#WHAT HAPPENED TO LAYING LOW SHAUNA

[homosexualslug]

WHAT IS WRONG WITH HER (AFFECTIONATE)

[star-girl69]

Moon Song

Lottie Matthews x Natalie Scatorccio x Fem!Reader

—-

sypnosis: Running wild under the full moon, your veins on fire, your brain foggy- nothing bad can happen in the wilderness. Not tonight, not when you feel so good and the moon is so bright. Hazy, the line between secrets and reality fades, leaving you and your two best friends to face the truth of what you’ve all been feeling- running wild under the full moon.

a/n: idk why the title is another phoebe bridgers song and also THIS IS SO SHORT NOOOOO but anyways i hope you all enjoy!!

warnings: drugs, hallucinations, kinda sex idk, kissing, mentions of death, blood, swearing, tell me if i missed anything!!

—-

The moon was hanging over the sky like a giant beacon. Your back to the forest floor, you kept reaching up like baby, confused when you couldn’t run your fingers over the craters, the imperfect perfectness of it all.

You weren’t sure where anyone else was, where you were. You just wanted to touch the moon and feel it on your skin, so much that you sat up. You could feel dirt in your clothes, under your fingernails, everywhere. You reached out, but still, you fell short.

“Where is everyone?” someone finally groans, and you almost shriek, before remembering that it’s doomcoming. You’re all out here.

“Coach is gone,” someone else groans.

“He was sad,” and you recognize this voice. You look to your left and see Natalie slumped against a tree branch. “I… I think I saw him take some drinks and go to the woods.”

“Misty’ll find him,” Akilah groans, and a faint smile finds it way onto your face.

“Nat,” you smile, and she looks around, untik her eyes finally land on you.

“Hi,” she whispers.

“What-what about Jackie?” Mari asks. “And… T-Travis?”

You drag yourself closer to the tree trunk, giggling slightly as she wraps her hands around your wrists, tugging you forward until you’re inching like a worm to be next to her.

“They left,” Javi says, almost bored. You stare up the moon, feeling your back arch with the curve of the tree trunk, Natalie’s body pressed right up against yours.

You feel a little out of your mind.

“T-together?” Shauna sputters in disbelief.

“That’s so Jackie,” Tai hisses.

“That’s very Jackie,” Van agrees.

You look around, finding everyone either laying on the ground or slumped against something, looking like they’ve just run a hundred miles. You spit Lottie sitting in a hollow tree trunk, cut a few feet up, still standing.

You look back up to moon.

You barely know what’s happening, but at least Natalie and Lottie are here.

“What… are they doing?” Javi asks, and it takes you a second to remember that he’s only 14, of course he wouldn’t know what they’re doing.

A few of the girls let out small laughs.

“They’re having sex,” Van whispers, and everyone erupts into laughter. You look over at Lottie, wanting to share in this joy with her as Nat’s hand presses against your thigh.

But she’s not laughing. She’s staring at the ground, hard in thought.

“You’re being boring, Lottie,” you say, but your voice only comes out a whisper. No one can hear you. But Lottie looks over at you.

Her eyes rake over all the exposed skin showing on you and Natalie, on her hand on your thigh, on the berry alcohol sticky on your chest.

“What are we waiting for?” she asks, a little louder than she needs too, losing her mind as well.

“Huh?” a few of the girls mumble.

She stands up, swaying a bit, her crown of sticks looking like antlers.

“This is Doomcoming,” she breathes. “Doomcoming. If we’re all gonna die soon….” she looks at you and Natalie. “We should do whatever the fuck we want.”

A few of the girls laugh, and you watch Shauna bite her lip, crossing her legs and smiling to herself. Tai and Van turn to each other, laughing and talking in low whispers, before they start to tug each other up.

“We should,” Natalie breathes from next to you. Her hand slides higher. “We should do whatever the fuck we want.”

You don’t even remember how her hand came to be on you, but it feels so good and right that it’s almost bad that something can be this amazing. You smile and throw your head back. The moon shines brightly over the clearing, bathing all of you in a soft, silky glow, singing some sweet song about living before you died.

You turn to Natalie, and if you squint, her pale skin and the low light makes her look like the moon.

Lottie kicks your ass. Softly, but enough to make you jolt and sit up, noticing that Taissa and Van are giggling and heading off into the forest together.

“What the fuck was that for?” you groan.

Lottie stares at you blankly. “Come,” is all she says, looking between you and Nat.

Lottie towers over both of you, and even like this, she looks like the moon too.

“Okay,” you mutter, because she’s your best friend and you want to spend time with her.

Natalie and Lottie have never been close, but they both love you, and they get along for your sake. But in the wilderness, all of you have known, however subconsciously, that you might die out here. You would never go to college. You would never get married or fulfill anything you ever wanted to do in the real world.

But here, in the wilderness where the moon is singing her encouragement, and your mind is hazy- you can do whatever the fuck you want.

You can give into the way hands have always lingered a second too long, eyes have always roamed, scents had always been so intoxicating.

You stand up, dusting yourself off, feeling a little giddy.

Lottie turns and starts walking, leaving Javi and the other girls in the clearing behind. Natalie shrugs after she stands up, and you both end up following her, deeper into the woods, until she’s just a whisp of white dress flashing between the thick twisting trees, and Natalie is just footsteps that are close and far at the same time, people you can’t clearly see but presences you can truly feel.

Finally, Lottie’s face comes back into view coming towards you fast, until she’s all you can see.

Her hands are sliding up and down your arms, and you don’t even know when she got close enough to share breath with you.

She’s taking your breath away with her lips on yours, so shocked you can’t even breathe. Shocked because you’ve wanted this for so long and it’s even better than you ever could have imagined.

Someone starts laughing next to you.

Lottie pulls away after a moment.

Her eyes are slightly glazed over, but burning with a raging fire, and even her eyes look like little moons. Your reach out and let your fingertips fall down her cheek like tears, trace your fingers along the moon.

“Oh,” Natalie breathes, smiling widely, and you realize it was her who was laughing. “Thank God,” she says, and Lottie let’s go of you, spinning you around, her arms still around you-

Natalie’s lips on yours are so different and yet the same.

She tastes like thrill and fire, black smoke in the air, filling up your lungs in such an addicting way it makes you want to walk straight into a fire.

Lottie tastes like that same thrill, but like the bright white water at the bottom of a rapids rather than smoke. Filling up your lungs in that same way, drowning you in that same addicting way. You want to plunge headfirst off of a waterfall.

Natalie’s lips leave yours, leaving you confused and hot all over, watching as she leans around you and presses her lips to Lottie’s. You can’t see from this way, Natalie’s chest pressed against yours and Lottie keeping you pressed against her.

You let your head fall back.

“What are we doing?” you breathe, and it takes a second for the sound of them pulling away to hit your ears. Lottie let’s you go, and you disentangle yourself from them, spinning around to stare at both of them.

The moon shines down in this clearing too, bathing everything in that same soft, silky glow- making everyone look like their own moon.

Lottie smiles for the first time all night, her canines flashing in the low light.

“Whatever the fuck we want.”

She stares at you like she’s hungry and you have to swallow, feeling hot, feeling like there’s a second heart in between your legs, beating with a steady pulse fueled by wanton desire.

And you know what you want. You know what you want and you know this is the last time to get it.

A hand slips under your Doomcoming dress, and you throw your head back, eyes closed, too busy being in bliss to look at the moon.

The night fades into the savagery and wildness that only knowing this could be your last night alive could be.

A tongue traces up your neck, up your chest, drinking up the dried berry alcohol, leaving your skin wet and sticky.

It’s ingrained into your veins forever, into your fingers and legs, pockmarked by where their hands touched you, invisible and burning in an addictive way.

Lips meet you, every part of you, places you didn’t even know existed, all brought out by them.

The light of the moon, the feeling between your legs like an exploding moon, and your fingers tracing over a million moons, a million faces, until the sun comes up.

You feel like water and smoke in their hands, you feel like a moon orbiting around her planets.

And when the sun comes up, and your minds aren’t hazy anymore, and you realize now that you’ll survive another day… you don’t stop, and choose to be in their hands instead.

—-

everything taglist:

@emilynissangtr

[lottiezilla]

🤍💌 (can i pls have an excerpt for the WIP if i promise to stop sending sad lottienat edits in bookclub)

uuhhHHH idk i guess "Down By The Lake", i just had so many lottielee feels and hadn't slept in like over 30 hours and that's what my mind produced LMFAO

and hhmmmmmm...i guess i can do that for you :P but also never stop i live to cry over lottienat

Natalie looks from Jackie to Lottie, to Laura Lee. “Someone tell me what the fuck is going on, right now.”

This time, it’s Lottie who speaks, and it surprises everyone in the circle. “It’s in all of us,” she repeats, sounding giddy. Her voice turns suddenly dark despite the smile still plastered on her face. “Even him, even you.” 

Natalie takes a step backwards and Laura Lee watches as fear overtakes her as well. She doesn’t understand why they’re all afraid of Lottie-- the taller girl would never hurt any of them. This obviously wasn’t her. Something was happening to her but Laura Lee wasn’t going to let it take her away. Lottie was special, Lottie was chosen. She was holy and Laura Lee would bow at her feet if it meant proving to everyone else that she was no one to balk at, no one to fear.

“Nat,” Laura Lee says, finally releasing Lottie. That was, apparently, a mistake. The girl races forward, towards Natalie, too fast for anyone around them to register, especially Natalie herself. Lottie’s hand snags Natalie’s wrist and tugs the smaller girl into her, wrapping her free arm around Natalie’s waist to hold her in place.

“He isn’t important,” Lottie says to Natalie, who is struggling her hardest to keep the anger on her face. No one else moves. “We don’t need him. It doesn’t need him.” Natalie jerks against Lottie’s grip but the taller girl is much stronger than her. “You don’t need him.”

That’s apparently the last straw. Natalie is instantly sobered up and she shoves Lottie roughly, causing the taller girl to let go of her and stumble backwards, falling onto her ass. Lottie erupts in loud giggles again. 

“That’s enough of your weird bullshit, Lottie!” Natalie cries out, rounding on the girl. Laura Lee moves, then, too, and stands between the other blonde girl and the brunette on the ground. “Move,” Natalie growls, fists curling. 

Laura Lee shakes her head, stands up taller, jutting her chin out. She’s taller than Natalie, but only by a little bit. Still, she gazes at her down the bridge of her nose. “Leave it, Natalie,” she tells her, and it’s the strongest and most present Laura Lee has felt in weeks. “You wouldn’t understand what’s going on with her.” 

Natalie looks like she wants to shove Laura Lee, too, but her eyes flick so quickly to her burns before returning to her gaze that Laura Lee almost thinks she imagined it. But she didn’t. Natalie grits her teeth as hard as she is gritting her fists. “Whatever it is you think you know is going on,” she says, then, low enough to where Laura Lee is pretty sure only she and Lottie can hear her clearly, “you don’t. You might be Lottie’s knight in shining armor out here, but some of us cared before she became--” Natalie gestures wildly at the laughing girl on the ground-- “this.”

And because it’s Natalie and she can’t just leave well enough alone, she makes sure to bump Laura Lee’s shoulder as she strides off in the direction Jackie had pointed out Travis left in.

Things don’t feel any better than they had a moment ago, but Laura Lee lets out a long breath, sinking to her knees beside Lottie. “Lottie,” she says, reaching out for her. She feels as if she’s losing her and she sees Jackie marching off in the corner of her eye as Shauna stands like a statue next to the stump that was now an altar. “Lottie…come back to bed with me, please.”

Lottie just laughs some more, laying flat on her back and spreading her limbs out to form a star shape. “She’ll see,” Lottie says, that grin pulling onto her face, crooked and drunk, “she’ll see I’m right. Soon enough.” She’s nodding to herself as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “Soon enough.”

[manslaught]

her head tilts to the side slightly, letting out a low hum as she pretends to take a moment to think it over. “ no, you're definitely the annoying one. at least half the time. ” all the time, really, because annoying has always been the word mikayla's used to describe the way tai makes her feel; a part of her might have hoped a few weeks ago that actually getting to know her might make those feelings go away, like she would suddenly realize they're not compatible at all, but of course, only the opposite happened instead. “ i'll take credit for the other half, i guess. ”

she doesn't feel as guilty as most people should, which is something she's not entirely willing to admit, especially to the only person whose opinion of her actually matters. she might feel worse if she actually thought anything she could say to jackie would have mattered, but given that they were never even close to friends in the first place, she doubts it. if anything, she would have only made things worse, so at least she doesn't have to sit with that— mikayla's last words to her had still been insulting, since they hadn't spoken since jackie interrupted the two of them and mikayla turned her away, but at least she doesn't have to live with knowing it's the last thing jackie ever heard. “ i probably should've been nicer to her. before. ” it could at least serve as a lesson, teach mikayla to treat the rest of them better, because she might lose them, too, but she's not sure how dedicated to being a better person she's really capable of being. she'll do her best with taissa first, then maybe she'll worry about the rest of them.

she feels both disappointed and relieved when tai pulls her hand back, convinced that the only way for this to possibly work between them is if they touch as little as possible, remembering that mikayla touching her too much had been what lead to everything going wrong yesterday. “ exactly. nobody could've known. so it's not... your fault, either. for not trying more. ” she doesn't know if tai really blames herself, but she feels the need to say it anyway. mikayla won't say it aloud, but really, the only one to blame here is jackie— because while mikayla understands being stubborn, there's a point where survival has to take priority over proving something. but then again, not everyone had to develop survival instincts before this.

“ i remember. ” and still, she's convinced that turning the offer down had been the best decision, because things had gotten messy enough between them without spending the nights together on top of it. even if shauna would have been there to act as a buffer, she doesn't see how it could have worked for them. now, though, mikayla almost considers offering to take shauna's place in the attic, just to keep her company, but sitting here, so far apart yet not really being that far at all, without touching her feels like torture. she's sure that laying next to her would be so much worse. “ it would be warmer down here with the rest of us, you know. ” she says instead, because offering for tai to be down here with her feels safer than the alternative. “ no, i'm glad you didn't. it would've just... pissed me off. or worse, you'd get your ass lost trying to find me, which doesn't really help any of us. ”

she almost does it again, just because playfully kicking her seems like the only way she's allowed to touch her right now, but she stops herself, reminded of yesterday, when tai told her to stop leading her on. she's trying, really, but it's hard, especially when she catches tai looking at her lips, causing her jaw to tighten. for a split second, she debates suggesting they go upstairs anyway and just seeing what happens from there, but she knows it's a horrible idea when she's trying to just be her friend, nothing more. “ you don't have to encourage me. i know being a bitch works for me. ” in an attempt to keep herself from reaching for tai, or getting closer to her in any way, mikayla's hand moves up to twirl a strand of hair between her fingers. “ it works for you, too. ”

she looks back at her, immediately letting out a scoff.  ❝  me?  no way you think i'm the annoying one,  ❞   she insists,  though she's aware that it's both of them,  because mikayla might have been the one to come to her to apologize,  but she knows she said a lot of things she didn't mean yesterday, too  (  plus one thing she definitely meant,  and she has no idea how that's sitting with mikayla now,  but she's trying not to dwell on it.  )

she stares back at mikayla, waiting for her to get it, then finally nodding her head slowly when she sees that she's figured it out.  everyone knows now,  yet it still feels like some betrayal for her to say it outright, preferring to let mikayla come to the conclusion on her own.  her face drops when mikayla starts to talk about her return,  and she's quick to shake her head.  she can't stop herself now,  instinctively bringing her hand up,  resting it gently on mikayla's arms.  ❝  you didn't do anything wrong,  ❞   she insists quickly.   ❝  no one was going to stop her. ❞   that's not true.  she meant what she said to shauna the night before,  that she should go talk to her because it seemed like it'd be the only voice jackie would want to hear from or let herself listen to at all.  ❝  if you tried to say anything to her,  i don't think she would've listened.  she was--  i don't know, kind of set on leaving.   i can't explain it, i just know that she wasn't coming back inside unless--- ❞   she cuts herself off, glancing to shauna again,  letting the look finish her words:  unless shauna was the one bringing her back.  

she pulls her hand away from mikayla,  placing it in her own lap now as she turns back to her.  ❝   i won't tell shauna,  ❞   she clarifies.   ❝  but you shouldn't worry about it, either.  ❞   she hesitates for a moment before she decides to admit something herself.  ❝  i tried to get her to go talk to her,  ❞   she says quietly.  ❝  i don't think i tried hard enough, though.  ❞    shauna likely still wouldn't have listened, anyway, but tai knows she could've put it into perspective for her -- reminded her what happened to her own best friend when they went to bed annoyed with each other, how she almost died, too.  ❝  no one could've known that would happen,  ❞    she says,  this time barely loud enough to hear,  because it's something that's been on her mind at day,  but it's still so difficult to process.  even one tiny change in the night might've saved her.  it's just a reminder of their conditions,  how they have no idea what they're up against out here. 

she doesn't blame her for leaving because of her,  but she's relieved that she's at least being honest about it.  ❝  i recall inviting you up there before, if you remember,  ❞   she points out.  really,  she invited everyone,  but shauna was the only one brave enough -- saving tai from her own fear in trying to prove her point.  but she welcomed mikayla there later,  and she never took her up on the offer -- which was relieving then,  but now,  she wishes she still would.   ❝  guess i've got the attic all to myself now, though,  ❞   she says,  glancing back to shauna now,  watching as her hand rests in the spot jackie used to sleep.  ❝  probably for the best.  she's getting bigger.  ❞    it's safer down here for her, physically.  but tai's worried about her emotionally, knowing she likely can't help her the same she used to.    ❝  --- i don't blame you for wanting to get away from me,  ❞   she finally says.   ❝  i was just scared.  and it's not like i could go looking for you, ❞   she points out,  reminding her of what mikayla said in their fight,  how tai needed to stop.    

her smile starts to grow when mikayla kicks at her,  still feeling guilty for feeling anything positive in the moment, but it's also really relieving.   she does the same,  lightly kicking her foot back at her,  letting out a soft, quiet laugh --- and then her eyes glance to mikayla's lips, only lingering there for a second before she's quick to tear them away.  no matter how much warmth she feels with mikayla in the moment,  she knows it can't be that kind.  ❝  --- i'm not saying anything else.  no one should be encouraging you.  especially not me.  ❞   but she's endeared by it,  because it's her.  

[nyctophiliq]

hiii moss moss 😻☺️💓 could i request vayne + crayon? 🌼✨✨ congrats on one hundred followers my dear 💓 ~ Ily !!!

CINNAMON GIRL. moss’ 100 followers event

prompt. crayon 🖍️ ;; " did you just kiss me? "

pairings. shauna vayne + f! reader

cw. lowercase intended, sfw content, mention of blood, wounds, injuries, making out

moss’ notes. THANK YOU SO MUCH STELLA 💓😸 !!! moss really loves shauna vayne and can’t help but feel like that grumpy lady would be almost on her death bed to admit she feels anything close to love for you *shakes head*

you took a place next to shauna’s laying form on the bed, hands dipping into a basin filled with hot water before leaning down to begin cleaning her face. you try to not to miss a spot and cause lady vayne have to have a bath with all the little cut spread across her skin. as you lean closer, struggling to see the smallest dots of blood on her skin your face was so close to yours that you could smell the sweet rosy fragrance of the sherry she had drank for the pain while you were threading her wounds shut.

it wasn’t polite to stare at the lady like this, wondering where her skin would crease when she smiled. would she look as content as she looks right now under a sleeping spell or maybe brighter, happier, younger? what would her smile be like? tight with her lips pressed together, or would it be an ear-to-ear kind, or perhaps just big enough to show the tips of her teeth? would her lips hurt because they are chapped and salty as the wind dried it, or feel comfortable because they are soft and sweet like biting into a peach?

as you cleaned her chin your finger slipped onto her lips, eyes focusing as they twitch the slightest of the sudden content. you will regret this, maybe you’ll never as you lean further and place your lips over hers. it’s nothing more than a peck, a still and otherwise very child-like kiss everyone experienced in kindergarten at least once. feverishly you get up from the sheets, spilling the water on the plants on the terrace that opened from the room before gather everything in it, hoping to get out of there before the lady stirred.

“did you just kiss me?”

her voice was slurry, low, and raspy just like one expect hers to be after waking. shauna’s grip that was holding you back from leaving the room wasn’t so strong, you could have easily escaped from it while murmuring to her to go back to sleep but strangely you didn’t. you put the white basin down before taking a seat on the bed, lady vayne already sitting up and starring at you.

opening your mouth to complain, somehow attempting to shoo away the situation you put yourself in, head turning but before your eyes could land on the other side of the door shauna’s tongue was in your mouth. so instantaneous and urgent was that tongue, plunged like some writhing sea-shape into your gaping maw. it was raw and sloppy, drool escaping on the corner of your lips, eyes closing as the huntress dominates the situation expertly.

“lady vayne…” you huff after she leaves you to take a breath, sounding so selfish and desperate for more. she nods, the corner of her mouth turning into a small smile while her palms warmed your jaw line, her eyes searching for yours in the dim room.

vayne pulled you down with her onto your side, cradling your head with her arms and pulling it on her chest. she babbled something that sounded close to goodnight, but you couldn’t be sure because of the rustling of the blanket as she dragged it on top of you cut it into only sounds.

“tell me this is not a fragment of my sick imagination, let it not be the alcohol and the pain making my head this muddled.” you only chuckle at her poetic words, your own hands caressing the sides of her neck before whispering for her not to worry, that what is happening is very real.

soft, sweet, bitter, and plump…

[lunaschild2016]

Worth Fighting For Chapter 34 - Stubborn Thy Name Is

Rating: M (violence, smut, language, references to abuse and violence)

Romance/Tragedy

He was ruthless, cunning and completely committed to protecting his city but her arrival to Dauntless called everything he ever thought he believed into question. Duty and following orders were no longer enough. They both found more than they ever thought possible. They both found something worth fighting for. Eric/OC AU M Tragedy/Romance

@kenzieam@ericdauntless@jojuarez26@jaihardy@iammarylastar@captstefanbrandt@badassbaker@readsalot73@fuckthatfeeling@dani5102@beltz2016@beautifulramblingbrains@affabletimelady@irasancti@meganbee15@meganbee15@lauraaan182@gylisaa@scorpio2009@bookgirlthings@pathybo@violetsonthelam XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Chapter 34 - Stubborn Thy Name Is Kat

“Where did you go to at lunch?” Tris asked me and pulled me to her by my arm.

I tried not to wince at the action because I saw Eric across the room watching closely. His jaw and body tensed. I looked away and back to Tris with a shrug.

“I just needed to, I don’t know, think. So much has been happening from the moment we got here and I was feeling angry. You know how I am about that.” I answer honestly.

She sighs with a nod. “I always envied that about you a little you know. How you seemed to be able to let things go so easily.”

I huff as we walk to the area where the targets are set up still. “It was and is never easy but that is why I preferred to be alone when I got angry. If I am left alone I can reason out my anger. Figure out if I am just being stupid and emotional about something that I shouldn’t be or if it is worth it to be so angry about. If I am pushed though..”

I trail off and she laughs in memory. I smile at what I know she is thinking about.

“The scandal we caused when I kept nagging at you as we walked home from school that day. I couldn't have been more than eight and you were seven? I just could not let whatever it was go, even though you kept asking me to. Begging me even. Then you just...snapped...and we went to the ground in a tangle of limbs wrestling each other. I am sure those Amity women thought we were possessed or something.”

Will, Al and Christina were beside us while we were talking. Al looked horrified between the two of us while Will and even Christina were laughing a little.

“I thought my sister and I were bad about fighting.” Christina smiled a little sadly.

Will just shrugged. “Cara and I never physically fought but we had heated debates. She was always urging me to ‘question everything’, to ‘not just accept something as fact’ because someone said so. I think that is why she was top of her class and is so successful now.”

I smiled at Will as he talked about his sister. Over the last couple of weeks when he had been hanging out with us he had told me a few stories about his sister. I had to admit that from what he had told me she sounded brilliant and like a great person. I knew he was positive she would be here on visiting day to show her support of him and his decision.

I lost my smile when the reminder of that day came to mind. There was very little chance that either of our parents would be coming on that day.

As if she sensed my line of thought, Tris squeezed my hand and gave me a sad smile. Four called us all back to our target practice. Feeling better physically, I went back to my own and passed the rest of the time loosing myself in the exercise.

At dinner, where Eric, Zach and Chase had all joined our table and I somehow ended up next to Eric, I started to notice the pain of touch is still there but not as bad. I also notice that my sense of touch is more enhanced.

The brush of my arm against the table, or my fingers running through my own hair, little inconsequential touches against my skin seem to be amplified.

At first it is more uncomfortable than anything. There are still the moments of pain and now that they are calmed I can tell it is from the nerve endings being overstimulated. This causes other odd things in me to happen, like losing my grip on things or fumbling a little after the sensitivity gets to be too much.

I get quiet at dinner as I try to process this and just deal with it. Overall the whole thing is leaving me exhausted. So I do something I think might actually be a cardinal sin here in Dauntless, I decide to go to bed early.

Eric was very careful about keeping enough distance that he wouldn’t be touching me in any way. Somewhere along the way that had dissolved and now his leg was being firmly pressed against mine. If I thought being touched by him or just being near him had sent my body careening through a whirlpool before, this new found sensitivity kicked it into overdrive.

By the end of dinner while everyone was eating cake, I was a barely restrained quivering mess of whimpers.

Eric’s elbow nudged me as I tiredly plunged my fork into my cake. I looked up to him and he had a raised eyebrow looking at me.

I shrugged and looked over my friends. Tris had decided to sit with Christina, Will and Al tonight. I think once she realized Eric was going to be at the table she couldn't stomach sitting down with the man she believed was torturing me and had caused me to suffer so much.

“I think I am going to head to bed. I know, I know...cardinal fucking sin to go to bed before the sun sets. But seeing as I don’t actually get to see the sun or the sky at all anymore, I am going to call this day good and take my sorry ass to bed then go comatose.”

“Ok, Kat. Hell, I was wondering when you were going to stop being such a stubborn ass and take a rest.” Uri grumbled out and slumped with relief at my proclamation.

“Not a stubborn ass.” I grumbled moodily back and stab the cake a few more times.

There are snickers around the table and Lynn whisks my plate of cake away from me. “That is cake abuse and you, Kat, are the Queen of the Asses Stubborn.”

I chuckle a little at that. “What is that like...my own personal band of knights?”

“Sure is...the Knights of Assland; Realm of the stubborn and hardheaded.” Uri grins and steals half of the cake from Lynn.

“That must make you, Uriah, the court jackass...I mean...jester.” I say with false sweetness.

More laughter at this and Eric pressing closer. That is about the limit and I rise tiredly. “Well, this queen is going to head to her boudoir and pass the fuck out.”

“I’ll walk ya since Uri has stolen all the cake anyways.” Lynn scowls at Uri who just shoveled a mouthful in, and stood up with me.

“Bye guys” I say with a tired wave to everyone. I barely catch the way Eric looked to me before looking away and down to his plate. He was struggling, maybe as much as I was. It didn’t make me feel better though.

We walked out of the dining hall in silence but Lynn was brooding. I gave her a tired look and sighed. “Go ahead Lynn.”

She refused to look at me, just staring straight ahead, her face stoic. “You’re my best friend. Did you know that?” Her voice is low enough for me to hear it but not quite a whisper. She didn't let me answer. “Before, I would have said it was Mar, but considering certain things I have always been the third wheel. From the start though, I knew you were going to be my best friend.”

I give her a smile when she pauses for a second and she holds up a hand to stop me from speaking. “I am proud of how you handled yourself. Proud of your actions….but I swear to god Kat if you ever get yourself killed or hurt like that again...I will bring your ass back so I can kill you myself.”

I chuckle a little as she lunges and pulls me to her in a pretty damn bone crushing hug.

“Oh fuck, Lynn, goddammit. I love you too but...could you please maybe…” I gasp before she lets me go, her forehead all scrunched up in worry.

“Should we go to the clinic and…”

I shake my head vigorously. “No. I am good, it will pass. I just need to get some sleep.”

She stares me down for a minute before muttering “Yes, my queen.” and then turning with me to stalk her way beside me to the dorm room. “Have you gotten to read much of those books I left you?”

She asks me with a smirk on her face while I blush and clear my throat. “Umm...a few here and there. Not exactly had much time to be honest. I was thinking of reading another one after getting a shower.”

She nods thoughtfully. “So...what is going on with you two then?”

I sigh wearily when we get to the dorm room finally. “Nothing..other than maybe we might have been going somewhere but now…”

I trail off and she frowns. “Now what?”

“Now I will be lucky if he shakes my hand.” I mutter as she sits on my bed and I go to my trunk and start pulling out clothes to change into. Then I get clothes to lay out for the next day. She quirks an eyebrow at me as if to say ‘explain’. “Did Shauna tell you what happened to me? I mean, what is going on with me?”

She sucked her bottom lip in between her teeth and nodded. “She isn’t supposed to but because she knows how close we are…”

She trails off and I nod with a small smile. “Well she probably didn’t tell you because she might not know but I have something happening. When I am touched, by anyone or anything...I...I have pain.”

She pales and a hand goes over her mouth. “Oh my god, Kat. Does leadership know?”

She got my worry immediately. The same one I had in the office with Eric, Chase and Zach.

“Eric, Chase and Zach know. But Eric just gave me a speech saying that it would only affect me if I let it and was I going to let it win or not. He said..that he...they...believed in me.”

She lets out a relieved and disbelieving breath for a moment. “Wow. I mean that is great..it’s just. I never would have thought Eric...but then again it makes sense with how he has been.”

I frown and shake my head. “I don’t understand what that means but it doesn’t even matter. Once he realized what was going on...god you should have seen how fast he jumped back from me. Like I was poisonous to him or something.”

“You don’t really believe that is why though, do you?” She scoffs at me.

I sigh and sink down on the bed beside her. “No. I think that he is determined to not see me hurt if he can help it.”

She quirks a smile and then laughs heartily. “You two are seriously...just all kinds of…”

I look at her with my lips twitching. “I know it is kind of ironic considering the whole, him trying to beat lessons into me.”

She shrugs and winks at me then gets serious. “Did they say this is going to be permanent though?”

I nod. “There is a chance but already things are changing...getting better. Before the pain was pretty constant but now it comes and goes. The odd thing is that...well...while there isn’t pain it feels like I am super sensitive to anything against my skin. Like picking things up I can feel each detail and texture, or the slightest change of temperature against my skin.”

I sigh and throw myself back on my bed, remembering Eric’s leg pressed against mine.

“And those are bad things?” Lynn asked with a blush and wide eyes.

“It is when you can’t do shit about it.” I growl out causing her to laugh.

“So tell him. If he knows you aren’t in pain anymore, maybe even the change that is happening…” She trails off as I look at her and waggles her eyebrows at me playfully.

I break out into laughter, turning red. “Maybe. I don’t know if I can...or if he even wants to..”

She sighs and shakes her head. “Well you already know my opinion on all of that so I won’t preach any more. Just take the night and rest. You have had a couple of pretty messed up days.”

I laugh at the understatement and nod. With a groan she helps me sit up, gives me a hug and then goes on her way for the night.

I am grateful that the dorm room is empty. It allows me to get showered without the usual shy shuffle where Tris and I try to cover each other while we hurriedly bathe. It makes me long for that shower I had at Eric’s apartment. Not just for the absolute luxury even his simple bathroom provided compared to what had been at home or here, but for the safety I had felt. Knowing that I could shower in peace and nothing was going to fuck with me there.

I was also loving the time to not have to see the other girls practically parading around in various states of nudity. It wasn’t that I thought they shouldn’t or that there was anything wrong with it. No, why I minded was the absolute reminder of just how much I lacked in so many areas as a woman.

I shook my head under the shower spray, shaking away the bad thoughts and knowing there wasn’t anything I could do to change that. Stepping out of the shower, I wrap myself tightly in a towel and begin to use the lotions and moisturizers that Mar and Lynn bought me. I have my hair piled into a wet messy bun at the top of my head and am allowing myself to air dry under the towel before I put my pajamas on.

“Fuck.” I mutter out loud when I remember that I left them lying on my bed when I had taken out the book I was going to read myself to sleep with.

Grabbing my bag of toiletries, I step out of the bathroom and into the dorm area, then give a startled gasp when I notice someone standing beside my bed.

“Shit! You scared me Eric.” I grumble, clutching my heart.

He doesn’t say anything. Just stands there staring at me with a heated gaze, causing me to wriggle a little in the towel as if I could feel his eyes as they move over my body. As if it was his hands and not a gaze.

I can almost feel the heat of his body from the few feet he is in distance to me, pulling me closer as I take a few steps. My movement seems to break whatever trance he was under and he frowns then takes a step back.

He clears his throat. “I came to….” his voice is husky and deep, making goosebumps break out over my skin.

He has paused so long I can’t help feel a little smug that he is apparently flustered right now.

“You came?” I emphasize the last word but am already turning red as hell at my innuendo.

Eric’s fists clench at his side and a low rumbling growl starts to bubble from him before it is cut off. He muttered something under his breath that I barely caught and sounded like ‘fuckin wish’. A small smile tilts the corner of my lips.

“Jesus...could you...fuck will you get dressed, Kat? I can’t…” He turns his head away with a scowl.

Why am I feeling pleasure at this? Why do I feel like dropping my towel right there all on the pretext of only doing what he just demanded of me?

I realize that my hands went to the towel to do just that when Eric huffs, turns from me and walks to the wall and faces it. Like he is some damn kid that was just put in timeout.

I bite my lip in embarrassment at what I was just about to do.

What if I am reading this wrong? What if those times I thought just maybe he might want me, are all wrong.

Maybe he is turning away because it would be like seeing a little sister. His reaction plus others….where he seems upset or scowls after moments like these...just reinforce my belief that there is no way he could really want me like that. I have been putting in my own desires and hopes to the moments instead of seeing them for what they are.

I sigh as I start to get dressed how I normally do. With the towel still wrapped around me, pulling my clothes up under or over it before I unwrap it from me. I had turned slightly away from him in doing so. After I am done I toss the towel at the end of my bed and sit down on it tiredly.

“Done.”

He lets out a breath and I feel the bed dip beside me, causing me to look up at him. He is holding out his open hand and in it is a handful of pills.

“Your last round of meds for the day.” He said with a strained tone then handed me a water bottle I hadn’t seen sitting on my bed.

“Oh.” I say in realization that was the reason he came. “Thanks.” I take the pills and pop them into my mouth before I take a sip of the water he gave me.

Too tired and disappointed to even argue with him or worry about what was in them. I trusted him by now to know he wouldn’t give me anything bad. Besides when they had kept me drugged up after the attack. But I think I could understand that. It might have been the only way.

He nodded with a sigh and raised his hand, then slowly and carefully, he tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. His fingers barely skimming over the skin of my ear but it was enough to send shivers down my spine.

“You should get your rest. I expect you at training the same time as always in the morning.” He gets this all out as he holds my eyes and let’s his finger graze along my jaw. Watching me closely for any sign of pain or discomfort.

There is no pain, only the heightened awareness and pleasure at even that small of a touch. “Ok Eric.” I say, my voice breathy and breathless at the same time.

His eyes soften and I see a small amount of relief in them as his lips twitch.

“Good girl.” He says just before he leans in and presses his lips to my forehead.

I melt into it but don’t get time to really relish it. He pulled away and up before the warmth of those lips can sink into my senses.

He is walking away as I slide into the covers of the bed, the book clutched in my hand. He looks back at me over his shoulder once before he disappears through the doors to the dorm. The look alone sends shivers through me, that heated and charged gaze deepening the blue of his eyes.

I sigh and close my eyes for a moment. I lay back into the scratchy bedding and instead try to imagine myself back in Eric’s bed. Wrapped in his arms, protected and warm. Cherished even.

I had meant to read but lost in the memory of that and other fantasies, I drift into a deep sleep.

[mikemortgage]

Fragmented bus service market emerges as Greyhound exits Western Canada Oct. 31

CALGARY — A hodge-podge of public transportation services are already starting to fill the gap as Greyhound Canada moves steadily towards its midnight Halloween disappearance from most of Western Canada.

The venerable national motor coach operator is being replaced by a mix of provincial government-subsidized services, Indigenous-owned bus lines, locally owned startups, flexible fleets of shuttle buses and a scattering of formal and informal ride-sharing services.

And passengers aren’t waiting for the last Greyhound next Wednesday to check out new options — according to Stuart Kendrick, senior vice-president of Greyhound Canada, ticket sales have already fallen off to the point that some route frequencies are being reduced.

“Demand is quite low as we run into this last week or 10 days,” he said in a recent interview.

“You’ve got single-digit riderships on the schedule that we have left throughout Western Canada, so that’s probably about a 50 or 60 or 70 per cent decline based on what corridor you look at.”

The company plans to stop selling tickets on long-distance routes a few days before the buses stop running to help ensure passengers aren’t left stranded and holding the unused half of a two-way ticket, Kendrick said.

The loss of Greyhound spells opportunity for Regina-based Rider Express, a company that began operating a handful of 15-passenger minibuses on inner-provincial routes shortly after government-owned Saskatchewan Transportation Company shut down its bus services in the spring of 2017.

Rider has acquired five full-sized 50-seat buses and plans to begin passenger service on a Vancouver-Calgary-Winnipeg route on the Trans-Canada Highway this week, followed in November by a Highway 16 route linking Edmonton and Saskatoon, said manager Shauna Hardy. Both routes will directly replace Greyhound routes.

The interest from Saskatchewan residents has been “overwhelming,” she said, adding the company is being asked to take on more routes but has so far declined.

Late last May, Calgary-based Pacific Western Transportation was hired by the province of British Columbia to operate its BC Bus North service after Greyhound cancelled service to communities including Prince Rupert and Dawson Creek.

Greyhound’s announcement in July that it would exit almost all of Western Canada convinced the company to offer its own inter-city services in B.C. for the first time, said John Stepovy, director of business development. He added the company is also expanding its Alberta offerings.

He said he thinks his company can provide the hub in a hub-and-spoke business model as Greyhound closes — it’s already in discussions with operators of small-scale shuttle bus and transit operators about establishing connections with his firm’s routes.

“Overall, long-term, where the needs are, where there’s demand, we would anticipate voids will be filled but it could take a little bit of time for those things to shake out once the landscape changes,” Stepovy said.

“Discount airlines coming in will probably take on some of that longer-haul (Greyhound demand),” he said. “For bus travel, That one-to-five/six-hour travel time is kind of in the sweet spot.”

He added “disruptors” — new travel options such as Poparide, an app that matches passengers with drivers who happen to be going to the same destinations — are also expected to fill the gap.

Indigenous-owned charter service Kelsey Bus Lines is being renamed Mahihkan Bus Lines and has announced plans to offer daily passenger routes from Thompson and Flin Flon in northern Manitoba to Winnipeg, as well as freight service.

In Alberta, the provincial government has launched pilot programs at a cost of $2.8 million to help five rural municipalities start inter-city bus services. One, centred on Camrose, about 100 kilometres south of Edmonton, has already started and the others are expected to begin over the next three months.

The fragmented inter-city transportation model that is emerging can be a positive change, said Barry Prentice, professor of transportation economics at the University of Manitoba’s Asper School of Business.

Greyhound likely failed in Western Canada in part because its costs were too high and it lacked the flexibility to respond to changing markets because it carried freight as well as passengers, he said.

“As long as they were in the market, it was hard for anyone else to come in. Now that they’re gone, it creates an opportunity,” he said.

Most new services are planning to pick up and drop off passengers at hotels, gas stations or tourist information centres. Prentice said that means they won’t be burdened with the costly terminal network Greyhound had to maintain.

Kendrick said shutting down all routes from northern Ontario to the West Coast involves a “significant cost’ to Greyhound Canada.

He said it’s expected to take several months to sublet its leased real estate and sell its few owned facilities, which include maintenance shops in centres such as Edmonton, Red Deer, Prince Rupert, Prince George and Winnipeg.

The company is laying off about 420 employees. It will move 70 or 80 of its 110 western buses to its ongoing operations in Eastern Canada and sell or scrap the rest.

A Seattle-Vancouver route operated by Greyhound U.S. will continue to use a Vancouver terminal leased by the Canadian arm. Kendrick said the company plans to ask other bus companies to come in as tenants to fill unused capacity there.

Follow @HealingSlowly on Twitter.

from Financial Post https://ift.tt/2Pu96XF via IFTTT Blogger Mortgage Tumblr Mortgage Evernote Mortgage Wordpress Mortgage href="https://www.diigo.com/user/gelsi11">Diigo Mortgage

[lunaschild2016]

Life As We Know It - Chapter 17

Rating: M (Smut, Language, Violence, Adult Themes)

Romance/Tragedy

Their lives seemed to be steeped in tragedy. Through it all they had each other until wrong choice brought it all crashing down. Eric had never been able to make up for the mistake he made, but he never stopped trying. Once again tragedy strikes turning everything upside down. Now, for little Ava they will have to come together once more. AU Eric/OC M No War No Divergent Hunts

A/N: This is a completed story that I have posted on another site as well. But thought I would add it here since I just started this account. I hope you enjoy.

@kenzieam@ericdauntless@jojuarez26@jaihardy@iammarylastar@captstefanbrandt@captainviolets@badassbaker@readsalot73@fuckthatfeeling@dani5102@beltz2016@beautifulramblingbrains@affabletimelady@irasancti@meganbee15@pathybo  @lauraaan182​@gylisaa @scorpio2009

****************************************************************************************************

               TRIGGER WARNINGS (Abuse and Depression)

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Chapter 17

Kira sat in Daria’s office, her body trembling with rage but her face dead of emotion. Her voice was just the same as she looked at the papers and documents in front of her.

“So, you are telling me that despite Ally’s wishes he will be living with Ben. I am just supposed to let this happen? Ben can barely wipe his own ass. There is no way he is going to be able to take care of a baby on his own.” Kira could only shake her head at the thought.

Daria sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. “Until we can get his parental rights revoked or he signs them over Kira, he is the sole remaining biological parent remaining. You will have say over his care. You have visitation and the best I can do is get you access to the residence so you can keep an eye on things. Until Ben says he doesn’t want him Kira, he has every right to do what he is doing.”

Kira sneered at the papers as if this shithead were in front of her right now. “You know he doesn’t want him. It is only because she wanted him to come to me. I knew I should have pushed her to get him to sign over rights instead of abandonment charges. What the fuck was I thinking?”

Daria sighed and stood then walked over to Kira, taking in her appearance and demeanor. She wasn’t doing well, but then again none of them were. Eric and Kira especially but they were both trying to play at being strong for the other.

“Kira.” Daria softened her tone and Kira wouldn’t look up to meet her eyes. “Kira look at me.” She commanded the young woman. Finally she met her eyes and what Daria saw there killed her. She was tormenting herself about this. “Talk to me Kira. You need to talk about this or it will eat you from the inside out.”

Kira strived with all her might to shutter everything in her. She would lock everything she was feeling in and carry on. She needed to for Ava, Nix and Eric. She smiled tightly. “It is hard Daria but I am dealing with it. Right now I just want to focus on honoring Ally’s final fucking wishes and making sure Nix is safe. He needs to be home with his family and Ben sure as fuck never was and never will be his family.”

Daria nods and internally sighs. She couldn’t make her talk but they could try and take care of things as much as they could. “Like I said, I was able to get you access to the residence. Here is a key card. He is staying in her apartment of course, so you can go and check things out. He can’t deny you access to Nix any more so you can visit him in the daycare and at home anytime you want to.”

Kira took the keycard and nodded angrily. For over a week now she had been trying to get Nix or at least see him. Ben had been called from the fence when it was made official that Ally was gone. Ben had wasted no time in taking Nix from her and then setting it up so she couldn’t see him to take care of him or check on him.

“This is the form that he would use to sign over his rights. Keep it on you and if you can talk sense into him once he sees how hard it is, then have him sign that and get it to me. As soon as he signs it Kira, you take Nix right then.” Daria ground out not like thing situation anymore than the young leader.

Kira nodded and stood, not wanting to waste anytime in checking on Nix. “Thank you Daria. Ben should be in the vehicle depot working since that was where he was assigned when he returned. I should find Nix in the daycare, hopefully. I will see if I can talk to Ben. I might need to calm down first.”

“Let me know how Nix is please Kira.” Daria requested softly.

With a nod Kira set off.

Tris was covering for her today so she could try and get things sorted. She had spent almost all day finishing out moving Ava’s things to the apartment. She hadn’t been able to go through Shay or Emmett’s room. She was going to wait until Eric was available to do it together but he had been so busy trying to find answers to what happened.

While he tried to find answers on why and how it happened; Kira had been trying to find answers within herself of why it hadn’t been her.

That was all that had been in her mind lately. Why the people she loved were the ones that were taken away when it always should be her.

She tried to be worthy. To live the lives they would have had or would have wanted for her. She tries to do everything she can to make their passing not be in vain.

Everything she tries seems to fail because no matter what she does someone she loves suffers. Logically Kira knows none of that is true but logic has nothing to do with the darkness in her that is rearing it’s head.

She wants to reach out to Eric but how can she burden him with this when he must already be drowning in his own? So she doesn’t and the darkness builds in her, trying to claw its way free.

Right now she shoves that all to the side. She needs to find how Nix is doing so she heads to the child care class that is for Nix’s age group. It is in the new family living quarters which means she has to bundle up and venture through one of the underground tunnels.

She is thankful that they were able to get the tunnels set to keep the ice from penetrating the stone there. It made travel between the compound and the living quarters much safer and an easier journey if not a bit longer at a thirty minute walk.

                xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The dining hall was pretty full by the time Eric made his way in. Kira had said that Shauna and Zeke had Ava for right now and that she was dealing with some issues at the other living quarters. She was supposed to meet him in the dining hall for dinner.

Max and Daria motioned him over as soon as he got his tray. Max looking on worriedly causing Eric to sigh internally.

“Eric. I thought you would be having dinner at home since we closed out the investigation officially.” Max had his head tilted but his voice was even.

Eric shrugged. “Kira said Shauna and Zeke have Ava for now. She is supposed to meet me here. Something tied her up over at the family living quarters.”

Daria stiffened and looked to Max worriedly. “Have you heard from her Daria?” Max asked gravely.

“No and that worries me.” Daria tried to speak just low enough for Max to hear but Eric had noticed their reaction and was listening.

“What is going on Daria?” Eric posed it as a question but it was really a demand.

She didn’t need to answer because the dining hall normal chatter and buzz was broken by the screams of a baby and then the doors being thrown open. In the doorway stood a thunderous looking Kira and just behind her was Tris looking severely distraught and holding a wailing bundle.

Kira pointed to Tris and to the table of their friends then gave a silent order then scanned the tables. She lasered in on who she was looking forward and stalked to him quickly.

Ben, sitting at a table of guards and guys from the depot, was looking at Kira in horror. He had no time to recover and look innocent before she was in front of him and slammed a paper down in front of him.

“Sign this fucking paper right now Ben and I may fucking restrain myself from slitting your sorry ass throat right here.” Kira growled out and leaned over the table menacingly.

Eric was about to raise up when Max stopped him with a hand and a look. “Wait Eric. You don’t know what is going on...just wait.”

Ben sneered up at Kira. “I already told you that you aren’t taking my son from me.”

Kira was trying to stop from snapping but it was so hard looking into the bastards face. “Oh you have already lost him Ben. The question is are you willing to lose your fucking freedom and life as well. Don’t play innocent with me. How many days did you leave him in that crib; laying in his own shit and starving? You don’t hear him over there? Do you hear his voice? He can barely cry because that is all he has done. Now sign the fucking paper and maybe you might make it out of here alive.”

Ben looked to those around him, but all his saw was disgust on the guys around him faces. He still tried to salvage things though. “I arranged for care for him at home, Kira. I had that right. It isn’t my fault if the girl…”

“I suggest you stop talking and sign this paper now, Ben. Final warning. No more talk, no more excuses. Sign the paper or you will be arrested here on the spot.” Kira’s eyes went to ice and her voice deadly soft as she leaned in to next to his ear.

Eric hadn’t been able to take it anymore and was already moving closer to them. Ben saw this over his shoulder and gulped.

Kira saw the resignation on his face and handed him the pen. He signed the paper and all but shoved it at her quickly trying to get her and Eric away from him.

Kira looked it over and turned but something in Ben couldn’t let her leave without trying to hurt her. “She deserved to die. Especially like that. Too bad she didn’t take the brat with her.” He sneered out.

Before he knew it and before anyone else could react, Kira had launched herself at him. She shoved his face into the table and then began to wail on him. His nose was the first to go in a spray of blood. All the rage, anger and pain was behind her punches.

“Sorry sack of shit. It should have been you! It should have been you that died. She doesn’t have a mother and it should have been me!”

She yelled this as she kept hitting him or trying to. Eric was there and pulling her back.

Horrified by what she had just most likely unknowingly admitted she was feeling. He was dragging her out of the room while she was still fighting.

He vaguely heard Max ordering Ben to be cuffed and taken to the clinic. He would get treated but then there was no way he wouldn’t be taken in if what Kira said was true.

“Let me go, Eric!” Kira screamed as he carried her out of the dining hall.

“You need to calm down Kira and we need to talk.”

“I need to get my son dammit!” Kira screamed and pounded on him.

This stopped Eric in his tracks. He had her over his shoulder so he put her down in front of him. “What did you just say, Kira?”

Kira’s eyes snapped up to Eric’s and her nostrils were flared. “I need to get my son, Eric. Nix is my son now. Ally made me his guardian if anything happened and Ben just signed over every right he had. I need to take him home now.”

“When did she make you his guardian, Kira? When you were you going to fucking tell me?” Eric’s voice started to raise.

“When he was born and I would have if you didn’t act like an ass anytime the subject of Nix came up.” They were glaring at each other, both full of anger but yelling about the wrong things and to the wrong people.

“So what, I am just supposed to sit there and raise that fuckers kid? You want me to seriously take him into my house and pretend I want him? Why should I take him in, Kira?” Eric gestured to the dining hall where the faint whimpers of Nix could be heard.

Kira wasn’t just full of anger at his words but also pain. “You don’t have to do anything, Eric. You don’t have to be involved in his life at all if that is how you feel.” She was trying to keep it together but she was unraveling.

“How is that going to work Kira? Just ignore him in my own home? I can’t believe you didn’t talk about this with me before you did it?”

Kira met his eyes and shook her head, her pain finally winning over.

“Like I said you don’t have to be involved or there at all, Eric. He is my son now regardless of how it happened or why. His mother was taken from him and I am raising him just as if he was my own. Maybe you think that is a stupid thing to do. Maybe you felt that way when your own mother took me in? Because it is crazy to raise another person’s child right? To love someone else’s kid like family even if they aren’t your family.”

Eric started to speak as he scowled at her but she shook her head and backed away. “I thought you of all people would understand what it would be like for him. I guess I was wrong. How long have you felt like that Eric?”

She was projecting all her own pain, her own demons on him and she couldn’t stop. She was just in too much pain.

“Kira I never…” Eric started but her face closed off and he knew nothing he said would get through to her. “Kira don’t do this please. I know you are hurting, and I am too. Please don’t shut me out baby.”

Kira’s back straightened and she shook her head. “I am going to go get my son and go to my house. Ava is spending the night with Shauna and Zeke so you won’t have to worry about that. We can work out the arrangements for her care later.”

The meaning of her words hit Eric and he moved to grab her. “No you aren’t doing this Kira. You don’t get to walk away like this. We need to talk this out.”

Kira shakes her head. “There is nothing to talk about. You said you can’t raise him and I am going to. You said you didn’t want him in your home. I am going to take my son back to my home. You should go back to yours. That way you don’t need to be around us.”

She left him standing there as she turned to Tris and Four who were standing not to far away. She quickly gathered Nix to her after handing a paper to Tris and then she was gone.

Eric went to go after her but suddenly he saw Ben being drug out of the Dining Hall. He never even remembered moving forward or grabbing him before he too started to try and beat the bastard to a bloody pulp.

[mikemortgage]

Fragmented bus service market emerges as Greyhound exits Western Canada Oct. 31

CALGARY — A hodge-podge of public transportation services are already starting to fill the gap as Greyhound Canada moves steadily towards its midnight Halloween disappearance from most of Western Canada.

The venerable national motor coach operator is being replaced by a mix of provincial government-subsidized services, Indigenous-owned bus lines, locally owned startups, flexible fleets of shuttle buses and a scattering of formal and informal ride-sharing services.

And passengers aren’t waiting for the last Greyhound next Wednesday to check out new options — according to Stuart Kendrick, senior vice-president of Greyhound Canada, ticket sales have already fallen off to the point that some route frequencies are being reduced.

“Demand is quite low as we run into this last week or 10 days,” he said in a recent interview.

“You’ve got single-digit riderships on the schedule that we have left throughout Western Canada, so that’s probably about a 50 or 60 or 70 per cent decline based on what corridor you look at.”

The company plans to stop selling tickets on long-distance routes a few days before the buses stop running to help ensure passengers aren’t left stranded and holding the unused half of a two-way ticket, Kendrick said.

The loss of Greyhound spells opportunity for Regina-based Rider Express, a company that began operating a handful of 15-passenger minibuses on inner-provincial routes shortly after government-owned Saskatchewan Transportation Company shut down its bus services in the spring of 2017.

Rider has acquired five full-sized 50-seat buses and plans to begin passenger service on a Vancouver-Calgary-Winnipeg route on the Trans-Canada Highway this week, followed in November by a Highway 16 route linking Edmonton and Saskatoon, said manager Shauna Hardy. Both routes will directly replace Greyhound routes.

The interest from Saskatchewan residents has been “overwhelming,” she said, adding the company is being asked to take on more routes but has so far declined.

Late last May, Calgary-based Pacific Western Transportation was hired by the province of British Columbia to operate its BC Bus North service after Greyhound cancelled service to communities including Prince Rupert and Dawson Creek.

Greyhound’s announcement in July that it would exit almost all of Western Canada convinced the company to offer its own inter-city services in B.C. for the first time, said John Stepovy, director of business development. He added the company is also expanding its Alberta offerings.

He said he thinks his company can provide the hub in a hub-and-spoke business model as Greyhound closes — it’s already in discussions with operators of small-scale shuttle bus and transit operators about establishing connections with his firm’s routes.

“Overall, long-term, where the needs are, where there’s demand, we would anticipate voids will be filled but it could take a little bit of time for those things to shake out once the landscape changes,” Stepovy said.

“Discount airlines coming in will probably take on some of that longer-haul (Greyhound demand),” he said. “For bus travel, That one-to-five/six-hour travel time is kind of in the sweet spot.”

He added “disruptors” — new travel options such as Poparides, an app that matches passengers with drivers who happen to be going to the same destinations — are also expected to fill the gap.

Indigenous-owned charter service Kelsey Bus Lines is being renamed Mahihkan Bus Lines and has announced plans to offer daily passenger routes from Thompson and Flin Flon in northern Manitoba to Winnipeg, as well as freight service.

In Alberta, the provincial government has launched pilot programs at a cost of $2.8 million to help five rural municipalities start inter-city bus services. One, centred on Camrose, about 100 kilometres south of Edmonton, has already started and the others are expected to begin over the next three months.

The fragmented inter-city transportation model that is emerging can be a positive change, said Barry Prentice, professor of transportation economics at the University of Manitoba’s Asper School of Business.

Greyhound likely failed in Western Canada in part because its costs were too high and it lacked the flexibility to respond to changing markets because it carried freight as well as passengers, he said.

“As long as they were in the market, it was hard for anyone else to come in. Now that they’re gone, it creates an opportunity,” he said.

Most new services are planning to pick up and drop off passengers at hotels, gas stations or tourist information centres. Prentice said that means they won’t be burdened with the costly terminal network Greyhound had to maintain.

Kendrick said shutting down all routes from northern Ontario to the West Coast involves a “significant cost’ to Greyhound Canada.

He said it’s expected to take several months to sublet its leased real estate and sell its few owned facilities, which include maintenance shops in centres such as Edmonton, Red Deer, Prince Rupert, Prince George and Winnipeg.

The company is laying off about 420 employees. It will move 70 or 80 of its 110 western buses to its ongoing operations in Eastern Canada and sell or scrap the rest.

A Seattle-Vancouver route operated by Greyhound U.S. will continue to use a Vancouver terminal leased by the Canadian arm. Kendrick said the company plans to ask other bus companies to come in as tenants to fill unused capacity there.

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