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sayonarasanity · 4 years ago

Text

Reverberation

Chapter II

link to first chapter

link to AO3

“It’s dead.”

Levi’s unimpressed, vacant gaze observed the lifeless body of the bird lying in her palms. He held the door to their house with one hand and wore a sweatshirt over a pair of plain sweatpants. His straight, black hair was combed.

“Seems like it,” he confirmed, voice flat. Then looked at her eyebrows rising, but he didn’t seem quite curious. “What do you want to do with it?”

“Bury it, obviously,” Hanji replied. “I found it on my way here. I thought it was just wounded at first, but its heart isn’t beating.” She lifted the little body to her ears one more time, lips curled downwards, waiting to hear the sound of a silent heartbeat. She wore gloves so she didn’t feel its body temperature, but no doubt, there was not even a flutter of a beat coming from the body, it was dead.

“The snow is too thick,” Levi spoke as Hanji lowered her hands down with the bird. “You can’t reach the earth. Even if you do, you can’t make it halfway without having your hands get frozen.”

“But I can’t possibly leave it out in the snow like this, Levi!” Hanji objected, overcoming the urge to tap her foot furiously on the ground. She didn’t want to be seen as a grouchy child.

“Hanji, you’re supposed to be smart.” He folded his arms, locking his eyes with her. “Do you really want to take this risk?”

“You’re exaggerating,” Hanji frowned, responding to his gaze. “I won’t lose my hands. I am wearing gloves.”

“What a great protection,” Levi murmured sarcastically, then turned his head over his shoulder and shouted, “Mom!”

“Coming!” Levi’s mother responded from somewhere inside the house. Hanji supposed it was the kitchen. Delicious smells were coming to her nose. As Hanji had learnt from her earlier visits here, Kuchel was a great cook and a beautiful, kind woman. Much like her son’s opposite.

“Hanji!” She smiled at her widely when she came in a hurry, drying her hands in her apron. Her long, black hair was tied as a ponytail, and her blue eyes were shining warmly. “How are you darling? Oh, why are you standing there? Levi, why didn’t you invite her inside? Come on in, honey.” Before Hanji could say anything to reject her, she caught her arm and drew her inside, closing the door behind them. The house was warm, and she immediately felt her cold face lulling with it. “I’ve just made an apple tart. Take off your coat and come to the kitchen with Levi.”

Hanji was dizzy, listening to her rapidly putting one sentence behind the other. Kuchel didn’t notice the dead bird which was still lying in her palms and it was Levi who in the end stopped Kuchel just as she turned her back to get back to the kitchen.

“Mom,” Levi called. “Hanji wants to bury a dead bird.”

Kuchel looked at Hanji, with a somewhat surprised expression plastered on her face. She blinked her eyes a few times, “Oh,” she said as if she was trying to digest what Levi had just said. And when Hanji pulled her hands upwards, she finally saw the bird. “Oh!” she said again, as realization sunk in. “A bird!”

“A dead bird,” Levi deadpanned.

“I want to bury it,” Hanji said, after glaring at Levi for a few, intense seconds for good measure. “I can do it on my own though. I wouldn’t want to be a bother.”

“Ah, but Hanji, darling,” Kuchel sighed, she seemed like she was trying to find out ways to reject her without breaking her heart. “The snow—”

“I know,” Hanji interrupted. “But I don’t care. I can’t leave it on the cold like this.”

Kuchel’s eyes were soft as the summer clouds while they were looking at her, and there was a little smile on her lips. “You’re such a sweet, sweet child.”

“No, mom she’s such a weirdo,” Levi presented his own idea, his arms were still folded, and he looked bored out of his wits.

“Levi!” Kuchel chided him, her soft look was replaced with a frown. “That’s a very rude thing to say to your friend.”

“I didn’t mean it as an insult,” he defended himself.

“Yeah, it’s okay Mrs Ackerman,” Hanji nodded. “He knows he is as much of a weirdo himself too. So, I don’t really get offended when he says that.”

Kuchel was apparently confused, but she was most probably convinced about the fact that her son and his possibly the best and only friend were a pair of odd, little human beings. “You can just call me Kuchel, sweetheart,” she said, at last, smiling again.

Hanji spared a moment to think, swirling the name inside of her head until she was satisfied with how it sounded. Then nodded, beaming at her. “Okay.”

“Good,” Kuchel reached with her hand and patted her hair which was covered with a green knitted hat.

“What are we going to do about the bird?” Levi asked, emphasizing each word. They both turned their gazes on him to see him impatiently tapping his foot on the floor, one eyebrow high above the other.

“We’re going to bury it, of course,” Kuchel said before Hanji even opened her mouth to give a response.

“Haa?” Levi was shocked, eyes widening and his foot stilling its motion. “Mom! I called you here so that you could talk some sense into her!”

“What’s so senseless about burying a poor, dead bird?” Kuchel asked innocently and Hanji smirked, barely stopping herself from bouncing but she did throw Levi a triumphant look, making him even more irritated.

Levi was still more or less astonished, so he just stared at his mom as she removed her apron and folded it neatly. “Come on, little grump, go change your clothes. Put on something thick and warm. Wear gloves and a scarf.” Then she turned back to Hanji and winked. “You wait here, honey. We’ll be back in ten minutes.”

She walked away to climb the stairs and Levi finally moved, murmuring “Women,” under his breath as he followed his mother upstairs. Hanji just grinned, then leaning her back to the wall she knelt to a sitting position. “You’re going to have a funeral little bird,” she whispered and smiled woefully at the inanimate, still body of the dead animal inside of her palms.

The three of them walked or rather struggled to walk on the thick, soft snow. Some parts were frozen which made the whole journey even more tough and risky. Hanji tried her best not to fall face down, which would also result in her crashing the innocent bird. But she put far too much focus on not dropping the bird rather than not crashing it so when she absentmindedly stepped on an iced part of the pavement, her supposedly sturdy boat slipped, and she lost her balance.

A panicked yelp escaped her mouth just as the world moved around her, she saw the blue, wide sky rather than the white, snowy road and readied herself for a harsh landing as her body locked itself and did nothing to save her from her situation.

A gloved hand caught her collar. “Watch out, idiot,” Levi hissed, drawing her close to him. She stared at him, blinking her eyes in shock as she was trying to decipher the events of the last few seconds.

“You saved me!” She exclaimed, eventually, looking at Levi as if he was the embodiment of a Marvel hero.

“Yeah, thank fuck for that,” he winced visibly as he checked his back to glance at his mother, face painted with pure fear but much to his relief Kuchel was way too occupied by trying to just walk so she didn’t seem like she had noticed anything. Also, she was far behind them, so she hadn’t possibly heard her son swearing. Levi sighed, relieved then glared at her. “Give me that damn bird.”

“Language,” she whispered harshly under her breath. Levi swore a lot for a boy in his age. Hanji thought it was most probably his uncle’s fault who lived with him and Kuchel. Levi didn’t accept it though.

“Give it to me,” he repeated. “Before you break your ass.”

Hanji scowled and almost pouted in annoyance but put the bird in Levi’s open palms. Her arms had been hurting as a result of carrying the bird in the same position for too long anyway. She shook them on her sides, wrinkling her face as she felt the pain spreading from her joints and shoulders to the rest of her arms. Then her hazel brown eyes turned to the bird again, lying motionless in Levi’s palms this time.

“Poor thing,” she sighed.

Levi observed it for several seconds, his sharp blue-grey eyes distant and thoughtful. Hanji wanted so bad to know what was going on inside of that raven-haired head. “We all have limited time,” he said at last.

Hanji hadn’t been expecting to hear that, so it caught her off-guard. It sounded way too gloomy coming from an eleven-year-old boy. And Hanji wondered if there was any specific story or event to push him to utter these words now. She wanted to ask but didn’t think he would answer. Talking to him sometimes made her feel like she was preying on a gazelle, trying to be as cautious as possible with her steps as to not scare and made it run away.

“Yeah,” she agreed for now, as another bird flew past above their heads, fluttering its wings and twittering as if it was lamenting for the dead.

They buried the bird under a big, old—ancient in fact—tree which was located in a park near Levi’s house. It was indeed hard to dig up the snow first and earth later. They had to take turns and rest every now and then for some blood to reach their fingertips. Hanji had taken her hat off and lied the bird on it, ignoring the fact that they were going to put it under the cold earth anyway. And everything was okay until they covered it with brown soil and then white snow.

After that something started to tickle her nose like she was going to sneeze. Then her eyes followed, they were also burning, and her lips curled downwards again, and she pressed them together as a gulp shaped in her throat and then pat—

Her vision was blurry but not because of the tears, but because there was snow on her glasses and her face was icy wet.

“Don’t start weeping like a baby.”

She heard Kuchel gasping in shock but couldn’t look at her for her eyes were tightly shut. Slowly, she took her glasses off then wiped her face in a deadly calm. Then used the tissue in her pocket to clean her glasses, she had taken it with her before she left home for she knew her glasses were going to get foggy one way or the other.

And then she put the glasses back on, in slow motion, cautiously.

Now that the world around her became full HD again, she could clearly see Levi’s sly smirk as well as Kuchel’s wide, bewildered eyes. “So, you wanna play it dirt, Ackerman?” she asked as she gathered snow in her hands and formed them as a big, fat ball.

“Afraid, Zoe?” Levi asked back as he copied her, making a snowball in a respective size.

“You wish.”

They threw the balls at the same time but both of them dodged the attack. Hanji immediately got up, already forming another ball in her hands. She took quick steps away from him and just as Levi stood up from where he was sitting, she pulled her arm back and threw the ball. And it hit him right on the head. His shoulders rose to his ears as he tilted his to the side. She was laughing victoriously when suddenly she tasted snow in her mouth. She spitted aggressively and had to swallow some of it, frankly, it didn’t taste that bad. Then she wiped her mouth with her sleeve, “Ugh, you little—” she grunted and crouched down again.

After that, it just became a vicious and bloody snowball fight. Neither of them was backing down, despite Kuchel’s warnings like, “Levi don't throw it to her face, you’ll break her glasses,” or like, “Slow down you two. You will get sick.” They didn’t listen to her though. Hanji was having so much fun, even though Levi was not holding himself back in any way. She had a ball to her face her head and chest countless times and they were very harsh ones at that. Yet she had also managed to hit Levi from the same places just as harshly. Her face was hurting from smiling and from the cold, but she was hot inside the coat and her sweater underneath.

“Okay, that’s enough,” Kuchel said, with a stricter tone this time. “Levi—”

A snowball to her face cut her sentence in half. It was her son who had thrown it, and she was solid as a rock for a second. Then she wiped her face and smiled viciously just like Levi did at the time. And Hanji thought the mother and the son had never looked this much alike.

“Oh, you’re so on, my boy,” Kuchel said and kneeled.

The three of them played snowball for the rest of the afternoon. Their laughter, screams and sometimes painful groans filling the air until they were exhausted to death. But as she laid down on the snow breathless, with a grin attached to her face as if it had no intention of leaving and watching the quiet movements of the clouds, she thought with all sincerity that it was worth every damn second of it.

Kuchel invited Hanji to their house after their intense snowball fight. Hanji accepted because she was too tired to walk back home and too hungry to gather enough strength in a short time. They took off their coats and wet socks. Kuchel helped them hanging the clothes on top of the heater. Hanji had to borrow a pair of socks from Levi and was very amused to see they were Sponge Bob themed.

“Don’t say a word,” Levi had stopped her coldly when he saw how her face had brightened up.

Currently, Hanji was sitting in their kitchen, as Kuchel was preparing hot chocolate for her from her own special recipe and Levi was making tea for himself. Hanji found it weird for an eleven-year-old boy to be so fond of tea but then again everything about Levi was kind of weird. She was getting used to it slowly.

“Good evening my dear family.” A man around his thirties stepped inside the kitchen, removing a black, bowler hat from his head. He was a tall and slim man, wearing a simple white shirt and black trousers. His eyes were a dark blue, and his hair was long, combed back.

“Welcome,” Kuchel greeted him shortly with a smile on her face before going back to her work. Levi merely tched quietly upon his uncle’s appearance then went on preparing his dear tea. “You left work early?”

“Yeah, left it to Traute to close for today,” he said as he left his hat on the kitchen table and then he noticed her. “Hello, little one.”

She beamed at him. “Hello, Kenny!”

Kenny took the seat across from her and reached the inside of his shirt pocket. “How’s your father?” he asked as he took out a packet of cigarettes.

Her father was a doctor working in the town’s hospital and Kenny had a little market at the centre of the town, so they more or less knew each other. “He is fine,” she replied, putting her elbows on top of the table. “Trying to get on well with furious patients.”

Kenny laughed, “Everyone is sick for no reason nowadays,” he said placing a cigar in between his lips.

As if she had sensed it, Kuchel turned to Kenny and slapped his hand, causing the tobacco to fall from his mouth. “Don’t smoke in front of the children.”

“Alright, alright,” Kenny grunted. “Geez.”

A great opportunity to fill them in, Hanji thought. “Did you know that smoking causes %90 of all lungs cancer deaths and %80 from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease?”

“What language are you speaking, kid?” Kenny snorted as he put the cigarette back in its packet.

“She is warning you, scientifically,” Levi placed a tray next to Hanji’s elbows then put two plates of apple tart on top of it. “Not that you would understand. Also, you have no will power to quit it anyway.”

“Hanji, don’t you have anything to say to that brat?” Kenny asked, waving his hat in Levi’s direction lazily. “He is drinking tea like he is sucking his mother’s milk. Don’t you think he is too… small for that?” He travelled his gaze around Levi as if trying to emphasize his point.

Hanji opened her mouth to respond just as Levi said, “At least I am not going to die pathetically from a lung disease because I inhale poisonous smoke.”

“You little scumbag,” Kenny scoffed, and his face crumpled in discontent as he looked at his niece.

It caused a slap from Kuchel to his shoulder this time. “Talk properly to my boy. He is just a kid.”

“A kid! Hah!” He exclaimed then put his hat back on his head. “Right. I don’t like kids anyway.” Then he looked at her. “You are an exception though little Einstein.”

“I’m surprised you know about Einstein,” Levi murmured, and it made Hanji laugh drastically, but she put a hand to her mouth right after. Afraid that she would offend Kenny. Yet he didn’t even spare a glance at her.

A muscle moved on his jaw. “I am sparing you for the sake of my sister, brat. Don’t push your luck.”

“I am not afraid of you.”

“Oh, you should be—”

“Enough!” Kuchel interrupted, putting two cups one of which contained hot chocolate and the other black tea on the tray. “Leave the kids alone, Kenny,” she warned and looked at them. “You can go to your room, love. Call me if you need anything.”

Hanji nodded and slipped from her seat as Levi took the tray in his hands. They were about to leave the kitchen when they heard Kenny saying, “Leave the door open.”

“Kenny!” Kuchel yelled, while Levi simply rolled his eyes and Hanji merely blinked at him. “They are just children!”

“For fuck’s sake,” he whispered under his breath as they left the kitchen and started climbing the stairs.

“I don’t understand,” Hanji said, confused.

“Never mind,” he sighed.

They sat on the floor, leaning their backs to Levi’s bed and ate their tarts which were as delicious as they smelled. Hanji swayed left and right unconsciously, savouring the taste on her tongue and hummed happily. “Did your mother learn to cook like this in Heaven?”

“No,” Levi replied shortly.

Hanji rolled her eyes sipping her hot chocolate.

It had been almost five or six months since they have met. Ever since that night on the roof of a half-constructed building their friendship started to build up. Throughout the days they met in the same place, Hanji had told Levi about everything she knew about the sky and space. The names of the constellations and stars, the planets and black holes. Levi listened quietly, so quiet that it nearly made Hanji suspicious that he wasn’t interested in or didn’t care about anything she had told him. But then he had started asking questions and even saying the names of the stars and the facts about the planets with her. Talking with him eased her mind and also thrilled her in a way that only her books managed to do. Unfortunately, they didn’t go to the same school, but the nights spent on that roof and days on his or her home had been an almost miracle like an escape for her.

“Your uncle is nice,” Hanji blurted suddenly when the silence stretched far too long for her liking.

“He wasn’t,” Levi replied, unexpectedly, taking a long sip from his tea.

Hanji stared at her, curiosity climbing up to her eyes. “What do you mean?”

He looked beyond his window, watching the pink sunset and its reflection on the cream, tulle curtains. “He used to have a gang.”

“Oh?” She sounded way too excited without even meaning to. “Do you mean… like… an illegal gang?”

“Are there even legal gangs?”

Hanji shrugged. No idea.

“Whatever,” Levi put the teacup back on the tray. “He was actually the leader of the gang and, I heard that he had done some very… dirty things.” He clicked his tongue. “Useless man.”

It was quite rare to see Levi willingly talking about his life, so Hanji held her breath to not make a sound so that he wouldn’t get distracted and stop.

“He had been to jail before I was born. During the same time my dad passed away, I guess. Mom said she had to take him out of jail with the money she had put aside and with some money left from my grandpa.” He played with a stray string poking out of his t-shirt absently. “She said, he had deserved a second chance.” He shrugged. “I don’t know. I am kind of angry at him for being a pain in the ass for my mom but also, you know—I am glad that she wasn’t alone when I was born. And he is not that bad anymore, though still an asshole. But that’s a given. He was born like this; he cannot help it.”

Although his words carried an air of heaviness and severity, Hanji couldn’t help but laugh at his last sentence, the cheerful sound dispersed the gloomy atmosphere. And she was glad that afterwards, his features had relaxed and soften albeit barely, it was there still.

“I like spending time with you,” she said, suddenly.

He was taken aback, eyes widening slightly. “You do?”

“I thought it was obvious,” Hanji replied. “You are my only friend.”

He snorted, amused. “Same.”

She smiled and drank from her hot chocolate which was losing that specific quality gradually.

“I like spending time with you too,” Levi said after a while. It was so quiet and tender that Hanji thought she was daydreaming. Then, when she looked at him surprised, she had seen the slight pinkness on the tips of his ears.

Her smile turned into a toothy grin. “I know,” she said. “It’s very obvious.”

He smirked in return.

Levi insisted on walking her home because he didn’t trust her in walking properly in the limited light now that the sky was somehow dark, and the stars started winking and blazing from their respective places above.

“Say hi to your mom for me,” Kuchel said as she was seeing them off.

“Sure,” Hanji waved at her. “Thank you for today, Kuchel!”

“Anytime, darling.”

Walking at night was slightly harder because the area of the town Levi’s house was located didn’t have great lighting. They opted to walk on the side of the road rather than the frozen pavement. Cars were sweeping past them, and it had started to snow again. The wet asphalt reflected the yellow streetlamps lined side by side, and little snowflakes melted the second they met the ground.

The boy walking in front of her reached behind with his hand as they were about to cross the road. And he didn’t say a word. He didn’t need to. Hanji took her glove off from one hand and reached forward, grabbing the steady and warm hand stretched out for her and her mouth curled upwards. And the wet road reflected the blurry image of a raven-haired boy and a green hatted girl, holding hands on a cold, frosty winter night.

---

Hanji’s father was a tall man with a bearded, straight face and brown, slightly balding hair. He wore thick-framed, rectangle glasses. Behind them were a pair of soft-looking, hazel eyes and above them were dark, bushy eyebrows. They were raised, creating wrinkles on his forehead as he looked up from his book when the two of them entered the room.

“Dad,” Hanji gestured to Levi with her hand. “This is Levi.”

Her father looked over the boy, glasses slipping down his nose. It was the first time Levi meeting him, despite the times he had been here within almost a year they had known each other, Levi had never come across with her father.

“Nice to meet you, Mr Zoe,” Levi, the ever-respectful boy that he was, greeted her father in such a nice manner that Hanji was shocked. So, he did manage to be decent at times, ha! One of the things that she most liked about Levi was that there was no end to getting to know him. And just like it was impossible to count the drops on a river, she thought a day couldn't come in which she didn’t learn a new thing about him.

“Levi, huh?” Her father closed the book that he was reading and adjusted his glasses. “The infamous Levi that my daughter keeps nagging about?”

“I don’t nag about him,” Hanji objected, feeling her cheeks getting hotter. She knew introducing Levi to her father was a huge risk.

“That’s me,” Levi confirmed. And Hanji nearly pinched his side.

To both of their surprise, Mr Zoe let out a loud, uproarious laugh. “So, you are not imaginary after all, ha kid!” The man went on laughing, leaving Hanji stunned and annoyed and very much embarrassed.

“Dad!”

Worse thing than her father laughing like he had been watching videos of people tripping down, was that Levi snorting right beside her as if he had no shame.

“I am sure she has imaginary friends as well,” Levi pointed out, his face giving nothing away, except for a vague tremble on his lips.

It made Mr Zoe laugh even harder. He was beating his knee basically at this point.

Hanji glared at his head. You are so going to pay for this.

He responded to her stare from the corner of his eyes. Challenging. Bring it on.

“We’ll be at the attic,” she informed her still laughing father while feeling quite betrayed by her own biological parent. His father was a more obnoxious version of her so to say. He had this habit of laughing at things that were not relatively funny to others.

“Sure, sure,” the man replied, wiping the tears from his eyes with his index fingers. “Nice to meet you, Levi.”

Hanji dragged Levi out of the room before he could answer. Then pushed him towards the stairs while also putting her hands on her shoulders. Then positioned herself securely, a mischievous smile placed on her lips and she jumped on his back.

“What the hell, Hanji?” Levi snarled, sounding both astonished and frustrated. They stumbled left and right dangerously at first until he grabbed her legs on instinct to find his balance. Hanji grinned.

“Revenge.”

“Are you fuc—” He gritted his teeth, his hands gripping her legs painfully. “You can’t be serious.”

“Of course I am.” She patted his shoulder and then wrapped her arms around his neck. “Come on, Captain Levi! Carry me up!”

“God-fucking-dammit.” The swear left his mouth in a sharp, but a quiet whisper. Hanji laughed. Levi grunted, scoffed and swore under his breath as he began to climb up the stairs one by one, cautiously and slowly. They were almost half-way done when Hanji remembered something very important.

“Wait!” she exclaimed. “Wait! No-no-no-no-no! Stop, Levi! Stop! Stop!!!”

“What!” he snarled.

“Get back down,” she urged his shoulder. “I need to take something from the kitchen.”

He inhaled heavily like he had swollen a curse so big it would probably ruin her life lets it come out. Then, without uttering a word, he turned around and started to walk down, quietly. Hanji could feel the angry tension radiating from his body as if he were an atom bomb ready to destroy everything at any second. For that, she kept quiet as well. There was no need to provoke him even more. Just until they entered the kitchen. It was a success for her standards anyway.

“To the fridge,” she ordered, and Levi obeyed, still silent. Hanji opened the door of the fridge and searched the shelves knitting her eyebrows in concentration while doing so yet, couldn’t find what she was looking for.

“It’s not here,” she pouted. “Come on. Over there.”

Levi inhaled again through his nose, possibly absorbing yet another curse. Hanji pointed to the kitchen cabinets and Levi walked closer to the counter. She searched the cabinets until she found what she was looking for inside one of them and at the top of the shelves.

“Hold still,” she warned before putting one hand on Levi’s shoulder to lift herself up a little bit. However, she must have put so much pressure that Levi hissed between his teeth. “Almost there,” she informed, as her fingers touched the items at least and she pushed them closer with her fingertips. She bit her lip, and wrinkled her face, a sweat drop slipped down her temple, and just as she pressed a little more on his shoulder and Levi let out a whopping, “Fuck,” she grabbed two packets of chocolate milk, holding them tightly between her fingers and let out a loud, huge sigh of relief.

“Mission completed,” she said, as she wiped the sweat away from her forehead with her sleeve, and her body relaxed. “We may return to the head-quarters.”

“I am going to kill you,” he said, darkly, but carried her out of the kitchen, nonetheless.

“Maybe I’ll let you,” she laughed, boisterously. “Come on now! Up, up, up to the attic!”

It took a little too much effort on Levi’s side and a little too much fun on Hanji’s until they made it safely to the attic. She turned the light on after they climbed inside one by one and gestured the room with her hand.

“Ta-da!”

Levi observed his surroundings, trying to seem like he wasn’t interested but Hanji noticed the sparkle in his eyes when he took everything in. “You have a tent here.”

“Yes!” She jumped a little on her feet. “A book tent!”

It was indeed a book tent. She had piled the old books on top of each other, creating a short wall of two sides. Another line of books was behind them to support, and to avoid an avalanche. A wide and thin, navy sheet was spread from one end to the other. It was also a cave of sorts. Somewhat small, and just a little bit vulnerable. Yet, it had walls made of books and a floor made of a star-map.

Oh, right.

“Let’s get in,” Hanji grabbed his arm and pulled him forwards. “You’ll love it.”

They crawled inside under the sheet. The atmosphere here was dim and darker because the sheet was filtering the light, but it only increased the mystery and made it even more dreamy and so very exciting.

“Is that a star-map?” Levi asked, looking at the dark blue blanket they were sitting on.

“Yep,” she approved, nodding. “My father bought it for me as a birthday present. And I thought it would be cool to use it like this. It feels like I am sitting on top of the stars.”

Levi snorted. “Four-eyes, that’s kind of creepy.” He shook his head, and a ghost of a smile flew above his lips. “You’re a goddamn genius.”

She beamed at him, and her cheeks almost hurt from smiling so wide. She felt like there were fireworks in her eyes, and while she didn’t think it took that much of a brain to spread a blanket on the floor the fact that Levi complimented her caused the fireworks to explode in her stomach and their lustre reached up to her eyes.

“Orion,” he pointed with his finger and traced the lines all the while saying the names of the constellations he knew. “Taurus, Hyades, Auriga, and… what was that Pse- Pso- Poseidon?”

“No,” Hanji giggled. “Pleiades.”

“Right,” he chuckled.

Hanji opened one of the chocolate milk and gave the other to Levi. “Sorry, I forgot to prepare tea for you.”

Levi eyed the milk, sized it up for good before taking it from her hand. “Whatever.”

His grumpy face was hilarious as he put the straw in between his lips and drank the milk almost pouting. He didn’t have much tolerance for sweet things, unlike Hanji. Chocolate milk especially was her religion.

After they finished their chocolate milk Levi played with the straw absent-mindedly until he said, “Hanji?”

“Hmm?”

“Why did your father say that?”

“Say what?”

“That I wasn’t imaginary after all?”

“Oh,” she laughed, nervously. “It’s because I don’t really have any friends. I wasn’t joking when I told you you were my only friend.”

“But we are in middle school now,” he raised a brow. “Even I made some friends in class.”

“That’s great!” she said, but she would be lying if she said she didn’t envy him just a little bit.

“You’re actually outgoing,” he went on. “Why?”

She sighed. They were going to have that conversation then. Levi’s grey eyes watched her seriously, and with caution. He was giving her all his attention, focused on the words that were about to leave her mouth. Hanji thought that was the actual reason why they were so close. Because when no one cared to hear a word from her Levi listened to her telling stories of gods and goddesses, heroes and villains, ancient people and ancient folks, tales of love and tales of hatred. When no one bothered seeing her colours, Levi sat down in front of her and let her paint everything she ever wanted.

“They think I’m a weirdo,” she confessed. It wasn’t that hard though. She wasn’t even getting that offended anymore.

“I think you’re a weirdo too.”

“But you mean it in a good way,” Hanji pointed out. “They don’t.”

At that, his eyes turned as cold as an iceberg. Hanji swirled her index finger right next to her head. “Like I have a screw loose here,” then she tapped her temple. “I too thought that it would change in middle school, but it didn’t. Kids are cruel wherever you go.”

“Assholes,” Levi grunted. “Fuck it, Hanji. You’re obviously too smart for them.”

She laughed. “Yeah, I don’t care. I have you,” she shrugged and ignored the disturbing thought that Levi had other friends now and it was just a matter of time for him to get bored of her and then she would be alone yet again—

“Don’t worry about it,” he told her, and she twirled her head in shock. Had he just read her mind? “I won’t leave you alone.”

Oh, God, oh, no. She was about to tear up. Her nose started to itch again as if she was about to sneeze, and she did sneeze too or pretended to so that she could send the tears back to their places.

“Gross,” Levi said in disgust.

After that, they laid down and Hanji talked and talked. Telling him about pheromones and how some animals used them to trick their preys and a neurological condition called synaesthesia which was basically seeing colours on intangible things. Levi asked some questions and hummed every now and then to indicate that he was listening. Sometimes he made sarcastic comments like, maybe you’re unintentionally releasing trick pheromones, four-eyes, or comments like I think you are a rainbow basically when he couldn’t think of only one colour he thought he would see on her. Hanji told him he was black and blue. And he said how smart of you, I didn’t know the colour of my eyes and hair.

If I am a rainbow then that would make you the sky, genius. She told him and he didn’t say anything back.

She put her head on his stomach and he placed his arms under his head. “Hanji,” he said.

“Yes?” She asked feeling curious about what he had to say.

“You’re a cool weirdo.”

She laughed and smirked up to the navy sheet. The light flowing through the little holes on it made her feel like she was watching a starry night. “You’re not so bad yourself, clean-freak.”

now

She is dead.

Dead. How simple it is for one’s tongue. How easy to say, to summarize and fit a whole life in only one syllable, in mere four letters. Years are hidden within that single word, memories lost behind its dark shadow, loved ones buried under its cold weight.

Kuchel is dead. The woman who is always so full of life, so beautiful to exist in such a cruel world, so good to face its dreary winters and so gentle to deserve the hard slap of fate is gone now. No longer breathing. Just like that. But no scratch that. Not just like that , death never is. The living will never know, and the dead will never be there to tell.

Hanji holds her head with her hands, elbows resting on her knees, she leans forward. What now?

“How is he?” she asks, her heart already aching for she knew the answer beforehand.

“That’s… actually the reason why I called you, kid,” Kenny says. “I can’t reach him. I haven’t seen him since the funeral and couldn’t find him anywhere.”

Panic is quick to boil her blood. “Where might he be? Maybe he left the city?”

“He wouldn’t. Not yet,” he sounds thoughtful. “But I don’t think I can find him. To be honest, I am afraid I would make things even worse.”

“Why?”

“He needs someone who knows him,” he replies. “And there is no one left who knows him better than you. Kid, I know it’s too much to ask, but that brat is the only family I have left. I don’t want to fucking lose him too.”

“But how…”

“Just think about it,” Kenny cuts in, he sounds tired Hanji realizes and she feels her sorrow doubling itself just by hearing his voice. “I’ll understand if you don’t want to come, but just think about it at first. Then let me know your answer.”

Levi. Hanji cannot even imagine the pain he is going through on his own. He had always been so fond of his mother, always so protective and caring even though he was trying to be subtle about it, it was never hard to tell. He must be devastated.

“What am I going to do?” she groans.

“What you need to.”

Hanji shrieks and jumps in her place as she looks at the person who has just talked with wide eyes. “Mr Jeager!”

Zeke adjusts his glasses and throws a leg over the other. Then inhales through his nose. “Such a lovely night, isn’t it?”

“What are you doing here?”

“Waiting for the bus,” he replies simply.

“No, I mean—” she sighs, obviously she had been so preoccupied with her thoughts that she hadn’t noticed him sitting next to her. “Whatever.”

“So,” he continues. “How many days do you want off?”

“Huh?” She blinks her eyes at him. She didn’t remember mentioning him about asking for a day off.

But Zeke doesn’t look at her, instead, he searches the road to see if there are any busses on the way. It spares her a moment to consider his offer and she realizes that once Kenny asked her the question, she had already made her mind.

“About a week please,” she says, without hesitation. “I need to help an old friend.”

#levihan #hadn't posted the second chapter here so here it goes #the third one is on its way #hopefully #levihan fanfiction #levi x hanji #levi x hange

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axther · 4 years ago

Text

everything stays

denki kaminari x reader

prompt: lost in the woods ( @bnhabookclub‘s bingo event!!)

in the end, only the watcher stays.

a/n: thank you to the wonderful @pixxiesdust, fantastic @chubbynegget, the amazing @samanthaa-leanne, the incredible @fanfic-me-up, the celestial @tamasoft, and the exceptional @eddiesfuckinzone for beta’ing for me!! y’all are so sweet ;; the transparents are from @bellushimiko! you can find them here!

Denki Kaminari didn’t know how he got in this situation.

He was in the middle of a ring of trees, which inside had a ring of rocks. A snowy wolf was on top of the rocks with a dissatisfied snarl, their tail wrapped around the top of it in a cartoonish way. Denki didn’t know what wrong turn he made, where he separated from Bakugou, Kirishima, and Sero, but he had found himself in front of a pack of dark wolves, all growling at him. He was sure that they would’ve eviscerated him, had the white wolf not come along. They turned without question or fear, and the white wolf simply stared at him like a disappointed mother. Not only that, something was just off about the ring, like if he stretched his hand forward, he could touch something not quite mortal.

“Hooh-kay…” He sighed, leaning away from the wolf. “This is weird.”

The wolf narrowed their e/c eyes. Denki gripped the strap of his hiking backpack tighter.

“I am going...to leave you alone. I am not dying today. Nuh-uh.” Denki pursed his lips before attempting to go around the rocks. A sharp, female voice pierced the air.

“What are you doing in my forest?”

Denki froze, golden eyes wide. “Who said that?”

He spun left and right, panic in his veins. The voice echoed all around him, and he near snapped his neck trying to locate it. A twig snapped behind him, and when he looked, the wolf was gone.

“Didn’t your parents ever teach you to not answer a question with a question?”

Denki spun around and saw the wolf was gone. His heart stopped, just a bit, and he looked around to try and track the wolf. There were glimpses of it, just barely, like a wisp in the dark trees. There was no sunlight, no moonlight, no light at all, except for the vaguely glowing rocks and the white wolf. A voice hissed, everywhere and nowhere at once. Every word was annoyed and packed a punch, echoing in the deepest parts of the forest like an auditorium.

“What are you doing in my forest?”

Denki jumped out his skin, leaping away and trying to turn, but something snagged his ankle and he plummeted to the ground. He tried to catch his breath until he saw the barest wisp of a white shadow before someone walked up to him. Before him was a young woman, maybe his age, with h/c hair and startling white streaks running through it. Despite her skin being s/c, she was practically glowing, and one eye was even so grey it was white. The other was a warmer e/c. It could only be described as more human, tangibly vulnerable. Denki swallowed.

She was, without a doubt, ethereal. Celestial, earthly, ghostly and immortal all at once.

“Are you deaf?” She hissed, and Denki was broken out of his stupor. Her tone was more irked than anything, and she leaned in. Denki backed up and she took a step forward, and they played it as though it were tag until Denki’s back hit the biggest rock in the middle.

“Uh, well, uh, I, uh, my friends, we were, uh, you’re...you’re pretty. Who are you?” Denki stuttered out what he hoped was a comprehensive sentence, but the girl’s eyes darkened. “What are you?”

“That’s a bit rude, innit?” She stood straight, holding her nose up in the air. “You’re in my forest, and you’re asking what I am?”

“I’m sorry, ma’am, miss. Uh.” He fumbled over his words when she leaned in again, and he breathed in something that was purely terrestrial. It was all sorts of sweet things, like berries, and there was mud and bark and the sunlight wafting through the trees when you’re alone.

“Well?”

Denki blinked. “Well, what?”

“Why. Are. You. In. My. Forest?”

“I thought it was government property.”

“That’s what I let them think.” The girl shrugged haughtily.

“Then…I was here with some of my friends.” Denki stepped from the rock, feeling something tingling up his back. “We were walking the trails, actually.”

“Then you should’ve stayed on the trails.” The girl tilted her head condescendingly. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you to not stray in the woods?”

“Well, if it meant I would meet pretty girls, then I would do it anyway.” The girl jumped when Denki said it so smugly, and her head whipped around. She wore a pout before huffing.

“You’re in the face of...of me, and you flirt?”

“I flirt with danger. What can I say?”

“Insufferable.” She gave a cross between a concerned and disgusted. “Are all humans like this?”

“Only me.” Denki gave a cheesy grin. The girl’s frown shook at its foundation.

“Absolutely amazing. Are you aware that I could kill you?”

Something in Denki told him that he should be terrified, but he wasn’t. It was like when humans go skydiving; stupid, but entirely within their will.

“I guess. You look too cute though.”

“C-!” The girl sputtered a bit.”Why would you…?!”

“What’s your name?” Denki felt his confidence grow at the crack in her exterior. “I’m Denki Kaminari.”

“I have many names.” The girl hesitated, still looking confused. “Aisling, some call me. But I know myself as YN.”

Denki nodded fervently, a finger on his chin like he was trying to mimic Michelangelo’s David. “A pretty name for a pretty lady! I like it!”

“You’re named for thunder.” YN mused, slowly letting her shell edge away. “Why?”

“I have an electric quirk!” He snapped his fingers and let out a little spark. YN’s eyes got impossibly big.

“How did you do that?” There was a veiled shock in her voice like she either didn’t want to show her confusion or didn’t want to offend him. “You...are you...do you have magicks?”

“Huh? Magic? Nah! It’s a quirk! All my friends have quirks. If you want, we can go and look for them.”

“Your...friends. The ones you got lost from.”

“Yeah! Sero can use tape, and Mina, she’s super cool, she’s got acid!”

“...Alright, then.” YN rose to her full height for the first time, and Denki felt something deep in him shift when he realised she was his height if not taller. He couldn’t tell if it was good or bad. “Where did you lose them?”

“What?” Denki paused. “I figured you knew, like, everything about the forest?”

YN frowned. “I’m not omnipotent. This is my forest, but I don’t know everything.”

“Well,” Denki turned, beginning to go back to the way he came. “This got a lot harder.”

“They are your age, yes?” YN followed without making so much as a sound, quicker on her feet than she should’ve been. When Denki glanced down, he saw she was like a gazelle; prancing with her feet barely touching the ground. She often let him move ahead of her, only to leap forward in a graceful movement that made Denki jealous, flitting left and right like a curious faerie.

“I mean, yeah. We all go to school together.”

“Then they are most likely still looking for you. We shall listen, and I can send the madaidhean-allaidh to look.”

“The what?”

“Wolves. The wolves.”

“Oh.” Denki turned back around and began trying to retrace his steps. The trees loomed over him, and when he glanced around, YN was gone. Panic flooded his system until there was a small giggle from above him. He looked up to see YN perched on a branch that in no way could’ve held her weight and leap from limb to limb of the trees. She didn’t so much as wobble, and Denki tripped on a rock watching her. He fell into a faceful of moss and he heard YN slump onto a branch, laughing.

“Come on, buachaill toirneach! We shall find your friends!”

They didn’t find Denki’s friends.

It had been well over an hour and Denki could feel the sun sapping at his energy. Sweat clung to his skin and he used some spare cloth from his bag to hold his hair back. There was conversation at the beginning of the search, soft murmurings from YN that lead Denki to somehow make a fool of himself, but as time went on, they drained away into silence.

YN.

With every moment she moved, with every glance Denki sneaked in, he began to realise something about her. When he first met her, he thought she was a quirk user, just not socialised. She spoke fondly about her forest and the wolves. She was lithe and fast, running across the trees without touching the ground. She became little more than a streak of a white dress, dancing through the leaves and sunlight. Her feet never seemed to touch anything.

Denki wondered if she was even human.

It made sense. Maybe she was something older than him, or even older than quirks. Was she from an age bygone? Or was she as old as the planet itself? Did she plant the first tree of the wood and remained with it, long after all the other little plants and animals had left? She seemed so cosmically amaranthine, like the very oaks and pines kneeled their branches so she could flit across them. She didn’t even look human, with kind hands and arms that lead to a coldly beautiful torso, and a graceful neck, and a head that Denki was sure not even Toga could duplicate. She was strangely deathless, like a corpse brought back to life. Even her hair seemed to defy mortality and gravity.

Denki blinked. He had been staring at her, and she was staring unblinkingly right back, not even glancing to see where her feet would go. Her arms were behind her back and she looked mischievously innocent.

“Penny for your thoughts?” She mused, weaving behind the trunk of a redwood and reappearing on the other side. Denki pursed his lips.

“What are you?”

YN faltered for the first time, stopping and staring at Denki with her full attention. He stopped, too, but because of the severity of her eyes. One white, one e/c. It was spectral and eerie, and something in Denki’s blood cooled and was lit on fire at the same time.

“What do you think I am, thunder boy?” She asked. She sat on a branch, but it was airy, like she lifted her legs and floated down onto the bark.

“I don’t know.” Denki hesitated. “I don’t think you’re human.” “No, I’m not.” YN held her head in her palm, looking thoughtful. “I don’t think I ever was.”

Denki swallowed thickly. “Then...are you some sort of god?”

YN paused before beginning to shake with laughter. It consumed her whole until she had to wipe a tear from one immortal eye.

“There are no gods here. It’s just me. No god would dare step in here.”

“Why not?”

YN tilted her head. “Why not…? I suppose they are afraid of me. I am not something to be controlled.”

“Then what are you?” Denki felt the slightest sense of frustration. They were back to the original question.

“I don’t know.”

Instantly, Denki felt all emotions except for guilt vanish. She sounded so sad and confused, looking up towards the sky and dangling her legs back and forth. The dress swirled around her thighs.

“Oh.”

“I suppose I’m the forest, itself. I’ve been here for so long, I’m not quite sure. I remember when the humans came in with axes and blades, and I howled and bit at them until they bled.” She looked back down at Denki. “It took them years, but they learned their lesson. They will not touch my forest ever again.”

Denki said nothing but swallowed again. He could only imagine the fear; something you didn’t know, monsters even, coming in and tearing down your home, your heart. Of course, YN would react the way she did, to both them and Denki. She wasn’t hostile, she was defensive. She wasn’t mean or rude. She was scared and confused.

“You’re a curious human, thunder boy.”

Denki snapped out of his thoughts when YN fell to the ground. Her arms were spread for the fall and her feet touched the forest floor without so much as a sound. Where she stepped, Denki realised, little white, star-shaped flowers bloomed. She looked at him and Denki looked at her.

“Why are you guilty, thunder boy?” She walked to him as though he were a scared animal. He felt his breath catch when she got unbelievably close. “You are kind. And that is...rare in humans.”

“I just...I feel bad. For what we’ve done.”

“Then fix it. Learn from your mistakes.” She was close, so close, and Denki was sure he stopped breathing. He could smell her, and she smelled like rain and sunlight and all the little green things.

“I will,” He gasped out. “I will.”

And YN leaned in, just enough, and Denki leaned in, and quietly, like the moon on a cloudy night, their lips met.

It wasn’t more than skin on skin, but it was soft, and Denki shook. He placed a gentle, quivering hand on YN’s cheek and he could feel her smiling, ever so sweetly. When she pulled away, there was a softness in her eyes, and she held a hand to his cheek. She began swiping her thumb against it, and Denki realised he had been crying. Something tugged at his heart, and he kneeled to the ground.

“I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

YN kneeled down, too, and the plants around them seemed to lean in. The wind fell silent and the trees stopped whispering, and it was like the whole forest leaned in to hear.

“I know, Denki. I know.”

Denki didn’t know when he fell asleep or woke up, but it was with Sero looming over him.

“Dude!” Sero cheered. “You’re finally awake! Hey guys!” Sero turned, waving. “He’s awake!”

Denki sat up as the other three began walking over. Bakugou looked furious as usual, but both Kirishima and Mina looked relieved.

“Lucky! We were worried something happened!”

“Yeah, bro! Next time, we’ll keep better tabs on everyone!”

“Stick the dunce on a leash.”

“Don’t pretend you weren’t worried, bro.”

Denki rubbed his head. “Wait...what happened?”

“We lost you around, like, three o’clock.” Kirishima squatted, jutting a thumb towards the woods. Denki realised they were outside the ranger’s cabin, and off to the side were two rangers (one a dog, and the other a duck.) He swallowed.

“Wait. Where did you guys find me?”

“More like you found us and then passed out, or something.” Sero shrugged. “You were in your sleeping bag, by the campsite. We went back so we could get signal to call someone, and you were there, just chilling.”

“Don’t you remember?” Mina cooed.

“No. I remember...I was in…” Denki faltered.

“Maybe you sleepwalked, then. It was pretty far off from where we realised we lost you.” Sero mused. Kirishima sighed, crossing his arms.

“We’re lucky something worse didn’t happen, bro.”

“Yeah…” Denki glanced to his left, seeing the campsite, before realising there was a series of plants leading up to his and Sero’s tent. They all were swaying softly, little white, star-shaped flowers that seemed to wave to him. Denki felt his heart race, mind running as he tuned out the others. He glanced around rapidly before looking back to the tree line.

And there, a lone white wolf stared back with one white eye.

She bowed her head, and the others fell silent. She had one paw extended, before turning quietly and slowly back into the heart of the forest.

“What the hell was that?” Bakugou growled. Denki felt a flush rise to his cheeks, and he brought a hand up to his lips. The trees shuffled and whispered, as though they were saying goodbye, and the little white flowers followed the white wolf home.

a/n: environmental activist denki environmental activist denki

#denki kaminari #denki kaminari x reader #kaminari x reader #bnha x reader #bnhabookclub #bnhabookclub bingo #the secret of kells au #bingo event

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xthesparequeen-a · 4 years ago

Text

Continued From Here: X

@adversitybloomed asked: tosses a GIANT snowball at the back of her head, grinning as it hits home. ❝ that is for pushing me of a cliff! ❞

Anna felt as though the wind had been knocked from her lungs, reminding her of the very first time she jumped off the cliff. But where Mulan has hesitations, Anna had been raring to go, adrenaline rushing through her veins to the point where she hadn’t waited for Kristoff to sound off and just let herself leap off the cliff like a gazelle.

At least this time there wasn’t a giant snow monster to chase them to their fate.

The Queen’s laughter echoed through the mountain-scape as she brushed off the snow from the top of her head and shoulder, ignoring poor Mulan’s irritable yet playful rants. That is until she felt something hit the back of hit head, dead center, causing her to squeal in slight pain and chill and the snow dripped down into her attire and onto her skin.

“HEY! That’s not nice! Well...I mean, I kinda deserved it and it was totally worth it but still!”, she stated, trying to sound intimidating but her laughter only gave away that she was merely teasing. “Look, you can’t entirely blame me. You were taking way too long. And besides, I told you it was safe and look, you’re fine! Not a scratch, ‘cept maybe your pride but we can fix that! No problem. I do have one question though...” Shuffling to free herself from her snowy prison, she walked over to her friend with a rather wide grin on her face, extending a hand towards the warrior.

“Wannna climb back up and jump off the cliff again?”

#adversitybloomed

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quartings · 6 years ago

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A bunch of animals that aren’t Pokemon yet:

Here’s all the cool animals I could think of that don’t have Pokemon based off of them yet- as you’ll see, there’s about 300 or so! And when you count plants, fungi, inanimate objects, yokai, etc, plus the fact that Pokemon loves to repeat animals (Looking at the Gen 5-8 starters), you could say that we still have another 8 Gens of content to look forward to!

Invertebrates:

· Anemone

· Assassin Bug

· Black Widow Spider

· Bobbit Worm

· Bombardier Beetle

· Christmas Tree Worm

· Colossal Squid

· Cone Snail

· Cuttlefish

· Decorator Crab

· Earwig

· Flea

· Fly

· Giant Tube Worm

· Glaucus

· Glow worm

· Grasshopper

· Honeypot Ants

· Hummingbird Moth

· Leaf Bug

· Leech

· Lobster

· Locust

· Man O’War

· Mayfly

· Mimic Octopus

· Poodle Moth

· Proper Cockroach

· Proper Mosquito

· Scarab

· Sea Pig

· Sea Urchin

· Spider Crab

· Stalk-eyed Fly

· Stick Insect

· Tarantula Hawk Wasp

· Tardigrade

· Termite

· Thorn Bug

· Water Boatman

· Worm

Fish:

· Archerfish

· Barreleyefish

· Basking Shark

· Blobfish

· Both genders of Anglerfish

· Bubblehead Goldfish

· Chimera

· Clownfish

· Cookiecutter Shark

· Cowfish

· Flashlightfish

· Flying Fish

· Frilled Shark

· Frogfish

· Gar

· Garden Eel

· Goblin Shark

· Hammerhead Shark

· Icefish

· Lionfish

· Mahi-Mahi

· Megamouth Shark

· Moray Eel

· Oarfish

· Parrotfish

· Ribbon Eel

· Snakehead

· Stingray

· Stonefish

· Sturgeon

· Swordfish

· Thresher Shark

· Tripod fish

· Whale Shark

· Wobbegong

· Wolffish

Amphibians:

· Caecillian

· Cane Toad

· Flying Frog

· Midwife Toad

· Olm

Reptiles:

· Anole

· Armadillo Lizard

· Blue Tongued Skink

· Draco

· Flying Snake

· Gila Monster

· Iguana

· Jackson’s Chameleon

· Komodo Dragon

· Marine Iguana

· Sea Snake

· Snake-neck Turtle

· Thorny Devil

· Tuatara

Birds:

· Blue Jay

· Bowerbird

· Burrowing Owl

· Canary

· Cassowary

· Cockatoo

· Cock of the Rock

· Condor

· Cormorant

· Crane

· Emu

· Flamingo

· Frigate Bird

· Goose

· Hoatzin

· Hornbill

· Hummingbird

· Jacana

· Kakapo

· Kea

· Kingfisher

· Kiwi

· Kookaburra

· Lyrebird

· Oilbird

· Peacock

· Potoo/Nightjar

· Puffin

· Roadrunner

· Sage Grouse

· Secretary Bird

· Shoebill

· Snowy Owl

· Stork

· Turkey

· Umbrellabird

Mammals:

· Aardvark

· Armadillo

· Aye Aye

· Babirusa

· Baiji

· Bilby

· Bottlenose Dolphin

· Capybara

· Cheetah

· Chinese Water Deer

· Coati

· Colugo

· Dalmatian/Corgi/Daschund/Greyhound/Chihuahua/Husky

· Dingo

· Foosa

· Gazelle

· Golden Mole

· Hyrax

· Irrawaddy Dolphin

· Jerboa

· Lemming

· Llama

· Manatee

· Moose

· Musk Ox

· Naked Mole Rat

· Narwhal

· Okapi

· Platypus

· Porcupine

· Possum

· Proboscis Monkey

· Proper Gorilla

· Proper Kangaroo

· Proper Rhino

· Quokka

· Ram

· Saiga

· Slow Loris

· Snow Leopard

· Solenodon

· Sperm Whale

· Star-nosed Mole

· Tarsier

· Tenrec

· Warthog

· Wolverine

· Wombat

Prehistoric:

· Dodo

· Thylacine

· Giant Auk

· Megaloceros

· Smilodon

· Megatherium

· Glyptodont

· Coelodonta

· Phorusrhacos

· Basilosaurus

· Argentavis

· Spinosaurus

· Ankylosaurus

· Parasaurolophus

· Hatzegotpterix

· Koolasuchus

· Triceratops

· Shunosaurus

· Iguanadon

· Liopleurodon

· Elasmosaurus

· Opthalmosaurus

· Therezinosaurus

· Utahraptor

· Yi Qi

· Tapejara

· Ornithocheirus

· Stegosaurus

· Dimetrodon

· Dunkleosteus

· Heliocoprion

· Stethacanthus

· Diplocaulus

· Cameroceras

· Pterygotus

Mythical/Cryptid:

· Beast of Bodmin

· Beast of Dartmoor

· Bigfoot

· Cerberus

· Chimera

· Chupacabra

· Flatwoods monster

· Fresno Night Walkers

· Gargoyle

· Griffin

· Ice Wyrm

· Jackalope

· Jersey Devil

· Minotaur

· Mongolian Death Worm

· Mothman

· Nessie

· Ningen

· Owlman

· Pegasus

· Quetzalcoatl

· Ropen

· Wolpertinger

And there’s probably many more I don’t know of or forgot!

#pokemon #pokemon gen 8 #zoology #paleobiology #cryptozoology #q speaks #my writings

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imajin-that · 6 years ago

Text

Snickerdoodles

Pairing: Chanyeol x reader

A/N sorry for so little content lately. Lots of stuff had happened! In the mean time, I’ve written a Chanyeol one shot! I hope you like it!! And please let me know if you’d wanna see more, it was fun to write!

XX Minnie

Summary: when your first Meet comes around and you’re supposed to find an alpha, all you want to do is run away. But maybe some hot cocoa and cookies might make it better ;)

The high school gym smelled like sweat and hormones, causing you to cross your arms and wish your best friend wasn’t already mated so he could go through this with you. But then, thinking about how happy Wonho made Hyungwon, you couldn’t really be upset.

The Meet was when alphas and omegas who’ve presented and learned all about the bodies of their sub gender and the opposite sub gender (kind of like sex ed, but actually relevant and honest information.) The training took the course of three years and then you were paired with an Alpha/Omega pair. The two were meant to show what a healthy relationship was like, as well as answer any questions you’d have about the genders. You would be with them for a year and then you would be assigned to a biannual Meet, either in February or November depending on what time of year you presented. You weren’t required to find a Mate on your first meet, but you’d go to every Meet until you did find someone.

Glancing around the gym again, you wished Taemin had been able to come with you. He would have been if his heat hadn’t started. It was no one’s fault, and yet you felt like the universe had it out for you. All of these random alphas who looked ready to pounce, like a lion on a gazelle. You weren’t comfortable and you hand kept twitching to your back pocket, wanting so bad to call Jonghyun and have him comfort you and remind you that any alpha who even looked at you wrong would have to deal with him. You clenched your fists, no, he was taking care of Taemin and you would be fine. Hopefully.

Deciding to walk around the room and away from the nearest exit, you pulled your sweater around your fingers and bit your lip. The hormone’s got stronger the further you strayed towards the crowd. Smells like plenty of people found a match, you thought, heat rushed to your face.

“Make sure you remember to breathe. I know the stench can be strong, but you also have to be able to smell if anyone is compatible with you.” Taemin spent his preheat simultaneously nesting and reminding you of anything he could remember before throwing you to the wolves, so to speak.”I know I won’t be able to be with you for this, but everything will be okay. Don’t settle. You can do as many Meets as you need to find your Mate. It can take time. You can request to go to Meets in other cities as well if you feel like no one here is appealing to you.” In the end trying to make the bed look just right ended up taking his full attention. You left that night feeling anxious about the Meet and worried about Taemin.

This time, when your fingers twitched for your phone, you grabbed it and pulled up the contact My Frog Prince.

I’m panicking. Please send help.

Kekeke and end your suffering? Too easy.

Aren’t you supposed to be a prince?

I’m Hoseok’s prince

Gross.

Kekeke

Meet me for coffee after so I can pretend this didn’t happen and I wasn’t unbearably awkward

Course xx

Sometime during your complaining, they brought out cookies and hot chocolate. You couldn’t see it, but you could smell it. Sure, you were technically supposed to be looking for your mate, but a few cookies couldn’t hurt anyone, right? Besides, refreshments were usually kept by a wall, so maybe you could temporarily get away from the mix of scents that were invading the air. It wasn’t normally this bad, but the Meet’s were designed to bring out the natural scents, which usually meant someone getting turned on. It may be a natural part of life, but it doesn’t make it any less gross to smell. Cutting through the crowd towards the cookie and cocoa smell, you stumbled a little when you noticed that there is no refreshments.

What the hell? You could still smell them. Your brow furrowed in confusion before making eye contact with melted chocolate irises. Ah shit. You breathed a sigh through your nose. Okay, so you’re smelling your mate. Your mate who is a thousand feet tall, with wide eyes, and the cutest damn ears you have ever seen. Wasn’t this stuff supposed to take like more time to realise? Of course, at that thought the biggest grin slid onto his face as he started walking toward you. You just continued staring, slightly bummed that there was no cookies just your mate, and that meant that you’d be waiting longer for food and now you were hungry and “That’s really not fair.”

“Umm.. What?” His voice was deep and very confused despite the fact that he was still smiling, a little smaller now, but still noticeably there. “I’m Chanyeol. And I’m pretty sure you’re my mate.”

“Umm, yeah. You, uh, smell good.” Really? That’s all you can say, what the hell? “I mean I’m Y/N. It’s nice to meet you. Um. Do you want to talk first or register with the, um, people and go?” Again, what? But Chanyeol just giggles cutely.

“We can register with the Mating Council as potentials and then leave to get to know each other?” You nodded, not wanting to say something else that was stupid.

The two of you walked to the council’s table in silence, Chanyeol slightly ahead of you to the right, it was a protective pose. It confused you a little because most alphas didn’t take that pose until officially mated. You kind of liked it, the show causing you to preen a little. You knew it was technically early for it, but considering how strong his smell still was, even in the midst of all the different smells, there was a really good chance you were mates. Like really really good. Like 99% chance and that 1% would shock you and confuse you if he isn’t your mate kind of chance. Of course, the council would assign Jonghyun and Taemin to keep an eye on you guys for the next few weeks and then the council themselves would keep an eye on you to see how compatible you were. Only then would you two be allowed to mate officially. Though within that time, Chanyeol was free to brand you has his. Either with scenting or with a collar, or both. You lifted your hand to your throat, how pretty Chanyeol’s collar would look on you. Blinking suddenly, you shook yourself out of your thoughts. The council hadn’t even approved the pre registration yet.

Coming back to the present, you realized you and Chanyeol had stopped and he was speaking with the Council.

“I see.” Council member Kim spoke quietly, but the authority was there. “We have base cataloged your scents, so we know what they should be. Each of you will have to describe each other’s. You first.” He levelled his gaze at you and sat back a little.

“Snickerdoodles,” You glanced at Chanyeol but shied away, eyes darting back to the council member. “And hot chocolate. But the kind that you get when it’s cold outside and you’re sat inside with the fire going as you watch you favorite show while cuddled under a blanket.”

“And what does she smell like, Mr. Park?”

“She smells like a misty lake, and crisp, freshly fallen leaves when everything is still and silent at 6 am. She smells like fresh coffee and the warmth that seeps into your fingertips and bones as you drink it on a snowy winter morning.” The way he described you had contented warmth curling up your stomach and into your chest, settling into your heart. His eyes were soft as he gazed down at you, expression so warm and kind already. You wondered how soft it would look once you got to know each other.

“That... “ The council member started his sentence, pausing to take his glasses off and rub his eyes. “That was the first time we’ve heard anyone describe a feeling that matches with the scent in a long time. I’m very excited for your future together. I’d be happy to sign the pre registration.”

When the two of you stepped out onto the street, the sudden rush of cold caused a harsh shiver to run down your body. The sun was already starting to set, fall weather pushing the sun low on the horizon earlier and earlier. Chanyeol pulled you closer to him and wrapped an arm around your shoulders, warm body helping to expel the cold trying to seep into your bones. You looked up at him, grateful.

“Where should we go?” Chanyeol’s deep voice was quiet as he spoke, words meant only for you.

“Y/N!” Confused you looked around until you spotted two males on the next block. One was tall and lanky, his mittened hand in the air as he called to you. The other was muscular, his large frame almost completely overtaking the other’s as his arms wrapped around the omega’s.

“Hyungwon!” You called back, giggling. Too excited to see your friend, you rushed across the street, momentarily forgetting the alpha behind you.

“We’re here to save you, my dear.” Wonho spoke, a wide smile on his face as he pulled you into a hug, Hyungwon still in the middle.

“Hey, hey, don’t squish me!” Hyungwon squealed. All three of you burst into giggles.

“Aww, you really are my prince.” You jumped in shock when a warm hand touched your back and just rested there.

“Hello, you must be friends of Y/N. I’m her perspective mate, Chanyeol.” A large hand reach out to the two boys in front of you. When you looked up, momentarily worried he would be upset, all you could see was a genuine smile on his face. “Y/N looked really happy to see you guys. We were going to go somewhere to get to know each other. Would you like to come with?”

“We came to take Y/N to coffee. There’s a sit down cafe not too far from here. What do you two think?” Wonho turned to you and Hyungwon. Both of you nodded in assent.

“Lead the way.” Chanyeol took your hand as he spoke, a dimple showing as he smiled.

The four of you spent hours at the cafe talking and getting to know Chanyeol. And you were thankful the other two were there, it showed you how kind your potential alpha was. And in just those couple hours you knew that Chanyeol was going to be your forever. A small smile curved on your lips as you thought of the future. What a happy future it would be.

#park chanyeol #pcy #exo imagines #exo scenarios #exo #exo k #chanyeol x reader #chanyeol fluff #chanyeol imagine #chanyeol scenarios

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atleion · 6 years ago

Text

It took me a while to finish this up, because it’s looooong~ But, here is part 2, the continuation of THIS STORY HERE . I was going to do a header for this one, but I spent all day writing and I’m too excited to wait until I finish drawing and coloring the header image. XD So, until then, it’s all text, baby. I’ll post what was the header image for this when I finish it up, though. So, uhm... For the curious who have been following these. Or to the aether. I’ll throw it out to either, because, AH. I love writing this stuff.

"Where have you two been?"

Like urgent fire, the words found Atleion and Elyia as they emerged from the thick brush of the forest. The sun had nearly fallen, painting the sky a wide array of pastel tones that nearly sang. The soft breeze of the day was crisp, and the symphony of the coming evening sang throughout the air.

Standing before the two Aurin children was another boy. Broad of shoulder and face, he glowered at them with piercing amber eyes. His thick jaw set with an accusatory sneer. Bathed in the light of the setting sun, his red hair shone like wildfire.

The red-headed boy grabbed hold of each of them, tugging them behind the trunk of a nearby tree. His small, pointed ears dropped down flat against his head.

Atleion and Elyia staggered as they were pulled forward. Each of them tripped over their feet, tails lashing and eyes wide. They shared a look with one another, and Atleion set his eyes on the ground.

"Don't be like that, Firethorn. We made it back in time." Elyia huffed. She nudged him away with each of her hands, then straightened her simple tunic.

Atleion's fingers curled about the base of his blue poncho, feeling the fringes and the texture of the woven garment. His tall ears drooped down, briefly bumping into the flowers left braided within his hair.

"Whatever." The red-headed boy, Firethorn, rolled his eyes. He peered around the base of the tree, taking in the surroundings with a keen precision. "Everyone's already gathering by the Olders burrow. If we go around, I think we can get by unseen."

He crouched down low to the ground. His ears pricked up, one flickering to the slightest noise of a cracking twig. "You owe me big time, Elyia."

A soft smile dawned upon Elyia's face. She brushed a few strands of her snowy white hair from her face and crouched low to the ground herself, settling next to Firethorn. Her long tail swayed over the soft grasses of the forest floor. "When we're all hunters, I'll let you take the first game. How is that?"

She turned her head briefly, motioning for Atleion to crouch down with each of them. He did, settling between them. His long, wavy hair swayed out with the motion, but the flowers held firm. He was smaller than each of his companions, delicate and soft. His wide eyes, a deep shade of charcoal, stared out from their hiding space at the village grounds before them.

"Flowers. Really?" Firethorn quirked his brows. He gave a shake of his head and a sigh. Before he even thought to say another word, Elyia's bestial glare set him right and he bristled. "W-what?" He asked of her.

Elyia left her gaze on him until she felt her thoughts were suitability conveyed. Without a word to the red-headed boy, she reached over to grasp one of Atleion's hands and give it a tight squeeze. "You look fine. Ready to run?"

Atleion's face painted red, washing out the array of freckles dappled from his cheeks to his nose. He held Elyia's hand tightly within his hand and gave a silent nod, tight-lipped as he'd been since their return to the village's outer perimeter. He had not even been able to bring himself to protest Firethorn's jostling and scowling face.

"I'll go first and signal. Just be careful. Olders are still around." Firethorn held a hand up before dashing from their hiding space. He moved with all the certainty and force of a raging bull, barreling from the security of the tree trunk 's shade to a nearby hedge. A short while after he entered the distant overgrowth, he was motioning for the other two children to follow his steps.

"You'll do great, Rainsong. I promise." Elyia gave her small, purple-haired companion another reassuring squeeze of the hand. Without another word, she tugged him along, bounding through the thick grass that led from the tree trunk to the dense foliage across the way. Every motion was smooth and practiced; her nimble feet stepped over twigs and pebbles, and as she entered the brush, she did so without hesitation or struggle.

Atleion followed after the graceful girl. His bare feet dug into the soft dirt beneath his toes. The feeling of old pine, grass, and earth flooded his senses each brief moment his feet collided with the ground. He ran as swiftly as he could, tripping and stumbling through the tall grass with all the grace of a wounded gazelle. By the time he reached the brush, he tumbled forward, crashing into Elyia.

She caught him quickly, brushing foliage from his soft poncho, and then the trek throughout their village, the Sea of Stars as it was often called, continued in necessitated silence.

For one who had never set foot within their quiet home, navigating their way through was an arduous task. The trees of the forest blended with those roaming throughout the village, and the grass grew tall, untamed as the wilds beyond its borders. To the undiscerning eye, there was no village to be found amidst the verdant green wood. Yet, to those who knew where to look, signs remained everywhere.

Nestled close to the trunks of several trees were holes that burrowed down beneath the roots. They followed at an angle, creating runs for those would-be settlers to travel in or out. Resting over each was a colorful awning propped up on sticks, each burrow marked by a different color, and each burrow neatly adorned.

Fortunately, the three children knew their way around such a hidden locale. The sound of wooden wind chimes filled the air as they passed from tree to tree, bush to bush, watching the procession of colorful awnings and burrow runs with an alert care. All three of them paused at every subtle sound too close to a footstep. Their ears, thickly furred, stood tall as they could; they were alert, like small animals treading cautiously into an open meadow.

One final run bore them to their destination on the far side of the burrow run, where the trees began to grow close to one another and vast. Their trunks were as the legs of mountains, with dark wood that spread out for what felt a great distance to small Aurin. Moss and vines worked their way up the tree bodies, and the grasses filled to the brim with radiant flora.

As Atleion moved through the ocean of grass, it tickled his face. It combed through his hair, laying gentle stalks over the waves of purple and lavender, dappled with the ornate white flowers that made the boy their home for the time. He released Elyia's hand, peering at the tall blossoms of white, and yellow, and blue all about them. His heart was pattering so quickly that he thought it might burst from his chest and bathe the plants in his life.

When he turned his head to his companions once more, they had arrived. The Olders' tree stood before them, distinct from all those throughout their forest. Flowers crawled up its trunk, all the way to its spire-like top, evergreen and ancient. It stretched higher into the sky than any before it, and, as such, cast a blanket of shadow down over the ground below.

Gathered in front of the tree, before the tall, soft white awning adorned in feathers, bone, and flowers that dangled from thin twine, were dozens upon dozens of Aurin. The crowd was neatly segmented, with older adults crowding about the back of the cluster, chattering amongst themselves with jovial whispers. More than one turned their gaze to the three children slipping from the grass to join the gathering, greeting them with smiles and the gentle stroking of their hair.

Towards the front of the mass of Aurin sat the youngest. Small before the mighty giant of the Olders' tree, they barely registered. There were not many of them, perhaps no more than thirteen of a similar age, with much younger children crowded about in front of the adults. Only those twelve or so moons of age sat separated from the pack of Aurin, directly in front of the burrow... And before them, standing vigilant sentry, was a fierce man.

His silver eyes firmly planted upon Firethorn, Atleion, and Elyia as they drifted to the segmented off group of twelve-moon old children to take a seat in the back. He furrowed his brows at them, bushy, thick, and unyielding. Amidst the shadows of the great tree, he was barely visible with his dark blue skin, only the white speckles that lined it glimmering when they caught the light of the falling sun.

Atleion shrank beneath the harsh gaze. He bunched the base of his poncho into his hands, grasping it tight enough the claws of his fingertips worked between the knitted fabric.

Elyia sat beside him, calmly wrapping her tail about the two of them. She kept her eyes forward, her face glimmering with a building excitement.

Firethorn, or Olyro, as he was often called, joined each of them, returning the gesture in turn as his tail too wrapped about the smallest of their group. It was a sign of silent solidarity, for this night ... Was the night their lives would change forever.

"Friends!"

The man standing next to the burrow stepped forward. Thick furs dangled from his body, covering him in a robe of beasts great and small, dark and light. He spread his arms out wide and shook his head to dispatch the long, straight hair within his face.

"Another year, another moon and season, has come and gone." He began. His voice was deep like a canyon, tender like the spring air to surround them.

"We have seen much. From the quelling of the angry Bark Bears, to the harsh cold of the snows. But as the spring does thaw the ice of winter, so too did we persevere, as our Olders before us, and theirs before theirs, and the great Old Ones before us all."

The man turned his head to the group of children separated from the crowd. With the motion, glittering stones attached to thin twine jingled, clattering with one another about his neck.

"Before us sit seeds within the soil long yet sown."

He placed his eyes on Atleion, and the boy squeaked, quickly hiding his gaze. As such was done, the blue skin man's face softened. He inhaled a deep breath, once more looking to the gathered crowd of Aurin, a sea of faces in near every color.

"As too does the year pass, so shall we one day join those before us in the Weave, in all that is life, here and gone. These kits, though small, are our futures."

He closed his eyes. "The Old One's flowers stir this night that they might bloom when the moon is high, and as they shall, so too may these seeds before us begin to grow under their guidance."

The man cleared his throat. He stepped to the side of the awning and burrow, peering at the shadowy blackness leading down, far beneath the ground.

"Before the Oldest of those yet living. Before the Ancestors long since gone on this hallowed evening. May they speak their promises unto the Weave that their paths be marked, their callings known, and their journeys begun."

Hushed whispers filled the crowd, only to soon fall silent. A hundred eyes bore down upon the children, watching them with equally as many emotions. Pride, wistfulness, love, even disdain found them within their space before the great tree.

"My Kits." The man's tone softened as he turned to the children to speak. His eyes grew easy, and his tall ears pointed forward attentively. He looked to each of them in fond hope. "Who among you would speak first?"

The small group of children huddled close together. Each of their eyes sat wide, staring up at the fur adorned man with a mixture of fear and awe. Not one stirred from their place upon the ground.

All about them, the world seemed to condense. Atleion could feel the myriad of emotions permeating the air. His heart roared. The fur upon his ears and tail rose to their very tips, and he breathed a stilted breath, certain the answer to the man, Shaderoot's, question was not he.

Amidst the silence, a pressure in his shoulder captured his attention. He turned his head towards it, only to see Olyro, Firethorn as he was sometimes called, using him to leverage rising to his feet.

The red-headed boy straightened his back as he stepped around the huddled group of children, walking to the very front. His tail flicked back, the sharp white tip snapping as if to punctuate a silent answer.

The man in furs, Shaderoot, set one hand upon the boy's shoulder, urging him towards the run that would lead into the deep burrow.

"Then so it is... Firethorn. Go. They await you before the Matria's council."

Olyro did not look back at his friends. He took slow steps, breathing in and out equally as slow, until he came to the run. Quickly, he slid down and disappeared from view.

The crowd stood in utter silence. Only the howl of the breeze, the call of far off beasts, and the tender tone of wooden wind chimes filled the air about the village of Aurin.

"It'll be okay. I'm here." Elyia whispered. She leaned against Atleion, wrapping her arm defensively into his. She did not look to him, however, focused intently on the burrow's entrance.

Atleion swallowed a lump in his throat. He had not realized he were trembling until Elyia's arm steadied his own.

The silence continued as the sun passed below the horizon, birthing the night. Stars twinkled high within the blue and black sky, and the moons of Arboria showered them all in their pale beauty.

It was that moment Olyro emerged from the burrow. He paused next to Shaderoot at the entryway, grasping something firmly within his hand. It was a knife of polished bone, its handle fine wood wrapped in neatly tanned leather. He held it high, a smile on his face. His eyes lit up with prideful fire as the gathered crowd cheered and cooed, for this day, and this knife, marked his journey to becoming a hunter.

With the cheers still in the air, Olyro took his place with the standing crowd, soaking in the hugs, pets, and ruffled hair that came as he surrounded himself with the village's grown Aurin. The younger children, not part of this ceremony, clamoured to crowd him, tails earnestly swaying and voices mewling.

With the excitement in the air, those children on the ground, awaiting their turn, began to clamour over one another. One after the other, they would descend into the burrow, only to re-emerged to the sound of cheers and praise. Some carried knives like Olyro's, others carried small sticks adorned in leaves, holding them high above their heads when they emerged as if to declare something to those all around them. Each was met with the same, cooing, hugs, kisses, ruffles. Hands fell over them, or lifted them up, engulfing them in a sea of affection and pride.

Soon... Only two children remained in the former, separated pile of twelve-moon old youth. Elyia and Atleion.

Elyia held onto Atleion's arm. Her tall ears, slender and rabbit-like, pointed towards Shaderoot as if she dared to challenge he make her move before she was ready.

Shaderoot stared back at her. His eyes drifted between the two of them, waiting, watching each move.

"You'll do great."

Elyia whispered. She gradually released Atleion's arm. Her fingers stroked his hair, carefully dodging the flowers she'd braided into its length. A smile fell upon her face as she rose to her feet, for it was her time.

She left him there, passing Shaderoot on her way to the burrow run. Calm and graceful as the wind itself could be, she descended ... And Atleion was alone.

Atleion instinctively reached to hold the edge of his poncho. His doeish eyes were wide with terror, and he felt the weight of a hundred or more eyes upon him. He did not dare look to the crowd of his gathered village, trembling from his seat upon the ground. His woolen ears drooped down far as they could, and he felt tears welling up in his eyes as he dwelt on the pressure that was soon to come on this night ...

Elyia emerged from the burrow. Her genial features were sweet like the flowers of spring as she held a polished bone knife up over her head. Her long white hair caught in the wind, fanning out. Like those before her, she joined the crowd, tail eagerly swaying and laughter ringing. She turned her eyes to Atleion and pressed her hand to her heart. There was no more she could do for him this night.

Atleion hunched into his clothing in an attempt to make himself as small as he possibly could. He could hear quiet whispers on the breeze, only for them to cease when a shadow fell over him. His head turned up, and his gaze met with that of Shaderoot's. Try as he did not to stare, Atleion gaped at the silver eyes, familiar to him, but not in such a state. He could not read them as the man knelt down before him, setting his hands on his shoulders.

Shaderoot leaned forward, setting his face near Atleion's ears before he whispered something inaudible to those around them.

But Atleion heard it, clear as he could hear anything.

Listen, and you will know what to say.

Atleion swallowed a lump in his throat. He rose to his feet; his legs buckled beneath him, trembling like a newborn fawn taking their first steps through the forest. He did not loosen the grip on his poncho as he walked towards the pale white awning. The wooden wind chimes caught in his ears, and the world seemed to fall away from him. His eyes were fixated on the hole in the ground, padded down with dried grass and soft leaves to line the slope leading inward. He could see tiny golden lights, like fireflies, filling the night air around him, around the Olders' great and sturdy tree...

Atleion held his breath. He placed one foot in front of the other, crouching down near the burrow's entry way. Slow and anxious, he scooted down it, sliding through the brush until he no longer could hear or see the world outside of the dark underground.

It was nearly black, and the heady smell of earth filled his lungs. Still the fireflies danced, all along the tunnel, to the very base where it opened to a grand room supported by the roots of the tree itself. Vines hung from the ceiling of the burrow, each holding an array of adornments. Animal bones, dried blossoms, carved wood, and leaves, all mingled as one, dangling from their twine as the fireflies danced about the cavernous space.

Atleion hunched down as he passed beneath them. His toes curled into the dirt, only to find there was not dirt. Piles of warm furs stretched out over the ground. Every step he took was like walking upon a woolen beast's back. It was warm, almost comforting, until he set his eyes upon those few souls who named this burrow theirs.

There were four of them. Old, grey, and weary, they sat against the far wall of the burrow. The fragrant scent of tea, and herb, swirled about them, rising to the very height of the cavernous burrow. There were three women, and a single man, each with thickly furred ears and tails, and each covered in warming furs as Shaderoot himself had been. Glittering stones, or bones, sat about their necks on twine. Some held long sticks upon their laps, unused canes, and others still held hollow, thin bowls filled with tea.

Before them sat two baskets, a polished bone knife in one, a stick decorated with leaves and blossoms in the other.

Atleion paused within the center of the room, keeping his distance. Not a word left him as he shivered in his spot.

"Ah. Little Rainsong. You've grown bigger, haven't you?" One of the women, thin, lithe, and bony cooed. She shifted upon her seat, leaning forward as if to take a closer look at him.

"How would you know, you old coot! You're blind as a newborn Moss Mole!" Another of the old women howled with laughter, plump and round of face. She patted her knees with her hand and waved once through the air.

"Hush, the both of you." The old man seated with them spoke with a voice sharp as a spear. His face was obscured by the mass of white hair atop his head, stretching far to the ground. His patchy tail, grey and partially missing, curled about him.

The final woman, with hair neatly braided, and rosy red cheeks, rose to her feet. She balanced against her walking stick, and her very joints seemed to struggle with the motion of standing. More than one bone creaked as she rose.

"Come closer, my child. Closer." She gestured with her bony hands, beckoning him nearer to them. "Let me see you, now. My. You have grown taller, and your ears no longer fall."

Atleion remained rooted in place, staring forward with wider eyes than before. His lip quivered.

"Bah! There's always one, I tell you. Like a little leaf. The wind will just carry him away." The old man huffed. The statement triggered a cough, and, soon, he were doubling over, seeking his shallow bowl of tea.

The bony woman who beckoned Atleion hummed softly. She took one step, then another, the beautiful stones about her neck shining in the light of the fireflies and sparsely placed, thin-leather lanterns.

"Hush, Whisperfoot." She spoke firmly. Her eyes, blue as a clear day, settled upon Atleion as she drew closer.

"My little Rainsong. Have you your words to speak?"

Atleion stared at the old woman. He nearly tore his poncho with the force of his grip. His mouth opened, then shut. His lips drew into a thin line.

"Is that so?" Said the plump woman in the back of the room. She laughed once more, wheezing and chortling. "A man of words he will be, I am sure!"

Atleion's tail curled between his legs, wrapping about his ankle. He inhaled a deep breath. "I... I... I'm... I want to... I..."

He stammered every part of his statement.

The bony woman reached over with one hand, pressing it to his freckled cheek. She held his face firm, setting her eyes on his even as he tried to shift them away. When she release him, she looked back to her three companions and smiled gingerly.

"If you would be so kind..." Her ears, shaggy and tall, leaned forward towards them.

The three stared back at her, then shared a look with one another.

"Of course, Softleaf." The plump woman said as she rose to her feet, assisting her companions. Their bodies ached and groaned as they moved, passing by Atleion and the bony old woman. As each of the old Aurin passed, they brushed their hands over the small boy's hair with a tender sweetness, even the gruff old man with his partially missing tail.

The bony woman, Softleaf, returned her focus to Atleion. "Thank you, my friends... Enjoy the flowers above."

She smiled, waiting patiently until the three old Aurin left the burrow. She stood alone with Atleion, amidst the cavernous burrow, and the soft warm glow of the thin-leather lanterns.

"What troubles you, my little one?" Softleaf grasped her walking stick, weakly drawing herself close to the ground. Her long tail, bushy and covered in fur so thick it sagged, curled about her feet. "Your eyes sing of fear."

Atleion released his hold on the edge of his poncho. The fringed garment dropped down, over sized and large upon him. He folded his arms around himself as if to hold himself tightly, only for the old woman to pull him close and wrap hers about him.

"There is nothing to fear." Softleaf cooed, stroking his long hair. She placed a soft kiss atop his head. "Tell me. Why do you hesitate so?"

Atleion unfolded his arms, sinking into the hug. He grabbed hold of the thick furs over the old woman, burying his face into them. "I don't know what to say."

His shoulders shook and he sobbed. His little body tensed up. "If I say something wrong, then... Then..."

The old woman smiled. She ran her fingers through his hair once more, mindful of the flowers braided within. "There is no right or wrong path to take, or promise to make. Listen. And you will know what to say."

She held him, cradling the small boy as the fireflies gathered around.

In a hushed whisper, Atleion spoke. His voice rested, muffled against the furs he pressed his face into. "I can't."

Softleaf hummed. She pulled one small flower from his hair, holding it within her shaky hand. It tumbled to the floor, sitting among the animal furs.

"Is that so?" She asked him sweetly. She leaned back, seating herself upon the ground in front of him. A tiny laugh erupted from her throat, and she pulled him down to sit with her.

She listened to the empty sound of the room, humming quietly as she continued to pluck flowers from his hair. Each flower she plucked, she gently placed upon the floor around them.

"Tell me, my sweet boy. What shall we do about that?" She tipped his head upward to meet her eyes.

Atleion's own eyes filled with tears. They wandered frantically, unsure of what to say. Barely audible, he spoke. "I don't know."

She chuckled warmly, placing another flower on the ground. "Mm. So it would seem you do not know a great deal." She paused, tracing her fingers upon the petals. "Beautiful, are they not? That you might wander so far to find them, these little blossoms. Many are afraid of the forest."

Atleion rested his head against the old woman, still holding onto the furs. "I like it..."

The old woman plucked another flower, placing this one upon Atleion's tail. She hummed once more. "It is both dangerous and kind to those who might follow it." She closed her blue eyes and her tall ears drooped forward beneath their own weight. "I like it as well. Its songs, and voice..."

Atleion's tense posture eased. He uncurled his hands from the furs over the old woman. "I do too."

Softleaf paused. Her eyes thoughtfully sat upon the young boy nestled on the ground with her. Her tail wrapped about the two of them and she set her walking stick on the hard ground. Without a word, she reached to the back of her neck, pulling one of the twine string necklaces up over her head. Dangling from it, neatly tied, was a stone clear as glass, reflecting everything that stood before it in fragments.

She leaned forward, setting the necklace over Atleion's head. She worked it over his curly mass of hair, settling it calmly around his neck. Once placed, she straightened it, and her quaint smile only grew. Her blue eyes twinkled with fondness and certitude.

"Repeat after me, little one."

Atleion looked up at her. His ears drooped down. His fingers grasped the stone, and he turned his gaze to it, catching sight of his own reflection within it.

"Guide my hand, winds of old." Softleaf began. Her voice remained a hushed whisper. "Fill my heart as the rivers. Clear my mind as the skies. Shine light that I might see."

She reached over with each of her hands, cupping Atleion's cheeks as he spoke, repeating her words after each phrase with confusion. "That I might walk among a sea of stars... And know the way."

Atleion exhaled as he said the last word. He could feel a chill creeping across his skin, reaching down to the very bones within his body. His ears leaned up tall and he murmured something yet indistinguishable. He wasn't sure what the word meant, but as he uttered it, Softleaf placed a kiss upon his forehead.

She patted him on the back. "Go now. Before you miss this year's bloom. I am sure your friends are waiting, my little one."

Atleion blinked. He stood up, hands still clutching the stone attached to the necklace around his neck. "But I didn't choose---"

The old woman raised a single hand. Her eyes shone with a knowing fondness. "Your words are spoken, and they are known."

She reached for her walking stick, settling it over her lap.

Atleion did not understand. One ear raised higher than the other. He turned to head back up the burrow run, pausing at the base of it to look back. As Softleaf smiled at him, he too smiled, hurrying up the run to join his village at long last.

He emerged from the burrow hole, the crowd still gathered, even the three old Aurin who lived within the burrow with Softleaf. They all waited, a hundred eyes upon him, expecting something... That never came.

Atleion did not let go of the necklace around his neck, staring at the group with wide eyes. A few quiet murmurs caused his ears to flicker.

From the crowd, Elyia looked to him. She held her hand above her head shortly, mouthing something to him.

Atleion hesitated. He did not have a knife, or a stick, to hold over his head. He had nothing.

... Or did he?

He inhaled a deep breath. Nervously, he pulled the necklace over his head, holding it up where the crowd of Aurin could see.

He was not met with cheers or joyous coos. There was no clapping, or clamoring. There was only forward ears, soft whispers, and the sound of wooden wind chimes on the evening breeze.

Atleion looked to Elyia, who smiled. She tucked her hands behind her back and her tail began to sway.

As Atleion stood still, the weight of a hand on his back caught his attention. He turned his gaze upward, peering at a dark blue face, dappled in white specks, and home to silver eyes. They met his own, and for a moment, Atleion was unsure if he may have done something wrong.

Then it came. The little crowd of Aurin erupted into cheers and coos. They didn't wait for him to come to them. Rather, they crowded around, ruffling his hair, pulling him close. Atleion squirmed within the grasp of adults and peers, smothered in a sea of praise and fondness, until he felt Elyia nearly tackle him into the ground.

"What is it?" She asked him, laughing and hooting.

Atleion's ears fell flat. He held the necklace close to his heart.

"I don't... I don't know."

#WSRP #WildstarRP #Wildstar #Aurin #Shortstories #Arboria #I'm too excited to wait to post this #I love writing about Atty's life on Arboria #It actually informs a lot of his personal dilemmas and weird things around him and I enjoy it because it helps me focus my thoughts #plus I get to explore these cursory characters that are DEAD or are #not able to join in on Nexus adventures #Looking at you Elyia #And now I can write this however I want without having to obsessively justify anything #fuck yeah #FREEDOM

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gazellefamily · 4 years ago

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THE BROOD (1979)

"Technically this is a 70's 'Vorce movie. But with that old twist of 'vorce animosity manifesting in plasmopsychic monster-imps. Can you imagine how many Brood-lings would be running around in a Woody or Mazursky film? But yo, I think after Oliver Reed's creepy institute was shut down it would soon become studio where Rush records 'Tom Sawyer'... or its poss just common for successful Ontario residents to have large wood-panelled rooms that look out at snowy forests" -Sonny Gazelle

“Amazing. Vorce sci-fi. Cronenberg’s movies are so fucking cold that I’m afraid to touch the tv. They also feature all of the greatest late 70s/early 80s Canadian architecture in existence. When I went to Toronto I was like, ‘Oh fuck I’m in a Cronenberg movie.’ Montreal too. There's something so identifiably Canadian about this stuff, Cronenberg, Rush, whatever, that you can’t quite put your finger on but you know it when you see it.” -Tommy Gazelle

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ogdensburgpubliclibrary · 6 years ago

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1/15/19

LIBRARY CLOSED The library will be closed next Monday the 21st in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

MOVIE NIGHT Join us this Thursday the 17th at 5:30 PM for a snowy animated movie about a quest for a mythical beast – which may not be what you expect. Popcorn and drinks will be provided.

DROP-IN COMPUTER HELP Do you have questions about the new tablet you got over the holidays? Want to figure out how to use the internet or write a letter in Microsoft Word? Come to the library this Saturday the 19th from 11 AM – 12 PM or next Tuesday the 22nd from 6 – 7 PM for some personalized one-on-one help. The service is first-come, first-served, but you can call ahead to reserve an appointment.

REGULAR PROGRAMS Music and Movement for toddlers is Tuesday at 10 AM. Stories and Songs, for ages 2 – 4, is on Saturdays at 10:30 AM. Call the library or check online for all of the details on all of our upcoming events.

JUST ARRIVED We have several new nonfiction sets in our children’s department. Help them learn about computers with the “Coding is Everywhere” series, including Coding in Your Home, Coding in Computers, and Coding in Video Games. If their older siblings have been playing Minecraft and they want to join in, recommend our Starter Guide to Minecraft, Mining and Farming in Minecraft, and Building in Minecraft. For animal lovers, try the “How to Care for Your New Pet” series (whether or not you have a new pet,) including guides on puppies, kittens, gerbils, hamsters, rabbits, and goldfish. Older children might enjoy One Iguana Two Iguana, about the natural history of the Galapagos Islands. We also have a book about money (Spending and Saving) and, from America’s Test Kitchen, The Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs. Lego enthusiasts can check out Build It! Farm Animals. Children with an interest in the paranormal can try the “Haunted or Hoax” series: Haunted at Sea, Haunted Churches and Graveyards, Haunted Castles and Forts, and Haunted Towns and Villages. It’s Up to You, Abe Lincoln looks at the 16th president through the decisions that shaped his life. Finally, children can learn about Congresswoman Barbara Jordan of Texas in What Do You Do With a Voice Like That?. In fiction, we have two books featuring refugees: A Story Like the Wind features a group telling stories to one another as they hope for a better life, and The Fox Girl and the White Gazelle follows two girls bonding over their struggles.

We welcome your QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS, PURCHASE REQUESTS, AND PROGRAMMING IDEAS. Contact us at 312 Washington Street, [email protected], 315-393-4325, or through any of our social media sites (you can do a search for Ogdensburg Public Library or find the links on our website, ogdlib.org.)

REGULAR HOURS are 9 AM to 8 PM on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, 9 AM to 5 PM on Wednesday and Friday, and 9 AM to 3 PM on Saturday. We look forward to hearing from you and seeing you at your library!

#Closed for the Holiday #movie night #Drop-in computer help

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iamnotthedog · 7 years ago

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MORRISON: WINTER 1995

When Jeni finally returned from Africa, she was no longer the innocent, naïve, pudgy-faced college student that she had once been. Mom and Don and Adam and I all drove to snowy Chicago to pick her up at the airport. Her flight came in rather late in the evening, and I don’t really remember the night very well, but there is a photograph of the three siblings that helps things: Adam and Jeni and I are all in front of a large, floor-to-ceiling window in the airport, a waist-high railing running along the window’s length behind us. No planes or vehicles are visible outside; everything beyond the glass is blackened by the night sky. Adam is squinting in the flash of the camera over on the far right side of the shot; he is definitely much too far in the foreground to have been caught there purposely by the photographer, who was more than likely our mother.1 Adam looks young with his shaggy brown bowl-cut and baggy windbreaker—or I should say that he looks his age, as he was only seven—but the thinness of his face and his long arms and bony knees seems to suggest that he is or will soon be entering the first of many awkward life stages leading up to puberty. His already pale forehead and face are whitened even more so by the close flash of the camera, and distract from the actual subject of the photo, who was obviously supposed to be Jeni. I am in the center of the photograph, also distracting from Jeni but back behind her a bit, and unlike Adam, I am definitely locked firmly in the strong jaws of Father Puberty. My arms and legs don’t seem to fit my body, and my long pale face and tall forehead are spattered with red pimples. My shoulder-length blonde hair is tilted to the left, suggesting head movement, and my lips are twisting, contorting, coming out of a smile but not quite there yet. Jeni stands between Adam and I in a beautiful, hand-knit, African-looking hooded sweater, her face far more tan than Adam’s or mine, her hair pulled back into a tight ponytail. Both Jeni and I have our arms held out awkwardly, away from our torsos and pointed towards each other, but flaccid—we aren’t reaching for each other, but have just finished a hug and are pulling away. Everything about the photo says, “a bit too late on this one.” A classic mistake in many of Mom’s photographs.

I was taken aback at how skinny and tan Jeni was when we first saw her emerge from the tunnel that night. Her hair was bleached out from the sun, and her eyes were a light and stunningly radiant blue. She smelled of exotic oils, and hugged us all and told us repeatedly how glad she was to be home, then Adam and I mentioned that she probably wanted to eat some good ol’ American fast food, having eaten mostly Ugali for the past two years.2 Whether Jeni actually wanted fast food or not, she went along with the whole thing. We went to McDonald’s or Burger King or Arby’s or Wendy’s. Or maybe it was Taco Bell, though it’s questionable how American Taco Bell is. Taco Bell isn’t Mexican or American. It isn’t anything.

I remember sitting in that McDonald’s or Arby’s or Burger King or Taco Bell or Wendy’s, watching Jeni as she told us stories of disabling sickness and schoolhouse drama and wildlife safaris and fighting with local tribes over the building of her schoolhouse. She seemed a lot different to me: more independent, more confident, and definitely more boastful. Boastful in a good way, though. She wasn’t trying to impress as she always had when she was a teenager. She was self-assured, and it fit her well.

There are a couple particular stories Jeni told that first week that she was home that I either exaggerated to my friends as a child and lied about enough to actually believe them, or that actually happened and have stuck with me because of just how strange and alien to my sheltered and conservative American existence they had been up to that point. Whether I have been lying about them for all of these years or not, they have most definitely become so ingrained in my second hand memories of Jeni in Africa that they have become true to me, and I’ll even find myself telling them now that I am an adult, even though I have never actually confirmed whether they actually happened or not since reaching an age when I have learned that one doesn’t need to make things up in order to tell a good story.

The first story involved a cheetah and a local tribesman on a rainy July evening. Jeni was living in a very small, rural village at the time. The sun had set, and she was asleep in her windowless hut—the wind howling through the fields outside, rustling the eucalyptus trees—the rain pattering on her tin roof. She was awakened to a young tribesman peeking through her window, hissing at her.

“Psst!” he hissed. “Psst!”

“What?” she whispered, rolling over on her cot and pulling her blanket up to her chin. One can only imagine the thoughts rolling through her head—thoughts of murder, robbery, rape. “What do you want?”

“There is a cheetah on your roof,” the young man whispered back, straining his hoarse voice to be heard over the relentless rain. “Do not leave until I tell you it is okay.”

And that was that. A humid African night, Jeni lying awake on her cot, a young tribesman standing in her window, and a member of the fastest species of mammal in the world crouching on her roof in the rain, hoping one of them would run from the hut so it could give chase and have itself a hot meal. Jeni lay there for hours, her breaths short and quick, her muscles tense, but eventually she did fall asleep. She awoke in the morning to find the cheetah and the tribesman gone.

The second story involved Jeni’s first safari—an amazing journey that brought us pictures of baboons, elephants, giraffes and hippopotami, rhinoceros and zebras, wildebeests, hyenas, and gazelles, crocodiles, bison, and aardvarks. Jeni was in a bus with a dozen other people—mostly English tourists, but a few locals—and a short distance away, just across a wide open field, there were a few elephants walking across the horizon. The group was ogling the elephants and snapping pictures, when the safari guide turned and made a little yelping noise that was obviously an expression of concern. They all turned to find that behind them, on the other side of the bus, was another slightly smaller elephant—a “juvenile male,” the guide said—and he was obviously separated from his herd and not very happy about it. He was flapping his ears and shaking his head, grunting and stomping his front feet and making a whole bunch of racket.

The tour guide told the bus driver to stop creeping forward, and he told everyone else to sit down and stay still as he sat and reached down to the floor under his seat to grab a very, very large gun and a box of shells. “Just in case,” he said, smiling nervously. Then, before anyone could even register what was happening, the elephant trumpeted loudly and charged at the bus with its head held high and its ears sticking straight out to the sides, and the guide dropped his box of shells and everyone on the bus screamed and dove to the side of the bus that was furthest from the elephant, where they buried their heads in each others’ armpits and laps and some of them said short, quick prayers (like “Fuck, Jesus,” and “Oh, God.”)

Miraculously, though, the elephant pulled up just before smashing his head into the bus, then turned abruptly to the side with a heaving huff. He walked around the bus, so slowly, and he was close enough that they could all hear him breathing and look into his one beady eye and smell the strong, musty smell emanating from his skin. And as he walked away toward the rest of his herd some of the tourists noticed a heavy secretion coming from his penis and a couple of them got a nervous chuckle out of that.

The best thing that happened to Jeni in Kenya, though, was that she found love, or at least a few years’ worth. Not two weeks after Jeni had returned from the wild and unpredictable Kenyan countryside, Don and I were again in the car, this time going to pick up Jeni’s new boyfriend from the train station in Rockford, Illinois. His name was Jez, and all Don or I knew about him was that he was an Englishman—born and raised in Manchester—and that he was “really very nice” and had a lot of tattoos.

Jeni and Jez’s meeting is quite the romantic story, actually: Jez worked construction for the Peace Corps, and had been building the schoolhouse that Jeni was teaching in the whole time she lived in that rural little village in Kenya. At 35, Jez was roughly ten years Jeni’s senior, and he was a man’s man—a big dude with shaggy blonde hair and a round beer belly, his sunburnt arms covered in tattoos, and he had a satellite radio in his hut so he could listen to his Manchester United football games, and he kept track of all the stats in all the games and had built himself a little board in his hut that had all the players and the teams on it represented by little multi-colored, laminated paper squares, so he could move them all around to show not only what the teams’ standing were, but also what players had the most goals and assists and shots on goal, etc.

Jeni and Jez had really hit it off, making all their meals together and drinking wine together and Jeni had probably even pretended to care about football, and had maybe tried to tell Jez about her love for American football and the Green Bay Packers, and Jez had probably raised his eyebrows and pretended to feign interest, but had scoffed at the idea of “American football” when Jeni wasn’t looking. I’m sure they had also done all sorts of things that I don’t want to think about because Jeni is my sister. Then, one day after Jeni had been there for about a year or so, Jeni’s old boyfriend from Illinois State University—that poor sucker—had come all the way out to Kenya to see her. I don’t even remember the guy’s name, but he was pretty much the definition of a stereotypical liberal college kid with his ponytail and his necklace and upper-middle-class parents and his open-collared shirts and perpetual Howard Zinn book tucked under his arm. The poor dude had literally spent thousands of hard-earned dollars that he had saved up working in the school library or Applebee’s or Starbucks or wherever the fuck college kids worked in the early ‘90s to take planes and a train and a bus or two out to the middle of nowhere to spend just a few days with Jeni, and Jeni had put up with him for a while, but then had pretty much told him to fuck off so she could be with Jez. Then, before Jeni had left Kenya forever, she had told Jez that he was welcome to come stay with her in the U.S. And now Jez was done with his stint in the Peace Corps as well, and was coming to live in Morrison with Jeni for a while, and Don and I were picking him up and feeling a bit nervous about the whole thing.

Jez wasn’t hard to spot at the train station, as he was the only guy standing around on the sidewalk who looked like he had absolutely no idea where he was or what he was doing there. The first thing I noticed about him was that he looked a lot dorkier and less tough than Jeni’s stories had made him seem. And he was wearing long sleeves to cover his tattoos, more than likely out of respect for our parents, I suppose. He shook Don’s hand very firmly and politely with an awkward look on his face, like he had just been caught taking a shit on the lawn or something. Then he shook my hand and smiled. He seemed really quite happy that I was there, as if he hadn’t wanted to face Don alone, which made sense, I guess. He was meeting Don for the first time, and was probably nervous as hell. He was, after all, not only coming to visit Jeni, but to live with her. That was no small business.

After that initial meet and greet, Jez didn’t say much in the car for the rest of the duration of our ride from Rockford to Morrison. He was a quiet guy in general. A shy type. But it didn’t take him long to adjust to our family, and before long he was helping Don with all of his projects around the house and at the hardware store, and he’d drink some beers at night and open up to Adam and I when we were alone. Over the course of the following few months, I got quite a few stories out of him—stories that influenced me more than anyone could have possibly known at the time, if only because they made me want to leave even more so than Jeni’s stories had—to just plain go and keep going.

Jez’s parents had been really awful, mean-spirited people, and he had dropped out of school and left his home in Manchester when he was only fourteen years old to travel around the world, looking for work. He did an absolutely stunning amount of things to make a buck throughout his teens and early twenties, but the only things I can remember—the things I will, in fact, never forget—are the completely outrageous ones, of which there were two.

When Jez was eighteen, he came to the United States for the first time. He had no money when he arrived, and hadn’t even left J.F.K. before he started looking for work, which he found immediately. A fat, balding man in a bad polyester suit had himself a little crew that was running this pretty smooth operation straight out of the airport. They would drive people’s cars across the country for them so the people didn’t have to pay to have them trucked or flown or taken by boat or whatever. The people would arrive by plane at their destinations, and a day or two later their car would arrive. They’d pay the driver a couple hundred bucks and reimburse him for gas, and that was it. Transaction completed. The driver would then decide whether to fly back to his original place of departure, or to find another car to drive to another destination. Apparently the polyester suit guy had connections at all the major airports. So the day Jez arrived at J.F.K. he had simply walked up to the guy, showed him his papers, and told him he was looking for work, and later on that very same afternoon he had a pocketful of cash and he was driving a Buick Skylark to Los Angeles. He drove all over the United States for the next couple years, saw most of the major cities and took in the scenery in several of our National Parks, and made some relatively decent money in the process.

Right before Jez joined the Peace Corps, he was working as a contractor for a construction company and moonlighting as a bartender, but he had found himself in a tough spot due to some outstanding gambling debts that were a holdover from his pool sharking days—the days that came shortly after his car transporting days, but before his manual labor days. In order to pay off his debts, Jez started to do weirder and weirder things for cash. The strangest thing he ever did—according to him, at least—was to offer himself up as a guinea pig for a drug company.

The way Jez told it, he lived for three months at this little clinic that resembled a nut house—white walls, white floors, barred windows, everyone either wearing lab coats and carrying clipboards or wearing white paper hospital gowns with a light floral pattern on them and looking nervous and/or genuinely insane. There were a few recreation rooms in the clinic that were furnished with couches, televisions, pool tables, dart boards, and the like, and each of those rec rooms had one wall lined with one-way mirrors, so the men and women in the room could be watched by the men and women with clipboards.

The whole point of this clinic was to test the side effects of certain drugs that were to be put out on the market the following year. Each morning, afternoon, and night, Jez and his fellow paper-gown-wearers were fed pills. Most of them would get a placebo, of course, but one person would get the real thing. Jez wasn’t sure what the drugs were, necessarily, but he said some of them were definitely some heavy shit.

“It was a dreadful bore most of the time,” he told me as we sat on the hot tar roof just outside my bedroom one day, smoking cigarettes. “We’d all wake up, eat this disgusting cafeteria breakfast, take a pill, then read the paper or watch the tellie or whatever and hope that we either got a placebo or something good—something that made us high—and not something that made us sick.” He laughed. “Sometimes, though, somebody would get a really wacky drug—really crazy shit—and they’d go mental. I was shooting pool with this bloke one night who was lining up a shot on the eight ball when he just dropped his stick, stood up straight, and then just wandered off. He had this blank look in his eyes—he was totally stoned.”

“Damn,” I said, laughing. “How much money were they paying you, anyway? Was it worth it even on the off chance that you might get brain damage or something?”

“I mean, it wasn’t THAT much. I don’t remember the exact amount. But it was a good amount. Enough for me to pay the bills, so I could use my money from building houses to pay off my debts before I went to Africa.”

So Jez went from driving cars to being a pool shark to working construction and bartending and acting as a guinea pig for drug companies in his free time, and he had several other odd jobs in there, as well—jobs that that he referred to as “too boring to mention.” Then he finally decided one day to do something productive—something for the good of humanity—and he joined the Peace Corps, where he met Jeni. And now this intrepid world traveler was moving to tiny little Morrison, Illinois.

Jeni and Jez moved into Don’s old apartment above True Value Hardware—the same apartment I had visited Don in with my mother as a little boy—and Jeni started substitute teaching around town. The plan was for them to both save money, and then move somewhere together. Pretty soon, though, they just decided to go ahead and get married so Jez could get his Visa.

The wedding was in our living room, and was very small and nice. Since I’m apparently on a photograph kick all of a sudden, I happen to still have a couple of pictures from the thing: one is of me standing between the two grandmas with my hands folded and a smart ass look on my face. I’m wearing a shirt and tie, some seriously baggy brown corduroys—the bigger the better was the trend among teenage skateboarder types at the time—and I have a belt with an alien head on the buckle. The other is of Jeni and Jez at the post-wedding dinner table, Jeni with her mouth wide open and a maraschino cherry on her tongue, and Jez looking genuinely horrified. The great thing about that shot in the context of this whole story is that Jez is on the far left of the picture, so far left that half his body is cut out of the shot, and—just like Adam in the airport picture I described earlier—he is much too far in the foreground. His glasses are nothing but a reflection of the flash—you can’t even see his eyes.

Another of Mom’s finest photographic efforts of a key family event.

After Jeni and Jez got married they moved up to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where Jez got a job as a bartender and Jeni got a job teaching at a junior high school and began slowly working her way back to being a good ol’ hard-working American.

Mom has always been a dedicated but hilariously inept photographer of family comings and goings. ↩︎

Ugali is a cornmeal porridge, a staple starch eaten with almost everything in eastern and southern Africa. It is traditionally cooked to a doughy consistency so it can be picked up with the hands, rolled into a ball, and dipped into sauce or stew, or used to pick up meat. Adam and I had heard about ugali in Jeni’s letters, and we both definitely brought it up to show our big sister that we had been paying attention. ↩︎

#peacecorps #africa #kenya #ugali #safaris #cheetahs #elephants #stampedes #airports #fastfood #greatbritain #manchesterunited #greenbaypackers #football #weddings #marriage #photography

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