time he noticed the absolute glare the bartender was giving him. He cleared his throat awkwardly. “Uhm… sorry about the… leaving. Thing. Are you mad?”

“You shouldn’t be here.”

Well, apparently they weren’t going to talk about it. “Oh- I’m sorry, is this private property? I didn’t see any signs, I’m- Wait, but look, Roman! See, that’s what I was talking-”

“You. Shouldn’t. Be. Here.”

Patton blinked at the harshness in his words, taken aback. How was this the same easy going bartender that he’d met earlier tonight? Whatever was beyond this hill, though, Roman obviously wasn’t going to allow Patton to see. Maybe it was dangerous, or something? Either way, he couldn’t deny his disappointment. “Yeah. I’m sorry, I’ll leave-”

“How did you get here?”

“I… um, walked?”

“No!” Roman hissed, finally stepping forward and plucking up the flashlight from the ground, “You shouldn’t be able to see the castle, or go near it, how the hell did you get here?!”

Before he could answer, the other man froze, whipping around as if he’d heard a noise from his left. And then Patton blinked, and Roman was in front of him, pulling him back down to solid ground. He dragged him by the arm to a fallen tree that was propped up against its own splintered stump, leaving it angled just a few feet off the ground.

“How did you- You were just over there, how-”

“Get down!”

“What?”

“Get. Down!” Roman shoved his shoulders and Patton had no choice but to collapse, blending into a pile of ferns beneath the bend of the tree. “Take off the backpack, put it in front of you. It blends in better than you do.” He yanked off the dark green camera bag as he spoke, situating it in front of Patton. “Don’t move, don’t make a sound, don’t fucking breathe, Patton, I swear.” The flashlight flicked off and thumped to the ground as Roman walked away, leaving him standing in the pale moonlight. Patton debated reaching for the flashlight, but that would mean exposing himself from the foliage he was tucked in and under, and Roman had seemed really scared.

There was a rustle in the underbrush in front of Roman, and the photographer shoved his fist into his mouth before he could gasp.

“Roman, it’s so nice to see you back home. It’s been far too long.”

“It’s been hardly a month, mother.”

The woman that emerged from the tree’s shadows wore a black cloak, nearly blending into the forest around her as the fabric swirled hypnotically by her ankles with each step. Silver embroidery made up the tight bodice and strung together the corset front, meeting at the bottom in an intricate knot and trailing almost down to the earth in two strands. How her intricate updo had stayed intact through a walk in the forest, Patton couldn’t understand.

However, if this was Roman’s mother, he did understand where he got his looks. The only word that came to his mind was ethereal; all smooth pale skin, those same impossibly dark eyes, red lips curved in a constant, easy smile. She was beautiful, but she was terrifying, and Patton backed up more into his fern hiding spot.

She lifted her flared sleeves towards Roman as she stepped into the moonlit opening and he pulled her hands towards himself, kissing both of her cheeks before releasing her.

“A month is too long, darling,” She purred, letting the back of her hand trail down his cheek. “I don’t understand why you find it necessary to stay amongst those humans when you could be with your family.”

“Because I want more than just… lounging, and talking with my brothers. Do you have to bring this up every time I visit?” Despite his slightly aggravated tone, he leaned into her touch.

“When you’re older, you’ll look back at these choices with embarrassment and resentment.”

“Maybe.”

“I just don’t want you to blame me when you do.”

“I could never, I promise.”

She sighed heavily, “They miss you, Roman. We all do.”

“Which is why I’m here, mom. You act as if I’ve been gone a millenia.”

“Worrying is what a mother does best,” She smiled fondly, tapping his cheek with her finger, “You’re home, darling. Drop the glamor? It must be tiring keeping it up constantly.”

There was a moment of hesitation, where Patton couldn’t help but tense up along with the man in front of him. Then the air shifted, like it had been holding a breath it could finally let out, and though there was nothing different that Patton could see from Roman’s back, a certain jolt of fear hit him out of nowhere.

“There’s my boy.” The woman drew him in for a proper hug, one hand reaching around his back to rest on his head. She pressed a kiss to his hair when he wrapped his arms around her in turn. Suddenly her nose wrinkled and she pulled away, holding his shoulders at arm’s length. “Dearest, you smell like humans again.”

Roman chuckled, but there was a new quiver in his voice. “The only flaw in being surrounded by them so often. Let me change, and I’ll come meet you for dinner.”

She didn’t move, eyes narrowing as she watched his face. “No… it’s not you.”

“What? What else could it possibly-”

“There’s a human here.” Her voice was utterly calm, but she pushed Roman behind her resolutely. “There must be.”

“What?!”

A low growl filled the air, and it took Patton a few moments to realize the sound was originating from her. She stepped past Roman, her dress flowing soundlessly along with her as she glared into the woods around them.

Her eyes flashed red.

Once again, Patton shoved his fist into his mouth to hide a scream. That same alien jolt of fear returned as she moved closer to him, seemingly zeroing in on his location.

“Mother, come now. You’re being silly. Humans can't even come near here, remember? You made sure of that yourself!”

Patton tore his eyes away from the advancing woman and his breath caught in his throat. Roman had followed his mother, trying to placate her gently with a hand on her arm, and in doing so, had turned towards Patton’s hiding spot.

When Patton opened his eyes shortly after being born, he was taken away from his mother, despite his parent’s strong objections and his wails. He was returned hours later, much to their relief. On his birth certificate, his right eye was labeled blue. His left eye, the side usually taken by the natural color of his soulmate’s, was labeled ‘Defective’.

When he was set to start school at six years old, his mother sat him down on his bed and taught him how to properly cover his left eye with his hair. They’d grown it out enough to do so. Patton had asked why it was necessary, and subsequently learned the truth that not all people were as accepting and loving as his parents.

When he was ten, he returned home from school crying. He dropped into his mother’s arms and she held him until his sobs turned to sniffles, until he could explain between sharp breaths that a bully at school had revealed Patton’s eye while trying to force him into a fight, and… well, his classmates hadn’t taken it well. Those who weren’t downright afraid of him, refused to eat or sit with him anymore. But it wasn’t fair. He couldn’t help it!

His eye was labeled ‘Defective’, because never before had the doctor’s seen a child born with a red eye. Not the pale color that came with pinkeye, or an allergic reaction, but the iris itself was such a bold, blood red color that it had left the team scrambling for any record of such an incident. They were left with more questions than answers. But the world had yet to understand how soulmates worked in the first place, so they chalked it up to another universal mystery.

Every day for as long as he could remember, Patton had stared into a mirror first thing in the morning, greeted with calm, airy blue on one side, and fiery, almost electric red on the other.

So it was jarring to see such a sight, yet reversed, on another person. But as Roman tugged again on his mother’s arm, there was no denying it; the man’s own color was a gleaming ruby, and the other was Patton’s very own blue.

“Mother, look,” Roman blurted out, scooping up the discarded flashlight from the forest floor, “This is a human tool. I’m sure this is what you’re smelling.”

She ripped the device from his hand, shaking it in his face, “That is still far too close to home, Roman! Humans have been here, and I guarantee they are still nearby.”

“And you don’t know how many there are, Mom!” Roman insisted, taking her hands. “It doesn’t matter how they got here, or why they did,” A slow grin spread across his face, highlighting a pair of glinting fangs, “Why don’t you gather the family, and we can find them together? I can’t even remember the last time I really ate.”

The woman was satiated by this answer, though she still cast the forest cautious looks. “Stay put, Roman. We’ll be back shortly.” Her nose wrinkled again. “Along with a change of clothes for you.”

And then she was gone, the only remaining trace being the tiny cloud of dust she’d left behind. Roman was calm for a moment, making sure she was really gone, before his demeanor dropped. The cocky smirk was gone, and he no longer held the confidence he’d had, either as a bartender or in the presence of his mother.

“We don’t have a lot of time, c’mon! Let’s go!” He crouched before the log, extending his hand to Patton.

“What the hell are you?!” Patton shrieked. Interesting, that those were the first words from his jumble of thoughts that came out.

“Oh, come on, do you really need to ask? I’m pretty sure you already know!”

And yeah, Patton was pretty sure he knew. He wasn’t an idiot. He’d had a teen Twilight phase, so of course the obvious answer was there. It just… it wasn’t possible. His brain was scrambling for any kind of other solution, anything that made sense, but it all kept circling to the same answer.

The cute bartender at the inn was a vampire.

…

Okay then.

Next problem.

“I… yeah. I think I got it.”

“Good! Now let’s go!” Roman grabbed Patton’s hand and yanked, effectively pulling him from his hiding place and nearly tearing the arm from it’s socket. Patton stumbled from the sudden movement and tripped on his camera bag, yelping as he crashed into Roman’s chest.

The vampire’s hands instantly wrapped around his waist, steadying him as he found his footing.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m all good, I just-”

Roman was much taller than he’d thought; that was the initial thought that came to mind as he looked up at the man holding him. The second was, well, the fact that his jaw had dropped open upon seeing Patton’s eyes, and for the first time since they’d met, the guy was completely speechless.

Patton felt his left eye began to tingle as they shifted into its own natural color. He ignored it.

“You really didn’t see it? At the bar?” Patton whispered.

“No, you moved too fast,” Roman murmured, bringing a hand up to Patton’s cheek. “You… you’re my-”

He must have sensed something, or heard something that was too quiet for Patton’s ears, because his head whipped towards the castle.

“We need to go. Now.” Roman intertwined their fingers and pulled him into a run towards the town.

“Wait, no! My bag!” He tugged hard to try and get his hand free, but he was truly no match for Roman.

“Not important right now, sweetheart!”

Without the aid of his flashlight, and enveloped by the darkness of the forest, Patton was totally blind, relying only on Roman’s grip to keep him from falling. Branches hit his face and roots reached up to trip him, but every time he stumbled, the hand tightened and pulled him back upright.

A howl cut through the air.

“What now, werewolves?!” Patton shrieked.

“Don’t be ridiculous, werewolves aren’t real!” Roman scoffed, “They’re normal wolves! What, you think just because we’re vampires, we’re unable to have pets?”

“Is this really a conversation we should be having at this exact moment?!” Patton shot back.

“You’re right, you’re right, okay.”

The howls were growing closer, and it was clear by Roman’s increased pace that this wasn’t about to be a friendly reunion.

“Can we outrun them?!”

“I take it you’ve never met a wolf!”

Patton looked up at him desperately, already struggling to keep up the conversation and keep up with Roman.

“I thought vampires had… like, super speed!”

“I wouldn’t be able to go for long, especially carrying you. Jump!”

Patton leapt blindly, feeling the side of a fallen log scrape the toes of his shoes. The landing was rough, sparks of pain shooting up his legs, but he was quickly pulled back upright.

“I don’t have the energy! I haven’t eaten in months!”

There were more yowls, definitely closer this time, followed by the sound of multiple animals fighting, barely louder than a voice shouting (presumably) at the racket. Whether it was the wolves having a spat, or a prey animal that had gotten in the way of the hunt, Patton didn’t know. It drew out a small whimper from him either way.

He didn’t want to be next.

“Do you trust me?” Roman suddenly gasped, holding his hand firmer.

“What?!”

“Do. You. Trust. Me?!”

Patton didn’t exactly think he had a choice right now. His feet were aching, his lungs were burning, and he wasn’t sure he could run another minute without his legs giving out. “I- Yeah! Sure!”

“Good enough,” Roman grunted bitterly, screeching to a halt, and using his grip on the other’s arm to stop him too. Before Patton could even bring himself to complain, or scream at him, or just incoherently yell, the vampire was drawing him to his chest, puppeting his arms so they were around his shoulders.

“Hold on.”

Obediently, Patton tightened the grip. “Why-”

And then there was a sharp pain in his neck, and his eyes widened. The sting almost immediately morphed into a pleasant warmth, the distant howling being replaced by a faint humming, the buzzing of his own mind calming, becoming numb until the only thought in his head was Roman, Roman, Roman-

He could feel Roman’s hand on his head, not restricting it, but cupping the back of it so he could lean against him as he stared up at the night sky, the full moon, and the slow blurring of the tops of the pine trees. His other arm was wrapped around his waist tightly, holding him up, and Patton was beyond grateful for the support as his legs began to turn to jelly. The last thing Patton felt was the vampire scooping up his legs and his head being cradled against the soft material of Roman’s shirt.

Then everything went dark.

-0-0-0-

Patton woke up slowly, squinting against the harsh sunlight streaming through his window. He dropped an arm across his eyes lazily, letting out a low groan at his pounding headache. There were voices downstairs in the tavern, and what sounded like dishes clanging, and he wondered if somehow this place was also a restaurant. How on earth could anybody run an establishment like that? It’s like the place never slept-

A wave of nausea pooled in his gut due to the speed of which he sat up but that wasn’t important, not right now. He flung his blankets back and… oh. He was dressed in his pajamas. Last he could remember, in the woods, running with Roman, he’d been in day clothes, in the sweater and shirt that was now draped on a chair across the room. His camera bag was... on the desk. His shoes were by the door, dirt free.

He raised his finger tips to his neck, expecting to feel a raised scab, or scar, any sign that he’d been bitten. There was nothing.

He swung his legs over the sides of the beds and immediately shut his eyes, fighting off an explosion of dizziness induced sparks that shot across his vision. It sure felt as if he’d lost some blood. As much as he didn’t want to believe he had a hangover from one drink, that could also be an explanation. He’d always been a bit of a lightweight.

A dream. Was it all just… a dream?

A feeling of disappointment washed over him and he sighed, running his hands up through his hair. Something soft snagged on his fingers and he carefully detangled it from the curls, pulling it out curiously. He blinked at the fern leaf between his finger tips. That definitely hadn’t happened between his car, the tavern, or the room... So-

He sucked in a breath sharply as his eyes locked with the mirror’s reflection in front of him, every thought coming to a halt.

Because staring back, for the first time ever, were two perfectly blue eyes.

I have a bunch of world building ideas that weren’t included in this fic, shoot me an ask if you have any lore questions!

General taglist:

@max-is-tired

@private-snippers

@joylessnightsky

#lywrites #tsshipmonth2020 #royality #roman sanders #patton sanders #vampire au #sanders sides #sanders sides fanfiction #sanders sides au #sanderssides #sanderssidesfanfiction

96 notes · View notes

sarahlevys · 4 years ago

Text

SO YOU WANT TO GET INTO TWYLEXIS

(a fic rec post - last updated 10/31/2021)

11/25/20: I have been talking to a lot of people about The Good Ship Twylexis, and when @earnmysong asked me for some fic recs, I could not resist! Below are some of my favorites, organized by length. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list, and is simply composed of some of the ones I’ve read. I hope you check them out!

10/31/21: Nearly a year later, the fandom has grown by leaps and bounds! I've been able to add many excellent Twylexis fics to the below list. I tried to keep these recs focused on fics in which they are either the only ship or a substantial part of the narrative, so while there are many fics nowadays that have Twylexis as a side pairing, those will not be listed below. Now that we can be more choosy, I've also removed fics that featured Twylexis as part of a throuple or moreple (so that I can hopefully do a fic rec list for that specifically in the future!)

So I see Alexis is getting back out there. (Short Reads)

in the middle of the deep blue night – T – 577 – by @hullomoon

Alexis is all alone at the party, that is, until Twyla joins her.

in the hack – G – 2K – by thingswithwings

After Ted, and before the Next Thing, Alexis joins a curling team. She's great at it, because, what, like it's hard?

Icarus had the right idea – T – 4K – by Luthor

In which Alexis convinces Twyla to take her to the beach, and has an okay-time I guess.

never saw you coming, never be the same – G – Podfics! 15 minutes in total – by DelilahMcMuffin, GoLBPodfics, & Amanita_Fierce

Three different perspectives from Twyla Sands and Alexis Rose's first Pride spent together as a couple.

to be your harbor – E – 4K – by @doublel27

Twyla uses some of her money on things that are special to her. Alexis is special to Twyla. Luckily, Twyla is precious to Alexis.

and it's just around the corner darling, 'cause it in lives in me (no, I could never give you peace) – T – 3K – by beepbedeep

She’s what people call the worst, most pointless kind of celebrity, a socialite, and she does it better than anyone else. It’s good, she knows it’s good, she’s serving her purpose, playing her part perfectly, and if she doesn’t really know how to be alone with herself, how to handle the actual weight of her life when the gossip blogs get bored and the photographers stop showing up for a while, that’s fine.

i knew from the beginning (it was you from the beginning) – T – 1K – by @anniemurphys

Twyla and Alexis celebrate, at a distance.

i took an arrow to the heart – G – 3K – by @sarahlevys and @landofsonlali

Twyla calls Alexis in celebration of the fourth anniversary of their friendship, and the conversation shifts to their feelings for each other. Together, they start to explore the intricacies of love and relationships.

aflame – T – 4K – by @pretendtofly

Alexis has a few days left in Schitt's Creek after the wedding and Twyla wants to spend them all together.

could be your baby, ride the same whip (oh no, no, there's no slowin' down) – T – 3K – by @turningtimeinthetardis

Alexis doubts anything too surprising will happen when she and Twyla decide to go on a little shopping spree (such as they can afford, that is) at one of Elmdale’s boutiques. Maybe they’ll encounter some truly hideous blends of patterns, but nothing stranger than that.

After all, if there’s one thing Schitt’s Creek and the surrounding suburbs can offer, it’s quiet predictability.

I weigh a hundredandfuckingsomething pounds (that makes me almost good) – G – 2K – by beepbedeep

Her legs don’t look good, but half of the girls she knows have legs that look even worse, smiles that are even more shark-toothed or arms that are even less toned, and she reminds herself that these are just the rules', that she knows the rules and knows where she’s failing, but other people are failing more.

shining, shimmering, splendid – G – 1K – by @davidbrewer

Twyla finally starts spending some of her lottery winnings on things that make her smile, and learns how much she loves to travel. Who better to show her around the world than Alexis?

ask 'em my questions and get some answers – G – 1K – by @lilythesilly

Alexis and Twyla meet at Disneyland.

a handprint on my heart – T – 4K – by averita

Five times Alexis and Twyla visit each other.

Merry Go Round – T – 2K – by Perkalil

In her first days in town, Alexis is in a rough place; she finds kindness and compassion in the local cafe waitress.

feel you on my skin – E – 1K – by @hullomoon

Alexis notices what Twyla's wearing. She has a lot of feelings about it.

you make everything good – G – by @rosedavid

Twyla has to go and visit her gaggle of cousins for two weeks, and Alexis is pouty about her girlfriend leaving for so long.

didn't ask for this – you freely gave it (so now i watch your mouth for the both of us) – T – 6K – by @turningtimeinthetardis

Alexis chops her name down to three letters like it's nothing.

Twyla thinks about it a lot.

putting roots in my dreamland – G – 4K – by @lilythesilly

A twylexis flowershop au.

(but if baby, i'm the bottom) you're the top – E – 3K – by @sarahlevys

Five times Twyla tops Alexis, and one time she lets Alexis top her.

three o'clock – E – 2K – by @schittyfic

Two tipsy girlfriends thirst over the hot, bearded guy across the bar.

shivers – E – 5K – by @anniemurphys

Alexis has a long day in an airport, and Twyla wants to take care of her.

This Stupid, Wonderful, Boring, Amazing Job – G – 1K – by @lilythesilly

A cute lil 'The Office' AU.

in calm or stormy weather – T – 4K – by @anniemurphys and @landofsonlali

On National Siblings Day, Alexis spends the day with her favorite brother Patrick, and David bonds with Twyla.

all i need is to see your face – G – 1K – by @wild-aloof-rebel

Alexis has doubts. Twyla knows how to soothe them.

got a fistful of four leaf clovers – T – 1K – by iphigenias

Two weeks before Christmas Alexis calls David.

“So I think I like someone,” she says.

all i want is you – T – 1K – by @landofsonlali

alexis is too restless to cuddle and worries about being a good partner to twyla who loves cuddling. twyla reassures her.

Fifty Shades of Gruyere – E – 2K – by @schittposting

Alexis and Twyla eat cheese and fuck.

I dreamt about you last night – G – 930 – by sonichallows

Alexis has a romantic dream about Twyla and tells her about it the next day.

Mistletoe – T – 2K – by in48frames

Alexis and Twyla go ice skating.

Twy, what are you doing here? You could be anywhere, doing anything. (Medium Reads)

Twyla's Cafe Podcast, An Alexis Rose Production, Produced by Alexis Rose (with help from Twyla) – T – 6K – by @whetherwoman

Twyla and Alexis start a podcast, and accidentally have some feelings along the way.

Crystal Clear – G – 6K – by @imalittlebitgogirl

Twyla and Alexis meet at a Winter Solstice celebration and bond over being newcomers...with more connections than they first realize.

take me out (and take me home) – M – 7K – by @anniemurphys and @landofsonlali

When Twyla’s Thanksgiving plans fall through at the last minute, Alexis flies back to Schitt’s Creek.

know that i’m yours (to keep) – T – 8K – by @anniemurphys

Five times Alexis and Twyla talk at Café Tropical.

And one time they talk somewhere else.

I Offer You My Heart – G – 10K – by @landofsonlali, with art and podfic by @sunlightsymphony

Twyla is the owner of a coffee shop in Schitt's Creek and Alexis is a frequent customer, featuring pining, flirtation, and a whole lot of beverages and baked goods.

Oh Please, Not Now – T – by in48frames

“Oh,” Twyla says. “Yeah. Schitt’s Creek is super haunted."

Ladies Night Inn – T – 15K – by @imalittlebitgogirl

What if Twyla had accepted Alexis' invitation to a ladies night in her motel room after she and Mutt broke up?

i'm your moonlight, you're my star – M – 14K – by @sarahlevys and @anniemurphys

Twyla and Alexis spend the holidays together.

and the stars look very different today – T – 12K – by @hullomoon, with art from @hagface

Teaming up with a group of talented women, Alexis plans her next job

Hide Your Diamonds, Hide Your Exes – T – 8K – by @middyblue

Alexis may or may not be a diamond thief. Twyla is the FBI agent tasked with finding her.

heaven is a place not too far away – T – 8K – by @sarahlevys

Alexis' soulmate mark – the ability to sing – triggers when she moves to Schitt's Creek.

Pretty Follies – T – 9K – by @treepyful

Alexis and Twyla team up to play matchmaker for Stevie and Ruth.

Unfortunately, the course of true love never did run smooth.

Everything That We'd Ever Need – E – 12K – by @middyblue

5 times Twyla went skinny-dipping and 1 time she wore a dress.

Rollin' With the Homies – T – 9K – by @sarahlevys

The Clueless AU.

Phasers Set to Stunning – T – 9K so far (WIP – 2/4 chapters published) – by @kindofspecificstore

Patrick wins passes to San Diego Comic Con, and takes his best friend Twyla with him. Alexis Rose, rising star of Galactic Sunrise Bay, is attending for the first time and has her eyes on a super cute cosplayer.

I was thinking we could have a little ladies' night at my place. (Long Reads)

you and i and nobody else - E – 124K so far (WIP – 7/10 chapters published) – by @sarahlevys and @anniemurphys

Twyla Sands and Alexis Rose meet on Mutt’s season of The Bachelor.

Maybe If You Stayed – E – 14K – by @fraudulentzodiac

“Years down the line, this is the moment she will look back on as the moment she should have known she was in love.“

your body’s poetry (speak to me) – E – 19K – by @anniemurphys

Ballet AU.

I’ve Only Ever Wanted Fire – M – 26K – by @sarahlevys, with art from @rhetoricalk

Written for the prompt: Twyla is a real estate agent specializing in properties that are haunted or possessed. Alexis is looking for a new apartment.

Silence Lay Steadily – E – 44K – by @davidbrewer

A ghost story loosely inspired by The Haunting of Hill House.

like glass from sandy ground – M – 18K – by @middyblue

Five times Alexis ran from grief, and one time she didn't.

Taste of a Poison Paradise – M – 15K – by @lilythesilly

Be gay do crimes but make it a Harley Quinn AU.

Half of My Soul, as the Poets Say – E – 20K – by mixtapesandsunsets

Yes, she imagines telling the Alexis of two years ago, who had felt so untethered sitting next to Twyla outside these very rooms. You believe in fate. Your fate is right in front of you, Lex, you just need to reach out to meet it. It’s her. It has always been her.

#twylexis #alexis x twyla #twyla x alexis #twyla sands #alexis rose #schitt's creek #schitt's creek fic #fic recs

122 notes · View notes

yourreddancer · 3 years ago

Photo

Detroit is known as the car capital of the world.

Alpena is the home of the world's largest cement plant.

Rogers City boasts the world's largest limestone quarry.

Elsie is the home of the world's largest registered Holstein dairy herd.

Michigan is first in the United States production of peat and magnesium compounds and second in gypsum and iron ore..

Colon is home to the world's largest manufacturer of magic supplies....

The state Capitol with its majestic dome was built in Lansing in l879.

Although Michigan is often called the Wolverine State , there are no longer wolverines in Michigan. (However, one was spotted in 2007, so there are some. )

Michigan ranks first in state boat registrations.

The Packard Motor Car Company in Detroit manufactured the first air-conditioned car in 1939.

The oldest county based on date of incorporation is Wayne in 1815...

Sault Ste. Marie was founded by Father Jacques Marquette in 1668. It is the third oldest remaining settlement i

n the United States In 1817, the University of Michigan was the first university established by any of the states. It was founded by priests. Originally named Cathelepistemian and located in Detroit . The name was changed in 1821. The university moved to Ann Arbor in 1841.

The city of Novi was named from its designation as Stagecoach Stop #6 or No.VI.

Michigan State University has the largest single campus student body of any Michigan university. It is the largest institution of higher learning in the state and one of the largest universities in the country. Michigan State University was founded in 1855 as the nation's first land-grant university and served as the prototype for 69 land-grant institutions later established under the Morrill Act of 1862. It was the first institution of higher learning in the nation to teach scientific agriculture..

The largest village in Michigan is Caro.

Michigan's state stone, the Petoskey, is the official state stone. It is found along the shores of Lake Michigan .

The Mackinac Bridge is one of the longest suspension bridges in the world connecting the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan ..... It spans five miles over the Straits of Mackinac, which is where Lake Michigan and Lake Huron meet. The "Mighty Mac" took three years to complete and was opened to traffic in 1957.

Gerald R Ford grew up in Grand Rapids and became the 38th president of the United States. He attended the University of Michigan where he was a football star. He served on a World War II aircraft carrier and afterward represented Michigan in Congress for 24 years. He was also an Eagle Scout, the highest rank in Boy Scouts.

The Kellogg Company has made Battle Creek the Cereal Capital of the World. The Kellogg brothers accidentally discovered the process for producing flaked cereal products and sparked the beginning of the dry cereal industry.

The painted turtle is Michigan 's state reptile.

The western shore of Michigan has many sand dunes. The Sleeping Bear Dunes rise 460 feet above Lake Michigan . Living among the dunes is the dwarf lake iris the official state wildflower.

Vernor's ginger ale was created in Detroit and became the first soda pop made in the United States ..... In 1862, pharmacist James Vernor was trying to create a new beverage when he was called away to serve our country in the Civil War. When he returned, four years later, the drink he had stored in an oak case had acquired a delicious gingery flavor.

The Detroit Zoo was the first zoo in America to feature cageless, open-exhibits that allowed the animals more freedom to roam.

Michigan is the only place in the world with a floating post office.....The J. W. Westcott II is the only boat in the world that delivers mail to ships while they are still underway. They have been operating for 125 years.

Indian River is the home of the largest crucifix in the world. It is called the Cross in the Woods.

Michigan has the longest freshwater shoreline in the world Michigan has more shoreline than any other state except Alaska .

The Ambassador Bridge was named by Joseph Bower, the person credited with making the bridge a reality, who thought the name, Detroit-Windsor International Bridge , as too long and lacked emotional appeal. Bower wanted to symbolize the visible expression of friendship of two peoples with like ideas and ideals.

Michigan has more than 11,000 inland lakes and more than 36,000 miles of streams. Michigan has 116 lighthouses and navigational lights. Seul Choix Point Lighthouse in Gulliver has been guiding ships since 1895. The working light also functions as a museum, which houses early 1900's furnishings and maritime artifacts

Forty of the state's 83 counties adjoin at least one of the Great Lakes . Michigan is the only state that touches four of the five Great Lakes . Standing anywhere in the state a person is within 85 miles of one of the Great Lakes ..

Michigan includes 56,954 square miles of land area, 1,194 square miles of inland waters, and 38,575 square miles of Great Lakes water area.

Sault Ste. Marie was established in 1668 making it the oldest town between the Alleghenies and the Rockies.

Michigan was the first state to provide in its Constitution for the establishment of public libraries. Michigan was the first state to guarantee every child the right to tax-paid high school education.

Four flags have flown over Michigan - French, English, Spanish and United States

Isle Royal Park shelters one of the largest moose herds remaining in the United States .....

Some of the longest bulk freight carriers in the world operate on the Great Lakes. Ore carriers 1,000 feet long sail Michigan 's inland seas.

The Upper Michigan Copper Country is the largest commercial deposit of native copper in the world.

The 19 chandeliers in the Capitol in Lansing are one of a kind and designed especially for the building by Tiffany's of New York. Weighing between 800-900 pounds apiece, they are composed of copper, iron, and pewter.

The first auto traffic tunnel built between two nations was the mile-long Detroit-Windsor tunnel under the Detroit River .

The world's first international submarine railway tunnel was opened between Port Huron, Michigan, and Sarnia, Ontario, Canada in 1891.

The nation's first regularly scheduled air passage service began operation between Grand Rapids and Detroit in 1926.

In 1879, Detroit telephone customers were first in the nation to be assigned phone numbers to facilitate handling calls.

In 1929, the Michigan State Police established the first state police radio system in the world..

Grand Rapids is home to the 24-foot Leonardo Da Vinci horse, called Il Gavallo. It is the largest equestrian bronze sculpture in the Western Hemisphere .

The State Motto (written in Latin) translates to: "If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you."

Check us out at RootedinMichigan.com!

5 notes · View notes

alluneedissunshine · 3 years ago

Video

Godfather Land by Courtney Meier Via Flickr: Rich, afternoon light collides with snow-clouds and creates dramatic shadows in front of the distant peaks of the La Sal Mountains, Arches National Park, Utah. The Windows section of the Park lies in the middle distance on the left, and further out is the Porcupine Rim and the upper reaches of the Mill Creek watershed. My godfather has a small homestead on public land in a bend of canyon way up Mill Creek. He lives alone in a canvas tent heated by a single wood stove, and his horses are his most constant company. He has a small garden and an apple orchard. He also works an active claim for precious stones and searches for meteor fragments, which he fashions into jewelry that he sells in nearby Moab. For the small mine, he has filed the proper paper-work with the BLM in Denver per requirements laid out in the General Mining Act of 1872. It is via this loophole that he resides year-round with his horses in a place that currently sports a 'Wilderness Study Area' designation. Interestingly, and perhaps not surprisingly, the local BLM rangers do not communicate with the Denver office, and they often hassle him about his horses after recreators log complaints about livestock being in their playground. Until this past spring, I last saw my godfather in 2007 in a chance encounter at the breakfast bar in the Aarchway Inn in Moab. Though I have been to Moab many times since 2007, I failed repeatedly to get in touch with my godfather, as he is a hard man to reach unless one simply walks up the canyon to find him. The trouble is, there is no trail to his homestead that is on any map, although it turns out there is a common use path, most likely primarily established by him and his horses. Several years ago, a mutual friend was able to point to a promising bend in the canyon as we looked at a satellite map of the Mill Creek drainage together. Using the map, we tried to find him in December 2019 and failed after hiking five miles up the canyon into a snow-storm. It snowed over 8 inches before we finally made it back to the car as it was getting dark. We didn't find him but we knew we were close because we met his horses. All six of them gathered round us and nosed in close to investigate if we had any snacks. This past year a paradigm shift occurred that allowed us to get in touch with my godfather in real-time (more or less), and to coordinate a visit. He is 78 years old, and his older sister who is 82 worries he might die alone in the desert. Because there is actually a modicum of cell service within a reasonable proximity to his cabin-tent, she recently gave him his first smartphone. I think my godfather knows he will die alone in the desert, and this pleases him; nonetheless, he enjoys connecting with people via his new portal to the outside world, and we were thus able to tell him that we would be visiting and that we wanted to find him. He instructed us to take the Sand Flats road out of town and to pull off onto a four-wheel drive road at a certain mile post. We parked the EuroVan and walked down the road, and when we passed a small drainage, we were instructed to leave the road and find the canyon rim before the road began to descend significantly. At this point, he told us, we would notice an old rusted out bulldozer that was tossed over the cliff in the 1970s during a rowdy moment of the Sagebrush Rebellion. Here, we would find the trail into a lovely grotto at the confluence of two desert streams. We would find him at the confluence: An eight-mile round trip walk for him and a four-mile journey for us (my 71-year-old mother was also with us). His wrinkled, bearded face, now missing some teeth, seemed to be filled with delight when we finally saw each other. He didn't want to hug because he was afraid of getting Covid, a reasonable fear since no vaccines were available at that point. I brought a bottle of cider I made to share with him, and he remarked that it tasted "like heaven in a bottle." My wife and I foraged all the fruit two years ago from trees growing near our home. We stayed and talked with him in the afternoon sun until the light began to fade and he needed to turn back to camp before it got too dark and cold. As we gained the canyon rim and stopped near the old dozer, I could see him moving purposefully through the pinyon and juniper over a mile away, his faded Carhartt jacket blending easily into the landscape.

2 notes · View notes

tiredhermit · 5 years ago

Text

quarantine ask game

tagged by @copperplatescript thanks!

I love any and all opportunities to overshare. >:)

Are you staying home from work/school?

Yeah, for now. All the stores we manage closed in march and I was the only hourly person in the office so I stopped working then too. Now things are kinda in limbo, the current owner is not going to reopen BUT someone is interested in buying so all may not be lost. Either way my job in particular probably wont be back. I did manage to get unemployment but also looking into home depot or lowe’s for now...

If you are staying home, who is with you?

No one. I’ve been looking into adopting a pet though! I'm thinking of like one medium dog or two small ones. I really, REALLY want a cat (or 5) but I’m allergic and I don’t think I can live like that. I struggle just to hang out at my friends house for a few hours with her two cats. :(

Are you a homebody?

Basically yeah, but I miss being able to go out and just wander in craft stores, or being able to randomly go see a movie. At this point I’m even missing work just because it was somewhere where I consistently got things done.

An event you were looking forward to that got cancelled?

I hadn’t made any BIG plans yet. Just one little thing actually, I was going to see one of my favorite movies, nausicaä of the valley of the wind in a theater ‘cause one near my work would play random classics on thursdays. It was gonna be the week after the whole state shutdown.

What movies have you watched recently?

Let’s see, there’s a few movies I’d been putting off forever that I finally watched. The Cabin In The Woods, Sinister, Sharknado. Then I started watching a whole bunch of really bad B horror movies, Sand Sharks, Ice Sharks, Class of Nuke’em High, The Stuff

Also been rewatching a lot of movies like The Ritual, What a Girl Wants, Hellraiser I & II

What shows are you watching?

I watched The Tick finally and wow it’s the best superhero show ever and I’m devastated that they discontinued it after only 2 seasons. I rewatched all of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood in like 2 days and melted my brain, currently mixed between rewatching Dead Like Me and just started watching Schitt’s Creek

What music are you listening to?

Pretty much whatever’s already on my spoofty lists, or discover weekly. Also whatever people I follow post on here.

What are you reading?

HA, nothing right now. Though I do want to start Dungeon Meshi.

Ahhhhh, I guess also when I spent the two days before mother’s day feverishly crocheting a shawl for my ma. I was pretty much glued to that pattern.

What are you doing for self care?

Nothing particularly caring.

I did buy my favorite soda Hansen’s Ginger Ale recently. I’ve been getting little things here and there to decorate my house. I dumped a bunch of the boxes I still hadn’t unpacked yet out on my living room floor in an effort to finally get unpacked completely but still don’t have anywhere to put most of it so it’s just chilling there.

A few weeks ago I baked some zucchini bread and shared it with my family. That felt pretty nice, might do something like that again. For the most part I’ve been playing animal crossing and that’s been the thing helping me de-stress the most.

I always feel weird tagging people, feel free to ignore. Also anyone who wants to do it feel free to say I tagged you!

@darknessandterrorandkittens @oakenshieldthorin @n-o--v-a @gayinflation

@quietdeviless @thekingandqueenofcheese @giveheadlikeazombie

#long post #sam likes to talk #ask games

8 notes · View notes

prussianbrushes · 6 years ago

Text

a spooky bit from a story im writing

BASED ON THE “I’M A SEARCH AND RESCUE OFFICER” REDDIT POSTS

They stopped by a wide creek rushing across a smooth bed of grey stones. There was a wide floodplain to either side of the water of tall reeds and grasses. Marie eyed them. Grass could hide things. They started a small fire on a thin stripe of grey sand near the river. They sat around the fire as the river water boiled away the sickness.

“Marie?” Claire said, picking pine needles out of her tangled braid. “When will we be home?” Her wide eyes dug into her skin like fishhooks.

“Soon.”

Claire lowered her eyes to the fire, twisting the sharpened stick with her small pink fingers. May turned hers too. She glanced to Claire.

“Claire! Your hot dog is burning!”

“Oh,” she said in a small voice. “I’m sorry.” Her eyes fixed on the distance. She broke into a smile, standing up and abandoning the stick. May yelped and picked it up.

“Marie! Deer!” she said excitedly.

She turned, saw the approaching animal, and returned to the fire. “Nice deer.”

May studied it for a heartbeat too long, then tore her eyes away and watched the blistering hot dogs. Marie glanced at her.

“What’s wrong?” she asked May.

“It’s nothing.” She said hesitantly. Marie waited. May looked back at the deer steadily walking towards them. “I don’t know… don’t you think that deer seems… strange?”

Marie turned back the animal. She studied it closer, something picking at the base of her skull. She squinted. “It’s kind of tall.”

May stared, her face worried. “It’s really tall.”

Claire blinked, her face going pale. “It’s not a deer, Marie. It’s not a deer.”

Marie’s blood ran cold.

#r/nosleep #creepy #creepy pasta #short story #horror #horror stories

12 notes · View notes

howardschatzphotography · 6 years ago

Text

On Seeing, A Journal. #278 Andrew Moore, "Dirt Meridian,” a book review.

I receive, daily, the internationally informative photography news site

The Eye of Photography from the former editor-in-chief of French Photo Magazine and now editor-in-chief of The Eye of Photography, Jean-Jacques Naudet. This daily posting is phenomenally valuable, covering all sorts of photography events, portfolios of photographers throughout the world, gallery shows, museum exhibitions, etc.

The site is free, though as an aside they can use financial help for their service. Apart from having contributed features from time to time, I have no affiliation with them, I’m only interested in seeing the on-going success of something that publishes so much information and imagery every day.

Other important sources include AtEdge and Graphis.

Each of these open up to a wide world of brilliant photographers, designers, and other creatives.

A recent post contained an article about the The Yancy Richardson Gallery in New York City. The images of Andrew Moore who is represented by the gallery particularly caught my eye. I went to his site ((http://www.andrewlmoore.com)) and was so moved by his body of work that I bought his recent book, "Dirt Meridian.”

I do that, buy and collect photography books. Along with the internet, books are my major source of self-education. I am well aware that if I am to grow in this visual art, it’s imperative that I study, continually, tenaciously. It’s essential to gain, maintain and expand a vast visual data bank if one desires to create unique, original and exciting work. For photography, one needs to look, study, and look even more, reviewing and surveying everything available in galleries, web sites, periodicals, museums, presentations and, yes, books. Our brains are such that images drop out; constant replenishment is needed for any sort of positive development, success, and even survival in this challenging art. It’s essential to recognize what’s been done before in order to avoid repetition. Knowing what hasn’t been done, or done well enough, comes when one has seen – and keeps seeing -- a vast range of imagery.

When “Dirt Meridian” arrived, I opened it and couldn’t put it down, studying every image. And, as I always do with a new book of photographs, I left it out, opened, on a counter I pass daily, so that I could look at it again and again and imprint the images in my memory.

This is not the kind of photography I endeavor to create in the controlled environment of a studio (or a pool, my particular kind of studio). Moore’s work is done outdoors, in this case in the vast, almost empty space of the great plains of middle America. What he shows us are sand hills and sky and weather and cattle. And the Badlands and old abandoned barns and buffalo and meadows and creeks, windmills and wildlife. He also shows the determined struggle of the human spirit against the toughest elements, and the effect of those on deserted homesteads.

America, its 100th meridian.

Moore’s epic visions of the vast treeless space in the 100th meridian, cutting through North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, are all about space -- empty sprawling and seemingly infinite space. The images are intoxicating, filled with magnificent beauty in the loneliness that is the trackless expanse of seemingly endless land. From his Acknowledgement: “…the land’s beauty lies in its vast and sublime emptiness."

I wrote to Moore and learned, happily, that his NYC studio/office is located only a few blocks from mine. So, I invited him for lunch and an in-person review of his magnificent photographs.

Working on this book project, he spent weeks at a time on many trips from the East, met many individuals and recorded their stories, histories, lives. Each photograph is accompanied by text containing fascinating information which provides a rich understanding of the work.

Moore made many of the photographs from a Cessna 180 single-engine plane flown by Doug Dean. They attached his medium format digital camera to one of the plane’s wing struts, using a screen and remote control from the passenger seat.

They flew low, yielding a unique perspective. This technique is one important reason why the images look so different from photographs of this area I’ve seen before. He spoke of the emptiness as a spiritual reservoir, a spiritual landscape. He wrote in the Acknowledgements, “the intimate seemed conjoined to the infinite."

During the project he moved from north to south, contrasting open spaces with cluttered, claustrophobic interiors, rich with poor, immigrants and native born, industrial scenes with mythic landscapes, all of which he explained was a metaphor for the sense of possibility, of hope that tomorrow will be a better day.

In the book his pilot wrote, “I hope you take pause, if only for a moment, to consider the story of this land, where second chances are few, and how the decisions we make today will impact the generations to follow."

Moore allowed me to choose images I personally wished to use for this review.

From the book: “Sheridan County, Nebraska. These dry, fallow lands and terraces lie to the southeast of Clinton. The wind coming out of the north was blowing at over 70 mph. When choosing the angle approach to a subject, Doug Dean piloted us, if possible, into a headwind, since that slowed the plane down and allowed a bit more time for picture making. On this day we had little choice but to let a powerful tailwind take us on a Nantucket sleigh ride if we wanted to catch this billowing cloud of white dirt."

From the book: “A herd of the wild antelope, which in wintertime can number into the hundreds, roams the high plains that stretch toward the Big Horn Mountains in the background. Early pioneer cattlemen noticed that the native grass animals roaming this area tasted particularly good, and to this day Niobrara County grass has become famous among livestock buyers for the finish it gives cattle.”

From the book: “Sheridan County, Nebraska, 2013. Heidi and Brock Terrell and their son Royal (led by their red heeler) ride fence along their land in Sheridan County. They not only raise both cattle and sheep but they also farm soybeans and sugar beets. Heidi is a sixth generation descendant of Jules Sandoz, among the earliest homesteaders in the area. Better known as ‘Old Jules,’ legendary for his cussedness and his justly famous tenacity, he was immortalized in the biography of the same name written in 1935 by daughter Mari Sandoz.”

From the book: "Cherry County, Nebraska, 2013. Cattle and heron share a drink at the tank in the residual morning fog. Much of the success of cattle ranching in the Sandhills is due to the shallow reach down to the Ogallala Aquifer. In some places it's only six feet to water, so one can easily and cheaply put down a windmill in order to water livestock anywhere in the vastness of this terrain. (There are many sub-irrigated meadows that provide hay at the driest times.) The hilly landscape provides the herd with protection from the wind and snow. However, the quality of the grass is not as good as on hard soil land, so it can still take 20 to 30 acres to support just one cow/calf pair."

From the book: “McKenzie County, North Dakota, 2005. Branding day at the Hepper Ranch outside the town of Keene. In the shadows of the Blue Buttes, amidst lush May grass, family, friends, and neighbors (and several dogs) help round up this herd of 300 cow/calf pairs. The large crew included five heelers, six sets of floppers, branders, vaccinators, and iron tenders. The older more experienced cowboys do the actual branding while the younger folks who wrestle the calves are known as floppers.”

In the book’s introduction, Kent Haruf wrote, “These are wonderful photographs, clear, and evocative, unsentimental, they seem to understand the sacredness of the country. They suggest its holiness."

Howard Schatz, November, 2018.

#andrewmoore howardschatz dirtmeridian photography nature landscape country Photographer

254 notes · View notes

bigtinyworldtravel · 5 years ago

Text

How does one see Namibia? Full of wildlife, massive sand dunes, and vast distances, there’s really only one way to see it all: renting a car and driving yourself. Just be prepared to drive on the lefthand side of the roads, and be ready for very little pavement!

But then, where does one stay in this developing country? You might find some resort-style lodges near the larger towns, but if you’re on a budget like we are, the best option is a campground. Even in the winter, desert temperatures are mild, and precipitation is nonexistent in such an arid climate.

As adventure types, we don’t shy away from camping when we travel, but that activity requires quite a bit of specialty equipment – extra gear we didn’t exactly want to lug all the way around the world with us. Fortunately, there’s a popular solution in Namibia to the needs of both transportation and accommodation.

Hop aboard and see what life was like spending three weeks in our 4×4 camping truck!

About the truck

First things first, let’s talk about the truck that sustained us for 20 days in the Namibian desert.

Our vehicle was like any other truck: four doors, manual transmission, diesel engine, two spare tires, two batteries, two gas tanks, and – of course – four-wheel drive. Aaron was our brave driver for the entire duration. By this point, he was quite practiced at driving on the “wrong” side of the road, and he wasn’t as preoccupied as I was with photography. I spent most of my time in the passenger seat up front… unless I was scouting for wildlife, in which case I sat like the awkward third wheel in movies: dead center in the back (seriously, no one chooses that seat – especially if they’re the only one back there!).

All our gear could be safely stowed in the bed of the truck, secured by a hard canopy with convenient locking access panels on each side. Aside from the occasional need to fill up and restock on food and water, we had all the necessary basics.

About the roads

Driving from the airport into Windhoek, proper, is misleading. The entire route is tarred roads and highways, and the city appears to be quite developed. Even driving several hours north to Etosha, we never left pavement. But once you get into the park and venture elsewhere in the country, you’ll find nothing but dirt and gravel.

We quickly learned that the letters in the road names denoted (more or less) the quality of that road. B roads are generally tarred highways; we really like these roads. C roads are usually fairly well-graded gravel roads. After enough D roads, we learned to look forward to these C roads.

And D roads? Those are the ones we dreaded… small, bumpy, and less-frequently maintained. They often traverse regular river and creek beds. Though these were all dry when we were there (July), I could see these being rather treacherous in the wet season. These are also best described as washboard roads (this is an interesting simulation on how they form), and some got so bad, we had to take breaks to combat motion sickness. We groaned whenever Google routed us to a D road.

Now, some C roads are also washboarded – particularly the more frequented ones and those with faster traffic like the route into Sossusvlei – and some D roads are better than C roads. And yes, there are E and F roads (these are usually barely paths across the desert).

Is a 4×4 necessary?

When deciding on a vehicle for Namibia, we debated back and forth on whether to get a 4×4 truck or an everyday (and far less expensive) car (or some combination of the two). Most roads are dirt that a car could handle (albeit less comfortably), and we weren’t intending to do much off-roading. In fact, we only used four-wheel drive once the entire time we were there. So was the extra expense worth it?

Yes. For a few reasons.

First, it was comforting to have the peace of mind should we get stuck anywhere. We didn’t plan to do anything so extreme as to suspect we’d run into trouble, but in a place as unpredictable as Namibia, we felt better prepared.

Next, while roads could mostly be navigated via car, they’re almost all rough gravel (see above). Four-wheel drive isn’t always necessary, but high clearance certainly came in handy on more than one occasion!

Third, we liked having the option of 4×4 for the one situation where we *really* needed it. The road to Sossusvlei was deep sand and absolutely required four-wheel drive. Being able to drive it ourselves meant we could skip the expensive and time-restrictive shuttle provided by the park.

And finally, it served not only as our transportation for our duration in Namibia; it was also our lodging. While we theoretically could have slept in a car, the tent that came with our truck was far more comfortable.

What comes with the truck?

Every company will be different, of course, but ours came fully equipped with everything we needed to live out in the bush: pots, pans, kettle, dishes, can opener (for our favorite Koo Chakalaka), propane, chairs, table, lighter, spare water, a powered refrigerator/cooler, and even a braai (grill).

We were also given essentials like an air compressor, tire gauge, axe, spade, and extension cord.

But what about the tent and sleeping bags?

These come on top of the truck! Yep! No fears of a wayward hyena coming to sniff at tasty human burritos just laying on the ground for the taking in the middle of the night. Sleep in comfort atop your truck!

The tent was surprisingly comfortable. As it’s permanently installed on the roof rack, it can afford the luxury of a real foam pad as insulation. Paired with military-grade canvas above, the inside is quite cozy.

Our truck came with two cool-weather sleeping bags, two full-sized pillows, and a couple of spare blankets should we get cold (we did a few times). This all just stayed in the tent, waiting for us for when we next stopped for the night.

How do you set up the tent?

The setup was a breeze! Far simpler than any other tent I’ve worked with. Come nightfall, we just had to remove the cover, release the tie-down straps, extend the ladder, unfold the tent, and insert the support poles. Boom!

#gallery-0-19 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-19 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-19 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-19 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Teardown was similarly easy, effectively doing the same in reverse (and adding some fabric tucking action as you fold the tent).

It was all quite convenient!

Some tips:

The poles could be a bit tricky at times. I sometimes found it easier to insert the bottom of the pole into the frame and then bend the pole to hook the other end onto the canvas (while we mostly saw everyone doing the opposite).

Climbing the ladder to insert the poles on the ladder side makes it far easier to do so.

Be careful that the ladder doesn’t come apart. If the tabs that lock it into place get stuck in the up/open position, you might find you get half the ladder in your hands when trying to extend it (we did this a couple of times).

Mind the ladder that you don’t accidentally scrape the vehicle while setting up the tent.

Don’t try to drive the truck while the tent is deployed 🙂

Secure the cover inside the truck or somewhere out of the elements at night. The wind often picks up a bit in the middle of the night, and having that thing slap against your tent in the pitch darkness is one of the most terrifying ways to wake up… trust us.

About renting

Renting one of these trucks is much like renting any other vehicle. However, since roads are particularly rough, you should definitely have full insurance (either already covered by your policy at home or as an add-on with the rental). And due to the strenuous conditions on the vehicle, you’ll have more paperwork to sign, promising you won’t speed (seriously, please don’t; it’s quite dangerous to do so) or go recklessly off-road.

It is customary for companies to charge a deposit on the truck. This covers incidentals like any scrapes you might acquire while driving through bushes (which you really shouldn’t do because you should stick to the roads) and a gas top-off. You could also be held liable for any accidents, flat tires, or cracked windshields (depending on your insurance coverage).

Some companies (including the one we went with) will even offer an airport pickup/drop-off service. We had an extra day on either side, so we didn’t take advantage of this, but it is useful to not need an extra rental or taxi into Windhoek (where you’re most likely to pick one of these up).

Our experience

We rented our truck from Travel Namibia in Windhoek. This is a small company, owned by a husband and wife team who are incredibly nice people. They were in the process of relocating their office, so we picked up our vehicle from their residence.

When we arrived, Kato welcomed us into her home and offered us tea while we filled out the paperwork (standard liability agreements, fees for additional damage, etc.). We talked about our travels thus far, and she was fascinated with our journey. In fact, she ended up following our very sporadic social media posts of Etosha pictures while we were about and had a lot of compliments for the pictures upon our return.

She and her husband gave us some pointers on where to go within Etosha, and they insisted we call them straight away if we had any issues setting up the tent, if we broke down, or if we otherwise needed help or advice with any aspect of our excursion. We even scraped a bush one of our first days in Etosha, and I was certain they’d use that as an excuse to charge the polishing fee (any other mainstream company would have). But they looked at the paint and deemed the light scrape superficial. I felt like we were borrowing a truck from a good friend rather than renting from a business.

The truck itself really did become our home during those three weeks. It ran well and never let us down, despite the rough conditions we subjected it to. And against all odds, we didn’t get a single flat (Kato said we were the first!).

The tent was remarkably comfortable, and we looked forward to crashing each night in its cozy interior. All in all, it wasn’t a bad way to live for those weeks.

We loved renting from Travel Namibia, and we happily recommend them. You can find their booking details here.

A day in the life

06:27 – wake up to the birds beginning to stir, along with some of our early-riser neighbors

06:36 – finally drag ourselves out from under the warmth of our comfy sleeping bags, apply some deodorant, throw on some extra layers, and don a hat or a buff

06:42 – Aaron pulls out the propane tank, a pot, and a couple of bowls to start heating up some breakfast: the usual chakalaka or beans poured over rice and spruced up with our all-purpose seasoning, paired with rooibos tea with honey. Meanwhile, I pack up as much of the tent as I can without his assistance

06:45 – Aaron helps pack in the excess fabric of the tent while I slowly fold it up, and we get it all strapped down and covered. Breakfast heats on the stove

06:51 – we scoop up breakfast and pack up everything else into the truck

06:54 – we take our bowls and tea cups up to the watering hole to hopefully catch some early wildlife while we eat; nothing comes

07:26 – we drive out to the camp gate to await the new day

07:28 – the gates are already open, so we’re off!

07:49 – we pull over to take some pictures of an early morning jackel

07:55 – we reach our first watering hole, where we spy a few hyenas

08:37 – we stop to photograph some wandering wildebeasts, ostriches, and the ever-present springbok

09:23 – we spot our very first lions! thanks to the help of some other stopped vehicles

09:37 – we stop to hang out with a giraffe for a little while

10:08 – we see a lone elephant off across the field

11:50 – we arrive at another watering hole and park for a bit

11:52 – a huge herd of zebras come into the watering hole, and we take loads of pictures

12:12 – another watering hole; this time, springbok and oryx

12:18 – we notice a hornbill in the trees!

12:51 – wildebeasts and zebras on the side of the road

13:10 – a new watering hole with lots of black-faced impala chasing each other around

13:21 – elephants race into the area, scattering the impala and taking over the scene

13:43 – giraffes finally have a go at the water as the elephants disperse

14:08 – we finally leave the watering hole

15:26 – we stop in at one of the campgrounds to break for lunch: some leftover rice and chakalaka

16:02 – we start to head back in the direction of our campground

16:26 – we spot another lone elephant in the distance

16:38 – we come across a single rhino nearby!

17:03 – we arrive early back at our campground, well before the gates will close at sunset at 18:30 and set up the tent

17:13 – we take a fast shower (only if it’s warm enough, as most showers are open-air)

17:39 – we heat up some quick dinner: mixing it up with some potatoes and beans with our special seasoning

17:58 – we walk over to the watering hole inside our campground for the evening show and see a herd of elephants are already there!

18:14 – a rhino also shows up on the scene

18:31 – the rhino gets a bit too close, sparking a confrontation with one of the larger elephant bulls

18:41 – a small feral cat skitters across the area surrounding the watering hole

18:48 – the elephants finally depart, leaving the rhino alone at the water

19:17 – a flock of birds invades the watering hole, raising a boisterous chorus where it was silent only moments before – a nightly occurrence

19:41 – we call it a night and return to our campsite to get ready for bed, the early sunset training us to tire much earlier in the evening

20:01 – we wind down the evening with a quick episode of anime on our iPad, at the perfect height when draped over one of the bungee supports inside the tent

20:42 – after what actually ended up being two episodes of anime, we finally turn off our solar-powered puff lantern (also conveniently hung from another bungee support) and snuggle into our sleeping bags to crash and get up early the next morning to do it all over again!

General truck tips

Stay alert while driving. Distances in Namibia are quite long, and it’s easy to zone out. Take regular breaks to take in the scenery and rest your mind for the next long haul. This could also save you from making costly mistakes that could lead to rolling the vehicle or hitting something in the road.

Watch for wildlife. There aren’t many fences to protect the roads, and you’re likely to encounter anything from springbok and warthogs to cows and goats. They can appear suddenly, so always be on the lookout.

Don’t drive at night. The abundance of wildlife is the primary reason. There are no street lights, and animals are more active at night. Besides, it isn’t much fun to drive at night (or have to set up the tent after dark). It’s much more enjoyable to spend this time stargazing, instead.

Keep your windows closed while driving through cities. Sadly, petty crime is quite common, particularly in the populated areas. Open windows are an invitation for quick grab-and-run. Even in smaller towns, many poorer citizens will take every opportunity to convince tourists to purchase their wares (usually handmade bracelets and other trinkets). It’s easier to say no with closed windows (and only open them if you’d like to actually buy something from them).

Be mindful of areas where you can get out of your vehicle. This is particularly true in Etosha National Park. With the abundance of dangerous wildlife, you should stay inside your truck at all times. Only exit in designated areas.

Resist the urge to speed. With the road conditions in Namibia, this should be a no-brainer. Washboard roads already aren’t pleasant at high speeds, and speed on gravel is a recipe for an accident (or a punctured tire). Besides, the views are worth taking in – not passing by.

If someone passes you, slow to let their dust clear. Don’t be that person who insists on being the fastest on the road (see the point above). If someone wants to pass, just let them.. and then let their dust clear. Hanging out in someone’s dust cloud reduces visibility and could increase your risk of a rock in your windshield. We seldom even encountered other drivers on the road (usually other travelers), so it wasn’t an issue to just slow down when we did.

Carry your passport. You should do this anyway. But it’s particularly important in Namibia, as you might encounter periodic checkpoints on the roads. Officers (sometimes pretty imposingly armed) might ask for your destination, identification, and if you’re transporting any produce. Some larger vehicles were even stopped and inspected, though we weren’t really subjected to this.

Know the names of the places you’ve left and where you’re going next. We were asked this everywhere we went: every new campground, park, attraction, and checkpoint. Should you go missing, there is a paper-trail log of where you’ve been and where you intended to go next – much like a through-hiking registry.

Memorize your license plate number. This goes with the above. Every campsite we checked in at asked for this, and we were caught, on more than one occasion, needing to dash quickly outside to remember the elusive digits on our license plate. It wasn’t until one of our last days that we realized our helpful rental agency were kind enough to jot this down right on the keychain.. doh!

When driving on dirt, open the canopy vent. Thats right: open the vent on the back of the truck. This sounded entirely counterintuitive to us; wouldn’t opening it let more dust in? But no! This actually breaks an otherwise vacuum situation, which would suck in dust kicked up from the rear tires. We made the mistake of forgetting to open this only once, and our things were simply covered in dust. There’s honestly no preventing dust, but this reduces the intensity.

Use four-wheel drive only when you need to. This should be very rare. We only used it once; two-wheel drive was sufficient for almost all conditions. I could see our needing this more during the wet season, but we were fine during the winter. And even if you do need it, familiarize yourself with how to engage it and which situations require which gears.

First, only switch the drive mode while the vehicle is at a complete stop. Use four-wheel low when driving very slowly (generally over very uneven and solid, boulder-road situations), and use the high gear if you’ll require more speed (like the soft-ground situations we had going to Deadvlei). Don’t push the engine too much while in these gears, or you might wear out the clutch.

Fill up as soon as you see the gauge beginning to drop below the F(ull) indicator. Our truck had two gas tanks. This meant we could fill up less frequently, but with gas stations being sparse on the desert roads, you really want to take advantage of them. Our truck burned the spare tank first, so the indicator only moved once we started using the fuel in the second/primary tank. We filled up every time we noticed the needle falling below F, which ensured we never ran out of gas.

Regularly check your tire pressure. This is important to monitor for any impending flats. If you notice the pressure declining, get it checked out (many gas stations offer tire repair service) before it becomes a more costly repair. And as desert temperatures fluctuate drastically, maintaining your tire pressure within the optimal range could protect your tires from punctures.

Final thoughts

Fair warning: renting one of these trucks is expensive. All in, our truck cost us about N$1586 ($110 USD) per day (for two people). They’re very popular, and you will see countless others on your journey through Namibia. But it’s clear to see why. The places this truck took us, and the fact that it served as both our transportation and lodging (not including campsite fees) for the three weeks, it was well worth the cost.

Have you ever stayed in one of these trucks? Tell us all about your experience in the comments below!

We were not offered any discounts or free services by Travel Namibia in exchange for a positive review. While we later agreed to provide them some promotional materials and a mention on our blog – for which we are being compensated – we do this because we genuinely enjoyed our experience with them and would wholeheartedly recommend their services to our friends and family.

Like this post? Every like, comment, and share helps us grow, travel more, and continue to share amazing stories like these with you!

Pin it for later!

Don’t miss out on new posts! Follow our blog for new posts every week.

We spent 20 days in a #4x4 #camping truck. Click to get the inside scoop on all you need to know about #renting and driving one of these trucks in #Namibia! #drivenamibia #desertcamping How does one see Namibia? Full of wildlife, massive sand dunes, and vast distances, there's really only one way to see it all: renting a car and driving yourself.

#4X4 #Africa #driving #Namibia #off-road #Travel #travel couple #Wildlife

2 notes · View notes