#or the ability to give my party members cute camp clothes

[lunalikestowriteanddraw]

*more clothing/dyes/hair mods gets added to console*

Me: *spends a solid HOUR playing dress up with my party*

[thepaperpanda]

The Choice || Arthur Morgan x Reader x Dutch Van Der Linde smut

Summary: Reader's member of Van Der Linde gang. She has feelings for both Arthur and Dutch. Whom she's gonna pick?

Warnings: smut, threesome

Words: 2964

Requested: Yes

Authors: Cass & Rouge

It was middle of the night and party in the camp was still going, everyone who still was up, was happy and drunk. Only a few people left to go and rest, Javier was playing songs on his guitar still.

You were the one that was still up, you stood near the fire with a bottle in your hand, singing songs with others.

It was till Dutch approached you. "Miss Y/L/N? Would you like to dance with me?" He asked offering you his hand.

You nodded slightly and tried to set the bottle on the ground but you almost lost balance, thanks to Dutch you didn't fall on the ground. You giggled nervously and wrapped arms around his neck. "Saved me, again, hahaha, you're amazing, Dutchy."

Dutch laughed softly and wrapped his arm around your waist while the other took your little hand into his big one. "Miss, I just try to do my best to protect my people." Dutch hummed as he started to lead the dance. "And I need to say, it would be a shame to lose such a charming lady as you, miss."

You giggled and put your head to his best covered with checkered shirt. You hummed something lazily and inhaled his strong scent. Your hands moved lower and rested at his hips.

"Dear miss, I think you had one bottle too much," Dutch chuckled, looking down at you. "I think you should go and rest." He said lowly and gently petted your hair.

"I can take her there." It was Arthur, he smiled at both of you. "Miss?" He offered you his hand.

You happily turned around and slipped out of Dutch's arms. You grabbed Arthur's hand and nuzzled to him instantly. "Lead me anywhere, I go with ya, fella."

"Well, I feel betrayed and this is not a pleasant feeling." Dutch laughed as Arthur picked you up.

"Okay, miss. I think you really have enough fun for today, lady." Arthur said carrying you to your little tent.

You woke up in the middle of the day, dizziness vanished and you felt way better. "No more alcohol, ever," you whispered to yourself as you got up and improved your clothes, then rushed out of tent. You walked in the direction of Dutch's tent. You had to apologize for your silly behaviour.

Dutch wasn't at his tent alone, he was with Arthur talking about yet another big idea. They both looked at you as soon as they saw you coming closer.

Arthur tipped his hat, greeting you. "Miss." He nodded.

"My dear, how's your head? We started to get worried you ain't gonna get up today. I think that little miss Y/L/N here drank more alcohol than her body could has handled." Dutch said, looking up at you.

You bowed head a little and stepped in tugging on hems of your dress. "I want to apologize for my awful behaviour, it's not how lady shall behave," you said. "I might by illy still but now I'll go back to my duties," you whispered hesitantly.

Arthur laughed. "Don't be sorry, miss! I guess you have never seen drunk Karen. She is worst than you and is mostly drunk during days but she is a good lady. I just hope you won't start to be like Swanson 'cuz I don't look forward to chasing you and then saving you from the train." Arthur muttered, lighting up his cigarette.

"Don't be stupid, boy. Miss Y/L/N here is nothing like Karen on Swanson." Dutch said to Arthur and then turned back to you. "You, my dear can stay out today and simply rest, recover from your night full of fun. I will talk with Miss Grimshaw to not bother you today."

"But sir...," you whispered. "I want to be useful. And besides, thank you both of you, for saving me last night," you giggled softly observing both men. Dutch was definitely type of a leader, while Arthur was a good man with great ability to getting into troubles. "I mean, you both are wonderful men..," you added and blushed, not knowing if you should go back or stay.

"My dear, you are useful most of the time," Dutch said.

"I always see you runnin' around like a crazy rabbit." Arthur joked, looking at you. "Always goin' somewhere or doing somethin'."

Dutch shook his head. "Miss Y/L/N, is everything okay? You look like something is bothering you."

"No, sir.. I mean.. I like you, and I like Mr. Morgan..," you stated. "And I am sorry I didn't get a proper attention to any of you yesterday but I couldn't decide... To which one..."

Arthur raised an eyebrow as he threw away finished cigarette. "You like me? You must be out of your God damn mind, girl." He muttered.

Dutch rolled his eyes and smiled at you. He gently grabbed your hand and pulled you on his lap. "Oh, is that so? That explains why you were so cuddly yesterday, dear."

"I'm always cuddly...," you whispered and blinked when he pulled you onto his lap. You also gave a quick glance to Arthur. "Stop it, sir. You're an amazing fella."

"I can see that, Y/N," Dutch whispered, wrapping his arm around your waist to be sure you're not gonna run away. "So you say that you like both of us and you can't decide which one you shall choose?" He asked as his hand lazily stroked your belly.

You nodded and sucked your lower lip in. "Yes. Exactly. I usually try to make a mash on... You... And Mr. Morgan... You both are cute... And I feel all alone..," you were whispering as you stroked Dutch's cheek briefly.

Dutch smiled and gently bounced you on his knee. "Well? What do you say to that, Arthur? We have our little charmin' miss Y/L/N here and she says she fancies us both."

Arthur crouched and looked at you, his hand gently cupped your cheek. His thumb stroked it. "Well, if she can't decide? Maybe we could share?" He said with a smile.

You couldn't describe what kind of sensation Arthur's words have created in your lower stomach. You nuzzled to his hand, being touch-starving. "Yes, please...," you almost whimpered wrapping one arm around Dutch's neck.

"Look at that, boy, she enjoys the idea of us both taking her. I am not surprised if I can be honest." Dutch said before grabbing your chin and pulling you into a kiss. "How about taking her inside, boy?" Dutch asked and Arthur only nodded. Dutch got up with you in his arms and walked inside his tent holding you close.

He set you down and Arthur joined you soon after making sure the tent is closed for the privacy.

"Look at yourself, miss." Arthur purred and kissed you.

You kissed him deeply, slowly slipping our tongue into his mouth and messing with his hair as your fingers tangled with his locks. You broke the kiss and looked at Dutch, your heart was beating fast and hard in your chest like a small animal that tried to escape from your chest.

Dutch looked at you and smiled. "Oh, don't mind me, just do your thing." He hummed taking off his hat and vest.

Arthur did the same.

Dutch walked behind you and gently kissed your nape. "Just go on, son." Arthur chuckled and pulled you back into the kiss, Dutch meanwhile started to play with your long dress before pulling it up enough to slip his hand between your legs. He pulled your panties aside and began to play with your clit.

"Son?," you asked lazily between kisses. You let out a long moan when you felt Dutch's hand slipping between your thighs. You wrapped arms around Arthur's neck and kissed him deeply as you knelt between two of them. One of your hands slipped down, right onto his crotch where you pressed your palm.

Dutch looked at you. "And what about me, darling?" He asked and looked at Arthur.

Arthur let out a heavy breath. "Let's give her something to do. If the lady wants to be useful... Who are we  to stop her." He smiled and dropped his belt, then started to open his pants.

"I need to agree," Dutch said and followed Arthur.

You turned your head and pulled Dutch in messy kiss. You slipped hand in his opened pants and pulled his soft cock out. You turned yourself so you were standing between two men, having Arthur on your left and Dutch on your right. With other hand you grabbed Arthur's cock as well, you pumped both hands.

"Fuck." Arthur growled and started to kiss your shoulder as his hand traveled to your front to play with one of your breasts as he bucked his hips into your hand.

Dutch's hand moved to the back of your dress to remove it. "You won't need this, darlin'. Trust me."

You stroked their cocks humming softly. You let go of Arthur's so you helped Dutch take your dress off. You were wearing only panties and you blushed slightly. You kissed Dutch's cheek and leant down a bit to lick his cock, from base to top, meantime jerking on Arthur's already hard dick.

Dutch looked at you and then at Arthur. "Ain't she a stunning little thing, Arthur?" He asked.

"She sure is, Dutch," Arthur said as his hand moved into your hair. He let out a loud growl, enjoying the feeling of your hand on him.

You slipped Dutch in your mouth, bobbing head hardly, sucking at the same time.

Soon, you pulled him out and did same thing to Arthur.

Dutch pet your head and hummed happily. "That's nice and all, my dear, but I don't think you wanna the fun to be over so soon." He said and pulled you up.

Dutch took you to his cot, he lied you down and kneeled between your legs. "Well, let's take care of our poor little miss, Y/N." He purred and removed your panties, tossing them aside as Arthur stood besides the cot.

You reached one hand back to stroke Arthur's shaft while your other hand moved into Dutch's hair. "Look what you do to me, boys," you whimpered quietly.

"You better look at what you are doing to us, darlin'." Arthur purred. "Such a good girl."

Arthur smiled at you as Dutch's mouth attacked your clit. Two of his big fingers soon slipped inside of you.

You were moaning like crazy, rocking your hips. You were already wet and your juices started to pour down your thighs. Meantime, your hand jerked hardly onto Arthur. "I wanna suck your dick, sir," you asked, rolling head back at the feel of Dutch's mouth on your clit.

"So open up." Arthur purred and pushed his cock into your wet, warm mouth. "Fucking shit... So good." He hummed and moved his hand into your hair to control the movements.

Dutch looked up and started to suck on your clit harshly. He started to push his fingers even deeper, you could feel the cold metal of his rings on your pussy lips.

You tried to bob you head for Arthur as much as it was possible. Your free hand traveled to his base when you jerked, then cupped his balls and you squeezed them gently between your fingers. Meantime your other hand started to rub you own clit as Dutch was eating you out. The sensation was unbearable for you. You pulled Arthur's cock out only to spit on its tip and suck on it hardy second later.

"Fucking shit, woman. Look at you, always so quiet and gently, and now? Sucking cock like a real whore." Arthur smiled as he forced his cock deep into your throat.

Dutch sat up and looked at you gently stroking your belly. "Maybe our Lady would like to take a real cock in, huh?" He asked, playing with your clit.

You slipped Arthur's dick out of your mouth and licked your lips from his precum. "Fuck me, Dutch," you said firmly parting your legs wider.

Dutch smiled. "With pleasure my dear." He grabbed your legs and pulled you closer. Dutch quickly pushed into you, he wrapped arms around your waist and pulled you up.

Arthur slowly walked away and sat down on the chair to watch the show.

You tried to buck your hips fiercely for more friction, you didn't pay attention to fact that pain was so sharp though Dutch's cock was thick as hard like a rock. You wrapped arms around his neck and rock hips back and forth, moaning his name and looking at Arthur.

"Look at yourself, taking my cock so damn well." Dutch growled kissing your cheek and moving his kisses lower to your neck. He started to bite and suck on your skin as he picked up his pace.

Arthur winked at you and watched this little show, stroking his shaft with one hand. Other one was grabbing his balls.

You used your all strengths to roll on top of Dutch, you picked pace up, moving hips back and forth quickly. Your pussy was taking entire of his shaft and it felt so good. You traced your fingers along Dutch's lips. "Lick 'em," you sounded too harshly but you didn't care.

Dutch smiled at your sudden change of persona. First shy and gentle lady and now you were giving orders to HIM, but he followed your order s anyway. Man wrapped lips around your finger and started to suck them.

You pulled fingers out of his mouth and leaned to kiss him, using your tongue to penetrate his mouth. You used fingers slick from his saliva to run over your clitoris.

Dutch smiled and moved his hand between your bodies. He played with your clit a little before two of his thick fingers slipped into you alongside his shaft.

You rolled head back and whimpered loudly. "I wanna Arthur too, look at him, he's left out here, all alone...," you whimpered. "Fuck, so good! So fucking good, oh God!"

Dutch grabbed your tights and squeezed them hard enough to leave marks. "Oh, you will get him, don't ya worry about this boy. Just look at him."

Arthur just gave you a smile, his hard cock was resting against his stomach.

"If you cum like a good whore then I am sure he will gladly take care of you." Dutch whispered into your ear.

Cold shiver ran along your spine. You arched your back rocking hips in unbearable pace, Dutch's cock slipping deeply in only to slip almost fully out. You bended down and sucked onto his lips, then reached hand back to squeeze his wrinkled balls.

Dutch's fingers still moved inside you alongside his cock. He let out a loud moan as he emptied himself inside of you.

You then simply got up removing his cock from your pussy, you rubbed your clit letting your mixed cum ran down your curvy thighs as you looked at Arthur.

Arthur walked to you and wrapped his arm around your waist. "You okay? You can do this again?" He asked softly.

Dutch took Arthur's previous spot.

"Yeah. I just need your beautiful cock in me," after these words you stroked his shaft hardly.

He chuckled and shook his head. "Wrap your arms around my neck," Arthur said.

You obeyed and kissed him deeply.

Arthur kissed you back and picked you up with no problem. He slowly slipped into you. "Just let me know if this will be too much for ya." He purred softly.

You nuzzled to him. "Just fuck me. I need to be fucked nicely. You already feel amazing inside of my tight cunt," you nibbled on his nape.

Arthur held your hips and started to fuck you hard and deep. "You feel so good around me, Y/N. I couldn't wait till my turn." He growled.

"Me too," you whispered into his ear. "I love both of you, like father like son, ough, fuck me, Arthur!," you rolled head back and scratched his back. Your inner walls started to clench around his hard member.

Arthur happily obligated your wish and started to pound into you harder. "Who is a good girl? Letting us both to use her pussy like a whore." He growled into your ear.

"Me! Me, Arthur!," you rolled head back again and slipped hand between your bodies to rub your clitoris and to stroke his cock anytime he was backing from your pussy. "I'm gonna cum..."

"Good. Come on girl, cum girl. Cum around my cock." He huffed out and started to fuck you even harder.

You held onto his shoulders and let out a loud scream mixed with moan. Your pussy clenched tightly around his cock, preventing him from pulling out.

Arthur let out a grunt as he cum deep inside of you. "Fucking... Shit... Woman." He breathed out and looked at you.

When he put you down, you waved a hand to invite Dutch closer. You kissed them both, giving his cocks long strokes. "Thank you, boys, it was an unbelievable pleasure to me," you said looking around for your dress.

"I hope you realize it's not one-time thing, miss," Dutch said looking at you.

"I hope it ain't." Arthur muttered to himself.

"If you both will deserve this," you chuckled putting dress on. "For now, I will leave my panties here. So I'll have a thing to come back for," you winked at them and sent them kisses, then left.

"That woman will be the death of us." Arthur muttered.

"For sure she will... But now, boy. Time to talk about the train robbery we have planned. I have a great plan for what we're gonna do with the money!" Dutch said grabbing his pants.

Pandies🐼: @imidarogerson @grossograsso @thewildgardensstuff @leven-and-ashley @la-verdura @bearded-steve-rogers @sebbystan-plantlover @atuckyismylife @krispyjellyfishzombie @personality-within @haseki-huricihan @choppedgardenwhispers @vroobelek @lattimelka @chris-beamz @hidden-secrets69 @purepearls @volcanoxxx @kastrup-sofie @mikkal-akasaki @withoutashadowofhope @radbluebirdeagle @marvel-fan-site @smutloversblog @buquete @super-psycho-love69 @tanglesss @peter-sommer @baysidewest @vegemania @philip-stan @chodiusmmm @subwaystunnel @tykorclint @dagger-dragger @kurant @nothing-can-least-forever @oxfordkipem @deliciousbouquet90 @tuptuptup @hellenna80 @karina-marina9 @latimeriaaa @bratko @wurld89 @scott-evans @kiss-me-rouge @ovonel-espaniol @dancing-tacco @ratugadhi @white-tiger-shangrila @axn69 @eternal-life-awaits @mrs-laura-harmon @artsy-inside @gleeeeees @darkllaama @jatut @agawux @fuzzy-tigrrr @jrjohnsson2 @maaargoshaaa @dontgetmewrongman @einexx @nwmtagsb @anini71 @kyloren-supreme-ben @infinity-stones-seeker @thehappyspider @wings4life @huxyluxy @dontbeafraidchild @misafiryanki @electronicpatrolcollective @thisismysecrethappyplace @aulika @hidden-secrets69 @a-happy-wolf @creative-seahorse @biologyforliving @arthurmorgan-bae

[natsubeatsrock]

My Incredibly Unpopular Thoughts on: Fairy Tail’s Ending

To start with, stop.

I don’t care what you think about the ending. I don’t care what you think about the series. I kind of care why you’re reading this post. (Hi.) Just stop.

Now, do me a favor and take a deep breath.

Before I start to talk about this chapter, I just want to say that this has been a crazy ride. I started Fairy Tail in October of 2014 and I never would have thought that I would be running a blog about Fairy Tail and such a relevant name in this fandom back then. I’ve had tons of fun running this blog for years and if it weren’t for Fairy Tail, I probably wouldn’t be an anime/manga fan. Even though this series is nowhere near perfect and this arc is nowhere near the best, I’m glad that I’m a Fairy Tail fan. And this ending hasn’t changed that for me.

Also, I actually did make a Quick Notes about this chapter. So if there’s something you think I missed in this post, check that one. I also talked about my thoughts on Nalu’s ending in a separate post, which goes exactly how well you’d think a post about it from me would be. This was supposed to come out the same week, but… 

Life.

So, with that out of the way, let’s talk about this chapter.

When I saw that this last chapter was going to be 45 pages, I was pleasantly surprised. Consider that the end of Naruto is simply two normal length chapters that came out at once. Likewise, the last chapters of Bleach and Death Note are about as long as a normal chapter. So seeing that this chapter was going to be that long gave me the hope that more ground will be covered than in those endings. Though. Rave ended with more than 20 pages more than this and, looking back, I’m not a huge fan of some parts of that ending.

Speaking of those series, the last chapter starts with a jump to the future. This is a weird trope for me. My only real issue with the Naruto ending was that it felt like there was a huge disconnect between the Last, which I had just finished, and this chapter. However, the ending of the other series (yes, even Bleach) worked so well for me because we got to see how the world moved on after the events of the previous chapters.

I’m glad that Lucy won an award for her novel. I’m also glad that the popular fan theory that Lucy was writing the events of Fairy Tail out for a story is also proven wrong. I never liked that theory and I’m glad Lucy won by coming up with her own original story.

Even though the main character based off her.

And seeing how the guild is acting at this party makes me realize that Lucy’s friends are jerks to Lucy. I said this before, but I’m shocked that they’re even worried about other people ruining their reputation when they’re so good at making themselves look terrible. I have to believe that Erza and other members of the guild are genuinely concerned about a thief pretending to be a Fairy Tail mage. But hey, she was worried about other people in the guild at her introduction.

And Juvia is still stripping…

You know, I remember when Juvia stripped to join Gray during the anime for a thing she didn’t need to. It was messed up, but it was kind of funny.

Only kind of.

And then Gray and Juvia stripped together in the Avatar arc. Like I thought it was cool back when I shipped Gruvia. But looking back, it’s weird that Juvia developed the same habit Gray formed that after training in fewer clothes to get used to the cold and doing ice magic that even the person who had the idea to do it thought was unnatural…

Because Gruvia is a “good ship”. Like, why else did this need to be a thing? Mashima should have stuck with the water body thing because that’s awesome and only kind of comes back later on in the series.

Anna is in this timeline as a teacher which is kind of cool. I guess, since she wanted to teach the dragon slayers, she gets to teach another group of young kids. Gajeel jokes to Natsu about liking Anna and…

I’m conflicted. 

See, in pretty much any other case, I’d be totally fine shipping Natsu with anyone that people joke about him liking except Lucy. But, aside from not even thinking he actually liked her the way Gajeel meant, I’m not sure I can be comfortable shipping Natsu with anyone when the age difference is much bigger than that of Jerza-

I mean Graytear.

So we learned about the other guilds. Lamia Scale has a thing called Thanksgiving Day and they dragged Wendy into performing with Chelia. I’m actually excited for this to be animated. I hope we get an actual full song from the earlier performance of these two. For those who might be wondering why, Wendy’s Japanese VA, Satomi Sato, has also been in some roles that have involved her singing.

And then there’s Mermaid Heel. (Get used to this phrase. I’ve used it a lot.)

So, out of everything that happened in this chapter, I’m shocked that this didn’t get more people angry. What even is the point of having Mermaid Heel be exclusive models for Sorcerer Weekly? That was never important to them before. Kagura even questions what the point of this was. It’s almost as if Mashima was saying, “Screw anyone who thought I was going to give the only all-girl guild a dignifying ending! This is Fairy Tail!” 

Oh, but it’s okay because not many people cared about them and of course we’re going to have sexy girls in outfits so we can appeal to the target demographic of teen boys and where do I stop?

The other guilds did stuff. Like, I know that a lot of people love people outside the guild and I have my favorites from outside Fairy Tail. But, I don’t have much to say about what we learned about the other guilds.

And then we got a block of ship moments. Oh, the boys.

We started with Gajevy. And, man, I wish I had anything to say about them. I really don’t want to continue the trend of not talking about them. I have a few posts for them in the works, but for now…

I guess they had sex?

And then there’s Gruvia. 

I can’t just leave it there, right? No?

So I’m not actually sure that Gruvia is actually canon.  Yeah, me having a view that seems very different from most of the fandom. Shocking, right? I mean, there’s a lot of noise on both sides and it was a weird scene to include. But I didn’t see that conversation as a “Gruvia definitely is/isn’t canon” moment.

When I saw Gray say that Juvia’s body belongs to him, my mind immediately went to chapter 499, which I’ve had to look at multiple times for a post I’m going to get done on August 30th. When Juvia (somehow) revealed to Gray that she (somehow) used Water Make Magic, she told him that her life belongs to him. So Juvia’s body does belong to him.

Kinda.

So, the questions I think a reader of this should have to answer is whether Gray feels awkward about this because he likes Juvia or because even kind of owning Juvia freaks him out. As you can tell, I’m not really sure how to answer this question. Of course, this doesn’t mention that Gray might also be hesitant in making a statement Juvia may think is either offensive or romantic, as different people in the fandom have been arguing it is.

At any rate, this was the kind of ambiguity I was afraid of. I wanted to voice my fear that we’d get an ambiguous Gruvia ending. However, I was assured by the Gruvia fandom that Gray would definitely give an answer and that that answer would be yes. So, while I disagreed with the latter, I bit my tongue on the issue. It turns out, neither was the case and I was right to be worried.

Elfgreen is probably canon. I don’t think it’s a huge leap of faith to say that. (Yeah, that’s all I got.)

All the popular guy-girl Laxus ships have been de-confirmed in one go. I’m actually impressed that Mashima did that. I said this before, but I find it hilarious that Mashima made sure to empathize Miraxus as a rumor. I feel like the Laxana camp is as huge, but he had to take shots at that other ship. I’m honestly not sure what that means for Fraxus. And to be honest, I don’t really care Laxus ships.

And then there’s Jerza.

Like many people in this fandom, I’m actually shocked by Jerza in this chapter, but for a different reason. I was actually shocked that any time was given to Jerza at all in this chapter. I honestly wasn’t expecting Mashima to address this issue in any way at all. But, oh the boys, did he address it. While I understand the frustration of the Jerza fandom, I actually pretty cool with this ending. I figured he would give Jerza a non-canon ending. 

This kind of situation feels reminiscent of Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye’s relationship from FMA. They’re nothing like each other, material wise. However, in both cases, it looked a lot like they liked each other. However, the series ended without them hooking up. (At least officially.) I figured this kind of thing would happen a long time ago so I’m not surprised by this.

What did surprise me was about 5 pages spent on Mashima’s Zervis AU. Or any time at all spent on any version of Zervis at all post ‘taking Nalu’s One Magic” a while ago. And I kind of liked it. It makes no sense to exist in any way shape or form, but it was kind of cute and I think this is better than real Zervis.

Somewhere in all of this, we learned that Makarov lost the ability to use his legs. Well, something had to happen because of Makarov’s return. I’d actually be disappointed if everything was fine. My big complaint about the Rave Master ending, without spoiling much, a lot of losses and sacrifices made in chapters prior were rewritten. So, in this one aspect, Fairy Tail’s ending is better than Rave Master’s ending.

But, similar to Rave Master’s ending, Chelia can use magic. This is was one of the other big things I was afraid of Mashima doing in the last chapter of the series. To be fair, it’s only to a limited ability, but it’s still pretty annoying. I hinted at this, but I didn’t say it out right because I was in a fight with someone who thought I hadn’t read Rave at the time and I wanted to be petty.

So, Lucy blanked out and wakes up in her house. And, pretty much everything about this scene up until the flashback annoys me.

After 541 chapters and almost a decade of both real world and in-universe time, Natsu still breaks into Lucy’s house. Happy decides to polish Lucy’s newly acquired trophy with his claws. And this is all played for laughs. Like I’m actually supposed to look at this and think that this is funny and not sad.

Keep in mind that people were able to get past this point and still think that Natsu was going to confess romantic feelings. Look, I think that Natsu and Lucy have an amazing bond, but it would be really bad if this was just before a romantic confession. I can understand people who were disappointed with the Jerza ending. If you thought this was going to lead into a Nalu ending, you played yourself.

Luckily, there’s more to be annoyed with. Lucy ends up remembering the embarrassing stuff she did when she was drunk. A while ago, I made a post about being annoyed with the way things were made up. This is a great example of this.

Why did we need this? This isn’t funny and I didn’t learn anything about Lucy. I don’t like these “I’ll never get married over this” jokes in anime unless it’s over something legitimately embarrassing enough to warrant the reaction. She’s not ashamed because she was teachers yelled at her for promoting a club she was dragged into while being forced to wear a sexy red bunny outfit. (You either get this reference or you don’t) She did some stupid stuff in front of two people while she was drunk. (And apparently, she liked one of those people.)

But Natsu uses the joke to segway into a reminder that they can still work together. And Lucy remembers many of the missions they shared together. Considering recent events on my blog, it’s funny how there’s nothing from the Galuna Island, but she remembered being wrapped in towels with Edolas Lucy. At any rate, she thanks Natsu and Happy for changing her life for the better.

It’s times like this that I have to remember that Lucy’s dream was to join Fairy Tail. (A point I had to remind fic writers of.) It’s only because she met Natsu that she was able to. Recently I’ve been rereading the old arcs and it’s crazy to see how much has happened since Lucy has joined Fairy Tail specifically because Lucy has joined Fairy Tail.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: you don’t have Fairy Tail without Lucy and Natsu. They don’t meet, they don’t go on adventures. They don’t go on adventures, the world would probably cease to exist at about the time we would get to Edolas. Remember, Mystogan needed her and Gajeel to help Natsu and Wendy. If Lucy’s not in the guild, Gajeel’s not in the guild. So assuming everything else is the same, which would probably be a stretch, they’re screwed.

Anyway afterward, Natsu takes Lucy on the mission with him saying that the fact that their lives are different doesn’t matter. And yes, I think it’s a jerky thing to have done. Of course, if you thought this was going to be a lead-in to a Nalu confession, I can’t help you. But that doesn’t mean he did a good.

However, I like the reasoning. Natsu isn’t worried about the past. He’s excited for what the future is going to bring them… 

…and the rest of Team Natsu…

On the Century Quest!

This is probably my favorite thing from the chapter. I actually screamed after seeing that they were going on the quest. Forget Nalu, this is probably one of the most Natsu things that Natsu would be excited for.

But I have two big problems with this.

First, if Gray’s conversation really was a confession, does that mean he left Juvia after confessing to her? Even if he told her that he was going on the mission, that’s still a pretty messed up thing to do. By the way, if you think that Gray’s scar comment was bad, this would probably make it worse.

Funny enough, I saw a comment on this. OP questioned whether or not people really believe the Century Quest would actually last 100 years. And my response is…

That’s the other problem: we don’t know how long this quest is supposed to take. Now, chapter 165 tells us that Decade Quests take at least 10 years to beat and so it should stand to reason that Century Quests will take at least 100 years to beat. However, consider everything that we’ve been told about the Spriggan 12 at the beginning of this arc and how free they ended up being. So will this take shorter than expected or will it actually take 100 years?

As a side note, is this the same Century Quest Gildarts failed or is it another Century Quest? It’s referred to as “The 100-Year Quest” and we’ve only known about one Century Quest? And why is it 100-Year Quest here instead of Century Quest? 

The fic writers are going to have a field day with that.

So, overall, what did I think of the chapter? After reading the chapter a few times and thinking about the things that have happened in order to make this post, I feel good about it. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of issues left unresolved. I totally understand (some of) the reasons people don’t like this ending and I absolutely think we could and probably should get more. However, I’m fine with this being the way the series ends. And, as I’ve said before, I’d happily reread this series again.

Now comes the main reason that I want to talk about the ending in this format. Fairy Tail has officially come to an end. I feel as though there is two knee jerk “my series ended” reactions I want to address.

The first is the feelings over everything in the ending.

As I said in an earlier post, nothing is wrong with feeling sad or happy or angry over anything about everything that has happened in this series. Nothing is wrong with expressing or explaining those feelings. That’s fine.

What isn’t fine is getting mad at or blaming people for the things you don’t like about the ending, including and especially Hiro Mashima. What isn’t fine is destroying everything Fairy Tail related you own out of spite.

I’d even say that it’s not okay to feel betrayed by the ending. Mashima doesn’t owe you anything. He doesn’t owe you ships. He doesn’t owe you moments. He doesn’t have to bring characters back. He doesn’t have to kill anyone. About the only thing Mashima had to do for his fans was get the next chapters of the series out on time. Even though those chapters weren’t always necessarily good, that was about all he owed us.

The second one is a desire the series to continue on, either it should continue on as a spin off or just never end. Some of you might want him to get to working on his completely new series right away.

Not so fast.

I get the desire to want to see more of a series or writer you’ve enjoyed for however long you have. I get that you might think the series didn’t have a proper ending. I get that you may have no idea what you’re going to do now that Fairy Tail is over.

That being said, I think Mashima should take a break.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d also love more Fairy Tail, even as I’ve ragged on some of its failings. But this guy’s been writing Fairy Tail for more than a decade. It’s one thing to be an artist whose job depends on how much you’re able to create. Having to create something new in an ongoing series every week is baffling to me as a musical composer. It takes me weeks even months to get works done to a level they can be called finished.

Mashima’s work on Fairy Tail is nowhere near the best thing in the anime/manga world, but I’m not going to accuse him of not working hard. I want this guy to enjoy the break he’s getting for now before he launches head first into his next series. For now, I’d like to see what fans do now that the story is complete(-ish).

Speaking of which, many people might be wondering what I’ll be doing on this blog now that the series is over. I still have things to say about Fairy Tail as a series and I’ll definitely have some things to say about this fandom as the dust settles. I have some posts I’ve been working on specifically to show after the end of the series and, thankfully, I only have to change a few paragraphs because of this ending…

I don’t know that I’m going to start throwing my focus onto any one other series. I’ve said this before but despite any and all problems this series has, Fairy Tail is the only series I feel comfortable running a blog for. I’ve seen other series I think are better and I have things to say about them you might see on my main blog. But I don’t see myself getting so into another series that I could do everything I’ve done with Fairy Tail.

To that point, I do have series I have been reading. To give a sense of the time I’ve been planning this post for, when I started writing this post, I had over 100 chapters of Bleach left to finish. I’m sending this off having finished that series and (as I promised) started reading My Hero Academia. Incidentally, I’ve started writing posts for those series I may post to my main blog as well and I’ve had to pull myself away from reading MHA to finish this post.

I’ve also been reading Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches and, once I’m done, I’ll finally be able to catch up with Twin Star Exorcists (yes, I’ve decided to turn to the dark side). I’ve also started reading  Astra: Lost in Space. I’m not sure this will be the next breakout hit in the manga world, but I’m enjoying where this series is going.

Somewhere along the way, I started reading Yona of the Dawn through the volumes and collecting Bakuman volumes which I will read all at once. And of course, I’ll still be buying the volumes for Rave Master and Fairy Tail until I’ve collected them all. 

To wrap it all up, there is one more question some of my followers may be wondering that I want to address: When will I read One Piece? 

Soon.

At the very least, I want to catch up with the currently running series and get all of that I’ll be following weekly and get/read all of Bakuman before getting into the beast that is One Piece. At the latest, I’ll end up following my Big 3 tradition of starting to read the series at about the time it’s starting to end. And if your fandom causes another stir over ships, I think I’m actually going to go crazy

In Conclusion:

Fairy Tail’s ending was pretty messy, but I’m fairly happy with the ending we got. But even though Fairy Tail ended, I’m still going to have fun talking about it and other things. 

I’m all fired up!!!!

[fruitsbasketcase1]

Malec Week 2017 Day 1- Future Scene: Malec Family Camping Trip.

Couple: Alec Lightwood and Magnus Bane (Malec)

Setting: - It’s Rafael’s turn to pick the family vacation and he decides he wants to go camping, much to Alecs’ delight and Magnus’ disappointment.

Malec Week 2017 Day 1: Here

Malec Week 2017 Day 2:  https://themalecprincess.tumblr.com/post/160407789573/malec-week-day-2-disney-au-malec-inside-out-au

A/N: These one-shots are based off Alec and Magnus from the books, not the TV show. They will be containing book spoilers. 

Magnus Pov- “How did it come to this,” I sighed, looking around at nothing but trees and dirt. I was tricked, that’s how this came to be. I was ganged up on and tricked into coming out here for a family camping trip.

It all started when my eight-year-old son Rafael pushed something big on wheels into the living room. He had it covered with a blanket so I couldn’t see what was under it. Alec was sitting next to me on the couch with my arm around him while our six-year-old son Max was at his brother’s side, obviously in the loop of what he was planning.

“What’s this Rafe,” Alec asked looking over the covered rectangle shaped thing. Rafael stood up straight, putting his hands behind his back with a bright smile. This was usually the stance he took when he was about to convince Alec and I to buy him something.

“As we all know it is my turn to pick where we go for the family vacation. I have thought long and hard about it and finally decided what I want us all to do together.”

Alec thought it would be a good idea for us to take family vacations every year and have each member of the family get a chance to pick where we go. Two years ago, I decided we would go to a private island resort with sandy white beaches and fun activities for us to do. Last year Alec wanted to visit Greece so we ended up going there and having a fun time. For some reason though, Rafael choosing where we go worried me a bit.

“Have you decided where you want to go,” Alec asked and I glanced at him. “Are you sure our kids are old enough to choose where we vacation,” I whispered. Alec glanced back at me. “I’m sure it won’t be that bad. We have to agree to whatever he says unless it’s something outrageous like going to the moon.”

Rafael wouldn’t waste his time telling us to vacation on the moon. That feels more like something Max would do. His imagination is very big.

Rafael nodded at Alec’s previous question before pulling the blanket off a big planning board. It was scattered with pictures of trees, a lake, and some tents. Everything on the board screamed outdoors and roughing it and it made my stomach drop.

“Uncle Jace and I were searching online and I found the coolest looking camping spot. It’s in New Hampshire and has open fields, a lake, rivers and mountains to climb. There’s a trail leading up the mountain so it’s not like we really will have to climb it. We can share a big tent or better yet, have sleeping bags outside so we can sleep under the stars. Doesn’t that all sound like fun?”

I was downright horrified. There was literally nothing worse I could think of for us to do. Camping means sitting in the dirt and swimming in dirty, fish infested lakes. We will get bitten by bugs and who knows what else.

“I think that sounds like a perfect idea,” Alec encouraged, always up for roughing it. Max was clapping, obviously on his brothers’ side from the get go, so I knew I was the only one wanting to object. There wasn’t really a point on objecting since I’ll be out voted.  

Even so, Alexander looked at me, “what do you think about it Magnus?” I shrugged trying to look like I didn’t care but it was obvious, at least to Alec anyway, that I did. “It doesn’t sound like a bad idea. I mean, I’ll have magic to help me out so it’s not like I’ll have any real trouble.”

“Oh, that’s another thing Papa. Jake told me all about his camping trip with his family and I want it to be just like that. That means no magic or runes,” Rafael gushed excitedly.

Jake was a mundane boy Rafe met while at the park a year or so ago. They easily became best friends and it seems him and his family are the ones who put this horrible idea into my impressionable sons’ head.

I stared at him dumbfounded. So, Because of them, Rafe wants us to camp like a mundane family?! No Magic or weapons to defend ourselves? Well, knowing Alec he will have weapons stashed away somewhere. The last thing Alec Lightwood-Bane would ever do is leave his family unprotected.

I glanced over at my husband, wondering what he thought about all this. He just shrugged, not looking bothered by the suggestion. “I don’t have a problem with it. We will just have to keep a close eye on Max to make sure he doesn’t try to use any magic.”

Max crossed his arms, looking insulted, “I won’t use my magic daddy.” “Oh, I know you won’t blueberry,” he assured before looking at me with an accusing face. “Your Papa on the other hand may have a problem following the rules.”

Scoffing, I crossed my arms over my chest. “How could you question my ability to withhold magic? I think I’m capable to going a weekend without it.”

Alec nodded rubbing my shoulders. “Oh, yes of course you can dear. I just wonder if you can resist doing magic while camping. You aren’t much of an outdoors man.” Rafael frowned looking at Alec before turning his sad eyes to me. “Do you really not like camping Papa?”

I bit my lip wondering if I should tell him the truth. Camping was on the long list of things I never wanted to do. Ragnor would always try to get me to go camping with him but I always found a way out of it. He would say ‘I come with you on all of your ridiculous escapades. The least you could do is come camping with me one time.’ I got out of it by convincing him he would get lost in all the green of the woods.

There seemed to be no way out of it this time though. Not with my eldest son giving me his puppy dog eyes and looking like refusing his vacation idea would scar him for life. Because of that, I reluctantly agreed to the camping idea.

 Now I was standing in the middle of the woods, watching Alec make sure all our supplies were in order while the boys played on the ground with some rocks. There was literally nothing but trees and a lake around here for miles. Were we supposed to entertain ourselves with Rocks?!

“It looks like everything is here,” Alec cheered, before turning off his phone. I frowned seeing him do that. “Why did you turn your phone off? The institute could call you or something could happen back in New York.” He shook his head walking up to me, “Jace and Clary know we are on vacation. I’m sure they can handle whatever goes on at the Institute. I don’t have signal out here anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”

“My phone magically lets me have signal everywhere,” I bragged, taking it out and checking it for messages. The moment I pulled it out Alec held his hand out for it. “Oh, no you don’t, this is camping and that means everyone unplugs. We aren’t using phones or any other electronics while on vacation.”

Gasping dramatically, I held my phone to my chest like it was my third child. “You already took away my magic and you wouldn’t let me bring my makeup or any of my cute clothes. Now you’re going to take my only line to civilization away as well?”

Alec sighed. “Trust me Magnus you don’t want to be dressed nice while camping. We’re going to get dirty and I know how you are about ruining your designer clothes. The clothes I packed for you will do just fine. As for the phone, it technically counts with the no magic rule since magic is what’s making it have signal. Now give it to me before I take it from you by force.”

I cringed at the thought of Alec packing my clothes for me. Everything I picked out to bring, he rejected and eventually he got irritated and said he would just bring clothes for me. Knowing his fashion sense, it will be more practical and less stylish.

With much reluctance, I turned my phone off before dropping it into my husbands’ waiting hand. He smiled satisfied and I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms over my chest. “Isn’t the point of a family vacation, everyone is supposed to have fun?”

Alec smiled sweetly at me before leaning up and kissing my cheek. “Don’t knock this before trying it Magnus. You might come to find that camping can be a lot of fun. This is what our son wants so we have to respect that and make the best of it.”

He leaned back, skimming the outfit I chose to wear here, with disapproving eyes. I chose to go simple with silver glittery skinny jeans, a light pink tang-top and a dark purple light jacket to go over it. What? That’s simple to me.

“You really should go change your clothes. We’re going to be getting dirty and I know you won’t want to ruin those pants.” I frowned down at my pants, knowing he was right. I don’t even know why I bothered dressing like this. Guess it was just my last stand to reject this whole trip.

“There’s nowhere for me to change Alexander, in case you’ve forgotten we are in the middle of the woods.” Alec rolled his eyes smiling before pointing to the camper sitting not even ten feet away from us. We got the camper to drive to New Hampshire but that was about it. We weren’t sleeping in it or cooking in it even though it had a kitchen and beds. All we could use it for was going to the bathroom.

Alec grabbed the front of my jacket, pulling me with him to the pile of our supplies. He let go of me when he got to it and started searching around for something. “Ah, here it is,” he declared, picking up a duffle bag and turning around, shoving it against my chest.

The sudden shove caused an ‘oof’ noise to escape past my lips and I looked at the bag before looking back at him. He smiled, “You should go get changed now” he said before patting me on the butt as he walked away, making me jump in surprise.

I’m still not used to Alec doing things like that. He’s gotten so much confidence throughout the years and he was far from that young shy boy I met at my party. Sometimes I miss that boy but all I have to do is make Alec blush and the boy is right there in front of me again.

I smiled, thinking about that for a moment before shaking my head and going in the camper. It really was a nice camper. It was huge and had a sitting area, small kitchen, a bathroom, and two small bedrooms. I wouldn’t mind camping if it was happening from the safety of this camper.

As it goes though, my son wants us to be rough and tough like Jake and his family were. I have a suspicion that Jace also had a role in getting him to choose camping. He did say that Jace helped him look for a place online. Rafael knows he can’t use the internet without an adult.

Sighing, I made my way to one of the bedrooms and set the bag Alec gave me on the bed. God knows what kind of hideous clothes he packed for me. Maybe I should have had Isabelle do it instead. I’m sure she knows how to pack fashionably for roughing it.

I unzipped the bag, holding my breath and dreading the worst. I let the breath out as I pulled out a pair of black jeans and a red and black plaid long sleeved shirt. Okay… so it wasn’t horrible. I’m not sure I would have chosen plaid but it’s a very modern plaid so that counts for something… right?

Shrugging, I put the outfit on looking myself over in the mirror once I was done. I had no makeup on or hair gel in my hair so I looked very normal. My hair was flat on my head without any product in it. I really can’t remember the last time I had it like this.

“Magnus! Are you almost done in there? I need to get firewood so someone needs to keep an eye on the kids,” Alec called from outside. I sighed, thinking that I could easily just conjure up firewood and we wouldn’t have to go scavenge for it.

I made my way outside and Alec smiled at me, his beautiful blue eyes skimming down my body. “That looks really good on you Magnus.” “I look like a lumberjack,” I murmured making Alec laugh.

He walked up to me, putting one arm around my neck while he ran his other hand down my chest. “Yes, but you’re a very sexy lumberjack.” I smiled down at him, not able to help it and he smiled leaning up and kissing me. I kissed him back before pulling away and looking for the kids. They were both by the pile of our supplies, looking for something.

Rafael seemed to find what he was looking for, because he seemed very excited as he pulled a green bag out of the pile. He turned toward us, looking at Alec. “Let’s put up the tent Daddy.” Alec smiled at him, “I have to go find firewood before it starts to get dark. How about you and Papa do it together?”

I looked at Alec like he was crazy. What made him think that I was even slightly capable of putting up a tent without magic?

“Oh, Alexander I don’t think that’s a good idea.” “Oh, nonsense Magnus. Putting up a tent is easy. All you have to do is follow the directions that come with it.” Rafe looked at Alec again before smiling up at me. “Yeah Papa, let’s do it together.”

“I’ll take Max with me for you can put all your concentration on your task,” Alec offered, his voice laced with amusement and teasing. He was obviously having a blast seeing me in this situation. Glad my pain entertains him!

Max took Alec’s hand and they both shortly disappeared deeper into the forest. I watched them until they were out of sight before looking back at Rafael, who was starting to pull all the rails out for the tent.

Sighing, I sat on the ground next to him, grabbing the directions and looking them over like Alec suggested. There were pictures telling me where to put everything but that didn’t make it any less confusing.

“Okay… it says we need railing A-1 first. Do you see one labeled like that in the pile,” I asked looking at Rafe. He skimmed the rails before grabbing one, looking it over. “I think this says A-1.”

I took it from him, looking it over and smiled, seeing it was the right rail. “Okay we got the first piece. Now we need A-2.” Rafael found it easily and handed it to me. I took it, looking it over before frowning at the directions, wondering how I was supposed to put them together.

“I think you have to connect that knob into one of the holes,” Rafael suggested. I tried what he said and smiled when the two pieces joined together. “Wow this is so easy. And Daddy thought I would have trouble with this. I totally got this.”

“You know what daddy says about congratulating yourself too soon,” Rafe inquired, reminding me of how Alec always says I’m over confident. “Well this time it’s justified. We’re going to finish this tent no problem and then shove it in Daddy’s face.”

I grabbed more rails putting them all together one by one until it was in the form of a big triangle. Standing up, I rubbed the dirt off my hands onto my pants smiling. “See we did it, now we just have to figure out how this sheet thing goes on,” I said holding up the green fabric that made up our tent.

Searching the rails, there seemed to be no place to connect the sheet to. I figured there would be places to stick it or tie it but there was nothing. Rafe frowned, also realizing the problem. “Papa I think we messed up somewhere.”

I shook my head, grabbing the directions and looking them over. “No, we didn’t mess up, I’m sure there’s a way to place this sheet on.” Rafe watched me before looking back at the tent, cocking his head to the side and his face scrunched up in confusion.

I bit my lip not wanting to admit that we possibly made a mistake. After congratulating myself like that I can’t just fail. It would make me look like a fool in front of my eldest son. Magnus Bane may be many things, but the one thing he isn’t is a fool. Though many of my ‘so called friends’ would disagree. Especially Ragnor and Raphael.

Taking a chance to redeem my pride, I spread the sheet on top of the triangle, watching as it fell in place and looked just like the picture on the directions. I let out a silent sigh of relief before smirking at my son. “See that Rafe? I told you I knew what I was doing.”

“Wow I can’t believe you actually did it,” Alec’s voice came from far behind me. I turned around seeing him come through the clearing of trees holding some sticks under one arm while holding Max’s hand with his free hand.

Smirking, I crossed my arms over my chest. “I told you I could handle putting a simple tent together.” Once he was standing next to me, he dropped the fire wood before looking over the tent with his eyes.

“Okay, what’s wrong with it,” he accused, crossing his arms. I scoffed, offended. “Alexander! Do you really think I’m incapable of putting up a simple tent?” “Without magic? Yes, Magnus I do. There has to be something wrong with it.”

“How little you believe in me. I’m honestly astonished at you Alexander. I followed each direction to the latter” I defended, actually feeling a tiny bit offended.

Alec raised an eyebrow at that before picking up the directions, looking them over. “You put all these rails together in the right order?” I nodded rolling my eyes. “Yes Alexander.” “And you put the rails through the sheet loops before putting them together.”

I opened my mouth to say yes but thinking about it… I did not do that. I just threw the sheet on top, I didn’t know I had to put the sheet on as I was building. Still… I couldn’t let Alec know he was right. The last thing I want to see is his smug smirk.

“Of course, I did that,” I finally answered. He crossed his arms, the directions still in hand. “You took a while to answer that.” I scoffed, turning away from him, “well I did do it so there.”

Alec watched me in silence before smiling at Rafael. “Rafe honey, did you and your papa do the step with the sheet?” Of course, Rafael, never one to lie to his father, shook his head no. “Papa just laid it on top of the rails.”

“That is not true at all” I objected but of course, if I wasn’t unlucky enough already, a big gust of wind came through and blew the sheet off the tent and onto the ground. Alec smirked looking down at the sheet before looking back at me. “If you did it the way the directions said, that wouldn’t have happened.”

I stuck my tongue at him before picking up Max, putting him on my shoulders. “Looks like you have it under control then Alexander. You can put the tent up while I take the boys to the lake.” Alec smiled grabbing the sheet off the floor, “now that sounds like a good idea. I’ll meet you at the lake when I’m done to catch fish for our dinner.”

“Well aren’t you an over achiever” I scoffed before walking away from him. His laughter came from behind me, meaning he found my irritation funny. I’m sure he finds this whole situation I’m in hilarious.

“Papa are you mad,” Rafael asked looking up at me. I looked down at him frowning. “Of course not, little man. I’m just not used to being outdoors. Once we’re by the lake I will feel better, promise.”

I'm seriously not mad. Sure, Alec is having a little too much fun at my expense but I already knew that was going to happen. He thinks I can’t get the hang of camping and he’s right I can’t. I’m not meant to be setting up tents and making a fire pit or whatever it is you do when camping.

Max started bouncing on my shoulders, pointing out ahead of us. “Look papa, the lake! The Lake!” I smiled up at him before looking ahead at what he was pointing at. As he said, a big lake stretched out before us, the sun shining down on it making it sparkle.

“Wow,” I whispered, feeling breathless from such a beautiful sight. “Come on papa let’s go,” Rafael gushed, pulling my hand to make me go faster. He’s strong for an eight-year-old since he’s been training with Alec. Him pulling me made me almost drop Max off my shoulders. Luckily, I had a good hold on him so all he did was fall forward a bit.

Once we got to the lake I put Max on the ground, walking up to the edge to determine how deep the water was. It seemed okay for Rafe but Max should have a lifejacket. “You’ll need a lifejacket Max,” I said turning back to him. “We’ll have to go back to get it.”

Max looked back where we came from before just making a purple lifejacket and his swim trunks appear on his body. I bit my lip looking back at Rafael who didn’t seem to notice what happened. He was too busy looking in the water. I looked back at Max, putting my finger to my lip, telling him this will be our little secret.

Max put his finger to his mouth in agreement and I smiled dropping my hand. My little blueberry was just so adorable. His skin is as blue as the lake and his hair is an even darker shade. Shadowhunters give him strange looks but I think he’s perfect the way he is.

Rafael walked up frowning slightly when he saw the lifejacket. “Where did he get that?” “I had it with me the entire time Rafe. Didn’t you see him wearing it on the way here?” Rafe shook his head no and I smiled, “your dad put him in it. You must not have noticed.”

He narrowed his eyes accusingly at me but let the subject drop as he turned around and started undressing. He was wearing his swimsuit under his jeans which was a smart idea. I was still in my jeans and long sleeved shirt so there was no way I could go into the lake.

I sat down in a patch of grass, watching as Rafael grabbed Max’s hand and jumped into the lake with him. It caused a big splash almost hitting me but I quickly moved my legs out of the way. “hey, watch where you splash.”

Max popped up in the water laughing and splashing around in delight. Rafe on the other hand wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Frowning, I quickly stood up, rushing to the edge of the lake. “Max, where’s your brother?”

Max looked around before shrugging. My heart started beating a mile per minute in a panic. Rafael was an excellent swimmer so he wouldn’t have drowned, right?

Before I could go into a full-on panic attack, I felt something behind my legs push me so I was falling forward. Crying out in surprise, I closed my eyes as the cold water engulphed my body.  

When I resurfaced, Rafael was standing there laughing his little head off. “Wow Papa, I can’t believe it was so easy to push you in.”

I glared up at him, not happy with how he went about tricking me. “Rafael Santiago Lightwood-Bane! I was terrified that you hit your head and drowned. You do not go out of my sight; do you hear me?”

Rafael nodded looking down guiltily but his body was still shaking with laughter so I don’t think he took me seriously. “I won’t do it again Papa. I just thought pushing you in the lake would be funny.”

I stared up at him with a blank expression before smirking and splashing him making him gasp out in surprise. “Take that you little brat,” I boasted, before going further out in the water. I was already in, so might as well have fun with my boys.

Rafael jumped into the water causing a big wave on water to fly over me, drenching me further. He laughed once he came back up and I just splashed him again laughing as well. He splashed me back, both of us getting in a heated battle.

Max laughed moving closer to us and joining the fun. He started splashing me too but his weren’t as big since he had such little hands. I moved over to Max, wrapping my arms around him and twirling around the water with him making him laugh and hold around my neck.

“I want to be spun too,” Rafe cheered, jumping on my back making all three of us burst out laughing. I shook my head at my silly children before looking up, seeing Alec leaning on a tree watching us with a sweet smile on his face.

“You want to join in the fun,” I asked smiling back at him. He shrugged holding up a camera and taking a picture of us. “I’m enjoying watching.” Rafael looked up at him smiling, “come on daddy get in with us!”

Alec pretended to think about it before smiling and setting the camera on a picnic table nearby. I watched him take off his shirt, whistling in delight. “Yeah baby, take it off!” He looked at me with a huge dark red blush. “Magnus, don’t say things like that in front of our children.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at his embarrassment. There’s the old Alec I know and love. He rolled his eyes at me smiling slightly, before jumping into the water, making a wave hit the three of us. Max laughed, letting go of me and swimming over to Alec once he came up. Alec grabbed him, throwing him into the air and catching him again.  

  A few hours later Alec and I sat on a log in front of a bonfire with the moon and stars hanging above us. We all got finished cooking and eating fish that Alec caught with his own bare hands. Watching him catch them was very impressive and a little sexy if I was being completely honest.

The moment we finished eating dinner, both Rafael and Max passed out next to the fire, making Alec carry them both to the tent for some much-deserved rest. We had a very eventful day messing around in the woods.

Once we were done playing in the water and catching fish, we came back to the sight to get a fire started. Alec dared me that I couldn’t make a fire without magic and I took him on. Of course, he ended up being right. I grabbed a few sticks and rubbed them together and nothing happened. After I finally admitted defeat, Alec grabbed a couple rocks and hit them together until they sparked into flames on the firewood.

Once the fire was started I played tag with the children while Alec stayed by the fire and cooked our fish to perfection. I don’t know why Alec’s outdoor skills surprise me so much. I’m sure growing up, Shadowhunters must learn survival skills. Making fires and living outdoors should be a walk in the park for him.

“They were so excited about having smores,” Alec sighed contently, laying his head in the crook of my neck as I wrapped my arm around him. There was a slight chill in the air but Alec’s body heat and the fire were enough to keep me warm.

“Guess they will have to wait till tomorrow,” I mumbled, laying my head against Alec’s. He nodded, before leaning forward and grabbing a big bag of marshmallows, some chocolate, and crackers. I raised an amused eyebrow at him, “what are you doing with those?”

“What? Just because our children aren’t having smores tonight doesn’t mean we can’t have any. I’ve been waiting for this part all day.” Shaking my head, I couldn’t help but laugh at my adorable husband. “You act so serious all the time; these random moments of childishness always throw me off when they happen.”

This caused him to scoff as he stuck a mellow on a stick. “There is nothing childish about smores. You are never too old to enjoy gooey, chocolatey goodness.” I playfully rolled my eyes at him as he held the stick out to me. “Be childish with me and eat some smores. You know you want to.”

“Only if you feed it to me,” I teased, smirking at him. He looked at me, searching my face for a moment before shrugging saying, “that’s fine with me.” My eyebrow raised in surprise. “You’ll really feed me a smore?”

He nodded pulling the marshmallow he was holding, away from the fire and he crushed it between two crackers and a piece of chocolate. “I don’t mind feeding you but you better feed me right back.” I laughed, shaking my head at my crazy husband. “Of course Alexander.”

I held the marshmallow Alec handed me closer to the fire and once it was mushy enough for my liking, I repeated his process of making the smore. Once it was ready, I turned my body toward him so we were facing each other. “Let’s feed each other at the same time.”

Alec’s eyebrow rose in question. “Is this going to be a repeat of our wedding reception when you shoved the cake full on in my face?” “You have to admit that was fun,” I beamed, before shaking my head no. “I have the feeling Marshmallow would be harder to get out of your hair then frosting.”

“Noted,” Alec agreed before holding his smore out to me. I held mine out to him and once we were close enough, we both took a big bite. Surprisingly enough, my smore wasn’t messy. Alec made the perfect portion of chocolate and mellow so it didn’t seep out of the sides. The smore I made for Alec however wasn’t as nicely made. The goo dripped down his chin as he pulled away and laugher escaped his lips as he tried to wipe it away, causing it to stick to his fingers.

“Well that’s not what I planned to happen at all,” I chuckled, looking around to make sure the coast was clear before swiping my hand and using magic to clean him up. He thanked me with a smile before shaking his head at me.

“What’s so funny,” I asked raising an eyebrow at him. He looked into my eyes, his full of love and happiness. “Thank you for agreeing on this camping trip Magnus. I know it’s the last thing you wanted to do for a vacation but it means a lot to our son. He is so happy to be out here with all of us. He’s happy because of you.”

“You’re giving me too much credit Alexander. You’re the one who knows what you’re doing out here. I couldn’t set up the tent properly and I forgot to grab Max’s life jacket. There’s no way I would have been able to make a fire without magic and if you didn’t pack my clothes for me, I’m sure I would be very uncomfortable.”

He shrugged, laying his head on my shoulder and looking up at the stars. “I always wanted to go camping with my family but my parents thought it was a waste of time. They never liked the idea of doing mundane things like this. I enjoy these memories we get to share with our children.”

I smiled, happy that Alec was having just as much fun as the kids. “Is camping as bad as you thought,” he asked, looking at me once again. I pondered my answer for a moment before shaking my head no. “I thought it was going to be this dirty, obnoxious, exhausting trip but it has actually been a lot of fun. Swimming with our kids and telling stories around a fire while we cook dinner. Those are memories you can’t make at a fancy resort.”

Alec’s smile brightened his face as he laid his head back down on my shoulder. “I love you so much Magnus. Next year, I promise we will pick a place everyone can agree on. We won’t ever gang up on you again.”

I pulled away from him, raising an accusing eyebrow in his direction. “Oh please, I don’t believe that for a moment. The day you and our sons stop ganging up on me is the day I stop wearing glitter, which is never.”

Alec sighed, putting his face in his hands trying to conceal a smile that was plastered on his face. “Okay, you may be right about that. Still, I promise to give you more of a fighting chance and I also swear to have your back against the kids when you really want me to be.”

“You, having my back occasionally would be nice,” I agreed smiling. Alec nudged me with his elbow causing me to bust out laughing. “I do have your back most of the time… it’s just hard to say no to the kids,” he mumbled the last part adorably.

“I’m aware of how hard it is to say no to our children. We will both lose that battle there’s no fighting it. They will forever have us wrapped around their little fingers,” I sighed, smiling to myself. Alec nodded, looking behind us at the tent the boys were currently sleeping in before looking back at me, his eyes shining.

“I can’t even remember what our lives were like without our boys.” I smiled reaching over and caressing his cheek gently with my thumb. “I can’t remember what my life was like without you. I’ve lived hundreds of years… yet these years I spend with you and our sons are now, and always will be the best. There will never be anyone else who makes me as happy as you do.”

A small smile crept up on Alec’s lips before he leaned in and kissed me softly. I kissed him back, moving my hand away from his face to wrap my arms around his waist. He wrapped his arms around my neck not breaking the kiss and the feeling made me go to cloud nine.  

Nothing makes me happier than being with my family. Playing with my kids and kissing my husband were things I never wanted to take for granted. If going on a dirty camping trip and making a fool of myself was what I needed to do to make them happy, then I would happily do it over and over again for the rest of my life.

“I love you Magnus Lightwood-Bane,” Alec whispered softly against my lips. I smiled against him mouth, looking deep in his baby blue eyes.

“I love you too Alexander Lightwood-Bane. Forever and always.”

[justjin-ah]

99 Cole Qs?

1. What is your full name?

Cole Bae, AKA 배콜 (Koreans don’t have middle names)

2. Where and when were you born?

October 26th, 2116, I wanna say it was probably in Korea.

3. Who are/were your parents? (Know their names, occupations, personalities, etc.)

Go Bae --  Unemployed, married rich. Resident uninterested mother, yet still somehow has time to hate her child’s significant others. Hm. Chin-Hwa Bae(?) Rich guy. Usually equally as uninterested. 

4. Do you have any siblings? What are/were they like?

Gochin. She’s a bitch. We don’t get along. It’s like Mom saw the damn future when she named her.

5. Where do you live now, and with whom? Describe the place and the person/people.

I live with my mom and dad and my sister, in a house that’s way too fucking big for four people, but that’s fine, because we all want the space away from each other anyway.

6. What is your occupation?

Ha, I don’t work. I’m still in school because I’m shit at focusing on it.

7. Write a full physical description of yourself. You might want to consider factors such as: height, weight, race, hair and eye color, style of dress, and any tattoos, scars, or distinguishing marks.

5′10″, about 140-something?, Korean, dyed-pink hair, brown eyes. Clothes like this or this or this, no tattoos, scars, etc. 

8. To which social class do you belong?

Upper. Halabeoji and Halmeoni are rich as hell, and left a pretty hefty sum of money to Mom’s trust fund, not to mention Dad, so.

9. Do you have any allergies, diseases, or other physical weaknesses?

I don’t know. I have pretty shitty springtime allergies?

10. Are you right- or left-handed?

Right-handed

11. What does your voice sound like?

a bench found a whole af video for this

12. What words and/or phrases do you use very frequently?

A variety of different curse words, usually. 

13. What do you have in your pockets?

A wallet? A phone? Some keys? 

14. Do you have any quirks, strange mannerisms, annoying habits, or other defining characteristics?

The need to always be in charge is probably an annoying habit to some. 

15. How would you describe your childhood in general?

Lackluster, and mostly spent on my own.

16. What is your earliest memory?

Moving to America, probably.

17. How much schooling have you had?

Too many years.

18. Do/did you enjoy school?

It’s a necessary evil.

19. Where did you learn most of your skills and other abilities?

From myself, mostly.

20. While growing up, did you have any role models? If so, describe them.

I didn’t really have anyone to look up to, no.

21. While growing up, how did you get along with the other members of your family?

I didn’t. I still don’t. It’s everyone for themselves in the Bae household.

22. As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I always wanted to dance. I think at some point in my life I envisioned being an idol, but I don’t think I could put in the selling of my soul for that.

23. As a child, what were your favorite activities?

Dancing, playing video games in my room to hide from Parents and Gochin, going outside to get away from Parents and Gochin, getting into trouble to bother Parents and Gochin, being an ass to piss off Parents and Gochin. Seeing a pattern?

24. As a child, what kinds of personality traits did you display?

Sarcastic, asshole, troublemaker kid. Probably a little bully. Maybe. A bit.

25. As a child, were you popular? Who were your friends, and what were they like?

I’m still popular. Everyone wanted to be my friend.

26. When and with whom was your first kiss?

Ah, shit. Uh... It was one summer-- I was like, twelve? It was some middle schooler party. Ya know, with spin the bottle, and shit. Which is a big fucking deal when you’re twelve. It was dark. I hardly remember who it was, if she even still lives in this town.

27. Are you a virgin? If not, when and with whom did you lose your virginity?

Hahahahahahahahahaha. No. I’m not. It was with Susi Wone, of all the damn people, when we were 14. Early bloomers.  

28. If you aren’t a virgin, would you take your first time back?

Maybe? No? I don’t know. It was just sex. It doesn’t really matter.

29. What do you consider the most important event of your life so far?

Falling in love with Eli.

30. Who has had the most influence on you?

Eli... or Noa.

31. What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Managing to have someone as remarkable as Eli Park-Sin picking me to fall in love with.

32. What is your greatest regret?

Doing things that make me unworthy of his trust.

33. What is the most evil thing you have ever done?

Probably... cheating on someone with their brother? 

34. Do you have a criminal record of any kind?

There is no ‘record’, persay.

35. When was the time you were the most frightened?

When Eli left my house the morning after we...

36. What is the most embarrassing thing ever to happen to you?

I tend to not embarrass easily.

37. If you could change one thing from your past, what would it be, and why?

I would break up with Joi the night I meant to, give Eli his ring, and have an honest start with him, because maybe then, he’d trust me.

38. What is your best memory?

This, and also the morning after that.

39. What is your worst memory?

Finding out Eli doesn’t trust me.

40. Are you basically optimistic or pessimistic?

Somewhere in between.

41. What is your greatest fear?

Screwing up so bad Eli never wants anything to do with me ever again.

42. What are your religious views?

Eh.

43. What are your political views?

Those Lee-Roths aren’t bad, I guess. 

44. What are your views on sex?

Sex is great, and it’s even better when you’re in love with the person. 

45. Are you able to kill? Under what circumstances do you find killing to be acceptable or unacceptable?

I don’t know. Probably not. I don’t know if I could say a circumstance where I think it’d be acceptable. According to the law, it’s unacceptable? That’s what I do know? 

46. In your opinion, what is the most evil thing any human being could do?

Constantly hurt the people who love them. Go figure. 

47. Do you believe in the existence of soul mates and/or true love?

I do, because I know who mine is.

48. What do you believe makes a successful life?

Living it the way you want to live it.

49. How honest are you about your thoughts and feelings (i.e. do you hide your true self from others, and in what way)?

Pretty honest, nowadays.

50. Do you have any biases or prejudices?

I’m pretty biased towards Eli Park-Sin.

51. Is there anything you absolutely refuse to do under any circumstances? Why do you refuse to do it?

I don’t know that it’s possible for me to say that. Everything in my life has usually been based off of a circumstance. But, if it’s one thing, it’s probably cheat on Eli, whenever I managed to gain his trust, and we end up back together. Because... that’s still a hope.

52. Who or what, if anything, would you die for (or otherwise go to extremes for)?

Eli and Noa. 

53. In general, how do you treat others (politely, rudely, by keeping them at a distance, etc.)? Does your treatment of them change depending on how well you know them, and if so, how?

It depends on the person, yeah. Anybody who I don’t care about a lot gets treated with contempt, usually.

54. Who is the most important person in your life, and why?

Eli, because no one makes me feel the way he does, and he makes me want to be the best person I can be. And Noa, because I feel like I raised him.

55. Who is the person you respect the most, and why?

Noa, because he’s the type of boyfriend I want to be.

56. Who are your friends? Do you have a best friend? Describe these people.

Noa Lee is my best friend, and also the only friend that matters, despite the fact that I have a flurry of people constantly following me around that I call ‘friends’. He’s a punk jackass, but he’s also a cuddly sweetheart, who would kill me if he saw me calling him a cuddly sweetheart. 

57. Do you have a spouse or significant other? If so, describe this person.

... Not currently, no.

58. Have you ever been in love? If so, describe what happened.

Of course. I’ve only mentioned him in half of these questions. I don’t know. When I finally noticed him, and I gave him the time of day-- I liked what I got to know, and then he fell asleep on my shoulder, and I looked down at him, and nothing’s been the same since then.  Also I was kinda a little bit in love with Noa when we first met, but that was like super brief, and no one needs to know about that. Ever.... Ever.

59. What do you look for in a potential lover?

He’s gotta be obsessed with milk. That’s the deal breaker.

60. How close are you to your family?

I am not.

61. Have you started your own family? If so, describe them. If not, do you want to? Why or why not?

Oh, fuck no. I can’t even take care of a boyfriend right now, let alone a baby. 

62. Who would you turn to if you were in desperate need of help?

Usually I’d say Noa, but he’s got more things to worry about right now than me.

63. Do you trust anyone to protect you? Who, and why?

Well... Noa. Because he usually does, even if I don’t ask.

64. If you died or went missing, who would miss you?

Eli, I’d hope. Noa. Maybe some of those other friends that aren’t important. Probably Elliot.

65. Who is the person you despise the most, and why?

Probaby... Elliot? I don’t know. The obsession isn’t cute like it is with Eli. 

66. Do you tend to argue with people, or avoid conflict?

I’m the fucking king of arguing.

67. Do you tend to take on leadership roles in social situations?

Generally.

68. Do you like interacting with large groups of people? Why or why not?

I do, usually because people are paying attention to me, and I like that.

69. Do you care what others think of you?

A few people, yeah.

70. What is/are your favorite hobbies and pastimes?

Dancing, camping with Noa, ( ͡ꈍ ͜ʖ̫ ͡ꈍ )

71. What is your most treasured possession?

This fucking ring with my initial on it. 

72. What is your favorite color?

Red.

73. What is your favorite food?

Hotteok, bitch.

74. What, if anything, do you like to read?

People when they’re lying.

75. What is your idea of good entertainment (consider music, movies, art, etc.)?

Dancing, K-Music of most kinds, western music of few varieties, video games of the battle type, ( ͡ꈍ ͜ʖ̫ ͡ꈍ ) etc.

76. Do you smoke, drink, or use drugs? If so, why? Do you want to quit?

I drink on occasion, but not usually in excess, unless I’m ridiculously pissed off about something.

77. How do you spend a typical Saturday night?

Well, this past Saturday night was pretty typical... ( ͡ꈍ ͜ʖ̫ ͡ꈍ )

78. What makes you laugh?

Eli being clumsy.

79. What, if anything, shocks or offends you?

Nothing, at this point.

80. What would you do if you had insomnia and had to find something to do to amuse yourself?

( ͡ꈍ ͜ʖ̫ ͡ꈍ )

81. How do you deal with stress?

Usually a lot of yelling.

82. Are you spontaneous, or do you always need to have a plan?

I’m okay with either. 

83. What are your pet peeves?

Fuckin’ milk.

84. Describe the routine of a normal day for you. How do you feel when this routine is disrupted?

Wake up, go to school, dance practice, avoid the people I don’t want to see, talk to the people I do want to see, dance practice again, go home, sneak over to a Park-Sin’s place, and it used to be sleep there for the night, but recently it’s been scoot after Eli goes to sleep.

85. What is your greatest strength as a person?

I like to think there’s a lot, but it probably isn’t true.

86. What is your greatest weakness?

Eli Park-Sin. note from the author, it’s also probably Elliot too, Cole.

87. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

My ~untrustworthiness 

88. Are you generally introverted or extroverted?

Extroverted as hell.

89. Are you generally organized or messy?

Organized chaos.

90. Name three things you consider yourself to be very good at, and three things you consider yourself to be very bad at.

Dancing, grabbing attention, sex?

Gaining truST, not arguing, giving up control.

91. Do you like yourself?

Most of the time, but not much recently.

92. What goal do you most want to accomplish in your lifetime?

Get Eli’s trust. Hopefully that won’t take a damn lifetime, but I’m beginning to wonder.

93. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Hopefully with Eli, for fucks’s sake.

94. If you could choose, how would you want to die?

Quickly? I guess?

95. If you knew you were going to die in 24 hours, name three things you would do in the time you had left.

Let me direct you to this, where I pretty much answer that question. 

96. What is the one thing for which you would most like to be remembered after your death?

That I wasn’t so terribly shitty. At this point, that’s all I can hope for.

97. What three words best describe your personality?

Outgoing, in charge?

98. What three words would others probably use to describe you?

Bossy, argumentative, idiot.

99. If you could, what advice would you, the player, give to your character?

Cole Bae. Cole... Bae... Please.... My son. My boy. Get........ some help.

[shtfandgo]

New Post has been published on SHTFandGO Survival and Emergency Supplier

New Post has been published on http://www.shtfandgo.com/2017/05/12/medical-aspects-of-camping-and-other-tips-you-need-to-know-about/

Medical Aspects of Camping and Other Tips You Need to Know About

As the weather begins to warm up, it is time to think about outdoor activities we can pursue not only for pleasure but to hone and practice our outdoor survival skills.  Speaking for myself, camping is high on my list of summer activities, including a first-time adventure using a tent.

Most of us plan to hunker down and shelter in place in the event of a disruptive event. That said, if our homes are no longer safe, either due to location or to physical destruction, we must have a plan to evacuate.  In some cases, the answer will be short term camping.

Dr. Joe Alton is here to today to weigh in on what we need to know about the medical aspect of camping plus some other tips to make the overall experience both pleasurable and educational.

Safe Camping Tips for Preppers

School will be out soon and a great way to teach your family survival basics is by taking them camping. The skills needed for successful camping are akin to those required for the activities of daily survival. Once learned, these lessons last a lifetime. There’s no greater gift that you can give young people than the ability to be self-reliant.

Camping trips create bonds and memories that will last a lifetime.  A poorly planned campout, however, can become memorable in a way you don’t want, especially if someone gets injured. Luckily, a few preparations and an evaluation of your party’s limitations will help you enjoy a terrific outing with the people you care about, and maybe impart some skills that would serve them well in dark times.

Start Small

If you haven’t been camping much, don’t start by attempting to hike the Donner Trail. Begin by taking day trips to National Parks or a nearby lake.   Set up your tent and campfire, and see how it goes when you don’t have to stay in the woods overnight.  Once you have that under your belt, start planning your overnight outings.

Whatever type of camping you do, always assess the capabilities and general health of the people in your party. Children and elderly family members will determine the limits of your activities. The more ambitious you are, the more likely the kids and oldsters won’t be able to handle it.  Disappointment and injuries are the end result.

Important Considerations

An important first step to a safe camping trip is knowledge about the weather and terrain you’ll be encountering. Talk with park rangers, consult guidebooks, and check out online sources. Some specific issues you’ll want to know about:

· Temperature Ranges · Rain or Snowfall · Trails and Campsite Facilities · Plant, Insect, or Animal Issues · Availability of Clean Water · How to Get Help in an Emergency

Medical Aspects of Camping

A very common error campers (and survivalists) make is not bringing the right clothing and equipment for the weather and terrain. If you haven’t planned for the environment you’ll be camping in, you have made it your enemy, and believe me, it’s a formidable one.

Although Spring and Fall have the most uncertainty with regards to temperatures and weather, you could encounter storms in any season. Always take enough clothing to allow layering to deal with the unpredictability of the season.

Conditions in high elevations lead to wind chill factors that could cause hypothermia. If the temperature is 50 degrees, but the windchill factor is 30 degrees, you lose heat from your body as if it were below freezing. Be aware that temperatures at night may be surprisingly cold.

In cold weather, you’ll want your family clothed in tightly woven, water-repellent material for protection against the wind. Wool holds body heat better than cotton does. Some synthetic materials work well, also, such as Gore-Tex. Add or remove layers as needed.

If you’re at the seashore or lakefront in summer, your main problem will be heat exhaustion and burns. Have your family members wear sunscreen, as well as hats and light cotton fabrics. Plan your strenuous activities for mornings, when it’s cooler. In any type of weather, keep everyone well-hydrated.  Dehydration causes more rapid deterioration in physical condition in any type of stressful circumstance. Allow a pint of fluids an hour for strenuous activities.

The most important item of clothing is, perhaps, your shoes. If you’ve got the wrong shoes for the outing, you will most likely regret it. If you’re in the woods, high tops that you can fit your pant legs into are most appropriate. If you go with a lighter shoe in hot weather, Vibram soles are your best bet.

Special Tips: Choosing the right clothing isn’t just for weather protection.  If you have the kids wear bright colors, you’ll have an easier time keeping track of their whereabouts. Long sleeves and pants offer added protection against insect bites that can transmit disease, such as Lyme disease caused by ticks.

Location, Location, Location

A real estate agent’s motto is “location, location, location” and it’s also true when it comes to camping.   Scout prospective campsites by looking for broken glass and other garbage that can pose a hazard.  Sadly, you can’t depend on other campers to pick up after themselves.

Look for evidence of animals/insects nearby, such as large droppings or wasp nests/bee hives.    Advise the children to stay away from any animals, even the cute little fuzzy ones. If there are berry bushes nearby, you can bet it’s on the menu for bears. Despite this, things that birds and animals can eat aren’t always safe for humans.

Learn to identify the plants in your environment that should be avoided. This especially includes poison ivy, oak, and sumac.  Show your kids pictures of the plants so that they can steer clear of them. The old adage is “leaves of three, let it be”. Fels-Naptha soap is especially effective in removing toxic resin from skin and clothes if you suspect exposure.

Build your fire in established fire pits and away from dry brush. In drought conditions, consider using a portable stove instead.  Children are fascinated by fires, so watch them closely or you’ll be dealing with burn injuries. Food (especially cooked food) should be hung in trees in such a way that animals can’t access it. Animals are drawn to food odors, so use resealable plastic containers.

If you camp near a water source, realize that even the clearest mountain stream may harbor parasites that cause diarrheal disease and dehydration.  Water sterilization is basic to any outdoor outing.  There are iodine tablets that serve this purpose, and portable filters like the “Lifestraw™” which are light and effective.  Although time-consuming, boiling local water is a good idea to avoid trouble.

Get Your Bearings

Few people can look back to their childhood and not remember a time when they lost their bearings. Your kids should always be aware of landmarks near the camp or on trails.  A great skill to teach the youngsters is how to use a compass; make sure they have one on them at all times.

A great item to give each child (and adult) is a loud whistle that they can blow if you get separated.  Three blasts are the universal signal for “help!” If lost, kids should stay put in a secure spot.  Of course, if you have cell phone service where you are, consider that option as well.

Bug Bites

Even kids in protective clothing can still wind up with insect bites.  Important supplies to carry are antihistamines like Benadryl, sting relief pads, and calamine lotion to deal with allergic reactions.  Asking your doctor for a prescription “Epi-Pen” is a good idea, as they’re meant to be used by the average person. They’re effective for severe reactions to toxins from insect bites or poison ivy.

Citronella-based products are helpful to repel insects; put it on clothing instead of skin (absorbs too easily) whenever possible. Repellents containing DEET also can be used, but not on children less than 2 years old.

Don’t forget to inspect daily for ticks or the bulls-eye pattern rash you might see in Lyme disease. I mean it when I say daily: If you remove the tick in the first 24 hours, you will rarely contract the disease.

Of course, you’ll need a medical kit as part of your supplies. Consider some of the items in our compact, lightweight personal IFAK kit, specifically meant to deal with mishaps on the trail. You might have your own favorite items to bring with you; if so, feel free to post them in the comments section below.

The Final Word

Now that I live adjacent to the forest, I want to get a tent.  The plan is to get something easy to set up because, after all, I am not a young as I used to be and want to save my energy for things like hiking and doing a bit of wood chopping.  Then, as Joe suggests, I plan to camp in my own one-acre backyard before venturing further.

One thing is certain, it is a lot more fun to practice survival skills when you couple the experience with a family adventure!

  http://www.backdoorsurvival.com