#family adventure gold coast

[funthingsfortoddlers]

Whale Watching is a A MUST DO Gold Coast experience.

We had a fun and memorable family adventure cruising to the Humpback Highway with the amazing crew from Spirit of Gold Coast Whale Watching to watch these amazing creatures as they migrated north.

You couldn't be in safer or friendlier hands than booking a whale watching cruise with Spirit of Gold Coast.

Find out more about our family whale watching adventure with Spirit of Gold Coast here: https://l.linklyhq.com/l/1p81N 

#LoveSpiritWhales #whalewatching #whalewatchingtour #whalewatchingseason #whalewatchinggoldcoast #toddleradventures  #toddlersgoldcoast #goldcoasttoddlers #goldcoastfun #whatsongoldcoast #toddleradventure #funthingstodowithkids #funthingsfortoddlers #familyfungoldcoast #familyadventuregoldcoast #familyadventuresgoldcoast #goldcoastfamily

[inthedayswhenlandswerefew]

Where Will All The Martyrs Go [Chapter 7: Tell Me That I Won't Feel A Thing]

A/N: Hello besties! Thank you for voting in the poll for Chapter 7. Below are your predictions...let's see how you did! 🥰

Series summary: In the midst of the zombie apocalypse, both you and Aemond (and your respective travel companions) find yourselves headed for the West Coast. It’s the 2024 version of the Oregon Trail, but with less dysentery and more undead antagonists. Watch out for snakes! 😉🐍

Series warnings: Language, sexual content (18+ readers only), violence, bodily injury, med school Aemond, character deaths, nature, drinking, smoking, drugs, Adventures With Aegon™️, pregnancy and childbirth, the U.S. Navy, road trip vibes, Jace is back yay!!!

Series title is a lyric from: “Letterbomb” by Green Day.

Chapter title is a lyric from: “Give Me Novacaine” by Green Day.

Word count: 9.6k

💜 All my writing can be found HERE! 💜

Let me know if you’d like to be added to the taglist 🥰

Billboards ask you as the Tahoe flies across the flat emerald sea of Iowa: Have you heard the good news? Have you been saved? Where will you spend eternity? Are you struggling with same-sex attraction? Do you regret your abortion? Do you fear the Lord? Do you want to end up in Hell?

Aegon snickers, gnawing on a Slim Jim. The sun glare turns his wild hair to gold, etches crinkles into the ruddy skin around his eyes, murky like deep water, oceans you recognize from other corners of the world. “I thought I was already there.”

Jace’s Honda Rebel 300 is left on the shoulder of the highway with its fuel tank uncapped, drained to feed the Tahoe, prehistoric combustion, bottomless mechanical hunger. Rhaena takes over driving so Baela can sit with Jace, touch him, inhale him, convince herself he’s real. Aegon climbs into the passenger’s seat and skips songs on the CD player until he finds the one he wants: In Da Club by 50 Cent. The miles roll by so soft and so infinite that you can’t imagine ever feeling trapped again, warm July air unfurling down the darkest corridors of your lungs, hawks on lifeless power lines and fields dappled with white-tailed deer. And you think: Everything will be better now.

You cross the Missouri River and into Nebraska at Plattsmouth, which—according to a plaque mounted on the outskirts of town—the Lewis and Clark Expedition passed through over two centuries ago. Rhaena follows Aegon’s directions to cut between Lincoln and Omaha, avoiding the roiling wastelands of the cities and keeping well north of Cooper Nuclear Station, where in the absence of a successful manual or computerized shutdown before the power grid collapsed, rods of uranium are melting down and irradiating the surrounding area, anemia, cancer, heart disease, radiation sickness, an affliction that eats you alive.

Rhaena takes Nebraska State Route 66 north and then Route 92 due west, lush fields of corn and soybeans and sorghum planted before the dead began to walk, bones of devoured livestock. You stop for the night in a town called Broken Bow, the sky turning the colors of fire and rust and blood, the Tahoe exsanguinated like a man with a slit throat. Every vehicle you pass already has its fuel cap unscrewed; the farther west you go—the scarcer the resources, the longer it’s been since the world began to end—the less the earth will yield to you: less guns, less gasoline, less food, less human settlements scattered across what was once called the frontier. You commandeer a two-story house: white wood, wraparound porch, a long gravel driveway that winds like a snake. There is a small cornfield and a barn, both of which you sweep for zombies before making yourselves at home. You try not to think about what happened to the family that used to live here.

Helaena lights candles, Luke and Rhaena distribute bowls and silverware, Aemond and Rio gather kindling for the woodstove, Daeron keeps watch on the porch, Aegon picks all the Twizzlers out of a mixed bag of Hershey’s candy for Jace. There is a 12-pack of Ramen noodles in the pantry, gallons of water in the cellar, and a pot large enough to cook it all in one batch. Cregan takes Ice and disappears into the cornfield for half an hour at dusk—something none of the rest of you would ever consider—and reappears with an opossum that he’s nearly decapitated with his axe. He butchers it and you brown cubes of meat in a sauté pan placed directly on the glowing embers. The others are horrified and won’t eat a single bite until you do. It’s the first real food you’ve had since you left Saratoga Springs, and you feel satiated in a way you had forgotten existed.

In honor of Jace’s resurrection, some revelry is in order. There are bottles of Grey Goose vodka in a kitchen cabinet, and Aemond allows a two drink maximum for anyone eligible to participate: Baela is too pregnant, Daeron is too young, Aemond himself is too vigilant, too self-sacrificial, too indoctrinated into the religion of his own martyrdom.

“Daddy loved his screwdrivers,” Cregan says. “I remember being five or six and taking a big gulp of one thinking it was Sunny D or Tang or something. Lord almighty, was that a shock!” He guffaws, then inspects the pantry, scratching at the dark stubble on his cheeks. “We ain’t got nothing like orange juice though.”

“Mama made hers with Hawaiian Punch.” You point: there are several jugs of it on the floor between boxes of Pop-Tarts and Welch’s Fruit Snacks and Cheddar Whales, red like crushed blackberries or fresh blood.

Cregan grins at you over his brawny shoulder. “That’ll work, Miss Chips.”

Luke and Rhaena have first watch, Rio and Aegon will take the second. You are blessedly unburdened tonight. This house is big enough for you to get your own room; you climb the staircase with Grey Goose vodka burning in your throat, your head warm and dizzy, a sensation like freefalling as you lie down on the bed.

I left them, you think, the walls spinning around you, echoes of Mama’s voice through the phone as Rio stood there nodding, encouraging you to hang up. I left them and I never looked back. Can someone commit such an act of ancestral betrayal without incurring a curse?

You are still considering this when you feel Aemond’s weight on the mattress and fold into him, the world going dark and hushed and harmless.

~~~~~~~~~~

“I think it’s safe,” you tell Aemond between sighs, his lips on your throat, his hand between your thighs. Late-morning sunlight slants in through the bedroom windows; goldfinches and blue jays flap by chirping blithely. The dead pillage the misfortunate beasts of the earth, but creatures of the air and water are spared. You can hear geese honking from a distance, and the breeze through the cornfield, and calm indistinct voices beneath the floorboards. You can smell pancakes turning from white to gold in a pan sizzling with Crisco. Cregan must be cooking breakfast in the woodstove.

“How sure are you?” Aemond murmurs, his breath warm on your neck, those small teeth he’s always hiding nipping playfully, and if he leaves marks like stains of ballpoint ink you don’t care. He’s whisked every scrap of your clothing away. Beneath him you are bare and helpless and needing more.

���Like…eighty percent sure.”

“I’ll pull out.”

“Like Jace did?”

He laughs and kisses your mouth, not just ravenous but wild like a storm, and all the rest of the world goes quiet. Your ankles are linked around him, his hips rocking with yours. He is wearing only his boxers, black plaid from a looted Walmart, apocalypse chic. “Hopefully better than that.”

“Just try your best. I trust you. I’m willing to risk it.”

“Yeah?”

“It’s worth it to me.” I could be dead in nine months, he could be dead in nine months. I’m not wasting the time we have left.

“It’s your decision. You would be most affected by the consequences.” He draws away and glances down. “I want to look at you.”

“Ohhh.” You stall. “I’ve been trimming with scissors by candlelight. It’s a hack job.”

“I won’t mind.” He grins. “You don’t mind my hack job of a face.”

“I love your face,” you say as you skim your fingerprints down the length of his scar. And then, when he raises an eyebrow roguishly: “I didn’t break any rules. I didn’t say I love you, just your face. I’m totally using you for your face. Your personality is terrible.”

He snickers, kisses you goodbye, retreats to your hips and pushes your thighs apart as you cover your face and whimper, nervous, exhilarated. And then his lips are on you and the trepidation melts away, puddles pooling and then evaporating, and you have a vision of being home again, shivering and dripping in front of the crackling flames of the woodstove after playing outside in the snow and waiting for the fire to take the cold away. Now the fire is growing over you like ivy, tendrils snaking through veins and leaves opening in your lungs, bones vanishing, muscles turning pliant and weightless. You can feel Aemond’s fingers pushing into you, a fleeting second of tension and discomfort, and then a fullness that is delectable, irresistible, maddening.

“Come back,” you plead, and when he does you clasp his face with both hands, kissing him deeply as his fingers remain inside you, thrusting and bathed in your wetness. You’re finally ready for him, you have to be, you need him so badly: like you’re dying of thirst, like you’re running out of air. “Now, Aemond, please. I want all of you.”

And he wants it too. His boxers are gone and he’s positioning himself between your legs, his tongue in your mouth, one hand cradling your jaw as the other guides his cock to where you are slick and aching and aware of an emptiness that has never felt so dire.

He’s so big…

But you are determined to take all of him. You don’t care if there’s pain, if there’s fear. You want to feel what it’s like to be with him before it’s too late.

Aemond presses himself against you, rolls his hips cautiously…and nothing happens. He is a bit more forceful. There is immense pressure, then the beginning of a stretching that is sharp, searing, dreadful, unfamiliar in a way that is completely disorienting. You gasp before you can stop yourself; a wince ripples across your face too quickly to camouflage. Aemond shakes his head and climbs off you, settling beside you on the bed.

“Fuck,” you exhale in frustration, slapping a palm down on the mattress. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand why…why I’m like this…”

“Shh,” Aemond soothes, kissing you. “It’s okay, it’s fine. I’ll help you finish and then we can try again later.”

“Why isn’t this easier?”

“You’re just nervous,” he says gently, smoothing your hair back from your face, like it’s no big deal, like he’s pointing out a bird or a rabbit or the shape of a cloud.

“I don’t feel nervous.”

“It’s not always conscious, sometimes the body reacts without the mind even being aware of it. You tense up and things become…more challenging. But fortunately for us, the treatment is very enjoyable. We just keep messing around and working up to it until one day you’re so aroused and so relaxed that I can glide in without any discomfort whatsoever, and then your body adjusts to this glorious new experience and you aren’t so nervous anymore.”

“Can’t you just…you know…sorry, this isn’t very romantic, but like…shove it in?”

“I could, sure,” Aemond says. “If I was a horrible person. And then you’d learn to associate sex with pain, which would just exacerbate the situation.”

“The problem, you mean.”

He smiles patiently. “You aren’t a problem. We’ll figure it out, we have time.”

Do we? You stare morosely up at the ceiling, shadows of clouds, shades of wings. “I should have hooked up with that Marine at Corpus Christi. Then I’d have practice. I was so afraid of giving a man the power to hurt me or get me pregnant or otherwise ruin my life, but I didn’t know I’d meet you one day. And now I just want everything to be easy for us, and it isn’t.”

“Hey.” Aemond turns your face towards his. “For me, you are…” He struggles to decide on the words, his eye drifting to the window, sunlight turning the blue of his iris to a shallow, glass-clear river. “You’re like an island, and everything else is a sea of poison, and violence, and catastrophically fucked up situations, and when we’re alone together it all goes away for a little while. The world gets quiet. It’s never been like that for me before. I don’t mind if it takes time for us to figure this out. I just want to be with you.”

“What happens when we get to Nevada, and you’re supposed to turn south for the Bay Area while I go north to Oregon?”

Aemond shrugs, but his expression is contemplative. “I’ve been thinking about that. Maybe we’ll all stay together and go to one place, then the other. If Odessa is safe, I can bring my parents, Criston, and Grandfather there. If it isn’t, we can bring Rio’s family south and live in California in that beach house on the cliff.”

“I never thought I’d set foot in a mansion.”

“I never thought I’d eat opossum.”

You laugh and curl up against him, resting your head and a palm on his chest. “How was it?”

“Not too bad, actually. Kind of like dark meat chicken. A little gamey, but I like lamb and venison, so that’s fine with me.”

“Just wait until you try bear.”

“Bear?!”

There is a knock at the bedroom door. Luke’s bashful voice is muted through the wood. “Aemond?”

“Yeah?” Aemond replies impatiently.

This was not an invitation, but Luke doesn’t seem to know that. He opens the door, and as he does Aemond throws the blanket over you so you’re covered, leaving himself completely exposed.

Luke begins: “I’m really sorry, I didn’t want to bother you, but…” His eyes go wide. “Oh, you’re like, all the way naked.” He turns and stares at the wall to be polite. “If it’s a bad time, I could come back in five minutes. Do you need more than five minutes? Wait, that was rude, I didn’t mean it like that, I’m sure you can last way longer than five minutes…um…”

Aemond sighs. “What’s wrong, Luke?”

“Jace is sick.”

“Sick?” Aemond sits up straighter, his eye narrowing. “Sick how?”

“He’s been puking since he woke up.”

You and Aemond exchange a startled glance as you clutch the edges of a blanket patterned with wild horses. Illness, virus, plague, curse.

“He hasn’t been bitten or anything,” Luke says quickly. “So it can’t be…you know…that. And he and Baela don’t seem that worried. But you should probably take a look at him.”

Aemond nods, less alarmed now. “I agree. Can I get those five minutes first?”

Luke smiles. “Yeah. See you downstairs.” He leaves and shuts the door behind him.

You look to Aemond. “Why—?”

He yanks the blanket away and drags you towards him. “I said I was going to help you finish,” he says, grinning, a hand slipping between your thighs.

You bite at his lips when he kisses you and tease: “I don’t need your help.”

“No, I’m sure you don’t. But it’s better when I’m here.”

And he’s right; it is.

~~~~~~~~~~

Daeron is out on the front porch sharpening sticks into arrows and using goose feathers for fletching, attaching them to the wood with a tube of Gorilla Glue that Helaena found for him. Helaena herself is presently floating through the house—soundlessly, ethereally, traceless like a ghost—and partaking in what you all call “apocalypse shopping,��� pilfering the clothes and accessories of the former occupants. She seems to know everyone’s sizes without needing to ask. Aegon, Rio, and Cregan are sitting in the living room and eating pancakes off paper plates, carelessly spilling Mrs. Butterworth’s syrup on hideous 1970s couches ornamented with scenes of pheasants and autumn leaves. Down on the Turkish-style area rug, Ice is merrily chomping her way through a stack of burnt pancakes.

“So Cregan,” Rio says, his bare feet propped on the coffee table. “What did you do before the whole zombie situation?”

“I was a lumberjack.”

“No way!”

“Yes sir. I cut down trees for the power company.”

“What a coincidence,” Rio says around a mouthful of pancakes. “I was an electrician!”

“Well how about that? We oughta go into business together once the world straightens itself out. Where’d you work?”

“All over. Wherever the Navy sent us.”

Cregan sets his fork down on his plate. “You were enlisted?”

“Yeah, me and Chips both. That’s how we met.”

Cregan, much to Rio’s surprise, seizes his hand and shakes it soberly. “Thank you very kindly for your service.”

“No problem,” Rio replies, then turns to Aegon. “No gratitude from you, huh?”

“I showed my gratitude when I let you have the last pancake, you ogre…”

In the only bedroom on the first floor, down a hallway and towards the back of the house, Jace looks worse than you expected. He is heaving into a reusable plastic popcorn bucket, gluey ropes of saliva dangling from his lips; his skin is pale and bloodless, his dark curls damp with sweat. Baela is perched beside him on the bed and holding a wet washcloth to the back of his neck. Rhaena and Luke are loitering anxiously in the doorway, watching Aemond to determine if they should panic.

Jace casts you a bitter glance. “You poisoned me with your poor people food.”

“There’s nothing wrong with eating opossum,” you say, somewhat defensively.

Aemond feels his forehead. “That wouldn’t give you a fever. And everyone else is fine.”

“Maybe I’m extra sensitive. My digestive system has higher standards. I’m built different.” Jace resumes retching into the bucket.

Baela tells Aemond: “He can’t keep anything down. There’s nothing left in him, but he’s still so sick…it has to be a stomach flu, right?”

“Who would he have caught it from?” Luke asks, and Baela doesn’t have an answer.

“Stand up,” Aemond orders Jace when his wave of nausea abates. “Strip down.”

“Aemond, he wasn’t bitten,” Baela says. “I saw his whole body last night. He doesn’t have any scratches or bruises or anything.”

“Fine. But I want to see for myself.”

Jace stumbles out of the bed, pushing away Baela’s hands as she tries to stop him. “Okay, Nick Fury. If you wish to gaze upon the goods, I won’t deny you. I’m not shy.” Aemond rolls his eye. You turn around to give Jace privacy. “What’s the matter, Chips? The only dick you’re interested in belongs to Mike Wazowski over there?”

“Jace,” Baela says, but she’s chuckling. Amused, you stare at a picture on the wall—a haloed Jesus guiding a flock of lambs—as Jace sheds his clothing and follows Aemond’s instructions: lift your arm, turn around, show me the bottoms of your feet.

“No bites,” Aemond confirms, deep in thought. “But the symptoms…”

“It’s not that, Aemond, I’m telling you,” Jace insists, rasping breaths between each clause. “Listen, I got sick when I was alone, before I found you guys again. My stomach, my head. Maybe it’s the same thing now. It didn’t last long, and I thought I was over it, but I guess not.”

“People don’t get better and then worse again after they’ve been bitten,” Rhaena observes softly. “They just get worse.”

Jace lies back down on the bed, his face crumbling with pain. Baela uses the wet washcloth to cool his cheeks and neck. “My head hurts so fucking bad…”

“Because you’re dehydrated,” Aemond says.

“Helaena brought pills, but every time I try to take one I throw it up before it can start working.” There is a gurgling sound in his guts, and then a horrified expression. “Baela, I gotta get outside again.” She and Luke immediately swoop in, grab one arm each, and usher him out of the bedroom, through the back door of the farmhouse, and into the cornfield to allow him some semblance of dignity.

Rhaena gives you and Aemond an awkward smirk. “Helaena found Jace a 24-pack of Angel Soft toilet paper in the basement. So there’s some good news.”

“He needs electrolytes,” Aemond says. “We can’t let him get so dehydrated that his kidneys shut down. IV fluids aren’t an option. Pedialyte would be the next best thing, Gatorade or Powerade if that’s all we can find.”

“We passed a pharmacy on our way here,” Rhaena recalls. “It’s only a mile back, I think.”

Aemond nods. “Then that’s where I’m going,” he says, and walks out of the room.

You say as you follow him: “I want to go with you.”

“No.” Aemond points to Rio, who is now playing Uno with Aegon on the coffee table in the living room. “You and I are going to a pharmacy to get Pedialyte for Jace so he doesn’t die.”

“Cool,” Rio says, standing and fetching his Remington shotgun from where he propped it against the wall. “What’s wrong with him?”

“We don’t know. Maybe food poisoning.”

Aegon says, a hand pressed to his heart: “Personally, I loved the opossum.”

You stare defiantly up at Aemond. “If Rio is going, I have to go too.”

“Aww, so you can protect me?” Rio teases fondly, patting your back with one monstrous palm, an unintentional battering.

“Yeah. Exactly.”

Rio looks at Aemond. Aemond looks at you, touching his chin agitatedly. “You are stressing me out.”

“I’m the best shot. I want to be there in case anything happens.”

“Fine, okay, whatever you want. Just stay near Rio.”

“That’s the idea.”

“A pharmacy?” Aegon asks excitedly. “Can I go?”

“No,” Aemond snaps, and continues out onto the porch. In the gravel driveway, Cregan and Daeron are kneeling by the Tahoe and inspecting the front tire on the driver’s side. “What’s wrong now?” Aemond asks, exasperated.

“Got a flat,” Cregan says. “The little fella here noticed it.”

Daeron is mortified. “Please don’t call me that.”

Aemond peers around mistrustfully, out at the road, into the cornfield. “Someone sabotaged us?”

Cregan shakes his head and taps the tire. “Naw, we just ran over a nail yesterday. You can see it right here. A big one too, a masonry nail, I suspect.”

“Can you fix it?” Rio asks.

“I think so. I saw a jack and a lug wrench hanging up on the wall in the barn, now I just need a new tire, a real one. A spare wouldn’t do us much good, not with all the weight we’re carrying. It’d pop in twenty miles.” Cregan gestures to the main road, but westward, the opposite direction from the pharmacy. “Don’t remember seeing a tire place on our way in. Figured I’d try the other direction. I’ll walk ‘til I find a shop or a truck with the right kind of tires to steal from, whichever comes first. Can’t change a tire on gravel, though. I’ll have to drive the Tahoe out to the road and fix it there. I’m gonna need Rhaena’s keys.”

There is an uneasy lull as Aemond studies him. You, Rio, Daeron, and Aegon—who is lingering on the front porch, not yet ready to admit defeat—glance between them apprehensively. Ice is rolling around in the gravel, coating her grey fur with dust. “How do I know you won’t take off without us?”

Cregan’s face goes dark. His brow, heavy and furrowed, settles low over his eyes. “Look buddy, I’ve done a lot of things for you and your people that I didn’t have to. And now I’m fixing the Tahoe so it can take you west, someplace you decided we’re going. If you don’t trust me, do it yourself. Kill your own opossum. Change your own flat tire. But you can’t, can you? Just like I can’t shoot a zombie straight through the eye or tell you how to cure that sick boy in there. We’ve all got jobs here. Let me do mine.”

Aemond glowers at Cregan, knowing he’s right. Daeron averts his eyes; Rio, grinning, eats a handful of Cheddar Whales from a pocket of his cargo shorts. You lay a palm on Aemond’s forearm. “Aemond…he’s trying to help.”

“Sure,” Aemond replies crossly.

“You want collateral?” Cregan says. “Take my dog.” He whistles, and Ice scampers to his side. He points to you. “Go on, princess.” Ice obediently trots over to stand with you, shaggy ash-colored fur, bestial amber eyes like a rattlesnake’s. “She’ll look after you on your way to the pharmacy and back. And if the Tahoe and I have mysteriously vanished upon your return, you can eat her for dinner.”

“You don’t want a warning if you’re about to run into zombies?” Rio asks.

Cregan chuckles as he picks up his axe off the gravel. “Don’t you worry about me. We haven’t heard a peep since we got into town, and I’m just going a little ways up the road. Any less than ten of those abominations, and I can take care of myself.” He gives you and Rio a parting salute and strides into the farmhouse to collect the Tahoe keys from Rhaena.

Aemond turns to Daeron. “Stay here, keep watch. We’ll be back as soon as we can.”

Daeron nods, glancing to where his compound bow rests on the front porch. “Got it.”

“Aegon will help you.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Aegon says. “I want to go to the pharmacy too.”

Aemond is losing what remains of his patience. “No.”

“Please?”

“No!”

“Then can you at least bring me something back?”

Rio is confounded. “What do you need?”

“You know…” Aegon gestures vaguely. “Percocet, Vicodin, Oxy, maybe some of that cough syrup with the codeine in it—”

“Grow the fuck up,” Aemond flares, and Aegon falls silent. “You’re thirty years old. Take some goddamn responsibility for something, for anything. I have to go to the pharmacy, Cregan has to fix the Tahoe, someone has to stay here with Daeron to help protect Jace and Baela, and Luke and Rhaena, and Helaena too. Just shut up and do the right thing. You have to start acting like an adult. Who do you think is in charge if I get killed? I’ve never for a single day of my life had the luxury of making selfish choices, and now I feel like I’m not even allowed to die. Leaving everyone else with you would be like leaving them with nobody.”

Aegon gazes up at him, not offended but childishly, mortally wounded. His oceanic eyes are huge and glistening. “But you’re not going to die before me.”

“That’s not the point,” Aemond pitches back, cutting, caustic. Then he starts down the long gravel driveway towards the road. You give Aegon a small, apologetic half-smile and then follow after his younger brother, Ice loping alongside you.

Rio thumps Aegon encouragingly on one shoulder. “See you soon, Honey Bun.” And Aegon watches the three of you disappear, standing in the dazzling midday light with his arms folded over his chest and his hair in hie face, kicking at the gravel with the Sperry Bahama sneakers he once wore on yachts and golf courses.

“Please try to be nice to him,” you tell Aemond when you’re far enough away to be out of earshot. Rio is humming a song you don’t immediately recognize—probably Enrique Iglesias—and acting like he’s not listening. “You don’t know how much longer any of us have. And if that was the last thing you ever said to him, you’d feel awful about it.”

“You have no idea what it was like being his brother. Since I was born all I’ve done is try to plug the holes he blasts into ships. But there’s always water on the floor, I’m never done bailing it out. He needs to learn how to do things for himself.”

“Yes, he does. But he loves you, and he wants you to be happy. He would never intentionally take anything from you. He’ll grow into his purpose, whatever that is.”

“He needs to do it faster,” Aemond says harshly, and you walk the rest of the way without speaking, listening for snarling or lurching footsteps, hearing nothing but birdsong and wind whispering through leaves.

The pharmacy—a diminutive family-owned business, not a chain—has been ravaged. The glass of the large bay window has been broken out and the shelves looted, empty containers and wrappers littering the floor, crystalline shards threatening to gash, stab, infect.

“Stay out here with the dog,” Aemond tells you. Ice is panting calmly, her ears relaxed, her strange yellowish eyes taking in the scenery without any concern. “If she gets her paws sliced up, Cregan will have yet another accusation to levy against me.”

“You’re going to have to get used to him.”

“Not much of an adjustment for you, it seems,” Aemond says, then steps through the shattered window, glass crunching beneath his shoes. Rio gives you a wink and goes after him. They rummage through the remaining merchandise, strewn about randomly and interspersed among trash. Aemond peeks behind the counter where pharmacists once filled prescriptions and climbs over it, searching for any bottles or boxes that were left behind.

“Sorry guys, no condoms,” Rio announces, then laughs at his own joke.

“Be careful,” you urge from outside. “Look underneath, check the bottom racks. Rio? Rio, down low, check them!”

“Relax, ain’t nothing going on in here. It’s silent as the grave.” He laughs again. “Get it? As the grave.”

“Aemond?”

“I’m fine,” he tells you as he squints to read medicine bottles.

“Okay, okay,” Rio says, squatting to examine the shelves closest to the cluttered floor. “I’m checking all the racks. There’s nothing scary under the racks. Happy now?”

“Very. Helaena said something that freaked me out.”

“She can be a bit of an enigma,” Aemond admits. He is taking a tiny box from a drawer to keep.

“Oh, we got Pedialyte!” Rio says, yanking a jug of pink fluid from a pile of debris. “You think Jace likes strawberry?”

Aemond hurries over to help him hunt for more. “Yeah. It’s like a Twizzler, right?”

Ice noses your hand and whimpers softly. You look down at her. “What?”

She whirls and canters around the side of the pharmacy, then returns to make sure you’re keeping up. You go after her, slow and wary, a hand on one of your Beretta M9s. There’s nothing of note to be found in the narrow, shadowy alleyway other than an overflowing dumpster and two skeletons stripped of every shred of fabric and flesh; even the bones were licked clean.

You turn to Ice. “Did I need to see this?” She whines and shifts her weight from foot to foot, ears perked up. Something else? You look down the alleyway. Far behind the pharmacy and the shops that surround it is a church on a jade green slope, old-fashioned, white wood and a belltower. There is a cemetery beside it, and amidst the small grey blurs of headstones are… “Oh,” you breathe. “So that’s where the rest of the town is.”

The graveyard is full of limp, swaying figures that can only be zombies. You are far away and draped in shadows; you retreat back to the pharmacy without any indication that you’ve been spotted, Ice trailing close behind. Aemond and Rio are climbing out of the window just as you arrive. They are each carrying three jugs of Pedialyte in various flavors.

“Where the hell’d you go?” Aemond says; but he sounds more relieved than irritated.

“There’s a church about an eight of a mile away. And there are a lot of zombies in the cemetery.”

Rio sets his Pedialyte down on the sidewalk and reaches for the Remington 12 gauge hanging over his shoulder by its leather strap. “Okay, let’s go clear them out.”

“No, I mean a lot. Like a hundred.”

He freezes. “Oh.”

“We should leave town,” you say.

“While Jace is puking and shitting everywhere? You want to be stuck in a car with that?”

Aemond is thinking, toying with the little box you saw him pick up earlier. “We’ll leave as soon as we can.”

“What’s that?” you ask him.

He shows you the label. “Injectable morphine. All the pills were gone, but I found one vial of this, and I have syringes in my medical kit. It doesn’t need to be refrigerated. It should still be useable.”

“For Baela?” For when she delivers the baby?

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. Just in case.” Then he looks at both you and Rio meaningfully. “Don’t tell Aegon I have this.”

“We won’t,” Rio promises. And Ice begins trotting back towards the farmhouse, as if trying to rush you along.

~~~~~~~~~~

The Tahoe is at the mouth of the long gravel driveway, still up on a hand-cranked scissor jack. The tire appears to be new, but the lug nuts haven’t been tightened, and the wrench is nowhere to be found.

“Cregan?” Rio says uncertainly, peeking through the cornstalks as they bend in the wind. “Hey, Cregan? Aemond’s sorry he was a bitch to you earlier. He wants you to return ASAP and do manual labor for him.” Aemond grimaces; Rio beams in reply. But Cregan does not appear.

You can hear them long before you reach the farmhouse, muffled chaotic chattering, raised voices and rushing footsteps. As you ascend the steps of the front porch, Rhaena bursts through the door.

“Thank God you’re back,” she says; there is blood on her hands. “It’s Jace, he…he…come look at him. Aemond, you have to do something. He’s sick, he’s really sick. He’s bleeding.”

“From where?” Aemond asks, urgent, bewildered.

“From everywhere,” Rhaena replies, and beckons for him to follow.

The bedsheets Jace is swathed in are blooming with crimson, flowers of doomed gore. Blood drips from his nostrils and his eyes; when he retches into the popcorn bucket, clots of pink and red spew out. Everyone is gathered around him and speaking at the same time, except Helaena. She is crouched on the floor of the hallway just outside his room, her arms wrapped around her bent knees and her face stricken. Ice curls up beside her.

Above the other voices, Baela screams at Aemond, a desperate horrified moan: “What’s wrong with him?!”

Aemond pushes by the others and feels Jace’s forehead, then grabs his wrist to measure his pulse. As Aemond’s fingers tighten, Jace’s skin rips beneath them, the top layer sliding off and leaving only glistening, raw pink. Jace howls, tears of blood streaming down his cheeks. “I don’t know,” Aemond says, his voice unsteady.

“What the fuck do you mean you don’t know?!” Baela shouts back. “You’re a doctor! Fix him!”

“It hurts, Aemond,” Jace gasps, fresh blood on his teeth. When Baela touches his hair, locks of it fall out into her hand.

“He’s turning, right?” Rio says to you. “This is what happened to Snowflake, the blood and the skin and everything—?”

“He wasn’t bitten!” Luke insists, positioned in front of Jace’s bed as if he’s guarding it.

“I don’t care if we can’t find a bite mark, he’s decomposing for Christ’s sake, what the fuck else could it be?!”

Daeron returns with more blankets and towels. Aegon grabs a strawberry Pedialyte out of Rio’s grasp and tries to help Jace drink it. Cregan is muttering: “I ain’t never seen anything like this…”

Decomposing, you think dizzily. He wasn’t bitten, but he’s falling apart…what else does that to a person?

Baela cleans blood from his lips, a towel turning from snow to rubies. “Jace, baby, it’s going to be okay, we’re going to help you…”

“Could it be rat poison or something?” Cregan is saying. “Rabies? Mad cow disease? Ebola?”

“How the fuck do you think he got Ebola?!” Aemond exclaims. “You think he took a jet to sub-Saharan Africa when he was on his own? Use your brain.”

“I’m just trying to come up with ideas here, doc, and I don’t see you with any bright ones!”

He’s decomposing. He’s decomposing.

And then you remember. You kneel down beside the bed so you can look into his face, so you can make him pay attention. “Jace, listen to me.”

“I’m listening,” he replies faintly. He coughs, wet and gurgling. Fresh blood paints his lips. There are blisters beginning to form up and down his arms, you see now, the skin bubbling and separating.

“Jace, do you remember Three Mile Island?”

“What the fuck.” He is baffled, dismissive. “Three Mile what? Huh? What are you talking about…?”

“You’re upsetting him,” Baela says fiercely, tears glittering in her eyes.

But you are determined. “Outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, after we left Fort Indiantown Gap. There were these huge concrete cooling towers. We saw them from the Wawa parking lot.” But he wasn’t there when we talked about radiation. He was still inside searching for guns. “Remember, Jace? Do you remember?”

Now Aemond and Rio are looking at you, petrified, realizing what you must be thinking. No one else understands yet. After a long pause, Jace nods feebly. “Yeah. I remember the towers.”

“Good,” you say, smiling to encourage him. “Okay, this is important. After we lost you at the river, before you found us again, did you see anywhere that looked like Three Mile Island?”

“Yeah,” Jace murmurs as he stares back at you with glazed, bloody eyes; and Rio sighs and shakes his head. “I drove right by it on the Honda. The sign said Byron.”

And it’s been over for him since that moment.

“Alright, Jace.” You want to touch him, to embrace him or cup his cheek. You know it will only make his suffering worse. “Thank you. That’s all I wanted to ask.” He begins to gag again, and Baela hurries to place the popcorn bucket so it can catch his liquefying organs. You turn around and walk through the doorway.

“What’s happening?” Aegon asks you, hushed voice, frantic eyes. He has followed you to the living room, along with Aemond, Rio, and Cregan. You nod to Aemond. He knows.

“It’s radiation sickness,” Aemond says, low and bleak.

“What?!” Aegon gapes at him. “I mean, are you sure…?”

“It fits all the symptoms. He was in close proximity to a nuclear power plant, something the rest of us have intentionally avoided. If there was a meltdown, there are miles and miles that are poisoned with radiation. Passing by on a motorcycle could definitely result in a lethal dose.”

“Poor guy,” Rio says. “Not a good way to go.”

“No,” you agree. It isn’t.

“So how do you treat something like that?” Cregan asks Aemond.

“It can’t be treated,” Aemond replies tersely. “Not here, not by me, not by anyone. Not even if the world was normal again.”

“What do you mean it can’t be treated?! Everything can be treated nowadays! Cancer, heart attacks, diabetes, hell, my cousin got testicular cancer and he was fine a month later, he even got to keep one of his balls!”

“Radiation sickness can’t be treated. He’s going to die.”

“But how is that possible when—?!”

“I need you to try to not be stupid for five minutes,” Aemond snaps.

You say quietly: “He’s not stupid, Aemond. He just doesn’t know about this.”

“You are always defending him.”

“Because not going to med school isn’t a character flaw.”

Cregan asks mildly, looking at Aemond: “Could you explain it to me?”

“It’s pennies in a jar, man,” Rio says. “Radiation stacks up and at a certain point it kills you. It destroys your DNA and your body falls apart. You can get it just by going near someplace contaminated, and you might not even feel it happen. And there’s no way to undo the damage. The pennies never leave the jar.”

Cregan raises an eyebrow at Aemond. “Was that so difficult?”

Aemond ignores him. “We have to tell Jace,” he says instead.

Back in the bedroom—a mineral stench in the air, coppery blood and the salt of sweat—Aegon sits on the edge of the bed and takes one of Jace’s swelling, blistering hands carefully in his own.

“Don’t hold my hand, you loser.” Jace mumbles, and Aegon respectfully releases him.

“Jace,” Aegon begins. “We think you have radiation sickness.”

Jace blinks up at him, wincing and disoriented. “Which means…?”

“Which means, um, it’s going to be…not great.”

“Why are you the person explaining this?”

“You’re right, I really shouldn’t be explaining it. Can someone else explain it…?” Aegon glances around hopefully.

“Jace,” Aemond says. “Those cooling towers you drove by were part of a nuclear power plant that melted down when the power grid collapsed. You received a fatal dose of radiation. It’s the only thing that explains what’s happening to you.”

“Fatal…?” Daeron ventures.

Rhaena gasps and reaches for Luke. Baela’s face is a mask of numb shock. Jace stares up at Aemond for a long time before he speaks. “Aemond, fix me.”

Aemond’s words are brittle and fracturing. “I can’t. I’m sorry.”

“Stop fucking around, man, you’re a doctor. You can fix me. I know you can. You’re a genius. You’re a total freak but you’re the smartest person I’ve ever met. Give me the pills, give me the shots. Cut me open if you have to. I won’t scream, I promise. Fix me. I trust you.”

“Jace, I can’t do anything. No one can.”

“I have to meet the baby, Aemond,” Jace whispers, scarlet tears bleeding down his cheeks. “I have to be here for Baela and Luke. Fix me, man. I’ll do anything you tell me to.”

“Jace,” Aemond says, his voice breaking. “I’m so sorry. I can’t help you.”

Jace looks to Baela, Luke, Rhaena, and at last back to Aemond. “How long?”

“Not very. A few days, maybe.”

“Days?” he echoes, dazed. “What happens?”

Aemond shakes his head. You don’t want to know.

“Yeah I do. Tell me.”

Aemond can’t respond; clear silent tears snake down the right side of his face. Rio answers for him. “You continue to bleed out of every orifice and the rest of your skin falls off. And eventually you die.”

Jace breaks down in sobs. “I was trying to find you guys.”

Suddenly, Baela turns to you and Rio and Aemond, wrathful, hissing. “This is your fault.”

Aemond pleads: “Baela, please don’t—”

“You made me leave him at the river. I knew he was still alive, but you forced me to leave him. If he’d been with us, this never would have happened. But he was alone, and it was because of you. You did this to him. You stole him from me.”

Rhaena tries to console her. “Baela, no one meant to—”

“I just got him back!” she screams, and then shelters Jace in her arms as he clings to her, the skin of his fingers and palms flaking at the pressure, holding onto her anyway. No one knows what to say; everyone has tears burning in their eyes and embers in their throats. “Get out,” Baela demands. “Leave us alone. This is the last time I’ll ever have with him and it’s your fucking fault. So get out.”

And you leave them to their final moments, failing flesh in a dying world.

~~~~~~~~~~

Only Luke and Rhaena flit in and out of the bedroom, carrying soiled linens and the plastic popcorn bucket to be periodically emptied. The rest of you are engrossed in a grim, thunderstruck deathwatch in the living room. You discuss the inevitable in hushed murmurs. It is cruel to let Jace suffer; it is unspeakably horrible to let Baela witness it. Ice alternates between receiving scratches from Cregan, Helaena, and Aegon, never trying to enter Jace’s room. You can hear Jace and Baela talking in there, his retching and groaning, her sobs.

It is not until dusk that Rhaena summons Aemond. Luke is weeping as he paces back and forth in the bedroom. Baela is still sitting on the bed with Jace, resigned now. She does not apologize, but she doesn’t have any more venom to spit either. The rest of you watch from the hallway, keeping a respectful distance. Ice nudges your hand with her nose, but you ignore her. Jace’s bloody eyes roll to Aemond.

“I’m keeping you here, aren’t I?”

“Yes,” Aemond replies. There’s no point in lying.

“And I don’t need to feel myself melting like this for days. I get the idea.” Jace looks at Aemond for a while. His voice is anemic but calm; there are fresh blisters on his face and neck. “What can you give me?”

Aemond opens his medical kit and shows Jace the vial of morphine. “I found this at the pharmacy today. It would be painless, like going to sleep and never waking up.”

“Why do you have that?”

“I was thinking a small amount might help Baela during labor.”

“Is it the only morphine in your kit?”

“Yes.”

Jace nods. “Save it for Baela.” His gaze drops to the Glock in the holster at Aemond’s waist. “Can I borrow that?”

Rhaena stifles a dismayed yelp. Baela closes her eyes, but does not protest. Aemond says: “I don’t think you want to do this.”

“Don’t tell me what to do, Cyclops,” Jace says, smiling. “I’ll be quick, I promise.”

“It’s heavy,” Aemond warns. He clicks off the safety and gives the Glock to Jace. “Are you able to use it by yourself?”

“It’s a very simple two-step process. Barrel to skull, finger on the trigger. I think I’ll manage.”

Again, Ice bumps her nose against your knuckles; again, you barely notice. Baela kisses Jace on the mouth, her lips coming away bloody. Rhaena says goodbye to him, then Luke, whispered parting words you don’t try to listen to. Before Aemond exits, Jace grasps his hand.

“Take care of my family, Aemond.”

“I will.”

“Don’t let the zombies eat me afterwards.”

And then it becomes real. Aemond’s composure falters. “Jace…I’m so sorry…”

“Go,” Jace urges him. Then there is a coughing fit, fresh blood and pieces of stomach and lungs. “Right now. Before I lose my nerve.”

Baela is the last one to leave the bedroom; she shuts the door behind her. Almost immediately afterwards is a deafening bang. Baela sinks to the floor and wails, one hand on her belly, the other embracing Rhaena and Luke when they rush to her. Ice is whining and pawing at the floor, her nails screeching on the hardwood. Aemond alone returns to Jace’s bedroom and reappears with his Glock. He places it back in his holster, his scarred face vacant. There’s blood on his fingers, you see. Jace’s blood, the last he’ll ever shed. Aemond hasn’t noticed yet.

You reach for Aemond’s hand; he flinches away. You ask him, pained: “Do you think if you don’t touch me, it won’t hurt you when I die?”

“Please don’t say that,” Aemond responds in a hoarse, splintering whisper.

Ice yowls, and Cregan is abruptly aware of her. “Oh shit, the Tahoe is still up on the jack. I’ll go get it.” He opens the front door. Under the moonlight, there are upwards of a hundred zombies stumbling down the long gravel driveway. Everyone begins screaming. Cregan slams the door shut and shoves one of the couches in front of it. “What now?!”

“We go through the cornfield,” Aemond says as you are all frantically gathering your sparse possessions. “It will be more difficult for them to see us. We kill as many as we can and we make our way to the Tahoe. Cregan, how long will it take you to get it ready to drive?”

“Maybe a minute. But I’ll need someone to spot me while I tighten the lug nuts.”

“Sounds like my kind of job opportunity,” Rio says, pumping his Remington. Helaena gives you a flashlight. Cregan secures the lug wrench under his belt and picks up his axe. Rhaena has her Ruger out and is telling Baela to breathe, to stay focused, to let her and Luke lead the way.

Aemond comes to you and leans in close so the others can’t hear. “How many bullets do you have left?”

“Not enough. Maybe fifty.”

“Do what you can. Stay near Rio.”

“I’ll try.”

Now there are zombies at the front windows, beating their spongy swamp-colored palms against the glass. Baela, Rhaena, and Luke are leaving through the back door with Daeron; you can hear the whizzing of his arrows and the sick soft sound they make when they pierce rotting meat. Under the weight of so many hands, one of the living room windows pops from its frame and clatters against the floor. You open fire, bullets exploding skulls and spraying brains, corpses jolting and then diving to the ground. You shoot until both M9s are empty, then pause to reload, boxes of bullets that Cregan gave you back in Iowa.

“Let them in,” Helaena says.

“Are you out of your fucking mind?!” Aegon shouts at her. He’s firing his Marlin .22 beside you, quite poorly; Rio and Aemond are in the backyard killing any zombies that find their way towards the cornfield. “We’re not letting them get through the house!”

“Not through,” Helaena says placidly. “In.”

“Oh.” Aegon understands. “Oh! I get it! Trap them inside!” He races to the kitchen and tears the remaining bottles of Grey Goose vodka out of the cabinet, then begins spilling them onto the wood floor. “Helaena, give me a lighter.”

She places one in his outstretched palm and then leaves with Cregan as he escorts her away, leading her by her fragile hand. They vanish together into the cornfield, Ice on their heels.

“Time to go, Chips!” Rio booms; he can’t be far behind Cregan.

“We’re on our way!”

Zombies are pouring through the front of the house; another window has given way. You pull the trigger over and over again as you move with Aegon towards the backyard, his clear river of vodka drawing a path from one end of the house to the other. You hit the grass before he does, then wait for him by the edge of the cornfield. Aemond and Rio are shouting for Aegon to hurry up. He crosses through the threshold, flicks the lighter to life, and throws it into the house. His plan works—the farmhouse is abruptly aflame, cooking zombies like long-spoiled hams—but he neglected to realize that in his haste, he had also accidentally doused his own left leg and Sperry Bahama sneaker. The fire licks up over Aegon’s skin and blazes there radiantly. He shrieks and falls to the ground. Rio yanks his own shirt off and uses it to smother the inferno, then throws Aegon over one shoulder to carry him.

“Go to Cregan!” Rio tells Aemond, shoving him in the direction of the Tahoe. Rio will be slower now, but no one else could still run with Aegon’s added weight. “You and Daeron spot him until I get there!” When Aemond is gone, Rio glances back at you.

“I’m fine,” you say, felling zombies as they round the house. “Get Aegon to the car!” And Rio listens to you like he always does, vanishing with Aegon through the cornfield.

You weave through the leafy stalks, investigating each growl and rustling with the beam of your flashlight. Grotesque, fetid faces plunge through the greenery, and you demolish them. You’re in the rhythm now, wheeling for a target and locking in, squeezing the trigger and watching ghoulish faces disappear. And then you spy a zombie lurching towards you from fifteen feet away, a twenty-something in a red Nebraska Cornhuskers t-shirt making her way down the dirt aisle between two rows of corn; and when you pull the trigger, there is only a dry click in reply. Your other M9 is already empty. You’ve used all the ammo Cregan gave you.

“I’m out of bullets,” you say, but no one hears you; you are alone. Aemond always told you to stay near Rio and you never did. Too late, you realize what an oversight that has been. “Rio? Aemond?!”

There are human voices and gunshots, but reverberating from a distance. Far closer are snarls and groans of the dead. You click off your flashlight, drop to the earth, and crawl until you are as far under a row of corn as you can be, long leaves tickling the back of your neck and damp soil in your nostrils. Clumsy, lumbering footsteps trod by you. From the road, you hear the Tahoe’s engine start with a rumble.

They’re leaving.

You shake your head, here with no one to see you in the dark. Still, the thought persists.

They’re leaving. I left my family and now my family is leaving me.

“Chips, stay where you are!” Rio shouts. “We’re coming back, we’ll find you!”

You wait until they are within ten feet of you, Rio cracking skulls with his Remington—he must be out of bullets too—and Aemond firing his Glock. “I’m here, I’m here!” you cry, and they are lifting you up from the dirt and dragging you towards Tahoe, and Aemond puts his pistol in your hand knowing you can do more good with it. You fire ten rounds before the Glock is empty, and you think with terror: Do any of us have bullets left?

Then you are being helped into the Tahoe, and the second all the doors are shut Rhaena floors the gas pedal, heading west on State Route 92.

~~~~~~~~~~

“I got my drugs after all,” Aegon rasps as Aemond injects him with morphine on the floor of a laundromat on the edge of Merna, Nebraska, far enough to escape the zombies, not so far that the Tahoe risks running out of gas before you reach the next town. His left leg is burned from the knee down, and burned badly: skin, fat, muscle, blood-red scorched ruin. Even through the modest dose of morphine—Aemond is terrified of accidentally killing him—Aegon can still feel what has happened to him. He knows it’s bad. He knows it could be the last mistake he ever makes. “I’m so thirsty…”

“I got you, Honey Bun,” Rio says, and then uses the butt of his Remington to bust open the vending machines and bring him bottles of Powerade. Baela is sobbing in the corner with Luke and Rhaena. Helaena is shining a flashlight on Aegon’s leg so Aemond can see. Daeron and Cregan are keeping watch by the entrance. You don’t even know why. All the bullets and arrows are gone, Aegon can’t walk, the Tahoe’s gas tank is nearly drained. If you are descended upon now, what will you do?

Aegon sobs and clutches for you, links his arms around your waist, rests his head in your lap. You hold him and comb your fingers through his unruly hair over and over again, like a compulsion, like a ritual. You are so afraid to let go of him. You are terrified he’ll disappear.

I wish I knew what to say. I never know what to say.

He’s shaking uncontrollably as Aemond cleans his leg: peeling away dead skin, wiping down the raw flesh with disinfectant. Aegon’s eyes are wide and glassy. There is blood on the white tile floor, pinkish lymph fluid, bits of charred skin. Ice is whimpering, her muzzle propped on her paws and her eyes darting around the room. Aegon manages through the pain, a reedy, gasping whisper: “Tell me about all those places you went when you were in the Navy.”

You can see it like the miles-deep blue of his eyes: the Indian Ocean, the jewel-tone equatorial sky. “On Diego Garcia, they have these birds called red-footed boobies—”

Aegon barks out a weak laugh. “They do not. You’re making that up.”

“No, really, I swear! They’re like seagulls, but they have blue on their face and bright red feet, hence the name. They’re extremely stupid, and one night a few of us were hanging out drinking Guinness and playing pool, and a booby flew in through an open window. We panicked, it panicked, and then it was flying in circles and couldn’t get out. We opened all the doors and windows, and the booby still just flew around banging into the walls. And of course the whole time it was shitting and bleeding and getting feathers everywhere, we knew it was going to take hours to clean up. After thirty minutes of chasing this idiot bird around, Rio snapped, took off his boot, and smacked the booby with it. He was trying to fling it out the window, like hitting a tennis ball with a racket, but he accidentally hit the bird too hard and murdered it. Its beak literally separated from its body and flew across the room. None of us could believe it, we didn’t even know that was possible. Rio felt so bad he started crying. We took the booby—and its beak, of course—out to the beach for a Viking funeral. We made it a little raft of coconut tree leaves, set it on fire with a lighter, and pushed it out into the waves.”

Aegon is cackling. “Bryan Osorio, terrorizer of the homicidal undead and boobies!”

“What else?” Baela says, and you look over at her, startled. The flashlight incandescence turns you all to ghosts, phantoms, half-shadows. At first you don’t know what she means. “What else did they have on Diego Garcia?”

“Oh, tell them about the coconut crabs,” Rio prompts you. He’s settled down beside Aegon and is resting one broad hand on his trembling shoulder.

“Coconut crabs?” Rhaena asks you, wiping tears from her cheeks with her delicate, small-boned fingers.

You are abruptly aware that you have an audience. You can feel yourself shrinking beneath their gazes. “Rio should tell the story. I’m not good at it.”

“Sure you are,” Rio says, smiling kindly beneath dark, wet eyes. “Go on. Tell them.”

So you do.

[weaveandwood]

Midwinter in Waterdeep: Part One

Gale/Tav | Angst & Pining | Read Part Two | Read Part Three | Read on AO3

Summary:

After the Netherbrain defeat, she thought her life with Gale was all wrapped up in a neat package with a beautiful bow. Life in the tower with its schedules, routine, and walls ended up not being for her. So she left.

Over a year later, she finds herself on a job in the city again near the Midwinter Festival, searching faces in the crowd.

She found herself searching faces she passed on the street. None of them were him, of course, but did she want them to be? Had his schedule changed in these many months? She purchased a sweet roll at a food cart, her favorite one he had taken her to almost every tenday. Some things don’t change. She thought once that she could, that she could adapt to living in the city for him, for love, thinking adaptability was her strong point. She was mistaken.

AN: A quick one shot inspired by a song. I don't know if this is a sad AU standalone or if it will work its way into my main fic. I've had this idea rattling in my head for about a week. Nothing but angst and some pining. EDIT: This is now the first part in a three part story

She didn't know why she took a job in Waterdeep of all places. It was the one city she wanted to forget about in the entirety of the Sword Coast. Her memories of the place ran the gamut, from the highest, happiest bliss to the lowest, most soul-wrenching sadness. 

“Will you join me in Waterdeep as the newest member of the Dekarios clan?” He asked in the Elfsong Tavern, on one knee, more nervous than he needed to be. 

“This is my tower, welcome to your new home, future Mrs. Dekarios,” he said with a smile, crossing the threshold.  

“Is everything okay? You feel distant ever since Withers’s party, my love.” He had a sad look on his face, knowing the inevitable was coming. 

“Let’s cancel the wedding.” He entered his study, barely acknowledging her.  

She had left not long after that while he was teaching at Blackstaff Academy, a note on the entryway table for when he returned. The silver ring he had purchased for her upon their arrival in the city acting as a paperweight. 

I’m sorry. I can’t do this. 

That was over a year ago. Now, she found herself back in the city after signing a contract for what turned out to be a relatively easy job for some quick gold. Desperate times, desperate measures. Turns out being the “Hero of Baldur’s Gate” didn’t go far outside of Baldur’s Gate. Her contract paid for one more night of lodging, so she went on a stroll from her inn down the main street toward the docks. 

Dangerous. Tempting. Stupid. 

She found herself searching faces she passed on the street. None of them were him, of course, but did she want them to be? Had his schedule changed in these many months? She purchased a sweet roll at a food cart, her favorite one he had taken her to almost every tenday. Some things don’t change. She thought once that she could, that she could learn to love living in the city for him, for love, thinking adaptability was her strong point. She was mistaken.

She pulled her thin wool coat tighter around her as she kept walking toward the waterfront. Waterdeep was cold this close to Midwinter. Snow was starting to flurry, people were hurrying around with packages. She turned the corner onto a street lined with large houses, his tower near the very end. 

Dangerous. Tempting. Stupid. 

She looked in windows as she walked by, illuminated with the golden light of candles as families and friends got together for celebrations. If she had never left, would she be at one of these parties, laughing as Gale’s arm draped over her shoulders? Would he be regaling everyone with tales of their grand adventure, or of something an apprentice had done at Blackstaff Academy? Would he finish the story by kissing her hand or cheek, as he loved to do in public? 

Had he found someone else? Moved on? A new future Mrs. Dekarios in the tower, one who is best friends with Tara and Morena, slotting into their life with ease and grace, much better than she ever had a hope to? Is he better off not knowing her anymore? 

She didn’t let her thoughts wander to him often, if at all. Tears threatened to form in her eyes - from the memories or the wind she could not say for sure, but she’d blame the wind anyway. The sun was starting to go down, and her inn was in the center of the city. She could handle herself when it came to physical threats, but the cold was getting more and more biting without the sun to lessen its sting. Just a couple more, then I’ll turn around, she thought. The houses down here were so pretty with their decorations. She smiled to herself halfheartedly. This could have been her life. 

She could hear the celebrations from the house two doors down. That would be the one she turned around at, she decided, wanting to attend their celebration from the outside, if only for a moment. She looked in the window from across the street. The front room was indeed full of people, each with drink in hand, laughing and cheering for someone. She laughed to herself as she saw the illusion of fireworks inside the room, setting the room alight with sparkling magic fit for a midwinter celebration. She missed magic. She saw the crowd part, presumably for the subject of the cheers. 

Her eyes widened. Her breathing quickened.

His hair was longer, a little more grey at the temples. He still tied it up halfway. He still had his beard. The creases by his eyes were a little deeper. 

He was looking right at her, frozen, his brown eyes just as wide as hers. 

She turned quickly to make a hasty escape. She knew it was tempting the gods to come down this street, but hadn’t that been the point? Hadn’t she become addicted to the if only during her time in the city?

“Stop!” she heard his voice behind her. She got three houses down before she felt a hand grab hers, stopping her in her tracks. “Wait. Please,” he said, panting.  

Dangerous. Tempting. Stupid. 

She turned around.

[blackhistorystoryteller]

Black Americans should visit Ghana

To know more about black slave trade in Ghana

Monuments of shame

Cape Coast Castle - now a World Heritage Site - is one of about forty forts in Ghana where slaves from as far away as Burkina Faso and Niger were imprisoned. This former slave fortress could hold about 1,500 slaves at a time before they were loaded onto ships and sold into slavery in the New World in the Americas and the Caribbean.

Male captives who revolted or were deemed insubordinate ended up in the condemned cells - a pitch-black room where slaves were left to die in the oppressive heat without water, food or daylight.Rebellious women were beaten and chained to cannon balls in the courtyard

Built in 1482, Elmina Castle on Ghana's Cape coast is the earliest European structure erected in sub-Saharan Africa. Originally Portugese, it was later captured by the Dutch, who used it as a base for the Dutch slave trade with Brazil and the Caribbean. Under the flag of the Dutch West Indies Company, around 30,000 slaves a year passed through Elmina until 1814 when the Dutch abolished slavery.

The Portuguese position on the Gold Coast remained secure for almost a century. During that time, Lisbon leased the right to establish trading posts to individuals or companies that sought to align themselves with the local chiefs and to exchange trade goods both for rights to conduct commerce and for slaves whom the chiefs could provide. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, adventurers--first Dutch, and later English, Danish, and Swedish-- were granted licenses by their governments to trade overseas. On the Gold Coast, these European competitors built fortified trading stations and challenged the Portuguese. Sometimes they were also drawn into conflicts with local inhabitants as Europeans developed commercial alliances with local chiefs.

The principal early struggle was between the Dutch and the Portuguese. With the loss of Elmina in 1642 to the Dutch, the Portuguese left the Gold Coast permanently. The next 150 years saw kaleidoscopic change and uncertainty, marked by local conflicts and diplomatic maneuvers, during which various European powers struggled to establish or to maintain a position of dominance in the profitable trade of the Gold Coast littoral. Forts were built, abandoned, attacked, captured, sold, and exchanged, and many sites were selected at one time or another for fortified positions by contending European nations.

Both the Dutch and the British formed companies to advance their African ventures and to protect their coastal establishments. The Dutch West India Company operated throughout most of the eighteenth century. The British African Company of Merchants, founded in 1750, was the successor to several earlier organizations of this type. These enterprises built and manned new installations as the companies pursued their trading activities and defended their respective jurisdictions with varying degrees of government backing. There were short-lived ventures by the Swedes and the Prussians. The Danes remained until 1850, when they withdrew from the Gold Coast. The British gained possession of all Dutch coastal forts by the last quarter of the nineteenth century, thus making them the dominant European power on the Gold Coast.

During the heyday of early European competition, slavery was an accepted social institution, and the slave trade overshadowed all other commercial activities on the West African coast. To be sure, slavery and slave trading were already firmly entrenched in many African societies before their contact with Europe. In most situations, men as well as women captured in local warfare became slaves. In general, however, slaves in African communities were often treated as junior members of the society with specific rights, and many were ultimately absorbed into their masters' families as full members. Given traditional methods of agricultural production in Africa, slavery in Africa was quite different from that which existed in the commercial plantation environments of the New World.

Another aspect of the impact of the trans-Atlantic slave trade on Africa concerns the role of African chiefs, Muslim traders, and merchant princes in the trade. Although there is no doubt that local rulers in West Africa engaged in slaving and received certain advantages from it, some scholars have challenged the premise that traditional chiefs in the vicinity of the Gold Coast engaged in wars of expansion for the sole purpose of acquiring slaves for the export market. In the case of Asante, for example, rulers of that kingdom are known to have supplied slaves to both Muslim traders in the north and to Europeans on the coast. Even so, the Asante waged war for purposes other than simply to secure slaves. They also fought to pacify territories that in theory were under Asante control, to exact tribute payments from subordinate kingdoms, and to secure access to trade routes--particularly those that connected the interior with the coast.

It is important to mention, however, that the supply of slaves to the Gold Coast was entirely in African hands. Although powerful traditional chiefs, such as the rulers of Asante, Fante, and Ahanta, were known to have engaged in the slave trade, individual African merchants such as John Kabes, John Konny, Thomas Ewusi, and a broker known only as Noi commanded large bands of armed men, many of them slaves, and engaged in various forms of commercial activities with the Europeans on the coast.

The volume of the slave trade in West Africa grew rapidly from its inception around 1500 to its peak in the eighteenth century. Philip Curtin, a leading authority on the African slave trade, estimates that roughly 6.3 million slaves were shipped from West Africa to North America and South America, about 4.5 million of that number between 1701 and 1810. Perhaps 5,000 a year were shipped from the Gold Coast alone. The demographic impact of the slave trade on West Africa was probably substantially greater than the number actually enslaved because a significant number of Africans perished during slaving raids or while in captivity awaiting transshipment. All nations with an interest in West Africa participated in the slave trade. Relations between the Europeans and the local populations were often strained, and distrust led to frequent clashes. Disease caused high losses among the Europeans engaged in the slave trade, but the profits realized from the trade continued to attract them.

The growth of anti-slavery sentiment among Europeans made slow progress against vested African and European interests that were reaping profits from the traffic. Although individual clergymen condemned the slave trade as early as the seventeenth century, major Christian denominations did little to further early efforts at abolition. The Quakers, however, publicly declared themselves against slavery as early as 1727. Later in the century, the Danes stopped trading in slaves; Sweden and the Netherlands soon followed.

The importation of slaves into the United States was outlawed in 1807. In the same year, Britain used its naval power and its diplomatic muscle to outlaw trade in slaves by its citizens and to begin a campaign to stop the international trade in slaves. These efforts, however, were not successful until the 1860s because of the continued demand for plantation labor in the New World.

Because it took decades to end the trade in slaves, some historians doubt that the humanitarian impulse inspired the abolitionist movement. According to historian Walter Rodney, for example, Europe abolished the trans-Atlantic slave trade only because its profitability was undermined by the Industrial Revolution. Rodney argues that mass unemployment caused by the new industrial machinery, the need for new raw materials, and European competition for markets for finished goods are the real factors that brought an end to the trade in human cargo and the beginning of competition for colonial territories in Africa. Other scholars, however, disagree with Rodney, arguing that humanitarian concerns as well as social and economic factors were instrumental in ending the African slave trade.

[a-fluffy-dog24]

Kingdom Pines AU

In a land far away their were two kingdom that hated each other.One of the kingdom was rolled by two twins King Stanley and King StanFord.And Stan adoption his grandchildren, Fords great niece and nephew and go on adventures , were they slay dragons and ride horses. Dipper is in love with a girl with long blonde hair.

If you like the time pirate chapter book you might like this.Also (based on the adoption au make by keleficent and marehami on AO3.It's not associated with the AU but just with a Fantasy coat off paint.And take a lot of Disney Princess movies stuff and Romeo and Juliet,Princess diary's.

Chapter 1. We were the kings and the queens

Once upon a time in the year 1918 off the coast of Middle East this story takes place in early November. It's still autumn, it's colder, the leaves are falling.There were two small kingdoms. One of them was ruled by the The Pines family and the other was ruled by the Northwests, the Northwests richer and their subjects were mean and snotty. So the two kingdoms didn't interact much.

The first kingdom was named Gravity Lands; their castle was gray and blue; it is ruled by two kings who are identical twin brothers. King Stanley wore a red and black robe and a gold crown. He has a girlfriend, an ex wife maybe? named Marilyn  .And King Stanford wore a green and light brown robe and a gold crown. He has a husband named Fiddleford.

"How is the disagreement over money the villagers are having what do you think we should do to stop it" Ford asked "well I don't know I was waiting for them to figure it out but I guess I can ask the Committee what they think" Stan answered. The committee is made up Fiddleford and Marilyn ,Soos and his wife Melody.In the children's room were the twins prince Dipper and princess Mabel. They are both recovering from when they sprain their legs they were trying to climb up a tree. And their Grunkles were to busy giving a Press conference bragging and not paying attention.,They're getting better with medication and resting.

They just turned 12 years old, they are the king Stan's grandkids and king Ford's great niece and nephew . The kings are going to adopt them. They were living in the castle because their parents died in the war 3 weeks ago. In their room their beds were on the opposite side of the room,

Dipper's side the walls were blue, his side had books on the shelves. It was a little messy with clothes and toys on the floor.Dipper was on his bed reading on Mabel's side her walls were purple with drawings on the walls. On her bed were stuffed animals, and toys on the floor she was on her bed knitting a blue sweater.Just then Soos came in. He is the royal helper."Hey dudes, it's bath time, who wants to go first?" he told them, "I will'' Mabel went and took her bath. Both Kings were waiting to help her.

And after her bath they both help dry her off and helped her get on her light purple  nightgown it has a small red bow tied around her waist, she brushed her teeth then, Stan put her on his lap and he brushed her hair ."Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford thank you guys for helping me, with my bath" "it was our pleasure" Ford put on her socks they love doing this kind of stuff for their daughter it make them feel like parents "don't mention it sweetie, are you excited to maybe ride horses tomorrow" he asks ."Yes I bet you can't ride"

"That it" he tickles her, she giggles he stopped Ford gave her a piggyback ride and put her on bed "alright bed time", Stan tucked her into bed. "Good night daddy"she yawns "good night pumpkin I love you"he kisses her head "I love you good night my dear"Ford kissed her cheek "good night papa" "case your dreams go take on this whole world but to me you'll away be my little girl " they both to her quietly sing and she falls asleep.

Then King Ford came in to talk to Dipper "may I have a word with you" "ok Grunkle Ford''Ford sat down on his bed."I know we didn't have much luck last week trying to find dragons, and then you children got hurt but let's try again when you healed" "I hope we can. I've never seen a dragon up close before, maybe we can look in the forbidden woods'' Dipper suggested ."NO absolutely not you know the rules no going in the woods by yourself and no going to the Northwests, castle "

"It's time for your bath" Ford added seeing how he has dirt on his legs,arms and face a little. and smells like BO and pee "no I don't need a bath" Dipper interested,"everyone else has had their bath you stink you need one badly" Stan told . Dipper gets out of bed and tries to make a run for it Stan closes the door and Ford picks him up and puts him over his shoulder carrying him. "I'm not a bag of potatoes" he grumbles. After his bath the kings both help dry him off. Dipper brushes his teeth Ford helps the sleepy Dipper, put on his pj's. His pj's were green Dipper sits on Ford's lap and he brushed Dipper's hair.He looks at the green brush

"Is this your brush?" Ford asks, " see how the brush has a lot of brown hair ."No it's Mabel's why do girls shed so much" Dipper asks them "I don't know it will be a mystery" Stan picks him up. "It breaks the scientific laws of nature, " Ford told him.

Then Stan carried Dipper and tucked him into bed "good night goober I love you" Stan kissed him on the head "Grunkle Ford do you think we'll find a dragon tomorrow". "Theirs is a possibility come on time to rest I love you"Ford kissed his son on the head he falls asleep.They both quietly sing"the monster gone we on are own but you're daddy here beautiful beautiful beautiful boy".

The Kings looked at both of their babies sleeping happily and soundly the Kings leave and do some work in the Library then they go to bed.Stanley's bedroom is a red and gold color "Hey there babe" Marilyn  put her hand on Stan's shoulder they kissed and she helped him up they hold hands and go to bed. Ford's room is gold and green he goes to bed where Fiddleford was waiting.

Chapter 2 Long live all the magic we made

The next day the twins ate breakfast feeling 100% better. Mabel went horseback riding with, ladyWendy she is a servant/friend. Mabel rode a palomino pony named Buttercup Mabel is wearing, a purple dress and her hair was in braids. Wendy road a buckskin named spirit, Wendy was wearing a green dress.Stan came to watch them ride around, in the backyard they raced and jumped over stuff. Then after they get off Mabel sits on the ground, and pets her pony she can talk to all animals. "You like being ridden, you think it gives you a purpose" she talks to buttercup.

"What is she saying," Wendy asked."She said she loved our ride today," Mabel told her. They take care of the horses and head back to the castle, "you did great out there pumpkin" Stan congratulated them. "Thank you it was fun" Waddles squeals and walks, inside "Waddles said he wants a treat" she gives her pig his treat. After Stan and Mabel do some painting together she sits on his lap and they have a lot of fun. "I have a crush" she told him "oh what's their name" "her name is April"."That's great you should talk to her at the party tomorrow how could she not love you sweetie" he replied "thanks I had fun with you daddy" she smiles "Aww I did too" he kisses her on cheek.

Dipper sat on the floor of his closet holding a picture of his mother and sister he misses her so much.And he thinks it's stupid but he wants to be held by his beloved mother he tries to be a man but he started crying a little.Marilyn  was waking in the hallway and she heard muffled cries and opened the children room.And finds Dipper crying he looks up at her and hides the picture from her.

She sit down and asks sympathetically "what's the matter kiddo" "I'm ok it's dumb" he sopped  wiped his tears.She sees the picture and says "you miss your parents'' he nodes and begin to bawl his eyes out she picks him up and hugs him in her lap.He knows he has the words best dads him and his sister could ask for and they give good hugs .But he thinks about how he misses being hugged by a mother figure she knows she can't replace his mother.But she knows both children need someone like her. She finds it hard to cope with the loss of her son as well. "It's ok buddy you're cool granny Marilyn  is here" "thank you" he smiles just then they hear Ford calling for Dipper ."Well you better go" he grabs his bag "you two be careful out there" she told him "we will bye".

Ford,Soos and Dipper walk through the woods to find the dragons, they see gnomes,a bottomless pit ,a couple unicorns and an evil triangle. But no dragons they walked up a hill and they found a cave where the Soos made a lantern. They walked further in the cave and it got very dark. But then they see a huge red sleeping dragon"wow its ginormous" Dipper looks amazed, "this is the coolest thing I've ever seen dude" Soos told them then the dragon wakes up Dipper draws his sword. But then it runs towards him King Ford draws his sword "get behind me boy NOW" Dipper listens. Ford points his sword at it then it flies out of the cave, and into the forbidden forest. And breathes fire."dad that was amazing". "Yea let's go home" Ford said worriedly.

They all eat dinner together in the gold and brown dining room.The bowl and silverware are silver colored for dinner they enjoyed chicken stew with a garden salad. That Soos made for them as the chef.Soos and Melody 6 children eat with their mother.They talk and laugh during dinner.After dinner they clean up and then the Kings call over the children and sit them down and explain. That they have been taking care of them for 3 weeks and they would love it if they could make it official. Mabel read it out loud and translated it from Hebrew into English "the legal guardianship of Catherine Green and Michael Pines' children Mason,Alex, Pines and Mabel, Ariel,Pines

will be gifted if signed by StanFord,Frederick Pines and Stanley,Caren,Pines. The custody agreement will be approved if both parties signed ''.Dipper stated happy crying and Mabel stated too they look at the paperwork it already has the king's signatures on it.The twins joyfully signed and hugged their adopted fathers they are over the moon that their son and daughter. Trust them and love them just like they do and always will. They proudly frame and hang the adoption papers above the fireplace.In the living room so everyone in the Castle can see them.

Then kids had their baths, it's raining outside Mabel sat and watched it she is brushing her hair with a fork she heard another princess did it a lot and it worked. So she decided to give it a shot.She put it down and her cheeks soon looked as wet as it was outside raining .

"Dipper I hope mom and dad will be back from their trip soon" she  knew that their parents are dead.They just haven't got the time to reach  out write a letter she thinks.It doesn't feel like they are gone  it seems like they're on a long trip somewhere where they can't see them can't talk to them. She keeps forgetting that they're not here. That they're not coming home.Tears begin to build up in her eyes and make their way down.

"I wish mom and dad were still here", he walked over and she started crying more he hugged her. "Well I wish they were still alive too" he started to cry a little bit and she hugged him tighter. "I remember when we saw they bodies it WAS SO SCARY " she sobbed "it was HORRIBLE THEY WERE COVERED IN BLOOD AND they were...DEAD " she cries more "and they never coming back Dipper" she was staring to breakdown in tears he hug her and said "I know I want dad and mom too badly But we have Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford,Soos,uncle FiddleFord,granny Maryland and me, people that love us I love you"

Dipper comforted her. "I love you too Dipping sauce"They hug and dry their eyes, and sit there for a bit then the Kings come to tuck them into bed Mabel crawls into bed. Ford took the warm pink blanket and tucked her in "good night, my dear how are you feeling" "I'm tired good night papa I love you" he kissed her on the head and she fell asleep. Dipper crawls into bed Stan takes the blue blanket and tucked him " are you ok Dippy" Stan asks.

"Yeah I'm ok good night Grunkle Stan " Stan rubs Dipper's head softly and he falls asleep "I love you" he whispers "The kings leave "do you think we're doing this right,it's only been 3 weeks since they lost their parents. And we haven’t been the best caretakers."Stan asks him. Thinking about the kids playing and falling out of the tree."Well that’s is true to some extent but I think this is what they would have wanted for the children to be happy and safe". Ford hugs Stan and they go downstairs. They were fun, great uncles but now they need to be the best parents possible "remember when we were that age we were inseparable" Ford asked him "yea seems like only yesterday we would get in a lot of trouble" Stan chuckled.

"I'm surprised we didn't get hurt or worse we have to look out for each other because there was no else too" Ford added. "Remember when we were 12 mom was still alive and we had no cares in the world I miss it" Stan remember being a kid and having no work no kids no worry ."But look at us now I never thought I would have kids of my own even at 55 years old but now we have two wonderful children"

Ford told him.He and Ford didn't always get along as they became teenagers sometimes would argue with each other over dumb things.And also they're father only planned on having one son to take the throne. And he hated Stanley because he was younger and a troublemaker. He emotionally and physically abused him making him feel worthless.The queen would try to stop him but it wouldn't help she patch up and comfort her son after.He wanted StanFord to be king he thought he would make a good king except he despise his sons love for boys.

He also manipulated Ford in to hide all his feelings and told him he was only going to be king because he was born first no one else would trust a freak like him to rule.Both brothers agreed that neither of them wanted to be king alone. And Frederick had been tormenting their lives for years. So when they turned 18 they kicked Frederick out with the help of their mother the queen. It was her kingdom.And he was banished from the kingdom and if he comes back he will be thrown in the dungeon but he Long dead by now."Yup that's for sure I love those kids I would die for them" Stan replied and with that they both went to bed.

Chapter 3 The night you danced like you knew our lives would Never be the same

The next night everyone is getting ready for the ball the entire kingdom is welcome , everybody has washed up and are putting on fancy clothes. Mabel is wearing a light pink and white, with puffy sleeves ball gown. Her hair is wavy with flowers in it, her silver tiara on top. Marilyn  finishes helping her put the last flowers in her hair. She also has little glass slipper  flats. Dipper is wearing a blue and white shut.And on top of his head is a silver crown, and little black shoes. They had downstairs stairs where they saw Grunkles dressed up. Stan is wearing a black and red shirt.

And a gold crown on top of his gray hair. Ford is wearing a green and white shut. And a gold crown on top of his white and gray hair. "You look great my dear" Ford holds her hand and twirls her around her dress blows around he picks her up and holds her she smiles. "You clean up good when you actually take a bath" Stan teased Dipper Ford chuckles.Dipper sick his tongue out at him.Then all the guests arrive, Fiddleford comes over he is wearing a yellow shut and puts his arm around him and kisses Ford on the lips he blushes.Marilyn  holds Stan's hand she is wearing a purple dress her short White hair has a rose in it. Stan kiss her on cheek she smiles.The family mingle with the guests and the kids eat dinner.

Mabel dances with Wendy and Soos the Kings talk to their subjects, Dipper walks over to the punch bull to get a drink. When he sees a girl with very long blonde hair in one big braid. She was in a purple dress "Hi I'm um I am Prince Dipper of Gravity Lands". "Hi I'm princess Pacifica,it's nice to meet you " then they go outside on the balcony. "I've never been to a ball before. I bet my family could hold a better one ""oh really" he said sarcastically "but we never have or at least I've never seen one I'm always locked up in my tower," she admitted."

"Oh why are you locked up in your tower? '' he asks, '' none of your business dork,"she said as he played and fidgeted, with the roses and cuts himself. "AHH '' he yells in pain as she wraps her hair around his cut. And started singing and her hair started glowing he blush and the cut is healed. "Umm thank you" just then the big grand blue clock in the ballroom strikes 8:00 pm "I have to go now my parents will kill me goodbye " she runs off,"wait when will I see you again" he looks for her but she is gone.

After the ball is over the kids are getting ready for bed Dipper looks out the window at the forbidden forest. Mabel walked over to him "hey I just met this handsome boy, his name is John but I also met my crush she's pretty and her name is April and I don't know who I should ask out" "well that tricky umm ask the one you know more out". "Ok thank you I don't see you that much" "umm can I tell you a secret". "Sure bro bro anything"

"Well I talk to this girl and she is cute and super pretty" he giggles. "Oh somebody's in love" she teased "and she has magic hair but she said she has to leave and I think she is in the forbidden forest". "oh but you know daddy and papa won't ,let you go there or if she is a Northwest,". "I know but I got to do something" just then the kings came to put them to bed."Children I have story to tell you" Ford told them he sat on Mabel's bed the kids crawl on it get comfort. Stan sat in a chair beside them "I will tell you the story of Hansel and Gretel, they're twins like you too" he tells the children.

"I think we've heard this story before when we were little" Dipper complains "you can go to bed if you want" Stan remind he "fine". "Start the story already PLEASE" she begs "once upon a time they're where two twins a brother and a sister they live in the woods in a house with their mother and father. Their parents was having a hard time finding food for the children. The children were hungry" "this when they find the house made of candy that's my favorite part" Mabel interruption him. "Not yet... one day they're father had to cut down some wood so Hansel and Gretel sat by the fire and ate one piece of bread then they fell asleep together."Aww we sometimes do that" Mabel said "yea we do" Dipper agreed. "Anyway.. the twins woke up one morning and were playing in the forest and they saw a house made of candy and cake."

"I want to live there and eat the whole thing" Mabel told them "I bet I can help with that" Stan mentioned. Ford starts the story again a little peeved that he keeps getting interrupted "Okay.. Then the children began eating the house. Then the door opened, and an old woman came out. "Ah, my dear children, come here you must come indoors and stay with me, you will be no trouble." So she took them each by the hand, and led them into her little house. And there they found a meal laid out, of milk and pancakes, with sugar, apples, and nuts. After that she showed them two little beds, and Hansel and Grethel laid themselves down on them, and thought they were in heaven.She was downstairs getting ready an oven she used to eat them."

"How could she eat kids, what's wrong with her?" Mabel said upset "yea that's gross" Dipper agreed ."I know she crazy She was getting the oven ready, then Hansel  gave her a push, so that she went in , and Grethel shut the iron door upon her, and they both ran away, and left the wicked witch to burn miserably.The twins go home to their mother and father live happily together until the end" Ford finishes the story. "Ok it's bedtime" Stan got Mabel under the blanket he tucked her in and gave her stuff dog Wattles sleeps on her bed. And Stan kisses her goodnight Ford rubs her head softly she falls asleep .Dipper gets into bed Ford tucks him in Ford kisses him goodnight.And Stan rubs his head softly he falls asleep the kings closed the door.

Chapter 4 Promise me this That you'll stand by me forever

The next morning There's a knock at the door Soos answer it a older woman with red hair and formally dressed says "good morning sir my name is Kelly I'm am with the BAPP British administration of proper Princess." "Oh ok just a minute mr. Pines there a teacher lady at the door" "huh...what do you mean Soos" "hello your majesty I'm am with the proper princess administration and we want to help you niece to prepare her for Royal duty's".

" Gotcha....but no we don't need your help so you can just tell your king George that.... " "Stanley what's going on here" Ford interrupt them Mabel run up to them and listens.Stan points at Kelly  "She wants to train Mabel to be a better princess" "well I don't know we should think about it and contact you at a later time" Ford jesters for her to leave. " Wait don't go I want to be a proper Princess" "are you sure pumpkin" Stan asked her "yes I do I need to if I'm going rule the kingdom and it could be fun"she replied Kelly said "we start tomorrow 7:00 am" then she left.

Mabel and papa do some kitting she shows him how to kit himself a yellow sweater and he loves it and wears it the rest of the day.Stan went downstairs to get some work done.To Managing the kingdom. Then Ford and her bake some cookies. Fiddleford helps them and she puts a lot in her mouth Ford laughs at his cute daughter. FiddleFord puts the cookies in the jar Ford kisses him on cheek Fiddleford blushed.Then Mabel asks "uncle FiddleFord how did you guys meet" "well honey take a Seat do you want to start darling"FiddleFord asked him.

"I was a young teenager sitting outside under a tree writing I was lonely .I had always wanted to be in a relationship but the person I loved was too shy to talk to me and so was I". "I reckon was too shy to speak to you because you were so handsome" Ford blushed "Aww thank you babe.Anyway if it hadn't been for your daddy we might have never made a move" Stan pushed Ford to talk to him and invited FiddleFord to sit at a little table in the park. For the two of them to fall in love "And bye goalie it worked we had been together for years" FiddleFord looked into his eyes. "I think we will be for years to come right babe" Ford lovingly told him " absolutely darling" they kiss. Meanwhile Dipper sneaks out to the stables

He tells Soos he's going on a quick Trailride "ok dude have fun" Soos was taking care of the horses He rode out to the forbidding forest Dipper was looking around when he saw a tower. He thought this might be it "Pacifica Pacifica let down your hair" he yelled. Then noticed it was locked and he climbed the tower,and when he got to the window he unlocked it.

And out came lots and lots of golden hair. She puts her hair on a bar on top, and slides down "thank you but I don't need help getting down." She brags Dipper grumbles and notices how much hair she has then he slides down. "You have a lot of hair" "I know dork" she says sarcastically "anyway what you want to do now".

They rode around the red yellow and orange woods on a bay appaloosa pony named Dreamer and had a picnic on the grass. "what are your parents names are they as weird as you " she ask "oh umm my parents aren't alive anymore so my great uncles take care of me umm there twins" she got quiet and regretted asking then said "oh I so sorry I wish I knew my parents the king and queen save me when I was two"

"why do they lock you up in your tower" he asks "because they uses my hair and I'm not allowed to leave my mom tell me she much pretty than me that makes me feel upset it hurt when I left my tower that night they were not happy" "oh Pacifica gosh I'm sorry let go back" he doesn't want her to be in even more trouble than she already is. She flipped up his bangs and saw weird dots on his forehead. "What's that, are they zits" "umm it's my birthmark" he bushes "oh so that's why they call you Dipper".

"Yes my real name is Mason"he said embarrassedly "I like Dipper it's unique" "umm thank you" he looked flustered. she moved closer and kissed him on the cheek,"wow you smell nice" he giggled as she bushes at him. Afterwards he returned her to her tower, said goodbye and rode home.They do this for a few weeks without getting caught.

Chapter 5 How the kingdom lights shined just for me and you

Kelly getting her things together in the living room to teach Mabel. A giant rulebook,heels, a brush. "Ok dude I'm ready to get this party started" Mabel excitedly yelled "first off a princess should never yell unless there is a frog in her hair" she told her. "I kiss a frog once" she added Kelly Roll her eyes "anyway you should speak well and what on earth are you wearing" she was talking about her faded blue and brown dress. "Oh this is my play dress so I don't get my other dresses dirty I kind of like it"she gave Mabel a White dress to change into.

After that she fix her hair into a giant bun on her head.And some makeup "You put the tiara on" she tells her Mabel dose then it falls on the floor "I'm sorry". Then she has walk in hi heels she takes her first step forward then a few more. "Very good almost there" she fall Face first on ground they move on to tea party " finally something I'm good at" Mabel takes sip of tea and a bite of cupcake "mmm that was good" then she burps loudly. " That was a good one .... I mean Excuse me" she blushes Kelly looks frustrated.

"The most important thing that you must do is to be perfect. That means not yelling,waking to heels correctly,you have to know everything about your kingdom how to run it properly you subject look up they expect you to be calm and in control. And you have be quiet and very feminine. Let's Resume later maybe your have better luck" with that she left.

The next day the kings go to wake up the kids and see that their noses are a little red."Are you ok sweetie" Stan pats her head "AHH-OWOW" Dipper sneezes " Aww you sneezes like a kitten".She coughs every time one sneezes the other coughs, Ford makes a call for some help. Stan puts his hand on her forehead and she warm then he puts his hand on Dipper's forehead and his warm too.Soos comes with a thermometer, medicine, breakfast and tissues.

"Open your mouth please" Ford put the thermometer in Mabel's mouth it’s 108f "look like a fever" .Stan handed Dipper some juice he drank it ,Ford walked over to Dipper bed and took his thermometer. And he had a fever too Stan give Mabel her medicine "here you go pumpkin" she drink it,

"do you want some pancakes"he ask "no"she replied Ford gave Dipper he medicine"drink please"."This is disgusting'' he moans Mabel coughs Dipper sneezes Mabel starts shivering Stan take another blanket and wrappers it around her and rub her and she warm up she smiles at him he softly rub her head Ford opened a window a little bit to let the cool, air in and sick air out then Stan tucked Dipper into bed. "You kids get some sleep '' he said. "Call us if you need anything" Ford says "feel better soon dudes" Soos added.They go downstairs to let them sleep. Later they feed them matzo ball soup and medicine. They go back to sleep, then after dinner they give them their warm baths to help with their colds .That night the Dads go to cheek in on they're children they are sleeping. They look worse than before and paler. Ford feels Mabel's forehead and

she burning up she whimpers "Soos get me a cold washcloth PLEASE and get two just in case ".She starts having chills Ford take her blanket and tucks her in.Stan moves Dipper over to her bed he feels burning hot he looks worriedly at Stan. He puts the cold washcloth on his head Ford tucks him in Dipper close his eyes Ford carefully climbs into their bed and puts Dipper on his lap and runs his 6 fingers through Dipper's hair Stan puts Mabel in his lap and put the wet washcloth on her head Ford looks worriedly at his daughter and holds her hand .Stan rubs her hair softly she gave him a small smile they"then she slept.They stay in the whole night there and watch their babies they both to make sure they are ok they are worried something will go wrong.

They remember the night they were born when they thought something might go wrong.Dipper had a hard time breathing. He was turning blue after he was born. That was the first time he scared them and his parents. But the doctor saved him and after their mother got to hold her newborn twins then Stan held Mabel she wrapped her hand around his finger and Ford held Dipper he grabbed Ford's shirt they then they swapped them and held the other babies were so small and helpless.Just like the children are now they don't have their parents to protect them. But now they have their adopted daddys to take care of them. They are very worried they will lose their babies.

But little by little more medicine,sleep and soup the kids get better. And their dads are right there to take care of them and soon they are no longer sick. And they can get back to doing fun stuff.

Chapter 6 I had the time of my life fighting dragons with you

Mabel was in Stan's bed room him and Ford were having a conversation about the Princess training. "Guys I just don't want to do it again because it's not me how a dress or act and it's a pressure on how the kingdom sees me" she told them as she played with her hair. "Well we understand" Ford comforted her "don't ever let anyone ever change you my dear." Stan tells her "Sweetie don't worry about the kingdom you'll have your brother to help you and your already perfect princess to me." She hugs him.

Later the Pines,Soos and Melody ,Wendy and Fiddleford and Marilyn  were in the forest Mabel had found unicorns, pegasus and earth ponies. And she was having a lovely conversation over a tea party. The boys didn't mind being at a tea party . Stan and Marilyn  sat down next to each other and cuddle a little.Mabel was wearing a yellow ball dress and Wendy was putting a bow in Mabel's hair, her and Wendy were talking about horses,dresses and girl stuff.

Dipper was wearing a dark blue, White suit and brown pants . Later the kids climbed up a small cliff Dipper made it to the top first, Mabel got their last she tried to pull herself up but started falling down, Dipper quickly grabbed her hand and pulled her up. "Thank brother" she said "you're welcome little sister" he teases her "by 5 minutes that's what mom said" she reminds him he smiles.

They could see the top of their dads gray hair and Soos too after they went back to the castle. They sit down on the couch Mabel in Stan's lap he snuggles her and Dipper in Ford's lap he cuddles him "Grunkle Stan who was the king and queen before you guys" she asked.

"Well your great grandma was the queen before us. She was the oldest of 6 sisters. She passed away when you two were born."Stan answered. "Yes I believe she in her early 50s when she passed The passing down of power goes to twins usually.Your father my nephew didn't want to be king"Ford explained

"And he and your mom were in the military so he can't be king" Stan told them. The kids started to feel sad. Their eyes filled with sadness, they remember being in the war zone  after they had passed and their bodies bloody lying on the ground with bullet holes in them the kids remember crying and sobbing. The kings were there hugging them. Those first few days were the hardest. It is so tragic that they were only 29 and 30 years old.Ford rubs Dipper's back slowly Stan cuddles Mabel to help her "we sorry if we made you feel sad" Ford looked at both of them. "We know you kids are very sad losing your parents."Stan tries to comfort them "and we know we will never replace your mother and father but we love you so much"Ford added.

"It's okay to cry if you want"Stan reassured them "I want my MOMMY AND DADDY" she sobbed "me too it's not fair if someone was there...maybe " he let the tears fall. "I know it's not Dippy" Stan rubbed Dipper's cheek to comfort his son "I miss daddy would get my flowers" she sniffled "I really miss Mommy she brushed. My hair and she......was caring and there was no one else that could replace her ." Tears build up in her eyes and run down "I WISH SHE WAS HERE " she yelled.

"I I miss......Dadddy a lot he was the only one who understood me if I was there I could've done something" he try to wipe his tears away but they just kept coming "There was nothing you could've done, it's a horrible situation my boy" Ford hugged him but that wasn't helping "why did they have to KILL HER AND NOW SHE GONE" he yelled sobbing in anger . His yelling scared Mabel a little bit and she started crying more . "It's okay sweetie I know they love you I lot I'm sorry you both have to go through this "he let her keep crying to get it.

Out he holds her close and rubs her and because he's trying hard not too breakdown in tears as well.He lost his son and his beloved daughter in law it hurts him as much as it hurts them.But he holds it together for the children ."It really isn't fair I wish no child had to go through this specially you children" Ford comforted and held the crying boy.A few minutes passed .

They both give turns giving the twins kisses on the head and they comfort their babies for a while.And talk about the good things they remember about their parents.The king's know that the hole left by their parents wasn't ever going to be filled.And the children will probably never not be sad and frustrated at the loss. But the best thing to do is to not forget and talk about and work through the pain together as a family.And they take a little nap together Fiddleford see them and take a blanket and tucked them in he runs his hand though Ford's hair lovely Ford smile in his sleep then the kings cuddled and snuggled the children .

Later they receive a letter from the Northwest that they need to come over to their castle immediately to have a meeting. So the Pines got in the pumpkin carriage and rood off.They walked in and sat down in the living room. "Have the children go play in the other room. Well, we talk" Preston told them "and tell Pacifica she is awful at the piano and make her stop playing that horrible noise" Priscilla tells them as the kids went into the ballroom. And they see Pacifica in a pink dress, with her very long hair playing on the piano.She is not the best but she is not bad at it.

"Oh Dipper what are you doing here you didn't tell me you have a sister" "I'm his twin sister my name is Mabel are parents are, talking" ""can we play with you" he ask. "Sure dork lets dance" Pacifica got off the bench and grabbed Dipper's hand. Mabel started playing the piano. She is wearing a yellow dress and a yellow bow in her hair, she started slinging "tale as old as time, true as it can be barely even friends. Then somebody bends unexpectedly" Pacifica and Dipper dance slow and close

"just a little change,small to say the least". She lays her head on his shoulder, he blushes "both a little, scared neither one prepared" he twirls her around "beauty and the beast". Then he kissed her and she blushed when they sat down.The doors few open the parents were arguing "why are we here" Ford asked “because you're grandson Mason has been dating my daughter"Preston yelled

"And what that's crazy" Stan yelled. "Is that true that you disobeyed us?" Ford asked. "Well yes it is, we've been, hanging out" Dipper admitted ."you went to no the Northwests, castle alone"Stan yelled "there's a reason you don't talk to the king and queen were trying to protect you"Fold told him "I'm sorry I know that was wrong I just started talking to her and I feel bad I want to help her I love her" Dipper apologize . "It was my idea to keep sneaking out so he would stop using my hair" Pacifica told them.

Chapter 7 One day, we will be remembered

Pression angry, stopped over"Pacifica Northwest you are no longer the princess of this kingdom and, you shall no longer exist"Pression yelled. "I wish we never adopted you little rat" Priscilla added.He draws his sword and tries to kill her but Dipper stepped in the way of the sword, and it cut half of her hair and the rest disappeared. But the sword also stabbed Dipper's side, making a small wound.

He tried not to cry but he fell to the ground. Pacifica cried and held him. Everyone ran over Mabel hugged the other side of him, she looked at Stan and Ford she yelled "DADDY,PAPA please don't let him die too" she sobbed "is there a doctor in the castle" Ford yelled. "It's okay daddy here" he ran over to her and rubbed her back "This is all your fault he's hurt"Stan shouted back at Pression Ford took a piece of his shut, and tied it tightly around Dipper's wound.

Worried that he might lose his son he tries to keep Dipper calm and try to think of what else to help "We need to get him some help" Stan said worriedly as he was getting ready to pick him up he already lost his son he wasn't going to lose his grandson either. "Daddy please help me"Dipper started to cry Stan not sure what else to he sang to him "the monster gone we on our own but you're daddy here" Stan held hand and rubbed it gently.Ford joined in "beautiful beautiful beautiful boy" he ran 6 fingers through his hair.

Then Mabel hugged him more and tried to use her magic and love for her brother to heal him. A few minutes later he whispered "hey it doesn't hurt any more". "Oh thank goodness"Pacifca hugged him, Stan removed part of Dipper shut and there's nothing left but a small stair. The kings take Pacifica and the twins home. Dipper's stair felt sore the next couple of days,

Pacifica lives with them. She has her own room near Soos and his wife Melody's room. Her room is purple and enjoys her life. She can't use her magic hair anymore but she loves the new freedom she has. She spends a lot of time with Soos and Melody’s 6 other children. And he grows a Bond with her.They takes care of her and helps her with schoolwork.They are they're for her when she has a nightmare and comfort her back to sleep.Then Soos and Melody offers to adopt her Pacifica agrees and she gets a loving mom and dad .

Pacifica talks with Wendy and plays games with Mabel and Dipper. She never had the chance to be a kid but she has never been happier.Dipper and her do still love each other but now they'll never be separated.They can't wait until they are older and how much stronger their relationship will be.

Stan and Ford helped the children with school and taught them how to run the Kingdom a little bit. They also try to make every day fun for their children and let them enjoy being kids for as long as possible.They all celebrate their first Hanukkah as a family and they enjoy it very much.And the fathers try to keep twins from getting hurt physically and mentally they try their hardest.Mabel asks out the girl she likes and they date from a few months. But they release that feeling that is different now and they are growing in different ways and they decide to break up.Mabel takes a break and makes some new friends. Discover a new hobby.Then when she is a little bit older she tries again with a sweet boy named Charlie.

Dipper and Pacifica grow closer. Stan and Ford try their best to raise their son and daughter. They do a pretty good job. They have help from Fiddleford ,Maryland. They feel happy they were chosen to take care of the children. They feel glad they saved that girl from her abusive parents. And no matter what they would always have each other as a family.The boys have a handful raising two teenagers it's hard sometimes and the fathers don't agree with the kids.But the twins love their fathers they are the best parents they could've asked for.

And when they were all grown up, they had children of their own Dipper and Pacifica had fraternal blonde hair twins one boy one girl .Mabel marries Charlie and they adopted siblings one with black hair and one with dark red hair a 7 years old boy and a little baby boy.Together and all 4 of them ruled the kingdom together.The End.

[sundove88]

DBZ: Waves of Freedom Chapter 1: Where The Land Meets The Sea

Our story begins in the coastal city of Scalefall Bay, the very place where land and sea meet in perfect unison. But within the urban jungle, a tale of adventure and the pursuit of freedom will begin.

In a stuffy apartment near Scalefall Bay’s biggest company, Empire Oil Drilling Corporations, a young employee groggily sat up and walked over to the closet where a monochrome work suit lay. “Guess it’s time I start another day at work…”, he said to himself, taking out a hairbrush and combing through his jet black locks. Vegeta knew that this would be another work day at the oppressive Empire Oil Drilling Corps, with him straightening his tie for work and placing on his formal shoes, followed by him pacing out of the apartment he called home and onto the sidewalks.

But unbeknownst to Vegeta, miles off the coast of the city he dwelled in was something else entirely- a realm that even he couldn’t comprehend. For beneath the waves, a race of beings known as the merpeople lived in a society quite like our own, and if they ever felt like it, a merperson could shapeshift their tail into legs if they ever felt the need to walk the earth- and that’s exactly what one young merman decided to do. “Goku, Just please, be careful, and be back home soon, ok?”, said a mermaid as she flicked her tail, that being of a purple and gold Asian arowana fish, while her purple embroidered top flowed with the current. “Of course, Chi Chi! I’ll be back as soon as I can!”, Goku replied as he made his way to the surface from his home in the undersea city of Atlantis, his two sons waving goodbye to their father. “See you in a bit, dad!”, replied the older, Gohan as he placed down a waterproof book. “Bring back something from the surface!”, the younger, Goten, said as he picked up a hermit crab in his hands. Both of them shared their father’s sunset orange fins, and as their father breached the surface, he took in a moment to witness the morning sunlight bursting through the clouds. “Man, I’ve never been here before… and I’ve gotta pick up some stuff… but first, I’ve gotta find a place where I can shapeshift!”

Goku immediately spotted a safe area behind a large rock. As he concentrated on shapeshifting, an ethereal light enveloped him instantly, and he felt his tail split and instantly change into masculine human legs, as well as his clothing materializing into being. “Now that is better. Now to finally get some stuff for my family.”, he said as he laced up his shoes before heading into the fray as a human being. At the same moment, Vegeta was walking towards the headquarters of Empire Oil Drilling, pondering over what his future could be like. Another day at Frieza’s workplace… Man, if only he could give me a break for once! He thought to himself as he walked onwards into the black and white landscape. The scent of the nearby Seabreeze was the only thing keeping him sane that morning as he walked through the front doors of the building, not knowing he’d encounter someone who’d change his life for the better. Before he knew it, he was walking onto his office floor and sitting in a cramped office cubby with almost no room to spare, save for a window that provided a view of the nearby ocean, which made him long for the waves even more. In fact, Vegeta hated his job at Empire Oil Drilling Corps more than anything. He felt like a small fish trapped inside a fishbowl that was no way suitable for him, and he longed for the freedom that was the ocean.

After a very long and exhausting day at work, while everyone else went home to spend time with their loved ones, Vegeta immediately headed for the one place where he felt at home the most- the sea. When suddenly, he accidentally bumped into Goku, carrying various items for his family beneath the waves. “Hey! Watch where you’re going!”, he snapped, before coming back to his senses. “Wait… who are you, and why have I never seen you before?”, Vegeta questioned. “Nevermind who they call me. I’ve gotta get home.”, said Goku as he made his way towards the water- with all of his clothes on! Vegeta watched in amazement as Goku stepped into the ankle deep water, placed the tote bags of his land finds aside, and the water around him immediately began to turn a golden color. Without warning, the golden water enveloped the young man in an instant, and he began to transform back into his true form. “Wait… What the hell’s going on…?!”, Vegeta replied, trying as hard as he could to block out the flash of light. As the young businessman watched, Goku’s clothes disintegrated into bubbles, his legs began to grow scales of orange, gold, and sunset, and his feet lost their shape and flattened into two perfect fins. As his entire lower body fused at the thighs and ended at the former ankles, there was no doubt that the man Vegeta had met mere moments earlier was a merman- and a real one at that. In a brilliant flash of light, the golden whirlpool dissipated, leaving Goku sitting in the ankle deep water with a gorgeous merman tail the color of the sky at sunset. Vegeta couldn’t contain his amazement. “Y-You’re a merman… A real merman!”, he cried.

At those words, Goku turned around in shock. Nobody had ever caught him in his merman form- until now. “Well, I guess it seems so!”, he said as he perched on a rocky outcrop, and Vegeta followed him towards it. “Sorry if I startled you. I’m Vegeta, employee of Empire Oil Drilling Corps over there.”, replied Vegeta as he sat down on the damp rocks, not caring that his pants got soaked- he knew that they would dry out. “Well, the name’s Goku. I’m actually a merman from the Sector of Atlantis known as Mazu’s Harbor!”, replied the orange tailed siren as he stretched out his fishtail after many long hours of walking on land. “A-A merman, eh? Well, do you actually lure sailors to their deaths with your super awesome looks and clear voices?”, questioned Vegeta as he ran his fingers through his hair. “Hehe! You’re actually mixing us up with sirens. They do that more than we merpeople do.”, replied the merman as he flicked his fins in the afternoon sun. “And are you utterly obsessed with your own appearance, to say the least?”, Vegeta questioned again. “Well, it’s actually the humans who are more into that. We value others for who they are instead.”, Goku chirped as he dipped his tail in the water.

The conversation between them dragged on long until the sun began to set in the sky. “Well, I’d better get back home- Chi Chi’s not gonna be happy about me being gone for this long, and so are Gohan and Goten.” Goku said, taking the tote bags in his hands and immediately preparing to dive into the ocean. “Wait! Kakarot! Who are those people you mentioned?!” Vegeta shouted as his new friend resurfaced. “Those are my family members! And I hope that you can meet them one day!”, Goku said as he disappeared beneath the waves, his bright orange merman tail helping him cut through the water. Vegeta smiled as he looked towards the waves, then immediately went straight to his apartment. Unbeknownst to him, he would end up going through so much more than he thought.

Their encounter with each other was only just a small ripple that would grow into something that would change their lives forever.

[batfambrainrotbeloved]

My take on Batfam, but Pirates- Dick's Origin

Hayleys were a group known among almost every coast, made of people still stuck in the "old ways" back when countries had no power over land of people who did not permenatly reside.

They were nomads, people who lived and breathed by the ocean and whose vessels called "barbaic" to some were some of the most skilled sailors to ever traverse the waters.

The "Flying" Graysons were the artists even among the most skilled, known for their expertise and ability to swing from ropes and rafters as if they were soaring through the sky.

But life as nomads in a modern time was far from easy. No longer were the lands free as the seas, and it seemed even the seas themselves were being claimed.

Zucco owned the docks by several major port cities, of course "own" meaning he had no papers- but if you did not pay his toll it was likely there would be grave consequences.

Tired of being extorted during one of their latest trading adventures they docked and did not pay. And they paid the price far more than gold.

The Graysons were targetted, caught on their own side vessel and shown no mercy. Even at the face of Dick, their little Kea, he was picked up by Zucco himself and thrown overboard for the seas to claim.

Despite his entire life off shore, the currents still proved too much for the boy and his strength was sapped away as he watched the dimming light of the monsters lanterns fade away as he drifted further and further from shore.

Dick gave a soft prayer to the sea, begging for her waters to calm and spare him. The waters did not calm, but Dick still believes she heard his prayer. Right as he was struggling his last breath, he saw a ship come into view, black sails, but his mind too foggy to recognize.

He slipped under the currents.

Only to come too Safe and warm inside the lower deck of Lady Gotham, having been saved by her elusive Blackcape, a notorius pirate, but one that did not pillage nor rape, but took justice out on open ocean.

Dick was nursed back to help by the captian and his older companion, but the rest of the ship was empty, not even a swabbie. It didnt take long for him to get the real story of the legand as just a boy like him, whose parents were claimed unwillingly by the sea via the hands of cruel men.

Bruce Wayne was his name, though few recognized it anymore now lost as sand drifted out. He explained Dicks rescue and insisted he would help get Dick back to Hayleys and back Home.

But of course, getting a kid back to a place that didnt exist only in people that never stayed still for long was easier said than done.

By the time they managed to track them down- they were overjoyed to hear Dick was alive, but the boy suprised just about everyone but his old family that he wished to stay on Lady Gotham.

Because to him, Home had never been a place, it was always people.

Bruce of course was not too keen at first, but it seemed his new sons stubborness was stronger than even his own, and soon enough Lady Gotham gained a First Mate.

Blackcape gained his Kea

Pt 1- Pt 2 (this)- Pt 3(WIP)

[jonmyblaze]

My personal rough BAT fam timeline

Bruce Wayne was nine when he witnessed his parents was shot, he was 18 when he traveled the world (he grew up with other former JSA Masters teaching him in America but he was 18 when he went on a world adventure by himself)

He was 19 when he returned and when he first became "Batman. "

--------

Katherine Kane was in her late twenties when her husband was murdered in front of her and her daughter Bette, she remembered hearing stories of her late eldest sister Martha being murdered by Gotham but she had left way before katherine even knew enough about Martha.

------

Dick Grayson would be 9 years old when he was first taken in as a ward by eligible bachelor and Playboy Bruce Wayne celebrating his 21st birthday.

he spent 3 years training supervised with Batman.

Robin would be 12 when he was first allowed to go on patrol alone. Robin would be named after his mother's nickname for him seeing as he was born on the 1st of spring the Grayson's Little Robin.

Bette Kane and Catherine Kane became became bat girl and batwoman, when Betty was 11 (she's only a half a year younger than dick).

Barbara Gordon would be 20 when she first joined the scene as batgirl(she is roughly halfway between Bruce and Dick's age)

Time jump

At age 15 dick would form The Titans with some of his fellow peers Donna, Roy Garth, Wally. (In New York City)

At 18 he would leave the nest and recreate the Teen Titans dubbing the new Teen Titans

(and West Coast would have their own Titans made by Betty called "Titan's West Coast" in jump City

At 19 dick would be kidnapped by the al ghul family after he met a name Talia Al ghoul in meds class

At age 20 he will drop out of college.

At 21 dick would become Nightwing for the first time. Inspired by his "uncle" Clark, Bette following in her cousin's footsteps would become flame bird

Jason Todd would be taking in (12)

and later become Robin (at 13)

More at part 2

&---------------&

This is the first age the gold and silver age of the bat family.

Notable additions I had

The kanes being more prominent, Betty and Dick remaining having their friendship.(also simplifying the Kane's family tree for Bette)

Catherine was way too young to even raise Bruce but Alfred was also dubbed Bruce's godfather and first in line for Bruce's custody should his parents die.

Keeping the pre crisis origin of Barbara being younger than Bruce but older than dick but still an adult able to go to college for bachelor's degree..

Jason Todd having less than a year to convince Bruce to send him on to patrol.

Keeping the origin that Talia first met dick at college for med school (she's probably way older but they were in the same class as she took college a little later)

And I haven't even gotten to Tim yet.

Look out for part two

[whencyclopedia]

Vasco Núñez de Balboa

Vasco Núñez de Balboa (1475-1519) was a Spanish conquistador who famously discovered the Pacific Ocean after crossing the isthmus of Panama in 1513. An utterly ruthless adventurer and colonizer, Balboa was as much a danger to his fellow conquistadors as he was to the indigenous peoples he came across.

Balboa helped establish the town of Darién, the first permanent Spanish settlement on the American mainland. Extracting gold from Panama and instituting slavery and forced labour to work on plantations, Balboa was ultimately outwitted by a Spanish rival who had him tried and executed for treason.

Early Life

Vasco Núñez de Balboa was born in Extramadura in Spain in the small village of Jerez de los Caballeros in the province of Badajoz. His family belonged to the minor nobility. In 1500-1, Balboa joined the expedition of Rodrigo de Bastidas (1460-1526), which hoped to find pearls along the northern coast of South America (present-day Colombia), then a virtually unknown region to the Europeans. The expedition was a success in charting new coastlines but did not find many of the hoped-for pearls. Balboa next settled on Hispaniola (modern Haiti/Dominican Republic), where he owned a plantation, but his business sense was poor, and he was obliged to abandon the island after he racked up huge debts.

Continue reading...

[scotianostra]

1st February 1709 saw Alexander Selkirk, from Lower Largo in Fife rescued from his self imposed isolation.

Born in 1676, the seventh son of a cobbler, Alexander Selkirk grew up in Lower Largo, Fife. At the age of 19 he found himself in trouble with the Kirk Session after his brother’s trick of making him drink sea water resulted in a family fight. Before his case was heard, Selkirk fled to sea hoping to make his fortune through privateering (effectively legalised piracy on the King’s enemies) against Spanish vessels off the coast of South America.

Within a few years his skill at navigation led to his appointment as Sailing Master on the ‘Cinque Ports’, a sixteen gun, ninety ton privateer. The expedition was a disaster. The captain of the ship was a tyrant and after a few sea battles with the Spanish, Selkirk feared the ship would sink. So, in an attempt to save his own life he demanded to be put ashore on the next island they encountered. In September 1704, Selkirk was castaway on the uninhabited island of Más a Tierra (today known as Robinson Crusoe Island), over 400 miles off the West Coast of Chile. He took with him a little clothing, bedding, a musket and powder, some tools, a Bible and tobacco.

At first Selkirk simply read his Bible awaiting rescue, but it soon became apparent that the rescue wasn’t imminent. He resigned himself to a long stay and began to make island life habitable with only rats, goats and cats for company in his lonely vigil.

After several years of isolation, two ships drew into the island’s bay. Selkirk rushed to the shore, realising a little late that they were Spanish. Their landing party fired, forcing him to flee for his life although he managed to evade capture and the Spaniards eventually departed.

Finally On 1st of February 1709, two British privateers dropped anchor offshore. Alexander lit his signal fire to alert the ships, who dispatched a rather astonished landing party to find a ‘wildman’ dressed in goat skins. Remarkably the privateers’ pilot was William Dampier, who had led the Selkirk’s original expedition and was able to vouch for the ‘wildman’.

Selkirk had spent four years and four months of isolation on the island, yet seemed stable when he was found. The experience had, in fact, saved his life. From William Dampier he learnt that he had been right to leave the ‘Cinque Ports’, which had sunk off the coast of Peru with all of its crew drowned except the captain and another seven men, who had survived only to be captured and left to rot in a Peruvian jail.

Selkirk re-embarked on his career as a privateer and within a year he was master of the ship that rescued him. In 1712 he returned to Scotland £800 richer, and surprised his family as they worshipped at the Kirk in Largo. They had long given him up for dead and were astonished that he was alive, let alone alive in his fine, gold and lace clothes. In 1713 he published an account of his adventures which were fictionalised six years later by Daniel Defoe in his now famous novel: ‘Robinson Crusoe’.

Selkirk, however, could never really readjust to life on the land, and, in 1720, a year after he was immortalised by Defoe, he joined the Royal Navy only to die of fever off the coast of Africa.

[funthingsfortoddlers]

Whale Watching is a A MUST DO Gold Coast experience.

We had a fun and memorable family adventure cruising to the Humpback Highway with the amazing crew from Spirit of Gold Coast Whale Watching to watch these amazing creatures as they migrated north.

You couldn't be in safer or friendlier hands than booking a whale watching cruise with Spirit of Gold Coast.

Find out more about our family whale watching adventure with Spirit of Gold Coast here: https://l.linklyhq.com/l/1p81N 

#LoveSpiritWhales #whalewatching #whalewatchingtour #whalewatchingseason #whalewatchinggoldcoast #toddleradventures  #toddlersgoldcoast #goldcoasttoddlers #goldcoastfun #whatsongoldcoast #toddleradventure #funthingstodowithkids #funthingsfortoddlers #familyfungoldcoast #familyadventuregoldcoast #familyadventuresgoldcoast #goldcoastfamily

[originallandlockedmariner]

2023

Pickleball. Generative AI. Lula takes office in Brazil, Amazon Rainforest throws a party. Prince Harry refusing to stop talking about his frozen penis no matter how many times society begged him to stop. UFOs are real. Viral cat dubbed ‘largest cat anyone has ever seen’ gets adopted. Pee-Wee’s big adventure ends. Musk & X. Turkey-Syria earthquake kills thousands. India surpasses China as ‘country squeezing in the most peeps’. Tucker Carlson ousted. Miss USA and her 30 lbs moon costume. Wildfires in Kelowna and Hawaii. Macron tinkers with retirement age of the French. Paltrow can’t ski. Big Red Boots. Bob Barker leaves us. Alabama mom delivers 2 babies from her 2 uteruses in 2 days. Charles III. Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russian forces as the war drags on. Taylor Swift is Time’s Person of the Year. African ‘coup belt’. Flo-Jo dies in her sleep. Chinese spy balloon shot down. Hollywood writers strike. Human ‘nice mugshot’ Shitstain and his 91 indictments. Highest interest rates in 2 decades. The Bear’s Christmas episode. War in Gaza. Shinzo Abe is assassinated. Alex Murdaugh. Ocean Cleanup removes 25 000 lbs of trash from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Vase purchased for $3.99 sells for $100 000 at auction. Barbenheimer. A third of Pakistan is flooded. Lionel Messi is the GOAT. Travis Kelce. The Sphere opens in Las Vegas. Regulators seized Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, resulting in two of the three largest bank failures in U.S. history. “The Woman In Me”. WHO declares COVID ain’t a thing no more. Titan sub sinks, rich people die. Matthew Perry drowns. Dumbledore Dies (again). Massive sales of ‘Fuck Trudeau’ flags for jacked-up micro-dick trucks. Everything Everywhere All At Once. June-August was the hottest three-month period in recorded history across the Earth. Tina Turner dies. And the Beatles release a new song?! Wow… You got big shoes to fill 2024.

Archives for context:

2020

Kobe. Pandemic. Lockdown. Koalas on fire. Harry and Meg retire. Toilet paper hoarding. Alcoholism. Impeach the f*cker. Parasite. Bonnie Henry. Tiger King. Working from home. Sourdough bread. Harvey Weinstein guilty. Zoom overdose. Dip your body in sanitizer. 6 feet. Quarantine. OK Boomer. Home schooling (everyone passes). Murder hornets. Dolly Parton. Don’t hug, kiss or see anybody, especially your family. Chris Evans’ junk. TikTok. Glory holes. Face masks. CERB. West Coast wildfires. Stay home. Small Businesses lose, big box stores win. F*ck Bozos. ‘Dreams’ and cranberry juice. Close yoga studios, but thumbs up to your local gym. Speak moistly to me. George Floyd. BLM. F*ck Trump. Phase 2, 3 and Summer. RBG. Baby Yoda. Biden wins. Bond and Black Panther die. No more lockdown. Back to school and work. Just kidding... giddy up round 2. Giuliani leaks shit from his head. Resurgence of chess. UFOs are real. Restrictions. Dave Grohl admits defeat. Monolith. “F*ck... forgot my mask in the car”. No Christmas shenanigans allowed. Bubbles. Alex Trebek. Use the term ‘dumpster fire’ one too many times. Jupiter and Saturn form 'Christmas Star'. Happy New Year Bitches!!!! 2021... you better not sh*t the bed!!

2021

“We love you, you’re very special”. Failed coup attempt at the Capital. Twitter, FB and IG ban Donny. Hammerin’ Hank goes to the Field of Dreams. Bozo no longer richest man but still a twat. Leachman, Tyson, and Holbrook pass. The economy is worse than expected. Kim and Kanye split. Brood X cicadas. Dre has an aneurysm and nearly has his home broken into. Bridgerton. MyPillow CEO is a douche. Covid restrictions extended indefinitely. Captain Von Trapp dies. Proud Boys officially a Terrorist Organization. Richard Ramirez. Cancer takes Screech. Travel bans. Impeachment trial (again?… oh and this was barely February? WTF??!!) Suez Canal blockage. Myanmar protest. Kong dukes it out with Godzilla, while Raya watches. Olympics. Friends compare elective surgeries. F9. Canada Women’s Soccer Gold. Free Britney. Multiverses. Residential Schools in Canada unearth children’s bodies. Kate is Mare of Easttown. Cuomo resigns. Disney and Dwayne cruise together. Wildfires. Delta variants. Musk passes Bezos. Candyman x 5. Capt. Kirk goes to space. F*ck Kyle Rittenhouse. Astros didn’t win. Squid Game. Goodbye Bond. Dune is redone. Angelina is Eternal. Astroworld deaths. Meta. Omicron. Three Spidermen. Tornados in December? World Juniors cancelled. Pills against Covid. School opening delayed. And Betty White dies. 2022… my expectations are ridiculously low…

2022

Wow… eight billion people. Queen Elizabeth II passes away after ruling the Commonwealth before dirt was invented. The monkeypox. Russia plays the role of global a**hole. Wordle. Mother Nature rocks Afghanistan. Hover bike. Styles spits on Pine. Olivia Newton John, Kristie Alley, and Coolio leave us. Pele was traded to team Heaven. FTX implodes. Madonna and the 3-D model of her vagina. Pig gives his heart to a human. Beijing can brag that it is the first city ever to host both the Summer Olympics and Winter Olympics. Uvalde. $3 trillion Apple. Keith Raniere gets 120 years. The Whisky War ends with Canada and Denmark going halfsies. Mar-a-Lago. Nick Cannon brood hits a dozen. Shinzo Abe is assassinated. Inflation goes through the roof (if you can actually afford to put a roof over your head). Volodymyr Zelensky. European heat wave. Bennifer. Salman Rushdie is stabbed on stage, Dave Chappelle tackled, and Chris Rock is only slapped. Thích Nhất Hạnh. Heidi Klum goes full slug. Cuba knocked out by Ian. Liz Truss and 4.1 Scaramuccis. Taylor Swift breaks Ticketmaster. Human shitstain Elon Musk ignores helping mankind and buys Twitter instead. Riri becomes a mommy. NASA launches Artemis 1. Trump still a whiny little b*tch. Music lost Loretta Lynn, Christine McVie, and Meat Loaf. Democracy died at least three times. Pete Davidson continues to date hottest women on the planet (no one understands how?!) Microplastics in our blood. Alex Jones is a c*nt. So is DeSantis. Argentina wins the World Cup. Meghan and Harry. Eddie Munson rips Metallica in the Upside Down. tWitch. Roe vs Wade is overturned by the micro dick energy of the Supreme Court. CODA. James Corden shows he is a "tiny Cretin of a man". Amber (and the sh*t on the bed) Heard (round the world). Sebastian Bear-McClard proves he’s one of the f*cking dumbest men alive. Latin America's ‘pink tide’. Anti-Semitic rants by Ye. Bob Saget. A verified blue checkmark. Godmother of punk Vivienne dies. And, Tom Cruise feels the need for speed yet again. 2023… whatcha got for us?!? Nothing shocks me anymore.

@daily-esprit-descalier

[glitterandmoondustofficial]

And Onto Further Stillness

Characters: Gale, Yrelia, Tara, the Tadfools Rating: Teen Warnings: Implied sexual themes Notes: Now that I got over my nervousness of being more than 100k words, I'm writing like I'm getting paid. My roommate also assured me that it's impressive that I can write so much so that made me feel better. It ALSO helps that I finally figured out the events right before and during their wedding >:). In any case, I don't really enjoy writing out scenes from the game (or shows) in my writing because you already know what happens. You've played the game/watched the show. It's the before, the in between, and the after that I enjoy writing about. Here's Gale's feelings during the epilogue party. His joy and his pride.

They were back in Baldur’s Gate. Gale and Yrelia were back in Baldur’s Gate.

It had been six months since they had left the city, leaving behind tadpoles, battles, and trauma; and now they were back. Though, it wasn’t for any adventure or quest, it was for a party. A party to celebrate their achievement! To celebrate that they saved the Sword Coast! This would be a most joyous occasion.

Gale made sure to stay at the same inns that they had six months ago. A bit of nostalgia from when he had first proposed, and they were still nervous and scared about what the future might bring. Yrelia noticed while they laid in bed at the second inn, a comfortable thing that had incredible scones. The scone of the season was orange peel and cranberry, and they were frightfully good.

“Are we staying at all of them?” Yrelia asked as she reclined on the bed. She smiled at him as he changed from his outerwear into pajama pants.

“Perhaps. Well, if we can. Who’s to say that some won’t be at full occupancy?"

Her smile grew. “Trying to recreate some memories?” That was her teasing tone. The one that let him know she had a very specific thought in mind. “What was it? The fourth night or the fifth that you…?”

“Fifth,” he said, because, of course, he knew exactly what she was referring to. He walked over to her and took her hand that she had held out for him. He brought her palm to his lips and kissed it. “I am trying to recreate memories of our first days after we became engaged.” She grinned and grabbed his hand, pulling him on top of her. She ran her hands up his arms before wrapping them around his neck. “They are very important moments.”

She hummed and then accepted his kiss. She played with his hair that he had begun to grow longer. “That’s very true,” she agreed. “It was nice to just…relax.”

He grinned and kissed her again. “My lady, I don’t think “relaxed” is what we should call what we did,” he teased and she giggled.

“Especially on that fifth night.” She tapped his nose and then laughed as he buried his face in her neck and bit her throat.

Gale was glad Yrelia was back to herself. She was smiling again, she was laughing. Her hair was in a large, pretty braid with ribbons and flowers sewn in. She crowned him with a circle of flowers before kissing him. The skirt of her purple and gold dress (to match him) almost couldn’t keep up with her. It spun around her, it flew back, it looked so mesmerizing as she flitted around.

On the road she was so…so…unapologetic.

Now that she was back to being herself, she didn’t hold back on him anymore. Her grief, despite there still being a miniscule fraction within her heart, had been accepted. She had made peace with what happened, with herself, with her life. She had come to him the night before they left, five days after Cyr had his most uninhibited tantrum, and told Gale that she was finally content with what happened, she had accepted her past and she was finally happy to have someone who loved her so selflessly.

She was back.

She hadn’t cried since they had left Waterdeep and she was so affectionate. She told him that she loved him over and over. Kissing his face, his hands, his chest. She spoke about returning to Waterdeep and having lunch with their family. She happily spoke about their wedding plans and promised that her dress would be something he would love. 

In bed they barely held back. It was sensual, it reminded him of the first time after everything. After the tadpoles, the Elder Brain, the orb. When they realized they were alive, they were engaged, and they were going home. When they were together and finally alone. Two people who loved each other through so much heartache and trauma, two bodies that seemed to fit together so well.

And it was like that again. Yrelia had recovered, she was at peace. She mumbled how much she loved him in the midst of bliss, in the afterglow as they breathed deeply onto each other’s skin.

“I’m going to clean our tower when we return,” she said as she laid naked atop of him. His fingers were softly tracing her spine as her fingers brushed across his face and neck.

“My love, perhaps we need to have a conversation about appropriate pillow talk?” 

She grinned in response before kissing him. “It’s a new year,” she started again, “and I believe that means a good fresh start to our home.” He hummed in response. “I will make sure the tower smells like pumpkin pie and vanilla.”

“That does sound ever so tempting,” he concurred. “Yrelia, don’t push yourself. You’ve been so exhausted, I would hate for you to harm yourself. Remember our conversation about letting yourself relax?”

“Oh, don't worry so much," she said and kissed the wrinkle in this brow. "You know how much I love cleaning and keeping our tower warm and welcoming,” she grinned at him. “I even have a plan to make Tara something quite comfortable in our room.” She kissed his nose. "But thank you for worrying about me. I do love that about you."

He smiled warmly at her. “Well, I suppose I can agree to that,” he said and kissed her forehead. “Lia,” he breathed out, “I’m overjoyed that you’re feeling better.”

She let out a soft chuckle, “Me too.”

He was thrilled to be at the party. Everyone seemed so…happy to see him. Karlach knocked the wind out of him when she picked both him and Yrelia up in a hug, Shadowheart spoke to them both about visiting them again, Wyll danced with Yrelia and then offered to dance with him, Lae’zel’s projection made sure to ask him if he was still working out and learning to properly fight (and the Yrelia yelled from where she was speaking with Astarion that she was working on his strength), and Halsin presented them a with a wedding present with an apology that he couldn’t make it. Even Astarion was in a good enough mood that he was…not annoyed to see Gale again.

“She seems happy,” Tara commented as they watched Yrelia be picked up into another hug by Karlach. 

“She is,” Gale agreed. “I think she forgot how much they all loved her.”

“How unfortunate,” she sighed, “but after this past month, it doesn’t surprise me. That horrible man and then Cyr throwing a most selfish tantrum, it’s no wonder she has been exhausted.” Tara flew up into the air. “It is promising that she’s acting like this, perhaps she will be willing to start making dinner again, I do miss her roasted pigeon.”

“Do you prefer that these days?” He teased her.

“Mister Dekarios, don’t be preposterous.” He chuckled in response. 

Gale did get a tad tipsy as he spoke to his friends. They all ate and drank and played card games. Everyone commented on how engagement looked on them. He and Yrelia looked…good. They looked healthy. They looked happy .

They both invited everyone to their wedding but understood if they couldn’t make it. Everyone was an adventurer in their own way. It was really only Gale and Yrelia who were able to settle down into a comfortable, safe, and warm life, where their biggest conflict was whether they had the right cheese for their charcuterie board party. And, of course, everything that Yrelia had just gone through, but she came out stronger because of it. She told him that she loved him even more because of it, and, most importantly, she loved herself more.

Everyone retired after about 3:00 in the morning. They went into their tents, mumbling half drunk “good night's".

Gale ran his fingers through Yrelia’s black hair as it was fanned out on their pillow. Yrelia smiled at him, reaching for his face and cupping his cheek. She pulled him in and they kissed softly. 

“Have I told you recently how much I love you?” She murmured and kissed him again. 

“You have,” he said and kissed her. “Two nights ago.” 

She hummed and then grinned when he kissed her again. She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Can you believe we lived like this for so long?”

“And yet you try to do this for fun.” She snorted. “All that I’m trying to say, my dear lady, is that it is far preferable to have a nice book, a rich glass of wine, and a comfortable bed in which we would engage in a quite enjoyable activity, nay, activities, and then follow up with a restful sleep.”

She grinned and pulled him in for another kiss. “I love you,” she said.

“I love you, too. Now, tell me, dearest, how many glasses of wine did you have tonight? You know red does give you acid reflux if you have too much."

She grinned. “I only had one glass of red wine.” He raised his brow at her and she chuckled. “And a bit of white wine and a rosé, and some ale, and a glass of that very smooth whiskey.” She kissed his nose. 

“So you will be having acid reflux,” he teased. “Not too worry, my love, I have bought heartburn relief for this very situation.”

She chuckled again. “You know, I’m not telling you how much I love you because I’m a little tipsy.” He smiled at her. “You are my favorite person, after all.”

“Such flattery,” he said, a bit bashfully. “You just might inflate my ego, darling.”

She giggled. “Oh, I think on this matter, that’s alright.” She kissed his chin. 

“Tara might protest. She already thinks that you spoil me.” Tara cleared her throat. “You see?”

Yrelia laughed softly. “Oh, come now, you two. Allow me to enjoy my fiancé. I think he’s pretty great.” 

Gale kissed her softly. “I love you,” he breathed. “Thank you for coming with me to Waterdeep.”

“You’re welcome,” she said with a warm smile, “I haven’t regretted it once.”

Gale nuzzled her nose. “Not even when Cyr had a tantrum?”

Yrelia snorted. “Darling, be nice.”

“Should I be?”

“Hmmm, I guess you’re allowed to be annoyed. He did insult you.”

“Lia, I was more upset about what he said about you than what he said about me, as offensive as it was.”

“It was quite insulting,” Tara agreed, “and quite ungrateful. We opened our home to him, Miss Rosewood.”

“I know,” she sighed, “but let’s not talk about that now. I want to end the night positively.”

“As you wish,” Gale said with a warm grin. “Come Tara, I believe this is family time.”

Tara sighed like she was put out. “As you say, Mister Dekarios.” She walked over and curled between him and Yrelia.

Yrelia fell asleep with Tara curled up to her chest. Gale watched them, not wanting to fall asleep just quite yet. He wanted to watch his family; his fiancée and his best friend. He wanted to bask in the joy that was his life now. There was warmth and sweetness. There was happiness, there was love. 

There was no longer a loneliness in his heart that he had tried to ignore for many years. Too many years.

Yrelia shifted and opened her weary eyes. She took a deep breath and then yawned. “Beloved,” she whispered, “I can’t sleep while you’re still awake.”

He let out a quiet, breathy chuckle. “Have we reached that point in our relationship?” He waved his hand and the soft light from an illuminated ball fizzled out. He laid down and kissed her forehead.

“I reached it-” she yawned again, “-seven months ago.”

Another chuckle came from his throat. “I have been a most selfish fiancé to you then,” he said lightly, “I’ll make sure to remember that from now on.

“Good,” she mumbled quietly. He kissed her nose. She closed her eyes and breathing became even. He smiled at her and kissed her closed eyes softly.

“I love you,” he whispered. “Thank you for everything.”

He breathed for a moment, breathing in the smoky, warm air from the campfire, breathing in Yrelia’s dulled perfume, and just breathing in the night with his loved ones. He knew true peace now. Despite it being chilly outside and laying on the ground, he was so incredibly happy.

And it was because of Yrelia. Without her he would still be vying for Mystra’s forgiveness, he would still be suffering, he would still be stuck in the rock if not dead. So, even though it was cold and uncomfortable he didn’t mind. He was amongst friends, Tara had stayed with him despite everything, and he had Yrelia.

What more could he want?

[peepingcreek]

Conquerers never send their artillery in first.

Colonialism & The Saltburn Estate

The thing we forget about Colonization, is the first meeting. The Conquerers never send their artillery in first. They always send their brightest anthropologists, with kind mannerisms and willing hearts.

The interactions however genuine, are sullied by who the anthropologist will report back to: the capitalist. The hidden ego running the show from behind the scenes. The individual or entity who fund the work of anthropologists & translators even now. The capitalist will then use the information the anthropologist has gleaned from their adventures and see how best to exploit it. Are they are threat? What resources do they have? Do they have: Iron ore, gold, emeralds, cobalt etc A family in the landed gentry?

The anthropologist then returns to the new culture with their friends, having gained the confidence of the natives. Perhaps some trading deals occur. The two cultures start to interact in ways that are believed to be mutually beneficial. That is until the colonialist makes a final, fatal calculation: The land these people are on, their wealth and resources are for more valuable to me than the relationships (trading and or emotional) I have with the people.

A military convey is deployed and the inhabitants of the land are dispatched. Once the coast is clear, people from the colonizing culture gradually leak into the "new" land and make it their own. The amount of bloodshed that they are aware of varies, but all agree not to dwell too much. A separation occurs. A split in reality.

THE REALITY IS tho, that THIS MODEL OF COLONIZATION WILL HAPPEN INTERNALLY AS WELL. ie Oliver Quick.

Although he didn't know the language of the Ox-bridge elite, he knew how to speak the language of Felix's heart. He knew how to position himself in relationship to the cultural & emotional values that Felix had.

He then reported back to the capitalist: himself

This is the essence of the horror film. Olie was not an innocent bystander to the structure of colonization like the kindly anthropologist. He was fully united with his capitalist shadow in his endevor to take over the Catton fortune.

Ollie colonized the fuck out of the Cattons, and like the errily empty lands of America, Oliver Quick enjoys the spoils of war in the house he did not build, on a land he was not from.

[elspethdekarios]

Re: the Wedding post, #13 and #14!

Yay, thank you for the ask! 💕

13. Outfits - What is the married couple going to wear? Is there special significance in the outfit choices, colors, jewelry, etc?

Elspeth is wearing a gorgeous, form-fitting, silken white gown that shimmers with champagne-gold sparkles. It has small, off-the-shoulder, draped sleeves and a sweetheart neckline. As for jewelry, she wears a set that Gale gifted to her shortly before the wedding: delicate crescent moon earrings in gold with a matching necklace (I imagine it’s the small moon earrings that are in this mod). I was reading in the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide that powerful wizards often have a symbol or glyph that other wizards recognize, and I imagine Gale’s is the one from here. One of Corellon’s symbols is a crescent moon, so it’s a special symbol to Elspeth for two reasons! She also wears the ring given to her by Tessie, her family’s housekeeper, which broke during their adventures and was mended by Gale. She always wears it.

Gale’s outfit is similar to his epilogue outfit, but white and gold instead of purple and gold. He also wears a white wrap top underneath, so it’s a little more formal than the epilogue outfit. He has switched his Mystra earring for one of a rose–another important symbol to Elspeth. She has a rose tattoo on her neck and I won’t go into it here, but it’s significant to her. Also in Waterdeep people refer to their love as their “rose” so it’s extra fitting.

14. Rings - What do their rings look like, if they choose to exchange any?

I have drawn this! Their rings are gold with engraved stars and stones inlaid. The rings were initially one thick band with a “G” and an “E” inscribed before being sliced in two. I also imagine Elspeth has a fancy ring she wears with it, like we tend to do with engagement rings and wedding bands. Here's a mediocre drawing of the bands.

[winterpinetrees]

Voyager Country (The Gap Years Part 29)

July 20th 2019

Red Oak Harbor, the Storm Coast.

The Mercuralis family and Amedi visit Ryn's old home for the anniversary of the moon landing. Emphasis that it is his old home.

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

“It’s so strange. I was never taught a Voyager language, but I can almost understand it”. Even as she talks about linguistics, Amedi can tell that their seneschal is giddy with delight. 

“The grammar and basic vocabulary are ancient, I think used before the Crash. The rest is modern, even human? I keep hearing English and Russian and Common Lazarin. There’s something else that I can’t identify though…” 

“You can recognize all of that?” Amedi says with little interest. 

Esther looks down. “It’s all very procedural. I shouldn’t have bothered you”.

They had officially been on duty until late on the 18th, but the two of them spent most of that day trying to find outfits. Ryn had said they should wear white and gold if they had it, representing lunar rock and the golden visors of human space armor. Red, blue, and green could be good accents, but only worn in small amounts. Amedi, unfortunately, didn’t own much that wasn’t Kebero red or Mercuralis indigo. Esther hardly owned any clothing beside her uniforms at all. In the end, Amedi gave the girl a pair of globe earrings with lab-grown sapphires and told her to just borrow something from the Voyagers once they arrived. 

(They nearly suggested borrowing something from Devanna, which is comical in hindsight. The councilor has about the same body type, but would never let a human wear her clothes. Also there’s something awkward between Esther and her seneschal. )

The Voyagers were happy to share, but they swear these sparks have a grudge. As a member of the High Council, Amedi’s appropriate title is “Your Eminence”. Before that, they had just been Sir, or Adept when speaking to other nobles. The Apex herself lets these people call her Izzy or Auroch, and nicknames are part of the culture, so Amedi lets the Voyagers call them Dee or Ash. They smile good-naturedly, but seethe a little. Can’t these backwater elves (and half-elves and humans) recognize their vambrace? Do they not notice the badge for victory in their fourth year, the six kill markers, or the trophies of war? They should at least see the leaves and spirals of the Spring Army and take that as a justification to not risk their temper. They’re not a child anymore. Certainly noble traditions aren’t any more complicated than measuring years in eights and eighteens like Voyagers do. Anyway, they don’t stop Esther from beaming at her suggestions getting more use. The locals also make good coffee.

It’s a fascinating place! The crowd is half human, mostly wildbloods that Amedi guesses came from Africa or the parallel Caribbean coast. The elves are more varied, but all follow the color scheme of lunar whites and golds. Ryn casually introduces them to his family. His father Halcyon is another tattooed Stormson. His mother Tenera drags her right foot when she walks, but apparently has an interest in their shooting. His oldest brother Procyon has a more canine aesthetic, and wears dog tooth earrings to match centuries-old bite scars. Cyon also holds a human infant, a direct descendant of himself and a human woman who died a century before. Ryn skips a brother he’s on bad terms with to find Gia, a mild-mannered Voyager who seems almost out of place compared to their adventurous siblings. Amedi thinks of their own family back home. Their brother will attend the Conservatory soon, and join them in the merited nobility if everything goes well. 

The most fascinating thing is the hope. They know Voyagers believe they will someday return to outer space, but they assumed it was a myth, like a fated death of the gods at the end of time. Walking around under the tents in the quiet rain, Amedi feels a passion like what has seized the lower nobility around the palace. Elves discuss modern science over fifty-year old recordings, news is passed around about apprenticeships for new trades, and humans even shout for children named after the men on the projector screens. 

Well, not just humans. Fedran, it turns out, is an archaic word for the planet Mars. Amedi thinks they knew that once. Ryn’s mother explains that Fedran was an ancient god of forges and fire. Once the ice sheets began to recede and belief in him faded, he became a sort of patron of mechanics. Elves have walked on Mars twice (Amedi does know that), but then the ice began to melt too damn fast and society Crashed and no one ever went back. 

“His name is a promise,” Ryn explains. “His generation is going back, and we are making that possible”.

Fen chases human cousins through the rain. Half-Mercuralis, half-Voyager, all symbol. A shiver runs down their spine despite the heat.

……………..

An elven voyager with gold paint over her eyes raises a drink and toasts to Ishtar as “Doctor Braun”, and Ryn has a hand around the collar of her shirt within seconds. The albatross tattoo under his vambrace is clearly visible, a symbol of his endurance and skill as a captain. 

“Say that again,” Ryn snarls, and she and Arjuna look at each other in shock. They haven’t seen Ryn instigate a fight in decades. Their children never have.

The other Voyager breathes quickly. There’s fear in her eyes, but like most elves from Ryn’s home, she keeps her cool. “I said your wife is Wernher von Braun. Why are you so mad? He ran NASA, now she’s bringing us back to orbit”.

Ishtar decides to step in. “What is this?” She towers over her second-in-command and the woman he’s fighting. 

Ryn turns back to her with a dark glare. “A Nazi turned American engineer”. 

She waits for the other Voyager to explain. “Basically, yeah”. 

“Human politics don’t concern me, Ryn. You know that. So, what did I do to you? Friends in the human world? A Betrayed family member? Angry that I killed Emer Sondaica?”

The Voyager blinks and her eyes flicker to Ryn’s hand by her neck. “Betrayed friends up river,”

Arjuna calmly steps forward. He looks good in white. It matches his eyes. “Lying”. 

Suen whispers to her brothers. Isolated from the real horrors of court, this is scandalous to her. She doesn’t know why her father can hear heartbeats. 

Ishtar lets his statement sink in. “I truthfully do not care. Enjoy the evening”. 

Ryn releases the woman and slinks back to the family. Chandra takes his hand. “That was so cool! When did Mom teach you how to be scary?”

He tries to laugh but his voice is ragged. “No, no. I taught myself,”

……………

“The woman I knew never would have gone out quietly,” says Ryn’s father, a man so known for adventurous violence against human ships that he was known as Halcyon the pirate before he earned the title of Stormson. “Izzy told you she let go of her scepter? That the final duel was just for show?”

“Well, she got out of it without any real injuries, and I trust my captain”. 

The old Voyager reaches for the tattoos over his collarbone. Twenty-six black bars, one for each ship he helped commandeer over a hundred and fifty years. Ryn’s heard all of the stories. 

“Emer deserved better than what we gave her. Even her harbor name was a reference to how noble she was. We drove her back to those…”

His father trails off but doesn’t break eye contact. His oldest brother, Procyon, takes after their father the most, but Ryn shares a lot as well. All Voyager captains think some of the same thoughts. He can guess the insult and shouldn’t have expected better. “What do you think she deserved?”

“Acceptance. Respect. A name for a proper Voyager. I’d rather have fought a hurricane than her with a cutlass, but all we ever talked about was her magic”.  

It’s a Voyager joke. You do not fight a hurricane. The most elite Voyagers learn to work with the storm and become its symbolic children, but when the earth sends you a category six consequence of hubris from ten thousand years ago, you bring the ships behind the barrier islands and go inland for a few days. 

“She was a good kid. I don’t know what about the throne called her like it did, but she made her choice”. His voice goes quiet. “It must have been the same thing that called you”. 

Ryn needs to defend himself. This is a challenge against his very family and way of life. He does not know why he is so reactive today. Stress? Fear? His noble vambrace is heavy and vulnerable to water. “I wouldn’t have done what she did. I wouldn’t kill someone I love”.

“Would your Apex? You’re lucky to love Ishtar as much as she loves you. I don’t think she would have let you go”. 

Ryn stands and glares. “I’m her first mate, not her seneschal. I’m-”

“I don't know what a seneschal is, Rion. Voyagers don’t keep slaves”.

A cuter nickname for little children. For the millionth time, Ryn wishes he were a noble. He wishes that the very air would crackle with his rage, and that his eyes glowed like rocket trails when he wanted to make himself heard. Ishtar set off an earthquake on the day of the coup. “I’m doing this for us! So we can get our sorry selves back into orbit! The nobility needed a quartermaster and we needed someone in power with actual plans, which happened to be my council. You don’t have to like it, I didn’t even see you for a century, but the throne does call. It calls a whole city of noble bastards and maybe a hundred idiot sparks like me!” He closes his powerless gray eyes and listens to the sound of the wind. “Maybe Izzy would kill her lover for the throne, or me if I tried to desert, or maybe I’d do the same. I don’t plan on finding out”. 

“The truth has a way of revealing itself. Why did Ishtar kill her if she let go of her scepter? It’s because their kind destroy themselves”. 

“So do we! You know full well Voyagers did keep slaves, Northern ones at least, and Cyon got mauled by a bloodhound over it. You don’t get to judge. You don’t understand how the nobility are”. 

His father sighs. He is nearly four hundred and his hair has gone mostly gray. When Ishtar is four hundred, she’ll barely feel it. “You don’t regret anything?” he asks. 

Ryn hardly spoke to his parents for a century. He has a body count, including of children. He will unleash a plague to kill some horrible fraction of the human scientists, engineers, and sailors that they’ve dedicated an entire holiday to. He misses an old friend who died because he didn’t yet understand revenge. 

“Nothing”.

Neither man stands to leave. 

………………

A small brown hawk flies from the branches of a cypress tree and perches on the main pole of a tent. The rain has mostly stopped, and it fluffs it's feathers. Ishtar and Ryn both look at it like it is a messenger from the gods, and one of them believes it.

“We only ever saw her at school, didn’t we? She never got to see this place” she says. The hawk stares down at the two of them.

“It’s a sharp-shinned hawk, Izzy. They’re common here. A sparrowhawk would have brown spots on the underbelly”.

“Life and death, you sound like a seneschal”. She leans back on the bench and throws her arms over the back. “I thought commoners were supposed to be the spiritual ones”. 

Ryn sighs. “Voyagers don’t believe they return to this world in bird form, or otherwise”.

The distance between the Ryn and the people who named him is a thousand leagues wide. On some level, this is an afterlife. The stormson died at the Conservatory with the girl who’s genus was symbolized by a brown-spotted raptor. Ryndrion Stormson Mercuralis is accepted, but he isn’t fully there. His second brother looks right through him. 

“She’d always keep watch, remember?” 

The hawk stretches out one broad wing and preens its feathers. The clouds behind it are pink and orange with the sunset. 

“We could handle it better, but she insisted”. If one of them had been at the top of the tower with her that last night, would she be with them now? Maybe Kavec Adust, that menace, would just have sent a second assassin. Ishtar didn’t take his life for it when they took his stronghold, but her husband would a hundred and fifty years later. Share the load, he’d said, already wracked by hallucinations and nightmares. Her friend’s murder was child’s play compared to Arjuna’s line of work. Ishtar stops mid-breath. They were children.

Ryn shakes his head. It’s a violent action, like he’s tearing his eyes away. “Izzy, it’s just a hawk. I’ve seen them here since I was a kid”.

She doesn’t know how to honor a bird that might be someone she loved. The high nobility worship nothing but their own devastating survival, and Besra hid whatever she did believe during her years in their teenage army. It could have been an empty story the entire time. She extends her open hands in a salute. It’s something to do, at least. 

The hawk flies away after that. 

…………........

At the end of the evening Ishtar and Amedi bump shoulders with human workers and help put everything away. Some of the decorations will be used as soon as the first real hurricane, others will be stacked up until the next year or next milestone of Ishtar’s program, whichever comes first. It’s a small life, what they live here. It reminds Amedi of home and makes Ishtar nostalgic for something she’s never had. Nonetheless, they don’t ignore it when their vambraces light up with an urgent alert from the palace. The two politicians know not to expect anything good from urgent messages, but the news is worse than they imagined. 

There has been a massive break out at Agate prison. All almost all prisoners in the main cell blocks are free, barring a few who are dead. Three Betrayed guards have been murdered, shot dead with a human pistol. The only good news is that the human girl who Amedi cursed has been captured alive. 

They tell Ryn that they need to return and make some sort of statement, but Ryn can stay if he would like. He rarely ever goes home, and the people, especially commoners, will respect a decision to stay when there isn’t anything else he can do. Ryn looks over his shoulder at the party. He’s weathered in a different way than the other adults of this town. His injuries are from other elves, not the worlds themselves. Ishtar imagines his eyes sweeping over the spider lilies climbing up the walls and the lights glittering in the trees. This is the climate he misses during dry summers and when earthquakes shake the palace. Ishtar knows him well. Well enough that she isn’t surprised when his hands clench into fists. 

“That is very considerate of you. But I want to go home”.

They decide to leave the kids with their grandparents for a few days though. Neither of them have the strength to break Fen’s heart and drag him back so soon.

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

No authors notes this time but that the uquiz is a great way tell new college people about this whole thing. I am going to pretend that was the plan all along.

@lokiwaffles @reggie246