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sweatervest-obsessed · 1 year ago

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Wasteland, Baby

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Reader

WC: 3.4k

TW: Mentions of Murders, mentions of suicide, discussion of suicide, trauma, emotional turmoil, death, arguing, abandonment issues, commitment issues, Angst, some fluff

A/N: Thanks for bearing with me as I try to get off the struggle bus y'all. here is the highly anticipated part 2 of Stick Season !

All the fear and the fire of the end of the world Happens each time a boy falls in love with a girl Happens great, happens sweet Happily, I'm unfazed here, too

It had been three years since you left the BAU and you had just turned down a job at the FBI from Erin Strauss. You never heard from her again.

But you did attend her funeral in D.C a week later.

You didn’t alert any of the BAU that you were returning for her funeral, since you could only imagine the pain they were feeling.

The plane ride was filled with thoughts of what life would have been like if you had rejoined the FBI. Maybe she wouldn't have died. Maybe she’d still be calling you and sending you email after email with job offers.

You had quickly stopped by the wake, the day before, to pay your respects, and give Strauss’ family your deepest condolences. It was painful, seeing someone you spoke to last week, stiff, lifeless, in a coffin where they will be for the rest of time.

But the worst part was the burial.

Blending in at a funeral has never been a strong suit of the BAU’s, except for you. You were calm, respectful, and blended in with the rest of the spectators.

Until you looked across the circle and saw Aaron Hotchner looking directly at you. Whatever he had been feeling before, was quickly wiped away when you looked back at him, confirming his suspicions that you were here, in the graveyard. The look on his face was replaced with a more somber one as he redirected his attention back to the priest, but you knew you would be unable to just leave now that you had been spotted.

Once she had been lowered into the ground, Hotch made his way towards you, catching his colleges interested. Where was he going? Who was he looking for?

“Y/n.”

You smiled at him. It didn’t reach your eyes, but it wasn;t fake either.

“It’s good to see you Hotch.”

“I didn’t know you were going to be here today.”

You nodded and looked over as the rest of the people migrated towards their cars to go to the reception afterwards. “I didn’t make it public information, considering I was planning on leaving after the ceremony. I’m just here to pay my respects Hotch.”

“She called you.”

“Yes she did.”

“And she said you turned it down.”

“I did.”

“Why.”

“Hotch, please.”

He took your elbow and pulled you away from the people, giving the two of you some semblance of privacy.

“Will you at least think about it?”

“What is there to think about Hotch? I don’t want to—”

“I wish you wouldn’t lie to me. I know you miss it Y/n. I’m not just some colleague, and you know that.”

You closed your eyes and pinched your brow. You knew coming to this funeral was a mistake. But some part of you, one that you had silenced for a very long time, was starting to break through.

“We can talk later.”

Wasteland, baby I'm in love, I'm in love with you

“I cannot believe you’re going back.”

You sighed and continued to pack up everything you owned into boxes. You had only broken down the ones from a few years ago–that same part of you had saved them for whenever you had recognized you were ready to be back in Washington D.C.

“Don’t ignore me. I thought you were done with hunting bad guys and certain doctors with glasses.”

You slammed your hands on the table, causing Lucille to jump.

“Sorry.” You muttered and slowly sunk to the ground, deciding it was just easier to sit on the ground and have a breakdown rather than talk it out.

“I’m not going back for him…I’m going back for me. This…” You ran a hand through your hair. “This is n’t what I was meant to do, Luce. I’m not a teacher. I’m okay at it, but…I was meant to be in the field. Teaching is challenging, but not in the way I need. And fuck, I love my kids, you know that I do, but it’s just…”

“It’s not who you are.” She came and sat down next to you, taking your hand in hers. “I’m gonna miss you asshole.”

You rested your head on her shoulder and squeezed her hand. “I’m going to miss you so much.” You whispered back to her.

“You have to visit me. I’ll get lonely up here.”

A smile spread across your face as a tear slowly tracked down your cheek. “ You have my permission to hunt me down and beat the shit out of me if I don’t.”

“Oh don’t worry, I will.”

All the things yet to come are the things that have passed Like the holding of hands, like the breaking of glass Like the bonfire that burns That all words in the fight fell to

Your desk stayed pretty empty for the first two weeks you were back—like you were terrified that if you got too comfortable, life would pull the rug right out from under you again and you’d have to leave.

It was Garcia who first noticed this, watching as you’d pack everything up into your tote bag each night before you would go home. She didn’t say anything about it though, since you were not the same girl the BAU had grown to know.

You were different, quieter. You spoke when you had something to add, or to correct somebody, but you never participated in the banter; you never stayed longer than absolutely necessary. If the group had decided to surprise you at your new apartment, they would find it covered in boxes—walls bare, fridge almost empty, only essentials like clothes and toothbrush unpacked.

But you had never been better. Hotch had you start consulting side cases when you came back, a way to get you used to the routine of being back in the office, back in the FBI. You would consult up to three new cases a day, still helping with those that would call back a day or week later for updates or more help. They watched as you easily solved things in minutes, that might have taken the team hours.

The first time Morgan called you ‘Girl Genius’ to your face, you punched him in the arm (admittedly a bit harshly). But he wasn’t wrong. You could feel the continuous excitement flowing through your veins; your muscles flexing as you settled back into the thing you were the best at.

You were different, but better.

Spencer noticed this too. He watched as you confidently answered every question thrown at you. He watched as you consulted on cases and noticed patterns he had missed.

Spencer had missed you, badly. He knew he fucked up when he had left that night, needed to go and he spend the night away, thinking about his life; his future. Panic had flooded his body at the thought of you being the one forced to take care of him, forced to deal with his shit history and addictive personality and his annoying ass rambles. He didn’t want to subject you to that.

But then he remembered the look on your face—the pure excitement and adoration at the thought of being able to spend every single minute of your life calling him yours. And once the panic had subsided, he felt that same joy.

When he got back to the house, you weren’t there.

You weren’t at work either.

You had just vanished, and about a day later, all of your things had disappeared too.

And Spencer was a fucking wreck. He was useless at work, and he spent so much time trying to find you, but Penelope wasn’t able to find a thing, and by the time she did, it had been months later, and you clearly didn’t want to be found.

Wasteland, baby I'm in love, I'm in love with you

It didn’t help that seeing you again in Vermont made him want to melt on the spot. A great deal of relief washed over him, seeing you were alive and in front of him. But then he felt the anger rise in him. You had abandoned him, you had just disappeared without a second thought.

Then he remembered the look on your face when he panicked about marrying you.

You had thought he didn’t want to marry you.

You had no idea that he felt like he was the the problem, and if he told you know, it would just sound like a fucking excuse.

Watching you walk back into the bullpen and set up at your desk was another slap in the face. It feels like nobody tells him anything, because they don’t. But then he realized that only Hotch knew about it because everyone froze on the spot seeing you sitting at your desk, working.

At his desk, he would just watch you. On the plane, he would watch you. And he tried so hard to be nonchalant about it, but he couldn’t take his eyes off of you. Your hair, your legs, your arms, your lips—he wanted to take your hand and never let you go, fusing your skin together so he could be with you always.

He was in love with you. And he thought you would rather die than be seen with him again.

If only he knew that you felt the same way—you loved him right back.

And that day that we'll watch the death of the sun To the cloud and the cold and those jeans you have on And you'll gaze unafraid as they sob from the city roofs

After about three months, infinite pining, a few longing glances passed to one another, and incessant whining from Derek Morgan, you and Spencer Reid found yourselves together at coffee one morning.

After about a month later, you found yourself back in his apartment, lips grazing his, not being able to tell where his body ended and yours started.

Then, the next day, he told you he loved you.

He didn’t see you for a whole week afterwards.

But when he walked into work that monday, and you were sitting at your desk, completely unbothered, he took it upon himself to make you talk to him.

No one else was around, except for Hotch. But his office door was closed, and Morgan wouldn’t be around for another ten minutes anyways.

“Where the fuck have you been?”

You turned around in your chair and glared at him. “Excuse me?”

“You disappeared for a week, no word about where you were going, not even telling me you were leaving.”

You rolled your eyes. “Not now Spence.”

“I love you.”

“What?”

“I still love you.”

Your jaw dropped. “Spencer…”

“I’m dead serious Y/n. When you weren’t here after you spent the night, I lost my fucking mind. I thought I had lost you—again. And I wasn’t about to go through that again. I had fucked up once before and I—I thought you had realized you didn’t want to be with me anymore and you had left again.”

You were silent as he rambled on.

“When you left three years ago, I lost my fucking mind. I sat here, staring at your desk hoping you would materialize out of thin air just so that I could apologize to you. And then when you didn’t show up, I begged Penelope to tell me where you had run off to, so I could go and find you and beg for you to listen to me while I got on my hands and knees to beg for your forgiveness. You thought I didn’t want to marry you, but I was terrified because I thought you wouldn’t want to marry me. I mean I had just gotten sober, and I thought we were doing so well and then you brought up marriage and all I could think about was how it was another way for you to find out how much you could hate me and get sick of me since—”

You had finally snapped out the shock you were feeling and placed your hand over his mouth. “Breathe.”

Spencer shoved your hand off his mouth, but stayed silent, taking an over exaggerated breath to prove to you he did.

“We can talk about this later.”

“No.” Spencer shook his head. “We’re going to talk about this now. I want to talk about this now.”

“Spencer…”

“How do I know that you’re not going to just pack up and disappear again.”

“Spencer seriously? I don’t—-”

“You don’t do that? Because we both know you do. You’ve done it twice now.”

“What do you want me to say Spence?”

“That you still love me.” His voice was low, but his eyes were locked in on yours. “I need to know if you still love me.”

Wasteland, baby I'm in love, I'm in love with you

The Next Week

Another Day, Another Psychopath Killer.

Another way for you to throw yourself into the line of fire because you have always had a soft spot for teenagers.

Someone was targeting suicidal teens, convincing them to end their own lives, merely making him complicit in their deaths. It had sent you (and JJ) reeling. Both of you had lost someone to suicide, and watching as this person preyed on vulnerable kids who deserved to live and be loved took a lot out of the both of you.

You had a bad feeling about this case when it was first passed onto your desk, but it just got worse and worse as the week went on. If only you had figured out who it was sooner, you might have been able to save this one girl’s life. But sometimes life refuses to relent.

The jet was silent on the way back, none of you wanting to speak and break the silence.

Spencer sat next to you on the couch, offering a comforting presence, and nothing else. He knew you (and it bugged the shit out of you). Years of being with one another meant that he knew when you were upset, and he knew that you despised being touched while you were like this, but you hated being alone.

It bugged you so much, but you weren’t going to say a damn thing because having him next to you while you sat and listened to your music and spiraled was exactly what you needed.

He only offered his hand when the plane hit some turbulence, and your entire body began to shake unconsciously. It was between the two of you, and all he did was flip it, so the palm was upwards. It was an invitation that you could immediately ignore and refuse if you wanted to.

But something in you caused your hand to drop next to his and lace your fingers through his.

God was it so fucking warm, and soft. You wondered if he still used the lotion you had recommended to him all those years ago when he would complain to you about his hands being “gross” and “too dry”. He absolutely did.

He managed to hide his smile when you took his hand, but he did give yours a soft squeeze, and continued to read his book, pretending that his insides weren’t aflame and his mind was anywhere but on the words in front of him.

He didn’t turn a page for over four minutes once your hand was in his.

And I love too that love soon might end Be known in its aching Shown in the shaking Lately of my wasteland, baby Be still, my indelible friend, you are unbreaking Though quaking, though crazy That's wasteland, baby

That Night

“Thank you.”

It was the first thing you had said in over five hours, including the plane ride. Once the plane had landed, you and Spencer went back to his apartment, and the two of you had sat in his living room, in silence. He didn’t mind, as long as he could keep an eye on you.

Your mind was far far away. It was back in college. Thinking about your friend and about the life you could have lived if she was still with you.

Spencer had left a cup of tea next to you, your favorite, and sat on the couch. You were situated in the chair by the window, staring out into the night, watching as the rain drops raced down the window and as the lights blurred together.

He was close enough to provide you with some comfort, but far enough away to let you have whatever space you needed.

“Spence?”

He snapped out of his head, looking towards you. Your eyes were tired, and your body reflected the same type of exhaustion.

“Sorry. What do you need?”

“I—.” You interrupted yourself with a yawn, cursing under your breath. “Shit sorry. I should probably go..”

“It’s okay if you stay.”

You looked out the window then back at him.

“I’m not just saying that to get you into my bed—oh my god that came out wrong, I just mean I don’t want you out in that weather and I don’t really like the idea of you being alone tonight, especially after this case because—”

“Spencer.”

“---yeah?”

“I’ll stay.”

“O-oh. Good. good…” He nodded. “I can uh, take the couch and you can have the bed.”

You rolled your eyes and smiled slightl;y. “You’re a gentleman, Doctor Reid, but I’m not kicking you out of your bed.”

“But I—”

“Spence.”

He huffed, crossing his arms as you just laughed softly to yourself, amused.

“Why don’t we both go get ready. Together.”

“Together?”

You nodded. “Yeah Spence.”

“Okay.”

Spencer stood up, and offered his hand to you.

And for the second time today, you took it.

When the stench of the sea and the absence of green Are the death of all things that are seen and unseen Are an end but the start of all things that are left to do

And maybe the two of you would never be together ever again. Maybe you would.

But something about the way Spencer would make your favorite tea,

or the way he would save you the crossword puzzle on his morning newspaper since he knew how much you loved to solve as much as you could without his help,

or when he would leave you notes on your desk, making you feel like a giddy high schooler all over again, or when he felt like a good start to something new

or when he would kiss you good morning and good night, promising you he’d be there whenever you woke up

or when he slowly got rid of things in his apartment to create space for your things as you moved in slowly

or whenever a case was particularly rough for the both of you and he wouldn’t pester you to talk to him about it, instead offering his hand for you to take, and squeezing it, letting you know he was there for you

or the way he would take you on small vacations up to Vermont so you could go see all of your friends and escape from the world of the FBI

or the way he would never storm out of the apartment after an argument, but still give you the space you needed so you could both decompress without getting at each other's throats

or when he whispered every thing he would do for you for the rest of your lives so help him god when he thought you were asleep in his arms

or how he would whispered ‘I love you’ to you as you passed by while you both were working

or when he would never let you run off in the middle of the night because you would panic about whether or not this was all a dream, and one day he would wake up and not love you anymore

or when he got down on one knee and proclaimed his undying love for you, hoping you’d promised to love him forever in the same way he loved you, wanting to be with you, wanting to be near you always

made you feel like everything might be okay after all.

Wasteland, baby I'm in love, I'm in love with you

#x reader #spencer reid x fem!reader #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x y/n #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid x you #spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid angst #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid x reader fluff #spencer reid fluff #dr spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x self insert

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ythankucaptainmccoy · 5 months ago

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The Cowgirl and The Aviator Ch.2

Hope you all enjoy this next chapter. Third chapter will be out as soon as possible. This may be a slow burn fic it may not be I haven't decided yet (INSERT EVIL LAUGH HERE).

Jake couldn’t stop thinking about you even after a great night's sleep. He had even turned down the hot woman who asked to show him a good time last night at the bar. Here he stood at his kitchen counter waiting for his coffee to be finished when there was a knock at his door. He walked over trying to think who could be knocking on his apartment door this early. What he isn’t expecting is for you to be standing there in basketball shorts and a baggy band shirt. “(Y/N)?”he asks, confused.

Then it hits him like a train. Rooster is his neighbor and you had said you were staying with him. You stood there frozen looking at his shirtless body and his shorts that were way too low to be considered decent, but you weren’t complaining. He chuckled, bringing you out of your thoughts to realize you were totally eyefucking him. “I swear I had no clue you were Bradleys neighbor, but I was wondering if I could borrow some eggs. I went to make breakfast, but he’s out of eggs”, you say.

“Yeah come on in”, he says, turning towards the kitchen. His apartment has the same layout just backwards to Bradleys and a huge window that looks out over the beach. You watch his muscles ripple as he reaches in his fridge for the eggs. You're caught watching again when he turns toward you with the container. “Here you can take them. I have to go shopping today after work anyway”.

“Um, thanks I swear I’ll pay you back”, you tell him. “It’s alright don’t worry about it there are only four eggs left anyway”, he responds. His smile is so genuine you can’t help but smile back at him. “Thanks”, you say as he walks you back to his front door. “Don’t hesitate to knock on my door if you ever need anything”, he says as you wave walking back to Roosters apartment.

He replays the events that had just happened, and how amazing you looked even in your sleep clothes. He imagined you standing at the stove cooking breakfast as you listened to soft music. He shook his head as he realized he has been thinking about you since last night at the bar. He needed to get his head straight as he would be training with Maverick and Rooster today.

You had just made it back to Bradleys apartment as you heard the shower down the small hall running. You quickly cooked breakfast and had everything set when Bradley came into the kitchen. “You made breakfast?”, he questioned. “Yeah I figured it was the least I could do since you're letting me stay here”, you replied. “Well I’ll take it. Hey I have training today, but the beach is private up until the flags down at each end of the complex if you want to swim”, he explained.

“I was actually thinking about searching for a job”, you replied. “You know you don’t have to search right away”, he responds. “It’s alright besides it would be wrong of me not to help pay rent”, you state. Bradley watches you carefully as he decides on his next words. “Alright but make sure you take a job you like and that pays you. No low cut rate because I know how hard you work”, he said.

You nod along as he shovels food into his mouth saying something about how good it is. Once he finishes eating he says goodbye and heads out. You go take a quick shower and get ready to go job hunting. All day is spent trying to find a job, but none of them pan out or pay enough. By the time you get back to the apartment you decide to go for a swim in the ocean. You quickly get into your one piece bathing suit and head for the beach.

You're so upset that by the time you reach the beach the waves are calming. You make your way and lay out a small beach chair and head towards the water. You go out and swim until you start getting pruney so you head towards the sand. Flopping down into the beach chair you lay out in the sun to tan. Your phone alerts that you had a message from Rooster asking how the job search went.

You quickly typed a reply that you didn’t want to talk about it and that's when another text came through asking about the Hard Deck. Replying with “sure” you got up and made your way to the apartment with your towel and chair. As you headed up the stairs you dropped the chair as it clattered down the stairs. You turned to go get it when you heard someone call out that they would get it.

It was Jake and butter you up and call you a biscuit. He was in his khaki uniform that fit him so well and when his biceps flexed to pick up the chair you swear you felt heat lick up your spine. “Thank you”, you finally respond. “You are very welcome”, he replied cockily. “I’m guessing training went well”, you said. “Of course it did”, he replied. “If you call Mav shooting you down each time then yeah it went perfect”, Bradley grouched coming from the apartment parking lot.

“Hey I saved your ass a couple times”, Jake huffed. “Look guys, no fighting alright. It sounds like we all had a shitty day and could use a break at the Hard Deck”, you interjected. “Sounds like a plan”, Jake said as he took in your bathing suit. Rooster knew Jake was undressing you with his eyes as you turned to walk towards his apartment. “Look man don’t even think about it”, Rooster hissed. Jake just smirked and handed Rooster the chair you had dropped.

You made it into the apartment and straight to the shower where you quickly got ready. This time pulling on your jeans and shirt walking towards the parking lot to wait on Bradley who was taking his sweet time. “You want a ride?” Jake asks, walking towards his truck. You looked at the apartment then back at Jake. He technically wasn’t a stranger and Bradley was still in the shower. “Yeah sure”, you reply.

You quickly shot a text to Bradley that you were riding to the Hard Deck with Jake and you would see him there. When you got in the truck you noticed two things. The cowboy hat sitting in the back seat and the cowboy boots on the back floorboard. “Well definitely a cowboy”, you replied. “Well I am from Texas”, he laughed. He turned the truck on and turned the radio on to a country radio station. You sang along as you both made your way to the Hard Deck and Jake swore you were making it harder not to ask you out on a date.

When you both arrived he held the door open for you as you made your way over to the others around the pool table. Nat looked at you then raised an eyebrow when she noticed you came with Hangman. “So where’s Rooster?”, she questions. “He was taking too long to get ready and Jake asked if I wanted a ride”, you explained. “Well that was very nice of him”, she tells you. You agreed as you went to the bar to grab a drink.

Penny was surprised when you asked what the strongest drink she had was. “What happened today that made you want something that strong?”, she asked. “I went job hunting and it was a bust”, you informed her. “Well I know that there is a position here at the bar for waitressing”, she said. That being said you agreed and she took you back for you to fill out all the forms. Once all the terms were agreed upon she said she would text you your schedule and to enjoy the rest of your week.

You almost skipped to the pool table smiling happily, noticing Rooster had made it to the bar. “You seem happy. What happened? Get a guy's number?”, Nat asked. That sent Jake snapping to attention to look at you as Coyote looked between you and Jake when realization dawned on him. “Holy shit your crushin’ on Rooster’s friend”, Coyote says. Jake rolls his eyes and denies it as he continues to wait for your answer.

“No, I got a job here as a waitress”, you gushed. Nat was happy for you as Jake relaxed and Coyote started laughing. “What's so funny?”, Rooster asked. “Oh nothing, just thinking about something that happened earlier”, Coyote responded. Jake was watching as you were now smiling and sipping your drink. When you smiled at him he couldn’t help it and smiled right back. “Oh man you got it so bad”, Coyote whispered.

“No you're just seeing what you want to see”, Jake responded. You made your way over to the jukebox and looked through seeing the song you were looking for and pressed the numbers. “American Pie” by Don McLean played through the speakers as you sang walking back to the pool table. As the chorus hit Nat and some of the others sang along with you. Jake was watching as the squad accepted you so quickly.

The rest of the night went great as you played a couple rounds of pool with the guys. Nat teamed up with you a couple times where you ended up beating the guys who took it with a grain of salt. When you all decided to leave you went to Bradleys bronco. “You don’t want to get a ride with Hangman?”, he asked haughtily. “I wouldn’t have gone with him if you had hurried up”, you replied angrily.

The ride back was tense but you had to know. “Why do you hate him so much?”, you asked. “I don’t hate him, it's just that he sleeps around a lot. I don’t want you getting too close with him. We call him bagman because he always leaves us out to dry. I haven’t ever seen him have a steady relationship. He isn’t the type you take home to meet your parents”, he tells you. “I get what you’re trying to say but I can handle myself”, you reply.

When Bradley parked the car you made your way to the apartment letting yourself in,and made your way to the kitchen to get a glass of water. “Look I’m sorry for being an ass”, Bradley stated. “I accept your apology, but I am my own person. If I make mistakes they are mine to make”, you say. He nods as you get ready for bed. Once your head hits the pillow you realize that while you were out today job searching you were going to get eggs to repay Jake. Oh well it was going to have to wait until you could get them another time.

The next morning before the sun rises you wake up in a cold sweat as you try to relax. The nightmare had felt so real, but you were miles away from home. Checking the clock you get up and put a bra on and another shirt keeping your baggy shorts on. You make your way down to the beach and walk to the edge of the water letting it lap over your feet. The water is cool and refreshing as you relax even more.

The sun starts to peek up on the horizon painting the sky such beautiful colors. That's when you spot Jake, shirtless, making his way down to the beach. He doesn’t seem to notice you as he scrolls on his ipod then starts bobbing his head to the beat coming through his earbuds. He takes off down the beach at a jog and you watch him go until you become unbalanced from your feet sinking into the sand.

You walk a little more into the water up to mid shin letting the sounds of the ocean soothe your frayed nerves even more. You walk through the water along the beach and you don’t know how much time has passed, but you can see Jake making his way back to where he started. You caught yourself staring and you weren’t watching the water when pain wrapped itself around your ankle. You cry out in pain and kick as you realize a jellyfish has gotten wrapped around your leg.

Your thrashing must have caught Jake’s attention because as you get out of the water he is making his way to you. “What’s going on?”, he asked. “I got stung by a jellyfish”, you inform. “Here let me help”, he says, kneeling down. He then proceeds to pick you up bridal style and walks towards the apartments. “I think I can walk”, you huff. “Best not to aggravate the site of the sting”, he says.

He carries you as if you weigh nothing even as he climbs the stairs. He lets you open Roosters apartment then takes you straight to the bathroom. He sits you down on the counter and asks if you have any tweezers. You told him where to find them and then he helped get the remaining tentacles off and threw them away. Then he picked you up again and sat you on the side of the tub. “Now we get some hot water running to help take away the sting”, he explains as he turns on the tap.

You put your leg under the water and true to his words the sting alleviated until it was completely gone. “Thank you”, you say. “You’re welcome”, he replies with a wide smile. “So what were you doing out there so early?”, he questions. “Bad dream decided the ocean would help me relax, but seems to have only made it worse”, you laughed. He laughed with you and you had to admit his smile was so contagious.

“Now for the last part some hydrocortisone cream”, he states. He rummages around for a few minutes until he finds the cream. He bends back down patting his thigh for you to put your foot there. He applies the cream when you hear Bradley ask, “What the hells going on here”. “I got stung by a jellyfish and Jake was helping me”, you explain. He doesn’t seem to buy it until you show him the area that you got stung. Bradley shook his head then walked to the kitchen. “How about I take you out for lunch?”, Jake suddenly asked.

“I don’t know”, you said, looking back towards the door. “Just lunch, it's not a date or anything”, he explains. “Alright fine what do you have in mind?”, you ask. “There’s this place on the beach that has great burgers. I’ll drive and pick you up in an hour”, he tells you. Once you agree he sees himself out as Bradley stands in the kitchen. When you turn to him he just shakes his head and starts making a sandwich.

You get dressed in some jeans and a tank top since the weather was calling for a warm day. You're pulling on your boots when there’s a knock on the door and no surprise Jake is on the other side. He’s in jeans, white shirt and the cowboy boots and cowboy hat you had seen in his truck. He looks like a cowgirls wet dream and you mentally kick yourself for agreeing to going to lunch.

He opens the door to his truck and you get in smiling when he closes the door for you. The way that you have heard some of the Daggers talk about him and Rooster, this doesn’t seem like the Hangman you were told about. “Thanks for helping me with the jellyfish sting. How did you know what to do?”, you inquired. “You're welcome. I got stung a couple days after being stationed here, and an elderly woman in the apartment across the way told me what to do”, he explained.

“Well thank goodness she told you the jellyfish sting treatment secret”, you said. “Treatment secret?”, he chuckled. “Don’t make fun of me”, you joked. After a fifteen minute drive he was pulling into a parking space. It wasn’t very large, but it was very busy as Jake waved to the owner. “This is the best spot in the house”, he tells you. He pulls out a chair for you as you thank him. “It’s very cozy”, you say.

A woman comes over to take your drink orders and from the look on her face she doesn’t seem happy to see you. “Can I take your drink order?”, she asks, more to Jake than to you. You both order sweet tea and look at the menu. “The BBQ burger is the best burger they have here”, he told you. “I’ll take your word for it”, you say. The waitress comes back with the teas and places them on the table. “Are you ready to order?”, she questions. “I know what I want”, you tell Jake and he agrees ordering the BBQ burger.

“And what will you be having?”, she sighs. “I’ll have the same”, you reply, trying to be polite even though this woman has been nothing but rude since she asked your drink order. She walks off to put your orders in as Jake takes a sip of tea. “How did you find this place?”, you questioned. “Had a day to burn after training one day and I was driving around when I saw it. Decided to try it and been coming here ever since”, he explains.

“I heard that Penny gave you a waitressing job at the Hard Deck”, he says. “Yeah I was hoping for a farm job, but they didn’t want to pay very well and the Hard Deck is closer to the apartment”, you explained. “Well at least I’ll be able to see you more often”, he smiles. “Yeah I bet you get tired of me within a week”, you joke. “Nah, don't think that’ll happen”, he replies. You feel your face heat up at his words.

You both continue your conversation until your food arrives. When you bite into the burger you moan at how good it tastes. Jake is shifting in his seat slightly as you tell him he was right about how good the burger was. He would never admit it and even though he hasn’t known you that long he enjoys watching you try new things. The way your face lights up with that crooked little grin and how your eyes twinkle.

The waitress comes by with the checks and puts them down on the table. You go to grab your receipt when Jake's hand shoots out and snags it. “The check wasn’t supposed to be separate”, Jake said to the waitress. “Well it is today”, she huffs. “What's your problem”, you say before you can stop yourself. “Excuse me?”, she asks. “Ever since you came to take our drink orders you have been rude. You act like I don’t even exist at this table and you didn’t even come to ask if it was one check or two”, you explain.

Jake seemed to be getting uncomfortable as you explained. She turned to Jake, “You never paid for my food when you took me out”. Now it all made sense as the dots connected. “We only went out that one time and I told you it wasn’t going to work out”, Jake said. “Whatever, I'll put it on one check so you can pay for your whore”, she snapped. Jake looked mortified as she turned and walked away with the checks.

“I’m so sorry if I knew she was here I wouldn’t have brought you here. She got upset when I wouldn’t sleep with her after our date. I know you probably don’t trust a word I’m saying, but I really am sorry”, he explained. You didn’t say a word as the waitress brought the check back as Jake seemed to be deflating the longer the waitress stood there waiting for the money. She took the money and stormed off as you reached across the table and squeezed his hand. “I believe you”, you told him.

When the waitress came back you looked her straight in the eye. “You know you call me a whore, but when you get upset that a man won’t sleep with ya on a first date that is a whore move. It’s probably a good thing he didn’t sleep with ya because I’m sure you probably would have given him some disease. You’re the type of girl that gives other women a bad name and yes I called you a girl because you obviously aren’t mature enough to be a woman. Stay away from Jake”, you tell her.

Jake’s jaw dropped a little at your words and when the waitress fled with tears in her eyes he couldn’t help but smile at you. “What?”, you asked. “That is the first time I have ever had a woman stand up for me like that”, he says. It breaks your heart a little to hear that, but you grab Jake's hand and walk back to the truck. When you arrive back at the apartments he walks you to the door as you thank him for lunch. “Maybe next time I can take you somewhere for lunch”, you tell him.

“I might be available for something like that”, he replies. Once he says goodbye you go sit on the couch when two texts come in. One from Penny saying you can start Monday and another from an unknown number. The text from the unknown number just has a picture. When you open it, it's a picture of your brother's house with his kids playing out in the front yard and the caption on it reads ‘YOU MAY BE SAFE BUT THE REST OF YOUR FAMILY ISN’T’.

#top gun maverick #jake seresin x reader #jake hangman seresin #bradley rooster bradshaw #pete maverick mitchell #dagger squad

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yuri-is-online · 9 months ago

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The TWST cast from the original Fyuuture Kid timeline is so Cleopatra by Lumineers coded. They just get their (pregnant) joyfriend ripped away from them, cursed, and then sent back to earth, where they can't follow all in one day. That's gotta be a fucking nightmare. They just lose everything at the same time. Bro. Imagine Jamil or Azul, they had to fight for everything and just when they finally, FINALLY, think they have something that will never leave, it's taken away. Imagine malleus or cater or silver; they've already lost so much, silver just lost his dad and now, when he's going to make his own family, they're taken from him too.

TW FOR SUICIDE.

You wrote one time that of Yuu ever died, Floyd would be quick to follow, so. Did Jade and Azul have to put him on suicide watch? My mind is reeling there were NO WINNERS in this timeline Goddamn.

Sorry for the angst dude I just think about this AU a lot

i am so sorry for making you all live with this many thoughts and just waltzing on off to do fuck all

So there weren't any winners in the original timeline no, but the way things went down sort of prevented the type of outcome you are describing with Floyd due to the potential for hope, that most dangerous of falsehoods. In a way that sort of makes it worse though... so lets talk about what went down shall we?

(I'm going to keep this post to more general information, but I did write some specific ship thoughts I'll probably use for another post later on, I just need to think on some of them more...)

notes: they/them used for Yuu, this is part of my fyuuture kid au which can be found under the series section of my masterlist. This post will not contain discussions of suicidal ideation, but will contain major character death and descriptions of violence. If you are curious about what happened to Yuu and Fyuuture kid, look at this post here.

General Original Timeline Facts

To give a brief re-cap of what happens to Yuu, they were arrested by the Magical Marshall's office and sent back to their world, while pregnant, and cursed to forget everything that had happened to them in Twisted Wonderland. Something I didn't mention in that first post, mostly because I intended to imply it in the answer about Riddle's relationship with Yutu but ended up cutting, is that none of the characters actually know that this is what happened at first. They know that Yuu disappeared, but they don't know that the Marshalls were involved or that Yuu went back to their world, which causes a real sense of panic in all of them because holy shit their spouse and unborn child just went missing and they can't seem to get anyone to take this seriously. How the Marshalls went about hiding this information, and what the general public believed happened to Yuu depends on who their husband was, as did the fallout of their disappearance.

For anyone who might be a bit confused, the Magical Marshall's Office is an elite squad of police officers who investigate magical crime, and occasionally deal with overblots. They are the organization that Deuce wants to join one day, which does mean that the people who made the decision to see Yuu as a threat to public safety and send Yuu home were Deuce's own co-workers and friends.

Deuce is the first to suspect that the Marshall's might have had something to do with Yuu's disappearance, but he isn't able to really do much with that. He tries, but he is stonewalled and eventually fired- though by the time that happened monster attacks started getting really bad in the Queendom and Deuce had a whole other set of questions.

Speaking of those monster attacks, the instant Yuu is removed from Twisted Wonderland Grim overblots I have an idea as to why, but it isn't super set in stone. This "Chimera" begins hunting and stirring up monsters, inciting them to attack civilization while it focuses on trying to "wake up" the Phantoms of the Great 7. These phantoms want to re-join with their respective overblot boy, which is an easier task for some of them than others.

The first phantom to re-appear was the Thorn Fairy's. Malleus chose to seal himself and his phantom in an eternal sleep inside the Briar Valley capital after ordering Sebek and Silver to evacuate everyone who lived there, leaving his people truly leaderless and in shambles. He technically also ordered Lilia to go with them, but he refused. He wasn't able to abandon another Draconia to die alone. A lot of nocturnal fae died to the Phantom before Malleus's sacrifice, but because the problem was more or less contained to Briar Valley not all of the other nations saw the monster problem as a threat. They should have.

The second phantom to re-appear was The Queen of Hearts'. Riddle, having been approached by Deuce with his suspicions regarding Yuu's disappearance and outraged by what he saw as a clear violation of the law (if nothing else) was easy prey and re-assimilated into the monster. The phantom then began hunting down each of Riddle's previous dorm mates to corrupt them into card soldiers for its army, eventually fashioning four lieutenants that were a touch more sentient that the others out of Trey, Cater, Deuce, and Ace.

Certain members of the Al-Asim family saw that happen and quietly, without Kalim's knowledge, arrange to have Jamil killed. This doesn't prevent the Sorcerer of the Sands' phantom from reuniting with him, it just means the monster is puppeteering a corpse. And dragging around a second once it gets its hands on Kalim...

Obviously at this point something of a pattern has been established, meaning S.T.Y.X. is expected to do something. Idia does not actually overblot for a second time thank you very much, Phantom Ortho has a mind of his own and he promised to stay in the Underworld until it was Idy's time. His first order of business is to check in on Vil, Azul, and Leona to make sure they're ok. He manages to make contact with Vil, but the Coral Sea proves impossible to get a message through to and Leona is M.I.A. Literally, he and Ruggie have both disappeared while investigating monster attacks around the slums. Idia has a decision to make, and it's not one he really likes, but S.T.Y.X. has a better relationship with the Sunset Savannah than it does the Coral Sea, so it's off to the Elephant Graveyard while Vil agrees to stay behind on the Isle of Woe under observation for his own safety.

It's a decision Idia regrets later. He gets to Leona in time to help him fight and kill the King of Beasts's phantom, but it costs Leona and Ruggie their lives, and while he's there, the Sea Witch's phantom finds Azul and begins using his magic to drain the merfolk dry. Floyd manages to use his unique magic to distract Azul long enough to allow Jade to escape, who only flees because he thought his brother was behind him the whole time. The oceans become polluted with blot, forcing the surviving merfolk to the surface. Many go to NRC and take refuge in the Octavinelle dorm pocket dimension, resulting in the Mostro Lounge being closed to make more room. Somehow that feels more like a killing blow to Azul for Jade than what the phantom did.

Schools like NRC, RSA, and Nobel Bell become sort of centers for survivors due to the large amounts of mages, magical wards, and artifacts that such schools typically have made them safer than most towns. NRC specifically has seen a large influx of magicless people who run a lot of the things the ghosts used to and runs a lot of normal school classes in additional to the magic program, which shifts over time to be more focused on fighting due to the increased monster attacks.

Also Crewel is now Headmage. It would have been Trein but I don't think he needs the stress. I haven't decided if he is still alive or not, but Vargas and Sam are still kicking.

So to give a run down of where everyone stands in the original timeline in order: Malleus and his phantom are trapped in an eternal sleep, Lilia is dead, Silver and Sebek are alive (at least at first) and trying to help the fae refuges displaced by the Thorn Fairy's Phantom. All of Heartslabyul are overblot phantoms, and actively making the Queendom of Roses unlivable. Jamil was assassinated and the Sorcerer of the Sands's phantom went on to kill Kalim and most of his family. To be clear that wasn't because of Jamil's lingering emotions, but good luck explaining that to most people. Vil and Idia are overblot free, Vil because he is being detained on the Isle of Woe and Idia because of his promise with Phantom Ortho. Leona and Ruggie died fighting the King of Beast's phantom. Azul and Floyd are blot phantoms, while Jade is alive and tending bar at what remains of the lounge at NRC.

Now Epel, Rook, and Jack aren't named in that list. No one really knows what happened to them, but they are assumed dead (or at least Jack and Epel are.) Since this is my AU and I get to give out the information, I'll let you know that Rook is a phantom under control of the Fairest Queen's phantom, Jack is dead, and Epel is alive, but cut off from the rest of Twisted Wonderland by the monsters under the Fairest Queen's control. He's right teed off about that, hey Yutu go get him that ladder he's gonna give Rook a piece of his mind-

I do have some ship specific thoughts but I want to cook with them a bit more... but to maaaybe tease some of them?

Yutu and his friends had to fight the Heartslabyul boys multiple times. Yes this hurt their Yutus a lot, and is one of the main reasons Riddle! Yutu hates his dad so much.

Vil can hear the Fairest Queen talking to him and it's not great for his mental stability. Neither is being cooped up in the Isle of Woe, his Yutu did meet him and remembers it being a terrifying experience.

Jade has a good relationship with Floyd! Yutu, Jade and Floyd are their own people but losing Floyd killed a part of him that was slightly healed by getting his nephew back. He likes to tease Azul! Yutu and told him a great deal about his dad. As for his own Yutu... their relationship is a tad strained by how protective Jade is over his son. He is terrified of losing him and what is left of his pearl...

Not all Yutus are in the same dorm as their father. I haven't decided on where all of them are yet, but I did mention once in my replies that Azul! Yutu is in Savanaclaw. I did not mention that he did intend to transfer but couldn't when he accidentally became the Dorm Leader because he got tired of being mouthed off to and knocked someone out. I have an ask about Cater! Yutu I'm working on but I'll add him here as having been put into Octavinelle, and I think I want to put Kalim! Yutu into Pomefiore but I need to cook more...

#<3 asks #twisted wonderland x reader #twst x reader #future kid au #tw character death #ngl i cried when i was writing about jade #so no one yell at me i am already yelling at myself ok

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catpriciousmarjara · 1 year ago

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Dp x Dc fic idea

Part 2

So I've been re-watching Yu Yu Hakusho lately and was struck with an idea. What if there was a tradition in the Infinite Realms that the Ghost King would conduct a multiverse level fighting tournament? It probably started as control measure of some sort or stress relief for extremely powerful beings and the Ghost King is the only one who's true neutral enough to judge and powerful enough to kick their asses if they misbehave.

And the final prize is that the Ghost King would grant you a wish? As well as one time access to Zeroth Hour? And that's a reward no one can resist.

I'm imagining a scenario where Darksied or something was gearing up to once again invade Earth, and the JL and affiliated all prepared to defend the planet but before the attack could be launched, a green blob appeared right in front of Darkseid and somehow it actually makes the tyrant flinch. That made everyone pay attention. And then the blob announces the beginning of the tournament and Darkseid promptly packs up and leaves, leaving the heroes dumbfounded.

So something like this:

The air was rife with tension. All eyes were on Metropolis, at the gaping maw of the portal opening right above the city. The forces of Apokolips were once again invading. Darkseid had declared war.

Earth's heroes stood grim, ready to give their lives in defence of the planet. Their gazes were fixed on Darkseid, standing in front of his army, surveying his opponents. His general stood behind him, primed for combat.

Abruptly the pressure doubled, and the heroes tensed, readying for battle.

Darkseid raised his left hand, to light the spark of war. But before he could bring it down, the space between the two factions, right there in the middle, twisted.

And from the distortion, a titanic, green, humanoid...blob appeared.

The heroes stared. The New Gods stared. The creature did not stare, as it had no eyes, nor did it care.

It then spoke, with a solid, booming voice completely incongruous with its make.

"Uxas of Apokolips!"

The heroes watched in bafflement as their greatest foe jolted.

"The Infinite Realms hereby declares the beginning of the Grand Tourney. You are cordially invited to participate on behalf of Apokolips."

Among the Earth forces, one John Constantine felt dread overcome his body as he realized what exactly was happening. Shit, was it that time of the millennium already?

Captain Marvel seemed to be on the same vein of thought as the Wisdom of Solomon as well as the knowledge of his predecessors filled him in on what was going on.

The Dark members in the know had similar reactions. All across the planet, and in the dimension, magical entities who had tuned into watch the fatal confrontation, felt excitement racing through them as they realized what this meant. Other beings? Not so much.

Batman was cataloguing these strange turn of events carefully. Superman was puzzled but still held himself ready. Green Lantern was trying to figure out why exactly his ring was behaving strangely and giving out sparks. Martian Manhunter was analyzing the curious psionic readings he was getting from the creature.

Wonder Woman and Aquaman however had the dawning expression of recognition on their faces, which did not go unnoticed by their Gothamite colleague.

Surprisingly the Flash was looking at the creature as if it wasn't the first time he saw it. That too was noted by the Dark Knight.

On the Apokolips side however, there were no signs of puzzlement. Instead it looked like excitement was spreading like wildfire through the army, and even Darkseid looked eager.

The creature took note of none of these developments and continued.

"The first event is the Great Hunt. As an invited participant, a hint would be provided to you should you accept".

It bent its great, gelatinous head towards the Apokoliptian ruler.

"Do you accept, Uxas of Apokolips?"

In response, Darkseid stepped forward. "I accept."

And in a flash, before the New God appeared a pitch black card, and the creature announced, "Uxas, Ruler of Apokolips, Participant Number R813."

It straightened to its full height. "Your first hint is on Apokolips, young ruler."

And the next second it was gone, with the same exact warping of space it had come from.

The two factions were left alone, sans eldritch green goop.

Most of the heroes had one thought: What the fuck just happened and did the green goop thing call Darkseid young?"

Darkseid did not waste anytime however. He turned to his army and ordered, "Retreat!"

And just like that the great army filtered back through the portal they had come from, and the mortals heroes of Earth watched, perplexed. They still held themselves at the ready, in case this was all a ploy of some sort, and half of them believed it was. After all, what could make an obsessive tyrant like Darkseid turn back?

A good portion of the heroes were trying to figure out what the Grand Tourney the creature had mentioned was.

And those in the know? Well they knew chaos was incoming.

The portal closed and just like that, Earth lived to see another day. Via interruption by magical goop.

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

And there you have it! Personally I think a scenario like this is hilarious. Imagine you're on the battlefield, facing a gargantuan, godly army, readying yourself for a battle that could kill you. And then the battle was cancelled cause your opponent had somewhere urgent to be.

I don't have a clear cut idea on what Zeroth Hour is beyond it being a great timey-wimey, wibbly-wobbly thing, so any ideas are welcome.

The Tourney only happens once every 100,000 years, and it takes place across the omniverse, on different terrains, different timelines, different dimensions and so on. The card that Darkseid got acts as an access key to tournament sites he doesn't normally have access to. The card also monitors participants and is programmed to hell and back to not allow the participants to misuse it. There are dire consequences if you do.

There are 14 stages in total, and the final, combat stage is conducted in a ever evolving, ever changing battle ground on the edges of the Ghost Zone.

Faerie here is not the Fair Lands in DC, and does not follow the dc fictional mythology.

Infinite Beings do not take part in the Tourney.

The last victor was a half dragon, half god prince from Dimension 976123065. He asked for the opportunity to court Princess Dorothea. It was a reality show moment for the Ghost Zone.

Also some extra details:

The JL would of course come to know what the Grand Tourney is, and then realize that if Darkseid won, he would get the anti-life equation that way. And before they could panic their mind would be blown by the fact that apparently, Darkseid is not likely to win at all, cos there are bigger players in the game.

Constantine would be forced to admit that even if you don't get an invitation, you can still participate if you register. Though you won't get the opening hint or any other boosts until Stage 5. He can't understand why anyone would want to considering that those who do get invitations are on the level of Darkseid and higher.

Batman would insist they check it out.

Constantine would say that he has no idea where the registration office is.

Captain Marvel would chime in that the office was most likely in the Faerie.

Constantine would then insist that they have no business messing around in the Faerie. JL Dark would nod vehemently in agreement.

Batman insists they at least watch the tournament. Constantine gets conned into organizing a watch party.

PART 2

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horreurscopes · 2 months ago

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so after months of apartment hunting hell and many rejections from apartments i fell in love with that hurt more than any romantic breakup i have ever had, i moved into a new place about two months ago and i thought i would love it but there were many little things here and there that were obscured from me during the tour and it's not working out and it's making me so incredibly unhappy (unresponsive management, loud neighbors, and it's so filthy from the last tenants [bathtub has jets??? which i thought was sick until i found out they were full of biofilm because they have never been cleaned out and yes i have disgusting pictures] and it's really dark because it's north facing and has scaffolding around it and the broker just made stuff up about the scaffolding being about to be taken down but it seems its just not going to come off because it's cheaper for the owners to have the scaffolding there to comply with safety law than it is to actually fix whatevers wrong with the building) anyway. so now, a really cool gorgeous place that's significantly cheaper and SO sunny and much better that i immediately fell in love with went up on streeteasy, so i thought, hey, it will be super mega tough to pull off but i can probably transfer my lease (wherein you find someone to take over the contact and are free of it) and move again, but then the listing agent messaged me that the current tenants had decided to stay and i was bummed out because the same thing had happened to me months ago during the beginning of my search with another place i really liked, so i looked it up and hey, turns out last time it happened it was the same leasing agent. so what i think is happening is that because it's such a desirable place at such a low cost, the broker probably has too many people who want it and just brushed me off with a lie because they can just do whatever they want. so i pretend i didn't see the cancellation email and show up to the building anyway, and ring the apartment number, and im LET IN but when i go up the stairs and walk into the place turns out it was true and the tenant's friend IS taking the apartment and they're like oh we're so sorry the broker was supposed to cancel ): and I'm like oohhhh nooo...... oh well! because at least i got closure lol

but i shit you not, as im walking out the tenants yell at me through the window to come back in because they JUST heard from their friend that he backed out and actually, the apartment is back on the market, and im the only person who knows and has seen it. so i stay for a solid hour just talking to the tenants who let me know the #honest ins and outs of the place, and that the broker basically did nothing (what is new) because they took the pictures in the listing and the guy hadnt even stepped foot in the place.

anyway it's a great story, kismet meant to be etc, im imagining my entire life in that apartment, until i realize i can't move in because the broker's fee that *im* supposed to pay (on top of first month + security deposit, which i would've had to figure out/loan out anyway because i definitely don't have enough money to put those payments in before getting the security deposit and rent refund for the rest of the month back from the CURRENT place) is fifteen (15)(IX) FIFTEEN percent of the annual rent. fifteen percent of the annual rent. FIFtEEn PercEnt. Of The Annual Rent. For Doing Nothing. so long story short i briefly thought I'd try to fundraise like $7k for all of moving expenses but then i deflated like a depressurized blob fish..... the unstoppable force of panache grit and scrappiness alone will get you far but it's not enough against the immovable object that is nyc capitalism. hashtag american dream hashtag bootstraps

#IT WOULD'VE BEEN A GREAT STORY

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jackie-mae · 4 months ago

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with your outfit drawings for the mystreet character. im so curious about with vylad having outfits for s2-s6, if you want can you expand upon on that?

I WOULD LOVE TOO >:3c

Long and Short of it is I've always hated how Vylad was there in Mystreet S1, PDH S1 and then he just... dropped off the face of the earth after that. It always irked me a bit when it would show Garroth and Zane having brotherly bonding moments (and trauma) and always having the thought of (Man wasn't there a third brother in all this?) there in the back of my mind.

I'm now going to do some little bullet points of my Vylads role in S2-6 but this is a great time to mention I've never seen past S4 so I'm running on Wiki Lore and the gospel of AO3 and @catzgam3rz; who collaborates (Read: Infodump and Ramble) on a hypothetical rewrite with me so it gets vague and murky for the later seasons.

S1:

Basically the same as canon (as in S1 is kinda just slice of life) but instead of Vylad just travelling around the world he is an off the grid hunter that wanders the wilderness all the time (The freak)

This is based on my very fuzzy memories of MCD Vylad always kinda just being in trees as he watched Lady Aphmau in the early seasons so I just put Mystreet Vylad in trees for fun this time

Has a vaguely similar relationship to his brothers as in MCD. in the sense it's better with Garroth and more strained with Zane

S2:

Goes to LLP with the rest of the main cast (which consists of the 11 big designs I made) because season 2 is not when you should be writing out characters Jessica

He wears little rainboots and unlike Laurance (Who FYI wears cowboy boots a majority of the time) the rest of the cast did not get him into flip flops before he went trudging into the ocean (again a freak)

I like to imagine that if any drama is going on in the story you could always see him floating around on an inner tube off in the distance

S3:

Again back to slice of life so he does a lot of shenanigans with the cast here

This is the season where the shadow knights feature but for the life of me, I cannot remember if Vylad was officially a part of them or not (And his Wikia is not even a paragraph~) But if it turns out he was there'll probably be more shenanigans around that.

He ends up leaving mid-season (Fall ish?) to go on a hunting expedition

S4:

Oh hey look Vylad is back because we don't believe in writing characters off with little rhyme or reason Jessica

Vylads hunting expedition ends up being in the same area as the lodge. and we all know nothing bad happens there!

there's now a little ski village downhill from the lodge which is where Vylad is staying at seasons start. He's good friends with a lot of the people there.

He's a werewolf now... Don't worry about it!

Oh, what's this? Is that relationship building between him and Zane on the horizon? Well, that won't hurt at all, will it?

AY:

A not-alone buddy comforts his not-alone buddy (I do not know much about Aphmau's Year but know it's short so that's all I got)

S5:

As he is a part of the Lodge crew he gets to go to Starlight!

Possibly is involved in a certain shenanigan with his brothers I'll be posting a comic about that in a few days

Get's lost constantly. Figures Starlight being an island means he can't really get lost since he'll hit ocean eventually and refuses to acknowledge how big said island is.

Doesn't float around like in S2 but you can still find him wading on the shore in his boots

being a hyperattentive freak, he get's some bad vibes from the island sooner than most

Gonna be honest, me and Catz have not watched all of When angels fall but are planning to soon so I'll just leave you with the fun fact that all of my season 6 designs are supposed echo my MCD's designs for the characters (Since S6 is when it was decided hey maybe Diaries is really important here now)

TLDR: Vylad was shafted in Mystreet so I'm fix it

#asks #answered asks #aphmau #aphblr #mystreet #mystreet rewrite #ask box spring cleaning #vylad ro'meave #CatzJacks myst rewrite

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inkabelledesigns · 3 months ago

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It's incredibly frustrating and exhausting to have to question every piece of media that passes your screen as to whether or not it was made with generative ai. I don't like that I can't trust people not to use the literal theft machine for their projects. Especially when it comes to indies.

Like, so there's a new indie horror game called Zoochosis, right? I have no stakes in Zoochosis, a game about a zookeeper that's trying to stop the spread of a mutation with the animals isn't really my speed. But I'd heard of the people who made it before, and I wanted to see if they'd grown. The devs behind it are also responsible for another game, Sparky Marky, which used ai voices, much to my frustration. I tuned into a stream today where someone was playing it, and after hearing a little bit of the dialogue from Doc, I asked if they'd hired actual voice actors. The streamer seemed unconvinced that they had. So I immediately turned it off and decided to go hunting instead, because I needed to know if real people voiced in Zoochosis. I needed to know if this dev team learned anything from their last experience.

Thankfully, there are credits for the voice actors of this game, but they're very far down, which is a little disappointing. The common threads between them is that most of them have a Fiverr page, so I imagine they were hired through there, but I can't confirm that. Frankly I don't love Fiverr given they are also run rampant with generative ai right now, it's not inspiring confidence. But a number of these voice actors have full on websites for their voice work that seem pretty legit to me. In the case of Doc's voice, Tim Stephenson, most of his work is in commercial voice over, not character voice acting, so that explains some of what I was hearing. Commercial VO and character acting for games, shows, etc. are different skills with different needs. Just because someone can do one very well doesn't necessarily mean they're perfectly equipped to do both, especially when I didn't see credits for a voice director here. Without a director, you're recording remotely and going off of your instincts, and while many actors can have great instinct for performing, getting a performance that fits the vision of the project still requires some communication.

I think it's too soon to tell if these actors were actually paid for voice acting, of if these are ai voices synthesized from their likeness. The game is so new that it hasn't shown up on their imdb credits or personal website credits yet, and until it does, I'm gonna be a little skeptical. At the same time, there are many explanations for why the voice acting sounded off. The dev team behind Zoochosis has a lot of names that lead me to believe they may not be native English speakers (and I'm fairly certain I've heard that from others too). Writing and editing dialogue for a game in a language you don't speak is NOT EASY! That's a big ask, and if that's what's happening here, then I'd actually be very impressed by the quality of what I'd heard. It's just...frustrating. I expect this from big corporations and companies, but Zoochosis is an indie game. The folks over at Clapperheads are a small team making this thing real. And I'm troubled by the idea of an indie team, something built on passion and a desire for creative freedom, using generative ai. They're not the only ones to do so. Pastra, a YouTuber who loves indie horror, has started a series of videos that play into this found footage/news broadcast horror story, and for part of it, they used ai generated images of photographs of children to represent the victims of the monster. And they defended this by saying that it was better to use these generated images of children than actual real children. And I'm just sitting here confused by that. Because like, the model that that generative ai is trained on is using stolen images of real children to make those fake photos. So not only does it fall under using a child's image without consent, but you don't even know what children you've stolen the visage from. That is not a good look. The same goes for Indigo Park. AI was used for the opening footage of Issac Indigo introducing the park, and that's part of why his facial movements are so janky. Mason from UniqueGeese at least apologized and said he'd do better next time, but like...the chapter 1 revamp came out and that wasn't changed.

It's small stuff and big stuff, but either way, it's not okay. Until generative ai is trained only on data that is given to its developers consensually, it is not a viable tool for creation. It's not ready to be tested until the ethics part is worked out, and even then, I don't think I'd ever want to touch it. Like I get it, game development is hard, and in the indie scene, it's hard to make it all come together. But also, I expect a project built on passion to at least TRY to be creative in its solutions, and for the people making it to know better than to use stolen content. I expect better. Maybe I'm wrong for expecting better. But I expect better.

I'm just...disappointed. It makes me feel like I can't touch anything in modern media. Like I may as well go back and only play games, watch shows/movies, and explore stories made before 2023. At least then I can trust that it was probably done without the use of the theft machine. That's such a hopeless thing, giving up on modern art and all the potential it comes with. I don't want to give up on art. I don't want to give up on people telling meaningful stories in modern times. Please, humans, keep making art with your own two hands. Please give me something to be hopeful for.

#zoochosis #zoochosis spoilers #zoochosis voice actors #longpost #generative ai #ai voices #artistic ramblings

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isoliawrites · 1 year ago

Text

I'm here

Sully Family × Son!Reader

Word count: a lot

01 02

Reality

{Just a filler. I don't know what to change much in this part.}

"What?" Y/n asked Tuk in disbelief. "Mom and dad are talking about it right now" Tuk says as she runs out of the tent again and Y/n follows out as Mo'at allows him to. Both of the ran to one of the hut, Kiri was already there, listening. Y/n quietly does the same while Tuk takes a peek inside.

"This thing, this Quartich.. whatever he is.."

"What's going on?" Neteyam asks and Kiri quickly signals them to be quiet. They came and joined in to listen to their parents.

"He can walk right under Eywa's nose"

Y/n watched as Jake and Neytiri argued, he didn't fully understand yet why they had to leave. Neytiri argued "This is about our little ones. I cannot, you cannot ask of this" she walked away from Jake "I cannot leave my people. I will not" She stated once again. Jake looks at her, "He's hunting us. He's targeting our family-" "You cannot ask this!" Neytiri cuts him off "The children, everything they've ever known. The forest, this is our home!"

"He had our children. He had 'em under his knife, look at Y/n!" Jake argued back. Neytiri went silent, torn between her people and her children's safety. She went and grabbed her bow "My father gave me this bow as he lay dying! And he said protect the people.. You're Toruk Makto!" She pleaded but Jake insisted "This will protect the people!"

Y/n hated seeing his parents argue like this, he can't stand the screaming and arguing. He stands up and leaves, he knows they're leaving because what his dad says is final.

Y/n's POV

I felt mixed emotions as I left. I think I'm going to cry or something. I don't want to leave..this is our home, our place. I don't want to leave Mo'at, why does this happen to us... and why am I getting so emotional while the others seem to hold it together better.

I went inside our tent and sat down on my bed... Everything is happening so fast I can't seem to process it well. I heard someone come in and I turned to look, it's Neteyam. "Y/n" he called and sat next to me. "Everything is going to be alright" he said as he stroked my head. I push his hand away "No it's not Nete. We're leaving. I won't have another chance to see the forest and everything I knew" I say to him. "We won't know that for sure, we might return here and meet other new people along the way-" "They won't accept us!" I argued back and he was stunned. Great. Now I feel bad. "....sorry" I said to him and I lay down facing away from him. My eyes felt like they're going to burst at this point.

"Y/n.."

"What is it-?!" Suddenly Nete flipped me over so I was on top of him. "Nete! What are you-!" I shouted. Nete cupped my face and said "Listen to me, it's us against the world, Y/n. Like what dad says, this family is our fortress" He said to me, looking very seriously at me. "I know, I know, stop talking like him" I answered quickly, not in the mood for arguing. He let's go of me and lay next to me. "Your taking all the spaceee! it's my bed!" I told him, and how dare he..this is my bed. I'm fine sharing but he's pushing me out of the bed slowly. "No I'm not, come on baby bro don't be selfish-ow!!" I hit him square in the face "Don't call me that, skxawng!!" Seriously, my dear brother needs to grow out of his nickname calling phase. Oh and yes, I pushed him out of my bed.

"oh your going to get it" Nete said as he layed on top of me and practically trying to kill me cuz he is heavy! I tried to get him off but he won't budge. All of the sudden we both heard dad calling for Nete. He quickly got up and left as I sighed in relief. My mind drifts back to the current situation, imagining us going back after everything is over and how we can all live like before where we don't need to be so vigilant and careful... and Dad wouldn't need to be so worked up all the time. But a part of me knew it was impossible since we aren't going to fight back.. they will keep hunting us one way or another. The worst case scenario is if we were ever caught again.. they will surely take us away.. it could be any of us or maybe even Dad since they seemed to know him.

After Neteyam was finished helping Jake pack their things, he went back to their tent. "Y/n?" Neteyam called to him but got no replies. He looked at Y/n who is asleep. "Must be tired.." Neteyam mumbled as he went to start helping packing other things. He let's Y/n sleep then after he was done he slowly got up and went outside.

When he went outside, Jake was about to get in. "Father.." Neteyam greeted, "Is your brother inside?" Jake asked him. "Yeah he is inside, sleeping," Neteyam answered his father. Jake was silent for a while before nodding, Neteyam looked at his father and noticed that he looked like he wanted to say something but he dismissed that thought.

"...Y/n is not happy about leaving" Neteyam told him, Jake looks at him "I know, none of us is happy about this decision but this is for the best. Help Tuk pack up her things we're leaving as soon as possible. Get the ikrans ready"

Y/n's POV

When I woke up everyone was already finishing packing their things, Mom came in the tent "Y/n.. I was about to wake you up, let's go, the others are waiting" I stood up quietly and followed her "I've already packed your things" she added and I only nodded.

A ceremony was held as I saw the new chief rise and Dad was demoted from the clan leader. Many people saw us off and Mom cried on the way out, we had to leave our home. I managed to see Mo'at for the last time and as we said our goodbye she gave me a hairpin. "Take care of your brothers and sisters, I trust you most" was what she said as I left.

We all got on our ikran...expect Tuk and I. Tuk went with mom and I went with Dad. I look at Neteyam, Lo'ak and Kiri who went on their own, oh how nice it must be. All of us then took off as we headed far away from the forest. I looked back behind me and the forest was getting smaller and smaller as we flew across the ocean. My hand slipped as I tried to keep a glance of the forest and almost fell but Dad quickly grabbed me. "Y/n that's enough" He said to me. Dad tightened his grip around me as we flew faster to lead to others.

As we pushed foward the forest finally disappeared. My heart became heavy by the the fact that we are going away from everything we ever known. And the fact that I and Tuk will never have our rite of passage.. I feel like I was leaving behind and missing a lot of things back at home. I can't understand how the others waa strong enough to not even cry while I'm here trying my best not to... again. Why am I like this? There's always an uneasiness feeling in my heart. It also doesn't help that the fact Spider was still back there and we aren't helping him.

Jake was wondering why Y/n was so quiet since they left. He tried to take a peak at Y/n and what he saw broke his heart. His son was quietly crying and tears were running down his face. The last time he saw his son crying was that incident. Jake knows that Y/n was a strong child and he never cried or complained about anything even when Jake was being hard on him. But sometimes Jake forgot that he was just a child just like the rest. The night they escaped from Quartich, Jake almost went insane when he saw his injuries... he almost lost one of his children and it's the same one years ago. His point was proven right when he doesn't allow Y/n to go out without him or Neytiri but on the other hand he also blames himself for keeping Y/n inside with no knowledge of even self defense because he too was too focused on Netyam and Lo'ak.

Jake knew that he hadn't been tending to Y/n a lot but it's just hard for him to show affection to his sons. Every time he looked at Y/n he was reminded of how he failed to protect him. It was easy to overcome that fear long ago but since the humans invaded back it was hard, nearly impossible for him. Y/n sobs became quite louder and he coughs from trying to keep it in, Jake snapped back to reality and slowly wiped Y/n's tears away. Y/n flinched at the contact but Jake hugged him close with one of his arm and told him

"It's alright Y/n, you can let it out. You can cry, I got you"

As Jake said that Y/n began to cry quietly as he doesn't want others to know. Jake hugged him close and Y/n buried his face in his father's embrace. It felt good to Y/n that he was able to let go of the tears he was trying to hold and it calmed him down better and faster. After Y/n calmed down, the sky went gray and rain began to pour down. The water wipes away the stain on Y/n's cheeks making it impossible to tell that he cried before, the thunder follows as soon as the Sully's make their way towards the new sanctuary.

After a long time of traveling Y/n finally a glimpse of civilization. The waters were getting clearer and he could see the animals and plants inside the ocean. They went through the reefs and flew across huts and the people.

All of them looked at the Sully's as they landed. "Dad I don't think they're friendly" Y/n said to Jake. "We gotta try" Jake replied as he got Y/n off his ikran. All of them walked together to greet the chief, Y/n alongside Kiri at the back. The Metkayina immediately surround them and Jake puts his hands up to tell them they're here not to cause trouble.

Y/n's POV

We were surrounded by the people and honestly I was mesmerized by their appearance. They have different colored eyes and bodies, with tails like fins unlike us. Two boys came forward to take a look at us. Nete and Lo'ak tried to greet them but they didn't greet back... are they really going to welcome us? It doesn't look really promising. They looked kinda scary too. "Easy, just be cool" Dad said. Yeah Dad.. very helpful.

"Look! What is that? Is that supposed to be a tail?" One of them commented. They started to make fun of Lo'ak and Nete before going to me and Kiri. One of them looked stunned and I immediately held on to Kiri, not daring to make eye contact. A girl then came over and scolded the boys. I learned that their names are Rotxo and Aonung.

"Y/n.." Kiri called as she held me close. I then heard something coming and I looked up to see three people but they were riding something like a flying fish, I guess they must be the leaders judging from their outfit. I remember Dad saying they are Tonowari and Ronal..

Dad and Mom greeted them "Why do you come to us, Jake Sully?" Tonowari asked and Dad replied "We seek Uturu"

"Uturu?" Ronal immediately replied, her tone was not happy. "Yes, sanctuary for my family" Dad added but she did not reply. She came and inspected us one by one as Tonowari tried to explain what her wife meant and how it is not possible… and she was right. They are reef people and we are forest people. She went to Mom and Tuk "Their arms are thin" she continued to me and Kiri. She grabbed Kiri's tail "Their tails are weak. You will be slow in the water"

Ronal then went to Y/n but he stepped back, looking down. She was shocked to see Y/n's hair and skin. Ronal was persuasive and grabbed Y/n's hair looking at the color, she had never seen them before. Y/n looked at her and she could tell that Y/n was afraid, his eyes turned into a shade of chartreuse as the sun shone on them. Ronal's frown disappeared a little and turned into a curiosity. She trailed her hand down to Y/n's shoulder and grabbed his hands, suddenly shocked she announced "These childrens... are not even true Na'vi"

Y/n looked back at his family as Ronal let him go and everyone was shocked. Kiri pulled Y/n close to her as she said "Yes we are!"

Ronal inspects Lo'ak and found the same result too. "They have demon blood!" She shouted and the people began to become uneasy. Jake immediately jumped in the situation "Look, look" he raised his hand, showing five fingers. "Look, I was born of the sky people and now I am Na'vi. All right? You can adapt, We will adapt, okay?" he makes his voice heard and clear. Neytiri on the other hand was not pleased with Ronal's attitude as she chimed in "My husband was Toruk Makto" she said as she walks toward Ronal.

"He led clans to victory against the Sky People" she added. "This you call victory?" Ronal shot back "Hiding among strangers?" She went to Neytiri "It seems that Eywa has turned her back on you.. choosen one" she said to Jake. Neytiri hissed at Ronal and she hissed back, challenging. Jake stepped in between them and said "I apologize for my mate, she's.." "Do not apologize for me" Neytiri said but Jake continued "... has flown a long away, and she's exhausted." "Jake." Neytiri said but Jake looked at her and told her to back down and Neytiri obliged. Tonowari also tried to ease the tension "Toruk Makto is a great war leader. All Na'vi prople know his story... But we Metkayina are not at war.." he turned to Jake and added "We cannot let you bring your war here" Jake responded "I'm done with war. Okay? I just want to keep my family safe"

Neytiri was done going back and forth as she repeated "Uturu has been asked". Tonowari turned to discuss with Ronal and suddenly Tuk, in Jake's arms asked "Do we have to go?". Jake answerd "We'll be okay"

Ronal looked at this interaction before looking at her husband. Her fierce eyes met his soft eyes and after a moment she agree. Tonowari was relieved and announce it to the people.

"Toruk Makto and his family will stay with us. Treat them as our brothers and sisters. Now they do not know the sea, so they will be like babies taking their first breath. Teach them our ways, so they do not suffer the shame of being... useless" Jake was relieved as he said thank you and the others followed.

"My son, Aonung, our daughter, Tsireya, will show your children what to do"

Aonung was not happy about this decision "Father, why do-" Tonowari cuts him off "It is decided." Y/n looked at the other sibling, Tsireya who was much the polar opposite as she speak happily "Come, I will show you our village"

Y/n's POV

Tsireya showed us around the village and the last place to our new house. The road was built above the water with some kind of weaving and it was bouncy. Tuk hopped along the way and it was relieving to see her laugh and smile. Mom and Kiri were definitely not too happy about everything, their faces were telling that enough. So when the other went out to explore I stayed with Mom.

I was laying my head on her lap as she brushed my hair "Your hair has grown, Y/n. Do you want to cut it?" I always keep it short because I was inspired by Kiri and I asked her to make my hair the same style as her.

"No need Mom" I answered her.. It is better if I keep it long, that way I can hide it better. "You have such a beautiful hair, like your father" Mom said as she brushed my hair "Doesn't dad has the same hair as the others?" Mom chuckled at my question "When I first met him his hair was smooth, like a baby. And his braids was messy, like a child" I chuckled along with her at her remark

"It's nice to see your hair grow out, it's healthy and beautiful" She said as she divided my hair into sections to braid it. She divide the section of my white hair alone and I tuck my hair in instinctively "No need to braid it Mom, it's fine"

"Y/n..."

Mom immediately noticed my plan of not cutting my hair and I tried to argue with her but it's no use. In the end she braided only my white hair and gave it some beads.... Why did I even stay here? Oh yeah I wanted to make her feel better but this is what I got. I looked at her and she was silently laughing! How mean! "Not funny Mom. I'll be laughed at!" I argued. "You should be proud of it Y/n, it's beautiful.. If someone makes fun of it you tell me immediately"

The others suddenly came back as Dad called us for a family meeting.

"Kiri" Neytiri called as she ask Kiri to sit down. "Okay" Jake started "I need you kids on your best behavior. I mean it." He said as he looked at his kids one by one. "Learn fast, pull your weight. Don't cause trouble, you got it?" Lo'ak knew it was directed at him so he answered "Yes, sir." "I want to go home" Tuk who was quiet the whole time suddenly speaks and she was crying. Y/n pulls Tuk close to him and rubs her back "Oh Tuk.." Neytiri was saddened at Tuk's state. Jake holds Tuk gand and said "Tuk, this is our home now" Jake sighs before he continued "Now we're gonna get through this if we have each other's backs all right?" He tried to assure his childrens and Neytiri also helped "What does your Father always say?" Neteyam, Lo'ak and Y/n answered "Sully's stick together"

"That's right. Sully's stick together" Jake repeats but Kiri stays quiet. "Now with some feelings yeah?" Jake tried again and this time Tuk and Kiri joined in.

"Sully's stick together"

The next day they started with their lessons to learn how to live like a Metkayina. This time Jake cannot ask Y/n to stay back because he had to learn, and the place isn't as dangerous as the forest because Sky people aren't present.

Aonung, Tsireya and Rotxo jumped into the water followed by Neteyam, Lo'ak, Kiri and Tuk. Y/n stayed behind for a while as he observed the others especially on how they swim, he didn't jump in like the others. Instead he slowly went in the water after he tied his hair and hold his breath as he sinked down.

Y/n opened his eyes to see thousands of sea creatures inside the ocean. The water was clear and there are many corals with different colors and shapes. The animals noticed him and suddenly swims towards him, circling and pecking him. Y/n get ticklish and breaks free. He saw his siblings in front of him and tried to swim to them, he slowly tries to swim like how Tsireya and Aonung does it. Y/n slowly pushed through the water, as he kicked his legs to move suddenly he felt a strong current from behind and resulted in him swimming faster and further forward. Y/n looked back thinking it was an animal pushed or something but nothing was behind him. He tested it again and pushed forward but this time stronger and resulted in him losing control.

Y/n panicked as he tried to stop but he can't as the flow of the water kept pushing him. Y/n looks infront and he was about to crash into Tuk so he immediately turned. He was relieved for a moment and saw that his siblings was going up so he made a turn while still being pushed by the flow but that resulted in him crashing into someone else. Aonung.

Tsireya and the others were looking at the Sully's as they had to take their breaths for the second time. Aonung and Rotxo were making fun of them when suddenly Y/n crashed into Aonung.

Aonung was shoved forward. Only after that did the flow stopped behind Y/n and oh boy did he crash into the chief's son. Flustered and panicked Y/n quickly swims up to the surface as the other followed, Aonung had no time to shout at him. Y/n reaches the surface as he gasps for air "Y/n! Are you alright?! You crashed!" Neteyam quickly swims to him with Lo'ak and Tuk following. Y/n was still catching his breath "I-I don't-" "Catch your breath Y/n" Lo'ak said to him as he pats Y/n's back.

The others went up and Aonung looked pissed. "Did you swim with your eyes closed? It hurts you know!" "Sorry.." Y/n quietly apologized. Aonung heard what Y/n said but he wasn't pleased "I can't hear you, frea-" "Hey! He said sorry alright? Did swimming makes your hearing a problem?" Lo'ak cuts him off. Aonung was about to talk back when Tsireya halted him "That's enough. It was an accident and Y/n already apologized"

She turned back to the others "It's alright Y/n, he isn't hurt. Are you all right?"

Tuk chipped in "Your too fast! Wait for us". Tsireya chuckles and assured them "Just breath, breath" "You are not good divers- ow!" Aonung jumped in and immediately earned a smack on head. "Come on, bro" Lo'ak said and Neteyam also added "We don't speak this.. finger talk, guys. We don't know what you're saying". Tsireya calmly replied "I will teach you"

"Where is Kiri?" Rotxo suddenly asked. "Kiri?" "Who?" "Kiri. Where is Kiri?" Y/n looked at Rotxo who took notice of Kiri's absent. "Did you see her?" Tsireya asked and Y/n replied calmly "I think she is still swimming. She's really good at it". Y/n saw Kiri along the way and saw how she quickly adapts and got busy exploring the new world.

Next day

"These are ilu" Aonung said as he introduced the animal to the Sully's. "If you want to live here.. you have to ride."

Y/n's POV

The next lesson we are having are riding an ilu. Kiri didn't want to come with us because she wanted some alone time. I was actually pretty excited about this one because it's similar like iknimaya which I always wanted to do but can't due to Dad being a douchebag.

One problem is that I think Aonung is still pissed about yesterday as his tone was very different when talking to me. I carried Tuk with me as an ilu approach us. "Is this yours?" I asked him and he looks at me "Of course not, this one is for you guys to use. They're quite tamed already so it easier for you" he said. "When did you first make a bond with an ilu?" Nete ask him this time and he shortly answered "When I was young" Tuk wanted to pet the ilu so I set her down Nete joined along to interact with the ilu with her.

As I turned, Aonung approached me "Anyways, white hair, been wanted to ask this but how is your hair white?" I tensed up at the question and answered him "My name is Y/n and my hair is not white...only some of it." "Is it because of your demon blood?" He looked at me and smirked. I ignore him and went to Nete but he grabbed my arm "Why are you running away? I asked you a question". I yanked my arms out from him "I don't know, alright? Please stop pointing it out. I don't feel comfortable about it" He became quiet. Guess that works... it was awkward afterwards so I went back to my siblings.

I went to my siblings and they were playing with the ilu. "What’s wrong Y/n" Nete asked me "It's nothing.." I answered and just then I saw Lo'ak and Tsireya. Lo'ak was first to try and make a bond with the ilu. Tsireya guides him as the others watched and I can tell he was nervous... or trying to act smart or something? He wasn't really listening to what Tsireya said. He makes the bond quite fast and the others were commenting about his position but he just took off.

Aonung and Tsireya dives down to see Lo'ak and I followed... not long after he fell off or should I say failed quite harshly. I chuckled a bit before going up "He fell off didn't he?" Nete asked. "Yeah, but it's a good thing we're in the water. Falling off from an ikran is a much more ouch isn't it?" "Yeah it is" Neteyam and I laughed quietly together as Lo'ak looked embarrassed in front of his crush, Tsireya.

"White hair! Your next" Aonung called me and everyone else snicker at that nickname. I instantly felt worse as I felt everyone's eye look at me. I look at Nete "Come on now, or are you afraid?" Aonung said to me as he gestured. Nete was about to kill Aonung but I held him back. "Y/n-" "It's fine, don't make it a big deal" I told him. I try to ignore the stares but it's making me nervous..

Y/n went to the ilu and as his hand came in contact with it, the ilu's eye widen and it screech. Before Y/n could react the ilu rebels and pushed him back. The others tried to calm it down but in the end the ilu ran away. "Well, there goes the ilu" "He did way worse than his brother" the others laughed. Y/n was clearly embarrassed and mentally prepares himself for another insult like from Aonung but it never came. Y/n was surprised when he just shushed the other kids and looked at the sully's "You guys have a lot to learn, and a long way."

In the end Tsireya decided to split up the group as she took Tuk with her, while Aonung and Roxto got the boys. Needless to say, the session was quite a hellish moment for the boys because they were continuously tortured by Aonung and Rotxo. Although they were constantly laughed at, Aonung and Rotxo still gave them some helpful advice and corrections on how to ride, resulting in Lo'ak and Neteyam learning faster. On the other hand, Y/n scared away almost all of the ilu's and was not able to bond with any of them.

"You do know that ilu's can sense your emotions and feelings, have a little faith in yourself and you'll make my job easier by not scaring away all the ilus" Aonung told Y/n. It was silent between the both of them and Y/n was baffled "....How did you-" "Your face is like an open book" Aonung said. Y/n was quite embarrassed by his statement but he well he gets that a lot. Neytiri also told him that he needs to learn to have a little faith in himself, especially if he wants to catch up to his siblings.

"Thanks for telling me" Y/n smiled and Aonung looked away and quickly changes the topic "A-Anyways, go on have a try. You better not scare it away again"

He brought another ilu and held it in place. By this time Y/n was feeling a lot better. He looked at the ilu and accidentally made eye contact with it. However this time, the ilu did not run away, instead the ilu approached him. Aonung tried to hold it back but when he knew that the ilu was trying to get to Y/n, he let go of it. Y/n smiled again as the ilu made his way to him. Y/n offers his hand and the ilu gladly complies. He looks at Aonung, trying to show him and Aonung tells Y/n to make the bond.

Y/n's POV

I hold my tsaheylu and slowly make the bond, a huge wave of emotionos flows through me. I can see fragments of memories that doesn't belong to mine. I learn that the ilu is a female, after that I got on the ilu as Aonung guided me "You are doing it wrong, you and your brothers are all the same" he huffs in annoyance, and well I just say sorry. He helped me fix my posture while grumbling to himself. After he was done, he told me "You are the one who will lead her, not the other way around. Got it?"

"Okay" I answered back. I took a deep breath and told her to go underwater. She happily oblige and we were moving under the water. I couldn't believe it! We moved slowly at first and then she started to accelerate, I held on to her more securely as she took me to explore the waters.

It felt so magical..there was a lot of sea creatures and plants. We moved fastly in the water, just like how I usually see when my siblings were riding their ikran. We swim for a while before going up to the surface again.

"I did it!" Y/n happily said when he came up to the surface. "Did you see that?!" He aprroached Aonung excitedly. "Yeah, nice-" Aonung was abtuptly cut off when Neteyam and Lo'ak stepped in the middle of them both "You did it Y/n!" They said, congratulating him. "Even I couldn't do it as fast as you! you're a fast learner" Lo'ak added. Aonung face sours a bit "it's not that he is a fast learner. He listend to my instructions well. Tomorrow we'll work on your breathing" he said while walking away.

At night, while everyone was alseep, Y/n was wide awake because of a nightmare he just had. He didn't want to talk about it or remember it. Yet there was something bothering him. Like a feeling of uncertainty. It didn't help much by the fact Spider was still kidnapped. He steps outside the marui and went to a nearby shore to clear his mind. He sat down and takes a look at the ocean, the sounds of the waves does help. Y/n looked at the vast ocean longingly, he missed their home, their forest. The green lush paradise with never-ending adventures, the flying mountains, and the animals.. they don't have it here. As Y/n stared emptily he suddenly felt something wet poking him. When he look beside him he yelped in surprise when a strange creature like animal was staring at him. There was something wrong with the creature, it was made out of water.

"What in the name of science..." Y/n looked at the creature slowly, trying to figure out what it is. The creature just stood still and kept looking at him. It looks really harmless though. No sharp teeth or claws....just water. As he take a closer look, he realized that the creature looked liked a fan lizard. Y/n's eyes widen and he immediately tried to touch it. "Hey-! Wait!" Y/n shouted as the water creature ran back to the ocean and perished before he could even touch it. Y/n went inside of the water as he tried to look for it but since the creature was literally made of water so it's pointless. "Aw man!" Y/n punched the water surface out of frustration. He walks further but then he suddenly heard a voice.

"Y/n! There you are-! Why are you there?! Get back to land!"

#avatar x male reader #dad!jakesully #sully family x reader #male reader #avatar x reader #avatar #atwow fics #atwow #avatar 2 #jake sully #kiri avatar #avatar loak #aonung #tsireya #neytiri #tuktirey #sully family #avatar navi

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sapphim · 3 months ago

Text

"Have you ever fought darkspawn before?" the head Warden, Duncan, asks—which Micah supposes must be what passes for small talk among Grey Wardens. He's watching her with those dark eyes of his and the thoughtfully serious look Micah is coming to realize is his typical expression.

"Mmm. A couple. Not supposed to hunt in the tunnels but, you know." She shrugs pointedly. "And sometimes you find a vein of something nice the miners haven't quite cleaned out yet, if you're looking. 'Course, you see eyes looking at you in the dark about yea high—" she gestures with her hand around head high (her head, anyway) "—and that means you run like the ceiling's caving in on your sorry ass, 'cause there's usually more where that came from."

"I've never seen anything crawling around in the Deep Roads that looks even a little bit edible," says another Warden. Ronald? Randall? One of the clean-shaven ones. She has got to get their names down. From where she's standing the humans may as well all be "the very tall guy" and "that other also very tall guy," which isn't even a little bit helpful for keeping them straight.

"Doesn't matter how edible it looks, you're hungry enough," she says. "Vermin, you know? Rats, nugs, deepstalkers..."

"Bet those taste foul."

"I'll eat a deepstalker. I'm not a coward," says another Warden (the extra big one nearly swallowed up by his own bushy beard), like it's a competition. For all she knows, maybe it is.

"You'll eat anything, Gregor." A few wardens chuckle at that. A shared joke she's not privy to.

"When the nobles go out on their expeditions, you know, they'll only be graced by the presence of the great warrior caste. But when it's just the warriors—not the miners, they don't want you to know where the good stuff is hiding—sometimes they'll hire on dusters as extra bodies. The pay's not awful, if you don't mind the maybe not coming home part." Micah kicks at a rock, and it skitters between their feet and out ahead of them. It aches, she thinks. Her face, for sure, as well as every other part of her body—but mostly her heart. She puts that thought away again.

"I tried to hire on one, once. I can swing a pick and shift rocks around or whatever they want done, right? And I'm mean with a knife. But they were real weird about it. Like they thought I was gonna hike up my skirts—skirts which, I don't think I have to tell you, I wasn't wearing, by the way—and proposition them to put a baby in me while we were down there."

She lets out a short, sharp humorless laugh. "Can you imagine? 'Course, I was younger then but, believe me, just as ugly. But they got weird ideas about brands, you know. Some of 'em they look at you and all they see is a cunt."

No smart response to that, she notes. One of the Wardens—the young one, she thinks, bringing up the rear—clears his throat awkwardly, and she can hear him wince as the sound echoes around the tunnel.

"Even after your exceptional showing in the proving?" Duncan asks, and she looks up from her feet to find him watching her with that same steady gaze, unperturbed. "What do you think it was that they saw in you then?"

Micah coughs, reaches up to rub at her nose—still busted all to fuck and hurts like it too—better to rub at the back of her neck instead. "Dunno," she says, looking away. "Been busy with, you know. Haven't had time to think yet." She wonders if he saw the swell of pride she felt when their eyes had met. Exceptional, he'd said—damn right she was.

"You're, uh..." That's young Warden again. "You—yes, you're a very impressive fighter. We were all impressed... obviously. But also you're. Not ugly."

Surprised, she laughs again, a much nicer sounding sound than before. "You're real sweet, kid, but I know what I look like. Well, actually—" She feels the swollen lump of her nose again, more gingerly this time. "I haven't had a chance to check out the new damage yet, but I know I look like I've been kicked in the face repeatedly, 'cause that's exactly what happened."

Micah aims a grin over her shoulder at him, and hopes whatever that does to her busted up face looks more friendly than frightful. The kids—she can't help but think of them as kids, the young Warden and the other new recruit, the elven mage—have been trailing behind at the rear of the group since they left Orzammar. She hasn't seen enough humans and elves to feel confident guessing the age of any of the others but these two don't look like they could possibly be much older than the girls—and thinking about her nieces twists painfully in her chest in a way that makes it hard to breathe and almost impossible to keep walking forward. Away. So she's been taking one step at a time and trying not to think about. Well.

"Nothin' wrong with being ugly, anyway. Some people just are. And I'd hate to be pretty." She runs a hand through her short shorn hair, then down to feel the at this point probably week-old bristle growing on her jaw. Never was fond of dealing with a headful of hair. "Those girls got their own problems to worry about."

"How do you cook a deepstalker, anyway?" asks the Warden from earlier. "They've gotta be nothing but skin and bones. And, you know, the teeth."

"Still hung up on that, Rondall?" chides another.

"I'm just curious."

"Dunno," Micah says. "Rica—my niece—won't let me do the cooking anymore." One foot in front of the other. "So consider that your warning, if you're expecting to get a hot meal outta me."

"We'll find out if you're as bad as Alistair when it's your turn in the rotation, then." ("Hey!" the young one—must be Alistair—interjects at that.)

"Hey, new kid, can you cook?" asks the big bushy one. Greg? Greg something.

Micah glances back at the new kid, his bright eyes wide with alarm at having been abruptly singled out. They glitter like gems in the dark. "Uh," he says. "I've never tried?"

"Oh boy," says one.

"We're really in for it," says another.

"Do you think they just magic it up out of thin air or what?" muses a third.

"Would you all remember that we presently have a job to do?" Duncan reproves, but he sounds amused.

"What job? Tarimel's on point. Hey, Tarimel, any darkspawn up there?"

"No darkspawn," the elven Warden confirms. Not the recruit, mage kid, but the scout with the bow. Easier to keep track of when there's only two of them. Neither all that chatty, either. Unlike the humans.

"See? No darkspawn yet. Job covered."

"That's strange though, yeah? Should have met resistance by now."

"What, this close to Orzammar?"

"Exactly this close to Orzammar. They're always trying to raid it. Isn't that right, Duncan?"

Micah lets the Wardens talk—Duncan saying something about the Legion of the Dead, now—and lags behind to walk with the youngsters.

"—any darkspawn, just stick close with me," the kid (Alasdair?) is saying quietly to the young mage, who nods glumly. He winces in pain with every step, Micah can see now that she's looking, leaning on that staff of his for support.

The young Warden (oh, that's right, it's Alistair) perks up when he notices her approach. "Sorry I called you pretty back there," he says with a cheeky grin, clearly having found his footing. "Won't happen again." Oh, she does like him.

"You know, I don't think that you did call me pretty."

"Oh, I guess I didn't. Well you look like you got trampled by a rabid bronto, so there's that."

"Stone," she groans, "feels like it too."

"I could do something for that," the mage says, "uh, when we rest."

You should look to yourself first, she wants to say. Instead she says, "Uh, thanks, maybe. Like... magic stuff, right?" She's not clear about the magic stuff.

"I was training as a spirit healer, in the Circle," the kid says. "Before..." He trails off.

Yeah. Before.

"Those... aren't new boots you've got there?" she asks, to change the subject. They're thoroughly worn, but he's grimacing with every step.

"Well, they're Tarimel's boots, is the problem," Alistair tells her.

"Got it," she says. "Do mages uh." She's vastly out of her depth here. "Do they... not wear shoes?" She heard something like that once, she thinks. Or was it... elves? Probably not.

"We're not allowed to go anywhere," the kid says, which isn't exactly an answer.

"And now you're in the Deep Roads," Alistair chips in, sardonically. "Yay."

"Yay," the mage sighs, with even less feeling. "I liked Orzammar better."

"Yeah, kid, me too," Micah says quietly.

"Sorry."

She sighs. "Don't be. Not your fault."

"Micaaaaah," Alistair drawls. "Do you keep calling us kid because you don't remember our names?"

Stone, Micah thinks. It was Alistair, right? "I remember one of your names," she says. Probably.

"Ooh, which one? Prove it. Say one of our names right now."

"My name's Rafael," says Rafael.

"Dammit, Raf," says Alistair.

"Thank you, Rafael," Micah says, pointedly polite. "My name's Micah. It's good to meet you." And then, because she is feeling quite a bit more cheerful than she was just a few minutes ago, she adds, "And don't be a shit, Alistair."

#oc blab #micah brosca #rafael #I neverrr do this but sth indulgent I guess

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laurasimonsdaughter · 4 months ago

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Do you have any favorite regional differences in one myth? Or any fave regional differences in creatures (eg. The different ways to become a werewolf based on where and when you are)

Comparing similar folklore from region to region is always great! But I think my favourite at the moment is the one I discovered most recently, namely the Sicilian version of what most people know as the Grimms' All-Kinds-of-Fur.

In the Grimms' version a princess escapes from having to marry her father (because she is the only one as beautiful as her late mother), by disguising herself in a cloak made of a thousand kinds of fur. She is found by a king who thinks she is an animal, when it turns out she is taken to the palace as a lowly servant. One day she takes of her furry cloak and dresses as a princess again, to go to the king's banquet. He instantly falls in love with her and after two more banquets manages to discover All-Kinds-of-Fur and the beautiful princess are one and the same.

Now the version of this story I fell in love with as a kid is the adaptation in Jim Henson's The Storyteller: Sapsorrow/Straggletag, where they make the relationship between the young King and Straggletag more equal by letting them talk extensively while she's in her disguise and scold him for his pride and vanity. He does not win her until he has proven he respects Straggletag as well as the princess she secretly is.

So imagine my joy when I read a variant of this tale type called Betta Pilusa in Zipes' translation of Laura Gonzenbach's Sicilian Fairy Tales and it goes like this:

After going through the usual method of trying to delay a marriage to her father (asking for three impossibly beautiful, expensive dresses) this young lady (not a princess) asks for a dress made of grey cat fur and escapes to a forest.

A young king goes hunting there and almost shoots her, until she reveals she is not an animal. He asks her name, she says its Betta Pilusa (translated as Hairy Bertha). He asks her if she wants to come to the castle. She says yes, as his maid. He asks where he wants to live, she says in the chicken coop.

The king visits her at the chicken coop every day to talk to her and bring her treats.

He asks if she want to come to the royal ball, but Betta Pilusa grumbles at him that she could never go. Of course she does go, dressed in her first gown, but disappears before the king can stop her.

The first thing the king does is going to tell Betta Pilusa about the mysterious lady and she scolds him for waking her up.

This happens three more times. With the king inviting Betta Pilusa each time and her grumbling and growling at him and then scolding him when he confides in her about how in love he is.

Finally the king is so lovesick that Betta Pilusa bakes bread for him, every time hiding a golden trinket inside it which the king had given to the mysterious lady at the ball.

The cook reveals to the king that it was Betta Pilusa who baked his bread and he finally confronts her and declares that she is the mysterious lady.

Betta Pilusa denies everything and they argue until he resorts to threatening her with almost comical theatricality, after which she dramatically throws off her catskin gown and falls into his arms.

They get married and live happily ever after.

No recap would do it justice, but Betta is so feral (also in her interactions with other servants) and the young king is so honestly interested in her. It's so fun and I'm here for it.

#fairy tales #sicilian folklore #donkeyskin #straggletag #allerleirau #all-kinds-of-fur #laura babbles #sapsorrow

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idv-sunsxin3 · 1 year ago

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Horropedia // Dating Headcanons

Note// First Reverse: 1999 writing. A bit suggestive in some parts. This is my version of Horropedia, so if you don’t like it,,,, you might as well have to write your own because this is meant for my self-indulgence;; sowwy <//3

// preferably female s/o- gender neutral is also okay since I didn’t exactly mention a specific gender :)

As a strange autistic guy, I just imagine him to be the type of guy who probably have indirectly confessed to you earlier before you can even realize that months after- like you're just laid down on an armchair and you suddenly connected lines on the previous lines you once heard him before-

"Ah, hey! I've been waiting all my life to meet someone like you, so I had to come and say hello."

...he literally just say a simple remark with that smile as he gifted you a spirit catcher pistol- and then left....

Sometimes, you might not understand him. But you eventually asked him out on a date (in a normal way for once-).

"Oh? A date? Great! Let's go get coffee together. " :))

Little do you know, he also plans to have a ghost hunting date after that---

___

Kissing scenes in horror films? Horropedia at first felt a bit skeptical about them, finding that unnecessary... Until he got a crush on you, and then FELL for you - That's when he lowkey wondered in his autism brain... how would a kiss with you feels like?

Oh gosh, so many possibilities;;;

Horropedia would slowly realize the fact that he would unconsciously check his mouth breathing and fix his hair a bit whenever he spots you entering the room. "Who knows when that kiss scene happened cough cough -"/hj

There was a time Horropedia sneakily slipped during those ironically cute kissing scenes in a horror movie.. You may think you would just slip away from the unknown opportunity he would be searching for - But no, you wouldn't even get the peace to resume watching or have time to recover from a jumpscare that happened few minutes ago when there is this silly dork softly nibbling and smooching on your face and neck like that;;;

aaaand now you're making out with him in the middle of the movie ..

It seems there are now more reasons for him to ask you to stay over. ;)

He wants to impress you so bad ever since the moment he heard about you - You just happened to be... ordinary? But at the same time, refreshing... someone who easily connects with almost anyone.

Darn, I think you’re made for him. ☺️ (lol)

At first, he wanted to be the Mr. Mysterious and only introduced himself to you as "Horropedia. "... At some certain point after, he would bashfully let you call him "Joshua." Just don't get too cocky...-/ih

If you're just as comfortable with dark humor and other kinds of morbid stuff, there is this small scenario where you and Horropedia would roleplay a bit as to help him make up stories involving these morbid antagonists and anti-heroes...- He would be kinda a bit down bad if you say Wednesday Adams stuff technically./hj

He is not sure If he has the right to die or laugh when he gets called "Joshy"... it's cringe, but he finds your silly demeanor very cute and funny.

You happen to be a big listener when it comes to horror movies, horror stories, and horror video games- whatever horropedia rambles at you at 3 am. as if it is a nearly daily basis/ih

He loves sharing hobbies with you, even cherishing the moments when you get to do whatever activities with him that are close to his interests and what he's passionate about...

You can already tell he's not interested in anything else other than that sense of thrill he has for phenomenon or violent drama... but he'll try his best to be flexible when it comes to giving you quality time... Like crafting, cooking, maybe painting?

You might know what he will create in his own hands...- ghost cupcakes, a sculpture of Friday the 13th's killer, Michael Myers mask---

Jumpscares are out of date for him, of course, but then... he still watches those classical horror movies once in a while since they're pretty much fundamental to the art of fear.

Ironically... He does like surprise back touches! Well... As long as it doesn't have to imply his poor posture, back hugs are good to go.

He finds it pleasant to have you sit next to him or on his lap as he plays those Indie horror games(?), "mmmm... Dark deception? World of Horror? Resident Evil? The Last of Us? What about Outlast? What do you think, Babe? :))"

FNAF would be obviously a breeze for him... Bro, imagine him going crazy about fnaf lore, hahahha-

DDLC gave him mixed feelings. He is half glad his baby is not that mad crazy because of that/ih

LITTLE NIGHRMARESSSS- Man, imagine him having these silly moments with how he just concerningly reacts so happily at a kid eating a gnome who just offered a sausage oh gosh-

Watching horror movies with him would be like watching a live commentary channel as you feel a slim hand rubbing your waist throughout the movie.

You might have mixed reactions alongside him when accidentally encountering sex scenes on horror movies...- things might get awkward but he would make sure to close your eyes if you don't like to see that kind of stuff- intercourse is not the option,,,, mass arson it is/ih

I can only imagine Horropedia calling you either your name, Babe, Baby, or Boo (NOT PUN INTENDED I SWEAR FJNFNF;;) Is usually your name being called normally. Unless he is so so happy,,, or is because he just did something you probably not going to like~ 😇✨️

“Is your name Boo? Because you’re making me scream in delight.” ♥️

Oh boy-

#reverse: 1999 #horropedia x reader #horropedia #reverse 1999 #reverse: 1999 x reader

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lakesbian · 1 year ago

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Put the Undersiders in a busy airport or train station. How do they handle it? Who gets onto a the wrong flight/train? How many times would Aisha use her power to get into the cockpit or engine room of the train?

oh my GOD how is putting the undersiders in a busy airport or train station not one of the Situations we've put them in yet. this is great. paging @simurghed urgently. everyone please share your undersiders go to busy airport or train station thoughts this is my favorite kind of autism to engage in

brian is like. You know he's being brian about this. you know he's got his schedule printed out and all the tickets pointed out and they're in some little binder and he's making sure he specifically is carrying it the whole time. and the one time lisa casually reminds him to make sure he has xyz necessary item he's like I Have It, Don't Be Neurotic, because his coping mechanism for being nervous and feeling like a woman is questioning his Authority (<- assumed as the main and eternal coping mechanism) is misogyny. love him.

obviously taylor is bringing bugs with her wherever they go and i like to imagine if theyre sitting down in an airport waiting for a really long time and they were in one of the areas where the birds have gotten inside and are nesting + looking for food (that's a universal airport feature right? the birds that got indoors and just live there now?) she might entertain alec and aisha and also herself by flying bugs around 4 the birds and leading them on little hunting excursions and into loops and shit.

aisha takes selfies in the cockpit or engine room (shes posing next to the pilot and making bunny ears behind their head with her fingers) whenever she gets bored and then comes back to show them to alec and brian realizes theres Muffled Laughter happening in their row after aishas been Not There for a while and is like. hmm. that cant be good. and is doing a really bad job of trying to twist himself out of his seat casual-style to find out whats all that then. i can also imagine him insisting on seating himself next to aisha

...three seat plane rows. brian sitting in the middle of aisha and alec and having a wretched time. taylor rachel and lisa lezzing it up in the row in front of them.

i think alec would really enjoy take-off on a plane because Wheee he's all floaty :) and then spend the next however many hours experiencing boredom-induced ego death. possible activities include: fiddling around on his ds. making a little teenager-typical 2011-era flipaclip animation. accidentally falling asleep on brian's arm and starting to snore and drool while aisha is doing the same thing on his other arm. watching a bad movie on his little in-flight tv screen and hopefully trying to engage both brian and aisha in conversation about it because he wants to have friends.

okay i diverged from the point of air Port or train Station sorry. ive never been in a real train station so i have less to speak for there but i think it would be fun to watch the undersiders get crotchety with each other in a long line for overpriced airport food.

imagine if you will brian and taylor trying to fit comfortably in a Nappable Position in the chairs in the flight waiting area. leg cramp city

i think this would all probably be very stressful for rachel :( maybe she andt aylor should hold hands about it. to be safe.

i want to see how lisa tries to make waiting in an airport an enriching and fulfilling activity for taylor so bad. honestly it would probably be no matter what. real bonding experience.

brian laborn tries to carry 9 suitcases at once: and other fun adventures in toxic masculinity

alec vasil has to go pee, right now, for approximately 10-15 minutes, when he's asked to find something in a heavy bag: and other fun adventures in shirking responsibility

aisha laborn's mysterious magical snack manifestation: and other fun adventures in robbing the airport

you know if they were at a busy train station brian would do that thing where he ushers the undersiders around physically and it is fully an indicator of his psychological issues but also it'd be cute. it'd be cute to watch him blocking the crowd so everyone else could move more comfortably and use his Height Advantage to guide everyone most efficiently by pressing on their backs. his psychological issues are endearing

people keep asking about How Much Longer Until Boarding and lisa starts getting bored and providing real-time updates of the Precise amount of time left. if theres a delay she reads out why too

???

its nice. to imagine if they could have a fun time going to locations.

#ask #wormblr #parahumans #this isnt my best its nothing actually im just Rotating

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oonajaeadira · 1 year ago

Text

Leave Off Your Wandering pt. 2: Summer

Fandom: The Last of Us (TV)/ Joel Miller

Pairing: Joel Miller x f!reader

Reader: Adult female. Old enough to have been an adult on Outbreak Day. Wyoming born and bred. Sheep farmer, easy-going but confident and self-sufficient. Likes to sing, not a great cook. Childhood friend of Maria. No other physical descriptors; no use of y/n.

Rating: T for now

Warnings: Hunting and skinning squirrels. Chemical burns to skin. Piercing injury. Joel being a dick in a moment of self-preservation. Ellie's still a swear-mouth. Everybody makes some mistakes.

Summary: You solve a problem for Ellie and Joel really doesn't take it well.

A/N: Set after season 1 and then diverges. Does not acknowledge the existence of further plot/seasons, although I claim the right to steal ideas and bits of cannon from the second game if I want to for plot reasons later.

Listen. I know those warnings up there seem like a bit much, but I promise you all of that is in passing, in service to the plot, and not described in detail. (With the exception Ellie's cussing. That will persist indefinitely.) This is stupid fluffy.

Your gut reaction is to fetch your gun and point it at Ellie’s head.

But the girl is calm.

And the bites are healed.

“Wanna shoot me, don’t you,” she challenges with a mismatched set of cocky mouth and world weary eyes. “This one happened before I met Joel. And this one the day after. This is why he took me to the Fireflies. He told me not to tell anyone. That’s why I freaked out.”

Earlier in the day you’d gone looking for Ellie, hoping to show her the honeybee hive you’d discovered at the edge of the meadow. She’d been bathing in the stream, stripped down to nothing. She’d shrieked when she saw you coming near and you’d laughed and kept your eyes averted, understanding the self-consciousness of teenagers, about to tell her to come and find you when she was done.

And then she roared.

“GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME! GO!”

It had been a punch to the heart if not a slap to the face, which you were certain by her tone you would have received had you been close enough.

Saying nothing, and simply obeying her wish, you’d turned and gone back to the Roost. Ellie stayed away so long that her hair was completely dry and her nose was sunburned when she finally joined you.

Every footfall had been an apology on the ladder. And every slow creak along the porch was following an olive branch to the broken down sofa you perched on to keep watch over the north meadow.

Taking a reticent seat beside you, she’d rolled up her sleeve. “I’m sorry I yelled. I didn’t want you to see it. It’s kind of a life and death thing.”

“Obviously,” you answer, shellshocked. “Reaction warranted.” Dropping her arm to her lap and reaching up to pull down her cuff, you stop her, holding out a waiting hand. “Can I?”

Suddenly doe-eyed and struck by your acceptance, she nods and lays her forearm in your palm.

There’s instinctual revulsion at first, but it melts to wonder as you get a closer look at the scars. There’s nothing of skin breakage, no mycelium running underneath, nothing reaching for you through holes as there would be if you were having one of your nightmares.

Immunity. Statistically speaking, it had to exist, but she’s the first you’ve ever seen or heard of.

“I wondered why you’d choose to wear long sleeves in this heat. I see now. Joel was smart to tell you to keep it covered. This’ll get you killed faster than infection, that’s for sure.” The tendons in her arm flex involuntarily when you run your fingers over the marks. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to tickle.” She relaxes as you release her. This time she doesn’t move to cover the skin. “Out in the open with Joel, I can imagine why you were bit the second time. How’d you come by it the first time?”

“Messing around with a friend where I wasn’t supposed to.”

Ah. By the pull at her brow and the same laws of statistics, you’d hazard to guess that friend didn’t make it. Probably another kid like her. Tragic.

“I see. And that’s why you were being smuggled. That’s why they wanted you. Well, what did the Fireflies make of you?”

She clearly catches the way you slather contempt onto the name of the terrorist organization, but answers your question. “They wanted to make a cure from my blood. They had me on the operating table but raiders attacked the hospital and killed everyone while I was under. So I guess we missed our chance.”

A quiet minute passes as you watch her tracing her thumb over the scar, lost in thought, brow twisted, recounting the ordeal of that day. Something doesn’t sit right with her about it.

And neither does it sit right with you.

Doctors don’t put a person on an operating table just to draw blood.

And you’ve heard stories of what Joel’s capable of.

You’ve witnessed just how protective he is over this little girl.

Her reverie dissolves when you lay a gentle hand on her shoulder. “While I’m sorry they never got the chance to find the possibilities, I understand enough about research medicine to know that the likelihood of their finding a cure from just one person is almost impossible. So while they might have been able to study your blood, they most likely wouldn’t be able to get enough of it or keep it stable long enough to find any answers.”

“How do you know that?”

Over the next hour as the sun sinks in the sky and she soaks up your history, you tell her about your sister. How you and her and Maria were a tight-knit team growing up, how in love with Maria she was, how you were certain they were going to get married one day.

Then you tell her how Maria went off to law school and your sister got sick, that the cancer was rare and the treatment was long and expensive, so your parents had opted for research to fray some costs and keep the ranch.

In the end, there were no answers, not without more donors of her ilk.

Your parents took a loan against the ranch, knowing full well they would lose it, but everyone agreed it was worth it for whatever time it would buy her.

And then Jakarta fell. And the world went to hell.

A few of the elderly residents of the Jackson basin came to hole up on the ranch and most of Willa’s family and tribal branch moved over from their land to form a protective new family group. It worked for a few years. It was safe. It was a thriving little commune.

And then the Fireflies came.

“There were Fireflies out here too?”

“Oh yeah, they were in every QZ, spreading their lies and chaos through the telegram towers, recruiting poor young suckers wherever they took root and getting them all killed. You tangled with them and I’d say you’re lucky you’re alive.”

Ellie frowns down at her arm again. “What did they do when they came here?”

Another story then. Now you explain with a little less nostalgia how the Fireflies came to use your ranch as a base. Trucks coming and going at all hours. Gunshots in the night. Catching the attention of roving packs of raiders. People got hurt. People died.

There was one day when two Fireflies went out foraging mushrooms with old Ms. Celia. They brought her body back on a makeshift sled. Just keeled over, they said.

Funny how the same thing happened the week before with old Ms. Margie. What a coincidence that it was happening when the food supplies were running low.

But the last blow came when the ranch was attacked by raiders a third time. There was a plan in place to create a distraction, draw their attention away from the ranch. The Fireflies knew your sister was sick and designated she do the job. They put a gun to your head when you protested.

It’s okay, she’d said, I don’t have much left to lose. If I’m going out, at least the people I love will be safe.

It was a shit plan.

A lot of people died that day. Most of them were raiders, thanks to Willa and her tribe. Some of them were Fireflies thanks to you and your shotgun.

“So did you win?”

“No. The barriers were still broken. And the ranch was burned to the ground.”

The evening sky is a mix of purples and gold now, the flocks of birds swooping over the meadow are starting to vie for their meal of mosquitos and gnats with an increasing number of bats. Ellie watches one in particular as it swoops up and over the roof of the Roost.

“What about your parents?”

“They burned with the ranch.”

She nods solemnly, without horror, the attitude of a child that’s seen too much.

“And your sister died too then?”

"She got away at first. Found her in the woods a week later with a bite like yours, but she was long gone by then. One of Willa’s brothers did the shooting.”

Another quiet nod. “What was your sister’s name?” she asks as an evening bird calls.

It was bound to come up.

“Eleanor. We called her Ell. Ellie, when she was little.” When you can see the unearned guilt building in her face you bump her shoulder playfully. “It was almost twenty years ago. I hold onto the good memories. She was sweet and kind to everyone she met, never backsassed our parents, never disobeyed. So basically nothing like you at all.” You laugh when she shoots you an annoyed look. “Not that she was an angel though! She had her fire; you didn’t want to get on her bad side. And she was whip smart. That’s where the two of you meet I think.”

“Sounds like you lost everything at once.”

“I did,” a fact you aknowledge as you stretch and get up, heading back into the cabin to light the lantern. “But Willa helped me through. And then Jackson got its walls up and Maria found her way home and I had family again.” Once the lantern flickers to life, you grab your bag and start pawing through it. “You keep going for family.”

“That’s what Joel says.”

“Huh. You know what? I believe you. Here,” pulling a tank top out of your pack you toss it at her and it smacks her in the face. “While you’re out here you can wear that and not die of heat stroke in those knit tops. But when you’re out in the sun, put something over your shoulders or use the tsuga paste. Your skin hasn’t seen sun in a while and the last thing I need to do is bring you back cooked like a Christmas goose and have Joel all up in my ass about it.”

“That actually sounds like a good thing for both of you, if you ask me.”

“Watch it.”

“What? I didn’t say anything! Look at the time! We should be spinning wool! How I love spinning wool. Whoopee!”

“Like I said. Nothing like my sister. You little shit.”

________

“Meadowlark to patrol.”

“This is patrol.”

“Starling and I are on the southeast side of the meadow near the chokecherry copse and we’ve found a honeybee hive. I’m going to tie red flags to the surrounding trees. You wanna put the word out that some of these cherries are ready to go and get someone suited out here to scope out this hive?”

“This will make four hives now.”

“I know. We’re getting lucky this year.”

“Will do, Meadowlark. We’ll radio in before we cross borders.”

“Copy. Out.”

On the way back to the Roost you and Ellie stop to greet a group of sheep lazing in the grass, sitting down and sharing cherries with them from a basket between the two of you.

“They can eat these?” she asks.

“Sure. They can pretty much eat whatever we do. Chokecherries are fine. Just don’t give ‘em the leaves or stems. Those are poisonous.”

This means taking the time to pull cherries away from the branches until there’s a handful to feed the sheep. Normally you’d be fending them off during this, they’d be insistent and impatient, but the heat of the day has them lazy and languid.

It’s also working on Ellie as she yawns, stretching her white arms plastered in pine and sunflower paste for protection, her scar marring her otherwise unburned forearm.

“You know, I’ve been thinking,” you hand her another branch to start shucking. “Willa does tattoos. She could cover that for you.”

Ellie hesitates. “Maybe.”

“What. You don’t want a tattoo? I thought you might like that. It would be pretty badass. We could cover it with a starling or something….”

“I guess.” You wait for her excuse. It’s a decent one. “I just…It would mean Willa would know too. Joel told me not to tell anyone. I don’t think I should.”

“I understand. That’s kinda why I suggested Willa. The woman’s a vault.” But Ellie’s fingers stop picking berries, as if she doesn’t know what to do or what to say. “Oh. I see. You don’t want Joel to know you told anyone. Even me.”

She nods.

She changes the subject then–something about him wanting to keep her safe, even teaching her to use a shotgun to protect herself–but your mind keeps working on the problem.

It’s only when you make it back to the ladder at the Roost, one foot frozen on the bottom rung, that you find the answer.

“What’s wrong?” she asks from behind you.

Under the posts of the Roost is a load of firewood. And under that wood….

“Ellie…if there was another way to get rid of your scar, would you?”

“What. You gonna give me some kinda bird tattoo yourself? Is it gonna look like a blob or–”

“I mean, do you want it gone at all?”

She pulls herself out of her slouched position to her full height. “I mean…yeah…I think a tattoo is actually a great idea I just…”

“What if Willa didn’t have to know? What if she thought she was covering up something else?” Pulling a few armfulls of wood away from the side of the pile, you uncover a wide plank of wood, once a handsome cedar coffee table top, now a sunken excuse for a forest cellar door. Prying the wood out of its depression, you reveal an earthen pit housing a couple of shovels, a couple pairs of oilskin mittens, and a covered earthen pot.

“This,” you point to the pot, “is lye. We keep it out here in case one of the sheep dies from infection or illness. It’s important to bury the sheep to keep it away from the flock. But even if you bury a carcass, bear and coyotes will come sniffing around and dig it up. We discourage that with this. Lye breaks down organic matter. That’s why we have gloves in here. It burns skin.”

Ellie frowns into the pit, understanding slowly dawning until she asks with a gasp, “Does it hurt?”

“Hells yes it does. It’s a burn, Ellie. It hurts like a son of a bitch, there’s no way I’d lie about that. But it will twist the features of that scar. You’ll never have to dodge suspicion again.”

“Mother. Fucker,” her whisper shakes, but she eyes the pot in steady fascination.

“You know what?” You throw the tabletop back down over the hole, “I saw a whole lot of squirrels around those chokecherries and they’re actually good eating if you get a few of them and throw ‘em in a pot with some potatoes and onion and garlic…. Too bad their skins are too small to be useful. But we can’t just leave ‘em lying around, you know. So if you and I were to go out and get a few and make a stew, and say I was to show you how the lye works with the leavings… well, something might happen.” The girl looks you dead in the eye, her jaw dropping open a little in disbelief. “What do you say? You wanna go out and do some target practice? Get some squirrel for dinner?”

A switch flips in Ellie’s spine and her eyes spark cold and bright, two supernovas in a smiling galaxy.

“Fuck yes. I’ll get the rifle.”

________

“Good shot!” you cheer as a third squirrel drops from a branch and you share a high five. “Wonder who taught you that! Damn, girl! Three for three. Tonight, we feast.”

“So, when are we doing this?” Ellie smiles as you walk back to the Roost, the barrel of the rifle slung over one shoulder, a string of fuzzy dinner swinging from the other.

“Tomorrow morning. Willa will be coming in at noon and that should give us some time to get a good burn in before she arrives. It should be fine, but if anything goes wrong, she can help and that makes me feel better about it. Ellie…. You sure you trust me with this?”

“I can’t die from it, right?”

“No, but you might want to. It’s sure as hell not gonna be pleasant.”

“Lady, I spent half a year walking across the country with Joel. I’m a master at dealing with unpleasant.” By now the sheep are familiar with the sound of Ellie’s laughter and a few perk up on your way past to follow you lazily back to the Roost. “But, like, I don’t understand why we have to go through all this with the squirrels. Don’t get me wrong, I like the target practice and all…”

You take the squirrels from her and set up a makeshift butcher’s block on a stump left waist high specifically for this purpose. “I don’t want to lie to Joel when he freaks out about you getting hurt. We had squirrels. We disposed of the leavings. You got burned with the lye. Truth truth truth.”

“You think he’ll be mad at you?”

“Oh, I’m already counting that into the equation. I know you seem to think he’s fond of me, but not all the evidence leads up to that. You know how to clean a squirrel?”

“Sure do,” she grins as she trades the rifle for your boot knife and, taking the first rodent in hand, she works it skillfully, tongue sticking out the corner of her mouth, skinning the critter in one go. “Thanks, little buddy. You were cute, but you’ll be gooooooood eating.”

“You’re a hell of a kid.”

“Yeah, well, guess who taught me this?” she says as she morbidly slices through another one, making dramatic death noises as she goes. “Why do you think he doesn’t like you? Joel’s stupid about you. He just doesn’t know it yet.”

“Jesus, Ellie.” With a sigh and a shake of the head, you indulge her question and your own immature angst. “Well, for starters, I can tell he doesn’t think much of some of my conversation.”

“What do you mean?” Another skin lands at her feet.

“He just…doesn’t answer questions sometimes. Ignores comments. Doesn’t like to join in on the joke.”

“This is a big one,” she grunts, tugging at the final squirrel. “What side are you standing on when he ignores you?”

“Huh?”

“Where are you standing when you talk to Joel? He’s deaf in his right ear.”

You blink.

And suddenly a hell of a lot of things make a hell of a lot of sense.

That one time you complimented his shirt and he said nothing, you were on his right.

That one time you poked fun at his scowl. On his right.

You cracked that joke, offered a piece of pie, told him everything would be alright.

Right. Right. Right.

“I…didn’t know that,” you stammer stupidly, flinching when Ellie hands your knife back and heads for the ladder.

“Yeah, that was obvious. I’m gonna go get a bowl.” You’re still in shock as she starts climbing. “Don’t expect him to get down on one knee when he asks you to marry him; he’s got shitty knees too. He’s happy to complain about it if you ask him. Make sure it’s in his left ear.”

________

“Okay, look at me, Ellie. Breathe.”

She nods, her eyes burning with determination over the shirt you’ve tied around her nose and mouth to protect her from inhaling the mix.

As you sit in the grass a few meters from the stream with her arm resting in your mittened hands, you lay the lye-laden cloth over the scar and enclose it with pressure.

Her breath comes heavily. Bravely. Then you hear it change as the lye begins to work.

“Shit. It itches,” she hisses. “Shit. Shit shit fuck fuck ow it’s getting worse–”

“You want me to stop?”

“No shit fuck I can do this I got this shiiiiiiiiiit!”

“I won’t let you go too long but you let me know if you need–”

“I’m fine! FUCK!”

It’s when she screams that you know it’s enough and releasing her, you order, drill sergeant style, “Go! Go! Go! Fifteen minutes! Don’t look at it!”

Ellie bolts into the ice cold stream, sneakers and all, gasping as the water washes the cloth away from her. “Shit. I thought it would feel better. It doesn’t!”

“Does it feel worse?”

“No, it just fucking burns!”

A sigh of relief. “Well, that’s good. Just… just let it rinse. Do you feel woozy at all?”

She just shakes her head, looking down through the water. “It’s getting red. And puffy.”

“No broken skin?”

“No.”

“Good. It’ll probably blister up some.”

Ellie might not be feeling woozy, but you sure are. Was it a reckless idea? Probably. Will it actually work? Hopefully. Do you feel bad that she’s gonna be in pain for a while? Fuck yes. But then you remember when she put on your tank top and just … laid in the grass and smiled. Even if she never wore short sleeves again, at least nobody was going to make a fast decision with a gun to her skull.

You really should have checked with Joel though. No matter what Ellie wants, you know full well it wasn’t your call to make.

Another problem for another day.

“Everything okay down there?” Willa’s black braids glint in the sun as she walks down from the Roost.

“Ellie had a run in with the lye,” you call back.

“Yeah, I see you were composting. I filled in the hole.” She hardly even stops when she reaches you, simply pulls off her boots and heads straight into the water. “Let’s see. Oh yeah. That’s a burn alright.”

As Willa inspects Ellie’s submerged arm, the girl looks up and smiles at you, giving you a wet thumbs up. “Hurts like a motherfucker!"

“I’ll bet,” the woman hums dryly. “That’s going to swell up and scar pretty bad. Why don’t you sit and let the water do its work. Meadowlark and I will go pack your things and I’ll grab the gauze in the first aid kit.”

Willa doesn’t ask questions as you pack up, just the regular routine of information trade off. You tell her that you’ve marked a few sheep with blue dye to keep an eye on for injuries or dehydration. And she lets you know what’s going on in town, including the fact that there’s gonna be a wedding with a reception at the food hall over the weekend.

“Really? Who?”

“Bear and Missy Tippet.”

“Your uncle??? Willa, I can stay; don’t you wanna be there?”

She laughs. “Hell no I do not. You know exactly how I feel about Missy Tippet; same as you. I’d rather be out here. Perfect timing. They’ve been keeping each other warm on and off for years now. Maybe this will finally keep her on. As much as I hate to picture that,” she shivers.

Willa’s such an even-keeled soul and it’s not just anyone she’ll shit talk in front of. “Well, your secret’s safe with me. If it is a secret that is.”

“What’s a secret?” Ellie interrupts as she pulls herself up to the balcony from the ladder with one hand.

Willa takes a little time to show her the correct way to bandage the burn–not too tight–while you pack the horses, as well as instructing you where to find her stash of willow bark if Ellie needs it for the pain.

But something tells you that Eliie’s gonna tough it out. Though she holds her arm gingerly as she rides, fisting the reigns in her left hand, the girl grins all the way back to Jackson like she’s just pulled off the heist of the century.

________

Jackson is busy when you ride through the gates midday, folks passing by on their way to visit, deliver, build. Purpose in Jackson is taken seriously, as is leisure, and both are on display as you pass by the rustic main drag, in many different ways frozen in time–log storefronts and Mickey Mouse tshirts, leather-saddled livestock and Japanese fans.

You spot Joel waiting at the stables before he sees you, distracted by none other than Missy Tippet. Getting herself married or not, the stunning woman is a glutton for attention and a class A flirt, and she’s not the only one in town whose head turned the minute Joel took up residence.

Not that you can blame her, with him in that tight grey tshirt, busting a carpenter’s arms out of its sleeves and contouring it with sweat…. By the dust on his face, he’s been working today. Probably took a break to wait for–

“Ellie. Hey! You decided to come home.”

“Yup,” she says, throwing him the reins to distract him while she gingerly dismounts. “I shot three squirrels!”

You avoid Joel’s questioning glance as you slide down from your own mare and lead her into a stall. “Go on, you two, I’ll stable up. Nice to see you, Cinnamon Roll.”

But they’re already on their way, an engaged chattering, laughing questions and energetic answers…and your teasing goes unheard. Ah. Wrong ear, you realize.

Missy smirks; condescends.“Cinnamon roll, huh? Good try, I guess.”

You don’t rise to her bait. “Just giving him sass. He’s obviously not a fan. You gonna help me with these saddles or keep slobbering all over the men that aren’t your fiancee what come on by?”

Okay. Maybe a little rising.

________

It’s your ritual, first thing back from the meadow. The Roost holds a special place in your heart, but the one thing it can’t deliver is a shower. Great gods of earth and sky, let there be thanks that warm water’s still a thing, even in summer.

You’re still dripping, one head tilted to the side as you drain the last of the water out one ear, when there’s a knock at the front door downstairs.

Well, let’s see. There aren’t that many people who know you’re back yet and Ellie’s come home with a bandage on her arm. It’s easy to guess who’s knocking. Okay. Let’s get this over with.

When you answer the door wrapped in nothing but a towel, it obviously wasn’t what Joel was expecting, and if he walked over here with any ire, it instantly freezes and shatters like a bubble on the tundra when he takes in all the skin on display.

“You’ll excuse me if I don’t invite you in for snacks at the moment.”

Deflated, he simply rams his hands in his pockets, squinting. “You wanna tell me about Ellie’s arm?”

“I had planned on it at a time when I wasn’t wet and naked, but sure.” When he throws his hands up in defeat and turns to leave, you stop him, catching at his sleeve and stretching the fabric so it snaps back against his arm. “Hey. Wait. Yes. I was going to tell you.” As you cross your arms over the towel and lean on the door frame, he does much the same on the other side, averting his eyes and trying not to fidget. And failing. “It happened this morning. She shot some squirrels and we dressed ‘em for dinner last night and buried the bones and pelts. Gotta lye ‘em or animals come digging. I thought she could handle it. Looks like we both got burned, so to speak.” His face is stony. Unamused. You continue. “Willa looked at it this morning, we got it a good rinse. I’m gonna go by her place later and grab some willow bark and show Ellie how to compress.” He shakes his head at his boots. “Hey. She’ll be fine, Joel.”

“I don’t want her getting hurt out there.”

“And I do? It’s a chemical burn, not a clicker bite. She’ll learn from it. Kids can’t be put in glass cages.” It’s here that you pretend not to see the flash in his eye at the mention of bites, meanwhile noticing a bad scrape on his forearm. Seeing your opening, you reach out to draw a finger over it. “Jesus, Joel. Look at this. This. See? We all have occupational hazards. Come on.”

With a sigh you turn and pad into the kitchen to your first aid drawer, taking a chance that pays off--you’re surprised to hear him actually following. It takes a minute to dress the wound and you’re not ginger about it–water, apple cider vinegar, gauze. It’s a quiet minute though, one you thought you could power through, and maybe you could have, if you were in anything more than a towel…or couldn’t hear him breathing…or feel it on your skin. Trying to play it cool and get a vibe check on him, you look up only to catch his eye shifting away from your bare shoulder back to your work on his arm.

It’s time to break the silence, but you don’t feel the need to be on the defense anymore.

“We don’t have a lot of antibiotics just sitting around, you know. Don’t let this stuff fester, okay, cinnamon roll? You and that daredevil kid are a matching pair, you know that?”

He only grunts, half rolling his eyes at you, jaw set, voice at a soft compromise. “Yeah, well, I don’t want her going back out there until she’s healed up. Limited use of both arms is a good path to more accidents.”

“Fair. You win. Summer’s pretty slow anyway. I could use the quiet.” Laying it on thick, you tie up the ends of the gauze before releasing him back into the wilds. “Warm sun, buzz of bees. Sweet smell of grass and lupines. Meadow’s a good place for afternoon naps. Easier to do without an apprentice yapping my ear off.”

He nods thoughtfully at this--your words showing their effect--and slowly turns and heads for the door.

And you smile knowingly as you watch him go.

“You know,” you call out just before he closes the door behind him, “door’s open at the Roost. You can always come out there with her if you’re so concerned. That is, if you don’t mind sleeping on a broke-down sofa on the porch.”

Without looking back, he pauses briefly in the patch of summer glare. Then he silently steps out and pulls the door shut, leaving only the click of the latch and the sunlight through the leaded glass.

Well. That certainly could have gone much worse.

________

At least you’re wearing more clothes when it finally does go worse.

“What happened here, squirt?” Tommy taps his fork on Ellie’s bandage at family dinner.

And Ellie answers with a light jab to his arm. “Ow, you dick! That hurts!”

“Ellie–” a scold in stereo from both you and Joel.

As her teacher, the admonishment was instinctual. But in current context, it may have been a breach of place. The table goes silent as Joel’s head snaps in your direction and everyone else’s eyes bounce between you two, utterly amused. There’s a moment when you’re afraid he might just continue to glare, but then he cracks half a smile, shakes his head, and goes back to shoveling a spoonful of potatoes into his mouth.

It’s a reaction that lets you know Joel’s forgiven you, back to allowing you to be a rearing force in Ellie’s life.

“Meadowlark let me do some target practice and I shot some squirrels for dinner. Had to bury the skin and bones with lye and I got burned. Oops.”

“Oh my god,” Maria chews. “Are you okay?”

Ellie gives her a precocious smile and follows it with sarcastic condescension. “Yes, I’m going to live. As long as some people let it heal and stop hitting me with sharp things because they think they’re funny and they’re not.”

Tommy sticks his tongue out at Ellie and Maria laughs at them both before getting up to go fetch another jar of pickles from the pantry, holding her growing belly and waving off her husband's attempts to help.

“Rabbit’s better eating,” Tommy points out, returning to the subject at hand.

Ellie pops a stringbean into her mouth, clearly in a good mood. “But their hides are useful. Don’t have to bury them.”

The moment after she says this is like a lightning flash, and your reaction matches hers as you both freeze, realizing what she’s just accidentally said.

“Squirrels are faster, smaller, better target practice,” you say, clearing your throat, trying to act casual.

Tommy shrugs and nods, agreeing, oblivious, going to town on his ear of corn.

But Joel’s gone still, staring you down across the table, then casts a glance at Ellie…and her arm.

Shit.

Tommy and Maria are blissfully unaware of Joel’s turn for the quiet during the rest of the meal, not that he’d been very talkative to begin with. But the hesitant glances and shy smiles are gone now, replaced with a restrained patience and a few calculating glances.

It’s Maria’s turn to wash and Tommy’s to dry and yours to clear the table. But with every trip into the kitchen, you glance through the window over the sink into the yard where Joel and Ellie are having a spirited conversation under the tree at the far end.

'Spirited conversation' might be too polite a term. More like a one-sided lecture. Soon enough you have the table wiped down and you’re making a bee-line out the back door while Tommy and Maria argue about the best technique for drying a glass.

“That is not okay,” Joel hisses, trying to keep his voice low, giving Ellie’s shoulder a rough shake. “What if something went wrong? Huh? You could have burned down to the bone!”

“Joel, Joel, hey,” you whisper as you come to complete the triad. “Don’t. She confided in me. It was my idea.”

Nostrils flaring, lips pressed together, head wagging, he glares. “Of all the reckless, stupid….”

“I wanted to!” Ellie pleads, and you shut her down.

“That’s true, but Joel’s right and I knew it. I shouldn’t have–”

“If you tell anyone–” he warns, his eyes going full retribution against you--a hot coil ready to spring--and it petrifies you, takes you by the heart and squeezes.

“She won’t! Joel!”

“She’d better not.”

It’s a tense moment, one that surprises you. Scares you. In the months you’ve known him, Joel’s been a quiet and withdrawn creature, opening up in increments as you’ve done your best to build your trust, taming him slowly week after week, hoping for nothing more than having him someday eating out of your palm, pushing his cheek into your hand for gentle reassurance…

But in one fell swoop you’re back at the starting line–beyond the starting line. The papa bear in him is showing, bearing its teeth, and you’ve spent too much time among sheep, forgetting the valuable lesson that wild animals can never truly be tamed.

“I will burn this place to the ground if you ever hurt another hair on her head.” The quiet threat is feral and stinging and steals your breath before it’s over.

The things he’s capable of...those things are here and now and he could do them all to you before you had the chance to run.

The way he looks at you pulls the heat from the earth.

Before you can break from your paralysis, they’re gone, Joel pushing Ellie out of the yard toward home.

The stars are coming out. If there are crickets, you don’t hear them. Every sense seems to have shifted into neutral. Except breathing. That comes back with a hunger.

“Joel and Ellie take off?” Tommy calls from the window.

“Yeahhhh,” you call back without turning. “Tired. The heat. Think I might head home too.”

“Take a jar of these pickles. We have too many and Maria can't stomach them right now. I’ve got pickles coming out my damn ears.”

“Okay. Thanks, T. Pickles. Will do."

________

The following few days are...confusing. You should go out and grab some supplies on the main street, but actually fear running into Joel or Ellie. It’s stupid, and it makes you angry; it’s not that you’re afraid of him, it’s just…

You’re disappointed in yourself. Because everything’s upset now. Sure, you wanted to get close to them, but you overstepped, put Ellie in danger, made Joel feel unsafe. Everyone should feel safe in Jackson. Everyone should feel safe in the meadow. And you took that away from him.

Joel.

Why him? What about him do you need to have so badly? Why do you feel the need to fix him? To give him that safety?

Because Joel and Ellie so badly need a home. And you have an excess of home within you.

And little else.

You’ve never been lonely before. Why now?

Something about them….just fits.

Or so you thought. Or may have thought. Before you ruined it.

It’s better to just sit home and knit. Winter will be here soon enough and people need sweaters, dammit. You have a job to do.

But you can’t stay hidden away forever, especially not when there’s a wedding in the community.

________

“Bear, Missy, you’ve said your vows in front of all of us here tonight. We are all witness to your commitment. All in agreement, say aye!”

“AYE!”

“And those of you who want to spoil this good time, say nay!”

Bear’s brother pipes up from the side of the mess hall. “Nay!”

“Shut up, you asshole,” Bear laughs.

“Perfection is tempting devils!” his brother teases.

“Let ‘em come,” Bear shouts. “I’ll tear ‘em all down for my lady love, the prettiest girl in Jackson!” There’s applause and laughter as he kisses his new bride and the mood shifts as he roars, “Drinking and dancing!!!”

“Ugh. Good thing Willa isn’t here to see this. She’d be so annoyed.” Maria yells in your ear over the din as you huddle around your favorite table at the back of the hall. “I thought Missy would never settle down.”

“Bear must earn his name in the sack,” you crack back at her, and she clinks her glass against yours in agreement.

Tommy and Joel sit across the table from you, facing away toward the front. But when Tommy turns to join in the conversation, Joel remains facing out to the crowd, watching as tables are pushed to the side to make a dance floor, quietly pulling sips from a frothy cider.

He’s still pissed at you.

“Where’s Ellie?” you ask Tommy, not even attempting to address the wall of Joel-shaped ice.

“Over beyond, with the other big kids.”

You don’t turn to look, but Joel does after hearing the comment, before turning back to watch the crowd.

A band strikes up. Friends stop by and chat. Some of Tommy and Joel’s work friends come and take over the table–the boys all getting loud and rowdy–so you and Maria escape to the edge of the dance floor, beverages in hand, dancing–but not really–in place.

“What’s going on?” Maria finally asks over the music and the general glee.

“Hmm?”

“You two keep watching each other, but you’re not talking. What’s going on.”

You can’t keep from glancing over at the table…again. You weren’t aware of him taking any interest in you though.

“We had an argument the other day. I think I fucked things up.”

She pulls a face, comically surprised. “I would have guessed the other way around, but okay. You push him too hard or something?”

“Something like that.”

Glancing back over her shoulder at Joel and then back at you, Maria gives you her lawyer face. “He’ll come around. Tommy says he’s the last person to apologize for anything and if he does, you know it means a big deal. But if you’re willing to extend the olive branch first, that can go a long way.”

“Well, maybe not tonight,” you sigh, stealing a glance, watching as he drains his glass. “He’s had a few.”

But you can’t even convince yourself, handing your drink to Maria as Joel sets down his glass, slaps the table and pushes himself up, leaning forward to wish his buddies a good night. You follow him out of the mess hall like some lovestruck teenager strung out on a last hope.

“Joel. Joel!” Catching up with him halfway down the block, the light and noise from the party still follows as you get out in front of him. “Joel, stop. I have to apologize to you. Please let me.”

Though he’s backlit, you can still make out his tired glare. “Don’t. It’s not necessary.”

“Of course it is. Ellie’s important to you. You're her guardian. It wasn’t my call to make. I’m sorry.”

He waits a moment before throwing you an irritated prompt. “But?”

“But? I don’t know. She was hot in that long sleeve shirt and she showed me her arm–I can’t imagine what she went through. I just felt for her. But I did have a gut reaction when she showed me, Joel. Anyone would, but most wouldn’t hesitate for long. And those bites could get her killed. All I wanted was for her to be free from that. To be a kid. I’d say I wasn’t thinking, but...I was, Joel. Fuck was I thinking. I was thinking about her just being a kid and not getting killed.”

“Is that all?”

“Yeah, I guess. Except… I really don’t want you to punish her for my decision. She loves it out there. She thrives. And if you don’t trust me, my offer stands. Come with us. See for yourself.”

A huffed laugh. “Yeah? Do I get a callsign then?”

Your fatal flaw is jumping to the joke and the playful tease too soon, as you do now, anticipating his forgiveness. “Of course you do, grey fox.”

And that’s when he reaches out, pulls you close with strong hands.

Which would be exhilarating, if it wasn’t too close. And if his breath didn’t smell of cider.

“Why don’t you just take what you want,” he growls, quietly, coldly, jaw set, lips hardly moving.

It’s not fear that pings up your spine–now that you’ve had a taste of his anger and gotten over the initial shock from the other night, you know Joel won’t hurt you, not here, not as part of your found family, he knows better–

It’s bitter disappointment.

“What?”

His grip tightens, digs in. “It’s obvious what you want. Just go ahead. We’re both fucking lonely enough and I’m too old for games.”

He’s right here with you in the dark, his breath on your lips, your fingers twisting into the shoulders of his tshirt…but it’s wrong. It’s so wrong. And it’s hurting.

So you slowly push off his chest.

And the light from the mess hall hits your face again; something there causes his shoulders to drop, causes him to let you go.

A cheer rises up from the celebration that you’ve left behind, that you don’t feel like returning to, but neither can you be alone right now, so it’s likely your only choice.

“I’m not playing games, Joel. I never was. I like you. A lot. Both you and Ellie. I just didn’t want to spook you. But...I also don’t want someone who doesn’t want me. So…maybe I read you wrong. Or maybe we need different things.”

“What do you need?” It almost falls out of him, uncontrolled, unemotional, a gathering of facts.

And your answer comes the same way, surprising you as you’re sure his own question surprised himself.

“A home.”

It’s a quiet night, perfectly warm. You’re sure if you went home right now, the fireflies–the good kind–would be out in the back yard.

Instead, you give him a shellshocked nod–of finality, of punctuation–and follow your feet back toward the light, toward happiness and love that you can’t share at the moment. And you don’t look back.

________

When you don’t show up for family dinner that week, Maria comes knocking the next day.

Knocks, yes, but does not wait for an answer. In sisterly fashion, she makes straight for your wool room and sits calmly on the edge on the daybed there, staring at you as you mend a hole in a sweater.

“Missed you at our table last night.”

“I know.”

It doesn’t matter how hard she stares, you continue to avoid it and concentrate on the work in your hands.

“That was an invitation for you to explain.”

“I’m aware.”

“Girl–”

“I’m not getting along with Joel right now. Ellie has…this thing on her arm that she doesn’t want anyone to know about. You notice how she would wear long sleeves even in the heat? I felt bad for her. So I… suggested…the lye.”

This doesn't faze her. “It was on purpose. And Joel found out. I see.” Leaning back into the pillows with a pregnant grunt, she swings her feet up onto the daybed. “Is hiding helping? You know we all know where you live, right?”

“Are you really putting your muddy shoes on my quilt?”

“So you’re just going to avoid him.”

You squint at the binding. “I’m gonna have to raid the commissary for some better glasses. My eyesight’s getting out of hand.”

“You’re going to avoid us. Me and Tommy and Ellie.”

Letting out a huge sigh, you concede to her tenacity because she won’t stop until she gets what she wants. “For now.” When her tongue clicks, you finally look up. “Listen. I apologized and he’s still mad. I agree with you that he’ll get over it, but he hasn’t yet, and that means I haven’t either. And I’m not as good at turning on my bitch face as that one is.”

“So we shouldn’t expect you next week either.”

“Nope,” you pout, tackling the sweater again with focused frustration. “I traded with Goldie. Going out a week early.”

“You’re running away.”

“I’m stressed out and I need to not be here, yes!” You admit, throwing down the knitting. “What is the big deal? I don’t have to get along with everyone in Jackson! You don’t!”

You understand that flat look from her, known it since you were kids. She’s counting to 10, giving you the chance to calm down so one of you can speak the truth and speak it calmly.

“But you want to get along with Joel.”

Of course she was going to say that. Because it’s what you’re thinking and not wanting to say out loud and she can read you like a book.

“Yeah. I really do. You know I do.”

“Okay,” she says, pushing herself up with effort and crossing the room to kiss her fingers and press–nay, slap–them to your forehead before heading out. “Go on and go to your happy place. Go calm down in your little clubhouse. I was just worried about you is all. Brought you leftovers. They’re on the counter.”

“Thanks. You’re too good to me. As always. Love you.”

“I know. As always. Love you too.”

________

At the end of the week you’re up early, your pack and rations slung over your back, pistol on one hip, making your way to the stables while the town’s still quiet, before anyone can notice you going. Your boots crunch on the dirt road in lieu of the birdsong from those lazy bitches not even up yet, the dawnlight casting Jackson in blues and blacks, like a new-world mid-era Picasso.

The problem is, you know all of these blues and blacks, all these shapes and shadows. There’s a new one this morning, something leaning up against the stable door.

And it’s shaped like a fourteen year old girl with a couple of bags.

As you approach, Ellie tips away from the wall, standing upright, waiting until you come to a stop in front of her.

“Joel said I could go with you.”

“It’s a week early.”

“Yep.”

It’s too early in the morning for exasperated sighs, but here you are. “Maria or Tommy?”

“Tommy.”

“Figures. Big fucking mouth.”

“Yep.”

She waits patiently for it to sink in.

Once it does, you pull the walkie off your belt.

“Meadowlark to Chickadee. ETA 30, towing a Starling in behind me.”

________

“So what did you say to him to get him to change his mind?” Ellie takes your fishing rod so you can pull off your boots and roll up your pants.

“Me? I figured it was you said something.” Wading out into the stream at this little ripple point is harder than it looks. The rocks are sharper here, full of crannys that are equally as good for fish to hide in as they are to turn an ankle. It doesn’t help that the setting sun is throwing shadows that make it harder to determine what’s what. “I haven’t talked to him in weeks. Not since Bear’s wedding. Keep that line taut.”

“According to Maria, you haven’t talked to anyone lately.”

“I had knitting to do,” a dismissal as you follow the line out into the current. “There are hardly any weeds out here; what did this dang hook snag on? A rock?”

“Well, he finally admitted that masking the scar was a good thing. I told him I want to get a tattoo over it. He said no.”

You laugh, tugging at the line, teetering on a flatter stone. “Of course he did. But that’s a good thing. Tattoo’s a permanent mark. Good to have an excuse to think long and hard about what you’d want. Willa’s great with nature stuff. She could probably do you a bird or a tree or something.”

“I was thinking maybe the moon. Or like, a machete.”

“Of course you were. Oh, oh... hang on, I think I’ve found it.” Reaching down under one of the rocks, you follow the fishing line, but it doesn’t seem to have an end. “Well, where the hell?”

“Uhhhhh,” Ellie points to the water at your feet. “I think it found you.”

A fine red ribbon of blood floats away on the current and you follow it upstream to your foot. More specifically, the inner part of your big toe. “Well shit. Did I just catch my own damn self?”

“Catch of the day!” Ellie laughs. “I bet you fry up real tough. Does it hurt?”

“Didn’t even feel it, water’s too cold. Get your knife and cut the line so I don’t get all tangled.”

Once you’re back on shore and take stock, it’s obvious some tools are needed. “Run and get me the wire cutting pliers, the vinegar jug, and the first aid kit, will you?”

Ellie’s off like a shot on youthful legs, making short work of the errand while you keep your foot in the stream and tend to her line. But once she’s back and opens the kit, her face twists into a frown. “Aren’t there supposed to be bandages in here?”

“What?” Snipping the hook in two you slide it out the easy way as Ellie watches in morbid fascination. “There’s not?”

“Nope. Plenty of cleanser and some needle and thread, but no bandages.”

“Shit. I suppose we never restocked it after Willa set you up. Well, I’ll just have to bleed into my sock for the time being and find something up at the Roost.” Ellie moves to help you, but you hold a hand up and go for the walkie. “Hey. Meadowlark to Goldie.”

The walkie comes to life, garbled, full of noise.

“Goldie? Meadowlark to Goldfinch.”

A couple of seconds pass. “Sorry, Goldfinch here. Was in the tavern and there’s an arm wrestling competition in there. Lots of yelling.”

“Really? Who’s winning?”

“Right now it’s Bear. What’s up?”

“Oh, I never restocked the first aid kit after Ellie’s mishap and we’re needing clean bandages. Can you send some along on patrol tomorrow?”

“Sure. Everything alright out there?”

“Yeah, I just stepped on a fishhook.”

“Well, why the hell did you do that?”

“You know, the usual. Shits and giggles.”

“You do you. Don’t ever change. I’ll send some supplies along.”

“Thanks. Put a wager down on Bear for me. Meadowlark out.”

“Will do. Goldfinch gone.”

“Alright, kid,” you groan, hanging onto her shoulder and pulling yourself up, “Bring in your line and let’s take what we got and get a supper going.”

________

The next day, you drop a few old carrots over the balcony railing. “Ellie! Take these with you! You’ll tame that skittish one sooner or later; keep trying!”

The girl scoops up the veggies and trudges out through the pasture, heavy not with the task of doing the rounds by herself but due to the heat. At least she can wear short sleeves now, even if the bandage gets questions. But you suspect she enjoys the clout and attention she gets out of the burn.

Thank goodness she’s here. Your injury gets angry when you walk. So Ellie's tasked with the rounds and taking stock while you elevate the foot and get caught up on some spinning.

Not that there’s any hurry to do so. As you lean on your arms against the balcony railing a little breeze kicks up. Content for the moment, you let it bring you a little coolness, a little movement, the rising and falling music of this year’s batch of cicadas. The meadow's pretty this summer, all purples and reds, festooned with lupine and Indian paintbrush and the air at the Roost smelling like the pines that grow around it.

“Patrol to Meadowlark.”

Damn. You left the walkie on the table inside. Guess the decision’s been made for you to get your ass moving. That’ll be a delivery coming in and you hobble on over to answer.

"Patrol here. You there, Meadowlark?"

“Sorry. Meadowlark here.”

“Sending Joel Miller in with supplies at the north gate.”

That’s…not what you expected. But…wow. Really? Has your heart stopped, or is it just going really fast?

“Put him on the walkie.”

Who cares what you’re heart’s doing, your face is gonna cramp from the smile.

“Hey. It’s me,” he answers, gentle, penitent.

“Me who.”

“Joel.”

So he's olive branching first. Well, he'll have to earn it.

“Yeah, about that, we have procedures around here. Callsign or bust, sir.”

You can almost hear his eyes rolling, but it sounds like he’s up for the challenge.

“Seriously.”

“Sure.”

“Jesus. This is…Grey Fox. Coming in at the north gate. Happy?”

“I will be. Meadowlark out.”

Tottering gingerly back out to the balcony, you land heavily on the old green broke-down sofa. There’s no need to bring the rifle. Even if he was being pursued by a pack of raging clickers, Joel is certain to carry a gun, and certain to use it confidently.

A few slow minutes tick by in the sun and a cicada buzzes in from nowhere to attach itself to one of the balcony supports. The big bug breathes for a minute, its iridescent wings still twitching with the effort of hoisting that bulky little body.

And then, in your eyeline just past the cicada, there’s movement.

Joel coming out of the north woods.

He’s on foot. Green plaid and jeans wading through the flowered fields. With his shirtsleeves rolled up on purpose to let those brown arms and big hands of his swing. With not just the one, but two rifles on his back? Isn’t that a bit overkill?

Wait. One of them’s not a rifle. It’s…a guitar.

Well. Someone’s planned to make himself at home.

Your smile earns more real estate.

Good.

Soon he’s close enough for you to make out his grey curls shifting in the breeze. Then he disappears under the Roost, only to transform into the sound of heavy footfalls on the ladder.

Propping your chin on your forearms crossed over the back of the sofa, you watch through the front windows as he steps into the room and takes it in with a carpenter’s eye. He stops in silent appreciation, gaze scrolling the woodwork, the joints, posts, slope of the peak. The woodstove catches his notice and he taps the tile beneath it with his boot, his interest trailing up the pipe, squinting at the trap around the exhaust. His bottom lip pushes up in approval and he nods, surveying the windows now…and stops when he sees you.

“Hey there, Cinnamon Roll. Welcome to the Roost.”

A half-hidden smile. Without a word, he untangles himself out of his gear, digging through his knapsack and retrieving a box before coming out onto the balcony and making his way over to you. Swiping a hand through the air, he motions for you to move your knee so he can sit beside you, then pulls your foot up into his lap and takes a look over your makeshift bandage–the sleeve of an old blouse–before starting to unwrap it.

It hurts. But you let him.

"Who told you I needed a first aid kit?"

"Was at the tavern when Goldie got the call. Heard it myself. Where’s Ellie?”

“She’s making the rounds. Just left before you came in."

He grunts an acknowledgement, focusing on your toe, moving it so he can assess the wound a little better. A little wince; he can tell it hurts. Grabbing a tiny bottle of cleansing agent and a fresh bandage, he gets to work.

“Just so you know,” he grumbles, “we don’t have a lot of antibiotics just sitting around. You shouldn’t let this stuff fester.”

He must see your smirk from the corner of his eye. He matches it with his own.

“You using my words against me now, Dr. Miller?”

“Not at all. Just passing on some valuable knowledge that was gifted to me.”

He works quietly, carefully wrapping the toe, then your foot, splinting it in a way that should make it easier to walk on. Obviously not the first time he’s cared for a wound. He must have seen a lot out there in his wilder days.

“This one was truly an accident. For real this time,” you attest.

But his smile burns off to the stone underneath.

His sincerity precedes him. “I’m sorry.”

An apology. From Joel Miller. For what? Not trusting you? Keeping Ellie away? Speaking to you the way he did? You assume it’s all of the above. But it isn’t necessary to ask for clarification; you only want to put the missteps behind you and get on with leaning on each other.

“You’re staying, right?”

He nods once to you, then to the sofa. “This where I’m sleeping?”

“I mean, if you want one of our beds, that’s fine, you’ll just have to fight us for it. In which case, you might as well give up now.”

“No, it’s okay. It’ll be like sleeping under the stars.” He stares out at the mountains over the meadow, watching the shadow of a cloud roll over it, your foot warm between his hands, a thumb absently rubbing at the bandage. “This is nice out here. Quiet. I’m not used to it. But it’s good.”

“Yeah, I’ll admit I do better with some wide open spaces. And fewer people to share it with.”

Two lines form above the bridge of his nose. “Ellie told me about your ranch. Your family. I’m sorry to hear it.”

“It was a long time ago.”

“Doesn’t mean it isn’t worth being sorry.”

He's got you there. “Everyone’s lost something. Someone. Several someones. The whole world’s a little sorry. But I appreciate it. It means we’re all in it together, those of us left." You make a study of him, his solemn nod, the way the sun glints off his watch. “I’m glad you took me up on my invitation, Joel. It’ll be nice having you here, being out here together.”

And then he turns to you, making his own study of you, as if watching your clouds roll away too.

“I agree.”

________

“Now, the E7 is the same as the E, you just pick up that third finger. Good. Now let’s do a three-four, E7, A, E.”

As the sun starts to set, your eyes have had enough of the spindle for one day and you’re cleaning up while Joel and Ellie muck around with his guitar out on the balcony. She’s a quick study, even if some of the chords are more difficult than others for her small hands, and it’s obvious he’s been working with her on it for a while.

Using a walking stick that Joel made from a pine branch–stripping the bark and wrapping one end with duct tape for a sliverless handle–you put together a little plate of berries and cheese, sling a thermos full of sun tea under your arm, and head out to the balcony.

“That's it. Thumb, wrist, wrist,” Joel coaches Ellie in a waltz strum as you hand off the treats to him and take a spot at the railing for one last survey of the meadow before the twilight goes. “That’s good. Keep that up, just like that. Hey there, songbird,” he drawls at you, “you know any Hank Williams?”

Rather than turn to him with a smile, you give it to the meadow, but let him hear it in your voice. “Do I? My dad grew up in Montana in the 50s and 60s. What do you think I was raised on?”

“Well go on then. You should know this one.”

Now that you’re truly listening and realize the chords he’s been working her through, you certainly do.

Ellie must have told him how you like to sing out here. So you do.

“Hear that lonesome whippoorwill, He sounds too blue to fly. The midnight train is whining low, I'm so lonesome I could cry.”

Joel encourages Ellie to keep going, and to add a B7 in at the end. “Go on,” he prompts to you when you turn around, smiling blithely as his two girls make him a pretty song to listen to.

“I've never seen a night so long When time goes crawling by. The moon just went behind the clouds To hide its face and cry.

“Did you ever see a robin weep When leaves begin to die? That means he's lost the will to live; I'm so lonesome I could cry.”

“The next verse is the last one, so play her out on some single rising notes and hit the final chord.”

Ellie bites her bottom lip and nods, taking the cue, but she doesn’t need to look at her hands anymore as she’s getting the hang of it, and instead smiles as you take on her favorite subject.

“The silence of a falling star Lights up a purple sky, And as I wonder where you are… I'm so lonesome I could cry.”

Her outro could use a little work, but it suffices and you give her due applause. “How are those fingers doing?”

She takes stock of her hands. “Look. Calluses.”

“You’ve got some work to do before you can call those welts calluses,” Joel teases.

“Well, I think she’s earned a treat. I didn’t bring those out here for you to hoard ‘em.”

Ellie balances the guitar against the arm rest and Joel hands over the plate, stealing a cherry and popping it into his mouth. Bringing her feet up, Ellie rests the plate on her knees and settles against Joel’s shoulder, smiling, content, proud of her progress, eating her reward and watching the night come on.

It’s such an intimate father-daughter scene that you’re about to go indoors and let them enjoy the view together. But then Joel moves his foot slightly as if to block your path. Catches your eye. Drapes his free arm over the back of the sofa and glances pointedly at his free shoulder, then back at you with a jerk of his head as if to say, You too, get in here, this one’s yours.

You do not have to be told twice.

Settling in with a long sigh, you don’t pay much attention as Ellie starts recounting everything she knows and doesn’t know about the first moon landing. You’re more interested in the way your cheek fits into Joel’s shoulder, and how his arm lays heavy and warm over yours, how his chest rumbles when he answers Ellie’s questions and laughs at her sass. How the shadows spill over the butte and pull through everything until they are everything.

And you notice how the moonlight reflects off the plate in Ellie’s hand, off the tuning keys of the guitar…and yet…it’s missing in one place it should be.

Joel’s wrists are bare.

Joel is laughing. And his wrists are bare.

________

Picking up his watch where it’s been living on the little table all week, you pack it into Joel’s knapsack on the last morning before heading out.

“Goldie’ll be here soon. You see Joel come back from the rounds yet?”

Ellie shakes her head as she’s packing her bag. “Nope. Went out an hour or two ago. You want me to go get him?”

Taking his bag and your own to the balcony, you throw them over the side to the forest floor below. “I’ll go. Been on my ass all week. I could use the walk.” You hand her the walkie on the way out, trusting her to take the incoming hail.

Fastest way to find someone on rounds is to walk the opposite direction, so you head south to the stream.

You don’t have to go far.

A group of sheep have gathered in the grass halfway between the Roost and the water, lazing peacefully as if gathered for a little tea party, and you can guess what they’re all discussing.

There, in the middle of their protective huddle, is the man you’ve been waiting for all this time; shoes off, one arm slung above his head, asleep in the sun and the warm, fragrant grass, as if he grabbed your description of the meadow and ran with it, needing the nap of a lifetime.

At first you keep your distance, not wanting to startle him. But then you realize that it might take more than your approach and a couple soft bleats from a lamb to wake him.

Especially with his good ear turned to the ground like that.

Safe. Warm. Content.

Goldie will be coming soon, but you’ll be able to see her from here. No need to wake him yet.

There’s time enough to just sit and shade his face from the sun, watch the steady rise and fall of his hand on his belly, and whisper a little prayer of thanks to the earth and wind and sky–hell, even to the sheep–that Joel and Ellie found their way to Jackson.

And that you found your way to them.

Good. Everyone's got a good reason to keep going then.

________

Lyrics from "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" by Hank Williams

PREVIOUS: SPRING

NEXT: AUTUMN

MASTERLIST

SERIES MASTERLIST

(artwork by @stealyourblorbos)

#leave off your wandering #tlou fanfic #the last of us #the last of us fanfic #joel miller x reader #joel miller x f!reader #joel miller x meadowlark

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