#whew that was...smooth sailing

[books-are-my-life-stuff]

Kalos CSMM at long last!

Siebold: So, I was stupid and wasted one of the Healthy Healing cookies to Lodge Dawn. Finally, I replaced it with Mind Games 2, so she could kinda replicate Bede's role but as a support. She, alongside SS Brendan, hastened Hilbert's needs of debuffs and offensive buffs. The stage mostly used special attacks, but Lodge Dawn has Shielded from her trainer move to protect Brendan (she also buffs Speed a little bit to keep the gauge going), while Hilbert swept the stage after 6*EX support buff. That was easy, but mostly because the team complemented each other very well.

Malva: The instruction only told to get rid of sun and bring a tank that can take special attacks--basically SS Kris, and using SS Kris means using special attackers, so...yeah. Another easy one surprisingly, and the match ended before SS Kris' first rain ran out too (Siebold sync+May finished center). Siebold didn't even need Supereffective Up Next. The Kalos Elite Four vs. Kalos Elite Four matchup was intentional.

Drasna: +1 Attack Dragon Rush dealt 564 damage to Spring Burgh on first turn, when he was buffing crit. Yikes. SS Wally and Bede missed their crit on first sync and max move respectively. Double yikes. But as long as SS Wally used his B Dazzling Gleam, Drasna was much easier to tank (still dealt 300 damage Dragon Rush, but still much better). The matching theme skills helped Spring Burgh to survive as well. With fairy rebuffs, Bede and SS Wally could finish off sides with their attacks too. Bede took the second sync, missed the crit again, but thankfully it was enough to finish off Drasna.

Wikstrom: Before Master Mode was unlocked, I tried bringing Roxanne as main tank to this stage, but she took way too much damage. So I ended up not bringing her. Not having Aura Cynthia means I had to bring defogger, so Darach, because he could help Diantha built her multiplier as well. I spent around 5-6 minutes thinking about who I should bring for the main tank, and finally settled with Calem. Calem did take a lot of damage as well even though Darach has helped with debuffs (he had to use his Endure too), but this team finished the stage safely. I have no idea what I was doing here.

Diantha: Healthy Advantage+vulnerable to defense debuffs. If you have Colress, this wasn't so bad. I have Colress at home, it's called Tech Parasect. The gauge was a little difficult to manage that I had to reset once (because Hop got flinched and frozen a lot), but on second try, Steven managed to sync for the second time before enemy's sync, and Hop got the kill. Tech Parasect had to spread debuffs even to the sides and keep them going, because Diantha has Team Stoic to consistently buff defense and the opposing team mainly used special attacks, which wasn't good for Hop. Thankfully, everyone survived, and managed to finish the stage.

[snailfen]

the gourmand experience thus far: rotundness

[calmwaterstarot]

What placements would you say in synastry show that a woman is a man’s dream girl?

I'd check his Venus first. Venus = love and beauty. If his Venus conjuncts her Ascendant, even better. That's a "love at first sight" aspect, although it can be a bit superficial.

I also think these aspects (mostly conjunctions, but trines, sextiles, squares, and oppositions can be good, too) work well with each other:

Sun/Moon Sun/Venus Venus/Mars Venus/Jupiter Venus/Pluto (careful with this! the sexual chemistry will be hard to resist) Moon/Mars Moon/Jupiter Moon/Pluto

Conjunctions are strongest, while trines and sextiles make for smooth sailing. Squares and oppositions can cause tension, but, depending on the placement, this isn't always a bad thing. I mean, imagine the sexual tension with a Venus/Mars or Venus/Pluto square. Whew! 🥵

Planets in the 1st, 4th, 5th, 7th, or 8th houses are the most common in dream person synastry.

I'm going to add 2nd house synastry because while it can cause possessiveness, it's not necessarily toxic possessiveness. It's like, "This is my person. I don't want anyone else to have them." It's great because you can feel secure and safe with this person, like they're your rock.

I'm also going to add 12th house synastry here, too, even though people argue about whether it's good or not. If you have Pisces or water placements, the 12th house could be a really deep, psychic connection. It's also considered to be the house of karma and soulmates. But some people hate the feeling of the 12th house, so the experience is entirely subjective.

I also like looking at asteroids, such as Valentine, Eros, Psyche, Cupido, and Union, especially Sun and Venus conjunct Valentine, Eros conjunct Psyche, Cupido conjunct Cupido, and Union conjunct Union.

If you have your Ascendant or Descendant conjunct your person's Ascendant or Descendant, this can feel like you two have known each other all your lives and have so much in common. This can be a very intense, magnetic pull when these axes line up. ASC/MC and DSC/IC are also good.

Lastly, at the beginning of this post, I talked about the Venus/ASC aspect, but Venus conjunct Descendant is just as potent. Specifically, if another person's Venus conjuncts your Descendant, they're exactly your type. Venus/ASC is more of a physical attraction, while Venus/DSC can feel much deeper and that person is exactly your type. It's a bonus if you or your person's Venus is in the 7th house conjunct the Descendant.

💖 💖 💖

[marthawrites]

"don't shut me out. please"

I hope it is not too late for me to join the celebration ☺️ Congratulations! 💕👏🏼

Thank you sooososo much! You are such a gem and I appreciate all of your fandom love more than you know! I did my best to include a (one shot appropriate) slow burn, angst, and a happy ending. I hope you enjoy this ride MWAH!

Summer's End, Autumn's Beginning

Modern Aemond Targaryen x fem reader

Word Count: 6.3k+

About: A chance encounter with Aemond leads to a whirlwind of emotions. Over the next few months you both fail, in yourselves and in the relationship, and learn from the mistakes.

Includes: Chance encounter, age difference (references to Aemond x Alys) mentions of cheating, allusions to cheating, angst, second chance romance, and smut featuring vaginal fingering, possessive sex, and unprotected protected vaginal sex

Note: Hello lovely reader! This is the longest piece I've wrote in quite awhile - whew! I also feel like it's one of the more ambitious one-shot fics I've worked on/completed. Reader is non-descript. As always, please, enjoy!

read part 2 Between the Covers here

-

I.

There were two things tied for number one on your five-year goal list.

First, be out of your city apartment (preferably as a home owner and not a renter)

Second, have a dog. 

They went hand in hand. One couldn’t happen without the other. So, it was a hard tie and you weren’t willing to budge on either. Until then, to take the edge off your self-proclaimed animal loneliness, you volunteered at a local shelter two nights a week. Mondays and Wednesdays.

While your day job wasn’t a doctor, lawyer, or professional athlete – ones that your family pushed you to have while growing up – it still paid decently and had the potential for career advancement. And! You were able to live on your own. Not having a roommate was worth the dry job description. Besides, your boss was fair and most of your co-workers were friendly; a win win, really.

Tonight, Monday, you finished your shift, went home to change, then headed out to the shelter. Even though it was all volunteer hours you valued punctuality and did your best to get there around the same time each night.

“Hey! You made it!” Arryk called out to you when you stepped inside the building. Chaos sparked all around. He did a great job running and maintaining the schedule, and with the help of volunteers alongside regular staff, it was, more often than not, smooth sailing. Tonight, however, it appeared quite the opposite.

“Hey! Yeah, a few minutes later than usual, sorry!” You said as you walked over to him.

He waved a hand brushing off your apology. “No worries. We had a few people call in today. So, since being short staffed we’re definitely running behind. I know you normally help bathe the dogs with Baela tonight, but can I ask you to do something else instead?” He winced slightly with his question, unsure of your answer. He knew how much you loved Baela and cleaning the dogs!

You squinted at him suspiciously. “Why are you looking at me like that?” You asked, crossing your arms. “You know I won’t administer shots. If I could get over my fear of needles I’d be a veterinarian and not an office worker like I am!” You scrunched your brows before one, all on its own accord, arched up dubiously.

“Ha!” He laughed. “No no no, I know. We have six dogs that need walking tonight. And I don’t think Targaryen can handle all of ‘em.”

“Helaena? She’s back?” You asked, eyes bright with surprise.

“She’s still away for that college trip. It’s her younger brother, Aemond. Have you met him before?”

You’d heard Helaena talk about him, of course, but you’d never met him. Shaking your head, you peered around the shelter looking for anyone else with the Targaryen tell-tale silver-blonde hair. No one caught your eye. “I haven’t. But, I don’t mind.”

“You are a lifesaver!” He praised. “He’s down the west hall getting them ready. Depending on how long you're here afterward, there might be another couple who could use a second walk. Terriers. You know how they are.”

“Happy to help, Arryk!” He was a good guy. You’d always liked him.

“Aemond’s tall, towheaded as the rest of his family, and has an eyepatch. You can’t miss him.” And with that Cargyll switched tasks and got right back to work.

Turning and walking down the west hall, you were happy to say, chaos began to fizzle out. This hall had the larger dogs; no wonder Aemond wouldn’t be able to walk all six at once. Even with the slow turn of summer to autumn sunset wouldn’t be for another three hours. Assuming all went well you’d be able to walk the second batch of dogs, too. 

Down the aisle were five opened doors with each respective dog ready for their walk. Their leashes were hooked onto the door so they couldn’t run amuck. You patted and scratched them, earning yourself more wagging tails, a few happy barks, and some excited licks. Looking to the end of the hall you saw someone who you assumed was your evening walking partner. He was kneeling, talking soothingly to a great big senior hound, while clasping the final buckle of their harness. “Hello, uh-, Aemond?” You called out feeling slightly self-conscious. 

Still kneeling, he turned his head to look up at you. Any softness in his single eye quickly hardened to match the rest of his sharp features. “Hey,” he said, caught off guard by your presence; someone he’d never seen calling him out by name. “Is there something I can help you with?” Slowly, in a single fluid motion, he stood up and the aged dog kept his eyes on him the whole time, panting happily.

Whoa. He was tall. And, at first sight, incredibly good looking: dressed in casual black clothes, long silver hair tied into a braid, with a scar along the left side of his face that you had to tell yourself not to stare at. His mouth was a unique shape, too, and you weren’t sure if he was merely waiting for a response or if he was smirking the tiniest pout at you. “Hi,” you said again with a nervous laugh. You told him your name. “Arryk sent me. Said you could use some help with the walk tonight?” ‘Play it cool, dummy. He’s really handsome, so what? He could be a huge asshole. Play. It. Cool,’ your inner voice said.

Did he have a mechanical eye beneath his patch? The way he looked at you, then, made you feel like he read your thoughts. “Ah. I could certainly use the help,” he said smoothly with a small curve of lip, turning his attention to the three dogs at the front of the hallway. “Wanna take those three?” He asked, looping the big dog’s leash around his wrist. “I mean, you can have any of them as long as I get this guy. He’s my favorite.”

Your pulse raced a little too fast. Clearing your throat, you smiled in an attempt to ease the butterflies in your belly. “I don’t mind. Why is he your favorite?” You turned and began to unclasp leashes from their doors; happy tips and taps of claws growing louder at the pups’ excitement.

“Reminds me of my girl at home,” Aemond replied, adoration clear in his voice. “Big and old, a little stinky, a little slobbery. The best kind, really.”

“Aw, that’s very sweet. I don’t have any pets. I get my fix here,” you laughed. Holding all three dogs in one hand, you pulled the door open with the other. Except, it didn’t open. On instinct, you tried again hoping Aemond didn’t notice.

He strode up next to you with the rest of the dogs in tow, smirking at you for real this time, as he said, “it’s a push door.”

You knew it was a push door. Fuck. He gave you a knowing glance over his shoulder as he walked out, waiting for you to follow along.

II.

You didn’t see Aemond on Wednesday and you couldn’t deny your disappointment when you left for the night. Come to find out you two had been volunteering at the same place for months – only on different days. He tended to be there Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

Monday had been a chance encounter. One you couldn’t shake out of your head. 

Before leaving tonight, however, you took a selfie with Aemond’s favorite old hound. You’d exchanged numbers but hadn’t an excuse to strike up a conversation. Yet. Now, with the selfie as an excuse, you opened a fresh text thread and sent him the photo along with:

Someone missed you tonight! 

While buckling up in your car and getting ready to reverse out of your parking spot, your phone dinged with an incoming message:

Very cute. Will you be there on Monday? Maybe Cargyll will assign up walking duties again.

Your belly flipped. Truthfully, you weren’t expecting him to message back – especially so quickly. Before you could stop yourself you sent back:

Yup! See you then?

And he sent:

I’ll find another excuse to be there. 

Feeling a little bold, you replied:

Excited to see you again! You have these adorable dimples when you smile. Maybe I’ll see those, too?

When nothing came through for a few minutes, you feared you might have gone too far. It was just a little innocent flirting, right? Nothing bad? And then:

Maybe so. See you Monday.

Smiling, you didn’t send anything back. It’d be your luck to say something dumb and rub him the wrong way. 

During your first walk, as soon as the ice broke, you both clicked really well. Hopefully – just maybe – things would flow like that again. The connection you felt, something akin to a liveware, couldn’t have been one-sided. He had to feel a spark of it, too; even if just a little.

You drove home, made dinner while facetiming one of your friends from uni, and when she asked about the spark in your eye you told her about your friend Helaena’s younger brother.

III.

“I seriously cannot believe you’ve never seen The Lord of the Rings. The Hobbit trilogy was a little silly, but watchable. But you haven’t even seen that?” Aemond asked clearly aghast at your lack of understanding his reference.

Tonight, you both got walking duty again and neither of you complained. And, this time, he regarded you with a softer look in his eye than his original sharp glance. He was dressed in dark casuals again and you hated (loved?) how good he made them look. His hair was in a bun and his eyepatch stayed firmly in place. You wanted to ask him about it but weren’t sure if you should try it yet. Instead, you rolled your eyes and laughed. “You’re making it sound better and better the more you talk about it.”

“That’s because it’s the best.” The dogs pulled both of you along and you had to walk brisker than normal to keep up with them and Aemond’s longer legs. He seemed unaffected by it.

“So, you recommend I watch it?” You asked playfully.

“No,” he started, very serious. “I recommend you read it first and then watch the movies.”

If you had more breath in your lungs you’d have giggled – not laughed, but giggled. Something about the way he said it, and the totally serious look on his face, tickled you. “Will you watch them with me?”

The question appeared to catch Aemond off guard. He looked at you, lingering over your pinkened cheeks and smirking lips, before finally making it back to your eyes. Just when he opened his mouth to say something in reply, a completely unrelated thing stole his attention. Sometime during your bantering you’d made it back to the shelter, and a tall dark-haired woman called out, “there’s my sweet Aemond. I’ve been trying to get a hold of you and you haven’t been answering your phone.”

If you thought Aemond attractive, this woman made him look like any regular ol' Joe. She was elegant, warmed by a late summer tan, and had raven dark hair cascading down her back; truly a vision of enchantment. When she sauntered to him and pressed her body to his, you felt like a voyeur watching the embrace.

“Alys,” Aemond breathed quietly. “What do you want?”

“You know what I want,” she answered as she trailed manicured fingers across the front of his chest.

She had a timeless look to her, the kind that concealed her age. She could have been anywhere from twenty-five to fifty, you thought. You really hadn’t a clue. All you knew, now, is that you should finish your task alone.

Aemond’s throat bobbed as he swallowed. Posture tense. “I told you I was busy tonight–”

Before you could stop yourself you cut him off with an awkward wave. “See you later, Aemond.” And, with that, you walked inside before you overheard anything else they might be saying to each other. Turning to glance over your shoulder one last time, you were met with a look of deliberate triumph from Alys; she had the greenest eye you’d ever seen. 

It was haunting.

Driving home, you felt stupid. Aemond was just a guy you just met. It was silly to think someone like him would be single and even sillier to think your innocent flirtations would be working on him. You had half a mind to delete his number. Or, at the very least to delete the short message thread of your texts.

Instead of making dinner like you normally did, you called in delivery and facetimed with your friend as you waited. She immediately knew something was off and you were quick to tell her everything that happened.

Twenty minutes passed and you were starting to feel better. It’s not like you two hooked up or even kissed. It was just a chance meeting with playful banter. Nothing to get shook up about. “Food’s here. Thanks for listening to me. I’ll talk to you later. Love you!” You said as you got up to answer the door. 

When all else failed, your favorite food could always make you feel better.

Turning the tv on and sitting down amongst your couch pillows and blankets, you were getting ready to dig in when your phone rang. 

Aemond. 

Your insides did a weird flip and hunger disappeared entirely from your mind and belly. Should you answer? Let it go to voicemail? Turn the stupid thing off and completely ignore him? Right before the final ring, you decided. “Hello?”

“Hey,” he said, immediately sounding relieved. “I’m sorry about that. I wasn’t yet ready to call it a night with you.”

“It’s no biggie,” you replied. Lying. “I didn’t want to interrupt anything–,” you paused, searching for something else to say to soften the edge of your voice, “–the dogs were getting tired anyway.” God. It sounded stupid even to your own ears.

Aemond sighed through the phone. You wondered if he slid his hand down his face or through his hair. It sounded like he did. “No. Alys is… it’s complicated. She’s my ex and–”

“ –you don’t have to explain anything to me,” you said, cutting him off. “Really. It’s fine.” Despite it being a phone call, you tried to smile as if it would blunt the dismissal of your tone.

“I mean it,” he said. “I really wasn’t ready to say bye yet. What do you say you skip your regular Wednesday night plans and grab a milkshake or something with me?”

Your insides flipped again but for an entirely different reason this time. You knew it: the sparks definitely weren’t one sided. The firm set of Aemond’s jaw and the rigidness of his shoulders flashed once more in your mind’s eye. Since your break up with your long-term boyfriend you’d been on a few dates, but none of them lead to anything worthwhile. With how you and Aemond clicked, however? This date might lead to something more than a hook-up (or, attempt at a hook-up. Some men truly had no game). “Are you sure…?” You asked after a moment. “You and Alys looked pretty comfortable–,”

“ –I’m sure,” it was his turn to cut you off.

“Alright then. Let’s do it.”

IV.

It'd been two months since your first milkshake date with Aemond – the first of many dates. It was a guilty pleasure of yours and apparently one of his, too!

Your first kiss, first time meeting his elder dog, Vhagar, and first time meeting his family were all memories you cherished. 

The more you learned about Aemond’s relationship with Alys, the more you understood it "complicated". Including Targaryen drama, Targaryen business, and a list of other things you had a hard time following. It didn’t matter anymore, though, Aemond reassured you. Things were done between them and he only wanted you; proving it to you with fingers and mouth until you begged for a break.

A lesson you learned from your last relationship – one Aemond learned from his, too – was to be careful with love. As much as you genuinely enjoyed him and his company, a barrier stood between you that neither dared yet to cross.

Love.

Each day you fell for him a little more; you were scared to admit it. The scar of heartbreak healed slowly. Could you truly trust Aemond with that part of yourself? With the very essence of your heart? It’d been two months and you still weren’t entirely sure.

If he felt the same he’d say something, right?

Autumn blanketed the lands with brisk air, rainy days, and rolling fog. As days grew short and nights long, you and Aemond spent more time at your apartment or his quarter at the Targaryen estate. Your apartment was the clear favorite. Living alone had its perks: never having to worry about nosy family or friends who showed up unannounced.

And thank God you didn’t live with anyone else. 

"Mmh… fuck, baby, I've been thinking about this all day. I can't get enough of you. Let me make my girl feel good," he said against your mouth as one of his hands moved up the inside of your thigh. "Are you wet already? I bet you are," he chuckled, fingertips tracing your slit. "Mmm… I knew it. Your clit is sooo needy, isn't it?" 

Shit. Those hushed words, the glint in his eye, his rasped tone… you happily indulged him in whatever way he wanted. And him, you. Fingers, mouth, cock, he quickly learned what tricks made you melt. 

As much as he loved having you ride him, or bending you over, his absolute favorite was fucking you into the mattress. You sprawled out beneath him, hair messy and fanned out around your head, legs wrapped tight around his waist, fingernails on his body… he could never get enough of your blushed face beneath him, trembling and arching as he pushed you to peak after peak.

Your sheets had never been cleaned so often in your entire life.

It was particularly rainy today and you were both finished with everything on your to-do list. Aemond sat on the floor in front of you as you lounged in your overstuffed chair. You told him you'd read the Lord of the Rings as long as he read it to you. He didn't even pretend to be annoyed by your bargain. He read to you from his own collection, claiming he liked the worn feeling of the pages better than a new book's pages. 

Like any proper reader Aemond started with The Hobbit. You enjoyed it more than you thought you would. More so than the story, however, you enjoyed him reading aloud to you – he had the loveliest voice. You were about half way through The Fellowship of the Ring and the story continued to get better.

But, all afternoon, Aemond's phone never stopped going off. It seemed like every few minutes it would ping with some kind of notification. "Who's blowing you up?" You asked, annoyance creeping into your tone.

Stopping mid sentence, he looked. "Alys," he sighed as he scrolled through the various messages. 

You tried to not look over his shoulder to the texts. You really did. But there was something about Aemond's shift in posture, and the air around him, that made you suspicious. "What's going on?" You asked in your best nonchalant manner.

"She's asking if I have some of her clothes at my place still," he answered and you swore you saw pink spread atop his cheeks.

That caught you off guard. "Why would she have clothes–"

And whatever else you were going to say was abruptly cut off.

There, in a new string of messages, was the single text line, "I miss you, baby boy," followed by at least three photographs of Alys in lingerie and various stages of undress. 

"What the fuck Aemond!?" You asked, anger and hurt instantly warming your blood. "What the hell were those? Are you fucking joking?"

"I have no idea why she sent–"

" –is that why she left clothes at your place? Couldn't let her go for real? Jesus Christ I can't believe you." Anger flushed your face and bittered your words.

"Listen, please. Hear me out, bab–"

" –oh fuck off, Aemond, you don't get to 'babe' me around anymore. In fact, just leave."

He looked as hurt as you. And shocked. A hundred emotions played across his chiseled features. "No, really. Let me explain," he pleaded with eye and tone.

You weren't having it. You were cheated on before and he knew it. It made your own hurt cleave even deeper. You really fucking liked him. Maybe even loved him. And this whole time he had you and Alys? "I'm seriously about to get really fucking angry. Leave. Now."

He stood and left. Silent fury screamed around him like a whirlwind. He didn't even give you one final look over his shoulder.

He shut your door with a deliberate click.

You curled up in your blanket alone as fat ugly tears streamed down your face. You couldn't be bothered to grab a tissue for your snotty nose. 

Aemond's leather jacket was still draped over the back of your couch and his book still lay on the floor. Your crying somehow turned uglier at the realization.

Eventually you dozed off. With Aemond, you always had your phone on silent so you didn't hear all his missed calls and texts.

V.

The following month went by in a blur; you drowned yourself in work. You also stopped volunteering because you didn't want to give Aemond the opportunity to meet you there. By some feat of strength you ignored all his attempts at talking – and by proxy, apologizing.

The only thing you said to him was a single text:

I need time. Please understand

Part of you wondered how it affected him. His calls and texts became sparse until they eventually stopped.

Helaena asked where you'd been and you felt horrible lying to her. So, you didn't. After telling her the story she sighed and asked if you'd want to grab tea. You agreed. Meeting her at a local cafe allowed you to air out your feelings; laughs and tears alike. She was kind, and sweet, and supportive without being passive. She loved her brother but knew he had many of his own issues. You'd been friends for over a year and this was the first true heart to heart you shared.

Upon returning home you picked up the Fellowship and tried to read from where Aemond left off. But, it wasn’t the same without him and it only made you cry. Again.

VI.

The following morning, despite your car's newer model, it barely wanted to start for your drive to work. By a stroke of luck you made it there fine. And, made it back home that evening, too. But that was the end of your luck. It needed to be picked up and taken to a shop until a mechanic could see it.

Carless, you had to rely on Uber or public transportation. Yuck.

A few days of stress passed and now you were done for the week. Thank God for weekends. Unfortunately your groceries were extremely low and you would need to make a trip in the morning. You sighed and used it as an excuse to order pizza.

After waking up and a breakfast of (the last, and past its sell-by date) packet oatmeal you got around to make the walk to the nearest grocery store. Knowing you'd be walking home, too, the list was small. Carrying bags up two flights of stairs was hard enough, much less carrying them home a mile!

On the way back it started sprinkling. Great. Just great. You started walking faster with hopes of making quicker time than your leisurely stroll to the store. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, you heard your name called. Was that…? Stopping in your tracks you looked across your shoulder to the side of the road and saw none other than Aemond. You knew his car and voice anywhere. You didn't have to see yourself to know a dozen emotions played across your face.

"Hey," he said gently, his own features a mirror of yours.

"Hi," you said.

"Why are you walking in the rain with groceries?"

Slumping your unintentionally scrunched up shoulders, you sighed. "Stupid car died on me and it's been with the mechanic for almost a week."

He smiled softly. So soft. The outside of his seeing eye crinkled and emotion rushed to your chest. Your gut. "You're way too good to be walking alone. Let me drive you home at least?" 

You didn't resist. How could you? "Alright. Sure. Just dropping me off though, okay?" Guilt panged your chest. Did he feel it too? Could he read it on your face he knew so well?

"Alright," he answered, expression falling just slight. You might as well have stomped on his foot with how it affected you.

I miss you. I love you. I'm sorry. Can we try it again? Can I hold your hand? God I love your hair in a ponytail. You smell good. Did you see the trailer for that new horror movie? I miss you. I love you. I'm sorry. It all turned around your head like a fucking rotisserie chicken. It shouldn't be so hard to say any of those things to him. But it was.

You didn't say anything on the short ride home. Neither did he. His right hand flexed a few times and you wondered if he was having a hard time, too.

"Can you get it all upstairs?" He asked as he pulled into an empty spot and parked, looking across to you with horribly concealed emotion.

"Yes, but…," you trailed off momentarily, trying to read his face. "I still have your book and jacket. Wanna come up and grab them?" You asked hopefully.

He killed the engine faster than you could blink. "Yes! So that's where they've been. You could have mentioned it sooner," he said slightly accusingly, grinning at you with a spark of playfulness.

Leading the way upstairs to your apartment, you unlocked the door and disappeared inside. After placing your items down and grabbing Aemond's, you turned to look at him standing in the doorway. He leaned against it. Waiting. Quiet. He glanced around with a wistfulness that made your throat tight. You watched him watching you and your home until the air became awkward – was it half a second, a few seconds, longer? You weren't sure. 

Slowly you walked over to him. Your gaze flickered up at him as you handed his things back. "Were you ever going to tell me the truth?" You asked. "Did you think I really wouldn't find out? Why did you stick around if I wasn't good enough?"

He blinked. Taken back. "You never even gave me the chance to explain." His jaw feathered before it tightened. His eye hardened.

You grabbed the door, fixing to close it on him. Now that you started talking – unloading pent up questions which kept you tossing and turning at night – you couldn't decide if you wanted to slam it on his face or yell. "I told you how I was cheated on! And you did it anyway! I trusted you, Aemond." Your voice thinned, sounding shrill even to your own ears.

One of his hands braced on the door so you couldn't close it on him. "So this is your revenge then, huh? Punishing both of us? Why don't you trust me?" Hurt and fury simmered in the lovely hue of his eye. A storm. No, a hurricane. "Alys and I have been done for months. Months. Even before you and I met. I'm sorry for what she did but I can’t control what she does. She was playing her wicked games trying to sabotage us– you and me. Don't shut me out. Please." 

He pleaded, every pore and line of his face begging for forgiveness. As each word came off his tongue they clicked into place in your head. He meant it. He was telling the truth. Before you could stop yourself your fists balled into the front of his shirt, pulling him down so your mouth crashed up to his. "You mean it?" You asked through the kiss.

Instantly he leaned down into you, and instantly he held onto your waist pulling you deeper against him. His other hand cradled the side of your face daring to curve along the shape of your skull. "I mean it. Yes I fucking mean it," he answered against the kiss; breath stealing yours away until it left you in a little moan.

You pulled him inside and shut the door, locking it. You moaned as he nipped and bit at your neck. Your heart thumped wildly. He sucked at the sensitive skin, again and again, pulling away just before leaving a mark. "God, Aem,” you whimpered. Goosebumps covered your body. The only thing on your mind was him.

"Fuck, I missed you. I missed you so much." His hands were somehow all over you all at once. His mouth trailed, and dragged, and kissed over any exposed portion of your skin. He happily pulled off layers of your clothing to expose more and more of your soft, warm, saccharine flesh; intoxicating him. After weeks of your separation the last thing he wanted to do was to push too far too fast.  “Can I take this off?” He asked before taking your shirt off.

“Yes,” you replied breathily. “Fuck it. Take all of it off. I missed you too. So much,” you said as you helped pull his clothes off, too. He pushed you against a wall. You kissed. Heavier, and hotter, and hungrier. You pushed him against a wall. 

He gasped as he smirked. “I love when you act all tough when we both know I can have you squirming under me in minutes,” he growled, pupil swelling. The dimples at the very corners of his mouth betrayed his amusement, however, as he once again pushed you against the wall. You were both only in your underwear, now, and his lean body on yours had you aching. “My tough girl… how quickly do you think it’ll last when my fingers are in you?”

“Why don’t we find out?” You asked defiantly, knowing damn well it wouldn’t last long at all. By now you were both down the hallway and your bedroom was only a couple feet away. You needed him. Now. And judging by how fucking hard he was he needed you too.

The next moment went by in a blur and before you could catch yourself you were sprawled out on your back atop your bed. Aemond made quick work of moving you both inside, and made quicker work of pulling your panties down. He groaned as your thighs immediately spilled open for him. He dragged two fingers up your slit and circled your clit with your arousal. “Shit–,” he hissed. “Never make me wait so long to have this pussy again. Do you understand me? Never,” he said as he worked your already swollen clit. He played with it just how he knew you liked it and your cunt’s tiny wet sounds sent his cock throbbing. “Answer me.”

Tension built in the low muscles of your belly. Your legs began to tighten already – one of the tell-tale signs of your approaching climax. How the hell could he push you there so quickly? “N-never! Ahh-h never again!” You replied, voice light, and sweet, and tantalizing as any sin Aemond ever knew. “Please, Aemond, I want to cum…!”

He shoved those same two fingers into you. “Good girl,” he said as he curled those fingers. “This pussy is mine. All fucking mine. Give it to me,” he said huskily as he worked them in and out of you. It was sloppy and wet. Borderline obscene. Each time he slammed his hand against you he was mindful to press the heel of his palm against your clit and your mound, knowing how the extra pressure sent your pretty toes curling.

You cried out his name as your eyes clenched shut. The tension in your belly snapped and a wave of glorious bliss washed over you. Sweat sheened between your breasts and along your lip. You arched, quivered, shuddering in the aftermath of his intensity. 

Aemond’s mouth crashed to yours and you threaded your fingers through the roots of his hair. It was still in a ponytail and you had no mind to take it out, you just had to pull him deeper into the kiss. He tasted the salt of your sweat and groaned. “Relax your pussy, baby, you’re clenching me really hard. It feels amazing but I don’t wanna hurt you pulling out,” he said tenderly, nuzzling his nose into the crook of your neck.

“Sorry,” you giggled. “Just feels too good.” You tried to steady your breath and relax as he laid beside you, continuing to kiss your neck and shoulders. When your spongy walls finally eased around him you were sad to feel him withdraw. Stress melted away from your subconscious and you wanted to thank him for the pleasure. You wondered if your eyes said it while he looked at you.

Leaning up, he discarded the final piece of his clothing and sighed in relief as his cock sprang free. He got between your thighs and looked down at you hungerily. “Look at you all doe eyed already. See? I knew you couldn’t stay tough for long,” he said, smug, as he lined up with your drenched cunt. He held one of your legs up against him, and you pressed the other against his side. 

When you left for the store this morning you had no idea your afternoon would go in this direction.

He pushed into you. Inch by inch he sunk into you and soon he was as deep as he could be. A moan escaped both of you, and a throatier one left him when his free hand tugged at your bra. It was one that clipped in the front. He popped it open and rocked into you as soon as your tits spilled free. "You're so sexy like this."

With your body already sensitive from your first orgasm, and now with Aemond building a rhythm between your thighs, you weren't going to last long. "You feel so good," you purred, eyelids heavy. "Fuck I missed you."

Another sound left his chest and when you wrapped your legs around his slim waist you swore you felt goosebumps pebble all along his skin. Or, maybe those were your goosebumps on your legs. Whatever the case, Aemond leaned forward and kissed you again. "I missed you too," he rumbled. "Gonna let me fill this pretty pussy with my cum again?"

You two made good use of your birth control and you weren't about to deny him – or yourself – the pleasure of being thoroughly fucked and stuffed. "Y-yeah," you stammered, smiling.

Aemond mumbled something incoherent into your neck, and if your brain wasn't foggy from his perfect fucking cock you might have caught what he said. 

He leaned up and supported himself on his forearms, pressing his forehead to yours. "You're my girl. You're my fucking girl. You're my fucking girl," he repeated again and again until the pace of his thrusts grew sloppy. Somehow the sloppiness of it, the neediness and urgency of his voice, sent emotion swelling in all of you.

Heat collected and grew out from your spine, webbing throughout your entire body. You clung to him desperately. You rolled your hips up into him and shamelessly grinded your clit against his pelvis as he drove in and out of you. It was all too much. You crumbled beneath him and let orgasm take control of you. The depths of your body squeezed and convulsed around him, holding him tight and soaking the fullness of his length with your slick. He never stopped or paused his thrusts. 

His own peak followed. Once he was as deep as he could be he released everything he had into you. He stayed there, both of you panting through little moans, until he no longer twitched between your stretched walls. Slowly, he pulled out, and slowly, his seed dribbled out of you. Grinning, he rolled onto his back and scooped you against him.

"Let's stay here like this all day," you mumbled happily, fingertips trailing up and down his abdomen and chest.

"You'll get no argument from me," he said.

Quiet minutes passed and the sound of his heart nearly put you into a trance. "I'm sorry for how I acted," you finally admitted.

All the while he'd been petting and trailing his fingers through your hair. He didn't stop as he answered, "and I'm sorry for not trying harder." He kissed your forehead and held you tighter.

"Let's try it again. For real this time. With the titles and commitment and everything."

"Are you asking or telling me to be your boyfriend?"

You smirked. "I'm suggesting."

Returning your smirk, he pulled you atop him so you could straddle him. "You're all mine," he said with a dark eye. "My perfect girl." 

Leaning down, you kissed and nipped his bottom lip. "Are you already hard again, Aemond Targaryen?"

A chuckle rumbled somewhere in his chest as his touch dented into your hips to hold you at just the right angle. With a roll of his hips he pushed himself up inside you again. "Whose cock is this?"

You gasped, eyes darkening with another round of lust. "Mine."

"That's right. Yours. Not anyone else's. It's fucking yours."

You rode him until your tits were covered in fresh hickies and you were filled with another load of him.

Yours. His. The second chance you both needed.

-

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Harley D. Dixon 9

An amazing edit inspired by this story! (Cred to Cora_Line99) Harley D. Dixon's Pinterest Board! Harley D. Dixon's Playlist!

📖Chapter List.

Author's Note. New chapter! :)

If I had to guess, I'd say a week has passed.

Our days are spent driving, siphoning gas, and sleeping. We wake up in whatever overgrown pocket of forest we spent the night in, buckle up for an entire day of winding up and down side-roads blocked by trucks or dead bodies or fallen trees, and then we spend the night in another pocket of overgrown forest, feeling just a little more exhausted than we were the day before; dirtier, bloodier, and hungrier.

At least nothing more has happened between Shane and my Dad, yet. We've all been too busy trying not to starve for that.

Tonight, as the thicket hoots and rustles around me, I close my eyes.

It's nice to pretend that time has stopped.

I listen as the river flows past my bare shoulders, undisturbed, like I'm just another steady rock amongst its gentle ripples. I let the water skim across my fingers and wash over my hair. I can feel the satisfying smoothness of riverbed stones on the pearly soles of my feet, and I wiggle my toes against the current, breathing in the freshness of night air. It's not as luxurious as a shower, 'cause showers don't quite got leaves and twigs and dirt in 'em, but I pretend it's luxurious, anyway. I feel the day being lifted from my skin and carried away down-stream.

Fwip.

A flock of birds takes off from the trees.

I snap my eyes open.

On the muddy bank of the river, a dead woman drops to her knees. Blood oozes like thick, brown pudding from a crossbow bolt pierced through one of her eyes. I gasp, paddling backwards, as she slumps head-first into the water. The rest of her mossy body slides in after her.

Splash.

The river carries her away, too.

I watch as the fuzzy hump of her back slowly floats away until it disappears around the bend.

Whew. That was close.

"Harley!"

I turn around.

On the opposite bank, from where he's been supervising the whole time, my Dad swings his crossbow over his shoulder.

"Time to get out, now. Ya clean enough?"

Oh, right. I'm supposed to be bathing. I got a little distracted.

"Yeah!" I call back. "I'm clean!"

I squeeze the last of the suds outta my hair.

"Come on, then."

He holds out his hand.

Quick to obey, I wade through the water and onto the pebbly shore. He grabs my arm and helps me step up over the shelf of dirt, onto dry land, where he wraps me up in the big towel that he bought with us. A gust of hot breeze sails through the forest as I hastily dry myself off, wanting to get back to camp as soon as possible. It's never good news when we find walkers. They've been following us for days, travelling tirelessly through the night while we sleep. Besides, dinner is probably being served by now, since I'm the last one to bathe tonight.

As usual, I'm not looking forward to it.

Once I'm dry, I step into my underwear and my purple pyjama pants, and then pull on my frog shirt and my lady-bug boots.

My Dad packs the bottle of hand-soap that I used to wash myself with and my old, dirty clothes into his pack.

He nods me forward. "Let's go."

We start the short hike back to camp. We step over mushroom-infested logs and shallow ditches filled with noisy crickets; our path lit by a flashlight. At one point, we have to duck under a glittering spider-web, which is pretty cool. I like spiders, especially fat and colorful ones.

Soon enough, we can hear a fire crackling in the distance, and we step through the trees.

We made it back.

All the vehicles are parked in a bumper-to-bumper ring around a tiny campfire, where the group is silently sitting together in the grass. Rick rations the cooked food into a bunch of bowls, mugs, and plates as Glenn passes bottles of boiled water around. We take our spots next to Carol. She takes four bowls from Rick, and hands one to Sophia, and then another two to me and my Dad. Dale hands us some spoons. We don't bother thanking them. There's a grim look on both their faces. They don't wanna be doin' this, but they don't got a choice, and neither do we.

Everyone settles down, reluctant to begin eating.

I look over at Carl, who's hair is also wet from his river-bath. He peers into his bowl. He looks like he's gonna puke.

I peer down at mine. I feel the same way.

"Dig in, everyone." Rick mutters.

T-Dog echoes him unenthusiastically.

Oh, well.

I can't survive without food. I should just get it over with.

I start with the intestines.

There are disgusting crunching and chewing and slurping noises all around me as I inch the brown tube into my mouth.

It's chewy like a frozen squid ring, and slippery like sausage-skin.

Tastes like chicken, I tell myself, even though I know it came from a skunk.

I think about what's inside a skunk. It's got a little heart, much smaller than ours, which I think is what Rick is eating, 'cause I can see little pipe-like things hanging off the chunk of meat in his hand. The fire flutters ominously over his face, his stare locked onto a burning branch as it turns to ash. Then there's the liver, which is now diced up on Carl's spoon. He swallows it one go, like cough medicine. There are the kidneys. Glenn got those, but he's not really eating 'em. He's knocking 'em back like big, rubbery pills instead, so he don't gotta taste 'em. There's also its stomach and its spaghetti-intestines, and then the breast and the ribs, which is the good part, which I'm saving for last.

Then, the most shameful parts are the paws and the tongue and, ugh, the nose and the tail and the eyeballs.

Those parts aren't meant for eating. I never even saw 'em in the freezer section at the supermarket.

But we're eating 'em.

We'll starve if we don't.

With oily fingers and scrunched up noses, we bite and chew and swallow every last morsel of the poor skunk, including the feet and the snout, until it's just a bad memory — Just protein and fat to keep us alive, and not animal-guts. I remember back at the quarry, I used to think surviving meant using a single square of toilet paper instead of four or five, but now I know it's this. It's gnashing on skunk organs.

"Saw a walker out there." Dad mumbles, as he nibbles on the tail bone. "S'just the one, but..."

"Where there's one, there's a hundred." Glenn muses.

Walkers are like ants. There used to be a big ant-hill in our yard, and sometimes I'd just watch 'em crawl over each other, mindless.

"We'll pack up at first light." Rick frowns. "One walker ain't gonna slow us down."

"You okay?" Jacqui asks us.

I nod, staring down at my shiny lumps of skunk-gut.

"What happened?"

"It was just some loaner." Dad explains. "Came up to the river while Harley was washin'. Shot it quick."

"More and more seem to be poppin' up." Shane tells everybody. "Keep your eyes peeled tonight, alright? Who's on watch?"

Glenn and Andrea lift their hands.

Then Morales points between himself and Rick. "We take over, afterwards."

Shane nods. "Y'all know the drill. No noisy weapons; no gunfire. Try to keep everyone alive 'till sunrise."

"How close even is Fort Benning by now?" Carl suddenly asks. "We've been driving for ages."

"Carl..." Rick rubs his forehead.

"Listen, we drove down Lone Oak today. We're nearin' Hogansville." Shane says. "So, we're just shy three days away, I reckon."

Carl sighs heavily, picking at his food.

Three more days means three more nights, which means three more dinners like this one. My Dad skinned it the best he could, and it's cooked all the way through, but it's still a little nasty considering we've only been eating granola bars and tinned fruit up until now. Even the squirrel burgers Uncle Merle used to make tasted better than this, 'cause at least he threw some salt and pepper on those.

"It's not forever, baby." Lori comforts Carl. "We just need to stick it out until then."

"Yeah, I guess." He grouches.

As I suck the meat off the skunk's leg bone, I think to myself, Just three more days.

After a while, T-Dog stands.

"Thanks for the experience, man," He sighs, "But I think I'm gonna turn in."

Rick nods. "I think it's best we all do. We got more travelling ahead of us; Need the rest."

"I know I do." Dale scoffs, stretching.

Glenn and Andrea walk off to start patrolling the area for the night, and the rest of us drop our dishes into a bucket of water to be washed tomorrow morning. I say goodnight to everyone and follow my Dad into the truck. He hands me one of the pillows and the blanket to snuggle into. He clicks off the ceiling light, and 'cause he don't sing for me tonight, I count the fish on my blanket until I drift off to sleep instead.

I swear I hear Shane and Dale arguing sometime during the night.

Grrr...

The next morning, I wake up to the sound of a car engine humming lowly. Groggily, I turn over, covering my ears with my blanket. The noise persists. I turn over again, trying to fall back asleep, but again, the noise persists. And it keeps persisting, almost for a full minute, until I begin to think, That doesn't actually sound much like a car engine. Confused, I slowly lift my head, peeking out the wind—

Smack!

A pale hand, grabbing at the glass.

Grrrr...

It's not an engine.

It's a walker.

It's nose bone makes a tick, tick, tick sound as it knocks into the window, its purple gums and black teeth kissing at me, tongue licking.

I scream.

My Dad jumps awake beside me.

Smack!

He's confronted with the sight of the walker mouthing and groping the glass, and he quickly puts his arm in front of me.

He huffs, "What the Hell?"

Smack!

"You okay?"

"Uh-huh." I answer, "But... aren't Morales and Rick supposed to be on watch?"

They wouldn't have let a walker get this close if they could help it.

He peers outside. "Yeah, they are."

Smack!

Behind us, there's another one. With two bloated, gummy hands, a second walker palms at Dad's window, leaving behind sticky hand-prints and gooey blood. He unsheathes his knife, angrily winds the window down about an inch, and stabs it through the forehead. It crumples to the ground, only to be replaced by another one. Then another, and another, all rushing to pile on top of each other, sniffing the air and clicking their rotten teeth at us. I count them — Three, four, five — Five walkers crowding against Dad's side of the truck.

He scoffs, "Found us, did ya?"

Where there's one, there's a hundred.

He winds the window back up, but the walkers wiggle their fingers through the gap like little worms.

"Damn it."

They start tugging it down with combined strength, shoving their knobbly elbows and shoulders and hands inside. Dad tries to ram it closed, but it gives in, sliding all the way open once more. The dead immediately start climbing inside. I scream again. Dad scoots back until we're pressed up against the opposite window, with the original walker licking at the back of our necks through the glass. I can hear it going, Tick, tick, tick.

Dad picks his crossbow up off the floor and loads it, aims it, and—

Fwip!

The closest walker face-plants onto the driver's seat.

"Where are they?" I worry. "Morales and Rick. What if they're in trouble?"

Fwip!

"Just stay behind me."

The next walker slumps on top of the last one.

He yanks the bolt out its nose and stabs the next one in the eye with it, and then the one after that, too.

He grunts as he pulls it out. Grey blood splatters the ceiling.

"Rick!" He calls out. "Morales! Glenn! Where are ya?"

"Dad, they're not answering!"

Dad drives the bolt into the last walker's ear canal, slamming its head into the side mirror. Both the walker-skull and the mirror crack in half, tumbling into the grass below. He lets the bolt fall with 'em, and winds up the window just in time for three more walkers to run into it, their peeling mouths held agape, and their eyeballs rolling up into their lids. I watch them slobber and moan.

One of them has a hatchet in its neck.

Dad drops back down, panting.

I recognise the yellow tape wound around the handle.

Dad must, too, 'cause he says, "That's Rick's hatchet."

The walkers continue slapping the truck and moaning incoherently as we peer out the windows. Over their shoulders, I can see one, two, three, five, eight, ten walkers stumbling through camp, all tripping over the chairs and the logs from the fire. One by one, they latch onto their choice of vehicle with dead hands, like the RV, which is totally surrounded. I've never seen this many walkers, not even back at the quarry. In the back window, we can see Sophia peeking past the curtains. In the front, we see Dale and Glenn trying to get our attention.

My Dad waves to 'em once he notices.

"Where's Rick and Morales?" He yells.

They get the gist of what he's tryna ask, and they both shrug, which makes us even more worried.

"They gotta still be out there." Dad grumbles.

I scan the sea of greasy heads wandering by. They're all half-beaten, blood-soaked, stringy, and mishappen, but oh, not that one — That one's regular, and it's moving way faster than the others. Another one trails behind it, I realize, slightly taller. It must be them.

"Dad!" I point. "I think that's them!"

"Yeah? Where?"

"There!"

One, two, three walkers are slashed to the ground, revealing — Yes! — Rick and Morales.

"There they are!"

Dad leans over me, opening the door. "Hey! Over here!"

"Get ready to go!" Rick yells at us.

The original walker falls onto its back, and both Rick and Morales make a bee-line for the truck, shouldering their way past walker after walker after walker, until they reach the door. They step over the flailing walker and climb inside. We make room for them as fast as we can. I climb onto my Dad's lap behind the wheel as Morales slams the door closed, panting, covered head to toe in blood of all different colors.

"Go!" Rick pats the dash. "Drive! We gotta go!"

"What about all the stuff out there?" I ask.

The dishes, the bucket, the chairs.

"We have to leave it." Rick shakes his head. "We can't stay here a second longer."

"Everyone good?" My Dad asks him, turning the keys.

"Yeah." He pants. "Got— Got caught off guard, that's all. Everyone else was still inside the cars. They're safe."

The truck sputters to life. Dad stomps on the gas. The tyres squeal all at once, and we tear off into the forest, between clusters of thin trees. The walkers try to cling on, but they're too weak to keep up and they topple over into the dirt. We leave them in the distance — shrinking, shrinking, shrinking, until they look like little stick figures, and then like nothing. The truck bumps and wobbles along the dirt road, following after the RV.

Behind us, the rest of the vehicles catch up.

Rick counts them through the back window. He sighs. Everyone's here.

As branches hit the sides of the truck, he speaks up. "You two okay? Harley, you okay?"

"Yeah," I nod. "Just... There were so many of 'em."

He puts his hand on my shoulder, leaning his head back, closing his eyes. "Tell me about it."

We enjoy the silence — the calm — as we make our way through the woods. I can tell Dad wants to ask what happened, but he keeps his mouth shut for now. Caught off guard? What does that mean? After some time, we reach a break in the trees. We tail the RV as it pulls back onto the highway that we started on, feeling just a little more exhausted than we were the day before; dirtier, bloodier, and hungrier.

At least we're alive.

It's not until we've been driving for at least twenty minutes that I spot the bite mark on Morales' wrist.

Oh.

Rick catches me looking, but he doesn't look surprised.

He just looks defeated.

The next time we stop, it's not to siphon gas or to sleep.

It's to kill Morales.

We all wait together on the highway as Shane and Rick march him into the trees. It'll be quick and painless, were the words they used. Apparently, Morales chose to be shot in the head instead of bein' left to turn, and they're gonna honour that choice by killing him. Louis and Eliza weren't comforted by any of this, though. Neither was Miranda. I feel so awful for them. They cling to each other, a family made up of pain and hurt waiting for the worst to come, which will be in the form of an echoing Bang a few minutes from now.

Jacqui gives Miranda's tear-coated cheek a kiss, and Lori rubs her back gently.

It's the best anyone can do.

My Dad sits next to me on the bed of the truck, watching the trio disappear between the shrubs.

Rick's revolver glints in the afternoon sun.

"It's gonna be like Tank again, ain't it?" I ask numbly, ready.

It's quick and painless, the vet-lady had said, before she poked him with a needle that sent him into a permanent sleep.

"Yeah." He mutters.

He rubs my back now, as well.

It's a bit like Jenner, too, I accidently think, And a bit like Momma.

Sadly, I muse, "I liked Morales."

He grips my shoulder and pulls me into his side.

Together we watch summer clouds pan overhead.

Bang!

Kinda sounds like a firework.

Miranda starts weeping.

Quick and painless.

Maybe for Morales.

But not for us.

It's two days later now, and we still haven't reached Fort Benning.

Miranda, Louis and Eliza are no longer part of the group. After Morales died, they wanted to leave, and so they left. After some convincing, Rick and Shane set them up with a box of bullets, a pistol, and a map, and then we all exchanged hugs. Eliza gave me and Sophia each of her two beaded bracelets. We were real sad to be saying goodbye the other kids like this. Their little station wagon drove off into the horizon, and then that was it — We were suddenly down four people; one dead, and three gone, all overnight. I never realized how small our group was until then.

I think everybody's takin' it pretty hard — Especially Rick, who hasn't spoke in days. I think he was the one that shot Morales.

Problems, I can handle. Full-scale disasters, not so much.

Nobody from our group has died until now, so I'd say this classifies as a full-scale disaster.

I think what we've learnt from all this is that whether you're scavenging or travelling, you can't cheat yourself out of danger.

Still, we've been pushing on. It's what we do best.

Sitting in the passenger seat of the RV, I try re-reading Hairy Maclary again while Dale drives beside me, but it's hard to concentrate. I give up after a while and switch to gazing outside at the rolling landscape. Every now and then, we pass a walker, and I'm reminded of everything all over again.

I'm staring at a bird soaring alongside the highway when the RV comes to a stop.

"Ah, jeez." Dale mutters.

I frown, "What's goin' on?"

When I look out the window, the answer is immediately obvious.

"Oh."

"Jammed to Hell." He sighs.

"We gotta be cursed or somethin'." I mumble. "So much is goin' wrong."

He chuckles a little. "I think you might be right about that."

Glenn walks up behind us and grabs both our chairs, peering outside at the littering of cars.

"Wow..." He sighs.

Dale gestures vaguely at it all. "Just our luck, isn't it?"

"Maybe we can circle back?" Glenn suggests. "There was an interstate bypass back there."

Dale shakes his head. "We can't spare the fuel."

I glance at the fuel meter. I don't know how it works, but I'm pretty sure the E is for empty, and the needle is way too close to it right now.

My Dad brings the truck up besides the RV.

"You see a way through?" Dale calls out to him.

Dad nods us forward, driving ahead to guide us through the wreckage. Dale follows. He steers the huge RV along the narrow path, and we crawl along like this for a couple minutes. We watch in unison as a group of birds casually peck at an empty baby seat strewn across the tarmac. They stare at us with their beady little eyes as we pass. There are car crashes mangled in with the guardrail, and walker-bodies smeared into the gravel. I remember bein' on a highway exactly like this one with my Dad and my Uncle Merle, in the beginning, when people still thought they could drive away from it all. We chose to leave after a while, but many stayed. I guess this is pretty much what happened to them all.

All of a sudden, as we're turning a slight corner, the RV gives out a clunk, clunk, clunk noise.

That's not good.

"What was that?" Glenn frowns.

Clunk!

As if to answer, smoke starts trickling out from underneath the hood.

We roll along for a couple more feet before creaking to a definite stop.

That's not good either.

"Ugh, it's that darn radiator hose." Dale slaps his knee, frustrated. "I knew it wouldn't survive the trip. I just knew it."

He gets up, and me and Glenn follow him outside into the hot sun.

Both ahead of us and behind us, the others hop out their cars, confused.

"I said it, didn't I?" Dale complains, watching hopelessly as his precious RV billows smoke. "A thousand times... Dead in the water."

I try smiling. "Don't worry. We'll fix it."

He tries smiling back, but he doesn't look too convinced.

Shane approaches. "Problem, Dale?"

"Oh, I don't know." He sighs. "Just the small matter of being stranded in the middle of nowhere, with a herd breathing down our necks and no hope of ever finding a new—" He cuts himself off, remembering where it is we're standing exactly. "Okay," He mutters, "That was dumb."

We're surrounded by radiator hoses.

"If you can't find a radiator hose here..." Shane scoffs.

My Dad jogs up to us, frowning at the broken engine. "What's goin' on? That the hose again?"

Dale nods. "Broken, just like I predicted."

Dad shrugs. "I can have a go fixin' it up. You got tools?"

"A few. Nothing fancy."

"I can siphon more fuel." T-Dog offers.

Carol suggests, "Maybe find some water?"

"And some food." Glenn adds, cringing already at the thought of eating another dinner of skunk-kidneys. "We could definitely use some food."

Everyone looks like they agree with that sentiment.

Rick considers all this.

It wasn't his plan to scavenge any more, but we need to, and we're not gonna get a more perfect opportunity than this.

"Okay," He eventually decides, clearing his throat. "We'll split into pairs; conquer this one car at a time, together. T-Dog, Glenn. See if you can't find us some more fuel. Shane, Daryl. You're with me. We'll circle the area for walkers, make sure it's safe for now. Dale, you're on watch. We don't need that herd sneaking up on us today. Rest of you, don't wander too far. And keep an eye out for any food and water laying around, okay? We'll be back on track in about half an hour, I reckon."

"Are you sure about this?" Lori asks, clutching her necklace. "This place is a graveyard."

"It—" Rick shakes his head. "It'll have to do."

"C'mon, y'all." Shane says. "Let's just take a look around. Doesn't have to take long."

With that, Rick's new plan is put into motion.

I look down at the pink and green bracelet on my wrist, next to Amy's hair lackey, and I pretend I don't feel sad at all.

I been doin' that a lot lately.

Author's Note.

Okay, admittedly, this one is a little filler-y... I just needed to set up the whole herd situation, and I also wanted to spend a little more time on the road before we reach the farm. I still hope you enjoyed. I've been feeling a little insecure recently about how often I've been deviating from canon, but I'm trying to ignore it, haha.

RIP Morales. Season two just wasn't in the cards for him.

Also the Shane vs Daryl thing didn't really come up in this chapter... Oops. Next time! It's about to get crazy for those two, ahaha. I have some interesting things planned for them and Harley.

Thank you everyone for reading!

[kootiepatra]

#FFxivWrite2024 - Day 15 (free day): First Meeting

[Keimwyda's mother was a Sharlayan gleaner, and her father was Limsan sailor. This is their meet-cute. :3]

Sylbdhem gave the ropes one last once-over. It was superfluous, really, but better safe than sorry. And it bought him a little more time to mull over how and where he would want to spend his unanticipated overnight shore leave. His mates were off for the tavern, of course. He just felt… tired, mostly. He was not sure he was much in the mood for their revelry. Probably best stop by to reserve a room, at any rate…

He was so fixed on his task that he did not notice the lady approaching him. “Excuse me,” she chirped politely.

He snapped out of his musing and turned towards her. She was that Roegadyn lass he had noted taking the Sharlayan passage on a few occasions now. He had thought her rather striking, but left things at that—hundreds of travelers came in and out of port every day, and his role was to smooth their journey, not to hobnob. He was sure they had not spoken before and he could not imagine why she would approach him now.

“Forgive me for interrupting,” she added, in the awkward silence resulting from his startle.

“Ah. Nay, ‘tis quite all right, miss. Forgive me for having my head in the clouds. Is there aught I might assist ye with?”

She smiled, and Sylbdhem’s heart fluttered a bit, much to his own surprise. “In a way. At least I hope so. As I understand it, the voyage is delayed due to an oncoming storm, yes?”

“Aye, indeed.” Oh no, he thought to himself. She’s one of THOSE. He had been berated by an occasional wealthy traveler about the weather before, as if he or his captain had anything to do with it. He was braced for another earful.

“How long until it actually reaches us, do you think?”

…Or maybe not. Whew. “Us? Not to worry, it won’t reach us all the way in the harbor. It would intercept us on the open water if we set out now, and the time we’d need to sail clear of it is about the same as just waiting to set off in the morning. The cap’n decided to choose the option that lets our passengers stay in more fitting accommodations overnight.”

“Aha,” she replied. “I am certainly glad to hear that. And the islet thence—” she pointed to a small, insignificant landmass off-shore, sprouting with palm trees and ferns, but otherwise having nothing going for it. “...do you think it shall remain clear of the foul weather, as well?”

Sylbdhem blinked. “I suppose so,” he ventured tentatively. “Why do ye ask?”

“Oh, but where are my manners? I’m Brynthota, by the way.” She extended a hand in greeting.

Sylbdhem was much surprised once again. Her manner of speaking marked her as a lady of some refinement, even if her clothing was more rugged than he would expect. Such noble-types never spoke with the deckhands at all, much less shook hands with them. He was not even sure he had seen them shake hands with one another.

But instinct took over where his faculties struggled, and he accepted her hand and shook it. “Sylbdhem. Pleased to meet ye.”

“What a lovely name! Well, Sylbdhem, seeing as weather won’t be a concern, do you know where I might rent or borrow a rowboat to take myself out to that islet?”

“I… that is, there’s not really anything on it, miss,” he answered.

She laughed, and set Sylbdhem’s heart to racing again. “Oh, no, I assumed as much. But I should like to give it a quick visit all the same. Are there any small boats I may hire?”

“Ah, y’see, I fear that as this is a major port with large ships coming and going, there is not exactly a place for small tourist vessels…” he hesitated as he saw her face fall. She was being gracious enough, but her disappointment was easy to see. “Hm. Although…”

“Although…?” she asked hopefully, her teal eyes twinkling just a little.

“We do have some company skiffs laying about, for running supplies out to a ship in the harbor, guiding them into port, and the like.”

“I don’t suppose I might borrow one?”

He rubbed the back of his neck with uncertainty, as he found himself in disbelief that he was actually considering doing this. “They’re for company use only, strictly speaking. I am not at leave to loan ‘em out to folk. But… supposing a company hand took one out for a row…I don’t think there’s a rule as such saying a passenger couldn’t ride along.”

“Do you think there’s a free hand who might take me?”

“I can do it if it please ye,” Sylbdhem replied. “With the delay, I’ve been given shore leave.”

Brynthota clasped her hands together excitedly. “That is most kind of you! What might a fair rental fee be, do you think?”

He waved dismissively. “I’ll have naught for it, thank ye.”

“Oh come now,” she frowned. “I must offer you something for your troubles.”

“Consider it an apology from Seadragon Ventures for the delay. Besides, I could do with a stretch on the water myself. Were ye wanting to set out straight away, or…?”

She sighed at his refusal to accept compensation, but her face softened. “At your convenience. I have no present engagements.”

“Neither do I. Shall we?”

---------

Sylbdhem tried not to look like he was in a hurry, but he definitely was in a hurry. He still could scarcely believe himself. He was never one to live by the mantra that it would be better to ask for forgiveness than permission, yet he was planning on doing just that if he was caught. He had to assume that ferrying a passenger around on a whim would not be company-approved usage of a skiff.

But then again, his captain was a lively sort of fellow, and often elbowed Sylbdhem with a half-jesting admonishment to cut loose now and again. Sylbdhem could never quite figure out what he meant by that. He never was one for the raucous drunken shenanigans his crewmates would get up to. Not that he minded haunting the taverns with them, not usually. He got on with them all well enough, and even counted one or two as very close friends. But he was not fond of the blurry, dizzy feeling of inebriation, and usually found himself the most sober of his fellows, sat at the back of the room. Even though he would usually enjoy himself well enough amongst friendly company, the whole ritual just never felt like it quite fit him right, like a jacket that pulled a bit too tightly across the shoulders—not enough to hurt, nor even to look much amiss, but enough to feel it tugging every time he reached for his glass.

Perhaps a little unauthorized borrowing of a skiff qualified as “loosening up”. Perhaps he even could have gotten unofficial winking “permission” from his captain to do it.

He would still rather not be caught, though.

Brynthota seemed to travel with only the cumbersome pack she wore on her back—an unusual choice again for a well-to-do lady, but who was he to judge? And it was just as well, for it meant it took almost no time at all to usher her into the boat and begin rowing for the other side of the bay.

Upon their arrival, Sylbdhem stepped out of the boat and began dragging it ashore, but Brynthota hopped out before he could heave it up onto the beach, seemingly wholly unconcerned about keeping her shoes dry. He opened his mouth to comment on it, but then quieted himself. What had been done, had been done. And looking at the boots, they had seen plenty of wear—he figured they were probably pretty well suited to unfavorable conditions after all.

Once Sylbdhem had hauled the skiff up on the beach far enough to be in no danger of washing away from them, he turned to find his passenger poking through the undergrowth.

“So, ah—is there aught in particular you’re lookin’ for?” he asked, making his way over to her.

“Not in particular, as such,” she answered, not looking up as she gingerly lifted a large branch of a fern to peer beneath it. “Simply a good spot to—aha!”

He glanced around and couldn’t see what had caught her attention. He could but blink in non-recognition as she flipped over a chunk of rotten wood, exposing the damp earth underneath, sending all manner of small vilekin scattering for new shelter.

She seemed pleased with herself. She unshouldered her pack and dug through it, drawing out a box, and from the box, a glass jar. She unhooked a trowel from the jangling accoutrement on the outside of her pack, and set to scraping at the mud.

“...You’re collecting dirt?” Sylbdhem could not help but marvel aloud. He caught himself apologetically. “Beggin’ your pardons, miss. This is just—not a hobby I’d imagine refined ladies like yourself taking up.”

She laughed in genuine amusement. “You are not wrong,” she replied. “Yet even when I was little it was all my parents could do to keep my fingers out of the mud.”

“Seems they did not succeed,” he grinned.

“Indeed.” A poorly-concealed darker tone edged into her voice. “Not for want of trying. …But, unfortunately for them, the Gleaners’ Guild has need of all manner of interests.”

Sylbdhem could easily tell that there was a bigger story there.

He found himself hoping that one day, she might do him the honor of letting him hear it.

[sasukimimochi]

🌨️⭐️🪸 - @boredtxdeath (snow, star, coral)

Whew this one was a toughie. Ended up being long because i couldn't figure out an easy way to tie these together. super long for a prompt XD but i like how it ended up. gonna put a read more on this to prevent it from clogging up the dash too much.

Travelerji/Merxian AU (The Night We Met) - See the first six prompts here.

-

The Night We Met - Part Of Your World

Wei Wuxian smiled silently at his companion, unable to help himself now that he got to see the traveler so close. He hadn’t considered how unsettling this may be though.

“…Is…there something on my face?”

Wei Wuxian was startled and laughed, “Aiyah, no- I’ve just never been this close to a human while not fearing for my life.” Close to you.

Lan Wangji furrowed his brow slightly. “Did something…happen with humans?” He gestures to the scar on the other’s wrist.

“Ahh…well…pirates.” Wei Wuxian smiled, “I got away as soon as they looked the other way. They stole my bands and a good majority of my pearls, though. The bastards.”

Lan Wangji frowned, reaching out to hold their wrist carefully. “How did they even manage to catch you?” He turned the other’s wrist and ran a thumb across the scuff that must have been from chains. “Or even…how did you get away?”

Wei Wuxian’s hand turned blue and slipped out of the other’s grip, solidifying once more once he pulled his hand up to wiggle his fingers at the other as if saying hello. He chuckled, “I’m not a human, so of course I'm not a one-trick pony.” He smiled at the traveler's amazement, letting him take his hand again and turn it over in his hands.

“How did you do that?”

“Magic. It is a bit complicated.” Wei Wuxian smiled and took the other’s hand. “You’ve got scars too, right?” He brushes the calluses and tilts his head.

“Oh…no, those are calluses. It’s from all the sailing I do.” Lan Wangji spread out his hand, allowing the other to rub the hardened skin and nicks in the skin. “You don’t get them because you’re underwater, probably…” He considers with a hum. The other’s skin was so soft and smooth…

Wei Wuxian nodded, placing their hands palm against palm. “We’re probably not that much older than each other…but look how different our hands are.”

Lan Wangji felt his stomach flutter from the gesture, swallowing softly. “They are quite…different. Our worlds must be pretty different as well…” He wonders if it’s dark and cold, as unforgiving as it was during the storms where he’d nearly drowned twice now.

“We live in the same world. Just different parts of it.” Wei Wuxian’s words made the traveler freeze for a moment. Well, he wasn’t wrong. But it felt very different. “At least, it feels like I’m part of your world.” He smiles.

Lan Wangji nodded subtly, “...Y….you are part of my world.” Saying it aloud made his ears combust with heat, turning his head away while his companion burst into laughter.

“You’re so much more shy than I thought you’d turn out to be! You haven’t even asked my name yet.” Wei Wuxian leaned over and smiled. “What can I call you, traveler?”

Lan Wangji kept his eyes trained elsewhere, still too flustered to meet the other’s eyes. “Lan Zhan…”

“Lan Zhan.” Wei Wuxian giggled quietly, crawling over to try to see his face even though the other kept turning it away. “Call me Wei Ying.”

Lan Wangji nervously peeked over at the other and felt his face instantly warm again. “Wei Ying…” He cleared his throat. “We should get you some clothes.”

Wei Wuxian turned his hips, trying to get a good look at the outfit his companion had put him in. “So much fabric. At least the shirt is breathable.” He waved his arms, smiling at the airflow against his arms.

Lan Wangji was smitten, thankful his clothes managed to fit the other with very little difference. Plus…now he didn’t feel so embarrassed looking at the handsome curves of the other’s body, and the shirt was just transparent enough that he could tell where his skin ended and the clothes began. “It looks good on you…”

Wei Wuxian beamed and grabbed the other’s hand, running out of the sea cave with the other. “It stopped raining! Come on, let’s go look at the stars!”

Lan Wangji stumbled as he was pulled along, quickly catching himself and running at the other’s side once he got his balance back. He smiled slightly, a helpless warmth spreading through his chest.

“What’s the ocean like? You know…further down.” Lan Wangji had his arms resting over his stomach, staring up at the now cloudless sky. The stars were breathtaking out here on an island in the middle of the ocean. The stars back home were nice, but nothing compared to stars out in the middle of nowhere.

Wei Wuxian turned his head to the other and hummed in thought, “The ocean is all sorts of things. It depends on where you go, really.” He smiled and rolled over to support himself on his elbows. “Coral reefs are beautiful. Full of dangers like any part of the ocean, but so beautiful. There’s so many colors and fish and at night- at night!! You get to see the bioluminescence and it's really something else. I know I’m a bit bioluminescent myself, but it's different seeing it.”

Lan Wangji turns his head too now, a thoughtful look on his face. “Bioluminescence?”

“It’s like…well, light. not a ton of it, but it's not like the sun.” Wei Wuxian rests his head on the other’s chest and smiles, “It can be a bit scary, but I can show you.”

“No thank you.”

“That was too quick!” Wei Wuxian whined, rubbing his face on their chest now. “I’ll be with you the entire time and we don’t have to go too deep for that. I can show you the whales- or dolphins! Oh, there’s so much you can see that you can’t see from the surface.”

Lan Wangji furrows his brow, “Mmmn…I will think about it.”

“Okay then, what about you?”

“Huh?”

“What’s land like? Not like this island, but…Where all the humans live.”

Lan Wangji turned his head so he could see the other a bit better. “...There’s not a lot to say, really. It's pretty boring.”

“Nothing at all?”

The subtle disappointment on the other's face had Lan Wangji backpedaling.

“Well…have you ever gone far enough to see snow?”

Wei Wuxian shook his head and perked up a bit. “What’s snow?”

“It’s this powdery ice that falls from the sky instead of rain. It's cold, but it's very soft and falls slower than rain.”

Wei Wuxian smiled, “Is it colder than the ocean?”

“Maybe a little bit.” Lan Wangji smiled subtly in return but stopped when he saw the amazement come over his companion’s face.

“You smiled…!” Wei Wuxian reached out to hold his face, eyes twinkling with wonder. For some reason, he had a feeling like Lan Wangji’s smile could be compared to something like the sun reflecting snow. No…maybe the moon? He’d be thinking of ways he could compare that smile for hours.

-----

Check out art for this and other MDZS Projects on my masterpost! ❤

I created these two mermay au's for mermay prompts i'm writing. (check back to the prompt list for updates)

-

[patchdotexe]

doip. / 8.25.23: Axeholm

welcome back to doip!

apparently satisfactory has an arachnophobia mode where all the spiders are cat jpegs. i adore this ("how is this related" oh yknow)

(i am very arachnophobic so jorb reskinned some of the beasts in this upcoming dungeon to be not spiders! thank you jorb <3) (also this has some extra context provided by me 5 days later, which will be indented and in parenthesis! like this.)

LAST TIME ON DRAGON OF ICESPIRE PEAK: our heroes having just thwarted an attack on falcons hunting lodge by gorthoko decide to sgtage a counter atack! they travel to the circle of thunder, encourtnering an ambush of cultirsts andlong with a very strange tree! upon arrival our heroes dispatch the talos and searhc the area. they discover the cultists had kidnapped a prisoner: a human named arpeo, researching for a wikipedia project! dauble . now, with falcons hunting lodge behind them, our heroes make their way back to phandalin. what quests lie ahead of them? FIND OUT… TODAY!

…okay jorb gave me the actual recap this time. whew

Last time, on Dragon of Icespire Peak!

Our heroes, having just thwarted an attack on Falcon's Hunting Lodge by Gorthok the Thunder Boar, decide to stage a counterattack! They travel to the Circle of Thunder, encountering an ambush of culists, along with a very strange tree, along the way. Upon arrival, our heroes quickly dispatch the remaining forces of Talos stalking the Neverwinter Wood, and move to search the area. It's then that they discover that the cultists had taken a prisoner - a human bard named Arepo, captured while performing research for his encylopedia project. Grateful for the party's aid, he joins them in their quest - with introductions leading to the surprise revelation of Dauble's new name. Now, with Falcon's Hunting Lodge behind them, our heroes make their way back to Phandalin. What new quests lay ahead of them? Find out, today!

heading back to phandalin! dauble leads the way, and it's pretty smooth sailing. oh my god the barrel crab was waiting for us

jason: so when do we find the other two boars? jorb: which boars would those be??? jason: its the triboar trail, so.. jorb: oh, right! yeah you gotta find the ice boar and the fire boar jorb: you already fought zapdos, so,

jorb: [describing phandalin as having been rebuilt as of a couple years ago] jason: that's wild! don't they know what happened? leo: HUH?

phandalin is basically goldshire. we went out of town and we come back and there's more quests for us OOPS WE GOT THE DRAGON SLAYER SWORD BEFORE WE GOT THE QUEST FOR IT. lol lmao …OOPS WE ALSO DID THE WOODLAND MANSE BEFORE WE GOT THE QUEST FOR IT. oh hey, new quest! the dwarven fortress of Axeholm could be a potential refuge place for the Phandalin folk if Cryovain attacks, so we should probably make sure it's safe. hey remember when we went to the dwarven temple and tobias guiding bolted somebody in half

discusing Money. i still have like 140plat?? also electrum coins exist and if you give them to a shopkeeper they'll give you a dirty look

BARREL CRAB BAREL CRAB BARREL CRAB

uh oh the barrel crab has become self aware

BARREL CRAB, Is Dauble Forklift Certified?

barrel crab is the gift that keeps on giving anyway we have successfully gotten directions to the next objective! wahoo

green: would you have let us go the wrong direction? jorb: let's find out! MAKE A SURVIVAL CHECK! green: [audible "D:"]

OH SHIT THE SENDING STONE AAAAAAAAAA TOBIAS AAAAAAAAAA tobias: checking in. body and mind are starting to change. met someone. calls himself glasstaff(?). ran away too. couldnt hide my condition, so ive been researching. WAAAAHH,,,

(i love how tobias uses Exactly 25 Words every time so far. nerd.)

leo: do we wanna tell him about twigbias nyx: No

dauble: good luck. stay hopeful. kepesk: [reassuring] i'm sure that rock's gonna be just fine.

WELCOME TO AXEHOLM! IT'S BIG! and also the grid is messed up so jorb disabled snap to grid.

alidaar is immediately responsible. green: if kepesk gets off zodiark at the right angle--

AREPO HAS A PLUS NINE TO HISTORY? jorb: yeah, arepo's skills are insane. how maybe +9s do you have, jason? jason: uhhh. a couple.

jorb: [narration] jason: --no, there's two. [pause] wait, three.

hm! axeholm may be haunted by a banshee. that's definitely not going to be an issue. also the portcullis is rusted so uhhh time to find a way in! alidaar: i'm gonna do the anime thing of bending the bars [rolls 11] im gonna suck ass

nyx: is the portcullis a dragon? jorb: uh, make a perception check?? jason: i'd like to roll philosophy on that one

jason: it's time for everyone's favorite party game. Time To Throw The Binturong Into The Arrow Slots THE BINTURONG GOT STUCK alidaar has successfully shoved dauble through the hole! nyx: im wearing goggles as a binturong. fuck you

the binturong is attempting to use a winch . THE BINTURONG GOT A NEGATIVE ONE nyx: do i die. jorb: you fall over backwards

dauble has opened the portcullis! [klonoa wahoo] oops there's locked doors. hey dauble pspspsps

DAUBLE HAS EIGHT MAGIC ITEMS

jason: seize the means of… jorb: production, yeah jason: i was trying to think of a word that fit magic items better leo: seize the means of invocation! green: seize the means of enchantment

One Pound Of Thunder Jerky. Each

jorb: what are yall doing [while jason is afk]? leo: alidaar starts fortnite flossing jorb: roll.. acrobatics…? leo: on it boss! [rolls a 13] jorb: you floss.. alright. it's passable. green: i default dance. [rolls a 10]

GOD COULD YOU FUCKING IMAGINE IF SHADOW FLOSSED IN SONIC 3 green: or the biolizard!

dauble has opened the door! and also smacked kepesk with it in the process. man i miss having darkvision uh oh, the fortress is stinky jason: oh that's weird, you woulda thought all the bodies woulda decayed by now ah! well. the bodies have not decayed . the bodies are also alive.

jason: i just noticed i can talk as barrel crab. leo: YEAH :D jorb: barrel barrel!

nyx: that's zodiark.

OH MY GOD NAT20 ARCANA. THANKS AREPO these are ghouls! they roam in packs and are basically non-contagious zombies. and also are probably gonna be a problem.

arepo can change shape??? (he didn't do anything but jason mentioned it and i went Huh???)

the ghouls are SO stinky :(

KEPESK CAN TELEPORT??? kepesk has misty step! neat!

jorb: although [killing] purple would open a travel chasm leo: HUH? nyx: trasm. jorb: i don't know why i tried to get fancy with that.

dauble has word of radiance! man what the heck is your class huh. they have a holy symbol which is a down-pointing dagger on a necklace. Man What The Heck Is Your Class

god i love dual wielding. especially now that i have an extra attack. alidaar stunts all over everyone forever ive been carrying inspiration for 1 irl year. OOPS.

jorb: dauble? leo: dauble? nyx: dauble? jorb: dauble? leo: dauble? green: dauble? nyx: boggle? jorb: boggle! leo: BOGGLE! jorb: SUNDAY! green: sunday sunday sunday! jorb: and saturday

[megamind voice] No Presto? (none of us have prestigitation and everything is SO stinky)

(its also been six years and i still can't spell prestidigitation without spell check. i write my notes in wordpad, which does not have spell check. for the love of god please help me)

jorb: would you like to try another door? there might not be ghouls behind it! jason: this is the worst monty hall problem ever!

green: can i start smelling the doors?

nyx, after not saying anything for a while: boo, we hate your pussy!

apparently if we didn't shove dauble through the hole, we could've climbed down a chimney! and also tried to break the barricaded door but it wouldve taken an ingame hour and alerted Every Ghoul In The Fortress green: easy fight. [..] compelled duel all of them.

jorb: YOU CONFIDENTLY THROW OPEN THE DOOR… green: [loud panic] jorb: …and you find the toilet.

jorb: mercifully, there is nothing in the toilets.

(i think around here we got derailed talking about pre-plumbing castle toilets??? i'm going to spare you the details but it was uh. definitely a conversation)

there is an Unauthortized Fucking Thing (stirge) in the chimney

leo: let's continue the bottom level slee- uh , sweep green: bottom level sweeeeep nyx: bottom sweep jorb: next splatfest: top, bottom, switch nyx: America's Next Top Bottom

OH GOD WYBIE TAGGED ME IN REALLY CUTE ART AND MEANWHILE WE HAVE ENTERED INITIATIVE . OOPS killed the guy! wahoo jorb: does that end your turn? leo: [concerned] ……..ye ah ????

OH NO MORE GUYS . THEY FELL THROUGH THE CHIMNEY??? BRO

jason: [explaining arepo's attack of throwing cards at people] jorb: hold on i have a homestuck image for this leo: of course you do.

(please imagine gif of june homestuck throwing cards everywhere, i don't want to go through the hassle of figuring out how to put a gif in here)

jorb accidentally deleted the ghoul tokens with initiative so the UI broke. oops

wegh . we have hit the point of the night (9:45) where i am very much starting to not exist. i dont think we're even halfway through. Man

jorb: how do you wanna do this? nyx: i yell FUCK YOU and beam it out of existence jorb: [..] he gets raptured, basically [..] jason: what do you think the rapture is..????

kepesk got a gold ring with the symbol of axeholm on it! nothing in the fireplace this time though

WHY IS THERE A 60FT HOLE STRAIGHT DOWN IN THE FUCKING DINING ROOM??? MINECRAFT???????//// jorb: is anyone going on a hole adventure? Alidaar Descends Into The Hole SIXTY FOOT TRASHCAN

(god that's incomprehensible. we found a 60 ft hole in the dining room with handholds so alidaar climbed down it and it ended up being trash disposal.)

[slide whistle noise]

(i do not remember context of the slide whistle.)

aw no the east is stunky and caved in… stinky. not pokemon nyx has foudn a tube

(dauble was exploring the rest of the ground floor and found a tunnel leading to the next floor. and then decided to scuttle back down because No Thanks)

Ah Fuck We've Found Guys green: bro we are dudes. problem?

(at this point i was extremely tired and nyx needed to go so we called it before rolling initiative. this is also why my notes sharply decline into being incomprehensible)

play of the game: nyx fucking rapturing a guy

barrel crab barrel crab barrel crab

BARREL CRAB BARREL CRAB BARREL CRAB

[mollydsails]

October 6 - Port Jefferson to Atlantic Highlands, NJ, 69.1 miles. Today’s transit wasn’t totally smooth , but it wasn’t bad at all with a minimal chop. The trip down the East/Hudson Rivers was pleasant. The river traffic was light compared to what we have experienced during the week. The number of tugs/barges, ferries, pleasure craft and commercial shipping traffic was less than half of what we had experienced in April. Less stressful travel for the captain and crew. When we were in sight of the Veranazzo Bridge, Molly D had to alter course to give way to a sailboat under sail. As we did so, we heard a couple of loud thunks under our hull. We had driven over a partially submerged log and spit it out of our stern. The sun was shining in our eyes and the water was shimmery, so we did not see it. Island Packets are built strong, and as far as we know no damage was done. Whew! Molly D will be staying in port tomorrow. Headwinds and 3-4’, 7 second swells would not make for a pleasant trip into Atlantic Shitty. We are hoping for better conditions on Tuesday. We aren’t going to fret our schedule delay (schedule is just a SUGGESTION). There is a good waterfront restaurant a short dinghy ride away, and we know the food is good. Toughest decision tomorrow? Do we go out for lunch or supper?

Throgs Neck Bridge

Brooklyn Bridge web cam. Molly D is in the photo but I sure as heck can’t find her!

Nope. Not too many margaritas. The buildings were built this way. On purpose

Pier 5

One of many of the commuter ferries that transit the East River

Staten Island ferry and terminal.

View looking towards New Jersey

Statue of Liberty

Molly D’s location in Atlantic Highlands

View from Molly D’s mooring

[matthewtangemanphoto]

Klickitat - North Face of the Northwest Ridge

Whew, what a mouthful of a ski descent.

Only in the Cascades can you have the best day of the ski season on June 22. The NFNWR is a classic line first skied by the legendary Glen Plake, and is perhaps 'the line' on the young volcano known as Klickitat or Pahto or Mt. Adams.

I drove to the trailhead from the north, from Index, with plans on meeting a friend who came from the south. The trailhead is on a remote side of the mountain, accessed via 35+ miles of dirt road. My friend, Erik, had smooth sailing on his journey, arriving right at the time we planned to meet.

While he was setting up camp, relaxing with an early dinner, and enjoying the sunset on the mountain, and perhaps vaguely wondering where I might be, I was frantically trying to shovel my high-centered car out from a slurry of mud and snow, still five miles away from the trailhead. I multitasked by swatting mosquitos with a great enough density to kill 6 per slap, truly the icing on a pretty f'ed up cake.

Eventually, I realized I wasn't going to get my little AWD hatchback un-stuck, so I laced up the running shoes and used the best mode of transportation I had available to go find Erik. Our simple exchange upon me jogging (not driving) up to the trailhead conveyed a bigger story than was spoken - "hey! ...oh, shit?" "yeah, shit" "oh, shit!!"

One quick recovery mission, a rushed dinner, and 3 hours of sleep later, our skis were on our packs, headlamps were on, and we were motoring up the trail. I'll let the photos take it from here.

Morning light on Tahoma, the Mother of Waters.

On the approach. Just up and left of Erik is our descent, the NFNWR. We climbed the north ridge, the rocky line on the left.

Two climbers visible on the Adams Glacier (center-right).

Photo by Erik of me beginning the climb of the north ridge. I was surprised to discover later that most seem to find this route tedious. I thought it aesthetic, efficient, and atypical for a volcano climb. Perhaps the choss of the San Juan Mountains has given me a new perspective.

Erik cresting the summit plateau. I think this was the smelliest (sulfur) volcanic summit I've been on.

Erik dropping in on the NFNWR. The first few hundred feet off the summit were a perfect low angle warmup.

Check out Erik's GoPro video of the descent here.

Erik exiting the face. We wove through the cliff bands in the upper right.

Lenticulars above the Adams icefall. The mountain was enveloped by clouds around 5 minutes later.

Thank you, Klickitat.

I camped again that night and made it back to my parent's home in Wenatchee the next day. That night while digging through boxes in my childhood bedroom, I found an old journal. In it, 13-year-old me had written his goals down for 2010. Climb Dragontail, climb a v2, do a 360 on skis, among many other things that I've long since achieved. The last goal on the list, never crossed off, was to climb Mt. Adams. It took me 14 years, but I was finally able to check that one off the list. 13 year old me was proud.

[mythiccheroacademia]

@justsydnee​ request: kirishima, kaminari and a character of your choice with a poc!s/o with a big afro? like, people call her afro head and so on. also her punching anyone who touches her hair. thanks!! it's nice to see someone who writes for black people. 💕

A/N: Hey sis! I swear I had your request done and ready to post like four days ago, and tumblr really ate that shit up! I was crying like a bitch, but you’ve requested this a minute ago so I apologize for the wait! I picked Sero as the character of my choice! I never get that, so that was very sweet of you to put in there. I hope you like this as much as I did, boo <3

Warning: in this house, we jump ignorant people

Kirishima Eijirou:

not on some fetishizing shit, but when I tell you this man loves your hair

Kirishima loves it

he understands the cultural and political significance of an afro

he admires how you wear it out and about, proudly, despite what society would want you to think

he also just thinks you're really, really, attractive

every time you get it shaped or dye it, he’s writing poems about how beautiful you are

is the first and last person to compliment you

will glare and growl at anyone who even thinks about badmouthing your hair

and, in the next moment, will go back to making goo-goo eyes at you

it’s such a quick mood swing that people learn to mind their own business unless they want to end up decimated

if you’re the one punching away those ignorant people away, he literally has the ring bought and ready for you since yesterday

he’s such a simp for you it’s ugly

Kaminari Denki:

before you two started dating, he was a little intimidated

every time you walked in a room, you made a statement

people would always come up to you and either compliment your hair or just plainly ask you out  

like, how?

and the worst part was, they were all hot and confident!

how was he supposed to compare to that when he could barely muster enough confidence to say hi to you without melting into the ground??

have you seen yourself? you’re HOT!!!

eventually, he heard around that you actually had a crush on him and it was smooth sailing from there

your biggest hype man

will never let anyone catch you slipping

whenever someone makes an ignorant comment about how big your hair is, kaminari is there with the facts

if that’s not enough, he’ll step aside and let you handle it yourself

and whew chile, is it getting hot in here or was it just him?

Sero Hanta:

although he’s the chill one out of all three of them

your bf is not afraid to cap a bitch if need be

sero’s about that life

your hair is your business and he won’t let some ugly mfs speak on it

if mad people are still talking shit after you’ve dealt with them, he’ll step up

but when you both aren’t punting people out the room, you’re just chilling

sero’s the type to do hair care routines with you

will help you dye it if that’s what you want

you won’t let him get near your hair with a pair of scissors (bc have you seen his hair lmao) but always reminds you when it’s time to get a trim

finds your confidence and unapologetic nature so attractive

you’ve got tape boi wrapped around your finger

[bomberqueen17]

whew

been a minute since i was on here.

we escaped a terrible lake-effect snowstorm and made it to Rochester on Saturday, arriving around 3pm. we started drinking and eating cheese, and had much merriment. It just felt-- so nice to pretend to be normal. (I’d cleared the mingling of COVID pods with everyone for the occasion.)

We did some Witchering that night, which I’ll write up separately. I felt so reassured. It just felt normal. And it was fun to see the kids and all.

[cut for length; writing from my mom’s house]

The next morning we hung out a bit and then hit the Thruway, in patchy sun, no snow at all, smooth enough sailing the rest of the way. Except at one point, like immediately after we passed the Indian Castle rest stop, Dude was like “oh I need to get gas when’s the next one” and I looked it up and was like ‘oh it’s only like 25 miles, that’d be good I guess I could use a potty break” and he was like “oh I’ll run out of gas in 10.” which like. What the fuck bro, I plan my rest stops meticulously and would never in a hundred thousand years even contemplate cutting it that close? So I had to frantically Google, and we had to get off at the Fultonville Quick Stop, which mostly serves trucks and features showers you can pay for around back, and like. What the fuck. Anyway. Also they had no credit card readers on the pumps, so I had to go inside. I was pleasantly astonished to find the cashier putting a mask on as I walked in, so that was better than it might have been. (Also I could’ve bought a Trump 2020 mask for $4.99 right by the register.) (I did NOT pee in the “please pay for truck parking before you shower” restroom, I held it the rest of the way to the farm.)

We survived. A couple of minutes before we got to the farm, Middle-Little called, clearly from her car, warning us they’d just closed Rte 2 for an apparent car accident, but we’d passed that point already. We arrived at the farm just as Farmsister was wandering across the yard to put something away, so she helped me unload the car. And then that very moment, Mom and Elder Sister pulled in. Middle-Little came in a few minutes later, with wild tales of having to suddenly detour, but not much delayed overall.

I had sort of expected a big emotional scene, but we just all each hugged each other, and then went inside and had a beer and then took a lovely walk all around the farm.

We swapped tales of how we were holding up. Mom said her advice now to anyone wishing to know what to say to a bereaved person was not to be really invasive in questioning about what had happened. At least one person had pushed her as far as “Well, I found him dead in the bathroom” and had not been foisted off by that but had persisted “Well, and???” and she was like “how is that not enough detail. How. Do you want to know how cold he was? His coloring? Whether there were fluids and if so, what? Come on.”

So like. There’s the distilled thing.

I said the thing that was surprising to me, but that Dude had warned me of concretely, was that of course people who were just seeing you to give condolences would be in that moment much more emotional than you, and so you wind up having to deal with your ongoing life-altering crushing grief and also some distant relation or not-well-known acquaintance literally hanging off you and weeping while you’re like, trying to live your life. I’m spared much of it by COVID, and of course it’s an understandable human thing, but it’s kind of surprising to be like “oh hey so and so hi nice to see you” and they’re like “A-BLOO-HOO-SOB-HOO” and you have to be like “there there yes my world is in shambles but you know how it is, pip pip cheerio”.

It’s hard to know, I suppose, how to act, and I don’t expect I’ll be any less awkward myself. And I have found myself wanting to tell people, because the circumstances were so unfair. I did get the full story out of my mom and sisters, the whole blow-by-blow recounting of the morning-- Mom called Farmsister first, who stayed on the line with her as she called the ambulance from the other phone and waited until they showed up and then when Mom hung up, Farmsister called Middle-Little and had her go directly to the house to be with Mom. (M-L said she watched the whole drive for an ambulance coming the other direction, since she lives in the city where the nearest hospitals are, and was driving on the only road that connects directly-- but they did not transport him to a hospital, as it happened.)

Anyway. I don’t need to get more into that, but knowing more-- it probably does help.

We did a little impromptu late Christmas, and Farmkid was delighted to get more presents. I got some fiber stuff-- bobbins and two ornate niddy-noddies and a cat toy for Chita-- and got to give Farmsister her presents, including a pair of pants that had taken an incredible journey by Fedex tracking.

I... it’s weird, is all. Today we went over to Mom’s house, but this entry’s getting long and I haven’t been sleeping well and I need to try to do that, so maybe tomorrow I can take a minute to write about going to Mom’s house and seeing the will and the search for the missing pistol magazine and so on. I had some fun posts in Instagram Stories I’ll have to move over to my grid, too. But it’ll keep, I’m going to sleep.

[dickpuncher420]

WHEW finally managed to get that hard scene out of the way, should be smooth sailing from here

[ak8shi]

Going out/clubbing with the HQ boys series: Bokuto Koutarou

Whew the things that I would let this man do to me

He is the BEST person to go out with, stick with him and you’re guaranteed a fun and adventurous night

He’s ordering rounds of shots, he’s GREAT at dancing, and he just commands attention in general

So you’re sitting in the dining hall of your uni, and this buff ass dude walks in

No hesitation whatsoever he like comes up to you and is like ,,

“Hey I think we live in the same dorm, I’m Bokuto, can I sit with you???”

Oh so he’s BOLD bold

After that, ya’ll hit it off and he just has so much energy, you’ve never met someone who can balance so much in his schedule

It honestly is so obvious to his friends that he likes you, but from your perspective you just think he’s nice to everyone

Akaashi and Kuroo, watching him stupidly grin at his phone while he’s texting you: oh to see without my eyes 🧚🏼‍♀️💗🙈✨💕

ANYWAYS, he builds up enough courage and is like would you like to go out with my friends and I?? I’ll buy all of your drinks 😉

Did I mention he’s the CEO of fake IDs, like this man had four IDs that he either bought off upperclassmen or stole as a FRESHMAN

Almost got arrested outside a bar for using one

And like how could you pass up his offer; you like his friends and you want to see what party Bo is all about

So you meet him to uber to his friend’s pre, and you’re kind of nervous

Bokuto: I’ve never seen someone so pretty😍😍😍,

Kuroo in the back seat: Stop staring at her like that with your entire Debby Ryan looking ass-

I think Bokuto would be the type to wear a loose short-sleeve dress shirt with black jeans, he knows damn well he’s FINE

At the pre, he’s automatically going for the shots while fisting a 4 Lokos LMAOO

You’re trying to keep up with him and you feel the buzz setting in FAST

Akaashi, standing behind you, whispering in your ear: U better slow down because I’m not carrying both of you home tonight sweetie 😊❤️

You spend like two hours at the pre, and you’re already having so much fun with Bo ,, he kind of makes a move and rests an arm around your waist bc he sees other dudes eyeing you :(((

Bo is dancing with you already, innocently twirling you around on the balcony of the apartment

You aren’t even sure what song is on, but it doesn’t even matter when you’re with him

You’re both pretty drunk at this point, you’re both slurring and Akaashi is ROLLING his eyes

Bo is the type to take five million snaps to post on his story and then he watches it back the next day cringing at it

Bokuto: Akaashi, w-when did I post these??

Akaashi: After you chugged the five tequila sunrises :)

Kuroo the only man who can hold his liquor is calling the uber

Bokuto lives for one thing and one thing only: L A T I N  N I G H T

You can hear the hard beat of a Bad Bunny song playing from two streets away

Once you all get into the club, Bo is snatching you up to get to the dance floor

He is screaming over the music trying to show you how to move in time with the music he’s highkey so loud that you can hear him

he’s spinning you around and guiding your swaying hips with his hand

UGH he thinks you’re so hot and he just love seeing you let go like this

He is a sight to see dancing, like you can tell he just feels the music in him, but he also tends to get overexcited

If you start grinding on him, he will die

,,, I’m laughing he probably is offbeat at first because he’s so excited that you want to dance on him like that

But then he gets into his groove and its smooth sailing from there

You play a reverse Uno card and flip him around so he’s grinding his fat ass on you LMAO he loves it and he loves the fact that you don’t care what others think when you mess around together

At one point you drag him to the bar because you feel yourself sobering up

The bar is giving out free shots though and the bartenders are standing on the bar with bottles of vodka to pour into people’s mouths

Bokuto automatically goes for it and swallows it without a chaser

His power

But then you guys actually order drinks and he orders a round of tequila shots I gagged

…..

BODY SHOTS

You have the lime and salt ready, you grin mischievously and rubbed the salt on your neck before placing the lime slice in your mouth

Bokuto is speechless he can’t believe this is happening; it feels like everything is moving in slow motion as you stand in front of him, waiting

He takes the shot, and then his tongue is on your neck to lap up the salt……. I’m simping

I’m not saying he kisses up your neck to your mouth but that’s exactly what I’m saying

He takes the lime from your mouth, giving it a good suck, and you can’t hold back anymore

You pull the lime out of him mouth and crash your lips against his

He is shocked at first to say the least, but then he’s kissing you back, the alcohol making the kiss seem intoxicating

You pull away, his hands still on your hips, “Let’s do this sober.”

He smiles at you, agreeing and leaving a bunch of kisses all over your face before pulling you away to find Kuroo and Akaashi in the crowd

They already saw you two tho LMAO

Kuroo, watching you throw back your fifth shot at the club alone: so I’ll be carrying her home in a bit

Akaashi: Fine with me,,, I will be leaving Bokuto here❤️

[bensroger]

Blue Eyes, Blue Skies - Ben Hardy! Roger Taylor

Summary: Mamma Mia meets Borhap! Freddie makes the band take a band retreat to the beautiful island of Kalokairi, and makes Roger go whether he likes it or not. Y/N runs the local hotel with her mother, and enjoys her time on the island, but can’t help but want more. Y/N can’t help but sing one night, which Roger happens to hear. Only a day in, and there’s already some girl stuck in his head… Why did it have to be him?

Word Count: 4474

Warnings: Swearing

A/N: Okay so basically reader is just an older Sophie type that kind of dresses like Donna and goes through the same things as her. This is a little cheesy and it DOES get a little musical, so I recommend getting your Mamma Mia 2 soundtrack (I Have a Dream & Mamma Mia) ready if you want the FULL experience lmao! I don’t know how to feel about this, and most of the outfits I mentioned are from the movie. I hope you guys enjoy this! I love Mamma Mia and Borhap so whew! This has been in my drafts forever and I’m a lil nervous to post!

It was a particularly sunny day on the island of Kalokairi, and the sky was a bright beautiful blue that clashed with the darker and deeper blue of the ocean. Business was slow today, nobody had really come into the hotel since it was a weekday, but you’d at least get a few people on vacation at this time of the week. You could hear your mom making her way down the stairs to the lobby. You gave her a wide, fake smile, and she just shook her head, smiling herself. You opened your mouth to speak, but she started before you had the chance.

“You don’t have to ask me Y/N, you can take the rest of the day off.” Your mom said, looking at you. It’s not that you hated the hotel, and you actually really enjoyed running it with her, but sometimes… Sometimes it just got tiring.

You had been living on the island of Kalokairi your whole life. Your mom came from America when she was around 22 years old, and then had you and raised you here. You love Greece, you really did, but there was still so much of the world you wanted to see.

You grinned at your mom before giving her a hug, then grabbing your bag and running out. You’d usually just sit on the beach or walk around the town. You loved the life and environment here, and you wouldn’t want it any other way. At the little bar not far from your hotel, you’d occasionally sing. Your mom was close with the owner, Nefeli, so she’d let you perform in addition to her son from time to time. Nefeli loved your voice.

You had a few friends on the island, one of your closest being a girl who had moved here from America, just like your mom had all those years go. Her name was Amanda, and she was independently studying the plants and animals nearby. You met her a few years ago but she quickly became one of your best friends, seeing as she was the only girl around town close to your age.

The stone steps were uneven beneath your flimy sandals, your long skirt blowing in the wind as you headed down to the beach. The sun was nearly setting, and you always thought it was so beautiful to watch from here, at the bottom of the steps, below the hill with the church on top of it. You sat alone on the sand, the wind in your loose and messy hair as the air began to grow colder. You could see a few boats in the distance, and you hoped that some day, you’d be on one of them, off to see the world.

You weren’t necessarily trapped or anything, but it would greatly impact your mom if you did leave her, so for her sake you stayed and helped run the hotel with her. You could see the last passenger boat of the night dock, and let off a few people. You could only make out four men from here, and they were dressed pretty flashy… At least, flashy for a little island in Greece. With a frown, you turned your focus back to the deep blue ocean in front of you, with little sunlight available now. You felt yourself smile as you closed your eyes, letting the water mist you a little bit. You grabbed your bag as you headed up toward the hills to the trees. There was occasionally a few animals here, especially in the mornings, but right now it was empty… Except for the beautiful glow of the fireflies around you. You picked a few of your favorite flowers, accompanied by a few fruits. You had a vase in your bedroom that you constantly filled with flowers you picked yourself. You twirled in your skirt, letting out a little laugh as you watched the fireflies lightly buzz around you.

Meanwhile, across the shore, Roger Taylor was tapping his foot impatiently on dolphin tile of a run down looking hotel. But who was he kidding? This whole town on this small island kind of looked run down… He didn’t even want to be here, if he was perfectly honest. Freddie had suggested it so that they maybe get inspiration for the next album, as if that was going to come from a sad little unknown island in Greece. The boat ride alone over to the island was pure hell, he didn’t want to spend anymore time here.

Brian was standing next to him, talking to Deaky about what they could do on the island. When Roger heard Brian murmur something about going on a row, he let out a loud scoff, and turned to the two boys. “There’s no way in hell you’re getting me on another one of those boats.” He said to Brian.

Deaky let out a  sigh. “Look, I know you don’t want to be here, but we’re doing this to take some time away from everything. I think it’ll be good for us. It’s practically paradise.” Deaky said with a soft smile, and Roger only rolled his eyes.

Before anything else could be said, Freddie came out of the building onto the patio, a satisfied smile rested on his face. He held up two keys. “Two of us will have to share rooms, but I think this hotel is quite cute, wouldn’t you say?” He said, turning around and admiring the hotel. Freddie noticed Roger’s annoyed face and smirked. “Come on Rog, it’s a band retreat, enjoy it a little!” He exclaimed.

Roger shook his head. “Freddie, there’s absolutely nothing to do on this island, it’s just a waste of time.”

Freddie, still smirking, rolled his eyes. “Oh please, it’ll be amazing. You can hit up all the Greek girls you want, find an Aphrodite even.” Freddie said, turning on his heel and heading inside.

Deaky and Brian grabbed their bags and headed inside the hotel too, leaving Roger standing outside under the dim patio light by himself. With an annoyed sighed, he grabbed his bags and followed behind them.

The room itself wasn’t so bad. It had two twin beds, nothing exciting. Roger still wasn’t impressed though, and didn’t bother to meet the woman at the front desk. He was sharing his room with Brian, while Deaky was with Freddie. Eventually, they all settled in their rooms.

You came back into the hotel later than your mom liked, but you were a grown woman and there wasn’t anything she could really do to stop you. She gave you a look of ‘you know better,’ and you hung your head in shame as you entered her view. You set the bag down on the counter of the hotel, the fruits nearly rolling out. She sighed. “Four more boys checked in tonight. You’ll have to check on them in the morning, see if they need anything.” She said in a stern voice.

You hated checking in on people, it was so weird and uncomfortable… But it was the polite thing to do in a hotel this small. You opened your mouth to argue but instead closed it, swiftly picked up your bag and headed up to your bedroom. As you placed the bag on your desk, you pulled the flowers out and placed them in your metal vase. You smoothed out your orange skirt as you looked in the mirror. You hair was a mess, and there was still sand beneath your fingernails. You headed toward your balcony, pushing the doors wide open. You looked out to the ocean, watching a boat head away from the island. You furrowed your brows as you watched it sail away, wishing that you were on the boat, off to see the world.

You closed your eyes and started humming, but it quickly grew into a soft little song. That was another thing about you; You were so musical, and always immersed yourself deep into your songs. “I have a dream… A song to sing.” You hummed out softly, opening your eyes as watched the ocean. “To help me cope, with anything… If you see the wonder of a fairy tale, you can take the future even if you fail.” You smiled as you sang.

The doors to the balcony of the room right below you were wide open, the wind blowing into the room. Roger was sitting on his bed, reading one of his favorite books, On the Road, when he heard something. It was a soft and angelic voice. He put his book down and sat up, furrowing his brows as he tried to figure out where the voice was coming from. It was just him in the room, as Brian was taking a shower. Once Roger stepped on the balcony, he was able to hear it clearer. “I believe in angels, something good in everything I see.”

Roger realized it was coming from a room nearby him, and it took him a few seconds to realize it was coming from the balcony directly above him. It was obviously a girl voice, soft and quiet, yet one of the prettiest voices he’s heard. It was calming, and normally he’d try to chase the voice down but he found it relaxing. He didn’t want to ruin to his moment. “I believe in angels, when I know the time is right for me I’ll cross the stream… I have a dream.” The voice softly sang before quietting down for the night. Roger stood on the balcony, hoping the unnamed voice would return.

Roger would’ve waited longer if weren’t for Brian’s “What’re you doing?” Brian frowned. Roger turned around and scratched the back of his neck.

“Just looking at the stars, they’re a lot more clear here.” And Roger frowned. “Maybe I need to give this play a chance…” He muttered to himself.

“What was that?” Brian asked, a frown on his face.

“Nothing.” Roger said. “We should get to bed, it’s late and it took some time to travel here.” And with that, the night was drawing to a close, finally.

The next morning, you woke up remembering it was your day off. You practically jumped out of bed, filled with excitement about what today might hold, especially since Amanda was coming over. After you had taken a shower, you put on a denim bralette with floral patterned yellow pants. Unlike yesterday’s low pony, you let your hair hang loose and wavy. You tied it together with a silver locket around your neck and sandals as always. Today was hotter than usual, so you made sure to dress breezy. You headed down to the hotel lobby to find it packed with quite a few people. A few more people were checking while a few were checking out.

You tried to weave between people when you slammed head-on right into someone else. You almost fell but the person grabbed you by your waist, saving you from falling. You looked up to see a man with blonde hair, and these amazing blue eyes. His arm slipped away as he steadied you. Your breath was taken away by the encounter, and you were more embarrassed than anything. The blonde man gave you a grin as you felt a blush creep up on your cheeks. He gave you the most charming smile, and you could feel your heart start to race.

Roger opened his mouth to introduce himself to this pretty girl who quite literally fell for him, but before he could say anything you softly said, “I’m sorry.” and hurriedly weaved your way through the crowd, away from him.

Once you were outside, you took a deep breath, calming yourself down from that sort of awkward, sort of hot, encounter you just had. Not too often did guys your age come around to the island, let alone stay at your hotel… You began to bite your lip as you leaned on the stone wall, looking out to deep blue ocean. You felt your heartbeat start to slow down as you looked out to the ocean. You jumped as you felt a tap on your shoulder, bringing you out of your thoughts. You turned around to find Amanda.

“Oh God Amanda you scared me… You’ll never believe the most awkward situation I was just in.” You sighed.

Amanda grinned as your face turned a shade of pink. You shook your head as you headed up a hill, away from the patio of the hotel and deeper into the trees now as you got further away from the city. Alyssa trailed behind you. “Okay, you’re really fast.” She huffed. “You can’t leave me hanging like that Y/N, what do you mean ‘awkward situation’?”

You buried your face in your hands, recounting the memory. “Oh God it was really awful… The lobby was packed and I tried to get through and ended up running right into someone… I would’ve fallen if he hadn’t caught me. Amanda, you had to have seen him, he had the most angelic eyes.” You sighed. “I was so embarrassed. I think he was going to talk to me but I ran away.”

Amanda laughed behind you. “Oh Y/N you moron, why did you run?” She shook her head jokingly and you rolled your eyes as you pushed some branches out of the way to clear a path. You finally got to your one place of serenity; your secret little cottage. It wasn’t pretty to look at; the windows were broken, the paint chipping, nails sticking out of the floor, the door barely hanging on… But you loved it. You loved this worn down, barely standing, and potentially hazardous little cottage because nobody else knew about it. Amanda and you would always come here to escape, to share your little talks and laughs. It was your favorite place to be. You had even tried to decorate it a little bit with an old rug and old vase that you filled with the same flowers you picked yesterday.

You and Amanda sat on the rug, peeling a few oranges that you had also gathered yesterday. She spoke as she did so. “So, Bill told me that when he pulled up to the dock he swears he saw Queen…”

You narrowed your eyes as you tried to remember, recall who or what Queen was. Amanda frowned as she noticed you thinking. “Y/N… The band?”

“Oh yeah, I think I have a few of their records!” You shouted in recognition now. You hadn’t a clue what any of them looked like, though. You frowned. “What would they be doing here?”

Amanda thought, and then shrugged. “I’m not really sure. Anyway, are you going to perform at Nefeli’s tonight? You know they love you.” She said, laying down next to you.

“Yeah, I mean I have fun singing but tonight… Tonight is going to be special.” You said, giving her a soft smile. You laid down next to Amanda. “Why is it so hot today? I can hardly the stand the heat.” You sighed.

“I know!” Amanda said, shooting up. She held her hand out to you. “Let’s go out on the water, it’s bound to cool you off!”

***

Across the island, Roger was at the beach with the boys. Freddie and Deaky were making a sand castle, while Brian was looking at the tide pools. Roger looked across the ocean and sighed. He couldn’t stop thinking about the girl from last night… The voice… It was just so… “No! No seaweed barrier, this is a lavish sand castle and seaweed is disgusting!” Freddie sneered at Deaky, bringing Roger out of his thoughts. Deaky frowned. Freddie reached into his pocket and placed a sand dollar at the top of the castle. “Perfect.” Deaky’s only response was an eye roll, but he couldn’t help but smile.

Roger walked over to Deaky and Freddie, who were now over the sand castle and had moved onto watching the ocean while sitting in the sand. It was a big shift in the mood. There was a sailboat out on the ocean, and Freddie’s face lit up. “We should all get on a sailboat.”

Roger groaned. “I can’t stand boats, please no.” He sighed. But it was too late, and there was no changing Freddie’s mind.

***

You seemed to be the only one rowing, and you were getting annoyed. Why you agreed to go on the water with Amanda, you weren’t sure; you always did the rowing by yourself. “Amanda you have to row!” You huffed.

“I am rowing!” She shouted back.

“Hardly! I’m doing all the work.” You sighed. “Oh God, there’s another giant sailboat. Come on, we should move before they practically ram into us.” You laughed, easing the tension between you two. However, as the sailboat seemed to get closer to you, you and Amanda went back to bickering. The sailboat wasn’t very tall so it couldn’t do much damage to your rowboat, but it’d definitely jolt you. “Amanda, we’re heading straight for the sailboat, you have to row with me!” You said quickly, trying to get her to. It was getting closer now. “Amanda, fucking row with me!” You shouted. You sighed, and braced for impact. The whole boat shook, including the sailboat.

“Why were you yelling at me?” She shouted at you.

“Because you clearly weren’t rowing, you were just sitting there while I did all of the work!” You rolled your eyes.

“You did all of the work? Why I-” She started, before she placed her hands on your shoulders gave you a push, sending you backwards into the water, and a scream escaped your lips as you did so.

The cold water felt nice after being in the sun for so long. After a few seconds, you popped your head up out of the water. You came up behind the boat, and leaned on the back of it, causing Amanda to lose her footing and fall in as well. Amanda popped her head up to you and looked at you, causing you both to crack up laughing. “I hate you so much.” You laughed.

“Are you two alright?” A voice above you said, and you looked up to see a man with a dark hair.

“Yes, we’re fine! Sorry for hitting your sailboat.” You called out. Amanda’s mouth hung open, and you frowned at her reaction. Another face appeared next to him, but this time it was a man with blonde hair. It was the same guy from this morning. “Shit” you whispered.

The blonde man immediately recognized you. “It’s you from this morning!” He shouted down at you.

You let out a nervous laugh. “Yeah… Sorry about that…”

He gave you another one of his charming smiles. “It’s quite alright, love. You just took off before I could even get your name. I’m Roger.”

You returned a softer smile. “I’m Y/N.”

“Darlings, would you like to join us or something? Rowing seems… Hard.” The darker haired man called out below to you.

“Thank you for the invite, but we have a lot of laughs and it’s fine.” You climbed back into the row boat, your floral pants sticking to your legs. You helped Amanda up who remained speechless this entire time. “Well, it was night meeting you Roger and…” You frowned, realizing you hadn’t learned the other man’s name.

“Freddie.” He finished for you, giving you a smile.

You gave them a small wave before you started rowing away. Amanda had a puzzled look on her face, and you almost laughed. “Amanda, you haven’t been this quiet since Bill accidently lost your shoe in the water. What is it?”

“Y/N, that was literally Queen.” She said, a confused look on her face. “And… You ran into Roger this morning? Oh my God why didn’t you tell me!” She exclaimed.

You frowned. “I… did tell you.” You said, confused.

“So that means they’re staying at your hotel then? This is insane, I can’t believe Queen is staying at your hotel I have to get my polaroid and-” She was talking a mile a minute.

“Amanda, calm down… The sun’s starting to set, we should get back to shore. We can discuss Queen later and you can freak out then, for now, I don’t want to get stuck at sea.” You said, and she just nodded. This time, you two were able to suck it up and work together and return without any major problems. The sun was just about set, and you gave the horizon one last look before you headed up to the town.

It was busy tonight, and there was a lot of hustle and bustle between shops. When you finally got to the bar, it was nearly packed. Nefeli was behind the counter cleaning glasses as her son stood beside her helping making drinks. Nefeli’s other son, however, was standing on the stage, playing guitar badly with a few of his friends. He was singing too, and boy was it bad.

Nefeli’s eyes lit up as soon as she saw. “Oh thank God, I couldn’t take much more of his bumbling.” She laughed and her eyes crinkled. “Our amazing talented Y/N!” She exclaimed.

“Hey Nefeli! It’s so packed tonight!” You said looking around.

“They’re all here because of you!” She said proudly, and Nefeli always made you feel so good. She showered you in compliments.

You couldn’t help but grin, and Nefeli shuffled up to the stage. Her son gave her a disappointed look, but the audience just looked relieved. She spoke into the microphone, a proud smile on her face. “Now I know the reason you’re all here, and it surely wasn't’t for my son.” The joke earned a laughed from the audience, and even you found yourself laughing. “Please welcome to the stage, our one and only Y/N!” She said.

You made your way to the stage through the crowd as the audience clapped and cheered. You even had a few whistles. Your clothes were a little damp still, but your hair was completely dry and even messier now. It was a cute messy though; wavy and natural. Amanda followed behind you. “You got this Y/N! Be fast though so we can get to your hotel, I want to meet Queen!” She said eagerly, and you shot her a look.

Nerves had always and always will be a problem. The crowd was bigger than usual tonight, and you weren’t even wearing a stage outfit. The music softly played in the background, and you let the words escape your mouth. “I was cheated by you, and I think you know when…” The piano played softly in the background and you smiled, butterflies still in your stomach. The light was only on you know, and you couldn’t see any faces within the crowd. “So I’ve made up my mind, it must come to an end… Look at me now, will I ever learn, I don’t know how…” You took in a deep breath. “But I suddenly lose control, there’s a fire within my soul.” The beat started to pick up and you couldn’t help but grin.

People started to cheer as it picked up. “Just one look and I can hear a bell ring, One more look and I forgot everything, whoa.” You sang in the microphone, your nerves melting away as you immersed yourself in the song and the audience did the same.

“Mamma mia, Here I go again… My my, How can I resist ya?” You sang. You moved around the stage. You stood out against the painted flowers on the wall, and the crowd was really into the song. Everyone was dancing, even yourself. “Mamma Mia, does it show again… My my, just how much I missed you?”

Outside the bar, it just so happened that the boys were walking by. Freddie had been shopping for some clothes to wear out on the beach, when they walked by and heard a voice. Roger’s face lit up, because he instantly recognized the voice as the one from last night. The boys didn’t even noticed when he had slipped away into the bar. Roger wasn’t expecting the large crowd. He was trying to make his way to the stage to finally see where the voice was coming from. However, people kept blocking it the stage, and he could never get a good look at who was singing it.

“Mamma mia, now I really know.” The voice sang out. The song had a contagious tune, and Roger needed to know who was singing. With one final shove, he made his way to the left side of the stage.

You were slightly sweaty from all the moving around and singing, and you were tired honestly, but you’d never let it show. As the last lines approached you gave it all you got. “My my, I should not have let you go!” You tried to end with a cute pose, but instead only ended up with your feet getting caught up in some wires. You fell backwards, your arms shooting out in front of you, trying to grasp something to catch yourself. Instead of feeling the impact of the floor, you swiftly and perfectly fell into someone’s arms.

The person was holding you bridal style, and you were trying to process what was going on; your heart was still beating so fast. “Oh my gosh I’m so so sorry.” You said, and then you looked up to see who caught you, only to find a pair of blue, angelic eyes staring down at you. It was Roger.

“It’s you.” Roger said, looking down at you, before a grin spread across his face.

[wetalkinboutbooks]

The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson

Summary

The Bird King is a 2019 fantasy novel set in 1491, the novel takes place in the Emirate of Granada during the territory’s final days. The story concerns the flight of Fatima and Hassan, a concubine and mapmaker, respectively, from service to the Emirate’s last sultan. (Taken from Wikipedia)

We follow Fatima and Hassan on their search for the Bird King as they avoid soldiers of the Spanish inquisition, and meet a variety of characters along the way.

Our Ratings: 

 → Geena: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

 → Kae: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Overall: The Bird King is an amazing book that manages to be complex yet light-hearted. It touches on subjects like faith, love, and friendship. The characters are engaging (and absolute drama queens) and the plot is fast-paced so there’s never a dull moment. The dynamic between the characters leads to the funniest situations that will have you dying. In summary, reasons to read this book if you haven’t already:

A- ONE SUPER FUNNY BOOK PLZ READ IT

B - THE DRAMAAA OF FATIMA AND HASAAN

C - Vikram 

D - Stupid

~ Spoiler-full discussion below ~

The Good: 

→ Hassan and Fatima’s Relationship

Geena: The best thing about the bird king (aside from the horse named Stupid) was Hassan and Fatima’s friendship. IMO it was so wholesome and they were so in love (PLATONICALLY!!!!). When Hassan said seeing Fatima walking around was like seeing his heart outside his body…… a BITCH DIED!!! Also, the fact they would take shots at each other constantly? Loved it. HOW COULD I FORGET… HASSAN CONSTANTLY BEING HORNY AND FATIMA BEING LIKE “CAN U CHILL!”  

Kae: OKAY MOOD LMAOOO. So boom. Geena covered it. We love this book! Hassan and Fatima are the definition of the 💯 emoji. But these bestie-bitches are DRAMATIC af. I’ve never seen two best friends who love each other as much as they do. They’re hugging and crying one moment, then the next they’re jealous that one of them is talking to someone else. DRAMATIC. I love it. Have we talked about Gwenny and Stupid yet?  

Geena: WE HAVEN’T TALKED ABOUT THEM, the perfect accessories to the Hassan-Fatima duo. Gwen is the token white boi, there for Hassan to thirst over and Fatima to learn how to sail a ship. Stupid on the other hand…. God bless that horse all it did was drown and then LIVE!!!! The absolute legend.  BUT Kae HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE GWEN AND STUPID? HMMM

Gwen: I only love God

Also Gwen: *sleeps with Fatima on the deck of the ship while Hassan is 3 feet away* 

Kae: Well... Gwennec. Ol’ Gwenny Gwen Gwen. Gwen, the Monk who FUCKS. PAHAAHA. Gwen was a new Monk who was at first, totally against helping our favorite bestie-bitches. But Fatima was all “Don’t test me white boi I will kick ya ass.” And Gwen lowkey thought it was hot so he let them slide. He taught Fatima and Hassan how to sail while Hassan made googly eyes at him and definitely wanted to tap that. But, as previously stated, Fatima and Gwen got it ooonnn.  Hassan found out and as like “Fa, I can’t believe you slept with my husband who doesn’t know we’re married yet!”,  and that was basically that.. Then we have Stupid. The horse who was just as damn stupid as his name. The horse lived to spite the Grim Reaper just to prove it would breathe another day. We also haven’t mentioned our Jinn friend and their literal lifesaver/guardian angel, Vikram.  

Geena: VIKRAM, aka another dude/djinn/dog man that Hassan wanted to fuck but couldn’t :( Vikram was essentially the only one in the group that had a substantial amount of brain cells, and spent most of the time trying to make sure Fatima didn’t accidentally kill herself. The fact that he saw his death and it was in the arms of a “beautiful woman” should sum up his character really well. 

Kae: Geena is sooo right. Vikram was the only one with brain cells because Fatima and Hassan both shared two. Our loveable, dramatic, but also a little dimwitted faves wouldn’t have survived any of their adventure without Vikram. He lead them through a Jinn filled tunnel that Hassan made. Escorted them across the land with the Inquisition right on their asses, and fought off whoever tried to hurt them. Initially, he agreed to save them because of a debt he owed to Fatima’s Sultana. But in the end, Vikram helped them because he wanted to. He was a weirddog/man/Jinn who just wanted Fatima and Hassan to stop being dumbasses for five seconds. But they couldn’t so he was constantly annoyed and probs wanted to eat them to shut them up. BUT WE STAN THAT FURRY LEGEND BECAUSE WITHOUT HIM, OUR ESCAPEES WOULD BE DEAD-EEE. Also he was one suave, smooth talking mofo and I feel like if he walked up to you and said “You’re lovely, but you’re an idiot. It’s okay, because you’re pretty tho.” that compliment sandwich would go right over your head and you’d thank him.  

Geena: ok FIRST OFF I would be like “why do you have a tail” but god Kae you hit all the points. 

The Bad AND The Ugly

→ The Sultan and His Mom Being Pedos 

Geena: Ok so, Fatima is 17 and I’m assuming the Sultan was in his mid-thirties, because he has kids Fatima’s age 👀. So I am sure it was historically accurate, the fact that the old ass man had a 17 year old concubine, but that doesn’t make it any less gross!!!! What’s worse is that Fatima’s mom was originally a slave for the sultan, so when she was born the sultan’s mom raised her and had her instated as a concubine when she was 15!!!!!! Scuse me while I 🤮. 

Kae: Yea, Geena said it all. The Sultan was ewww. Fatima was his favorite and I guess he talked to her like she wasn’t a concubine? She was treated very well. For a concubine. Probably better than any concubine I’ve read about Like, she had rights and could talk shit without punishment. But still, DISGUSTEEENNNG. Our girl was groomed so we do NOT stan the Sultan. 

→ Luz

Kae: we also have our main villain, Luz. She arrived at their palace to play peaceful, but she had ulterior motives that involved her spreading the word of the LORDT and taking Hassan in to be tried for Witchcraft and all that magic shit. Because if we didn’t say it before, Hassan can draw anything on a map and make that place a reality. Luz has this little worm in her eye that basically makes her super weirdly strong and badass. But fuck Luz. When Fatima finds out that Hassan is to be tried for witchcraft, she goes to him so they can both escape. Fatima wants to be free and she doesn’t want to see her bestie die. So what do they do? They dip. And now our friends are on the run. 

Geena: UGH Yes, can I just say the moment that Fatima realized that Hassan would get canned she was like “fuck all these people” and peaced out with Hassan? Friendship goals… But yes LUZ!! I enjoyed reading her as a villain because she genuinely thinks she’s a good person and that her life’s mission is to “Save” people like Fatima from people like Hassan. You really end up liking her in the beginning, and then she turns around and murders a few people and you’re like…. Ah…… i see….. aND THEN it turns out she was being controlled by some brainworm that was also trying to get to the Bird King and you kind of wonder…. How much of what Luz did was her being a violent inquisitor and how much was the worm controlling her… you kno? She redeems herself by dying, so I guess she gets…. Like one (1) right. 

Kae: Damn girl! Well said!!! LITCHERALY that is a perfect summary of Luz’s character. I can’t say anything else because it’s been SAID.  Villains are always interesting when they don’t see themselves as the bad guy. They’re righteous and unforgiving because they believe they are doing the right thing. That’s what scary about them. 

Conclusion 

Kae: Okay, so in conclusion. This is an amazing book and in all honesty, I enjoyed the hell out of it. I was never bored reading it. Hassan, Fatima, and Vikram had quite the adventure and all the dramatics of made it that much more enjoyable. They left the palace in hopes of freedom. Hassan and Fatima got the idea of The Bird King from a story they liked to read, but never knew the ending. So they continued the story on their own, making it up along the way. In hopes of escaping their new fate to Luz and the Inquisition, Hassan drew up a map to the Bird King in hopes to find it. Their journey took them to meet Gwennec who sailed them to said island, where they discovered used to be inhabited long, long ago. Soon, others began to show up on the island. Hassan even got him a MANS. A DOCTOR. Whew. He’s got taste. The island is also forever changing and some of the remaining inhabitants are Jinn. 

Geena: Kae summarized the story really well!!! The journey to the end was an absolute trip, but G. Willow Wilson tied up the story neatly. We get to see Fatima become less dependent on Hassan (thanks to his doctor bf who told her to chill out) and Hassan finally find the happiness he deserves. Gwen, unfortunately, doesn’t make it to the end (press F to pay respect). Luz essentially sacrifices herself by taking the map Hassan drew, getting off the island, and ripping it up. Why does she do this? Because to make a place or passage Hassan drew disappear the map has to be ripped. And leaving the map to the island wasn’t an option because the Spanish inquisition never stops!!

Kae: And if they ripped the map on the island, the island would cease to exist! Upon arrival to the island, everyone had their ships wrecked. Luz got fucked up on the shipwreck and that worm thing got ripped out of her eyes and then it became a monster on the island that was NOT to be trifled with. Since Luz got all jacked up, she was gonna die anyway and no one wanted her to stay--

Geena: Everyone said “u cant sit with us” to luz. OKAY DISCUSSING THIS BOOK MADE ME REMEMBER HOW MUCH IT MADE ME LAUGH, GENUINELY ONE OF THE FUNNIEST BOOKS I’VE READ. 10/10 FOR ME!!

Kae: LMAOOO HONESTLY. XPECIALLY FATIMA NEVER HAVING WALKED SO FAR BEFORE AND BEING A BIG OL BABY. but she DIIIID have messed up shoes that blistered so I’ll give her that BUT YES HASSAN WAS A DRAMA QUEEN “waaah, I have red hair and im pale BUT I'M STILL HOT AND I LIKE TO F U C K” But yeah, Luz got voted off the island and voted herself off the island, ripped up the map, and then they were safe and lived happily ever after. Vikram even made his final appearance to say his goodbyes to Fatima, even though he hates goodbyes. I give this book a 10/10. It was funny, the characters were likeable and relatable, and it was just a good adventure read.