#i think at one point in the books caroline breaks her leg while building a house

[exdivine]

im so happy women agree with my irrational hatred for charles "pa" ingalls

[malethirsty]

Loyalty - Tyler Lockwood

Summary: When Klaus’s #2 makes eyes with you, Klaus sets the two of you up. But when you encounter an issue, it’s down to you to pull through for the both of you.

Warnings: M/M smut (21+), Bareback (However Orgasm occurs once Tyler pulls out, make of that what you will), Homophobic comments, Elena and co. become villains

Inspired by: https://twitter.com/MaleThirst/status/1196818509830819841

Life had changed drastically since Klaus had found out how to make hybrids. He moved you quickly into his house & got his new army to guard you in case Elena and her friends tried to pull any punches, The Council did indeed cut you off, but the Mikaelson fortune was extended to you by Klaus & the day spent shopping with Rebekah helped you both to bond. What was the most surprising thing was that you were now spending more time with Tyler Lockwood. You expected Elena to surround a support group around him, or ask him to spy on Klaus, but she ditched him, as it had been found out that Klaus had sired Tyler, and thus Tyler was now fiercely loyal to him. It was good to have someone else to share an admiration for Klaus & on days when the Original Hybrid had to battle against Damon & Mikael, you took time with Rebekah to train the newest hybrid. It was a Friday night that you all finally got to take a break from hecticness of it all. “Don’t you usually go to the Mystic Grill on Fridays, love?” Klaus pondered as he saw you flopped down, trying to find something on Netflix. “I mean I would, but Elena and all her friends are there, and I know they’ll send me out of the bar.” Klaus could tell you were still a bit down following your exile & leaned in to give you a kiss “Y/N, You need to boost your confidence. I’ll send Rebekah to watch from afar, but also, to make them that much more pissed, tonight I’ll send you out to the Mystic Grill with Tyler as a date, make Caroline jealous.” You snorted, it did sound like a good idea but “Is Tyler up for this?” You asked, you wanted it to be his idea & not Klaus planting him there “I asked him, he said yes. He also said he has a thing for you as well, so I’ve booked you next to her hotel room where she’s staying for the night before flying out for some Miss Virginia thing, keep her up all night.” “And how would I do that?” Klaus leaned up to whisper in your ear “You know how love. Do you always do with me every night” you knew that Klaus meant to fuck Tyler and while the idea sounded good.

“I’ll let Tyler know to be ready at a quarter to 8.” Klaus smiled, dimples on show as you headed into the closet, to pick out some good clothing. In next to no time, whether it be a need to impress you or due to his newly acquired speed, Tyler was ready & waiting as he walked you down the street, hand in hand. Right behind you was Rebekah not only your escort but also giving dirty looks to those who were giving you & Tyler side eye, which was comforting to you, it was nice to know Klaus, Tyler & Rebekah at least cared about your wellbeing, even if the world around you was less than sympathetic. As you entered the Mystic Grill, you saw the majority of the building taken up for Caroline’s big title party. Rebekah positioned herself near the door as You & Tyler selected the same secluded booth that you had gone to the night You & Klaus became partners. Ordering your usual Chips & Garlic Bread, Tyler ordering the same with a massive burger, you eventually opened up the conversation. “So Klaus told me about you having a thing for me.” Tyler gave a slight grin “When did you know & why didn’t you tell me earlier?” “Well it was a while ago, after Dad died, I realised I was free from his vileness, and I was going to tell you after the funeral, but then everything with Mason and turning happened, I threw myself into what I had become instead of managing both my crush & that.” Tyler swallowed, clearly not used to letting out a lot “It’s alright Tyler, you went through a lot so quickly, I’m not angry and you had every right to work on yourself before hand.” Tyler grinned as his burger got placed on the table “Jesus Christ, That’s massive! How are you gonna get through that?!” Tyler shrugged “You know that before I was a hybrid, I played football right Y/N? I’ve always had a big appetite.” “What exactly is the appeal of football? I’ve never understood.” Tyler shot a grin at you “Y/N, tonight I’m gonnna give you a crash course.”

And indeed he did, outlining the rules of the game, his favourite team and some spectacular moments that he had achieved with Mystic Falls during his tenure as a player. Usually you’d scoff at sport talk but Tyler was so engaging in great conversation, that you didn’t mind a second, and as much as you listened to him, he listened to you discuss your likeness of musical theatre with the same enjoyment plastered on his face as you had when he talked. “Y/N, I’m having one of the best date nights ever, Little Miss Blonde over there couldn’t compare” you were about to start laughing when at that exact moment, Elena’s group came over to your table. “Well hello there” Damon said somewhat curtly “Hello Damon, I guess you’re here to intimidate us” you responded, “Now Y/N, me intimidate, never!” Damon mockingly feigned outrage “Well it’s not for the bourbon since there’s none at our table” you quipped back, Elena stepping in. “No we aren’t here to intimidate, we wanted to take a look at the man who stabbed me in the back last week, who sold us all to Klaus, who made me a blood bag, how you had the nerve to show up at our bar and stage some sort of mock date to get under Caroline’s skin”. Whilst Elena was right about trying to get Caroline riled up, she had no business questioning Tyler’s feelings for you, which made you angry, and looking over to where Tyler sat, you noticed he was gripping his fists angrily, trying bot to let an outburst emerge and ruin the night. Looking to your left, you saw Rebekah had heard what was going on and had stepped up from her table, with your own group of friends ready to back you up, you decided that you might as well strike back, wasn’t as if she could do worse “Wow Elena, your ass is jealous at the amount of shit that just came out of your mouth” Seeing Elena’s shit eating grin thinking that she had intimidated you fall was quite possibly the sight of the year, but you weren’t done, not at all “Firstly, Tyler was close to dying, so if I hadn’t said anything, he wouldn’t be here, also when was the last time any of you acknowledged me in your supernatural group of expertise? I didn’t owe you a God damn thing. And this ‘mock date?’ How would you know that Tyler’s feelings are genuine?” “Because I dated him for several months & as an ally I can tell when someone has feelings for men.” Caroline said now stepping forwards next to Elena to survey the scene. You turned to face Caroline, intending to give her the same verbal lashing as Elena “It’s about time someone told you Caroline, but having a group of Gay Friends who help you shop & quoting lines from RuPaul’s Drag Race does not make you an ally, it makes you an insufferable cunt.” A snorting laugh came from your left, and without turning, you knew that Rebekah had enjoyed your comment Now Caroline was looking like she’d been hit over the face with how red she’d turned, embarrassed she’d been called out at her party, good.

“Why would you have even gotten up with Klaus though?” Inquired Bonnie, “Yeah, what did he offer you: Money, Power, Immortality?” Jeremy seconded. “Nothing, what he did do was tell me about his loneliness & I remembered the times I felt pushed out and I thought if others could give me grace after being tossed to the side, the least I could do is return it to others.” “Oh Boo Hoo.” Damon prodded in, “Klaus is making an army without asking any of the wolves if they want in.” “How-” Tyler began angrily and Rebekah’s feet began to stomp towards the table, which Elena & Bonnie had acknowledged by the look of intimidation on their faces, however you stood up very suddenly, determined to stand your ground “How’s Vicki? Did you make sure she wanted to be immortal? You know, after you gave her your blood & snapped her neck.” An uncomfortable silence filled that section of the bar. “Bonnie, how is carrying Anna’s death going? You know the woman your current squeeze was dating? How were all the vampires minding their own business going before you tripped up the device & caused so much disaster, that almost caused Jeremy to die? Wasn’t that because all vampires were the same?, a pity story after your Grams passed, yet you stand with Damon and have the audacity to lunge after me. And you two” Y/N pointed at Elena & Jeremy, “You two are cut from the same cloth. Jeremy you knew about Bonnie tripping up the device, killing Anna & yet you two are dating and Elena you complain about Klaus needing your blood for something so little as turning which is somehow so bad, yet when Katherine didn’t open her legs to welcome Damon, he snapped your brothers neck, yet you forgave him somehow. I’m not saying you can’t forgive him, but if you’re going to let Damon’s miniature things go, then you need to let Klaus’s go. I’m aware that Klaus isn’t the picture perfect idea of humanity you all want, but you keep excusing the darkness in your own supernatural partners, not to mention yourselves, so you have some nerve isolating me like I’m the only one lavishing in it. Stay the fuck away from me.” You grabbed Tyler’s hand and marched out of the Mystic Grill. “Nice work-“ Rebekah began, but in your angry mood, you marched right past her with Tyler in tow. “Rude” she muttered under her breath as she reached for her phone to tip off Klaus that whilst you’d blown her off, you finally grew a backbone.

You walked several streets in a huff before stopping to breathe, at that point, Tyler hugged you. “T-Tyler, are you alright?” You questioned, “Yeah, it’s just that you could see me getting angry and you stood up for me instead. You were so scared of being confronted by them, but you stood your ground to their faces. You may not have faced down a vampire or a wolf, but you Y/N are the bravest out of us all.” You smiled “Thanks Tyler” he leaned in & kissed you. You took a moment to let Tyler endulge before you began to kiss back, running your hands down Tyler’s back before you were slammed into the lamppost. Whilst you wanted Tyler, you didn’t want to be written up for public sex, so you broke the kiss “Let’s get back to Klaus’s and continue this there.” “But what about antagonising Caroline?” Tyler questioned, but you had your answer ready “I think we’ve antagonised her enough, besides she’d probably rub herself to your moans and shit, I don’t want to give her the satisfaction.” Tyler let a cold smirk cross his face, he knew you wanted to be fucked hard, and that’s what he planned to do. Deciding to test out Tyler’s compelling skills on a homeless person, you gave him the room Klaus had booked out & you both made your way back to The Mikaelson Compound. It was empty, so you & Tyler could fuck as loud as you could, so he sped you up to your room and as the door closed, Tyler slammed you up against it, kissing you passionately, the same as he did on the street, however this time, your clothes were removed with vampire speed. Standing there naked, Tyler took in your nude form with a twinkle in his eyes, you blushed slightly which made Tyler smile “You’re cute when you’re flustered Y/N.” Tyler commented and with that he began to undress as well, intending to take time so you could see the goodies under his clothes.

As he removed his shirt, Tyler pulled you in for a kiss, his tongue sliding into your mouth as he deepened it. You began to feel around his shirtlessness, tweaking at his nipples which make the newly turned hybrid moan in your ear, the sound like molten gold to you. Suddenly you were thrown with all of Tyler’s might onto the bed, Tyler made sure you were looking up as he disposed of his pants and underwear in one go, his cock standing proud and hard. He began to walk towards you, cockily flaunting all the while “You want this dick don’t you Y/N?”, you nodded, but that didn’t appease the hybrid who sped towards you and gripped you by the neck, softly yet dominant “Talk to me Y/N, do you want me to fuck you all night?, have you crying my name as I make you cum from my stroke? Answer me.” He spoke the last part cooly as he playfully tightened his grip on your throat, making you feel a bit light headed “Yes Tyler, please fuck me as hard as you can.” You moaned out, making him laugh “As hard as I can? God this is gonna be good.” He laid his hand out, spitting onto it before stroking his hard member, coating it with the makeshift lube all the while looking at you all sprawled out, naked for him, and while he tried to maintain his cockiness, you could see from the ripples of pleasure on his face. Once he had lathered himself up enough, Tyler didn’t waste anymore time and used his newly acquired speed to to thrust deep into your ass, making you cry out at the sting. “Fuck, shit, your tighter than Caroline.” Tyler moaned out, you couldn’t even form words from how big he was and how he was stretching you out so right, all that came out was a mewling cry, which the hybrid smirked at. Rocking his cock deeper inside your tight canal, he began a passionate pace, looking down into your eyes as he fucked you deep so he could see how you crumbled apart for him, how desperate you were to take his dick. He locked you in another kiss again, moaning into it as you trailed your hands down his back, until he slammed in balls deep, colliding head first with your prostate, you cried out & instictively tightened your grip, sinking your fingers into Tyler. “Sink it in pretty boy, scratch down my back till you draw blood while I fuck you the way Vicki & Caroline could never handle, but you can, you fucking slut.”

The rough dirty talk emerged a desire in you to meet Tyler’s challenge head on. You dug in harder as Tyler cried out from the mix of pain and pleasure, all thoughts of Caroline and the confrontation gone, all you both wanted to do was chase down your orgasms. Your fingers began to feel a bit moist and you took them away from Tyler’s back to see you’d got him deep that there was blood dripping “Taste it” Tyler panted in your ear “Taste me Y/N, I know you want to.” With Tyler’s encouragement, you locked eyes with him drew your tongue across your fingers, tasting Tyler’s blood. You moaned out from his taste, knowing it would incense him into fucking you rougher and indeed, Tyler began to rock into you so hard that the bed began to slam into the wall with every thrust. ”God, this is amazing, keep this up and I’ll cum for you Y/N.” “Do it Tyler, cum.” Once again Tyler squeezed your neck “I’m the hybrid here baby, you’re the human, I control you, I won’t cum till you cum apart from my dick.” Tyler’s words were accompanied by a sharp thrust deep inside you, well and truly smashing into your prostate, the driving force combined with his words was what it took for you to reach your peak and crying out Tyler’s name, you came in spurts over yourself. “Fuck, that’s hot, seeing you cum for me. You want to taste me again?” You nodded and began to move your hands to Tyler’s back again, intending to leave new marks, but instead you were met by Tyler’s full force as he slammed your hands to the bed. Groaning and spluttering out of ecstasy, his body also rippling with the same energy, Tyler pulled out and with a few simple strokes let out a loud moan as he came all over you, splattering you with even more hot cum.

As he calmed down, Tyler wiped his hand in his load, covering his fingers with the sticky white substance and held it up to your mouth “Taste it” he said again, reminiscent of when he wanted you to drink his blood, except this time, there was a more erotic tone to his voice, he wanted all of his essence inside you. Never losing eye contact with the Lockwood, you licked across your hand, taking in his salty sweet seed, even sucking it off your fingers while moaning which made Tyler grin “Fuck, if people only knew how perfect you are.” He breathed out “I do” came a distinctive british voice that could only mean... “Klaus!” you both exclaimed as you looked over to see the hybrid standing in the doorway, watching you both with a smirk on his face “I thought you were at the hotel making Caroline sulk.” “No, you should have seen though, Y/N pretty much tore them all a new one” “I don’t doubt that, Rebekah texted me and told me about it. She also told me you’d left without talking to her.” He eyed you closely “I was in an angry mood” you tried to explain, but Klaus held his hand up to silence you and you obeyed his command. “I have to say nice technique Tyler, you wanted Y/N to take his fill you of you and that you did. But now I want you to step back” With the sire bond in affect, Tyler took several steps away from the bed, Klaus grinning at his power as he walked towards you and to your excitement began to strip his clothing off “You’re going to watch as I now fuck Y/N, cause while you know how to fuck, you don’t have a thousand years of experience to you. You can masturbate to us if you want, as long as you cum once we have.” Klaus stopped at the foot of the bed, Tyler nodding as he fisted his hardening length “Good. Now love” he turned his gaze to you “Tyler’s got you ready for me, like a good sweet progeny, ready for another hybrid cock inside you.” He palmed at himself and nodding, you threw yourself back on the bed, spreading your legs. Oh yes, this was the life.

[princess-of-the-worlds]

we're all stories, in the end

For Day Four of Klaroline AU Week 2019: Mates

Happy KC AU Week! @klaroline-events

Now, this is a different take on the Mates trope and may have just been my excuse to write a Doctor Who AU, but once I got the idea in my head, I couldn’t drop it.

***

ao3 link: here

word count: 4882

summary: Walking down the aisle on her wedding day, Caroline finds herself suddenly transported aboard a strange blue police box with an eccentric man who calls himself the Doctor, and then everything Caroline's ever known turns upside down. One year later, after Caroline has chased him all over London, the Doctor returns and offers to show her the stars, the universe, all of time and space itself.

***

“I just want a mate,” the Doctor says, finishing off his rattling plea to invite Caroline to travel with him on his blue police box of a TARDIS that she still can’t believe. He glances up at her with those stormy eyes that are simultaneously a maniac intense but also unbelievably sad.

 I want to mate is what Caroline, high on adrenaline, shock, and relief from the last ten minutes, hears.

 Her eyebrows raise in alarm, and quickly, she takes a step back, retreating further inside the safety of the TARDIS. “You’re not mating with me, sunshine!” she calls back, voice rising several octaves in panic until even she winces from her own shrillness. She keeps a steady eye on the Doctor.

 The Doctor balks, a flare of something unreadable running through those sad eyes. “A mate,” he clarifies far too quickly. “I just want a mate. A friend.” He presses his lips together so tightly that they turn white.

 Lifting her head high in the air, brushing blond curls over her shoulder, she tells him, “Well, just as well. I’m not having any of that nonsense.” She sniffs, keeping her tone light and good-natured. “I have a strict no-aliens rule.”

 “There we are, then,” the Doctor retorts, smirking slightly. He seems to not have taken offense at Caroline’s response. “Okay.”

 “I can come then?” she asks, straightening up. She hopes too much of her excitement hasn’t leaked into her tone.

 “Yeah. Of course,” he tells her. “Course you can. I’d love that.”

***

 Let’s back up a minute.

 It’s two years ago, and it’s supposed to be the happiest day of Caroline Forbes’s life. She’s getting married to Matt Donovan, the head of HR and the only other American in the firm where she worked as a temp. On her first day, he brought her coffee, and she’s been in love ever since.

 One minute, she’s walking down the wedding aisle, the lace of her veil drifting behind her as she beams at Matt and the guests, and the next, she’s on a battered-looking spaceship with a drawling Brit dressed like a hipster who waves around a silver stick he calls a sonic screwdriver when he’s not smirking cockily.

 He brings her to her wedding, but she’s missed the actual ceremony, and her friends and Matt have gone on to the reception without her. Then Caroline, Matt, and the man who insists on being called the Doctor are racing to the firm.

 Suddenly, there’s a giant spider-alien-creature the Doctor calls the Empress of the Racnoss, and turns out Matt is not who she thought he was.

 “He’s been poisoning you,” the Doctor tells her, and though she practically just met him, she quivers at the kindness in his tone and eyes. “With the coffees. One every day.”

 “No, no, no, no,” Caroline says numbly, shaking her head in denial. “That can’t be true.” But nonetheless, she watches mutely as a smirking Matt steps towards the Empress. “Tell me it’s not true, Matt.”

 Matt rolls his eyes. “God, she’s so thick,” he tells the Doctor, ignoring Caroline’s pleas. “Months I’ve had to put up with her. Months!” He throws his hands up in frustration. “She’ll keep talking and talking your head off. I think I’ve lost years off my life trying to figure out how to shut her up.”

 Whimpering, Caroline stumbles backwards, vision starting to blur from the tears that burn her eyes. Dazed, she can’t even acknowledge the Empress, instead pressing into the Doctor’s side who reaches out to steady her. “No, no, no, no.”

 The coffee Matt brought on her first day of work. She thought it was him being kind to the uncertain new temp. It was him setting the first step of his plan in motion.

 “There were particles in the coffee, Huon energy particles,” the Doctor murmurs to her. “Matt and the Empress probably intended to use you as some kind of beacon for a portal to their home world. Instead, when they activated those particles, you were drawn to the nearest source of those particles, which happened to be the TARDIS.”

 The Empress hisses. “But now, you are here,” she snarls. “We will use you to open the portal and bring my children through. We will rule this desolate world of yours.”

 “And I will be by your side as your consort,” Matt says, stepping forward to gaze adoringly at the Empress. He smiles at her. “It will be as everything was intended to be. You, my Empress, and your children. We will be together.”

 Rearing on her feet, the Empress laughs, high and cold. “Oh, you foolish human. You were never by my side. You were always a pawn.” And with a careless swipe of her one of her eight legs, she knocks Matt off the platform, and he tumbles down to the ground with a single scream, neck snapping with a sickening snap.

 Everything blurs around Caroline. Still reeling from the heartbreak and Matt’s betrayal, Caroline can barely process the blasts from the bombs the Doctor planted around the room until the Empress’s screaming reaches her ears.

  Amongst the fire and chaos, dirty water from the Thames flooding in and staining Caroline’s wedding dress, she sees the first streak of a darker side to the Doctor. The same man who made sarcastic remarks and name-dropped figures from Caroline’s old history textbooks while hailing her a cab has his lips set into a harsh line, eyes glinting cruelly as he watches the Empress’s spider children drown and die. The Empress’s pained screeches reach a higher pitch.

 “Doctor,” Caroline cries, and the man jerks like a marionette whose strings have been cut, “you can stop now!”

 The Doctor’s handsome features contort in terror, but there is no time for his moral crisis. He and Caroline are darting into the TARDIS as the building explodes behind them.

 When they arrive outside Caroline’s apartment building, she stumbles out of the impossible police box, hair in disarray and expensive gown undeniably ruined. The Doctor invites her to travel with him, but heart weighing heavy with sorrow and exhausted to the point of collapse, she declines.

 “Don’t travel alone,” she tells him. “Find someone. I think sometimes you need someone to stop you.” She hates to think of what this handsome stranger who whizzes through the universe in his bigger-on-the-inside box could be capable of on a bad day.

 Once Caroline’s had time to process the events of what was supposed to be her wedding day, she tries to move on. She gets another temp job but quits her second month. She tries to travel through Egypt, but the structure of the tour she’s booked drains her enthusiasm. Finally, under the worried and anxious gazes of her friends who still don’t know what truly happened, she begins dating another American friend, a dark-haired sarcastic man named Tyler. She is happy briefly, even if she expects everything Tyler to say to be said in an English accent and to reference events before her birth and worlds beyond her own.

 A year passes, and with everything still inexplicably unstable in her life, Caroline regrets telling the Doctor no. She begins to drive across London and nearby towns, following stories and sightings of the strangest things, trying to find him. If one day with the Doctor was as chaotic as it had been, he’s bound to pop around eventually, and Caroline actually manages to help some of the people she meets.

 The months fly by, and she devotes herself to her search for the Doctor.

 “I feel like I don’t even know who you are anymore,” Tyler tells her after they’ve been dating for eight months. “You’re always running, and no one in your life seems to know what you’re looking for.”

 He breaks up with her two months later, and she doesn’t get the chance to tell him who she was looking for, not what.

 Then she finds the Doctor.

 ***

 They start off slow, at least according to the Doctor. He takes her to a Viking village at least a thousand years before she will be born. There’s a giant wolf the Doctor claims to be an alien roaming through the woods and preying on villagers; they arrive in the aftermath of the wolf-alien’s latest victim - a young boy named Henrik, a death which they learn about upon stumbling into his elder sister.

 She comes out of nowhere with an angry roar. One moment the Doctor and Caroline are kneeling down besides a patch of grass, studying the trampled grass and torn tree roots as the Doctor scans them with his sonic screwdriver.

 The next moment, the Doctor is pinned against a tree, Caroline hesitantly behind his side, as they gaze back at their attacker, stunned.

 “Name yourself,” the girl says fiercely, her eyes - sharing the same stormy intensity as the Doctor’s - not wavering from. She leans forward, the blade of her sword pressing further into the sensitive skin of the Doctor’s throat. “Name yourself and your companion, and drop your weapon.”

 Despite wanting to protest her title as the Doctor’s companion, Caroline gulps nervously. She eyes the girl; she doesn’t think that the Doctor being alien will prevent him from dying via a slit throat.

 “Oi!” The Doctor’s own gaze travels from the girl’s sword to his sonic screwdriver, held adjacent to his side and still glowing. “It’s not a weapon. It’s a sonic screwdriver.” He sighs. “It’s a tool.”

 “I don’t think she cares about that, Doctor,” Caroline hisses to him. Glancing back at the girl, she attempts a kind smile. “I apologize for my friend. His name is the Doctor. My name is Caroline. Have you seen a giant wolf around?” Her smile widens.

 Finally dropping his screwdriver and slipping it back in his pocket as the girl shifts her grip on her sword, the Doctor rolls his eyes. “It’s not a wolf. It’s a-”

 “For her and everyone else who wouldn’t understand you being a time-travelling alien, it’s a wolf.” Caroline sighs, turning back to the girl who has lowered her blade, watching them in bewilderment but also suspicion. “What’s your name?”

 “Rebekah,” she replies, ever so cautious. “Have you been hunting the beast? The wolf that slaughtered my brother into pieces?”

 Caroline finally gets a good glance at Rebekah as the girl slips the sword through the sheath hanging by her side. She can’t be older than seventeen with sharp cheekbones, a wide forehead, and hair - several shades lighter than Caroline’s -  braided back, but those eyes - with their strange resemblance to the Doctor’s in both color and hauntedness, her sword, and her stained dress say otherwise. This is a girl accustomed to violence and war, and Caroline wonders what she’ll do when she finds her beast.

 “Yes,” the Doctor tells her. “Well…we aren’t so much hunting him as we are looking for him, but we’ll help you find him.”

 As they follow Rebekah further into the woods, Caroline turns to the Doctor. “Do you usually agree to help strangers in the woods who hold swords to your throat?” She bites her lip. “Is that how you get into half the trouble you’ve told me about?”

 “Look at her,” the Doctor hisses back. “She’s a child. She’s frightened. She failed in her duty to protect her brother, and she doesn’t want the same to happen to her family and village.”

 He couldn’t just stand there and watch children cry, Caroline realizes, but that’s the last rational thought she’s able to have for a while, because it turns out the wolf-alien that they’ve been hunting has been hunting them instead, and suddenly, they’re sprinting through the trees, a maniac smile stuck to the Doctor’s lips. It seems that this is everyday for the Doctor, because they’d been running on her wedding day too, at a pace too unreasonable for a girl wearing a silk gown and heels.

 Under the Doctor’s guidance, Rebekah and a few of her villager friends manage to lure the wolf into a giant pit using some raw meat, Caroline failing to see what makes this wolf alien through all his wolfiness. Then the Doctor, using his sonic screwdriver, identifies it as an escaped creature from a planet half-way across the universe.

 He frowns. “It shouldn’t be here,” he says as he uses his screwdriver to scan the wolf’s paw prints surrounding the pit. Turning to Caroline, he presses his lips together. “From what I can trace, it came to Earth via a crashed spaceship and lay dormant until something awoke it recently.”

 But they don’t have time to figure it out, because quickly, the wolf is leaping forward from its prison, tearing several of Rebekah’s friends with its claws. Then it lunges forward for the Doctor, and someone screams.

 It might be Rebekah or it might be Caroline, but next, there’s a mighty howl. When the chaos and dust clears, the wolf lays dead, a sword driven through its belly. The Doctor, a man who Caroline has heard preach pacifism and mercy, doesn’t protest at the beast’s fate, because he’s busy on his knees, bowed forward.

 Bewildered, Caroline only has to step forward to realize that he’s cradling Rebekah’s body, her front stained with blood and mangled, though the Doctor shields the on-lookers from seeing the worst of the damage.

 “Why did you do that, you stupid girl?” he asks Rebekah, voice low and thick with emotion. His face is wan, his expression strangled and tight. “Why did you do that, Bekah? You had so much life to live. I’m a stupid old man. I’ve lived long enough; I have life to spare. Why did you step in front of me?”

 “I had to protect someone,” Rebekah rasps, eyes going glassy. There is a harsh gurgle deep in her chest as she coughs, blood staining the corners of her mouth. “I couldn’t protect Henrik, but I could save you.”

 “You were brave, Rebekah,” the Doctor tells the girl, a suspicious wet sheen to his eyes. “That’s the trait of all elder sisters. They will always be brave for their younger siblings.” He sniffles. “To be brave...it’s a rule I swear by. To never be cruel, to never be cowardly, and above all, to never eat pears.”

“What’s a pear?” Rebekah attempts to ask, but her question only ends in a bloody gurgle.

 “Hush.” The Doctor pulls her body closer to him, hugging Rebekah to her chest. Soothingly, he brushes hair, dark and sticky, from her forehead. “It’s a nasty fruit. You would never like it.”

 Tears rolling down her cheeks, Caroline laughs wetly, stepping closer to the Doctor. She kneels down and places a hand on his shoulder, and he glances up in acknowledgment. “He’s right,” Caroline tells Rebekah. “You were brave. If I had one ounce of your courage when I was your age, I could have made more of my life.”

 “Thank you.” The light in Rebekah’s eyes is quickly disappearing into darkness, but she presses her lips into a faint smile. “Keep travelling for me, Doctor and his dear Caroline. Save more lives. Help save other sisters and their younger brothers.”

 ***

 They stay for the funeral.

 Rebekah’s father, a stocky man with her fine blond hair, gifts them small wooden horses she carved and refuses to take them back despite Caroline’s protests.

 When the ceremony is over, the Doctor and Caroline take their farewells and walk back through the woods to the TARDIS. Caroline keeps eyeing the Doctor whose gaze has been distant for several hours now. Just as she intends to ask if he’s alright, her feet stumble to a stop, and she gasps loudly.

 Immediately, the Doctor stiffens, jumping into a defensive stance as his hand flies to his sonic screwdriver. “What’s wrong?” he asks. He glances at Caroline who has gone pale.

 Raising a shaky hand, Caroline points to the familiar river that can be seen through the gap in the trees. Abruptly, she realizes that she recognizes these patches of woods, the structure of some of this land. It’s a thousand years too early to tell for sure, but Caroline can be nearly certain that in nine-hundred-and-ninety years, she and Elena and Bonnie will run through these trees as children.

 “This is my home,” she whispers. “Or at least it will be.”

 The Doctor’s brow furrows. “I don’t get it.”

 “I grew up here,” Caroline says, gesturing wildly to the trees all around her. “I’ve played in these woods.” She nods towards the river. “There’s not a bridge there right now, but in a thousand years, there will be. My friend’s car will skid across the bridge and fall into the river, and her parents will drown.” She shudders. “This will be my home. Mystic Falls, Virginia.”

 Head tilted, the Doctor listens intently. When Caroline’s finished, he lifts his sonic screwdriver to scan the air. He hums. “You’re right,” he tells her. “This will be Mystic Falls. In a thousand years.” He sneaks a glance at Caroline. “Are you alright?”

 Everything is suddenly too much for her to process right now, too loud, too bright, too chaotic. She shudders again. “Can we get back to the TARDIS?” she asks.

 And if, once they return to the TARDIS, she breaks down, crying both out of confusion and for Rebekah, the Doctor doesn’t mention it.

 ***

 After that eventful and emotional first trip, the Doctor tries again, and they visit London in 1953 for Queen Elizabeth’s coronation. The Doctor changes out of his trademark Henley, paint-stained jeans, and dusty combat boots and into a sharp suit, and Caroline tries a pretty dress with a swing skirt on for size.

 The Doctor insists on keeping his sonic screwdriver and something he calls psychic paper however.

 Their night is joyful as they watch the grainy image of the young queen on an old television set. Then someone brings out a bottle of champagne and small snacks. Caroline gets tipsy and dances with the Doctor to music her grandfather must have liked, and there’s too many Union Jacks everywhere. At some point, there’s an odd explosion of electrical sparks in the nighttime sky that someone claims is from a local television station. The Doctor eyes it suspiciously but says nothing, even when a man runs by and screams about televisions stealing faces.

 It’s a wonderful experience, but when Caroline and the Doctor walk down the street to the TARDIS, hands interlinked and swinging together, Caroline can’t keep her thoughts from drifting to Rebekah. A sudden stab of sadness runs through her.

 “How do you deal with it so well?” she asks, and when he looks at her for clarification, she sighs. “With death, I mean? I can’t stop thinking of Rebekah, of how much live she had left to live.”

The Doctor shrugs. “Would you believe that I’m used to it? That I’m older than I look?”

 “Doctor,” Caroline says more seriously, and he turns to face her, lips quirked into a strange melancholic smile.

 “I have seen much of death,” he tells her. “I have stepped hand-in-hand, side-by-side with it. No one can ever become accustomed to death, not when it is such a terrible thing.” Now, he sighs. “Yet I have seen thousands and thousands of people, and I have seen many of them die, some tragically, some at peace and surrounded by loved ones. Yes, it hurts when someone is taken before their time, but that’s life.” His smile becomes bitter. “I try to save as many lives as I can, but I don’t always succeed.”

 Caroline blinks, taken aback. There is no simple response to what the Doctor has admitted. Finally, she nods. “You weren’t lying when you told Rebekah that you’re a stupid old man.”

 “Pardon?” He gazes at her, bewildered.

 “Even if you don’t always succeed, the fact that you try is enough,” she says faintly. “We must keep trying to save lives. For Rebekah, we must try to be brave.”

 The Doctor stops in his tracks and gapes slightly at her. “You humans,” he breathes out in amazement. “There is so much potential to all of you. So much hope, so much love. That’s why I adore your species.” He laughs. “You are a shining beacon of humanity. You, Caroline Forbes, you’re strong, beautiful, full of light. I chose you well as a companion.”

 “Hey,” Caroline retorts. “You didn’t choose anyone, buddy. I travelled across the city looking for you. I chose you.”

 “Fair enough.”

 ***

 “Why did you have to refer to the Sontarans as a bunch of potato-heads?” the Doctor hisses, frustration leaking into his tone, ducked down behind a door frame as blasts of plasma fly over their head. “Now they won’t stop shooting at us!”

 On the other side of the door frame, Caroline spreads her hands helplessly, wincing as the movement puts pressure on her aching knees and feet. They’ve run far more than expected this trip, even for the Doctor and Caroline’s standards, and her flats were not a good choice for today. “Because that’s what they look like!” She sighs. “It was a joke. How was I to know that they weren’t a humorous bunch?”

 The Doctor, poised with his sonic screwdriver by his side, facepalms. “The Sontarans are clone warriors. They’ll take anything as a declaration of war.” He shifts in his crouch, peering around the door frame, only to jerk back suddenly when plasma blasts part of the wall into rubble mere inches from where his head had been. “Oi,” he says to himself. “That could have been my nose.” Then he turns his maniac gaze back to Caroline, and she anxiously notices that despite the flurry of emotions in his eyes, fury is not one of them. He doesn’t truly seem to blame her, but it doesn’t stop him from continuing, “It’s rule number one. Don’t insult the aliens.”

 “You’re an alien!” Caroline retorts. “Besides, you said rule one was don’t wander off. And you’re the one who went to view a historical exhibit and left me alone.” She affects an English accent and drops her voice several octaves, “Three moons and pink seas! It’s perfect for a visit to your first planet, love.” She returns to her normal voice. “You didn’t mention the warrior potatoes.”

 “Stop calling them potatoes, love,” the Doctor says, but now, he’s rolling his eyes. “Besides, that’s not what I sound like.” He glances over the Sontarans who are quickly settling into battle formation. “Caroline.”

 “Yes, Doctor?”

 “One more thing...run!”

 When they finally stumble into the TARDIS, Caroline moves to barricade the doors, and the Doctor dives for the console, throwing various switches and pulling several levers until the familiar whoorp-whoorp sound of the ship is heard as she dematerializes.

 “Next time,” Caroline says, panting as she settles against the railing and turns to face the Doctor, “we’re just staying on Earth.”

 “Hey,” the Doctor says, pouting, eyes alit with frantic energy, “that was just one planet. And that’s not to say that Earth isn’t plenty danger. In fact, there was this one time Robin Hood-”

 “Dared you to a duel and you fought back with a spoon?” Caroline asks, cocking an eyebrow. “You keep forgetting that you don’t need to tell that story. I was there.”

 The Doctor scratches at his chin. Caroline doesn’t know how often aliens need to shave, because he’s been growing a bit of a stubbly shadow. She likes it; she thinks it makes him look more dashing, but she won’t ever tell him that. “I could have sworn it was with Cami…” he murmurs to himself.

 “Who’s Cami?” Caroline asks curiously. It’s the first she’s heard mention of the name.

 He glances up suddenly, face slack. “Just a girl I once knew.” His lips press together tightly. “You would have liked her.”

 Then he says no more.

 ***

 They go to a ball in eighteenth century France, and Caroline dances with a prince who takes out to a balcony in Versailles and kisses her below the round full moon.

 When she returns to the TARDIS, the Doctor watches her with dark eyes. “Enjoy your time with the prince?” he asks, voice tight.

 “Yes,” Caroline replies wistfully, sighing. She doesn’t notice how his jaw tightens. “He was wonderful. Handsome. A real gentleman.” Smiling, she twirls, the blue skirts of her ballgown flaring out wide, still caught up in the romance and the magic of her evening. “Every girl just wants to be told they are beautiful by a prince.” Her smile turns giddy, her eyes widening with excitement. “An actual prince!”

 “What,” the Doctor drawls, cocking his eyebrows. “A dashing time-traveller who takes you away in his TARDIS not enough for you?” He reaches over to flip a few switches on the TARDIS console.

 Turning to focus her gaze on the Doctor, Caroline giggles, still euphoric. “You didn’t take me dancing,” she teases him, toeing off her elaborate, old-fashioned heels before leaning down to pick them up, dangling them by her side. “Besides, I don’t even think you can dance.”

 The Doctor rolls his eyes. “Have you ever bothered asking, love?” He takes a step forward, squaring his shoulders. “I’ll have you know that I can dance better than that prince of yours,” he muses. “One face of mine even won an intergalactic dance competition in the fifty-second century.”

 Biting her lip, Caroline doesn’t bother asking about his face comment. The Doctor will often do that, often say odd things about his past like they’re common fact but never elaborate on them. Instead, she grins toothily. “I’m sure you did.”

 “We’re still talking about sex, right?”

 Caroline blinks slowly. She wasn’t expecting that. “Well, that’s not what the prince and I did, but sure.”

 The Doctor chuckles, turning his face upwards. Under the TARDIS lights, with his eyes twinkling with amusement and his lips stretched into a wide smile, he looks incredibly handsome, all the years and shadows stripped away from his face.

 Caroline finds her mouth suddenly dry, and she’s forced to look again. Sometimes she can’t stand next to the Doctor, not when her skin prickles and every hair on her body stands on edge. His pure presence burns as bright as time itself.

 In all the time Caroline’s been travelling with him, he’s made countless implications about being older than he looks, and not for the first time, she wonders how old he is, how many people - human and otherwise - he’s met and seen die, loved and lost. How many Camis there’d been for him.

 She wonders if he’ll ever tell her about Cami, how he met her, what happened to her. Why he was travelling alone when Caroline met him. She’s under no allusions that she was the first companion he ever travelled with like this. She wonders how many of the same places he’s taken her that he took the others.

 “You alright?” the Doctor asks abruptly, and Caroline tears her gaze away, blushing fiercely as she ducks her head to look at one of the coral structures that line the TARDIS.

 “Never better,” she says, twirling again, bare feet padding against the metal floor. She ignores her growing desire to step towards the Doctor and kiss him.

 I could love him, she thinks. I could love him in a way I never have loved anyone before. Not Matt, not Tyler, not even her own parents.

 ***

 He takes her to the beginning of the universe.

 They float through the empty blackness in the TARDIS, doors pushed open wide as Caroline and the Doctor cling to either side of the entrance. With wide eyes and legs as weak as a lamb, Caroline watches as sudden light blooms across the darkness.

 It’s bright and beautiful, the flare of many colors, too brilliant and flashing for any single shade to be identified. Caroline feels trails of wetness down her cheeks before she realizes that she’s crying silently.

 “Is everything alright?” the Doctor asks, reaching his hand out for her. He gently traces fingers over her jaw, cheeks, and temples, brushing a thumb over her lips and wiping away tears. His touch is tender and delicate.

 “Yeah,” she gasps, all high-pitched and breathy. “It’s so beautiful. I didn’t expect it to be so beautiful.” She sighs. “I didn’t even expect to be able to see it.”

 “We shouldn’t be able to,” the Doctor confesses. “Time is a tangled, complex thing, but we’re lucky today. The TARDIS was actually allowed us to come out here.” He smiles. “She’s taken a liking to you.”

 The idea of a sentient ship taking a liking to Caroline used to be a strange concept, something ludicrous, but instead, it warms her heart. She glances down, blushing, and she brushes hair out of her eyes.

 Clinging to the edge of the TARDIS entrance, the Doctor extends his reach, careful to keep his grip on the wood. If he lets go, he’ll float off into the newly-created universe and certain death. Instead, he slowly tilts Caroline’s chin and leans down, pressing his lips to hers.

 In that moment of their kiss, when it’s just the two of them and space, Caroline’s heart beats slowly, steadily.

 Outside the TARDIS, the universe is birthed.

[ask-glados]

GLaDOS Liveplay [Part 2]

Something I forgot to mention in the last part is that in The Final Hours of Portal 2 eBook on Steam, the developers said that the reason behind the 50,000 year time skip was because they wanted to separate Portal 2 from the events of the Half Life universe. I personally think connecting the two universes could be pretty epic, so I don't understand why they're so against it. 

Here’s the quotes from the eBook:

So, apparently they have giant laser beam generators somewhere and they just portal those lasers over to each test chamber, for some reason. That's Aperture for ya, lol.

This test chamber is actually another one from Portal 1. When you walk in, GLaDOS moves the old High Energy Pellet Launcher out of the room and replaces it with a Thermal Discouragement Beam (a laser). She replaces the receptacle too.

[from Portal 1]

GLaDOS gets her first dose of that solution euphoria as you solve the first test, and she suddenly sounds more laid back. She tells you to pace yourself because she needs to keep you busy while she fixes up the facility and figures out how to replace you with less dangerous test subjects. She doesn't want to keep you around too long because you might try to escape the testing track and kill her again.

She definitely sounds more relaxed now, her initial rage wearing off as she becomes more comfortable in running the facility and being in control again. Also, apparently she was planning to replace the High Energy Pellets with Lasers back in Portal 1.

GLaDOS is still trying to corral all these panels back into line. They even appear to have little hints of personality to them, some of them spinning around playfully, and they all have round circular lights that seem to indicate an AI core. In fact, a lot of things around Aperture seem to have AI cores. It's even mentioned by GLaDOS in CO-OP that she made Atlas and P-Body out of cores she took out of scientific calculators, so apparently Aperture just puts AI cores in everything. I'll point some of them out as we go along. It'll be like a game of 'spot the AI core'!

This also ties into another thing I wanna comment on. I’ve seen people theorize about the panels and other things in the facility being like a part of GLaDOS’s body that she can feel through, and I disagree. Throughout several chambers, you can see these panels goofing off and acting as if they have a mind of their own. I think it’s only her chassis that acts as her body, and while she IS hooked up to the rest of the facility through wires, I don’t think stuff like panels being broken actually ‘hurts’ her. Let me put it this way: Her body is her chassis, and all the things in the facility connected to her chassis are like tools she’s holding. It’s like a million arms she has spread out across the facility, holding tools. So if you break one of those tools, it doesn’t hurt her, it’s just taking that tool away from her or ripping it out of her hands.

Now, she's moved past telling you how much you made her suffer and trying to make you feel sorry for her, and has moved on to try taking hits at your self-esteem and trying to make you feel guilty for it.

This elevator room looks much better since GLaDOS is fixing up the facility. There's less broken screens and you can see a much clearer view of their weird portaling laser thing, lol.

GLaDOS fixes up another test chamber just as you walk into it. She can barely keep up with you with how fast you're solving them.

And naturally, she takes another shot at your self-esteem. She doesn't actually think you are fat, she's just trying to get under your skin and upset you, because she knows that ‘weight variances’ can upset humans. She even says so in CO-OP:

"Did you know humans frown on weight variances? If you want to upset a human, just say their weight variance is above or below the norm."

She actually has protocols on how to mess with test subjects psychologically that involve taking shots at their self esteem to keep them compliant. Notice she is following the protocols listed for "orphans" when it comes to Chell. 

"Shame-based psychology." "Opportune moments to obliterate [self-]esteem." "Scorn [and] flattery used in an ironic context and naked contempt." “You’d perform this test better if you had parents.”

This is from an interactive website ApertureScience[.]com that was run by the developers before Portal 2's release. [ half-life.fandom[.]com/wiki/ApertureScience[.]com ]

She can still barely keep up with you since she's multitasking — trying to rebuild herself and the facility, as well as keep you at bay in test chambers. Once again, she tells you to slow down.

Another attempt to taunt you and lower your self-esteem.

She's still barely keeping up with you to clear your path in time and have the chambers ready.

Now she's just being petty and trying to make you feel discouraged and depressed.

Once again, she's trying to guilt-trip you by saying how she has to do all the work around here while you get to have fun with the test chambers. This is always something she's bitter about — how she does all this work and no one gives her any credit for it. Obviously, it's because she terrorizes people, but she doesn't realize that. She thinks she should be treated with intense respect, regardless.

An interesting thing to mention about the "wing of glass" she mentions here is that there is actually a deleted Cave Johnson line where he mentions building a wing of glass.

"Now, the lab boys were adamant that I do not give you any hints on these tests. To be honest, they think I'm spoiling the results just by talking to you. Hizenstein Uncertainty Principles and so forth. I’ll give ‘em something more practical to be uncertain about: their next paycheck. Anyway, overruled. If you think I'm affecting your decisions, in any way, don’t be afraid to speak up. I’m not made of glass. That reminds me: Caroline, do we have a wing made out of glass yet? Let's get on that, Caroline."

I think that makes it that much more hilarious that Caroline is now here in AI form, cleaning up his mess years later. XD

[ tcrf[.]net/Portal_2_(Windows,_Mac_OS_X,_Linux)/Unused_Lines ]

She's still trying to keep up with you and move the panels out of your way in time. She's slowly but surely catching up.

She's still taking shots at your self-esteem, and she couldn’t even bear to be subtle about it, so she literally explains the insult just to make sure you got the metaphor.

And she’s still trying to make you feel guilty for killing her.

The Companion Cubes were created to test how test subjects could gain an emotional attachment to an inanimate object. At the end of the Companion Cube chamber in the first Portal, you were forced to "betray" your inanimate "friend" by incinerating it. So, here GLaDOS tries to get under your skin by destroying the cube multiple times and calling it worthless, implying that you don't deserve friends and that any friendship you thought you had in any Companion Cube is worthless.

Also, a neat little detail: if you listen closely, the Companion Cube plays the tune of "Cara Mia."

She's still having trouble fixing up the facility, but she's getting there. She's been working on fixing the nuclear reactor core, which was nearing meltdown back at the beginning of the game, as mentioned by the Announcer in the Relaxation Center. The reactor core splits atoms to boil water into steam, and that steam turns the turbines, which are what power the generator to create electricity, which is why you see the lights flicker when the turbines start giving her trouble. The turbine's fan blades are likely heavily corroded, rusted, or gunked up after all this time, so she has to leave to attend to that. She manages to find a quick way to taunt you by pretending to give you a sped-up hint that she knows is beyond a human's hearing comprehension — just another way to flaunt her superiority as a supercomputer to you.

What she actually says is a quote from the very first paragraph of Moby Dick:

"And methodically knocking people's hats off. Then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can."

This could be a subtle fat joke because whale = fat. But Moby Dick is also a tale about a man's obsession with revenge against a whale who bit off his leg, and GLaDOS is clearly obsessed with revenge, so I wouldn't be surprised if this was a favorite book of hers that she decided to quote from. Also, if you look at the context of this line in the paragraph it comes from, it's talking about this guy saying that when he gets angry enough to "knock people's hats off," he knows he has to get to sea and hunt that whale to vent that rage.

GLaDOS isn't there to comment when you beat this test because she's busy fixing the turbines, which ends Chapter 2, and also Part 2 of this Liveplay! I really hope you're enjoying it! :D

[buffyfan145]

Younger 6/16

Fandom: Victoria, Vicbourne

Rating: T

Summary: A “Victoria” AU of the TV series “Younger”. Victoria Kent is a 26-year-old New Yorker who gets a job at a publishing company where William Lamb is the CEO. William’s wife has left him and he’s raising his two young kids on his own. Even though Victoria has a boyfriend the two are drawn together and start to form a close bond as she brings out the man he used to be. What choices will they make, especially when William’s wife comes back with the book she wrote all about her marriage? Full description here.

Author’s Note: This chapter is based off one of my favorite episodes of "Younger" with the trip to the Hamptons!!! :D Breaking it into two chapters but pretty much everything that happened in that episode works so perfectly for this fic. Also, little joke about Rufus too included. LOL ;)

Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,

Chapter 6

"You feeling ok?" Nancy asked as she stood outside their office building holding her rollaway suitcase.

Victoria nodded though she was sad.  "Albert and I got into a huge fight."

"Oh no, what happened?" Nancy asked.

It seemed out of nowhere but while watching TV Albert had suddenly got into a conversation about starting a family.  He talked about kids and he wanted multiple.  This was the perfect family he built up in his head as his own parents' marriage had crumbled when he was a kid.  The only problem was Victoria didn't want this, at least not yet.

She did think about having kids someday but that still seemed so far off in the future.  At twenty-six she felt like her career was just starting.  This new venture with Millennial and Nancy was so exciting and she loved work.  Plus, pregnancy still freaked her out.  Maybe one day they'd be ready for it but it wasn't now.

Albert didn't seem to get that and got so upset.  Victoria couldn't figure out why but he had also said something about her putting work first and pulling away from him. Then he just stormed out and wasn't answering her texts or calls.

"That's crazy."  Nancy said.  "Maybe you two just need a break and things will smooth over."

"Hopefully."  Victoria said and she was looking forward even more to this trip to the Hamptons for the summer book festival.  It was their first big showing for Millennial and William had got them into a fancy hotel and was picking them up himself as he was coming along. The kids were at his mother's and it was the first time since Caroline left he'd be away from them for the weekend.

The car showed up and William got out to put their suitcases in the trunk.  It actually threw Victoria to see him so casually dressed in a light, white short sleeved polo shirt, khaki shorts, and sunglasses.  She could see his muscular legs, arms, and neck and felt butterflies in her stomach.  It'd been so long since she felt that.

Nancy got in the back and was glued to her phone, as William opened the front passenger door for Victoria.  "Thank you."

"You're welcome.  Would've done that for Nancy too if she waited."  They both laughed at that.

Settling into his car he told Victoria she could pick the music station.  Scanning it she left it on some 80s music.  She started singing along to Toto's "Africa" and saw Nancy bob her head along.  William looked over at her and laughed.  "What?"  Victoria asked.

"I'm just surprised you know the words."  William said.

"Why?"  Victoria said confused.  "A lot of us Millennials love 80s music."

"Yeah," Nancy added, "my parents raised me on this."

"For me it was my older siblings."  Victoria said.  "I have a 40-year-old brother and a sister who's 38 from my mom's first marriage and lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins."

"Plus, don't forget 80s stuff is all the rage right now with TV shows, movies, books, and fashion."  Nancy pointed out.

William laughed again.  "I stand corrected.  It is so different when you lived through it.  My dad hated me wearing eyeliner and listening to David Bowie."

"Wait, what?"  Nancy said shocked as Victoria said stunned, "You wore eyeliner?"

"There's a lot about me you two don't know."  William said mischievously and made the girls mad when he wouldn't say more.

They arrived at the hotel and then got to their rooms.  William also gave them their credentials for the events.  The rest of the day was spent talking to authors, other publishers, agents, and readers.  Victoria felt exhausted and after dinner Nancy left to go to a party.  William then looked over at her at the table.  "Do you want to go for a walk?"

She didn't expect that but agreed.  William led her to the beach and it looked gorgeous at sunset.  There was a light breeze that tossed her dress and hair as she walked barefoot on the sand next to him holding her sandals in one hand.

"Are you alright Victoria?"  He asked after a few moments.  "You seem somewhat distant."

She was surprised he could read her like that.  Planning to say she was fine she surprised herself by telling him the truth.

"I'm sorry."  He replied softly and she felt him take her hand with his.  "You deserve better."

"Thank you."  She replied and kept her hand in his as it felt good.  Wanting to change the subject she said, "I still can't believe you have a house here and are staying in a hotel instead."

"Yeah, well, I needed a break as there's too many memories."  He took his hand away and Victoria felt sad at the loss of contact.  "But I do have many good ones too.  I used to have a summer job at that restaurant there."  He pointed to the place that had live music going.

"I can't picture you as a teenager."  She said amazed and also teasingly.

"Just think of how I look now but a bit shorter with August's hair."  That comment made her laugh.  It also made her realize she would've had such a huge crush on him then, as she did now.  He took her hand again.  "Let's check out the music they're playing."

"Ok," she agreed and once her sandals were back on let him lead her inside.  When they got there the band was playing a wide variety of 80s covers.  "More 80s music!"  Victoria said happily.

"Must be the theme for tonight."  He joked and then they got a table as he ordered drinks and some food.

They ate, drank, and sang along to so many songs.  She could tell he was staring at her, especially as she sang along to the cover of The Outfield's "Your Love", and she had to admit she liked him watching her.  Then the next song came on and the band was performing Berlin's "Take my Breath Away".  Victoria loved this song and it was so romantic.  She would love to dance to this.

William surprised her again by standing and holding out his hand.  "I know you want to."

She smiled and stood taking his hand.  He then led her to the dance floor, placing one arm around her waist while she put one hand on his shoulder and joined together their free hands.  Pulling her closer she looked up into his eyes and realized how wonderful it felt dancing with him.  Their eyes locked and they watched each other as the song's lyrics took over.

"Through the hourglass I saw you, in time you slipped away.  When a mirror crashed I called you, and turned to hear you say, 'If only for today, I am unafraid.' Take my breath away."

The next thing she knew he had leaned down and their lips met.  It was a slow kiss at first but then quickly became more passionate as the song came to a close.  Victoria couldn't even describe how good or how right it felt, but kissing William was more than she expected.  It felt like their magnetism was bringing them together to this.  This was supposed to happen. She was supposed to be in his arms and they were supposed to kiss.  She wanted this and didn't even realize how much till now.

They pulled apart after the song ended to catch their breaths.  One of his hands was on her back and the other in her hair and hers rested on his shoulders.  She looked into his eyes and saw his desire for her and knew he wanted this too.  "Come back to my room."  She ordered boldly, surprising herself.

He too looked surprised but said, "Ok."   

[carolightpenvenys]

doctors a penvenys au chapter 8

I am so sad I missed AU day of fic week! I was working! But this would’ve been my contribution! Enjoy and don’t forget to leave feedback x

Mondays were always the worst for Dr Enys.

Especially since he’d had the weekend off. But today was a Monday like no other.

Well at least it was until around midday where he was opening his Kinder Bueno and there was a knock at his door.

“Come in.” He said through a mouthful, not even bothering to sit up.

The door creaked open but Dwight didn’t even turn round, he was midway through paperwork.

“Ah, Dr Enys.” The voice he heard made his eyes instantly roll back into his head, before he slowly turned his chair round with a shit eating grin.

“George Warleggan. How can I help?” There was just something about the hospital’s regional manager and local council member that made his skin crawl. But he’d never show it. Dwight was a professional.

“Bad news I’m afraid.” He said this with an almost glee and Dwight reminded himself why he would vote for the many, not the few next election. “It’s that time of year.”

“What time?”

“Cuts time.” George winced but in such a way that it seemed mocking. “So I’m just coming around to tell you all that you’re under observation.”

Dwight smiled politely. “That’s good of you George. Not sure we need cuts though, we have been struggling recently for staff.”

“But there’s just not enough money.” George shrugged casually. “My hands are tied.”

Dwight’s passive aggressive brain was on full power. Really? That’s funny considering I know for the fact your wages bought you a manor house and a holiday home in Barbados whilst the staff at this hospital are striking every two weeks because our wages can’t even afford to get people out of food banks.

But ok.

“Oh right.” Was what came out. “Thanks for letting me know. I’ll be on my best behaviour.” He smiled through gritted teeth and waved George out of the office, who was almost strutting as he left.

“What an arsehole.” He said to himself as he turned back around, professional as ever.

He looked at the time. It was coming up to half past twelve and he thought to take his lunch break officially, maybe snooping around the hospital for Caroline Penvenen.

Not that he would ever admit that but i freely will.

It was about a ten minute walk to the physiotherapy wing but Dwight made it last fifteen by kicking a vending machine until a seven up came out. He had taken his white coat off otherwise people would think he was on duty and make him do work, but he loosened his tie a little.

It was lunch time after all.

He  shoved the door to the wing open after crossing a road outside. He’d just go for a walk, a walk around the building, have a little snoop around and then go back to his office. Yeah.

He looked through the first window but it was a full on hospital room with a body inside sleeping. The body was also a 70 year old man.

He walked along the corridor and it was just more of the same. He felt very lost in this particular area of the hospital, slightly befuddled.

He threw his seven up in a perfect shot towards the bin.

Or so he would have you think.

I can tell you for sure it bounced off the rim and onto the floor and he had to humbly pick it up, rubbing the back of his neck slightly.

He continued to trudge up to the upper floor, telling himself if he saw nothing of interest here, he would just give up and go eat his sandwich alone with some milky tea.

Just then he came across a small window in a door and he manically found a way to stand by it without the people inside seeing.

Because inside was, in his opinion, the best physiotherapist and Ross’s ex girlfriend Elizabeth Chynoweth and her patient- Caroline Penvenen.

“Sorry I’m late!” Caroline was sat in the wheelchair with a kind of comfort that Dwight hadn’t encountered in their park adventure the other day which begged the question, did he make her feel uncomfortable. “Sarah needed her nappy changing. When it’s just me and her you can assume I will be a lot later!”

“It’s alright for today Caroline.” Elizabeth smiled warmly. You need a lot of patience to be a physio, you know. “But you need to be signed off from physio before you get Sarah full time.”

He saw Caroline’s smile falter, even from a distance as if this was new information. “Well that just makes me more determined.” She replied and Dwight couldn’t help but appreciate her strength. “Plus there’s a guy I really like and I want to be able to get my strut  on when I ask him out.”

Dwight’s heart dropped. Not two days ago had she told him that they should just be friends but now she had already moved on to another? Dwight knew he shouldn’t have come, he knew this was an invasion of privacy but he couldn’t stay away.

Elizabeth stood away from her computer and held up her hand to help Caroline up. “Ok Caroline.” She laughed. “Are you ready to go for the bars?”

“Of course.” Caroline smiled.

But Dwight was in no way ready for what was to come.

She gripped the bars with a firm unsteadiness and it looked to be an absolute effort. Her brain was working a mile a minute but she just couldn’t get her legs to do the same.

“Caroline.” Elizabeth was at the other end of the bars, leaning down to look at her. “Slow down.”

But Caroline persisted. “No. I have to get better, you don’t understand.”

“You’re not going to get better straight away!” Elizabeth persisted, approaching the bars to try and get her to slow down. “Walk slower, it’s a process.”

But Caroline was in the zone. What Dwight liked to call a negative zone. A zone where you put your physical health at risk for personal gain.

And that, readers, is when she fell.

She collapsed onto the floor, her legs crumbling and Dwight could only imagine the pain from her burns on top of this.

She howled. She howled so loud as Elizabeth came to her side and hoisted her back into the wheelchair, trying to sedate her with calming words.

“Hey.” Elizabeth smiled. “Not to worry, you’ve just got yourself into a tizz. It happens to all of us.”

Dwight stepped away from the door, ashamed to have walked in on a private moment. He shook his head and continued down the corridor, acknowledging other doctors walking the other way. He found a hot drinks machine and made the milkiest tea he’d ever seen but spent a good twenty minutes sat back down on the lower floor just staring at it. His lunch was nearly over and he may as well just trudge back to his office with a new fear instilled in his heart. He may as well-

“Doctor Dwight Enys?” Wow. Maybe this was the worst day of his life as he looked into the questioning eyes of Elizabeth.

“Dr Chynoweth.” He stumbled a little on his words. “It's been a while. I haven't seen you since-”

“Since Ross and I broke up?” Dwight’s face paled but she just laughed. “Come, have lunch with me. You look very depressing.”

Dwight mutely followed her into her office upstairs but his mind was elsewhere. He had so many unresolved questions as he popped his lunchbox (yes he owned a lunchbox) onto the table.

He sat opposite Elizabeth in her patient’s chair and stared at some of the equipment, fallen onto the floor. “Tough patient?” He asked.

“Ah, a doctor’s work is confidential.” But she was smiling. “But yes. Unintentionally difficult.”

Dwight knew that he shouldn't probe, especially when he knew it was Caroline and he knew that she wouldn't want this but, “How so?”

Curiosity got the better of him.

“It's really not her fault.” Elizabeth sighed.“She’s just in a completely different reality to everyone else.” “I don’t think I follow.” Dwight sipped his drink. “Who are you talking about?”

He really hated himself now. This was completely against everything they taught him at doctor school. Medical school. The medical book of ethics.

“Caroline Penvenen.” Elizabeth stated, matter-of-factly. “I’m only telling you because you’re not one of her listed doctors, so you probably don’t know her.”

Haha.

“I know of her.” Dwight smiled wryly. “I heard she’s something pretty special.”

“Don’t get me wrong, she’s lovely.” Elizabeth held her hand out to emphasise her point. “But I’m a pretty experienced therapist, as you well know. And it’s quite often in therapy that people just expect things to get better straight away.” She sighed. “But it’s called therapy for a reason you know? She’s talking about getting custody of her kid back really soon.” Elizabeth shook her head. “But she has some intensive physical and mental counselling to even get a hearing. My cousin is her social worker and says the child is already living in less than ideal circumstances with the godmother, but it’s the best they can do without putting the baby into care. Sad really.”

“Yeah.” Dwight’s mouth was dry. “So sad.”

This situation was more serious than he expected and he really hoped Caroline wasn’t putting herself at risk for this new guy she liked.

“Sorry. It seems I just emotionally unloaded on you.” Elizabeth laughed. 

“It’s fine, it’s just been a rough morning, cuts and all.” 

“Yeah I heard.” Elizabeth winced. “They’re naming physio as non essential so they can make cuts.”

Dwight decided it was best to go on an anti capitalist rant, but if you want to hear it, ask your humble narrator. It was long and boring but Elizabeth just nodded and nodded.

Until they were rudely interrupted by a knock on the door.

“Come in!” One could say Elizabeth was grateful for this interruption but her face drained of colour when she saw who it was.

It was George Warleggan no less, with his Porsche carkeys in hand. “Do you need a lift home today Elizabeth?” He acknowledged Dwight. “Dr Enys.”

“George.” Dwight lacked any understanding.

“I will be quite alright George.” Elizabeth smiled awkwardly. “I will see you at home.” 

Dwight’s eyes widened and George winked (I know) before shutting the door.

Dwight turned back to Elizabeth. “Elizabeth...”

 Elizabeth looked mildly angry and looked at her computer. “Says here, your lunch finished five minutes ago. I will see you Dwight. Goodbye.”

“I better be going then.” Dwight smiled awkwardly but knew whilst he was in the rehab area of the hospital, he had one more stop to make.

His walking was a little shuffly and weighed down with thoughts, thoughts of how he had been so selfish, he’d not even thought of how Caroline might be recovering. Also thoughts of Elizabeth and George Warleggan? Hopefully it wasn’t what it looked like.

He opened the door to the psychological rehabilitation building. He would just make sure Caroline had booked an appointment. That’s all. That’s all he’d do.

“Hi.” He addressed the receptionist. “I was just making sure my patient had booked an appointment here. I wasn’t sure that she would.” He showed her his ID and hoped to God she wouldn’t check he wasn’t one of Caroline’s listed doctors.

“Patient name?” She asked.

“Um.” Dwight stuttered. “Caroline Penvenen.”

She typed vigorously into the keyboard before smiling. “She’s booked in for next Tuesday.”

For some reason, this answer didn’t satisfy him. “Could I give some papers to her doctor?”

He felt like a twat because he literally had no paper, he was just going for a snoop. He was pretty sure the receptionist knew this. However, he noticed his medical bag hung over his shoulder which, for all she knew contained paper; Thank God.

“Sure, he’s free. Upstairs first door on the right.” He realised as he walked towards the elevator, he didn’t even know the doctor’s name. Regardless he stepped out onto the first floor and knocked on the door of this psychiatrist.

A Dr Sam Carne.

“Come in!” A highly accented voice called from inside and Dwight stepped in to see a man almost too young to be a doctor (remember you have to go to school for seven years).

“Hi.” Dwight waved awkwardly. Kill me.

Dr Sam Carne looked him straight in the eye and said. “How may I save your soul today?”

“Oh no.” Dwight’s eyes widened. “I’m a doctor.”

“I know I got the alert.” Dr Carne looked at his computer, running a hand through his hair. “But I feel your soul must still need saving.” He furrowed his eyebrows. “See, ye is not on Miss Penvenen’s list of doctors… Which begs the question.” He looked intensely at Dwight. “What is ye doing here?”

Dwight was taken aback. This was by far the most perceptive member of staff he’d encountered so far. “Do you know what? I’m just gonna g-”

“Wait.” Dr Carne’s went wide. “I knows ye. You’re a friend a my sister’s. Demelza Carne.”

So Demelza had never spoken of any brothers ever. For all Dwight knew she could have seven. “Yeah I guess.” He realised now that both Demelza and Sam had different levels of the same accent and shared many features in common.

“Everything is lining up for me.” He shook his head. “She was ‘avin a right go about ye other day on the sibling group chat. She say ye’s obsessed with a girl- it must be Caroline Penvenen.”

Dwight just stood there like a deer in headlights, not even trying to defend himself.

“Well I have some advice for ye- don’t do it. Once upon a long time ago, I did feel like ye- fell in love with a patient I did and I nearly got fired. ‘Twas horrible and she left me because she doesn’t love Jesus like I do.”

“I don’t blame her.” Dwight said under his breath as he stared at the crucifixes on every wall. “Thanks for the advice, I guess.”

“Now scram outta here before I tell Demelza ye came.” He got up from his desk and ushered Dwight out. “Just don’t do it, alright?”

Dwight just smiled weakly. He seemed to do that a lot recently. But just as he thought his day couldn’t get any worse, he turned around to George Warleggan already waiting.

“Don’t do what?”

[dragon-moms]

Entry 144 - Gloria

Today we found the Whites.

After being woken up by Ivana and Baroness having some kind of fight, and Merry and Myrmidon being off doing who the fuck knows what, we finally got to work on finishing breaking down our camp. I already felt exhausted before we’d even began.

“Sure we have everything?” I asked as I hefted my load onto my back.

“I think so…” Merry said. “I can’t think of anything else we’re missing…”

“I think we’re fine, Mommy,” Flare said. “And we can always come back up if we forget something.”

I nodded. “Okay, let’s go, then.”

Our group headed to the entrance, where Caroline and Juliet were waiting.

“A bit late for you all to be awake,” I said as we landed.

“Merry and Myrmidon said you were leaving, so we wanted to say goodbye,” Caroline said.

“Something like that,” Juliet said.

“That’s so sweet of you!” Merry said, coming up beside me. “Thank you both!”

“Yes, we do very much appreciate it,” Myrmidon said.

“Just be careful down there, whatever you’re doing,” Juliet said.

“And come back sometime,” Caroline said.

“We will if it’d be safe,” Gloria said. “Promise.”

“I’m going to sing now, Mommy!” Flare called.

“Alright, we’re going,” Gloria said.

Merry and Myrmidon gave the farmers hugs. I wondered what had happened there. Baroness gave them a little nod. Ivana, thankfully, ignored them.

And then the entrance opened, and we went in.

“Wow, this passage is really long,” Merry said as we kept walking, obviously trying to cover being tired. She was carrying more than she probably had to, but she insisted.

“Do you need to take a break, Mom?” Philly asked from her shoulder.

“No, no, I’m fine… just… it’s really long, you know?” Merry said.

“Let’s take a break,” I said.

“I’m sorry,” Merry said, looking sad.

“No, it’s fine,” I promised, sitting down.

“How about Nobody and I go ahead, Mommy? We can start clearing more structures!” Flare asked.

“Not a bad plan, I guess,” Ivana said.

“Sure,” I said. “Just be sure to listen to Miss Nobody while you’re down there, terror.”

“Okay!” Flare said, grinning. They went on ahead. Baroness sat far back. She was always perhaps a little too worried about our safety around her, but I guess that’s a good thing overall. Merry and Myrmidon sat closer to me, and Merry was clearly catching her breath.

“Just a long passage…” she said. “Sorry…”

“Seriously, my sweetest, it is alright,” Myrmidon said.

I nodded in agreement. “We’re carrying a lot of stuff. You should split some of the rest of that between me, Baroness, and Myrmidon.”

“I can transport additional weight,” Baroness said. “I can carry anything that does not break the structural integrity of my bones as enhanced by my aura, which should give me a maximum....”

“Nonsense, my lady, I can handle it,” Myrmidon said, cutting Baroness off with an apologetic smile. “It would be my pleasure.”

Merry just looked really embarrassed.

“It’s not worth arguing about, and it’s up to you, Merry,” I said.

“Okay…” Merry said.

I reached over and patted her on the head. “We’re all happy you’re wanting to do your part, but none of us want you to get hurt. Okay?”

“R-right…” Merry said.

Philly gave me a look I interpreted as “maybe we should talk about this later” from Merry’s shoulder, and there was a moment of awkward silence.

“Ah, perhaps we should go over the plan once we reach the White territory?” Myrmidon asked.

I nodded, glad they broke the silence. “Miss Nobody has been marking the structures near the entrance stairs she’s checked to make sure they’re safe by putting pins in the ground in front of them. Basically, you all should pick whatever ones you need and start setting up camp,” I said. “Pretty sure Miss Nobody said there was one structure she cleared that had cooking stuff in it, so maybe you should set up there, Merry.”

“Oh, yeah! That sounds good!” Merry said.

“We also found a structure that seemed to be used to sell potions, so maybe that would work for you, Baroness,” I said.

She nodded. “Perhaps…”

We chit-chatted for a while longer. Myrmidon unloaded some things from Merry’s bag while she argued with them once more before giving in, and then we were off, walking once more.

We eventually reached the door, and I admit to having a bit of thrill getting to throw it open and show everyone. But while they were gawking, I saw Flare flying quickly towards me, having risen from somewhere between all the structures.

“Mommy!” he called from a distance. “Come quick!”

“Is everyone okay?” I called back.

“Yes, but… just, come on!” Flare said, motioning towards him.

“Go on ahead, Gloria, we shall begin setting up below. The cleared buildings are by the stairs, yes?” Myrmidon said.

I nodded. “Thanks.” I took off and flew to Flare. “What is it, terror?”

“Bodies!” Flare said as he headed towards a structure below.

“Bodies?” I asked, following.

“Well, skeletons and stuff! The dragons who lived here!” he said.

I followed Flare to what looked like some kind of social space. There was an artificial pond in the center of a cluster of structures, with a statue in the middle of the pond that looked like a tree or some other kind of plant carved out of stone.

“Nobody wanted to sleep in a normal place, right, so she thought we’d clear some structures that looked more like that, but when we came in…” Flare said, landing and heading into a structure.

I poked my head into an uncomfortable sight.

What I saw looked like a normal living chamber. There was a bookshelf, a table, and various other obvious personal items. The walls were painted in little designs that made it look like underwater plants. But leaning on the table, over what looked like a book, was a skeleton.

“What the fuck,” I said, looking at it. “This isn’t right…” I’d seen people killed. This just looked like the dragon, a Blue, from the looks of the fin bones even I could recognize, had just slumped over while reading. There was a candlestick nearby, with the candle burnt all the way down.

“Yeah…” Flare said. “I said some prayers and things to Progress already, though maybe it’s a bit late for that.”

“I guess sometimes people do just die of old age like that. Body just gives out,” I said.

“Yeah, well…” Flare said, and pointed to a passage.

I followed his claw and entered a sleeping chamber. There, in the bedding, was another skeleton, looking like they were sleeping.

“Something bad happened,” Flare said as I took it in.

“Poison?” I guessed, unsure. “It would take a lot of poison.”

“The real important thing is up the stairs,” Flare said.

We headed up into another chamber.

It was filled with tables, and on those tables were small chambers themselves. Two sleeping chambers. A living chamber.

And in the sleeping chambers were three strange skeletons that Ivana was very carefully trying to inspect.

“Did you figure out what they are yet?” Flare asked.

“It’s weird. They’re not normal skeletons,” Ivana said. “They don’t make sense unless all this bone was on the outside… but it’s not like this is my area of study…”

I looked down on the single skeleton in the sleeping chamber Ivana wasn’t looking at. It was a strange shell of… something. There were holes. The inside was hollow. I could see where there should be eyes. They had what looked like six legs. “They’re human-sized…” I mumbled.

“Bigger than that, Mommy,” Flare said. “Like, still small, but they’d be a giant back in human lands. Wouldn’t be able to fit in a lot of the little structures they have in Forward.”

We stood there in silence for a while.

“Well, there you go,” Ivana finally said, standing from where she had been sitting next to the sleeping chamber.

“What?” I asked.

“You wanted me to find White dragons, and I found them,” Ivana said.

“These things can’t be…” I started to say, but stopped myself. I didn’t have any other explanation. “If they’re a dragon, why are they so small?”

“Fuck if I know,” Ivana said. “But that’s what we have to be dealing with, right?”

Flare nodded. “Let’s check some more of these, right?”

“...yeah,” I said.

We checked all the structures around the little pond. It was a similar scene in each. Dragons, and these strange new creatures, seemingly dead in their sleep or while doing normal things. Though they were mostly Blues, we found dragon skeletons of every lineage among the structures, too, which really upset Ivana.

“What have I missed that makes this possible?” Ivana asked as we sat outside, near the pond. “They should have disappeared during the second Queen’s reign, but even after unification there’s no fucking way the lineages spread that far this fast. They were still basically completely separate, and we’re so fucking far away from Cerulia…”

“I have no idea,” I said. “But it’s obviously the case.”

“Fuck,” Ivana said.

“Uh, hey, look,” Flare said. He was staring at the statue of the tree. “They’re there.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Ivana asked.

But I could see it too.

In the trees, among the branches. Hard to spot unless you were looking for them. But creatures were carved into the statue, standing there. They had multiple, slim wings and huge eyes. They stood on their bottom set of legs like a human, and held onto things with the other two.

“White dragons,” Flare said, turning to me.

I nodded.

“Yeah…” I said.

Ivana flew in for a closer look, mumbling obscenities.

As we flew back to the entrance, where everyone else should be setting up, I said, “Let’s save this for tomorrow. Everyone is tired and this is going to be… a lot for everyone to process.” I was mostly thinking of Merry, but to be honest, I don’t even feel like I completely get it. The world had changed in some way and I had no way of really understanding what that meant.

I guess changed is the wrong word. I just never knew about this.

“You can’t just hide this shit,” Ivana said. “Those corpses are going to be everywhere, if they’re there. This place used to be lived in. They’re going to bump into one sooner or later.”

“I’m just saying having a meeting over breakfast,” I said. “That’s all.”

“It’ll be hard not to tell them,” Flare said. “It’s so super neato! A whole different kind of dragon, you know?”

“If that is what it is,” I said.

“Gloria, come on, what the fuck else could it be? Seriously,” Ivana said.

I just took a breath.

“But yeah, Mommy, you seem tired, so tomorrow,” Flare said.

“Yeah,” I said.

“Fine,” Ivana said, annoyed.

Everyone could tell the three of us were nervous when we got back, but even Ivana kept her mouth shut. Merry and Myrmidon had set up a structure for me, the one that had all the ledgers Ivana had been reading. But they’d put me in a back chamber, and Ivana in front.

“Well,” I said, realizing what they’d done.

“If I have to protect your tail, this is the most sensible anyway,” Ivana said. She was clearly trying to swallow her anger about the situation.

“Sure,” I said. “I’m going to go ahead and try to get some rest.”

“Whatever,” Ivana said, turning back to another ledger.

I closed the door to the back chamber, a little office of some sort, and laid down on my bedding with a sigh.

Maybe tomorrow everything would make sense.