#still have like 5 sheep left so if we find a good blueprint for the others we're set

[afkintheark]

Was doing a short meat run and found an orphaned gigantoraptor. It wouldn't let me claim it of course but Kel brought Storm over and got her that way. She is gorgeous and a lot better than our current pair, I'm going to bring Rusty over and breed them until I can get a clone of her. \o/

Spent the majority of today raising babies, Kel had all of hers out but I had enough space to put the yutis out. We're raising the male for a breeder so he's not getting imprinted, but our Battle Shout got doted on until we got bored. XD

I finally got to drag Kel into the ocean. We got another pair of artifacts and I showed all my favorite metal spots. There were a ton of mosas out but a 90 was the highest we found so we cleaned them all out, hopefully we'll have better spawns next time we go. Almost got a male anglerfish but he snuck into a group of low-levels and got bit by a deino, so we gave up tranqing him before we killed him. If he doesn't despawn or get himself killed by something else, hopefully we'll find him again.

[knittingdreams]

Fireheart - Chapter 5

Hello, hello, hello!! :D

Dropping a new chapter today ‘cause why not? *-*

I can’t believe how far this story’s got, I mean, I feel like I wrote this so long ago D: 

If you want to read more, head onto my A03 were you can read up to chapter 20-something, and I update there at least weekly n_n

Otherwise, stick around, and here are the previous chapters in case you didn’t read them:

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

CHAPTER 5

Kickstarting phase 2

It only took Celaena a couple of days to figure out the patterns of Lysandra’s moves and get in position to play the next part of her plan; infiltrating the school’s hive. There was no better way to do so, than by going after the queen bee herself.

She had looked up Lysandra’s schedule on the ghost program she had running on her computer, which meant she had all the information about every student only one click away. Once she knew where Lysandra was meant to be at all times, it was easy to figure out the places she was hanging out in between classes. Every day, like a clock, Lysandra went to the bathroom closer to the cafeteria between the second and third period, usually on her own.

On Friday, Celaena made sure to be in that bathroom five minutes beforehand. She was standing in front of the mirror touching up her burgundy lipstick as the queen bee walked in, just as expected. 

Lysandra walked in confidently, checked her perfect hair in the mirror, adjusted her headband so it was placed just at the right angle, and then looked to her side, noticing Celaena standing there. Celaena’s chin was held high as she perfected the last touches of her own makeup and looked into the mirror, staring at her own brown eyes. She was still not used to them, they seemed so dull, but it had been fun to play with eyeshadow colors that would have normally clashed with her turquoise irises.

“Hey,” Celaena said as she finished up and looked at Lysandra. She used the same sweet tone she normally used when asking Arobynn for a favor.

“Hi,” Lysandra replied, looking puzzled for a second, but then turning around to fully face her. “I like that lipstick color you’re using; may I?” She added, extending a hand towards Celaena.

“Sure.”

Lysandra grabbed the lipstick off her, rolled it over in her fingers, and then tapped her thin lips with it making their cream color turn almost the same shade as Celaena’s.

Celaena knew it was now or never, she had to swallow her pride and do whatever was needed to make things work, to get closer, to get inside the inner circle. As repulsed as she felt about being one of the popular kids, it was a needed part of her plan.

“I hear tryouts for cheerleaders are next week, are there any openings available?” Celaena asked, playing with her hair and trying to look as innocent as a sheep... As far from reality as possible.

Lysandra looked her up and down before replying.

“You look decent enough, do you go to the gym often? Or were you on the squad in your old school? This is no joke, we take cheering seriously in Adarlan Elite,” she said with a stern voice, but there was a small smile tugging at her lips.

“Give me the chance, and I will prove worthy,” Celaena replied, making sure to say as little as possible. The best way to keep up a lie was by omission, and saying as few untrue facts as possible always helped keep up charades for longer. Being in Adarlan's school was certainly going to be the longest time she had spent as someone else.

“Are you a base or a flyer?” She asked, her emerald eyes still looking Celaena up and down.

“Whatever you need, I can be either, but I will rather be a base.”

“Okay,” Lysandra said, and a little smile made the side of her lips tug up. “I’ll see you there next Tuesday, don’t be late, and don’t disappoint me. We actually really need new recruits, most of our best graduated last year,” she finished as she turned around to walk away.

“Won’t,” Celaena said under her breath. There was no way she could disappoint. It was going to be harder to keep her performance on the down-low and not bring too much attention to herself than it was going to be making it into the squad. She had absolutely no doubt that she’d be wearing a cheerleader's uniform by the time training officially started. 

As Celaena was left alone in the bathroom, she pictured herself wearing the uniform. The skirt was similar to the everyday uniform, but about half the length of it; and bright yellow with a black waistband instead of the dull grey. She could do that, showing her legs was no issue, she could always attribute the few thin scars to falls, make up a little story here or there about her years cheering back in Terrasen. 

No, that wouldn’t be a problem. The problem was going to be the top. The cheerleader’s tops were too short, and leaving her lower back exposed wasn’t going to be an option. Standing there alone, she wondered if there was a way to alter the uniform, or if she could wear a cardigan on top of it until she got enough information and excused herself from the team. After all, she didn’t need to be in the squad when the games came around, she most likely only needed to be there at training for a few weeks; she could always claim a sprained ankle after that.

Smiling to herself, Celaena walked out into the hallway and she heard the second bell was ringing. Annoyed with her own distraction, she started walking faster towards her math class. Her scholarship could get compromised if she got in trouble for being late. She could have paid for the fees and avoided the trouble of applying for the scholarship altogether, but there was no point wasting any of her hard-earned fortune on school. Arobynn would have never accepted paying for it, and she didn’t want to ask either. So she depended on her brain, her good grades, and her good behavior. 

She hid behind a locker as she watched a teacher walking around a hallway, hoping not to be seen. She needed an idea, and she needed it fast. There was no way she’d be caught in the hallway when classes had already begun, and she couldn’t really sneak into the classroom unseen. Her brain pulled up the blueprint of the school, and she came up with a plan in less than a second. 

Once the teacher was out of view, she jumped out and made her way to the end of the hallway as fast as possible, her feet barely touching the floor and making no noise. She looked to both sides before running through another corridor and making her way to the door of the infirmary. She sneaked inside as silent as a ghost and laid on a bed before the nurse would even notice she was there. She closed her eyes, propped an arm over her face, and  waited. 

It was only a few moments before she heard a surprised gasp, and opened her eyes, moving her arm down and making her eyelids flutter. She looked around confused, making herself blink slowly.

“Where did you come from?” the nurse asked, sounding a little jumpy.

“Sorry,” Celaena said in a pained voice. “I suddenly felt awful, I thought I was going to pass out. A freshman helped me here, I don’t know where he’s gone….” she trailed off, making her eyelids drop, and then reopening them slowly. “I think I just need some rest,” she added.

The nurse was already rushing around her, checking her pulse and putting a hand against her forehead to make sure she didn’t have a fever.

“Your temperature is fine,” the lady said, and Celaena concentrated on her breathing, making her heartbeat as slowly as she could. “Your pulse is a little weak,” the nurse said soon after, walking around to a little table and searching in the drawers.

“Let me guess,” the nurse said. “Is it that time of the month?”

Celaena opened her eyes a little as if hearing the greatest news but being too tired to do something about it. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of it, you’re completely right. It’s meant to be tomorrow,” she said, wiping nonexistent sweat off her brows.

“Here,” the nurse said, giving her a glass of water, a painkiller, and a lolly. “The sweet will help get your blood sugar back up. You girls nowadays with your diets, you don’t ever eat enough! I will write you a slip so you can take it to class once you feel better. Stay here for now as I go over to inform the office of your whereabouts.”

With that, the nurse left the room, her wide hips swaying from one side to the other as she entered the room in the back. Celaena looked up at the white roof and sighed. It would be embarrassing to get to class too late, so she thought she might as well fake it till the bell rang. She wouldn't miss much as she probably knew everything in the math curriculum already.

There was still fifteen minutes left when the door to the infirmary opened up, and Chaol Westfall walked in. He didn’t look surprised to find Celaena there, and she wondered if she was the sole reason he had come around.

“Celaena,” he said as a way of hello.

“Chaol,” she replied, making her voice sound as flat as possible.

“Ms. Doranelle sent me over to check on you, she’s going to take the last ten minutes of class to do a surprise test and she’d want you to be a part of it if you’re feeling better,” he said as he stood with his back against the open door.

Celaena lifted her brows, not being able to believe that they would send over for her for something so trivial. She let her eyelids half drop, making her look tired again.

“I’m not sure I’m ready to go back,” she replied in a weak tone. Chaol didn’t look convinced as he took a step towards her.

“You shouldn’t fake sickness, what’s even wrong with you? Your stomach? Do you have any kind of illness?” He asked, taking another step towards her as if daring her to lie to his face. Celaena had wondered before about the weirdness of this nerd being Dorian’s best friend, but she could now see they shared their clear stubbornness. 

“I’m not that kind of sick,” Celaena said, a little smug smile tugging on her lips.

“Then, what’s wrong with you?” Chaol asked, his eyebrows raised again.

“It’s... That time of the month, you know,” Celaena replied, containing the laughter.

Chaol’s expression changed, his brows lifting higher up, and then dropping all the way down. He took a step backward and almost tripped as his cheeks flushed red and his lips went pale. 

“Oh, yeah, that... sorry,” he muttered as he took another step back and turned around, almost tripping with the doorframe as he bolted out of the room.

Celaena laughed then, a real laugh, and had to cover her mouth not to startle the nurse, who was still inside her little office.

The rest of the day passed in a breeze, and Celaena found herself content at the end of the day, realizing she had survived her first week of high school. She reminded herself that she was strong, that the years on the streets had taught her everything she needed to know about the world, and that if she could survive Arobynn, then she could certainly survive school.

When she jumped up on her bike at the end of the day, she was grinning from ear to ear. The ride to the mansion would only take a few minutes, so she took a detour and rode around town for a while, letting the wind mess up her hair. She was glad for the thrill, for the rush of adrenaline that made her feel alive, for the freedom of being able to ride the roads without worrying about prying eyes.

Once she made it into the mansion, she was surprised to find Arobynn and Sam in the foyer. Cortland still had his school backpack hanging from a shoulder, and his posture seemed a little tighter than normal. Celaena had learned to read his postures and expressions after spending so much of their time training together, and she could tell something was going on, something had happened.

“Afternoon,” Arobynn greeted her as she reached them in the middle of the foyer. She composed her face into a pleasant smile and stood a step behind Sam.

“You’re not one to wait by the foyer, what’s going on here?” She asked, her brows rising slightly.

“I was just sharing some developments and news with Sam,” Arobynn announced. Sam’s back was straight, and his chin was tilted up, looking right into Arobynn’s grey eyes.

“Spit it out, and tell me what’s happening, Arobynn. Does it have anything to do with my parents and my mission?” She asked, unable to keep her cool any longer.

“Nothing to do with you Celaena,” Arobynn dismissed her with a shake of his hand. “There’s a tournament coming up in a few weeks, and I know Sam here is ready to step up.” He said as he looked back at his subordinate. Arobynn’s stern posture wasn’t giving anything away. “Sam will be joining the guild.”

Celaena’s heart leaped, and she glanced at Sam without even thinking about it. His posture was still rigid and his jaw was clenched as he nodded once, his eyes fixed on Arobynn’s. She looked back to the older man, who looked barely a few years older than them with his long auburn hair, and she forced herself to smile. 

“Congratulations, Cortland,” she said.

Hope you enjoyed it! And thanks so much again for popping by! I’m loving all the support of this amazing community! :D