#harn grip hard

[fragariavescana]

Wrætlic is þes wealstan, wyrde gebræcon; burgstede burston, brosnað enta geweorc. Hrofas sind gehrorene, hreorge torras, hrungeat berofen, hrim on lime,

scearde scurbeorge scorene, gedrorene, ældo undereotone. Eorðgrap hafað waldend wyrhtan forweorone, geleorene, heardgripe hrusan, oþ hund cnea werþeoda gewitan. Oft þæs wag gebad

ræghar ond readfah rice æfter oþrum, ofstonden under stormum; steap geap gedreas. Wonað giet se ...num geheapen, fel on grimme gegrunden

scan heo... ...g orþonc ærsceaft ...g lamrindum beag mod mo... ...yne swiftne gebrægd hwætred in hringas, hygerof gebond

weallwalan wirum wundrum togædre. Beorht wæron burgræced, burnsele monige, heah horngestreon, heresweg micel, meodoheall monig dreama full, oþþæt þæt onwende wyrd seo swiþe.

Crungon walo wide, cwoman woldagas, swylt eall fornom secgrofra wera; wurdon hyra wigsteal westen staþolas, brosnade burgsteall. Betend crungon hergas to hrusan. Forþon þas hofu dreorgiað,

ond þæs teaforgeapa tigelum sceadeð hrostbeages hrof. Hryre wong gecrong gebrocen to beorgum, þær iu beorn monig glædmod ond goldbeorht gleoma gefrætwed, wlonc ond wingal wighyrstum scan;

seah on sinc, on sylfor, on searogimmas, on ead, on æht, on eorcanstan, on þas beorhtan burg bradan rices. Stanhofu stodan, stream hate wearp widan wylme; weal eall befeng

beorhtan bosme, þær þa baþu wæron, hat on hreþre. þæt wæs hyðelic. Leton þonne geotan ofer harne stan hate streamas un...

...þþæt hringmere hate þær þa baþu wæron. þonne is ...re; þæt is cynelic þing, huse ...... burg....

🙚 🙚 🙘 🙘

Wondrous is this wall-stead, wasted by fate. Battlements broken, giant’s work shattered. Roofs are in ruin, towers destroyed, Broken the barred gate, rime on the plaster,

walls gape, torn up, destroyed, consumed by age. Earth-grip holds the proud builders, departed, long lost, and the hard grasp of the grave, until a hundred generations of people have passed. Often this wall outlasted,

hoary with lichen, red-stained, withstanding the storm, one reign after another; the high arch has now fallen.

The wall-stone still stands, hacked by weapons, by grim-ground files. ...

Mood quickened mind, and the mason, skilled in round-building, bound the wall-base,

wondrously with iron. Bright were the halls, many the baths, High the gables, great the joyful noise, many the mead-hall full of pleasures. Until fate the mighty overturned it all.

Slaughter spread wide, pestilence arose, and death took all those brave men away. Their bulwarks were broken, their halls laid waste, the cities crumbled, those who would repair it laid in the earth. And so these halls are empty,

and the curved arch sheds its tiles, torn from the roof. Decay has brought it down, broken it to rubble. Where once many a warrior, high of heart, gold-bright, gleaming in splendour, proud and wine-flushed, shone in armour,

looked on a treasure of silver, on precious gems, on riches of pearl... in that bright city of broad rule. Stone courts once stood there, and hot streams gushed forth, wide floods of water, surrounded by a wall,

in its bright bosom, there where the baths were, hot in the middle. Hot streams ran over hoary stone

into the ring

i. The Wanderer (anonymous Old English poem ca. 9th-10th century; trans. A.S. Kline)

ii. Maffeo Vegio, Book XIII of the Aeneid, 1428, trans. Michael Putnam

iii. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers, 1954

[smallblueandloud]

kendar gorgeous

the original concept of this is from @words-writ-in-starlight, the bastion of kencyrath-related content on the internet. everyone say “thank you, star!”

-

Tori: I was like 12 years old and my dad walked up to me and he said, “Hello… [chuckles] Hello, I’m Ganth Gray Lord. I’m your father.” And then he said the following, “You know, Tyrandis… was one of the great Knorth and masters of the Senethar, but sometimes he would be Shanir. And according to a song I heard once, when he was holding back the Shanir part, he did some of his best work.

Now we don’t have time to unpack all of that. And I don’t know if he was discouraging me from being Shanir or encouraging me to betray my people because of rigid concepts of honor, y'know, the way he did. But that is how he thought to phrase it to a 12-year-old boy. How would that ever work? Like years later, I’d be the Highlord about to follow my sister, the nemesis, into battle and I’d be like, “Wait a second… What would Tyrandis do?” Which of course would be to follow Jame into battle. I never talked to my dad about that after this, but I figured I would tell all of you.

-

Tori: I never went to Tentir. I got all of my training from this randir, his name was Harn Grip-Hard. Go ahead and laugh. His name is ridiculous. That was his name. It was Harn Grip-Hard. He was from Tentir. He was a beserker. [audience is silent] Oh, gee, very sorry everyone, did that make you uncomfortable? Well guess what! You're all randir and he's not even HERE! So imagine being TWENTY THREE YEARS OLD, fresh out of the Haunted Lands, COMPLETELY untrained and you're sitting in a small enclosed space with him. He's still got blood on his ears. And he's looking you in the eye to tell you for the first time in your VERY young life that SOME people REALLY HATE YOUR HOUSE. And they may just have to kill you over it!

So Harn came every night with a program to teach me about the violent world waiting for me outside my bunk in the Southern Wastes, and that program was called Street Smarts! “Time for Street Smarts with Harn Grip-Hard. Shut up! You’re gonna die. Street Smarts!” That was the general tone. He would give me tips to deal with infighting between the houses.

I will share some of the tips with you this evening. “Okay, tip number one. Street Smarts! Let’s say a Randir pulls a knife on you to try and get the Highlord's seat.” You remember the scourge of muggings when you were in the Southern Host. You know how a Kendar thinks. “Man, I want to be Highlord, the traditionally Knorth seat. Hey, maybe that random Ardeth bastard with the extreme PSTD, y'know, shivering like a wet Chihuawawa will be able to help.” "Let’s say a Randir Kendar pulls a knife on you to steal the Highlord's seat. What do you do? You go fumbling for your father's ring. And you go fumbling for your father's ring. Well, in that split-second, that’s when he’s going to stab you. So here’s what you do. You kid get yourself an Ardeth crest on your jacket. Okay, you can get these at any haberdashery. You put a bright silver Ardeth crest and then when a guy flashes a blade, you point and go, ‘I think I saw a Knorth go that way!’ Then you run the other direction.”

“Tip number two. Street Smarts! Let’s say a kidnapper throws you in their base on a volcano…” This was at nine in the evening. [audience laughing] “Let’s say a Karnid throws you in their base. Don’t panic. [chuckles] Once you get your bearings… find the fabric that contains reality, get some slack in your chains, make a fist, punch through the fabric, thus creating a hole in reality leading to our ancestral enemy Perimial Darkling, then stick your little hand out and wave to your darkling sister training in the eaves of the Master's house to let her know that something HINKY is going on.” Can you imagine seeing that? [imitating the Senetha, pauses] “I think Tori's telling me I'm supposed to be on Water Blowing by now!” [audience laughing]

“Tip number three. Street Smarts! You Knorth have no upper body strength.” And we were like, “We know but, hey.” “If some guy tries to grab you, you can’t fight him with fists. So here’s what you do. You kids run into the nearest building, then go all the way up the stairs and jump down at him from the upper-level window. That’ll throw him off his rhythm.” That was a big thing with Harn, throwing potential assassins off their rhythm. “He’s not gonna know how to fight back with a feral creature of legend coming down at him.” [audience laughing] “If the Knorth women had an accessible flight of stairs and a fascination with the clouds, they’d still be alive today. Street Smarts!”

-

Tori: Harn told me things that haunt me to this day. He came one night for training. He goes, “Okay, when you get kidnapped…” Not if, when. [audience laughing] "Okay, so when you get kidnapped, the place where the guy grabs ya, in the biz we call that the primary location. Okay. Your odds of coming back alive from the primary location, about 60%. But if you are taken to a secondary location, your odds of coming back alive are slim to none.”

I am 35 years old and I am still terrified of secondary locations. If I’m at a place, I never want to go to another place. I’ll be at a council at Gogrethor and someone’ll be like, “Hey, Highlord, you coming to the barracks? We’re all gonna get drinks and keep the party going with the Kendar!” I’m like, “Nah, sister. You’re not getting me to no secondary location. You want it? Look at my Ardeth crest!” Street Smarts! Stay alert out there.

Between Harn and my father’s warnings about the Shanir, I thought I was going to be murdered my entire childhood and young adulthood. As Highlord people are like, “What are your top three plans for the Kencyrath?” I'm like, “Top three plans? I thought I would be dead in a Karnid base or murdered by my darkling sister by now!”

-

Tori: I restored Gogrethor. The whole thing! Holy shit, right? I just got a letter from the Women's World, which was fun ’cause mail, you know? So I open up the letter and they said, “Hey, Torisen, it’s the Matriarchs. You remember?” I say, “Yes, of course.” And they said… How did they phrase it? They said, “Give us a child!”

-

Jame: I found out recently that jokes don’t do well in court. So, some friends of mine were sued back in Tai-Tastigon for property damage. And they were guilty. And the lawsuit dragged on for years and years and eventually I got a letter when I was lordan of the Knorth. It was my friend from Tai-Tastigon, Darinby. He said, “Hey, that lawsuit with my neighbor is still dragging on and my neighbor just subpoenaed all my letters that mention him or the lawsuit.” And I said, “That’s crazy. But why are you calling me?” And he said, “Because you should be concerned.”

"He said, “I have an letter here from when we were apprentices where I wrote, ‘Hey, guys, I’m going to miss drinks at the Moon tonight because I have to meet with my neighbor about that lawsuit thing.’ And you replied, ‘Hey, do you want me to kill that guy for you? Because it sounds like he sucks and I will totally kill that guy for you. Okay. See you at the temple of the Three-Faced God.'”

[audience laughing]

Of all the things I did in Tai-Tastigon I would be ashamed to have mentioned out loud in a court of law, I think the top one is “See you at the temple of the Three-Faced God.” I'm goddamn religious and everything, but that rat bastard doesn't need to be reminded that people worship him.

-

Tori: Jame would go like this. [glares intensely] And Caldane would just do whatever she said! Now that’s not nice, right? The way I was raised, you’re supposed to say, “May I please have some respect, please?” And then maybe you will get some. And I bet all of you were taught to say please and thank you. But if all of us could go "Boo!" and Caldane would float up to the ceiling, we’d do it all day long. Even if you're not even mad at Caldane, you’d just do it so you could get some shade in the afternoons.

[claynine]

Give In

Iwaizumi x F!reader

cw: pegging, praising, alcohol mention,

It was only a one time thing, that is what Iwaizumi told himself for the last three. Why couldn't he keep his word? It wasn't that hard. Well, that was a lie. It was hard because it was you.

You had pegged him once at a party in one of the many rooms of the house, he had surprisingly enjoyed it a lot. He blamed it on the alcohol.

The second time was at a bar, you were sober while he had two beers, he was still sober-ish though. He still blamed it on the alcohol.

The third time was a try, he was sober this time. He came knocking to your door asking for you to peg him, to see if he actually enjoyed it. He thought there was no way he could like this, and he was going to prove it.

And still, sober and all, that day, he liked it. As he came home, his legs a little shaky, he almost hit himself, not understanding how he liked something like that. He was practically alone, he couldn't ask anyone, not his teammates, definitely not Oikawa.

He spent the last two weeks thinking about you and the way you made him feel. He tried hooking up with other girls but he didn't enjoy it, the girls left happy and satisfied, even giving him their numbers which he didn't even save.

He was becoming stressed, like a teenager all over again. He needed you, so bad he raced to your house at 1 AM after contemplating on it all day. And now here he was, once again at your door.

"Iwaizumi? What are you doing he-" you couldn't even complete your confused sentance.

"Please Y/N, I- fuck-" he blushed hard "I need that again"

You raised an eyebrow knowing exactly what he meant but wantinf to tease him a little.

"Hm? What do you mean?" You asked.

He huffed looking away, his mouth opening and closing not wanting to speak but needing to.

"I-... I want you to peg me, okay?" He almost whimpered "I've tried, and tried, and tried but you are the only one who can satisfy me, I need you to-"

Cutting him off you pulled him into your apartment by his shirt collar and dragging him to your room. Throwing him onto the bed you went to your drawer taking your biggest strap and some lube.

"Okay sweetie," you said putting the harnes and attaching the dildo to it, opening the lube and aplying it to it "Since you asked so nicely, and are clearly a good boy"

You said the last as he was already naked once you came back onto the bed. His chest going up and down at a fast pace, his strong looking arms gripping the sheets in anticipation.

"Fold your legs for me-" you said.

"Can we... um, do it the other way...?" He asked, almost too quiet for his normally stern tone.

Smiling, you nodded. He turned around, lifting his ass in the air, his weight placed on his buff forearms, his chest flat on the bed. A beautiful sight indeed.

"Well look at you," you said, your hand coming to softly touch his surprisingly plump ass, his skin soft under your fingers "I guess I should have done doggy style the last times, hm~"

He stayed quiet, eyeing the big dildo between your legs. Drool pooling on his tongue, you smiled and pressed the tip against his hole.

"You look so ready for me" you said while you bit your lip at the sight, his small puffy hole swallowing the dildo.

He moaned without a care, letting the sounds of pleasure leave his mouth. You leaned forward, the angle making the tip come in contact with the bundie of nerves deep inside him. He cried out as you didn't wait to start thrusting in and out.

"M-more, pleseee!" He was already mixing up words, not making coherent sentances but you understood.

"You take it as well as back then, you know? After what happened those nights, I also couldn't forget about you and your beaufitul body and moans" you confessed while bringing a hand to his chest, pinching his nipple.

He mumbled words, his face hidden on the sheets that he held tightly in his grasp. The fast yet hard hits of the dildo against his prostate was making him see stars.

"I- Can't! I!..." he moaned loudly, you brought a hand towards his dick, barely placing a finger against his tip "Yes! Yesh, pleashh!"

"Cum for me baby," he quickly followed your words with loud moans and white cum staining your same colored sheets "What a mess"

You turned him around, nor caring for staining his back with his own cum, he didn't either. He cried out again, hands moving frantically as you went in again. His mind blank already, only stars, tears and a blurry image of you covering his eyes.

"Open your mouth," he obeyed, not being able to think straight.

A sudden wet and warm liquid landed on his tongue, your spit. He closed his mouth and swallowed, a redder blush covering his tear stained cheeks.

"You wanted this? Show me that face," you said, eyes stuck as his tongue rolled out of his mouth, eyes stuck on the ceiling but slowly going up "There it is"

That same messed up face he had made the first time he came untouched. Beautiful, almost art-like. His hands tied by your own as you held both of them above his head with one of your own, the other gripping his hips at a painful grasp.

Pain, pleasure, humilliation, everything felt numb as he came again, and again, and again.

His bellybutton filled of his own cum that spilled down the sides of his toned stomach, abs making it a path, almost a laberinth for it until it went down meeting the sheets.

"M-more..." his body wanted more, needed more.

"Don't worry, today was enough," you pulled out earning a whine from him "But from today on, you and you ass are mine,"

He blushed as your mouth met his in a steamy and messy kiss.

WE MADE IT TO 100 FOLLOWERS!

I honestly didn't think anyone would read what I write, especially since I started around a month ago. Thank you so much for the people who read my content, I love all of you!~ ♡♡

[sanders-specs]

Camp Swan Chapter 6

A/N: This chapter was...weirdly easy to write. I guess it was one of those things where the characters were controlling me more than I was controlling them. *shrugs* I dunno, but I hope you enjoy and that you had a good week :) 

Warnings: panic attack, swearing, bullying, arguing 

Part 1| Previous

Read on Ao3

Tag list:  @princeyssash @alwaysmy-lilith @protecterofalltheaus @irish-newzealand-idian-dutch @dan-yuna @kittenvirgil

How did he get in this situation?

The question circled around Virgil’s head the entire day. He didn’t know what he did or said, but it seemed that whatever group you end up with during the first activity for the day is the group you stay with for the rest of the day. Either that, or the girls and Travis felt that bad for him.

After leaving archery, Virgil was prepared to disappear into the back of the group, as he’d done on the walk over, but Cassie had looked back at him and motioned for him to join her, Alyssa, and Travis.

“No one’s left behind,” Cassie says at Virgil’s bewildered look.

“I mean, if you’d rather be alone that’s fine,” Alyssa says, though not in a condescending way, but as if she understood if he genuinely wanted to be left alone. “We won’t be offended.”

Virgil frowned, but before he could answer, Thomas was calling after them, telling them to hurry up. Feeling as if he hadn’t been left much of a choice, he followed the group to their next activity. He’d expected them to leave him, since it was arts and crafts and they pretty much had free reign over the place, but they invited him to sit with them, talk with them.

When they moved to rock climbing, the three of them immediately started putting on gear, handing Virgil the right stuff. When a counselor asked who would be in their group, Cassie listed all of them including Virgil off without seemingly a second thought.

It was…odd. To be accepted into a group so easily. He was suspicious of them. Did they pity him for being Franks punching bag (which hadn’t stopped all day)? His teasing had been less noticeable to the counselors, though, so maybe they hadn’t noticed. Virgil still had purple glitter glue in his hair from arts and crafts. He didn’t want to admit that he kind of liked the look it.

He didn’t really know what to think as he was strapped into a harness for his turn on the wall.

“Of course I’m the best at this,” he heard Roman boast from beside him.

“Oh yeah?” Cassie calls. “I don’t know, you’re looking a bit less fit this year. Did you slack off over the fall, Roman?”

Virgil smirked at that, glancing over at Princey, who looked rather offended. “I did not! I could easily beat out Virgil here, at least.”

Okay, that was not expected. Virgil looked up from where Thomas was helping him with the harness. His counselor straightened, looking as if he were trying not to smile. He caught Virgil’s eye and nodded to the wall before moving to Alyssa.

Virgil approached the wall, bracing himself, glancing back over to Roman. Couldn’t beat Virgil huh? Well that sounded like a challenge if Virgil had ever heard one.

Looking up at the wall, Virgil weighed his chances. He wasn’t out of shape, exactly—though he had spent a lot of time in his room, he also rather enjoyed exercise when he was feeling particularly anxious and his parents did have a nice set of equipment free to use—so he wasn’t worried about his strength. He just hoped that the equipment…

“Are you just going to stand around all day Virge?” Alyssa voice cuts in.

Virgil blinks and glances back at her. She was smiling, as if trying to tell him that she’d just been teasing and that she wasn’t actually annoyed.

Still, though, Virgil couldn’t help but scowl at himself. There were other people around, and they had better things to do other than wait around for Virgil. Hastily, he grabbed the pegs and started climbing. He couldn’t help but notice that Roman already had a good foot on him, but it didn’t take long for Virgil to catch up.

When Roman looked over and saw Virgil, he frowned. Virgil only smirked in response and kept climbing, surpassing Roman altogether.

“Wow, look at him go!” Rose exclaims, talking for once not about her brother, but about Virgil.

Logan and Patton stared up as well. It seemed that Virgil did have his strengths.

“You’re doing great Virge!” Cassie calls up.

“Since when does she get to call him that?” Patton mutters to Logan.

Logan shrugs, still watching the now race that was going on between their two roommates. “They have seemed to have brought Virgil into their circle of friends.”

“But what did they do right that we did wrong?” Patton asks as he looks back at Virgil, who was still outpacing Roman.

“Perhaps he prefers the company of women,” Logan says. “It’s not uncommon for some boys, you know.”

“Well he doesn’t seem to mind Travis either,” Patton pointed out, glancing at the other boy who was watching the race with amused eyes.

Logan sighs. “I do not know, Patton.” It sounded like he didn’t care either, which would be the only reason Logan would ever admit to not knowing anything. “Shouldn’t you be happy that he at least found a group?”

“I guess…” Patton’s voice trailed off as he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Turning his head, he saw Frank moving towards Virgil, climbing faster and faster. Patton frowned and glanced around at the counselors and instructors. They were all busy helping some newer or younger kids, since they were sharing the gym with a few younger campers. No one else seemed to notice the other boy headed for Virgil, everyone seeming either focused on the race or on their own climbing.

Not really knowing what else to do, Patton started to call out, but it was too late. Frank had reached him and had ram into him, just as Virgil had beaten Roman to the top.

Virgil felt exhilarated. He hadn’t pushed himself like that in a long time, and though he knew his body was going to hate him for it later, he couldn’t stop the smile from spreading on his lips as he reached the top of the wall, Roman still a good bit below him.

The smile lasted until someone slammed into him, pushing him against the wall and making the pegs dig into him.

“Watch where you’re climbing, emo freak,” Franks voice hissed in his ear, shoving him against the wall again.

Squirming, Virgil managed to elbow the other boy away from him. He didn’t bother with any kind of retort, but at that moment Virgil realized just how high up he was, with little support, and suddenly he couldn’t breathe very well.

“Like it up here huh?” Frank asks, edging closer.        

Virgil couldn’t say anything. He was frozen where he was. He couldn’t move.

“You better make way for others, freak,” Frank says, attempting to push him. “It’s rude to hog the wall.”

Virgil barely registered his voice. His breathing was coming out in pants, his entire body cramping up. He felt the harness he was wearing dig into his gut, and the strap on his helmet felt like it was choking him.

“Virgil?” Someone placed their hand on Virgil’s shoulder, making him jump so hard he let go of the wall. Panicking, he scrambled to grab hold of the pegs again, but he’d thrown himself too far to get a good grip. He fell until he hit the mat twenty feet below.

For a moment, he was too dazed to notice anything. Then people started crowding around him and he scrambled to sit up.

“Oh my God, Virgil are you okay?” it was Cassie, kneeling beside him, a worried look on her face.

He wasn’t. God, he couldn’t breathe. He felt like the harness and the helmet were strangling him. He started clawing at it, wanting it desperately to be off of him, but he didn’t know how it worked. Oh why hadn’t he paid more attention when Thomas was putting it on him? Why had he’d been so fixed on Roman’s stupid boasting?

“Virgil, Virgil, I need you to breathe for me.” This was Alyssa. She knelt on his other side. “Okay, now I’m going to reach over and take your helmet off,” she says, slowly and deliberately. Virgil could only nod, though he flinched when she moved closer. She hesitated a moment, but then reached further when he didn’t move again. Once the helmet was off, he felt a bit better, but not by much.

“Okay, good,” Alyssa says, setting his helmet to the side. “Thomas is on his way to help you out of the harness okay? We’re not allowed to mess with them. Just close your eyes and try to focus on something else. The feel of the mat, the sounds of the gym, your breathing.��

“In for four, hold for seven, out for eight,” Cassie prompts after a few moments of Virgil trying and failing to get his breathing under control.

It wasn’t working it wasn’t working it wasn’t working. The harness felt like a cage and it bit into his skin and made his breathing feel even more restricted. Distantly he could hear his breath wheezing out, but he couldn’t do anything to stop it.

“What’s happening? Is he okay?” this was Roman’s voice. He must have finally made it back to the ground.

“Look at that, the sissy can’t even take a dumb fall,” he heard Frank say with a laugh. Virgil could hear other laughter echoing him, and suddenly he could feel the pressure of all of the eyes that were on him. He squeezed his eyes shut, ignoring the tears the leaked out.

“Shut the hell up Frank,” Travis said, sounding angry.

“Or what, pretty boy?”

Nononononnononono he couldn’t stand the anger, the tension.

“Virgil, honey, listen to me.” This was Cassie again. “You’re alright, everything’s alright.”

“Thomas!” Alyssa exclaimed with some relief in her voice.

Oh god why can’t I breathe? Breathebreathebreathebreathe you idiot breathe!

“What happened?” Thomas asks, though his voice sounded far away.

“He fell,” Patton’s voice said.

“It seemed that he was being harassed by Frank,” Logan says. “I believe that he started having a panic attack while up there and when Roman tried to help him, it had the opposite effect and made Virgil let go of the pegs.”

“Why didn’t the harness slow him down?” Thomas muttered. Then, more clearly he said, “Alright, Virgil I’m going to get you out of the harness okay? Then we’ll get you someplace quiet.”

Thenoisethenoisethnoise. It was too much. The harness was too much. He couldn’t breathe he couldn’t think. He needed to breathe but his body wouldn’t let him. He tried but his lung stopped halfway through a breath. He needed air he needed air heneededair…

“Got it,” Thomas says, pulling the harness off of him. “Virgil, can you stand? Can you walk?”  

He didn’t think so, but it seemed that his body was responding as it usually did. He got up and stumbled towards the exit, nearly knocking over a few younger campers along the way. His head was spinning and he felt dizzy, but all he could focus on was getting out. He heard Thomas and a few other counselors shouting after him, but he ignored him. He needed out. He just needed to get out.

Thomas found Virgil hunched over behind the gym. He had his hands over his ears and he was sobbing into his knees. Thomas felt his heart go out to the kid. No way could that situation have been easy.

Slowly, he walked over, being sure to make some kind of sound so as not to startle him. Virgil looked up, then away the moment their eyes met.

“Virgil,” Thomas says gently. “Hey bud it’s okay. You’re not in trouble for running out. There might be a little tyke or two you might need to apologize to, but that’s fine.”

Virgil kept his eyes downcast. He seemed to have gotten his breathing under control, but he didn’t seem quite fine just yet. Thomas sat next to him. “I brought you these.” He handed Virgil his headphones and fidget cube, both of which he’d had to take off because of the harness and the threat of the headphones falling off while he was climbing.

Virgil glanced at them, but didn’t make a move to take them. He seemed too exhausted. Thomas set them down beside Virgil, so he’d have easy access to them whenever he could move again.

“You know,” Thomas says, “panic attacks aren’t something you should be embarrassed about. Heightened anxiety is…hard to deal with, but it’s not uncommon. I deal with it a lot, so does Talyn, the counselor helping you at archery? And one of the heads of camp, Joan. They spoke at the opening assembly, remember? We know what it’s like, for us anyway. So you don’t have to feel like you’re alone on this or that you can’t ask for help.”

“I’m a freak.”

Thomas looked over at Virgil, who was still crying. “I’m an utter freak.”

“No you’re not,” Thomas says, but stopped when Virgil turned a glare on him.

“Oh yeah? How do you know? You don’t even know me!”

Thomas sat quietly for a moment, then leaned his head back against the wall. “No, I don’t,” he admits, “but you know, we’re all freaks in our own way. I consume way more pizza than the human body is ever meant to consume. I also have an entire rap I learned as a child still memorized and sometimes rap it when I’m alone. We all have weird quirks, but those are the best parts about us.”

Virgil was silent at that, though he’d stopped crying, at least. Thomas checks his watch, then does a mental calculation of the rest of the day.

“Tell you what,” he says after a moment. “I’m in no way obligated to make you suffer through the rest of the day, especially if you’re not feeling up for it. The rest of the afternoon is just free time anyway. I can leave the others with Jena or Tayln and walk you back to the cabin. I can get back before rock climbing’s over to make sure that everyone is accounted for. Sound good?”

Slowly, Virgil nodded. Thomas stood, looking down at him. “Do you think you can make it to the cabin?”

Again, Virgil just nodded, scooped up his headphones and fidget cube before pushing himself to his feet. He was shaky, but seemed okay. They walked slowly, mostly to make sure that Virgil didn’t accidently pass out.

When they made it to the cabin, Thomas made sure that Virgil was situated and had a bottle of water before heading back to the gym.

Virgil spent the rest of the day wallowing away in his room. He heard the others coming back after rock climbing, but he’d pretended to be asleep in order to avoid talking with them. he didn’t open his eyes again until the room was utterly quiet.

As the light started to fade and the dinner bell rang, Virgil tried to find the energy to get out of bed. But frankly he was aching and exhausted, so he opted to skip out again. Going into the mess hall would probably do more harm than good anyway.

When he heard the door to the cabin open and Patton’s excited voice, he tried ot pretend to sleep again. However the others, it seemed, weren’t having it this time.

“Virgil?” Patton asks, gently shaking him. “Virge, wake up kiddo.”

Groaning, Virgil opened his eyes and glared at the other boy, who backed away immediately. “What do you want?” Virgil muttered.

“You skipped dinner again,” Logan says. “Considering the day you’ve had, that would be ill advisable.”

“Why do you care?” Virgil snaps.

“Well we do want you to take care of yourself…” Patton started, but his voice trailed off when Virgil sat up and glared at him.

“Really? Because earlier it didn’t seem like you cared much about me at all.”

For a moment, the room was silent. His roommates glanced around at each other, confused. “What are you talking about?” Roman asks.

“I didn’t see that asshole coming towards me!” Virgil exclaims, the anger he hadn’t even realized was there bubbling up. “One of you two could have shouted a warning,” he said to Logan and Patton. “And you,” he turned to Roman, “are the one who made me fall in the first place!”

“Now hold on,” Roman says, scowling. “I tried to help you! I saw that you were frozen, and I tried to get your attention. It’s not my fault you’re a scaredy cat!”

Virgil felt his face heat up.

“Ah, Roman maybe that isn’t…” Patton started, but Virgil cut him off.

“Oh, right, because it was my fault I was getting harassed!” Virgil let out a humorless laugh. “Of course it was! I’m just the sad little newbie who is just an easy target, is that it? I don’t deserve anyone’s acceptance or kindness! I never have and never will!”

“Virgil—”

“No, I don’t want to hear it,” Virgil says, shaking his head. He turns and grabs his phone and headphones. “I don’t want your pathetic excuses. You obviously just enjoy watching me get hurt and suffer. Don’t worry, you’re not the only ones.”

With that he walked out, slamming the door behind him.

Virgil only went back to the room when Terry told him that it was lights out and he needed to go to bed. Thankfully, though, the other three were already asleep. Virgil stood in the center of the room, taking them all in.

Roman was lying on his back, a sleep mask over his eyes. His mouth was hanging open and he had a white teddy bear with a red sash tucked against his side (where he’d been hiding that, Virgil had no clue).

Patton was curled into a ball, surrounded by all of his plushies. He was hugging a brown teddy bear in a Steven Universe t-shirt to his chest, his blanket tucked around both of them. he seemed to be in as deep a sleep as Roman.

Logan, though, was sleeping on his back, his hands folded neatly over his stomach. he looked like a dead body in a coffin, though a dead body would not be making the atrocious sounds Logan was making right now. Virgil had no idea how he’d slept through it the night before. Hell, he didn’t know how Roman and Patton were sleeping through it right now.

Shaking his head Virgil headed for the window. Camp rules be damned. He could not stay in this room tonight. Not with the knowledge of all the things he’d said to them earlier. Definitely not with that snoring.

So he opened the window and climbed out, headed towards the woods behind the cabin.

Chapter 7