#i also found a whole pack of hot dogs by the lake ??

[wakingbreathlessly]

things i saw on my walk today

[alex51324]

Summer vacation 2024, Nockamixon State Park, part 3: Aquatic adventures!

After Chloe left, Sophie and I had a quiet day, and then on Monday we went out for some adventures, starting with a stop at the scenic spillway overlook:

This is where the water drains out when the lake gets high, but since it's been so hot and dry, there isn't much happening.

(This lake, like most Pennsylvania state park lakes, was created by damming up a stream. The founding goal of the Pennsylvania state park system was for every Pennsylvanian to have a state park within 25 miles--almost a century on, this goal still hasn't quite been achieved, but it's close! So, while we do have a few parks that were centered around unique places of intrinsic natural beauty, a lot of them were simply chosen for being conveniently located and having good potential to be developed for conservation and recreation. A lot of them are places that were unproductive for farming, and/or had been subject to extensive resource-extraction, especially timbering, so they required extensive ecological restoration, in addition to building park features. Some people are disparaging about our "fake lakes," but honestly, I think it's rather splendid, both in intention and result.)

Anyway, after the overlook, we walked the park's paved trail, which goes along one side of the lake and to a small waterfall. You can take a little detour out onto the fishing pier, which has stunning views of the lake:

(On the July 4 holiday--of which more, anon--this section of the park was packed. This is one of the parks nearest to Philadelphia, so a lot of people and families came out for the day.)

Here's the waterfall:

And a sign about it:

A wider view, showing more of the stone wall:

After that, it was back to the cabin for a campfire!

Tuesday, we got up early for a special adventure:

Kayaking! The previous day, I had tried to sign up for the local park's free kayaking program, again, and got wait-listed (even though it had just opened for registration that day), so I decided I'd just watch some how-to videos and try it on my own. Luckily, the temperature really dropped overnight, Monday into Tuesday, so it was cool enough for Sophie to hang out by herself in the car for a bit, as long as I got there first thing when the rental stand opened.

(Note: Sophie is very chill about being in the car; I clip her harness to the seatbelt and open all four windows the whole way, and make sure she has a big bowl of water in reach. This would not work with every dog.)

Anyway, kayaking was fantastic; I'm already planning to go again at the local lake, once the current heat wave is over. I mostly noodled around close to the rental area:

But the kayak felt very stable--I canoed a little as a kid, and I was really surprised to find that the kayak was less "tippy." It was also very easy to paddle; I expected I'd be super-sore the next day, but I wasn't.

This lake is long and narrow, so there was a lot of shoreline to explore. I think this is about as far out as I got:

Here are some cormorants that like to sit on these big floats near the boat rental stand:

One more kayaking picture:

So if anyone out there's been thinking about trying kayaking--do it! If I--with my noodle arms, aversion to physical danger, and general lack of athleticism--can do it and enjoy it, you probably can, too!

After the kayak adventure, we took a drive down to a nearby town with some interesting shops--Doylestown, it's called. It has three bookstores, a rarity in these days, and a found a parking spot in the shade, so Sophie could hang out while I popped in (and checked on her between shops). After that we took a nice walk around the town, looking in windows (me) and collecting pats from strangers (Sophie).

Back to the cabin for another campfire--I'm going to do a food post next, because I made a lot of interesting campfire dinners--and then a night walk down to the wading spot at the lake:

My phone camera is not especially good for low-light conditions, but this turned out sort of atmospheric, I think.

Wednesday we took a hike, through an area with lots of berry bushes and lake views:

It was pretty hot, but a gorgeous day:

Then a campfire and a sunset walk to the lake:

Thursday was the July 4 holiday, which in Pennsylvania is always a Free Fishing Day, when you don't need a license to fish on state waters, and the park had fishing equipment to borrow, so I picked some up, and we went back to the fishing pier! Luckily, even though there were a lot of people, we got a spot. And I caught some fish!

This was actually my second fish; I caught one almost as soon as I put the hook in the water, and I Was Not Prepared, so I just put it back right away.

After that I got a bucket out of the car and filled it with lake water, so I could appreciate my fish for a little longer:

This guy jumped out of the bucket and escaped, but after that I covered the top of the bucket with my fish identification brochure, and ended up with four in the bucket!

So, I may have caught six fish, or four and two of them twice. (I identified two different kinds, green sunfish and bluegill, but within each type they all looked pretty similar.) I fished for a bit over an hour, then put the fish back and gave the spot to somebody else. We walked around a bit, and checked out a few areas of the park; somewhere or other--I think it was the boat launch area where we had lunch, but it might have been at the fishing pier, or somewhere else, we saw this cool boat!

It's all wood; the guy said his uncle had it made in Canada.

Once we'd had enough of the crowds, we went to a spot called John's Pond, which is one of those where you park on the shoulder of the road and walk in a little ways. I thought I'd try fishing a little there:

I caught one more little fish in there--and a lot of seaweed, and lost most of the hooks they gave me.

So I went to the Marina and bought some more--they have a vending machine--and we tried the fishing pier there. This one had no shade, but luckily, we had stopped at a yard sale earlier:

This beach umbrella was only $1, and I've already gotten my money's worth out of it! It was kind of baking on that pier, and I wasn't catching anything, so we packed it in and went back to the cabin. I had been going to walk down to the wading spot and see if I could see any fireworks there--town 4 miles away in the direction you're looking in that spot was having them--but just as it was getting dark it started to pour. So instead we sat on the porch and watched the rain for a bit, then went in to start packing up before our last night at the cabin.

The morning was hazy and hot, but on our way out we made a last stop at the wading spot:

And that was our trip! Another good one, even with the weird incident at the beginning.

[maevesdarling]

Take me home tonight

Sooo, I decided to post chapter 1 of the story @unicorn-cloud and I have been cooking up for a while. This plays post series in an alternative universe. There’s mentions of gore and canon typical violence in both this and the second chapter, basically Walt is not dealing with things as good as he thought... I’m not sure how many chapters this story will have, probably around 3 to 4, also please be kind to me it’s been a long time since I uploaded my works to Tumblr, thx!  

Chapter 1: The Call

Later, after he put his gun and badge down and moves further away from the border, Walt gets a call from an unknown number. He contemplates not picking up. It's been years since Kiki's death and operation Leyenda. He thinks, for a moment, that it could be Miguel Angel, calling him from his jail cell to taunt him, but no, he's not important enough to that man and besides, Miguel Angel doesn't wield as much power as he used to.

There are others. New players in this fucked up game, Walt knows that. He saw them rising on the horizon like a looming thunderstorm, ready to destroy the earth in it's path. But for now, he decided to enjoy his peace. His back's been bothering him more as of lately and he's got a few more grey hairs. He quit smoking about a year ago, after his doctor told him to do so. He's had a few setbacks since then, a half finished pack is always hidden underneath his kitchen sink, just in case he needs a fix. But overall, he's trying to stay away from the cigarettes and eat more healthy, even though the microwavable dinners at the supermarket look damn tempting, especially since it's only himself he's cooking for.

He's up in Colorado these days. The DEA was kind enough to leave him with a nice sum of retirement money, probably to shut him up after all the shit he pulled of during his career and to be fair he doesn't blame them.

He buys a nice enough house on the outskirts of town, with some additional property, a rundown barn and an old apple tree orchard that he has no plan on using. The weather's less hot, and there's a few lakes where he can fish, but otherwise, it's pretty much like any other town he's lived in. The dark red sandstones dotting the farmland remind him of Mexico. Of sitting in the hot sun and watching a small airfield in the distance, with a pair of binoculars in his hand. Sal's voice next to him asking about their next move. It's nostalgic in a way.

The first day, after he finished dropping off his stuff in the small, rundown house, he sets off to drive around, get familiar with the place. He finds a shabby bar, a small supermarket, a post office, a family owned diner and a few farms, with cows and hundreds of chickens roaming the surrounding fields, that sell local products. Over time, he ventures out further and discovers some more bars, supermarkets and, to his surprise, a gay club.

It's well hidden, two cities over, wedged between an antique bookstore and a barbershop. It looks nothing like a club from outside, and from the inside, it's hardly distinguishable from any other bar Walt has ever set foot in. But he knows where to look, it's something you learn over time.

The first time he orders a drink, his eyes fall on a guy sitting on the other end of the bar. Dark hair and dark eyes, with a bristly moustache. He's wearing a black cowboy hat and a jeans jacket, it's not what he would have worn. Plus he only looks a slight bit like Sal, his face is much older, more weathered from years of hard work in the sun, but it's enough for Walt to give in to his yearning.

He buys Not-Sal a drink and they fall into an easy chatter. Two hours later, Walt is driving him back to his house. Not-Sal is more experienced than Walt had thought when he starts undressing him with steady hands, his fingers touching in all the right places, he's already prepared, as if he'd been expecting this to happen, and doesn't mind it when Walt accidentally let's Sal's name slip at the height of his pleasure.

They lie together afterwards, sharing a cigarette between them, neither of them ready to leave yet. Walt is slowly falling asleep to the feeling of another person combing their hands through his hair. When he wakes up the next morning, the house is empty. There's a note on his kitchen table, a short thank you message, that's it. Next time he's at the club, Not-Sal is gone. He finds someone else. A different man, with dark hair, dark eyes and a friendly face, and then another and another. Some of the men he brings over are kind, they'll stay the night and sometimes even the morning, to share a quick meal with him before they move on, others leave almost immediately after they finish. Some of them yell out Walt's name as they come, others don't. And some yell out another man's name, but that's okay because so is Walt.

He's careful with the company he keeps. Always making sure that no one sees him leaving the club with another man, driving different routes back home and of course he's always stocking up on enough condoms because he's not stupid, he knows how important protection is.

Even though he's had a few men over, none of them return for longer than a couple of times. Its fun, to fill the mornings with senseless chatter, and to fall asleep in another person's arms. But they're not Sal.

He's longing for him. Even after all those years he's still longing for him. It's been three, almost four years since he last heard from Sal. He was moving to San Francisco. The DEA wanted someone new up there and Sal was growing tired of the shit hole they had placed him in after Mexico. They had called each other almost everyday, sometimes they would even meet each other, for a quick chat and an even quicker fuck. There was never enough time.

Sal wanted to call him back, he promised, once he was in San Francisco, to call him every day. Write a postcard. But nothing came. The telephone was silent for two whole months and Walt was desperate. First, he checked the newspapers for any missing or recently deceased people, when that search came up empty, he started to search the phone book for Sal's new address but of course that came up empty as well. He kept buying new phone books, just in case and by now, there was a small bookcase filled with old phone books in his house, and not a single one held an address for Sal Orozco. It was almost like he never exited. Only Walt's memory kept him from going insane. The fading photos on his wall, the one he kept in his wallet, next to a picture of Greg and his family. One of Sal's shirts he forgot in Walt's apartment in Texas, it had long stopped smelling of him, but nevertheless, Walt would pick it up and inhale deeply, thinking that the ghost of Sal's smell was still there, etched into the fabric. He slept with the shirt, on those nights when he woke up drenched in sweat, screaming and with a thundering heart. He wrenched his eyes open but he saw them anyway, Amat, Ossie, Danilo, sometimes even Kiki. He saw them die, he saw their bodies, bruised, burned, riddled with bullets, standing in front of his bed, he could hear them calling out his name. "You killed us, Walt." They'd point at him, blood dripping from their fingertips onto his bedsheets. Those nights were the worst. Sometimes they could only be stopped with an entire bottle of whiskey.

The dreams had gotten better since he found the dog. The dog didn't have a name. He was a stray, with dark, golden fur and dirty white paws. He picked him up on his way home from an unsuccessful night at the club, the dog was covered in ticks and fleas, one eye had been badly bruised and he was tied to a tree by the side of the road. Clearly abandoned. He expected the dog to bark at him, or worse, bite him, when he kneeled down beside him to untie him, but instead, it sat down in front of Walt and started wagging it's tail, as if he'd known Walt all his life. He took the dog in and gave it a bath, making sure that no ticks or fleas survived, before driving him to the vet the next morning to check out his eye. The vet couldn't save it and so Walt decided to take him in, just another broken thing keeping his company.

He put a collar on the dog and called him his, they slept in the same bed and sat on the couch together, watching football games and stupid action movies. The dog went fishing on the lake with him, even though he was no big help in catching the fish, he also liked to run around the orchard and sit on the front porch to sleep, and Walt liked to sit beside him and think, scratching behind his fluffy ears. Sometimes he wondered if Sal liked dogs. What he'd say if he met his dog.

The other animals were intentional. Walt bought a couple of chickens to sell their eggs at the local farm, and to keep himself busy. Then he renovated the old barn as best as he could and bought three goats to sell their meat, but once he saw them in their pen, he decided they weren't going to the slaughter house and kept them for their milk instead. He also fixed up the orchard as best as he could and started collecting the apples. Soon the onslaught of apples was too much for him to handle and so he collected them in a few boxes, along with the chicken eggs and sold them to the nearest farm. Surprisingly, the people around town started knowing him once he started visiting the farm more frequently. He would have regular conversations with some of them and at some point, even started looking forward to see them. He didn't go to the town hall meetings, or to Sunday mass, and the people had been weary of him, but once they saw him with his dog and the boxes of apples in his trunk, they warmed up to him.

He enjoyed his new life. It wasn't luxurious, but that wasn't what he wanted for himself anyway. He was no Miguel Angel. He didn't need a fleet of private planes and a couple of hotels to be happy.

The phone rang again and reminded him of his current situation. The dog had stopped wagging it's tail on the couch beside him and was looking at him with his one eye, almost as if he was saying "what are you waiting for?"

And so Walt picked up the phone, fully expecting Jamie or Ed or someone else from the DEA to yell at him to get his ass back to Mexico.

"Hello... is this Walt Breslin?" The phone slipped from his grasp and fell, he caught it in his suddenly sweaty palms, pressing the shell back against his ear. Three years silence could not erase the memory of that voice. Hushed conversations between them, hiding behind a parked car as they watched over a suspect, a gasp and then a low moan, while Walt kept hitting that one spot inside him, that set Sal's body on fire, a chatty conversation over two mugs of steaming coffee in a diner that ended with both of them laughing hysterically. Walt had enough memories for an entire lifetime with that voice, he would recognize it anywhere.

"Sal-" He breathed, rearranging the phone against his ear.

"Is- Walt is that you? Oh my god- fuck- I found you!" There was a short pause on the other end of the phone and for a moment Walt thought he was imagining things, then Sal's voice returned. "I- I'm sorry, Walt. I'm so sorry-" He sobbed, apologizing over and over.

"Sal- How did you find me? Wh- Are you alright? Is- do you need help?"

"No, no, I'm fine, Walt. I am. I just- fuck- I missed you so much. Where are you? I called you're old address so many times- I thought something happened to you…"

"Shh, I'm okay. I'm in Colorado. Small town near Denver. I'll give you the address… That is… If you want me to…"

"Yes! I mean... yes I want- I want to see you. If that's okay. I need to- need to know you're okay."

He contemplated with himself wether to ask this or not, but in the end, Walt did it anyways. "It's been three years, Sal. Why did you never call? What's changed?" Another sobb from the other end of the line. "I'll tell you. In person. Friday? Is that okay for you?" Walt squinted at his calendar. Friday was in two days, he needed to clean the house, buy some groceries and pack the car for Sunday's apple delivery.

"Yeah, Friday works."

"Alright. I'll see you on Friday… Walt… I missed you."

"… Missed you too Sal."

He put the phone down slowly, feeling like he was still in a dream. The dog had noticed something was off about his behavior and was staring at him in concern. " 's alright bud, I'm just… surprised, is all. We'll meet a friend of mine on Friday. I hope you'll like him…"

Lost in his thoughts, Walt began his evening routine, closing the chicken pen, checking on the goats and refilling the dogs food in case he got hungry during the night, only when the brown cibbles hit the kitchen tiles did he notice his thoughts slipping off. The only thing on his mind was Sal. Sal with his kind face and the warm, dark brown eyes, Sal wrapping an arm around his hips and pulling him closer, Sal whispering into Walt's ear. A hushed love confession neither of them dared to talk about. So, so many memories they shared between them, how was he supposed to wait any longer to see him again?

Friday couldn't come soon enough.

[thou-crusty-batch-of-nature]

Je me laisserai derrière

-I will leave myself behind-

requested by @seriouslysiriuss: hello :))) could i request with prompts 9, 12 and 18 with either sirius or remus?? congrats again on 100 followers!! 🤍🤍💕💕

9."I love you!" "Lying has never been a good look on you.."

12."She's not yours." 

18."Is that my shirt?" 

A/N: ngl i spent so much time working on this fic and i hope with all my heart that you like it:)) thank you so much @approved-by-dentists​ for beta reading it and letting me rant about this fic<333

pairing: sirius x reader

warnings: fluff and a lot of angst™ (i warned you)

gif not mine

You could feel every wall you tried so desperately to hold up shatter one by one. You could feel your heart bleed from the shards they left behind. How could you pretend you were fine? You held your breath and squeezed your eyes shut, trying to hold your tears back, but your mind kept replaying all those moments you spent together. As if it tried to show your foolish heart what went wrong - where and when you stopped being enough. But how could you ever be enough for him? 

You let your head fall back, hitting the bedpost. You saw your reflection in the mirror on your desk and your eyes - your betraying eyes - slipped to the side of the bed where he used to sit. Where he used to hug you and play with your hair, then tell you how everything would be alright. You needed that lie right now. 

You slid against the bedpost until you let yourself lie on the floor. How many lies did he speak as truths?How many times did you believe him, even when your instincts told you otherwise? He could have told you the sun sets in the east and you would have believed him. You felt numb. You felt like a fool. You still loved him. And that hurt you the most. 

You started crying again. 

***

You got up. It was 4:11 am and you couldn't sleep. It was unexpectedly hot for this time of the year - it was autumn, for crying out loud, you only had jumpers packed! And with Sirius, the human-heater himself, holding you in his arms all night - not that you were complaining :) - you felt like a pumpkin pie in the oven. 

You catch sight of Sirius' t-shirt thrown on a chair. Should you…? I mean, no one was wearing it right now, so who would mind? You confidently slid out of his arms, careful not to wake him, took the shirt and quickly changed your festive pajamas. T’was a bit oversized, but it’s too comfortable for you to mind. You quietly went back to sleep. 

You were woken up by the sound of your alarm. You opened your eyes and saw him - you thought he looked angelic in the morning; his dark curls messily fell on his chiseled face, his full rosy lips sketching a smile every time he felt your touch. You slowly grazed his cheekbone and kissed him, and he tightened his embrace, giving into the kiss. 

He opened his eyes, seeming more awake than ever. He gave you a ravishing smile and kissed you again. 

"Morning Sirius is my favourite." you admitted, aware of the blush blooming on your cheeks. 

"So do you just take advantage of me in the evenings and afternoons? You are so cruel." 

"No, I also love Padfoot." 

"Do you now? I didn't know I was that good at licking…" he unceremoniously declared. 

"You aren't, I just like it when you don't talk." 

"How fascinating!" He propped his chin in his palm, smirking. "Then let me show you what I can do when I don't speak!" 

He tried to kiss you again, but you quickly pushed him and jumped out of the bed. "As much as I wish to do that, we have Transfiguration in 10 and I don't think Minnie would love it very much if we arrived late for the third time this week." you explained, though Sirius wasn't listening. He wasn't even pretending to, as his eyes were travelling all over your body. 

" Is that my shirt?" he got up and asked you in his morning raspy voice. 

" Yes… I was too hot last night and it was the only thing I could find. I can take it off if it bothers you or-" you played it off innocently. Oh, how you liked this game! 

"Love, the only thing that bothers me right now is that we have to go to class." Then, he plodded to the bathroom and took what you assumed to be a freezing cold shower.

***

Sirius lit his third cigarette. 

He didn't think he could hate himself more. Why did he have to ruin every good thing he had in his life? Every time he closed his eyes he saw you. You, sitting with your head in his lap, roses bloomed on your cheeks; you, in the library working on your essay, biting your lip in frustration and now you, sitting by the door of his dorm, blood drained from your face as you saw him with that girl. 

He knew he lost you. He ran after you to your dorm, and when you closed the door in his face he realised: you were gone. He ruined everything you two had, he ruined you. 

He let himself get scared. He had everything he wished for and more, and when he realised you weren't going to leave, he panicked. 

He waited. He waited three hours by the door, listening to your sniffles, then screams, then silence. The silence was the hardest to bear - it was when he realised how deep the scars he left behind would be. 

After that he left. And now he was by the lake. He finished his cigarette and threw it in the water. He hated himself. 

He let his head fall in his hands. Then, he cried. 

***

"You see that? That geometrical hotdog dog constellation, that is Canis Major!" He drew the figure with his wand. "And that -" he pointed to a star "-that is Sirius!" 

You were lying on the quidditch field, watching the stars. "It really is the brightest star in the sky!" you pointed out. 

"Well, did you expect any less from me?" 

"My petty small puppy!" you cooed. "Who is the brightest? You are, yes you are!" you ruffled his curls, earning a growl. "You know, sometimes you act more like a dog when you are a person than when you transform!" 

"I sometimes think you like Padfoot more than me!" 

"I do, but you do know I'm a cat person, don't you?" you asked in your most nonchalant voice. You didn't think you'd ever seen Sirius this disgusted before. 

"But - but they are so MEAN!" he whined. 

"Relax - I'm kidding! Cats are barely in my top 10!" 

"Then which are your favourites?" 

"Definitely stags!"

***

Lily was tired. 

She got to her dorm late after spending her whole afternoon in the library, studying with James. She felt her heart clench when she saw you sleeping on the floor, dried tears glimmering in the dim moonlight. 

She carried you to your bed and tucked you in, then sat next to you. She stayed up all night, holding you tight, making sure you wouldn't be alone if you woke up. The next morning, she kissed your forehead and promised to bring you breakfast when you refused to get up. 

She sat down next to James, who seemed just as tired as she was. He pushed a plate filled with food in front of her. 

"Sirius too?" The boys nodded. "The cheater - heartbroken! As if it wasn't his choice!" she retorts angrily. 

"It was a choice he made he will never stop regretting. He hates himself for what he did." James tried to calm her. 

"As he should!" She cut him. "Y/N doesn't deserve this! No one does! Why, why would he do this?" 

"I wish I knew." he whispered. 

"How is she holding up?" Remus asked.

"I found her on the floor last night. She cried herself to sleep." She could swear she saw something break in Remus' eyes.  

After breakfast, she went back to her dorm with a large plate in her hands. She was entering the common room, when she saw him on the sofa, staring at the crackling fire. 

"Lily, wait!" 

"What do you want, Sirius?" Lily snapped and turned to face the boy. Oh, if looks could kill! For a moment, though, she felt bad for the lad. It was safe to say, she thought, that Sirius Black looked just as miserable as you. 

"How is she?" 

"How do you think she is?" 

Not a flicker of emotion, nothing - his face was a blank canvas. "I need to see her." 

The way his voice broke made her eyes soften "She's not yours. Not anymore. I'm sorry." 

Sirius turned to leave. "Why did you do it?" she demanded. He faced her, and Lily saw the tears pooling in his eyes. "Because I'm an idiot. Because I love her so much that I got scared." 

He got up and left. 

***

With the Marauders Map in your hands, you made your way through the deserted halls, trying to find Sirius. You had seen him on the seventh floor, but then his name mysteriously disappeared. You stopped in the place where you'd last seen him and waited. 

Suddenly, an enormous wooden door came into sight. You reluctantly opened it, only to find yourself inside an posh, ancient house. You were in a spacious dark green room, decorated with intricate tapestries. 

The main tapestry depicted several small portraits, all connected through a tree. 'Licorus Black', 'Magenta Black', 'Phineas Nigellus Black', 'Arcturus Black I', 'Hesper Black', and there was 'Sirius Orion Black'! It was the Black's family tree, which meant that you were inside the Grimmauld Place! But where was…? 

You saw Sirius sitting in a corner with a crumpled piece of parchment in his hand. "Sirius?" you asked softly. He lifted his head and you could see pearly tears rolling down his cheeks. 

You sat down next to him and hugged him tightly. "I am here for you. I'll always be. You can tell me when you're ready, or not tell me at all, but I want you to know that you are not alone." His hands sneaked around your waist and he buried his head in the crook of your neck. 

"They disowned me" you heard him whisper. "And I knew I shouldn't care, hell-" his voice broke, "-I hate them, but it still hurts so much." 

You were left speechless.You hated the Blacks with a burning passion, but you knew your fury wouldn't make him feel any better. So you kept quiet, holding him close. 

Sometimes, words weren't enough. Sometimes, simply being there for someone was the only thing that helped. You gave them time and space. And sometimes, that meant the world. 

***

You skipped all your classes and called in sick. You stayed in your bed for two days, thinking and crying. The only times you tried to act fine were when Lily came in the evenings. Even then, you'd ask her about him. You felt pathetic. 

Today it was the Hogsmeade trip, which meant you could go anywhere in the castle and be all by yourself. Truth was, the weather was fantastic; it was the first sunny day in months of cold gloomy autumn. It was 12 o'clock when you made your way to the kitchen to fetch some food, then ate it in silence in the Great Hall.

After that, you walked by the Black Lake and sat down in your usual spot. This place carried so many memories, memories you grew to hate. You were staring at the water, watching the sun reflect off the waves when you saw the shadow of a silhouette nearing you. 

Of course it's him. He sat down next to you, copying your actions. 

"So many things have happened in this spot." he said nostalgically. 

"What are you doing here?" you retort. 

"I'm sorry." 

"Answer the question. What are you doing here?" 

"I needed to talk to you." 

"Why?" 

"I owe you an explanation." 

"You owe me a fucking big explanation, Sirius Black." you responded, "But that's not what I was talking about. Why did you do it?" you tried to hold your tears back. 

"I got scared."

"You got scared!" you chuckled drily. "Of what? Me?" 

"Of myself. I lost so many things, Y/N. When you came into my life, it was as if I saw the sun for the first time." A tear rolled down his cheek, but he didn't bother to wipe it. "I loved you so much that I got scared that if I ever were to lose you, I wouldn't be able to bear it. That it would destroy me." he turned to face you. "I still do. I love you."

"Lying has never been a good look on you." you scowl. "If you'd loved me that much, you wouldn't have cheated in the first place." Tears were streaming down your face. "Was it me? Was I not enough?" 

"I wasn't enough. And I will never be. I don't deserve you." he admits. 

"You are a fool, a stupid fool, Sirius." 

"I am truly sorry, Y/N." 

"Me too." 

You both stayed by the lake for hours without saying a word - pretending that you're fine, not wanting to let go.

***

"I love you, Y/N Y/L/N. I love you more than anything in my life." he whispered, taking your hand in his. You stood next to him, your head on his shoulder, watching the sun hide under the waters of the Black Lake. 

"I love you too. And I could never stop loving you."

 taglist: @futurewriter2000, @puppycat714, @booksbeforebois, @screennamealreadyused, @fific7

[avengersassemble-fics]

New Perspective

part 06/?? “i feel the salty waves come in”

masterlist

previous part // next part

word count 4k

an: DEDICATED TO THE LOVELY @nobodys-baby-now​ / @jubileestreetv​. you’ve turned into one of my very cherished friends and im so grateful to have found a texas buddy on here. i hope you enjoy your birthday and thank you for always listening to my story rambles.

For the first time in her life, Natasha Romanoff wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do.

It was a bitter pill to swallow, but she had to admit it to herself. She didn’t know what to do to help her friend. First it was the lying sack of shit James, then losing the baby, and now to see her friend reeling from yet another betrayal left her nearly grasping for straws. She knew what mysterious Steve did was wrong and not his place, but she also knew he was trying to do the right thing. And to her?.. He did. James had not been a part of your life for months, and you were starting to do so much better.. She hated to admit that it wasn’t her handy work.

It was because of Steve.

Natasha couldn’t help but wonder if the reason why you were doing so much better during that time was because of the person you had told her so much about. So when she finally came face to face with him she definitely understood everything a bit more. One thing you hadn’t disclosed to her and Wanda was just how attractive the man was, or the way he looked at you with those eyes.

Yup. Those eyes. The man was crazy about you, and either you were blind as a bat or you somehow chalked it up to something else.

That’s something she knew you needed the most help with. Reading people better.

It had been a few weeks since the situation blew up at James’ apartment, you had called her asking to come over to her shared place with Wanda - and of course Natasha agreed. You didn’t tell her on the phone what was going but, but she knew. Natasha always knows. So when you came in, pacing back and forth angry and then stopping in near tears, she wasn’t surprised. And it all but confirmed another thought she had had.

You were starting to feel the same way about Steve.

Natasha was brought back to the present, sitting on the floor of your living room beside Wanda, rolling up glass after glass in newspaper and then bubble wrap. Your place was starting to look more and more like when James moved out: covered in boxes. But even now, Natasha eyed you across the room trying to figure out what was going on inside that head of yours. You were surprisingly calm given the fact you were about to move back in with Nat and Wanda after thinking you had found your person.

Ouch. That actually kind of hurt Nat.

Wanda was the first to try and break the silence, glancing over at Natasha as if looking for permission to do so, and built up a smile for you. “I was thinking maybe the first night you get settled we can all have a girls night. Watch that Brendan Fraiser movie you like so much.”

“Oh god please, we’ve seen it a hundred times,” Nat said.

“Mrs. Winterbourne is a classic, thank you very much,” you chimed in. “Peak Brendan Fraiser content.”

“You have to admit it’s a good movie, Nat,” Wanda elbowed her side. Nat rolled her eyes and shrugged.

“Shirley MacLaine was pretty fantastic.. And Rikki Lake..” Natasha’s voice drifted off, only to then notice her two friends staring at her with raised brows. She sighed and shook her head. “And Brendan Fraiser. There. You happy?”

“Over the moon,” you laughed. Wanda and Nat exchanged a look before continuing. They missed the way you hovered over a picture frame with your fingers, tracing something behind the plastic, before looking up at the time. “Shit.” You mumbled as you wrapped the frame up and  moved around the pair to the door.

“What is it?” Wanda asked as you unlocked the door.

“I told Bucky 12--” you stopped mid sentence as you pulled the door open and was met face to face with the man in question. Did Natasha see the way you practically tensed up when you met his eyes? Yes. But you on the other hand swallowed the lump in your throat and nodded a bit at your soon-to-be ex-husband. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Bucky replied. You told your friends you’d be right back and Bucky stepped to the side to let you come out freely. You couldn’t help but wipe your hands down the jeans you were wearing as Bucky let you walk ahead and down the stairs. Each step echoed through the hallways and even in your mind.

Packing up your life (your life with him) was bringing up so many.. Unanswered thoughts and feelings. So when you both made it outside the leasing office, you couldn’t help but notice the familiar, nearly intoxicating scent of his cologne. Bucky was dressed more like himself, not in the suits you had seen him wearing in that god awful penthouse a few times over these last few months. Jeans, a loose but not too loose shirt that showed his arms very nicely (you hated to admit) and it all but felt like too much. Bucky cleared his throat, shuffling his weight from one foot to the other, which made you side eye him.

“You look good,” he said. You looked down at yourself and thought about the state of your hair. You were a mess. Probably hot and sweaty from moving things around all day. So you couldn’t help but chuckle a bit.

“I look awful,” you replied. “I look as if I just did a marathon.”

“Maybe not a marathon,” Bucky chimed in. “More like a 5k.”

“Thanks, Buck,” you mumbled, but you two broke out in a shared laugh. It halted for a moment when the door was pulled open, and one of the assistants asked if you both could have a seat for a bit. You hesitantly agreed and sat on one of the benches and Bucky followed suit. He was careful not to touch his knee with yours as you sat there beside him, and Bucky rested his hands in his lap and took a look around.

“Remember the last time we sat here?” Bucky asked you. You took a deep breath as you thought back to that time, what seemed so long ago. You nodded your head a bit.

“Yeah.. I remember.”

Bucky started laughing. You looked over to him and he tried to cover his mouth to stifle the laughs but they just kept coming. You couldn’t help but smile and turn more to face him. “What’s so funny?”

“I was just thinking about how you were bouncing off the walls while they ran our information,” Bucky said between laughs. “I mean you were frantically whispering about everything that could go wrong. My lack of a rental history, your shit credit score—“

“My credit score wasn’t shit!”

“It was shit, don’t lie to yourself,” Bucky said. When your shoulders fell and you shook your head, you both laughed. It was.. It was like old times. Just the two of you.

“I remember you were just as nervous as me, Bucky,” you told him. Someone started to come down the stairs and you both did your best to hold in your laughs and look as calm as possible (though the person just gave you weird looks). You smiled a bit to yourself as you rubbed your fingers over one of your hands. “You sweat when you’re nervous.”

“I was nervous because I knew how much you wanted this place,” Bucky said. You couldn’t help but notice that serious tone of voice he got, especially when he was telling the truth. “I didn’t want to disappoint you.”

Didn’t want me disappointed over an apartment and then went on to have an affair? How strange.

You swallowed the lump in your throat and shrugged your shoulders. “It wouldn’t have been your fault Buck.. We always could have tried again.”

“Could we?” He asked suddenly. Your head shot up from his question and you met his gaze. James Buchanan Barnes, your James, stared back at you with his puppy dog eyes. They were filled with curiosity, and.. Well, hope. Your mouth fell open to answer, or to try and form an answer, but you were saved by the door opening and one of the leasing agents saying they were ready for you.

It was simple. Since you were month to month at that point, it was just a matter of giving your thirty days and returning the keys on the 30th day. The manager had looked away to type on his computer, and you stared down at the paper before you, one line for you, the other for Bucky. He watched you during the whole conversation, and when you didn’t make the first move he wanted to reach over, but he looked at the pen before him and instead took it upon himself to sign first.

You watched him do it, sign his name so effortlessly, and set it back down for you to sign next. With a sharp inhale you reached for the pen and signed your name right next to his. Probably one of the last few times you’d sign your name like that. You set the pen back down and the manager took the paperwork, and took away the drying signature you had your eyes focused on.

(Y/N) Barnes.

So it was done. You rubbed your hands together as you walked towards the stairs, Bucky lingering behind towards the staircase. You took a couple steps up before you turned back to face him, and he had his hands shoved into his jeans, watching you again. “Thank you for doing this.”

“Of course, whatever you need,” Bucky’s voice trailed off. You both stared at one another knowing this was it. But Bucky moved up a step below you, and you froze. “If you changed your mind, and you want to stay here, we can go back in. Tell them to rip up the papers—”

“No I.. Bucky I can’t stay here. I can’t--”

“You love this place, (Y/N)--”

“I also loved you!” You exclaimed. Bucky stopped talking immediately, mouth closing and his eyes shifted, almost darker. You felt the lump form in your throat again as you stared down at him, and shook your head. “You don’t know how hard it’s been to be in there everyday. You were everywhere I looked, hell I couldn’t even cook dinner for the first few weeks because every footstep I heard I thought it was you.”

You felt the sting of tears when you met his eyes again. You shrugged your shoulders, your voice coming out in a near whisper. “It was never you though.. You just.. Fuck, you just left, like nothing mattered.. Like I never mattered.”

“You mattered,” Bucky said quietly. His voice was rough, like he was holding his own tears back, but he did what he did best. Pretended to be strong. “You still matter.. What I did was fucking awful. Nothing will change that (Y/N), but this.. Please I want to fix this. Something. Just do something right for once.”

You didn’t know what he was asking you. He still stood on the step below yours, looking up at you like you were back at that party in college. You felt your heart breaking all over again, but you smiled sadly at him before looking down to your feet. “Sometimes doing the right thing means giving up something important to you.”

Silence filled the air after you said that. You weren’t sure if you were talking about the apartment anymore, really you weren’t sure what was happening. Suddenly, you felt the all too familiar feeling of Bucky’s fingers spreading over your cheek, and you looked up to meet his eyes again. His long fingers moved past your ear and spread over your neck, and his thumb traced over the skin of your flushed cheek. You weren’t sure if you were breathing, but you just couldn’t help but lean into his touch. You had missed this touch so much.

Bucky took another step up, and you were pushed further back until your back touched the wall. You were numb, fuzz filled your mind when all you could do was just stare into those beautiful fucking eyes. Was that your heart pounding in your ears? You couldn’t tell past the intense heat you felt radiating from him, his free hand had somehow managed to grip hold onto your waist, god he was so close to you you were weak in the knees. “Buck--“

“Ask me to stop and I will,” he whispered. Both of your hot breaths mixed with one another, and he stroked your cheek once more. “But I haven’t stopped thinking about feeling you like this for so long.”

“I can’t,” you said back in an equal whisper. “We can’t, Bucky.. Please--”

He looked down at you intoxicating blue eyes, and ran his thumb over your cheek one more time, and then suddenly he pulled himself away from you. You felt as if you could breathe again, but seeing Bucky stop before he made it all the way out your door made your stomach flip again. His hand hovered over the handle and he asked you a question.

“Is it because of Steve?”

You didn’t know how to reply in all honesty. But he looked back over at you with the saddest look on his face, like when his gaze changed that day you broke your news to him. Your mouth fell open to form an answer, but nothing came to mind. But that seemed to be all Bucky needed to see. He pulled open the door and shut it a little harsh behind him. You swallowed the lump that formed in your throat, and step by step walked back up the stairs to your apartment, the threat of tears stinging your eyes along the way.

Phil Coulson was everything you needed in a lawyer.

At first you were very against accepting Tony’s offer to not only recommend counsel, but to pay for it as well. You were grateful just for the chance to go back to work, that that offer felt like highway robbery. But of course, Tony being who he was, told you he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. He said, and you quoted this verbatim, that if you didn’t accept his offer he would proceed to ignore all your calls just to watch the light blink. When he then proceeded to do it for a full week you finally agreed.

Phil was great. You started to meet with him right before you found out about your pregnancy, and weekly after that to prepare. Negotiations between yourself (Phil) and Bucky (someone named Sam) were rough, his lawyer was relentless to say the least. It was the day before your first face-to-face meeting with both parties, because in all honesty you wanted to avoid court at all cost. It should be easy, there wasn’t anything either one wanted from one another, the apartment was gone, neither of you owned any property, no large amount of money.. Phil reassured you this was all a formality. The last step before the courts would dissolve the marriage.

You had opted to walk, which was looking to be more and more of a mistake. The sunshine was quickly being overcome by dark clouds and the distant sound of thunder. You couldn’t help but grumble to yourself, dodging people left and right to make it back to the nearly empty apartment you still called home for another week. You had your eyes glued to your upcoming building but your feet stopped you dead in your tracks.

Steve.

Steve was pacing back and forth in front of the steps up to your building. His back was to you but you knew he was going to turn around any second now. There was no way you would make it inside without him seeing you. God, why was your life like this? You couldn’t see him right now, not after the whirlwind moment with Bucky, not knowing you had to see him the next day.. What if they were still friends? Was this a trick? There’s no way he just shows up the day before everything is about to go down. Maybe if you walked quick enough up the stairs--

Steve turned around and overlooked the direction you were coming from, you could see him scan over each head and face before his eyes landed on you. You tried your best to avoid him, kept your eyes to the ground, but nothing stopped him from still being at the front of the steps when you finally got all the way there. He stood before you like a wall of bricks, and already you wanted to just vanish into thin air. “Can we--”

“Please let me by,” you said in a low tone of voice Steve moved to the side without question, and you hopped up one, two, four steps until you could push open the door to your building. You nearly flung your hand to hold onto the banister of the stairs, taking two steps at a time up, feeling Steve pushing on behind you.

“(Y/N). Please can we just talk for two seconds?” Steve asked behind you. He was following you up, one or two steps behind, and stopped when you got to the top and turned back to face him.

“What is there to talk about?” You asked him. Steve gripped onto the railing and sighed with a shake of his head.

“I know I shouldn’t have turned him away, it wasn’t my place to make that decision. But after everything he said, how he treated you.. I didn’t want him to upset you anymore. You didn’t need that,” Steve tried to explain. He watched as you chewed on the inside of your cheek, arms crossed, and how your eyes shifted back to him when he was done.

“Whether you like it or not.. Steve, he was the father of our child. If he wanted to be there he had the right to.”

“I know,” Steve said quietly. “I know that. But I didn’t care about him at that moment, or right now. I only care about you.”

You gulped. Silence fell between you two and Steve just watched you to try and gauge your thoughts on what he just said. He could see the brow raise in surprise, the crinkle around your eyes as you looked him over, and the part in your lips to catch your breath. But you retreated from him with a shake of your head and grabbed your keys from your pocket.

He wasn’t going to let you run away from him again.

“Go home, Steve,” you said as you turned to go to your door. Steve bounded up those last few stairs and got to your door just in time before you could hide yourself away inside. You had turned back to close it only to be met face-to-chest with him, chest heaving as he looked down at you. Your face was more calm, like you were trying to accept what he was saying. Steve kept to himself, and spoke in almost a whisper.

“Please don’t close me out again.”

You closed your eyes and looked down to your feet for a moment. Steve watched as you let out a small sigh and stepped back and opened your door further for him. Steve took a few steps into the apartment he got to frequent on those few occasions and looked around your place. As you clicked the door shut behind him he saw the few boxes that remained, the emptiness, and Steve shoved his hands into his jacket. “You’re.. Leaving?”

“I’m moving back in with my friends, until I find somewhere to live,” you explained to him. You had moved around him and stripped your jacket off as you sat down on the couch that still was in the living room. Steve nodded a bit to himself, but it still didn’t help him feel better about it. “I can’t be here anymore.”

“This is what you were meeting Bucky over that day wasn’t it?” Steve asked you. You offered him a nod. Steve let out a sigh and shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

“It was time to move on,” you tried to reason, more with yourself then with him. Steve finally took a seat on the opposite end of the couch and leaned forward to rest his arms on his legs. He sucked in some air and rubbed his hands together.

“I know how much this place means to you,” Steve said. He glanced over at you and smiled a bit. “But I know how much more it means for you to finally be yourself again.”

You fell silent. What he had said no one else seemed to have understood about your decision. You didn’t know if Steve knew that, but all he did was smile and look you over. All he did was offer you comfort from a distance. You shook your head and couldn’t help the smile that fell over your lips. “You always seem to know exactly what to say.”

“Because I see you,” Steve whispered. Your smile fell and along with it the gaze you held with him. Steve though didn’t stop staring, taking in every detail of your form. “All I always ever just saw was you. Not the idea of what you wanted others to see.. It was only ever you.”

“Why are you..” your voice trailed off when you looked back up to meet his gaze. Those soft blue eyes looked back at you and it felt like your heart rate fluttered for a moment. “Why are you telling me all this?”

“Because I’m trying to show you that it was never about Bucky, what I was doing with you,” Steve tried to explain. He had taken the opportunity to move closer, but he didn’t dare touch you yet. “Even if I had known about you and Buck, it wouldn’t change the fact I was there for you. Even now. And I just want you to know I’m sorry.”

God he really had a way with words. You were falling right into those large muscular arms with the way he was looking at you and talking to you. You couldn’t deny the fact you had missed him. Steve had become an integral part of your life without you fully realizing it until he was gone, down those steps and out the building when your friends relieved him from his duties. You missed his company, his words, those eyes.. But something in the form of guilt ate at you at the same time.

Why were you upset with him? He thought he was doing the right thing, and though you were angry that he had been another person making a decision for you, he was probably right. You didn’t need to see Bucky at that moment.. You needed to see him. You let out a sigh and Steve watched you in wonder.

“If you make a decision for me again it better only be something like food, or a drink,” you said. Steve’s face broke out in a smile and you did your best not to match it. “But this means probation.”

“I can do probation,” Steve said, maybe a little too quickly. “If it means you’re talking to me again, I can definitely do probation.”

Steve stayed for a few more hours until you were ready to go to bed. You had a big day in the morning after all. Though you didn’t tell him what it was, he didn’t push you to share. His final words to you spun around in your head as you fell asleep that night.

I’ll see you around, angel.

- - - - - - - - - - -

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[ryik-the-writer]

For @celticheartedfangirl​, Happy Christmas in July

This prompt was a treat, even if I”m extremely behind

Plot: Belle and Rumplestiltskin go on a trip to retrieve an object from a vengeful ice queen, only to end up in a snowstorm.

A03

                                                      -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Since Belle had made her deal to go with him forever, Rumplestiltskin’s life had gotten much more…chaotic.

He had never intended to bring Belle along on his many quests and adventures…hell he hadn’t known what to do with her after making that deal!

But after the Robin Hood incident, he had an anchoring to keep her near.

Not because he liked her! No, of course not…

Their latest adventure involved bringing Belle to a town frozen in time where a very angry snow queen had cursed them all.

Of course, he hadn’t let on right away what they were doing, thus she had no way of knowing that the ice sculptures she was ogling at were indeed human.

“They’re beautiful,” Belle cooed, pushing the heavy bag she had packed behind her so she could view each one. “How cute, a dog!”

Rumplestiltskin withheld a mischievous grin. Poor girl would faint if she knew the truth!

Then, she had found the remains of an icy lake, solid and tempting.

Her smile had been bright enough to melt the whole town.

“I haven’t been ice-skating since I was a little girl,” she grinned as she changed her shoes.

Rumplestiltskin huffed. “I don’t believe we have—”

Belle shot off before he could finish, causing Rumple’s heart to jump when she stumbled across the ice, struggling for stable ground.

In a flash, Rumplestiltskin magicked to her side, steadying her.

“It’s…it’s been a while,” Belle chuckled as her lets finally stopped shaking.

“Obviously,” he said, trying to hide his concern.

She didn’t let go of his hand, instead pulling him along with her as she set off again.

He used magic to keep him from sliding ungracefully, but he couldn’t quite contain his surprise at her eagerness to be with him.

She looked back at him, grinning ear to ear, admitting her gratefulness that he let her come along without a single word.

Rumplestiltskin couldn’t contain a smile back. She really was a lovely girl. Such a shame he could never tell her…

After a moment she led him back to the bank of the pond, skidding them both to a stop.

After catching her breath, she brushed a strand from her face and skipped his way, hands crossed behind her back.

“You didn’t bring me here just for the brilliant ice sculpting,” she teased. “What’s on today’s agenda?”

Rumplestiltskin smiled with mischief. “Visiting an old friend.”

Belle gave him a look. “By friend, you mean sworn enemy, right?”

Rumplestiltskin giggled. “We…have history.”

Belle hummed, rubbing her hands together and shivering. “Don’t suppose we could visit a pub for a hot cider before we visit your sworn enemy?”

Rumplestiltskin helped her to her feet. “Plenty of time for that later, now come! We should reach her palace by nightfall! We’ll need to be back at the castle by the morning for our appointment with the Hatter.”

Belle sighed as he began to walk on without her. Back to arm’s length, it would seem.

She adjusted her bag on her shoulders, striving to catch up to him as she paused in front of another ice sculpture.

This one seemed to be a mother holding their child to them closely, as if she were shielding them both from some unknown terror.

Belle gulped, looking at the others she had noticed earlier. They were all facing the same direction, fleeing from something.

“Belle?”

Belle hesitantly followed her employer, glancing around uneasily but thankful she couldn’t see the expressions on the sculptures faces.

It would seem the artist of these pieces had a twisted sense of humor, and something told her the Dark One knew more than he was letting on.

                                                  -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Belle nearly went blind at the site of the ice palace, the structure made from the whitest ice she’d ever seen.

She let Rumplestiltskin lead them in and she almost didn’t see the woman at the far end of the room stand to greet them.

“Rumplestiltskin,” the woman greeted evenly, and after blinking a few times Belle could make out the piecing blue of her eyes.

The Dark One stopped, causing Belle to nearly collide into him. She frowned as he bowed mockingly to the woman.

“You majesty,” he giggled. “You are the queen now, yes?”

“Watch it!” the woman seethed, stepping down from her pyramid of ice blocks to stand a few feet from him. “What do you want?”

“I want what you took from me,” Rumplestiltksin growled. “I want it back.”

“She is mine!” The Ice Queen seethed.

“The urn is my property, which makes the woman in it mine as well!”

Belle gasped. They were after a woman? A trapped woman?

The queen glared at him, the look making Belle shake from something much more deadly than the cold.

Suddenly, her eyes shot to Belle, and a sharp, queer smile spread across her face.

“And who is this?”

Rumplestiltskin stepped in front of Belle, shielding her from the hate-filled eyes.

“None of your concern,” he spat. “Now give me what I want.”

The Ice Queen’s smile seemed frozen in place, as if she could had turned into one of the ice sculptures in the village…

Wait…

Belle glanced around and noticed that there were dozens more. Some dressed like servants, carrying trays and flowers, like they had been active in their daily tasks…

And some of them looked like they were fleeing.

Belle’s heart stopped.

They had been.

“They’re alive…they were alive…” she gasped. “They’re people…”

Rumplestiltskin glanced back at her, swallowing a bit.

“You knew, didn’t you?” Belle seethed, but Rumplestiltskin shot around quickly.

“He’s one for surprises dear,” the Ice Queen said. “And treachery—“

“Enough,” Rumplestiltskin spat. “Give me what I came here for.”

“Very well, Dark One,” the Ice Queen agreed coolly. She waved her hand and a golden urn appeared in her hand.

“I’ll give you back your property,” she said, staring at the object with an odd sort of fondness.

And then to Belle with pure malice.

“But in exchange, I’m taking your little friend to add to my collection.”

In a flash, a white burst of magic shot from her hand, threating to collide with Belle.

Rumplestiltskin reacted before she could and shot around grabbed her, pulling her into his chest.

The magic hit him square in his back, causing a weak cry to leave his lungs as he fell to his knees.

Belle struggled to hold him up as she screamed, a patch of ice spreading quickly across his back.

“No, what…what’s going on?” She cried as she fell to her knees with him.

He convulsed violently, the darkness in him fighting off whatever spell she had thrown at him, but he could feel is slipping quickly into his darkened heart.

He squeezed Belle’s arm, the warmth of her skin the one thing that kept him from falling completely victim to the curse.

The Ice Queen cackled behind him and Rumplestiltskin gnashed his teeth in defiance.

“Not so high and mighty now, are you?” she cooed.

Belle glared at her, but before she could shout at the vile woman Rumplestiltskin wrapped his arms around her waist and magicked them out of the Ice Queen’s lair.

         ��                                            -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

 They broke apart as soon as they soon as Rumplestiltskin magicked them to the mountain’s side. They were free of the wretched queen, but her icy environment was waiting for them, swallowing them in a heated coldness no one could imagine.

It fell’s like she land on hot needles, piercing every nerve in her body without ever breaking the skin.

She finally thought, her body adjusting to the pain as her brain tried to focus on her surroundings.

“R-r-rumple!” she called out, the angry winds blocking out her voice.

She wrapped her arms tightly around herself and drudged through the knee-deep snow, searching immediately for shelter of some sort.

If one thing from her childhood winters at Avonlea taught her it was that when caught in a storm, finding a heat source was the difference between freezing to death and living.

There was a cluster of rocks several yards from her, just visible thought the whirling ice. Her body was going numb already, but her sheer anger at Rumplestiltskin was keeping her going.

She knew he was dark, she’d accepted that, but she had also seen his more human side. She’d seen him show mercy and kindness to foes, so why couldn’t he extend such graces to the general public?

And then he just hid what was going on to her, after all they’d been through?

He was going to get it—

She gasped as she tripped over something hard. She gasped as she got a face full of hard snow and winced as she felt a bruise forming.

She growled and twisted around to see what had caused her fall and immediately recognized Rumpelstiltskin’s hard leather coat, his unflinching hand peeking out of the sleeve.

She struggled to crawl to his side and flip him onto his back.

“Rumple?” she yelled as she shook him. His eyes barely opened, staring hazily at her. She could feel him trembling even through the thick leather. Whatever the Snow Queen had done to him had made him very weak.

“Hey,” she said shaking him a bit. “What happened? What did she do?”

“Sp…spell…” he groaned so weakly Belle barely heard it.

She squinted around, estimating their distance from the rocks. She took a deep breath and began lift Rumplestiltskin up, slinging one of her shoulder as he groaned.

“We have to move,” she said. “Can you walk?”

She felt him faintly nod but got little effort out of him. She straightened her back and began pulling him in the direction of the rocks, praying a cave was clustered somewhere in the mess.

Rumplestiltskin was grumbling, his body going back and forth from heavy to light, signifying his inability to stay conscious.

Belle just pulled him tighter to her, dragging him with all her strength. She was losing steam fast but pure determination kept her going. That and keeping him alive so she could kick his arse later.

Thankfully there was an opening in the cave, and deep enough that it would shield them from the elements.

He began to come to again, his limbs twitching as he subconsciously tried to help her along.

Belle shushed him gently as she leaned him against the wall as she began to take off her overcoat and wrapped it around him.

“Hang on, okay?” she encouraged through chattering lips.

She felt along the walls of the cave, gliding one hand along the floor in search for wood or some kind of debris that could be burnt, but all she could find were a few sticks.

They needed warmth now or it wouldn’t be long until the both were goners.

She gathered what she could find a few feet in front of Rumple, frowning miserably.

She grabbed her bag and dumped its contents out, gulping when noted the only thing that could be used for a fire was her beloved copy of “Her Handsome Hero.”

The only thing she had from her dear, sweet mama.

Why did she think she’d have time to read on a mission?!

Rumplestiltskin made a quiet moan, easing in and out of an uncomfortable unconsciousness.

Neither one of them were going to last much longer at this rate. She was already getting so tired, hypothermia biting at her lips.

She looked at Rumple, her lips shaking, and not from the cold.

She lovingly placed her books on the ground, clashing to rocks together to get a spark going.

Hot tears slid down her cheeks as a spark caught onto one of the pages, so old from years of being passed down that the flames picked up instantly.

The warmth barely helped her feel accomplished, but the flames grew enough that they would have a moment of warmth before the chill set in once more.

She glanced at the Dark One in his fitful state, feeling a strange coldness fill her chest that she hadn’t felt since she first arrived at his castle.

“You did all this,” she whispered. “You brought us out here to face off with that awful woman, and now…” her lips began to shake as her grief began to overflow.

“And you kept it from me,” she sobbed. “You lied to me…even after everything we’ve been though.

Rumplestiltskin coughed, his eyes fluttering.

“…Belle?”

Belle moved around the small fire, easing to his side. She stared at him, trying to stay calm. He was injured after all, and she’d be on death’s door herself if he couldn’t magic them out.

“What’s happening to you?”

He struggled to sit up, a flickering blue light spreading over his chest.

“A spell,” he groaned, clutching his chest. “It freezes the target from the inside out…”

Belle tensed. “Are you—”

“No,” he chuckled weakly. “Such magic can’t kill the Dark One…” he gasped as another wave of cold threatened him. “No really. I’ll be fine…then I’ll get us out of here.”

Belle nodded, satisfied that he would be find.

But she was still angry.

“Did you know what she was doing to those people, what they were?”

“Belle…”

“Why didn’t you stop her!” Belle yelled. “You could have helped those people!”

“I’m not a hero Belle—”

“You don’t have to be a hero to do the right thing!”

Rumplestiltskin fell back, annoyance building through the pain.

“I don’t’ need to explain myself to you.”

Belle scoffed. “No I guess you don’t.” she moved away from him and began picking at the fire, trying to keep it lively with a few sticks.

He tried to remain calm, tried to focus all his energy and magic into fighting the damned curse that awful woman had cast on him.

But he was so cold. The spell wouldn’t kill him, but there was no doubt it would take days for it to wear off. The snow storm outside seemed to grow stronger, no doubt the Snow Queen’s doing to smite him out once and for all.

He glanced at Belle, frowning at her slouched shoulders. He didn’t like it when she was angry at him, but it was better to keep her at arm’s length.

He was a monster, she needed to realize that. It’d save her.

The heat from the small fire she had built had faded fast and the cave was freezing once more.

Belle rubbed her arms, her energy nearly depleted. She felt so tired, the frantic voice in the back of her mind screaming at her not to fall asleep.

Her mother’s book as a pile of smoky ash now and there was nothing left to burn.

She laid on her side, facing Rumple.

“I’m so tired,” she muttered, feeling her eyes grow heavy. Her body was so cold now she couldn’t even feel anything.

“Belle,” Rumplestiltskin muttered, turning his head, his heart racing when he saw she wasn’t moving.

“No, Belle!” he moaned, turning painfully on his side and crawling to her. “No, please don’t fall asleep!”

Belle moaned. “It’s okay…”

“No, Belle, look at me,” he reached out, taking hold of her chin. “Please stay awake. Yell at me, hit, just don’t fall asleep!”

She didn’t answer, and Rumple willed his magic to his limbs to give him more strength. He managed to sit up and pull Belle closer to him, her pulse a bare flutter under his fingers.

He snatched the coats she had laid on him off himself to cover her.

“Belle wake up…I’m sorry…I’m sorry for everything. For lying to you, to bringing you into this.” He mused her hair from her beautiful face, so peaceful.

“I just wanted to keep you safe.”

He leaned up to see the fire she attempted to build, recognizing the burnt paper flakes.

“Oh Belle, I’m so sorry,” he said as he rubbed at her arms over the jacket.

He recalled briefly — in another life —doing the same thing to keep his son warm.

In the very early mornings when the fire he’d set the night before had long gone out, his wee son would crawl into bed with him and they’d hold each other close until they warmed up.

The memory filled him with comfort and guilt, but also a very embarrassing idea.

With his magic doing its part, his skin had started to retain some of its warmth. If he and Belle were skin to skin…

He cringed at the thought. She’d be disgusted with him, but she wouldn’t be much of anything if she froze to death.

“Belle,” he whispered as his stiff fingers carefully began to open her shirt. “I’m going to try something I hope will save us both.” He averted his eyes from her pale skin as he undid his undershirt.

He reached out to tie their coats together, creating a sort of blanket for them.

As his heart pounded, he pulled Belle to his chest, his back against the storm, and entangled their legs, the heat between them slowly building.

“You’re going to be alright Belle,” he whispered into her hair, holding her close as he drifted into his own slumber.

                                                       -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Belle opened her eyes slowly, the cold that had soaked into her bones now gone. Her hand grazed upon something hard and textured, but not unpleasant to the touch.

It took her a moment to realize she was lying on someone, their legs tangled in a heated embrace.

It was quiet now, the storm now seized, and Belle could clearly make out the sound of the heartbeat pressed against her ear.

She eased back some, lifting her head to look at the sleeping face of her employer.

Her face further heated when she looked down to see their unclothed chests touching.

She croaked, sitting up to cover herself as their tied coats slid down to their waists.

Rumple stirred, opening his reptilian eyes. He tensed when he saw Belle staring at him, not necessarily in disgust but just in confusion.

“I…I um…” he stuttered, his body warmer than it’d been in over a day.

“You’re doing better,” she pointed out, not meeting his eyes. “The spell must have worn off.”

“Mostly, yes.” He concluded. “And it would seem as if we’re safe from the Snow Queen.”

“Good,” she nodded, looking around the calm cave until her eyes landed on their tied jackets.

“You saved us?”

The Dark One bristled, “I think you’re dehydrated.”

Belle smirked through her exhaustion. “Looks like you’ve got a bit of a hero in you after all.”

Rumplestiltskin groaned. “Very dehydrated.”

She shrugged. “I’m sure we can remedy that soon enough. Do you think you can get us out of here?”

Rumplestiltskin frowned. “I’m not sure. I used so much magic fighting off the curse.”

Belle nodded, glancing out the mouth of the cave into the snow. It was so beautiful after the storm, but the cold was still their worst enemy. Belle wasn’t sure if she was willing to strip down further tonight if they were out her another night.

Her heart leapt when she saw something – or someone – moving in the distance.

“Rumple,” Belle gasped. He was at her side in a second, glaring at the figure moving towards them.

“Is it the Snow Queen?”

“I don’t think so. Stay behind me.”

Belle did has he bade for his magic to return.

Whoever it was would be losing a large chunk of their necks if they tried to harm Belle.

The figure stepped in front of the cave, throwing back his hood with a bit too much flair.

Rumplestiltskin groaned. “Hatter.”

“Good to see you too!” Jefferson greeted.

“What are you doing here?”

Jefferson smirked. “You missed our appointment, and we got worried,” he pointed at Rumplestiltskin’s partially undone shirt. “But it looks liked it was for a good reason.”

The Dark One hissed and struggled to button his shirt while Belle eased to his side.

“We?”

Jefferson glanced back to reveal the mysterious Dr. Victor Frankenstein making his way up the steep mountain.

Belle gasped when she saw one of the ice sculptures – the dog – tied around his back.

“The next time you want to take a rendezvous, at least leave a note,” the doctor panted as he sat on a rock to rest.

“That’s not what happened!” Rumplestiltskin seethed.

Belle eased past him to greet Jefferson. “We’re both another hour away from hypothermia. Can you get us out of here?”

“Sure,” the hatter winked. “But I’ll have to make a couple of trips.”

                                                  -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Belle and Rumplestiltskin huddled closely by the fire, they’re bodies warmed to the appropriate temperature.

They had yet to speak to each other, mainly because the doctor and the hatter would not leave them alone for a single second.

After giving Belle a quick checkup (Rumplestiltskin had forbade him to touch him, much to the doctor’s disappointment) Dr. Frankenstein had to work examining the frozen dog he’d confiscated from Arendelle, trying to chip off some kind of sample but failing miserably.

“That thing better not melt on my table!” Rumplestiltskin shot at the doctor.

“Fear not, Dark One,” the doctor sighed tiredly. “Your baubles are safe.”

Rumplestiltskin growled and turned back to the fire, sparing a glance at Belle.

He wanted to tell her so much, to thank her and apologize and anything he could so she didn’t look so cold when she looked at him.

Jefferson was sitting at a chair at the great table, his attention back and forth between the Dark One and his maid and the doctor.

This was…different. He knew of course that the most powerful sorcerer in the land had a soft spot for the bookish, clumsy heroine, but he hadn’t realized it was this intense.

Since Belle had come to stay with Rumplestiltskin, his visits had become less about business and more about company. He loved the playful bickering they shared, loved that his business acquaintance actually seemed happy.

Jefferson was a helpless romantic, yes, and right now the light of his interest was threatening to fall into shambles.

“Belle…” Rumplestiltskin began quietly to avoid scandal from the two men in the room.

She glanced his way but remained quiet.

“Thank you for what you did for me…”

Belle nodded, sipping her tea wordlessly.

“And…I’m sorry,”

Belle paused, as did the two spectators behind them.

“I didn’t mean to put you in danger or to lie to you,” He said. “And I’m sorry about your book.”

Belle lowered her cup, grief threatening to crush her.

“It was my mother’s, and the first book she ever read to me.” Belle said.

Rumplestiltskin smiled lightly but noticed the way her eyes were glassing over.

“The day the ogres attacked my home, I went back to get it,” she said. “By the time I got back to mother, the ogres had come. And then…”

Belle gulped and wiped the tear from her eye. “I thought for so long that if I had just left it behind, we could have gotten out sooner and maybe she’d alive. But then it was all I had left of her, the only reminder I had that there are heroes in this world and maybe I could be one.”

Rumplestiltskin nodded. “She’d be so proud of you, Belle.”

Belle scoffed.

“No, she would,” he assured. “You saved me, and made a grand sacrifice to do it. If that’s not a hero, I can’t imagine what is.”

Belle smiled, grateful. “And you saved me too. You can be a hero too Rumple, you just have to believe in yourself.”

Rumplestiltskin looked away, the weight of her words weighing into him.

Him, a hero…

The doctor cleared his voice, pulling them from their heart-to-heart.

“I think I might be able to make some progress on our friend here,” he said, placing a hand on the dog ice sculpture. “But I’ll need to take him back to my lab for further examination.”

Belle and Rumple rose to meet the doctor at the table, who handed them his stethoscope.

“Listen,” he instructed, placing the metal part to the dog’s chest.

Belle listened first, her eyes widening as she handed the device to Rumplestiltskin.

“It’s…”

“A heartbeat.” Rumple concluded, meeting Belle’s brilliant smile.

“They’re alive, it would seem,” the doctor theorized. “As to how to revert them to their original state I cannot yet conclude.”

“It’s magic,” the Dark One pointed out. “It’s not exactly something you can solve.”

The doctor glared at him, but Belle stepped in the way to keep a fight from breaking out.

“How about I make us all dinner,” she offered.

“Sounds good to me,” Jefferson chimed in, taking his legs off the table. “I saw some strawberries on the way in. I’ll make tarts!”

“You can cook?” Belle asked.

“…I can put things in a bowl.”

The doctor scoffed in disgust. “Cooking is a science, hatter. I’ll handle any baking.”

Belle and Jefferson exchanged an amused look before the lead the red-faced doctor to the kitchen.

She stopped just outside the entry way, turning to Rumplestiltskin who was watching them whimsically.

“Aren’t you coming?”

He nodded solemnly. “In a moment.”

Belle smiled, heading to the kitchen.

Rumplestiltskin sighed, gripping the edge of the table as he struggled to sort out his thoughts.

He cared for her. He’d known this for some time now, but now things had gotten much more serious.

He was falling for her, and he had no idea what to do.

He glanced over to her bag, now dry from its night soaking in snow. Glancing towards the kitchen, he grabbed the bag and sorted through its contents until he found the small unburnt corner of Her Handsome Hero.

In a flash he was in his tower and placed the piece in a bowl along a special ingredient: a small, magical silkworm he’d been saving to rebuilt series of ancient scrolls.

This was more important.

He placed it with the book and smiled as it immediately set to work. It’d be a few days until Belle’s book was fully restored, and he’d have to find a subtle way to surprise her with it.

But there would be time for all that, there’d be time for everything.

Satisfied, he turned away from the bowl, making his way down the tower stairs to join Belle and the others for dinner.

[tamtam-go92]

Does anyone still remember my sims 2 to sims 4 uberhood project from like a lifetime ago? Well I’ve been going back to in since like a month. I finished Veronaville/Oasis Springs and Desiderata Valley/Newcrest in the meantime. I’ve also remade the premade sims to make them look more accurate to their sims 2  originals and to match their traits even more to their personalities. I own more packs now so the builds look way better (though I didn’t revised the Pleasantview/Willow Creek lots). My goal is to finish and really play this save! I always wanted to play an Uberhood in the sims 2 but I don’t have the nerves to do so. But with the Story Progression of MCCC I might be able to skip households that aren’t interesting to me. We’ll see how this works out in the end. There is still a lot of work ahead of me. Let me know if you are interested in pics! Under the cut some notes to which world will be which ‘hood and some thoughts about them and my system for giving sims 2 premades sims 4 traits (mainly for my own reference when I’m not on my usual device).

Oasis Springs -> Veronaville -> Done Might be a funny decision, I was even asked before why I decided to do so. I stated that Veronaville always gave me Mediterranean vibes, I never gave Veronaville a winter season in sims 2. And I mean climate change is real you guys! This is probably what a Mediterranean area looks like today.

Willow Creek -> Pleasantview -> Done This is the obvious choice I guess. All makeovers can be found in the tag above. Sims have been remade.

Newcrest -> Desiderata Valley -> WIP Desiderata Valley has quite the suburban vibe to me, with the skyscapers in the background of Newcrest I thought that was really fitting. The lots are a bit small (as are a lot of lots in sims 4) but I made it work. Currently recreating the sims. I always had a soft spot for DV and I missed playing them. Some lots are really hideous!

Granite Falls -> Three Lakes I don’t own Outdoor Retreat but I plan to build the lots I planned for it anyway and save them to the gallery (if I ever get the GP).

Magnolia Promenade -> Bluewater Village (partial) In Magnolia Promenade I’ll build the own businesses by the Ramirez, Jacquet and Landgraab family.

Windenburg -> Bluewater Village I know that a lot of players see Windenburg more like Veronaville but I thought the whole setting with the big urban part would be more fitting to a Shopping District. Still don’t know who to handle home businesses...

San Myshuno -> Downtown (partial) and Belladonna Cove (partial) It makes sense to turn San Myshuno into Downtown. The Apartments will be filled with Belladonna Residents though.

Forgotten Hollow -> Downtown (partial) The vampire parts of Downtown would go to Forgotten Hollow. I don’t own the Vampires GP though. I’ll still build the lots and to the same as with the Three Lakes lots. Might get Vampires in the future...

Brindleton Bay -> Riverblossom Hills Those two ‘hood just give me the same vibes, idk...

Selvadorada No changes to the hood. I don’t own the pack, I don’t plan on getting it and even if I would, I’d have no idea what else to turn it into.

Del Sol Valley -> Belladonna Cove (partial) This would be like the uptown part of Belladonna Cove. I don’t own the pack so same as for Granite Falls and Forgotton Hollow applies.

Strangerville -> Strangetown Do I really need to elaborate this? I don’t think so. The lots in this world are really small and the Strangetown lots tend to be huge so I gotta improvise, but I’ll make it work!

Sulani -> Twikki Island This is pretty obvious too I think. With the possibility to have rental homes in residential worlds I could turn Sulani de facto into a vacation hood. Yet I don’t own the EP so same as above applies.

Glimmerbrook -> Magic and Belladonna Cove (partial) Glimmerbrook will be the homes to all thise magical beings from apartment live (and a not so magical neighbor of the Cordial sisters).

Britechester -> SSU, LFT, ALT This one is really giving me a headarche. I’ll include one residential lot from each S2 University and merge the Sororities and Fraternities of the SSU and LFT. They’ll move into Dorms I think. Don’t know what to do with the rest of the students yet.

Evergreen Harbor -> Belladonna Cove (partial) Probably just made this decision because there are apartments in Evergreen Harbor too. Will turn it into the low and middle class part of Belladonna Cove. I really don’t like this world, guys it’ll probably be a lot of community lots.

Mt. Komorebi -> Takemizu Village Guessed it, right? xD See Sulani on the how to. Mt. Komorebi will see a special inhabitant as it has one lot more than Takemizu.

On Traits:

I take Sims Personality, Hobby, Aspiration and Secondary Aspiration to calculate their traits. I use my own playing preferences and experiences on what Sims 2nd Aspirations and Hobbies are.

Personality Traits: Neat, Proper (Neat), Slob (Sloppy), Self Assured, Outgoing, Self Absorbed*, Charmer** (Outgoing), Gloomy, Unflirty, Loner, Independent** (Shy), Active, Adventurous, Wild ** (Active), Lazy, Squeamish, Clingy** (Lazy), Goofball, Childish, Clumsy, Erratic, Kleptomaniac, Chief of Mischief Aspiration, Silly** (Playful), Inquisitive** (Serious), Cheerful, Good, Angelic** (Nice), Hot Headed, Evil, Mean, Fussy** (Grumpy)

Hobby Traits: Foodie, Glutton, Vegetarian, Master Chef Aspiration, Master Mixologist Aspiration, Whiz Kid Aspiration (Cuisine) Perfectionist, Artistic Prodigy Aspiration (Tinkering) Music Lover, Dance Machine, Music Genius Aspiration, Social Butterfly Aspiration (Music and Dance) Creative, Art Lover, Maker, Painter Extraordinaire Aspiration, Master Maker Aspiration, Lord/Lady of the Knits Aspiration, Artistic Prodigy Aspiration (Arts and Craft) Geek, Whiz kid Aspiration (Games) Extreme Sports Enthusiast Aspiration, Mt. Komorebi Sightseer Aspiration, Rambunctious Scamp Aspiration (Sports) Child of the Ocean, Bodybuilder Aspiration, Rambunctious Scamp Aspiration (Fitness) Bookworm, Bestselling Author Aspiration, Master Actor Aspiration, Social Butterfly (Film and Literature) Child of the Island, Freegan, Green Fiend, Loves Outdoors, Recycle Discipline, Beach Life Aspiration, Freelance Botanist Aspiration, The Curator Aspiration, Angling Ace Aspiration, Outdoor Enthusiast Aspiration, Jungle Explorer Aspiration, Purveyor of Potions Aspiration, Eco Innovator Aspiration, Eco Innovator Aspiration, Rambunctious Scamp Aspiration (Nature) Paranoid, Whiz Kid Aspiration (Science)

Aspiration Traits: City Native Aspiration, Good Vampire Aspiration, Worldfamous Celebrity Aspiration (Pleasure) Family Oriented, Jealous, Successful Lineage Aspiration, Big Happy Family Aspiration, Vampire Family, Super Parent Aspiration, Soulmate Aspiration (Family) Romantic, Hates Children, Noncommittal, Serial Romantic Aspiration (Romance) Genius, Renaissance Sim Aspiration, Nerd Brain Aspiration, Computer Whiz Aspiration, Master Vampire Aspiration, Archaeology Scholar Aspiration, Spellcraft and Sorcery Aspiration, Academic Aspiration, Strangerville Mystery Aspiration (Knowledge) Ambitious, Materialistic, Snob, Fabulously Wealthy Aspiration, Mansion Baron Aspiration (Fortune) Cat Lover, Dog Lover, Bro, Insider, Friend of the Animals Aspiration, Joke Star Aspiration, Party Animal Aspiration, Friend of the World Aspiration, Leader of the Pack (Popularity)

*Don't own the Pack of Traits in Italics ** Toddler Traits

Okay that turned out really long xD If anybody read this, thank you! If you want to know something, just let me know, I love to ramble about my projects xD

[remywrites5]

Rumor Has It

           Remus was heading inside from herbology when he noticed a few second years by the lake look over at him. He met their gaze and the group of girls erupted into giggles. He glanced down at himself to make sure he wasn’t wearing anything embarrassing. For a second he thought it might be one of those awful dreams where he went to class wearing nothing but his pants.

           But it wasn’t a dream and he was fully clothed. When he looked back over at the group of girls, they giggled even harder, whispering to each other. Remus furrowed his brow and wondered just what about him was so funny. He wasn’t normally such a cause for amusement. Mostly he was known at Hogwarts by proxy of being friends with James and Sirius and he honestly preferred things that way. Considering his “furry little problem,” he wasn’t trying to attract unwanted attention his way.

           It was Spring of Remus’ sixth year at Hogwarts and most days he was just relieved that no one had found out about his Lycanthropy. It had been a close a few years back when Snape found out, but Remus hadn’t been run out of Hogwarts yet. He considered that an achievement. He never thought he’d get to be around kids his own age or have a group of friends like the Marauders.

           Still, having what he could only describe as infamous friends meant that the whole school knew them from their many pranks over the years. However having second year students laughing at his expense wasn’t exactly par for the course. Remus wasn’t often a subject of ridicule except when it came to a few choice Slytherins.

           Having eyes on him made Remus feel uncomfortable and he was suddenly very aware of how alone he was. If James or Sirius were there they would have done something stupid to make the girls laugh harder. They would have attracted even more attention. Peter, on the other hand, would have just been happy to have people noticed him.

           Wrapping a finger around one of his curls, Remus gave it a slight tug to calm his nerves and continued towards the castle, moving at a quicker pace than before but not trying to look as if he were running away. Once he was inside he felt as though he could breathe a little easier. He was still unsure why those girls had been laughing at him, but it wasn’t as if he were going to ask them about it. He decided the best course of action was just to ignore it.

           Remus had an essay due for History of Magic so he decided to skip lunch and go to the library to work on it. As much as he loved his friends, they could be pretty distracting even on their best days. Remus usually found himself doing his homework by wand-light after the other three had gone to bed.

           He decided to stop in the Great Hall just to grab something to eat quick before the library. He knew his friends would try to get him to stay but if he did that it would mean another sleepless night. With his friends’ non-stop japery and his prefects’ duties, Remus was having a bit of trouble keeping up with his studies.

           When he slipped into the Great Hall and the door shut behind him, it felt like every set of eyes in the room turned to look at him. After a moment, quite a few people turned away and continued their conversations. Others continued to look at Remus, their expressions either curious or baffled. Remus felt his stomach twist uncomfortably into knots. There was definitely something strange going on.

           He found his friends in their usual spot at the end of the Gryffindor table, close enough to the exit to make a fast getaway if a prank should go awry. It also meant being as far away from the Professors as possible and Minnie’s prying eyes. “Alright there, Moony?” James asked, smiling kindly at him. His smile wavered a little when he saw Remus looking a little sickly. “Herbology can’t have been that bad!”

           “Something weird is going on,” Remus told them, looking around the room. Most of the people who had been staring at him had lost interest but there were still a few watching him. “People are staring at me. You don’t think they know, do you?”

           Peter and James shared a glance and then both simultaneously looked at Sirius. That was never a good sign. “Know about what?” Peter asked, shoving a biscuit in his mouth as if to keep from answering.

           “About, you know…me,” Remus said, wringing his hands nervously.

           “I don’t think so, mate,” James answered as he cleared his throat and continued to look pointedly at Sirius. “What do you think, Pads?”

           Sirius shrugged nonchalantly. “Hard to tell.”

           James must have kicked him in the shin because Sirius let out a pained noise and grabbed at something under the table.

           “Well, I’m off to the library,” Remus told him. Sometimes his friends were absolutely bonkers. Whatever it was that was going on between them Remus wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

           “Remus, stay!” Sirius begged, pulling out his signature puppy dog eyes. “The library can wait.”

           Remus sighed and rubbed his forehead. “No Pads, it can’t,” he insisted. He grabbed an apple and sandwich, shoving the apple into his pocket and the sandwich into his mouth. He gave them a salute and headed out of the hall. He pretended not to see everyone watching him go.

                                                                       ***

           Spending time in the library was short lived. He started out at one table with his books spread out around him and his quill moving quickly over the parchment. He was a few lines into the essay when he heard some mumblings at the table next to him.

           “It can’t be true.”

           “I heard it from Mary McDonald who heard it from Sirius himself!”

           “No way!’

           “You know how close those four are.”

           “You don’t think they’re all – “

           “Don’t be stupid. James Potter is in love with Lily Evans. Everyone knows that.”

           “I can’t believe the best looking guy at Hogwarts is bent.”

           “I can kind of see it. Remus is cute.”

           “Not as hot a Sirius Black though.”

           Confused by their conversation and also a little unnerved by it, Remus packed up his stuff and moved to a quieter corner of the library, pretending the group of people he’d just heard talking about him and his friends weren’t watching his every move. He sat down and began to write again hoping that he hadn’t completely lost his train of thought. Something he’d overheard had been ringing in his head though.

           “I can’t believe the best looking guy at Hogwarts is bent.”

           Remus swallowed hard and pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes. He’d sort of had his suspicions about Sirius’ preferences. After all, Sirius Black was a shameless flirt and was as likely to chat up a guy as a girl. He would have chatted up Peeves if he thought it would be a laugh. Besides, the two of them had a strange appreciation for each other.

           Remus heard the chair across from him scrape against the floor and he put his hands down in time to see Fabian Prewett sitting down. “Wothcer Remus?”

           “Hi Fabian,” Remus said, feeling himself blush slightly. Fabian had been his first kiss the previous year. They’d very briefly dated, although you could barely call it that, while Fabian was going through his experimental stage. Remus understood completely when Fabian realized he preferred girls once Marlene Mckinnon showed an interest.

           “So is it true?”

           “You’ll have to be more specific,” Remus told him, frowning slightly. Everyone was being so cryptic and Remus was finding himself very much over it.

           “You and Black.”

           “What about Sirius and I?” Remus asked although he felt like he had an idea. His stomach flipped and suddenly some things he’d overhead made a lot more sense.

           “The whole school is talking about it,” Fabian said, smiling apologetically. “That you’re dating.”

           Remus was sure he was going to be sick. “Where do people come up with this stuff?” he asked, trying to laugh it off.

           “I don’t know,” Fabian said, shrugging. Remus had always found Fabian easy to talk to. Friendly and charming, Remus would have happily dated him for longer than a few weeks. “I could believe it. Sirius was always rude to me when you and I were…you know… and then once I started dating Marlene he was perfectly nice to me again.”

           “That doesn’t mean anything,” Remus said, tugging one of his curls self-consciously. “Sirius is…”

           “In love with you,” Fabian finished with a knowing grin. “But you know, don’t take my word for it. From what I’ve heard this whole rumor was started by Sirius himself.”

           “Is that so?” Remus asked through gritted teeth. He slammed his book shut and packed up his stuff. “Excuse me, Fabian. I have to go.”

           “Uh oh,” Fabian said, chuckling. “I think someone is in trouble.”

           “Yes he fucking is,” Remus growled, doing his best not to give everyone watching him the two finger salute as he stomped his way out of the library.

                                                           ***

           “Where is he?” Remus hissed at his friends before the portrait had closed behind him. James and Peter were sitting on one of the couches in the common room playing exploding snap. They glanced at each other and pointed towards the dormitory. Remus nodded without saying anything and walked up the steps to their rooms.

           He swung the door open with a bang and stood in the doorway, his breathing ragged as his hands curled into fists. Sirius glanced up at him and at least had the good sense to look sheepish. “Remus, I know what you’re going to say –“

           “Oh do you?” Remus asked mockingly, crossing his arms over his chest.

           Sirius scrambled out of his bed and stood up, keeping a fair bit of distance between Remus and himself. “I shouldn’t have told people.”

           Remus laughed mirthlessly, feeling a big hysterical. “Padfoot, either I’m crazy or you are.”

           “I can explain –“

           “You’d better!” Remus snapped at him. “Because despite what the whole school now thinks, I don’t remember a conversation where you and I decided we were dating.”

           Sirius took a step closer to Remus until Remus fixed him with such a glare that he retracted it. “I-“ Sirius started again, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth.

           “I’m waiting…” Remus informed him, tapping his foot impatiently.

           “I love you!” Sirius blurted out, startling Remus into dropping his books.

           “What?”

           “I-I’ve been in love with you for ages!” Sirius told him, dragging his fingers through his long dark hair. “But I couldn’t figure out how to make you see it! And it doesn’t do to just go around snogging your best mate, does it? I mean what if you didn’t like it? I couldn’t ruin everything, Moony.”

           “Sirius, stop!” Remus said, interrupting him. “Stop talking.”

           Sirius clamped his mouth shut and whined as if he had more to say. Remus closed his eyes for a moment and tried to process. A lot of information had been thrown at him today. When he opened his eyes, Sirius was much closer than he had been. “Moony?”

           “I still don’t understand,” Remus said quietly. “You were just – what – testing the waters to see how I’d react to you starting a rumor about us dating?”

           “I – “ Sirius winced. “I didn’t mean for it to spread so much. I only told a couple of Gryffindors so that it would get back to you. It’s not my fault Mary McDonald has a big mouth.”

           Remus groaned and dragged his hand down his face. “Regardless, Pads, you don’t get to just…bully me into a relationship with you!”

           “Bully you?” Sirius echoed indignantly.

           “Yes!” Remus insisted. “This was a conversation you should have had with me, not Mary McDonald. Don’t you think you should have asked me what I wanted first? Or does that not matter to you?”

           “Of course it matters, Remus!” Sirius said, reaching for him desperately but Remus yanked his arm away.

           “You don’t get to just decide things for me!”

           “I know that!” Sirius growled in frustration. “What was I supposed to do? Tell you that I was absolutely gone on you? What if you didn’t feel the same way? What would I do then, Moony?”

           “You idiot!” Remus shouted, crowding into Sirius’ space. “Fucking kiss me.”

           Sirius didn’t have to be told twice. He closed the space between them and captured Remus’ lips in a bruising kiss. Remus laced his fingers through Sirius’ thick hair and tugged, making Sirius groan in appreciation. “Told the whole…bloody school…before me…” Remus grumbled between kisses, still angry, but not enough to stop kissing Sirius.

           “Love you, Moony,” Sirius whimpered between kisses as well. “Please don’t…be angry…with me.”

           Remus backed them up towards Sirius’ bed and shoved him down onto it before climbing on top of him. Their lips were only parted for a moment before they were back to snogging. They pawed and gripped at each other, wanting to hold each other but at the same time wanting to get each other’s clothes off. In the end they settled on just rutting against each other in need, too impatient to get undressed and unwilling to unlock their lips.

           When it was over they kissed languidly, the heat of the moment somewhat gone and both boys satisfied to take their time. They knew eventually they would have to get out of bed and clean up the mess, but for the moment they were content to just stay close to each other.

           “I really am sorry,” Sirius whispered, not wanting to break the intimacy of the moment. “Do you forgive me?”

           Remus sighed and pressed their foreheads together, staring into Sirius’ stormy grey eyes. “I guess,” he said, smiling softly. “But don’t you ever do anything like that again, okay?”

           “Okay.”

           “Promise?”

           “Yes Moony, I promise! Merlin’s beard!”

           Remus chuckled and settled in next to Sirius, resting his head on Sirius’ chest.

           “Moony?”

           “Yes Padfoot?”

           “Maybe Divination isn’t such bollocks after all,” Sirius told him thoughtfully.

           “Why do you say that?” Remus asked, flicking his eyes up to look at his…well…boyfriend he supposed was the most apt word.

           “Because I made my own prophecy come true,” Sirius said with a large grin, looking unbearably pleased with himself. “I told James you’d be mine before the end of the school year and I was right!”

           Remus responded by smacking Sirius in the face with a pillow if only to wipe the smug look off his boyfriend’s face.

           Sirius retaliated by kissing Moony deeply.

           Just because he could.

[wanderlust-in-my-soul]

Festival of Love AU Part 1

Chapter 1 - Thursday morning

Lucas was desperate. It would be a long weekend and it was hot outside. He didn’t want to pack too much. The bag should be as light as possible, at least they had to get everything by walking to their campsite.

He stood in front of his open wardrobe and stared at his clothes for almost 15 minutes. Why did he have so many clothes? He had already put his trousers out. Three shorts that he had already changed once. It was hard. He knew he wouldn’t come to shower much, but also that his clothes were probably dirty by the end of the weekend, depending on how much they escalated.

Arthur had come up with the idea that they could all go to a festival together. The guys had been thrilled and through Basile the girls had also heard about the plan and were immediately thrilled. And now they went with almost twenty people to a music festival. They were already shopping. Many many beer cans had landed in the car, two pavilions were bought, tents, canned food and actually hardly anything healthy. Let’s see what the girls would bring. The smoker’s heart was also taken care of. And everything else they could buy on the spot in a small shop in the area.

But what the hell was Lucas supposed to take with him in clothes? Was it really important to him what he was wearing? He just wanted to spend a nice weekend with his friends. He didn’t know half the people. A few older boys came along, friends of Emma’s boyfriend and a few mates of Arthur, but they didn’t really have much to do with them.

Annoyed, he threw the trousers back into the cupboard and grabbed two older ones, which were allowed to get dirty easily. He did the same with the T-shirts, simply reaching into the bottom of the stack and pulling out the first three shirts. He was planning to buy a T-shirt st the festival anyway. And of course the swimming shorts had to be there. Arthur had enthusiastically reported that there would be a lake where you could swim and the weather would be really bombastic.

He stuffed everything in his bag with the rest of his stuff and sat next to it. He was to be picked up in half an hour. With the car it was not three hours to the campground. They had been distributed to the cars, because not all of them had a driver’s license yet. They had divided by districts and Lucas was supposed to ride with Alex, at least someone he knew.

The groceries had already been split between the cars and cool bags. Everyone had to carry his package.

He grabbed his sunglasses and stepped out of his room, ready to start the weekend.

“Ahhh, let me look at you,” Mika shouted from the kitchen as he heard Luca’s room door and hurried into the hall. He stopped in amazement. “Lucas! You’re going to a festival! You really want to wear that,” he asked with his eyebrow raised.

Lucas looked down at himself. He was wearing short jeans and a dark blue T-shirt. “What’s wrong with my outfit” he asked hesitantly.

“Nothing” was Mika’s simple answer. “It simply is not right. Where are the colours? The lust for life and music? Why is my dear friend so sad?” and without waiting for another word, Mika reached for Luca’s bag, fished out his clothes and disappeared into his room. Lucas stayed bewildered. What had just happened? Why couldn’t he dress the way he was comfortable? Why did one have to show off? Rolling his eyes, he went after Mika and when he entered the room, a yellow tank top flew towards him, “Try this on, it should actually fit, but trying goes over studying”.

Lucas looked at the shirt in horror. “I’m not putting that on!”

“Now don’t act like that or should I help you undress? No problem,” he turned to him and Lucas gave in. “All right, but just because I try this on, I won’t take it with me.” “That’s only fair. I just want to see how it looks on you.”

“Happy?” Lucas wasn’t feeling great. At most he wore such tops for sports, but Mika shone at him. “Oh my God! You look… well really Lucas, you look hot! I didn’t even know you had muscles in your upper arms” he shouted laughing and pinched Lucas in his biceps. “And the shirt fits so well to your pants. Please do us both the favor and take it with you and put it on!” Beaten Lucas let his head hang. “All right, I’ll take it with me, but I can’t promise I’ll wear it.” A ray spread over Mica’s face. “Perfect. And you take this with you, too,” and he handed Lucas a dark blue shirt with a rainbow flag on it. “Really Mika? Are you serious?” “Hey, the flag stands for so much! Joy of life, tolerance, peace and of course it serves as a good identification mark,” and he winked at Lucas. “Apropos,” he went to his bedside table and rummaged through it. With an even bigger grin he came back and stuffed a handful of condoms in Lucas’ bag, “just in case.” he sad with a huge grin on his face. “Mika, I’m not planning on doing anything on the weekend and when should I use all these condoms at all? We are only there until Monday morning!” He inevitably had to laugh.

“You never know what’s waiting for you or who’s expecting you there.” Was Mika’s simple reply.

Lucas took the T-shirt from his hand and stuffed it into his bag with the yellow shirt he tried on. He put on his own shirt again and was happy to feel the safe, comfortable fabric and colour on his body. “And now it’s enough! I don’t want to attract too much attention!

"Just one more! Please, please, please” Mika begged with dog eyes. “What is it?” Lucas wanted to sound more annoyed than he actually did. Seeing Mika in such a good mood was just too contagious. Mika stood in front of his chest of drawers and with a “Tadaaaaaaa!” he turned around and held up mirrored sunglasses in the shape of a heart. “Wow,” Lucas was missing the words. “Take it and wear it with pride!”, Mika solemnly handed him the glasses and Lucas had to confess, the glasses looked very cool after all.

“Okay, this one is great,” Lucas admitted and Mika’s smile didn’t fit into his face anymore.

Lucas hadn’t paid any attention to the time anymore and got a little jumpy when the door opened and Manon came in and revealed that Alex was there to pick them up.

“Ohhh, you two, I wish you a lot of fun! Manon, watch out for my little butterfly and Lucas, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” and with a wink he pushed them out the door, “We’ll see you guys on Monday!”

Laughing and a little excited, they went down the stairs. Emma and Alex stood outside and waited. Kisses here, kisses there and Alex took the bags off and stowed them expertly in the trunk.

“Manon, Lucas, you have to squeeze a little in the back seat, decide who wants to sit in the middle,” Emma sat relaxed in the passenger seat and started playing the music until she found a song she liked.

Both Lucas and Manon looked into the car. On the back seat sat a tall young man, his hair tousled and yet stylish. He had his head leaned against the window and his eyes closed. How could he sleep with the music?

“May I introduce Eliott. He fell asleep as soon as we started. I’d like to have such peace and quiet,” they heard Alex say from the trunk.

Manon looked at Lucas. “I’m sitting in the middle, you probably want to get some sleep or have a look at the landscape,” she grinned at him.

Sure. He had shouldered his neck pillow, let her slide into the middle and then made himself comfortable next to her. It was tight and warm on the back seat, and he looked enviously forward, where Emma was stretching on the front seat.

The ride dragged on like rubber. Emma had considered to play the music of the less or not at all known artists, which were going to perform at the festival, during the drive so that one wouldn’t miss any jewel. And damn, there were weird sounds. A couple of bands sounded pretty good and for others Lucas didn’t understand that someone actually paid money to see or hear them.

The country roared past them. Lucas enjoyed the view. Like the calm before the storm he absorbed the environment, lost himself in the green of the meadows and trees, in the blue of the lakes and rivers they passed and let the light of the sun shine on his face. He closed his eyes and in front of his inner eye the sunspots danced up and down and he had to smile. He was about to lean back and make himself comfortable with his neck pillow, when a quiet strange sound interrupted the silence of the car, which had settled over everyone after about half the distance, only the music could still be heard.

“Alex, can you turn the music up a little bit? I love this band!” Eliott had apparently recovered.

Alex grinned in the rear view mirror and turned up the music. Next to Lucas he felt Manon moving and suddenly he heard it. Eliott really had to be a fan of this band. Curious, Lucas turned his head to the side to convince himself that he had not misheard. Watching Eliott sitting happily in his seat, slightly bent forward, his head rocking to the music and gesticulating with his hands, singing along, Lucas had to grin. It came as a surprise and the whole car was suddenly charged with energy. Manon and Emma also started bobbing slightly in time and joined in the refrain and soon the car was filled with crooked sounds and cheerfulness.

And Lucas? Lucas bounced his foot slightly, he was unable to do more. He couldn’t take his eyes off Eliott as he sat there beaming, his eyes closed and living the music he apparently really loved. Fascinated, he stared at him, watching his hair swaying with every movement, his hands painting imaginary images in the air as he moved them to the music. But Lucas kept looking back at that face. Eliott looked so peaceful, so absolutely alive in that moment, and every time the sun grazed his face, it was as if he was shining, but perhaps it was his general smile that made him shine.

After the song was over, Eliott came to rest again, still smiling, he opened his eyes and looked around, and his gaze remained with Lucas, who was still staring at him, and even though that was hardly possible, Eliott began to smile even more than before and grey eyes met blue eyes and Lucas knew he was lost.

Suddenly it darkened around Lucas. Manon leaned slightly forward and stretched out her hand to Eliott. “Hello. I’m Manon. It’s nice that you’re with us now, the ride seems to be getting pretty lively after all.”

Eliott laughed briefly, then took her hand and while he greeted Manon and introduced himself, he leaned a little forward to catch Luca’s gaze: “Nice to meet you. I’m Eliott.” And there it was again. That radiant smile that made the sun look dark in comparison and that made Lucas feel slightly dizzy.

With a light smile on his lips, Lucas nodded to Eliott and turned his face back to the window. He wasn’t able to withstand that look any longer. It was as if Eliott were looking directly into his soul and recognized his deepest desires, hopes and fears.

Manon was already chattering happily and Eliott was distracted and devoted his attention to Manon, but he let his gaze wander to Lucas from time to time. Lucas stared out of the window, but hardly noticed the landscape. He was too busy not looking at Eliott all the time. He felt the other person’s gaze on him. Curious eyes that briefly watched him before concentrating on Manon again. Lucas took advantage of these moments and watched from the corner of his eye as Eliott sat gesticulating and told Manon about some band.

He was so full of energy and enthusiasm and Lucas had to smile automatically.

Yes, he was definitely lost.

[myatlantispoets]

@dottilyn @thoopsy A little birdie told me that you signed up for the @shera-secretsanta-2019 event. Well guess what, I know who’s supposed to give you your present  and it’s....this girl right here! (forgive me for the awkward introduction ). Anyways, happy holidays and may you fight like a princess in the next decade! (i’m...not the best at fandom references).

I’ve prepared a fic set in a Modern AU-Etheria is a small kingdom, where magic doesn’t exist but goodness always prevails. 

Characters:Entrapta, Adora, Mermista, Bow, Perfuma, Frosta, Glimmer (basically the main squad)

Word count:2031

Hope you like it!

"Emily, will you hand me the wrench, please?", Entrapta asked the small robot that usually accompanied her. Today would be a bit different, for she was celebrating her high school graduation by going on a camping trip with her friends, so she was planning to leave the robot in charge of the house while she was gone. The thought of being without Emily was quite saddening but the thought of being with the people who've gone on so many adventures with her throughout high school helped. Of course, there was also the thought of what was going to happen now that high school was over-but she brushed it off. For now, she had to leave her messy room, say goodbye to the other robots and try and run to the train station, where they were waiting for her. "I have to leave now, but I'll be back soon. Take care of the others, ok?", she said, planting a kiss on the closest thing that the robot had to a forehead. With that, she picked up the wrench, threw it in her backpack and closed the door behind her. --- "This has to be the longest road I've ever travelled. How much do we have left?", Glimmer sighed looking out the window of the train compartment. "This is the fifth time you've asked", Mermista muttered under her breath. "We've already passed by the lake. Perfuma said she's waiting for us at the next station", Adora interfered. "Is it too late to suggest not going at all?", Mermista asked rhetorically . As the only one in the group who's grown up in Salineas-Etheria's most prosperous harbour city-she found it a lot more enjoyable to spend her summer break at the seaside than among leaves and bugs and...whatever else hid in those woods. Adora gave her a gentle, but disapproving look. "So that's a no?" --- Ten minutes later they were chatting with Perfuma, telling her how Entrapta spent the whole time while they were on the train in the  driver's cabin, figuring out how the vehicle worked. She laughed a bit, asking the mechanic about her discoveries. As the purple haired girl answered, she felt hopeful about the celebration ahead of them. But of course, a lot can go wrong in a night. The group found their spot rather quickly, as it had been previously prepared by Perfuma. When they decided to spend a week during their summer break camping, she insisted that it takes place in a natural reservation she'd been to before in Plumeria, Etheria's "greenest" region. Knowing how persistent the environmental activist could become about these things, they let it go. They were in a meadow not far from a river, surrounded by tall, green trees and a big range of flowers, among which they could find bluebells, primroses and starflowers. Perfuma went on a long speech about the forest and the various forms of life they could find there but Bow was the only one still listening after hours spent on a train ride. After taking some rest, they started unpacking the tents and setting them up. The process went easier than expected, especially after Entrapta excitedly began going around, offering everyone her help. She was the best out of all of  them when it came to spatial thinking, tools and equations, so they instantly agreed. Bow finished first, being quite good with these types of things himself. He admired Entrapta's skills and looked forward to any opportunity to learn from her. He was followed by Glimmer and Mermista-who let an overly eager Entrapta do the whole thing and then Perfuma and Frosta. Frosta was the youngest one of them and, though she wouldn't admit it, was a bit scared about her first camping trip, so  when Perfuma offered to share a tent with her, she gave in. After an hour, Adora was still struggling to set up her tent, despite her friend's help. The reason had 4 legs, 2 puppy eyes that begged one to do its bidding and fluffy ears perfect for scratching. Yes, the girl brought her pet dog, Swift Wind with her. No,she wasn't regretting her decizion but she admitted that there were...unforeseen situations that could be caused by one bringing their golden retriever on a camping trip. Because she was living them right now. "Come here, puppy! "Frosta shouted at the top of her lungs, waving to the fluffy animal. He was chewing on one of the tent poles after grabbing it while Adora was looking somewhere else and running with it to the other end of the meadow. Adora facepalmed. She thought things couldn't get any worse until he broke into one of the tents and started chewing on the pillows, spreading feathers and polyester filling all over in the camp while she watched in horror. While the others were trying to bait the puppy into returning the pole and chewing on something more edible-like one of the dog biscuits that Bow had carefully packed with him-Mermista was sitting in the back,  eating a bag of popcorn with Entrapta. The young genius was giggling, oblivious to the fact that she needed the pole to finish. "You'd think he was tired after the road, but his energy level is comparable to that of Sea-Hawk's", the Salinean raised an eyebrow, slightly impressed. "Do you think I could make my robots run as fast?", Entrapta asked, throwing a popcorn in the air and catching it with her mouth. Mermista was about to reply when she saw Frosta run up to them. "Guys, we could use some help", she threw them a glare while trying to get some feathers out of her hair. The girls sighed before getting up. The sooner they do something, the sooner they can go back to snacks and jokes. Twenty minutes later, Adora's managed to get Swift Wind to stop by giving him one of his favorite toys to play with, after finding it at the bottom of her backpack. The cleaning was resolved by Entrapta, who's turned one of her smaller robots into a surprisingly functional attempt at a vacuum cleaner. The others didn't know how she'd managed to make it work but hey, it was Entrapta. They were past questioning it. --- A dimly lit fire and a group of 6 people gathered around, laughing and enjoying each other's company. Is this what friendship feels like?, Entrapta thought, looking around. It was well known that Entrapta had been alone before meeting Adora, Glimmer and Bow, who would later introduce her to Mermista, Perfuma and Frosta. She grew up in an isolated city called Dryl, as an orphan. They met during their freshman year of high school and her life changed almost instantly. She wondered what she would have been doing right now if it wasn't for them. The girl  was awaken from her reverie by the sound of Bow opening one of the many bags of marshmallows he'd packed. A campfire wouldn't be a campfire without s'mores and the squad had relied on him, as resident "mom friend", to bring the goodies. Now, it was true that in a very characteristic excess of zeal, he'd packed a lot more than they needed, but Frosta assured them that she'd take care of it. He gave each one a bunch of marshmallows and biscuits and they soon started chatting, sharing their fears, hopes and dreams. "So what are you doing this fall, Entrapta?", Adora asked, not long after they'd replaced the s'mores with hot cocoa and gotten all wrapped up in blankets. Everyone except Frosta, anyway. She was surprisingly resilient to cold weather. "Yeah, good question.", Glimmer said. "I've heard about the others, but you never mentioned anything." Entrapta looked down on her own cup, trying to find answers in her drink. Sadly, it didn't answer. Stupid hot beverage. It was true though. On their way here, everyone's shared their plans for the future except her. Bow was planning to go into psychology and become a counselor, helping people who were doubting themselves or their path in life, like he used to at some point. Mermista would start preparing to take on her parents' business-they owned a few ships and offered tours of Etheria's coastlines. She's always liked the sea, so taking over the business with her boyfriend, Sea-Hawk seemed like the natural option. Adora has been training to become an agent for Etheria's crime fighting agency for a few years now and would take her exam in September. It sounded more like a formality for her though, since she'd aced all the other required tests and practiced every day. Glimmer had decided a long time that she wanted to take a leap  year instead and figure out things before making a decizion. She'd already signed up for a bunch of clubs and volunteering associations to test things out in the meantime. She had the freedom that she didn't have before, when she was a kid trying to graduate and to make her strict mother proud. Last but not least, Perfuma recently got offered an internship for an enviroment-focused international NGO that she was excited about, while Frosta was still in high school as the youngest. And Entrapta? She did get an acceptance later for a course she applied out of boredom-Etheria's best engineering course, offered by a prestigious, modern university with a big library and an even bigger research lab. It sounded like a dream come true. But she feared it'd turn into her biggest nightmare-losing her friends and being alone again.  She'd be far from everyone else, while her friends would each go away their separate ways. If she turned it down, she could at least stay with Frosta for another. She was afraid of what would happen if she didn't. Before she knew it, she'd started crying in front of her friends. "Hey, are you ok?", Bow asked, taking a seat next to her. The others followed him, forming a circle around her. They were looking at her, eyes filled with concern. She revealed the acceptance letter that had been hidden in her backpack. She'd brought it with her to think about it-having physical things to thinker with always helped her figure out solutions. The only problem was, you couldn't fix fear and insecurity using equations. She heard the others gasp at the sight of the letter as Glimmer snatched it from her hands. She read it out loud before they all congratulated her. "This is amazing, Entrapta!", Adora exclaimed. "Totally. I mean, I didn't expect any less but you know...congrats", Mermista patted her on the back. "So...why are you upset?", Bow was confused. "Is this not what you wanted ?", Perfuma raised an eyebrow. "I...I'm afraid", was all Entrapta could say between the tears. Once Bow handed her a box of tissues, she was able to continue, "Of what will happen...once college begins. Of losing you guys." After a few seconds, Adora broke out the silence, "Not a chance", she said, slinging an arm around her shoulder. The others nodded encouragingly. "Yeah, we can totally still hang out whenever we find the time. Etheria isn't that big.", Glimmer chimed in. "And group chats are still a thing as far as I know", Mermista added. "Knowing you, you'll probably invent holograms or...teleportation and what not. That'll make things a lot easier", Frosta said, inciting a chuckle from Entrapta. "Yeah, you're a genius, Entrapta", Bow said. "And you deserve the chance to reach your full potential", Perfuma smiled at the purple haired girl. Slowly, but surely, Entrapta began feeling relieved. And maybe she wasn't so alone after all. "Thank you, guys", she sniffled."I've decided I'm going to accept the offer...and I'm going to treat it as an other scientific experiment. With courage and curiosity." "GROUP HUG", Bow announced loudly before giving the girl a hug, followed by the others. Entrapta smiled once again, looking up at the stars. This is what friendship feels like.

[seek-its-opposite]

AU where Queequeg doesn't die?

(I’m so sorry but he does technically die in this, but later and of natural causes.)

1.

Scully’s father taught her how to swim and how to find the North Star. He quizzed her on the 50 state capitals (Scully, flushed with exhaustion after a late-night stakeout, once recited them all for Mulder in an empty diner, a decibel too loud, her hands so expressive she almost knocked over her coffee) and sailing knots (she laced up Mulder’s boots when his arm was in a sling and he lost feeling in his toes). Her father showed her how to drive a boat, which she really is a natural at, she swears, alligators aside.

There’s water pooling between Mulder’s toes when they get back to their motel, one $500 deposit later, to find Scully’s indignant Pomeranian chewing through a throw pillow. Mulder remembers what else she said her father taught her: Respect nature because it has no respect for you.

Scully, remembering the same, just sighs and takes a shower.

Later, with wet hair and a dry sweatshirt, she takes the dog into the yard to do his business before the long drive, and Mulder leans on the door frame and imagines a whole new natural order. He imagines Scully on vacation, driving the Blue Ridge Parkway with the windows down and never shivering with him on a rock in the dead of night. He shouldn’t have joked about cannibalism. He’s already consuming her, a little more every day.

Out in the clearing, Queequeg yelps, and with one swift tug he pulls free of Scully’s grasp and sprints toward the tree line, his leash dangling behind him. Scully takes off running after her blurry pet, and Mulder takes off running after her, all three of them disappearing into the woods like a children’s book.

They catch up to each other at the edge of the lake, Queequeg yapping at the waves. Scully scoops her pet into her arms.

“What were you thinking?” she asks her dog, in a tone Mulder knows well. He puts his hand on her shoulder.

They’re turning away from the shore when something splashes behind them. Mulder glances back at the water, grabs Scully’s arm, and squeezes tight.

“Scully, look.”

They spin around in tandem, just in time to see a long neck rising out of the waves.

Queequeg makes the drive back to D.C. on Mulder’s lap, like a conquering hero.

2.

After that, Mulder keeps a bag of treats in his glove compartment, pocketing one or two every time he shows up at her door. But when he comes knocking late one Friday night with his hair in his eyes and a bottle of wine in his hand, there are no treats and no Kleenex in his pocket, and Queequeg growls, nipping at his heels.

The cops are already taking him away when Mulder, the real Mulder, shows up, out of breath. His palms are black and blue.

“How did you know?” he asks Scully, kneeling before her on the couch. She clasps her hands around her shins, hugging them closer.

“You were terrible to Queequeg,” she says, and surprises even herself when she laughs.

He sits with her for hours, her on the couch and him on the floor, coaxing her dog out of the corner with treats to win him back as Scully gradually uncoils. It’s after midnight when, sleepy and reclined, she reaches out to brush her fingertips against his shoulder.

“Mulder, you’ll take care of him, right? When I’m gone?”

He almost chokes. Her eyes are closed and her arm flops over the edge of the couch, easy and trusting. She looks so comfortable, healthy. If he prayed, he’d be down on his knees begging for a way to turn shape-shifting inward: not to make himself look like someone else, but to make reality line up with how it already looks. To be the kind of man who comes over to see her on Friday after work just because.

He squeezes her hand. When he weaves her fingers into his, he can’t feel his own bruises.

3.

She lives, and lives again. They get the X-Files back only to wind up packing Lacoste polos and pearl earrings for a trip to the suburbs. He waits for his life to stop feeling like an illusion.

“We should take Queequeg,” Scully says, her hair curling around her ears. “Help us look the part.”

Mulder agrees. He’d say yes to anything she asks for right now, with the keys to the basement in his pocket and a matching set in hers. Nothing about this case seems like an X-File anyway, so the dog shouldn’t be in any danger.

(There’s also this: He likes the idea that even one part of their real life makes them look like a happy couple.)  

It occurs to them both too late that nice suburban couples don’t have dogs named after Melville characters. They explain his namesake, and explain it again. Queequeg, their perfect alibi, hates Scruffy and yaps at him all through dinner. They don’t get much information out of the Schroeders.

Still, when they trade off late-night walks, or when he brings her coffee in the morning and Queequeg jumps on the bed, Mulder sees them from a distance, like he’s watching someone else’s home videos on the camcorder: Scully and Mulder and their wet-nosed pet, the picture of domesticity.

He remembers her a year ago speaking low and sweet to her daughter, asking if she liked dogs.

4.

In truth, they don’t know how old Queequeg is and are both privately surprised he makes it this long. He goes grey around the snout and catches less air during games of fetch, but he remains otherwise as stubborn as ever.

A week after Scully kisses Mulder on the couch with his arm in a sling, she comes back to his place with her overnight bag under one arm and her dog under the other, and she doesn’t leave all weekend. He remembers the old wisdom about dogs and their owners. He loves her relentlessness fiercely; he never dreamed it would look like this, like her hand clutching a fistful of his sheets as she sleeps.

Maybe it was always this simple. Maybe they never had to make their lives look like anything else.

Warm and worn out, they stay in bed so late on Saturday morning that Queequeg whines in the doorway. Mulder regards the dog with a finger over his lips as he fumbles for his jeans.

Scully stirs and pushes herself up on one elbow. The sheet slips from her shoulders; she is perfect, perfect. He leans over to brush the hair out of her eyes.

“Don’t move a muscle,” Mulder tells her, tapping her cheek. “Don’t ever move.

“I’ll be right back.”

5.

There are still scars on his cheeks, three on each, like cold fingers grabbed his face and pulled. Queequeg rarely leaves his dog bed anymore and hasn’t begged for treats since Mulder’s return. The truth is there are none in his pocket.

Scully calls, her voice measured, and asks him to come right away. When he asks if she’s hurt, if it’s the baby, she says no, she’s fine, but he does need to hurry.

He finds her on the couch with Queequeg beside her, stroking the dog’s head and whispering something soothing.

“Scully, what’s wrong?”

“It’s time, Mulder,” she says, not looking up. “I’ve called the vet.”

“Queequeg?”

“I can bring him in anytime today. I thought—” She catches her breath. “I thought you’d want to say goodbye.”

She can’t stop herself from crying any longer, and Mulder, who until now has been hovering a few feet inside the door, finally comes over to kneel before her, offering a tissue like a white flag. She takes it and forces a wobbly smile.

“I’m sorry,” she sniffs.  

“Scully, what are you sorry for, honey?” He puts his hand on her knee.

“You just got back,” Scully cries, wiping her eyes. “You shouldn’t have to be around death right now. Maybe this was a bad idea.”

“No, Scully, no.” He shakes his head and fumbles for understanding. He was dead and now she’s pregnant and her dog is dying, and he can’t seem to stop saying her name. “Scully… I would never want you to go through this alone.”

He remembers too late that she already went through this alone with him. With his body.

He reaches out to pat Queequeg behind the ears.

“He’s been sick for a while, Mulder. I did what I could.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here,” he says. He’s looking at the dog. Scully shivers.

He drives her to the vet with her dog in her lap. He drives her home and holds her hand.

Later, he sits beside her on the couch, the air unstable between them. Her fingers and his are wrapped around separate mugs of hot tea, and Scully closes her eyes and inhales the steam. Her place is quiet, shadowy.

“He was a good dog, Scully,” Mulder says. “I mean, aside from that time he ate his owner.”

Scully breathes out a half laugh, eyes still closed. “That wasn’t his fault, Mulder.”

“Still. I’m glad he never ate you.”

“I’m touched.” She opens her eyes.

“Remember,” he sets down his mug and rubs his hands together, “when he found Big Blue for me?”

“I still can’t believe you didn’t tell anyone,” she says. “After all that.”

She reaches to place her drink beside his, straining over her belly.

“Scully.” He almost gasps. It’s the most obvious thing in the world; how can she not know? “I didn’t have to tell anyone. You were there.”

He takes the mug from her hands, gently, and puts it on the table. Scully starts to smile and suddenly she’s crying, hot and silent.

“Hey,” he leans over, wiping his thumb across her cheek. “Hey, Scully.” She shudders at his touch, then buries her wet nose on his shoulder and whispers things he can’t yet understand. He repeats her name into her hair, over and over.

Her father taught her that everything dies. Her mother taught her to believe in resurrection.

[djseaward]

at summer’s end

it's time for the round-up of that season i hold so dear. watching summer fade at this time every year makes me feel like saying a sad goodbye to a best friend and a "see you next year!"

what did you do this summer?

i spent the first half in south bohemia, went to karlovy vary at the end of the school year, teaching barely over a week of summer camp, then flying to canada and the united states for the other half. we spent a full month in my home state of washington, over a week in michigan, and even a couple days exploring vancouver. it was just about everything i could've hoped for!

it was also my first summer as a gardener on my little plot - it was such a wonderful learning experience (post coming soon!). fortunately a friend of mine was able to look after it while i was gone, because like many of my hobbies which seem like oil and water, gardening and travel do not mix.

what was the one thing you were looking forward to this summer?

time at the sea, eating seafood, spending time with my family, enjoying the beautiful northwest summer.

what did you miss the most this summer?

i wasn't able to catch a couple of friends while in the united states which made me a bit bummed out, especially my friend nikki who was due to give birth from any day at that point and wasn't able to travel at all. i sometimes felt a bit overwhelmed with the social planning and had a bit of anxiety (will these people even want to see me after all this time?). mostly, i've found that this is a stupid thought and i am trying to be better about reaching out. there was a bit of discord with how to communicate with people this year, as i didn't have an american phone number and i've found that my friends back home aren't big on facebook since the whole cambridge analytica thing (even though it is basically essential to communication here in europe).

best breakfast of the summer?

i'm sure i said this last time i was in washington for the summer, but damn, the brunch at señor moose in seattle is always to die for. to say nothing of their horchata lattes.

song of the summer?

"whatever makes you mine", by john van deusen (a high school classmate of mine). we went to see his set at arts festival back in washington last month and hearing this and other songs of his as the sun set over the islands nearly brought me to tears. his new album is excellent.

any festivals, plays, art exhibitions?

i admit this summer wasn't heavy on art (aside from our fantastic film vacation to KVIFF which was great as always), but i had been CRAVING some theater, preferably performed at the community theater in my hometown and we made it to a show the day after i arrived! this is a theater i have spent probably weeks of my life at so it felt really like home being there. i miss theater so much and will have to make a better effort to see more in prague (or elsewhere) when i can.

best day?

there are so many, but one spent with old friends of mine, cruising around the islands, having a charcuterie picnic on the boat while drinking gin and tonics, crabbing and having a messy, smelly dungeness feast, getting to know my dear friend's littles better. perfect weather. this was my northwest day of my dreams.

best drink?

my friend julie introduced me to white claw in seattle as something i had to try. and she was right. if you love flavored seltzers, you're going to eat white claw right up. it was basically the drink of the summer, besides all of the regular flavored seltzers consumed. it sounds really basic to say, but i do miss the ubiquity of seltzer water in the states! (cucumber melon is my favorite) trying to recreate it with sparkling mineral water and add-ins. we’ll see how it goes.

what is something you wanted to accomplish this summer?

besides my first garden, i finally went paddle boarding and just adored it! i always thought i'd be one for water sports, despite having tried very many, but it was so incredibly peaceful and calming. i would really love to go regularly!

favorite garment?

as i was packing for the united states, alex was wondering why i was bringing my favorite slouchy white sweater (above), as it was summer time. well, a) we're going to the northwest and b) then we're going to michigan which has rampant air-conditioning. ...i wore that thing all the time.

best swimming?

we had a great hot summer day at the natural lake-pool in june with a friend and her little one. it was so cool and refreshing and i felt like the entire town of budejovice was there.

what do you wish for next summer?

i honestly don't know this one -- for once, i have no destination in mind and absolutely no inkling. i'd like to have another year of gardening, make at least one camping trip work, and go on a lovely trip with my partner and little dog.

other summer memories...

the time i made us go bowling (we've never bowled together before!). an impromptu slurpee stop at causland park just like being in high school. having to put on my eyeglasses to play mario kart (#washed). a friend traveling almost twelve hours by car (a wrong turn and an unnecessary ferry) to meet us in northern washington! watching the perfect sunset over the island from a rooftop with great company. the best arts festival weekend i've ever had. my favorite KJs (karaoke jockeys) both remembering me after two years. cheered on the mariners and ate crumpets at my favorite seattle cafe. camping two different times! voting in the local primary election “in person”. great meals, BBQs, hours spent chatting with old friends... my heart is so happy.

see ya next year, summer.

did we do any similar activities this year? how was your summer?

ps, past recaps: 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018

[totallyrhettro]

Territorial, chapter 18

Word Count: 2151 Rating: This chapter: PG-13. Overall story rating: explicit Warnings: Forced Human Captivity Summary: After finally realizing their shared love for one another, all internetainers Rhett and Link had to do was live happily ever after. Unfortunately, as it turns out, that’s a lot harder to do in a world of werewolves. Notes: Takes place 1 year after Animalistic began. Still no wives; Rhett and Link are in an established relationship. This is a sequel to that fic. You don’t have to read that first, but it is highly recommended.

Also available on a03

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Link pulled up to the trailer home early in the afternoon. He’d seen similar places in the backwoods of North Carolina; A single wide with rusted aluminum siding and broken out windows. Never before had he ever felt so apprehensive about approaching a house back home, however. Now he was feeling vaguely terrified. There was also the strong sense of choicelessness. He needed to find Rhett and this was the only way to do that.

Here on this middle-of-nowhere road, well outside of the city limits, Link wasn’t even sure he’d be able to get cell service to call for help if anything happened. It looked like something out of a horror movie and it took him a few minutes to build up enough courage to get out of the car. Even then he took very slow steps up to the front door, scared that a crazy man with a double barrel shotgun was going to come out shooting at any second.

Stepping over the cracked stone path, and up the metal steps to the door, he knocked with some confidence. The door shook with every hit, shaking off dirt and dust from the slanted roof. After a minute or so there still was no answer. Twice more he knocked; he didn’t seen any sign of a doorbell. Finally he tested the door. It wasn’t locked. Desperate and impatient, he pushed open the door and stepped inside.

“Hello?” he called out into the darkened room. The stench of old takeout, dirty dishes, and general dampness permeated the space, stinging Link’s nostrils. Under it all there was a distinct scent of dog… no, something bigger. Maybe to a human’s untrained nose it was dog, but Link knew better. This was werewolf. The whole place reeked of it in the worst way. He couldn’t tell how recently, but someone had been staying here. “Anyone here?”

A creek in the floorboards, a flash of beige and before Link could say another word he was thrown against the open door. Acting on instinct, he pivoted towards the opening, ducking down and under a very large arm that was trying to pin him in place. He managed to get free, but he found himself stumbling out of the trailer, barely staying on his feet and eventually finding footing a yard away. Looking up he got his first real look at his attacker. It was Alistair.

“Fuck, man!” he exclaimed. “What the hell?”

“What are you doing here, Link?” Alistair demanded, like a parent about to scold a child. “You’ve got a lot of nerve showing up.”

“Theo sent me-”

“He said he was sending a friend over. Didn’t tell me it’d be you.” He backed off a little, but maintained a stance of dominance as he stared Link down. Sure he was only a few inches taller than Link, but he looked like he could bench press the trailer behind him without a second thought. “You better have a damn fine reason for coming here, Link.”

“It’s… it’s Rhett. He’s… Seth took him. At gunpoint,” he added.

“And you thought… what? That I could do something about it?”

“Max’s been shot!” At this, Allistair visually flinched, but he didn’t stop glaring. It was as if he didn’t want to be distracted from his tough guy routine.

“Is he alive?” There was a slight lilt to his voice, a crack in his veneer, and Link latched onto it.

“I… I don’t know. He’s in the hospital. Theo’s with him.” Link gave a heavy sigh and he slumped slightly. Almost as if that gave him strength, Alistair set his jaw again and stood taller.

“You see him get shot?”

“N-no, but I saw him… on the floor…”

“And now Rhett’s been taken.” It wasn’t a question. “I told you. I told you, Link. You can’t hide from this war. Now you’re just like the rest of us. Now you’ve lost someone too.” That did it. Something inside of Link snapped and he crossed the short distance between them with fire in his eyes. Pointing a finger right at the other man’s face, Link stood toe to toe with him.

“You don’t tell me that!” he shouted, his face red and furious. “You don’t get to just write off my best friend without even trying. He’s still alive, and you are going to fucking help me find him!” Alistair was taken aback for a moment, genuinely surprised at Link’s fury, but he wasn’t scared in the slightest. If anything, after Link’s outburst, he looked… cocky.

“Leave. Us. Alone,” he quoted. “Isn’t that what you said? I told you you’d have to deal with other wolves, and you brushed me off. I told you were in the middle of this shit, and you ignored me.” He shoved Link back, nearly knocking him to the ground, but with such ease it had to be just a fraction of his strength. “Well, way to wake up, buddy. Welcome to the party. Guess what? You’re on your own. You didn’t want to pick sides, fine. You’re not on our side, and we’re not on yours. You want your precious Rhett back, go fucking get him yourself. I have my own people to worry about.”

“But… I don’t…”

“Good luck.” Turning around, Alistair went to go back into the trailer. Link was hot on his heels. Rhett’s life was on the line. Damn if Link was going to leave here with nothing just because this guy wanted to be an asshole.

“Please,” he begged. “You have to help me. You just… you gotta.” Alistair turned to brush him off again, but Link continued. “I know you hate me. Fine. Do it for Rhett; He’s done nothing to you. Do it for Theo; he asked me to come to you. Do it for Max; Seth shot him. If anything do it because you hate the Lowells. I’m going to find Rhett and if any of the pack get in my way…” Alistair cocked an eyebrow, considering Link’s plea before letting out a sigh.

“The Lowells have a hide-away house just north of Twin Lakes. I don’t know where, exactly,” he added, before Link could get too excited. “I never found it, but I know that’s where he likes to take people before he… before he makes them disappear.” It was better than nothing. Now, at least, Link had a starting point.

“Thank you.” He meant it.

“Don’t thank me,” Alistair told him. “Just make them pay for what they did. Make them sorry they ever fucked with our friends.”

“I promise.” Link would make sure of it.

~ ~ ~

The cage was solid. Rhett searched every inch of it’s bars and ceiling for a weak spot or a way out without any luck. The entire thing was bolted securely into the concrete floor, so even if he was strong enough to lift the heavy structure, that wasn’t an option. The rest of the basement was almost entirely bare; a single cabinet on the far side stood too far away to reach and the window behind him was too small to squeeze through. Even then the glass was reinforced with steel bars. The walls were made of old stonework, solid and impenetrable. This was a dungeon, a prison pure and simple, design to hold the most dangerous of creatures, the wildest of animals.

Maybe he was still exhausted from the whole ordeal, or maybe it was just because there wasn’t anything else to do, but after completing his inspection of his cage, Rhett laid down and slept. It was a few hours later when his jailor reemerged.

“I hope you’re hungry,” Caleb chirped. Rhett couldn’t tell if the man’s enthusiasm was real or faked, but he didn’t really care. Sitting up he saw his captor standing before him, tray in hand. “Made you something to eat, as promised.” As he knelt down, Caleb placed the metal tray onto the concrete floor about a foot away from the cage. A silver cloche sat in the middle and a bowl of water sat beside it. With a short flourish, he removed the cloche revealing a large plate of what appeared to be gravy-coated meat. It smelled horrible.

“What is that?” Rhett asked before he could stop himself. Caleb smirked as he straightened up. Taking the folding chair off the wall he set it up right in front of Rhett and sat down before talking again.

“I’m not like Seth, you know,” he began. Rhett held his tongue, but he found the statement rather obvious. If Caleb wanted to talk, he wasn’t going to interrupt. “Seth hates mutts… all of you. You know he… he’s obsessed with… with pure bloodlines.” Shaking his head, Caleb leaned back, his eyes looking into the past, or just anywhere that wasn’t in this basement. “Pointless, really, but whatever. Me? I respect the mutts, the rogues, the wild ones. I really do. You’re all so much more in touch with the wolf.”

“Like you?” Rhett asked, during a long pause. Caleb looked over at him, seeming to have forgotten for a moment that he wasn’t alone. Then he smiled that bone-chilling smile.

“Yeah, like me,” he agreed. “Members of the pack here believe we’re more… evolved than mutts. Definitely more than humans, sure, but… than mutts? Mutts are so much more intuned with nature, becoming one with their true selves. If it was up to Seth, well… he’d wipe you all out. Every last one of you.”

“Not you, though?”

“Hell, no. If Seth wants to make the bloodline more pure, who’s more werewolf than a mutt? His humanity is constantly tested, the wolf always trying to get out. It’s a fight, a pure internal conflict. Purebloods? They’ve all been trained since birth to calm the beast, to…” He swirled his hands around, trying to find the right words to explain. “They don’t let it take control. They treat it like a pet, not like the wild animal it is. The wolf is a majestic creature that deserves to be treated with the respect it deserves. Know what I’m saying?” Of course, Rhett nodded in agreement.

“Yeah. Yeah, I think I do. You want more mutts in your pack?”

“Absolutely. There’s quite a few already in the pack. Does that surprise you?” Caleb added, seeing the confusion on Rhett’s face. “The days of the mighty wolf houses are all but gone, my friend. Nowadays the pack will take anyone willing to play by the rules. Of course, the alternative is… well…” With a chuckle, he gestured towards the cage.

“Your way or the highway, huh,” Rhett surmised.

“That’s how Seth likes to run things. Sure many folks join the pack genuinely wanting to, knowing it’s safer in numbers, or realizing that it’s better than going it alone. Still, some don’t want to join up, and then they we have to teach him there really isn’t a choice.” Standing up, Caleb pushed the tray forward with his feet, right up to the edge of the cage. “You live in the pack, or you die like a dog.”

“Nice to know I have options,” Rhett mumbled, eyeing the food with suspicion. Caleb ignored his comment, walking over to the controls on the cage’s ceiling. With a grunt, he turned the crank and lowered the spikes down another foot. Everything settled into place with a clang and Rhett couldn’t help but flinch. It was way too close, even with him sitting down.

“Eat up, or don’t,” Caleb said, sauntering back to his chair, picking it up and putting it away. "Not long now before sunset, my friend. You know, one good thing about being a pureblood, the moon doesn’t hold as much sway over us.” He pointed at the small window. “When the moon tells you to turn, you turn, and if you don’t tell us what we want to know…” He pointed at the spikes. “Those will make it very uncomfortable for your bigger self.” Rhett swallowed, finally understanding. The cage was cramped at best, sure, but he was human now. If he turned into his giant werewolf-self in here… He didn’t want to think about what those spikes would do to him, even with his regenerative powers.

“I don’t know where the mutts are,” he insisted. “I don’t!” Caleb shrugged, heading for the exit.

“I told you, I don’t really care.” His grin returned with a vengeance, broad and slightly demented. “It’s been far too long since I’ve had a guest down here. I’m eager to see how things turn out either way.” With that, Rhett was once again left alone in the dark cellar.

After a moment he poked the food, half out of curiosity and half out of real hunger. It took only a smidgen of taste to figure out it was dog food. He pushed it away in disgust. He wasn’t that hungry yet.

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[theheavymetalmama]

Katie Reviews “Far Cry 5″

Doctor Stupidlove

Another day, another Far Cry game. Whether or not that’s a good or bad thing depends on person to person with a laundry list of variables, including but not limited to personal taste and sensibilities, franchise fatigue, whether or not you bought into the glue-huffing guff that this game held a leftist bias pushing an anti-white, anti-American agenda because for the first time in the series the bad guys are an American fanatically religious death cult instead of brown people from imaginary foreign countries, and a myriad of other things I’m probably missing. I’ll say up front that after Primal and a bunch of other bullshit from Ubisoft between now and the infamous ‘women are too hard to animate’ thing I was pretty much done with the series and Ubisoft as a whole. Then the launch trailer for Far Cry 5 dropped and, having grown up in a dead gold mining community chock-full of racist loonies not unlike the one depicted in the fictional Hope County, my interest immediately peaked.

See, the Far Cry games have a strange pattern to them. No game is perfect, but the Far Cry games stand out in that they have one glaring flaw that mars an otherwise damn good game. Far Cry 3 is held aloft as when the series peaked, and for good reason, but the main character was irredeemably unlikable and the main charismatic villain just up and vanishes from the halfway point in the game. Far Cry 4, or Far Cry 3 2 as some call it, fixed the villain problem but the main character was just dull. Primal was...not good, with a boring lead, a boring villain, and an overall boring game. Sure, Blood Dragon was a ton of fun, but part of the charm was that it was completely self-aware of its’ own absurdity and the characters from the hero to the villain weren’t characters so much as they were walking punchlines.

So how does Far Cry 5 compare? Well, when it comes to story, setting, and gameplay, it’s a step up from Far Cry 4 in some ways, blows Primal out of the water, but has its’ own issues and hang-ups that don’t quite make it live up to Far Cry 3. That’s the short version, anyway. The long version?

Let’s start with graphics, location, and aesthetics. Far Cry 5 looks fucking beautiful. 

I’m not kidding, everything from the wild lands, the forests, the mountains, the lakes and rivers, the settlements, everything in Far Cry 5 is absolutely gorgeous. It’s not quite up there with Breath of the Wild or Horizon: Zero Dawn in sheer style and detail, but it’s pretty damn close. More often than not I found myself forgetting about the mission and spending a lot of time exploring, hunting, and trying to take in the sights. More on the ‘trying’ part in a bit. The atmosphere sucks you right in, everything from the chirping birds and buzzing bees making the world feel alive. Exploring the woods and hearing cultist singing and chanting far off in the distance, especially at night, is legitimately terrifying. Wildlife always plays a key role in the Far Cry games and this is no exception, from docile deer to the always pleasant wolverine providing plenty of opportunities for hunting. Just don’t get skunked.

The game takes place in Hope County, a fictional region in rural Montana. Now I’ve never actually been to Montana, but I did grow up in Washington state and I can’t help but notice many similarities. The woods, the rivers, the god damned apple farms, exploring Hope County felt like I was going home again. Sometimes not for the better, but that’s neither here nor there. In any case, Hope County is beautifully detailed, from the farms to forest to the interiors of the (ugh...) Spread Eagle bar to the small hunting cabins out in the woods. Hats off to the artists and environmental designers for Far Cry 5, because they manage to tell more story about the world and characters with just a ransacked pumpkin farm and a dog mourning his dead owners than Square Enix and Konami ever could with a 20 minute cutscene and a dictionary’s worth of dialogue for each character.

Speaking of characters, the Far Cry games are loaded with memorable characters and the locals of Hope County are no exception. Returning character Hurk is back and as redneck-y as ever, and it turns out Hope County is his home. We also meet members of his family, like his pyromaniac cousin Sharky, his promiscuous mother Adelaide and her boyfriend Xander who’s roughly 1/3rd her age, and his racist conspiracy theorist gun-hoarding father Hurk Sr. No wonder he’s so messed up.

But Hurk and his folks aren’t the only people you meet, as the game is packed to the brim with memorable characters that you either love or love to hate, from lovable country boy Nick Rye and half-feral huntress Jess Black to the cartoonishly evil Seed family. More on them in a minute. Oh, and you get a pet bear named Cheeseburger.

Combat and gunplay is as tight as ever, and vehicle control is so smooth it gives Grand Theft Auto a run for its’ money. The soundtrack is pretty damn good, featuring a good mix of licensed and original music and songs. To the surprise of nobody my favorite is the one that plays during the stunt missions.

Leveling and character progress has been streamlined a bit. You upgrade your skills not by gaining experience, but by completing in-game challenges and finding ‘perk magazines’ that, you guessed it, give you points to unlock...well, perks. Some may not like that, but in my opinion it makes sense because if you gained experience just by killing stuff you’d reach level 50 before your first boss fight. Things like bigger ammo bags and extra weapon holsters are no longer unlocked by animal skins but through perks, and said said skins are now exclusively a form of making money.

So that about covers it for the good, and now it’s time for the bad. The streamlining I just brought up both helps and hurts the game. On one hand it does make progressing a lot less tedious, but on the other hand it does take away a lot of what makes Far Cry stand out from other typical shooters. It feels less like they were trimming the fat and more like they were cutting corners. For starters, areas that contain loot only contain ammo, crafting components, and sometimes money. There’s no more animations for skinning animals, harvesting plants, looting corpses, or even your character opening doors. That’s not so bad, but I really miss how dynamic and, as much as I’ve grown to detest this word, cinematic meeting new characters in previous games were. Take a look at this scene in Far Cry 4 when you meet Longinus, easily one of the highlights of the game.

And here’s what happens when you meet Sharky in Far Cry 5. (MINOR SPOILERS)

See the difference? Now one can argue that meeting new characters in real time saves some...well, time and is considerably less pretentious, but it just isn’t as interesting. Far Cry 5 still has plenty of scripted cutscenes, but again, they’ve been stripped down to the bone.

Now remember what I said earlier about trying to take in the sights? This game is packed to the fucking gills with enemy NPCs. Now previous Far Cry games had plenty of enemies as well but this went way overboard to the point that you can’t walk or drive 50 feet before running into a convoy or roadblock or whatever. I speak no hyberbole when I say that by the time you’ve liberated your first region, you’ll have killed more cultists than there are people currently living in real-life Montana as well as hunted and skinned more wolves, cougars, and bears than there are wolves, cougars, and bears currently populating the US west coast. Also, in what universe can a fucking turkey pose a legitimate threat to humans!? Does Far Cry occupy the same universe as fucking South Park?

The story of Far Cry 5 is pretty straight forward, but it definitely feels like there’s some pretty big pieces missing from it. This isn’t just me, critics and players across the board agree that it feels like something was cut from the game at the last minute. This is especially true for the endings, but more on that in a bit. I can’t help but feel that the writers and developers had a lot more to say about racism, gender roles and the enforcement thereof, gun violence and gun culture in America, sexism, religious zealotry, far-right extremism, and of course this tire fire of a presidential administration, because the pieces for all of that are still there. A handful of NPCs mention gender roles for a hot second, several of the guns for hire make disparaging remarks about Trump, the symbol of Eden’s Gate strongly resembles the same symbol the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups use, Hurk’s dad is a caricature of far-right ideals purposefully exaggerated for ridicule and contempt, and there’s even a mission where you meet up with another returning character to find Trump’s pee-tape.

All of the elements are there, but the game says almost nothing about any of it. Why?

When the first trailer for the game dropped it was around the same time Wolfenstein II: the New Colossus was close to release and the same mouth-breathing shitheels who screamed about how killing Nazis in Wolfenstein was pushing an anti-white, anti-conservative agenda did the same thing for Far Cry 5. My guess is that the PR guys at Ubisoft saw the oxygen-thieving wastes of space screaming about how the game was “anti-white SJW propaganda” and then panicked and removed huge chunks of the game so as not to alienate any racist shitheads who may want to buy it. Not only does the game say almost nothing about any of the themes and elements that I mentioned earlier, but the cult of Eden’s Gate is multi-racial and gendered where most of the guys have long hair and hipster beards and all the women barring Faith Seed have short hair and buzz cuts. It’s really jarring and feels like something that was added at the last minute, as the male cultists all sound the same and the female cultists say hardly anything at all.

That brings us to the player character; they’re aren’t a character, they’re an avatar and silent protagonist. Now there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but it feels strange. Especially when you play as a female, which I did. Now the character creation itself is fine, especially with the wide variety of outfits, but the rest is pretty bare bones. More to the point, it’s painfully obvious they designed the game with a male lead in mind and then added a gender-switch as an afterthought. Almost everyone in the game refers to you by male pronouns (which to be fair I call my ladyfriends ‘dude’ all the time) but there are a few scenes where you’re found shirtless in the game. Now call me old-fashioned, but I’d have a bit stronger of a reaction than “Oh, you startled me” if I woke up to some weirdo carving the word ‘wrath’ into my tits! I have a sneaking suspicion that they added a gender switch at the last minute because someone reminded them of the time they looked like lazy idiots for claiming your customizable assassin in Assassin’s Creed: Unity couldn’t be a woman because women were too hard to animated.

And now, let’s finally talk about the Seed Family.

We have the leader Joseph Seed, the trainer and disgraced soldier Jacob, the sadistic second in command John, and the seductress Faith. The Far Cry games are known for their charismatic villains and the seeds are no exception, and especially gripping because the second you meet any single one of them you immediately want them dead. The only problem is that, again, they’re so cartoonishly evil that the more you see them the more you want to shove them crotch-first into the mouth of a hungry grizzly bear. Vaas was always one step ahead of you and constantly in your face and Pagan Min was so suave and charming that you kind of wanted to see where he was going with it all.

Not the case with the seeds. When you see them they immediately piss you off, and the more you see them they just keep pissing you off because they keep hiding behind doors, cronies, hallucinations, or plot devices. And hey, that’s fine. As long as you get to shove the barrel of a shotgun right into their mouth and spatter their brains all over the walls of their church then who cares, right?

....

So, let’s talk about the endings of the game.

Once you’ve liberated all three regions of Hope County by killing John, Jacob, and Faith, you return to the main cult compound to arrest Joseph once again. However, once you get there and cuff him you step outside to find your allies under the brainwashing influence of the drug Bliss and a boss fight ensues. When you knock your allies out and revive them, they snap out of their Bliss-induced stupor and turn on Joseph, and once you’ve freed all of them Joseph drops like a hot rock. When Joseph is down and the day is won...this happens.

....no, really. 

Right the fuck out of nowhere a nuke lands somewhere in the outskirts of Hope County and you scramble to escape, and pretty soon you black out and wake up in a bunker chained to a bed with Joseph hovering over you saying that you’ll be his first new recruit in the cult. All the allies you previously made die as Hope County is wiped off the map and the game ends, not even giving you a continuation like previous games did and rendering every single thing you did up to this point totally and utterly meaningless.

Now some people have defended this, including the developers, saying that there are radio broadcasts in-game talking about how tensions are raising in Russia and North Korea. I spent hours driving around in the game listening to the radio and I heard no such thing, but if they’re indeed there then this only furthers my suspicion that this was a last-minute change because of the backlash from racist shitbirds and wasn’t the ending the writers and developers originally intended. 

For starters, the escalating tensions between Russia, the US, and North Korea aren’t mentioned anywhere else in the game except in the radio broadcasts (which again, I never heard) and despite the Seeds going on and on about “the collapse” we never get any idea of what the collapse is until the end of the game. It’s not even a convincing depiction of a nuke going off! Just some burning trees and a few animals dropping dead as you make your escape with Joseph in tow and neither of you having so much as a sunburn. If this ending was what they planned from the start then they would have went all out, showing in graphic detail the horrors of a nuclear holocaust. How much of a gut-punch would it have been to see Nick Rye hug his wife and newborn daughter just before the skin is blasted off their bones like that scene in Terminator 2 that made me avoid mesh fences for two fucking years? Or Jess run one of her own arrows through her heart to spare herself an agonizing death? Or hell, Hurk, one of the few returning characters in Far Cry, desperately begging the player for help as his face melts off his skull? That would have hit players and hit players hard and people, myself included, wouldn’t be bitching about how out of nowhere and shit the ending is! And that’s to say nothing of the idea of North Korea wasting one of the handful of nukes they have on rural fucking Montana! Jesus H. Tap-dancing Christ, Ubisoft, how fucking stupid do you think we are!?

...okay, fair enough. But still!

Now I know what you’re probably thinking. “Well, damn, that’s grim. Anyway, what’s the good ending like?” 

That IS the good ending.

No, I’m not even kidding. Despite the end scenario being Doctor Strangelove by way of Deliverance (and no, that’s not me being snarky, the game references the movie by playing “We’ll Meet Again” during the final cutscene) that’s the good ending because you, the player, are still alive. The bad ending is that after you arrest Seed and see your friends and allies under the influence of Bliss, you’re given the option to let him go and walk away. You then then your Bliss-induced allies walk with Joseph peacefully into the church and then leave with the same three people, in which they get into a car and leave while chatting about getting the army involved and taking Seed out once and for all. One of them then turns on the radio, the song “Only You” plays, and a red haze takes over the screen just before the credits roll heavily implying that you succumbed to the brainwashing drug (which you’re exposed to several times in the game) and either attacked or killed the people you spent the time in the game trying to save. Either way, each ending renders your actions completely and utterly meaningless.

Why did they do this? Well, partially because the Far Cry writers really love the “There is no objective good or evil, everything and everyone is equally terrible” cliche and they assume everyone else does too, but once again I have no doubt in my mind that the ‘good’ ending wasn’t the original ending and was in fact a last-minute change to appease angry racists in order to not alienate what Ubisoft thinks is their core demographic. What a bucket of cocks.

Final Thoughts

Now despite the endings being complete and utter hot garbage that renders all your actions meaningless, there’s still plenty of fun to be had in Far Cry 5. The combat is satisfying, base jumping and flying around never gets old, the characters are great, and despite chickening out on the themes introduced it’s still a plenty serviceable story. It won’t be winning any awards anytime soon, and if you’re looking for some post-2016 return of the Nazis catharsis then I’d go with Wolfenstein II: the New Colossus instead, but there’s still plenty fun to be had exploring the beautiful wilds of Northwest America while gunning down religious nutjobs, hunting dangerous game, and completing side-quests from uprooting doomsday prepper bunkers to making a bull testicle cook-off to raise morale possible.

B-

A solid B-

[gregkatepetegowest]

Truckee + Tahoe

Apologies for the delay to our loyal followers! My ghost writer took a minute to edit and add his commentary (is it Greg or Pete I'm referring to? You'll never know).

Our drive from Mammoth to Tahoe was just over three hours, easy! We had booked a ski in/ski out condo on Northstar. Technically located in Truckee, Northstar is about a 15-minute drive to Lake Tahoe and to downtown Truckee. We could also walk from our condo down to the Northstar Village, which had several shops and dining options (and a Starbucks).

Pete, Greg, and I arrived just after 4 pm, dropped our bags and then went for a hike. We found a trail that meandered up the mountain and wondered if we were on a hiking trail or mountain bike trail. If you have not been to a ski resort in the summer that allows mountain biking, you probably don’t know that people FLY down these trails so we were very interested in figuring out exactly what kind of trail we were walking on with the dog to avoid being mowed down. Unbeknownst to us, the resort was coming out of the post COVID fog the following day at 9 am by re-opening the gondola and bike trails for the first time since last year, which is why we were the only trio out there (Google told us this as we were trying to look up Northstar hiking trail maps).

After our walk, we headed down to the village in search of food. Additional Google research told us that few places were open and most closed at 8 pm (this was a Thursday). We tried to head to a sports bar but arrived to find it had gone out of business. We didn’t let this stop us and walked a pizza joint, Rubicon, which we knew was open. Being one of two restaurants open in the village, Rubicon was very busy. Most people were waiting for outdoor patio seating and we assumed this was COVID related. Since we have been sitting inside in Nashville for a month or so (AND VACCINATED, TY), we told the hostess we would be happy to sit anywhere. We walked inside and were seated at a high top table in the bar area. Within 30 seconds we realized… No air conditioning! Apparently, this is a thing in Northern California because it “doesn’t get that hot” there. To be fair, it has been unseasonably hot in the entire country the last couple of weeks and the temp drops significantly at night in the mountains. But when you’re sitting inside, near the kitchen of a pizza establishment and it’s 85 degrees outside, with no AC, you’re going to sweat. So that’s what we did. We had an awesome server/bartender (this is not a sarcastic comment). His name was Trevor and he fit the mold of a stereotypical California ski bum. He didn’t come over right away (but we really weren’t waiting long) and then felt the need to profusely apologize for “making us wait”, which was hilarious. Apparently, he had been on vacation for seven days and, in that short time, forgot how the server sections at Rubicon worked (prayers for me when I return to work after a 5 week sabbatical). At least that is what he told us. Anyway, we got salads like the responsible people we are (but split fries, hehe) and Trevor gave us the “local discount”, which was 10% off. Overall a win and worth the sweating.

After dinner, we hustled back to the house because Pete’s buddy, Andy, was due to arrive from San Francisco any moment. We spent the evening catching up with all windows and the front door open because, again, no AC in the condo, and made a plan for tomorrow morning’s hike.

Day two in Truckee/Tahoe started with breakfast made by yours truly. Pete and Andy worked until noon or so and I think I wrote a blog post and walked Greg or something of that nature. After the guys wrapped up their work, we headed out for a hike picked by Pedro which was eight miles (!) with a scenic view of Lake Tahoe at the turnaround point. The trail was mostly shaded which was really nice and the view was gorgeous. We left Greg behind for this hike due to the length and heat. After the hike, we showered up and headed into downtown Truckee for drinks/dinner/meeting up with Shawna (my friend/roommate from Baltimore) and her boyfriend, Ralph, who had also driven up from San Francisco. Shawna and Ralph weren’t due into town until 8 pm so we headed to a dive bar, the Tourist Club, and had a drink and “played” pool. I used quotations for playing pool because Pete just worked over Andy and I, which is pretty much what I knew would happen. Finally, Shawna and Ralph arrived after surviving the SF traffic and we headed to Best Pies Pizzeria & Restaurant. At dinner, we encountered another spacey Tahoe server that forgot to visit our patio table. After waiting 20 minutes or so, Pete went inside to address the situation. Our server, Noah, eventually made it over to our table. He looked to be about 17 years old and it was his first night on the job. A future Tahoe ski bum, without a doubt. Luckily, a true veteran server, Amanda, was training him. She came over multiple times to apologize and tell us what a little pain in the ass he was for her night. The pizza was amazing, so we took it easy on young Noah.

After dinner, we headed back to the house to let Shawna and Ralph get settled and unwind.

Saturday morning Shawna and Ralph prepared a breakfast feast. Pete was very excited to have someone cook him bacon! From there, the guys went to play disc golf and Shawna and I walked Greg and then hit the pool at the resort. Stupidly, we didn’t look into pool COVID regulations. We were supposedly to make a reservation, which we didn’t, but somehow the girl at the desk let us in anyway. Of course, I assumed there would be free towels there – WRONG! Was I about to pay $1 to rent a towel for 45 minutes? Nope. So we swam around and air-dried and laughed about how unprepared we were. Every other group had coolers packed with snacks/lunch/beverages/etc., but we came empty handed. I did buy an overpriced water while there and then stared at the couple in the lounge chairs in front of us who had a whole spread of cheeses and crackers on their table. UGH. After disc golf and the pool, we headed to the lake to kayak. Pete had booked us kayaks for a two-hour paddle. The lake is incredible. So clear and just beautiful. Lake Tahoe is the second deepest Lake in the United States, but the water is so clear that it can be deceiving. Shawna kept claiming she was paddling in shallow water and sticking her paddle down into the water to see if she could touch the bottom with it (she could not). Twenty minutes into the paddle, I was feeling the buuurn in my shoulders. We paddled for almost two hours straight, only taking a break to lounge and swim for a bit before paddling back. We were all pretty burnt out by this point so we headed back to the house and grilled chicken and veggies for dinner and just hung out from there.

The next morning, we were all a little slow moving, but breakfast was had and we packed up all our crap, hugged our friends and hit the road to Chiloquin (Crater Lake).

[jphagger]

Cross Country Trip Entry #3

On Thursday I woke up from the stale air of the canopy and a thin film of sweat from the hot surroundings. My side was apparently the eastern end of the Walmart parking lot, and a hand to the canvas confirmed it by the heat. The roof was cool from the evaporating dew and Jeffrey lay awake next to me browsing the internet on his phone. We packed up our small camp quicker than the morning prior and headed to Cuyahoga Valley National park.

Jeffrey looked up a few trails on the way over and we decided on a waterfall hike that was 8 miles long and promised views of three different falls. We had a quick breakfast of frosted mini wheats and packed a pair of granola bars each, somewhat stoked at the idea of being out on the trail before 10AM. 

The hike was interesting, winding through unmarked trails along a river and delivering on the promise of waterfalls, though it was made slightly less serene than a similar New York scene by the emanating, inescapable sounds of Interstate 80 the whole way. We passed a “ski slope” that couldn’t have been more than 300 feet of downhill and cracked quite a few “what’s there to do in Ohio? Nothing.” jokes. These were later confirmed by a handful of people that happen to be from Ohio without much prompting. 

After our first hike, which was assisted by a very nice park ranger that provided us with paper trail maps, we drove to another section of the park called The Ledges for lunch. Jeffrey boiled 4 perfect hardboiled eggs and we threw together an avocado, bean, egg, and Rotel spicy tomato salad with toast. Road food thus far has been both healthy and delicious. 

I was enjoying the sunny day and the quiet rustling of the wind through the trees when an inconspicuous black SUV pulled into the shady spot next to our truck and idled for a few minutes. After a few more minutes of idling and then two levels of fan blowing stepped-up noise I decided to politely ask the driver if they would mind opening their windows rather than using the A/C. Jeffrey was worried (and so was I, really) that I wouldn’t handle the situation properly, but after a bit of thought I approached him and we had a very pleasant conversation. 

We sat for a few more minutes and I jotted down some of the key points of the day for later before embarking on the short Ledges hike. It turned out to be more beautiful than I had expected from the pictures posted in the trail reviews. We certainly are spoiled in that regard- being able to look at reviews for hiking trails... Along the way we scrambled on rocks and looked at the cool sandstone pockets in the boulders.

An older couple was walking in front of us and as we passed them we made small talk. The man ended up being from the Stony Brook area and they were on a trip visiting three more national parks out of their current 42. We talked about Acadia and traveling through Utah and they recommended parks to see; the woman said her favorite so far was actually Acadia. At the overlook part of the trail I found it amusing that they seemed just as unimpressed as we were by the fairly normal landscape view of green trees and high tension wires coupled, of course, by Interstate music. 

We meandered back to the car and started the drive to Brendan’s house in Michigan, stopping almost as quickly at the sight of a climbing gym and outdoor store pair on the route. The gear in stock was beautiful, but also highly priced so I stuck with just getting a chalk refill and some nice conversation with the cashier. 

On the highway Jeffrey browsed the internet for a while and kept us awake with good music. An hour or so in I suggested that we look for odd jobs on Craigslist, sort of as a longshot but also semi seriously. Jeffrey found an Ad by a man named Greg. He was in search of a pair of “street teamers” to promote his new movie, which sported a picture of a crazy looking man dangling two knives, the title Hectic Knife and the description “a crazy new meta comedy parody of comic book movies... all of ‘em!” Jeffrey responded that we were a pair of hip millennials travelling cross country, and that our experience posting “Lost dog” posters and interacting with people along our travels surely qualified us to advertise for his event. 

He never texted back.

Further down the road, after a few similar responses, including one to a man looking for furniture to be moved, we focused back on the music. Jeffrey requested that I ask Katie, one of our mutual friends from back home, what that song was with “Peaches” in the title. She didn’t respond quickly enough, so we spent the next hour listening to every song on spotify with the word peaches in it. 

At Brendan’s house we were greeted by a familiar warm smile and highly infectious laughter. Brendan told us about his job and introduced us to the other interns living in the apartment and we loosely discussed our plans for the next day. Jeffrey received a text back from the guy looking for moving help on craigslist, and we were very excited until the request of a 7AM meeting time. 

We went to sleep fairly early with the 5:45 AM alarm looming in our minds and woke up feeling refreshed and nervously curious about this curious person promising $40 to move furniture. On the drive over we discussed a few things including how much money to leave in our wallets should we be held at gunpoint, how much we were willing to give before going down with the ship (i.e the truck and bikes) and whether or not I had theft insurance on the bikes. The situation came to a climax when a white truck rolled up to the storage unit place we had been told to meet at and a man got out. He was more of a kid, really. At 19, Henry runs his own antique furniture business in Alabama and was genuinely looking for a pair of people to help him move and reorganize the pieces he had collected up in Michigan. It turns out we had been the only people to answer his add as a pair ( I had pushed Jeffrey about this- he wanted to answer for just himself the scoundrel!) and we worked for two hours, getting everything cleaned and reorganized back in his storage unit. Good on his word, Henry gave us our payment and said to let us know if we decide to come back through Alabama on the way back east. You can check out his website at magiccityfinds.com 

We headed back to Brendan’s apartment in no rush, and stopped at AAA to grab some maps of the local area and for the rest of the trip. The receptionist gave us tips about the local nightlife and I took a few maps. Later on, while looking at the maps I noticed a $5.95 price tag on each one... hopefully they’re free for members! Our next stop was home depot to get a spare trailer lock key made and for some scrap wood to use as a shim for the trailer spare holder. The spare was originally under the tongue of the trailer, but all the bumpy roads have been taking a toll on it with small clearance. The wood was easy; Ben helped me out by cutting up a few pieces of spare 2x6′s but the key line was long so we opted for a locksmith after getting groceries. Michael at the grocery store reminded me of Father’s day, so happy Father’s day Dad! Without you there’s no way we would be on the road doing this trip. 

The locksmith was very nice, and after looking at our key and lock for a minute or so and informing us that it was a cheap import and there was no way he could make a key he gave us a free inexpensive padlock. We chatted about motocross for a few minutes and he gave a few tips about local areas to check out before we headed on our way back to Brendan’s. 

At Brendan’s we both enjoyed long hot showers and I had a frosty beverage. Michigan is the first place there seems to be dry apple cider available in stores and it is infinitely more enjoyable than the fake sweetness of standard Angry Orchard and the like. The early morning work had us both pretty sleepy, and it was time to nap for an hour or so. 

There had been limited parking the night before, so we’d pushed a concrete parking barrier out of the way and did a bit of sketchy parking halfway under a carport and half in a patch of grass. We were notified quite effectively by way of a large neon green sticker on my windshield that our parking job was not in fact acceptable, and that my truck would be towed the following day at noon if not moved. 

As I was scraping the stubborn remnants of sticker stickiness off of the windshield a maintenance worker from Brendan’s apartment complex profusely apologized for having to put it there and very nicely told us where we could park to avoid any issues. 

Brendan rolled back into town around 4PM and the three of us decided to have nachos and head to the lake for the evening sunset. Jeffrey semi-pressured us into swimming in the lake, which turned out to be very fun. It was about 2 feet deep for as far out as I dared to go, and we would have kept going if our stuff wasn’t sitting by it’s own on the shore. 

We took the long way home and hung out with a few of Brendan’s coworkers before turning in for the night in the truck.