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mrsalwayswrite · 4 years ago

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Anchor in the Waves- Chapter 2

I am so sorry its taken so long to get this chapter out...its been one of those weeks. Anyway, here it is! Yay!

Quick reminders: Osbert = Uhtred. Islond=Iceland. Irland=Ireland // all translations are via google and in italics.

This chapter is emotional. Most of the warnings pertain to this chapter. Again, nothing is graphic but implied. Still heavy stuff though. I promise after this it gets better.

Tag List: @happyveday @evelynshelby

"What's it like? Islond?" Halig asked, huddled against Osbert.

"If hell froze over...that is Islond." Finan replied from Osbert's other side, arms tucked inside of his tunic.

Hakka had announced earlier that the trading season was done. Tomorrow they would start the voyage back to Islond. The slaves were to enjoy a few hours rest before back on the oars. They had been tossed stale loaves of bread to share, the thick taste of salt coating the bread from the sea spray.

Finan, Osbert and Halig huddled together, not quite shivering but perpetually cold. The manacle around their ankles seemed to absorb the cold and inject it straight into their bodies.

"We'll be on land though."

Finan did not reply to Halig's comment. Yes, they would be on land, the oars no longer feeling like an unwanted extension of their person; but they would still be barely fed and forced to endure the brutal cold of winter without respite.

Yet with the thought of their return to Islond she came to mind.

Aine.

Was she alive? Would she remember him? Would she care for him once again?

There were many times he found his mind wandering to her over the past several months, worried for her. In his darkest hours, he would conjure up her face, reveling in the brief flash of warmth it brought with it. Her brown hair in a braid over her shoulder, several strands loose around her face. Her slightly pointed chin and the dimple in it. Eyes the color of bronze. The small birthmark on her cheekbone. Those gentle, calloused hands that held his like a lifeline, both providing and seeking comfort.

"A stòr." He whispered into the wind. Was it a call to let her know he was coming? A hope that she had not given up on him? A reminder of what had passed between them? He did not know. In his soul, it just felt right. (My treasure.)

*****

She almost dropped the blankets in her arms when she saw him.

All the ship slaves looked awful, like they had been dragged across the sea floor then pulled ashore and forced to remember how to walk. They were almost indistinguishable with their long, matted hair and beards, bowed backs, threadbare clothes and general air of defeat.

She stood to the side of the main hall, having run from gathering the blankets off the drying line to be able to watch their approach.

To see if he returned.

"Aine!" Master Sverri called, walking towards her. His thumbs were tucked into the band around his waist, his strut like a conquering hero returning home. Yet he was no hero. "Come to greet us?"

"Welcome home, Master." She answered demurely, dropping her gaze to his boots. It startled her that he called her by name. He had always called her ‘girl’ or ‘slave’ before. She tried not to think too hard about the implications of him remembering her name and using it.

He tipped her chin up, forcing her eyes to meet his. His sharp eyes bore into her, seeking something in her face, before releasing her with a grunt as he walked past. She was unsure what that look meant...but it made her uncomfortable.

As she looked once again at the slaves, one was staring at her. Soft, brown eyes met hers. She would know those eyes anywhere.

Finan.

Unconsciously, her eyes widened and tears threatened to fall. The shock of seeing him again rooted her to where she stood lest she collapse. He was alive...but appeared even more haggard and frail compared to last she saw him. He cradled one of his hands against his chest, staring at her until he was shoved by one of the Danes into the barn. She remained frozen, watching as all the ship slaves were marched to the barns and separated.

The one thought repeated in her mind endlessly- he was alive.

For how much longer though?

The returned Danes would celebrate voraciously tonight, happy to be home. Ale would flow freely and most would be passed out before the moon was at its zenith. She should be able to sneak away without notice. She had too.

Quickly, she turned and headed back inside the main hall, back to her duties before the Master's wife could yell at her for being lazy.

The night could not come soon enough.

*****

"Finan?"

He jerked at his name, the sound just barely slipping through the slats of the barn. It had taken some manipulation to make sure that he ended up back in the same pen he had occupied prior. A small smile crossed his lips when he noticed the hole he had made was still there. "Aine?"

Sticking his hand through the opening, warmth immediately surrounded his hand as she clutched it with both of hers.

“Conaíonn tú.” She murmured. (You live.)

“Mar a dhéanann tú.” (As do you.)

He pressed his forehead to the slats and felt her reciprocate the action. That simple touch, the simple connection brought tears to his eyes. It would never eclipse the beatings, starvation and despair but it helped lessen it. He had missed her.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Osbert watching him curiously, everyone else asleep by this point. He trusted Osbert not to say anything to their captors.

They stayed that way for several minutes. Everything Finan could think of to say to her, to acknowledge or ask...once it hit his tongue died. So, he kept his lips closed and just breathed in her gentle presence, a balm to his dispirited soul.

He remembered that last time he had thought she was beautiful. When he saw her after getting off the ship this time, it felt like something had changed. When he looked up and saw her standing by the main hall, a pile of blankets in her arms, he realized he had been wrong. She was radiant.

“Ní féidir liom fanacht.” (I cannot stay.)

“Tuigim. Táim… tá áthas orm go bhfuil tú ceart go leor.” (I understand. I am… I am glad you are alright.)

“Seo.” She pushed something into his hand then released it. (Here.)

“Go raibh maith agat.” (Thank you.)

He heard her footsteps as she walked away quickly. Pulling his hand back, he noticed it was half a loaf of bread. Far more than she had ever given him before. Without a word, he tore it into three parts and tossed two of them to Osbert. The man caught them, having been watching him, and quietly nudged Halig to wake him.

As they ate silently, Finan's thoughts were disturbed by Osbert's whisper.

"Who is she?"

Finan thought about his answer, munching on the fresh bread. Something he had not tasted in almost two years. "Aine." He finally replied. "When I was here last...she saved me."

*****

Over the next couple of weeks, Aine tried to visit Finan every few days. She wished she could go every night, not just to see him with her own eyes and feel his hand in hers; at least then she knew he was getting food when she visited. After the third visit, he had mentioned about two others he had come to know. If it was his intention to mention others to receive more food, she did not mind. She tried to bring a little extra with her, sometimes forgoing her own lunch and dinner to have extra to bring. She was too scared to steal more from the kitchens and get caught.

It was also during this time that Master Sverri's attentions to her became more obvious.

*****

"The deep cold will start tonight." Gunnhild, the Master's wife, said flatly. She sat mending by the fire in the main hall, an interesting sight since her hands were the size of ham hocks. Everyone else had returned to their homes by this point, leaving only the Master, his wife and the house slaves.

"Yes." Master Sverri listlessly said, staring at the flames with a mug of ale in hand.

She snorted, rolling her eyes. "Unless you want your slaves to freeze to death, they will need blankets. By the gods, you do this every year!"

"They are slaves."

"THEY ARE EXPENSIVE!" She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "This was not a good year for us. Not enough trade. We need to keep them alive."

He swirled the ale in his mug for a long moment before nodding solely. "You are right."

"Aine," Gunnhild called loudly, "you and Alva take blankets to the ship slaves."

"Yes, Mistress." Aine stood up from further down the main hall, where she had been scrubbing the dried, sticky ale off the tables. It had been another rambunctious night of drinking for the Danes. After everyone left, the Mistress suddenly decided the sticky residue needed to be removed. "Would ya prefer me to finish my task first?"

"No, it'll be here when you return. Go."

Leaving everything behind, she headed to the kitchen to inform Alva, the middle-aged cook, their task. They gathered the spare blankets, kept separate for the ship slaves and headed out to the barns. Aine announced she would take the barn with the pigs. If Alva had any suspicions, it was not noticeable. On the contrary, she thanked Aine since she needed to return to the kitchen quickly to prepare the porridge for the morning and the barn with the horses was closer to the main hall.

Without a word, Aine tossed half of the blankets in the first pen. The sounds of the men scurrying and arguing over the blankets followed her as she moved on. It was the second pen that she cared about more.

There were five slaves in the second pen, including Finan. As she approached, the men watched her warily. It was when she tossed the couple blankets in, did they finally move. It was the one with piercing blue eyes that took charge and passed the blankets out, giving her a brief nod after as he huddled under one with a smaller man on one side and Finan on the other.

"Thank ya."

She directed a small smile at Finan, her eyes meeting his own. This was the first time they were face to face without slats separating them. She opened her mouth to say something but the scraping sound of the barn door opening stopped her. With a backward glance, she froze.

Master Sverri closed the barn door behind him. In the darkness it was hard to decipher his features, but something about the way he was standing there peering at her made her skin crawl.

Subconsciously, she stepped back.

If he noticed her movement, he gave no indication as he slowly approached, hands clasped behind his back. His eyes never drifted away from her body, eyeing her hungrily. "Are the blankets distributed?"

"Yes, Master."

"Good." He drew closer until he stood in front of her, hovering over her. Meanwhile he ignored the slaves in the pens as if they were furniture. "Was there another task that required you, Aine?"

It was not until hearing him say her name now, that Danish growl butchering the pronunciation, that she realized how much she desired hearing Finan say her name. When he said it, his Irish accent grew. When he said it, it sounded like home.

"Just finishin' cleanin' the tables."

"Mmm...I have need of you first." It was the way he said it, his hand brushing her hair out of her face, the closeness of his body. She knew what was to come. Alva warned her only a few days ago what his attention would mean.

"Come." He commanded, turning back towards the barn door.

What else could she do? Bowing her head, she started to follow. Not before she snuck a glance at Finan. Even in the darkness, she could read the horror and rage on his face. He hastily shoved the blanket off him, starting to rise. Immediately she shook her head, hoping he could see it in the gloom. They were slaves. Their thoughts and feelings were nothing. Their bodies and pain were nothing. They were nothing.

She thought she heard Finan quietly call out her name but it did not matter. She kept moving.

After Master Sverri finished with her that night, she sat outside and gazed at the stars above, tears slipping down her cheeks undisturbed. Was it worth even wishing for freedom anymore? Was this all fate had planned for her?

*****

"Aine…"

“Níl, ná habair é.” She silenced him by interrupting, clutching his hand just a little tighter. He was unsure if he could hear a tremble in her voice or if it was just the cold. “I ... tá sé rud ar bith. Mhair tú i bhfad níos measa ná mise.” (No, do not say it. // I...it is nothing. You have survived far worse than me.)

“Ní comórtas é.” (It is not a competition.)

A small bark of laughter slipped out of her mouth, but it sounded harsh and cruel. Finan wished there was something, anything he could do to protect her. He would easily accept a beating or whipping to save her from whatever fate was giving her. Yet there was nothing he could do. He was imprisoned, too weak to fight in her stead, he doubted he had the strength to hold up a sword and swing it, let alone fight with it.

He wanted to ask about the other night, when Master Sverri followed her to the barn. He wanted...no, needed to know if that bastard touched her. She must have anticipated his question and shut it down before he even placed the words on his tongue to say. That night he had sat awake the whole time. Fury, vengeance, fear and despair took turns beating at his mind. He wanted nothing more than to escape the pen and throttle Master Sverri before he could lay a hand on her. Save her from whatever cruelty played out in the Dane’s mind as he stood there in the gloom of the barn, leering at her like a predator and she an innocent lamb. As Finan started to rise, flaming anger fueling his movements, Osbert grabbed his arm and forced him to stay still. The rest of the night and the next two were torturous. Rage rose up within him whenever he saw Master Sverri walking around the village, enough to make his veins almost boil with his desire to slowly kill the Dane. What was worse though, was the rage at himself for his inability to do anything.

Finan squeezed her hand, his breath visible from the cold. “Geallaim lá amháin saorfaidh mé thú.” (I promise one day I will free you.)

“Finan, le do thoil ... ná tabhair gealltanais mar sin le do thoil.” (Finan, please do not... please do not make promises like that.)

“Ná tabhair suas, a stór, ná déan! Éalóimid, agus tiocfaidh mé ar ais agus saorfaidh mé thú. Tugaim faoi deara é. An gcreideann tú mé? Abair amach é.” (Do not give up, my treasure, do not! We will escape, and I will come back and free you. I swear it. Do you believe me? Say it.)

“Creidim thú.” (I believe you.) She barely whispered; voice tight with emotion.

He rubbed his thumb on the back of her hand, her hand still trembling, much like his own. Her face was turned down, staring at their hands as if ashamed to meet his eyes. He wished he could comfort her further somehow, wrap his arms around her and hide her away from the world.

Suddenly the sound of the dogs barking made them both jump.

"Téigh!" He said, worried someone would find her. It was truly a miracle she had been able to seek him out like she had been without anyone the wiser. (Go!)

Without a word, she dropped his hand and ran, having already given him the hard biscuits.

Once he no longer heard her footsteps or any screams to signal she had been caught, he relaxed against the side of the barn, tucking the blanket closer around his person that he shared with Osbert and Halig.

He turned his head to look at the man sitting next to him. His blue eyes met Finan's brown in the darkness of the barn. Keeping his voice low, he spoke, a determination coursing through his veins. "What is the plan ya mentioned earlier?"

Osbert smiled wickedly.

*****

Finan could see the slavers gaining ground on them. The dogs barked loudly at catching sight of their prey just up ahead. The sand and rocks under his feet made footing treacherous. His legs wobbled beneath him like a newborn foal’s. Osbert already fell once. He was not even sure how Halig was still running, although his strength was obviously failing.

But they had to keep going. Their freedom laid before them just up ahead.

A bastard boat.

He grabbed the end, pulling with what little strength he had left to get it into the water. The weight threatened to be too much for his weakened body...but he kept pulling. This was their one chance. There would not be another. They must make it.

Then Halig collapsed on the rocky shore. Osbert tried to drag him along, crying how he would not leave him behind, but both barely moved.

It was then, before the Danes even seized them, Finan knew they failed.

The small waves slammed against the back of his legs, spraying water across his body. For a second, he wondered if it would be better for him to run into the sea and not turn back. His body was bound to be cast into its depths anyway, either by his choice or the slavers tossing his corpse overboard when his body finally gave out.

He looked over at Osbert, meeting his distraught gaze. A thousand words passed unspoken between them. At that moment, he knew abandoning his friend was not an option.

The Danes returned the three of them, bound and chained, back to the village. Seven others waited, having been captured already. They sat, all bound together in the middle of the village. All day and night they remained, exposed to the elements and the occasional beating from the slavers. During this time they went without food or water as the Danes sought out the other escaped slaves.

By the end of the next day, all but two slaves were found.

Master Sverri glared at them from the front steps of the main hall, arms crossed over his chest. "We leave in one week!" He announced, then looked to his men, standing around the slaves. "Whip them...but not that one." He pointed a stubby finger at Halig, the pain from his wounds evident on the slave’s ashen face. "He watches for now. His punishment will come later."

That night, Finan finally asked the question that had been brewing in his mind like a bad storm. "Who are ya really?" He demanded, his voice low so the others would not overhear, even if they appeared to be asleep.

More than once he overheard Halig call Osbert “lord” and how Osbert made reference to their fighting together. There was an authority that Osbert bore on his shoulders, invisible but when he spoke, it came with the sound of one used to orders listened to.

Osbert sighed, glancing around the pen they were back in. "No one."

"I know that's a filthy lie."

"It's a long story."

"I'm no goin' anywhere." Finan shrugged then winced as the torn muscles on his back from the whipping stretched.

He nodded, closing his eyes for a moment before groaning and turning to face Finan completely. Even in the gloom of the barn, his blue eyes shone with passion. His voice changed from a quiet resignation to one of determination. "My name is Uhtred son of Uhtred, Lord of Bebbanburg..."

*****

In three days, the ship would set sail. Away from Islond. Away from her. Away into the unknown future and turbulent seas. Aine visited Finan two days before, giving what food she could to him. Normally, she tried not to visit him so soon for fear of being caught. Now though, she wanted to give him what nourishment she could before he was gone. She also brought more cloths for him to wrap around his palms, along with some extra for the others.

He firmly gripped her hand. She was unsure if it was his hand or hers that trembled. Tears formed but she restrained them through sheer will. For some reason, this time, this goodbye felt final. Neither spoke it but both acknowledged it. She should have walked away some time ago, yet her legs refused to move, his hand clasped between hers just as tightly.

“Fan láidir, Aine.” (Stay strong, Aine.)

All she could only nod. Her soul was being chipped away little by little and now with Finan's upcoming departure, she doubted she would survive.

Especially if Master Sverri came back and Finan did not.

There were so many things she wanted to tell him but never did. Due to her own cowardness or time constraint, it mattered little now. It was still left unspoken. There was a bond between them, something she would always be grateful for. He was her strength when she felt unable to rise up again, her joy when he teased her and made her smile as something she never did otherwise, he was her sanctuary where she could hide away from the world. How could she tell him all this though? How could she convey her deep need for him to steady her as the rock he was in her life?

“Aine? Cad é sin?” (Aine? What is it?)

Her fluctuating emotions must have shown on her face enough for him to see it in the moonlight. She sighed, leaning over to press a kiss to the back of his hand. Something they had never done. His sharp inhale of breath worried her for a brief moment. Then he leaned his forehead against the slats, tugging her hand gently until she reciprocated the action.

“Tá rud éigin le rá agam…” He breathed out. (There is something I need to say…)

Oh, what she would give for these slats to be gone, for them to be free, to embrace him uninhibited like she wanted to. She squeezed his hand to let him know she was listening. Slowly he exhaled, as if that would help align the words on his tongue. The thought made her smile softly.

"Hey! You!"

Aine looked over and saw a figure standing still, having just come around the side of the barn. With a torch in hand, he was unable to distinguish her in the darkness. But she could see who it was. Terror flooded her veins with a vengeance. Her worst nightmare came to pass.

“RITH!” (RUN!)

Aine obeyed Finan's order without a second thought, darting away, hoping to lose her pursuer amidst the buildings as she weaved around them. Hard footfalls from behind crept closer and closer. She put everything she had into getting away and hiding. The figure could not have seen her face. He would not have known what she was doing. She just had to find somewhere to hide and wait him out. She just had to make it there.

Something slammed into her the back, making her stumble and lose her footing. Ungraciously, she fell face first.

She gasped; the impact having chased the air from her lungs. Tears welled in her eyes. Her hands dug into the firm earth beneath her. No…. no... no... please not this.

"What do we have here?" A rough hand flipped her over, forcing her to stare into the face of Hakka. "What were you doing, whore?"

Tears streamed down her face. There was nothing she could do now, nowhere to hide. This was it.

"Let's go ask Master Sverri, mmm?" He grabbed a fistful of her hair and started dragging her towards the main hall.

Minutes later she found herself on her knees before the Master, who had been roused from sleep. His tunic and leggings were rumpled from the bed. Only socks clad his feet, not even sparing the time to put his boots on with Hakka's yelling.

"What were you doing, Aine?" The Master asked softly, an almost begging unbelief in his tone. As if he could not fathom she would disobey him.

Her eyes remained on the floor, hands clasped in her lap. It was no use answering. She suddenly felt exhausted, so much so to not even try and create an excuse for her actions. All she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and hide from everything until her body rejoined the ground. She was so tired.

"Look at me." He cupped her chin gently, forcing her eyes to his.

Unable to stop herself, she flinched. Though he never beat her, she loathed his touch. Every time his fingers grazed her skin or hair, every time he had "need" of her, every time his eyes tracked her across the room...she hated everything about him.

"There is a small opening, broken slat towards the back of the pig barn where the slaves stay. She was kneeling in front of there." Hakka explained, hand on the axe head strapped to his side. "It was a good size to pass something through."

Master Sverri stared at her, hand still cupping her chin. “Were you giving the slaves something?"

She bit her bottom lip, tasting her own blood in her mouth.

"ANSWER ME!!" He suddenly roared in her face, his hand on her face now gripped it painfully.

Then the voice of Gunnhild came from the side of the room, wrapped in a cloak and hair messy from being roused unceremoniously. "Alva informed me she has noticed Aine does not always eat her meals but saves them, stuffing the food into a pouch or wrapping and saving it."

"Have you been feeding the slaves?" Master Sverri asked. He stared at her with wide, unbelieving eyes. When she did not answer, that surprise turned to rage. He backhanded her, sending her sprawling to the ground. More blood filled her mouth but she remained silent. He rounded on Hakka. "Take her to the pit."

"What will you do with her?" Gunnhild stared down her nose at the slave girl that had been a gift. "I do not want her anymore."

"I will take care of her." Her husband stated, fists clenched by his sides.

Hakka grabbed one of her arms and dragged her out of the room. The angle he pulled on, she feared he would dislocate or break her arm. She tugged, trying to loosen or change his grip on her. A whimper escaped her as he yanked purposefully with a dark chuckle.

It was when she could see where he was taking her that she began to fight back, albeit weakly. She kicked and swung at him. Anything to stop their advancement. Anything to not be put in there.

He laughed, easily manhandling her. "You'll beg for death soon enough." He whispered into her ear as he immobilized her against his body. "Sverri will not forgive this, nor show mercy. Maybe he will finally let us all take our turn with you."

That thought terrified her. She whipped her head back, feeling it slam against his face with a crack.

"Stupid whore!" He yelled, throwing her to the ground. Before she could move to escape, he stood over her, blood dripping from his nose. A snarl on his face, he pulled his arm back and punched the side of her head.

Darkness surrounded her.

*****

The shackle on his ankle burned. The hard bench under his arse and the high wall of the slave ship made him feel like he was looking out of his own grave. The smell of the ocean nauseated him already.

The Danes were securing the last of the slaves to their posts on the ship and bringing the remaining supplies aboard.

Fresh pain radiated across his back when he moved his shoulders. However foolhardy it was, he fought back against the Danes when they dragged the slaves towards the ship. A strong rod across his back repeatedly forced his submission.

Now he sat here waiting…waiting to row...waiting for his probable death.

Even sitting with his back facing him, Finan could see Uhtred's resolve slowly beginning to slip away after their failed escape attempt. Uhtred tried his best to hide it though, especially in front of Halig. The smaller man had been in visible pain since their escape attempt, his arrow wounds untended. The Danes had not seen fit to provide any medical attention, just threw him in the pen with the others.

A disturbance at the front of the ship caught Finan's attention. Walking up the gangplank was Master Sverri, his hand firmly grasping a handful of Aine's hair and forcing her to walk before him.

A punch to the gut, a whipping, being tossed overboard...anything would have been less expected than this.

Finan had not seen her for three days, not since she had last given him food then run off when someone noticed her. What worried him the most, he had not even seen her around the village doing her daily chores. During the following days, his mind conjured more and more horrific scenarios of what happened to her. He knew whatever it was, he was responsible. Without him, she would have been safe back in the main hall, in her bed, not outside the barn trying to sneak him food. It was his fault. He should have told her to stay away, to not worry about him.

The prospect of food and a gentle touch had been too strong, his weakened mind and body unable to resist.

It was his fault.

Now seeing her, his heart plummeted in his chest. She looked far worse than any other time he had seen her. Her dress was torn and dirty, as if she had been dragged out of a hole in the ground. Dried tear tracks stood out against the grime covering her face, the only spots semi-clean. From this distance he was unsure if it was dirt or dried blood that matted her hair on one side of her head. She stumbled up the gangplank, legs shaking.

What had he done? Finan promised...he promised to set her free. Not this. Never this.

Without a word, Master Sverri shoved her towards the front of the ship. There Finan could no longer see her. He was not sure if that was better or worse.

"IT WOULD APPEAR YOU DOGS NEED A REMINDER OF YOUR PLACE!" Hakka shouted at them, pacing the middle of the ship. He pointed at Halig, a sadistic smile on his face. "Grab him."

Two of the other Danes, forcibly removed Halig from his shackle. Uhtred screamed, trying to fight the Danes but they only beat him back. Finan eventually grabbed Uhtred, holding him firmly while he screamed to let Halig go, begging to take Halig's place. Those screams fell on deaf ears, only increasing the taunts and laughter from the Danes dragging Halig away.

"TIE HIM TO THE BOW, LET THE SEA KILL HIM!" Hakka cried out, watching the two Danes drag the injured slave towards the front of the ship. "LET THIS BE A LESSON TO YOU ALL!"

"NO!!!" Uhtred wailed. His words and screams almost unintelligible as they weaved together into an almost animalistic cry. His body shook violently, nails digging into Finan's arms, the only things keeping him rooted to his spot.

Glancing up above, Finan could see Master Sverri watching Uhtred with a smirk. He suddenly remembered when him and the other slaves were beaten after their failed escape...all but Halig. Master Sverri had said his punishment would come later...the bastard had been planning this.

Somehow, Finan promised himself, he would kill that devil.

Right now, he just held a trembling Uhtred. He could feel his own anger and horror rising but he suppressed them. The care Uhtred had given his friend was obvious and this...Finan worried it would break him even more than the oars and the beatings. Being forced to listen to his friend's cries as the sea slowly drown him, it was enough to destroy any sane man.

Then the order came to start rowing.

"Uhtred, ya must." Finan whispered, when his friend refused to move. "That bastard is watchin' and I don't think he means to kill ya. He'd have done so."

"Halig…" He whimpered.

"He's a dead man walkin'. There's nothin' we can do for him now."

The Irishman tried to console but noticed his own hands were shaking. How do you prepare yourself to listen to the slow death of a friend? You cannot. He wondered if this moment would haunt the rest of his life.

As if in a daze, Uhtred slowly moved back into his seat and grasped the oar. His silent sobs made his shoulder quiver.

Not even a few minutes later, Master Sverri came over to crouch above Uhtred. "The only reason you are not dead is because I am curious as to who you are."

"PULL!"

"PULL AND GIVE HIM THE PEACE OF DEATH!"

It was once the distant sounds of Halig's cries finally faded that Master Sverri walked away.

Watching everything as he pulled his own oar, Finan wondered if it would be the oar and seas that killed him and Uhtred or their despair. His ears felt as if they were bleeding while hearing Halig slowly die. Yet it was the following silence that was even worse. Tears slipped down his own cheeks, catching in his beard. What life was this to continue living?

A sharp, distinctly feminine cry from the front reminded him that Aine was still aboard.

Rage filled him, overpowering his despair. It strengthened his body, sharpening his mind. He could not give in to death now. Quickly, he wiped away the tears with the back of his hand. The despair and pain he shoved into the furthest recesses of his mind. Somehow, he had a promise to fulfill. To save a life and take another.

"Do not give up yet." He said aloud, both for himself and Uhtred. "Do not give up."

#The Last Kingdom #the last kingdom fandom #the last kingdom fanfic #finan the last kingdom #finan x ofc #finan the agile #uhtred ragnarson #slavery #mz writes

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100storiesin2020 · 5 years ago

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a Chainsaw in Fox Tower: Chapter 5

Ronan watched Adam sleep from the corner of his eye as he drove. Adam had spent much of his time catching up on lost sleep at the Barns this summer, and had developed a habit of falling asleep at any chance he got. Ronan figured that years of sleepless nights would take years to catch up on. He didn’t mind it, really. Adam was so beautiful asleep, with those high cheekbones and slender fingers, almost delicate and ethereal. How Ronan had won a love from such a man, he still wasn’t sure, and he was afraid, sometimes, that it would burn him alive.

Ronan nudged him as they passed the road sign for Palmetto. Adam opened his eyes, and looked at Ronan, and it was new all over again.

This love would burn him, all right, but he didn’t mind the flames.

“We’re almost there,” Adam observed, looking out the window. Campus was just off the freeway, and the next exit took them straight to it. Fox Tower was only a few turns away. They arrived, pulling into a parking spot next to the Pig as Gansey unloaded boxes. He looked up, smiling as they got out.

“Parrish! Lynch! You’re just in time!” Gansey said. “Blue is on her way down to help us, since she is already moved in.”

“Waiting for her to come do the heavy lifting for you?” Ronan jabbed. Adam laughed as Gansey pouted.

“I can do my own heavy lifting, thank you! I was hoping she would help me decorate the dorm.”

“What do you mean, help /you/ decorate the dorm?” Ronan asked.

“What do you mean?” Gansey looked very confused.

Adam gave him a stern look and answered the question. “Monmouth was yours to decorate. Fox Tower is ours. That means we get as much say in decorating as you do.” Gansey opened his mouth and Adam cut him off. “We do this together, as equals.”

Gansey nodded slowly. Considering the conversation over, Ronan moved to the backseat and unbuckled Chainsaw from her harness. She had been surprisingly quiet on the drive over, but that was never a guarantee for her, and so Ronan kept her tied to the seatbelt to prevent any road incidents sparked by a flying bird in the vehicle.

Chainsaw immediately took the air, calling /Kerah, kerah/ as she began to explore her new surroundings. After a few quick laps around the tower, she settled on Ronan’s shoulder just as the front door of the Tower opened, revealing Blue.

Blue walked over to them. /Walking/ wasn’t something that Ronan would often describe Blue as doing. Generally she was /pacing/, or /striding/, or /stalking/. Walking was a bit too tame for her. Something had upset her, but drawing attention to it was the worst way to get information out of her. Also, it would ruin Ronan’s terrifying image.

“Hey, maggot, come to make yourself useful?” She laughed as he handed her the largest box from Gansey’s trunk. She was so small she couldn’t see over the top of it, but she hefted it like it was nothing.

“Is that the best you’ve got, asshole?” There. Blue was back to herself, at least for a little bit. Ronan gave her a ferocious grin as he put another box on top of the one she was already carrying.

Adam stacked two of the smaller boxes and picked them up. They were full of books and probably the heaviest things there. “Don’t hurt yourself, Parrish,” Ronan drawled.

Adam just gave him that /look/ and turned to Blue. “You’ve been here a bit, can you lead the way?”

As they started into Fox Tower, Adam called back. “Grab the small box first, Lynch!”

Ronan growled and put the suitcase back, grabbing the small box instead.

“Why does it matter?” asked Gansey. “Isn’t it all going upstairs anyway?”

Ronan didn’t bother replying. He hauled the box of dreamstuff into the Tower and up the stairs behind Blue and Adam, Gansey in tow with suitcases and Chainsaw still on his shoulder. Blue was telling Adam about how she had decorated her part of the room, and some of her observations of the new teammates. He tuned it out, concentrating instead on the muscles in Adam’s back, his soft hair and quiet laughter. As they arrived at the right room, Blue pointed out her room just two doors down. They opened the door (Gansey had handed Blue they key) and walked into a very blank living room. As Gansey closed the door behind them, Ronan shoved his small box into Adam’s recently-vacated arms. “Here’s your precious plants, Parrish. I need a nap.” Adam looked at him, head slightly tilted to one side. A silent question. He sneered back in a silent answer and continued on his way. Now was the true test of the Palmetto leyline, and he needed to do it alone.

Ronan didn’t bother to shut the door to the bedroom. Chainsaw hopped from his shoulder to the bedpost, and then started to explore the room. There was a set of bunk beds and one lone bed on the other side of the room. He took the lone bed, knowing it was the safest option should he dream something unintentional. He laid down and relaxed as he heard Adam and Gansey arguing about where stuff should be placed in the living room.

“Do we really need so many plants, Adam? They take up so much space.”

“They’re more useful than your Glendower papers are now,” Adam replied. Fuck, Ronan liked this confident version of Adam. “Also, if you brought your little Henrietta please do NOT put it near the window, I need that spot.”

“Oh no, Gansey,” Blue laughed. “Where are you going to put little Henrietta?”

“I left it at Monmouth, Jane.”

“Oh thank god,” Adam and Blue said in chorus. Ronan drifted to sleep to faint chirps of /kerah/ as they started to squabble over how the cupboards would be arranged.

He didn’t dream of a forest today. He was standing on a short clif, looking down at a fast-moving river. The other bank of the river was a flat plain, giving a good view of the many switchbacks and curves in the more distant parts of the river. The cliff went all along this edge, but it was not sheer, and stout trees grew out of the side of it. Ronan walked along the cliff until he came to a dip, an almost-trail, leading down to the river, and descended.

The water changed as he approached, not uncommon for a dream. It went from a deep greenish blue to completely transparent, as if there was no water at all. Ronan picked up a rock and launched it into the river. It splashed, and ripples of silver spread back to the edge on which he stood.

This was not Cabeswater, but it had the same feeling of home, and Ronan knew what he needed to do.

He took a step.

The water was warm and soothing, cleansing his feet. He didn’t have shoes anymore, which was as it should be. He took more steps, the water remaining clear as ever, now without even ripples to distort the riverbed below him. He whispered to the water, /show me what I need. Something for Blue. Something to make this home for her./ He took another step, and then he saw it below him in the river. It was perfect. He dove in a pried it from underneath a rock, then sat down on the riverbed to look at it. Breathing was not an issue here.

He woke, frozen to his bed as always. He could feel the smooth wood of a picture frame beneath his fingers. Fuck, he was cold. He’d forgotten to get out of the water before waking himself up, and he was soaked to the bone. Even his socks were wet, though his shoes were dry. Go figure.

He slammed his feet onto the floor and stomped back to the living room. He saw everyone freeze and turn towards him as he entered. Adam had his plants spread in the various corners, and Blue had set up a trellis so the viney one could stretch itself across the wall. Gansey was putting pots in the cupboard, and Ronan noted that they were a mix of Adam’s shitty stuff from thrift stores and new stuff which Gansey had obviously procured. He would have to go through the kitchen later and see what was missing so he could dream it up.

“Catch, maggot.” He tossed the picture at her head and stomped off to the bathroom to take a warm shower. Fuck, he was going to have to be careful to dry off if he ended up dreaming the river again.

*****

Blue caught the flying object out of reflex as Ronan stomped off. The bathroom door slammed shut behind him. Turning to the others, she asked, “Do you think the leyline is strong enough for him?”

Adam smiled softly, still looking at the space Ronan had just occupied. “I think if it wasn’t, he wouldn’t have had that for you.” He eyed the object in her hand.

“I’m rather concerned about him being soaking wet,” Gansey interjected.

Adam shrugged. “He was probably underwater when he woke himself up. It’s happened before, though rarely. It always pisses him off.”

Blue was delighted. “And you would know this, how, exactly?”

Adam glared at her. “What did he give you?” he asked, ignoring the question.

Oh, right. Blue looked at the thing she had caught. It was a picture in a frame that felt wooden under her fingers but seemed to actually be made of silver. It seemed to be a traditional photo, at first, but then it was an oil painting, and then watercolor, before shifting to a pencil sketch and back to a photo. It featured her and all her Raven boys. She was in the center, with Noah on one side, arm over her shoulder, and Gansey on the other side holding her hand. Beyond Gansey was Henry striking a wild dance pose. Adam and Ronan were on the other side of Noah, standing shoulder to shoulder and leaning on each other a bit. Behind them was the Pig, and beyond it was Cabeswater. It was perfect.

Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked at Noah. She missed him so much.

At Gansey’s questioning look, she handed it over. Adam peered at it over his shoulder, and they were both obviously touched.

Gansey stared at it a little too long, transfixed. The smell of warm earth and leaves filled the room, and Blue saw shadows of tree branches in the corners of her vision. Gansey was still as a statue, looking very /otherly/ at that moment.

“Earth to Gansey,” Adam said, plucking the picture from his fingers, and the tree branches seemed to /snap/ away as Gansey came back to himself.

“Oh, my apologies,” he said. “When are we, Jane?”

“It’s our first day in Palmetto, it’s 4 o’clock, and we should probably start making our way to the court for our first official team meeting.”

Gansey nodded. "Then we will go as soon as Ronan joins us."

#a chainsaw in fox tower #all for the game #the raven cycle #aftg #TRC #pynch #chapter 5 #blue and ronan are bros

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elysiumwaits · 5 years ago

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Ely’s Fic Exchange Fics so far...

So I’ve been pretty sick lately, but I’ve been trying to keep up with fic exchanges and the like. This is a quick masterlist of what I’ve written for Fic Exchanges so far in the past few months. I have specifically only included exchanges hosted on AO3 right now, and I’ve sorted by fandom!

Teen Wolf

Time is a Wheel in Constant Motion - Sterek - Rated Teen - Time Travel, Kidfic

Summary: The Mother's Curse was cast many years ago, and boy, is Stiles reaping the benefits. Or, Stiles has a child just like him.

Excerpt: "You promised you wouldn't be mad," Sophie reminds him, still tapping at her water bottle.

Which, okay, he probably looks mad. "I'm not mad," Stiles says. It's true, he's not mad. He's not even disappointed. "I'm alarmed, and frankly, a little impressed." He hears the sound of a key in the front door. "Your dad made no such promise, though."

Read on AO3

My Shirt Looks Better When You Wear It - Sterek - Rated Gen - Fluff

Summary: Stiles runs off with one of Derek's shirt when he goes to college. Derek shows up to collect.

Excerpt: "Sneaking in and trying to give me a heart attack." Stiles drops his keys on the desk and turns to where Derek's leaning against the window, unwrapping Stiles' burger. The window is five stories up and also doesn't open all the way, so Derek probably didn't come in that way. "And stealing my food, apparently. Oh, come on, at least save me some of my own fries!"

Read on AO3

Star Trek: Alternate Original Series

This is My Apology Song - Jim Kirk/Bones McCoy - Rated Gen - Arguing and Making Up, Hurt/Comfort

Summary: Jim finds Bones in his office when it ticks over into Gamma shift, and Bones still hasn't come to bed.

Excerpt: Jim scrubs at his own cheek. He's pretty tired, too. It's not like he could sleep last night, too worked up after their little implosion to even try, and it doesn't look like Bones got much rest either. "Because it's a sensitive subject," he finally replies. "And I was an insensitive asshole about it." He gets a snort for that. "Hey, those were the exact words you used. And, you know. If the shoe fits, I might as well wear it."

Read on AO3

Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns

Gentian - Kasumi/Lisette - Rated Gen - Fluff

Summary: Kasumi's secret admirer is not so secret.

Excerpt: Lisette looks up when Kasumi finally gets to the work table. "You're not as subtle as you think are," Kasumi says, and carefully unwraps the bouquet to arrange the flowers gently into one of the many empty vases nearby.

Read on AO3

Marvel Cinematic Universe

Three Roads, One Line - James “Bucky” Barnes/Clint Barton/Laura Barton - Rated Teen - Post-Avengers (2012), Laura-centric, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship

Summary: Clint has been compromised by a god, James is in the middle of it, and Laura just wants both of her boys to come home safe.

Excerpt: They have contingency plans upon contingency plans, and none of them were ever made for this.

"I need to talk to James," Laura says, and tries to keep her voice as steady as she can when she feels a tug on her pant leg. She reaches down and runs her shaking fingers through Lila's hair.

Read on AO3

Longmire (TV)

No Place to Be (And Miles to Go) - Walt Longmire/Vic Moretti - Rated Mature - Hurt/Comfort, Growing Old Together, Non-Linear Narrative, Injuries, Character Study

Summary: Five years after Walt retires, Vic's still searching for her place in Wyoming and Walt's still getting into trouble.

Excerpt: It’s the end of the fourth day since they found him, three and a half days after the emergency surgery, three days after the infection set in, and Walt’s fever has finally broken, at least. Four days of sitting and waiting, picking at her nails, sleeping in the hospital recliner, and only leaving the room to get a cafeteria tray or a drink from the machine down the hall.

Vic has a laptop and a bunch of DVDs that Ferg’s brought her, and they’re all fucking westerns, because of course they are. “You need a new hat,” she tells Walt as the first part of Lonesome Dove plays. Robert Duvall is saying goodbye to his pigs. “This is gonna be five hours of my life I won’t be able to get back, but at least his hat’s impressive. You should get a hat like that.”

If Walt were awake, he’d probably say, “I’ll buy a new hat for my own funeral,” or something equally as at home in one of Ferg’s stupid westerns.

But Walt isn’t awake.

So Vic sits and watches Lonesome Dove while also sitting and watching Walt. Turns out it’s six and a half hours of her life she won’t get back, not five. Whatever. She’s got time to kill anyway.

Read on AO3

#fanfic #teen wolf #trio of towns #marvel #longmire #st:aos #sterek

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magpiemorality · 5 years ago

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On the sixth day of Christmas

Kid!Deceit, Patton, Kid!Roman, Kid!Remus, Virgil & Kid!Logan, Victorian(ish) AU. Roughly Victorian-ish setting. Young Daniel (Deceit) is sent away to the countryside for unknown reasons to stay with his Uncle Patton and his cousins Roman and Remus. These are excerpts from his diary, spanning from his arrival in the beginning of winter to Christmas day.

Six Geese A’Laying

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Dear diary.

I don't like it here. The farm is smelly and loud and the house is always dirty no matter how much I complain! My cousins are rowdy and disgusting and crude, and Remus in particular had developed a fondness for flinging animal dung at me whenever I'm forced out to help. He and Roman are the most boorish, awful boys I've ever met. Why did I have to be related to them?

It's not fair. I want to go back home but Uncle Patton says it's not possible right now, and that father is expecting me to stay until the new year at least, even though that's so long! I'm going to have the worst time ever.

Love,

Daniel

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Dear diary,

I hate it I hate it I hate it! I hate them! Roman keeps making fun of my birthmark and he won't stop even when I say so and when I pushed him over Uncle Patton was angry at me instead! I HATE IT HERE. They wouldn't even believe me when I said I was too sick to do my chores today- Uncle Patton says lying is bad but Roman and Remus do it all the time, especially when they've done something bad and want to blame me. I only do it sometimes, because they deserve it.

There was one good thing today- the man that looks after the horses in the barn let me ride the gelding for the first time. His name is Verjel (I think?) and he's very tall and very quiet and very polite. I told him it was nice to meet someone with some manners and respect in this dump and he just smiled and showed me how to feed the horses right so they don't bite your hand. I like the horses now.

Love,

Daniel

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Dear diary,

Roman is a total beast. He hid my gloves outside in the pig sty where they got utterly ruined, and then he refused to admit to it when Uncle Patton asked. It was really obvious it was him though, and Uncle Patton said he was in big trouble. He also said it was okay when I cried, but I made him promise not to tell anyone. He also said we could go and get some more in the market in a few days, but they won't be the same. Those were my special birthday gloves from father last year, and they were made in India I think. I don't think they'll have them in the market here in this nowhere town.

Virgil (I asked how to spell his name, he said I could find it in a book and he brought me the book yesterday so I could see it, but I'm not allowed to read the book yet because Uncle Patton says it's too scary for me) let me come and take the horses out today. I helped him pull them to the pasture in the early morning, and I got up especially for it! Uncle Patton said it was good to see me finally taking an interest, but I'm not really, it's only because Virgil is showing me the more grown up stuff. Remus isn't allowed to help with the horses yet, and Roman is a scaredy cat. I'm the only one Virgil lets work with him and I think it's neat.

Love,

Daniel

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Dear diary,

It's nearly Christmas and father has written me a letter! He says he will visit for Christmas day before he has to return to the manor to continue sorting things out. I don't know what things there are to sort out, but it sounds terribly important. Uncle Patton didn't look very happy when he read his letter, but he wouldn't tell me why. He said he was excited to hear about father's visit, but I think he was lying. Why do grown ups do that so much, and then tell us off for it?

Remus was nice to me today. He said it was very impressive that I was allowed to help with the horses so much, and he helped me carry the tack (that's what Virgil calls the saddle and the bridle and the reins and things) back to the tack room. I said I would ask if Virgil would let him ride the gelding for Christmas maybe. I hope he says yes- Remus looked very happy and it was really nice.

Love,

Daniel

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Dear diary,

Father is delayed. He was meant to arrive the night before Christmas, but he sent word that he was stuck at home still. Roman said it meant he wasn't coming because I'm not important enough, and I hit him. Uncle Patton was very upset with both of us, but it was all Roman's stupid fault! Of course I'm important enough! Roman is a poop head and I will never like him. Uncle Patton said Roman was just upset because his father is no longer around, but he wouldn't explain what that meant and I think he was lying again because he likes Roman more, because Roman is the best at milking the cows.

When father arrives I will tell him how mean Roman has been (Remus is my friend now so not him) and he will take me far away from here. I will miss Remus and Virgil a little bit, but I miss my room and my gloves and my butler so much more. I will not miss Roman. I might miss Uncle Patton a little bit, but only if he's not mean to me again before then.

Love,

Daniel

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Dear diary,

Father is unable to come for Christmas. I think I may run away.

Daniel

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Dear diary,

I'm in big trouble and I might not be allowed to help Virgil with the horses again. Uncle Patton has banned me going anywhere without him after I nearly froze to death in the barn. Which isn't true! I was just fine sleeping there and I was just a bit cold, and Virgil found me right away in the morning! Uncle Patton was really angry though, and he cried a bit which was strange, and even Roman has been very quiet recently. I was only in bed asleep for two days, not even half a week! I was just really tired, I don't know why they're blaming me.

Remus made me a drawing when I was in bed. It's really ugly but I love it. It has me, Remus, Virgil and the gelding in a field fighting an evil dragon that has eaten lots of people. It's a bit horrid but it makes me happy to see it anyway. Roman hasn't spoken to me at all. I wonder if he's sick too?

Love,

Daniel

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Dear diary,

Roman had a horrible nightmare last night. It woke everyone up, and even Remus was crying about it. Uncle Patton promised it was just a bad dream but Roman didn't eat any breakfast and Remus was acting weird after they had private twin time and talked about it. I think they talked about it, anyway. Uncle Patton says there are some things that aren't meant to be shared and that I mustn't ask what it's about, because if Roman wants to tell me he will. I think that's silly- he never wants to tell me anything! So how will I know what's going on if I don't ask?

Father sent a gift ahead of Christmas to say sorry. I have put it under the tree and I'll open it when he should have been here. Why couldn't he come for one day? I asked Virgil and he says it's only a medium long trip, and can be done in a day in the carriage. Then he said I must promise him to tell him if I want to go away anywhere so he can help me, and I did. I won't go anywhere though. Father didn't put anything in his message about when I was sick. Maybe Uncle Patton didn't tell him? He would probably have come if he knew.

Love,

Daniel

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Dear diary,

Tomorrow is Christmas. The animals are in the barn and we all went to sing carols at the church down the lane, and me and Remus and Roman sat on the gelding while Virgil and Uncle Patton walked. It was really pretty inside and everyone was really jolly and there were mince pies and another boy named Logan played chase with us so it was really fun. It was really late because it was called midnight mass and I was so tired I fell asleep on the gelding and Virgil had to piggy back me home instead. Then we all had a sleepover in Remus and Roman's room, after we put our stockings out and some carrots out for the reindeer. I hope I don't get coal- Remus says he knows someone who got coal once, but he never has even though he's not always good at not being naughty. I used to hope Roman would get coal, but he's been a lot nicer since I was sick and I think we could be nearly friends now. So I don't hope he gets coal.

I wish father were here to blow out the candle. Uncle Patton doesn't do it quite right. But he's here to do it now anyway, so goodnight.

Love,

Daniel

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Dear diary,

I had the best Christmas ever! There was a big turkey to eat and no one got any coal and I got some new gloves from Roman and Remus and a book about horses from Uncle Patton and the bestest of all was from Virgil- I got my own horse riding boots! They're not new but they almost fit really well and they're shiny because Virgil cleaned them lots and he says we can add extra socks to make sure I can wear them right away! Father's gift was just a toy car but I'm not grateful, even if Uncle Patton says I should be. I gave it to Roman because he likes cars and he gave me a hug. It was nice.

When we went outside to play in the snow I was on Roman's team against Remus and we won, and then we switched and I was with Remus and we won again! I think I'm good at snowball fights. Virgil told us all a story after dinner and we went out to collect the eggs, and Uncle Patton made a funny joke about the geese, but they don't lay eggs at Christmas time, Logan told me that when we met, so I don't know why it was funny.

I love it here. I never want to leave ever!

Love,

Daniel

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12 Days of Sides-mas Masterpost

#deceit sanders #sympathetic deceit #remus sanders #sympathetic remus #patton sanders #roman sanders #logan sanders #virgil sanders #sanders sides #sanders side fic #my writing #ts sanders sides #12 days of sidesmas #writing challenge #kid fic #tw: child abandonment

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human-trash-fire · 5 years ago

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Beautiful Disaster: Chapter 5 (Pynch Soulmate AU)

Alrighty my loves, this chapter has been a labor of love from the beginning. As you continue reading you will see art pieces and each is correlated with a song (those will be at the end), and references yet again will be made to the EMFS playlist (Ronan’s rehab playlist- I’ve actually made it on spotify! you can find it here)

As usual you can find this story on Ao3 @ glam_reaper 2 if you’re interested <3

TW: Mention of suicide attempt, a panic attack though not super descriptive, cannon typical language.

Iv.

You,

I made a friend last week.

I know for most people that wouldn’t be a big deal, but I assume by now You understand what that means for someone like me. I guess “friend” may be a generous term? I don’t know if we are there yet, Blue definitely disagrees with him “on principle.”

You see, President Cellphone as she calls him, or Richard Campbell Gansey III (I know, what a douchey fucking name) is all boat shoes and privledge and perfect teeth. Gansey isn’t someone I’d normally associate with mind you, Henry kind of met my quota for rich extroverts in the inner circle, and yet…

So, here’s the story. I’m writing my last letter right? And I was so fucking lost. I decided to walk home from Nino’s- I thought maybe it would help me settle. And there, right around the corner is this fucking ‘73 camero. It should have been beautiful, really.. A classic like that? It’s a dream to look at. Only this fucking thing is the UGLIEST color of candy orange you could ever imagine… And it’s blowing smoke all over the damn place. I was honestly going to leave boat-shoes to call his daddy or mechanic or what have you, but he looked so confused. I offered to help him out and was able to get it running long enough to get to Boyd’s.

I expected him to just drop off “The Pig” (the car) like any normal person and come back for it, only I apparently made “quite the impression.”

Gansey ended up staying with me, prattling on about his Masters History program and some welsh king the ENTIRE time I worked on the damn car. At first I was tuning him out, but without realizing it I became completely entranced by the whole story. I’ve never seen such passion for anything, and I have VERY spirited friends.

He has one of those voices you know? The kind that can stop a room, raise an army, lead a nation. The kind that demands to be heard without ever having to raise itself.

That’s Gansey though.

I think he’ll be good for me, I don’t think he’d give me much of a choice in the matter though to be honest. He kind of adopted me this week? That should bother me and yet, being around him is just… It’s being included. It’s a sense of purpose.

I think he needs it too, he doesn’t seem to talk about negative things but you can tell, he’s haunted by something. That’s what solidified it for me really. He may be a senator’s son but he’s seen some shit.

I wish you could have met him, I wonder if you would have been as intrigued by him as I find myself.

Blue is being a total idiot about him, but I’m about 82% sure it’s because she is into him. I know for sure the feeling is mutual. It took Gans approximately 15 minutes after meeting Blue to ask me for her life story, offend her beyond measure, and then haul ass out of Nino’s. It was the first time I’d seriously laughed in so long. Have you ever been second-hand embarrassed for someone? It was that.

I’m going to wrap this up now though, I need to head to Nino’s for my shift, Blue’s working so of course Gans is stopping by. He said he’s bringing one of his best friends with him, some dude named Noah. Apparently he’s pretty cool, so I’m moderately less apprehensive. He said he wished he could bring his other best friend/ his and Noah’s third roommate but the guy is staying with family for a few months or something. Idk? He doesn’t talk about the other roommate much. I honestly don’t even think he’s ever said his name. Who gives a shit though, I can barely handle one new friend, let alone a 3-pack of Ganseys. Good God… I hope Noah isn’t another Gansey…. Fuck.

Welp.

Here goes nothing.

*****

It started with a not-so-subtle idea from the esteemed Dr. Allen. “Show me what happened.” Ronan was never great with words before all this, and since… When he spoke it was usually a litany of curse words. So Dr. Allen had suggested art. In the weeks since his entombment in this fine rehabilitation center, Ronan had kind of already been doing what he was being asked to do now. Though, he didn’t mention it to Allen. He’d spent countless hours sketching his life, the whole thing, in snapshots inside that beautiful leather sketchbook Gansey had given him.

He started at the beginning, pictures of Aurora and his brothers, the Barns, his father playing guitar by the fire. He drew their family vacations, the cows he used to sneak out and sleep beside when he was a child, the feeling of winning the Tennis State Championship when he was 15. He drew the bad things too, his nightmares, his drug-trips, that old stained couch in the basement of Kavinsky’s house. He put every piece of himself, all 22 years of memories down in that book, woven together with song lyrics in the margins.

So when Dr. Allen asked him to look specifically to his addiction and create, he didn’t see a problem. He needed to return to school with a series anyways, Declan had called to inform him that strings had been pulled to allow him to finish his final semester at Georgetown, but he needed to walk in with something to show at the January exhibition. Two birds, and all that.

He settled on 7 pieces, each done in oils on canvas, each accompanied by a song. 7 moments in the life of his battle with addiction, from the beginning to now. With each stroke of his brush he felt infinesmally lighter, pouring his grief into the images before him.

It started with “The Fall.” His father’s murder in reds and greys; fracturing lines and deep shadows. He mixed his paints with tears and used his heart to drag color across the canvas. For the first time in years, Ronan allowed the memory to consume him. He’d re-lived it plenty of times in his nightmares, but this was different. His hands shook, jagged strokes of anger and confusion bleeding through. He painted the brief moment, the final moment, when his world was whole before his teenage mind finally realized what it was he was looking at. His last free breath. And he painted his screams, the cacophony of pain, endlessly mixing with sirens until his vocal chords gave out.

He drowned the canvas in un-kept promises and hung it out to dry with childhood dreams.

Then came “Chasing the Void.” It was a story told in stark lighting. High beams on a backroad, swirling smoke and broken bottles. It was white glasses and white-powder lines on shark-nosed hood. It was going 115mph, bones rattling with the beat of the bass in his sound system. Ronan painted a black tattoo, used the blood on his knuckles to tint bloodshot eyes. His brush moved with his mother’s disappointment and his brother’s anger. Whimsical lines and Gansey’s head shaking when he found Ronan passed out yet again. He painted the highs and lows when sobriety reminded him that he hated the face that stared back at him in the mirror.

Each new piece he added to the collection was brought to Dr. Allen’s office. Together they worked through each memory associated with the piece and slowly Ronan felt the weight on his chest lighten.

Gansey visited every Monday and Friday like clockwork. He kept Ronan apprised to all the goings on of Monmouth and updates on Matthew and Declan. Ronan never asked for them, but he appreciated it regardless. His current obsession though seemed to be a new friend, Adam something. He had been going on for 30 minutes now about how this man single-handedly raised the Pig from the dead. Ronan tuned out most of the conversation, but nodded at what he assumed were appropriate moments while sketching.

“Ronan, are you even paying attention?” Gansey asked, irritation only slightly evident.

“Mmm?” Ronan hummed. “For sure. Pig. Smoke. Some new guy.”

“Essentially. I was saying that Noah and I are heading to his second job, the man works 2 jobs and is getting a masters can you believe it? Anyways Nino’s, so Noah can finally meet him and Blue. Have I mentioned her yet?”

Blue? He thought. Who the fuck names their kid Blue. “Once or twice.”

“Well they both work this afternoon, so I assume we’ll just hang there until they get off. Then maybe grab a bite. I wish you could come, I’m sure you’d get along nicely with Adam.” Gansey said, choosing to ignore the previous sarcasm and barrell on. Excelsior.

“Doubt it.” Guy sounds like a douche.

“On that note, thank you for another lovely visit. I’ll see you Monday, Ronan.” Gansey gathered his coat and made his way to the door with a final wave.

Ronan waved back with a single finger and a saccharine “Bye, Dick.” Then shoved his Airpods back into his ears and lost himself in the EMFS playlist.

*****

As Adam gathered the tub of dirty dishes from above the trash and made his way back to wash them, he was lost in thought. These last two weeks, recent events, had been so much and yet he strangely was beginning to feel some semblance of peace. He knew that Blue had wanted him to write letters to help him cope. If he was admitting to it helping, he also needed to be honest with himself in noting that it may have been hurting just as much. He was falling in love with a ghost. A figment of his imagination that he could tell his every secret too, someone who listened without judgment; Someone who never asked more of him than he could handle. It wasn’t healthy, wasn’t what Blue had intended, of that he was sure. But, if it brought him peace and allowed him to sleep without seeing cold, dead eyes, then what was the harm?

He rinsed the mugs and plates loading them efficiently into the dishwasher, and dried his hands. As he moved to toss the towel into the bin, he heard the bell chime above the cafe door. He made his way slowly to the front, knowing that Blue was currently handling the register meant that he didn’t need to rush. On his way down the hallway he stopped to straighten a missing cat flier on the community bulletin board, taking a moment to snap a picture of the cat in question so he could be on the lookout, then continued toward the front; eyes glued to his phone.

He rounded the corner towards the coffee bar to the tune of laughter, it seemed Gansey had arrived. His eyes found Blue first. For all her insistance that she loathed the man in question, she was positively glowing, head tossed back in a hearty laugh. Lost in the bubble of charm Gansey operated in.

“-And so I asked him, mind you I’ve had a lot to drink at this point, ‘Hey senator, why do you fucking hate poor peo-‘ Oh! Adam” Ganseys story of embarrassing his mother at one of her Republican fundraisers interrupted, as he caught sight of Adam sliding behind the bar.

“Hey Gans,” He smiled.

“My apologies, this is Noah.” Gansey stepped to the side to reveal the man in question, and Adam’s breath stopped.

There, eyes blue and wide with shock, mouth agape stood the man from the alley. The one whose scream still haunted Adam in the dark, solitary hours of sleep. The one that began his every nightmare of that night.

He was different now, tears weren’t pouring from his eyes to dance across the plains of his smudgey face. His blonde hair free of blood was slightly tousled, and his clothes were clean, albeit a little disheveled.

“No,” the word was a broken noise, barely a word at all, closer to a sob. Gansey and Blue looked frantically between the two for what seemed like an eternity before Noah spoke.

“It’s you…”

“Who? Noah, you know Adam?” Gansey’s voice was quietly confused.

Adam began to shake his head slowly, increasing with speed as his breath finally returned to him; Erratic and wild. Crocodile tears blurred his vision, and he finally croaked a simple question, “What… What was his name?”

“Ronan.”

“Oh, god” Blue breathed.

Adam ran, desperately fleeing the scene and chorus of his name called from the front. Ronan, his name was Ronan. Adam couldn’t breathe. His pain fresh, an un-mendable wound reopened now that he had a name to grieve. He paused, only long enough to grab his messenger bag from the back, and took the alley door.

Then he ran, faster than he’d ever remembered running. Tears turning the colors of the world around him to a haunting watercolor. His breath came in painful stabs, each beat of his bleeding heart an excruciating truth.

He somehow made it back to his apartment. The moment the door closed behind him he fell against it and slid to the floor. Ronan Ronan Ronan-

“R-Ronan.” He spoke the name the first time aloud, the feeling of its weight on his tongue was an answer to a question he’d been asking for a month. For a lifetime.

Adam didn’t know how long he sat on the floor, grief taking time and twisting it in on itself. An amalgam of pain, hopelessness, and questions. Gansey, Gansey knew Ronan, knew Noah. Noah the boy he’d last seen carted away in the back of an ambulance covered in red red red. Noah, who’d screamed for help like the world was shattering. Noah, who’d clung tightly to the shredded arms of a bleeding man in a dark alley.

Help me, his mind screamed, his internal voice morphing into Noah’s from that night.

Help me, I’m not okay…

A key twisting in the lock above his head brought his attention to the present. Adam pushed away from the door, and waited as Blue made her way into his dark apartment. Night had fallen sometime since he’d been here, on the floor, lost in the alley. Lost in a name.

“Hey,” she whispered.

“Th-that was-”

“I know. Noah told us after you left. Adam, there’s… Adam. I need to tell you something.”

It was a concentrated effort to drag his gaze from the space between their bodies on the floor to meet her eyes. Lights from the street poured through the window in the living room, painting Blue’s honey warm skin in a haunting glow. He couldn’t bring himself to ask, so he waited. He watched. She brought a trembling hand to his, her brown eyes lined with silver, she squeezed.

“Adam, he’s alive.”

A sob born of heartbreak and pain tore from his chest, he couldn’t form words. He broke then, completely and wholly. Blue came to cradle his head against her chest as he cried. Every hope he’d killed since the alley came barreling to the surface; All the pain and confusion, love and questions, beating like waves against the shores of his mind. Some minutes later he finally raised his head and met Blue’s eyes, her smile was wet and broken. He dragged his hand under his nose, across his eyes, and finally found the word to the question he needed to ask. “How?”

So Blue told him. Apparently, him finding Noah and Ronan in that alley, the tourniquet he’d made of his scarf, that extra minute he’d bought him had been enough. The doctors were able to stitch his wounds, and though it had been a close call, he’d pulled through. She explained that he’d had a hard life, though Gansey wouldn’t give details because he insisted those were Ronan’s to share when he was ready. He did however give her basic facts. Ronan Niall Lynch is an artist, a senior at Georgetown. He’s an orphan, and a brother. He’s an addict in recovery at a facility in Arlington, and Gansey’s third roommate.

Blue explained that, when Adam was ready Gansey and Noah wanted to meet with him, to talk more. She offered to accompany him when that time came, but they all agreed they wouldn’t push him until he was ready. “Thank you,” he’d said to Blue. For getting the information. For telling him. For allowing him space. She understood that his history made this difficult, an addict for a soulmate was something he would need time to process. She eventually asked if he wanted to be alone and when he’d told her “yes” she kissed his forehead, and made her way to the door.

“Adam,” she paused, and he looked up. “We’ll wait on your text okay? Whenever you’re ready. But please check in so I know you’re safe.”

“I will.”

With a perfunctory nod she slid back out the door.

Adam spent another minute in silence before dragging himself from the floor. He made his way in a daze to his desk and he collapsed into his chair. Slowly, he pulled out a blank sheet of paper.

His hand shook.

He took a deep breath.

He wrote.

Ronan,

You’re alive…

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

Art Pieces and their correlating songs (linked):

“The Fall” The War- SYML

“Chase The Void” For What It’s Worth- Malia J

#bd au #pynch #pynch fic #Adam Parrish #ronan lynch #ronan x adam #blue sargent #gansey #richard campbell gansey iii #gangsey #soulmate au

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avantegarda · 5 years ago

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Wonderful 1000: The Merry Misadventures of Chopin the Pig

@cherepashkadrabbles requested a tale featuring an assortment of Kiraly-von Holstadt family pets and somehow this happened. Enjoy!

It was all Anna’s fault, really.

Not Anna Király the elder—that esteemed matriarch had gone to her reward over a decade prior, though Andras insisted that her spirit still kept a watchful eye over the family, particularly around Christmas. The perpetrator this time was Anna Király the younger, aged three, the apple of her mother’s eye: a plump, auburn-haired little elf with strong opinions on absolutely everything.

The opinions, this time, were regarding the family dachshund.

“Wolfgang is sad,” Anna insisted, with a fervent tug at her mother’s skirts. “Sad sad sad.”

Marta reluctantly put down the letter she was reading—a rare missive from her friend Sophie in New York—and regarded her daughter with surprise. “What on earth do you mean, Anna darling? Wolfgang is the happiest dog in Vienna. He has lots of food and a warm bed and you and Sofia and Zoltan to play with him. He has no reason at all to be sad.”

Anna shook her head firmly. “No, he sad. Lonely. He need ‘nother dog. Or kitty.”

“He’s lo…” Marta paused, her stomach twisting in sudden worry. How exactly did Anna, still practically a baby, know that word? Was Anna lonely? It couldn’t be terribly easy to be the youngest in their family, that much was true. Sofia and Zoltan, while affectionate and kind older siblings, had a tendency to disappear into their own artistic pursuits, just as their father did; Sofia with her singing lessons and Zoltan with his drawing. Leaving little Anna...well, out.

Perhaps it wasn’t Wolfgang who needed another animal around the house.

“I’ll tell you what, darling,” Marta said slowly. “Your uncle Heini spends most of his time out in the country and he knows all sorts of animals. Perhaps he’ll have a kitten or a puppy who needs a new home.”

Andras might have some objections to another pet being brought in without warning...but at the smile on Anna’s round face Marta really couldn’t bring herself to care.

Heini’s reply was swift and enthusiastic.

Dear Marta,

I was wondering when you were going to ask me this very question. Three children and only one old dog around the place to keep them company? It’s obscene.

I have just the beast for you, too. You’re expecting a barn cat or some such, I’m sure, but I have a slightly more unusual suggestion. I’ve convinced Father to let me acquire a new kind of miniature pig from the East (I won’t bore you with all the agricultural details), and one of the sows has just produced an excellent litter of piglets. Would Anna like one? As babies they’re the size of a cat, practically, and they don’t grow to be more than two feet tall. Once he gets older he might have to spend most of his time in the back garden, but I can guarantee the children will love him.

Your affectionate brother,

Heini

“A pig?” Andras said incredulously that night, as he and Marta got into bed. “In the house? I always knew your brother was just as mad as you are but this seems like a bit much.”

“But it’ll be wonderful for the children, darling,” Marta replied. “Think what an educational experience it will be for them to have a new kind of animal to learn to take care of!”

“They’ve already got more animals than I ever had as a child. I had to make do with Erszi the pigeon, while our youngsters have Wolfgang and Nyafi and all the animals at Burg Holstadt…”

“Nyafi is a wonderful cat,” said Marta, “but she spends all her time in Pest and so the children only get to see her about half the year. And Andras, I think that…” She paused, collecting her thoughts. “I think Anna needs this. Yes, she’s still very young, but she needs something that’s hers. Why not a pig?”

Andras sighed, though it was obvious that his resistance was softening. “I still say pigs belong in the barn, not in the house. Is this one of those things that’s so lower-class it’s gone full circle and somehow become fashionable?”

“Undoubtedly.” Marta snuggled closer and planted a kiss on her husband’s cheek. “And we’ll be the most fashionable family on the Wipplingerstrasse.”

“Hmm,” said Andras wryly. “If it’s a matter of fashion, I suppose I can’t possibly refuse. Now come over here and give me a proper kiss.”

Marta grinned triumphantly as her husband pulled her into his arms. If anyone ever asked why she’d given up a title and a fortune to marry a musician—as they still occasionally did—it was moments like this that she pointed to. Every single time.

The newest member of the family arrived two weeks later, carried in a basket and delivered by a beaming Heini. It was certainly a fetching creature; small and bristly and ivory-colored with dark splotches and shining eyes. And the children, of course, were utterly enchanted by it.

“What should we call him?” six-year-old Zoltan demanded. “Should it be a Hungarian name?”

Sofia rolled her eyes. “No, silly, Nyafi the cat already has a Hungarian name. The pig needs an Austrian one.”

“But Wolfgang already has an Austrian name…”

“Well, Wolfgang is named after a composer,” Marta cut in gently. “So perhaps this little fellow should be too. Andras, what music does he make you think of when you see him?”

“He has rather melancholy eyes, doesn’t he,” said Andras. He scratched his chin thoughtfully and hummed a few bars of something slow and romantic. Both Sofia and Zoltan screwed up their faces, thinking deeply, until finally Sofia clapped her hands in triumph.

“Of course!” she cried. “Chopin! It’s perfect.”

“Well, I certainly like it,” said Marta. “But Anna should have the final say. What do you think, love?”

The entire family looked down at Anna, who was crouched by the basket softly petting the piglet’s bristles. At the sound of her name, the little girl looked up and beamed.

“Chopin,” she said. “My piggie.”

There appeared to be nothing more to say on the subject.

“I am going to make that damn creature into kolbasz,” Andras growled. “I mean it, Marta. This is the last straw.”

Marta’s eyebrows went up. “Final straw? What were the first straws?” She had to admit, the last month having Chopin as a pet had been slightly less peaceful than expected, but she hadn’t been aware of anything too terrible. Besides, the children loved him.

“Well, first of all, Anna insists on letting him sleep in her room, and he knocks everything over and chews on all her toys. And then Zoltan put paint on his hooves for some piece of art he wanted to do—is that what art is coming to in this country?—and Chopin tracked it everywhere. And now,” Andras said with bitter triumph, “he has destroyed my work.”

Marta inhaled sharply. “He hasn’t broken Clara, has he?” Though technically an inanimate object, Andras’ beloved violin had been a part of the Király family since 1861, and if something happened to her…

“No, thank God. If Chopin damaged Clara he’d be at the butcher’s shop this very minute. But what he did do isn’t much better. I have a performance in three weeks, at which I am supposed to be debuting my No. 4 in B Minor which I have been working on all week, but that creature,” said Andras grimly, “has gone and defecated on it.”

The snort of laughter that escaped her lips was one Marta immediately regretted, and at Andras’ scowl she quickly apologized. “But how did he get on top of your sheet music, darling? Was it on the floor?”

“I don’t see how it matters where my papers were,” Andras said primly (which translated to “yes, they were on the floor, due to my excessive absentmindedness”). “We need to get that thing properly trained or he’ll be going right back to the country where he belongs.”

“I’ll take care of it. Now get back to work.” Marta wagged a stern finger in her husband’s direction. “If you give a performance that isn’t a success my parents still may find a way to annul our marriage.”

It was a generally understood rule in the Király household that when Andras was in his study composing, he was only to be disturbed in the event of an emergency. This was less because it would annoy him and more because when he was focused on music, he was temporarily incapable of thinking about anything else.

All of this was to say that, when Sofia cautiously entered the study shortly before dinner on Saturday, it was clearly a matter of some concern.

“Papa?” she asked. And, when her father neglected to look up, a bit louder: “Pa?”

Andras, whose world for the past two hours had consisted entirely of the concerto he was writing, jolted out of his reverie to find his hands nearly black with ink and a worried-looking eight-year-old staring at him. “What’s the matter, Sofia?”

“Have you seen Zoltan?” Sofia blurted out.

“Sofia, your brother will be holed up in his bedroom or out in the garden. Is this really…”

“He’s not, though. I’ve looked everywhere, he’s missing.” Sofia sniffled and wiped at her eyes. “And it’s all my fault. The von Braumark twins came for a visit today and Zoltan wanted to play with us but Lottie said he couldn’t because he’s a boy and Liesel and I went along with it and he was so upset, and after the twins left I went to find him to say sorry and he’s gone.”

Having grown up with three temperamental younger sisters, Andras was quite accustomed to children going missing and then reappearing at the oddest of times. Therefore the news of Zoltan’s evident disappearance was no cause to panic.

Not yet, anyway.

Two hours later, through concentrated search efforts and several hastily dispatched messages, the Királys had been able to establish a list of places where Zoltan was not.

He wasn’t anywhere in the house or back garden.

He was not at his grandparents’ house (as far as anyone could tell, though the von Holstadt mansion had eighty rooms and it took considerable time to search all of them).

He was not at the homes of any of their family friends, nor was he in the nearby park.

And while all of this information was technically useful, it was not making Marta and Andras any less worried.

“I don’t want to call the police, but I think we might have to,” said Andras, pacing back and forth across the sitting room floor as he had been for the last ten minutes. “How else are we supposed to track the wretched boy down?”

Anna, who was crouched on the floor patting Chopin, looked up eagerly. “Chopin can find him.”

“Anna, darling,” Marta sighed. “Chopin is a very nice pig but I don’t think…”

“No, Mama, she’s right. Pigs have a good sense of smell, even better than dogs,” said Sofia. “And they’re very clever too. If we give him something of Zoltan’s to smell, and then we follow him…” She trailed off, looking up at her parents hopefully.

Marta and Andras looked at each other for a long moment, until finally Marta sighed and nodded. “I suppose it’s worth a try.”

The five (four and a half?) of them made a rather odd sight on the rainy Viennese streets: Andras holding both Anna and a bright red umbrella, Marta clutching Sofia’s hand and Chopin’s lead. A proper traveling circus, that’s what they were. Marta would have found the situation more amusing had she not been scared out of her wits.

Chopin, at least, seemed to have understood his instructions. After getting a good whiff of Zoltan’s nightshirt he appeared to recognize the boy’s scent and was now trotting along briskly, pausing occasionally to snuffle at the ground. If he actually found Zoltan, Marta decided, she would feed him the finest scraps to be found anywhere in the city.

Finally, after what seemed like hours but was probably only ten minutes, Chopin halted in his tracks at the imposing gothic facade of St. Maria’s am Gestade. He snuffled at the ground for a moment as though confirming a suspicion, and then grunted with satisfaction.

“Is it sacrilegious to bring a pig into a church?” Marta inquired.

“If we’re looking for a missing child, then I’d say we’ll be forgiven,” Andras replied. “And this door had better be unlocked.”

It was, thank goodness. And when Marta’s eyes had adjusted to the gloom, she detected, in one of the front pews, a small dark-haired figure sitting completely still.

“Zoltan!”

The little boy looked up in surprise as his family all but ambushed him. “Mama? Papa? Chopin? What time is it?”

“Past time for you to be home! I am so glad you’re safe.” Marta pulled her son into a tight hug before pulling back with a frown. “But darling, what on earth are you doing here?”

“I like that painting,” Zoltan replied, pointing up at the glorious gold-hued altarpiece. “It always makes me feel better. So I thought I would come and sit here until I stopped being cross with Sofia.” He looked down at his feet and kicked his legs guiltily. “But it was naughty to run away, wasn’t it.”

“Very naughty,” Marta said, with considerably less sternness than she intended. “You’re lucky that we found you.”

“No, Chopin find him,” Anna insisted from Andras’ arms.

“Chopin was brilliant,” gushed Sofia. “Pa, you like him now, don’t you? You won’t have him made into sausages?”

Andras let out an exaggerated sigh. “I suppose so, but I expect you lot to keep him in line. Train him up. No feral pigs in my house, if you please.”

As the children launched into a debate about what tricks, if any, Chopin could be trained to do, Marta reached down and scratched the piglet gently between the ears. “Thank you,” she whispered. “I knew you were worth the trouble.”

While none of the other members of the family would believe her, Marta insisted that Chopin replied to this with a very cheeky wink.

#it's tooo loonnggg #but here tis #wonderful 1000 #my writing #unshakeable #we stan chopin the mini pig

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centerofstupidity · 4 years ago

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Varney the Vampire Chapter 3

If you enjoy the content you are reading, please like and follow the Center of Stupidity blog.

Interested in reading the previous Varney the Vampire chapter snarks? They can be found here.

Chapter summary: Our intrepid heroes the local village idiots shoot Varney. Of course, Varney is wearing thick plot armor.

Which means we get another chapter where characters standing and talking along with more melodrama.

In the event that this gets flagged, here is another place to read the chapter snark.

"He is human!" cried Henry;

You just saw a guy with "metallic eyes" whose mouth was "dabbled in blood" after attacking Flora.

But you are still coming to the conclusion that Varney is human...

Wow, somebody has the I.Q. of Bella Swan.

And yes...

I know that prior to this story being published, vampire lore wasn't well known and culturally speaking vampires were a rather new phenomenon in England.

But if somebody saw what Henry had seen, their first thought wouldn't be "That guy was human and not a supernatural creature."

"I have surely killed him."

He was wearing thick plot armor.

Marchdale agrees and says that they should go outside the wall and find the body.

And here comes a long sentence.

This was at once agreed to,

Hopefully this means we won't have another chapter where characters are just standing around talking to each other.

and the whole three of them made what expedition they could towards a gate

Who knew heading towards a gate was such a strenuous task?

which let into a paddock, across which they hurried, and soon found themselves clear of the garden wall,

According to Merriam Webster, a paddock is usually enclosed area used especially for pasturing or exercising animals.

And the Collins dictionary states that a paddock is a field where horses are kept or exercised.

So why would anyone have a garden next to a paddock?

First of all, you'd be smelling animal droppings.

And the end of the day, somebody would be walking the animals through the garden in order to put them in the stable or barn.

So...

so that they could make way towards where they fully expected to find the body of him

And I bet dollars to doughnuts that they won't find a corpse.

who had worn so unearthly an aspect,

Maybe because he is....

I don't know... Not human!

but who it would be an excessive relief to find was human.

Because a blood-drinking fiend is normal.

So hurried was the progress they made,

That they were sweating like pigs!

that it was scarcely possible to exchange many words as they went;

Unless they suddenly lost the ability to speak...

They can still talk.

a kind of breathless anxiety was upon them,

Sorry, authors.

I don't care what happens to these people.

and in the speed they disregarded every obstacle,

Because in a potential dangerous situation...

It is sensible to be unaware of one's surroundings.

which would, at any other time, have probably prevented them from taking the direct road they sought.

Is the gate obstructed by litter or debris?

If so, why?

And if not, what would have prevented them from taking the direct route?

It was difficult on the outside of the wall to say exactly which was the precise spot which it might be supposed the body had fallen on;

Unless Henry has the attention span of a ferret high on crack...

Henry should remember where he shot Varney.

And by knowing that, he could determine where the body should be.

but, by following the wall its entire length, surely they would come upon it.

I bet that they are not going to find a body.

They did so; but, to their surprise,

Found a leprechaun.

they got from its commencement to its further extremity without finding any dead body, or even any symptoms of one having lain there.

Varney is alive!

Well... For a member of the Undead.

At some parts close to the wall there grew a kind of heath, and, consequently, the traces of blood would be lost among it,

According to Collins Dictionary, a heath is an area of open land covered with rough grass or heather and with very few trees or bushes.

And Merriam Webster defines it as a type of plant or uncultivated land usually with poor and coarse soil.

Which means they are referring to a type of plant.

So unless it has the magical ability to absorb blood...

The three men should be able to find blood if Varney was wounded.

And now that I'm thinking about it, a vampire plant is a cool idea.

if it so happened that at the precise spot at which the strange being had seemed to topple over, such vegetation had existed.

Ugh. Reading this made my brain hurt.

So there was some vegetation when Varney fell over...

And now it no longer exists.

Even though we were told a few seconds ago that the plants made it impossible to see any blood.

So the three guys walk around the wall twice and they can't find anything.

"It could not have been a delusion," at length said Mr. Marchdale, with a shudder.

Also, that's not how delusions work.

Just you see something, doesn't mean that it is real.

And sometimes the delusions are very vivid.

"Then what terrible explanation can we give?"

This sentence sounds weird. It is because they used the word "terrible". Right now, it sounds like one of the men are asking for a bad explanation.

I think the correct word would be "other." But as Mark Twain wisely said:

"By heavens! I know not," exclaimed Henry.

If you knew what was going on, then you wouldn't be bewildered.

"This adventure surpasses all belief, and but for the great interest we have in it, I should regard it with a world of curiosity."

*Takes a deep breath *

That's right, gentlepersons.

A person has been brutally attacked.

But the situation is described as being an "adventure."

Fuck this book with a chainsaw!

"It is too dreadful," said George; "for God's sake, Henry, let us return to ascertain if poor Flora is killed."

You mean that it is a good idea to do an investigation before coming to a conclusion???

"My senses," said Henry, "were all so much absorbed in gazing at that horrible form, that I never once looked towards her further than to see that she was, to appearance, dead. God help her! poor -- poor, beautiful Flora. This is, indeed, a sad, sad fate for you to come to. Flora -- Flora -- "

"Do not weep, Henry," said George. "Rather let us now hasten home, where we may find that tears are premature. She may yet be living and restored to us."

They all agree and hurried back to the house.

Henry, after some trouble, got the hall door opened by a terrified servant, who was trembling so much that she could scarcely hold the light she had with her.

"Speak at once, Martha," said Henry. "Is Flora living?"

"Yes; but -- "

"Enough -- enough! Thank God she lives; where is she now?"

Martha says that Flora is in her bedroom and proceeds to freak out. The three guys rush into the room.

Several lights had been now brought into that antique chamber,

But they clashed with the decor.

and, in addition to the mother of the beautiful girl who had been so fearfully visited,

Somebody placed a creepy clown doll on the nightstand.

there were two female domestics, who appeared to be

using their cell phones and are on Twitter.

in the greatest possible fright,

Because after seeing Flora's mother in a sheer nightgown...

Somethings can't be unseen.

for they could render no assistance whatever to anybody.

Translation?

They are useless.

The tears were streaming down the mother's face,

Because some asshole randomly decided to cut a lot of onions.

and the moment she saw Mr. Marchdale, she clung to his arm,

She was doing a Bella Swan impersonation.

evidently unconscious of what she was about,

Um...

She suddenly doesn't know who she is?

and exclaimed, --

Shitty dialogue mixed with an exposition dump.

"Oh, what is this that has happened -- what is this? Tell me, Marchdale! Robert Marchdale, you whom I have known even from my childhood, you will not deceive me. Tell me the meaning of all this?"

Aside from the "As you know Bob" dialogue...

The mother called Marchdale by his surname and then used his full name.

This doesn't make any sense.

In Victorian times, especially in formal settings, people would be referred to by their surnames or titles.

But if people were friends, they would be calling each other by their first name.

So the mother would be referring to Richard Marchdale as Richard.

Also, just because you know someone from childhood....

It doesn't mean that they are a honest person.

"I cannot," he said, in a tone of much emotion.

"As God is my judge, I am as much puzzled and amazed at the scene that has taken place here to-night as you can be."

And in other news, the Pope is Catholic and bears shit in the woods.

Anyway, the mother bawled her eyes out. I don't blame her.

I would too if I found out that I was a character in a penny dreadful.

"It was the storm that first awakened me," added Marchdale; "and then I heard a scream."

Let's rewind, shall we?

Marchdale asked the two brothers what's going on.

Then Flora started shrieking.

The sound caused Flora's mom to faint.

Marchdale grabs her so she doesn't hit the floor.

He tells Harry/Henry to hold his mother.

Finally, Marchdale cries “Follow me who can!” as he heads towards Flora's room.

What does all this mean?

Flora's mother and the three men heard a noise. Which means, Marchdale wasn't the only one that heard screaming.

Also, Marchdale never previously mentioned that he was awakened by the storm.

Normally, the second point wouldn't be suspicious. But considering the fact that Marchdale lied...

It sounds like he is trying to create an alibi.

In conclusion?

Anyway, the brothers are quivering as they approach the bed. Flora is sitting in bed, being propped up with pillows.

She was quite insensible,

How is this unusual?

It would be MORE surprising if Flora was in a lively mood.

and her face was fearfully pale;

All you need is some glitter, and Flora would be a perfect sparklepire.

while that she breathed

Another vampire failed in killing a damsel in distress.

at all

If Flora doesn't breathe, she would be dead.

could be but very faintly seen.

Um...

People normally don't take deep and heavy breaths.

On some of her clothing,

There was yellow stains.

about the neck, were spots of blood,

How is that possible???

When Varney bit Flora, blood was gushing.

Which means the nightgown and the bed sheets should be soaked with blood.

and she looked more like one who had suffered some long and grievous illness,

You mean when someone is mauled by a vampire, they aren't going to look gorgeous??

Thanks for letting me know!

than a young girl in the prime of life and in the most robust health,

"She was so fit that she could do a triathlon!"

as she had been on the day previous

Because according to Varney the Vampire's logic...

Only healthy people are attacked by vampires.

to the strange scene we have recorded.

It isn't a normal occurrence to be attacked by a vampire.

"Does she sleep?" said Henry

Because the first words that should come out of a person's mouth after someone has been attacked...

Is to ask if they are sleeping.

as a tear fell from his eyes upon her pallid cheek.

Ah, the single tear.

How nauseating.

"No," replied Mr. Marchdale. "This is a swoon, from which we must recover her."

Quick! Somebody fetch the smelling salts!

Active measures were now adopted

Because reviving a damsel in distress is urgent!

Cue the dramatic music!

to restore the languid circulation,

Uh, "languid circulation"?

According to Merriam Webster, languid is defined as being "sluggish" or "lacking in force or quickness in movement."

Correct me if I'm wrong...

If somebody has slow circulation, it means that they have a serious health problem.

and, after persevering in them for some time, they had the satisfaction of seeing her open her eyes.

Instead of being relieved that Flora is awake...

They seem annoyed that it took so long for her to regain consciousness.

Her first act upon consciousness returning,

Was to exclaim her undying devotion to Varney.

however, was to utter a loud shriek,

A shriek is hardly quiet.

and it was not until Henry implored her

"Implored her”?

I guess only a filthy peasant would have used the word begged or pleaded.

to look around her,

To find that the hills are alive with the sound of music.

and see that she was surrounded by none but friendly faces, that she would venture again to open her eyes,

...

.......

Previously, Flora's eyes were already open.

But now, her eyes were closed but she then opened them.

'Ello contradiction!

and look timidly from one to the other.

At least she looked at them "timidly".

It would be unbecoming of a lady to act like a New Woman.

After Flora shuttered, she starts crying and says:

"Oh, Heaven, have mercy upon me -- Heaven, have mercy upon me and save me from that dreadful form."

"There is no one here, Flora," said Mr. Marchdale,

There is:

Mr. Marchdale

Harry/Henry

George

Flora's mother

Two female servants

In total, there are six people in the room excluding Flora.

What Marchdale meant to say was there is nobody here that will harm her.

But as Mark Twain wisely said:

"but those who love you,

"If they really hated you, they would have buried you alive."

and who, in defence of you, if needs were would lay down their lives."

"Despite the fact that you have the personality of stale toast, we would die to save you."

Now that I'm thinking about it... If this was an Anita Blake book, this would result into a sex scene.

So after Mr. Marchdale's declaration, Flora starts yelling "Oh, God!"

"You have been terrified.

"Mr. Marchdale, why are you repeating the obvious?"

"It is because the authors think that the reader has the IQ of a house plant."

But tell us distinctly what has happened?

Gotta love how they must be told "distinctly".

I guess only peasants would only ask what happened.

You are quite safe now."

"Ignore the fact that while you were mauled by an unholy abomination, we bumblefucked around. But believe me when I say that everything is going to be alright."

She trembled so violently that

She resembled a chihuahua defecating on the lawn.

Mr. Marchdale recommended that some stimulant should be give to her,

Because even though the unholy creature will most likely return to try and suck Flora dry, it is best that she be high as a kite.

and she was persuaded,

Because it is like her mama taught her: when somebody offers free drugs, you accept the offer and then ask for a straw.

although not without considerable difficulty,

Because it was the first time, she stuck a needle in her vein.

to swallow a small portion of some wine from a cup.

Because drinking something is a strenuous task.

There could be no doubt but

First it was certain but now it isn't.

In conclusion:

that the stimulating effect of the wine

Alcohol is a depressant.

was beneficial,

Because when someone has been traumatized, the best thing to do is give them booze.

for a slight accession of colour

According to the Cambridge dictionary, "accession" is a time when a country officially joins a group of countries or signs an agreement. It is also used when someone starts a position of authority especially a king or queen.

While Merriam-Webster defines "accession" as a process that someone rises to a position of power or something being added (such as an acquisition).

Which means that "accession" is not a synonym for "spread" or "blushed."

So in conclusion:

visited her cheeks,

At least it visited her.

A churl would have arrived unannounced.

and she spoke in a firmer tone as she said, --

Spoke is past tense word for speak and said is a past tense word for say.

Both words are used when someone is talking.

Which makes this part of this sentence redundant: . . . colour visited her cheeks, and she spoke in a firmer tone as she said, --

Personally, I would remove re-write the sentence as this:

. . . colour visited her cheeks and she spoke in a firm voice.

"Do not leave me. Oh, do not leave me, any of you. I shall die if left alone now. Oh, save me -- save me. That horrible form! That fearful face!"

There is only so much melodrama that a person can endure, so I'll try to summarize some of it.

Henry asks Flora what happened. Flora then refuses to tell him.

Her reasoning? If she did that, then she would "ever sleep again."

Eventually, Henry convinces Flora to tell them what had transpired.

She placed her hands over her face for a moment, as if to collect her scattered thoughts,

Last time I checked...

If someone placed their hands over the face, it doesn't stop them from losing their train of thought.

and then she added, --

"By the way, I'm bi."

"I was awakened by the storm, and I saw that terrible apparition at the window. I think I screamed, but I could not fly. Oh, God! I could not fly. It came -- it seized me by the hair. I know no more. I know no more."

Uh "could not fly"?

Humans don't have wings. Flora should know this.

Honestly, it would make more sense if Flora said that she could not flee.

After Flora runs her hand across her neck several times, Marchdale notices that she has a wound.

After he points out the obvious, Flora's mom freaks out and brings a light closer to the bed. This causes them to all see the wound but it is now only two small puncture marks.

It was from these wounds the blood had come which was observable upon her night clothing.

Especially since the authors are hell bent on insisting that Flora's wounds are the size of paper cuts.

Since Henry has the same amount of brain cells as Bella Swan, he asks Flora how she got the wounds.

Of course, this causes Flora to reply that she doesn't know but it felt like she "almost bled to death."

"You cannot have done so, dear Flora, for there are not above half-a-dozen spots of blood to be seen at all."

When Varney bit her, blood gushed.

That does not cause pinprick stains.

Mr. Marchdale leaned against the carved head of the bed for support, and he uttered a deep groan. All eyes were turned upon him,

Instead of focusing on the vampire victim, we should care about this guy being so anguished.

and Henry said, in a voice of the most anxious inquiry, --

"Have you something to say, Mr. Marchdale, which will throw some light upon this affair."

Instead of a period, there should be a question mark since Henry/Harry is asking Mr. Marchdale something.

Mr. Marchdale then insists that he has nothing to say and that Flora should get some sleep.

"No sleep -- no sleep for me," again screamed Flora. "Dare I be alone to sleep?"

Anywho… Henry assures Flora that she won't be alone because he will watch over her.

She took his hand in both hers, and while the tears chased each other down her cheeks, she said, –

"Promise me, Henry, by all your hopes of Heaven, you will not leave me."

"I promise."

Henry and Flora are siblings.

....

................

Somewhere Cassandra Clare is all hot and bothered.

Anywho…

Flora laid down, sighed, and then closed her eyes.

"She is weak, and will sleep long," said Mr. Marchdale.

Two things.

Flora being weak? No shit Sherlock.

As for Flora sleeping soundly? That depends. She could have a nightmare and wake up.

"You sigh," said Henry.

Marchdale didn't sigh. Flora did.

"Some fearful thoughts, I feel certain, oppress your heart."

It can't oppress the heart of the mailman who lives at the end of the street.

"Hush -- hush!" said Mr. Marchdale, as he pointed to Flora. "Hush! not here -- not here."

"I understand," said Henry.

"Let her sleep."

Can she though?

I don’t know about you, but if people were in my bedroom talking and yelling…

It would wake me up.

It turns out that Flora is in a deep slumber. Hard to believe, I know.

The idiots are quiet for a minutes before George says something.

He tells Mr. Marchdale to look at it.

He pointed to the portrait in the frame to which we have alluded,

Translation: Wink wink! The portrait that we subtly pointed out is significant.

and the moment Marchdale looked at it

He thought: "Man, that picture is nightmare fuel."

he sunk into a chair

Because as it turns out, it was a bean bag chair.

as he exclaimed, -- "Gracious Heaven, how like!"

Aside from being redundant...

It is also cringe-worthy.

"It is -- it is," said Henry. "Those eyes -- "

"Pierce right though me."

"I wonder if he is related to my mother in law."

"And see the contour of the countenance,

According to Merriam Webster, contour is a structure of something or is an outline of a irregular figure.

Usually, contour is used to describe architecture or a shape of a car.

Which means the right word to use would be silhouette not contour.

In conclusion:

and the strange shape of the mouth."

"Who knew that someone can have a hexagon shaped mouth?"

"Exact -- exact."

Why is he saying the same word twice?

"That picture shall be moved from here.

The correct word is portrait.

A picture can be a representation of a building, a landscape, or a person.

While a portrait is a painting or a picture of a person, especially the head and the shoulders.

In conclusion?

The sight of it is at once sufficient to awaken all her former terrors in poor Flora's brain if she should chance to awaken and cast her eyes suddenly upon it."

Too verbose.

It would be better if he just said "The sight of it will frighten Flora if she wakes up and looks at the portrait."

"And is it so like him who came here?" said the mother.

Why does everyone in the story have the same amount of brain cells as Bella Swan?

In case you are wondering, Bella has four brain cells.

Of course Marchdale confirms that yes, it is the same person.

"I have not been in this house long enough to ask any of you whose portrait that may be?"

Wait a tick...

Marchdale is a friend of Flora's mother.

So he must have been to the house multiple times.

Which means that the first part of the sentence is absolute horseshit.

As for the second part?

It makes sense that Marchdale didn't see the portrait since it is in Flora's bedroom.

A man entering a lady's bedroom that isn't a doctor would have created a scandal.

"It is," said Henry, "the portrait of Sir Runnagate Bannerworth, an ancestor of ours, who first, by his vices, gave the great blow to the family prosperity."

"Sir Runnagate Bannerworth"?

Reginald, Reynard, and Rupert are actual names.

Runnagate is not.

A quick Google search reveals that runagate is a word meaning "runaway", "vagabond", or "fugitive".

So bravo authors.

You have the subtlety of Stephenie Meyer.

"Indeed. How long ago?"

"About ninety years."

"Ninety years. 'Tis a long while -- ninety years."

It is really annoying when characters repeat stuff that that the reader already knows.

Aside from being redundant...

It is also treats the reader like they are an idiot who need everything to be spelled out in 72 pt Times New Roman font.

"You muse upon it."

"No, no. I do wish, and yet I dread -- "

"What?"

"To say something to you all. But not here -- not here. We will hold a consultation on this matter to-morrow. Not now -- not now."

Part of this chapter was dedicated to talking about Flora and the vampire.

'Ello continuity error!

Anyway... Henry tells everyone else they can go to bed because he is going to watch over Flora.

Of course, he describes it keeping "my sacred promise". Can anyone say melodramatic?

Henry also adds that "The daylight is coming quickly on."

"I will fetch you my powder-flask and bullets," said Mr. Marchdale; "and you can, if you please, reload the pistols. In about two hours more it will be broad daylight."

First, the daylight is quickly approaching.

But now it is going to appear in two hours.

Which is it authors?

This arrangement was adopted.

It was placed with a loving family.

Henry did reload the pistols, and placed them on a table by the side of the bed, ready for immediate action,

In other words...

You only reload a gun if you are intending to use it.

and then, as Flora was sleeping soundly,

It is still pretty impressive that she is sleeping...

Considering the fact that people are talking and moving around.

all left the room but himself. Mrs. Bannerworth was the last to do so.

She would have remained,

Because mommy dearest was busy reading the newspaper.

but for the earnest solicitation of Henry,

At least the solicitation was sincere.

Because if it wasn't, it should be refused out of principle.

that she would endeavour to get some sleep to make up for her broken night's repose,

...

..........

Why can't the authors just say that Henry pleaded with his mother go to bed?

It is much more concise than this verbose sentence.

and she was indeed so broken down by her alarm on Flora's account,

How is this surprising?

It would be alarming if Flora's mother acted annoyed that Flora survived.

that she had not power to resist,

Before, Flora's mom wanted to stay.

Now she can't wait to leave.

Because only losers care about consistency!

but with tears flowing from her eyes,

Um...

Do tears flow anywhere else?

she sought her own chamber.

How is that unusual? People usually have their own bedroom.

Unless they are sharing a room with someone.

...

Now I can't help but wonder if Flora's mother wanted to spend the night with Marchdale.

Think that couldn't happen? Plenty of bad romance novels have a scene where a man comforts a woman and it results in sex.

And now the calmness of the night

There was inclement weather.

Hell, it was described as being the storm of the century.

resumed its sway

At least it swayed.

We don't want it standing idly by.

in that evil-fated mansion;

Because any horror writer knows, a good story always sucks the suspense out!

and although no one really slept but Flora,

Because most people would be sleeping soundly after a monster entered their home and attacked someone!

all were still.

They were practicing the pose used by many Mary Sues: wait around until life showers them with happiness.

Busy thought kept every one else wakeful.

And in other news: people will eventually die and karma is a bitch.

It was a mockery to lie down at all,

They all must have hated Flora.

Because they are "still."

and Henry, full of strange and painful feelings as he was,

If this was a Philippa Gregory novel, these emotions would be incestuous.

preferred his present position

Because angst makes him feel alive!

to the anxiety and apprehension

That the reader is supposed to be feeling but frankly doesn't give a damn.

on Flora's account

Rather than the account of Miss Smith, a spinster who is the local librarian.

which he knew he should feel if she were not within the sphere of his own observation,

...

Because two pistols are enough to stop a member of the Undead. Logic be damned!

and she slept as soundly

All thanks to Nyquil!

as some gentle infant tired of its playmates and its sports.

Because a vampire victim should be compared to a tired infant.

*Takes a deep breath *

Thankfully, this chapter finally ends.

#varney the vampire #book snark #bad fiction #chapter snark #snark

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shuwuwua · 5 years ago

Text

farmboy!joshua

in which your first time in the rural countryside–crap internet, 20 minute drives to the nearest grocery store, random deer in the roads, and all–is not bad. not bad at all. (aka joshua and animals and being very soft) [fluff]

word count: 3k

disclaimer: not all rural areas are the same. you can get high speed internet. (just not in my personal experience lmao)

you were born, raised, and spent most of your livelihood in the same city

a proper skyscraper sort of city, not a “it’s bigger than a town so i guess we have to call it a city but the tallest building here is still only 4 stories high” city

your family wasn’t really one for vacations but this summer your parents decided to switch it up and spend a few weeks with your relatives who live in the countryside

and although you’ve been skeptical as to what’s possibly worth spending that long in the boonies, you figure it’s been a while since you saw those relatives and don’t say much against it

you’ve tried unsuccessfully for the past few days to avoid nature by browsing YouTube, but it’s proving difficult with your relatives’ lack of surfable internet

they finally suggest you go to the petting zoo

and you snort a little at first bc it’s not your ideal pastime but you suppose that’s what you gotta work with now in the boonies

so you drive to the nearby petting zoo. you exit your car.

and your hit with the Smell™ (of dried grass and poop, to clarify)

and you’re like. oh yeah. i’m definitely in the countryside.

you proceed.

as you walk up the path to the main buildings, you see some of the larger animals around you. horses. cows. the pigs are outside feeding at this hour. you’re kind of in awe because you’ve never seen a Live Cow and,,, they’re kinda cool how they’re so chill and they look sorta Smooth like they’d be really pettable and you wonder if you’d be able to milk one or smthn

but you’re getting a little ahead of yourself.

you open the barn door. and are immediately hit with more Smell™

you wonder if it’ll attach to your clothes. you figure you will deal with it later.

there is something else to deal with at the moment.

“wait, no–lucky! come back!” someone yelps as they rush around in front of you, chasing what seems to be a ball of fur that moves at the speed of light

or a puppy. same thing, really.

that someone takes a giant leap of faith, only to just barely miss the pup and end up face first on the floor, which you can’t imagine being the most sanitary of surfaces

you look away in search of the flurry of fur. you can’t see it, but you can definitely hear it. unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like it has a collar, so you prepare yourself to scoop it up completely rather than grabbing its collar. as expected, it runs into your direction and you launch at it...

success!

lucky squirms in your grasp, barking and sniffing at your shirt. they must decide that you’re an agreeable human, because they start trying to lick your face

“wow, you caught him!” you look up at seemingly the body from earlier

and like,, not to exaggerate but is this what looking at an angel is like?

the boy you’re looking at looks back with such bright eyes and with a gaze full of affection, although after a second you realize the affection is probably for the dog. he has the best smile you’ve seen in a good while, because people you pass by in the city don’t smile that much. he just radiates Warm and Good and is probably great for business, because he’s just as cute as the puppy who is still going at your chin

“i… yeah, guess i did. uh, you kind of have straw all over you” is what you settle on saying to him, because out of all the things you noticed about him, your brain decides that the straw and dirt still sticking to his cheek and various parts of his shirt were the most acceptable features to point out. while they weren’t the more flattering options, they probably saved you from the complete AWKWARDNESS that would have come from mentioning his eyes or beaming smile or really anything else bc the straw and dirt were the only flaws.

“oh!” he exclaims, straightening up and brushing off his shirt

“… here too,” you say, grasping lucky in one arm as you move your other hand to your cheek

of course, he wipes at the wrong side.

“the other side”

“right. ok. am i good? sorry, that’s not a great first impression.”

he still has a smear, but you decide it’s probably not going to budge and he’ll figure it out later. and he has no clue what a great first impression it was. clearly. “no, it’s fine.”

he continues to smile at you and you’re still crouched, clutching lucky. lucky then decides to yelp because he’s tired of the severe lack of attention, which snaps you back to the situation.

“oh, right.” you stand and give lucky back.

“here he is!”

once lucky is back in the boy’s arms, he immediately starts to lick at his jaw. the boy sighs and pulls a treat out of the pocket of his apron, waving it around lucky’s face. “what are we going to do with you?”

he turns back to you. “sorry about that, lucky is a very excited young pupper, as you just saw. the most problematic of all his siblings. anyway, i’m joshua! welcome to nabiya petting zoo. is it your first time here?”

you nod. “er. it’s actually my first time in this area, or in this part of the country, really. i’m from a pretty big city.”

“oh! well, a bigger welcome, then. i hope you enjoy your stay.”

he rubs lucky between his ears. “isn’t it nice to get away from the busy urban life sometimes? i’ve always thought it’s really relaxing around here.”

“yeah, it seems… nice so far,” you say loosely, reflecting on how you haven’t really seen enough to come to that conclusion

he still has that warm smile. “i’m going to put lucky in his pen. hm… you’re the only one who’s come in so far today, so i could show you around if you want?”

“yeah, sure! i haven’t seen a lot of these before,” you reply, going down the list of animals at the side on the wall.

“ok, i’ll be right back!”

when he comes back y’all walk around n look at things and he asks you if you want to hold or feed some animals and you take everything pretty well, more than even you expect

you look at the normal domestic sort of animals like a litter of kittens, and the pen with lucky and his other pupper brothers and sisters

typical farm animals like pigs and sheep

sheep are not as fluffy as you imagine, they’re actually kind of gross looking if they haven’t had a bath recently

nonetheless you find them kind of cute, and you even pet one of the rams, aptly named… sam the ram

something tells you joshua was responsible for the name

you guys go out to the field and observe some turkeys strutting around

“huh so that’s the thing you see in clipart, the thing hanging off their faces”

“yeah it’s called a snood”

“LOL huH”

“only the dudes have snoods”

“um”

“during mating season, female turkeys pick male turkeys with longer snoods. you could say they’re in the snood for love.”

“please stop”

y’all spend a lot of time with the rabbits bc “bunnies are my favorite animal” says josh as he crouches next to a brown fluffball of a bunny, petting it

it’s just such a Good n Wholesome scene you can’t help but let slip “wow ur so cute”

he looks up, but his expression says he is otherwise unbothered

“sorry, what’d you say?”

“i SA ID the buNNY is sO cuTE” panics

“oh” joshua says. “alright” he turns back to the bunny, a tiny smile on his face

before you know it, 4 hours have passed and your stomach is letting you know dinnertime is approaching, so you bid josh farewell and wonder if you’ll ever see him again because that was a hecking nice 4 hours

you find yourself coming back again two days later lmao

today, joshua is putting out slop for the pigs. he grins at you.

“hey again. what brings you back so soon?”

you find some excuse like “ykno i just bonded with sam the ram so well i had to come back, we’re bros now” and josh just laughs softly at you

“ok. you wanna look at some horses today?”

“whoa. o-okay.”

when he brings them out ngl you’re kinda intimidated bc like,, they’re some toL bois.

one time you saw a pony at the state fair but that was smol n cute and walked at a pace of 3 miles an hour

but these horses?? threatening. now you understand where the horse in horsepower comes from

“hey, don’t look so scared. they’re harmless!” the black stallion chooses that moment to snort and buck a little.

you gulp.

“no, really.” he pets the stallion. “snuffles has never hurt anyone.”

you blink

“,,, snuffles ??”

joshua gives you a hard stare. “7 year old me thought that was an appropriate name and today years old me still thinks it’s fine”

you raise your hands to say “ok man ur turf ur way”

joshua clears his throat dramatically and turns back to ,, snuffles. “so aNyway, i brought snuffles out because i think he’s the best for a beginner to ride, and i’m assuming you’ve never ridden a horse before.”

“yeah i haven’t… wait did you say we’re gonna riDE them??”

“yeah, we don’t usually let people do that but i feel like you need the whole farm experience so you can go home and tell your friends the country isn’t just yeehaw and old town”

“but like… isn’t this just proving the point of old town? you literally have the horses in the back.”

“however, my hat is not matte black. i don’t even have a cowboy hat. or Wrangler. or anything else the song mentions. just the horses.”

“ok joshua if it makes u happy i will take snuffles to the old town road”

he gives u a big :D

he instructs you on how to mount the horse and stands behind you in case you start falling but thankfully you don’t so we don’t have to go over any kind of cliche

~ gripping of the waist for balance ~

~ catching you in his arms ~

scenes

: ))

“hey, good job! give snuffles some pats or something.” you reach a hand out to stroke the side of snuffles’s face. he whinnies a bit. Well frick, you think, that was kind of cute.

joshua decides he’ll walk some laps around with you before letting you actually ride snuffles by yourself. after you seem to be comfortable, you guys walk/trot around some and that’s how the rest of that afternoon goes :)

picture this with me

the sun is low in the sky

and y’all and your horses are just looking out over the hill

skin lookin immaculate bc it’s the golden hour

a massive grin you don’t even realize you have on your face.

and then you gotta go home, as your stomach reminds you again.

over your stay at your relatives’ place, you visit the petting zoo more times

you and josh become pretty comfortable with each other

he always has a lot of time to spend with you bc people don’t come that much this early in the summer, and in general they don’t get a huge amount of traffic but that’s okay financially bc the petting zoo is just a side thing, it’s mainly his family’s farm

and so you learn more things about him and his family from your times together, you guys sometimes sit around with some lemonade and hold some bunnies. lucky has also taken a liking to you, so you hold him a lot.

joshua tells you about his parents having always wanted to live peaceful and healthy lives, eating their own produce, moved to the area before he was born and it just expanded into the farm.

so although no one lives on the farm, they live pretty close by and he spent most of his childhood around all the animals.

you wonder if he was born with the soft, patient, and gentle nature needed to care for all the animals or if the animals shaped him to be that way.

but on top of that, he really loves spending time with them. even though he’s there basically every day, he never seems tired of his job.

“but what about you though? i’ve never really been that far from here, so i wonder what a big city is like.”

you trade your chaotic urban stories for his peaceful rural ones, and he trades his farm accident horrors for your memories of solidarity in the city.

you tell him about all the great food, countless different flavors of restaurants and a bubble tea chain every few blocks

you tell him about the convenience, the variety of transportation and the proximity of things, like basic groceries

the crowded sidewalks, the crowded metro, the crowded shops

the neon signs that light up the night, the period of quiet and calm somewhere around 3 in the morning, when you can open the window and hear the city nightlife in its most muted yet most raw state.

not only has time in the countryside made you appreciate it more, but also your home life more.

while you’re still wrapped in your memories, joshua smiles softly at you from the side. lemonade long forgotten, ice long melted. “that sounds really nice. your stories make me want to visit you in your hometown some time.”

huh. he could’ve just said visit the city, but he said visit you in your hometown. joshua has such a way with making the conversation personal.

you process what he said again and think about what it’d be like if he came. you could take him to all those places you raved about… it’d be like…

,,, a bunch of dates really. your brain frazzles a bit at the thought.

“… yeah! … that’d be pretty cool.”

and that’s how your afternoons pass these days. lemonade at the side, bunnies in hand, breeze passing through hair.

eventually josh asks you if you want to hang out like… nOT at the petting zoo

and you’re like whoa ok what’s your idea

and he’s like “can you meet me at watchtower hill tomorrow at 8pm?”

he thinks about what he just said and quickly follows with “i know that’s kind of a really late time, but i promise i have no nefarious intent! oh, shoot that makes it seem like i do. i really don’t i promise! i just wanted to show you what the sunset and night sky are like in the countryside. oh, i just spoiled it…” he flashes you an awkward smile and some finger guns. “yep, that’s what we’re doing! no nefarious activities.”

you grin at him. “calm down dude, i didn’t think like that in the first place. i’m usually out even later at home anyway.”

he rubs the back of his head and laughs it off with you.

you do meet the next day at 8pm. he brings some midnight snacks that his mom made. except they’re not really midnight snacks, because you’re not trying to stay out there until midnight (spoiler: you do, because y’all yak a lot)

you guys sit on your jackets, watching the sunset. it’s the kind of temperature that’s says it was mad hot during the day, but now that the sun is going down, it’s cooled into a pleasant room temperature with an occasional warm breeze.

for once you all don’t say much, because it’s nice to just share the moment.

you reflect on how you’ve come to experience the area recently. most of it was the petting zoo, but sometimes you’d take up some of joshua’s suggestions about the area and report back to him how the experience was later on.

looking out at the sun that bleeds out into the blueish black night, you think that it’s been a pretty good time here, and maybe it does have an edge on city life.

as the last of warm colors finally seep out of the sky, the moon takes over the night and the stars become more apparent than you’ve ever seen before.

seriously, it’s a scene out of a movie. you know, the wide screen shot of the protagonists staring at the sky, mystified. the panorama over the constellations that twinkle down at you, a little gift from the galaxy.

“i’ve never seen the sky like this. all the twinkling lights in the city come from the streets, and the buildings. which are pretty in their own way, i think. but Mother Nature… is really something else,” you say.

“yeah,” he says, looking at you as you’re still in awe at the sky. “something else.”

a few more moments pass, but it’s a timeless night as the sky is frozen in space.

joshua lays back on his jacket.

“hey,, maybe this is sort of crazy but.”

you turn to him, raising a brow.

“it’s been really, uh.. it’s been. really awesome getting to know you. i’ve just kind of… seen the same sorts of things all my life. the same sorts of people. i mean! of course, everyone is unique in their own way but! you know.” he takes a glance at you. “rural folks, urban folks. there’s a difference. so I’ve really enjoyed talking with you. uh, i mean i enjoy talking to you regardless of if you’re from the city or not!”

he puts a palm to his face and sighs. from behind his hand, he says, “i just like you.”

“i like you too, joshua! you’re a really great guy.”

“no, not like that. i mean. i like you.” he finally removes his hand.

you blink a little. and finally burst into a grin. “yeah. i like you too. you’re a really great guy.”

it’s his turn to blink

you lie back as well. he slowly starts to smile next to you

the stars above shine on.

yeah. this is a life you could get used to, too.

a/n: i stole the snood puns from a website i was reading sry website. hope you guys enjoyed and i had a lot of fun writing joshua this way (he’s all squishy, not exactly canon i would say lol)

#joshua scenario #joshua scenarios #seventeen scenario #seventeen scenarios #seventeen #joshua #hong jisoo #joshua hong #type: scenario #genre: romance #genre: fluff #format: bullet #scenario: seventeen #scenario: joshua #words: 5k #author: jae

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itsjustjessieokay · 5 years ago

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Touch: Part 1

Bucky Barnes x [Enhanced] Fem!Reader Word Count: 1428 She couldn’t bear being touched. He didn’t like it much either. Can they both learn that touch is not inherently bad?

Warnings: mentions of cancer, child abuse, rape, and torture (nothing graphic), lots of angst, fluff eventually

A/N: I’ve had this idea floating around in my head for a while, so I decided to actually write it. This is just the intro and her backstory, in the next part I’ll actually start getting into her and her impending relationship with Bucky. This is also technically AU because I can’t think of any specific time in the MCU where all of these characters would be in the Avengers Compound at one time, but I’m not writing this to be completely canon anyway, so oh well.

Part 1

Going without being touched was not easy.

She managed it, she had to. She learned quickly how to dodge people in crowds, how to avoid brushing shoulders with others. Whenever people wanted to shake her hand when she met them, she clasped her hands in front of her and smiled in greeting until they lowered their hand. It was lonely, she supposed, not touching anyone. But the only times she’d felt touch in all of her memory had been when someone was hurting her.

She didn’t want that reminder just from shaking hands with someone.

When she was a child, her father’s touch was gentle at first. Then when her mother died, it grew rough. Rougher still, when she hit puberty and she “became a woman.” She considered herself lucky to make it to eighteen years old living in that house with him, and moved out just after midnight on her birthday.

When she was in college, her boyfriend’s touch was playful, at first. Then, when she didn’t want more, it was pushy. She didn’t let him do what her father did, she punched him and kicked him and fought back until he climbed off of her, saying she wasn’t worth the trouble.

When she graduated college, the doctor’s touch was icy cold. Not inappropriate, not like before, but his words were worse. “Terminal cancer,” he’d told her. “Nothing to be done.” He’d told her how it was nearly everywhere in her abdomen, showed her where in her body had been taken over by the disease.

When she got the business card for a man with no name, she’d hugged herself in the bathtub all night, crying, debating calling. She had been given a few months to live, she didn’t want to waste them on treatments that would make her worse or kill her now. She wasn’t ready to die.

When she arrived at the “treatment center” for this supposedly revolutionary treatment, she was strapped down to a table. It wasn’t a treatment, she found out quickly. It was an experiment, and she was the guinea pig. This time, there was no fighting back, no leaving at midnight, all she could do was wait to die. The electricity they sent through her body made her think she would at any second, but it didn’t.

When the electricity finally triggered her powers, they didn’t think she was strong enough to use them. Unfortunately for them, lightning shot from her fingertips, sparks jumped from her hair, and she was out of her restraints in seconds. She couldn’t control it, electricity sparked off of her skin, burning her hospital gown away, leaving her with statically charged hair and so much energy coming off her body that none of her torturers could get near enough to her to inject her with a sedative.

The building caved in around her. She dug herself out of the rubble, no longer out of control with her new powers, and tried to start a new life.

The last person she touched was the man who’d given her his card. She grabbed his arm to move it from its place covering his ID, but it was too destroyed by her powers to see what his name was.

Nick Fury found her not long after that. He’d heard rumors of a young woman hiding in alleys electrocuting rats for food. She could tell that he was wary of her power, but he was nowhere near scared of her.

He’d brought two people with him, a redheaded woman and a man she instantly recognized as the genius-millionaire-playboy-philanthropist Tony Stark.

“Who are you?” Fury had asked, kneeling in front of her hiding place behind a dumpster.

She didn’t tell him at first, her eyes locked on the redheaded woman, who looked silently dangerous, and the man who knew was Iron Man.

“They won’t hurt you unless you give them a reason to,” Fury promised, which wasn’t exactly comforting, but she knew that she was dangerous.

“I don’t want to give them a reason,” she finally said, her voice hoarse with lack of use. She told him her name hesitantly, and he’d responded by introducing Tony Stark, unnecessarily, and Natasha Romanov.

“Now, if you don’t mind, I’m not exactly the biggest fan of talking behind dumpsters, so why don’t we take this somewhere a bit more civilized? You can get a shower and get some clothes that don’t look or smell like they’ve been washed in the sewer and we can talk about what we’re gonna do with you.”

“I thought I was having a conversation with Nick here,” she said, not looking at Tony Stark. His words weren’t annoyed, but she wasn’t looking to talk to him. He clearly wasn’t the one in charge in this situation. However, he did seem like the one most likely to be able to stop her should she lose control of her powers again.

Fury looked over his shoulder, shooting a look at Tony, who shrugged and took a step back. “All yours, Eye Patch.”

Fury turned back to her and, begrudgingly, said, “What he said, though I was going to try to say it at least a little nicer.”

He held out a hand for her to take, but she only looked at it.

He watched her with his one good eye and then withdrew his hand, backing up to let her get to her feet by herself. Neither of his companions offered a hand either, following Fury’s lead of not reaching out to her. She respected their quick learning.

She didn’t want to be touched ever again.

They took her back to the Avengers Compound, where she was ushered inside and into a shower, given clean clothes as promised, and then sat down with Fury to discuss what would happen next.

Once he was assured she wasn’t going to try to hurt any of them, and once she had told him what had happened to her (in the facility, at least, and why she was there in the first place; she felt no need to tell him about her father or her college boyfriend), he offered her a home in the compound.

“It’s not like this is some kind of luxury getaway,” he told her. “If you’re here, you’re an Avenger. You’ll train with them, live with them, and once you’re ready, go on missions with them. Of course, you’ll be monitored until you’ve proven that you aren’t going to hurt people.”

“So, I’m a probationary Avenger?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Fury smirked. “If that’s what you want to call it, then sure. We can go with that.”

She met everyone slowly over the next few days. Besides Natasha and Tony, there was Bruce Banner, Wanda Maximoff, the Vision, and several other Avengers either living in or visiting regularly the compound. There was also Captain America, or Steve, as she’d been asked to call him, and his best friend, the former Hydra agent and Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes.

She’d interacted with all of them regularly, but Bucky always seemed to be quieter, keeping to himself. She appreciated it, especially considering the fact that she was constantly surrounded by people there. She went from eating breakfast to training to lunch to training to learning more about the Avengers and what they did to dinner and sometimes then to even more training. She worked with Steve and Natasha on hand to hand combat, though she always wore long sleeves and gloves to prevent being touched and winced just about every time she made contact with someone. Wanda helped her control her powers, realizing that they’d been tapped into in similar ways and could therefore be controlled similarly. Wanda mentioned that if Thor ever came back to Earth, he would be able to teach her more about directing and controlling actual lightning, if it was possible.

Her days were filled with trainings, and after several weeks, they found her prepared and trustworthy enough to take on missions. She went with them, shadowing Wanda as they took down a Hydra base. She kept her powers under control easily and didn’t even have to fight anyone. All she had to do was fry their computer systems once Natasha got the information they needed off of it.

Several months into her life with the Avengers, she felt more at home than she ever had before. She still had nightmares from time to time, and she still couldn’t bear someone touching her, especially not her bare skin, but she felt like she was finally making progress in her life.

#fluff #fanfiction #marvel fanfiction #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky fanfiction #bucky x reader fanfiction #marvel

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abarbaricyalp · 6 years ago

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Rushed Apologies and Their Consequences (Happy Valoween )

[I don’t care what Maggie said in her tweet. (Okay, I do, but I was already halfway done with this and so we’re going to disregard for 2800 words)

A stupid holiday fic that I knocked out in two good days (four bad ones with migraines). Not Valentine’s, but sappy enough to be.]

It begins in August with a rushed apology against his lips. Adam’s bag was already slung over his shoulder and his whole body was vibrating with energy. They’d only made it two weeks before Adam had let himself be convinced to come home. Adam with his new haircut, his curls in his face, the sides and back cropped close. Not Ronan close, but closer than Ronan was used to. His hand kept slipping on Adam’s hair, leaving small love bruises at the base of his skull or his shoulder instead, where Ronan held onto Adam like he was going to escape again.

Escape again. Adam had already put all the food Ronan insisted he took with him in the car. It was running behind them, a familiar purr while the shit-box remained on the blocks. No one else could leave town with the BMW but here Adam was, doing it anyway. Again. They’d been trading sad kisses for so long, Adam’s bag had dug a harsh mark on his shoulder, between two faint finger marks.

“I’m sorry,” Adam said again. Ronan could taste the sweat on his skin, the summer air thick around them. He moved his mouth to Adam’s jaw, up his new shaved sideburns into his flop of hair. He took a deep breath, getting more sun heat than shampoo. “I just don’t have time in my schedule now. Not until November.”

“Knew there was a reason it was so easy to get you down here so soon,” Ronan huffed, squeezing the back of Adam’s neck softly. Adam leaned into him, closed his eyes. Reacted just the way that made Ronan’s chest ache so badly.

Adam’s fancy new position was only a week old, despite his internship being closer to two years. But this was a real job and none of his time rolled over and he was stuck doing grunge work again, slaving away long hours and not able to ask for time off for at least six months. And knowing Adam, and Ronan does, even that won’t open a gate to more vacations.

“They’ll fix my schedule after the initial rush. By November, I’ll have weekends open again,” Adam promised. He squeezed his fingers on Ronan’s hip and coaxed him into another real kiss. Ronan wasn’t terribly upset. They were going into their third year navigating Adam’s college life. Things had come up before. There was one spring semester where Adam had only come home twice between the end of his winter break and the graduation in May. Spring Break was not one of those times. So, Ronan was pretty certain he could handle two months.

“Fucking answer my skype calls then,” he said gruffly, kissing the corner of Adam’s mouth.

“If I’m not working,” Adam said. He grinned, and it felt perfect on Ronan’s lips. “I’ve got to go, doll. I have work,” he murmured eventually, after they’d kissed and held and whispered nothings to each other for too long.

“I know. Just give me one more,” Ronan insisted. He tilted Adam’s face up with a hand on his jaw. Adam was weak and loose under him. They kissed again.

———-

Ronan’s hair grew fast. It always had. His beard, his hair, his fucking pubes, even his leg hair the time Helen ripped a stripe off when they were fourteen at Gansey’s house. Adam shaved his head almost every two weeks when he was home and going a full month made Ronan look almost normal.

It’d been two months and no amount of begging got Adam down to Henrietta and no amount of Adam offering brought Ronan up to Boston. (“Your city wants to be hippie without fucking giving in and it isn’t punk either.”) Two months since they’d seen each other and Ronan was fucking itching out of his skin for just fucking eye contact.

By the time Halloween rolled around, Ronan had a full head of hair and he hated it. But he was playing a long con, dammit. And that required sacrifice. Sacrifice like not fist fighting Declan in Nino’s parking lot every time he scoffed at Ronan, because Declan’s a fucking pussy and would pull a handful of hair out of Ronan’s head to win. Sacrifice like suffering through Gansey’s, slightly drunken, speech at a party about how it shows Ronan’s growing past his childhood trauma. Sacrifice like biting his tongue and calling Blue and stripping down for her.

She kept an unimpressed eyebrow raised, clippers in hand. “Say again what you want me to do?”

Ronan self consciously, for once in his life, tugged his boxers higher on his waist before sitting down on the kitchen chair he’d dragged into the bathroom. The last thing he needed was for Blue to see the top of his crack because his stupid boxers rode down when he sat.

“Just, you know,” he waved his hand around, “the undercut thing.”

“Why would I do that to you?” she asked, still unimpressed, still dubious. She was home from a conservation trip early. She’d ended up so sick that they worried she’d risk the entire expedition. So there she was, recouping, and growling at Ronan without meaning too because her vocal cords went out with the cough.

“It’s for my Halloween costume. Come on, man, cut my damn hair.” Ronan was facing the mirror so he saw her roll her eyes and shove the flowy sleeves of her exercise shirt up.

“No one cuts their hair for a Halloween costume,” she grumbled. He almost didn’t hear it. “No one grows out their hair,” she added, louder, because then there was a comb between her teeth.

She balanced the clippers on Ronan’s shoulder and started pulling clips out of her hair, holding them between her lips with the comb. She gathered up as much of Ronan’s hair as she could in one fist and tied a rubberband around it. It\ was a sad excuse of a ponytail. A bun? He didn’t even know.

“God, you’ve got a lot of hair,” she muttered, tsking softly. “I don’t know how Adam has the patience to buzz it off so evenly.”

“He knows he’ll be fairly compensated,” Ronan answered with a lascivious grin. She buzzed the clippers against his bare neck in warning.

“How tall do you want the shaved part?” she asked, tucking his hair into clips.

“Does it matter? I’m going to shave it all off in the morning. Just make it look like Adam’s.”

Blue paused and then smirked at Ronan in the mirror. “You’re dressing up as your boyfriend for Halloween?” she teased. Ronan scowled at her and swatted at her hands.

Blue just laughed and went back to measuring the back of Ronan’s head with her hand. “Okay, well, Adam has a fade, since his hair is more wavy than curly. I don’t think you’d need it. Your curls will hide the hard edge of the shave.”

“Yeah, yeah, just get on with it, Sargent.”

Blue sighed, long suffering, and pressed the clippers against Ronan’s neck. He couldn’t help the initial shiver. It still fucking tickled after all this time and it’d been two months since he’s shaved his head.

“Don’t move,” Blue snapped and Ronan stilled again. The whole process barely took ten minutes. Blue stepped away and Ronan reached up to feel how high she’d shaved. It felt right, the short hair against his palm again. The ring Adam had given him, with no explanation, didn’t catch on anything and when he scratched his nails over the back of his head, it scritched wonderfully. In the mirror, he ran his hands over the side of his head. He looked ridiculous. Like some kind of greaser who survived to the present day. He hated it and he loved it. Mostly he loved it because Adam was going to lose his shit over it. He hated everything else about it.

“Are you driving up to see him?” Blue asked. Ronan stood and scrubbed his hands through his hair to get the loose hair off. More fell from his shoulders, dark curls littered the floor. Blue threw a towel at him.

“Cheng’s throwing a party up there. He’s making Adam go. I’ll meet him there.”

“And I assume the poor guy doesn’t have a clue what you’re planning,” she added.

“Hell no. The shit doesn’t wanna come home for half a year, he can deal with being surprised now and then.”

Blue rolled her eyes and sighed. “Gansey’s making us go look for temporal areas and crossing spirits.”

“I thought that was St. Mark’s Eve.”

“You think the line between worlds is weak only once in 365 days?”

Ronan scoffed as he quickly rifled through his memories of spirits, ley lines, and temporal spaces. “No,” he ventured with another scoff.

“You’re such a bad liar. It’s a good thing you don’t make a habit of it, isn’t it?”

“Fuck off, Sargent. I have to get going to make it to the party before Adam decides to leave.”

“Then you’ve only got a few hours, huh?”

“You know it and I know it,” Ronan agreed with a grin. “Get outta my house. Go find ghosts with your boyfriend. Say hi to our favorite if you hear him.”

Blue knocked her fist against Ronan’s shoulder and he reciprocated before she handed back the clippers and left just as quickly as she’d come. Ronan cleaned the mess, got himself dressed again, and headed out to the truck. He fucking hated driving it up to Boston, but Adam still had the BMW and he didn’t really have a choice, unless he wanted to risk getting stranded on the side of the road in the Shitbox, which was only partially working. Worse than the Pig even. And apparently the Pig wasn’t available for a multi-day joy ride either, if Gansey was off hunting the supernatural again. As if the supernatural had not always found its way to him.

He took one last longing look at the Barns and made sure the psychics hadn’t already texted him about the brat, before he backed out of the driveway entirely too quickly for the old truck.

_______________

Cheng’s party was already in full swing, even though it was only eight. Ronan parked in the garage, even though everyone else was parked on the street, and stepped out in a nicely fitted suit, old Harvard letter jacket thrown over his arm. He’d stolen the jacket from Gansey Sr. Ronan and Gansey III hated it enough that it was reviling just to hold it, but Adam had been meticulous in not leaving his hoodie anywhere Ronan could grab it and hide it. The suit came up just before his ankles, tucked neatly against his hips, a call back to Ronan’s favorite Fancy-Adam-Look when he’d forgotten a pair of slacks and had to make do with a pair of Gansey’s. But Gansey was significantly shorter than Adam and the pants had been too short. Still, everyone called him a trendsetter and Henry started wearing his slacks cuffed. Ronan was pretty sure Henry just wanted an in real life excuse to wear them like that, but whatever. His shirts always fit in the most delicious way because of how sculpted his arms were and how tight his waist was. He could walk into a common store, grab a shirt, and have it fit perfectly. Ronan didn’t have to worry about that. He just tailored his shirt tighter than he normally wore them.

And he’d thrown a little bit of product in his hair to keep his curls where they belonged, instead of falling all over his head like a wet perm.

All in all, he thought he looked kind of like Adam. A caricature of Adam, at least. People would get the joke. Adam would definitely get the joke. And either Ronan was definitely getting laid tonight, or he’d get punched. Either way, he was going to see his boyfriend.

Ronan slung the jacket over his shoulder and stalked into the frat house Cheng was hosting his party in. Naturally, Cheng found him before Ronan found Adam.

“Attack dog! Who let you off your leash?” Cheng laughed, stumbling through the crowd, losing adoring fans along the way. “Ronan Lynch, no shit, you’re really here?” he laughed, slinging an arm around Ronan’s ribs. Across the room, Ronan catches a flash of blond snap up.

Without even waiting for Cheng to let go of him, Ronan was pushing through the crowd, meeting Adam halfway in a collision of confusion and joy.

“Ronan?” Adam asked, staring at Ronan’s chest instead of his face like that would have more answers. He brought his hand up to the straight line of buttons, the silly bow tie. Finally, he looked up at Ronan and choked on his next breath. “What the hell, Lynch?” he laughed, reaching up to run his fingers through Ronan’s hair gently before tugging on it just lightly. “That’s why you’ve been wearing a hat when you call? Bad shave job, my ass.” Adam was beaming up at Ronan and Ronan felt everything in his soul melt for the man in front of him.

He hugged his arms around Adam’s waist and leaned down to kiss him deeply. The letter jacket fell to the ground as Adam moved his hands over Ronan’s shoulder. He didn’t stop to grab the jacket until both he and Ronan had gone breathless and light-headed from kissing. He held it in front of him before looking at Ronan and scoffing indignantly.

“You’re dressed like me! God, you’re such a shit!” Adam laughed, throwing the jacket at Ronan before stepping into his arms again and pressing his face to Ronan’s chest. He could feel his strong heartbeat, ecstatic and bounding in his chest. Adam could listen to it all night, could find it under all the bad music and the shouting voices.

“What’re you supposed to be then?” Ronan asked after a few more moments of just taking Adam in again. It was more overwhelming than he’d expected. Getting Adam back was always like coming home. Like freezing rain when he was angry. Like opening the windows on the first spring day. Like waking up in fresh sheets.

Adam stepped back and gestured to himself. “I’m a cowboy. You can’t tell?” he teased. And Ronan would be able to tell if he wasn’t soaking in Adam in dirty jeans again. He’d stopped wearing them so much once he started school. Then it was all smart attire and clean dark wash. Ronan reached for his hips, pulling him close.

“You’re making all my stupid childhood fantasies a little bit dirtier,” he growled, leaning down to kiss Adam’s jaw.

“Mmm, maybe that was what I was going for,” Adam agreed. He brought a hand back up to Ronan’s head, pulling at his hair again. “Let’s get back home,” he murmured, tilting his head to kiss Ronan’s earlobe.

“Hell yeah, cowboy,” Ronan agreed, grabbing Adam’s hand and dragging him out of the house. Adam laughed and followed.

______________

“Adam,” Ronan murmured, rolling over further to drop himself over Adam’s arm. “Adam,” he insisted. He kissed Adam’s jaw and then his shoulder and down his arm. “Adam Parrish.”

Adam groaned and elbowed Ronan in the face before mumbling an apology into his pillow. “What, Lynch?”

“Come shave my head.”

“It’s not even seven in the morning,” Adam yawned, pulling the blanket free from under Ronan’s hip to hold it over his head. Ronan pulled the blanket away again.

“Yeah, but it’s been two months for me. I look like an idiot.”

“Thought you were s’posed to look like me?”

Ronan kissed Adam’s arm again, holding it hand to pull it to his lips, kissing his knuckles until he could get his lips around two of Adam’s fingers.

Adam groaned under him, turning over more and working his hips against the bed subtly. “Fine. Fine. I’ll shave your stupid head,” he mumbled, but didn’t move.

“Baby,” Ronan whined, shifting down to kiss the line of Adam’s spine, down to the dimples between his hips, just above his ass. “Baby, please,” he breathed softly, nuzzling his nose along Adam’s back.

Goosebumps erupted over Adam’s skin and he shivered under the attention before finally rolling over. Ronan face planted into his stomach but made do, kissing down his happy trail. “Stop that if you want me to go shave your head,” Adam warned in a yawn, one hand going to his hair and the other going to Ronan’s. He scratched his nails over Ronan’s scalp and combed his fingers through his beautiful curls. “Do we have to cut it?” he asked in a whine. They were both whiny that morning. They could do that to each other.

Ronan licked a strip over Adam’s hip bone. “Don’t I treat you good after you help me out?” he asked, scraping his teeth over Adam’s hip before he looked up at him. He watched Adam swallow and then bite his lip. ”Please dig out those terrible clippers of yours and take care of my hair. Then I’ll take care of you, baby.”

“Yeah,” Adam agreed thickly. “Yeah, alright, let’s get you shaved again, doll.”

Ronan leans up and kissed him, something soft and sweet and slow.

[Read on AO3 HERE]

#pynch #adam parrish #ronan lynch #the raven cycle #writing #fanfiction #fanfic #drabble #hey did you know you can ask me for drabbles?#my writing

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halloweeneveryday · 6 years ago

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The Moving Rock

I had completely forgotten about this story until a couple of days ago. I was thinking about the summertime when I was a kid, I was around 12 or so.

Anyway, my dad was running a disc over one of the fields and he ran across a big rock, I don't know if they have an actual name, we called them field or fence rocks. lol It was flat, maybe 2 feet wide and 2 and a half feet tall, and around 3 inches thick. You see them all over this area of Kansas. In the 1800's when people settled here, they would move all the rocks out of the way for fields and used them to build fences.

So, he tells me if I take the wagon and go get it out of the field, he'll pay me five dollars. My dad never paid anyone to do anything, you did it because he said so. I thought it was odd, but hey...five bucks!

So, I take the old red Radio Flyer wagon and drug it halfway across a large field, loaded up the rock and brought it up to the yard. (If you ever pulled a wagon with a heavy rock across a field that had just been disced, you know I earned the five dollars. LOL) Mom told me to lean it against a tree in the yard and she'd use it for landscaping.

I lean it against a tree at the end of the house across from my bedroom. I wake up the next morning and I'm taking care of my guinea pig when I look out the window behind her cage, I see the rock isn't there. Hmmm, mom must have found a spot for the rock. I go into the kitchen and ask her where she put it and she said she didn't touch it yet.

Dad comes home from work and goes out to finish discing the field. When he comes in he says he wants the money back because the rock is still there in the same place. Mom stepped in and told him that she watched me unload it from the wagon and lean it against a tree.

They aren't/weren't the type to play practical jokes on me, so that's not a possibility.

I go out the next day and bring the rock back again, lean it against the same tree again, and when I wake up the next day, it's gone...again. It's in the field, in the same place.

This time, my mom goes out with the wagon and gets the rock. I didn't know what she did with it until a few years later, and then I was told the whole story.

The rest of the story was...dad had already loaded the rock onto the disc and brought it up to the barn. When he went out the next day (the day before he sent me out), it wasn't on the disc and he found it in the field right where he had picked it up. He knew for absolute sure that it was on the disc that night and he got spooked when it was in the field the next day. (He didn't frighten easily either, 6'6", 300lb. wall of a man.)

Mom took the rock to a small cliff above the field and leaned it against an oak tree. She then told me that she had a talk with whatever was moving the rock. They both assumed that it was a headstone at some point and time, we're not that far from the old Santa Fe Trail, and someone probably died on the way out west and was buried where they were. Mom apologized to the spirit it belonged to and told them that they would be remembered, but we needed to move the headstone.

As far as I know, it's still leaning against that oak tree.

source: https://www.reddit.com/r/Paranormal/comments/8xoj5g/the_moving_rock/

#mylifeiscreepy #halloweeniseveryday #everydayishalloween #halloweeneveryday #paranormal #spectral #spooky #ghost #farming #haunting #haunted

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court-0f-dreamers · 7 years ago

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ACOTAR: Restrung Chapter 2

Fic Summary: What if it was never up to Tamlin to break the curse? What if, instead, in a true test of love, Amarantha sent out Prythian’s most abhorred and cruel Highlord, to watch his land fall into ruin while trying to change the heart of a hateful human? A Court of Bitterness and Jasmine…A Court of Rhysand. Set in the same universe as our favourite Sarah J Maas characters, but with a twist.

If Rhysand were to take Tamlin’s place how different would our story be? Or would it stay the same?

Chapter 1 Chapter 3

Tags: @acourtofdaisiesanddreams, @thelaughingzeebra, @rkjar1646, @empress-ofbloodshed, @22skybarr, @samariumpoisoning, @deezrmuhsheeple, @purpleboybunny, @krm00623, @ladysailorcaptaindoctor, @acourtofpainandfeelz, @throne-of-ashes-and-beauty, @illyrianinterrasen, @not-illegal-if-u-win, @urban-skys, @thrones-of-rosess, @samayla, @nerdperson524, @fracknugget, @valkyrienikolea, @bibliobug, @rokusasu, @ataurusinabookshop, @the-candor-shadowhunter, @allthenamesaretakenofcourse, @demydreamer-otaku-and-book-lover, @illyriangoddess, @ourbooksuniverse, @kaliejane26, @atya-malik133, @akcmirran, @always-namelessismyprice, @the-song-of-the-wind, @bibliophileinnightcourt, @tothedreamerswholookup, @icantpeopletoday, @girl-who-fangirls, @angelcakes12332, @feyreeedarlinggg, @books-are-friends-not-objects, @rapcookie, @sirixslyobsessed, @nerdofmanypages, @rowaelinsmut, @nieliadamteragram, @eternally-reading, @dreamingofradescapes, @nerdybirdsgettheworms, @justhappym, @myhighladyfaeofthenightcourt, @1800-fight-me, @unicornbooks, @aileana-kameron, @kylooreens, @ddiieettzz-blog, @sahannahsa, @celaena-sardothiien, @bluephoenix222, @howtotameyourillyrian, @ame233, @tswaney17, @a-court-of-fangirl-and-tears, @high-lady-of-rochambeau, @fallingstarsfallenangels, @verifiefangirl, @urbisie, @rhysand-vs-rowan

CHAPTER 2 4 days later

I need this. A few moments just for me. No one cares anyway, Feyre thought, as she leaned her head back against the coarse wooden grain.

She had had a surprising few days. After her night in the forest, she had had three days of kills. Three days of food. She was able to sell the pelts in the marketplace, where a mercenary gave her twice the normal amount for them. Yet, she couldn’t stop thinking about that creature. At the most unexpected moments she would see those keen eyes, or remember that sense of home.

The rhythmic thumping sound brought her back to the present. From the sound, it was pretty obvious what was going on between Feyre and Isaac in the Hales’ old barn.

He held her, her legs wrapped around his waist, and lifted a single iron cuffed hand to push his hair off his sweaty brow.

She gripped his slight but toned shoulders harder.

He released her legs, spinning her around. She now faced a shoulder-height shelf piled high with rusty, old milk pails. She grabbed the edge and arched back urging him deeper.

His hands came around her front, squeezing her breasts, his fingertips grazing her erect nipples.

She looked down at his hands. Lean knuckled fingers, that often helped his father on the farm. She tried not to think back to last week when those hands were deworming a pig.

“More”, Feyre urgently whispered back. He increased his pace, and she arched even closer to him as the sounds of their meeting filled the barn.

She also heard a slight rustling to her side. It was a goat poking its nose in the hay strewn across the floor. It lifted its head, slowly chewing a mouthful of straw. Its beady eyes held her stare with idle tenacity.

“More!” she said, and slid her hand down. She groaned as her fingers rapidly moved between her legs.

She tried to ignore it when the goat sat down and watched.

Isaac stepped closer and thrust harder against her inner depths. For a few moments nothing else in the world existed but their bodies. Nearly there…

The door flew open.

SHIT! Feyre thought.

Nesta was standing there, hands on her hips, looking far too much like their mother. Shit shit shit.

“What the hells Nesta?! Why are you here?” Feyre shrieked, as she grabbed for her clothes. She clamped down the anger and embarrassment welling inside her. No, I will not be embarrassed. She knew what we did here. “Get dressed and get outside.” Nesta said sharply, staring them down like disgruntled queen.

She buttoned my tunic and pants, not bothering to say goodbye to Isaac as she pushed her way through the doors. “Really, Nesta...!” Feyre started.

“I don’t care about your sad little tryst. There is someone waiting to see you at home, and you better start explaining yourself now.”

*** *** ***

Aalop Archeron dropped the bowl of thin soup. With even shakier hands he tried to pick it up, nearly falling over in the process.

Rhysand cringed inwardly. He should be used to this.

The older man’s cane slipped dangerously on the now wet floor.

“Father, let me”, Elain said rushing forward. “Please Sir, forgive us, please,” she whispered, bowing her head to him, unable to make eye contact.

Rhys’ expression remained impassive. He had worn this face many times over the last five hundred years. The cold, dark, soulless Highlord. For the last fifty years, this had become his face to the world. The mask he couldn’t remove.

Unless you do your job and free them, he reminded himself.

“Enough.” he said, the low tenor of his voice an unfailing command. “I don’t care. Where is Feyre, your youngest daughter?”

“She is c-coming, Sir,” Elain said, still unable to so much as lift her head up as tears silently streamed down her face.

“Please. Please.” their father begged. “Take me. I will do anything. Please. I will pay--”

Rhysand forced a cruel laugh, “You think you can pay me? How much is a life worth to you, Aalop Archeron?”.

The fact that he knew their names scared them as much as his words.

He casually picked up a small wooden carving from the table, examining the fragile object in his large hands - a winged woman with shining halo. He stared at it, the work was so delicate, and her face triggered a wisp of memory-

Behind him he heard a gasp.

He turned towards the door where Nesta held a shorter, thinner version of herself tightly in front her.

Such big eyes, was his first thought, big stormy eyes.

Feyre looked around the room, taking in the scene. Then she looked at him, and he wished she didn’t.

“Who are you? What do you want?” she spat. She seemed to look straight passed the mask, she seemed to look straight into his soul. And then across her face swept a hard look of hatred.

He would have hesitated if he hadn’t had fifty years to get used to that look.

“Now now now, Feyre”, his mocking voice drawled out her name. “Is that any way to speak to your new Highlord?”

She looked shocked. He saw her take in his immaculate black on black suit, his unnatural poise, perfect face, and his clearly non-human pointed ears. “Alright, pack your things; say goodbye. You killed a Fae in the forest, someone who was a vital part of the running of my court. As the treaty demands, you must now come with me to repay the debt.”

“What! This is absurd. I didn’t know. There is no law--”

“ENOUGH.” Rhysand raised his voice and very slightly released the damper on his power. Night filled the room. Wisps of darkness reached out and caressed Nesta’s cheek, trailed across Elain’s shaking shoulders, and clouded Aalop’s vision.

The fear in their eyes was real. He could hear it in the erratic beating of their hearts.

Good, he thought. He wanted this over as quickly as possible.

“Feyre,” her father pleaded.

Rhysand’s night receded.

Aalop reached out for his young daughter. “He has promised me that you won’t be harmed. That you just need to live in his court. You will be treated well, and then he will release you when you sentence is served. I-I am s-sorry my love”. His eyes beseeched her to understand. Understand how he couldn’t help his child. “You have always been too good for us…”

Elain finally looked at her, “Feyre, he will kill us all. He will raze this town. Feyre, help us.” she said between sobs.

Nesta said nothing, but released Feyre’s shoulder and stepped aside.

Rhysand watched shock, betrayal and then fearful acceptance cross her face. He couldn’t stand this stifling house anymore. With the single word “Hurry”, he stepped outside and waited at the road.

He was so angry. And the emotion burned through his guilt.

The fools! They had so much. They had their free lives, they had a roof over their heads, and most of all, they had each other. Yet they gave her away so easily. Even as their selfishness suited his cause, his anger grew.

He couldn’t hide his deep frown.

The Archerons mistook it for impatience.

“Go Feyre. Go.” Nesta pushed her out sold chattel.

Feyre turned away from the door and walked alongside him, looking back at her family with hungry eyes until she lost sight of them.

He looked at her small face and her stiff shoulders as she kept pace with his long strides. She was trying to be brave in front of the beast that took her away.

He was about to reach his hand out but stopped. She doesn’t want to touch you, he thought.

“We are going North”, was all he said before he grabbed her by the bag and winnowed them away.

*** *** ***

This wasn’t real. This wasn’t happening to her. It took Feyre at least an hour, or longer, who knew, to get used to the idea that she was flying. No, not flying. Appearing and reappearing. Like her whole body was being shattered into a middle pieces and then reassembled in the blink of an eye. Each time in a different place across the land.

The first time she saw a sweet-smelling dark garden, the second was a stifling sandy beach, then so much orange and yellow she couldn’t tell the roof from the floor. Then, snowy blizzard. Warm light. Hot brighter light. Cold night. And then it was over.

The male next to her had barely touched her but she felt his magic release her from his side.

She tried not to look at him. He had the most stunningly beautiful face she had ever seen. That only made the terrible dark power rolling off him more terrifying.

He turned away, panting.

They were outside a massive black wrought iron gate. Beyond it were red mountains to one side, partially obscuring the edges of a river bordered by more sharp dark mountains. On the other side were black buildings with heavy smoke churning out of the chimneys atop them.

But Feyre’s eyes were focused on the gate and its surrounding fence, and she couldn’t help but notice the intricate work, the curling whorls interspersed with ugly dangerous-looking spikes. Spikes facing inwards. This wasn’t a gate to keep people out, but one to keep people in.

She forgot all the assurances of her safety he had granted her before they left.

She was looking at the Gates of Hell.

He reached towards the double-doored gate, and at his touch it opened.

“Welcome home”, his voice, calm and soft, didn’t hide the malice at the last word.

6 hours later.

It was midnight and nothing was keeping me inside this house.

They told Feyre it was a “house” but in reality, it was a palace. A dark, festering palace atop a red mountain that looked like the maw of a giant beast. She supposed it was a fitting home for the male who ruled over it.

The city was called “Velaris” and from the little Feyre saw of it, it was a place of nightmares. It was mostly a ghost town, the buildings daubed with moist black streaks of mould. On her way in, she saw a family of faeries with long blue limbs being threatened by large, angry insectile creatures with batons. The night court police perhaps, Feyre assumed, and gave them a wide berth. Upon seeing their Highlord in the streets they immediately stopped and returned to their posts. Feyre tried not to think about how terrifying the male next to her was if these creatures feared him. The citizens hurried away without glancing in their Highlord’s direction.

After that he rushed her into this palace,and she didn’t see another being while they wandered through hallway after hallway. It might have been grand once. The red uncut stone of the walls might have been warm, the high ceilings open and inviting, but like the rest of the city it felt abandoned. Feyre tried to track the turns and distances they travelled, but she quickly lost count. She had never been in a place like this. They turned abruptly and headed down a dark staircase.

He’s taking me to the dungeons, Feyre panicked.

It must have shown because he immediately stopped, and said, “These are my private chambers. Only those closest to me can enter here. You will not be harmed.”

They went down more twisted hallways and then travelled up a long spiral staircase, which finally opened over a wide white-marble antechamber lined with high windows. Feyre realised the whole palace had been carved out of the mountain itself, and they were now at the summit.

The Highlord stopped at the first door on the left. A single glossy black door.

Throughout this journey, her emotions were a riot, swirling between blind panic and brave resignation. All those thoughts stood still when he pulled out a heavy golden key and placed in it her hand, careful not to touch her, “Your room. Once you are inside no one except your handmaiden can enter without your permission.” he said. He paused for a moment, hesitating, and then started to step away, his head low.

Who are you?, Feyre thought forcefully.

His head snapped up like she had shouted it. He looked at her for the first time since entering Velaris, really looked at her. Feyre didn’t dare look away from those fierce violet eyes.

He stepped closer, tilting his head to the side.

“What do I do now?” she blurted, “Highlord”, she quickly added.

That broke the strange silence over them.

His expression changed, and he gave her that frustratingly cool smile. “Tonight? Whatever you want. I don’t care. Eat, sleep, read, stare at the wall. I’ll come get you in the morning. Until then, feel at home.” He said mockingly, knowing she could never feel that way.

He spun on his heels and walked away, hands in his pockets, with an aura of complete satisfaction.

A beautiful Fae was waiting in her room. Cerriwden, she said her name was. She spoke softly and moved through the rooms with silent grace, her straight, waist-length hair swaying behind her. Rooms, Feyre had rooms now. There was a sitting room with a desk, shelves of books, and a large fireplace framed by a comfortable couch. The bedroom was dominated by a decadent high-canopied bed, and was connected to an equally large bathing room holding a sunken grey tub. Each room was at least three times the size of her whole house.

Cerriwden ran a bath for her and helped her into clean, soft night clothes. Her warm, sure hands on Feyre were the only reminder that this was real, and not a twisted dream. And though Cerriwden spoke little, her gaze was keen, taking in everything Feyre did.

Well, she doesn’t work for me, Feyre thought.

Occasionally, Feyre noticed a twinge of pity, of sadness when the handmaiden’s clear black eyes met hers. In those moments, Feyre felt shame, and guilt, and hurt. She wasn’t going to be kept here, a prisoner in a lavish cell.

Which brought her here, at midnight, with her legs thrown over the ledge of her window, high above the sleeping city. Feyre tried to judge how quickly she would die if her accidentally slipped right now. She had used the trimmings of the rich curtains to fashion a rope, and she planned to attach it to the multiple balconies and balustrades that dotted her path down the mountain face. Just like the trees in the forest at home, she told herself as took in deep breath and jumped.

She made leap after leap, careful not to look down the at the dizzying fall should she miss. But her forest and her home were far from here. She didn’t know if she was thankful or angry at that fact. Thankful that despite the little they had, her family were not in this place. But angry that they were left to die. Without her, how would they feed themselves? And deep down, she hoped they would realise how much she gave them, and then they would come to regret how they barely fought to keep her.

A few more leaps and she was at the bottom. She was careful to tuck her homemade rope into her bag. She then grabbed the bow and two fighting knives she took from home and secured them within easy reach.

Preparation first. Know your what you are dealing with, Feyre, she thought. Then figure a way out.

She was not prepared for the sight of Velaris at night.

Feyre’s senses were assaulted as she took in the scene before her. Everywhere the sights, sounds, and smells of the crowd was overwhelming. The streets were teeming with High Fae, pushing each other around, yelling, leering, grinding against each other. Thumping music blared from doorways, different beats and rhythms, all merging on the street into a chaotic cacophony. The main street was lined with bars and restaurants, all filled with fae and faeries. Feyre sensed the threat of violence slinking underneath the revelry, a manic intoxication was could be uncorked at any time.

Her subconscious had picked it up before she acknowledged it. This was not the celebration of a happy, satiated people. These were the revels of a cruel and angry court. Her eyes narrowed to the faeries interspersed between the High fae. The faeries were waiting on them, servicing them, desperately trying to keep their establishments from being torn apart by them - the faeries were being abused by them. She tasted something bitter in her mouth. Fear.

She was an outsider here. She was a weak human. She quickly walked away from the broadway. She avoided the storefronts closing for the nights, patrons throwing down their rubbish as they left, smashing bottles and swearing. She was careful to dodge a drunk vomiting man only to nearly walk into someone pissing off the broadwalk. Thankfully, no one paid much attention to her.

She decided to make for the docks. Docks meant ships, and ships meant a way out.

But there were no ships.

By the waterfront inside the abandoned boatshed, there were only more faeries. It was quieter here, but somehow even more dismal. There were faeries from every part of Prythian, it seemed. Some looked like humans, some seemed like an extension of nature itself. A faerie with verdigris skin and hair like the richest leaves sat next to a pale white faerie with skin like translucent tissue paper. Groups of threes and fours clustered around barrels filled with fire, clutching packets of food in paper. Others were sitting up on thin bed mats and cardboard mattresses laid on the floor. There was muted conversation amongst the heads held low. Feyre had seen enough of hunger and poverty to recognise it on all these faeries instantly. She didn’t dare speak to anyone, it was clear that no one here wanted to be noticed either.

She crossed a bridge to the other side of the river and entered another cluster of buildings.

Here were hundreds of houses built almost on top of each other. They had sprouted up in a disorganised mass, a colony that had grown too quickly and irregularly, crawling from the waterfront to cling to the steep mountain face. But there was a beauty in it, for it was the only speck of colour in this city of stark black, tarnished red and drab grey. All the shanty homes were painted every colour of the rainbow. Though fading, with nothing of the bright technicolour of Elain’s garden in spring, it had a coherence and unity that was lost everywhere else in the city.

As she walked through the uneven alleys, she saw the walls of the homes were crumbling, roofs replaced with corrugated iron, and doors and windows sealed shut with makeshift wood planks. There were signs of the fae that inhabited those homes, with occasional clotheslines, rain waterpots on doorsteps, and the telltale flicker of a candle beneath a door frame. But for so many homes, the silence was eerie.

Until she heard something.

The scratching of claws against a wall. A girlish scream cut short. The sounds of scuffed boots on the ground.

She cautiously turned the corner.

Four creatures with bat-like faces, leathery wings and insectile bodies were crowded around a Fae girl.

“Hmmm, out after curfew. Your Highlord’s rules don’t protect you now”, one of them hissed. They leaned in close. Their leering glances made it clear what she needed protecting from.

The girl looked around for any path to run into, for anything that might help her.

They creatures started clicking, rubbing their claws together, purposefully taunting her.

Before Feyre could consider the consequences she picked up a large rock and aimed it. The creature closest to her grunted loudly as it hit him on the back of the head.

They turned towards Feyre in unsettling unison.

“RUN!”, Feyre yelled to the girl, who needed no encouragement as she bolted towards Feyre. They both ran through the pot-holed alleys that bordered the homes, turning often in the hope they could lose the creatures.

“Attors!”, the girl exclaimed pointing to the right, “We need to go this way. Attors hate water”, she pointed back towards the docks.

They veered sharply right, ducking under a low clothesline.

Straight into the path of a waiting Attor.

“Aren’t I lucky? I get two of you all to myself”, his voice dripping with vicious pleasure.

Feyre palmed the knives she had hidden in her boots as they backed away.

They barely got three feet away when the Attor flapped its leathery wings and appeared behind them, obstructing their path out.

“Rhysand has been careless”, he hissed gleefully. “Let’s get rid of those”, he reached over and with one swipe knocked both the knives out of Feyre’s hands, cutting her skin with his razor claws.

Defenceless now, Feyre tried to reach for her bow.

My bow!, she realised belatedly it wasn’t on her back. She had made the thin linen string herself. It must have snapped while she was running.

Panic seeped into the souls of her feet. This is it. It’s over.

The Attor moved in closer, reaching towards Feyre. “I think I’ll start with you”, he rasped, breathless at the thought.

Suddenly his head jerked up, and before either of them could make another movement, a bone-shuddering tremor snapped through the ground. Immediately followed by another.

Feyre held her breath as everything stopped. A hundred feet behind the Attor, still crouching from the impact of their landing, were two leather-clad Fae.

They stood together and started walking towards them, their magnificent wings flared out wide, spanning the length of the alley. The way they moved their tall, muscular bodies with restrained ease, the weapons strapped to every inch of them, and the fierceness of their expressions made it clear who they were - Warriors. These were the Fae of dreams and nightmares. And they were beautiful, in all their gloriously and deathly fury.

Feyre made herself small and started to inch back the alley. For whatever reason they were here, the distraction could save her life. They surely didn’t even sense her insignificant human self.

“Who in the hells are you?” the Attor hissed at them.

“I’m glad you asked,” said the broader one with shoulder length hair and rough-cut features, coming up to them, “now you will know who sent you back to that pit you crawled from.”

In a flash of silver, he unsheathed two short swords and scissored them across the Attor’s thick neck. Feyre stopped still, barely noticing the black blood spraying the walls as its lifeless head rolled towards her feet.

“Oh I lied. I didn’t let you live long enough to find out”, he said with an angry half-smile.

The taller one, a dark Adonis, rolled his eyes. Shadows swirled around his ears as his gaze turned to her. She was trying to still her hammering heart, when he nodded and said, “Hello, Miss Feyre. I’m Azriel, and this is Cassian. Welcome to Velaris”.

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travelingtheusa · 4 years ago

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FLORIDA

2021 Feb 23 (Tue) – We went out for lunch today to Micanopy. It was a small, historic town with lots of antique shops. We wanted to eat at a restaurant but it was closed so we went next door to Coffee & Cream where we enjoyed chicken salad sandwiches with rice and beans. After lunch, we walked up and down the main street wandering in some of the shops and reading the historic plaques describing the history of the town.

On the way back to the campground, we stopped at the post office to mail off some items and at a convenience store to pick up wine and get some lottery tickets. Then we stopped at the Antique Emporium. It was a large warehouse with 55 vendor shops inside. There were so many items we used to use for sale. There is no faster way to feel old than to walk through an antique shop and see your life’s belongings laid out and considered to be “old stuff.”

2021 Feb 22 (Mon) – We took our time closing up this morning. Bonnie and Sheba got to play outside and we chatted with Rich and Margaret for a while. Then we packed up and left Hernando at 11:35 a.m. The campground was just 40 miles away and we were here within an hour. Ocala North RV Park is a very nice, very clean facility. It is large and there were workers putting in new lights, a shuffle board, and a bocce ball court. They are getting ready for a luau in two days. The clerk who checked us in said the owner bought the rundown campground two years ago and has been working on renovating it. He’s done an excellent job.

2021 Feb 21 (Sun) – We all drove over to Matt & Michele’s today. They were hosting a drone speed course event for their local club. It was amazing to watch these little things zip around the yard, sounding like a bunch of angry bees. We could watch the drones fly around the course and watch the TV screens to see what the pilots were seeing in their headsets.

When we got back to the house, Margaret made roast beef sandwiches for us. For dinner, she cooked baked clams and steaks. We visited for a bit after dinner then returned to the rig to get ready for tomorrow’s move.

2021 Feb 20 (Sat) – I did some laundry today. Margaret was kind enough to let me use her washer and dryer. Matt & Michele came over for dinner and Margaret outdid herself, as usual. I think she loves to cook and is glad to have people visit. She not only made lots to eat, but packed us a take-home box.

2021 Feb 19 (Fri) – It started out cloudy, rained, then got really cool. We had to switch to long sleeve shirts and pants as the day wore on.

We drove to WalMart at 8 a.m. to get an oil change on the truck. There was a line of six cars in front of us waiting for service. We checked in then went shopping where we spent almost $200 on items in the store. The damn oil change should be free considering we shopped while waiting and spent so much we would not have spent other wise. Lol.

We got back around 10:30 a.m. and Margaret & Rich took us to Matt & Michele’s house. Paul and Margaret used to work with Matt at NYSDOT. They were building their home and a drone speed course when we were here last January. It is all finished now and everything is very nice. The drone control center and speed course are quite the thing to see.

We returned to the house and finished off Margaret’s egg salad. Later, we went to dinner at Crump’s Landing in Homasossa. It had a large grass covered roof over a seated patio area. There were plastic panels pinned in around the sides to keep it warm along with large gas heaters. It was very nice and the food was good. After dinner, Rich drove us over to Monkey Island. It is a small island in the middle of the Homosassa River where a troupe of monkeys lives. It was too dark to see anything but there is a house and a replica lighthouse on the island that is little more than a mound of dirt in the middle of the river. Guess the monkeys were asleep because we didn’t see any. It was too dark anyway.

2021 Feb 18 (Thu) – We packed up and left Tampa at 10:30 a.m. It was a little more than two hours to Hernando where we are staying in the driveway of friends, Margaret & Rich. We were here last January where we celebrated the New Year with them. Margaret was waiting for our arrival with egg salad sandwiches. We visited for a couple of hours. Later, she made sausage and peppers heroes for dinner.

2021 Feb 17 (Wed) – I went back to ENT doctor today. First I had a hearing test with the audiologist then a follow-up with the ENT doctor. I was told I have hearing loss in both ears and should go back to the VA for a re-evaluation on the hearing aids. The doctor prescribed prednisone for 6 days and a Flonase. Both are intended to reduce swelling and allow the fluid behind my ear to be reabsorbed.

After the doctor, we dropped the prescription off to CVS then went to lunch at a Mexican restaurant. After a stop at U-Haul for propane, we went back to CVS to pick up my prescriptions.

2021 Feb 16 (Tue) – Johnny & Linda and Rick & Brenda came over for a barbecue. It was chilly with an overcast sky and cool wind blowing. At least it didn’t rain. We had burgers, baked beans, potato salad, tossed salad and a chocolate cake to celebrate Brenda’s birthday. We visited for almost 4 hours. It was very enjoyable. After they left, we took down the town and cleaned up.

2021 Feb 15 (Mon) – I went to the ENT doctor today. He wanted to follow up and see how my ear was doing after using the drops. While the pain is gone, my ear still feels stuffed up. The doctor believes that I have fluid behind my ear. He asked me to come back for a hearing test.

After the doctor, we stopped at Bonefish Grill for lunch. The Bang Bang Shrimp is good every time! Then we stopped at Publix to pick up some groceries. When we got back to the campground, Paul set up the covered tent for tomorrow’s barbecue.

2021 Feb 14 (Sun – Valentine’s Day) – We went to the Hard Rock Café & Casino for lunch. Thought we’d enjoy a meal and a little gambling. What an UNenjoyable experience! The place is huge with several parking garages surrounding the main casino. We walked deep into the building before we found the café. The food was OK but very expensive - $101! After lunch, we went up to the second floor to the non-smoking lounge. We searched for 10 and 25 cent machines. That didn’t make any difference. When you found a 25 cent machine, you had to bet a minimum of 30 credits – each credit being equal to 25 cents. We both put $20 in a machine and after just 3 or 4 pushes of the button, we were broke. It is nice when you can find a machine to play that will last a little while. After all, you look for entertainment for a while. I don’t mind losing my money if the machine lets me play for an hour or so.

So, we went back down to the first floor and stopped in at a lounge for a cocktail and just enjoy the ambiance of the place. We walked up to the plastic shield and waited for service. Two bartenders were making drinks and even though they came by us to get bottles off the shelf, no one said anything to us. The bar was oval shaped and they were waiting on people on the other side of the bar. After about ten minutes, we spotted a waitress. Paul asked if we could get service at a table. She said yes so we sat at a small table and ordered our drinks. I asked for a double shot of Bailey’s Irish Cream and Paul had a shot of 43. My drink wasn’t more than an ounce. In fact, I questioned her as to whether it was even a double as it looked like so little. The charge for my drink was $22. We left the casino feeling ripped off and very unsatisfied with our experience. Sad.

2021 Feb 13 (Sat) – A fierce thunderstorm rolled through last night. The campground is full of puddles and squishy grass. It rained off and on all day today. There are more thunderstorms on the way over the next two or three days.

At 11:30, we wandered over to the livestock barn to see what was going on with the little piggies. They were having some kind of contest. A group of ten kids with pigs entered the ring. Each one had a long, thin switch that they used to continuously smack the pig on the right side of the face. Apparently, that is how they control the pig; with the switch and a stiff brush in their other hand. It looked like a confusing melee to me. The pigs walked all over the place and the kids followed, switching them in the face while trying to maintain eye contact with the judge. A judge watched and selected two or three contestants. They left the arena and entered cages on the side. The rest of the contestants were dismissed and the selectees came back out, fist bumped the judge, then left, too. Then, the next group of ten entered the ring. We watched for about a half hour. The animals were beautiful – strong, healthy looking beasts with ears that stood straight up and an energy to their trot. Some pigs were pink but more were other colors – chocolate brown, black with a pink band around their center, black with pink spots or pink with black splotches. It must be more difficult than it looks.

2021 Feb 12 (Fri) – We met Brenda & Rick for lunch at Portillo’s. The restaurant is famous in Chicago for its hot dogs and chocolate cake. We sat outside and visited for almost two hours. It was fun.

Next door was a Walgreens. After lunch, Paul and I went to find cards for our grandsons. We addressed them, put in a few candy hearts, and mailed them off.

2021 Feb 11 (Thu) – We went to Cracker Barrel for lunch. We were appalled to see many tables with the dishes still sitting on them after diners have left. The service was very slow. We watched the hostess come in, haphazardly wipe off a table and then seat a couple there. She definitely is not COVID protective.

After lunch, we went to Lazydays which was right next door to the restaurant. After buying a few supplies, we met with a salesman who took us to look at several rigs. We found two we liked and when we returned to the office, he worked hard to get us to buy one of the RVs. He even brought in the boss to talk to us. Fortunately, he saw we weren’t looking to buy right now so he just chatted amiably with us then left. Good. I didn’t feel like going through a high pressure sales pitch. They offered to give us a trade in of $32,000 on our current rig.

Campers are starting to come into the campground. There will be a Swine Festival this weekend for the local kids club.

2021 Feb 10 (Wed) – Paul tested the charge on several stanchions and found high voltage running through the line. I called the office and they sent an electrician over. He said they have a fair coming up and run a higher voltage over the line. With lots of people drawing power, it causes the voltage to drop. Since we are the only camper here, the voltage is too high and they can’t reduce it. It should be running around 128 but it’s over 133 and tripping the surge protector (which we thought was broken but was really doing its job). So, we packed up and moved to the other side of the campground where they are not setting up for the fair. The voltage seems to be OK over here. There’s one other camper in this area.

After the set up, we drove to MacDill Air Force Base. We have tried to get reservations on that base a couple of times but they were always full. They have over 400 spaces in their campground. It was full and the sites were very close to each other. We were just as glad we didn’t get in.

We then stopped at the commissary and picked up some groceries, then walked next door to the Class VI Package Store and picked up some wine.

2021 Feb 9 (Tue) – We drove to a laundromat to do some wash. They had a value card system in place. You have to put money on a card and put that into the washer and dryer. It is a confusing system but we managed. For two washers and two dryers, we spent $12.70. That was high.

While the clothes were doing their thing, we went to WalMart and picked up oil and DEF for the truck. Paul asked about having an oil change done but the clerk said they didn’t have a lift big enough to fit the truck. He told us to go to the WalMart in Valrico.

We had lunch at Duke’s Brewhouse. It was a relatively new place (as an evaluator said on Trip Advisor) but was not crowded. The walls were covered with big screen TVs playing every kind of sports. The Tamp Bay Buccaneers are big news after their win at the Superbowl this past weekend. I had a Greek flatbread and Paul had a Caesar wrap. The food was OK.

The electric breaker kicked off twice. Our surge protector usually takes two minutes to bring the electric back on. It did it the first time but not the second. Paul thinks the surge protector has bit the dust. It is almost four years old. That’s an awful short life. Add to that the Jetpack that keeps giving us problems in accessing the Internet. Ugh.

2021 Feb 8 (Mon) – I found an ENT doctor and went to see him this morning. He said I have a bacterial infection in my ear and prescribed ear drops. He said to stop the Amoxicillin that the urgent care doctor prescribed. I am supposed to go back to see the ENT doctor in a week.

We then went to Smokey Bones for lunch. The ribs were delicious! Then I ran into CVS (which happened to be in a Target store) to get the ear drops. I spent a good part of the day cancelling reservations and appointments back in New York. I was supposed to fly out today.

2021 Feb 7 (Sun) – We packed up and left Sarasota at 10 a.m. It was an hour and a half drive to the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa. Sometimes I have to wonder about our timing. The Superbowl is being played in Tampa tonight. We always seem to arrive somewhere where something amazing or very big is going on – like a presidential rally or a big concert.

When we arrived, we discovered we didn’t have an assigned site. The saleslady had acknowledged our reservation and promised to send us information before we arrived. She didn’t do that. The guard called someone who told them to just point us to the camping area and to pick a spot. That’s what we did. There are two RVs camped along the fence next to the interstate. Having camped near the interstate before, we knew it would be too loud with the 24/7 traffic. So we found a site on the other side of the field as far away from the road as we could get.

After set up, we went out to get some lunch. We were also going to do some laundry but my ear was hurting very badly. I got a message from Southwest that I had to have a negative COVID test within 72 hours of arriving in NY. On top of that, New York is getting another snowstorm today and another is scheduled for Thursday, all on top of a snowstorm they had a few days ago. I decided to cancel my trip until I could get my ear repaired. Maybe the COVID test will not be a requirement in another month with the vaccine out there. We’ll see.

My sister gave me a homeopathic treatment for my ear so we went to Sprouts Market where I picked up some ear drops. It did help to alleviate some of the pressure in my ear.

2021 Feb 6 (Sat) – We stayed in the trailer all day except to walk the dog. The wind was blowing briskly but it was more balmy than cold. Paul dumped the tanks this evening in readiness for our move tomorrow.

2021 Feb 5 (Fri) – It was cool today. Had to wear long pants, socks, and a jacket in the morning. We ran several errands around town. We went to Millie’s Restaurant for lunch. It was a delightful little café decorated with a French motif. I told Paul that I would like that wallpaper in our next house, wherever we settle down. Next stop was at Petco to pick up dry food for Bonnie. In the same shopping center was a Total Wine where we picked up some wine, a cordial, and a margarita mix. We stopped in a mall to look for sweat pants and jeans for me. It was about 3/4s empty. I guess COVID killed most of the stores. There was a JC Penney’s where I found a pair of soft slacks, not sweats nor jeans. We looked at cruise wear but decided to wait before buying any.

After we got home and dropped off our purchases, we ran back out to a medical clinic. My ear has been painful for a couple of days and I am getting some blood on a Q-tip. The doctor thinks I might have ruptured the ear drum and recommended that I see an ENT doctor. She prescribed an antibiotic. I think she should have cleaned the ear out with a topical antiseptic but she refused to do it. I called back home to my cancer doctor to be sure there was no problem with an interaction with my chemo medication. I stopped taking it yesterday. A nurse called back and said there would be no problem with the two medications.

When we got back, we fed the animals then went into the lodge for dinner and drinks. I still had my free drink to claim from the Queen of Hearts drawing. The bar was full and service was very slow but we finally got our meal. The Exalted Ruler came over to chat with us and Paul met a couple of people who were from4rrrr our hometown. One man came over to sit with us and reminisce about the old town.

2021 Feb 4 (Thu) – I called my brother, Gregory, and made arrangements for dinner. We met them at Longhorn Restaurant. The meal was delicious! Afterward, we went to Greg’s house to visit with him and Potsy for a while. He had us laughing with his stories of doctors, nail guns, and children. I love his sense of humor.

2021 Feb 3 (Wed) – We pulled up stakes and drove 120 miles northwest to Sarasota. We are camped on the side of an Elks Lodge. There are 3 campers hooked up. We got the only 50 amp site. We parked so another camper can fit between us and the motorcoach next to us. The RV is due to come in tomorrow.

We went out to pick up groceries and dog food, drop off postcards for mailing, and refuel. We stopped at the Bayan Tree Chocolate & Café for lunch. They had a display case with specialty chocolates right when you walked in. We sat and ordered off the menu. I got a quiche and Paul had a sandwich. We took home chocolate chili for dinner. It did not taste as good as it sounded.

At 5 p.m. we went to the outdoor Tiki Bar behind our trailer for a drink. Several people were in there with heaters and a fireplace all blazing away. It was cold and everyone was in jackets. We then went into the lodge to pay for our site. We sat at the bar and had a drink. It was Queen of Hearts night so we bought tickets for that as well as the 50-50 drawing. I won a free drink. We paid the bartender for our 4-night stay.

2021 Feb 2 (Tue) – We drove the Loop Road this morning. It was pretty cool. It is a 40 mile road that loops through the Big Cypress National Preserve. About 12 miles of it is hard packed gravel (unpaved). It was in pretty good condition with few potholes. It was a narrow, 2-lane road that wound through the Everglades. There were cypress trees and bushes lining both sides of the road and lots of water on either side. We spotted 3 alligators and several egrets.

When we came out on the main road, we drove to Everglades City to take an airboat ride. We were an hour early, so we stopped at a deli on the Miccosukee Indian Reservation for lunch. We bought a meatball hero, a bag of chips, and an iced tea. We sat in the car and split the meal between us. At 1 p.m. we drove to the meeting spot. It was an entrance into the canal with no office building. Two airboats were sitting there, waiting for customers. Our guide came over, introduced himself (CPT Ryan), and gave us paperwork to sign absolving them of all liability if we got hurt. It was only the guide and the two of us on the boat. We wore headsets so we could hear him speaking over the drone of the engine. He drove us through the Everglades for better than an hour and a half regaling us with stories of his childhood and descriptions of the area with its wildlife, fauna, and flora. We saw gators, great blue herons, egrets, vultures, and turtles. It seemed like we went deep into the wild and untamed wilderness. The water was so clean and pure looking. Not at all what you would expect a swamp to be like. We saw a couple of alligators and many kinds of birds and even a turtle. I was hoping to catch sight of a python but our guide said they were hard to spot – usually only when a bird or gator has caught one. What a great experience!

2021 Feb 1 (Mon) – We packed up and headed out at 9:30 a.m. It was 110 miles to the Big Cypress National Preserve where we are camped in the Midway Campground. There are 32 campsites arranged around the perimeter of a large pond. We have electric hookup only. We dumped our tanks and filled the fresh water tank before pulling into our assigned site. The camp host met us at the entrance, ran through a litany of rules, and wished us well. He warned us to beware of the wildlife. When I asked him what kind of wildlife they have here in the park, he said “Everything!” Does he think they have a zoo in here?

After set up and a quick lunch, we headed out to the visitor center. It was very small. We watched a video about the ecosystem but it failed to explain how it all works together. Outside the center was a wooden walkway that ran along a canal. There were many alligators in the water as well as different kinds of fish. It was quite thrilling.

We then drove to Everglades City. It looked like it has been pretty much beat up over the years. Almost all of the buildings were raised 10 or more feet off the ground. Is that for storm surge or wildlife avoidance? The city is laid out in a large grid. The houses have large yards; they might each be on one or two acres apiece. The local museum was closed. We stopped in a very old store-turned-museum and wandered around all the old stuff. They had interesting signs up describing how various equipment/furniture/ appliances were used. The Smallwood Store was built in 1906 on Chokoloskee Island.

My hair is going through another kind of metamorphosis. It seems to be losing its curl and is more coarse. I guess the change in chemo strength is doing something. I made reservations for a flight back home next month for a PET Scan and checkup. I am not looking forward to going back to New York in February. It’s cold! And with the damn virus, they might make me take a COVID test. Keep your fingers crossed I don’t have to do that. I won’t go back then if they try to make me take that thing. It is too painful.

2021 Jan 31 (Sun) – We went into the Elks lodge for brunch at 11:30 a.m. The food was very good. At 5:30 p.m. we drove to Marathon to meet Tim at the Sunset Grill. We had dinner and watched the sun set. There were clouds in the sky so we did not get much color. A gentleman sitting next to me got a very interesting looking appetizer. I asked him what it was and he said it was cheesecake spring rolls. I asked him many questions about it. What was that name again? Did the waiter recommend it? It is sweet or tart? Is it supposed to be a dessert? He said it was delicious and he couldn’t taste any cream cheese at all. We finally got our hands on a menu and looked up the appetizer, hoping to find out what ingredients could be put into a cheesecake spring roll that would erase all taste of cream cheese. What a laugh we had!!! There was a cheesesteak spring roll on the menu. The bar was crowded, he had misheard the waiter, and he never bothered to check it out on the menu. We had quite a chuckle all night long as we ordered and ate our “cheesecake” spring rolls.

There are the nastiest gnats around here. Their bites sting and just keep itching. Our legs and arms are covered with these small red blotches that won’t stop itching. Ugh. Well, we have checked off the Florida Keys from our bucket list. Time to move on.

2021 Jan 30 (Sat) – We had planned to take a glass bottom boat tour in Key Largo with Tim today. He called to say that the weather for the day was bad for boat rides. The wind is blowing pretty hard which would give us a rough ride. So we cancelled that plan and arranged to meet Tim at Robbie’s Marina in Islamorada. Every time we drive down the road, the marina is packed. Apparently, they have lots of activities going on there and we wanted to see what they have.

We got there at 11:30 a.m. There was a storyboard that told the story of Scarface. The owner found a tarpon with its jaw badly torn and hanging. He called a friend who sewed the jaw back in place. The owner nursed the fish back to health and after six months, released it back into the wild. Apparently, it liked the treatment because it continued to hang around the marina. In addition, it brought friends back for handouts, too. Today, you can pay $2.25 to walk out on the dock to look at the tarpons gathered around and you can buy a bucket of food for $4.00 to feed them. The dock was crowded with people and pelicans looking to sample the food. We skipped the melee and had lunch on the patio. The margarita was terrible. We told the waitress that and she brought another drink. It was a little better but still not good. The food was not that good either.

Tim’s friend, Jimmy, joined us. He and Tim met back up in New York working on the casino boat that went out of Freeport. They have both moved down here to Florida. Jimmy works for a pool company. He was pretty funny. Interestingly, Tim is talking about getting an RV.

It was cloudy, windy, and cool all day long. We went on to the patio at the Elks lodge at 6 p.m. to watch the sunset. We were sure that with all the clouds, the sunset would be fantastic. Unfortunately, the clouds were too thick and too low on the horizon. There were no beautiful colors to see. A couple sitting at a nearby table live next door to the lodge and came over to watch the sunset, too. They peppered us with questions about RVs. They were dressed in winter jackets, gloves and hats. Guess they thought it was cold.

2021 Jan 29 (Fri) – We met Tim at the Florida Keys History & Discovery Center. It is located on the property of the Islander Resort in their convention center. It was small but interesting. Tim and I got in free because we were veterans. Paul got the senior rate.

After the center, we went across the street to Lorelei for lunch. We found a table in the sun out on the patio and enjoyed a delightful meal together. After lunch, Paul and I stopped at Publix to pick up a few things. We also stopped at the post office where I mailed off our passport renewals. Let’s see how long it takes to get the new passports.

Our mail arrived this afternoon. I asked to have our mail forwarded 2 days ago. UPS marked it as a 3 day shipment but it arrived in 2 days. Unfortunately, the package was marked as one of two packages. The tracking number for the second package says it is scheduled to arrive here at the Elks Lodge on Tuesday. We leave on Monday. The UPS driver said they could forward it to us. Just leave the forwarding address with the camp host here.

A cold front came in today. The temperature dropped to a low of 59 degrees. Lol. The Floridians brought out their parkas, gloves, scarves, and hats.

2021 Jan 28 (Thu) – We went to the laundromat this morning to wash clothes. We sat in the truck while the clothes washed, then drove to a Mexican restaurant for lunch while they were in the dryer.

I spent an hour putting together an annual report on finances for the SMART Nomads. Later in the day at 4 p.m. there was a Zoom meeting with National Muster committee (I volunteered to chair the Administrative Team). The meeting went on for about an hour.

2021 Jan 27 (Wed) – We drove to Marathon and met Tim at his boat at 9:30 a.m. Before we got there, we stopped at a nearby Walgreens to have passport pictures taken. He took us out on the dinghy to his dive boat then we rode out to the Sombrero Reef, the third largest reef in the world. The water was such a beautiful green-blue color. Tim said the water was not cold but I thought it was so I did not go in. Paul put on a weight belt and a belt to hold the breathing regulator in place. Right after he jumped into the water with just his bathing suit, Tim promptly donned a wetsuit. So much for the water not being cold! Paul and Tim spent about an hour diving on the reef hookah style (as Tim calls it). The 50’ hoses were attached to the oxygen tanks that stayed on the boat while they swam around the boat. I looked over the sides and watched the colorful fish go crazy for crackers I threw in the water.

After we got back, we transferred to the dinghy and rode to the Dockside Grill where we enjoyed a refreshing drink. Then we returned to the dock and came back to the campground, stopping at Walgreens to pick up our pictures then at Winn Dixie to pick up a few groceries.

At 6:45 p.m. we went into the Elks lodge for dinner and to play the Queen of Hearts. The woman whose name was drawn did not choose the $900 Teaser. She drew a card but it was not the Queen of Hearts. So she won nothing. Next week’s drawing will have a prize over $32,000.

2021 Jan 26 (Tue) – We drove to the post office to make application to renew our passports. The clerk told us to go online. Turns out that all renewals have to be done by mail. That means we have to go get our pictures taken somewhere. Ugh.

We went for breakfast at the Bitton Bistro. Turned out to be a French café. The owner, Michel, is from Morocco. He was the only person working in the café and there were 3 tables taken and several people coming and going to buy pastries. The food was good and we even bought pastries for tomorrow’s breakfast.

We met Tim at the Crane Point Museum. It is a 63 acre hammock. A hammock in Florida is used in the southeastern United States for stands of trees, usually hardwood, that form an ecological island in a contrasting ecosystem. Hammocks grow on elevated areas, often just a few inches high, surrounded by wetlands that are too wet to support them. There were birds in a cage being cared for by rehabbers. The group included pelicans, cormorants, owls, kestrels, egrets, herons, and an eagle. A little further on was a pedicure pool. People could take their shoes off and put their feet in the water. Little fish nibbled on the bottom of their feet. Four people were sitting on the dock with their feet in the water. They said it tickled. We wandered through thick foliage with lots of roots sticking up in the pathway. It was a rough hike through the trees.

After the tour, we drove to the Overseas Pub & Grill and had lunch outside on the patio. It had an Irish menu and I enjoyed shepherd’s pie. Tim had corned beef stew and Paul just had a burger.

2021 Jan 25 (Mon) – What an illuminating day it was! We drove to Key West today. It was 90 miles one way. The road (US 1) passed over one island after another. Each island is called a key and there are many keys (also called a cay). The houses and buildings are painted in lovely pastel shades of pink, green, blue, peach, yellow and dove gray. Some islands are very built up and others are sparse. There are many boats and marinas along the way. Key West was incredibly crowded. The streets are narrow and the houses are tightly packed. The entire place was so built up! We had to wait on a long line just to get our picture taken at the 0 mile marker for the southernmost point in the Continental U.S. There were so many people in town and no parking that we couldn’t even tour the Truman Little White House or Hemingway’s Home. It was very disappointing.

We did stop in at a Butterfly Conservancy. That was delightful. There were butterflies flying everywhere! The docent told us they buy 300 egg sacks a week and release 15-30 new butterflies into the screen area every day. There were also very colorful little birds flying around.

We drove over to the Naval Air Station to check out the Sigsbee Campground. Although they have almost 100 hookups, there were not many RVs camped there at all. We guess that only servicemen who are stationed at the base are allowed to camp there. It was nice but the sites were tight. We are just as glad that we never got in there.

2021 Jan 24 (Sun) – We drove to the Florida Keys History and Discovery Center in Islamorada but it was closed. It is located in the Islander Resort and a guard at the gate told us they are only open Wednesday to Saturday. That was disappointing.

We drove down the road to the Island Grill and had a meal outside on the beach. Out table was a long table with two trees growing up through the table. After lunch, we drove further south to Bud ‘n Mary’s Marina. A friend of ours told us to go see the fish there. There were loads of pelicans begging scraps from a fisherman cleaning the day’s catch. In the water was a manatee, several very long fish (we think they were mackerel), and lots of minnows. The water was a beautiful color.

We stopped at the Hurricane Monument. A carved granite marker stands on the side of the road in tribute to the people who lost their lives in a hurricane in 1935. Next, we stopped at the History of Diving Museum. It was a very informative place. There were displays of deep sea diving gear, SCUBA gear, and underwater equipment. Lots of storyboards told about the personalities that made breakthroughs in diving and contributed to the sport. We enjoyed the museum very much.

2021 Jan 23 (Sat) – We drove to the post office this morning to get pictures and submit paperwork to renew our passports. We will be taking a cruise to Australia and New Zealand next year. Following the cruise, we are planning to take a camper around Australia for 2 or 3 months. That’s when our current passports will expire. We are renewing them now in order to avoid the possibility that our passports might expire before we get back home. Unfortunately, the post office was closed. So we went next door to the Made 2 Order café and had a late breakfast.

After our meal, we drove to Islamorada to the Theater of the Sea. It was fun. We got on a tour that went to several stations. First was the fish display. There were sting rays, parrot fish, and nurse sharks in shallow pools. The guide described the fish and showed how they train the sharks. Next to the display area was a wading pool where people could wade in the water with some of the fish.

Next stop was at a glass enclosure that held two alligators; one female and one male. We learned the females grow to about 6-8 feet and the males can grow up to 14 feet. Another enclosure held a crocodile where the guide explained the difference between the crocodilians.

After that was a stop at the turtle pools. They had leatherbacks, loggerheads, and green sea turtles. One turtle floated around the pool with a life vest on. There was something wrong with its shell that prevented it from surfacing. The vest helps it to be able to take a breath. These critters were so big!

Then we went to 3 shows. The first was where they had several parrots and macaws. The emcee described the different types of exotic birds and where they come from. Then we all went to a large pool where two dolphins performed tricks for the audience. Beside the pool were two small pools where people were swimming with the dolphins. The place offered the opportunity to swim with dolphins, sting rays, and sharks, all for an additional fee. The admission fee was pretty steep - $87 for the two of us and that was with a 10% discount! After the dolphins, we went to another pool where they had sea lions perform tricks, too. And, again, there were people swimming with the sea lions in small pools near the main pool.

The tour ended with a ride on a bottomless boat. The boat had benches on the four sides of the boat with an opening in the center. The two dolphins from the show came swimming by and popped up in the center of the boat and did tricks inside and on the side of the boat while we rode out and back on the lake. The guide said the entire park is landlocked so they pump in over 11 million gallons of water every day.

After the park, we drove to the “world famous” Lorelei Restaurant. It is a bar with a very large patio on three sides that sits right on the bay shore. We found a table where Tim joined us. He was meeting a friend who is in Florida on vacation. The friend didn’t want to come to the table so he sat up in the walkway in his wheelchair watching the women go by. Joey was also there, sitting up on the walkway with a friend.

2021 Jan 22 (Fri) – We drove to Marathon today to see Tim and take a ride on his boat. He actually has two boats. One he lives on and the other is his dive boat. He can take out groups of up to six people to dive on a nearby reef. His son, Joey, was also there.

We parked the truck and got on the dive boat. Tim drove from the dock to a nearby restaurant where we docked at the pier and had lunch on the patio. After a couple of margaritas, we got back on the boat and rode out into the ocean. We parked (can you park a boat?) out near the 7 mile bridge and watched the sunset. Sadly, there were no clouds in the sky so the sunset was pretty bland. You have to have clouds in the sky in order to have a beautiful sunset or sunrise.

We returned to the marina where Tim anchored his dive boat and we transferred to a little dinghy for a ride back to the dock. It was tight and a little nerve racking but we did it without incident. It was a good day.

When we got back to the lodge, I went in and asked if they had any leftovers. It was prime rib night and I thought I could get some of the leftover food. It turned out they had plenty left and we wound up sitting down to dinner at 8:30 p.m. Ugh. That is SO late to eat a heavy meal. We brought most of the meal back to the RV.

2021 Jan 21 (Thu) – After the motorhome next to us left, we readjusted our position in the campsite. We fit much better now. We have no TV stations over the air. Paul had to put the satellite dish up on the roof but it is working fine.

My brother, Tim, came over this morning. We were stuck in the campground because I was waiting for UPS to deliver my medicine (I have to sign for it). At 1 p.m. I called UPS and asked to pick up the package at their office tomorrow. The clerk I spoke with (sounding like she was in India) arranged it. We then went out to lunch at Tower of Pizza. Tim said it is the closest thing to New York pizza outside of New York. It was OK.

We returned to the campground and sat down by the water. A truck pulled up with a 100 gallon tank on the back. The driver put a hose in the water, turned on a generator, and began pumping water into the tank. It turns out that he sells salt water to aquariums for their collections. Who would have thought you could make a career out of that? A UPS truck pulled up and, low and behold, my medication and our forwarded mail were both on the truck. Luckily, we were here so I could sign for my medicine.

There was a beautiful sunset tonight. Tim, who lives on his boat in Marathon (an island further south in the Keys), says the sunsets seem to go on for hours down here. The water is incredibly clear. We walked out on a pier they have here at the lodge. There are little needle nose gars swimming in the water. They blend in with the water and algae so much that it is difficult to see them. I could not spot any dolphins or manatees.

2021 Jan 20 (Wed) – We are in The Keys! We packed up and left South Bay at 9 a.m. and drove 3 hours to Tavernier. We are camped at an Elks Lodge on Overseas Highway. The lodge is right on the water. The Keys is on a narrow strip of land flanked by the Gulf of Mexico on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other. The sites are very tight. We got into our assigned site (# 13) but we could adjust a little. The motor home next to us will be leaving tomorrow and we will readjust our position after they leave and before the next RV gets here.

We went into the lodge at 6 p.m. for dinner. They had a Queens of Hearts drawing at 7:30 p.m. That was a hoot. The prize is over $31,000. The reason the prize has grown so big is that they have a Teaser. Tonight’s Teaser is $900. If your ticket gets drawn, you get to turn a card over. If you turn a Queen of Hearts, you win the entire pot (+$31,000). You can opt to take the Teaser ($900) and they still turn a card over. If it’s the Queen of Hearts, you win nothing and they start a new game. Twenty-seven cards have been turned over so far. The winner took the Teaser and the card that was turned over was a Queen of Diamonds. The game is still on. The next drawing will be next Wednesday.

I got a series of reservations from the Newburgh KOA for our caravan this summer. The costs were all above our budgeted amount. I called and spoke with the manager of the campground. She explained that she had to just get something into the system to hold our sites. The price adjustments will come later and not to worry.

2021 Jan 19 (Tue) – We drove into West Palm Beach today. After a quick lunch at Zaxby’s, we took a ride on the Diva Duck boat. There were just 8 adults and 2 children on the boat. It was a weird sensation to go from the road into the water. The woman narrating the tour was very good and had lots of tongue-in-cheek jokes about ducks.

After our pleasant afternoon, we stopped at PetSmart to get some dog food then Publix for a few groceries. Paul filled up the truck and I bought lottery tickets hoping to hit the more than $800 million jackpot.

2021 Jan 16-18 (Sat, Sun, Mon) – We stayed in the campground. This was a holiday weekend and we were staying away from the crowds. The folks with the chicken on a leash left today. I wanted to get a picture of it but I missed out. Oh, well. The weather has been cool; lows in the 40s and highs in the 60s. Hopefully, it will be warmer down in the Keys.

2021 Jan 15 (Fri) – We drove to Palm Beach today. Palm Beach was named for the coconut groves that were once common along Lake Worth. The only remaining coconut grove in Palm Beach is on the Flagler estate.

First stop was at the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum. What an amazing place! Another example of the opulence of the nouveau rich of the 1800s. Flagler’s family immigrated from Germany to New York. Flagler left home at 14 to look for his fortune. He found it when he joined up with John D. Rockefeller and Samuel Andrews to form Standard Oil Co. He made millions (billions in today’s money). In 1902, he built Whitehall as a winter retreat and visited there for 12 years until he died. His wife died 4 years later and left their estate to a niece. She then turned it over to private investors when it became too expensive to keep and they turned the mansion into a grand hotel. In 1959, the investors had gone broke and the building was going to be torn down. A great granddaughter bought the property and turned it into a museum in 1960.

There were more than 75 rooms in the home. Much of the original furniture, as well as furniture from the period, are in the rooms. Each room is grander than the next. It was amazing! In the back of the home was another building housing Flagler’s personal rail car. He built a rail line that connected Jacksonville to the Keys. Flagler is credited with building up Florida and making it a major attraction for tourism and agriculture.

Across the water behind the estate was a marina that housed several yachts. One of them was a small ocean liner with beautiful lines. Ah, what the money people spend their dollars on.

After the museum, we drove into town and had lunch at Almond. It turned out they also have a restaurant in Manhattan and Bridgehampton back in New York. We sat on the patio and watched all the rich cars drive by. I’ve never seen so many high end vehicles – Tesla, Mercedes, Bentley, Ducati, etc. – in one place. Parking is restricted to two hours and while we were eating, two of the wait staff ran out to move their cars so they wouldn’t be ticketed. Our lunch was excellent but we paid for it. It was almost $100 (tip included). Whew!

Next was a drive around town. We wound up on Ocean Drive and drove past Mar-a-lago, President Trump’s Florida home. It’s a strange arrangement. The road cuts through the middle of the estate with the club on one side and the pool on the other side next to the ocean. There was a very large American flag standing on the lawn in front of the club. We couldn’t see the entire building as there was a 6’ hedge in front of the place. Most of them have 15-20 foot high hedges in front of their properties. I guess that’s more attractive than fences and certainly more private. Each home we drove past was more opulent than the next. This is definitely the place to come if you want to ogle the rich and famous.

When we got back to the campground, we could see that most campsites have been filled up. It’s the weekend. The folks next to us have a chicken. They tie a rope to its foot and the rooster just hangs around. He likes to be high so they put him on the handlebars of their bicycle or up on a 6’ ladder. I’ve seen some crazy things during our travels but a chicken on a leash is a new one for me. Lol.

2021 Jan 14 (Thu) – We stayed in the campground all day. I did work on the Nomads newsletter as well as the New York Caravan. Paul worked on finding us campgrounds to stay in. After he found a site in Tampa, I called Southwest and made a reservation to fly to New York next month.

2021 Jan 13 (Wed) – We asked the office to move to a site further away from the road. It must be a main truck route as it was noisy all night long. We got moved from 85 to 151. It’s marked as a handicapped site but the picnic table is located on the wrong side of the rig. Regardless, it is much quieter over here.

After our move, we drove into town to get propane and fuel. We drove through Clewiston and stopped at the Chamber of Commerce & Museum. It was small and not well laid out. The CoC offers a Sugarland Tour which we very much wanted to take. It is four hours learning about all the sugar cane farms in the area. Unfortunately, tours are suspended until September because of the coronavirus.

We drove through South Bay. There were many slum areas, dilapidated houses, and closed stores. This town is suffering greatly. Trip Advisor listed only one restaurant in the entire town – Subway.

2021 Jan 12 (Tue) – We packed up and left Cocoa at 9:50 a.m. and arrived at the South Bay RV Campground at 1:30 p.m. We ran into traffic going through the Palm Beach area. The campground is owned by the county. It is neat, clean, and well laid out. Unfortunately, it is right by a major truck route and quite noisy. We only got a 30-amp site while there are 50-amp sites open. The campground is about 90% full. It sits at the base of a levee. There is a lake and creek on the property with signs warning of alligators. Check-in was online as they are keeping everything contactless. There is nothing to do in South Bay. This is the kind of campground you come to when you want to get away from it all.

2021 Jan 11 (Mon) – We went to the Brevard Zoo today. Paul thought it was very nice. Not too big and all the animals were out and visible. We had to make a reservation online as they are limiting the number of people in the zoo at any one time. There were lots of animals from Australia and Africa. It was about a two hour tour.

We stopped at the Melbourne Seafood Grill for lunch. I had a crab cake and Paul enjoyed clams. Then we got some fuel in preparation for tomorrow’s move. When we got back to the campground, we did some wash. Sheba brought some hairballs last night while laying on our bed so we had to wash the sheets and bedspread. It’s time to take the flannel sheets off the bed anyway. We are headed into southern Florida where the weather is sure to be warmer (we sure hope so!).

2021 Jan 10 (Sun) – We did laundry today. It seemed like Sunday was wash day for a lot of people in the campground and we got the last two machines.

We met George & Linda at El Leoncita for dinner. The food, margaritas, and company were all good.

2021 Jan 9 (Sat) – We drove back to Merritt Island and picked up Denise with her dog, Levi, then drove to Cocoa to George & Linda’s. George made dough balls to go fishing with his grandson, Ryan. Their son, Neil, came over and we all went down to the lake. Ryan, Neil, George, and Paul fished while Linda, Denise, and I went for a drive around the neighborhood. It was cool with a brisk breeze blowing.

No fish caught, we returned to the house and George grilled up some burgers and hot dogs. After visiting, we returned to Merritt Island to drop off Denise, then back to the campground. Sheba ran out of the door when we got back at 8 p.m. and it took a bit of effort to get her back inside because it was dark and we couldn’t see.

2021 Jan 8 (Fri) – We went out to pick up food for Bonnie. The vet recommended that we only give her one protein source. Rather than mixing up beef and chicken, we should only feed her chicken. We also have to make sure her dry food is chicken as well as her treats.

Next door was a WalMart. We ran in to pick up a few things. While at George & Linda’s the other day, I noted she was cooking with a Blue Diamond pan. We got to talking about different kinds of pans. I have been thinking about getting rid of my Teflon pans for a while. So while we were at WalMart today, I picked up 3 new fry pans and a Dutch oven. I also picked up a roasting pan and a small baking pan with rack. After we came home, I spent time rearranging the cabinet and getting rid of the old pots and pans in favor of the new ones.

The day was very windy today. Sheba didn’t spend more than a few minutes outside before looking to come back in. It was just too breezy. She sure loves her new toy.

2021 Jan 7 (Thu) – We stayed around the campground for the day. Paul ran out briefly to pick up some hardware to fix the silverware drawer. It was not working smoothly and he had to replace the hardware slide. The drawer works very nicely now.

At 8:30 p.m., we went out to watch the Space-X launch. It was delayed for a little bit but the rocket finally took off at 9:15 p.m. It was so quiet but very bright. The launch was successful and they were able to capture the booster rocket.

2021 Jan 6 (Wed) – We went over to George & Linda��s for dinner tonight. They grilled chicken and Brussel sprouts. We enjoyed the food with margaritas.

I pulled out the NY Caravan file today to see what actions I have to take. I contacted one campground to confirm our arrival. After some discussion, the owner decided that they could not support our caravan. We have too many large rigs. It was with some disappointment I found another campground. The next one is $11 more per night. That will certainly put a dent in our budget.

2021 Jan 5 (Tue) – We packed up and left KARS RV Park at 10:30 a.m. Since the drive was only 27 miles, we waited until near checkout time before leaving. We had to stop and dump the tanks first. It was a good day to leave as a bunch of Fish & Wildlife trucks pulled up in the field across from us this morning. It looked like a manhunt was underway. I called the office only to find out they are doing a controlled burn around the property today.

It was 50 minutes to Patrick Space Force Base in Cocoa. We checked in with the camp host. She said we were lucky. That someone just left a very nice spot (they have a first-come, first served policy for campsites). The site looks out at the river without a camper in front of our site. It’s OK. The camp host told us this is a historic stay. They just changed the name from Patrick Air Force Base to Patrick Space Force Base last month. It’s a nice campground but a little tight. We have full hookups with 50 amp service.

We went out for dinner to Grill’s Seafood Restaurant. It was right on the water and we sat out on the deck. It was enclosed in glass so it felt like the inside but with all the view of the outside.

2021 Jan 4 (Mon) – We took Bonnie to the vet this morning. We might have inadvertently solved the problem on our own though. Bonnie has been doing a lot of barking and appeared to be very hungry. She has been suffering urine infections off and on for two years now. She’s been through a variety of antibiotics but the UTI always returned. We remembered a friend who used the same pro-digest we give Bonnie. She said she stopped giving it to her dogs because they had renal issues. We stopped giving all extra stuff to Bonnie – the pro-digest, multivitamin, glucosamine, and fish oil. We’ve just been giving her the liver medicine and regular food. She’s also been getting lots of extra treats. Interestingly, Bonnie has calmed down. She’s not doing the excessive barking or restless moving around. Maybe the antibiotic she was on and the pro-digest disagreed with each other.

At any rate, the vet’s office only allowed one of us in so Paul sat out in the car. After hearing of Bonnie’s story, the vet recommended that we give her only one protein source. We feed her Hill’s Science Diet (approved by the vet association) but mix it up between beef and chicken. The vet said that a dog’s system has to do a reset every time the protein source changes. Her long standing issue with diarrhea could be related to the changes in protein. She suggested we give her only one protein for three weeks and see how her system reacts.

The vet took some blood and found that Bonnie’s thyroid level is low. So now she is on a thyroid medication. She needs to go back for a recheck in two weeks. We’ll see about that.

When we got back to the campground, we did the laundry. There were two washers and two dryers in the laundry building when I looked in last week. Today, there was only one washing machine. We only did the whites.

A Falcon 9 Space-X launch was planned to take place between 8:30 and 12:30 tonight. We rode down to the waterfront, set out our chairs, and waited to see the launch. The sky was clear and the stars were so bright with no moon to fade out the stars. It was so cold; in the 40s. We waited 20 minutes, trying to find out online if the launch was going to be live streamed. People finally started posting on Facebook that the launch was rescheduled for January 7. That was disappointing. We are in such a perfect place to watch a launch, right across the river from the NASA launch site.

2021 Jan 3 (Sun) – We drove over George & Linda’s this morning. She made hash with the leftover corn beef. That and eggs with toast was scrumptious. The mimosas were a nice touch. Denise (George’s sister) and her little dog, Levi, joined us. After our meal, we sat out on the patio around their fire pit and had a nice visit.

On the way back to the campground, we stopped for lunch at Kelsey’s Pizzeria. We’ve seen a number of them around and wanted to try them. We couldn’t eat in their store. They instructed us to go next door to Harry & Jack’s, a bar and grill. They had indoor and outdoor seating. None of the wait staff wore masks. There were 3 tables occupied near us when we sat next to the bar. The first group left and the waitress haphazardly wiped the table but didn’t touch the seats. The other two tables vacated and neither of them was wiped down at all. We got our pizza. It wasn’t New York.

After lunch, I stopped in at Supercuts next door and got my hair cut. The woman did a terrible job. The good thing about it is that my hair will grow back in.

2021 Jan 2 (Sat) – Another day in the campground. The weather has turned cold. We went over George & Linda’s for dinner. She made reubens with corned beef and sauerkraut on rye bread. It was so good. We are invited over for breakfast tomorrow where Linda will make corned beef hash with the leftovers. After dinner, we watched a movie with Liam Neeson. It was awful. It certainly wasn’t his usual genre as a kick-ass fighter. I think the name of the movie was “The Other Man.” Don’t watch it!

2021 Jan 1 (Fri-New Year’s Day) - We stayed in the campground all day. Our church had a Zoom meeting at 1 p.m. We would normally have a potluck meal on New Year’s Day but no one’s getting together in groups this year. There were about 20 of us online. It was confusing to me with everyone talking over each other. But it was good to see all our friends. The call lasted about an hour.

2020 Dec 31 (Thu-New Year’s Eve) – We met George & Linda at the pier by Doc’s Bait House near their old condo. We were going for a boat ride on the Banana River and lunch down river. Unfortunately, as soon as we got past the bridge, the wind was whipping up the water and waves were splashing over the boat, getting us all wet. It was too rough to go boating so we returned to the dock and pulled the boat out of the water then followed George back to his shop. We met their dog and checked out their new Renegade Class C RV. They bought it in July and it still smells new. After putting away the boat, we went to Fishlips for lunch down by Port Canaveral. The meal was good but pretty expensive.

After lunch, Paul and I drove to Patrick Air Force base to check out the campground. Most of the gates into the base are closed and you have to drive a couple of miles around the runway to get to the campground. They are also pretty full but there are still a few empty spaces. We will look to move there next week.

We returned to the campground and spent a quiet night watching TV. We turned in at 9 p.m. How’s that for celebrating the new year? I think we are officially “old fogies.”

2020 Dec 30 (Wed) – We ran some errands today – picked up groceries and got some propane. George & Linda drove over to the campground and we chatted for about an hour then drove to Denise’s house. We picked her up and drove to Carrabba’s for an early dinner. We all sat out on the patio and enjoyed margaritas and a good meal.

2020 Dec 29 (Tue) – We packed up and left Mayport Naval Station at 9:30 a.m. It was 160 miles south to Merritt Island where we are camped at the NASA owned property KARS RV Park. We have been here twice before. It is pretty full now; almost every campsite is occupied. We have a site way in back behind the storage area nowhere near the water. They continue to improve the campground.

2020 Dec 28 (Mon) – We drove into St. Augustine for lunch. Our meal was at the Florida Cracker in the old historic town. St. Augustine was settled in 1565 and is said to be the oldest city in the United States. It has been under six flags over the years – Spain, Italy, France, England, Colonial America, and the U.S. (I think). It is an interesting tour. There were many people out and about, too many without masks. Traffic coming into town was all backed up. We walked around for a while then left. We stopped at the post office on the way back to mail off a package and got fuel for tomorrow’s move.

2020 Dec 27 (Sun) – We dialed into the virtual service at our church this morning. It appears that the minister contracted the coronavirus and was quarantined for two weeks. That must be why they stopped having in-person services last week.

We took down our Christmas decorations today. I thought we were leaving tomorrow, Monday, but we are leaving on December 29. That’s actually on Tuesday.

2020 Dec 26 (Sat) – We drove into town and had lunch at North Beach Fish Camp. It was a seafood place. I had a cod dish and Paul enjoyed crab claws. On the way back to the campground, we stopped at Publix to pick up a few groceries.

The weather is pretty cold today. The temperatures have dropped into the thirties and there is a freeze warning for the area tonight. We’ll have to remember to disconnect the hose before going to bed. At least the wind has died down.

The vet called to say that Bonnie’s urine sample had come back normal. The antibiotic has done its job.

2020 Dec 25 (Fri – Christmas Day) – It was very cold this morning but warmed quickly to the 50s. The wind was blowing strongly. Last night’s storm left many homes without electric and the news showed streets and homes where trees fell onto them. It was a very destructive storm.

We went to the Oasis Galley on base at 3 p.m. for a holiday meal. It was supposed to be $9.20 per person but the guy just waved us through when we arrived. I don’t know if it was because he was having problems with the register or that it was almost time to close the mess hall (dinner was being served from 1 to 4 p.m. At any rate, we got a great meal for free. There was salad, shrimp cocktail, turkey, dressing, steak, mac & cheese, cranberry sauce, corn, kale, green beans, biscuits, eggnog, coffee, tea, and a variety of pies. We brought our pumpkin pie back to the trailer and had it later with coffee.

2020 Dec 24 (Thu) – We dropped a urine sample from Bonnie off at the vet’s office this morning. Then we went to breakfast at Another Broken Egg. They have such good and unusual selections. We both enjoyed our meal very much. We sat out on the patio with a lot of other people.

After breakfast (more like brunch), we drove to General RV to pick up our new loungers. The shipment never came in so we bought the floor sample. The saleslady we dealt with was out today. The person we dealt with today must have thought we were really stupid. She said they never had new furniture to order and we were always going to get the floor sample. Then she said the saleslady we first dealt with (Brandi) tried to order it but it wasn’t available. I then asked for a discount on the cost of the furniture since we had to take used furniture rather than get it new. She tried to tell us that the sample was only on the floor for 4 days. We sat in it over a week ago so that wasn’t true. Brandi had told us it was out for several weeks. In addition, the floor sample was still sitting on the floor. It was not sanitized and packed up for us. The woman tried to mumble that she couldn’t have sanitized it earlier because people would have still sat on it. Paul told her no one could sit on it if it was disassembled and she tried to tell him they would have. It was one of the most aggravating hours we have ever spent. The woman was either incompetent or an out-and-out liar. At any rate, we waited while they sanitized and took the furniture apart (2 chairs with a center console). She refused to give us any plastic to wrap up the furniture so it wouldn’t get dirty in back of the truck. We did get a refund of almost $200.

the old furniture

the new furniture

Paul then drove into downtown Jacksonville. Since it was Christmas eve, he figured a lot of the stores and offices would be closed. He was right. It reminded me of when we went to Phoenix and arrived on a weekend. It was like a ghost town. We stopped at the St. Johns River Riverwalk and strolled along the waterfront. There were a few people out but not many.

The day started out very nice but turned nasty late in the afternoon. Severe thunderstorms rolled through and there were warnings of tornadoes in the county. The temperatures dropped drastically and the prediction was for iguanas falling out of trees tomorrow (lol. Temps are supposed to be freezing)

2020 Dec 23 (Wed) – We did some laundry today. Since the machines are free, we are taking advantage of the benefit. Someone got annoyed we weren’t right there when our wash finished and they took our laundry out. They put it on top of the dryers. We put our stuff in the dryers and made sure to come back before it was done.

We went out for lunch at Cracker Barrel today. The food was good and they were doing a brisk business. It’s hard to believe there’s a pandemic out there. After lunch, we stopped at a liquor store to pick up some Bailey’s Irish Cream. It’s for Christmas day.

2020 Dec 22 (Tue) – The day was cold and blustery. We stayed in all day.

2020 Dec 21 (Mon) – We ran some errands today. Went food shopping at WalMart, picked up dog food at PetCo, got some fuel at a very sloooooooow pump (took a half hour to fill the gas tank), and dropped off an envelope at the post office.

At sunset, we drove over to the southeast side of the base to see the Christmas Star. Not since 1600 (400 years ago) has Saturn and Jupiter been aligned next to each other. They are so close that they look like a big star in the sky. This great conjunction is referred to as the Christmas Star. I think it’s because it’s happening during Christmas week. We saw nothing. Maybe it was hidden behind some low clouds on the horizon. We’ll try again tomorrow night.

I volunteered to put together a cookbook for SMART as a fundraiser. Paul was looking through our church cookbook one day and brought up the suggestion that we should do it for our travel club. I pitched the suggestion, went through lots of questions and hesitations, and finally got the go ahead today. Hope I don’t regret the offer.

2020 Dec 19&20 (Sat & Sun) – We stayed in the campground this weekend. We dialed into the church for a virtual service on Sunday morning. We had some initial trouble getting the live broadcast but it turned out to be a problem at their end, not ours.

2020 Dec 18 (Fri) – We ran out to get propane this morning. The weather has been cold (it was 37 degrees this morning) and the heat has been running almost constantly. We ran out of propane two nights ago (luckily, we have a second tank to switch to when one goes empty). The place we first stopped at was out of order and we struggled to find another place. The refill was finally achieved.

Karen called today. She is a travel agent and we are working with to arrange a cruise to Australia in 2022. We have tentatively decided on a Holland America 15-day cruise to Australia/New Zealand in January 2022. We also spoke with her about arranging a campervan trip around Australia following the cruise. We plan to take two months to travel around Australia after the cruise. She’s looking into it.

We returned to the campground and hunkered down for the day. I sure hope it gets warmer soon. This is Florida!!!!

2020 Dec 17 (Thu) – We drove into St. Augustine this afternoon. It took us over a half hour to find a parking space. We finally wound up parking in a church parking lot for $10. Then we walked into town and came upon the Lightner Museum. It is in the former Alcazar Hotel which was built from Henry Flagler in 1888. One half of the 5-story building houses government offices and the other half features the museum collection. The building was stunning and the hotel must have been amazing! The collections were from the 1800 and 1900s. There were pottery, crystal, and glass artifacts; furniture; paintings; sculptures; and more. A stuffed lion was on display that was a gift to Winston Churchill. The lion was placed in the London Zoo and sired over 40 cubs before being stuffed. I don’t know how it wound up in a museum in Florida.

At 5 p.m. we went to dinner at Harry’s Seafood Grill. It was a New Orleans style restaurant. The waiter was very animated and made the meal enjoyable. He said he was originally from Queens and worked in Melville. I had rice and beans with sausage and Paul had a scampi dish.

We walked down to the marina and took the Night of Lights boat tour. It was a boring ride back and forth in front of lighted store fronts in the freezing cold. The captain was absolutely silent. Most tours of this kind would have had a dialogue about the area. He should have described some of the landmarks or talked about the history of the marina or told the story about St. Augustine. Aside from his mandatory safety briefing (which was 75% unintelligible), he said nothing during the entire ride. We were supposed to get complimentary coffee or tea but they didn’t have that either. We didn’t think the boat tour was worth the expense.

2020 Dec 16 (Wed) – It rained for most of the day today. It was cool and miserable. I called the office today and was able to extend here at Mayport for another 3 nights until January 1st. Hopefully, that will be all we need to take care of Bonnie’s issue.

2020 Dec 15 (Tue) – We went food shopping at Winn Dixie to get groceries for the week. Then we went to Bono’s Pit BBQ. We bought a rack of ribs and brought it back for dinner. Yesterday and today have been blustery and the temperatures have been in the low 50s in the morning. The wind was blowing so hard today that you had to be sure to hold the door when you got out of the car or the RV. There were white caps and big splashing waves out in the river. We swear that the winds were gusting to 50 mph.

2020 Dec 14 (Mon) – We went furniture shopping today. After wandering through several stores, we finally arrived at General RV and paid for two lounge chairs. The clerk said she thought she could get it in by Friday, Monday at the latest. If it doesn’t come in, then they will give us the floor sample. We have to call on Friday so they’ll have time to sanitize the floor sample if it doesn’t look like the new chairs will come in on time.

After paying for the chairs, we stopped at Taco Bell for lunch. Yuck! They no longer have the taco salad. Now it’s bowls. I got a chicken quesadilla and Paul got chalupas. My meal was very skimpy and too spicy. I won’t get that again!

The vet called to say that Bonnie has a bacterial infection and needs to go on antibiotics. We turned around and drove to his office to get the medication. After ten days, we have to give another urine sample. The time period will be close to when we are scheduled to leave. Since we don’t have a reservation for the next campground, I called the office at Mayport to see if we could extend for a few days. The clerk said they have no vacancies. We have to call back every day to check on availability. Ugh.

2020 Dec 13 (Sun) – We went to lunch at Seaglass, a restaurant on base. We were the only two diners in the place. It looks like it would be really nice on a Friday night with folks gathered around the bar and socializing. That won’t happen for a while, if ever again. I had avocado toast and Paul had chorizo hash. It was good. We returned to the campground and let the animals play outside. Sheba is fascinated with the geckos crawling on the palm trees.

2020 Dec 12 (Sat) – The day was rainy and overcast. We just hung around the campground all day.

2020 Dec 11 (Fri) – We went out for lunch today at Colhane’s Irish Pub. The food was very good. I had my usual – shepherd pie and Paul enjoyed potato soup and a salad. He’s down to 208 lbs. His goal is in sight and he’s very focused. We came back and let the fur babies have time outside.

The vet called today. Aside from slightly elevated liver enzymes, he really doesn’t see anything in Bonnie’s bloodwork to indicate a problem. He is going to do a culture on the urine sample we left. He’ll call back in a couple of days.

2020 Dec 10 (Thu) – Paul offered to take me out for breakfast this morning. That’s very funny since he lost his credit card and we had to invalidate it. Now, I’m the only one with a credit card. After the breakfast that he treated me to (that I paid for), we went to Winn Dixie for groceries (I splurged on a lottery ticket), then to PetCo for dog food, and last to the post office to mail off a letter.

On the way back, we drove into the Village of Mayport. It is a small fishing village with a ferry port. There weren’t many businesses at all. When we got back on base, we drove around the docks looking at all the big Navy ships. There were about a dozen ships tied up to the piers.

We took Bonnie to the vet this afternoon. In the last two or three months, she has started this kind of barking routine. She gives a bark, waits about ten seconds, then barks again. She keeps this up until we are moved to do something. It’s either feed her, walk her, or pet her. She goes out for a walk about every 1-1/2 to 2 hours and has a bowel movement almost time. That’s many more than she used to have (which was two – one following breakfast and one following dinner). The doc took blood and promised to call us tomorrow.

2020 Dec 9 (Wed) – We stayed in today and spent the time putting up and decorating our Christmas tree. The season is here!

2020 Dec 8 (Tue) – We went to the post office to mail off the claim form to New York. It will be interesting to see how much is due to my mother (who passed away in 2009). My sister, Susan, had filled out a claim in 2010 for money due to my mother. The five of us each wound up getting $20 (she was due $100). This time around will probably be $2.50 each. Mom didn’t have much to her name when she died. I can’t imagine what this money is from.

We stopped for lunch at the Hangar Bay Café. It was a small place run by an African American retired Navy guy with an Asian wife. The menu had a lot of ramen on it. Paul got pork ramen and I ordered fried chicken. The food was good. The gentleman didn’t want to talk about his service. Even though there was an 11x13 picture of him in dress uniform on the wall, he kept avoiding my questions about his time in the Navy.

The commissary and PX are both off-post. We stopped in there to get a few things. You have to show ID at the register at the commissary and at the entrance at the PX to ensure you are military. When we got back to the base, we drove around the housing area. There is a second campground (called Osprey Cove) on base. It is not on the water but cloistered among spreading trees with lots of Spanish moss. It is very lovely and intended for long-term stays.

2020 Dec 7 (Mon) – We packed up and left Kings Bay Subbase at 11 a.m. It was much later than we normally move out but the drive was only an hour to the next campground. We ran out to the post office before we left so I could mail another registered letter to a lawyer used to sell Travis & Sam’s house. We’ve had serious issues with him and have had to make a formal complaint to the Judicial Review Board.

We arrived at Mayport Naval Station, Pelican Roost RV Park a little after noon. They gave us the option of choosing one of several sites. We elected to take a space at the end of the aisle on a curve. We can get a somewhat obscure look at the ocean. We stayed here last December. The ships sail right past the campground on their way out of and into the port. They blow their horns to say hello and goodbye.

We went out to the bank to get a paper notarized. I was cruising around the internet and put in Unclaimed Funds in New York State. Surprise, surprise! My mother’s name came up. The website doesn’t tell how much is owed, just there is some money due. I printed out the form and filled in the required information. I will mail it out tomorrow.

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rannadylin · 7 years ago

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Clan and Court: Chapter Four

Bonus with this chapter: My amateur art! :-) I've never done Inktober and am horribly out of practice with visual art, but I wanted to give it a try this year. So I've decided to draw some illustrations for my stories, starting with this scene from the opening of chapter four which I have entitled "Five Orlans Plus Edér Walk Into an Alchemist's Shop/Cart." It's very, horribly amateur, but it did make me smile. I'm planning to go back to the previous chapters and draw more such scenes each day this month, plus of course for chapter five once I finish writing it.

Bonus points to readers who can figure out who everyone in this wonderful picture is. ;-)

Clan and Court Chapter Four: Rytlingsdag

Word count: 4200

Rating: G

Pairing: Watcher Violet/Edér Teylecg, they just don’t know it yet.

Read it here or on AO3

Previously in Clan and Court: Chapters 1-2; Chapter 3

Chapter Four: Rytlingsdag

As soon as the sun and the village of Dyrford were up for business, Violet and her companions began their day’s inquiries at Hendyna’s apothecary cart. The alchemist greeted Violet warmly, noted the traces of the burns they had all suffered in the previous day’s fight, and sympathetically asked if they’d been fighting drakes again.

“Just a wizard, I’m afraid,” Violet said.

“Almost as bad!” Hendyna said. She glanced around the group of orlans-plus-Edér. “Don’t think I know most of your friends here, Violet. Well, besides Edér, of course. Hi, Edér!”

Edér grinned and waved as Violet introduced the orlans. Then Audie stepped forward. “Say I needed to mix up a poison for my blades. You sell anything like that?”

Hendyna’s face fell. “Oh, I’m sorry. Normally I’d suggest a tincture of Berath’s Bell for that, but I’m fresh out.”

Violet exchanged a glance with Audie. “Someone bought it all? Or is poison just in high demand lately?”

“That’s the thing,” Hendyna said, spreading her hands. “No one bought it. I thought I had a decent stock of it along with all the other plants, but a few days back someone came asking for it to prepare a rat poison and I found the jar was just empty. Been meaning to gather some more, but there’s not much of it in bloom yet this early in the season.”

Anselm stepped forward with a polite little cough. “Do you have that jar handy, where I might take a look at it?”

“The thing is,” Violet explained with a sigh when Hendyna met his request with an odd look, “we’re investigating the poisoning of several farmers’ livestock.”

Hendyna gasped. “Really? That’s -- I mean, you don’t think that I --”

“No, no,” Violet assured her, “but if we could trace who emptied that jar, we might find our culprit.”

“Oh, by all means!” Hendyna said, rummaging on the shelves behind her and handing a large ceramic jar to Anselm.

While he was inspecting the empty jar, Violet brought out from her pouch the jar of pig slop she’d collected at Gjegricg’s farm, followed by the samples of hay and milk from Heafric’s dairy farm. “Hendyna, any chance you could also tell us if this has any trace of Berath’s Bell in it? Or any other poison, of course.”

Hendyna took the slop-jar gingerly, wrinkling her nose at the liquefying scraps of food inside. “Well, I suppose I could...run some tests? Might be easier just to feed it to a chicken you don’t particularly like.”

“Sounds like a great backup plan,” Violet smiled.

The curriery was just around the corner from Hendyna’s shop. While the alchemist was testing the samples Violet had taken from the farms, the investigative team paid a visit to Lafric, who had replaced Trygil as currier when the cult of Skaen, thanks to a certain Watcher’s meddling, ceased to operate in the village of Dyrford. Lafric was a pale, sickly-looking man who trembled at the sight of five orlans at his door. But recognizing Violet and Edér, he waved them in to look at the dye vats, though he kept his distance, nervously wringing his hands the whole time.

“Lovely colors,” Violet attempted to put him at ease with a smile. Lafric blushed as pink as if he’d fallen in a vat himself and nodded. “The red dye there,” she attempted again. “Do you use ryngr berries for that one?”

“Oh, yes, mum,” said Lafric. “Won’t fade like other reds.”

“Excellent,” said Violet.

“Cost ye extra, though,” Lafric said, his voice dropping to near-inaudible at having to deliver this ill news. “Have it brought in special from Stalwart. And I’m near out o’ berries now.”

Violet’s ears perked up. “Oh? Why’s that?”

Lafric shrugged. “Caravan was set on by bandits, last shipment I had coming. Wael knows what became o’ me berries.”

Violet grinned. “Think you could point us in the direction of that caravan’s last stand?”

Anselm pursed his lips in concentration as he turned a fragment of a wooden crate between his hands. Little enough remained where the currier’s delivery had been hijacked. The bandits had apparently made off with everything of value. But a handful of vibrant red ryngr berries in the wheel-ruts had confirmed that they had the right broken-down wagon, at least.

“I don’t suppose we’ll find much here,” Violet sighed, after half an hour of frustrated searching. “The bandits might or might not even be connected with our poisoner. They might have left the berries behind, and our culprit just happened across the remains of the fight and realized the berries were poisonous. Maybe?”

“Trail’s cold by now, either way,” Edér agreed. “The Berath’s Bell seems likelier. Wouldn’t take as much of it to kill an animal, anyway.”

“Maybe they tried the ryngr berries first,” Yolotli suggested. “Maybe some animals got a little sick, and when that wasn’t enough, the poisoner stole the Berath’s Bell too.”

“That still doesn’t point us to who did all this,” Violet reminded them. “All right, come on, everyone. Let’s go back to town and see what Hendyna’s learned.”

“Wait,” Anselm called to her. Violet paused midstep, turning to him with a questioning frown. He approached her with both hands held out, a few of the red berries in each. “I...may have something, Violet.”

She brightened, her ears twitching in hope. “All right. Let’s hear it.”

“You said that you’re familiar with...my abilities.”

“Oh.” She nodded, and met his eyes. It struck her, for a moment, that he seemed shorter than she had recalled him. Objectively, he still had an inch or two on her, and always had, and yet somehow it felt odd to be so near his own eye level. She blinked to clear her thoughts; back to the matter at hand, Violet. “Yes, a little. I traveled with a cipher. She was...not typical even for her kind, though, I think. It was all very confusing.”

Anselm smiled. “It often is, even to us. The thing is, I can interact with souls -- not like you can, at least from what I’ve heard of Watchers. Just housed souls, in living bodies.”

Violet tilted her head. “Okay.”

“But souls have...a certain flavor about them, if you will. Identifying features. Enough so that sometimes I can trace where a person has been, or what they have touched, by the print of their soul there.”

Violet’s eyes widened. “Oh! Like the ciphers of Dunryd Row.” At Anselm’s confused look, she explained, “They were a secret police of sorts, in Defiance Bay. Most were killed in the riots after the animancy hearings, but they used to be excellent at investigating all sorts of --” She stopped as her thoughts caught up with her. “Ah. I see. As are you.”

Anselm nodded. The corners of his lips tilted up in a proud smile as he admitted, “I’ve had a bit of practice in recent years. Since I became aware of my abilities as a cipher, I’ve tried to put them to good use. I’ve helped Garivald get to the bottom of a few crimes back home. It’s very invigorating, and…” he shrugged. “I know I was often quite an ass, when I was younger. I’ve a lot of time to redeem.”

To this, Violet had no response, staring at him agape as she struggled to reconcile the Anselm she had once renounced with the one Garivald had, apparently for quite good reason, recommended for her expedition. At her prolonged silence, Anselm finally dropped his gaze, with an awkward chuckle, to the berries in his hands. “So, anyway. These,” he lifted his right hand, “are the ones I picked up in the sheep pasture. The others,” his left hand, “from the caravan here. They have some similar soul-signatures clinging to them. Not necessarily our poisoner, but perhaps someone who handled them earlier -- gathering, packing, shipping. So at least we can safely assume the berries in the pasture came from this shipment.”

Violet closed her mouth and nodded. “Right. I mean, I don’t know where else any ryngr berries in the area could have come from, but -- that’s good. Good to know. But we still don’t know who, do we?”

Anselm frowned. “Maybe we do. But I don’t think you’ll like it.”

“There’s not much about this mystery I do like.”

“Of course,” he grinned. “I’m not so sure about the berries -- our poisoner may have never handled them himself, considering it was apparently a party of bandits that attacked the caravan. But I’ve sensed one soul over and over in other places. On the pig trough. In the dairy barn. On Hendyna’s empty jar.”

Violet gasped at this revelation. “You know? Can you trace it -- do you know whose soul?”

“Not precisely. But the same aura was strong all over the first farm we visited.”

“Gjegricg?” Violet frowned. “But he was the first one poisoned.”

Anselm shrugged. “Losing only a few pigs, none of his larger livestock. And he himself admitted his family will not be beggared by the loss.”

“They’re even replacing the pigs already,” Violet recalled with a sinking feeling.

“Just in time to have all the proper evidence in the pig-sty washed away before your visit,” Anselm added.

“Oh, I do hope we’re wrong,” Violet sighed. “Gjegricg is such a good man. Finding him responsible would almost be a worse blow than the poisonings themselves.”

“Never known you to shy from the truth,” Anselm pointed out, with a grin and an arched eyebrow.

Violet huffed and tossed her hair, turning to begin the walk back to the village. “Hardly. But this investigation isn’t closed yet. Let’s go see what Hendyna found.”

“It’s certainly been poisoned,” Hendyna reported in an energetic whisper as the orlans-plus-Edér gathered once more around her cart.

“With Berath’s Bell?” Yolotli asked, leaning up eagerly for a closer look at the jar Hendyna was holding.

Hendyna nodded slowly. “Probably. I mean, Berath’s Bell has a distinct smell and taste, certainly, but this particular mixture,” she grinned and shook the slop-jar, “tends to conceal even the strongest individual scents. Still, my supply had to go somewhere.”

Violet nodded, then looked around at her companions. “Shall we go see if we can confirm just where it went?”

So they marched out once more to the Gjegricg farm. Along the way, Violet fell back to walk with Edér, quietly relating what Anselm had said about the recurring soul-signature.

Edér frowned, his eyes narrowing as he glanced up at Anselm, now walking with Audie farther ahead. “Don’t see how that could be.”

“Wilfrith doesn’t have a grudge against the other farmers or anything you know of? Like...I don’t know, removing competition?”

“He’s the furthest thing from competitive I’ve ever seen,” Edér said with a wry chuckle. “Most of his profits go back into building the community, giving other farmers a hand up. And after all he’s been through, keeping the remnants of Eothas’ temple from dying out in Dyrford, I just can’t see him doing anything like this, Vi.”

“You’d know him best,” Violet nodded. Edér was silent for a bit after that, and Violet finally looked up to see him chewing at his lip, face scrunched up in thought. He flinched when her sudden poke at his arm startled him out of that thought. “Something wrong?” Violet asked.

Edér shrugged, then cleared his throat and leaned towards her with almost a guilty look, lowering his voice. “It’s just...considering your source. You sure you’re not trusting him too much, so soon?”

Violet’s eyes widened. “Seriously?”

“Maybe you think he’s changed from before, but --”

“Let his actions show whether he has, Edér.”

“Right. And maybe he’s just saying this to impress you, to show off.”

“Well, even if he is,” Violet whispered, “how would it help his cause to impress me with false conclusions? Why make things up when the evidence is likely to prove him wrong?”

“I...I don’t know, Vi. I just don’t think you should trust him.”

Violet sighed in frustration. “Maybe I shouldn’t have told you about the betrothal. He’s part of this investigation now, and I need all of us working together.” She glared up at him until he had to look away under the force of her disapproval.

“I’m sorry, Vi,” Edér said in a tone of contrition. “Just...don’t wanna see you hurt again.”

Violet reached for his hand, so that he would meet her eyes again, and fixed him with her best, most solemn priestly gaze. “I’m not even considering marrying him, you know. This isn’t a matter of the heart, it’s one of...well, putting faith into action. Everyone deserves a second chance, Edér.”

He blinked, then chuckled, the little laugh ending on a sigh. “Guess you’re right. I’ll, uh, try not to hate him. ’Less he gives me a real good reason to.”

“And if he’s right about Wilfrith?”

Edér’s face darkened. “Not sure that’s gonna make me like him any better, either.”

They arrived at the farm at midday. Wilfrith Gjegricg himself greeted them at the door, fresh not from chopping firewood this time but from the kitchen, and eagerly invited them to break bread. Violet, eager herself just to have this investigation over with, started to decline, but Gjegricg would have none of it. “You’ve not eaten yet? Too far to walk back to town, and company’s always welcome here.”

“There’s quite a few of us,” Violet began, glancing around at her entourage. “We wouldn’t want to inconvenience you.”

“No inconvenience!” Gjegricg insisted. “Got a big pot of soup on. Me and the boy couldn’t eat it all in one sitting ourselves, anyway.”

“It’s this way every meal,” Edér whispered over Violet’s shoulder. “He’s big on hospitality. Always puts enough soup on to feed half the village, just in case they show.”

Thus the party found themselves, half an hour later, somewhat nervously gathered around the table of a suspected poisoner, looking for an opportunity to get to the bottom of that very suspicion. Preferably one that wouldn’t involve catching him, so to speak, red-handed. They exchanged anxious glances as Wilfrith and Eadric distributed soup and bread. They surreptitiously first sniffed at their food, then tested it with suspicious little bites, while their host talked on, oblivious to their caution, asking how their investigation was progressing. Violet’s responses gradually grew less vague and evasive, even as the guests’ bites grew bolder and bigger when calamity failed to follow their first tastes of the meal. Thus their guards were all somewhat lowered when the dessert course arrived, a sweet sticky bun that Eadric, still scowling, awkwardly slapped down onto each guest’s plate.

Violet, having been first served, was lifting the bun to her lips when Eadric came to Anselm, across the table from her. The cipher nodded politely as Eadric dropped the bun to his plate, then froze suddenly and looked up wide-eyed to Violet, shaking his head ever so slightly. She paused, lowering the bun to her plate again as Anselm’s eyes flickered to Eadric and then around the table. Seeing the others also now lifting their dessert, Anselm spoke, without the compulsion to their souls of his cipher powers but with all the weight of his accustomed authority as the favored son of an influential clan. “Wait.” And they did, all turning to him, Wilfrith as well, but Eadric shivered and slowly started backing away from the table.

“Anselm?” Violet prompted.

“I would not recommend eating that,” Anselm nodded to the bun on his own plate. “Violet...pardon me, but my conclusions which I discussed earlier with you seem to have been off. By one small degree.” And his glance flicked again to the boy, who was now nearly to the door leading down to the farmhouse’s cellar. Beside Xipil’s chair, Yaotl gave out a low whine.

Violet exchanged a glance with Edér, seated beside her, his expression confirming that he’d caught on at about the same time she had. At her grim nod, he launched from his chair and around the table toward the cellar door. Eadric was through the door by the time Edér, now followed by a train of orlans and one hound, got there. Wilfrith sat sputtering in surprise for a moment as they all disappeared down the cellar steps, then got to his feet and hurried in their wake.

They chased Eadric through the ancient passageways, finally cornering him in the chapel hidden among the catacombs. Edér barrelled through the doorway just as Eadric grabbed a handful of candles from the altar, their little flames flickering and half of them sputtering out before the boy slammed them down onto the weathered old tome of Eothasian prayers that lay open amidst the lights. “Wait!” Edér shouted, even as the boy, teeth bared and hands clenched in fists, turned to face him from across the altar with its book quickly catching fire. “Eadric, what do you think you’re doing?”

“Let it all burn!” the boy rasped in a voice not quite his own. “You want the light? I’ll show you light!”

As Edér tried to edge around the altar to get to him, Eadric grabbed more candles, first holding them out as if to fend Edér off, and then starting to fling them at him, one by one. Edér swore and ducked the little flames, which guttered out quickly on the stone floor if not in midflight. Then from behind him, a greater light suddenly glowed, and he felt a tingling warmth move through him as a ball of glowing energy, the timbre of a winter morning’s sun upon fresh snow, passed silently by with the aroma of icicles. At a glance he saw Violet behind him, palm out towards the altar, frowning in concentration while her siblings -- and of course Anselm -- fanned out to either side of the altar to help Edér intercept Eadric. Looking forward again, he saw the light she had projected, still in the rough form of a ball of energy but he could swear at its heart he saw a figure of light, crowned. As it moved over the altar, one candle after another winked out and the flames playing over the book finally died down, replaced by a layer of frost.

Eadric was staring agape at Violet’s slowly advancing projection, lit only dimly by the candles still burning along the walls of the chapel, when Edér finally leaped over the icy altar and tackled him to the stone floor.

“I just don’t know what’s gotten into him,” Wilfrith agonized for the dozenth time since Edér had carried the unconscious boy out of the catacombs and up to Eadric’s own bed. The seven adults now stood or sat in a tight cluster around the bed, waiting for him to recover.

“He’s always been a good lad,” Wilfrith continued, pacing. “Does his work. Gives me no more trouble than any lad might.” He paused to look over to Violet, wringing his hands. “Mayhap I’ve spoiled him, a bit. He’s all I have left of my Winifred, after all. And we were so glad to have him, a healthy child, his soul intact, just when babies in these parts were starting to be born...without.”

“Of course,” Violet said, not moving her eyes from the boy’s face. She didn’t think the fall had given him a concussion, just knocked him out for a while. It was becoming a longer while than she liked, though.

“But it’s him, isn’t it?” Wilfrith moaned. “The one as poisoned all them animals.”

“I’m afraid so, Wilfrith,” Violet soothed.

“But why?” Wilfrith asked, echoing the thought at the top of all their minds.

Then the boy’s eyelids fluttered. With a sudden, shuddering gasp, Eadric woke. He moved as if to bolt upright, but Edér still held his shoulders firmly down. Eadric looked around at the group crowded around him, his eyes widening in terror. He shuddered again, and then burst into tears. Seated halfway down the bed, Yolotli took his hand and made soothing noises. In the doorway, Yaotl loosed a low growl and Xipil laid a hand on the dog’s ruff to calm him. Audie and Anselm laid hands to their weapons from either side of the bed and, with Edér, looked to Violet. The priest stepped forward to take Eadric’s other hand.

“All right, Eadric,” she began. “You’d best explain yourself.”

At first, only sobs. Then, the boy gasped out, “...wasn’t me.”

“It appears that it was,” Violet said, her voice quiet and firm but her hands gentle around the boy’s. “You’ve gone around poisoning animals, even your own pigs. Why?”

Gradually the sobs subsided and Eadric met her eyes, his own now red and swollen. “I...had to do something. Had to strike back. I ’membered...it was all so horrible. Soldiers of the crowned sun, marching over our lands, trying to take what they shouldn’t have. We tried to drive ’em off, but...I ’membered I fell. They cut me down with their god’s name on their lips, and I…” Another shuddering sob tore through him. “Ain’t right, anyone should say that name ’round here any more. Not even Da. Not even me.” And he fell into sniffling tears again.

“Oh, sweet Eothas,” Violet murmured, despite the boy’s argument against such an invocation. She looked up into Edér’s eyes. “The boy’s Awakened.”

Wilfrith gasped. Violet glanced to him. “Didn’t you say he’d had some sort of trouble in the ruins? Hasn’t been the same since?”

The farmer nodded. “Well, yes, but...he still seemed himself. Just scared. What’s happened to him, Miz Violet?”

“Whatever scared him, it woke in him the memory of his soul’s past life.” She looked back to the boy and reached to smooth the tears from his eyes. “A very recent life, from the sound of it. Must have been a soldier, killed in the Saints’ War.”

Edér stirred. “You think...near here? The battle at Clîaban Rilag?”

“It seems likely.” Violet placed her hand over Edér’s, still resting on the boy’s shoulder though Eadric showed no sign now of struggling to escape. “Edér. Whoever he was, I don’t think he’d have known your brother. Fought against that side, it sounds like. Poor boy’s Awakened with quite the grudge against Eothasians.”

Edér nodded. “He...he was never violent, this kid. Like Wilfrith said. He’s a good worker, clever, quiet, and he used to love the chapel services as much as we did. Must be driving him crazy, remembering such a hate for everything his own family believes in.”

Wilfrith stepped in closer, laying a hand on the boy’s head, an agony of concern plain on his face. “Miz Violet,” he asked, “what are we to do? Is there any way to save him from this?”

Violet thought for a moment, frowning in concentration. “I never came across any way to undo an Awakening. I’m sorry.”

“Then...is there no hope?” Wilfrith whispered.

“I also,” said Violet arching one eyebrow with a slight smile, “happen to know a thing or two about managing such a condition. Look, Wilfrith. Do you think the farm could spare the boy for a while? A season or two, maybe years if that’s what it takes?”

“I…” Wilfrith considered. “We’ll get by. Offered Uescwyn work, after all, and Edér’s a great help. But where would you take my boy?”

“I thought he might accompany us back to Caed Nua,” said Violet decisively, sitting up straight on the edge of the mattress as if on the throne in her own great hall. “We can occupy him with honest work there, and help him work through his Awakening under watchful eyes.”

“And...what about what he’s done here?” Wilfrith asked with obvious hesitation. “Surely there’s a price to pay for his crimes.”

“Sure,” Violet said. “But given that he was hardly in his right mind when he poisoned all those animals, I think his work at Caed Nua can be penance enough. And we’ll take restitution for the lost livestock out of his pay,” she added cheerfully.

“You don’t have to do that, milady,” Wilfrith shook his head. “Glad as we are you could help get to the bottom of all this, Dyrford’s not in Caed Nua’s jurisdiction. You don’t have to take responsibility for the losses.”

“Neither did you have to look out for Uescwyn when he lost all his sheep,” Violet grinned. “It’s what we do, Wilfrith. But you’re correct that this is not my jurisdiction. So I can pronounce no judgment here, but I leave the decision to you. My offer stands, if you wish to send the boy with me.”

Wilfrith considered for a long moment, stroking his son’s hair. Then Eadric looked up to Violet and asked, “Does it...ever go away? The dreams? The voice in my head?”

Violet thought of the Inquisition’s wheels in her own dreams, of Iselmyr’s voice in Aloth’s head, of Maneha’s yearning to forget. “No, dear,” she admitted. “It doesn’t. But it doesn’t have to be all so horrible, either. And at Caed Nua you wouldn’t have to face it alone.”

He turned to his father and pleaded, “Da.”

Wilfrith nodded. “All right. He’ll go with you.”

#pillars of eternity #pillars of eternity fanfic #PoE fanfic #eder teylecg #Edér #watcher violet #violet #eder #PoE #fic #from the desk of ranna

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