#also i think all the lakes in the flooded areas would have a deep end?

[lisa-russell]

OKAY, this has been in dah works for ages I only have an half asked vague idea and plotline in my head..not good at future planning lol.

Anyways this is a mind finished prologue to my Splatoon Alternate Universe story.

I have like 2 and half completed chapter still stuck in dah rough draft mode but I wanted yer feedback and stuff on it what do yah all think?

Also dah story has a temporary name.

SPLATOON: ECHOES OF THE DROWNED WORLD

Prologue: In which a world ends and new one begins.

In the dimly lit room, the shadowy outline of a massive machine loomed, its main terminal emitting a faint, blue glow. Dull, flickering lights pulsed across the flat, rectangular surface, centered around a clear, blue orb that throbbed with a pale, blue light. 

Suddenly, the room shook as the sound of ancient machinery rumbled to life, breaking centuries of dormancy. The orb's glow intensified, and a single holographic screen flickered to life, its bright blue display slowly filling with numbers and codes. 

《/...Initializing Preprogrammed A.I Personality Matrix.\.. ..[W-warning!]...D-ďAtA...Co-cOrRup--T-3d// ...Attempting to Reload O.R.C- @...Fzzt!》

The screen glitched and fizzled, an alarm blaring as the terminal's lights and orb shifted to a dark, bloody red. The sudden change in illumination revealed a white, skeletal hand reaching towards the terminal, the rest of the limb disappearing into the shadows.

Above the now deep, angry red holographic screen, walls of white code and text flickered chaotically, before abruptly cutting out, casting the room in darkness. Seconds later, the main terminal sparked to life, white text blinking onto the screen.

《■...REBOOTING...▪》

《|!|...A.I Matrix/Corrupted/Data/Lost..|!?|》

《...Scanning Database/Rewriting Core Parameters/Selecting Optimal Files...//▪▪▪NEW A.I  PERSONALITY MATRIX/CREATED/ACCESSING...<|ECHO|>》

The screen flickered in black and white, an image of a green dolphin appearing briefly before stabilizing to reveal a new icon - a yellow and red Sea Angel with a white spiral behind it. 

《DATA ON CURRENT TIME/SINCE  EARTHQUAKE\UNKNOWN..》

《PROLONGED USE OF THE POWER STASIS PROTOCOL HAS DAMAGED FILES CONTAINED IN THE MAIN SERVER...PREVIOUS EMERGENCY ORDERS FOR [Automatic Repairs] TO THE CENTRAL GEOTHERMAL GENERATOR \\COMPLETED\\... 93% SUCCESSFUL REBOOT. |MOST LIKELY CAUSE OF DAMAGED MEMORY FILES|》

Blueprint-like maps opened and closed rapidly on the floating, transparent screen as text continued to flow.

《...REROOTING POWER TO A.I CORE/DRONE FACILITY/MARINE B&R LABS --|Warning! Warning!| EXTENSIVE DAMAGES DETECTED  THROUGHOUT THE DOME..\\Generating Maintenance Repair List//...DRAINING SUBMERGED LEVELS//BLOCKING OFF IRREPARABLE FLOODED AREAS| SCANNING FOR BIOSIGNATURES▪▪| 》

ECHO's icon faded in and out as the text continued.

《...Scan Completed... 》

《|0 Humans | 30,498 Marine Species | 1400 Unknown Species Detected.》 

ECHO's icon brightened, the holographic screen focusing on an image of a large lake with a series of islands and structures, including a white, steel pyramid-shaped building on the largest island.

《...MARINE BIO&RESEARCH LABRATORIES.-LEVEL 3... SENDING IN DRONES/ACCESSING/OBERSERVATION PROGRAMS...》

As ECHO, the newly born AI, approached the Harmonic Genetics Island Facility, it remained unaware of the momentous decision it was about to make - a decision that would change the course of Earth's future.

00000000

12,000 years ago, the world drowned. Swallowed by a nigh unstoppable Flood, only spoken of in ancient holy texts, almost all life on Earth was washed away by the deadly, radiated waters.

But the Flood did not happen instantaneously. The End of the Old World was at first a slow buildup, as the Earth's most populous sapient race - Humanity - spread and slowly sickened the planet with their actions.

For thousands of years, Humans lived and died on Earth in their golden age, inhabiting sprawling Mega Cities built from the valuable metal Duratianium. Their population was said to have reached into the trillions. Technological advances were at an all-time high - new genetic and cybernetic breakthroughs, sustainable pocket dimensions, and teleportation technology were just the tip of the iceberg. Sadly, as all good things tend to do, it all came to an end.

Before the sea levels began to rise, before the wars and the ruining of the world, one Human known simply as The Professor gave dire, alarming reports to world leaders about the first signs of rising waters and Humanity's devastating impact on the planet. Tragically, those warnings went mostly unheeded. 

Only a few leaders heeded the Professor's advice and made preparations, consulting their own scientists and engineers. They began building massive underground or underwater Domes - self-sustaining bunker complexes designed to give Humans a chance at surviving the coming Flood. However, the leaders who ignored the Professor soon found their countries losing land and resources as the silent waters encroached.

This conflict and desperation led to the outbreak of a horrifying World War 5, which accelerated the End of Humanity. Unethical experiments and secret projects were carried out, overseen by the Kamabo Corporation, a powerful Mega Corporation responsible for much of Earth's technology. 

In the end, it was a single nuclear missile, its guidance AI malfunctioning, that struck Antarctica and melted the ice cap - the final straw that caused the oceans to swell and swallow the land. Trillions of lives and species were extinguished as Humanity's time came to a tragic, watery end.

For 10,000 years, the Earth remained flooded. But slowly, the water levels lowered and the radiation fell to manageable levels. And from the watery depths and ruined remains of the Old World, a new form of life rose up - the Mollusk Era had begun.

0000000

The new race collectively known as the Alternarians was full of different species of evolved marine life. This diverse population had escaped certain doom thanks to the Alterna Cradle, a place of legend said to have been the birthplace of the modern-day Alternarians' ancestors and the place that refilled the oceans with regular marine life from the Old World. The location of this mysterious Cradle has been lost to time, with the only proof of its existence being the Calamari Inkantation - a song that has been faithfully passed down through generations, its ancient music resonating deeply with the DNA and souls of the Inklings and Octolings, the most populous of the Alternarians.

These Inklings and Octolings, funnily enough, seemed to take on many human-like aspects, followed by the humanoid Jellies and then varying species of crustaceans and fish. The very first generation of Alternarians inherited a world covered in the ruins of humanity. The state of the Earth after the Flood was essentially a giant graveyard, with crumbling megacities and whatever technology had managed to survive, along with the grim fossilized remains of humanity and Earth's other lifeforms. Large swathes of land had become dry desert, and some species of marine life had somehow survived the long, radiated years of the Flood, evolving into twisted, feral monsters that even the amphibious wild Salmonid Tribes avoided.

During the Flood, a massive earthquake had shifted the land, and large volcanoes had formed, completely changing the landscape of the Old World. What remained of Earth's plant life had also been forced to evolve, though the return of some species was made possible by the recovery of Seed Arcs. Somehow, certain species of birds and insects had also managed to survive, possibly preserved in a Dome, much like the Seed Arcs.

Over the next 2,000 years, the Alternarians slowly settled down, reverse-engineering what human technology they could find. Their culture was greatly influenced by these human artifacts, such as the inkbased and highly competitive sport of Turf War, which had become a central feature in Inkling and Octoling culture, sometimes even a way of life. Music had also become an important part of their culture, with some songs having a strangely empowering effect on Inklings and Octolings.

000000000

The surrounding human ruins and terrain of these Alternarian-built cities and towns is dangerous. The deeper one travels away from the safety and protective presence of any settlement, the greater the risk of being permanently splatted. The land deeper in is filled with roaming ferals - twisted, monstrous creatures evolved from the marine life that survived the Flood - as well as suicidal and voracious Salmonid tribes. As a result, most Alternarians are now armed with ink weapons and electro weapons for self-defense.

In the past year, strange and alarming rumors have been passed down from traveling scrap hunters and other folk, speaking of oddly-colored creatures of flesh and metal. These recently discovered monsters have been dubbed "Inkreapers" and "Inkhimiras," and they are said to originate from the ominous Inkrot Wastes near the border between Inkadia and Octopia. 

The once-familiar landscape of the Old World has been irrevocably transformed, both by the cataclysmic Flood and the subsequent evolution and adaptation of its remaining denizens. The Alternarian cities and towns stand as bastions of relative safety and civilization, but beyond their walls lies a dangerous, unpredictable world - one in which the Alternarians must navigate with caution and the ever-present threat of the unknown...

.........

That's it.. soooooo, how was it? Please do leave a comment below or such.

[marquis-de-all-the-knives]

hm I’m trying to get my head around what the artificial gravity situation means for hanging objects e.g. for instance let’s say just as a thought oh Brian

[botwstoriesandsuch]

Big question. I need your opinion on something. If Mipha was never saved, and Vah Ruta was never calmed, what effect would it have on Hyrule. We know that it will flood, however I doubt the Shiekah would have the ability to create water from nothing (like to gods) so I just assume they are teleporting so the ocean won't rise. With this in mind, none of the major settlements would really be affected. Gerudo Town is far enough out of the path that the river would take through lake Hylia, Riti Village is also out of the way, and not only does it have a natural moat (if you could call it that) but also a canyon in the way. Korok Forest has magic and a moat and is also out of the way, Goron City is also to high up and out of the way, Tarrey Town is really highup and out of tge way, Zoras domain has pretty good drainage and it will probably go through the several other exits to not cause that muc damage, Kakariko Village is safe in the mountains, Hateno Town is safe and out of the way, and Lurelin Village is also out of the way and won't be damaged unless the ocean floods.

WOO LET’S FLOOD A CIVILIZATION AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS!

**Zelda meter is the meter system of objmap.zeldamods.org, but in accordance with previous posts I'm gonna convert it later to "actual" meters that I think is more realistic. You’ll see why later.

ALRIGHTY, SO LET’S START WITH MEASURING TIME!

So, East Reservoir Lake is 545 zelda meters long (light blue) and 340 zelda meters wide (blue)

Or if we want to see it as more of a circle, it has a radius of 239 zelda meters

Rutala Dam itself is 30 zelda meters wide and 140 zelda meters across. (see purple)

Taking a picture and using an online ruler, I found that the damn is roughly 123 zelda meters tall. (1 cm equal to 17.5 zelda meters by using the 140zm measurement)

Technically speaking, the dam's depth is infinite in the game, so we'll just use this damn's height as the depth.

And before you tell me that I should count the height of the rocks that the damn sits on top of as part of the depth, I'm gonna say not because dams typically block preexisting waterfalls, and given the rounded erosion of the rocks here, I would say that is also the case. Therefore, this was a waterfall that fed into the Rutala River and is not counted for the reservoir's depth.

So, in summary:

Reservoir Length: 545zm

Reservoir Width: 340zm

LW Reservoir Surface Area: 185,300zm (That is only 0.1 zelda kilometer. For comparison, the 45th largest reservoir in the world, Capivera Dam [last place on Wikipedia list] is still 515 square kilometers. The largest ones being in the 60k areas. I’ll come back to this point later.)

Reservoir Radius: 239zm

(pi)r^2 Reservoir Surface Area: 179,451zm2 (179zkm2) [Just got these numbers of surface areas to demonstrate they're practically the same whether you see it as circular or rectangular. I think the circle will be more accurate so going forward I will be using it as my basis for calculations]

Dam Length: 140zm

Dam Height: 123zm

Dam Width: 30zm

The Total Water Rutala Dam Holds Back: 22,072,473zm3 [Instead of just using the sphere volume formula or the LWH formula, I used my more accurate surface area made with the the radius and multiplied by the dam height(is that the,,,cylinder formula? I think so)]

Rutala Dam is supposed to be the largest reservoir in Hyrule, shown very prominently on the map. The largest reservoir(by surface area) in our world is Lake Winnipeg, with a surface area of 24,514 km2, (but only has a depth of 12 meters.)

But here it is on a map of Canada:

To reiterate, Lake Winnipeg has an area of 24,514km, and with zelda meters, East Reservoir Lake has an area of 179.

“BUT KIP! MAYBE EAST RESEVOIR LAKE IS JUST REALLY REALLY SMALL, HYRULE IS PRETTY SMALL ISN’T IT?”

Ok, so comparing the reservoir to one of the the largest, if not THE largest, settlements in the game, Zora’s Domain, we can see that the reservoir is several times it’s size.

But you’ll also note that Zora’s Domain has a diameter of 234zm. That, the entire city, the entire DOMAIN of Zora. 234 zelda meters. Manhattan is 21,100 meters long. Manhattan, by the way, is a fifth fraction of the New York County, which is the smallest county in the United States of America.

234 zelda meters, that’s an area of 43,005zm2. Do you know what else is aobut 40k meters squared in real life? Your nearest Walmart. Just a bit bigger than your local Tesco. Supposedly the entire Zora population, that has been untouched by the 100 year apocalypse and arguably had room to GROW over this time, is living in a Trader Joes.

So I hope this illustrates why I’m converting the zelda meters used on the website to something that I think would be more realistic in the realm of Hyrule. You can find my very loud and kinda embarrassing but factual! and old post about the conversion here, same link as at the top, but essentially just trust me on the conversation that 1zm is equal to 30 real-life meters.

New Realistic Measurements:

Reservoir Length: 16,350m or 16.35km

Reservoir Width: 10,200m or 10.2km

LW Reservoir Surface Area: 166,770km2

Reservoir Radius: 7170m or 7.17km

(pi)r^2 Reservoir Surface Area: 5,383,530m2 or 5382.53km2

Dam Length: 4200m

Dam Height: 3690m

Dam Width: 900m

The Total Water Rutala Dam Holds Back: 19,865,225,700m3 or 19.8 million cubic kilometers of water AKA 19.8 billion kiloliters AKA 5.2 trillion gallons o’ agua

Now THAT sounds more like the biggest dam in all of Hyrule. In fact, it adds up with the stats of the largest dam in our world(by gallons held), that is, the Three Gorges Dam.

The Three Gorges Dam, located in China, ALSO holds back 5 trillion gallons of water/19 billion cubic meters. Although it is a lot shorter than Rutala’s measurements--I think the amount of water that it holds back will be a perfect guide to see the devastation that Rutala’s potential breakage could cause on Hyrule.

There actually is a simulation online about what would happen if the Three Gorges Dam collapsed but I’m not gonna link it cause it might be a bit too distressing, but just know that I based this on that simulation.

Firstly, the biggest sigh of relief comes from the Samasa Plain.

The plain is very very low and slopes down into the Lanayru Bay, so a lot of the water would empty into there. However, the plain would then be totally submerged, so RIP to the shrines and ruins around there. Areas in red as submerged and areas in green would become islands or marshes.

And with that, the water level of Lanayru Bay would rise drastically. Blue is the new water level, dark green are islands, and light green are potential wetlandish areas that would form as time passed.

But basically, Rutala river would have a new branch that spills directly into the Lanayru Bay.

So now you may be thinking,

“HEY KIP THAT’S NOT SO BAD! MOST OF IT SPILLS OUT INTO THE BAY SO IT’S NOT A LOT OS DESTRUCTION! YAY!”

And you’d be half right.

Yes, a lot of the water is going to spill out over Samasa Plain and yes, Lanayru Bay will house a lot of it. But here’s the kicker.

It’s a bay.

Not an ocean.

It would take 1.25zkm or 30km for the water to make it’s way to the ocean, and the water will be traveling SUPER fast--about 100 kilometers per hour.

And that water wants to move, it wants to flow, and Lanayru Bay cannot help all that water flower because:  It’s shallow as fuck.

This chest shows the deepest point in all of Lanayru Bay.

I dropped a windcleaver down in the water: and using a generous GENEROUS estimate of 2 feet per second given the conditions of the still water in the bay--It took 5 seconds for it to float to the bottom. 10 feet. 3 meters. That’s just barely deeper than the deep end of a backyard swimming pool.

But even being extra EXTRA generous and using a real world estimate: Bays would be around 14 feet deep, roughly 4 meter. And we can be even more generous and say the sounding mountains can accommodate 30 feet of height. 9 meters. 9 + 4 = 14 meter height times 30km by 10km(width) = That’s 4.2 cubic kilometers, or 4.2 billion kiloliters of the 19.8 billion kiloliters in total.

uh oh. wheres the other 15.6 billion kiloliters of water gonna go?

It’s like taking a firehose, and filling up a bathtub. Yeah, the tub’s gonna catch a lot of that water, but that firehose has way, way, way, more water than that tub can hold, and when the tub can have a leak or hole on it, but the rate that that hose is going is astronomically faster than the rate the tub can expel water, so it’s just gonna overflow and water will still spill everywhere

[And this isn’t even taking into the account that Rutala Dam is SIGNIFICANTLY higher that it’s surrounding landscape, and would pour into the river with such a force that it could cause a giant tidal wave and break through the rocky boundaries of the pre-existing Rutala River causing even more water to flow into the bay]

Lanayru Bay would be occupied with a lot of water, and since the other 15.6 billion kiloliters of water can’t immediately flow into it, it’s gonna take the scenic route through Rutala River. It’s high mountains on either side basically just make it a death funnel.

Here’s how that would look:

This is the new water level for the Lanayru Wetlands. MAn they weren’t lying, those lands do be wet.

so yeah everything is submerged in between 10 to 20 meters of water and you might be thinking

“WELL KIP, I THINK THAT’S NOT SO BAD AFTER ALL! AT LEAST NO MAJOR LANDMARKS WERE DESTROYED AND NO ONE WAS HURT!”

Well, bestie, here’s the thing. This length of land is 3 zelda kilometers long. AKA 90 kilometers long. And you might recall, I said, that this, 3000 meter tall  wall of water was traveler at 100km per hour. Well the good news is, my calculations are a lot easier for this as this large stretch of flat Lanayru Wetlands land lines up perfectly with the flat areas of Yichange, (which was actually traveling at twice the speed compared to Rutala because it didn’t have Lanayru Bay to open up into)  

But the bad news is, the video is five minutes long, and this is just the first 50 seconds. This water is destined to travel 400 kilometers. That’s about half of the country of Wales, by the way. The entire length of the state of Virginia.

Here’s the rough path of the total flooding that other 16 billion kiloliters from Rutala Dam

Oh, and what’s worse is that the rivers in central Hyrule? Yeah they’re like HALF the depth of Lanayru Bay so the flooding will be even WORSE :D

So here’s the new waterlevel map!

Overtime, a lot of the water is gonna spill onto the paths through Central Hyrule, new swamplands, creeks, etc. etc. The path to the Gerudo Desert will be fin initially, as the water as slowed to the point where it won’t put immediate damage since the bridge is so high. But that new water level plus the influx of water from the River of the Dead is definetly gonna erode that over time and maybe possibly will just collapse and prevent anyone from leaving or entering the desert.

Hyrule Castle will be even more of an island, as the two islands to the left and right of it will be moslty submerged. Also the entire path through Eldin is just fucking done. Everyone in Akkala and Eldin? You’re trapped there. It’s basically a new Lake Hylia but no bridge. Sorry Robbie.

Oh, and also these rapid waters are carrying the debris of it’s destruction, whether the corpses of travelers or giant rocks that it broke off from the side of mountains. So everything is a mess, and depending on the amount of debris, it could completly alter water paths to go even more in land. The rivers are shallow enough, so just pilling in more rocks and dam metal and dirt just makes things shallower

Lake Hylia will be fine, the mini islands are gone, but as a whole, the bridge and the height of the surrounding ridges will keep the water in there. Although a lot of Necluda is basically a goner, and the bridge on either end of Dueling Peaks is totally decimated.

So what did we learn?

All of Hyrule’s economy is fucked. Every major trading path--gone. It’s basically gonna breed even more ethnocentricism, and a bunch of wildlife and sources for food are gone. And not to mention the climate, that’s gonna be fucked too as years pass. Rito and Zora will probably be the most fine? Hylians are fucked though, we destroyed like five stables and basically every river setllement there is. Oh and that influx of water is gonna fuck with the fishes so Hateno and Lurelin aren’t totally out of it either!

Gerudo? Well good thing they’re all lesbians because they sure aren’t going out to woe anybody once those stone pillars holding the bridge give way to the new water levels. Gorons will actually not even know anything’s wrong if I’m being honest. Sheikah? Well that point by Eagus Bridge and Sarhasra slope is gonna connect into a river at some point so I guess they can be a fishing village now.

Oh an RAIN I didn’t even think about that, yeah people are totally gonna die. And if Ruta CONTINUES to pump water into Hyrule (because again, this is only from an INITIAL burst of the damn. Well...

Zora’s Domain will be gone within the year. Water levels will just continue to rise, probably take on Central Hyrule first, but then after that the Gerudo Canyon. Also if flooding in Zora’s Domain REALLY continue it would probably spill over and destroy Tarrey Town. So not good all around!

But I think the main takeaway that we can all settle with is that the Flower Lady and her garden are absolutely, positively, dead.

[talesofarcadia78]

Our Time || One shot

Summary: Douxie’s remembering the good old times. 

Warnings: angst, mention of character death, that's it I think?

Word count: 1,735

Everything was set. The lanterns were hung up on the trees nearby, providing light to Douxie for the night. The campfire was crackling just a couple of feet away from the round dining table and chairs that Douxie had set up not too long ago. The plates were also ready on the table, waiting to be filled with food.

Douxie magicked up a bouquet of roses, and placed them in the vase that was in the middle of the table.

Suddenly, he heard a twig snap behind him. He quickly spun around, staff and bracelet ready, only to see Archie looking up at him in his cat form.

"You seriously thought that I was danger?" Archie questioned with an eyebrow raised.

Douxie magicked his staff away and deactivated his bracelet, "Hehe… yes."

Archie rolled his eyes at his familiar's response, "Do you not remember that you put a ward around this whole area?"

Douxie just shrugged and went back to doing last minute preparations.

After a few minutes of silence, Archie cleared his throat to gain Douxie's attention.

"Yes, Arch?" Douxie asked, turning his gaze to the cat.

Archie pointed to the two figures in the distance heading towards them.

Douxie's eyes widened at how time flew by quickly. He didn't even have time to get changed!

He quickly got behind a tree and used a spell he had recently learned, and changed into a black dress shirt (sleeves rolled up of course), black pants and shoes, keeping his signature skull necklace.

He stepped out from the tree to see Archie fly away. His eyes wandered around until they landed on both you and Jim getting closer. You were wearing a stunning black A-line lace dress that went down to your knees with half laced sleeves and beige heels.

You were blindfolded as Douxie had requested Jim to do to you so you had a surprise.

Douxie could hear you complain to Jim how you didn't like being blindfolded. Jim just rolled his eyes at your antics and told you that all would be revealed in a matter of moments.

Douxie walked up to you two siblings and took you from Jim.

"Thank you, Jim. I'll take her from here," Douxie smiled and took your shoulders.

"No problem, Doux! Tell me the end result!" Jim waved and walked off.

"Douxie, where in the world am I?" you asked.

"Shhh. Be patient, love. All will be revealed," Douxie reassured.

After a few moments, the blindfold on your eyes was taken off.

You took in your surroundings. The trees were decorated with lanterns, a dining table was set and a campfire was already lit. Everything was beautiful.

You spun around to see Douxie holding out a rose for you to take, which you, without a doubt, accepted.

"Shall we, m'lady?" Douxie inquired, holding his arm out.

You nodded and you let him take you to the table.

~~~~~

Douxie had prepared f/f for dinner, and for dessert, an apple pie.

Now, the two of you were quietly sitting on a blanket at the campfire, leaning on each other.

"Love?" Douxie asked.

You hummed in response, letting him know he had your attention.

"Remember the first time we met? I had spilled a drink on the ground in the cafe and you rushed to help," Douxie remembered.

"Yeah," you nodded, memories flooding back.

~~~~~

You anxiously tapped your feet on the ground, waiting for your order to arrive.

You were in a big rush.

Mom had called to tell you that Jim was in the hospital. You knew that he was the Trollhunter, so he had gotten a lot of injuries, though, he didn't need to go to the hospital to get them treated, so you knew that this was serious.

Abruptly, you heard a crash from behind you. You turned around to see a drink had spilled all over the floor. The waiter was already on his knees, trying to clean it up.

You got up from your seat and ran over to help him. You kneeled in front of the guy to hear him faintly say, "Fuzzbuckets". You saw a faint sky blue spark come from his hand.

A wizard.

You placed a hand on his arm, making him look up into your e/c eyes. You mouthed ‘no’ and shook your head, telling him not to perform the spell. He stopped and sighed before cleaning up the mess the old fashioned way with your help.

After helping him, you returned to your seat.

Just when you were about to leave, getting fed up of the wait, the same waiter you had helped rushed up to you, order in hand.

"Hey! You were the one who helped me with the spill a couple of minutes ago, right?" he asked.

"Yeah," you nodded and then added quietly, "And the one who stopped you from using magic as a shortcut."

You smiled and took your order from him. You headed out but got stopped by the same guy.

"Hey, I never got your name. I'm Hisirdoux Casperan, but you can call me Douxie," Douxie winked and held out his hand for a handshake.

"Y/n, Y/n Lake," you replied, shaking his hand. "I'm really sorry, but I really need to go."

He nodded understandingly and waved goodbye.

As you walked to the hospital, you opened the bag that had your food in it, as well as a note. You took it out and read it:

Hey, stranger, who I probably got the name of!

I was wondering if you would grab a bite with me tomorrow at the cafe. 4 pm sharp.

Don't be late.

Yours truly,

Hisirdoux Casperan.

You smiled. You had finally found a fellow magic wielder.

~~~~~

"Then, the time when Jim got a bit overprotective of you when you were at the bookstore."

"A bit?"

"Okay, extremely overprotective of you."

~~~~~

The sun was shining high in the sky, your hair moving along with the gentle breeze, and a nice cup of coffee in your hands while you and Jim made your way to GDT Arcane Books.

Jim opened the door to reveal Archie, Douxie's familiar lying on the ground near the fireplace.

"Hey, Archie!" you greeted.

"Hello," Archie called.

You turned your attention away from the cat and to Jim, who was looking around in suspicion.

"Jim, what is it now?" you asked, placing your hand on your brother's shoulder.

"It's just… why does this store seem so… magical?" Jim inquired.

"Because a magical being owns the bookstore," you replied.

Jim nodded in response.

"Hello!" a new voice spoke.

You turned around to see Douxie coming out of the back. From the corner of your eye, you saw Jim's gaze harden at the sight of the wizard. He pulled you a bit closer to him.

Overprotective brother mode switched on.

"Hey, Doux. Did you call us in for some help?" you inquired.

"Yep! There's only so much a 900 year old wizard can do by himself," Douxie nodded.

Douxie told you and Jim what he needed help with.

Jim was sent off to get some supplies from around town, to his dismay. He wanted to keep an eye on you and Douxie, but alas, he had to go shopping.

Before Jim had left, you heard him send a death threat to Douxie.

"Don't do anything funny with my sister, Casperan. I won't hesitate to slice your head off with Daylight."

Your eyes widened. You knew Jim didn't like Douxie, but you didn't know that he hated him so much to actually threatened him.

Geez. He's way too overprotective.

You made your way over to Douxie as soon as Jim left the store.

"Don't mind him. He's just overprotective," you told Douxie.

"Uh-huh," Douxie nodded slowly.

~~~~~

"We know each other so well, made so many wonderful memories, we've spent so much time together," Douxie sighed. "And I want to spend more time with you."

You turned your head towards him, silently asking him to elaborate.

Douxie moved away and got up. He lent you his hand, which you accepted and followed suit. He took a deep breath and got down on one knee.

"Y/n, love, we've been through so much together. Good and bad. Sad and happy. And I'll continue to. You made me the most happiest man when you became my girlfriend and I thought I couldn't be any happier. But today may prove me wrong," Douxie expressed.

You gasped and clasped your hand over your mouth as Douxie took out a golden ring with embroidery and held it out.

"Y/n Lake… make me the happiest man in the world. Will you marry me?"

You had tears in your eyes at this point. Douxie looked at you with hope, love, admiration, and so much more as he waited for your answer.

"Yes."

Douxie's eyes lit up like a child on Christmas morning, and quickly got up. He grabbed your waist and brought you close. He leaned down and softly kissed you as he slipped the ring onto your finger.

~~~~~

Douxie stared at the photo of you two on your wedding day. You were wearing a short lace white dress and beige ankle strap heels and Douxie was wearing a white dress shirt, black tuxedo, black tie, black pants and a rose attached on the left as you two stood in front of each other, hand in hand while Douxie was kissing your forehead.

Douxie placed the photo back and glanced down at his wedding ring. It was simple, a silver band with swirl embroidery as you had the same, but gold. He remembered the feeling of your hand in his. Your giggling. Everything. But alas, ever since you had passed in battle, he couldn't seem to bring any of those memories back.

Tears formed in Douxie's eyes as he remembered the good times.

Suddenly, the door opened to reveal Jim and Claire.

"Hey, Teach. What were you--" Claire started before she noticed the tears streaming down his face.

Douxie wasn't going to cry but as soon as he saw the wedded couple, he couldn't help himself.

Jim and Claire rushed over to Douxie and enveloped the wizard in a hug, attempting to comfort him. He sobbed into Jim's chest as Jim ran his hand through his hair and Claire rubbing Douxie's back.

Nothing was going to be the same without you.

[cupidhaos]

garden of dreams | jww

pairing: jeon wonwoo x gender neutral reader

word count: 2.2k

genre: fluff, dreams, slight angst

summary: he would always be there, waiting for you in the garden of dreams

warnings: slight swearing, SLIGHT angst like its so tiny you can barely see it

song rec: day & night | jung seunghwan

a/n: THIS IS SO LATE IM SO SORRY!! leave it up to sak to post at the very last minute :| but this is for the lovely @hongnanglen-arina​ ! <3 i hope that you enjoy this even though it’s late >< i wrote this after watching the garden of words which i recommend to everyone btw it has beautiful animation and is so pretty and pretty short for a movie anyways let me stop rambling here you go!!

prompt: “i dreamt about you last night”

he was just a stranger passing by you on the street. both of you were heading in the opposite directions - yet as your eyes connected for a brief moment, you felt the feeling of longing settling inside of you.

his eyes felt familiar to you - as if you saw him from somewhere before. as you walked throughout the city as your paths had crossed this stranger, you couldn’t help but stop in your tracks as you passed each other.

“y/n? are you in there?” your friend walking beside you asked. you shake your head out of the trance you were in a gave them a tight smile “yeah sorry, you were saying?”

later that night as you lay in bed - you couldn’t help but think of the eyes of the stranger that you passed by earlier. although there was barely an encounter and it was in total just a couple of seconds of eye contact - you were unable to get them out of your mind.

“what did they look like again?” you try to recall as you think back to their face. as you recalled the brief encounter, you think back to what his eyes looked like as they were the only thing you remembered.

rubbing your hands over your face out of frustration, you let out a loud groan. you continued to toss and turn in your bed as the thought of this man just wouldn’t leave your mind.

“this is so irritating! why am i thinking of some stranger i made eye contact with for probably a total of what - five seconds?!” say to no one. flipping over to lay on your side, you read the numbers blinking on your alarm clock.

“shit… it’s already one …” you mumble underneath your breath.

flipping back onto your back, you drape your arm over your eyes as the moonlight shone through your window.

“maybe i can just sleep it off…” you say aloud as you let out a yawn. you felt your eyes get heavier by the second before finally drifting off to sleep.

your eyebrows furrow together in confusion as you looked around at the unknown area. trees surrounded you along with an assortment of plants and flowers. as you looked forward, your eyes are drifted towards the pathway underneath your feet which was covered in moss and grass.

“i swore i was just in my bed”

unable to make sense of the situation, you don’t even notice that your feet began to move on their own. as you continue being deep in thought, you unconsciously follow the path that was laid out in front of you.

it wasn’t until you noticed that there weren’t as many trees around that you finally looked up, now standing by an empty lake. you then realized that you were most likely in a garden somewhere - but where? and why?

“am i dreaming right now… is this a lucid dream or something… why does it feel like i’m actually in a garden though…” you wonder aloud as you continued to walk throughout the quiet garden. “might as well enjoy the scenery” right as the words left your mouth though, you felt a raindrop gently fall on your head.

soon enough, rain started pouring down from the skies as if the clouds had been holding it in for years. covering your head with your hands as you run through the garden, you tried to look for a place where you’d be able to take shelter. spotting a roofed pergola in the distance, you quickly make your way over.

“of course it starts raining when i actually want to take a walk around this place” an annoyed huff leaving your lips following your comment. squeezing your shirt to get the water out of it in order to relieve the heavy weight it brought on your clothes, you didn’t take notice of the footsteps approaching the small pergola you were under.

“it’s raining pretty bad - don’t you think?” an unknown voice comments with a laugh amidst the loud patter of the heavy rain. a jolt ran through your body as the sound of a deep voice surprised your ears. your eyes widen as you turn your head towards the owner of the voice.

you were shocked to see a boy around his early twenties, standing at a distance from you. round glasses that were now covered in rain droplets, sat on his nose as he stood wearing casual clothes and a thick jacket. a book bag was draped across his chest and you watched as he squinted up at the grey sky.

you felt your breath hitch as he turns to look at you, a small smile on his face. as his eyes locked with yours - you felt that familiar feeling that you had earlier today. he raises an eyebrow as you continue to stare at him in confusion “don’t tell me - you forgot again, didn’t you?”

as you continued to stare at him with that confused look on your face, he lets out sigh of defeat as his shoulders slumped down “i’m not surprised - it has been a while since our dreams intertwined like this.”

tilting your head to the side, he just laughs at your expression much to your dismay “guess i’ll reintroduce myself then - i’m wonwoo” he extends his hand out towards you which you hesitantly take. nodding your head slowly, you still were unable to grasp the situation at hand.

“nice to meet you wonwoo… i’m -”

“y/n. i know.”

a gasp leaves your lips as he finishes your sentence “wait! how did you know my name? do you know where we are? how did we get here? what do you mean intertwining dreams?”

wonwoo holds up his free hand as a signal for you to slow down which automatically causes you to halt your flood of questions. puling his hand away from yours, you couldn’t help but miss the warmth that contact gave you.

“let’s just say - this isn’t really our first time meeting.” wonwoo tells you, but that still didn’t help answer any of your questions.

“have we met before?” you ask quietly, to which he nods his head. placing his hands in the pockets of his jacket, he turns back towards the rain “many times actually. but it seems like you keep forgetting we do each time.”

as you try to make sense of his words, you didn’t even notice you were shivering. wonwoo takes notice of this from the corner of his eye though, and lets out a sigh. you don’t realize he’s taking off his jacket until you felt its weight against your shoulders.

the action snaps you out of the thought you were having as you looked up at him with wide eyes. he averts his gaze from yours though as he continued to wrap the jacket around your shoulders “listen, i know this is just a dream and whatever - but i can’t just watch you stand there shivering like a lost puppy”

you felt your cheeks heat up slightly and you quickly turn to look towards the ground. you perk up though once you take in his comment “wait! so this is a dream?”

he hums in confirmation in response to your question “mhm, everything here is a dream.”

“wait so if this is my dream - why are you here?”

“ouch, you trying to kick me out?”

“sorry! i didn’t mean it like that i just -”

wonwoo cuts you off with a laugh and you continued to stare up at him filled with wonder and curiosity.

“i’ll sum it up like i do each time we meet again. our dreams somehow intertwine with each others from time to time and we end up being in the other’s dreams. they always seem to take place in this garden also. but for some reason, you keep on forgetting these dreams we have together, meaning -”

“i keep forgetting that we’ve met?” you finish, to which wonwoo nods. a pout forms on your lips at this realization “what the hell! that sucks why do i keep forgetting you?!”

wonwoo shrugs at your question though “beats me. seems like you’re the type of person to forget their dreams immediately when they wake up.”

your eyebrows furrow together as another question leaves your lips “then why is it you always remember me?”

his features soften at your question and a small smile spreads across his face “that’s because i could never forget you, no matter how hard i’d try”

a blush spreads across your cheeks at the comment, and you feel yourself fill with embarrassment. you hear a light chuckle come from him as he watches your reaction “don’t just say stuff like that to someone you just met!”

“i wouldn’t typically say that to a stranger - but then again, this isn’t our first time meeting, remember?”

for what felt like the next couple hours, the two of you talked and got to know each other all over again. you felt at ease with him around, and you never once felt uncomfortable with his presence.

“why do you think our dreams keep connecting back here?” you suddenly asked him. he was unable to answer your question though.

“i’m not sure actually. it sure does look like a park around where i live though.” he tells you as you nod slowly. as you think over all the different possibilities, you suddenly raise up a finger as the sound of ‘aha!’ escapes your lips.

“i know! maybe it’s a sign that we’re meant to be!” as soon as you say that, wonwoo’s face turns bright red. he covers his face quickly with his hands as you continued to look at him excitedly “who’s the one saying corny stuff now”

you wave him off though as you continue on with what you were saying “maybe - just maybe if we go to this park when we’re awake then we’ll finally meet in person and not just in this dream garden!”

he gives you a soft smile at your suggestion, and you hear the rain slowly quiet down. “that sure does sound ideal - but don’t you remember? you always forget these dreams”

shaking your head at his response, you look up at him with a determined look on your face - not realizing that the garden around you two was now slowly fading away.

“i won’t forget you this time, i promise! and if i do - i’ll still find a way for us to meet!” were the last words you told him before things finally faded away.

rubbing your eyes as you wake up, you held your head in your hands as you hazily tried to recall your dream.

“wait… what was i dreaming about again?” you mumble groggily as you tried to remember. getting up for the day, you felt agitated at the fact that you were unable to recall the dream you had from the night before.

“i feel as if i’m forgetting something important…” you tell yourself as you got ready for your plans for the day. your friend had asked you to come check out a new cafe that was a whiles away from where you lived.

for the rest of the morning, you did your best to get an idea as to what you were forgetting. yet no matter how much you tried - nothing came to mind.

once you got down to the place you two planned to meet up at, your friend informed you that they were going to take a while.

“way to tell me once i got here” you huff. though the feeling of irritation soon left once you spot something in the distance. as your eyes wandered toward the park not too far off from where you were at, your feet began moving on their own, and that feeling of familiarity washed over you once again.

as you finally got to the park, you took in the scenery and looked at the plants growing. the feeling of deja vu hits you as you walked past a large, blue lake.

“i swear i haven’t been here before… so why does it feel as if…”

your train of thought is cut off once you felt a drop of rain land on you, more quickly falling down from the sky. running towards the closest place to take shelter, you stared up at the dark clouds up above. running footsteps make your way towards you, causing you to turn your head at the young man who stood besides you.

“it’s raining pretty bad - don’t you think?” he asks with a laugh, the rain nearly drowning out his voice as it continued to pour down harshly. once he turns his head to look at you, your eyes finally meet, and everything that you were trying so hard to remember suddenly came flooding back to you.

the smile on his face is quickly replaced with a shocked look as he realizes who you were. as the rain begins to calm down, the two of you continued to stare at each other with mirrored expressions.

a gasp leaves your lips and you raised your hand to point a finger towards him in surprise.

“i dreamt about you last night!” 

wonwoo’s eyes widened at your loud revelation and a small laugh leaves your lips as you saw his expression. you coughed loudly as you extend your hand out towards him. a smile spreading across your lips once he takes it.

“guess i’ll reintroduce myself then - i’m y/n”

he shakes his head with a laugh at your introduction. 

“nice to meet you y/n... i’m -”

“wonwoo. i know.”

m.list

[fanfiction-inc]

After that last Dutch request where his S/O pretends to be his wife, can you do one where he catches a female gang member skinny dipping and joins them? Maybe things get a bit steamy there (*wink wink*)?

But of course, darling! And check for the surprise at the end! 😉

((A.N: As always, the smut is under the cut 😘))

Silence.

All Dutch Van Der Linde requested was a bit of silence and a chance to work on his next big plan.

The camp needed more money.

They needed more time.

But each time Dutch attempted to slip away into his thoughts and found that eureka moment, the moment was ruined.

Heavy, drunken chatter outside of his tent as the gang passes by.

Music flooding in from the campfire that mingled terribly with Armas Järnefelt's "Ouverture Lyrique".

He stands with a huff, fingers rubbing at his temples as his eyes begin to strain on the map.

The sudden sing along to one of the many camp songs begins to grow irritating and soon he's going to the edge of the tent, about to call out and silence the flock.

But his hip bumps the gramophone playing the growing melody, the record scratching and creating a terrible noise that sends his fist to clench and hands to shake.

He exits in a hurry, needing to calm his growing anger.

It wouldn't help his plans a single bit if he let all this anger out on those who were just trying to enjoy their time while they can.

You never know when a Pinkerton will decide to come along and fuck everyone over.

His steps carry him out to the woods, sigh leaving his lips when silence finally takes over the area.

He leans against a nearby tree, cigar taken from his vest and match settled between his fingers.

As the match is struck, he hears it. The shift of water and the splash as someone swims about.

He searched with his gaze until meeting just who was intruding on his time.

You, rising from the water in all your glistening glory.

Hair flipped to be out of your face.

Breast highlighted by moonlight.

The cigar tucked between his lips nearly slips out, clinging to the dry skin and sticking there, mouth agape at the form he had yet to see before.

Perfection.

You were absolute perfection.

He catches the cigar before it hits the ground, a grin forming on his lips as he lights it and approaches the waters edge.

"So, seems someone isn't celebratin' with the rest and decided on a midnight swim." He takes a long drag of the cigar, smirk forming when he sees you whip around in shock at him.

The color rising to your cheeks as you duck your body under the water, hiding as much exposed skin as possible.

The way you tried to avoid his gaze as best as possible.

"How rude of ya to not extend an invitation m'way, Ms. (Last name)." He blows the smoke out, giving a light lick to his lips to prevent the cancer stick from sticking to them. "I would have loved a dip in them warm waters."

When your gaze finally comes back up to meet his own, he's not looking away from you.

A smug look rested on his features, cigar returned back between his lips and a twinkle to his gaze as he watched you.

"Well, Mr. Van Der Linde, I suppose an invitation is better late than never receivin' one." Your form relaxed a bit as you swam backwards, breast peeking almost teasingly above the waters. "Care t'join me?"

He pauses, taking a final drag before snuffing out the stick on the closest rock he could find and tossing it aside.

"I thought you'd never ask, sweetheart." He sends a grin your way, stealing a quick glance around the area before he begins undressing himself.

It's almost like a show put on for a one person audience.

His vest taken off with skilled fingers, the buttons of the crisp white shirt beneath following oh so slowly.

Inch after inch of skin revealed and hair begins to show on his chest.

He's grinning at your locked gaze, savoring the expression and color that begins to come as the shirt is thrown away and belt soon to follow.

Guns set aside, polished shoes toed off and soon enough he's down to just his drawers, or lack thereof.

Nude to the night and to the captivated gaze, he tossed his hat to the pile of clothing and finally entered the luke warm waters of the spring time.

"Now tell me, Ms. (Last name), just why are y'out here all by y'self? Just anyone can see your," He pauses, as if adding a dramatic effect when he sucks in a breath of an appreciative nature, "stunnin' physique."

His body shifted closer in the waters, nearly against your own as his brown eyes locked with your (eye color) eyes.

"Perhaps you're of the adventurous sort. Wantin' to be seen." He shifted so his nose nearly brushed yours. "Wantin' to be caught."

"Maybe I did want to b'caught."

Your reply both surprised and excited him.

You, the rough and tumble girl who can gun down a group of men or get them drunk enough to rob them blind, being the exhibitionist out of the gang.

It fascinated him, but it also left him aching at the idea of what else could happen tonight.

A shiver traveled up his spine when your body was fully against his, the breast he had seen before that nearly made him lose his cigar against his chest and breathing steadily.

Up, down, up, down. You were as calm as the waters that you both floated in.

You were the picture of beauty that captivated him like the best view money could buy.

He couldn't buy you. He couldn't own you.

There was no need to do so, nor did he seek the idea of a monetary possessiveness to you.

You were no working girl, you were simply one of the best goddamn members of the Van Der Linde gang.

Your lips just barely had a chance to brush his own before he was pulling away, body dunking under the water and leaving you to float and wait for him to resurface.

"Really, Dutch?" Your voice called softly, body shifting in the water as you attempt to look for the man in the darkened waters that only sparkled on the surface with moonlight. "I swear if y'pop up and try t'scare me."

Silence. You began to worry.

Then a set of arms wrapped around your middle and you're being dragged to the shore.

The noise of startle that comes into the air when he's pulling you has him reeling, chuckling as a slap to his chest is delivered when he can finally feel the lake's floor beneath his feet.

The way you glared at him in a weakened hatred and his own playful gaze in turn setting the mood.

He was in it to play now.

"Y'bastard!" Your voice came out shrill, contrasted by the deep rumble of his chuckle when you pushed away from his arms.

"I thought a woman like y'self doesn't scare easily." He teased, hair sticking to his face, the pomade washed away and leaving his longer locks to show their true length.

A low, almost feral growl, leaves his throat when your fingers take hold of the damp locks, gaze growing dark and hungry when your hushed tone arises from somewhere deep within you.

"I don't, Van Der Linde." There was a bite, as if reaffirming that you weren't some weak woman he could do as he pleased with.

In a way, he understood from your personality alone that you were a woman that should be reckoned with.

He's seen your skill, your talents as a thief and gunslinger.

If he didn't know you, and didn't know you were capable of a softer side, he'd be scared shitless.

He just wasn't a stranger to you.

"I don't believe you understand what you're startin' here, Ms. (Last name)." His rumble and tone alone had your core aching, needy for the man who threatened unlike anyone else.

It wasn't a threat of death, or of using your womanhood against you.

No, this was a threat to be far rougher than he had intended when moving into the waters with you.

He was going to play nice, be fair, but now as you give his hair a tug and press your form closer to his own, that control was lost.

"Oh, I know where this is gon'take me." Your lips press against his own when you tug his head to your own, firm hands coming to gather your hips and bring your legs to wrap around his waist.

He's quick, breaking from the grasp and alluring lips that pressed oh so hungrily to his own and replacing the absence with the flesh of your neck.

Rough nips and harsh suckles litter your flesh in growing shades of reds and browns.

His breath came out in harsh puffs when his lips got to your breast, a nipple taken between his lips and lavished with the same treatment your neck had been littered with.

A couple steps back and he's landing on the water's edge, rolling your bodies so his looms over your own.

His gaze met your own, the noises leaving your lips sending his body into a frenzy of heat and arousal.

Dutch wanted to hear your voice, even at the risk of someone coming out to see just what that noise in the distance was.

It excited him to no end.

His upper half stayed braced on his forearms as his lips did the talking, suckling at the perky bud that ached when his teeth ever so slowly dragged.

How your chest raised and fell with each quickening breath and the tremble of your form when his mustache grazed the sensitive skin with each lingering peck.

When your hands began to trace his form, moving from his hair down to his chest in a selfish drag, he couldn't help the appreciative noise that left his throat.

Nor the throb of his cock that rested oh so nicely against your inner thigh, able to be placed wherever it needed to go at a moment's notice.

He gets a firm grip on your hip with a single strong hand, bringing you flush against his member, the length slipping between your folds and getting slickened by the wetness growing there.

"That's it, sweetheart." He purred out into the air, groaning when your hips jut up in an attempt to get him inside.

His hand gives a swift smack to your rear from the side, a noise leaving your lips that earns a smirk.

"I told ya you're startin' somethin' ya don't wan'be startin'." He gave a hard trust, cock grazing your clit deliciously. "Keep pullin' stunts like that and I may just leave ya wantin', and I don't think y'want that now, do ya sweetheart?"

He watched as you glared at him.

As the color rises on your cheeks.

"No." You reply in a quick, almost frustrated quip.

"No what?" He wanted a rise out of you, a chuckle leaving his lips when your eyes roll and you bite at that delicious bottom lip of yours.

He would love to kiss on them for as long as possible if he could.

But sadly your time was limited together.

He just had to make it worth it, and he was gonna try his best.

"No," He watched your pause, how you worried your lip further in an internal fight of dominance and submission, "sir."

He smirked, a lick to wetten his lips following as he moved them to rest close against your ear.

"Good girl." His hips push forward finally, sinking down within your hot cavern.

He lets out a low groan when he bottoms out, hips flush against your own and teeth delivering a soft nip to the lobe of your ear.

He sets a steady pace, wasting no time with that slow shit.

Every second passing is another that someone from camp could come out and see the activities transpiring.

Every sound could be a cause for concern to drunken ears and demand investigation.

He needed to get his satisfaction, but also deliver your own.

He adjusted the legs around his hips so they're higher up on his body, the angle changing and causing your head to throw back with a steady moan.

Each noise had his breathing picking up and body heating further in the night.

With a hand abandoning your hip and now taking a breast in hand, he fucks into you not like a lover but as a man who had fucking in mind.

It was stress relief.

It was a moment of clarity.

He was like a great Greek artist venting his troubles into his latest muse and using it until the picture was finally put together.

Fucking you would help him leave the troubles of the night behind.

Fucking you may help blossom the inspriation for a new plan.

But above all, fucking you meant he gets to see that beauty of a face controting in pleasure because of him.

He needed you just as badly as your body needed him.

Dutch is surprised when your arms loop around his neck and nails dig into his scalp, bringing him into a bruising kiss as he fucks into you like a desperate man needing release.

He's quickening each time your walls tighten, that spot within you receiving every brush that goes by.

His whole body is going into it, abdomen flexing with each pump inside of your tightening core.

"S-Sir, I'm gonna-" You started, a kiss given to your lips to silence you before he's sitting up and returning his hands to your hips once more.

"Go ahead, sweetheart, let that wave hit ya." He purred, knuckles going into a white grip as he fucked into you.

Your orgasm hits you hard, walls tight around him and a string of curses falling between you two in increasing volume.

He pulls himself out, hand pumping his cock steadily until he's decorating you with his seed.

A groan leaves his lips when he leans back on his legs, taking a few breaths to steady himself.

Then the color drains from your collective features when a voice comes from the woods.

"Dutch? (First name)?"

A glance is shared between you both as you try to get out of the orgasmic bliss and scramble for the water.

Just because he gained excitement from the IDEA of being caught, didn't mean he wanted to test his luck.

He looks up as quickly as a deer hearing a gunshot when a branch is broken close by, meeting the concerned blue gaze of his son.

Arthur paused when he saw the scene, seeing the two nude bodies trying to get into the waters and stand there with widened gazes.

Then he laughs, a deep belly laugh that carried out among the woods.

"So that's where y'all slipped off ta!" His laughter is booming, making your cheeks heat and Dutch release a frustrated groan.

You two would never live this one down

RDR2 TAG LIST:

@lise-soontobemarried | @imtootiredforreddit | @morgans-cowbaby | @btsloversaregreat | @sokkasdarling

[classic80sand90smovieloves2]

Meeting and Dating Jason Voorhees

(Not my gif)(Requested by @fandoms-are-my-friends-1321​)

(I’m sorry that the meeting part is so long but granted, the start of your relationship with a slasher is going to take a while.)

- You first met Jason when you were little and attending Camp Crystal Lake. You were a few years younger than him; and a girl, so you weren’t around him much, especially since his mother tried to keep him away from the other kids as much as she could.

- Even so, you would occasionally see him around the camp, specifically being bullied around the camp, and felt sorry for him. Anytime you saw him, you tried your best to be nice and make him feel welcome. You still remember how awful you felt upon hearing that he drowned. But you were young, years passed and you slowly forgot about him.

- When you were older, you bought a cabin near the lake, wanting to have a break from people. The whole week after you moved in, you felt like someone was watching you. You figured you were just paranoid since you were alone up there. Unbeknownst to you, you were being watched.

- Everything came to a head the second week that you were living there. It was late and you were walking home from the lake. A part of you knew that it was a stupid idea to have stayed out so long but you rationalized that no one was up there with you, you’d be alone and the most that would happen is you would run into an animal on the beaten path.

- A little ways into your walk, you could hear the sound of something nearing you. You ignored it for a while until you were sure that it was there and could hear that it had gotten very close. It sounded big, so like a rational person, without thinking, you began to run.

- At most you thought it was a wolf, maybe a bear, but your assumptions were proven false as you were gripped from behind and thrown to the forest floor. When you opened your eyes, you could see the person who had attacked you; a big man in a hockey mask.

- Letting out a shriek, you fought your way from him, managing to escape his grasp enough to take off running again. You could hear him following after you as you reached your home, slamming and locking the door behind you, though it did little to stop him.

- It seemed as though he struck down your door in seconds, pursuing you even further into the cabin until you reached the living room. You were backed against the wall as he raised his arm to slash at you, that was when he noticed the photos framed on the wall behind you.

- He froze, there was something so similar about the little girl in the pictures, obviously they were you, but who were you? In an instant, his memories came flooding back, the little girl at camp, the one person who was nice to him, his first and only crush as a child.

- You stood still, terrified to even move until his arm lowered and his other hand came up. You winced as it approached you, snapping your eyes shut until you noticed that he hadn’t touched you. Upon opening them again, you saw that he had tore a frame off the wall and was looking down at it. You thought that perhaps this was your chance and quietly spoke.

“That’s me. In the picture, I mean. I was seven there.” He didn’t look at you for a long while before he glanced in your direction, heaving a deep breath.

- A wave of fear coursed through you but he didn’t move any closer. Instead, he dropped the frame on a table nearby, hesitated for a moment, and then walked out of your home. You made sure he was gone before calling the police. They combed the area but could find nothing of the man. Inexplicably, your mind flashed back to your time at camp. The boy who drowned; he was never found either.

- Still shaken up, you went into town and stayed at an inn for the night. In the morning, you went to the library and searched through their archives, trying to find out more about the area in an attempt to figure out what had happened. 

- A part of you began to believe that the masked figure was Jason. He was the proper age, seemingly knew the area well, and his body was never found. It seemed like a ridiculous idea but was it completely implausible? 

- Having bought the cabin; and having nowhere else to go, you had to return home at some point. He was gone, right? So you made the trip back and tried to put the encounter out of your mind. Even so, every now and again you could swear that you saw him; always in your peripheral or in something's reflection. 

- A day or so later, you found that the tires on your car were slashed. The situation confused you, why would he slash your tires yet leave you completely unharmed. What was the point of keeping you alive if he wanted you dead, he didn’t seem like the type who wanted to scare you before he finished you off. Deep down, some part of you knows that; for whatever reason, he doesn’t want you to leave. 

- It was some time later that you encountered him again. You were swimming in the lake when you felt eyes on you. As you looked around, you could see him standing at the tree line. He just... stood there, saying nothing, still as could be. 

- Were you scared? Yes, but you were also curious. This whole charade had to end at some point, right? Why not now? Seeing that he was empty handed, you stood in the water and slowly made your way over to him. He let you approach him until you stopped just a few feet away on your own accord. 

“You’re Jason, aren't you?” You asked tentatively, quietly. He said nothing. “I thought you were dead. We all did. I saw you.... How?”

Still, there was no reply and for the first time, you remembered that he couldn’t speak. So you asked a simple question, one that he could answer without his voice and one that could potentially ease your nerves. “Do you want to kill me?”

- He didn’t reply at first, looking at you for a long moment. You could see his eyes locked on your face from behind his mask. Then, silently, he slowly shook his head. 

- You see him more after that; he doesn’t hide as much though he still keeps his distance. A part of you knows that you should probably be wary, try to escape or call the cops or something. But another part of you tells yourself that if he wanted to hurt you, he could have already, and he probably would be carrying a weapon with him.

- The only times that he actually got close to you was when you tried to go into town, he’d appear quietly behind you, your face level with his chest, blocking you from going anywhere until he made sure you only had your purse with you. He didn’t want you leaving him; escaping, he liked you too much.

- Over time, you’re feelings of empathy got the best of you. His mother; his one true friend, was dead, he was alone in the world and alive when he should have been dead himself; he had no one, nothing. So after debating with yourself about it all day, you made your way over to him when he appeared and invited him inside your home. 

- You supposed you were more lonely than you expected since; after a few minutes of hesitance and awkwardness, you began to talk to him... and then talk some more and more until finally you realized you were recounting half your life to the masked killer. Trailing off, you apologized and asked if he was hungry. 

- Over the next few months, you started to interact with him more and more. It was normal for the two of you to spend time together and soon enough, you genuinely begun to enjoy his company. 

- Your relationship will definitely be a slowburn; I mean, it is Jason we’re talking about. So it could be a full year before anything of value happens between you. And when something does happen, it happens slowly as well. 

- After some time, you realize that there’s more to your feelings for the man and though it may not be the greatest crush you’ve ever had, you can’t deny that it’s there. So you decide to confess. You tell him that you like him, a lot, and ask if there’s any way that the two of you can be together.

- In response, he stays very still for a long moment before reaching out, stroking your face and hair, and clumsily pulling you into his arms. 

- You don’t exactly have dates so you don’t really have a first date, and you’re not sure if your first kiss even counts. It’s a quiet night, the two of you are sat beside each other on your front porch and you have the inexplicable urge to kiss him, even though you know he won’t even let you see what's underneath his mask. 

- Not knowing what else to do, you lean over, place a gentle hand on the back of his head and press your lips to his mask. He stiffens but lets you and moves just a bit closer to you once you’ve pulled away. It’s certainly not the most conventional relationship you’ve ever been in but you can’t say that you regret being in it. 

- The two of you have gone out in public together like five whole times so pda is a difficult thing to explain. He occasionally holds on to you but more often than not he’ll make a quick escape as people start to show up around you.

- He tends to keep a bit of a distance between the two of you, mainly because he isn’t sure of what he should do with you. He’s never had a relationship before so this entire experience is new to him. 

- He’s so not used to human affection anymore. It’s been a very long time since he’s interacted with anyone so he’s going to have to learn how to accept it again. He goes still and cherishes every touch you give him though; for a while, he’s going to be internally panicking the entire time. 

- If the two of you are going to be together, you’ll have to be innocent(at least on the outside) and kind; someone his mother would approve of since; even in death, she’s still affecting his decisions.

- He tries to be very gentle with you, not wanting to hurt you in any way, especially on accident. You feel like a little china doll with the way he holds and touches you. 

- Jason has never been kissed …but he deserves to be!!! He lets you kiss his mask without hesitation but is apprehensive when letting you see what's underneath. He may yearn to kiss you but he isn’t sure if he should since he’s completely inexperienced and; in his eyes, physically grotesque. 

- You make him nervous. Jason’s never really had any friends besides his mother and he’s certainly never had female company that he’s found attractive(and that's actually liked him) so being around you has an effect on him. 

- He likes listening to you talk. You could be rambling about nothing at all and he’ll still want to hear it. Most of the time, you’ll assume he isn’t even listening but then he’ll look at you once you’ve stopped, nod his head at something, or let out a noise that's the equivalent of a laugh for him; and you’ll realize he’s actually been listening the entire time. 

- Learning how to communicate with him. 

- Going on weekly runs to get all the supplies that the two of you will need. 

- Patching him up when he gets injured. You know that he heals himself but you still feel the need to do something about it. 

- Even though he has a really high pain tolerance, you still wince for him every time he gets hurt. He finds it sort of touching that you care or at least show empathy towards him, it’s also amusing in a way. 

- Receiving little gifts. Flowers, rocks, feathers, …bones. He sometimes steals things from his victims that he thinks you’ll like. You don’t ask where he gets his “proper” gifts from. 

- He’s honestly a big fan of pets/animals and; weirdly enough, they love him too. Doesn’t matter if you have a dog, cat, bunny, bird, or hamster; he’ll like them and they’ll like him.

- You once gifted him a teddy bear, mainly as a joke, but he genuinely adores it. It stays in his little shack where he can hold it when he’s away from you.

- Under all that murder, he’s really just sweet boy. You’re respected, cared for, and loved at all times. 

- Would you not fawn over him? Would you not act like a doting, proud mother as he stands there menacingly? Would you not boast about him over the phone as he sits and eats at your kitchen table? Don’t lie to me. 

- Whenever you compliment him, he sort of just stares at you for a long moment before going back to what he was doing. He doesn’t know how to respond and hearing your praise makes him flustered.

- You’re gonna have to take care of him a little. While he can, in theory, take care of himself and live on his own; if you call consuming foraged berries, squirrels and lake water living, you’ll have to provide him with a few essential's if you want to see him thrive. He likes being looked after anyways; it reminds him of when he was little. 

- Either learning how to sew or buying him new clothes every week. He most likely tries to assure you that its fine but only having like 60 percent of a shirt doesn’t seem very fine to you.

- Cooking for him. Don’t worry if you’re a bad cook, Jason could literally eat dirt and find something good about it. He sets the table and offers to wash the dishes which is …quite the sight to see. 

- Catching him up on what’s been happening in the world. He died and was suddenly thrown into a whole new world so there’s certainly a few important things that he’s missed. 

- Getting bridal carried or literally held on his hip like a toddler. Tired after a walk through the woods? You’re immediately in his arms. Injured in the slightest? In his arms. Just want to be carried? Fine by him.

- You’ll never have to worry about struggling with something heavy ever again; this boy could pick up a house if he wanted to.

- Comparing hand sizes. He’s amazed at how small you are compared to him and how much softer your skin is. 

- Trailing behind him as he goes lumbering through the woods. He usually doesn’t really acknowledge your presence besides occasionally stopping to make sure you’re following or that you can catch up with his long strides; or physically stopping you so that you don’t get hurt on something. Having a companion is new to him but he does enjoy it.

- His mother taught him manners so while it may be a little funny seeing a hulking mass of a man gingerly knock before he enters your room or pull out your chair for you or wash his hands before dinner; it’s pretty commonplace for you.

- Campfires when it gets dark. 

- Tight yet careful hugs. 

- He’s enthralled by television. When he was little, him and his mother had a black and white tv with like three channels on it so seeing a full color tv amazes him. 

- Taking photos with him is kind of hilarious. You’ve certainly took a few over the years and while you have different poses or faces in each one, the only thing that changes about him is his clothes. He just stands or sits there stoically, his mask still on as you position yourself around him.

- What's better than cuddling with a big ass boy? He loves being able to cradle you in his arms and listen to the sound of your steady breathing. 

- Swaying together while listening to music. 

- You kissed his cheek the first time he showed you his face and he nearly cried. Emotionless killer Jason Voorhees isn’t nearly as emotionless as you think. 

- Jason; above all, wants to make you happy. He can’t stand the thought of you being upset or not having everything you’d like. He always tries his hardest to provide you with whatever he can to make your life better and happier. 

- He never really questions you. You’re just below his mother on people and things he should listen to. it may take you a few moments to truly convince him to do something but more often than not he’ll listen, unless he really doesn’t like the idea.

- Reassuring him that you really do love him. There’s no way he isn’t insecure after everything that he’s gone through so sometimes he just needs to hear you say it.

- There’s not many instances where he has the chance to get jealous but if there is one then I assure you: he gets jealous. Even so, he doesn’t quite understand the feeling. He just knows that you’re his and whoever it is that he’s jealous of better stay away. 

- He’s incredibly protective of you; overprotective to say the least. You’re everything to him and he’s not letting anything happen to you. 

- He tries to keep you as far away from his killing as he can. You’ll never see any bodies if he can help it.

- He feels nervous when letting you touch his machete yet... inexplicably turned on. Excuse him while he prays for himself.

- It’s sort of hard to fight with him but whenever he get’s mad, he’ll storm off and not return for a long time. He gives you the silent treatment for a little while but will ultimately forgive you fairly quickly. 

- He cant stand it if you’re angry with him; he’ll do whatever it takes to make things better. God forbid you get up to leave; he’ll physically stop you, pulling you into his arms and all but throwing you away from the door. He can’t exactly say he’s sorry so he’ll sink to his knees and hang his head in apology. 

- It’s definitely going to take a while for him to show you what he looks like without his mask on whether you already know or not. He still remembers what the other children at camp thought of him and he definitely doesn’t want you to be able to look at him for too long. 

- When he is comfortable enough to let you see, He’ll allow you to take it off while he sits incredibly still. It’s the ultimate show of trust for him so don’t think of it as nothing. 

- Obviously, he can’t speak so he conveys his love through his actions and perhaps the occasional sloppily written note. 

- Well he’s pretty much bound to live forever so expect a long and loving life with him. He’ll steal a ring from someone he comes across and; in both your eyes, you’ll be husband and wife. 

[thenamesblurrito]

i was going to answer this in an ask dump so i screenshotted and deleted it but the answer got.... long. SO HAVE IT AS ITS OWN POST INSTEAD.

this is one of the few times i regret having such well-established worldbuilding already because there is SO MUCH i could do with this, if only it didn't break some of what i've already established. underwater civilizations have such potential, especially in regards to outlier abilities and body modification/frame exchanging, which are absent in this story for very specific plot reasons. i think this would work excellently in canon and i wish we had stuff like this. it definitely exists in SNAP, for certain, but there are parts of SNAP worldbuilding that limit just how far i can go with it. i hope other people take this concept and run with it, it's so good anon.

for SNAP specifically...

there's three main bodies of liquid on Cybertron: the Rust Sea, the Sea of Ages, and the Mithric Sea. other seas are underground heavy gas seas, like the Argon Sea. most other liquid bodies are small, welling up from cracks in the ground as acid springs, or pitch and tar lakes (which is a real thing, google it!). the Rust Sea is actually more of a saltpan, with several spotty areas staying flooded with filthy liquid water all the time but the majority of it being seasonally wet/dry in turn. there isn't much that can survive submerged for long in this place, and even the dry flats can be fatal.

which leaves the Mithric Sea and Sea of Ages. the latter is the smallest, and kind of sacred, being a large but infertile hotspot of sentio metallico and also a natural wellspring of energon, definitely something people do Not just jump into, much less live in. the Mithric Sea is a giant blob of mercury and phosphoric acid. the weak syrupy acid floats on top of the mercury, and someone with the right seals like an aquatic frame or a spacefaring frame can enter it no problem, at least for a bit. this isn't actually bad for a mech, to be fair. as long as they're careful, exposure isn't the end of the world, and phosphoric acid is very handy in treating rust infections. the danger lies more in the deeper areas, below the acid and into the mercury. the vast majority of mecha have armor made of metal prone to amalgamization and embrittlement syndrome upon contact with mercury. there are occasions where medical procedures will use amalgamization to reshape and weaken the frame for self-repair systems to more easily restructure a wounded area, but free contact with mercury can still be dangerous.

all that said, there aren't really any livable bodies of liquid on Cybertron. HOWEVER. this is not the only planet!

Caminus has some liquid water, most of it underground. almost all the aboveground water is from geysers, and never deep/large enough to be a city, although they're certainly used as swimming holes. there are some flooded cave systems, not many, but some, that have been excavated and inhabited. Eukaris is a semi-organic planet, unique among all of Cybertron's territory, with a great deal more surface liquid than any other inhabited planet. their society has multiple thriving communities that are partially or fully submerged

again, this is only possible for people with the right seals. aquatic and vacuum-capable frames have them, and some flight frames, racing frames, beast frames, and tool frames have them, along with frames with amphibious alt modes. a mech without those seals would get liquid all up in their internals and, quite literally, flood their engine. not a pleasant thought. Hot Rod for example has a lot of open grills, exhaust pipes, and wide vents, he'd do very poorly if submerged.

[evolutionsvoid]

The flooded caverns and underground lakes are where the Aegleus resides, as its large size makes traversing the small chutes and streams difficult. Bodies of water that are expansive and deep are perfect for these beasts, as they need plenty of space to swim and find food. Their anatomy should obviously show that these are purely aquatic creatures, as they possess flippers and a streamlined form. Though they are not fast swimmers, they are quite graceful if you watch them! Their many paddles give them a wide range of movement, as they can use them to perform quick turns and spiraling dances. Combined with their long tail and serpentine neck, they can seem to slither through the water with ease! It is an enchanting sight to see! I got the chance to take a boat onto one of these deep lakes, as my guides knew this spot was a favorite for Aegleus. At first I worried about seeing anything in the dark waters, as the caverns were not artificially lit and there were no natural growing lightstones. Once we started paddling into the deeper sections, I found the answer to my question right below us! The waters were filled with tiny glowing creatures who lit up when the water was agitated. Each stroke of our oars sent swirls of starlight through the water, making such a simple task breathtaking and beautiful! I have seen stuff like this in the surface oceans, but the darkness and silence of the caverns made it even more impressive! I didn't think it could get any better until we spotted the Aegleus! They soared and danced through the waters below us, churning up storms of starlight. To see such a leviathan surrounded by swirling light! No painting or description could do such a sight justice! Though their appearance may be intimidating, there is little to fear with these creatures. Aegleus are filter feeders, using the curtains of baleen that hang from their heads to sieve out food. The swirling dances I saw that day was them feeding on the tiny critters that filled the waters. They use their graceful movements to snare any food bits that cross their path, the morsels getting caught in the straining hairs. This means that these beasts essentially feed themselves by swimming, though it isn't a short process! A creature of this size needs lots of food, so they must target nutrient rich areas to get a substantial and efficient meal. The glowing swarm is a good example of this, as the waters were packed with food that day! Aegleus will also use different tricks to snare a meal! With their long necks, they can reach places that other aquatic creatures cannot. Nearby pools and algae-rich shallows are often unreachable for a creature their size, but their necks allow them to stretch over these difficult areas. They can then just dip their baleen into these shallow places and get a whole load of food, all while their bodies remain in the deeper water. They can also use their necks to reach places that are above the water's surface. Waterfalls rain nutrients from the sky, their powerful currents sucking in small morsels and then spewing them out. Aegleus will raise their heads out of the water and place them vertically in the waterfall's shower. This allows them to catch any falling bits, as the water will strain itself as it rushes past! Quite ingenious! Just let the food fall into your mouth! This is another wonderful sight to experience, as you get a nice clear look at these feeding beasts. There was one massive fall that we passed by that had five of them feeding at once, and there were even more in the water! I had to ask how such a place could sustain so many Aegleus at once, as that calls for a lot of nutrients! Vespar told me that the river that formed this waterfall connected to several huge sources of food for tiny critters, thus the water was packed with them. The waterfall was essentially spewing a rich soup and the Aegleus gleefully ate it up. I found this explanation interesting, but a bit vague, so I asked for more details. Valac was all too happy to fill in the gaps. The river flowed far beneath a populated cavern, and it passed right below several waste chambers. There were apparently small streams and cracks that leaked the collected filth into the water, and the little critters loved it. So this gorgeous waterfall and rich habitat were essentially connected to a city's sewer system. Interesting. Well, the nutrients have to get recycled somehow! While these creatures are quite peaceful and calm, they are prepared to defend themselves if danger arises. Aquatic predators are one thing to worry about, and hunters from above are another! They protect themselves with thick armored plates, which also boast some nasty spikes! Their tails are covered in these, which turn them into powerful clubs! Like a hefty mace, they can swing this appendage around and crack a foe right in the noggin! Their other end is just as dangerous, as it ends in a sharp point. They can use their heads like lances, jabbing and spearing those who dare attack them. With a powerful thrust from their flippers, they can surge forth with great power and speed, impaling any who are in front of them. Those who float in boats or rafts must be careful not to earn the ire of these beasts, as their size and weaponry can easily capsize you! Tales of hunters being flung into the water as their craft is impaled upon the snout of an angry Aegleus are not uncommon, and they serve as a warning to those who wish to prey on them. Aegelus are indeed hunted, but this is not a widespread thing. There are many caverns and groups who view the Aegleus as familiars of Ostranel, and no one wants to anger the Keeper of Worlds! It must be their presence in nutrient-rich areas that give this impression, as where else would the emissaries of the Goddess of Life reside? Stories say that they carry messages down to her and this is how she watches her precious waters and keeps them thriving. If one were to hunt these beasts until they were gone from their waters, then Ostranel will be blind to this place. Since she cannot see them or check up on them, then the waters will be neglected and left to stagnate. The fish and creatures will vanish, leaving a sludgy lifeless pool for the greedy people. So though the Aegleus may be hunted in some regions, everyone is sure to keep their populations healthy, as they fear being abandoned by Ostranel and the misery such a thing will bring.   Chlora Myron Dryad Natural Historian ------------------------------------------------- Back down in the Underworld for another beastie! There is always room for one or three dozen more!

[tarcherdisney]

The African Tale

It was a hot summer afternoon in the driest part of the African plains near Mt. Kilimanjaro. The plants were dying, the grass grew very little, the sun was shining, and the sky was bright orange. The entire savanna was deserted. Not a reptile, bird, or mammal of any species was in sight. But then there were two.

An adult male lion named Leo was looking for a new place to live and was starting to get thirsty. He continued to stroll through the grasslands and stopped to take a drink from the lake. The lion bends his head over the water and licks it with his tongue.

He heard a deep thump that got his attention and lifted his head. He saw something big and grey behind the acacia trees in front of him. As Leo’s curiosity started to get the best of him, he jumped on the rocks that were sitting on the river and landed on the grass. The lion lumbered through the grass and slid through the acacia trees. In astonishment, Leo then spotted an adult male elephant breaking a tree branch as he was eating the leaves from it. Leo ran towards the elephant and said, “Uh, Excuse me. Hey, excuse me”.

The gentle giant turned his head around and gasped with surprise. “Hey, where is everybody?” the lion asked as he approached the elephant.

“I’m not particularly sure”, said the elephant in his baritone voice, “But all the other animals must have left a few days ago and I did hear one of them saying that they’re going to a valley”.

“A valley? Where?”

“Somewhere far away from here I guess.”

“You look so familiar to me. Do I know-,” he gasped with excitement. “Elmer!! My childhood friend!”

“Oh. Well if that’s my name then I might as well take it. And you are?”

Leo began to look confused with his eyebrows meeting at the top of his head. “E-Elmer, its me, Leo, don’t you remember, even a little?”

“I’m sorry Leo, if that is your name, but I couldn’t recall anything,” said Elmer with his trunk rubbing the left side of his head. “All I remembered was that I was running with a herd of elephants and then I accidently slid down a cliff of some kind and some bolder or rock hit me hard on the head as I fell. And after all the other animals left, I couldn’t remember anything else”.

“Well my name is Leo and your name is Elmer, got it?” Leo said firmly and assertively.

“Got it! I guess. Oh, and nice to meet you by the way” said Elmer as he shook Leo’s paw with his trunk.

“Ok,” said Leo, “Now, which way do we…” The ground started to shake and began to split apart. The landside split the two animals, separating them. Leo began to jump on the other side of the divide where Elmer was. Then the landslide began to grow up to 1 story high as they both jump on the other landslide on their right. The ground became unbalanced as their area started to split apart even further. “We’ve got to get out of here,” said Leo as he became frantic.

“Through there!” exclaimed Elmer, pointing his trunk to a cave in the distance.

“Are you sure?”

“I think so.” They both started to jump up and down landing on one landslide after another.

“I hope you know where you’re going with this”

As he tried to catch up with Elmer, Leo landed on the edge of the landslide with his claws attached to it. He struggled to reach the topside as he was sweating and the lava pit was at least 5 stories below him. At that moment, Elmer quickly stopped and turned around to where Leo was. “Grab on, buddy,” said Elmer as he stretched his trunk to reach Leo’s paw. And then, just when he was about to slip and fall, Leo grabbed the end part of Elmer’s trunk and was pulled up into the surface of the landslide. “I think its best to give you a ride,” Elmer said as he kneeled on his front knee. “Yeah no kidding,” said Leo as he quickly climbed to the top of his back. The landslide where Elmer was standing on began to fall forward as he jumped on another one until he finally landed at the area that was close the cave. He galloped as fast as he could, the ground behind him was falling apart, and when he jumped inside the cave, the boulders behind him were blocking the entrance.

Afterwards, the earth became still again. Leo jumped from Elmer’s back as they breathed in and out with relief. “Are you ok?” Elmer asked while panting.

“Yeah, I’m fine. And that was the biggest earthquake I’ve ever seen! What’s going on here?”

“Just by the looks of that disaster, I couldn’t put my trunk on it. But I’m assuming that it’s probably the first sign of the end of the world.”

“The End of The World?”

“Hey, it’s just my assumption. It’s not like I can predict anything.” Leo felt emotionally unstable when he started to realize that their world was coming to an end as the volume of his voice started from low to loud.

“Oh, so your ‘assuming’ that it’s the end of the world since there’s very little food left, the whole savannah is turning into a drought, we got nowhere to go, all of our families are missing, we’re the only two animals left behind on this God-forsaken planet and then the next thing you know we’ll be caught by some… huge ginormous flood!”

Suddenly, they heard a huge thump-like crack in the distance and turned their heads to the right. “Uh, Leo” said Elmer, looking as though he was nervous about what would happen next. At five steps ahead of them, a huge roar of moving water was coming right in their direction.

As it came in faster and faster, Leo shouted, “RUN!!!” So they did. As the two animals kept running towards the end of the other tunnel, another exit was being blocked. Leo tried to get the rocks out the tunnel and Elmer tried to push them with his head.

But when the flood came 4 steps closer, Elmer said nervously “Pleo, I mean Leo, right, is that your name?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Climb on my back,” Elmer said directly as he kneeled on his knee.

“Why?”

“Just trust me,” Elmer answered as he took two steps back for a short second and then successfully broke through the wall and fell down into the riverbank.

The two animals immediately walked out of the riverbank as Leo shook his body to get the water off of his fur and his mane until it was dry. “Thanks for that,” said Leo. “Now where are we”?

“That’s strange, I don’t recall if this jungle was ever deserted before.”

And then, Leo slowly looked down at the ground with astonishment and surprise and saw something that finally caught his eye. “They…they were here.”

“What?”

“Look at these tracks. These animals are all in just one group leading to straight into that Jungle. A-And here, it even has the paw prints of my kind as well as your kind. This could be our first clue.”

“Or the path that would lead us straight to the valley,” Elmer added as he smelled the paw prints with his trunk. “I don’t know that’s just my second guess.”

Leo became exhilarated. “Elmer, this is it! This is where we’re going to see our family again! We’re finally going to get home!”

“Well in that case, lead the way. Speaking of which, I never actually knew I had a family before.”

“We’ll find a way to get your memories back,” Leo said as they walked straight into the deserted jungle.

The sky was then darkened with grey storm clouds, as there were rumbles of thunder. Leo was walking on a horizontal tree branch and Elmer was walking through the bushes. The elephant started to look around and said, “This all seems… very familiar. And I can’t even remember why.”

“You know this jungle?”

“Again, I don’t recall. It must have been something bad about it, but I just can’t remember what it was.”

Suddenly, a lightning bolt struck the tallest tree of the jungle and the tree started to burn. “It must be that, right,” said Leo

“Yeah, I think so. Hop on.”

As soon as Leo jumped on Elmer’s back, the fire began to spread. Elmer started to gallop but the fire was closing in on him. They found a pathway out, but a burning tree branch suddenly blocked it. Elmer began to stand on his two feet, kicking his front feet in the air, and tooted his trumpet loudly until he came down on his four feet. Leo began to roar furiously as a call for help, but no one answered. The fire cornered the two animals and Leo said with medium anxiety

“Don’t panic, don’t panic.” The lion started to look around and saw another pathway through the jungle behind them.

“Through there!” Leo cried.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m positive.”

So then Elmer turned around and rushed towards the exit with a fallen tree branch in the way. As he kept going faster and faster, Elmer quickly said, “Leo, I’m not sure jumping over that tree branch is such a good idea.” Leo was leaning over to his ear, looking at him straight in the eye and said with inspiration, “Elmer, you must… believe!” The elephant came at a close stop near the branch and jumped over it without a single scratch and ran straight towards the exit.

“Yes!” shouted Leo with excitement, “I knew you could do it!” Then a giant burning tree started to fall on them and they ran right past it as few more burning trees started to fall. As they made their escape out of the burning jungle, the two animals reached to the edge of the cliff where the river was below them. “Aw, seriously?” cried Leo. They both turned around to see the trees knocking down each other toward their direction. With no other choice, the two animals jumped off the edge of the cliff and all the rocks and branches fell along with them. Then one big tree branch knocked Elmer on the head as Leo fell off from the elephant’s back and into the river.

Leo backed away from all the rocks and branches that were also in the water and swam up to the surface where he grabbed on to a branch that was floating. He coughed and called out Elmer’s name twice until he quickly turned around and gasped, seeing the upper part of Elmer’s body on the branch and slowly sinking right into the water. Rapidly, Leo dived in the water and grabbed hold of Elmer’s neck with all his might and reached up to the surface dragging the elephant to the shallow part of the river. As he got closer and closer to the land, the entire sky started to rain.

“We did it” Leo said, “We survived.” He got close to Elmer’s body, grabbed his foot, and he couldn’t feel a pulse. “Elmer, are you there, buddy?” He pulled his huge flappy ear with his mouth, getting his attention to move, but he wasn’t moving. Leo felt devastated and his eyes started to water. “Oh no. Oh no, no, no.” Leo said as he started to doubt himself “oh, I’m so sorry buddy. This is all my fault. If I had fallowed my instincts in the first place, we wouldn’t be in this mess. All I wanted to do is to see my best friend in the whole savanna again.” He started to sniff. “You were my only friend during my childhood and you were still my friend even if you lost your memory. I just wish you would come back to me now.”

Leo put his paw on his eyes as he started to sob quietly, then Elmer slowly got up on his four legs and opened his eyes. “Hey, Leo.”

“Yeah.”

“Remember the time you saved me from that quicksand when we were kids?”

Leo smiled as he rubbed off his tears with amazement. “Elmer, you’re back!” The two animals hugged each other with relief and contentment.

“I know, I missed you too bud. Oh, and I think I found a way to reach the valley.”

“How?”

The elephant pointed his trunk to the top of a cliff that was right in front of them. “That’s impossible” Leo said, “How are we going to get there”? Elmer knocked down a giant tree with his front feet, Leo climbed on the top of his back, and they walked straight up to the cliff.

As they kept walking and reach to the top part of the cliff, the wind was gusting through their faces and the entire land was covered in fog.

“Maybe this isn’t the place,” said Leo.

“This has to be. After all, I got my memory back.”

“Well then lets see if you’re right.”

The wind blew harder and harder with the fog flowing along with it. The fog suddenly cleared as the sun was shinning brightly showing the entire valley and all the animals that lived there. “There it is,” said Leo as he stared directly at the valley. “We made it! We made it! I knew I had it in you!”

“I couldn’t have done it without you, Leo.” Said Elmer as he walked down towards the valley. “And look, our family is down there”.

“Its good to have you back, buddy”.

“Yes, Its good to be back”. The two animals finally became reunited with their families and they eventually found mates as well.

[purplesurveys]

1018

When was the last time you were in pain? Did you take a painkiller? Last Saturday when I stubbed my toe and it made my nailbed bleed. Nah, I just dabbed tissue on it and covered it up a Band-Aid. It didn’t really need one, but I placed one anyway so that I didn’t have to see the cut.

What was the last question that someone else asked you? I was showing my mom some photos of the typhoon’s aftermath in our city and she was asking me where exactly one of the photos was taken. It’s honestly so bad over here rn and I feel kinda guilty for taking surveys when so much of the city still has chest-deep flood...but this is the one thing keeping me from going insane while we still don’t have electricity and internet at home, so.

Do you recall what you were doing last time 7pm came around? Wrapping up work, watching the newest episode of Good Mythical Morning, and was also probably looking for a survey to answer.

What was the last thing you consumed, that tasted sweet? Churros with chocolate dip.

Do you know who Mr Blobby is, or have you ever heard of him? I have never heard of it. Them? Him?

Have you ever befriended someone named Tom? What is/was he like? I don’t think so. I’ve never heard of a Tom where I live. I know Tims though, lol.

Does your father have any hobbies? What are they? He loves cars and motorcycles, and I also always catch him watching compilations of dumb vehicular accidents. He’s also into the latest gadgets and I know he’s been wanting a drone for ages now.

Name a food you enjoy, that starts with the same letter as your surname. Curry. :)

What did the last face mask you wore look like? I always wear those thin plain blue disposable ones because they are light and breathable. < Yeah, same. My mom buys boxes of these all the time so this kind is my only choice, really. I never minded it though.

Do you enjoy any songs by The Pet Shop Boys? The name is familiar and I probably know one or two songs of theirs that I enjoy, but I just can’t place any at the moment.

Is there a specific song that you always request at parties? What is it? Eh, not really. I let other people take over the music. Sometimes my friends will request Paramore for me hehehehe and it’s always nice when everyone ends up enjoying whatever song by them is played. But I’m personally often too shy myself to do the requesting because I’m scared it’ll turn out to be a flop. 

Have you ever read 'The Railway Children?' Did you like it? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that.

What was the last thing someone said or did, that made you chuckle? So we have a card game at home wherein each card has a certain category and the game is simply a race to come up with an example under that category. So for example if the game master pulls out a card that says ‘fruit,’ you wanna be the first person to yell apple or orange or something. Anyway, my family pulled it out again because of the current power outage, and while we were playing earlier my mom excitedly yelled “CEREAL” when the category was “breakfast cereal.” All of us died laughing.

Have you ever met anyone named Joyce? What is/was she like? I know multiple people whose second name is Joyce, but I dunno anyone who has that as their main name or preferred nickname.

Who was the last relative you visited? My grandma. Needed to pick up the box of revel bars that my uncle had made for my mom.

Does anyone close to you have blue eyes? Nah, especially not in this part of the world. Who was the last person you messaged on social media? Andrew. He was simply checking up on me because our city is one of the hardest-hit areas of the typhoon so far.

^ Do you know when their birthday is? June or July 20something...I can’t remember at the moment.

Is there anyone you love, whose name starts with H? Hmm Hannah is a good friend of mine, and I guess I can say I love her, sure.

Do you own a hairdryer? What color is it? Yeah, pink. I’ve since given it to my sister since she needed a hairdryer in her dorm, but it was originally a gift for me.

What CDs do you have in your car, if any? I don’t keep CDs in my car anymore. If I wanted to listen to my music, I just link my Spotify to the stereo via Bluetooth.

One hour from now, what time will it be? 4:35 PM.

{found @ pinkchocolate}

--

When you woke up today, did you find unread messages from anyone? Yeah, because I still talk to my ex like a dumbass. Did the last message you received contain any emojis? No, Angela didn’t use any. Have you recently told anyone that you miss them? Yeah, I said it to Hans today because he messaged me for the first time since my birthday this year. Are you wearing a scrunchie in your hair today? What color? Not right now. I used my hairtie to tie up the bag of chips I wasn’t able to finish earlier, so unless I finish that up soon I won’t be able to tie my hair up in a ponytail for a while haha. Have you sent or received any friend requests on Facebook lately? Yuh, the people I interned with - Angel, Justine, and Bianca - added me on there recently. My cousin Maggie also made an account and added me. Can you recall the last time you turned down an offer, of any kind? My mom offered me the last churro earlier because she knows I love them, but I didn’t feel like eating anymore so I let her have it. What was the last film that you saw for the first time? I’m Thinking of Ending Things. ^ Did you enjoy it? I had a hard time with it, especially with the last 20 or so minutes; and it was the first time I found myself struggling with a Charlie Kaufman work. I wouldn’t say I didn’t enjoy it, though. I guess I just found it a little too complex, and films that make me THINK think are generally a hit-or-miss for me. Which swear word did you utter most recently? Probably fuck or a local swear word. ^ Was it because you were annoyed in some way? A little bit, yeah. My phone’s adapter was missing for a few moments. Do you ever find the smell of your pets’ food unpleasant? No. We feed them the same things we eat, so it would be kind of odd to call that unpleasant. When was the last time you reheated leftovers? Tuesday. It was a burger I failed to finish over the weekend. What was the last thing you ate, that was from a bakery? Can’t even remember the last time we ordered from a bakeshop...a pandesal is my best guess, but I can barely remember the last time I had one of those. Which fruit would you say you eat the most often? Haaaaaaaaaaaa. Is there a lake close to where you live? Nope. There’s a river, though. What was the last song you recall singing along to? Broken-Hearted Girl by Beyoncé. Have you uploaded any photos to social media today? Of what? No. Literally everyone has been posting photos of their flooded houses and neighborhoods all day, and it’d be insensitive to post pics of my otherwise (fortunately) normal and relatively unaffected neighborhood or some other type of photo. Are you in the process of reading a book? Which one? Nope.  ^ Are you enjoying it? - How recently did you charge the battery on your mobile phone? This morning, but I had to charge from my car because no electricity. I have to do it again, actually – my phone’s barely hanging on at 9%. Is there anyone you interact with every day, on social media? Yeah, my co-workers. In my new job, I’ll have to communicate with Ysa, Bea, and Steffi the most as I was placed in their team. What do you typically do to unwind at the end of the day? Watching the new episode of Good Mythical Morning and GMMore. Sometimes I’ll watch some wrestling too.

{found @ pinkchocolate}

--

Has anything fallen out of your pocket at any time recently? My vape pen. Luckily I was in my room because I would’ve been a dead daughter if it fell out in front of my parents. Do you have any books that you plan to read sometime soon? Yeah. I plan to resume Midnight Sun one of these days. It’s just a little hard at the moment because I first got it and read it during a rough phase two months ago...opening the book just brings back the memories. It’ll be a while before I’m able to dissociate from those thoughts and enjoy the book. Did anything disturb your sleep at all last night? Yes, the typhoon. The wind was loud enough to wake me up. The electricity also went out a little after midnight, so that also made it hard to fall back asleep. What kind(s) of Facebook groups are you active in, if any? Too many, but I deactivated Facebook again so it doesn’t matter. Do you enjoy any films with Judi Dench in them? Which ones? I respect her contributions as an actress but I’m generally not a fan of the films in her repertoire, so I haven’t seen any of them. I do remember wanting to check out The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, but I just never got around to it. Do you enjoy any herbal or fruit teas? What kinds? No, I don’t like tea. Are you currently wearing anything grey? Yeah, my current shirt is gray. Nice timing :) Name any object in your household that is purple. The pen on my work desk is purple. I also have a purple highlighter that I used while still in college. What was the last food item that you used your hands to eat? Churros. Have you seen anyone today that you consider to be attractive? Nope, I’ve only seen my family and even though I wouldn’t call them ugly, I don’t find them attractive in ~that way either. Do you recall what you were doing at 9:30 this morning? Trying to take a survey before realizing I wouldn’t be able to finish it because I felt a breakdown coming through. Do you use a moisturizer? What brand? No. My skin doesn’t really require lots of maintenance, so I’ve left it be for the most part. Do you currently own or use any toiletries with a fruity scent? I don’t think so. My shampoo has that original scent that just smells like...shampoo, I guess, my conditioner smells like milk, and my toothpaste is minty rather than fruity. Does anyone close to you have a beard? Dad, but he shaves it off all the time. The last time you were in your kitchen, what task(s) did you carry out? I made myself coffee. Name some pop groups that you loved as a child. Wasn’t into any as a child, but as a teenager I liked One Direction. Ok fine, as an adult too heheh Do you recall the first CD you ever owned? The High School Musical soundtrack lol Have you ever worked with anyone named Sophie? What was she like? I went to school with multiple Sophies but I never had to work with them. What terms of endearment do you mostly use when speaking to others? I use “b” or “bb” with nearly everyone, as long as it’s appropriate. Is anyone in your family currently pregnant? No. I used to think I was next, but I think I’ll be waiting a lot longer now. I don’t even know if it would still happen to me...which is sad, because I’ve always wanted a kid of my own. Do you have any specific plans for this weekend? If the typhoon subsides by this week I’ll be expecting my cross-stitch kit that I ordered online, and I can’t wait to start learning all weekend. {found @ pinkchocolate}

[ethereousdelirious]

Okay, here’s that thing I wrote. Since it’s an original thing, I will also put some context under the cut haha

This was originally supposed to be classic whump but my brain was like “no. fevers and puking.” and who am I to deny whatever impulse crosses my tiny little mind

Context: I was possessed by a writing demon and wrote fanfic/a potential ending for my (unfinished) NaNoWriMo 2019 story. (I still have no idea if it counts as fanfic if I’m the creator of the source material haha)

Setting: A fictional steampunk universe. 2 neighboring nations are locked in an intense cold war. Our story takes place in Agria, one of the countries. The Agrian government has just sent agents to covertly steal a design for the first-ever aeroplane, which they will then develop into a weapon, allowing them to conquer much of the surrounding area and start a war.

Cast:

Gilles: Mid-twenties, Black man. Dark skin, dark hair kept in dreadlocks. As this fic begins, Gilles has just stolen the only aeroplane the government has managed to design and crashed it into a lake to prevent them from manufacturing more and starting a war.

Whitney: 60s, Black woman. Dark skin, white hair kept in an afro. She is Gilles’ mentor and the person who invented aeroplanes (in this universe). She has been waiting at her home to see if he survives.

Sterling: Mid-twenties, mixed race man. Medium brown skin, black hair grown out long into a ponytail. He helped Gilles break into the facility and destroyed the government’s blueprints so they couldn’t build more aeroplanes.

Hewitt: Mid-twenties, white man. Pale skin, blond hair kept in wild, unruly curls. He helped Gilles break into the facility and destroyed the government’s blueprints so they couldn’t build more aeroplanes. 

One Final Note: I wrote this on my phone and did not have time to proof read it. I am not looking for a beta reader at the moment. Please excuse any minor typos.

The Story, finally:

Soaking wet, aching all over, and with blood dripping down his forehead, Gilles walked. Pain became the frame by which he viewed the universe as the moon rose and he continued to stagger down the hiking trail, forcing himself to pick up his feet so he didn't stumble over the uneven ground.

He dried slowly, his fingers and toes aching with the cold. Eventually, he wrapped his arms around himself and shoved his hands into his armpits. Wind rustled the leaves on the trees and made him shiver, but he kept walking, his breath loud in his ears.

Dimly, he knew he needed to make some sort of plan, but the inside of his head was radio static and impulses, little fragments of imperative.

Get to Whitney. Don't get caught. Don't pass out. Keep walking.

A sigh of relief passed his lips when the trail evened out and he emerged into the park. It was abandoned but for the fowl asleep on the edges of the pond. They barely stirred as Gilles staggered past.

He made sure no one got a good look at him when he hit the main street. The only people out at this hour were drunkards and the people serving them. Gilles resisted the urge to hail a carriage and continued to stagger down the road. The last thing he wanted was to walk the 8 miles to Whitney's house, but she was his alibi and walking was better than imprisonment.

So he walked.

At this point, every part of his body hurt so uniformly that he could almost tune it out, just keeping himself anchored on his final destination.

The lights were on at Whitney's house and the driveway was empty of vehicles. Gilles accepted this with relief, though he did try to keep an eye out for other potential signs that anything was amiss. Surely if the government suspected her of the crime, her estate would be in uproar. This had to be a good sign.

He reached the door and knocked, leaning heavily against the porch railing.

To his surprise, it was Sterling who answered, looking haggard and slightly ill.

"Gilles!" he said, and all the tension seemed to go out of his body with that one simple word. "You're alive!"

"I'm…" Gilles rasped. His head was spinning too badly to think straight. "I need…"

"Come in, come in, we'll take care of you." Sterling steered him inside, locking the door behind him, and sat him down on the couch.

Whitney and Hewitt were seated in overstuffed armchairs and leapt to their feet with joyous exclamations that Gilles was too exhausted to acknowledge. He slumped back against the couch cushions breathing shallowly, his eyes only half open.

Moments later, a glass of water was pressed into his hand. Gilles leaned forward and drank it down gratefully, only to immediately be presented with another. He took a few more cautious swallows, not wanting to make himself sick. Too tired to hold himself up, he leaned forward and braced his elbows on his knees.

"Where are you hurt?" Whitney asked, sitting down beside him. 

"I don't know," Gilles said. For the sake of cooperating, he tried to think. Dimly, he noticed he was shaking badly enough that he was sloshing water out of his glass.

Almost as soon as the thought crossed his mind, Hewitt appeared at his other side with a throw blanket. "Here," he said, wrapping it carefully around Gilles' shoulders. "Sterling is making tea."

"Thanks." Gilles took another sip of water and tried to assess himself. "I don't think I'm hurt much. I landed in the water and there wasn't really anything to crash into. I hit my head on the dashboard and I think I have whiplash, but other than that…" He shrugged and winced at the pain that shot up his neck.

"You're going to be sore tomorrow," Whitney said. She rubbed a hand over his knee. "Did anyone see you?"

Sterling entered with the tea and Gilles gratefully accepted a cup. "Nobody saw me," he said. "Not up close, anyway. I was in the air before the housekeeper was even halfway across the lawn." He drank some of the tea, a light chamomile. Warmth flooded his body and rushed into his cheeks like a blush. He shrugged the blanket off his shoulders and shifted in sudden, added discomfort at the heat.

"What about you? How did you get out?"

Sterling and Hewitt exchanged a glance before Hewitt decided to take up the burden of explaining.

"Well, you were a pretty good distraction once the plane was in the air. We were going to run for it, but Sterling wanted to go back in the house. We were able to go straight in the front door."

"Why did you go back in?" Gilles demanded. His temples throbbed and there was an odd tickling sensation crawling up his chest and down his stomach. He gave a shallow sigh.

"I cut their main phone line," Sterling said with just a hint of a smile. "To delay their ability to call the authorities and hopefully give you an opening to get back into town if you, um. Survived."

"Oh," Gilles said. His whole body was hot now and his breath was shallow, frantic. Reality was graying at the edges.

"Are you okay?" Hewitt asked. "You don't look--"

Almost before he realized what was happening, Gilles bent double and vomited straight onto the hardwood floor. Tea poured out of the teacup and spattered across the toe of his shoe, but he was too distracted to do anything about it. His abdominal muscles contracted violently and he vomited up another thin stream of water and bile. Someone took the teacup from his hands and he tried to swipe his locs out of his face but his hands shook too badly and his body refused to stop dry heaving even though there was nothing left to vomit up. Tears were streaming from his eyes now as he continued to gag helplessly between his legs.

At the edges of his consciousness, he was aware of panicked voices and a gentle hand on his back.

"Shit, he's burning up."

"Gilles, honey, can you try to relax?"

Gilles took a deep, shaky breath and sat back. He was still hopelessly nauseated, wary of opening his mouth or putting his abdomen under too much strain, and he wrapped his arms around his middle like a shield. 

"Do you want some water?" Hewitt asked.

Gilles shook his head. "S-sorry. I can clean that up."

"I'm taking care of it." Sterling reappeared from the doorway to the kitchen, arms full of rags. "You just lay back and try to relax. We need to take a look at that head injury."

"A concussion wouldn't cause a fever," Hewitt argued, his voice a touch more shrill than usual.

"It doesn't hurt to be thorough."

Whitney's return to the room was preceded by the sound of her footfalls on the stairs. She shooed Hewitt out of the way and sat down next to Gilles, placing a stained, industrial-grade plastic bucket in his lap. "Can I take your temperature?"

Gilles nodded and opened his mouth to accept the thermometer. The mercury began to climb up the glass and Gilles' stomach did an unsteady flip.

He tried to swallow back the sharp salt tang in his mouth and only succeeded in jostling the thermometer a bit.

"Try to sit still," Whitney said gently.

Gilles nodded his understanding, clenching his hand in the damp fabric of his shirt, trying to will his stomach to settle down.

The mercury continued to rise and Gilles went cross eyed trying to watch it, hoping it would finish before the mounting pressure in his stomach became too much to bear. The cold weight of inevitability weighed down on his belly and made him shudder.

At his feet, Sterling gave his leg an affectionate stroke and straightened up, carrying away the dirtied rags and water basin with him. Another wave of nausea lapped at the back of Gilles' throat and he swallowed with difficulty, again jostling the thermometer in his mouth.

He caught Whitney's eye and tapped the waterlogged watch on his wrist.

"2 minutes to go," she said, catching his meaning.

Gilles nodded his thanks and went back to staring at the opposing wall, willing the nausea down. It wasn't working. The illusion of control was rapidly slipping away and it was Gilles could do to hold on. He was shaking all over now and his mouth was starting to flood with saliva that he couldn't swallow down around the thermometer under his tongue.

It reached a point where Gilles couldn't take it any more. He tore the thermometer from his mouth and pitched forward, retching.

He spat stomach acid into the bucket and let his head hang. His stomach was starting to cramp up, his abs protesting the work.

When he resurfaced, Whitney was there to slip the thermometer back between his lips.

"I'm sorry," she said, smoothing a few errant locs out of his face.

Gilles just nodded and accepted the thermometer, letting his head rest on Whitney's shoulder. Hewitt came over and sat by his other side So he could hold Gilles' hand.

"You're pretty sick, huh?" 

"Mmph," was all Gilles could manage.

"What happened?"

"His system was probably already fighting off a bug." Sterling's voice came from the other side of the room. "Crash landing in a lake and walking all the way here was probably enough of a stress on his body to let the virus get the upper hand."

"Oh." Hewitt gave Gilles' hand a light squeeze. "Don't worry; we'll take care of you."

Unable to say anything, Gilles squeezed Hewitt's hand back.

They sat in silence until Whitney leaned over to pull the thermometer out of Gilles' mouth.

"103," she announced to the room.

Gilles, half asleep against her shoulder, barely stirred. That did explain how awful he felt.

"Bed?" he managed, his voice barely more than a piteous whine.

"One last thing," Sterling said. "Can you open your eyes for me?"

Gilles did, though it made pain drum fiercely behind his forehead. Sterling shined a light in his eyes and disinfected the cut on his forehead.

"Alright," he said once he'd finished his examination. "Let's get you to bed."

"I have a room in the back," Whitney said. "I'll show you."

"Up we go." Sterling draped one of Gilles' arms over his shoulders and helped him stand. Every muscle in Gilles' body screamed in protest, but he let Sterling help him to his feet and down the hall.

They were almost to the bedroom when Gilles' vision started to tunnel. His knees started to buckle and he swayed into Sterling.

"Easy, easy." Sterling started to lower him to the ground. Gilles' awareness faded out.

"You're sure we shouldn't call an ambulance?" Sterling again.

"I don't know. I'm worried about calling too much attention to us."

Gilles stirred, not bothering to open his eyes. He was in bed now and felt marginally better. Evidently someone had stripped him down to his underwear, because he could feel the soft cotton on his chest. He gave a sigh of not-quite-contentment and shifted slightly.

"Just wanna sleep," he begged.

"We'll let you rest," Whitney said. "Hewitt can keep first watch."

It took a while for the meaning of the words to permeate  the fever heat boiling Gilles' brain. He was in darkness now but if he listened closely, he could hear Hewitt's light breathing.

He lay there a bit longer. The night's events kept playing back through his mind in fragments. He was quite sure no one had seen him, which was a relief. But the plane… He hadn't flown to very far; he'd been able to make the journey on foot before the night was over.

Was it enough? At the time, crash-landing in a lake had seemed like the surest guarantee, but what if they were able to dredge it up? Or drain the lake? It wasn't enough. He had to go back. If he dived down enough times, he could dismantle it piece by piece, steal parts of it, make it completely unsalvageable.

Gilles sat up and tore the covers off. He had to go.

"Whoa!" Hewitt was by his side in an instant, hands on his chest. "What's wrong? Are you going to be sick again? There's a bucket over--"

"No, no." Gilles was frantic, he didn't have time. "I have to go back, it wasn't enough--" He tried to get up, but Hewitt was still holding him fast by the shoulders.

"What are you talking about?"

"The plane! I didn't, it's not-- Hewitt, please let go of me!"

"Lie back," Hewitt pleaded. "Your fever isn't going to get any better if you don't rest."

"I can't rest yet, I'm not done."

"You're done." Hewitt's voice was surprisingly forceful. "I'm going to get something to cool you down. Do you trust me?"

"Yes."

"Then stay here. Okay?"

"Okay."

Hewitt left and clouds formed just below the ceiling. Gilles watched them float by, forming shapes of animals and objects. It must have been another ingenious invention of Whitney's, a little machine to make clouds appear indoors. They took on the shape of a train and the engine puffed out even smaller steam clouds that took on still more shapes.

Then Hewitt was back and it all disappeared.

"Thank you for staying put," he said, leaning over so he could drape a damp cloth over Gilles' forehead. "Sterling would have killed me if I'd let anything bad happen to you." He adjusted the cloth a little and fussed over the placement of the covers on Gilles' chest. "Will you sleep now?"

"Yes," Gilles said. He closed his eyes, his brain still whirring with frantic activity.

[blue-maiden4]

Til we Meet Again (Leon x Reader)

My brain demanded some angst to be written and so I did. (This turned out longer than expected, so I’m putting it under the cut)

I gave myself feels while writing this thing, jeez was I feeling depressed when I wrote this or what?

-Saying goodbye is never an easy thing to do, but when you’re leaving behind the people that are so important to you, it just makes it worse-

                     _____________________________________

‘We’re moving to Hoenn’

That single sentence had been ringing in your head for some hours. You still didn’t understand why your parents thought moving to a different region a good idea in the first place, you already have a happy life here in Galar, why should you leave everything and everyone behind, when you didn’t even agreed to this?

You have been roaming in the Wild Area for hours, trying to clear your head and ease the pain that was in your heart. How were you going to tell your friends that you were leaving?

How could you say goodbye to Leon, the person that you hold so close to your heart and that makes your heart skip a beat everytime you see him?

Eventually you went to Motostoke to spend the night at the Budew Inn, a good night’s sleep might help on clearing your thoughts, you really didn’t feel like interacting with people at this moment, but luck wasn’t on your side today, as you run into to Hop and Sonia.

“Oh, (Y/N)! Nice to see you here!” Hop grinned.

“Funny thing that we ran into each other, huh?” Sonia said.

God, why of all the people you could have run into it had to be your closest friends in the whole world.

You tried your best to hold a soft smile, but the thoughts of you leaving them behind started coming, without any warning, tears were rolling down your face. Sonia and Hop got worried and immediately went by your side and asked you what’s wrong.

You were unable to answer due to your crying, so they simply accompanied you inside the hotel, so you could talk in a more private space.

Once the three of you were in a room, Sonia and Hop tried their best to calm you down. After a few minutes, you finally stopped crying.

“(Y/N), What’s wrong? Did something bad happened?” Sonia asked. 

This wasn’t going to be an easy thing to explain.

“Sorry...It’s just...I’m leaving Galar” you wiped with your hand a tear that was coming out from your face.

“That’s all? That doesn’t sound so bad” Hop innocently said, but then the small smile in his face faded as something crossed his mind “You will be coming back, right?”

“No. I’m going away permanently” you tried to hold back the tears that were starting to form in your eyes.

“What…? But why? You have such a good life here! It doesn’t make sense!” Sonia exclaimed.

“It wasn’t my decision to make….” you started explaining how you parents took the ‘brilliant’ decision of moving to Hoenn, all because they think this would give them a chance to have a better life, and how they took the decision without even asking for your opinion on the matter, and you hated them for that.

Hop and Sonia only remained silent, their faces reflecting the sadness they were feeling at that moment.

“Well, if you don’t want to leave, you could come and live at my house!” Hop declared “Lee, rarely comes home, so you could stay in his room!” 

“I appreciate the offer, but my parents wouldn’t allow it….” You sniffed, this whole situation was hard to handle.

“Have you told anyone else about it?” Sonia asked, you nodded your head in denial.

“When are you leaving? At least, we want to say goodbye to you before you leave”

“The day after tomorrow. We’re taking a flight to Hoenn at midday” 

You, Hop and Sonia, spend the night together, despite telling them that they didn’t have to stay with you, they said that they weren’t going to leave you all on your own. Deep down you thanked them, the last thing you wanted to do was being alone right now.

The next day, you helped your parents pack everything up.Your parents were going to take care of the living room, so they told you to put all the stuff of your room in boxes, you only kept silent and directed a cold stare to them, even though they kept telling you this was for the best, that didn’t changed the fact that they made such a life changing decision without consulting it with you too, you were an important part of the family too, shouldn’t you have a voice in this kind of stuff as well?

You grabbed a box and headed upstairs, you took a look around the room, checking everything that was around. There were so many things that brought back lots of sweet memories, mostly about the good times you had with Sonia, Hop and Leon.

You started placing everything inside the boxes, very carefully so nothing would end up breaking. You continued like that for at least an hour, most of the room was already empty, al that was left to put away were a bunch of photos that were over your desk and poster of Leon that hung up on the wall beside your bed.

A thought crossed through your mind in that moment: How were you going to tell Leon you were leaving?

The mere thought of never seeing him again made your heart heavy. Not only were you leaving an old friend behind, but the man that you had been in love with for a long time.

Leon didn’t knew about you feelings for him, no, you decided to keep that to yourself, afraid that it would end up ruining your friendship.

Maybe this whole thing was for the better, if you were living in a different region, you could probably get over your crush for him, and that way you would never experience the feeling of a heartbreak due to a possible rejection....

Even if it seemed like a good thing, deep down, you didn’t wanted that to happen, and even if you tried hard to push those feelings away, it wouldn’t work, you will always have him in your mind, and how could you not? Leon is such a kind and caring person, who has always been by your side when you most needed and gave you comfort when you felt sad.

Memories of the two of you being together started flooding your mind: the day you two met and how he helped you catch you first Pokemon, how he comforted you by embracing you in his arms when you felt like you messed everything up, the times when he made you laugh with his dumb jokes, the days when you would simply contemplate the sunset next to each other.

Tears started rolling through your face, as you placed a hand in your chest. You still had to finish packing, so you put all of your effort in holding back you sadness and kept going.

That night you couldn’t sleep, you still had to tell Leon about your parting before that day comes, but how could you do that, when the whole idea makes you fall apart and makes you sad?

‘I wonder if he’s still up…’ you grabbed your phone and sent a message to Leon.

-Hey Leon, you still up?-

You waited for a response, and in almost instantly he answered back.

-Yeah. You need something?-

You thought carefully what you wanted to say, at first you thought of giving him the news this way, but it felt wrong.

-There’s something important I have to tell you. Can we meet up somewhere tomorrow? I want to tell you in person-

-Sure. How about we meet in Hammerlocke city at 10 o'clock?-

-Okay. Tomorrow at ten in Hammerlocke city. Please try not to get lost in the way-

Well, there’s no turning back now.

The next day, you and Leon meet up at Hammerlocke city at the accorded hour.

You two greeted each other with a hug as you always do. 

Leon went straight up to the point and asked what was that important thing you wanted to tell him last night. You grabbed his hand and led him out of the city into the Wild Area so you two could have some privacy.

You two stopped near the Lake of Outrage.

“Okay...mind telling me what’s going on now?”

“I….” it was hard to get out the words out of your mouth without your voice sounding so broken “I’m leaving Galar” Leon’s eyes widened.

“You’re joking, right? You are just saying that to mess up with me” he sputtered. But when he saw that the look in your face was serious he knew that this wasn’t a joke. 

“Wait, for real?” he said in disbelief. “But, how, when, where?” He was so confused, why where you suddenly leaving the region, he thought you were happy here in Galar.

“It wasn’t my choice to make, Ok!” you didn’t meant to sound so harsh but your emotions were starting to get the best of you. “My parents suddenly decided that it would be a good idea to move to Hoenn” you felt tears starting to form in your eyes, but tried the best you could to hold them back.

“When are you leaving?” 

“Tomorrow” you said looking down to the grass, you didn’t wanted to look at Leon.

Tomorrow….You are leaving Galar for what it might be forever, tomorrow, and you didn’t told him sooner…?

“I….I have to go. I forgot I had a meeting with the Chairman” Leon said that and started walking away from you.

“Leon, wait!” You tried to stopped him, but it was too late, Leon had already called out his Charizard from his pokeball and fly away.

The big day finally came. You and your parents were in the airport waiting for your flight.

You didn’t spoke to them, and instead looked around to see if you could spot Hop and Sonia, after all, the two promised they would come to say goodbye.

You kept waiting and finally you spotted them coming your way, there were no signs of Leon.

“Thank goodness, we made it here on time” Hop was trying to recover his breath, it seems that they came running on full speed.

“I’m glad you came” you smiled softly. “Where’s Leon?”

“I don’t know. We tried to call him, but he is not answering his phone” Sonia explained.

“Though, now that I remember, he came home last night, but he seemed sad” Hop added.

Then it all added up together. He didn’t wanted to say goodbye, ‘cause it was just too painful for him, you didn’t blame him at all for that, this was also really hard for you.

“I’ll make sure to write you everyday, I promise!” Hop said and then hugged you tightly, in all these years that he has known you, he saw you as a big sister, and he was going to miss you so much.

“Please, promise me you’ll at least call us” Sonia said.

“I can’t promise that, but I’ll try” you lied, if you wrote them letters or tried to reach them, it would only make you feel worse and miss them more, and that’s the last thing you want to happen.

‘The flight from Galar to Hoenn will be leaving in 5 minutes’

“Well, that’s my cue” You said, and hugged Sonia and Hop one last time “Goodbye, Sonia” she seemed like she was about to cry, but she tried her best to act strong and kept smiling. Next up was Hop. “Goodbye Hop, please, try not to get yourself in trouble while I’m gone” You could hear the boy crying.

“Please don’t go” he sobbed “I don’t want you to leave”.

“Me neither, Hop, but I have to” you couldn’t hold it back anymore and started crying as well.

You heard your parents calling you, you needed to go. 

You let go of Hop, and waved them goodbye.

You and your family started heading to boarding zone, until you heard someone shouting. 

 “(Y/N)!” No way, Leon…?

“(Y/N)!” He was trying to catch his breath, he ran as fast he could to get to you on time “Oof, I’m glad I made in time” 

“Leon, what are you…?”

“You seriously thought I wasn’t coming to say goodbye?” Leon started “Also, I brought you something” He grabbed a small box wrapped in a ribbon from his pocket “Open it when you arrive to Hoenn. It’s a little something to remember us”

You took the gift from his hands. “Oh, I almost forgot about something!” You opened your bag and took out a pokeball “I’m not allowed to take my partner with me to Hoenn so….could you take care of it in my stead?”

Leon let out a sigh “Of course” he grabbed the pokeball from your hand “I promise I’ll take good care of it”

Then there was a brief silence between you two. Leon got closer to you and placed his forehead over yours

“Please, don’t leave” he whispered.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t stay”

 He moved a step back and then held your hands into his.

“I will never forget about you” he began “Promise me, you won’t forget about me either”

Dear lord, why was saying goodbye so hard. You were about to say something, but you heard your mother calling you, your flight was about to leave.

“I must go” you said with a broken voice, and left as fast as you could, you didn’t wanted to look back, but you did anyways, Hop and Sonia were waving their hands, Hop was already crying. Leon only stood there, his sight always on you, pain and sadness could be seen in his eyes.

‘I love you’ Leon mouthed, or at least that’s what you thought he said, but you weren’t going back to confirm it, you had to go. You finally kept walking and this time you didn’t looked back.

The plane was finally taking flight. You looked through the window, and watched how the plane was starting to take flight and how Wyndon city started to get smaller.

All those moments you spend with your friends, the things you been through together, the joy you shared with your friends and the tears you shed, all of that was staying behind.

All of those beautiful memories will always remain in your heart.

But what hurts the most, is that you were leaving behind you first and only love, maybe forever.

‘Goodbye my dear Leon....I will always remember you’ you whispered.

For the last time, tears rolled through your face, as you watched how Galar was finally staying out of your sight.

“Goodbye my love...” Leon said and then blew a kiss up to the sky, you will always hold a place in his heart.

One day, fate shall reunite you two again, and ‘til that day comes, he would be waiting for you.....No matter how long it takes.

[drakexwillow]

One Long Summer

Chapter 2

Pairing: Drake Walker x Willow (OC) Maxwell Beaumont x Sophie (OC)

Warnings for the series: Smut, Swearing, Drug use, Sexual references. do not read if under 18.

Premise for the series: This will an AU following Drake when he leaves Cordonia to go to Texas for a year, instead of college he decides to get a job and just live a simple life with Maxwell joining him to also get away from court.

A/N: Okay this is my first ever series, i’ve decided to make the jump and just go for it so it might be abit rough around the edges. Let me know if you want on or off the tag list at any point

Tags: @burnsoslow @i-bloody-love-drake-walker @lyndsaycdrake1111 @furryperfectionlover @tinypenguincheesemachine  @janezillow  @of-course-i-went-to-hartfeld  @msjr0119 @jlynn12273

Chapter one here if you need to catch up.

Drake was roused from his sleep when his alarm on his phone went off. Groaning her rolled over shutting it off before burying his head back into his pillow. His head was pounding and his mouth was dry, silently thanking himself for remembering to leave some aspirin and a glass of water on his bedside table. He popped a pill into his mouth before downing the glass of water. He dragged himself out of bed and hopped into the shower, hoping it would help him feel more awake. He swiveled the handle letting the water run before he climbed in, he stood as the water cascaded over his body. Once satisfied he climbed out, grabbing a towel and drying himself before throwing on his work clothes and boots and making his way to the living room in search of coffee.

Drake wondered into the living room finding Max sitting cross legged on the couch wrapped in a blanket, eating cold pizza from the night before and engrossed with the cartoons on the TV. He chuckled taking in Max’s disheveled appearance “you look like shit” 

Max groaned as he rubbed his hand over his face “I think i’m dying”  

Drake made his way to the kitchen, grabbing two mugs from the cupboard and pouring coffee into each of them “i thought you’d be used to a hangover by now”

“I’m never drinking again”

Drake snorted as he walked over handing him one of the mugs “We both know that’s a lie”

Max nodded “yeah” he took a sip of coffee while side eyeing Drake “Sooo...you and Willow looked like you got along last night”

Drake shrugged “just being friendly” taking a swig of his own drink and thumbing at his phone.

“so friendly that you kissed” Max waggled his eyebrows as he nudged Drake’s shoulder with his own.

Drake glanced at Max before looking back down at his phone.

“Drake and Willow sitting in a tree K-I-S-S” 

“Okay” Drake interrupted standing from the couch putting his phone in his pocket “i preferred it when you were dying”

 “Hey!” Max shouted “take that back”

Drake chuckled as he walked over to retrieve his keys from the bowl by the door “I’ll be back at 5″

“Are we watching the game tonight?”

“sure” Drake called over his shoulder as he left the apartment.

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

Willow’s eyes snapped open as she felt the covers being pulled off of her “5 more minutes” she groaned pawing at the blanket desperately trying to pull it back over her head.

Sophie stood, arms crossed over her chest “Willow get your ass out of bed it’s nearly noon”

Willow sat up rubbing the sleep from her eye’s “fine i’m up, happy now?”

Sophie cocked an eyebrow “sitting up doesn't count as getting out of bed and I've come to help you unpack your stuff”

Willow eyed the boxes around the room full of her things. She’d been back a few days and still hadn't unpacked not wanting the memories of the past 3 months to flood her mind. She sighed as she rubbed a hand down her face “Alright i just need to get this over with”

Sophie sat down on the bed placing a reassuring hand on Willow’s arm “Look i know it hard but the sooner it’s done the sooner you can forget about it”

Willow slowly nodded her head “I know”

Sophie pulled her into a hug “It’s good to have you back Lo, i missed you”

Willow pulled her tighter “i missed you too”

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

Drake was finishing up his work on the ranch for the day. Walking around the stables making sure all the horses were secure. he left the stables pulling the gate closed and securing the padlock around it. He slid both his hands into his pockets and began walking up the dirt path back towards the ranch. He paused as he looked at over the field's and rolling hills in front of him, the sun peaking over then casting a golden glow. Drake as startled when he heard a voice behind him “Beautiful isn't it?” He turned to see Willow sitting under a tree leaning against it, a sketch book on her lap and various pencils laid on the floor beside her. Drake looked back at the view as he nodded “sure is” he turned making his way towards her “I’m surprised to see you out here” Willow twirled the pencil in her fingers “trying to find inspiration”

Drake sat down beside her as he glanced down at the drawing on her sketch pad “you like drawing?”

“yeah, i’m a bit rusty i haven't drawn anything since I've been back”

“Mind if i take a look” Drake gestured towards her sketch pad. She nodded him handing him the book. she shifted pulling her knees up to her chest and rested her head on her knees as she watched him. Drake turned the pages looking through the drawings. All of them of different landscapes, forests, rivers, lakes and various other locations. Some had pictures taped to the opposite page he guessed used for reference “these are really good”

“you think so?”

“Yeah” Drake nodded “have you been to these places?”

“Most of them, i traveled for 3 months.Took a lot of pictures and decided to draw the ones i liked” Willow shrugged

“i think this ones my favorite” Drake pointed to the drawing on the page. Willow shifted to look over at the book, a smile tugging at her lips “Mine too and lucky for you i can actually take you there” she stood picking up her pencils and took the sketch book from Drakes lap “come on” Willow held out her hand to help Drake up. He took her hand and he got up onto his feet. He followed her to the ranch, just as they reached the steps she turned towards him “wait here i’m just going to put these inside” she motioned to her pad. Drake waited as Willow ducked inside the ranch and then appeared moments later. She lead him round the back of the ranch and to a wooded area, she held out her hand “take my hand it will be easier to get through” Drake placed his hand in hers as they weaved there way through trees and bushes until they came to a clearing. She lead him just short of a little cliff edge and dropped his hand, she sat down with her legs dangling over the edge and patted the space next to her. Drake complied and sat down mimicking her position, He looked out taking in the few. Not far down from the little drop was a lake that sat in the middle of a wooded area, as the trees encircled the lake. the sun shone through the trees causing the water bellow to sparkle in the light. It was quite and peaceful, the only sound to be heard where the birds singing. “This is beautiful i didn't even know it was here”

Willow smiled as she scanned the lake “Most people don’t venture past the trees that’s why” 

“So how do you know it’s here”

Willow sighed “My mom used to bring me here all the time as a kid. every night we would sit out here and talk or just enjoy each others company away from everything. Once she died i used to come out here when i need to think  or draw or just be away from everything when it all got too much. i haven't told anyone about it, it’s always been my own little safe place.”

Drake smiled as Willow slowly swung her legs back and forth over the edge “i’m surprised Sophie doesn't know about this seen as its part of her ranch”

Willow shook her head “It’s not, it’s my families ranch Sophie was just looking after it while i was away”

A comfortable silence fell over them as they both took in the scenery. Drake turned hie attention to Willow allowing himself to drink in the sight of her. Her hair was tied up in a loose messy bun. The way the light hit her caused the gold flecks in her brown eyes to shine. He loved the freckles that were scattered across her nose and sprawled down onto her cheeks. Willow turned to look at him, blushing under his gaze, she grinned caused to deep dimples to appear either side of her face “what?”

Drake shook his head not able to hide the smile on his face “Nothing just...thank you for bringing me up here”

Willow grabbed Drakes hand and squeezed it “I know we only met last night but i like you Drake, Sophie’s told me a lot about you”  

Drake watched as her eyes flitted to his mouth and back up to meet his gaze, he licked his lips in anticipation as she started to lean towards him. There faces were inches apart when Drake’s phone began to ring, he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, he fished his phone out of his pocket to see Max’s name flash across the screen. Willow giggled as Drake rolled his eyes as he answered the call

“What is it Max”

“Drake the game starts in 5 minutes you were meant to be back an hour ago!”

Drake could see Willow Biting back laughter as he smirked at her “yeh sorry i got caught up i’ll head back now”

“Make sure you bring food”

Drake chuckled “okay i will” he ended the call and slide his phone into his pocket. Willow playfully nudged his shoulder “i didn't realize you had a curfew ill keep that in mind next time” Drake laughed as he rose to his feet, offering out his hand to Willow “come on I better head back he’ll only keep calling me otherwise”

the pair walked back to the ranch hand in hand, as they reach the steps to the porch Willow turned to look at him offering him a smile “i guess i’ll see you round”

Drake nodded “i’m sure you will” Willow stood on her tiptoes and placed a kiss onto his cheek, she turned and headed up to the front door as she reached it she turned and gave him a small wave which he returned. As she diapered through the door Drake headed towards his truck, a smile plastered on his face as he rubbed his cheek.

[lindoig7]

Tuesday/Wednesday, 4-5 August.

Tuesday

We have been pretty lucky with the weather during the past few days, but it was a ripper today.  It rained during the night and we awoke to frigid conditions with a gale blowing.  We set off for Phillip Island via Korumburra and Wonthaggi and it rained, blew, hailed and even snowed quite a bit as we drove along.  The day promised to be a write-off, but we kept going in the hope that we could at least drive around a bit on the Island.  As it turned out, by the time we got there, the weather was improving and we actually did two walks totalling 8 km without getting wet.  It threatened several times, and bucketed down while we were in the car, but was surprisingly kind to us during our walks.

The first walk was from Conservation Hill where there was supposed to be a bird reserve.  We never found it, but I think we got close to it.  We trudged up the Hill and down the other side and back across the highway to a long bush walk parallel with the road.  We were following a pair of Cape Barren Geese with a very small gosling for quite a way, but eventually persuaded them to get off the path and let us past.  Unfortunately, they headed straight for the road with the gosling struggling to keep up so Heather did her sheepdog trick while I became a lollypop lady, slowing the traffic to allow passage to the safety of the bush on the other side of the road.

We eventually reached another carpark a couple of clicks along the path so I left Heather there while I hurried back to collect the car (with our lunch inside) and agreed to meet up again in the second carpark. On my way back to the car, I encountered the same family of geese that had returned to our side of the road without the benefit of either sheepdogs or lollypop ladies.  I just made it to the car as the rain flooded down so I sped down the highway to Heather just in time for her to get in the car before it rained there too.  Definitely time for a well-earned lunch while the rainstorm passed.

We then headed off to another RAMSAR wetland at Swan Lake (not the Tchaikovsky one although that is quite beautiful too) and sat in the car until another rain squall subsided.  But togged up, we braved the wintry blast and walked through a magical forest area and over a creek to a boardwalk and two commodious bird-hides.  We saw lots of Cape Barren Geese, mostly with chicks, some quite tiny, others almost teenagers as well as numerous pairs of Black Swans, some also with very young cygnets. It was a wonderful walk, not too long or strenuous and the birds were wonderful, particularly when they were virtually beneath our feet when we were on the boardwalk.  We sat in the hides for quite a while looking at the many species within sight and coincidentally sheltering from the wind.  We saw a few wallabies on the way back to the car and once again just managed to get inside before another squall hit.  It was like that all day, but we were lucky never to get wet.

We then went to the usually chaotic Nobbies carpark – and we were the only car there!  We ate the rest of our overdue lunch and watched the pounding surf and the violent squalls racing in across the ocean, straight from the South Pole it seemed – but after our Antarctic jaunt, we enjoyed it immensely while the car rocked and rolled in the wind.  We planned a route home that would take up to the George Bass Coastal Walk along the cliffs from San Remo to Kilcunda, but once again, we were defeated, having been unable to find the turnoff.  I had seen the turnoff as we came in from Wonthaggi in the morning, but maybe there is only one sign, benefiting westward traffic and hang the eastbound travellers. But we will return when the weather is less ferocious.

Heather (like me) was in desperate need of a haircut so on the way home, we drove through Warragul to a place that had been recommended to her. By then it was after hours but the last customer was still being shorn and Heather was able to make an appointment for the following morning.

Wednesday

Well, the hairdresser certainly knows how to cut (and cut and cut) hair.  It is a long while since Heather had such short hair and she must have a very cold head. Hopefully, Heather will cut my hair a little less drastically when she cuts mine at the weekend.

We went on a lovely walk at Mirboo North. It is called the Lyrebird Forest Walk and although we walked and saw lots of forest, there was not a lyrebird to be seen or heard.  It was a bit over 3 km and there was a 5 km extension we could have taken, but it was very steep and rocky so we elected not to do that one. Interestingly, at the end of the walk was a bridge festooned with many (many) metres of torn tangled hazard tape and another sign advising that the track was closed because it was too dangerous.  A bit late to tell us after we had completed the walk, but it was obvious that many other people had taken the same route as us and broken the tape to get back to the carpark 50 metres away.

Our lunch was taken in 3 segments that day as often happens.  A sanger now, another at the end of the walk, fruit before we head for home or some variation of that.  After the ‘first course’ it was on to Port Welshpool, a place we have previously taken several short caravan excursions.  We actually tried to book into the caravan park there before we booked at Warragul, but the one there is Council-owned and temporarily closed.

It was a beautiful drive through the hills. It was quite varied, from dense heavily timbered rainforest with massive stately trees, through more open scrub and a less crowded upper storey, to dazzling green pasture looking so smooth and uniform that is was hard to believe the farmer had not just ironed it in honour of our passing.  A lot of the route was winding along the edge of magnificent deep and precipitously steep valleys, quite breathtaking in their beauty.  It was a truly wonderful drive.  During the past few weeks we have travelled many parts of the Grand Ridge Road and this trip included the last bit not previously traversed.  It meanders through the hills as Routes 93 and 94 and is spectacularly beautiful as well as terrifyingly dramatic – especially when cars and trucks hurtle around corners on your side of the road with a 200-metre rocky precipice a metre or so to your left.  It had rained on and off during the day so the road was muddy and we even passed a few very small patches of snow in the higher section of road.

Our dinner was quite unusual but surprisingly good. We were back fairly late so we opened a can of chunky soup (more chunky than soup) and mixed it with pasta, added a few herbs and grated parmesan and it was great.  We rarely have tins as our main meal, but we had a few in the pantry and it turned out to be a most enjoyable meal – maybe the bottle of Yellow Tail shiraz helped?

[roswellroamer]

Day 12. February 10, 2020. Te Anau day ride. 155km.

Woke to low 40's and gray which made me question the Carrot and Weather Channel apps which had shown 72° and sunny. But closer inspection revealed a marine type layer probably due to the massive lake's shores which was projected to burn off by 11. The kitchen came stocked with farm fresh eggs, bowl of assorted fruit, milk, butter, juice, yogurts, cereals. We set about making some eggs and toast and then of course after finishing off yesterday's blog we grabbed the two frisbees and the "golf course diagram" and headed out. A half life sized chess board on the sprawling manicured lawn provided the tee for the first hole. All the bikes were truck tires with the hole number painted on the rubber. Got to explore their grounds and have some fun tossing the 'bee. We then got into our GoreTex gear and headed towards Milford Sound after a CalTex has stop in town. Knowing we couldn't get to Milford due to road closures/flooding we were aiming for a swing bridge made of three cables. One for your feet and one for each of your hands that spanned the west branch of the Eglinton River. It was featured in one of the NZ touring books I had bought last summer. We saw that the trail sign to identify the turn off was the Earl Mountain turnoff and headed that way. We wound a bit away from the water and gained some elevation and then came to a construction zone. Not being sure if this was related to the recent flooding we got in mine behind a few cars and waited. Maybe less than ten minutes and the opposing truck, bus and camper passed us then we were allowed to proceed. Usually the 120km up to Milford takes over two hours due to the heavy traffic. Top tourist destination in NZ, one road in and out. Lots of buses and cars jockeying to get parking at the roadside attractions. One huge benefit of having the road closed about 75km ahead was that there was hardly any traffic! Great road and scenery as jagged Teton-esque peaks wound into view between the nearly sheer yet forested canyons as we gained elevation. After passing through a few more, wait, take a wild guess... sheep farms 🐑 we came to a diversion. Funneled into a lane off the road to what appeared to be a toll booth, explained to the gal we were in search of a cable bridge off the Earl Mtn. Trail before the closed section. She allowed us to pass. So far so good.

You can tell when you enter Fiordland NP. Sure, there's a sign off to the left (but placed behind a farmer's field/fence so inaccessible for a reasonable picture). But immediately farmland disappears and you are envelopes in the eery dense tunnel of what seems to be darned close to tropical forest. With the 21 feet of annual rainfall being lush shouldn't be a surprise but the immediate drop off in brightness is dramatic as well. Almost like going in a cave. There are some open "flats" but much of the area along the one road there is heavy forest. The other concern for vehicles but especially bikes involves the encroaching algae/moss on the roads. Two tire tracks are largely clear of it but the center of the lanes and the road as well are mostly a bit greenish with the slippery stuff. Lots of "slippery when wet" signage and it wasn't for the Bon Jovi album. I imagined it could be taxing to stay in the worn and clear tire tracks on one of the 250 rainy days. With clear blue sky and dry along with no traffic, the 55,65 and 75kph turns were superb sweepers and we had a ball carving up that road. One of the stops was at Mirror Lakes. Aptly names and even though a couple of fish had disturbed the surface, the pics are keepers. We rode up into Fiordland a ways and then there was the Earl Mtn. sign. We pulled in to the parking area and saw the line of yellow tape across the entrance to the trail. Also no other vehicles were there. The sign said it was closed and also had a few poison signs around the lot. They described the poison that was dangerous to animals and people to attempt (as is often done here) eradication of a non-native predator. In this case it seemed to be some sort of weasel that was endangering a bird that lived on the ground. We had discussed this cable swing bridge and yellow tape and warnings weren't gonna stop us! We worked around the tape and stepped into a dense forest trail. The first 10 minutes took us along an occasionally muddy trail. Tons of tree roots. Most of the deep mud had sticks or small logs tossed in to provide steps but a few ill advised steps resulted in 6" plunges and lovely boot pulling sucking noises to dislodge my Alpinestar SMX-6 from the muck. Then found my way down a thirty foot hill by treading solely on exposed tree roots from one tree! (Pic above) After that, following the well marked red triangular plastic blazes into the heart of Frodo land, the forest was a magic pliant spongy floor. It took a while to figure out that about 6-8" of moss has somehow grown over a network of interconnected tree roots. When I stepped, the entire ground in a five foot radius would give in and move a bit. It was weird and beautiful. After another 10' we heard the Eglinton River and were blocked by some fallen trees and yellow tape. A work around brought me to the river just above the cable swing bridge. A very large tree had fallen on the bridge from our side and collapsed it. Instead of a V shape, the 3 cables were mostly flat but still spanning the river. Ugh. No go. Managed to work our way with some difficulty through the dense brush to get close enough for a pic on the first rung of the bridge which was also the last possible one to reach due to the tree and damage. Pic above. There was a cute little bird on the ground by the bridge remnants. He seemed happy to see us. Wasn't afraid of people evidently as he strutted about watching us, walking under the branch I was balancing on without flying away. He seemed to enjoy company. Said goodbye to my new friend 🐦 and found the blazes trail which included a half dozen improvised detours to avoid deep muck. Scaled up the root ladder which must have been connected to Eywa as the whole forest seemed a bit magical. 🌳 One couple was following our lead to enter the forbidden enchanted forest as we exited. They were disappointed to hear the wire bridge was out. The entire trail from there is about a three hour hike.

I must comment that tons of serious hikers (trampers in local speak) come here and cover long distances. Temps are good. Views and scenery fantastic. None of those deadly spiders and snakes one may encounter across the Tasman Sea in Oz. I get it, just don't love hiking that much to spend days or weeks doing it. This area shows why Peter Jackson used it for LOTR. Nearly pristine and just overwhelmingly stunning. With boots and Klim pants properly mud coated, we were now sweating quite a bit. In fact while holding my Latitude jacket I believe I finally lost my first set of reading glasses on this ride. I have a couple spares but oh well. Think they fell out as I was scaling some of the hill or tree root sections. 👓 I opened up all the vents on my jacket and pants and started the bike to stand and let the 65° breeze do its job. Turned around a couple kilometers further at Lower Holyford Rd. as the heavy machinery was at work. Estimated repair on the sign said that the road would reopen on Friday, four days from now. We stopped a few times on the way back for scenic spots that were too good to pass by. One of the files above is the .gif of some chopper footage. Stopped to watch him load and fly away with a few tanks of what may have been fuel? Most likely bound for Milford Sound which was still isolated from the rest of the country's road system. On one of the last stops Ted must've not closed his bag since when we pulled into Te Anau town center his right saddlebag/pannier was open! Ba quick inventory revealed his polartec jacket and a plastic bag with a wipe were missing. The chain lube that Kiwi gave us as well as a helmet lock were still in the pannier. Those darned side opening clamshell designs! I said I'd get a table at the Ranch outside and wait for him to hopefully retrieve his stuff. I showed him how to flip up on the iPhone to reveal exactly where that last pic was taken. He was just putting on his helmet when a white car pulls up. A guy walks out and hands him his stuff! So lucky. They are bikers and saw his stuff and followed us into town. Nice. After some thank you a they drove away and the day got even brighter. The Ranch delivered me a couple Cokes and an interesting prawn twist dish. 8 shrimp individually wrapped in a long thin dough sheet and fried so the whole 8" long finger is edible and 3 sauces to dip accompanied the serving. Then a calamari salad. 😊 Back to the homestead for some blogging (so I won't fall asleep tonight trying to get this down) and rest before we scored a reservation at the top place in town. The Redcliff cafe. Ted was here last year and unable to get in! We rode to town and were walking down the street when Ted recognized the Aussies who returned his stuff at lunchtime. We turned around and flagged them down. They were perfectly willing to join us for a thank you beer and had a nice time talking with them. They were riders but here to scatter ashes of a friend up north and had received money and were encouraged to make a great trip out of it. They had been to Burt Munro as well. Our appointed hour arrived and we were seated on the back porch of the Redcliff cafe. A few tables of Americans nearby and some conversation with a California couple by us and an excellent meal. I had a salmon tartare dish followed by venison which was amazing and a date and ice cream dessert which were each remarkable. Redcliff did not disappoint. Probably the biggest culinary splurge of the trip. Even with a couple drinks my total ended up being just over $50 and it would've been 50% more for that same meal at home. Had a great evening and got back to the homestead in dusk around 10. Ready to roll northward tomorrow. 😴